Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Opuscula

When did “we”
Exclude “me”?

PRESIDENT TRUMP TALKED for near 90 minutes Tuesday night, presenting his first State of the Union speech.
He repeatedly called for the nation to come together; “we” can make it great, “we” can do anything if “we” work together.

Apparently, “we” excludes anyone who is not a WASP.

AT LEAST THAT’S what a young black dude – the color IS germane to this – who said for tv that “we” did not include black and brown people.

The only reason “black and brown” MIGHT NOT be included is because they DON’T WANT TO BE to be included.

The Democrats elected Representative Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts – Barney Franks successor and one of the monied Kennedys who control the state – to gave his party’s rebuttal from the safety of his home; apparently not finding it necessary to hear the speech in Washington.

Almost no Democrat -- with the exception being Sen. Bill Nelson, D-FL – had anything good to say about Trump’s talk. Sore loser Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, was unimpressed, but Marco has been sniping at Trump since Trump trounced him in the GOP primaries. (A GOP version of another sore loser, Hillary Clinton.)

Meanwhile, also watching from the safety of her congressional district, Frederika Wilson (Florida’s 24th Cong. Dist.) attacked Trump before and after his speech, claiming “I’m not going, because to go would be to honor the president,” Wilson told CNN on Monday. “And I don’t think he deserves to be honored at this time, after being so hateful towards black people and then black countries, Haiti, and the whole continent of Africa.”1 Never mind that she “spun” what the president said to her bigoted point of view.

Californian Nancy Pelosi and New York’s Charles Ellis Schumer sat in the audience – at least they had the decency to attend – looking like a pair of Grim Reapers. Amazing since they got their illegal immigrants a quick path to citizenship. (Granted, GOP and Democrat presidents have, in the past, granted blanket citizenship to thousands of illegals.)

It is beyond my ken how people can denigrate a person for calling for Americans to come together, to work together.

As long as people such as the black dude actually believe that Trump‘s “we” excluded his “me,” the country will remain fractured. Just don’t blame Trump; blame the people who refuse to be part of “we.” For those folks, it’s Me First; I’m #1 and the rest of you are nothing. It’s You vs. Me. In typical Democratic fashion, if you are not Me you don’t count and I won’t listen to what you say, even if it is to my benefit.

No one can bring the country together as long as the “Me’s” refuse to join with the “We’s” to make real progress across the board.


Sources

1. Wilson: http://tinyurl.com/ydew8zek

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments onMe not We

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Opuscula

Paying high price
For permissiveness

A NEWS STORY the other day about a 7-year-old arrested for assaulting a teacher is just one more proof that parents are failing their children.

In south Florida, where I hang my hat, it is – sadly – not unusual to read or hear about a young person killing someone. Many times, the shooting is “just because.”

Children, toddlers, are shot standing in their yards. Older kids are randomly shot as they play on a playground.

THE SHOOTINGS ARE NOT a gun control issue; people have owned firearms for years and never – repeat, never – shot anyone (save for perhaps in combat for their country).

There were kids in schools with me who were dangerous – in my day the “weapon of choice” usually was a switch blade a la Blackboard Jungle, “zip guns” while known, rarely were even considered in my area. Granted, this was south Florida c 1950, not New York, Chicago, or LA.

If a kid got into trouble at school, he often preferred to stay at school rather than go home to “face the music.” The “music” often was what now would be called “child abuse”; worst case, a blistered backside or, for “progressive” parents, strictly enforced restrictions on the child’s activities.

The liberals and leftists have “spared the rod” and now the spoiled child is running amok with a gun, perhaps stolen from a parent too careless to secure the weapon.

My position is that while the children commit the crimes, the REAL criminals are the parents.

Parents who, for whatever reason, failed to instill into their children respect for themselves and for others. Parents who, when their child is arrested, tell the child “Don’t worry, they (the authorities) won’t do anything to you.”

My first born is a cop. When a juvenile is arrested in his jurisdiction, the youth knows that he, or she, will be back on the streets in 72 hours – or less. (Exceptions are capital crimes.)

That is, I suppose, no worse than a recidivist drunk driver going to court, getting his (or her) license revoked, and then walking out of the courthouse, getting into his (or her) car and driving away, effectively (a) giving a middle finger salute to the law and (b) providing his (or her) off-spring another bad example to follow.

    There once was a judge in Sarasota County FL, Becky Titus, who required convicted drunk drivers to place a bumper sticker on the drunk’s car. Later, a bill was introduced in Florida1 similar to bills in Michigan and Ohio that would identify drunk drivers on their car’s license plates. The ACLU opposed the bill while a California law firm calls the practice “shameful.”2

Yes, Virginia, there are many females with lengthy DUI records, some with vehicular manslaughter included.

Raising children to think they are “above the law,” entitled, is bad parenting. No one is suggesting that anyone mistreat a child, but neither should the parents encourage anti-social behavior such as assault and battery on a teacher or wildly firing a gun anywhere. (Even shooting ranges don’t permits untargeted shots.)

Children are sponges – what they see or hear their parents do or say tells them what they can do or say.

Manners have gone the way of the Raphus cucullatus3.

Perhaps a restoration of what once were considered “good manners” might help educate parents who, in turn, would educate their children by example.

A child may pull the trigger or assault a teacher, but the bottom line is that the child’s parent must bear at least some responsibility for the child’s action.

Telling the child that “Don’t worry, they can’t do anything to you” is NOT responsible parenting.




Sources

1. Florida bill: http://tinyurl.com/y85w38t2

2. DUIAnswer: http://tinyurl.com/yczjt7bn

3. Raphus cucullatus: Dodo bird

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Permissiveness


Monday, January 29, 2018

Opuscula

Old scam redux

ACCORDING TO A NEW YORK TIMES’ article headed New York Attorney General to Investigate Firm That Sells Fake Followers 1,

    The New York attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, on Saturday opened an investigation into a company that sold millions of fake followers on social media platforms, some of them copying real users’ personal information.

YEARS AGO, c 1966, I was a newspaper printer, specifically a “stoneman” or “makeup” (not “make out”) man. Gannett bought the Cocoa Tribune newspaper and created the first TODAY newspaper to compete with the Orlando Sentinel-Star and, to a lesser degree, the Miami Herald (that had less area circulation that the Sentinel-Star).

    I was raised in south Florida and, after military service, worked at the Sentinel-Star.

One of my jobs was to make up TODAY’s editorial pages, both the editorials and the Letters to the Editor.

During the early, pre-first edition days, the Editorial Page editor would practice some “creative writing” to provide copy for the pages, just to see how the printed page would look. That’s pretty much Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for most publications.

The editor, to provide a “real” feeling, went through the local telephone book and “borrowed” names for – again – the dummy (not for publication) letters.

So far so good.

Then came time for The First Edition. Believe me, first editions are BIG DEALS for anyone who is part of the process. I was.

Unfortunately for the Editorial Page editor, and unbeknownst to the editorial page stoneman (this scrivener), the editor still was practicing his “creative writing” and still signing the letters with names garnered from the local phone book.

Gannett, in order to gain immediate circulation numbers, saturated Brevard County (in which Cocoa, Cape Canaveral, Merritt Island, Mims, and Titusville, are located) with free newspapers for two weeks. Every address in Brevard County got a copy of TODAY.

