The Sandwich Shop

2006-09-05T07:19:00.000-07:00

A Murder Of Convenience by George Corneliussen

You may or may not hear about his story in the media in your part of the country. Even if you don't, this will no doubt be the saddest story you've heard in a long time.
Two weeks ago, Liz Carroll passed out in a public park outside of Cincinnati. When she awoke, she made a 911 call. When rescuers arrived on the scene Ms. Carroll was treated. At that time, she claimed that her three children plus her 3-year-old foster child ( Marcus Fiesel ) were with her. The rescue workers did find her three children, but they did not find her 3-year-old foster child.
Ms. Carroll made a plea for the rescue workers to find young Marcus. Within hours, a televised news conference was held at which time Ms. Carroll pleaded with viewers to help find her child. Although no traces of Marcus was found, hundreds of volunteers searched the area for days.
For two weeks the entire Cincinnati area was on alert and searching for Marcus Fiesel. Yesterday Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters held a press conference to announced what his office had discovered the truth surrounding the disappearance of Marus Fiesel. Rather than tell you what the truth about young Marcus' dissappearance was, I'll let you read excerpts from Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Sharon Coolidge's story that appeared in the paper today.__________________________________________________
"Marcus left in closet, burned " 3-year-old's foster parents accused of locking him up while they went to reunion By Sharon Coolidge / Enquirer Staff Writer (Tuesday, August 29, 2006)
Marcus Fiesel's foster parents knew all along their missing boy was dead, say Hamilton County prosecutors.
They knew, prosecutors say, because Liz and David Carroll Jr. left the 3-year-old alone for two days in a locked closet while they attended a family reunion. They knew because David Carroll later burned and hid Marcus' body.
They knew even as they cried before TV cameras, begging the community to help them find the missing boy.
Everyone was aware, everyone covered up," said Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters at a press conference, flanked by Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis and Clermont County Prosecutor Don White.
"It really is one of the most heartless things I've ever seen," Deters said. "The bottom line is you wouldn't treat a dog like this."
Leis added, "In my 35 years involved in law enforcement, this is the worst I've seen."
A Hamilton County grand jury indicted the Carrolls on Monday on charges of involuntary manslaughter and two charges of child endangering, one for putting Marcus' safety at risk, the other for excessive restraint over a prolonged period of time.
David Carroll Jr., 35, also was charged with gross abuse of a corpse, accused of burning the body in Brown County.
Deters said those charges are preliminary, meant to hold the Carrolls during the investigation.
He said more serious charges are expected.
Both are being held in the Hamilton County Justice Center
_____________________________________________________
Prosecutors say they believe the boy's body was burned in Brown County and the remains were later dumped in or near the Ohio River.
Investigators spent Monday evening searching for Marcus' remains in Brown County at a two-story stone chimney, all that's left of a home on Marriott Road that burned years ago, said the owner of the property.
" We never smelled any smoke," said Mike Cales, 37, owner of the 85-acre property. His home is on the opposite side of the property from the chimney.
But he smelled smoke late Monday as he hovered near the chimney after investigators left.
_______________________________________________________
Thousands of people searched for Marcus since Aug. 15, when Liz Carroll said she fainted in Juilfs Park in Anderson Township and Marcus wandered off.
That same day Marcus had an appointment with Women, Infants and Children, a health and nutritional program for low-income children under the age of 5.
As the days slipped by there was no sign of the little boy, who was placed in the Carrolls' care in April because Marcus was found wandering in the street the night of April 22. The Carrolls were paid $1,000 a month to care for the little boy, who was developmentally delayed and suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He had the mental capacity of a 12- to 18-month old.
Liz Carroll told The Enquirer on Aug. 21 that neither she nor her husband hurt Marcus.
As time went by, authorities grew suspicious of the Carrolls.
______________________________________________________
A break came Monday after the case went to a grand jury, Deters said.
He said investigators gathered information that showed the couple left their Union Township rental home the afternoon of Friday, Aug. 4, for Liz Carroll's family reunion in Williamstown, Ky., leaving Marcus in a small closet inside a playpen-type crib with no food or water, just an electric fan.
"They intentionally left him there," Deters said.
The Carrolls returned home at 7 a.m. Sunday to find Marcus dead, Deters said.
David Carroll Jr. then took Marcus' body to an abandoned house in Brown County and burned it, Deters said.
Four days later the Carrolls told a caseworker Marcus was ill, turning her away, Deters said. That gave them five days to cook up the tale they told in Juilfs Park.
Authorities said the hoax ultimately worked against them because they started to contradict themselves in their public statements.
_______________________________________________________
These are my words:
If we can tear ourselves away from the sensational aspects of 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel's tragic death long enough to look at the big picture, we will see traces of blame in all of us.
We have dismantled just about every social obligation we have, not only as a community, but as a nation, and replaced them with window-dressing that does a lousy job, but relieves us of any guilt we might feel about what it is we no longer have the time to be bothered with..
Do we really care about protecting the innocent ? Can a murdered human being be more innocent than 3-year-old Marcus was ? Simply seeking revenge against Liz and David Carroll Jr. will be a slap in the face to the memory of young Marcus. This horrible, tragic event is an opportunity to look ourselves in the face and ask ourselves, " Whose fault is this?". I know that even though I do not personally know anyone involved in this case, I feel guilt over the fact that this has happened. The time for change has come, and young Marcus Fiesel has paid the ultimate price to provide the opportunity for it.

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2006-05-26T06:52:00.000-07:00

The People vs. The Jetsons, A Class Action Suit
George Corneliussen
Updated: 12:37 a.m. PT May 25, 2006 - Plaintown, Pennsylvania
Sam Smith, age 52, a resident of the small town of Plaintown, Pennsylvania, has filed a class action suit against the entire Jetsons family, stars of the animated televison series named after them that originally aired in 1962. In his suit, Mr. Smith names all Americans over the age of fifty as co-complaintants in the suit.
When asked what the motivation behind the class action suit was, Mr. Smith replied, " They've not only ruined my life, they've ruined the lives of countless other American men and women who believed the lies they spread through the guise of a cartoon show. They claimed they lived in the 21st Century, right ? Well, this is the 21st Century and where are all the things they promised us? Where are the robots ? Where are the flying cars ? Where are the floating sidewalks ? And most of all, where 's the life of leisure they promised all of us ? We're all working longer and harder than we've ever worked before, not less and easier the way The Jetsons claimed we would. We're all out here hanging on by our fingernails while The Jetsons are living large off forty years of cartoon royalties. It's just not fair. It's time for the entire Jetson family to pay for all the years they've been lying to us. They've ruined lives, millions of lives. If we had known life was going to turn out like this, none of us would have sat around watching the lies they spread on that TV show of theirs."
Far Fetched ? Anyone over the age of fifty remembers the days when our whole society was talking about the utopian life we would all be leading by the year 2000. Now that that the year 2000 has come and gone, the only thing we remember about 2000 is that it was the year Microsoft put out a really lousy version of Windows. But I digress.
Through the latter part of the 1950's and all through of the 1960's, our society was totally convinced that Utopia was the destination we were all headed for. I remember sitting in front of my family's black-and-white TV in the late 1950's watching all sorts of science fiction shows that showed how perfect life would be in the not-so-distant future. No one would have to worry about health , food, housing, or money ( many sci-fi shows claimed there would be no money in the future; everyting would be free ).
In 1962, I remember sitting in my sixth grade class as my teacher told us about how one day, in our lifetime, food would come in a tube like toothpaste or how a single pill would contain an entire turkey dinner. That same teacher used to tell us that by the time we grew up, there wouldn't be any regular cars; we'd all have flying cars. ( Funny what your mind decides is important when you're a kid. I remember actually worrying about having to learn how to land a flying car. What if I crashed ? Would I be in trouble ? ).
The fifties and sixties were an amazing time in the area of the mechanical sciences. Imagine what it felt like growing up watching "space movies" with spaceships, flying saucers, ray guns, spacemen, and interplanetary travel, and then one day in July of 1969 a manned spacecraft actually lands on the moon. In the fifties, a "portable televsion" was something that two men with a handtruck could move.By the early sixties there were transistor radios the size of a pack of cigarettes. It was a time that was hard not to buy into. A time when the triumph of the human spirit was being marketed with as much gusto as the "American Idol" is today.
When the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" came out in 1968, the dream was already losing quite a bit of its shine. By the time the 70's were over, it had all but been completely erased . When the 80's rolled around, all dreams of equality and leisure in the future were replaced by a " get the other guy before he gets you" mentality; and the way to do that was to work harder and build a power base. Taking time off was for losers.
The 90's saw the generation that grew up on dreams of a utopian future becoming parents and having kids of their own. These kids were raised in a world filled with dreams of Terminators, Predators, and other not-so-utopian things . Now we kids of the fifties and sixties are becoming grandparents and in so doing are finding ourselves coming full circle. We dream of a utopian world for us and our grandkids, a world filled with flying cars, and floating sidewalks, a world where the family is always together and always happy in a world that lives in peace. Funny how the circles in life tend to do that.
It does make you wonder just what would the Jetsons' family life be like in the real 21st Century, instead of the cartoon version of the 21st Century they sold us some forty-plus years ago.

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2006-05-25T03:59:00.000-07:00

Communication Breakdown ( It's always the same )

George Corneliussen

( Communication breakdown, It's always the same, I'm having a nervous breakdown, Drive me insane! - Led Zeppelin )
One of my favorite games that we played when we were kids didn't even have a name. If it did have a name, I never knew what it was. To play this game we needed at least a dozen kids, but the more kids we had the more fun the game was to play.
The rules of the game were simple. The dozen or more kids playing the game would stand in a circle facing outward with their backs to the inside of the circle ( it was important that we not be able to make eye contact in order for the game to be played correctly ). Then someone would be designated as the "first" person in the circle. That person would then tell a short story to the person on their right. These stories had to describe something someone had done and contain no more than three or four sentences. Example: "Sally went to the store to buy ice cream. She met Harry on the way. Harry started talking to her about baseball. Sally forgot all about the ice cream."
After the first person in the circle told the story to the person on their right, that person had to tell the same story to the person on their right, and so on, and so on, until the story made it all the way around the circle back to the person who started it.
The fun part of the game came when the last person in the circle told the story back to the person who started it. The story was never even close to the version of the story that started the game. By the time the story of Sally's trip to buy ice cream made it's way around the circle it would sound something like, "Sally's mom yelled at her for eating all the ice cream. Harry felt sorry for her so he took her to a baseball game. Harry tripped on the way to the baseball game and broke his leg."
At this point, everyone in the circle would laugh wildly and compare notes to try to find out how the story got so messed up. Once that was figured out, the circle would reform and a new "first" person would start a new story on its journey around the circle. No matter how many times we played this game, the story never made it all the way around the circle intact.
I don't hear much about kids playing this game anymore, or about adults reminiscing about playing it when they were kids. I think I know why that is..........................
A game ( a way of playing; pastime; amusement;diversion ) is only entertaining when it is in opposition to the norm. A game is always the most entertaining when it takes our minds to a place it doesn't normally go. Now that telling a story inaccurately is the the norm in our society, why would anyone want to entertain themselves doing it ? That would be like someone who works in an office cubicle all day pretending they were sitting in one on their days off.
If you think about why the "circle game" works, it's not hard to figure out. Once the story is set into motion, there is no reference to the source available. Each person in the circle becomes "the whole ball of wax" when it comes to interpreting and communicating the story to next person. The first time a player in the circle isn't paying attention or misunderstands what has been told them, the mutation of the story begins. Then it's only a matter of time before the mutation gets mutated.
If the players in the circle were facing each other, the game wouldn't work. The person who started the story would be following the story around the circle and immediately correcting anyone who told the story incorrectly. The story would make it around the circle accurately every time, but there wouldn't be any fun in playing the game.
Isn't that what we've become as a society ? Aren't we all constantly setting stories into motion and never following up on the accuracy with which they are retold ? Isn't this why nothing in our society means the same thing to any two people? Haven't we all turned our backs on one another when it comes to communication ?
Let's look at the "big picture" for a moment. Are there any products, goods, or services you can think of where the story one end of the circle tells matches the story the other end of the circle tells ? When you deal with a person on a "professional" level , whether it is buying something, using something, or requesting a service, do you get the impression that the person you are dealing with face to face, over the phone, or through correspondence, has the same understanding of the product, good, or service as the owner the company that provides it does ?
Are you surprised when a product offers a "100% unconditional guarantee" and a representative of the company who sold you the product tells you the guarantee is void because you've "used the product"? Are you surprised when the local utility company bills you twice for the same month's usage and when you complain, the service representative thinks you are trying to sign up as a new customer ? Are you surprised when a local elected official publishes their headquarter's phone number, but when you call the number, you are told the elected official in question does not take personal phone calls?
I contend all the things that made the "circle game" so much fun are now a part of everyday life, so we can't entertain ourselves playing the game. We stand with our backs to each other, never make eye contact, never follow up on anything we start, and never correct mistakes along the way. To be fair though, there is one major difference in the way we play the "circle game" in real life.
In real life, when the mutated story makes it all the way around the circle, instead of everyone laughing and comparing notes to see where and how the story got so messed up, the person who started the story simply retells the mutated version of the story and sends it on its journey around the circle all over again. Deja Boo-Boo all over again.
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2006-04-18T04:30:00.000-07:00

ANALOGY (from Wed. Feb. 12, 2003 )

Analogy: 1. a likeness in some ways between things that are
otherwise unlike; similarity.
2. comparison of such things.

Are you searching for a way to describe the way the current world situation makes you feel ?
Would you feel better if you could express that feeling of being where you belong, but also feeling like you are terribly out of place?
Would you like to express that frightning feeling of knowing that something is terribly wrong, but nobody seems to notice it but you ?
Would you like to describe that stomach turning feeling of wanting to get out of a situation before someone notices you, and something terrible happens to you ?
Try this for an analogy:
Remember that dream where you suddenly realize that you're at school, and you're only wearing your underwear ? That one pretty much covers all the bases.

