Gun Incidents, January 2022

Gun Incidents, January 2022

I am a liberal and a gun owner. But I seek reasons for guns which are military or misused. I think we can get a better view of the situations if they are grouped together. And it will be interesting to see if there are any patterns. Many of these victims were not killed, yet such an experience surely leaves an indelible scar on the person’s psyche. I take news items from reliable sources (most often more than one per incident). Yet I’m sure I’m not catching all of them. Because of the lengths of this list, I hope to publish my research monthly.

1/2/2022 — A woman and her dog were fatally shot while at a bodega in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. A man from a red car then slowly walks over to the front of the store and starts shooting, striking 36-year-old Jennifer Ynoa in the stomach, as well as her dog Ynoa had no known enemies. 2 dead. No other injuries. Perpetrator still loose.

1/3/2022 —  Southlake Mall in Hobart, Indianna. No injuries or deaths. Five shots fired at 11:20 a.m.

1/3/2022 – 4-year old Arianna Delane shot while sleeping in  her bed. Punctured lung, liver, 3 broken ribs. Delane is the great nniece off George Floyd. In stable condition. Houston, Texas.

1/5/2022 – Ponce Inlet, Fllorida. An 89-year-old woman was shot allegedly by her caregiver and the caregiver’s husband. Margaret D. Hindsley died at the scene.

1/7/2022 – North Carolina. A man shot and killed Stephen Addison, 32. Addison was riding a motorcycle and got into a disturbance  with  the e driver of a truck. The truck driver (who is white) shot Addison (who is black) then fled the scene. Addison died later in a hospital. The truck driver was apprehended and may be charged with hate crimes.

1/8/20022 – 10-year-old and 19-year-old shoot while sleeping in a bedroom in Kenner, Louisiana. Both injured but in stable condition. Casings from 3 different caliber guns present.

1/8/2022 – mother claims to accidently shoot her 4-year-old daughter while cleaning a gun. Detroit, Michigan. Child is expected to survive.

1/8/2022 — Los Angeles CA Taco Bell employee shot dead after argument over fake $20 bill. 41-year-old Alejandro Garcia

1/9/2022 – Rochester NY – 61-year-old woman shot. Life threatening condition.

1/11/2022 — An elementary school teacher in Tega Cay, South Carolina, was recently robbed and shot while working a second job as a DoorDash delivery driver. the man was identified as Brett Maksymik, a fifth grade teacher. a man attempted to rob and shot Maksymik in the back, while he was working as a DoorDash driver. Victim is expected to make a full recovery.

1/12/2022 —      Police in Dallas, Texas, are looking for whoever is responsible for a drive-by shooting that killed an 18-year-old woman, Crystal Rodriguez, as she slept in her family’s home.

1/12/2022 — An off-duty Los Angeles police officer, Fernando Arroyos, 27, was shot and killed during a robbery on Monday as he was house hunting with his girlfriend. Arroyos was killed during a gunfight with 3 men who tried to rob him.

1/13 — an employee at a Wendy’s restaurant was shot in the head after an argument over barbecue sauce. The customer allegedly fired into the store, injuring the employee Brian Durham Jr., 16

1/14/2022 — Six people were taken to a hospital after shots were fired Friday night at a rap concert in Eugene, Oregon

1/14/2022 — Brian Durham Jr., 16, was working at a Wendy’s location in Phoenix on Thursday night, positioned at the drive-thru cash register with another employee manning the window. a customer at the window asked for extra barbecue sauce, which eventually escalated into an argument that ended with the man opening fire into the store. Durham Jr. was shot during the incident, with a bullet grazing his brain. He was rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition and eventually managed to pull through following five hours of surgery.

1/15/2022 == A hostage situation was unfolding at a synagogue outside of Dallas, Texas, on Saturday afternoon involving a man who ranted about religion. a man with a British accent could be heard threatening to shoot anyone who interfered. As of 2 pm, an ongoing situation.update – there were 4 hostages; none were hurt. FBI killed suspect. Suspect was a British citizen who appears to have come to the US for this purpose and purchased a gun on the street after arriving.

1/16 — BROOKHAVEN, Ga. (AP) — A stray bullet struck and killed an English astrophysicist while he was inside an Atlanta-area apartment, Matthew Willson, 31, of Chertsey, Surrey, England,

1/16/2022 – a Georgia man, 25, was arrested Sunday afternoon, five days after he went on the run after allegedly shooting two Thomas County Sheriff’s Office deputies and aiming at a third. deputies attempted to arrest the man for a probation violation. He allegedly put up a fight and grabbed one of the deputies’ gun from his holster, then began firing

1/16/2022 — Authorities are looking for the person that shot and killed 30-year-old Richie T. Aaron Jr. on an Amtrak train in Missouri on Friday

1/17/2022 – [name withheld] 17, was arrested and charged in connection to the shooting death of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend Diamond Alvarez

1/18/2022 — A Lake County, Florida, man was charged with aggravated animal cruelty in the fatal shooting of his neighbor’s dog that he found rooting through his trash, police said.

1/19/2022 – Three men shot in Rochester, NY. One dead, one critical. Shots fired in the street. No motive determined. In a second incident, a person was shot and is I critical condition.

1/20 – Detroit, Michigan. Police allege that the suspect and two others were conducting some sort of transaction with Dixon. The Daily Tribune reported that the transaction involved marijuana.”During the course of the incident, it is alleged that the suspect  pulled out a weapon with the intent to rob the victim and fired it at Dixon, striking him.

