Francis the Talking Mule

    
 One of my favorite movies of the 1950s was the Francis the Talking Mule series. Francis the Talking Mule stared Donald O'Connor as a bewildered soldier who befriended an old army mule that could talk. Second Lieutenant Peter Stirling (O'Connor) repeatedly found himself in a mental hospital. 
     Francis became a celebrity during the 1950s as the star of seven popular Universal-International film comedies. The character originated in the 1946 novel Francis by former US Army Captain David Stern III (1909–2003), son of newspaper publisher J. David Stern. After another studio turned down the property, Universal bought the rights for a film series.
     Francis the mule was a favorite comedy with the films based on the popular book about a military man who meets a mule who can talk. Arthur Lubin, the producer, of the movies later went on to create the Mister Ed TV series. Francis was trained by Will Rogers and apprentice Les Hilton, Mister Ed's trainer. The same technical practice of teaching Francis when to move his mouth was later used on Mister Ed. Mules are very smart and will do what they are asked as long as you are kind and gentle with them. 
     Francis was the very first recipient of the American Humane Association Annual Patsy Award which was given to animals in motion pictures for an outstanding performance. A trophy was engraved with the winners name. The award presentation lasted until the 1980's then it was discontinued. It was similar, to the Golden Globe awards today. The Patsy awards were televised years ago. It had popular presenters and hosts such as Betty White and Doris Day. These days if anybody gets an award it's the trainer. Francis won 2nd place in the Patsy Award in: 1952, 1954, 1955, and 1956 then was 3rd place winner in 1957. As with many things computers ruined much animal talent. Talking animals are now sometimes done with computer animation and sometimes puppets. to the special effects people. 
     Francis starred in 7 movies from 1949 to 1956 starring with character "Peter Sterling" played by Donald O'Connor and in the last movie Mickey Rooney. Chill Wills was the original voice of Francis and Paul Fees did the voice in last movie. More reading at True West

This Could Save Your Life

  How to trigger Emergency SOS on your iPhone....

     Wherever you are in the world, there is likely access to an emergency service for police, medical, or fire help. Different locations around the world have different numbers. Instead of having to know the local emergency service number or waiting to be redirected from the number you've just called you can be directly connected to the emergency number wherever you are using a shortcut on your iPhone. This feature is called Emergency SOS. 

     In late 2017, a number of memes circulated on Facebook advising iPhone users of a function that allows them to discreetly contact emergency services by pressing the Lock button five times and selecting Emergency SOS. The claim was that Apple iPhones would send a ping to the nearest police station and a police officer would be dispatched immediately to your exact location. As with a lot of information on Facebook, it was misleading and inaccurate. 

     The Emergency SOS feature in iOS 11 DOES provide a quick and easy way to call for help in an emergency situation, but it does NOT automatically ping local police and so an officer will not be dispatched to your location. 

     When you access the SOS function, your iPhone can automatically call the designated emergency number in your location. And, after you finish the call, the phone can automatically send text messages with your current location to your listed emergency contacts. It is important to note that you will need to talk to the emergency services just as you would with any other emergency call.  

     As usual, rather than relying on what appeared on Facebook, users with newer iPhones must upgrade to iOS 11 and they should go straight to the horse's mouth for accurate information...in this case they should read Apple’s documentation and test whether they can access the Emergency SOS option before trying to use it in an emergency. The service may depend on the reliability of local emergency services. 

     This isn't the first time misinformation about contacting emergency services have surfaced. There was a similar rumor that said if you asked Siri (iPhone’s voice assistant) to “charge my phone to 100 percent” that it would trigger a police response. 

     These types of rumors have been around since before cell phones. It used to be said that leaving a phone off the hook would eventually trigger a 911 call. 

     If you really want to know how it works go to Apple Support. It could save your life.

