There’s no where to hide in there, is there?

That experience is similar in the way a “SmartPhone” can be considered to be a smart accessory until the exact instant in time that your dense yet empty forehead collides with a solid telephone pole or similar unmovable object as you walk along, absorbed in texting those tweets.

Do those little birds circling your head go “tweet, tweet, tweet”?

Ironically enough, moments after you’ve tried to become one with that pole, a smart ass friend who was walking beside you probably said “Oh wow, I’ll bet that smarts”.

Smart ass has your back, but your forehead’s on its own

Der  Fatherland’s Neu Klitzeklein SchmartKart?

How to be sure you’ll have a seat at the bar

O.K., the final word on SmartCars

The ownership of any and all photos, opinions, and quotes shown above belong to their actual creators, and credit is given when known.

 Dick Cheney’s dark  hide-a-way revealed

Technos who had their uber revelation fest recently were shown what the next generation of TV’s to be pushed on us after all of the 3D crap goes to its well deserved burial ground will be like. I’m talking about interactive TVs that will respond to spoken words and / or body movements, and do those things their owners (some may call them their slaves) want to have done, i.e., change channels, adjustment of the volume, whatever. Remote controls will become the update to the slide-rule or buggy whip on one of those History Channel shows, the ones covering things that were once an everyday necessity, but now lay on a shelf in the garage, obviated by the creation of a product you didn’t know you needed until you tried it.

Crap in 3D?  It’s still crap!

So, here we are with a device stationed in our home that will be easily connected to the ‘Net in the name of ‘Netflix, Hulu, etc… sitting there all patient, waiting and ready to do our bidding. This technology is a beauty and a joy to behold, but at the same time you take into consideration that it’s doing business on a two way street when it’s connected, also ready to report to whoever controls the external end of these things. And I mean report as in it can relay not only what kinds of movies that we prefer, but also records what movements we do whilst watching them and perhaps what, if any, clothes we might be wearing on that day.

Doing my best J. Edgar?

This could be considered to be all no harm – no foul so far, but when this technology is combined with government level facial recognition capability, as it will need to have someday so it can monitor and report back just how many smiles we generat when we are watching a program or security wise to prevent visitors in our home from overriding our wish to watch ” LaVerne and Shirley” or whatever, then won’t our TV need to be watching us as intently as we watch it, perhaps with even more eyes, the better to scan us with?

A few points of view, of you?

O.K. then, on another level that I’ve just decided to add in, much like how Google and an large number of other interfaces and their “cookies” will keep track of where we go on the ‘net, and once there what we choose to download, how long we stay, and what the kind of subjects are that we watch most often, our TV viewing choices will be building a data base that will define us. “G” mail (think about what the first letter in “Google” is) and others will use this data base beyond what they do now to pre-load the ads that accompany the e-mail that you haven’t even opened yet, targeted adds they call them. This is the kind of eyeballing that could give an airport TSA inspector an erection, assuming that they had the proper equipment for it.

Would you like to try one on for size?

So when you’re home for the evening  and watching “Elevator Girls In Bondage” for the third time… That’s right, you there, the one the TV knows as viewer number three in the Blah household at 12345 N. Blah street, the viewer with the chubby oval face, receding brown hair, blue eyes, an overweight yutz who stands about five foot ten, a wearer of glasses (aha, another link) with a box of kleenex (like the scanner at the market, it will be need to able to read and identify all of those trade names and  barcodes or RFID chips in or on the products) or Handi-wipes, and a squeeze tube of moisturizer positioned handily (sorry, no pun intended) on your lap, yes you, you are now another well defined element that can be found and marketed to an economy that buys targets.

No, I really can stop anytime

But wait, much like what we learned in those commercials for Ginsu knives, there’s more to cover so we need to return to the paranoia section mentioned at the top….. While ATT U-Verse, Time Warner, Comcast, DISH, DIRECT NETWORK or whoever it is that provides you with your connection to the web for TV is busy handing you over to the Kimberly Clark Corporation as a viable buyer of one or more of its products to be pitched to, at the same time they may also be adding you to a list maintained by people or various governmental agencies that  are interested to know any details about folks who are interested in anything that someone somewhere may once have defined as porn.

 Hence the paranoia……

So many dots embedded in your permanent record, and so little time left to do anything…..

All photos, opinions, and quotes above belong to their actual creators.

Let’s start out with an over your head Big Bang Theory KFO joke….

