Observer

I won’t get into some of the stuff I’ve been reading because it is pretty deep but I will ask this question: What is your life?

Not the when you were born and when you die stuff, but what is your life when you are alive. What is your philosophy of life as you live it?

It will change with age and experiences but you have to find feelings, knowledge, travels and interaction with others that gives you that unique personality that you carry around.

At the end of the day you are either content with what you have done and where you have gone and how you have been treated and treated others. Is this what life is all about?

We will all have our ideas of what makes life worth living. Some may need assistance from mystical unknown or worldly riches but in the end we are all the same in our eternal search for the meaning of living.

My personal idea is ‘Life is a Movie’. It may be a play but the same thing.

We are all cast for a part and the script is constantly being rewritten. Most of us will just be extras in the background but we are still on the screen. Sometimes we get speaking roles and some become leading stars whose names appear on the marquee and faces appear in the glossy magazines for the rest of us to idolize.

Simplistic philosophies for sure but just contemplate this: Who are you when you walk into a room of strangers?

There is no perceived information about you so you must express yourself. Your attire, cosmetics, swagger; the true YOU must appear.

Some will peruse the room for familiar faces. Some will enter a space with an arrogance of superiority. Some will search out the bar.

I, personally, am an observer.

I will find a quiet spot and watch what is going on in the play of life. As being thrown on a stage and the play is already in Act III, I need to see where I’m to fit in. I wasn’t handed a script or got the memo about rehearsal times so I must observe to find my place.

As an observer I can enjoy the play like the audience until I have to participate. I can handle the speaking roles even by the seat of my pants but know there is never applause.

As an observer I can join in the entertainment but do not require the spotlight. I’ve noticed the stardom is fleeting and another will take your place. That is the way this game is played.

As an observer I can write my reflections of time and the curiosity of strangers. It is all about how I view life.

So many of us exist through family, church, work and health with associations through organizations only to be listed in an obituary. Like the leaves on the trees we bloom in the spring and fade in the fall only to disintegrate under the snow.

Maybe it is age, maybe it is solitude, and maybe it is a change in seasons? You have to find your own path and make your own decisions.

When is intermission?

Silly-A-Bole

Syllable that is what it is all about.

A syllable is a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, forming the whole or a part of a word; e.g., there are two syllables in water and three in inferno.

What does this have to do with all the price of tea in China? The syllable is the cause of all our stress and tension of the past year. It is that simple.

I wake every morning to the sound of the radio and from 5AM on to the news and the news tells me over and over again a one-syllable word. It is actually a name. The one-syllable name is repeated again and again and has been for over a year and I’m tired of hearing it but it won’t go away.

Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump…...

You get the idea. It is in every magazine, newspaper, television and radio show. There is no way to get away from it.

Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump…...

It is not a bad word or hard to say. It is one-syllable like ‘door’ or ‘home’ or ‘dog’ or ‘wife’ or ‘car’; words we use everyday without causing any problems. So why does this word cause so much anxiety?

Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump…...

Trump didn’t need any advertising because he was already a television celebrity and a household name. When he said he would run for president, everyone guffawed for how would this media mogul transform into the position of the most powerful figure on the planet?

Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump…...

Yet he did it and the news media found him as astonishing as the public so he upped his brand without a campaign mission or vision to game plan much to the benighted marketing folks.

Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump…...

It is like gum stuck to your shoe.

Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump…...

And NOW he IS president!

Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump…...

But the media is still crying out.

Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump…...  

Instead of President Trump or Mister President or even Donald Trump. It is all that one-syllable word pounding my brain like Pavlov’s Dog.

Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump…...

So I did a history research study to find the other presidents with a one-syllable name. Here is what I found.

Polk, or ‘Ole Hickory’ had his hands full during the great Irish potato famine that brought starving immigrants to the U.S., the Mormons migrated to Utah, he declared war on Mexico, the Smithsonian Institute was established, ‘Declaration of Sentiments’ women’s suffrage was shaking, the Department of the Interior was created, the liberty bell didn’t ring anymore because it was cracked, he got most of the southwest and when gold was found in California it helped move everyone west.