The Dangers of Pizza

     I like to fool myself by thinking pizza is healthy. It contains stuff from major food groups like grain, vegetables, cheese and meat. Plus, it's good hot or cold and can be eaten for any meal, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. But I'm only fooling myself. 
     If you live in the United States, it’s statistically likely you’ll eat around 6000 slices of pizza over the course of your life and 94 percent of Americans eat pizza regularly. The word “pizza” dates back over a thousand years when it was first mentioned in a Latin text written in southern Italy in 997, but the first pizza place in America was Lombardi’s in New York City. Originally a grocery store, Lombardi’s started selling pizza in 1905. 
     For those interested in nutritional facts, and most pizza eaters probably aren't, depending on the type of crust, the amount of cheese and the toppings used, pizza can rank anywhere from decent to a disaster. 
     Pizza purveyors like to point out that their product offers calcium from cheese and disease-fighting lycopene from tomatoes, but, even healthy pizzas deliver a good amount of sodium from tomato sauce and cheese. Of course a lot also depends on the size of the slice and the number of slices you stuff in your face. Throw in toppings such pepperoni, sausage and extra cheese and saturated fat, sodium and calories pile up. A large slice of Pizza Hut's Thin 'N Crispy Veggie Lovers pizza has 240 calories, 4 grams of saturated fat and 710 milligrams of sodium. But a large slice of the chain's Meat Lovers pan pizza with pepperoni, sausage, ham, bacon, pork and beef has twice the calories, 2-1/2 times the saturated fat and 1,180 milligrams of sodium. Frozen pizzas can be even worse, especially when it comes to sodium. If you're concerned about these issues and don't care what it tastes like, dairy-free and gluten-free pizzas are available. 
     So, what happens when you eat pizza? It's not pretty. First you start salivating in anticipation; that's normal. But as with any food, the more pizza you eat, the less pleasure you derive. Then, within 10-15 minutes the fat from the cheese and pepperoni slows the absorption of sugar as the body takes its time to digest fats. These fats can help reap more sustainable energy though. But, if one has gobbled up the pizza too quickly belly bloating can be a problem. 
     Within 10-20 minutes most of the carbs are getting all up in your blood stream, your pancreas secretes insulin to help your cells sop up the sugar and put it to use as fuel. By the time you've eaten that third or fourth slice, your cells are full up with sugar and they may reject the additional sugar. The problem is that keeps your blood sugar levels high for a longer period of time and over time high blood sugar can lead to inflammation. That can cause problems from cardiovascular disease to nerve damage, poor circulation and infections. Eventually, the that sugar ends up in the liver where it is turned into...FAT. 
     At the same time, a hormone secreted by fat cells designed to suppress the appetite and prevent overeating are getting pumped out. Assuming you were actually hungry and not eating for the fun of it, if you stop you'll feel fueled up and ready to go, but if you've pigged out, you will feel sluggish. 
     Stomach acids are working hard to digest all that fat and once it is broken down, it's ready to be absorbed into the bloodstream where it will races to your liver and get sent to muscles to be used for fuel...all good so far. But, if your muscles have enough fuel then it's converted into fat cells and stored for future use in case you get lost in the woods and can't eat for couple of weeks or something similar. This whole process only raises your level of fat in your blood, but only temporarily. If fat levels stay high, which they can if the diet is heavy with sugar, alcohol, or unhealthy fats (e.g. pepperoni), those fats can displace your blood's good cholesterol, clogging up and hardening your arteries. The really, really, really bad news is that if you're overweight or have a family history of circulatory disease, your triglyceride levels will stay higher for longer and eating just one slice of pizza can increase your risk of conditions like a stroke and heart attack. 

If you look like this, no problem!

     It takes about six hours for fat levels should taper off. That is assuming you only ate one slice, but who does that?! All that fat can make it harder for blood vessels to expand, leaving less room for blood to flow and and there will be an increase in blood pressure. Because a high-fat diet can also promote blood clotting, those with existing heart disease risk factors are increased. 
     Within about an hour the sluggishness should start to subside and 3-4 hours later blood sugar should return to normal as the pizza has left your stomach, but not because triglyceride levels are still high. Triglycerides are the main constituents of natural fats and oils and high concentrations in the blood indicate an elevated risk of stroke. 

     In short, if you're healthy an occasional slice of pizza won't hurt, but if you have unhealthy fat levels, high blood pressure, diabetes, insulin resistance, heart disease, are overweight or you smoke, lay off the pizza.

