The term came up today in the news, with the Smollett episode.
At some point, prior to the fake MEGA attack, Smollett had gone to his two Nigerian (fake) associates, and wanted to bulk up like they were. If you go and look at pictures of the two....they look 'Hulk-Hogan-like'. Naturally, they hype that they've got the nutritional program, the work-out exercise, and the stamina to look this good.
Smollett....a couple of weeks prior to his MEGA episode, had come to view the 'look' and the $3,500 often discussed (payment for the attack)....actually was for the life energy coaching business. The brothers were going to help Smollett train, eat, and look fantastic. No, the money wasn't for the fake assault. At least, that's what the brothers say.
The brothers were basically life energy coaches. In Alabama plain-speak....someone to 'kick' your ass, make you eat spinach and low-fat foods, drag you through the dirt to live off 1,200 calories a day, push you to spend two hours a day working out, and to yell at you over health habits.
Most of us don't have $3,500 to throw around, and if we did.....we sure wouldn't have life energy coaches (we would have spent it on resodding the yard, a gas-grill, or a week-long trip to Aruba).
It is a modern-day development where life energy coaches now exist....some with special certificates, and some who've developed a national image (having appeared on the Today Show, or Doctor Phil). I think if you'd told your parents back in the 1970s that you were intent on becoming a life energy coach....they would have thought it was a basketball team or rugby-type sport situation. After the long explanation, your dad would have suggested grain sales, professional golfing, or agricultural implement belt dealer. He would have been blunt in that this life energy coach business....sounds 'fakish' to him.
The potential for this to be a major skilcraft? I'd question that. I spent 90 minutes last night looking around and browsing over people who got into this. Most had some type of two-year degree in nutritional science or physical rehab, and then they went onto to get three or four certificates to round out their resume. Their anticipation is that people just can't go and diet or train on their own anymore.....they need someone to 'yell' at them, and pester them daily.....to stay on some plan to evolve themselves.
How did we get into physical work-outs or body changes prior to this life energy business? I can remember the 1980s and 1990s....where people simply made up a 90-day plan....stuck with it, and about half of them reached the end-point with success, and out of that group....maybe a quarter of those folks found enthusiasm to continue the nutritional diets and significant work-out routines. So the bulk of folks just never stayed with the program. This life energy coaching business is the solution to overcome that shortfall.
A permanent thing? I have my doubts. But I suspect these two Nigerian (fake) guys probably have two-hundred people calling up and trying to get signed up with their program.
Sunday, 24 February 2019
Saturday, 23 February 2019
Bill Mahler Chat
Bill Maher (of HBO “Real Time” fame) did a speech this week, and chatted over the need of Amazon to go into the heartland and produce jobs in redstate America.
The logic? Bill will suggest that companies need to have a vision that involves “spatial geographic inequality.”
Yes, he makes the chat about the existence of clever and affluent people living in urbanized cities (blue regions) and that the redstate populations aren't connecting to the clever and affluent people.
For probably thirty years, this division in the Democratic Party has been going on. You can pull up voting maps, with counties displayed, and by the mid-1990s....the Democratic Party had 'air' leaking out of their voting trends, and each county that the Democrats won.....the Republicans won two other counties.
The idea that Amazon or any of the other top 500 companies will be picking rural America to base their operations? Zero-percent chance. Oh, there might a couple of companies that accidentally discover Huntsville, Alabama.....or Dayton, Ohio. But the majority of companies will say that putting the Amazon second headquarters in an area like Kingsport, TN or Vicksburg, MS....simply isn't going to happen. Amazon will pull out their top ten priorities, and to be honest....there's likely to only be thirty cities in the nation that provide what they want.
For Bill's vision to work, you'd have to assume that this trend will never reverse, and I'm not sure that's true. Eventually, black urban areas are going to finally ask what exactly did the Democratic Party deliver upon, and how well did the promised effort effectively work? The answer may be a problem to explain.
Also, you come to this false dividing line....the clever and affluent people having a better life or better circumstances? I suspect that a quarter of the blue-urbanized people are disgruntled.....questioning their better lifestyle and wondering about the value of their blue political landscape. The fact that the blue state people of California and Illinois are on a trend to leave, and depart the state? That might be worth discussing as well.
It is a thing to ponder, but this idea of convincing redstate people to go through some life experience and become bluestate people? It's hard to imagine this easily happening.
The logic? Bill will suggest that companies need to have a vision that involves “spatial geographic inequality.”
Yes, he makes the chat about the existence of clever and affluent people living in urbanized cities (blue regions) and that the redstate populations aren't connecting to the clever and affluent people.
