7000 lights with 3600 LEDs dancing to ‘Little Drummer Boy’ by Mannheim Steamroller adorn Captain Rick’s Oasis in Gilbert Arizona

Captain Rick: The holiday light and sound show at my desert oasis in Gilbert Arizona is always an enlightening experience. My 20th presentation includes 3600 LEDs dancing to ‘Little Drummer Boy’ by Mannheim Steamroller.

Click the above photo to view my 2017 light and sound show or …
View Captain Rick’s 2017 Holiday Sound and Light Show

Presentations of previous displays follow in the YouTube Playlist

How it works …
A ‘Holiday Brilliant Spectacular Light and Sound Show’ controller provides 3 channels of signals to my trees and shrubs, each wrapped in 3 bands of red-white-blue or white-multi-white, connected with 50 extension cords. The device accepts a SD card loaded with hours of favorite holiday songs. As it projects quiet music across the yard, a device receiver analyzes the audio and programs the controller to display 3 bands of lights on the plants and trees, resulting in an awesome sound and light show of 3600 LEDs dancing to the music.

Oasis Light Show History …
My Gilbert Oasis was the first in my HOA 20 years ago to present a holiday light show and has done so every year since. 2007 marked a record with 12,000 lights, requiring two 15 amp circuits running at maximum capacity. Addition of one more string of lights would blow a circuit breaker. Three years ago I began to replace older incandescent lights with energy efficient LEDs. They consume about 1/6 the power, are many times brighter and rarely need to have a light replaced. Over half of the lights in this years show are LEDs.

Setup and takedown …
In past years it would take 20 or 30 hours to install all of the lights and cords … and about half that time to take it all down. Having done this for 20 years, I have increased efficiency. Setup and takedown now requires about half the time, including the addition of the new light-music control equipment.

SDI: Defense against a Lunatic in N. Korea ? … Does Trump have it backwards ?

Captain Rick: I am pleased to announce that Thomas C. Patterson, past Arizona state legislator and guest journalist on Atridim News Journal since 2013, will present a series of reports on subjects of great importance to America and our world. The first in the series is about the Strategic Defense Initiative and the explosive situation in North Korea.  

I asked Tom why he is presenting his voice on ANJ. His reply: “I write it because I don’t want to be part of the generation that let liberty die out on our watch or at least I want to know that I did what I could to prevent it. I would like some of the good things about America to be there for my grand-children. I always love it when you carry my stuff. Let me know if I can be of further help in your efforts to promote the good and the true.”

ATRIDIM NEWS JOURNAL

Guest Commentary

by

Thomas C. Patterson

ABOUT: Thomas C. Patterson is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Nebraska. He was elected to the Arizona State Senate in 1989, serving as minority leader from 1991 to 1992 and majority leader from 1993 to 1996. Patterson was the author of legislation creating Arizona’s charter school system and welfare reform program. Until 1998, he was a practicing physician and president of Emergency Physicians, Inc.. Patterson also served as president of the Arizona chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. In 2000 he became chairman of the Goldwater Institute. In 2013 he became a guest journalist on Atridim News Journal. Thomas is a resident of Chandler, Arizona.

SDI: Defense against a Lunatic in N. Korea ? …
Does Trump have it backwards ?

Americans are finally finding out what it takes for the Left to support antimissile defense in a nuclearized world. The answer: an immediate existential danger from a crazed dictator with nothing to lose from terrorizing us.

Now we’re faced with a lunatic who has the capability of obliterating parts of our mainland, an achievement which has made him a player on the world stage. The current crisis has been predictable for a long time. As nuclear capability gradually became within the technical reach of rogue states and terrorists everywhere, our leaders studiously ignored the signs of danger.

The first antimissile defense was the Strategic Defense Initiative, conceptualized by President Reagan and ridiculed as "Star Wars" by his political adversaries. Even when it proved effective in halting the end of the Cold War, opponents still followed a strategy of repeatedly under funding and undermining the technology, then complaining about the lack of progress achieved.

Barack Obama was a prominent opposition leader, helping to stall the program and then as president pronouncing it “unproven”. He canceled previously negotiated antimissile installations in Poland and Czech Republic. Later he was caught on a hot mic telling a Soviet official that he would later be "flexible with Vladimir" with respect to missile defense.

We are now in a dangerously vulnerable situation. Experts say it would take up to three years to implement a system that would fully protect us from North Korea and eliminate China’s first-strike capability.

Still, our inability to protect ourselves wouldn’t be such a big deal now if not for the weak diplomatic efforts that failed to contain the North Korean menace. After North Korea first begin developing nuclear capability, President Clinton in 1994 struck a deal in which North Korea agreed to come clean and pursue only nonmilitary uses of nuclear power.

But the Commies negotiated harder and smarter than we did, preserving multiple loopholes and avoiding effective compliance checks. The treaty probably did more to facilitate North Korea’s missile program than to hobble it.

Unfortunately, George W. Bush did nothing to end the dithering and confront reality. Obama, for his part, raised appeasement to an art form around the world. He complained about wasting money "making some version of this Cold War daydream into reality" as one pundit put it. In the end, Obama finally had a change of heart when his truculence had put our country in obvious danger and only then authorized anti-missile bases in the West.

