The theory of the "one off"

"We will continue to muddle through the paucity of evidence. We will find out if the shooter was truly a 'one off' or part of something much more sinister. Stay tuned citizens - this is far from over." 

After I retired, and finished my somewhat short church experience, I decided to take one more "trip around the block". After working at Sperry Univac, Control Data, United Defense, and IBM, I threw my resume out on the internet. It only took a week, and I received a call from Ecolab in St. Paul. They thought I was exactly what they were looking for. Why? My IBM experience. In reality? The weight of my resume far outweighed the experience I held.

I any event, they hired me. The VP of procurement wanted me to work on the co-sourcing agreements with the Indian firms they were sourcing with. But in my spare time, they wanted me to work on "one off" procurement actions which had proved problematic for the company. Compared to what I worked on at IBM, these "one items" were a walk in the park. Just in case you are wondering what a "one off" is, it is something out of the ordinary. 

Why do I bring this up? The shooting in Las Vegas might have been done by a "one off" shooter. Someone out of the ordinary. Either that or he was "ordinary" and maybe had some help. So what if he was a "one off"? Then we are in a whole new territory. Thus, if this was a "one off" event, we have a lot to learn. And for the next killer who mimics this killing, he or she will not considered to be a "one off". He or she will be a copycat killer.

If this guy had been a disgruntled former Special Forces Operator, this entire event might have been looked at as something other than a "one off". But this was an out of shape senior citizen with no gun training that we know about. So, we are stuck in the vast wasteland known as "I have no idea". 

We will continue to muddle through the paucity of evidence. We will find out if the shooter was truly a "one off" or part of something much more sinister. Stay tuned citizens - this is far from over. 

Tracks to nowhere...

"The future is coming folks. And this is going really be neat. It will be fun watching it develop. As for you young people - pay attention. One day your grand kids will ask you if you remember the days when we had to operate our own cars. Our brave new world awaits us all..."  

Reading the morning paper was like seeing an episode of the Keystone Cops, with the Met Council acting as the Keystone Cops. There are so many things wrong with this Southwest LRT project right now, it almost reads like a case study back in business school. For example, here is a real messed up situation - can you find ways to fix it? Most students would have thrown up their hands and gladly taken an "F" on the project.

For all the reasons to cancel this thing, and there are legions (like it will cost a mint an very few will benefit), there one reason which stands out above the rest. Time and technology have passed this era by. Just in case the Met Council has not noticed this as yet, our society is now the "on demand" society. Relying on trains which run on a fixed route under a fixed schedule is antithetical to "on demand" thinking.

I started to learn about this whole "on demand" thing when I was at IBM in the early 2000's. This was long before Comcast started using it for shows. IBM was going to use it for software. If a customer needed a type of software, he could poke the request up on his laptop and, BOOM, there it was! Today if you notice, we expect everything to be on demand.  Check out Amazon if you don't believe it. Our patience to wait has all but evaporated. 

Back to the choo-choo trains. I have been reading more and more about how fast the HUGE new revolution of driver-less cars is approaching. By the way, some of that future is already here. The market for this new technology is going to be so big, so sweeping, the car manufacturers are moving up their integration plans. Bottom line - by 2020 (a whopping two years and change away), seeing a driver-less car will no longer be a head turner. It will start to be commonplace.

One article I recently read said the revolution of driver-less cars and trucks will do to the transportation industry what the computer did to the information industry. Yes, the article said, this coming change will be that profound. 

Here is the nexus - the upcoming collision of the old and the new. We have AI and auto makers rushing pell mell into 2020 to try and capture a nice share of this alluring new market. At the same time, if it ever gets built, we will have the new shiny Southwest LRT coming online around 2022. And all this will be happening right in the middle of a whole pack of "on demand" millennials. 

If we had a normal Governor, rather than an impaired statist, he or she could end this nonsense. As the former valley girls would say, "Trains are so, so yesterday". Take the money allocated to trains, and reallocate it to roads. Like how to integrate this technology into our infrastructure. 

The future is coming folks. And this is going really be neat. It will be fun watching it develop. As for you young people - pay attention. One day your grand kids will ask you if you remember the days when we had to operate our own cars. Our brave new world awaits us all...  

