Month: November 2014

#Ferguson, #Race and Really?

After reading some post and other bloggers who are following the Ferguson debacle, I am convinced that they, “the rioters and looters and yes, Al Sharpton and the other race baiters have helped to set race relations back 60 years!

The world watched as young black people burned their own city down in protest for what most thinking people of any race or color would call an “overly fair” trial.

The press which helped to foment this hate described this person who was shot as damned near a boy scout! An innocent misunderstood child! Then they described the cop as some sort of bigoted jack booted thug.

Setting the record straight, a few came forth and testified to the actual facts which the forensics in the case matched. The police officers testimony and the people that have some sort of moral compass and spine, had the same narrative and as much as they were pressed by the DOJ and others to come up with an indictment, they could not.

Now you have some who don’t like the way that it turned out and responded with violence and by the way, acted in a manner that is stereotypical of how some perceive all blacks! You have not only destroyed your town, you have damaged your “people” if they claim you still.

Michal Brown, who the White House propped up, was a 290 pound thug that wrote rap lyrics including lyrics about rape, and killing cops. This person was high as hell while committing a crime against a shop owner. Not only did he steal merchandise, he roughed up the owner and threatened him. In the video you can actually see him come back at the store owner after he had exited the building in much the same manner that he charged Officer Wilson at the end of his life.

Minutes later he is confronted by the police who now know that they have the probable suspect of the crime, right there.

To further stir the pot, the President of the United States clearly adds fuel to the fire by mentioning Ferguson during a talk at the UN for the whole damned world to now pay attention to, as well as sending the DOJ to oversee the investigation and if that is not enough, interject his buddy Al Sharpton and, send 4 white house officials to be present at this mans funeral! Really!?

Facts

18 year old thug steals cigars from local shop and roughs up owner. (on camera)
Someone from that store reports the theft.
Police, while in the area finishing up one call, run into the suspect and his partner.
Finds the two walking in the middle of the road blocking traffic.
Asked them to please move to the sidewalk.
Words were exchanged laced with explicative’s from Mr.Brown.
As officer goes to get out of his car; he is pushed back in, having his door slammed up against him.
Officer is then struck several times in the face and head by Mr. Brown
Officer gets gun out and tells him to back off, or he will shoot him.
A struggle takes place for the officer’s weapon.
After three attempts to get a shot off, a bullet finally leaves the weapon and strikes the thug in the hand. DNA evidence of this is present inside the car, and on the officer’s uniform.
Mr. Brown backs off .
Officer Wilson calls for assistance, mentioning “shots fired.”
Officer Wilson gets out of his cruiser and orders Mr. Brown to freeze and to get onto the ground. “This is per his training!” He has just shot a guy “albeit in his hand” and now among other things he has to get medical attention for him, after he gets him under control.
Instead, Mr. Brown charges the officer who fires a half dozen shots striking Mr. Brown a few times in the torso.
Mr. Brown momentarily stops and the officer stops firing, once again ordering him to get onto the ground. (At this point Mr. Brown could have lived through this.)
Mr. Brown instead goes into a football player like position, once again charging at Officer Wilson.
Officer Wilson with no options left, fires the fatal shot that kills Mr. Brown.

The population of Ferguson is divided by those that do and do not have a moral compass. Instead of a normal investigation by the local police, they decide that this case should proceed directly to a Grand Jury. I am certain that pressure from Washington had something to do with this decision.

It is well known that a grand jury can indict a ham sandwich, if there is a ghost of a chance that this officer acted inappropriately; this is the best shot of gaining an indictment.

All of the evidence, every scrap is presented to the jurors.

At Officer Wilson’s own peril, he willingly testifies in front of the grand jury for four hours without the benefit of his attorney being present. The unusual part of this proceeding is this, and the attorney for the other side is complaining about this being unusual! This action by Officer Wilson could have sunk him and the odds are good that it would have, had this case not been so air tight, and by the book.

After 40 days of deliberation the grand jury returned a “no bill.” There was not enough evidence against the officer to get the slightest conviction.

On the night of the announcement, Mr. Brown’s step father is on video inciting the crowd to, “Burn this bitch down!”

For some unknown reason the National Guard was nowhere to be found. Many businesses’ were looted and indeed burned to the ground. Many cars were also set ablaze. Over 300 shots were fired by unknown rioters.

Remarkably, no one was killed in all the mayhem.

All of this took place under a sign strung across the street that said “Season Greetings.”

On the next night, another police car was destroyed before police could arrive at the scene.

Protest broke out in multiple cities and towns across the country.

Some blacks are on record calling for a, “race war!”

Protesters pulled a stunt from dumb and dumber, and laid down on I35 in Dallas, blocking traffic for over two hours.

There were other arrests in other cities for violence of one kind or another.

There is little doubt that there are professional agitators in this group as few people in the crowd would want to burn their own city down. The small businesses will most probably not return to that town, only serving to further impoverish it.

They are indeed showing the world how intolerant and I might add ignorant, that they are. We are a country of laws, not mob rule!

That person calling for a race war would be surprised if her call to arms was met with the same type of violence that this bunch of folks enacted on innocent citizens terrorizing and entire community.

There are people in this country that would go toe to toe with them, so they should really be careful what they ask for. There are some who are really sick of this, and it might surprise them to know that they are the same color as them. They should really fall back and look outside the forest as they are flying blind. The preponderance of evidence shows that Wilson was well within his rights and duties to do as he did. The system worked and the cards were stacked against him.

Loss of life is a terrible thing. This 18 year old that robbed that store could have turned his life around, but as it is, we will never know. All we know of him really is from his social media page and his last actions in that store.

What can we learn from this to make this moment count?

The man in blue is hired by us, to protect and to serve. If you don’t want to be a statistic, or accident, don’t give them any reason to “be afraid for their life.”

If you are pulled over at night, turn on your dome light and put your hands in clear view.

Make no quick moves, and do as you are told to do. That goes for anyone, of any race!

Body cameras are cheap and available and not only should all police have one on when they are carrying a gun but, I would argue that all of those who are CHS certified also wear such a device. With this camera even Mr. Brown’s parents would have to conclude that he screwed up. No one wants to believe that their kid messed up. We as parents are in denial until all the chickens come home to roost. One can’t blame them for being in denial but one can most certainly blame them for causing millions of dollars of damage, and possible injury or death to innocent citizens.

These cameras are small enough that I wonder how this would play out for the ordinary citizen to wear such a device. Would it compromise someone else’s privacy? Google glass is such a device, when it gets more affordable what conversations will we be having about our privacy then?

It is a brave new world and we really must be careful how we introduce and use technology.

Witness testimony is seldom super accurate so a video of the altercation would have been concrete evidence of what happened; this whole mess could have been avoided.

All stores should have security cameras which actively stream video up to the cloud via some sort of cellular technology, battery backed up.

Professional agitators should be charged with conspiracy to commit crimes against the state. Much like hiring a hit man, these folks should be held accountable. Wearing a mask hiding your identity at a protest should not be allowed. The law needs to be changed to forbid this type of activity. People are much more polite and law abiding if they are not “anonymous.”

The Race baiters should be forced to come up with the money to not only re-build that town but, make up for the lost sales from those business’s.

The people who lied at the Grand Jury, should be charged with perjury and made to pay a fine, serve time, and should be made an example of. You don’t create a story to serve some agenda. I realize that I am asking the public to do the right thing and not take an example from this current administration that makes up any narrative that they want, to fit an agenda like “it was that video that caused the rioters in Benghazi!”

Mr. King is most probably spinning in his grave, and we need him now more than ever. I know of no one that judges folks by their color or race. You thugs in Ferguson have shown the world “THE WORLD” that perhaps it is ok to be prejudice against people of color, congratulations! Al, you fomented this hatred so now use your pulpit and fix it! The only thing I expect out of the white house is that somehow they will blame Bush!

This is the third racial incident that this president has weighed in on and the third one that has blown up in his face! One would think that he would learn to leave this type of thing to those that know how to deal with it, and not to foment hate and bigotry when we as a people have moved past it years ago. If you want to cause and old wound to bleed, keep picking on it!

Hate is a poison that you take, expecting it to affect someone else.

Stop the hatred. Lead by example. If you want a war between the races, keep on doing what you are doing and someone of equal intelligence will certainly oblige you. If you want it to stop, then stop. Nobody wants this. The few that do can stay relegated to the past and burn their lives out in hate or, they can look outside of their little part of the world and see that man has moved on past this. Are there pockets of racists’ bastards still in this world, you bet, they are the minority; and it is time to understand and embrace that. Character is King, not race, and certainly not color. –Grow up!

Update

I saw an interview with Megan Kelly and Al Green

The argument was this: He maintains that the Grand Jury threw out testimony from some that they did not find credible and therefor it was an unfair verdict and the people of Ferguson did not get justice. WOW! This guy represents the 9th Congressional district of Texas and is so far out in “LEFT Field” that he has no clue what he says or how stupid he appeared to the millions of viewers who watch Fox and of course Mrs. Kelly!

I don’t know if they, FOX News went looking for someone that is this shortsighted to boost ratings or, if this guy approached them to get his 15 minutes of fame.

The grand jury had three different autopsy reports from three different forensic pathologist and the CSI type of evidence to compare to the testimony of many different “eye witness accounts.”

Through the process the people were interviewed “interrogated” several times. The testimony that consistently stayed the same, each and every time, was also the testimony that was consistent with the evidence from the pathologist. That is how you tell the difference between the tares from the wheat Mr. Green!

