fredkingsblog

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Bangidza with color organ dezes

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Trump's Ill wind

“It’s an ill wind that blows no one any good.”

The recent presidential contest has created some of the most strange alliances in recent memory. One of the most notable alliances is between people who question strict adherence to the CDC’s vaccine schedule and supporters of Donald Trump.

Trump supporters are typically old white and uneducated. I am old, Black, and have a doctorate. Many Trump supporters don’t believe in science. Hell, I not only believe in science, I went to (Bronx) Science!

But I am also a member of a very select voting demographic: parents of vaccine-injured children.

During a Republican primary debate, Trump said: “Autism has become an epidemic… Because you take a baby in, and I’ve seen it, and I’ve seen it, and I had my children taken care of, over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time, same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump – I mean, it looks just like it’s meant for a horse, not for a child, and we’ve had so many instances, people that work for me, just the other day, two-years-old, two-and-a-half-years-old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. …I’m in favor of vaccines [but] do them over a longer period of time, same amount, but just in little sections. I think you’re going to have – I think you’re going to see a big impact on autism.” In one of his many controversial Twitter statements, he also tweeted: “Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn’t feel good and changes - AUTISM. Many such cases!”

At his Mar-A-Lago estate Trump spoke during a fundraising event for Autism Speaks, which was trying to get insurance coverage for the disorder.

“When I was growing up, autism wasn’t really a factor,” Trump said. “And now all of a sudden, it’s an epidemic. Everybody has their theory. My theory, and I study it because I have young children, my theory is the shots. We’ve giving these massive injections at one time, and I really think it does something to the children.” (http://www.ageofautism.com/2007/12/trump-did-not-f.html)

These statements caught the attention of many people in the community that questions the blind obedience to the CDC’s vaccine schedule. While others dismissed these statements as just another crackpot conspiracy theory, some of us thought that, whatever else Trump represents, he also represents an opportunity for our voice to be heard: someone with a wide audience who is willing to say what most people knowledgeable on the subject willingly or grudgingly admit- that vaccine injuries happen, that they are worth paying attention to, and some of them are indistinguishable from autism. Heightening this interest is the comparison to Hillary’s role in the promotion of vaccines. It is widely believed that she is in favor of making vaccines mandatory at a national level, and that this may include vaccines for adults. In 1993 she sponsored the Childhood Immunization Initiative and the Vaccines for Children program.

On the other hand, in response to a 2008 questionnaire from an autism advocacy group, she wrote: “I am committed to make investments to find the causes of autism, including possible environmental causes like vaccines…We don’t know what, if any, kind of link there is between vaccines and autism - but we should find out.” (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/hillary-clinton-vaccine-tweet). But in 2015 she tweeted:

“The science is clear: The earth is round, the sky is blue, and#vaccineswork. Let’s protect all our kids.#GrandmothersKnowBest”

At the extreme end we have people like Andrew Wakefield actually supporting Trump for president.

“For me, this is a one issue election. That is the future of this country invested in its children. And if we have mandatory vaccination in this country, in this state, as they have in California, then it’s all over. And we will achieve that objective by 2032 of one in two children with autism. So you use your vote extremely carefully. There is one person, whatever else you may think about him, who has expressed the fact that he knows vaccines cause autism, that vaccine damage is real, and this is an issue that will never in his mind lead to mandatory vaccination, either statewide or stateswide, and I had the privilege of meeting him the other day to discuss this precise issue, and he is on our side. Whatever else you may think, I want you to bear that in mind. I’m not going to tell you how to vote. You are freethinking Americans. But I will say that we will not get a second chance. Within two years, I would say, of Hillary Clinton getting in, if she gets in, there will be mandatory adult and child vaccination across the entire country.” (https://www.facebook.com/VaxXed/videos/742697672539941/)

Many people in the alt vax community might consider supporting and voting for Trump if they thought that his stance on vaccination was a closely held core belief. In that regard, it is notable Trump has said that he is following a modified vaccine schedule for his son, Baron:

"What we’ve done with Baron, we’ve taken him on a very slow process. He gets one shot at a time then we wait a few months and give him another shot, the old-fashioned way. But today they pump the children with so much at a very young age. We do it on a very, very conservative level.” (http://www.ageofautism.com/2007/12/trump-did-not-f.html)

Working to reform vaccine policy has led me into alliances with people I would not normally associate. Luckily, I live in Oregon, so it doesn’t matter who I vote for. If I lived in Ohio or Pennsylvania, I would have to think long and hard about it. It is a measure of my extreme desire to see a change in this country’s vaccine policies that I can even contemplate voting for someone who:

Slanders Mexicans and Muslims Doesn’t believe that climate change is actually happening Is willing to roll back the gains in people insured under Obamacare Is known for discriminating against Black New Yorkers in his apartments Led the attacks on Central Park five that fueled racial panic Promotes the use of stop-and-frisk policies Led the birther movement to delegitimize the first African-American president

An old proverb says: “It’s an ill wind that blows no one any good.”

