Enlightened Conversation.
Category: LifeStyle
In today’s e-mail there were several different scams from well known companies. Most of them deal with “order status.” Be wise about clicking on any of these things as most of them are fraught with danger… Yes DANGER…. The link could be as innocuous as some ad for Viagra or it could be a link to Cyber Locker or some other virus waiting to just ruin your day.
If you are not expecting something like that, don’t click it!
Have a good Monday!
So I have few thoughts that I wanted to share with you.
If you have read the first page of this blog you know that I am interested in Enlightened Conversation. Enlightened conversation however; depends upon “enlightenment.”
It should be no surprise to anyone that has read any of my postings that I am a Star Trek Fan, from the first episode with William Shatner getting all the girls; and the guy in the red shirt dying of some horrible attack, to every version there after of the series. The consistent trait among them however is the red shirt guy dies. You would think that the red shirt people would figure this out. 🙂
As a writer, even since the beginning, I appreciated well written scripts. Most have no idea when they watch something on TV or at the movies, why they either liked it; or hated it.
Look inside First
Part of the process of becoming more than you are, is to know yourself. “Well that is just stupid, I know myself, my name is this, and I live here, and so on and so forth.” Truth be told, most folks really don’t know themselves, they know of themselves.
Most people act in a mechanical nature following their programming, not unlike the animals that trod the sod or fly in the air above us.
What we don’t know about this world, and the creatures that are on it would fill entire libraries.
The same can be said about ourselves.
Start with this simple exercise, each time you are moved in some way by someone or something ask yourself why. What about that book did you like or not like. What about that movie did you appreciate or detest. Than, ask the magic question of why…
If I talk with you about late term abortion.
I mention that the doctor pokes some scissors into the base of the Child’s skull making a small incision, clipping the brain stem from the spinal cord, killing the child. From there he puts a suction device in and sucks out the child’s brain so when pulling the baby out, the skull will easily crush, not damaging the mother.
I know how I feel about it and why; how do you feel, and why?
What if you are looking at a painting of a lovely lady, sitting on a blanket under a tree, on a sunny day? She is wearing a light white dress that the wind blows up past her knees on occasion. She is sitting there with a picnic basket, some wine and a book. The sunlight pokes through creating small silhouettes of light on her, here and there as the breeze blows the leaves on the tree. In the distance there is the ocean and a beach with families at play. The seagulls are dancing in the wind while a young man approaches the tree from behind with a rose in his hand.
How does that picture make you feel, why?
It is not simply good enough to hate something or like something, you must know why!
Every time your emotions are plucked, know what plucked them. When you are moved, know what moved you.
With Star Trek it was simple for me to appreciate Gene Rodenberry’s vision of a Utopian world where we had evolved past greed. Truthfully, I think Next Generation did a much better job of this however; I never understood what drove people to do anything if they could have anything that they wanted by simply getting the replicator to create it. So, is greed a motivator? Why “Boldly Go,” if getting something in return was not a motive?
What drives you to do what you do? With most of us it is some form of remuneration for our efforts. Let’s face it; we live in a dystopian society currently, with a hint of 1984 looming over the horizon. We have a government that fabricates the narrative as they go along, to suite some agenda. We have smart phones that may very well be spying on us through some NSA covert initiative that was put in place by the same folks who developed the porn scanners at the airport. We have drones that the government can fly over a mile from your house and look through an open window and count your freckles!
We have a percentage of the masses that believe whatever garbage comes out of Washington as the gospel. These folks are truly lost and victims to their own programming and failure to think outside the box. These folks are the kinds of folks that need that box so they understand the boundaries and try to live within them, or figure out a way to take advantage of the structure as they understand it. You will not catch them asking why they “like” or “hate” or do what they do, as according to them it is their nature, it simply is. It is simpler than that, it is their programming and all they know, and want to know. Please don’t confuse them with the facts!
The Ferguson riots are a perfect example of emotion overrunning common sense or the programming. Darren Wilson by the laws that everyone accepts was cleared of any wrong doing. The young man that was shot was seen on video robbing the convenience store and roughing up the owner. Before he left you see him once again come back and come after the store owner in a threatening manner.
Now he continues on with this behavior with a cop. I don’t know how high he was or how far out of his right mind that he was but, you don’t screw with a cop! They have all the cards. With a cop it is yes sir, no sir here are my hands in plain sight sir! Anything else is well, stupid!
A grand jury clears the cop of all wrong doing so the people of the town burn down their own town and vandalize their own shop owners etc etc.. Is that programming, or nature?
Governments around the world understand people, the way we think and how closely we mimic animals, and play to those facts. Functional idiots would be the ideal populous for any government, as they would do as they are told, and not question their leaders. They would work at some prescribed task and give a portion, or have a portion of their money taken from them to support those that “pull the strings.”
No, not wearing a tin hat, don’t fall prey to conspiracy stuff. I know technology and people and I am a science fiction writer. Many things written by science fiction writers become science fact. We think outside the box and leave the math to those that communicate with algebraic nomenclature and obscure symbols that only a scant few truly understand. I would maintain that math holds those folks back from thinking outside the box because their formula does not support it. It is only when one of them dares think that their formula may be wrong, do they look outside the box.
To be anything more than an automaton, takes work. People are naturally lazy and take the easiest path, or path of least resistance. Some however do not. Some ask, “why?”
What about you? Why ask why?
What kind of work does it take? First and foremost it takes getting to know that person looking back at you from the mirror.
Why do we do what we do?
Enlightenment consists of knowing yourself first.
Once you start analyzing why you do what you do, you can then begin to understand what might motivate someone else. Instead of blindly following your programming, you can choose a different path.
The folks in Ferguson were manipulated to do the bidding of some by using their emotions. It is so easy to manipulate someone with their emotions it is laughable. You know that you have been manipulated through guilt, into doing things that you did not want to do. I think some churches use guilt to get you to tithe more, or to come more often to church.
Your wife of mother in law may guilt you into doing something that you do not want to do. Guilt is a great emotion to manipulate you with. Another is hate.
“Hate is a poison that you take expecting it to affect someone else!”
We have a government for whatever reason is fomenting racial hate. No one alive today had anything to do with slavery yet we hear more about it today than twenty years ago. It serves a purpose to foment racism and I think it is to stir up the democratic base, when in fact the Democratic Party historically is the party that oppresses black people. When you don’t know history you are doomed. Americans have a short memory, and attention span and they know it and depend upon it..
Programming
I would proffer that it is natural to be bigoted against that which is different from you.
I would argue that part of your programming is to reject people of a different race in order to propagate your particular genetic line. I would also point out that the male of the species “whatever the species” will stick his “business,” into just about anything, including a knot hole, to achieve the end result. Again, programming and a reward system, which would lead to mutations in the gene pool of that species. That by the way is my argument for macro evolution. I don’t think that we just magically appeared as human one day, I think species intermingled and over time nature found a way to create viable species which too intermingled. That intermingling is still in progress as today we have inter species procreation much more than just a few years ago. People (some people) are thinking outside the box, and their programming and moving beyond differences of colour and race. There is hope!
