Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving
Month: November 2019
Little girls show us Elsa is still their Queen
Little girls show us Elsa is still their Queen. Sunday morning my wife and I went the first showing of Ford vs Ferrari. It was a predictable movie that still managed to be entertaining. If you have even a passing interest in high performance racing you may want to see this movie.
We were leaving the theater as the first showing of Frozen 2 was letting out. The site of several dozen little girls excitedly bouncing along the walkway with their parents was very amusing. In the middle of the walkway a girl about 5 or 6 wearing her Elsa royal dress with tiara and holding a very big soda in small hands topped in the stopped in her tracks. I initially thought she may have been separated from her parents. I then heard her mom call her but she stood still as though she could not move. The answer to her apparent unwillingness to move made me laugh. Her mother asked her to come to her again. The little girl then said in a confused voice that she could hear the music from the the first movie playing. She did not understand why the music was playing. Now that the mystery of the little Frozen girl walkway in her Frozen royal gown going to see Frozen 2 was unfrozen we went on our way.
If you do not think that Elsa is not the queen of little girls, Frozen 2 made 127 million dollars in presale tickets for this weekend. Frozen 2 set the record for the greatest number of presale tickets to any movie since presale tickets have been sold. Bigger than Star Wars and even bigger than all of the Avenger movies. Frozen 2 is also set to be the fifth Disney movie to reach one billion dollars in ticket sales this year. Another record for a movie studio. Little girls show us Elsa is still their Queen.
Winter in Phoenix is………
Winter in Phoenix is…..wondering if you will need a jacket if it is 60 degrees in the morning and then it will be 80 degrees in the afternoon.
Antibiotics have no effect on germs
Antibiotics are having no effect on germs. Many scientists have talked about the need to stop using antibiotics in humans for viral infections since they do not kill viruses. Antibiotics have been used in raising cattle, pigs and chickens for decades. Now the overuse of antibiotics is coming back to haunt humans as the number of people dying from bacterial infections increases daily. Scientists call resistance to antibiotics the “Post-Antibiotic Era.”
Antibiotic resistance has been steadily increasing for the last 50 years. Antibiotics were once hailed as a marvel of modern medicine because they killed the bacteria that caused many deaths. The overuse of antibiotics started many decades ago. Doctors did not understand how antibiotics would influence the evolution of bacteria. Evolution in the case of bacteria means a naturally occurring mutation allows a certain number of bacteria to survive the antibiotic. These now resistant bacteria pass along their resistance to the next generation. As the bacteria spread form person to person or animal to animal it causes needless suffering and death.
There is something no one expected that plays a part in bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics. Bacteria can share their genes that confer resistance. Bacteria have been observed under the microscope sharing the genes with other bacteria. This means that once benign bacteria can develop into a killer. We have all seen sci-fi and horror movies where an outbreak of an unknown virus or bacterial infection could mean the extinction of the human race. The scientists whose job is to understand the risks that all viruses and bacteria present to humans and animal state we are in a never ending battle with bacteria and viruses. We are at best in a dead heat.
What can you do to help prevent resistant infections? Wash your hands. As simple as that sounds it is the most effective method of stopping the spread of disease. Stay out of the hospital. Many of the resistant bacteria are only found in hospitals. Do not reuse syringes for injecting yourself with medications. Syringes are only sterile the first time. They become contaminated with staph and other bacteria that live on your skin. The post antibiotic is a scary scenario. With a little forethought and preventative measures we can all survive. Remember antibiotics have no effect on germs but what we do to prevent infections can.
For more information on resistant bacteria: https://www.sciencealert.com/nightmare-drug-resistant-superbugs-are-causing-more-deaths-than-previously-estimated
New Telemarketer Tactics
New Telemarketer Tactics I noticed in the last week.
Telemarketers are the scourge of cell phones. They take up both business and personal time. Once you give out your number to one telemarketer you are on the list of seemingly every telemarketer in the entire world! Maybe not the entire world but almost.
I have tried everything I could think of to stop telemarketers from taking up my time. first I blocked all umbers not on my contact list. That did not work because there are businesses and people I need to talk to only once or twice. It is not useful to add them to my contact list that is already too long. I tried only answering calls calls I recognized. Again there are business and people I need to talk to on an occasional basis so I answer the phone.
I still block numbers from telemarketers. I found that to be effective for the last few months. Now they are using a new tactic to get around the blocks. I noticed they are using two different strategies. The first is to call with no one on the other end. It is a computer dialing my number. When I answer and no one is on the other end I hang up. I surmise that the telemarketers system is using this ruse to leave a voicemail on my phone. I have had several of these voicemails the last few weeks. When I check my call blocking log, the number is blocked but the voicemail still goes through. I am having to spend time listening to the voicemail. it is both annoying and frustrating.
