Friday, April 28, 2017

History: The Year is 1994

I've uploaded year 1994 to the TSP Wiki...

http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1994

As always, Alex Shrugged's opinions are his own. Other people's work are their own. I include them here for the sake of completeness and to provide a second method of access to the material for the TSP history segment.


* The Murder of Nicole and the Leftist Support of O. J. Simpson -- Contributed by Alex Shrugged

* Cave of the Patriarchs Massacre -- Contributed by Southpaw Ben

* The Assault Weapons Ban is Now the Law -- Contributed by Alex Shrugged

* Notable Births -- See below.

* This Year in Film -- See below.

* This Year in Music -- See below.

* In Other News -- See below.




=================================

The Murder of Nicole and the Leftist Support of O. J. Simpson

Contributed by Alex Shrugged
O.J. Simpson has made a name for himself in commercials, running through the airport for a Hertz rental car. Recently, he has starred as the lovable Nordberg in the comedy movie The Naked Gun, so it comes as a shock when he appears on TV in a low-speed chase on an LA freeway. A Ford Bronco was never designed for speed, so the police must be holding back. On his cell phone he sounds confused and despondent. "All I wanted to do was to love Nichole." Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend Ron Goldman have been found brutally murdered that morning. O.J. is the suspect, and he has a history of domestic violence. Tammy Bruce is the head of the LA chapter of the National Organization for Women. She is also a leftist radio talk show host. Her focus is on domestic violence against women, and it doesn't get any more violent than this. She is all over O.J. like a cheap suit. Suddenly, her phone stops ringing. The checks stop coming in. Her own organization votes to censure her because she is defending a dead, abused wife (who is white) over a lovable black man. O.J. will go on trial next year. After what seems like incontrovertible proof of his guilt, he goes free. This will be payback for Rodney King. As O.J. leaves the courtroom he will promise to hunt down Nicole's killer. His first stop in the hunt will be the golf course. Later, he will be found guilty in a wrongful death suit, and ordered to pay $33 million. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
O.J. is currently serving time for armed robbery. He is a frightening man. Tammy Bruce resigned her post at N.O.W.. She was sure O.J. was guilty. I thought so too, and I still think it. Tammy realized that the National Organization for Women was not about women. It was about a leftist agenda, and that agenda demanded that a black man be supported over a white woman regardless of the facts. Today, Tammy is known as a conservative radio talk show host although I cannot tell what has changed. She is the same woman, espousing the same things she had before, but now conservatives want to hear what she has to say. Conservatives themselves find this confusing, but she is a woman of principle and conservatives understand that, sure enough. Occasionally, Tammy Bruce will say things that I find ridiculous, but because of her defense of Nicole Brown in the face of an onslaught of criticism from the left, I'm willing to listen. Maybe she has a point. [6] [7]

Cave of the Patriarchs Massacre

Contributed by Southpaw Ben
On February 25, during the Jewish holiday of Purim and the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, a man in his IDF reserve officer uniform walked into a room in the Ibrahimi Mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs, and opened fire. During this massacre, 29 people were killed and 125 were wounded, before the survivors threw a fire extinguisher that hit him in the head, allowing them to disarm him and beat the shooter to death. The man was Baruch Goldstein, an Israeli-American physician, who was extremely anti-Arab, to the point where he refused to Arabs, including fellow members of the IDF. He also believed the Israeli democracy was as bad as Germany during Nazism, and would often be seen wearing a yellow star of David, with the word "Jude" written on it. Most of the Jewish community, including the Israeli Prime Minister at the time, Yitzhak Rabin, denounced the attack and described Goldstein as a "degenerate murder" and " a shame on Zionism and an embarrassment to Judaism". Despite this, some Jewish extremists venerate Goldstein as a martyr to this day, and visited his grave to celebrate his heinous act until 1999, when it was dismantled by the IDF after the passing of Israeli legislation that outlawed any monuments to terrorists. In April, 2 suicide bombings were carried out by Hamas in retaliation for this event, and Hamas' policy changed to allow targeting of civilians as a direct response to this attack. [8][9]
My Take by Southpaw Ben
When I first read about this incident, I immeadiatly thought of the Orlando nightclub shooting, as both consisted of a single shooter going into a confined area, and opening fire on a large crowd. However, when we look at the reactions of the participants, we see 2 completely different responses. In the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, we see the victims fighting back, and eventually killing the attacker. This sharply contrasts with how the patrons of the Pulse night club cowered and hid in response. While I can't say anything for sure, I feel like any resistance in the face of certain death is better than cowering and accepting one's fate. We can also see this during the 9/11 attacks, when 3 planes were able to hit their targets and cause massive casualties, passengers on Flight 93 were able to prevent this, though it was at the cost of the lives of everyone on that plane.

The Assault Weapons Ban is Now the Law

Contributed by Alex Shrugged
A few years ago, a man who hated foreigners decided to take matters into his own hands. He bought a Chinese knockoff of the Soviet AK 47, added a 75 round magazine, and sprayed down elementary school children, mostly Asian, in Stockton, California, killing 5 and wounding many others, including a teacher. He then shot himself with a pistol. The public was outraged. Then there was the Luby's Cafeteria shooting where a man drove his pickup truck through the front window and fired his Glock 17, killing 23. Now legislation has come through to fix these problems. President Bill Clinton signs into law the Federal Assault Weapons Ban. It limits magazine capacity to 10 rounds although a "grandfather clause" allows the possession of higher capacity magazines purchased before the ban goes into effect. 650 firearm types and models are banned, and it doesn't stop there. An assault weapon has two or more of the following characteristics: For rifles it has a folding stock, a pistol grip, a Bayonet mount, a threaded barrel for a flash suppressor, or a mount for a grenade launcher. (No grenade launchers! What is America coming to?) For pistols the restrictions are similar except that it should have no barrel shroud that prevents a shooter from getting burned. (That is a safety feature! Are they insane?) Apparently so, but a sunset clause is included. The ban will expire in 10 years. In the meantime, Glock is running 3 shifts producing high capacity magazines to sell before the gun ban goes into effect. Bad, Bad guns are now going at premium rates. Sales are excellent. [10] [11]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
FYI, Texas passed the Concealed Carry law the next year in response to the Luby's massacre. California already had a law preventing nuts from owning firearms. In fact, California had already outlawed so-called assault weapons, so passing a Federal law that did the same thing made no difference at all. Studies taken during the 10 year period of the gun ban showed no appreciable difference in gun related violence. And I don't know what they were thinking in banning so-called high capacity magazines. Legislators seem to think that once a magazine is emptied, the shooter must stop to carefully reload it. It never occurs to them that swapping out the empty for a pre-loaded magazine takes just a few seconds. A determined shooter could carry many of these pre-loaded magazines in his pocket. The legislators would do better to pass a law prohibiting pockets. These feel-good laws offer a false sense of security, and the sense that our political masters are "doing something". In reality, all they do is boost sales and run up the prices. [12]

