Bob's Point Of Skew

The past few weeks the financial state of America and the world has been turned on it's ear. Our current president has all of a sudden decided that America's financial future is at stake. I wonder what it was that finally convinced our president that immediate action needed to be taken.

For months we have been hearing that the U.S. was teetering on the verge of a recession. Well, I've got some news for the media and the government, the recession has been going on for quite some time now. Just because they won't admit that we are in a recession doesn't mean that it isn't actually happening.

The CPI, the consumer price index, is the measure of inflation. It is the average price of goods and services consumed by households. Years ago the CPI included the price of fuel in the equation. Throughout the years the government has changed the way that the CPI is calculated. Things such as Social Security, entitlements, and wages were adjusted according to the CPI and the rate of inflation. By changing the way the CPI was calculated, they reduced the amount that people received from "cost of living adjustments." They began to remove added costs of fuel for the delivery of products from the equation. This is only one of the things that they did, but it certainly makes a big difference, especially in today's environment. It effectively makes inflation look much lower than it really is. This means wages are kept artificially lower, entitlements are lower, and Social Security payments are lower. The effect is that the poor are getting poorer, and not keeping up with inflation. This includes much of the middle class as well. I can assure you that these events didn't all occur under the present administration.

A part of the current housing crisis can be traced back to the Clinton administration.
* http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/30231949.html
"Legislation was passed that encouraged Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to lend to those who could not afford the loans. The loan requirements were reduced, and income requirements were made less strict...
Then they really got creative to get people to qualify. The greatest invention, adjustable-rate mortgages, allowed people who could not afford a home loan to get one on a prayer and a hope that in five years they would be making more money and could afford the higher interest rates.
Finally, the icing on the cake, loans where you only had to pay the interest for the first five years. All of this was done under the concept of social engineering, nothing more than socialized housing... Unfortunately, it is us, the taxpayers, who will have to put up the cost for all those above who played ignorant for so long."

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/clinton-rejects-blame-for-financial-crisis-2008-09-25.html
"Clinton, however, said that Democrats were'nt entirely blameless, stating that they should have highlighted problems with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and “tried more aggressively to regulate derivatives.”
He also acknowledged that there was possible danger in his administration’s policy of pressing Fannie Mae, the mortgage company, to lower its credit standards for lower- and middle-income families seeking homes."


Over the past 5 years the cost of a barrel of oil has increased from $30 to over $130. This is a whopping 433% increase. Any reasonable person can guess the effect that this has had on groceries, utilities, and all products in general. The normal working class person is struggling to afford just getting to work, much less putting groceries on the table, keeping a roof over their head, and keeping their home warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Imagine the plight of people out of work, or people on a fixed income.

It just seems to me that the government didn't care what was happening to the average American. The FDIC insures the money that we have in the bank up to $100,000. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have never had anywhere close to that much money in the bank. There are a percentage of the people that do have that kind of money. Once they reach that limit, they have to find other places to put their money, such as stocks. It wasn't until the rich and the super rich started having financial problems and losing money, that the government decided that we had a problem. Now it's crucial to fix things.

I just hope that with $800 billion or more floating around, that some of it comes my way. I can assure you that I won't be holding my breath.

You have all heard the old saying, ask a simple question, get a simple answer. I have found that this is not always the case. I was going to write a piece for my blog concerning the outcome of the recent elections. You know something to the effect of, okay now the elections are done, the Democrats are in control of the Congress, when do things start getting better?

I was going to talk about who are things getting better for. There are 300 million people in the U.S., and everyone has there own agenda, or “point of view.” The population is made up of Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, American Indians, Asian Indians, Orientals, Arabs, Eskimos, both male and female. Please forgive me if I left out some of the races. Then we have to consider the different religious viewpoints, such as Agnostic, Atheist, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Satanic, and Hindu, each of which has different sects within themselves. Then we have to consider the different economic strata of each of the above. Are they poor, lower income, lower middle class, middle class, upper middle class, rich, or super rich? Are they living on the streets, in a shelter, in subsidized housing, in a trailer park, in a home of their own, in the city, in the suburbs, in a rural area, in a gated community, or in the neighborhoods of the rich and famous? Are they unemployed, self employed, under employed, over employed, or an employer? Are they working at a fast food restaurant for minimum wage, in manufacturing, in a service industry, in the military, lower management, upper management, or are they a CEO. I could probably go on and on, but I think that you get the point by now.

