Thoughts On Thursday...

To begin with, it's going to be ANOTHER "scorcher" in the Heartland.

I kicked the A/C on around 0630, and I'm going to let it run until bedtime.

The humidity is the big deal outside, especially when exerting oneself.

Temps today will be in the low-mid-90s, with a heat index of around 102 degrees.

A heat advisory was issued for our area into tomorrow, when we're expected to see temps drop a bit, along with the humidity.

Sure sounds like a day to visit a mall, or stay inside where it's comfy, hmm?
I keep singing to myself that old Nat King Cole song: "Those Lazy, Hazy Crazy Days of Summer".
Not to step on CWM's songful toes here, but this ditty was on a 1963 album of the same name, arranged and conducted by Ralph Carmichael...yes, THAT Ralph Carmichael of Christian music note. Pretty neat, huh?
Anyway, let's get rolling, and see what's happening in the local sweat -box, shall we?
*** First out the door today, is the answer to yesterday's WHO SAID THAT? quote:
"He only employs his passion who can make no use of his reason."

This is attributed to that great Roman orator, MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, and here is his WIKI:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero
It is said that Petrarch's discovery of Cicero's letters is credited for initiating the 14th century Renaissance.
Cicero was an accomplished orator AND lawyer (a wise man...a lawyer. Now there's something you don't see any of TODAY...lol)
It was Julius Caesar that wanted Cicero to be the 4th member of his existing partnership with Pompey and Crassus, which would eventually evolve into the First Triumvirate. Cicero declined saying he suspected it would undermine the Republic.
Cicero had a very interesting political life, having been exiled and then becoming Mark Antony's cohort after the death of Caesar.
Eventually, Cicero was charged and convicted under dubious laws from times past, and when soldiers came to claim him, he was reported to have spoken these last words:

"There is nothing proper about what you are doing, soldier, but do try to kill me properly."
He was beheaded and his hands were also cut off, and upon Antony's instructions, all three parts of Cicero were nailed to the Rostra in the Forum Romanum. Antony's wife, took the head, pulled out the tongue and jabbed it repeatedly with her hairpin.
(Those Romans sure knew how to pass the time of day, didn't they?)
Fortunately, Cicero's legacy lived LONG after him, and is credited with transforming Latin from a modest utilitarian language into a versatile literary medium capable of expressing abstract and complicated thoughts and clarity.
And we ALL know that Latin is the basis for MANY of OUR words today, whatever other country may have derived them from Latin to begin with.
The WIKI is a good read, and shows you that political "intrigue" had much of it's roots in Rome.
Moving on...
*** It's bad enough we're seeing these "smart meters" for electricity being put on houses across the nation, but here in Fort Wayne, there's a bit of a "different slant" on this...as if we NEED it.

Here's the story link:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/i--m-has-program-to-help-reduce-your-bill-by-cutting-down-ac-usage
Indiana Michigan Power, the local utility "capo", has a program that can SAVE YOU MONEY.
(and if you believe that, I've a bridge for sale in Manhattan...REAL cheap)

The "Residential Peak Reduction Program" is what this is being called.

Here's the link to their website:
https://www.indianamichiganpower.com/save/programs/Indiana.aspx
A "device" is attached to your home A/C unit (okay, that ALREADY creeps me the hell out), and then "officials" (again, creeped out) send a SIGNAL that reduces the cycling OF your A/C unit, to about 50% of normal.

Sounds great, doesn't it?
Someone ELSE tells YOU what you can use and pay for, when YOU bought the damn unit and hooked it up to YOUR house.
Does the term "Big Brother" seems to apply here?
Apparently, 5000 Hoosiers have bought into this plan (note - we are NOT among them).
One customer, having signed up for this plan, states: "We were very upset to find out they were ACTUALLY shutting the air-conditioning unit DOWN, instead of slowing it down."

Yeah, that's what happens when you give CONTROL of YOUR stuff to someone else...THEY got you by the short hairs.
And to think ALL of this nets you a humongous $8 CREDIT each month...
Eight bucks can't even buy FOUR bucks these days, so who the hell are these people kidding, anyway?
I say better to take the "hit" with higher utility bills during summer A/C use, and be comfortable, rather than be uncomfortable at the hands of some "device" and the people sending signals to it.
In other words, they can keep their dickbeaters OFF of my air-conditioner.
*** The FWPD recently added license plate "readers" in a few patrol cruisers, and the technology is pretty neat.

But, there "could" be a DOWN side to all this really cool tech.
Here's the story link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130718/NEWS03/307189982/0/SEARCH
And believe it or else...the ACLU is weighing in on this.

They say it violates privacy acts already in place, and that you cant track PEOPLE by tracking their cars.

No, but you CAN find scofflaws with parking control as well as outstanding tickets.
Agencies using the readers state they don't keep records of scanned vehicles MORE than 30 days, but what we're told is often a bit different from what is FACT...and we, the people have NO way of watch-dogging such things at this time.

It's just their word against ours at this point.

Man, it sure would be nice to have the "revolving plate" that James Bond had on his Aston Martin in Goldfinger...wouldn't it?

*** Lastly today, we see more evidence of less privacy in our lives, supposedly designed to make us all feel MORE safe.
I dunno, I'm not feeling one damn bit safer here is Fort Wayne.

Many of these "monitoring" devices watch ALL of us, rather than the criminal element alone, and there's the rub...
HOW can you have one without the other?
We either have to keep track of everyone or no on at all.
Unfortunately, the "rest of us" fall into the mix, with no choice of our own.
It's almost like we are being "smart-metered" whether we like it or not.
They already have "black boxes" in vehicles for crash assessments, tracking devices in new cars like LO-JACK, and now it's moved from our vehicles to our homes, with the smart meters and A/C usage reduction "plan".
So I have to ask "Where ARE our liberties going these days?"

And why don't any of us feel SO much safer as a result of all this monitoring?

It's all the doings of our overblown and out-of-control government, and the last time I checked, they were there to protect our NATION...

The federal government was never designed to take care of individuals.
It's much like ANY police department...they serve and protect the COMMUNITY as a whole, and NOT protect each of us individually.
We used to look after ourselves just fine, and many times look out for one another just as well.
When are we planning to revisit THAT street, and will the government even allow such a novelty these days?
I wish we could have concrete answers to THOSE questions...don't you?

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.