Happy New Year?



A new year is coming. An important new year for America. A Presidential Election year.

Welcome to 2016.

2016 is a do-or-die year for America. In 2016, if a liberal Democrat is again elected President, the country will continue on its liberal path and, as a direct result, is highly likely to collapse - politically, socially and economically - from internal strife, infrastructure terrorism, excessive political correctness, more government over-regulation, out-of-control government overspending, and a stupefying $20 trillion of unmanageable government debt.

Be careful what, and who, you vote for. Your life, your freedom, and your country depends on it.






Broadband NOT faster


U.S. Broadband Speeds Tripled in 3.5 Years

Really? That's what you're telling me?

Really?

from pcmag.com

"In an effort to keep up with an increasingly data-dependent society, U.S. broadband speeds have tripled over the past 3.5 years.

The Federal Communications Commission's fifth Measuring Broadband America report, released Wednesday, said average download speeds increased to nearly 31 megabits per second (Mbps) in September 2014 — up from 10 Mbps in March 2011."



I don't know where the FCC measured broadband speed but it wasn't in my neighborhood, in the second largest city in America. I live in Los Angeles, close to several major movie studios, and my DSL broadband speed has NEVER been faster than a measly 5 Mbps! In fact, I just tested it and my download speed is 5.16 Mbps. And, no, there is no faster broadband service available in my area from my provider, AT&T. So, according to MY internet speed, the FCC's report is completely untrue. Really? Yes.

Now let's take a look at the US cities that have the fastest Internet connection speed:

Washington DC at 40.8 Mbps
Alexandria, VA at 38.7 Mbps

And mine is 5 Mbps? Hmm. The fastest internet speeds are in Washington, D.C. and a major suburb of Washington, D.C. Hmm. And both cities happen to be home to the U.S. federal government and its bureaucrats and politicians. Coincidence? Hmm. Hey, FCC, we live in America too, where's OUR high speed internet???






mobile warming



Mobile Warming


from cnet.com

"For the first time, smartphone shipments have reached 1 billion. That probably means a lot of calling, texting, and app use. It also means a lot of phones being plugged into the grid and charging.

A new study by analyst Juniper Research found that smartphone charging could soon be a massive generator of carbon dioxide, which is one of the greenhouse gases thought to cause global warming. According to the study, greenhouse gas emissions from mobile devices will more than double within five years.

Currently, the world is generating 6.4 megatons of greenhouse gases from smartphone charging. By 2019, Juniper Research predicts, that amount will be more than 13 megatons."


There it is. Cell phones are a cause of greenhouse gases. EVERYONE has a smartphone. Practically everyone has an iPhone. That means that EVERYONE is harming the environment. Including Apple. Charging your iPhone means that YOU are harming the environment. That also means that all the liberals and extreme environmentalists, whenever they charge their iPhone (or other brand), are creating greenhouse gases, and harming the very planet they want to save!

It's not just good old Global Warming, now it's also Mobile Warming.

So if you REALLY care about the environment and reducing greenhouse gases, you'll throw away your cell phone. Oh, wait a minute, cell phones are electronic toxic waste, throwing it away will create more toxic waste. You can't throw away your iPhone, you'll have to turn it in at your local official government toxic waste recycling plant, which may be 20 miles away, which is 40 miles round trip. That means you likely have to drive to get there, and drive back, thereby generating even MORE greenhouse gases and pollution from your vehicle. Hey, your cell phone is causing Mobile Warming, you gotta do what you gotta do. Gee, saving the planet in the electronic age is inconvenient isn't it?






truck driver makes $20 million a year



from aol.com

A teacher once told Gary Cohn's parents that if they were lucky he might grow up to be a truck driver.

"I was a horrible student," Cohn, the president of Goldman Sachs (the leading Wall St investment bank), told a room full of teachers.

As a kid growing up in Cleveland, Cohn was diagnosed with dyslexia--a reading disorder.

He struggled in school. By the time he was in 6th grade, he had been bounced around to four different schools.

Sometimes he would overhear things that his teachers told his parents, particularly about his trajectory in life.

"Probably the most poignant thing I heard out of a teacher that I wasn't supposed to hear was when she told my parents if they were really lucky and spent a lot of time with me I might grow up to be a truck driver."

Cohn, 54, joked that he drove a truck when he was 16. "I was a pretty damn good truck driver. I did grow up to be a little more than a truck driver."



At Goldman Sachs, the leading Wall Street investment banking institution, as its president Cohn earned $20 million in 2014. In addition, he is reputed to have owned more than $175 million in Goldman stock.

