Getting That Pesky Human Conscience Out Of The Way!

Killer Robots are going to be debated during an informal meeting of killing experts at the United Nations in Geneva.

You learn something new every day. I always thought Geneva was where we went to talk about not killing people.

This will be the first time that the issue of Killer Robots, or Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems, will be addressed during the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Professor Arkin from the Georgia Institute of Technology told the BBC he hoped Killer Robots would be able to significantly reduce non-combatant casualties but feared they would be rushed into battle before this was accomplished.

He went on to state that Killer Robots may be better able to determine when not to engage a target than humans can determine, "and could potentially exercise greater care in so doing".

(Don’t you just love it when terms like, “exercise greater care” are used in discussions about killing people.)

The discussion of drones, however, is not on the agenda as they are yet able to operate completely autonomously. There are signs this may change in the near future. (Yes, the underlined part is a link. Click on it if you want to read some really futuristic stuff that Fella is not getting into in this blog posting.)

What will they think of next? Such a tidy idea... Robots with no blood, sweat or tears on our side and piles of dead on the other side of the battlefield.

Or is their side going to be our side?

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe:

In the Past... Peter Sellers said, “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War the Room!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAeqVGP-GPM

In the Future... We might be saying, “You can’t kill us in here. We are being busy killed by that thing up there and it does not seem to acknowledge the White Flag we are waving at it. We are up to our third Flag Holder.”

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Peter The Great Furnerk

I went to the Cell Phone Hall of Fame yesterday. It was an eye opening experience.

As I walked into the Hall’s very impressive lobby I was greeted by an immense statue of a be-speckled young man holding a cell phone in his hand and gazing off into the far beyond.

That statue could not help but get your attention. I immediately became curious to know who the man was who had inspired such a huge statue of himself.

The pedestal’s plaque read, “Peter Furnerk”. Now that I knew who he was I still did not know who he was. I asked the Docent who was standing nearby (they are always standing nearby).

The Docent was polite (they are always polite) but he did seem to be a bit unbelieving that I was asking such a silly question. For a moment it seemed that he was not going to even tell me who Mr. Furnerk was. It was as if he thought I was so uninformed he felt, “You Can’t Handle The Info!” I fully expected Jack Nicholson to appear and slap me around a bit.

He finally decided I was one or two steps above completely stupid so he gave me the truth to try and handle.

He explained that the sainted Mr. Furnerk was once a low level executive with a fledgling company named Cell Phones R Us. His stroke of genius was that he came up with the marketing idea used to convince the parents of the Good Ole USofA that they should buy their children Cell Phones due to Safety Concerns.

The parents immediately grasped the idea that their little tykes needed to be protected from Sexual Predators, Evil Doers, Strangers, the Riff, the Raff, Frick, Frack and those of a Differing Political Persuasion.

This marketing pitch changed the Cell Phone from a mere Sure-Fire Winner to an Unbelievable Skyrocket that will never come down to Earth. Overnight the Cell Phone went from an Adult Necessity to a Wet Slippery Necessity that that babies all across the Fruited Plain were gnawing on in their baby cribs at night.

Life is not always fair. Mr. Furnerk got a statue erected to him but the poor soul who first stood up many years ago and recommended to his Board of Directors that their company ought to start bottling and selling something they got out of their home faucets for free was fired and died penniless in a flop house in Altoona.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

(423)

Something Is Wrong. I’m Not Smart Enough To Know Exactly What Is Wrong. I’ll Let You Figure It Out.

My newspaper tells me that in 2013 our 9% Approval Rating Congress (elected by us) passed 73 Laws.

During 2013 Bureaucrats (elected by no one) issued 3,659 Regulations.

There is the thorny issue. The 73 is probably too high but the 3,659 is definitely too high. You’re smart. You figure it out.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: For starters, we ought to require the Bureaucrats adopt the Congress’ Three Day Work Week? Really, how much damage can they do in Three days? Oops! I just saw the flaw in this bit of logic.

(115)

Message to Congress. Don’t Be A Yes Man! Next Time Your Party Leader Says No ... You Say No!

Before I get into the Foolishness of this one, consider these facts about the Post Office’s plan to save money by eliminating some House To House Delivery...

