Plan For Confrontation

I was raised in a small rural community where everyone knew each other, house and car doors were seldom locked. In the event of a family emergency, all neighbors came together and to the rescue. You did not need government assistance and seldom depended on the church for assistance other than spiritual.

From the days of those memories in my youth to present time, our society has been in a steady decline. Many of the mystery crime stories on television are about murder, armed robbery, sexual assault, home invasion, drugs, and human trafficking. White Collar crime is tolerable by comparison. Please forgive me, I am being facetious.

I am writing this post because of an incident that occurred recently in my personal life. I have a habit of waking a couple of times during the night to get a drink of water. Approximately three days ago I woke up soon after 3 in the morning and as I reached for my bottled water, I thought I was still asleep when I heard muffled voices in our family room or on our backyard deck.

Instinctively I looked for my wife to make sure that she was still in bed asleep. Next, I concentrated to make sure of what I was hearing. Since we only have the two of us in the house, and two puppies 8 months old, any extra voices are cause for alarm.

I had to make an executive decision on the spot, and I did. I decided not to wake my wife because I wanted her to stay safe in the bedroom while I dealt with what I was almost certain would be a confrontation. As preparation for a confrontation goes, I have always maintained a baseball bat by my side of the bed.  On this occasion, we had been doing some end of year cleaning and I had been breaking down cardboard boxes for recycling, so I just happen to have a box opener handy.

I went down the hall without turning the lights on, prepared to have the element of surprise on my side. So once again, I come through without a scratch and the opportunity to gain experience, a lesson for future use and to share. As I rounded the corner into the family room, I saw that the television had been turned on, and that was the source of the voices.  We have had power outages in the area, and some dimming of lights without an electrical outage (culprit). I checked all the windows and doors to secure the house.

Two days after the incident I decided to discuss it with my wife and asked for her input. The bottom line is that we now have a plan in place. She wants me to wake her up so that she can call 911 if necessary.

If you do not presently have a plan in place, please develop one, and be sure to discuss it with other members of your household. You cannot imagine how many times I have heard people say, “That has never happened in our neighborhood before.

Someone once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”  Be safe in the New Year. The best is yet to come…

Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned

10 Shocking Statistics About Elderly Falls

·        When an elderly person falls, their hospital stays are almost twice longer than those of     elderly patients who are admitted for any other reason.

·        The risk of falling increases with age and is greater for women than men.

·        Annually, falls are reported by one-third of all people over the age of 65.

·        Two-thirds of those who fall will do so again within six months.

·        Falls are the leading cause of death from injury among people 65 and older.

·        Approximately 9,500 deaths in older Americans are associated with falls each year.

·        More than half of all fatal falls involve people 75 or over.

·        Among people aged 65 to 69, one out of every 200 falls results in a hip fracture. That number increases to one out of every 10 for those aged 85 and older.

·        One-fourth of seniors who fracture a hip from a fall will die within six months of the injury.

·        The most profound effect of falling is the loss of functioning associated with independent living.  ~ by Shell Point Retirement Community

CAUTION!  Don’t try this at home.  At some point, we all reach and cross the line where we are old enough to know better.  That line can be reached through personal experience, common sense, or by someone else’s example.  However, you do reach it, we all must reach it.  I love learning from other’s mistakes because it saves me a lot of pain and suffering.  Not to mention that it makes me look mature and smart.

As I get older, I’ve noticed that every so often I catch myself pushing the envelope.  I am not sure that I am trying to prove that “I still got it,” or perhaps trying to save time.  Since I am retired, I can’t blame my corner cutting on time constraint. 

Just a short list:  I have survived the following unhurt, almost got electrocuted running electrical wire for an addition to our home; survived a rear collision on a vehicle wreck where my car was standing still and the other driver was traveling at approximately 50 mph (should have killed me but it only resulted in a broken back) (I know, I make it sound like a piece of cake).  I almost drowned while swimming with friends in a river at age 11 (I actually went under for the count); I was painting the trim on the exterior of my house while standing on the very top rung of an 8-foot ladder (a wind gust came up and I almost lost my balance), I quickly came to my senses and I called a professional to finish the job.

