Society broken

I recently read the following in a news report: “Elected officials are also turning book banning into another wedge issue in the culture wars.”

The word “war” gets diluted by being used for situations that are not a war. The “cola wars” or local “gas wars” are examples.

 

I do wonder why some people appear ready to fight in these culture wars. I met a man who was about 5 years older than me at a neighbor's house last weekend. It didn’t take long for him to start his recruiting talk for his side of the culture war. I had mentioned having visited Arizona just before the pandemic. He threw out some negative comments about immigrants in Arizona. I can’t imagine that’s the only thing he could say about Arizona. I suggested we talk about less political things. I recall saying, “while I don’t know much about flowers I would rather talk about the nice flowers here.” We eventually left the war behind in our conversation.

 

Was my reaction different because he was on the other side than me in this so-called war? Maybe I would have joined in by criticizing the former Liar-in-Chief if his comment had matched my view.

War is not the answer. The culture war is not a real war but promoting it does agitate people and can result in tragic events such as the Jan. 6 2021 attack on Congress.

 

NBC news reported a scary story of how militia groups are using local emergencies in California to recruit people and get good PR. The NBC story's link.

What a change from 20 years ago. Post 9/11/2001, (from https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/09/02/two-decades-later-the-enduring-legacy-of-9-11/)

“..the public largely set aside political differences and rallied in support of the nation’s major institutions, as well as its political leadership. In October 2001, 60% of adults expressed trust in the federal government – a level not reached in the previous three decades, nor approached in the two decades since then.”

I’m not saying we should remain quiet about what we see as wrong. We should dial down the anger. Peacefully demonstrate. Let's try to have a civil discussion.

I chose to avoid engaging with this culture warrior. I’m glad I didn’t bother to confront a guy with views I considered extreme rightwing. I’m fairly certain he picked up that our views differed. We don’t need to shout. I might mention him to my neighbor in the future because I’ve known my neighbor for many years. He is not a warrior. However he might have different views than me. I don’t recall ever talking politics with him.

 

Take a deep breath, feel like I’m chokin’ 

Everything is broken.

 

 Ok, not everything is broken. But there are too many things broken.

 

A real deadly war is going on as I write this. I suspect most Ukrainians would not call our cultural issues a war.  

Lions tigers and bears oh my

Bear - a killer bear (All flesh eating predators kill. Those that happen to try out a human meal are called killers. Why is that?)

I started reading this non-fiction book, “Elastic” (an Amazon book link). In it the story of Timothy Threadwell is given as an example of a person on the far end of the novelty-seeking spectrum or a “sensation-seeker”. Maybe just a sign of me getting old but the younger generation seems to have an abundance of sensation-seekers.

Any chance you heard of Timothy Threadwell? The 2005 documentary “Grizzly Man” was about him. I didn’t see that movie and first heard of him was in this book. So Timmy (I suspect he did NOT go by Timmy) went searching for a new thrilling adventure after years of drug misuse. He found Alaska and an area full of grizzly bears. He spent many summers there living among the grizzlies. He claimed he had discovered the secret to surviving with them. Not long after he announced his talent, he and his girlfriend were attacked and eaten by a bear.

I believe this is an example of extreme overconfidence of one’s abilities.

I can live with stuffed bears

I’m not on the yellow brick road. I’m just on the web. I have been on brick streets and found them not very smooth or long lasting.

While traveling on this web road a podcast was suggested. Not being a big fan of podcasts, I thought the suggested one by Radiolab, called “More Perfect” appeared worthy of a listen. It’s a series about the US Supreme Court. I listened to a very interesting story about RBG’s case that opened up the idea of gender discrimination. I plan to see the movie RBG soon.

What does RBG have to do with a bear? Nothing best I can tell. However, the iconic Supreme Court justice does have a connection to beer (just one letter difference! how does lions, tigers and beer sound?).

Back in the mid 1970’s when RBG was with the ACLU a case came up involving beer and discrimination in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma had an “odd” (stupid, who-the-hell-thought-of-that-idea) law that prohibited males from buying beer until they were 21. However, the same law said females could buy beer after age 18. Many girlfriends were persuaded to buy beer for their boyfriends during that time. One guy decided to challenge the law in court. The case Craig v. Boren went to the Supreme Court. It was the first time the court imposed what is known as "intermediate scrutiny" on laws discriminating based on gender. I take that legal stuff to mean the court started to actually review laws that possibly contained gender discrimination.