1/20/2022 – Rochester, NY. Someone shot into a police car. Suspect was apprehended; no one was hurt.

1/22 — woman, 61, was arrested Thursday after she allegedly shot and killed a tenant in her building, 54-year-old Kurt Lametta. “He’s been my tenant and [expletive] driving me nuts,” she said, according to the court documents.

1/22 — A Paterson, New Jersey, teenager has died after being struck by a stray bullet on Wednesday evening while reportedly carrying groceries into his grandmother’s home. Robert Cuadra, 18, was found lying on a sidewalk

1/22 — A Virginia mother who threatened to bring loaded weapons to her children’s school over a mask mandate was charged Friday by the Luray Police Department.

1/22 — A woman in St. Louis County, Missouri, is accused of shooting a McDonald’s employee after a dispute over french fry discount, authorities say.

1/22 — An 8-year-old girl was killed on Saturday after being struck in the head by a stray bullet from a nearby shooting. Melissa Ortega was out walking with her mother in the Little Village neighborhood in southwest Chicago

1/22 — 37-year-old Thomas Hand Jr., the husband of former Miss Mississippi Christine Kozlowski was fatally shot in Alabama, with court documents alleging it occurred in a child’s presence. Suspect is 17 years old.

1/23 — A Houston deputy was killed early Sunday morning after pulling a man over in what officials described as a “brutal attack.”  Cpl. Charles Galloway, 47, was shot multiple times after pulling over a white Toyota Avalon at about 12:45 a.m. Sunday, on what was described as a routine traffic stop. The man driving the car exited the vehicle and immediately began to shoot at Galloway, who died at the scene.

1/23 — Mayor Eric Adams demanded assistance Sunday from Washington D.C. to block the “constant flow” of firearms into the Big Apple, days after an NYPD cop was killed and another officer was left fighting for his life after they were shot — declaring “the federal government must step in.”

 1/24 — A man was taken into custody Monday in Tennessee in connection with the death of a Robertson County Sheriff’s deputy who was found shot inside her burning home a day earlier. Springfield, Tennessee. The arrest comes a day after Deputy Savanna Puckett, 22, didn’t show up for work.

1/25 — Atlanta police said a suspect has been arrested in connection with the fatal drive-by shooting of a 6-month-old in Atlanta, the third young victim of gun violence in the city so far this year. Victim was Grayson Matthew Fleming-Gray. Suspect is 22 years old.

1/20 – Detroit, Michigan. Police allege that the suspect and two others were conducting some sort of transaction with Dixon. The Daily Tribune reported that the transaction involved marijuana.”During the course of the incident, it is alleged that the suspect  pulled out a weapon with the intent to rob the victim and fired it at Dixon, striking him.

1/28 – A suspect, faces a capital murder charge in the death of Houston police officer  Cpl. Charles Galloway. Rosales allegedly shot Galloway when he was pulled over in a traffic stop, prosecutors said. Galloway was fatally shot shortly about 12:30 a.m. Sunday after he pulled over a white Toyota Avalon. The driver got out with rifle and opened fire into his patrol car, shooting through its windshield, according to court documents.

1/31 — Firefighters in Stockton, California, are mourning one of their own, 47-year-old Fire Captain Vidal “Max” Fortuna, who was gunned down while putting out a fire on Monday. .380 caliber handgun

Feeling guilty?

When a person complains about constant nightmares about a person recently dead, suspicion replaces sympathy, especially if you know the relationship.

Guilt is a fascinating emotion. Basically it means you’ve done something wrong and have neither atoned for it nor been punished for it. It also seems to me that it’s quite crippling.

Why would anyone want to live with guilt? I submit (she said in her finest Captain Kirk voice) that it’s fear of the punishment that makes people keep the guilt inside. Or they are afraid of losing face (being viewed as a lesser person) if they admit to what they did.

Okay, if you robbed a bank or killed someone, you have two choices to rid yourself of guilt — turn yourself in, or spend the rest of your life doing good for people without reward.

But if the sin wasn’t illegal, just immoral, then accept that it was done, try to never do it again in your life, and try to make amends with any people who were hurt by you.

Sometimes guilt surfaces as anger or aggression. Then you need to recognize the cause. If you don’t, you will only mitigate the situation, and that will make you feel even more guilty.

Above all, admit that you did wrong!

Remember the phrase ‘today is the first day of the rest of your life’; determine to not do whatever it is you do that makes you guilty, and start afresh.

• copyright Bonnie-Jean Rohner, 2013

The Great American Ostrich

The United States of America is the home of a very unique animal, the Great American Ostrich. Thanks to a vast range of natural resources and often demanding terrain, this bird has roamed the territory throughout history unencumbered. It has become so ubiquitous that few people even notice it.

The GAO, as it is often called, has no known predators, due to its large size, strong legs and irascible temperament. Those legs allow it to run away from impending danger, as well as afford excellent kicking strength when cornered. Its garish plumage is a warning to other species that it cannot be ignored while it wears a costume imitating more elegant birds. When confronted, this bird will scream, stare at its opponent with huge accusing eyes, and peck with its formidable beak.

But probably its most unique attribute is its tendency to bury its head in the ground, in the mistaken idea that what it does not see does not exist. Perhaps in response to its fear of its own power, this allows the GAO to reach a comfort zone it appears to prefer.

Since the American civil war, the ostrich’s territory has been mainly the Midwest, but it can be found throughout the United States, even in coastal and industrial areas, where it makes no pretense at adapting to changes in the environment. There has been very little evolutionary change in the species, as if it expects its environment to change around it instead.