His hands were not up and he was charging the officer. The officer did nothing wrong and those that want to foment racial tension simply cant understand or don’t want to understand how this works. The DOJ in all of his political BS with all of the strings that he pulled could not even make the case that the officer did the slightest thing wrong but yet, this guy “Mr Green,” who was not there, only hears what he wants to hear.

This guy voted for Obama Care, he is pro choice, and is pro gun control. He is the perfect democrat!

This officers life is ruined for doing his job and not letting a thug kill him. Had the thug managed to get his gun and kill him, America would most likely never have known about it, and at most it would have made the news in the state of Missouri; not even headline. Obama certainly would not have talked about it at the UN!

One of the young men that testified, an upright employed individual who was warned by the people in that town to keep his mouth shut, was found dead in his car with a bullet wound to the back of the head and accelerant poured on him and burned. It is also noteworthy to point out that the shop keeper was warned not to report the crime or bad things would happen. There is video of many people breaking into his business, looting it and then burning it. What kind of town is Ferguson that the mob rules, and honest people have to tolerate being robbed? What kind of place is this where people who do the right thing are executed by those who wish to protect the guilty? What kind of country are we turning into where the DOJ tries to taint the results and the outcome in favor of a thug, against those that are sworn to protect and serve and put their lives on the line every day?

You need to be very careful who you elect folks.

We are being played by the media “for ratings” and the race baiters for their own narcissistic needs and to promote more social justice agenda’s. How many Trillion dollars do we need to go into debt to make the Al Sharptons’ and the Al Greens’ of the world happy! How many towns must be burned down before you stop this Bull Shit! Right is right, and anything else is Bull Shit!

-Best

Enlightenment and the Truth

So I have few thoughts that I wanted to share with you.

If you have read the first page of this blog you know that I am interested in Enlightened Conversation. Enlightened conversation however; depends upon “enlightenment.”

It should be no surprise to anyone that has read any of my postings that I am a Star Trek Fan, from the first episode with William Shatner getting all the girls; and the guy in the red shirt dying of some horrible attack, to every version there after of the series. The consistent trait among them however is the red shirt guy dies. You would think that the red shirt people would figure this out. 🙂

As a writer, even since the beginning, I appreciated well written scripts. Most have no idea when they watch something on TV or at the movies, why they either liked it; or hated it.

Look inside First

Part of the process of becoming more than you are, is to know yourself. “Well that is just stupid, I know myself, my name is this, and I live here, and so on and so forth.” Truth be told, most folks really don’t know themselves, they know of themselves.

Most people act in a mechanical nature following their programming, not unlike the animals that trod the sod or fly in the air above us.

The sea turtle comes ashore at a certain time and lays its eggs and leaves again for the eggs to hatch and for the hatchlings to head to the water where most of them will be food.
Some birds know to head south in the winter and north in the summer but they don’t know why? What we don’t know for sure is how?
Some butterflies migrate as well; do they really know what they are doing?
Primates learned to make, and use tools to achieve an end result.
Whales communicate and we suspect Dolphins do as well.

What we don’t know about this world, and the creatures that are on it would fill entire libraries.

The same can be said about ourselves.

Start with this simple exercise, each time you are moved in some way by someone or something ask yourself why. What about that book did you like or not like. What about that movie did you appreciate or detest. Than, ask the magic question of why…

If I talk with you about late term abortion.

I mention that the doctor pokes some scissors into the base of the Child’s skull making a small incision, clipping the brain stem from the spinal cord, killing the child. From there he puts a suction device in and sucks out the child’s brain so when pulling the baby out, the skull will easily crush, not damaging the mother.

I know how I feel about it and why; how do you feel, and why?

What if you are looking at a painting of a lovely lady, sitting on a blanket under a tree, on a sunny day? She is wearing a light white dress that the wind blows up past her knees on occasion. She is sitting there with a picnic basket, some wine and a book. The sunlight pokes through creating small silhouettes of light on her, here and there as the breeze blows the leaves on the tree. In the distance there is the ocean and a beach with families at play. The seagulls are dancing in the wind while a young man approaches the tree from behind with a rose in his hand.

How does that picture make you feel, why?

It is not simply good enough to hate something or like something, you must know why!

Every time your emotions are plucked, know what plucked them. When you are moved, know what moved you.

With Star Trek it was simple for me to appreciate Gene Rodenberry’s vision of a Utopian world where we had evolved past greed. Truthfully, I think Next Generation did a much better job of this however; I never understood what drove people to do anything if they could have anything that they wanted by simply getting the replicator to create it. So, is greed a motivator? Why “Boldly Go,” if getting something in return was not a motive?

What drives you to do what you do? With most of us it is some form of remuneration for our efforts. Let’s face it; we live in a dystopian society currently, with a hint of 1984 looming over the horizon. We have a government that fabricates the narrative as they go along, to suite some agenda. We have smart phones that may very well be spying on us through some NSA covert initiative that was put in place by the same folks who developed the porn scanners at the airport. We have drones that the government can fly over a mile from your house and look through an open window and count your freckles!

We have a percentage of the masses that believe whatever garbage comes out of Washington as the gospel. These folks are truly lost and victims to their own programming and failure to think outside the box. These folks are the kinds of folks that need that box so they understand the boundaries and try to live within them, or figure out a way to take advantage of the structure as they understand it. You will not catch them asking why they “like” or “hate” or do what they do, as according to them it is their nature, it simply is. It is simpler than that, it is their programming and all they know, and want to know. Please don’t confuse them with the facts!

The Ferguson riots are a perfect example of emotion overrunning common sense or the programming. Darren Wilson by the laws that everyone accepts was cleared of any wrong doing. The young man that was shot was seen on video robbing the convenience store and roughing up the owner. Before he left you see him once again come back and come after the store owner in a threatening manner.

Now he continues on with this behavior with a cop. I don’t know how high he was or how far out of his right mind that he was but, you don’t screw with a cop! They have all the cards. With a cop it is yes sir, no sir here are my hands in plain sight sir! Anything else is well, stupid!

A grand jury clears the cop of all wrong doing so the people of the town burn down their own town and vandalize their own shop owners etc etc.. Is that programming, or nature?

Governments around the world understand people, the way we think and how closely we mimic animals, and play to those facts. Functional idiots would be the ideal populous for any government, as they would do as they are told, and not question their leaders. They would work at some prescribed task and give a portion, or have a portion of their money taken from them to support those that “pull the strings.”

No, not wearing a tin hat, don’t fall prey to conspiracy stuff. I know technology and people and I am a science fiction writer. Many things written by science fiction writers become science fact. We think outside the box and leave the math to those that communicate with algebraic nomenclature and obscure symbols that only a scant few truly understand. I would maintain that math holds those folks back from thinking outside the box because their formula does not support it. It is only when one of them dares think that their formula may be wrong, do they look outside the box.

To be anything more than an automaton, takes work. People are naturally lazy and take the easiest path, or path of least resistance. Some however do not. Some ask, “why?”

What about you? Why ask why?

What kind of work does it take? First and foremost it takes getting to know that person looking back at you from the mirror.

Why do we do what we do?

Enlightenment consists of knowing yourself first.

Once you start analyzing why you do what you do, you can then begin to understand what might motivate someone else. Instead of blindly following your programming, you can choose a different path.

The folks in Ferguson were manipulated to do the bidding of some by using their emotions. It is so easy to manipulate someone with their emotions it is laughable. You know that you have been manipulated through guilt, into doing things that you did not want to do. I think some churches use guilt to get you to tithe more, or to come more often to church.

Your wife of mother in law may guilt you into doing something that you do not want to do. Guilt is a great emotion to manipulate you with. Another is hate.

“Hate is a poison that you take expecting it to affect someone else!”

We have a government for whatever reason is fomenting racial hate. No one alive today had anything to do with slavery yet we hear more about it today than twenty years ago. It serves a purpose to foment racism and I think it is to stir up the democratic base, when in fact the Democratic Party historically is the party that oppresses black people. When you don’t know history you are doomed. Americans have a short memory, and attention span and they know it and depend upon it..

Programming

I would proffer that it is natural to be bigoted against that which is different from you.

I would argue that part of your programming is to reject people of a different race in order to propagate your particular genetic line. I would also point out that the male of the species “whatever the species” will stick his “business,” into just about anything, including a knot hole, to achieve the end result. Again, programming and a reward system, which would lead to mutations in the gene pool of that species. That by the way is my argument for macro evolution. I don’t think that we just magically appeared as human one day, I think species intermingled and over time nature found a way to create viable species which too intermingled. That intermingling is still in progress as today we have inter species procreation much more than just a few years ago. People (some people) are thinking outside the box, and their programming and moving beyond differences of colour and race. There is hope!

One prime argument against this is, “Well why did evolution stop?” Who said it stopped? Firstly, we human beings cannot fathom 4.5 billion years. We have nothing to give context to that amount of time. We live an average of 70 years. That is not very much time! We see beds that our ancestors used only a generation ago and note how short they are. What we don’t put together is that we are much taller than they were. We know that the appendix is a useless organ and is shrinking because our diet has changed and it is no longer needed. If we look and are open minded we will see other signs that evolution of the Darwinian kind, is indeed happening. Is there a designer to this evolution?