Two pages most people read after scanning Page 1: the comics and the editorial.

Pretty soon the publisher, Al Neuharth, was inundated with irate callers and letter writers, complaining that THEY did not write the letters attributed to them.

TODAY soon had a new Editorial Page editor.

Al Neuharth moved on to head up all Gannett operations.

This scrivener eventually moved from the backshop to editorial, back in the day when newspapers were trusted sources of information.

As King Solomon allegedly opined: There is nothing new under the sun.


Sources

1. NYT: http://tinyurl.com/y8brduge

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

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Sunday, January 28, 2018

Opuscula

Parents may sue
School after their
Child attacks teacher

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?
An elementary school teacher threatens to take away a child’s lunch since the child is playing with the food rather than eating the food.

The child objects and, according to police reports, hits, kicks, and bites the teacher and pulls her hair.

This child is arrested, cuffed, and “Baker acted”1.”

The child’s parents start looking for an attorney to sue the school.

AND IN THE NEXT day's news, it turns out the child whose parents threaten to sue, is a recidivist! A 7 year-old recidivist.

WHAT HAPPENED TO PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY?

If the 7 year old learns anything from this incident it is that his parents will defend him no matter how dangerous he is – to himself and others.

Meanwhile, the teacher is threatening to file a criminal complaint.

The child is not, at least according to the tv news 2, above average in height and weight. Surely the teacher could have subdued the child, but then the parents would be filing a criminal complaint against the teacher as well as looking to sue the teacher and school system (taxpayers).

Many organizations consider that a child at age 7 has reached a level of reasoning. This child’s reasoning, apparently, is that it is OK to assault and batter3anyone who dares discipline him.

That is a learned trait.

Too many adults and children seem to think they are “entitled” to do whatever they wish whenever they wish, regardless of the consequences for someone else.

Recidivists who continue to drive “under the influence.” Who continue to assault and batter others in response to real or imagined insults.

Leaned traits.

How are the traits learned? Through parental failures.

When parents rush to their child’s defense and threaten the victim, something is wrong.

This is nothing new.

In 1970 a child stole my car.

The car was recovered – and impounded.

I happened to be at the police station when the child was brought in with his father.

The father told me “Nothing will be done to the boy.”

I never found out if the father was right (probably), but I did have to pay to get my car back.

I wonder if the young auto thief graduated to bigger and better things – assault and battery, murder?

His father gave no indication that he was displeased with his son’s joy ride in my car.

Defending a child’s misdeeds is NOT a parent’s job. Teaching the child that anti-social behavior is not acceptable IS a parent’s job.

It also is a parent’s job to defend the child against injustices to the child from any source: another child or an adult, or even “the system.”

At 7 years old, a child should have some idea of respect for others; if nothing else, the child who was hauled away in handcuffs lacked respect for others.

No one ever said being a parent was easy.

Blaming others for a child’s behavior only encourages the child to continue his or her anti-social path.

I’m sure the “Baker acted” child’s parents will find a lawyer to sue “the world” – the teacher, the school administration, the school board, the cops, and maybe even the company that made the car in which the child was transported.

Meanwhile the teacher who was battered may want to consider a civil suit for physical and mental injuries caused by the “entitled” child.


Resources

1. Baker act: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Mental_Health_Act (Most states have similar laws)

2. TV report & video: http://tinyurl.com/y8nqx2o4

3. Assault & battery:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/assault_and_battery

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

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Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Opuscula

Are we getting
STUPIDER?

WE HAVE A NEW HIGH-SPEED train in my area. So far it only travels at 112 kph (70 mph ), but the speed is expected to double in less populated areas.

The train has only been running a little more than two weeks and already two people have been killed and a third injured.

Why?

They thought they could beat the train at a grade crossing.

Now, the train makes a lot of noise, and the guard rails are down and the lights are flashing. The train company promises even more safety features, but it won’t stop the STUPIDS. The Feds have stepped in with their two cents.

The local, often equally stupid, media note that the passenger train goes faster than the freight trains with which it shares the rails. (The freight trains were here first.)

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOE IT MAKE? When the gates are down and the lights flashing, it’s just plain STUPID to walk or bike or drive around the gates.

Granted, few want to wait as a 200-car train goes by, but the passenger trains are only five or six cars and an engine. (I don’t mind waiting for a long freight train. I just turn off the engine and listen to the radio.)

No matter how many safety devices are installed or how many laws are passed, STUPIDITY will prevail.

Kids’ doctor for Medicare patient?

I’m a “senior.” My insurance is Medicare.

In order to be eligible for Medicare, a person normally has to be at least 65 years old.

My Medicare insurer this year lists multiple dentists as “pedodontist “

I suspect the specialty should read “periodontist.”

There is a difference.

According to several web sites I checked, a PEDODONTIST1 specializes in children’s teeth. On the other hand, a PERIODONTIST specializes in gum disease and implants2.

The clue is in the first letters of the PEDonontist. “Ped” as in “pediatrics” (but not “ped” as in pedal, as in what a foot is placed on).

Then there is the battle between “dentist” and “periodontist”3.

I actually sent my insurer an email noting what I perceive to be a “got’cha,” but the insurer did not deign to respond.

Red light cameras

Here in south Florida many communities had “red light cameras’ that snapped photos of scoff-laws running red lights.

Thanks to lawyers and other do-gooders, the cameras are mostly history.

Never mind that they DID reduce the amount of drivers running the lights and getting into accidents.

Somehow, the red light cameras infringed on the scoff-law’s privacy; it is in the “greater public good” to protect the scoff-law than to protect others on the road at the same time.

As a young reporter, I covered enough fatalities, leaving me to believe that removing the red light cameras is STUPID, as well as dangerous.

Women’s rights


There is nothing stupid about women’s rights and their demand to be treated better.

However . . .

Women in the U.S. are far better off than women in, say, the Middle East. Murder of an unfaithful wife may happen in the U.S., but it is not – as it is elsewhere – government sanctioned.

I am amazed than the liberated American woman hits the streets against “oppressed women” in Israel while turning a blind eye to oppression of women in the Muslim world. Actually, Arab women enjoy greater freedom in Israel than anywhere else in the region.

I was watching an old movie the other night when a male called a female “honey.” That was when “honey” was OK. If the film were made today, the actor (and the script writer) would find themselves in court for sexual harassment. “Honey” and similar “intended to be harmless” terms are no longer “PC” and are the makings of civil and criminal action. Rather than the offended woman telling the man to stop, she immediately heads to her on-standby lawyer.

Now that is STUPID.

And then there are the politicians


I’ve been around a fairly long time; the first presidential election I remember was between Harry S Truman and Dwight (Ike) Eisenhower.

I cannot recall any election that continues to divide the country as the Trump-Clinton election.

Trump certainly can be faulted for his tweets and thoughtless remarks, but Clinton is at least as bad if not worse. Congress – both houses – are painfully partisan at the expense of the Republic.

It seems John and Jane Public have decided to behave as their congressional representatives, preferring to hate and denigrate everything and anyone not sharing their agenda.

My way of the highway.

STUPID.