When birds from other territories moved into the GAO territory, it was in an effort to escape predators and other controlling species, and they quickly adapted the GAO mentality of individualism, brute strength, and a disdain for refined plumage. They devolved into the GAO, to the point where being homely and ignorant are a source of pride. These two attributes were apparently the attraction for mating. They lay huge eggs which they defend viciously even when the egg is not viable.

Currently, these birds are more often found hiding their heads, trying to reach that comfort zone which is getting more and more difficult to achieve. Sheer denial seems to be a preferred approach to standing up and kicking back. And the species seems to be separating, the head-bury-ers being very intimidated by those birds who are struggling to be aware and trying to maintain their status as the denizens of the United Sates by adjusting to a new world and perhaps even evolving.

By hiding its head in the ground, the GAO hears only those little sound bites that continue its comfort zone, filtering out shrieks of would-be attackers. Sunlight cannot creep in and hurt those huge eyes. Quick forays to the surface allow the bird to scoop up the plentiful food and water around its hidey-hole. And it sleeps peacefully, thinking nothing has changed around it in the past 400 years.

Viral Implosion – chapter 17

There are two ways a government maintains power – either by sheer military force or by consent of the people being governed.

Money became virtually obsolete as countries closed up their borders and refused to trade. Starvation and poverty drained the ranks of military personnel; sheikdoms and dictatorships lost control. Soldiers and warriors quit service and went off to support themselves and their families. They went home to farm, or joined communities that were managing to exist independently. Many, with no real talents other than soldiering, offered themselves as mercenaries, protecting the families and communities from marauders and wild animals. As payment they accepted food and shelter. Others got trained in a more practical trade which they could offer to communities that were weak in one area or another. Military personnel and civilians raided arsenals of any armaments that could be handled by a single person. Larger items like missiles lay fallow, since the infrastructure to use them had fallen apart.

In democratic or socialistic countries, the lower class grew, the middle class disappeared and the upper class found itself with no outlets. Robotics had replaced a great deal of the labor force. Monopolies had become vertical as well as horizontal, so choices became nonexistent. Technology, robotics and automation kept a lot of services such as water, electricity and phone towers functioning. With governmental institutions dissolving, the people who were adept at maintaining these services were in demand, but often had to accept barter for payment. Established communities would pool resources to support these people. After a couple of months of living in shelters, “preppers” discovered that they preferred the amenities of society.

In “third world” countries the people were not far from their original cultures, and so easily slid back to their nomadic and agrarian ways of life. With no real borders any more, people tended to separate into tribes, learning how to forage the new vegetation that was developing and hunt and cook the new animal species that were developing.

Adaptation became the byword of all civilization. With the drop in industrialization, water treatment became easier and safer but bottled water became scarce. Where possible, mountain stream water was preferred to “city water”. Arid areas learned how to dig wells and dispense water, often as community projects. Trees were planted like forests to trap and hold water in deserts. These trees also offered fruit and nuts to the local residents who tended them, as well as offering oxygen to the air and nutrients to the soil so that vegetable and wheat gardens could grow. With a lack of politics and infighting, communities were able to focus on subsistence living. No longer cost-prohibitive, organic farming became the mainstay of food production. This resulted in food that was greater in nutrition.

Large farms were difficult to maintain. Without government subsidies, farmers often had to learn how to plant what they want or need rather than what they were told to. Large farms were often broken up into smaller farms that could be maintained by a family or community. These smaller farms would trade information on how to do companion planting, crop rotation, and organic fertilization. Farmers learned how to collect seeds and seedlings from their own crops and the crops of neighboring farmers. They also learned how to create new plants from existing vegetables such as peppers, garlic and onions. When wild fruit was found, farmers and other agrarians would garner the seeds from the trees before collecting food, so that they could expand the availability of fruit and nuts. In cities, every rooftop and park had gardens, growing food rather than flowers. With the dissipation of the military and industrial labor, there were more people available to help out on farms.

Shelter was not much of a problem, since structures abandoned were available to anyone who moved in. Shopping malls became apartment complexes. Industrial plants often suffered the same fate. Since these were scattered across countries, a general decentralization of the populace occurred. Heat and air conditioning had to be based on electricity, which had to be sourced by wind, solar or water power. Nuclear plants were carefully closed down because there were not enough knowledgeable people around to maintain them. Oil and gas refineries were equally shut down because there was no one to pay wages.

Wealthy people became stranded with no one to purchase their wares, and few if any places to spend their money. They ended up in a bartering system for food and water by offering services they might have access to, such as communications, health care, and automation.

Transportation went through a few iterations. At first, while there were roads and available gasoline, people crossed between communities by car and truck. But eventually the refineries closed down and gasoline was used up. People reverted to the use of horses, mules, and carts to keep trade alive. Airplanes were equally grounded for lack of fuel. Hot air balloons became the major form of transportation across large tracts of land. Helium-filled balloons made from a thin polyethylene film, being 15 meters in diameter when fully inflated, became a major method of transporting goods between communities. This of course caused an isolation of the continents. Boats of all sizes were used to connect islands and archipelagos. As gas disappeared, sailboats replaced motorboats, and many people learned how to sail. As wind, water and solar plants sprang up, electricity was available, first in pockets and eventually across continents. Those countries that already had rail systems became alive with electric trains. Those areas that had mag-lev trains (so-called bullet trains) continued to work. Eventually electric buses were developed to allow transportation within and between communities. Small airplanes that were electric, rather than gas-fueled, were in an infant stage and quite unreliable. But, as necessity is the mother of invention, those involved with electric planes continued to develop them and eventually came up with workable models.

