Believe It...Or Else...

Yes indeed, friends, it's THAT time again to take a peek into the unusual, ridiculous, and utterly unfathomable.
We'll get to that in a minute, but the weather today will be a bit on the rainy side later this morning, so if you DO see the sun rising, you're either NOT in Fort Wayne or flying at 30,000 feet (where the sun ALWAYS shines)
Temps will top out in the 60s, after early morning briskness in the 40s.
So, it will be a rather banal day in the Summit City, unless some more mooks decide to have a shoot'em up on a SE side street (again).
In any event, let's refill that cup of whatever, and see what needs to be seen, and hear what needs to be heard.
*** First up this AM is the answer to yesterday's WHO SAID THAT? quote:
"Crime and bad lives are the measure of a state's failure, all crime in the end is the crime of the community."

This was written by none other than the noted science fiction author, Herbert George Wells (21 Sept 1866 - 13 Aug 1946)
And here is HIS WIKI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells
This quote appeared in a Wells story entitled A MODERN UTOPIA (1905) and chronicles the adventures of two people who enter into a warp in time, winding up in a future society comprised of a ONE WORLD government.
Here is the WIKI for this story:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modern_Utopia
Although this is a work of fiction, Wells postulates about a future society with certain established criteria such as animal rights, gender roles, economy and the Utopian people themselves which are becoming a lot closer to what we have TODAY in our society, as well as in other nations.
Wells himself might have been a sci-fi genius in many ways, but his beliefs were something quite different.
He was critical of the Catholic church in his later years, was a member of the FABIAN society, calling his political views SOCIALIST. He quit the society because THEY were not keeping up with HIS political imagination in reality.
Wells was also a rather good artist, using drawings and sketches to fully express himself.
He even had an affair with Margaret Sanger (that explains a lot).
Wells believed in what we now call "social justice", eugenics, and a one-world government, and it's evident in more than a few of his fictional works.
While a very complex person, he was also an interesting one, for his writings betray his beliefs when one digs below the surface.
Well also wrote NON-fiction, most notably a three-volume set entitled THE OUTLINE OF HISTORY (1920), beginning a new era on "popularized" history, which received mixed reviews from professional historians.
One can learn a lot about TODAY'S world by reading the works of H.G. Wells...
Moving on...
*** Another update to the double shooting on the (where else?) SE side of town here.
Here's the story link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20131017/LOCAL07/310179952/0/FRONTPAGE

He be dead.

Brenzel (???) Bryant is the one who died, and Jovan D. Sims is the one still in critical condition.
Some very nice MUG SHOTS of the victims, don'cha think?
Only 18, and already hip-deep in conflict...well, ONE of them still is.
Is all this crap REALLY worth it?

He be critical.

To THESE people, it apparently IS, and that's a damn shame, especially for THEIR community...that is still not motivating themselves enough to DO something about all the violence.
What is REALLY "odd" about this, it that the two men were found in a FRONT yard of one house, but TWO HANDGUNS were found at a NEARBY HOUSE in the BACK YARD...
Somehow, that doesn't add the hell up, but down here, what DOES?
*** Yes, the big, bad old "government shutdown" is OVER...sound the trumpets and let the pigeons loose.

One - It was NEVER a SHUTDOWN...it was barely a SLOW down.
Two - We actually got to see who was considered "non-essential" didn't we?
Three - And we were not (and never are) headed into a true DEFAULT of our debt...this nation STILL brings in a very healthy $224 BILLION bucks...PER DAY (approximately)., and that ain't no chump-change, people.
The problem is that our government is SPENDING MORE than that $224 billion...per day, and what do you think their solution is?
RAISE the ceiling of the damn debt...!
Yep, this is our "WTF???" moment of the week (and possibly the decade).

It's like when you owe the max limit on your credit card (let's say $10K), and you're making minimum payments to pay off THAT debt...and the credit card issuer goes and RAISES your limit another $10K...and you figure it's okay to go and make MORE purchases which in turn raises your debt limit...again (and you haven't paid off the first $10K)...helluva vicious circle, isn't it?
And...it makes absolutely NO financial sense AT ALL...!
But, it IS the government, run mostly BY liberals, and they LOVE to spend (read waste) YOUR money, only to ask for even more.
And, to top it ALL off, our "fearless leader" goes and says: "...Raising the debt LIMIT won't make us go further INTO debt."...
((...record-scratch...))
Are you f$cking kidding me?
Allowing more debt doesn't make you MORE indebted?
Is THAT what they teach in SOCIALIST SCHOOL?

Anyone that buys into THIS load of horse sh*t deserves the government they get...as for ME?
Well, we here at the "Fortress of Reason" prefer to follow the rules of COMMON SENSE and LOGIC (Vulcans find us "fascinating"...lol), which provides all we need to make sure OUR household doesn't become like our very own government.
*** Lastly today, I was all set to watch ARROW on the CW channel, but when 8PM rolled around, the show Arrow was not to be found.

(The PBS series, NATURE came on instead, and it's a good series at that, but...)
What happened to my episode of Arrow?

The NATURE show was entitled OTTER 501, and was a touching tale.

Now, while the show about SEA OTTERS was enticing (I simply LOVE otters), I was wondering WHY the CW channel was playing something that was ALSO on our PBS channel (WFWA 39) concurrently?
So, I emailed PBS and told them about it...
By then, Arrow was over, and I was now missing THE TOMORROW PEOPLE on CW, so I called into Frontier cable, because someone had screwed up the transmissions.
While I was on hold (as is the case with damn near anyone these days), the channel mysteriously came back on...this was after they showed 20 minutes of the ABC channel...with NO sound.
Someone really needs to pay attention at Frontier...and isn't that the case with damn near ANYTHING these days?

Isn't paying attention one of the best things you can do to avoid trouble, conflict, crises, or whatever else comes along?
It's also how you LEARN stuff...all kinds of stuff you can apply in life.
With all the technology we have,. people HAVE become less self reliant, less self dependent, and even less self progressing.
And whoever said that "less is more" didn't take THESE particular circumstances into account.

For some odd reason, people need the tech to do everything in life...not a good thing.
I like people that can drive a nail...or cook...or sew...all those things we used to do without batting an eye, without calling for some tech support from Rajesh in India in assist me in INDIANA.
Then again, I like the way this country USED to operate...and the manner we all conducted ourselves.
I really miss those days.

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