Une Demonstration Pratique

The current riots that are tearing France apart make for an excellent, though tragic, object lesson for other Western nations.  The rioters are clearly from Africa and the Middle East.  They may be second or third generation immigrants, but they have not become French.  Without assimilation, immigration is just a means of Balkanizing a country.  As the saying goes, "Import the third world, become the third world."  Any immigration must always be very gradual and demand assimilation.  If assimilation is impossible, then such immigrants should be turned away.  For example, Muslims cannot assimilate without leaving Islam.  Now, a country can survive a small number of Muslims, but there comes a point when the Muslims will seek to overthrow the existing order and install Sharia.  That is its nature.  By the same logic, a communist will use the freedom of a host country to undermine those very freedoms.  Much of Europe has flung open the borders to immigrants who will inevitably seek to destroy Europe.  Gad Saad calls this suicidal empathy.  Let in the downtrodden, out of compassion, and become conquered when the number of downtrodden reach critical mass.

France may have a new Napoleon soon.  One of the early appearances of Napoleon was when he put down a riot by firing cannon at the rioters.  The government was quite grateful.  I suspect there are a lot of French - the real ones, not these imports - who would appreciate a man like Napoleon today.  And that is truly tragic.  It takes catastrophes like this to create dictators.

Flock You

Happened to tune into a radio program while driving today.  The topic was Flock cameras.  There is a guy who created a program on his laptop that would identify only police cars.  He tested it a couple of times by going to a site and setting up his camera and laptop.  After a few hours, he checked his results.  Then, he blogged about it.  Bing!  The police soon showed up at his door.  Huh, that's odd.  The police wanted to know if he intended to create a database of police activity.  Huh, that's an interesting question.  Really, if you aren't doing anything wrong, you have no reason to care that you are tracked in public.  Right?  It is funny how instantly concerned the police were to be subject to the same surveillance that they are so keen to impose.  What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

The hosts directed listeners to a website: deflock.org.  There is a map that shows all the known License Plate Readers (LPR) scattered throughout the United States.  There are a lot.  As alarming as this may be, one must remember that almost everyone now carries a tracking device in their pocket or purse: a cellphone.  If the authorities want to find you, they will.  If they want to know where you have been, that's just a matter of strongarming your cell carrier.  However, cell records are not as easy to access, which provides at least some friction for the police to track you.

Straight Talk (1992)

Shirlee (Dolly Parton) worked at a dance studio.  Rather than teach her partners to dance, she chatted to them.  Her boss fired her.  When she told her boyfriend, Steve (Michael Madsen), he berated her.  She decided it was time for a fresh start and left for Chicago.  The job search proved difficult.  At one point, she stopped at a bridge with notions of tossing a coin into the river to make a wish.  Jack (James Woods) mistook her as planning to jump to her death and grabbed her.  It did not make for a good first meeting.  Later, while having breakfast at a diner, Shirlee met Janine (Teri Hatcher) and was soon telling her how to handle her workaholic boyfriend.  Moments later, her boyfriend, none other than Jack, arrived.  It did not make for a good second meeting.  Shirlee finally got a job as a receptionist at a radio station.  While looking for the coffee machine, she was mistaken for the new talk radio psychologist and put on the air.  Her homespun and folksy advice proved to be ratings juggernaut.  Despite no qualifications, she was given a show by Alan (Griffin Dunne), who kept her lack of credentials to himself.  As chance would have it, Jack was a reporter and he now took an interest in 'Doctor' Shirlee.  Maybe there was a frontpage story here.  He'd need to get close to her and asked her on a date.

A romantic comedy that is also a fish out of water story.  Shirlee is a small-town girl who isn't used to the big city.  This is made more pronounced with her posing as a doctor, but not understanding certain words and expressions.  However, Dolly is quite charming and has a magical laugh and radiant smile.  One is always hoping for Shirlee to do well, even if she is pulling a fast one.  James Woods is a strange choice for a romantic comedy.  He does a fine job, but this just isn't the kind of role one would expect for him.  Unsurprisingly, the soundtrack features several songs by Dolly Parton.

Light and fun.  A must for Dolly Parton fans.

French Revolution: 2026

France is in flames.  Rioters are driving the police from the streets, looting & destroying shops, and burning down buildings.  The video, readily available on YouTube or Rumble, is tragic.  What began as a student protest has expanded.  It is hard not to notice how many of these protesters do not look French.  The importation of foreigners from the 3rd World has created a large enough population that the takeover shall commence.  Europe is long overdue for the Riot Act.

Reading the Riot Act was quite literal.  In the UK, the Riot Act was passed.  When the subjects got unruly, the sheriff or other court officer would read the Riot Act.  If the offenders did not disperse, deadly force could be used to force dispersal.

Looking at some of the video, some protesters are throwing heavy objects at the police.  That is clearly assault with a deadly weapon.  What are the French Police doing?  Withdrawing.  Oh, that should do the trick.

