Oh, you think the moon is real?

 

The last 4 years have seen a resurgence in people believing conspiracy theories, especially when their so-called leaders promote and encourage such asinine theories that have been disproven by science and in-depth investigation.  But it's very hard to argue with a "faith based" argument that is devoid of any scientific proof, acceptance, or knowledge.  So I propose a new tactic in dealing with willfully ignorant folks who embrace and defend their baseless conspiracy theories:  One Up them.

When someone tells you that the moon landings were faked, don't argue.  Laugh, and dismiss them with "oh, you're one of those people who think the moon is real?"  Double down on something even more ridiculous.  

Flat earthers?  "Oh, you're one of those people who believe we're on a planet called Earth?"

Lizard people, disguised as world leaders, who run our government?  (a Q-anon, aka Q-inane believes) "Oh, you think they're lizard people?  Everyone knows they're actually otters underneath those human looking suits."

Satan worshiping pedophiles who run a ring of human trafficking out of the basement of a Washington DC pizza restaurant frequented by Leon Panetta?  (another Q-inane core belief)  "Oh you think Satan worshippers eat pizza? Don't you know they're all lactose intolerant? That's why they rejected christ."

Don't argue with these devoted disciples.  Push them deeper into doubt.  Present a more ludicrous position that even the dullest knife in the drawer who abhors science and peer reviewed facts would have difficulty grappling with and trying to understand.

The 2020 election was stolen, and was actually a landslide victory for T****!  "Oh, you believe there was an actual national election last November?  All they did was have the NSA gather everyone's DNA and retina scans while they THOUGHT they were voting!  The otters controlled who won!!"

Red Tiger Striped Ludwig Standard Drum Set

 The Foo Fighter's RUN video has a red tiger striped Ludwig Standard drum set that looks like my kit, made in the early 60s in the US by Ludwig.  I'd never seen this set before...  

Taylor's normal set is a Gretsch ... so the old Ludwig was probably just what they had on the video recording set.  And for the record, Dave is and has always been a better drummer than Taylor.  Taylor is not bad, but Dave is a monster on the kit.  I thoroughly enjoy trying to emulate Dave Grohl's work, and work up quite a sweat when I do.

My son's eulogy

  

My son, Nathan Jr,  passed away recently, unexpectedly.  We held a Covid compliant funeral and limited attendance wake in Charleston SC, where he lived for the last 15 years. Today, on August 30th, we had a zoom video conference for friends and family who could not travel to Charleston.  The following is what I said about my son, introducing the videos and slide show memorials:

Thank you everyone for coming today, and taking time out of your morning or afternoon, depending on where you are geographically.  Our son Christopher, as many of you have heard, unexpectedly died in his sleep the night of August 15th.  He was 33 years old.  He had a mild case of Covid back in June, but he appeared to get better after a few days.  We do not know why he died, as the autopsy was inconclusive, but the coroner is running more tests that should be complete in mid September.  We may never know exactly what took our son from this world, but we Do Know what a wonderful person Christopher was, and how many thousands of lives he touched in such meaningful, positive, caring, empathetic, helpful, compassionate, funny, inspiring, motivating, passionate, hilarious, insightful, musical, useful, intelligent, genuine, loving and kind ways.  His passing leaves an enormous singularity, a voracious black hole that is tearing at the very fabric of our hearts.

Our son Christopher was magnetic.  People were intrinsically drawn to him, and loved being around him.  His mother and I raised him, and it appears - from the 100s of FaceBook and Instagram posts, from the 100s of his friends in Charleston who loved him, and from the stories his childhood friends keep sharing with me - that we raised an amazing person, a good human, as my friends and former colleagues in Bangalore would say.  Over the last 2 weeks since his passing, I've lost count of the number of men and women who have told me

- I wouldn't have the job I have today, if it was not for your son

- Christopher built my first bike

- Your son helped me move

- I would not have stayed in school in Charleston and graduated if not for your son, because I knew I would not be able to be around him if I left

- Chris walked me home and made sure I got there safely when I had too much to drink

- Your son taught me everything I know about lighting

- Your son trained me as a bartender

- Christopher always listened to me; you always knew he authentically cared

- I could always count on your son when I needed help; I'd call him and he was always right there

- He always made me feel at home, and made me feel that I mattered

I always knew he was an exceptional person, but his passing has clearly shown me the countless lives he selflessly helped.  Our son inspired others, usually in positive, creative, productive, meaningful ways.  He led and encouraged and loved those who were inexorably drawn to him.  Much like my father, Chris's grandfather, his Dzia Dzia, Christopher loved engaging everyone in friendly & lively conversation. No one remained a stranger to our son for long.  Our progeny made everyone feel comfortable and welcomed when he was around them.  If you were having a bad day or having a tough time, everyone in Charleston knew they could count on Christopher to help them feel better, to brighten their day.  It was a gift he had, and he gave generously, warmly, selflessly.  For those of you who did not live in Charleston, or who had not seen Christopher very much since he went to college there, our son did not tolerate fools, bullies, meanness, hatred, or racism.  The inequality, brutality and injustice he witnessed first hand this year, as he and other peaceful demonstrators were needlessly tear gassed, shot at, and attacked in-and-around Marion Square across Calhoun street from where he worked at Big Gun, deeply upset our son, and he was struggling to find ways to make his community a better place for everyone.  

He was real, genuine, caring, confident (sometimes overconfident), fearless, fierce, and loving.  Whether you knew him as Chris, Christopher, little Uzbek, Casmir, Nathan Jr, C Papa, or Papa Prolowski, your life was better, enriched, for having known him.   There will never be another Christopher Joseph, but we all can continue to carry part of him within us, his indomitable spirit, on our journeys through life, putting our best effort forward, helping others, rooting for the under-dog, trying to be a good human, and make the world a better place for everyone.  

