Senate Commerce Committee Hearing

The Senate Commerce Committee hearing regarding interference with Facebook, You Tube and Twitter - and with my friend Clint Watts as a cyberspace watch-dog is fascinating...  You can view it at:   https://www.c-span.org/video/?439849-1/facebook-twitter-youtube-officials-testify-combating-extremism   
   It's about Russian interference with our communications, news, and social media outlets.  Clint is upset because he has presented his Hamilton Dashboard 68 to multiple governmental agencies, and all of them shrug his findings off....  View the Dashboard and get information regarding it at:  https://dashboard.securingdemocracy.org/

Media

I've seen Gotham tonight, but I need to watch last Thursday's episode of The Blacklist.  I've been DVRing the episodes of Vikings, so I will have a two day binge of five hours each, once this season's last episode airs.  I haven't been watching NCIS like I used to…  I want to get back watching that, but, at the same time, I know that Special Agent Tony DiNozzo is leaving the series.  While he's not my favorite character on the show, it'll seem odd without him.  Haven't watched Sleepy Hollow this season, either.  I don't know if my tastes are changing, or if the shows are becoming repetitive.
  I don't watch any of the so-called reality shows - whether it's Dancing With the Stars, American Idol, or American Ninja.  I've never watched more than three minutes of any of the "reality" shows on television, and I would consider it extreme mental torture, if I were made to do so.  I enjoy watching Jeopardy! and catching the local weather on the news, but that's about it.  I can't remember the last time I went to see a movie at the theater - or what the movie was…
   I do know that I find most advertising on the television ridiculous.  The idiots pouring champagne on their new cell phones, and/or putting them in fish tanks, is just stupid.  I remember the old Timex commercials - and they were a heck of a lot better than the garbage today.  And all of the pharmaceutical ads are just getting more and more disgusting.  If you're advertising Cialis, why end each commercial with two bathtubs?  Shouldn't the couple be together in a jacuzzi - or a bed?  I know that we've become much more open as a society, but are we really certain we know where all this openness leads?  Do we actually talk about erectile dysfunction, loss of bladder control, and the odors of colostomy bags, the worries of an irritable bowel, and painful intercourse after menopause during meals with friends and family?
   I am not saying that all of this wonderful knowledge should not be shared - but, for heaven's sake, put this stuff on infomercials instead of regular advertisements!  I am sick of hearing about all of the possible side effects from all of the medications that are available.  Hell, I'd rather have the problem than go through all the side effects that are mentioned for most drugs.
   I realize that companies keep track of who buys what - I get specially targeted advertising from my supermarket.  I get tons of unwanted e-mail online, too.  Today, I read 6 messages, and I deleted 137 messages that were advertisements and/or spam.  If I buy one specific item from one company, I am inundated with similar offers from other companies.  What do they think?  That I have enough money, time, and space to buy one of everything produced by every company in the world?  It's freaking ridiculous!  If I like something, I recommend it to friends and family.  If I don't like it, I'll tell people why.
   On my Google page, I can set up my own topics of interest and receive news items about them.  However, I have found that what passes as a "news item" in the past few years has changed dramatically.  I am interested in a certain male's career.  He became famous playing sports.  The "news items" that show up under his name are usually not even news - it's speculation about who the man is dating, who he's been seen in company with, should he enter the political arena?  None of it is news - it's just gossip and speculation.   Now, under my Archaeology heading, there is a very rare speculative article now and then, but it's mostly what has been found, and what new items prove about our historical beliefs.  I consider that news.
   Today's media - for or against?   I'm not really certain.  Having all of the social media available today is nice - if you're in an isolated area.  Having almost instantaneous "news" is OK - but the need for truth and not hysteria is greatly needed.  I love the internet - as a window on the world - but I also know that lies multiple like rabbits on, or in, any media.   What is the truth anymore?
    And I have to say that I am very much afraid of the way that our interactive machines have disturbed normal social awareness and awakenings.  Youngsters these days are addicted to their iPhones and iPads, their games and instant messaging.  I don't think youngsters should be allowed to play with, or adapt to today's tech until they are 16….  or 18, or 21.  It ought to be like drinking alcohol and/or voting.  
   I know.   I'm a crazy old lady.
 

Too Much Information

I know that violence occurs every day. I know that there are thousands who die daily that do not "deserve" to die; and who among us really has that decision to make? I know that I don't... Since time immemorial, there has been plague, illness, famine, drought, pestilence, war and death - it is mentioned in all myths and legends of all countries. Once mankind developed a written language, all of these things have been recorded. Mankind's ways of killing have become more mechanized and specialized; now we can kill or infect millions of people at once, or one specific individual. It is truly frightening. Yesterday, a man returned home (having spent the night away, after an argument with his wife) and found a house full of death; his wife had shot and killed two of their three children, had critically injured the third with a gunshot, and then had killed herself. It is a terrible tragedy. In California, everyone is on the alert for an ex-Los Angeles police officer, who has killed three former co-workers and has a "hit list" posted with quite a few more. The man shot and killed an armed officer this morning, who was investigating the reported sighting of the ex-cop's vehicle. Tell me, please, what is happening in this world? Are people, as a whole, so inter-connected by so many media devices that one cannot escape all the reports of death and destruction? - I certainly don't remember the local news, when I was growing up, talk about this attack and that killing, and that fight, and this arrest... I remember news stories about fairs and museums and the Space Program - and, yes, I do remember the funeral of President Kennedy being covered on television - but that was an Earth-changing event.... I guess I'm just too saddened and depressed by all of the news of death and killings and mayhem....
  It's a beautiful blue-skied morning here in Boulder. Nedi and Lovey have been sun-bathing on the patio, and the squirrels are jumping over them to get to their nut supply in my wicker chairs. It's hysterical - watching the squirrel measure the length of the jump he has to make, crouching down, and then flying up and over the cat. Nedi occasionally swats a foreleg up into the air, but he's not really trying to catch a squirrel... And the squirrels could easily walk around the cats and reach the nuts, without leaping over the cats. I'm sure they all enjoy their games. Sleet fell last night, and there was a heavy frost on the grass this morning, but it's in the low 40s again. We are, however, expecting snow over the weekend. (Yeah! We need it.)
  Being ill at home, I haven't been able to see all my usual critters. I miss all the dogs and cats I normally see and care for. Rosie and Remy seem like a dream, as do Aiko and Yoshi, and Sasquatch and Tugger. I know that I'll recover, but I miss seeing all the critters on an almost daily basis. Mona has gone to live with Mike and Erin, so Boo is alone, too. I'm pretty sure she's lonely, having had either her mom, Suki, or Mona, for a constant companion. Maybe I can talk Kathy and Jim into adopting another older dog to be with Boo....