• Something has to be done since the Postal Service reported a $1.9 billion loss for the first three months this year despite continued cost-cutting, a 2.3 percent rise in operating revenue and increased employee productivity.
• Something has to be done since the package business has risen but the Postal Service continues to struggle with inflationary cost increases and an ongoing decline in first-class mailing as people move to the Internet for letter writing and bill paying.
• Postal officials have asked repeatedly for comprehensive legislation from Congress to give them more control over personnel and benefit costs and more flexibility in pricing and products.
• Various legislative proposals have been advanced but Congress has not been able to agree on a bill with any broad changes.
• A 2006 law requires the Postal Service to prefund its retiree health benefits. Meeting that requirement accounts for the bulk of the Postal Service's red ink.
• Converting to communal or curbside delivery would save $2 billion annually.
• The plan to put banks of cluster boxes with separate compartments for each address has not been proposed for urban areas since there's no place on city streets to put the cluster boxes.
• People with disabilities who have difficulty leaving their homes could get waivers.
• People who still want delivery to their door could pay extra for it.
• Only 1% of all addresses nationwide would undergo a delivery change.
• Communal boxes offer a safe, locked location for packages, doing away with the need for carriers to leave packages on porches and subject to theft and bad weather.

Everyone ought to agree that something has to be done. Even Congress agrees something has to be done. The problem with Congress is what ought to be done.

-------------------------

THE PROPOSED PLAN:

“WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of Americans would no longer get mail delivered to their door but would have to go to communal or curbside boxes instead under a proposal advancing through Congress.

The Republican-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on an 18-13 party-line vote, approved a bill Wednesday to direct the U.S. Postal Service to convert 15 million addresses over the next decade to the less costly, but also less convenient delivery method.”

Here is what caught my eye in the above two paragraphs, “on an 18-13 party-line vote”.

The Smartfella’s question is, Why can’t the political parties agree on anything in Washington D.C.?

It is an Etched in Stone Undeniable Fact that Congress cannot agree on anything and here is how it works...

• An idea is proposed.
• The idea is brought up for discussion in Congress.
• The first thing any member of Congress asks is, “Which party made this proposal?”
• If the answer comes back that the Democrat Party made the proposal, a Democrat says, “That’s brilliant! I agree wholeheartedly” and a Republican says, “That is unworkable! You can bet that this proposal is DOA (Dead on Arrival)”.
• If the answer comes back that the Republican Party made the proposal, a Republican says, “That’s brilliant! I agree wholeheartedly” and a Democrat says, “That is unworkable! You can bet that this proposal is DOA (Dead on Arrival)”.

As usual I have a fix...

• Do not tell any member of Congress who made any proposal.
• Do not let them discuss any proposal.
• Do not let them go to Happy Hour because this would give them occasion to find out who proposed the proposal.
• Hold a vote within 20 minutes of the surfacing of any proposal.

This would force the various members of Congress to make up their own minds without the Party’s Leadership telling them how to think.

I drove to Washington yesterday and asked the first 12 members of Congress I came across what did they think about the Curbside Delivery Save a Ton of Money Proposal. Without exception each one of them immediately took out his Smartphone and Googled the word “think”.

My drive home was very depressing.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

(721)

There Is Still Hope

Here is what greeted me in my newspaper this morning on the World & Nation page...

• Nigeria’s Boko Haram kills 29 in village attack
• Security Council urged to consider Syria aid access
• Bomb wounds three in Kenyan city of Mombasa
• Puerto Rico cops arrested on corruption charges
• Thirty-two killed in attacks on Shi’ite pilgrims
• Two companies recall walnuts and hummus
• U.S. states probe eBay cyber attack
• Thai army takes power in coup
• Michael Jace (whoever that is) (I put in the parentheses before this parentheses) charged with wife’s murder
• Jennifer Lawrence blames friend for her throwing up

Why do I think There Is Still Hope? That’s because, after reading all the above, I turned to the Comics Page and Blondie & Dagwood are still there.

Yea, I know, I am very good at Grasping at Straws.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

(157)

Revolutionary Idea For A New Form Of Government For The Good Ole USofA

Let’s elect Representatives and Senators and send them to Washington D.C. and have them vote on issues on our behalf.

What’s that you say? You say that we already have such a form of government? You really think so? Guess you have not been paying attention.

What we have now is a House of Representatives and a Senate where two individuals decide what the other 433 Representative and Senators will vote on. If these two guys see that they do not have enough votes to carry their side, they do not allow any vote to even take place.

The Smartfella’s Question Of The Day...

Why Do We Have The Other 433 Representatives and Senators?

