Fossil Fuels and Covid

 Like ir or not, fossil fuels are required for economic growth.  The world won't run on wind and solar.  Wishing it to existence won't make it a reality.  I don't think those in government regulation understand that.  Carbon.  It's not a bad thing.  Every living thing in this world is made out of carbon.  CO2 is used for food in plants.  Photosynthesis converts the CO2 to oxygen.  Why are they too stupid to understand this?  The war on fossil fuels is a war on economic growth and prosperity.

It also interesting to note that was we approach an election year they are starting to ramp up covid fear mongering.  How convenient.  The left is setting themselves up for another stolen election through fraud.  Just like the last one.  That's how they can run Joe Biden.  They'll spool everyone up into a covid frenzy and Joe will get to campaign in his basement.  He'll refuse debates due to covid restrictions.  Yadayadayada.  

Hopefully the population at large sees through this charade.  If not, the country deserves the government they elect.

This guy hits the nail on the head

Grayson Quay, an editor at The Daily Caller, wrote a brilliant commentary on one of the trends I see contributing to the collapse of society.  Attention people crave and receive is creating what he calls an "an epidemic of exhibitionism."  Messages and actions are motivated by the seeking attention and validation from others as a form of acceptance in the form of likes, retweets, commentary and follows.  

Quay goes on to postulate: "The epidemic of exhibitionsism is rooted in the demand for total authenticity and the accompanying stigma against...well...stigma.  Each individual has the right, and perhaps even the duty, to bring the whole self into every situation.  To conceal one's kinks, politics or mental health issues is to submit to systemic oppression and 'respectability culture.''

Contrary to popular belief not every aspect of the self deserves to be revealed or celebrated publicly, much less privately.  As a matter of fact, most personality traits, perversions or deviances to the extreme left or right of center should be suppressed, judged and ridiculed.  The fringe is polarizing.  Behavior or ideas on the outer fringes of normal breeds controversy and cultural friction.  Without society's systemic oppression of cultural extremes and the peripheral acceptance of weird, all that remains would be a gluttonous orgy of unrestrained filth, hate and the indulgence of sin.  We don't need the masses of society living through a technicolor panacea or hallucinogenic LSD trip touted as society's great awakening.

A Full Tank Running on Empty

An electric car weighs the same whether the battery is fully charged or empty. Or, is it heavier when it is fully charged and lighter when there's no charge?  An internal combustion car is heavier when the tank is full and lighter when the tank is empty.  Does that mean the traditional ICE car is more efficient when the tank is less full because it's hauling around less weight?  Or is energy invisible in an electric car?  It must be because all the green new deal and electric car fanatics seem to think all you have to do is plug an electric car into the wall and viola, it's got a full tank of gas.  Too bad they don't understand the dominant resources used to make electricity.  Burning coal and natural gas.  Electric cars really aren't any better for the environment - they just displace the carbon footprint to where it can't be seen.  Out of sight.  Out of mind.

Why are electric cars so expensive?  It's really just a chassis with an electric motor, a switch, a rheostat and a battery.  Plus the typical hydraulics, creature comforts and safety gear.  Shouldn't they be cheaper?

Here's some food for thought.  Why aren't autonomous cars driven by drone pilots?  There wouldn't be near as many accidents caused by the limitations of technology.  People don't want to drive.  Hire someone to do it for you without having them share your space.  In America, the interior of the car is a sanctuary.

Nicknames

Nickname: a familiar, humous or derogatory name given to a person or thing instead of or in place of their formal given name.  In Gone in 60 Seconds Nicholas Cage gave the cars he was stealing female names so they could talk about them over a shortwave radio as a decoy to the police as to what they were really doing.  His nemesis in the movie was "Eleanor" - a 1967 Shelby GT500 Mustang.  A creme puff he tried stealing multiple times and was never successful.  Fox News' Jesse Watters calls Joe Biden's press secretary "Binder" because she is incapable of having an open dialogue with the press corp without consulting her gigantic three ring binder reading talking points prepared in advance when presented with a question.  There's a guy in the airport called "Green Bay" because he's built like a Mack truck and smells like rotten cheese.  There was a kid in middle school everyone called "Scratch" because he was always scratching his balls in PE.  Donald Trump, the king of derogatory nicknames has one for every political adversary.  Sometime nicknames can be true to form, funny or insulting. Sometimes nicknames can be given to one's own self.  Growing up my nickname was "Tuffy."  My Dad started calling me "Topher" because Kristopher was a mouthful.  It quickly morphed into "Tuffy."

It wouldn't surprise me if my team calls me "asshole" because I hold them to a high standard.  We celebrate victories and debrief things that go awry in the operation that end up causing delays or gross inefficiencies.  It's motivated by a desire to continuously improve our operational performance and create buy in to being the best we can be.  To produce excellence.  Not perfection - but excellence.  The goal I have with my team is to have them performing at such a level that you don't know who the manager is.  They're all empowered to own the operation.  It seems to work because we are successfully retaining talent and those unable to rise to the occasion either volunteer to seek employment elsewhere or they're voluntold to leave.

Let the pity party begin and I'm sure there will be a discussion of sorts after what follows.  Who cares.  No one reads what I write anyway.  I write for my own sanity and entertainment.

October 9 will be my one year anniversary in Florida.  Being away from family is taking its toll on me.  Since then, I've seen everyone less than 3 weeks combined.  Sometimes I feel invisible to my wife and kids because I'm not there.  I'm just a face on a screen or a voice on the phone.  Sometimes both.  Relationships are complicated and take work. If I didn't initiate conversation with anyone in my family I'd be completed isolated.  My kids don't call me.  Most of the time they don't answer when I do call.  Same with my wife.  I only get called when someone needs something like an answer to a question.  No one calls to say Hi or just to catch up.  I maintain the relationship.  I started playing New York Times' Wordle and Connections to have a reason to talk to my wife.  Perhaps they're introverts and I'm an extrovert.   I'm a convenience - a gnat that won't go away and leave everyone else alone to live their own lives.  Out of sight and out of mind.  Everyone is busy with work and school.  It's not like I'm sitting here on vacation.  I work just as many hours as always - except they're not as stressful and come with a healthier schedule.  

Just call me "Paycheck."  It's the only purpose I serve in my familial unit.  My spending is constantly scrutinized because I'm here in Florida adding significant rent payments to the budget.  I'm a liability.  Anything but an asset.  Just sign my check away so everyone else can continue living their lives while I'm expected to live like a jewish carpenter.

I thought what I was doing when I moved out here was building a better future for my family.  Preparing to write the next chapter as we head towards retirement.  Making the sacrifice now for a better tomorrow.  I didn't know it would be so lonely.  Maybe I'll feel better about the situation after spending time with everyone in a future visit.  Whenever that is.  In the mean time don't spend any money.  Eat hotdogs, spaghetti-ohs and Raisin Bran.  Don't do anything that costs money.  Sit at home.  Listen to music.  Surf the web.  Write for the crooked toad.  

