Category: LifeStyle

#Pornography, #Sex and #You

Pornography, Sex and You

What does it say about “us” as a people who gaze upon, look at, or otherwise idolize pornography?
What exactly is pornography?
Kiddy porn?
Words

Tackling the first question first, it makes us human. We must first understand that we are what we are and, that is race of beings that are programmed to procreate. From pre-biblical times to today we are no better than rabbits; sex is first and foremost on our minds. The difference between us and rabbits, we attach mores to sex and we have the tools to keep from actually procreating. Whether it is prophylactics of different kinds, or even abortion after the fact, a large percentage of us are fulfilling our “instincts” without actually making babies.

Another part of our race is just “doing what comes naturally,” and then evading the responsibility of what comes afterwards by, leaving the person who “got pregnant;” or by letting the state pick up the tab for medical expenses, and the subsequent care and feeding of same, after the fact.

We try and educate our progeny at the tender age of pre-pubescence, only to surrender to the fact that they will find a way, so we offer them free prophylactics. We alter the law in such a way that a minor can get an abortion or birth control without the parents consent. In fact, we respond to an amoral situation with an equally amoral response, by offering abortions and dehumanizing the baby by calling it something other than what it is, a baby.

We do the same in death as well, once you die you are no longer Sally or Joe, you are a body. The body was found at…. The remains were located at….

Reading social media the idea struck me that we think of anything that titillates as porn. We have “Food Porn, Library Porn, and in fact anything that is over the top, we could add the word or suffix “porn” to it. I think it safe to say that we could call anything that overly gets our juices going “porn.”

There is a huge dichotomy that exists today between the evangelicals and other religious sects, “that are above this type of thing” and “people.” In fact, if you are ever hauled to court for having something deemed illegal by your peers, whether it be porn or pot, you may very well be judged by some of the largest hypocrites on the planet.

Outwardly, they will condemn you, point their fingers at you and judge you to be subhuman. Then they will return to their home with their collection of things or pot or other drug of choice that if the world knew about, would judge them as “unclean.” Jesus said if you hate your brother; you have committed murder. If you have ever been titillated by such a thought, or picture, you are no better than the guy or gal that got caught!

Child pornography is probably one of the most insidious types of pornography out there. The very thought of it makes me physically ill. As a thinking person, I was curious why and or how it had that effect on me.

As a parent, we guard our offspring and indeed see all offspring in a way that makes our parental instinct come in to play. Then there are the predators out there that don’t see the boundary issues involved, and indeed see children as a sexual target. There are indeed sociopaths that don’t have any empathy for others and “do what feels good, when it feels good.”

History is rife with these types of people. Read about the rape of Nanking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre

Most “decent” people understand this and I think each case that comes to court needs to be handled in such a way as to understand the person who committed the crime. Did the person download the stuff off of the internet, or did he or she take part in the creation of and dissemination of the material. Were there pecuniary motives involved? Just how amoral is this person? Are they mentally unbalanced? Can they be rehabilitated?

Having worked on thousands of computers in my career, I have seen my fair share of pornography. I am not prudish but, I have no problem deleting that which might be illegal to own. Had there been evidence to my satisfaction that this person was involved in the creation of such, a different call would have been made.

There are in fact huge stores of such material on the internet, gigabytes of downloadable data. With the extreme bandwidth we have today there is simply no way that one person could evaluate each and every photo to make certain that it is “legal.” One such person downloaded such things like one might collect baseball cards. As it was loaded with viruses, deleting it saved me and them the time to sift through it. I am not the world’s policeman and have no interest in saving you from yourself. Writing about it, making you aware is as far as I go.

There is a huge difference between porn and nudity and that dichotomy exists in all age groups. Artist through history have danced on that line, and it is no different today.

One artist friend painted a child in a pond and the child’s bare bum was slightly exposed to the viewer. The creation of the child was from her mind, not from an actual person. As a “humanist,” I stood close enough to that painting in the gallery to eaves drop on what people were saying. A large percentage saw what I saw, an innocent child playing in the water; a few saw child pornography.

We have come to be so overly sensitized, that we think that is child pornography!

The painting depicted an innocence of spirit. A time and place free of sin to be as God created us in a perfect environment. That is what it felt like to me and I very much liked the painting. It reminded me of the Coppertone commercial of the 60’s where the dog is pulling down the bathing suite of a small child exposing the tan difference. To me it “exposes” innocence, a time that most of us wish we could go back to. To a few it is pornographic. To the few who think that is pornographic, I would encourage self examination.

So, in that light allow me to elucidate on what pornography is. As an artist myself, and a writer, I have given this much thought.

If I paint someone in a sexual act, that is pornography. If I give the illusion of some sexual activity either pre or post sex, it could pornography or it could be art. Now let me draw your attention to the fact that “pre” is not a nude in the bath tub or shower, unless of course there was a guy in close proximity with an erection. One could even make the argument that could be art.

As an artist, we try to paint a picture that will evoke some emotion. That is why I constantly implore my readers to examine, why they (like or hate) something, rather than simply experience the emotion and go on. When you understand “why,” you will come to know the person in the mirror much better; and that is enlightenment.

A good photo journalist will take pictures that tell a story. I was at a cemetery on Memorial Day. Off in the distance there was an attractive young lady sitting on the ground with some picnic stuff, at the foot of a grave. There she was, all by herself, sitting as close as she could to her dead loved one. I snapped the picture from an extreme distance and for a moment, felt her emotions as the waves of loss and grief washed over my soul. Tears filled my eyes as I allowed my self to experience her loss as it brought back memories of my loved ones that are no longer here. Even at that distance, I could see her cheeks were wet with tears.

While I fully intend on painting that one day as I would like others to appreciate what I saw; that is what makes art, art. That also makes a “good” picture.

