Author: The Timedok

#speed…#Limits….#Cops…..and …#You

Speed….Limits….Cops and You

Traveling in 49 of the 50 states, I have seen many different types of roads and situations that need some more thought.

There are roads that are labeled 75 that should clearly not be over 60. There are roads labeled 55 that should be 70.

In fact, I was wondering who decides what the speed limits on these roads should be and what criteria are they using to decide?

Reasonable and Prudent

The consensus among drivers and those that enforce the law was “reasonable and prudent.” That is entirely too subjective as clearly what one person thinks is reasonable and prudent another may not agree with.

States with the slowest speed limit that I have seen state wide is by far, hands down Hawaii. Some roads are 15mph and the fastest I found was 50mph. While it is reported that it is 60mph somewhere on an island, I never found it. Renting a Mustang Convertible while in Hawaii was a waste. I truthfully had to keep it in first or second most of the time, to avoid speeding.

In questioning several of the locals I was told that each time that there was an accident they lowered the speed limit. The problem with that method however was that the impairment of the driver was not figured into the algorithm.

I doubt that you will find that officially written anywhere however; I am fairly certain that being legally intoxicated, I could manage those speed limits and get from point A to B safely.

Please don’t take that as a proclamation to drink and drive as I am very much against that behavior. Twenty Five (25) years ago I was in a head on at 60mph with a drunk driver. He did not even have a seat belt on and was released from the hospital that day. I on the other hand barely lived through it was in the hospital for weeks, and live in pain to this day because he drank and drove.

It is a well known fact that 1 out of 3 drivers are impaired in some way. Add to this statistic that several of these folks have to surf the web, post on Facebook, text and or try to make a call while driving! This is all bad folks, you can kill yourself, and others too!

The fastest speed limit I have found in my travels is in Texas. Recently they have raised the speed limit to 85 on a road between San Antonio and Austin. There is indeed a 40 mile stretch of road that is 85 and I am guessing that many push 90, without trepidation of getting a ticket.

So why speed limits?

The obvious answer is that people don’t always exercise prudent and reasonable so we have to “tell people” what that is by way of signs. Of course there are penalties for deviating from those standards.

The insurance company has an interest in keeping speeds down as the faster that someone is going is directly proportional to the amount of injury and or damage caused by an accident. Traveling faster in and of itself statistically renders more accidents, thus more expense. The lizard or the good hands folks don’t give a tinkers damn about you, they care about the bottom line and slowing you down, making you wear a seat belt and a helmet if on motorcycle saves them money. Yes they have lobbyist on Ave. K and yes they contribute to whatever politician will give them favorable laws to help their bottom line.

My issue with speed limits is that there is no consistency. They are arbitrary and assigned by local municipalities and yes, some are known speed traps.

I give you example A: Waldo Florida was an infamous speed trap. Their officers had ticket quotas, and after a state investigation the chief resigned and the entire police force were disbanded.

There are several other towns in Florida which are just as notorious but my personal experience comes from a visit to the Keys. I flew into Miami, rented a mustang convertible and headed to the Keys.

Every time I looked into the mirror there was a cop. As soon as they ran the plate and it came back to the rental company, they were gone. Once getting on the stretch of road that is the Keys, that was another story.

The Overseas Highway is 127 miles of 55-45-35 and 30 and if you’re in a sport car you had best be doing 50-40-30-25. Each and every little town along the way has plenty of cops in newer cars, all looking for someone with out of state money to add to their coffers. The entire 127 miles is under construction but, I never saw anyone doing anything however; there are signs that are flashing “active construction.”

My advice to you is rent an old truck. Rent something from one of those “rent a clunker companies” that won’t do 55 going off a cliff! Firstly, it would be cheaper and secondly the cops won’t look too hard at you.

While I enjoyed my visit to the Keys and did not enrich the local’s coffers, I was amazed that truly, driving that red mustang around garnered more attention from the local cops than if I had been Ernest Hemmingway himself! I would love to cruse through there in a Lotus, and see what that does. Of course I would need an attorney on retainer as I would bet I would get stopped for something.

I drove under the speed limit my entire time in Florida. I averaged 39 mpg in a Mustang! On my way back to the airport I was looking for a gas station that was not $5 something a gallon, which the gas stations around the airport are, when once again a cop in the left hand lane saw me and swooped over three lanes to get behind me to yes, run my plates and then he was gone!

Profile! No, surely not!

Florida is not the only state to have speed traps.

Louisiana has some of the worst speed traps around. The local folks are so snake bit that the locals go 50 in a 55, not old folks in old pick up trucks but young people in sporty cars travel under the speed limit. That to me is kind of a clue that speeding is an industry or revenue source; and it should not be.

Most of the little towns in Louisiana have the local cop, sheriff or trooper hidden in the trees just behind the sign lowering the speed limit from 55 to 45; so by the time you see it, you had best be standing on your brakes!

This actually inspired me to purchase a radar detector as I was traveling in Oklahoma. Without advanced notice there is a sign lowering your speed limit from 55 to 45 and the local sits out of view waiting for you to cross that line of demarcation between 55-45 and the lights go on and you are ticketed for “SPEEDING!”

Escourt & Valantine

I am not a sales person for these companies. I do not have stock in these companies and I will not make a nickel off of this plug. If you are tempted to fight the fight against entrapment, “which is what this is” get an Escourt or Valentine radar detector. Both of these are the top of line, and will trigger at least a half mile away, unless of course they are using LIDAR or instant on. Most of them are too lazy to hold the gun, so most of the time it will be just sitting there giving you ample notice. Do not waste your money on any of the other brands, I have tried them all, these two are the only two that work. Yes, they are expensive, about the cost of a ticket! Do your own research however; there are plenty of reviews on line.

Please don’t mis-understand my advocating radar detectors, as some means to break the law. I advocate them to level the playing field! Sitting behind a bush “hunting” someone like an animal for not standing on their brakes when they see the 45 mph sign is disingenuous at best, and to my way of thinking complete and utter Bullshit!

If you are driving in a manner that is unsafe you should be ticketed.

Not standing on your brakes however; to get your car down from 55 to 45 by the time you cross some imaginary line is BullShit! If you are slowing you car either by taking your foot off of the gas, or making any other attempt to abide by the lower speed limit, that shows intent to obey the law, and therefore should be fine and not incur a fine! Towns without warning signs saying slower speeds ahead are sadly speed traps in the making, if not active; and should be called out.

Destruction Zones

I rail against this form of totalitarian abuse! To put up signs warning of construction to double the fines, without so much as a spade of dirt disturbed, is extortion, and needs to be overturned in congress. This practice needs to be outlawed and anyone who has been ticketed in this form should have some sort of class action suit against those that perpetrate such BullShit. Active construction zones means that the workers are present and actually doing something that warrants the slower speed. A sign saying “active construction zone” without anybody doing anything is wrong, and should be criminal!

Here are the problems which make this what it is:

Ticketing folks is lucrative. Some police departments get a source of revenue from tickets. This is wrong and needs to change. Make no mistake, I want them out doing their job, I don’t want them to make a “fucking” game out of it! Giving a ticket to someone messes up their insurance, adds points to their license, and messes up their day. If you are going to give someone a ticket it should be for willful disobedience to the law, not an innocent mistake, or certainly not some crappy speed trap.

There are over 80,000 known speed traps in this country. That is 80,000 places where the cops either make a game out of giving tickets or….it is a source of revenue.

States, find another way to pay your cops. Any revenue from tickets should go into education or some fund that will not promote illegal activity like speed traps!

Police folk, if you pull someone over for an infraction and you know what I mean by infraction, not slowing down quick enough comes to mind and…. They don’t have any kind of record etc, give them a warning, shake their hand and let them know that you are there for them, and not the assholes that see this as a revenue source.

You folks who see this as revenue, you need to be voted out of office, or kicked out or what have you. You and your ilk are the reason that half this country hates Cops! Speedtraps and other bullshit that you guys have done for eons needs to stop and it needs to stop now!

