Blog Archives

Sophie Turner

7/26/2019

For those of you Game of Thrones fans, there's something you might not know about Sophie Turner who played Sansa Stark. First of all, she was only 13 when she accepted the role and is now 23 years old. Time flies.

The thing you might not know about Sophie is that although she has enjoyed being an actress, it's not the career she wants. She's always been infatuated with crime shows and has already taken college courses for a degree in Criminology. She just finished a course on forensics which included working with coroners. Sophie's ultimate goal is to become a homicide detective.

I find this shocking but am so glad that someone like her is willing to serve her community. She won't end up with a lot of money like she would've if she kept acting, but due to her passion about the field of law enforcement, she'll probably be very happy with her career change.

Some Baseball Stuff

7/25/2019

American baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, New York in 1839. Abner went on to become a Civil War hero.

I find it interesting how the game has changed over time especially with the equipment they use. When the game began, the players didn't have gloves. This wasn't too much of an issue as the players threw the ball underhanded, but when this changed, the players' hands were getting injured.

In 1875, a player for Boston showed up to play with a work glove on his hand that had the finger holes cut out. The opposing players and fans from the opposing team ridiculed him non-stop challenging his manhood, but he took it in stride, at least his hand didn't swell from catching the ball.

A.G. Spalding (former pitcher), saw the glove this guy was wearing and was intrigued by the idea so he and his brothers began a sports equipment company in 1876, and one of their first products was a leather glove with finger holes; later their gloves covered the entire hand.

In 1888, a man created a special glove for catchers and it took off because Spalding enhanced the design and began selling it. Isn't it amazing that over 140 years later, Spalding gloves are still so popular? After not using it for a couple of decades, I finally sold my Spalding baseball glove at a yard sale. :)

The End Justifies The Means

7/25/2019

I think the greatest problem with how politicians are conducting themselves these days with their mantra of the end justifying the means, is that it appears they are all racing to the bottom, not the top, and the scary part is they have us in tow.

The Mighty Pepsi Cola Navy

7/18/2019

One of the coolest stories, rarely told, is when in 1989, the Pepsi-Cola Company had one of the largest navies in the world. Sounds crazy doesn’t it; but it’s true.

President Nixon is known for a lot of bad things but he was one of the best presidents I've ever seen when it comes to foreign relations. He navigated our first great relationship with China and even though we had a cold war going with Russia, he created a fantastic connection with Soviet Premiere Nikita Krushchev.

Nixon helped open trade relations with Russia and one of Nixon's friends (Donald Kendall), was an executive with Pepsi and he asked Nixon to get Krushchev to try their soda and Krushchev loved it. Coca Cola was also trying to court Russia, but Pepsi ended up with exclusivity in the Russian market which began in 1974. The trade agreement dictated that the United States purchase a similar dollar amount of Stolnichnaya Vodka as they were buying of Pepsi products. The U.S. had no problem holding up their end of the bargain and it became the number one brand of vodka in our country.

Coca Cola eventually made it into Russia, but Pepsi still owns most of the market share. At this point, Pepsi-Cola Moscow, is a very large and popular employer. PepsiCo was able to survive the craziness of The Cold War and Russia’s Iron Curtain, which is amazing, but could you imagine the outrage of the citizens of Russia back then, if suddenly they couldn’t get their hands on a Pepsi? Things were bad enough over there, cutting them off from these addictive beverages could've led to a revolt.

So, what does this have to do with Pepsi having a navy? Well, Pepsi took on a lot of risks cutting trade deals with a communist country. They were the first non-government owned company in the U.S.S.R. One of the risks had to do with currency because the Russian Ruble wasn’t stable and eventually Russia owed PepsiCo a lot of money in 1989. In a crazy deal, Russia offered Pepsi a fleet of 17 obsolete Soviet Navy diesel attack submarines along with a decommissioned cruiser, destroyer, and frigate, as well as several new civilian oil tankers to pay off some debt. Just like that, PepsiCo had become the sixth largest navy in the world.

They ended up selling the oil tankers to Norway and sold the decommissioned military ships and submarines to a shipyard in Sweden where they were scrapped for metal. It was a very creative deal on both PepsiCo's and Russia's part and now their partnership is worth billions.

There are so many amazing stories around the world and we only hear or read about a fraction of them, thus one of the reasons I wanted to start a knowledge seeking blog. If you'd like to share this with anyone all you need to do is copy and paste it into your email. Take care and make it a great day!