If I paint a nude lady walking into a body of water by herself, I have created art that depicts innocence, a purity of person and heart. You can see yourself, walking into that water, feeling the warm sun on your upper torso and the cool water swirling around your legs as the water makes its way ever higher as you traverse further into the water. You can just about envision the warm wet sand between your toes as you yourself walk deeper and deeper into the warm blue water. There on the bank, under a morning sun is your blanket, clothing and towels, along with some drink and food for after your swim. There is no one around but you, some birds, and the sound of the water as it bathes the shores in the light summer breeze. After your swim, you can lay on the blanket basking in the warmth of the sun as the breeze dries you.

If you were looking at that painting you would see art. You might picture yourself there for just a moment, or longer…. before the reality that you are in a cold sterile museum, snaps you back to reality.

Now, let’s add one thing to that painting. Let’s add to the blanket a partially exposed dildo. By the inclusion of a sexual toy, I have created pornography, both in painting and guess what… with words.

Pornography is not subjugated to the visual media alone. I am often amused by women who look down upon men who look at pornography. They call them pigs and all sorts of demeaning names and then go back to their romance novel! Folks, I can paint with words as easily as I can with oils. Pornography is pornography, whether you gaze upon it, or you read about it while creating the images in your mind, it is still pornography.

50 shades of grey is pornographic, titillating and could be used as a springboard to conversations with your partner about sex. You can also use it to sit on your soapbox and much like the ladies of the twenties railed against alcohol, you can rail against porn. Don Quixote had windmills and you, maybe blowup love dolls!

My point to this is not to chastise, my point it to make you aware of the hypocrisy and to learn that we are all the same and well some of us “pretend” that we are better then the rest, even you judges out there, you are kidding yourself.

There are two kinds of people, those who masturbate, and those who lie about it.

A perfect wife was once described as someone who is a whore in the bedroom, and an angle in the kitchen! That really speaks to our “human nature” doesn’t it? Sometimes one thinks about their wife in those regards and then as a parent. The truth is, that all of those parts are juxtaposed together to make us. The mouth you kiss in your bed is the same mouth that kisses your baby goodnight!

When we are in the world, doing our thing, our “angel” side is showing, most of the time. What happens to those who suppress their “other side?”

We read about it all too often where some young boy was assaulted by a bishop, or some other “person of the cloth.” We read about teachers who have sex with underage children. We read about rapist and other sexual predators. We even hear about peeping toms. What about the employee that goes postal?

I am actually for legalizing prostitution. People who don’t have someone should be able to buy someone, or rent them for a while and it is the oldest profession. Like the Bunny Ranch, I am for that kind of place in all major cities.

The key is to first “know yourself.” This blog is all about enlightenment. Enlightenment is knowing “who you are!” You can hardly understand your neighbor or wife or husband, if you don’t know who you are!

How many men do you know of that have left their wife of a number of years, for another guy?! How the hell did that happen?

When we repress parts of ourselves, other parts come out in different ways. I am not speaking about mental illness here, I am speaking about the actions of normal healthy people who artificially suppress their emotions or feelings or strong convictions to appear as something that they are not. I see this most in folks who are Church going, every Sunday, every Wednesday night, people who are holier that thou! They are taught to hate the sin, not the sinner.

Without clearly understanding “sin” they develop their own idea of what sin is, and then mentally flagellate them-selves. I have often wondered what affect this has on their mental status. Those who practice Calvinism often deal with Depression. How shocking is that? Here is a guy from the 16th century who basically think we are all dirt bags and that is the best we can ever be. We do it to ourselves and then spend tens of thousands of dollars on therapy and drugs to make it another day.

Then one day we read about them or get a letter in the post, telling us that they are no longer with the church as they left their family etc etc…

Do you know the difference between reality and fantasy? Most do, but sadly some try to make it come to fruition. Solomon comes to mind. This is a man that the bible tells us had everything. He had hundreds of wives and hundreds of concubines. He had riches beyond our wildest dreams and yet, he was unhappy. He tried to live his fantasy.

Divorce in this group of people is just as high as people who never set foot in church. Allow me to tell you why I think it is a good idea to attend church. I do not think that anything magical happens when you go to church. I do not think that drinking grape juice and eating crackers makes you any better than your brother.

I do think that thinking about “sin” makes you more self-aware of your “sins if you will” and thus makes you more aware of who you are. It is only after you know “who you are” can you make any sort of substantive change.

None of us are perfect and being around others who struggle with “sin” is actually one way to become more self-aware.

Here is the $64 question, when is pornography sin, or is it at all?

One should define sin to really have a clear understanding of what it is. Sin comes from an ancient sport dating back at least 5000 years. The ancient Egyptians developed Archery and sin was “missing the mark.” In Abrahamic terms, it is violating Gods will.

Call it what you will, there is a moral code of conduct that each civilization adopts from its laws and mores. Utilizing a Venn-diagram, where do you fit in?

While this is not about mental illness, I am convinced that it could lead to it. Without a check every now and then to make sure you are still in the middle of the road, “normal” your thoughts and feelings and actions could actually be outside of the Venn-diagram of what is considered “normal.”

The curmudgeon comes to mind, or possibly the “crazy cat lady.” Those that live by themselves, who only have to consider “themselves,” can quickly drift outside of what we in polite society would call “normal.” We hear about it all too often where someone was found dead in their home filled with too much stuff. They replaced “stuff,” for interaction with people. The more they did it, the more they became a recluse taking solace in collecting anything from newspapers to cats!

More attention needs to be paid to mental health in society. These folks who mass murder should have been treated before it came to this. Who knew? You should have known; if you knew them at all you should have known! We poke and chat away on social media but when is the last time you sipped tea on the front porch with your neighbor?

