Author: The Timedok

Good Writing

There are too many books that I have trudged through in my life to tolerate bad writing. Too many good books exist and let’s face it, how many books does one have time to read in the very short time that we have here?

As a writer, I craft the story much like so many other writers in that there are twist and turns, and I try to throw predictability out the window. One of my friends compared my “style” to Stephen King! I am not sure that is a good thing but, it is what it is.

I try not to worry with technicalities as I write. Those will get sorted out in the editing phase.

When I write a story, it is as if someone somewhere out in the “ethos” is dictating it to me. As I write, I too am enthralled with the story. The story takes on a life of its own and therefor interruptions cannot be tolerated.

When I craft the words, I am painting a picture. As an artist I know all too well what has to go into a painting to make it interesting so, when I paint with words, I too know how to create a picture that will form in the readers head.

From the dead flies in the windowsill, the flickering fluorescent light that comes to life with a snapping buzzing sound, and the smell of an un-flushed toilette; you suddenly remember each and every “not clean” bathroom that you have been forced to use, at some time in your life.

Even my beloved muse, a Russian Blue who has yet to learn the meaning of “no,” has to leave as he too disturbs the process, by trying to chase the words as they trudge across the screen.

One of my writer friends goes off to remote cabins and waits for “the mood” to strike, and then sleep will not get into her way, as the thought process gels, the pages turn into marching characters and symbols that systematically stop and start as the process of transformation of thought to text, occurs.

Many of you here who follow me are writers, and it is to you who I am addressing the following.

We share a common bond and while we don’t personally “know” one another, we do know each other through this medium.

“If you want to get to know someone, you read their book.”

While the story may be as fictional as “Never-Never Land,” it is also, to many of us, our “happy place.”

Character development is a struggle for me. As a man I can develop the female character and paint a nice picture. Realistically, I have developed her from what I “see” and know of women. Doing so for the male character is somewhat of a challenge as I don’t look at men, as women do. I can however; capture the logic and thought processes of men much easier, as I am one. The emotional side of the female is a stretch for me.

There are all kinds of readers out there, so character development should be such that whoever is reading your words, should be able to “know” your character.

As a writer, I feel a personal loss when I “kill off” a character. As a reader, I feel that same loss when the book is over.

Currently, I am working on a trilogy and it is because the story material is that entertaining to me, that I could not end it with one book. The characters have taken a life unto their own; and I suspect most of the writers out there know exactly what I am talking about.

Writing cannot be forced.

Mechanically you can write and if you remember your English class’s where that was the case, the stories that you wrote were for the purpose of dissecting your usage of nouns and verbs and punctuation, not for creativity. Sentence structure was so damned important!

Screw the rules!

Weaving a tapestry of intersecting thoughts, while making it all grammatically correct is to me a true Rembrandt. I don’t think being a grammatical and creative savant, is something that you can simply ask of someone, who does not share the passion of writing.

Painting is much the same way. When painting, I am lost in the painting. Each and every brush stroke has to be perfect. The smaller the painting; the more flawless the brush stroke must be.

Write to please yourself. Making it grammatically acceptable is something that can be accomplished after the creative process is done.

Painting and writing is “me time.”

Sometimes, I feel a little selfish when I carve out “me time.”

As an artist, you will not get rich by your efforts, unless of course you are doing it for some large publication and it is mechanical. One of my Artist friends has her work re-produced on greeting cards, puzzles, and other things that people purchase in gift shops around the world. Every so often a check will appear for a few hundred dollars. She has no way of knowing how many actual unites were actually sold however.

I have also concluded that many feel that if they can just finish their book, they will get rich. Too many out there “self-publish” and the only people making money “for the most part” are the folks who offer that service.

Lastly, and why I write this is; “write to please yourself.”

If your end goal is money, your writing will be forced and not genuine. Much like doing a story for some professor to “grade.”

Immersion into the story, taking time to reflect, re-read and edit, and re-read again for the flow of the words is tantamount to making the story your own.

I will offer one free tip on the editing process for you, a trick that I figured out.

There are “services” that will edit your manuscript for you for who even knows how much money.

Purchase the latest version of Dragon Naturally Speaking with the text to speech option.

One paragraph at a time: have it read it, to you.

Go and edit that paragraph until it sounds right and then go onto the next. When reading your own writing your mind tends to skip over the “you” instead of the “your” or the “the the” mistake that I see too often. When writing, your words are punctuated with gaps as the thought process starts and stops. That is when the “the the’s” occur or other anomalies that your professor in college would have a hay day with their “Fucking Red Pen or F.R.P.!” Of course, there were no computers in my day so possibly, this process would be easier.

I don’t mean to belittle writing classes. Don’t get me wrong. Finding a professor that is passionate about their job, and what they are doing is a true goldmine. Finding someone that will constructively criticize your work and offer suggestions is great. Finding folks who are genuine, and are there without the need to equivocate for their personal aggrandizement is a definite plus.

There are writing “clubs” where others will read your works or have you read excerpts to the others in the group and they all cumulatively have something to offer. There may be a pearl of wisdom that you can take away, even if you simply listen to their work and what the others have to say. I have seen some however; who are so haughty, that just about anything that they said was dismissed without taking the time to weigh it on its merits. It was almost as if they were there to build themselves up, at your expense.

