The View From the Outback© 2000 Richard C. Rhodes
A great deal of what we read in newspapers, magazines, and books, and what we see in the movies and on TV is written and produced in New York City or Los Angeles. Much of the "political wisdom" comes from the PR machines of the White House, the Congress, and from the Washington media corps. 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 a senior citizen. My experience 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 13 years. Every couple of weeks I will attempt to post a new set of musings from the Outback. Click on a Topic to go directly to that topic. British newspapers are all atwitter over a "secret scandal" involving Prince Charles, possibly with a male member of his staff. One headline asked: "Is Charles Bisexual?" If he is, Camilla Parker Bowles has enough male and female traits to satisfy most any leaning the Prince might have. A man was arrested for threatening to torture and kill employees of the firm that flooded his e-mail and also caused persistent pop-up ads promising to enlarge his penis. I got a couple of hundred of those until I changed my e-mail address. At the same time, Congress is working on a bill that would make it a crime to use a false or "spoofed" return address. If that bill passes, then there will 15 million of us threatening to torture those mutants who send the "penis enlargement" ads. How then can the fuzz arrest everyone who threatens a spammer? They can't, as the volume would be too great to even take mug shots and fingerprints. A glorious day is coming soon. One when we can finally threaten to maim or mutilate the "penis enlargement" folks. And I know exactly on which part of their anatomy to start. (11-22-03) I saved several hours of valuable time by not watching the TV movies about Elizabeth Smart and Jessica Lynch. Even Osama bin Laden, in his cave, is probably up to speed on those two stories. Did we really need TV movies on both young ladies? No. Is anything still made in the U.S.A.? continues to haunt me and all those who have lost manufacturing jobs to overseas producers. John Deere is a revered tractor name in this country. I bought a fuel filter for my lawn tractor and it is "Made in Israel." A piece of plastic with a paper filter in it, and we have to import them? Sears has been touting the Strap Wrench on TV, for among other things opening jar lids. Today, I bought one. "Made in England." A piece of molded plastic for the handle and a rubber strap. We can't make these things cheaply in the U.S.? (11-17-03)
Bread makers are complaining that sales are way down due to the trend toward low-carb diets. We could feel some sympathy for them if they did not charge $2 to $2.80 for a loaf of bread that probably contains 20 cents worth of flour and other ingredients. Maybe the pressure on the market will bring bread prices more in line with reality. Along those lines, the cost of a box of cold breakfast cereal is completely out of reason. Perhaps the low-carb fad will put some pressure on them to lower cereal prices to somewhere near a reasonable level. Buy a dozen eggs for 99 cents, and eat breakfast on the cheap, with one of the best food sources there is. And no, eggs will not cause you to get high cholesterol and die. That myth has been pretty well put to rest by the current scientific evidence. But eating cold cereals could put you in the poor house and give you cavities - if you like the sweet ones. For many years the Atkins diet was attacked as leading to high-cholesterol and heart disease - with all the intake of saturated fats. Now, research on the diet has shown that the Atkins diet reduces LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) by 8.6 percent and increases HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) by about 15 percent (source: American Heart Association meeting). Is anybody paying attention? The mainstream medical community continues to insist that high cholesterol and ingestion of saturated fats causes heart disease. They continue to ignore Dr. Uffe Ravnskov (M.D., Ph.D.) and his colleagues whose research clearly shows that "cholesterol doesn't matter," that heart disease is caused by other factors - many of which are only speculative. Take a look at www.thincs.org and www.ravnskov.nu/uffe for some food for thought about cholesterol. Microsoft has come under extreme pressure for not making its software, particularly Windows XP and Outlook, more secure. As you reflect on that subject, consider what kind of high-paid phenoms came up with the same names for different functions in Windows. There is Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer. There is Windows Messenger and Messenger that relates to network messaging. Imagine all the confusion that has caused with people trying to adjust settings or conduct troubleshooting with a third