Blocked

I have been blocked by the “Blocked Sender” list. No matter how many times I block Key West Vacations, Belize Vacations, Sanibel Vacations, Lower Mortgage Rates, Buy a Foreclosure, and even Female Seduction enticements, they keep flooding my in-box.

What's a person to do? It's easier to just keep deleting them than trying to block them. If you click on “block message,” you get a question: “do you want to block this message and if you do, all subsequent messages from this sender will be blocked.” It's a myth. Doesn't happen.

No subsequent messages are blocked. The senders change their email addresses just enough to let their come-ons slip through the alleged blockade.

If someone has a solution to this problem I'd like to know about it.

Oops, just got an email from a company offering me “50K coverage, no credit required.” None given, either.

There is no end to this. (Sigh.)

Remembrances of Storm Coverage Past

As I watched the TV lead ups to our current snow storm I couldn't help remembering when I was in charge of orchestrating this kind of coverage as Metro Editor for WCBS-TV News, Ch. 2, in the 1970s.

Some things haven't changed much in 40 or so years. The correspondents are reporting from the usual choke points, the weathermen or women are literally in their elements predicting as best they can what we can expect. But tempered but major hurricanes and Katrina-like disasters, public officials now take no chances. States of Emergency have been declared, schools are closed and we've all been warned to batten our hatches, stock our larders (if we have any) and stay out of the way.

Today, we take for granted the blanket coverage TV gives with live reports from all over the world. When I started in TV news we still had film cameras; once shot on location, the film had to be brought back to the lab for processing and then edited for air. A laborious process.

I still remember when we got our first video camera. We couldn't wait to broadcast LIVE from a remote location. Where was it? On the sidewalk outside our building. The weatherman was reporting in real time from 30 feet away. Never mind what he had to say, the fact was he was reporting LIVE.

One small step for live broadcasting so many years ago.

Let's Try Again

I last blogged on March 16, 2013, railing, at that time, against The Sequester. Well, you all know what happened after that. Millions took pay cuts or lost their jobs altogether and eventually the government was shut down and we had to cancel our vacation to DC.

But this is a New Year and we're going to try again to keep current. I'm not into the bests and worsts of last year, nor do I have "great expectations" for 2014. As an octogenarian, my lists more or less incline toward smaller expectations.

For example: getting out of bed in the morning and making it through the day without dropping something or hurting anyone, myself included.

I'm still battling modern technology, tho. My latest bugaboo is the flood of spam clogging my email box. I have engaged the "block message" application but that hasn't stopped the flow of spam from the same sources I've been "blocking." How do they get through?

I did indulge in a smart phone but often miss messages because it's on "vibrate" because the beeping from those spam emails drives me nuts. I do not have a Twitter account and I rarely look at Facebook. So much for me and social media.

Well, it's the first of the New Year and I don't want to wear out my welcome right away.

So Happy New Year and stay tuned.

Beware THE SEQUESTER!

It stalks the land. It feasts on the young. It fears the Old.

It is unstoppable. It is fearless.

The Sequester!

Never have we seen anything like it. It’s HUGE. It’s voracious!

Politicians tremble in its wake. Or quake in its presence.

A small band of Sequesterers cheer it on. Shoveling huge chunks of money at its maw.

Who can stand up to it?

NO ONE! It is relentless and will not be stopped.

BEWARE THE SEQUESTER!

Unless you’re over 65.

In which case, YOU are the problem, living too long, feeding at the public trough, sucking the life out of the national treasure.

Beware old people. Your entitlements could be next.

No one ever expects SEQUESTER TWO!

Bobbing for Brains

Headline:

"Obama Seeking to Boost Study of Human Brain"

Suggest start with Congress, if you can find a brain among them.

Happy New Year and Hello Again

OK, I've been remiss. I haven't posted since last May. Sorry about that.

So we'll try again to keep you up with my musings. The following has been on my mind for a while. Try it on yours.

Ode to Congress

You kept me dangling
nerves a'jangling
Upper lip stiff
On the Fiscal Cliff.

Now I'm reeling
Queasily feeling
Suspensefully dealing
With the debt ceiling.

Must we lurch
from perch to perch
without surcease
to fiscal peace?

In our lifetime?

Help!

Pundit Pity

Pity the poor pundits. They are right all the time. But, if their opinions brook no contradiction, are they no longer opinions but, in fact, fact? No wonder we are confused.

It has to be hard to come up with a 600-word essay twice a week. I have trouble creating a few paragraphs every so often that I hope will be interesting and perhaps amusing. And I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything. And I certainly don't get paid for my efforts.

This is not to say I don't have opinions. But so many opinions are flying around all sorts of media I confess I'm intimidated to offer my own. Thus, I'm not disappointed if no one pays attention to me.

Not so for the pontificating pundits who constantly offer their opinions on how to right the wrongs of the world. I hope they're not frustrated at the end of the day when they realize their words fall on deaf ears. But do not fret, dear pundit, I'm always curious about you may say next.

So keep opining, Oh, pundits fine, the field is yours, the decisions mine.