Police folk all over the country need to hire a PR firm, figure out how to get back on the side of the folks that you “protect and serve,” and not be some cog in some arbitrary revenue stream for municipalities. You are better than this!

I have a lot of friends who happen to also be cops. Thank God I know of noone that has some quota to fill or likes giving tickets! What the hell has happened to us!?

It is not us against them, and I hate to see that kind of talk in social media. You guys, and I am talking to the man in blue, need to step it up and change how folks perceive you. If you can’t afford a PR firm, I used to work for one, write me and I will give you some free tips, although this blog contains much info.

Consistency

The roads in this state alone defy logic how they are regulated. If one thought as I do, one would think that once again they are regulated in such a way to make some revenue off of speeders. I would call on the state to regulate how these roads are rated. One example comes to mind with no obvious answers. Highway 20 coming into Dallas is 75mph until about 20 miles out or so and it drops to 65. I traveled this road the other night and I saw no sign warning me to slow down. My Garmin is set to make a noise if I am speeding, and it started beeping after I crossed some imaginary line. Shortly after that line, true to form, there was a trooper giving someone a ticket!

Why does the road slow down to 65mph. One could make the argument that you are now in the city limit of Dallas??? So the hell what! It is the same road, same amount of lanes so I am at a loss. One might retort that in the city limit, one does not need to be going above 65. So when I jump on the GBT and the speed limit is 70MPH and it is all in the city limit what is that? It should stay 75 until it hits 635. By then you are in enough traffic that 75 may not be possible but, every time that I have traveled this road, every time, 75 mph would have been easy!

The citizens of this country disserve consistency, and responsible thoughtful planning.

I am thinking that the state should control the freeways, and the cities control the “non highway surface streets” as the state does not need to micro manage those. If that is already the case, damn; we need to fire some folks!

Revenue

One would no doubt make the argument that this is all about public safety and not about revenue. If that is the case why are you installing red light cameras, and cameras that take your picture if you are speeding?

Public safety and red lights I get. Drones on some lonely stretch of nowhere taking your picture and sending you a ticket for speeding, I am sorry, that is a revenue generator, and disingenuous at the very least, and should be illegal.

Why illegal?? When an officer is going to stop you for speeding the officer is supposed to judge “by his eye,” that you are speeding and driving in an unsafe manner and then confirm with radar, not the other way around. If you watch traffic for any time at all, you too can tell when someone is speeding, without radar. You have been on the road when some asshole is swerving in and out of traffic, which is when we want the man in blue to turn on the lights and go stop them! This same night I was passed by several people swerving in and out of traffic racing! They must have been pushing 90 on 635! I want them out there to protect and to serve. I want them out there getting the drunks off the streets! I want them to stop me if I am one of the assholes driving in an unsafe manner. I want them to get the folks off the road that drive 40 in a 65!

Their primary reason for stopping someone should be to protect and serve, not to make money for the city, county or new equipment or bonuses or raises or anything pecuniary! You cannot do your job correctly if your motive is not to protect and serve!

It is time to stop. Secondly, and more importantly we need to repair the relationships between the man-in-blue and the ordinary citizen. We do that in many ways but firstly we stop harassing them for allowing their car to drift a couple miles over the speed limit, on a place in the road that goes downhill. This is not a god damned game!

It is past time that this type of revenue generation is curtailed, and we need to have legislation introduced at the federal level, as well as the state level to stop it.

We have several spots where I live that the cops like to hang out and ticket people for really minor infractions. I listen to them on the scanner and let me tell you, some of these guys are pretty childish! And they have guns!

To sit at the bottom of a hill and stop someone for a minor infraction is “BULLSHIT!”

If you think that is a great game to play while you wait for the next adrenaline filled chase, than you qualify as a rectal sphincter! You really mess up people’s days, nights and some people a lot longer than for a few moments of entertainment for yourselves, and your buddies, and $220 for the city!

This needs to stop!

I mentioned in a previous blog that our men in blue need to have active body cameras streaming video up to the cloud while they are on duty. This video and sound would be visible and audible in a NOC type display that their boss and dispatcher have access to and there would be active oversight. If the cop has a problem with that, he needs to find another line of work. These guys have the power to kill; and that needs active oversight!

If the cop on the street is the rectal sphincter, he needs to go find something else to do.

After you finish reading my blog and forwarding it and all of that fun stuff, go read about some of the speed traps. Is your city on here?

http://www.speedtrap.org/

Don’t leave yet!

What can you do?

Citizen, firstly let me tell you that I feel your pain. I should be able to have a red sport car and not be followed, stopped, and harassed because I am a guy in a red sport car! I am too old for this shit, and damned tired of it!

Radar Detector:

Unless it is illegal in your state, and I think that there are only one or two that it is, get one and use it. Don’t use it to speed but, if your town is on one of those speed trap towns, get it. They have them now with built in GPS that has a data base of red light cameras as well. I don’t want you ever running a light, ever! But, I do want you to know where they are so you will make certain that you don’t try and make the light on a yellow if you can stop without getting rear ended. The big issue with lights is that they too are inconsistent in the amount of time that they are yellow. That is why robotic law enforcement is flawed! You are guilty until proven innocent, with this technology, which is …..BullShit!

They even make a Radar Detector that is built in so it is not obvious that you have it, if your locals have attitude about such things that may be a way to go. Escourt has one that is a GPS unit and also a radar detector so it would not stand out like a red flag to a bull!

Remember, you are buying this and using it as a way to stay within the confines of the law, not to break it. So Mr. Cop with a hard on for people who have these, not all of us are the kinds of folks who get them so we can break the law! We just want to know where you are, if you are one of those who want to hide behind a tree and wait for us to not slow down enough before we cross your imaginary line.

Lights Camera Action!

Which brings up a question; why is it illegal for me or you to flash your lights to warn others that there is a cop around? Folks that is Bullshit! If I flash my lights warning others that there is a cop around, I am doing a public service as I am slowing folks down. It is no different than the cop himself being visible driving up and down the freeway. This law too needs to change and maybe this is a change.org thing! By the creation of that law you are abridging my freedom of speech! Flashing my lights is a code, which is a form of speech!

If someone happens to be a lawyer and wants to do something for the little people, either get a ticket for this, or solicit to do some pro-bono work for someone who gets a ticket for this, and let’s take it to court! Bullshit laws need to be challenged! This case would make a name for the attorney who challenged it and won!

Dash Camera

Dash Cameras are cheaper than ever before and many have built in GPS as well as a G sensor. If you are stopped, you have enough information to go to court and I recommend that you do! It is interesting how polite people become, when they are being recorded. The officer cannot legally touch your camera, phone or search your car without a warrant. Don’t let him!

If you are stopped, turn on the dome light; put your hands in plain view. I don’t think that any of them go out today and think, “I wonder if I will get to shoot anyone today” but, when they stop you, their adrenaline is pumping. I can hear it in their voice, and if you get a scanner, you will too. You do not want to give them a reason to touch their gun, or Tazer, or club, pepper spray or anything else. You do not want to be an accident!

The time and place to be confrontational is court, not on the side of the road with them who hold all the cards! You really have no idea what possessed them to become a cop in the first place. Are they control freaks, or do they really care about people, and want to protect them, the answer is “yes” but which one is which?

This should have been Protested — This happened right here in Irving Texas

Garmin / GPS

My GPS has a data base of the roads and associated speeds and notifies me if I am going over the speed limit. It is annoying as it beeps at one mile over. If Garmin can make this adjustable or perhaps your brand does this, and it can be adjusted to 3 or 4 mph tolerance vs. 1, this is a good tool, and I would use it. I actually do, even though it is bothersome.

Scanner

This device if used the way I recommend, will accomplish a few things. Firstly you will get a feel for the folks that work for the local police force. While they also communicate by phone and encrypted text via a laptop “talk about distracted driving;” they do a fair bit on the regular old two-way and car to car.

