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(Credit Photos: Andy Blumenthal)
January 18, 2021
January 17, 2021
Privacy Is Dead
I though this was a fascinating ad for the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).
The little girl hanging onto to the UAV drone.
Reminds me of the wonderful classic film, The Red Balloon, where after the balloon follows the little boy everywhere, in the end, off he flews with it into the wild blue yonder.
As much as we all wish privacy wasn't dead, for the most part, it really is!
Between ubiquitous and persistent satellites, drones, and video cameras, audio and video surveillance, call intercepts and eavesdropping, computer monitoring tools, smartphone location tracking, facial recognition, body implants, and more, let's just say you are never truly alone.
For those who continue to dream the impossible dream of privacy, it is a noble endeavor but quite fruitless without either going deep underground or significant legislative and policy changes that can actually be enforced.
My grandmother used to say that G-d sees everything and she was right.
These days, others are watching as well! ;-)
January 15, 2021
Orange Flowers 4 Shabbat Shalom
January 14, 2021
High Kicks Not City Riots
This is when on the Washington D.C. Mall there were high kicks and not riots.
It was a carefree spot and not a war zone.
The city wasn't filled with anger but with hope.
Politicians weren't giving each other a kick in the ass every day, but rather reaching across the aisle to try and get something done.
The country was trying to go forward, but now it's having trouble keeping up with the problems caused by China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.
Then we stood tall and wore our colors proud, today we wonder about the crisis of the day and what tomorrow will bring. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
January 13, 2021
Beautiful Flowers 4 A Beautiful Day!
January 12, 2021
A Birdhouse For Every Bird
It feels like there are almost more choices here for a birdhouse then variations in dwellings you can buy.
Even if it just a little paint; sometimes that can make all the difference.
Frankly, it's not even that important how big or small, just as long as you have a decent roof over your head.
In our crazy world, we can have a birdhouse for every bird, but still we don't have homes for every person.
Homelessness and poverty, whatever your race, color, or identity is still a big problem.
Birds live in birdhouses, but many people still live on the streets. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
January 11, 2021
We're Leaving
January 10, 2021
What's With This Crazy World?
I don't recognize this world.
This world has gone to sleep.
It's not the world of life I used to know.
Now fear and isolation pervade about.
Things aren't even what they seem or they seem to be what they aren't.
Everything is glossed over and black and white are easily substituted.
There used to be a moral ground and a forward path.
Now you have to have a stronger faith and inner conviction than ever before.
To see the light at the end of the tunnel and hope it's the light we all yearn for. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
January 8, 2021
The Rise of Anti-Semitism In America
From Antifa on the alt-left burning our cities this past summer to the storming of the Capitol this week by a mixed group, including those on the extreme right, a friend sent me this photo of the protester with a shirt that says “6MWE”. Unbelievably, it means: Six Million Wasn’t Enough! I can only imagine our martyred men, women, and children from the Holocaust just over 75 years ago, rolling over in the graves at this disgusting, anti-Semitic and genocidal insignia.
To those evil haters who dare say 6MWE, I say: Am Yisrael Chai and absolutely Never Again!
(Source Photo: Twitter)
January 7, 2021
Prescription Coffee, A Washington Necessity
A regular coffee just won't do it, especially with what's going on in Washington, D.C. after the most recent chaotic events of yesterday.
Thus, this prescription coffee is a great idea to wake the masses out of their disbelieving stupor of what's going down in this insane town.
Of course, the supposed Russian way of dealing with their opponents is said to involve perhaps more of a poison approach to handle affairs (reference Navalny), which is way scary!
And with talk of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the President from office or of impeachment (again) less than 2 weeks from the inauguration, I'll definitely take me some prescription coffee by the barrel. ;-)
(Source Photo: Minna)
January 6, 2021
Breaching The Capitol
Like so many I am outraged that the Capitol got trashed today.
There are really no words to describe the depressing and sickening feeling seeing what happened with the rampaging mobs.
Moreover, one lady actually was killed over this!
