Category: LifeStyle

My Fifteen Minutes

Everyone seems to get his or her 15 minutes.

I made the front page of a small East Texas Newspaper twenty-four years ago, in a most austere way.

Driving home this evening I passed more than one person who was weaving in their lane. Usually it is because they are texting or trying to see who called and of course, they are much better at this than every other driver is, so they can do it safely. Sometimes the weaving is simply because they are drunk, or high.

In the year 1992, my life changed forever.

After a head on collision at freeway speeds involving an intoxicated 80 year old, I was forced to re-invent myself. Managing to live through being treated in a small country hospital that doubled as an emergency vet… (Joking…, I think…) I was destined to do other things.

The broken bones and lacerations healed, but the scars remain, hidden just under the surface, pain is a constant reminder of that fateful day 24 years ago. I have legs today because I happen to enjoy coffee. Moments before the impact, I had stopped to purchase Gas and coffee. Filling one of those stainless steel thermoses, I had the thermos upright in the seat beside me. Topping the hill to find a Cadillac, in my lane coming at me, my two options were to dive into the other lane or hit the brakes. A red Truck was in the lane beside me so, in the split second that I had to utter the explicative “Oh Shit!” It was all over. Literally, the accident was that fast. I had locked up anti-locks breaks, and bent the brake pedal…He never attempted to hit his breaks.

The combined collision speed was 115 miles an hour. How they got all that I have no idea however, my speedometer was stuck at 45…frozen in time.

The memory of that split second in time, indelibly etched into my brain is a constant reminder of what happens when idiots drink and drive. Every detail lives with me in excruciating detail. Time fascinates me today because of this, as I think time is not linear but relative. During the Nano second of the impact, the event turned into one of those films you see that was taken by a high-speed camera. Bits of glass tumbled frame by frame, horizontally from my left to right. The dash came up to meet me as the steering wheel crushed my face and chest. The thermos full of coffee tumbled from beside me, launching itself to the floor, lodging between the firewall and the frame of my seat. The hydraulic effect of the thermos filled with liquid, stopped the dash from severing my legs and most probably kept the shaft of the steering column from piercing my heart.

The driver of the other car was under his dash. He was hauled away first in the first ambulance arriving on the scene. He had one small cut on his forehead and released from the hospital that day. He was not even wearing a seatbelt. I never heard what happened with the driver after that. Since both of us had the same insurance company. I was lucky to be compensated for my losses. I remember the claims person as being nasty to me on the phone… They did not even replace my truck as it was now 6 months old. I was upside down on the loan and they did not care…. It was a smaller truck, not one of the full size trucks like I drive today. I understand that claims adjusters work for the benefit of the insurance company but I was surely not in “good hands.” Insurance is in fact unavoidable, if you are lucky; you are pissing your money away paying for something that you will never need. They do whatever they can do to keep from paying out.

The trip to the hospital started as I said, after they removed and transported the person who was responsible for the accident.

My vision was fading, as the pain in my chest was intense. I made my peace with God as I knew that I was going to die and strangely enough, I did not seem to mind. There was a strange peace about it as if the answer was at hand; this is how it will happen. God however had other plans… While waiting for the final sting… I tried to relieve the pain, I managed to remove my seat belt, but the pain was still there.

With what was left of my vision, I was able to watch as they pulled the other driver from under his dash and put him onto the stretcher. A man came to my window talking with me as I told him about the pain and the vision issues. It hurt to talk and my statements were short as breath was scarce. My face had met up with the steering wheel, Or the steering wheel with my face, so talking “clearly, plainly” was not really an option; nor was it possible as blood was now leaving my body through every orifice that I had visible and some places that were not visible.

The engine and tires of my truck were underneath my seat. Using the jaws of life I heard the popping sounds of the metal as they cut my door away from around me. Finally, they got to me after removing my door and cutting what was left of the restraining device that was still wrapped around me. By now, my vision was all but gone, but I could still hear the noises of the equipment, and the voices of the first responders. You have heard people mention the white light. My vision had faded from white sparkles to a blank white screen. One of the responders said, “It is a miracle that he is alive.” Placing that plastic collar on me, they then pulled me out of my truck. Once they laid me down, my vision returned. I could see the emergency vehicles, and the wrecker driver picking up my belongings as they were now strewn over much of the freeway. Steam was coming out from somewhere under my seat which was now where the engine was. The bed of the truck was warped; the force of the wreck torqued and twisted the metal.

Once in the ambulance the man told me that he was going to put some sugar water into me, the 18 gauge needle was going to hurt. Compared to the rest of the pain that I was in, that was a mosquito bite.

Arriving at the hospital, they were already working on the other person that hit me. A curtain separated us, but I could hear him. He was old, drunk and on medications. His wife had just bought him another car as he totaled the last one. He had badgered her about driving so she bought him this old big Cadillac so if he were in an accident; he would be protected. He bragged about how he guessed she was right because he was still there.

Laying there on the other side of the curtain, listening to him tell the story of his classic Cadillac, what was left of my blood boiled! It was not bad enough that they took the old person first, but I had to be in the same room with him!

It was now my turn to be treated like meat.

Cutting my clothing off me there was no shortage of witnesses to watch the story unfold. Doctors, nurses, physician’s assistants (young attractive female with long curly brown hair) and a burly old cop who clearly had never missed a meal, were a few that made the cadre of spectators.

The report of the accident was read aloud to all that were present including the fact that my seatbelt was not buckled.

I tried to tell them that I took it off but, the cop was making notes, not interested in my wellbeing but who was at fault and if there was a ticket to write. He looked down at me as if to say, yea sure…we have heard that one before… I was pissed! Arrogant son of a bitch! If he could not see from the evidence what happened, he was a moron!

As they cut my shirt off, a large purple stripe across my chest and my belly that the belt left, told the tail, and at that; the cop put his ticket book away! I was more concerned about living through this and he was looking to write a ticket. I do not mean to sound churlish. I know many police who I call friends. Thinking about this, I am still pissed at that asshole!