2006-03-27T05:43:00.000-08:00

"I Met An American"
by: George Corneliussen
Originally Written 5/11/04

Last weekend we pulled into a Meijer's gas
station,it was in the lot of a Meijer's store.I
filled up,got back in our vehicle, and turned
the key.Click,dead battery!I had a plug in
battery charger with me, so I asked the folks
working at Meijer's if I could plug it in and
charge my battery enough to get our vehicle
started.
Long story short,they said no.I could buy a new
battery from the main store, but charging my
battery was out of the question. It was too much
of a potential liability.Couldn't I just go away?
At the risk of being labeled a profiler,I'll say
that everyone at the Meijer's store looked like
they were born and raised in the U.S.
Across the street was a Shell station,I walked
over.The station was managed by a middle eastern
man who gave us more help than you would
believe. Long story short,he let us charge our
battery. When the charge didn't work he drove
his car over to our vehicle and gave us a jump.
When the jump didn't work he drove us home so we
could get our checkbook and buy a new battery.
We drove our other car back so he didn't have be
bothered. All together he spent about two hours
with us. As I was hooking up our new battery I
heard my wife talking to someone; it was our new
friend he was back. He wanted to make sure we
were O.K.
Not until the new battery started our vehicle
did he shake hands one last time and leave. My
wife offered to at least pay for the gas he
burned up running us around,he refused.
Between all the things he did to help us we
talked to him about many things. He was born in
Egypt. He became an American citizen ten years
ago.He said America's system might not be
perfect, but it was the best one he had ever
lived in.He said he was worried about how his
fellow American's seemed to be freely giving up
the freedoms that made America great.He was
puzzled and bothered by the number of native
born Americans who didn't know their own
history.He made it clear how much he cared about
people.
In short, he was everything you would expect an
American to be. His name was Hany and he was
born in Egypt.
PS:I bought my new battery at Auto Zone, not
Meijer's, guess where I'm buying my gas from now
on?
Apathy: a state of mind caused by lack of
participation by that mind .

2006-02-15T06:03:00.000-08:00

Shipwreck Of The "General Grant", A Firsthand Report (1869)

George Corneliussen

If you are a fan of the television show "Lost", you will enjoy reading about the real thing.

This is the first chapter of " Shipwreck Of The General Grant ". Written by H.D. Jarvis, a survivor the shipwreck. The story was printed in Harper's New Monthly Magazine in the March, 1869 issue. An up-to-date history of the shipwreck can be viewed at http://www.maanz.wellington.net.nz/projects/gengrant.htm

Chapter 1:
On the 28th of November, 1865 the ship General Grant , Captain William H. Loughlin, sailed from Boston to Melbourne. A fine westerly breeze urged her cheerily along, and the crew, of which the narrator was one, began the voyage in good spirits. During the second night out a heavy gale struck us, and while shortening sail the third mate, Rufus S. Tyler, was lost overboard. This ill omen was followed by good weather, which took us in sixty-eight days to the Cape of Good Hope.
Bad weather vexed us thence to Melbourne, which we reached on the 13th of March, 1866.
We remained in Melbourne about eight weeks, loading for London. By one of those coincidences which sailors dread we took aboard part of a cargo that had been intended for the steamer London. This ill-fated vessel had sunk in the Bay of Biscay on her voyage out, and there were many gloomy prophecies that no freight of hers would reach London in any ship. The rats are also said to have left our vessel. Our cargo consisted cheifly of wool and hides, with about four thousand ounces of gold. We sailed on Friday the 4th of may, 1866, with sixty passengers, among whom were six women and about twenty children. The men were nearly all miners, returning home with their families and what property thay had acquired at the diggings. The crew numbered twenty-three, four officers and nineteen men.
The Auckland Isles are a group of black basaltic rocks, lying about 1500 miles southeast of Melbourne, and 199 miles south of New Zealand. They are barren and uninhabited. Whalers and sealers occasionally visit them, and have left a stock of pigs and a few crazy huts. Many vessels have been cast away there, and an abundance of wreck-wood may be found on the shores. Captain Musgrave, of the schooner Grafton, was wrecked there in 1864, and remained eighteen months. He left a substantial hut, and at his instance the Government of New Zealand put goats, sheep, and domestic fowls ashore there, and planted English elms, oaks, and ash-trees. Nothing throve but the goats. Papers were also left giving the bearing of New Zealand and other useful information; but these seem never to have been found.
For five days the General Grant made good progress with a fair wind. The Captain had originally intended running to the northward of the Aucklands; but on the seventh day a southeasterly breeze sprang up, obliging him to beat to windward.
Heavy fog closed in, and a sharp look-out was kept for land. The last observation was taken that morning. Throughout the next two days the weather was so thick that we could scarcely see the end of the jib-boom from the deck. At 10 1/2 o'clock at night of the ninth day the lookout forward cried, "Land on the port bow." This was Disappointment. When fairly clear of the land, which he supposed to be the most northerly of the Aucklands, instead of the most westerly, the wind shifted from southeast to northwest.
All danger seemed past. The yards were squared and the doomed ship put on the straight course for Cape Horn. An hour later the look-out reported, " Land dead ahead ", but after inspection with the glass the officers declared it only a fog-bank.
Not many minutes later the wind died completely away, leaving a heavy sea. At the same time dawned upon us the terrible danger we were in. The sea and the current were carrying us toward a rock-bound, precipitous coast. The main island of Auckland lay directly ahead, and every swash of the sea was pushing us toward destruction.
A breeze, through ever so slight , might save the ship and enable her to run between the two islands. All passengers were called aft, all the crew on deck. In vain was every sail set, every yard braced to meet a breath of air. The tide took us at one time so far to the south that it seemed we might go clear. Then an eddy carried us to the northward again, nearer and nearer to the overhanging rock.
The scene on deck and in the cabins struck terror to the strongest hearts. Miners were seen tying up their gold in blankets, women were wailing and children shrieking. All hands were pulling at the braces as long as a spark of hope remained.
Cruel fate urged us pitilessly on, yet so slowly that it was a relief when the end came, and that long agony of hopeless waiting ceased. As we neared the land the lead was heaved to find anchorage, but no bottom could be found.
At half past one at night the jib-boom struck the rock at the foot of a cliff many hundred feet high, and with the bowsprit was carried away. This shock caused the ship to spin around and strike her stern, carrying away the the spanker-boom and rudder , and breaking the ribs of the man at the wheel. We now found ourselves drifting helplessly into a narrow cove inclosed by precipices of unknown height. The ship's sides were striking heavily against the rock, and there were thirty fathoms of water under her. All hope was gone; yet the captain stood nobly at his post, and the crew remained subordinate.
Lanterns were held over the side and carried up the rigging. Not a foothold for a bird could be discovered. The masts were not cut away, as they could not fall clear of the deck. There was too much water for anchoring.
So we drifted on, and the cove grew narrower. Suddenly the fore-royal mast struck the rock above and came tumbling down, followed by the other spars. As the main-royal mast and top-hamper succeeded we realized the appalling fact that we were being sucked into a cave of unknown depth.
The rock above was tearing the masts out of the ship and in detached masses, breaking holes through the deck and forward houses. After losing all the fore-mast, the sump of the main-mast caught against the solid roof, and stopped farther progress. But for this circumstance the General Grant would have sunk that night and none lived to tell the story.

To Be Continued: Next week the General Grant sinks, lives are lost and the survivors find themselves LOST!

2006-02-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

There Are No Good Songs.
Sat, 18 Jan 2003 09:08:01
Even though nothing mankind has ever achieved has ever been the
result of one person, the way we are obesssed with personal
recognition says a lot about us. It tends to fall into a unique category we all help perpetuate. That is , even though we all know it takes an army of people to get an idea from one individual's head out into the world we live in, we all pretend that one person did it all.
Maybe that's because we all figure that if we do that, we'll each get a shot at being admired for something we do, or maybe it's simply because we never really grow up, and everything we do is just a complicated version of the shows we put on in the back yard when we were kids.
Recently, Paul McCartney let it be known that he would like to change the song writing credits on some Beatles songs to McCartney-Lennon, instead of the Lennon-McCartney the world recognizes.
How many people on the face of the planet have more personal
recognition than Paul McCartney ?
It doesn't bother me that he wants to make the change, but it seem that if he is going to take that route, he is opening the door to a few questions.
Does the world know Paul because of the orginal ideas he had in his head for those Beatle songs, or the records that ended up being the only version we ever heard
If the records are what became famous then everyone who effected the final result actually deserves part of the song writing credit.Between the ideas in his head and the final records there were other musicians, studio engineers, a producer ( George Martin ), promotion people, factories that made the records, and many others all of whom had an effect on the sound of the records that became famous.
Even though they all played a vital role, none of us really expect all of them to get credit for the end result. That would be way too complicated.
However, a long time ago somebody with more insight than me said it best. " There are no good songs, just good records."
By the way this e- mail is not about Paul McCartney per se.

2006-02-08T12:52:00.000-08:00

From Oct. 5, 2005

Mom Was Right Again:

I first heard this phrase from my mom. In fact, come to think
of it, she may be the only person I ever actually heard say, "
Out of everything bad comes something good".
When I read the headline, "Is the big SUV dying?" her words
rang in my ear. I know we're supposed to be all worried and
filled with a sense of doom over the rising cost of gasoline
and it's potential scarcity.
But, as I read that,
[ "sales of sport-utility vehicles took a dive in
September", and that " sales of the Ford Explorer dropped by
58% and sales of the Ford Expedition (14mpg) dropped 61%",
"Ford even stopped producing its even larger SUV,the
Excursion", "sales of GM's full-size SUVs fell 56%", "Hummer
H2 (10 mpg) sales were off 31%", "sales of Toyota's immense
Sequoia (15mpg) were off 46% ", "Honda's Pilots were off 26%",
Nissan's Armadas (13mpg) were off 20%" ], instead of wringing
my hands in a fit of worry, I found my self smiling and
humming to myself, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood".
In fact, it will be hard for me not to pump my fist in the
air the next time I get behind the wheel of my four cylinder
Volvo station wagon, and let out a Homer
Simpson-style, " Woo-Hoo !".
Using my less than perfect math skills, I figure these
numbers mean a potential drop in the number of SUVs on the
road, while I am on the road, in the 40% range. That would
mean when I park at the supermarket I would have a four in ten
shot at not having to park between two SUVs. That would
translate into a four in ten shot of being able to actually
pull out of that parking spot and being able to see any
vehicles about to crash into me ( as opposed to the Russian
Roulette method the SUVs offer).
I would have a four in ten shot of making eye contact with
the drivers headed right at me while they talk on their cell
phones in heavy traffic.
When I park in a public parking lot, I would have a four ten
shot of mysterious "dings" showing up on my car less
frequently, the kind that are usually the same height as an
SUV bumper.
Speaking of public parking lots, I would have a four in ten
chance of not having to watch SUV drivers point their keychain
remotes at their SUVs ( and hear that annoying "beep,beep"
sound ) as they lock them up so they can buy groceries, and
not have to worry about all those nasty car thieves that hang
out in supermarket parking lots in broad daylight.
That in turn would mean a four in ten chance of not ever
hearing the alarm in an SUV going off in the middle of a
parking lot for twenty or thirty minutes while no one pays any
attention to it ( other than to wish someone would actually
steal it, or throw a rock through the window ).
I could go on, but I don't want to sound like I'm gloating.
I'll just finish by saying, if gas hits $6.00 a gallon and
suddenly all the SUVs are gone, how do I act like I'm not
happier than when only 40% of them were gone ?
I mean, $6.00 a gallon for gas would be a bad thing, wouldn't
it ?
"Woo-Hoo ! "

2006-01-27T13:20:00.000-08:00

The Seducers:
Every living creature is seducible. It's only a question of what it takes to seduce them. For some, it's food; for some, it's money; for others, it's fame; for some, it's flattery; for some, it's a combination of all these.
The reason seduction is perceived to be a bad thing is because it is a generally accepted belief that those who seduce (hereafter know as The Seducers) are always up to no good.
The fragmentation in our society is a direct result of every citizen in this country allowing themselves to be seduced into believing that those they follow have their best interests at heart.
At a base level, the leaders of every movement in this country, be they conservative, liberal, independent, you name it, are basically full of crap. Their goal is to seduce as many followers as they can. I offer as proof the lack of original thought or opinion in any of these groups.
Isn't it strange how neighbors rarely know or care about the political affiliation of their other neighbors, yet they all generally get along just fine? That is until an outside "seducer" convinces them that they have problems with their fellow neighbors. Suddenly what once was a peaceful neighborhood turns into a hate factory.
The first step The Seducers take is making us believe we only thought we were all getting along, and only thought we liked each other. You will also find that The Seducers never offer proof or examples of the threat they claim your once friendly neighbors now present.
When we allow ourselves to be seduced, all sorts of bad things happen; and while we are blaming those things on the people The Seducers say we should be blaming them on, The Seducers are having one hell of a good time at our expense.