One prime argument against this is, “Well why did evolution stop?” Who said it stopped? Firstly, we human beings cannot fathom 4.5 billion years. We have nothing to give context to that amount of time. We live an average of 70 years. That is not very much time! We see beds that our ancestors used only a generation ago and note how short they are. What we don’t put together is that we are much taller than they were. We know that the appendix is a useless organ and is shrinking because our diet has changed and it is no longer needed. If we look and are open minded we will see other signs that evolution of the Darwinian kind, is indeed happening. Is there a designer to this evolution?
While part of the programming in all animals is to reject that which is different, thinking people can look past those differences and indeed some do. Part of the programming consists of a pairing of people simply by physical characteristics. Things such as symmetry and physical build of the male as well as broad hips and large breast of the female. This is programmed into us and useful for successful procreation.
When we were cave folks wearing nothing but lots of hair, things were exposed. Women might have chosen to pair with men that were, well muscular and well hung, while guys most certainly looked at that which would better facilitate successfully bearing young. Sex back then would most certainly have been Pavlovian. If sex did not feel good and did not have a “reward,” I doubt that any species would be here. Let’s face it; sex at its basic level is work! If done right, lots of work! If you don’t think that there is some powerful programming at work, think again!
If you stop and think about it, there is really nothing attractive about genitalia at all. I am amazed that gynecologists have any type of sex life after working with genitalia day in and day out. My guess is that the reward system of procreation and the programming of that same “sub routine,” overrule that of the id, the super ego and the ego. While the super-ego may try to rationalize what you are seeing the id is strong thus the programming of the id seems to supersede that of the super-ego and the ego.
And speaking of genitalia, an interesting thing about the penis that puts it into perspective is the design of the tip or Glans is such, that if inserted after someone else, it will actually pull their seed out and make room for yours, if yours is larger then the previous occupant.
Design or evolution?
Men are typically visual people and as such can be easily stimulated by such. If we see someone in a bikini where do our eyes first travel to? …. No answer? … Coward…. They travel to the parts covered by the bikini. From there, some background subroutine kicks in and gets to imagining the rest. If that same person were nude, our eyes would most certainly travel there first but, the background subroutine would not engage, and I doubt that after a moment or two, the visual titillation would still be there. Our attention might then be only to the persons face and other visual queues or other folks that are around.
In speaking with nudist, I am told that genitalia and other parts become no different than an elbow or knee. I often wonder how the sex life of a nudist would differ from that of a person who is not. Maybe there is a government grant available for such a study? If I had to guess, I would guess it would parallel that of a couple that was in the same general age group that was not a nudist as again I think it would be centered around the reward or pleasure part of the brain.
I often wonder what affect the “Extreme Availability” of pornography; will have on this generation and those people of the next generation. We have children exposed to this stuff before they reach puberty. They do not have the maturity to deal with this subject matter so one has to wonder what outcome it will have. If it were simply nude people I think it would fairly innocuous. If on the other hand it is all sorts of pornographic situations and activities dreamt up by who knows who, they may very well take that as normal. I fear for their moral compass.
Hazarding a guess I have to think that it would lead more males to self pleasure… ok… masturbate, rather than go through the “trouble” to get a girlfriend and have a “normal” relation. Pornography could have a much more serious affect on society as a whole. I also wonder what if any affect it has on females.
Delineation between nudity and pornography is a must at this point, as there is ample confusion. As there is confusion between nudity and pornography, there is also confusion between being naked and nude. Semantics you might say but, a thinking person would disagree.
Let’s start with the later; if I am purposefully around other folks without clothing, I am nude. If I were to say go into a spa where there were people without clothing and that was the accepted behavior than I and they would be nude. If I had someone posing nude for me while I painted them, and it was consensual, “consensual being the key word” then they would be nude. While we here in this country are way too hung up on nudity, trust me, it is not that big of a deal and healthy.
If on the other hand you are secretly watching someone undress, or you walk in on someone who expects privacy, and they are without clothing, they are naked. While naked can also mean “without adornment” or the naked truth, naked is being unclothed in a situation where you would like to have clothing on.
So that dream that you have about being naked at school; that is naked unless of course you are posing for an art class without clothes, than you are nude.
Pornography is someone or a group of someone’s in the act of sex or some other sexual situation designed to promote sexual titillation for the participants or the viewers.
One famous “movie star” in “adult movies” was once interviewed. She was asked how she felt about people looking at her naked, and pleasuring themselves. This person who had a rather inauspicious start to life, also sports a 138 IQ. Her answer was simply this; “than I am doing my job.” It was very easy to tell from the interview that she was “smart” and chose this line of work as a way out of the normal 9-5 work world, that so many of us fall into. Her bright and bubbly personality along with her IQ is quite frankly what I found attractive about her but, I actually did read Playboy for the articles, and maybe checked out where that staple hit…
Is nudity healthy?
I mentioned earlier that it is “in my opinion” and here is why. Let’s say you have children and they never see you naked. The only nude folks they see are themselves or possibly their siblings until puberty. Now we have the internet with more porn than you can shake a stick at. Your young men start “peeking” at porn and expect that all women will look like that. You, under your garments have a poochy belly, possibly with stripes all over it from stretch marks, you breast have sagged or were never a perfect perky what have you, and your butt well, its not a Kardashian butt. Your mate accepts you as you are but, your kids have unreal expectations and once they tie the knot, a rude awakening is headed their way which could end up with ruptured nuptials.
I don’t think that you have to live in a nudist colony to get the job done but, I think having your children seeing you as you are, from a young age, as they grow up is healthy not only for them, but for you. You must be ok with your body, and you need to do what you can to feel sexy and alive. Your kids must know that not everyone looks like a porn star and once they have babies, everything changes. Even you dads out there with the beer belly. You too need to be ok with who you are in order to live a healthy life into your golden years. Setting your children’s expectation from very young will not only help them to keep things in perspective but, hopefully it may go a long way towards young men not objectifying women and indeed seeing them as something besides sex objects. An added bonus may very well be that if you don’t hide underneath baggy shirts you may make a little extra effort to keep excess weight off, as obesity often adds to your chances of diabetes and other health concerns. If your kids are older you can’t obviously start walking around naked but, you don’t have to hide the belly either. If you are a young couple with young kids, by all means, don’t hide.
If you have any questions about this, speak with a counselor or professional or two. This last generation has gone way off target with our kids, we incarcerate more today than ever before. Something is wrong and we need to be looking for reasons why. I think it has to do with Hollywood, the internet, violent video games, and dysfunctional families looking for that brass ring, but those that get paid $150 an hour might have a different idea.