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  Well, my wife and I have spent perhaps thousands of dollars over the years in an effort to stay healthy through exercise (gym memberships).  My most recent effort is to transform our large garage into a gym.  We purchased 5 professional workout pieces of equipment, and a hot sauna to complete the ideal workout place.  And now the rest of the story:  No work out place is complete without a descent size screen television to take your mind away from the pain and suffering of a healthy workout.  I was trying to place the tv on top of the sauna but it was about a half inch too big to fit. From on top of the ladder about 4 feet high, I was holding the tv and tried to place it on top a shelf about 30 inches away.  Bottom line is I lost my balance and went backwards from the ladder while still holding the television.  I protected the investment on the tv set keeping it at arm’s length as I went down backwards.  Fortunately, on the way down my elbow knocked over a stack of walk-in carpets that miraculously landed under me and cushioned my fall.

All’s well that ends well, but once again, someone was looking out after me, and I came out unhurt.  I surveyed the area where I landed it, and still don’t know how those carpets ended up under me.  I came within inches of hitting my head on at least three very sharp corners, any of which could have killed me.

I beg you to be very careful in your own personal lives.  If you believe that you can’t afford to have a professional handle your project, ask yourself if you can afford time in the hospital and the medical bills or worst.  I hereby promise to draw on my experience, and the mistakes of others to keep myself safe for my family and friends.  The best is yet to come……..

Paranoid or Careful

Paranoid or Careful

For as long as I can remember, I have used the following saying: “Just because you are paranoid, doesn’t mean they are not out to get you!”  I probably take it more seriously than I should, but my other favorite saying is “Better Safe Than Sorry!”

Every day that passes by and with every news story on mainstream news, we are given proof that we are not as private as we would like to think we are or used to be.  I’d like to think that I spend an adequate amount of money to keep up with the advancing technology, and yet, I constantly am surprised at how some third world country resident is trying to get my personal information, or worst yet the banking institution’s data bank information.

On the plus side, it’s good to know that I will never be homeless.  I know you are wondering where my optimism comes from, well at least 4 or 5 times a year an extremely wealthy Prince of widow of a Prince reaches out to me.  Yes, you guessed it, they want to leave me their fortune and they are trying to figure out how to send it to me.

So far, I haven’t responded, because I’m still trying to get over the terrible head ache.  What headache you ask?  The one I got after I fell off of the turnip truck!

To make things worse, my wife keeps asking me to turn off some of my modern technology.  She hates the way Amazon Echo Unit (Alexa) keeps waking us up from the middle of a sound sleep in the early morning hours to ask what we meant because she didn’t understand the command.  Imagine being paranoid about that!

I already cover the camera lens on my computers, just in case someone is checking up on us, like everyone’s favorite uncle.  You know the one, Uncle Sam or one of his Minions. 

Everyone once in a while, I’ll be in town and notice that my cell phone is telling me that I am only 6 minutes away from home, the traffic is good and the weather is 54 degrees, and rain showers will stop in 26 minutes.  That information means that someone or something knows where I am at and what environment I’m in.

Sometimes, just sometimes, I long for the days when the only way to guess that it might rain, was because you could see the dark clouds in the distance coming your way!  Hang in there, the best is yet to come……

Life and Building Bridges

Life and Building Bridges

I consider myself a very optimistic person, however, I would debate with anyone that our state of society is at its best ever.  You would almost have to be in my age group in order to look at society in our life span and compare apples to apples.

For starters, survival skills are one thing and survival instincts are yet another and not to be confused with one and the other.

Survival skills:  The ability to hunt for food, grow your own food, fix your own car, start a fire without matches (or lighters), how to navigate without a compass or GPS, build a raft, make your own home repairs, etc., etc.

Survival instincts:  the ability to read people, to anticipate a confrontation and how to avoid it or deescalate it, knowing when to take action or when to compromise, assessing the unseen dangers (example: undercurrent in a stream or river, making split second decisions, etc., etc.

Many of the skill that we developed in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s was the difference between success and failure, but today our society for the most part consider those to be the skills of dinosaurs (unimportant or at the very least antiquated), and unnecessary. 

Today’s younger generations are so dependent on technology that if a power outage takes place they are dead in the water.  Have you ever seen a young retail clerk struggle to make change for a dollar when their cash register fails?  We are so dependent on GPS that if you go into an area of limited or no cellphone signal a young person can’t find their way around because even if they had a street map they wouldn’t be able to read it.

How about the wonderful communication skills (writing or reading) of our youth due to their prevalent use of texting?  The youth are not the only ones to blame, the educational systems in some States are dropping the required cursive writing, because it is no longer needed or relevant.  The unskilled educated can’t grasp the big picture:  Who is going to translate or decipher our historical records (documents) in the future.  Cursive writing may as well be a foreign language to any one that is proficient in, WTF, LOL, LMAO, etc., etc.