If we did not bother electing, paying, housing and flying the 433 back and forth, we would save a lot of money.

Anytime change is contemplated in Washington there are always Special Interest Groups that bring pressure to bear to protect their narrow self interest. This idea of mine will certainly devastate one very influential industry and we can expect their spirited opposition... The Happy Hour Industry.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

(200)

Times They Are A Changing

Chalk these random thoughts up under the category of Progress... Or is it?

• Boy George is out of the news. Was there ever such a thing as a Boy George?
• We now have cell phones which allow us to be in constant communication with everyone about everything. There is, of course, that major drawback where some of us do not understand that a cell phone can actually be talked into from home. As a result of this misconception, many of us run to our cars and start driving around before we answer our phones. This wasteful practice is costing the Good Ole USofA a lot of precious petroleum resources.
• We no longer have to lick the back of postage stamps with our tongues. Disgusting to begin with and most certainly carried postal germs.
• There are no longer Bell Bottom Pants in my closet.
• For those of us who enjoy Body Mayhem, it is nice that tattooing has become accepted in all parts of our Out of Control Society. Now, if we could only convince the tattooees that turtleneck long sleeve shirts and long pants are the order of the day all year round, our eyes would not hurt near as much as they do.
• I’ve reached the age where I no longer am physically able to go out 3 times a week and run 3 miles because I mistakenly thought it was a lot of fun.
• I no longer have to stick a key in a lock to open my car. At the time I never gave it a second thought about whether or not my car liked being poked like that.

Expanding on the above bullet...

• Had we all understood at the time that cars were people too we would never have gotten rid of our Horse Drawn Buggies which would have allowed the Buggy Whip Makers of the world to continue to enjoy the lifestyle to which they had become accustomed.
• We have now come to the realization that some of the other mere things we once thought of as mere things are actually people too like Spotted Owls, Trees, Household Pets and, of course, Snail Darters.

By golly, I just realized that I am wallowing in the Animal Dark Ages. Please allow me to correct my ignorant statement about “Household Pets” (& other animal stupidity of mine)...

• We no longer “Own a Pet” but we are now "Human Caregivers".
• Your furry friends are no longer “Pets” but are "Companion Animals".
• Others say your Pets/Companion Animals are not either of these two nomenclatures. They are Family Members.
• Those deer eating your garden are now "Free Living Animals" not “Wild”.
• Pets in France will no longer be considered as pieces of furniture, after parliament voted to grant them new rights. A spokesman said, “Parliament had recognized an obvious fact: animals are beings endowed with feelings”.

The Bottom Line... Come to think of it, if a space ship were hovering above the Earth & saw a Human Caregiver walking his Companion Animal and stooping down and picking up the pooped poop, which one would the space visitor think is the Superior Being?

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

(515)

The Evils Of Smoking

If you have been alive since the 1960s you know all about the dire consequences of smoking cigarettes. If you were alive in the 1960s, you are pretty old which means you may not remember the aforementioned dire consequences, so here is a refresher...

• Cancer of the lungs.
• Cancer of any part of the body that may have been associated with your lungs.
• Emphysema
• Bad breath.
• Awfully bad breath.
• Yellow teeth.
• Stinky clothes.

In doing my research for this blog posting I came across an article that made smoking sound worst than I thought it was...

• There's no addiction like cigarette addiction. (I’m not sure I believe this but that’s what was written by this fellow who some say is a smarter fellow than the Smartfella.)
• Cigarettes can destroy a body's circulation.
• Depression is synonymous with smoking.
• In the short term cigarettes please the senses, but in the long-term they destroy one's life and health completely.
• Many people have died prematurely, suffering horrible slow deaths because of smoking.
• There are harmful effects of tobacco smoke on atherosclerosis, one of the driving forces of cardiovascular disease. All these awful consequences regarding atherosclerosis are greater in women than in men.
• Cigarette smokers are most often selfish, inconsiderate, rude, likely to be in debt, struggling in their marriages, slobs, insulting, disgusted with life and negative in their opinions about lots of things.
• 95% of all cigarette smokers are inconsiderate people, throwing their cigarette butts on the ground, gossiping about others while they smoke with other smokers and live immoral lives of apathy and indifference.

Second Hand Smoke: We are told breathing in smoke that others have breathed out is worst than if you had breathed in the breathed out smoke before the breath in smoker himself had breathed it in. (I have never been able to get my mind around why second hand smoke is worst that first hand smoke.)