Epilogue:
A conservative Seducer, a liberal Seducer, and an independent Seducer walk into a bar. The bartender says to them, " Good evening, Gentlemen; what do you want? "The liberal Seducer says, " I want you to demand a raise. If you don't get it, I want you to quit your job."The conservative Seducer says, " I want you to fire a few people so you can lower the price of your drinks."The independent Seducer says, " I want you to demand a raise, hire more people, and lower the price of your drinks."The bartender says, " Sorry guys; I can't do any of those things, but I can get you all a drink."
The Seducers look at each other and one of them says, " The service here stinks. Let's go somewhere where they appreciate our business."
- George-

2006-01-23T11:37:00.000-08:00

To CD Or Not To CD, That Is The Question:

From : GEORGE CORNELIUSSEN
Sent : Friday, January 13, 2006 9:56 AM

America, prepare to have your day ruined:

Associated Press January 11, 2006:
"Do Burned CDs Have a Short Life Span?"
Optical discs may not be your best bet for storing digital media long term,experts says. John Blau, IDG News Service Tuesday,January 10, 2006.
Opinions vary on how to preserve data on digital storage
media,such as optical CDs and DVDs. Kurt Gerecke, a physicist
and storage expert at IBM Deutschland, has his own view: if
you want to avoid having to burn new CDs every few years , use
magnetic tape to store all your pictures,videos and songs for
a lifetime.
"Unlike pressed original CDs, burned CDs have a relatively
short life span of between two and five years, depending on
the quality of the CD," Gerecke says. " There are a few things
you can do to extend the life of a burned CD, like keeping the
disc in a cool, dark space, but not a whole lot more."
The problem is material degradation. Optical discs commonly
used for birning, such as
CD-R and CD-RW, have a recording surface consisting of a layer
of dye that can be modified by heat to store data. The
degradation process can result in the data
"shifting"on the surface and thus becoming unreadable to the
laser beam.
"many of the cheap burnable CDs available at discount stores
have a life span of around two years," Gerecke says. "Some of
the better-quality discs offer a longer life span, of a
maximum of five years."
Distinguishing high-quality burnable CDs from low-quality
discs is difficult, he says, because few vendors use life span
as a selling point.
Similar Limitations:
Hard-drive disks also have their limitations, according to
Gerecke. The problem with hard drives, he says, is not so much
the disk itself as it is the disk bearing, which has a
positioning function similar to a ball bearing. " If the hard
drive uses an inexpensive disk bearing, that bearing will wear
out faster than a more expensive one," he says. His
recommendation: a hard-drive disk with 7200 revolutions per
minute.
To overcome the preservation limitations of burnable CDs,
Gerecke suggests using magnetic tapes, which he claims, can
have a life span of 30 years to 100 years, depending on their
quality. " Even if magnetic tapes a re also subject to
degradation, they're still the superior storage media," he
says.
But he's quick to point out that no storage medium lasts
forever and, consequently, consumers and business alike need
to have a migration plan to new storage technologies.
"Companies, in particular, need to be constantly looking at
new storage technologies and have an archiving stratedgy that
allows them to automatically migrate to new technologies," he
says. " Otherwise, they're going to wind up in a dead-end. And
for those sitting on terabytes of crucial data, that could be
a colossal problem."

As someone who's been burning CDs for a long time, I'm afraid
I have to agree with the good doctor. Some of the CDs I
burned more than two years ago no longer play. I had no idea
that the CDs themselves were the problem, I always thought it
was the fact that newer CD players wouldn't play older CDs.
Recently, I passed up the chance to buy a recording studio
quality cassette tape recorder for less than $40. I felt it
was obsolete technology. I'm kickin' myself in the rear now.
-George-

2006-01-21T04:34:00.000-08:00

By Jove Holmes !
Thu, 16 Jan 2003 07:57 AM
I remember watching an old Sherlock Holmes movie years ago. At the
end of the movie when Watson asked him how he knew the suspect was
guilty Holmes said;
" Elementary my dear Watson, his silence when questioned about the
crime gave him away."
If you accidentally ( or intentionally ) erase this e-mail from
your computer and want to retrieve it at some future date there's a
good chance you can, even if you re-format your hard drive in the
meantime.
I just finished reading a story about how much information remains
on your hard drive no matter what you do to it.
The story was about these two guys who started a small business
reselling used hard drives. They bought 158 of them from eBay and
used computer stores. 129 of the hard drives still worked, of those
69 still had recoverable records on them.
The files covered everything from medical and financial records ,
to love letters and porno.
The story went on to say that none of the conventional methods of
erasing a hard drives work 100%. Even if you pay an "expert" to do
it there is no guarntee.
What was really interesting was the statement that none of this is
unknown to the manufacturers of computers, they simply never talk
about it.
Kind of makes the old "Why ?" question pop up, don't it ?
To my knowledge there are no instructions that come with any new
computer that help you clean your hard drive, or any mention of the
potential dangers that failing to do it might cause.
Why would that be ? The story I read tells of the state of
Pennsylvania selling used computers, and a local reseller retrieving
files on state employees. An Arizona pharmacy sold hard drives
containing 2,000 customer files.
Did you know that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the right
to privacy does NOT apply to items that are discarded. If you sell
or throw something away it's up for grabs.
There is software on the market that does what they call
"squeezing" your hard drive, that is it writes over the entire drive
with basically nothing. You have to find it yourself, none of the
manufacturers sell it with a new computer. Why ?
Judging from this story the nations highest security risk ( as well
as your's and mine ) is probably not the boarders of this country,
but the garbage dumps and thrift stores, and our old friend eBay.
Are ya like me ? Do you find the industry's silence on this matter
suspicious .

2006-01-19T15:21:00.000-08:00

What Do You Mean By That ?

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 7:16 AM:
Ever notice how it's getting harder and harder to understand
clearly what someone on television or the radio is saying ?
Maybe that's because we've combined too many words and lumped them
together in such a way that most of the time the person speaking is
the only one who knows exactly what they are trying to say.
What's that you say ? My message is not clear ?
O.K.,here's an example. Take the words "cheap" and "inexpensive"
to most of us they mean the same thing.Maybe they do;maybe they
don't.
The dictionary defines "cheap" as : costing little;it also
describes it as:of little value.
These two definitons could cause confusion depending on how they
were used.
(If you bought a Mercedes for $1500 it would cost little,but not
necessarily be of little value.)
The dictionary also defines the word "inexpensive" as: not
expensive,cheap,low priced.
Please note that the definition of "inexpensive" includes the word
"cheap". Ah,but which definition of the word "cheap" ?
( Now that $1500 Mercedes "might" cost little,or it "might " be of
little value.)
In that same dictionary the word "might" is referred to as : the
past tense of "may",and (hold onto your hats) "may" is referred
to as:the past tense of "might".
Head spinning yet ? Sorry I tried to make this as "clear" as
possible.
clear: 1a. not cloudy, misty, or hazy;bright;light.
Ex. a clear day. A clear sky is free of clouds.
b. bright,lustrous; shining.
c. serene; calm.
Ex. His brow grew clear as the blue sky above him(Bulwer-Lytton)
2. easy to see through; transparent.
Ex. clear glass.
3. having a pure, even color.
Ex. a clear blue.
4. easily seen, heard, or understood; not confused;
plain; distinct.
Ex. a clear voice; (Figurative.) a clear idea, a clear
text. He gave a clear account of the accident.
(SYN) evident, obvious, manifest apparent,patent.
5. free from blemishes.
Ex. Healthy babies have clear skin.
6. sure; certain.
Ex. It is clear that it is going to rain. ( Figurative.)
I am clear in my own mind that I should give up the plan.
7. not blocked or obstructed; open.
Ex. There is a clear view of the sea from the hill.
8. not touching; not being caught.
Ex. The ship was clear of the iceberg.
9. (Figurative.) free from blame or guilt; innocent.
Ex. a clear conscience. The police thought the man was a
thief, but they learned that he was clear.
10. (Figurative.) free from debts or charges.
Ex. He made a clear profit after taking money out to pay
taxes and expenses. (SYN) net.
If none of these definitons do it for you,don't worry. There are many dozens more,making "clear" clearly one of the most defined words in the dictionary.

2006-01-18T07:29:00.000-08:00

Cheerios:

From : GEORGE CORNELIUSSEN
Originally sent : Monday, May 24, 2004 9:19 AM
Next month, one of our favorite breakfast buddy's turns 63.
On June 19th 1941 the world was introduced to Cheerios. Here
are some fun facts :

* Cheerios were originally called Cheeri Oats.
* In their first year 1.8 million boxes were sold.
* They are puffed up by being shot through heat cannons.
* Each Cheerios measures 1/2 inch in diameter, and weighs
.0025 ounces.
* 1n 1945 the name was changed to Cheerios ( because of a
conflict with another oat breakfast cereal, Quaker Oats ).
* Cheerios claims to be the first ready to eat cereal.
* 1960 was the first year the "Toasted Oat Cereal" slogan was
used.
* 1979 Honey Nut Cheerios were introduced.
And now the most obscure bit of Cheeios trivia you'll find:
Cheeri Oats ( aka Cheerios ) were invented by James Evans a
graduate of Central Missouri State College. Other CMSU grads
include Dale Carnegie, and Carry Nation.
A bit of world trivia, as it relates to Cheerios:
On the same day General Mills was introducing Cherri Oats
( June 19th 1941 ) Germany and Italy expelled the United States
Embassies from their countries.

2006-01-17T11:46:00.000-08:00

Virtual Whittling Anyone ? ( from: Sat. March,15,2003 )
Ever see one of those old westerns were a couple of old coots are sitting in the general store with their feet up on a big barrel while they whittle and swap stories? Be honest, no matter how good the movie is, the characters we really envy are those guys.
How about the Internet as the general store, and our keyboards as the barrel? A friend of mine e-mailed a story to me.A story you may be aware of. I'll condense it, but it pretty much goes as follows:
"A lawyer buys a box of expensive cigars, and insures them against loss by fire. He smokes them, then submits a claim to the insurance company for $15,000. The company refuses to pay, so the lawyer takes them to court.
The judge says that since the policy does not exclude any type of fire, the insurance company must pay the lawyer.
As soon as the lawyer cashes the check, the insurance company has him arrested for arson. The judge finds him guilty, and sentences him to two years in jail and a $24,000 fine."
The story is reported to be true, and the winner of first prize in the Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.
When I first recieved the e-mail I felt great! What was not to like about this story? It united all of us in a common cause, lawyers getting whacked.
After a few days, my "too good to be true" gene got the best of me, so I typed "Criminal Lawyers Award Contest" into Google and hit search. 19 pages came up.
Some claimed the story to be true, but most said it was a new version of an old urban legend. The fun fact was that the pages that offered information on the contest required you to fill out forms with personal information before you could proceed ( I did not).
How much do you want to bet that some Internet carpetbagger realized just how strong our urge to put our feet up on the barrel and whittle was ?
We toss off personal information so freely, why not throw some around in exchange for a good "lawyer gets screwed story"?
He simply came up with a story anyone of us would sit at the general store all day for,just waiting for someone to walk in so we could tell it to them. The ironic thing is that it would probably take a lawyer to get him or herself out of the mess they got into once they filled in their personal information and went fishing for the "lawyer gets screwed story" .

2006-01-11T04:27:00.000-08:00

Laughing At The Boogie-Man :
from : Saturday, Oct. 11, 2003

Don't underestimate the power of laughter as a weapon against all things scary. Holloween is coming up. If you think about it, Halloween's main function may be as a testament to how we defeat fear with laughter.
Who hasn't had a bout with being afraid of the dark, or the boogie-man as a child? I remember, being about five or six and having to turn the light out and make a mad dash for the safety of my bed (a full six feet away), and the covers I threw over my head. Somewhere along the line I got over that fear. I guess to prove to myself that I did get over it ,to this day I chuckle when I think of how sure I was that "something" was going to get me somewhere between the light switch and the six feet to my bed.
Isn't that what we do with Halloween? To prove that the boogie-man
(boogie-person?) never was real we all have one grand old laugh-fest at Halloween.
Now, think about the new age boogie-man, that would be the world we live in. In the old days people used to sit around the campfire and tell scary stories at night. Today we have the news media, and the political world all trying to outdo each other every night with scary stories.
Ever heard the old saying, "Nothing new under the sun"? It turns out that the press and the political world have been trying to tell us scary stories since day one of the civilized world. The difference seems to be that in the past they used a healthy dose of humor to keep the scary stories from taking over.
The following quotes tell part of the story:

From Thomas Jefferson:
* Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.
* The advertisement is the most truthful part of a newspaper
* The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.

From Ben Hecht (author/philosopher 1893-1964):
* Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell time by watching the second hand of a clock.

From G.K. Chesterson (poet/journalist 1874-1936):
* Journalism largely consists of saying, "Lord Jones is dead" to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive.

From Richard Nixon (former president of the United States):
* I am not a crook.

2006-01-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

From: Wednesday, April 9, 2003
" It Ain't Over Till It's Over "
If you believe in reincarnation, there's a good chance that Yogi Berra might have been General E.R.S. Canby or General St. John R. Liddell in a past life.
Yogi's most famous quote, "It ain't over till it's over." was made during the 1973 National League play-offs, while he was the manager of the New York Mets. Maybe he was just remembering something from a long time ago.
Today is April 9th, ring a bell? Maybe something from a history class when you were a kid ? Today is the 138th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. On April 9th, 1865 General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Grant at the Appomattox court house. This brought an end to the internal fighting that tore our country apart. That's what the history books tell us anyway.
You see, in 1865 there were no cell phones or cable news networks, and news tended to travel rather slowly. Several hours after the end of the Civil War on paper, in a place called Baldwin County the last battle of the war was being fought.
General E.R.S. Canby of the North led his troops against General St. R. Liddell of the South. An estimated 3529 men died after the war offically ended.
On April 11th 1865 General Canby's regiment was returning to their base for further orders when a courier intercepted them and delivered the news that the war was over.
So did the Civil War end on April 9th 1865, or April 11th 1865 ?
When was it over ?

2006-01-03T14:47:00.000-08:00

13 Miners Trapped In West Virginia Coal Mine:

Just before dawn on Monday January 1st, an explosion trapped 13 miners in a cave-in caused by an explosion at the Sago coal mine in Tallmansville, West Virginia.As of this writing hope is slim for their survival due to high levels of carbon monoxide found in the mine.Both my wife's grandfather and my grandfather were coal miners;they were great examples of human beings.In 1994 the country group Diamond Rio recorded a song that my wife has played on and off for years. these are the lyrics to that song:

Kentucky Mine:

His eyes are greener than the meadows
His hair is greyer than a ghost
His lungs are blacker than the shadows
That dance in circles down below

You see them every Monday morning
Electric halos light their way
Five days of widows mourning
But Friday rolls the stone away

Kentucky mine, doing time
Never see the light of day
Kentucky mine, stand in line
Just to dig your own grave

From coal dust they make a living
To coal dust they will return
The earth is good but unforgiving
And someone's got to keep the fire burnin'
Daddy says, "Listen to me, Do not follow where my footsteps lead"

Kentucky mine, doing time
Never see the light of day
Kentucky mine, stand in line
Just to dig your own grave

And everything he said was true
But what's a Kentucky boy to do?

Kentucky mine, doing time
Never see the light of day
Kentucky mine, stand in line
Just to dig your own grave

My wife's grandfather was a miner in Indiana. My grandfather was a miner in Pennsylvania. They never met each other, yet they were brothers and Diamond Rio's song was written for them, even though they both died decades before it was written. I don't know any of the men trapped in the Sago mine, but they are all related to our grandfathers and Diamond Rio's song was written for them as well.