What is right with our health care?

"We are blessed in this country to still have the world's best medical treatment - hands down. We just need to make sure we don't PC it right down to single payer, or worse." 

We have heard quite a bit of bitching and moaning about what ObamaCare has done to the price of our healthcare. And quite a bit of that bitching has come from the Old Bird. Today, I had a medical day. I have had a nagging bronchial infection for about a month now, so I was way overdue for my monthly maintenance visit to treat my neuropathy. So that was first up today. Then I made the decision that my body cannot rid itself of this bronchial stuff, so right after neuropathy I headed over to Urgent Care.

First neuropathy. Not too long ago, when you were diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, the treatment was simply to "live with it". As it was told to me when I first found out I had it, it will not kill you, but will disable you. When my wife and I first started going to classes about this disease, there were many folks in attendance with canes, walkers or chairs. I had already started using my Mom's old cane, and I did not want to travel any further down that path. I told my wife, whatever the treatment is for this stuff, I am in. 

As it turns out, I was blessed to have the Class 4 Laser treatment work well for me. It does not cure it, but it does treat it. If after it is stopped and if you do the maintenance treatment, you can keep it from getting worse. I am still clumsy, shuffle way more than I once did, have numb feet all the time, and always have to be mindful of falling. But my wife and I can travel, we can walk around together, and play with the grand kids. No complaints from this old guy.

Then I got to Urgent Care at our clinic. I walk in, with no appointment, and they checked me in. After a few minutes, two nurses came to get me. Back to an examination room and then taking my vitals. After a few minutes, they were done, and they told me the doctor would be in to in see me in fifteen minutes. 

The doctor came in, listened to my heart and chest, and determined that I had acute bronchitis. She wrote me out a prescription for a strong antibiotic, and sent me on my way. By lunchtime, I was home with the first two pills taken.

Why do I bring this up? Because in spite of how ObamaCare and MNSure has really hosed up the cost of medical insurance, our treatment is still excellent in this country. One of my friend's father had to go down to Mayo for a heart valve replacement. Not too long ago this was major open heart surgery. The fix for my friend's father had it done through a blood vessel is his leg. He was up and walking three hours after the procedure.

Right now, our medical care is the best I have seen it in my life. Miracles in this state are done each and every day. And I hope it gets even better when my kids are my age. And better yet when my grand kids are my age. We are blessed in this country to still have the world's best medical treatment - hands down. We just need to make sure we don't PC it right down to single payer, or worse. 

So much more to this story...

"Now if we could just get the gun grabbers to sit down and shut up, we could focus on solving this thing. We owe that to ourselves, but mostly, we owe it to the victims and their families."

I remember years ago watching some "who done it?" on TV. The perp had planned a somewhat perfect murder and then "offed" the victim. When the detectives arrived and started doing some forensics, one detective said to the much older and more seasoned detective, "I don't know how we are going to catch this guy. He left no clues." The old salt turned to his young partner and said, "Oh, there are always clues. Sometimes they are just not that obvious."

In the paper this morning, there was an article about how the perp had planned this attack down to the gnat's behind. And since his law enforcement record was clean, this guy never popped up on anyone's radar. But now the who's what's and why's are going to start to get interesting. His lady friend is back from overseas, and she is about to get the grilling of a lifetime. Why her? Why is she that interesting? Because she might hold the key which will unlock many boxes.

Meanwhile, as the good guys in Las Vegas are doing their best to find some clues and the health professionals continue save and care for the wounded, the gun grabbers in Washington are out in full force. Rahm's quote of "never letter a good crisis go to waste" is in full bloom right now. And as usual, who is the bad guy? The shooter? Heck no. Once again it is Wayne LaPierre and the rest of the NRA. Why them? Excuse the pun - they are always an easy target.

By the way, a bit of irony before I continue. Most of the gun grabbers are also part of the open borders crowd. And most are colored a deep blue. If we decided as a nation to eliminate all guns - totally - would that fix the problem? Would that keep Vegas type shootings from ever happening again? Of course not. Since the Border Patrol is only successful in stopping 15% of the drugs getting across the border, I believe the same would hold true for stopping the flow of illegal guns. Only the law abiding citizens would be disarmed.