How you view America, the world, the universe, life, death, laws, taxes, whether things are getting better or worse, and whether we should “stay the course,” or “cut and run” is totally dependent on your point of view. What’s good for you, may not be good for me, and vice versa.

Our system in America, is built on the proposition that the majority rules. I took the time to try to find out what kind of voter turnout is normal at election time. Depending on where you go to get this information, in other words from varying points of view, for the past 30 years, eligible voter turnout is approximately 55.3 percent in presidential elections, and 39.4 percent in midterm elections. Please note that I used the term eligible voter. In the same past 30 years, the total of “ineligible” voting age persons, namely non citizens, and convicted felons, has increased from 2 percent to 10 percent of the voting age population. The average citizenship rate for those of voting age is 92.4 percent.

Let’s take 300 million people living in America, and remove the 10 percent that are ineligible voting age persons. That leaves 270 million people. Let’s also try to keep in mind that there are more blacks and Hispanics denied the voting privilege due to a disproportionate number of them convicted of felonies. Now let’s remove the 73.5 million children below voting age, and that leaves approximately 196.5 million eligible voting age people in America. In a presidential election year that would mean that about 108.7 million people vote. That number drops to 77.4 million people voting in a midterm election. Now let’s use 51 percent as a majority vote. That means that it takes 55.4 million votes in a presidential election, and only 39.5 million votes in a midterm election to be the majority. That means that 18.5 percent of the people of the U.S. is the majority in a presidential election, and 13.2 percent make a majority in a midterm election. From my point of skew, that is hardly a majority. Are the Democrats really in control? Were the Republicans really in control? Who is really in control, or whether things are totally out of control all depends on your point of view.

Here is an email that I received recently that is an excellent followup to my last post.



While walking down the street one day, a U.S. senator is tragically struck down by a truck and dies.

His soul arrives at the entrance to heaven, and he is met by St. Peter.

"Welcome to heaven," say St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems that there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, so we are not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," says the man.

"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell, and one day in heaven. Then you can chose where to spend eternity."

"Really, I've made up my mind, I want to be in heaven," says the senator.

"I'm sorry, but we have our rules."

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator, and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all of his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, and shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar, and champagne.

Also present is the devil, who is really a very friendly guy, who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.

The elevator goes up, up, up, and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.

"Now it's time to visit heaven."

So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time, and before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

"Well then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven, now chose your eternity."

The senator reflects for a minute, and then he answers, "Well, I would have never said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think that I would be better off in hell."

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of the elevator opens and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all of his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash, and putting it in black bags, as more trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder.

"I don't understand," stammers the senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course, and a clubhouse, and we had lobster, caviar, champagne, and danced, and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"

The devil looks at him, smiles, and says, "Yesterday, we were campaigning, today you voted."

The current midterm elections are almost upon us. I'm disgusted with the way that things are going. It is business as usual. The politicians are making a lot of noise, but I don't really hear what they are saying. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with my hearing. The trouble is that I don't hear them talking about anything that I'm interested in hearing.

I hear both sides talking about we must control immigration. I hear both sides talking about controlling crime. I hear both sides talking about terrorism, and the war in Iraq. I hear both sides talking about "family values." What I am not hearing is the plan that either side has, or exactly how they plan to implement their solution.

I hear one side saying that their opponent is just a rich businessman looking to fill his pockets at the taxpayers expense. I hear the other side saying that their opponent says one thing and then does another. It is the usual mudslinging.

The main problem that I have is that I don't care for either candidate. In the primary elections, on the one side the candidate ran practically unopposed. On the other side of the aisle the winner was the one who was the lesser of many evils. Former president Clinton made a campaign appearance to endorse the Democratic candidate, and Bush made a campaign appearance to endorse the Republican candidate. I'm not impressed with either endorsement.