-Best

Staylor at Guard-protect.com

WWW.guard-protect.com

A disaster is one “Event away,” are you prepared?

Black Holes, a possible explanation

Black Holes, a possible explanation

Without understanding all of the math associated with celestial mechanics writers like myself can take liberty with physics and often devise something like the flux capacitor to make up a good story.

The simple facts are that most people don’t understand the math either, so a garbage eating capacitor that makes time travel possible, entertains the masses, and allows those of us who understand physics, “to some degree,” to shift our brains into idle and simply enjoy the story.

Not being constrained by the math also makes it easier for us who “think outside the box” to do so as we are not locked into the math.

We can say “what if,” and get there leaving the folks with the slide rules, and what have you, to work out the details.

$14363621-Doodle-Blackboard-Stock-Vector-math-complex-chalkboard$

Quantum physics confused many who are no longer with us, including Einstein, because it does not play by the rules, as we understand them.

Black holes fascinate me, not because I enjoy the idea of “spaghettification,” or the “noodle effect,” but rather “how is this possible?”

Weather is a phenomena that I understand pretty well. I do storm spotting and while I have no interests in chasing tornadoes, well not to get too close anyway; I do appreciate the how’s and whys of weather.

The middle of the vortex is a low pressure area, simple as that.

When water runs down the drain you get a vortex. Depending upon the hemisphere that you are in, it either goes clockwise or counterclockwise.

Now look again at the galaxy.

From one perspective it appears that the vortex is moving in a counterclockwise rotation, dragging all of the material in the “cloud,“ with it. If we witnessed it from “down under” (as our friends in Australia witness the drain,) we too might assume that it is indeed rotating clockwise.

What is a black hole?

I am guessing it is an area of “low pressure.”

That idea is fascinating because then it begs the question of what pressure? We know space is a perfect vacuum but, what if the center of a black hole is a “super vacuum!”

So out here at the edge of the Milky Way, we are rotating around the center of a huge drain, our speed regulated by the size and strength of the black hole.

What regulates the size and strength of the black hole itself?
Where does the stuff that the black hole eats, go?

What if, the action of the black hole pulls up all of these gasses and dust that make up the galaxy, and by it coalescing around the black hole, instead of just floating around aimlessly cause these materials to “gel” together via gravity, and thus we have galaxies instead of space occupied by random dust particles? What if the black hole actually gives order to things?

What if the big bang that we theorize as the start of things, was really a huge sucking sound? Of course sound is a metaphor as there is no sound in a vacuum.

No Big Bang, just a lot of sucking!

Somehow, quantum physics and the Higgs Boson come into play here. Speculation leads this writer to think that the “stuff,” may go into another dimension or multiverse. The Black Hole being regulated by the pressures inside that other dimension. If the other dimension is the “anti-dimension,” perhaps the black hole is the result of matter and anti-matter coming into to contact with one another, causing a void in the space time fabric of space.

One might think that such an interaction might end up with a “white hole” and just perhaps, in that other dimension, the hole is indeed white, spewing out those other particles that Einstein called, “spooky.” Possibly, if we went there; we would find Schrödinger’s cat!

Leave me your thoughts, I am interested in different opinions and thoughts.

If you enjoy my blog, pass it around, tell others!

-Best to you and those that you care about!

www.guard-protect.com

Is our government killing us with Aluminum Nanites?

“Aluminum Nanites being spread by rogue government operatives at 50,000 ft. leaving chem-trials. The objectives are to change the earth’s weather to a cooler climate and when these nanites hit the ground they are eaten or absorbed by humans and then activated through microwave technology via HAARP to control you much like the pod people. “

Film at 11:00

I am not sure that this would even compete with Sharknado on the SCI-Fi channel but, the looney websites and blogs that post this kind of stuff are teaming with ads to sell you prepper stuff, and more paranoid stories for as much as you care to read.

Not too long ago I was confronted with the FEMA story and how they have these camps set up all over the place, and they have ordered thousands of coffins and body bags. The plan is at some point to round up everyone and put them into the “camps” and then cut their heads off!

Here, buy these MRE’s and all of this other prepper stuff and be ready to bugout so that you can keep your head!

I am a science fiction writer and this stuff does not even make fodder for a bad story line much less something to write about.

Let me “Snopes” this for you. “Snopes as a verb, who knew?”

At high altitude, the air is damned cold, somewhere between -40 and -50 degrees below 0. Any exhaust from aircraft will leave a contrail. Depending upon barometric pressures and temperatures and water moisture the con trials can last longer and be denser than on scalding dry days with little moisture in the atmosphere. With enough air traffic, they can form a high layer of clouds.

There are thousands of flights a day so yes, con trials can appear to create clouds!

Nanites or the term nanite, borrowed from Star Gate and or Star Trek.

They do not exist now nor have they ever existed. If you want to see for yourself, clean a container really good and then set it out in the rain. After the storm use a sterile eye dropper or straw and capture any sediment from the bottom of the jar/container and place it under a microscope. You will find pollen, dirt and a myriad of things but what you won’t find is microscopic machines waiting to be activated by HAARP.

HAARP works at lower frequencies, not microwave as suggested in articles all over the net. Microwave is line of sight ; therefore, you can even see that this claim is Bogus!

