At some point today, across America....the Homeland Security folks will send out some mass 'test' message to every single cellphone....to demonstrate to the public that emergency info can be pushed out....if conditions require it.
Who is in charge of the test? FEMA.
There are three observations that I can make over this.
First, someone is going to copy the 'message', and turn it into a hoax-type thing, and resend it at various times to unsuspecting people, who will freak out over some fake nuclear incident....fake volcanic eruption....or some circus tiger being on the loose in your community.
Second, it's going to turn all political because people will suggest that Trump will send out fake 'messages' to alarm the public.
Third, even if you got a real 'message' in the future over some event unfolding (like aliens having landed and launching an invasion)....do you really want to take the government's advice on evaluation or how to handle your end of the situation?
Being from Alabama, I would suspect that forty-percent of the public in the state will discount the government advice right off the bat, and start making their own assumptions and solutions. Distrust? It's been proven over and over....the last people on earth that you want advice from in a contingency....is the US federal government.
A month or two down the line, I expect dozens of people each day will get some fake alert from some guy....warning of a dam collapse, or lion spotted in the local area, and this will become a big problem with people freaking out and getting hyped-up over nothing. Eventually, some idiot will fire off 10,000 messages to some folks in DC, notifying them of a nuke attack on Fairfax, and scaring thousands to evacuate to West Virginia in the middle of the night.
That's the problem about technology.....you just don't know where it's going to lead onto.
Wednesday, 3 October 2018
Monday, 1 October 2018
My Soon Anticipated 'Safari'
In two weeks, I set off on a trip to South Africa, with a mini-safari included in the deal. To be honest, it's not one of the top ten places that I'd prefer for a tour but the wife rated it number one.
Years ago as a kid, I heard a fascination with a Saturday afternoon show.....Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. The head guy was Marlin Perkins and for thirty minutes, you were entertained by clips of Marlin's latest adventure. The show went from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s.
I didn't so much watch to view Marlin, but his number one assistant....Jim.
Jim seemed to always be the guy who was assigned to climb into some lion pit, or handle some hefty snake. Jim, in my humble opinion, was just a breathe away from death in almost every episode. Jim seemed to favor clean living, no booze, and no cigarettes.
Marlin would tend to talk about the trip....the strategy of hunting elephants....the handling of tigers, etc. Jim was the action-guy.
My take, after probably watching four-hundred episodes....Africa and this safari business was probably not on my top ten 'adventures'. I think this was mostly Marlin's fault because he made it all seem perfectly safe and with no hazards.
Last week, I noted some German gal who'd entered some safari park in Tanzania....then decided she needed to take some picture of a nearby elephant. No one says if she said anything, or just scared the elephant....but he came over and stumped her to death. Today, I noticed another travel story from the region (occurring over the weekend)....a German guy walked too near some elephant and the elephant freaked out....attempting to stomp him to death (failing, but giving the guy a broken leg and arm).
Maybe these two Germans were a bit like Jim and willing to take chances. It's hard to tell.
Years ago as a kid, I heard a fascination with a Saturday afternoon show.....Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. The head guy was Marlin Perkins and for thirty minutes, you were entertained by clips of Marlin's latest adventure. The show went from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s.
I didn't so much watch to view Marlin, but his number one assistant....Jim.
Jim seemed to always be the guy who was assigned to climb into some lion pit, or handle some hefty snake. Jim, in my humble opinion, was just a breathe away from death in almost every episode. Jim seemed to favor clean living, no booze, and no cigarettes.
Marlin would tend to talk about the trip....the strategy of hunting elephants....the handling of tigers, etc. Jim was the action-guy.
My take, after probably watching four-hundred episodes....Africa and this safari business was probably not on my top ten 'adventures'. I think this was mostly Marlin's fault because he made it all seem perfectly safe and with no hazards.
Last week, I noted some German gal who'd entered some safari park in Tanzania....then decided she needed to take some picture of a nearby elephant. No one says if she said anything, or just scared the elephant....but he came over and stumped her to death. Today, I noticed another travel story from the region (occurring over the weekend)....a German guy walked too near some elephant and the elephant freaked out....attempting to stomp him to death (failing, but giving the guy a broken leg and arm).
Maybe these two Germans were a bit like Jim and willing to take chances. It's hard to tell.
Sunday, 30 September 2018
The AMX Story
For one brief year, I owned an AMC Javelin (the AMX version). My dad (after the radiator hose came loose on the old Oldsmobile and scolded him to the ninth-degree) had come to agree that it had to go. This was spoken about 24 hours after visiting the emergency room, and getting some pain killers and special salve.
