Around six weeks ago....I probably started to hit my limit on 'panic porn' via the newspapers, web sites, comedians, governors, fake journalists, and CNN/MSNBC crowd.
In the past ten days, I'm mostly laughing in the middle of what is designed to be serious and grim news. Two days ago.....some California doctors came out and said that more people are committing suicide now, than dying of Covid-19. The truth is.....for a lot of people....their lives and likely recovery (financially) are fairly screwed up.
It reminds me of the Steinbeck introduction to 'Grapes of Wrath'. In the introduction....you are given a landscape of fairly harsh economic conditions given to the Oklahoma crowd, with the only alternate route being to pick up and move to California....where you will enter the new booming agricultural industry. In the background, you kinda discover that banks are marginally surviving but walking into the lives of people to start foreclosures on farms and homes.
Steinbeck hands you an unfinished story in one simple paragraph.....telling you about the main character....Tom Joad, who has just wrapped up some prison years for a homicide. You know little to nothing about the homicide, the victim, or if the dead guy 'needed-killing'.
This whole period of American history.....the depression years, became what I'd call 'epic porn', where classic stories, human interest stories, and memorable photos were made to weave this fantastic epic porn situation. People actually got literally awards, journalism notices, and photo winnings....for their epic porn items.
Tom Joad, as a character, was some porn player in this saga, where you wanted to pull for the little guy, but knowing in your heart.....his prison time was for something pretty harsh, and you just kinda kept wondering about the bigger story left out of the novel.
The problem with today's panic porn.....you just keep looking at the characters, the degree of fantasy, the lack of some truths, and the marginal crowd telling the stories....wondering just how far this will go.
The last question here....once you've had enough of panic porn....then what? Will you go and just mow the grass, not caring about Covid-19? Will you go and order up a double-grease burger and chat about Baptist revival stuff with the burger guy? Will you sit and sip a ice tea (with a bit of gin over the top) and discuss the local storm chatter with your cousin?
Saturday, 23 May 2020
Friday, 22 May 2020
My Opinion of Joe Rogan
For about two years, I've been listening to the podcasts of Joe Rogan.
As interviews go, I'm to the point of considering Joe probably better than any journalist or moderator from any of the other networks or TV establishments.
For a number of years, YouTube gave Joe his platform, and enabled all of us to sit and view his interviews. This past week....Joe kinda said 'enough' and will go to Spotify (it started as a alternate radio site, and has planned a growth period). What makes Spotify different is that you sign up and get their service (roughly 9.99 Euro a month for me).
There is chatter out there to suggest that more YouTubers will go this path, and give Spotify a new angle to customers.
Hurting YouTube in the long-run? That's the discussion going on. If you had 20-percent of the big draw to YouTube pack up and walk away.....it would leave an enormous hole for YouTube to fill. The angle here? Content.
I'll admit that 90-percent of the stuff on YouTube for interviews or commentary....is crappy content. But the remaining ten-percent is what draws people to view their material with dedication.
It's not the end for YouTube, but looking a year or two into the future....I'm kinda wondering if the massive bulk of what YouTube has.....is just stupid cat pictures, or 3rd world giggle stuff for jokes.
Another transformation coming? By 2024, I'd be guessing that a major change will occur with both social media and YouTube, with customers demanding something that they are currently unprepared for.
As interviews go, I'm to the point of considering Joe probably better than any journalist or moderator from any of the other networks or TV establishments.
For a number of years, YouTube gave Joe his platform, and enabled all of us to sit and view his interviews. This past week....Joe kinda said 'enough' and will go to Spotify (it started as a alternate radio site, and has planned a growth period). What makes Spotify different is that you sign up and get their service (roughly 9.99 Euro a month for me).
There is chatter out there to suggest that more YouTubers will go this path, and give Spotify a new angle to customers.
Hurting YouTube in the long-run? That's the discussion going on. If you had 20-percent of the big draw to YouTube pack up and walk away.....it would leave an enormous hole for YouTube to fill. The angle here? Content.
I'll admit that 90-percent of the stuff on YouTube for interviews or commentary....is crappy content. But the remaining ten-percent is what draws people to view their material with dedication.
It's not the end for YouTube, but looking a year or two into the future....I'm kinda wondering if the massive bulk of what YouTube has.....is just stupid cat pictures, or 3rd world giggle stuff for jokes.
