First Blog

President Trump is trying to push through tax cuts or reforms to help build the economy. Building the economy is good.  We need this.  The matter is of methods.  His preferred method to berate or deprecate his own party to action.  He needs to exercise leadership with the entire Congress.  Leadership is an ephemeral quality only a very few understand and even fewer know.  The Congress is rather leaderless, and has been for many years. Both parties share this guilt. Congress can obstruct, and it is masterful at delay and inaction.  Briefly, doing stuff is not their forte.  Leadership!! The President can command and he can direct, but can he work with? This is needed right now.   When was the last time we had such a leader, able to build bridges, to communicate, and to achieve? ------------------- Independent people don’t like masked riders, or masked demonstrators, or masked anarchists.  These make them nervous.  They don’t like freedom of speech denied; they don’t like alter

From the data department, I made a few quick calculations. 1. For the area I live in, as of 5am this morning, more than 23,000,000,000 gallons of rain have fallen. 2. For the city of Houston (627 sq. miles), as of 5am, more than 272,000,000,000 gallons of rain have fallen. 3. How much water is that?  Enough to fill more than 42,000,000 backyard pools measuring 24 ft x 12 ft with a depth grade from 2 ft at one end to 4 ft at the other.  That implies a total volume greater than the sum total of every backyard pool in the USA. A lot of rain!!!

Powerball Lottery. The Powerball lottery was just won with a $700,000,000+ jackpot.  It occurred to me this lotto gives many millions of people something unavailable centuries ago. Given is a measure of hope for wealth and position far beyond any expectation but more important, any possibility. Of course, the measure is faux, false, incorrect, wrong, mistaken, misleading, faulty, inaccurate, invalid, improper, unfounded, erroneous, and downright effectively impossible.  Yet, for these same millions, it gives a few minutes of hope, the small flicker of light within a dark life without much chance of escape. Is the Lotto wrong?  Or is it a tool used by those in power to quiet the distant drum of revolution? Possibly not.  Maybe it’s a tool merely for those in power to make money and also to quiet the resonance of grumble? Possibly so. BTW, I bought a ticket for the last drawing.  Though I have enough for comfort, still I did see that flicker of light, feel that brief hope, and

“NAZI” is the key word in modern defamation.  Doesn’t matter whose political far-side you’re on, left or right, the term “Nazi” is your preferred diatribe toward your opposite.  Calling someone a Nazi has replaced calling them a SOB or even worse.  It’s sort of an anti-intellectual upgrade of profanity, but profanity it is.  “A rose by any other name…” I blame it substantially on Hollywood.  They have kept the Nazi mythos alive for going on eighty years.  At least a couple of Nazi or Nazi-type movies are released annually.  Nazis are ever on our mind. They have become the ultimate nonsecular evil. They are the color to paint your opponent.  It works! Nowadays the Nazi concept represents strength attractive to rather uneducated and weak individuals.  “Think like a Nazi and you’re powerful like a Nazi,” is the limit of their philosophy. “Bomb a church, or beat up some innocents,” are their operations. Thus, the neo-Nazi:  cruel, stupid, and profane. It’s easy to beat up on t

Murder-rates, that is, intentional murder, are in the news at least every couple of weeks. So, where are all these murders occurring?  We look at world murder-rates data, all of which is online.  Where is the USA, and where are the largest murder rates?  Are murder rates connected with gun ownership, or with corruption?  Questions like these seem to have obvious answers, both yes. The results tell a different story.  First here is a table of countries with the highest murder rates. The rates given below are per 100,000 people per year.  Rank Country Rate Count ZONE 1  El Salvador 108.64 6,656 Americas Central America 2  Honduras 63.75 5,148 Americas Central America 3  Venezuela 57.15 17,778 Americas South America 4  United States Virgin Islands 52.64 56 Americas Caribbean 5  Jamaica 43.21 1,207

We do we  have? Airports and parks in disrepair Bridges and dams crumbling Roads needing upkeep Schools not educating Terrorists looming ever closer Citizens hating one another Medical care and fraud Americans dependent on government support Pollution and climate problems everywhere Immigration policy What do we talk about? Access to bathrooms. Rights to smoke marijuana Tweets from everybody Nazis, the ultimate insult made by and against everyone Confederate statues being torn down Let us suppose we get full bathroom access, we smoke what we want, the end of tweets, the word "Nazi" is expunged, and all the statues are gone.  Then what will we discuss?  Maybe new forms of hate?  I have not a clue.   -------------------- Thought for the day  "To not have what you don't want exceeds to have what you do want." 

To Have and Have Not.   Yes, the title of a famous Bogart movie. But the phrase: "To not have what you don't want far exceeds to have what you do want" does resonate.  They are not quite the same. 

I’ve been reading about that fellow, James Damore, at Google now fired for his use of sexist language about the skills of computer coding.  He does make some points of interest. The fact is that women seem to prefer working in more humanist environments – even if very scientific.  Men seem more willing to work in the highly sterile world of pure coding.   Seems to be a fact - as explained to me by a woman electrical engineer.  She ran a summer school workshop for HS students.  One year, building an amplifier was the project.  The girls were not as enthusiastic as the boys.  Next year, the project was a heart monitor – similar electronics.  The girls loved it. She learned a lasting lesson. Moreover, most women and men cannot endure the world of pure coding.  It is a harsh environment.  Industry should be happy to discover these people wherever they can find them.  Sex, race, or even religion have nothing to do with it!  Expert coding is a very rare skill.  In many cases, it is

The agnostics of modern politics are at the center.  Staking a position of non adherence, the center picks and chooses between what is perceived of significance: truth, falseness, and hence of value. The battle on this earth is for this elusive center.  They shift to and fro depending on the cause, the issue, or the belief.  These agnostics discriminate, not having allegiance to a dogma.  Something like a school of fish they can change course on the slightest alert, causing the predators (left or right) unlimited grief. The agnostics of politics, i.e. the center, have always been the breach within political discourse, and now has become the prime decision factor in elections.  What is distressing is that the polarity of politics has created the importance of this variable center, a fact neither the left nor the right fully understand.  