A week passed, and we drove around for one afternoon and looked at three or four car lots in the region, and here in the Muscle Shoals area was this practically new AMX sitting there. I figured there was zero chance that he'd sign up to this car....which it was an odd episode where he had no problem. First, it was a muscle car....V8, with 210 horsepower (yes, it burned a hefty amount of gas). Second, it looked like some 'fireball' or some vehicle inviting trouble. Third, and most serious of all....it was AMC (my dad was sold on Fords). The Oldsmobile? I think on trade-in value....we got a $100.
The story with this AMX? The sales guy sat there and laid out this epic story.
Such-and-such guy with money....laid out cash to buy this AMX for his precious 16-year old daughter in the spring of 1975 (in Franklin county). The family actually flew up to Detroit and picked up the car (some grand adventure). Somewhere in the spring of 1976, the daughter ends up in relationship and pregnant. Her dad decides to resettle the daughter into a church-atmosphere and the AMX has to go....so they bring it to the dealer and gets it back onto the market. Perhaps in some way, the car was an invitation to trouble.
So I drove this car for roughly one entire year. When I went off to the Air Force....with the tour to Germany....I figured that was enough and told my dad to go ahead and sell it.
Looking back, that car burned gas like crazy. If it weren't for the farm gas-tank that my dad had.....the monthly gas bill would have driven me crazy. I doubt that I got more than 13 mpg. Image? Absolutely....it was a car that gave you an image.
A week passed, and we drove around for one afternoon and looked at three or four car lots in the region, and here in the Muscle Shoals area was this practically new AMX sitting there. I figured there was zero chance that he'd sign up to this car....which it was an odd episode where he had no problem. First, it was a muscle car....V8, with 210 horsepower (yes, it burned a hefty amount of gas). Second, it looked like some 'fireball' or some vehicle inviting trouble. Third, and most serious of all....it was AMC (my dad was sold on Fords). The Oldsmobile? I think on trade-in value....we got a $100.
The story with this AMX? The sales guy sat there and laid out this epic story.
Such-and-such guy with money....laid out cash to buy this AMX for his precious 16-year old daughter in the spring of 1975 (in Franklin county). The family actually flew up to Detroit and picked up the car (some grand adventure). Somewhere in the spring of 1976, the daughter ends up in relationship and pregnant. Her dad decides to resettle the daughter into a church-atmosphere and the AMX has to go....so they bring it to the dealer and gets it back onto the market. Perhaps in some way, the car was an invitation to trouble.
So I drove this car for roughly one entire year. When I went off to the Air Force....with the tour to Germany....I figured that was enough and told my dad to go ahead and sell it.
Looking back, that car burned gas like crazy. If it weren't for the farm gas-tank that my dad had.....the monthly gas bill would have driven me crazy. I doubt that I got more than 13 mpg. Image? Absolutely....it was a car that gave you an image.
Saturday, 29 September 2018
A National Circus, Over a Misdemeanor?
It is a odd, and remarkable piece that I noticed this morning. Someone went and asked the Montgomery County Police Chief (he'd be the 'law' for the area that Kavanaugh and Ford lived in as teens) about this whole discussion, and to offer a legal opinion.
What he said? The Maryland law that existed in 1982 basically said that this type of assault and attempted rape (that Professor Ford hypes the story on).....were regarded as misdemeanors in 1982.....and by law at the time, it's all limited to a one-year statute of limitations.
So this hype and long discussion? About a misdemeanor? That's the real bottom line to this.
An entire circus atmosphere, over a misdemeanor? Even if you found five people to vouch for Professor Ford's actual event, what exactly comes out of this?
What he said? The Maryland law that existed in 1982 basically said that this type of assault and attempted rape (that Professor Ford hypes the story on).....were regarded as misdemeanors in 1982.....and by law at the time, it's all limited to a one-year statute of limitations.
So this hype and long discussion? About a misdemeanor? That's the real bottom line to this.
An entire circus atmosphere, over a misdemeanor? Even if you found five people to vouch for Professor Ford's actual event, what exactly comes out of this?
Friday, 28 September 2018
If the FBI Got Into the Kavanaugh Investigation
If you pull up this scenario suggested by the Democratic group in this hearing.....there is a scenario which would follow if the FBI took this to the next level and investigated this completely. I'll out how this script would work:
1. You'd detail around twenty agents to go and spend approximately 60 to 90 days...gathering data. You'd bring them into a room, and lay out approximately forty primary witnesses, and then suggest a secondary level of another 200-odd witnesses.
2. At some point, another two-hundred-plus people would show up and demand that they get a chance to provide testimony....a statement.
