RADIOACTIVE SEAFOOD & THE BEST DOG STORY EVER

Here ya' go, radioactive salmon. Photo above is from the linked article here.
Reader Reaction (just the sound)

No, Dorothy, these are not red-hot salmon that have turned color due to Fukushima Radiation. They are spawning salmon and turning red at the end of their up-stream final journey is normal. After they spawn, they lay over flat and go to fish heaven. But the article is worth reading and the associated photo worth noting. 

I have found a couple other articles also using similar photos to show what purports to be "radioactive" salmon. These little fellows have had quite a life and made quite a journey only to have the author taint them in the end as diseased, using misleading photos. Very good examples of publishing with complete disconnect and or experience to the subject matter they write of.

My wife shared an article she was reading off of FB of returning salmon along the Oregon coast near Tillamook. Tillamook is known for its cheese and, in olden days past, for the sport and commercial salmon fishing off the coast during their annual migration. The salmon run to Canada and into Alaska and many coastal communities benefit from the annual food source. Well, they used to. 

Last week, I stumbled across a story and video of the building of the Grand Coulee Dam and a part of the story was also what was lost in the building of the dam. "Sorry we ruined the native salmon run and negatively impacted the self sustainability of the American Indians living there".  Oh, well, other positives outweigh, right?

Part of the video showed how the native Indians would stand off the rocks and net the salmon as they swam up the river and falls. What really caught my eye was how the big the salmon were. For awhile, there was order in the world in that part of Washington State. Must have been a sight to behold watching the salmon swim up over the falls then. The salting and smoking of the fish would feed families through out the year. Teach a man to fish.....!

I first picked up on the ocean currents and the spreading of the Fukushima gift several years ago. An article on coastal tuna with higher radioactivity. But, be wary wary quiet as there is nothing to worry about, all within limits--- trust that ENRON is sound --- the water is ok to drink in Flint Michigan. Shall we all just again look the other way?

Six years later and more buzzwords and a hint that we are just now finding radioactivity all over the Pacific Ocean and coastal communities. If anyone anywhere is saying "Houston we have a problem", it is still in fine print, page 10 in the Friday night issue.

And it is not only the salmon, Dorothy, but anything swimming or living in these waters. This ought to get larger print too and coverage. The herring fishery is another large local and commercial fishery and if you read no other attached article in this weeks post, read this one.

To what end?

Born in Seattle and living on the coast in Washington State for a good part of my life I have many a memory and the opportunity to commercial fish those waters. Also to dig clams, catch Dungeness crab, shuck fresh oysters and so enjoy the exquisite offering of seafood from that area. It was still the way for Native Americans and fisherman. 

If the constant worry of over-fishing, was not bad enough to force fishing season cutbacks over those years, the recent Fukushima Gift of Radioactivity came to the world like an extinction event. And it is my friends, an extinction event playing out in a frog in the warming pot template. The oceans and species are all interconnected and it is too late. There is no fix that I am aware of and the Fukushima Gift keeps on giving. The glowing green cows at night, on the west coast, might soon remind us that human species may not be the brightest bulbs in this world environment.

North River runs into Willapa Bay, west of Raymond Washington. There is a small boat ramp there where fisherman could go into the bay or up river. North River was a haven for floating house boats. These little cabins were built on large logs that were for the taking along the coast and water ways. Get-away cabins for weekend outings.

My folks and I accompanied my aunt and uncle to their cabin one summer Sunday afternoon for a picnic. Maybe a half hour run up-river in their little boat. As we neared the out-river log of their cabin, I noticed a large gunny sack of oysters hanging over the edge and into the river. The oysters had been harvested from the bay earlier in the week and hung at the cabin so the oysters would self clean as water flowed through the sack. We were going grill fresh oysters that day as part of the meal. I was not thrilled, but it was gourmet for the old folks. I was hoping for the hot dog or hamburger. 