Losing my son, is the hardest, most difficult thing I've ever had to endure.  Knowing I will never hear his voice again, be able to hug him, play drums with him, travel with him, get a text from him, laugh with him, build and repair things with him, ride bikes with him, share books and music and art with him, trade dad jokes with him,  build sand castles and sand sculptures, walk on the beach and swim in the ocean or sail with him, open Christmas presents with him, see a concert with him, practice yoga or speak French with him, watch a Chicago team usually lose a game on TV with him,  enjoy a delicious meal and savor a good bottle of wine with him, change flat tires or oil with him, go to Costco with him, hike and rock parkour and climb mountains with him, sip a glass of fine quality whiskey with him, dance at weddings with him, watch Raising Arizona with him... these things and so many more, a lifetime more, are memories now.  Christopher would want us to all go on with life, doing the best we can, listening to and genuinely caring about others, helping the helpless, the little guy, the disenfranchised, assisting those in need.  So even though this is the hardest, most difficult thing, we'll do the best we can, as Christopher would want us to, would expect us to do.

What If It Was "Red Lives Matter" Instead?

As a son of European immigrants, and a white male who was born and raised in Northern Indiana, lived & worked in IN, SC, AZ and now California, and who has lived more than 1/2 a century, I've seen many parts of the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia.  I've had countless civil conversations with men and women of various economic groups, ethnicities, ages, religions, and political affiliations, and usually I've learned something from each of those interactions.

When some of my high school friends embraced right wing politics during or after college, I did not follow them, and scratched my head as to what led them down that path?  When some of my high school friends embraced progressive, socialist, left wing or anarchistic ideologies in college or thereafter, I was busy raising a toddler and being the sole bread winner in my new family's household.  I could relate to the empathy my left leaning friends had for the under-dog, the little guy, the disadvantaged, forgotten, and under-class of society, since I grew up fairly poor myself.

My maternal grandmother would get government cheese at the Senior Center.

At one time in my childhood, my parents applied for food stamps when my father was laid off from Rand McNally as they closed their Hammond IN book printing facility, and dad could not find gainful employment to support the family.  We didn't get it, because we owned a home (with a substantial mortgage) and an old high mileage Pontiac Bonneville that dad used to get to work and then look for jobs when I was in Jr High School. But I understood what it was like to be poor, eat saltines for lunch at school, wear only hand-me-downs, and rely upon my maternal grandparents for food.  I never got an allowance, and didn't understand why any parent would just give their child money that was un-earned.  I had a paper route in 6th and 7th grades, delivering Chicago Tribune, Sun Times, and WSJ to a 8 square block area every morning, rain or shine, on my Schwinn banana seat bike - the Sunday edition of the Tribune was MASSIVE.  So I have first-hand experience with pulling myself up by my "boot straps", having had nothing handed to me or my family from the state or federal government.  But my father was able to get a loan for his house in a majority blue collar suburb of Chicago, where lots of Poles, Slavs, Germans, Hungarians, Irish, Hispanic, Italians, and Scandinavians lived.  He got a unionized job in a book bindery before I was born, and for most of my childhood, we were in pretty good shape.

Just a few miles away, in Gary IN, most of the city was not in very good shape economically.  The steel mills all began to close in the 1980s, and the tax revenues dried up in Gary, Easy Chicago, Hammond, and Whiting.  Street lights, traffic signals, and general infrastructure broke down and didn't get repaired.  The majority of Gary entered an economic malaise from which they've never really recovered.  The majority of Gary was also African American.  But what if the majority of Gary's citizens, instead of being African American, were caucasian and all had red hair?  I know this might sound silly or absurd, but give me a minute or two to explain.

Since Memorial Day 2020, when George Floyd was publicly murdered by Minneapolis police and recorded by civilians as it happened, all 50 states in the US, and many countries around the world, have seen widespread public protests against racism and police brutality against black and brown people.  What if George Floyd, instead of being a large man who was a former NCAA basketball playing African American, was a large red haired caucasian?  And what if every black and brown person who have been beaten or killed or wrongly convicted by the legal system had red hair and white (probably freckled) skin?


Hold that thought in your head for a moment.  Replace "black skin" with "red hair and white skin".  You can certainly SEE that someone has red hair, up-close, or from far away.  Many of them are originally from Scotland, Ireland, or Scandinavian countries, where the genes for red hair are not rare.  Red haired folks are no different than brown haired, black haired, blond haired, or gray haired folks, but you can immediately see that they've got red hair.  Take off a red haired person's hat, and there is no ambiguity that they are indeed red haired.  Many red haired men often grow beards, which show off their red hair even more.

As I kept hearing "all lives matter", and "blue lives matter" and white folks call in to shows on the radio (NPR) say "you have to first acknowledge there's discrimination AGAINST white people, before we can talk about black lives matter" it began to become very clear to me.  Many white people have a BIG problem with the word "black" because of the systemic racism within their narrow view of society in which they were raised and have been living their whole lives, racism that Most of them are not consciously aware that they are practicing.  So imagine a world for a moment, where there were NO BLACK PEOPLE, whatsoever, and probably no brown people either, for this analogy to work and make sense for the white people who read it.  Instead of African Americans being the most discriminated and disadvantaged folks in the United States, RED HAIRED folks took their place.

Think about that, for minute, especially if you're white.

Say that all red haired folks couldn't get VA loans when they left the military, because of the color of their hair.  They couldn't live in nice neighborhoods, without the KKK burning crosses in their lawns, throwing bricks through their windows, and hanging nooses from their trees.  Red haired folks were denied job interviews, jobs, home loans, entry into the best schools, entry into non-red-haired "christian" churches in the Southern United States. They were severely beaten and hospitalized when walking their girl friend home at 3am in Charleston by 5 blond and brown haired guys wearing College of Charleston shirts. Imagine that Red haired folks had been brought to the US in chains from Scotland and Ireland and Scandinavia and forced to work as slaves on cotton, tobacco, rice, and sugar plantations, mostly in the South, but some in the rest of the country as well.  When red haired kids tried to enter segregated public schools in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi they had police dogs set on them, were fire hosed, and beaten, all because of the color of their hair.

What if red haired folks created better music, more meaningful and soulful and powerful lyrics and rhythms, that they called blues, jazz, gospel and many other genres that blond and brown and black haired artists appropriated, imitated, and played for blond and brown and black and gray haired crowds in bars and concert halls and churches, where red haired folks were not allowed to enter?  What if blond and brown and black haired daughters liked red haired boys, but were forbidden to hang out with or date those red haired boys?  What if the N word was replaced with the G word (ginger)?  And one red haired person could call another red haired person the G word, but no one else was allowed to use it in conversation, in a tweet, on-air broadcasts, in social media, or anywhere else without repercussions?

