Just because you can...

Today's Tids Issue 4,207

For Looking Back:

Necessity used to be the mother of invention. Today most popularized new stuff isn’t fulfilling real basic needs but just finding outlets for ingenious inventions. Basically, new technology plants greener grass on the other side of the fence where the eager clamor to be.

A giggle is a small job for musicians.

I see large headlines about police officers from time to time being sentenced for killing black teens, But, I never read headlines shouting out that somebody was sentenced for ambushing and murdering police officers.

Let’s take google, the tach giant that would control your life. They have a new Gmail product called Smart Reply. They say “it suggests email replies on your behalf”. Ah just what a mindless society needs, another reason to stop thinking for themselves.

Politically Correct Auto-Correct always changes my name to Duck. Quacks!

The Question:

Quick, name all of the “Stans” in western/central Asia.

The Headlines:

--Markets Open Higher; Trade Confusion Has Traders Addled.

--Trump Cancels January Wage Increase For Government Employees.

--In Last days, Jerry Brown Mulling Over Whether To Commute Death Sentences Of Monsters On Death Row.

--Black Rock Voted To Remove Musk From Tesla Chair.

--McCain Service Is Moving; Biden Heartfelt In Tribute To Old Friend.

--Aretha Ceremony Expected To be Celebration Of Great Life And Career.

--Former Enron CEO Jeffery Skillings Released From Prison To Half-way House After Serving 12 Of 14 Years.

--New ABC/Washington Post Poll Has 60% Disapproving Trump’s Job Performance; 45% Approve Of His Handling Of Economy; 63% On Sessions Side.

I sat in a waiting room this morning listening to a guy boasting about not understanding how his Smart phone works. He sounds like the people who say, I never watch TV. Being dumb about modern technology used to be funny. Now it is part of survival.

How come in this late hot summer where there is more talk about global warming, schools are starting earlier to make up for more expected snow days.

I Have to tell you, I would never want to work for Donald Trump. I wonder what Sarah Sanders is thinking these days.

Omission is one of the classic examples of bias in modern day journalism. The other is story emphasis.

Coca Cola has been on a buying spree that includes a large British coffee shop chain and the incredible New England soft drink -- Moxie. It’s great to watch a company understand that they need to supplement a formerly no-lose business.

Newspapers that attempt to provide balanced reporting and editorializing, are always accused of extreme bias by the left.

I have noticed that people don’t seem to read the Tids as usual during Labor Day week. For me it’s a labor of love. To others, it must just be work.

I mean, why do you have to buy a new smart phone  every year, or for that matter, every five years?

Reading Between the Lines Movie Reviews:

--The highest rated new movie is Searching, a modern techno-thriller where the story unfolds via technology we use every day. After a fruitless search for a missing 16-year-old daughter, a man decided the best clues may be in her laptop. Sounds like a winner to me. Stars John Cho and local girl Debra Messing.

--The big promo movie of the week is Operation Finale which is about the well-known story of the Moussed tracking down Hitlers mass Killer—Adolph Eichman. It is a pretty good yarn about the daring raid to capture the villain in his home now in Buenos Aeries. The tale of the secretive mission is tense, but for some, slow moving. I’d be tempted.

--Kin is an exciting, somewhat sci-fi crime thriller. A recently released convict and his brother are chased by an avenging mobster, the feds and assorted irrational soldiers. People like it. Critics pretty much hate it,

--Critics are also down on Destination Wedding, which is turns out that just about every regular human being who has seen it loves. The stars Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves meet at a destination wedding and find lots in common –they both hate the bride, the groom, the wedding, themselves and each other. So, I guess you can see the plot developing. But when they find that all of the guests love everything about the wedding, the two are forced to seek out each other for comfort. That’s about it. It will probably keep you smiling like many romantic comedies of the past.

The Answer:

“Stan” in Persian means “Land of”. The countries on the tip of your tongue are Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkministan and Ubekistan. And then there is Iran of which American are not a fan but rhymes with Stan.

It’s easy for younger generations to be entirely different from the elder wise folks these days, because technology has pushed us all into dimensions beyond imaginations. That, doesn’t mean it is better.

Have a great weekend, E-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y!!

I like music that is like lolling in an aimlessly drifting rowboat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdOOa_TOdPg

I liketo loo