If a (possibly) lesbian couple named Fran and Polly were to move in the apartment building that’s featured in the T.V. show “Big Bang Theory”, in subsequent episodes you might find Koothra, Fran, and Polly standing around together, with Fran and Polly doing all the chatting while Koothra searches for a drink.

L to R, Kukla, Fran (Allison) and Ollie, Kuklapolitans all.

To all of you pedants and pissants out there, yes I know that Kunal Nayyar’s usual screen name is  Rajesh Koothrappali, or Raj for short and not Kuthra, but this barely works as a joke as it is using a barely similar sounding name to Kukla, and besides, the humor in any of this will likely make no sense at all to Chuck Lorre or his show’s viewers that are under the age of 60 unless they are fans of  very early t.v. shows. As far as the new couple being two women, you need to be familiar with the aforementioned Raj’s specific speech impediment, and B.B.T.’s need for some new and different sort or blood for storyline purposes.

Don’t touch that mouse / trackpad, there’s more to follow soon, stay tuned

All photos, opinions, and quotes above belong to their actual creators.

A moment later he added; “Hey, while I have you on the phone, give me your twitter address so we can stay in touch”.

At the risk of belaboring the obvious, I took a deep breath and slowly said to him that if he thought about it, we actually were “in touch” at that moment, and all that he needed to do was click on my name in his cel phone’s directory to make that connection anytime he wanted to.

Nothing to see there, so I moved along and wrote the whole thing off as just a weird event. A few days later I was thinking how great it was that I was able to be in contact with everyone that I wanted to, and just as much as I wanted to by just making a call or sending an e-mail, and that I was able to receive or disseminate information in that manner as well. This went well for me until I tried to post a comment to an article in the Los Angeles Times.

Something must have recently changed at the Times, because it said that I was not able to post unless I first logged in to the L.A. Times using Facebook. And to demonstrate the power of social media over the old school media, we find that they’ve borrowed a lot from the Microsoft baseball play book, the one that goes “Play ball with us or we shove the bat up your ass”.  Facebook arranged that the L.A. Times didn’t offer any other choices for this, not even logging using my Google account the way that I’ve always used in the past is an option. However, they were kind enough to offer me a direct link I could use so I would be able to join Facebook on the spot,

Hey,  even my Android (Google!) phone has a link

The reality is that I’m not now and never will be able to log in anywhere where Facebook (or that matter, twitter or any of the other so called social media sites) is the only choice. Perhaps this is because I’m an adult heterosexual male, and not a teenager of either sex or any of the various mid point options between those two main categories.  Also, I have no need for walls for others to post photos, wallpaper, or whatever else they do on them.

Is the meaning of this clear to you?

In my view of what’s going on (some may say paranoia) when I find an ad like the one above, or see one in the newspaper for an electronics store I go to that says I will need to log on to Facebook and friend them in order to get special discounts or other offers, maybe that time has come to push back.

I feel that there’s already far too much information on all of us out there, data that’s too easy to access by persons or businesses unknown to us, giving away information that we don’t care to share with anyone, close friends or otherwise.

So I make every effort I’m able to do to stay off that grid as much as possible by not adding any personal details that aren’t relevant but required an application, or optional input when I am funneled through a chute and asked to enter my birthdate, where I was born, what my first pet’s name was, the name of my high school, or any other information on me that has no bearing on what I want, material that’s likely swapped between an ever growing collection of interconnected data bases.

Watching those walls closing in?

Well, I’m sure it’s all different for you because…. eh, I’ll get back to you on that. Try to find yourself a comfortable place to sit, make sure your papers are in order, and keep an eye on your Facebook wall for any updates.

All photos, opinions, and quotes above belong to their actual creators.

My prognostication? I believe that the “Occupy” marchers will never be seen for even a minute on any t.v. screen, even though there will be more cameras covering the parade than there are clear thinking republicans in America.

O.K, maybe that’s not saying very much…

You might be able to see videos showing the protesters marching in home made stuff that’s uploaded on youtube, but that’s only if the corporate owners of that site don’t throw a block job on any Rose Parade related word search.

Nope, my actual prediction is that those corporate owned cameras that are used by every one of the networks that will be giving a full color look at what happens and will be seen around the world will shut down as soon as the last official float goes past, even before the horse organic pollution clean up crew makes its rounds.

Horses you can walk behind with your eyes closed…

I suppose we will have to wait until next year to find out if this is correct…

All photos, opinions, and quotes above belong to their creators.

The preferred maximum cop/protester ratio….