“White planes with no markings flying at high altitude flown by Chinese people are spraying these toxic chemicals making chemtrails. “

There are some solid white planes used to bring folks into and out of Area 51. Well, mostly white other than that big red stripe. They, however, do have registration, and I am confident that the pilots are not all of the Chinese descent. Since this is a secure area, the pilots would be American with security clearance.

n4529w2 — Janet Airlines getting people to work to and from AREA 51 at Vegas

How can you tell these planes are all white with no markings flying at 50,000 feet? All planes at high altitude have no distinguishable markings. Going past that how do you come to the conclusion that they are Chinese folks doing this?

“So you are telling me that these white streaks from jets are not chemicals.”

Nope, they are indeed chemicals in the strictest of sense in that they contain mostly ice from water vapor that immediately freezes at high altitudes. There is also some carbon dioxide, smoke, small amounts of hydrocarbons (unburnt fuel), oxides and nitrogen and carbon monoxide.

So, if you want to call them chemtrails instead of contrails technically you would have a point as there is chemistry in them but, not in the paranoid sense that the people that want you to buy MRE’s are touting.

On to FEMA camps.

So the government has these FEMA camps all over the country ready to round up folks and cut their heads off.

Let’s work this one backward shall we?

Throughout history when some government of radical leader wanted to commit genocide they killed folks in an expeditious manner and then either left them for the animals to eat or placed them in mass graves. They did not put them in coffins and give them a nice burial. They were ruthless people and could not care a damned about who they were slaughtering. Does it make any sense to you that the government would cut off your head and then give you beautiful funeral?

I would not be surprised to see these camps “if they exist” housing undocumented migrants of certain age groups and sex until they can be processed.

When there is a lack of information people will invent it.

What is the real purpose of AREA 51?
What exactly is HAARP?
What are these FEMA camps?
Is there a government cover-up regarding UFO’s?

Because there is an extreme lack of transparency on these issues, it is easy to understand how so much time and speculation could be spent on these subjects.

Let’s employ a little common sense.

My guess is that Area 51 is a place to test long range and experimental aircraft that they want to keep a secret, not so much from the public but from those that would like to steal our technology.

I think HAARP is some experimental site that uses low frequency to heat up the ionosphere for reasons that only they know. When radio waves skip from one part of the earth to the other, off of some layer of the ionosphere, they do so by bumping into molecules of air that have been ionized by solar photons or cosmic rays. Depending upon the layer affected the signal could be absorbed or refracted making long distant over the horizon communication possible without satellites.

I would guess that communications of some sort come into play with HAARP, but unless I get an invite to see for myself, that is as close as I can come.

We could speculate and guess that they are using RF to ionize the lower layer of the ionosphere thus causing it to absorb or scatter RF at certain frequencies, instead of allowing it to bounce off of the atmosphere.

I doubt that there is any nefarious activity regarding weather control or brain wave control going on so you can put the tin foil hat back over the ham in the oven.

The simple truth is that we do have a government that is far from transparent with more cover ups than Houdini ever thought of. Most of them involve embarrassments as so many have done so much to taint our election process, spreading propaganda through smear campaigns and yes, using the IRS to target conservative groups because they could not win on their own merits.

It is very easy to see how the public could concoct such stories and unfortunately fall prey to hucksters selling prepper type stuff.

Let’s for a minute indulge the paranoid among us.

The technology that the government has is incredible. If they were to become third world, rogue banana republic kind of thing, would give you the prepper no chance. If they were to round up everyone, it would only mean that your incarceration would take a day or two longer than those who willingly walked into the van, or bus or what have you.

Even if you had guns, their guns, and weapons are so much more advanced than anything you can buy today. It is laughable that people are buying guns and ammo to protect themselves from their government.

A more likely scenario is that the infrastructure breaks down as it did in Baltimore or Ferguson, and you need to escape the fray. Having some plan with medicines and what have you already packaged would be a good thing.

Three days supplies ready to go with flashlights, radios, water, MRE’s and Medicines would not be a bad idea in case there is a problem with the infrastructure from man-made or natural causes.

-Live long and prosper

-Best

Change . ORG Can it really work?

Speed limit signs are confusing to some and a form of entrapment for others.

I would like to see a change to these signs and here is why.

Traveling down most highways where small towns are concerned, we see things like 75mph and a few miles later 45mph than 35 mph and in some towns it even gets slower.

Here is what I would like to see. I would like to see incorporated in that signage “for the next 15 miles or 1000 yards” whichever the case may be.

There are simply too many small towns that depend upon traffic tickets for revenue which is bogus at best, and downright dishonest at worst.

While I am a firm proponent of money from tickets going to education or some other account, other than for law enforcement, or pet projects of some city; that is a different cause.

Alerting drivers that the speed will be XX for the next X miles is one way to assist drivers in maintaining the proper speed and not get cited for failure to control vehicle speed. At least they can set the cruise and have an idea that it is not going to 75 and then back to 35, 2 miles later!

Some towns post no warning of lower speed ahead and the police person is sitting right by the sign with the radar waiting for you to cross some imaginary line. We need consistency with signage and we need to do away with the profit motive for towns with speed traps.

Since I live in Texas, I would first address this to Governor Abbott.

