Real News vs. Fake News vs. Spin … How to tell?

When you listen to the news today, there is a lot of strange of information going around. Some people will listen to one story over the other and assume that is the truth. Others will want to be able to get more than one version and figure out what is going on for themselves.

Real News: news that can be verified by more than one source. They will often be willing to site sources that can be independently verified. If it is in a major news article on the news channels there will be several news channels with similar information.

Fake News: channels or stories that are to show the spin that one side is wanting to show. This can be in the form of an alternate narrative or it can be telling the same thing over enough times to where it becomes what the people it is targeting as ‘the truth’. These can be simple things like telling people over and over that the media can’t be trusted due to the fact they don’t tell the truth. {Sound familiar}.

Spin: spin is a form of propaganda. It is taking a story and showing a bias to what part of it that you tell. Spin is often used as part of propaganda to make the ‘alternate information’ easier to digest. When people use spin, they will often have a person that works as a propaganda lead to make sure the story gets told correctly.

Why should we worry about this? With everything that is going on in the news today, we should worry more than ever about what we are hearing. The more that we get told things that aren’t correct and don’t call the people on it the more that the ‘spin’ is working.

The recent events at Helsinki this year will show you what I am talking about. There have been three different versions of the same questions that were put out by the press. “A Reuters reporter had asked Putin, “Did you want President Trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?” To which Putin replied, “Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.–Russia relationship back to normal.” ^{1}

However, when you look at the White House Transcript the same question is put in this way. “Q: And did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?” PRESIDENT PUTIN: Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.–Russia relationship back to normal.” ^{2} The Russian transcript doesn’t even have the question.

Asking questions: Asking questions will make people smarter. As long as we have the ability to ask questions on what is going on then we are going to be able to try to figure out what the truth is.

 

 

 

Sources:

1} https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2018/jul/25/trump-putin-and-case-missing-question/

2} https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/07/trump-putin-press-conference-transcript/565385/

    

Health Care … Cost over Care …

Everyone needs health care during their life. We all have the need to make sure that we are healthy. We need to make sure that we are strong, eating well and getting what we need. When you listen to some of the news channels you would think that there is no way that the country can afford it. The thing is that we can if we try. We look at the way the tax breaks are being given and can see the problems but there are those that don’t want everyone to have it. Why is that? Who has the right to make the choice of who gets health care? Who has the right to say that someone isn’t good enough?

In short, no one has the right to say that we don’t deserve health care. In short, no one has the right to say one person is better than a different one. We need to see beyond the color of the person’s skin to know the person. When you look at a person with a lot of money, you can figure that they have good health care. Here is the thing, anyone should be able to get health care without having to worry about the way that they are going to be treated. They shouldn’t have to worry about the cost. They should be able to get the health care that is needed to make them well and strong.

Other countries have universal health care and they seem to be able to manage it. Every family pays into it and the amount that they pay is due to the income that they have. Some people can have extra if they wish to pay for it. These aren’t third world countries. These are countries like Canada, Australia, Denmark, Greece, France, and many others. We are one of the few that don’t have it.

When we listen to the current administration in the White House, you would think that we are being over run with gang members and drugs and the facts are very different. President Trump has said many times that certain gangs are coming over from Mexico and they were created in Los Angeles. We need to see what is going on, that the slogan he ran on is one of isolationism and we can’t afford that. We are suffering under that.

If you had an encounter …

If you had an encounter with an animal that nearly killed you, how would you react? Once you had recovered would you try to understand it, or you see it as a demon and feel that needed to be destroyed. Would fear prevent you from going back to do what you love, or you learn to understand what you can do to protect yourself?

There are people who have it happen and try to learn about the animal that nearly took their lives. People like Paul de Gelder. He was attacked by a bull shark in 2009. He was part of the Australian Navy and they were doing a training exercise and he lost both his hand and leg. The thing is that he doesn’t demonize the shark that attacked him. He has become an advocate for them and has even gone diving with them.

Divers aren’t the only ones that can be attacked. Surfers are commonly attack and a lot of people think that it is because they look like a seal or sea lion. The thing is that where people like to go surfing is often the same area where there are reefs and other sea life around. There are people like Mick Fanning during a surfing competition

The fact is that when we go into the ocean we are going into another creatures’ home and we need to be respectful of them. Sharks are the apex predator of the sea and if we are going into keep the planet safe and clean we need to have them around.

The next time you go into the ocean, remember that we are only guest in their homes. Be respectful of what we have.

