Dennis Rodman; The mediator for North Korea?

Can former NBA great Dennis Rodman  be the answer in reducing tensions between the U.S. and North Korean Dictator Kimmy?

Well...maybe. Stranger things have happened.

From The Star Telegram:

[Rodman] appeared on “Good Morning Britain” via satellite from Los Angeles on Wednesday and was asked about his relationship with Kim and the multiple trips to North Korea.

The majority of the conversation with hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid centered on their activities, such as singing karaoke, riding horses and just sharing laughs without discussing politics.

I must interrupt this post to note that, IMO, Piers Morgan is a total, unadulterated, complete piece of used and discarded butt-wipe.

Piers Morgan: News fabricator.

Why is Morgan used and discarded butt-wipe? Because, as editor of the Daily Mirror, he approved of, and published, a phony picture on the front page of the Daily Mirror in 2004. BBC:

Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan has been sacked after the newspaper conceded photos of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi were fake. 

This is the front page Morgan falsified:

Fake news; approved by Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan.

Ponder the motives behind an EDITOR of a MAJOR NEWSPAPER in approving FAKE NEWS.

Morgan also mocked President George W. Bush for falling off a Segway, and later, Pierszzzzzzz-zah fell to the pavement from his Segway ride.

Watch Morgan, two-hundreds pounds-of-shit-in-a-five-pound-bag, fall off his Segway...it's so precious:

I never get tired of watching that clip.

Pierszzzzzzz-zah broke three ribs from his fall; strangely - prior to that - he called riding a Segway "idiot-proof."

Welcome to The Idiots Hall of Fame, Pierszzzzzzzzzz-zah, where you are bestowed Chairman of the Board, CEO, CFO, COO, CIO and President of The Worldly Idiots Clubs.

I'm not a big Hugh Grant fan, but just who the hell is Pierszzzzzzzzz-zah to call Grant a "tedious, little man." And as only a selfish, insecure two-year old would act, Pierszzzzzzzzz-zah banned Grant from appearing on his program. Pierszzzzzzz-zah - a fat, pie-faced, pseudo-intellectual gnome - is simply jealous of Grant, a handsome guy.

You may be asking, "where does a fired newspaper editor who engaged and fostered FAKE NEWS, get a job?"  Why, CNN, of course.

And it's clear that "Good Morning Britain"  has no journalistic code of ethics that applies to whom they hire. 

Back to Dennis Rodman. From MSN:

Rodman, 56, has made several trips to North Korea after developing a friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over their shared love of basketball. Kim is reportedly a big fan of the 90s Chicago Bulls. Rodman's last visit came in June.

As long as President Donald Trump has said, regarding North Korea, "all options are on the table," who knows if Rodman can make a difference? Maybe he can. We don't know. I don't see how Dennis can make things worse. Let's give him a chance.

Maybe Kimmy wants is his own NBA franchise?

Let Dennis do his thing. If what he does, in any way, helps bring about some type of détente between the U.S. and NK, it doesn't matter who or how we get there - only that we get there.

Hurricane Irma Coverage

Real Time Live feeds, traffic cams, road conditions:

MSNBC

Puerto Rico Live Cam

WGAL TV

CNN

All Web Infused / Texas Navy Dispatch

FOX News Live

St. Croix - Virgin Islands Live Cam

NASA; various interactive and satellite images

Florida News 4 (FOX affiliate); different feed than FOX News Live

South Carolina ETV

Sky News

International Space Station Satellite Feed

St. Maarten News

Hurricane Track

Florida Real-Time Traffic Cams

More Florida Traffic Cams

Florida Keys Live Traffic Cams

Florida Interactive Traffic Map 

Miami-Dade Traffic Cams 

Miami Traffic Cams 

The Weather Channel; various interactive weather maps tracking Irma

National Weather Service

National Hurricane Center

NOAA Geostationary Satellite Server; numerous maps, images

WSOC TV; Charlotte NC Weather and News

South Carolina 511; traffic, road reports, more

Jacksonville, FL Traffic Conditions 

Douglas, GA weather forecasts; live radar maps 

Georgia Traffic Cams 

Atlanta, GA traffic cams  

Crosswalk; praying through disasters and crises 

WKRG News 5: 

The Baldwin County Commissioners voted to open the Coliseum to refugees and evacuees from central Georgia and Florida for Hurricane Irma.