What if, in the Fortune 500 companies, there were only 4 red haired CEOs, even though red haired folks comprised more than 10% of the US population?  What if red haired folks were 2.5X more likely to die from Covid-19 infections than their blond, black, brown, and gray haired counterparts?  Because of the systemic fear, structural racism, and discrimination against red haired folks, a large percentage of them worked in lower paying service professions, like security guard, bus driver, janitor, short haul truck driver, and health care assistants, and during periods of economic downturns, they were impacted disproportionately to their size in the general population?  What if the relatively few economically successful red haired folks who were judges, US senators, plant managers, or PhD scholars were routinely hassled and scrutinized, delayed by police, security guards, TSA, and retail store loss prevention personnel? "Why is a red haired person like you driving this really nice car?"

If you were a police officer (city or county) in this all white society where red haired folks were routinely discriminated against, you might be fearful of those citizens with red hair.  They have "fiery tempers" after all, and everyone knows "red haired women are trouble" while all non-red haired men know that many red haired women are "crazy".  Broken tail light, failure to use a turn signal, "fitting the description" of a red haired suspect... all of these would be opportunities to pull over a red haired driver, interrogate them - often rudely and with excessive force - and take them in for further questioning when the red haired driver, who was minding their own business and usually did nothing wrong, began to get irritated that they're being hassled for no reason whatsoever... oh... wait... yeah, they have Red Hair.  In the eyes of many of the blond, brown, black, and gray haired officers, most red haired folks "all look alike".

What if in Tulsa OK on Memorial Day 1921, the most prosperous part of the city, known as "Red Wall Street", 35 square blocks, was looted and then burnt down by non-red haired people, while Army Air Corp biplanes dropped petrol bombs on the district, with more than 400 red haired men, women, and children, massacred?  (without a single prosecution, and with zero insurance claims paid)  What if in Chicago Illinois, on the Lake Michigan lake-front beach in 1919, a red haired teenager swam over to the non-red-haired beach, across an imaginary line, that got him stoned to death by all the non-red swimmers?  And then the non-red swimmers went on a rampage killing 150 red haired citizens, and burnt down 1.1 billion dollars worth of red-haired owned homes and businesses in Chicago?  What if all red haired men were called "boy" or "uncle", instead of "mister" or "sir" when they were spoken to by someone with blond, brown, or black hair.

So if you personally have a problem with the phrase "Black Lives Matter", as I first did many years ago the first few times I heard it in my 40s, where I kept telling myself "no, all lives matter, not just black ones" ... then you really should stop for a moment, replace "Black" with "Red" and remember this context.  Think about the analogy I make here, about a country where everyone is white (no black or brown people whatsoever), but the red haired citizens consistently the short end of the stick, a raw deal, a violent and forceful shove back down the ladder of success by all the other citizens who don't have red hair.  Even if they have boot straps, the systematic barriers non-red society has repeatedly placed in their way have made it remarkably hard for the vast majority of red haired folks to succeed, prosper, and be on equal footing under the US Constitution, after the 13th Amendment was passed in December 1865, just 155 years ago.

If reading this has changed even one person's mind or opened their eyes to the reality that the majority of African Americans live in the United States are subject to just because of the color of their skin, then it was worth writing.

Note:  I have many red haired friends, former class mates, colleagues, acquaintances and neighbors.  All of whom are nice people.  I hope such discrimination and anti-red-haired hatred is never focused upon them, as stated in this analogy.  I was going to try "blue eyes" or "bald" or "left handed" but none of those aspects are instantly recognizable, from afar or by law enforcement officers, so I kept coming back to red hair in my mind.

I just have some extra lemons...

There's a local neighborhood social media platform called Next-door.com, which I renamed "complaining-neighbors.com" since the vast majority of posts on it in here in Southern California has traditionally been neighbors complaining about:

- dogs owners letting their dogs poop in other people's yards

- dog owners not picking up after their pets

- cars driving too fast near schools

- occasional helicopters circling a neighborhood

- cars being broken into that homeowners leave unlocked in their driveways

- packages being stolen off of front porches

- rattlesnakes being found in a large planter, or on a hiking path, or in someone's garage

- really loud music blasting late at night from a party where the parents are not home

- graffiti somewhere in the city

- drivers who cut you off or drive recklessly or who don't know how to turn on a double-lane turn

- strangers walking around the neighborhood or sitting in vehicles on residential streets who don't live there

- unleashed dogs attacking leashed dogs on walking trails

- coyotes attacking any dog that's smaller than a coyote

... that kind of thing.  Sometimes there are nice posts of someone who needs moving boxes, or someone who needs a heavy piece of furniture moved or picked up, or to borrow a ladder or wheelbarrow or other tool.  Over the years there have been lost pet posts, please adopt this dog or cat posts, seeking a pet sitter posts.. and that genre of neighborhood communication.  But nearly all of that has changed.

When the malignant narcissist was installed by the United State's electoral college after losing the popular vote in 2016, I significantly decreased the frequency that I ever visited the Book Face (or FaceBook as most people call it), because I was sick and tired of all the Russian bot generated fake news with inflammatory headlines designed to enrage whoever clicked on them. Troll bots drove massive amounts of traffic and eye ball exposure to misleading, or fabricated, or out-of-context "news stories" that so many devoted followers clicked on, and liked, or shared, and propagated faster than Covid-19 is currently spreading around the world.  I did NOT want any part of that, and trying to fend it off or combat it, or explain why it was incorrect was becoming an enormous waste of time.  So I withdrew from that battlefield (yes, the Book Face IS a battlefield, fighting for your attention, surveilling your data and preferences, plotting to try and sell you ads for stuff you don't want, while also re-selling your data to retailers and big data research firms to make even MORE money off of your "free" account - and their Instagram acquisition is no better.  It just has prettier pictures most of the time).

Around that time, Dr Desert Flower and I had just moved into a house in a new neighborhood, in a new city a few months before, and one of the realtors who lived in the neighborhood was the administrator of the local community Next-door site.  I signed up and created an account for DDF and I, and we "welcomed" other new neighbors, got to know several of the people who lived around us, donated our moving boxes to people who needed them, and even eventually adopted a pet who was posted on Nextdoor as being in need of a home.  

