Another Year Has Come and Gone

Well, here goes again with my feeble attempt to put together a wrap up for 2015.  It has been a good year in some respects, but a poor one in others - poor being the operative word here.  Seniors who live on a fixed income have been suffering low or non-existent interest rates for about eight years now, and it doesn't show signs of improving anytime soon.  I'm certainly glad that I planned ahead, but I would sure like to see more than the paltry returns I get on my savings and investments.

Health-wise, it was a pretty darned good year until the very end, when both Judy and I had dental problems.  Mine was a back molar that needed a root canal and, of course, a crown to complete it.  Judy needed a crown on one of her lower front teeth, and the one she got (temporary) is the wrong color.  I hope they will correct that after all the $$$ we spent.

We took several road trips this year.  We visited Corning Glass Museum and the Finger Lakes in the spring.  Then we tried to visit six national parks in 14 days; Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, Arches, Canyonlands and Black Canyon.  We did manage to get to every one of them, but the tail end of our trip was rained out and we hightailed it for home, skipping another part of the itinerary in Alabama.  Well, as it turned out, we got our opportunity to make the Alabama trip a long weekend one in the fall, and I finally got to visit the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro.  I have to go back there sometime and spend a day or two browsing.

This turned out to be my lucky year for the Augusta National (a.k.a. The Masters), in that I finally got to go to the final round with Jeff, my son-in-law, and we walked just about the entire course.  We arrived a little after noon, so the first two or three pairs were back in the clubhouse by then, but we got to see all the finalists and watched Jordan Spieth win  the Green Jacket (Well, we didn't stay for the ceremony, but we did see him) 

My work with Roadtripamerica.com now includes an advisory role for anyone who is planning a road trip and wants advice on routes, attractions and accommodations.  It is neat to help others plan an itinerary with lots of activities and sights to see. 

Another nice side benefit of working online for Roadtripamerica.com is that I've befriended several other advisors, one a lady of about my age from Australia, (they call it OZ) who is way ahead of me in her travels. This year she took a 182-day trip that crossed the United States east-to-west to Alaska and back to Boston and then north-to-south to Key West, Florida.  to finish the trip, she drove out to Colorado and put her truck in storage for her next adventure.

I'm already in the planning stages for two road trips next year, one to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the early summer and another up to New England for fall foliage, one of my bucket list items I've decided is past due. 

My granddaughter now has her very own bassoon and she is quite accomplished on it.  Maybe a philharmonic career in the making, there.  And her brother plays both clarinet and Tenor Sax, so maybe jazz band for him?

My grandson has changed from his job at Lowe's to one with Columbia County, where we all live here near Augusta.  He is part of a 3-man drain team (storm drains, not sewers) which they maintain.  When it rains, as it has for about the past week, the crew is not able or required to go down into the drains, so there is a lot of paid down time; a pretty nice piece of work, if you ask me.

That seems to be the only noteworthy news from this past year, so I won't bore you any further.  Wishing you and yours a very Happy New Year in 2016, and I hope to be around to do this again next December.

North Versus South One-Hundred-Fifty Years Later

One of the first things I learned when I entered the military (USAF) in 1956 was that our American civil War—also known as either The War Between The States, or The Northern Aggression—was still raging on.  

Yes, ninety-one years after General Robert E. Lee signed the formal surrender of the Army Of Northern Virginia to Ulysses Grant’s Army of the Potomac, there was still some doubt as to the outcome of that four-year struggle.

I had never been exposed to the Southern sentimentality before that time.  Heck, I hadn’t ever been below the Mason-Dixon line.  It took me only a short time to realize that there were some “foreigners” in our midst.  But then, come to think of it, I was the foreigner, since I took my boot camp at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas.  Texas was definitely a Confederate State from 1861 until 1865.

The reason I bring up the subject is that it ties into my topic for this week; and that topic is indirectly tied to a recent one that I posted, the writing of The Battle Hymn of The Republic.  I received a response to that column that linked to a website of vitriolic invective (whew, I love big words) regarding the penning of that famous song.

A fellow named Michael Dan Jones was the author, and he was highly critical of Julia Ward Howe and of the song she wrote.  I will include the link so that you can read his comments if you choose. http://www.plpow.com/Atrocities_BattleHymn.htm. 

It is apparent that the Civil War (or whatever you choose to call it) is still going on for some people, including Mr. Jones.

One of the more fascinating facts about The Battle Hymn of the Republic is that I have listened to several versions of it, and the word ‘transfigures’ is rarely pronounced as it should be, with the ‘ures’ sounding like the word ‘yours.’  Instead, it is pronounced as ‘ers.’ 

I got curious and looked up the word in the dictionary, since I really didn’t know the correct pronunciation or its meaning. Here is Webster’s definition:

1.      To change the form or appearance of

2.      To transform so as to glorify

(The dictionary doesn’t allow for the ‘er’ pronunciation, by the way) If I interpret that definition correctly, transfiguration is the change in appearance of Jesus so that his body actually glows and his head is encircled by a halo; he is beatified.  If that is so, then I suppose Julia Ward Howe actually believed that the Union soldiers would be transfigured as they fought their way south to defeat the Confederate forces.

I’ve never seen pictures of Ulysses Grant or William Tecumseh Sherman transfigured, so I surmise that Mrs. Howe was mistaken in her belief in the holy nature of the war.  But one thing we can surely say is that the battle rages on in some quarters.

It might interest you to learn that, since the ban on displaying the Confederate Battle Flag, I've seen more and larger ones displayed than ever before in my 9 years here in Augusta. Georgia.  No, the Civil War isn't over yet.

Missed Opportunity

 I am an inveterate road tripper and as such, I am on the road two or three times a year for extended periods.  In the course of my hobby, I have often missed out on something that was on my itinerary, or that I just plain missed in the planning stages.

One early example was from a road trip to Arizona that I took way back in 1980s.  I had heard about a really neat church built into the red rocks south of Sedona, and I really wanted to see it up close.  Well, we went driving among those gorgeous rock formations, but I completely forgot to turn off at the road leading to the church.  I didn't remember about it until a day or two later when we were well past a point where we could return to see the Chapel of the Holy Cross.  Fortunately, I was able to visit it several years later when we again traveled to Sedona with my sister and brother-in-law in 1993.