I will go to change.org and formerly draft something for them and I would appreciate each of you to go and sign the petition.

If this catches on in Texas, possibly we can make it catch on in other states.

-Best

https://www.change.org/p/greg-abbott-create-more-consistent-traffic-signage

Denmark vs USA

Facebook, where the ideas coalesce, and intelligent folks discover just how stupid some are.

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”

“Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.”

The great common denominator of the day is social media. It levels the field as it were and if you are of a mind to “let it all hang out” here is your soapbox!

Blogs are another good place to be shown as a fool, if you are indeed one.

Today one of my friends posted on Facebook this “Occupy Democrats” post regarding Denmark and how wonderful it is.

Without further investigation one would happily share this and ask, what the hell, why cant we do that?

Free University
Free Childcare
Free Healthcare

First off my friends, there are no free lunches. Just like lunches; there are no free Universities, or childcare, or healthcare. Someone pays for it! They have to! So who and how is the question.

Denmark enjoys a tax rate of 55.4% at the low end up to 65.9%..
Denmark also has a VAT or Value Added Tax of 25%

All of this free stuff is broken out into different sections of their overall tax structure, much like the USA except ours is like 39%

So for you who did not pay attention in school when we talked about such things as math, lets do a little exercise should we?

That highly skilled Burger flipper is getting $20 and hour. Immediately 55.4% goes to taxes so he or she is in effect making $8.92 an hour.

The VAT is pretty flat at 25% on frivolity such as that burger (prepared food vs. grocery store food,) so that burger if this is correct is $5.60 plus $1.40 VAT making that burger $7.00. That is not the drink or fries, just the burger.

Folks, that $18.000.000.000 in debt that This President has put us in with Obama care and all of his entitlements will force the next president to institute a VAT or some other form of taxation to pay for this. If not that than most likely there will be a worldwide economic collapse as the countries monetizing their debt (printing money buying our own debt with faux money) with their house of cards, will come crashing down.

Liberal thinking must be a mental disease. Only an insane person would walk a country down the road to its destruction, like we have done during the last 6 plus years!

The Danes have the free universities to encourage people to take advantage of it for higher paying jobs and to be globally competitive. Obama wants the tax payers to foot the bill for higher education for certain people to be more competitive but, his agenda is social justice, not world competitiveness.

The Danes can hire and fire at will as they are not constrained by the laws that we have in this country so I look for business owners here to be under attack as well.

The work week in Denmark is about 35 hours a week for the women and 41 hours a week for the men.

Denmark tries to keep their commuting time down to a minimum which is in stark contrast to the US where we have “downtown” as the place to work, forcing people to sit in long lines of traffic burning fossil fuels, and wasting hours and hours a week sitting, breathing carbon monoxide, and other noxious fumes.

The Danes on average live longer than Americans and I would have to think that their commute plays a role in the equation.

If the US had the brains of the Danes, they would think outside the box and Decentralize business’s as to cut down on congestion on the freeways.

A couple of other differences between them and the US is the amount of people and types of government.

I noticed that I have some readers in Denmark, if I have something wrong, or you would like to contribute please do.

My facts come from hours of research and I am certain that I don’t fully appreciate the eccentricities of your government and its taxation schedules and lets face it, the facts that I have found could be in error.

Either way; it appears to those of us that know how to use a calculator that when it all boils down to the nuts and bolts, our burger flippers are making about the same as your burger flippers, ours are simply having to pay extra for the things that your high taxes are paying for currently.

-Best

Guns, Violence and Video games, is there a connection?

My heart goes out to the people in Charleston. The senseless violence in this country seems to be more and more frequent. While the left will tell you it is the lack of gun control, and use this and every occurrence of gun violence they can to push an agenda; they are dead wrong.

Going after the law abiding citizens’ guns is like going after silverware because there are so many fat people around. Yes, it really is that ludicrous!

While the country is grieving for these folks; we have idiotic politicians out there using this as a bully pulpit to push a very liberal agenda which also happens to be a dangerous one.

In my business it is necessary to do something called a “root cause analysis.” Simply stated, what happened, how did it happen, and how can we prevent it from happening again.

It is more than putting magnetometers at the entrances of all public buildings with security guards.
Do we attend church via skype, and turn Xenophobic?
Do we use this as an excuse to not attend church?
Do we listen to it on the TV or Radio and think that is good enough?
Maybe we use this as an excuse to qualify the absolute lack of a god as a good “god” would not allow this to happen.

The problem is much deeper than this and I am glad that this kid is still alive so we can learn from him, what set him off.

Instinct tells me that when investigated, you will find that he spent untold hours playing violent video games with other on-line people, and simply took it to the next level. These games are so realistic that I fear that after enough of it, the lines between reality and fiction become so blurred that killing for real is simply a “level up” for him.

Since he gave up so easily, my guess is that he is a coward, and picked a soft-target like a church where the odds of him getting hurt were minimal. Being a black church, there may have been an element of racism involved, which made the target more palatable. His racism again would be interesting to study as how and why? Was he picked on or bullied by blacks as a school child?

With the uproar in Baltimore and Ferguson, who knows if that pushed him in that direction?