A few social drinks and the picnic meal was getting closer. Dad and I pulled the large sack of oysters onto the cabin deck floor. We untied the knot at the top and started to shuck oysters in the half shell. Not a job for the uneducated. Many a serious cut have come from oyster shucking with the all important double edged oyster knife. But we had skills and knew the do's and dont's. The shell was opened and the oyster was cut free to lay in the half shell.

The half shells were laid on the grill and within a few seconds were cooking in their own sea salt juices. The smaller oysters were the best and and still are in my book. Medium being the largest oyster I will eat. 

I knew I would have to man up and eat one of those oysters that day. A little lemon juice on the oyster if memory serves me right, and then plopped into the mouth. A shot glass motion. First one down and I have never looked back. Never scoffed at oyster haters which means more for us. If ever God created a natural wonder for the pallet, it is the fresh oyster on the half shell like on that day. This teen-aged boy put those adults on notice that they better belly up to that grill or lose out. A wonderful memory of a God-given treat. Been an oyster fan ever since. 

What I have learned of oyster haters is that they have never had oysters prepared by someone who knows what they are doing. Regardless, telling this story brings back good memories.

For several years now, I have forgone eating anything from any west coast fishery. Avoided the Pacific NW salmon / white fish in the fish counter opting for Norwegian or Atlantic farm-raised. Any fishery or shell food from the Atlantic side. I will admit it has been hard to give up enjoying one of greatest fisheries in the world.

I think the Fukushima event is one of the the elephants in the room. Tainted seafood may soon become a new norm. Whatever you put away for the after, maybe best now it be Atlantic seafood. You may find enjoying a few good older cans of Sardines in oil to be most wonderful moments. OMG, health benefits, too. Is it what real men will put on a cracker?

Mouth watering canned Sardines on a cracker.

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GSTV    Gas station television, also known as GSTC, Gas Station Television Channel. I am guessing you already know about it. Pull into a gas station and as you start pumping, a TV turns on giving you news and advertisement that you cannot shut off other than by stopping the pump. 1984 Dorothy!!!

• One of the main themes of 1984 is the control of individuals and information in society by the state. One tool is the Telescreen, an obligatory and dominant item in the homes of the inhabitants of London, capital city of Airstrip One (previously known as England). ( http://technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?bnum=629 )

I came upon one such station this past week. Will not go there ever again nor will I ever use the chain or stations that push this. Wolf Blitzer was shoved in my face telling me that one of our nuclear submarines had just docked somewhere in South Korea. Showed photos. Good that world knows this now. And then some flat-top skinhead, used-to-be-jocks talking of some obscure athlete in some obscure sport and that their opinions were of worldly import. Arrrrrgh!!

I had no place to escape to, needed gas and was for a few minutes captured in Orwell's 1984 Telescreen world. There was also a daily vocabulary word that I was to incorporate into my daily betterment. The video was a $35 dollar fill-up in length. 

I put the pump handle in the holder and the video quit. Gas cap snugged, quickly seated and departed that gas station. All I could sum up was never again. I will go out of my way, pay more and shop at the small mom and pop gas station before I will endure that crap again. 

And hey you there, gas station man who thinks this is a great idea for your business and us customers. You have taken a good customer and caused him go Howard Beale on you for ever and ever!! No mo money for you from this gas guzzler.

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"Check, check, check."  A good read from Highcountry Blog

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Shore up the home front and:

 Keep the story of King Arthur with you this week.

"Things happen once in a lifetime, if you are lucky."  

"It is the single best thing I have ever done."

FRESH AIR & WATER---CELL PHONE CAMERA HACK

Looking west and down over the upper lawn. Ventured down where the nesting Guinea Hens have returned to their daily calling. Sometimes during the day and early evenings, their talk consumes the forest. I was looking for the small creek that runs through here, but my trekking through these woods is difficult at best and this photo will have to suffice for a hint of near by terrain. 

We are not at a loss for rock or dead fall.

