The Burning Questions

  Jay Leno aired his last episode as host of The Tonight Show on Friday, May 29th.  He held the position for 17 years and is passing it on to Conan O’Brien, host of Late Night.  Leno took over when Carson retired causing scandal at NBC.

David Letterman had his sights set on the top spot in late night after following Carson for years and was insulted by NBC’s decision to cast Leno, Carson’s understudy, for the role as host.  Letterman left his show at NBC (Late Night) to host Late Show for CBS.  Conan O’Brien took his spot on Late Show and is soon to take over the role that caused Letterman to leave NBC.

Conan O’Brien is a very different comedian than Leno or Carson.  He has a much more flamboyant style than either of the two previous hosts and is, of course, much taller. lol.  The previous hosts, Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, and Jay Leno have all had different styles, but O’Brien is by far different than any of the others.

Will he succeed as host on The Tonight Show?  Let’s explore this question.  He does have his own following on the Late Show.  He has written for “The Simpsons” and was one of the more popular writers there in the early 90’s.  He is, however, taking over a show that has been the industry standard for over 50 years and will be placed in a position that could ultimately land him in exile for his strange comedic presence.  Many of the viewers of the show are of older traditions and may not stand for his off-the-wall approach to humor.  He is also not the professional, in my opinion, that his predecessors were.  This could land him in hot water with the older crowd.  Screwing up The Tonight Show would be a disaster for his career as well as the longevity of the show which has run since 1954.

So, will The Tonight Show ever be the same?  I doubt it.  Will it continue on?  For sure.  Will Conan O’Brien be the quality showman that the previous hosts have been?  No way.  Will Dave Letterman be happy to see Conan cause the ratings to slide?  Probably so.  All I can say is good luck, Conan.  I think you are going to need it.

Is it inherent that news be bad?  Turn on the “boob tube” and someone somewhere is telling everybody about all the death and destruction in the world.  Change the channel, and they’re talking about how someone was sexually assaulted or their child was molested.  Another channel, another tragedy.  What the…?

Are we addicted to the bad news?  Would we really rather see about Britney’s next poor decision?  Is there anyone out there that turns off the television when it seems to be nothing but bad?  I know I do.  I have a hard time understanding what the deal is.  The news broadcasts obviously get better ratings for bad news or they wouldn’t produce such lousy information.  Why do they get better ratings?  Because most people would rather watch the crap that these broadcasts smear all over the backs of their retinas than learn of something beautiful or inspirational.  One answer I received for these questions was “That kind of stuff should be on the learning channel or PBS.  The news is for telling us what is wrong with the world.”  WHAT?  Is this really the way most people think?  I have no idea…but I have to do something about this way of thinking.

I’ll make up my own good news!  The following are fictitous representations of what I believe would be good news for today…Today in North Korea, an explosion blew up the nuclear weapons production facility…no one was hurt except for those that believe they were doing a good deed for society by producing such devices…Next, a wildfire saved a family…their campfire got out of hand and spread rapidly across the wooded area in which they had setup camp…they were all thinking how much of a pain in the ass this last ditch effort of a camping trip was until they had to work together to save themselves and the forest…they now realize how important life and family can be and will take care of each other from here on out…One more…in the news today:  People threw out their televisions.  Digital converters will no longer be needed as all people threw out those infernal televisions and went outside to see the world.  There was a massive amount of happiness and reflection as the general public realized that television news was sucking the life out of them and rejected it.  Good job, World!

  When starting out an online persona, one wonders who do I follow?  Where should I set up my profile so I can follow who I want?  What sites should I bookmark?  What are the social networking sites that will get me the most exposure?  All are valid questions.  All have answers as well.

When one is simple and not of the long attention span, Twitter and Stumbleupon come to mind.  These are both simple places to use and highly trafficked.  One can follow Oprah Winfrey’s tweets and  Ashton Kutcher(@aplusk) tweets as well.  Of course, there are many more people to follow around on the internet.  There are many more sites to see across the vastness of cyberspace;)

More involved and more difficult to navigate are sites such as LinkedIn or MySpace.  LinkedIn has a plethora of professional profiles to search through.  One can use this information to help with the setup of a more defined profile.  MySpace is the place to meet a variety of personalities to gain friendships and promote your work to people outside the confines of your average social site.

There are many places one can sign up to see what others are up to and/or promote one’s passions.  All one has to do is look around. Once you’ve found the places you understand and enjoy, sign up!

Recently, there has been an onslaught of articles recommending that we take away the right to possess, talk on, or text on cell phones at given times. I am tired of people trying to revoke my rights as a United States citizen. I know cell phones weren’t listed in the Constitution, but: Police officers have been using communications devices while driving for quite a few years now, as well as utility workers and others. They are hardly ever found at fault for a device-related crash. They are commended for driving at high speeds while doing their job, part of which is properly communicating their position over the air! So tell me that a police officer that can drive over 100 mph is a better human than I, therefore giving him the right to talk while driving without judgment and without distraction. Tell me that education of use of the equipment as well as stricter rules for passing the driver’s course and test, along with using proper equipment aren’t a better way rather than take more of our civil liberties away from us. You can’t have trans fat, you can’t have a smoke, you can’t have a phone in your car…Next thing they will be telling us that we can’t do what we want within our own homes….OH, THEY ALREADY DO THAT! Give the rights reductions a break people or we won’t have any left!