I would like to see an open debate of the issues. One of the candidates will not return any email to me, as I have emailed him before with an opposing viewpoint. I am obviously on his ignore list. The other candidate has claimed in an email to me that there will be three debates held statewide in October. One of these will be televised on October 28. In the meantime that same candidate has refused to debate the issues on "Meet The Press." If this candidate really was concerned about getting his message out, and talking about the issues, then I would think that national TV would be a better forum than some local forum. I will be watching closely for any or all of the above.

You can be assured that I will vote in the election. I firmly believe in the old saying, "If you don't vote you can't complain." Even though I don't like either candidate at this point in time, I will vote for the lesser of two evils. I will vote for the candidate that comes closest to representing my views. I would hope that we all do the same. There are too many people that just sit back, and complain and never go vote. They think that their vote won't really make a difference. The majority doesn't rule in a society like that. The majority that actually votes rules. Do you really want someone like me casting the deciding vote in an election that effects you? I should hope not. After all the last two presidential elections have been so close that maybe you could have cast the deciding vote. Think about it. Either vote, or quit complaining.

One thing that has been getting under my skin lately are the labels that people use to define each other.

I have recently been looking for a new job. I have been in electronics manufacturing for the past 26 years. I would think that with all of the experience that I have that I wouldn't have a problem finding a job. Most of the jobs that I see advertised want 3 to 5 years experience. I have 26 years experience so I would think that I would be more qualified. I would think that I would be a more attractive new hire. It doesn't work that way.

I have been doing TV repair all of these years. Just because I repair TVs doesn't mean that I am incapable of repairing anything else. Electricity acts the same whether it is found inside a TV, a telephone, an alarm system, a copier, or a printer. Am I "typecast" as a TV repairman? The fact that I have 26 years experience gives away the fact that I am not young. Am I actually experiencing age discrimination?

Some people have the perception that because I'm older that I won't be receptive to learning new things or technologies. Over the past 26 years the TV has experienced as many if not more changes than probably anything else in your home. I have gone from a TV that had an off/on/volume control switch, and a tuner that you actually had to get up to change channels, to TVs with all kinds of whistles and bells. We now have Plasmas, LCDs, CRTs, DLPs, that are high defintion, cable ready, remote controlled, with closed caption decoder, picture in a picture, DVI, computer, S-video, Component, Standard video inputs, that also have stereo and surround sound with analog and digital optical outputs. I am quite used to change, and learning new technology.

Politically I consider myself to be an independent. I am not hung up on one political party over another just because my Dad, or friends are of a particular party. I don't try to fit into anyone's mold. I don't always vote what is best for my pocket. I don't necessarily vote for the best looking, or most personable candidate. I have a tendency to vote according to the issues that mean the most to me. I tend to vote for a candidate that actually seems to fulfill the promises that they make. I tend to vote for a candidate that seems to represent their constituency. I tend to vote for a politician that is more interested in the welfare of our country than one who is more interested in advancing their political career, or just being re-elected.

If I tell you that I am pro-life because I am against the killing of innocent children that never hurt anyone and might be the person that finds a cure for cancer, or might even be against my religious beliefs, I am considered a conservative. If I tell you that I am for equal opportunity regardless of race, creed, religion, age, sex, disability, or national origin then I am considered a liberal.

If I say that I am a born again Christian, don't assume that Jerry Falwell, or Pat Robertson speaks for me. I believe that there is nothing wrong with having the Ten Commandments publicly displayed. If other religions would like to have their values displayed then let's do it. I think there is more diversity in showing all values than showing no values. Only with all values displayed can people make a choice as to which values are good and true. I don't care if you call it karma, or whatever label you want to put on it, truth, justice, love, and mercy should be universally promoted. Heal the sick, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, help the helpless, I don't care if you do it in the name of Jehovah, Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, Allah, Brahma, Ra, Elegua, Quetzalcoatl, Morrigan, Zeus, Benten, Nokomis, or Odin, let's do it and let God sort us all out if and when the proper time comes.

If I say that I'm white, don't assume that I am holding any minorities back. I have enough trouble making ends meet for myself. I don't have the time to spend being a part of a conspiracy to hold anyone else back.