 

Reality Time … Global Warming …

We need to wake up! We are heating up the planet more and more each year. The fact is that if we keep doing what we are we will be in major trouble and soon.

 

 

 

There was a saying that I grew up with, living in the Seattle Area: ‘A red sky at night meant a sailor delight and a red sky in the morning sailors take warning.’ Now it seems that every night it is red in the sky. Seattle has always been one of the places where we would rust better than we would tan because it would rain a good amount. I grew up in the area and trust me, there were times that it would get warm but never like recently.

Over the last few years, it has been getting warmer, sooner and longer. According to Weatherspark.com the average temperatures are between 37 and 79 degrees. (link below) We would rarely get above 88 degrees.

This is from Seattleweatherblog.com and it shows something that is rather interesting. If you look at the dates, most are from 1990 and above. These are all days that got over 95 degrees. (link below). According the Seattle Times the Seattle area went 56 days in 2017 without rain. There was .02 inches of rain at the Sea-Tac International Airport and that was enough to break the dry streak. (link below) We average about 37.49 inches of precipitation in a year according to Seattleweatherblog.com.

So, you may be wondering why I am using Seattle as my guide for this post, like I said I grew up in the area. I remember when the lawns were green and now they aren’t as green and mostly a sick brownish color. I remember when we could have camp fires now we seem to have burn bans all the time.

When the weather heats up the polar ice melts. This is where the problem hits. The oceans regulate the temperature on the land. There are a series of currents that move the heat from the equator to the polar regions. When the warm water gets closer to places like the British Islands the water releases the heat and they stay warm in the summer and the cold water sinks to the bottom and goes like a giant conveyer belt back to the equator to get warm again.

The ice caps are vital to the process because they reflect sunlight back into space and we need that done. If the ice is gone, then there is no way to cool the water and release the heat. All the ice in the ice caps is fresh water so it would make the oceans less salty and that would cause the food chain to have a problem.

The ice reflects the sun light and the sea water will absorb the sun light. The warmer the water the faster the ice melts, the faster the ice melts the more sea water there is to absorb the sun light.

 

 

 

Links and other useful information

https://weatherspark.com/y/913/Average-Weather-in-Seattle-Washington-United-States-Year-Round

http://www.seattleweatherblog.com/temperature-stats/

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/weather/seattle-dry-streak-ends-it-actually-finally-rained-a-little/

http://www.seattleweatherblog.com/rain-stats/

E.P.A… Why do we need it?

The EPA or the Environmental Protection Agency is one of those agencies that we really need. There are those who don’t think that we need this government agency but here is some of the things that we need to remember about what the EPA does for us and how we can help.

First off, a bit of history on the EPA. The EPA was founded on 2 December 1970 by President Richard Nixon. The reason that it was created was the fact that there was concern about the environmental pollution. https://www.epa.gov/history this site has a lot of really good information.

When you go outside and notice that the air has a gray or has an odd taste, that is the pollution that is in the air. The fact that the air we breathe may not be as clean as we think. The more trees that get cut down the more that the air suffers. The thing that we need to remember is that when people fill up their tanks on their cars there is more going on.

When we breathe dirty air, there are several medical conditions that can be caused. Aggravated respiratory disease such as emphysema, bronchitis and asthma, lung damage, even after symptoms such as coughing or a sore throat disappear, wheezing, chest pain, dry throat, headache or nausea, reduced resistance to infections, increased fatigue and weakened athletic performance (http://www.sparetheair.com/health.cfm ) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/smoggy-air-may-make-daily-walk-a-health-hazard/

Anyone feel like going for a walk right now?

 

 

 

Suggested:

https://www.epa.gov/history

    

Propaganda … 101

What is propaganda? How does it affect the world that we live in? How can it affect the masses around us?

What is propaganda?

Propaganda is the way a story is told. This will often be the extreme views of one group or person. It is often one of the most popular ways of changing the peoples point of view on something. Two of the three definitions of the word propaganda are: 2: the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person 3: ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause; also : a public action having such an effect
^{1}

 

How does it affect the world that we live in?

Propaganda is most commonly used to a degree during major political races. It will be one group trying to prove that the other group isn’t going to take care of the country the way the country needs. They will spin the story to make their version sound better than the other persons or party.

While there have been several instances of the problems that propaganda causes, these are the major three that I want to touch on. Each one will lead to the next and done in a different color. I will provide links for the information that I find.