My children and grandchildren are still being raised the way I was raised.  I insist in teaching them the old survival instincts, and skills, and even more important, I am teaching them to be competitive.  In other words, there are winners and there are losers, we all need to strive to prevail (win).  Nothing wrong with 2^nd place but 1^st place is the objective.

When my children use to complain to my wife that life wasn’t fair, their mother’s gentle response was “build a bridge and get over it.”  If you didn’t get that saying, it's ok, it took my children a few times to get the real meaning also.  My grandchildren don’t only get it, but I hear them saying it amongst themselves now and they are still young.  The best is yet to come…….

Social Tipping Point

Social Tipping Point

As individuals go, we can be extremely different or fairly similar, we are a conglomerate of diversity, and yet unique at the same time.  Personally, I am multifaceted: some of my self-description comes from what I think of myself, and as described by people around me.

In my early adulthood, I was so involved in my community that I could be considered an activist (I even ran for elective office).  I lettered in three different sports in high school so I could be described as athletic, I also carry all the typical labels: son, brother, father, friend, boyfriend, husband, etc., etc. Depending on who you are and what roles you played in my life, I’ve also been described as: nice, friendly, considerate, a lover not a fighter, smug, mean, inconsiderate, etc., etc.

I guess the point that I am trying to make is that as humans and inhabitants of Planet Earth, we adapt well to our surroundings (mostly for the sake of survival).  I prefer to be nice, peaceful, respectful, kind, considerate.  Most important, I prefer to be a survivor, and protector of my loved ones.

I own a firearm, but early in my marriage my wife convinced me to keep it in a safe and away from the children.  Some of my adult children would be shocked to know that I own a gun and that I am licensed to carry.  Over the years I’ve been observing our society spiral out of control.  I’ve been patiently standing on the sidelines observing, and making sure that neither I or my loved ones get dragged into the mix.

In all honesty, it is getting harder and harder to stay safe and out of the mix.  Earlier this summer, we had a motor vehicle stolen from our driveway.  The vehicle was recovered within 2 weeks with minimal damage, but it caused me to upgrade our existing home security system.  Within the last week there have been instances where three acts of fatal violence occurred in our country (USA) that has been covered on the national news scene.  Just last night a second incidence of violence at a shopping mall within a week happened within 100 miles of my residence.

Society is continuing to move in the wrong direction for my liking.  If you are familiar with the comic character “The Hulk” he is a mild mannered individual who gets pushed too far and turns into an angry green monster that strikes back.  I for one am running out of patience and tolerance. Don’t expect me to turn green any time soon, do however, expect Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson to accompany me when I go into public places that offer questionable safety and security.  Bad Guys beware, for your own survival, be more selective of who you pick on to victimize!  The best is yet to come……

Vocabulary Expansion 2

While you sleep

Just an update on the story I shared two weeks ago: http://www.being50.com/2016/05/vocabulary-expansion.html   My Durango was stolen from my driveway.  Fortunately for us the surveillance camera caught a great picture of the car thief.  After being shared over social media (over 2000 times) and with local law enforcement.  The vehicle was recovered in an abandon foreclosed home.  Someone broke into the home and parked the Durango in the garage.  I simplified the process (explanation), but it actually took over a week of following deadend leads from the well-meaning Facebook community. 

Vehicle Prowl while you sleep

The vehicle was reported seen in a couple of nearby towns and I made the dutiful drive to follow every lead.  From the first time law enforcement saw the video footage they knew the name of the perp (police jargon for perpetrator) and even referred to her as a well-known local tweaker.

The PD put out an all point bulletin (statewide) for the stolen vehicle.  Between the All-Points, and Facebook, the stolen Durango became so hot that no one dared to drive it or even give it away.  The vehicle was recovered with minimal damage and something like 10 miles additional on the speed-o-meter.  There is no arguing that criminals are especially dumb or they wouldn’t do what they do.  One of the perps actually contacted my son and tried to collect a few hundred dollars to return it.  The PD got involved and the rest is history. 

I know that for many of us, a criminal act against us is unfathomable, but it does happen.  Even nice neighborhoods have become prime targets, especially because we are comfortable knowing that we have good neighbors.  Well guess what, the criminals also love our neighborhoods.  About seven years ago I invested in a security system that includes 8 exterior infrared cameras.  Most of my neighbors must have thought I was paranoid.  Well, the saying goes, that just because you are paranoid, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t out to get you.