Another missed opportunity was on my 2009 solo trip to the Northwest United States. I took a right instead of a left near La Grande, Oregon and wound up driving a poorly maintained road for about 40 miles.  My intended drive was over the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway.  That one escaped me completely until I was watching Jeopardy! one night a few months later and one of the clues referred to Hells Canyon.  The name jumped out at me and I recalled seeing the sign for it near that interstate exit.

Thanks to Alex Trebek's clue, I flew out to Portland the next spring and drove over to the scenic route, which I spent the whole day touring.  I even had to do it from both ends of the loop due to flooding in the central portion, but it was beautiful scenery throughout.

This week I watched a National Geographic Channel program about Olympic National Park in Western Washington near Seattle.  Now I'm obsessed with getting back to that city and going over to Olympic, which I never attempted on my 2009 trip.  I'll probably fly in and rent a car.

I've been fortunate to have missed a lot of opportunities on the first go-around, but have been able to go back on a do-over and complete the mission.  I hope I live long enough to do it several more times, because you can never see enough of this beautiful country we call the United States of America.

Unknown Versus Known

 Two "events" occurred recently and one was probably unknown to about 99% of us, while the other was known to us and reported on incessantly, but with such duplicity and ignorance that only the mentally challenged could have failed to surmise the reason for its commission.

The first event, the unknown one, was a playground shooting that took place in New Orleans on November 22 at the Bunny Field Playground.  In that attack 17 were wounded, fortunately none fatally. As you might expect, most of the injured were children. 

I can't speak for you, but I didn't know about the incident until over a week later, and only then because my daughter ran across an obscure article about it.  I have since asked several people if they knew anything about a shooting in New Orleans and not one did. Of course, the story finally got out through talk radio hosts airing it on their programs, so now the press is all over it -- about two weeks too late and only because someone leaked the story to the unknowing public.

Oh, why do you suppose the major networks and news services didn't cover the story as front page or lead item news?  Well, this is just a guess on my part, but the shooter was a Black-African-American and he was in a confrontation with other B-A-A gang members, so it didn't fit the agenda of white-on-black crime.

The second event is well known, a shooting in San Bernardino that took the lives of  14 and left as many as 20 others wounded.  This one was committed by a man and his wife, both with Arab-sounding names.  At least, I think that Syed Rizwan Farook, and Tashfeen Malik are Arab and not African-American, but then, the names of some of the latter are pretty hard to pronounce and spell, too.

The California shootings left the suspects dead (shot by white police, can you believe it!?) so the motive for the shootings "could not be immediately determined," according to police and FBI investigators, and President Obama said that "we should not rush to judgment as to the cause -- it could be workplace violence and not terrorism at all."

One of the news services did report that there is an abortion clinic within a mile of the scene of the shootings, and that was quickly picked up by the mainstream media as a possible clue to the crime.  I'll leave that to you to puzzle out...

Well, as luck would have it, a further investigation of the residence of the two dead shooters revealed the presence of several pipe bombs and 2,000 rounds of ammunition.  These are not your average hobbyist's or weekend handyman's tools and crafts.

Now, this whole massacre might have been thwarted if the neighbor of the shooters had reported the suspicious activity she observed at their house, but she was afraid that she would be accused of racial profiling or (God forbid!) Islamophobia. Why do you suppose she felt that way?  Maybe the Attorney General's remarks about federal prosecution for anyone who bullies Muslims has something to do with it.

In light of the events and their consequences, especially the lack of reporting in the one case and the delay in assigning motive in the second, I wonder why it is that over half the American public bury their heads in the sand and ignore the plain truth that our media, our Justice Department and our President are not performing their duties.  We are at war, and they pretend that it is merely a case of "workplace violence" that causes some of the slaughter, while the rest is blamed on Republicans, gun owners, Tea Party followers and pro-lifers.

WAKE UP!!!  YOUR GREAT AMERICAN DREAM IS BECOMING A HUGE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE!

Refugees Truly in Need of Help

Now that we're well on the way to WWIII, it doesn't seem right to me that we should be opening our doors and our borders to refugees from the same lands where the enemy is in control, and especially not without fully vetting each and every one of them. The House of Representatives passed a veto-proof bill this week to stop the inflow until full vetting can be accomplished, but the Senate is likely to block it before it reaches the President.

But then, our President has committed to bring in at least 10,000 refugees without any background checks whatsoever.  You see, it is "the humanitarian thing to do."  Did he, somewhere in his extensive educational process, ever read the story of the Trojan Horse?

The President has said that the faith of refugees is not an issue in their acceptance for asylum, but that is just not true.  In fact, the law regarding immigration of refugees clearly states that religious persecution is a determining factor in their eligibility for refugee immigration status.  I hesitate to use the epithet "ignorant" for our President, but he is, after all, ignoring the law of the land.

Oh, and what about those other "refugees" from the Middle East, the Christian ones whom we see on the nightly news nearly every night being beheaded after the women and children are first raped and the men are tortured?  Are they among those eligible refugees, since they are proven to be persecuted and killed at a moment's notice? 

No, the President does not want to include the Christians in with the Muslims to whom he has given full immunity and benefits upon arrival.  They, the Christians, are "persona non grata" in the scheme of things here is the good old USA.

Oh, by the way, those unwelcome Christians are scheduled to be fully vetted without government assistance and without a single taxpayer dollar.  That's because they have been funded by contributions that currently amount to 12 million dollars through an organization called The Nazarene Fund.  Most of the adults are educated and productive workers who could fend for themselves here in America.  Most are also family groups as opposed to the single male individuals over 18 who make up the vast majority, over 62% by some estimates, of Muslims in the "chosen group."

I don't know how to get through to our President, and I highly doubt that it would make any difference if we could, but I do know how to contact my congressional senators and representative and the leaders of both houses.  I think it is high time we learn whether or not the Republicans and, yes, the Democrats have the guts to stand up for the only people in the Middle East whom we can guarantee are not part of ISIS/ISIL.  And we had better do it before they are completely eradicated, as four-and-one-half-million have been killed over the past decade.

If you do not know how to contact your senators and representatives, I invite you to contact me via email and I'll give you a tutorial.  But do it sooner rather than later, as time is running out for the true refugees.  Thanks for your support.