If I say that I'm a man, don't assume that I am holding any women back. I personally love women. If there are any career women out there that need a good supportive, cooking, cleaning type of guy, here I am. I don't hunt, I don't fish, I don't care who controls the TV remote. I don't know who won the last Super Bowl.

If I say that I'm heterosexual, don't assume that I hate you because of your sexual preference. What you do in the privacy of your own home is no concern of mine. We are all adults with free will. As long as you have a willing partner, do as you wish.

If I say that I have smoked marijuana, don't assume that I'm a drug addict. If I say that I had long hair in the 60s don't assume that I was a draft dodger, burned a flag, loved Jane Fonda, or spit on returning Vietnam veterans. If I say that I have been arrested, don't assume that I am a career criminal. If I say that I read the Bible, and go to church, don't assume that I think that I'm a saint, or that you're a sinner, or I'm going to heaven, and you're going to hell.

Our world is not a world of black and white. There are too many shades of gray. It is generalizations that cause people to feel alienated from themselves and from others. Let's not judge each other by the things that we see on the surface. If everyone was to judge themselves instead of everyone around them, then this would be a much better world.

I wonder what it would be like to win the Powerball jackpot. Can you imagine? One day you're just a normal working slob, and the next day you are financially set for life.


I'm not talking about winning when the Jackpot is "only" 10 or 20 million. I'm talking about when it really gets up there into the ozone. Such as last week when the Jackpot was $365 million.


As a rule, I don't play the Powerball until the jackpot is over $200 million. The reason that I don't is that just like at a casino the odds are against you. The odds of winning the jackpot according to the Powerball website is 1 in 146 million at any given time. I have looked up the odds of other things happening to you. You are more likely to drown in the bathtub, be killed by lightning, or have a part of an airplane fall from the sky on your head than to win the Powerball. You are more likely to date a super model, be elected President, or become a saint.


The "estimated jackpot" that they state is usually twice the actual cash payout They say that the money invested over the 30 year payout, would total what they advertise as the "estimated" jackpot. Then you would have to pay Uncle Sam his share, and if your state has an income tax, I'm sure that they would get their cut. From what I understand, out of the $365 million that was won last week, the winners only received around $124 million, approximately 34%. I agree this is still a hefty sum. I know that I could squeeze by the next 30 years on that kind of cash.


The trouble comes with what happens after you win. I'm guessing that some of the things that you would do are hire a lawyer, an accountant, and a genealogist. Yes, that's right a genealogist. I'm guessing that you would suddenly have all kinds of family that you never knew you had before. People would be coming out of the woodwork to try to float a loan, or receive a grant from you.


Don't get me wrong, I would naturally donate to my actual blood kin. I'm talking about the people that have always been there for me in my life. I would want the people that I love to share the wealth. I'm not talking about some cousin that I might have gone to elementary school with that I haven't seen in years.


Can you imagine the sales people that would be inundating you? Let me sell you a house, let me sell you a car, let me sell you a timeshare in Hawaii, let me handle your investments. They would be at your door, calling, emailing, staking out your house to catch you walking out for the morning paper, just so they could try to get a piece of the action.


I'm sure that it would be mind boggling to deal with that kind of money in a reasonable way. I have trouble trying to decide the best use for my income tax refund of a couple of hundred dollars. What would I do if I suddenly had millions at my disposal.


I guess in conclusion, that I shouldn't waste my time thinking about it. I suppose that my time would be better spent worrying about drowning in the bathtub, or being struck by lightning. If I can avoid these things then maybe I will live long enough to have another chance to win the big bucks.

Valentine's Day has rolled around again. A day when Cupid is almost as busy as Santa is at Christmas. This is meant to be a day when you make known the love you have for your sweetheart. A day when love should literally be everywhere.



Here is a tragic fact for you. In the U.S., 64% of men don't make plans in advance for a romantic Valentine's Day with their sweethearts. I'm sure that this comes as no surprise to the women out there. Being a man, I must admit that I was a bit surprised that the percentage is so high. I have to say that I don't know why. Women have half of all the money, and all of the....well you know what I'm trying to say.