Where I live most of them are very professional and they have a hard job. I would not want it. They have a certain amount of hubris that comes out in their voice, mannerisms and when in person you can certainly tell it by some of their glibness. They are not SGT Friday on the old FBI show of the 60’s

Recently our town had one of those “collect old drug” events. This is a great way to get all of the old prescription stuff out of your house and not have to toss it in such a way that is not recommended, as it will taint the water supply and or dump site. As I asked the officer what they did with it, his answer was “we take it and sell it for top dollar!” About the time I snapped my head looking up at him to try and figure out his trite response and attitude, the guy next to him answered in the respectful manner that I was looking for. Quickly I noticed that the guy beside him happened to be a friend of mine and when the sarcastic cop realized that I was somebody, he too became serious and to the point.

My reason for asking was that all of these contained information labels that I wanted them to have so they knew what they had but, I did not necessarily want just anyone knowing who I was and what I was taking. The point to this is that is one of the childish behaviors that cops cannot have when they are on the job.

I use the scanner to know what is going on in my town and the surrounding towns. They have scanners now that not only auto program themselves but, they also have built in GPS that will program them accordingly for your location. That would be handy on a road trip.

Friends

Assume that these guys are the good guys, and they are there to protect and serve. If you are pulled over, record everything, be polite, and if you feel that you were mistreated; go down to the police station and talk with the Sergeant. If that does not prove fruitful, and you still think that they were wrong, take it to court!

Court

Why do we have courts? Today we live in such a litigious society that everyone wants to sue everyone for anything. The courts are clogged up with petty bullshit among other things. The lawyers are the benefactors, and truth be told probably the real villains in this whole story.

We sue to right a wrong. If you were wronged by someone, say the police, you take it to court and sue, not to get money but to stop it from happening to someone else. To me that is the only real reason to take anyone or anything to court, “to leave the world a little better place than when you found it.”

Thus ends my epistle on speed, cops, you and the meaning of life.. Ok, maybe not the meaning of life but, another blog for another day…

-Best to you and those that you care about…And that is especially true for my friends wearing Blue… I know what you guys do, and while this blog is critical of some, I know that is the minority.

#Airtraffic

Air Traffic

I live in an area that at any given time has aircraft overhead. It you sit in the backyard and just look up you can see aircraft going in all directions.

On multiple occasions I have seen aircraft that could not be a half mile apart. Today, two aircraft at the same altitude were intersecting when the westbound aircraft made a maneuver taking him abruptly north of his path. The horizontal separation was staggeringly close.

I realize that they have changed to a GPS system but as someone who lives under this “point on the map,” I would appreciate a little more separation as I really don’t want to become a statistic of those who had a plan crash on them.

Southwest is one of the biggest perpetrators of flying below the radar. Those folks fly so low at times I swear I can see the people looking out the windows!

Only a few times have any of the larger jets, 747’s come over the house. Those things are unmistakable with the sound that they make.

One time this summer there was a southbound 727 which all of the sudden veered to the left while pouring the coals to it to gain altitude, seconds later a 747 came over the house from the south. Those things rarely if ever fly over this area so where he came from and where he was going is a mystery. He was low, under 2000 and at the same approximate altitude that Southwest uses to land at Love Field.

Between two major airports and several general aviation airports, air traffic in the area is robust. You don’t have to go to an air show to see a lot of different types of aircraft.

Several of these flew over one day heading to an air force base in the area. They were following several big helicopters.

There is a large contingent of military aircraft that also fly around with the most notable being the old war birds. Those too have a unique sound but nothing like the Osprey. Those things when they fly by, have a sound all to themselves. Sounds kind of like the big helicopters but different.

One of the most unique aircraft that I see from time to time is a Beech craft.

Compound the tight traffic patterns and the idea that drones will be and are sharing that air space and one has to wonder how much room we have for error?

There are multiple news reports of pilots seeing these things on landings.

This is an idea of what air traffic looks like over the US in a given day!

Safe Travels!

#Gods and #Insects

Gods and Insect

The text below contains some graphic language and situations that some might find offensive.

Seventy three years after one of the greatest tragedies to ever befall this country was perpetrated; we find ourselves in the midst of yet another struggle for mankind.

The word “Mankind,” has a hollow ring to it as I write it. In light of recent events unfolding around the globe, I often wonder how it is that we have not managed to destroy ourselves. We have enough nuclear material to kill all living things on this earth many times over.

More than the WMD, we have a never ended supply of hate. We cherish the hatred, and feed off of it like it was some tonic that would cause destruction to our enemy’s. We see heinous crimes committed against our fellow man, and feed off the anger. We are taught to love our enemy but, that is a little tough when your heart is full of anger, isn’t it?

We see Americans who hate America and everything that it stands for. We watch as innocent people loose their livelihoods because someone ran afoul of the law and paid the ultimate price. We have lost trust in our governing bodies, and indeed don’t trust the man on the street, who we hire to protect us, from those that would harm us.

We have celebrities who for whatever reason think it necessary to foment racial tension using their celebrity status and while they are at it, desecrate the flag. I wonder how many wounded warriors and vets saw that; and would love to have been there to visit with you about that.

Our government lies to us, and the media covers it up. We have folks on either side of the isle that are either stupid, or ideologues, or just plain brainwashed into believing that communism will work “this time.”

Communism never has worked. The people at the top enjoy living like a king, and everyone else is subjugated to supporting them and their reckless endeavors while surviving on what is not taken from them.

There was an analogy that I heard the other night that made sense. If you think of the people as gods and insects, some are born gods, the rest insects. The gods don’t worry about stepping on a few ants!

Every communistic country has gods and insects! North Korea, a xenophobic country run by a 20 something year old god, or son of a god; keeps its people ignorant of the rest of the world and literally in the dark. They are the worker bees in that bee hive and there is one queen, well leader.

Kim Jong iI was truly given god status. His legacy includes the fact that he never defecated. Gods don’t poop. On his first ever game of golf he scored a 38 under par with no less than 11 holes in one! This God was enthralled with movies. While he enjoyed King Kong movies it is reported that he owned somewhere in the vicinity of 20,000 DVD movies. He enjoyed Pornography, and had a huge stash of same.

This God had a fear of flying, so he traveled everywhere by armored train car. While millions of North Koreans were starving to death, this god had shipments of live lobsters shipped to his train as he traveled. Dignitaries that traveled with him from time to time noted that whatever kind of food you wanted, was delivered.

His list of accomplishments goes on to say that he composed 6 operas in 2 years

This god liked the spirits to the tune of $800,000.00 in one year. Cognac Hennessy and Burgundy red wines from France were also shipped to his train.

Officially, Kim was born in Siberia while is father Kim-iL Sung was in exile. The “official Korean story is” that He was born in a log cabin on North Koreas highest mountain, where the event was marked by a double rainbow and a bright star in the sky.

This particular God had a reverence for the King, Elvis Presley. He had several jump suits and even had glasses that looked like the kind that Elvis wore.

After his death, his son took the rains and it is reported that his son went and had plastic surgery to look more like his father.

While they call it the “Democratic Peoples republic of Korea,” that is where democracy ends.

There are gods, and insects.

Some other not so nice gods were:

Talat Pasha.

As the Grand Vizier of the Sultan in the Ottoman Empire circa 1917 – 1918 Talat declared an order to wipe out the Armenian Race. They were forced into concentration camps, force to trudge naked with no food or water and when they could no longer continue they were killed. The entire male population of Angora was exterminated. The methods of their killing were bayonets, clubs, axes, hammers, spades, saws, and scythes. Many were mutilated via their genitalia. Tens of thousands were burned, drowned, poisoned, crucified, boiled and beaten to death. Talat is accredited for killing over 1.5 million Armenians.