Back to the clues. Why was $100,000 sent to the PI? The answer to that will be discovered. How was he able to amass such an arsenal without one soul on Earth noticing? Especially his lady friend? Some reporters have said he had no motive. Oh, yes he did. The type of guns used, the modifications to make them automatic, the type of ammo used, the way he set up the hotel room, all were done for a purpose. 

I am also curious about his performance evaluations when he worked at the IRS and the USPS. I am curious about his gambling history. His friends (everyone has some, even if they are an introverted loner). Mostly however, I am curious how this HUGE plot could have been cooked up without his girlfriend knowing about it. Is it possible that all this went on right under her nose without her knowing? Sure it is. It is also possible to get hit by lightening twice in one day.

The next days and weeks are going to be interesting. Some information learned will make the press, I am guessing most will not. Now if we could just get the gun grabbers to sit down and shut up, we could focus on solving this thing. We owe that to ourselves, but mostly, we owe it to the victims and their families.

Making it to tomorrow...

"We will get through this if we truly practice e pluribus unum (out of many, one). However, if we continue to divide on every issue, plus leave God out of the picture, our future will be bleak at best. As for me, I not only want to make it to tomorrow, I also want to make tomorrow a better day than today." 

I was at a prayer meeting yesterday morning, and when we started our discussions prior to prayer, the recent events were discussed. The storms, the earthquake, the Las Vegas shooting, the national strife - everyone's plate seemed to be full with topics for prayer. But then the pastor brought up a very good point. What else can we do besides pray? Be a little ray of light in this ever darkening world.

This year has reminded me of that old sick joke, "Cheer up - it could be worse. So I cheered up and it did get worse." Just when you think you are at the bottom of the well, after three major hurricanes and the Mexico City earthquake, we have the worst mass shooting in our country's history. There are times we just want to reach for the heavens and say, "Lord, please help us make it to tomorrow."

But it is one thing to just make it to tomorrow, it quite something else to make tomorrow a better day. An example of this is as follows. As many of us have seen, after yesterday there have been some very toxic posts on social media. The human part of us, after reading some of that garbage, wants to respond by unloading on the person who wrote it. Then that person would unload back. What would be accomplished? Nothing, except making a bad day even worse.

The hardest thing I have had to learn in my faith walk is to verbally turn the other cheek. To let an unkind word go unsaid. To try and live more in the spirit of Ephesians, Chapter 4. How am I doing on that? I am still a work in progress. I fail more than I want to. But it is important to make every day a better day. And it is important to making it to tomorrow.

Are we done with the bad news yet? Are there more natural or un-natural disasters headed our way? I am betting yes. Yesterday, the pastor in the prayer group also said this - wouldn't it be wonderful to have many, many more of these small prayer groups all over the land, just bathing our hurts and needs in prayer? I could not have agreed more.

We will get through this if we truly practice e pluribus unum (out of many, one). However, if we continue to divide on every issue, and then leave God out of the picture, our future will be bleak at best. As for me, I not only want to make it to tomorrow, I also want to make tomorrow a better day than today. 

An all too familiar script

"What can we, the shocked public do? Like I said at the start - pray. If this man had ISIS connections, we till find out. If the rumors that he did ends up being fake news, we will also find that out. The last thing we should do is make a political football out of this tragic event."

As tragic as last night's shooting was, many of us know the script by now. We know what all sectors of the political spectrum are going to say about it. What or who caused it. And who should be punished for it. But before I get into that - a moment of reflection for the hundreds of victims of this senseless act of carnage. Our prayers are with you, with your families, and the magnificent healers who work in the Las Vegas hospitals. For those who did not survive this attack, may God have mercy on those souls and comfort the loved ones who are left behind. 

On the radio this morning, it was reported this is the worst mass shooting in American history. If you want to put it in perspective, if this had happened to our troops in Kabul, with almost 60 soldiers killed and over 500 wounded, this would have been considered to be a major defeat of US forces. But it did not happen that way. It was a bunch of folks who came to Vegas to attend a Country Western concert. That is it. No more, no less. They were simply slaughtered by a mad man.