The doctor was wearing a black silky sports jacket with a yellow logo on it as he was at some sporting event and was on call. He was not happy to be there and his bedside manner left much to be desired. There were two hospitals in this town, one for poor folks, and one for people with means. I had insurance and means and they brought me to the other hospital that was in need of so many things.

After examining my naked body in front of many people, the “doctor” flipped me over to stuff a finger up my butt as the final insult… Now I had broken bones, crushed chest, face and legs and without x-rays or anything else, he treats me like a slab of meat to finish his exam so he can write up some orders for the nurses and get back to what he was doing before the rude interruption. After he was satisfied with his initial exam, he left. They did a sonogram of my heart to find that it had been bruised. Then they took me down to x-ray. X-ray was close to the morgue, I could smell dead people, or was it me.

The ceiling tiles, stained from years of leaks and neglect told the tail of the financial history of this place. The X-Ray machine would not stay in place. After she would set it, get some distance to trigger it, the head would slide down, as its joints were old and loose. We had to take several “pictures” before she was finished. No telling how much extra radiation that I was exposed to because of this antiquated relic that belonged in a museum.

Back in the emergency room, the man’s wife arrived. He told her… “They said I was in the wrong lane.”

Laying there listening to him getting his three stitches on his forehead, it was not long before he was released to go home. Before they left, his wife came over to me. From what I could tell, I was covered in my own blood from head to toe. My beard was caked in blood. She rubbed my forehead as she apologized… ”I knew better to get him another car.” She said…then she told me “I am not supposed to tell you this, we have good insurance…”

Even in my state of mind, I was too nice to tell her what she could do with her good insurance… I had to live through this day, this night and then another day before I could even think about getting things taken care of.

After hours spent in the emergency room; I was moved to ICU. If you have never been in the hospital before “and I had not” this was not an experience that I would welcome or recommend.

Since I had a bruised heart, it was decided that I could not have pain medication. A dentist came in and checked my teeth that had gone through my face. Stitching up my face from the inside out, no pain medication was used.

The next fun thing was the doctor that set my broken nose. This person reminded me of the professor on back to the future. Pushing on my nose with his thumb, he could not get it exactly straight so again, without any pain management, he put these huge forceps up my nose and … got it straight. The pain was unbelievable as the final crunching sounds of the bones ceased.

The machine that monitored my pulse echoed the throbbing of the pains in my body.

Listening to the beeping of the machine, I knew as long as it was beeping, I was alive.

The PA came in and tried multiple times to get me to tell her what I was taking. “C’mon, we know you are taking something, what it is…we need to know…” “Really…my word meant nothing… I don’t do stuff like that, never have!” Several times she tried to get me to tell her what I was on…the answer was always the same. I maybe the only person on this damned planet who has never done it but…I don’t…

“We don’t know what you are on so we can’t give you pain medicine.” She said… What was I supposed to do, lie so they could manage my pain?

The next day, after the worst night in my life the toxicology report came back…my potassium was low…”What are you doing to cause your potassium to be low?” the doctor with bad bedside manners asked. “Ummm, I don’t salt my food…” Never did get as much as an aspirin.

The days and nights blurred together as I could not sleep. My nose was packed with cotton, and it throbbed for days. I could barely breathe as my ribs and chests were broken, breathing hurt!

Every few hours someone came in and jabbed me several times with a needle to get blood. The phlebotomist, if that is who they were, sucked at it! I was still getting saline from an IV so peeing was the only activity that I could muster. Lifting the sheets was near impossible and on several occasions, I had to get help…talk about humbling…

After the third day, glass from the accident was still imbedded in my hands left arm and face. My beard was one solid chunk of caked blood and not so much as one person offered to get the glass out of me or clean me up.

For entertainment, I found that I could control the beats of my heart. Using some biofeedback technique, I could slow them down to an eerie slow level or speed them up. I was hooked up with a remote telemetry gadget so someone somewhere could look at a screen and see my heart rhythm. There was also a camera on the ceiling watching me. At some point in time, I wanted a nurse and could not get one. I pulled the telemetry leads off my chest. The monitor went to a silent tone and … nothing. Nobody came for close to 15 minutes! If this was ICU, I shuddered to think what care was like in a regular room.

The next day the hospital administrator came to my bed as I had asked to be transferred to Houston. I personally knew Dr. Debakey and he knew me. He even told me once if I needed his services to let him know. If there was anything going on with my heart, I would much rather he and his team take care of me than this bunch of people.

The next day they moved me to a private room in the “best part” of the hospital. Some wing of the hospital had been made via donations from someone. It was there, with help from family that I managed to get myself into the shower, and stay there until I managed to get all the dried blood off me, out of my hair, and what have you. I then dug into my luggage and used my own damned tweezers to get the glass out of me.

The doctor with the crappy attitude before releasing me was much nicer on his final examination. I guess he was finally satisfied that I was not on anything…the wreck was in no way my fault or…he got lucky the night before…. Either way, I was happy to leave that hospital. Holding a pillow next to my chest my friend of many years drove me home where I lost months of employment and finally had to leave the job I loved, as I was no longer able to do it.

One of the people that I missed was Dr. DeBakey and his team. I had spent years taking care of the doctors in the Texas Medical Center and ended up in a small East Texas hospital that was a joke by any standards.

Loosing months of pay I got a call one day from MADD…mothers against drunk driving. While I could ill afford it, I sent them some money anyway.

Today 24 years later I am often teased about my driving. I am very defensive, leave lots of room in front of me and preach to those that will listen. I tell them to pay attention to what is going on at least 15 cars in front of you and leave enough room so you can see them. I am often told, I drive like a grandpa…slow. Slow translates to the speed limit or a mile or two above or below it, depending on the average terrain.

Driving a full size truck with many airbags is only a small part of my strategy. When I see these people with their damned phones driving and messing with the phone, part of me really wants to scream at them. Then the cops have radios, phones and a laptop computers and a host of other distractions while they drive through school zones…Folks, they are no different from you… Watch them; you will see them drift all over the road as they mess with their toys. I have seen them, and I cringe.