To the guys who don't make plans, I have the perfect plan for you. Plan to sleep on the couch for a week or two. Plan to work late so that maybe she will be asleep when you arrive home, so that you won't have to listen to what the other women's sweethearts did for them on Valentine's Day. Plan to have your mother-in-law come live with you for a month or two. That is exactly what you are asking for, if you don't fulfill you obligation to your significant other. If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.



I don't know if anyone else had the "After Christmas Anxiety Syndrome" that I had as a child. That is what I call it when the Christmas holidays are over, and you return to school. That is when everyone starts comparing what they got for Christmas. Some of the kids got great stuff. I would have to explain why I got a bunch of stuff that I needed instead of what I wanted. I remember that it always made me feel really bad about myself, and my life.



I'm certain that the same thing happens with women out there. Some women get diamond earrings. Some get a limo ride, a massage at the day spa, followed by a romantic dinner. They stand around and tell each other how much their man loves them. How can your woman stand there and listen to that sort of thing, and you didn't even get her a card. The humiliation has to be almost unbearable. I don't think that it is themselves that they are contemplating putting a bullet in.



I know there are lots of excuses. "I'm still trying to pay for Christmas." "The income tax refund hasn't arrived yet." In a woman's mind there is no excuse. I'm telling you that you can't wait until Feb. 14, and then try to rush out and buy something at the last minute. Did you know that 15% of U.S. women send themselves flowers on Valentine's Day to avoid having to make excuses for their man? You need to have your present in hand, at the crack of dawn on Valentine's morning, or else you are late. You need to be prepared ahead of time. That shows that you are thinking of them. It can't be an, "Oh, damn, is it Valentine's Day already?" type of thing. You didn't let the Super Bowl slip up on you.



It is only one day per year. It always falls on February 14. They start putting the Valentine stuff on the shelves right after New Year's just to remind you. Come on guys, let's try to get our numbers up for next year. Who knows you might even like the end result.

Well, Groundhog's day has come around again. I believe that this year the Groundhog saw his shadow, which means 6 more weeks of winter.

What I want to know is, who decided that the groundhog was such a reliable predictor of the weather? Was it the National Weather Service?

I watch the news in the mornings, before I go to work, mainly just for the weather and traffic. It seems to me that the weatherman just isn't that perfect at predicting the weather. I mean they can tell you what happened yesterday, or what is happening right now with the weather, but predicting what will happen in the future is where they drop the ball. I think that I would do just as well to consult a ouija board. I think that I can stick my nose out the door and give you a pretty good guess of what the day will be like myself.

The person who does the weather is usually "certified" by the National Weather Service, or the American Meteorological Society. They have Doppler Radar, satellite imagery, reports from weather stations all across the US upon which to base their predictions. Yet still there is a good chance that they will get it wrong. The wind may change direction, or the Jet Stream suddenly shifts a little to the north, and all their computer models go right out the window.

So how did the National Weather Service come up with the Groundhog as the prognosticator of an early spring. I did a search, and according to what I found, 94% of the time the Groundhog sees his shadow. Only 14 times in the past 117 years has the Groundhog predicted an early spring. It would seem to me that we would do just as well to just consult the calendar. If it isn't March 20th, then winter isn't over.

Please don't think that I am trying to put the Groundhog out of a job. I would hate to have PETA on my back. I just think that the National Weather Service could find a more scientific way to predict spring, such as checking the calendar.

Okay, as you may or may not know, I am a TV repairman. I would like to take this opportunity to ramble and rant about the state of TV today and in the near future.

I have been repairing TVs for twenty five years now. My, how the TV has changed over the years. There was an On/Off switch that doubled as a volume control, there was a Channel selector knob for changing channels. Things were pretty simple. The biggest problems that you had were deciding which channel to watch, and who was going to get up off their duff and actually change the channel.

TV had been around a long time before I started repairing them. I was born in the early 50s and back in those days, in Memphis, there were only 4 channels on the air. The broadcast day began at maybe 6 in the morning and all channels went off the air by midnight. They might stay on a little later on Saturday night. There was a picture, and sound, that was it.