party. When my son calls and asks a question about finding files or surfing the Internet, I always ask if he is talking about Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer. I solved the Windows Explorer problem years ago by installing the superior file-manager Power Desk Pro, now sold by V-Com (a lite version is free - www.v-com.com). And I have deleted Windows Messenger and disabled the Messenger you find in "Services" in XP. I use Eudora Pro 6.0 and not Outlook for e-mail. And the WordPerfect 11 Suite, and Alpha Five database, browse with Netscape 7.1, and use Quicken for finances. There is intelligent life out there other than Microsoft applications, which are grossly overpriced and subject to constant attack by virus writers and hackers. Break the shackles. Try something else. If you read the information about pop-up ad messages that may have been getting into your computer via a bug in Messenger, you were no doubt confused. They are talking about the Messenger that allows network administrators to send pop-ups to those on a network. This is not the Windows Messenger where you get messages from your friends who are online. Many articles fail to tell you how to kill the network Messenger. You don't need to download a patch. Click on Start, click on Control Panel and then on Administrative Tools. Next, double-click on Services and find "Messenger." The description starts with "Transmits net send and Alerter service messages ...." Double-click on Messenger, select "Startup type," and select "Disabled." Click "Stop" - and click on OK. Close Services and any other windows you opened along the way. At times, I feel like a branch of the National Archives. I am drowning in papers and documents. As I continue to sift through boxes of paper, with a view to discarding the useless clutter, I continue to unearth important gems. I found a personal letter from Sen. Sam Irvin, written from his home in North Carolina after he retired. You recall that he was chairman of the Senate committee that investigated Watergate. There is a letter from Susan Clough, President Jimmy Cater's personal secretary, to tell me about a new job she got after she left the White House (one of several notes and letters from Susan). And a letter I have reason to believe was personally signed by Gov. John Connally, on the letterhead of the Vinson & Elkins law firm in 1981. Gov. Connally was in the limo with J.F.K. and was wounded during the J.F.K. assasination. His letter had to do with agreeing to read my novel with a view to possibly providing some introductory words for the book. More recently, a letter from a Justice of the Supreme Court, who thanked me for "my wonderful words --and humor" - in a handwritten note at the bottom of a stock "thank-you-for-writing" letter. All of these go into the "Grandkids Scrapbook," which is turning out to be quite an interesting archive. Does it bug you when you watch your favorite show and at the end they run scenes from the next episode? I don't want the suspense of the next episode ruined by a preview. I yell at the TV, "I don't want to see scenes from next week's episode," and change the channel to C-SPAN or other safe haven. If I am watching a show, I probably will watch it the next time it runs, especially with TIVO and DVRs which are so easy to program. Have the geniuses who run the networks ever done any research as to how many people tune into a show for the first time and decide to watch the next episode based on a preview? Are there really any people watching "Friends" who would not watch the next episode if the preview seemed uninteresting (which is unlikely, as they pick the most outstanding scenes to show)? Are there a lot of people who get upset when the preview ruins the suspense of the next show? You bet there are.
The same question can be asked of the ubiquitous promos for upcoming shows. Maybe they bring in some new viewers to a particular show, but they ruin the suspense for loyal viewers. Books often become best sellers via "word-of-mouth." Have the suits at the networks ever done any research to determine whether most viewers come to a show based on the promos and previews or word-of-mouth - or channel surfing? Even the description in the on-screen guide for my DVR from DishNetwork (and the same with TIVO, et al.) takes away most of the suspense and anticipation of an upcoming show. I don't care what the plot of "Friends," "Frasier," "J.A.G.," "Good Morning Miami," (and others) is going to be. If I tune in on a favorite show and it sucks, I can always click the remote. For all continuing sitcoms and dramas, I would prefer a simple comment: "New" or "Rerun." That is another reason I do not read TV Guide. It is like reading the Cliff Notes of a book. Takes all the fun out of the thing. Of course, it helps to know who will be the guests on news magazines and