Yeah, that's high-grade duck-tape.
According to regulations.....you can do this, and it's 'legal'.
Now if you asked me.....passenger sitting there and seeing this 3 minutes into the flight....it'd scare the crap out of me.
The word is....this was a African airlines (no name job).
Other question here....what triggered the holes? Bullets? Rust?
Not that I really care, but I find myself spending an hour each day....watching court reporting over this Johnny Depp court action with the wife (Heard).
He did a lot of talking this week.
Based on his commenting....she is about a '9' on the crazy scale, and you have to wonder how a guy ever got hooked up to her.
Course, next week....she's got some chatter to give and it's probably just as bad on his situation.
1. 160 pound fantastically fit guy.
2. Micky Mantle-capable baseball player.
3. James Bond agent.
4. Cowboy (without any of the 12-hour horse-rides, or bronco-busting, or sleeping under the stars business), or rodeo-clown.
5. Last Norman to leave the beach in France for the Battle of Hastings adventure on 14 October 1066.
6. Enlighted.
7. Plato-philosopher.
8. Retired secret Avengers member.
9. Failed 1980s wrestler.
10. County/western singer, who can't carry a tune.
Just odd....as VP for Obama, Biden had some deal where he actually sat down and had lunch once a week (well....most of the time, we can say).
At the beginning of his 'era'....Biden said he'd have Harris come for lunch as well. In the 15 months that passed? It's happened twice.
Why? No one seems to know.
Personally, for most of my life....I liked having lunch alone....giving me a chance to scan the newspaper while eating. To be honest, with about 50-percent of the people I worked with....I'd just rather not have lunch with them.
Joe's thing? Maybe he just doesn't seem to have time to sit down for 30 minutes of a lunch. Maybe he just chomps down on a pastrami sandwich in 12 minutes and move on. Maybe Joe farts too much while eating.
A big deal? No. It's not like the 1920s when the President might not even see the VP for two weeks straight.
Somewhere out there....ought to be a physics PhD guy who can build a formula that says....x-degree at x-college with x-amount borrowed....gets you typically a x-job, which pays x-amount per year. Then you figure 7-percent of that toward a college loan for 10 years, and that's all that you will get.
My humble guess, if you did pursue a fine arts degree (unless your last name is Obama or Clinton).....you'd be cut off at borrowing no more than $6,000 a year.
Our problem is just not wanting to put a rocket-scientist to this task and admitting that college is kinda like deciding between a Kia Rio ($17k) or a Range Rover ($163k).
Adding to this....no one has ever challenged public colleges to explain their operations cost, and why Michigan State University costs $14,500 per year or why Portland State University is $10,500 per year. The same folks also don't have great explanations why out-of-state folks typically have to pay 2.5 times the rate, and having kids cross state lines for their goals.....makes the whole thing into a pretty big mess.
There ought to be a general rule on any loan of college money....you only attend your home-state schools.....or we deny you the loan.
1. If you just wanted to tackle misinformation within movies and TV series produced or introduced in the US each year....you'd need at least 200 personnel.
2. If you wanted to engage on misinformation within songs (country/western, pop, rap, etc)....you'd need at least 200 personnel.
3. If you wanted to engage against misinformation within the 50 states and their leadership/operations....you'd probably need over 500 agents. Just on NY City alone....probably 25 people.
4. If you wanted to engage on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter? You'd need well over 10,000 people on the team.
5. If you wanted to take on misinformation within TV news (national, regional, local, weather).....you'd need a minimum 2,000 people.
6. If you were to take on the travel/casino industry (airlines, hotels, etc) on misinformation? You'd need a minimum of 2,000 personnel.
7. If you were to take on the meat, fruit and vegetable industry on misinformation? I'd suggest somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 folks to monitor things.
8. If you were going to survey misinformation in religion, charity operations, and charity foundations? Man, that might require 2,000 personnel.
9. If you were going to monitor misinformation put out by Senators and House members? That would require at least 300 personnel.
10. If you were going to monitor misinformation put out by President Biden, VP Harris, and the White House staff? I'd suggest at least 150 personnel.
You'd be talking about a team of 30,000 folks (minimum). So it begs the question....if they aren't creating this 'gimmick' for that purpose....what purpose are they throwing 200-odd people at?
There's some kind of weird fight going on via Twitter....over a stick-man presentation by Elon Musk, and a stick-man presentation by WaPo.
This is Elon's presentation:
What he is generally saying.....there was a center-point in 2008, and most people were slightly to the left. Then Elon suggests that by 2012 (just four years later, under the Obama period), the left moved (ran) a good bit further left.
Then he says by 2021....the center-line is at x-point, with the average 'stick-man' to the right-of-center.
The WaPo stick-man image? Well...they say that that stick-men were center-center in 2008, then as 2012 came....the left and right went to further extremes...leaving the poor stick-man still in the middle for the most part.
Then in their chatter, fo 2021....stick-men are in the middle point, with the left closer to them.....and those radical right people further from the center.
So you waste this 30-minute period looking at Elon's drawing, then the WaPo drawing.....then finally uttering.....you only see three stick-men, where are the other 97 stick-people (making an even hundred)? They are standing there in the landscape....furious as heck over political games, economic doom strategies, and fake news generated minute-by-minute. There's probably even a orange-hair stick-man....yelling 'fire-him' over and over.
Adding to this? Why do both Elon and WaPo want to start with 2008, use 2012 as their second point, and settle upon 2021? Basic cherry-picking, and both not wanting to the discuss the past fifty years (from 1963's assassination, the Watergate era, the Iran-Contra period, the Clinton corruption, 9-11 questions that remain, and various comedies that came out of the Obama era).
Unfortunately, the stick-men ought to have a voice, and you can't allow that to occur, without Twitter being free and open.
Yes, sadly, we are the stick-men and we'd like to be more than that. (maybe even start a stick-man party?)
All of this to lead to forty different variations of the stick-man graph? Yeah....I'm betting on it. My brother, the engineer-farmer? He's probably working on some drawing for stick-cows, stick-dogs, and stick-tractors. Somewhere out there....there's some guy working on lustful stick-women, trailer-park stick-women, and fentanyl stick-men (laying flat on the ground). Someone is probably even working on a complete five-hundred page book to explain stick-men to the non-technical geek who runs a apple orchard in Oregon, or hustles up hot stick-women for late night activity.
Yes, we have collapsed to a state that even the Greeks would be shocked how things work today.
I noticed this AM....Senator Warren now calling for 'rules/regulations' to govern 'unregulated' social media amid Musk's Twitter takeover.
So yeah, I'd like some new rules:
1. House/Senate members limited to be in the Washington DC area for only 120 days a year (to include weekends).
2. All stock purchases by House/Senate member (spouses too) must be reported via social media within 24 hours after sell/purchase.
3. All House/Senate/Executive branch members over the age of 70....must complete an independent cognitive test once a year. If failing, allow for a 30-day period, and re-test....after that....if failing, terminate them from their position.
4. Any House/Senate member who 'owns' property in the DC/Virginia/Maryland region....gets a six-year period of exemption, and after that....will be regarded as a citizen of that state (not their home state).
This is what I anticipate happening:
1. Someone will ask Homeland Security how they came up with the 100 to 200 billets, and the response will be that they carved them out of present manpower, without telling the Senate. Who lost what? I would imagine that Border Security probably lost half of the manpower in question.
2. Trying to get Chief of the agency....Jen Easterly? As much as the Senate will ask to have a face-to-face.....she's 8 months pregnant, and probably will take 60 days of leave after birth.....so don't expect this face-to-face session until August, after summer break.
3. Someone in Homeland Security will be required to explain who gave the order for the creation, and find that a 'secret' order came from President Biden six months ago to find a method to create out of thin air. The Senate will try to ask Biden to explain when and where he gave this order, and the response will be 'back in 1972, as Dodgers cleared spring-training' and that he dreamed this up while on vacation.
4. Someone will then ask if the agency will have badges....then find that at least five individuals will hold some type of LE badge.
5. Easterly brought before the House in January on potential abuse of authority charges.
6. Easterly gone by mid-summer 2023, because inability to be effective.
7. Disinformation Agency regarded as creating daily disinformation by end of mid-term election.
8. Some Republican will try to push a bill forward to rename the Agency.....'Ministry of Truth', and to refer to the building where they will be housed.....as the 'Winston Smith' Building.
9. Easterly will be referred to in news coverage as 'Julia' (chief female character in the book '1984').
10. Agency will demand face-to-face meeting with Elon Musk. He will respond....he has sixteen minutes on Friday, at such-and-such bar. Attempt to force him in? He will respond that zoom works perfectly well, and he's got more urgent things on his agenda than messing around with government agents.
This morning, I read a piece to say that the Senate (particularly Democrats) want to bring Elon Musk in and ask questions.
Some idiot Senator even went to say that Twitter was "central to our democracy and economy."
Their hyped-up nature? They want to know about content moderation.
Giving Musk the rough treatment for three hours?
Well....no, I think this would be like dragging Winston Churchill, Patrick Henry, Plato, and Coach Vince Lombardi into one room.....turning them loose to chew your butt out.