Josef Mengela

This physician was known as the Angel of Death in the Auschwits concentration camp. His job was initially to choose which Jews were to be sent to the concentration camps to be killed. He experimented on them like lab rats. This “person” is accredited with killing over 400,000 Jews by various methods including torture. Much like the Syrians he would torture children to see how long they could live while being tortured. He would choose twins and see if there were any differences. He escaped to South America where he died of a stroke in 1985.

Does this new Universal health care have such things in it like death panels? There is indeed a small group that will decide when they have spent enough on keeping you alive or when they should just let you die. How far have we really gotten away from playing god?

Reinhard Heydrich

This person was the Chief of the Reich Main Security Office and second most powerful person in the SS. His actions caused the death of millions of people. He was responsible for the mass murder of Soviet Officials and Russian Jews.

Saddam Hussein

This congenial fellow was responsible for the death of over 2 million people. He authorized chemical attacks killing over 5000 people. His other campaigns killed between 50,000 and 100,000 Kurds. Torture included such things as the gouging out of eyes, sever beatings, and electric shocks. This nice guy had 40 of his own relatives murdered. He executed over 400,000 Iraqis. Many were tortured and he had the sessions filmed so he could watch it later at his home.

Maximilien Robespierre

Here is a swell fellow who was the leader of the French Revolution. Originally he wanted the people of France to have freedom and rights but when he gained power all of that changed. He became fascinated with cutting off peoples heads! From reading his history there were most probably mental issues “paranoid schizophrenic” as he saw everyone as his enemy and thus cut off their heads via the guillotine. He had no favorites; from Aristocrats to ordinary folks he killed upwards of 40,000. Under his orders his men attacked Vendee, killing well over 100,000 men women and children. He believed that it was better to kill someone, than to forgive them.

Kim Il Sung

We have already referenced This “god” who killed over 3 million people as a result of the Korean war which he started. After the war he brainwashed the people of North Korea into loving him. Subsequently he killed all of his officers and rivals. More than 200,000 people were forced into concentration camps for offenses as small as dropping a picture of Kim. A crime committed by a father would not only cost him his life but that of his children and their children. Of over 22 million people, up to 3.5 million died due to starvation. His death was brought on by an argument with his son who has proven to be worse than his father.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

This person was a religious leader from 1979-1989 He was the leader of the Iranian Revolution which killed up to 60,000 people. Shia law is a strict law which removes individual’s rights. Among strict dress codes there were harsh punishments for breaking any of them. One could be imprisoned and tortured for listening to music. People were lashed 100 times for kissing in public. Failure to believe in Allah meant death. Death could be met in a few different ways which included hanging, stoned, stabbed in the chest blinded, shot or burned alive to name a few. If you steal something your hand is cut off. Clubs cutters and acid were other methods they use for killing people.

Emperor Hirohito

Emperor of Japan from 1926-1989 This wonderful fellow and his army killed countless Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos and Indochinese. It was he who committed the war crimes known as the Rape of Nan king which alone killed over 300,000 people. 200,000 Women were sexually assaulted. Husbands were sometimes forced to rape their wife’s and or daughters. Young girls were raped and if they were too young to be penetrated, a bayonet was used first. A total of 10 million Chinese were forced into slavery. Many of these were tortured and some were eaten! Many of these were killed in various ways including beheading, burned, boiled, roasted, buried alive, and impaled. Some were hung by their tongues on iron hooks while some were used for bayonet practice while still others were cut in half by a sword.

These were not nice people. As the crimes piled up they outdid themselves by disemboweling, hacking, crucifying and dismembering men while similarly women were tortured by having a long stick of bamboo or sword through their vagina. Thousands were frozen to death and still others died from chemical attacks. 4 million people in Indonesia died from famine and 2 million in Vietnam. 400.000 died of disease and another 580,000 died after being human experiments. The Sook Ching Massacre killed up to 90,000 Chinese. Another 100,000 civilians in the Philippines died from the Manila massacre.

In fact, his men had orders to kill burn and loot all Chinese. Over 20 million Chinese and 10 million Asians in other countries were killed.

Nero

5^th Emporer of Rome in AD54 to AD68

He is responsible for the ruin of the empire. Not only did he kill his entire family the way that he did it was semi-unique in that some were killed in searing hot baths! He often raped women and cut off their private parts as well as the genitalia of men. Nero more than likely started the great fire that left its citizens destitute. He blamed the Christians which were then summarily starved to death, burned, torn apart by dogs, fed to the lions, crucified and even used as torches. Did he fiddle while Rome Burned?

Caligula

Romes 3^rd Emperor was a wild and crazy guy underscore Crazy! He liked sexual adventure. He became ill and his mental facilities were impaired. He believed that he was god. Under him the law became an instrument of torture. His belief was that all prisoners should have a painful death. He began to brutally murder folks for fun. He forced families to attend their children’s execution which often consisted of strangulation and decapitation. This man was truly sick as he would have people sawed vertically from their crotch to their chest. This man actually chewed on peoples testicles. People often preferred to die of suicide, versus being one of his victims.

Genghis Khan

Here is another lovely fellow. He conquered most of China. He killed people by pouring molten metal in their eyes and ears. Genghis and his army killed up to 60 million people or up to 30% of the world’s population.

Leopold II of Belgium

King of Belgium from 1865-1909 He ruled the Congo free state and he lied to the world telling them he was helping them. Nothing could be further from the truth. His men tortured and slaughtered millions of Congolese. Hundreds of thousands had their hands, feet, noses ears and heads cut off for not bringing enough rubber. Many villages were burned forcing them to flee into the jungle. His men flogged, raped and ate the natives. They slaughtered the children to the tune of hundreds of thousands. Leopold and his men are accredited for killing up to 10 million Congolese during his rain of terror.

Tomas de Torquemada

No paper on assholes would be complete without this man. This was the Grand Inquisitor of Spain. This man is responsible for the Spanish inquisition which many of you may reference in a time of rebuttal with someone but, I wonder how many really know what this was about.

This inquisition was to root out heretics, those who threatened the Roman Catholic Church. Remember during this time the church was not only the spiritual guidance place but it was the school and it was also the government! His first ploy was to get people to turn on one another. His spies manage to sew enough discontent that friends turned on friends and sons and daughters turn in their parents. Countless people were tortured, whipped, and forced to surrender all of their personal property. Children died of starvation. People were often naked when they were tortured. Foot roasting and suffocation were some of their favorite techniques. Others were hanged, burned alive or grilled.

Among some of the methods the rack is most probably one of the worst in that the victim would be stretched, often to more than a foot or more of his or her original height. It was then that the inquisitioner would rip of the victim’s nipples, tongue, ears, nose, and genitals, while others were skinned from their neck to their waste. You were tortured until you confessed to whatever heresy that you were accused of, and then they killed you.

Sounds a lot like the mob in Ferguson wanting a fair trial for Officer Wilson, and then a hanging!

Up to 10,000 Jews were burned at the stake, many died of starvation. By one account he killed over 30,000 people.

Mao Zedong

Here is a dictator that had some ambitions. His goal was to make China a superpower that could Rival Russia or even the US. In the process he created the largest Famine and genocide in history. Millions died of execution, starvation and or suicide. 5 million Chinese were executed. Mao turned neighbor against neighbor and sons against daughters against teachers. He used fear to root out every last hint of dissent. A criticism issued privately could lead to your death. The famine killed up to 45 million. While people were expected to work until they dropped, being late or unable to function would get you beaten. Mao killed 70 million of his own people.

I could go on..

If you want more, read about

Ivan the Terrible
Idi Amin
Pol Pot
Don’t Forget Adolf Hitler
Joseph Stalin

Ok, just one more…

Vlad “Dracula” The Impaler

All of these people were monsters. It wasn’t enough to kill someone; it was how horribly painful can I do it. Vlad would have a pole with a semi sharp end oiled and pushed up the person butt or other orifice. The person was tied in such a way that they could not get off and slowly the pole would work its way up through the body until it emerged out the persons mouth. The person could live a couple of days in excruciating pain which Vlad loved! He is said to have killed over 100,000 people. History records him eating around naked tortured bodies, drinking blood and many more gruesome details. Nice fellow!