For probably thirty years, this division in the Democratic Party has been going on. You can pull up voting maps, with counties displayed, and by the mid-1990s....the Democratic Party had 'air' leaking out of their voting trends, and each county that the Democrats won.....the Republicans won two other counties.
The idea that Amazon or any of the other top 500 companies will be picking rural America to base their operations? Zero-percent chance. Oh, there might a couple of companies that accidentally discover Huntsville, Alabama.....or Dayton, Ohio. But the majority of companies will say that putting the Amazon second headquarters in an area like Kingsport, TN or Vicksburg, MS....simply isn't going to happen. Amazon will pull out their top ten priorities, and to be honest....there's likely to only be thirty cities in the nation that provide what they want.
For Bill's vision to work, you'd have to assume that this trend will never reverse, and I'm not sure that's true. Eventually, black urban areas are going to finally ask what exactly did the Democratic Party deliver upon, and how well did the promised effort effectively work? The answer may be a problem to explain.
Also, you come to this false dividing line....the clever and affluent people having a better life or better circumstances? I suspect that a quarter of the blue-urbanized people are disgruntled.....questioning their better lifestyle and wondering about the value of their blue political landscape. The fact that the blue state people of California and Illinois are on a trend to leave, and depart the state? That might be worth discussing as well.
It is a thing to ponder, but this idea of convincing redstate people to go through some life experience and become bluestate people? It's hard to imagine this easily happening.
Friday, 22 February 2019
Hoax Story Unravels
For two weeks, I've been watching this Jussie Smollett episode play out. Yesterday, cops laid out the charges of a fake report (fake assault), and there's going to be some court action. The idea of a year in a Chicago jail? Possible, but I doubt it.
My curiosity is over why you'd go and do something like this. The cops, through various witnesses, finally came to the 'why', and it leads back to the salary.
The experts say that Smollett was paid $65,000 per episode of Empire. Like a lot of shows, the producers will reach a stage where the number of actors involved in the show.....will be added up and in some simple way.....they can't afford to have the top twelve actors of the show appear in all 18 episodes of each year. So they break the news....the show will continue on and you will still be character 'X', but instead of 18 shows (for Smollett, $65,000 per show)....he probably was being told that things were fine but he'd only appear in fourteen shows (my humble guess) in the next season. And if you add the numbers up, he was taking a $280,000 pay-cut for the next season.
In his frame of mind, he figured that if he hoaxed up an assault...got some pity, that they'd raise the show level back to a full 18-episode season.
Now? I think off Empire, he's finished. If he does a year of jail-time.....it'll help the producers to drop the character.
Lost respect? By the time he pays off the lawyers, fines, and settles the mess, there's likely no cash reserves left, and Smollett will end up as a Uber-driver. A pretty sad fall for a guy to suffer.
My curiosity is over why you'd go and do something like this. The cops, through various witnesses, finally came to the 'why', and it leads back to the salary.
The experts say that Smollett was paid $65,000 per episode of Empire. Like a lot of shows, the producers will reach a stage where the number of actors involved in the show.....will be added up and in some simple way.....they can't afford to have the top twelve actors of the show appear in all 18 episodes of each year. So they break the news....the show will continue on and you will still be character 'X', but instead of 18 shows (for Smollett, $65,000 per show)....he probably was being told that things were fine but he'd only appear in fourteen shows (my humble guess) in the next season. And if you add the numbers up, he was taking a $280,000 pay-cut for the next season.
In his frame of mind, he figured that if he hoaxed up an assault...got some pity, that they'd raise the show level back to a full 18-episode season.
Now? I think off Empire, he's finished. If he does a year of jail-time.....it'll help the producers to drop the character.
Lost respect? By the time he pays off the lawyers, fines, and settles the mess, there's likely no cash reserves left, and Smollett will end up as a Uber-driver. A pretty sad fall for a guy to suffer.
Thursday, 21 February 2019
The Word Inexorable
You've pulled out the chainsaw, and gone to work on a tree in the yard that has bothered you for years. While it is 60 feet away from the house.....the tree is around a hundred-feet tall. For the most part, you believe you've taken enough precautions and angled the cut to be at the right angle to either swing sideways or opposite of the house as it falls. So in some dramatic moment....three minutes into this cutting effort, you now stop and realize that it's taking a lean that bothers you. You stop and stand back for about sixty seconds....trying to envision a corrective action. But by the end of the sixty seconds....you now reach a INEXORABLE level.
Yes, things are now unpreventable and unstoppable. That's the basic definition of inexorable.
About twenty seconds later, the tree takes a half-inch slant....toward the house. And twelve seconds later, it crashes into the living room.
You stand there admiring the last two seconds, the increasing lean, and inexorableness of the situation.