Notable Births

  • Dakota Fanning: War of the Worlds (2005) and the Volturi vampire Jane in Twilight: New Moon and Eclipse (She certainly scared the crap out of me.--alexshrugged). [13]
  • Jodelle Ferland: Twilight: Eclipse as Bree (spoiler alert...) that memorable newborn vampire who lost her head in the end. [13]
  • Alexander Gould: The voice of Nemo in Finding Nemo. [13]
  • Justin Bieber: Canadian singer and drunken lout. (Best known to me as publicly pissing into a mop bucket while insulting Bill Clinton. Overall a net plus in my book.--alexshrugged) [13] [14]

This Year in Film

  • Disney's The Lion King: The circle of life. [15]
  • True Lies: "Women! Your can't live with 'em. You can't kill 'em". [15]
  • Forrest Gump: A man with limited mental gifts finds himself in the middle of major events. Later, Gary Sinise will use his character as Lt. Dan to raise money for disabled veterans. See "Lt. Dan Band". [15] [16]
  • Star Trek Generations: The pass off from the original Star Trek cast to the Next Generation. [15]
  • For Christmas...: Miracle on 34th Street, and The Santa Clause which is hilarious. [15]
  • And...: The Mask, Speed, Stargate and IQ a sweet romantic comedy about a car mechanic who impersonates a physicist to make time with Albert Einstein's niece. [15]

This Year in TV

  • ER: Michael Crichton wrote the pilot screenplay which turned into this long-running medical drama. [17]
  • Friends: New York roommates are involved in foolish and inexplicable romantic situations... thus making for a very popular series. [17]
  • Touched by an Angel: A newly promoted angel works with people reaching a crossroad in their lives. [17]
  • Madonna erupts into profanity on Late Night with David Letterman: It will be his highest rated show of his career... and the most censored. [17]
  • Martin Lawrence almost halts the SNL season, and all future employment of the cast: He makes sexually explicit jokes about female genitalia. (Always a big laugh-getter... I suppose.--alexshrugged) [17]

This Year in Music

  • I Swear: All-4-One. (This guy makes promises no mere mortal could possibly keep.--alexshrugged)[18]
  • Elvis and Andy: Confederate Railroad. "She ain't a southern belle but it's hard to tell. She's got every quality. She likes Elvis. She likes Andy, so she's fine and dandy with me." [18]
  • Be my Baby Tonight: John Michael Montgomery. (Unless you look like Mr. Montgomery, this is guaranteed to get you a slap in the face.--alexshrugged)[18]
  • Tejano singer Selena wins the Grammy: She will be shot next year by her agent after confronting him with his financial fraud. With her last breath she will name her killer, "Saldávar". She will be 23 forever. [18]

This Year in Video Games

  • Super Metroid for the Super Nientendo: One of the top-rated games of all time. (As rated by game magazine journalists. Say no more.--alexshrugged) [19]
  • Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger: They spent 4 million dollars in development. [19]
  • Mortal Combat II: On "Mortal Friday" more than 2.5 million games are shipped, a world record for this time. [19]
  • The Sony PlayStation (PS) launches in Japan: It will be released in North America next year. [19]

In Other News

  • Vice President Al Gore invents the Internet!: To be fair, up to this point the Internet has been ad-hoc, so he has been working to formalize the system. His work is vital in making the Internet what it is today. (But he didn't invent it. No.--alexshrugged) [20]
  • Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 hits Jupiter: 21 large fragments beat the tar out of the planet which makes people wonder if there is a planet-killer with Earth's name on it. [20]
  • The Rwandan Genocide begins: The Hutu tribe murders 800,000 Tutsi tribal members, moderate Hutus and 30% of the local pygmy tribe all in 100 days. But the Tutsi will fight back, creating over 2 million Hutu refugees. [20] [21] [22] [23]

Thursday, April 27, 2017

History: The Year is 1993

I've uploaded year 1993 to the TSP Wiki...

http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1993

As always, Alex Shrugged's opinions are his own. Other people's work are their own. I include them here for the sake of completeness and to provide a second method of access to the material for the TSP history segment.


* The Federal Assault on Waco, Texas -- Contributed by Alex Shrugged

* Apologies -- Contributed by Southpaw Ben

* The Near Collapse of IBM -- Contributed by Alex Shrugged

* Notable Births -- See below.

* This Year in Film -- See below.

* This Year in Music -- See below.

* In Other News -- See below.