Welcome to my pathetic world that happens to be a short drive away from paradise.

Car Guy

Always been a car guy.  Comes from being raised watching The Dukes of Hazzard and Knight Rider on TV and movies like Smokey and the Bandit and Cannonball Run.  When I'm bored I log on to Bringatrailer.com or carsandbids.com and look at all the old school cars being auctioned off to the highest bidder.

I particularly enjoy the test drive videos of the cars I grew up with.  Corvettes, Mazda RX-7s, Toyota Supras, Nissan Maximas, Mustangs, etc.  They're just something about these old school analog cars with little in the way of technology.  The most technologically advanced thing on some of these is a carburetor  and an FM radio.  Maybe a limited slip differential with disc brakes on all four corners.  V8s. Rotarys.  V6s.  T-Tops.  

Just watched a video of a guy driving a 1995 Chevy Corvette.  Yellow with a black interior.  Manual transmission.  Just hearing the rumble of the V8 as the driver rows through the gears.  Delicious.  Watched another guy drive a 1985 RX-7 - brings back memories of my first sports car - a 1982 RX-7... 

Peak Musical Experiences!!!!!

The Austin Symphonic Band (affectionatley known as ASB) has an upcoming concert titled "Structures."  Sounds interesting so I asked one of my dear friends what was on the program.  She was kind enough to send me the weekly announcements with links to reference recordings to allow band members to get a gist of the music prior to rehearsal.  Invincible Eagle by John Phillip Sousa was on the menu.  We played Invincible Eagle as the opener for our UIL contest performance in 1989 when I was a senior in high school.  The rest of the program included Nimrod from Elgar's Enigma Variations and the final movement from Symphony #2 by John Barnes Chance.  Quite a mature program for 15-18 year old musicians to partake.I've always enjoyed the piece and hearing it again brought back some great memories of one of the first peak musical experiences I've had in my entire life.  

Peak musical experiences are defined as experiences with music that stand out as especially physiologically arousing and meaningful.  Joseph Kaine wrote a thesis and has identified three components to a peak musical experience.  "First, the ability to prefer or expect a musical change or feature can have a large emotional impact.  Second, the arguably most important musical emotion of empathy can likely be created through rhythmic feature of tempo and synchronization.  Third, peak musical experiences are emotionally arounsing and largely include by musical structure and audience setting." 

During the concert we opened with Invincible Eagle.  Marches are always used to open a contest program.  They're relatively easy to perform and get the band warmed up and acclimated to the venue before tackling the more cerebral works to follow.  As we played Nimrod, everything starts out relatively simple.  The piece is played at a leisurely tempo and there are many opportunity for the conductor to stretch the tempo through various retardandos as the sonority and texture of the piece become more intense .  I vividly remember being transformed to another dimension.  There was a grandiose retard at the peak of the piece.  With stretched subdivision of the beat in a grandiose retard, the sound built to such an intensity of feeling and dynamic.  Goosebumps galore up and down my neck.  Hair standing on end.  The floor was vibrating, as was the chair.  I could feel it in every bone of my body.  My bass clarinet was vibrating and the intensity of the wall of sound was just incredible.  The tension builds and builds and builds and finally releases in a most spectacular resolution as the piece closes with a gentle statement completely opposite of the peak with the most content and satisfyingly delicate statement.  A complete relaxation of the soul after the most intense build up of passion, power and intensity that was musically rewarding beyond compare to anything experienced ever before.  

That moment was forever imprinted on my soul and was by far one of the most intense experiences in my life as a performer. 

The year was 1996 and my wife and I were dating.  She gifted me with tickets to see the Dallas Wind Ensemble at The Meyerson.  It was a November 19th concert entitled "A Garden of Dreams."  The program included Children's Overture by Eugene Bozza, Children's March by Percy Grainger, When Jesus Wept by William Schulman, Dream About Flying by Ernest Krenek, I'm Seventeen Come Sunday also by Grainger and David Maslanka's A Child's Garden of Dreams.  It was an amazing evening.  The concert was long and quite intense.  I remember sitting in the audience completely dumbfounded and in total awe of the veracity and energy gifted to us by the musicians.  The performance was BRIGHT and HOT!  You could feel the heat of the energy that filled the venue.  The acoustics are outstanding!  The sizzle of the performance as breathtaking.  Figuratively, you could see the smoke coming off the horns with each piece. The great hall was almost too small to contain the energy.  It was amazing!

Approximately six years ago I performed with the St. Marten's Symphonic Winds at St. Martin's Lutheran Church in Austin TX.  There was a group of musicians from ASB that were part of the music ministry.  The church embraced music of all kinds.  There was one festival Sunday in the fall and we played Alfred Reid's Alleluia! Laudamus te.  It was the postlude of the service and we played great!  We blew the doors of the sanctuary.  Good times.

Playing with ASB was an amazing experience. There were peak musical experiences during every concert.  I was never a better musician in my entire life.  There was something magical about playing with that group of people in that chapter of my life.  The people I played with made me a better musician.  Our director was Richard Floyd.  I've tried to play with other groups and it's not the same.  Playing in ASB was very academic yet most artistic.  We made such beautiful music.  It was a truly rewarding experience and my musical abilities as a performer peaked for those 3 years.  I look back on that chapter of life with extreme fondness and am extremely proud of what we accomplished.  

One of the special things about performing music in an ensemble is the bond that forms between all members of the group.  We come together, work hard and create something magical.  I don't know every musician I've played with but our lives were forever bonded in those performances.  A friend of mine wrote an essay about it.  I'll have to see if I can dig it up and post it here at a later date.  

The Lexus LS430

 Most know I purchased a 2004 Lexus LS430 in April with 103,000 miles on the clock.  Impeccable service records.  Dealer oil changes every 5k miles.  Routine maintenance.  Timing belt and water pump.  While not in perfect condition it was in exceptional mechanical condition.  According to the dealer, the car was traded in by an elderly couple for a Gensis G90 luxury barge.  Maybe, maybe not.  My wife didn't understand why I traded in a perfectly good Acura with significantly less mileage for a 19 year old land yacht.  I didn't expect anyone to understand my decision without having done the same extensive research I did on the LS430 before deciding it was the right car for me. 

If you watch The Car Care Nut or the Car Wizard, both of them praise the LS400 and LS430.  The regular car reviews guy praised it too.  But why?  Simply put - this is was the pinnacle of Japanese car building.  Car is expected to go 200,000-250,000- miles with regular maintenance.  The craftsmanship is outstanding, as are the materials.  The engine is an old school normally aspirated V8.  It's rear wheel drive.  Double wishbone suspension.  4 wheel disc brakes.  Cd changer.  Mark Levinson sound.  Ultra comfortable heated and cooled seats - in 2004!!!!  Real wood trim coming from the same tree.  A mass produced luxury car without the pretentiousness or exclusivity of a Bentley, Rolls Royce or high end Mercedes.  Alan Mulally, past CEO of Boeing and Ford Motor Company drove an LS430 because "it's the finest car in the world."