The lessons of history are clear. Diplomacy only succeeds when practiced from a position of strength. Appeasement doesn’t stop aggressors. When tyrants show you who they are, believe them. Unfortunately, our leaders have kicked the can down the road until there’s no more road, as Charles Krauthammer said.

Now that our mortal enemies have well-developed nuclear capabilities, our options are limited. Israeli forces in 1981 attacked the Iranian nuclear base Dosirak and were able to inflict telling damage but most observers agree that approach today would produce unacceptable consequences.

Russia and especially China, North Korea’s main patron and trading partner, should both be urged in the strongest terms to help convince North Korea to stand down. The hard truth is that a nuclear North Korea, hostile to the US, is in the strategic interests of both, so it’s unlikely we can win them over.

Teddy Roosevelt’s foreign-policy advice was to "speak softly and carry a big stick". President Trump seems to have it backwards, issuing bellicose threats, like he has so often, without seeming to realize that he must be willing and able to carry out the threats for them to have effect.

That leaves missile defense, the best of the bad options out there. We need to bear down and pour all the resources we can into this national emergency. Fortunately, missile-defense doesn’t have to be perfect to be effective as we found in the Cold War. Just the credible prospect of an anti-missile strike degrades the value of the enemy’s nuclear arsenal and greatly reduces the possibility of a first strike.

But we never would have come to this perilous point if our leaders had put America’s security interests above politics.

Tom’s previous reports in ANJ Guest Commentary

Houston Texas: Hurricane Harvey on track to become a “landmark” national disaster for the United States

Captain Rick: Harvey made landfall on Friday as a Category 4 hurricane and stalled out as a tropical storm over the coastal areas of Texas, just southwest of Houston.
It unleashed dangerously high winds and dumped catastrophic amounts of rain with a total of up to 50″ projected before it moves out of Texas on Wednesday.
Tropical Storm Harvey sent massive floods through the Houston area Sunday, chasing thousands to rooftops or higher ground and overwhelming rescuers. FEMA estimates 30,000 will seek safe haven in shelters.
Federal disaster declarations indicate the storm has so far affected about 6.8 million people.
About 50 Texas counties and parts of Louisiana will face serious repercussions from the “landmark event.”

A look at Harvey by the numbers so far:

Track _____
Harvey, now spinning near Port O’Connor, Texas, was forecast to move back into the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, the National Hurricane Center said.
As it spins offshore, the storm is expected to dump an additional 15 to 25 inches of rain through Friday over the upper Texas coast and into southwestern Louisiana, exacerbating the life-threatening, catastrophic flooding in the Houston area.
It will meander over the Gulf for a couple of day, accumulating more moisture, before making a second landfall somewhere near the Texas/Louisiana border, likely on Wednesday, dumping record amounts of rain on the region during the almost week long catastrophic visit.

Rainfall _____
This month has officially been deemed the wettest on record for Houston, Texas. On Sunday, Houston established a new daily rainfall record with just over 16 inches. That’s twice the rainfall that Phoenix Arizona receives in a year.
Between Friday and Sunday, some areas along the Texas gulf coast received as much as 30 inches of rain. But the dangers are not over just yet. Weather services warn that before the storm clears out, some areas could cumulatively receive as many as 50 inches of rain. Continuing rainfall will worsen already grave flooding conditions.

Fatalities _____
At least 5 people have died as a result of Harvey. Rescue efforts are still ongoing and that number could increase over the coming days.

Rescue efforts _____
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said officers had rescued more than 2,000 people trapped by the overwhelming waters; another 185 rescue requests were still pending. The city also has grappled with 75,000 911 calls, and the system has backed up but never went down.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday activated the entire state National Guard, raising to 12,000 the number of guardsmen deployed to assist the search and rescue effort.
The Coast Guard, which said it already had conducted 300 air and 1,200 boat rescues, had 20 helicopters and more than 20 boat teams in the Houston area.
Rising water levels have made rescue efforts challenging. As many as 346 roads are closed due to high water.
More than 5,500 weary refugees of Tropical Storm Harvey’s fury sought refuge in the city’s George R. Brown Convention Center. More than a dozen smaller shelters have been opened across Harris County.
Local, state and federal officials warned that the human crisis in southeast Texas was just beginning. Harvey will drive 30,000 to shelters in Texas, FEMA says.

Rescue effort costs _____
While wind damage insurance claims alone could reach as high as $6 billion, flooding costs could be even larger.
FEMA already owes the U.S. Treasury more than $24 billion, which was provided for previous disaster relief efforts.

Disaster assistance _____
On Monday morning, FEMA Administrator Brock Long said more than 450,000 Texans will need disaster assistance relief in the wake of the storm.
President Donald Trump has approved a federal emergency disaster declaration, directing government aid toward the relief and recovery efforts. Under this declaration, the U.S. government will cover about 75% of some of the relief costs.
At least 15 states are sending first response teams to Texas.

Small business fate _____
The longer the recovery effort takes, the less likely it is the area’s small businesses will survive the economic damage. About 40% of small businesses won’t survive this type of natural disaster.

