In short, one might conclude that all knowledge, wisdom, and wit are confined to those who inhabit New York City, Washington DC, or Hollywood.
I am now in my 6th decade of life experience - which was gained in many cities in the U.S. and in about 30 foreign countries.That experience has included the U.S. Marines, law school, the ATF, the CIA, Fortune 500 executive, writer, public speaker, educator, editor, and publisher - for openers. For over 20 years, I have written articles off and on for various magazines and newspapers. I've had an enormous number of letters published in major national publications. The Outback is the rural area in Northeast Texas where I have lived for the past 11 years. Each Saturday (or so) I will attempt to post a new set of musings from the Outback.
The greatest mystery is not how the Universe was formed. It is not the meaning of life. It is not how SPAM is made. It is how you can toss a bunch of computer cables and extension cords into the closet, and when you take them out they are tangled in multiple knots. I'm putting a motion- detector VCR in my closet to see if I can solve life's greatest mystery.
Why doesn't some Palestinian kill Yasser Arafat? What has he really done for his people? Old Rat Face has been lying world-class for decades. He has never kept a promise. What do the Palestinian's have to show for his efforts? But who would we deal with, all the pundits and politicians moan? I would try Hanan Ashrawri. She has been a "Palestinian spokesperson" for years. She always seems to make sense. How could anybody be worse than Rat Face? She might have a tough road, as she is a Christian, not a Muslim, a feminist, an ex-Marxist - and she once dated Peter Jennings of ABC, as I recall when they were both in Beirut. But I guess that would make her pro-Canadian, not necessarily pro-American. Her mother is (was) Anglican, two aunts are Catholic nuns, another is Greek Orthodox, and her uncle is a Baptist. She is a wife and mother. Her sister married a Muslim. For sure, she ought to understand everyone's point of view. If only her sister had married a Jew, we would be all set.
Reporting from Beirut, Geraldo Rivera stood in front of the Phoenica Hotel. That brought a chill to me and a tear to my eye. Before the war destroyed the city, I stayed at the Phoenica. It had a cavernous lobby, behind the bar was a glass-side to the swimming pool. Oooh, la la. And a lady played a harp in the sitting area. When one reflects on the carnage in Lebanon, the Israel- Palestinian situation, the turmoil in Northern Ireland, et al., it seems that the world would be a much safer place if everyone were an agnostic or an atheist.
In the Outback for March 16, 2002, I wrote about TV late-night singing guests and how I practically never understand a word they sing. Late one night, I came across a California Community College TV course in vocal training. Sounding vowels, consonants, and so on. It was fascinating to see sounds so thoroughly dissected - and to hear the results. Obviously, most of the singers today never took such a course. I saw Alanis Morissette again on late night. This time, I understood two phrases out of her entire song. Progress. She sounded like she had a speech impediment. And she has sold 40 million CDs! I did not get much intelligence from listening to Cheryl Crow for a couple of minutes, and so it goes, night after night. Click.
People will do anything for money. As popular as the TV show "Frasier" is, they did an episode where Niles and others ran around willy-nilly on a Segway scooter. The name "Segway" was mentioned many times. One would have to conclude that some money changed hands there. At a minimum, free $3000 Segways for everybody in the cast and on the crew, maybe? That was at least $500,000 to a $1 million dollars worth of "free?" publicity. Andy Rooney did a piece on CBS's "60 Minutes" about an auto show. He said his favorite thing there was the Segway scooter and he was seen riding one. Do you honestly believe that a guy who is about 80 goes to an auto show and says his favorite thing there is an electric scooter? My guess is that there was some form of recompense involved for him to come to that rather startling conclusion. The Segway people are going to try to shove that thing down our throats regardless of its real-life practical utility. The Scooter may not be such a great idea, but the PR campaign is world class.
Have you seen the TV ad for SPAM Oven Roasted Turkey? Turkey in a can, with no immediate expiration date. This sounds attractive for a "backup" meal - or for the fallout shelter. The can has a photo of some curled slices of Turkey, sort of like you might get in a Deli. Well, the stuff comes out in a block, just like regular SPAM, and the taste is remarkably similar to SPAM. You might be able to slice it thin and curl a few slices for a photo, but I found the picture on the can very misleading. And I would not want to know what Turkey parts are ground up to make this Turkey blob. Among the ingredients listed on the can are: White Turkey, Turkey Broth, Modified Vegetable Starch, Salt, and Natural Turkey Flavor, and so forth. One must be suspicious of a Turkey product that felt compelled to include "Natural Turkey Flavor." Isn't that what you get from Turkey? Save your money.