A car like this will never be made again.  Built like a vault.  Reliable.  Over engineered engines; not stressed in anyway.  Normally aspirated.  Horsepower through displacement.  None of this turbocharged nonsense putting excessive force on the mechanical parts with increased compression through forced induction. The tolerances in the build quality are surreal - 1 millimeter panel gaps in the interior.  The engine was certified by the FAA for aircraft use.  Automakers don't want to build cars like this that were built to last.  They plan for obsolescence. Build it to last 10 years or 150,000 miles.  Get everyone to get rid of their gas hogs and buy a smaller displacement engine.  A lightweight tin can on wheels.  Electronic doodads galore.  Better yet - buy an EV or hybrid that weighs 5,000 pounds.  That's what they really want.

The future of transportation is electric claims Joe Biden.  I completely disagree with Joe putting forth stupid ideas like this through executive action.  The government has no place interfering with the free market - picking winners and losers.  That's not the government's place.  If electric cars were so great, people would want to buy them instead of being incentivized through rebates or forced through government mandate.

A used LS430 just sold on BringATrailer for 55,000USD.  That's practically what they cost new.  It was a near perfect specimen.  These cars are appreciating in value.  They're getting hard to find without a ton of miles.  But there are gems out there if you're patient and do your due diligence.  When I bought mine I found one at a price I was willing to pay in condition I was willing to accept.  Here's a link to the 55 thousand dollar car:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2006-lexus-ls430-6/?fbclid=IwAR08AmRyP0AypT5L-DwULjzZwyxZF1a_U1m32e0h6K06LmK8i0HKeKEbB_U

One thing I do agree is with is climate change being caused by man burning fossil fuels is a complete hoax.  Ron Desantis put it this way - they've found a way to politicize the weather for political gain, the collection of taxes, the confiscation of freedom and the seizing of power.  

Happy Birthday young man

Today is my oldest's 21st birthday.  Currently a Junior at university studying computer science.  He's grown into a fine young man.  He's always been academically focused on getting the best education possible to help insure a good economic future.  He's got solid values and morals.  He is a kind, mature soul.  Always has been.  

The funny thing about kids is even though they're full sized adults, I still see my kids through the eyes of a parent.  They make the same facial expressions as when they were little.  I still see his little hands even though his hands are nearly the same size as mine.

My boy is quite intelligent and I wish him nothing but the best going forward. Happy Birthday!

Writing topic challenges

A few complex topics I would like to write about include the decline of the middle class, climate change, mental health, immigration, globalization, populism and nationalism.  I don't know how to tackle the subject succinctly because they're so big.  Maybe that's what separates a writer from a hack.  

I read a series of articles about the adoption of electric cars and the series was like 25 pages long to examine a multitude of aspects to consider as to the complexity of the transition and the length of time it will take.  And what I learned is the transition to electrified transportation comes with unintended consequences which are either not that out or ignored in the ridiculous goal of eliminating vehicles with an internal combustion based powertrain.  It's almost like the regulators and green new deal advocates don't care about the unintended consequences of electric cars.  They just want fossil fuel based energy outlawed because "it's bad for the environment."  

And maybe unintended consequences have to do will all the topics I want to write about.  Isaac Newton's third law of motion states that for every action there is a separate and opposite reaction.  No where does it say that the reaction will be immediate, as intended or known.  The problem is that there is only granted to be an opposite reaction.  I call the opposite reaction the unintended consequence when it comes to regulation and policy.  And as we're learning, sometimes it's too late to deal with the opposite reaction because the damage has been done.  

Just think about the public school system.  Instead of having to provide instruction to children speaking many different languages on top of having to teach them English.  Imagine the American public school system having to provide instruction and communicate with people who only speak Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic, Bengali, Russian, Portuguese, Urdu and Bahasa Indonesian.  It's ridiculous nor practical to ask an American institution to cater to all these other cultures.  

The biggest challenge with electric cars is having enough energy available on the grid to charge these things while still providing enough electricity to maintain our accustomed standard of living conveniences?  What about mining all the rare earth minerals for the batteries and transporting all this stuff? 

Importing goods from countries with cheap labor is all well and good until you realize the transoceanic shipping industry creates a global pollution chain and consumes large amounts of fuel.  An average container ship has a capacity of up to 2 MILLION gallons of fuel with an average of 63,000 gallons of fuel burned by a single ship in one day.  Unintended consequences of buying imported goods instead of buying food and goods imported from across the world.  

But whatever.  Who cares?  Let the bureaucrats and members of the World Economic Forum continue their ridiculous policy making without taking into consideration or caring about the unintended consequences or collateral damage caused by implementing their agendas for a global civilization.

Burning Holes in the Sky

 LinkedIn - It's like Facebook for adults.  People posting accomplishments, provocative business articles, celebrations, thoughtful leadership quotes, job postings, etc.  Don't quite understand the purpose.  There are some people that are excellent at using the platform for self promotion and coming across as "with it" in their industry.  Contemporary thinkers.  Showing they're business savviness and that they're movers and shakers.  That I am not.  Nor do I want to be shamelessly promoting myself.  

Someone had made a post about pilot training in the seat of an airplane vs pilot training in a simulator and was making the case for having more traditional flying hours in an actual airplane and less time in a sim.  David Neeleman (who I greatly admire) had a snarky comment about seat time in a plane burning millions of holes in the atmosphere through emissions and wasting fuel.  OK - this coming from a guy who has started 5 airlines - Morris Air, WestJet, JetBlue, Azul and Breeze.  How many holes have his entrepreneurial ventures burned in the sky and will continue to burn in the sky in the name of commercial aviation.  

I think the angle Neeleman is really going for is to have more simulator hours count towards training and less actual plane hours count towards training.  It will put more pilots on the line in a shorter amount of time.  Using the environment as the excuse or justification to campaign for less flying time and more sim time to me is disingenuous.  An environmentalist doesn't start and and grow multiple airlines.  Granted Neeleman has always purchased the most fuel efficient planes on the market, it doesn't discount the impact aviation has on the environment.  The industry needs more pilots and the faster they're trained up, the better it is for the industry.

Alas, I think the climate change alarmists are really using the weather as a way to increase tax revenues, regulate a necessary industry out of existence (energy production) and take away personal freedom. The science and conclusions about green house gases and climate change are fuzzy at best.   The world economy doesn't work on windmills, batteries and solar power.  Fossil fuels don't come from dinosaur remains.  The Earth makes oil.  They know that. 

