I sat today reading over the story from the London Guardian.....that suggests that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met privately with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Three times, I should note.
Manafort? He says it's totally fake and suggests that he will take legal measures....to sue the Guardian.
So how did the Guardian suggest this story? The comment is one single “well-placed source.”
The three meetings? 2013, 2015 and 2016.
Did they occur? Well....the only single source that might have some legit say...would be the Ecuadorian Embassy. The British police? They might have some team sitting there 24-hours a day and monitoring the place.....but to identify all of those who enter?
The only explanation on how the Guardian knows this stuff? Bond, James Bond. He was standing across from the embassy on all three occasions waiting for "M" to arrive to have an Ale and get new instructions, and he happened to see Manafort enter.
The odds that someone fed the Guardian some fake story.....to lead Mueller on a wild-goose chase? They'd have to go and get Assange in on this situation....then Assange leave the embassy with the US demanding to grab him. Then Assange would spend six months leading Mueller on....with some suggestion that he might know something. A deal would be made.....no charges on Assange, with US residency allowed. Then Assange lowers the 'boom'.....there were no visits.
Thursday, 29 November 2018
Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Understanding the GM Decision
Go take an hour's drive around any rural or urbanized community. Count the more modern vehicles (less than eight years old)...divide them into the category of sedan, truck, SUV, or crossover. The bulk of cars you see fit into trucks, SUVs, or crossover vehicles. Where you do find sedens....it's high-end type....sporty models....Asian models (Japanese or South Korean), or normal US-made sedens driven by folks over the age of fifty.
GM set up a strategy and stuck to it.....the customer base? They went to something else over the past decade.
When they did try to build a seden.....they scored marginal point with pieces of crap like their Impala model (loads of noise, jolts on every bump, poorly designed seats, etc).
If you went to some eighteen year old kid who will graduate this year from high school, and they'd like to get a new car for college coming up.....it won't be a US seden.
Should they have realized this impact back around 2010? I suspect that the statistical crowd was telling them every quarter that they had a problem, and they refused to change their strategy.
GM set up a strategy and stuck to it.....the customer base? They went to something else over the past decade.
When they did try to build a seden.....they scored marginal point with pieces of crap like their Impala model (loads of noise, jolts on every bump, poorly designed seats, etc).
If you went to some eighteen year old kid who will graduate this year from high school, and they'd like to get a new car for college coming up.....it won't be a US seden.
Should they have realized this impact back around 2010? I suspect that the statistical crowd was telling them every quarter that they had a problem, and they refused to change their strategy.
Tuesday, 27 November 2018
Discernment
There are a hundred skills to develop in life (being able to handle finances, resilience, critical thinking, empathy, handling stress, etc)....but I tend to rank discernment as the one skill you need to have some capability over by age 18, and hopefully have a fair amount by age twenty-five.
Discernment is where you are faced with an issue/problem....prioritize the situation, and opt for the best possible solution (maybe not the perfect solution). Basically, it's wisdom being utilized to resolve something.
Can a school or university teach or lay out discernment? I'd argue that unless you end up in a class of logic-thinking or some history course where you have to debate events as part of the grading process....you won't find this as a school offering.
The problem is that you need people with discernment talents. You need some to look at something and admit that the program or project is doomed and will never work. You need a guy who can tell you why your life-plan needs work. You need discernment skills to tell you that the $80k being spent on some crappy worthless degree is a waste. You need this type of thinker to point out the dangers of partying after midnight at a honky-tonk with thugs is stupid.
You would think some college would go out and start a course in this....related to logic or philosophy....and entice young people to develop this skill.
Discernment is where you are faced with an issue/problem....prioritize the situation, and opt for the best possible solution (maybe not the perfect solution). Basically, it's wisdom being utilized to resolve something.
Can a school or university teach or lay out discernment? I'd argue that unless you end up in a class of logic-thinking or some history course where you have to debate events as part of the grading process....you won't find this as a school offering.
The problem is that you need people with discernment talents. You need some to look at something and admit that the program or project is doomed and will never work. You need a guy who can tell you why your life-plan needs work. You need discernment skills to tell you that the $80k being spent on some crappy worthless degree is a waste. You need this type of thinker to point out the dangers of partying after midnight at a honky-tonk with thugs is stupid.
You would think some college would go out and start a course in this....related to logic or philosophy....and entice young people to develop this skill.
Postcard From My Trip
Their 'drive' was settled around six months of just driving through every single inch of the country, and into some rough vallies. They had the tool-kit, the camping gear, the grub, and all the necessities of life.
They had the gear to camp out, and occasionally stay in a hotel or B/B.
Back in the 1960s and 1970s....you could have done this and had zero fear except for lions or snakes. Today? With all the violence and criminal activity....it's generally unwise.
There used to be people in the US who'd go and do some three-month period of adventure trek, and live out of a jeep for weeks. Today, it's rare.
On Tear-Gas
I sat and watched some news piece this morning over the crowd at the Texas border, and the use of tear-gas. The journalist (safe to say they were awful supportive of the migrant guys)....laid out this terrible in-humane use of tear-gas. After sixty seconds of their chatter, you had this feeling that it was the 'end of the world' for these people who'd been hit with the tear-gas.
I sat over this.
Around in January of 1978 (six months into my enlistment into the Air Force), I was in-processing through the last part of Rhein Main's introduction period, which meant a half-day of fake combat training (my term for it). You had to be able to grasp the wearing of the chem-warfare suit, and there was this three-hour period where they talked about the terrible things which would occur if war started up and the Soviets used chemical warfare.