History is rife with things that we have not bothered to learn. Had we; we might have remembered some of this stuff and when certain people violated the constitution we might object a little more strenuously. Instead of protesting the fact that a thug was killed by a cop, you may want to think about protesting a president which makes his own laws.

If you notice, most of these monsters, made their own laws; and they had their henchmen do their dirty work.

“You are either born a God or an insect. Gods should not spend time thinking about insects, because it is easier to do the things that gods must do if they don’t have to worry about stepping on some ants.”

I borrowed that last paraphrased paragraph from Hollywood. It was used in a line on a program on TV and it hit home with me.

Who ever get’s into office should really come from humble beginnings. I think they should have served in the military so they would think twice about sending them into harms way or at the very least, have the background to know what is feasible and what they are sending them into.

America does not have emperors or kings. The constitution is as germane today as the day that it was crafted Ms. Ginsburg. If you don’t think that, you should probably retire.

You see, I believe that all men are created equally. I believe that we have inalienable rights that are endowed to us by our creator, not government. Respectfully; We are not Bugs Mr. President, and you are certainly no god.

-Best

Single point of #failure, #programming and why a #CIO is important.

A few weeks ago we talked about, single points of failure. We talked about power lines and data lines having more than one place of ingress to the building. We spoke of multiple power sources, as well as multiple data paths; much like the internet has multiple data paths. See that post for more information about hardware single points of failure.

Today the subject closely relates to this but it is “software.”

Some companies use off-the-shelf solutions and some decide to “roll their own.”

Today we are going to look at the pros and cons of this practice.

Off the shelf:

PRO—

Ready to go with a company to back you up.

A “normal” IT guy or gal can install it and most probably support it as most of these types of software companies have classes on their software. They offer such classes because they want their product to be successful and they most probably offer some sort of certification for it as IT folk seems to be “gaga” over certifications!

If there is a problem there is a support path.

Depending upon the complexity of the software there may be add-on-modules for your particular needs. That translates to a cost savings of only buying what you need.

IT personnel are much less expensive than in house programmers and unlike in house software, there is an end to the expense.

Canned software is also easier to find IT people who can work with it vs some home grown software that no one has ever seen before.

Hiring your own in house programmers is like hiring a carpenter to do some project for you that charges by the hour and the project that you want him to do is ill defined.

There was a show not too many years ago called Murphy Brown who had Eldon the painter in her house. Eldon was always doing something and was in her house for the entire show doing something. While Eldon was a bit player and supposed to be there for this part, the analogy is that she left everything up to him and he had a job for life.

You don’t want an Eldon working for you, unless you really like his company.

With off the shelf or canned software you work within its limitations.

Scope Creep:

Having managed programmers in the past and reporting their progress to the president and or board, it never ceased to amaze me that someone would ask the question, what would it take to make the software do X.

The way that this works is the decision makers come up with a defined set of expectations, which allow a budget to be created. Once that process is done, so is the definition of the project. It is then up to the manager to manage the project and make sure that certain milestones are met and in budget.

The danger of developing things in house is that inevitably someone modifies the definition after the budget has been blessed. If you have no “extra” built in for unforeseen events, than you have to go back to the board and beg.

You can explain it is because they wanted something else but you still come off looking bad. You should have foreseen that they were going to ask for that and put it into the budget. (There is a little truth to that last statement.)

With canned software, the project is much more manageable as the cost is pretty much set in stone. Support contracts are easily budgeted for as is training of your people.

Designing in house software has more risk than payback.

Most probably you keep your staff small so if one person does this part of the project and another that part of the project and then something happens to them, well, you have a single point of failure.

Documentation of the software developed in house must be meticulously managed and like a DR plan, it must be tested! If it is not done in this manner the software becomes worthless when that developer is no longer there.

Around 10% of development time is or should be documentation time. Documentation should contain a version number much like the rev level of the software. Outdated documentation is worthless.

Unlike the mindset among some IT people that do not document anything, the programmer must document their software in such a way that a future programmer can pick it up and run with it. This documentation might include things like UML diagrams and key design features. Comments in the code are nice, but are not enough.

As with any DR, there is a “living document” as it also is with code. The documentation is a live process and must be updated as the code is developed.

Programmers certainly know the best practice techniques of this process but the CEO may not. Some people develop self documenting code.

The old adage “Don’t expect what you don’t inspect.” Is salient, germane and just damned important!

There are no good surprises in business and if you keep with that as your mantra, you will be served well.

The Cons to off the shelf are that it is fixed. Whatever you purchased is only as flexible as it was designed to be, “a one size fits all” solution. For most companies this may be enough.

Most companies are generic enough that they can work with that.

Some projects are just foolish to try and roll your own as the cost will not justify the ends.

I know of one company who has someone in the upper echelon of the company that is a developer. Instead of using canned software for such things as DNS, they wrote some scripts with pointers to a LMhost file. Of course there was no documentation so as an engineer figuring out why there were duplicate IP addresses or why IP addresses did not match the device and so forth was a nightmare! Wireshark to the rescue.

There are standards in the industry for a reason.

Canned software allows the CEO to get the best talent for the job and allows him a wider field to choose from. If their set up is so unique that only a select few can manage it, he is paying way more for a system that dies when the creator of it dies or just gets upset and quits. The golden handcuffs are than on the business owner as he must necessary play nice with his programmers.

Remember, no employee should be sacrosanct. Everyone must necessarily be treated as expendable because of the “hit by a bus scenario.”

In house code must be tested to make certain that it is supportable by outside people. If it is not, it should be fixed, scrapped or replaced with something that is, or is off the shelf.

This is a very important reason to have a “good CIO!” Any good CIO has the companies’ best interests at heart and knows better to save a penny here and waste thousands there. The CIO must be incredibly technology savvy as well as possess business acumen.

I have worked for many over the years that were one or the other or neither, but they did go to school with the president so they were buds.

Failure to plan is planning to fail!

Hire a CIO that knows his or her stuff.

If you are uncertain, hire a DR consultant to come do an audit.

The consultant, if met with truculence on the part of the IT staff, would be a good indicator that your staff know that they have bones buried.

Plan to look carefully at your software needs and if you decide to develop in-house, make sure that your CIO knows what his or her programmers are doing.

Programmers make lousy CIO’s, just like a surgeon makes a lousy GP.

If you have a belly ache and go to a surgeon for advice, what do they do? They cut flesh. Their first thought is to open you up and see why you hurt!

You go to a GP who takes your history and discovers that you had sushi some time back, has you checked for the helicobacter virus; a few antibiotics later you are fine and you don’t have some scar on your belly, not to mention a long recovery time.

Bad decisions in business cost money and bad decisions with your health also cost money and could cost you your life.

Programmers not only make bad CIO’s, they make bad managers. Most programmers are very myopic. They have to be to code. When you take someone with that skill set and throw them into management, they do not have the breadth of experience necessary to handle a wide variety of issues. I have seen too many over my career that started out as programmers and made convoluted programmatic solutions for an easy fix situation.

There was an old cartoon many years ago where there were two computers in a room. The Secretary and the exec, both on their computer. The IT guy played as Goofy, or a Goofy look-a-like was asked to find a way to get the file on a diskette from this computer to that one. Goofy takes the disk, scratches his head for a second and then like a Frisbee, tossed the disk to the secretary. K.I.S.S.

The CIO must know enough about all things IT, to know when smoke is being blown up his or her southern most orifice. The CIO must also have enough business savvy to be able to negotiate with the CFO who has a different skill set, as well as deal the CEO and those on the board of directors.

What you don’t want is some sycophant working for you and you don’t want a control freak either. The CIO must be very well rounded with lots of experience.