Dynamic Pricing, Electricity and Solutions

Dynamic pricing defined as a revenue management strategy where pricing is flexible based on current market demands.  Charging more for peak demand and less for weak demand.  Or a better way to describe dynamic pricing is charging the highest price when demand is high and discounting when demand is low.  Big business utilizes dynamic pricing in a variety of industries.  Prices for toll roads and express lane access fluctuates based on traffic density.  Using an express lane is more expensive during rush hour than it is at four o'clock in the morning when the roads are empty.  Ride hailing apps such as Uber have flexible pricing based on surges in demand.  An uber from an entertainment district is more expensive after the bars close than it is before the bars close.  Getting an Uber before or after a special event (concert, sporting event, etc) is more expansive than usual pricing.  Airlines utilize dynamic pricing to both stimulate demand and increase profitability.  Airlines charge more for advanced seat assignments and vary the price per seat based on location in the plane.  The middle seat in the last row near the lavatory is going to be less expensive than the aisle seat in an exit row.  People will pay a premium for the convenience of a nonstop flight and comfort.  Hotels charge more for rooms during natural disasters and special events in the community such as trade shows, concerts and sporting events.  Movie theaters offer discounts on matinee showings because they're not as popular.  AMC theaters even experiment with dynamic pricing based on seat desirability by charging more for prime seats in the center of a row, middle of the theatre and less for the seat in the corner of the first row.  You get the idea.  

Utilities have the unique ability to charge more for peak use consumption and offer discounts for use during off peak times.  Prices per kilowatt hour are less expensive in the middle of the night when demand is low vs being most expensive when demand is high during extreme hot or cold weather, or during a typical 9-5 working man's schedule.  Peak prices are also charged when most people get home from work and turn on their air conditioner and prepare meals on the stove or in the oven.  Charging an electric car at night is desirable because energy demand is significantly less while most people are sleeping and makes it less expensive while reducing grid strain. 

What if there was a way to cheat the system and pay less for electricity no matter when the price is high?  What if there was a solution that would allow power companies the ability to run their plants consistently and efficiently while reducing the need to spool up production during peak demand and curtail production when demand is low?  Electricity produced without a matched demand creates waste.   Electric companies need a way to create consistent production while eliminating the need to match production to the peaks and valleys of demand.  Tesla has partial solutions for the power company and the consumer; the Megapack and the Powerwall.

The Megapack is designed for use by electric production companies to store up to 3.9 megawatt hours of electricity in a battery the size of a shipping container.  The problem is Tesla limits the use of the Megapack charging to store power exclusively generated by intermittent renewable power sources such as windmills and solar panels.  Tesla does not want their Megapack being used to store electricity generated by fossil fuels or hydro electric power.  Why exclude certain segments of energy production?  Hydro-electric power is just as environmentally friendly as wind and solar; nothing is being burned in hydro-electric production.  A giant turbine connected to a generator is being spun by the flow of water, usually behind a dam.  Why not let fossil fuel and hydroelectric based producers install Megapacks to help them eliminate the extreme peak production by supplementing with stored electricity even if electricity is made burning fossil fuels? They're discriminating against fossil fuels.

For consumers, the Powerwall uses solar power to charge the battery.  The stored power in the battery can then be used to power a house during a power outage.  Or the wall can be activated to provide electricity to the house when electricity costs are high.  The battery then recharges when there is sunlight or during off peak and less expensive times of the day.  In theory, the power wall should reduce electric costs and also provide electricity when there is a problem with the grid.  You should be able to have electricity during a power outage assuming the battery is adequately charged and has the capacity to supply electricity to the house until it is sunny again or the electricity is available from the grid.  

All this sounds wonderful, doesn't it?  Until you realize one thing.  Elon Musk is not only a capitalist.  He is a green new deal advocate and wants to get people off of fossil fuels.  Tesla is not in the business of making energy production more efficient or affordable.  Tesla is in the business of transitioning away from fossil fuels, creating a byproduct of a deliberately missed opportunity to make traditional energy production more efficient, reduce pollution and reduce cost.  While this is a noble cause in these times of a manufactured climate crisis, he is missing out on another opportunity where Tesla could sell twice as many Powerwalls and Megapacks as they do now.  Tesla is only allowing their technology to be used exclusively with a solar arrays and windmills; thereby eliminating a far greater market consisting of everyone who doesn't have solar on their roof or produces electricity with environment destroying fossil fuels.  The time has come for Elon to do something more for the consumer than providing status and virtue-signaling while growing his business.

Why not make the power wall available to anyone and everyone?  Imagine having a Powerwall that charged during off peak hours and being able to take your house off the grid during peak times and run your house on the Powerwall instead of paying peak pricing for electricity?  You would be able to use electricity bought on the cheap when prices are high. The end user could then buy electricity when it's cheap and use it when electricity is most expensive.  The idea reduces electricity bills and the load on the grid during peak production/consumption times.  All you would need is a Powerwall connected inline to the input of the house to charge the power wall and a transfer switch that would drop your house from the grid and run everything off the energy stored in the battery.  Ideally, an application could be developed that could be programmed with the rates charged for electricity during peak and troughs and be programmed to charge during off peak times and the transfer switch programmed to utilize the power wall during peak times.  Another option would be to also have the app connected to a thermometer and have the battery activated during peak extreme temperatures.  A win for the consumer and the power company.  I'd even agree to the deal if the electric company subsidized it.  If the electric company subsidized the Powerwall, they could have the ability to remotely pull houses equipped off the grid to preserve production capacity for those without a Powerwall and still charge those without a Powerwall a premium for using electricity during peak periods.  A consumer could also buy electricity when it's cheap and use the power stored in their power wall when it's more expensive.  This would be a win for everyone.  The consumer with a Powerwall, the consumer without a Powerwall and the electricity company.  

Why aren't they using technology this way?  Or are they and I just don't know about it?   Someone should buy a Powerwall and build the technology to make it work described above.  Count me in for a Powerwall or similar device if it can be utilized in a manner to benefit all consumers and producers.  

The best ice cream in the country

 BlueBell Ice Cream, one of the "tastes of Texas" available outside the country.   BlueBell started out being made at the little creamery in Brenham in 1907 - I've toured the facility a few times and they always end the tour with a free scoop.  Over time they grew and built production plants in other parts of the country to include Broken Arrow, OK and Sylacauga, AL and is now #2 ice cream manufacturer in the United States, while only being sold in 23 of the 50 United States.  They're proud of the fact the product continues to be sold in half-gallon containers.  While totally onboard with the sizing, the cost associated with picking up a half gallon can be upwards of ten bucks.  For mass produced frozen confections.  Forbes declared Blue Bell Ice Cream the best ice cream in the country in 2001 and I agree.

Being away from the food I grew up with, BlueBell is a taste of home and I usually have a half gallon container in the freezer.  Some of their new flavors are less than stellar - Dr Pepper Float comes to mind, as does Monster Cookie Dough.  Monster Cookie Dough is just gross to me.  As a kid we would eat the traditional homemade vanilla and my Dad was big on the Peaches and Homemade Vanilla.  They have a new one called Peachy Peach that I haven't had the chance to try.  And I'd like to try the Blackberry Cobbler flavor, too.  Anyway.  My favorite flavors are cookies and cream and chocolate chip cookie dough.  If left to my own devices, I could easily devour a half gallon container in a weekend.   The banana pudding one is good, too.  