With currency dwindling in value, patents were not paramount to development of any kind. Thus information was shared instead of hoarded. This was a boon to farming, transportation development, utility methods, and many more aspects of society. To share, the Internet needed to be viable. Satellites which were still functioning helped. Fortunately, before the corporate takeover of government, Google had already been developing a super-balloon model for beaming Internet connections. These balloons sailed the stratosphere’s winds in a continuous circuit around the planet. Google ground personnel changed the altitude of the balloons by sending signals to the on-board computers.

 

 

 

 

Having the Final Say

Covid-19: since Trump supporters wouldn’t listen to reason, logic or truth, God had to step in and make the case clear to them.

Pity the Poor Republicans

Richard M. nixon

There are times when it’s a blessing to be an Independent. Being a Republican right now must be a nightmare.

Republicans maintained power in congress in 2016, partly because a lot of their constituents were happy to hear the rhetoric of Donald Trump. These constituents were not aware that Trump tried to run for President as an Independent and a Democrat, before he found out that the people who were most susceptible to his ramblings were Republicans

In 2016 they found themselves with a right wing executive branch as well as congress. Time to get things done, such as undoing the Obama-led programs that pulled us out of a recession and made medical aid more accessible and affordable, the only things they had not managed to thwart during the previous eight years of stonewalling which made the government virtually dysfunctional. Despite his record of bankrupt companies, failed business loans and being sued by his vendors Donald Trump managed to get a lot of support from large corporations, especially arms manufacturers, the NRA and the coal and oil industries.

But instead of pursuing Republican goals of states’ rights, limiting women’s and minorities’ rights and amended medical coverage, Trump spent the next three years pursuing his own re-election, following up on promises which swayed the electoral college, if not the popular vote, carrying on rallies and golfing instead of working as a part of a 3-cameron system of government. Republicans found him dictating to them what they should do, instead of the other way around. Any dissension in the Republican party was quaffed with threats and even actions. Still, their constituents blindly followed Trump’s rhetoric, so the Republicans in congress had to do the same. Trump taking immigration complaints to the extreme further weakened popular support of the Republican party.

Ronald Reagan

Then came the elections of 2018. When Democrats got control of the House, this sent a message to the Senate – the popular vote is swinging to the left. At the same time, the Trump administration’s pandering to our enemies (North Korea, China, Russia, Turkey, just to name a few) and his alienation of our allies (the United Kingdom, Canada, France, NATO, Europe and many more) shifted world opinion against the United States and threatened our national security. The American populace became fearful.

Next the Republicans faced solid evidence for an impeachment trial, possible war in the near east, and an increasingly chaotic administration that doesn’t give a rap about Congress’ rights, oversight, or opinions. If the Republican senators and those in the House up for re-election back Trump now, they may lose because of the backlash growing in the grass roots. If they don’t back Trump, they face backlash from the Administration and big business, which has managed to get a lot of deregulation passed to pursue profit over natural resources. They are between a rock and a hard place. If they work for the people, they will undoubtedly lose a lot of financial support. But if they back the corporations, they may lose votes. They have to depend a great deal on the gerrymandering achieved recently.

With two weeks until the elections, a lot of tables have turned. The pandemic has hit, and a lot of people who had backed Trump are losing jobs and lives. Even those who survive COVID-19 are left with lingering physical problems and possibly no immunity conferred. There appears to be no end in sight. Despite the rhetoric, people are looking at their own lives and seeing no relief. Attempts to open up schools and businesses, a stance that Trump touted loudly, has only caused a new surge of cases. The citizenship is feeling hopeless with the current situation. They are now looking for a fresh approach, since the approaches up until now have obviously failed. The United Sates covers 4% of the world population, but 25% of the world’s cases. Pulling out of WHO and calling Dr. Fauci names does not seem to be a wise approach.

With the polls favoring Biden, and Trump doing an exit dance, Republicans in Congress are facing a backlash on them as well. Those who backed Trump all the way are facing losing polls themselves. If Trump loses the election, a lot of these senators and congressmen will go down with him. So the disaffection has begun. Republican senators up for re-election are coming out in support of Biden in an attempt to win back their constituencies, and hoping to rebuild their party on its original values. Those who maintain support for Trump are facing heated battles in their home states. Despite lobbies and PACs, the final say is from the electorate; Republicans have seen the writing on the wall. Early voting, where the tolls are available, show strong Biden support. All the more reason to get the voters’ ear and try to separate oneself from Trump. Dissatisfaction with the pandemic has made voters tend to “vote blue”, selecting only Democratic ballots in an effort to clean away the roadblocks to a safe way of living. This fear of the virus has overshadowed all accounts of a failing economy, threats from China and Russia, xenophobia, desecration of national land and endangered species. It now appears that Americans are the endangered species. The only hope the Republicans have is to disavow Trump in hopes of retaining their seats — and to convince the electorate that they are sincere in this effort.

If people remember Reagan, Bush, and Nixon, the Republicans will lose. Reagan’s SDI was a flop, so Trump tried a Space Force. Reaganomics pushed us into the worst recession since the 1930s depression, but Trump is trying them all again, despite the fact that the current situation is not the same. George W. Bush pushed us into a near east war with false intelligence, as did Trump. Instead of pulling us out of the Mideast, as Trump promised, he has simply shifted the troops around, trying to protect our oil interests. To top it off, Trump is trying to take military funds to build his wall, while our troops are living in substandard housing, one of the problems of privatizing this.