1. Pedodontist: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/pedodontist
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pedodontist
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/pedodontist

2: Periodontist:
https://www.perio.org/consumer/what-is-a-periodontist
http://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/az-topics/p/periodoncia
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/periodontics

3. Dentist vs. Periodontist: https://patch.com/new-jersey/howell/bp--what-is-the-difference-between-a-dentist-and-a-periodontist
http://www.rdhmag.com/articles/print/volume-27/issue-1/feature/the-feud-between-dentists-and-periodontists.html
http://work.chron.com/dentist-vs-periodontist-20482.html

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on STUPID

Monday, January 22, 2018

Opuscula

OSDisc.com
Missing QC, CSR
And GRUB loader

I AM TRYING TO “MIGRATE” FROM MS WINDOWS’ constant UI changes and massive overhead to Linux.

Since I am NOT a Linux guru and since I foolishly bought a made-in-China HP laptop (no blue screen, just auto-resets) instead of a Dell pre-loaded with Linux, I bought a 64 GB USB flash drive from OSDisc.com that was supposed to be complete with Linux Mint 18.3/Cinnamon.

The USB flash drive MAY have Linux’ Mint 18.3 and Cinnamon on it, but it is NOT complete.

According to OSDisc.com, loading the USB drive’s contents will partition a hard drive with Windows already installed, then load all the components to make Linux Mint 18.3 with Cinnamon operational.

The disk was partitioned as specified.

After going through the motions and playing “20 questions” during installation, I got a message:

Installation could not be completed, GRUB BOOT LOADER missing.

Realizing human error was possible, I restored Win 10 (my computer guru son insisted I make a recovery CD) and tried again.

Once again I got the message:

Installation could not be completed, GRUB BOOT LOADER missing.

OK, “things” happen so I sent an email to OSDisc.com on 27 December informing it that the Grub Boot Loader was AWOL.

No response.

I thought it’s the end of the year and between year end projects and holidays, maybe OSDisc.com overlooked my email.

I resent the email on 2 January, but in truth I didn’t expect an immediate answer. Maybe the CSRs (if any) were suffering from too much holiday. It happens.

Now, it’s 21 January and STILL no response from OSDisc.com.

In one of my several emails I asked OSDisc.com to send me a Return Authorization (RA) and I would send the USB flash drive back; in return, OSDisc.com could send me a replacement that had been through Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) if separate entities at OSDisc.com.

It would have been nicer if OSDisc.com sent me a QA/QCed replacement USB flash drive and allowed me to return the defective unit a day or two after receipt of the new drive.

I can “absorb” the loss of the $35 OSDisc.com charged, but I cannot abide the caviler attitude. I wonder if OSDisc.com treats all its customers so badly.

I suppose I could have disputed the sale with my credit card company, but I DID receive a product, albeit a defective one.

In the unlikely chance that someone from OSDisc.com reads this post, my order number was 261828.

Meanwhile, I cannot recommend OSDisc.com to anyone moving to, or upgrading Linux.

The holidays are long past; it’s time for OSDisc.com to make things right. (If it does, I will append that information below.)

I know “things happen,” I just want OSDisc.com to make it right. So far it just ignores my emails.


OSDisc.com
POB 371481
Denver CO 80237

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
The truth of a statement is a complete defense to a claim of defamation. (http://www.cohenlawdenver.com/civil-litigation/defamation/; http://kellywarnerlaw.com/colorado-defamation-laws/)

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Sunday, January 21, 2018

Opuscula

Everything’s automatic
Nothing can go wrong,
Go wrong, go wRrong

I HEARD A “JOKE” MANY YEARS AGO that went like this:

    Passengers board an airplane and a flight attendant gets them seated.
    The doors close and, from the cockpit, comes the Captain’s voice.
    “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m your captain and I welcome you to the airline’s first fully computerized flight.
    “The flight attendants are the only crew on board; the cockpit is empty. A computer will fly the plane safely to its destination.
    “Do not worry, nothing can possibly go wrong, go wrong, go ...

SO FAR, OUR CARS are equipped with automatic breaking, automatic lane drift, and host of other things.

Instrumentation, such as it is, is moving from in front of the driver’s eyes to the center of the dashboard in the form of a computer screen. Never mind that the engine is computer-controlled and diagnostics are computer-generated. (No wonder there are few real mechanics around.

Airplanes take off, travel, and – usually – land all under computer control. (Never mind the “occasional” crash into a mountain1 or before clearing end-of-runway obstacles2.)

Nothing can possibly go wrngcq

I learned to fly on an Aeronca Champion, a 65 horsepower, tandem-seat, fabric-covered tail dragger.

Instrumentation? Minimal.

Computerization: No.

The tower lacked a radio (go/no go was by green/red lights).

My cars were computerless until 1970 when I bought a VW microbus with a diagnostic computer. Except for a couple of Volvos (122S and P118), any mechanic could diagnose and repair whatever was wrong.

Admittedly, computers as diagnosticians are “not bad.” They more rapidly identify problems, albeit not always correctly. (I got a “Check Engine” light on a Ford Explorer because I failed to fully close the gas cap.)

My fear with “auto-braking” cars is that I will be zipping down the Interstate (at the speed limit) and, sans warning, the car will stop. Bad enough, but what if the car behind mine fails to stop, or the one behind that car. A 40-car pileup is well within the realm of probability. The “domino” effect.

If you have a computer (obviously you USE computers) with a Microsoft Operating System you know about the “Blue Screen of Death" – the computer crashes. I suppose Macs and Linux and Unix, and even Commodores (remember them?) also crash; Microsoft just is – or justly is – famous for its blue screens. My brand new made-in-China HP crashes almost daily sans warning -- just does a self-reset. Come back, "Carly" Fiorina; HP needs you.

I’m not convinced that auto-breaking and anti-lane drift features are “ready for prime time.” Less so for driverless vehicles. Granted, humans don’t always do such a great job behind the wheel, but at least a human can be removed until capable of continuing down the road.

A combination of computerization with human override might be appropriate.

It’s bad enough when people have all manner of technology available and don’t know how to use it.

Worse, is having all manner of technology available and not knowing what to do when it fails, as the Asiana aircrew sadly discovered.

I once lived next door to a U.S. Navy aircrewman. He and his crew flew over miles of open Pacific ocean, using the stars' positions as navigational aids – just as sailors had done for hundreds of years.

The Navy man sneered at Air Force pilots who, without sophisticated navigational gear, would get lost over the same landmark-free waters.

The the Air Force pilots and navigators knew that “nothing can go wronngggg.”


Sources

1. Brasil soccer team: http://tinyurl.com/grqrp2c

2. SFO-Asiana crash: http://tinyurl.com/y7h3fsdk

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Computerization

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Opuscula

Everything’s automatic
Nothing can go wrong,
Go wrong, go wrOng

I HEARD A “JOKE” MANY YEARS AGO that went like this:

    Passengers board an airplane and a flight attendant gets them seated.
    The doors close and, from the cockpit, comes the Captain’s voice.
    “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m your captain and I welcome you to the airline’s first fully computerized flight.
    “The flight attendants are the only crew on board; the cockpit is empty. A computer will fly the plane safely to its destination.
    “Do not worry, nothing can possibly go wrong, go wrong, go ...

SO FAR, OUR CARS are equipped with automatic breaking, automatic lane drift, and host of other things.

Instrumentation, such as it is, is moving from in front of the driver’s eyes to the center of the dashboard in the form of a computer screen. Never mind that the engine is computer-controlled and diagnostics are computer-generated. (No wonder there are few real mechanics around.

