Trayvon Martin And "Justice"

It is about time George Zimmerman was arrested. I do think he is guilty, and he is getting off lightly by being charged with second degree murder. The bastard needs to fry (Florida is still the South - this fucker may be acquitted).

There should be a thorough federal investigation of the practices of the Sanford, Florida Police Department. It should be done AFTER the final resolution of this case. Mr. Zimmerman should have been quickly arrested on day one - even if only because he failed to follow the instructions of the police, who told him "not to approach" the [now] deceased victim. 

No one but Mr. Zimmerman and Mr. Martin can really tell what actually happened - but since one of the participants is dead, and it would not be in the other participant's legal interest to give an accurate account - I can be allowed to speculate on what I think happened: First, I saw the police video on TV of Mr. Zimmerman arriving at the police station - he did have a sore or some kind of blemish on the back of his head. I also saw the policeman that assisted Mr. Zimmerman out of the car wipe his hands on his pants (maybe because Mr. Zimmerman's jacket was wet?). So, for some to say that they saw nothing on Mr. Zimmerman to indicate that he was involved in a physical incident are not being totally honest.

Second, I think that after Mr. Zimmerman got off the phone with the [911 dispatcher] police, after they instructed him not to approach Mr. Martin - he approached Mr. Martin and began questioning him anyway. I think Trayvon probably resisted the unwarranted questioning and became belligerent (as he should have). Things got physical, and it is probable that the young man was getting the best of Mr. Zimmerman (the bruise on his head - the wetness of his jacket). At a certain point - Zimmerman pulls out a gun, Trayvon attempts to flee, and Zimmerman shoots him.

That's what I think happened... THEN

The aftermath brings 30,000 people to one spot (mostly niggers and clergy) in Florida DEMANDING JUSTICE!!! Wow. This shit is all over TV. Rallies and demonstrations are being held all over the country. Nigger clergymen are wielding megaphones at these events to whip-up mass indignation. Celebrities show up. The "call for justice" has awakened and reared its righteous head. The bandwagon is gassed-up and ready to go! This is so strange - because on this matter [homicide], my folks [Black people] are some of the most hypocritical motherfuckers on the planet. Really? Black folks are actually concerned about somebody being killed?

Reeeally?

That statement was not made to take away from the wrongness of this particular crime. But many (too many) of my folks expect everybody (the police, white people, recent immigrants, etc.) to value Black life more than Black people do. As far as white folks are concerned - we [Black folks] are not consistent in our demands for "justice." When it comes to Black on Black murder, niggers practice "DON'T SNITCH" - which is the operational opposite of justice, and by extension, a destroyer of life and community. And that practice clearly reveals to anyone paying good attention, that the hoodie protesters and "TV Camera Clergy" are full of shit. Black murderers are fully and unashamedly protected by the [Black] community.

"Thugs Need Hugs" - that kind of shit. You know?

Who knows better than the police and coroner, how much respect that Black people ACTUALLY have for human life. The police and the coroner are the scene-first officials to witness and deal with just how much life is "valued" in the typical Black "neighborhood." It is a bright, sunny midday, midweek, and an armed mugging brazenly occurs in front of fifty niggers - the unarmed victim is mercilessly shot to death. Detectives cannot get a word out of direct witnesses. Every one of them go mute, deaf, and blind.

If a gang member(s) is the perpetrator, any potential witnesses will then be targeted and silenced by certain criminal elements of the community. The rest of the community, out of fear, out of apathy, and occasionally out of dirty loyalty, sheepishly complies with this evil, fratricidal, bullshit.

Investigation? Why bother? If an arrest is made - a mealy-mouthed clergyman jumps his fat ass in front of the cameras to rail about "young Black men being unjustly targeted." And, "if we had jobs - this wouldn't happen!" We have a dead body - but nobody did it. Got a crime, but no criminal. Maybe the 78 year-old gentleman shot himself in the face, and took his own wallet? And funeral homes are one of the few Black-owned businesses that never has to worry about a shortage of customers.

Somehow, in our community - not having "a job" is an excuse to kill.

The "Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan," an organization that once had some prominence in this country, actually missed an opportunity. Let me explain: One of the Klan's main activities was (is) killing Black people, and they HAVE killed quite a few of us. But in comparison to the gang-bangers, criminals, and glock-happy maniacs running loose and unopposed in our "community" - the Klan was actually quite inefficient when it came to killing Black folks. The Klan, even though it was (is) an all-white organization - if they really wanted to accomplish its goal of eliminating (most but not all) Black people, they should have recruited some Black folks.