Pierce, or ‘Young Hickory of the Granite Hills’ dealt the Gadsden Purchase (more land grabs), ‘Bleeding Kansas’ civil war between slavery and non-slavery gripped the state for two years, the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society encouraged anti-slavery folks to move to Kansas, the Kansas – Nebraska Act gave territories sovereignty on the slavery issue, State of Disunion Convention was held all showing the beginnings of the Civil War, and made a treaty with Japan that had been in isolation for three centuries.

Grant, or the ‘Hero of Appomattox’ completed the Transcontinental Railway, ‘Black Friday’ financial panic due to over speculation and railroad monopolies, the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began, southern states were readmitted to the union, the Federal Election Law giving voting rights to everyone, The Indian Appropriation Act (another treaty), the Ku Klux Klan bill trying to stop bullying was passed, the Civil Service Commission was founded, silver currency was stopped, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union was formed trying to halt spirits from dry states,  the Civil Rights Act of 1875 and Little Big Horn all happened on his watch.

Hayes, or the ‘Dark Horse President’ withdrew Federal troops from south ending reconstruction, sent troops to squash the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, the Knights of Labor (unions) was established, retirement of all Civil War bonds in 1979 was enacted, efforts to limit Chinese immigration taking American jobs, had the first telephone installed in the White House and had the first egg roll on the White House lawn.

Taft who had no nickname was president when Peary reached the North Pole (and didn’t find Santa Claus), corruption in the government ran rampant, The Mann Act was passed so women would not be transported for ‘immoral purposes’, National Urban League was formed, The Triangle Shirtwaist Co. burns in deplorable working conditions, Standard Oil Co. dissolves, American Tobacco Co. found in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and ordered dissolution by the Supreme Court, sues U.S. Steel for violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, Carnegie Corporation  was formed, Children’s Bureau in the Dept. of Commerce was begun, the Titanic sank, troops were sent to Mexico, China and Cuba to protect American interests, the 8-hour working day was authorized and the 16^th Amendment was ratified for taxation.

Ford also known as ‘Jerry’, pardoned a former president, gave amnesty to Vietnam draft evaders or deserters, tried to tackle a high inflation legacy which cause a major recession, was the target of failed assassination attempts twice and was the first president to visit Japan.

The Father and Son team: Bush & Bush

H.W. Bush nicknamed ‘Poppy’ offered a banking bail-out, watched the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the Berlin wall came down, sent troops to Panama to capture Manuel Antonio Noriega, promoted ‘No New Taxes’, approved the Disabilities Act, Clean Air Act, and Immigration Act, worked for Nuclear Arms Reduction as the Soviet Union dissolved, set up the Unemployment Compensation, started the ‘Operation Restore Hope’ in Somalia and went to war with Saddam Hussein but didn’t end it.

W. Bush of  ‘W’ had 9/11, went to war with the Middle East, watched Hurricane Katrina and helped create the economic crisis before the bubble burst.

And now…

Trump….

As you can see these one-syllable named presidents had some hard times and we may be in for more. I’m not saying the others didn’t either.

Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump…...

So how do we get over this Trump thing? We could use initials like LBJ or JFK but DJT just doesn’t roll off the tongue. We could make a nickname like ‘Ike’ because saying Eisenhower was just too long? He could change his name to Trumpenstein or Trumpson or Trumpberg but he’d be losing his branding and he doesn’t want to lose his brand.

Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump…...

Must have some respect for the name due to the position of the employment so maybe I’ll just have to deal with it like when I hear a ‘dirty word’ and just replace it with a ‘silly’ replacement.

Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump…...

Or I could stick my head in the sand and turn off all social and news media for four years?

Waking Up Blind

Somewhere between the dreams of home invasion and terrible service at a fast food taco stand the mind wanders to this thought. Suppose I woke up blind?

It wouldn’t have to be an accident or some terrible disease but just in the morning when I opened my eyes it was as dark as when they were closed. The typical response to blink and rub doesn’t seem to alter the darkness.

There are also other bodily functions that need immediate attention so I feel my way down the hallway as I’ve done thousands of time but have to double check the position of the toilet before I let loose. One step over to the sink and wash my hands. No need to look at the mirror. A splash of water on my face awakens me to this new reality.