Aside from the lawlessness, disrespect, and abandon of our great democracy, it was shocking that the security forces let it all unfold.
Doors barricaded and guns drawn, yet the mobs freely storming the building, hanging from the rafters in the chambers and making a farce at the podium.
Moreover, the offices of the legislators breached with computers unlocked and emails on the screen!
If ever we were afraid of what the Russians or Chinese could do to us, do you think any of their agents could possibly have found their way to blend into the rampaging crowd and chaos today and then do literally whatever they wanted anywhere in legislative branch of our government?
They wouldn't have had to be James Bond or hid in a SolarWinds application update to do us severe damage.
It seems like we just keep giving away the keys to the kingdom until eventually there is no kingdom of democracy anymore! ;-)
January 5, 2021
Animals Bags
January 4, 2021
Bike Rack: Form and Function
January 3, 2021
It's 9/11 Every Day in The U.S.
For the last 4 weeks now, we've had about 3,000 deaths a day from Coronavirus in the U.S., this number is eerily similar to the number of fatalities in the horrific terrorist attack on this country on 9/11.
Moreover, we have reached over 350,000 dead in less than a year, with the projection by April 1 to be 567,000 dead or another 217,000 gone in just the next 3 months!
Despite numerous pharmaceutical companies coming up with a Covid vaccine, the distribution here is being botched every day.
In December, we vaccinated less than 1% of the U.S. population with a first dose, despite having been promised that 20 million people would be vaccinated, while another country like Israel has vaccinated 12% of their population.
So while we are experiencing the equivalent in terms of deaths of another 9/11 just about every day now, our government and their partners are pathetically slow in reacting to save lives!
- The Federal government is punting to the state governments.
- The State governments are punting to the local governments.
- And the local governments are not sure what they are doing and there is inconsistency and conflicting, confusing guidelines in the system currently.
Recently, I contacted my local authorities and received a form email back that basically told me they still know virtually nothing:
"We are currently focused on the registration of vaccination sites, the distribution and administration of vaccines in Phase 1, storage and handling, and overall communications, including ensuring patient follow-up and second dose reminders. We expect additional updates on increased vaccine production in early 2021 from our federal partners. As we learn more from the federal government, we will adjust..."I am appalled to see so many sick people and families and friends affected and people needlessly dying every minute of every day.
I am wondering why there is not more of an uproar and outrage from the people (even as a new more contagious variant is spreading) or is a 9/11 every day now an acceptable casualty count?
I can virtually guarantee you that if/when this is done, there are going to be how many lawsuits, investigations, and commissions looking into how this got so mishandled and resulted in so much suffering and loss of life.
(Credit Photo: Pixabay)
January 2, 2021
Covid May Be Over When Pigs Can Fly
Don't be fooled by the Covid vaccines.
Aside from the very disappointing and dysfunctional rollout so far (less than 3 millions first doses in the time that they promised 20 million), the virus is mutating!
Hence the new yet more contagious Covid virus now going around.
I wouldn't get my hopes up too high on the results of the vaccine quite yet.
Hype is the opioid of the masses.
Like the flu, Covid may be over when pigs can fly. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
January 1, 2021
Horrors in U.S. Healthcare
But I am hearing that Covid is spiraling around just about every family that I know now.
The new most contagious Covid variant is in at least 3 states, but I would suspect it's in all of them by now. We'll find that out way after the fact.
G-d only knows whether the Covid vaccines will work on the mutated Coronavirus and how this will impact the runaway pandemic. Will it be back to the Vaccine drawing board?
While many healthcare workers have been extraordinary during these difficult times, I've been appalled at some recent cases of horrible care.
Example 1:
Went to CVS Minute Clinic, they gave me some antibiotics, but said go this afternoon for a Covid test, which I had already booked prior at another CVS location that does the tests.