Speaking of nudes, as an artist I can tell you that I prefer to paint those that are full figured much like the masters did of years gone by. These women today who are bags of bones covered by a little skin are not attractive to me; as an artist or a man. The bottom line is that you must be happy with who you are. That my friend starts by looking in the mirror and loving yourself, bulges, stripes and all. Start from the inside out, as first you have to know “who you are.”
The simple facts are that we are wired for sex. From the time we reach puberty and maybe before until we are pushing daisies up, sex is on the brain. We cannot totally escape our programming, at that age sex is high up on the list of priorities. The difference between the human and the animal is that we can control our programming.
During puberty, hormones are being introduced at levels we are not used to. Our inner animal may come out and want to play and not always in a constructive manner. It takes a special kind of “teacher” to work with us at that age, as we become impossible. We say things that we certainly don’t mean. We are mean to anyone that loves us and just beside ourselves. You add into this cornucopia of hormones, drugs, you trigger the release of more hormones and drugs from the brain which can make us suicidal. It is most important to understand what is going on at this age as there is no rational explanation for behavior most of the time. Keeping all recreational chemistry out of this system is a must!
In the animal kingdom the animal may desire sex from one of its harem and be threatened by a young male. This Bull may have to defeat its young challenger in order to maintain its control over the harem. That becomes the order of business for the moment forgoing anything else.
A Human may desire sex but there are many hoops to jump through just to have a chance at sex, and unfortunately at certain ages for certain people, fighting is not off of the table. Other rather stupid actions come into play as well. Lacking any morals and education our sex lives would most certainly emulate the animal kingdom. A parallel between human and animal could easily be drawn where sex or procreation is concerned. If we could examine the “code,” we would no doubt find that the subroutines look very similar.
Programming must come from the double helix, and I submit that programming can be modified by changing the behavior of a species, and having that species propagate its behavioral modifications through its DNA. This would necessarily prove that evolution through behavior modification is not only possible, but probable.
Back in the day there were people who studied eugenics. Their reasons were fairly malevolent in that they were after the “perfect race,” and hated Jews. Eugenics could be a reality and I think that the answer for such is programming the DNA not artificially, but by altering the behavior of the subject and then using that DNA to inseminate the subject. Because all of this takes time, as it is really a function of evolution; they should try this with some short lived creature like the fruit fly and see if they can’t program its DNA in some fashion, possibly only eat a certain type of fruit.
My theory is that our programming is a series of learned behaviors that somehow make their way back into the DNA that we pass on to our progeny. For this reason it might be a real good idea to procreate late in life or, donate sperm to a sperm bank when you are old, and wiser than when you were as a teenager and not so wise.
It is no secret that we stand on our forefathers shoulders where our technology and knowledge is concerned. Some of that knowledge and wisdom gets passed down before we too procreate but, much is learned late in life.
You can either believe that “god” creates you the way that you are or you can believe that Darwin was correct and indeed evolution explains “ooze to youze.”
To reject the later simply because of religious mores would be just as foolish as to dismiss the possibility of a spiritual being that uses evolution to create. Who is to say that some “god” for lack of a better name, is not using evolution to create what we see today.
It is necessary to think outside the box. If you allow your preconceived prejudices to “box in your thoughts,” you can not learn.
Once I was talking with a guy who believes what he reads in the bible. He professed to be open minded. “So, you would be open to talking about evolution?” “As long as it does not conflict with the bible, sure!” Sadly, he cannot learn. His potential is limited by his ideology.
Me personally, I want to know the truth. I don’t care what it is, that is what I want to know. The truth will set you free. We need to look for and learn the truth. Once learned, that truth needs to be embraced, and then spoken about, Boldly!
While we build on the past we must be ever so open to the future and all of its possibilities. If there is a being that creates worlds, and all the life thereon then he or it must certainly use math as its language! Science would be the common denominator and that would explain a lot of things.
There is a dichotomy between religious folks and science, not all, but most. The dichotomy precludes either subset from learning the truth. In order to seek the truth, one must first be open to any and all possibilities. Is there a grand creator, great! Is it all evolution and random chance? Cool! Is it a combination of a creator using physics to create what we have today? Awesome!
Share your thoughts. -Best
Copyright Timedok 11/2014 All rights Reserved
There are days that I long for the twisted pair; you know the POTS line or (plain old telephone service.) Yes, the one that hooks up to the one phone, on the wall or in the hallway in that special little nook that was designed by the architect for it. I would even go back to the dial phone, as I think that it was not only a simpler time, but probably a more reliable form of communication. OK, maybe not, but since we were not on it all of the time we had no idea when it was not working. The phone after all was not for kids..
I don’t know how many of my friends had a dial phone but, if you did not, you missed out. Calling a radio station to be the 25th caller was a real chore back in the day. If you won and I did once, it was a real conquest!
Speaking for me personally, I have at least 6 email addresses, the cell phone, the business phone, fax lines, house phone and of course SMS text messaging and even IM on FaceBook. I am also a ham radio operator and have half a dozen radios that can all be going at the same time, but most of the time not.
No, not me, but my station back then looked a lot like this!
It would seem that I should be able to be reached. Back in the day, I had a pager as well although, that thing was really nothing more than an electronic leash; for whoever had the number.
When I was a kid if I wanted to talk with a friend, I would go get on my bike and ride to their respective homes and ask the “parent who answered the door” is “fill in the blank” home and can they come out and play? Yes, a little like the Cleavers..
When I was a little more sophisticated, (8years old,) I used a Walkie Talkie to talk with my friends that lived within a half mile or so. That in a large part prompted me to get my ham radio license at a whopping 13 years old. With that; I have visited with thousands of folks all over the world, but that is another story for another day.
The Smart phone, which is why I am writing today, is a marvel of technology. It is the Swiss army knife of communication! With that device I can call anywhere in the world from just about anywhere. I can send text messages and pictures of whatever interest me. I can get them as well. I can send a video to someone or receive the same. With Facetime or Skype, I can live video chat with people too! I can watch movies or play games and yes, I can poke someone on facebook from the waiting room at the Dr.s office. The camera quality is such that if I had the mind to I could take a “quality picture of my dinner” and post it on facebook as we all want to see what you ate for dinner, right? Wink wink. The camera part is really quite true, it is a really decent camera for a phone!
There are some issues with this however; of which I wish to expound upon. First and foremost, SMS text messages (at least with my phone and service) are not guaranteed to make it. Back when e-mail was new, the common greeting on a phone call was “did you get my e-mail?” E-mail is not 100%, it never has been, and it never will be. E-mail is more reliable today as the servers are more persistent and the internet is more robust. It is still not guaranteed to get there.