50 Ft. with a 9mm (I wouldn't want to meet me in a dark hallway)

Please be proactive, material things hold the least value, besides all material things are insured.  A security system will keep home burglars/invaders away.  Criminals case their targets, and as dumb as they are, they are looking for easy pickings.  Besides in my case any criminals that don’t get discouraged by a security system will have to deal with a certified marksman if they get into the house.  The best is yet to come………….

Top Priority

Take care of yourself first

Someone I consider a good friend was recently sent to the ER (Emergency Room).  She is being referred to a cardiologist and the outcome is yet to be determined at this time.  We should use this instance as a reminder that our personal health is and should always be a priority.  Not because we are selfish but because we are selfless.

We live to take care of family members and friends and the best way to do that is to make sure that our personal health is maintained.  I don’t know how many of my readers have noticed that part of airplane safety is to instruct adults that in the event that the oxygen masks drop the parent or guardian is to put their own mask first before helping a child or others.  The reason is that you can’t help others if you don’t take care of yourself first.

I once thought I was having a heart episode and my wife made the decision that I should go to ER immediately, I was 40 at the time.  The macho (very stupid of me at the time) in me convinced her that I knew the way and could get us there quicker so she allowed me to drive.  Fortunately, I got us there safely.

The Summer day was near 100 degrees, and I had been in the backyard digging a 24-inch-deep trench about 30 feet long for the cables leading to the house from a 10-foot parabolic satellite dish antenna. Around 4 pm I walked into the house, not feeling well.  As I got ready to take a cold shower to cool off, I went into shock so bad I was afraid to bite my tongue.  Among others, the weirdest thing I remember doing is jumping on to our master bed with my muddy work shoes on.  You need to know how much I respect (read that fear) my wife to know that I would never knowingly do that.

To make a very long story short, I was ready to make peace with the Lord, I swear that I even had most of my life pass before me in short order.  As it turned out I had managed to dislocate a couple of ribs near the sternum as I manhandled the satellite dish over a couple of fences and into my backyard.  The injury was further aggravated by digging the trench in the heat.

I still vividly remember what the attending doctor said to me with a very grave look on his face. Sir, I wish I could tell you (long pause), that my heart is as healthy as yours, but I haven’t been examined as thoroughly as you have.  Your problem is musculo-skeletal.  And with that I was released with some pain medication, and a referral to a specialist.

Ever since that incident, I take my health and prevention efforts very seriously.  I sincerely apologized to my wife for being so stubborn and promised that I would follow her guidance in the future regarding my health care needs.  Fortunately, I don’t have any health care problems, I subscribe to preventative measures.  I want to be around to provide for my family for as long as possible.  Quality of life should be the goal, so please take care of yourselves.  The best is yet to come……             

Live and Learn

Live and Learn

At my age I would think, that I would have mastered life’s basic fundamentals for survival.  I still, however, manage to surprise myself now and again.

I pride myself in doing what it takes for self-preservation.  I have an excellent health care team.  The latest computer technology is applied to make sure that my healthcare needs are tracked for best possible results.  I’ve actually had my personal physicians send me an email while vacationing in Florida, because she didn’t like a test result and wanted me to take immediate action to change the outcome.  From my perspective it was something minor:  ever so slight increase in my cholesterol reading.  She said to me in the email:  “Mister, I don’t know what you’ve done different in the last 6 months but I want you to reverse it and watch what you eat so you can reverse the last cholesterol report outcome.  I will have you run some lab work in 60 days to see where you are at.”

I can honestly say that my own mother never paid that much attention to my well-being. While I am extremely pleased with the personal service from my health care team, this post is not about that.

Among other things that I do for self-preservation I visit a chiropractor once or twice a month for the periodic body adjustment, almost always followed by a one hour therapeutic massage.  Please don’t imagine for a moment some shady massage office on the wrong side out of town.  This particular service that I avail myself to is located in my doctor’s office just down the hall.

I’ve been known to ask my doctor, how much would rent cost me to for two or three hours of very relaxing sleep in the massage room.  The ambiance is always perfect, soothing music, nice warm and toasty massage table mattress/pad.  I actually have to try extra hard to stay awake even beyond the punishing deep tissue massage.

Well the point to this lengthy lead up, is that my wife has been complaining lately of lower back pain (she doesn’t tolerate massage therapy).  So since I love her so much, I was trying to find a way to treat her to the relaxation that I experience during massage.  I talked to the masseuse, and she recommended that I go to a specific store, where for much less than $100, I could buy a mattress heated pad with dual controls.