How many times a year do you hear about a murder suicide and the interviews of the neighbors describe the perp as a nice “stay to him or herself” kind of person?

If we spent less time on the computer, or in front of the TV, we might have spoken with that person and have known that they lost their job, their wife or husband was having an affair etc etc. Are we not supposed to love our neighbor? How can you do that if you don’t ever see them?

Again, an extended family through your local church is not a bad thing. I don’t think a mega church is a good place for this. The Mega church to me seems too much about money. Smaller 100 family type churches are more intement. You can actually form bonds within the church that can last a lifetime.

There is this lady that lives in the Tundra of Alaska, by herself most of the time. She has been on some TV shows here and there. I would love to speak with her at length about how she got there, what she does and who she is. From her appearances on these shows, she still seems sane, but at what moment will she go “Jack Nicholson?” We are social creatures, designed to be around other people.

Some people replace normal sexual relations with pornography. Why, it is safe. There was a running joke when I was young about a cucumber; that it would still respect you in the morning. George Carlin had a routine about “dinner and flowers for one; don’t ever let your other hand know….” George was a genius, and probably not very well appreciated. Pornography can, and in most cases will ruin a marriage. As we age, we no longer look like the folks in the pictures. As we progress in life, we loose that romance and become “used to one another,” allowing our “all” to be exposed.

Not only do we not look like anyone in those pictures that litter cyber space but, we don’t act like the guy on the white horse! We become too obsessed with self, to put our partners needs ahead of our own. We are wrapped up with work or kids or “life” to take time out to live life.

We let our all hang out and by that I mean fart, belch, leave the bathroom door open when going to the bathroom etc etc. Some things should not be “let out.” To me anyway I feel like keeping a certain modicum of “dating etiquette,” even after many years of marriage is one small part of success. Chivalry should not now or ever be dead. If your wife wants to open her own door, get her to open yours. Someone needs to show some chivalry.

Pornography, like romance novels, “in my opinion,” becomes sin when they cause you to stray from your partner. It is too easy for us to become slaves to such things, to idolize such things.

“That which you gaze upon you become.”

There is a genuine danger by putting it out there with another person. Perhaps your idea of sex is not what some would consider normal. I don’t know what that might be but let’s draw on a reference from an episode of House; as an example. House, in case you are not familiar, was a program on TV that featured Hugh Laurie as a brilliant although weird and wonderful doctor.

In the episode I am speaking of, the opening scene is of a rather brutal sexual encounter that looks as though it could be a rape in progress until we later learn that they were roll playing and were turned on by rough sexual play. She was also killing him with some sort of chemical as I remember but, that is a different part of the story that takes us away from the point at hand.

Now for argument sake, let’s say that you think that role playing might be a huge turn-on, and you talk with your partner about it and he or she rejects you, and now thinks you are completely insane!

Ok, forget role playing, how about a scene from 50 shades?

Communication with your spouse or loved one is “key” to a happy marriage. Build upon what drew you to them in the first place. Don’t go for the big changes all at once, start small and build upon it. If the other person is getting something out of it, you can lead the way. Have a goal and make small adjustments to meet that goal.

Dating web sites are well past my experience level at this stage of the game but, I suspect that this might be a “value add” if they address such things as sexual turn-on’s.

Fantasy is what sells romance novels, and why pornography is so prolific! Fantasy is a large part of who we are as a people and if you don’t embrace it and deal with it, well you may need some therapy later in life to deal with your large collection of bottle caps, race cars, baseball cards or newspapers! You are in fact replacing something that you are missing with things that are safe! Well most of these are fairly innocuous, some however; replace what they are missing with actions like rape, bestiality, necrophilia and yes homicide.

Some take it to other extremes in the form of religions or other cult like activities or become totally off the track with things like the WACO cult, or the purple Kool-Aid folks.

We are sexual creatures and that part of us makes us whole. When you remove it, or attempt to remove it by becoming celibate for religious reasons or societal reasons behaviors and other actions also change. Case in point… If you have ever worked in an office full of women you no doubt have heard one frustrated employee speaking to another about a co-worker or boss using the phrase, “she just needs to get laid!”

They are most likely spot on! It happens with all of us and without sex we don’t deal with life stresses very well, and our social behavior becomes modified. It can take the form of aggression or… it can take the form of being overly flirtatious.

There are chemicals released right after sex called Prolactin. This hormone disengages a man’s sex drive almost immediately after orgasm. The naked women with you after sex is simply your mate or spouse or what have you as this chemical tells the rest of the brain and body to think about other things, sex is off the table for a while.

Endorphins are also released that calm you down, give you a feeling of euphoria and can make you sleepy. That is why right after sex, most men crash and burn.

There is another hormone known as the cuddling hormone. Oxytocin which makes you that big teddy bear that will do what it takes to get her into the sac. This hormone is also responsible for stimulating the prostate gland and making things more sensitive.

These same chemicals are released in the female thus relieving the “sexual tension” that many, if not most of us experience from time to time.

Aggressive workouts also release some of these same chemicals and that is a key component to health and longevity. That is also why certain people take exercising to an extreme. This is a good reason that people in middle school should really double up on exercise. They are being flooded with new hormones as puberty kicks in and they often manifest themselves in aggression among other behaviors. You don’t need a $150 an hour shrink for your middle school child if he or she is acting out. Get them into tennis or running or kickboxing, or cheer leading and make sure that they have what they need, time and privacy to take matters into hand. Dealing with hormones is a daily chore for most of us. As kids begin to deal with them, know what is happening and give them space. If that does not work, get the child whisperer on your team. (a shrink)

For those that rail against pornography as it demeans women and makes them somehow less than human, objectifies them etc, I would point out that these women who posed for those photographs, for the most part, knew what they were doing.