Midway (1976)

Several months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States launched an attack on Japan.  The bombing did minimal damage, but demonstrated that the homeland was not safe from American reprisals.  As such, Admiral Yamamoto (Toshiro Mfune) was allowed to proceed with a daring attack.  With a vast fleet that included 4 aircraft carriers, he set out for Midway Island.

In Hawaii, Captain Matt Garth (Charlton Heston) confronted intelligence specialist Commander Joe Rochefort.  Joe suspected the Japs were up to something.  Even though he could only decipher 10% of the communiques, he had a hunch that they were moving on Midway.  False report about a water filtration system confirmed it.  Or was this an elaborate ruse by the Japs.  Admiral Nimitz (Henry Fonda) trusted Rochefort's hunch and dispatched the remaining carriers - Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown - to Midway.  Now that the battle map is setup and the players have been introduced, it was time to detail the events.

After some melodrama between Garth, his aviator son (Edward Albert), and his Japanese finance (Christina Kokubo), the movie becomes a dramatized documentary on the battle.  Each fleet sending scout planes to locate the other, bombers unescorted by fighters are wiped from the sky, unprotected carriers are sunk, and Midway Island is bombed.  Thought Garth is the main character, the story is not told from his perspective.  There is Admiral Spruance (Glenn Ford) commanding Task Force 16 (which comprised Enterprise & Hornet), a command he received on account of Admiral Halsey (Robert Mitchum) suffering from shingles.  Admiral Fletcher (Robert Webber) commands Task Force 17, which only had one carrier, the Yorktown.  The Yorktown had been seriously damaged at the Battle of Coral Sea and really should have been in port for repairs, but desperate times call for desperate measures.  Of course, there is Admiral Nimitz in Hawaii who gets regular reports on how things are going.

There are entirely too many characters.  The number of noteworthy stars is impressive.  James Coburn gets a cameo as a naysayer to Nimitz's strategy.  Robert Wagner is Admiral Nimitz's chief of staff.  Tom Selleck is an unnamed officer on Midway.  Dabney Coleman is an officer on one of the carriers.  Cliff Robertson, Monte Markham, Christopher George, Steve Kanaly, and Erik Estrada are pilots.  Pat Morita - best remembered as Mr. Miagi - plays a Japanese admiral.

Just okay.  A good thumbnail sketch of the Battle of Midway, the battle that turned the Pacific War in the United States' favor.

Flying Car

Tonight, the Tesla Roadster was demonstrated in MacGregor, TX.  The flying car has arrived.  It doesn't have wings, just thrusters.  Among the tricks that the car performed was to drive upside down.  Yes, it drove up a ramp until it was clinging like Spider-Man.  Next, it raced up that same ramp and flew upside down off of it, but then spun 180 degrees to land gently on the ground.  Astonishing.  Then it jumped over several Teslas without a ramp.  Like Speed Racer's Mark V, it just leapt into the air and cleared 5 vehicles, doing a 360 degree spin as it did so.  Like the Batmobile, it has rockets on the back and those provided it so much acceleration that it could go from 0 to 60 in less than 1 second.  Elon tasked the engineers with achieving a top speed of Mach 0.5, half the speed of sound.  That's more than 380 mph.  He also suggested trying to jump the Snake River, like Evel Knievel tried to do in 1974.

The Roadster enters production in 2028.  As cool as it is, what is the practical use of such a car?  Flying over other cars downtown is likely to be frowned upon.  However, it will also be tough for the police to catch such a car.  I suspect this will be a Bond car when the Bond franchise restarts.  Impractical though it may be, such technological wonders inevitably lead to far reaching applications.

Check it out on YouTube.

Tesla

I had my first ride in a Tesla today.  First impression was that the interior was surprisingly spartan. Since the door windows don't have a frame, they automatically retract when the door is opened and then slide back into the body of the car for a clean seal.  Impressive.  There was a steering wheel and a large screen.  The top was non-opening sunroof.  The dash was almost a table, with no visible vents for AC.  The acceleration was alarming, like being shot out of a cannon.  Luckily, I had been warned to put my head against the headrest before the acceleration.  Then self-driving mode was demonstrated.  The Tesla managed stoplights, lane changes, and navigation with no input beyond the initial programming of our destination.  It was quite scrupulous about using its signal lights.  Impressive.  Throughout the ride, the screen showed the highway with the Tesla - in blue - in the middle and gray icons of all the other vehicles. Humorously, we encountered a Cybertruck which showed up as just a regular truck icon rather than a specialty one.  Upon arrival, the car pulled into an available spot.  The return journey was done without self-driving until we reached the parking lot.  Here, it was just a matter of selecting a parking space on the display.  The car then maneuvered so that it could back into the space.

Wow, this was quite amazing.  Who needs a salesman when you can just take a ride in one.  No wonder this is the most valuable car company.