Daily Dose of BS April 13 fear of the day

The fear of something new and unknown those are the things that scare me, today’s date Friday the 13th, or triskaidekaphobia Try saying that word 5 x fast.  Heck try saying it once, it is a mouthful.  I am not sure what causes the fear of the 13th, the fear of black cats crossing the road, or any other fears or phobias.  Again, not scary.  For me it is speaking in public, which I am working on and new technology at work.  I really do try to embrace the things that scare me.  I think that they help you grow.  Those that listen to my radio show or watch some of my Facebook videos know that I am not a fan of snakes, I have had them in my studio before and the thermometer in the studio jumped by over one degree when they were in the studio but I embraced and even held a couple of them.  What are some strategies that you have used to overcome fear? 

Daily Dose of BS April 12 gun tshirts

When it comes to free speech is it all free?  Matthew Schoenecker a high school freshman at Markesan High School about an hour and a half from Milwaukee was told to change his shirt, or spend the day in an isolated cube, not for what he said, but for what he wore.  You see Matthew names his school in a lawsuit because he is trying to exercise his right to defend his First Amendment right to support the Second Amendment.  His T-shirt spells out the word love with the letters in LOVE formed by a handgun, grenade, two knives and an assault rifle.  Is this shirt appropriate to be wearing at a High School?  

Daily Dose of BS April 11 Facebook

I am a Facebook user, I use Facebook many times throughout the day, when I first wake up I look at it, I spend time on it while I am at work, I look at it when I get home from work and while I am watching tv at night.  I am a Facebook junky.  I use much of what I read and look at on Facebook to gather opinions from others and use the news feeds for gathering some of the news going on around in my community from why are the cops screaming down Losey Boulevard to where is that smoke coming from to what happened to Joe?  I use my Facebook account to keep up to date and to keep informed.  Yesterday while perusing Facebook, I came across the story of a manager of a mall store that fed a 16-year-old girl marijuana and booze then sexually assaulted her in the back room of a store.  That made me sick, but it also opened up dialog between my kids and I last night.  I agree that we spend too much time on Facebook but some of the time we spend on it can be helpful.

Daily Dose of BS April 10 overdoses

With an average of about one every other week it is not very promising, the La Crosse County Health Department released the number of drug overdoses last year totaling at least 26 people.  There were 16 men and 10 women between the ages of 21 and 73 who died from drug overdoses.  Of those who died 17 had prescription painkillers in their systems 14 had fentanyl, 7 had heroin, 7 had methamphetamine and fifteen of them had a combination of drugs in their system.  Totaling 26 deaths in 2017 or an average of one every other week.  So sad.  La Crosse County Health Department is now working on a way to combat these overdoses with a goal of 6 policies of programs in place by end of August.   The county’s new overdose death review team will be studying these cases to see if there was missed opportunities for intervention, and work toward developing strategies to reduce drug deaths. I wonder if we are all to blame because of the glamorization of the drug culture with shows like Breaking Bad?  I watched the show and rooted for Walter White.  

Daily Dose of BS April 9 buses

I am guessing that high school students and high school athletes travel millions of miles every year with going on field trips to traveling for games with other schools.   Over the past few days there have  been a couple of accidents that have made the international news.  First the bus that was carrying a Canadian Jr’s Hockey team.   Early this morning there was an accident of a coach bus and an overpass in New York.  A bus carrying about 38 kids coming back from spring break hit an overpass.  There was a bus accident last week, thankfully with no fatalities.  Are buses safe?  Should seat belts be worn in school buses?  Would they be used if they did install them, would they cause more harm than good?  Should there be more safety persuasions when it comes to both charter buses and school buses?  