Airplanes take off, travel, and – usually – land all under computer control. (Never mind the “occasional” crash into a mountain1 or before clearing end-of-runway obstacles2.)

Nothing can possibly go wrngcq

I learned to fly on an Aeronca Champion, a 65 horsepower, tandem-seat, fabric-covered tail dragger.

Instrumentation? Minimal.

Computerization: No.

The tower lacked a radio (go/no go was by green/red lights).

My cars were computerless until 1970 when I bought a VW microbus with a diagnostic computer. Except for a couple of Volvos (122S and P118), any mechanic could diagnose and repair whatever was wrong.

Admittedly, computers as diagnosticians are “not bad.” They more rapidly identify problems, albeit not always correctly. (I got a “Check Engine” light on a Ford Explorer because I failed to fully close the gas cap.)

My fear with “auto-braking” cars is that I will be zipping down the Interstate (at the speed limit) and, sans warning, the car will stop. Bad enough, but what if the car behind mine fails to stop, or the one behind that car. A 40-car pileup is well within the realm of probability. The “domino” effect.

If you have a computer (obviously you USE computers) with a Microsoft Operating System you know about the “Blue Screen of Death – the computer crashes. I suppose Macs and Linux and Unix, and even Commodores (remember them?) also crash; Microsoft just is – or justly is – famous for its blue screens.

I’m not convinced that auto-breaking and anti-lane drift features are “ready for prime time.” Less so for driverless vehicles. Granted, humans don’t always do such a great job behind the wheel, but at least a human can be removed until capable of continuing down the road.

A combination of computerization with human override might be appropriate.

It’s bad enough when people have all manner of technology available and don’t know how to use it.

Worse, is having all manner of technology available and not knowing what to do when it fails, as the Asiana aircrew sadly discovered.

I once lived next door to a U.S. Navy aircrewman. He and his crew flew over miles of open Pacific ocean, using the star’s positions as navigational aids – just as sailors had done for hundreds of years.

The Navy man sneered at Air Force pilots who, without sophisticated navigational gear, would get lost over the same landmark-free waters.

The the Air Force pilots and navigators knew that “nothing can go wronngggg.”


Sources

1. Brasil soccer team: http://tinyurl.com/grqrp2c

2. SFO-Asiana crash: http://tinyurl.com/y7h3fsdk


PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Computerization

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Opuscula

Consumer Cellular:
Great company,
Lousy commercials

I’M A GREAT FAN OF Consumer Cellular (a/k/a CC).

All our telephones – including our cordless network – are on the CC network.

HOWEVER, CC’s commercials are “something else.”

THERE ARE (at least) two CC commercials that bother me.

Remember when we had to go to the library?

The most rebarbative1 is the one where a smiling CC customer looks into the camera and says: “Remember when we had to go to the library?”

I want to jump into the tv set and yell: “Do you know what you are missing by NOT going to the library?”

I know it’s just a commercial, but as a regular at my Local Lending Library (L3), I DO know some of the things the character is missing by using a cell phone to download e-books (from the library !) or buying e-books from an online retailer (e-books that later may be resold to one of several online e-book buyers).

In addition to books –“e,” hard cover, soft cover (paperback) in multiple languages – my library also loans DVDs (movies) and CDs (music). It also has a meeting room and children’s programs – try and find an “e-baby sitter” to read to a bunch of youngsters! – and during school vacations, meals for kids who might otherwise go hungry.

My library also offers – gratis; free, too – computers with connection to the Internet. Need to print something? That, too, is available, albeit for a small fee.

If the CC customer is downloading e-books from any source other than the local library, the customer is wasting his/her tax dollars as most public libraries are largely funded by taxpayers.

Finally, how easily and quickly can the CC customer find a book (or DVD or CD) he/she had not considered? I go to the library and I work my way down the shelves, picking out titles I think I might like. My library carefully marks almost all books with a stick-on dot to ID the book’s genre. (Blue is for mysteries.)

What about books for which there are no “e” editions?

The CC customer in the advertisement may appreciate avoiding a trip to the L3, but to my Edward Bear mind, the Customer is missing a lot.

Why buy a whole pie?

There is a CC commercial that asks: “Why buy a whole pie when you only want a piece?”

The answer is simple: “So I’ll have some another time.” Has the commercial writer (and CC ad reviewer) never heard of refrigerators and “burpable” containers or wraps, foil and cling types?

Every so often I will bake a cake. OK, the mix comes out of a box; all I do is add eggs, water, and apple sauce1, mix and bake. My cakes are nice and moist, but I am NOT going to devour a 9-by-13 inch cake in one sitting. (I probably could, but I don’t). Instead, I take a two servings and put one into the ice box (yes, I remember real “ice boxes” and the ice man who delivered the ice blocks) and eat half – the rest I wrap tightly and stick into the freezer, saving it for later dates.

To me, buying a whole pie (or cake) for $10 and dividing it into 8 pieces (cost per slice=$1.25) makes more sense than buying 8 single slices at $2.00 per slice (total $16) at the local diner.

One commercial that is “OK”

CC has one commercial with which I “sort of” agree. That’s the one touting CC’s Customer Service. My experience with CC Customer Service convinces me that it is far better than average. It took several calls and emails to get a ZTE device working, but in the end, an on-the-ball tech figured out the problem (a SIM that needed to be reprogrammed).

The only thing about this commercial that gives me pause is making the male actor appear as if he needed his wife to bail him out of whatever predicament he found himself. Maybe I’m just thin skinned.

Mind the “small stuff”

I once took a commercial photography course – back in the days of film.

The instructor told us a story about an almost price winning advertisement photo. The photo showed a glass of wine with the wine bottle showing the label. Great shot. Great lighting, Everything great EXCEPT . . .

The wine bottle was closed, making it obvious (to the judges at least) that the wine in the glass was NOT from the bottle of the advertised wine. Oops.

The image above is not the cited photo.

CC would do well to “mind the small stuff” before approving an advertisement.

As an enterprise risk management practitioner, I learned to consider all possibilities, including – in the case of CC’s library and pie advertisements, how they could be interpreted.

Reader’s Digest had a competition for an advertisement that could not be interpreted in any way other than what the Digest intended.

The ad read: “Give me a man who reads,” suggesting this was the type person a business needs to engage (or perhaps a woman needs to engage).

In any event, a girl allegedly managed to squelch the Digest’s best laid plan. Her take on the ad: “Send me a man. Who reads?”


Sources
1. Rebarbative: http://tinyurl.com/ybcefq6j
2. According to the back of a Duncan Hines’ box, for a lower fat recipe, use 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce in lieu of 1/3 cup vegetable oil. This scrivener is convinced the apple sauce cake is more moist and tastes at least as good at cakes made using oil.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Consumer Cellular


ERM-BC-COOP:

Paradise lost
By avoidable
“Push of button”

BY NOW EVERYONE KNOWS about that “The Missiles are Coming” alert was “accidental.”

Aside from inconvenience – and the attendant costs – no one was hurt.

But there are some lessons (hopefully) learned … lessons that may be applied in other places and for other activities.

I AM NOT ALONE in making two suggestions to prevent a recurrence of the “Hawaii mistake.”

