Happy New Year. More of our photos at ruhu12.com
Point Magu
Point Magu
Elephant Seals Near San Simeon, California
Cities, Civilization and the Mentally Ill
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| Chicago Downtown From the Field Museum |
Cities and Civilization
I am a Chicago native and am proud of my native city. I enjoy cities - I like the vitality and life.
But our decisions to permit the aggressive mentally ill to live freely in our cities compromises our civic life. We were in downtown Chicago over Christmas in 2016. I went from O'Hare Airport to downtown on the CTA rail line. A mentally ill woman was cursing and abusing people. After she began to light her cigarette lighter in a woman's face and throw things at her I intervened and shifted her anger from the woman to me.
She cursed and swore at me for the next 35 minutes. I tried talking to her but she was too crazy. She made little sense. She shifted from me to two young tourists, frightening them. I drew her attention back to me to protect them.
When I got off the CTA down to the street I was immediately accosted by another crazy guy. This time it was a man - always need to be prepared for an armed assault. I ignored him other than to be prepared.
Two days later a large guy began verbally abusing a doorman outside of the Palmer House Hilton. He was also crazy and very threatening. I stayed behind him ready to knock him down if he pulled a weapon.
I am a large powerful but old guy, who grew up on dasoutsideaChicaga and served 32 years in the Marines. I know how to fight and can handle myself. Still, it is very off putting for visitors to the city and pushes people out to the suburbs and into their cars.
When I was young we kept abusive mentally ill people in mental institutions. We closed these institutions for the following reasons:
- Drugs permitted people to function freely in society
- We prefer to not incarcerate people
- We funded group homes for people to live
- We saved money by closing mental institutions
These are still valid reasons but we do so at a cost. Their lack of civility and threatening behavior hurt cities and drive people away from cities and to suburbs and into cars.
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| Nice Christmas Lights at O'Hare Airport in Chicago |
Confirmation bias
Confirmation bias
"In psychology and cognitive science, confirmation bias (or confirmatory bias) is a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions, leading to statistical errors.
Confirmation bias is a phenomenon wherein decision makers have been shown to actively seek out and assign more weight to evidence that confirms their hypothesis, and ignore or underweigh evidence that could disconfirm their hypothesis."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/confirmation_bias.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
Disinformation
Disinformation is a Russian word. The Wikapedia graphic above illustrates how it works.
Russia sees the US as a competitor and adversary. They give their version of events through the very slick government owned agencies rt.com/news and sputniknews.com.
These two organizations publish a lot of legitimate news. But they also publish disinformation - Vladimir Putin's view of the world. They publish a lot of criticism of the United States - some of it fabricated.
They amplify their views through the use of social media and on numerous comments made on chat pages.
Bloggers echo their views. Most of the bloggers are simply republishing their comments to gain viewers for their blogs. And readers forward their often outlandish views in emails and social media.
Wikileaks is closely allied with their views.
People who want to be well informed should not form their views simply from reading blogs and forwarded emails. Double check what the blogs are saying with main street media. Don't believe everything you read. Because you read it on the computer does not mean it is correct.
Disinformation is most effective when it agrees with your own bias. All the more reason to be careful and take everything with a grain of salt.
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Disinformation (Russian: dezinformatsiya[1][2][3] and dezinformatsia[4]) is intentionally false or misleading information that is spread in a calculated way to deceive target audiences.[1][2][3] The English word, which did not appear in dictionaries until the late-1980s, is a translation of the Russian дезинформация, transliterated as dezinformatsiya.[1][2][3] Disinformation is different from misinformation, which is information that is unintentionally false.[5] Misinformation can be used to define disinformation — where disinformation is misinformation that is purposefully and intentionally disseminated in order to defraud.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinformation
2016 Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy Hanukkah
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| In front of our Home, heading to the Military Gala |
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| South Africa and Zimbabwe |
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| Grand Tetons |
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| Mountain Goats in Banff, Canada |
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| Grizzly Bear in Banff, Canada |
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| The Blarney Castle |
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| TheTatoo in Edinborough, Scotland |
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| Reception with the Leadership of our Sister City, Dunfermline, Scotland |
Beth and I have stayed active with the
Sarasota Sister Cities Organization and the Military Officers Association
Happy Holidays
Merry Christmas
Happy Hanukkah
Beth and Craig Hullinger
Dinosaur Tail in Amber
(CNN)The tail of a 99-million-year-old dinosaur has been found entombed in amber, an unprecedented discovery that has blown away scientists.
Xing Lida, a Chinese paleontologist found the specimen, the size of a dried apricot, at an amber market in northern Myanmar near the Chinese border.
Click to read the article
Pearl Harbor 75 Years Later
Pearl Harbor 75 Years Later: U.S. Recalls A Shocking Attack : The ...
www.npr.org/sections/.../pearl-harbor-75-years-later-u-s-recalls-a-shocking-attack
7 hours ago - The U.S. is marking the 75th anniversary of the violence that thrust the country into World War II. Marking the day in 1941 that thrust the U.S. into World War II, Americans are honoring veterans and remembering those who lost their lives in Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.Pearl Harbor, 75 Years Later: The Greatest Generation Returns - NBC ...
www.nbcnews.com/.../pearl-harbor-75-years-later-the-greatest-generation-returns-827...
The nation marked the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack Wednesday, as dozens of survivors returned to the site to honor the fallen and reflect on the ...Veteran Makes First Return to Pearl Harbor 75 Years Later - NBC News
www.nbcnews.com/.../veteran-makes-first-return-pearl-harbor-75-years-later-n69330...
6 hours ago - Veteran Makes First Return to Pearl Harbor 75 Years Later. It was the day that changed his life: December 7, 1941. Beverly Clyde Wilborn, better known as B.C., was just a 20-year-old sailor aboard the USS Maryland when the surprise Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor started.Pearl Harbor: 75 Years Later | HISTORY
www.history.com/specials/pearl-harbor-75-years-later
This documentary special takes us on a journey through the “day that will live in infamy,” by exploring the biggest stories and lesser known details that still ...Survivors recall Pearl Harbor attack, 75 years later - CBS News
www.cbsnews.com/.../pearl-harbor-attack-75th-anniversary-survivors-remember-worl...
15 hours ago - Wednesday marks the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into World War II. Survivors of Japan's ...PHOTOS: Pearl Harbor, 75 Years Later - Breitbart
www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/12/07/photos-remembering-pearl-harbor/
18 hours ago - Americans across the country are commemorating the December 7, 1941 attack on the military base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii today.The Attack on Pearl Harbor, 75 Years Later - Smoke and flame on the ...
www.nytimes.com/...pearl-harbor-75-years-later/.../08xp-pearlharbor-slidesho-slide-8...
14 hours ago - The 1941 Japanese attack on American military forces in Hawaii took nearly everyone by surprise. It left more than 2400 people dead and drew ...One died at Pearl Harbor, the other lived. Seventy-five years later, they ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/...pearl-harbor...years-later.../79fdeee8-aaa0-11e6-977...
3 days ago - PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — When John D. Anderson reached his battle ... On Wednesday, 75 years later, John Anderson's ashes are to be ...Photos: Pearl Harbor Marks 75 Years Since 'Day of Infamy' | National ...
www.usnews.com/news/.../photos-pearl-harbor-marks-75-years-since-day-of-infamy
6 hours ago - ... honor Dec. 7, 1941, the day of Japan's surprise attack on Hawaii's Pearl Harbor. ... Photos: Survivors Recall Pearl Harbor, 75 Years Later.