Gas prices _____
Because many of the United States’ oil refineries are located in Texas, outages have already caused gas prices to hit a 2-year high. Texas boasts a refining capacity of more than 5.6 million barrels per day, according to the EIA.
About 16% of that capacity has been taken out due to the storm. Some experts predict gas prices could rise by as much as 25 cents.

BREAKING UPDATES _____
For breaking updates on Harvey, view the comments for this post. Your comments are welcome.

 

U.S. Economy Slides during Trump’s First Quarter as President … GDP Growth Rate Falls to 0.7% … Weakest Since 2014

Captain Rick: U.S. economic growth fell to a snail’s pace during Trump’s first quarter as president. GDP grew at an annualized rate of 0.7% in the first quarter of 2017, down from 2.1% growth in the fourth quarter of 2016.

The deceleration in real GDP in the first quarter was mostly a result of weak personal consumption due to lower auto sales and home-heating bills and a downturn in private inventory investment and in state and local government spending. An upturn in oil drilling and exports and accelerations in both nonresidential and residential fixed investment helped limit the overall GDP deceleration.

GDP Growth Rate in the United States averaged 3.21 percent from 1947 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 16.90 percent in the first quarter of 1950 and a record low of -10 percent in the first quarter of 1958.

GDP…What is it?

‘GDP’ represents ‘Gross Domestic Product’…a market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a year. GDP performance (increases and decreases) present a broad-based picture of the health of a country’s economy. High GDP growth is typical of a healthy economy. Low GDP growth (below 3%) is typical of an unhealthy economy. Negative growth is typical of an economy in recession.

GDP Details for Q1 of 2017:

Personal consumption expenditure (PCE) contributed 0.23 percentage points to growth (2.40 percent in the previous quarter) and rose 0.3 percent (3.5 percent in the previous quarter). Spending fell for durable goods (-2.5 percent from 11.4 percent in Q4 2016) and slowed for both nondurable goods (1.5 percent from 3.3 percent) and services (0.4 percent from 2.4 percent).

Fixed investment added 0.69 percentage points to growth (1.47 percentage points in the previous quarter) and increased 4.3 percent, compared to a 9.4 percent expansion in the previous period. By contrast, private inventories subtracted 0.93 percentage points to growth, after contributing 1.01 percentage points in the previous period. Government spending and investment subtracted 0.30 percentage points to growth (0.03 percent in the previous period) and contracted 1.7 percent (0.2 percent in Q4).

Meanwhile, exports jumped 5.8 percent, reversing a 4.5 percent drop in the previous quarter and imports increased at a slower 4.1 percent (9 percent in Q4), bringing the impact from trade to 0.07 percent (-1.82 percent in the previous quarter).

Economy Update for second quarter of 2017: The US economy grew at an upgraded annual rate of 3.1 percent in the second quarter of 2017, the fastest pace in more than two years.

 

U.S. Strike on Syria

Captain Rick: President Trump made an ignorant choice when he recently attacked Shayrat air base in Syria with 59 Tomahawk E Cruise Missiles. He was obviously buckling to FAKE NEWS, the corrupted US Intelligence Machine and the warmongering minds of the U.S. Military. I am reblogging this outstanding journalism by fellow WordPresser Josep Goded. It presents a realistic view of the U.S. Strike on Syria that refutes the tons of FAKE NEWS that has been spread by Mainstream Media.

Josep Goded

On Thursday night, Donald Trump directed a strike against a Syrian military airbase, which targeted fighter planes, ammunition bunkers, radars, and petroleum storage. The Syrian regime said that the attack killed 7 soldiers and wounded 3.

In a brief press conference, Trump assured the American public that the strike was in retaliation for the last chemical attack against innocent civilians in Khan Sheikhoun in north-western Syria, which caused as many as 80 casualties, including many children.

Despite the fact that the UN could not reliably determine the accountability of the Syrian regime over the chemical attack, the U.S. government and the mainstream media launched a campaign to accuse them.

Ignoring the resolution of the UN, the NATO and other allies expressed their support for the strike and said that it was proportional. On the other hand, the Russian government condemned the attack and said that the U.S. is helping terrorists…

View original post 443 more words

An Enlightening Evening … Poolside at Captain Rick’s Oasis in Gilbert Arizona

Captain Rick: As the sun sets on my Arizona Oasis, it lights up with amazement. Red and blue rope lights surround the pool along with white pathway lights. Spot lights illuminate the fountain and numerous shrubs. Some of them reflect in the pool. At front is a desert spoon with yellow lantana to its right. Beyond it are mirrors on the block wall that reflect a glimpse into my house, which is also lit with vibrancy. There is no place in the world that is more serene to me.

Click the photo to view full screen in 4K via Captain Rick’s Flickr site. Enjoy!

President Trump launched 59 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles on Syria … Russian Warship arrives along Israel Coast … Is this the beginning of WW 3 ?

President Trump launched 59 Tomahawk E Cruise Missiles on Syria causing severe damage to Shayrat air base in Syria, southeast of Homs. Russia also uses this base and has invested heavily in it. U.S. intelligence believes that a deadly gas attack on Syrian civilians was carried out by government aircraft from the Shayrat air base.