------------------------

With all of the above having been said and accepted as fact, how do we explain the growing movement in this country that says?...

Marijuana Smoking Is A Wonderful Thing

Sucking Marijuana Smoke Into Your Lungs & Letting It Swish Around In There, Is Many Times A Medical Necessity

It Ought To Be Legalized & Anyone Who Is Against Marijuana Smoking Being Legalized Is A Terrorist

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Do you feel I got carried away with the use of the word “terrorist”. Maybe so, but it’s just that in the Good Ole USofA we are throwing the word “terrorist” around an awful lot these days. I guess I felt it was OK for me to throw it around it after I saw that first grade boy who recently kissed that first grade girl on the hand while in school referred to as a “terrorist”.

The six-year-old was suspended and the powers that be had the charge of Sexual Harassment placed on his record.

I do apologize. Who am I to spread silly just because I see silly being spread?

Does he look like a Terrorist to you?

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

(537)

Lagniappe: This guy has 20 minutes to live...

No Matter What Your Beliefs Are, You Certainly Are Worried About This... Or Are You?

On February 20, 2014 a petition bearing more than 110,000 signatures was delivered to The Washington Post demanding a ban on any article questioning Global Warming.

What’s that you just said? Did you really say this is OK with you because you are a firm believer in Global Warming? If you just said this, you are at the bottom of the Proverbial Slippery Slope looking up at its well greased entrance.

Let us expand this analogy and look up at other logical ideas on the edge of taking the plunge...

• We do hereby petition that all citizens of the United States vote only for Democratic Candidates.
• We do hereby petition that all citizens of the United States vote only for Republican Candidates.
• We do hereby petition that all citizens of the United States read and be entertained by the humor, logic and cleverness of Foolishness...Or Is It and stop whatever they are doing to read every posting as soon as they become aware that a new posting has been released.

I agree with only one of the above bullets because, as anyone can see, it is Settled Logic.

There you go again saying there I go again getting all riled up about nothing? You contend that no major newspaper will ever adopt such an anti-free thought policy... Or would any major newspaper not?

It seems the Los Angeles Times has already done just that and is waiting patiently for other major newspapers to see the light...

http://forecastthefacts.org/press/releases/2014/2/20/110k-call-washington-post-end-climate-change-denia/

This posting was written by me as I look down from the edge of the Slippery Slope into the abyss at the bottom. It looks like absolute chaos down there…

Be Afraid ... Be Very Afraid

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

(307)

ism Is The Problem

I never went to Dartmouth College. I have always thought that was because I was not smart enough but I am beginning to wonder. I probably am smart enough. I am certainly smarter than the current crop of Dartmouth Students.

------------------------

I put that 24 Dashes Centered Bolded Line above to indicate that I just decided to take this blog posting in a totally different direction. I am not going to discuss how smart Dartmouth College students are...Or are not. I am going to give credit where credit is due and acknowledge the fact that these Whiz Kids have hit upon what is wrong with the world in which we live.

Do you see it? Of course you do... Or do you?

It’s “ism” words. That’s what’s wrong with us. If we just rid the world of words that end in “ism”, we would make all the peoples of the world like each other, get rid of war, fill in all potholes, clear up all pimples, make everyone slim and trim, close the gap in all gapped teeth persons, etc.

As smart as these students are it appears that they left out an “ism” word that they could have put on their list. They left out “Stupidism”.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

(217)

Many Times I Have Been Called A Nice Guy...Or Have I Been?

Since you have stuck with me all these years, I am about to be nice to you...finally.

A recent Wall Street Journal Article (We Actually Get Nicer With Age) tells me that I am on the verge of becoming nice.

I've got the age part done and any day now the nice in me will come out.

Feel free to pass this on to all those people who have been waiting for you to be nice to them. It will give them hope.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

(101)

This Can’t Be True ... Or Can It?

Is it really true that in the Good Ole USofA a 7 year old was suspended from school for 2 days for chewing his breakfast pastry into the form of a gun? Are we nuts?

As I thought about this story more deeply, I changed my mind....

• He was 7 years old. A 7 year old is not a 6 year old. If he were a 6 year old his actions could be overlooked but a not 7 year old! That’s unconscionable!
• A 7 year old is only 11 years away from being an 18 year old and an 18 year old can carry a gun in the Armed Forces and is already old enough to carry a gun in Chicago.

