Girl From The North Country

The song of the day is Girl From The North Country first released on the 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan by music icon Bob Dylan. This video is an excerpt from the 2012 motion picture Silver Linings Playbook starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence with Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, and Chris Tucker. This rendition of the song features Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, who were not only good musicians but were also good friends who had great appreciation for each other's talent. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are excellent actors and the movie Silver Linings Playbook is well worth viewing (in this blogger's humble opinion).

Tempting Fate

I used to work for a mobile robotics company. The company made mobile robots that could propel themselves forward or backward and could turn on a dime. Each robot weighed about 300 pounds and could easily drive up a steep ramp while carrying a 300 pound load. They had power to spare.

Knowing this, the designers were careful. Each robot had two bumpers. One bumper was in the direction of travel when the robot was going forward and the other bumper was "behind" the robot; in other words, it was in the direction of travel when the robot was driving backward. Were the robot to run into something, the bumper would activate an Emergency Stop. Surrounding the robot were large red buttons labeled "E-STOP" (Emergency Stop). It was impossible for the robot to move by itself without human commands for it to move. An onboard Drive Computer had to be fed a path program and then the path program had to be executed by the Drive Computer before the robot could move. Furthermore, the Motor Amplifier which fed power to the drive and steer motors would not function without the Drive Computer having been  installed in the robot. There were safety features on top of safety features. I am, of course, talking about a robot that was completely assembled. I am not talking about a robot that was partially assembled or which had some safety features disabled in order to perform certain tests. 

We went overboard on making the robot safe. Nevertheless...

One day someone went into a cubicle where a robot was parked. He wanted to drive the robot to another location. So he switched on the key (like you would do in a car) to begin the process of moving the robot. When he switched on the key, the robot instantly became the Beast From Hell. It went forward, backward, sideways, this way, that way, yonder way. It crashed into the cubicle walls, chairs, file cabinets, and everything else in the cubicle. Somehow he (or someone) managed to turn off the robot and stop its rampage. There was no signifcant damage and no one was injured. But it was a memorable moment. 

So what happened? As already mentioned, the robot was controlled by an onboard Drive Computer, and that Drive Computer received its instructions from a computer chip called a PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory). This particular robot had a Drive Computer but it did not have a PROM. Therefore, the Drive Computer raced from one empty memory location to the next empty memory location. Without getting overly technical, this racing through empty memory was BAD. It triggered all kinds of random instructions to the Motor Amplifers that controlled the Drive and Steer motors. The robot literally lost its mind. 

Moral? You can't be too careful! Even if you think you're being very careful, Nature, Fate, Destiny—call it what you will—will find a way to bite you on the ass. And this brings me to another incident. 

There was a teenage couple. The young man wanted to be famous on YouTube. So he asked his girlfriend to shoot him in the chest with a pistol. He held a 1.5 inch thick book in front of his chest. He believed the book would stop the bullet. She didn't want to shoot the gun, but he persuaded her that it was safe and nothing bad would happen. He was wrong. The couple's 3 year old son and nearly 30 onlookers watched as the bullet passed through the book, entered the young man's chest, and killed him.

The girlfriend was pregnant with the couple's second child. Both children lost their father. Their mother served jail time, then home confinement, and can never own a firearm or profit from her story.

We've all tempted Fate now and then, especially in our younger years. You got away with it. I got away with it. Lots of people got away with it. But some people did not. Think before you act. If this stunt goes well, what will I gain? If this stunt goes very bad, what will I lose?

Just like my story about the crazy robot, it's when you think you've covered all your bets that Fate steps in and shows you what can go wrong.

The Longest Night

Today, on Friday, December 22, at 3:27AM GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) the winter solstice occurred. That was in Greenwich, England. Here, where I live, in central Virginia, USA, the winter solstice occurred yesterday at 10:27PM. "So what?" you ask. So this:

The night of the winter solstice is the longest night of the year. Beginning today, our nights will grow shorter and our days will grow longer. On a solstice, one of the earth's poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the sun. This happens twice a year, in June and December. If it's winter where you live, you experience the winter solstice, with the longest night and shortest day, at this time of the year. If it's summer where you live, you experience the summer solstice, with the longest day and shortest night, at this time of the year.

Nights are cold here, so the longest night means I burn the most heating oil. In fact, I can hear the boiler in the basement running right at this moment, burning a gallon of fuel oil per hour. When I recently filled up the oil tank, they put in about 300 gallons for the low, low price of $4.40 per gallon. I have to fill the tank twice each winter. If it sounds expensive, let me tell you about the annual event called "maintenance" which involves cleaning out soot, replacing the fuel nozzle, replacing the fuel filter, and adjusting the spacing of the ignition rod tips. I may have omitted a few items.