Two U.S. destroyers, the USS Ross and USS Porter, launched the Tomahawk cruise missiles south of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and hit their targets at at 3:45 a.m. local time in Syria. Each destroyer carries about 35 Tomahawks. U.S. officials said there were up to 100 Russian military personnel present at the base when the missiles hit. The Russians were warned about an hour before the missiles hit the base, defense officials said.

The Tomahawk “E” or Echo version is the latest model and has two-way satellite communication allowing the missile to be reprogrammed in flight if needed. The missiles can carry 1,000-pound warheads.

The U.S. launched the cruise missiles in response to a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians, the first direct assault on Syria since the beginning of that country’s bloody civil war in 2011.

The U.S. began launching airstrikes in Syria in September 2014 under President Barack Obama as part of its coalition campaign against ISIS, but has only targeted the terrorist group and not Syrian government forces … until today under President Trump.

Russia’s Response: Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the US airstrikes on Syria, describing it as "an act of aggression against a sovereign state" that "dealt a serious blow to Russia-US relations," according to a Kremlin statement. Russia said it believed Syria had destroyed all of its chemical weapons and the US strikes were based on a "trumped-up pretext." The risk of a direct collision between the US and Russia in Syria had "significantly increased" since the US missile strike, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Peskov added that it was "indisputable" that the US airstrike on Syria "was carried out for the benefit of ISIS and other terrorist organizations."

A Russian warship, likely loaded with the newest Russian Cruise Missiles, has entered the eastern Mediterranean. Its destination and target is unclear. 

Captain Rick: I wonder if this is the beginning of World War 3?  I think President Trump made a poor choice, buckling in to FAKE NEWS and the US Intelligence Machine, all of which I think are very corrupt. In the process President Trump is blowing a big chance to gain a friendship with a very intelligent person … President Vladimir Putin of Russia … a person I consider to be one of the most intelligent leaders of our world. As a huge supporter of President Trump, I am saddened by his actions, which cast him into the same war monger group that contains both U.S. Presidents Bush.  I hope that President Trump will recapture his own mind, like he presented during campaign season and stop bowing into FAKE NEWS and question the info he is receiving from the very corrupt U.S. Intelligence Machine.  

70 Dead in Syria from Chemical Poisoning … FAKE NEWS blames Russia and Syria’s Assad … how will President Trump respond?

ANJ Breaking News … At least 70 people, including many children, died Tuesday after suffering symptoms of chemical poisoning, including foaming at the mouth and suffocation.

Russia’s defense ministry is blaming a Syrian airstrike on a "terrorist" ammunition depot for the deaths of dozens of people in what has been described as a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria’s Idlib province.
According to a statement posted Wednesday on the Russian ministry’s Facebook page, the strike hit "workshops, which produced chemical warfare munitions" in the eastern outskirts of the Khan Sheikhun town.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s military denied using chemical weapons and blamed rebels for the carnage.

President Donald Trump, speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, said the suspected chemical attack against Syrian civilians "crossed a lot of lines for me" and changed the way he views Syria and its leader Bashar al-Assad.
He blamed the attack in part on what he described as "a great opportunity missed" on the part of former President Obama.

Captain Rick: I urge all, including President Trump, to exercise caution on drawing judgment. FAKE NEWS is blaming Russia. That is a travesty. FAKE NEWS is also blaming Assad and seems to want Assad out of power.
I caution that thought might cause another ‘rush to judgment’ similar to Saddam Hussein being removed from power in Iraq, which proved to be a monumental mistake … one of the biggest of modern history. It left a quagmire from which ISIS grew from within. 

Meet Denis Egan … Guest Journalist on Atridim News Journal … Talking about Islamism based on years of experience in the Islamic World

Captain Rick: I introduce Denis Egan as a guest journalist on Atridim News Journal who will present amazing testimony about Islamism based on his long history of experience in Afghanistan, Iran, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia as an instructor of English to Muslims.

Denis Egan

Denis Egan, born and raised in the Chicago area, found his world perspective and values turned upside-down when a service in Peace Corps in Afghanistan in 1965 led to a career as an educator in Middle Eastern, Near Eastern and American institutions. Although he was generally well-treated and respected in Afghanistan, Iran, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, he found himself fleeing from his office in the American University in Beirut in a demonstration in 1974, prior to the start of the civil war in Lebanon.

His 17- year work history in the Middle East includes institutions in Herat and Kabul, Afghanistan, the University of Mashhad, Iran, the American University of Beirut Lebanon, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and the Iran America Society of Isfahan, Iran.

In December of 1978, he fled his position as Director of the Iran America Society in Isfahan, Iran, shortly before the departure of the Shah and triumphant return of Khomeini as head of the Islamic Revolution. And after the attacks on America of 9/11/2001 in which 15 of the 19 attackers were Saudis, he resigned from the University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and returned home to the U.S. He now writes and gives presentations about his experiences, the modern history of the area and its future.

Denis Egan

Denis Egan expounds with details of his career

The Middle East Then and Now

“Get to a T.V. They’re attacking New York and Washington.” On September 11, 2001, my wife was warning me by phone from our campus housing at the university in Dhahran Saudi Arabia that America was under attack and possibly by Saudi terrorists. “What are you talking about? Nobody attacks America”, I replied. I rushed down the hall to the office of our Saudi Dean of the English language center.