Daily Dose of BS April 6 cameras

I saw what you did.  Have you ever looked around to see if someone was watching when you did something from adjusting yourself to when you tripped over the sidewalk or on the carpet at work?  I know when I do something like that I always look around to see if someone is watching or if someone saw what I did.  Sometimes you get lucky and there was no one around, but that is not being the case in today’s society.  There are cameras everywhere, and I mean everywhere, I read that on an average day we are on someone’s camera at least 75 times a day in the US and over 300 times per day in London.  I am guessing that, that number is a bit lower in our neck of the woods, but there are still cameras watching your every move…and if the camera misses it I am guessing that someone saw, and is watching, someone knows your secret.  As a matter of fact, dude in the red car driving down Jackson Street early last night, right before the sun went down…I saw what you were doing, next time grab a Kleenex.

Daily Dose of BS April 5 hatched baby art

When I was walking the hallways before finally settling into my studio this morning I heard conversation coming from one of them talking about the ugly baby.  I am hard of hearing and don’t usually notice background talk but stopped for a moment to eavesdrop if you will for a moment, I heard the ugly baby is now in front of city hall and something about seeing it on tv last night then my hearing went to normal mode and couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation.  I am assuming that the conversation was about the “Hatched Baby” statue since yesterday it was reborn on the lawn of city hall.  The 9-foot-tall statue was placed in its temporary home yesterday and will eventually be returned to Friedberg, Germany one of our sister cities.  I for one will be going down to city hall later today to enjoy this piece of art.  

Daily Dose of BS April 4 youtube shooter

Money will make you do strange things, remember the movie Indecent Proposal when a guy was offered a million dollars to sleep with his wife, he took it and then regretted it.  A woman from San Diego, California went in and began shooting up the YouTube.com headquarters yesterday afternoon after YouTube changed the way that they pay for content.  Apparently, the new algorithms changed the way that this lady got paid the ads on her YouTube channel stopped showing and she didn’t like it because here payments were stopped and she went to shoot up the headquarters.   Are content creators – podcasters, writers, photographers, video creators etc. being taken advantage of by the websites that deliver their content?  Should all content creators be paid?  

Daily Dose of BS April 3 Kiwanis Radio Day

I think that it is important to be involved in your community, from getting out and voting today as it is election day to getting involved in a civic organization or a church.  One of the things my parents instilled in my brothers and I, was to give back either monetarily or with time. I chose to work in radio so I have more time than money. There are tons great organizations out there that are in need of your time, and your money. Find one and help when you can. Today is Kiwanis radio day so as you pop around to the different radio stations in the La Crosse Market you will hear lots of different unfamiliar voices, talking about the benefits of being in the Kiwanis. The best thing about being a part of a service group is that if you are active in the group you are pretty much guaranteed to make some good lifelong friends, I am still friends with some of the guys I was in Boy Scouts with and my best friends are people that I was in the Jaycees with. My suggestion to you is be active within our community and let us all work to make our great communities an even better place to live, just another reminder that today is election day.  

Daily Dose of BS April 2 Amazon vs Trump

I read a few articles about how President Trump thinks that Amazon is bleeding the Postal Service dry by being the delivery service for much of the online shopping that is done through Amazon.  You could tell who the stories favored by the way they slant on the story.  One would say that the deal that Amazon struck with the United States Postal Service was a great deal and the other would say that it is a poor deal and can’t be sustained.  I feel as though this is a spat between Jeff Bezos from Amazon and owner of the Washington Post and President Trump.  What are your thoughts?  

Daily Dose of BS March 30 Easter

This Sunday is Easter a day for Christians to celebrate that Jesus has risen.  I believe in God and I pray every day, I try to do the right thing, and try to model the right behavior for my children to follow.  This Sunday will be no different.  We will be celebrating as a family by enjoying my second favorite holiday meal, second only to the Thanksgiving feast.  We will spend part of the day playing games and looking for the hidden eggs, as the kids have gotten older the goodies in the eggs have gotten better for sure.  One of the things that the kids will have to think about when grabbing eggs is has dad put things that aren’t supposed to be in the Easter eggs, in the Easter eggs, Sunday is also April Fool’s day.  Last time that Easter and April Fool’s day were the same was way back in 1956.  Have you ever been a part of an elaborate Aprils Fools Prank?  I never have, I have thought of some diabolical ideas, but never followed through with them.  What are some of the best April fool’s jokes that you have heard of?

