Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

In the US it’s the “Perfect” time for the Corona/Wuhan Virus

Posted: March 12, 2020 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Leonard: Yeah, you can’t stay in your apartment for the rest of your life

Raj: Why not? With online shopping and overnight delivery, I can get anything I want. Look, I just ordered a case of Dinty Moore beef stew and two live lobsters on Amazon.

Leonard: Lobsters overnight?

Howard: Oh, you’re kidding. Let me see. Well, I’ll be. Look, you can throw in a couple steaks and have a surf and turf

Leonard: The surf and turf sounds good. See if they have corn on the cob.

Bernadette: Guys, we’re trying to get him out of here, not you in.

The Big Bang Theory The Monster Isolation 2013

And no I don’t mean in terms of the Democrats and their m-m-m-my Corona bit.

I mean in terms having a society that is in a position to cope with this situation while still functioning.

Consider the following. During the Spanish flu epidemic 100 years ago that killed thousands, watching a baseball game would have been taking your life in your hands.

Today not only can fans watch just about every game on TV but March Madness and the NBA & NHL playoffs (when they resume) are available both on TV and streaming, but unlike 20 years ago when you’d have to hit a bar to see it on a good high def screen is an affordable item.

Consider colleges, Many colleges are not holding classes because of the current virus situation, however with streaming and teleconferencing a professor is in a position to not only teach a class but interact with students in person or as a group so their physical presence is not vital.

20 or 30 years ago paying your taxes, or registering your car, or getting the water bill or electric bill paid meant standing in a long line. Today all of this can be done online with a few click and thanks to electronic transfer of funds, even those without the net can likely pay by phone.

Furthermore many of the jobs involved here are jobs that can be done remotely. In 2004 when I 1st started working remotely it was a novel thing. Today tens of millions in the US have that ability to do useful work without leaving the home.

Even industries that are traditionally not done remotely can adapt. With a smart phone, online or remote payment and a few people ready to drive, a local supermarket can institute a delivery system fairly quickly, thanks to doordash your local restaurant can get your favorite dish to your home without a lot of fuss. Cripes even McDonald & Wendy’s delivers these days

And I haven’t even mentioned Amazon or Netflix or facebook which means that movies, TV shows, books and social and personal interaction is an easy thing to achieve and just about any product and service we need can be delivered to our door with minimal contact.

And of course there is gaming. Online gaming is a staple of entertainment so you can have a blast with friends or even alone and not even leave the house (might I suggest Dynasty Baseball as I’m about to start a new league).

Cripes even vice is safer (although not for the soul) as dancing around a pole in front of a bunch of drunk men in a club can be replaced by a web cam where you don’t have to have a bouncer ready to act for your safety.

In short even if government finds it necessary to limit contact in public spaces and people retreat to their homes to isolate themselves during this crisis we as a society have reached a point where such isolation, while an inconvenience will not be crippling.

Of course this is not true for everyone. Mom and pop stores will suffer, buffet restaurants will suffer (although they can sell and deliver by the pound) and medical facilities and jobs that require regular physical contact with others will still be communities at risk, not to mention the warehouse workers who will need to deal with Christmas like volume when this becomes the norm.

However we are damn lucky that this virus hit in 2020 and not a Century or even a decade earlier

The Paris Library: A Book Review

Posted: March 9, 2020 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
Tags: , , ,

By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – Add The Paris Library to your summer reading list. Any fan of historical fiction, or any book lover in general, will love this book! 

Coming out in June of 2020, The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles is an engaging tale that is narrated on dual timelines and is sure to become a best seller. A book lover’s delight, I could not help but think about Susan Orlean’s The Library Book as I was reading.  I was provided an ARC via NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for a fair and honest review, and I am strongly recommending this book.

Navigating dual timelines, the author weaves an engaging plot between two characters, Odile and Lily. Set in both WWII Paris and 1980s Froid, Montana, we are drawn into both their stories knowing they will soon combine, and they do in a beautiful way.

As the book opens, a young Odile begins a new job as a librarian at The American Library in Paris at the onset of WWII, and her narrative is peppered with Dewey Decimal references which could have been very odd and distracting but is in fact absolutely charming. As the employees of the library work to protect their books, and themselves, during the Nazi occupation of Paris, it is interesting to note that many of the characters in this novel are real people and many of the events also all too real.

The author has drawn from the papers of Dorothy Reeder who served as the director of The American Library in Paris during World War II. At the end of the novel, Ms. Charles brings us up to date with what happened to the characters in real life after the war.

