Friday Odds 'n Ends

According to the local paper, today's high temp is forecast to be 76 degrees. Is this really February in Ohio? I can already hear endorsers of climate change screaming from the rooftops. For those people, I have one question: when the massive glaciers that covered North America melted away thousands of years ago, was that climate change also? Did mankind cause that event?

                                                                    *  *  *  *  *

Geico, the mega-insurance provider, is at it again. Their newest entry in the television advertising arena shows three thieves exiting an art museum with stolen loot; their getaway ride is an Uber vehicle which is late in arriving and, of course, they're apprehended by police. The rub?

All three of the criminals are portrayed by Caucasian males.

Geico joins ADT, Lifelock and a handful of other companies whose portrayal of criminals in ad spots are white dudes. Every time. No Hispanics, Chinese or African Americans....not even a female. As a retired police officer, I can assure you that not every single criminal is a white male. Another instance of political-correctness-gone-wild? Mind you, I'm not complaining...I just find it funny/ridiculous.

Then there's the commercial featuring a guy named Nick Bolton, dressed in a tan fatigue t-shirt and camo pants, endorsing a multi-function, high-intensity mini flashlight. In this entry, he even runs over the light in a Hummer and says that it is very similar to those lights that are used in 'tactical' situations. Here's a fact: even though his manner of dress and use of military/police jargon leads the average viewer to think so, Bolton never served in the military; he's a firefighter-turned-fitness model.

Then there's the commercial's allegation that the light will scare the beejeebies out of a burglar stealing your wife's jewelry or a guy lurking on a dark porch as if preparing to break in when the light is used in a rapidly-flashing strobe mode. Particularly ridiculous in this ad is the scene where the man of the house is awakened by his spouse, presumptively after hearing a noise in the darkened home. The guy sits up, grabs his Tac Lite and confronts the burglar, holding the light next to his head, staring sternly as if to say ( in his best Kurt Russell 'Tombstone' voice ) "YOU CALLED DOWN THE THUNDER, YOU GOT IT!!" Myself, I'd prefer to respond with the flashlight and my Smith & Wesson .40 cal ...you know, just in case the criminals aren't actually intimidated by the flashlight itself.

Both 'criminals' in the Tac Lite ad are, of course, white guys.


                                                                    *  *  *  *  *

I have discovered smooth jazz.

Particularly, smooth jazz bassists. Being a former bass player, I've always been attentive to bass tracks in any music I listen to, and find that the instrument is featured in a lot of jazz entries. Guys like Marcus Miller, Andre Berry, Frank Itt, Remco Hendrix ( absolutely no relation to Jimi )...these guys are in another bass-talent universe. If you want to sample some of their work, just enter those names in a YouTube search, then sit back and enjoy.

...and search Candy Dulfer, too. She's not a bassist, she's an amazing saxophonist.

And extremely gorgeous.

                                                                    *  *  *  *  *

Have a great weekend and MAKE TODAY COUNT!

What Difference, At This Point, Will It Make?

....and how much did it cost the American taxpayer? Inquiring minds want to know.

Yesterday, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced to the world that it had discovered seven new 'Earth-like' planets revolving around a small star, some of which may be sustaining some form of life.

Great. Wonderful. Let's start planning a mission to go there, maybe set up a colony.

Hold on a minute. How far away are those planets?

Oh, only a mere 40 light-years.

Wrap your mind around this: a beam of light would circle the Earth four times in one second. There are 31,536,000 seconds in a year. A light year measures distance in space, or how far a beam of light travels in a year. Now, multiply that distance by a factor of 40....and you'll have a rough idea how far away those new discoveries are.

I have several questions for NASA concerning their grand proclamation: how much did this discovery cost the taxpayers and, furthermore, what does it mean right now, this very second? NASA's estimated budget for fiscal year 2016 was 19.3 billion dollars, an increase of $1.3 billion over the year before. BILLIONS of dollars, a portion of which was used to find these seven planets that are so far away you can't even see them from Sarah Palin's house.

HOW does their discovery affect those of us right here in Mainstream USA? NASA spends money on Mars missions, the International Space Station and a plethora of other projects, yet we have citizens in these United States that can't even get clean drinking water unless it comes out of a plastic bottle; we have homeless military veterans existing from day to day, hungry children from single-parent families in our schools, elderly citizens surviving on cat food...and we're supposed to be excited about the money NASA invested in finding these irrelevant planets?

I think not.