Next time I open a cold one I will remind myself that drinking beer was in the chain of events that brought us the #MeToo movement.

Oh, don't waste beer on a grizzly. They might just throw the beer and eat your face. I don't think they discriminate either. 

as useful as a man boob

Oh so many vulgar jokes and I'm not talking about our election season. I'm not going there.

Thanks to youtube I'm able to share with you this important public service announcement. No really, they found something useful to do with man boobs. Why did it take soon long to figure out? (could it be they had a hard time finding a willing man?)

Impossible Dream

Inspirational music can really move me but so can a good escalator.

Here's my impossible dream - the next time you ride the escalator think of this song and my blog post.  Don Quixote had those windmills to fight.  I have escalators.

The next impossible dream I have is that you can listen through this whole 7+ minute clip of the Smothers Brothers performing "Impossible Dream".

 

breaking news - potential danger alert

Hmm, I know if I took more time that post title could be vastly improved. However alerts always have a time element to them. Last season’s tornado warnings, blizzard condition warnings, and two-for-one beer specials don’t matter much after their time is over. So I’m going ahead with this alert in spite of the non attention grabbing title. Ok, I added “breaking news” to the title. Breaking news is so overused it should be banned from TV.

(Note: Oh yeah, I’m not authorized to speak publicly on this matter. Of course, I will anyway to anyone who would like to listen.)

Well don’t jump to conclusions or to the bottom of the post before you read completely through my short list of reasons for why I’m alerting you to this important potential danger found in most developed countries. Hopefully this alert will increase your awareness assuming you have not clicked away already. The next step could be a campaign (Americans are conditioned to be in constant campaign mode these days) to better regulate these dangerous devices.

My reasons why action is needed to better control these dangerous devices:

• According to the World Health Organization, the United States leads the world in deaths by users of these devices.
• Most of these deaths happen at 10 feet or less.
• I had often thought of getting one for home use but now being older I’m no longer even tempted to buy one. Who knows, had I owned one years ago I might not be here today.
• Back when I was much younger I was almost injured because of unstable conditions often caused by these devices.
• Over the past decade, the number of related deaths have tripled.
• Children often are attracted to them, resulting in serious injury.
• Don’t misunderstand, I believe they are needed, I just feel they should be controlled and used by trained professionals. Many homeowners buy them because they feel the need to take matters into their own hands. Too many of these homeowners are unstable, resulting in serious injury.
• The professionals often mount them to their trucks for quick access. I wonder how many are stolen and used in crimes.
• Lastly, the event that really brought my attention to this matter: My own brother (who as a professional has owned and used these dangerous devices safely) has now mounted one to his all-terrain-vehicle. It just looks like an accident waiting to happen.

found in the Ozark back woods

We need to better control of extension ladder use in this country!

Perhaps my brother’s many days spent in the wild woods of the ozarks has influenced his thinking. Please report any all-terrain-vehicles with mounted extension ladders at your next two-for-one beer special. Thanks for your attention to this matter.

CC explorer slave trader

Dare I jump into the Columbus Day (or the new counter-celebration name Indigenous Peoples' Day)  controversy?

Painting by Sebastiano del Piombo

Just like life, history is complicated.  Even when I was a kid (almost ancient history) there were different opinions about Chris vs. Leif being the first European explorer "to discover" our continent.  Between these two, Chris certainly had better backing and support.  Also, Chris is endorsed by the Knights of Columbus.

The first people to find our land of course were the ancestors of the native people.  There is no disagreement that they were already living here when Chris and his crew showed up. The archeological evidence suggests that the Paleo-Indians' first "widespread" habitation of the Americas occurred during the end of the last glacial period around 16,500–13,000 years ago.  So even Leif might have met a greeting party had he looked around long enough.

Today the controversy is more about character of the group Chris lead over here.  He had promised his backers plenty of gold.  Face with coming up short he brought back the natives as slaves to be sold.  In today's world Chris would be hunted down for his human trafficking and killing.  But he didn't live in today's world which also offers better ships, communication and GPS navigation.