While part of the programming in all animals is to reject that which is different, thinking people can look past those differences and indeed some do. Part of the programming consists of a pairing of people simply by physical characteristics. Things such as symmetry and physical build of the male as well as broad hips and large breast of the female. This is programmed into us and useful for successful procreation.

When we were cave folks wearing nothing but lots of hair, things were exposed. Women might have chosen to pair with men that were, well muscular and well hung, while guys most certainly looked at that which would better facilitate successfully bearing young. Sex back then would most certainly have been Pavlovian. If sex did not feel good and did not have a “reward,” I doubt that any species would be here. Let’s face it; sex at its basic level is work! If done right, lots of work! If you don’t think that there is some powerful programming at work, think again!

If you stop and think about it, there is really nothing attractive about genitalia at all. I am amazed that gynecologists have any type of sex life after working with genitalia day in and day out. My guess is that the reward system of procreation and the programming of that same “sub routine,” overrule that of the id, the super ego and the ego. While the super-ego may try to rationalize what you are seeing the id is strong thus the programming of the id seems to supersede that of the super-ego and the ego.

And speaking of genitalia, an interesting thing about the penis that puts it into perspective is the design of the tip or Glans is such, that if inserted after someone else, it will actually pull their seed out and make room for yours, if yours is larger then the previous occupant.

Design or evolution?

Men are typically visual people and as such can be easily stimulated by such. If we see someone in a bikini where do our eyes first travel to? …. No answer? … Coward…. They travel to the parts covered by the bikini. From there, some background subroutine kicks in and gets to imagining the rest. If that same person were nude, our eyes would most certainly travel there first but, the background subroutine would not engage, and I doubt that after a moment or two, the visual titillation would still be there. Our attention might then be only to the persons face and other visual queues or other folks that are around.

In speaking with nudist, I am told that genitalia and other parts become no different than an elbow or knee. I often wonder how the sex life of a nudist would differ from that of a person who is not. Maybe there is a government grant available for such a study? If I had to guess, I would guess it would parallel that of a couple that was in the same general age group that was not a nudist as again I think it would be centered around the reward or pleasure part of the brain.

I often wonder what affect the “Extreme Availability” of pornography; will have on this generation and those people of the next generation. We have children exposed to this stuff before they reach puberty. They do not have the maturity to deal with this subject matter so one has to wonder what outcome it will have. If it were simply nude people I think it would fairly innocuous. If on the other hand it is all sorts of pornographic situations and activities dreamt up by who knows who, they may very well take that as normal. I fear for their moral compass.

Hazarding a guess I have to think that it would lead more males to self pleasure… ok… masturbate, rather than go through the “trouble” to get a girlfriend and have a “normal” relation. Pornography could have a much more serious affect on society as a whole. I also wonder what if any affect it has on females.

Delineation between nudity and pornography is a must at this point, as there is ample confusion. As there is confusion between nudity and pornography, there is also confusion between being naked and nude. Semantics you might say but, a thinking person would disagree.

Let’s start with the later; if I am purposefully around other folks without clothing, I am nude. If I were to say go into a spa where there were people without clothing and that was the accepted behavior than I and they would be nude. If I had someone posing nude for me while I painted them, and it was consensual, “consensual being the key word” then they would be nude. While we here in this country are way too hung up on nudity, trust me, it is not that big of a deal and healthy.

If on the other hand you are secretly watching someone undress, or you walk in on someone who expects privacy, and they are without clothing, they are naked. While naked can also mean “without adornment” or the naked truth, naked is being unclothed in a situation where you would like to have clothing on.

So that dream that you have about being naked at school; that is naked unless of course you are posing for an art class without clothes, than you are nude.

Pornography is someone or a group of someone’s in the act of sex or some other sexual situation designed to promote sexual titillation for the participants or the viewers.

One famous “movie star” in “adult movies” was once interviewed. She was asked how she felt about people looking at her naked, and pleasuring themselves. This person who had a rather inauspicious start to life, also sports a 138 IQ. Her answer was simply this; “than I am doing my job.” It was very easy to tell from the interview that she was “smart” and chose this line of work as a way out of the normal 9-5 work world, that so many of us fall into. Her bright and bubbly personality along with her IQ is quite frankly what I found attractive about her but, I actually did read Playboy for the articles, and maybe checked out where that staple hit…

Is nudity healthy?

I mentioned earlier that it is “in my opinion” and here is why. Let’s say you have children and they never see you naked. The only nude folks they see are themselves or possibly their siblings until puberty. Now we have the internet with more porn than you can shake a stick at. Your young men start “peeking” at porn and expect that all women will look like that. You, under your garments have a poochy belly, possibly with stripes all over it from stretch marks, you breast have sagged or were never a perfect perky what have you, and your butt well, its not a Kardashian butt. Your mate accepts you as you are but, your kids have unreal expectations and once they tie the knot, a rude awakening is headed their way which could end up with ruptured nuptials.

I don’t think that you have to live in a nudist colony to get the job done but, I think having your children seeing you as you are, from a young age, as they grow up is healthy not only for them, but for you. You must be ok with your body, and you need to do what you can to feel sexy and alive. Your kids must know that not everyone looks like a porn star and once they have babies, everything changes. Even you dads out there with the beer belly. You too need to be ok with who you are in order to live a healthy life into your golden years. Setting your children’s expectation from very young will not only help them to keep things in perspective but, hopefully it may go a long way towards young men not objectifying women and indeed seeing them as something besides sex objects. An added bonus may very well be that if you don’t hide underneath baggy shirts you may make a little extra effort to keep excess weight off, as obesity often adds to your chances of diabetes and other health concerns. If your kids are older you can’t obviously start walking around naked but, you don’t have to hide the belly either. If you are a young couple with young kids, by all means, don’t hide.

If you have any questions about this, speak with a counselor or professional or two. This last generation has gone way off target with our kids, we incarcerate more today than ever before. Something is wrong and we need to be looking for reasons why. I think it has to do with Hollywood, the internet, violent video games, and dysfunctional families looking for that brass ring, but those that get paid $150 an hour might have a different idea.

Speaking of nudes, as an artist I can tell you that I prefer to paint those that are full figured much like the masters did of years gone by. These women today who are bags of bones covered by a little skin are not attractive to me; as an artist or a man. The bottom line is that you must be happy with who you are. That my friend starts by looking in the mirror and loving yourself, bulges, stripes and all. Start from the inside out, as first you have to know “who you are.”

The simple facts are that we are wired for sex. From the time we reach puberty and maybe before until we are pushing daisies up, sex is on the brain. We cannot totally escape our programming, at that age sex is high up on the list of priorities. The difference between the human and the animal is that we can control our programming.

During puberty, hormones are being introduced at levels we are not used to. Our inner animal may come out and want to play and not always in a constructive manner. It takes a special kind of “teacher” to work with us at that age, as we become impossible. We say things that we certainly don’t mean. We are mean to anyone that loves us and just beside ourselves. You add into this cornucopia of hormones, drugs, you trigger the release of more hormones and drugs from the brain which can make us suicidal. It is most important to understand what is going on at this age as there is no rational explanation for behavior most of the time. Keeping all recreational chemistry out of this system is a must!

In the animal kingdom the animal may desire sex from one of its harem and be threatened by a young male. This Bull may have to defeat its young challenger in order to maintain its control over the harem. That becomes the order of business for the moment forgoing anything else.

A Human may desire sex but there are many hoops to jump through just to have a chance at sex, and unfortunately at certain ages for certain people, fighting is not off of the table. Other rather stupid actions come into play as well. Lacking any morals and education our sex lives would most certainly emulate the animal kingdom. A parallel between human and animal could easily be drawn where sex or procreation is concerned. If we could examine the “code,” we would no doubt find that the subroutines look very similar.

Programming must come from the double helix, and I submit that programming can be modified by changing the behavior of a species, and having that species propagate its behavioral modifications through its DNA. This would necessarily prove that evolution through behavior modification is not only possible, but probable.

Back in the day there were people who studied eugenics. Their reasons were fairly malevolent in that they were after the “perfect race,” and hated Jews. Eugenics could be a reality and I think that the answer for such is programming the DNA not artificially, but by altering the behavior of the subject and then using that DNA to inseminate the subject. Because all of this takes time, as it is really a function of evolution; they should try this with some short lived creature like the fruit fly and see if they can’t program its DNA in some fashion, possibly only eat a certain type of fruit.

My theory is that our programming is a series of learned behaviors that somehow make their way back into the DNA that we pass on to our progeny. For this reason it might be a real good idea to procreate late in life or, donate sperm to a sperm bank when you are old, and wiser than when you were as a teenager and not so wise.

It is no secret that we stand on our forefathers shoulders where our technology and knowledge is concerned. Some of that knowledge and wisdom gets passed down before we too procreate but, much is learned late in life.

You can either believe that “god” creates you the way that you are or you can believe that Darwin was correct and indeed evolution explains “ooze to youze.”

To reject the later simply because of religious mores would be just as foolish as to dismiss the possibility of a spiritual being that uses evolution to create. Who is to say that some “god” for lack of a better name, is not using evolution to create what we see today.

It is necessary to think outside the box. If you allow your preconceived prejudices to “box in your thoughts,” you can not learn.

Once I was talking with a guy who believes what he reads in the bible. He professed to be open minded. “So, you would be open to talking about evolution?” “As long as it does not conflict with the bible, sure!” Sadly, he cannot learn. His potential is limited by his ideology.

Me personally, I want to know the truth. I don’t care what it is, that is what I want to know. The truth will set you free. We need to look for and learn the truth. Once learned, that truth needs to be embraced, and then spoken about, Boldly!