If you need any further incentive to make your decision, here it is from the office of United States Senator Jeff Sessions: ‎Below is a partial list of refugees and other Muslim migrants admitted to the U.S. who have committed or been charged with terrorism since just 2013.  Each year, the U.S. permanently resettles more than 100,000 Muslim migrants, in addition to thousands more on temporary student and work visas, a large portion of this funded through the annual appropriations bill:

An immigrant from Bangladesh, who applied for and received U.S citizenship,‎  tried to incite people to travel to Somalia and conduct violent jihad against the United States. (June 2014)

An immigrant from Ghana, who applied for and received U.S. citizenship, pledged allegiance to ISIS and plotted a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. (June 2015)

An immigrant from Sudan, who applied for and received U.S. citizenship, tried to join ISIS and wage jihad on its behalf after having been recruited online. (June 2015)

A Bosnian refugee, along with his wife and five relatives, donated money and supplies, and smuggled arms, to terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq. (February 2015)

An immigrant from Yemen, who applied for and received U.S. citizenship, along with six other men, was charged with conspiracy to travel to Syria and to provide material support to ISIS. (April 2015)·

A Somali immigrant with lawful permanent resident status, along with four other Somali nationals, is charged with leading an al-Shabaab fundraising conspiracy in the United States, with monthly payments directed to the Somali terrorist organization. (July 2014)

A Kazakhstani immigrant with lawful permanent resident status conspired to purchase a machine gun to shoot FBI and other law enforcement agents if they prevented him from traveling to Syria to join ISIS. (February 2015)

An immigrant from Saudi Arabia, who applied for and received U.S. citizenship, swore allegiance to ISIS and pledged to explode a propane tank bomb on U.S. soil. (April 2015)

A Uzbek man in Brooklyn encouraged other Uzbeki nationals to wage jihad on behalf of ISIS, and raised $1,600 for the terror organization. (April 2015)

The Boston Bombers were invited in as refugees. The younger brother applied for citizenship and was naturalized on September 11th, 2012. The older brother had a pending application for citizenship. (April 2013)

A Moroccan national who came to the U.S. on a student visa was arrested for plotting to blow up a university and a federal court house. (April 2014)

6 Members of Minnesota’s Somali-American refugee community have recently been charged with trying to join ISIS. The Washington Times reported that “the effort [to resettle large groups of Somali refugees in Minnesota] is having the unintended consequence of creating an enclave of immigrants with high unemployment that is both stressing the state’s safety net and creating a rich pool of potential recruiting targets for Islamist terror groups.” (February 2015)

An Uzbek refugee living in Idaho was arrested and charged with providing support to a terrorist organization, in the form of teaching terror recruits how to build bombs. (July 2015)

An American citizen whose family is from Syria was sentenced for plotting to support ISIS and rob a gun store to kill members of the American military. (April 2015)

An immigrant from Syria, who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, was accused by federal prosecutors of planning to “go to a military base in Texas and kill three or four American soldiers execution style.” (April 2015)

A college student who immigrated from Somalia, who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, attempted to blow up a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Oregon. (October 2014)

An immigrant from Afghanistan, who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, and a legal permanent resident from the Philippines, were convicted for “join Al Qaeda and the Taliban in order to kill Americans.” (September 2014)

An Iraqi immigrant, who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, was arrested for lying to federal agents about pledging allegiance to ISIS and his travels to Syria. (May 2015)

Two immigrants from Pakistan, who later applied for and received U.S citizenship, were sentenced to decades-long prison sentences for plotting to detonate a bomb in New York City. (2012)

An immigrant from Yemen, who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, was arrested for trying to join ISIS. He was also charged with attempting to illegally buy firearms to try to shoot American military personnel. (September 2014)

An immigrant brought here by his family from Kuwait at a young age, and who was later approved for U.S. citizenship, carried out the Islamist attack that recently killed 4 military personnel in Chattanooga. (July 2015)

Puleeze Stop Using the "R-word"

This will be a short column, and I'm sure it will piss off some of you. Be that as it may, I have to get this off my chest once and for all!

I sent out an email message that was (I admit) controversial.  Most of you who read my columns received it, so I wont describe it here except to reveal that it identified none other than the infamous Adolph Hitler - may he rot in Hell.  But the clues were eerily similar to the biography of another leader and would lead to a misidentification for some.

One of the offended parties who received the email took offense and wrote back a scathing email message labeling me a racist for equating that cursed Austrian (not German) Bastard with our current president.

I beg to differ, and I am not a racist. My neighborhood is about evenly divided between Blacks and Whites, and I smile and greet everyone exactly the same every day.  I hold no fear nor malice for any of my neighbors regardless of the color of their skin. I repeat: I am not a RACIST!

When will the liberals and (well , let me come out and print it) Democrats stop using the hateful "R-word" to defend their leader even when it doesn't apply, which is most of the time?  Whenever they can't debate or refute the message, they will impugn the character of the messenger. It's supposed to be the conversation stopper and it used to work, but not anymore..

The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King once said that he prayed for a time when a person was judged, not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.  For many of us, including me, that time has come. I leave it to you to parse that statement.

The Frozen Frog

Here comes another one of those urban legends, but this one has a different ending - perhaps a very happy one, too.

Every so often, I receive a picture (see below) that purports to be a frozen Alaskan Tree Frog, that has the ability to freeze in the winter, lose heartbeat, breathing and circulation for months on end, and then revive completely in the spring thaw.

Wow!  That's amazing!  Only problem is, the above picture is not of an Alaskan Tree Frog (there is no such animal) nor is it even an Alaskan Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica), which does exist and does all those miraculous heart-stopping-starting things.  The picture is probably a garden ornament with frost on it, not a live (or dead) frog at all.

What is amazing about the Alaskan Wood Frog is that it has been studied by scientists and biologists to determine what causes this wonderful reaction to freezing temperatures.  What they found is that the wood frog has an unusually high amount of cyroprotectants in its body that prevent the cells and tissue from losing moisture as they freeze.  These are composed of blood sugars and urea, and they lower the freezing temperature to prevent loss of vital fluids, or freeze drying. This enables the frog to recover as though nothing at all happened once the 'melt' occurs.