The Sheriff’s office will keep one deputy there while it’s open. Pets allowed inside in cages.

Bathrooms and Cots will be available but no food.

The Coliseum can house up to 1,900 people.

It will open for five full days starting Friday at 9 a.m.

NBC-2: Evacuation routes and and shelters  

ABC Action News; emergency phone numbers - Just a few; many listed at the link:

The State of Florida Emergency Hotline has been activated 24/7. For up to date information regarding Hurricane Irma, call 1-800-342-3557.

In order to find a hurricane shelter close to you, you can text the word "shelter" and your zip code to the number 4-F-E-M-A or 4-3-3-6-2.

If you live in the City of Gulfport, residents can reach the Informational Call Center at 727-893-1000 from 8 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Texting FEMA is not a substitute for calling 911.

To report price gouging, call 1-866-966-7226.

Florida Emergency Information: 1-800-342-3557

More Emergency Numbers for Emergency hotline, state and federal numbers, power and electric companies; more.

From Xavier University:

God of healing and mercy, we come before you with our hearts filled with grief as we see the devastation.

We pray that your presence would be felt by those who are grieving, who are injured, who have lost their homes and livelihoods.

We pray for wisdom and safety for those who are responding to the people in need and the many challenges left in the wake of the event.

We pray for our church, that it may be a witness to your compassion and care for all who suffer.

God, you are our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble. For this we give you thanks and ask that you hear our prayers for all the people and their families affected by Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey.

Credit Reporting Giant Equifax reports over 143,000 customer records hacked.

This news broke around 3:45PM MST. al-Reuters:

Credit rating company Equifax hacked; over 143 customers' data breach.

Equifax Inc said on Thursday personal details of 143 million U.S. consumers were potentially accessed by hackers between mid-May and July.

The company said criminals had accessed details including names and social security numbers.

Why have they waited until September in reporting this?

More, at PR News Wire:

The information accessed primarily includes names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver's license numbers.  In addition, credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers, were accessed.

This is very embarrassing for a credit bureau reporting agency.

Tech News

Long Island Tech News: Red Bull heir still evading police arrest. Appears to be living life just fine.
- - -
From "The Department of Why?" - ArsTechnia: Logitech releases the first trackball mouse in almost ten years.
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C|Net: Mazda's next gen high tech, 2020 and beyond.

...the Skyactiv-X technology works by making a gasoline engine operate something like a diesel engine under certain conditions. At low engine speeds, traditional gas combustion is used, igniting the air-fuel mixture with spark plugs in the combustion chamber. As the revs climb, Skyactiv-X switches off the plugs and relies solely on the high pressure in the combustion chamber to ignite the gasoline without the need for a spark.

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Tech Crunch: Facebook sold political ads to a Russian company in 2016.
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Tech News World: Vivaldi CEO alleges Google retaliated for privacy criticism.

Vivaldi CEO Jon von Tetzchner, the brains behind both the new Vivaldi browser and the early Opera browser, on Monday accused Google of retaliating against his company after he questioned its customer privacy practices.

Vivaldi's Google Adwords campaigns mysteriously were suspended just two days after von Tetzchner's criticisms of Google's handling of customer data appeared in a Wired article this spring, he said.
[.]
[It] That was the second time that Google suspended Vivaldi's AdWords campaign in 12 months[.]

- - -
Gizmodo: The "inventor" of Email had his lawsuit tossed out of court.

...Shiva Ayyadurai, the self-identified “inventor of email,” was tossed out by a Massachusetts judge today, concluding a baseless suit filed against Techdirt back in January. According to the site, the judge also “rejected Ayyadurai’s request to file an amended complaint.” 

- - -
Tech nostalgia. BetaNews: It was eleven years ago today that TDK developed Blu-Ray. 
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Whoa! BGR: Epson unveils a 130-inch screen-free TV. Price: $ 3 Grand.
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Webopedia: Do you know the five generations of computers? Six if you include the abacus.  😎
- - -
What is this, you ask?

Image credit: Dinara Kasko

It's a cake. New Atlas: A 3-D cake at that.

[Dinara] Kasko initially created a series of different 3D-printed geometric molds comprised of six different models based on simple geometrical figures. The result was a set of several small, concrete-like objects, that when cut open revealed a complex and delicious cake.

- - -
MIT Tech Review: Shoplifting; in the autonomous, self-check out age.
- - -
You know IPO stands for Initial Public Offering. MIT Tech Review: What is an ICO? Initial Coin Offering.