===================================

The Federal Assault on Waco, Texas

Contributed by Alex Shrugged
The Branch Davidians are a religious splinter group established at the Mount Carmel Center outside of Waco, Texas. After the death of their founders, David Koresh leads the group, but a power struggle ensues and a challenger evicts Koresh at gunpoint, murders another challenger with an axe, and then goes to prison. Koresh returns. Then the parents of a 12-year-old girl give her over to Koresh for marriage. (They had sex when she was 13, and that constitutes statutory rape under Texas law.) With this much hoopla going on, the Feds get a warrant to search the compound for illegal weapons. They proceed to take the compound like they are charging up Bunker Hill. When the smoke clears, 4 ATF agents lay dead next to 6 Branch Davidians. The 51 day Waco Siege has begun. As the weeks pass, the standoff becomes an embarrassment to the Clinton Administration. M728 Combat Engineer Vehicles are brought in. (They look like TANKS!) Attorney General Janet Reno gives the order to take down the compound. What happens next is a tragedy. Tanks break the walls of the compound as teargas canisters fall like rain. A fire breaks out. Children are trapped, and 76 people die a fiery death.... including David Koresh. It is April 19th. It's all over now. Isn't it? [1] [2] [3]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
Not quite. It had been less than a year since the Feds killed a mother and child in their assault on Ruby Ridge. With the Waco assault, the justification was that children were being raped. Well... I don't doubt that it had gone on in the past, but there were only fears driving the Feds... and a CYA justification. I'm sure they didn't expect the whole place to burst into flames, but the buck stops here... or over there. Bill Clinton blamed it all on Janet Reno. As Rush Limbaugh mocked in his best Clinton imitation, "The buck never got here!" There was a Texas Ranger post 9 miles away. They could have picked up Koresh as he came into town for groceries. No mass murdering required. I met one of the surviving Branch Davidians. She was quite insane, but harmless... at least harmless to me. But the free use of Federal agents and tanks to intimidate the public inspired a man to take revenge against the Feds two years later. On that April 19th, Timothy McVeigh brought down the Murrah Federal Building with a truck bomb. True to form, President Clinton passed the buck to someone else. In this case, Rush Limbaugh and conservative talk radio. The government intimidation campaign continues. [4] [5] [6]

Apologies

Contributed by Southpaw Ben It's the last 2 weeks here at school, so it's crunch time, so I apologize for not being able to contribute daily this week and next week. I will try to contribute at least a few things during this time.

The Near Collapse of IBM

Contributed by Alex Shrugged
IBM announces an annual corporate loss of $8 billion. This is the single largest annual loss in history to date. It looks like IBM is going down. How did it happen? At this time IBM is a mainframe computer company. That means a large central computer with several dumb terminals linked to it. (The IBM PC was just a throwaway idea... a toy. Nothing serious.) Corporate and government sales focus on an enterprise-wide solution and that means only one or two top decision-makers to sell to. Then the IBM PC takes off, and worse, Microsoft comes up with Windows for Workgroups, allowing personal computers to share files and talk to each other, and Windows NT which allows a PC to be turned into a department server. Suddenly decisions for computer purchases are being made at the department level. IBM's core marketing strategy has completely ignored department decision-makers in the past. IBM needs to change, but they are so big that they need an equally big kick in the corporate backside. They get one, and it almost kills them... almost. They switch CEOs, and make the elephant dance. Dance, elephant. Dance. [7]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
Around that time, my father, Alex Shrugged Senior, was a humble telephone installer, but he could read the newspapers as well as anyone else, and he had been paying attention to the stock market. He watched IBM sinking into the mud. All the pundits said it was done for, but he didn't agree. He invested his meager savings on a hunch that it would come back strong. It wasn't just a throw of the dice. I watched him. My father had only a high school diploma, but he was no dummy. He was calculating, and his investment paid off. His nest egg grew substantially. He never became a Rockefeller. He was just an average guy, but he made enough money on those investments to help my mother get by after he passed. Good man. I miss him. [8] [9]

Notable Births

  • Tiffany Trump: Daughter of President Trump, and speaker at the RNC convention. [10]
  • Angus T. Jones: The "half" of Two and a Half Men. [10]

This Year in Film

  • Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs walk the Earth... and try to eat you. (The book is better, but the movie is amazing.--alexshrugged) [11]
  • The Fugitive: Harrison Ford is wrongly accused of murdering his wife, so he hunts down the real killer. [11]
  • Schindler's List: A Nazi businessman saves the Jews working at his factory. They are Schindler's Jews. (The story is generally true, though he was not quite as bad initially, as the movie portrays.--alexshrugged) [11]
  • Sleepless in Seattle: After his mother's death, a boy calls a radio shrink seeking a new wife for his father. [11]
  • And...: Demolition Man, Dave, Coneheads, and Groundhog Day. [11]

This Year in TV

  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: (It is an acquired taste.--alexshrugged) [12]
  • The X-Files: Science-fiction mystery. [12]
  • Walker, Texas Ranger: with Chuck Norris. Product placement is prominent. [12]
  • Bill Nye, the Science Guy: "Science Rules!" (Bill Nye is a comedian and mechanical engineer. Not a scientist.--alexshrugged.) [12]
  • And...: Beavis and Butt-Head, Boy Meets World, Frasier, and The Jon Stewart Show. [12]

This Year in Music

(FYI, I am including my favorite country songs because at this time I am into country music.--alexshrugged)
  • Does He Love You?: Reba McEntire and Linda Davis. A wife sings to her husband and his mistress right before they die in a tragic boating accident. (Strange coincidence.--alexshrugged) [13]

This Year in Video Games

  • NBA Jam: It will bring in over 1 BILLION DOLLARS is gross revenues. (Sports games are back, baby!-alexshrugged) [14]
  • The 7th Guest: One of the 1st games released exclusively on CDROM. [14]
  • Doom: A first-person shooter featuring more realistic 3-D graphics (for the time). [14]
  • Atari's Jaguar Console brings 64-bits of screaming power to the home console: Unfortunately, it comes with a gacked memory controller and poor developer support. Fewer games for the system sounds the death knell for Atari's home market. [14]

In Other News

  • NBC's Dateline fakes a gas tank explosion in a GM truck crash: GM sues. NBC settles the next day. [9]
  • The World Trade Center bombing: A van blows up under the North Tower, killing 6. Over 1,000 are injured. The bombers will be caught. [9]
  • Lorena Bobbitt cuts off the penis of her husband John Wayne Bobbitt: Surgeons reattach it. (I've heard that it still works.--alexshrugged)) [9]
  • White House deputy counsel Vince Foster commits suicide in Fort Marcy Park: Conspiracy theories abound. (The White House seems to interfere with the investigation, particularly Hillary Clinton.--alexshrugged) [9]

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

History: The Year is 1992

I've uploaded year 1992 to the TSP Wiki...

http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1992

As always, Alex Shrugged's opinions are his own. Other people's work are their own. I include them here for the sake of completeness and to provide a second method of access to the material for the TSP history segment.


* The Rodney King Riots and the Reason for Good People to be Armed -- Contributed by Alex Shrugged

* xxx -- Contributed by Southpaw Ben

* We Want No Accents Here! -- Contributed by Alex Shrugged

* Notable Births -- See below.

* This Year in Film -- See below.

