Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Group Says ‘Hell No’ To Doll Having a Voice

Image: Hello Barbie

Hello Barbie is displayed at the Mattel showroom at the North American International Toy Fair in New York. Mark Lennihan / AP

                                        Good Day World!

The first talking doll was introduced 125 years ago to the amazement and delight of parents everywhere. Today the idea of a talking doll is controversial. 

The doll in question is Barbie, an iconic doll who made her debut 56 years ago. By the end of this month Mattel plans on introducing the first Hello Barbie.

You’d think parents would be delighted with this new version of Barbie, but that hasn’t been the case thus far.

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), a group opposed to marketing aimed at children, launched a campaign to discourage parents from buying Hello Barbie (#HellnoBarbie).

So what happened in the last 125 years that makes a talking doll so sinister? Simply put, the first talking doll could not record anything like the new Talking Barbie does.

She is the first Internet-connected doll that can carry on a seemingly real conversation by recording what the child says and sending it via Wi-Fi to the cloud for Barbie's computer-generated response.

Here’s the rub: these conversations are stored and analyzed by ToyTalk, the San Francisco software company that makes this interaction possible.

Here’s where the controversy really gets interesting:

Mattel released a Thomas and Friends Talk to You app in 2014, based on the popular Thomas the Train character, that uses the same voice-recognition technology to communicate with children and it was a big hit with parents!

Mattel basically took that app and put it into Hello Barbie. Hmmmmm…

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

 

 

 

 

Monday, November 9, 2015

If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen!

Good Day World!

Presidential candidates have never been thrilled with the vetting process. Most would just as soon skip sharing their personal history.

Their whining over public scrutiny has become a rite of passage in primaries. Take Ben Carson for example.

He claims the media are on a “witch hunt” because their delving into his past and pulling out nuggets that would make any sane person pause before voting for him. 

School children across America were stunned to hear their history books were wrong about what the Egyptian pyramids were used for, according to Big Ben. He’s on video claiming Joseph (see The Bible) built the pyramids to store grain.

Scientists and archeologists be damned.

Benny’s ties to a fraudulent product are no longer hidden because of the so-called witch hunt.

Ben Carson caught on video claiming Mannatech supplement magically cured his prostate cancer

Ben Carson has a decade long financial relationship with cancer-scam supplement company

And the nuggets keep turning up:

Ben Carson faked his story about protecting white students on the day MLK died

Exclusive: Carson claimed West Point 'scholarship' but never applied

FACT

Carson recalled in “Gifted Hands,” a story involving his psychology class at Yale University, called Perceptions 301. He described the professor’s conducting an honesty experiment on the class and wrote that he was the only one who passed, prompting The Yale Daily News to take his picture.

Oops! There he goes again! There was no photo identifying Carson as a student in the newspaper’s archives, The Journal reported, and a Yale librarian told the newspaper that there was no psychology course by that name or class number during Carson’s years at Yale.

I could go on. But I think you get the point. Anyone wanting to be the President of the United States has to be thoroughly vetted or millions will pay.

Cry babies, like Carson, who can’t stand the heat need to get out of the kitchen!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Teacher claims renowned poet was Jack the Ripper

Good Day World!

I’ve read a lot of theories on who Jack the Ripper was, but a recent theory by an Australian English teacher seems to pinpoint the most likely perpetrator.

Richard Patterson believes Jack the Ripper, who killed five London prostitutes over 10 weeks in 1888, was actually the renowned poet Francis Thompson.

HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES - English poet Francis Thompson (1859 - 1907) wrote "The Hound of Heaven" and other works.

According to the Mirror, Patterson read a book of Thompson's poetry in 1997 and became convinced he was the legendary killer. He's spent the years since attempting to prove his theory.

"Soon before and soon after the murders, he wrote about killing female prostitutes with knives," Patterson says. And the Daily News quotes a graphic short story by Thompson about a woman being stabbed to death.

In addition to Thompson's grisly writings, Patterson points to his experience as a surgeon and his troubled relationship with a local prostitute, the Mirror reports. Patterson says Thompson kept a dissecting knife under his coat and knew a rare surgical procedure that was used to mutilate some of the victims.