As people see the stock market falling, boys returning from war maimed, our troops living in squalor and with substandard protection overseas, and a budget deficit that is at a record high, they are going to rebel. Above all, the pandemic rules the citizenry’s everyday life and is having a profound effect on their viewpoint as it relates to voting. Republicans both in the populace and in Congress will have to make a hard decision. I wish them luck.

My Long Island Adventure

view from my cockpit

This was in many ways the best vacation I ever had. Yes, in others I have stayed at great hotels and done some memorable things. But this trip was a growing experience. My original purpose was to return to my roots – I “fit” on Long Island and felt like a duck out of water in my present location. I was homesick. So I set up the following itinerary:

Tuesday, 9/3 – fly down to Brookhaven airport in the Moriches with my instructor, Mike Bjerga. This would give me experience with the longest cross-country flight I’d ever flown myself. Good for racking up lesson time, and having an instrument rated instructor there, the flight was guaranteed to happen.

Wed 9/3 – 9/6 – stay with Linda, my best friend in high school.

Sat 9/7 – 9/9 – stay with Karen, an old high school friend.

Tues 9/10 – 9/14 – stay with Bonnie, a friend from Garden City whom I have visited every couple of years. This was my only ‘known commodity’ part of the trip and

therefore if any other part of the trip went south I knew I could run here to revive.

Sat 9/14 – fly back to Williamson with Mike.

My expectation was that I would reluctantly return, jealous of how well others were living and as disappointed as ever that I have gotten myself into a living situation I hated, stuck here for another 20 years. I did hope that I would do some things, like parasailing, to take back as vacation rewards. Instead I came back with rewards to my own life, different rewards from each person I interacted with. I didn’t get to parasailing, nor swimming in the ocean (though I did wade in the surf), but I am OK with that. The people I interacted with were educated and as cosmopolitan as I remember, so I had the joy of cracking jokes and passing comments without having to explain the references. That I will miss.

learning instrumentation

Mike Bjerga. Got to know him some more. It could be a death sentence to fly with someone for 2-3 hours of silence. But he mixed casual conversation with pertinent instruction, well worth the money as usual as more than a safety backup. He knew I was excited about flying above the clouds and said at one point “We’ll make an instrument pilot out of you yet!”, knowing I am cowed by the instrumentation available in today’s planes. He showed his understanding by taking pictures of me in front of the instrument panel and above the clouds. I was hoping to get VOR experience, but the control towers took over almost immediately and sent us on shortcuts both down and back. And he made me feel like I was in control – when Mike is quiet it means that I’m doing fine. When we arrived back home, it was dusk and landing lights were on. I learned a new phrase – red & white, you’re alright; red & red – you’re dead. Yet another new experience.

Linda has always been an accommodating person, saying the right things, not arguing about anything (unless she agrees with you). Her perfect house is one we all dreamed of having when we grew up. Still, the house, like Linda, was unassuming; a guest felt comfortable. My mother would be sooo impressed! With all these attributes, it’s no wonder I felt welcome. But while she would brag to others about me, she never mentions all her achievements. I think the reason we took to each other in the beginning and kept the friendship going for so many years is that Linda never judged a person, despite others’ gossip. And under it all, she’s as adventurous as I am. Linda went to Cambodia after college with the Peace Corps. She has skydived and parasailed. She married Lou 7 months after meeting him (and was obviously right about her choice). She is a phenomenal photographer; I am not surprised that she never sold any of her photographs – she’s too modest. But her photographic work is of the highest quality, worthy of the walls on which it has hung. I’m not sure if we’ll ever meet again in person, but I sure hope so; we banter and tease easily. I remember once I visited her at Tom’s and her house; we were in our 20s; we sat on the grass and blew bubbles. Only Linda would think of doing that. She understood my love of the ocean and took me where I could ‘commune’ with it. She showed me eastern Long Island, which was farm land when I left and is now built up to the level Lindenhurst was when I left there. She took me on a short tour of Lindenhurst so I could see the house in which I grew up and all the changes. She took me to visit Margaret Rocco, whom I assumed would not remember me. It’s as if Linda sensed what I needed and gave it to me.

The first day with Linda, I suffered from verbal diarrhea. I spilled secrets I never shared with anyone about my childhood. I don’t know what triggered it, and did apologize. Dear Lou was very tolerant, having no idea what the references were. Perhaps that was how Linda knew what I needed.

Karen and I skipped fourth grade together, along with Ruth Busick. I believe that was in 1955. I hung around with Karen until I found more compatible people in high school. I approached our meeting with great trepidation – our relationship was never chummy on my side; I even remember slapping her twice over her unsolicited opinions. Still, she seemed to be eager to see me. The Karen I met was much more serious than I remember – I didn’t even recognize her face except when she was smiling. She was generous, showing me things and chauffeuring me around on my errands. I wish I could have enjoyed the time more, but my allergies made me anxious to move on. Where I roosted to smoke (her back porch) was damp; there were three dogs there who were very friendly to me; her sheets were washed in a highly perfumed detergent that caused me to cover the edges with a towel in order to hunker down to sleep. The combination of all these usually-mild allergies (mold, mildew, dogs and perfumes) collected to make my time at her house difficult, and I didn’t want to say anything to someone going so far out of her way to show me a good time.