I saw horror on his face as he waved me inside. He was a tall man in the stylish “agal” head covering and long white “thobe” covering his slightly bulging body. He was a graduate of Georgetown University with a Ph.D. in linguistics. He was not cheering like some crowds in certain areas of the Middle East. His personal world based in the University of Petroleum and Minerals might soon be crashing down just like New York was before our very eyes. I would soon resign my position there but our exit wouldn’t be easy since I had just signed another 2-year contract with the institution.

Would this be the end of much of my life’s work based in the Middle East? It had all begun as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Afghanistan in 1965. Was it to end here in 2001?

Where Am I?

Waking up in a strange place can produce a frightening confusion for a short time while your memory pieces together where you are and how and why you’re there. So it was in May of 1965 when I awoke in a very strange hotel room with an uncomfortable bed, thick walls with a blue-gray, wash-type paint, a chair and small table, very old but not quite antique. It was 2:45 a.m. on the other side of the Earth from my home in the Chicago area from which I had rarely traveled far. It was certainly more than a minute, maybe more than two, when my growing panic subsided with the realization that the strange city outside my window was Tehran, Iran, the first stop on my itinerary to Afghanistan as a member of a Peace Corps group of teachers.

Kabul, Afghanistan, 1965

The same feeling came over me the next morning at 4:00 a.m. but quickly passed as a cacophony of cattle bells called me to my window in the Kabul Hotel to review a long camel caravan passing before me on the, otherwise deserted, pre-dawn street in the capital of Afghanistan.

At my teaching assignment in Herat, I was soon introduced to the gatherings called “conferences” which happened about 3 times annually. The first event would be speeches by visiting dignitaries from Kabul, followed by recitations of much-loved Persian poetry. And finally a local band would conclude with favorite songs. By the 2^nd or 3^rd conference, I was invited to be the lead singer with the band.

“Mr. Egan, we are politely requesting that you sing a song for us”. The band leader was requesting, in the elaborately polite Farsi dialect of the area, that I join them. I sang free of the self-conscious inhibitions that constrain people when they’re performing in their own culture, before family and friends. The audience called out for “Cheshma Seeaw Doreen” (You Have Dark Eyes). It was a very popular song which I knew well.

Music, songs and poetry seemed to be the acceptable outlet and remedy for religiously loyal Afghans who prayed 5 times daily and had strict separation of the sexes. The next request had a very common theme in highly-melancholic, Afghan songs, i.e. unrequited, one-sided love. It was the crowd’s favorite. I would be invited to sing it at many parties and weddings thereafter. When one considers their religious dedication to God (Khodaw in Farsi, Allah in Arabic) and the hard lives of the Afghan people, the whole history of that nation seems to have the same theme of love unrequited by Khodaw, the theme of Afghanistan.

These were beautiful days in the 60’s in Herat, years of peace and happiness in a basically poor but busy and hopeful community. Who could have dreamed in the “conference” on that beautiful October day that the modest mixing of young men and women, celebrating educational strides, literary tradition and the music and songs of Herat, that all of this would be forbidden and considered evil, against God’s will? But this was one typical day in Herat in the 60’s, a time when music was the anti-dote to the many daily problems of life.

In my final flight departing Herat, a sad feeling came over me. The words of the New England poet Robert Frost came to mind about his choice in life, the road less traveled by, wherein he wrote the following: ”And both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden black. Oh I saved the first for another day yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted that I should ever be back.” Was that it for Herat? Would I never be back again? Would I never see these friends and places again? I assumed not. But I was mistaken.

Iran, 1969

The bus was filled with a wide assortment of travelers foreign and native. Among the foreigners, besides us, were a couple of hippies from America from who, in addition to other smells, emanated an odor of marijuana and hashish. Two local farmers in baggy pantaloons and long shirts boarded with 4 wives and some equally noisy chickens. Their turbans resembled those of Afghans, swirling ‘round and ‘round the head with one end hanging down below the waist. They were headed for an Iranian village along the way which was an important center for Turkoman tribal people.

The 200 mile trip from Mashhad Iran to Herat Afghanistan would take a full day, due mainly to the delay at the Afghan border where all our passports had to be stamped by a one-eyed official using a kerosene lantern in a dark, thick-walled, brick hut in the border outpost of Islam Qala. To speed up the process our driver would collect a cash “bakhshish” (donation) from each of us to present to the official in a less than obvious manner. Our driver would, of course, retain his 50% commission of the bakhshish. We arrived in Herat at dusk and registered into the relatively new Russian-built hotel

Lebanon, 1972-1974

“You ought to have an advanced degree in the subject you are so involved in, English as a second language education. We would be happy to have you teaching in our American University of Beirut (AUB) language program while you complete your MA degree”. It was early 1972 and I was in Kabul Afghanistan in the middle of training another group of Peace Corps English teachers. A British professor from AUB was making sense with his offer to start in his program in Beirut in the coming June. So in early summer I began life and work in the “Paris of the Middle East”, Beirut. This would be my first introduction to Arab cultures. It would be my first experience with civil strife turning into civil war.