3. Near the end, an administrative team would show up and help to funnel everything into a 1,500 page summary of facts and statements. A closing statement? No...just a summary. The FBI does not have the capability or the authority to conclude 'TRUTH'.
4. Approximately 2,000 copies of the two-document summary would then be published and given over to the Senate and it's support staff. They would be given an entire month read summary.
5. You would find that NOT ONE single member of the Senate would have read the entire 1,500 pages. It's very likely that NOT ONE single member of the support staff would have read the entire summary. The party would have paid some special team to go and read it for them.....to do a summary of the summary. Some Senate members might even whine that the 40-page summary of the summary....was TOO much, and demand a summary of the summary of the summary.....to get it down to three pages.
6. They would then convene and announce that FBI summary really didn't settle anything because they need someone to assure them Kavanaugh is 'clean' or 'dirty'.
Time wasted? By this point, approximately six months.
The fact that Professor Ford can't present a single witness at this party to substantiate part of this whole story? In a nutshell, that is the whole basis of the story, or the lack of a story. The story about a fear of flying? Well.....yeah, that was a pretty good story but it now seems mostly false.
1. You'd detail around twenty agents to go and spend approximately 60 to 90 days...gathering data. You'd bring them into a room, and lay out approximately forty primary witnesses, and then suggest a secondary level of another 200-odd witnesses.
2. At some point, another two-hundred-plus people would show up and demand that they get a chance to provide testimony....a statement.
3. Near the end, an administrative team would show up and help to funnel everything into a 1,500 page summary of facts and statements. A closing statement? No...just a summary. The FBI does not have the capability or the authority to conclude 'TRUTH'.
4. Approximately 2,000 copies of the two-document summary would then be published and given over to the Senate and it's support staff. They would be given an entire month read summary.
5. You would find that NOT ONE single member of the Senate would have read the entire 1,500 pages. It's very likely that NOT ONE single member of the support staff would have read the entire summary. The party would have paid some special team to go and read it for them.....to do a summary of the summary. Some Senate members might even whine that the 40-page summary of the summary....was TOO much, and demand a summary of the summary of the summary.....to get it down to three pages.
6. They would then convene and announce that FBI summary really didn't settle anything because they need someone to assure them Kavanaugh is 'clean' or 'dirty'.
Time wasted? By this point, approximately six months.
The fact that Professor Ford can't present a single witness at this party to substantiate part of this whole story? In a nutshell, that is the whole basis of the story, or the lack of a story. The story about a fear of flying? Well.....yeah, that was a pretty good story but it now seems mostly false.
Thursday, 27 September 2018
How Arnold Became Governor
Yesterday, we had a slight discussion in a German class that I'm taking over Arnold Schwarzenegger, and a brief moment on his seven years as governor. Few folks ever sit down and ask.....how did Arnold reach this post, and you have to go back and spend an hour reading over some rich California political history.
So this starts with Pete Wilson winning the governor's chair and taking office in 1991. Most folks will say that the Wilson era went along a scripted sequence, with few if any scandals. Interestingly enough, on the first go-around, Pete ran against a young Feinstein, winning with a four-point difference (you can look up the county by county map, to note that most of her votes came from the L A or San Francisco region along the coast). Four years later (1995), Wilson won with 15-points. Then the Pete Wilson era closes out.
In 1999, the Gray Davis era begins (20-point win over the GOP front-guy). In some districts around the state, Davis even takes 80-percent of the vote. Folks are hyped up. Davis burns through the first four year period with various promises made, and strong measures to suggest results met up with the promises. Along the way, he spent eight billion in unfunded educational measures...getting results on paper, but moving the state into a difficult financial situation. The artificially created electrical crisis? Well, this got a lot of mileage and wasn't really Davis's fault....but he never seemed to get a hand onto the mess and people kinda wondered if special interests were at play.
So you come to this interesting 2002 governor's election. The discontent plays big among the voters for the entire year prior to the election. Gray Davis wins the election by roughly 5-points. But there is this odd factor at play....only 36-percent of the registered voters showed up to vote in this election. Yes, if Bill Simon (the GOP guy) had gotten 400,000 people to show up....he would have won the election. Adding to this story, Davis spent an all-time record of money on campaign ads.....which ran mostly along a very negative episode.
The discontent? It rumbles over this result and roughly sixty-percent of the public is fed up. So they go and make an effort for a recall-election. Oddly enough, there is a recall rule which says to be a valid recall.....you have to get 12-percent of the number of voters from the previous election.....to sign the petition. Note, NOT the registered voter count.....but the folks who voted in the past election.