Karen has been a dedicated Democrat since childhood, but not without a common sense approach. She apologized for her less-than-spectacular life, which I can’t agree with. She was a teacher and administrator in secondary education for 41 years, helping out fellow teachers and guiding those under her administration in what I would consider gentle but great methods. She is still immersed in politics to the point that she has CNN and MSN on TV all day long. You’ll never get your blood pressure down that way, old girl. She also is very active in rescuing sheltie dogs, and the occasional other breeds, to the point of driving all over the country to retrieve, rehabilitate and place the dogs. Her stories of these adventures are great to listen to. And she constantly (and modestly) gives credit to those who went on these safaris with her. I greatly admire people like this who devote so much energy to helping animals the right way, instead of trying to make a fast buck off them. To top it off, she is a remarkable baker and cook – usually a person is one or the other – with the self-control to give the food away while she is dieting. It was nice to break bread with a vegetarian without feeling proselytized or pressured. Karen is a very tolerant person, despite her life of conviction. The only thing she approached me about – very gently, mind you –was smoking, and I felt it better to just accept the questioning without getting on my own soap box.

I found myself wanting to reach out to her, to let her know I admire her, and to show my appreciation for her hospitality.

And her sense of humor came through, which put me at ease. A good example of that was when she took me to where there were salt flats. She waited in her car (bad knees) while I marched into the wilderness for about a mile before I turned around and dragged my exhausted body back to the car. I found her resting in the car. I don’t know how long I’d been missing but Karen said she figured as long as people kept entering the ‘park’ they would find my body and drag it back if I’d collapsed, so she didn’t sound any alarms.

Both Karen and Linda shared their lives with me; instead of wallowing through the last 50-60 years, we stepped into the present. And it was good.

Bonnie was a surprise and a disappointment. Bonnie and I became friends when I was married and living in Garden City. She was a popular and busy person; I felt rather honored when she deemed me a friend. I was at an all-time low in self-esteem at the time, and for decades after that. Looking back with fresh eyes, I now see that it was her sense of superiority (and competition) that kept the friendship going. In the last few years I realized that the only time she called me was when she was having a bad time. She would badger me with questions until I got depressed from the answers; that would make her feel better about her own situation. She tried the same tactic when I visited this time, bragging about her circumstances and her ability to manage people. The problem was … I was not impressed. This put Bonnie into high gear to tear me down as lovingly as she could, to the point of talking until 2 AM one night. I realized that in my own present happiness with myself, I would no longer allow her to pull me down. And there was no longer an advantage to hanging around with her. I can no longer give her the sense of superiority she longs for, and she can no longer give me the solace I don’t seek.

My marriage and divorce destroyed my self-image; I even wrote my own obituary while I was married, realizing that the Old Me was gone. It was only in the last couple of years that I felt the Old Me return. I’m glad I didn’t return to Long Island before that. But then, I wouldn’t have, since it would have been too painful. I was never one for nostalgia; too many bad memories along with the good ones (thank you, eidetic memory).

Along with the experiences with these four individuals, the trip was an eye opener. Eastern Long Island is even more built up than the mid Long Island where I grew up, but it still maintains a lot of the New England-style charm. And of course, the people are so much more cosmopolitan than western New York; it’s so nice to have my jokes and observations understood. Of course, I still can’t afford to live there. Despite my appreciation of Long Island, I found myself much happier with my present circumstance – I can afford the occasional flying lesson and other financial indulgences (within reason) by living here. And western New York is much more like the Long Island where I grew up than today’s Long Island is. I now appreciate the local people and life style and its lack of pressure. For the most part the locals are tolerant of my odd ways. Driving is more relaxed and roads are less crowded. One can spend one’s time here enjoying life instead of just surviving it.

And I realized that I am overdressed even by Long Island standards. I know that sounds like a ridiculous thing to observe. But basically I have been clinging on to “the way I was brought up” when it is no longer relevant to my current life style. That type of lifestyle doesn’t exist anymore.

I actually went out and bought pants and tops that are nice, even though I had 20-year-old polyester pants and cheap tops in the closet. Time to pack those old clothes up and give them to charity. There is no reason why I can’t feel comfortable and neat in casual clothes. Why populate the closet with clothes that don’t fit right, are over the top, or look bad on me? I also have a bunch of linens that are mismatched or the wrong color. Why hold on to them? I gave flatware, kitchenware and towels to my grandson as he set up his first apartment. But there’s still a bunch of stuff that could go to a garage sale – except I hate garage sales. Nonetheless, a women’s shelter could make very good use of this stuff. So it’s all being packed up for that purpose.

I even got the nerve up to ask my son to check up on me regularly, rather than bemoaning my loneliness. That was probably the hardest change, since I didn’t want to whine (oh, that pride!!).

So I guess you could say that this trip made me stop pining for things that never really were and to be happier with things as they are.

But one thing I will always miss is the white sandy beaches and swimming in the ocean.

 

 

The Mad King

Between 1760 and 1820, George III reigned over Britain, ascending the throne at the age of 22. The first England-born member of the Hanover house, he was well-loved. He protected the national interest of the United Kingdom, especially from revolution in France and the American colonies. He was a devoted husband and father and earned the return devotion of his family. Due to a learning disability, George III did not learn to read until he was eleven years old and was considered not to be very bright. Nonetheless, he was known to speak and write well, influencing his followers to rally around the British flag. When Parliament was having difficulty creating its government, George even offered to abdicate the throne.

But these sixty years were not at all a rosy picture. In reality, it was a roller coaster of highs and lows. There were probably many episodes of mild depression and mania which were not publicly acknowledged, but it became increasingly obvious that George III was sliding into insanity. His reign was fraught with difficulties that he did not appear to handle well. The fight against France put the kingdom in great debt. The loss of the American colonies put a strain on England and the monarch, costing him respect for himself, and a loss of respect from other countries. Foreign ambassadors found him dull and weak. Critics accused him of trying to reassert regal control over the country in an unconstitutional manner. He was inconsolable when his youngest and favorite daughter Amelia died in 1810.