Saudi Arabia, 1974-1976

With an MA degree in English Education in the summer of ’74, I was faced with an offer to join the University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran Saudi Arabia at a significant increase in pay level but with a life in a very conservative Islamic nation. Leaving the multi-cultural, sophisticated civility of Beirut would have been difficult if it hadn’t been for the lack of civility of students with large rocks entering my office and stoning the well-armed, red-beret, Lebanese security officers down below, resulting in my jog to safety through exploding tear gas bombs.

Iran, 1976-the Islamic Revolution

“Kareem, where are you going? Watch out.” It was too late. My driver from the Iran America Society must have been day-dreaming as the highway divided with a garden-median and Kareem, for some reason, chose to enter the left lane. The highway wasn’t crowded but a startled, on-coming driver veered sharply to his right and began to lose control as he passed us. Kareem quickly got us back on to the right side of the median. As I looked back the other car was swerving and slowing then finally turning over on one side. The driver emerged and looked unhurt but very angry. “Should we go back?” Kareem asked. We were just a few minutes from the Isfahan airport and I answered “You’ve got to drop me at the airport first”. I had to be exiting Tehran and the Islamic Revolution early on the following day.

Saudi Arabia, 1982-‘86

Getting on the bus from Dhahran to Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia at the women’s entrance at the rear was humiliating enough for my wife. To then be confronted with metal prison bars separating her from the men’s front area required a response. “Gurrrr, Woof, Woof, Gurrr,” she snarled with her faced pressed up against the bars. The Saudi men in red and white “gutras” over their heads and full-length white “thobes” turned in amazement and disgust. “Sigrid, cut it out. They’ll throw me in jail,” I warned her. Having led a life of extreme independence in her home in Germany, in France, Switzerland and finally in the U.S., my wife was not handling the local, ingrained discrimination-against-women very well. In a country where women weren’t allowed to vote or even drive a car, Sigrid was a fish out of water.

Saudi Arabia, 1999-9/11/2001

As mentioned above, the attacks on America of 9/11/2001 made me wonder “would this be the end of much of my life’s work based in the Middle East since 1965?” My Dean of the English Program at the University of Petroleum and Minerals was standing before the TV in shock when I entered his office.

I saw horror on his face as he waved me inside. He was a tall man in the stylish “agal” head covering and long white “thobe” covering his slightly bulging body. He was a graduate of Georgetown University with a Ph.D. in linguistics. He was not cheering like some crowds in certain areas of the Middle East. His personal world might soon be crashing down just like New York was before our very eyes. I would soon resign my position there but our exit wouldn’t be easy.

The View from Home, 2002-2011

How could I forget the Middle East, the life, and the friends before the music died? Certainly the Iranian and Afghan friends in America, whether new or old acquaintances, have adapted to their new country as quickly as any previous immigrant group. They have been mixing into American society in every profession. The same can be said for the Arab immigrant groups I’ve come to know. However, I began to become aware of some Islamist-based intrusions into governmental power and societal influence which I had noted in recent decades in the Middle East as a destructive force.

Denis Egan

Stay tuned to Atridim News Journal for amazing reports from Denis Egan coming soon.
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Captain Rick of Atridim News Journal …among the first journalists to project Donald Trump as President of the U.S.

Captain Rick: It was shortly after Donald Trump announced his run for president that I knew in my heart he was going to go all the way. I sensed the strong movement among Americans who longed to ‘Make America Great Again’ way back when FAKE NEWS and the GOP were fast asleep, content with the political cancer in DC.

Unlike todays FAKE NEWS journalists who mostly communicate via social media … Captain Rick, a REAL NEWS journalist actually walked the streets and trails to talk face-to-face with real people to find out how they were thinking and feeling. That is why Captain Rick knew that a revolution was brewing in America. That revolution thrust Trump into the White House and shocked FAKE NEWS and the GOP. It is time for the GOP to learn from its mistakes and promote the election of candidates who support the Trump movement towards Making America Great Again.

This Atridim News Journal blog on WordPress is accompanied by its companion Atridim News Journal blog on Facebook. It was there in early 2016 that Captain Rick began publishing weekly projections of how the large field of presidential candidates ranked. Looking back, Captain Rick called all of the rankings with perfection, while FAKE NEWS got it all so wrong, week after week. Its all on record for the world to review on ANJ on Facebook. A window is provided in the left column that shows ANJ blog posts on Facebook. Helpful info links are presented below.

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Captain Rick achieves 76% of Goal to Walk/Bike equivalent of once around the World to combat High Blood Pressure

Captain Rick : I am fortunate to announce 76% completion of my 1999 New Years resolution to walk/bicycle the equivalent of once around the world (25,000 miles) to combat high blood pressure. I hope to reach my goal in 2020.

In 1999, at age 52, I was diagnosed with HBP (High Blood Pressure), placing me at an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. My doctor urged me to develop a healthier diet (less fat, cholesterol, salt, sugar, alcohol) and a daily exercise routine.

On New Years Eve in 1999, I made a resolution to begin eating healthy and walk a mile or more every day for exercise. It is a resolution that I have faithfully fulfilled over the many years since.

The death of my father from a heart attack a couple of years later fortified my resolution. I sharpened my diet and increased my exercise routine.

In 2005 I bought a bicycle and added a daily ride to my to my daily walking routine.