Last year, Americans spent 17% more on prescription drugs. Among the big leaders were 34 drugs, many that you see advertised on TV, to lower cholesterol, ease the pain of arthritis and stomach problems. They accounted for half the spending increase. The debate continues. Are TV ads unnecessarily increasing drug prices and getting on people's nerves to boot? Or, do the ads sensitize people more to potential problems and thus cause them to seek medical care more often? Of course, I am in the camp of "I hate the stupid drug ads, and my doctor hates me coming in and asking for a specific drug seen on TV." Europeans don't allow drug ads on TV. They spend about half as much on drugs and still live as long or longer than people in the United States. I am reminded of the controversial doctor in the New York nursing home who started cutting back dramatically on the number of prescription drugs taken by most of the residents. Many considered him a bit of a nut-case. We need more like him. When you consider the cumulative side-effects, the lack of efficacy of many drugs, and the mis-diagnoses, we are popping millions more pills than we need - or are good for us. Mute the Rx ads on TV and the ones for fast food. You will live longer.
In the Outback for Feb. 23, 2002, I mentioned the Satellite Radio services XM and Sirius and commented that XM was a little cheaper but was not commercial free. XM has been running TV ads. They have about 100 channels, with 71 music channels. Around 30 channels are commercial free, but they don't say which ones. A few minutes on the their website (www.xmradio.com) did not reveal to me which 30 channels were commercial free. Ironically, after I wrote this first draft, I got a mailer from Crutchfield, the excellent supplier of audio and visual products (Crutchfield.com). It was solely devoted to XM Satellite Radio. They say you get 36 commercial- free channels and have those channels marked on a graphical presentation of the available channels. Still, not my cup of tea. I (America) want no commercials and will pay, I am convinced. I read some comments online from XM users. They mostly like it, but when Sirius, which is now in only 11 states, gets really cranked up with 100 commercial-free channels, watch the XM equipment show up on Ebay. XM is teamed with GM, Honda and some others for new- car installations. At the Sirius site (www.siriusradio.com), they list 100 channels, but I did not quickly find a price. Wyoming is one of the 11 states where Sirius is available. Do they make a saddlebag version? They do say at their Web site that the service is commercial free.
I mentioned earlier that for around $30 million a year, Leno ought to be able to find another word to refer to his guests besides "buddy." Excuse me. Leno only makes about $17 million a year. Just barely scraping by. Letterman gets $31.5 million for a show that is consistently lower than Leno's in the ratings. Does Letterman have some blackmail material on Les Moonves at CBS? What's the deal? I know for sure he is not twice as funny.
Celine Dion has a new CD, "A New Day Has Come." It is apparently copy-protected so that it will not play in a computer CD-ROM drive. In fact, many report that trying to play it crashes their computer. Some report that the CD won't even play in the CD player in their vehicle. One reviewer at Amazon.com said that he did not know much about the music on the CD, since when it failed to play on his computer, he returned it to the store. If the CD has a warning that it is copy- protected, and you bought it, you are a moron, a dolt, and a fool. Forgive me for being so rude, but a lot is at stake here. Sony has violated existing "fair use" copyright law with the copy- protection scheme. Unless you take the CD back and demand a refund, we are all going to be screwed royally. As much as I hate frivolous law suits, somebody needs to start a class-action suit against Sony for violating the Copyright fair use provisions. (See the Outback, March 30, 2002 "The Battle Over Copy-Protected CDs and DVDs.")
The recent trial of dog owners for homicide reminded me of a letter I had published on Dec. 12, 1993 in The Dallas Morning News. A child was killed by a Rottweiler. I said in part: "Because dogs can't buy or sell drugs or shoot guns, we are forced to look to the real cause of their violent behavior - the way they are brought up. There is a powerful lesson here for those who continue to look to drugs, guns, and poverty as the 'cause' of violent crimes."