I drive 10 miles sick to go there, and when I arrive they tell me, they don't have my appointment anymore even though I show them "black and white" my confirmation! "The system must've kicked you out because you were at another CVS earlier in the day." I said, I need to be tested, and they were adamant that there was nothing they could do. Their completely incompetent store manager told me to call and make another appointment for another day. I said, I waited two days for this appointment, drove ten miles, and waited a long time on line. He said, that's too bad and I should call the 800 number if I wasn't happy. I said, it's your mistake, so you call the 800 number. I told him I wasn't leaving the line until they resolved this. The manager was a rude SOB, but finally one of the pharmacists said the nurse can put me back in the system and they would in fact see me.
Well, lo and behold, a day passes, and I get a call the test didn't work. Make another appointment. Ok, now I really have no choice. I go to another CVS, this one was actually much better and gave comprehensive instructions on how to take the Covid test. So much for good CVS and bad CVS!
Example 2:
Someone else in my family was sick and also goes to the CVS Minute Clinic. They give her not much more than Tylenol. But tell her to make another appointment to take care of her ear. She makes an appointment, and I take her to yet another CVS location the next day. Well guess what, the Physician's Assistant refuses to treat her ear. He sits us down and tells us that he has a wife and kids at home and doesn't want to possibly get Covid since she was at the Minute Clinic the day before. I explain that all they gave her was Tylenol. He says, "Anything can be Covid! And I'm not going to go in the room to clean out the ear for maybe 20 to 30 minutes." Well then why in the hell did this guy go into the medical profession?
Example 3:
I contact another pharmaceutical outlook (not CVS) for a prescription. They quote me $2,500 dollars. I say "That's 10 tens what they usually charge me so there must be a typo." Oh no, that's the price for the branded drug. Maybe you meant the generic which is only $250! Same drug but ten times the price!
I'm sorry folks our healthcare system in the U.S. is very broken indeed. By calling attention to these things, I hope to bring positive change for all our sakes. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
December 30, 2020
Destruction Site
If there's a construction site, then there can certainly be a destruction site.
Most of the time, it seems like more destruction than construction really going on.
It's amazing how a construction job on one corner can take more than a whole year, when they built the entire U.S. highway system in not such a long time.
Now-a-days, money just goes down the sinkhole with the littlest jobs taking seemingly forever and the costs spiraling out of control.
Hello, is anyone out there managing this stuff?
Oh right, it's all funny money anyway.
Let's just keep printing some more. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
December 29, 2020
Buddha Happy
This was a great big Buddha by the cashier in the vegetarian restaurant.
He is, so to say, "fat and happy" (come on you can't miss that belly)!
I think that's the message the eatery is trying to get across.
The only problem is that fat does not make happy; it just makes you want to lose weight.
Then again, no really hungry person was ever that happy either. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
December 28, 2020
Vaccine: Too Little Too Late
So just about everyone I know now has Covid going all around them.
Heard from 2 people in the last 2 days, and yet a 3rd person that died miserably from it this past week.
Aside from almost 120,000 currently hospitalized, including 20,000 in the ICU, this thing is spinning rapidly out of control!
I am now convinced that by the time they get the vaccine out (and it's going awfully slowly so far), it will be too little too late and almost everyone will already have had Covid.
Incredible how many billions of dollars have been spent on the vaccine research, manufacturing, and now on the distribution, and frankly it will have been another great big wasted boondoggle.
Vaccinate away...despite the valiant efforts by many, it's basically a throwaway for this round of the virus, and it all points to our woeful state of unpreparedness to begin with! ;-)
(Credit Photo: Pixabay)
December 27, 2020
@Hagerstown Outlets
We went shopping today at the Hagerstown Outlets.
Two things struck me:
1) The deals on beautiful brand name clothing was unbelievable!
2) So many stores have closed during Covid; what a darn shame what's happened to our small businesses.
Anyway, it's an adventure to go to the outlets, and hard not to spend when the deals are all around you.
The best is to get gifts for the people you love! ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal, Not Hagerstown)
December 26, 2020
That's Called Living
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "That's Called Living."