What if scientists could produce artificial cyroprotectants that could be injected into the donated organs of living or deceased people?  An organ must be implanted within hours of harvesting to be usable now, but with the addition of cyroprotectants it could be frozen and kept in an organ bank for weeks or months while a matching patient could be found to receive it.  People needing organ transplants would have a better chance of getting the heart, liver, kidney or lungs they so desperately need to survive.

It isn't yet a reality, but the research is already being conducted to produce the cyroprotectants similar to those found in the little Alaskan Wood Frog, and we might soon have another modern miracle of science that will prolong thousands of lives.

Okay, now you can say it . . . Wow! That's amazing!

You Call That a Debate?

I have tried to keep a cool demeanor about the televised GOP Debates, but Wednesday's "Tora!-Tora!-Tora!" attack by three partisan Democrats acting as moderators was too much for me.  I cannot sit idly by and watch every single Republican candidate get smeared and disrespected over and over again by those hacks.

I must admit that I didn't stay tuned to the debate for any more than about the first half-hour, and I knew where it was going after the first question posed to all of the people on the stage. In case you missed it, it was, "What is your biggest weakness?"

Why would anyone ask that question of ten people who have the courage and credentials to run for the highest office in the country and, arguably, the world?  We don't expect to hear, nor do we care what their weaknesses are. That is why presidents (excluding the present one) have strong people in advisory and cabinet positions. We want to know about the candidates' positions on issues, not their weaknesses.

My hope was that Governor John Kasich would field the question with a rejoinder that would put the questioner, Hillary sycophant Carl Quintanilla, in his place. I was mistaken, and I learned the next day that Kasich had appeared on Charlie Rose's show later and praised the moderators. How asinine!

Even Donald Trump fielded the question with less-than-robust criticism, and it wasn't until Ted Cruz spoke up and listed one of his strengths as his "greatest weakness" that I felt someone was finally protesting the bias that was about to be exhibited.

Cruz, of course, was also the candidate who eventually grew tired of the negative and contentious questions and yes, argumentative follow up remarks by the moderators, who tried to outgun the candidates on stage. He used some of his time to berate and chastise the three alleged moderators for their blatant disrespect, guilt by false innuendo, silly questions and lack of objectivity.

Some of the questions the candidates were asked included:

          "Are you a really a comic book villain?" (to Trump)

          "Can you do math?" (to Carson)

          "Why don't you resign?" (to Rubio)

Becky Quick lived up to her name when she took the "Candy Crowley Offensive" against Dr. Ben Carson over his tax plan, interrupting his answer and explanation and citing numbers that had questionable validity from some liberal think tank. It was in all likelihood the same one that declared the recession was over and we were in a recovery phase back in 2009. Yeah, how did that work out for us?

It was at that point that I decided to see how my Kansas City Royals were doing in their quest for the World Series title. The outcome was a heck of a lot better on that score.

Beating the COLA

I guess that by now everyone who is currently receiving Social Security benefits knows that there won't be any cost of living Adjustment (COLA) for 2016. This, in spite of the fact that all of the financial advisors whose columns I read are in agreement that the only reason for the lack of an increase is due to the decline in the price of oil.  They also are in agreement that oil and gasoline prices are a minute part of the budget for most seniors.

Grumbling aside, I want to share with you the means I used to get my COLA for 2016 without the help of the government gurus.  I hope that it might open the door for those of you who draw SS to also find some extra $$$ to supplement your monthly benefit.

It is a rather strange coincidence that the announcement about the lack of a COLA came almost simultaneously with the date on which Medicare Part D recipients are able to make changes to their prescription coverage for 2016.  It borders on being a great stroke of luck! 

I have started to receive solicitations via email and snail mail from insurers who want my business, and I'm certain you are getting them too.  Anyway, one that I got advertised a very low premium - one-third of my current one. 

I decided to go to Medicare.gov and see if my scrips were on their formulary.  I have two that are pretty high cost.  It turns out that they were on there along with all my other generic ones, so I did a cost comparison.  Well, I was pleasantly surprised by the results. The projected cost for all of my prescriptions was about $600 lower.

Obviously, my next action was to call the toll-free number, which put me in touch with a representative who enrolled me in less than an hour.  He also enrolled my wife in the same call.

Judy had a different problem with our current insurance than mine; her premiums are more than the cost of her prescriptions, and that premium was going to go up by about 18% next year.  Her enrollment was even more beneficial than mine.

Now, let's get back to that non-COLA that was announced last week.  With the savings we will get in premiums alone (not even the lower drug costs, mind you) it will amount to a 3.2% increase in monthly benefit for me and a hefty 8.2% for Judy.  Not bad when you consider that the past Social Security COLAs were under 2%.

If you are one of the senior citizens on Social Security and Medicare Part D, I urge you to log on to medicare.gov and try a cost comparison for your current provider and those on the website in competition for your business.  You might also be pleasantly surprised by the results. You have until December 7th to change providers, so don't delay.

A Logical Progression

I read an article today about a 6-month-old infant being thrown from a 6th floor apartment window in New York City.  She is the third such death in New York City in as many months.  I can't say that I'm surprised.  Well, maybe I'm a little surprised that New York City is the only place where it is happening.

The current trend is only an outgrowth of the recent disclosure through videos of the Planned Parenthood practice of 'harvesting' not only fetuses, but human babies who have traversed the birth canal and are all-but-born.  After all, if we can decide to kill them at the moment of birth, why should we stop there?  Some people might make the decision to 'terminate the pregnancy' a few months after birth, and what's to stop them?  We're told that there's no value to the first nine months of human life - the pre-breathing period!

Oh, I forgot to mention that those videos were 'heavily edited'.  That is Liberal-speak for 'they were reduced from an hour in length to 5-to-10 minutes to capture the germane facts', but let's not quibble over semantics, shall we.  There is little doubt that the practice is a daily one, and 'harvesting' is a good way of describing what Planned Parenthood is doing - growing crops of humans in the womb and then plucking the fruit for its ripe tissue.

I'm not sure with what crime the authorities should charge the woman in the above cited article.  Is it really murder, or should the charge be 'failure to recycle', as in failure to allow the harvesting of usable cells?

Why are we shocked that some people have taken our callous opinion of  what constitutes a human being and applied it to their own miserable situation?  And what's to stop us from applying the same logic to those elderly people who have lost their value; especially those who have dementia, Alzheimer's, or are otherwise unable to think for and care for themselves.  Look for articles about people throwing their elderly parents out of  high windows or off bridges in the near future.

