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.
Before the "Colin Quinn Show" ever came on TV, I said in the Outback that he had no talent and that the show would bomb. It lasted three episodes. That is not just a bomb, but a nuclear bomb. Why is it that the TV programming executives never call me to get my read on things? I'm in the book. I have been right so often that it should be embarrassing to them. I do drop them a note now and then to rub it in.
Wild Bluebonnets line many highways in Texas. It is a tradition to stop and take photos of the flowers. Now, police are warning people to be alert if they stop to take photos. Vehicles are being burglarized in an instant. There have been reports of stolen hoods and wheels - and a bullet through a rear window. All of this done brazenly while people are not far from their vehicles. What kind of a society have we produced? Now, do you have any wonder why so many states have passed concealed-weapon laws? I went for a walk after dark in Dallas the other night. As I stuffed my pistol holster under my belt (covered by my shirt tail), my friend asked "Do you really need that?" My reply was, "This is Dallas, Texas. It is nighttime." Very sad.
It's a shame when mentally-retarded people are put on the TV quiz show "Wheel of Fortune" and exploited. In a recent episode, a toss-up (an auto-generated puzzle) puzzle was:_N _C_ _F KI_DNE_S. The man's answer was "An Ace of Kidneys." (An Act of Kindness) Later, a puzzle had progressed to: A_AR_LL _ LARED_ TEXAS. The lady's answer was: "Armadillo & Laredo Texas." Of course, these were really just normal Americans who, under the pressure of being on TV, had their brains lock up. Those two contestants are probably trying to raise money to buy back the tape of that show. "C'mon, Sally, let's git in the pickup and head out to Armadillo for the weekend. We might even run over an Amarillo on the highway - for lunch."
Ally McBeal on FOX has been canceled, after it came in 43rd in recent ratings. I feel vindicated, since I had written David E. Kelley some time back and told him the show had worn so thin with me that I was abandoning it. We apparently agree on that. Now, if he will quit exploiting the lady with the prosthetic hand for its titillation value, and get her off the show, I might go back to watching "Boston Public." Yes, I wrote him about that, too. I keep the Postal Service in business.
Unable to sleep one night, I surfed the Infommercials on TV. There was a thing to raise your gas mileage by 24% for about $70. If it is such a super idea, why is it not offered by dealers with your new car? There was a skin-care-product regimen that sounded very good and I was actually tempted to order some. Easy Tiger. There was a program about how to cure anxiety and depression, with audio tapes - I think. Too depressing to watch. Then, an incredible show by Tropicana about the history of Orange Juice. Gee, I just thought you bought some oranges, cut them in half and squeezed them. No way, Jose. This masterful piece of Tropicana fluff had you believing that the evolution of Orange Juice was on a par with the development of the Salk Polio Vaccine or the atomic bomb. I occasionally buy the Tropicana juice with lots of pulp. I prefer to eat an orange. You get all the juice and the pulp without the middleman. One show was absent. That is - a show about how to get a good night's sleep.
NBC ran their 75-year self tribute. The scary thing is that I think I saw every one of the shows they showed clips of. In the beginning of TV, we had 10-inch black and white sets, with a 4-inch monaural speaker. I like my 32-inch color set, 5.1 channel surround sound, and satellite dish a lot better. Young people find little to be thankful for. They take everything for granted. If your daddy buys you a Caddy for graduating from high shool, what do you have to strive for and to look forward to when you are 40 or 50-years old? Having a 10-inch black & white TV and a Plymouth coupe with 100,000 miles on it when you bought it, gave you something to look forward to.
The Wall Street Journal - Not Just for Rich Investors
I have been reading the WSJ for about 30 years. The "Journal" as it is known. During that time, I have had modest and sporadic investments. Usually, I open the paper and throw away the Money & Investing section, or save it for packing dishes during my next move. If you don't have a dime in the stock market, if you don't own a home, if you don't have a single bank CD, you can still avail yourself of a broad-ranging content, with in-depth articles, that dig deep behind the headlines and sound bites. The reporting is gold-plated.
Recently, the WSJ got a facelift. They finally put a modest amount of color in the content. They added a Personal Journal three days a week, with articles on personal finance, travel, cars, gadgets, leisure & arts, and health & family.
On any given day, you can find articles about technology trends, the Internet, behind-the-scene insights into the pharmaceutical industry, medical news, book reviews, wine rankings, and computer news and reviews by the highly-regarded and widely-quoted Walter Mossberg. The profiles of senior corporate executives or the success story of some small family business are inspiring. You finally understand what makes a company tick, what makes it thrive - and what makes so many fail. For those who are tired of the liberal New York Times and its imitators, the editorial pages of the WSJ are an oasis in a parched desert.