World War I or the Great War:

When WWI also known as the Great War started propaganda was used to do a major recruitment drive. There were war themed postcards that had ‘patriotic slogans’. There were ‘war poems’ that were supposed to promote the war as patriotic and typecast the enemy as crude. ^{2} It was also used by the British and the Americans to promote recruitment into the military.

At the end of WWI, the legend of the Stab in the back was started. The people who signed the Treaty of Versailles were traitors. The reason was that the German Army had been repeatedly getting told that they were winning the war and when it ended the soldiers were told it was the Politian’s were the reason why. ^{3}

WWII and the Rise of Hitler:

When Hitler came to power he used the anger that was left over from WWI for a way to rise to power. This rise of power was by using a theory of there was two enemies. One internal, one external. Once he had that he used Joseph Goebbels to head the Propaganda. He did things like book burnings, taking over the newspapers to where what the Nazi party said was the only information out there. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/joseph-goebbels

Trump and the current Administration:

Trump is using the same tactics that were used during WWII. He made the enemy within being the ‘illegal aliens’ and the external enemies the people that want to come to the country for asylum and immigration. Using the racial slurs and making the people that are of Mexican or Central American decent seeming to be people who we shouldn’t trust. Using companies like Fox News and Hannity as his mouth peace to push the feelings that he has out to the public while attacking the press that doesn’t tell the story that he wants out as ‘fake news’.

The longer he stays in power the more damage that is done. Wanting to build a wall to protect the country that was created by immigration makes no sense. Yet the same tactics are being used. We need to see the truth for what it is. Shows like Hannity are nothing more than propaganda for Trump.

 

Sources:

1} https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/propaganda

2} https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/propaganda_at_home_germany

3} https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/modern-world-history-1918-to-1980/weimar-germany/stab-in-the-back-legend/

 

 

Why People Serve …

This is about the US Military. This will have different insights than most expect.

When people go into the US Armed Forces it is for several reasons. This is what we all have basically in common. We all made a choice to go in. There are people who do it because it is a family tradition, there are those who do it because they are headed down the wrong path, some do it to be rebel against something that their family expects.

What ever the reason, we all go through the wonderful fun of basic training. Over the years the training has changed but the simple fact that we all go through it is the same. The guys get haircuts, women must have their hair above the collar. Put it in a bun or cut it off! We all the same PT. We went through it all. The of us went through it. Weapons training, crawling through the mud, breaking down the weapons, cleaning them and putting them back together – personally I had the time of my life!

 

One of my favorite memories was the first day that I met my Drill Instructor. At the time I had my maiden name and what he did was a riot. Back then it scared the daylights out of a few people, but it worked. He had a small piece of Alka-Seltzer under his tongue and when he to the first person in the line up for our platoon and began to yell in their face – the foam came out. She freaked out and rightly so. Here is the person who is supposed to train us, and he is foaming at the mouth!

When we went in we learned a lot and some of the stuff that was taught not by books but by going through the hell that was Basic and AIT. We all learned that we could do things that we had never thought possible. We found out how hard work was done, how to find ways to do things that others said wasn’t possible.

When we got out, we were told that there special things for us since we had been willing to serve. Those of us that had medical problems were supposed to get the best medical at the Veteran Affairs Medical Centers. Those of us who needed retraining and had paid into the GI Bill were supposed to get help with going back to school. We were told that we had earned these things. The first time I went to the VA, I had to prove that I had served. It wasn’t the best medical service, but it has gotten better. Spending hours for appointments that should have been handled differently. Being given medications that reacted to others to the point that you feel like a test person instead of a patient.

There are a lot of things that have been good for those that have served. Pride is one, knowing that you were willing to do things that others weren’t is another and a special understanding of life. The challenge is that we have people who want to make things like the Medical Centers of the VA a privatized organization is wrong. People who want to say that a disability check from the VA is ‘unearned income’ and use it against you when trying to get help is wrong. There are veterans that need to be able to get on programs due to their medical issues and are told that they must prove that they are too messed up to work.

Some conditions don’t show up as a missing limb. Some people don’t have scars on the outside. These are the people that have served for this country and are being told that they are trying to ‘get free rides’ off the government – NOT A CHANCE! These are the people that have tried like hell to do the right thing and used all the training and skills that they were taught in the Armed Forces and are not able to keep going anymore.

These are the people that the current President is mocking and making fun of.

How do you learn?

Are you the type of person that learns by reading a book and sitting in a class room? Do you learn better if you are getting to watch as someone does the job? Do you learn best by playing with the thing that you need to learn about, being able to break it and put it back together several times?