2005-12-27T05:17:00.000-08:00

Problems Are Money In The Bank:

In my lifetime, I have seen a major change in the way our society deals with domestic dissidents. The days of police and army troops clubbing striking workers (or any other troublesome group) into submission gave way to the more "sophisticated" approach of offering the leaders of dissenting groups a slice of the economic pie too large to turn down.
This approach ended disputes and added to the power base of the upper end of our movers and shakers. The problem is this approach has been used for so long that it has become "too much of a good thing " in our society.
Only a very naive person in our society today could claim not to see the "complaining for cash " system we operate under. Instead of individuals leading causes for the greater good, in most cases their goal is eventual admission to the "big boys club ".This has led to a situation in our society that encourages us to condone anything that turns a profit. Discrediting a profit turning venture is the only form of blasphemy universally recognized these days.
The by-product of this is a national attention span that is based on one thing and one thing only. people only complain until they get either money or some other form of compensation.
While this, no doubt, makes for a short-term improvement in living conditions, it does absolutely nothing to eliminate the problem that was being complained about in the first place. As a result of this cycle, problems go into hibernation; they are never eliminated. So, every decade or so, we see the exact same problems popping up and treated as if they are a big surprise.
Until we face the fact that some problems are bigger than cash or lifestlye compensation, they will never go away. If we are not willing to do that, it means that in reality we really don't care as much about the problems as we say we do. In reality, we are saving these problems to be used in the future as coupons we can redeem for cash or merchandise.

2005-12-24T08:45:00.000-08:00

Dear, (person who knows and likes another) *
Here's wishing that everyone has a
( 1. laughing and gay, full of fun )
( 2. religious and festive season before and after Christmas Day; Yule; Yuletide )
( 3. feeling as a person does when he is well and having a good time )
( 4. never having been before; now first made, thought out, known or heard of, felt, or discovered )
( 5. 12 months or 365 days; January 1 to December 31, Leap year has 366 days )

* friend
1. merry
2. Christmas
3. happy
4. new
5. year

- Season's Greetings from "Land Of Lawyers Inc. Ltd."-

2005-12-20T06:35:00.000-08:00

Manditory Apartment Life:
Forget about two or four years of manditory military service for all high school graduates. If the goal is to give these young men and women experience in the real world, teach them discipline, and help them be better citizens instead of Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines simply make it manditory for all high school graduates to live in a poorly built apartment building with fellow tenants they have nothing in common with for two or four years.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, teaches how to survive the sea of diverse humanity that we call America better than a stint in an apartment building with walls so thin you can hear your neighbor think. Nothing better teaches that no matter how many psychology or civic classes one might have had in high school, none of them prepare us for the off the chart personality types that live either upstairs, downstairs, or across the hall in the average apartment building.
We are wasting valuable time and money trying to convince high school students the value of a higher education and the need for them to participate in our political system by telling them anything in high school other than, " If you don't wise up, you're going to spend the rest of your life living downstairs from some nut in a cheesy apartment building." Those that have been there are already nodding their heads in agreement.
Only those who have heard a loud pounding on their apartment door and opened it to find the wild-eyed guy from downstairs yelling, " If you don't turn that music down, I'm going to kill you.", even though you weren't playing any music, learn how to negotiate with hostiles.
Only those who have walked out back of their apartment building to find a fellow tenant letting the air out of the tires on your car and when confronted the offender replies, " I was going to park here.", know the true meaning of applying justice in unorthodox situations.
Only those who have gone "home" for Thanksgiving only to find all their belongings gone and a street level window at the rear of the apartment pried open when they return from the holiday know how it feels to see a guy wearing a t-shirt that looks just like one you used to own about a week later.
Only those who have gone "home" for Christmas and retuned to the apartment two weeks later and opened the refrigerator to make a sandwich, and discovered that their roommate had unplugged the refrigerator when he went home for Christmas know how so little food can rot so much.
Only those who have seen a huge roach sitting in the middle of the apartment floor and tried to stomp the roach only to see it rear up on its hind legs and actually challenge you know the real meaning of the term "final stand".
Only those who have called the apartment building landlord and complained about a leaky roof, leaky faucet, cold hot water heater, noisy neighbors, bugs, lack of heat, etc. know where the term "lip service" came from.
The list goes on and on. Compared to cheesy apartment living, military service is no less sheltered a lifestyle than high school life is. At least in the military the enemy lives in a different building than you do.
Imagine how many twenty to twenty-two year olds would hit the streets chomping at the bit to make this country and the world for that matter a better place to live in, a place where no one should have to suffer through living with " the guy in the next apartment" or the " girl with all the cats", if they had to live in a cheesy, leaky, bug infested, rip-off prone apartment building for a couple of years with temants like the ones those of us that have been there had. Heck, it motivated us to get the heck out of there and never look back, didn't it ?

2005-12-10T04:48:00.000-08:00

From: Tuesday, April 8, 2003
"Oh yeah ? Then what about over here ?"
There is a strange phenomenon that revolves around the human experience. Some call it religion, some call it fate, some call it irony, the sarcastic among us call it a cosmic joke. In all cases it is usually represented by an event that challenges the intent/or motives of something we humans have done. What is truely startling about the event is the fact that it always appears to happen on its own. Although we attempt to ignore it, we never really can.
The entire world is watching the conflict in Iraq as you read this. It seems every nation on the planet has an opinion on the fight. Whether those nations are for or against the conflict they seem to agree that the human rights violations taking place in Iraq are not tolerable.
Oil, politics, and money have all been denounced as motives for the conflict. Recent discoveries seem to prove that some really nasty things have been going on in Iraq.
Diplomatic solutions are being sought in other parts of the world where violence, or the threat of violence, is a way of life. In every case the respect for human life is being presented as the reason these conflicts must be resolved. You can probably name most of the trouble spots without thinking very long.
Stopping violence in the name of respect for human life sure sounds like we humans have finally got it. Enter the aforementioned "event".
The civil war in Nairobi, Kenya is in its fifth year. last week alone almost 1,000 people were killed. After five years, the U.N. isn't even quite sure who's killing who.
It seems the attackers, and those being attacked include women, children, and men. In other words, everybody is killing everybody else. For the most part, Nairobi offers no monetary benefits to the outside world. If religion,fate,irony, or cosmic joke challenges our human motives, then the events in Nairobi are the granddaddy of them all.
Remember the U.N. only represents the world we live in; the world is actually populated by individuals. The harder the world tries to convince itself that it is made up of individual pockets of people that are not affected by any of the other pockets out there, the more situations like Nairobi will pop up.
Whether you call it religion,fate,irony, or cosmic joke it all seems to point out the fact that more often than not we do things because we have to, but say we are doing them because we want to.
The entire world should be concerned about the killing in Nairobi as it is any other place in the world. If respect for human life is the motivation to stop violence, wouldn't a place that had nothing but human life to offer the world be the place to make the world prove that its motives are pure ?

* I wrote this at 9 o'clock in the morning, two years and eight months ago. As I re-read it I realize it has a sketch-like feel to it. Until I came across my copy this morning, I had totally forgotten the fact that I wrote it. The question I find myself asking myself is "Has the world changed in the last two plus years ?"
My answer ( to myself ) is " I really don't know ". What I do know, is that senseless killings are still going on around the world. I also know that the only ones anyone seems to have an interest in stopping are the ones that would benefit them financially or security-wise.
Wouldn't it make quite a statement based in religion,fate, irony, or cosmic joke if the reason the sensless killings around the world won't stop is because the simple fact that they are wrong is not a good enough reason for the entire world to put a stop to them wherever and for whatever reason they happen ?

2005-12-06T05:28:00.000-08:00

The " Where Things Come From " File:
You can sometimes find the players unceremoniously thrown on the shelves of thrift stores ( usually upside down ), and you can sometimes find small piles of the discs the players used to play, but you hardly ever find the two together.
Considering the fact that the players cost around $700 when they first came out and the discs around $15 each ( in 1979/1980 dollars ), it's interesting to see the whole setup sell for under $20 if you happen to come across one these days.
Most of the people who will settle down tonight to watch their favorite form of entertainment on a DVD will have no idea that the grandaddy of the DVD player and the DVD disc was available for sale back in 1979 ( that's twenty-six years ago ).
The disc was called a "videodisc" and the player was called a "videodisc player". In 1979 both Magnavox and RCA had competing versions on the market. Magnavox discs wouldn't play on RCA players and vise versa.
Between them Magnavox and RCA had invested $130 million on betting that the nation was ready for the next level of home video. The Japanese chose to sit on the sidelines of the battle because they felt the public wasn't ready for videodisc technology; they were right.
While the picture quality was far superior than the average VCR at the time, the discs were limited to a 60 minute playing time. This meant movies had to be drastically edited, or shown on more than one disc.
As eager as people are for new forms of entertainment, they are more adverse to entertainment that gets interrupted. Sounds simple, but the folks at Magnavox and RCA went deep into their pockets to prove this law of human nature wrong, and they lost.
The videodisc player never did reach a high level of popularity with the public, but it did break ground in the area of disc-based video. While Magnavox and RCA launched and eventually bailed out on the technology, the rest of the industry learned from it . So when you think of old hand-cranked record players, crystal radio sets, old computers that had no graphics, be sure to add videodisc players to the list.
If you own one of these setups, hang onto it and keep telling your kids and grandkids about how one day they will be able to take it on the
"Antigue Road Show" and make a fortune.

Want to read more ?
http://cedmagic.com/selectavision.html

2005-12-02T05:09:00.000-08:00

What Is It ?
It is said to be the only purely American instrument.Supposedly, it was invented by a slave in Macon, Georgia, some time around the late 1830's or early 1840's. The first factory to produce these instruments out of metal was built in Eden,New York in 1916. Although the factory originally made other things along with this musical instrument, the instrument became so popular that it eventually replaced all the other items and became the only thing the factory produced.
The factory not only still produces these instruments, but all the metal versions of this instrument in the world are produced in this one factory
( an estimated 2,500,00 a year ). The same machines that produced the instruments in 1916 produces them today. The first major repair work ever done to the machines that produce these instruments was done in 1994 when the original 1916 "clutch pins" were replaced. A single 10 horsepower motor runs one of the machines that makes these instruments. The factory is capable of producing 12,000 of these instruments a day.
This instrument has been played by more people world-wide than any other instrument. It is the cheapest factory-made instrument on the planet. Most music stores do not sell this instrument. What is it ?

You only need one hint; that would be the name of the compnay, "The Original Kazoo Company". Yep, that's right; all the metal kazoos on the planet since 1916 come from the same factory in Eden, New York. Why no competition ?
Since the original 1916 machines still produce the kazoos and the machines paid for themselves many decades ago, no competitor can absorb the start-up costs that new machines would include and be able to sell their kazoos at a competitve price. That's right; there is a kazoo monopoly in America.

Want to read more?

http://edenkazoo.com/history.php

2005-11-29T03:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Or When ?
While not quite the household name that Time or Newsweek is, U.S. News & World Report is the name of a news magazine many of us should recognize, since it has been around since 1948. So, if I were to describe Vol. XCI No. 8 August 24, you shouldn't have too much of a problem guessing what year ( within a few years, one way or the other ) it was published, should you ? The cover story was a hot topical subject, as were most of the smaller stories the issue covered.
The cover story was titled, " Hispanics Make Their Move"; it appeared on page 60. Here are a few quotes from the article.
" Latin leaders paint a picture of a people on the move-young, agressive and hungry for their rightful share of the American dream. Pointing to a Hispanic population that has grown by more than 60 percent in the last decade to nearly 15 million-a faster increase than that of any major ethnic group-these same standard-bearers talk of a storehouse of "brown power" pent up for years and ready to break loose."
"Electing more Hispanics is a key goal, as the group is vastly underrepresented even in areas where their numbers are great. Only six Hispanics serve in Congress-all in the house."
On page 14 of Vol. XCI, No. 8, there is an article titled, " How Safe Are Our Airways ?". Here are a few quotes from that article.
" The question of whether U.S. airspace is safe has ballooned into an issue of worldwide dispute."
" Within the airline industry, passenger business was reported on the rise again as flight schedules regained a semblance of order."
" Our phone's been ringing off the hook," said Tom Matthews, board chairman of the 100,000 member Airline Passengers Association. "There are two emotions members are expressing: willingness to suffer the inconvenience of reduced flight schedules as long as they know the system is safe. Many even say, "I'd suffer more inconvenience in order to make it safe."
On page 7 of Vol. XCI, No. 8, there is an article titled, " Corruption's Price: Prison, Disgrace ". Here are a few quotes from that article.
" Prison terms imposed on three former congressmen represented the most dramatic example yet of a warning that the Justice Department is spreading to officeholders across the country: Break the law, and you will go to jail."
" Both the House speaker and the Senate majority leader in the state of Washington were sentenced to five years in jail for scheming to make money from a plan to legalize gambling. A former Louisana state offical was convicted of conspiracy in a bribery case involving a crime figure and a state insurance contact. Former Representative Charles Carney
( D-Ohio ) was indicted for allegedly buying goods on the tab of an oil company that tried to influence him."
Finally, here are just some of the headlines from other articles in Vol. XCI, No. 8:
" How Tax Dodgers Challenge IRS"
" When Presidents Go On Vacation"
" Africa's Bleak Outpost Of East-West Rivalry"
" Will Economic Woes Stir Social Turmoil In Europe ?"
" New Finds Cast Fresh Light On The Bible"
" Behind Widening Split Among OPEC Nations"
" Who Tax Cuts Will Help Most"
Even if you are a casual observer of current events, you should be able to peg the year Vol. XCI No. 8 was published. After all, these subjects are just about as fresh as yesterday's paper. But, being fair-minded, I will offer two hints:
1. It was not 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, or 2005.
2. (and it's a doozy ) Many of the people who were born in the year Vol. XCI, No. 8 was published now have children in the first grade.
That's right, do the math. Vol. XCI No. 8 of U.S. News & World Report was published on August 24, 1981, proving once again that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
PS: "How Safe Are Our Airways" covered the aftermath of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization- PATCO strike. Remember that one ?
" Corruption's Price: Prison,Disgrace" covered the Abscam scandal and other related crimes in office. Remember that one ?