Gradually, as the malignant narcissist out lasted the Mueller investigation, and then the Republican Senate refused to convict the impeached president, I noticed that the posts and the comments on Nextdoor.com became increasingly political, aggressively confrontational, angry, and nasty.  "Mean spirited" does no begin to describe the vitriol that so many neighbors readily spouted on the site.  MAGA themes, and anti-MAGA themes pervaded any kind of post you could imagine, even ones that had NOTHING to do with politics.  Emboldened by the "new normal" that the White House had established in bullying, criticizing, using hate speech, being openly racist, without any repercussions, fans of the president found fertile ground in which to plant their ideologies.  Liberals and progressives would often provoke them - inadvertently often or overtly sometimes - and stoke the hate and anger to completely uncivilized levels of disgusting discourse.  

Then, the Covid-19 shelter-in-place orders came out, first from governors who needed to take action without any coherent leadership from the deniers in the White House.  Then, the White House issued the "president's guidelines" for how to stay safe in the pandemic by mailing everyone post cards 2ith instructions that just a few weeks before the malignant narcissist had been mocking.  Once the States were in quarantine, and everyone was home with ample time on their hands, the flood gates - which had been LEAKING terribly - burst wide open.  

Nextdoor became a full-on platform for those who were taking self-isolation and shelter-in-place to the strictest levels began railing on anyone they saw outside on the street or sidewalk as a public menace if that person or persons did not meet their level of sterile precautions.  The MAGA fans exploded back in hostile retribution telling those who criticized them where they could go and where they could stick things.  Moderators (like the realtor who admins our neighborhood site) now had a FULL TIME job taking down postings that were erupting with neighbors screaming at each other, injecting politics and personal beliefs into any and every posting imaginable.  

Posts like:

a) does anyone know when the city will open the hiking trails again?

or

b) the condos across the main road have 2 Covid cases in them, the City posted it on everyone's doors

or

c) does anyone have an extension ladder I could borrow on Saturday?

or

d) My son and daughter-in-law are stuck in Peru where the cruise ship they were on is quarantined; does anyone know how I can get them back home? 

or

e) I have some extra lemons, if anyone would like a few, our tree made so many 

... devolved, within 3 to 5 replies, to "that's the whole problem with you libertards!" or "it's the president you voted for who killed my uncle by not implementing a national plan!"  or "why don't you create a database that tracks everyone's health, doctor visits, cough, sniffles, and Rxs in the whole neighborhood?"

The little old lady just had some extra lemons... she was not trying to start an armed conflict.  

And it is not just down here in San Diego County.  Our friends in Orange County have noticed the same thing, perhaps even worse.  Our civil society isn't.  Civil discourse is dead.  Everyone is too angry and hateful, entrenched in there own camp, fed by Fox News and MSNBC, OAN and Talking Points Memo, Brietbart and The Raw Story, Drudge Report and The Washington Post, The New York Times and Gawker, Politico and The Washington Examiner.

I've been telling people who I know that there will very likely be an ugly American civil war if the 45th president loses in November 2020 and refuses to step down, or calls the election "rigged" (as he did in 2016), and possibly declares Marshal Law as violence rises in both red and blue states, minorities and outspoken voices of reason, and those who are not wearing the right 'patriotic' colors  are lynched, hospitalized, or disappear.  Most people scoff at such a notion, and say "things won't get to that level."  But look how QUICKLY Nextdoor spiraled downward.  Neighborhood residents CANNOT Fake profiles or Hide as an anonymous troll on Nextdoor.  It is a verified, regulated, moderated site, where Open Discourse is supposed to be the norm.  Open, civilized discourse.

It will not take much to go from Complainingneighbors.com to Violentneighbors.com or WeKNOWwhereyoulive.com, by ideologues who have forgotten how to discuss facts, respectfully, and politely.  

An Empty LA

The new video by Maynard of Tool, on his side project Puscifer, published Apocalyptical yesterday.  (thanks to my buddy Ryan for the head's up).  It shows a completely empty Los Angeles.  I've been to the Staples Center.  It's in a very busy section of the city.   https://youtu.be/Hj_bTbfAEsc


A skateboarder in a level 4 haz mat suit, drone footage of streets, parking lots, beaches, all devoid of human life in frame after frame.  Granted, these might have been taken near dawn on a cloudy day (so you can't see shadows) but it is eerie how empty the streets are in America's 2nd largest city.

Those Southern states who are opening back up with little or no restrictions, I wish your health care systems and morticians all the best, as your elderly, cancer patients, diabetics, hypertensives, morbidly obese, immuno-compromised, the weakest of "the herd" say their good byes to their families (if they still have any) through FaceTime or panes of glass before they expire.  No, Covid-19 is not a hoax.  It's not some conspiracy created by hospitals to get more Medicare money. It's a global pandemic.

If you read this, and can't help yourself in angrily (or snarkily) responding to me, your comments will be published and mocked.

Top 22 Drummers 2019 Update

Eleven years ago, I created a post about my favorite top 22 drummers.  I tried updating it recently, and apparently Google Blogger doesn't want anything older than a few years to be updated, because all I get is "sign in" when I try to edit it, regardless of how many times I am already signed in.  So it's time to update it.

Removed is Carl Palmer...  since he was very sloppy, and not a role model for precision drumming.  Also removed is Alex Van Halen, since he's part of a family that are rather douchey to anyone who are not Van Halens by birth.  Added are my childhood drum teacher Larry Mysliwiec and Vinnie Paul (RIP) from Pantera who played millions of beats every week faster and more precise than I could ever hope to play.  Also, swapped are Neil Peart and Danny Carey, since Neil's more recent work is not 1/2 as good as his 70s and 80s work, and Danny... well... Danny is precise, mic'ed well, appropriate, intense, creative, and one of the hardest drummers to imitate / replicate.

Joe's Top 22 Drummers

1. Danny Carey
2. Stewart Copeland
3. John Bonham
4. Neil Peart 
5. Bill Bruford
6. Mike Giles
7. Gene Krupa (...and he was Polish!)
8. Terry Bozzio
9. Chad Sexton
10. Larry Mysliwiec
11. John Dolmayan
12. Tim Alexander
13. Alan White
14. John Densmore
15. Stephen Perkins
16. Keith Moon
17. Anton Fig
18. Tre Cool
19. Dave Hartman
20. Dave Grohl
21. Matt Cameron
22. Vinnie Paul

And almost made the list:
Chic Corea but he's a Scientologist, so he falls off.
Buddy Rich, because he personally was an asshole to me at River Oaks in 1985 when he played a free concert there
Aynsley Dunbar; yes he played for Zappa, but he also played for Whitesnake, Hagar, and others of less than stellar repute.