Keep your distance from them, big trucks and cheerleader types who think a selfie while driving through a school zone is smart. They do it! They are all over Facebook… Just the other day a young woman picked up her child from school and took off from the school, passing everyone doing 40 or better in a 20. She was on her phone at the time…texting as she passed me. “Where is a cop when you need one I said…” With that, a cop pulled up on her bumper on his motorcycle. She drove a long way without noticing him behind her, as she was texting on her phone. That ticket had to be pricey!

Who do you think you are that you can endanger others with your BS?

I wish I could say that this is a story and “blah blah blah” but the truth is, that this is the truth.

This happened, and I am certain that by now, some of the memories have faded but I must tell you, most are still there including the pain. Twenty-four years now, I have lived in unmitigated pain. I take nothing for it. I live with it, working out as best I can to help manage it…but there are no meds that would leave me mentally acute.

I do not know what happened with the man that hit me. I know that if you have the same insurance carrier, you lose. By now I am certain he is gone, but there are plenty others to take his place. There were no smart phones back then…Now everyone has one. Weed is legal in some states and I fear that those people will drive impaired as well. Even in states where it is illegal, I am certain that one of three folks is under some sort of influence.

Defensive driving if taught correctly, would be money well spent.

-Best

Getting Published #writer #author

I write the following from what I have learned thus far on this subject. I would appreciate input from those of you that have made this trip successfully.

Write Well

It cannot be overemphasized enough to write well. I have read many books written by people who were self-published. They wrote their story that they wanted to tell. Not being able to make their fortune from their manuscript, they self-published. They spent the next several months trying to sell enough of their books to re-coop their investment. Not everyone was meant to be a writer or published. If they had read their work more carefully they would have discovered that it was not written well. This leads me to my next thought.

Write for your enjoyment.

The passion that most writers have is not to sell millions of books, just to write. It has been said that if you want to get to know the author, read their book. Take this one-step further. If you want to get to know yourself, who you are…, write a book. When you are reading your story, if you are listening, you will find yourself in your characters. Insight as to who you actually are will come out in their actions and feelings.

If your characters do not have feelings, you need to go back and try again. Sell the story through their actions or feelings.

Which reminds me, do not try to do this for a living, until you are famous. Your sanity might depend upon you being in this world with a day job. We are social creatures, being around people and not in your world of your story all of the time is important. Of this… I speak from experience…

Start out with a bang!

The first few pages sell your book, especially for an unknown. The prologue is a good place to entice the reader to want to know more, than you can build the story after the prologue. Once you become a JK Rowling, than you can let your name (or brand) sell your product.

Be well read

Most successful writers read a lot. While I have read some “flash in the pan” books that were not well written, nor were the authors “well read,” that actually made it. Statistics show that more often than not, books that get published, are from people who were well read.

Have a story that is unique and interesting

Your story should be unique. If it is a rehash of a common situation, there is a good chance it will sit on the circular file cabinet of some publisher, until the janitor makes his or her rounds.

Expect rejection

You must have thick skin to be in this vocation. Your own family may not like what you have written. Do not expect everyone to love it as much as you do. This is your baby, your passion not theirs. As soon as you send it off to someone, start working on something else. One of the publishers that I have been talking with might take a year before they get back to you simply telling you, no thanks!

A Good Agent

First off, agents are about as hard to sell as are publishers themselves. Many folks take up writing as a get rich scheme instead of for the pure passion of writing or telling a story. Agents get a commission for what they do. Never pay someone up front…If the agent is a true agent worth their salt, they will know from your synopsis if this is something that they can sell.

Do lots of research on your agent before signing.

Good agents are available. Locating them through a writers league might be a good idea as the others in the league might have an experience to share.

Finish your work before you think about getting it published

I have spoken with many who get some idea for a book and immediately approach an agent or publisher. “You have nothing to sell, until there is a manuscript of 120,000 words or so in your hands.”

When writing your manuscript do not get hung up on the word count! After the editing process, your 135,000 words might be around 95,000. Somewhere between 100,000 and 120,000 seems to be optimal.

Check your work well before you send it off…

As alluded to in the last point, editing your work is paramount. When you decide to send it off, it should be as good as you could possibly make it. I like to read it aloud although one trick that I found is to have something like “Nuance’s Naturally Speaking” full edition; read it back to me, one paragraph at a time. Your mind will skip over clumsy sentences or bad grammar. The program only reads what it sees so the “you instead of the your” will pop out at you!

Try to get something published in a magazine prior to getting your book published.

This is a great idea for first time writers. Write a short story or several, 5000 words or so and submit it to magazines. If they publish it, they might pay around $500 for the story (one time) but you then can write on your cover sheet…published in…. That is a great way for your manuscript to get more of a look than 3 seconds, of some agent or publishers time.

“What magazine you ask?” What do you write? Sci-Fi… Pick a science fiction magazine and approach them with a story…

Submission guidelines are critical…

Everyone has some idea of what they expect to see when they open your manuscript. I have found double-spaced block type, cover sheet etc… They should have guidelines to follow…follow them not just a little bit, to the letter.

Have a well-written synopsis keeping it to two pages.

This is a problem for writers. You need to tell the complete story, with the ending in 500 words or so…2 pages… Look for guidelines online… Oh yes, it must be written well…

Purchase The Writer’s Market published by Writer’s Digest

Query Letter

Send a query letter even if they say they are currently not accepting. The worst thing that will happen is you wasted a stamp. (One page) Many publishers may say that they do not accept unsolicited manuscripts but truth be told, they all want best sellers. A query letter cost you .50 cents and it might perk their interests.

Sending your manuscript to agents and or publishers should not be with a lot of fanfare. Simply box it “if it fits its ships” or padded envelope and let the post office do it for you. No FED EX nothing like that…Media Mail in fact… Anything else gives the appearance of desperation. “They should be lucky that you have chosen them to publish…” Ok, maybe not but, you get the gist.

Now go back to writing and tell a story….