2005-11-24T05:40:00.000-08:00

They Just Don't Build Protestors Like They Used To:
So, you're sick and tired of the cost of a gallon of gas these days and you're going to do something about it,something that will make people sit up and take notice of just how serious you are about the whole mess.
Hold on there Babba Louie! Before you initiate your grand plan, perhaps you better check out the competition. That would be one Herbert O'Dell Smith, aka Digger O'Dell.
From,"Time" magazine, June 25, 1979 ( Vol. 113 No.26 ,page: 26, under the heading, "Planting a Seed").

" When the gasoline began to run out and the prices to run up, Herbert O'Dell Smith,64, agreed to do his bit for the energy crisis. A professional stunt man, he had earned his nickname of "Digger O'Dell" by allowing himself to be buried alive for various ventures. He was campaigning underground for president Carter in Columbia, S.C. in 1976 when he had a heart attack that prompted his retirement.
But to dramatize the gas crunch, the Digger agreed to be buried at Mack's Mobile Homes lot on Highway 280 in Phenix City, Ala.
"I'm not coming up till gas prices come down", said Digger. Then, wearing a T shirt and pajama bottoms, he climbed into his temporary coffin (6 ft. long and 32 in. wide and high, wth a septic tank below and a viewing periscope above that doubled as a dumbwaiter for Digger's food). He was covered by 6 ft. of earth and 4 in. of concrete. Two telephones, a radio and a television, as well as the periscope connected him to the outside world. "I'm just one person, but I'm telling it like it is," he would say, "We don't have a gas shortage, we've got a gas wastage."
Unfortunately for Digger, however, gas prices kept going up and so did his blood pressure. Last week only ten days into his stint, he was ordered unearthed by his doctor. "I'm convinced the seed I planted will be cultivated," proclaimed the haggard Digger. Then he headed back to Cummung, Ga. to tend to the tomatoes on his farm."

Can you dig it?

2005-11-17T12:54:00.000-08:00

Bar bet winning quality rock trivia:
Next July will be the 20th anniversary of date between Rogers Nelson,28 and Lisa Barber,20. They only went out once. They went to see a movie on their date.The date took place in Sheridan Wyoming.
Mr. Nelson was supposed to pick up Ms. Barber at 6 p.m.on the evening of their date, he was 15 miuntes late. Mr. Nelson arrived a white Buick convertible, which he drove,when he picked up Ms. Barber at her mother's home.
The couple drove to Sheridan's Centennial Twin theater to watch the movie they were going to see. Mr. Nelson and Ms. Barber sat in the back row. By all accounts Mr. Nelson was a perfect gentleman on his date that night. Later Ms. Barber would remark, " There was one time during the movie when he played with my hair and he put his arm around me. But that's all he did. Honest." When the movie was over, Mr. Nelson took Ms. Barber home, dropped her off, and they never dated again. Yet, this date was newswothy enough to recieve a cover story in People magazine and a six page article with nine pictures.
Question: Who were these people and why all the fuss ?
Answer: From the "you couldn't do that these days" file.
In 1986 twenty year-old Lisa Barber (who was working as a hotel maid at the time) won a contest on MTV by being the 10,000th caller to call in. What did she win ? She won a date with Rogers Nelson also known as Prince to see a movie in her hometown with Prince.
Not just any movie, but the world premier Prince's then new movie called " Under the Cherry Moon".
So in the summer of 1986 Sheidan Wyoming's Centennial Twin theater saw a world premier of a movie with an audience of 800 which included at least one former Playboy Bunny and singers Joni Mitchell and Ray Parker Jr.,among others.
*fun facts:
Sheridan Wyoming's population as of 2002: 15,804
Does the Centennial Twin theater still exist ? There is a Centennial Theater in Seridan located at 36 East Alger St.
Google "Lisa Barber"Prince, and you still come up with almost 100 web pages.

2005-11-15T06:11:00.000-08:00

Four Reasons To Love Harry Truman:
( and in the process find hope for the future)
On June 7, 1945 Harry Truman wrote:
" You know Americans are funny birds. They are always sticking their noses into somebody's business which isn't any of theirs. The United States was created by boys and girls who couldn't get along at home. So-called Puritans who weren't by any manner of means pure came to Massachusetts to try out their own witch burning theories."
On November 14, 1947 Harry Truman wrote:
" A man in his right mind would never want to be President if he knew what it entails. Aside from the impossible administrative burden, he has to take all sorts of abuse from liars and demagogues.
The people can never understand why the President does not use his supposedly great power to make 'em behave. Well all the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do."
On November 5, 1950 Harry Truman wrote:
" Because two crackpots or crazy men tried to shoot me a few days ago my good and efficient gaurds are nervous. So I'm trying to be as helpful as I can. Would like very much to take a walk this morning but the S.S. say that there are more crackpots around and the "Boss" and Margie are worried about me-so I won't take my usual walk."
Sometime in 1954 Harry Truman wrote:
" I wonder how far Moses would have gone if he'd taken a poll in Egypt? What would Jesus Christ have preached if he'd taken a poll in Israel? Where would the Reformation have gone if Martin Luther had taken a poll? It isn't polls or public opinion of the moment that counts. It is right and wrong and leadership- men with fortitude, honesty and a belief in the right that makes epochs in the history of the world."
I don't drink, but I just might "crack a cold one" with the late-great Mr. Truman if I had the chance.

2005-11-12T05:28:00.000-08:00

West Coast Love-In (1967)
First, let me be the first to say that this post may be meaningless to anyone but me. Its subject matter is a 1967 long playing record album (aka record, disk, platter) titled, "West Coast Love-In". I've owned this LP for so long I can't remember exactly when I bought it, but I do remember I got it dirt cheap because it was recorded in "mono" and mono records were definitely out and stereo records were in at the time. I probably paid around a dollar for it. That was a pretty common price for mono records at the end of the mono age ( around 1970).
The vital statistics on this record are as follows:
title: West Coast Love-In (1967)
record label: Vault
record number: Vault LP/SLP 113
mode: mono
cover artist: Rick & Ida Griffin
artists: The Ashes, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, The Chambers Brothers
The front cover of this record is as classic an example of "Summer Of Love" art as you are going to find anywhere. It features a couple dressed in American Indian-style clothing resting against a tree, while the title and names of the artists swirl in Barnun & Bailey type letters above them. On the back cover are "reprints" from the Los Angeles Free Press with quotes like:
" What is a Love-in? It seems to depend very much on your point of view. To the literal-minded, Sunday's gathering from dawn to 10p.m. in Elysian park was a kind of pagan rite of spring and fertility dance held coincidentally on the day on which Christians celebrate Easter.
It was 20,000 people (the daily papers pegged it at 5,000 to 8,000) gathered for a picnic on the open under a leadened sky to go through a number of mystic life ceremonies, who danced to an endless series of electric rock bands, exchanged love gifts, got to know each other as never before in this gem city of 20th Century isolation."
Based on this, you would expect the music on this record to be down right revolutionary and rebellious. While the three cuts by The Chambers Brothers are borderline bluesy (except for tons of echo), the remaining cuts by The Ashes, and The Peanut Butter Conspiracy are about as threatening as a Carpenters record.
The funny thing is, I'm old enough to remember those days; and, believe it or not, at the time many people from that generation actually thought this music was dangerous, rebellious, and revolutionary. Every couple of years or so I drag out this record in the hope that when I play it I will hear some lost gem that proves how hip and happinin' we really were back in those days. But, it always ends up sounding like the Carpenters, so I put it away for a couple of more years.
The message being maybe it would be wise to evaluate the things that are currently cool, in, hip, etc. a little bit closer because down the road what should be a nostalgic look back may in fact turn out to be a skeleton in the closet.
Of course, I might not have a clue about what I'm saying. I just looked up
"West Coast Love-In" Vault LP/SLP 113 on the Internet and found out it is selling for as much as $50 a copy. Never mind.

2005-11-08T10:32:00.000-08:00

Does fame guarantee a place in history?
Question: Does fame guarantee a place in history ? Or, put another way, will the world remember you once you become famous ?
Perhaps a good person to ask would be the late Adolph "Spike" Dubs. I'd bet a free lunch that almost everyone is saying, "Who ?" right about now.
Adolph Dubs was fairly famous in his lifetime. He was a U.S.Ambassador to a foreign country, a foreign country that was fairly high profile world-wide at the time, but unfortunately it was his death that catapulted him personally into the arena of world-wide fame.
We have to go back to the year 1979 to appreciate the facts surrounding Mr. Dubs' story. In 1979 Adolph Dubs was the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan. At that point in his career as a diplomat Mr. Dubs had been on the job 29 years.
On a Wednesday morning while being driven to work in a chauffer-driven Oldsmobile, at about 8:45 a.m.,four armed attackers, one dressed like a Kabul traffic officer, stopped Dubs'car and abducted him at gunpoint.
The kidnappers took Mr. Dubs to the Kabul Hotel (room 117 to be exact).
From there they issued the demand that needed to be met in order to save Dubs' life. The kidnappers wanted three insurgent Muslim leaders released from jail.
This series of events set of a world-wide diplomatic hurricane. Immediately, Afghan security forces took charge. They excluded Senior U.S. embassy diplomats from the command post they set up. Because of the Soviet presence in Afghanistan at the time, the Soviet embassy's chief security officer, Sergi Bakhturin, became an advisor to the Afghan police during the stand-off.
Attempts to negotiate with the kidnappers who held Mr. Dubs were going nowhere. The president of Afghanistan at the time, Mohammed Taraki, pretty much was unavailable for comment.
Meanwhile, back in America, urgent cables were flying between the State Department,Pentagon, and White House. They pretty much added up to a message being sent to the Afghan's president suggesting he use "extreme discretion" in the matter.
Meanwhile, back in Afghanistan, the Afghanistan police had their own idea. They issued the kidnappers a ten-minute ultimatum; either give up or we're coming in. Long story short, at the end of the ten minutes they stormed the hotel room. In what was estimated as an assault that took less then one minute, all four kidnappers and Adolph "Spike" Dubs were dead.
Needless to say, the tragic death of Adolph Dubs had all the elements of a classic spy novel of the times. A U.S. Ambassador stationed in a foreign country that was occupied by another foreign country is kidnapped, held hostage, and becomes the center of an international stand-off. Intense negotiations fail, and in a bizarre twist, the diplomat is killed , possibly by the forces trying to save him. For months the news media of the world pondered what international repercussions these events would have and how they would affect world history.
Yet, here we sit twenty-six years later and unless someone told you, you would never have known the whole thing ever took place. Most of the major players (including the Soviet Union) have faded from the scene. The figure that has faded the farthest is the man who was at the center of it all, Adolph "Spike" Dubs.
Maybe the world really is just a big blackboard that keeps getting written on, erased, and written on again, only to be erased and written on again, and so on and so on. We all tend to think of fame as something permanent, but maybe it's only as permanent as the size of the blackboard, how fast that blackboard gets written on, and last, but not least, the size of the eraser.

2005-11-06T04:49:00.000-08:00

Carter On NOW:
On Friday November 4th, former President Jimmy Carter appeared on the PBS program NOW. His message was simple and direct.
Mr. Carter has dedicated this stage of his life to making the world a better place to live for all of us by raising the health standards in the world's poorest countries. He makes a strong case ,on many levels, as to why it would be a benefit to all of us to see the entire world healthy.
Since he no longer relies on getting elected in order to get things done he can speak the truth when needed. In his interview he stated that he views religious fundamentalist who use political pressure to advance their ideology as simply being wrong. Not in their basic views but in how they go about forcing others to follow them.
In my time on this planet, it seems like every time people are forced to do something ( even if those doing the forcing feel they are right ) it sets the stage for a backlash as soon as an opening presents itself.
The death and destruction of AIDS, for instance, would come to a complete halt if people around the world stopped having casual, unprotected sex, but denying them help unless they do that won't work. The reason is simple. Every single human on the face of the planet is loaded with flaws. If some of those humans use force to get other humans to do something it draws attention to the flaws of those doing the forcing.
This then builds a resentment in those being forced to do things a certain way. Most of the time this results in the people whose behavior is being controlled doing more of what is trying to be controlled, not less.
It seems to me that Mr. Carter gets this and is not only willing to do things the right way, but he is now old enough and wise enough to
"Tell it like it is".
To cure the world's health crisises we need role models, not police.

2005-11-03T11:52:00.000-08:00

"Shooting shocks neighbors"
Cincinnati Enquirer November 2, 2005

East Price Hill - The shooting of an 84-year-old man during a robbery attempt by four young men posing as trick-or-treaters has shocked residents of quiet Terry Street, but they acknowledge that crime seems to be increasing in the neighborhood.
"We've never had any kind of trouble," 78-year-old Rosemary Davis, a Terry Street resident for 30 years, said Tuesday. "We're all good neighbors." "This is really a quiet street for the most part," said neighbor John Hines of the two-block side street located off both sides of West Eighth Street.
Charles Iles, of the 800 block of Terry Street, remained in critical but stable condition at University Hospital Tuesday. Police said three or four young men posing as trick-or-treaters knocked on the door of the Iles residence about 8:55 p.m. Monday. When the victim's wife told them they were no longer giving out candy, the intruders forced their way into the house.
When Iles reached for the telephone to call police, one of the suspects shot him twice in the chest, police said. The young men fled without taking anything.

These are my words:
O.K., this absolutely stinks ! A couple in their 80's should be able to enjoy their home and know that they are safe there. This goes way beyond what the responsibilities of local, state, and federal government are or any liberal/conservative rhetoric.
Every single law abiding, hometown loving, citizen must voice their outrage every time a horrendous act of cowardice like this happens.
Not just in your neighborhood, but in any neighborhood in this country, or the world for that matter..
We cannot simply sit back and chalk it up to another example of how bad things have gotten. We need to send the word out to the fools who do these kind of things that we, as a community, are going to find them and prove to them that these actions will not go unanswered.
I do not know Charles Iles or his wife, but I did make the effort to find out what their address was and send them a card that basically said how wrong what happened to them was, and how much we hoped and prayed that Charles pulled through.
How much effort does it take to let the victims of senseless violence know that you think what happened to them was wrong ? Maybe we can't go out and chase down the bad guys, but that doesn't mean we can't try to undo some of the damage they have done.
If you would like to send the Iles family a card or letter e-mail me and I'll give you the address.