I'm pretty sure Elon would have a prepared statement about the childish behavior by Senators (Republican and Democrat), talk at length about the term 'freedom of speech', and share his thoughts on ideas.
Yeah, this would be a huge mistake for the Democratic Party. But you know....maybe they aren't that smart, and they deserve a moment like this.
My humble advice....when they set the day and time....you might want get your WLAN fixed up....set aside three hours of your life for 5-star entertainment, and get a pitcher of lemonade set up. Gonna be some fine chatter coming.
1. With all this chatter about trans-stuff and some school districts wanting to get down into kindergarten-age kids (4-to-6)....isn't there a problem when discussing 'pronouns'?
Well...you marginally start discussing verbs, pronouns, adverbs, etc....in the 2nd grade, and to be honest......it's more like the 3rd grade when you start to pay attention to stuff like this. So it's a mystery to me how you bring up 'pronouns' with 4-year old kids.
2. Is Spotify thriving?
It's a curious thing....up until all that chatter with Joe Rogan started up....it was questionable if Spotify would thrive and grow. Then the left folks got all hyped-up and suddenly thousands signed up to check out Spotify. At this point, based on general numbers....I'd say they will survive until some shows up to buy them (you know....like that Elon-guy).
3. Is this new target country in the 'Russia-war' going to create a problem?
So, you pull up a map. What Russia controls at present....is the southeast and eastern part of the Ukraine. The idea is....they want to move west....cover the whole coastal plain, and then reach to Moldovia (far west side of Ukraine).
There's a strategic issue here....there is a massive resupply area in the middle....stretching about 300 miles from nearest Russian 'land'. Whichever idiots get the mission of going into Moldovia....might have seven days of ammo/food on them, and if Ukraine puts up a serious fight and cuts off the resupply line....that group is screwed.
All this makes you wonder...if the Ukraine 'pinched' this group of say 5,000 Conscripts off....how would Putin explain this to the public?
Just some humble advice....if you play around with conspiracy theories, and one day....things shift a bit, and that conspiracy theory is now 100-percent true (nothing fake or delusional)....then it's NOT a theory any longer.
You also can't refer to it as misinformation.
1. From commentary of some employees....you get the feeling that they felt their company was Jesus, Incorporated.....and they were now going to work for Satan, Incorporated. Made me almost think they were in a cult-like mentality.
2. Some MSNBC analyst made the comment that 'sociopath' Musk was going to wreck the world with censorship. I would admit that Twitter (before Elon) did a pretty fair job on censorship....I'm not sure if he can out-do the current crew on censorship.
3. As much as Trump is deemed 'evil' and the greatest threat facing mankind....it seems that Elon has passed Trump....if you view social media commentary and CNN/MSNBC.
4. This chief lawyer for Twitter, Vijya Gadde, had some kind of internal staff meeting (virtual/zoom, I believe) and got highly emotional.....breaking down. Her chief concern? Well....things were going to CHANGE. You just get the impression that she would not be able to function under Musk.
5. You just get an overwhelming impression that various folks in the company will go and do a remarkable bit to destroy the company before Musk completes the deal. It's the attitude 'if-we-can't-have-it-nobody-can' behavior that you'd see with 12-year old kids. Maybe this was a Musk exercise to get them to accomplish this before the deal is concluded, and he'll just walk away with zero ownership, and Twitter just plain 'crapped-out'. For those employees who held tens of thousands of shares? Well....total destruction would leave them with nothing much of value.
I worked with a guy in the 1990s who went and bought a 2-year old vehicle. In the purchase agreement.....it was written that he (the new owner) could return the vehicle within ten days and get all his money back (NO LOSS). No reason had to be given. On the 9th day....my associate did return the vehicle, and got every penny back.
I sat there today looking at the Twitter-Elon deal, and all this chatter by Twitter employees....that they might damage/screw-up/harm Twitter before the deal is wrapped....to harm Elon.
My humble belief is that Elon probably wrote a two-line statement into the purchase deal....kinda like my co-worker in the 1990s.....if they really tarnished or screwed up the App/program.....the deal would be off.
The odds of this happening? I'm of the mind....better than a 50-percent chance.
If this were to occur? Public trust of Twitter would dissolve in a matter of days, and probably half the users would walk out the back-door....never to return. Viability or surviving this? It won't happen.
So in their effort to destroy Elon, in some weird way....they'd destroy the company and never bring a bit of harm to Musk.
The end? Well....no, then Elon would come to the board in twelve months and instead of 43-billion dollars....he could offer 3-billion for a broken-down crappy company that the employees destroyed themselves.
In some weird way....this might be plan 'A' and Elon knew this would be the best way to defeat the 'poison-pill' idea.
Around 40 years ago, I sat at a theater and watched the 1979 version of Mad Max.....which I kinda enjoyed.
The script? Mostly about some revenge stuff....death here and there...in the midst of a oil-crisis and a breakdown in society. If you asked me who wrote the script....I would have said some 16-year old kids....mostly tanked-up on beer. I've probably watched once or twice since then.
Last night, the 2015 Mad Max version came on (Fury Road).....which I'd never watched.
If you asked me the theme?
I'd say mostly meth-head guys, on some crazed fit in the desert (maybe Australia), and a whole lot of minute-by-minute destruction going on.
The skinhead guys? If you crossed Bath Salts, meth and cocaine....giving out a fair amount to folks....that was mostly the storyline. Who wrote the script? I'd be guessing mostly sixth-grade kids. Nothing made sense.
I lasted for about 40 minutes and then just gave up.
I read a piece today....some folks analyzing Twitter employee commentaries....that if this Elon Musk deal occurs....they will rush to pack their bags, leave the company, and America (suggesting they'd move to 'safe' Canada).
I paused over this for ten minutes.
Personally, with the exception of Vancouver.....in about 90-percent of Canada....after one single winter....most wussy Americans would pack quickly and return to America.
People who get this hyped-up and always make this 'I'm-gonna-leave' statement....always say something like this but haven't done any real planning.
Personally.....I'd say fine and let me help you in any way possible. But I think 90-percent of folks would give up about six weeks into a real winter, and beg to return.
1. There's a bit of hype building up (going several years now) about Starbucks and unionization. Some folks think the union thing will happen shortly for Starbucks.....I'm less likely to believe that.
One obvious thing....the average cost of a Starbucks non-description coffee is around $2.75. If you go union.....that will likely rise to $3.20 minimum.
I'd just ask the question.....just how many regular people would be willing to pay for something like that?
2. I read a survey (AP/NORC) that suggested that 49-percent of Democrats think that Joe Biden is leading the nation in the wrong direction. Course, on Republicans....it was near 93-percent.
If this were any normal President....he'd be worried over the numbers and asking what can we do? But he doesn't seem that worried....neither are his 'helpers'.
Something about this.....doesn't make any sense. It's like having four low-air tires on your car, and people pointing to them while driving.....yet just grinning as they pass you.
3. If I were a ethnic-Russian-Ukrainian....having lived forty years of my life in eastern Ukraine....seeing the massive amount of damage, and having some Russian conscript guys arrive for some military parade and them expecting me to appreciate their damage done.....I'd be shaking my head, and probably looking to move elsewhere. There's just no future.
4. I think about 10-percent of Americans now suffer from Covid-anxiety, and I doubt that they will recover from this....for the remainder of their lives (big deal if they are approaching 20 years old now). I'll add....if you were single prior to the Covid era....now having Covid-anxiety....it's going to be hard to find someone who shares your anxiety feeling.
5. Twitter deal? Elon will own the company within 30 days.....it's a sure bet now. For the Twitter universe.....there's about to be 'snap' by Elon-Thanos, and folks are mostly cheering him on. For some Twitter employees, it's the end of the universe.
Here's the thing....if he's right....Twitter will correct itself (probably in one year), and will be a profitable company. Then the question is.....what's left to change? Meta-Facebook? Microsoft? Google?
As healthy as he looks....he's got twenty-plus years to reshape the universe.
Presently, the DIS stock situation is around $118 per share (down from a year ago when it was at $186....meaning a loss of about 36-percent in one-year).
They were hurt to a great extent by Covid, marginal tourism for two years, and movies hitting the theaters with no audience return because of the virus.
So, my general prediction:
1. Toward the last two months of 2022....I think the stock will fall to around $82 (losing another 30-percent).
2. Of the ten board members....by the close of 2022....at least four of them will have resigned.
3. A hostile take-over chat will start by early 2023 (before the next stock-holder meeting), with the stock probably around the high $40s at that point. Several IRA/mutual funds will have dumped their holdings because of the continuing downward trend. This will speed-up the decline of value for the stock. Some analysts will remark that somewhere around the 2010 era, when the stock was valued at $40....that was probably where it should have lingered and they are way-overvalued.
4. The take-over? I think it'll be a partnership involving Sony and at least three travel companies.
5. Disney will then be bought (forced to the table) and carved up. The cruise business, hotels, and theme parks will be all controlled by the travel companies. Sony will end up with the studio and streaming video service.
6. People will notice in the first week of new ownership....of the top one-hundred executives with Disney....less than five will remain (the rest are let go).