I was on the Internet before it was the internet. Porn was one of the first things that people put on it, just like porn was one of the first pictures ever taken with a camera and a movie camera. We are obsessed with it and we as a people should stop burying it under a rug and deal with it! Does porn fit into polite society, no; but show me a polite society.

Early painters painted cherubs, which were nude children depicted as angels and there have been many many artist using nude children in paintings and pictures in a non-sexual way. Like most things “context is king.”

If someone draws or paints children in sexual situations, do we call it child-porn and does it fall under the same laws as actual pictures of the same? Yes and No, but it is non-the-less in many cultures acceptable to some group of people. I would proffer that those groups are one step away from allowing actual children to be harmed in order, to fulfill their fantasy.

There is a Japanese maker of technical equipment that I use in my lab from a company called Tenma. If you Google Tenma, you will come up with the test equipment of which I speak. You will also come up with some fictional character from MANGA that is of a 16 year old girl that is often posed in erotically suggestive ways. On eBay these statues of her dressed as a school girl and anatomically correct go for $100 plus. Who buys them is anybody’s guess. Why they are created is another story all together and the answer would be, supply and demand.

I would also point out that those that shave their pubic areas are probably two steps away from this “child attraction”, as they either like the child like appearance of the shaven genitalia, or; they ah… don’t like hair in their, ah …teeth…… Too racy?? All I am saying is be aware… This is the slippery slope that we all must look at when we “like or don’t like” something. You can “man-scape” or “woman-scape..” all you like but, I would challenge you to “know why” you are doing it. “To thyn own self be true.”

Sex sells and the line of demarcation between art and porn is always moving. I was looking at some 60’s hobby magazines the other day and could not help but notice the young lady in the bikini on the cover used to sell the magazine to model airplane enthusiast, of the 60’s….

Recently “like this December 2014” Playdough sent out in their toy an extruder that is so phallic in nature that someone had to be blind to not see it. Let’s think about this.

It had to be designed and passed by some marketing folks.
It had to be sent off to someone to make it
Again it had to be gone over in marketing to design the box cover and associated marketing stuff.
Someone had to see this in a board room somewhere before it was created and sent to how many stores in the world.
How this made it to the customer is beyond me.

The bottom line, and this may surprise you, I think that porn has its place in society.

Like romance novels, porn, skin flicks and the like bring new ideas into your dusty bedroom. They may start a conversation between you and your spouse or mate or whatever that might surprise the both of you. Maybe a little spanking or role playing is what you need to get you active again in looking forward to coming home.

These shows on Cinemax are usually lame but if it gets the oxytocin going, what harm is it? Don’t let your bedroom life become stale as sex is really one of the perks of living.

-Best

#viral web #traffic or 15 minutes?

Viral web traffic or 15 minutes?

Is this what we want? Do we want thousands or tens of thousands stumbling across our blogs because they were dragged here by some trick of code, or slight of algorithm?

The lady that harassed that driver to speed and loose control of his truck and subsequently wreck out was going for a viral video on YouTube. Why? For her 15 minutes of pathetic fame! She played the role of traffic Nazi under the guise of “keeping everyone safe on the slick roads, until the guy is finally trying to pass her and she does what? She speeds up to further piss the guy off until he does indeed go too fast and wreck his truck. At which time she does what? She stops and gets out and further video’s the guy in the ditch and does she offer to help? Hell no, she taunts the poor guy even further and then, she adds insult to injury and calls the cops and plays the video that she was recording while driving down the road! Had the cops had their heads out of their butts, they would have heard her engine speed up and figured out that she was indeed the person her provoked and indeed instigated the whole mess for what? Her viral video!

The public saw it from her view of “the guy was a jerk and got what he deserved.” The forensically minded, “me” dug a little deeper, and so should the cops! She provoked that guy and he was the victim.

We see many videos that were taken while someone was being beat up, or assaulted in some form or fashion. Instead of helping or stopping the actions of others, we see many looking for their 15 minutes of fame! There was one video making the rounds where some ASSHOLE was beating the snot out of a dog! Some poor dog was getting the crap beat out of it while another asshole videoed the whole thing, and posted it for the world to see!

Yes, I want followers. Do I want to trick you into following me, hell no! Do I want to pay some service to direct tens of thousands here to this blog, so WordPress can validate their advertising scheme and sell “clicks” to vendors who benefit from my work? No…

If you follow me and enjoy my work, that is what I am looking for. If you feel others would enjoy what I do, and or find my words interesting enough to share; that too would be much appreciated.

This blog is for people who think outside the box, like me. This blog is for thinkers or those that would like to engage in conversation that is above the normal fray.

This is the place to be if you like to engage in conversation about topics that others fear to even think about. The opinions are my own. I may not always be right, but I am open minded enough to listen to people from all walks of life, and welcome dialogue in that vein.

Yes, I want followers but, only those that will actually read what I write, and feel compelled to possibly comment or share it with their friends. My goal is to surround myself with like minded folks, and make this a home for others, “like myself” to become acquainted.

If you find this blog such a place, then welcome!

Pull up a chair, kick off your shoes and stay a while. I have spent many hours pontificating about many different things over the last several months, and will continue to do so; as I am either asked to, or as events of the day need to be talked about.

Make this a place to escape from the daily chatter or noise from the TV, or work, or life!

Enlightened conversation is always welcome, and appreciated!

-Best to you and those that you care about!

Time & #2014

Time & 2014

As we near the end of another year I thought it prudent to talk about time.

We humans take time for granted, “there is always tomorrow,” “I can’t wait for Friday,” Why is this day going so slow?” Sound familiar?

When we are working for someone we are “selling our time.” One man said once that “we are all whores,” “We will do most anything for money!”