    1. Two people must authenticate the danger before an alert is sounded. (At least two authentications are required to launch an attack on another nation.)

    2. If, as happened in Hawaii, the alert is unfounded and needs to be withdrawn, there must be a way to immediately cancel the alert and to disseminate the cancellation to everyone through all available media – tv, radio, text messages, emails, and voice alerts. There are “off the shelf” alerting programs that broadcast information on all media at the push of a button – assuming, of course, that the message to be distributed already is “in the can.”

Neither suggestion if “outside the box" and, I’m told, the two-person authentication already has been implemented.

The REAL questions are:

    1. Why wasn’t the possibility of a false alert considered?
    2. Why weren’t avoidance and mitigation measures already in place?

The answer, and there is one that covers both questions, is that no one involved an enterprise risk management practitioner (or even a business continuity planner) when North Korea's Kim started threatening the U.S.

Had an experienced planner/practitioner been involved, he or she, thinking “outside the proverbial box” would have recognized the potential for the “Hawaii mistake” and the whole mess could have been avoided or at least mitigated.

I have lived in areas where the local government sends out emails, voice and text messages, and posts alerts on electronic signboards over highways – think Amber alerts, toll information, or road work.

I also have reviewed and implemented multi-output alert systems, so I know from personal experience that they are economically available.

This is NOT “rocket science,” indeed it is little more than (a) using common sense and (b) sharing that common sense with management that, one hopes, will act positively on the information. (Management often hears what the practitioner recommends, but then fails to implement the recommendations. When will they ever learn?1


Sources

1. When will they ever learn lyrics: http://tinyurl.com/ybd3yfee

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Hawaii

Friday, January 12, 2018

Opuscula

Ungentlemanly
Language used
At White House

ADMITTEDLY, MR. TRUMP’S CHOICE OF WORDS sometimes is “unpresidential” (at least for liberal/leftist ears), it turns out that Trump is only following a long list of presidents with the same inclination for “strong’ language.

A quick search of the Internet turned up a number of headlines, including:

    Obama explodes on press corps with ‘profanity-laced’ tirade (Washington Times):  http://tinyurl.com/y73bvk7o
    A Brief History of Presidential Profanity (Rolling Stone): http://tinyurl.com/ya42f62x
    Lewd, Rude, Crude? The White House Has Heard It All (NBC San Diego.com): http://tinyurl.com/yb5upwze
    Top profanity in POTUS history (NBC12): http://tinyurl.com/ya5dzeml

While the president’s comments about those (as shown on tv) “s***hole countries” in regard to the Temporary Protected Status of Haitians and others, allegedly said in a closed door meeting hardly is suitable for the Ladies High Tea, it’s hardly worth the time the liberal media gave it. Consider: The Haitians have been in the U.S. on a temporary basis for eight years following a devastating hurricane. Eight years.

Haiti is, without a doubt, a poor country; conversely, the U.S. is a rich country. That must be at least one reason why so many Haitians elect to stay in the U.S. where wages (and the cost of living) are substantially higher. Rather than returning to their homeland to help rebuild Haiti, they stay in the U.S.

The U.S. government and charities, as well as U.S. businesses operating in Haiti, have poured reconstruction funds into the country since the storm. But the 59,000 Haitians remain in the U.S. where they were granted temporary residence status.

Coming from “s***hole” economies is the reason many people come to the U.S., and it is the reason they “go under the radar” when their visas expire. It’s a fact of life in America.

Back to language

According to ABC News reporter Ann Compton1, “I have seen in the last year Barack Obama really angry twice. Both were off-the-record times. One, profanity-laced where he thought the press was making too much of scandals that he did not think were scandals. Another where he took us to task for not understanding the limits he has with foreign policy and the way he’s dealing with the Middle East and Iraq, and Afghanistan,” she said. “And I don’t find him apologetic. But I find him willing to stand up to the press and look them in the eye, even though it was off the record and just give us hell.”

Ms. Compton also took aim at the Obama administration’s penchant for secrecy. This administration has come under almost constant fire from journalists for, among other things, freezing out photojournalists from Oval Office events only to release official White House photos of the very same event a few hours later.

“This particular administration has been more opaque than any I have covered about what the president does in the Oval Office every day. He is far less accessible on photo-ops with meetings,” Ms. Compton said.

Aside from the Washington Times article on 8 December 2014, did Obama’s tirade – behind closed doors – make waves? What angered the ex-president? Fake news? What raised Ms. Compton’s hackles? “Freezing out photojournalists from Oval Office events only to release official White House photos of the very same event a few hours later.  (Please. Give me a break.)

Fortunately for the Times readers, Ms. Compton elected not to quote the former president.

The Rolling Stone2  article has to be rated at least “PG” as it leads off with When President Obama called Mitt Romney a "bullshitter" in the pages of Rolling Stone earlier this year, it set off a brief firestorm. Defenders of the Republican candidate were shocked – shocked! – that the man holding the highest office in the land would resort to such language. In truth, the halls of the White House (like nearly every other house in the country, with the apparent exception of Romney's) have heard no shortage of profanity over the decades. It's a dirty job, leading the free world. Sometimes it takes a few dirty words. Read on for a brief history of presidential (and vice-presidential, and presidential candidate) profanity.

The site then goes on to cite Lincoln’s appreciation for an off-color story, and Obama’s  critiques and mockery of others (Obama famously called Kanye West a "jackass," and on the audiobook version of his autobiography, Dreams From My Father, you can hear the future president mimicking an old high-school friend who evidently knew his Richard Pryor: "You know that guy ain't shit. Sorry-ass motherfucker ain't got nothing on me." But it was in the pages of Rolling Stone that Obama really drew the ire of the pious, calling opponent Mitt Romney a "bullshitter." )

Both Joe Biden and Dick Chaney managed to work the “F” word into their conversations, but they only were VPs and less newsworthy than their presidents.

Bush 2 was less “potty mouthed” than some others. Bill (I did not have sex with that woman) Clinton apparently was caught only once using foul language, but it was after Obama beat Hillary for the Dem nomination.

Richard (Expletive Deleted) Nixon and Lyndon Johnson both were known for “less than presidential” language.

Rolling Stone notes that John Kennedy Eloquent at the podium, JFK could swear like a sailor away from the microphone. Nothing is mentioned in the article about his womanizing.

Harry S (no period) Truman was no choir boy when expressing his opinions of people; both Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Nixon were targets of his words.

Curt Autry, an anchor at NBC12 in Richmond VA3, scoured the internet for quotes from other sitting U.S. Presidents who used "colorful language," and President Obama's comment about Mitt Romney being a "bulls*****r" certainly falls on the less-offensive end of the presidential swearing spectrum. Reagan, Carter, Ford, Clinton, Nixon, Johnson and even Harry S. Truman, were all known to let a profanity slip every now and then.  Presidential candidates who didn't make it to the White House and Vice Presidents were no better. Apparently he missed the Rolling Stone piece.

John Kerry, Obama’s  last State Department gofer but in 2003 a senator, commented on Geo. Bush’s war with Iraq that In 2003, Senator John Kerry talked to Rolling Stone about his decision to vote for the Iraq war, saying, "Did I expect George Bush to f___ it up as badly as he did? I don't think anybody did."