Management must not become your single point of failure.

-Best

#Anonymous Syndrome Simplified A.S.S

Driving down the highway at posted speeds can lead to aggression on some folks parts, as they seem to think that just because the posted speed is “thus” that is only a suggested speed and those folks who follow that “suggested” speed should be on the feeder and not the highway.

Than you have those on the feeder who drive as if they are more important than you, speed around you in a reckless maneuver at double the posted speed to get one car length in front of you.

I could talk about this all day but you get the point, there are bad drivers out there and the question is, which are they? Are they the people traveling above the posted speed or the folks driving along at the posted speed impeding some peoples progress.

I don’t know if they still have it but, California law would pull over someone who was impeding traffic by driving the speed limit and not the speeders so we need to sort this out.

Rendering an opinion on a web site where the news has been reported, you have the ability to post your thoughts without the stipulation of telling who you really are.

Since no one really knows who you are as you are “spider547” or “tummytucker29” those are alias’s which could belong to anyone in the world with an internet connection.

Because you are anonymous there is no accountability and you can basically say whatever goes through your head.

We have all read them, comments that are pro and con for some event that the media wants to talk about via social media.

So someone post a comment that is for and someone else post a comment against calling the person who posted the comment for, stupid and other ugly names because they can. A firestorm quickly erupts, nobody is on topic anymore as they are too buys cussing one another.

Ignored behavior goes away.

When someone acts like an ASS don’t engage them. If you engage them they have an audience.

Going to the bank the other day I noticed a car that had a particular sticker on it affixed in a certain way that made it unique from other cars with similar stickers. This car “or the person driving” had cut me off not too many days before this day. His move was reckless and gained him nothing. This same person did not know that I knew who he was and got behind me in line. I noticed that he did not cut in front of me in line, and I also noticed how polite that he was.

A huge part of me wanted to introduce myself and then tell him about his driving the other day but, why ruin a moment.

Your car has a unique id, your license plate which if someone wanted to, could find out who you are. More and more drivers are buying and installing dash-cams so your reckless behavior could be used against you some day.

When you post to a forum or some site your unique ip address is logged. With this information I can get your coordinates and tell exactly where you were when you posted. If I can do it, someone else can too.

So, what is all this about?

Never mind Santa knowing if you are naughty or nice, or Jesus or pick your deity… If someone wanted to go through the trouble they could knock on your front door and exact revenge. Am I encouraging this? No, what I am encouraging is for you and everyone else out there who feels like they are Anonymous, to let you know that you are not.

Some guy posted on twitter not too long ago a threat on the president’s life. Now he was supposedly anonymous but, he was visited and arrested soon afterwards, as he should have been.

Do the right thing. Do the right thing even if no one is around to see you do the right thing. Don’t brag about doing the right thing but, if you are a parent, make sure your kids see you do the right thing. Lead by example. If you do something stupid in front of your kids guess what, they will take that as their example. Like little Ralph in the Christmas story, he learned that word not from his friend, but his father. If you screw up, man up and explain what the right thing should have been, admit that non of us are perfect and if what you did affected your kids negatively, apologize and ask them for forgiveness. This too is leading by example.

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

Anger is a close cousin of hate.

I don’t get excited when people act foolishly on the roads. I back off and give them plenty of room to act idiotic, as I don’t want to be part of their drama.

Currently our leadership worldwide it so show our Ass. Read any forum where someone has reported on something and you will find differing opinions met with vile rhetoric, that is fit for no where else but the political arena, and prisons.

Truthfully it is fit for nowhere!

As you take on the holiday shopping with other frustrated customers, and store clerks; keep in mind that their day may not be as good as yours. Don’t be an A.S.S…

-Best

The Time Dok explained

Wow, I get a lot of questions about DOK. Like I can’t spell or something!

DOC would be very presumptuous of me as I am no doctor. I don’t have a PHD so I can’t even claim it that way. I do specialize in working on a type of clock that is very unique in the industry. It is more mechanical than electric and the design has been around since, well, 1939 I think.

There are few around who really know how to work on them and do it right, and I happen to enjoy working with my hands so, I took on the challenge in 1995, when a friend ask me if I could fix it for him.

I have a reputation around church as the guy that can fix anything. I have had more apparatuses brought to my home from toasters, lights, fans, VCR’s, DVD players, stereo’s, TV’s, laptops, computers of all sorts, and well if it plugs in or takes batteries, chances are I have worked on them.

I have even repaired a number of regular clocks although that is an area that I try to stay away from as that is “very time consuming,” no pun intended.

It was no surprise when this clock came to me via that reputation, and it was no surprise to him when I asked him to get specific parts from the vendor and was able to repair it and put it back together for him.

As these things are sold around the world and the only animal that can survive the pounding that they get, the design has reached its zenith and will most probably stay that way until paper is outdated.

Since that day, I have repaired thousands of these clocks and am one of the few who do it correctly, with OEM parts, and get them back out there for another few years of service before they need to come back and be cleaned, and so forth.

As the hobby turned into a business I created a website www.timedok.com where it was, “That is Dok with a K!” I was going to spell it correctly as Timedoc, however someone has that domain and I was not about to let someone profit for sitting on a name. There are those that have, but this guy was not, at least not from me.

I have been doing IT stuff since before the internet, when it was called Data Processing so my computer, network, all things IT acumen; is probably as good as anyone’s out there. (Now that is an example of presumptuous!) On top of that, I possess copious amounts of business prowess; I am one of the few that get it!

I started with computers when CPM, Trisdos and finally DOS 1.0 were what you dealt with. Cobal, basic and machine language were the languages around with Pascal. Acoustical modems were in vogue and 300baud over the twisted pair was awesome!

As a brief aside, I also write science fiction, have a fascination with time, physics, particle physics, celestial mechanics, astronomy and electronics. I paint, study scripture, read way too much, and like photography and nature. Philosophy interests me a lot, but it is often difficult to find someone to talk with about any or all of these things.

Because of that I have many friends who may have an interest in one or more of these things that I can talk with about them, but finding someone intellectual enough to keep up with me is not easy. Snob you say! No, not at all.

I have never met a stranger and talk with just about anyone. Everyone has a story and just because their interest may not have the latitude of mine, that does not mean that they are any less interesting. I value everyone. I make a point to get to know the janitor, as he or she too has a story to tell..

Some folks lead a very simple life that focus around family, friends, horses or something like that, and I admire that. I try and find time to quite my mind with things like painting, walks in the woods, or sitting by the ocean, just listening to the birds and waves and the screams and giggles of young children as they play in the sand, or get into the water with their parents in tow.

I restore old electronic equipment, as a hobby and get great joy out of bringing some 50 plus year old apparatus back to life after it has sat dormant in some closet or garage collecting dust.

I enjoy meeting people on this media or via ham radio and have for most of my life. As I said, we all have a story to tell and some should be preserved in book form, others anecdotally noted, and referenced as fodder for possible stories in books, yet to be written.

I have been called Dok and I don’t mind it. My name is Scott and I answer to both when the phone rings or an e-mail is crafted to pique my interest enough to open it, and not think it spam.

Now you know, (as Paul Harvey used to say,) the rest of the story.

-Best

#Protests, #Respect and #Cops #handsup #icantbreath

The recent protests over Micheal Brown’s death were ill advised and predicated on lies.

There are senators, football players and people in all walks of life holding their hands up screaming don’t shoot. They are perpetrating a hoax on society to further an agenda that could have very dangerous consequences. This would be fine if it were not based on a lie!

Don’t resist arrest. Parents, teach your kids not to resist arrest. Teach them from a young age to respect folks, not just their elders, but the man in Blue. Stop with the victim mentality..

The man in blue has a tough job, they have to do everything right. Each and every decision needs to be automatic as some must be made in a split second. If you brandish a weapon, the Cop now can fire at you. If your behavior makes him or her fear for their life, they can shoot you. It is not as if they are going to mull it over in their minds. If they see a weapon pointed at them they are going to use deadly force! Shoot first ask questions later. That goes with the territory of being a cop. They deserve to go home at the end of the day, as do you.