The Wonderful Taraxacum and Snake Wine

     Taraxacum is a large genus of flowering plants which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. They are native to Eurasia and North America, but the two commonplace species worldwide were introduced from Europe and now propagate as wildflowers although when they are in your yard they are considered weeds. Fortunately there are many products to rid them from your yard though. 

     Both of the common species are edible in their entirety. They have very small flowers collected together into a composite flower head. Each single flower in a head is called a floret. In part due to their abundance along with being a generalist species, dandelions are one of the most vital early spring nectar sources for a wide host of pollinators. Many species produce seeds asexually by apomixis, where the seeds are produced without pollination, resulting in offspring that are genetically identical to the parent plant. 

     In general, the leaves are 2–10 inches long or longer, simple, lobed, and form a basal rosette above the central taproot. The flower heads are yellow to orange colored, and are open in the daytime, but closed at night. The heads sit atop a hollow stem (technically called a scape) that is usually leafless and rises 3/8ths to 4 inches or more above the leaves. Stems and leaves exude a white, milky latex when broken. The flower heads are 3/4 to 2 inches in diameter and consist entirely of ray florets. The flower heads mature into spherical seed heads called blowballs or clocks containing many single-seeded fruits called achenes. Each achene is attached to a pappus of fine hairs which enable wind-aided dispersal over long distances. 

     The dispersed seeds rapidly colonize disturbed soil, especially the common dandelion which has been introduced over much of the temperate world. After flowering is finished, the dandelion flower head dries out for a day or two. The dried petals and stamens drop off, the bracts reflex (curve backwards), and the parachute ball opens into a full sphere.

There are also false dandelions. The leaves of dandelions are smooth whereas those of false dandelions are coarsely hairy. 

     Aside from being obnoxious when they are in a lawn, dandelions are supposed to have several health benefits although these claims are currently being studied for complete validation. They are also rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium, and detoxifiers.

Some health benefits include: improved bone health, control of diabetes, skin care, treatment of urinary disorders, prevention of acne, treating jaundice, weight loss, cancer prevention, prevention of gall bladder disorders, cures constipation, prevents anemia and regulates blood pressure. 

     Dandelions can also be used as a vegetable and are a good source of fiber. It promotes digestion and in the past, it was used to treat scurvy because of its high levels of vitamin C. It also has healing effects on dyspepsia, infections in the stomach, intestines, and the urinary system. 

     A word of caution: dandelions can be helpful in lowering blood sugar, but for patients already taking blood-sugar modulators, this can result in hypoglycemia. Also, the milk sap of dandelions has been known to cause itchiness, irritation, or allergic reactions on the skin, and should be kept away from the eyes. Finally, there is a rare type of fiber in dandelions called inulin and some people have a predisposed sensitivity or allergy to it which can be quite severe. While adding dandelion greens to your diet in any way, start small and closely monitor your body’s response. 

     By the way, you can't kill a dandelion by pulling it. They produce strong taproots 6-18 inches deep and they can produce new plants even when cut off below the soil.

     Every part of the dandelion is edible: you can eat the leaves as greens either cooked or in salad, you can make dandelion wine, fry the flowers into fritters, make coffee and tea drinks out of the stem and seeds and more.

16Dandelion Recipes 

Howto Make Dandelion Wine  

Whatdoes dandelion wine taste like?

     Now while on the subject wine, did you know you can make snake wine? It's true. Snake wine is an alcoholic beverage produced by infusing whole snakes in rice wine or grain alcohol. The drink was first recorded to have been consumed in China around 1040–770 BC and is considered an important curative and believed to reinvigorate a person according to Traditional Chinese medicine. It can be found in China, Goa (India), Vietnam, and throughout Southeast Asia. 

     The first thing you have to do is get yourself a snake, preferably a venomous one. That's because to have their "essence" the snake venom has to be dissolved in the liquor. The snake venom poses no threat to the drinker because it is denatured by the ethanol, its proteins being inactivated by the alcohol although stomach acid does the same thing. 

     Once you have your snake, you are ready to make one of two types of snake wine depending on whether you want to use just parts of a live snake or the entire snake itself. 