-Best

Below are a few links that I have found while digging.

http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/

http://agentquery.com/publishing_mp.aspx

https://querytracker.net/whatisqt.php

http://www.writersmarket.com/

https://duotrope.com/

As a favor to me, many of you read and like my posts, which I thank you from the very bottom of my heart. Follow me; share what you see. Thanks!

Train wreck, the train wreck…

Have you ever had such high expectations for a show that you were just devastated when you finally saw it?

Train wreck is the very personification of a train wreck. The writers must have hired interns to write it.

I first watched Amy Schumer on an HBO special and found her funny. Out there, but funny.

I ordered the Blue Ray special edition of Train wreck thinking this was going to be one of those movies that I might watch more than once a year, when I needed a pick me up…

Truthfully, I could not make it past 30 minutes into the movie without turning it off.

As a writer, I pay attention to writing… The writers of this show must have been high if they thought it was funny.

Full disclosure, I did not like The Office with Steve Carrell, either, I know others that did. That style of humor does nothing for me.

Your mileage may vary but as for me…waste of money and more importantly a waste of 30 minutes of my life that I will never see again.

I have walked out of movies before, as they were that bad. I would have walked out of this at the theater.

Maybe it gets better but, if you cannot hook someone in 30 minutes…you have lost.

That is my opinion on this show…If you have a differing opinion please feel free to comment.

-Best

Another Attack @GregThornbury @realDonaldTrump

I hear people on the radio and TV trying to take Trump to task on his past.

Some of this is troubling. This same mindset kept millions of people home from the poles as they could not stomach a Mormon in the White House.

“How is that working out for you?”

The latest person of notoriety that I heard is Greg Thornbury.

How many evangelicals would you like to be responsible for having them not participate this year Greg?

This election is important. 30% percent of the country thinks that Bernie Sanders is a viable candidate. That should scare the living hell out of anyone who is educated. 3 out of every ten people are clueless when it comes to politics, economics and not to mention history. I can say that because the only way that you could vote for him is that you are either stupid, or you have no idea what economics are, or for that matter what communism is.

The time Obama leaves office we will be over $20,000,000,000.000.00 in debt. What Bernie is proposing is spending twice that amount with no way to re-coup that money. If he were to get it, we would go the way of Greece and nobody would get anything. We would have riots, as the people currently living off the government 47% of us…would not be able to get anything as there would be no more money to give out. Bringing in more folks through immigration, without any means of supporting themselves will also drain the government honey hole, faster… but that is another story.

Communism is great until you run out of others people’s money!

Between the three on the DNC ticket, Clinton is ahead by a skimpy margin which should tell the average Joe blow out there that we are in trouble.

Greg, People can change. Trump is not a perfect candidate but he is self-funded…”nobody owns him.”

He has been married for some time to his current wife, they seem to genuinely love one another.

Moving into the White House would be a downgrade for him…I find that rather interesting, don’t you?

I think he has the swagger that we need to put us on the right track, and to shake up the establishment in DC. I am certain that is why so many are attacking him from every angle as they don’t want the current good ole boy standard that has been the status quoi to change.

We need it to change!

Our government in case you forgot is “of the people, by the people and for the people.”

We have career politicians who are running scared right now because of TRUMP!

Greg, I think that is a good thing! It is time to change them all!

How does he feel about those things as a candidate that you expressed in your ad on the radio now, as a candidate…not three years ago as a business man…now Greg…how does he feel now!? That is what I want to know. Do you not suppose when he made comments in the past as a business man that he gave them little thought as his musings were simply that, musings?!”

“How does he feel now?”

Regarding your non-participation in the voting process “evangelicals” ….

To not vote, is to vote for the other guy!

Silence in the face of evil…is evil!

Maybe you are too close to the liberals up there in New York Greg…Come to Texas and visit with us a while, we can show you what conservatism is about.

-Best

Gesundheit

: Yep, that tree is sending out its pollen…

This time of year, watering eyes, plugged up noses can be the start of something much worse if not taken care of properly.

Checking your pollen counts for your area when this happens is critical to know what it is that is effecting you.

“Why?” You Asked.

Avoidance things that you are allergic to, is your first line of defense from becoming ill.

746941main_pollenprairiehollyhock_full (1) — Is it any wonder why this thing bothers your sinuses?

Juniper is one of the triggers that affect many. The pollen from this plant causes the sinuses to become inflamed or agitated which in turn causes them to react, in this case, create mucus in order to wash away the offending irritant.

The sinus tissues becomes inflamed and swells, thus trapping that mucus allowing bacteria to find a nice moist place to grow and thrive. Once of course you have bacteria take hold, you now have a sinus infection.

The more disconcerting problem with this is; “why the hell do people plant this plant?” Yes, the plant has a pleasant appearance and stays green all year round.

Juniper_berries_2595104k — Oh, look how pretty….NOT!

From late September to April this thing sends pollen out onto the winds which affect many.

Older folks or people who already have respiratory concerns can become ill with these triggers which could actually lead to pneumonia and death.

“You can’t fix stupidity.”

Juniper plants grow all over the US so avoiding them may be a tough call. There are parts of the country with higher levels of pollen than others however. Living near the ocean where onshore breezes from the salt air is probably why so many live so long in Florida. Respiratory illness is one of the leading causes of death.

If you have ever looked up at the moon and seen this…that is pollen causing it and you can bet it is Juniper…

Manage the symptoms.

Talk with your Pulmonologist about your condition.

If you have not already done so, speak with an allergist and see if you are a candidate for immunotherapy.

When you start to sneeze, that is the time to get serious about your regimen to stay healthy.

Prophylactically attack the problem head on with everything in your arsenal from Nasal irrigation to anti histamines. Nose sprays with steroids in them are also a good idea. Keeping the swelling of the sinus tissues at bay will allow the mucus to actually wash the surface of the tissue and be expelled as they was designed to do.

While Allegra and Benadryl are over the counter, these too should be part of your arsenal if your doctor agrees with this.

What you take must be ok with your doctor, as your other meds may interact with it; or your particular health may not afford you the luxury of taking things such as this.

The idea is to avoid that which triggers your allergies.