Well, I immediately went shopping and surprised her with my purchase.  She didn’t resist the idea, and has been sleeping comfortably and waking up without the lower back problem.  For some reason, I am disappointed that I had not taken this step long before.  I have received the benefit of chiropractor and massage treatment for at least 25 years and I never thought to replicate the environment from the massage room to my very own home.

If you haven’t thought about it, I would highly recommend that you give it a try.  I know that many people will go out and spend $30 dollars or more for a heating pad or a hot water bottle.  Yet the cost for the mattress heating pad is only a few dollars more.  

This mattress heating pad should come with an extra cautionary warning that I didn’t see anywhere in the box or manual:  You will have the possible danger of wanting to stay in bed all day long, especially during the winter months.  The best is yet to come……..

Cause for Concern

Wes Craven 1939-2015

I don’t necessarily feel that this is a trend that we should worry about, but we should certainly at least stop and see what’s going on.  During the last week of August (August 29^th and 30^th to be exact) two very popular and loved icons died in what I consider to be, way too young.

·       Wes Craven (8/02/1939 to 8/30/2015), the famed maestro of horror known for the Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream Franchises, died Sunday after a battle with brain cancer.  He was 76. 

·       Craven, whose iconic Freddy Krueger character horrified viewers for years, died at his home in Los Angeles, his family announced.  Survivors include his wife, producer and former Disney Studios vice president Iva Labunka.

Wayne Walter Dyer 1940-2015

• Wayne Walter Dyer (5/10/1940 to 8/29/2015) was an American self-help author and motivational speaker. His first book Your Erroneous Zones is one of the best-selling books of all time, with an estimated 35 million copies sold. ~ Wikipedia
• Dyer was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2009 but claimed to have treated it with positive thinking, daily exercise and "psychic surgery" performed remotely by the Brazilian medium João Teixeira de Faria, better known as "John of God." He detailed the controversial treatment in an interview with Oprah Winfrey — for whom he was a friend and frequent guest for more than 30 years — in 2012.

We can hopefully take this as a sign that we need to stay current on our personal and loved one’s health.  Some illnesses are avoidable and/or treatable others that are terminal may allow us additional time with loved ones if we become aware early enough.

I’ve said it before there are two professionals in our lives that we would do well to communicate with, our health care providers and the Internal Revenue Service.  In these two instances no surprises is good policy.  Rest In Peace to the two fine gentlemen that we just lost.  The best is yet to come……

What is FRIENDSHIP? 2

Super Friends

 

This post is part 2 to: “What is FRIENDSHIP? Posted 3/13/2013 http://www.being50.com/2013/03/what-is-friendship-value-of-friendship.html

 

I’ve said before that if you are lucky, you will have one or two “Best Friends,” in your life time.  I guess I am very lucky in that sense.  Great friends don’t have to be in constant touch.  However, whenever the opportunity presents itself to communicate in writing or verbal, it’s like there hasn’t been a long passage of time between contacts, you just pick up where you left off.

I have 3 or 4 great friends that I stay in touch with, I am not a person that needs constant attention probably because I come from a large family.  While I am an only son from my father and mother, I did have a couple of half-sisters (one older and one younger), growing up, and then went on to have 7 children.

My life has been moving at 120 miles per hour down the highway of life, and I haven’t had time to meet with my friends.  We’ve communicated by phone, text, email, and Facebook but not an in person meeting for close to 6 months.  We all live in the same town so no great effort is required to make it happen.  We are all very well settled down people with comfortable retirements, and happy families so we all have pretty full lives, with plenty of family social life, and thus the difficulty in getting together.

I finally left a voice message for one of my friends and told him what my schedule was like so we could connect and have a breakfast or lunch.  The very next morning he called me and wanted to meet for breakfast in 15 minutes, so we made it happen.  The first question I asked is how have you been, and how is life treating you.  As real friends we ask because we care, it’s not just a greeting.

We spent the time while we waited to be served comparing notes on how the wives are treating us (as it turns out like kings).  Once the food arrived we got into some serious conversation.  He starts with, did I tell you I fell off my roof, and I was shocked because he and I don’t joke about serious things like that.  As it turned out he was cleaning his roof, while his wife was at work, while on the roof he got dizzy so he sat down to gain his composure, and he lost his grip and started sliding until he went off the roof.