Somewhere along the line they came up with a truly great flavor - cookie two step.  It's cookies & cream ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough pieces mixed in.  The best - satisfies the craving of both flavors without having to pick one, I can have both!  And the best part is the flavors strangely compliment each other.  One is overpowered by the other...  Both distinct when mixed together.  That's rad!  

Narcan

Narcan is a drug that designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose. It is an opioid antagonist—meaning that it binds to opioid receptors and can reverse and block the effects of other opioids, such as heroin, morphine, and oxycodone. Can you believe Narcan is going to be made commonly available for purchase in store and even vending machines?  I can't.

To the extent that Narcan is readily available indicates a opioid crisis is mainstream.  For there to be such an epidemic that warrants making this drug readily available at the neighborhood drug store or vending machine in an entertainment district speaks volumes to the size of the problem.  In the old days you'd have to take someone to the hospital or call EMS to keep someone from overdosing on drugs.

I wonder if Hunter Biden has used Narcan during his historical episodes of drug use and addiction?  I'm guessing he probably has.  Just seeing the photos from his laptop of his teeth destroyed by crack cocaine use and likely use of opioids.  Hunter's new teeth look a lot like Joe's teeth with those shiny, perfectly straight veneers.  

All life has value.  Really?  Does it?  Should the drug addict's life be saved or should Darwin's theory prevail and let stupid people extinguish themselves due to the decisions they make?  I'm guessing if someone needs narcan they have a problem and those problems are only going to escalate until they get help.  Maybe narcan is the help that prevents them from dying.  Do they learn anything or just how to put a bandaid on their problem?  I see drug addicts as a drain on society with no real long term contributions.  I see the addict as pathetic.  Weak.  A loser.  Why do we keep these people alive so they can repeat the same old thing?  Is it my place to judge? Is it the governments?  The medical community or the family unit?  

Should "illegal" drugs be made commonly available? Marijuana, cocaine, opioids, speed, xtc, heroine, and the like.  Fetterman, Biden and the democrats are considering re-scheduling marijuana so it's not a felony and people don't go to jail for possessing it.  Why?  Have you ever lived in a state with legalized marijuana?  I have and it's terrible.  The stench is common place.  People are lazy or stoned.  I loved Colorado and learned I couldn't live there after spending 2 years in Steamboat.  Too much pot.  Too many stoners.  Dispensaries as plentiful as convenience stores.  Not my thing.

If someone is unable to care for themselves and be a productive, functioning member of society, why do we keep them alive?  They're a drain on society.  Why is it society's job to rehabilitate them?  Their life is disposable.  I'm all for giving someone a chance to improve themselves.  At the same time there comes a point where they aren't going to change.  Look at the open drug use on the streets of San Francisco or Portland.  These people are a societal leeches and suck the lifeblood from their lives and lives of those in their orbit.  Wasting the life is a choice.  Why should anyone stand in their way?

Happy Birthday

Today is my wife's birthday.  Happy birthday!   I remember when our relationship was in it's infancy and we were driving somewhere in a car.  My wife say's to me "Look - It's my birthday!"  And I was like, what?  She said look at the clock!  It's my birthday - 9:16!  And since then remembering her birthday has been ez-peezee.  It's true what the say about women - given them almost anything and they'll turn it into something better.  Give her a house - she'll create a home.  Give her some food and she'll make a meal.  Give her clothes and she'll make a bunch of outfits.  Give her a problem, she'll come up with a solution.  

My wife is a lover of family, children, Disney and fashion.  My wife has a big heart - she loves her family like only a mother can do.  Loves her kids.  Loves other people's kids spending almost thirty years teaching public school developing a love of learning in her students bring a sense of magic and whimsy to the classroom like no one else can.  After this school year, our family will be reunited in sunshine state.  Looking forward with great anticipation when we're finally living as a familial unit.  

We met at the Disney Store and frequently vacationed to Walt Disney World or Disneyland and have been on a Disney Cruise ship once or twice.  Laurie's had a season pass to either Disneyland or DisneyWorld since I started with the airline in 2005.  It's her happy place.  One thing that's interesting is our kids were literally raised going to Disney parks while they grew up.  The three of them are more familiar with the parks than anyone I know. 

An Enigma of sorts

 A disturbing trend in corporate policy is companies having a "social media policy" restricting the freedom of speech during non-work hours.  Someone once said freedom of speech is not the same as freedom of consequences.  Why do corporations think it is within their realm to enforce consequences for behavior that is done off company time?  Remember - you represent the company 24-7-365 and what you do reflects on the company.  This reeks of a social credit score being enforced in its infancy.  Be careful with what you let become known about yourself and your life.  Be an enigma and carefully manage your brand in a professional environment and in the real world.

Historically I have been an avid Facebook user.  The appeal of spouting off Facebook posts with every thought that flashes through my mind is strangely appealing.  Think of me as being as temperamental and mercurial on Facebook as Donald Trump was on twitter except more crude and vulgar.  It's also a form of self-care to release my thoughts and concerns from my body to prevent keeping them bottled up inside destroying my mental state.  It's a release and coping mechanism for me and part of my self-care routine.  When I wrote on here I tend to be more thoughtful and composed as a write without ripping the first thing off that comes to mind.  Posting on Facebook or twitter is throwing a grenade over the fence to see what happens.  Writing a blog is shooting a missile into the universe with a crafted message.  Corporate America would obviously frown on such behavior.  In the early years of Facebook I thought it would be great to have all my coworkers as friends.  I learned otherwise when someone from the company hauled me into my office and told me it is not my job to comment on problems it is my job to fix problems.  Noted.  After that exchange, I kicked almost everyone I worked with out of my 'friends' list and restricting the audience to my more colorful posts to 'friends except X,Y,Z,A,B,C as a way to protect myself against these shenanigans.  I also started using an alias and an old email address that hadn't been actively used for 25 years.  Protect thy self.  Using what I write outside of working hours against me in my career is misguided as it has absolutely no bearing of the quality of work I produce.  I closed my Facebook.  I miss seeing what people are up to and miss seeing pictures of what my family is doing while I am away.

I tried twitter and while interesting I thought it was a bad idea because people might use the content of what/who I follow against me if it is not in alignment with someone else's (ie corporate America) thinking of what is appropriate, important or truthful.  Because the truth is no longer objective.  It is a subjective perspective.  That irritates me.  What if I follow someone who thinks the Maui wild fires were deliberate and intentional to cheaply seize the land from people who can't afford to rebuild?  What if I follow someone like Peter Navarro because I agree with his views on economic development and production being brought back to America while making every effort to decouple our economy from China?  Going against the globalist agenda is considered a deliberate OSHA violation with the potential to jeopardize employment status.  I never had an instagram, tiktok, snapchat...  Just another way for propaganda to be directed your way and another way for the thoughts created and consumed to be collected, monitored and used against you.

I don't promote my limited social media activities to anyone but the closest of friends.  As it turns out, freedom of speech does not equate to freedom of consequences and there are many people acting as enforcers if they don't like what I have to say, think about or believe.  Limit exposure to being known and generating controversy.  All my employer needs to know about me is the quality of work I produce for the company.  The rest of my life is none of their business.