In the mid 60s color TV made the scene. Wow, there was definitely a big difference between the old black and white set, and "living color." After color came on the scene TV sort of settled into a lull for a few years. The only changes that came along were changes in TV programs. When you went to buy a TV the hardest choices that you had to make were what size, and whether it was a table top, or a console TV. For those too young to remember, a console TV was a piece of furniture. It had a wooden cabinet, and the high end ones had a built in radio, phonograph, or maybe an eight track tape player.

I began to repair TVs in 1980. Cable television was just beginning to get a foothold in the city. Cable TV signals are broadcast slightly differently than "off the air" TV. The big thing was to get a "cable ready" TV so that you didn't need a converter box on top of your TV. Remote control TVs were just becoming cheap enough for the average person to own.

Since that time I have seen all kinds of whistles and bells added to the TV. First there was stereo sound, then there was federally mandated closed caption, then picture in a picture. The size of TVs began to grow also. Previously 25" was the top. Eventually they grew to 27", 30", 31". 32",35", and 36". That was just the size of the picture tube. Let's not leave out the projector TVs going up to 60".

Okay, enough said about the "good old days." We have gone from maybe 4 channels for 18 hours a day, to 200+ channels 24/7/365. Now they are really changing the landscape of television. These days too much just isn't enough, we have got to have better and more of everything.

First of all, whether you know it or not, the signal being broadcast is about to change formats. All TV signals in the past have been analog, and there has slowly been a transition to digital signals. Originally by May of 2002 all TV stations should have been broadcasting digital TV, as mandated by the FCC. At that time, only 23% of the stations were in compliance, but soon the changeover will be complete. Your old analog TV will not be able to recognize or decode the digital signal. You will have only snow. You still have reception now because stations are simulcasting analog and digital signals. When the changeover is complete, you will need a converter box to convert the digital signal to an analog signal for your analog set.

TV manufacturers have been slowly converting TVs to digital also. Any TV made today that is 27" or larger must by federal law have both an analog, and a digital tuner. The deadline for all newly manufactured TVs to have a digital tuner is July of this year. They have both types of tuner because the deadline for the end of analog isn't until Feb. 2009. Anyone buying a TV today should make sure that it has a digital tuner so when the switch is finally made, they won't need to buy a converter for their set. When the end of analog arrives, your analog tuner will be useless without the converter, sometimes called a set-top box.

Okay, that covers just the change in TV signal. The signal has been changed so that you can have "High Definition" TV. Do you really know what is meant by "High Definition?" Let me try to explain. The normal TV has always had basically 480 lines of resolution. High definition can have as few as 720 lines up to 1080 lines of resolution. The more lines of resolution, the more detail that you can see. It's like with a digital camera, or your computer monitor, the more pixels, the better. This is partly the reason for the change to digital signal. At the frequency that the channel is broadcast there is only so much information that can be crammed into the signal. Digital signals can have more information in a smaller space than analog signals. In the space that you can put one analog Standard Definition channel, you can put 4 digital Standard Definition channels.

Now it's time to talk about vertical scanning. The old analog scans your TV from top to bottom 60 times per second. The normal TV that we are used to, scans in what is called "interlace." That means that it scans all the odd numbered lines the first 1/60th of a second, and the even numbered lines the second 1/60th of a second and so on so that you actually see 30 frames per second. This is just fast enough that your eye doesn't really see it. Newer TVs by the name of "Enhanced Definition", do a "progressive scan", which means that it scans all 480 lines each 1/60th of a second, which also means 60 frames per second instead of the old 30 frames per second. This creates a smoother picture from top to bottom, which your eye can see the visible difference regardless of how small that difference may be.

