November 2018 Blog Topics
A Skit Called News
On a Walt Disney World travel advice forum a parent commented about posing his children for a photograph at the Magic Kingdom and all of a sudden a stranger swooped in, took a picture of one of the children, and walked off. More about that later.
A few months ago a well known magazine had on the front cover cut out photographs of a small girl and President Trump. The lead article that week described separation of children from parents at the U.S. Mexico border. In reality the child pictured was not separated from her parents. For all this writer knows, the child pictured was photographed at random at Disney World and her picture edited to go on the plain background of the magazine cover (with President Trump's picture.
More recently a news tem did a skit to get a video. Barefooted children were shown running across a desert like area from amidst tear gas canisters. Later some critics analyzed the video and found out-of-context elements, including other persons sitting around as opposed to also fleeing from tear gas. (items or actions out of context in a motion picture are called bloopers.) This specific video has been played over and over again (looped) on numerous news channels. It is another example of fake news.
One Might Say ...
President Trump (pondering to himself), "If no one has the guts to say it, I will (1)." (then saying to CNN's Jim Acosta over the room sound system), You are rude ... terrible ..."
Better to not have said the above but instead summoned security (announcing over the sound system if needed) to go over and take the microphone from Mr. Acosta.
(1) WRKO talk host Jeff Kuhner often says this.
Ranked Choice Voting
A talk show host was commenting that some voters in Maine got to vote twice because of Maine's "ranked choice ballot." Actually all voters were treated equally. Maine (and Georgia and at least one other state) requires that a candidate must receive a majority vote to win. The "ranked choice ballot" works as a combination general election and runoff election in the event no candidate receives a majority vote at first.
This writer has encountered ranked choice ballots, then called "preferential ballots" back in high school for student council elections. If no candidate got a majority of (first choice) votes then the candidate with the least votes was eliminated and ballots showing him/her as first choice were redistributed among the other candidates using second choices, and so on until one candidate had accumulated a majority of the votes.
The main advantages of ranked choice systems are that the presence of a weak tthird (or fourth, etc.) candidate, will have little or no influence on the outcome of an election with two strong candidates, and the system will better select the strongest of three (or more) candidates of approximately equal strength.
There are minor nuances between the various ranked choice and runoff election procedures used in the U.S. The most significant difference is that in Maine's ranked choice system, voters cannot change their minds as they might prior to an actual runoff election after the general election such as done in Georgia.
An Accident -- Lessons To Be Learned
In the mid-afternoon of October 31, 2018 a spectacular accident occurred in north Nashua, NH, backing up rush hour traffic combined with trick or treat traffic on a major freeway for hours.
A pickup truck taking an exit ramp swerved back onto the freeway and was rear ended by a car. Apparently the truck was hit in the rear corner as opposed to squarely from behind since it flipped over.
1. Could the driver have fallen asleep as he took the exit ramp? It is not unusual for a tired driver to finally doze off while decelerating, here, for the exit. Alternatively it could have just been a last minute correcting of one's route or maybe just a change of mind.
2. Could the driver in front be blamed for a rear-ender? Law enforcement said that the pickup driver caused the crash. If indeed the truck was hit in the rear corner as opposed to squarely from behind that would be evidence that the truck suddenly crossed the path of the other vehicle unsafely as opposed to the other driver's failing to allow enough space in front of him.
3. Rollovers are often caused by being hit from behind. This writer found out while on an amusement park ride consisting of cars similar to Dodge-Ems but not intended for collisions. This writer spun out when hit accidentally from behind.
4. Should Halloween start later? A visitor to the U.S. in late October may be surprised to see the rush hour start early on October 31. The slightest glitch in traffic can cause families to get home late and not be prepared for Halloween. Family fights can break out over who will stay home to hand out the candy and sometimes the result is everyone going out and leaving the house empty and dark.
Last updated December.3, 2018
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