Manage the symptoms

Go see your doctor before it gets too bad. Once it turns into an infection, a course of anti-biotics may be needed which we use way too liberally in this country. Bacteria will become resistant to them and then stronger and stronger antibiotics will be needed. These not only kill the offending bacteria but, the good bacteria that lives in us all.

Once these take hold…you may need the big guns to get rid of them.

Like brushing your teeth is a daily regime; I would take your sinus health just as seriously. If you decide to do some landscaping around your house, I would not plant cedar juniper plants just because these things are vile when it comes to health.

-Best

So guns are the problem?

The problems are this. You cannot un-ring a bell. You cannot, un-see something.

What you put into your head has an effect on you, whether you know it or not.

Below, after a brief search I found a few movies that exemplify what I am talking about. Add to this the more than ample amount of violent video games along with the lack of fathers in the household or, children raising themselves with the TV or X-Box and you have the perfect storm for mental health issues.

Hollywood elites (who all have body guards…with guns) don’t want to address the problem so, they want to take away your guns. Less guns equal less crimes. Not true. Criminals will get guns no matter what laws are on the books. Mentally disturbed people will get them as well.

Mental health is the main issue…take a look at some of these movies…these are just a few….

Experiment in Torture 2007

Lured by the smell of easy money, beautiful, exotic dancers agree to spend the weekend at the remote mountain getaway of a wealthy voyeur. Once there, the girls are drugged, tied up and slowly tortured to death with everything from a blowtorch to an electric drill by a killer …

The Green Inferno 2013

A young female activist after a series of troubling experiences ends up in a small tribe set out of time of cannibals.

Her Name was Torment 2014

A lurid and exploitative adventure into erotica, violence, pain, and the unknown. Necrophilia, torture, gore, and psychological horror REVIEW: You can’t wave a limited collector’s edition VHS tape in the independent horror world and not hit what some folks would call a torture porn movie. And it makes sense – if your film revolves primarily around brutal torture…

When your flesh Screams 2015

is a gritty independent rape-revenge thriller from Argentina. It was written and directed by Guillermo Martinez, and while this is his first venture into directing, he did previously write the novel that would become the Elijah Wood/John Hurt film, The Oxford Murders. It might take a little while to get where it’s going, but overall this is a fairly impressive debut.

Concrete (schoolgirl in Cement) 2004

In 1988, a 17-year-old girl was abducted for a period of about six weeks in Tokyo. After suffering hideous acts of rape and torture, her juvenile captors murdered her and abandoned her body – in an oil drum filled with concrete. The case inspired further controversy in the form of public debate about the sentencing and rehabilitation of underage offenders, and inevitably became fodder for several brutal exploitation films in Japan.

36 Pesos

The movie starts innocently enough with two male friends driving down a dark road, making jokes about each others’ mothers and searching for some legendary house of ill repute that only truckers know about. As they speed along down the road, they aren’t paying attention, and accidentally plow into a woman who had wandered onto the roadway. They get out of the car to check on her and see there is blood everywhere, she is missing a leg, and she’s coughing up blood with the last of her breaths. They panic and get back in the car, leaving her for dead. As their tail-lights fade into the distance, we are left with an ominous feeling as another figure walks onto the screen and drags the dead woman into the woods.

Make them Die Sleazy! 2014

Stupid low budget film with no acting many shorts…

Fetus

Kevin and his wife Sara are about to start their new family as prepare for the arrival of their first born child. Unfortunately something goes wrong and Kevin loses everything. Unable to cope with his loss he becomes obsessed with trying to make contact with his dead wife by any means possible.

Hanger

Pulled into this world to take you out! A horrifying tale of revenge…beginning with a back-alley abortion and ending with a bloodbath so vicious that it brings a new meaning to “an eye for eye”. From pimps todealers, from hookers and junkies

Hardgore 1976

A young nymphomaniac who suffers from hallucinations is put into a rehab center, but little does she know that the proprietor is the leader of a Satanic cult who indulge in murderous after hour orgies(!)

Meat For Satan’s Icebox 2004

The obscure town of Satan Place harbors a dark and savage secret. What becomes of runaways and mislead teenagers who have no direction in life? When they have nowhere else to go, they find their way to Satan’s Slaughter House!

http://horrornews.net/extreme-cinema-films/

Among others…

RoboCop 1987

Lots of dead bodies..

The Raid 2014

Was dubbed the Ultra-violent Endurance test.

In Bruges 2008

Deals with death with things like exploding heads.

Kick Ass 2010

Lots of violence and brutality centered around a 10 year old…

God Bless America 2011

A man and a young girl shooting people who talk in movie theatres talk show host and even judges.

The main message is everything sucks and man would be better starting over.

Than we have this 1980 classic Cannibal Holocaust

This film is so graphic that it was banned in as many as 50 countries.

A Serbian Film 2010

A film about pedophilia that also happens to be a snuff film.

Inside 2007

This is an ultra-violent movie about a pregnant women being terrorized by another women who wants her unborn baby.

Maniac 1980

A psychopath, troubled by his childhood abuse, loose in New York City, kills young women and takes their scalps as his trophies.

I spit on your grave

An aspiring writer is repeatedly gang-raped, humiliated, and left for dead by four men whom she systematically hunts down to seek revenge.

Martyrs

A young woman’s quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.

Some of the quotes are from the actual source which I gave credit to. Some of them are mine. This is not literary excellence…this is point that needs to be made.

“I find it interesting that Rape, torture, and other brutal forms of violence is what sells. What does that say about us as a culture?”

Pass this along, share it etc… Me personally, I pretty much have stopped watching TV. For the last several years I watch less and less. If I watch and hour a week, that would be exaggerating in that I don’t watch that much.

I am neither young, or impressionable; but I still protect what I put into my head. Isn’t your sanity worth it?

-Best

Bait and Switch

“Of course debating Hillary would be easy…so don’t count on it!”

As I watch the political landscape unfold into the nightmare that it is, I cannot help but wonder what is in the other hand.

