Monday, October 30, 2017

It Was Inevitable




With an eye on the weather, the Captain decided it is time to get The Tiki Hut ready for winter.

It is a sad day; the Captain is in mourning.


The water levels in the lakes have dropped to winter pool now, so the probability of hitting mud have increased exponentially.


And you know the Captain is good at that!

But the weather forecast doesn’t look promising either.


So, today was the day.

I was blessed to have a church member come out and show me what to do.

Okay, honestly, he did it all while I watched.

But I watched! So maybe next year I can do it on my own.

If I can remember that long…

The Tiki Hut will remain open for business throughout the winter. The fridge will remain plugged in, and I bought a small heater to keep the cabin warm.




Captain's Note: Watch for an exciting new look this Spring!

But we’re tied off now awaiting the arrival of Spring.

Maybe I can catch up on my reading!

Only 140 days to go!



Monday, October 23, 2017

"How do you know?"



So here’s the story.

“Reportedly”, in response to pro athletes “taking a knee” during the National Anthem at the start of football games, the pilots of the New Orleans Saints’ team plane recently walked off at the last minute and stranded the team on the tarmac before a big game.


This “big news” naturally broke on Facebook and was quickly shared by many of the Captain’s patriotic and/or Right-Wing friends.

Full Disclosure: The Captain is a Saints fan. Thus, this story immediately caught my attention.

As it made its second lap around the internet, a friend immediately responded with, “FAKE!” Your Captain had already called it out a couple weeks earlier, but decided to affirm my friend with, “Yes, this is not true.”

That irritated another friend, whose blind, pro-Trumpf support has become an increasing irritant.

She may soon find herself walking the plank.

Her question was, “How do you know it’s fake?”

I chose to not respond to her supposedly innocent question immediately, wanting to think it through first.

The Captain sees this as a sign of the wisdom that comes with age.

Before addressing that, lest anyone think the reporting of politically-slanted news stories is anything new, just recall the term “yellow journalism”, coined in the mid-1890s during the publishing wars between William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. 


Their use of large, exaggerated headlines and inflammatory writing is said to have contributed to the U.S. entry into the Spanish-American War.


As for the publishing of outright lies, one need only look to the checkout lanes at your local grocery store.


No, the publishing of false or misleading news is nothing new. The only difference is that now the internet makes it more pervasive and accessible.

Captain’s Note: If Facebook is your only source of news, shame on you!


So back to my friend’s question: How do you know? Here is how I will eventually respond to her.

The first test the Captain employs when determining whether a news story is true of false (I refuse to say ‘Fake News’…) is the smell test.

Does it smell like bullshit?


You know, there are just some news stories that simply make me say, “No way!”

Like the Stevie Wonder story shown above. 

But celebrities have grown accustomed to that.

In the political realm, most news reports are slanted / self-serving. And most of what I read today – from either political party – almost immediately makes me question the integrity of the source.

For example, despite what many Democrats hope, I don’t believe the Russians have a Trumpf “pee-pee tape”; and unlike many Republicans, I don’t believe the proposed Trumpf budget will benefit the middle class.

My brain just screams, “Bullshit!”


And so I dig deeper.

The second test the Captain employs then – if it is important enough to check out – is Snopes.com. Although many who create the lies have tried to discredit Snopes, I still find it to be a good source of non-partisan fact-checking.


And Snopes immediately declared the Saints airplane story to be “FALSE”!

Third, I check other established, reliable news agencies to see if they are also reporting this news.

No other legitimate news agency has reported on the Saints’ airplane story.

The Captain thinks that surely, if it was true, this would be a relevant story for a national news broadcast, especially considering the turmoil that has been stirred up over this peaceful protest.

Controversy means more readers / viewers – as Hearst and Pulitzer discovered – which means more ad revenue and sales.

At least ESPN should have mentioned the Saints’ airplane story.

There was nothing about it in the local news coming out of New Orleans either.

Captain’s Note: To stay informed of current events, the Captain regularly reads two national newspapers online, watches a major network national news broadcast, and local news broadcasts. Occasionally I will read other newspapers too.


After such research, the Captain feels confident to declare a story to be false.

Finally, if necessary, I will check out the source that originally posted a news story.

Often times their website will admit they publish satire.


That makes it easy.


Although...

But too many of these internet "news" sites today ply on the ignorance of the typical American citizen and simply generate piles and piles of partisan bullshit, shoveling it out to social media, where it is stepped in and tracked into our homes.



Quite frankly, the Captain doesn’t want you stinking up my home or my ship, so I call it as I see it. And I expect you to at least remove your boots before tracking that stuff into my home.

As for my Facebook friends who disagree, "Sorry-Not Sorry" when I don’t agree with your uninformed world view.

Mostly not sorry.