late-night shows. Since I have a long list of Hollywood air-heads and idiots I will not watch in any venue, advance warning helps a lot. On the flip side, I pass on many news magazines when all they show in the guide is a cryptic (News .....). Otherwise, I worry that it will be another serial-murderer story or another loving-husband-who-stabbed-the-kids story. Why do people watch this morbid crap? Life is tough enough without looking for things to feel bad about. Have you become weary of the drum beat about the network's Holy Grail of the 18-34 or 18-39 demographic? That is so lame. I am way, way, way beyond that demographic and I have practically never missed an episode of "Friends," for example. But, I do not, and will not, watch any more reality shows. So, the networks in this one genre alone are losing my advertising eyeballs - apparently catering to younger minds which are more easily amused. More puzzling is that people over 50 years of age hold about 70% of the wealth in this country. Do the networks think we are keeping the money in a mattress? I bought beer and wine last week. This week a refrigerator, a washer, a dryer, and a microwave oven. And not along ago, one of the new, very expensive, 5.8GHz Pansonic phones that actually has a speaker phone in the base and in the handset. Now, I can put somebody on speaker while on hold and wander about the house or the yard. Not long ago, I bought new shocks and premium tires for my Silverado. I buy an inordinate amount of electronics and computer hardware. I have tried several new food products this year that I saw advertised on TV. I have purchased at least three fast-food sandwiches in recent weeks that I saw advertised on TV. TV even influences my choice of dishwashing soap and fabric softener, since I am chief cook and bottle washer in my bachelor pad. And on and on. I will never understand this irrational bias toward an audience demographic that tops out at age 39. The object of commercial TV is to run ads that will sell stuff. Yet, the programming is aimed at a segment of the population that controls only about 30% of the wealth. Go figure. Just after 9/11, when the networks, especially cable, began running a crawl on all virtually all talk and news shows, I got mad as hell. At first, I cut a piece of cardboard and taped it over the bottom of my TV screen. But, I decided that I was not going to let the networks make me jump through a hoop to watch their programs. So, for nearly two years, I have avoided all channels that run a nearly-constant crawl, such as CNN, CNBC, FOXNews, MSNBC, etc. The other night, I wanted to see David Blaine on CNN's Larry King, since I had earlier written about the foolhardy 44-day fast that David recently completed. So, I cut some blocking material and taped it to the bottom of my TV screen. After Larry went off, I decided to surf for a couple of days on the cable channels, since I had effectively blocked the crawl. What a pleasant surprise. I had not been missing anything. The channels were awash in "experts," most of whom I had never heard of, dissecting every news story of the year, from crime, to Iraq, to where is Osama bin Laden?, ad nauseum. Does anybody really want to sit for an hour and listen to a panel discuss the Kobe Bryant case? I know all I need to know, just from scanning the Internet headlines and a story here and there. A noble experiment. The blocking strip has been torn off my TV and the cable news channels, except C-SPAN, are still off my Favorites lists on my DVR. Over the two years that I have refused to watch shows that run a crawl, I have asked many people what they think of the crawls. And I have read countless articles and comments on the Internet about them. I have yet to find a person who likes the crawls. The crawls are annoying and distracting and have a place only in time of emergency or disaster. Why the networks continue to use them - and why YOU continue to put up with them is beyond comprehension.
Der Spiegel, the German magazine, reported that based on transcripts of the U.S. interrogation of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, that the fourth target on September 11, 2001, was not the White House, but the U.S. Capitol Building. The following is from the Outback for March 15, 2003, which in turn refers to comments I made about the potential fourth target on Sept. 20, 2001: On "60 Minutes II" for March 5, 2003, Bob Simon ran his interview with reporter Yosri
Fouda of Al Jazeera TV about Foud's meeting with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of
the 9/11 attack. Mr. Fouda said that the White House was originally on the hit list for one of the hijacked
airliners, but was later taken off due to "navigation reasons." One must assume that means
the plotters knew it would not be easy to hit such a low target in and among other structures.