Throughout life, we are drawn to these moments of inexorableness.
The bar-fight that you probably witnessed in 1984, where some unkind words were uttered about some guy, and a reaction occurred.....with a six-member drunken group engaging in a brawl with another six-member group....was a moment of inexorableness. Once the insult was laid down, and it was countered with another insult....avoiding the brawl was physically impossible.
This could be the $300 truck that you bought last week, and upon reaching the peak of some hill and heading downward....you come to realize there's no real brakes, and the next sixty seconds will be a remarkable and inexorable experience.
We tend to live for these moments....savoring them, and recollecting our thoughts later about the peak moment of inexorableness.
Yes, things are now unpreventable and unstoppable. That's the basic definition of inexorable.
About twenty seconds later, the tree takes a half-inch slant....toward the house. And twelve seconds later, it crashes into the living room.
You stand there admiring the last two seconds, the increasing lean, and inexorableness of the situation.
Throughout life, we are drawn to these moments of inexorableness.
The bar-fight that you probably witnessed in 1984, where some unkind words were uttered about some guy, and a reaction occurred.....with a six-member drunken group engaging in a brawl with another six-member group....was a moment of inexorableness. Once the insult was laid down, and it was countered with another insult....avoiding the brawl was physically impossible.
This could be the $300 truck that you bought last week, and upon reaching the peak of some hill and heading downward....you come to realize there's no real brakes, and the next sixty seconds will be a remarkable and inexorable experience.
We tend to live for these moments....savoring them, and recollecting our thoughts later about the peak moment of inexorableness.
Wednesday, 20 February 2019
National Holiday Chatter
Back around five years ago, Senator Bernie Sanders had this idea....making election-day....a national holiday. It basically went nowhere. In the past week or two, it's been picked back up and several folks are talking about this idea.
My observation?
First, you'd only have this once every four years, so it might not be as painful as you think.
Second, I'm not sure if you made it a holiday....if you'd create a higher percentage of people showing up to vote. There's no reliable study to suggest this.
Third, the fact that many states offer absentee voting or early-voting.....it may not really mean much.
Fourth, if you had a three-day weekend possible.....would you even stay around the local area? Some guys might tell the wife that it's a casino-weekend, and they drive off to Vegas for the whole weekend.
Odds of happening? I'd put it between zero and five-percent.
My observation?
First, you'd only have this once every four years, so it might not be as painful as you think.
Second, I'm not sure if you made it a holiday....if you'd create a higher percentage of people showing up to vote. There's no reliable study to suggest this.
Third, the fact that many states offer absentee voting or early-voting.....it may not really mean much.
Fourth, if you had a three-day weekend possible.....would you even stay around the local area? Some guys might tell the wife that it's a casino-weekend, and they drive off to Vegas for the whole weekend.
Odds of happening? I'd put it between zero and five-percent.
Tuesday, 19 February 2019
A Bernie, Trump and Schultz Election?
Let's suggest that Hillary doesn't 'arrive' to run, and this ends up as a simple socialist versus capitalist versus Starbucks kingpin. The likely outcome:
1. Bernie and his team can crush most of the normal Democratic voters and their non-socialist candidates. Without Hillary....Bernie ought to clear through the lesser-known crowd easily.
2. Schultz doesn't need to match the money count for Trump or Bernie....he just needs to use social media in a smart way, and win toward roughly 20 of the fifty states (my humble opinion). His strategy is to take just enough of the Electoral College to ensure a second-place vote (after Trump). In this strategy.....Bernie needs to take eight to ten states. The election goes to the House because there is no Electoral College winner, and the top two candidates would then advance for a House situation. If you have a choice of Trump or Schultz......House-wise, I think 25 states can be procured with the state-by-state 'count', for Schultz.
3. For Schumer and Pelosi, I doubt if either want to deal with Bernie, as President....so their 'hope' is based on Schultz winning in the end.
1. Bernie and his team can crush most of the normal Democratic voters and their non-socialist candidates. Without Hillary....Bernie ought to clear through the lesser-known crowd easily.
2. Schultz doesn't need to match the money count for Trump or Bernie....he just needs to use social media in a smart way, and win toward roughly 20 of the fifty states (my humble opinion). His strategy is to take just enough of the Electoral College to ensure a second-place vote (after Trump). In this strategy.....Bernie needs to take eight to ten states. The election goes to the House because there is no Electoral College winner, and the top two candidates would then advance for a House situation. If you have a choice of Trump or Schultz......House-wise, I think 25 states can be procured with the state-by-state 'count', for Schultz.
3. For Schumer and Pelosi, I doubt if either want to deal with Bernie, as President....so their 'hope' is based on Schultz winning in the end.