That statement was not lost on me and he was right! While the traditional whore sells her time and body we sell our talents and time. There is little difference except her talents are not acceptable in polite society; while ours might be.

Simply stated, we have no idea when the bell will toll. We have no idea when we will draw our last breath or have that final heart beat. Will we live to the ripe old age of 100 plus or will we kick off today?

Some of us take this to the extreme and create a bucket list. Before we kick the proverbial bucket we want to accomplish X, Y and Z and probably many more letters than there are in the alphabet.

So, as we prepare for 2015 what should we be thinking about? What should we do?

Sadly I have known way too many folks that never did things that they wanted to do. Simple things like go to Alaska or Hawaii. These folks had the means, they just did not set aside the time.

Time management is something that should be taught in school as I truly think that is a key element to success. If you set aside 8 hours of every day for sleep, that leaves you 16 for other things. 40 hours of every week should be for work that leaves you 40 for other things. Realistically we can take 10 of those 40 for commuting leaving 30 for eating, playing or other things. That of course does not include the 32 hours on the weekends.

For arguments sake, let’s say we will live until the age of 80, give or take.

Taking care of your body and mind should be a priority. Getting to 80 would only be good if you can still do things at 80. Many folks still live a productive active life at that age and instead of shunning the idea you should embrace it and plan for it.

Life is about change, and adapting to that change. As we age we find that there are things that we can no longer do or do easily.

After my head on collision with the drunk, my life took a turn that was unexpected. There are things that I can no longer do as the pain regulates that activity. Should I relegate myself to that fact and just stop trying, or should I look for other things that I can still do?

Successful people don’t give up. They keep trying. They look for other ways to re-invent themselves. Wounded Warriors are people that I look up to. While I live in constant pain, I still have my extremities and even though it hurts, I can still use them. Many of them do not have them any longer and yet, they find new ways to “live life!”

The death of Robyn Williams took me by surprise. That has been a very sad event in 2014. I wish I had known him because maybe, just maybe I could have made a difference. That to me is one great way to “spend” ones time and that is in the service of others. I am not suggesting that you make a career out of it but, I always feel better when I am helping someone else. Robyn was a life worth investing in. He made countless people laugh and have better days through his talents. His death made many cry and I suspect; still does.

The longer you live the more “death” you will experience and it is important that you deal with it in such a way that it does not bring you down. None of us are getting out of this alive and that brings me back to time management.

One of the other “celebrities” that meant a lot to me was Steve Irwin. Please don’t get me wrong, there are tons of people who have meant something to me that I have genuine pain for their loss, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, Bob Ross, Ronald Reagan, and Carl Sagan to name a scant few. The list could go on all day so let me get back to Steve Irwin.

Why Steve? Steve made me laugh. Steve captured my interests and in doing so made me see his love of life and all of the world’s creatures in a new light. Before Steve, the only good snake was a dead snake, the same held true for spiders! Now I have been known to take a spider out of the house and put it back outside. I actually chased a coral snake down and took its picture! I can guarantee before Steve, that is not something that I would have done! While chasing the snake I remember thinking in his voice, “I hope its not grumpy!”

Although his zeal for life often put him over the top of the bell curve of “living on the edge,” He lived his life more in his 42 years then most of us will in those 80 years that we may have. Steve brought the camera in and shared many moments of his life “some rather intement” involving he and Terry’s first child being born. I was amazed that he lived past that day! That show, had me put a visit to down under, on my bucket list.

Living in the moment

There was a star trek movie where Picard was taught to “live in the moment.” What were the writers getting at? I thought about that for sometime and finally concluded that we fail to take time to smell the roses. We see them in passing but seldom stop and go over to them and “smell them.”

We go through our lives one Starbucks at a time, punctuated by meetings, phone calls and long commutes to and from the office where we once again survive hectic schedules of soccer, ballet, ball practice, dentist visits, and maybe a trip to grandmother’s house for the holidays.

We live our lives on screens. We exchanged the TV for the computer, and now we have tablets that can be utilized during the commercials for things that you simply must have as you disserve them! We stalk our friends and family through Facebook or other social media and we get our news from snippets doled out in 140 characters or less.

We allow the masses to let us know what is important by what is trending, often times to discover it has something to do with someone’s butt!

Porch Time

When I visit family in other parts of the country I look forward to the visits where the internet does not work and the cell phone gets crappy signals. I have been known to get some coffee and watch the sunrise on their porch and I have also been known to sit on the porch with a good book if no one was around or, engage in “social intercourse” with those that made the time to do so.

Those are moments where I either invested in myself or in others through a just about lost art of “talking.” Carrying on a conversation without LOL or OMG and in more than 140 characters!

Goals

Set yourself some short term goals and long term goals whether it be financial or life goals and track your progress.

Much like project managers track the progress of a project through milestones, task and such, you too should manage your life in such a way that by the time you retire you have the funding to do so, and you have a plan for what you will do during that time of your life. Both are equally important!

Some will tell you that life just happens but, those are folks analogous to ships at sea, without a rudder!
You must have a rudder if you don’t want to capsize or end up on the rocks!

Manage your money and manage your time!

If you are called home before you get to retirement, than God has something more important for you to do.

While you are working, try to enjoy what you are doing. A third of your life you spend working, you should do your best to find something to do that you are passionate about.

A third of your life you spend sleeping, get a comfortable bed as this is an investment in you.

The commute is just what it is and your options may be different. Car pools allow you the opportunity to visit with others. Public transportation would allow you to nap or read and then there are books on tape.. I have been known to use it as “me time” and sing while other drivers looked on, thinking that I had lost it!

Make the most out of the time that you have here and spend your time wisely!

As Marvin Zindler used to say, Good Golf, Good tennis or whatever makes you happy!

#home #ownership fraught with #danger

Home Ownership, fraught with Danger

Plumbing

I would guess that one of the largest problems with home ownership is plumbing.