Slowly retracing my steps I find my pants for it is cool and my slippers for they never change positions. My next normal routine is to go into the kitchen to make coffee.

Only using one mug and one bowl and one plate, they will either be in the drying rack or the sink. I find the water heater and fill then press the bar to heat. All this is automatic and never needs to be watched. The sugar package is torn open and poured and measured by weight. There is always one spoonful of coffee and one spoonful of creamer so as long as I’ve emptied them into the mug instead of on the counter I can wait for the water to boil.

After the water is poured listening to the sound and hoping now to pour it all over the floor, I steady myself and weave back to my office chair. Feeling for the rubber coaster I place the warm mug and turn to the computer. What did I expect? I can turn it on but cannot see anything. The keyboard I could handle from memory but the mouse won’t do me any good. Probably got that email I’ve been waiting for but will never know. I turn to view the sun come up but seems it will always be midnight now.

As I sip the warm morning drink I try to assemble my daily chores with this new situation. I guess I can take replacing the windows off my ‘to-do’ list because windows now are just glass walls.

What will I have for lunch today? I have some soup that I could probably fumble around with and put in my heating cup, but how do I cook it. I have to see the microwave to punch in the right numbers. I could bake a pizza but same problem on setting the bake temperature. I could call out for a pizza but how do I find the pizza shop number? Again I’d have to touch screen the phone. I can’t even call for help because I’m not familiar enough to know the placement of the numbers.

At this point of the morning I usually go outside, get out my bike, check the yard and then ride to the grocery store. I can struggle my way out the door and gingerly walk across the uneven path trying not to run into a tree or get turned around. No matter how many repetitive times we do our usual patterns we use out senses as reference to time and space.

I unlock the door by feeling the key shapes and find my chair. It would probably be a bad idea to put on my helmet and wander out in traffic peddling only by sound where a car swerving or a pothole could be the end?

Don’t think I’ll be writing any blog post today. Don’t think I’ll be using any electrical saws today. Don’t think I’ll be able to pay bills since I write checks.

I can still play the guitar and listen to the radio. I can still wash myself and find the bed but eventually I’ll starve to death.

As an artist having nothing but black to look at would be worst than losing a hand or hearing or speech. Every sight from now on would have to be from memory.

Then I hear the classical music end and the news comes on the radio and I open my eyes and I’m back in the world I expected to find. I chug along to my daily routine with a brief stop here and there to view the wonders I try to appreciate each and every day.

Here’s looking at you.

What is with all this DEBT?

  Now it is time to start thinking about taxes. Remember them? Then look at the news and wonder.

  I keep reading about all this debt and wonder. Student debt is approx. $1.3 trillion. National gross debt is approx. $20 trillion.

  Now whether you understand math or not a ‘trillion’ is (1,000,000,000,000; one million million; 1012; SI prefix: tera-). And a million is a thousand times one thousand. A thousand is equal to 10 hundreds.

  You can get your calculator out and wear the battery out but that is a lot of cold hard cash.

  Who came up with this process?

  How is some poor kid out of high school going to pay for all that tuition, even with government assistance that is just another loan? How many years will a bright young mind have to be burdened with paying back (with interest) loans on a minimal salary? Beginners trying to start a life blockaded with overwhelming debt.

  Not an economic major, I remember when the plastic card arrived at my college apartment. I didn’t ask for it but the bank said I could use this instead of the amount in my account to pay for whatever I wanted. They said I could pay them back later and in real small print declared the massive interest on payment.

  It was like FREE CASH. Then another bank and another sent me these pieces of plastic and my lottery had come in. After a few minimum payments did I realize the balance wasn’t shrinking?

  A few decades later I dug my way out of all the FREE money but I wondered why everyone didn’t fall to the temptation in this banking trap. Then the recession hit and I realized everyone did.

  The promise of more money than you earn is very tempting. To possess things you can’t afford is a drug and America took the bait.

  I am certainly not knowledgeable enough to place blame on our cultural delusions. The banks and credit companies are only being capitalist making money on interest with the threat of late payments to reprocessing of property.