There has been talk of creating a central bank digital currency regulated and controlled by the government.    Remember when the truckers were protesting covid mandates in Ottawa, Canada?  The truckers dug in their heels and created gridlock for weeks to take a stand against being forced into vaccination.  The truckers refused to vacate the downtown area until their demands of exemption from covid regulation and vaccination enforcement were met.  Until the government turned off their ability to access their financial resources.  The government did not like their behavior and cut the legs of their protest off at the knee.  Debilitating their ability to survive economically.  Government did not like their behavior and acted to cease their protest.  It worked.  But it was totally OK to protest other things - like racial injustice, BLM etc.  It wouldn't surprise me if government added to their preferred protesters economic situation in an effort to erode the rule of law and social justice.  Not cool.  

What I'm getting at is at some point, through the use of the patriot act and technological surveillance, the government will know what you think because it's all stored on a server somewhere.  They know what you think, what triggers you, what you agree with and what you disagree with if you document any of your thoughts or beliefs online.  With the use of cell phones, connected cars, etc they can track everywhere you go.  They can profile you.  You spend too much time in a bar.  Slice and dice you into nice little demographic groups, risk groups or whatever.  Now that all this information is documented it can be used to create a social currency and be scored.  Those that are compliant, don't make waves and don't generate controversy will have a high social currency score.  If you're like me and speak out against globalism, climate change without being afraid of consequences, you could have a low social currency score.  Your social currency score can then limit your access to economic resources such as utilizing your earned income, access to credit to get a financial loan, or they could turn off your electric car and restrict your ability to transport yourself to work and force you to use public transportation or carpool.  Your carbon footprint is too big.  Take the bus.  You're at the bar too much, you stop at McDonald's too frequently - we're going to assign a risk level to you that will correspond to what kind of insurance is available to you and how much you pay for it.  They'll know if you speed, roll through stop signs, how much electricity you use. to cool your house  They can make your life a living hell because someone, somewhere makes a judgement that you keep your house too cold and they're going to charge you more for electricity.  Especially if it's used during peak times.  

I guess the government already has access to this information but it is a little more complicated for them to access because some people pay in cash and other people use credit cards.  Technically information about economic activity should not be shared with the government unless there is a subpoena of some sort.  Our lives should be segmented or siloed.  No one should be able to paint a portrait of my life based on tracking what I do and how live.  What I spend money on should be between me and the provider.  What I think about should be my business.  How much I drive and where I go is no one's business.  Technology has made it easy for every aspect our lives to be tracked, intertwined and tangled into a web that can be extorted by the government.

I've never quite understood why a large swath of the population in a developed/first world civilization jumps on to the latest high tech thing.  Electric cars, cloud connected thermostats paid for by the electric company, social media, etc.  Combine that with a digital currency and the government has the ability to monitor your behavior, profile you, enact policies to change your behavior, your consumption, what you think, where you go and use all of that against you if they dislike what you do or enforce the behavior someone judges as desirable.  It's very disturbing and I'm surprised more people aren't concerned about or even think about it.  The best thing to do is live your life like you lived in the 1980s or earlier.  When technology wasn't so prevalent.  Drive an old analog car.  Use an analog thermostat.  Pay for things in cash.  Turn off your phone when not in use.  Get rid of your cell phone and use a land line.  Stop posting your life on social media. Stop consuming media on devices that can be tracked or services that can be monitored.  The more someone or the government knows about you, the more someone can use it against you.  Technology can be used to gather a holistic portrait of who you are - subject to judgement, retaliation and modification.  Who you are is no one's business but your own.

Snow White and Rachel Zegler

You gotta wonder what Disney thinks of Rachel Zegler and her big mouth.  She has done nothing but trash the live action remake of Snow White.  She's complained about the traditional story calling the prince a stalker and how could there ever be true love.  The remake isn't going to be a romance.  It's going to be movie with a strong female character becoming the leader she's capable of being.  Blahblahblah.  Also, the photos that came out of the dwarfs look like a modern day woke freak show.

If anything Rachel's big mouth has put the live action remake on the fast track to being canned.  Does she not understand who wants to see Snow White and the 7 dwarfss?   Whatever - make the movie for the current times.  But why?  To earn some DEI and ESG points?  Corporate America is shooting themselves in the foot and alienating their core audience in the quest to be woke.  It's not about the core audience - it's about growing the audience.  Ask Bud Light how that went with their Dylan Mulvaney stunt.  Will Bud Light ever recover from that stunt?  A poor decision on so many fronts.  Budweiser can't win no matter what they do.

Is Rachel Zegler doing her job by stirring media attention to the remake?  Is this part of the marketing plan?  Does Disney endorse her behavior and bashing a story that literally put Walt Disney Studios for the map and made the entire Walt Disney Company even possible? 

What kind of idiot allows an employee to publicly trash the company they work for?  Anybody else trying this stunt would be shown the door. Zegler is stereotypical Gen Z.  She's all about challenging the status quo.  She's progressive.  She an outspoken loud mouth that has no problem biting the hand that feeds her.

Disney should terminate her employment on the snow white project.  She's not an asset.  She's a liability.  The project should be shelved until they can find someone who will appreciate the story and not trash the foundation that it is built upon.  

Watch this

Train wreck 

It derailed the train.  What a mess.

Offensive

 Did you see the news coming from the g20 summit?  Joe Biden and India announced a partnership to build a railway corridor to transport people and goods in that part of the region.  See here

Any American reading this should question Biden’s allegiance to America and its citizens. Actions like this proves he is a good for nothing globalist and his priorities are completely misguided. The rest of the world is not the problem of the United States. Biden shows he has contempt for Americans and the American way of life. 

The Money being spent on projects like this instead of being spent on American infrastructure is treasonous.

After the g20 meeting Biden went to Vietnam to strengthen diplomatic ties?  Why?  We should be partnering with countries who can reinforce our agenda both economically and diplomatically. I don’t see Vietnam benefiting the US. But what do I know?

It sure is interesting to see Biden working these deals with his political acumen. How is it possible for him to do this when he’s a geriatric zombie.   

Weird Joe chose to spend September 11 in Alaska. He probably wouldn’t be worth a crap if he was making public appearances any way because he’d be jet lagged from visiting Vietnam and India for the G20 summit.  And he starts with a joke about being an all American  

Speaking of Vietnam - did you see him taking questions at a press conference and he started improving answers from the press. He was literally going off the rails stringing a bunch of nonsense together and an aide cuts in announcing the briefing is over and says thank you everyone.  They know the signs of sundowning and overextended joes FaceTime a little too long. Another Easter bunny moment to save Joe Biden from himself. What an absolute loser.  He is a disgrace. 

Maverick

Top Gun and Top Gun Maverick are two of my favorite movies.  There’s something I love about a Tom Cruise movie where he plays a hot dog hero with a strong bravado of masculinity. 

Recently read the following article:

Here

My mind is blown.