Daily Dose of BS March 29 advice to yourself

The other day on Facebook a friend of mine posted what advice would you give to your 18-year-old self, I thought about it for a minute and said I would tell my 18-year-old self to quit smoking now, eat better, drink less and you don’t need to be drunk to be the life of the party.  We all have words to live by, things that we want to pass on to our kids.  My Dad always used to say that a moment of laxity can cause an eternity of regret, when I was younger I didn’t know what that meant, I do now.  We all have those bits of advice that we have heard from mentors, what are some that you have heard?  Some of my favorites include - Give at least one genuine compliment every day.  Take responsibility for what you did.  Promise to do better next time, and mean it.  Help people without expecting things in return. And finally try to see the good in people, including yourself.  What are some of the words that you live by, or words of wisdom that you would share with your 18-year-old self?

Daily Dose of BS March 28 free range parenting

Kids should be able to walk outside, walk to school, and stay home alone right?  A new law in Utah now allows for free range parenting.  What?  Isn’t this the goal of every parent everywhere?  The bill redefines "neglect" in Utah law so that kids can participate in some unsupervised activities without their parents being charged.  The official definition of neglect is failing to care for properly, the state or fact of being uncared for.  My goal as a parent is to nurture my kids, help them to grow and help them to become productive members of society.  I feel as though I have done those goal by allowing my kids to first of all be kids and feel safe at home, secondly by giving them the chance to go out and explore, sometimes on their own and sometimes by being tethered to either my wife or me.  I most certainly wouldn’t let my 3 or 4-year-old play at the park alone but may have let my 5-year-old have a little freedom to walk ahead of me on way to park, depending on the child.  My twins walked half way home from school to meet me by about 2^nd grade and could go to the park to play at about the same time.  They were 9 ½ to 10 when they felt comfortable with being home alone when there was a quick run to the store.  Letting go is part of the parenting process and now in Utah letting your kids be kids is on the books.  Maryland kids under 14 may not be out unsupervised.  

Daily Dose of BS March 27 traditional media

Ever thought of the question Is traditional media dead?  I am talking about the good old forms of broadcast media?  I am talking radio and tv, AM and FM radio and good old broadcast TV.  I spend hours a day with good old school media, from the time I wake up to my clock radio, tuned in to Today’s Talk 1490 so I get my news right off the bat, to my time at work on the radio to my drives home listening to music and talk.  From the radio to the television while sitting on my comfortable oversized overstuffed chair getting my screen time catching my favorite tv shows.  I think that the delivery system of both radio and tv have changed but the premise has not.  I now stream more of tv than ever before and my radio station both streams and podcasts our shows.  Heck, we even have an app (get it here https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wlfnam.player ) We are changing and evolving but I don’t believe that we are dead, however, my station is the only “true” AM left in the market, the other two have gone to simulcast on FM.  I think we either need to keep up, reinvent or get out of the way.  How do you listen to the radio or watch tv?

Daily Dose of BS March 26 overdoing it

We are better than average again when it comes to drinking.  New study out shows that 1 in 4 Wisconsin residents are exceeding the national average of binge drinking by about 20 drinks per year, the average binge drinker in Wisconsin is having 490 drinks per year compared to the average binge drinker of 470.  The average number of drinks per week for the typical Wisconsin binge drinker is 9.43 drinks per week.  Or basically a lot of drinking.  Last year we had about 50 thousand drug overdoses right?  The average annual deaths caused by excessive alcohol use is about 88,000.  That is a lot more than the drug overdoses, yet we turn a blind eye to it since it is legal.  I think that we have an overconsumption problem in this country.  Food, Booze and Drugs.  