The Most Beautiful People

7/16/2019

The most beautiful people to me are those who know how to love through someone else's faults.

Biblical Truths

7/16/2019

Some scriptures are easy to understand like when we're told not to lie, not to gossip, not to steal, not to kill, etc., but some scriptures have many layers thus are subject to one's interpretation of a biblical truth, such as Ecclesiastes 7:13 "Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?"

The above scripture has always intrigued me; it certainly can be interpreted several ways and this is where things get a little tricky. The problem is that people quote from the Bible to backup what they're saying sometimes when they might only be offering their interpretation of the scripture. I'm not saying we aren't right most of the time, I just think it's important to put it in perspective because we aren't always coming from an area that is black and white; sometimes our truths aren't universal truths and this can negatively affect relationships.

To correctly interpret the above scripture we'd need to know why God would make something imperfect? What is meant by "crooked," is it a character flaw, someone who is just a bad seed, did he create a liar and a thief? If we don't know the answers to these questions then we can't logically state the truth of the scripture without divine help which we do receive at times.

I believe that God sometimes reveals himself to us when we sit alone reading the scriptures. The reason I say this, and I'm sure you've experienced it as well, is that we can read the same scripture over and over again and not get anything out of it then one day we read it and a feeling of enlightenment comes over us and we finally understand what the scripture means. It's not that common sense and logic suddenly kicked in, instead it's about spiritual intercession.

One person's spiritual enlightenment can be different than another's because God gives us each according to our needs and at the right moment in our lives when we need it.

I find it interesting when I look back at various pages in my Bible and see where I wrote a note next to a verse, yet no longer have a clue what the note means. At the time the verse was speaking to me enough to where I had a thought I wanted to jot down, but then all of a sudden it has no special meaning that I'm aware of. It spoke to me when I needed it and that's the important thing.

The bottom line is there are certain truths in the Bible which are very clear but there are many verses that can speak to different people, differently. I don't think that sitting in judgement of others because they don't live up to our truths, is something God wants from his children. Our directives are very clear, love God through trying to please him and by so doing, we'll accomplish our second greatest commandment and that is to love others which is what God wants. There are over 23,000 verses in the Bible so it's easy to get confused, but being a Christian isn't all that complicated; love is always the right choice to make.

Whom Are The Middleclass?

7/15/2019

It always amazes me how so many liberals completely throw out common sense and logic yet try to come across as intellectually advanced. For example, they talk all the time about the rich getting richer, the middle-class not benefiting from the tax cuts, the poor are getting poorer, etc., without thinking about a very important component of what's being said and that is they never tell you who the poor, middle-class, and rich are. Why don't they provide this very important piece of information? Why don't they lay out their new tax codes based on personal income; this way we'd have a better idea as to what they're talking about when making claims about certain income segments in our economy.

The above is bad enough but they also cannot explain how the poor and middle-class aren't benefiting when millions of jobs have been created and unemployment is at its lowest. These millions of jobs weren't new jobs for rich people. Average salaries are up across the board. No matter your identify when it comes to gender, race, sexual orientation,, etc., the Trump economy hasn't been sexists, racists, or homophobic. These Democrats would hate for this realization to set in.

Democrats are trying to wipe the above truths away. They try to take everyone's attention away from our successful economy because it will likely become a dagger in the hopeful Democratic hearts in 2020.

The Invention of the Guitar

7/10/2019

The first guitar with six strings, came from Italy and was invented in 1779. George Beauchamp, from Texas, invented the first electric guitar in 1932. His company also created the first lap guitar which became huge in country music.

Weather You Like It or Not

7/8/2019

This is a longer post than usual and will take around five minutes to read but it's worth the time because there are sections that I believe will blow your mind. We pay attention to the weather every day but let's face it, we don't know much about it. We don't know how they figure out the things they do. We don't know what a day in the life is like for forecasters. We don't know what their greatest tool is for giving us their forecasts. We don't know what they have to learn in college to do what they do. We don't know how much money they make. I could go on and on. Since you're a knowledge seeker, I think you're going to love this article. Don't worry, I didn't do a deep dive on the topic because meteorology is complicated, instead I made it reader friendly. Enjoy!

I find the subject of weather forecasting intriguing. For my father, it was a critical component to his success because knowing current and future weather conditions helped him make determinations regarding daily activities on our family farm. Unfortunately, in my small town of Quapaw, Oklahoma, the sun was out quite a bit which meant my dad kept my brother and me very busy.