I guess the question is, how ill a wind is Donald Trump?

[fredkingsblog]

The Martian

You know those guys who watch a movie constantly muttering “That’s not what happened in the book.” Well, I saw The Martian yesterday. SPOILERS AHEAD Now, I don’t expect a film based on a book to include every single plot point from the book. But the choices made in adapting a text tell you a lot about the filmmakers and who they think is watching. Let’s start with the potatoes that Mark Watney grows to keep himself alive on Mars. In the film, it looks like he puts down a three inch layer of Martian dirt in the habitat, cuts up potatoes into eyes, and plants them, interspersing them with turds from human solid waste bags as fertilizer. In the book, he goes through a laborious process of shuttling boxes of Martian dirt into the habitat through a small airlock, mixing it with solid waste and water to suffuse the soil with bacteria, and then mixing the resulting soil with more and more soil to double then quadruple the volume, resulting in a plot of soil much deeper than in the film, and more believable to anyone who has ever grown potatoes. I guess the filmmakers thought we would get bored watching what it would really take to survive on Mars. In the book, when the airlock tears away from the hab, there is an elaborate sequence in which Mark has to roll the airlock across Mars to get to a rover vehicle. He seals the hole in his helmet with adhesive from a suit repair kit. In the film, they leave out the rolling of the airlock and substitute duct tape. Another thing that will make readers of the novel say, “hey, that’s not how it was in the book!” is the repair to the hole in the hab left by the airlock detaching. It looks like they used vinyl sheets in the film, and the air leaks with a constant hiss in to the Martian breeze. This looks less believable than the description in the book, where “hab canvas” was used. There was even a passage about how the material was made in multiple layers. In the book, while preparing to travel to the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), Mark accidentally disables his text messaging communications link with the Earth, and cannot hear from them. He sends messages by arranging rocks in Morse code. Also left out of the long trip to the Mars Ascent Vehicle are: • The creation and use of a tent, made out of hab fabric • The dismantling and reassembly of the air and water generators • A perilous sequence where he almost dies, driving the rover into a valley during a dust storm that reduces the ability of the solar panels to recharge enough to continue The NASA character Mindy Park begins in the book as a meek nerd who is the first to discover the Mark Watney is still alive. Over the course of the story, she becomes a space paparazzi. This development is left out of the film. The rescue at the end (almost) of the movie involves the captain Melissa Lewis doing an EVA to grab Mark from the MAV capsule, with Mark puncturing his spacesuit glove to fly toward her like Iron Man. This was a great addition to the text of the book, in which an EVA specialist does the rescue and there is no Iron Man flying.

[fredkingsblog]

Tilikum Crossing-First Impressions My son and I rode the new Tilikum Crossing Bridge today, the day of the grand opening. It was hot and there was a big crowd for the opening. The bridge looks beautiful close up as it does from a distance. It is a work of art that you can cross a river on. But it’s not for the faint of heart.

Starting out on the east side just south of OMSI, the bridge soars up over the Willamette to the South Waterfront area, blocks from the tram’s lower station. And I do mean soar. Between the gossamer-thin threads of the railing and the steep climb, the feeling is both exhilarating and scary, between flying and being about to fall.

When I say that the railing of this bridge does not give you a secure feeling, I say this not as someone afraid of heights, but someone afraid of plummeting into the river. There is nothing between you and the river way down there but ¼ inch metal cables. But a great view once your heart stops pounding.

Then there is the climb. Not that it mattered at the time since I was on an electric assist bike, but it was much steeper than what I was used to from the other Portland bridges. I heard that it’s the same as the Morrison, but that’s another bridge I avoid like the plague.

The nice part is that the new bridge does not carry passenger cars or trucks, only pedestrians, buses, max trains and bikes. So, this bridge trades the risk of riding near car traffic for a very steep climb and a view that feels, at least at first, gut-droppingly insecure. Still, I’m sure that there will be lots of bikers on this bridge every day.

Wayfinding still needs so me tweaks. Riding through a rail crossing on the bike path I somehow ended up on the pedestrian path. In some places the path marked with red strips with inverted writing turned out to be the way you’re supposed to go.

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D'oh!

Dad: OH! Maybe I should post this crap on Tumblr!

Me: I'm posting that crap on Tumblr.

Dad:

Me:

Me: Watch me.

Dad: *leaves*

[fredkingsblog]

Emily Finch, local cargo bike icon, had her bike STOLEN last year and got her new one today. It is a unique, hand-made, aircraft welded, belt drive gem of a bike by Metrofiets

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Emily Finch's new bike unveiling and first ride

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My mother is white. My father is black.