Text communication whether SMS or e-mail or chat on some service can be dicey as you don’t get the facial queues that you do; well… in person. One can discern some queues in tone of voice when on the phone but, without emoticons and “LOL,” we might not know if the person was serious or kidding! That type if communication leaves lots of room for miss-communication.
We are in fact a world in transition regarding our communication. I have many “friends” on Facebook but, how many of them know me personally? How many of them know my favorite colour or type of food, or I theirs for that matter? So one has to ask, just how good of friends are we? Would they even want to be my friend in person?
When is the last time that you spoke with your neighbors? Do you know their names or anything about them? I have two new neighbors of which I have made a point to introduce myself to, welcome them etc but, I also made a point to know their dogs name, and introduce myself to him as well. You should have seen the owners face light up when I took the time to get to know his pooch! I am not bragging about myself; or chastising you, I mention this because I realize that most of us pull into the garage, and close the door behind us. We leave the same way and “in my case” I use a lawn service so I don’t even have the opportunity to meet while I am butchering my grass. “hence the lawn service, I ruined the yard when I cut it the first time.” It was tiff grass I think, and my mower was not made for it…. I think. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it!
Don’t depend on text or e-mail as it is not super reliable. There are times my phone will go off in the middle of the night, with all sorts of text messages, from days ago! I keep it with me most of the time but I have to admit, it too feels a little bit like a leash at times.
You know the old story about the lost invitation to the party, it may really have gotten misplaced. If something seems out of character with the person that you know, trust your instinct and call. If the invitation to the party does not arrive, call. If you were not invited well, re-evaluate that friendship. If you sent them a text, they may not have responded because they did not get it!
Finally, turn off the computer, phone, and tablet and unless you are watching a movie with the family, turn off the TV too. Spend time with those that you love, as you never know when or if you might have the opportunity to do it again (if ever.) Life is too short to have regrets and when I see complete families out at expensive restaurants, all on some phone, or some device well….it makes me a little sad for them. What memories will the children have? What about mom and dad when the kids are gone?
To me eating out is an event. To some, who do it all the time it is simply eating. I can eat at home but there is the preparation and the cleanup. If I eat out I am “served!” There is not preparation and no cleanup and there is also the friendly exchange of conversation not only between whom I am eating with but, I also make a point to learn the servers’ name, and use it. While they are, “serving me;” I make certain that they know I appreciate them.
Life is about making memories. Good or bad, life is what it is. One day, not too many years ago I was taking my daughters friend to a college across town. After we left her college I picked up a bolt in one of my tires which left me and my daughter stranded on the side of the road in a less than great area of town. It was summer about 110 degrees on the side of the highway. It was about 300 after I got the car jacked up and about 500 when I discovered that the oil change service that rotated my tires had not put the tire lock key back in the glove box! We had no water, and now I was back out in the heat taking the jack back from under the car all the while having her call the auto service. You know *4357… Yeah that one.
After getting back in the car, the auto service had no information on me or the account and would not send a wrecker. Even after I told them that I would pay the wrecker just please send one! They refused to help because I was not a customer they were not obligated to lift a finger. The auto service was paid for through the cell phone carrier and it is insurance that you pay for monthly. We were a customer and the customer service girl just fat fingered it when she looked up the phone number, you know the 10 digit phone number that should have been on the screen in front of her!?
Very long story short, after witnessing drug deals, going through gas to keep the air on and doors locked and wondering if the car would overheat, and having to go to the bathroom, we finally got a wrecker right at 5 in the afternoon, rush hour traffic! We had been out since 9am without food or water or bathroom, on the side of a busy highway since about 10 am.
Even though that was not a great memory, it is a memory, and I did get to spend the entire day with my daughter with no computer to compete for my time with her. OF course in retrospect, I don’t think either of us was real great company…
Is a poke on Facebook, or a text to someone, more important that being with friends or family in person? I too am guilty but, I try to be aware of it and resist the temptation.
-Best to you and those that you care about!
Not so fast… Liberal hacks have been spewing out verbiage (verbal garbage) for years, and people suck it up as the Gospel.
Why? You see them on the “silver screen” and they appear “all knowing!”
They are actors, which is what they do, they act! Do you think that the “actors in Big Bang really have a clue about particle physics? I am dubious that they could spell Higgs-Boson much less know one if it bit them in the ass! Please understand I have no ill feelings towards this group of actors. I have watched them through most of their careers and enjoy their talents. If I met them however; would I like them? Who knows?
Their entire claim to fame is that they can read a script, remember it long enough to regurgitate their lines and emote. I am certain that looks and who you know has a lot to do with it.
When liberal elites run things, it is almost never good for the “little people.” I would expand that to say the “elites” period.
Let’s take the tax code for example. Each and every election cycle we have people talk about changing it, making it simple. Makes for great talking points and for a great control of the narrative but in reality, it will never be simplified. It is thousands of pages of text which benefit the people with the gold, written by the people with the gold for the people with the gold! It is a way to legally extract money from you and give it to them or at least distribute it in ways that buys votes from the disenfranchised, aka those who refuse to work no matter what! There is a part of the population that vote, as their sole job, they vote for a living; and you pay them to do it.
Hey Hollywood, if your so damned bright how come California is bankrupt? How come every liberal idea of socialism and communism has never worked in history, ever! The only people that this ideology benefit is the 1% who look down from their ivory tower and say stupid shit like “let them eat cake” thinking cake is cheaper than bread!
If Guns are so damned evil, how come you guys have them? You want gun laws for the peasants, but not for you. The people know, and surely you must know; that laws are for the people who are not criminals! Passing gun legislation will only hurt law abiding citizens.
If you don’t like guns, don’t buy them! If I were president; I would push legislation that would have every “able” person in the country that was willing and able to take the proper course and get from the government free guns and ammo. Once every year or two they come in and re-fresh their proficiency and renew the certification. Don’t you know that crime would go down to nothing! We who make an industry out of locking people up would change that quickly. Would more people die in burglaries and other stupid criminal acts, Yes! Would the courts be busy at first, probably, why? Because people, (dumb people,) would test the system. There are stupid people out there that would have to see if grandpa or grandma would really shoot them. “Tap it three times grandma!”
The truth is that the typical response time for a 911 call is twenty minutes. Let me say that again, TWENTY MINUTES! Do you have any idea how fast a criminal can kill you and your entire family and be gone? Long before the first police car ever arrives on the scene.
By the time you hear the door kicked in, pick up the phone “instead of a gun,” that bad guy is already in your home looking for you, and or a family member. Now you can grab your shotgun and fire a warning shot like Mr. Biden suggested, or you can call 911 and try to stay alive while the cop finishes eating dinner, or writing up that guy that was going 5 miles over the speed limit, or investigating a domestic disturbance or; you can pick up your gun, that you know how to use and save the taxpayers some money, and your life!. The simple truth is that the cops will get there in time to write up the incident (most of the time.) What will they be writing up? If you have a gun that Matthew Mcconaughey and other liberal silver screen people (who have guns and body guards) think that you don’t need, or should not have, they hopefully will be writing up that there is either an injured or dead person that was attempting a break in, which needs to be dealt with.