In the years since the slayings, scholars, amateur sleuths, and others have identified 100 suspects. I suppose we’ll never really know.

Make that 101 suspects.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Why are we electing people who contribute to America’s infastructure destruction?

Good Day World!

It’s real simple. Rome fell from within.

America is doing the same thing now.

Voters elect corrupt politicians who are more interested in ideologies than realities. Greed pollutes our government like a virus. People are blinded by brands – Democrats and Republicans – sheepishly following along without too many questions.

All the ingredients for America’s eventual disintegration are in place. We downplay our own internal needs even as they worsen.

For example:    

Despite years of warnings that the nation's roads, bridges and transit systems are falling apart and will bring nightmarish congestion, the House on Thursday passed a six-year transportation bill that maintains the spending status quo.

Anyone with a drop of common sense can see this is going to create more transportation problems than we already have. It’s like watching an oncoming train wreck and being helpless to do anything about it.

Yet, we allow Congress to get away with being so politically polarized that it’s like watching fight night at the coliseum every time a bill is introduced. What legislation that does manage to get passed seldom benefits the majority of Americans.

The fact that people are even considering electing Donald “Build that Wall” Trump or Ben “Pyramids for Storing Grain” Carson for our next president, is another sign of America’s end times.

Isn’t there anyone out there who cares enough to actually serve the people in this country, instead of being part of America’s demise?

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

 

Friday, November 6, 2015

There’s only one thing I want for my birthday…

20090304_9745

Good Day World!

I’m turning 65 tomorrow.

At this point in my life I let birthday’s creep by like thieves in the night. Birthday wishes come and go like butterflies in flight. They’re mandatory among family and friends.

I would just as soon get on with the day like it was any other.

I no longer expect, nor ask for birthday presents. This year I’m breaking with my own tradition, and asking for one birthday present:

Don’t let Donald Trump host Saturday Night Live tomorrow! (Are you listening SNL producers?) Please make an announcement today that someone else is going to be your host.

If there’s one presidential candidate I can’t stand it’s that big mouth! I’m embarrassed for the Republican brand right now.

On Monday, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus asked SNL and parent company NBC Universal to "disinvite" Trump to the show.

Brent Wilkes, the executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, wrote in an opinion article published Wednesday in the Huffington Post that allowing Trump to host the program "is nothing short of a slap in the face to the more than 50 million Latinos living in the U.S."

There’s a lot of good reasons for not having Trump on SNL, but if it turns out that he’s going to host the show, would you give me an early birthday present?

Don’t watch it.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

 

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Long Time Passing: What happened to the American Dream?

                                    Good Day World!

As a baby boomer, I grew up believing in the American Dream.

I was taught that if you work hard, you’ll get ahead. But The Times – They Are a Changin…

Fifty-seven percent of Americans say the principle that hard work brings reward once held true, but no longer does.

While half of financially secure voters believe in the tenet that working hard yields prosperity, 84 percent of voters facing economic hardship say it no longer works, or never did.

Feelings about the American dream's demise are basically shared across parties, with slightly more Republican voters saying it still holds true and slightly more Democratic voters saying it never held true according to a recent SurveyMonkey poll conducted by NBC.

This whole subject is making me feel nostalgic…

 Bye Bye Miss American Pie

Time for me to walk on down the road….

 

 

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Pass the envelope please: ‘And the Worst TV Show of All Time is…’

Good Day World!

After searching for links about the worst TV shows in history, I’ve come to the conclusion it has to be The Jerry Springer Show. 

Here’s the rub; Springer’s trashy show has been on since 1991 and continues to be popular with a certain segment in society.

Basically, the daytime talk show is the epitome of all things tasteless and trashy.

For example, guests on Springer’s show like to break out in fights as they debate the paternity of their children or whether to pursue sexual relationships with their relatives.

The studio audience makes for the loud hum of an angry mob rather than a laugh track, and that noise is interspersed with bleeped-out profanities every other second.