While we build on the past we must be ever so open to the future and all of its possibilities. If there is a being that creates worlds, and all the life thereon then he or it must certainly use math as its language! Science would be the common denominator and that would explain a lot of things.

There is a dichotomy between religious folks and science, not all, but most. The dichotomy precludes either subset from learning the truth. In order to seek the truth, one must first be open to any and all possibilities. Is there a grand creator, great! Is it all evolution and random chance? Cool! Is it a combination of a creator using physics to create what we have today? Awesome!

Share your thoughts. -Best

State of the Union & What’s Next! #thefive

With unemployment numbers at 5.8 percent and the Dow Jones closing at record highs, one has to wonder why polls show that Americans are worried about the economy.

“There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies and statistics!”

The truth about unemployment is that once you fall off of the unemployment benefits you are no longer considered unemployed, thus you are no longer part of the statistic. If you are under employed; you are still employed and thus no longer a statistic. If the truth was told, unemployment would be around 20%, higher in the African American community.

The racial divide in this country is mostly a fictitious agenda foisted upon us by people who stand to benefit from there being one. Much like the fabled war on women, it suited the Democratic party for there to be one, so they invented it, sold it to the American people under the precepts that men hated women and just wanted them barefoot pregnant and in the kitchen or we wanted to take away their right to vote and or drive or whatever nonsense that they could dream up! Most any man knows that if momma isn’t happy, aint nobody happy! “Momma” by the way can be a metaphor for “the women of the house.”

The plan worked; it helped get Obama elected to a second term and got Sandra Fluke name recognition which will be someone to watch in the future for the political arena, or to take Rosie’s place on the View, when too many people get tired of her nonsense.

I bet her parents are proud. Really, you get on national TV and tell the world that you want taxpayers to pay for your $6 birth control pills! I can’t get into the liberal mindset however. California is one of the most screwed up states in the union, yet they keep electing those that are responsible!

While the war on women and racial strife propagated by this administration was to divert your attention from the “real issues of the day.” Sadly it worked.

Benghazi and our people were not protected or vindicated. Fast and Furious turned into “they acted stupidly and if I had a son!” America was played by the ideas of Saul Alinsky in rules for radicals and “never let a crisis go to waste.” What if you don’t have a crisis when you need one, invent one or don’t send help when it was needed. Look, there is a video on YouTube which some might find offensive, make that a talking point with the main stream media which is full of sycophants’, all wanting a one-on-one interview with the president, or first question at the press briefing and have no journalistic integrity left what so ever! They have traded it for ratings.

I picture Obama sitting at his desk with a bird cage in the corner, containing a bald eagle. The cage is just large enough for the eagle to barely fit. At the bottom of the cage is a journalism diploma covered in poop, and in his lap is some small dog with the head of some main stream journalist of whose diploma is in that bird cage.

No sitting president has ever weighed in on such issues and this president has been a lighting bolt for this type of activity! His efforts to foment racial tension have actually been one of his most successful endeavors! Between him, Jessie Jackson Jr. and Good old Al, we have racial tensions at an all time high. Mr. Sharpton is reported as owing over $4.5 million in back taxes, why is he not in jail? Who is protecting him?

If blood is spilled over this Ferguson deal, they will all have it on their hands. Of course if it starts looking bad for them, they will all slither off, and deny ever being there. Kind of like Nancy Pelosi disavowing any knowledge of who Gruber is.

If you don’t know who Gruber is, you are watching or reading the wrong news.

The truth about Obama Care came out from the creator or architect of it, bragging about how stupid Americans are. If you tell them there is a Santa Clause; they will believe you! You can keep your doctor and health plan and it will be cheaper. Enough people that know nothing of math believed it; and voted for the regime that created it and installed it against the will of the American people. When they found out just how much they were lied to about that and other things well, there was a “wave” of unhappy voters. Of course the disillusioned voters sent a message too, by simply staying home.

That has not slowed Prince Obama down though. No, Thursday night he will announce some executive action that is well beyond his constitutional powers “and he knows it” allowing 5 million “undocumented aliens” in the country to register and work here. While the voters clearly want him to stop he is thinking that the vote was really telling him to plow ahead at full speed!

Who really wants this? Who benefits from it?

The American people don’t want it. Even after all of the spin the liberal media has done, most Americans don’t think that this is a good idea. At least they are thinking… except of course for the 14% who had no opinion! 14 percent of you have no opinion? What color is the sky in the world that you are living in?

How do you think that someone comes up with a billion dollars to use in a campaign?

We already have a high number of unemployed Americans in this country. Because of Obamacare, companies are trying to skirt the law and hire more part time folks than full time. If you bring in 5 million more people, who need jobs, into this economy; you now create more competition for the few jobs that are here already.

With that many more “workers” you have people who have had a tough life and lived in shanty towns, so to speak, and will do it again putting many families in single family dwellings where Americans are used to going to college, getting a decent job and moving out of mom and dad’s house, into an apartment or buying their own place. These kids are returning home living in the room that they grew up in! Mom and dad are supporting them again and don’t even get the puny tax break, which was something!

Not only do you have more competition for the jobs out there but, you know that these folks will get government assistance; their kids will need schooling which the taxpayers will pay for. They will need housing which I can bet the taxpayers will subsidize and medical assistance which may be simply to overwhelm the emergency rooms of this country.

His plan will act like a magnet to other countries who know that the border is not only porous but, we pick you up and give you a ride to the processing center!

How many people can the country absorb?
How many cheap workers do companies need to be competitive?
How many of these do the Democrats hope to turn into voters?
Will the voter ID laws become a hot topic in 18 months or so?
What happens to the Americans who pay taxes who can’t find a job?
How much debt is too much before we default?
At what point Mr. Gruber, will this country fold as our money will become worthless? How much money can you print before we use it to wipe our backsides with it, as we can’t afford toilette paper!? Well Mr MIT smart guy?

Americans are not stupid by the way…

We have all we can do to make the rent each month, pay for groceries and keep the kids in shoes. We are currently experiencing a small reprieve from gasoline prices; although I have noticed that those prices are going back up as we get close to thanksgiving.

We send people to Washington to represent us so we can pay attention to the things that matter to us; family, friends and taking care of our own. While we are generous to a fault, to steal from our kids and their kids, to serve some hidden agenda; is reprehensible. Your Actions Mr Gruber and Mr prince Obama, have consequences.

There are companies out there who utilize unemployment benefits to keep their employees viable during down time in the economy. They furlough them while orders are slow and then bring them back after there is a backlog of work. These are not small companies by the way, these are giants in the industry, hidden under some sub company of the giant.

There are companies who hire folks on SSI or welfare, to work one or two days a week being careful not to give them enough hours or money that their employees loose their “taxpayer subsidized form of living.” These companies have egregious hiring practices and get away with it!

There are more companies who take on contract workers who “work” for another company that is in the business of supplying cheap labor. All of this to keep the number of FTE’s under the magic number of 50.

Then there is retail:

They hire many people part time, promise them that after they have been there a while that they see management potential in them and they will be full time! This story is repeated time after time after time. Yes, they get them to work like dogs and pay them minimum wage. When they have their fill of being treated like crap, they move on and there are a dozen more waiting to take their place. After we get 5 million more “legal to work aliens” in the country, do you really think it will help this?! It will be great for the retail giants who need Spanish speaking sales clerks or people to work in the warehouse.

So here is how it will work:

You have to be the “best of the best” to get a decent job in this country that has any benefits and pay to it. Or, you have to “know” someone.

You can get on the government tit and get your free Obama phone, and government subsidized food and health care until that runs out in two more years; or until the country goes bankrupt. You have to be impoverished which I know of people who have purposefully impoverished themselves, to get into the system.

You can get two or three part time jobs, getting about 20 hours a week from each job and maybe make enough to get a cheap apartment, take public transportation or walk and live “survive” frugally!

You get on the government tit, and work at jobs where you are payed in cash so there is no paper trail anywhere. As far as the “system is concerned” you don’t make any money and are living on the few hundred a month that they give you. It never dawns on them to look and see that your style of living is much better than what it should be.

You can become an inventor and invent something that no one else has thought of, except… it cost tens of thousands of dollars to protect your idea, just in this country; never mind each and every other country in the world where major corporations have some business in that country and can do with your idea as they wish; and they have the means to tie up the case in courts for eons.

You can become an entrepreneur. Start your own business and compete with the big boys.

You can hope and argue against the legalization of drugs and become a drug dealer. There is a huge demand for successful dealers and the margins are great! You can even sample the product and sell your client a little light, they will hopefully never know.

Of course, a slow pay client could cost you your life but, when you deal with an unregulated group of businessmen, what do you expect?

I understand that Chicago and Detroit have some good areas for training in how to do this; the competition however will kill for their clients. If you get killed there, you truly become a statistic. It will never be investigated.

As more and more people become desperate, more and more criminal activity will take place leading to jobs that might be around for a while.

You can become the MAN! You can work for the people that arrest drug dealers, and put them behind bars! That too has its risk as “the man” has little respect in this community.

You can become a jailer, working with the criminal element on a daily basis, being rest assured that there will always be an abundant supply of “product.”

What are the answers?

Jobs to shoot for in trades would be plumber, air conditioning heating, electrician and automobile mechanic or airline mechanic. These folks make good money and will always have work, if they have any ethics and or honor.