The U.S. Capitol took the place of the White House on the list. The plane that went
down in Pennsylvania was then the one targeted on the U.S. Capitol. In the Outback for Sept. 20, 2001, in "The Other Targets," I wrote in part: The Capitol, or CIA headquarters would have been much more logical targets. I still have not resolved the following question. If the Pentagon was on the final list of four
targets, and not an alternate to the White House, as many in the media suggested at the time,
why did the terrorists fly into the only part of the Pentagon that had undergone structural
refurbishing to harden it against attack? End of Outback excerpt from Sept. 20, 2001. Apparently, the long 28.8 Internet logon nightmare here in the Outback is about to end - at least most of the time. Although I will continue to keep my acreage and tin house in the Outback, (I am selling my real house down the road), I have rented a small place in town. I have signed up for high-speed cable-Internet, although I had to take the basic TV package to even play the game. The good news is that the Basic package does not contain a single station with a crawl (I think). That is a minor victory. I was giving some thought to go with cable and a TiVo. But COX Cable does not support TiVo - at least not in NE TX! Say what? The rep would only say that "we are working on it." If you go to the TiVo site, they tell you: "Works with everything: cable, digital cable, satellite, antenna, and combinations." Naturally, I will writing a letter to the president of COX and asking him for a plausible explanation of why one of the largest cable-TV outfits in the country does not support TiVo. A while back, I was talking on the ham-radio to a friend in Austria and told him I was moving. He said in his area, it is almost unheard of for anyone my age to move. And with good reason. When I went to the water department to pay my deposit, they said there was no meter at my address! The place was built four years ago and has been more or less constantly occupied. We hope to sort that out on Monday - but I have to sit in an empty house for several hours waiting for the water-meter guy. I will take a gallon of drinking water, a can of Tuna, an apple, and my plastic "whiz in here" bottle from the hospital just in case the wait is too long. And a coffee can for a dire emergency. Actually, there is a vacant unit, whose bathroom I could use, but I ain't moving until that water-meter guy shows up. Well, this whole fiasco turned out about the way I had expected, but for the better. After I left my cell phone on all night and set my alarm for 7 a.m. to be ready for the call from SEARS about their delivery time, there was not a peep. At 9 a.m. I called SEARS and was told that the appliances would be there around Noon. And I would have time to run out for breakfast. The water man, whom I had been told I had to sit in the house and wait for from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., came early (just minutes after I got back) and turned on the water before the SEARS guys arrived (actually contractors for delivery). Of course there was a water meter! I alternated between entertaining and harassing the two large black men who were setting up my major appliances, as I generally find they (meaning black people, you PC idiots) have great senses of humor. There was the misplaced strain relief on the dryer cord and some questioning about did they have a carpenter's level and could they show me that the washer and dryer were level. Actually, they made some adjustments once they put the level on top, which would not have been done except for my pressing the issue. The washer was supposed to be "self leveling." Uh, huh, if you are the self doing the leveling. But it was all in fun, like "I'm too old to be on the floor trying to lift a washer with one hand and screw a foot in or out." One fellow asked if he could use my bathroom. I said, "Man, you real lucky. An hour ago, I would have handed you the Whiz Bottle, but the water man beat you here by half an hour." He really liked that one, among many exchanges we had. The stock number on the washer did not match the one on my reference sheet. So, I said:
"Here's the deal, guys. If this is not as good a machine as I paid for, you all will be back later. However, if it is a better machine than I paid for, SEARS will never hear from me." More laughter. They are not used to the customers entertaining them with standup comedy. I used my free tiny box of TIDE and tossed in the laundry that I had brought with me from the ranch. And used one of my two free sheets of Bouce in the dryer. Life is sweet when something actually works like it is supposed to - more or less. Did I mention the TWO FREE sheets of Bounce? Anyway, it was all close enough for government work. But, for goodness sake, unless you have been evicted or transferred - DO NOT MOVE! Let's see, in one day I have promised myself to write the presidents of COX Cable and TXU Electric. You would be surprised over the last 20 years how many CEOs have answered and how may things have been cleared up and even changed. Recently, I got a call from the female executive assistant to the president of a large software company, about a letter in which I comiserated with him for an appearance he made before a Congresssional Committee and how little interest there was. One Congressman, who was particularly youthful and inept, handled the whole portion I saw. Also, she said, at the bottom of the letter was a note to a subordinate telling him to look into my comments about some extreme confusion on the company's Web page. She said he, the prez, just wanted to let me know how much he enjoyed the letter. I don't yell and scream like I do in these pages, just clean well-reasoned, logically-based comments - with a zinger at the end now and then. Especially for the Home Depot's prez. I wrote him a while back about the $10-dollar rebate they stiffed me on - and got a stupid letter saying that it had been "referred to the appropriate department" (the trash can). Just send me the 10 bucks. Now, with great joy, I am going to write him and tell him that faced with buying a new washer, dryer, fridge, and microwave, I decided to buy from SEARS, partly because I am still pissed at the cheap so and sos stiffing me for $10. Update 11-25-03: I went into Home Depot today to pick up a toilet flapper and some plumbing valves and fittings for under a sink (which they did not have). As usual, there was ONE cashier open and about eight people in line. One lady said, "This is just like it was at K-Mart, with only one cashier." K-Mart closed that store! A man passed by the tail-end of the line, mumbling to himself, "You can't get anybody to wait on you in this place." I was lucky that day, I had two people offer to help me. One could not find the plumbing valves and the other helped me select a little table lamp with 4-step touch ON/OFF, which I was going to hook up to my ON/OFF timer. I asked if it would work with my 75W Halogen bulb. He said it would. It did not. I have two other Halogen bulbs in lamps. I guess they are either On or Off, and only an incandescent bulb can be stepped through stages of brightness, or work on a dimmer swith. Oh, well, I'll find a home for the Halogen one day. And you get a static shock each time you touch the lamp base. So until the high humidity returns in Summer, I can count on getting zapped every time I tap it. Oh, and you know that I always read country-of-origin labels. Made in China.