  Chrysler recently announced it’s closing of nearly 800 dealerships across the United States.  This is part of the plan to save the manufacturer from closing its doors.  They seem to be in the worst shape of “The Big Three” as they have also been working with Fiat to salvage their struggling company.  GM intends on releasing their list of dealerships that they intend on closing on May 16.  Ford has already come to terms with the reductions necessary, but are not obligated by government monies to give details.

The deal with closing all these stores is that this will mean that many more jobs lost to this destructive economic situation.  Thousands of salesman and office personnel will soon be out on the street with the millions of others searching for a new job.  This will lead to even less people able to purchase such things as new automobiles.  Chrysler will be giving jobs to Fiat employees as well if things go the way they plan.  The government is forcing cuts by GM and Chrysler in return for the loans they need to continue operating.

Will closing dealerships keep Chrysler and GM from shutting down?  Will they stay operational long enough to survive this drought?  Will the government’s money save them or simply prolong the agony which they are currently enduring?  Stay tuned…

  Since the inception of the worldwide web, we have seen technological advancements that have changed our world forever.  Originally designed for communications, the web has grown into a massive storage space for information.  The information contained is can be helpful, yet is all too often used as a tool of destruction.  People all over the world are using the “internet” as a weapon now.

Recently, there was news that our power grids had been accessed from outside the U.S.  First of all, why is there any possibility that this can be done?  Secondly, why is our nation’s power supply even attached to the internet?  I understand that it is key to be able to communicate effectively across the open spaces of our country to keep this industry running efficiently,  I just do not know why it can be turned on and off from the push of a button by a person sitting at a computer.  It is one of the life-bloods of our society.  To have one individual from anywhere in the world be able to access this system is  preposterous!  This is just one of the reasons that leave me to believe that our world is at the mercy of those fanatics that sit at the keyboard day and night attempting to destroy something with the push of a button.

How many other critical systems in the world are attached to this “communications” marvel?  Nearly all of them.  The power companies, fuel distribution systems, our own government’s computers, anything having to do with anything-all plugged into the worldwide web.  Is this a smart move on the nations around the world?  Massive chaos and unrest could resort from just one really persistent hacker’s clicks.  The world could be turned upside down in a matter of days if the power is shut down.  Food supplies would be destroyed.  Industries would shut down.  People would riot and loot.  Our world would be turned upside down in just a few days.

How can we sit back and wait for this disaster to happen?  The power companies and government both agree that there need to be better safeguards in place.  How about we simply disconnect these things from the web?  Go back to using people to fix and diagnose and run things!  That isn’t such a hard thing to do, is it?  The net has only been around for a short period of time, but has already become so ingrained into our key systems that there is no turning back?  I will not be forced into believing such nonsense.

There is only one solution to the problems we face with this dilemma:  UNPLUG IT!  Go back to using real people to take care of things that are important.  The internet was designed for communications.  Let’s leave it at that!  Play games, write a paper, meet people, but do not install the power buttons to our key systems on it.  I think whoever originally thought this was a good idea ought to get a swift kick in the…

  The Emerald Ash Borer is a foreign predator to a variety of trees here in North America.  It was imported to the United States in the recent past (rumored to have come here in infested packaging from Asia)  and has become a destroyer of one of the nation’s finest natural resources-our Ash trees.  There are billions of trees at stake.  This beautiful metallic-green bug has no natural enemies here in North America and is breeding at an alarming rate.  Soon, there not be a single state that has not been infected by this flying, tree-killing menace.

Image Source

What are we going to do about this problem?  So far it seems as though our nation has given up the fight and has resigned to fact that all of the stock of Ash trees in our National Forests is doomed.  The campaign that is prevalent amongst Ash Borer projects is one against the transportation of firewood.  That is what we are currently doing to deal with a problem that should be taken on as a war on our own soil.

Even the searches that I have done to find out about the bug at our government’s websites haven’t been much more productive than what I can find out by reading the flyer at the local gas station.  I could leave the links here to pictures and information, but I would like my readers to try to find out more about this problem.  What are we going to do about this problem?  Is there more on the table than a bunch of signs posted at localities to warn people not to move wood?  I would like to know all that I can about this topic.

I do know that the invader has infected the following states per information from the Forestry Service :

Michigan-2002

Maryland-2003

Ohio-2003

Virginia-2003…The pests were eradicated.  The EAB was reconfirmed to have infested the forests of Virginia in 2008.

Indiana-2004

Illinois-2006

Pennsylvania-2007

West Virginia-2007

Missouri-2008

Wisconsin-2008

That is ten states in six years!  This nuisance has also infected parts of Canada.  At this rate, we will be seeing this pest completely infecting the U.S. soon.  Maybe as soon as ten or fifteen years.  That is my personal opinion, of course, but how could I be wrong as fast as these things are spreading?  Simply stopping the transport of firewood will no longer be an option if our nation is to save this tree population.  There is a seed collection program, but I believe that is a cop-out.  We are far more capable as a nation of great minds than that.