Purposely inhaled several times on our first trip outside earlier this week. Clean air, fresh air, no smells other than nature. I enjoyed the moment. Not sure why I picked up on this but I did and paid attention to things I take for granted.  Fresh air is a norm in everyday living isn't it?

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Not going into thesis-writing but I am hinky these days and my insides are unsettled. Hair-raising-on-the-back-of-my-neck feelings. Being pushed to get outside, downstairs, in the woodshed, to the gardens and moving items back to their spring/summer/fall locations.  There is nagging hanging over my head. You know I write about this all too often.

Purchasing a Berky water filter for the house soon. Why I/we never did this in the past years of basic "prepping" is curious. We saw one of these while having dinner at friends' home a month ago. Simple, functional and opens up normal water sources for drinking and use in cooking. Collecting rain water, skimming local small creeks with water containers, walking a mile to and from the nearby river collecting water is all possible. But having the ability to pour, purify and drink water using a commercial water filter never crossed my mind.  Will keep you in the loop on this.

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Headlines on War and North Korea abound. My intent was to share a half-dozen here but to what end? If you come to visit from time to time, you also visit other blog / news sources and my guess is that you are up to speed on a lot of what is going on; with opinion.

I am also going to guess here that we most likely are in the same boat as to concern and worry. We should be by several factors. Maybe it is just time for peace to end, war to begin, run its course and enter an era of rebuilding the world. A cleansing, rebirth and new social advancement. History repeating/mirroring itself. Maybe the advancing of a larger hidden agenda.

Having lived in peace and in a free country, it is a hard bridge to cross thinking it cannot happen here. We are not that special as to be left out of a full collapse of the society and war on our lands. To be spared from a global free-for-all is most naive. And if I may be so bold, do we really fully understand the depths to which all of this can go and how quickly?

If we awake tomorrow to the event(s) precipitating war, a Pearl Harbor, buildings-falling-in-New-York-City event, coming and going missiles in the air event or "the happening" event we recognize as Day One in a long and undetermined future, how will we behave and react? 

"The sky is falling"--"the sky is falling"--"the sky is falling"--"the sky is falling"--. . Media, print and blogs, the Henny Penny panic has me exponentially numbed. 

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And within all of my humanly worry, life does march on around us.

If only we could grow gardens as well as the lilies grow on their own.

The lilies at the left have doubled in size in just one day. They are working their yearly program, on schedule.

  

I always look forward to the first garlic peaking out of the winter straw. The strongest push through first and sets me to pulling up top layers of straw to let in more warmth. 

We can grow garlic easily.


 




Chives, too, returning after the hard winter months. Just a little combing with my hands to take out the dead strands and they are off and running. Time for some water and a little food.
 





Potatoes seeding on their own in the dark under stair storage compartment. Going to get them in the ground out back and let them have a go at living in the wild this season. They are healthy, more than ready.







A CELL-PHONE CAMERA "HACK"

I am pleasantly surprised at the quality of photos and videos I can get using my cellphone camera. BUT, my hand-shake kills all the completed videos.  How to steady the camera?

T-Nut (10-24 thread) drilled and tapped into place with a hammer using scrap plywood

Photo mono pod removable base screwed to plywood holder. Note that I have used velcro on the plywood holder and then some on the back of the cell phone.

Plywood base and mono pod base plate secured into mono pod left. 

Cell phone stuck into home made plywood bracket right and also works in landscape mode.

I used a thicker CA glue for assembly, parts clamped into place using a hand spring clamp.

I had to "after cut" out the notch in the front so I could access the on/off cell phone switch/photo or movie when mounted in portrait.   

My intent is to have the mono pod and plywood base in the truck as I travel. The cell phone quickly attaches/detaches using velcro. A couple heavy duty rubber bands would work in  place of velcro too.  

Works fine for the first prototype attempt. Cost under $2 for parts and use of scrap wood. I suggest the use of plywood as smaller pieces of regular wood may split during the assembly of the T-nut. 