George III was not a well person, suffering from blindness from cataracts, rheumatism and increasing deafness. There were bouts of convulsions, when pages actually had to sit on him to keep him on the floor. At the end of his life he could not walk. There is a lot of speculation about whether the physical aspects were triggers for the insanity, or separate results of makeup, arsenic, blue gentian and/or other medicines.

Each episode of mental incapacity appeared to be “cured” until the last one. George was removed from the public eye until he was “well” enough to again assume the throne.

The earliest dementia documented was in 1765. This was considered a brief episode. The next admitted episode was much longer, in the summer of 1778. He went to Cheltenham Spa for treatment, but the treatment did not work. By November he was seriously deranged. He would talk for hours on end, to the extent that he would foam at the mouth and his throat would get hoarse. The insanity was described as violent and he was kept in a straitjacket for a period of time. A year later he was deemed recovered and spent the next twelve years earning the love of his countrymen once more, appearing as a symbol of stability against the chaos of the French revolution.

In 1804 George again lapsed into insanity from which he recovered. During his illnesses he was ranting; his use of sentences of 400 words and eight verbs was common. His vocabulary was colorful and complex. This type of speech and writing is considered normal in the manic phase of bipolar disorder.

In 1810 the monarch slid into his final bout of insanity. He experienced occasional periods of lucidity, but they became less and less frequent, until he could no longer remember that he was king, or widowed. At Christmas, 1819, he spoke nonsense for a straight 58 hours. In 1811 Parliament named his oldest son, Prince George, as regent, to govern according to his father’s erratic will as well as he could for the next nine years.

George III died on January 29, 1820.

Medical and psychological knowledge and practices were minimal at the time, and many have tried to apply present-day knowledge to determine just what George suffered from and its cause. The information released was mitigated to protect the reputation of the royal house. We will probably never know what actually happened and why.

We need to learn from this curious time in history. A leader who tends to polarize the populace can do so by wavering back and forth between lucidity and insanity. There was a cadre of people around George that covered up periods of bad judgment and whisked him out of public view when the portrait was damaged. Nonetheless, he regularly slipped out of his confines and demonstrated his damaged mind. One of the ways the public reacted was total – and successful – revolution in France and America. In the current environment, the United States citizens and politicians still feel there are lawful options to cope with such vagaries in our leadership. Here’s hoping they are right.

Spectrum – enterprise or extortion?

Spectrum has moved into this region, and everyone was hoping for a fairer treatment than they were getting from Time Warner, as Spectrum’s advertising claimed. Instead, social media and personal networking has exposed huge disappointment – constantly dropped signals (even when the cable is underground), surprise requirements to upgrade, poor reception – the list goes on. But no one is able to fight the monopoly. Many people are now trading information on alternative resources to break the cable company’s hold on users. This is my personal experience with this company.

A few years back, I “fired” Time-Warner. They claimed I owed them $116; I claimed they owed me $280. Instead of working it out, Time-Warner cut me off at the knees and added the $116 to my credit report.

So when I moved, and there was Time-Warner basic cable included in the rent, I coped with that and depended on a portable hot spot for Internet use. Because I spend sixteen hours or more on the Internet daily, this became very expensive. Eventually, Spectrum was announcing that they had taken over Time Warner and a new and wondrous cable company was emerging.

I decided to contact Spectrum to see if I could get a cable modem for Internet use, advertised at $29.99 a month. Well, that price is only if you include a phone. I agreed that they could port my cell phone, but I was told it couldn’t be ported, which I knew wasn’t true – I’d ported that number twice before. Spectrum suggested I get a Spectrum phone and since I wanted the same cell number, I could forward all calls to the Spectrum number. I wasn’t enamored with that solution, so the salesperson suggested I try Spectrum Voice for a month, and they suspected by then that they could get the number ported. Oh? Only if I commit to Spectrum? Why could they only port if I commit to them?

I decided to forego this wonderful offer, and mentioned that I had $160 in a contract for the portable hot spot locked in; would Spectrum back their claim and pay this off? No. I decided to go with the cable modem and home wi-fi, for a total of $49.99 a month. I ate the contract-breaking $160. As advertised, no contract was required for Spectrum. That’s all well and good, except that they could now raise the rate with impunity – still waiting for the other shoe to drop on that, since I’ve seen in local social media the rates are increasing regularly.

Six months of peace. Then I got a letter in the mail from Spectrum declaring that they are going all-digital. Anyone with an existing cable box or digital cable card would see no change. But those of us without boxes would lose our television in two weeks.

I called Spectrum to see what solutions were available. There was only one – rent a cable box for each of my three televisions for $11.75 each. For a person living on Social Security, $36 a month was a financial burden. Trading information again on social media, I found out that the $11.75 rate was for any of us who were previously Time Warner customers – Spectrum customers were being charged $4.99 a month per box. The only way around that was to install a box for a couple of months, then return it to the Spectrum store. Then wait a couple of months and order a Spectrum box. What? Really? What happened to “Time Warner is now Spectrum”???

I researched getting a digital card or stick or antenna. The FCC had ordered that all TVs built after 2006 should be digital compatible, in an effort to break the cable companies’ hold on customers. But all the experts I spoke to said that their devices would not work on my new TVs because Spectrum had made its signal proprietary, scrambling even the basic signal.