The question I keep being forced back to is, could you find anyone anywhere on this planet that’s not living in a third world country who truly gives a crap what anyone in Pakistan (or for that matter, any of the other “Stans”, i.e., Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, West Bumfukistan, etc…, and those countries that starts with the letters “Ira” as well) thinks about this or any other subject? . These are one and all overpopulated countries full of underfed and undereducated people who live in conditions that were unacceptable long before the year 1200 AD had rolled around, and have populations that (much like the republican party in America) are led around by the nose by religious zealots who make daily threats of implied deadly force so that their people will be coerced like so many sheep to be faithful to beliefs which are based only on belief. These are nations that other than hiding terrorists have so far haven’t done anything of note on this planet except for…, wait a minute, let me add it up, eh,……… well, nothing. A similar occurrence can be seen with the tons of bullshit that have been generated in all the attention given to our own center of nothing which we in America refer to as the state of Iowa, where regressive local mini-ayatollahs with the same sort of 3rd world religion mentality that was mentioned above have expanded their role in the  coming Republican nonsense that they call a candidate selection caucus, others may call it a selection of the lesser of two weasels.

Archaic Religious Leader with modern glasses and microphones

News update, Islamic rulers in Iran have decided to leapfrog their culture into at least the 12th century by ruling that it’s o.k. to kill a woman named Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtian for adultery by hanging her, and not be required to use the regular default way of stoning her to death. You might be interested to learn that she has already received 99 lashes for that offense. I’m sure that they didn’t reach this conclusion easily, to move it forward it took the concept of what they call a “lack of stoning space”, which boggles the mind since it’s in a country that seems like it was made for stoning, what with all the rubble laying all around the place from eons of war, and vacant lots left from the buildings that were destroyed by…. eh, do I have to repeat my self?

All of the above raises the big question, why are we even in these countries where we are so totally unwelcome in the first place? In the basic search of a reason,why does it usually come down to “follow the money”? Politicians who talk about the loss of lives and money in this rat hole will say what ever is placed on the teleprompter in front of them, which gives them equal credibility to the above mentioned holy rollers.

If you have an answer to the above question, here’s are a few more for you to ponder on. Why were all of the federal (and most state) offices closed on Monday, Dec. 26th to celebrate a Christian holiday that was actually observed the day before? Has any church ever actually been separated from any state anywhere? And, when a Buddhist wanted to use the U.S. Post office on that Monday, should they have been told to go and find a comfortable place to sit and meditate on that question about separation?

All photos, opinions, and quotes above belong to their creators.

When Republicans make their move to block your (albeit a bit late, but appreciated none the less) environmental protection attempts to stop the Keystone XL Tar-Sand Pipeline and at the same time bolster the EPA mercury reduction plan to end the pollution of our air with Mercury and other deadly byproducts from the coal mining industry by saying your actions will kill off jobs, in spite of the fact that these actions will obviously be saving the lives and the health of present and future generations of Americans, perhaps a simple “cut to the chase”  reply from you will do the trick.

I’ll take “Name a moron, a weasel, and a dry drunk” for $100 Million Alex!

 “My Republican friends, after due consideration of  your never ending attempts to bypass the EPA and cancel or reduce many protective measures that protect the environment and our citizens, I have to ask you, should we just go ahead and eliminate the DEA and the EPA?”

This is not the DEA you’re looking for

“After all, it’s straightforward logic, one can easily see that the combined work of these agencies has resulted in the loss of many high paying jobs in the illicit drug industry and low paying dangerous jobs in the energy industry. Of course some of those DEA affected jobs were located outside the borders of the United States with many of them held by non-Americans, but there are also quite a few of our own countrymen and women who have lost employment and subsequently had to give away huge homes, fancy cars, and huge amounts of money here at home, all due to our drug interdiction actions. At the same time, the actions of the EPA have hit at the other end of the financial spectrum in their attempt to reduce the obscene profiteering that has gone unchecked for decades and enabled the financing of lobbyists to allow that often mentioned 1 percent to exponentially ‘double down’ on their profits.”

I thank you for your time….

That’s all you have to say on this, but be sure that your statement is simultaneously distributed to the news media, even though far too much of that industry is owned or controlled by the same people that run the career fields mentioned in the first paragraph, perhaps the news will get out.

☆☆☆        ☆☆☆

At the risk of digressing one more time, run on sentences like the one located at the top of this post that you may have mistaken for a paragraph shouldn’t frighten you, if you manage to keep them grammatically correct they may even help you blow out those cobwebs you secretly fear may be indicative of early onset Alzheimer’s.

