Let’s Roll.

Today's Tids Issue 3,946
For never giving up:

I was listening to the retelling of the story of heroism yesterday, especially the one where the passengers of Flight 93 rushed the Islamic terrorists and took control of the plane to crash it into a quiet field instead of the nation’s Capital. I felt as I listened what have always felt about real Americans who have in the end always come through, gotten the job done for all regardless of potential harm to themselves – clear, unselfish thinking in times of extraordinary distress. My mind was fleeting to boyhood imaginations of bravery on Guadalcanal or Omaha Beach. I just sat there with old, old memories of men never giving in, hoping that newer generations will always carry in their hearts and minds visions of that moment of valor in people who loved their country. Most of America was “one” yesterday. Let’s roll. A tear is running down my cheek.

I can’t imagine the utter destruction in places like Barbuda, The utter feeling of hopelessness. But, after what I have been seeing from the Florida Keys, it helps me frame the picture of those who have lost all. People are stranded in their own domains with nowhere to go, with the inability of people who want to help to reach them. And here I sit listening to quiet music.

Good news for traditionalists: It appears that the America’s Cup sailing will move back to the monohulled boats, away from the new super tech crafts which, while requiring enormous skills, were more like low flying airplanes.

The Choice: After a hurricane would you rather drive your car to wait on gas lines to fill up, or watch your all electric car sitting in the garage waiting for the return of power?

Wouldn’t it be a sizzling ride in a hurricane driving your all electric car through salt water flooded streets.

The Question:

Who Was Tom Hanks Co-Star In Bosom Buddies? Bonus: What is a Rohingya? Super Bonus; Name the Top Five Happiest States in which to live (Note: I won’t mention the lowest states because I don’t want genuinely happy people to think they should be unhappy just because of some stupid rating service.)

The Headlines:

--US Southeast Is Cleaning Up; US Military On Tap To Rush Into Florida Keys, Carrier USS Lincoln Moving Into Rescue Position; Jacksonville Still Experiencing Surges As Jose Now Pushes Water To Coast; Charleston SC Historic Marketplace Under Water; Lack Of Power To 10 Million Huge Concern In Hot, Muggy Southland; Walmart Announces $10 Million In New Hurricane Relief Support.

--Markets Open New High, Continuing Upward Following Yesterday’s Strong Surge After Lower Than Expected Surge.

--It’s Apple Of Your Eye Day; New $1K and Up Phones To be Introduced; Many Not Necessary Whiz Bang Features Will Try To Support New Higher Price.

--NK’s Kim Reasserts Massive Destruction Of US As UN Passes Watered Down Sanctions.

--Hope Hicks Named Trump Communications Director.

--Hill Says No More Campaigns For Her, But Plenty Of Campaigning For Others

--Prior To The Big Hack, Equifax Had Lobbied Congress To Ease Security Restrictions.

--Britain’s May Pleads With Trump To Intervene In Dispute Between Boeing And Canada’s Airplane Manufacturer; She says Boeing Demands Could Lead To Massive Loss Of Jobs In Belfast Ireland.

--Senator’s Warren (MA), Whitehouse (RI), Booker (NJ) and Merkley (OR) Leading Dems Getting Behind Saunders Push For “Medicare For All Bill”; Health Care Movement Expected To Be Major Theme Of Dem Campaigns.

An interesting political development for 2018 maybe the lack of viable Repubs to run against Dems. Repubs are destroying each other from with-in, and chasms in beliefs between moderates and the Right may fracture the voting populace, giving a Dems a win. It may be right to stand up to your principles, but how bad will it be for a Repub admin standing up to a Dem Senate and House? Oh, he will probably just change.

Memories of those never giving in, giving up, has been the most powerful influence in my life.

Opioid overdoses have replaced auto accidents as the largest cause of accidental death in America. Think about that one for a minute or two. Is an opioid OD really an accident?