The Chairman of the FCC, Michael Powell (his dad is pretty famous, too), gave out his e-mail address at a recent speech about Wi-Fi, satellite use, etc., and invited the public to send him their comments. If you have a comment about radio, TV, satellites, the FCC's potential role as an arbiter of how computers, et al., are disabled so they won't play copyrighted CD/DVD material, or whatever, drop him a note at: mpowell@fcc.gov.
IRS Gives "Fat Cats" Another Tax Break
The IRS is now allowing money spent on weight-loss plans to be deducted as a medical expense on your tax form. This is a dumb idea. Most people who lose weight do not keep it off. All this will do is line the pockets of the people who own the companies that manage the weight-loss plans. New plans will crop up, as if we don't have enough. If the government wants to help those of us who are overweight, how about a $500 a year credit, after a year of keeping your weight off, for every year you stay within 10% of your ideal weight. You submit a form from your doctor that shows your weight history. The savings in Medicare and other costs would far outweigh the $500 stipend each year.
One problem is which weight table to use as a standard. Charts say that I should weigh about 180 pounds, yet several doctors have said they would be happy if I got down to around 200-210. At 180, I look like Calista Flockhart. Anyway, it's an idea. Better than the stupid credit for weight- loss plan, which is pouring money down a rat hole. Because the rats will eat enough cheese to gain the weight back, and the owners of the weight-loss companies will all be basking on the beaches of Hawaii.
More About Windows XP With NTFS and Compatibility with FAT16 and FAT32 Files
In the March 16 Outback, I discussed the decision about whether to install the FAT32 or NTFS file system on a computer with Windows XP - if you were planning to move files from an older version of Windows (98, 98SE, or ME) which may have been formatted with FAT32 file tables. After much swapping, I have had no problems. Generally a FAT, FAT16, FAT32 or NTFS is a directory of files which does not care about what kind of FAT the incoming file was stored in. FATs are just file cabinets. For example, I moved all of my mailboxes (about 10) from Eudora 5.1 on a Windows ME machine (FAT32) to my XP machine (NTFS), using a USB Zip drive. Everything works fine. As do all the WordPerfect files and so forth. Many shareware programs, which I had archived on the ME machine with FAT32 were moved to the XP and installed and ran fine.
If you right-click on the Zip drive in My Computer, you see that the Zip disks are using FAT16! The USBDrive, the USB solid-state memory gizmo that is about the size of your thumb, shows files moved from my XP machine (NTFS) to the USBDrive are stored in FAT. Probably FAT16. I back up files from the XP machine to both the ZIP and the USBDrive and restore them to the XP machine with no problem. The only caveat I can find is not to use NTFS for XP if you are going to dual-boot into Win9x with FAT32 tables, but to use FAT32 for both operating systems. Or, you can use XP with NTFS and in another partition use Win9x with FAT32. If you feel the need to dual-boot, you are probably smarter about computers than I am, and you already know more about the subject than I do. Apparently Windows NT, Linux and UNIX do not recognize FAT32 files (or is it FAT32 partitions?), but that is beyond the scope of this discussion. FAT16 files are more universally accepted. This is obviously why the ZIP drive uses FAT16.
Taking Your Blood Pressure at Home
A Web site I visit, that is used by Cardiologists around the world, says that home monitoring of blood pressure is generally more accurate than BP readings taken in a doctor's office. This is about the third such report I have read. First, all medical guidelines say that your pressure should be taken when you have been at rest for 5 minutes. You go to the doctor, they run you down the hall, tell you to jump up on the table, and take your BP. What 5-minute rest? Plus, many people's BP jumps up just at the prospect of having it read in the doctor's office. And, at home you can take your BP at several different times of the day, and under different levels of stress, to see how you average out. Many people have high BP and do not know it. But, many people who are told they have high BP based on ONE reading at the doctor's office do not.
Here are some "generally accurate" observations, based on 20 plus years of studying BP. Your BP is lowest while you sleep, but jumps about 20 points when you awaken. It jumps about another 10 points when you get up and start moving around. Coffee can raise your BP 5-15 points within 15 minutes after drinking a cup or two. But, for most people, the BP will return to about normal after a couple of hours. An ounce of alcohol a day can raise BP about 2 points. But, the tradeoff in the apparent protection for your heart from modest alcohol consumption seems like this is a wash. Losing weight will drop your BP; as much as 10 points for a 10 pound loss (your mileage may vary). Consistent Aerobic exercise will lower you BP.