Where does it stop? Hmmm?

(Now that I've opened the wound, I do hope you will realize that I am attempting to be facetious and satirical, and that I DO NOT condone the practice of throwing anyone out of a sixth-floor window.  Just so we're clear on that.  And, since I'm now in serious mode, I got to thinking that maybe my title for this column gave me insight into what the modern term, 'Progressive', as applied to some politicians, really means.)

What would have Happened if...?

Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson made a statement during an interview on Fox News Channel about what he would have done if he had been in that classroom on the campus of Umpqua Community College when the murderer, who shall remain unnamed to deny him his notoriety, began his shooting spree. 

Dr. Carson's answer was that he would have acted differently than the students did and he would have defused the situation early on.  His exact quote was, "Not only would I probably not cooperate with him, I would not just stand there and let him shoot me." He continued, "I would say, 'Hey, guys, everybody attack him. He may shoot me, but he can't get us all.'"

For making that "outrageous" statement, Dr. Carson has been excoriated, pilloried and mocked as being out of touch with reality.  Even some of his Republican opposition is joining the fray.  He is accused of blaming the victims for not defending themselves.

I'm not going to defend Dr. Carson for his brave, though hypothetical position, which might seem to belittle and chastise the dead and wounded for inaction; but I do want you to think for a moment about another murderous incident that occurred several years ago. 

If the passengers aboard United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001 had not fought back and at least partially subdued their murderers, would we have been mourning the loss of 435 senators and representatives plus the destruction of our nation's capitol in addition to those on the plane?  Might we have been looking at the ruins of the White House, or possibly the Supreme Court?  We don't know what the target of that jet aircraft was on that fateful day, but it is best that we never found out for certain.

Was the act of bravery performed by the passengers of Flight 93 not the very same kind of reaction that Dr. Carson posited in his interview on Fox and Friends?  Why do we label those passengers heroes, yet we use a similar scenario, with only one perpetrator instead of four, to call Dr. Carson a "looney?" 

I understand that the prescribed action for such a classroom massacre scenario is for the students to "seek shelter," "find a place to hide."  Tell me, where do you find such shelter in an open classroom?  You might as well put the gun to your own head and pull the trigger if you're going to allow the armed individual to do as he pleases.

Yes, I believe that Dr. Carson's answer to the murders that occurred in Roseburg, or anywhere else for that matter, are reasoned and effective in preventing the wholesale slaughter that takes place and will likely continue to take place in the future.

Your comments are welcome...

False Alarms

 I could have titled this column "Identity Theft Scams", but that likely would have put off some readers, since everybody is getting numerous alerts in print and video media about that topic these days.  And if you listen to any talk radio, which I confess that I do from time to time, every other ad is for some service that will prevent identity theft. 

Frightening, Isn't it?

Well, I'm here today to put your mind at ease.  And to start that process, I want you to ask yourself this question:  Do you personally know anyone who has lost their life savings to someone who stole their identity?

If you answered that question as I think you did, in the negative, then you are not alone.  I do not know of anyone in that category either.  What is more to the point, I am not overly worried about someone stealing my identity or, for that matter, stealing my life savings or even the meager amount of money in my checking account.

I cannot describe your situation, but I do know that my financial institutions will not transfer any funds from my accounts to anyone else's without first contacting me to determine whether I truly authorized the transfer.  In fact, I cannot transact any business in cash, stocks or bonds without getting a message of confirmation that also requests that I contact the company if there is any mistake in the transaction.

I only have two credit cards and no debit cards, and they are both flagged for any credit transaction above an amount that I specify.  I set that limit fairly low, well below that usual plastic ceiling of $500.  If anyone were to access my account or get my card, and they try that 'test purchase' for $495 to see if it goes through, it won't.  Instead, I'll be notified by the credit card company to determine whether or not I want to accept the transaction.  Gotcha, thief!

Of course, there are also other safeguards that I take to protect myself, such as never using a credit card for any purchase where it leaves my sight for any period of time, which always happens at restaurants, nor using one for an online purchase from any website that is not encrypted (https), nor clicking on links in unsolicited email messages that require a log in or other personal data.  I also monitor my credit card purchases for any activity that I didn't initiate.

Changes in profile, such as address, phone numbers or email addresses are also subject to a confirmation from me.

Lost or stolen wallet or purse?  I have photocopied every credit card and any other card that shows membership which I have in my wallet.  A single sheet of paper will hold 8 photocopied cards.  If there is a security code on the back of the card, I write that code plus any phone number right under that card copy for reporting lost or stolen cards.  I keep the photocopy in my carry-on suitcase - NEVER IN A BAG I WILL CHECK. If my wallet is ever lost or stolen, I can immediately notify all companies and either freeze or cancel the accounts, depending on the situation.

Large transactions, if I'm fortunate enough to have the funds to make them, will usually require me to send a signed letter or fax before they can be executed.

What I'm trying to convey here is that my personal and financial information is not out there waiting for someone to steal it without my knowledge.  There are safeguards to prevent that.

Even when hackers get into the database of some department store or other company where I have an account - and I assure you that I have fewer than I can count on the fingers of one hand - those safeguards are still in place.  Nobody can steal my identity without my immediate knowledge.

I am not overly superstitious, so the fact that I'm publishing this for the whole world to see doesn't make it any more likely that I'll be a target for identity theft, real or unreal.  I am cautious, however, in that I do not and will not ever join any social network or put my personal data online.

Columns and Critiques - Follow up

I believe I got the response I wanted to last week's column, and to those of you who took the time to give me feedback, thank you.  I now know that at least 20 people do read the column, and most were profuse in urging me to continue to publish it.

I've made a few adjustments for those who felt they were getting too much e-mail and asked to be removed from either the column or the daily jokes.  Sorry, but I cannot do that for the Vets group as I don't have access to the members list.  You'll just have to use your little key marked 'Delete' to wipe the messages out.

One big benefit from the column follow up is that this week's column is short; probably the leanest one I've ever written.  Again, thank you for your replies and encouragement.

Columns and critiques

Well, it has happened again.  I sent out a controversial, political column last week and it brought me more responses than those of a humorous or educational nature.  The column I wrote the previous week, about the moon landing of Neil Armstrong and the myth surrounding his comments while there on that truly foreign surface, brought zero replies.