  I know as well as the next smuck out there that if money is being given away I’ll stand in line, but there is no FREE lunch. Even investors (those are the folks with the bucks in their wallets) want to have a return on investment. Solid agreements of “I want to borrow this amount and will pay it back by this time” don’t always work. People have other monetary problems or may lose employment or unforeseen crisis that disturbs the normal pattern of payments. Financial organizations appear to understand knowing the longer the loan the more interest. Even refinancing will extend the loan at a higher interest rate.

  That is my common take on the problem, but how did we get to these numbers? I remember when $100 was a lot of dough. A couple of $100 could buy a car, paid in cash on delivery. Having $1,000 in the bank account showed you saved more than you spent so the bank sent you a credit card. A loan for a house seemed like the most massive debt a family could ever have to suffer and accepted with the commitment to spend years paying the bank back for their shelter.

  My folks who lived through the depression knew how to budget but they never passed that knowledge on to me. Always trying to provide better for their kids than they had, they forgot the banks were plying them away from austerity.

  So there were millionaires. There was even a show on TV about a old fat guy going around handing out checks for one million dollars to complete strangers and everyone watch the show wanting in. It was a big deal and those were the rich and famous.

  Then came the billionaires. Folks that had so much money (real or fake) to choke on the millionaires and brush them aside appeared on the scene. Companies stopped counting in thousands or millions but went up to billions. It was like Monopoly money that didn’t mean anything to the common slob working for saw bucks. There was no comprehension of what a jet plane cost or an aircraft carrier or a restoration of the Washington monument or a government official’s office. No one reports that our country is going to war and it will cost $$$$.

  Most folks aren’t bean counters and just try to get by but wonder what a ‘trillion’ is. How can this country have so much debt? Who do we own money to? How long will it take to pay it back? Will we ever pay it back? Will that affect my taxes?

  On the local economy the community reports deficits in revenue so they can’t pick up the leaves or the trash or cut the services to fill the potholes and then hire another administrator to decide how to balance the books. Sorry I’m too busy getting the kids to school and paying the sitter and taking the dog to the vet and paying for the gym fees that I never go to, so go ahead and juggle the numbers and the newspaper will report the disparities that we will not read.

  Now with our bleeding hearts we turn to governmental officials to relieve this overwhelming debt and they talk about committees that will investigate the options and form plausible actions while the kids are strained on paying they way.

  Do we really want to get out of debt or just keep going down the road to despair? What will we do when the banker calls in our loan and we cannot pay?

 

What is 'Gross National Product - GNP'

Gross national product (GNP) is an estimate of total value of all the final products and services produced in a given period by the means of production owned by a country's residents. GNP is commonly calculated by taking the sum of personal consumption expenditures, private domestic investment, government expenditure, net exports, and any income earned by residents from overseas investments, minus income earned within the domestic economy by foreign residents. Net exports represent the difference between what a country exports minus any imports of goods and services.

GNP is related to another important economic measure called gross domestic product (GDP), which takes into account all output produced within a country's borders regardless of who owns the means of production. GNP starts with GDP, adds residents' investment income from overseas investments, and subtracts foreign residents' investment income earned within a country.

GNP measures the total monetary value of the total output produced by a country's residents. Therefore, any output produced by foreign residents within the country's borders must be excluded in calculations of GNP, while any output produced by the country's residents outside of its borders must be counted. GNP does not include intermediary goods and services to avoid double counting since they are already incorporated in the value of final products and services.

GNP and GDP are very closely related concepts, and the main differences between them comes from the fact that there may be companies owned by foreign residents that produce goods in the country, and companies owned by domestic residents that produce products for the rest of the world and revert earned income to domestic residents. For example, there are a number of foreign companies that produce products and services in the United States and transfer any income earned to their foreign residents. Likewise, many U.S. corporations produce goods and services outside of the U.S. borders and earn profits for U.S. residents. If income earned by domestic corporations outside of the United States exceeds income earned within the United States by corporations owned by foreign residents, the U.S. GNP is higher than its GDP.

