First Blog

I watched just a portion of the movie "Purple Heart" from 1944 starring Dana Andrews and there was one line that struck me.  When the captured aviator, portrayed by Andrews, what threatened by the Japanese official, he responded, "If you do anything to us, our government will not forget it."  This, of course, was a counter threat.  He meant it. He believed it. It occurred to me that I don't feel that way at all.  When I was in Italy just a few weeks ago, I understood there might be some risk of kidnapping by extremists, but I understood there would be no help forthcoming from my government.  This is why the comment was so striking.  How many of us feel the USA will do everything possible to get us back if we fall into the hands of an enemy, terrorist or criminal?  At most, my release will become a minor political matter, expendable, lamentable, sad, but nothing close to important, much less urgent.

A. Waste your time! Lots of it.  Some of my most productive moments have come when I was wasting time. B. Rules of Email. Does someone read your email?  The answer is yes.  For most of us it amounts to an application of data mining by dedicated robots by dedicated servers, but serving whom? 1. Never publish anything on email you don't want the world to see. Never publish to friends or family items you do not wish others to see. 2. Never publish anything that has racist, sexual, or political overtones. 3. Publish only plain commentary such as daily business to family or friends. 4. Publish only political stuff that has no personal connection with your affairs. C. Information corrupts integrity; it justifies inspection; it validates commercial gain; it indemnifies politicians.  Information provides the predictive analytics of our time. D. Suicide terrorists are nothing more than contract killers with an ecclesiastical contract and having an arbitrary target. E. Tax looph