Daily Dose of BS March 23 sex

I am paraphrasing here but a buddy of mine posted on Facebook the other day who cares who the President slept with.  I would have to agree with that post.  I didn’t care or talk about it when it was Clinton and I am not going to speculate now that it is Trump.  If television tells me anything these days it is that sex is just that, sex.  According to a study the average amount of sexual partners that are acceptable in a survey of 2,000 adults are 7.6 different partners, any more you get the tag of promiscuous.  If you ask me, people are having sex are going to have sex and it isn’t anyone’s business except for the people involved.  I am not involved with the President on a personal level, and I really believe that neither are you, so why should it matter what he is doing?  I guess what I am asking, if you are not involved, in any way, does it really matter who is sleeping with who, President or not?  

Daily Dose of BS March 22 grateful

Ever just taken the time to think what you are grateful for in life?  I don’t think that I have ever really just stopped and thought about it, I mean really think about it.  I have to do a presentation on how being grateful helps to relieve stress, and was really thinking about the different way that it does, then it hit me the things that I am grateful for in life help me to not think of the extra things that are weighing me down on a regular basis.  Think about it, the things in your life that make you think, hey I have it pretty good are the stress relievers in your life.  For me when I am filled to the limit with the daily crap that gets me down I grab my phone and open the photo album, and scroll through the things that make me happy, the things that I am grateful for.  What are some ways that you have found to relieve stress in your life?  For me, it was talking through things, but now I think I am going to focus on the beauty around me and the things that I am grateful for.  

Daily Dose of BS March 21 stuff

I have a few things on my mind this morning.  First of all, I was thinking about how crazy things are here in the United States, we are not united at all.  We are tearing this country apart day by day.  What makes a kid bring a gun to school?  Why are we seeing so many of these types of crimes happening?  What pushes that kid to the edge?  Another shooting yesterday the third since the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.  The awareness is at an all-time high yet kids are still being pushed to the brink by bringing firearms to school.  The second thing I was thinking about was the bombings in Texas what causes someone to become a serial bomber?  And why would someone want to harm innocent people?  Why?  I was also randomly thinking about a new technology that allows homes to be printed for under $4,000 and this home will take less than 24 hours to print, and when finished the homes would be between 6 and 800 square feet.  I thought if I ever could afford one of those machines that I would donate one to help end homelessness.  

Daily Dose of BS March 20 parking

Much ado about nothing.  The city of La Crosse leaders were worried about the effect of the shorter alternate side parking and what kind of effect that it would have on the bottom line.  Guess what the shortened alternate side parking season brought in even more tickets, that’s right more people got tickets in the shortened alternate side parking in the city.  In 2018 we had 31 days less of the pain in the ass trying to remember what side we were supposed to be on.  This past season consisted of the 120 days of November 15^th and March 15^th.  In those 120 days 14,719 citations were written or about 123 per night.  Not bad city of La Crosse at a minimum of $147,190 for people parking on the area in front of their homes that they already pay taxes on.  I say minimum because the tickets start out at 10 bucks each and go up from there.  For those of us that remembered to park on the right side of the road kudos to you, for those of you that didn’t, better luck with the parking lottery next year.  

Daily Dose of BS March 19 competition

I read a scenario about how a guy was golfing with his boss and the boss was losing, and getting mad that he was being beat by his subordinate.  The question was do you let up on play to let your boss win?  If I was a competitive person I wouldn’t let me boss win in that situation.  And not being a competitive person I would play to the best of my ability and try to win but not win at any cost.  I have never been a person who cared if I won or lost unless I am playing cards, and if you have played with me you would say that I don’t care if I win playing cards either.  I end up winning about 60% of the time, so in my mind I am winning, right.  Back to the not playing as hard in order to let your boss win, I believe is a mistake as you were probably hired for your drive or your creativity, and taking a knee isn’t what any good leader would want.