EXPLANATION: The reason that the Klan would like to get rid of "most but not all" Black people, is because they would still need people to cut the grass, do janitorial work, call names, handle domestic chores, shovel shit, rape, pick cotton, shine shoes, unjustly imprison, spit rap melodies about Black people shooting Black people, play professional sports, kick in the ass, discriminate against, and keep the other Black people in line. OK?

OK...

Black people, when every metric is studied, are much more efficient at killing Black people than white people (along with singing, preaching, dancing, bullshitting, and playing basketball - Black-on-Black murder is just one of those things that Black people do really well). Come on now people - let us give credit where credit is due...

Right..?

Now, some may ask: "Why is this so?"

"Well... It's a Black thing - you wouldn't understand."

Go online and check any murder statistics aggregated by race. Black people don't have to check shit - all they have to do is go outside and look around. Our guy 50 Cent would have made a GREAT Klansman (Have you ever listened to some of his lyrics regarding the joy of "spraying-up" the block with his AK-47?). And the "gangsta-rap" community generally, thinks that niggers are not killing niggers fast enough. There are serious and ongoing discussions in the "gangsta" community about how this "problem" can be solved as expeditiously as possible!

"Thug Life," anyone?

Superbly agitated justice for Trayvon - only because his shooter is white... But conversely - there's ice cold silence when a drug-dealing nigger hasn't been paid; and he decides to stick an automatic handgun through an open window; and starts to randomly blast away because "Junebug" might be in there; and a little six year-old girl sleeping on a sofa is shot to death; all because she was in the "wrong place," at the wrong motherfucking time.

NOTE: White folks might not be able to understand this - but in the Black community, if you are sleeping on your grandmother's sofa, in your grandmother's living room, in your grandmother's house, at 3:00 in the motherfucking morning, YOU ARE "in the wrong place, at the wrong time!"

No shit!

Back to the show...

When Black on Black murder happens - "DON'T SNITCH" kicks in real hard. No protesting crowds. No ongoing media coverage. No clergy-fueled "outrage." No justice forthcoming. Ever. The shooter has transmuted into an undetectable phantom. The crime itself has dissolved into nothingness. Didn't hear. Didn't see. Can't say. "I got to get to work man." The little girl is just dead. Too bad. "Justice? Shut the fuck up!" What's the difference? What do we want? What do Black people mean when they say "justice?"

Well...

"Zimmerman should be arrested!" OK... Sooo... But the amoral, vacuous, shoot-a-child-sleeping-on-her-grandmother's-sofa-type-motherfucker should not? Whaaat? Does white on Black crime weigh differently in our minds than Black on Black crime? Either it does, or it does not. Last I saw, there are not discernible degrees nor identifiable colors of deadness. And there should be no degrees involved in the intensity that we [Black people] pursue and push for the conviction of any and all murderers - be they white or not. OK? So really... What the fuck are we niggers saying?

How many murders in our community go unsolved because of "DON'T SNITCH?" How many perpetrators in our community walk free - right now because of "DON'T SNITCH?" How many of those hoodie protesters are withholding information about un-arrested criminals they know? I mean nigger criminals that have heinously wronged (rape, robbery, etc.) other Blacks. How many Black children, in Black communities across this nation, can't play on their respective front stoops, only because their little voices may be stilled forever by some indiscriminate "drive-by" cowboy?

There are stupid articles now being posted all over the blogosphere - written by "good niggers" saying - "Don't use the Trayvon Martin incident to make light of Black on Black murder!" These articles will take the unsophisticated for a long-assed walk around the block - pointing out: "the legacy of slavery" - "white folks bullshit" - "black poverty" - "bad relations with the police" - "systemic and institutional racism" - "segregation" - "economic disparity" - "substandard mocha lattes at Starbucks," and all of the deep, philosophical reasons why all of this shit must stop before niggers stop killing motherfuckers.

And they want you to keep all of this shit in mind the next time some asshole puts a .45 in your face: "Oh... It's really not his fault - he's only mugging me because of 'systemic and institutional racism..!" Right? "This bullet in my ass is a legacy from slavery - not Pookie!!!" OK. Whom - may I ask, is paying those motherfuckers? I did not think it was possible for the ability to write to become a debasement in itself, but those selectively myopic, excusaholic, keyboard-pecking monkeyheads have shown me even that is possible. What about us Blacks born similarly situated that don't terrorize, rob, rape, or kill?