Another good example of teachers accurately predicting the future of their students. Not.

UPDATE:January 2017: Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the National Economic Council, will receive severance in excess of $100 million as he exits Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street firm where he was second in command. And and will also be permitted to cash in on $23 million of stock options. Cohn has to divest himself of Goldman holdings in order to comply with ethics requirements. Not bad for a truck driver.






doctor appointment



mission impossible

I called my doctor to make an appointment. No one answered the phone and the automated voice told me that someone would be with me shortly. I was stuck on hold for 10 minutes. I hung up and, twenty minutes later, called back again. This time I was stuck on hold for 7 minutes. Nobody answered the phone at the doctor's office. I could not make an appointment. I realized that I had to DRIVE to the doctor's office to make an appointment to see the doctor! Really? Yes. Is that crazy? Yes. Was I annoyed? Yes. I drove to the doctor's office and made an appointment. Yes, I told them that when I called I was put on hold, twice, and had to drive over here just to make an appointment. They didn't care. The office was undergoing a comprehensive computer system upgrade, presumably to be more efficient. lol.

So, in the wonderful world of instant electronic devices, I was forced to go "old school" and had to drive over to my doctor's office - to make an appointment to see him. The entire trip took me an hour. Did they let me see the doctor while I was there in front of them? No, of course not. I have to wait 2 days to see him and then will have to drive back again. I have been a patient of this doctor for over 15 years. Why should it be this hard to make a doctor's appointment?






it's winter in L.A.


Today is Monday. It's the middle of December. It's winter in Los Angeles. Again. What do I mean "again"? It was cold in early November then it warmed up and now, it's no longer warm, it's cold. It's not supposed to be cold in L.A. It's supposed to be 80 degrees! That's why I moved here from the East Coast decades ago. That's why live here!

I went out today at 11 AM and it was 49 degrees. Too f-ing cold for L.A.! Brrr. When I went for a walk at 1:30 PM I wore 2 jackets, one on top of the other.

It is cold. I am cold. It's now winter in L.A.

To get in sync with the current weather, with winter, tonight, when I go out, for the first time since last winter I plan on wearing my fur-lined boots!
Tonight I'll be wearing fur-lined boots and 2 jackets. Layering, baby!

Luckily, it will once again be 73 degrees on Friday. Yay!






cell phones and toilet seats


Your electronic devices are full of germs. More germs than your toilet seat.


from Forbes.com

Smartphones. Your smartphone is home to your photos, music, contacts, productivity apps and odds are at least one game featuring a bird, zombie, fruit or farm. Oh, and there’s something else on your smartphone, too — loads of fecal coliforms. In 2012, University of Arizona microbiologist Chuck Gerba found cellphones carried 10 times more bacteria than most toilet seats.

Keyboards. Your keyboard could be home to anywhere from three times more bacteria than your toilet seat or that of a public toilet seat. Some studies found 3,000 bacteria per square inch on computer keyboards and 1,600 on the average computer mouse.

TV Remote controls. While likely cleaner than a public toilet seat, remotes still boast a bit more bacteria than some home-thrones.



OMG! That's gross! And dirty. And germy. Ewww! So what do you do about it? Wash your hands BEFORE using your device? Yeah, that's not possible with the constant use of our cellphones. Wipe your device with device-friendly antiseptic wipes? That isn't going to work with cell phones either - we'd have to use a lot of wipes every day. OK, so what should you do? I don't know. Maybe we should start wearing surgical gloves while texting, typing and watching TV. Or maybe stop using electronic devices altogether. Yeah, that'll work.






fat school kids



Before and after. Which is healthier?


from Livestrong.com

"Ninety percent of all public high schools in the United States teach ninth- and 10th-graders basic nutrition, while 80 percent offer nutrition education to 11th- and 12th-graders, too, according to the Institute of Education Sciences.

The overall goal in teaching nutrition to high school students is to give them the tools they need to make healthy eating choices for a lifetime. The way the nutrition curriculum looks across public high schools can vary, but almost all of them attempt to accomplish similar goals."

From stateofobesity.org,"According to the latest Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) national survey (2013), 13.7 percent of high school students were obese, and 16.6 percent were overweight."



OK, so why are there so many overweight/obese kids at the high school level? The overweight/obesity rate for high school students in America is 30%. Nearly 1 out of 3 high schoolers is not healthy weightwise?! If high school students are being taught good nutrition in school, and there are still way too many kids in high school who are overweight or obese, obviously teaching nutrition in high school is not working. What's the problem? Are students not listening? Are they too stupid to learn? Do potato chips and ice cream and sugar-laden drinks taste too good to give up? Are they being taught proper nutrition or are they being taught mainly to be politically correct in their eating habits? Should the PARENTS have mandatory nutrition lessons?

