Monday Musings...

As far as the Heartland weather went, this past weekend wasn't that bad, and today reinforces the point as we start another week anew.
On the east coast,. it was a different story.
Welcome to another Monday, and all the fun that comes along with it.
The weekend seemed to blow past...and it wasn't even that windy outside...heh.
Our Hoosierland weather for today will see us with sunny and mild conditions, becoming cloudier as the day progresses, and the chance of some rain later on this afternoon. Temps are expected to reach close to 40 degrees.
That should make all OUR snow go away...can't say the same back east, can we?
Anyway, you get your drink and I'll get mine, and together we'll see what's been going on elsewhere.
*** First off of the breakfast table is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
January 25 -
---Today is NATIONAL OPPOSITE DAY

(Should be an "attractive" time there - YIN meet YANG.)
---And, it's NATIONAL IRISH COFFEE DAY

(okay, NOW we're talking the "breakfast of champions"...lol)
*** Next up, we had a shooting at another one of those "gentlemen's clubs" in Fort Wayne, and why they even bother to call a STRIP club ANYTHING BUT THAT eludes me.

Here's the story:
http://www.news-sentinel.com/news/local/Man-shot-in-groin-at-Fort-Wayne--Gentleman-s-Club-
This took place at a joint (dive) called Rabbit's Gentlemen's Club located at Brackenridge and S. Calhoun Sts. around 0200 hrs Saturday morning. Used to be called Poor John's.

As usual, not much information is forthcoming from the FWPD, so we'll go with what little WAS provided to the media - According to police, a male was shot in the groin area and was found inside the club. He was taken to hospital in serious but downgraded to critical condition.
NOW, according to WITNESSES, the man was shot in the doorway of the club, and the shooter was a BLACK MALE (no surprise there) and he left in a dark-colored car, heading south on Calhoun.

(well, that narrows it down to about HALF the black male population on the SOUTH side of Fort Wayne - the other half have LIGHT-colored vehicles...lol)
Investigators don't know if the shooter was inside or outside the club.
*** Next, when is it a good time to bail from your vehicle after an accident?

How about an instance such as was found in THIS story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/police-fire/Cause-of-passenger-s-death-unclear-after-2-car-crash-11119441
Yeah, when you crash a car while driving your recently-overdosed friend to a hospital...THAT is a the perfect time to run from the accident scene.

This took place in the 3200 block of Broadway in Fort Wayne around 1148 hrs yesterday.
Police aren't sure (as usual) about HOW the person in the one car died, and don't know who the driver of the car was (nothing in the glovebox like insurance or registration?).
Police don't even know WHO caused the car crash with another car driving in the opposite direction.

And since there was NO accident-related trauma to the person found dead in the one car, they don't even know if death came from the accident. (great investigating there)
What is "thought" was some kind of overdose (glad we figured THAT much out, Inspector Clouseau)
*** Next up, YES, the east coast DID get walloped from this winter storm (damn global warming), dumping anywhere from TWO feet to FOUR feet along the eastern seaboard and nearby inland areas.

The PA Turnpike - stranded.

( The Poconos got close to two feet...nice skiing weather up there now in Pennsy)
Here's the latest:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/01/24/millions-americans-prepare-to-dig-out-after-blizzard-dumps-tons-snow-across-northeast-leaves-18-dead.html
Many of those who died were attributed to (as could be expected) weather-related events as in heart attacks from shoveling, vehicle accidents/ carbon monoxide poisoning, and hypothermia.

Yes, that IS Times Square.

NYC had a travel ban in place for at least one FULL day.
The major cities like Baltimore, Philly, New York, and D. C. came to a total STANDSTILL.

The Washington Monument IS on the right.

(Well at least the CRIME went down for around 24 hours...for a change).

The USMC Memorial in Arlington, VA.

Many weather-forecasters listed this as a "top-ten" snowfall. Came pretty close to that blizzard of 1978-79.
Funny thing, during the blizzard of 1888 (a REAL historical weather event) New York City NEVER had a single travel ban in place, and that was FAR worse than this last storm.

Tidal flooding in Margate, NJ.

Airports hit by the snowstorm still will have thousands of flights cancelled today.
Some mass transit will be working in a few cities, but don't expect "normal" until later this week.

The NYC pigeons never seem to mind the weather.

I will say it was good to see most of the NYC subway systems operational (as long as they didn't run above ground, because THOSE lines were shut down).
*** Next up, and in the business section of today's paper is a story you've heard me refer to more than a few times here.

And when you read it, you'll know why.
Here's the (source) story link:
https://www.google.com/search?q=meg+james+and+yvonne+villareal+la+times&oq=meg+james+and+yvonne+villareal+la+times&aqs=chrome..69i57.17355j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

This story DOES appear in the "tangible" version of the J-G, but they changed the headline:
"Streaming saps pay TV"
Gotta love two different versions of the same story...cripes!
ANYway...what we're being told is that these streaming services allow customers REAL choice, and for a "low cost".
Okay, tell that to the NETFLIX crowd who now have to cough up a couple bucks MORE per month after growing their customer base. Doesn't sound quite so FAIR, does it?
(and that can only be the tip of this iceberg)
Like I said again and again...it's totally about getting ALL of us to DEPEND on the damn INTERNET for everything when it comes to our lives...but to what end?
What happens when the Internet "crashes" for whatever reason, or some server gets hacked...you got NOTHING...AT ALL.

Just a lot of flat-screen paperweights adorning your house (unless you've a DVD player or two and lots of DVDs to go with them).
Might even have to resort to reading a damn BOOK (the old-fashioned way)...whatta novel (no pun intended) idea.
*** Last back to the dinner table...Technology is great, as is the innovation that creates it...BUT (and you know this was coming) when it's all but hung over our heads like a Sword of Damocles, who really becomes the one IN CONTROL, anyway?

Certainly not US.
Yet, we become "indentured servants" (a kinder word for slaves) after a fashion to the whims of the creators of ALL the tech being shoved in our faces on almost a daily basis.

THIS is what we're stuck with.

The easiest aspect to point to is our friendly (???) computers.
There is ALWAYS some new O/S coming along to supersede the one that worked well enough and served many of us well. Then, there are upgrades and updates damn near every day, whether WE want them or not (because someone ELSE thinks we do).
We also have the smartphones, which can do seemingly everything under the sun...oh yes, and when we HAVE to, we can use them AS A PHONE. New models with more "stuff" crammed into them come out several times a year these days.
And we have our personal modes of transport with ALL the electronics on board which we really can't make use of WHILE WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DRIVING...right?

And it's also on the 2016 models.

When I saw this Chevy commercial the other day, it made me want to shoot the TV.
They asked some guys which pickup they'd rather have - the Silverado or the Ford F-150.
The "selling point" was that the Silverado had WIFI...and the Ford didn't.
When all the guys opted for the Chevy, hands down. I asked myself WHY?
Is that WiFi THAT damn important that you'd sacrifice everything else the Ford MAY have over the Chevy? Granted, it was a commercial and the marketers had planned it this way, but really...have we surrendered our OWN value system for some computerized fluff?

It would seem so.
So I have to ask the obvious question :
What happens when we surrender our values past the "point of no return"?
We already see the SOCIETAL impacts of such an imbalance, and you read about them every day.

Wow, it CAN be done.

We just have to strike a much better BALANCE between OUR values and the "value" of the machinations we are enslaving ourselves to, that's all.
To lose ourselves in our technology to such a degree that we forget who WE are will cause damage to mankind on what can only be compared to a biblical scale. And it may not be something we can bounce back from any time soon.

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