Another transformation coming? By 2024, I'd be guessing that a major change will occur with both social media and YouTube, with customers demanding something that they are currently unprepared for.
Wednesday, 20 May 2020
Who Sends An Email to Themselves?
This is an odd piece of news and you just sit and ponder over it.
Toward the last day of employment with the US government, Susan Rice (a big-wig under President Obama) sends herself an email. It basically covers a meeting at the White House, from 15 days prior. The emphasis of this email to herself? President Obama tells her to do everything...."by the book".
So you sit and think over it.
From the day I was introduced to 'email' (around 1992) to today....I've never sent an email to myself. I've sent emails from one account (like a government account) to my personal account. But I've never sent an email to myself.
Typically, if you were at a meeting and needed to remember things later.....you would go and write a memo (a Word-document), and print/save it for later. I've probably written over one thousand of these type of documents.
But to write this and then emphasize that you need to do things "by the book"? Who writes something like this?
Someone commented about this silly email today, and that the phrase "by the book" is mentioned three times in the email. Then they mentioned up that this is a movie phrase....uttered by Captain Kirk when dealing with Kahn. Kirk tells the boys back in the ship.....do 'whatever'....."by the book". Kirk says this in the way that truly means that he's lying, and they need to grasp that he's lying (he's in trouble).
Typically, Kirk is always thinking three steps ahead of the bad guys (not like the wussy Picard who is thinking just two steps of the bad guys).
So when Rice utters this three times in her email ("by the book").....is she sending a distress call to the future, and suggesting that she's lying, and in serious trouble?
The problem with all of this chatter....trekkie-chat....Obamagate-chat....fake-news-chat? You reach a point where you have three doors in front of you and have to deal with three groups of people.
The first group are gas-huffers (yep, those idiots) who have huffed enough gas to get light-headed and seem to be living and breathing in some fake world....uttering Captain Kirk or Captain Pike phrases on a routine basis. They seem to know all the Federation regulations, the F-keys on keyboards, recite poetry by Dylan Thomas, and have imaginary conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt's ghost.
The second group are fake intellectual types who want to impress you with their vast degree situation, but after ten minutes....you kinda figure out that their degree business was mostly a fraud and you are dealing with an idiot who could barely run a public library desk.
Then finally, you come to the third group....who seem to lay out more and more questions, which can't seem to be answered. In this group, there always seems to be some dude named 'Grenell' in the far back of the room grinning, and seems ready to lay a bit of information on the table.....to bring you some factual reality. You like this route, but honestly.....it's making you more distrustful of life.
My advice....on sending an email to yourself? Just write it on a yellow-sticky, and post it to the car-mirror. Be brief....three lines....and don't worry about grammar. And please don't utter....."by the book". Otherwise, I'm going to think you are in trouble, and I'm bringing Seven-of-Nine with me to save your ass.
Toward the last day of employment with the US government, Susan Rice (a big-wig under President Obama) sends herself an email. It basically covers a meeting at the White House, from 15 days prior. The emphasis of this email to herself? President Obama tells her to do everything...."by the book".
So you sit and think over it.
From the day I was introduced to 'email' (around 1992) to today....I've never sent an email to myself. I've sent emails from one account (like a government account) to my personal account. But I've never sent an email to myself.
Typically, if you were at a meeting and needed to remember things later.....you would go and write a memo (a Word-document), and print/save it for later. I've probably written over one thousand of these type of documents.
But to write this and then emphasize that you need to do things "by the book"? Who writes something like this?
Someone commented about this silly email today, and that the phrase "by the book" is mentioned three times in the email. Then they mentioned up that this is a movie phrase....uttered by Captain Kirk when dealing with Kahn. Kirk tells the boys back in the ship.....do 'whatever'....."by the book". Kirk says this in the way that truly means that he's lying, and they need to grasp that he's lying (he's in trouble).
Typically, Kirk is always thinking three steps ahead of the bad guys (not like the wussy Picard who is thinking just two steps of the bad guys).
So when Rice utters this three times in her email ("by the book").....is she sending a distress call to the future, and suggesting that she's lying, and in serious trouble?
The problem with all of this chatter....trekkie-chat....Obamagate-chat....fake-news-chat? You reach a point where you have three doors in front of you and have to deal with three groups of people.
The first group are gas-huffers (yep, those idiots) who have huffed enough gas to get light-headed and seem to be living and breathing in some fake world....uttering Captain Kirk or Captain Pike phrases on a routine basis. They seem to know all the Federation regulations, the F-keys on keyboards, recite poetry by Dylan Thomas, and have imaginary conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt's ghost.