* This Year in Music -- See below.

* In Other News -- See below.



===================================

The Rodney King Riots and the Reason for Good People to be Armed

Contributed by Alex Shrugged
Last year, after a high speed chase, Rodney King stopped his car and seemed to be resisting arrest. (Actually, he was drunk and using poor judgement.) He was brutally beaten with night sticks by LAPD officers while attempting to take him into custody. This was all caught on tape, and four officers were charged with assault. (I've reviewed the tape, and I can only guess what the officers were thinking. Some guesses would exonerate the officers and others would not.) Apparently the jury believed that the officers acted correctly, so they walk free. The black community is outraged. Thus begins 6 days of rioting in the Los Angeles area. Reginald Denny is pulled out of his truck and beaten to within an inch of his life, but he isn't the only one. The police cannot stop them. Society has totally broken down in one of the largest cites in the world. [1] [2] [3] [4]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
I was many miles away during the riot, but I grew up in the LA area and I had worked in South Central LA. (Actually, I was the only one my company could send there and not get beaten up.) I watched the tension build over the years. The Rodney King beating simply set it off. In the media, black people were portrayed as the underdog always taken advantage of. Koreans were portrayed as greedy, distrustful people who ran grocery stores only to take advantage of the poor. Frankly, the complaints sounded a lot like the ones made against Jews. (Alex Shrugged is Jewish.) Koreans knew they were a target, so when the riots began, they were armed and ready to protect their own as they should. As I said, I was miles away, but my daughter was threatened with a gun that day. I realized that if my home was attacked that the only protection I could offer was to block the door with my dead body. I was willing to do that, but it would have been better to be armed. I am a good man who needs a weapon to protect his family when the police cannot help. When is that? When things are worst. Not when things are best. [5] [6] [7]

Heading

Contributed by Southpaw Ben
Text
My Take by Southpaw Ben

We Want No Accents Here!

People's Bank wants good language skills in employees who interface with the public which is why Phanna Xieng has been denied a promotion to a job slot he wants. The job calls for good English skills. It also calls for telling irate customers why the People's Bank isn't going to lend them any more money. Keeping a customer while telling them "NO" requires a full command of the English language. Phanna is so traumatized by this rejection that the court awards him $389,000. He's feeling better already. In another case, parents want to fire an English teacher because he cannot speak English without an accent. In fact, the parents can barely understand him. The state education commissioner accuses the parents of bigotry. Money is sent to the school district to educate the parents on the wonders of bilingual education... not for a more comprehensible English teacher. [8] [9] [10] [11]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
Have you ever called up tech support and got a fellow with such a strong accent that you can barely get through the call? When I call tech support it is because I am at the end of my rope. I don't want to struggle through a heavy accent as well. This is not bigotry. Many of my relatives have accents. I love them. I do not want them to take my tech support calls. One company tried a solution to this problem of accents by professionally prerecording several canned responses to questions they get a hundred times a day. They added some connective comments and laughter to make the responses sound spontaneous. The support tech listens to the question, hits the button and instant communication is had. But when a caller goes off script, the response is not quite right, and the caller gets a creepy feeling.
"Are you a robot?"
(laughter) "A what?"
"Are you a robot?"
"No."
"OK. Then say... 'I am not a robot'."
"I am a real person. Is this connection OK?"
"The connection is great. Say... 'I am a robot', and I'll continue the call."
click... buzzzzz. [12]

Notable Births

  • Diwakar Vaish: Developer of the first mind-controlled wheelchair. It can be operated by people suffering from paralysis. [13]
  • Miley Cyrus: Daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, starred in Disney's Hanna Montana, and now a singer in her own right. [14] [15]
  • Taylor Lautner: Jacob Black (the werewolf) in Twilight. [16]
  • Kaya Scodelario: Teresa in The Maze Runner. [17]

This Year in Film

  • Disney's Aladdin: It will get complaints from the Arab community. (Hey, I thought The Prince of Egypt was all goofed up too, but it was a fun movie.--alexshrugged.) [30]
  • A Few Good Men: Tom Cruise plays a Navy lawyer defending 2 Marines from the charge of murder. (Excellent film.--alexshrugged) [30]
  • Sister Act: Whoopee Goldberg escapes gangsters by disguising herself as a nun. Hilarity and singing ensue. [30]
  • And....: Wayne's World, My Cousin Vinny, and Freejack starring a credible Mick Jagger. [30]

This Year in TV

  • The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Johnny Carson has retired. [31]
  • The Rush Limbaugh TV Show: Rush says it takes too much time compared to radio. [31]
  • Ross Perot buys TV time to explain his plan to fix America: He is running for President mostly to block President Bush (the Elder) from a second term. [31]
  • Sinéad O'Connor rips up a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live.: (Fine, but I tune in to laugh, Sinéad. Shut up and sing.--alexshrugged) [31]

This Year in Music

  • Smells Like Teen Spirit: Nirvana. "I feel contagious / Entertain us." (Oddly, I felt like banging my head against a wall, but I liked it.--alexshrugged)[32]
  • End of the Road: Boyz II Men. "Although we've come to the end of the road, still I can't let go". (A beautiful wall of sound.--alexshrugged) [32]
  • Tears in Heaven: Eric Clapton sings in memory of his son who died last year at 4-years old. (The boy fell out of a window, 53 stories to his death.) [32]

This Year in Video Games

  • Kirby's Dream Land is released for the Nintendo Gameboy: . [33]
  • Wolfenstein 3D popularizes the 1st person shooter game: . [33]
  • Sega's Night Trap is pulled from the market for its mature content: (Why do they call it mature when it seems immature?--alexshrugged). [33]
  • Philips' Compact Disc Interactive is a flop: (I may have contributed to it's failure. I did early R&D on CDi, and found that an IBM PC game was about on par with it. That may have led to game developers passing it by.--alexshrugged [33] [34] [35] [36]

In Other News

  • Stella Liebeck sues McDonald's for selling her HOT COFFEE: They should have warned her. FYI, water is wet and the ground can be extremely hard at times. [37].
  • Randy Weaver surrenders to federal authorities: After an 11 day standoff, his wife and son are dead. It was all caused by a typo in a letter informing him to appear in court. (The court date was incorrect, but how would he know that?) When he didn't show up for court, federal officials ASSUMED that he was resisting government authority. Bang. Bang. You're dead. [38].
  • Ross Perot ends his presidential campaign: (As I recall, he blamed President Bush for interfering with his daughter's wedding.--alexshrugged)
  • Ross Perot restarts his presidential campaign: (He may have added enough confusion to throw the election to Bill Clinton.--alexshrugged)

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

History: The Year is 1991

I've uploaded year 1991 to the TSP Wiki...

http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1991

As always, Alex Shrugged's opinions are his own. Other people's work are their own. I include them here for the sake of completeness and to provide a second method of access to the material for the TSP history segment.