2005-10-29T05:11:00.000-07:00

Today's FYI's :
* Life is a positive, no matter how negative it gets.
* No amount of negatives can cancel out a positive. However,
one positive can cancel out an unlimited number of
negatives.
* The need to ask questions is not a flaw. However, not
feeling the need to ask them is.
* Having knowledge and using it is called power; having
knowledge and not using it is called an elected official.
* Television is the only learning tool that teaches more
the less it is used.
- George -

2005-10-26T06:19:00.000-07:00

Evaporation:
In the closing scene of the 1933 classic "King Kong", as the giant gorilla lies dead on the street,someone in the crowd says, "The planes got him". The man who captured Kong and brought him to civilization responds, "It wasn't the airplanes; it was beauty killed the beast".
If someday America finds itself in the same position as King Kong and someone in the crowd says, " The enemy finally got them.", the response very well might be, "it wasn't the enemy; it was evaporation that killed America."
The 2005 movie, "Good Night Good Luck" tells the story of legendary television journalist Edward R. Murrow's taking on of Senator Joseph McCarthy, and McCarthy's obsession with Communism's foothold in America's culture during the 1950's. The movie tends to portray Murrow as a one-of-a-kind journalist whose style of looking out for the "average Joe" is all but obsolete.
Not only was Edward R. Murrow not the only journalist of his kind back in his day,but in just about every corner of society there were popular icons that were closer to the "average Joe" than there were those living high and mighty above the "average Joe" looking down on them and considering them to be beneath them and there to serve them.
In Murrow's time, for instance, it was not unusual for professional baseball players to mingle on the streets after a big game ( there are documented stories of ballplayers riding the subway home after a World Series game).
Across the board from newscasters to entertainers to professional athletes to politicians that closeness in identity and lifestyle with the "average Joe" has all but evaporated in our culture. That is why so few are left and why the few who are left are looked upon as novelties, not mainstream.
In the process, the rest of us have let the feeling of us "all being in this together" evaporate. That feeling could also be called our "common bond".
It was the common bond of knowing that this country requires constant vigilance and hard work to work at all that kept Murrow and the rest of his generation anchored in the reality of knowing that they all needed each other. This knowledge has evaporated in our society.
They knew that if one of them got robbed, they all got robbed. If one of them got cheated, they all got cheated. This awareness has evaporated in our society.
They also knew that, in the big picture, government was a necessary evil that they had to keep in check or it would eat its own tail. That knowledge has evaporated in our society.
When something evaporates, it turns into a vapor; and a vapor is something without substance. In short, where once the label
"average Joe" was a medal of honor, it now is considered a synonym for "second-class citizen".
Evaporation?

2005-10-25T05:24:00.000-07:00

S.F.P.A.
"The dumbing down of America" is a phrase that probably rings a bell in most people's heads, but probably doesn't connect to anything in particular when it does.
While the posturing of Tom Delay's statements to the press concerning his indictments may seem absurd, it would be very educational to even Delay's worst enemies to ponder why he is using them without batting an eye.
If Delay is convicted, his statements will be looked back on by history as a "last desperate attempt by a desperate man". Coming to this conclusion would be a case of making the crime fit the evidence.
There is another old saying, "Go with what works". In the past
"simplistic finger pointing accusations" have worked very well for Delay. However, Delay is not alone in having great success with "simplistic finger pointing accusations". The cynics in the crowd will say, "I agree; all the Republicans use them".
Sure they do, but what about our friends the Democrats ? Do they not simply point at the Republicans and yell, "bad,bad!"? And, doesn't it work pretty darn well for them when they do ?
"Simplistic finger pointing accusations" are the cornerstone of both parties' policies. Why ? Because they work ! Dig up a copy of "The Bride Of Frankenstein" and see if scene where the villagers are chasing the monster up the mountain while they wave their torches doesn't accurately reflect today's political culture. And, darned if that scene doesn't start out with good ol' "simplistic finger pointing accusations".
Every politician knows that the quickest, easiest way to get the crowd on their side is to convince the crowd that they better go get the monster before the monster gets them. Once the crowd buys into that message, they ask no questions, and they throw anybody who does ask questions into the same boat as the monster.
It used to work for Delay. It may not work for him any more, but the practice itself of using "simplistic finger pointing accusations" as a fast track to the good life politically is alive and well and doing better than ever.

2005-10-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

Would You Vote For This Guy ?
At approximately 4 P.M., on Thursday, August 27, 1931, at the Lexington Hotel, located at the corner of Twenty second and Michigan in Chicago, Illinois, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. interviewed one of the most famous Americans of his time.
Mr. Vanderbilt had this to say about the subject of his interview, "He was taller than I imagined, and much broader;a fellow with a winchlike handshake, a banker's bay window, and the winning smile of all the Latin races. And yet, instead of the usual line of talk that emanates from gentry of his kind, he had been giving me a discourse the like of which ht has never been my fortune to hear."
In 1931 the Great Depression was in full swing, and the man Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. was interviewing had these things to say about it.
"This is going to be a terrible winter. Us fellas has gotta open our pocketbooks, and keep on keeping them open, if we want any of us to survive. We can't wait for Congress or Mr. Hoover or anyone else. We must help keep tummies filled and bodies warm.
If we don't, it'll all add up with the way we've learned to live. Why, do you know sir, America is on the verge of its greatest social upheaval? Bolshevism is knocking at our gates. We can't afford to let it in. We've got to organize ourselves against it, and put our shoulders together and hold fast. We need funds to fight famine."
The subject of Mr. Vanderbilt's interview had this advice for how President Hoover should deal with the Depression:
" We must keep America whole, and safe, and unspoiled. If machines are going to take jobs away from the worker, then he will need to find something else to do. Perhaps he'll go back to the soil. But we must care for him during the period of change. We must keep him away from red literature, red ruses; we must see that his mind remains healthy. For, regardless of where he was born, he is now an American."
So spoke the famous American interviewed by Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. on August 27, 1931. A pretty impressive example of insight into the state of America at the time by the interviewee considering he had much more pressing personal matters on his mind that day. The very next day he would be facing a federal judge as he went on trial for federal income tax evasion; a trial that would find him guilty and send him to prison, a prison term that he would never fully recover from. Too bad it all ended that way. Who knows what may have happened if Al Capone had gone into politics instead of crime.

2005-10-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

Don't Need No Gas!
So much has been made about the amount of advance warning those devastated by hurricane Katrina had ( and how they had no excuse for being caught off guard by the storm, because of that warning ) that many now assure us that we will never be caught off guard by a disasterous event that we have been warned about again. *
When I first heard the news that we can expect heating oil prices to jump a good 50% and natural gas prices to jump a good 70% this winter, my first thoughts were, "Oh No! What will we do ?".
Then I thought to myself, " No, we have thirty, maybe sixty days, before the really cold weather hits, and we have been warned. Surely, everyone who has heard the warnings will gear up and deal with the increased heating costs that will average about 60%".
We've also been repeatedly warned that gasoline prices could be four or five dollars a gallon by winter. Add that to a 60 % rise in heating costs, and we could easily be paying 70 to 80 % more, on average, to heat our homes and drive our vehicles.
That could be an economic disaster! But, that would only happen if we hadn't been warned in advance, right ? That's what I thought. Nothing beats a good plan, especially when you have plenty of advance warning to build your plan around.
I'm still working on the fine details of my own personal plan, but the plan is in motion. So far, I've drafted a plan that calls for burning "extra" furniture in the fireplace, and running my car on that generic mouthwash that looks like Listerine. I know my plan requires more depth, but I feel good about what I've got so far.

* Since hurricane Wilma hasn't reached shore yet, lack of response to advance warnings figures are not available.

2005-10-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

Where Does Hope Come From ?
Hope is the desire to succeed in the present, while working toward succeeding in the future. This may sound like a no-brainer, but lack of this appraoch is a real problem these days, especially within our two-party system.
Both parties currently represent what happens when you only want to succeed in the present and totally ignore the future. The cause for this approach is the selfishness, greed, and jealousy, that is triggered by immature people in positions of power ( read, " Lord Of The Flies " ).
The key to stopping this abuse of power is realizing that not only do politicians of both parties operate this way, but so do most of us out there who vote.
Of the three; selfishness, greed, and jealousy, the most destructive and dangerous is jealousy. The reason for this is apparently because it is our own future generations that we are jealous of.
Both voters and politicians seem to resent the idea that future generations might have more than they have. How else do we explain why planning for the future is all but obsolete by both voters and politicians ?
Just like a parent should want and plan for their child to have a better life, we should want and plan for future generations to have a better country. This is the only way succeeding in the present, while working toward succeeding in the future has ever worked in the history of mandkind. In other words, this is where hope comes from.

2005-10-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

Oil Future = Oil Past
Let's say you're a twenty-six year old mom or dad, you've been married for six years, and have a son or daughter in first grade. You are just beginning to feel comfortable with the job you've been working at since you were married and are beginning to feel like you are moving ahead. You think a lot about keeping the whole thing going, while at the same time you think a lot about your first-grader's future.
One day while you are sitting in the doctor's office waiting for your appointment, you walk over to the table full of magazines and pick up a Time. The cover story grabs your eye. With all the talk lately about rising gas prices and the increasing impact those rising prices are having on your budget and future plans, how could you ignore a cover story in Time Magazine about the grip the big oil companies have on all of us ? There on page 70 is the lead article, "Inside the Big Oil Game". You're not surprised at all when you read,

" According to a recent CBS-New York Times poll, 69% of the public still believe that gasoline prices are rising not because there is an energy crisis but merely because the oil companies want to make more money. In a sentiment that is widely shared, Margaret Dadian, vice president of an Illinois sales company, complains: "There is a shortage all right, but not as serious as we are told it is. It is more a question of oil companies holding back until they can get higher prices. We have Arabs of our own in this country."
All around the U.S.,the lament is the same:in ways both devious and sinister, and too mystifying to understand, Big Oil is somehow out to rip off the public. says Irene McMckin, a Milwaukee public relations consultant: "I just don't feel the crisis is real. I don't trust the oil companies." Adds William Meier, an Indiana insurance agent: "My emotional response is that oil companies are trying to do a number on us." Even a high-ranking General Motors executive in Detroit remarks:
"The whole thing smells funny to me."

Boy, can you identify with what these folks have to say,or what ? All your friends are saying the same things. However, even though misery loves company, it sure would be nice if you could somehow know how all of this oil shortage mess was going to play itself out. With so many things riding on the future of oil,gas, and energy in general, if you could somehow look into the future and see how all of this was going to turn out, life would be a whole lot less stressful.
Well, maybe you can. If you are twenty-six years old in the year 2005, all you might have to do is pick up your cell phone and call your own mom or dad and ask them how it turned out for them. The article,"Inside the Big Oil Game" appeared in Time magazine on May, 7, 1979. Twenty-six years ago the oil/gas/energy crisis loomed as large as it does today.
By the way, whatever did happen to the oil shortages that justified the price hikes twenty-six years ago ? I'll leave you with two more quotes from that 1979 article:
1. "Fifteen of the nations largest oil companies released first-quarter profit figures, and they showed an acceleration of winter-long earnings surge."
2. "Profits are shooting up because tight supplies worldwide have allowed oil companies to raise their prices."
What's that you say Yogi? It really is deja vu all over again ?

2005-10-15T05:29:00.000-07:00

44mpg in 1981 !
Any male over the age of thirty who drives a car has heard some version of the urban legend about the carburetor somebody's uncle invented that allowed a car to drive a hubdred miles on a single gallon of gas. You know, the carb that the oil companies paid big money to keep off the market so they could keep sticking it to us at the pump.
Most everybody thinks that story was dreamed up at a bar one night, by a couple of good ol' boys who were bendin' their elbows and bitchin' about how much of their paychecks went to put gas in their gas guzzlers. That may be, but it doesn't explain the March,1981, issue of Popular Science magazine ( Vol.218, No. 3 ). Popular Science, isn't exactly the National Enquirer or the Weekly World News; it's pretty much looked at as a legitimate news source.
On page 67 of that issue, there's is a one page article titled, "44-mpg two-seaters, Ford EXP/LN7". The article is written by Herbert Shuldiner. Mr. Shuldiner test drove these preproduction models in Phoenix Arizona.
Quote:
" I tested preproduction versions of both cars on smooth, flat interstates and curving mountain roads near here-and finally on the track of Phoenix International Raceway.
The two cars do not act like the conventional Escort/Lynx. Handling is precise,predictable, and has a definite sports-car feel. They behaved perfectly in hard cornering and braking.
In addition, I found no hint of the handling problems the Popular Science auto-test team described in its test of the base Escort [PS,Jan.].
The EXP/LN7 suspension is not sensitive to changes in power. When I deliberately took my foot off the accelerator in high-speed turns, there was no noticeable changes in steering when the wheel was not turned.
The EXP/LN7 standard suspension produces a flat, firm ride. There's almost no lean, even on hard turns. The optional TRX suspension, features Michelin TRX tires, improves the EXP/LN7's already good handling characteristics.
While handling is sporty, there's no sports-car performance in accleration-even with a four speed manual transmission." End quote.
So these babies handled like a sports car, but weren't rockets out of the gate. Is that what killed them ? Whatever the reason was, you have to wonder how much more gas would be available ( at a lower cost ) at the pumps today if for the last 25 years commuters were driving cars that got 44 miles per gallon.
By the way, there are pictures of these cars in the article and no, they are not skateboards with motors on them. They are normal sized Exps and LN7s. They are very much the same size of many cars we see today that do not get 44 miles per gallon. Go figure! Are we marching backwards into the future ?
PS: Yes, I have a copy of this issue in my possession. My facts did not come from somebody's Web page.