I even called the manager of my little community. Since basic cable was included in the rent, and no longer available, shouldn’t we get a rebate on the rent? No dice. I suggested that they must at least warn prospective renters that the cable isn’t free, but they refused to do that as well.

So we’re out in the cold. I tried an indoor digital antenna, but its signal was interfered with by my neighbor’s satellite dish.

Again swapping information with neighbors on social media, I ended up with a Roku streaming stick; it has an app to access Spectrum TV Online, so now I get the usual broadcast stations and other basic cable channels I didn’t get with the straight cable, as well as on-demand TV series and some movies. The irony of it is that I need Internet access with a Wi-Fi, which depends on my Spectrum cable modem and home Wi-Fi. The price for the sticks is very reasonable and only a one-time expense – after that, everything is free. Roku also offers access to paid networks, but there appears to be enough viewing available for free to keep me occupied.

About two weeks after the ‘blackout’, I got another letter from Spectrum warning that I needed to contact them if I wanted basic cable. Sorry, guys. For once you don’t win. I’m sure they will find another way of getting the missed income, like raising the no-contract cable modem price. I’ll just have to wait until that happens, then find another solution.

Viral Implosion – chapter 16

wild animals in domestic sites and ice versa

The Awakening

Planet Earth breathed a contented sigh. Her current evolution is almost done. Her plans for growth and change were slowed at times and sped up at times by the pests inhabiting her skin.

But, as it had been for billions of years, she had her way in the end. It just took longer with human beings who didn’t have the right perspective. But when it’s time for a population to shrink, like lemmings running to the sea, the self-destruction will happen one way or another. This human population not only had to become less populous, they had to learn that in a war between them and Planet Earth, Planet Earth will come out on top. Human beings had to learn that they were not only damaging their home, but they needed to reconstruct their way of living here or they would not survive.

With no regulation nor enforcement of regulations already in place, drugs, guns and vehicles took their share of lives.

National borders dissolved, as the soldiers died and there were no people to replace them. Military leaders, with no military to lead, went begging to corporations and governments for positions. If there was no place to go, suicide appeared as an honorable exit. Military installations closed one by one, releasing a sizeable civilian population to the wild. Military support personnel found themselves without jobs, facing an ominous, leaderless future. The only viable military still existing were those who protected the corporations – national guard and mercenaries. Some tried to use their leftover artillery to bully civilians, but all there was for profit was food and many communities had their own militia for protection. So the bullies became part of the communities – protection for food and a place to live.

Politics had taken on a new face. Countries being led by dictators, war lords, chieftains or emirs tried to hold on to their territories by force. Democracies found themselves with fewer and fewer citizens, as lack of medical support and regulation enforcement thinned out the populace. Congresses found themselves with shrinking budgets and little to do. Ambassadorships tried desperately to build accords with other nations, but there was little to bargain with. Essentially, all governments were turning into figureheads.

The linchpins, corporations, started to founder. New product development had become so focused that it was totally dependent on the wealthy citizens for support, and those citizens had become too jaded to make demands or help finance the efforts. Boredom became the drug of choice. Agriculture had reached its peak with hybrid seeds, but the demand was dwindling as populations shrank. Farms no longer grew; at best they stayed the same size and number, but the soil was drained of nutrients, and therefore the crops were nutrition poor. Animal husbandry was facing the same fate; cattle feed was becoming less nutritious, weakening the animals; efforts with antibiotics and hormones, when available, did not seem to help.

The atmosphere was warming up, as it was meant to. Flora renewed its succession of biomes. Depleted forests started to revive. Fires reset the prairies. Rain forests flourished. As expected, the poles shrank a little and Antarctica reclaimed some of its land and started to develop some plants of its own, brought in by winds from the lower ends of Africa and South America. New plants and trees, adapting to the new temperatures, developed all over the globe.

Animals evolved as well. Having gotten freed of human control, wild animals roamed previously domestic land and vice versa. Natural selection was allowed to occur, strengthening some gene pools and depleting others. Those animals better suited to the new temperatures flourished. Those animals that were long overdue for extinction were allowed to disappear. With the human population dwindling, there was more land available to free animal usage.

The human population, in an effort to survive, shifted power. The wealthy class, military and politicians were foundering. Seeing the weakness as an opportunity, the lower class rebelled. With little to nothing to lose, they used a passive method of revolution – simply refuse to obey commands from above. Hidden stores of food and good water were ferreted out and seized. Armies simply went home to their families to join the rebellion and struggle for existence. Almost everyone turned to farming and animal husbandry to take care of their families.

The scattered communities which had survived started, carefully, to visit other communities and share discoveries of earth-friendly (and people-friendly) methods, such as the artificial leaves, and extruding spider silk from goats’ milk, which made a very strong fiber for rope and cable. What was left of the Internet was still unsecure, so communicators reverted to the original Internet usage, avoiding http sites, instead using user nets for information sharing. Since towers were often down or in disrepair, ‘landline’ telephones were used when available, and often information was carried between communities by hand, by someone who travelled by horse or cart. To maintain independence from corporations, successful communities developed renewable power from wind, sun and water. Such homesteading ‘tricks’ such as solar ovens, wind trees and underground housing were revived.

Meanwhile, Planet Earth started to protect herself. With the new growth of trees, there was more oxygen in the atmosphere, burning off the solar flares which occur every eleven years or so. Wild plants spread, including vegetables and fruits. New forests bound the land together again. New ecologies were forming with the mix of wild and domestic animals. Insects and birds were little affected by the changes, except in the sources of food.