My First Pregnancy

I loved everything about being pregnant! My first child was born in late March, 1975. It was a girl! I can't begin to describe the thrill I felt when we found out her mom was pregnant. It was huge!. Growing inside my wife was a little bit of me!

What guy wouldn't be thrilled by that? About a month or so before she was born her mom told me she had to have some watermelon! It was February. Where the hell am I going to find watermelon in February in 1975 in the middle of NoDamnWhere, Texas? I found it, and paid a pretty penny for it. Her mom devoured it like it was pickles and ice cream!

A week or so later she wanted coconut cream pie. It was 11:00 p.m. Never found a coconut cream pie but I did find a banana cream pie. It did the trick, sorta.

When her mom felt the first flutter I was jealous beyond your wildest imagination. She could feel the flutter but I could not. Can you imagine my excitement when I finally felt MY daughter's kick? It makes my heart rush even now just writing about it!

I loved having to help stuff a pillow under her mom's tummy so she could fall asleep. It is a small thing but it is also one of my fond memories of being pregnant!

Her mom developed a distinctive waddle as the pregnancy progressed. I smiled a lot at that waddle. It was terrific being pregnant.

We attended Lamaze classes. Many OB docs required the classes if the father was planning to be in the delivery room. I would not have missed that if I'd had to crawl over broken glass to get into that delivery room! I knew all about coaching and breathing!

When her mom went into labor we went to the special maternity hospital that the Army contracted with in Killeen, Tx. I watched the doc split the amniotic sac. Juice went everywhere. Later he came in to check the dilation. I had just eaten a chocolate bar and chased it with a warm Coke! Well...I jumped up and barfed at the site of the slime from that check! (Not terrific then but a fun memory now.)

I can't even express how wonderful it was to see MY daughter for the first time! I was in awe. I am still in awe of her! She has grown up to be a wonderful mom in her own right! We named her Andria. You know her as Ande!

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Mandatory Vaccinations

There is an angry debate going on about whether COVID-19 vaccinations should be mandatory. The justification for anything mandated by government should be based only on national security or a real national emergency. In the event of a disease, vaccinations, lock downs, stay home orders, and other intrusions by government into our lives should only be implemented if there is a real danger to the public. The black plague and the smallpox plague were two such pandemics. Smallpox is about 30% lethal. The plague is 70% to 90% fatal if left untreated and 30% fatal with treatment. If the world faced another pandemic of those proportions then extraordinary efforts, including government mandated vaccinations, lock downs, etc. would be justified!

MERS-COVID (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, also a coronavirus) is 35% fatal (65% recovery rate) but it is not very contagious. Only 858 deaths worldwide resulted from the 2012 infection. Most were in Saudi Arabia. MERS is a zoonotic coronavirus that infects dromedaries (one hump camels, for those in Rio Linda).

SARS-COVID (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, also a coronavirus) has a fatality rate of 9.7% (90.3 recovery) but is not highly contagious. The 2003 outbreak resulted in 774 deaths worldwide. SARS is a zoonotic coronavirus that infects bats and Asian Civets.

The difference with COVID-19 is that it is highly contagious. When it first appeared it was feared to have a fatality rate similar to SARS or maybe even MERS. If COVID-19 had been highly fatal there would be death similar to the black plague deaths of the 14th century. That plague killed 40% of Europe! No one knew just how well the Chinese lab at Wuhan had engineered the virus as a killing device.

So, conclusions based on facts.....There was great justification to pull out all the stops on COVID-19. However, after it became apparent that the fatality rate was only .5% (99.5% recovery rate) the panic should have been throttled back. If COVID-19 had been as fatal as MERS or even SARS and as contagious as it actually is then mandatory vaccination would have been well justified. We do not need and certainly do not want hundreds of millions or even a billion or more dead worldwide.

The problem is that COVID-19 became a political bludgeon instead of a disease. So, mandatory vaccines are not a crime, if mankind is facing a highly contagious disease with a high mortality rate. It becomes criminal when the politicians use it to control the people when such management is not truly justified.

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The Andria Johnson Home Made Bread Company

We were stationed in Germany when Andria was seven years old.  She came to me and asked for $16 to buy some roller skates. I said ok but suggested she should find some way to earn the $16. She said, "But dad, I sold all my old toys at the last yard sale." We talked about it for a while and decided to start a business. We called it "The Andria Johnson Home Made Bread Company."  (I make great bread!) 

She was the owner and I was the employee. I was also the bank! Andria applied to the bank for a start up loan sufficient to cover ingredients and four loaf pans. (That was all the baker could fit into that tiny oven!) Andria was also the sales and delivery person. 

The "banker" explained to Andria how interest on loans worked, that banks make a profit based on the interest rate charged. She applied for a $20 loan with $1 finance charge for a repayment of $21. Her venture loan application was approved.  She also had to pay her baker 25 cents per loaf to work for the company. We went to the store and purchased ingredients and loaf pans out of the $20 loan money. She kept a detailed ledger of her expenditures. 

We lived in a military housing community called Cardwell, just off LamboystraSSe in Hanau. She went out and knocked on every door in Cardwell. She came back with orders for thirty two loaves at $1.50 for white and $2 for cinnamon. Most orders were cinnamon. (A LOT more work for the baker!) 