☆☆☆        ☆☆☆

As always, all photos, opinions, and quotes belong to their creators.

Reason # 1: Well, there is more than a passing resemblance to a turtle.

There but for a pair of glasses………

        Note, Mitch is for once on the left. 

My apologies to turtles everywhere.

I can’t seem to find a photo of  an actual “Turtle Head”#2 to post here, but since I’m calling it “Turtle Head” #2,  that should give you a hint of what kind of  #2 I’m talking about.

So my questions for Mitch are, exactly how much (in cash) will “we the people” have to come up with to buy you out of your contract, and if you’re in search of a new experience, have you considered doing some work for actual Americans?  I’m talking about the kind of Americans with (usually) two legs who aren’t corporations, who are not citizens that can offshore their huge income. To cut to the chase, I mean the ones who vote, not the kind that are able to buy votes (and Supreme Court Justices).

And I don’t mean that bullshit contract that you signed  with Grover Norquist decades ago, that one containing a promise to protect the holdings of the moneyed class and for ever keep them out of the sights of the tax collectors. I’m writing more about the one that those Krazy Klown Koch brothers have you so deeply vested in….

To borrow the punch line from one of the oldest jokes around, “We already know what you are, now we’re just trying to lock in the price…..

Another whore who makes hot calls on the phone

As usual, all images and legal names belong to their respective owners / creators

Well, that drawn out legal battle is finally over and, whoo hoo, we won. 

Everyone has a price, mine seems to be 68 cents, American.

Yes grasshopper, that check’s for (pre-tax) damn near 70 cents

I have no way to prove it, but I’m reasonably sure that a large clot of lawyers who were involved on both sides of the deal were able to take home a  lump sum payment that was somewhat larger than sixty eight cents, one that could enable each of them to buy a chalet or two in the South of France if they decided that was in their interest. Also likely, there was enough pocket change left over to pick up a new Mercedes for each of them and each member of their families, including those ingrate remora-like bastards step children they have to feed. As you may already know, most lawyers don’t actually have children of their own, the basic attorney personality is a very strong (if odious) and proven form of birth control and most court imposed restraining orders will usually function as a powerful contraceptive device.

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”  

-Benjamin Franklin (also attributed to Sam Adams and others) may have said that.

And

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”  (Who watches the watchmen?)

- Old Latin adage, perhaps  from Plato’s “The Republic”.

And lastly

“Our # 1 manning problem in the Air Force is manning our unmanned platforms”

Gen Philip M. Breedlove, Air Fore vice chief of staff

O.k., with all that being said, I have only a few words to say to those who are getting themselves all wet with excitement over the soon to be seen non-military controlled usage of drones similar to those returning to America from years of meritorious service in remotely killing off bad guys in foreign lands. Drones are those things that are coming back here to fill our skies, and in theory provide us with some constant buzzing and hi-tech peace-keeping vigilant protection for all. 

Or at least for those who can afford them.

The testing in England, the arresting (or worse) here

As tests go on world wide, plans are being put in place to have drones doing domestic surveillance / police work in most major (and some not so major) cities here in America (There are a few links to confirming stories from CNN and the Sunday edition, dated 12-11-11, of the Los Angeles Times at the bottom, they’re worth the click…..), these will serve to augment the constant video coverage that people just laugh about when they watch the t.v. show “Person Of Interest”, most of the laughers are not aware that it’s happening here and now, 24-7. For more on the day or night surveillance upgrades brought to you from those fun folks at DARPA, you can click here or if you have an empty afternoon, Google ARGUS-iS.

Take a related research side trip and look into those new street light poles with built in hidden video cameras that were installed as a test at the end of last October on many of the street corners of  Farmington Hills, Michigan, and then ‘Netflix the film “Red Road” for one view on watching the watchers and what they see.  And while you’re at it, check into the combination of this stuff and the  latest status of military grade facial recognition software, and think about how impressive those results are going to be when that data is tied in with the lip reading ability of the newest home action video games, computers and video cameras.

If you still having doubts about all of this just take a minute and Google it, to borrow the famous phrase from the X-Files, “it’s all  out there”.

And those two words I mentioned at the top of this page?

 Skynet and Cyberdyne

Hey now, what’s that sound? Well, you can bet it’s not canned laughter…

Is the weaponized drone in the photo flying over Kabul, Kandahār, or Kalamazoo?

Would it make any difference to a “pilot” thousands of miles away?

While waiting for yours to arrive in Kankakee, click here and here

As always, the ownership of all images or ideas belong to their actual creators.