Oops – he didn’t know the mic was open when Geo. W Bush called New York Times reporter Adam Clymer a "major league asshole" over a hot mic, to which vice-presidential nominee Dick Cheney agreed. In 1999, during an interview with Tucker Carlson for Talk Magazine, George W. dropped the F-bomb several times.

In June 1979, ten yers after the "Chappaquiddick incident," as Sen. Ted Kennedy pondered a primary challenge, Jimmy Carter convened a group of congressmen at a White House dinner, and was quoted as saying: "If Kennedy runs, I'll whip his ass."

JFK’s opinion of businessmen is, at least, interesting given his family’s business history. According to JFK, , "My father always told me that all businessmen were sons of bitches, but I never believed it ‘til now." Poppa Joe will be remembered as the Ambassador to England who had wildly anti-Semitic and pro-nazi feelings he expressed publicaly. On June 13, 1938, Kennedy met with Herbert von Dirksen, the German ambassador to the United Kingdom, in London, who claimed upon his return to Berlin that Kennedy had told him that "it was not so much the fact that we want to get rid of the Jews that was so harmful to us, but rather the loud clamor with which we accompanied this purpose. [Kennedy] himself fully understood our Jewish policy." Kennedy's main concern with such violent acts against German Jews as Kristallnacht was that they generated bad publicity in the West for the Nazi regime, a concern that he communicated in a letter to Charles Lindbergh.4

LBJ, according to the NBC12 anchor, was “colorful” and was overheard saying referring to a Kennedy aide: "He wouldn't know how to pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the heel."  When asked what he thought of Gerald Ford, Johnson said, "He can't fart and chew gum at the same time".

Bottom line Admittedly Trump does not always use genteel language suitable for the anti-Trump media, but he hardly is the first to use such language and he is in good company – both liberal and conservative – with his comments. Even the darlings of the liberals, Obama, JFK, and Wm. Clinton, have used some less than delicate words during their reigns.

The liberals/leftists should know that in politics, EVERYONE lives in a glass house and everyone should think twice – or thrice – before throwing stones.


Sources

1. Obama explodes on press corps with ‘profanity-laced’ tirade (Washington Times) http://tinyurl.com/y73bvk7o

2. A Brief History of Presidential Profanity (Rolling Stone): http://tinyurl.com/ya42f62x

3. Top profanity in POTUS history (NBC12): http://tinyurl.com/ya5dzeml

4. Kennedy:  http://tinyurl.com/y7o7fh4t

5. Lewd, Rude, Crude? The White House Has Heard It All (NBC San Diego.com):  http://tinyurl.com/yb5upwze

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Presidential language

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Opuscula

Scofflaws rule
Roads through
Sheer Ignorance

I’M SO OLD I REMEMBER having to give hand signals before making a turn.

I’m so old, I actually studied state traffic laws from a real PAPER driver’s handbook.

I’m so old I actually expected – past tense – that today’s drivers would know and obey traffic laws and exercise a little common sense.

I live in south Florida where we are endangered daily by drivers from “elsewhere” who insist on bringing their driving habits – good and bad – with them.

Some eventually get a Florida driver’s license, somehow managing to pass the written test. The handbook1 now is online so everyone, in theory, can read it. (Most local lending libraries have computers patrons can use for free.)

    Florida offers the online handbook in English and Spanish, and a sample test in English, Spanish, and Creole. This is interesting because ALL Florida road signs not already in international pictographs, are in English, and Creole speakers would be hard-pressed to find anyone who speaks Creole anywhere away from the Gulf coast. Florida will provide translators for those who lack English comprehension … further endangering anyone who ventures onto Florida’s highways and byways.

One of the more aggravating things in my neighborhood, with its narrow two-way streets, is parking close to an intersection.

The handbook clearly states, on Page 37, that parking is prohibited within 20 feet of an intersection.

That seems reasonable even when the vehicle is a standard sedan or coupe.

This morning, as I went out, some folks who neither can read English or who took the time to read the handbook in ANY language, parked a LARGE truck at the corner. Not even five feet from the intersection.

The PROBLEMS are two:

    1. Drivers on my street must go into oncoming traffic to make a turn (it’s a “T” intersection).

    2. Drivers coming from the east – the truck is on he east side of my street, cannot see cars about to turn into the oncoming traffic side of my street.

The truck probably is just beyond the 15 foot minimum from the across the street fire hydrant.

There is another corner where cars are parked at the corner – again, not even 5 feet from the intersection.

Granted, there is not a lot of traffic in the neighborhood, but COMMON SENSE should tell drivers not to park at an intersection.

I suppose common sense went the same way as common courtesy, correct grammar, and spelling (I c u).

It is one thing for a driver to speed through a red light; it’s another to pass a stopped school bus loading or unloading passengers.

Back in the day, passing a school bus with the STOP sign out and the lights flashing often meant a trip to jail – do not pass go. Now, not so much.

That’s OK; the STOP sign is in English and the warning about flashing red lights also is in English, but, since English comprehension is NOT a requirement for a Florida driver’s license . . . you do the math.

There is a fire station on a road I often travel. In the last two days, the normally flashing yellow CAUTION light has turned red. This is supposed to mean an emergency vehicle is about to exit the station and needs the right-of-way.

Yesterday and again today, a number of drivers chose to ignore the red light and kept on going. Fortunately, the time between when the light goes red and the time the emergency vehicle exits is sufficient for several scofflaws to get across the crossing dedicated to the fire department.

Back in the day, drivers actually moved their vehicles out of the way of emergency vehicles. Today, perhaps because the radio or CD player is blaring and the A/C or heater fan is making a racket, until the emergency vehicle is on the back bumper, drivers plea that they never heard the siren or saw the flashing lights – never look into a mirror to know what is behind or next to your vehicle.

Things have changed since I got my learner’s permit in ‘57, and – alas – not for the better.

I suppose I shouldn’t complain about drivers. Bicycle riders and pedestrians ignore the laws as well.


Sources

1. Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/yafdn8yy

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Scofflaws

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Opuscula

If cashier, sales person,
Or wait staff call you
“Honey” or "Sweetheart”?

SUE EVERYONE !

THERE IS A STORY ABOUT A TWO-STAR WHO was disqualified for a third star for, allegedly, calling a congressional staffer “sweetheart.”1
I first saw the story on the MS Edge Start page – Microsoft’s answer to Yahoo and the supermarket tabloids.
The Edge piece credited the Fort Carson (CO) Gazette, but the Gazette’s story2 was different that Microsoft’s version.