The second group are fake intellectual types who want to impress you with their vast degree situation, but after ten minutes....you kinda figure out that their degree business was mostly a fraud and you are dealing with an idiot who could barely run a public library desk.
Then finally, you come to the third group....who seem to lay out more and more questions, which can't seem to be answered. In this group, there always seems to be some dude named 'Grenell' in the far back of the room grinning, and seems ready to lay a bit of information on the table.....to bring you some factual reality. You like this route, but honestly.....it's making you more distrustful of life.
My advice....on sending an email to yourself? Just write it on a yellow-sticky, and post it to the car-mirror. Be brief....three lines....and don't worry about grammar. And please don't utter....."by the book". Otherwise, I'm going to think you are in trouble, and I'm bringing Seven-of-Nine with me to save your ass.
Searching for a Cure for TDS (Trump-Derangement-Syndrome)
Since the election of 2016, numerous individuals have gone and identified themselves with the TDS disease. With all the hype going on about the Covid-19/Coronavirus business....it's obvious that no one is making much of an effort to rid the world of TDS.
Some folks are suggesting that come January of 2025....TDS will officially come to an end.
However, there is this problem that around 2032....that troublesome Donald Trump Jr might wander onto the stage and lay down his cards to play the game. Another round of TDS to come....in our lifetime? Well....maybe.
And here's the one curious thing....that Baron 'kid'....in forty-odd years, he might appear at the doorway, and give us yet another dose or two of TDS. Three doses of TDS (24 years) over the next fifty-odd years? We need to start searching for a cure to help these poor folks who are afflicted.
Some folks are suggesting that come January of 2025....TDS will officially come to an end.
However, there is this problem that around 2032....that troublesome Donald Trump Jr might wander onto the stage and lay down his cards to play the game. Another round of TDS to come....in our lifetime? Well....maybe.
And here's the one curious thing....that Baron 'kid'....in forty-odd years, he might appear at the doorway, and give us yet another dose or two of TDS. Three doses of TDS (24 years) over the next fifty-odd years? We need to start searching for a cure to help these poor folks who are afflicted.
Tuesday, 19 May 2020
The Thing About Banana Republics
Around January of 1985, I was reminded to go and update my Air Force assignment preferences for next change of station (I was to leave in January of 1986). Most folks would fill out the state or US installation site....but something drove me to put down two overseas locations (Iceland and Panama). I wanted some exotic change of pace, and had read some short summaries of both....figuring that was enough to make this decision.
Six months would pass, and the assignments folks called me.....I had Panama.
So I would arrive in January of 1986, and spend three years there. It's best to say that within 10 days of arriving....I came to grasp and understand the term of banana republic.
Nothing functioned like you thought in Panama. Everything was corrupted, from the airport crowd, to the police.
I lived for six months downtown. Sometimes, you could go ten days straight with power disruption. Sometimes, the power would go out every other day for two to three hours.
Crime was rampant but you learned to just drive through the districts and keep the windows rolled up and the doors locked.
Car inspections? You learned quickly that your car would always fail, but $20 on the car seat ensured that it always passed (even if the tires were bald).
At the end of three years, I was fully prepared to leave, and simply note all the experiences as something that most Americans never 'entertained'.
Banana republics are a dark place.....where people disrespect the system and society. Trust doesn't exist. Government offices are bloated and ineffective. My yearly trip to the car-tag office meant stopping at this 1930s building where you would turn in your paperwork and sit for two hours while your slip circled around this sixty by sixty foot room.
Stations were manned by these Panama women, in thick make-up and dolled up in clothing that barely would fit. They were all nieces or cousins of people and hired simply as a favor to Uncle Jose. None of them could type, nor could they really grasp what they were doing....other than stamping the paperwork.
I usually sat there and amazed that the fifty-year-old chief was standing there and ensuring that the paperwork continued to flow. This should have been simple to just stamp one form, and issue me a sticker for the old tag, but they had built a system where thirty-odd clerks needed to touch and be part of this process.
All across Panama, you saw the same bureaucratic mess in action.
By the end, I had a fairly good idea of how banana republics functioned, and I had no desire to ever return to one.