Since your BP is normally very low while you sleep, some people who jump out of bed find that they are dizzy. Like a car's engine that needs to get the oil circulating on the pistons and valves, you may need to loiter in bed for a little while after you wake up, or at least sit on the edge of the bed for a while - and let the oil get up to the pistons and valves.
Don't drink coffee or tea before going to the doctor! Walk slowly from your car to the doctor's office. Try to relax and take deep breaths while in the waiting room. If the nurse drags you down the hall and immediately takes your BP and says it is high, ask the doctor to take it again after you have cooled your heels for 20 minutes in the exam room. Don't sit on the edge of the exam table, but take a seat in a chair while waiting for the doctor. Take some more deep breaths. Meditate, if you know how. With all of this, you might actually get an accurate BP reading.
You can buy a BP cuff for about $30 in the drug store or at Wal*Mart that is accurate enough. People with very small or very large arms should check that the size of the cuff is right for them. You might have to go to a medical-supply store to get a large or small cuff. It takes one minute to learn how to take your BP. Don't buy the freestanding mercury model, which is very accurate. Unless you have three hands, you will definitely raise your BP trying to hold the stethoscope head against your arm and pump at the same time. Wanna buy mine?
Get the home model that has the stethoscope head built into the cuff. Some of the newer digital readout models are quite accurate. You can find reviews on the Web of different BP devices. Take your BP device to the doctor and take your BP with it. Then, ask the nurse to compare her reading on the "professional" cuff she is using to the one you just took. Even if yours is high or low, you will know what kind of "Kentucky Windage" to apply when taking your BP at home.
Condi Rice for V.P?
The latest fad among the TV talking heads is to suggest that if Dick Cheney does not run, the next Republican ticket might have on it for V.P. the National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice. (Condi is a Ph.D doctor. Who was the genius who thought up the idea of calling an advanced academic degree a "doctorate"?You never know whether a "doctor" can operate on your heart or just give you advice on mergers.) Anyway, I have to chuckle at all the sudden attention to Condi by the pundits on TV. I presume you know that she is black, and one of the most intelligent and articulate women in this country. Male pig that I am, she also has a great figure and a beautiful smile. People like me don't call her Condi because we are bosom buddies. Most of us simply can't spell her name.
On August 13, 2000, I had a letter published in The Dallas Morning News about some potential cabinet picks in a George Bush administration. Referring to a speech given by Condi Rice, I said in part: "Poised, knowledgeable and articulate, she exuded confidence and charisma.... She has secretary of state written all over her."
From the Outback of Feb. 9, 2001: "Condoleezza Rice has reorganized the National Security Council in the White House and cut the number of staff. She views herself as a strategic advisor, not a policy maker as some NSC heads have been in the past. As I noted earlier, she is a very smart and capable lady....Having a U.S. president trying to broker a Middle-East peace is like a heterosexual man trying to counsel two lesbians on their relationship. You just don't understand the problem."
From the Outback of June 29, 2001: "President Bush generally got good reviews of his European trip - once he got back - from both sides of the political aisle, even from many in the media who keep trying to cast him as a dolt. Some were especially surprised that he seemed to get along so well with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. Why do people overlook the obvious? President Bush has degrees from Yale and Harvard. Have you ever met a stupid person with degrees from both Yale and Harvard - regardless of their grades? I don't think Harvard or Yale are into giving "social promotions." (For those unfamiliar with the term, "social promotion" is the penchant of American public schools to promote ignorant or lazy kids to the next grade so as not to damage their self esteem.)
His father is not only an ex-president, but a former CIA director. Condoleezza Rice, his National Security Adviser, was a top Russian analyst in the administration of Bush's father. The CIA has psychologists who do "remote assessments" of the psychological makeup of foreign leaders. It is hard to image anyone who would be better briefed and prepared to meet Putin than President George Bush."
(end of excerpts)
Condi Rice is a brilliant person. Not a brilliant black. Not a brilliant woman. A brilliant person. When I look at her, I look right past her skin color into her brain. Everybody's brain is the same color.
Should You Stock Up on Potassium Iodide Tablets?