Could it be Maverick died when doing the Mach 10 test flight and the entire movie is a dream sequence where Maverick reconciles everything from his past?  His aspirations.  His relationships.  His legacy.  They could have another sequel starting with Maverick in the hospital and pick up the story with Rooster. 

To date myself, these dream sequence possibilities remind me of the tv show Dallas - when an entire season was written off as Pamela Ewing’s dream.  Anything is possible-but is manipulating your entire audience really ethical?  

The sky

Love being greeted with our beautiful sky exiting work. One view from the west and one from the east.  

 

My Best Writing Ever

 In an entry earlier this week I made mention of my writing as Jesus.  I was reading through some of the old posts - man - there's some great work in there.  Brilliantly Crazy.  Once again - there is a fine line between genius and insanity.  I've been on that line and it was so much fun.  I'm proud of the work my team and I did.  Fitting to be posted on a Sunday.

If you're interested in checking it out...

A Day in The Life of Jesus

He wants to ride his bicycle!

I found the post on Facebook about teaching my youngest to ride his bike.  Post here for posterity. Enjoy.

One of the neatest bonding experiences between parent and child is learning how to ride a bike. We’ve been out 5 times. From our initial outing with next to no ability to balance while getting oriented to how the machine works while being pushed to being able to ride in a straight line without assistance to learning how to turn. Today we worked on reducing our turning radius and maintaining enough speed to get through a turn while not having the bike trip over the pedal in the turn and not turning show sharp that the bike drops.

Today the wind was blowing stronger than we’ve experienced while learning. My boy did great while the wind was batting him and the bike around. There were a few stumbles and falls while learning to turn in a reduced space. Some pretty good falls too.

The last fall was a dandy. He got jabbed in the gut with the handle bar and landed on his hands and knees. I applaud his efforts because he made the sharpest turn yet. “I’m done” he says. “That’s fine. You’ve made a ton of progress today in the most challenging environment yet! Great job!” Given the intensity of this particular booboo, I totally get where he’s coming from. He got up quite a few times today and when he says he’s done he means it. I pick up his bike and I’m straddling it as we’re making our way to the car. “Do you want to ride to the car?” “Okay” with a certain tone and candor in his voice. I get off the bike. He gets on and takes off. As he comes around the turn into the final stretch I’m yelling and clapping for him. He cruises to the car. Gets off and beams from ear to ear as coasts to me and the car. “Excellent work Jak - absolutely excellent!!!” We put the bike in the trunk and gets in the car. After a moment of silence I look at him and say “I thought you were done.” He looks at me with a look and grin being proud of what he did. “You tricked me”. “No dude. All I did was ask a question. You made the decision.” Jak is showing the Borman grit and not giving up - giving it that one more college try and ending our session not with a quit but with a HUGE SUCCESS!

The Truth?!?!?! You can't handle the truth.

 Particularly struck by how many facets of society are supposed to be based on truth but either aren't or someone decided the truth is subjective.  Is the truth supposed to be absolute?  Can the truth change?  I was always taught to tell the truth because it never changes.    The truth shall set you free.

The legal system is fascinating - especially in a criminal sense...  I doesn't matter wether someone committed a crime.  What matters is if it can be proved before convictions can occur.  Did OJ Simpson kill his wife?  All I know is if it doesn't fit you must acquit.  Brilliant play on words.  Yet OJ went to jail.

Involved in many terminations in my time as a leader.  One in particular was interesting because the person was asked a direct question and gave an answer.  The person left the conversation and came back with a different account of the events leading up to being questioned.  Then they left again to "produce evidence" of not committing fraud and stealing money.  In our business every transaction is time stamped and recorded in the history of the reservation.  When the evidence was presented I thanked the individual and politely asked she go back to her job duties while we 'examine' the evidence.  Turns out the transaction in question was time stamped 3 minutes prior to presenting it me.  When questioned, the employee had no answer and just had the terrified look of being busted for telling a lie.  Needless to say, the aviation business was not suitable for this person's long term employment.

Many scientific studies are funded to prove a specific point.  I need a study to prove X.  A scientist goes out does a study to prove X.  Follow the science because it is absolute and based on truth.  But it's not. Someone else can do another study and it disproves X but proves Y instead.  How is that possible?

Wearing masks prevents the transmission of Covid we were told and humanity spent multiple months wearing masks.  Turns out there's a scientific study that shows wearing masks is not shown to prevent the spread of covid.  Yet there is more chatter about resuming masking due to a new variant of covid spreading.  But wait - masks don't prevent the spread.  Do it anyway.

The most controversial truth is a biological man declaring he's a woman like Dylan Mulvaney.  I assume Dylan Mulvaney has a penis.  Dylan has the pelvis of a man.  Dylan also has the same number of ribs as a man.  But he's a girl.  How can someone's truth be invalidated by indisputable facts? Because he thinks he's a woman is his mind.  Where I come from this is a mental illness known as gender dysphoria.  And people with gender dysphoria expect us to participate in the lie they tell themselves.  But that's not "the truth."  It's "their truth."  What's the difference?  I don't know - the basic premise of how society works and who can be a mother and who can be a father.  Can men become pregnant?  Men don't have uteruses.  If a trans man dates biological women does that make her a lesbian or a heterosexual?  If a trans woman dates a biological man does that make him a homosexual?  Why are we confusing the truth of science and social order?  Is it an ideology motivated to breakdown the traditional family?

I don't think we'll ever know the truth about man's affect on climate change.  The only thing that is true is the planet has been getting warmer since the ice age.  That is indisputable.  More people on the planet is in direct correlation to rising temperatures.  Is it due to burning fossil fuels.  I don't think so but I don't know.

Schedule change

 Our flight schedule changed at work.  Instead of our first departure at 10:07 it is now at 1:17.  These fluctuations affect my circadian rhythm, sleeping and eating schedules.  I don't like to eat within 4 hours of going to bed.  Now I get home at 6 and have to stay up until at least 10 or 11 to get dinner digested.  It shouldn't be that big of a deal-but it is.  I also like to keep a minimum of 12 hours between my last meal of one day and first meal of the next.  I usually only eat twice a day.  It helps me keep my beautiful physique and reduces food costs.  Trivial, I know.  

The Blogosphere

 Wanna know something interesting?  Everything I've ever posted online is contained in various blogger books (I guess that's the word).  Five books - some drafted but never published and some real master pieces from before it became evident I struggled with mental illness.  These blogs go back as far as 2008.  I was inspired to start writing after watching "About Schmidt" staring Jack Nicholson before deciding he was a jerk....  He wrote to Ndugu.  I wrote to Ndugu....  I had another blog called - The tangled web I weave.  I had another one I wrote while I was in therapy.  There was a guy that wrote the Fake Steve Jobs blog that I loved.  I tried to mimic the idea by attempting to write as Lance Armstrong after he fell from grace and was exposed for doping in his high flying cycling career which led to his destruction and the destruction of the lance Armstrong foundation.  I never found the write voice for Lance.