On New Years Eve, preceding 2006, I expanded my resolution to walk/bicycle the equivalent of once around the world … 25,000 miles. With only a few thousand miles logged, I knew this was a very tall resolution … but, it was a goal that I was bound and determined to achieve.

Over the past 18 years I have worn out over 20 sets of shoes walking 9000 miles, with the best pair achieving 767 miles, an inexpensive pair of Dr. Scholl’s. Several expensive pair ‘bit the dust’ after a couple hundred miles, proving that cost does not equal endurance. As an experienced walker and engineer, I hope to blog about the design of today’s shoes in a future blog post. Shoe companies could learn an abundance of knowledge. 

I have worn out 2 bicycles and many sets of tires, biking 10,000 miles. I am riding my third bicycle, a 29” Mongoose, already on its second set of tires. As an experienced biker and engineer, I hope to blog about the design of today’s bicycles in a future blog post. Bicycle companies could learn an abundance of knowledge. 

I logged my miles every day since the beginning of my trek in 2000. In 2009 I began publishing my progress. I did so to recognize my difficult achievement, but more importantly to remind me that I had a long way to go and to help give me strength to carry on … and to give courage to the many people who have HBP and ‘walk in my shoes’.

Captain Rick’s ‘Round-the-World’ Walking/Bicycling Trek Progress Report:

Goal status as of January 1, 2017

Completed Distance: 18,976 miles (30,539 km), 76.2% of Earth’s 24,901 mile circumference

Remaining Distance: 5,925 miles (9,535 km), 23.8% of Earth’s 24,901 mile circumference

Estimated year of World Trek completion at current rate of 4.26 miles per day: 2020

Annual Progress History:

2016:

Walking: 630 miles (Trek total: 9,029 miles)

Bicycling: 925 miles (Trek total 9,947 miles)

Walking + Bicycling: 1,555 miles (Trek total: 18,976 miles, 76.2% completed)

Average: 4.26 miles per day (Estimated year of World Trek completion: 2020)

Age: 69

Captain Ricks Log of World Trek Progress History

Incompetent U.S. Congress ‘kicks can’ . . . and ‘passes buck’ to next President and Congress . . . Passes short-term spending bill to fund Federal Government thru Dec 9

Captain Rick: The Senate and House passed a short-term spending bill that prevented a government shutdown at the end of the week. It has White House backing.

This legislation allows Congress to ‘kick the can down the road’ until after America elects a new President and new members of Congress. With a bunch of ‘lame ducks’ residing in congress at that time, you can bet they will again ‘kick the can down the road’ with another short-term spending bill to fund the government until after a new President and Congress take office in January. That’s when the excitement begins …

Fights over raising the debt limit broke out between the Obama White House and ruling Republicans in Congress in 2011 and 2013, unsettling Wall Street and foreign investors. The two sides struck a deal in 2015 to suspend the debt limit until Obama left office. The federal debt limit has been suspended since late 2015, but the law is set to be reinstated on March 16, 2017. The current debt limit of $20.1 trillion will be breached and another funding emergency will be at hand to prevent another U.S. government shutdown.

Government shutdowns in the past have become a ‘joke’ in that certain federal employees are told to stay home without pay, until Congress passed legislation to fund the government, which often included increasing the national debt and awarded compensation for all lost pay … meaning their time off was really an extra paid vacation; an insult to hard working employees of ‘Main Street’ America. The ‘Shutdown Game’ can not continue much longer because America is coming ever so close to falling off of the real and pending ‘Fiscal Cliff’. Many federal programs like Obamacare, Medicaid, Medicare and even Social Security are projected to implode in coming years without serious spending/taxation reform.

The U.S. National Debt has more than doubled since President Obama took office; from $9 trillion to $19.5 today. It is exploding at rate of $1.35 trillion each year. More than $10 trillion of ‘red ink debt dollars’ have been spent to keep the federal government functioning during the Obama Administration.

About 15% of money spent by the federal government has no revenue to support the expenditure and thus adds to the national debt. Much of this debt spending goes to states and cities in the form of federal grants. Our states and cities ‘drink up’ the grants like it is ‘free money coming from heaven’. Their philosophy is ‘if we don’t get the grant, some other city or state will’. What an awesomely greedy and fiscally reckless way to think. Shame on every city and state in America for slurping up these slush grants which add to the mushrooming U.S. National Debt. Our cities and states are a main contributors to the growing problem of America’s National Debt … debt which will be placed upon future generations to pay back … including our children and grand children. It’s a serious matter to think about.

I hope the next President and Congress will begin to balance the budget and curtail deficit spending. Saving America from falling off of the real and pending ‘Fiscal Cliff’, will not be easy. It will require ‘belt tightening’ by people, cities and states across America and most importantly by the U.S. Federal Government and our elected representatives in the U.S. Congress.

Self-driving cars go public … Uber offers free rides in Pittsburgh

Captain Rick: The option to hail a ride in a self-driving car, which was science fiction just a few years ago, will soon be available to Uber users in Pittsburgh, the first time the technology has been offered to the general public. Within weeks customers will be able to opt into a test program and summon an autonomous Ford Fusion. But since the technology has not been perfected, the cars will come with human backup drivers to handle any unexpected situations.