You have the simple things like flappers in toilets or valves that leak. One of the most common is a plugged up drain or toilette.

What if all of the drains stop draining?

This happened in a starter home and the cost to “augur out the main drain” was $65. A year later I moved to a home that was three times the value. The main drain stopped draining and I called the same plumber.. Same procedure and the cleanout was even easier to get to. Big company… $365…

The list is endless and the prices match between the old house and the new. Re-seat a commode with a wax seal $60. New house $250. Lesson, “location matters!”

2 Cents for your $40

One rather expensive outfit came out to unclog a drain and while he was here I ask him about a commode that was rocking a little bit. He told me for $40 cash, he would fix it.

I was paying for the other work by credit card and was put off by the “cash comment” but I agreed. I handed him the $40 and this man took two pennies out of his pocket and placed one under each two front corners of the commode between it and the tile floor.

It worked, “for a while” and I felt like I had just been taken to the cleaners.

Home Warrantee’s

This is probably one of the largest frauds perpetrated on a new home owner.

Purchased a house with a 5 ton air-conditioner, had the house and unit inspected prior to purchase. One month after we moved in the compressor went out. After calling the home warrantee folks they did not exactly “spring into action.” Keep in mind this is Texas and we have two seasons, cool and hot!

During the first week of the outage a person showed up to examine the unit and determined that it was indeed dead.

Two weeks later it was determined that it would have to be replaced as they could not economically repair the unit.

The following week some guys come out to replace the compressor. Their unit which collects the old Freon looked like it had been beat with a hammer and when I asked what happened to it, they said it had fallen off of the back of the truck! It looked it. While I stood there they tried for hours to evacuate the old Freon. I left, only to go inside and watch from the window where they cut the lines which was followed by copious amounts of white cloudy gas leaving the pipes. Their Freon capture device was for show.

After the unit was replaced they vacuumed out the lines and released the new Freon and turned on the new unit. Four weeks from start to finish. Problem: during the day the unit could not bring the house down to anything below 80, it never shut off, and even during the night 76 was a milestone. Oh, you could hear this thing for several houses away in each direction! It was horrible!

At this point I contacted an independent contractor who examined the installation and determined that they had replaced a 5 ton unit with a 4 ton. The Carrier that I had when I bought the house was a now a Janitrol “builders special.”

The unit was doing all that it could do, he suggested I look into more insulation and better windows to assist the unit unless I wanted to replace it.

My electric bill was topping $600 a month and we were not even into the hot months yet.

The Janitrol was a 10 seer reciprocating compressor which is technical jargon for inefficient and bottom of the line. Never mind that it was undersized for the home, and the coil.

Bite the bullet:

New Carrier 5 ton unit and matching heater $13K

New insulated windows $10K

More insulation $3K self-installed.

Another nightmare about to unfold…

While the modifications worked, you could now cool the house and the unit would shut off during the day there were still issues with warm rooms and cold rooms and, we had a wall under the unit have the paint literally sag off of the wall. It would seem that the primary drain was not working and the water from the condensing unit filled up the pan and ran down the wall.

The company who came recommended to me had just changed hands. I called them for warranty work and the first thing I heard is “we don’t sell Carrier.” My heart sank as now I am looking at paying someone else to fix whatever is wrong with this new unit, or so I thought.

Unlike most who would give up; I wrote a letter to them with a copy of the invoice and insisted that they send someone out.

The owner called me; he was sending a “comfort specialist out.” True to his word, the next morning there was a knock at my door and a rather attractive lady, all of about 5 foot nothing was standing there. I showed her the damage to the wall, the paperwork from her company and without too many more words she was up in my attic examining the work with one of her folks.

While she did not cuss, I expect that profanities might have been zinging around in her head. Without any quibbling she said, the guy that did this moved on and this was one of the reasons why. Nothing about this was installed correctly and if I would allow her; she would have her folks out to remove it, and re-install it perfectly.

It is difficult to find companies that stand behind their work and product and let me tell you, I don’t know how much money they spent on this but, that installation is a work of art. I gladly pay the yearly contract and they come out and do what needs doing for a small price.

I have her personal cell number and I have had to use it twice, both times she was Johnny on the spot, and oh by the way, she is the owner of the company!

I can see clearly!

The windows were another project with mixed results.

As a homeowner, one tends to go to the hardware store and start asking questions. That may not be the best advice I could give here.

Without thirteen pages of profanity, let’s just say that it took several visits from different contractors to get the windows installed and caulked correctly. Hardware stores sub-contract to people who for the most part are looking to fatten their wallet, and not necessarily on the up and up.

Dust dust and more dust.

When it came to the insulation, I decided to do it myself by renting the machine and buying the material. While it was a mess, I have lowered my electric bill to around $200 a month, after the addition of a pool.

If I were going to do this again I would use something better than a dust mask. Matter of fact, I don’t think I would ever do it again. While I got the job I wanted I breathed out dust for weeks!

Roofs

When purchasing a house make certain that you have a good inspector inspect everything, including the roof. This home had cedar shake under composite which I did not think too much about. In retrospect, I would have negotiated a new roof.

There was evidence of past leaks in closets ceilings, which I spotted, not the inspector.

When I was talking with the inspector in earshot of the homeowner regarding the roof, she went into a frenzy, and started yelling! What is all this talk about the roof, it is fine it is new! She was beside herself and I guessed that was not the first time she had heard this.

Sure enough, I had to have the roof replaced as it leaked during heavy rainstorms, which was another $10K

TIP: bring a UV flash lite with you and use it to look for mold and or mildew! Anything organic will fluoresce giving you a clearer picture of past or present damage!