I've thought about discontinuing the column, which has been a weekly exercise for me for nearly fifteen years.  I wonder how many people take the time to read it and do they actually benefit from my anecdotes, truths and advice.  Sometimes I think I'm just writing reflections for myself.  (Now that I wrote that, a lot of the time that is what I'm doing; merely saving my weekly thoughts and sharing myself with you.)

Since I never asked you to 'subscribe' to the WWC, maybe it's inappropriate for me to expect comments, but I certainly do appreciate it when I do get them, whether positive or negative.  I do try to acknowledge your kudos or criticism.  It isn't so much that I need positive reinforcement, but I like to know that I inspired your thinking on my subjects.

No, I won't quit the column, but my expectations might have to be lowered a few notches, depending upon the reaction to this particular one.  We'll see...

My Cry in The Wilderness

I have always tried to shy away from political and religious themes in my columns; and I know better than most how contentious those topics can be, since my own family was evenly divided on both.  However, I am seeing a trend that I know will soon divide our whole country, and I can not and will not watch it develop without comment.

We, the American people, have become so polarized in our opinions and beliefs that many of us  no longer read or listen to the other side of any debate.   In fact, some people have decided that there is no other side; the terms "settled science" and "my way, or the highway" are being used more often nowadays.

When any sensitive topic is raised for discussion, especially those that touch on rights and entitlements, instead of allowing intelligent debate, the quick response is to denigrate the person who disagrees with the modern-day interpretation.  Name calling and quoting out of context are two common ploys to deflect opposition views.

You all know that I am a conservative, but don't you dare call me a Republican, or a member of the Tea Party.  If any label applies, it is Independent, because I do share some views with both sides, depending on the issue, but I long since quit being a "joiner."  And I do listen to Rush Limbaugh when on the road, but I'm not a"ditto head" fanatic.

Speaking of Limbaugh, he is one of those debaters who is often misquoted, taken out of context or denigrated by his opponents.  Whenever I hear someone say bad things about him, I am pretty certain that they are parroting someone else.  I know this because they rarely give any specific details about why they say it.  Truth is, they probably have never listened to the show. You see, Rush really is right about ninety-nine percent of the time, and history bears it out.

But I digress...  I'm not writing this column to defend or promote any personality.

My reason for opening this Pandora's Box is that I have become convinced that we are on the verge of a violent clash of cultures.  I hesitate to call it a civil war, but it could come to that, and the catalyst might be the figure who replaces our current resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  I will not participate in any insurrection, and I don't want to even think about the consequences.  But it would be a horrible end of our republic to "...put asunder what God has joined together."

Think about it!  That's all I can ask.  We must return to the table and open our hearts and minds to the tragedy before us if we don't use our God-given reason.

The Armstrong Myth

I recently received - for the umpteenth time - the story about a famous quote attributed to astronaut Neil Armstrong while he was on the moon in August of  1969.  No, not the one about "one small step..." but the one that goes, "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky!"

I'm not going to repeat the story here; if you don't know it, it's of little consequence, since it is one of those "urban legends" anyway.  Suffice it to say, it's a joke, and a dirty one at that, but it was never uttered by Mr. Armstrong.  It was actually one of Buddy Hackett's many off-color jokes, and I believe it might have been first used on The Tonight Show in concert with Johnny Carson. I can't prove that since both are now deceased.

Though Neil Armstrong never said those four words on the moon, there is another single word that he was supposed to say and didn't.  It was part of that truly famous quote that he spoke just after he came down off the ladder from the moon lander.  And no, it was not a spur-of-the-moment statement, but rather a canned and planned speech that he had probably rehearsed many times before.  The trouble was, he misquoted it.

The actual words he was supposed to speak at that momentous time were, "That's one small step for a man - one giant leap for mankind."  However, he neglected to say the word, 'a' between 'for' and 'man', so it made the phrase contradictory and meaningless.  After all, without the article between those words, it gives the word, 'man', the same meaning as the following word, 'mankind'. 

I always wondered why Mr. Armstrong hesitated for so long between the first words, "That's one small step for man..." and the last part, "...one giant leap for mankind." I think he had realized that he said it wrong, and was contemplating starting over to get it right. In the end, he simply completed the quote.

There might have been a good reason for Armstrong's misquote, too.  In the many, many times I've watched that first moon landing, it has always struck me as odd that Armstrong didn't so much step off the ladder.  He jumped down about three feet, actually bouncing after he touched ground.  Maybe his mind was trying to differentiate between a step and a jump.

Well, as the late Paul Harvey used to so famously say, "Now you know . . . the rest of the story."

Motion Induced Blindness

In a motor accident, wherein a speeding car hits a slower moving vehicle coming from the side, the speeding car drivers often swear that they just didn't see the vehicle coming from the left or right.  Well, they aren't lying. They really don't see the vehicle coming from the side, in spite of broad daylight.

This phenomenon on the car driver's part is known as "Motion Induced Blindness".  It is definitely frightening.

Once airborne, pilots are taught to alternate their gaze between scanning the horizon and scanning their instrument panel, and never to fix their gaze for more than a couple of seconds on any single object. They are taught to continually keep their heads on a swivel and their eyes always moving. The reason is, if you fix your gaze on one object long enough while you yourself are in motion, your peripheral vision goes blind.

Till about three decades ago, this "heads on swivel & eyes moving" technique was the only way to spot other aircraft in the skies around. Now-a-days they have on-board radars, but the old technique still holds good.

When I was in college, I got a Summer job driving busses for Greyhound.  I recall that there were six of us hired, and we had to go through a driver school for several weeks to learn how to drive a big bus with manual transmission and a long turning radius. Our teacher, a full-time driver, taught us several 'tricks of the trade' to keep ourselves alert and awake on those long haul trips.  One thing he drilled into us was to keep our eyes moving at all times and never focus on one point or distance. One way to do that was to do a mirror check every minute. That meant checking both the right and left mirrors.  (Busses and large trucks don't have 'rear-view mirrors like cars do on the windshield.)

I incorporated most of what Tim taught me way back fifty years ago, and I still drive that way today in my car, except that I do have the rear-view mirror to check along with the other two.  It has kept me out of harm for all those years.