We cannot afford to ignore these “simulators for killing” any longer. Mental health needs to be a priority for this, and all future administrations as technology pervades our lives and these “kids” who have so much time on their hands and play these games for hours and hours on end.

Cars kill, knives kill, baseball bats kill, just about anything can be used as a weapon!

The common denominator is people. People kill,
and the motives need to be looked at. Go, look for yourself at some of these games and the realities of them. Go to your local game store and look at demos of them, watch these kids as they play these games.

They are dropped into a war-time situation where killing with realistic effects are over the top. I would not be surprised to find that this creep that killed those folks suffers from some sort of PTSD from video games!

Now, go take on the day!

http://www.guard-protect.com

Police, PR, Andy Griffin & Barney

Only if life were so simple that we could hand Otis the keys to his prison cell, so when he was sober again he could let himself out of prison and get about his day.

Only if, the cops had one bullet and kept that bullet in their shirt pocket instead of the gun.

Andy never had to deal with terrorist and Barney, well he never had to deal with a hardened criminal that would have shot first and asked question later.

The truth is that many of us want Mayberry RFD. Many want to go down to the local fishing hole with our son or father spending the day hooking worms and pulling the hook out of the mouths of the fish that fell for the bait.

THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW. from left: Elinor Donahue as Ellie Walker, Don Knotts as Deputy Barney Fife, Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor and Ron Howard as Opie Taylor in front in episode “Christmas Story” . Image dated October 18, 1960. Copyright ©1960 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Credit: CBS Photo Archive. File: T21041_47

Andy was the optimist, there was good in everyone and, everyone was innocent until proven guilty.

Barney was a small city cop that had the heart of a big city cop, with the pessimism to match.

Sunday mornings in such a town would have been about getting the family up and dressed in their Sunday best and all sitting in the pews attentively listening to what the preacher had to say. After church, pleasantries with the other “saints” would be exchanged and in some church’s most likely Fried Chicken on the grounds would be in order.

Most certainly if not enjoyed as a group, each family might retire to their own home to enjoy Fried Chicken, homemade ice-cream (you know the kind without listeria) and lemonade on the front porch, “family time.”

Where have we gone astray?

I think it started with radio, and then TV, and now we have so much technology that the world has become a small place. All the evils of the world have pervaded the threads of our humanity, which cause many of us to rail against it and some to simply shut down and ignore it. We seek refuge in the few places that seem untouched by “life” and Church is such a place.

The old Hymns of the 1800’s still comfort some of us, and for a little while we focus on things other than their evil but, our own sins, and how we might do better and of course, give thanks to God.

Today, on the way to church, at the bottom of a hill sat a cop with the latest in technology LIDAR “light detection and ranging” equipment. This device can accurately determine your speed down to the .00 “hundredth” of a mile per hour.

12.5.06---lidar — If this does not look like hunting to you maybe you should go hunting.

While Mayberry and Andy are nowhere around, at this time of the day the road is occupied by a high percentage of folks headed to church. The cars are full of families with the mother making sure that Johnny has matching socks, and not the pair with the holes in them.

Mary is trying to apply that last bit of makeup before they arrive, as she wants Steve to notice her. Dad is trying to get to church just one day on time; without getting into a fight with the wife or children about things that have to be done before Monday.

While going to church should be a joyous occasion, it seldom is as we are a people that either stay busy, to keep up, or get left behind. We forget why we are up on Sunday morning to begin with, and why we are going to church?

Since the family has left the house a little late, it is important not to catch the lights and hitting the brakes while going down the hill seems counter-intuitive as the speed picks up from 40 to 45 in a few hundred feet anyway!

Enter into the picture a modern day Barney Fife. Young guy wearing a freshly pressed uniform, clean car and sporting the most modern technology available, purchased with tax dollars from those he is “hunting.”

I simply do not understand why cops have an image problem?!

If it takes high tech toys, pointed at cars going down a hill to determine when the driver has exceeded some magic number to earn a ticket of $200 plus dollars, while on their way to church, why do it? Is it to make this guy’s day, or increase revenue? Does he have some imposed quota of tickets that he must reach or is it simply a friendly competition with his fellow officers to see who gets the most tickets written in the month? What motivates someone to sit at the bottom of a hill, waiting for some poor slob to not hit the brakes while going down the hill? I can tell if someone is driving stupidly without the gadgetry, can’t you?

Sitting at the bottom of a hill shooting Laser up the hill is disingenuous at best, and I would think simply in bad form. At what speed does one get pulled over in a 40? Is it 43, 43.5, 44, 44.5, 45? What, what is the magic number that one has to hit before Barney pulls out his ticket book? Maybe its 44.788?

Make no mistakes about this blog… I want the cops to do their jobs. “To protect and to serve!”

If someone comes through there at 50 weaving in and out of traffic, I want them stopped! That does not take LIDAR to figure out. If someone is driving recklessly, they need to be held accountable. If on the other hand someone gains a few miles an hour going down a hill on a Sunday Morning, when there is little traffic, and you need LIDAR to figure out exactly how fast they were going, that is simply DAFT!

Here is my challenge to you the police… Treat others as you would want to be treated. Very simple idea I know but I think many have forgotten this, possibly because they are sitting in a cop car on Sunday Morning hunting with high tech toys rather than sitting in a pew somewhere learning that we are all sinners and all fall short of the glory of god. While the golden rule is not part of the Bible, it really should be. Let he who is without guilt cast the first stone, is in the bible.