...an ICO does indeed work similarly to an initial public offering. Instead of offering shares in a company, though, a firm is instead offering digital assets called “tokens.”

- - -
Live Science: A virtual tour inside of a volcano.
- - -
Science News: Machines are learning "fairness."

Machine-learning programs can introduce biases that may harm job seekers, loan applicants and more[.]
[.]
... the inner workings of an algorithm could make the difference between someone getting parole, an executive position, a mortgage or even a scholarship. So computer and data scientists are coming up with creative ways to work around the black box status of machine-learning algorithms.

- - -
Science Magazine: Why people are willing to die fighting for a cause.

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Image: straightfromthea.com

ZD Net: Here come the flying taxis. (The story itself is a 46 second video. The bad news...you have to sit through a 30 second ad before the story starts).

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Extreme Tech: Hurricane Irma is LARGER than the state of Ohio.

FOX News is now legitimate for Diaper Boy Olbermann

You can watch Diaper Boy, Keith Olbermann, quote FOX News in his segment about "Why we must talk about Trump's mental health."

His video rant is here.

Amazing. FOX News was never legit, trustworthy, factual, believable or worth mentioning - ever - by anyone on The Left.

Until Diaper Boy agrees with them.

And since the subject is that of mental health...well, does anyone think Diaper Boy is mentally stable?

Here is Diaper Boy's Twitter site.  Comedy this good is beyond fiction or what any Hollywood screen writer could ever concoct. 

Incontinence. It couldn't happen to a more deserving person.

World News Links - September 6, 2017

(If links don't load on first click, try again. All sites seem to be slow in loading. Maybe heavy traffic due to hurricane.)

Metro: Trump's Florida mansion in path of hurricane Irma.

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Washington Times: Trump wants unified front with UK and Australia for North Korea

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The Telegraph: Trapped in eye of Irma, man tweets images of damage.

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Daily Mail: Will Disney World close doors because of Irma?

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Metro: Elon Musk says Artificial Intelligence will trigger World War III

"China, Russia, soon all countries w strong computer science. Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 imo."
 — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2017

- - -
Gold News: America's date with doom?

Congress has until Sept. 29 to raise the debt ceiling.

Should it fail, the dreaded "X date" follows shortly thereafter.

The"X date" – when the national collection box starts running dry – and the United States Treasury can no longer meet all its expenses.

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Gold News: Is crypto-currency purely speculative? 
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China Dialogue: The race for nuclear fusion

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Daily Mail: Economics professor commits suicide

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The Scotsman: Social media uproar over jogger shoving schoolboy out of his way

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9 News: Car and cyclist road rage caught on camera

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BBC: Serial abuser rapes victim more than 900 times

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Business Insider: Mercedes to compete with Uber
- - -
Metro: Story and pics of a man who got the bends

He rose too quickly causing the nitrogen that had dissolved in his blood to form bubbles. That nitrogen swelled into large sacks inside his body, causing great pain and swelling.

The effect is known as decompression sickness or ‘the bends’ and is one of the dangers most feared by divers.

Image: CEN

- - -
IBT: Is the Zika virus a cure for brain cancer?
- - -
Smithsonian: An inside look at Pyongang

...what does one see on a visit to North Korea?

That’s what British photographer Tariq Zaidi was eager to uncover.

- - -
Sydney Morning Herald: Possible major breakthrough in quantum computing

Hillary Blames Bernie Sanders for her presidential defeat

And all this time, we thought it was the Russians.

Newsweek: In her forthcoming presidential campaign memoir, "What Happened," - ( and I think we can all agree that the question mark symbol should follow the book title, but she's declarative, not asking...cuz she knows her loss was not because of anything she did), - Hillary Blames Bernie.

Tech News

SOYLENT GREEN

ArsTechnia: Soylent is here.
- - -
Computer World: How many patches did MS issue in August?  Take a guess.
- - -
This is why you delete SPAM without ever opening it. Security Week:

A Paris-based malware researcher known as Benkow has discovered more than 700 million records used by the Onliner spambot on a misconfigured server. The records comprise a large number of email addresses, passwords and SMTP configurations.
[.]
The email target lists used for malware campaigns are not random, but methodically built. The spammer uses the spambot to send out apparently harmless emails. Benkow gives this example:

"Hello, Champ {friend|champion\enthusiast}! How {are you|is your day}?