I've amended the list, due to vocal criticism, but I shall have to endure the fatwa.

Marketing Failure As Success

Fareed Zakaria's GPS program this morning said it best.
Link here: https://www.arcamax.com/politics/fromtheleft/fareedzakaria/s-2084130
"Trump's true talent is marketing failure as success"

I really cannot add anything more than Fareed's succinct summary here.

Why Umerikuns fall for this immoral, misogynistic, sophomoric, bombastic, uncurious, ignorant, narcissistic, illiterate, con man's rhetoric, is beyond my comprehension.

Analytics & Payroll loses to Talent & Drive

Congratulations to the Houston Astros for their victory in the 2017 MLB World Series game seven last night.  I live in Southern California, but I've not embraced the SD Padres as my "home team" yet, since I am a life-long Chicago Cubs fan.  The Cubs won last year...  after 108 years of trying... which apparently opened a trans dimensional portal that let a racist, xenophobic, ignorant, non-reading 10 year old in a 70 year old's carcass, with Vladimir Putin's direct assistance, become President of the United States.  The Cubs can wait another few dozen years before trying to win again - I don't want them to become the universally hated NY Yankees who have been to 40 of the 113 World Series (winning 27 of them).  The Houston Astros had never won a World Series, and it'd been 55 years since they were formed as a team...  so it was about time (even though I will ALWAYS think of the Astros as a National League team, as they've been the majority of my 1/2 century of life).

My actual Cub's hat, bought before they won the World Series in 2016

While the Houston Astros Did rely partly upon analytics, they had been drafting and recruiting some of the best players in major league baseball for years.  They wanted it.  They worked hard for it.  And their manager "could talk analytics all day long, but more often went with his gut and what the situation required" (I heard during Game 6's broadcast, Joe Buck saying it, I think).  The Brooklyn Dodgers... I mean LA Dodgers, paid millions of dollars for analytics, had The Largest payroll in all of MLB, were in the 2nd largest media market, but had worked out a despicable cable deal that MOST of the Dodgers home games Could Not Be Televised in LA when the stadium in Chavez Ravine that seats 56,000 was not sold out - the largest stadium in all of MLB, beating the damn Yankees by 3000 seats.  When the camera panned over the crowds during foul balls, you could see 1/3rd of the most expensive box seats showing EMPTY blue seat backs during Game Seven of the World Series!  EMPTY Seats!?!?  Wrigley Field only had empty seats during the World Series in 2016 from people using the bathroom, and it was < < much less than 5% of all box seats, even when some of those seats were going for $2000 each.

Thanks Jen for the gif!

So the Cubs had been the proverbial underdogs, and they won last year.  The Astros were the underdogs this year, and they won.  I'm a habitual under-dog supporter...  which I partially attribute to going to more than a dozen games at Wrigley as a kid (two of the three games I went to at Comiskey Park ended up with our vehicle being broken into... and the third one, my older brother and his friends picked up a Ford Escort and turned it 90 degrees onto the side walk so that our car would fit... they were very big boys).

Now,  you maybe asking yourself: "Why does JustJoeP oppose analytics so much?" Well, I credit that to my 20 years of working at one of the world's largest companies, where we made model after model to predict how the systems and components would perform in the field, how well they would be able to be repaired, how many times they could be repaired, when they'd need to be repaired, and when they would stop working for our customers.  It was Big Data, little data, good data, bad data. comprehensive data, partial data... and all that data was scrutinized by dozens of mathematics PhDs, data analysts, and engineers to come up with complex analytics that were supposed to add tremendous value, both for the company I worked for And for their customers.  Sadly, after more than a decade of trying to apply these analytics, revising and revising them, combing and scrutinizing the data and transfer functions repeatedly... the analytics Could Not Replace subject matter expertise; AKA experience.

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) like myself were leveraged to make better models, sort & parse data, review repair reports, outage reports, customer issues, design reviews, root cause analysis... but no matter how hard we tried, and how many times we revised models, they still were far off the mark, much too conservative, or far too liberal, rarely ever accurate on predicting reality.  It was a Very Complex environment, with a very complex product and no two customers were the same or operated identically, that the analytic models Could Not Cope With the all of the Variation accurately - much like MLB!  Sure, if you start and stop very few times, and operate in a gingerly, gentle, non-stressful mode, the models worked marvelously!  But that was less than 5% of the all the customers, so the models and their predictions were virtually worthless in the big picture.   But saying that, admitting it publicly, was as deadly as saying that the Emperor had no clothes, when 99.997% of the sycophants had been telling the Emperor how amazing and awesome his clothes really were.

On a post-script, I do not and will not watch Wisdom of the Crowd as Crowds, by definition, are pretty emotional, stupid / ignorant / misinformed, reactionary, and prone to herd mentality.  Similarly, the same goes for the majority of analytics.  In limited applications, for narrow goals, Big Data Can Be useful, and perhaps partially accurate.  But in the Vast Majority of situations, applications, and concepts, data analytics usually don't have accurate predictions or reliable results.  Junk in = junk out.  Getting all the data "in" to be pristine, relevant, and representative of what is going to happen in the future is expensive, time consuming, and virtually impossible.  Anyone who tells you differently, is lying.

Geography Still Doesn't Matter in a Dragon Based Economy

Last month, I stated that "Geography Doesn't Matter in a Dragon Based Economy" (link here).  Euron's fleet and Daenerys Targaryen's fleets occupied the same space in the Season 7 opening episode of GoT, and not a single mention of it was made in the show despite the Narrow Sea and the close proximity of Dragonstone to Kings Landing.