Let me give you a small demonstration of motion induced blindness. Just click on the link below. You will see a revolving array of blue crosses on a black background. There is a flashing green dot in the center and three fixed yellow dots around it. If you fix your gaze on the green dot for more than a few seconds, the yellow dots will disappear at random, either singly, or in pairs, or all three together. In reality, the yellow dots are always there.

Don't believe it?  Just watch the yellow dots for some time to ensure that they don't go anywhere!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfrb94mKCJw

Another great pointer that Tim gave was to "think ahead."  When you see a slower moving vehicle up ahead in your lane and you know that you will have to pass it, don't wait until you are within 100 yards or less to pull out.  Check your mirrors and start your pass as soon as you can. 

 

You probably have seen that sign on the back of 18-wheelers that says "If you can't see my mirrors, I can't see you".  It's there for a reason.  Don't get so close to trucks - which are usually held to a speed limit 10 miles slower than passenger vehicles - that you cannot see the side mirrors.  You put yourself and the trucker in danger when you do that.

I have never been able to teach my wife the above lesson, and she constantly gets up behind slower vehicles waiting to pull out while traffic from behind continues to pass us and the slowpoke.  I've tried to tell her to pull out as soon as she knows she needs to pass, but she insists on staying in the lane until we become part of the slow-moving traffic.  Too many prompts and I become the backseat driver.  Well, maybe I can teach someone out there to relieve my frustration.

Pharma Phools

This column will address two aspects of the same topic. The first is very important to me, as it negatively impacts a product that has likely kept me alive for several years.  The second is also related to the same one plus several others that I must use daily.  The products are prescription drugs and the topic is the bad name they get from lawyers and activists.

I created my own term for the legal eagles who make their living from class action lawsuits against the developers and makers of lifesaving pharmaceuticals.  I call it 'pharma-phishing.'

I'm certain that you have seen or heard the many advertisements on television and radio or in newspapers which ads solicit clients for damages on the side effects of prescription drugs.  Whether or not the claims are warranted is debatable, because all prescriptions come with very detailed information on the side effects and what to do if you experience them.  Symptomatic reactions are treatable, and even allergic reaction is preventable with screening and monitoring.

One of the prescriptions I take that has gotten a lot of pharma-phishing is Xarelto.  I have been using it since it first came out, and I credit Xarelto with keeping me active and alive. Yes, it is one of the more expensive drugs and it does have many life-threatening side effects, but I am fully aware of this and would immediately report any adverse symptoms to my doctor.  Common sense would dictate my calling 9-1-1 or getting to an ER if serious reactions occur.

All of the prescriptions I take are similarly accompanied by instructions and warnings, so I feel confident in using them as prescribed.  My chances of ever getting involved in a lawsuit against one of the pharmaceutical companies is remote.  I read and follow instructions and I expect others to do the same.

Now, as to that second troublesome aspect, I don't have to label it, because someone else has done a good job of creating one and wrote a whole book about it.  He is a scientist, and also is the brother of media analyst, John Stossel.  His name for the activist rant is 'pharma-phobia'.  He defines it as the myth that drug companies artificially inflate the cost of the products.

The reason given by the activists for the difference between unit production costs and retail price is, of course, greed disguised as profit.  The truth is that years of development, testing and waiting for government approval makes any new pharmaceutical entry terribly costly to produce.  Cost of each dose is the only stage at which production is measured in pennies, but that is the only aspect the activists use to show the disparity in cost versus price.

I haven't read Tom Stossel's book, but I have read the column written by his brother, John, titled, "Dr Capitalism".  I've linked it for you rather than writing my own version. Mr. Stossel states it concisely, and I cannot improve on his opinion, based on his own brother's experience as a pharmaceutical consultant.

Many of the newly patented drugs are very expensive during their introductory, non-generic phase, but I can accept that fact and pay the price.  But then, if you pay attention to the ads for these drugs, the pharmaceutical companies usually add a statement that those people who are unable to afford the cost may be eligible for assistance from the manufacturer. Not very greedy, is it?

Next time you see one of those ads for some class action lawsuit sponsored by a law firm twenty states away from where you live, think about the cost their litigation adds to any of the prescriptions you take.  Oh yes, that also comes into the mix as a cost of production and it has add to the price you pay for your pills and capsules and injections to keep you alive and healthy.

P.E.T.A. Alert

Have you ever heard of "Project Pigeon"?  Haw about "Bat Bombs"; ever heard of that before?  I suspect that, like me, you have no memory of anything like those Top Secret military projects from the World War II era, even from the time after the war when they were declassified.

There is reference material on the Internet on each of these projects, neither of which ever came to fruition, but let me briefly describe them to you to save you the possible trouble of reading all about them.

"Project Pigeon" was the brainchild of a Harvard Psychologist, B. F. Skinner, who was a well-known animal behaviorist.  He worked mainly with pigeons and, when WWII came along, he wanted to help the war effort.  He obtained a $25,000 grant from the Federal Government to develop a bullet-shaped explosive projectile that would contain three tube chambers, each with a pigeon in it.  The pigeons had been trained to peck at images that resembled ships and would be rewarded with food treats. The main focus was to have the missiles launched over enemy waters where the pigeons would be seeing actual ships in the frontal tube glass and their pecking would guide the missile to the ship where it would explode on impact, damaging and possibly sinking the ship.  Of course, the three birds would die in the explosion, but that was the consequence of war, collateral damage, so to speak.

Fortunately for the pigeons, the project never got "off the ground" when radar became a reliable means of guiding unmanned projectiles.  "Project Pigeon" died its own quiet death without taking any of the birds with it.

Now, the "bat bomb" was a little different.  This one was conceived by a dentist friend of Eleanor Roosevelt named Lytle S. Adams.  They were also a form of projectile that was to be dropped from the belly of an aircraft.  Each of the "bombs" would contain a whole army of bats, all equipped with incendiary devices strapped to their bodies. This project was designed for the invasion of Japan, and was designed to start thousands of fires in the nooks and crannies that were known to exist in the buildings of Japan.

The plan was to have a timer that would open the device and release the bats. This would be done during the daylight hours over populated areas, so the bats would fly down to find places of darkness. The incendiary devices would then ignite and start fires in the eaves and walls where the bats roosted.  Again, the bats would be consumed by the fire, but hey, that's war!