The Alma Story
This is one of those historical essays that I'll write and tell a particular story that you probably haven't ever heard of.
So....in 1862....out in Kinniconick, Kentucky....Mollie Alma Bridwell was born. Considered a fairly clever teenager....around the age of 16 to 17...she got converted into the Wesleyan Methodist Church during a revival.
For most who've never been to a revival....there tends to be a lot of intense talk.....heated chatter....and continual prayers for lost souls (a lot of them). Alma's take probably went to the extreme level.
Her family was doing well, and two years later....she went off to the ladies college in Millersburg. Upon graduation, an aunt who lived way out in the Montana Territory (very unchristian surroundings) tried to convince the six other sisters of Alma....to come out give life a go in the territory. Alma was the only one who seemed up for the adventure.
She ended being a teacher in the local community. Later on....she moved over to the Salt Lake City Methodist seminary. There, she met up with Kent White, a student in the seminary, and married.
Over the next decade or so....she and Kent did well....living in the Denver area where Kent was a minister for the local church.
Around 1907, there was some friction going on with the Methodist and Pentecostal community, and someone with farmland had decided to start up a religious community in Zarephath, New Jersey. The name of the new religious 'movement'? Pillar of Fire Church.
I know....it's a catchy name. In simple terms, these Pillar of Fire folks felt that the Pentecostals were simply not fired-up enough. Yes, as radical as you might see Pentecostal folks of today....in this era....they were actually seen as laid-back and 'chilled-out'.
Alma became the bishop and chief spokesperson of the Pillar of Fire Church. The curious path ahead for the church? Well....they were to be by 1918....solidly hooked up to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Yep....real solid with them.
It would be correct to say that virtually everything Alma preached upon....revolved around white Protestant women and the Bible mandating supremacy, and suggested immigrants were not of the same level.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s....the Pillar of Fire Church continued on. Alma attended Klan rallies and cross-burnings. As many of the religious figures were doing in this era....Alma didn't hesitate to suggest prophecies were underway, and key events were to occur.
What aided growth of the group? In the late 1920s.....they went out and purchased a transmitter and radio equipment in Colorado, to send their message across central Colorado.
All of this continued on for the most part until 1946 when Alma passed on.
The church today? Still in existence, but with mostly a neutral theme. I kinda doubt that the vast majority of members have ever heard of the racism slant or the KKK attachment.
So....in 1862....out in Kinniconick, Kentucky....Mollie Alma Bridwell was born. Considered a fairly clever teenager....around the age of 16 to 17...she got converted into the Wesleyan Methodist Church during a revival.
For most who've never been to a revival....there tends to be a lot of intense talk.....heated chatter....and continual prayers for lost souls (a lot of them). Alma's take probably went to the extreme level.
Her family was doing well, and two years later....she went off to the ladies college in Millersburg. Upon graduation, an aunt who lived way out in the Montana Territory (very unchristian surroundings) tried to convince the six other sisters of Alma....to come out give life a go in the territory. Alma was the only one who seemed up for the adventure.
She ended being a teacher in the local community. Later on....she moved over to the Salt Lake City Methodist seminary. There, she met up with Kent White, a student in the seminary, and married.
Over the next decade or so....she and Kent did well....living in the Denver area where Kent was a minister for the local church.
Around 1907, there was some friction going on with the Methodist and Pentecostal community, and someone with farmland had decided to start up a religious community in Zarephath, New Jersey. The name of the new religious 'movement'? Pillar of Fire Church.
I know....it's a catchy name. In simple terms, these Pillar of Fire folks felt that the Pentecostals were simply not fired-up enough. Yes, as radical as you might see Pentecostal folks of today....in this era....they were actually seen as laid-back and 'chilled-out'.
Alma became the bishop and chief spokesperson of the Pillar of Fire Church. The curious path ahead for the church? Well....they were to be by 1918....solidly hooked up to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Yep....real solid with them.
It would be correct to say that virtually everything Alma preached upon....revolved around white Protestant women and the Bible mandating supremacy, and suggested immigrants were not of the same level.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s....the Pillar of Fire Church continued on. Alma attended Klan rallies and cross-burnings. As many of the religious figures were doing in this era....Alma didn't hesitate to suggest prophecies were underway, and key events were to occur.
What aided growth of the group? In the late 1920s.....they went out and purchased a transmitter and radio equipment in Colorado, to send their message across central Colorado.
All of this continued on for the most part until 1946 when Alma passed on.
The church today? Still in existence, but with mostly a neutral theme. I kinda doubt that the vast majority of members have ever heard of the racism slant or the KKK attachment.
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