7. Somewhere in this distribution business....the state of Florida will be offered one or two of the business fronts, for a sum of ten-billion....to help finance the whole deal. They will turn the deal down.
8. Over the course of 2023/2024....at least twenty different books will be written about the 'fall' of Disney and how they designed their failure.
9. Some country-and-western singer will write a tune about 'Walt' weeping off in a bar.....someone done him wrong kind of tune, and they-took-his-woman sorrow theme.
10. The Marvel and Star Wars 'stuff'? It will be carved off and sold to Warner Brothers....to help finance the takeover.
For those who weren't aware of it....most baseball bats used in the sport today....weigh between 33 and 36 ounces.
Several decades ago....there was this one baseball player by the name of Dick Allen. You can say a number of things about the guy (he played in the 1960s/1970s, was brash/blunt, two decades ahead of his time, and probably was one of the top ten players of baseball during this timeframe).
Dick Allen did something which was unique though....he carried around a baseball bat which weighed 42 ounces. No one is going to say that he came up to the plate each time with the 42 ounce bat.....but he had it, and when necessary....that was his 'weapon'.
When you look at the Twitter/Musk battle going on....Elon has an interesting 'bat' in his collection....if the purchase of the media company goes through.
Elon would have all of this data and directives used for the past decade....which was used for keeping conservative 'content' off the media platform. He could call in 'Larry' and ask for such-and-such information....to discover various meetings were held....where people just said in a blunt way.....'dump' this content, or hold this person off the platform.
Yes....names and facts start to get put out in public. Even the former board members would be dragged up and labeled as 'problems'.
Conversations with private governments (like Germany for example) would be opened up and discussed to some degree. Or Elon could say those would be kept private....if you give me a 'gift' or two.
So what Musk is buying has tons of potential or limited potential....depending how he wants to show off his 'bat'.
He's not just buying a company....he's buying all of this private information that was supposed to stay private. So you can understand the fight going on, and why they are so desperate to protect the secret side of Twitter.
Forty years ago, in a public commerce setting (Dairy Queen, local sports bar, tire shop)....you didn't have any real escalation episodes develop.
What I mean by escalation episodes? Well....a situation where a customer has a nervous fit, mental breakdown, frustration falling-out, toxic personal crisis.....and they can't handle 'bad' news.
An example would be that they ordered a club sandwich......expecting it in 12 minutes, and waited almost thirty minutes to get what you'd say is a really crappy marginal sandwich. In today's world.....they go ballistic, and will spend the next thirty minutes trying to talk to the manager.....finding that talking gets them nowhere.
This week, I noticed a Seattle video-blog where the guy talked about an imitative to being in employees for a de-escalation training episode. You would be talking about four hours....on how to handle a person having a personal crisis, and being unable to handle bad news.
How bad is this crisis business? You really don't know.
In some rural communities....like in a ice cream shop or burger-bar? You might have some crisis-lite guy once every two or three months.
In some of these highly urbanized areas? I bet you could have a four-star crisis-guy almost every hour.
The thing you notice.....we seem to be 'breeding' these crisis-freaks in abundance. They seem to be wanting to demonstrate more and more of their limited patience and juvenile behavior.
Common people able to handle 12-year-old kids in adult clothing with no patience? No....it's just not a talent that we felt was important in society.
Could I handle this type of situation? I'm mostly the type to let you talk for three minutes straight....to get the frustrations out, and then hold out my hand to suggest that we need to pray to the Lord for a good final outcome. If that didn't work....I'd pull out the cheapo fire hose and give you about three gallons of water to your face to bring you to reality.
It'd be best that you don't hire me to manage things.
When the first season of 'Young Sheldon' rolled around....I would have given it four stars. It was 90-percent comedy, and 10-percent of life in the 1980s in Texas.
Somewhere in the second season....there were a few serious moments and I questioned the direction of the script. From season three and four? It was probably thirty percent fairly serious and you couldn't layer it with much humor.
This fifth season? I might occasionally catch a clip here and there, but I've come to regard it as a fairly serious family drama, with a small bit of humor dished out via each show.
Something for the under 12-year-olds? No. In fact, I'd even go and label it for the 'after-9 pm' crowd.
Some guy did a statistical study, and came to this conclusion.....if you had a thousand people working for you, the square root of that (31 people) are producing 50-percent of the actual output of the organization.
Over the past month, I've probably watched a dozen YouTube videos to discuss the 'law' and no one can really explain why this works the way that it does.
It means that if you ran a bar with sixteen employees....it's four guys who are carry the bulk of the work.
It means if you need talent to run an operation, but you also need enthusiasm from everyone, and most of the time.....you don't get true enthusiasm. A guy is happy enough to show up and give you maybe 75-percent of his best, but frankly.....about half the time....he's just not focused or caring about the project.
Finding these square root people? If you were to think about this a good bit.....as the chief....it'd be your duty to source them out.....talk with them, and to get a sense about why they feel so attached to the company, and what their drive is about. Maybe you can put two young employees around them and get some 'magic-dust' off that one square root guy.
When you don't grasp the square root crowd? Well....you might keep hiring non-square root people to fill a role, and have twenty people doing the work of seven.
1. On the Hunter Biden 'hunt'....why now? I think that the Democrats in various places now see a mess in January with House investigations being started by the Republicans (then in power) and it'd be a lot simpler to have Hunter under federal investigation, and close off the House-type investigation. I think someone has already written down a number....like 18 months in prison, and Joe has already already agreed to a pardon....with Hunter doing less than a month in prison.
2. Disney screwed-up? Well....after coming out of two years of Covid.....the Disney-Florida operation needed a open situation and profit rolling in. They didn't need to open up a hornets nest and lose potentially a half-billion dollars a year in income or lost tax credits from the state. The board? They should have done something a month ago to reverse course.
3. What'll happen to Netflix? I'm of the belief that before the end of 2023.....someone will buy the greatly cheapened company, and dissolve about 40-percent of the monthly offerings for view.
4. More blacks murdered since 'Defund the Police' started? Yeah, statistically, you can make that case now. If you asked mayors to explain why....they can't.
5. Is Russia a state sponsor of terrorism? I noticed this question finally started to be asked in the past week. It probably should have been asked twenty years ago.
The basic idea for CNN-Plus was you'd subscribe to a service which gave you more news than regular CNN ($5.99 per month was the rate given).
How much 'more' news was this supposed to be? That was never clear.
When this was first announced....I pondered over the value and who would be listening/watching.
Their brand was something like Netflix or Amazon, which drew me to wonder....if you were an average American, you already had USA-Today, your local news on the radio, and regular CNN, MSNBC, or Fox. Maybe if you were consumed over news (needing an extra four hours a day to fill your schedule)....it made sense.
Here's the odd thing though....all of this concept should have been done in 2000 to 2005, when the internet was young and people had fewer options. Today? It's too late.
I felt that CNN-Plus would survive for most of 2022....before failing. Well....I got that totally wrong....it's dead as of this week.
So what lessen did we learn? I'd say three lessons:
1. There's more than enough news existing today.....than a normal guy needs.
2. The fact that CNN was a bit to the left on political leaning? Yeah, that probably did not help bring in new customers.
3. What exactly can you put into a 'plus-news' element.....that doesn't already exist? No one can clearly answer that problem.
Finally, to my one observation.....through all the years that I listened to Paul Harvey news....I came to realize the big stuff that you needed to know....came compacted by Harvey into a simple 12-minute 'discussion'. Just plain....simple....facts. Nothing complicated....nothing requiring four different people to sum up a 6-line story.
I could make this a 300-line summary but I'll limit this to the obvious.
It would now appear that virtually everything that was handed to the FBI to investigate on Trump....to lead to some agenda saying he had under-the-table dealings with Russia....was created out of thin air, and apparently leads back to someone who was hired by the Clinton campaign.
Stopping this before court action? I don't see that happening now.
So here's the question....if someone was hired by the Clinton Campaign (using their money).....who authorized it? That individual who created the fake evidence is deep into trouble and has to detail what the contract was.....then the person paying for the agenda.....has to 'fess-up'.
Will it go higher? Well....someone will ask how the guy who paid the creator got to this point, and who ordered what. Then you get to the top level of the Clinton campaign.
My humble belief is that after this wraps up.....three or four folks going to prison. Trump will go into court and ask for damages, and this will revolve around the Clinton Campaign group. Money left? I doubt it.
But here's the thing.....it's going to get awful close to Hillary Clinton, and she'll have to make some kind of legal statement....mostly saying she remembers absolutely nothing from this period, and looking like she has dementia.
Most of us will just shake our head, and laugh over the comedy that was played out. Trust in government? We already had a marginal degree, and I think this will dissolve most of what is left.
In the past week, a lot of hype has occurred that subscribers to Netflix are on the decline....affecting profit and stock prices.
I would offer five observations (being a Netflix subscriber myself):
1. I will admit from a new-material prospective....they are doing things way ahead of CBS, ABC, NBC, and even the Showtime/HBO folks. But these projects (often done outside of the US) are done on a lessened budget. So you can produce a eight episode show in Spain....on a mystery murder situation....with thrills and various 'twists' that rarely come with traditional TV. The producers will be shocked at the viewer numbers and Netflix will suggest a second season.