Steeped: A whole venomous snake is placed into a glass jar of rice wine or grain alcohol, sometimes along with smaller snakes and medicinal herbs and left to steep for many months. The wine is drunk as a restorative in small shots or cups.

You insert the snakes into the container while they are still alive and drown them. Or, if you are feeling humane, stun it by placing it on ice then gut it, sew it back up. You have to be careful with the later method though because the snake will likely waken and thrash around, before curling into an aggressive striking pose and dying. Gutting is sometimes preferred because the removal of the snake's innards can noticeably reduce the pungent smell of the finished wine.  Putting them in the alcohol live  has an aesthetic advantage because the snakes often die in a coiled position which some people find attractive. 

Mixed: The fresh body fluids of the snake are mixed directly into prepared alcohol and consumed immediately in the form of a shot. Snake blood wine is prepared by slicing a snake along its belly and draining its blood directly into the drinking vessel filled with rice wine or grain alcohol.  

     If you're curious you can watch a snake being stuffed into the alcohol jar HERE.

Law Enforcement Officers

     Generally I support all law enforcement officers because they do a job that is sometimes dangerous and it's one I would not want to do. But my experience has been that even in non-threatening situations they are rude, arrogant and not very bright and are incapable of using any independent judgment. While I am at it, let's throw in TSA officers at the airport.

      On two occasions I have had the pictured knife/nail file/scissors key chain, which is about one inch long, confiscated because it is a “weapon.” Once upon entering the courthouse and once upon entering a county fair. Seriously?! I could do more damage stabbing someone with a car key or a pencil.
     In fact, several years ago my wife served on jury duty at a trial where the defendant was involved in a fight with another bar patron and during the fracas stabbed his assailant through a winter coat with a similar key chain knife.  The charge?  Attempted murder!  He was acquitted.

     A few weeks ago, I accompanied my wife (she was driving) when she took her mother home. Because it's easier for her mother to sit in the front seat, I sat in the back. After dropping her mother off, I remained in the back seat. On the way home we stopped at a shopping plaza and a Sheriff's deputy pulled my wife over claiming she did not come to a full stop at a stop sign that was actually on private property. She got a lecture about coming to a full stop and a good way to make sure you do that is count one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand. But, his real concern was why was I sitting in the back seat? Was she an Uber driver, he wanted to know? He asked, “Why is that man sitting in the back seat? Is he drunk or on drugs?”  Being satisfied with the answers, he let her go with a warning to drive carefully. Really? What concern was it of his why I was sitting in the back seat?

      Another thing that galls me is when I see local police sitting on Interstate highways trying to nab speeders in order to make money for the communities through which the Interstates passes.

      The State Highway Patrol is a statewide law enforcement agency charged with the responsibility of enforcing traffic and criminal laws on public roadways and on state-owned or leased property as well as vehicle inspections, school bus inspections, commercial vehicle weigh stations, conducting aircraft and vehicle crash investigations and providing security for state facilities. Thus, the Highway Patrol has jurisdiction over all public roadways, including city streets.

      Still, we have local police to patrol city streets, so today I was really peeved to see a Highway Patrolman lurking along a two mile long stretch of “rural” street.  I call it "rural" even though it is actually within the city limits. Being in the city limits means the speed limit is 25 miles per hour, but nobody drives at that speed along that stretch of road. Here's a view of the road:

      On my return trip the patrolman actually had someone pulled over and was writing them a speeding ticket. My guess is they were probably doing like most people along that stretch and driving 35-40 miles per hour.

      OK, legally the Highway Patrol has jurisdiction along this street, but couldn't his time be better used out patrolling the State highways, the turnpike or the interstate and letting the local police take care of the city streets? Surely the people I see cruising those State highways at 80-90 miles per hour are a bigger menace than people hitting 40 on a low traffic volume stretch of street like in the picture.

      Such behavior might not be a big deal, but in the words of the late comedian Bernie Mack, it makes my butt itch!