A military career might look promising, if you don’t mind being told what to do, and when to do it, having little or no say so about it. There is travel involved, and you do get to work in a team environment. Currently there is no shortage of supply, so you need to be a college grad to qualify as cannon fodder.

IT jobs are being farmed out faster than they can be created. India, the Philippines, and anywhere but here, are where programming and engineering jobs are going.

With tens of thousand of IT folks out of work, the government still allows thousands of H1-B workers in the country each year. If you ever go to a career fair for IT folks you will see thousands of applicants for a half dozen jobs. Somewhere in there a company that farms out IT jobs to such countries as India will come in and negotiate a deal with those companies and money talks! A DBA could easily get a $100K a year. That can be farmed out for a third that, and the “farmer” can still make money!

There are companies out there that you can request a bid on some piece of software that you need developed. They in turn act like the GC on a job, and get it done for you in some corner of the world at a competitive cost and yes; there is enough in it that they make money acting as the PM and go between.

IT support or customer service is demanding but, requires someone with good communication skills and customer service skills. If you settle for cheap you get a reputation like HP had for years. Companies are still working this issue as people in the Philippines are getting better than Peggy in Russia or Kim in India.

Factory jobs too are being farmed out to countries that have horrible human rights issues and no concern for the environment. While we have a president who has stopped the coal industry and hurt many workers and caused our energy prices to sky rocket, that same coal that is so dangerous here is being sold to, you guessed it, China and other third world countries that have no tree huggers, no Sierra Club and no EPA. Magically, all of this global warming talk has nothing to do with selling coal to countries that could care less about pollution. Obama must think that the polluted air and green house gasses in China, stay in China!

The obvious choice for anyone with a brain is anything medical. Keep in mind that they are lowering the standards for doctors and nurses so you truly can be tomorrow’s “worst doctor,” and still get called doctor! With millions of new people being dumped into an already over utilized system, medical professionals will be in high demand! If you have a penchant to play god, (most doctors that I have worked with felt as if they were gods,) this field might be for you. Nurse or medical technician or dentistry is a field worth looking into as well.

I fear that this has been in the works for sometime as they have been working on reforming law suites regarding mal practice for years. Tomorrow; when you go to the worst doctor in the world, and he screws you up, you won’t be able to sue him.

Here is a billion dollar idea!

I have always felt that owning a tattoo removal shop would be a burgeoning business. You could actually have both, have one shop where they put the tattoos on, and another in an upscale part of town where they can be removed! You could even sell insurance that if you got the tattoo and later decided that you did not like it, or changed your mind, you could go to the other shop and get it removed, for free; if you kept up your modest yearly insurance fee. You could make a deal with other tattoo shops to sell your insurance for you, and they get a commission for selling it! You get the yearly renewals.

The insurance would be “per tattoo” and underwritten by the size, colors used, type of skin and whatever other technicality that that industry could think of.

People are mutilating themselves in wholesale fashion so maybe even offer a clinic where this type of thing can be “undone.” Plastic surgery could have a whole new line of business besides boobs, butts, and tummy tucks!

Salesman is a vocation that requires good people skills, and communication skills. If you are good, you can make a nice living. Being a sales person would require that people can afford to buy what you are selling.

There are always government jobs. The IRS is going to need a lot of new folks to administer Obama care so this is a place to apply to today!

And lastly for this diatribe, you could be a politician! It requires the ability to act and have little or no scruples. Most politicians were once lawyers. Most doctors and lawyers deserve every joke that has ever been written about them.

I used to do field service. During that time I dealt with lots of both! I dealt with some of the most famous doctors you would ever want to know, as well as some of the most notorious lawyers that you might want representing you, if you had screwed up.

To me that was always a “tell” as to if the guy was innocent or guilty. Take OJ Simpson for instance. He had the dream team and he got off! Why did he need the dream team if he were truly innocent?

I once had a lawyer confide in me that it was easier for him to get you off, if he knew that you were guilty than if you were innocent. This was a very high profile attorney which If I mentioned his name you would know it. Between the OJ Simpson trial and that statement, I lost a lot of respect for the “system.” It was truly “justice” is for those that can afford it. Justice of course not being truly about what justice is, actually quite the opposite.

I had another lawyer who met me at the door who was totally apoplectic! He looked as though you might expect a rabid dog to look before it bit your head off! He had never met me before but he wanted to scare me into believing that he was all kinds of bad and I had better do my best for him! They sent me in to deal with customers who were pissed off by someone else, as I could “fix things.” I could make nice with the customer and fix things! I stood there and let him rant for over 5 minutes, I took out a notepad and acted as though I were making notes while he quite literally spit on me, while he was expounding his thoughts about my company, our product and where he thought that our company rated. After he started winding down as he was not getting the desired response from me, I asked him point blank; “are you finished?”

His demeanor changed immediately, he had been acting as I suspected. He actually reached up and wiped some of his spittle off my face and then, we went about taking care of his problems. Another such lawyer, a woman, pretty much gave me the same treatment. She told me flat out that she was a bitch! If I did not “fix” things, she would be my worst nightmare! I extended my hand and she was taken aback at first, and then took mine. As we shook hands, I told her how much I appreciated her sincere honesty!

A smile broke out on her face and from that moment on, I was the only guy that was permitted in her office from my company. For the rest of my years with that company I looked forward to working with her, as she me.

This is where politicians come from. Reagan was the consummate politician, as he was a good actor! Now if we could find another actor with some scruples; that might be a good candidate! Morgan Freeman would make a good president. He has many believing every week that he knows something about physics! Besides, I really like his voice? Have you ever noticed that when you read something that they wrote you read it in their voice? I Digress…

So, what’s next and why is Obama rushing this immigration stuff?

The last thing on his agenda, probably one of his last promises to those that put him in office or who control him now, is climate change!

Why, does he care about green house gas? Does he really know anything about it? If he can make something happen who would benefit from it?

In order for someone to benefit financially, someone has to spend money. Al Gore has lost most credibility but they may drag him out again to see if he can convince you that there are no more polar bears and all the penguins are turning into BBQ. Who knows what crazy crap they will come up with and what Pelosi or Reid will say? One lies and the other one swears to it.

Here is the problem and the reason for the rush on immigration. What he is doing is illegal. The republicans are going to have to spend a lot of time and juice in chipping away at Obama Care and they are going to have to spend a lot of time dealing with his immigration antics which will leave him time to further is final agenda. During this same time there is an election in which the Republicans are going to try and get a candidate into office. The main stream media will spend their time excoriating the republicans at each and every chance and we know that they have a little less than half the country watching them. Fox will continue to try and keep up however there are a lot of things in the air which is what this administration wants. And let’s not forget about the Middle East and any disruptions and or killings there. If there are too many targets, it all turns into noise; and the public tunes out. Football or any other type of sport wins out and American Looses!

Never waste a Crisis…!

The bottom line to this last 6 years and future 2 years will be higher energy prices, and people like Warren Buffett getting at least 7 years of hauling tar sands and oil and what have you on his railroad. They may even use his rail road to haul parts for the pipeline!

The Keystone will pass early next year and many of the workers will most probably be immigrants from you guessed it, tomorrow’s executive order. So instead of Americans getting a decent salary, they will use Mexicans as slaves, and put them on jobs paying them less than what they would have to pay the 46,000 Americans.

Republicans will have their hands full creating legislation for Barack Obama to Veto as they will be fully engaged in making the Democrats look bad “like they would have to try,” so Hillary won’t have a chance. They will try and stop Obama and like I said, chip away at the things that he has created but, basically nothing will get accomplished of any consequence as remember, politics is all about raising money and campaigning!

The damage from this administration will take years to undo. There is going to be $20,000,000,000,000.00 of debt and this administration is responsible for half of it! When the president took office the national debt was $10.6 T.

Obama will have fundamentally transformed America. The next President will have one hell of a job on his or her hands. There is no telling where this President and his wife will retire, but my bet would be Dubai. Once there he can try to be a king or at least prince, as he will have experience!

Don’t agree? Leave a comment and let’s talk about it. Just keep it clean if you want a response.

-Best

Technology, Have we gone too far?

There are days that I long for the twisted pair; you know the POTS line or (plain old telephone service.) Yes, the one that hooks up to the one phone, on the wall or in the hallway in that special little nook that was designed by the architect for it. I would even go back to the dial phone, as I think that it was not only a simpler time, but probably a more reliable form of communication. OK, maybe not, but since we were not on it all of the time we had no idea when it was not working. The phone after all was not for kids..

I don’t know how many of my friends had a dial phone but, if you did not, you missed out. Calling a radio station to be the 25^th caller was a real chore back in the day. If you won and I did once, it was a real conquest!

Speaking for me personally, I have at least 6 email addresses, the cell phone, the business phone, fax lines, house phone and of course SMS text messaging and even IM on FaceBook. I am also a ham radio operator and have half a dozen radios that can all be going at the same time, but most of the time not.

No, not me, but my station back then looked a lot like this!

It would seem that I should be able to be reached. Back in the day, I had a pager as well although, that thing was really nothing more than an electronic leash; for whoever had the number.

When I was a kid if I wanted to talk with a friend, I would go get on my bike and ride to their respective homes and ask the “parent who answered the door” is “fill in the blank” home and can they come out and play? Yes, a little like the Cleavers..

When I was a little more sophisticated, (8years old,) I used a Walkie Talkie to talk with my friends that lived within a half mile or so. That in a large part prompted me to get my ham radio license at a whopping 13 years old. With that; I have visited with thousands of folks all over the world, but that is another story for another day.