Enough? Naw, more plumbing woes…

During one rather hot summer about 5 years into the home ownership I noticed doors sticking, windows not working right, and cracks in the drywall.

I called one of my friends who happens to own a company that does civil engineering. He put me in touch with a lady who came out with a line level. She determined that parts of my home were sinking and others were rising up.

She suspected that there was a leak of some sort under the foundation.

By this time I had found a plumber who I could trust and had him come out with a camera. Long story short the drain pipes were rusted out and there was simply dirt for the bottom part of the drain. The drain from the utility room also contained the drain for the air conditioning and that is where there was lift.

When the ground gets wet it swells and actually jacks the house up into the air doing all sorts of damage.

I called my agent who called the claims office who sent out a company that they hire to do leak detection.

When I asked the guy about the lifting of the house he told me that it was surely the shrubbery outside doing it and not the huge amounts of water under the house. He was spouting the company line taught to them by the insurance company.

I called multiple foundation “experts” and that could be a book all unto itself! These folks for the most part, are crooks! just about as bad as the roofers that follow the hail storms..

They send out “sales folk” who try to scare you into doing something with them and only them and you had best do it quickly as your home is fixing to break into multiple parts and then you would need more than a foundation, you may have to bulldoze and start from scratch.

Yes, I embellished the story a little but not much. They were all over the map however they all did say one thing that was consistent; the parts of the home that were up in the air were caused by water under the foundation.

The insurance folks sent over their engineer to detect why I was having issues and this was interesting as well. He had soil pulled to test for its “plasticity” well after the plumbing folks had been digging for sometime and had it pulled from areas where there were no water leaks, just tunnels that were made to get to the bad pipes.

Even the lay person can see from this chart that if you pull the sample to test from a part of the “dig” that was not near the leak the results will of course be skewed in favor of the ….wait for it….the insurance company!

I contacted the agency that regulates these folks. They reported that they had several complaints against this guy, he sides more with the insurance company in most of his cases.

Why am I telling you all of this?

Get your own independent specialist, these guys work for the insurance company and I suspect that in order to continue getting business from them, they must find for the insurance company most of the time or when they can cast a shadow of doubt.

Insurance is a necessary evil, and they are not your friends! They don’t care about you in the slightest. They care about revenue and since they can’t come break your legs, or burn your business or house, if you don’t buy insurance; they simply screw you on the back end! Like they might pay off, but then drop you.

My house was once hit by lightening. It did about ten thousand in damages. They paid off less deductible, but then cancelled my fire insurance! I had to purchase higher priced fire insurance through another carrier! There was no fire but since it is under the fire part of the policy guess what, they are not smart enough to differentiate between the two and Viola! These folks are not cute lizards with English accents or plucky ladies with a name badge. These folks are bean counters with attitude!

I could continue on but you get the point. Shop your insurance and get a deductible that you can live with, should you need it. Shop your insurance often as these guys buy business every now and then; so why not take advantage of lower rates.

There is no cheese in this maze!

A housing development company purchased some land that has been a field for years recently. After clearing the land of trees, brush and all of the other vegetation the lands inhabitants came into our neighborhood. We have been run over with rabbits, coyotes, bobcats, snakes, rats not to mention mice, raccoon’s and opossum’s.

While sitting in my office I heard the unmistakable sound of something in the attic. Making a note to contact the pest control folks I thought little more about it. A few days later opening up my closet door I was met with what looked like a cat toy at first until I realized that it was a dead rat! Well, mostly dead; the rat found the cat or the cat the rat and its neck was broken pretty efficiently. Not bad work for a nine month old kitten. There was no blood, no fuss no muss, just a dustpan and broom and out to the trash.

Later that night there was another one that was discovered just outside the closet, this would be the female of the two, also with a broken neck. This one was dead.

I made certain that all of the places that any creatures could make it into the attic were closed off and the sounds stopped. A few days later there was the unmistakable smell of dead critter in the attic. The two had made babies and moved into the attic right before a cold snap, and made a nest, and discovered the cats.

Google “pest control” and people come up that lead you to believe that they will find and remove dead critters in your attic! I called and spoke with them regarding same. I made sure to tell them what I needed, and an appointment was set up.

Two days later the guy shows up, heads up to the attic and in seconds informs me that I have an “infestation!” He tells me that it would do no good to put out traps as he would only get a few dozen before they would become smart and know that it was not a safe food source and leave them alone!

Did you remember me saying that the noise had stopped?

I let him give his spiel as I was now interested at how much this “removal of some dead baby rats / mice” would cost. They don’t believe in poison because the animal will just die somewhere and the smell will be there. He tells me that the poison is cyanide and these rats can live through it. The truth of it is that the “poison” is Warfarin or other anticoagulant that taken in large quantities causes the animal to seek water where it hemorrhages and dies. Yep, that is the same blood thinner that they give us!

RAT 101

I am then confronted with a “free” class on rats. It would seem that they emit a pheromone that can be detected for miles. Once they inhabit your attic it is like a neon sign posted in rat for “VACANCY!” When you get an infestation it has a really bad smell that these trained “salesmen” can detect with their “good sniffers.”

He further went on to say that they make babies often and in a few days you have hundreds of them living in your attic and they carry all sorts of diseases including the Hantavirus!

These guys “the rats” are smart and they bore holes in your air ducts and use them as “super highways” defecating and pissing in them which as it dries gets blown by the air and heat into your house and you in turn breath it in and become sick! You might even die! There is no way that you can take a chance on breathing rat shit!

Bottom line, they would need to come out and suck out and take out all of the insulation from the attic down to the ceiling. They suck up the rats and their offspring at this time and “it is kind of gross to hear the rats being sucked up!” Then they spray some disinfectant. They remove all of the insulation on your air ducts and repair any damage to the air duct itself caused by the rats and re-insulate them. Then they re-install up to 4 inches of cellulose insulation treated with Boric Acid as this burns the skin of any rodent that they miss. Oh, I forgot that they kick you and your pets out of the house for a few hours while they use some sort of machine that puts a mist inside the house that kills all bacteria and or viruses.