Reading Glasses

     The realization of a need for reading glasses usually kicks in when the smaller print we’ve been reading with no problem suddenly seems to be impossible to read. As we age, our eyes just can’t focus as well as they used to on close up objects. The technical term is presbyopia. Scientists are unable to fully explain the exact reasons why presbyopia is likely to occur, but it may be a result of reduced elasticity in the lenses of the eyes. 
     The need for reading glasses happens most commonly between ages 40-50, but the fact is that even by age 25, many people begin experiencing a decline in their near vision. This may also include the inability to see objects or small print in a dim light. Symptoms such as eye strain, headaches and/or sore eyes while doing close up activities may be a sign of worsening presbyopia that requires reading glasses. Studies show that people whose work involves close up tasks tend to go to their eye doctor about reduced near vision sooner than those who are not employed in these sorts of fields. 
     The best thing to do is not to wait. Why suffer from eyestrain if a pair of reading glasses will solve the problem? Why visit an eye doctor when you can buy reading glasses off the shelf, sometimes for as low as a dollar a pair? Most people do not have exactly the same prescription in both eyes and almost everyone has at least a small amount of astigmatism. Headaches, eye strain, and even nausea can result from wearing reading glasses that are not a good fit. If you experience these problems and can't find a pair that works then you need to visit an eye doctor for a customized reading glasses prescription. Otherwise, off the shelf glasses are just fine. 
     One misconception about reading glasses is that your vision will get worse over time by wearing them, but that is not true. Glasses are simply an aid to improve vision and they will not cause your eyesight to grow worse. In fact, an ophthalmologist told me that you cannot damage your eyes wearing someone else's glasses. Likewise, if you wear glasses, not wearing them will not cause your vision to deteriorate. 
     If you wear reading glasses, the side effects of not wearing them could include blurriness and distortion, but trying to focus without glasses will not make your vision deteriorate faster, though it could lead to squinting and eyestrain. The primary effects of not wearing your glasses is temporary and, at most, can cause discomfort. 
     Using over-the-counter reading glasses from a pharmacy or online retailer (versus readers from your optometrist) will not hurt your eyes. Non-prescription reading glasses contain magnifying lenses in different powers that work just as well as prescription glasses. However, wearing non-prescription reading glasses that are either too weak or too strong could be bothersome, but it will not cause long-term damage to your vision. 
     Even if you have 20/20 vision, many eye and vision problems do not have symptoms, so it’s important to get your eyes checked regularly by an optometrist to make sure they stay healthy as you age. Eye exams may reveal health conditions such as tumors and diabetes that can be detected before physical symptoms are present. For example, I was told during a routine eye exam for glasses that my eyes were showing early signs of cataracts, but the cataracts themselves did not show up for almost 25 years!
     Optometrists are doctors of optometry, check for routine eye health and prescriptions, while ophthalmologists are MDs and are additionally able to perform invasive surgeries and procedures. Over the years, the lines between these two eye professionals has blurred, as all 50 states allow optometrists to treat many of the same medical conditions that only ophthalmologists previously treated. 
     Generally speaking, for regular checkups as well as problems affecting the surface of the eye (such as allergies, irritations, eyestrain, and conjunctivitis), see an optometrist. For serious symptoms such as loss of vision or eye surgery, see an ophthalmologist. In my case when I visited an optometrist for new glasses when he saw a cataract in my right eye he immediately arranged for me to see an ophthalmologist. 
    Reading glasses come in many types and can also be obtained in sunglasses: 
Single Vision Full Readers - magnification provided is uniform, meaning that text will look the same no matter which portion of the lens you’re looking through. Perfect for glasses you intend to wear only when you need to read something. 
Single Vision Half Readers - these lenses keep the magnification the same, however, the smaller frame allows you to see over the lens when you want to look at something in the distance. 
Traditional Bifocals - upper portion of the lenses is clear. Lowering your eyes to the bifocal segment provides magnification for reading. This allows you to wear the frames comfortably for longer periods of time when you’re not using them to read. 
Progressive No-Line Bifocals – the upper portions of the lenses are clear (not magnified). As you lower your eyes, the magnification increases gradually, until you can comfortably read small text. 
Computer-Style Progressive Bifocals – computer readers have a progressive lens that offers varying levels of magnification. This allows you to switch easily between reading printed documents and working at a computer. These glasses also have a special anti-glare coating that helps minimize eye strain that can be caused by fluorescent lights or flickering monitors. 