“Look at this bright and shiny object while we do something underhanded…”

I truly believe that the DNC knows that currently there is not a valid candidate on their ticket.

Even she knows this but, she has to sell the lie.

While there is indeed a percentage of the population that have no idea what economics are, micro or macro; and will find communism under Bernie a great idea. $20 trillion dollars in debt, making it $40 trillion just means more free stuff for them, the ill-informed useful idiots of the world.

Never mind that they are saddling their great grandchildren with their debt.

Maybe this will help you…A familiar face that you might know…

Of course, even if Bernie won; the house and senate would hopefully block him from staying on this course … as we are headed for an ice burg. One only has to look at the state of affairs in Greece to see what we are headed for. Wait. What are the Kardashians up to? Who is playing what team and what football player is hurt? Will my team make the playoffs!? Those are what interest’s people…not politics. They only care when they don’t have enough money to purchase beer, and shoes for the kids.

This cost the republicans the election… “Not a Mormon in the white house!”

I saw a post on social media that is warning Evangelicals that Trump may not fully believe everything that they believe…I guess that means that they should stay home, again, because they did not want a Mormon in the white house…If Trump is not in lock step agreement with everything in one of the over 3000 different denominations your brand of Christianity…that will justify your non-participation… again.

When you see evil, not to speak, is to speak. When you don’t vote…you are voting for the other guy.

With a thousand top secret e-mails kept on a non-secure, illegal server; only being the tip of yet another ice burg; the fact that Hillary is not sporting an orange jump suit learning to do laundry and yes, sharing a toilette with common riff raff; defies logic. The idea of her still running for president again bespeaks of the complete ignorance of some of the people in this great nation.

I am a Clinton, what difference does it make?

Before the final deadline to announce candidacy to become president of the US occurs, I believe that the Clinton campaign will self-destruct; and much like the Hindenburg will be blamed on republicans with incredible spin from the left, and Hollywood elites as well as MSNBC, while totally ignoring the obvious design flaws.

A dark horse, as of yet to announce; will step into the ring as the “savior of the party” and the obvious choice to run for president, because she too is a women. A women that will have escaped all of the vetting process of the election; and debates, thus far.

Have you asked yourself why the democratic debates thus far have been on at times when nobody would watch them?

Did not want to use a shared bathroom…So she missed part of the debate.

Republican candidates will not be prepared to debate her she, as she was not and is not on their radar. This will cause them to scramble and be un-prepared while she, Elizabeth Warren; will have all of her research and well-practiced debates skills down. She will know each end every little detail of who the RNC selects, while they will only have surface information on her. Her jabs will resonant and theirs will fall flat.

It is akin to football; when the loosing team pulls an onside kick rather than punting the ball back to the opposition.

Many liberals love her, but again they don’t know her. Just like they don’t know the history of the American Indian as their brutality was washed over…they don’t know this women. The American Indian was the ISIS of the day, burning people alive and torturing them in dozens of different cruel and barbaric ways. Find that in your history books…

The spin doctors and the Left leaning media…most of it…will spin her as the next messiah, much like they did with Obama… They will be all so surprised when Hillary is indicted, blaming their candidates faults on lies of the republicans and Trey Gowdy. They will be so happy that Elizabeth Warren reluctantly decided to run and take one for the team… That trip that Biden made to see her, was more than likely a strategy planning trip for her, and this administration. Men and Women of all strips will fall for it as well as many on either side of the isle. It is a strategy that will probably work and remember…you heard it here first!

When the republicans say…”who would have seen that coming?” Well, I did…and now you know too..

If you don’t agree with me or you understand the election rules regarding presidential elections better than I…weigh in. I studied them for hours and they are murky at best.

If you like what you read…follow me…share this with your friends.

-Best

www.timedok.com

Featured image courtesy of Tim Pierce https://www.flickr.com/photos/qwrrty/8152000438/?

HIPAA and other things that go bump in the night…

(HIPAA) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

Being and IT guy for the last 35 years, I am no stranger to HIPAA, SOX, FISMA, and many other regulations from the government, including the federal mandates as to how this is to be accomplished.

While HIPAA is designed to protect your privacy, I wonder if that is how it is actually being used.

From a DR (disaster recovery) standpoint, your data must be backed up and off site. Your data must be recoverable; meaning that you have successfully tested the process on a regular basis.

The easiest way to do this is with CLOUD technology but, I am here to tell you that the hackers attack the cloud… If you’re data, and my data, and your competitors, is in some nebulous storage arrays out there in some data center…that is a central target for the bad guy…

You must have written policies and procedures regarding same… This would be part of your DR plan, run book; or even your living document that is your DR plan.

SOX or Sarbanes Oxley is another set of rules that apply to all publicly traded companies that share many of the same tenants of a good DR plan. E-mails must be stored and retrievable in the event the government wants to see them. Stored off-site and recoverable…

The government, for the government’s own use, has stricter policies and procedures which I wrote about some time back when the Hillary e-mail fiasco came to light… That is why this whole e-mail scandal is laughable as there is no possible way that those e-mails should have been lost, just like there is no way that she should have had a server of her own, dealing with Top Secret Classified e-mails. Why she is already not wearing orange, and living in Club Cupcake Penitentiary, is a testament to the corrupt policies and procedures that our wonderful government seems to enjoy for the rich and famous or in this case the political elites.

Calling and talking with any of the folks at your insurance carrier, you are told that your call may be recorded and monitored for security and training purposes… Now please tell me how this does not violate HIPAA?

When visiting your doctors you had to sign a release, basically nullifying HIPAA so they, the office staff or doctors can talk about your case, health or anything that is needed to whomever that they have to deal with to get paid. Again, how is this not a violation of HIPAA? Working behind the scenes at these places I have heard many cases talked about from end stage renal disease, to genital warts complete with names. I was once working in a plastic surgeons office where his desk was littered with open pictures of nude women with before and after breast augmentation etc etc. This stuff should have been put up before I was ever allowed into his office.