Now we get to how many pixels actually make up the entire screen. Your screen is made up of thousands of small dots of red, green, and blue. Take a magnifying glass and look closely at your monitor. Each red, green, and blue dot is called a "sub-pixel", the group of the three of them together makes what is called a pixel, which is short for picture element. The more pixels on your screen, the higher the detail, or resolution. This is really not a problem with you basic picture tube, but comes into play if you are talking about an LCD, or Plasma TV. Not all LCDs, and Plasmas have 1080 pixels from top to bottom. How many pixels they have is what is called "native resolution." If you are receiving a 1080 signal, but only have 720 pixels on your display device, the TV will downsize the signal to fit your display. In the process some of the picture information is thrown out. If you have a 720 signal, but have 1080 pixels, then the TV will up-size the signal to fit your display. In the process the TV basically fills in the blanks with what it thinks should be there.

Okay, I have rambled long enough. There are many details that I haven't even touched on. The basic point that I am trying to get across is how much detail do I need in a TV. Do I really need to be able to see the hair growing out of the mole on some actor's face? Do I really need to see how much makeup it takes to cover the acne on some young super model's face? How much am I willing to pay to see these things? Do I really need to impress my friends with the biggest, flattest, highest definition TV that money can buy?

I'm not as young as I used to be. Maybe I don't see as well as I used to see. Maybe I don't hear as well as I used to hear. I didn't even go into the Dolby 5.1 surround sound. Do I really need to be able to hear Brad Pitt try to silently squeeze out a silent but deadly one while whispering sweet nothings into Angelina Jolie's ear? I don't think so. What's next? Can I please get the latest, fastest chip inserted into my brain that will pick the signals straight out of the air and down-convert them to my brain without the hassle of using my eyes or ears. When it gets to that point, I guess that there will be no need for a TV repairman. Maybe I can reach retirement age before that happens, but at the rate things are going, maybe not.

Definition of Love
As I have commented before, I am divorced for a little over six years. It wasn't an ugly divorce. It was just a mutual parting of the ways. I am also not the type to dwell on the past. Forgive, forget, and move on seems to be my normal modus operandi.

I realize that I am unknown to most all of anyone that would read this. Let me just say that I am a simple man. I don't have great desires for material possessions. On the occasion of Christmas, or a birthday, my family or friends will ask me what I want as a gift. I will almost invariably tell them that all that I want is peace and love. This comes partly from being a child of the 60s, and partly from having been referee to the three children that I helped raise. I want peace, meaning that I want everyone to get along. I don't want to be surrounded by conflict and bickering. I want love meaning that I want us all to respect each other, and care for the other persons feelings. I want us all to help each other, and lift each other up when the going gets rough.

As I said, I now live alone. I have friends and family that I can talk to on the phone, or email, but there is something to be said for having a full time, live in companion. Needless to say, I am looking for that companionship in the form of a person of the opposite sex. This is only natural. I have a desire for this, but it is not absolutely essential to me.

This brings me to the point of this posting. How does a normal single man meet and get to know a normal single woman without hanging out in the bars. I don't feel right going to church for the purpose of meeting women, so what am I to do. I have a computer, so it would seem logical to me that maybe I could meet women online. There are hundreds if not thousands of web dating sites, why shouldn't I be able to find one good normal woman out of all the women out there.

I have tried this a time or two, but it never seems to work out. Have you ever been to any of those websites? It all starts out innocently. You pick out someone that seems to fit the bill partly on just sheer physical attraction, and partly from comments made in their profile. Then you exchange a few messages. If all seems to go well, the next logical step is to meet and see if there is actually any "chemistry."

Bachelorette #1 -The first woman that I had this sort of relationship with was very pleasant and witty. We seemed to get along nicely, and decided to meet for lunch one day. As we had lunch and carried on what seemed to be a normal conversation, she sucker punched me. She flat out told me that she thought that a man and woman should be married. She was out looking to get married, and that was the bottom line. She came to meet me and see if there were "sparks." I didn't seem to be the one that she was looking for, and so this would probably be the end of our relationship.

Damn, hold on baby. One thing at a time please. I just came to meet you, I didn't come prepared to propose marriage. Don't you think that this subject might have come up in some of the messages that we had sent back and forth? Maybe I'm not exactly turned on by that horse's ass that you call a butt either. I would certainly be a little more tactful about the way that I handled the situation though. So much for Bachelorette #1.