I often look at the general public of the US, and how 99-percent of them have never been in such a situation....for months and years. Everyone ought to have six months of a dose of this.....to grasp what the term means, and just how much to appreciate the world we live in.
Six months would pass, and the assignments folks called me.....I had Panama.
So I would arrive in January of 1986, and spend three years there. It's best to say that within 10 days of arriving....I came to grasp and understand the term of banana republic.
Nothing functioned like you thought in Panama. Everything was corrupted, from the airport crowd, to the police.
I lived for six months downtown. Sometimes, you could go ten days straight with power disruption. Sometimes, the power would go out every other day for two to three hours.
Crime was rampant but you learned to just drive through the districts and keep the windows rolled up and the doors locked.
Car inspections? You learned quickly that your car would always fail, but $20 on the car seat ensured that it always passed (even if the tires were bald).
At the end of three years, I was fully prepared to leave, and simply note all the experiences as something that most Americans never 'entertained'.
Banana republics are a dark place.....where people disrespect the system and society. Trust doesn't exist. Government offices are bloated and ineffective. My yearly trip to the car-tag office meant stopping at this 1930s building where you would turn in your paperwork and sit for two hours while your slip circled around this sixty by sixty foot room.
Stations were manned by these Panama women, in thick make-up and dolled up in clothing that barely would fit. They were all nieces or cousins of people and hired simply as a favor to Uncle Jose. None of them could type, nor could they really grasp what they were doing....other than stamping the paperwork.
I usually sat there and amazed that the fifty-year-old chief was standing there and ensuring that the paperwork continued to flow. This should have been simple to just stamp one form, and issue me a sticker for the old tag, but they had built a system where thirty-odd clerks needed to touch and be part of this process.
All across Panama, you saw the same bureaucratic mess in action.
By the end, I had a fairly good idea of how banana republics functioned, and I had no desire to ever return to one.
I often look at the general public of the US, and how 99-percent of them have never been in such a situation....for months and years. Everyone ought to have six months of a dose of this.....to grasp what the term means, and just how much to appreciate the world we live in.
The 'New Normal'
This is some silly phrase that I've heard via CNN, and a number of news outlets over the past two months.
Basically, if you tried to ask anyone from the journalistic 'team' to define it....you'd get fifty-plus definitions.
If you went to some politician, he'd give you some five-minute speech about an imaginary fantasy place, where unicorns roam freely, ice cream is freely dispensed to you, and free marijuana was possible (just not the good stuff).
My brother, being an engineer, would first ask you to define the 'old' normal, then suggest that he's seen at least forty versions of normal in his life. He'd even drag out CB radios, Radio Shack, and pool-hall hamburgers as being part of one single normal.
I think the problem here is that folks try to fixate themselves that there is a normal....when there really isn't such a mythical 'beast'. Fantasy? Mostly.
I don't want to disparage folks with this normal chatter, but I don't think I'd get locked into this much. You might wake up tomorrow to discover a newer-than-new model of normal, and then freak out when the Today Show host suggest that a newer-than-newer version of normal is coming to you in a matter of days.
Basically, if you tried to ask anyone from the journalistic 'team' to define it....you'd get fifty-plus definitions.
If you went to some politician, he'd give you some five-minute speech about an imaginary fantasy place, where unicorns roam freely, ice cream is freely dispensed to you, and free marijuana was possible (just not the good stuff).
My brother, being an engineer, would first ask you to define the 'old' normal, then suggest that he's seen at least forty versions of normal in his life. He'd even drag out CB radios, Radio Shack, and pool-hall hamburgers as being part of one single normal.
I think the problem here is that folks try to fixate themselves that there is a normal....when there really isn't such a mythical 'beast'. Fantasy? Mostly.
I don't want to disparage folks with this normal chatter, but I don't think I'd get locked into this much. You might wake up tomorrow to discover a newer-than-new model of normal, and then freak out when the Today Show host suggest that a newer-than-newer version of normal is coming to you in a matter of days.
CNN and the Depression 'Idea'
CNN had a article that they put up yesterday, and the main focus was.....we are in the midst of a depression (1930s style).
So I spent a long 24 hours thinking about this. First, they meant in terms of emotions...NOT money issues or failing banks.
That\s the first real problem with this discussion. You can't find any banks or financial institutions (like in 2008) that are failing. It would be correct to say that hundreds of thousands of folks are not paying their mortgage, and this could lead to bank issues.