Did you go to Mexico or bug every doctor you know so that you could stock up on Cipro? I hope you can get a refund. Did you buy several gas masks? They will fetch a pretty price someday on the "Antiques Roadshow" on PBS.
Now, the buzz is about stocking up on Potassium Iodide Tablets. Potassium Iodide (KI) is a salt, similar to table salt. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a report (NUREG-1433) points out that thyroid growths and other thyroid damage, including cancer of the thyroid, can be expected for hundreds of miles downwind from a nuclear accident (or from a terrorist strike at a nuclear power plant, etc.). The estimates for damage to the thyroid range from about a 60% chance at 1 mile, to 40% at 25 miles, to about 3% at 100 miles from the "accident." For children, increase the probability of damage by about a factor of two.
Use of an appropriate dose of Potassium Iodide Tablets could (can) prevent the thyroid damage. The NRC points to evidence that the tablets were used with success after the meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Russia. The story of the lack of preparedness with KI tablets after the Three-mile-island leak is distressing. (See:Anbex.com for information about the whole topic.) The federal government is beginning to supply KI pills to emergency crews in many parts of the country. But, since the pills should be taken within a very few hours of exposure to radiation, and since they don't cost much, a few in the home emergency kit would not be a bad idea. Especially if you live within 100 miles or so of a nuclear power plant or nuclear-bomb factory.
All this nuclear radiation talk got me to thinking about the other aspects of nuclear fallout. A cursory search of the Web sites for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), FEMA, the Defense Department and homeland security did not produce much information. During the Cold War, we had all kinds of Civilian Defense information about nuclear fallout. Like it or not, it is a real concern today. I will do some research and try to post some good sites for information about protection from nuclear and biological attacks.
Would a 75-cent Stamp Cure the Postal Service Problems? Doubtful.
Would a 75 cent-stamp have prevented the following scenarios? I doubt it. The problems run much deeper than money.
On October 2, 2001, I sent a letter advising of a change of address to a software company in Massachusetts. It was no doubt generated in WordPerfect, with a barcode, and printed on an HP laserjet. I got an e-mail from the president of the company this week. He got my Oct. 2, 2001 letter on April 11, 2002! He said that the letter was so mangled that he could not read the change of address, and would I please advise by e-mail.
A stamp will cost 37 cents in June. Here is part of the problem, multiplied by 28,000 post offices in the country. Our local post office put in a satellite dish, which connects to the USPS computers in some fashion. But, it was installed behind a tree that would obviously block the signal when the leaves were in bloom. Folks in the Outback have satellite TV dishes. They know better than to put a dish where a tree is in the line-of-sight to the satellite. The other day, a new pole was mounted in the ground at the post office and the satellite dish moved. It is now behind a smaller tree, which will take some time to grow and block the signal. I would have cut down the quite small tree that originally blocked the signal - for free. But, there probably would have to be an Environmental Impact Statement filed to cut down a tree on Federal property. Or it may be crime. Who knows?
Then, there was the handicapped ramp. It took forever to build. Some part was put in the wrong place and had to be done over. There is no doubt a 50-page specification of how these things must be built. Apparently, nobody looked out the window to see how things were coming along. The contractor vanished in the middle of the job. Eventually the ramp got finished. Not once have I seen a handicapped person use the ramp, the cost of which I do not want to know. A few of us use it, as it is close to where we park.
The Postal Service has been directed by Congress to come up with a "transformation plan" to save it from financial disaster, as if losing $1.7 billion in 2001 was not disaster enough. One of the options is to privatize the service, with one plan calling for sales of stock in a publicly-held postal company. Wow! Folks will be lining up to put their life's savings into Postal Service stock.
The Postal Service has a "Under the Eagle Eye" program that requires employees to report suspicious mail activity, but details of the plan are secret. Forget the FBI and CIA. What's the deal at the Postal Service?
The Postal Service has a National Change of Address database. Some charge that marketers have easy access to the database. Just when you thought your move to the Outback had thrown the direct-mail weenies off you trail, the stuff begins to show up. Hmmmm. This is like the State of Texas selling driver's license info. When I bought some land through the Texas Veterans Land Board, I began to get all kinds of new "property owner" related junk mail. I wrote the director in Austin and he said that they did sell the name list, but that eventually people would tire of sending me stuff. Comforting. No government agency, state or federal, ought to be allowed to sell or give away your name, address, or other personal information to commercial marketers. And guess what? When you rent a private mailbox at a place like MailBoxes Etc., there are reports that they are required to collect and transmit to the U.S. Postal Service with confidential information on you that they are not even allowed to be collected on their own USPS boxholders.
