Y2K

Okay, this has to be said.  Y2k was a non-event.  Not because it wasn't a real threat, but

BECAUSE WE FIXED IT!!!

I worked at two different companies on this problem.  I was there for testing where we took devices like credit card readers, ATMs and even elevators advanced their dates.

You know what happened?

THEY STOPPED WORKING!!

So, to all of the people who think Y2k was some big hoax because nothing happened, you need to thank the teams that worked round the clock for years to make sure nothing happened.

Sorry, just had to speak my peace on this one.

" I don't really find it exactly cheerful to be living in the middle of a totally, like, exhausted decade where there's nothing to look forward to and no one to look up to."- Pump Up the Volume

The quote I'm using for the title was from a 1990s movie.  

Have things gotten any better?

As a child growing up in the 1970s, we could find heroes in fiction and reality.  Television's characters were mostly either over the top evil or over the top good.  The good characters may not have been realistic, but you could try to be as good as, Captain Kirk, Laura Ingles or Mike Brady.

They may have been unrealistically good, but shouldn't we strive for that?

Look at the remakes and reboots for some of TV's characters:

The new Star Trek's Captain Kirk is essentially OK, but kind of an @sshole.  Same with the reboot of Battlestar Galactica.  Replaced are the squeaky clean Lorne Green and Richard Hatch with characters you really don't want to emulate.

“'Oh, realism! Oh, here, oh, now, oh hell!'”- Ray Bradbury 

Ray Bradbury predicted this would happen decades ago in the Martian Chronicles.  

I haven't even started on reality TV.  There are NO people in there you would want to be like.  Across the board, reality television features people we either hate, despise or pity.  Otherwise they are not deemed "entertaining."  .

Even many of our childhood heroes get smudged, buy attention seeking people looking to smear someone's reputation and history for the sake of "entertainment."

I used to look up to people like John Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt.  Look what has happened to them in recent years with scandals and rumors of scandal.

Can you honestly think of a hero you have in recent decades?  Someone who stood out and wasn't smeared by someone somewhere.

I used to have Neil Armstrong and John Glenn.  After Armstrong's death (and some before) news came out about his divorce and what a bad husband he was.  Really?  I didn't need to hear that!  

John Glenn has held up.  So far the only other decent figure I could find was Mr. Rogers.  So far no one has been able to smear him.

Consider someone like Lance Armstrong.  I know I'm going to get beat up here, but hear me out.
Now, he has a reputation for not being a nice guy.  He's probably not a nice guy but, in beating cancer, starting the Livestrong Foundation and Charity he inspired people to survive and probably saved thousands of lives just by being an inspiration.  Nothing else.

I realize the search for truth is a squeaky clean attribute, but was it REALLY necessary to go back and smear what looked like a modern day "Superman." (Don't get me started to what they did to Superman).  Wasn't the inspiration he created and the lives he saved and the hearts he touched worth more than the outcomes of races run over a decade ago.

REALLY think about it.  What have we lost versus what have we gained??

Hath No Fury Wins Second Place in Literary Agency Contest

Urban Literary Agency just announced their winners from their 2015 contest.

My book, Hath No Fury,  got second place!

Here's the specs from the judge:

Author Name: Hal Rappaport

Title: Hath No Fury

Genre: Romance / Paranormal

How is the author’s writing?                                        

Poor

Okay

Good

Great

Is there violence?

No violence

Some violence

Graphic violence

Is there sexual content?

No sexual content

Some sexual content

Explicit sexual content

How is the story narrated?

First person

Second person

Third Person

Alternating persons

Wine and Pretzels

I am alone in my hotel room, on a business trip, staying at a Holiday Inn in Houston. 

I am eating pretzels left over from the bag I brought on my flight.  They were a snack I bought for the four hour flight from NJ to Houston. Airlines no longer serve meals on domestic flights. 

I am washing them down with the cheapest merlot money can buy.  It’s out of a juice box and poured into a plastic cup.  I suppose it would be worse if I were drinking it directly from the cardboard carton, but I figure that’s just a matter of degrees.

Is this a new low?

I’m not sure.

The wine was $3.99, and the pretzels cost almost the same.  Airports can charge pretty much anything these days.  We buy it because we are forced to be there.

It’s the middle of January and the thermostat in this room reads 77.  The environmental controls for this room either seem to want it to be freezing or uncomfortably warm.  I keep switching it back and forth because it won’t stay at any one temperature.  I figure if I switch it back and forth enough times it will rain in the middle of the room.

I’m not 100% sure why I am writing this stream of consciousness.  It’s not my usual style and pretty meaningless.  I think I just liked the title, “Wine and Pretzels.”