When the people that you love from the silver screen come out and advocate for this or that or for some candidate remember that you have no idea who that person is, or what they are about. I loved Ed Asner. Did I really? Lou Grant, Mary Tyler Moore and even the bumbling news anchor Ted Baxter. Those are the people I loved, to watch.
Ed’s philosophy and activist rolls he has taken are diametrically opposite of mine in every way. This man believes that we took down the Twin Towers. When he talks in public do you see him as the lovable, intelligent all knowing news editor, Lou Grant?
Mr. Obama seems like a real nice person. I am certain that I could be friends with him but, as president I could not agree with his politics. With him, I learned and embraced the word “Feckless.” That is a terrible thing to have to admit and relate to a sitting president. I thought that Jimmy Carter would go down in history as the worst president ever, I think he got spared that title. I think President Obama’s ideology is flawed beyond repair. I do believe that he believes that what he is doing is good. This is the classic Ivory tower syndrome. Cake is not bread Mr. President. People need a hand up, not a hand out, Mr. President. With your approval rating so low, how about stop governing by the damned polls and just do the right thing. Stop leading from the rear! If you are lost; call me. I don’t have a red phone but I am certain that your guys can find my number. I am not a yes man and will tell you like it is! I am older than you; and I probably know more history than you do. I have run a company and I know how balance a budget, I do like it when you don’t have the teleprompter, when you talk and it is from you, and not half a dozen script writers.
Did I say script?
Yes, Script, only Mr. Obama does not memorize it, he simply reads it. His wife has aspirations of being on the silver screen too, as she has been in at least one show that I saw; Parks and Recs. She is pretty and has the right connections, so who knows.
I am unsure what drives people to want to be on the silver screen in the first place; I suspect narcissism but, psychology is not my main interest. This country is!
I dislike the process of politics. What kind of life is it where one begs for money and votes the entire time that they are in the public eye? No damned wonder nothing gets done in Washington, they are too busy setting things up for their next election!
Things need to change so these guys can actually get some work done.
I have some ideas that would fix it and guess what, they are from history and some are simply common sense which, we as a nation seem to be short of these days!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It’s a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing! Scene 5 of Macbeth, if memory serves…
-Best
Sitting back watching the Houston Mayor run roughshod over preachers has been entertaining.
The LGBT community has in many ways influenced the lives of everyone on this planet who has a TV, or a radio or even use a PC or other device to get on the internet.
Hollywood insists on putting “gay” into many of their products, which may be a sign of the times, or it may be part of an agenda, or both. The public can either accept and embrace it, turn a blind eye, turn the channel or turn it off. As Reagan once said “vote with your feet, or in this case your remote.”
When the Mayor of a huge city like Houston who is openly lesbian gets elected, I think that Hollywood has done a pretty good job of indoctrinating the masses.
The simple facts are that few of us care what folks do in the privacy of their own home. That is between you, your partner and your god. Most people simply don’t care, and if you read the bible you would understand that Christians are called not to judge others. They are taught to hate the sin, not the sinner. Christians are not your enemy!
“Sin” is where the rub is, and why the attack on religion.
If I had to guess I would say that is the reason that there is more animosity towards religion and God. If you “believe” you are called to live a different lifestyle “hate the sin” than if you simply do as you please.
The human race is under attack from every angle. Pornography for instance is now incredibly easy and prolific. We have legalized Pot in a few states and more people want it on the ballot in their state even though those that have done it, now say that it was reckless!
We have stuff at the box office which comes from such twisted minds one has to wonder what they were smoking when they wrote it. Even worse, people pay good money to go see it. Our moral compass is way off. The people driving this lack of morality, attack God, and those who follow him. The entertainment industry as a whole is giving the people what they want from pornography to violence to incredibly violent video games which are nothing more than simulators designed to desensitize one to violence.
We have programs that explain everything through science except how did it all get started? Science would tell you that there is no room for God and Religious folks would tell you that there is not room for science. Only when they each realize that they must necessarily co-exists, will they find the answers which they seek! Indeed if God has a language I believe that you will find it to be math!
Mrs. Parker, the same constitution that allows you to live your life as you choose, also allows Christians to live their life as they choose. By attacking organized religion and trying to get them to submit to the gay agenda “whatever that is” is biting off more than you can possibly chew. This is not Canada, we still have Freedom of speech.
Here is the problem. The Bible is what it is. The words in it are what Christians believe to be the inerrant word of God; the same God that judges them, will judge you! Unlike public opinion, the Bible is static, it does not change at some whim of bloated officials such as yourself. While atheist have made a religion out of being atheist; forcing the removal of God from Schools and public places, the Bible will not change.
Live your life as you like, causing others to stray has penalties all of its own; if you believe the words in the bible; and again, that is between the people who do it; and their God.
Denouncing God does not make him any less real but, if that helps you live with your life choices, so be it.
Not my Monkeys; Not my Circus!
If however; you use your powers of office to try and circumvent the constitution; than we have a whole other problem.
The constitution is not out of date as Ruth Ginsburg would have you believe; but a very timeless document that is just as salient today as it was when it was drafted. It was crafted in such a way to protect the public from people, such as you who abuse your power to fit an agenda.
The Gay community did not happen in just the last few decades, but way back before Jesus ever trod the sod. I know of no one that holds any animosity towards them but, if you choose to believe that people do, that is your problem; don’t make it ours.
Houston needs a lot of things and you can do a lot of good, taking on the church or religion or God is not what you were elected for, and I doubt that most of the people who voted for you would want you to continue on with this. Your foolishness is making national news and not only are you hurting your cause but, you are hurting Houston, and you are hurting the Democratic Party. Stop tilting at Windmills. If you are serious about turning Texas Blue, this is not the way to do it! If you want more people to accept gay people, stop making them look bad!
Pick your battles carefully…
-Best
Bash!
Sounds like something out of Batman.
This however is no lighthearted matter.
Bash is a UNIX shell that has been exploited in a most dangerous manner. Shellshock, a program “virus” written to take advantage of a Bug in Bash could be used to take over millions of computers world-wide.
I talk a lot about anti-virus software and why you should really buy the best that you can but, still, “day in and day out” I get computers that are infected with tens of hundreds of viruses.
“Free anti-virus software is not worth what you pay for it!”
Free software is not taken care of remotely as well as that which companies that take in revenue can afford programmers to keep on top of it. Using free is foolhardy at best; and dangerous at worst. Why?
Let’s say that your computer becomes infected but, not to the point to stop you from working with it, maybe it just slows it down a little.