While GDP is the most widely followed measure of a country's economic activity, GNP is still worth looking at because large differences between GNP and GDP may indicate that a country is getting more engaged in international trade, production or financial operations. Finally, real GNP may prove to be a more useful measure, since it factors out any changes in national income due to inflation. The real GNP takes nominal GNP measured in current prices and adjusts for any changes in price level for goods and services included in the calculation of GNP.

PLAY-BY-PLAY

What a Wonderful Way to Waste a Sunday Afternoon

It is time for the BIG GAME.

“What big game” you ask and well you may very well be right, but we will experience every moment to see.

After a three hour nap called sleep and a refreshing 36-degree ride to the Tummy Temple, I settle in to watch and report whatever happens today.

So far I’ve seen the U.S. Mail being delivered on a Sunday and didn’t know they did that. The aisles were filled with young women in black tights checking their list and the staff wearing football jerseys. The sun is coming out and the temps are supposed to be in the mid-50s. After opening the critter crewe buffet I see my groundhog checking his shadow (actually a Beau-Beau woke up early and is already feasting).

Climb into my comfy clothes and ready myself for this athletic contest smothered in explosions, talking heads, stats and very expensive commercials. The taxes are done (it is easy when it is the same thing every year) and my other projects for the day is shredding old files and ridding myself of old cassettes (played on a dirty playback machine makes the decision easy). All the fixings’ for nachos await but my tummy isn’t feeling up to it (yet?).

High noon: so let us begin our journey.

LI could be a popular surname in China but we will call it the Lithium Bowl. Yikes! It is already started with a loud white guy in day-glo yellow shoes yelling and then there is this big black man who used to play football yelling and between them some little girl in pink (the NFL uses girls now for eye-candy filler now) as referee. Let us start off with the anger that is sweeping our nation and get everyone in an uproar.

The Falcon’s bus leaves the hotel. Oh the pathos. What excitement is in store?

Beach Boys and the Byrds start the musical soundtrack of the day. Both excellent harmonies except when the tape is dragging slowing down the pitch. Soon followed by Linda Ronstadt, Yes, the Kings’ Men, and Howard Roberts. I will need an ear washing after this.

Now to an empty stadium with more talking heads. Two black guys and two white guys refereed by a blond chick but Walmart hides their shoes.

Wow! Two guys just got handed tickets to the game. That is SUPER.

NRG (power provider) stadium in Houston now presents the stats that nerds will love and newspapers will print but it really doesn’t matter why we are here. We are here to watch huge men bump into each other and knock each other down. We don’t even want to know where the president’s taxes are.

Drink as much beer and you can hold and eat mounds of nasty food until your stretch pants won’t stretch anymore. If you are a manufacturer or an accounting firm or a mom-and-pop retail shop, plan on your employees coming in late, if not calling in sick. This is indulgence day.

Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference in these war bloods and blow ‘em up explosion violent video games and the football promos?

Now we see our first preview of the main characters of the show. Not the football team but the Fox hound celebrities of old football players and a manager refereed by a black sportscaster.

Much singing and flashing lights while the families are gathering in the kitchens and preparing feast while gentlemen start to struggle over which running back will run and who can or cannot catch a deflated ball.

To fill the time there are one-on-one interviews with the ‘star’ players but what about the left guard or the right tackle or the punter? The kitchen smells good.

Check back to the Internet to see if anything else interesting is going on and of course it isn’t. Martians could invade this country while all our focus is on a football game with the reward of a silver phallus and we’d never notice.

Pat’s motto: Do You Job. Not bad for a bunch of guys who have exercised more than most of us will ever imagine and are making a whooping paycheck but only for a few years because other than broadcasting (and you got to be pretty for that) there is no other football out there to retire to.

Kraft gets all teary-eyed talking about the Pats. Will that throw the game?

Should there be a Red Carpet for a football game and an up-date on bus traffic? ‘Fitz and the Tantrums’? How far out of it am I? Put your hands together. Impressions with titles to explain who it is suppose to be? And now the space station does its stick?

Now we are talking, Joe Buck just showed up and Sulu buys a pizza. Oh my? Now an exclusive white house interview with the Golden Boy from Bill O’Reilly’s archives and what is he looking at? The Pats will win by 8? Points. Now there is an interview with the half time entertainer Gag-Gag. What happened to football?