Nuria just came in. She's been out with Carmen, one of her girl friends. Nuria brought me lunch. It's Mexican food. There was rice and black beans. There was a dish with strips of sauteed green Bell pepper and white onion, and strips of grilled chicken and beef. There were several sauces, including green hot sauce that I have eaten with oriental meals. There was more, including soft tacos, or perhaps they were tortillas; I'm not sure what they were.  Here's a bonus fact: the Aztecs and other Nahuatl speakers called tortillas tlaxcalli. Regardless, it was a lot of food. I was able to eat about half of it. 

The shopping centers are crazy busy now. You wouldn't want to go near one. I can't even imagine what Saturday and Sunday will be like. But I suspect that some people actually thrive on all the busy-ness happening at this time of the year. More power to them, but don't make me a part of it.

The Clonazepam Case

I've been having a lot of insomnia lately, so my doctor prescribed a drug called clonazepam (brand name: Klonopin). The prescription was sent to the Walmart pharmacy by electronic magic and when it was ready I went to the pharmacy to pick it up.

I've had problems with Walmart before. See my post titled Walmart Fail and tell me if it makes any sense to you. But this time, my problem was with Walmart's drugstore.

I've been buying prescription drugs from Walmart Pharmacy for about twenty years and I've never had a problem—until this past Friday. They phoned me to let me know my clonazepam was ready to be picked up. So I drove to the pharmacy and went in. There was no line so I was first in line and a young black man waited on me. I told him my name and he checked his computer and he said he needed to see ID. I said, "What ID?" 

He repeated, "I need to see your ID!"

And I repeated, "What ID?"

We went back and forth.

You see, I have lots of IDs in my wallet. I have my drivers license, my social security card, my Medicare Health Insurance ID card, my Anthem Medicare supplement ID card, my Humana Rx plan ID card (it even says member ID on the card!). Because I was buying medicine, I thought that maybe they wanted to see my Humana ID card, or possibly my Medicare ID card. I wasn't sure. That's why I asked, "What ID?" But the young black man kept repeating, "I need to see your ID!" It was a stalemate. He stared at me and I stared back at him. Then he turned away and said something to another clerk, to the effect of "I don't want to wait on this guy. You wait on him."

So another clerk stepped forward. This clerk was a young white fellow, thin and somewhat taller than me. He said, "I need to see your driver's license." Now we were getting somewhere.

As I pulled out my wallet, I asked the fellow, "Why do you need to see my driver's license?"

"Because this drug is a schedule one drug, so I have to check your identity."

"Schedule one?" I thought. "Wow, that's really up there."

The clerk scrutinized my license and handed it back. I paid, and he pointed to an older gentleman at the end of the counter. I walked over to him and he handed me my purchase with a smile. This was the first person at the pharmacy that had greeted me with a smile. I thanked him and went to my Jeep and drove home.

I got on my computer and entered the DEA's website and looked up schedule one. This is what the DEA website said:

Schedule I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Some examples of Schedule I drugs are: heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana (cannabis), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy), methaqualone, and peyote.

Holy cow! Do I really want to take this medicine? It has no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Is clonazepam really a schedule 1 drug, like the Walmart pharmacy clerk said, or are the Walmart clerks just trying to play a joke on an old man? No, Walmart clerks would never do that. I'd better play it safe and dump these pills into my kitchen garbage can. I don't want to swallow anything as dangerous as the drugs that the DEA lists for schedule one.

Then, I decided to see what the DEA said about clonazepam. Here is what the DEA said:

Schedule IV

Schedule IV drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with a low potential for abuse and low risk of dependence. Some examples of Schedule IV drugs are: Xanax, Soma, Darvon, Darvocet, Valium, Ativan, Talwin, Ambien, Tramadol.

Another section of the DEA website said:

Schedule IV Controlled Substances

Substances in this schedule have a low potential for abuse relative to substances in Schedule III.

Examples of Schedule IV substances include: alprazolam (Xanax®), carisoprodol (Soma®), clonazepam (Klonopin®), clorazepate (Tranxene®), diazepam (Valium®), lorazepam (Ativan®), midazolam (Versed®), temazepam (Restoril®), and triazolam (Halcion®).

Hmm.The DEA says that clonazepam has a low potential for abuse relative to Schedule 3. There is also a Schedule 5 that contains addictive things like ice cream sandwiches and pumpkin pie, which I will admit can be quite addictive and probably more so than clonazepam. But still, the Feds haven't outlawed ice cream and pie. Yet. But give them time.

Now, what to do about Walmart. Should I let them get away with telling people that a relatively harmless drug is the next thing to heroin? Or should I go to the drugstore and waste my time discussing this with a manager? 

(Heavy thoughts in progress. Please wait.) 

Okay, I think I'll see if a manager wants to listen to me. Better yet, I'll publish this now, and if I make any progress with a Walmart manager, I'll return and post his comments and actions. It's only fair.