Some are already calling for gun control. However, the smart people are asking the right questions first. Like, where did he buy (or obtain) automatic weapons? How did he get them up to the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Inn? Since he was checked in for a few days before the act, and hotel staff had been in and our of his room, how did he keep the long guns from being noticed? And of course, we can't ask the shooter, as he (like many others) decided to take the coward's way out. 

Let's suppose for a minute, that Las Vegas had the strictest gun control in the world. Zero guns would be tolerated. Even knives would be off limits, all the way down to a Swiss Army knife. Plus everyone who came to the concert would go through a pat down, walk through a metal detector, and have purses checked. The outcome of the concert? No change. The shooter would have still been up in the 32nd floor shooting people at will.

It is time like this we need to let the investigation play out. Let the professionals do their jobs, Information which is knowable, will be discovered. Information which is not knowable, will have died with the shooter. 

What can we, the shocked public do? Like I said at the start - pray. If this man had ISIS connections, we will find out. If the rumors that he did have a connection with a terrorist group ends up being fake news, we will also find that out. The last thing we should do is make a political football out of this tragic event.

A letter to Washington, from the heartland...

"Out here in the hinterland, we don't do 'Washington speak'. We do however, understand promises and results. And more importantly, we know how to vote."

Like many of us, sometimes I wonder if we are on the same page as our elected representatives. So, I have decided to do an open letter for all to read. However in reality - none will read it. I know that. But it will be a cathartic act for me to write it. And it will be done in bullet points, so please don't send me angry mail that my letter formatting is all screwed up. Here it goes:

Dear President Trump and the members of Congress - I am sending you this open letter to let you know how I, and based on some folks I have talked with, also feel about certain important things. Things which are very important to get done, and done soon.

• Tax changes and relief - When I was a young man with a young family, Ronald Reagan was President. He promised an earth shaking tax plan with significant tax relief should he be elected President. Well, he was elected, and he did. My family went from just getting by, to being able to enjoy more of our money. I was a huge game changer. This "historic" tax plan which has been rolled out by the Administration, is full of nothing for many of us. In fact, I did some math based on some of the assumptions I think is in the plan, and it is not good. This retired guy, who is not rich, will end up paying more. That, is not tax relief. Plus our tax code will continue to be a thick as a King James Bible. Pull it back, and start over again. This time do it right.
• Healthcare - Why is this so hard to understand? The roots of ObamaCare have grown way too deep in our soil. "Repeal and replace" has failed twice. Tom Price, who was suppose to be the smartest guy in Washington on healthcare reform, did nothing. He took the job just to travel and see places. Face facts. We need to fix ObamaCare in a bipartisan fashion. It pains me to say this, but it is the truth. We can't let ObamaCare (as written) continue on. And obviously, we don't know how to fix it by ourselves. Sometimes, you need to dance with the devil to get something done. This is one of those times.
• Infrastructure - This is one of those campaign promises which looked like a no-brainer to keep. The Democrats were all in on this one. But here it is October, and nothing has been done as yet. Guess which part of the infrastructure I hear about the most? The power grid. I have written about this so many times my fingers are almost numb. We have recently seen how Puerto Rico has been absolutely paralyzed when their grid went down during Maria. We have known since the 1980's our grid was in trouble - and vulnerable to attack. GET THIS DONE NOW!  
• Storm Damage - The American people are not stupid. We have had three monster storms create havoc in Texas, Florida, American Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The final toll the federal government will pick up is going to be staggering. It will be measured in the hundreds of billions of dollars. The President needs to explain to the American people where this money is going to come from. For a nation which is now over $20T in debt, that kind of money does not just grow on trees. This might need to be factored in with the tax plan which needs to be revised.
• Entitlement and Pension Liabilities -  Once again, the American people are not stupid. If our entitlements and pensions need to be reformed, you need to explain to the American people how you are going to do it. What this means to those who are collecting entitlements and pensions, as well as those who will be. To allow this issue to continue to be kicked down the street is the ultimate in financial irresponsibility.

There is more to address, but that is good for now. Out here in the hinterland, we don't do "Washington speak". We do however, understand promises and results. And more importantly, we know how to vote. That is a good thing for you folks on the Potomac to remember.