I think we should celebrate him as an explorer willing to lead his crew into the unknown.  The in-depth study of his exploration should include a discussion/comparison of his actions to currently accepted laws and ethics.  No need to bury it in the sand.


The John Oliver show took a humorous look at this controversial celebration.  He points out the Chris and his crew started the long tradition of obnoxious white people visiting Caribbean islands and acting like they own the place.  I wouldn't argue that point. 

birds of a feather, what the flock

Hanging out with the flock is good and educational but we need to explore too. Diversity has benefits too if you have an open mind. Different thoughts, ideas and views of this world can open your mind if you let it. Often those strange birds ruffle others feathers. If no one is being harmed or hurt what is the big deal?

I'm going to make my move

You can uncover plenty of diversity in blogland. I don’t care for all of it. I don’t understand much of it. I still click around and will even drop a comment on some of it.

I don’t believe progress was ever a smooth and gentle process. I abhor violence. Yet I can understand how some passionate people can go over the top in their protesting. Understand but not agree. I watched a rebroadcast of this eco-terrorism documentary the other day. It won an award in 2011 at the Sundance Film Festival.




 The destruction of private property by this group was wrong. Firebombing is not a solution for anyone’s cause. Fires become uncontrollable. Complete destruction of our environment is also wrong. There should be a balance between these extremes.

I find a large spectrum between the extremes. It’s unfortunate that rating seeking news media emphasized the extremes. We don’t need to do the bird thing. We can mix it up with other flocks and still progress.

To add a bit of diversity to this post, I offer you below, two links to completely unrelated posts that I read recently. Two bloggers that I discovered awhile ago, Anita and Jene, posted about love. Love - very different than firebombing and more effective. Too bad it doesn’t get noticed by as many people. Very touching words - check them out.

15 Minutes Can Form a Lifelong Bond
Blink

gasp

Before I take my last gasp I thought I would organize a cause called GASP (Geriatrics Against SmartPhones).

smartphones are TOO BIG

Would you like to join? Maybe you are too young. That’s ok, since I’m not carding for age. But if you use a smartphone it would be hypocritical for you to join.

You can ask my friends and family that I enjoy the internet and being online. The best way to be online is with a laptop IMHO. Next best would be a desktop. If your tablet has a keyboard then that works but leaves me wondering why you bother to have a tablet.

I’m not suggesting nor would I want to see a return to payphones. Those things were disgusting and often broken.

Smartphones are too bulky and prone to being dropped compared to flip phones. They also attract crime. I think the crime angle is related to their size (easy pickins) and how distracted the users are.

My flip phone is cheaper and cheaper to operate (no big data plan). Texting and taking pictures are functional. You want good pictures get a point and click digital camera. Great pictures? Well why are you reading this blog? Photography enthusiasts could make suggestion to me. But back to the smartphone.

Have you noticed the “phone” part of smartphone is getting less and less attention. There never was a smart part so what does that leave you? People aren’t talking when smartphones come out. In my last post I wrote:

Remember back when superman wore his red underwear on the outside? We didn’t have smartphone rudeness back then.

Oh while I’m complaining, I’ll throw another observation in, does everything need to have a camera in it? Someone should check and determine what the increase in pictures taken over the last few years has been. Too many of those selfies are not things anyone wants to see either. The rate we are going the dolphins will be demanding cameras.

a flip phone??

Cut the smartphone usage and we wouldn’t have people wondering what game Senator John McCain was playing during a hearing. (Tic-Tac-Toe by hand would be much more discrete.) I’m not sure and really don’t need to know but Mr. Weiner probably used a smartphone.

Join GASP and save a politician. (oh wait what’s appealing about that?)

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

sept. 11 remembrance

taken in Chicago, 2011

Recently I read a moving post over at the “You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out” blog about the church across the street from the NYC World Trade Center. The post includes many pictures from the area around and inside St. Paul's Chapel.

Her post prompted me to check my older posts about Sept. 11, 2001. I posted my own small story about it back in 2011. I’m repeating that post below with a few updates.