Suddenly in the middle of what was becoming a group-therapy session, I said, "If it is any consolation to you, I will be writing to the President of Home Depot, and one subject will be the 'one cashier' thing. And that it would not be my first letter to him. In a few minutes another cashier light came on. They were opening another line. In a fairly-loud voice, I said that I had never seen this before and was going to run out to the truck and get my digital camera to preserve this historic moment. Naturally, the nice young lady in my aisle, just trying to do her job with no support from management, got a sour look on her face after my take-a-picture comment. In the parking lot, the guy behind me in line was also parked next to me. We continued our conversation about other matters for about 15 minutes. He invited me to join a group he belonged to, for among other things, a Friday-night fish fry. Here's one retail story with a happy ending, at least so far. I had been a SEARS customer and credit-card holder for about 30 years - and never missed a payment. If we came back from Europe, we bought all new SEARS major appliances. Over the years, I was a big-time buyer of washers, dryers and refrigerators, moving as much as we did, and being "stuck" with converting 50 cycle stuff to 60 cycle, and so on. But, when I came back from a couple of years in Hawaii, I was told that I would have to fill out a new credit application "due to nonuse of my card." Oh, I don't think so. I walked out and bought the Sharp microwave at a nearby Dallas dealer. With my long and excellent credit history at SEARS, I don't do applications anymore. I wrote the VP in charge of credit or finance or something at the SEARS TOWER in Chicago (I saw his name in the Wall Street Journal) and immediately got an apology and a new card. Then around 1989 I got into a fuss with SEARS over not having parts to repair a very expensive lawn tractor, which I stupidly drove over a length of aircraft cable left over from a tower installation. My grass, actually just a mowed pasture at the ranch, got 18 inches high before they took the parts off the floor model. That was the day I threw down a sheaf of 18-inch grass on the parts counter, cut with a machette and asked, "When are you going to get my tractor parts?" A little show and tell often helps. Then, I wanted a treadmill, but they had to backorder it several weeks. Yet, I got charged immediately for the treadmill. I cancelled my SEARS card and only went into the store if I needed a wrench or string for my weed whacker for about 13 years. The other day, I decided to buy a washer, dryer, and fridge and went into SEARS. A lovely lady, with a lot of tenure, helped me find things that were better than I had asked for. I had the specs and low-ball prices which I had printed for her "enjoyment" from the SEARS Web site, but she did not push me at all to more than my simple needs dictated - just a gentle nudge up from products I did not fully understand from the Web descriptions and which had obvious shortcomings. I was going to pay with a VISA or a check and told her the stories about my various feuds with SEARS. No more SEARS cards and application forms for me, besides the interest rate is way too high compared to several of my credit cards, or even a bank loan. Why would anybody want a SEARS card? With talk of no interest for six months and no application to fill out, I was once again a SEARS credit-card customer - in about two minutes. 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 beg your forgiveness for the many mistakes that creep in. Suggested Reading From Past Columns Click Here for Suggested Reading List Archive of Back Issues Media List of Addresses and e-mails Postal Service State Abbreviations, etc. Richard C. Rhodes End |