Too many kids in America are too fat. It's not healthy and it condemns them to an unhealthy life later on. High school students in America deserve to be healthy and maintain a healthy weight - and 30% are not. Whatever the problem is, fix it.


No, I am not fat shaming high school kids, I am fat shaming the public school system.






burn, baby, burn


California regulates your fireplace




from MyNewsLA

"Much of the Southland (L.A.area) will be under a “no-burn” order through Thursday, meaning indoor fireplace use and outdoor wood burning will be prohibited due to pollution concerns.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District originally issued the order only for Wednesday for all residences in the South Coast Air Basin, including the greater Los Angeles area, Orange County and the Inland Empire. But pollution forecasts prompted the agency to extend the order through Thursday."



Our government in action. "No burn" days. The Pollution Police. The government is spending taxpayer time and money regulating fireplaces, fireplaces in private residences. Fireplaces? Yes, fireplaces - NOT the biggest problem facing the L.A. area and it's 15 million residents.

People spend a lot of money for a home in L.A. (the average price for Los Angeles County was $780,000 in 2014) and now, thanks to some anti-pollution government agency, they can't even use their fireplace(s)?

What's next, regulating home barbecues? "Hi, we're the Pollution Police. We're arresting you for polluting - and barbecuing without a license".






Laundry List



Laundry list. We've all heard the term. It means a long list of stuff, often random items. For example, "a laundry list of complaints", "a laundry list of desires", "a laundry list of problems". OK, I understand that but why is it a "laundry" list? When I do a laundry I don't need a list. I lug my dirty clothes to the washer, put the clothes in, add some laundry detergent and maybe some fabric softener, push a few buttons and wash my clothes in the washing machine. When the clothes are done I take them out of the washer and put them in the dryer. When the dryer has finished drying the clothes I take them out, sort them, fold them and put them away. I hardly need to make a list to do my laundry. And, if I have to take some clothes to the dry cleaner, I just take them, I don't need to make a list to do it. And the dry cleaner gives me a receipt.

Why do we need a "laundry list"? Why do we still use the term? How did the term "laundry list" get into our vocabulary and why does it stay there?

Other "lists" might make sense. Yes, a "shopping" list makes sense. When I go food shopping and need more than 2 items I write them all down on a yellow sticky Post It. That way, I don't forget to buy something I need when I go to the supermarket. A shopping list makes sense, a laundry list does not.

It's time to dump the term "laundry list". Dumping it is on my To Do List, my Wish List and my Bucket List, not my laundry list.






is ADHD real?




From webmd.com

Children with ADHD show signs of inattention, hyperactivity, and/or impulsivity in specific ways. These children:
  • Are in constant motion 
  • Squirm and fidget 
  • Do not seem to listen 
  • Have trouble playing quietly 
  • Often talk excessively 
  • Interrupt or intrude on others 
  • Are easily distracted 
  • Do not finish tasks 



Really? ADHD in kids? A disorder? A disorder requiring medication? An epidemic?

In the old days we used to call mild ADHD "normal", we used to call it "childhood". Aren't these symptoms what kids DO when being kids? I acted like that when I was a kid. So did all the other kids. Maybe kids are simply not developed yet, they are often ruled by hormones (and sugar), and thus have little control over their behavior. As I grew into an adult I learned self-discipline and how to better control, and apply, myself. I learned good behavior by reward and punishment. We called it real life.

Not to be overly cynical but is a lot of the ADHD diagnosis epidemic real, or merely a ploy by Big Pharma and western medicine to feed more patients to doctors and sell more meds? Hmm.







no smoke no fire


As of today, I have not smoked a cigarette for 4 years. I have not smoked cigarettes for 1,460 days. That's 35,000 hours. Thanks solely to electronic cigarettes, 4 years ago, in 1 day, I quit smoking. I was a pack a day smoker for 50 years and thanks solely to e-cigs, I quit smoking, in 1 day.

I feel much healthier, I feel much cleaner inside, and I don't stink. Plus, I also saved $4,000 in cash (e-cigs are cheaper than cigarettes).

Thanks solely to electronic cigarettes it has now been 4 years since I lit up a cigarette. I am amazed. All my friends and family are amazed. All my doctors are amazed.



Hurray For E-cigs!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.