(if you have not watched any of Season 7 and want to avoid spoilers, stop reading now)

Horizon of Dothraki 

The 2nd episode had Euron's Iron Island fleet mysteriously SURPRISE and DESTROY Daenerys's renegade Greyjoy fleet and apparently All the armies of Dorne who were aboard as well, AT NIGHT, with very few casualties among Euron's angry bunch, which was farcical for multiple reasons.  Euron's flagship finds Yara Greyjoy's flagship, undetected, without any warning, raids it, kills or imprisons everyone on it, and sinks it, in the middle of 1000s of ships (no radar, no satellites, no infrared... yet 100% successful for despicable & revolting Euron).  None of the Dorne soldiers apparently survived... but Dorne is a much larger and formidable force & geographic area than the tiny pugnacious Iron Islands.  Instead of firing a bunch of arrows into Then as he jumps over board, they sail away and just let him bob in the cold water...  all ridiculous aspects of an otherwise well written, acted, and presented television show.

Silly Scorpion, Don't Aggravate A Full Grown Wyvern

Last night's episode (#4 in the 7th season) DID FINALLY bring out the wyverns (remember, they're technically NOT dragons since they lack front legs / limbs) directly into a battle, unleashing the full fury of organic napalm delivered from the throat of a very angry, full grown Drogons.  I loved the "Smaug moment" Drogons had when Jaime's Lannister archers let loose a volley of arrows that harmlessly bounced off Drogons underbelly scales.

Silly Human Archers

But the reason I have reiterated that "geography doesn't matter" is because of the episode ending where Jaime is knocked from his horse (apparently by the flame resistant Bronn who has repeatedly saved Jaime's behind) and he falls, slowly dragged to the bottom of a very deep body of water, by his gold hand and his heavy plate mail armor.  Well, if you're going to arrange for a very deep drowning pool to be part of the plot, you can't have a gentle slope of meadow grass tapering off at the water's edge.  Such a gentle slop would have made the water 1 or 2 feet deep MAX where Jaime was knocked from his horse, 1/2 a second before the running equine was turned into ash by the wounded and angry Drogons' fire.  One or two feet deep, and muddy, would have been the "water" that Jaime fell into, after charging the wyvern & Daenerys with his steed and spear at a full tilt (while his little brother pleads from the hill top, futilely, that Jaime flee, instead).

Little Brother's insight, not heeded by older brother

Is Jaime dead?  Did he drown, dragged down by his armor and gold hand?  He should be.  If he's not, when he surfaces, he'll be a crunchy treat for Drogons, who has not yet been fed this season (on camera).  So wether he drowned in an impossibly deep body of water that should have been 2 feet deep at most near the bank where he fell in, or he surfaces and gets eaten, it doesn't matter.

Why do I care at all about geography, when there are witches, 3-eyed ravens, white walkers, wyverns,  resurrected zombies like The Mountain, and a flame-proof Daenerys inter-woven into the story?  Because geography matters.  Geography anchors the reference frame, it provides logical context, to is the foundation upon which the rest of the "world" from H R R Martin or anyone else can exists, function, facilitate commerce, livelihoods for the citizens of that world... so that it can be believable.  Throw in the magic and mythical creatures, and that makes it more exciting to the readers / watchers. But make a gentle sloping river bank lead to a DEEP Sudden Ledge of a drowning pool... make a bay so narrow that it cannot hold thousands of ships that couldn't see each other... it creates a landscape with so many unknowns that the watcher / reader doesn't know if Up is Down, left is right, gradual is sudden, light is dark, etc.


In Avatar, they had floating geography, that the "unobtainium" caused to hover above the planet's surface, sure.  But the "unobtainium" was intrinsic to the plot, it was Why the humans were mining the planet and disturbing the entire eco-system.  The viewer could suspend disbelief because of how central the geographic features were to the viability of the plot.  In GoT, the geographic anomalies keep getting in the way, making the world of Westeros into a farce instead of a fantasy realm.

Enough said... now it's time for me to make some dinner.

Remember, Everything 45 Says Is A Lie

For American adults who are aware of politics, or follow election results and what happens in Washington DC after elections, 2017 has been a very bizarre, chaotic, inconsistent year so far, and it shows no signs of getting better.  I preface this with "American adults" because as kids, or even as teenagers or in my very early 20s, I really didn't pay any attention to what was happening politically in my state (Indiana and then South Carolina, both were led by Democrats back then) or in the nation's capital for that matter.  It was only after my son was school aged, and came home from parochial school during the Bill Clinton administration asking me 'why do people have abortions?' and 'what's a blow job?' that I began to pay more attention to who was running, why I should vote for them or against them, and what they might do once in office.

After we moved to Arizona in 2007 (10 years ago, yep), began this blog in 2008 at my friend Ron's recommendation, and then moved to California in 2012, I increasingly began to pay more attention, to filter out shrill voices, hyperbole, and nonsense, and embraced my own informed opinions about politics, our elected leaders, Congressional Oversight, and Constitutional checks and balances.  Visiting China, India, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Suisse, Austria, Australia, Romania, Poland, the Netherlands, UAE, Spain, Mexico, Canada, and Scotland for work also helped my perspective to compare parliamentary systems, command economies, and different versions of democracies with various levels of transparency, corruption, effectiveness, and quality-of-life for their citizens.  While some of my friends, 1/2 of my family, and many visitors to this blog may not agree with my view points and positions, I consider myself to be better informed than most Americans, and at least as informed about about American politics as a citizen of any of the developed nations I just mentioned (most non-Americans know far more about American politics than the average American, by at least one standard deviation on the curve).

So with that preamble, as I was trying to make sense of the election last November, and the aftermath and consequences it has led to in the subsequent months, with all the "disruption" and "chaos", the illogical choices and downright stupidity that has been unearthed, I no longer try and see a pattern or a reason behind anything except for these following 2 principles:

1) Everything that President Drumpf says (Drumpf is his real name, he got from his father, just like all the seed money daddy gave him) is a lie, or at best, a gross exaggeration.  He is incapable of telling the truth, except by accident - give a million monkeys a million type writers, and eventually one of them will type out a coherent sentence or two.  He is a habitual liar (pseudologia fantastica or mythomania) who believes himself a "disrupter".  Facts, reality, and the truth have no influence upon his actions or what comes out of his mouth.  Think of Jon Lovitz on SNL, and the Tommy Flanagan character he played where he was incapable of telling the truth.  That's who 49% of America elected.  When Donald accidentally tells the truth, he still thinks he is lying, or that there's a thread of obfuscation in there somewhere but in his perspective, the person he is speaking to is not bright enough to figure it out.  Everything he tweets, everything he says in interviews, everything he says in public, it's all a lie, or a gross exaggeration.