Perhaps because of the fact that many of the characters were real people, their story line in the novel is the more engaging and developed one, but the contemporary story line of Odile is still deftly drawn and merges beautifully with Lily’s in 1980s Froid, Montana, where Odile is considered “the war bride,” and an eccentric, odd sort of person. I won’t give any spoilers here, but the ending of the book is absolutely perfect and a very satisfying ending.

This is the kind of book you can get lost in for a few hours, or wade leisurely through over a couple of days. Either way I highly recommend The Paris Library. Mark your calendar for June 2020.

Pat Austin blogs at And So it Goes in Shreveport and is the author of Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation. Follow her on Instagram @patbecker25 and Twitter @paustin110.

The latest Hit on the MSM Charts: Joey & the Democrats My Corona

Posted: March 9, 2020 by datechguy in Uncategorized

The Democrat party has been doing it’s best to use the Corona virus as a political weapon against the US economy in general and Donald Trump in particular. We can write about it, but why write when we can sing: With Biden on Vocals, Bernie on Drums here is their song My Corona

Hoo, it's Trump that's killing us, killing us
When you gonna go end his time, Corona?
When's that virus gonna come, gonna come?
Come on, come on spread, spread and thrive, Corona

Never gonna stop, give it up, oh it's panic time
Now that Trump Stock Market that' stock market it's gonna go
dive, dive dive dive dive woo!

M-m-m-my Cornoa

Come a little closer, huh, a-will ya, huh?
Close enough to cost a few lives Corona 
Election day is comin' down, comin' down
Runnin' down there ain't much more time, Corona

Never gonna stop, give it up, oh it's panic time
Then we can blame Trump, blamen' Trump for the people who
die div die die die , woo!

M-m-m-my Corona
M-m-m-my Corona

When you gonna win us D's, win us D's
Is it just a matter of time, Corona?
It's our party's destiny, destiny
Or is it just a game in our minds, Corona?

Never gonna stop, give it up, oh it's panic time
Now that Trump economy, Trump economy can 
die, die die die die,O woo!
[Obama cuts in:] Actually That economy was mine mine mine mine mine woo!

M-m-m-my Corona
M-m-m-my Corona
M-m-m-my Corona
M-m-m-my Corona

Hoooooo-ohhh, my Corona
Hoooooo-ohhh, my Corona
Hoooooo-ohhh, my Corona

Sung to the tune of My Sharona 1979 by the Knack

Quinnen Williams and another opportunity to change the gun narrative

Posted: March 7, 2020 by ng36b in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , ,
Gun Case, from eBay

Democrat presidential candidates continue to dominate the news with calls for increasing gun control measures. They are quick to cite fake statistics about gun violence and use every tragedy to maximum extent. While President Trump has remained pro-Second Amendment, he hasn’t pushed much in terms of a counter-narrative recently. The recent arrest of New York Jets player Quinnen Williams provides a great opportunity to strike back.

Quinnen was arrested recently in LaGuardia Airport for gun possession. Most of the headlines would have you believe he walked into the airport with a loaded weapon and attempted to board a flight. That’s not what happened. Quinnen brought an unloaded firearm in his checked luggage into the airport. He had a permit for the weapon, but it was from Alabama, not New York. In typical New York fashion, he was immediately arrested and faces a felony possession charge.

New York gun laws are ridiculous. Even if you aren’t a state resident, the state of New York requires regularly attempts to enforce local laws on you. This is key because LaGuardia is particularly notorious for violating the Federal Owners Protection Act (FOPA), which allows transportation of firearms between states. But as noted at NRA’s website:

Special advisory for New York & New Jersey airports: Despite federal law that protects travelers, authorities at JFK, La Guardia, Newark, and Albany airports have been known to enforce state and local firearm laws against airline travelers who are passing through their jurisdictions. In some cases, even persons traveling in full compliance with federal law have been arrested or threatened with arrest. FOPA’s protections have been substantially narrowed by court decisions in certain parts of the country, particularly in the Northeast. Persons traveling through New York and New Jersey airports may want to consider shipping their firearms to their final destinations rather than bringing them through airports in these jurisdictions.

NRA-ILA website

Personally, I hate flying through New York anyway, and unless I have to, I won’t use their airports. Perhaps a long-term boycott by gun owners would be in order?

Quinnen obviously attempted to follow the law. He wasn’t walking into an airport with a loaded weapon. His story shows that attempting to follow the rules doesn’t matter to New York, where its OK to pick and choose what federal laws you follow. This makes him the perfect person to hold up and challenge the ongoing gun narrative. His case may be one to help challenge, and ultimately change, some of New York’s onerous rules on gun transportation.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.

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