* The Dead Sea Scrolls are Released to the Public -- Contributed by Alex Shrugged

* Jaycee Dugard is Kidnapped -- Contributed by Southpaw Ben

* The Gulf War Timeline -- Contributed by Alex Shrugged

* Notable Births -- See below.

* This Year in Film -- See below.

* This Year in Music -- See below.

* In Other News -- See below.




================================

The Dead Sea Scrolls are Released to the Public

Contributed by Alex Shrugged
Ancient scrolls were found by a Bedouin shepherd in a cave near the Dead Sea in 1947. He sold them for a very low price, less than $50 each in today's money. They were soon recognized as the discovery of the century. People have wondered what was held in these ancient scrolls, a entire library hidden away from Roman destruction and the coming Apocalypse. And until now it has been very difficult to find out. A few scholars have kept them under academic lock-and-key for decades, releasing them for study only to a few favored colleagues and academic interns. INTERNS! One photographic copy of the scrolls resides at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, so after decades of academic quarantine, the library director announces that the Dead Sea Scrolls will be made available to any scholar who asks. Although this goes against the original agreement, it has been long enough... over 4 decades. A photographic copy is published, and what follows are books, papers and rantings from anyone with a Phd after his name, and an opinion. Yet, despite all this initial craziness, it is a good thing in the long run. [1] [2] [3] [4]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
While it is reasonable for a scholar to withhold some original source material to give himself time to make his academic name with them, 44 years is too much. Naturally, the question is whether there is any new information in the scrolls about Jesus. The answer is ... not really. It's mostly background stuff. Most of the scrolls are copies of biblical texts already known. A large number of scrolls are extra biblical books have since been rejected from the canon. (These have a special name which I will not burden you with, but they are the same texts that fiction author Dan Brown used to create The Da Vinci Code, a delightful adventure that I recommend as long as you don't take it too seriously.) [5] Nevertheless, at the time, these extra books were accepted as biblical texts, so studying them is important in knowing the mindset of the people of the time. Finally, there are original documents, many of which contain coded messages hidden within the texts. It all makes for an interesting academic read. What use normal people would have for them is a mystery to me, and I'll leave it at that. [6] [7]

Jaycee Dugard is Kidnapped

Contributed by Southpaw Ben
On June 10th, 11 year old Jaycee Dugard was walking to the bus stop by herself, when a man, Phillip Garridos, in a car approached her, rolled down the window, and shocked her unconscious with a stun gun, then drug her into the car. Her stepfather saw her being kidnapped and gave chase on a bicycle, but had no chance of catching up. Within hours of her kidnapping, her story was being covered from coast to coast, but it was to no avail. She was repeatedly raped during her 18 years in captivity, giving birth to two daughters as a result, aged 11 and 15 when rescued. She was finally rescued in 2009 at age 29. Phillip Garridos was sentenced for 431 years to life for her kidnapping and rape, and Nancy Garridos, his wife, was sentenced to 36 years to life as well.[1] [8]
My Take by Southpaw Ben
In case you didn't want to do the math, Jaycee became pregnant for the first time at the age of 13 due to rape. When I realized this, I wanted to literally rip Phillip limb from limb. One of my friends from back home was raped last year by a coworker, and eventually quit her job because she couldn't stand seeing him. She saw it as her fault, and didn't seek help or contact authorities about it. While she did eventually go for help, it was only after much talking with her and convincing her that she needed to talk to someone who knew what they were doing and not just me, her friend. Given how horrible and damaging this experience has been for her, I can't even fathom how bad it must be to be raped over and over by the man you're forced to live with, and give birth to multiple children to him. While I'm with Jack most of the time that the state can't be trusted to carry out death sentences accurately, cases like this make me think long and hard about that belief.

The Gulf War Timeline

Contributed by Alex Shrugged
In August of last year, Saddam Hussein of Iraq invaded Kuwait and it looked like he might invade Saudi Arabia, so the US launched Operation Desert Shield to block him. Then Hussein annexed Kuwait making it part of a Greater Iraq. This was unacceptable to other countries, so they prepared to join a US-led Coalition forces to kick Hussein out of Kuwait. The UN issued a January 15th deadline for Iraq to leave, and as that deadline nears, the US Congress authorizes the use of force. This war is going to get wall-to-wall media coverage. It is a real experience to see an event live and then compare it to a clip presented by reporters later on. One wonders if some reporters are even competent.
  • Day 01: Operation Desert Storm launches. (1991 Jan 15)
  • Day 03: The air war begins. Targets in Baghdad are hit.
  • Day 04: Iraq launches SCUD missiles at Israel. Patriot missiles knock them down. You can hear the cheers at Raytheon for miles around. Reagan's "Star Wars" project actually works!
  • Day 08: Iraq sets fire to Kuwaiti oil wells.
  • Day 11: Iraq dumps crude oil into the Persian Gulf.
  • Day 17: Iraq captures Army Specialists Melissa Rathbun-Nealy and David Lockett as they are transporting a repaired truck. [9] [10]
  • Day 18: Iraq is driven out of Saudi Arabia.
  • Day 39: President Bush (the Elder) issues a 24-hour ultimatum to Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait or the ground war begins.
  • Day 40: The deadline passes.
  • Day 41: The ground war begins. The British SAS is the first to enter Iraq.
  • Day 43: The Highway of Death: Iraqi forces retreat in stolen cars and military trucks. They are picked off by Coalition aircraft.
  • Day 44: The Battle of Medina Ridge: US Army tanks engage the Iraqi Republican Guard.
  • Day 45: Kuwait has been liberated. President Bush announces victory. A ceasefire begins. [11]
And thus begins a long and low-level fight between Saddam Hussein and efforts to contain him. The no-fly-zone applies only to fixed-winged craft, so Saddam Hussein uses helicopters to put down the rebel forces attempting to overthrow him while he is presumably weak. The Kurds are being wiped out. This war is not over.