The Smart phone, which is why I am writing today, is a marvel of technology. It is the Swiss army knife of communication! With that device I can call anywhere in the world from just about anywhere. I can send text messages and pictures of whatever interest me. I can get them as well. I can send a video to someone or receive the same. With Facetime or Skype, I can live video chat with people too! I can watch movies or play games and yes, I can poke someone on facebook from the waiting room at the Dr.s office. The camera quality is such that if I had the mind to I could take a “quality picture of my dinner” and post it on facebook as we all want to see what you ate for dinner, right? Wink wink. The camera part is really quite true, it is a really decent camera for a phone!

There are some issues with this however; of which I wish to expound upon. First and foremost, SMS text messages (at least with my phone and service) are not guaranteed to make it. Back when e-mail was new, the common greeting on a phone call was “did you get my e-mail?” E-mail is not 100%, it never has been, and it never will be. E-mail is more reliable today as the servers are more persistent and the internet is more robust. It is still not guaranteed to get there.

Text communication whether SMS or e-mail or chat on some service can be dicey as you don’t get the facial queues that you do; well… in person. One can discern some queues in tone of voice when on the phone but, without emoticons and “LOL,” we might not know if the person was serious or kidding! That type if communication leaves lots of room for miss-communication.

We are in fact a world in transition regarding our communication. I have many “friends” on Facebook but, how many of them know me personally? How many of them know my favorite colour or type of food, or I theirs for that matter? So one has to ask, just how good of friends are we? Would they even want to be my friend in person?

When is the last time that you spoke with your neighbors? Do you know their names or anything about them? I have two new neighbors of which I have made a point to introduce myself to, welcome them etc but, I also made a point to know their dogs name, and introduce myself to him as well. You should have seen the owners face light up when I took the time to get to know his pooch! I am not bragging about myself; or chastising you, I mention this because I realize that most of us pull into the garage, and close the door behind us. We leave the same way and “in my case” I use a lawn service so I don’t even have the opportunity to meet while I am butchering my grass. “hence the lawn service, I ruined the yard when I cut it the first time.” It was tiff grass I think, and my mower was not made for it…. I think. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it!

Don’t depend on text or e-mail as it is not super reliable. There are times my phone will go off in the middle of the night, with all sorts of text messages, from days ago! I keep it with me most of the time but I have to admit, it too feels a little bit like a leash at times.

You know the old story about the lost invitation to the party, it may really have gotten misplaced. If something seems out of character with the person that you know, trust your instinct and call. If the invitation to the party does not arrive, call. If you were not invited well, re-evaluate that friendship. If you sent them a text, they may not have responded because they did not get it!

Finally, turn off the computer, phone, and tablet and unless you are watching a movie with the family, turn off the TV too. Spend time with those that you love, as you never know when or if you might have the opportunity to do it again (if ever.) Life is too short to have regrets and when I see complete families out at expensive restaurants, all on some phone, or some device well….it makes me a little sad for them. What memories will the children have? What about mom and dad when the kids are gone?

To me eating out is an event. To some, who do it all the time it is simply eating. I can eat at home but there is the preparation and the cleanup. If I eat out I am “served!” There is not preparation and no cleanup and there is also the friendly exchange of conversation not only between whom I am eating with but, I also make a point to learn the servers’ name, and use it. While they are, “serving me;” I make certain that they know I appreciate them.

Life is about making memories. Good or bad, life is what it is. One day, not too many years ago I was taking my daughters friend to a college across town. After we left her college I picked up a bolt in one of my tires which left me and my daughter stranded on the side of the road in a less than great area of town. It was summer about 110 degrees on the side of the highway. It was about 300 after I got the car jacked up and about 500 when I discovered that the oil change service that rotated my tires had not put the tire lock key back in the glove box! We had no water, and now I was back out in the heat taking the jack back from under the car all the while having her call the auto service. You know *4357… Yeah that one.

After getting back in the car, the auto service had no information on me or the account and would not send a wrecker. Even after I told them that I would pay the wrecker just please send one! They refused to help because I was not a customer they were not obligated to lift a finger. The auto service was paid for through the cell phone carrier and it is insurance that you pay for monthly. We were a customer and the customer service girl just fat fingered it when she looked up the phone number, you know the 10 digit phone number that should have been on the screen in front of her!?

Very long story short, after witnessing drug deals, going through gas to keep the air on and doors locked and wondering if the car would overheat, and having to go to the bathroom, we finally got a wrecker right at 5 in the afternoon, rush hour traffic! We had been out since 9am without food or water or bathroom, on the side of a busy highway since about 10 am.

Even though that was not a great memory, it is a memory, and I did get to spend the entire day with my daughter with no computer to compete for my time with her. OF course in retrospect, I don’t think either of us was real great company…

Is a poke on Facebook, or a text to someone, more important that being with friends or family in person? I too am guilty but, I try to be aware of it and resist the temptation.

-Best to you and those that you care about!

Higgs Boson

One of my “friends” who reads my ramblings commented on my mention of the Higgs.

Truth be told, just about everything interests me to some degree. Particle physics fascinates me as with science, there is one truth. When you deal with people, ideas, philosophies and heaven forbid, politics; the truth seems to belong to whom can talk the longest or loudest or speak the most eloquently!

With Science and especially math, there is one truth. So it is no small wonder that back in the day when the “god particle” was conceived, that interested me.

Currently we have the standard model which puts the higgs as the “glue” that holds everything together. The folks at the LHC spent years proving that it existed only to find that its “weight” was neither light, nor heavy but right in the middle.

Why do I suddenly feel like Goldilocks?

If it had been 115 GeV that would point towards symmetry where as a heavy Higgs would suggest Multiverse. Multiverse really points towards chaos where symmetry would mean that physics here is the same everywhere. Because the Higgs is 126GeV that leads some to believe that it is not very stable. It neither proves symmetry or the multiverse theory so now those that do this for a living, get to create new models.

I lean towards the Multiverse theory personally, because we do have the second law of thermodynamics. Entropy is what it is, and I see no reason that it would not apply to particle physics as well.

Than again, all of this is above my pay grade.. 🙂

On a personal note we here in Texas spent a lot of money to start this project before “politicians” got involved. We spend our resources foolishly and we hold back humanity by giving them fish(instead of teaching them to fish). I realize that there is a large percentage of people who are far from caring about such things and only worry about things like making the rent, to getting their next fix. On top of wasting our resources on making an industry out of incarcerating people; we try to be the world’s police. We send resources all over the world and for what? Are we buying friendship or loyalty? These same people that we are sending our resources to cuss us, and yet we continue. I would make a lousy politician as my actions would be far more pragmatic, than political.

Truth be told, if those that cuss all Americans could know us, without looking through the lens of propaganda, they would find that we have more in common than not.

I mention this because the folks that make CERN what it is, are people from all over the world. There are folks that come from countries that are at war with each other; they see the bigger picture. CERN should be a model for the rest of the world. That model and project could have, and should have been here in Texas. A project like that in Americas back yard might have inspired many to do something with their education in the engineering field. One would think with NASA in our backyard would inspire American’s but this administration has cut funding. We are getting rockets from the Russians “which don’t seem to work too well.” We are hitching a ride to the space station via the Russians! The ESA put a Lander on a comet, not the USA or NASA!

We just celebrated the anniversary of Sputnik. October 4th 57 years ago the Russians successfully put a low earth orbit satellite in orbit. While this was a huge technological breakthrough for the time, this was a political move to try and find where the US would draw the line. Truth be told we too were trying to find out where the line would be drawn so brinkmanship once again was the play.

When adults get back into the White House, it is my sincere prayer that they prioritize things and put education high on the list. I would like to see our foreign policy restored with our friends and allies but, that is another blog for another day.

I am sure this is more than my friend hoped for regarding my thoughts on the Higgs Boson.

-Best

Comet, Space and You

Hats Off to the ESA folks!

So we landed a man made device, a probe if you will on a comet. The probe or “lander,” Philea was named after an Obelisk found in the Nile some years ago. The reports are that it bounced upon impact.

The comet traveling at over 41K miles per hour was a moving target to say the least.

The mission is to learn more about comet and the creation of the universe. The mission is already a huge success in that the ESA was able to launch a spacecraft, negotiate several gravity assist from different planets, the earth 3 times as the matter of fact and I think Jupiter just to get the thing going fast enough to reach the comet. Not only did they reach it, they had the day planned “November 12^th” as when they would land the probe.

Many of you have no idea how huge this is and why this is important. If this comet had been going to hit the earth; it would be a life-ender, period. Game Over…!

That is what it would look like if we could just set it on LA.

As a perpetual geek, I like this example better, who know a Borg Cube was that big?

We need to be pouring resources into these types of projects as one day we may very well need to deflect one of these bad boys and it would be nice to know that we can do it. The first step of course is; can we even get to one.

As a science fiction writer I often wonder why it has taken this long to try this sort of thing. Could it be that we are pissing away too many of our resources on those that refuse to work or those that want a war with anyone for anything?

You can’t really blame the technology, as the technology that landed man on the moon was less than what you have in your calculator, much less your smart phone.

Most of you have no idea where we are in this galaxy?

Let me shed some light on space travel for you. I won’t use math so, just read along.