  People are told every day about the mental deficits they have.  Doctors, psychiatrists, and psychologists tell many that they need drugs to control their behavior.  It is not often you hear someone say, “My shrink told me that I’m fine.”

So what is wrong with us?  We are human.  That is all.  Humans are very capable of error.  Some errors are greater than others, however, we are capable of making them.  Don’t spend life wondering…what is wrong with me?  Life is a gift.  We should spend more time asking ourselves, “What can I do better?”  Constant improvement should be everyone’s goal.  If we spent more time as a society attempting to improve rather than worrying about things that drag us down, we would feel better as a whole.

We carry around all of these negative feelings about ourselves that are embedded into our psyche by judgment from others-why is that?  There is no reason to think about one’s self in a negative light.  Why bother with that waste of time?  Why let someone else control how you feel?  Change how the world sees you.  Wake up for the day and put some effort into whatever it is that you do and tell yourself at the end of the day that no matter what happened, you tried.  You don’t need to pay somebody by the hour to tell you that-tell yourself and you’ll feel better.

  A little strange…a little dark, a little light-Adam Lambert may be these things, but there is one thing that he is definitely: talent.  He has gotten Simon to throw his criticisms out the window and give nothing but praise nearly every week.  The crowds and judges alike have stood in ovation of the young rising star.  He has managed to be humble and excited on stage, which shows his level of composure.  Composure has been one of his mainstays when not showcasing his awesome vocal and performing abilities.

I ask you this: Will he be the runaway winner on American Idol this season?  He was supposedly in the bottom three last week, but I think that was a charade.  There is no doubt that he has the best musical and performing skills on the Idol stage this season. Will that be enough for him to overcome his difference of appearance amongst other choices?  It should be, if the voters really vote for musical ability alone.  We will see.

  Why is the sky blue?  Why is the earth round?  Why is one breast bigger than the other?  The question “Why?’ plagues the human race day after day.  If the question “Why?” did not exist, we would still be living in the stone ages.  This question has probably led to nearly every revolution, every scientific discovery, technological breakthrough, advancement in civilization, just about every last little mentionable topic has risen from this simple question.

So why don’t more people stand up and ask questions like why are we a “free” nation but are forced to wear our safety belts?  Why do we pay taxes for other people to use that money for things that are not necessary or do not even exist?  Why do we drive on the parkway, but park in the driveway?  Why does everything cause cancer?  Why do only the good die young?  Why do we even care?

Because without that tiny powerful word, I couldn’t ask this question:  WHY can scientists figure out what elements the sun is composed of, but can’t figure out how to create a feasible vehicle that doesn’t pollute the environment?  Just wanted to throw that out there…

  It has been stated that our economy is in a recession for a while now.  The housing, credit, auto, stock, and banking markets have all posted staggering losses of profit in the recent past.  Unemployment rates have risen drastically.  Morale has declined swiftly.  President Obama has raised many eyebrows with the drastic measures he has taken to stall the economy’s decline.  People are worried.

Today, there is good news.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ, and the S&P 500 will all begin the day with gains between two and four percent.  Analysts stated that the housing market made some gains as well.  It seems as though things may be looking up.  Or are they?

We still have to deal with the current national unemployment rate of 8.5%.  This is as high as it has been since November 1983.  With the industries in the United States still reeling from the failing marketplace, we will more than likely see a higher unemployment rate to come.  We are still hearing news of job losses and cutbacks across the board.  The trends of the past thirty years show the bottom coming soon, though.

Graph chart of the National Unemployment Rate for the last thirty years

Image via:Bureau of Labor Statistics

So…is the economy making a comeback?  I believe it is showing the signs.  There are seasonal variables to calculate into the equation, but we are nearing the bottom of the barrel.  Many companies have fallen to this tough period and a lot of fat has been cut.  Soon,  we will begin a new phase of our restructuring: rebuilding.  There will be new prosperity to come.  This is all simply my opinion , of course, but a look into our history shows undeniable details that relate to our situation today.  We will soon be getting “back on our feet” and growing again.  This is what we do.  This is what America the beautiful has done since the beginning.

       The existence of aliens has long since been a topic of discussion either realistically or jokingly. The conversation may have even ruined lives, doubted credibility or landed someone in a white room.  The debate has come to life again this year with many hot topics reaching the news, some say NASA has new pictures of an alien skull, which found its way into the news recently. There has even been some scientific debate about the possibility of it being real:

The picture is not the only news on this topic though, as recently as last month, Edgar D. Mitchell, the Apollo 14 Astronaut who made the longest moonwalk in history, was quoted as saying “It is now time to put away this embargo of truth about the alien presence,” “We are being visited.” Implying that the Government should go public with news it has apparently held secret.

We may soon know more as Mitchell suggested that the Paradigm Research Group  has an enormous and substantial network, and quite a bit of documentary evidence connected to this, particularly politically. They also implied that they will be willing to start supplying to the media this evidence should the information not be publicly disclosed by the end of May.

Keep your eyes open for more..