To you the people who see this same kind of behavior, here is what you can do.

Firstly there is technology that will beep at you, if you are speeding. I have this in my vehicle and I use it driving anywhere. People in my car tell me it is annoying but let’s face it, how many times have you missed a speed limit sign because it was behind a tree or bush?

Another thing is a radar detector. I am not telling you to get one to speed, I am telling you to get one so you can even out the technology gap a little. Radar itself will give you advanced warning, laser will not tell you anything, other than you have been tagged. Laser however is line of sight so, while they see you and “target you, if you are observant you will hopefully see them and wave, with all of your fingers…. “lead by example.”

In combination with your beeping GPS and radar detector, and eyes; you should be able to avoid giving money to the city.

The pitiful part of this is that I believe that it is all about money and little about protecting and serving. That is why I would push for money from tickets not go into their coffers but, into education or, infrastructure.

I would challenge the Sergeants that have underlings; have them lighten up. I can tell if someone is driving badly without any technology, I see it daily. Do you really want people to see your guys sitting at the bottom of hills shooting lasers up the hill? Are you that damned desperate for funds that you have to ticket little old ladies on their way to church for failing to step on the brakes while going down a hill?!

To the Barney Fife’s of the world; I don’t know what drives you whether it be adrenaline, or you hated your parents but remember, one day this will be you. You will not always be the one behind the LIDAR. If you get stopped, are you going to pull out your badge and hope for some “good old boy treatment,” or possible professional courtesy, much like the shark that won’t bite a lawyer? You in fact are no different from us, and that is really the point of this blog.

There is this “us and them mentality” which you promote by doing things like sitting at the bottom of a hill shooting LIDAR up the hill. Tell you what, Drag your sorry butt to Church when you are not on duty. Go enjoy that fried chicken with your peers. Let people in the community see you, and interact with them in a manner that is not judging. You are no better than the rest, and when you think that you are, you are on the slippery slope.

Protect the people like you are supposed to do, which is what you signed up for. To protect and to serve, not to hunt and to hassle.

I would also challenge the people to do one more thing. Get a dash cam.

Not long ago I was pulling into a restaurant in Addison Texas. Screaming out of the parking lot was a Dallas police officer who had been working radar in the parking lot, camouflaged by the other cars and trees. Had I not been keenly aware my situation and stabbed the brakes, she would have hit me head on! Now, how do you think that would have gone down in court? She was totally at fault, but it would have been her word against mine and possibly, possibly and unbiased third party cop, to see the evidence and maybe a witnesses but, had there been a dash-cam no contest. Her zeal for catching some speeder on Belt Line just about ruined both of our days. Had we collided without a camera, I feel that it would not have gone well for me. Maybe, and I hope that I am; wrong.

After the screeching stopped, our eyes met, she lowered her head breaking eye contact, and slowly pulled out onto the road.

No one is perfect and the dash cam would have made my life easier had I not been able to get that car stopped in time.

These cameras have come down in price and are certainly affordable. If you see, as I have seen, cops driving stupidly, send the video to their boss. They too need to be accountable. I have listened to the scanner while I travel and seen some do some rather stupid things, including speeding excessively for no reason other than they can, because they are mistakenly under the opinion that, they are the law! Once on camera, they will quickly find out that they are, not the law, but the man (or women) that has been hired by you to “protect and to serve!”

All cops should be required to wear active body cameras, not necessarily to point out your guilt or theirs but, to protect them from the people who would wish them harm, or by besmirching them, or accusing them of wrong doing.

At the end of the day we are neighbors, families and communities and what we each do for a vocation should not be an issue or divide us from each other.

Let’s get the Ne’er-do-wells off of the street, and if they wear a uniform, let’s get them a new vocation, as the man in blue should garner respect, not because you are told to respect them but, because they have earned it.

Sitting at the bottom of a hill, hunting church folk is not going to do it!

West Nile and You

For the last several years West Nile has made the news.

West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne zoonotic arbovirus belonging to the genus Flavivirus in the family Flaviviridae. This flavivirus is found in temperate and tropical regions of the world.

Zoon: Greek for Animal
Arbovirus: Group of viruses
Flavivirus: The name of the group or genus of viruses that contain or include the West Nile virus, dengue virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus, yellow fever virus, and several other viruses which may cause encephalitis.
Flaviviridae: family of viruses typically spread by tics or mosquitoes.

You….

What can you do to a: protect yourself and your family and B: the community in which you live?

Someone told me that there were not that many mosquitoes in my area to worry about anything other than myself. Use pesticides with Deet to protect myself and don’t worry about it.

I however did not believe them, and I also care about my neighbors; and the small animals that live outdoors and become food for those winged vampires of the night!

I installed not one but two bug zappers in my back yard.

Each bug zapper is good for an acre and my back yard is rather small city sized lot.

After one night of operation here are the results:

dead mosquitoes — Bug zapper 1 after one night

dead bugs — Bug zapper II twenty five feet from bug zapper 1

So, now what can you do?

Buy a bug zapper or two and install them, especially if you are in an area with West Nile.