Going one step further, if I were the school principal and, if this little hoodlum had chewed part of his breakfast pastry into the form of 5 or 6 bullets, I might not have been able to restrain myself. There is no telling what I would have done to this little Capone Wannabe!

As I was pecking this bit of Foolishness out, I started to think that I was getting carried away. I called Willy Wonka and he assured me that I was right on and told me to go to press.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

(228)

Read it and weep... http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/03/02/7-year-old-suspended-for-biting-his-pastry-into-a-gun/

The IRS Ought To Spend A Little Time Reading History

The English Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 started when tax collectors attempted to squeeze a Poll Tax from villagers in Essex. It didn’t go well and the tax collectors were run out of the village.
When troops arrived to enforce order, a peasant mob ran them off as well and beheaded six clerks who had come along to do the math.
Now don’t go saying to yourself, “Self, the Smartfella is advocating violence because he wants people beheaded!”
I am not doing any such thing. I just think, if the IRS would read a little history, they might get a little nervous and a wee bit more pleasant. In my book nervous and pleasant would be a step in the right direction for the IRS.
I just had a call from my assigned IRS Harasser. I read him this blog posting and he said to me, “I am very familiar with the word 'nervous' because I see it all the time but what does the word ‘pleasant’ mean?”
I told him to Google It!
Would I kid u?
Smartfella

These Two Guys Ought To Be Ashamed Of Themselves

I was at the gym again yesterday. There were 8 TV Monitors for us to look at while we exercised. It was the Big Day! It was Clippers Awful Owner News Conference Day.

Six of the monitors had on the news conference. The two that did not were, that Cartoon Guy with the Big Chin and Dr. Oz. How could those two channels not carry the Clippers Awful Owner News Conference?! This was history in the making!

Something ought to be done about their conspiratorial attempt to keep the American People in the dark! As usual I have a recommendation about what ought to be done...

• The Big Chin Cartoon guy ought to have a good portion of his chin erased. How much chin? I say, enough chin so as to hurt him really bad.
• Dr. Oz ought to be forever sent back to the end of his yellow brick road and be forced to do his show from behind that Big Curtain. No, I don’t know where that Big Curtain is but, I can tell you one thing for sure, it is not in Kansas.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

(203)

Tweet To California Governor

Toyota is moving 3,000 California jobs to Texas.

Japanese auto maker Nissan Motors moved its U.S. headquarters to Nashville, Tenn., from California in 2006.

Some high-level Honda Motor Company employees left the state last year for Ohio.

Enter California’s Governor to address this troubling issue. He took note of criticism directed at the state and said, "We've got a few problems, we have lots of little burdens and regulations and taxes, but smart people figure out how to make it".

For all of the 1990s, the Smartfella lived in California. While there I read lots of articles about businesses and private citizens leaving California. Those articles are still out there. These are not the same articles but articles about new businesses and peoples continuing to leave California.

Smartfella Tweet to California Governor:

Governor, did you really say “smart people”? One need not be smart to see the financial benefits of leaving California. It’s a No-Brainer.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

(165)

 

Never Thought I Would See The Day

Today I was in the gym again trying to keep my heart from attacking me. There are times when I fear that I am trying so hard to keep my heart from attacking me that I am going to give myself a heart attack.

Did you just ask yourself what was it that I thought I would never see? (Glad you are paying attention to my Subject Lines.) The story of the day is the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers saying those awful things about black people.

If he is about to be forced to sell the team, being a goner will not be all bad. He paid $13,000,000 for the team in 1981 and now it is worth $297,000,000 according to one source.* If he is forced to sell, he is going to laugh all the way to the bank (which he probably owns).

------------------------

Above are 146 words of self-sidetracking from my Blog Subject of, Never Thought I Would See The Day. Allow me to get back on track...

What I thought I would never see was CNN not talking about that Missing Malaysian Airplane. Today in the gym they were breathlessly talking about all things related to the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers.

ESPN was staying up with them but eventually it went on to Scores, Highlights and General other sporty things about Baseball, Soccer, Football, etc.

ESPN went back to bringing us Sports News while CNN apparently sees more value in Unsportsmanlike Conduct.