Notable Births

  • Bonnie Wright: Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter series. (A teenage crush of mine ~Southpaw Ben)
  • Dylan O'Brien: Thomas in The Maze Runner.
  • Spencer Locke: Jenny in the animated horror comedy Monster House. [12]
  • Mitchel Musso: "DJ" in the animated horror comedy Monster House. [12]

This Year in Film

  • Terminator 2: Judgment Day: This time, Arnold is the good guy! [13]
  • Disney's Beauty and the Beast: A sweet animated musical. [13]
  • Hook: Peter Pan retold after Pan gets old. [13]
  • The Addams Family: I cannot believe Angelica Huston pulled this one off.--alexshrugged [13]
  • City Slickers: A visit to a dude ranch changes the lives of friends. [13]

This Year in TV

  • TVs with built-in closed-captioning are sold in the USA: Before this time you needed a separate box. [14]
  • Dinosaurs: It's like the Flintstones except the dinosaurs are in charge. [14]
  • The Ren & Stimpy Show: You have to be really sick to like this cartoon show. (I LOVED it!--alexshrugged) [14]
  • And...: Rugrats, Aeon Flux and Home Improvement. [14]

This Year in Music

  • (Everything I Do) I Do it For You: Bryan Adams. [15]
  • Black Or White: Michael Jackson. [15]
  • Joyride: Roxette. [15]
  • Ozzie Osbourne is sued because his song "Suicide Solution" forced a teenager to kill himself: The case is thrown out. (If that was true, the theme song to M*A*S*H should have caused mass suicide. It is called "Suicide Is Painless".--alexshrugged) [16]

This Year in Video Games

  • Street Fighter II for the arcades is released: It sets the standard for fighting games. [17]
  • Sega releases Sonic the Hedgehog!: (I loved this game.--alexshrugged). [17]
  • Super Nintendo comes to the USA: It uses 16-bit computing and a more reliable cartridge system. [17]

In Other News

  • 23 are shot in the Luby's Cafe massacre: Luby's is a gun-free zone. [1]
  • Rodney King is beaten by the LAPD: His beating is caught on videotape, and it will lead to riots and destruction. [1]
  • House Speaker Tom Foley closes the House Bank: House members have been writing bad checks as a way to launder money and feather their nest. [1]
  • Mount Pinatubo erupts, killing 800: It is the 2nd largest eruption of the 20th century. (The largest was Novarupta, in Alaska in 1912.--alexshrugged) [1] [18] [19]

Monday, April 24, 2017

History: The Year is 1990

I've uploaded year 1990 to the TSP Wiki...

http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1990

As always, Alex Shrugged's opinions are his own. Other people's work are their own. I include them here for the sake of completeness and to provide a second method of access to the material for the TSP history segment.


* The State of the Clean Air in America -- Contributed by Alex Shrugged

* Pale Blue Dot -- Contributed by Southpaw Ben

* The Secret Service Crackdown on Internet Crime -- Contributed by Alex Shrugged

* Notable Births -- See below.

* This Year in Film -- See below.

* This Year in Music -- See below.

* In Other News -- See below.





==================================

The State of the Clean Air in America

Contributed by Alex Shrugged
Little by little a good idea is turned into something oppressive and wrong, but right now, cleaning up the air is a good idea. Non-smoking sections are provided in restaurants, but smoking is still allowed in bars except in San Louis Obispo, but who goes there to drink? Smoking is completely banned on cross-country flights since the common air system makes a non-smoking section a joke. Laws in California have long since placed controls on automobile emissions, and it has made a big difference. California has also instituted a Zero Emissions Vehicle initiative that requires 2% of all vehicles sold to produce no emissions at all. (OK, Fine. The car manufacturers can produce Zero Emission Vehicles, but the batteries must be replaced in a year and a half, so who is going to buy them?)[1] And now the Federal government has expanded the Clean Air Act to address acid rain and disease-causing pollutants. The government summary of this law is vague, but they will fine polluters, run a pollution-credit-trading market, and require a radical reduction in pollution from manufacturers. In problem areas like Los Angeles, trash-burning in home incinerators is outlawed. This is all for the good, but we know it won't stop there. [2] [3] [4] [5]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
As a child I lived in the Los Angeles area. The smog was thick and acidic. When I would come home from elementary school I would lay down. My lungs were burning. My eyes were red. It would take about a half hour to recover. This was normal. The smog is trapped up next to the mountains, and builds up until the rain washes it away. Since the LA area is a desert, rain is an infrequent event. Something had to be done, and many of the initial measures seemed to help, but as the requirements have become more onerous, mechanical devices to reduce smog are not as efficient as computer modifications to the engine. The computer modifications must be helping because I notice the air is better, but I also know that computers can be programmed to realize when an emissions check is being run. They can automatically tweak the engine parameters to produce the best results for the test, and then reset the parameters for the best driving. When your graphics card does this, it is called slick marketing strategy. When your car does it, it is called LYING! VW was recently fined for doing this, but they are not the only ones. They are simply the ones who were caught.

Pale Blue Dot

Contributed by Southpaw Ben
Less than a pixel. Among bands of sunlight, one can just barely make out a tiny dot against the black, streaked backdrop. This is the last picture of Earth taken by the Voyager 1 space probe, done at the behest of famed astronomer and author, Carl Sagan. Taken on February 14th, they were transmitted to Earth between March and May. Carl Sagan was quoted as saying about the picture "every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives" on that dot. [6]
My Take by Southpaw Ben
This is a picture to look at and think about when your life is crazy and nothing seems to be going right, and you're completely overwhelmed with life. It helps put everything in perspective. You are but a minuscule piece of dust on a piece of dust in the grand scheme of things. But at the same time, you also should be working to make this dot better. Like Jack always says, make that dash matter. While this dot seems to be almost nothing, at the same time it is everything.