They are on eBay, Amazon and a host of other places and if your hold your mouth right the local hardware store may actually have them, I would not count on that however.

The trick is that these things attract bugs. You know “go to the light…..”

So you need to hang them far enough from your door that they actually draw them away from your house.

Nope, they are not cheap. Anywhere from $50 to $80. What is your health worth?

-Best

PS. Are you itching yet? I am just looking at this…. ZAP!

Update 6/11/15

I have no idea who besides me is interested in this such as this but…..

The next day both bug zapper were about half full... No biggie; use compressed air and blow out the dead mozzies and put the zappers back in place.

Expecting that they would not be as full today I could not have been more wrong.

Today …Day 3 of the great bug barbecue the zappers were both chock-a-block full of fried Mozzies!

Today the newest Zapper arrived, I replaced the oldest with a “clog-proof model.”

Tomorrow will most undoubtedly bring more Fried Mozzies but will there be less, or more or about the same….?

Yes, Mosquitoes were harmed during the making of this blog!

Yes, there were a few other critters that met their maker as well but 99% were mosquitoes!

Stay tuned for more Mozzy mayhem…..

-Best

www.guard-protect.com

Sort it out in Court

Watching a video shot by a “white witness” would make one think that the police were out of line.

Listening to the witnesses who saw more than a video focused on the police trying to quell chaos, is another.

Backstory:

An end of year graduation party was planned in a private area for a few teens, and some adults. This was an invitation only event where many different teens were invited, including those of color.

Because it was talked about on social media some took that to mean that they could simply ignore the rules and crash the party via jumping over fences etc.

When asked to leave by security guards and some parents, tempers flared on both sides which escalated the conflict until police were called. That should have most probably been their first call as these kids jumping fences already demonstrated that they had no respect for the adults, or the security guards; and apparently the police.

By now the conflict was irreversible and when police arrived and tried to sort things out the teenagers were non-compliant with officer’s orders to “freeze.” In fact they began running in all directions as we have seen over the last few months in different cities around the country.

As one of the girls walked away instead of running, she was detained and when she fought back “resisted arrest” the officer detained her by force. This is probably SOP.

When two of her friends tried to help her “resist arrest” the officer felt his life might be in danger and pulled his service weapon. Had either of those kids had a weapon, I suspect the news would be different than what it is today.

This was not a racial issue. This was and is an issue about those who don’t respect the cops and or the laws that we have here in this country. When a cop tells you to freeze, you comply!

Had Michael Brown Complied, he would still be alive!

Had Eric Garner Complied, he would still be alive and most likely still selling loosies in Staten Island.

We don’t know the story of Freddy Gray because the Baltimore Mayor and others have this case so screwed up we may never know. I suspect if he had complied, he would still be alive as well but; we don’t know for sure.

If the first two events had not transpired, Baltimore would be a footnote; and McKinney would not even make the local news much less national news, as McKinney was not sparked by racial unrest. It was sparked by some having no respect for the rules and no respect for the cops.

Should the cop have brandished a weapon?
Here is the better question, should he have had to?
At a certain moment in time was he afraid for his life?

Those were not twelve year old soccer players trying to intervene on the “bikini clad” girls behalf. Those were big boys that could have hurt him had they wanted to.

All cops should have body cameras on and active, when they are on duty.

This video should be instantly transmitted up to the cloud and to a monitor on their supervisor’s desk so they the supervisor has video of the event as well as the teen journalist video with a cell phone, possibly with an agenda.

If a situation becomes hot, the supervisor can decide to act.

The cop’s camera can vindicate him or her and their actions or indict them. If nothing else has come out of these events, it should be that the cops need to present their side with video evidence too!

If the video would indict them, then they should not be cops.

As a kid growing up here in Texas I can tell you first hand I have had my fair share of run-ins with the cops that were un-justified. I never, ever ran from them and always did as I was instructed. My hands were always in plain sight as I was not wanting to be an accident! The time to fight oppressive people is in court, not on the side of the road, you are in their world, in court; not so much!

The bottom line is this, if a cop tells you to freeze, dammit freeze! How the hell hard is that?

-Best

Skin Cancer and the 11 year Cycle

Skin Cancer and the 11 year Cycle

I like to tie things together, to figure out the cause and effect.

In my line of work we call this a “root cause analysis.”

Skin cancer awareness has piqued the interest of the news media outlets, as well as the general population.

While I don’t discount the monetary reasons for this with all kinds of expensive potions and lotions, I do think that there is more to it than that. The snake oil sales folks are simply capitalizing on a solution to a problem that may not even be a solution, just simply a prophylactic, much like an expensive sugar pill.

History is rife with such individuals and while their products may provide a modicum of protection, there are certain parts of this conundrum that thousands of miles of solid rock can’t stop!

Cancer, not just skin cancer but cancer itself is nothing more than the instructions from the DNA being either misunderstood or the instructions “code” has been modified in some way by something, either a mutagen of some sort or, there was simply an error in the replication process.

We “think” that toxins cause cancer but I really don’t think they have a clear understanding of how. Whether it be from out-gassing from some plastic product, or fire retardant chemical or from synthetic vitamins or even the prescription drugs that we consume daily. There are those that want to tar and feather Monsanto for their work in genetic modifications of food.