Those CNN Talking Heads were so focused that, if today Flight 370 was found in a field in Kansas parked next to Bubba’s BBQ and all the passengers were inside eating ribs with big red checkered napkins tucked into their collective collars, CNN would not have mentioned it.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

*Lagniappe: We who pay attention to the news do so because we want to know what’s going on in the world around us. Sometimes the “facts” of one person are different from the “facts” of another person. I said above that “one source” said the team is worth $297 Million. By watching TV, listening to the Radio and searching the Internet today I have found out that the Clippers is also may be worth... $85 Million, over $500 Million, $324 Million, $205 Million or $430 Million. I could go on and find more worth’s but how many “facts” can you handle?

(411)

Name Recognition Is All They Need To Get Us To Do What They Want Us To Do

I would like to think that I could not be persuaded to part with my money by a person not qualified to get me to part with my money. Am I the exception to the rule? There is some indication that I just may be.

Let’s say you have a bunch of wild lions in your backyard and you have need for a tamer to come over and tame your lions. Would you go down to Wal-Mart and ask the first stock clerk you see to come over and be your lion tamer? I hope not.

Hopefully you would go to great lengths to make sure you hired the services of a qualified professional lion tamer with lots of experience. You would get real excited if you opened your morning paper and saw an ad like this...

Do you have a bunch of lions in your back yard? Do you need someone to come over and turn those wild creatures into gentle pussy cats? I’m your man. I have 23 years experience in the Lion Taming Industry. I started honing my skills at the age of 14 when I ran away and joined the Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Taming Lions Is What I Do

Wild No More, Inc., 178 Mane Street, Catskill, NY 12414

Call 24/7 to 1-800-CatsRUs

I think I have adequately made my point. Experience Counts!...Or does it?

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Apparently all what I think about experience is not important to many people. For months now we have all been hearing a commercial for a Tax Manipulation Company on the radio that goes something like this...

Hi. For years I played a dad on a long running TV show. As a TV Dad I had to give financial advice to my TV Sons on the show...

What? Does this really work? Are we gullible enough to do business with a company because an Imitation TV Dad had to teach his Imitation TV Kids how to handle their non-existent finances?

The sad truth is that many of my fellow Americans have signed up with this company because of this silly commercial.

Actually I was considering signing up but the IRS just cleaned out the money I set aside in my Throw Perfectly Good Money Away Fund.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

(399)

Let’s Take A Moment & See If I Can Scare The Heck Out Of You

There really are such things as Black Holes. There may be such things as Bottomless Pits. Our 9% Approval Rated Congress is in possession of its own version of such things. Allow me to explain. Here Comes The Scary Part...

America’s electrical grid is vulnerable to an Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack. What the heck is an EMP? It is a nuclear explosion in the high atmosphere that would destroy electrical wiring and hardware across the Good Ole USofA, excluding Alaska & Hawaii.

Why do Alaska & Hawaii get all the breaks? Congress ought to pass a law that they suffer as we suffer.

Did I just hear you say, “That does not sound that bad”? Sometimes my Dear Readers disappoint me. I’ll now try and scare you with more words.

If an EMP attack occurred right now...

• In our homes we would have no lights or refrigeration.
• Most of us would be walking everywhere since many cars and gas pumps would be disabled.
• Our cell phones and iPads may turn on but could not be recharged.
• Our computers and laptops would not work.
• Cellular Networks and the Internet will have likely been destroyed.
• We would have limited water since most of our water is pumped electronically.
• We would have only the food and bottled water we have stored in our houses—normally about three days worth.
• Our ability to operate hospitals would be severely limited.
• The great majority of us would die from lack of food and water, or from diseases associated with lack of sanitation, medicine, and temperature control.
• We would suffer a general social breakdown.
• In no time at all there would be a complete absence of civil authority.
• There would be no good way to prevent our nuclear power plants from melting down, since they require electric power to cool their reactors.

Did that do it? Are you scared? I will now give you hope, but I warn you, I will the snatch that hope away from you.

------------------------

This EMP phenomenon has been well understood since the 1960s so our Government has been busy addressing the issue... Or has it?

There are workable proposals to harden the electrical grid against damage. The Secure High-Voltage Infrastructure for Electricity from Lethal Damage (or SHIELD) Act has been introduced on June 18, 2013 by Arizona Congressman Trent Franks. The cost would be less than a billion dollars—a drop in the bucket in an economy of over $16 trillion. Yet the bill remains in committee.

I know you have been trained by me to be observant so I know you see the Black Hole/Bottomless Pit... Or do u?