The Secret Service Crackdown on Internet Crime

Contributed by Alex Shrugged
The first page of the World Wide Web is written this year, so why is the Secret Service breaking down the doors of Steve Jackson Games in Austin, Texas? This is a BOARD GAME company! It does role-playing games... you know... with dice.... on a tabletop. But in the raid, the Secret Service finds a hacker's guide as part of the board game GURPS Cyberpunk. It is not a real hacker's guide just as "the martian" from My Favorite Martian is not really from Mars. Raids across several cities result in the confiscation of computers, the take down of computer bulletin boards (an early form of text talk forum) and several arrests. The Secret Service suspects an employee of Steve Jackson Games of using his personal computer to steal credit card numbers. (He wrote the fictional hacker's guide for the board game, but that is not sufficient reason to raid the business where he works.) THREE YEARS LATER after a lot of shouting and hand-waving, the court will reprimand the Secret Service for sloppy work on their warrants. ("LYING" is such an ugly word. How about OUT OF THEIR MINDS?) Steve Jackson Games will be awarded $50,000 in damages and $250,000 in attorney fees. That's over half a million in 2015 dollars. It takes a lot of money for innocent people to stay out of prison these days. [7] [8] [9] [10]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
Steve Jackson Games was also accused of trying to bring down the 9-11 phone system. The media seemed to be throwing anything they could at the company, and the 9-1-1 system had recently gone down due to a software bug in the AT&T system. I suppose blaming hackers was easier than blaming themselves. For a better idea of what the Internet was like in those early days, (and it was nothing like it is today) I suggest reading the excellent book, "The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy through the Maze of Computer Espionage" by Clifford Stoll published in 1989. Those were real spies that Cliff was tracking, but Cliff had a difficult time finding a government agency to take responsibility when he found that spies had totally penetrated the Mitre Corporation. In any case, Steve Jackson Games is still in business and has a good following.[11] [12] [13]

Notable Births

  • Emma Watson: (Hermione in the Harry Potter series) [14]
  • Kristen Stewart: (Bella in Twilight) [15]
  • Jennifer Lawrence: (Katnis in Hunger Games and the only person born in the 1990s to win an Academy Award for acting) [16]

This Year in Film

  • Ghost : (Some of the sexiest pottery-making I've ever seen. Also Whoppie Goldberg is not very convincing, but everyone else is.--alexshrugged). [17]
  • Home Alone: Macaulay Culkin plays a bratty kid left home alone at Xmas time. (Initially I didn't like this film but it grew on me... like a fungus.--alexshrugged). [17]
  • Total Recall : Motion capture is first used with CGI. (That's when an actor is filmed with those bright yellow dots, so that the computer can match up the computer graphics with the actor's motions.) [17]
  • And...: Pretty Woman, Edward Scissorhands, Kindergarten Cop, and The Hunt for Red October. [17]

This Year in TV

  • Nightline airs Madonna's controversial music video "Justify My Love: (Musically, it is not very interesting. Visually, it approaches soft porn, and not very interesting.--alexshrugged). [18]
  • Law & Order: Thus begin the spinoffs such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent... (And my personal favorite: Law & Order: Suicide by TV.--alexshrugged) [18]
  • Beverly Hills, 90210: (Rated the best show of all time by AOL TV which is probably why AOL TV no longer exists.--alexshrugged)
  • -- In Comedy: Northern Exposure, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air starring a young Will Smith. [18]

This Year in Music

This Year in Video Games

  • Let the Nintendo World Championships begin!: It begins in Dallas, Texas and goes on a 29 city tour of the USA. The custom game cartridge used then is considered the most valuable today for the Nintendo. [20]
  • Final Fantasy is released: This begins a long series of role-playing games. [20]
  • Super Mario World is released: Introducing the Yoshi character. [20]

In Other News

  • The USA invades Panama: General Manuel Noriega surrenders to US forces. [21]
  • Iraq invades Kuwait: This will lead to the Gulf War early next year. [21]
  • Boris Yeltsin becomes president of the new Russian Federation: In the midst of a gentle transition to a market economy, the old guard tried to regain control in a coup, and the whole Soviet Union came crashing down when the Army refused to go along with the coup. [21]
  • The destruction of the Berlin Wall begins... officially, that is: German reunification is near. [22] [21]

Friday, April 21, 2017

History: The Year is 1989

I've uploaded year 1989 to the TSP Wiki...

http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1989

As always, Alex Shrugged's opinions are his own. Other people's work are their own. I include them here for the sake of completeness and to provide a second method of access to the material for the TSP history segment.


* It's a Hit! The World Series Earthquake -- Contributed by Alex Shrugged

* 1989 Coronal Mass Ejection causes a blackout in Quebec -- Contributed by Southpaw Ben

* The Current State of Gun Control and Nerf Guns -- Contributed by Alex Shrugged

* Notable Births -- See below.

* This Year in Film -- See below.

* This Year in Music -- See below.

* In Other News -- See below.




==============================

It's a Hit! The World Series Earthquake

Contributed by Alex Shrugged
This isn't "The Big One." Nor is it as big as the 'Frisco Quake of 1906, but it is big enough. A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hits south of Oakland, California as Game 3 of the World Series begins. It is broadcast live and in color nationwide. The fans in the stadium are safe enough but they are not going home any time soon. The double-decker Nimitz Freeway has collapsed, crushing cars like aluminum cans. (Yes, I know. People are inside. Some of them will live, but if the quake had hit on any other day, thousands would have died. Everyone is either at the game or watching it on TV. Not on the road.) The upper deck of the Oakland Bay Bridge collapses, but only one car is dumped onto the lower deck killing the driver. The rest of the damage is caused by the phenomenon of liquefaction. When the earth shakes, water from below is pumped up into the soil. Depending on the type of soil (AND CLAY IS THE WORST) it will turn to the consistency of play-dough. The entire first story of one building simply sinks beneath the earth. Other buildings sway and nearly collapse. (BUT THEY DON'T COLLAPSE.) Foundations pull out of the ground. (It is the leverage caused by the building moving back and forth like a rocking chair.) When it is all over, 63 have been killed, and 3,757 have been injured. The World Series has saved lives. [1] [2] [3] [4]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
After the 1906 earthquake and fire, all the rubble was pushed off into San Francisco Bay creating an artificial peninsula. Since that time the city expanded and built over the rubble. The earthworks on that peninsula were never engineered, so some of the most spectacular damage occurred there. I strongly suggest reviewing the pictures of the damage caused by this earthquake and then look at the number of people killed... 63. It is not a miracle. It is due to the local building codes, the preparedness of the population, and in this case a little luck. If my home in Austin, Texas were moved to California it would be destroyed in the first major earthquake because it was not built with earthquakes in mind. It would also cost a lot more to build if it was.