This also works using any tri-pod base too. The only little issue I have is the need to put a little pressure on the camera when attaching. This insures a secure phone to the plywood part. Comes off easily.  Testing proves it works, just need to play with it more.

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 Homelite gas engine skill saw rebuild video

Nineteen minutes and I could not stop watching. Old-school repair of equipment.

This is the fellow you want as a neighbor. 

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4000 ELK, 15 TONS OF HAY PER DAY

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Keep Calm and Carry On was a motivational poster produced by the British government in 1939 in preparation for the Second World War. The poster was intended to raise the morale of the British public, threatened with widely predicted mass air attacks on major cities. (Bing Search)

Ought to work just fine for us this coming week.

 

 

PNEUMONIA, NOT THE COLD or FLU WE THOUGHT IT WAS

Easter morning, temperatures heading to the low 80's and the wife wants to sit outside for having been housebound and mostly bedded due to pneumonia for the past three days. The horse pills she is taking says stay out of the sun so we found a spot fitting to those instructions, with a warming westerly breeze over the porch. 

She had just finished a large bowl of late-morning homemade chicken noodle soup and had perked up. The first visible up-tick in the past three days from my perspective. And our golden just had to join us as she is well-tuned into daily motions of the home. The golden followed her outside, as did I and we enjoyed a most wonderful Easter morning. What could have been better, my wife on the mend, color in her face, a smile or two and our dog by our side surveying her kingdom. 

The yard above is a wonderful representation of post-winter, early spring lawn.   Matted down and pointing to all that we need to be getting outside to do. Thatching, trimming, picking up and first applications of fertilizer and weed control. We also add tick killer to close-in lawns as the dog spends a lot of time on them.

Priceless simple things.

On a more serious side of all of this is that pneumonia is nothing to play around with. We first self-diagnosed her with a cold/flu symptoms. Similar at the start. Some congestion, wheezing, stuffy nose and so forth. And then overnight it changed to outright knocking her down. Listless and in need of help. 

We have over the past several years found a wonderful healthcare option in the CVS Minute Clinic. A walk-in health clinic with the ability to go to the site linked here and make an appointment. I used it last year when I again found a tick bite with classic red circle around it. Diagnosed and meds prescribed. Same as if I had gone to my regular doctor w/o all of the added rigamarole of appointments, etc. The wife called CVS, made an appointment (within a two-hour window). I drove to town and was seen within a half-hour's wait. Walk-ins get in line and depending, most likely seen within an hour. We took a chance on our first visit due to the immediacy of the threat of Lyme disease so prevalent here in New England. Of course, it was on a Saturday morning when we discovered the bite mark.

The attending nurse practitioners we have seen have been articulate, professional, thorough and spot on. Detailed report given to patients and the same is mailed to patient's PCP (primary care physician). I followed up two months later with blood work from my PCP for the tick bite but I had to insist on the blood work and said I would pay if there was a problem within their system. Things are sometimes sticky in health care these days. Between lengthy waiting times to get seen, much less the increasingly intrusive questions directed by Obamacare, having a personal relationship with one's doctor is uncommon.  And there are still advantages to living in a more rural area like ours.

While we are fortunate to have doctors who always find a way for excellent care on their patients' behalf, it is the wait time that, more often than not, can be serious road blocks to immediate care.

So off to CVS we go.  My wife was immediately diagnosed with pneumonia, prescribed an inhaler and a 5-day course of killer horse pills for the infection. (Horse pills are our description of larger than normal pills) She was told she was already the second person seen with pneumonia that morning.  She was told to followup with her regular doc just to make sure it was gone.  Seems x-rays are a surefire way to confirm but something CVS can neither perform nor prescribe.

All said and done here, we found pneumonia was nothing to play with. It can kill you. I have never seen my wife go downhill so quickly and even she admits this is the sickest she has ever been. Suffice it to say, my awareness of this is elevated. Flu and cold symptoms from now on will be run by some type of health care professional at the on-set.  I think we both forget we are older and probably more susceptible to pneumonia and other sorts of conditions. But my advice here is to park this complication in permanent memory and err on the side of getting checked out at the onset of cold and flu like symptoms, regardless of your age.