Meanwhile, lurking within the bits and bites of software there is a Trojan waiting to be activated from some nefarious ne’er do well. This person or people could use yours and millions of other computers to simultaneously attack systems in other countries, our country, and so forth. They might target government systems or air traffic systems etc. With so many computers attacking a system, it would most certainly bring it down.
My argument that I am trying to make here is this. Every day we hear of new virus’s that are being released or discovered. Using the “best” anti-virus software is not only a good idea for you but, it is also patriotic in that you really don’t want your computer to be attacking some government server.
Practice safe computing, use good anti-virus software and pay attention to your computer if it starts acting “wonky!”
Yes, “Wonky” is a technical term.. Ok, maybe not but, you know what I mean.
A trick that I do is run the little widgets that come with Windows 7 and 8 that display memory usage and CPU usage. When your computer boots from a fresh installation take note at where those needles are setting during normal usage. This is much like the gauges on your car. When you are going down the road, you know where the temp gauge should be and where the RPM, voltage etc should be. When they are acting “wonky” (not in their usual spot) you get it looked at. Your PC is no different.
“Shellshock” is particularly dangerous in that it affects UNIX systems, Mac’s and even Smartphone’s that use the Android operating system.
A lot of servers run UNIX; this might explain the recent hacks pulled off against Home Depot, and nude pictures of celebrities being taken from their personal accounts on “The “Cloud.”
Some of these programs can go un-noticed and sit idle for years before someone notices them. Generally when some “hack” is perpetrated than “White Hat Hackers” are called in to find out how. Forensic computer guru’s who know what each and every little file in a UNIX system is for example, and what it should look like, size and usage, might be called in to see; “what is wrong with this picture.”
The days when your Mac and your Linux / UNIX system were relatively safe are gone.
Do your backups and test them. No backup is complete until you test your backup! Make certain that your anti-virus software is of good quality, and up-to-date.
“Which is the best”
I know, I beat you to the punch.
First off, I buy my entire anti-virus software’s full price and am not in bed with anyone!
I have many different flavors as there is no silver bullet.
I use Esetnode 32 on my main system and, I use Trend Micro on my backup system. I also use Norton on my laptop although I have seen way too many machines which run Norton infected.
As far as mobile and iPad and iPhone, I use Trend Mobile.
Having said this, please understand that there is no warranty expressed or implied by this blog. For legal-ease, you should consider this and all my blogs “entertainment.” There are no warranties of usability or anything else.
Isn’t it simply pitiful that we live in such a litigious world that disclaimers have to be put on “blogs?”
All opinions here are my own, unless otherwise stated.
Now go take on the day!
-Best
TSA
Transportation Security Administration or “Taking Stuff Away”
I must confess of having mixed feelings about this “administration.”
You really have no idea if they are screwing with you because it is purely: random” or they either don’t like something that they see, or they are bored, or they see someone that is attractive so they screw with them as a matter of spending a few more minutes with them.
I have written before how they have turned my luggage into a mixed up mess of what was once cleaned and pressed laundry into something that looked like they cleaned the hanger floor with it, and then shoved it back into the case.
This last trip I purchased the TSA approved lock and installed it onto a brand new piece of Sampsonite luggage. As this trip required clothing for ten days and all types of clothes needed for different events, I once again made certain that everything was packaged in such a way that I would have to do minimal ironing once there.
On the first leg of the trip I noticed that the brand new TSA approved lock was missing.
$17 locks labeled “TSA approved” gone missing is simply bullshit! I was loath to go and get another lock as frankly I think that the TSA locks being sold on eBay in lots could most probably be traced back to some TSA or airport employee.
Arriving at my location I went through the process of taking my clothes and making some sort of sense of them when I noticed that the zipper going to the lining inside the case was broken. For some reason whoever took the lock broke the zipper on the inside of the case which allows you to remove the lining for cleaning or what have you. No machine broke that zipper, that was some heavy handed person looking for something!
Usually when the TSA violates my stuff they leave me a nice little piece of paper inside, telling me that my bag was “randomly checked” … This was not the case this time, no notification that my clothing had been searched other than it looked like some child had packaged it.
Traveling sometimes is a necessary evil. Even if you are simply going on vacation, I must confess that I grow tired of submitting to “children with god complexes.” I know of no government agency that is not corrupt and this recent IRS fiasco did not help, and this one is no different. Why, they hire people who forget that they too are people, and should treat others the way that they would want to be treated escapes me. From the cop on the street to the man in the top office in the country, they need to remember that we are their boss and they work for us! While this in no way includes everyone; I would make the argument that it is becoming more inclusive than one hates to think.
If they are incapable of doing this, it may be time to privatize these things and hold these people accountable to us as the government seems to forget who their boss is!
There is simply no excuse for violating ones luggage and stealing the TSA locks that they insist that we purchase. If they break something along the way, they need to own up to it instead of just loosing the lock and not putting anything inside the luggage with an apology and some sort of claim form to get it repaired. Stuff happens and everyone understands that. To just ignore that you did it and let it go is unforgivable. Its like hitting a car in a parking lot and hoping that no one saw you do it. It is Bullshit!
All stations where this type of activity is performed should be under video surveillance so these people can be held accountable for their actions! This is America, not some third world country and it is high time that Americans stand up and say “no more!”
If we must submit to this level of scrutiny should the people doing the scrutiny not also be watched for abuses on their parts? I am talking about oversight. You know like the VA should have had oversight or the Damned IRS should have oversight. When you work for us you should be beyond reproach!
One government web site offers an excuse for the missing locks…
http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/damaged-locks-alert
My question here is this.
I have traveled for many many years using conventional locks. Never has my baggage been messed up or the lock been torn away as this article suggest. Now you are trying to convince me that because it is a TSA approved lock that somehow the conveyer belt tears it loose with no damage to the bag!? What utter bullshit! By the way, you are responsible!
These signs disavowing responsibility or liability on the backs of trucks, or in parking lots, alleging the parking lot owners are not responsible to damage to your car, or the sign on the truck saying that if they loose something from their truck that damages your vehicle “too bad” is BULLSHIT.” Their logic is if they tell you that they are not responsible, you will simply take your lumps and go away; is wrong. The parking lot folks are responsible and must carry insurance to that end. The truck hauling crap of any sort that comes off and damages your car is responsible and you can hold them accountable. AND YOU SHOULD! And guess what TSA, you too are responsible. The real question is, who is going to bring suite for a $17 lock? Or a $200 piece of luggage?
What if, I was to put a sign on the back of my car which said “I am not responsible for running over slow people who get in my way?” Do you think that the courts would exonerate me because I had a sign?
I really hate being lied to. Prevarication appears to be rife in our society and becoming the new American way! Every day, by people of all walks of life, lie to us; and it is Bullshit!
We can do better and accepting accountability for our actions is a really good place to start. Demanding better from our feckless government is a MUST!