A good example of this....the French series....the 'Black Spot'. The third season for it? No....numbers dropped in the second season.
2. Netflix offered up a fair number of comedy event shows (I assume on a limited budget), which I'd say that half did well, and half crapped out.
3. These documentary shows? Total waste of the budget and whoever ran this department....soaked the company of a fair amount of funds. I'd strongly suggest....for the company to drop that angle entirely.
4. Companies in media typically evolve....but in this case....you don't see much evolution.
I'd like to see a 'side-channel' of Netflix to feature 1930s movies. Maybe offer up each month twelve of the 1930s period movies, and refresh them each four weeks.
5. Finally, to the Covid topic. I think a lot of people joined up with Netflix....to fill the hours that kids or adults were at home. And when Covid went 'away'....the necessity for Netflix also went 'away'.
Netflix isn't going away, but I suspect by early 2023....they will be valued at some degree to be bought by someone....maybe Google....maybe Facebook.
I noticed the US Postal Service announcing today....that if you bought first-class service (one stupid 1st class stamp) and expected real delivery to occur....that capability will go away for about one-third of items.
They aren't clear about what they mean, but if you were mailing a small box that typically took three days to arrive....based on chatter.....I'd now go and expect the box to take about five days now to arrive. The fact that you could mail three boxes, and only one of them (all three going to the same place) take the extra two days? Yeah, it'd be funny to discuss that.
So here's my take in 2032 (a decade away).....you live in Portland and mail a box to some cousin in Boise, Idaho (430 miles away) and it'll arrive 17 days later (first-class shipment by the post office).
You quiz the gal about this service, which she finally admits....they flew the box from Portland to some giant desert airfield in southern California....spending sixteen hours being sorted by three-hundred different people, then shipped onto Denver....where it sat for ten days....then went onto a truck to Jackson, Wyoming....where it sat in a underground bunker facility where unregistered Mexicans sort the mail. Then went by one single electric-powered van the final 400 miles to Boise....to be sorted by a half-blind-half-crippled-up-half-witted guy who brings it to your cousin's house.
My advice? We might all need to just get away from mailing boxes and just call up folks to wish them a happy birthday and mention how weather is in our little part of the world.
There was a general talent that people had....at least up through the 1980s, and I suspect it became diluted in the 1990s, which centered on assessing an event or situation with your own common sense.
You'd see a riot developing and ask three or four questions, and within five minutes....determine that this was an irrational event, with no attachment to reality, or that some city/state leaders had really screwed up, with no ability to clean up the mess.
I began to notice in the 1990s.....news journalists wanted to explain more and more details.....some worthwhile.....some being red-herrings. The minute that you had a moderator and three guests....it start to resemble more of a lecture or brain-wash session....than sharing of information.
The past twenty years? Between MSNBC, NPR, CNN, the WaPo, and NY Times.....I've stepped back a bit and been more careful about what is said or put on the table.
Yeah, I've become ten times more skeptical of stories now....than in 1998.
Watching video with the sound 'dimmed'? Oh I probably spend forty minutes each week watching YouTube in this fashion and gauging the facial expression or the reaction of people....than what is said.
It's almost a talent that we need to introduce to 12-year old kids.....getting them to look at what's going on, and to assess their own opinion.
Screwed-up? Maybe. It seems like a whole bunch of folks have work.....that doesn't seem to be productive, and I'm likely to wonder where they end up going....if let go from their CNN job.
1. President Biden says he intends to hit the campaign trail for the Democratic Party....to help in November.
Personally....I can't see this as a big or bold step. All it takes is five or six more demonstrations of mental issues....to readily convince the public of his dementia.
But the other side of this....having Harris go do 'chats'....doesn't work either. If you are running for anything in November....basically, you are on your own (win or lose).
2. Some odd development for WV's Democratic Senator Manchin. Apparently, he's got some 'backers' who want him to run for President....as a Republican. Pretty crazy stuff. I think the bluff here....run in five states and show some appeal....then if Trump or DeSantos is the guy....maybe Manchin can end up as some VP.
3. Air Force says it's working on creating 'safe spaces' for airman to have conversations with their commanders.
I question what they mean by 'conversations' and 'safe spaces'.
I know it's a shock but virtually every single commander (Lt Col/Col) that I served under from 1977 to 1999.....had some policy letter signed on day one which stated the 'open door' policy. This meant you could ask the commander's secretary for an appointment (usually limited to 15 minutes) and have a chat. In a whole year? There might have been two people to go this 'open door' route. I won't say it was positive or negative....it's just that it always existed.
What's next to occur? Wouldn't shock me if they create something called 'safe evaluations'....where your yearly eval is guaranteed in some weird way to be absolutely perfect and 'safe'.
4. New syndrome? TDS? 'Truth Derangement Syndrome'?
Yeah, it's about Musk and his attempt to buy Twitter, and people are now fearful that 'truth' will arrive in America and you won't be able to handle it.
5. Officially, mid-November 2021....Netflix stock hit it's peak (in the $600 per share range). Today, it's near $323.
What's happening? I would say (humble opinion) that the VIP elite running the network went out and hired a number of political folks for shows....paying huge checks, without any real audience for the shows.
I think the streaming video service is a great idea and still tons of room for improvement. But if you are wasting half-a-billion a year on political shows.....why? No one wants the 'lectures'.
6. Governor Newsom of California with a new plan? Well....the plan says if you show serious mental issues or addiction problems....the state would step in and force you to a rehab or clinic.
I'll admit....they should have gone this way in the 1990s already.
The fact that various groups are lining up to fight this? They are claiming you have the right to addiction, and the right to be 'crazy'.
I'll predict this goes to the Supreme Court, and Judge Thomas asks where is the writing on your constitutional right to be 'walking-around-free-and-crazy'?
This might be interesting to watch.
1. On Stacey Abrams as a viable future candidate....anywhere....she has a 7-line index card resume and it's impossible to find anything accomplished other than she gives speeches.
2. On Elon Musk buying Twitter....he'll never get to one-hundred percent, but I think he'll get 51-percent of the stock-holder vote, and fire the board. Twitter is changing....one way or another.
3. Joe Biden having dementia.....will never be admitted and he'll walk out of the White House after four years.
4. Democratic Party thriving in 2028....no, I think the Green Party will eventually arrive and take 10-percent of the votes away....permanently.
5. Transgender people.....I think within five years....over 100k 'quitters' will be noted existing in America, who did the trans thing and found discontent. Then they found a revert-plan, and fell out of transgender working.
6. IRS surviving as is.....no, within the next decade....some type of one-page tax form will be introduced and Democrats will fall all over themselves to favor this idea.
7. Russia on GDP....by the end of 2022....will fall behind Iran (to number 25 in world numbers).
A kid gets about 12,960 man-hours of education before he gets dumped out the front-door. It would be more but I subtracted lunch-hours in this mess.
If you counted PE, bad-weather days, and the hundred-odd days wasted on various issues.....it's probably closer to about 9,900 hours of useful time.
My issue is that you really don't need intense discussions on gender stuff, pronouns, or a hundred other social things.
Yeah, that 9,900 man-hours are of some value.
If they aren't of true value.....maybe we should shorten the whole mess down to eight years of school and just dump you at that point.
The fact that you might get 720 of those man-hours with some science teacher who refuses to teach evolution? Yeah, that might be a problem.
The fact that you might waste 600 of those man-hours with a math teacher who can't get twenty different math concepts across to you?
The fact that you might have some teacher trying to explain something of no use to you in the real world.....for thirty hours each school year?
Maybe in the end....hours do matter.
If you gaze at the end of this 'poison pill' business.....I noted Daily Wire giving the best three endpoints:
1. Musk still wins by completing the proxy contest to remove the directors and overcomes the poison pill.
2. Somewhere in this 'fog'....Musk finds a couple of helpers in getting shares and forcing the board to a end-point.
3. Musk simply walks to the exit....recovers his investment money (maybe some profit), but leaves the company facing tons of lawsuits (we shareholders would be angry over the value of our stock).
Under option 3....there's this long-term problem....Twitter needs to come up with cash to fight the stock-holders in court, and profit-margins would disappear. In simple terms.....they would not be able to sustain the cost of operating the company. I'd almost call this end-result a poison-pill-poison-pill because it makes your future less likely in the end.
Under option 2, I think most of the big-boy investment companies would be in absolute fear of where this takes the company in a destructive market. Just having Musk say X and Y company were in absolute fear....would hurt their chances of profits in the future for any business.
My question....wouldn't this be the right time to get Zuckerberg to toss his billions into this, and fight the evil Musk....bringing Twitter into the friendly Facebook empire?
'Sparky', your IT guy would likely say 14 minutes of the whole past year....due to a thunder-storm.
But it does beg questions just how often this does occur now.
In that NYC subway episode....the only shot you have is the guy with the cellphone coverage....nothing from within the car itself.
For probably a decade, this topic has been on my mind. I was one of the 'lucky' people who had the Air Force pay for the bulk of my education, and probably over a five-year period (early 1980s)....I probably spent $5k for my whole 'bill'.