---

It's the next day. Acutally, it's three days later, because the first two days were rainy. I went to Walmart Pharmacy at 9AM and talked with an employee named Michael about what happened. I tried to tell the story as accurately as I could and not to make myself out as the "injured party" seeking justice. 

As Michael described it, when picking up a "scheduled drug", one does have to show a driver's license. But he said that someone could pick up the drug for me, in which case she would show her driver's license. It doesn't have to be me who picks up the drug, the government just wants to be able to track who is picking up the medicine so that the same person can't go from pharmacy to pharmacy with the same (bogus) prescription and purchase large quantities of the drug. The incident shouldn't have happened, but I did what I could to square things away and get some understanding, and that's all I can do without having a time machine.

Lessons

One day you will die, and after you die you will know the Truth. The Truth, or a part of it, is that this life is like a motion picture for your soul—the inner you that is truly you. Living a life is like going to the theater and watching a play, or going to the cinema and watching a film, or going to the library and reading a good book that was written by a wise person. Living a life teaches you lessons; it gives you things to think about. If you read a very good book, you may decide to be a better person than you were before you read the book. You may try harder, think deeper, forgive quicker, than before you read the book, watched the movie, experienced the play.

Why is this? The purpose of your life and my life is to make us better people and better souls. Your soul is the real you. The real you is not the earthly body you happen to inhabit for a few years. In your previous life, you inhabited a different body and played out a different story. In your next life you will inhabit another body and you will play out another story. But all your lives, all your stories, will be lived and experienced so that gradually you become less imperfect. Each life you live brings you a bit closer to perfection. That is the direction in which you are headed. It is the direction in which all of us are headed, even though many of us may be far from our destinations.

The world has evil people, but it also has people who would give their life to save yours. They would do that because God gives them an instinct to do the right thing, and so they offer their help, and possibly their life, without hesitation.

One day you will die and then, will you pass to a higher level and learn the next lesson? Or will you have to repeat this lesson until you get it right? You must learn the lessons you are given before you pass on to more advanced lessons. 

These words won't be understood or believed by everyone. They are intended for those who will understand. If you understand these words, then they were intended for you.

Plumbing Job

I have a plumbing leak. It's probably been leaking for years, but I just found out about it. The leak only occurs while someone is running water in the bath or shower, so while I lived alone I never discovered it, but now that I have Nuria in the house, it was inevitable that one of us would be taking a shower while the other was in the basement. And that—the basement—is where the leak becomes visible. It's already rotted a board in the bathroom subfloor, which is the basement ceiling. Fortunately, that particular board is not load-bearing. Still, the leak must be fixed because there could be unseen damage occurring inside the wall.

I called a plumbing company. The company informed me ahead of time that if the plumber came out and I decided to not give them the repair job, there would a 99 dollar fee for coming to my house. Okay, fair enough, I guess, although there are plumbing companies that advertise "free estimates".

So the plumber came to my house and looked at the situation and he told me that he needs to make an access hole in the bedroom wall behind the bathroom shower faucets. Okay, I think, make the hole in the wall and I'll get an access panel from Home Depot to cover the hole. But suddenly there's a problem.

My house is old, and the walls are made of what I call plasterboard, which might not be the correct name. It's similar to drywall except it is made of plaster instead of gypsum. The plaster is sandwiched between two layers of thick paper. The plasterboard is fastened to wall studs (or ceiling joists) and then painted.

So to investigate the leak, the plumber decided he must cut a hole in the bedroom wall behind the bathroom shower faucets in order to diagnose the problem. But that presents a new problem, because it is his company's policy that they do not cut holes in plasterboard. So the plumber says I need to get someone to cut a hole in the wall, then he will return and work on the leak. And he says I must pay him the $99 fee for coming out to my house and not getting the job. 

Wait, what? I want him to do the job. He's the one who is saying "No, we won't do the job." Why would I pay him $99 for refusing to do the job? Is he deranged? I said to him, "Let me talk to your manager."

So the plumber goes to his truck and phones his manager. He comes back to my front door and tells me, "I talked to my manager and he says that, because you're a previous customer, we'll waive the ninety nine dollar cancelation fee this time."

That's damn nice of them. I didn't cancel the job. They refused to do the job. There's a big difference.

Meanwhile, the leak continues to leak whenever the shower is used. I'm also beginning to think that I don't need to cut a hole in the bedroom wall behind the tub faucets. I have a 3-knob tub faucet, and the center knob is the diverter knob. I'm thinking that probably the diverter is leaking and what I should do is replace the washers and O-rings in the diverter and in the hot and cold valves, too. I think that diverter valve is the likely location of the leak, and I'm surprised that the plumber didn't think the same thing.

And did I mention that the plumber told me that a replacement valve assembly would cost a thousand dollars (their price)! This is something that sells for fifty to a hundred dollars at Home Depot. 