People with sad and pathetic lives go on the show to scream at each other, air their dirty laundry, and not solve their problems in the slightest.

Springer has been referred to as the anti-Oprah, and as long as there are people who want to scream and fight on television, this show will, unfortunately, probably stick around.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Today is a Big Day for Ohio Voters: Legalize Pot or Not?

                                    Good Day World!

I want to wish all the people voting Yes on marijuana legalization today good luck. You’re in for a challenge.

IN A NUTSHELL

There’s two ballot measures – or Issues as Ohioans call them.

Issue 3 would add an amendment to the state constitution that legalizes both personal and medical use of marijuana for those over 21 years old.

Issue 2 would nullify legalization if it creates "an economic monopoly or special privilege" for a private entity.

Wait a minute? What’s behind Issue 2? A legitimate concern. A monopoly.

Issue 3 grants exclusive rights for commercial marijuana growth and distribution to 10 facilities around the state. Those facilities are owned by investors in the legalization movement.

A recent poll by the University of Akron shows voters evenly split, but if the proposal passes, Ohio will be the first state to approve marijuana for personal use without first legalizing medical marijuana.

If both measures pass, the conflict will likely end up in court.

I don’t want to be a party-pooper but it looks like Ohio won’t become the 5th, and largest, state to legalize the recreational usage of marijuana, following Alaska, Colorado, Washington and Oregon, as well as the District of Columbia.

Next year, seven other states are expected to vote on recreational marijuana legalization. Chances are one of these will be the fifth state to legalize marijuana.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Monday, November 2, 2015

Rags to Riches: A myth perpetrated by wealthy politicians

Good Day World!

A favorite conservative myth is the one about a person “pulling themselves up by the boot straps” from utter poverty, to riches.

The myths origins are firmly rooted to one author’s body of work. His name was Horation Alger Jr.

He was a prolific 19th-century American author, best known for his many juvenile novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty.

His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on America during the Gilded Age.

Fast forward to today.

Claiming to be a conservative, Donald Trump is always talking about how he worked his way up to become a billionaire. The fact of the matter is Trump’s Dad gave him a “small” loan of a million dollars to get started.

Let’s get real. How many politicians in Congress pulled themselves out of ghettos and barrios to become wealthy and influential? When I hear about cutbacks in government it’s almost always on the backs of the poor and disenfranchised.

I’m not saying there aren’t exceptional people who overcome all odds against them and rise from poverty like a Phoenix, and live in wealth for the rest of their days. What I am saying is there’s very few and far between that can achieve the conservative myth of rags to riches.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

 

 

 

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Sleep walkers, talkers, eaters, do the funniest things

Good Day World!

Have you ever talked, walked, or ate something in your sleep?

I have.

When I was five-years old one particular incident really stood out. Fair warning. I was a heavy sleeper and was already known for talking in my sleep.

That day was my birthday. In front of the whole world – which at the time was my mom, dad, uncle and aunt, I got out of bed and walked into the kitchen and up to the refrigerator (and before anyone could move) dropped my pajamas and peed on the remnants of my birthday cake!

How embarrassing was that? As you can guess, I’ve been reminded of that humiliating moment a million times.

People do interesting things when they are in a deep sleep. I use to talk about my day’s activities. My mom would tell me what I said the next day. Basically, I was busted because I even talked about the naughty things I did.

It terrified me until I got over both sleep talking and walking when I was around seven years-old. Thankfully, I just stopped. I was guilty of a sleep eating incident when I first got married.

My new bride was taken back when in the middle of the night I sat up grabbed an apple from my end table, and proceeded to eat it. I never said a thing. The next morning she asked me what that was all about?

As far as I can remember – we’ve been married for 41 years – that was the only time I ate in my sleep.

I saw a video the other day about a young woman who walked nine miles in her sleep. Luckily, she wasn’t hurt, and nothing bad happened.

Related:

7 of the Craziest Sleepwalking Stories You'll Ever Hear

Time for me to walk on down the road…

It's Time to Pay Up Donnie!

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