The simple facts are, that we are living in an age of no-privacy; either expressed or implied. The idea of HIPAA is great but, like the thousands of pages of tax code, it is virtually meaningless after the lawyers get through with it. It’s like living in Chicago with all sorts of police vehicles, and one cop who lives at the donut shop. There is the illusion of security, but it simply does not exists.

The airport is another place where you have no privacy but, still the TSA misses about 95% of the threats that their agents try to smuggle through, while testing their efficiency.

While we parade through scanners that strip us naked, and expose us to ionizing radiation, they still miss 95%…! How the hell is that possible?!

While in the waiting room the other day I could hear the office staff talking about patients and their treatment options… That was not bad enough… One of the ladies at the reception desk was calling patients who owed them money between greeting people, taking credit card info… Yep, she read back the guy’s number complete, the billing zip code and expiration where everyone could hear it. I take credit cards and I thought to myself… you did not get the CVV code… A few minutes later she called him back to get that…. And repeated it to where anyone in the waiting room could have heard.

While I have since written a letter to my Doctor…it does not end here…

This same doctor prescribed some meds that I went to CVS to pick up… While in line, the cashier, after getting your name and date of birth, grabs the meds off the shelf, and tells you what they are so everyone in line and the immediate area can hear.

Name and DOB are nobody’s business and certainly what you are buying is nobody’s business…

While I may be over sensitive to this, I don’t really think so…

Either we have HIPAA or we don’t. Either we follow the rules and policies set forth…or we don’t.

The illusions of security is not enough. The illusion of privacy is not enough. Collecting everyone’s Meta data without warrant, is wrong on many levels.

We need to look at and re-vamp all of these policies as we have given up so much of our privacy for the sake of laziness on the part of the employees.

Instead of me telling the lady behind the counter she should ask me to see my ID verifying who I am and my DOB without saying it aloud. After she pulls my meds she can show me what they are without voicing them… Simple policy changes prevent unauthorized or in this case nosey people in line getting into your business.

There are simple answers for all of these things but one simply has to think… We are too damned lazy to think…

-Best

Profligates

The word of the day is profligate…”One who shamelessly pisses away money…”

I find it interesting that of the 50 states in this country, 11 of them are totally insolvent.

I also find it remarkable that of these 11, they are all run by liberal ideologues or profligates.

There is a 12^th state, Delaware that is soon to join the other 11 which is troubling.

The amazing facts are that these states are losing their people who are traveling to states who are fiscally responsible and also run by conservatives. Now these same liberal ideologues that have made their way to states that are not in any financial trouble complain. What do they complain about? That we are too conservative…

Really?!

If you look at Greece and then at the state that you left; and cannot draw the comparison between them, than you are not only so wrapped up in your ideology that you are lost…but you may also be … well … Bless your heart!…

Look, don’t come to a state that works with your troubled ideas and screw us up… When you come to this country…you fit it with us… You offer the best that you have and fit in…

When you come to this state… You offer the best that you have, and fit in…

…When in Rome…

This is not rocket science… If you are fleeing a state or place because it is screwed up…something is wrong… Why in the world would you not examine what is wrong and accept that you might have been part of the problem…. Like maybe something as simple as the way that you voted?

We have a huge influx of people here in Texas from all over the country. Amazing as it may sound, I find that the plates from out of state are the people who cut people off, honk, and drive like crap and so on. This is Texas…Chill…. We are friendly people here but remember…Texas is one of the states where we carry concealed and soon not concealed…when you wave…use all of your fingers pardner… Just saying….

We eat BBQ that is made the way god intended, and we drink Iced Tea. We hold doors for ladies, and we say please and Thank You… We teach our children to be polite, but we also teach them not to put up with crap.

-Best

Trust and Lies

History is replete with people who prevaricate to the masses. The masses are complicit as they are either too lazy to read history or fail to remember history, or cannot or don’t want to accept the truth. The allure of a lie is better than the cold hard ugly facts otherwise known as truth.

Today the French President was hailed for using a small hammer to symbolize an agreement to a new treaty with 200 nations that would supposedly bring global warming down two (2) degrees Celsius or 3.6F.

I am not going to debate the Al Gore trumped up money making schemes of “global warming” but, I am certain that today he is celebrating as his campaign contributions are now going to pay off in the form of Carbon Credits.

Lies of the 70’s

I remember long extended lines to buy gas as there was this shortage. We are running out of Fossil fuel and there was a shortage of gas. Prices climbed from .50 cents to about a dollar to $1.32. As soon as the prices made it to the level that OPEC and other oil producing countries agreed upon, oil started to flow once again. During this time of turmoil, tankers ran aground spilling their precious cargo. Several tankers who had successfully navigated the pond for years were suddenly running aground. Why?

The oil shortage was a lie… I suspect that tankers were parked off shore holding their cargo to create the shortage. They parked in areas that they did not normally traverse thus hitting things under the water as storms pushed them one way or another…

The ozone layer going away was the next in a series of lies to make more money.

The common most abundant sources of Freon were suddenly a hazard to the ozone layer. $1.25 would get you a small can of Freon that you yourself could put into your car to juice up the air-conditioner. Most manufacturers put a site glass on top of the dryer (part of the AC Unit under the hood) that you could visually see if you needed Freon. If there were air bubbles in it, with it working, you simply hooked a can up to low pressure side and allowed the gas to go from the can to the AC unit.

Today we have gasses that have replaced them which are not as efficient, work at much higher pressures and … the compressors and coils don’t hold up as well, the failure rate is higher.

DuPont and others, now sell these precious gasses at much higher cost. The coils and compressor manufactures make much more money as they sell you replacement components, and new systems at a much more frequent rate, as the higher pressures cause failures at a higher rate.

So, you say that there is a hole over the north and South Pole where ozone is thinner…Thus all of the CFC’s that come from refrigerants and aerosol cans are to blame…

Let me make this short and sweet for you…

Ozone or O3 is created by some form of energy causing an extra molecule to stick to O2..Oxygen. When this happens we have O3…ozone. The air o2 rushing up towards the sun uses infrared light…from the sun to cause molecules to bond, O3. Lightening and other electrical discharges also create O3.