I have this one particular area of the discussion that I tend to focus upon....the people in the middle of this current mess.
First, there are the one who were told over and over for the final four years of high school....they were 'gifted'. They had mostly a 'B' average. They get convinced on the college idea, and sign up to spend the first year at some nifty college (dorm living).
These are the people who learn at the end of the first semester that they aren't that gifted, marginally passing half their classes and failing the rest. Part of their issue is partying....but they were dragged to the end of high school by teachers who act more like used-car dealers....than instructors.
At the end of the 2nd semester....it's a lousy landscape, and they owe around $15k on college debt (don't even bother telling Dad that his $10,000 contribution went toward the cost of a car, beer, and partying).
This is the guy/gal who will quit....have a crappy $15k in debt stuck to themselves, and job-wise....end up at the Quickie-Mart, tire-sales guy, or working evenings as a bartender.
The second person is the one who goes after a worthless degree....wasting four years to achieve it, and will eventually learn that while starting pay is $30k a year....even after ten years....they probably won't make more than $40k. That $80k in college debt will take three decades to pay off.
The third person is the one who ends up marrying another idiot who also has $80k of college debt, and both will spend decades arguing over debt and marginal lives.
The fourth person is the one who learns at the end of two years of college.....they hate their subject area, and can't bring themselves to refocus on something else because they already have too much debt on their back.
I don't have a lot of pity for any of these people. I think if someone did a poll on college graduate folks with extreme debt.....the bulk of them by age thirty would admit they are miserable.
Fixing this? How can you (as the government) offer some deal to pay off $10,000 or $20,000....without compensating the guy who never attended college? You know....the guy who spent three weeks at some trucker school, and covered the cost entirely.....who is fairly happy at age thirty.
For one brief summer....at a low-income district pool in Wilmington, Delaware....Joe was a pool lifeguard.
To be honest....Joe was the only white guy pool lifeguard that summer at the Brown-Burton-Winchester pool.
The story generally goes.....there were a dozen lifeguards hired that summer, and he was there as one.
Cornpop? Actual real character.....tough local kid of the district.
How did this confrontation occur? Well....at the time....Ester Williams was a black legendary swimmer, and Joe made some comparison at the pool that 'so-and-so' (Cornpop) swam like her. Cornpop got all peeved and upset....threatening to 'cut' Joe. After this use of the Ester Williams insult....Joe went to the Cornpop insult, which apparently stuck.
Cornpop around today? No....died in 2016....from natural causes apparently.
The question I have....from this one brief summer job....did Joe save anyone?
If you had $250,000 in cash and wanted to pursue an investment.....you'd want one of two conditions: (1) stock dividends (preferably 2-percent or better) or (2) continued evidence of the stock rising at least 2-to-4 percent a year.
On the second condition, with Twitter at $45 currently....you would suggest a year into the future, they'd have to be a minimum of 46.50, and to be honest....for the $250k you invested....you'd really like to see $50 a share (meaning near a 10-percent improvement).
Twitter profits for the past ten years (meaning dividends)? Zero. Twitter stock up? There's been a couple of occasions that it got into the 60 to 75 dollar range.
On this 'poisoned pill' chatter? It's hard to see the stock rising to $50 or $60 a share. It also begs the question....what idiot mutual fund or investment company would toss $500-million into the pot to stake some position for their investment holders.
Twitter making itself a 'pain'? Well....staying in California....to pay their taxes, and the increased cost of living for employees? Plain stupid. If they moved to Texas or a lower-taxation state....they'd cut around a quarter of their operating budget, and probably have a nifty 2.5-percent dividend to hand stock-holders.
The idea that their service has peaked? There's evidence that various alternate sources exist, and various people have taken their 'content' away from Twitter. I imagine that they have enough to marginally run their gimmick for a while....then eventually....find some idiot to buy a washed-up media company (yeah, kinda like MSNBC, CNN, etc).
My general belief? If Musk fails.....Twitter survives on at a lessen level, and within five years.....packages themselves (maybe even having bought CNN) for some other player to buy (I'd suggest Amazon).
The question to be asked? Out of the various accounts still functional with Twitter.....how many of them have not used Twitter in anyway in the past two years? That might be an indicator of the dwindling interest.
Here's the thing that gets me.....all of this is in the spring period and you can sleep around in city parks in DC (with the other 2,000-odd regular DC homeless) and it's not a big deal.
Come October? Weather changes, and things will get rough.
Job support or DC homeless support? If anything exists....it's geared for the black community....not some newly arrived Latino group.
So I'll say this.....if you start getting three or four states....sending three or four buses per week....this whole thing will turn into some massive issue with 5,000 to 8,000 folks walking around the federal park property, and tourists asking questions.
DC mayor or town council able to pick this up and handle it? No. They will turn to Pelosi and ask for some federal official to take charge. What's that guy going to do? Well....hire up buses, and try to bus these folks back to Texas, or wherever they came from.
I'd call it the 'bus to nowhere, and back again'.
Over the past couple of days, I've been looking at this story which is being discussed in the open press.....media companies (Disney, Warner Media, Comcast, And Paramount)....set to run some type of ad promotional campaign....to promote transgendering or transgenderism.
It's an odd story.
Some people will look at the ad suggestions and just laugh. Some people will ask questions....like is this really necessary? Some people will focus on the problems existing in America and ask how this prioritizes. Finally, you will reach around 50-percent of people who are just fed up with 'lectures'.
At some point (1992 for me)....the Air Force decided that lecturing folks was a priority, and they would drag folks into a base theater to get such-and-such lecture. Over some three month period....I got dragged into three of these lectures. I began to ask stupid questions, and the necessity of the lecture business began to diminish in my landscape.
Around the late 1990s....I just reached the point where I'd find different ways to avoid the forced lecture. If I did show up....I'd have a crossword puzzle or a newspaper to read.
Today? I hit the mute-button for my TV....if I feel it's another lecture.
There are various magazines I avoid now (National Geographic, Time, Reader's Digest) because of the lecture content.
Radio shows on NPR? I'm rather quick if I detect a lecture about to start up.....in finding another channel or turning the radio off.
The problem here with these big companies getting into this....these lectures will branch out into movie topics, characters, and story content. It probably won't take more than a year for a Marvel agenda to arrive, for the trans-topic, and I feel the lecture intensity at the level to just walk out of a theater or delete my streaming video account.
If I were 12 years old today, and focused on this lecture-crap? It'd be a problem. I'm not sure I could sit in some 7th grade class and hear a lecture building up.
Are the big media companies hurting their product? I would suggest in the long-term....people will get turned off....seeing the lecture business over and over. It's too much like a old Soviet propaganda situation.
Stories say that around 5.2-percent of Twitter is owned by the Saudi royals.
So you start to think about this.....it gets into the billions and there's one odd aspect....Twitter doesn't pay a dividend (never has).
For most regular investors.....there are two angles to investing. Either you have a stock that has a gain of some type each (like the stock prices escalates from $24 to $28 over a one-year period), or you have a dividend-paying stock (even if it were half-a-percent or on up to three-percent of the stock value).
Neither fits the 'logic' of having 5.2-percent....unless you wanted a seat at the table and a insider ability to control the operation (controlling speech for example).
If you felt too much free speech by Saudi citizens....for example....was a bad thing, and that they might drift over to some 'let's have a revolution' thinking.
I have this feeling that the royals are having a discussion this weekend and realizing that one way or another.....they won't have an insider seat, or they simply get paid $54.02 for their stock situation (per share). They might be a bit fearful of what a Elon-Twitter landscape would mean for freedom of speech within the desert empire.
Someone did a poll this week and the topic of Covid being a serious crisis came up. So....NINE percent of people still consider it a serious crisis. 91-percent of people don't rank it as a serious crisis at this point.
To be honest, from about early 2021....I didn't really rank it as a crisis. This came about a week after my own episode with Covid.
As a kid, I had pneumonia and I have a high respect for that bout. Covid didn't match up in terms of strength or character.
What does this nine-percent number indicate?
Three observations:
1. These are probably the people who still wear masks, dab alcohol on their hands after each store visit, and never allow cousin-Frank, aunt-Jacky, or neighbor-Omar to enter the house.
2. To be honest, if you asked the right question....these are permanently 'fried' people who will never get over the anxiety of Covid.
3. For the remainder of our lives....this nine-percent group will have broken off and become a non-participating segment of society. It's almost like a religious cult group.
I'm not saying this is a big negative....it's just the remains of the crisis....which can't evaporate or diminish any further. Give them the safety and security they desire....wishing them 'luck'.
The rest of us? We'll move on.
One way or another.....Twitter will controlled by Elon Musk when the smoke clears. he'll either own ALL of the company, or 51-percent (my humble opinion).
What'll happen then? My seven predictions:
1. The top level of management will be paid off and will walk out the front door.
2. Twitter will end having some type of free-deal, premium-lite deal (probably $5 a month) and some Premium-extra deal (probably in the range of $25 a month).
3. I don't see the name of Twitter lasting. I think within days....Elon will re-name the organization.
4. Staying in California? No. I think Elon will announce their movement to Texas or some 'friendly' state within 30 days of ownership. It's possible that Nashville might even get the company.