They married and had two children. My brother and I. My brother is older and has lighter skin, and is often mistaken for “pure” white. I look darker, and with long curly hair, I often look more black.

A few weeks ago, I brought up something about being...

[fredkingsblog]

1. There is No Carousel This the building I work in. You recognize it, right? You see it all the time from the freeway where I5 meets 84. It's the one with the open framework hemisphere on the roof in the Lloyd Center district. When I started working here I joined the Incident Response Team. We're the ones who wear the vests and helmets during fire drills, and we're supposed to make sure everyone gets out of the building in a fire. There are posters around the building telling people where they should meet with their work unit after an emergency, a fire or earthquake or active shooter scenario. For our unit, Maternal and Child Health, the meeting place is the Carousel. Once we get there we are supposed to count heads and make sure everyone made it out of the building okay. Here is the poster, showing where the carousel is. It is a block away in a little park with benches and a band stage. It is a nice place to walk, eat your lunch, and once a week in the summer, there is a farmers' market. There is a lunch time music series. But there is no carousel. There once was a carousel there. The horse on the roof of the covered area is a reference to the old carousel, a little nod to the past. But the carousel has been gone for decades. But people still refer to the covered area as "The Carousel." Even for emergency purposes, when you would want everyone to know with no confusion where to meet after getting out of the building, they call this structure The Carousel, because here once was a carousel there. Should I be concerned that the people in charge of the health of the state, in an emergency, would send me to a landmark from the 1950s?

[fredkingsblog]

Switcheroo There is a church in my neighborhood that is now offering a "Beer and Hymns" event and a soccer game viewing. Meanwhile, just blocks away, there is a bar named "Church."

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Following Recall of All Cars Ever Manufactured, GM Starts Recalling Other Makers' Vehicles

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This is my dentist. I am getting a root canal. He is giving me Novocain with a steel needle in my gums. Yes, he is looking at the soccer game in the screen.

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We got our Christmas tree!

[fredkingsblog]

Ashley Anderson

I wanted to sell my cargo bike and get a better one. The Craigslist ad said:

Tom LaBonty Cargo Bike #32 This is one of his best (see Tom's Cargo Bikes at http://tomscargobikes.com).

Paid $1,800 including upgrades

Bianchi frame with custom-built cargo area Powder-coat paint job Mahogany compartment covers

Recently upgraded with: 3-gear front chain wheel Singular shifter New Cranks Rear chain tensioner Front derailleur 8 speed Shimano Nexus internal rear hub Front fender Padded leather passenger seat Front and rear lights Rear rack

503 233-4372

A few days later I got a reply:

Craigslist reply 9d07 Cargo bike August 4, 2013 5:59 PM

Do you still have this? My contact ashleyah3@gmail.com

Sent from my MetroPCS Android Device

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Yes, I do." I replied. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Craigslist reply 9d07

Cargo bike August 5, 2013 12:31 AM

Thanks for quick respond....Well let's do like this, actually now I'm not in town for now, I came to visit my Family so i wont be able to meet with you but am okay with the price as seen on the advert, I'll proceed in issuing a Certified Check out to you and when you received the check , I will make arrangement for pick-up. So get back to me with below details asap.

Full Name :

Address

City :

State :

Postal Code :

Cell Phone Number :

Your asking price

And as soon as this is provided, the payment will mail out via Usps Priority mail or Fedex to you and i will let you know when its mailed out. I need you to be honest with the sale as I am a God fearing person and also i want you to consider the item sold to me,kindly remove the advert from the site because am highly interested in it okay.

Awaiting details from you now.

Thanks God Bless

"Oh, a scam," I thought. "God talk and all kinds of miscapitalizations." Nigeria, maybe? I googled Ashley Anderson and craigslist scams. There "she" was. But, how do they do it?

I sent back, "Okay. Don't you want to test ride it first?"

August 9, 2013 1:13 AM

Hello I appreciate your quick response sorry for late respond and am happy you are selling to me. I got your details and have forward it to my secretary, payment has been issued out to you and sent to you via USPS POSTAL SERVICE, I will email you with the tracking number for confirmation as soon as am provided with it. I will also like to let you know that shipping company funds was included with your payment due to i might not be around once the payment arrive to you because am going to ALABAMA for my honeymoon Once the payment arrive you will go ahead and have the check cash then you deduct the money for your item with additional $100 for your Gas and running around then you have the rest of the money send to my shipper via money gram then i will contact shipper to get ready to come over for pick up immediately. LET ME KNOW IF I CAN trust you in this transaction. Note you are not responsible for shipping as soon as you have the check and have it cashed my shipper will be coming over for pick up Hope to hear back from you soon.