There was a time young folk do not know about and that was when availability of a doctor and health care was but a phone call away. Wait times were hours on the day we would call, at worst. Walk-ins with serious cut fingers or hands were taken on arrival. Our doctors knew us and we them and quite often our paths crossed at grocery stores or community events. Always a moment to say hello and "everybody knows your name."

• In my late 20's or early 30's, I was home slicing off bacon rind from a slab of bacon. I had just sharpened the knife to razor sharp and in the process of applying the same force slicing, went through the bacon rind and into my finger. Deep, clean cut requiring stitches.
  
  I was home alone w/o a vehicle so decided to walk to a nearby doctor's office. Not my family doctor mind you, just a doctor nearby. This was an old cantankerous doctor that had been the community forever. For sure, a no-nonsense kind of guy.
  
  He took me in, cleaned the wound and sewed me up w/o use of any local anesthetic. I think I winced at the first stitch and he asked me if I wanted him to finish. I did and he did and now it is a great story. Those were the days!!
  
  How would that play out today?
  
  

Now my question and fitting with YMATA: is pneumonia survivable without access to health care? Are there meds we should get our hands on to have here just for this? What else can/could we do? I think with pneumonia there comes a point of no return and it comes fairly quickly. Looking back now, we should have taken my wife in several days earlier. But years of having colds and flus programmed us to let it ride its course.  Never again.

It is the day after Easter now. My wife did lay down this morning after taking horse pill #4 as these are serious meds. Back again on a glide slope to health, an hour later she's up again much like her normal self, complaining only that "man, these are kicking my ass."  We presume they are doing the same to the infection.

For all that we have done here with plugging holes for the after, we have missed the seriousness of pneumonia and how easily a simple flu or cold symptom can turn into a dangerous medical condition. 

I welcome comments on this post regarding pneumonia. Helpful to all readers. Thanks.

EASTER 2017 & PNEUMONIA

Called the family pilot and told her to put the Lear back in the hanger yesterday morning and to take the Easter weekend off. I also requested she cancel our attendance at Easter Brunch in Key Largo today and any other get togethers connected to our prior travel plans this Easter weekend.

My better half has come down with a case of pneumonia. Took her to the doctor Friday to get checked over and sure enough the gal is walking sick. She tells me that she feels that she has been in a constant prize fight this weekend and from the looks of her yesterday morning, the score cards were not favoring her. It was the far off stare while sitting at the breakfast table that is tell tale of her condition. 

Her breathing has improved and the horse pills she is taking apparently kills anything within a mile of her. I picked up a couple quarts of yogurt with live cultures yesterday to help keep some bugs alive in her for digestion. That is as good as my medical degree can explain live cultures in yogurt. Surprisingly Vanilla Bean yogurt tastes like an accompanying dessert with breakfast and dinner now. I took to eating a few small helpings with her out of pneumonia support. Who knew that yogurt tasted so damn good.

I came to the realization that the only family member living here that is not medicated, is the cat. And is not for the trying to get her on some. She is a semi wild barn cat and I cannot catch her. It has been over two years since I last tried to catch her and it is so traumatizing for all of us, I've given in.  It takes a full month, after a cat catching attempt, for all of to return to normal routines while in the same vicinity of each other. 

Snow all but melted officially this weekend. Just the back road folks who have a small pile here and there. The highway and town drives show spring now. Temperatures this weekend in the seventies and low eighties and hint of summer coming. Gets us talking of what to plant in gardens and lots of yard cleaning. We have an official list on the kitchen table now of some priorities. We need more staff. 

Worldly stuff: I read a few stories now where the gas attack in Syria was a false flag; it was fake; it never happened; why would any leader gas their own people; and so forth. Wag The Dog me thinks. I watched this movie years and years ago and found it distantly entertaining. Watched it again a few months ago and it scared the hell out of me. 