Any analysis or excuses for us?

OK... I didn't think so...

The parents of murdered children - those are their BABIES that they have to BURY - you motherfuckers!!! And grieve about, and to love, and to remember... Do you really think it makes a difference TO THEM if the murderer was Black or white? Or if the particular non-reasons those babies are dead arose from either sheer racism or sheer criminality - bottom line, those babies are dead. And, I think, in this particular instance, those parents would have a "Dr.-Martin-Luther-King-ish" tendency to think "beyond color." OK? I think they would look at the perpetrator - not as white or Black, or whatever. I think they would just look at him as - "the motherfucker that killed my baby!!!"

What do you think?

And to think we should not talk about this?

Shut-up? Lethal shit? Babies? Dead?

Are you fucking kidding me? 

Every human life is unique and at the same time, profoundly equal to all other human lives, that life is due EQUAL justice when it is unjustly taken. Even a criminal has a right to remain alive - and to have equal justice fairly dispensed to him. And if we as a people cannot deal, discuss and agitate from that level, at least; then I say, all those hoodie-wearing, non-snitching motherfuckers, that are demanding "whatever" because of "this," and are marching "here" because of "that" - can take those "economy-sized" bags of Skittles and stick them straight up their bullshit-farting asses.

Saggin Ass

Maybe because it is my age or something - but I am so confused about this "sagging" stuff. I mean, the main stylers of this "style" are supposed to be the most macho of our [Black] race. They say this is "gangsta" - but it looks so - well - GAY. But maybe it isn't. In Chicago, I don't see many guys that are openly GAY doing this "sagging" thing - I really don't. The gays, on average, are actually more masculine in their dress than the average Black heterosexual. Is this the new "macho?" The new "gangsta?" Somehow - I just don't see Al Capone or John Gotti rolling like this.

It is like these guys are signaling or inviting others to make some kind of contact with their asses. "Here's my drawers man - come and get it." That can't be it. Right? But their pants are "down" and "low" - aren't they? Not a homosexual flag?  Are we sure that this is not an invitation to get it "up the ass?" You sure? OK... Maybe their asses are so hot, they need to get additional cooling before their pants burn-up.

"Smoke!!! Pull um down man! Pull um down!"

This practice also (to me) looks; "BUSTED" - "LOST" - "HOPELESS." "No way do I know where I am going man - and don't want to know..." A 25 year-old man emulating the sartorial habits of a 2 year-old with a full diaper (I have met a few that are 40 years of age that do this -  and yes, I call it properly: "The Full-Diaper Look"). The more extreme stylers of this look have the actual tops of their pants FULLY UNDER their asses, and then stabilised with a fancy belt. I mean, full ass with colorful underwear OUT! "Sir - are you SURE you don't want it up the ass?" WOW. I am now supposed to regard (for real) a grown man as a serious individual that intentionally walks in public with HIS PANTS DOWN.

"Cultivated infantility" - shall we say?

Any woman(!?) that would date a guy dressed like this has to be actually retarded herself, or have some other intractable mental issues - she's got to. What masculine attraction does she see here? His pink and blue underwear? This is a man? Really?

Do "saggers" pay child support?

OK...

Believe me - once some gangsta rapper pushes the idea hard enough, these same guys will seriously be wearing (Nike) skirts and panties next ("saggin' skirts?"). I mean, they already wear earrings, and some even sport long fingernails now (how cute!). I think we are now witnessing the full-press "bitchification" of the heterosexual Black American male.

Why not go all the way?

(I do understand that in old times past, earrings for men was a regular and normal thing. That was culturally phased-out over time because of practical military and personal defense reasons. Any kind of piercing provides an adversary with more points, or opportunities to put a hurting on you via damage by tearing, or amplifying and reinforcing the pain of a blow because of the presence of metal on or in the skin. RIP OUT - a nose or ear ring. PUNCH HIM - right square on his brow or lip piercing... BOOM!!! - AAHHH!!! Get the picture?)

At a wedding (no less) - I saw an individual so invested in this look, that he was "sagging" the pants and cummerbund to his (purple) tuxedo. A tuxedo that precisely matched the color of his purple Nikes. But I must give the purple tuxedo brother credit however - he had made for himself, an inconceivable and probably unprecedented objective, and the brother accomplished this objective superbly. MAN. Talk about being a witness to something new and different...