Now we are getting down to it. The coaches and the quarterbacks are interviewed and John Cash is getting us patriotic about our old flag and a couple of commercials for potions that will reduce your pain. Why didn’t they interview the cheerleaders or the waterboy?

Hall of fame class of black players who attended segregated colleges. It is time for more commercials. Think I’ve seen them before?

OK, the Pattycakes and the Falcoons are on the striped turf and ready for another commercial break. Shoot ‘em up sci fi movie, Sulu again, those strange 3-D glasses, promo for a TV series, football in fast cars where if you win you get to drink milk, and a spot for the NFL.

More patriot singing and Belicheck is NOT wearing a ratty sweatshirt. One wonders of all the cables and wires and yes, even Wi-Fi flying around that big cement dome. Luke Ryan, 4x entertainer of the year and I’ve never heard of him. Where is that great big flag they always drag out? Did somebody lose it? Oh there is a flag, but it is a weenie. Why don’t they have one that faces the other side?

Time for some more commercials. Naked lady in a shell. OK. Rap burgers. Medical insurance and another patriot commercial for Coke, a cooking show for kids, another sci-fi series and back to the ball game. Well almost.

It is time to wheel out the ole president and his wife for the coin toss. Atlanta wins and defers.

More commercials. A car will get you unstuck, even if the ladder falls and you are on the roof.

Now it is time for the game for real, this time.

First play an incomplete pass but the second connects. 3^rd and one and didn’t get it running. The other side started to move but didn’t.

Time for a Google commercial, check your phone for tires, witchcraft avocados and some little girl running out on the field to hand the zebra the football.

Brady has a lot of time to pass and they are connecting. Oops, I was wrong.

Arnie is back to keep up the ratings I guess, special effects for H&R Block. And very strange Skittles gobble commercial.

Might be a defensive / offensive line game?

Bush beer makes too much noise, oil = good, and some weird thing with cats on remote vacs and panda eating bamboo.

First quarter and no score.

Art can make a fresh drink, Intel eating off the floor, Airbud getting along with each other, World of tanks, screaming women and tanks, Australian wine and a guy in a yellow suit.

Turnover!

Pirate zombies, elephants on treadmill selling pistachios, crazy kids football selling cars are the next batch.

New England confused.

More violence with a little girl, T-mobile dancing commercial, and another NFL promo are the next set of commercials. Terry took his coat off.

Pattycakes time out didn’t work, no matter what kind of paper Bill writes on and the Falcoons get a TOUCHDOWN!

A Honda commercial with creative yearbook pictures, serious tea commercial, and some more shoot’em up mechanical destruction movie and then we turn back to the game.

Tide commercial with Terry again, and a bearded guy and a guy in a yellow vest talking phone, and another commercial for the 24+legacy gets us through another bit of time.

Got it! And another TOUCHDOWN for the Falcoons. Leap but a bit too soon and will redo. All for not and it is time for more commercials.

Coke and more food, ‘The Handmaids Tale’ which doesn’t look very friendly, smelly bathroom break, some weird ninja floor mats, and then we are back to the game, again.

Down the block the kids who are not interested in the game are in the back yard doing what kids do. They are jumping around, yelling and screaming, repeating the same words over and over and over and over again and banging on stuff. Put a jersey on them and send them in coach.

Holding penalty and move the sticks. Gronk is watching in Belichecks sweatshirt and wondering. Another hold against the Atlanta and the Pats move down the field. Getting close but dropped the ball. Oops! It was another hold by Atlanta.

There you go!!! Atlanta picks off Tommy and runs for another TOUCHDOWN. That is the way it happens.

O’Boy some more commercials. Lots of kids but where are the dogs and ponies? Oh, another red very expensive car. Exercise and then drink beer. Sounds good to me.

Selling tax on the phone with broken eggs, another expensive red car, and another shoot ‘em up drive fast violent movie, and back to flaming phallic footballs. I see a bit of repetition.