The letters-to-the-editor are often as authoritative and insightful as the editorial content. I have had about five letters published. I think I am their token "hick." You don't seen many letters from a guy who lives near a town of 1700 people. Check out the letters. You will see what I mean.
There is something for everybody. TV news, who is in and who is out at NBC, and so forth. All the top dogs in politics and corporate America eventually get a mention in the WSJ. Over the years, I have used the WSJ to compile my list of presidents of companies, chiefs of TV networks, and on and on. And then I send many of them letters. That is the price of fame. Some idiot in Honey Grove, Texas, writes the president of a $20 billion company and tells him how to run his business. I have gotten a surprising number of personal, and positive, responses.
Anybody who reads this column knows that I am constantly carping at the business practices of the pharmaceutical industry. The WSJ, which you might think would tend to side with business, consistently exposes the shameful tactics of the drug companies. In the May 1, 2002 issue, a front-page story is: "How Drug Makers Use Pharmacies To Push Pricey Pills." Just one of the many similar articles they have done. My heroes.
"The Journal" is not cheap. Neither are Godiva Chocolates. A yearly subscription is about $180. Now, there is plan where you pay by credit card and get the Journal for $14.98 a month. The first two months are only $7.49 a month. I assume you can go month-to-month, until you cancel. (Call 800-WSJ-2206 ext.991 for information.)
If you are a subscriber, you also get a discount for the Online WSJ, which is one of the few Internet news sources that has managed to charge for their content. It must be good if they can actually get money from the tight-fisted Internet crowd. I subscribe to the Online version for $25 a year (as I recall), and have a custom front page each day with my topics of interest. Non- subscribers can read only a small part of the online content.
Read a few issue of the WSJ in your public library. Grab a copy now and then from a vending rack. Here in the Outback, The Wall Street Journal is the only paper I read every weekday. The closet is full of articles ripped from the Journal. I recently wrote the Editor and among other things told him that I could not have made it through the Clinton years without the WSJ.
If, like me, you are a person of modest means, save the Money & Investing section to wrap the fish bones in. The rest of the paper is well worth the price. Warning. It could become addictive. All you have to give up is one lunch a month to pay for the addiction.
Do You Have any Guns or Drugs in Your Car?
A Federal appeals court (10th Circuit) has ruled that an officer who makes a routine traffic stop can ask a driver if he has a loaded gun in the car. Some courts consider that asking if a person has a gun in the car, without some prior knowledge, information, or reason to think there is one, is a violation of the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures. Making traffic stops is inherently very dangerous for law enforcement officers. But, even as a former Federal agent and friend of law enforcement, I have always been opposed to any "right" of an officer to go on a fishing expedition when he or she stops someone for perhaps a burned out taillight or for not wearing a seatbelt.
I have read that if you are asked if you have any guns (or other illegal items) in your vehicle, you are within the law say "No" - even if you do have the items onboard. The information I have is that after you present your driver's license, insurance receipt (and in Texas your concealed- weapon permit if you have one), you are under no obligation to give truthful answers to fishing- expedition questions - unless you are the subject of a criminal investigation.
So, it would seem that one response to a question about the contents of your vehicle might be: "Am I the subject of a criminal investigation?" If the officer's answer is "No," then your answer might be "No" to the question "do you have any ....... in your vehicle." One high-level source I contacted said that refusing to answer such a question might be risky business. He is a lawyer involved with gun issues. But, on balance, it seems like good advice not to volunteer any incriminating evidence against yourself. After all, there is a right against self-incrimination. If the Mob guys testifying before Congress can take the "Fifth," why should you or I be denied that privilege while being intimidated in the dark of night by a large man with a badge and gun?
If an officer asks if you have any objection to the officer making a search (or having a look inside) your vehicle, the answer is clearly: "Yes, I do object - unless you have a search warrant or probable cause to think that I have contraband or illegal items in my vehicle." That is settled law. No warrant, no probable cause, no search. Don't ever allow a search voluntarily. If the officer says he has probable cause and institutes a forced search, stand back - and call your lawyer on the cell phone.
In Texas, if you have a concealed-weapon permit, you are obliged to show your permit to an officer who stops your vehicle. He or she can ask anything they want about what guns you have in the vehicle, and can even ask you to temporarily surrender your weapon(s) until the traffic stop is over. I have said repeatedly, officers do not have to be in fear of permit holders. I don't think one has ever shot a cop. But, the law was carefully drafted and I have no bone to pick with it. With privileges always go obligations. It is ironic that law-abiding gun permit holders must discuss their guns on board and surrender them at least temporarily, but a bank robber fleeing the scene can simply lie and say he has no guns or other contraband. Nobody said any of this stuff makes sense. It's just the law.