Another confusing thing I was witness to: The saggers always seem to wear the loudest colored and boldest design underwear they can find (so that folks CAN notice it?). But when a guy actually NOTICES IT, and expresses his attraction to it [the ass] - now the sagger has an attitude and a "real" reason to fight ("I ain't no fag man!!!"). I witnessed such an encounter at a mall. It was as incredible as it was interesting.

But you know... At this age, I have finally learned that "incredibility" is one of the great things that add surprise and interest to the living of life. And anything that you yourself may find to be, or deem as "stupid," or "dumb-assed," or "tasteless" - others may find that very thing to be just what they are looking for. For example - it is like a long time ago, I was in a leather store, and there was the first time I saw a Pelle Pelle jacket. I examined it, then said to myself: "This some stupid looking shit - who would be dumb enough to wear this crap?" Now you see Black folks everywhere wearing this stuff...

You see?

Maybe "sagging" comes under that category.

What if they have to run? Looks complicated. I would love to see how you pull off a getaway with your pants like that. I am sure I am wrong.

Am I?

Someone - please give me a reasonable explanation for this.

Hip Hop Is

Pro-Rudeness (toward Black People - but best manners with whites),
Pro-Disrespect (of Black People),
Pro-Theft (from Black People),
Pro-Rape (of Black Women),
Pro-Minstrelsy (keep white folks laughing and shaking their heads),
Pro-Misogyny (for Black Women only - no words for white women),
Pro-Funeral (murder! The higher the Black body count - the better),
Pro-Filth (Generally),
Pro-Armed Robbery (of Black People),
Pro-Rap (niggers getting paid to tell niggers to kill niggers - put the message on a record - sell a lot - win a Grammy - thank God!),
Pro-Carjacking (baby in the back? Throw him out the window),
Pro-Drive-by Shooting (in Black areas only - white folks shoot back).

Pro-Ignorance (of Everything except basketball),
Pro-Nigger (tell the world - "That's MY name!"),
Pro-Bitch (A proper and respectful title for all Black Women worldwide - including YOUR MOTHER).

Pro-Ho (the OTHER proper and respectful title for all Black Women worldwide - once again including YOUR MOTHER).

Pro-Mis-Education (got a book? You're "acting white!!!"),
Pro-Black Children (don't raise em', shoot em').

Pro-Gang (for gangstering and abusing and killing Black People only - I notice they don't swagger towards or shoot white people. They also don't bring that shit to solidly white neighborhoods either - white folks have lots of guns and warehouses full of bullets and target practice).

And, last, but not least: Pro-Slavery - for the clothing and sneaker companies ("Ya want me to bend over a little more Sir?").

I am only saying what I see.

"Pro-Slavery? What do you mean?" Ever notice how Hip-Hoppers are always wearing clothing that have advertising on it? These dum-dums are willing to pay people to be walking billboards for THEIR clothing companies, but not get paid for it themselves in turn (crazy!). Indeed - they are actually paying white folks, and smart Black folks (in the Hip-Hop trick game) to do their product advertising and promotion for them! A whole generation of dummies!

If this ain't self-promoted slavery - I don't know what is.

Look at em' going down the street - Roca-Wear, Tommy Hilfiger, Marithe & Francois Girbaud, Sean John, Louis Vuitton, Apple Bottoms, Baby Phat, etc. And not one of these knuckleheads are getting a dime for walking around with all of this advertising on their persons (I call it "billboard-wear"). If you see "Tommy Hilfiger" on a billboard, and if a Hip-Hopper has that same signage on his back - tell me, what is the difference?

Well - there is a difference: The "Tommy Hilfiger" on the Hip-Hopper's back is actually a more effective advertising vehicle (he is walking around, indoors and outdoors - therefore - more eyeballs are hitting the ad). It is ALL about eyeball hits. The more hits you get - the more you are supposed to get paid (just like Oprah or the Super Bowl - that's how it works). But yet - the typical billboard holder is getting paid thousands of dollars a month (just standing in one spot) - and the typical Hip-Hop dumb ass has just PAID Mr. Hilfiger ($150.00 or more) to do a better job of advertising FOR HIM than the billboard.

That's why Mr. Hilfiger is able to live in a $150 million dollar mansion - and the "fashionable" Hip-Hopper has no clue. The Hip-Hop dummies keep Tommy Hilfiger's and Sean John's, etc. advertising costs down to nearly zero by wearing THEIR ADVERTISING on their backs for free. One young lady I met had so many "designer" labels on at the same time, she looked like a walking clearance rack.

