Monday, October 20, 2014

The Oppenheimer Report 10/20/14


As I scramble to get all the outside work done around the house before my shoulder surgery this coming Friday, I find myself fighting the elements. After a stormy summer, we have had a very wet fall and the temperature variances have been extreme. As I sometimes do, I consulted the radar last weekend, and noticed a familiar blob of green and yellow covering the near north of Ontario. What I was not ready for was a significant area of blue, indicating snow. Last night we had the first snow of the season, and while there was no accumulation, not yet at least, I’m not ready! One of my priorities this weekend was to change the oil in the snow blower.


The Ebola virus has been front and center in the news of late as it recently made its way into North America. A Liberian man died recently in Dallas, Texas where he had been visiting his family.  Much has been made of the likelihood that the Dallas hospital mishandled this case. Not only did they not properly diagnose the man’s illness in the first place, sending him home where he may have infected others, but when the man was finally admitted, the hospital procedures for protecting its caregivers proved inadequate as well. One or two nurses who were treating the man were infected with the virus, and now hospitals all over North America are re-assessing their preparedness to deal with this issue. While the disease is thankfully not contagious by airborne transmission, unless bodily fluids are exchanged, it is extremely deadly when it is contracted. This particular strain has a mortality rate in the 50-60% range, and there is no known vaccine at this time.

 
From the serious to the ridiculous… did anyone else catch that gubernatorial debate story in Florida? Republican incumbent Florida Governor Rick Scott refused to debate his Democratic opponent and former Republican Governor Charlie Crist, because Crist was using an illegal fan under his podium to cool himself. Pundits are calling it “Fangate” and it bespeaks the absurdity which is U.S. politics. As satirist John Stewart quipped: “Thank you Jesus!” for this chestnut of comedy gold. I wish the Republicans would wake up and join the race. Another story which I caught on CTV News, and which I found bizarre, concerns the video gaming industry. Apparently, several women who are becoming successful in video game development have had their lives threatened because of their perceived threat to the tide of violent misogyny in video games. Admittedly, I know little about video games, except that, like todays films, some of them are extremely violent. One disturbing trend seems to be the depiction of women in these games as expendable objects of sexual fantasy. As the news suggested, some vidiots out there, who thrive on these games promoting misogyny, feel threatened by any female who would dare to intrude on their violent woman-hating fantasies. I have for a long time harped upon the growing social disconnect enhanced by advancements in technology. Cell phones and computers give us more access to information and communication, but at the same time can retard acceptable social behavior. Hey, here’s a great idea, I think I’ll text this girl’s naked photo to all my classmates. Who knew she’d kill herself because she was so ashamed? How strange is it to hear that someone is having an existential crisis because a woman is interfering with his right to fantasize about violence against women in a video game. It’s an existential crisis over something that does not, or should not, really exist in the first place! It is bad enough that these video games have an audience (it’s a free country right?), but I think they need to catch these desensitized troglodytes and get them a little behavioral therapy … perhaps make them watch The View for a couple of hours a day. O.K., that might be a little too harsh.    

 
Yesterday, I attended the memorial service for local country musician Sam Fattore. A lot of his musician friends came out to the Katrine Community center to celebrate his life by performing at the service, sending him out in style. Goodbye Sam, you have some good friends.

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2014 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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