So, the two rats / large mice that had babies somewhere in the attic that died of starvation which was supposed to cost $65 to remove them; was now going to cost $12,000.00 with a lifetime warrantee or $11,000.00 without the warrantee, and since I have an AARP card, I get another 10% off which brought it down just under Ten Grand before taxes! “When can we get started?”

Now, he said all of this with a straight face…

Please he said, look us up on the BBB or Angie’s list, people think we are great! “Think” being the operative word. Since I have heard no more noises in the attic I decided to put him off just a little while “so I could laugh without insulting him.” Truthfully I have been in the attic and seen nothing that would lead me to believe that there was anything to think about other than those two that met the cat! But, I went to the hardware store and purchased some mouse traps and rat traps.

Loaded them up with premium peanut butter, and put them in an area where there was some mouse / rat dropping. Nothing to date has tripped either trap! Now one would think that if I had a $12,000.00 infestation, that one of them would have been stupid enough to not recognize the trap, and go for the peanut butter, yes?

Get more than one opinion! As I get older I swear there must be a target on me somewhere that says, here is an old guy and they are stupid!

Reverse it!

I am dubious about reverse mortgages…

If you listen to the commercial carefully, as he tells you that there is no hidden traps, etc he says that you can get “your equity” out of your home in the form of a reverse mortgage.

I am no math wiz but lets say you purchased your home for $150,000.00 . You paid about half a million for it with interests and such, and it is now worth $750.000.00.

If I understand him correctly, and correct me if I am wrong, you can only get your original $150K paid monthly and the “loan” is paid back once the last person who took out the loan leaves the home. When you or your spouse “last one living, dies!”

So, do they get your $750K house for whatever fraction of the original equity that they paid you back, or do the heir’s get the rest of the $150K or, do they get to sell the home for whatever it is worth, and pay back the reverse mortgage folks?

Sounds too good to be true to me and maybe you don’t give a damned about your heir’s and maybe getting pennies back on the dollar is ok with you but, if it were I, I would look into this very carefully. Fred Thompson was a politician after all!

It would make sense to me to sell the home for whatever the market will bear and go live with the kids! Make sure that they have all of the cable channels, really good food and don’t mind waiting on you hand and foot, you know, the way that you did for them! Of course, having some money in a bank account looking like a carrot dangling from a stick would not be a bad plan either.

I might add to this as I think of more. There is plenty more I am sure but those are the highlights that come to mind.

If you know anything about this reverse mortgage stuff, I am interested in your take! I have only listened to the commercial, about a thousand times, and it does seem fishy!

Add me to your follow list and tell others about me! This is good stuff here and all for free!

-Best

$#fracking #earthquake Is it really worth it? @thewellsreport$

#fracking #earthquake Is it really worth it? @thewellsreport

Fracking…Food for thought

$frackingex$

Denton County in North Texas made it illegal to “frack” in the city limits.

Certain radio commentators “who do not live there” are calling “Dentonites” Stupid!

http://www.660amtheanswer.com/local-personalities/the-wells-report/

Having lived in Texas (and in Denton County) since 1962 the only earthquakes I have ever felt prior to recently, have been while traveling; non here in Texas until last year… after Fracking started.

When earthquakes started occurring in places where fracking was taking place the gas companies produced studies and other scientific data that conclusively proved it had nothing to do with what they are doing, simply a coincidence. Hmmmm Bullshit!

My problem is not with lower energy cost, or even the small earthquakes from time to time, my problem is A: the sons of bitches lied about it, and continue to do so. B: they are putting toxic substances in the ground that could and most probably will end up in the water that you drink and C: We are getting nothing for assuming the risk.

Lets take them in order, shall we? Fracking turns solid rock formations into gravel. What was once a stable solid “billions year old” rock formation is now gravel. The solid rock that was keeping any movements of the plates from happening is now no longer solid thus, the plate is moving.

$fracking-myths-01-0911-mdn$

Knowing something about this, I doubt that there will be anything like in California but, it could happen. There are major faults not too far from here and turning things in to gravel could relieve enough tension in the plates to allow the fault to move in a large way, affecting millions. And where will they be if this happens? Again they will prevaricate their way out of it, provide scientific proof from “the global warming scientist” that it was inevitable, and they had nothing to do with it, while they just fade into the background while the people bury their dead, pick up the pieces, and so forth.

I don’t trust them, and neither do the good Folks of Denton Mr. Wells!

B: We need civilian oversight that has nothing to gain by lying. We have so many people who will sell their sole for the buck that we need a Ralph Nader type organization to watch these folks to make certain that everything that they do is above board. If people get cancer or die of other contamination due to fracking their message will be “not us, we were never there!”

C: I would like to see them purchase earthquake insurance for the citizens in the areas that they are fracking. If they buy it by the boatloads it should be cheap enough as here in Texas, unless the insurance companies have changed, one cannot even purchase it, as until recently the ground has never moved, even a little.

Summary:

Civilian oversight

Ground water test, streams, lakes, wells etc.

The introduction of a marker in the chemicals that they use to inject, that would make their contamination easily traced back to them. Gasoline companies have used something like this for years, the technology is there, make a law.

$fracking$

Total transparency; so we don’t have to worry about them saying things like they were never there. If something screws up they need to be held accountable.

Purchase insurance that pays for the repair of anything damaged as a direct or indirect result of fracking from the start of the project; until 50 years past the end of the project.

If they have a problem with this, than I would move to outlaw it. Not just here, but everywhere!

#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!

#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

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