I asked her: "Where's the check baby?"

It is amazing how this [Hip-Hop] industry has maneuvered our young folks into thinking that wearing advertising without compensation is somehow fashion. Good Job! Has ANYONE in the Hip-Hop community ever noticed that Mr.Tommy Hilfiger does not wear "Tommy Hilfiger?" As much as Hip-Hop music and street culture talks about getting PAID, it seems to me that the Hip-Hoppers would have figured out this "get-over" a long time ago.

I guess though, if you are stupid enough to tell the whole world that it is OK to refer to yourself and your people by the worst names possible - it should stand to reason that you would also be dumb enough to do advertising and promotion work for free.

Unity Between The Races

Have you ever noticed that "gangsta" rappers, Black street gang members, white Republicans, and the Ku Klux Klan are in total agreement with "the only good nigger is a dead nigger" philosophy? I never thought I would see the day when white American racists and urban Black youth would find themselves in such harmonious accord about the same thing.

Things are getting better in this country.

Lakeisha's Of The World - Unite!

I am an explicit advocate of rights of all kinds. I think that the arc of the United States bends towards the freer exercise of all rights. Be they women’s, civil, gay, disabled or any number of other rights that I can’t think of now. The potential for the further flowering of rights comes from the amendable nature of a constitution that can be interpreted with increasing clarity and fairness as society becomes more enlightened.

One right that is truly inalienable, at least in this country, is the right to name oneself and one’s children. I am not one of those Black folks that will say you should name your children with so-called “normal” or “regular” sounding names, like Robert or William, Mary or Catherine. We have already been through the forced naming thing historically, when we were brought here as slaves. Once we landed on these shores, a lying, mean, parasitic, white, Christian degenerate – also known as a slave master, re-named every one of our great-grandparents “Toby." They were instructed by death threat not to ever indicate their own selves by the parent-given name of “Kunta Kinte” again.

So – apparently this naming thing is real important.

Move the clock forward to the 20th century. And we have an individual now formerly known as Cassius Clay, that lost his attachment to a name that originated from dual sources. “Cassius” was a Greek sourced name that was given to him by his parents. “Clay” (origin - English) was his surname – inherited through his family tree, originally "gifted" to his great-grandparents from their original owners. At a certain point – he decides to change his name to Muhammad Ali. OK, big deal, so what. My dumb ass, I figure if the guy wants to be called this, rather than that – what is the problem. Right? "50 cent" - right?

Well – there was a multi-part problem in this. First, the reason he wanted to change his name, was because in 1964 he became a member of a “controversial” organization that some say, “preached hate.” Also known as “The Nation of Islam.” In some quarters, that organization is still “controversial.” But you know – in this country, any group of Black people that are not fighting each other, or, horrors – trying to do something constructive, is always going to be looked upon as “controversial,” even by some Black folks.

One day, I was having coffee and conversation with four other Black brothers at an outdoor café in the Gold Coast area of Chicago. From the way some white folks were looking at us - that was “controversial.” No way to get around that.

Second – he made the choice of changing his “good – American name” to a “foreign” name. “And a Aaay-raab name on top of that!” White folks would say: “What is wrong with that NIGGER (oops – y’all know I didn’t mean that), uh, I mean guy.” “Ain’t his American name good enough for him?” Black folks would say: “What is he trying to say?” Well he was trying to say a lot – too much for me to go into on this posting. But everything he was saying, through the name-change, and otherwise, a lot of people, both Black and white, did not like what they were hearing – for a plethora of reasons.

His name – which is meant to be said, also became, letter by letter, a silent testament, to the loud and egregious injustices being committed on Black people, at that time, in this country.

Third – he made the choice to exercise sovereignty over himself, without “permission.” It is very important for Black people to put “permission” at the top of the checklist – if they plan to make any substantive changes regarding what they want to be called, or if they want to change their way of thinking, or if they want to think, etc.

"Jack!!! That nigger Leroy is thinking again!"

Doing stuff without “permission” – you can invite trouble. Many Blacks still don’t understand that our “American” surnames were never meant to convey lineage. That’s why white folks never invite Black folks to the Johnson, or Williams, or Robinson family reunions – even though they are (likely) blood kin. Those names were meant to indicate ownership (“These are MY niggers” - sound familiar?). And I suspect when Mr. Ali decided to change his name without “permission,” he did not know, he was going to evoke latent residual attitudes of ownership and white sovereignty over his Black being.