THE GAZETTE article was more restrained and in the mode of real journalism.
According to the Gazette, The promotion of former Fort Carson boss Maj. Gen. Ryan Gonsalves is on hold as the Pentagon investigates his alleged misconduct with an unidentified congressional staffer.
Microsoft, lead off with copy it picked up from Starts and Stripes3: The U.S. Army yanked Maj. Gen. Ryan Gonsalves‘ nomination to a third star because it determined that he called a female congressional staffer “sweetheart,” according to Stars and Stripes. This violated the Army Command Policy’s rule on “dignity and respect.”
Note there was no formal charges levied against the general; no courts marshal, not even an Article 15.
How many times has a cashier or waitress or any female employee called a male customer by a pet name? “Sweetie,” “Dear,” “Honey,” or the Southern “Darlin’”?
Most male employees have been warned that calling a female over the age of six MONTHS any pet names or even commenting on a female child’s cuteness is forbidden; violate the rule and the employee is cashiered.
‘What a beautiful girl” said to a mother about a daughter is a fireable offense.
When dealing with the government, as Gen. Gonsalves’ sadly learned, all it takes is an allegation.
When it comes to being PC, anyone accused is guilty before all the facts are known or and before there is any legal defense allowed.
The suggestion in the cited articles is, to this scrivener, that the general might have been a bit sarcastic – a definite “no-no” when it comes to a low-level congressional staffer, particular one with designs on showing her colleagues she’s “tough.”
Dignity and respect.
None of the articles' comment on the congressional aide’s behavior prior to the general’s faux pas. Did her behavior cause the general to (allegedly) show the woman less “dignity and respect” than she thought was due her?
The general has been in the Army a long time and, given that he was being considered for a third star, he must have behaved as an officer and gentleman is expected to behave. Why would he then commit such a horribly non-PC act as to (allegedly) disrespect a congressional aide.
I am all for punishing men who abuse women and children – and for punishing women for abusing men and children (yes, Virginia, there ARE such women).
What I do NOT favor is the extreme PCism that seems to have come to the fore over the previous nine years.
Maybe the next time someone calls me by a pet name I’ll sue the person and the person’s employer . . . and maybe see if there is a criminal complaint I can bring.
I, too, can play the PC game.
Sad.


Sources
1. MS Edge: http://tinyurl.com/y8kdvkrg
2. Fort Carson (CO) Gazette: https://tinyurl.com/ybyf774q
3. Stars and Stripes-1: http://tinyurl.com/yd594a9l
4. Stars and Stripes-2: http://tinyurl.com/ycljox4n


PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Being PC

Monday, January 8, 2018

Opuscula

Microsoft and Win 10:
Arrogance on a field
Of Bovine excrement

I HAVE MICROSOFT’S WINDOWS 10 (WIN 10) running on two laptops.

My spouse has one; I have the other. I also have a Win 7 machine that the grand-daughter can use during her visits.

The grad-daughter plays with Word – she holds down a character key and watches it fill the screen. She also plays Solitaire. All this between occasional blue screens. (The Chinese computer is about 5 years old; well past it’s prime. It came with Win 7 installed.)

The Spouse, with a newer Chinese computer has so far managed to avoid blue screens.

So what is the Problem Du Jour with Win 10?

There are many, but the most aggravating is Microsoft’s shutting down Win 10 WITHOUT WARNING to install upgrades.

Yesterday she was reading her emails when, sans warning, the WeSaySo Corporation1 – a/k/a Microsoft – interrupted her reading and took over the computer for an hour.

No “we’re going to take over your computer in 10 minutes.” No “we’re about to install an update because …: nothing. Just boom and the screen went dark for a few seconds before Microsoft announced it was installing a update.

I foolishly thought that when a customer buys a product the customer should have some say in use and maintenance.

Imagine if Ford, Chevy, or Chrysler shut down your flivver as you travel over the speed limit on an interstate highway? There you go, whizzing along when, without warning, the vehicle comes to a screeching stop because the car needs an oil change. Explain THAT to the cops that come to investigate the 20-car pileup that started when the vehicle behind yours slammed into the rear of your transportation. (Just hope that vehicle slamming into yours isn’t an 18-wheeler or a cement mixer.)

This morning I was working on a project – Win 10, LibreOffice Writer (in preparation to move to the Linux Operating System (wonder why??) when, in the middle of a search and replace function, good ol’ WeSaySo Corporation takes over the system.

Imagine if this happened in a business with multiple computers – not at night, but in the middle of the business day.

Warning? Don’t be silly. This is Microsoft. It’s worse than the government (pick any government level). It’s worse that a financial institution.

FORTUNATELY, LibreOffice Writer (equivalent to Microsoft Office Word) managed to save almost all the work I had spent a couple of hours creating.

Knowing that WeSaySo Corporation would take it’s own sweet time to update MY system, I went for toast and coffee and some time in front of the tube watching horse opera reruns. When I returned the unasked for update(s) – who knows WHAT was installed; Microsoft isn’t telling – was almost finished.

HP – the company whose logo is on the newest Chinese laptop – at least

    (a) tells me it wants to install something
    (b) what the something will do for the machine, and
    (c) allows me to decide if I want the upgrade installed or not.

After all, I paid for the computers and that cost included a Microsoft Operating System.

(I understand computer maker Dell will install a non-Microsoft Operating System (Linux, Ubuntu, etc.) if a customer requests. Bravo for Dell. Maybe I’ll find a way to meet Dell’s prices for a new laptop when I need to replace the HP.)

At this point, I am ready to copy all my critical files to an external drive and install either Linux or Ubuntu, letting it wipe out the Microsoft Operating System and the Microsoft Office I purchased.

I confess I’ve been unhappy with WeSaySo Corporation for some time – primarily because it insists on changing the User Interface with each iteration of each product.

Now, with its unmitigated arrogance to take over the machine for which I paid, I’ve reached the end of the road with the Redmond giant. I’ve used Microsoft products for years, but there comes a time when there is no option but to cut the cord.

We already did that with Ma Bell, switching to Consumer Cellular for both mobile and landline (via a ZTE Wireless Home Phone Base2) talk, text, and data. (The only function I lack with Consumer Cellular is fax; I can get that on the rare occasion I need it at a FedEx or UPS store.)


Sources

1. WeSaySo Corp: http://tinyurl.com/yako7axw
2. ZTE: http://tinyurl.com/y8d723hl

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Microsoft chutzpah

Friday, January 5, 2018

Opuscula

Medicare questions
I should have asked

I’VE HAD A MEDICARE ADVANTAGE plan for a number of years. Over those years I have had at least 4 different insurers; one, AvMed, twice.

I thought I knew all the questions to ask.

I didn’t (know all the questions to ask).

My current plan had a few surprises. Had I done my homework as I should have done my homework, there would have been no surprises, so I only have myself to blame.

Surprise #1: Closest Urgent Care facility.

    The closest Urgent Care facility is more than 5 miles away.

    That’s not much, but they are congested miles.

    Another, slightly farther facility, is hidden away. I tried to reconnoiter the place the other day and failed to find it.

    While I rarely go to Urgent Care facilities – over the last 5 years I’ve gone twice – when I need urgent care, I want a nearby, easy-to-get-to facility.

    My current plan fails in that respect.

Surprise #2: Specialists

    Over the years I have had two vascular surgeries.

    Given my history, I want to know which vascular surgeons are plan providers.

    My current plan has one – and he was not even listed by the plan’s online providers’ list. Customer Service gave me his name and contact information.

The surgeonseems to have high marks from his patients; that’s encouraging. The one hospital with which both he and the plan are affiliated has a two-out-of-three star CMS (Medicare) rating.

My real concern is “Who is this practitioner’s anesthesiologist?” The “gas passer” (showing my age) is at least as important – if not more so – to the patient’s well being than the cutter.

Neither the urgent care issue nor the vascular surgeon are “show stoppers,” but they pretty much assure than for 2019 I will go back – for the third time – to my first Medicare Advantage insurer, even if I have a copay for a prescription other insurers place in a “no co-pay” category.