John Malkovish to squarespace, hair drying to unfrozen beef unless ou are Wendy’s, some more helicopters and shoot ‘em up promo for the show after the Super Bowl.

Overthrown ball and then good connection and good blocking to get a gain then another open receiver and then a miss and another connection and a first down and a time out and another first down close to the goal line with a holding call against the Pattycakes and a bad screen and a field goal with 2 seconds left.

HALF TIME SHOW!

Future of crime fighting (more violence), a pleasant bank, a car with bad graphics, Internet, plumbing, and another violence promo keep filling the screen.

Time to open the roof to the lady, but first…. a refugee commercial by 84 Lumber.

Yabba, yabba and then some Empire, Legion (spooky) and then onto a sugar drink without sugar half time show.

Lady standing up on the roof with liberty and justice for all and then jumping off through the roof onto the field. That is pretty bold. Lots of smoke and wires and flames and spotlights and dancers and yelling kids and flash and must cost cash. Put your hands together. Telephones and now keyboard and more lights and glitter and jumping and twirling lighted rifles. Now a piano for a slow song and the eye makeup and the golden jacket has gone. Hug the audience and then a bunch of glowing people and another costume change with back flips and as more fireworks go off she throws down the mike and jumps off the stage. Hi mom and dad?

Commercial for Genius, Feud Bettie and Joan, and the Superbowl babies while everyone goes to the bathroom.

Ok, back to football. Atlanta three and out. Maybe Pats are fired up?

Soapbox racing with a woman driver by Audi (and it was not a red car), Mister Clean getting down and dirty, and another 24 promo and a bazaar western Sneakers commercial keeps us entertained during the dull time.

While they take a time out do you ever wonder how many people have to stand up for hours during these exhibitions?

There is the Budweiser commercial for refugees, T-Mobile with Snoop and Martha, and clean the scientist with laundry comes to mind.

Wide Open and good throw and catch. Yellow laundry and then a TOUCHDOWN and the Falcoons are flying.

Yikes save those whales and trees and don’t forget the seals by Niro by Kia or by Buckawahata, hair care, retro ego turned upside down to another violent movie fills some more sights until the camera can pan to all the stars in the stands with the Vice President.

Tommy tries to chip away at the defense. Billy is spitting and looking constipated. 4^th down but they complete and move on. The QB runs. Hooked helmets and time moves on. As the game moves on a throw and a turn and a TOUCHDOWN for the whiteshirts but a missed extra point.

A cure for Wellness (strange movie) and violent video game (again) and Walking Dead killing a football and more Fuji water and don’t drive drunk, give a damn before you get your taxes done.

On sides kick? I don’t think so.

Baywatch with the Rock and more violence, fast red car, and a T-Mobile shades of grey, before Swinsons cartoon and Albert take up another break but I’m getting tired.

Time out and regroup for the birds but incomplete pass that were oh so close. Sack might make a difference from the onsides kick and then delay of game.

Now it is down to business. It is the 4^th quarter. Throw too far and then chipping away bit by bit. The birds give the QB a big hug and they will have to kick again.

More violence, doggie eating and then southing vocals by Turkish Airlines, Google, Buns, sci-fi, coke and so it goes for the commercials.

Bud commercial with ghost dog and I don’t understand but that is just me?

Another t-Mobile porn commercial and everyone is looking at their screens for all the Zelda games, and more 24 and I’ve lost track.

Oops! Turnover for Pats, then Tommy goes down. TOUCHDOWN!  And they are going for two. 8-Point game.

Motorcycle blocked in by Easy Rider but it is a silver car instead of a red one, more automotive racing, and again that annoying at this point ‘24’ continues.

Open man and good throw and then another man down for the birds. Jones makes a catch. Sack was not a good move. Chris Long held so his daddy will have something to talk about. Now the move was inflated.

Third and ten and what ‘cha gonna do? Made a catch and moved on. Missed catch and another first down and stop the clock and WOOO! A deflected catch.

2-minute warning, so take another pee.

Another red car and half naked women, soft drink promoted by some sports star, golden boy chicken and laundry detergent before you put on those 3-D glasses, and another violent TV series.