Whenever African-Americans change their surnames to monikers that are not "white-approved" – some white people feel they are losing ownership. You are messing with their "property rights." They will say: “Nigger - you need to get your name LEGALLY changed.” Even though there was no court factor involved when these names were originally “gifted” to our great-grandparents. You STILL must go through them to make that change official (ain't that a BITCH?). If you decide to make a change that may be taken as “political” in nature - you may be pointed out by whites as “un-American,” or “exotic,” or even “subversive.”

The same thing to a lesser degree is happening today in making light of the names that people in my community are “making-up” to name their children. The more “mainstreamed” Black folks are expressing different degrees of embarrassment and shame. The white folks are expressing different degrees of snickering and ridicule – and only because these names (Lakisha, Sheneka, Jaquon) do not carry any “political” weight.

I say – SO WHAT! Let white folks snicker. Let “mainstream” Black folks shame-out until their brains burn-out. Black people that feel shame at white opinions about us deserve no respect. We have nothing to apologize for or to be embarrased about - when it comes to them [white folks]. The so-called “underclass” is showing the avowed “middle class” the kind of ownership they should be showing them.

All names were "made-up" at some time or other.

The dynamics of name in America is so political, confusing, and inconsistent that Black people can be called “exotic” or "potentially subversive" for just being born with a name that is originally African (see Barack Hussein Obama). You know – the kind of surnames Black people are SUPPOSED to have. That’s like putting a Chinese man under suspicion for having a name like Kim Lee.

It seems precious few of my people think it is strange that our genetic mosaic is primarily African, at the same time we are walking around with these English, French, Scottish, and Irish names. A lot of my folks are actually proud of these names... “Ahm ah McSWEENEY!!!”

Un-stupid-believable.

But watch the eyes roll back if a Japanese-looking person walks in and says his last name is Stotkowski. OK? So now that we have the freedom to name ourselves – I have no problem with taking ownership of one’s name. And to hell with those that can always crack their mouths open with unconstructive opinions or ridicule, but dry-up fast when the time for constructive dialogue is needed.

What I am asking for though, is a bit of order. So far I have identified 15 different ways to spell “Lakeisha.” Because of what I do for a living, I was in contact with four different “Lakeishas” all with four different ways to spell it – in two days! I got “attituded” by several "Lakeishas" because I “spelled it wrong.” Really? "What is the correct spelling?.. Oh, the way YOU spell it." (Times Four!!!) This is crazy.

It’s okay to be “unique.” But a consistent variability within a particular subset of anything, becomes a kind of uniformity that then renders the “uniqueness” of each member of the subset meaningless. The "uniquity" becomes the "ubiquity." Do you understand ladies?

AN OH NO MOMENT: I do not think the "namers" out there, have exhausted the possibilities of rendering this name. “Lakeisha” is not the only name, but it is one of the most common of this type. One characteristic that distinguishes these names is that they mostly end in S–H–A or E–K-A. All the letters that go before those three enders could go just about anywhere. And they do.

It is very confusing. So my suggestion is that all the “namers” in our community get together and have a “convention” or “conference” of sorts. It could be called the SHA-EKA Symposium. Right? The purpose would be to deliberate and come to an agreement on how all the S–H–A and E–K–A names should be spelled. Ladies – please establish a standard. It's a good thing that works. The way a whole lot of other things in our lives are good and “standardized.”

The same fries you get at a McDonald's in Chicago, Illinois, are the same fries you get in Kobe, Japan. I have been to Japan, and have eaten at several McDonald's there - the overhead menus were in Japanese (I pointed at the pictures), but the fries were speaking the same language I was.

The scientific community does “standardizing” conferences all the time, out of operational necessity. It is time our community did the same. That way the rest of us do not have to reset our brains and our computers every time we have to put another “Shaquisha” or “Sheneka” in our databases. It’s OK to name yourselves or your children whatever you like, just help the rest of us out when you do so. Please.

It is time for the “Lakeishas” of our community to unite!

Security Cameras

When I watch crime shows on cable, I always notice that the security cameras used by stores, banks, etc. seem to never have a high enough resolution to solidly identify a person. Even if there is a full-on facial shot. With good lighting. A bank robbery - No Mask!!!

These recordings are so fuzzy, that you might as well not even have cameras in those places. You can get zoomed-in satellite surveillance pictures with higher resolution these days. The satellites themselves are orbiting 200 miles or more above the planet.

Who is selling these systems?