5. Who really quits? I would suggest that around sixty-percent of the employees are NOT juvenile-behavior adults, and would prefer to work for Elon.....more than the current management.
That said....I think one-third of the employees will immediately find 'cause' to leave in an abrupt way.....only to discover that they aren't that highly valued in the market at present.
Some mental health folks will be brought in to assess and help the freaked-out folks....creating a new 'safe-zone' (Musk-free). This behavior will be considered a problem for future employment with any company.
6. California tax losses with Twitter possibly leaving the state? It'll be openly discussed, and trigger several other companies in the state to review their necessity to stay.
7. Twitter probably will not survive as a public company (with stock), so all profits will fall into Elon's hands. Prior to this point....the company paid no dividends....so it was not really that profitable for the entire past decade.
Under Elon, avoid California taxes, and cutting salaries at the new location....I see Twitter making a fair amount of profit.
So to my final assessment.....there are certain people who've play the game 'Monopoly' enough....that they have an internal strategy and can play at the maximum level possible....even as a 12-year-old kid. Elon has walked in and maxed-out on these skills. He knows every single angle of commerce....banking, and public messaging. As smart as the Twitter current management may think they are.....they probably can't match Elon's skill-level.
Musk will win in the end....no matter how this is played out.
Rather surprising....the Republican leadership finally said that the method by which Presidential debates have been run....is so corrupted....that there's no reason to continue the debates. Yeah, they left.
Some people want to suggest that the Lincoln-Douglas debate was the original situation....but this was simply a one-time episode....where two very capable guys met and had a even-handed debate situation. It ought to be noted....there was NO moderator. The two agreed on the format.....had a talking time limit, and it was rather simple.
For about a hundred years....we progressed without debates.
This attempt in 1956 to get Eisenhower and Stevenson to debate? Never went anywhere.
The four debates in 1960? They basically worked against Nixon in a big way.
After that debate.....sixteen years would pass before the next round of debates would occur. Ford-Carter would be the next attempt.....with Carter getting a lot of position off the debates.
What will happen in 2024? No debates....pure and simple.
Personally, I'd like to have debates but I think they can only be done under two conditions:
1. Set up a moderator-on-candidate (one on one, both seated at some table) situation....where the candidate can pick his interview moderator himself.
2. Allow a face-to-face debate....but set up a list of known questions ahead of time, which both must answer.
What'll happen in 2028? I think the new networks will be desperate enough to agree to various conditions, and some marginal debate between candidates will occur.
Lets be honest about this....some of our past candidates were a big 'zero' on debate skills (both parties have had characters like that). I'm not sure debates really solve much on assessing people.
One of the curious stories I came across yesterday.....in all the hype of the 6th of January 'insurrection' business....someone for the government finally sat down and admitted that around twenty participants of the situation....were Federal 'assets'.
The admitting game? Well....this only covered the FBI and Alcohol, Tabacco, Firearms folks. Other federal organizations that might have had 'assets' deployed? There are probably thirty other organizations that might have this type of asset, and you just sit there and wonder....did they also have their 'agents' in the mix?
Who works for who? You don't know.
How does the FBI pay for their 'assets'? You don't know.
Are there CNN or Fox News people hired to be 'assets'? You don't know.
How many assets exist in America? You don't know. It might be fewer than a thousand....it might be as many as ten-thousand.
You might walk around the University of Tennessee campus and not realize that five of the students might be on some FBI payroll and collecting data.
You might walk into Goggle or Twitter headquarters.....not realizing that ten of their most trusted people....are FBI 'assets'.
A member or two of the Atlanta Falcons NFL club....potentially assets? Maybe.
The thing I wonder about....going back to the 6th of January 2021....did the asset just report what they saw, or were they part of the planning process? But you need not worry....no one will ever stand and admit that part of the story.
No. You don't have such a right, and I would seriously question how you'd write this 'right' into the Constitution.
You also don't have the right to a non-dementia Supreme Court Justice, House member or US Senator. You don't have the right to non-dementia IRS managers, non-dementia State Department folks, or non-dementia CIA/FBI agents.
When you get down to it.....you don't even have the right for a non-dementia muffler-repair technician, non-dementia coffee shop manager, or non-dementia bank clerk.
The current estimate (by the CDC) is that around 5.6-million Americans over the age of sixty....have some developing or full-scale episode of dementia. If you do the statistical game.....the numbers are two women having a form of dementia....to every single guy.
The odds that at least one Supreme Court Justice has some developing signs of dementia? Probably better than 50-percent.
The odds of three US Senators having some developing signs of dementia? Probably better than 50-percent.
You can talk about this as much as you desire....but you don't have a right to non-dementia people being in responsible positions.
At the end of 2019, my wife dragged me to Cats (the movie). We rarely go to movies and I think this was the third movie of the year that we attended. It was one of those rare events.
About fifteen minutes into the movie....I just started to think....why would anyone want to make some musical movie out of this?
About the 20th minute...I had consumed all of my 20-ounce Coke....thinking it would help to keep me awake.
About minute 33, I was nodding off...fighting it. About minute 38, my wife poked me to remind me not to fall asleep during the movie.
About minute 45, I stepped out to go to the bathroom.....where I purchased a second 20-ounce Coke.
Around minute 105, I came to the realization that it was finally coming to an end. Five minutes later....it ended.
The studio says they spent between 80 and 100 million to make/market the movie. Box office return? Presently around 75-million.....so yeah, it was a loss.
I've generally kept my mouth shut on the movie, but I have to say that it was really one of the most boring movies I've ever watched....yes, even worse than the 2014 'Noah' or the 2010 'Last Airbender'. At some point with Noah, I kept thinking....Noah, you just need to pack a bag and head off to safe place.
Someone needs to make a simulant for movies like this....to sell you at the door.
There was a poll done, and the question regarded.....are you better off or worse off, or just about average....on your situation today.
Just 7-percent of people said they (in America) were better off today. That's its.
Thirty-three percent said they were worse off today.
This was a CBS poll, so I don't have any reason to think it was corrupted.
If you'd asked me personally....I wouldn't use the word 'better-off' or 'worse-off'. I'd just say my frustration level is higher than at any point of the past forty years. If you asked how many different things I'm frustrated on....it'd go way higher than a hundred.
I gazed at the 7-percent of people who said they were better off.
Who makes up this group?
I would guess a quarter of the group are 90 years old or older.....having lived through the 1930s depression era, and having the ability to eat ice cream every day (cheap ice cream) makes this era great.
Another quarter are probably meth-opioid-crack users, and as long as they have enough cash to pay for their habit....things are fine.
Another quarter are probably mentally unbalanced people (paranoid schizophrenic's) and they imagine themselves in the middle of a circus-atmosphere, dining with Jesus, or drinking pure tap water but believe it has the taste of a fine Kentucky whisky.
Then the final quarter....these are people who smoke some fine and extra strong cannabis (weed) and they seem to grin even when they've stopped to tank up the car, or while chatting with the Piggly Wiggly bag-kid. These are the same people who binge-watch past episodes of Adam-12, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres.
So I agree....these people exist, but in terms of their opinion mattering....I'd give it a zero.
Since the fall of 2010, I've had this weird interest in this TV show....the 'Walking Dead' (the series over zombies). I admit....it's just a weird show, and it's become like a soap opera than anything else. So, there are ten things that I've learned or figured out via the TV series:
1. Basically, once your group gets to around sixteen people.....that's it for organization and avoiding stress/chaos. A group of forty or more.....starts to put all kinds of demands on folks.
2. In such a situation, the best place to locate to? An island with little to no bridges.
3. Black guys (at least from the show prospective)....seem to have the worst of luck. Older white guys seem to want mass organization (lead-the-world situations).
4. By day 155.....pretty much all beer will have been consumed and you need to find smart guys who know how to brew.
5. No one seems to worry about birth-control or having relations with crazy women, or cousins.
6. No one seems concerned that the NFL, NBA or pro-wrestling went 'away'.
7. You never seem to see anyone lit up on heron, cocaine, or cannabis.
8. Somewhere around day 488.....the toilet paper situation ought to become dire.
9. People seem to be getting along fine without CNN, WaPo, or any news.
10. You just get the impression that kids with a 5th grade education probably are about as far as you are going to get in zombie-times.
For about a week, I've been surveying my home state of Alabama and this new law....prohibiting gender surgical procedures for folks under 18, and prohibiting puberty blockers/hormones for folks under 18. Naturally, it's to be challenged.
Also contained is wording for teachers to refrain from gender identities chatter or sexual orientation in schools.
So I've sat and pondered over the matter. Having spent the late 1960s and most of the 1970s in the Alabama school system....I can assess some things.
First, by the time I reached the 10th grade....I'd come to realize that about fifty percent of the teachers of the time (some just out of college in the past five years) were incompetent and not capable of meeting the basic requirements.
I'm not calling them stupid...just that they were unprepared to be instructors, and in some cases.....were themselves (after four years of college) not prepared for the profession or the landscape.