As you sit there at your computer reading this, you are currently spinning around the outside of this globe at 1000 mph. The reason you have night and day is because the globe has a rotational velocity of 1,000 MPH or for my Non-American or metric friends that is a RV of .47 km/sec.

Now as you are rotating along blissfully unaware of it, you are also orbiting the sun at a whopping 67,000 MPH or 29.8km/sec!

Celestial mechanics fascinate me. It requires some out of the box thinking.

So let me throw in a few more fun facts for you.

Not only are you happily moving at 1000 mph as well 67,000 mph you are also moving in other ways.

Notice that fuzzy little blob of light at the bottom of the photo.

You see, the Milky Way is also in motion. We are located in one of the arms of the milky way that has a RV of 600,000 mph!

Our current position in our rotation of this arm of the milky last time was 225 million years ago. The last time we were here, Dinosaurs were just making the scene.

If that is not enough to expand your thinking, let me add one more fun fact for you.

Scientist calculate that one day, 4 billion years from now our nearest galaxy; Andromeda will be paying us a visit.. Through the Hubble we have seen other galaxies in some sort of dance as they re-establish themselves into a cohesive galaxy, so we know that it happens.

According to those who know, Andromeda is making an approach to the Milky Way at 110km/sec or roughly 247,000,000 mph. My thoughts on this are that Andromeda is not the only galaxy in motion here. My thoughts are that we too are in motion; which adds yet another movement to your “space motion.” For sake of argument lets assume that the speed that Andromeda is headed here is half its and half ours. That would mean on your Y axis you would be moving 123,500,000 MPH.

I think that would also tie up the loose ends about the red-shifting and blue-shifting expanding shrinking universe questions. Blue shifting, we are moving toward it, red away…That simple.

If you go back and look at the traditional picture of the solar system and instead of looking down on it imagine you are looking at the sun in the solar plane, the earth and all of the other “stuff” that is orbiting the sun is being dragged on the Y axis as well as the X axis. All of the orbits make perfect sense to me. The Y axis begs the question “why?”

What form of gravity is large enough to drag galaxies around? Are they being dragged or pushed?

There is also of course this whole space time thing that muddies the water. If time is relative, does our velocity through space in all of these different directions have anything to do with it? Time and Gravity are the enigmas, and I believe tied together in major ways.

So if my musings interests you, please let me know. If you pass along my thoughts please give me credit for them. Link this page or what have you. Science fiction “what I like to write,” interest me in that a lot of it turns into science fact.

-Best

Single Point of Failure

One of my recent clients was desiging their data center and during the process of doing so, the CEO had read one of my blogs and called me in to look things over.

It is sometimes awkward for me to go into someone else’s shop and poke around as the relationship between their staff and I, sometimes is seems tenuous, if not adversarial. Not on my part mind you; I am there to help. “I fix things,” that is what I do. I do ask a lot of “why questions.” which I think starts the ball rolling.

The resident staff however is the expert that their boss trusts, so they “the CEO” go along blissfully ignorant of their exposures because he or she “the CEO” is not an IT person. The resident IT people usually don’t encourage an outside person to come in “such as myself,” because of two reasons. I think first and foremost, it is an ego thing. They are the best at what they do and if you don’t believe them, just ask them. Secondly, they don’t want their boss to find out just how bad things are. Or possibly their staff has no clue just how tenuous the situation really is.

If you see any of this this in your data center or wiring closets , you need some help.

When I was working as a Manager, or Director of same, I always welcomed this kind of assistance and frequently brought it in as often times we get mired in the woods; and cannot see the forest for the trees. I know that this is oversimplified but as a manager, I always tried to hire people as smart, if not smarter than myself. As a manager, one gets tied up in the day to day business of the company, as well as the technology; and often times do not see what is in front of them, or, can even loos their objectivity.

If you decide to bring in someone like myself, your staff needs a heads up. They need to be told to make themselves available. They need to know that this person is there because you requested it, are paying for it, and expect them to work with this person as needed. This understanding up front, saves you money.

When planning a move to a new building; one can go in and design and install everything correctly the first time, much more cost effectively than going back in and re-do things later.

Notice the nice manner in how the cables are dressed and notice the Velcro cable ties on not “zip ties.”

Why not Zip Ties you asked?

Poor cable management and “zip ties” lead to this. This could cost you your entire company.

This is the charred remains of someone’s data center.

Having said that, during a data center design one of the things that is often overlooked are single points of failures (SPOF). When designing a data center, one builds redundancy into their infrastructure as to avoid a downtime, or a total shut down. Few people truly understand soft dollars; and how the loss of productivity effects the bottom line.

Most everyone knows of raid, redundant switches, vmware, the cloud, and this is about where it stops.

What about an alternate path to get data in and out of your building? What about an alternate path or source for power?

One of my clients, (a law firm) lost power due to construction in the street below. The UPS only held their servers up for 30 minutes or so and they had no UPS’s on workstations. Guess what, the courts do not care if you can or can’t get to your files, your problem, not theirs! If you cannot feasibly get power to your data center from an alternate location, you have a generator or a warm site.

In their case the power took several days to get back online. The elevators of course were not working so they had to physically remove and re-install their servers in another location trucking them down the emergency stairwell.

Failure to plan is planning to fail!

The same is true of your data lines. Generally one installs two trunks diametrically opposite of the other on either corners or sides of the building. If that is not feasible you look at RF links. Yes they are slower than fiber but slower is better than nothing.

Your individual needs will dictate your level of redundancy needed.

During the design of your data center, each and every risk must be defined and be part of the risk assessment. During a move, a site selection team must evaluate all sorts of factors regarding your data center before the lease is signed, or the building is purchased or even built, if you are going to go that way.

Data Centers large or small all should have the basic fundamentals covered. It is your company after all.

One of my clients had me travel around with their folks to look over prospective sites. They were a little edgy with their people that they had doing this so hiring me to go do this with them hedged their bet. When I arrived at the first location they were ready to sign the lease. They were not happy when I discovered that the ceiling was loaded with asbestos. The extra cost to get someone that was certified to run cable in such an environment was over the top, not to mention that it was in an earthquake prone part of California. There is a reason that the lease was “cheap.” On another site the cable plant had been added to as the previous tenant grew. They has spliced wires in the ceiling, which you just don’t do. Some of these had been spliced to cat 3 wires. I can well imagine what the data throughput looked like and the error rate that those persons suffered.

We start with the basics: power, voice/data, air handling. We look at the hardware required for all of this. We calculate the power requirements and the amount of air-conditioning needed. What about a redundant air conditioner? How about fire suppression? I like to install dust filtration systems, as this investment will extend the life of your equipment. How about remote monitoring of your data center. What about security both physical and well as data?

We look at risk factors, where is it geographically? What historic data can we find on that area regarding disasters? I also look at permit cost, union involvement cost etc. I work with the architect and GC to make certain that all of the I’s are dotted and T’s crossed.

In 35 years of doing this I have never had a “good surprise” and my goal is to keep the customer from having a bad one.

One thing that I recommend is a sensor that “sniffs for smoke.” This sensor triggers an emergency shut down of the UPS if smoke is detected. Why on earth would I want to do this?

“Where there is smoke there is fire.”

Maybe, maybe not however; this equipment runs 24X7 and 2/3 of that time is unattended. Generally, poor cable management which I see in more data centers than not, is the cause for smoke and fire. This sensor shutting the power off to the data center stops the fire in its tracks as it generally will start smoking before actually catching fire. This sensor hooks up to the big red button and serves as the emergency shut down if smoke is detected. It can also be wired to the building security systems and trigger a call to the fire department as well as sound alarms so people can get out of the building.

A lot of data centers use the cheapest fire suppression techniques out there “again designed by a neophyte.” So, a cable rubs raw, starts smoking, catches on fire and the suppression system is activated. Water… Water and electronics do not mix. You now have your entire data center ruined because your “people” were lazy and failed to properly dress the cables and you did not have a modern fire suppression system. The smoke sniffer is the next best thing. Stops the fire before the water starts.

The devil is in the details, and brother there are tons of details. As part of a DR; we cover as many as we can find. Once we think we have it, we hire an outside technical staff to re-create your data center in an offsite location, with your run-book, documentation and backups. We give them everything that we “think” they should need and then we sit back and take notes. You’re CIO and I watch, and take notes. We get them the answers that they need, note them, and then move on until it either works or fails. If it fails, we do a root cause analysis, take corrective action and try it again.

Yes, this is a shameless plug for Sungard.

DR plans generally do not work the first time. There are way too many details to catch them all but, as they do their thing and they hit a stopping point, we find the answer, make notes and then let them proceed until they get everything working as we expect it to be. Then we have a Skeleton crew come in and try to work. We make notes of everything that they run into, fix what we can through the rent a geeks, and press on.

Part of the process is to determine what an acceptable down time is and that can even be broken down into individual systems. “Payroll before sales?”

After that, we go back and alter the run book, provide more software or whatever was needed and then we get another team of rent geeks and do it again. Same process until we get it to such a point that the rent a geek can draw on their own knowledge to fill in any holes.

An inventory of the skill set necessary for the geeks is yet another bit on information to document.

Having a disaster recovery plan, like a data backup strategy; is only as good as your last successful test. Once you have a successful test, it is incumbent upon your people to devise a scheme to keep it updated. I do this through a process called change management.

Is this your disaster recovery plan?

We use rent a geeks as we must assume that your staff has all been part of the disaster. If we can make it work with technical people that you can hire from your VAR then, if there is a disaster and your staff was not involved in the disaster, your chances of a successful recovery are very high.