The bats got as lucky as the pigeons did when President Harry Truman decided to drop the atom bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima instead of invading the homeland of Japan.  Of course, the people of those two cities weren't as lucky as the bats were, but at the time, I think the American people liked bats better.

Now you know the story of two of the many weird and wacky half-baked projects that were initiated during WWII that never got into the history books.  Can you just imagine what a stink P.E.T.A. would have raised if they had been in existence at that time?

The Lace-lock Shoe Tie Revisited

 I intended to write a follow up column right after our return from the road trip, but I got sidetracked, so this is my conclusion.

I've been using the lace-lock tying method with both pairs of athletic shoes, which were the only footwear I took with me on our fourteen-day trip out west.  I continue to use it now, three weeks after our return home and I think that says something about how much I like it.

My feet are more comfortable than they have been in years with the laces tied in the locking position.  I didn't get any blisters and the shoes have no slippage.  Heck, I don't even have any instance where the laces come untied anymore.

That said, I believe that I'll quit buying shoes with the Velcro closures.  We. Old fogey types have our problems stooping down to tie shoes, but this is a game changer.  I love the feel of a close-fitting shoe, so I'll sacrifice for it.

I also found that I can use the top two lace holes on dress shoes to create a 'lace-lock' that works similar to that tying method on athletic shoes with similar results; there is no slippage and the shoe provides better support.

Now, just in case you missed the first column when I introduced the 'lace-lock' shoe tie, it is merely use of the extra hole on most athletic shoes - sneakers - at the top and parallel to the topmost inline lace hole.  I linked that column in case you would like to read it over again.

As the old time (1972) Alka-Seltzer commercial said, "Try it, you'll like it!"

Word Origins

Have you ever wondered why a ground beef patty on a bun is called a hamburger?  Or why another fast-food favorite, the hot dog is called a frankfurter, or frank for short?  How about steak tartare?  Where the heck did that name come from?

One thing all three of these meat treats have in common is that they are ground, or minced, and there is a very good reason for that; in their original form, they were not derived from the best cuts of the meats.  One way to make a tough, gristly or fatty cut into a more tender and chewable meal is to grind it up.  And believe me, the first of the hamburgers or frankfurters were composed of the worst parts of the cow or pig.  They were, in short, the poor man's steak.

As to the name origins, there are several stories, myths, or claims as to how they came to be known as hamburger, frankfurter, or steak tartare.  The last one is maybe the easiest to reveal. 

Classic steak tartare is seasoned raw ground beef with raw egg and chopped onion mixed into it.  I've only had it one time, and it is almost impossible to find on any menu nowadays due to the danger of salmonella or bacteria poisoning when using raw materials, plus the risk associated with mad cow disease.  As to the name, it was first eaten by and introduced to Europeans by the Tartars who came from Asia in a hostile time to conquer and enslave.  If you can find it, and you're willing to take the risk - and what sushi eater isn't - it is a really good, and quite filling meal.

The frankfurter; well, that one is a lot easier, because it is merely one form or another of the sausage that was first made in Frankfurt-am-Main in Germany.  We haven't called them Franks, or Frankfurters, in a long time, as hot dog rolls off the tongue so much easier.  As to their resemblance to the originals, that is obscure.  There are so many different varieties of hot dogs today that the original one probably isn't even close.

And then there's the myth that the original was made from all the table and floor scraps of meat in the processing plant after the good stuff was all cut and packaged.  I doubt that there is any truth to that, but it was a popular tale back when I was a kid, along with the story that scrapple (a Pennsylvania Dutch breakfast treat) was also made from all the leftover scraps on the floor and in the equipment at meat processing plants.

Now we come to that wonderful all-American fast food, the hamburger.  How did it come by its name?  Did it really come from that city in Germany, or was it invented here in America?

I won't bore you with all the claims to fame for the hamburger, but I do believe that the first ones did come from Hamburg, Germany when sailors and immigrants from that city came to New York.  They had a primitive version of today's ground beef patty, but it probably wasn't in a bun with all the toppings.  It was more likely a simple plain beef patty similar to a salisbury steak (OMG - another one to track down!) 

Regardless of your belief in how the hamburger came by its name, we can all agree that it is one of the most loved hand-to-mouth taste treats in the history of food.  Call it a hamburger, hamburg, burger, or any one of the trademarked names the fast food chains use - ever notice that all of them have their own special name for it? - but unless your a  vegetarian, you can't resist one.

Potpourri

 A couple of years ago, a bill was passed that requires hotel and motels with swimming pools and hot tubs to install chair assists for the disabled.  If there are both swimming pool and hot tub, the mechanical chair lift must be installed next to each one.  The cost of these chairs is approximately $5,000 each.

I stay in hotels about 30 to 40 nights a year, and the nightly cost has steadily increased from around $70/night to over $100.  I know that the prices have risen for other reasons than just the cost of installing the assist chairs for disabled people, but they have to be a part of the increase.

I have yet to see anyone using a mechanical chair to get into or out of the pool or hot tub. I have also talked to other hotel guests and not one of them has seen the chair lift used either.

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Are you tired of trying to read an online article that is surrounded by ads and other unrelated material?  Wouldn't you rather just read the article?  Well here are two ways to get rid of the junk and get to the basics.

On iPads and maybe some other tablets, there is a 4-bar menu icon to the left of the URL in the address field.  If you click on it after the article downloads it will re-display it as a document.  Some tablets will even give you the option to enlarge the print.

On IBM/Microsoft PC's, you might see a printer icon above the first paragraph on the right side of the page. There are other locations for it, too, so look for it if you don't find it there.  It is an option for printer friendly copying.  However, if you click on it and then click the cancel button when the print window pops up, it will remain on your screen in document format.  Voilá!  No ads and no junk distraction.

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We recently bought some bottled water with the label Niagara on it and, since I was born and raised near the famous waterfalls with that name, I was curious as to whether or not the water was from there.

Well, imagine my surprise when I read the label and learned that the water was bottled in Ontario, California.  I may be wrong but isn't Ontario in Southern California, where they are currently in the midst of a huge drought?  And unless the water in those bottles was trucked in from some distant source, aren't the people who bottle it taking it out of the already drained supply there?  Hmm, something is wrong with this procedure, don't you think?