A 9/11 remembrance. 

Nothing to lighten-up about given the enormous sadness that filled that September week and lingered like a dirty film on the days that followed. 

The heroes were a bright spot. The coming together of strangers seeking to help others provided hope to keep many going. 

The tragedy reminded us of that awful dark side existing in enough people that we need to be aware for our own security. 

Painful. 

Forgetting about it doesn’t mean it didn’t happened. 

from an Airfone ad

I don’t have some hero story of my own, but I found myself working with someone who was pulled into the tragedy. Her name is Lisa Jefferson. It forever changed her life.

The week previous to that Tuesday, I had interviewed for a job at GTE Airfone (name was changed to Verizon Airfone months later) and I was still waiting get an offer.  I had worked at GTE Airfone for 4 plus years back in the early 90's.

We live near the flight paths for both O'Hare and Midway airports. It’s very common to see and hear airliners flying in and out. Those September days following 9/11 had a noticeable empty sky above us.

The small act of kindness we were able to provide that day was helping Johnny, our daughter’s friend who was stuck at O’Hare airport. We picked him up and gave him a place to stay for a few days.

I flew a flag. I talked with family. I watched the news. I cried. We all cried.

I took a job offer from Airfone. It was a great job. Airfone (yes it’s spelled with a ‘f’) was the company offering a public phone in the seatback of a few airlines. United Airlines was one of our biggest customers/partners. United Flight UA 93 was the hijacked plane that did not hit the terrorist’s target.

The passengers and crew learned after contacting Lisa (supervisor of Airfone operators) that other planes were hijacked that morning. Airfone had a procedure established for a hijacked plane.  A direct line to the FBI from the Airfone office was immediately established.  Hard to say there is such a thing as a normal hijacking but it quickly became apparent there was nothing normal about this flight.  A group of passengers decided not to allow the terrorists to use their flight. The flight ended in a fiery crash in a Pennsylvania.

While at Airfone, I worked with Lisa Jefferson and her husband who also worked there. She was a calm and peaceful lady. I don’t pretend to know her well, but all my interactions with her tell me she is a wonderful kind person.  She passed along Todd Beamer's last words, "Let's roll".

You might know or even visited the national memorial created at the crash site of UA 93. (I have not visited yet and would be very interesting knowing what visitors think of the memorial.) Our National Park Service has a very good website giving online background information on the Flight 93 National Memorial. There are personal stories presented in videos on the site’s multimedia page. I found the following chart (used in a terrorist trial) showing the number and locations of the phone calls made from flight 93 that day.

Someday 9/11 will be another history lesson like Dec. 7, 1941. If we are lucky many will learn from it.

Peace.

serious hope

A Chicago Tribune columnist, Mary Schmich, wrote in Sunday’s newspaper:

“Targeted mass violence — bombs at a marathon — is more frightening than any other kind of violence.”

Boston bombing, ricin letters, Chicago shootings, Canadian train plot, and the list can go on for much too long. These tragedies not only frighten but harden your view of mankind. Is mankind kind?

I struggle at times like this to hold on to the idea that the vast majority of the world’s population are good, decent, and would rather help than hurt. Even in the chaos of violence you can find the accidental hero rescuing and helping. (remember the 1992 movie “Hero”) The common person who becomes courageous without realizing it as they run toward danger to help strangers in need.

If you can clear yourself of the fear and anger generated by these senseless horrors, you can still find people helping people around the world. Some dedicate their whole lives to charities. Some leave their careers and begin second ones as volunteers. Over the years I’ve done a little volunteer work and donated money to many causes. One of my favorites is Habitat for Humanity.

All this goodness convinces me we have a bright future. I have serious hope for the world improving. I suspect we will have more tragedies. I hope they become few and far between.

Here in Chicagoland two brothers displayed a courageous example of caring for fellow strangers. Ken and Dan were driving home from their restaurant when a horrible expressway accident exploded in front of them. It involved a semi-truck, two cars and large flames. The two brothers managed to pull three people from the burning wreckage. You can read the story and watch a video here.

These caring people didn’t wake up that day and decide to be a hero. They reacted to the situation by helping. I guess adrenaline helps too.

