Wednesday, January 28, 2015

The weather industry, the media and politicians

The Great Tri-State Blizzard of 2015 that wasn't (yes I know other areas like Boston were clobbered). This is a tasty morsel for me as I'd love to bash Cuomo the Democratic Governor of the Empire State and his weather-related Caesarian edicts and Lord knows the msm just loves to overhype anything they can get their hands on but I think where the bulk of the blame should come down on is the National Weather Service and by extension all the local and national news weatherpeople who simply follow their lead like sheeple. Now some forecasters are tweeting their apologies which is fine and we're getting the technical explanations about the three different computer models they commonly use and what exactly happened. Turns out the European Model is right most of the time and superior to the others but they shoulda used the American model this time around but this is all over our heads anyway except maybe for BB. The other thing is the FOOD SHOPPING HORDES!!! Sure if you're low on food anyway and a big storm is coming or even if you're gonna be low on food it makes sense to hit the supermarkets but if your pantry is well-stocked anyway the chances of you and your family actually starving to death are really quite low. Worst-case scenario in most blizzards is you're forced to stay home the day after but after that folks can pretty much venture out on their own with some rather minor inconveniences like sanitation trucks blocking the road and some folks still driving slow anyway because they're still in some kind of neurotic crisis-mode from all the media team coverage. We really need to examine our herd-mentality social panics of late and learn to separate the real crises from the false ones but that probably won't happen. OK so this'll be like a 2-day or 3-day news story-cycle but let's hit it anyway:)

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Why I won't be seeing "American Sniper"

It's not that I think it's an immoral movie or the late US sniper Chris Kyle didn't do what was necessary during time of war but philosophically I'm not really into violence so I don't feel the compulsion to go out and see it. What he did in Iraq, his job if you will I can't really quibble with but should it be celebrated? Personally speaking I never held up the pilot of the Enola Gay as a hero of mine, I prefer to think of MLK, Ghandi or the police officers who are killed yearly in the line of duty. I very rarely actually go out to the movies anymore, maybe once or twice a year at best. Last one I saw was the Mockingjay movie only because I read the Hunger Games trilogy and I want to be consistent. Drone strikes against terrorists, sniping and all that - BB's more of a fan but the problem is more Hydra-like. You drone one or two terrorists and ten or twenty more are ready to take their place. I'm reminded of cockroaches and the problem is it's never really solved. In fact it's easier to get rid of cockroaches. OK so I'm not on this movie bandwagon to go out and see it at least not right now:)

Sunday, January 11, 2015

I Am Charlie

No you're not. Most people don't like free speech. BTW is it still not about religion?

Friday, January 02, 2015

Maybe now he can have that philosophical discussion with God about abortion

No judgementalism towards pro-choice politicians intended in the heading here, just thought it would be a good working title. Mario Cuomo, former three-term Democratic Governor of the Empire State - I never liked him politically. I will have to say though he was intelligent, articulate and thoughtful and learned too even if he did pepperize his continuing pro-choice argumentation with bits and pieces of sophistry just for flavor. This came out or evolved out of his thing with the then Archbishop then Cardinal John O'Connor of NY, also the late O'Connor so maybe he can join in the divine discussion too. Cuomo did however impose his personal morality re the death penalty on the state of NY which probably went a long way towards Republican George Pataki taking over the state-helm. At least Cuomo took pains to say he was personally opposed to abortion unlike the son who's like full-bore ahead oil up the abortion machinery. Am I talking about ABORTION too much? Well yeah but my sitemeter's been kinda frozen of late but when I discuss the A-subject every once in a while the commenters who come out of the woodwork who I never heard of before scold me for always talking about The Topic but when I do post on other matters which is most of the time they're nowhere to be found. BB sticks around though. He did do other things as governor besides issue dissertations/philosophical treatises on abortion so gladly discuss. Mario Cuomo 1932-2015 RIP.