As for the rest of this? Think about this odd aspect.....roughly 25 states are opening up and back into business, with some problems. The other 25 states? In various levels of bans/shut-downs. If you were leaning toward distress of a depression....it'd depend on which state you live in.
An odd aspect of this discussion.....in the1930s era, people moved to California. In this modern era, people are discussing leaving California.
In the 1930s era depression....the heartland of America survived on. You kinda see the same landscape in 2020.
So what do you really need to convince you of a depression era, in terms of emotions? Well...you need a daily dose of negative news (getting up, driving to work, lunch-hour, driving home, and sitting on the couch during the evening). Lucky for you.....you can get that.
If all of this were true, who would you need to rebuild or restructure the nation to meet the problem? That's the problem, this imaginary FDR-democrat doesn't exist. And to be honest, Trump probably fits this role better than anyone imagined. If you were to peel off the layers of FDR and Trump.....then Trump is the anti-FDR. Almost every action that the FDR-team performed....ensured the long-term survival of a chained-down America and handcuffed to a government for its survival. That's not the Trump type behavior....if anything, he's anti-big-government.
About a dozen years ago, Amity Shlaes wrote a book entitled 'The Forgotten Man', which covers the whole era of the 1920s and 1930s. It's the history that the college professors marginally covered, and that journalists rarely ever discuss today. I strong recommend the book, because it puts you at the very beginning of the depression era, and then lays out the decade behind the era.
I will leave you with these three thoughts:
1. For some folks, it's a rough year ahead, and they will be distraught/fragile during this period. Don't shy away from stepping up and providing encouragement. Admit it in a blunt way.....we aren't focused, and we are allowing poor leadership to lead us to a perception that the nation is weak. It is not weak.....it never has been, and never will be.
2. For the crowd chatter that tells you of the approaching negative era.....ask yourself, what type of character are they trying to sell you upon....to replace Trump? Is this the character that you'd trust to lead or simply make things worse?
3. Finally, FDR basically wanted you extremely dependent upon some form of government in the end. Is that what you really desire now? Some government to dictate your success or failure?
So I spent a long 24 hours thinking about this. First, they meant in terms of emotions...NOT money issues or failing banks.
That\s the first real problem with this discussion. You can't find any banks or financial institutions (like in 2008) that are failing. It would be correct to say that hundreds of thousands of folks are not paying their mortgage, and this could lead to bank issues.
As for the rest of this? Think about this odd aspect.....roughly 25 states are opening up and back into business, with some problems. The other 25 states? In various levels of bans/shut-downs. If you were leaning toward distress of a depression....it'd depend on which state you live in.
An odd aspect of this discussion.....in the1930s era, people moved to California. In this modern era, people are discussing leaving California.
In the 1930s era depression....the heartland of America survived on. You kinda see the same landscape in 2020.
So what do you really need to convince you of a depression era, in terms of emotions? Well...you need a daily dose of negative news (getting up, driving to work, lunch-hour, driving home, and sitting on the couch during the evening). Lucky for you.....you can get that.
If all of this were true, who would you need to rebuild or restructure the nation to meet the problem? That's the problem, this imaginary FDR-democrat doesn't exist. And to be honest, Trump probably fits this role better than anyone imagined. If you were to peel off the layers of FDR and Trump.....then Trump is the anti-FDR. Almost every action that the FDR-team performed....ensured the long-term survival of a chained-down America and handcuffed to a government for its survival. That's not the Trump type behavior....if anything, he's anti-big-government.
About a dozen years ago, Amity Shlaes wrote a book entitled 'The Forgotten Man', which covers the whole era of the 1920s and 1930s. It's the history that the college professors marginally covered, and that journalists rarely ever discuss today. I strong recommend the book, because it puts you at the very beginning of the depression era, and then lays out the decade behind the era.
I will leave you with these three thoughts:
1. For some folks, it's a rough year ahead, and they will be distraught/fragile during this period. Don't shy away from stepping up and providing encouragement. Admit it in a blunt way.....we aren't focused, and we are allowing poor leadership to lead us to a perception that the nation is weak. It is not weak.....it never has been, and never will be.
2. For the crowd chatter that tells you of the approaching negative era.....ask yourself, what type of character are they trying to sell you upon....to replace Trump? Is this the character that you'd trust to lead or simply make things worse?
3. Finally, FDR basically wanted you extremely dependent upon some form of government in the end. Is that what you really desire now? Some government to dictate your success or failure?
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