I asked him how badly he was hurt and he said he was lucky he landed on his feet and rolled as soon as he made contact with the ground.  I should explain that he was an MP (Military Police) with the Air Force, and still has a few moves under his belt (no Chuck Norris to be sure) but most likely someone was looking over him.  He has yet to tell his wife about it.  He said he isn’t afraid of her he just has high respect for the little lady.  I don’t blame him, I wouldn’t tell my wife either, if I could walk straight after taking a fall like that.

The point that I am trying to build up to is twofold; 1) he is very comfortable financially, and should be paying some professional to handle the heavy (or dangerous) work, 2) we need to stay in touch with our friends because I would hate to have some serious injury happen and not be aware.  What kind of friend would I be?  I know that we have our hands full with life and our families in general, but these aren’t just anybody, this is our close circle of friends.  I have known this friend for 30 years.  It seems that the dizziness while on the roof was caused by problems with blood pressure. He was taken to his doctor to check his blood pressure and his doctor sent him immediately to Emergency Care because he felt that the level of blood pressure he was experiencing could have brought on a heart attack (his blood pressure was controlled with medication).  I can’t imagine losing a friend like that, when he only lives about 5 blocks from my house, and I not be aware. 

I make a commitment right now in front of my readers, and to myself, to be a better friend.  Conversely, I ask my readers to take a clue from my experience, be the kind of friends that stay in touch, and check up on your friends.  I also ask you to consider how dangerous the projects you are involved with, might be to your well-being.  The best is yet to come……

Dinosaur Destiny

Dinosaur Destiny

For many years Dinosaurs ruled the earth.

• About 230 million years ago, a group of animals called dinosaurs ruled the earth. They lived in many different habitats, from open plains to forests to the edges of swamps, lakes, and oceans.
  Dinosaurs were reptiles and most of them hatched from eggs.
• Some dinosaurs were as tall as a five-story building, and there were others no bigger than a chicken. In between the largest and the smallest, there were dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes. The dinosaurs had tough skin, some with scales or feathers. Some were armor-plated and covered with spikes.
• The name 'dinosaur' means 'most fearsome lizard'. However, dinosaurs were not lizards, though related to them. Some scientists think that dinosaurs were more closely related to birds.
• About 65 million years ago, it is believed that a huge meteor hit the earth, causing enormous clouds of dust to block the sun's rays so that the earth became dark and cold for a number of years. Huge tidal waves flooded low-lying land and acid rain fell. Small animals could find shelter and enough warmth and food, but the huge dinosaurs could not. They died out. ~ Sydenham, S. & Thomas, R. The Age of Dinosaurs

Based on the very short story I just related the dinosaurs lived approximately 165 million years (give or take). Now to the point of this post.  We all know from experience that nothing lasts forever.  Everything has a start and a finish (end).  What might be the cause of demise for the Human Race?  The question here is what and when, not if.

 

I realize as I read what I just wrote that my thinking sounds fatalistic.  Perhaps the reason for my attitude today is the kind of news articles that are going around on television and the Internet.  Just a handful of stories I saw today:

• A confrontation in a theater while seeking entertainment and relaxation accompanied by their spouses, one man is shot dead and his wife is wounded over a texting incident inside the theater.  The 71 year-old man shot in what he felt was self-defense as he felt threatened by the much younger 40 something dead victim. 
• On another news article a dash-cam shows a car in front swerving all over the street, crossing street traffic divider lines and eventually jumping the curve, and hitting a tree, and light pole before the car flipped over on its top.  The driver didn’t die but he could have and he might have killed pedestrians on the sidewalk.  This accident happened because the man was texting and driving.
• A school shooting incident in a New Mexico school left two teenagers 14 and 13 years old wounded, and the shooter a 13 year old was arrested,  The cause?  Witnesses said the shooter was being bullied in school.  
• Neiman Marcus said over the weekend that cards of some customers had been used fraudulently, but provided little additional information.  The announcement follows a breach at Target that could become the largest in U.S. retail history. The discount retailer acknowledged Friday that up to 110 million customers were affected.

Many people that have never been affected by computer hacking have no idea of the level of disruption that their lives are in for.  We can’t just sit around passively waiting for something or someone to reach out and start destroying our lives.  You can help yourself by being more aware of your surrounding when out and about.  Avoid confrontations with strangers if at all possible.  Check your credit card statements every month looking for irregularities.  Remember always that the only time you win in a confrontation is when you get to go home unhurt with and to your family. 

Will the human race require a large meteorite to strike the earth or will we self-destruct from our technological advances?  The best is yet to come….