I was overjoyed this week when the IDF captured the sick murderer of Esther Horgan. Esther, a wife and mother of six children, was jogging in the forest near her settlement of Tal Menashe in Shomron, when the bloodthirsty Palestinian attacker in waiting came upon her and smashed her head in with a rock.
Thank G-d, now there are over 400,000 settlers in the West Bank and another 200,000 around East Jerusalem. Esther Horgan and her family represent the best of the Jewish people giving of themselves, and putting themselves at the front line, in order to fulfill G-d's commandment to us to settle the land and safeguard the country for the rest of the Jewish people.
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
December 24, 2020
The End of Times
I am looking for a good book on the Jewish view of the End of Times.
- Who fights who?
- What happens and how does the fighting finally end?
- Who will live and who will die?
- Who from the dead will be resurrected?
- What occurs in practical terms when the Mashiach arrives?
- What does G-d's revelation to the whole world look and feel like?
- Where is Israel at each step in unfolding of the redemption?
- How does the 3rd Temple actually get built?
- Is world peace not only possible, but also enduring?
Wow, would love to read a layman's book like this.
Can anyone recommend anything really good? ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
December 23, 2020
Turn On The Donut Light
December 22, 2020
Porsche Branded Excellence
December 21, 2020
A Perfect Biowarfare Attack!
So how would you conduct a biowarfare attack?
You wouldn't want to release a full-scale deadly pathogen, because then you would endanger your own population as well as your adversary.
But instead, you release a pathogen (like Coronavirus) that is just deadly and contagious enough to cause a worldwide panic, shutting down countries and economies and threatening to overwhelm hospitals and emergency responders.
Then you would watch patiently as vaccines are developed that everyone would need to get to resume their lives and jobs. Of course, the vaccines get rushed through development, approval, and distribution in order to calm the fearful and disenfranchised populace.
And here is where you would have your adversaries by their you know what, because if your agents can then infiltrate the vulnerabilities of the overwhelmed and unprepared, civilian pharmaceutical companies, their supply chains, or distribution networks during the emergency, and contaminate the vaccines with a really lethal pathogen, you would ensure that all your adversaries are eliminated (from their leadership on down to the blue collar workers in society), while your own population (which wouldn't get those vaccines from abroad) would be absolutely fine.
Maybe even the first dose is intentionally passed through okay to lull the population and its leadership into the trap, but then the follow-on doses are tainted once the flies are already in the spider's web.
Your adversaries are now sick and/or dead, but their countries and infrastructure are fully functioning and in place for you to take as spoils.
World domination, it can happen as plain and simple as this.
Look around you at what's happening in our times. Mad men or genius, but this is more than any science fiction could offer. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Pixabay)
December 20, 2020
Spuds and Suds
At least if you're gonna do this, don't show your customers!
Maybe there's a rational explanation (as in "Lucy, splain dat to me!"):
The potatoes fell on the floor, and the broom and pan where there to clean them up.
Hey, once you peel them, what difference does it make anyway!
Yeah, sure that works. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
December 19, 2020
I Know He Exists
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "I Know He Exists."
G-d, who is infinitely compassionate, did the most compassionate thing, which was to create us and give us the ability to be compassionate on others. The way we bring Hashem to reside with us is to transform the world (tikkun olam) “to make it a place that G-d can call home.” We do this by performing acts of loving kindness, making the mundane holy, and manifesting G-d’s divine providence. In essence, it’s not enough for us to know G-d exists, but we need to be a light unto the nations to reveal G-d’s unity, sanctity, and ongoing relationship with his creations to everyone in the world.
Like the story of the priest from the Holocaust, we don’t believe G-d exists, but rather, we know He exists. And when we perform our mission in this world by doing good deeds and manifesting G-d’s oneness and divine providence then we make this a place where G-d wants to reside with us in this world as well as in the world to come.
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
December 17, 2020
Getting Schwarma On The Spit
December 16, 2020
Row Row Row Your Boat
December 15, 2020
December 14, 2020
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