HEY DOJ, why not look into where these “lots of TSA locks on ebay, come from?
I realize that it is small potatoes but you must start somewhere. Americans need to regain some trust in the government and right now you guys are not doing so well. The little guy always seems to take it on the chin and nobody gives a damn. I do, and so should you.
-Best
My favorite Anti-Virus software was sullied by something this week.
While downloading the hundreds of e-mails I get each day, my PC decided to “stall.”
One of the reasons that we “who know these things” get paid well for what we do is this.
When a PC, server or any other piece of computer hardware fails to act as it should; is that we go through a methodical litany of troubleshooting techniques, that we know to do.
One of the first steps I do, is assume nothing.
The answer to the three above questions is “possibly.”
I check for viruses as that is what one does, checks for a virus. If there is no smoke or other obvious hardware issue, you check for viri.
The “only” way to do this properly is remove the hard drive from the machine, install it in an external device that hooks up to another “known good PC” with good anti-virus on it, and scan it. I could explain why but it would add several paragraphs, so just trust me.
One of the first mistakes one makes is use a machine that has the anti-virus on it that you already use. Hello…. If it is a virus and it got past your anti-virus what makes you think it won’t screw up this machine as well?
As a professional, I have several top of the line packages that I purchase and keep up as there is “no silver bullet.” I don’t screw with free, as free is not worth what you pay for it! Anyone that does is playing with fire!
This process can take hours, so I use the time to blow out the machine, check for bad caps, lethargic fans, change the CMOS battery, dust out the CD-ROMS and so forth.
As part of the process I noticed that the video card fan was running, but not up to speed. This was not an expensive card so I took this opportunity to upgrade it to something newer, faster, onboard GPU and a killer fan.
Problem: Newer video cards need more power than the old 300Watt Dell power supply can muster; must change the power supply as well.
Problem: Dell uses proprietary power supplies. Getting a higher power, power-supply from Dell, if they even make one for this PC, would be cost-prohibitive.
Plan B: What exactly is different about this power supply vs. the standard off the shelf power supply? The placement of the power receptacle is lower, and there is an off-on switch on a “generic” power supply. The case has metal where that would be.
It did not take long to modify the case to accept a generic, higher power, power-supply with a larger fan and double the watts! There is a tool called a “nibbler” that you can get that will allow you to remove small chunks of metal at a time until you make a suitable hole for the new power-supply. I also used a dremel tool to smooth the metal, so there were no sharp edges.
After finishing the hardware upgrade with a larger power-supply and a video card that is really meant for gaming; as well as replacing the CMOS battery, the diagnostic screen came up just perfectly. Removing lots of dust did not hurt things either. The drive was still scanning, so a wait was still in order. At 75%, Trend Micro had found no viruses….
Finally; about 3 hours after the start, the drive was pronounced clean by Trend Micro so now it was back to possibly a hardware issue, or was it?
Installing the drive upon boot up I was presented with the options of safe-mode or regular boot. Always choose safe. In safe mode you can poke around without all of the other files loaded.
Once booted in safe, I installed the new video drivers and was happy that “in safe mode” the PC behaved as expected.
Reboot to normal, normal quickly turned to atypical to say the least.
I like to have the widgets on my desktop that show me the processor usage and the memory usage. I know what they should look like so if they change, I can quickly react vs. waiting until things just die.
Watching the widgets, the processor usage would tank at 100% and the memory usage would gradually increase until the PC was non-responsive. That is the earmark of a virus, or a program that is behaving badly.
Manually shutting off the machine and bringing it back in safe mode I use something called CCleaner. I actually pay these folks for this program as it is that good! You can get it for free but anyone that writes a program like this I will support them.
I allow it to clean; which removes all kinds of crap hence “crap cleaner.”
I then run the registry cleaner and allow it to do its thing.
After that I go through which programs and services I want to allow to start than kill everything that I don’t recognize. I am different from the normal folk; as I recognize what those programs and services are. If you are not sure about this; research with another computer what you are killing. Failure to do so could result in you killing your operating system.
The trick is to get rid of all the “junk in the trunk.”
“Junk in the trunk”
I use the analogy of hauling rocks in your trunk.
Many years ago Lucy from the “I Love Lucy Show” and her husband made a movie called the “Long Long Trailer.” If you have not seen it I will not spoil it but, part of the plot is that Lucy wanted to collect a rock from each place that her and her husband went on their honeymoon, while pulling this travel trailer with a car that was probably ill equipped for the task. While the rocks in this case were in the trailer, the metaphor still works, as this car was now pulling more than it could possibly handle while traversing the mountains!
We do that with our PC’s every day! We load them down with all kinds of programs that live in the tray. We have lots of different things running at one time, and unfortunately we have to add to this load an anti-virus software and anti-malware software and god only knows what else, just to surf the web!
Depending upon your car, Mustang with a 5.0 or Prius, it will allow you to haul some stuff. As far as I am concerned, I want a PC that will get the job done and handle the software necessary to keep the computer safe and allow me to run production apps. I drive a full size truck with lots of power. My PC is not a gaming PC but, it could play WOW or some other graphic intensive game, if I so chose to do so.
If you are a gamer, you want a Ferrari or Lamborghini. I advise those shopping for a new PC to get one that will play games; even if you don’t intend to use it for that. Why?
If it will play games, it will run your production apps and the necessary stuff to keep it safe from the bad guys!
Having a sport car does not give you license to drive down the road faster than traffic or the speed limit; it merely gives you the ability to do so. Just because you have a PC with lots of power, there is no need to install a bunch of stuff like “weather bug.”
A PC is kind of like a baby. Every thing that you do to it or with it from the day it is “virgin software” changes it. Loading all kinds of stuff on your PC, even getting updates from the different software vendor’s “change it.” PC’s are very dynamic and that is why it is important to use the widgets like I spoke of earlier. Know what normal for your PC, and when it is not normal, get some help. When your car’s temperature gauge goes out of the normal range; you take it to the shop don’t you? If not, you certainly should. Someone needs to write into the operating system a “check engine light.”
Diagnostic software came about with the PC years ago; the first that I remember was PCTools.
After removing all of the junk, booting my PC back up into normal mode still left me with a PC that had a runaway program that slowly degraded the performance of the PC until it died.
Another boot to safe and than another boot to normal allowed me to quickly bring up task-manager before the eventual slow down, so I could monitor all processes “from all other sources besides just my login.” That is key as some services and processes will not show up under what you have loaded under your profile.
Long story short, ESET was the malfunctioning process. ESET would eventually use up over a Gig of ram and most of the CPU horse power and…the mystery still is that it was sending something over the internet or at the very least causing all sorts of network traffic. I no longer have a hub so loading a protocol analyzer on another PC would have only shown me broadcast traffic. I elected to simply uninstall ESET from “safe mode” and see what happened then. That fixed the problem. I installed Trend Micro and have run the PC for over a week with no issues.