Then came this brief one-hour introduction to the gas-mask, and a visit to the 'room'. You basically entered with a group of five folks and the instructor....with the full-up mask on. The instructor had some tear-gas capsule set off, and he wanted you to take the mask off....count to three....then put the mask back on.
You got a pretty good 'huff' of tear-gas. Then he let you leave the chamber. It was one of those miserable experiences that you disliked, and repeated every twelve months, for the next 18 years. Toward the last three years in the Air Force, I found various ways to skip out and miss the training episode. So I probably did at least fifteen of these tear-gas episodes.
I kinda look at the journalist hype and just start laughing. It's harsh stuff, but it won't kill you. If you don't like tear-gas....don't get into some stupid environment where it's going to be used.
I sat over this.
Around in January of 1978 (six months into my enlistment into the Air Force), I was in-processing through the last part of Rhein Main's introduction period, which meant a half-day of fake combat training (my term for it). You had to be able to grasp the wearing of the chem-warfare suit, and there was this three-hour period where they talked about the terrible things which would occur if war started up and the Soviets used chemical warfare.
Then came this brief one-hour introduction to the gas-mask, and a visit to the 'room'. You basically entered with a group of five folks and the instructor....with the full-up mask on. The instructor had some tear-gas capsule set off, and he wanted you to take the mask off....count to three....then put the mask back on.
You got a pretty good 'huff' of tear-gas. Then he let you leave the chamber. It was one of those miserable experiences that you disliked, and repeated every twelve months, for the next 18 years. Toward the last three years in the Air Force, I found various ways to skip out and miss the training episode. So I probably did at least fifteen of these tear-gas episodes.
I kinda look at the journalist hype and just start laughing. It's harsh stuff, but it won't kill you. If you don't like tear-gas....don't get into some stupid environment where it's going to be used.
Sunday, 25 November 2018
DNA Story
It's an interesting science piece from the Brit Daily Mail.....which discussed DNA discoveries, and the likely history of mankind.
Scientists went and took DNA samples from 100,000 animals, and to include humans in the 'test'. Conclusion? Roughly 250,000 years ago...something of a major consequence occurred, with ONLY one set of parents left for the humans, and roughly 90-percent of the animal breeds (across the globe). That one set of parents....reignited life on Earth.
The scientists in this project? More or less shocked....every single theory that they had on evolution...now, more or less, tossed out the door.
Questions? Thousands of them.
The last big enormous event to wipe out most life on Earth.....was 65 million years ago (that killed off the dinosaurs finally, or at least they believed that). So was there another big wipe-out in the range of 250,000 years ago? No one has ever suggested that.
The Noah story? Well....the problem here is that you have various lands which weren't land-connected and animals would not have crossed over to re-populate regions.
So you end up alien-Joe and alien-Francis, who arrived and reset the balance of things on Earth.....that's my theory. Various animals were dumped off in certain areas, and the world was given some kind of chance number 2.
Scientists went and took DNA samples from 100,000 animals, and to include humans in the 'test'. Conclusion? Roughly 250,000 years ago...something of a major consequence occurred, with ONLY one set of parents left for the humans, and roughly 90-percent of the animal breeds (across the globe). That one set of parents....reignited life on Earth.
The scientists in this project? More or less shocked....every single theory that they had on evolution...now, more or less, tossed out the door.
Questions? Thousands of them.
The last big enormous event to wipe out most life on Earth.....was 65 million years ago (that killed off the dinosaurs finally, or at least they believed that). So was there another big wipe-out in the range of 250,000 years ago? No one has ever suggested that.
The Noah story? Well....the problem here is that you have various lands which weren't land-connected and animals would not have crossed over to re-populate regions.
So you end up alien-Joe and alien-Francis, who arrived and reset the balance of things on Earth.....that's my theory. Various animals were dumped off in certain areas, and the world was given some kind of chance number 2.
Tuesday, 20 November 2018
If I Were Going to Make the White House Press Rules
I'd have a list of ten rules for press behavior:
1. Your question can't be longer than 20 words.
2. If your question can't be understood by the typical average American, I'd ask you to rephrase it. If it take three requests to rephrase it, and they all fail my 'typical' test....then we skip you and move on.
3. You have to stand....state your name and press organization, then render the question, and finally sit as I respond.
4. The phrases 'don't you think' or 'haven't you thought' won't be used.
5. Any ridicule of the President or personal criticism.....renders your press pass void for two weeks.
6. Tie and suit required.
7. I'd only do the conference on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
8. If you attempt to make a speech (going two full minutes of chatter) as part of some fake-question....my answer will be for you 'Dallas Cowboys' (every single time).
9. At the end of each week, I would hand out a 'Jean-Claude Van Damme' award for most dramatic journalist of the week (to signify overacting or bad-acting).
10. The first row and priority questions would go to newspaper journalists of small towns in rural areas of the US. They would get the first three questions.
1. Your question can't be longer than 20 words.
2. If your question can't be understood by the typical average American, I'd ask you to rephrase it. If it take three requests to rephrase it, and they all fail my 'typical' test....then we skip you and move on.
3. You have to stand....state your name and press organization, then render the question, and finally sit as I respond.
4. The phrases 'don't you think' or 'haven't you thought' won't be used.
5. Any ridicule of the President or personal criticism.....renders your press pass void for two weeks.
6. Tie and suit required.
7. I'd only do the conference on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
8. If you attempt to make a speech (going two full minutes of chatter) as part of some fake-question....my answer will be for you 'Dallas Cowboys' (every single time).
9. At the end of each week, I would hand out a 'Jean-Claude Van Damme' award for most dramatic journalist of the week (to signify overacting or bad-acting).
10. The first row and priority questions would go to newspaper journalists of small towns in rural areas of the US. They would get the first three questions.
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