Son called a few days ago to ask if I was watching the news. I said no and he said that we had just dropped a bomb (quickly I finished his sentence thinking North Korea) on ISIS; a MOAB. Taking it to the tunnel systems at $314 million; oops not now, the cost is now down to $170,000 per unit according to my recent query of MOAB costs. Who knows? 

But I, like you, am concerned of NK and all the talk exchange of nuclear war as if we were trying to decide between a Big Mac or a Quarter Pounder.  Nonchalant worldly conversations between medical pill cure commercials. 

By the way, do you have your Potassium Iodide Tablets for you and all members of your family yet? Do you have them in your Bug out bags? Have you read the when's, where's, do's and dont's of taking these tablets? FYI, these tablets disappeared for months after Fukushima. "What's in your wallet"? or "Don't leave home with out it." You may very well regret not getting these ordered today!!

More Stuff:  I am joyed at learning of the new Russian Robot that can fire pistols using two hands.  “The robot of the F.E.D.O.R. platform showed skills of firing using both arms. Currently the work on fine motor skills and decision algorithms is underway,” 

Thank goodness that they are working on the decision algorithms. All the design work showing an armed robot. I was worried there for just a moment. Thought robots might best be designed by man to help the human race, not extinguish it. Best we start changing current gun instructions from "two center mass" to "a full magazine into the CPU"!! Change ammunition purchases from FMJ or Personal Protection to Armour Piercing. Maybe best to add a M82A1,  Gepard M1 or M107A1 to our gun belts if we are this close to the "Aluminum's" roaming at will with fine motor skills and new algorithms. 

And if fake news along with a most crazy world, the media is now but a misunderstood translation or bold print headline from starting WWIII. If a news headline can be the casual factor for a country go to war, then we are even deeper than I can imagine. From Zero Hedge  Bloomberg posts wrong headline regarding NK missle launch. Yep, just more fake news and all to have bragging rights on being first with a story. Even if the story headline is wrong and nudges us closer to pushing buttons. Not like the world is a little eye winky enough as it is.

Lets wait 24-48 hours on any news headline. Seems to take that long for the "more" truths to come forth. 

And just before posting this morning, I did read where NK did try to launch yesterday, but it blew up on the pad. Could just be a few geeks playing with NK missile systems for entertainment?

Big Bang Theory crew sends signal around the world to switch on a lamp. Funny and scary at the same time. 

Back to the home front:

The wife has shown signs of surviving. Has wanting desire for home made Chicken Noodle soup and having a Easter appetite for cow off the bbq grill for dinner tonight. Good signs. 

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Add a little bit securing of our nests along with crowd avoidance, heads up and that crazy paying attention to our surroundings thing this week!

I wish you laughter this week.

THE WHITE WINGED WEEKEND WARRIOR

 Photo from jamesstrauss.com

I have some difficulty falling asleep at night. Even going to bed, droopy-eyed and tired, my mind still clicks on. Maybe in compound low and slowly pondering the most mundane of things. One night this past week, I happened upon wondering how I would go about identifying as a chicken. 

Tongue in cheek for sure, but with just a hint of seriousness on the side. I gave time as to how I would go about that. My mind had to be doing something, going somewhere that night, why not here? I could never come up with the how-to and wherefores of accomplishing this. If I could, then I thought I could better understand a small percentage of the population that deals with trans-racial, trans-gender or other "trans" digressions / actor or actress / species identifying phenomenon. But I cannot/could not and I tried. 

I considered telling the wife that next morning, I wanted to have a talk about self identifying as a chicken. I knew she would be supportive, as she always is and still love me through my change. 

Knowing her, she would be on board and help me along to my awakening. She might  take my morning cup of coffee with vanilla flavoring and pour it in the sink all the while explaining that chickens do not drink morning coffee. She might ask that now that I am a chicken in a 72 year-old man body, will I still like chicken soup, scrambled eggs or Chicken Pot Pie?  She would ask how I would explain to my son that his father now identified as a chicken? How would I, with a serious face, explain to other friends? That would be a problem I could see.