My blog visiting today had two posts by bloggers that I don’t think know each other. Hopefully, they will get connected better now. One, Peggy, living in Australia informed me that Thursday, April 25 is Pay It Forward Day. A wonderful idea for making our world better. The second, Laurie, wrote about the poor children she helps everyday in Honduras.
 
Could it be that there are many bridges over troubled water throughout the world?

I'm on your side
When times get rough
And friends just can't be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

over and over and over again

I picked up a CD of oldies from the library. On it was Barry McGuire’s (I didn’t remember his name) 1965 hit protest song, “Eve Of Destruction”. The lyrics apply to today’s world as much as it did in the sixties. 

History does repeat. 

One line that has unfortunately applied for too long is: 

“...handful of Senators don't pass legislation...” 

I could pick out many more similarities but it is easier for you just to listen to it. I found this recent performance of the song by Barry McGuire himself on youtube. (first minute is him telling the story of the song) 



I agree with the phrase he added at the end of his recent live version: 

When will we ever learn?

Save the Ta-Tas

As I come to a stop behind a pickup truck, I do a double take on a sticker displayed in front of me. 

Now, I’ve seen the pink ribbon symbol too many times to count. My wife has run in the Susan G. Koman race and has t-shirts proudly showing the pink symbol. But I’ve never seen this phrase used with it. 

The Save The Ta-Tas organization has been around since 2004.  Perhaps you already knew about this organization and their unusual merchandise. I had never heard of them.  Their sticker gave me a laugh that stuck in my head.   Later on I was searching for more info about it.


From the Save The Ta Tas web site:

"I'm an entrepreneur, I like to laugh and I want to see a world without cancer" -Julia Fikse 

Julia has always been a firm believer in laughter as the best medicine, as well as the importance of maintaining a positive spirit. 

This is a serious problem and I have relatives who have been affected by breast cancer. I like Julia Fikse’s idea of fighting this problem with some laughter.

Now I don't think "Socks Without Partners" will get too far.

007

BOND

JANICE BOND

He could play both James and a Bond girl.

Ok, that's missing the point.

Same job but different pay doesn't make sense to me.

world peace

Yes that's the answer.

No I'm not a contestant in a beauty contest. Just a passenger on this big planet wanting a peaceful ride through space.

I found this idea over at Jillsy's place today. I followed some links and ended up here --

Mimi Writes.

If everyone believed (probably not possible to get that level of mass thinking) that everyone else in the world believed in peace for everyone there would not be any reason for fighting and war.

It doesn't hurt to spread a good idea like this.

I'd love to change the world but I don't know what to do.

we don't need - no more trouble

There was a time I should of sang this to the kids. Now that I think of it - my legendary bad singing could have used as a good threat to get their cooperation.

All together now - 

we don't need - no more trouble

The sharing that comes through blogging has not only introduced me to new people and places but new ideas and movements. For example:

I just learned today over at the Professor B. Worm blog about this great movement called Playing For Change.

This is not the only video clip they have done.  Go to their site and enjoy the other ones too.

I find the technique of editing all this different musicians singing in different parts of the world enjoyable and interesting.  Give it a listen and check out more on those links.

really i need to move off this subject

I don't know what it is but I seem to keep seeing stories related to toilets. As I have mentioned in an earlier post, I like Sheryl Crow music and think she is talented and good looking. She comes across much more intelligent in that video clip (see the post) than she does in this blog entry on her web site. Also, she was on Larry King a few months ago and talked seriously about breast cancer.



So what am I talking about? - Well she's on this global warming tour with Laurie David (Larry David's wife - if you know who he is) and writing a blog on her web site.



So in her blog (who knows if she really wrote it) Sheryl writes (see above link to her post):

..I propose a limitation be put on how many sqares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting....

Now maybe it's a joke or some dumb way to get more attention, but I'm not sure if starting with toilet paper is most effective way to work on global warming. Who knows, did she think too many have gone after cars and fuel and she needed something different?

Now I am wondering what she thinks of goofy kids decorating their friends homes with TP. Maybe she could start with stopping this crazy past time. I consider it pretty harmless, but wow how many trips to the restroom are flying in the breeze at homes like this one?