2) While he didn't think he was going to win the election, and he is completely unprepared to be chief executive of a local water district much less the largest economy in the world with the most powerful military the world has ever seen, he HAS and WILL take full advantage of his unexpected position of power to enrich his own coffers, empower his family and friends, and rake in as much money as quickly as possible, before anyone figures out just how corrupt 45's executive branch really is.  He doesn't want Putin to be the only plutocrat to be worth 60+ Billion dollars.  Heck, 45 doesn't even have 1/2 a billion to his name, or he would have proudly shown his tax returns, like a 4th grader who signs his name for mommy and daddy to see "look what I signed!".  Mark Cuban, a real billionaire (+3 Billion, with a "B") estimated that Drumpf's worth is probably south of 75 million dollars, and perhaps closer to as little as 25 or 50 million when all is said an done.  Drumpf doesn't want to "Make America Great Again".  No, America was already great.  He wants to enrich his own family's wealth and the wealth of his friends.  That's why he's appointed such incompetent-and-or-corrupt heads of agencies who want to dismantle the agencies they run.

Keep these two things in mind, and you won't be confused or shocked or aghast at what you see or hear in the news.  I've found that they help me tremendously, daily, or even several times a day on some days.

45 doesn't care about facts, or science, or helping the little guy, or being a "populist", or what is right or wrong.  He cares only about his own image,  his own self aggrandized "brand", which has become synonymous with corruption, incompetence, made-in-China goods, bluster, and a longing for a return to the 1950s by Americans who enjoyed outstanding economic growth and social privileges in that era (and to everyone else who was a 2nd class US citizen or not in the US at that time, too bad; "get him outta here!").

Confused & Self Loathing, Not a Terrorist

The scared, self-hating, confused little boy who used to be named Omar Mateen was NOT a terrorist.

He was
- a former physical abuser of his ex-wife, before their marriage failed and ended in divorce
- an openly angry and expressive of disgust when with his father in Miami when he and his father saw two men kissing and the son became outraged that men would do that
- a Grindr profile user, where several users blocked him because he was 'creepy' (as I just heard on All In with Chris Hayes)
- a Jack'd profile user (yet Another Gay Men's chat and dating website)
- a frequent visitor to The Pulse night club in Orlando before he went on a killing spree in the early morning of June 12th, right after 'last call' at 2am, armed with a legally purchased AR-15
- completely ignorant of the dichotomy, animus, and outright armed hostilities between Hezbollah (fundamentalist Shiites in Lebanon) and ISIS / ISIL  (fundamentalist Sunnis in Iraq & Syria) when this confused & stupid little boy called Orlando 911 and 'pledged his loyalty to ISIS', AND Hezbollah,  AND the AL Qaeda inspired Tsarnaev brothers of the Boston Bombing.  When you DO NOT understand the centuries long hatred and conflict between the diametrically opposed groups such as Hezbollah and ISIS, and you claim allegiance with BOTH of them, you're ignorant, a fool, and incredibly desperate for someone, ANYONE, to like you, claim you, want to support you.
- A natural born US citizen (Queens NY), not an immigrant
- formerly on the TSA No Fly list & investigated by the FBI after he bragged at work (as a security guard) that he knew the Boston Marathon bombers, that he knew people in ISIS, and that he was a big deal among terrorist organizations [the FBI investigated this little punk Mateen for 10 months, interviewed him with an under-cover agent, and then had 2 formal interviews with him, before finally finding he was 'all talk' and had no actual affiliations to any organizations]

Granted, much of what comes out as "News Coverage" immediately following such horrific and despicable acts is frequently inaccurate.  But it has been 36 hours, and Actual Journalists like Chris Hayes are on the scene, interviewing people who had friends killed, who had been at the night club before the shooting, who had talked to this turd Mateen on gay men's hook-up aps, and the stories are being reported in the LA Times, Washington Post, and other reputable, researched, long-standing journalistic sources.  Even the shooter's own father has told reporters that his son was not stable and angrily blew up when he saw openly expressive gay people with public displays of affection. Nobody ever loved nor will ever love dead Omar.

So wether it is a public marathon in Boston, an African American church in Charleston, a Californian social worker office, an armored US Army Texas military base (Ft Hood), or an elementary school in Connecticut, each of these delusional, hateful, fearful, unloved, incapable-of-loving, heavily armed, NRA endorsed, socially out-cast, social rejects continue to inflict pain and sorrow upon American citizens who have DONE NOTHING to them.  Meanwhile, complete dumbasses like Drumpf try to say they "predicted" this, and thank themselves for their inaccurate self-proclaimed false prescience.

Congratulations to Walmart & Dick's Sporting Goods for no longer selling AR-15s (following Sandy Hook, and the potential of class action law suits and horrible publicity).  Shame on every other gun dealer, gun show participant, re-seller, and NRA stalwart who continues to try and defend "the right" for every miscreant, dumbass, and confused little boy in America to buy & own assault weapons.  What pathetic hunters and terribly inaccurate marksmen they must be! (I used to be qualified as a 'Sharpshooter" by the NRA, 35 years ago... and can still hold my own at a gun range [indoor or outdoor] with a BOLT Action rifle. A real man doesn't need a semi-auto nor automatic rifle to defend himself, period. Anyone who disagrees is compensating for their lack of marksmanship, or their inadequacies in the bed room or elsewhere.

Love will always over-rule fear and hatred.  Fear & hate are effective in the short term, but over the log term love will Always win out.

A Fearful America or a Strong Confident America?

Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a foreign policy speech yesterday in my own backyard, San Diego.  Her audience was full of supporters, many of whom were veterans and their families.  I DVR'ed the speech, and watched it over lunch today.

While I've not been a huge Hillary Clinton supporter, I did admire her unwithering and strong response to the Republican held marathon Benghazi hearings, which showed she was not culpable of anything nefarious in regards to the embassy attack there. Hillary Clinton's San Diego speech on June 2nd was factual, poignant, articulate and informative, even though it was somewhat nationalistic.

You can watch the entire speech here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWYsORT--e4
...and if you're not good at following links, you can just click on it at he bottom of this posting.

