The Boris Image

Generally, whenever I hear the term "Russian meddling in the US election"....I have this image in my mind from the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons with Boris Badenov.

Boris Badenov was a fictional character of course.

Boris was invented in the late 1950s and was supposed to be the somewhat evil character...that was somewhere between being a German or a Soviet bad-guy.

After you've watched a couple hours of Rocky and Bullwinkle....you'd come to the conclusion that Boris was just a unlucky guy at situations.  He'd walk into a great situation, and minutes later find that he'd been outsmarted or just run into bad luck.

When I sit and watch CNN....I'm really trying hard not to visualize Boris....but typically, it only takes a minute of some dimwit with CNN talking and I've got Russian-meddling and Boris in my mind.

As much as Boris struggled and failed.....time after time....you got use to the Boris scheme and could figure out that American-branded Bullwinkle and Rocky would always walk away safe.

I've come to view the Russian meddling thing in the election as basically the same thing.  Whatever scheme was floated on the original version...it didn't really matter.  We....as Bullwinkle and Rocky....will walk away in a safe fashion.  It's virtually guaranteed.

As for future meddling?  Boris version II will appear in 2020 and 2024.  His sidekick....the slutty Natasha Fatale will probably accompany him.  CNN will interview both.  The arrival of the Russians will be hyped up and widely reported.  Some people will note that they were briefly swayed....mostly by the booze.....to trust CNN and Boris.  Eventually, we'll all have a good laugh.

On the Topic of Escalators

As a kid from the rural landscape of Alabama, I always had this fascination with escalators.  I was probably 12 or 13 years old when I 'rode' my first one.  In the period of 1978/1979 while in Frankfurt, I rode dozens.

For me, this was a mechanical curiosity.  You'd stand and admire the weight on one escalator and what amount of power it took to lift sixteen people to some second floor.  Then you'd admire the dependability and the fact that they rarely broke down.  You'd also reach a point where you wondered about the safety involved and the dangers.

While living in the DC area around 2010 to 2013....we had the episode where the escalator 'broke' and went into maximum turbo on the way down....literally throwing folks off down at the bottom. The escalator mechanics swore up and down....this was supposed to be impossible to occur.

For a long while, the longest escalator that I'd ever ridden was in a subway station in Munich....taking roughly 90 seconds to reach the ground surface.  Then I came to DC and rode the Wheaton Station escalator....which takes roughly two minutes to ride to the top (around 250 feet).  You can figure that that escalator was hauling a minimum of a 150 people in a rush-hour period, so there's a ton of 'power' to make this deliver.

I sat today and was reading up on the North Korean Pyongyang Metro system, and they have a single escalator there...where it can take almost four minutes to ride from the bottom to the top.  Figuring the load there?  Potentially, you might be talking about 500 Koreans riding on it in a rush-hour 'minute'.

If I were eighteen today?  I hate to admit it but out of the ten-thousand odd professions that I'd probably like to get into...would be the escalator technician work.  It's kinda like nursing....you'd be guaranteed work for the rest of your life.

Me and Money Dysmorphia

What is money dysmorphia?  You end up with some type of shame or guilt....that you ain't got enough money.  So you feel hostile when you visit your cousin's trailer, or your wife's brother who is on federal aid, or you go back to dad's house feeling pretty negative about your life.

I was very fortunate in life....I left the farm....went to the Air Force and my life got on track.

They gave me these swell uniforms to wear.

They offered up fine dining (with coffee and free Coke).  

They had nice barracks....sometimes even overly heated.

They had plenty of work to do....to keep your mind off this Dysmorphia stuff.

They offered cheap bowling and free gym services.

You got to meet interesting people....some bright and clever....some with a marginal IQ.

Eventually after 20 years.....you don't have any dysmorphia....you don't feel shame or guilt over money.  

The Fake PhD Story

Just a odd story over this Professor Jason Arday fellow.

He 'was' a British academic (sociology of education, focusing on race and inequality).

Born around 1985....to a Ghanaian-heritage family living in a south London neighbor.....he tells his 'hard' childhood story....having autism, developmental delay, and issues.

He says....up to age 18....he could read or write

He says....by 2015....he's got a PhD.

He then became a professor (including at Glasgow).  Around 2023 (age 37)....he gets appointed Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Cambridge (yeah, a big deal). 

On paper....he has claimed a lot....running (30 marathons in 35 days)....raising cash for charity operations....facing off some bad guys with knives.

So in recent weeks....the story has fallen apart.

Plagiarism has come up over his PhD. Various titles/jobs....simply didn't occur.  Yesterday, he resigned from the university.  Someone put his resignation letter to a AI-review....saying it's a high probability that AI wrote the letter for him.

All bogus?  Yeah

What now?  I assume....he goes back to the grocery operation and stocking shelves.

How the system failed so badly?  So far....no one answers that question.

It seems like....folks wanted the story to be so true.....that various indicators just failed to get public attention.