So this creates this curious scenario. With such a low voter turnout (only 36-percent of the registered voters showing up).....they easily reached 900,000 folks who signed the petition, and the Gray Davis era is finished.
Eleven months into the 4-year term, Gray Davis is finished. Another election is held and Arnold is the GOP guy.....winning by 17-points (major wins in the L A region). Arnold goes on in 2006, to win with a 16-point edge.
If the electrical crisis hadn't occurred? That's the thing about this whole story....for the public, that was the last straw. One odd factor in this whole story.....this is occuring all before social media or Facebook came along. The internet was not a factor in getting Gray Davis out. This more or less comes via talk-radio and newspapers.
So this starts with Pete Wilson winning the governor's chair and taking office in 1991. Most folks will say that the Wilson era went along a scripted sequence, with few if any scandals. Interestingly enough, on the first go-around, Pete ran against a young Feinstein, winning with a four-point difference (you can look up the county by county map, to note that most of her votes came from the L A or San Francisco region along the coast). Four years later (1995), Wilson won with 15-points. Then the Pete Wilson era closes out.
In 1999, the Gray Davis era begins (20-point win over the GOP front-guy). In some districts around the state, Davis even takes 80-percent of the vote. Folks are hyped up. Davis burns through the first four year period with various promises made, and strong measures to suggest results met up with the promises. Along the way, he spent eight billion in unfunded educational measures...getting results on paper, but moving the state into a difficult financial situation. The artificially created electrical crisis? Well, this got a lot of mileage and wasn't really Davis's fault....but he never seemed to get a hand onto the mess and people kinda wondered if special interests were at play.
So you come to this interesting 2002 governor's election. The discontent plays big among the voters for the entire year prior to the election. Gray Davis wins the election by roughly 5-points. But there is this odd factor at play....only 36-percent of the registered voters showed up to vote in this election. Yes, if Bill Simon (the GOP guy) had gotten 400,000 people to show up....he would have won the election. Adding to this story, Davis spent an all-time record of money on campaign ads.....which ran mostly along a very negative episode.
The discontent? It rumbles over this result and roughly sixty-percent of the public is fed up. So they go and make an effort for a recall-election. Oddly enough, there is a recall rule which says to be a valid recall.....you have to get 12-percent of the number of voters from the previous election.....to sign the petition. Note, NOT the registered voter count.....but the folks who voted in the past election.
So this creates this curious scenario. With such a low voter turnout (only 36-percent of the registered voters showing up).....they easily reached 900,000 folks who signed the petition, and the Gray Davis era is finished.
Eleven months into the 4-year term, Gray Davis is finished. Another election is held and Arnold is the GOP guy.....winning by 17-points (major wins in the L A region). Arnold goes on in 2006, to win with a 16-point edge.
If the electrical crisis hadn't occurred? That's the thing about this whole story....for the public, that was the last straw. One odd factor in this whole story.....this is occuring all before social media or Facebook came along. The internet was not a factor in getting Gray Davis out. This more or less comes via talk-radio and newspapers.
Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Talking Victimization
“Now, I have said this over and over again a different way. Everybody wants their life to have meaning. Everybody wants to matter. And a lot of people feel overwhelmed, powerless, and like they don’t matter – and one of the faster ways to make yourself feel like you matter is to become a victim, member of an organized victim group. ”
-- Rush Limbaugh, 2018
I don't usually quote Limbaugh, and to be honest....at best these days, I can handle maybe a 20-minute routine of his. But he sat and put this one thought together, which leads me back to one of the more critical books that I ever picked up and read.
'True Believer' was written by Eric Hoffer in 1951....comprising 176 pages. You can complete the book in one single weekend. It's a brilliant book, yet written at the level that even most teens can grasp the subject.
Hoffer went to describe how mass movements build up....take root....trigger people to feel a need to save 'someone', or 'something', and the basis of some many movements....is simply because people are drawn to SAVE or to HAVE PURPOSE in their lives.
If you feel drawn to some victim....your attachment is mostly geared to SAVE that victim, or to HAVE A PURPOSE in their life.
Over the past decade, you continually see environmental 'save' somethings, or racial 'save' somethings, or immigration 'save' somethings. People are drawn to these, to feel some great feeling of helping or saving something. After a while, that feeling peaks out. You eventually figure out that you aren't saving much of anything.
Victimization almost a daily event? Well....yeah, that's part of saving something as well. All fake? Well...that's the thing about this....you aren't asking yourself about the information or how reliable the event is in terms of facts. So, you could have a fake victim, and you'd be part of a fake 'save-the-victim' event. Kind of comical, if you think about it.
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