{My name is|I'm} Natalia. Do you believe in {fate|destiny}?

Love is inseparable fellow of hope. {Sorry for|Pardon} my English, but I hope you'll {understand|get} that..."

However, the email contains a single pixel, invisible gif used to fingerprint the recipient device.

You're not going to find fate, destiny, love, romance, a fling or bad Engel-eesh in your SPAM. Well, maybe the bad Engel-eesh.
- - -
Technocracy on-board about Google censorship.
- - -
ZD Net: What to expect from this fall's Windows 10 update. Umm - lemme guess; more patches?
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Technocracy: Machines should never be granted "Rights". Right?

But no machine will ever ”think like a human.” Our thought processes are not solely computations. They involve the unquantifiable aspects of being alive[.]

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Some of teh funny-Give it Love: Technically correct incorrect answers.

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Venture  Beat:  Pay for things... With your mouth.  (No...noooo...get your mind outta the gutter😎).
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BGR: For $25, this device claims to double your online speed.
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UberGizmo: You no longer have to teach your dog to fetch a can of beer for you because...this refrigerator will bring it to you. And it's voice activated.
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Extreme Tech: Sharp's new, 70-inch television. Available 2018.
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And there was much rejoicing! For the Linux crowd; Beta News: Manjaro Gellivara distro now available...final 32-bit release.

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C|Net: How wireless networks held-up during Hurricane Harvey. Surprisingly solid, though more needs to be done. Great article.
- - -
Geek: FRB. Fast Radio Bursts. 

Breakthrough Listen, a project that scans the skies for possible signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, observed 15 FRBs in a repeating pulse just Monday.
[.]
What makes them odd is that they repeat, but without any recognizable pattern[.]

- - -
No poison darts needed. This would make for a great high-tech, James Bond, assassination plot. Hacking Goldfinger's pacemaker? Security Week: 465,000 St. Jude Pacemakers recalled. Vulnerable to being hacked.

...the pacemaker’s authentication algorithm, [can] be compromised or bypassed to allow a nearby attacker to issue unauthorized commands to the pacemaker.

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ZD Net: Bitcoin ATMS. 
- - -
TechCrunch: Heir Cook supports "Dreamers".

- - -
Wired: The secrets of FEMA. (Good stuff, no conspiracy theories.)

The cornerstone of FEMA’s secret world is a bunker in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains that has served as the civilian government’s primary emergency hideaway since the 1950s.

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Fixed link to C\Net story. 8/5/2017

World News Links - September 4, 2017

The Telegraph: How other countries reported on Kimmy's nuclear missile test.

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Live Mint: China to Trump: "Stop threatening North Korea on trade."

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The Guardian: Annihilation of North Korea brings more problems than it solves.

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Bloomberg: North Korea's oil lifeline in the bulls-eye for destruction. 

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The Outline: Blame Imperialist America and Trump...for Everything.

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Raw Story: 'Morning Joe' - Supporters of Trump fed up with his antics.

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The Guardian: Another stabbing in London.

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YLE: Human chain prevents deportation of Afghan family.

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Times of Israel: French consulate receives envelope with mystery substance.

Several people near the consulate complained of a burning sensation in their eyes, according to reports.

- - -
Daily Mail: A camera that sees through the body.
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YouGov: Majority of French approve of UK exiting the EU.
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BBC: Car crashes into Long Island laundromat.
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BBC: Do you call a plumber or animal control?  Finding a python...in your toilet.

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The Independent: Italy's cocaine king arrested after 23 years on the lam.

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The Independent: The predicted path...so far...of Hurricane Irma.

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Business Insider: A sauna made from snow.

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Energy Voice: Exxon Texas refineries restarting.

When do reporters stop reporting and render aid?

Average reading time (excluding links): 3m 30s   

al-Reuters has a story about when does a reporter stop reporting to instead render aid.

Reuters photographer Rick Wilking watched Sterling Broughton, an 82-year-old woman, fall out of a kayak perched on the bow of a crowded rescue boat that had become swamped with water.
[.]
Journalists are trained to keep themselves safe in disaster situations. In dire conditions, like what Wilking saw, they can and do get involved.

Reporters and journalists put themselves in dangerous situations in order to capture the event they are covering and report it to the rest of the world. Many have died, or been killed, in their pursuing the story. Do a search on 'journalist beheaded' .