Thanks for your understanding

So, that's the trick. I am supposed to believe that the check is real and, in my greed, deposit it and send the money for shipping to . . . ah, who cares? Let's see what happens next!

The envelope came with a return address of Tiffanie Chappel, who, judging from the address and a quick Google Maps search, apparently lives in a Catholic Church in Miami. The check was drawn the City National Bank in Beverly Hills California, to the account of Harvard Westlake School in Studio City, California. All they know about the United States is New York and California, and somehow that is enough.

Except for the cheap paper, the check could have fooled me. But it was made out for $3,640, more than twice the amount in the ad. I was reminded of the check scheme in the film "Catch Me If You Can."

I imagined starting a web-based service for scammers. "Increase your rate of returns! Can you spot the five mistakes in this scam offer?" But how would I charge for it? PayPal maybe?

August 16, 1004 AM

Hello thanks for been keeping the item for me till today and sorry for getting back to you so late i got a confirmation from UPS that the payment had been delivered to you today Here is the tracking number for you to check the status of the delivery {9405501699320007134787} As i told you before that i might not be around when the check arrive due to am going to ALABAMA for my honeymoon Here is what you need to do. Just go straight to your bank and cashed the check instantly or you can deposit it into your bank account it will only take 24hrs for the check to be verify and the money will be available in your account and as soon as you have the cash go ahead and deduct your money for the item with additional $100 for your Gas and running around then have the rest of the money send to mover via Moneygram transfer so that shipper can be coming over for pick up immediately. Here is the shipper information to send the rest of the money to via Western Union. Or Moneygram transfer

Name: Jennifer HammondS

ADDRESS: 6274 wildflower circle

CITY: yuba city

STATE: ca

ZIP CODE: 95993

Shipper have ready to come to your location anytime from now he informed me that the only thing holding him up is the shipping funds. so immediately you have the money send to shipper i will require the following information on the Western Union receipt such as........

1: Sender's name and address used in sending the money

2: The MTCN number which is the 10 digits number on the western union receipt

3: Actual amount sent.after western union charging

4: date and time you want shipper to come over for pick up

Note. email me your map quest for shipper to locate to place with the best time you want the shipper to come over for the pick up today cos i do still have some other items at another location with shipper need to pick up for me that is why you need to send all the rest of the money to my shipper for shipper to proceed on is work immediately **Please note that you will be paying whatever the western union charges to send the money from the excess fund before sending the rest to shipper thanks for your understanding hope to hear back from you soon.

God bless

I am losing track now, and bored. Who is this other person now? This has to work some times, right, or why would they keep doing it?

August 17, 2013 9:21 AM

Hello how are you doing just wondering why you keep silent since the check had been delivered to you. My shipper have ready to come over for pick up, I will like you to get back to me with the Western Union details that you use to send the rest of the money to shipper for me to contact shipper to get ready for pick up immediately . I will also like you to email me your map quest for shipper to locate your place with the best date and time that you want shipper to come over for pick up Hope to hear back from you soon

Your Tracking Information

Status: DELIVERED

Last Scan: August 16, 2013 12:37 pm Delivered PORTLAND, OR 97232

Delivery Date: Friday, August 16, 2013

Delivery Time: 12:37 PM

Delivery Location: PORTLAND, OR 97232

Carrier: US Postal Service

US Postal Service Tracking Number: 9405501699320007134787

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scan History:

August 16, 2013 12:37 pm Delivered PORTLAND, OR 97232

August 16, 2013 8:33 am Out for Delivery PORTLAND, OR 97214

August 16, 2013 8:23 am Sorting Complete PORTLAND, OR 97214

"How long will they keep going with this? " I wonder. I send: "Please contact me as soon as possible at 503 267 3051 about this transaction. If I do not hear from you within 48 hours I will assume that this is a scam and report it."

August 17, 2013 9:47 PM

Hello Fred how did you want me to contact you? because i am a deaf what is going on? I can receive a text message on phone . Do you comfortable with that? Get back to me asap

"Wow," I think. "A deaf. Not good English, but otherwise not too bad."

August 19, 2013 8:54 AM

Hello just contact you to know what is going on?

August 20, 2013 2:49 PM

Hello it now seems to me that you are intend to run away with my money cos since the money had been delivered to you. and you keep silent till now i will like you to get back to me with the Money Gram details that you use to send the rest of the money to my shipper so that shipper can get ready for pick up if you refuse to do latest before 6hours i will need to get you reported to FBI remember i had all your information including your phone number i will forward it to call detector and they will know the best way to track you down.DON'T PLAY GAME WITH ME good day

"Not call detector! Now they're not even trying," I think. I write: "Please send your address and I will return your check."

That was the last I heard from Ashley.

[fredkingsblog]

A street artist named Essam Attia is in hot water with the NYPD.