Eric Garner should still be alive. Unlike Mr. Brown, Eric Garner was simply not complying with orders to put his hands behind his back. He was no stranger to the police; and the judicial system. Mr. Garner has a criminal record that includes more than 30 arrests dating back to 1980 on charges such as assault, resisting arrest and grand larceny.

Unlike the Ferguson case where the facts were released and people choose not to read them, or believe them, here, all of the facts are not released. They released enough relevant facts to justify their ruling however; a mistrust exists so it is unlikely that if all of the facts are released that the outcome will be any different.

We could get off into the weeds and talk about how this opportunist came to be a petty criminal, selling un-taxed cigarettes and that is certainly worthy of another blog. The outcome was unfortunate.

The press is playing loose with the facts to stir up interest which relate to ratings. It was clearly not a choke hold but calling it one or misleading the reader to believe that it could have been one, will get more readers, thus more ratings. It also leads to more mistrust and possibly more violence.

If he could talk, he could breathe, clearly if it was a choke hold, he could not have talked. Mr. Garner had asthma which complicated his arrest and most likely added to his eventual demise. Had he not resisted arrest he would still be here. Had he not been violating the law, he still would be here. He clearly had no respect for the man in blue and that is the dangerous message that it being propagated by these two deaths.

To craft the narrative in such a way that Mr. Brown, a black teenager headed to college, was executed by a white cop is a dangerous narrative as more black folks are liable to believe it, and disrespect the cops.

Mr. Brown was a troubled individual that had a long criminal history. Mr. Brown’s lifestyle and lack of respect for the law lead to his demise, and nobody but Mr. Brown is responsible for that.

Mr. Garner had underlying medical conditions which evidently played a role in his demise. That would seem to be the facts as I can gather them from the various sources.

So who wants to be a cop?

Cops have a real tough job. They have to deal with some pretty crappy people. Watch Alaska troopers of some other Nat Geo shows about troopers.

If you want to know about the cops in your area, get a police scanner and listen in. You will hear all sorts of non-sense and wonder who those people are that are pulling that crap.

Unlike what the media would want you to believe, neither of these deaths had anything to do with race. The perps happen to be black and the cops happen to be white. The interesting thing is, when a black officer shoots an unarmed white guy; it hardly makes the local news much less the national news.

Here is the message that is to the point. “All life matters!”

I would like to see all officers wearing body cameras that have to be on and recording when they are on duty. This data, as it is being recorded, should be uploaded to the cloud so it is “non-volatile.” This data should be on screens that their supervisor has access to, live as it happens. With the radio going and the cameras streaming video, it would take the cop question out of the equation.

If you are going to protest make it count. Push for this technology to be in use so the cop gets a fair hearing and the people that he deals with cant claim something that is fallacious, calling the officers actions into question. With the use of the camera, the “bad cops” if any; will quickly be looking for another job.

I know of cases where cops acted too harshly so I am not blind to the fact that some need to be doing something else beside wearing a gun and “serving you!” When the facts are there in HD color with audio and video from many different angles, it would be difficult for the cop to claim an untruth, and it would be difficult for someone to say that he was kneeling on the ground with his hands up when he was shot!

-Best to you and those that you care about… Be careful out there if you are protesting, we don’t need to have any “Accidents.”

Open letter to: Free the #Nipple…

This subject matter had me chuckling when I was asked about it, until I listened to the point that she was trying to make.

One of my favorite news anchors was on Red Eye one night with Greg Gutfeld where she was wearing a dress that was kind of revealing. I am certain that she was taped into the dress but as they were heckling her a little bit “in fun of course” she proffered her thoughts on breasts. “Breasts were made for three things: to get a man, to feed babies and prove that gravity works!” The person who said that was Patty Ann Browne who at one time had the 4:30pm spot on Fox news. She has a bubbly personality and just someone who is a pleasure to listen to, and of course, very easy on the eyes; skimpy dress or not.

The free the nipple campaign is being promoted by some who see no difference between the male nipple and the female nipple. Is there a difference?

The pro side of the debate hinges on the anatomical configuration of the male chest and the female chest. Indeed some obese men have more breast tissue than some women and the anatomical configuration would appear about the same.

If men did not have hair on their chest and were slightly obese one could make the argument that their chests are no different from that of a women.

Here is the rub… Men are hardwired to respond in a sexual manner to such things as breast, butts, legs, and just about every part of the female. Indeed, our programming is such that we are aroused visually by ladies and lady parts.

If you could look at things pragmatically, there is absolutely no reason that lady parts should have that affect on man, when you boil it down there is nothing attractive about them at all, period. My guess is that the people making this argument are looking at things pragmatically and thus don’t see the problem.

The attraction should be to the person, and not some part of them made for procreation.

As I stated in another post, when a man sees a lady in a bikini, where do the eyes go first? They go to the spots that are covered by the cloth. The hell of it is that, once they go there, the mind takes to filling in the blanks as it were, trying to complete the picture.

You have no doubt seen programs on TV where a woman will be talking with a guy and have to tell him that her eyes are up here, not in her blouse. While men are visual creatures, going past their programming in this day and age is really part of being mature, much less, enlightened. There is no excuse for that type of behavior in today’s society. Having said that; it happens! I was no different as a teen, and I did not know why! I just knew that cleavage was wonderful! I knew that the silhouette of a woman through a light fabric was a vision to behold, I did not know why however. I knew that playboy was a gift of grandeur, but to be fair, back in my day they had just stopped putting clover leaves over the nipples; and anything else was just not there.

Some women, to be fair, dress in a provocative manner to elicit that type of response, or to get attention, or call attention to their “assets.”

Speaking as someone who has been there, training of ones “program” takes a conscious effort. As some of us “men” try to evolve past our programming, we have people like Kim Kardashian posing nude. We have Skinamax and more smut on TV than ever before. We have so much porn on the internet that it is hard to not run into it.

Attractive women in sales positions get into to see more clients than their male counterparts. Most pharmaceutical reps that I have seen in 15 years of working in the hospitals were female, and attractive. They got in to see the doctor where the male counterpart spent more time in the lobby or waiting room. It would be interesting to pull statistics from the two to see which sex sold the most. Attractive women working at restaurants showing a little cleavage and being a little flirtatious garner larger tips than their male counterparts. Hooters and similar venue restaurants hire girls that are willing to dawn the skimpy outfit and play the part. The food is more expensive and still they do well and the girls get good tips. There are differences within the sexes and some of them are negative and some positive. So are all men pigs who frequent those places? Some women would say “YES” and some would be a little more forgiving and say no.

Pornography is rampant and let’s face it “sex sells.” Playboy is the industry it is today because of this visual media. If men were not turned on by looking at nude models, it would be like many other magazines, read for the articles and not for the centerfold.

When I was a young guy I thought the ideal job would be to be a photographer for Playboy. Boy am I glad that I did not pursue that. I did weddings for a while and I left that as well. Bridzilla’s suck!

When photography was first invented taking nude pictures of women was top of the list. The same is true for motion picture. Skin flicks were a large industry, even though it was illegal. Man’s programming is such that even though we can “know” everything about it, we still look.

Today in this age the adult film industry is in the billions on revenue. It was roughly $13 billion in 2006.

In 2008 there were over 41K websites that distributed porn. Of the free websites most of them were simply used as bait to get you to go to a pay web site.

Over 90% of pay porn sites buy their material instead of creating it themselves.

While this letter is not about the porn industry, my point to include a few stats is that visual stimulation of mostly men, is a huge industry and the folks that ban the nipple probably don’t want to promote pornography, even though most people with a brain know the difference between the two. In the bible belt I would guess that nude and pornography are the same thing as far as they are concerned.