2005-10-12T02:51:00.000-07:00

Fact: a thing known to be true

Since the days of George Washington, we've been complaining about all the things Presidents get away with. The truth ( aka fact ) is, no President gets away with anything.
Whatever a President does or doesn't do is a direct reflection of the depth of participation the people of this country have, as a whole.
Recently, the question was raised as to whether the "in your face"
attitude of President Bush was real and if it was, how did he "get away with it " ?
The "in your face" attitude the President has really is there, but it's certainly not restricted to the way he presents himself. Intimidating posture and language is what pop culture is currently based on. Tune into any television show, music video, video game, or hit movie, and chances are you will see a version of the same " in your face" attitude that President Bush bases his "stage act" on.
His public persona is based on the old slogan,"talk the talk and walk the walk" but like the rest of today's pop culture, it's only based on it. Our attention span is so short, as a nation,that we are only attracted to the "talk the talk" part of the cliche. Nobody, in general, has the time or desire to get up out of their chair, let alone "walk the walk", these days.
The President's act is a direct reflection of pop culture and he and his advisers mold that image to fit what the majority of the public is asking for. This is not something new; it's as old as the office of the President itself. The amount of superficial posturing involved, this time around, is no different from anywhere else it appears in today's culture.
Everything in our pop culture today attracts its audience's interest by threatening to kick that audience's ass. It is possible to observe something without passing judgment on it (believe it or not !). Without judging whether it is a good or bad thing, consider pop television, video games and movies.
Most of them center around people being killed or having been killed.The number of "good" people killed is usually equal to the number of "bad" people being killed. The only difference being that the "bad" guy is usually the last one killed.Along the way, the audience is invited to identify with either (or both ?) the good and the bad guys.
When describing ourselves, we tend to call ourselves either good or bad. Since our pop entertainment currently focuses on both the good and the bad getting their "asses kicked", it's pretty safe to say that pop entertainment today is heavily based on an "in your face" point of view.
The President wanting to please, "all the people all the time" come election time, is simply running todays pop culture selling points through his image making machinery and giving us back what we are asking for. The next President will do the same thing.
Here's the scary part. We never seem to notice that any given President reflects the citizens they govern. We do not follow the President, the President follows us ! Since "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" those who seek the office of the President are akin to the celebrity impersonators that used to be on the old "Ed Sullivan Show". The only difference is they are impersonating the audience that is watching them.

2005-10-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

"The Age Of (fill in the blank)"
Any detailed observation of the good ole' U.S. of A. would lend creditability to the theory that we are about to enter one of those mysterious "ages" we read so much about when we were kids. You remember those, don't you ?
Remember how we read in grade school about how we went from a farm based society to an industrial based one ? That one was called the "Industrial Age". We have actually lived through the next one. Remember the "Information Age" ?
Even when I was a kid, I used to be puzzled by the lack of detail they taught us in school about what life was like in this country as it was changing from everybody living on a farm to everybody living ( or wanting to live ) in the city.
I mean, you have to figure that there was a drastic change in everything. Changing from waking up to a field of cows to a subway full of people had to be a pretty radical change. Right ?
Now that we've lived in the "Information Age" for a couple of decades, I think I get why we weren't taught much about the changes in everyday life when our country was leaving the farming way of life and entering the city way of life.
I'll bet that, in general, nobody even noticed that we were changing. I base that "theory" on the fact that just about everything that used to be a big deal in our everyday lives, over the last fifty years or so, is changing or disappearing and nobody seems to notice or be bothered by it.
Things like the automobile industry, the airline industry, the medical profession, the banking industry, the post office, and institutions of higher learning used to be taken for granted as being as solid and dependable as water to drink and air to breathe. These days, all of these entities are either shaky, going down, or fading into the woodwork, and it doesn't seem to cause even a ripple in the pool of public concern.
Since all these things were as central to our society as farms were when we all were farmers and now seem to be fading from the list of things we think are important, it stands to reason that in the near future something else will probably take their place. I wonder what it will be ?
What will be the next age ? We've done farming, we've done industry, and we've done information; what's left ? I have some guesses based on what I've been seeing going on around me lately. Maybe we'll enter the
"Age Of Secession". that could be interesting if we had fifty individual countries instead of one big one. Heck, absolutely nobody gets along or agrees on anything. It might be productive as well as entertaining watching the population divide into fifty different groups. Of course, that might mean we would be in the "Age Of Entertainment" since we seem to be tilted more to the entertaining than the productive, as a nation.
Anyway, if there's anything you think you might miss when the new "Age Of (fill in the blank )" comes, you might want to stash some away or jot down what it is ( or was ) because according to history nobody will remember any of the details of the change once the change is complete. You heard it here first; don't forget that.

2005-10-09T04:18:00.000-07:00

From: Tuesday, March 18, 2003

P. Pause
E. Everyday
A. And
C. Consider
E. Everyone

2005-10-07T06:26:00.000-07:00

Politics Classic:
We,the people,should not be above adopting things that work, even if they come from a source that was formerly trying to screw us. The biggest issue facing the left and the right is their respective party's inability to acknowledge their mistakes. As a result, every mistake remains in place and is augmented by a lie. This leads to more lies, the end result of which is failure and destruction.
We often hear of Corporate America and national politics being one and the same. While in many cases this is true, there is one huge difference.
Although reluctantly, when Corporate America screws up in their relationship with their customers, they will admit they were wrong
( not because they are ethical, but because it will hurt them in the pocket book if they keep lying once their customers have said, "This idea stinks, and we don't want it).
Do they come right out and say, " Our new idea had nothing to do with improving our product; we just wanted to get more money from you by reinventing a product you were already happy with."? Of course not, they simply reintroduce a version of the original product and call it "classic".
This probably would be a good solution to the current dilemma with President Bush's nomination of Harriet Meirs to the Supreme Court. It seems like both Republicans and Democrats are more than a little uneasy about it. But, how does Mr. Bush get out of it without saying, "I was wrong to nominate her. "?
Once upon a time in the "classic" world of politics,high ranking elected leaders often didn't do things if they had "the appearance of impropriety", simply because they risked losing customers (aka voters)
if they did.
If Washington would simply announce the return of "Politics Classic*", President Bush could remove his nomination and avoid saying he was wrong ,and we the customers would be a whole kot happier. WARNING: see footnote

* It should be noted that labeling a product "classic" is only a psychological improvement for the customer. There is no guarantee of the original product returning.
Example: Coke Classic is not the classic version of Coke from when I was a kid. Coke, in my day, was sweetened with sugar, came in glass bottles, was very cold, and had a lot of carbonation. It was refreshing and it quenched my thirst.
By the seventies cans began to replace bottles, which meant a loss of carbonation ( while drinking ). Stores that sold Coke began turning down the temperatures of their coolers, and corn syrup replaced sugar as the sweetener in Coke. Corn syrup not only doesn't quench your thirst, it actually makes you thirstier.
Coke Classic is no form of Coke that is classic to me.

2005-10-06T14:06:00.000-07:00

Who Are They?
They go after what they want. They do whatever is necessary to get what they want. They take advice from no one. they ignore questions aimed at getting them to explain why they are doing what they are doing. When ignoring the question doesn't work, they change the subject. They condemn others for doing the same things they are doing. Finally, they leave messes they created for others to clean up.
Who are they ?

A. the Bush administration
B. teenagers
C. husbands
D. Corporate America
E. politicians
F. Hollywood actors/actresses
G. Americans that still have credit left on their credit cards
H. talk show hosts
I. alcoholics/drug addicts
J. all of the above

2005-10-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

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2005-10-05T08:15:00.000-07:00

Mom Was Right Again:
I first heard this phrase from my mom. In fact, come to think of it, she may be the only person I ever actually heard say, "Out of everything bad comes something good".
When I read the headline,"Is the big SUV dying ?", her words rang in my ear. I know we're supposed to be all worried and filled with a sense of doom over the rising cost of gasoline and it's potential scarcity. But, as I read that
[ "sales of sport-utility vehicles took a dive in September", "sales of the Ford Explorer dropped by 58% and sales of the Ford Expedition
( 14mpg ) dropped 61%", "Ford even stopped producing its even larger Suv, the Excursion", " sales of GM's full-size SUVs fell 56%", " Hummer H2 (10 mpg ) sales were off 31%", "sales of Toyota's immense Sequoia
( 15mpg ) were off 46%, "Honda's Pilot was off 26%", "Nissan's Armada
( 13 mpg ) was off 20%" ], instead of wringing my hands in a fit of worry, I found myself smiling and humming to myself, " It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood".
In fact, it will be hard for me not to pump my fist in the air the next time I get behind the wheel of my four cylinder Volvo station wagon and let out a Homer Simpson-style, "Woo-Hoo !"
Using my less than perfect math skills, I figure these numbers mean a potential drop in the number of SUVs on the road, while I am on the road, in the 40% range.
That would mean when I park at the supermarket, I would have a four in ten shot at not having to park between two SUVs. That would translate into a four in ten shot of being able to actually pull out of that parking spot and being able to see any vehicles about to crash into me ( as opposed to the Russian Roulette method SUVs offer ).
I would have a four in ten shot at making eye contact with drivers headed right at me while they talk on their cell phones in heavy traffic.
When I park in a public parking lot, I would have a four in ten shot of mysterious "dings" showing up on my car less frequently, the kind that are usually the same height as an SUV bumper.
Speaking of public parking lots, I would have a four in ten chance of not having to watch SUV drivers point their keychain remotes at their SUVs
(and hearing that annoying "beep,beep" sound ) as they lock them up so they can buy groceries, and not have to worry about all those nasty car thieves that hang out in supermarket parking lots in broad daylight.
That in turn would mean a four in ten chance of not ever hearing the alarm in an SUV going off in the middle of a parking lot for twenty or thirty minutes while no one pays any attention to it. ( other than to wish someone would actually steal it or throw a rock through the window ).
I could go on, but I don't want to sound like I'm gloating. I'll just finish by saying if gas hits $6.00 a gallon and suddenly all the SUVs are gone, how do I act like I'm not happier than when only 40% of them were gone ?
I mean, $6.00 a gallon for gas would be a bad thing, wouldn't it ?
" Woo-Hoo ! "

2005-10-04T07:07:00.000-07:00

Priceless !
Very few citizens are opposed to sending whatever help is needed to rebuild the areas of our country devastated by the recent hurricanes. However, there has been some talk,lately, questioning the wisdom of our nation borrowing the money for this relief from other nations. I doubt this talk will gather much attention or action, and here's why.
When someone does something, they always have a core reason that supercedes and contributes to the publicized reason for what they do. In the case of hurricane relief, money is being spent by the President and Congress because the American people want help to be sent to the areas devastated. While that explains why the money is being spent, it does not explain why the money is being borrowed to finance the help being sent.
The money being spent for hurricane relief is being borrowed from sources outside this country because both the President and Congress know that the majority of citizens who vote are more than comfortable with financing things "credit card-style".
There is a very large section of our voting public that believes once you hold an object in your hands, you own it; and any money you may owe on it is at your discretion to pay or ignore.
If the President and Congress know (and they do) that the people who vote for them are very comfortable with huge amounts of personal debt, why shouldn't they use credit and future debt to give the voting public the feeling of helping their fellow citizens without any immediate sacrifice ?
" The feeling of helping your fellow citizens without immediate personal sacrifice, Priceless."
Not until the voting public rejects perpetual debt in their personal lives will any elected leaders shy away from it. That's simply the truth.

2005-09-30T06:14:00.000-07:00

No Business in Show Business ?
How old were you the first time you heard the phrase, "the music business" ? Let me go out on a limb and say that no matter how old you were, you had already been listening to music for a long time before you heard that phrase for the first time.
It's too bad that each of us doesn't have a permanent record ( no pun intended ) of the very first time we heard those three fatal words, "the music business" . "Why ?" you ask. Because before we knew that there was a business attached to music we had a totally different view of what music was and how it fit into our lives. Somewhere in the span of time between the very first time we hear the phrase, "the music business" , and the time it takes for us to figure out what it means, we lose just about all the original feelings we had for music; plus we lose the place it had in our lives as well.
Truth be told, there is no such thing as a music business. Oh, there are plenty of businesses that sell music, but they are not where music comes from. The best analogy I can think of is a mega-supermarket and the wholesale warehouse that sells products to it.
When you walk into a mega-supermarket, you are bombarded with these impressions:
1. Anything you could possibly want to eat is somewhere in that store.
2. All of the food in that store is somehow better than food in other
smaller stores.
3. The package the food comes in and the food itself are one and the
package is just as important as the food in it.
4. None of the vegetables or meat you see ever existed in any other form
other than the one you see in the mega-market.
While the mega-market creates these images, it is the wholesale warehouse that supplies it with the food products they stock their shelves with. In theory, you could go right to the wholesale warehouse and buy the exact same thing you see on the shelves of the mega-market, probably even cheaper than at the mega-market itself. The only thing missing would be the glitter, bright lights, fancy displays, and other things that make shopping at the mega-mart seem like a fantasy come alive.
In the wholesale warehouse everybody knows where food comes from . Vegetables are grown in dirt ( sometimes water ) harvested by machinery and hourly workers, loaded on trucks, trains, boats, and sometimes planes, and hauled unceremoniously in bulk to locations where they are repackaged. Meat is harvested from living stock that must be transported to slaughter, transported to processing, and finally transported to the wholesale warehouse where it is stockpiled until it is time for it to go to the mega-market.
The above description of the relationship between a mega-market and the wholesale warehouse that supplies it is not intended to judge the ethics of either operation, but simply to explain their relationship.
If you think of the music business as the mega-supermarket, and musicians as the wholesale warehouse, and music as the food they both make a living from, you can begin to see why we lose so much of what it is we get from music once we become aware that we are getting our music from a business.
Real music, like real food, occurs naturally in this world. For most of us, our first musical experiences are songs we make up ourselves using our own imagination. From that music we get joy and nourishment, not unlike growing your own food or raising your own live stock.
Around the time our taste for music begins growing beyond what we can make up ourselves, we become aware of the fact that we can go out and buy more sophisticated music. Not unlike someone who grew up eating homegrown food might discover they can buy more sophisticated food at a market.
Businesses that sell food or music didn't invent these things and they don't have a monopoly on them; something they are more than a little aware of. So they begin marketing their products in ways that make them more attractive than they might be on their own.
Remember the four examples of the impressions a mega-supermarket might give you when you walked in the front door ? Let's shift those same four examples over to a mega-music store and see what we get.
1. Any music you could possibly want is somwehere in that store.
2. All the recorded music in that store is somehow better than the
recorded music in other smaller stores.
3. The package the music comes in and the music are one, and the
package is just as important as the music is.
4. None of the music in the mega-music store ever existed in any other
form other than what they carry.
Just like neither the mega-supermarket or the wholesale warehouse is where food really comes from, neither the record company, the music store, or for that matter any particular musical group is where music really comes from.
To look at a mega-supermarket as a source of healthy, good tasting food or a mega-music store as a source of fresh, soul satisfying music, sad to say, is a waste of time.
There's a reason that there has always been a corner market somewhere in town and a guy with an acoustic guitar playing in the middle of nowhere. No matter who or what is the latest, the greatest, or the highest paid, real farmers sell real food the way they grew it or raised it; they know it doesn't need frilly packaging. Real musicans play their music the way it comes out of their heads; they also know it doesn't need any frilly packaging.
Somebody has been buying enough product from both of them to keep them going, and going, and going, even as mega-everythings crumble or are merged into oblivion.
Don't like the food at the mega-supermarket ? Stop going there.
Don't like the music at the mega-music store ? Stop going there.
It really is a free market system if you have the luck to know exactly what it is you're hungry for.