To understand their world, I solicited insight from Chief Meteorologist Eric Thomas, who works for WBTV in Charlotte, North Carolina. I consider him the best in our market, so I was thrilled that he was willing to help me with this article. He’s been a weather forecaster for decades, so he’s seen the massive amount of changes that technology has brought about to make weather forecasting timelier and more accurate. I asked Eric a variety of questions and I’ve provided some of his insights. I found his information fascinating and I hope you do as well.

Aristotle is considered the founder of the study of meteorology and he wrote a paper regarding the topic in 350 B.C. Around the same time, Plato (a competitor of Aristotle’s), had an amazing student named Theophrastus who was also interested in finding ways to predict the weather. When Plato died, Theophrastus went to the academy where Aristotle taught and became a master of this science through working with him. For nearly two thousand years, both their insights were still being used by people assigned to predict weather patterns around the world.

The field of meteorology has had a long history of inventions including the rain gauge in 1441 A.D., the wind gauge in 1450, and the first mercury thermometer in 1643. In 1714, Gabriel Fahrenheit created a reliable scale for measuring temperature using a mercury thermometer. Isn’t it amazing that over 300 years later we still hear his last name (Fahrenheit), daily when discussing temperatures? In 1960, NASA launched the first successful weather satellite called the TIROS-1, marking the beginning of an age where insightful weather data became available globally. Fortunately for NASA, a lot of other countries paid them for access (subscribers), to their satellite’s information.

One area that prevents a lot of young people from pursuing a degree in meteorology is that it’s math intensive. Do you remember taking classes like Algebra, Geometry, Physics, and Trigonometry? Meteorologists must use components of these in various aspects of their jobs. Classes at these levels of mathematics aren’t ones where a college student can just show up and wing it, they take a tremendous amount of study and this isn’t for everyone. For individuals who have what it takes, meteorology is a great career path from a financial perspective, as average salaries in markets the size of Charlotte (ranked 17th in the country), are around $80,000 a year.

I’d say that many people don’t realize there are other career paths for people who work in the field of meteorology beyond working for a television station but there are, such as being a weather analyst for the National Weather Service, the military, and the agricultural industry. There are also jobs with research organizations such as those studying climate change.

People who want a career in weather broadcasting must seek an additional level of education that addresses presentation skills; it’s generally the number one skill chief meteorologists look for in hiring. This includes non-verbal and verbal communications (i.e. hand movements, facial expressions, where to stand, voice clarity, voice fluctuation, etc.), all the way down to what clothes to wear. Wearing any type of green clothing doesn’t mix well with the green screen they use to project their broadcasts and certain patterns on a tie can appear to be moving, which of course would distract viewers.

Eric said the most critical technology they use is their doppler radar which has been a game-changer in the world of weather forecasting. It’s a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type such as hail, rain, sleet, and snow. What I find amazing is that The Doppler Effect, named after Austrian physicist Christian Doppler, was proposed in 1842, but its usage in meteorology didn’t really kick in until over 170 years later when technology caught up to his theory; certainly not the first time this has happened.

Doppler radar can even detect the amount of debris that is being sucked up by tornados. This gives a meteorologist even more confidence issuing tornado warnings as they look for rotational patterns in the debris that is reaching the atmosphere. This level of insight was never available before. Not all television stations use this expensive piece of equipment but if you’re driving by a local television station and see what appears to be a large white ball outside their building, then that’s probably their doppler radar.

One of the things that I was looking forward to finding out about is if Eric’s station uses a scorecard to check the accuracy of their forecasts compared to their competition. He said they subscribe to a third party called WeatheRate; a company which evaluates the effectiveness of weather forecasting at various news stations across the country.

I was able to get insight from one of the key players at WeatheRate, Bruce Fixman, and what they do is extraordinary as they can verify the accuracy of the predictions made at various news networks regarding cloud coverage, the amount of rainfall, when the rain arrives, temperatures, wind speed, precipitation such as ice, rain or snow, the arrival time and density of fog, the severity of thunderstorms, etc. Pretty amazing! They also have a consumer page at http://www.weatherate.com/stations.php. You can see if your favorite station is a subscriber and it’s a great place to go for a one page, reader friendly format to the weather conditions in your area.