When I went to work the next day the first sergeant called me at my shop and asked me to report to his office.  I thought "Oh crap!! What have I done to piss off Top?!" He was laughing and said that he had ordered two loaves of bread from my daughter and he just wondered if it was for real. I told him about the skates. 

On Saturday morning I started baking bread about 6:00 a.m. and finished up late Saturday night. I had two batches going on first and second rise all day. I took the first loaves out of the oven and started to put dough in the pans for the next round. Andria stopped me and said "Dad!!! Wash the pans!"  I explained that the pans were washed before I started and that they were still clean, even though I had just taken the first batch out. Still she insisted. I said, "I am the baker! I know how to bake bread!" She said, "Well I own the company! That makes me the boss!" I washed my bread pans after each batch! Sheesh. That boss lady was mean!

The next morning I accompanied her to deliver the loaves and collect her money. Everyone paid. She paid off her loan ($21), paid the baker ($8), bought her skates ($16) and still had a pretty nice pile of cash left over! 

I must admit...It was fun. But she was a hard boss!

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More on Computer Security

More on Computer Security

(NOTE: I wrote this in 2009.) 

Computer guy here!

A few months ago I wrote a blog post about computer security, social networking and document sharing sites. Another topic has come up so here is my treatise! This refers specifically to Boxbe but it should be understood that it also includes other similar sites!

Boxbe and other email inbox manager sites claim to be able to stop “spam” and other unwanted emails, especially advertising. They are not benevolent good guys! They couldn’t care less about your inbox! By subscribing to Boxbe you authorize them to “harvest” your contacts. They use your contacts list as authorization to clear emails to your inbox. Sounds good! However, they then pester your contact list to sign up with Boxbe. What’s the point?

If you go to Boxbe’s web site, the first thing you notice is that the "service" is free but there is no advertising! It costs money, big money, to run a nationwide or worldwide site. Servers, staff, bandwidth, etc. all cost money! So, either Boxbe is run by a benevolent gazillionaire or there is more to the story.

The following is excerpted from the Boxbe “Terms of Use” and “Privacy Policy” pages.

By agreeing to our Terms of Service during registration, you agree to receive messages such as newsletters, notices about changes or improvements to Boxbe's services or other Boxbe information. You can opt out of these emails from your Account Info page. Boxbe will not sell, rent or share your personally identifiable information about you to others except to provide the services you've requested or when we have your permission, or

• We provide information to trusted partners who work with Boxbe under confidentiality agreements.
• We respond to subpoenas, court orders or to establish or exercise our legal rights to defend against legal claims.
• We believe it is necessary to share information to investigate or take action regarding illegal activities or suspected fraud to other Boxbe or email users, or to violations of Boxbe's Terms of Service, or as required by law.
• We transfer information about you if Boxbe is acquired by or merged with another company.

There are some important points here that most people never even read and certainly don’t understand, unless they are a geek!

First, you may not realize you have given the site permission to share your information. You have to watch those check boxes like a duck on a junebug! Miss just one check box and you give permission!

Second, they state in bullet #1 that they share your information with their partners. I was not able to find out who those partners might be but a look into Boxbe’s history may shed some light on the subject. Boxbe started as an “Email clearance for a fee service.” Email advertisers were asked to pay a fee to Boxbe to have their email passed to your inbox. The theory was that Boxbe would share the fee with the inbox owner. Didn’t work! Advertisers didn’t fall for it! However, since they state that they share with their “PARTNERS” there is every reason to believe that someone is purchasing access to Boxbe’s database!

Third, the real kicker is the last bullet! You see this statement or one of its spin-offs on a lot of sites. Basically it says that if they sell the company all bets are off!  If Boxbe is acquired or merged, Boxbe will notify you and provide an option to opt out before information about you is transferred or becomes subject to a different privacy policy. However you must respond quickly!

Selling email address lists is quite profitable. In years past, mailing lists were sold on peel off labels. Now email address are sold in databases. You can get lists of doctors by locale, specialty, medical school, or a dozen other criteria. You can order list of democrats, republicans, avid fishermen, book publishers, architects, one legged volley ball players, or just about any other identifiable group!

So, a company builds a database with zillions of addresses by harvesting your contacts list and many of your contact’s contacts lists. They use those names according to their terms. Finally, when the list is big enough, they sell the company (probably to a spammer!) and move to the islands or start another company and do it all again!

When you consider signing up for something you must ask, “How do they make their money!” 

One further note on a different but related topic. You may receive an email from some company you don’t recognize. They may be selling Viagra, luxury yachts, time shares, fake Rolex watches, or any other products. In that email is an unsubscribe link that says if you click the link you will stop receiving these junk emails! If you click on the link, you will stop receiving the junk email but what you have actually done is VERIFY the email address! Verified email addresses sell at a premium price! The sender is not selling erections, Rolex watches or time shares! They are selling email addresses! You will multiply your junk mail many times over because you have verified the email address!

UPDATE!!! In 2012, eDataSource, Inc. purchased the assets of Boxbe, Inc.  Read that last bullet point above!

I hope this helps! Kinda lengthy but hey it is free!!

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