Maybe the plumber did me a favor by refusing to do the job. What I do know is that repairs on an old house always end up more complicated and more expensive than one would expect.

Christmas Countdown

It is night. I just went outside to see how the lights on our house look. Nuria did the decorating. The lights look, well, colorful. We have lights in each of our front windows, lights in a wreath on our front door. and lights in the yard. I took a photo but it was just very ordinary looking. There are some things that the human eye is so much better able to see than a camera can capture—especially a cellphone camera at night.

My neighbors are keeping up with me. The Egyptians next door have strings of flashing lights entwined within the shrubs in front of their house. Most Egyptians are Muslim, but maybe these are Christian or atheist, or just Muslims who want to blend into the neighborhood. I don't know them well. I've tried talking to the man of the house, but, frankly, I can understand only about half of his words, at best. I don't do well with foreign accents. I once had a co-worker who was Vietnamese, and I never understood a single word that he spoke to me. Not one. Guess what he did while he was in the refugee camp waiting to come to America. He taught English. Seriously.

One of the houses across the street has no lights yet, and that surprises me. The family is Guatemalan, and I thought that most Central Americans are Catholic. Maybe they're simply late getting their lights on display, or maybe they're just like I was before Nuria moved in with me. Before Nuria, I didn't decorate or celebrate Christmas. For me, it was a day for other people to celebrate—people who had families. 

I live in a neighborhood that is becoming international. Egyptians neighbors, Guatamalan neigbors, and of course, my Costa Rican housemate. Come to think of it, my last pet was a German Shepherd. I feel so cosmopolitan.

Nuria just came home. The Christmas lights are lit, inside and outside, and a fire is burnng in the fireplace insert. The insert's fan is blowing out heated air, and there is a faint but distinctive scent of burning wood in the air. I took a photo but you cannot get the full effect from a photo. You can't feel the stove's warm air, you can't hear the hum of the fan that blows that air through the hollow spaces inside the walls of the stove. 

Oh, where did I get the firewood, you ask? My neighbor had two trees (note I said had) in his backyard and the branches overhung my yard. In autumn the trees would drop their huge leaves into my backyard, and due to wind currents, the leaves would always end up in my basement stairwell and block the drain at the bottom. I spent half of the fall sweeping and bagging leaves blown into my basement stairwell. One day I grabbed my chainsaw and walked over to a tree and cut it down. Then I cut down the other tree. I cut the limbs into short pieces to fit in my stove. Nuria and I cleaned up the small limbs and the leaves. My neighbor hasn't said anything about it. 

By the time the fire goes out, it will be time to go to bed. Winter is cold and somewhat forbidding with its bare trees and its animals in hibernation. But there are some upsides to winter. Snow is pretty to watch when it's falling, there is no lawn mowing, and we have some things to look forward to: colorful leaves, sweater weather, apple pies, pumpkin pies, pecan pies, mulled wine, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, and of course, the promise of Spring.

Scams Pt. 2

'Tis the season to try to scam people out of their hard-earned dollars. And criminals are trying.

A few weeks ago I received an email from an anonymous source. The sender of the email claimed to have hacked into my computer and turned on my video camera and was now in possession of a compromising video of me. And the blackmailer wanted money or else they would distribute the video to everyone on my email list—thus, in their own dirty mind, embarrassing me. Funnily enough, my email client (Thunderbird) automatically sent that email to my Junk folder instead of my Inbox.

This week, I received an email purporting to be from the IRS. Instead of wanting money, they wanted to give me a refund for overpaying my federal tax. All I had to do to receive the refund was to click on a button on the page. 

Right. And where is the button going to take me? What malware will it activate?

The email was signed "IRS". Not "Internal Revenue Service". Just "IRS". When did the IRS start using just their initials to sign their official correspondence?

I know that my email address has been posted on the "dark web". The dark web is a part of the Internet that is private, anonymous, and is used for legal and illegal activity. So it doesn't surprise me to receive scam emails.

I also recently received a phone call from a man who spoke with a strong Indian (the country) accent. He said he was with a U.S. government agency. That's when I ended the call. 

If you're suspicious of an email, it's best not to open it. But even if you do open it, it is unlikely that your computer will get a virus or malware just by opening an email. Almost all viruses are activated when you download an attachment or click a link in an email. In addition to emails, we must be vigilant about phone calls, instant messages, and text messages. 

Happy Holidays, and be safe.

Dire Straits

I discovered the rock band Dire Straits in 1986. Some people are just discovering the band today.

The song of the day is Sultans of Swing from the 1978 album Sultans of Swing by British rock band Dire Straits. The band was formed by Mark Knopfler, David Knopfler, John Illsley, and Pick Withers.

Phil Collins

The song of the day is In The Air Tonight from the 1981 album Face Value by English singer, drummer, songwriter, record producer and actor Phil Collins.