The Free the Nipple campaign was popularized by Scout Willis, Bruce Willis’s and Demi Moors’ daughter. She went walking around Manahatten half naked to bring attention to the campaign. It is evidently legal there. Her goal was to bring to the forefront this unequal right of a man and a woman to go shirtless.

As an intellectual exercise let’s think about this.

If I wanted to make this campaign successful; how would I do it?

First I would need to change public opinion.

The LGBT community has taken an in your face approach which just pisses people off. If you want people to buy in, that is not the way that I would go about it.

There would have to be a strong differentiation between nudity and pornography.

The folks that would be for it: would be some very liberal women, and I suspect most college kids as most of them are certainly more liberal than those of us with some age on us.

Support for them might also come from men who A: liked to look at breasts and B: men who are evolved enough to recognize that there is indeed a legal disparity.

Against: conservative religious groups comprising of women and men.

Overtly conservative people of no religious conviction but their upbringing may have had religious ties.

The “for” group is easy to figure out, the “against” is a little more complex.

1 Timothy 2:9

9Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, 10but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. 11A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.…

I think that this is the verse that probably would most likely be used as against it. However; looking at this in context, Paul is talking here about wives, not women in general, and I think he is really addressing the roles of wives with their husbands.

I also think that “religious folk” would find the “free the nipple campaign” to be incongruent with their teachings and beliefs, and might even equate this with the work of the devil.

I maintain that clothes were born out of necessity to protect one from the elements and not from modesty. Modesty is most likely a byproduct of wearing clothes.

If a poll were taken, I would guess that it would be about 30% give or take, of the country might be for it, so here is my advice.

It is no surprise that there are parts of the country that are more liberal than others and there is also no surprise that there are places where this type of “dress” would be more acceptable than others, downtown Manhattan or, downtown anywhere for that matter; not so much, for either of the sexes.

Some examples of places might be a beach or community that is set aside for public nudity, certainly. Your own house or fenced back yard, certainly. Communities that are actually set aside for naturist “buy naked” type places.

Pick your battles:

Blue states and blue counties is where I would go first. By blue I mean democratic leaning states and counties. Once you get a foothold in some of those places the idea will spread as this is not a really a political football but democrats seem to be more open to things such as this. Men more than women will most likely be your allies as men are more open to naturism than women. (in my experience)

I would like to see those folks organize their thoughts and efforts on getting states, cities and towns to set aside areas where public nudity is ok. There are some places in a few states but, not everyone can travel to another state or country just to be free of the encumbrances of clothing.

It is more than just “free the nipple” however; that really needs to be taken into account. There is a subset of humanity that is in every country, that is not hung up on clothing, and who feel that nudity is nothing more than a lifestyle. Who are we to impose our beliefs or likes or dislikes unilaterally on everyone?

There are beaches all around this country and others where it is technically illegal; but the law looks the other way where breasts are concerned. I would imagine if folks complained, something would have to be done. There need to be beaches where fair warning is given by posting, and this is legal. Naturist or just those that want to go topless should not have to break the law in order to do it.

Truly, there are some who can look at another human being without clothing and not become erotically aroused. There are some who cannot, referencing those that cannot get past a woman’s breast and look her in the eyes. It is those that need to stay away from such areas and it is that reason why public nudity cannot just exist everywhere.

Some folks have issues with this and it is for that reason that it would be unfair to just allow public nudity everywhere, at this time.

Much like an alcoholic should not go into places that sell or have booze, one who has issues with sex should stay away from “public boobs!” They should have a safe haven just as those that want to be shirtless or clothing less should also have a safe haven.

The free the nipple folks need to focus their efforts on goals that are obtainable and not on some goal that will never happen. By gaining ground with public places for this type of lifestyle, mankind can protect those that do not want to see it, or cannot handle it, while allowing those that want that lifestyle to be free to live as they choose.

Other countries have parks and such were naturism is perfectly ok. We as America need to unshackle our puritan prudishness and not try to impose those ideals on them. We are a global community in many respects and joining our brethren on simple things like this where no one is injured is…well….past due!

I am actually pleased to see that shows like “naked and afraid” and “buying naked” are gaining popularity. I actually think this is a good start to get prudish people aware that they are not the center of the universe but; if they want to wear a Burka or some sort of frock that hides their skin from view, they too have that right. Not many years ago there were police that stayed on the beach with their sole purpose to measure the length of the woman’s bathing costume to make certain that it met with puritan ideals. Folks, women can smoke although they should not, they vote and if they want things to change they need to, and; they don’t have to wear a bra! Get over it!

I can’t help but think that “body shaming,” in large part plays a roll in folks thinking ill of this type of thing.

As an artist I study the human body from the inside out. There is beauty in the Skelton, the muscles, and all things that make it what it is. Having spent time in many hospitals and on many beaches, I have seen all types of bodies “from the inside out” as well as the people who are on the beach in bathing costumes who are definitely out of shape. They are still beautiful. We all have warts or strange shapes and sizes, and lopsided this or that and if you get hung up on that, your prejudices could color your opinion of whether it should be allowed at all.

I was once invited to a nudist colony, years ago. I remember telling the person that I happen to think that most folks look better with their clothing on. It was not about looks however; and years later I discovered that. It is indeed about freedom to literally be as you are. No judgment. It is about Feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin and be around others in a like situation without the sexual overtones or the judgment of others as they too are in this same situation.

There was this one man I will never forget; He was way out of shape, wearing a Speedo if I remember right. He had a scar from his neck, around his belly button down to his waste and down his leg. This was a large man!

He was walking on the beach, just like I was, and I smiled when I saw him and thought to myself, “good for you!”

If a Speedo makes you feel sexy, than have at it! Who am I to judge anyone? Once you don’t have clothes to hide behind ,you kind of show “yourself” and not just your skin but the person who you really are. Those around you do as well and that makes for an interesting day.

Are there people who would be mean and think or say ugly things, you bet! Allowing the opinions of others to affect how you feel about yourself is not a good idea. If people hurt you with their words, you are in fact allowing it by giving them that power.

Once you know yourself, you take away that power from anyone, as you know who you are, and what you are, and no matter what, you are beautiful.

While the “free the nipple campaign” is about women being lawfully permitted to walk around as men do, without shirts, I think both sexes can learn something from this. I really need some female input here as I think females might also be stimulated sexually by visual stimuli and just maybe, some half naked guy walking around with the “6 pack” might arouse them, and encourage them to be inappropriate.

Maybe, just maybe… that is why we hear of 24 year old female teachers having sex with 16 year old boys. Maybe, just maybe…. we should not be talking about freeing the nipple but covering up the nipples of both men and women… Thoughts?

Summarize here: Organize your efforts by state, city etc and push for places where this type of activity can be made lawful. Start small and in some of the places that are the easiest, like a small snowball going down hill one success will breed others. If this is really important, don’t bite off too much at one time. Pick a state, get to know your city counsel folks and garner public support from that community. While free the nipple is catchy, and that may be all you need, I might consider finding another more politically correct phrase, which would garner support from more than just a few. I might actually get in touch with a PR firm and pick their brain.

I don’t know how many people out there would support this; so that might be a good first step. How large is your base? To get support from the naturist associations would be a good first step if you have not already done so. Unlike the LGBT community with their in your face approach you do not want to trample on anyone. A truculent style of persuasion will get you nowhere! If you want to be respected, you must first respect.

So to my friend that asked me about this, here are my thoughts after much consideration and soul searching. I hope that you find some of them useful! As always I welcome friendly conversation, debate and forwards…

-Best

#Scam of the day… No time off for the Holidays #virus

In today’s e-mail there were several different scams from well known companies. Most of them deal with “order status.” Be wise about clicking on any of these things as most of them are fraught with danger… Yes DANGER…. The link could be as innocuous as some ad for Viagra or it could be a link to Cyber Locker or some other virus waiting to just ruin your day.

If you are not expecting something like that, don’t click it!

Have a good Monday!

#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