I thought she might suggest that I will have to move outside that day, into the wood shed, as she will not be able to deal with chicken s**t and other dirty chicken lifestyles in the house.  I would explain that it would be very easy to just put "CHICKENS" on the door of the small bathroom in the hallway and that would be my bathroom; problem solved. She would agree, get out a card board box lid, write on it and tape it on the bathroom door for me to see. I would walk to the door to see "WOMEN" on the sign so that I might better fully grasp my plight.

Thinking of going chicken worked one wonder that night for I did not remember falling asleep and woke up well rested and refreshed.  I never did cross the bridge to self identifying as anything other than man.

I've gone one step further to see if there was anything I could seriously identify with and to the very best of my ability, there were none. A Norwegian / Russian / Lithuanian man was all I could come up; man being the easiest and most prominent component. 

Then a smile came over my face as my chickening bought back an old radio show hero memory, Chicken Man, the White Winged Weekend Warrior. How could I not remind you of Chicken Man or introduce new YMATA readers to him? He is a legend and one of my favorite superheroes.  

Yes, you have time to listen to the first four episodes. Chicken Man has a way of growing on you as he should.

More here: 

Or Here: 

There is never a better time in our history than now to bring back Chicken Man to fight crime and help us through the difficult times we live in. "Come back Chicken Man; come back, the world needs you."

W-e-l-l-l-l, can Midland City spare/share CM with other states and cities in need of help? Will Ms. Helfinger come to assist his crime fighting while on loan------------------------------------OK!!

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Three years ago Sheldon Cooper was disappointed that he would not live long enough for the singularity when man and machine will meld together. Her and I laughed for the Sheldon Cooper's character is a most unique man with most unique perspectives. 

I remembered this episode and vaguely thinking that if any of this is possible that I would not see it in my life time. I still have ten years more most likely, twenty at the outside, unless some unforeseen event. I figured I would be past these years before singularity happens. 

These days now, I am thinking Sheldon and I just may be around to witness this unavoidable event.

For all that is going on in this world, I find studying, pondering and blogging about AI, Robots and The Singularity fun mind time. There is no doubt it is coming and that all the hoopla to avoid, control or have human discussion for proper channeling and controlling the advancing AI technology is blowing smoke where the sun don't shine. We are doomed. Those far-out futuristic movies, maybe not so much. I fear it is already too late and the chicken is out of the bag!!

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HUMANS is a recent two-season TV series. Her and I binged season 1 and then watched season 2 over the winter. "...the series explores the themes of artificial intelligence and robotics, focusing on the social, cultural, and psychological impact of the invention of anthropomorphic robots called "synths". (wikipedia)

It is well-written and acted by new talented actors that we have not seen before (refreshing in of itself). If you have not watched this series and are interested, make sure you watch from the first episode. I do not think you will be disappointed given the current bottom feeding of most all TV programing.

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There is a story floating on the net this past week about one of the automatic floor vacuum machines getting into some dog poo and then running with it. I found the story, skimmed the article and that was enough for me. There was even a photo of the round vacuum cleaner gooey mess to help complete the story. 

I took a different slant on this technological mishap.  I doubt that the engineers sitting around a table talking design, function, marketing, problem solving and the great future of such an invention ever gave thought to the "what ifs" of the vacuum getting into a situation like this. They took their assignments and returned to the team project build or individual computer design model work. But I doubt this new age tool was never run through the dog s**t design scenario.

Ask yourself next time you see great advances in science, for the betterment of mankind if the designers / engineers and builders have run the design and prototyping through unforeseen events in the products work environment? We might ask these new inventors if their design has passed "the dog s**t" test?

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Give some thought to walking open town streets and roads while attending farmer's markets these coming seasons. Sadly, they are proving to be easy target-rich environments.  

Have a wonderful week, stay alert and give into treating yourself to something special this week!!