We all have the right to be right, the right to write, the right to enjoy rites,  but also the right to protest rights, the right, and the left. Confusing!   Too much right? Where’s the wrong?

In our youth-obsessed culture, a paradox is all around us.   Namely, b oth political parties seem embedded with aging and tired players who refuse to give up their places on the center stage of American politics.  They seem not recognize the world is changing - has changed - around them. They hearken back to younger days when they learned their craft, often causing more damage than good. These include Clinton, Pelosi, McCain, Mitchell, Sanders, and others. All have big influence in that whatever they say is widely carried by news outlets. This, in turn, fuels the pundits with days of moronic commentary.  You pick the channel. Technically, we call this a feedback loop. On this note: Have you ever noted the background persons in NOKO Kim Jong Un’s public appearances?  All, almost without exception, seem to be aging generals and admirals. I guess Kim likes people around him that could or likely would not be competitors. This is not prejudice against the aging, given I am

Anonymous News Network (ANN) – The coulda-shoulda news that prints what causes fits. Staff: Editor in chief -   to properly decide the political appropriateness of items Innovations news editor – develops articles based on what shoulda been true Creative news editor – develops articles based on what coulda been true Anonymous news editor – processes actual anonymous tips Editorial news editor – to construct editorials based on the creations of editorial staff Safe-space editor – to write articles about personal and group safe spaces Entertainment editor – to follow celebrities through their news releases Tweets editor – to develop short pieces based only on external Tweets.   Introducing our new “ Interview App .”  Download and it will walk you through the interview process. It asks the questions and you give a response. Pictures may be uploaded.  Upstream, our deep learning programs construct an actual interview article fit for print. Subscribe at a modest fee and

Bernie Sanders is an inspired man, though his is aging.  After many years of doing nothing, the staple of modern political activity, he is now afire with ideas, with programs, and with books. The kids love him.  He’s just released a guide book on creating revolutions.  One source of  inspiration, at his age, must be his greatest opponent, Donald J. Trump.  “If that old fart can do it, so can I.  Hrmmmp!” Whoa!  This logic may also inspire Hillary and even Nancy to soldier on.  It may also inspire many other old farts, like me, toward twilight actions.  Excellent!! I can just see the headline in 2020.  “TRUMP-SANDERS ticket sews up the assisted living crowd. Large turnout expected.” ---------------------------------------- LEAKS.   An explanation of how leaks may be nearly impossible to detect, not for just President Trump, but all future presidents.   Technique: How to leak information through the concept of: Cuckoo Information Smurfing.  See this link to fina

Trust is the currency between peoples.    Destroy trust and you destroy the world. Currently, trust is eroding everywhere, interpersonal, interparty, intercountry, across the world. In the congress, in the press, in the workplace. Trust and love have one common quality.  Once lost, they are near impossible to recover. ---------------------------- Summing up the Reps and Dems.  Problem at hand: Deciding the color of the toilet paper in congressional restrooms.  Solution Reps: Unable to compromise, adjourn for vacation.  Solution Dems: Unable to consider or process request, await decision from leadership. -------------------------- If you watch tennis these days, you will see that every player seems to hit the ball harder than ever, with more spin, and with more skill than ever before. Many come with an entourage of personal coaches.  But the dress is what you first notice, particularly if you’re not a player.  Many of the men dress as though they came to mow the lawn, wor

The Retail Ice Age.  This is described on business channels as the decline of retail stores in favor of online shopping.  Why? It’s easier, cheaper, and quicker.  Guilty, I am.  Big chains such as Macy's, Sears, Penny's and others are suffering in sales, store closings, and stock devaluations. But, much of this bad news story accrues to the retail stores themselves. About twenty years or more ago, retail decided to cut costs by reducing staff, particularly knowledgeable staff, creating cash register stations, and diminishing help to customers.  Basically, the customer entered the store knowing full well they were on their own.  The online buying explosion is little more than the transfer from going to a store offering no help to an online page offering no help.  If you've  visited any of these stores in the last many years, you know this to be true. Hardly any help anywhere, and sometimes you need to walk a long way just to pay, often to a queue, like the grocery s

Friendship is a bond whose strength is measured in trust. ------------------------- Modern policy and justification.  When one side advocates some policy which works out poorly, there is never an admission is was wrong, or flawed, or anything.  The most common excuses are these: we didn’t go far enough; we didn’t spend enough; we didn’t message enough. The policy, however, is right! The policy belief is paramount.  Some sort of decision commitment  is involved, having little to do with outcomes.  Belief, you may agree, is a lot easier a sell than logic or evidence. It closes doors; it relaxes intellectual demand; it commands single-mindedness of thought.  We seem to have left behind the rational age of Voltaire, Laplace, and Newton, and entered into another universe where truth is decided beforehand. Huxley said it best as paraphrased in, “We live in a brave new world.” The ability to accept that a solution or method fails is essential for progress, personal, polit