If you asked me if anything had changed since the late 1970s? I doubt it. Half of them are probably still incompetent, and these are the idiots who'd want to 'gift' you their vast knowledge on gender identities or orientation.
Second, if all of this 'rights' business makes sense....why can't the 13-year old kid get the right to marriage? Seriously.....if you were bending over so much to give so much 'entitlement' to these poor kids.....if they wanted to marry up with some 25-year old guy, or some forty-five year old gal....wouldn't that right fall into play as well?
Third, I just get this impression.....any minute now....these mature kids (age 13 or 14) would be asking for a driver's license or just state the obvious that they are smart enough to wrap up the 9th grade and go out seeking a job.
Fourth, all this begs the question....are there really that many confused kids out there? I mean....in the whole state....are we talking about 6,000 kids fitting this profile? Or are we talking about sixty kids who seem confused?
Fifth, is it possible that we might drag this into a 200,000 man-hour mess state-wide....where confusion starts up over gender identity, and each week....some kids wake up....confused about being X, but waking up the next week and being confused about being Y....then repeating this every other week. Would we be spending more time (in the end) talking about this....than actual class material?
Sixth and final.....isn't this all leading to some bully-versus-bully school fight, with adults in the middle?
With the past ten days focused on Elon Musk and his nature of wanting to 'fix' Twitter.....I've come back to what made me leave Twitter:
1. Twitter came out of a 'pit' of nothing and was more or less the replacement for newspapers.
An essayist could thrive by writing editorials on his own....without being obliged or 'owned' by some news group.
In simple terms, we got fresh new prospectives (something that network TV or news magazines could not deliver).
At some point around 2016.....some folks who ran Twitter suddenly grasped that this prospective thing was now using conservative chatter. That had to be fixed, and for four years.....week after week.....whatever had been gain prior to 2016...was now lost.
2. Twitter employees felt it was their little world....their creation, and that their ideals of content....was stronger than allowing things to progress on their own.
Twitter prior to 2016? It was a open 'field'. Anyone could talk with like-minded people....from Barbados....to Estonia.
Twitter after 2016? It was locked down, and really being geared to like-minded people who were Twitter-like.
3. Twitter became by 2016.....highly politicized. If you measured things today? It's probably doubled on political intensity. It's loaded with propaganda....some openly pumped out and sanctioned by Twitter management.
You have to be vigilant on a daily basis....if you are to use Twitter in this period of time.
How I see Musk?
I think Musk sees Twitter as a 'candy-store' that the adult leadership has left the store, and left it to 12-year-old kids to run. I believe he's going to enter the 'candy-store', and will either fire the juvenile kids....or in the literal sense....burn the 'candy-store' to the ground.
I don't think the juveniles in charge really grasp how far in the corner that they've been pushed, and that the bulk of Twitter remaining content-writers/participants.....aren't that thrilled about their way of running things.
Finally, for a stock holding a value of $46 a share.....it pays zero dividends. It's a crappy stock and from any investment portfolio......I'd gauge it as a 'garbage-stock'. This begs the question....isn't it time that they pack up and leave California.....get a profit plan in their mind.....pay the stock-holders, and show something (anything)?
I think this Musk plan will eventually open up and shock the current crowd.....by moving the whole operation to Texas, with a signal to California....that it is part of the problem with Twitter as well.
Note: I am also a impowered Twitter stock owner (50-odd shares), and hold it more to vote in their shareholder meetings....than to have anything paying me real profits.
First, it's a French-made series that has been around for five years. A season is eight episodes (roughly 45 minutes each), and they've made two seasons. Because of Covid, I doubt that a season three will be made.
What would I call the show? Well....it's a criminal-detective-horror-thriller. Yeah, it's pretty weird.
If you asked me....it's like some French guys discovered 'Twin Peaks' of 1980s fame, and decided to write the weirdest series possible.
The landscape? Here is some valley in southern France....where radio signals don't arrive (no one knows why). A prosecutor from the state has been 'fired' and sent to the this town to handle cases. About every week.....there's some murder going on....weird forest stuff exists, and there's some pretty evil intent by various locals.
On just plain weird script? I'd have to give it a '10'.
On using the term 'Black Spot' for the title? I agree....that conveys nothing much and it was a lousy choice. On use of English translations? They actually did an outstanding there.
So I recommend the show (off Netflex) but will tell you....it is a bit weird.
1. Some journalists working for NBC news have a fear that MSNBC hiring Biden's 'talker' (Psaki) will bring shame to the network news.
Frankly, there's about six tons of shame laying on the NBC/MSNBC floor, and it can't get much worse.
2. Some guy claims to have all the 'erased' stuff off Hunter Biden's laptop, and that he will bring it back to reality by the end of April.
My guess is that it's just all romance-novel stuff that Hunter tried to write back in 2016. Working title: Mistress Mabel, The French Count, and the Wicked Things They Did in Cyprus.
3. Ric Flair (of wrestling fame) says of the Oscars/Will Smith episode: "I didn't think it was real."
Yes, Ric says it kinda looked like honest-to-God-fake-wrestling.
Since Ric said that....I must admit, I tend to agree with Ric....it did look like some 'hit' that Dusty Rhodes would done on Junkyard Dog.
4. There does appear to be over 14,000 things to toxify your body now.
Pretty much....buttermilk is the last thing suggested as 'bad' for you.
5. Some study has concluded that eating avocados twice a week....slashes the odds of you having a heart-attack.
Before you get hyped-up....studies over the years has said that full-up diet (several avocados a week) takes off weight (mostly because of the high fiber making you feel full). It might be more weight gone....is what lessens the heart-attack angle.
6. Finally, in the case of that Parkland school shooting (way back in Feb 2018)....local court is finally getting to a start-up of the court episode on the Cruz kid.
Jury selection started this week, and one gal appeared in front of the judge....noting she was married (I assume happily) but would not be able to fulfill the jury obligation because she had a full-time 'sugar-daddy' situation that required her attention.
I came to realize that a number of folks from Alabama....aren't really up on the expression of 'sugar daddy'....so this is my simple explanation for the 'hobby'.
Explanation: Over at the general store...sits Karl Macky who keeps spare change for the Coke machine. Dixie is a hot-blooded gal with lust in her heart.....who will approach Karl for some soda-money.....using sexual tension to ease him out of his 50-cents. Dixie is willing to sit for hours and hear Karl's stories while sipping on a free Coke. You take this scenario, and 'turbo-ize' it by three-hundred times.....then you get the correct image of a 'sugar-daddy'.
Apparently, the judge accepted the logic of a 'sugar-daddy' situation....not asking for his name or if he was married already. I would have asked if she reported the income from the sugar-daddy to IRS....which might have been a difficult thing to answer.
This past week....Musk went out with his billions and bought around 9-percent of Twitter. I would say the best description of the 24 hours after that....it'd be like some kid putting a crate of fireworks on a bonfire, with people standing there in anticipation of what is to come.
By the end of the week....a fair number of Twitter employees were all worried about what Musk is going to do, and the CEO discussed this with Musk....to which Elon said....why don't you just run a townhall meeting and give me questions to answer? So this is being arranged.
It appears to be an employee-viewing only (I'd actually pay $40 to view the 'chat'). Occurring? Well....the hint is next week.
What will Musk say? I've sat and pondered over this, and written my Musk-intro to this townhall (if this were me speaking):
Good morning.
So to begin with....if you didn't grasp my background....I don't run failed companies like K-Mart, Blockbuster, Polaroid, Pan Am, or Tower Records.
To be honest, running failed strategies around Map-Quest, Atari, or Enron wouldn't suit my taste, and probably would not be on your top five-hundred desires in life.
I also don't accept stagnant innovation, having useless employees around, or having a dozen levels of management existing.
I hire people to a job description. That's your focus....if you think you've got a dozen-odd jobs....like lecturing people, or writing filler-material for 'content', or being judge-and-jury over some non-existent problem....maybe this is not your job.
For those who come into work each day....all tangled up over personal issues and you can't seem to contribute to the end-purpose of the company....you either need to clean your personal situation or move on.
Sheep-herders are hired to safely stand over and protect their flock. Rocket engineers are hired to build rockets to get men from 'A' to 'B'....with the highest regard for safety and mission accomplished. Nurses are hired to take the weak or injured into their care and provide a statistical chance of recovery. You were hired with some intent to give Twitter a world-class platform, which enables people to communicate, share ideas, and give an 'entry' to voices to be heard. If you don't share that vision....maybe you need to move on.
If you think you are a content-writer or content-owner....you are misguided. Nothing on Twitter today is owned by the company....we simply supply the platform.
So in summing this up....Twitter is going to the next level....to innovate, improve, and to give the world a voice. If you have a thought-process that prevents that, or personal woes that drain your outlook on life, or feel a need to be a part of a Sears-like or Circuit City-like operation....well, good luck with that resume. Maybe one day, you will rejoin Twitter....more motivated.
Questions?
Oh, and before we get to this part....my chief pronoun of use is 'WE'.....that is...if you are on the Twitter team. I don't have time to waste in assembling 44k pronoun 'games' and wondering about how this pronoun improves the functional use of the stupid 'edit-button' for Twitter.