But when does a reporter stop reporting and instead put their efforts into helping others in a critical situation?

Kayak Lady; August 27, 2017. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Like any of us, a reporter can put their life in danger in making the decision to stop reporting and offer help.

In deciding to help save someone from drowning, you have to quickly calculate the odds and risks associated if your decision is helping rescue that person or, will you run the chance that they may pull you down in the water with them.

If a fire breaks out in the home of our neighbor, if we decide to try and help anyone trapped inside, what are the risks and odds that we might not exit that burning house?

I don't know the answer. I don't know what I would do. I would think - and hope - if the odds are I can help someone and keep my life, I'd follow through. Do any of us really know until we are faced with making that decision?

One prominent photo and story comes to mind in asking the question; when do reporters stop reporting to instead render help?

'The Vulture and the Little Girl'; photo: South African photojournalist, Kevin Carter.

From Rare Historical Photos.com:

The vulture is waiting for the girl to die and to eat her.
[.]
The parents of the children were busy taking food from the plane, so they had left their children only briefly while they collected the food. This was the situation for the girl in the photo taken by [Kevin] Carter. A vulture landed behind the girl. To get the two in focus, Carter approached the scene very slowly so as not to scare the vulture away and took a photo from approximately 10 meters. He took a few more photos before chasing the bird away.
[.]
 Practically overnight hundreds of people contacted the newspaper to ask whether the child had survived. [The] editor’s note [said] the girl had enough strength to walk away from the vulture, but that her ultimate fate was unknown. Because of this, Carter was bombarded with questions about why he did not help the girl, and only used her to take a photograph.

[The] St. Petersburg Times in Florida wrote: “The man adjusting his lens to take just the right frame of her suffering, might just as well be a predator, another vulture on the scene”. The attitude that public opinion condemned was not only that of taking the picture instead of chasing the vulture immediately away, but also the fact that he did not help the girl afterwards [sic]–as Carter explained later- leaving her in such a weak condition to continue the march by her self towards the feeding center.
[.]
In 1994, Kevin Carter won the Pulitzer prize for the disturbing photograph[.] That same year, Kevin Carter committed suicide.
[.]
[Carter] committed suicide by taping one end of a hose to his pickup truck’s exhaust pipe and running the other end to the driver’s side window. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning at the age of 33.

The photo is heart-wrenching. Did Carter handle the situation properly? Part of me says 'no' yet part of me says 'sort of.'  I don't know. Your view and comments on this would be appreciated.
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Fix broken link to Rare Historical Photos site 9/2/2017 10:51AM

World News Links - September 2, 2017

MSN: (10pm MST) Hurricane Irma gains strength.
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"Those who control AI control the World." Can't you see a Bond villain saying that, rubbing his palms together. In a Snidely Whiplash sort of way? Okay. VOA News: It's Russia. Well, it's always Russia, isn't it?
- - -
World News: Un-diffused WW II Bomb found in Frankfurt.

“This bomb has more than 1.4-tons of explosives,” Frankfurt Fire Chief Reinhard Ries told reporters. “It’s not just fragments that are the problem, but also the pressure that it creates that would dismantle all the buildings in a 100-metre (yard) radius.”

- - -
This is a strange story. The Flathead Beacon:  Woman who faked her kidnapping found dead by gun shot in car trunk. Even in terms of depression and suicide, she would have had to lock herself in the car trunk. Right?
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Security alert at Eiffel Tower. The Daily Mail.
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Business Insider: Ethereum inks deal with Russia.

Russia’s desire to give its state-owned enterprises and governmental bodies access to blockchain experts should come as no surprise. In recent months, the country has displayed a marked interest in the technology, especially in relation to the cryptocurrency market.

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The Scotsman: It's cheaper to park an airplane than your car at this airport.
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Intell Asia: He got greedy. He should have stopped at $2 or $3 Million.
- - -
 OP/Ed; The Orlando Sentinel: "AntiFa at our doorstep."
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Italy News Net: Asteroid Florence didn't hit us, but sooner or later we're bound to get hit.
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Maybe it's a quota thing? Portugal News: Fines for foreign cars quadruple.
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Car Preview...previews The 2018 Ram 1500.

2018 Ram 1500

World News Links - September 1, 2017

Pravada: Americans want Trump to declare Soros a terrorist.