Why the ozone holes in the layer over the poles… Lack of strong UV energy over the poles as the earth is tilted… That is why it is cold at the poles…

We breathe in O2 and change it to carbon dioxide Co2 which the plants use to create O2.

Well what about these CFS that are destroying the Ozone…

CFC’s are about 5 times heavier than O3 and O2… lead does not float. CFC’s have never been found that high as they don’t float. We were lied to for pecuniary interests…another government bought and paid for by special interests.

The Washington Cartel was bought and paid for once again.

Other products were affected as well as prices went from a dollar $1 a can, to $15 a can for such things a solvents used in production.

Let there be light

Under Bush, we decide to do away with the incandescent light bulb, as they are simply too costly to run. 4 for a $1 bulbs but no…must make more money…

There is actually precedence for finding less expensive sources of light but…CFL bulbs are not the answer.

CFL bulbs contain mercury which is a toxic heavy metal. If you break one of these bulbs there is this whole elaborate cleanup procedure. If you throw the dead ones in the trash you are putting mercury into the landfills which was tied to another lie regarding, doing away with mercury batteries.

These bulbs cannot go into applications with dimmers until they redesign the circuit to work with them.

They are a fire hazard and they don’t last as advertised. They should not be used in any application where once turned on, that they are turned off within 15 minutes or less, as that will shorten their life.

“That leaves out closets and bathrooms or any other type of task light.”

LED Bulbs are making inroads but these are still way too expensive and if you try and do the cost justification, it does not exists unless you are a store operator or some sort of shop that uses lights for hours at a time.

The shrinking ice packs are in fact growing. The earth goes through cycles of warmth and cold and I suspect follows the eleven (11) year cycle of the sun which is now in an active state.

The global warming nuts cannot explain the increase in ice so they are still looking for the gloom and doom.

We have much more pressing issues in this world other than global warming. The earth has come back from the brink of extinction many times over and I suspect like fleas on the back of a dog…we too will one day either do ourselves in with our hubris or stupidity and the earth will shake off the dead bodies and something new will appear or evolve out of our leavings.

If I were the president, I would be more concerned about alleviating the pressure from underneath Yellowstone’s volcano, which will affect all life on the planet when it goes off. Notice that I did not say if…it will go off, and then all of these global warming kooks will scratch their head, or ass; which is probably interchangeable as the earth enters into an ice age. Whoever does not die as a direct result of the explosion will either perish at the hands of their neighbors, or starve to death. Some will survive but the world will be a different place for years to come.

As the jet stream carries the ash around the globe depending upon the amount released from this “super volcano” The earth may not be suitable for growing food for decades.

I would invest resources in searching for life ending events in space as well as ways to change their trajectories and, I would of course provide for the common defense of this country which they seem to be ignoring as work place violence or too many guns!

Unless you can get all of the countries/governments on board with this climate and deforestation thing, (the two go hand in hand) you are changing the global landscape of economics by pressuring companies to take their businesses where taxes and global warming nuts are simply not paid attention to.

Their air pollution is believed to kill 350K to 500K people per year.

(FILES) This picture taken 18 July 2006 shows cyclists passing through thick pollution from a factory in Yutian, 100km east of Beijing in China’s northwest Hebei province. China has no plans to radically change its reliance on coal and other dirty fuels despite already feeling the impacts of global warming, a leading Chinese meteorologist said 06 February 2007. In the first official Chinese response to a stark UN report issued last week on climate change, Qin Dahe said China lacked the technology and financial resources for a wholesale conversion to cleaner energy sources. AFP PHOTO/Peter PARKS/FILES (Photo credit should read PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images)

China-Pollution.JPEG-0bfec-555x370.jpg — Your smart phone comes from here…

This administration seems more interested in paying back those that put forth campaign funding, securing future funding for more politicians and the liberal socialistic agenda.

We dissolved any hope of the Keystone pipeline while a train that has a huge carbon footprint carries the oil from Canada to the Gulf… The train of course, is owned indirectly by one of the democrat’s largest funders or donators.

This July 8, 2013 file photo provided by Surete du Quebec via the Canadian Press, shows wrecked oil tankers and debris from a runaway train in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, Canada. U.S. transportation officials say the oil industry is not giving up needed information needed to gauge the danger of moving crude by rail. Several oil train accidents, including one in Quebec, have highlighted the explosive properties of crude coming from booming oil shale fields on the Northern Plains. (AP Photo/Surete du Quebec, via The Canadian Press, file) ORG XMIT: LA102

Our president is just fine with this as we don’t need to do things safely and more efficiently….

Washington elites need to go away…all of them… We need serious people, that love the country and you and I, who are looking out for “us the people….” Not their legacy or their benefactors…

The announcement at the global warming conference I am certain is a farce, and will be spun politically to make republicans look bad, and most assuredly will cost the citizens as they will have to pay for all of the upgrades and lack of fossil fuels. They will be the ones to watch factories moved over to countries that take no part in such folly, as this will further restrict and make more costly business ventures in this country. This will adversely affect our economy, even more greatly than the health care law which saw the demise of the American dream. More and more companies are working many part-time employees with few or no benefits and crappy salaries to avoid Obamacare. The employee than is forced into two part time jobs to make ends meet and oh yes, purchase their own health care or be fined.

An activist hold a poster during a demonstration near the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, Saturday, Dec.12, 2015 during the COP21, the United Nations Climate Change Conference. As organizers of the Paris climate talks presented what they hope is a final draft of the accord, protesters from environmental and human rights groups gather to call attention to populations threatened by rising seas and increasing droughts and floods. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

So we can all get together and sing Kumbia and ignore the JV team…

Once we fix global warming and find jobs for these folks they will know the love and all will be just fine…

We are being sent into battle with no weapons, our hands tied behind our backs and blindfolded by an administration that is either delusional, stupid … or bought and paid for by special interests. I would surmise that it is a combination of the three.

There is a pattern, a history of lies and I have pointed out a very few…. Watch something besides “Two Broke Girls or Modern Family…and you might accidentally learn something.

-Best