Check with your lawyer before you try this "no comment" thing out, as I do not presume to give legal advice here. Don't call me from jail. I have caller-ID.
The good news is that many people with criminal intent and who actually have something to hide, be it guns, drugs, or whatever, will often volunteer that they have the items on board when asked. And they will often consent to a search of their vehicle - and themselves. There are few hard-core crooks with Ph.Ds.
Again, I know how hard it is to be a cop or a highway patrolman. Traffic stops are inherently dangerous. But, I also know there are a lot of people who push the envelope when they make a traffic stop - often making the stop on the flimsiest of pretenses. There is even a phrase for it among cops, "a pretext stop." Officers have been known to knock out the taillight on a suspect's vehicle while he is in a bar, for example, so they can stop him on the road for a burned-out-taillight. Then comes the fishing expedition. Pretty rare, but it does happen.
For example, one night I was traveling on a very narrow two-lane country road. I saw a large vehicle approaching at high speed. I could tell it was large by the distance between the headlights. I moved over to make sure I could pass by it with ample clearance. In doing so, my right tires kicked up a little dust from the shoulder of the road. The other vehicle was a State Trooper car. As it passed, I moved back more into the center of my lane, but apparently touched the yellow dividing line, or crossed over it. There is about 6 inches to work with here on either side. The troopers turned around and stopped me.
I told them I was a former Federal agent and that I lived nearby - and that I had not been drinking alcohol - and that both the police chief and sheriff knew me. While one trooper stood by my door - and shined his flashlight over the interior of my truck, the other called in my license information. Since nearly everybody out here monitors the police frequencies, I could hear my friends laughing that I had been "caught" by the troopers.
Of course, there was no record of violations - nada - not even a Stop sign. I asked the one trooper why they had turned around on me. I knew that I was way below the speed limit. He said that they saw me "weaving" and suspected that I was driving under the influence of alcohol. I told him my story about moving over to avoid them as they came toward me, and that I thought it was a pretty slim pretext to stop me. I will never forget his answer. "Man, we pull people over for a lot less." I think he mentioned the large number of drunks on the highway. We both agreed that stopping drunks was a good idea and dropped the subject. I am not looking for pity here. I know that this kind of "marginal stop" is made thousands of times a day throughout the United States.
I suspect that if I had not said that I was a former Federal agent (and that the police chief and sheriff knew me), I would have been asked: "Do you have any guns or drugs in the car?" In fairness, the guys here in the Outback have usually been fair when they came across a handgun (shotguns and rifles are legal in a vehicle) in a car where the occupant does not have a permit. You hear it all the time on the scanner, for example. They usually call in to see if the person has a criminal record, to see if the gun is stolen, if there are any arrest warrants, and so on. If everything comes back negative, they often return the gun and bid the driver a good evening. But, this is rural Texas, where people carry guns instead of bottles of Evian water. To strictly enforce the law would fill the jails.
There are untold thousands of traffic stops made each year on the slimmest of pretexts. Many result in the seizure of contraband and in the arrest of those with outstanding warrants. But, citizens have the right to refuse to incriminate themselves by giving answers to "fishing- expedition" questions by police. I hesitated about writing this article, because I did not want to hamper legitimate law-enforcement activities. But, I decided that very few criminals would read this article - since very few gun-predator criminals or dopers can read. And while I am no bleeding-heart ACLU member, I am always mindful of the tradeoffs between catching criminals and abusing individual rights.
I have written several times suggesting that all the bleeding hearts who see the USA Patriot Act as a gross invasion of our civil rights are full of crap. My questions always are: have you ever had your phone tapped by the FBI? Have you ever been deported for a Visa violation? And so forth. But nearly everyone drives a car, and the chances that you will be pulled over on a "pretext stop" and asked "fishing-expedition" questions are reasonably high. Probably a 100,000 times greater probability of a traffic stop than the FBI tapping your phone or checking your bank records. Unless you are a criminal or a terrorist. Therein lies one difference between the USA Patriot Act and the enforcement of the traffic laws. The filter for who is subject to the Patriot Act is narrowly defined. The traffic laws relate to everyone who drives a vehicle.
A Computer Bunker
Some time back, I read an article that said only about 1% of computer users were using ad- blocking software. This was a surprise, since we are flooded with ads and flashing screens on the Internet to the point of complete distraction. There are some simple remedies. All that got me to thinking that I would once again point out some programs that can protect you from unwanted ads, cookies, viruses, and spyware.