The second tactic the telemarketers are using is new in the last week. They are using are disguising their number with the private number option. Again there is no one on the line but a voicemail is left on my phone. The ongoing feud between cell phone users and New Telemarketer Tactics continues until the telephone companies bring out the software the FCC has required for them to offer consumers.
Funny stories for Friday
Funny stories for Friday
This is a true account recorded in the Police Log of Sarasota, Florida
An elderly Florida lady did her shopping and, upon returning to her car, found four males in the act of leaving with her vehicle.
She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun, proceeding to scream at the top of her lungs, “I have a gun, and I know how to use it! Get out of the car!”
The four men didn’t wait for a second threat. They got out and ran like mad.
The lady, somewhat shaken, then proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back of the car and got into the driver’s seat. She was so shaken that she could not get her key into the ignition.
She tried and tried, and then she realized why. It was for the same reason she had wondered why there was a football, a Frisbee and two 12-packs of beer in the front seat.
A few minutes later, she found her own car parked four or five spaces farther down.
She loaded her bags into the car and drove to the police station to report her mistake.
The sergeant to whom she told the story couldn’t stop laughing.
He pointed to the other end of the counter, where four pale men were reporting a car jacking by a mad, elderly woman described as white, less than five feet tall, glasses, curly white hair, and carrying a large handgun.
No charges were filed.
Have a good weekend
Baseball season is over. Does anyone still care?
Baseball season is over. Does anyone still care? The world series is over. Did you watch any games? Does baseball still capture your imagination? Will baseball and football survive as the baby boomer generations passes away? The tv ratings for this world series came in as the lowest in five years. This could be because of the teams involved. Small market teams do not have the national following the teams from the east and west coasts enjoy. the average fan is from the baby boomer generation. As they pass on there are fewer people replacing them at the ballparks. Also add to the problem that the cost for a family of four to attend s diamondbacks game is around $120.
There is a disconnect between the baseball teams and the fans. MLB signed a contract with Fox and Turner sports for $800 million per year for eight years. MLB also signed a $700 million per year contract with ESPN. Each team owner would receive about 50 million per year in television money. The lowest salary on a major league team in $545,000, the veteran minimum. This is 10x to 25x the average yearly pay for the majority of baseball fans. At the local level, the Arizona Diamondbacks made $275 million dollars in 2018.
Baseball has a demographic problem. How many kids do you hear talking about baseball? How many kids do you know are playing baseball at any level? How many kids do you know have been to at least one baseball game? As baseball has become big business they are no longer drawing the attention of the younger generation. Baseball has a problem competing with video games, social media as well as the time it takes to play a game. A long baseball game was about two hours. Now a baseball game can last over 3 hours. That can stretch the patience of an older baseball fan no less than a millennial. As attendance around baseball continues to drop, 2% per year over the last 7 years, what will MLB and the club owners do? Baseball season is over. Does anyone still care?
Halloween Sugar Crash
Halloween Sugar Crash. Halloween is over now the guilt from those hands fulls of bite size bars sets in. Is the sugar crash real? It depends on the individual eating sugar. There are many people who can eat high sugar foods with little effect. Others are not so fortunate. For people whose reward centers in their brains are stimulated by sugar the effect is similar to cocaine. Sugar becomes an addictive substance which causes a variety of problems in the brain and the body. Here is a link to a very good article on what sugar does to all people. https://www.verywellmind.com/how-sugar-affects-the-brain-4065218
As noted sugar activates the reward centers in the brain. If you have an addict among your friends or family you know the devastating effects the addition causes. The effects of drugs and alcohol may be obvious to you at an early stage in the life of an addict, the outward affects of sugar may not be readily apparent. You may wonder why someone is always having to eat. You may see the sugar addict eats candy and desserts or drink excessive amounts of soda instead of normal meal of meats, vegetables and fruits. You may think this is just a phase this person is going through in fact it is the early stages of a long process that leads to diabetes, heart disease and an early death.
There are other warnings signs you may notice in your family and friends have a sugar addiction. You may notice changes in mood as they consume sugar. An increase in depression symptoms has been noted in people with the highest sugar consumption. The link between mood and sugar is inflammation. Sugar causes inflammation in the blood vessel throughout the body including the brain. This reduces the blood flow to sensitive areas of the brain as well as the eyes and ears. Depression not caused by a chemical imbalance is not thought to be caused by inflammation in the brain.
Halloween Sugar Crash is real. If diabetes, heart disease, coronary artery disease, depression, mood swings and cancer run in your family you may want to try removing sugar from your diet to stop the inflammatory process before the damage to your body is irreversible.