While stationed in Panama.....we had pretty crappy phonelines, and on rare occasions....you'd pick up your office phone to call out, and there would be two parties somehow connected to your open phone.
So one day....I picked up my phone, and here were two American ladies....who were into an afternoon gossip session.
I sat there for a good ten minutes while this discussion went on about some gal that both knew.....who was having some affair with two guys besides her husband. It was pretty 'juicy' gossip, and very descriptive.
At some point....I was thinking....do I just hang up....or what?
Somewhere around minute eleven of this experience....I interrupted the talk of the two ladies, and that noted to both that they were under investigation for something (never saying what).
There was silence for about 10 seconds....then both of them uttering some one-word comment, then they hung up.
I hung up, and sat there for a while...wondering what the two would do. They both probably met over coffee somewhere the next day, and discussed what they might be investigated for. Use of the phone from that point on? Probably zero.
But I also think they probably discussed the neighbor gal a good bit, and probably thought she was already under investigation as well.
1. Empty-suit politicians. You can admit it.....if they were suffering from inflation....they'd boot up another pay-raise and push the pay up 15-percent to make up for the 'pain'.
2. People that live under bridges. Do you really see anyone who was already a bridge-guy....doing any worse today, than he did five years ago?
3. Dopers. Let's be honest....dopers consume less than 1,500 calories a day and it could be just plain bean dip and tap water. They are still getting their 'fix'.....no matter how the escalation situation has gone.
4. Drug-dealers. Have you seen or heard any drug-dealers talking about how bad off they are?
5. CNN-talking heads.
6. Hunter Biden. His art stuff sells....just don't ask why.
7. Mennonites. They weren't big spenders in the economy before Joe Biden came along, and they won't be big spenders after he's gone.
In case you missed it yesterday....Elon Musk went out and bought around 9-percent of Twitter (quietly over the past month).
His plan? He doesn't really say much.
Yes, he does have a problem with Twitter's view of free speech.
I looked up the stock-holder meeting (they are mandated)....it's the last week of May....roughly seven weeks away.
So the obvious thing to ask....is he going to enter the meeting with an agenda....to let various members of the board go, or possibly rewrite the way that the company functions?
I predict three things to likely occur:
1. Behind his 9-percent, there will probably be dozens of fairly-well-to do folks, with his thinking....who set out to buy $100k to $500k of the stock each. If you were curious....before all of this occurred, the stock was around $33 (end of Feb). At the close of yesterday, the stock was now at $49.97.
You can also toss in tens of thousands of folks who will go and buy anywhere between 25 and 500 shares....to support Musk in his strategy.
I won't say he'll control 50-plus percent of the stock-holders....but it'll be fairly close.
2. The pro-Twitter people being disturbed by this action? Maybe....if so, the price of the stock will escalate even more. Just a humble guess, but in four weeks time (early May)....it wouldn't shock me if the two groups have escalated the stock price up to $500 a share. It's anyone's guess where the stock will be at the stock-holder meeting time.
3. Does Musk have to terminate the whole board? No. In my scenario, he only has to select three or four of the employees, and maybe one or two of the board members. Vijaya Gadde? Yeah, she's probably on that list of people to be let go. In simple terms....he's going to put a 500 lb guerrilla into the room, and just sit back to see what happens next.
Last week, you could have bought 100 shares for around $4,200. Now? It's pretty close to $5,000. In ten days, I think the same 100 shares will be around $20,000. A risky game? Yeah, and it reminds me of the Gamestop episode of 2021. If you remember that episode.....Gamestop eventually got up to around $360.
The funny part of this? We all want Musk to succeed.
You might expect a 60 page essay on this political topic, but it really should just be 40 lines.
In the late 1700s....as politics developed in America....there were two general parties....the Democrats, and the Whigs.
Somewhere around the 1830s/1840s....there's some 'heartburn' going on within the Whig Party (the conservatives). There's some anti-Catholicism going on....there's anti-Irish sentiments brewing....and there's some urbanization worries going on.
So in 1844....a fair amount of the Whig Party dissolved into the 'Know Nothing' Party. Their political stances? They hyped up labor rights....women's rights....and regulation of industry.
I should state the obvious, there were elements of suggestion that various men within the party were supposed to be members of 'secret societies'. You know....guys who met in back rooms and plotting the overthrow of local, state, or the national government.
I should also state that the 'Know Nothing' crowd had a lot of enthusiasm over the temperance movement, and bringing alcohol to an end in America.
For roughly sixteen years, the 'Know Nothing' Party existed. By the end of the 1850s....the 'Know Nothing' group was mostly developed to be a political action group that hyped politics at every turn, and physical violence was a common theme for membership.
In a sense, the entire 1850-period is a us-versus-them landscape, with politics thrown into a blender, and spitting out national turmoil.
So in 1860, along come Lincoln....to transform the 'Know Nothing' Party into the Republican Party.....and in his mind, to lessen the tension going on. To achieve this success, the Civil War is the ultimate fix for this chaos. By 1865, political turmoil has been lessened and the us-versus-them mentality rapidly decreases.
You might argue that the Civil War was mostly about slavery. But the whole 1850s period is about a fractured nation, with civil conflict being the only exit out of the 1850s. Slavery just happened to be a by-product for this chaos.
For a number of years....the UN has done something called the 'Happiness' report, and they rank countries.
So last week....for the 5th year in a row....Finland was declared the happiest country in the world.
I sat and pondered over this. A couple of years ago....I spent a week in Helsinki. It was an odd experience (at least for an American).
So, to get some things out of the way and relate to this happiest state of mind....Finns are people who don't get overly excited or bent out-of-shape over chaos. In fact, if you asked most Finns about chaos....they would interpret it to mean that the flashlight batteries finally died.....the 16-year-old coffee-machine crapped-out this morning, or their 44-year old daughter called this morning to announce she was finally marrying her boyfriend....having dated him for almost seventeen years.
Yes, if you had to value stoic tendencies....compared to most people....you'd have to take the scale of one-to-ten, and reset it to one-to-fourteen....to fit Finns into the proper range.
A lot of people don't realize this about Finns, but on average....they tend to consume a quarter-gallon of milk every single day. That puts them at number one in the world on milk consumption.
The folks who originated the idea of a internet 'browser'? Well....they were Finns (1992).
The first satellite call via a cellphone? Well....the Finns did that in 1994.
Linux code? Yeah, that was a Finn thing as well.
Finns tend to think about things....in a deep way. Texting people? That was openly discussed by Finns in the mid-1980s.
The harsh winter affecting outcomes? There's no doubt that marginal hours of sunshine in the winter period probably has some effect on the way people think or behave.
In my belief....Finns don't have much time to squander on being unhappy.
If that coffee machine of sixteen years finally failed this morning....they are more likely to ask why, and tear the machine apart tonight after returning home from work....to resolve the failure and possibly make it better.
If the daughter did have great news of her soon-to-be marriage (after 17 years of dating)....the parents might ask 'why rush things'.
As for anyone overtaking Finland next year on this happiness scale? No....forget about that. They've got the edge for the next hundred years.
About ten days ago, I tried watching the movie off Netflix, ended it around 75-percent into the experience. For me, several elements just weren't working. Yesterday.....I went back to the half-way point of the movie, and then completed 125-minute movie (more or less forcing myself to the end). My observations:
1. It is based in 1925, on a cattle ranch, in Montana....so they try to tell this story as a authentic western. I generally give it a marginal 'truth' on that element of being a western.
It's like saying 'Hud' (1963) was a western. That also fails.
2. Just about everyone in the movie with some significance....has serious physiological problems, or their text is written to explain how they all got this way.
3. Cumberbatch and Dunst give some great performances.
4. Jessie Plemons as 'George'? It's a wasted role and you could have gotten any unknown guy to fulfill the part, and done just as well.
5. On the scale for a physiological drama....I'd give it almost a '9'.
6. Based on a book? Well....you have to go back to 1967 when it was printed. It's been around for over 50 years in text form.
7. 'Rose', the only major female role of the movie? Well.....it's best to say that she's delicate....fairly fragile....and probably not capable of handling much stress or chaos in life.
8. Developed as a book and movie.....to be a 'Greek epic story'? Well....yeah, it goes off into that direction to tell what is a simple ten-line story over two brothers (both fairly mixed-up), a dead ranch-hand named Bronco Henry (he's been dead for almost 20 years), a alcoholic fragile 'Rose', Rose's son who seems to be in need of help, and a ranch in some remote area of Montana.
9. To do a 'Power of the Dog' II? I sat there thinking about this. 'Peter' (son of Rose), would be curious to see what happened to him in the decade that followed (1925 to 1935). The marriage between Rose and George.....did she stay on, or perhaps murder George at some point? Might it be interesting to go back to 1903/1904 and meet this Bronco Henry guy?
10. I won't call it a failure, but it's just a long twisted movie that reminds one of a 'tango-like' dance, where you kept waiting for the end, and you found out that Phil got oddly sick, and died (rather quickly).
I'll just say this.....Greeks wrote tragic opera stories....mostly to entertain folks from about two-thousand years ago, and their style might not be for everyone.