The "best" blog I wrote was A Day in the Life of Jesus in which Fake Steve Jobs was a 'mentor' of sorts.  If he could do it, I could too.  I decided to write from the perspective of Jesus as a contemporary figure living among us mortals in modern times.  I loved it and don't think I will ever be able to write like that again.  I was flying high manic when I wrote as Jesus.  Everything I wrote felt like I was living it in real time as I wrote it.  This was back in the day when I thought I could literally fly and realized I couldn't fly but I was sick.  Writing like Jesus was an amazing time in my life - due to being in the moment as I wrote it - I felt what I wrote in my heart and soul.  It was an amazing time and was a time I think I did my best work.  It's also when I realized how thin the line was between brilliance and insanity.....  A good time as a writer.  

As A Day in the Life of Jesus got off the ground, I had other people that wrote along with me.  I was Jesus.  I had two friends who were part of the production.  One of them wrote from the perspective of the Pope, being Jesus's business partner, and the other wrote from the perspective of Satan.  One of the funniest things was Jesus and Satan were best friends and often hung out together - much the same way I see political adversaries as being friends behind closed doors.  The thing about Jesus and Satan and the blog is while they are diabolical enemies they are one in the same playing off each other.  Two masterpieces carved from the same piece of wood.  Similar to the way I see democrats and republicans.  Publicly they're adversaries but behind closed doors they're members of the same club with the same agenda.

Ultimately, I'd like to go through and edit all the A Day in the Life of Jesus post and have each entry published as a keepsake book as a moment of all the fun that was had.  Maybe three copies.  One for me, one for the pope and one for Satan.  The pope and I still keep in contact but satan and haven't stayed in touch....

I've been told by friends that I can be a good writer.  Here's the thing - it can be the easiest thing in the world to do when inspired and when not inspired to write it's like pulling teeth and it doesn't come together the same way when the inspiration isn't there.  But man, when the inspiration is there, writing is exhilarating.  Stringing words together to convey an idea or situation is very rewarding.  Especially when I figure out a way to pace the experience with word choices, details, sentence structure, thoughts, descriptions, actions..  Bringing the reader along for the ride can be so rewording.  

I remember when Covid started, I was teaching my youngest to ride a bike.  For whatever reason the Covid chapter of my work was only published to Facebook.  I wish I knew how to search my own wall to copy that material off Facebook and put in a blogger book for posterity's sake...  I wonder if it's still there.  Can someone tell me how to search my own wall?  Let me know in the comments. 

Schindler's List

 I never saw and have no intention of seeing Schindler's List.  Being emotionally manipulated by movies is not something I enjoy.  The gist of John Williams scoring the film when something like this:  When Steven Spielberg asked John Williams to compose the score for the film, John Williams told Spielberg that he needed to find a better composer than him for the film.  Spielberg responded, you're right - but they're all dead.  And so, John Williams went to work on that chapter of their collaborative relationship.  

Schlinder's Theme is supposed to be emotional - and it is in the tempo that it's performed for the film....  The twisted side of me thinks it would make a wonderful waltz if it was played faster.  Listen to it and tell me if you disagree?  Is that coincidental or an accident?  I dunno.  But it doesn't have to be near as haunting as it is in the film.

Speak of John Williams - I wish an album would be released of the piano versions he played when presenting ideas to Steven Spielberg in the infancy of their numerous collaborations.  There have been plenty of snippets and interviews showing John playing his piano while Steven listening and offering his feedback and the eureka moments of taking an either/or option presented by John Williams with Steven Spielberg asking, 'how about both.' And that's how the Raider's march was born.....  by combining two musical ideas presented and making something synergistically better when urged to explore the musical ideas further. 

Or the look on Steven Spielberg's face when John Williams is trying to sell him on his concept for the Jaws score.  

Re-Hashing the same old stuff

 Well...  I got off Facebook for the umpteenth time....  Why is this time any different?  Facebook started showing disturbing videos in my feed.  In addition to the typical woke and trans agenda I was getting videos of people beating up their wives and other crazy stuff.  I have no idea why Facebook would choose to show me videos with this kind of content?  Is it because my political views line up with what "the algorithm? views as conservative, uneducated redneck ideologies?  The only way I see to say this is not okay is to stop participating.  If I don't participate, they can't assign videos of this nature to me.  

Social media is contributing to the discourse in society and the downfall of conservative American values. On one had, it's a gigantic echo chamber.  On the other hand, they show us videos so sow divisiveness among the people. 

What we allow into our body determines are health - and that extends to media and the pollution of the mind.  No more.  I think I'm done for a while; if not permanently.

I've always disliked public figures, athletes, celebrities, influencers and politicians.  I have never understand the appetite for the average Joe to be interested in Robin Roberts wedding preparations, George Stepahanoplis's emotional trauma from dropping of his daughter at university or prince harry and Megan markle attending a beyonce concert.  I DON"T CARE and I don't understand why anyone else does.

Joe Biden says he doesn't have a house to come home to because the secret service is doing some important upgrades to his house in Delaware.  Last I knew the president lived at the White House.  Maybe times have changed.  What an idiot.  I also read that one of Joe's insecurities is being perceived as stupid.  My question is this - who watches this clown and thinks he's smart?  He constantly stumbles through prepared remarks like a 2nd grader learning the basic fundamentals of reading.  His improvised remarks are a train wreck.  Words do describe Joe?  Stupid. Lazy.  Compromised.  Fraud.  Puppet.  Elderly.  Dementia ridden.  Drug addict.  I bet the cocaine found in the White House is his.  Before every public appearance he does a line and his handlers pray it lasts the duration of his speaking time.

Vivek Ramaswamy is a con man.  He sounds just as slick as Barack Obama when introduced to America.  A skinny kid with a funny last name.  He's smooth.  Like snot.  I don't trust him further than I could throw him.  He was rich and he still took a merit based scholarship from the Soros family.  Then he paid a wiki editor to remove references to his scholarship from his wiki entry.  What does he have to hide?  Maybe the fact that he's another globalist pretending not to be to get elected.  That's what I think.

Nikki Hailey.  Accountant.  Former governor.  Former ambassador to the United Nations.  War Hawk?  I don't know.  At the moment she is my pick.  Intelligent.  Eloquent.  Speaker of Truth.  Experienced.  Forget Donald Trump.  He's damaged goods.  Ron Desantis?  I don't think he can accomplish his agenda on a national stage.  He's a big fish in a small pond and a little fish in a big pond.  He advocates for his state.  He builds consensus among his legislature.  I don't think he would have the same success on a national level.  Ron should keep being the best governor for the sunshine state.

Experienced my first hurricane.  Much a'do about nothing.  I don't know if that's entirely accurate because zone A evacuated a flooded in sarasota.  The airport was fine.  It wasn't a direct hit.  We experienced wind and rain from the outer bands of the storm.  It is only a matter of time before sarasota takes a direct hit.  There is this belief that the native Indians blessed the land sarasota and Tampa occupies and is protected from such natural disasters.  Wishful thinking.  Lucky is a better description.