Spyware is a program that piggybacks on a download from the Internet and "calls home" when you are surfing to report on which sites you visit. Most often, spyware is piggybacked on a download of a free program. No free lunch many times. For now, I have settled on using one computer solely for e-mail and casual surfing. My new XP machine is reserved for working files and high-speed updates of Windows XP, Anti-virus definitions, and large program updates. Yet, when I ran the free Ad-aware program, I had about 40 hidden chunks of various spyware on my computer. And I don't recall downloading any shareware or freeware on that computer.
So, here is my current setup for my Internet Moat. All of the programs are the paid-for versions and all the versions I cite work well with Windows XP:
Zone Alarm Pro 3.0 www.zonelabs.com
ZA Pro protects you from probes by intruders seeking access to your computer and prevents Trojan Horse programs already resident on your disk from sending personal information to an Internet or e-mail destination. It also screens e-mail for a long list of program extensions that can execute a virus or plant a Trojan Horse in your computer. Although Norton Antivirus can screen e-mail for viruses, ZA actually intercepts the download and puts in quarantine - even before Norton Antivirus, for example, has a chance to detect it. ZA has in recent months stopped two big-time viruses cold in their tracks as they tried to enter my computer via e-mails.
Zone Alarm Pro 3.0 now also blocks cookies and ads. Since I already use Cookie Pal and Ad- subtract, I did not turn these features on in ZA Pro when I recently upgraded. You might buy ZA Pro 3.x and try the cookie and ad blocking before investing in a separate program for those purposes. A cursory look at the setup menu in ZA for cookie and ad blocking makes it clear to me that there is nowhere near the versatility that can be achieved by using Cookie Pal and Ad- subtract. But, it is a starting place.
ZA Pro lets you completely customize your settings. It is so complex, that many users might use the default settings and be happy. But, you can play it like a Stradivarius, if you study the Help files. By the way, Version 3.0 is a major upgrade, if you are using an earlier version. It used to be an extremely good program. It is now superb.
Norton AntiVirus 2002 www.symantec.com
Every computer needs antivirus software. McAfee has its fans. And the AVG Antivirus program is well regarded (www.grisoft.com/html/us_index.htm). But, I have stuck with Norton Antivirus through about 10 upgrades, and probably won't switch. The LiveUpdate feature is so seamless that you can even have the new protection files installed automatically as you surf. I prefer to see a popup notice that an update is available, mostly because I will switch to the DirecPC satellite for the download, which then takes about 15-45 seconds. When there are new viruses unleashed, Norton seems to jump right on them, and I have seen new updates within hours of reading about a new virus. And I have seen updates as often as twice a week. Using Norton AV 2002 and Zone Alarm Pro 3.0 is like wearing a bulletproof vest and a suit of armor.
Ad-Subtract 2.52 www.adsubtract.com
Of the ad blockers, this is probably the most popular and is certainly more effective than I could have imagined it would be. The program is completely configurable to block Ads, Animations, Auto refresh, Pop-up Windows, Background Images, and Background Music. You can also block Cookies, and referrer cookies. I turn these features off, since I use Cookie Pal, which is more versatile. You also can block Java applets and JavaScript. This is a great feature, since Java goodies can get into your computer and do some terrible things in the wrong hands. You can configure each of your favorite sites to reject any or all of the above.
A couple of trusted big-name sites I visit do require Java to produce some drop-down menus and links. I set them up individually to allow Java - and it is done automatically for that site from then on. If I come to a site that is refusing to load something, I generally know that I should right-click on the Ad-subtract Icon in the tray and left-click on Stop Filtering. If I want to return to this site, I can set a specific set of rules for the site. It is a small inconvenience to pay for the protection it gives you, not to mention less things whirling around on Web pages that you don't need to see.
For a site like Windows Update, you simply set an exclusion (add-site button) for that site and turn off all the blocking. One time and you are done.
A few pop-up windows get through, but very few. Most ads are simply not there. Your page loads faster, there are no blinking signs, and there are no distractions. There is an Update button that you can press to check for updates, or set it to inform you automatically. Ad-subtract is constantly improving the basic software and I have upgraded free several times after paying the initial fee. Painless upgrading. No forms, no passwords. If you have a registered version, it knows that and socks it to you. They also update their ad-blocking list and that update is also painless. I love Ad-Subtract. You will too, I promise.
Cookie Pal 1.7b www.kburra.com
Internet Explorer 6.0 gives you some control over cookies. And there are several "cookie blocker" programs. I have been with Cookie Pal for years, and have received countless free upgrades after the initial purchase. I can't imagine a more intuitive and capable program of this type.