1989 Coronal Mass Ejection causes a blackout in Quebec

Contributed by Southpaw Ben
On March 13th, a severe solar wind struck Earth. This resulted in auroras being seen as far south as Florida and Texas, causing a rash of fears of a nuclear strike in progress, while others thought they were caused by a recent Space Shuttle mission. It also caused a disruption in short-wave radio, which was noticed by the interruption of Radio Free Europe into Russia, and as such was initially thought to be the result of jamming by the Soviet government. It also caused a 9 hour blackout in Quebec. This was a result of the transmission lines being longer than most systems, which was compounded by the fact that Quebec largely sits on a thin layer of soil, with a slab of rock under it, and as such, it didn't allow the excess current from flowing into the ground, unlike in most other power grids. As a result, many circuit breakers were tripped. As a result, many utility companies in North America and Northern Europe have implemented measures to reduce the the risks of future solar storms.[5]
My Take by Southpaw Ben
With how much hype there is in the prepper movement around CMEs, it's amazing how there have been 3 major solar storms since the March 1989 blackout, and the biggest amount of damage done was later in 1989, when the Toronto stock exchange as 3 computers broke as a result of affected microchips, and resulted in 3 hours of stopped trading.[6][7] Also, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been working on standards to ensure most power grids would be well protected from solar storms.

The Current State of Gun Control and Nerf Guns

Contributed by Alex Shrugged
At this point the Undetectable Firearms Act is in effect. No one may manufacture, sell, possess or even contemplate possessing a firearm that cannot be detected by current metal detectors. Feel Better? I don't know why. All guns currently manufactured can be detected using a metal detector including the Glock 17 with the polymer grip. This hysteria over so-called plastic guns simply increases Glock sales by keeping the name foremost in people's minds. Smith & Wesson is trying to win the bid for the FBI's new service weapon, but the current 10mm round has too much kick. The current agents don't like it, and with more women entering FBI service, something has to give, so Smith & Wesson has come out with the .40 S&W ammo. It will be revealed at the Shot Show in January next year. Mr. Glock will saunter over to the booth and pocket a few cartridges. After carefully measuring them he realizes that the Glock 22 can accommodate the new ammo with a few modifications. Thus Glock will beat Smith & Wesson to market with a gun that uses S&W ammo. Back to this year, California passes an assault weapons ban. In summary, any weapon with an AK or AR in the name is banned. Also vague descriptions of what constitutes a scary looking weapon leaves a lot of people in doubt as to what an assault rifle really is. Frankly, a pink .45 with "Hello-Kitty" sights is scary enough for me. [8] [9] [10] [11]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
These airsoft rifles seem as scary as any so-called assault rifle. My son used to carry one around at the park. The county sheriff asked him nicely to please stop doing that. It was making mothers at the park nervous. OK, but at least no one called out the SWAT team. The authorities just went over and talked to him like a human being. They may not always be right. They might even hassle you, but they are willing to talk to you before they come out shooting. My son was also picked up by police for shooting a Nerf gun. A NERF GUN! Luckily, everything was straightened out before I went down there, and caused a major incident. If you ever wonder why public officials do such foolish things, please read George Orwell's excellent essay, "Shooting an Elephant". Orwell was a police officer, and he didn't want to shoot the elephant, but public pressure forced him to "do something". So he did. Bang! [12]

Notable Births

  • Anton Yelchin (died 2016, age 27, crushed by his car in his own driveway): He played Pavel Chekov in the Star Trek movie reboot. (His driveway is on an incline, and his car rolled, pinning him against a pillar. His car was under recall for a transmission problem that caused rolling.--alexshrugged) [13]
  • -- In TV... Ashley Benson (Pretty Little Liars), Brie Larson (Raising Dad), and Hayden Panettiere (Claire in Heroes) [17] [18] [19]
  • -- In Movies... Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Lily Collins (The Blind Side), Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) and Brenton Thwaites (The Giver) [20] [21] [22] [23]

This Year in Film

  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: It is the search for the Holy Grail. [24]
  • Batman: It is the dark. [24]
  • Look Who's Talking: Bruce Willis is the voice of the baby. [24]
  • And...: The Little Mermaid, Driving Miss Daisy and Field of Dreams, "If you build it, he will come." [24]

This Year in TV

  • Baywatch: David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson. [25]
  • Doogie Howser, M.D.: Computer journals become popular. [25]
  • America's Funniest Home Videos: Embarrassing family moments. [25]

This Year in Music

  • Like a Prayer: Madonna. (Controversy erupts when her music video uses stigmata (bleeding hands and feet), Catholic iconography and dancing in church (shudder!). She also kisses a black priest.--alexshrugged) [30]

This Year in Video Games

  • Nintendo's Gameboy is released: Good battery life will make this handheld game system a winner. [31]
  • SimCity is released: A "game level editor" is turned into the game itself. [31] [32]
  • Populous becomes the 1st "god game": The player acts as a deity influencing actions within the game and eliminating the unbelievers. [31] [33]
  • Herzog Zwei is the 1st real-time strategy game: Released on Sega Genesis. [31] [34]

In Other News

  • The Exxon Valdez runs aground, spilling 240,000 barrels of oil into Prince William Sound: The captain had been drinking. [35]
  • Charles Keating and the Savings and Loan crisis will cost $200 billion in bailouts: (As I recall, Congress expanded the insurance on assets without raising premiums, thus encouraging risky investments.--alexshrugged) [36] [35]
  • A Chinese man faces down tanks during the Tiananmen Square Massacre. His image will become the icon for this democracy movement. [35]
  • Cold fusion is here!: No, it's not. Yes, it is. No, it's not. Nuclear fusion at room temperatures is considered BS (Bad Science). [35]