The operative word used to see the problem is “committee”. The real problem is our Congress equates sending something to committee with fixing the problem. I went to D.C. last Thursday and interviewed many members of Congress about this dire situation and here is a sampling of what I got from them...

• Why are you so concerned about this impending disaster? Don’t you understand it is in committee?
• Why are you asking me when it will come out of committee? Don’t you know that things do not come out of committee? They just go into committee!
• Don’t you dare say anything bad about our committees! Don’t you know that committees are the life blood of what we are about? If it were not for committees, we would have to take positions and actually go on record by voting on issues. We would be exposed to the wrath of the voters by allowing them to see us for what we really are.

Did you also take note that I said above that we have been aware of this impending disaster since the 1960s but Congress has not acted until June 18, 2013? Even then it did not really “act” because it only went to committee.

If you have a short memory and can’t remember what it means to Go To Committee, scroll back into this posting and read what I pecked out above about the Congressional Committee System.

What’s that you just said? You just said you don’t have time to scroll back up because you have got to go get dressed so you can go to the polling place to vote back into office your Incumbent Congressman & Senator because they are both Good Guys.

Sometimes I wonder why I bother.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

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Lagniappe: If you wanna see if I made all of this up, click here... http://www.shieldact.com/

Feeling Depressed? ... I Can UnDepress You

Happy Easter!

Your depression is brought on by the constant assault on your mind by what you read. You want to keep informed but you are directing your efforts at keeping yourself up to date at the wrong news disseminating outlets. Have you ever considered my local newspaper?... The Gwinnett Daily Post.

Here are a few headlines from news articles in major newspapers...

• Baghdad blast, other attacks kill 52 in Iraq
• Putin Defiant As Ukraine Pact Reached
• Deadly MERS Virus Reaches Southeast Asia

Here is what the Gwinnett Daily Post tells us...

• New Flashing Light Signal Coming to Hoschton
• Check Out More Than Books From Your Local Library
• Gwinnett Tech to Partner With Valdosta State

I especially feel good about that yellow light. I’m sure it has been a long time coming to the good people of Hoschton.

Don’t you feel better having read the 3 GDP’s headlines above? That’s because you are less tense. It makes all the difference. Now go and enjoy your day.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: As soon as I finish with this blog posting, I going to go to MapQuest.com and find out where Hoschton is.

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Gazing Up At Saturn

I am not smart enough to be a scientist. These guys are really Smart Fellas. They see things where there are not things to be seen.

My newspaper has educated me about what scientists are now saying they are seeing about a Saturn Moon named Enceladus which is orbiting that big ringed planet 850 Million Miles away from me as I peck out this blog posting.

I believe everything the scientific community tells me but I just wish they would not be so wishy-washy when they are telling me what they say they have discovered. Here are the some of the terms they used in the article about Enceladus...

• “ is believed to be”
• “is likely sandwiched between”
• “it likely formed”
• “provides one possible story to explain”
• “raises the likelihood that”
• “likely to contain oceans”
• “most likely cause”

Why can’t scientists be more specific? Why can’t they come out and say something like, “This is undeniable proof that the cumquat is directly related to the elephant!”

Maybe they can’t be as specific as I want because they have to base their finding on such infinitesimally small happenings. Here is how they have made the determination about Enceladus which I am toying with you about in this Foolishness...Or Is It?...

To get Enceladus’ gravity maps, however, scientists had to tease out signals in Cassini’s radio transmissions that changed by a fraction of a millimeter per second.

After observing a fraction of a millimeter per second they came to this determination...

There is likely (there is one of those words again) a large underground ocean on Enceladus about 6 miles deep that is covered by 19 to 25 miles of ice.

Wow! Fractions of millimeters are really big!

OK, I accept that they know what they are talking about because they are Smart Fellas. Now that we have zeroed in on all that water, we ought to do something about all those farmers in California that can’t use the water in California to irrigate their crops because there is a Snail or a Darter or a Little Fish of Some Sort in the water that they can’t use.

Since we have all those pipeline workers collecting unemployment because they are not allowed to build that oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, we ought to get them working on building a pipeline from Enceladus to California.

Once completed, that pipeline would get California back feeding the world instead of going out of business because they can’t get the water they need to feed the world.

I sure hope they do not find a Snail or a Darter or a Little Fish of Some Sort in the water on Enceladus’ Under Ice Ocean (that possibly may or possibly may not be somewhere around 6 miles deep covered by about 19 to as much as 25 miles of ice).

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

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