I still will keep the Primary Care Physician I’ve had for several years and I’ll once again have access to the vascular surgeon AND anesthesiologist – whom I hopefully will NOT need – as well as convenient Urgent Care facilities. I realize that everything is “subject to change,” but if they don’t . . .

Bottom line

It turns out that there are more things to check than co-pays.

The plan’s Evidence of Coverage (EOC) remains the place to start when comparing plans, but the plans’ formularies and providers’ lists also should be checked. All of the foregoing should be available online not later than 1 December; hopefully it will be online when Medicare Advantage plan enrollment commences in October (if not, contact the insurer and ask specific questions; it’s a competitive business and the insurers want your custom).



PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Medicare Checklist – Part 2

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Opuscula

Dealing
With bullies:
Kim & others

A LOT OF PEOPLE, mostly liberal/leftists around the globe and Democrats in the U.S. are wringing their hands and woe-is-me’ing that President Trump is responding to North Korea’s Kim in kind.

“Oh my, you mustn’t respond to a bully; you need to hide you face and let the bully escalate the attack from words to actions.”

That’s what the Brits did in 1936 and look what it got them.

Bombs on London, a death toll of (382,600 military plus 67,100 civilians) 449,700,1, not to mention the economic losses and the fact that the U.S. had to, once again, save the tiny island.

All because Neville Chamberlain2 caved before Adolph Hitler’s bullying.

”There will be peace in our time” – in a pig’s eye.

EUROPE SUFFERED, THE WORLD SUFFERED because the Brits and most of western Europe cowed before the nazi bully, a bully that, by most accounts, could have been stopped before he got started . . . if only someone stood up to him.

Around the turn of the (20th) century, Theo. Roosevelt, a Republican by the way, assembled probably the most powerful armada the world had known, the Great White Fleet and had it sail around the globe, flying the flag and quietly warning the world’s self-proclaimed great powers that the United States was not anyone's patsy. Shades of Gadsden’s Don’t tread on me flag.

It might be that the Trump-Kim Twitter exchanges are, as cartoonist Gary Varvel suggests, like two toddlers trying to out-shout each other, and I will concede that while President Trump’s tweets and other off-the-cuff pronouncements often give me pause, at least the president is warning Kim that he is treading on thin ice.

Gary Varvel is one of the few editorial cartoonists who pokes fun at politicians right and left.

Unfortunately, Kim has nothing to lose – his country is poor, his people are starving, and North Korean lives on Chinese handouts – if he loses a few million people to a nuclear attack (by any country in the “N club”) North Korea might be better off.

Unlike Iran, the people have no will to demand freedom from the Kim dynasty of despots. Even during the UN’s“Korean Police Action,” the south Koreans showed little willingness to defend their country, preferring to let the UN (mostly U.S.) troops bear the brunt of the fighting.

Short of firing the first shot, what is expected of the president?

The leftist/liberals and most Democrats would have him wave a white flag a la Chamberlain and allow Kim & Company free rein to continue threatening the U.S. until they do what the liberals/leftists consider "unthinkable": attack the U.S.

Alternatively, the U.S. military could “test” its anti-missile defense systems by shooting down one of Kim’s missiles, preferably while the weapon still is over North Korea. Shooting down a North Korean missile over Japan could cause Japanese casualties. Even as “collateral damage,” that is not an option. Shooting down one of Kim’s missiles over water could still endanger ships at sea; waiting until the missile is over the U.S. or Canada, also is not acceptable.

As President Trump allegedly said – fake news being what it is – he has a bigger “red button” than Kim.

Someone suggested that Kim’s nuclear warheads are not the weapons to fear. Rather, the suggestion went, we should fear Kim’s chemical and biological weapons. Anthrax, small pox, etc. A little chemical or biological weapon packed into a warhead on a missile headed anywhere could potentially cause more damage than several N-tipped missiles.

Consider influenza. It spreads at “the speed of flight.”

The influenza or flu pandemic of 1918 to 1919, the deadliest in modern history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide–about one-third of the planet's population at the time–and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims.4

One more reason to down Kim’s missile over North Korea rather than wait until it is over Japan or North America.

MEANWHILE, President Trump’s “My button is bigger than your button” may have had a positive influence on Kim; the North Korea crazy has reopened a communications link with South Korea after years of no contact. Even the leftist/liberals and Democrats should appreciate that.


1. British WW2 casualties: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_casualties_of_war

2. Neville Chamberlain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_for_our_time

3. Gadsden flag: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsden_flag#Variations_in_appearance

4. Influenza: www.history.com/topics/1918-flu-pandemic

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

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Opuscula

Tv “news” vs.
Tv “snooze”

FOR YEARS I WORKED as a newspaper reporter and editor.

Many of those years were spent in two newspaper towns.

My paper often got the story in print first, but when we were not the first, we started our copy with a “second day leed.”

”leed” = lead; “hed” = head(line)

Yesterday one local tv station reported on a mother who gave birth as the cops stopped her husband who was wanted for something.

This evening – more than 24 hours later – the tv station is running the same story.

Many times, the tv “news” of yesterday is the tv “snooze” of today – on the same channel.

I know about slow news days, and for everyone BUT news people, no news may be “good news.”

What to do?

Put a new face on an old story; come up with a “second day leed.”

In the case of the mother and her new baby, update the blurb by leeding off with how the baby is doing and what happened to the father. We already saw the cliche “mother and baby” shot the first day; don’t repeat it. Find something new to report if “snooze” must be rebroadcast to fill out the time between commercials.

As a print reporter and editor – I loathe the term “journalist,” it’s too high flauntin’ ’ for the trade -- I wrote second day leeds on more than one occasion, even if I wrote the initial copy. This happened when a story ran from one day to the next.

I once worked with a guy I tagged “Third Definition Gregory” who was prone to use the third definition of a word. He was a Gainesville ComSchool grad with a powerful vocabulary. Mr. Gregory, who later fell from grace by going into PR in the Big Apple, covered city hall. (I covered the county commission.)

At the time, the city fathers were discussing – in meeting after meeting after meeting – a street lighting project.

Third Definition would report on the latest council session, but often forgot to tell his readers what went before – the background on the story. Great second day leed, but he forgot that not everyone read the previous stories. Our editor prompted him to recap on more than one occasion.

We were the hometown paper in a one paper town, but we had competition from out-of-towners, ergo the editor’s prompting.

Working for this paper was one of my more enjoyable jobs. Good editor; good staff.

Mind,. a second day leed is NOT “fake news.” We probably had some “fake news” in my time, but certainly not at today’s preponderance of phony publications. In my book, tv “news” never was 100% trustworthy, at least not since Ralph Renick1 ruled the tv news for Channel 42 in Miami.

A second day leed is a new top, a new leed paragraph (or two) before recapping what went before.

Given the amount of time tv “news” and “snooze” allots a story, tv news writers would have to be really professional writers. I see no indication that any tv station – local or network – has personnel of that caliber. (Fact checking also is a lot art in the electronic media.)

The writers for the talking heads (vs. “heds”) – the anchors – have a long way to go before tv “journalism” can equal the quality of real newspapers – the ones for which Third Definition and I used to work.


1. Ralph Renick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybou3ih9hOE

2. WTVJ Channel 4: https://myfloridahistory.org/date-in-history/march-21-1949/miami%E2%80%99s-first-television-station-aired-its-first-broadcast

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

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