First, unlike most of the add-on Internet programs, Cookie Pal can be set to open only when you open Internet Explorer (or Netscape, or your e-mail) and close when you close the browser or e- mail program. Why don't they all do that? I don't need Ad-subtract until I open my browser. Why should I have to let it sit in the background in memory all the time? I have checked the memory usage, and Cookie Pal does release its memory block when it closes. There is a 584K program in the background that allows it to open and close concurrently with the browser. We can all live with that.
The simplest way to work with Cookie Pal is to set it to prompt you each time a site tries to set a cookie. If you got to www.xxxx.com and you click on Always Reject at the prompt, that site is added to your permanent list of sites from which you will not accept cookies. If you go to your bank, or to Amazon.com, etc. you can click on Yes and set up a cookie that will remember you, or you can click on Always Accept and cookies will always be accepted from that site. There are some sites, such as doubleclick.net where you can set an OPT OUT cookie. You can actually see the words OPT OUT in the Cookie Pal screen once it is set. I also manually add doubleclick.net to my "no thank you" list. Double insurance.
There are several other ad-tracking sites where you OPT OUT of cookies. I lost my list of several OPT OUT sites when I reinstalled Cookie Pal on my new computer. Cookies do not transfer well from machine to machine, at least I have not had much luck with it. It is somewhat moot if you set CP to always prompt you when a cookie is trying to be set. Eventually, you will have a list of a hundred or more sites where you don't ever want to accept a cookie. And a list of maybe 6-10 sites where you will accept a cookie, because you have a custom screen or a password, and so on.
It takes two minutes to figure the program out. You have a list on the right of blocked sites and a list on the left of "cookies are okay here" sites. If you want to delete a cookie, you can do it right in Cookie Pal and it will be deleted from the C:\Windows\cookies folder or wherever cookies are stored with your OS (XP cookies are under a User folder, for example).
Cookie Pal also works to block cookies on AOL, in the Opera browser, in Outlook and Outlook Express, and many, many other applications. I have it set to block cookies in Eudora Pro 5.1 e- mail program. Yes, there is no safe haven. There are cookies trying to drop in on you via e- mail!
Ad-Aware 5.8 www.lavasoftusa.com & www.lavasoft.de
You can get a free program called Ad-Aware that will scan your computer to see if you have picked up any spyware along the way. When I discovered how many I had, and I don't download the known spyware programs, I dug deeper.
If you go to the home page of Lavasoft in Germany, instead of the reflector in the U.S. where you get the free Ad-Aware program, you can buy ($15) a version of Ad-Aware that also has Ad- Watch. This is a memory-resident add-on to Ad-Aware. Ad-Watch knows the signature of every major piece of spyware. If you are downloading a program and there is a piece of spyware attached-to or embedded in the download, Ad-Watch will pop up a window and tell you what it is. You can either set the program to automatically delete the spyware or delete it manually. I want to see where the garbage comes from, so I have it set to manual.
Since I cleaned my disk of spyware using the free Ad-Aware program and installed the memory- resident program, I apparently have not fallen into the spyware trap again. I get no alerts and I scan the disk with negative results from time to time. But.... I am not an average surfer. I do not download the "free file of the day" from anybody, and so on. I download virtually no freeware, unless I feel nearly certain I know what it is all about.
It is fairly easy to download the free version of Ad-Aware (www.lavasoftusa.com). Even then, their server situation is a mess, and you constantly get redirected. I would not recommend buying the Ad-Aware Plus, which contains Ad-Watch, the memory-resident monitor. The lavasoft German web site and servers are about as screwed up as any I have ever seen.
I did manage to pay for the program online and download it, but after that it was all downhill. There was soon an upgrade (Ver. 5.8). When I tried to find it at www.lavasoft.de (where I bought the full version), I had no luck. Then, I got an e-mail telling me there was an update to V 5.8 at such and such (confidential) link. When I clicked on that link, I either got timed out, or if I got to the site and entered my password, the file would start to download and then stop. After several tries on different days, I finally managed to slowly download the update. These folks need to get their act together. Surprising, since Germans are usually super-organized. But not these dummkopfs. I speak lovingly of these dummkopfs, as one who lived in Germany and had a great time and met some wonderful people.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Richard C. Rhodes
You are welcome to quote sections from this page - or the whole page, as long as the source URL is included. Of course, I would be flattered if anyone linked to this page. It is very hard to be the writer, editor, fact checker, copy editor, and publisher of anything. So, I welcome corrections of fact, notes of misspelled words, and so on.
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