2005-09-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

Watchin' Bob Dylan:
Over the last two nights, PBS stations across America broadcast the Martin Scorsese documentary, "No Direction Home". It covered the life and times of Bob Dylan up until 1966. I watched both nights and was affected deeply.
I came away with the impression that not only did Dylan's art speak for itself, but more than likely Dylan had no choice in the matter. Maybe when Dylan wrote those songs from his "glory days", those songs weren't talking about what he had inside; maybe they actually were what he had inside. In other words, how can you explain a work of art if none of its meaning is left in you once you create it, it's all ( 100% ) in the work of art itself.
One of the recurring themes of the documentary was the relentless pursuit by the press and his fans for the "real meaning" behind his songs.
They always seemed to be asking , " Now that you've given us the truth, what's the truth behind the truth ?".
What complex creatures we humans are. We want simplicity, but only in a complicated format. We want truth, as long as it doesn't deprive us of our ability to disect that truth and start looking for it all over again. We want the answer, but not at the cost of losing the question.
Bob Dylan, today, looks and sounds like he's either smoked a lot of pot or drunk a lot of booze over the last forty years. I must say, if over the last forty years every single question put to him has been,
"What do you mean by that ?" and when he answers he is then asked,
"What do you mean by that?" and so on, and so on, and so on, it's no wonder he might need something to numb his brain.
If I could give Bob Dylan a word of advice it would be, " Stop letting it annoy you; it ain't ever gonna be any different. Don't worry if you can't explain why or how you do what you do. As much as people act like they're pissed-off that you won't give them the " inside scoop " on the
" real meaning " of your songs, they'd probably be even more pissed-off if you could give them the "final answer". You're dealing with people for God's sake, the same creatures that can't pass a mirror without sneeking a peek at themselves so they can prove to themselves that they still exist.

PS: This from November 2003:
Pickin Parts Of Dylan:
" Use the right tool for the right job." Right ? Way back on January 13, 1964 Bob Dylan released, possibly, his best known song, " Times They Are A Changin' ".
At the time of its release it was considered an anthem for a generation that was fed up with the shenanigans of " The Establishment ". It was considered the perfect vehicle to let those in power know that things were going to change, and there was nothing " The Man " could do about it,so they might as well, " get with the program ".
Funny how none of us seemed to realize, back then, that the record company that released " our message " to " The Establishment " and the big chain stores that sold it were part of the same establishment we were sending a message to.
I guess we all figured it out though, since within a decade of the release of " Times They Are A Changin' " most of us were trying to become part of " The Establishment " as fast and as deeply as possible.
Don't feel too bad about it, seems every generation has gone through the same situation in one form or another. Each and every time the different generations have used the same " tool " to deal with the aftereffects of the idealistic views they had in their teens, but quickly abandoned by their mid twenties. The name of that often used, yet often unappreciated tool is " nostalgia " ( such a yearning for anything far removed in space or time ). The beauty of a tool such as nostalgia is the fact that it can be customized to fit the job that needs to be done, more than any other tool.
With nostalgia you can't relive the past, but you can escape the present.
S-0-0-0-0-0-0-0, why not perfect the use of this tool ? Instead of using a song like Dylan's " Times They Are A Changin'" as simply a way to look back and pretend the past was more than it was, why not use it to make the present seem like less than it is ?
Let's face it, the only reason we want to revisit the past is because the present isn't going the way we would like it to go.
So, why not take Dylan's " Times They Are A Changin' " and fast-forward to verse four ?
" Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, and don't criticize what you can't understand ".
BINGO ! , a successful union of the past and the present. We can feel like we never left our roots, while not feeling threatened by the present. Let's face it, the thing that most of us worry about these days is the number of things we don't understand.
Here's Bob Dylan, himself, telling us not to criticize the things we don't understand. As you know, you cannot worry about something without criticizing it. No criticizing = no worrying. I like it !
If we're lucky in the near future politicians will be using verse four of
" Times They Are A Changin' " in their campaign ads. Then we'll really be using our "tool" to the max.

2005-09-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Golden Oldie:
It is appropriate to call this post golden because of its subject matter and an oldie because it was originally written in 2003.
" At Least Put My Shoes On "
I just pulled the last piece off my dearly departed 1987 Volvo 240DL station wagon ( it was the turn signal flasher ). The wagon finally went down after the fourth time someone decided to smash into it. I haven't spent this much time under a car in twenty years.
All hail "The Golden Bomb"! Trips to Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida passing through a bunch of states along the way.
The odometer died at 224,963 miles; the gas gauge had died about five hundred miles before that.
"The Bomb" ran for about another 1200 miles post odometer, and run it did. It always seemed like it was chomping at the bit. With a trailer hitch,
800 pound trailer, all the belongings a first year college student needed ( a full trailer's worth ), and three passengers, The Bomb cruised throught the Smoky Mountains without even yawning.
When our motorhome ( The Box ) broke a coil wire on the far side of our subdivision, The Golden Bomb, with my wife at the wheel, towed it and me back home.
I doubt the 1987 Volvo 240DL wagon I bought to replace The Bomb will have a name. The "new" wagon is in very nice shape. The few things it did need I was able to salvage from The Bomb. After I did that, I decided to pull off as many spare parts as I could from The Bomb. The more parts I took off, the less The Bomb seemed like the "person" it was when it was running " Against The Wind ".
The operation took on a very methodical aire. Brake pads, calipers, alternator, ac compressor, power steering pump, ac relay, distributor cap, rotor, plugs, plug wires, air mass meter, tail lights, tires
( I swapped them with the tires from the "new" 240 ), bulbs, oxygen sensor, trailer hitch, radiator, fan, fan clutch, and more.
By the time I was done, I was tired and not feeling very sentimental about The Bomb, mostly because The Bomb did not give up its parts willingly ( one laceration per part on average ).
Finally, I "made the call" to the salvage yard, and they said they would be out " in a day or two" to tow the Bomb away.
As I stood looking at The Bomb, knowing it would soon be history, I began to remember what a friend it had been and the adventures we had shared. I opened the tailgate of the Bomb and pulled out a cardboard box. In the box was the original set of hubcaps that came with the Bomb, way back when. I carefully put each hubcap back on The Bomb. There was no way I could send The Golden Bomb off without its shoes on.
Nah, I don't think the "new" car will ever have a name. Not until a lot miles and a lot of adventures have been racked up anyway.

2005-09-23T04:40:00.000-07:00

One New Law Would Say It All:
If I could enact one new law, I would make it mandatory for every elected official or their spokesperson to respond to any question asked of them that began with any of the following:
* Did you
* Didn't you
* Do you
* Don't you
* Can you
* Can't you
* Could you
* Couldn't you
* If you
* Should you
* Shouldn't you
* Were you
* Will you
* Won't you
* Would you
* Wouldn't you
with an initial "yes" or "no" . The "yes" or "no" would have to be, by law, the first words in the elected official's or their spokesperson's response to the question, whether that response was verbal, written, or recorded. All rhetoric would have to follow, by law, the initial "yes" or "no" response.
The law would also make it illegal for any form of reporting to the public to edit-out, delete, or move the "yes" or "no" in the response given by the elected official or their spokesperson. They ( the reporting media ) could choose to not report the response, but they could not edit the response
( this would apply only to responses that require an initial "yes" or "no" in them ).
I would accomplish getting this before Congress by holding a special election on the adoption of this law that the public would vote "yes" or "no" on. No other subject of any kind would be on the ballot of this vote.
I believe this law would be constitutional because it would not prevent an elected official or their spokesperson from elaborating on the nuances of their responses. For example, an elected official or their spokesperson could respond:
" Yes, and here's why we can't ( or can ) " or "No, and here's why we can't
( or can ) ".
I would include in this law an annual update of the list of words that start questions that must be responded to with a " yes " or " no " initially. This list would be updated by choices voted on by the public only. Once words were added to the list, they could not be removed ( aka voted off ). The penalty for not responding to a question that began with words from the approved list with an initial "yes" or "no" would be the suspension of the activities the question was directed at until such a time as an initial "yes" or "no" response could be provided.
I believe this legislation could be written on a single sheet of paper, probably double-spaced.

* It is important not to confuse the word response with the word answer in writing this law, as all politicans or their spokespersons respond to questions, but they never answer them.

2005-09-22T12:38:00.000-07:00

Not So Happy Meal:
It takes an awful lot of disipline to pass up a fast food joint when you're hungry and busy and take the time to cook a home-cooked meal. But, you know what ? If you don't, eventually the quality of your life will go downhill.
Politics has become fast food to our nation. The excuse is that we are too busy to deal with it any other way. Just like we can't fool our bodies into thinking fast food is good for them, we can't fool our culture into thinking that a drive-through approach to politics serves it well.
The laws of human nature say ( among other things ) that solving political problems requires participation and that finger pointing only looks like participation. Who are we fooling ?
If a politican were to come on the scene with actual, concrete suggestions, that were understandable, and were based on common- sense, on how to handle our nation's problems, would we welcome them with open arms or get rid of them before they started something we couldn't finish ?

2005-09-19T04:50:00.000-07:00

There is not one example of a "super power" standing the test of time on the planet Earth.After thousands of years of humans trying to get the "super power" thing right and failing, you would think we would at least consider the possibility that creating a successful "super power" may be as elusive as building a perpetual motion machine.
Am I un-American for saying this ? Not in my book; I would like to see America last 'til the end of time.But, my dream is for all nations to be partners in the world ( I'm self-employed; I hate bosses ).
There is a very popular notion these days that no other nation on Earth can be trusted other than ours. To those who believe this I would ask the question:
Is it the governments of these countries we can't trust or the people who live in them ?
Governments come and go with the wind, but the basic, hard-working, everyday people of all countries will always be there and will always be basically honest and trustworthy. If you don't believe me, crack a history book and look it up.
On Thursday, September 15, 2005 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez address the United Nations. Among other things he called for moving the United Nations from the United States to Jerusalem. What a great question to ask ourselves. Would we like to see the U.N. moved to another country ? I personally have heard voices in this country calling for us either to quit the U.N. or shut it down for decades.
Following the beginning of the war in Iraq, there was daily talk about how useless the U.N.was becoming from every media outlet you could think of. But, the talk always was centered around the fate of the U.N. being in America's hands to decide.
Now that someone from outside the United States is calling for basically the same thing, I would suggest holding all those inside this country who have been calling for the elimination of the U.N. accountable if they now are indignant that another country would have the gall to make such a suggestion.
As an American, I am proud of the fact that the United Nations is in my country. But, the health and well-being of the United Nations is what matters, not where it is located. If it had to move to function better, I would be sad on one hand, but relieved on the other.
I grew up in a house where my father was from Norway, my mother was born in America, and my grandmother was from Poland. I lived in a mini-United Nations.
As a kid I was affected by the assembly's ability to live and work together every day of my life. Every single day was filled with debates, culture clashes, declarations of war, and peace negotiations. Moving the entire family to another house was not an option. I had to learn to deal with it the best I could, and along the way figure out how to add my own voice to the mix. It was harder than Hell, and I wouldn't trade it for any amount of money, power, or fame.
It taught me that everybody is right; they're just not right all the time.

2005-09-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

I consider myself a political independent.To me this means I vote for or endorse what I feel is the best candidate for the job, no matter what party they come from. Frankly, I don't see why anyone would have a problem with this. Vote for who you feel would do the best job. What's the downside to that ?
But, I get an unusual amount of static from both liberals and conservatives. Liberals insist my views are conservative, and conservatives insist my views are liberal. What's really interesting is that the more examples I give that illustrate my stance, the more both sides insist I oppose everything they stand for.
Not being one who gives up easily, I'll take one more shot at explaining my position. ( It's important that the reader notice words like "might" in my explanation in order to get my point ).
Let's say you walked into a very busy sandwich shop to buy a sandwich. If the people who worked there had short hair, were very well dressed, polite, courteous, the place was clean, the food was top notch, and all the employees made you feel like you were the most important person in the room, you "might" be in a conservative sandwich shop.
Let's say you walked into a very busy sandwich shop to buy a sandwich. If the people who worked there had long hair, dressed any way they felt like,were rude, not courteous, the place was dirty, the food was so-so, and all the employees ignored you while they talked among themselves or on the phone, and they couldn't care less whether you stayed or left, you
"might" be in a liberal sandwich shop.
Let's say you walked into a very busy sandwuch shop to buy a sandwich. If the people who worked there had short and long hair, were dressed in everything from button-down collars to sleeveless t-shirts, were very polite and courteous, the place was clean enough to meet your expectations, the food , the service, and over-all experience impressed you, the employees in the shop paid attention to all the customers equally, you probably " are " in a sandwich shop with an independent view of how a sandwich shop should be run.
I suppose that if your sandwich is just something you're buying because you are bored and are just looking at your sandwich as something to do, it doesn't matter which shop you patronize. But, if your sandwich is an actual meal to you, and you are going to be eating there day after day
( which means the sandwich shop is now part of your life ) which shop would you choose ?