Down to the one. Now what? TOUCHDOWN for the Pats as a comeback and now it is close. Too point conversion and it is now a TYE score.

BRAND NEW BALL GAME

What about bring the ole president back out to toss the coin?

Well enough of the crappy commercials and let us get this game over. I’ve been up sense before time began and I’m getting tired.

A run and then it is confetti time. Who would have….well I guess somebody did.

The Pattycakes came back from being down and more down and then found a way to win.

Well that is the play-by-play and it is nothing else but shouting and camera cuts and it was a LI bowl.

Now the social media can discuss what if or what about but the facts have been written. Unless you don’t believe them?

Keys

Found a bunch of keys. What do they unlock?

Found a bunch of locks. Where is the key?

A key is only good if there is a lock to put it in. A lock is only good if a key is available to unlock it.

So I find a bunch of pad locks. Locks of all different sizes and makes and models filling up a drawer. Some have keys in them and some don’t.

So I find a bunch of keys. Keys that look like they might fit some of the locks and some that don’t look like they fit anything but a space machine.

So an afternoon project of trying to match a key to a lock is formed. How boring can you get?

So during the process of trying to jam it into the slot and give it a twist, I wondered why I hadn’t done these years ago? Maybe some WD-40 would help?

So after all the fumbling around and getting frustrated that it wouldn’t fit what was I going to do with all these locks and all these keys?

So into the dumpster they go.

What was I going to lock up anyway? What was I locking in? What was I locking out?

So there is still a half dozen pad locks with matching keys and no place to lock them? They will just hang around like spare change until I want to keep something locked away from everyone without a key.

DATE CODE: MV

In the continuing adventures of everyday life, I found a piece of paper on the floor in the kitchen. It was in the same spot of the lost screw so maybe I have some gremlins.

The little white strip of paper could have stuck to my shoe and been brought in last night or had fallen out of my pocket but I would swear it was not there last night and was there this morning. The back looked like it was glued on something and the other side was printed “DATE CODE: MV”.

If a Roman numeral date code for 1005, it would not tell when it would have been printed or where it came from. I didn’t even know if it was AD or BC?

Of course I Goggled “Code: MV” and got this:

In statistics, missing data, or missing values, occur when no data value is stored for the variable in an observation. Missing data are a common occurrence and can have a significant effect on the conclusions that can be drawn from the data.

Missing data can occur because of non-response: no information is provided for one or more items or for a whole unit. Attrition is a type of missingness that can occur in longitudinal studies - for instance studying development where a measurement is repeated after a certain period of time. Missingness occurs when participants drop out before the test ends and one or more measurements are missing.

Data often are missing in research in economics, sociology, and political science because governments choose not to, or fail to, report critical statistics. Sometimes ‘missing values’ are caused by researchers. If data collection is done improperly or mistakes are made in data entry there occurs missingness.

Understanding the reasons why data are missing is important to correctly handle the remaining data. If values are missing completely at random, the data sample is likely still representative of the population. But if the values are missing systematically, analysis may be biased. Because of these problems, methodologists routinely advise researchers to design studies to minimize the occurrence of missing values.

So I throw the little piece of paper away in the kitchen trashcan and move onto my day’s business. A ride, wash some dishes, change cloths, do some outdoor work, drink a beer and listen to some music and decide to sweep some of the leaves that have blown through the open door. As I sweep the steps I notice a little white piece of paper in the piles of brown leaves.

You guessed it.

DATE CODE: MV

If the code is ‘Missing Values’ it may be the theme for today or maybe this year?

Values are regarded as something to deserve or of importance, worth, or usefulness.

A value could be an advantage, benefit, gain, profit, good, help, merit, helpfulness, or significance. A value could be the material or monetary worth of something. A value is a price, cost, worth, monetary value, or face value. A value could be the worth of something compared to the price paid or asked for it.

A value could also be a person’s principles or standards of behavior; one’s judgment of what is important in life. A value contains principles, ethics, morals, standards, and a code of behavior.

The point of this exercise is that maybe we are missing our values. Maybe our outburst of anger and frustration has misplaced our principles?

Maybe I’m just missing the point?

What adventures will tomorrow bring?