My guess is that someone wrote a program specifically to attack the anti-virus software and ESET was not equipped to handle it. Next week or next month it may very well be Trend that fails. There are many on the market and there is “No Silver Bullet.” It came in through e-mail I suspect.
Moral of this sad tale is this: backup those things that you care about and back up often.
I would love to know what attacked ESET NODE32, so if anyone else has a similar story please share it. I will make certain to share it with my readers.
Call me paranoid but here is my suspicion. There are many different anti-virus programs out there all trying to get your dollar. There are some really good programs and than there are some programs that are not so good. While free is better than none, it is not much better. You get what you pay for.
I suspect and this of course is coming from a 30 plus year veteran of working with this stuff, that someone who works for or worked for one of these companies wrote and released this bug. Someone writes these things and if they don’t get remuneration from it, why do it?
Why in God’s name would someone sit around in their mother’s basement in their underwear writing programs that are meant to disrupt or destroy people’s software or ability to get on the internet or work or what have you? Sorry for the visual but I can just see some pimple faced kid with empty candy wrappers, half empty red bull cans and possibly an ash tray full of butts and old pizza boxes typing away at the computer till the wee hours, trying to outdo his buddy. I think I see roaches too…Another bug!
I understand writing software to steal an identity and sell those things to the highest bidder.
I understand robots to use millions of computer to attack some target with a DOS.
If a virus was written to attack a specific anti-virus package; that action would bespeak of an inside job, or possibly someone that had a grudge against that company.
Full disclosure: I do disaster recovery planning for companies. Having been in this field since before the Internet, Bill Gates and Mr. Jobs, I have seen much, done much, and carry a wealth of both computer and business skills and acumen with me to the clients site.
When I got out of school, the secretarial pool was still in vogue; and Greg Shorthand was still practiced. I put dictation equipment on executive’s desk and later computers, replacing the all day process of creating a document to the executive typing his or her own document or e-mail.
I am also a science fiction / fantasy writer who enjoys blogging…
-Best
Runway Theatre
For those of you who are into the theatre and who happen to be in the North Dallas area I have a treat for you.
In Grapevine Texas there is a place called the Runway Theatre.
http://www.runwaytheatre.com/TheGreatAmericanTrailerParkMusical.php
It is called this as it sits on the north end of DFW and frequently the sounds of Jets landing or taking off can be heard during a performance. This does not take away from the play and most of the time it is not noticeable.
The historic area of Grapevine has many shops and places of interest so actually spending more than an evening there can be a good use of your time. It is very close to DFW so, if you are in town for a day and have some time on your hands a quick cab ride to downtown for food and fun would also work.
Grapevine is rife with good restaurants, spending a Friday night or Saturday night in Grapevine is worth consideration.
Grapevine hosts a few restaurants which are landmarks. Esparza’s, which is a great Tex Mex restaurant has a long history of satisfying their guest.
http://www.esparzastexas.com/home
There are others which I have tried and I will do a better job of talking about them in the future. The cost varies, some are really overpriced; most are in the ball park of what you would expect.
If you are in the mood for something a little more traditional, try Tolbert’s
They boast a good chili and their fish is advertised as coming from Paris, Paris Texas…
http://www.tolbertsrestaurant.com/
Our usual evening consist of an early dinner with friends somewhere in the area, and then heading over to the theatre about 30 minutes before the curtain to visit with some of the other regulars and staff.
These people go out of their way to make you feel at home.
The Great American Trailer Park Musical
Critics love this incredibly irreverent, hilarious musical which gives a whole new loving image of “white trash.” When a new tenant arrives at Armadillo Acres, she wreaks havoc all over Florida’s “most exclusive” trailer park. The bonds of friendship are sometimes closer than the bonds of family. When Pippi, the stripper on the run, comes between the Dr. Phil-loving, agoraphobic Jeannie and her tollbooth collector husband, the storms begin to brew, and hilarity ensues.
Rated R *
Other than some language and suggestive situations, the show hardly should be rated R. I would rate it PG 13. I don’t know any teenager who has not heard those words but again, your mileage may very. Having said that, it is a laugh a minute and the cast and crew did an excellent job. These are people that I would like to get to know... Some plays that you go to, you are looking at your watch wondering when it will be over. I have been there and so have you. This was over too soon for me. One of the friends that went with us who admitted to not liking musicals, wanted to come back and see it again. That to me was a breakthrough in and of it-self as if one musical can touch someone; maybe that will be open to others. This was not Rogers and Hammerstein. There was actually a live band for this performance which sincerely added to the quality of the play.
It is not unusual for the cast to come into the seats and involve the audience; so if you feel like being a possible bit player, sit on the isle and take your chances. You never know if you will be involved in some small way.
One thing of note: this is an all volunteer production. If you have time and would like to get involved, you can do anything from make popcorn to act, you have but to show an interest.
Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her. But once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.
– Voltaire
*Taken from their web site.
Hollywood joins into the political; arena with messages in just about every show they produce. Aaron Sorkin produced a show called Newsroom which at the very onset looked as though it was going to be a “right leaning show,” which shocked me. The first episode actually had staunch republicans passing around the rant by the leading man Jeff Daniels aka Will McAvoy.
The entire first season was in fact an attack on the right, taking on the tea party; making them appear to be a joke which diminished them in the eyes of many people who cannot differentiate between fact from fiction. One of the reasons this country is so screwed up is the fact we have far too-many who watch the Daily Show and “believe” that John Stewart is actually disseminating the news! They do not know that this is comedy, written for entertainment!
The Newsroom I think was supposed to be about how the media works and journalism works but it failed with its biases. I stopped watching it after the first season as I think Sorkin went too far in trying to make the right look lame.
Some would say that HBO and the Newsroom could not affect that many people but again, not true. Even Aaron Sorkin admitted that he did not really know what he was doing when he crafted this program but, here is the truth to this. Someone passing them selves off as Jeff Daniels has a twitter account under the name of Will McAvoy who commented on many political things.
This 28 year old “liberal thinking person” who is a fan of the Newsroom, borrowed the personage of Jeff Daniels aka Will McAvoy and has sent out 41.9K tweets, posted 214 videos, follows 1.943 other “tweeters” has 74.4K followers and has 1,704 favorites. This nobody, is helping to shape this country by affecting the votes, minds and opinions of the uneducated or gullible voter. This is subterfuge using technology, and the people are clueless.
His tweets have been re-tweeted by thousands who believe that they are indeed re-tweeting the thoughts and opinions of Jeff Daniels aka Will McAvoy! He is still doing this today, now, this minute!
I would contend that this type of activity should be illegal, but your mileage may vary.
We should most certainly care is this type of thing has an effect on the world.
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