Eventually there will come a day when driverless cars become common place and will be much safer than the large percentage of todays cars with idiots behind the wheel, texting and doing everything but paying attention to driving, including those driving under the influence. I would feel much safer having cars around me that pack a million dollars worth of technology watching the road and controlling the vehicle, than ones driven by idiots not watching the road at all.

Uber has a self-driving research lab in Pittsburgh. Uber-branded test cars have been on Pittsburgh roads for several months. Other companies including Google are testing self-driving cars on public roads, but  none offers rides to regular people. As an enticement, the autonomous rides will be free. If I lived in Pittsburgh, I would be one of its first riders.

It will be a few years before autonomous cars will acquire a license to drive on their own. This is a way to get autonomous cars out there and become accepted on the roadways. New technology begins somewhere. Pittsburgh is one of those places and Uber is an innovative, driving force. The real breakthrough for autonomous cars will happen when a company puts one on public roads without a backup human. For now, like a motorcycle canyon jumper with a safety net, Uber isn’t ready to take the big leap … but perhaps one day soon it will be.

U.S. Trade Deficit Expands to $45 Billion … helping China, Mexico at expense of America

Captain Rick: The U.S. Trade Deficit widened to $44.5 billion in June, significantly passing economist’s guess of $43.1 billion and 8.7 percent higher than a revised May deficit of $41 billion. This represents an annual rate of $534 billion. That means nearly a half trillion dollars earned by Americans each year are floating to places like China and Mexico to support their economy and GDP instead of America’s.
 
The U.S. trade deficit is caused by many reasons. One of the biggest reasons is because of poor trade deals like NAFTA, which send billions of dollars to Mexico each year to feed their economy, instead of adding to the U.S. economy. The last thing America needs is Obama’s TPP trade deal, which resembles NAFTA on steroids. Another big reason is because of U.S. labor unions, which push for higher wages and benefits for members, with the notorious outcome of forcing American companies to shut down manufacturing in the U.S. and move it to places like China and Mexico to reduce labor expense and increase profit. 

Photo: U.S. President Obama and Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People’s Republic of China, and the Chairman of China’s Central Military Commission. Perhaps they are shaking hands on how well China is benefiting from current trade deals between the U.S. and China … at the expense of America.

FLICKR … End of the Road? … as Verizon buys parent YAHOO for $4.8 Billion

Captain Rick: Having loved photography my entire life, an awarded Webshots photographer in the early 2000s, I became a Flickr PRO member shortly after its acquisition by Yahoo in 2005.

Flickr grew to become the one of the largest and best quality photo sites on the internet with over 12 billion photos and 100 million dedicated users.

The telecommunications giant Verizon announced that it will spend $4.8 billion to acquire Yahoo’s operating business, including popular online content such as Yahoo, Flickr and Tumblr.

Verizon hopes that by pairing Yahoo with AOL, which Verizon bought in May 2015 for $4.4 billion, that the result will be a digital media unit that could compete with Google and Facebook. Having followed so many of these wild internet company purchases during the past decade or so, I have serious doubts that Verizon will be able to make that happen.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, a former Google exec, was hired in 2012 to turn things around at financially struggling Yahoo. Flickr’s core users were hopeful that it might get the attention it deserved. She allowed Yahoo to loose focus on Flickr, allowing the top site for photographers to slip in quality and innovation. Yahoo was desperately trying to appeal to the Instagram generation, and in doing so started to alienate Flickr’s core users, many of whom were professional photographers. As a Flickr Pro member, I often gave feedback … but it felt like no one was listening. Things would break and it would take eight to 10 months before someone would respond. We were members paying money for a service that wasn’t working. It was insulting to me and other photographers who had been using Flickr so actively for so many years. We were clearly not the target audience any more.

Marissa Mayer generated controversy in 2013 for saying “there’s really no such thing as professional photographers anymore,” when explaining why Flickr was phasing out its Pro membership at the time. As a Flickr Pro member for a decade, I protested loudly as did millions of other Pro members. She quickly apologized for the statement. Us Flickr Pro members saw it as extreme ignorance on her part. Flickr drew more flack the following year by putting 50 million Creative Commons licensed photos by users up for sale through its new Wall Art service. Although it was within its rights to do based on the licensing, the move left a bad taste in photographers’ mouths, and Flickr pulled the plug on the arrangement the next month.

Amid dwindling share of only 1.3% of a growing $187 billion global digital market, the best she was able to do is put Yahoo up for sale. Mayer will help in the transition, but it is not known if she will remain as a Verizon employee. I think that in view of her high salary and lack-luster performance of Yahoo and neglect of Flickr, it would be in Verizon’s best interest to let her go.

Yahoo, Flickr and Tumblr are set to officially become Verizon properties when the deal closes in early 2017, assuming anticipated government approvals occur.

My fear is that Verizon, being a giant in the mobile phone market, cares little about quality photography and photographers. I think Verizon will sell Flickr or perhaps just let it die as an expense it can write off. As a Flickr Pro member who has invested many hundreds of hours into building and supporting my Flickr Photostream and several high quality photo groups, I am deeply saddened by that thought. On the other hand, it is my hope that Verizon will realize the great photographic jewel that it will possess in Flickr and find a way to breathe new life back into it. If executed with excellence, Flickr will remain the top site for quality among serious photographers … like me.