Tass: Russian pol warns designating Soros as terrorist will "shake U.S. foundations": 

"...declaring George Soros a terrorist and seizing all his property and assets would actually mean undermining the foundations of the United States itself," said [First Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house) Defense and Security Committee Franz Klintsevich.

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Canadian Free Press: Federal judge tells FBI Hillary Clinton emails must be released. 
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Red Orbit: Study says self-help may be as effective as professional therapy.
- - -
4Chan: Some big event coming in September?
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Zee News: One million displaced by Hurricane Harvey.
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Courthouse News Service: Trump Admin backs down from NY travel ban flights. 
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Al Jazerra: Kenyans hit social media over nullification of Aug. 8 presidential election.
- - -
The Independent: At a Detroit, MI Wal Mart, 4 women fight over last Back-To-School note book...so one woman pulls out a gun.
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Fox News: Putin see 'Large scale conflict," between U.S and North Korea.
- - -
Daily Beast: ISIS Syrian girl doesn't regret torturing women.

“We would imprison women in the cemetery with skeletons in a cage in the middle of the cemetery as a punishment[.] ["When we] we went back to the cage in the morning, the woman was crazy.”
[.]
This echoes reports from former civilian prisoners about the hisbah placing severed heads of family members inside cages with imprisoned women to drive them insane with fear and grief.

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Washington Examiner: "Art of The Deal" ghostwriter Tony Schwartz says Trump will never actually donate the $1 Million pledged to Harvey victims.
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"We can rebuild him. We have the technology." Global News: Actor Richard Anderson, known for his role as Oscar Goldman on "The Six Million Dollar Man", has died at age 91.
- - -
Spelling fix 9/4/2017

World News Links

Neowin: Wikileaks dishes dirt on CIA's Angelfire hacking:

The CIA’s Angelfire user guide which WikiLeaks managed to get its hands on shows that Windows XP and Windows 7 are vulnerable to the exploit toolkit but it’s not clear whether or not Windows 10 users are safe from it.

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The Register: China's hyperloop train.   (I wonder if it will make the "choo-choo" sound?)
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BGR: Living on Mars? Feh! New Real Estate coming soon on TRAPPIST-1.
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Middle East Monitor: Frances' Macron doesn't want to pick sides; Saudi Arabia or Iran?
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Daily Mail: Tyler Perry give $ 1Mill to Harvey relief, $500K to Joel Osteen.
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St. Paul, MN: Officer apologizes for wild rant and outburst. ... More, at KSTP. 
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SMH: Almost 350 people get "gastro-bug".
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Sky News: No "decisive progress on Brexit?"
- - -
BBC: Captured on video- Melbourne man arrested for vicious killing of kangaroo.
- - -
Spiegel Online: Germany toughens rules on refugees.
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NY Daily News: Woman hit by tree branch claims permanent injuries.
- - -
SF Gate: Oregon appeals court upholds ruling; barking dog's vocal cords must be cut.

Hurricane Coverage Continues; Live rescue in progress...

Live rescue in progress... 8:59 MST:

There was a man holding onto a sign...

Center Point workers attempted to reach him...

...And moments later he swam away, to the left, away from camera view in pic #1.  Another man was in the water trying to swim towards the upturned semi-truck, on the left side of pic # 2. Action News is reporting others in the water. This is all that is known as of publishing time 9:04pm MST.
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38 lives lost to date.

Harvey moves towards Louisiana

NASA: Live satellite feed

Louisiana Dept. of Transportation (heavy traffic, slow loading)

Louisiana Road Conditions 

Reuters: Real-time updates

Gasoline prices up 

Check Gas prices in your area 

KTBS - Harvey; the aftermath 

Houston Traffic Conditions 

Houston Real-time traffic cams 

KHOU News 11 live feed 

Livestream News 

CBSN Live feed 

ABC Action News live feed 

FOX 10 Phoenix live feed

New Orleans: Live cams

Airplane Hell: Ottawa Runway Delays

Image: blogs.pjstar.com

From The BBC:

The Canadian Transportation Agency is holding an inquiry into two Air Transat flights held on the tarmac at Ottawa for hours in conditions passengers called "deplorable".
[.]
The flights were stranded for between five and six hours without adequate air conditioning, food or water.

Passengers on one flight eventually rang emergency services.