I love making things by hand. I am they type of person who can look at a problem with electronics and usually figure it out. I have done this more than once and some people are wanting to know how I can do it. There are several ways that people can learn things.

I have always seen people that can read a book and instantly understand it or have a basic grasp of it. I have never had any luck with being able to do anything like that. I love to read but I must do it several times to understand it. I have seen people who can honestly understand things this way.

I have seen those who can watch a person on a screen on how to do something and totally understand it. They can see if the different ways that things are supposed to work. It can be in banking or customer service or tech support. These are the people that never seem to pay attention to detail when the classes are going on.

I am the person that if a person has a cell phone that isn’t working, I can walk them through the basic troubleshooting, but I do better when I have the phone in my hands. I have a way to feel what is wrong. I can take it apart and find out what is wrong or get into the settings without a problem and see what the challenge is.

There are some people that can use basic common knowledge and common sense to make things work. There are people like myself that did less than perfect in school, but I can I do things with electronics that others don’t understand. I have been able to fix a person’s cell phone by telling them how to reset the phone, that they need to do things like charge it (yes that must be done) and have others who feel that they are better than me since I am a female and shouldn’t know how to do the things I can.

I don’t have a degree in tech, I learn by taking things apart and put them back together again.

Twist of Fate …

This one is a rather interesting one to think about. It starts with a rather strange story. I used to be on Facebook several years ago and was friends with some people that are well known. I am keeping their names out of it because I don’t have their permission to use it.

When one of their kids and I had become good friends talking on line, they asked if I would be an ‘internet mom’ to them. I don’t think that they were expecting the answer they got. I told them I would be a mother to them providing they understood and I got a separate message from their real mother saying it was ok. Sounds strange but there is a reason that I said that. It shows respect to the family that I am and was willing to be a sounding board for their child, but the parents had to know that they were talking with me about things.

About three months later I was talking with another person who was a friend and neighbor of theirs and they weren’t thinking straight. I saw that the young lady and her siblings were on the net, so I put a message that I needed to get in touch with their parents. When I was able to a few moments later, I explained what was being said and going on with their friend and could someone please check on them. They did and kept the person safe.

Now the reason for that story was I got off Facebook due to the fact there was too many problems for me when I was trying to do job searches (before my disability took hold too severely). I found that it was easier to stay off and go to other sites like Twitter to communicate.

I found someone who is like a best friend to me even though we never have met in person. We can talk and when I need a good reminder that life likes to throw curve balls at me that there is fun in the world. I have been able to find a way to help others by writing these.

When you look at the people around you, there might be problems that you don’t see. Try talking with someone that you haven’t seen in ages. If you see a person who looks sad take the time to make sure they are ok. A police officer on a hot day, take him a bottle of water and say thanks for the work they do.

It will surprise you on how they react. Most people fear others due to the fact that they aren’t sure how someone outside their own nice little group will react but we need to go out and talk to those that are outside the comfort zone to learn how others feel.

When the heat strikes …

With summer being here and the heat that comes with it I thought that this would be a good time to remind people of some things to do or use to stay safe in the heat. This goes for our pets as well.

While people like to show off their figures here is a tip for you: wearing loose clothes will help keep you cooler. When you have skin tight clothes on it keeps the heat that your body is trying to get rid of close to the skin. If you wear loose and flowing clothes the air can get under them and help cool your body.

Drink lots of fluid – now there is a difference between fluid types. You want to avoid things with alcohol since it will help dehydrate you. At the same time limit the amount of caffeine that you take in. If you are thirsty drink water, Gatorade or something that will calm the thirst but at the same time the body can use. While ice cold sounds wonderful, it will put your body into a form of shock and cause you to feel hotter, so room temp is best. If you have a dog or cat, don’t put ice in their water! There have been animals that have passed away from the shock to their systems due to the massive temp change. Give them a shaded area to rest.

Check on your neighbors that are disabled. The people that are older and disabled may not realize that they are in as much danger.

This one will sound strange but if you haven’t used the restroom to pee drink water! The same with doing something outside and not sweating! The human body has a very specific way of getting the core temp down and that is to sweat – if you aren’t then there is the danger of dehydration.

Signs to watch for:

Confusion

Dark-colored urine (a sign of dehydration)

Dizziness

Fainting

Fatigue

Headache

Muscle or abdominal cramps

Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea

Pale skin

Profuse sweating

Rapid heartbeat

 

Be safe and enjoy the summer