If you look at my other blogs regarding information technology, there is plenty of good advice out there. If you are in need of a DR plan or someone to assist your technical team get through a migration, a move or what have you; I have over 35 years of experience, and a valid passport. I speak English with a smattering of Geek.. 🙂

Yes, if these were real people and not actors, I could converse with them easily, I actually know what a Higgs-Bosson is

Artist idea of what it would look like.

If you are moving and need a data center designed in the new location that is probably one of the least expensive things that I do; assuming that your documentation is up to snuff. The size of your company and time frame will determine the scope of work (SOW,) and if I will need more than myself to accomplish the task. I work with some fine people here in the DFW area, and they too can travel. If you have a relation with a VAR already, I can work with them. I must admit that I will evaluate them on your behalf, as I do not believe in wasting your money or my time.

My character closely matches this guy although, I am easier going and my vernacular is well suited for all people, most of the time.

There is plenty of good advice here on my site, so feel free to peruse and glean what you may. I do reserve all rights to the information contained herein, so please do not copy or disseminate without permission. Thanks!

-Best

Security update 11/8/14

The following is an update to the title page on Security

To underscore the need for security and for a security officer, Russia “as in the government thereof,” has been working to place a virus or trojan in the utility networks of this country. Most probably this Trojan supplants a small piece of code that does something normal however it is waiting to be “Activated” when the time is right to something much more malevolent.

The government is being rather tight lipped about how the bug was discovered but, needless to say we have a big job on our hands to clean all of the systems of this bug.

Programmatically, a bit by bit comparison of each and every program and or file will need to happen to look for and isolate this bug.

Russia if it were so inclined could activate this “bug” which its intent would most certainly be to attack the power grid or other utility making them inoperable at a critical time.

There was show on TV with a similar scenario but here now we have the real deal.

Forensic computing allowed us to “see” that the infiltrations were coming from Russia during a typical 9 to 5 day over there; which implicates government workers. Hackers are not 9 to 5 folks but rather those who burn the midnight oil and are able to work when the phone is not ringing and the world around them is at rest.

Those of you who were not alive during the cold war, well this is it only it once more but, is taking place in cyber space.

This is why it is patriotic to have your computer and associated networks hardened against such attacks. This is also a real good reason to use anti-virus software that is not created or maintained by Russians, or any other world power that does not like Americans.

While I dislike the fact that this administration appears clueless on foreign affairs; and we are much worse off than just 6 years ago, the world is what it is.

Until this regime leaves office and adults take back the White House, you will need to take the necessary steps to secure your business networks as well as your home computers including your smart phones and other “smart” devices.

Remember the bug may be on your home computers waiting to be activated which could cause a DOS attack on some system somewhere. Make certain that you use a program that is better than Microsoft Essentials or anything that is free. Free anti-virus software is not worth what you pay for it!

If you have any questions regarding this please don’t hesitate to ask. If I don’t know the answer off the top of my head, most certainly others that read this blog will, or I will do my best get it for you.

-Best

Virus for Macs, iPhones and Tablets?

While it is not unheard of, they are rare. Today we learned that a virus has been unleashed to attack Apple products including Iphones, Ipads and of course anything running the MAC OS.

The Virus effects MAcs and Smartphones and I suspect was written for the Chinese as they have Jailbroken their phones and are downloading apps from other sources besides ITunes.

While one could speculate that such a virus that only affects those devices that are Jailbroken might be written to punish those that do this type of thing; or to discourage those who might want to do this, you would really have to be a conspiracy nut to think this way.

That would be like thinking that most viruses are written by the folks that make the antivirus programs. Totally nuts…. right…nuts… why would they do that?….Crazy talk….! Have you purchased antivirus software lately. $50 and up for one year! With millions of computers and millions more smartphones and tablets, those that write anti-virus software have a goldmine and a half!

To write viruses one must necessarily have intimate knowledge of the code that makes up the OS. Likewise, if one wants to foil and antivirus program, one would need intimate knowledge of that code.

While I have no doubt that groups like the Russian Mob who made more money on hacking and getting information from people’s computers then selling drugs might find this work easier, some of these hacks are just crazy.

Who does this kind of thing?

I have Trend Micro for my phone and iPad and I update the OS after a short period of time that the new release has been tested by those a little more eager than I, you can still not be too careful. While I would like apps on my phone that Apple will not host, I have not even thought about jailbreaking it.

If your secret family recipe for chocolate cake is on your phone, and you want it secure; you might want to look at Trend or some other anti virus software for your MAC products. It is more than simple recipes however; people store all sorts of information on there including banking, health, credit card info, passwords for your online accounts, text messages, e-mails; all of which is vulnerable.

If you want to talk conspiracy, what if the bad guy wanted to listen in on your conversations; could the microphone be turned on, or worse yet, the camera?

How often do you find your smartphone warm to the touch and the battery almost exhausted and you have done nothing to get it that way?

There was a case not too long ago where some school sent kids home with laptops. Someone was turning on the built in cameras remotely and watching them in their home, bedrooms etc. This was most probably and immature geek that lived in his mothers basement, or was it.

Folks, smart devices have tons of information including your coordinates down to a few feet! If Apple does not make this thing where I can pull the battery; I am seriously thinking about going away from Apple to another type of smart phone that will let me A) pull the battery if I want to make certain that the thing is dead and B) change the battery “easily” when it no longer holds a charge!

The same is true of the tablet devices. These toys are for my amusement, not for some “hacker” or twisted peeping tom to use for their entertainment or source of revenue.

-Best

Death with Dignity

Ever since Dr. Kevorkian assisted some who wished to end their lives rather than face the inevitable ending at the hands of some dreaded disease vs. taking control, I have been perplexed to say the least.

Today a young lady Brittany Maynard living with a horrible brain tumor ended her life. I am saddened by this and I grieve for her and her family. I don’t know them but I know of them and have followed this story.

It has been said that if you want to know someone, read their book. If they don’t have a book you can read their Facebook, blogs, and or other writings that they have shared. In many ways we know people better today because, many of us share by writing here on blogs or Facebook, or what have you.

I would have liked this person.

She was courageous in the face of death, fearless from what I could tell. I am certain that she had her weak moments and cried until the tears were gone but, she faced her killer, and took control. This is something that I would do; I recognize this and have total empathy for her.

I read some of the “post” by these “people” who hide behind anonymous names and are self-righteous. These people are trolls and have no courage. If you are going to comment, grow a pair and use your name! And by the way, if you cant say anything nice just don’t bother, who the hell died and made you king?

They talk about this person going to hell because she violated the 6^th commandment.

Properly translated; “that thou shall not commit murder.” Murder is killing someone with malice. That begs the question, can you murder yourself? I suppose if you hated yourself and planned it out, one could call it murder.

I do not believe that Brittany did that however. I do not think that she was a coward and I believe that her method of dealing with her illness was a choice made by a sane person who chose to end her life while she had the means to do it, rather than die in horrible pain and anguish and literally wither away.

Let’s visit this from a legal standpoint for just a minute.

Currently if you are dying of cancer or some other horrible disease and they put you into Hospice care, the method of dying is basically to deprive the body of all liquids and food for the amount of time it takes for the organs to shut down due to toxins in the body and the lack of sustenance. Yes, they say that they control the pain with drugs but since the person can no longer verbally communicate, in many cases, we really have no idea if we are controlling the pain or not. Since they are quite and unable to do anything we may be controlling our pain and “feelings” over what is best for them. We are acquiescing to some arbitrary law made up by politicians regarding taking ones life.

Nobody should be forced to stick a gun in ones mouth, or jump from a high point or in front of a bus to take control! We force their hand with stupid archaic laws! Brittany and her family were forced to move to Oregon!

So, death by starvation and deprivation of all fluids vs. taking some barbiturates’ that overwhelm the body’s ability to function. For you religious zealots out there who magically think that there is a difference, you are still committing suicide either way you go, one way you just suffer for a lot longer than the other.

I would point out that we treat our pets and prisoners on death row more humanly than we treat the terminally ill. Once your time on death row is up, you are put to sleep before paralytics are administered to stop the body from functioning. Do we love our pets more than we love each other?

So here is the conundrum and the slippery slope that, so many fear. At what point do you have to be at before you can request some doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of barbiturates?

Brittany wanted her death to matter. She wanted to be part of a “death with dignity law” passed in this country and in each and every state. I think that it is time to break free of these chains that hold us to puritan ideals of what is life and who has control over it! We need to start the narrative in each and every state. No, this is not about Sarah Palin’s “death panels” as the person to make the final decision, should be the patient. Not some group of doctors or politicians.

This is not hard!

Does the person have a terminal illness?

Don’t tell me that life is a terminal illness as I know it is terminal, but not an illness.

Can the pain and illness be managed to afford the person a quality of life?
Quality of life is subjective and should be left to the person to define.

If the answers are yes and no respectively, than the person in question should have the right to request to die with dignity when they are ready to do so.

How hard is that? Put the legal mambo jumbo to it, call it Brittany’s law, write it up, and make it happen!

To my fellow Christians out there, there is no sin that God cannot forgive. There is in fact no sin that a True Christian can do, that cannot be forgiven by God. We have no business putting ourselves in his place, and we certainly have no right to judge anyone and in fact are told not to.

With this in mind pray for the family of Brittany and her friends. Re-post this if you will, so others can see this and act as they see fit. Change.org might be a good first start..

-Best