    * Delayed air passengers call 911
    * Air Canada collision avoided 'by 30m'
[.]
More than one passenger testified during the public hearings that they felt they were seen simply as "luggage".
[.]
The bathroom had run out of toilet paper. One young boy [vomited in the aisle and all over several passengers, [.]  [T]he stench was unbearable."
[.]
At one point passengers chanted "open the door, open the door" to cabin crew. The cabin temperature reached upwards of 31C.

And, from the same story above:

Flight staff said food and water were running low but that refreshments were available and temperatures seemed acceptable.

Uh...No...almost 88F degrees in a cigar tube/sardine can is not an acceptable temperature. Of course the staff is going to say the temp seemed acceptable.

Yeesh...how do airlines get away with this behavior?

Okay - here is how you get off the plane if it's stuck on the tarmac and appears you will be there for a long, long time.

What you do is you wait patiently for two hours. After that, you ask a flight attendant how much longer it will be. If they reply they don't know, and that they don't know when they'll know, you tell the attendant - very politely and courteously - that in 30 minutes, the seat in which you are sitting becomes the smoking section.

You will likely be warned that smoking is not allowed. And you nicely explain to the attendant that that warning will expire, in your seat and the area around you, in 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes passes, and you're still on the tarmac, you fire up that cigarette. I guarantee it will get you off the plane. Maybe somewhat forcibly...and you will most likely be fined. But at least your not sitting on the tarmac any longer.

Bernie Sanders 2020

Yeah...he'll be only 78 years old.

I remember...I'm pretty sure...that a bunch of people said that at age 72, John McCain was too old to be president. Gosh...who said that??? Oh, yeah; Democrats.

From The Independent:

Bernie Sanders' upcoming scheduled events - including appearances in New Hampshire - have prompted rumours [sic] of a 2020 presidential bid.

The Democratic Senator from Vermont is set to appear  at events over the US Labour Day holiday weekend.

Let's Hope They're Wrong About Irma

NOAA home page is Here.

And from the NOAA regarding Hurricane Irma:

...HURRICANE IRMA RAPIDLY INTENSIFYING OVER THE EASTERN ATLANTIC... 

The Jeff Bozos Peoples' Republic (WaPoo):

Hurricane Irma is expected to become a formidable cyclone[.]
[.]
Irma is forecast to intensify significantly[.]

From WMGT 41 - NBC Macon, GA:

“Irma is forecast to become a major hurricane by tonight [Aug 31] and is expected to be an extremely dangerous hurricane for the next several days,” [warned the (National) Hurricane Center].
[.]
“The good news is we have lots of time to watch this develop,” said [Dennis] Feltgen [of the NHC].

NOAA

Despicable Price Gouging in Texas

Average reading time (excluding links): 3m

I understand the economics of when the availability of a commodity decreases, and the demand for that commodity increase - or remains the same - that the price for that commodity will increase.

From The Houston Chronicle:

On Monday afternoon, someone reported a Houston convenience store charged $20 per gallon of gas, according to Kayleigh Lovvorn, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Ken Paxton's office.
[.]
...price gouging can carry civil penalties of up to $20,000 per violation and up to $250,000 per violation for victims over 65 years old.
[.]
Other complaints include a Houston gas station charging $3.50 per gallon of fuel, $8.50 per water bottle and $99 for a case of water.

From The Jeff Bezos Peoples' Republic (WaPoo):

At a Best Western location in Robstown [.] [a] crew from [KXAN station] booked a room and was charged $289.99 a night, according to KXAN. The total, $321.89 including taxes, is nearly three times the normal rate of $119 a night.
[.]
In Corpus Christi, a RaceWay gas station drew ire after a woman said she was charged more than $60 for two cases of beer [.] RaceWay told the station that the overpricing was caused by a clerical error, not price-gouging.

From The Boston Globe:

Best Buy says it is ‘‘deeply sorry’’ following accusations of price gouging after a photo posted online showed cases of water for sale at one of the electronic retailer’s Houston-area stores for more than $42.
[.]
The company explained in a statement that it doesn’t have pricing for cases of water in its system and employees priced the water ‘‘by multiplying the cost of one bottle by the number of bottles in a case.’’

Image: BBC

Maybe - maybe - some of the price increases were made in error, or by an independent franchise with a chain name (although "independent franchise" is such an oxymoron. How can the parent company disassociate itself from its "independent franchise" ?!?), or, as in the case of Best Buy, an employee calculating the cost by the number of bottles in the case.