When I worked in advertising and marketing, I had to do a lot of entertaining and it wasn’t my thing. I enjoy interacting with a small group of people who I know, but when it comes to dealing with larger groups of people I don’t know, I become uncomfortable and find it emotionally draining. Socializing with large groups is something a meteorologist must be comfortable with because it’s a part of their job. Eric’s team does a tremendous amount of community outreach especially working with charities. They attend many social events. They give presentations at schools and for various organizations. If someone isn’t effective at interacting with the community, it will be very difficult becoming successful at their job.

One of the challenging things about working in their business is that their social lives are negatively impacted. Those who work the early shift and cover the morning and noon broadcasts, are up in the middle of the night getting ready for work. They miss many outings with their friends and family because they go to bed so early. Those who work the second shift, which includes the 5:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. broadcasts, aren’t home for dinner. They generally arrive at work around 3 p.m. and don’t leave until around 1 a.m. Television news is sometimes referred to as an ‘anti-family’ business. Eric said that the old adage is: “If you want to succeed in local television, you must be on the air when everyone else is home, otherwise what’s the point?” This sums it up nicely.

Since news anchors and weather forecasters are local celebrities, they get approached sometimes by people in their community. I asked Eric if he had any funny experiences and he said plenty, so he gave me a couple to share.

One time he was at a restaurant when a woman who had a rambunctious four-year-old, saw him. I guess because people feel like they know Eric since he’s in our living rooms at least five days a week, so she thought it would be okay to send her child over to play with him. The young boy didn’t know who Eric was, but he had no problem climbing up and down him and talking his ear off. What’s also funny is that at one point, while Eric had this young boy crawling all over him, he looked over and saw the boy’s mom enjoying a nice, quiet, meal. He took one for the WBTV team. 😊

The other funny story he mentioned, occurred when he was taking his 90-year-old aunt, who was visiting from out of town, to a Home Depot store. He and his aunt were travelling in Eric’s yellow, Pontiac Solstice roadster (I love this car), with the top down. Most 90-year-olds don’t like getting their hair messed up so his aunt must be a really cool. Anyhow, he pulled up to the curb and there was a commercial bus waiting for people to come out of the store. He began helping his aunt get out of the car when a man yelled out: “Hey, aren’t you the guy on TV?” Next, the bus driver ran off the bus screaming and jumping around all thrilled to see him. His aunt was extremely impressed by her nephew’s celebrity status.

Eric was used to getting approached by fans, but never like this so he was feeling pretty good about his popularity. Then his bubble burst when he found out that it was a case of mistaken identity. The very popular television show, House, was running in prime time and Eric looks a bit like Hugh Laurie, the star of the show. So, the cause for all the excitement was that they thought they were meeting a famous Hollywood celebrity. An embarrassing moment for Eric, but as we know, embarrassing moments like these often turn into funny stories later. I’ve been the star of a few of these.

I hope this article changes the way you look at those who bring us the weather. They are an amazingly bright group of people who have a tremendous impact in the communities they serve well beyond their forecasts. If you’re out and about with your children in Charlotte, and you see “Uncle,” Eric, feel free to have him baby sit for awhile so you can enjoy some quiet time. 😊

Equal Pay?

7/8/2019

I get so sick and tired of the games some liberals play over so many issues. The rallying call today is that women soccer players aren't being paid fairly when compared to men. They're claiming that women bring in as much of a crowd or more than men do, and that their merchandise sales are higher.

Let's put this in context. The World Cup is a tournament, it isn't an indication of annual revenues of men and women's professional soccer. Not unlike beach volleyball where women's matches in the Olympics has an extremely high viewing audience compared to men. I don't know how they pay the men and women who participate in The World Cup but since the women's team is bringing in greater crowds and generating more merchandise sales, then I think they should be paid more than men during the tournament; this is capitalism.

But outside of the tournament and during the regular soccer season, men bring in much more revenues from ticket sales to merchandise. Last year, U.S. women's soccer brought in $73 million dollars and the players received 13% of those revenues. The men brought in over $4 billion dollars, 55 times the revenue the women's league brought in, and they shared in 9% of the revenues. If I really wanted to twist the numbers, like politicians do, I could say that men are getting less of a share of what they bring in than women are. This would be so misleading but it's the game these liberals play.

I guess you see why I'm so frustrated. Everything is about politics and politics have become everything about division. One side creates a problem that doesn't really exist and then blames the other side for it. Then they act like they're out there fighting the good fight for the rest of us who are "supposedly," victims. Where has integrity gone?

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Author: John Mann

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