But what I will do, dear readers & visitors, is to list the factual gems that I took from the speech, the ones that really hit home, had impact, and (as I watched the video) brought the crowd to their feet.

"Smart & Principled Foreign Policy"

"Choice between a fearful America that's less secure and engaged with he world, and a strong, confident America"

"Donald Trump's (Drumpf's) ideas are not just different, they are dangerous incoherent. A series of bizarre rants, personal feuds, and out right lies."  [I Loved that quote]

"He is not just unprepared, he is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability, and immense responsibility."

"It's not hard to imagine Donald Trump (Drumpf) getting us into a war just because someone got under his Very Thin Skin."

"He says he doesn't have to listen to generals, admirals, ambassadors or diplomats, because he says, and I quote" 'I have a very good brain.'"

"He praises dictators."

"He says he has foreign policy experience because he ran the Miss Universe pageant in Russia."

"He says we are, and I quote: 'A third world country'"
[Having Just visited a third world country in April, I can refute that America is a 'third world country']

"We are not a country who cowers behind walls."

"Moscow and Beijing are deeply envious of our alliances around the world. They have nothing to match them."

"If Donald gets his way, they'll be celebrating in the Kremlin."

"We are lucky to have two friendly neighbors on our land borders; why would he want ti make one of them an enemy?"

"He said this about a war between North Korea and Japan, and I quote: 'If they do, they do; Good luck, enjoy yourselves folks.'"

"Our approach must be 'distrust and verify.'"

"There's no risk of people losing their lives if you blow up a golf course deal."

"He brings the following tools to the table: Bragging, mockery, and composing nasty tweets."

"I don't understand Donald Trump's (Drumpf's) fascination with dictators and strongmen who have no love for America.  He praises China for the Tiananmen massacre, saying it showed strength."

"He said if he was grading Vladimir Putin as a leader, he'd give him an A."

"I will leave it to the psychiatrists to explain his affection for tyrants."

"He said maybe Syria should be a free zone for ISIS?"  ... A Trump (Drumpf) presidency would embolden ISIS."

"This isn't reality television, this is actual reality."

"We cannot put the lives of our troops in Donald Trump's (Drumpf's) hands."

"During the raid to kill Bin Laden, our Seals took the time to move the women and children to safety. Donald Trump (Drumpf) may not get it, but that's what honor looks like."

"It matters when he
- makes fun of people with disabilities
- calls women pigs
- proposes banning an entire religion from our country
- or plays coy with white supremacists"

"America stands up to countries who treat women like animals, or different races, religions, or ethnicities as less human."

"Plenty of Muslims and immigrants serve and fight in our armed forces."

"Making the right call takes a cool head and respect FOR THE FACTS. It takes a willingness to listen to other peoples' points of view with a truly open mind. It also takes humility, knowing you don't know everything because if you are convinced you're always right, you'll never ask yourself the hard questions."

"Imagine Donald Trump (Drumpf) sending you spouses and children into battle."

"Imagine if he had not just his Twitter account, but America's entire arsenal. Do we want someone thin skinned and quick to anger who lashes out at the smallest criticism?"

"Every lesson from our history teaches us that we are stronger together. We remember that every Memorial Day."

"Two very different visions; angry, afraid, and based on the idea that America is fundamentally weak and in decline.  The other is hopeful, generous, and confident in the knowledge that America is great just as we always have been!"

I thought the speech was fact-filled, and addressed the FUNDAMENTAL difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Drumpf. One is an experience, rational thinker, and experienced diplomat - maybe I don't agree with everything she's done and stood for, but at least I know what those things are.  The other, is a thin skinned, egomaniacal failed business man who inherited his fortune from his rich daddy, and who has no filter on anything he says aloud or on Twitter.


I am somewhat sad that Bernie Sanders will probably not be the nominee for the Democrats, but it will probably help me more on my taxes that he's not the candidate, and, Hillary Clinton will likely get more done facing a Republican congress than Bernie Sanders would have been able to do.

If Donald J Drumpf wins, then this blog will stop in 2017 or 2018, once a post apocalyptic nuclear Winter descends on the northern hemisphere of the planet. Australia and New Zealand would becomeisolated quarantine zones where sheep and mankind live out the rest of their days breathing air through filters to avoid the heavier alpha particles that the jet streams will carry across the equator to rain down a slow radioactive death Down Under, while the Northern Hemisphere plays a day-to-day game of kill-or-be-killed in the smoldering ruins of what is left of North America, Europe, and most of Asia.

Childless Single Men Who Masterbate to Anime

I was watching Chris Hayes this evening, when one of his guests - Rick Wilson, Republican Strategist - said the following about the devout followers of Donald Trump:  "They are (for the most part) childless, single men, who masterbate to anime" .

It made me guffaw!  It made me rewind my DVR.  It made me howl!

19% of the American Electorate are white males over 35 years of age.   The majority of Trump supporters are also caucasian.   Ugh.

Veracity - Women Over 40

I heard this today... and found it to be uncannily accurate.  The quote was misattributed to Andy Rooney, when it is actually Frank Kaiser...  but it is still very true:

Women Over 40

http://www.cartalk.com/content/women-over-40-frank-kaiser

As I grow in age, I value women who are over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:

An older woman will never wake you in the middle of the night to ask,"What are you thinking?" She doesn't care what you think.

If an older woman doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do. And it's usually something more interesting.

An older woman knows herself well enough to be assured in who she is,what she is, what she wants and from whom.

Few women past the age of 40 give a damn what you might think about her or what she's doing.

Older women are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you if they think they can getaway with it.

Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated.

An older woman has the self-assurance to introduce you to her women friends. A younger woman with a man will often ignore even her best friend because she doesn't trust the guy with other women.

An older woman couldn't care less if you're attracted to her friends because she knows her friends won't betray her.

Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to an older woman. They always know.

An older woman looks good wearing bright red lipstick. This is not true of younger women or drag queens.

Once you get past a wrinkle or two, an older woman is far sexier than her younger counterpart.

Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off you are a jerk if you are acting like one. You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her.

Yes, we praise older women for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed hot woman of 40+, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himselfwith some 22-year-old waitress.

(Note: I own no yellow pants, and I leave my waiters and waitresses tips unmolested & without flirtation.  Also, note, I've never been shot)