Starting several years ago, the Tids Business editors were espousing a need in the future for “Showroom” retailing. We suggested huge warehouses where people could feel and touch and even try on product before ordering on-line – on premises. This would be preferred to those pretending to shop in retail stores, only to use them before buying on line.  Well, Nordstrom is beginning such a program surely to be followed by many others. Get ready for Showroom Retailing. Read the Tids and stay out front!

Why hasn’t there ever been a movie titled “Let’s Roll”? Hollywood used to celebrate heroism during and after was of the past.

The US News Top Colleges report is out and In case you haven’t seen it, the top five National Universities are Princeton, Harvard, Tie between Yale and U Chicago and a 3 way tie between Columbia, MIT and Stanford; The top National Five Liberal Arts Colleges are Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Swarthmore and Wellesley; The top Public National Universities are Cal Berkley, UCLA, UVa, Michigan and North Carolina.

Hey, waddaya know, Spell-Check has finally discovered that there is a possibility of spelling trump with a capital “T”. Only took 9 months. 

There is no question in my mind that Google wants to own your life, but Facebook keeps getting in the way. The war of the future – not NK-US, or Russia-China, a but the two cyber-Behemoths fighting a battle like no battle before—virtual armies against virtual armies. Think of what such a war could destroy? Everything?

Yesterday, while driving the uncluttered and smooth back roads and highways of Maine and Massachusetts, I found it a distinct pleasure foreign to RI driving. Why is this? I’ll tell you why -- the misguided thieves in the RI state legislature, that’s why.

One of the interesting fall-outs from the Equifax mess is that we have learned that Internet companies in general skimp on security measures that would protect their customers sacred personal data. For these corporations, it should be a major cost factor in doing business, and expert observers are saying that many more than expected reduce the importance of that function in favor of a better bottom line. It’s easy to return better profits if you eliminate expensive necessary costs. Uber for instance looks smarter than taxi cab companies because it doesn’t have to factor in the huge cost of medallions. The operating costs of any internet companies that rely on consumer personal data may be going up rapidly because of a lax Equifax.

On a similar note, it has been noted that Facebook in an effort to get up there with “Streaming” leaders like Netflix and Amazon will spend just about anything to be competitive. Some say Facebook would spend $1 Billion on a single streaming project if it was any good. For these super high valued companies, Money does not seem to be a huge consideration when growth success is on the line. For instance, Amazon doesn’t care a wit about reducing prices at Whole Foods, because their objective is to create a super high profile at the expense of micromanaging profits from operating divisions. It isn’t US Steel any mmore!

The media was so transfixed on the movement of Irma, that we heard barely a mention of the gigantic 8.1 Earthquake in Mexico, just down the road form California.

I have been reading the Providence Journal for quite a while now, and I have never thought that thee Business Pages favored business. They certainly ever lobbied for better laws to protect them against the State Legislature. They always seemed as a publicity adjunct to social services. This morning’s major story was about affordable housing. On Sunday where they Publish “Executives on the move”, one was a lawyer, one was a YMCA exec, one was a Big Brother, Big Sisters exec and 3 were in school management. One reason why some States lead into recessions and lag coming out.

The Answer:

Peter Scolari was Hanks buddy in drag, and I always enjoyed him as least as much as the celebrated Hanks. Bonus: The Rohingya are a people historically termed Arakanese Indians, an Indo-Aryan people from the Rakhine State Myanmar. Got it? The majority are Muslim while the minority are Hindu. The problem is that they are a people without a country, even though the Rakhine state has boundaries and is situated nicely on the Bay of Bengal. The 1982 Burmese Citizenship Law does not recognize this Ethnic minority as one of the “national races”, despite their presence since the 8^th century. They have been deemed by the UN as the most persecuted minority in the world. 375K Muslim Rohingyans have fled to Bangladesh. Back in Myanmar there are accounts of rape and murder of children, the destruction of families and homes. Super Bonus: If you are not happy living in Minnesota then you should really worry because that is number one in happyville. Next is Utah followed by Hawaii, head in the clouds Californians and finally middle of America Nebraska.

There as lot going on in our heard these days. Maybe we should all just pray for everything.