Monsanto — Actually we need this type of research if we are going to feed the population of this planet.

Focusing on Skin Cancer however; that bespeaks of something either contacting it, or something ingested which manifest itself there in the epidermis.

Since I have no government grant to fully investigate this, I want to focus on radiation.

radiation-symbol — We spent millions on Turtle tunnels but something like this..You got to be kidding!

We are exposed to radiation from many different sources from things as simple as dental x-rays to the glow in the hands on your old wind up clock. (Radium)

Skin cancer has been found on 2400 year old Mummies from Peru, pretty sure that there were no plastic bottles or pesticides or dental x-rays back then, so how did it happen?

Naturally occurring radiation on this planet and…the sun and even cosmic radiation from outer space from things like gamma ray bursters, collapsing stars or any host of things left over from the big-bang could be responsible.

Because we travel, we cannot tie down specific geography to cancer. It would be interesting to see if they could find more such mummies or early cancers on folks who were not traveling more than 35 miles from where they were born, to determine if there are indeed “hot spots.”

Having said that, let’s simply focus on the sun for a moment which, is the nearest and most consistent generator of different types of radiation.

While UV light is blamed for so much of the skin cancer we see today, I would proffer that is only partially true. The Climate change proponents would have you believe that Freon and other types of CFC’s are destroying the ozone layer which allows UV light in. While the gasses that make our atmosphere restrict the passage of UV light they allow the visible spectrum in. Ozone is one such gas.

UV light is what causes a sunburn. If you go to a tanning Solon the tanning beds emit what, UV light.

So can a sunburn or mild exposure to the visible light spectrum and UV light cause skin cancer?

Again what is cancer?

An abnormal cell which divides and replicates incorrectly, a cell that either did not understand the instruction given to it or, a cell that was given incorrect instructions.

The truth of the matter is that our skin is a miracle much like the plants that we depend upon for oxygen and the sugars and starches that they create by taking in sunlight and using it through a process called photosynthesis.

Our skin takes in sunlight and…. Creates Vitamin D. The body has natural processes which keep us from overdosing on it, unlike what might happen with synthetic vitamins. Too much of a good thing is what, a toxin.

While we were designed “or evolved” to take advantage of the sun, much like the plants I would have to believe that UV light in moderation is no more of a “mutagen” than toast.

The sun emits the whole spectrum of radiation from radio waves to gamma rays. While “normal sun operation” does not allow too many gamma rays to leave; solar flares are another story and why I have titled this piece …and the 11 year cycle…!

We really need people who think outside the box, and there are damned few of them!

I have no clue how one gets government grants to fund research but I think a study needs to be done to either disprove what I am about to allege or, prove it so we can all be more intelligent with our actions.

It is my supposition that when the sun is most active, as it is now; and has been for a year or two, more gamma rays and other high energy particles make it through our atmosphere and cause genetic damage to people’s skin as well as other living things like plants.

roserosettediease — This is rampant Right now here in Texas! Is there a correlation between this and skin cancers rise?

We know for a fact that pilots have more skin cancers than people who don’t fly..why? At 40 thousand feet or so there is less absorbing or refracting material to keep high energy particles away from the earth so they are bombarded with cosmic radiation, much like you and I when we fly. The skin of the airplane does not stop them. Our folks on the space station are constantly bombarded and this is a real danger to astronauts and space travel! Someone needs to invent a shield for them. Where is Scotty when we need him?

Does that mean we are safe on the ground? No, the amounts are lower and I suspect that the closer to sea level you are, the lower the rates of high energy particles from the sun will get to you. It has to do with the size of the particle and what it might bump into as it travels to earth.

You say but the earth’s magnetic shield deflects all that…. No, not all…most, but not all.

Another interesting study might be to study those that live in the path of the Aurora Borealis or Aurora Australia’s. Are there more cases of cancer there, or less? What other factors might come into play? Food comes to mind… The angle of the sun and the fact that it is cold so they wear more clothes. No nude sunbathers in the arctic circle! So if Skin cancers were higher that would bespeak of high energy particles vs UV light, right? If they had them at all that would still tell a story…

My guess is that when there is a solar storm or flare, that high energy particles across the spectrum are released and simply hit the earth and all those who are out in the sun. The folks at higher elevations probably get more of it than those who live at sea level.

Most probably and in conclusion; not only should we as a people pay attention to our local weather when we go outdoors and or plan activities but, we might also want to pay attention to the suns weather.

What you have just read is completely my work and it could be “crazy talk” or …just maybe it could be fodder for conversation from those who study this stuff.

If research were done, I am certain that with control groups and so forth that a correlation could be made between the suns activity and skin cancer but, that will take years as the sun goes through the cycles of activity every 11 years.

Because some government would want involvement that would stall the process decades for the bureaucrats to all poke holes in the air with their fingers and add pork, just because.

In the meantime let’s assume that what I am proposing makes some sense so; don’t go nude sunbathing when there are solar storms! Wear those expensive lotions and potions, just in case one of them actually does something! Use some common sense….

Dermatologist who have been in practice for eons might look through their history and research the kinds of cancers and frequencies (timing) of them and how those correlate to the solar activity chart posted earlier in this article.

www.timedok.com

www.guard-protect.com

Thoughts, comments, government money to research this?

-Best