Bachelorette #2 - The next woman that I began to message back and forth with seemed like she was way too busy to even be exchanging messages. She was working two jobs and trying to take care of her invalid mother in between. She was trying to pay the bills at her house, her mom's house, and also pay for the nursing home where her mother was now a resident. Being the helpful, ex-Boy Scout that I am, I wanted to help this woman with at least some of the yard work involved with trying to keep up two houses, which she had no time for since she was working two jobs. All seemed well until I mentioned in one of my messages that two of my grandchildren have a black man for a father. Well this is when I was reminded of the fact that I still live in the South, and even though it is the 21st Century, some attitudes haven't come as far as others. I never got to meet this woman face to face. This basically all but put an end to this relationship. So much for Bachelorette #2.

Bachelorette #3 - This woman was also very interesting to email. We almost acted as therapists for each other. She would tell me long drawn out stories about her childhood and marriages, and I would reciprocate. All was well until she realized from one of my messages that we had common friends. It seems that for some time she had been dating off and on, the brother of a friend of mine. He was a married man, and she didn't want him or his sister to ever find out that I had met her on an internet dating site. Oh, the shame would be too much to bear. She also had to back away from our relationship, but not before she talked me into coming over and repairing her mother's TV. Bachelorette #3 down only one more to go.

Bachelorette #4 was the hardest for me to deal with. I can handle the rejection of the first three, but Bachelorette #4 didn't reject me, but smothered whatever fire might have been there by insisting that I was the only man for her, and she knew in her heart that she was the only woman that could ever make me happy. We were only supposed to be pen pals in the beginning. She claimed that I "made her" love me. Worst yet she couldn't understand why I wouldn't love her. She was almost scary at times. At this point in time, I have decided that meeting strangers from the internet, in most cases, just does not work. There are just too many people, with too many different agendas, and baggage. Maybe in a few isolated cases, it does work. There are just too many dialects in the language of love.

It seems to me that each of us have different definitions of love. For some people love is like the volume control on your stereo, it can be low key, at half volume, or full blast. For other people, it seems to be just an Off / On switch. It's either all or nothing. It's almost as if before you begin a relationship, you need to have something akin to a pre-nuptial agreement. Define love. Define friends. Define jealousy. Define cheating. Define trust. Will you or can you change the things I don't like about you. Will I or can I change the things that you don't like about me. You had better get things straight on the front end. Otherwise you are headed for frustration, headaches, emotional distress, lack of concentration, and lack of sleep. If you plan to search for love on the internet, you had better be sure to take your virtual condoms with you, so that you don't end up with a CTD. (Cyber Transmitted Disease)

In the beginning, the blog was without form. It was void. Then Bob said, "Let there be blog." And there was blog, and he saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

I don't know what the point of my blog will be other than to share the thoughts of an aging "hippie." As time progresses, you will probably find that some of my thoughts stray from what is considered "the norm." Hence the title "Bob's Point of Skew."

Just so that you will have a little background of my basic life, here is a short biography.

I was born and raised in Memphis, TN. I did well in school for the first few years. I had a fear of becoming a nerd, so eventually I gave up making the grade to try to become normal. I was a high school dropout in my senior year, due to the fact that I had left home. I came from what I would consider a dysfunctional family, the parents drank and were the cause of many embarrassing moments. Anyway, it was 1970, so I tuned in, turned on, and dropped out. After a lot of close calls with the police, and the death of my mother, I decided that maybe I ought to try to get my life going. So I returned to school, and got my high school diploma.

I aimlessly wandered from job to job, trying to find my niche'. In 1980 I began to work for a TV manufacturing company and eventually learned to repair color TVs. I got married the same year. I raised two step children whom I consider my own, and had a daughter of my own in the process of being married for 19 years.

The marriage ended in 1999. In 2000, the TV manufacturer that I worked for moved their production to Mexico. I was paid to hit the door, and so off I went. I now work for a different TV manufacturer, so the TV repair thing goes on. The kids are all grown now, and live away from home, and I live alone. There is a lot to be said for peace and quiet, after going through the turmoil of raising teenagers.

Now you know almost as much as I do about my life. Hopefully my blog will become a little more interesting as time goes on.