It is ironic that "establishing a postal service" is one of the few powers actually granted to the government by the Constitution. The government has managed to intrude in our lives in a thousand ways, by manipulating the "Taxing Power" and by abusing its right to the control of "Interstate Commerce." Maybe they should have spent more time working on the U.S. Postal Service and less time inventing new constitutional powers.
Why don't they just let UPS, FED-EX, AIRBORNE and the others form a consortium and buy the damn postal system? First, all senior managers would be required to have an MBA. Next, the unions would be done away with. Then, there would be an evaluation of every employee in the system. How many would survive that little exercise?
For some insights, check out www.postalwatch.org
In addition to writing your Senators and your Congressman, you could drop a love note to:
House Committee on Government Reform
2157 RHOB
Washington, DC 20515
Also see: www.house.gov/reform
John Potter, Postmaster General
475 L'Enfant Plz SW
Washington, DC 20260
Shannon Continues to Make the Cut on ABC's "The Bachelor"
In the Outback for March 30, 2002, referring to the ABC TV show "The Bachelor," I mentioned that I was putting my money on Shannon from Dallas. This was based on their reaction to one another when Alex presented her a rose during the first "cut" - when many girls were eliminated. Now, I , like millions of men, am in love with Shannon, even given the nearly 56-year disparity in our ages.
Shannon has survived two more cuts, and the girls are down to four from the original 25, I think it was. Alex took her shopping when she was on the last date. In one shot of her in an evening gown with a diamond necklace and earrings, she looked like Princess Grace. Incredible. She also has a lovely mellow voice, which is something that men don't talk about much. Too many woman have shrill voices, even when they are talking normally. And they wonder why we don't listen. God made them that way, for reasons unknown. I guess he needed sopranos in the choir.
Most of the girls suck up to Alex like he was a Greek God whom they do not want to offend. Shannon took him aside one time and told him that the girls had been talking and he seemed to tell all of them that they were special. She said he was very good at what he did, and that she thus did not feel special. He assured her she was, and must have made a note that she was one of the few to turn the tables on him, instead of begging and rolling over like a puppy.
Anyway, Alex is crazy if he does not propose to Shannon. In the meantime, I am dying a slow death watching this damn show. Never did I think I could get so involved in a TV program. Remember, a little bird in Dallas called during the first show to tell me that Shannon was a very special young lady. That source was right on. If Shannon fails to make the final cut, there will be a lot of happy guys in Dallas. They will still have a chance.
Many view this as a frivolous program, akin to the "Marry a Millionaire" fiasco. My concerns are two. The ladies are mostly acting like dogs in heat and they don't seem to ask Alex questions about his likes, dislikes, foibles, weaknesses, etc. The guy is 31 and unmarried. There has to be a reason. And once the "lucky lady" is chosen, I would hope that they would seriously date for a few months before doing anything foolish - like getting married.
(Update: April 15, 2002. Shannon once again made the cut. Now, there are only three ladies left. Again, she jumped all over Alex in the Limo about him pressing her for answers on some personal things in front of the cameras, etc. Alex later said he felt like Shannon was his girlfriend and they were working through some arguments. She adores the guy, but she is not going to take any crap from him. He has to respect that. Go Shannon. Break all those hearts in Dallas. It turn out that Alex was originally from Dallas. An interesting bit of irony.)
(Update: April 22, 2002. Shannon got the axe. Only two girls are left. Thus ends my foray into watching reality TV. For what it is worth, I think Shannon felt she was sorry she got into this charade and purposely did things toward the end to irritate Alex. She really came down hard when it was suggested that she and Alex had the option of sleeping in the same room on their overnight date. Good for her. I think she is relieved, and I know her family is relieved, that she will not become the "lucky bride." I never give up. Shannon will get some major fallout from the show. In my humble view, she was the class of the litter. Watch for her in commercials in the not too distant future, for example.)
Suggested Reading From Past Columns
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