I wish I could remember who and where, on my blog roll, I read what I read about Tim Worstall, but I've been reading a lot, at many sites, on all things related to Hurricane Harvey. And price gouging is nothing but despicable.

The short story from the L.A. Times:

Conservative economist Tim Worstall posted a very provocative column on Forbes.com Sunday about the dire situation in Houston, arguing in favor of price-gouging.
[.]
It appears that Worstall’s column was too provocative for Forbes, which customarily has been a great advocate for the free market, as is Worstall. Mysteriously, the column disappeared from the Forbes website sometime Monday. It hasn’t been seen since. Anyone clicking on its original Web address gets an error message.

At Tim Worstall.com, on his post titled "There's an awful lot of people who don't get economics you know" [sic] -  (Tim, you may want to familiarize yourself with "The Comma",)  - I found the below reply from Tim to someone else. The full comments and exchanges are at the link, what I blocked out was just something that was out of context and, by itself, didn't make sense:

"I'm entirely fine with public provision of these things...as also the bottled water. I'm arguing though against the making of private provision illegal. Should it be illegal for there to be security guards (private police) or private ambulances?"

Most of us, I think, can analyze that last sentence and, reasonably conclude, that as a moral matter of economics, one cannot compare the price increases in bottled water, beer (for whatever reason), hotel rooms, and gasoline to those of  security guards/ private police or private ambulances. And I have never read or heard anything, ever, about trying to quash private businesses providing special services for premium fees to those who can pay for them.

In purely economic terms, is it price gouging when someone with the financial resources voluntarily contracts out for their own private ambulance service? And they are willing to pay that price rather than depend on the public service ambulance? 

If a person with the financial resources contracts with a private security firm and they do it voluntarily, and they agree to a "premium fee" for those services, is that price gouging?

Worstall seems to fail in distinguishing price gouging and voluntarily paying  premium fees for special services. Or is there something I'm completely not understand here?

These Guys Know What They're Doing

I caught the very last of CNN's feed of Anderson Cooper interviewing the two guys in the image below. I didn't catch their names. All I caught, other than the screen grab, is that they've been driving around in high water in the big truck all day, helping out whoever needed it, and plan to keep doing it until no longer needed.

Cooper asked them, which one of them owns the truck.

One guy said, "oh, neither of us own it, it belongs to a friend."

Cooper: "Does your friend know what you're using the truck for?"

Guy: "Oh, yeah."

Cooper: "Does it take a lot of gas, was it hard finding gas?

Other guy: "Nah, we filled up this morning and it only took 30 minutes."

Yeah - these guys represent a whole lot of people doing a whole lot of good.

Screen grab: CNN

CNN

Continuing Live Feed of Houston flooding; Hurricane Harvey; Louisiana; Storm Tracker; Road and Travel conditions; Best Buy $42 water; Fire Ants on the move

Best Buy apologizes for bottled water priced at $42 per case. 
- - -

Mounds of Fire Ants. KHOU:

Flotilla of Fire Ants; From KHOU

Ongoing coverage.

KHOU 11

ABC 13

Fox 26 Houston Live

KPRC TV 2 Houston

FOX 10 Phoenix

LiveStream Feed

CBSN

ABC Action News

Real-Time Feed; Houston Traffic Cams; TranStar

Houston TranStar Traffic Map

DeQuincy, Louisiana Radar Weather

Port Arthur, flooded

Port Arthur Bower Civic Center shelter flooded

Louisiana Dept. of Transportation Travel/Weather map (site slow; likely due to high traffic)

KTBS Shreveport, LA Storm Tracker

Louisiana Highway Conditions 

KPLC TV, Lake Charles, LA

South Lake Charles, LA Skycams KPLC TV

WeatherBug: Lake Charles, LA Doppler Radar

Houston freeways reopening; Bridges and overpasses need to be inspected ASAP.

From Business Insider

- - -

Spelling correction: 8/31/2017

Minnesota Professor Massoud Amin Accused of Illegally purchasing several guns

From KTOE:

Massoud Amin is under felony indictment for a charge of providing fabricated financial documents during his divorce. The indictment bans him from buying guns.

But investigators say he purchased 14 handguns from seven different gun shops in Minneapolis in a two-and-a-half week span this summer.

 Wiki: Massoud Amin

Mr. Amin at UMN.edu 

At LinkedIn
- - -
Spelling fix 8/30/2017