     There are a few valid reasons for getting prescription readers. Over the counter readers have the same power in both eyes and you may need a different power for each eye. Looking through readers of the wrong power can cause eye strain by making one eye work harder than the other. 
     Only prescription readers can correct astigmatism, which if uncorrected can cause headaches, tired eyes, and vision that seems a little off. 
     Over the counter readers are one size fits all. Prescription reading glasses are made so that the optical center of the lens is lined up exactly at the center of the pupil. If the optical center is not lined up, you may end up looking through the side of the lens, which can cause eye strain and eye muscle imbalances. 
     Prescription lenses are made optically perfect with no distortions, waves or bubbles in the lenses. If you examine a pair of over the counter readers of low quality, the lenses may have some unwanted defects. By the way, readers will not correct nearsightedness because the condition usually requires a "minus or negative" lens. Over the counter glasses only come in "plus or positive" powered lenses. 
     If ready-made readers are suitable, your eye doctor will let you know; mine did. If they recommend prescription readers, believe them. Many people purchase several pairs of inexpensive readers and stash them in different places all over the house and in the car. 

Best Reading Glasses of 2018 – Buyer’s Guide & Reviews

Facebook Addiction

     Few people are aware that Facebook and other social media are intentionally exploiting people’s psychological vulnerabilities to keep them addicted to their sites. And, that's according to the man who made a fortune as one of Facebook's early investors and first president, Sean Parker.

      Facebook claims its purpose is to make the world open and connected, build communities and bring the world closer together. Bull! In an interview Parker admitted to being something of a conscientious objector to social media and having some regret about his own role in helping to mold Facebook into what it has become. Parker is on record as saying the goal was to figure out how to consume as much of the user's time and attention as possible. The idea was to try and give users a little dopamine hit every whenever they got validation of a post with a like, share or favorable comment.

      Facebook has become more than just sharing inane social stuff. CBS’ television program 60 Minutes ran a program with the theme of brain hacking and featured Dopamine Labs, company produces a software program called Skinner (named after behaviorist psychologist B.F. Skinner) that companies can use to monitor their own apps and tweak them to make them even more addictive. Interestingly, the company is playing on both sides of the fence. Dopamine also offers an app called Space that helps people manage their notifications and the time they spend online.

      While it is perfectly acceptable to use Facebook as a means of entertainment, when Facebook activities start interfering with a person's everyday life they have a problem. There are a lot of users who think nothing of voluntarily sharing intimate secrets about their lives and often saying things they later regret. Other spend a lot of time checking their posts for comments, likes and shares to the point that Facebook interferes with free time activity or they are constantly switching between work or assignments to their Facebook page. It was such a problem that the company I worked for had to go to the extreme of forbidding employees from using Facebook on company time.

      For many, their Facebook image is all-important. They are always trying to project a certain image of who they are to others. Most of us have “friends” (I use quotation marks because I have seen people with thousands of “friends” - who has that many friends??) who are constantly appearing on Facebook who post about everything they are doing and uploading selfies, etc. For some users, there is an intense desire to add friends. There is race to see who has the highest number of friends in a quest to be seen as more popular. I have also seen posts by family members who have taken their family squabbles public and I know of two people who chose to reveal their sexual orientation on Facebook.

      Research done by psychologists from Edinburgh Napier University found that Facebook users with more friends tend to be more stressed up when using Facebook. The more friends they have, the more they feel pressured to maintain appropriate etiquette for different types of friends while remaining entertaining. It results in a vicious cycle of increasing Facebook-related tensions, resulting in worse addiction outcomes.

People who become over-reliant on Facebook to fulfill their social needs may start sacrificing the time spent on real-life interaction with people. As a result non-verbal communication such as body language, gestures, voice tones, etc. becomes more and more difficult for them to interpret which makes real-life interaction more and more difficult for them.

Facebook Addiction and the Brain

      One study found that the brains of people who report compulsive urges to use the social networking show some brain patterns similar to those found in drug addicts. A major difference is that in Facebook addicts the brain regions that inhibit impulsive behavior seems unaffected.

      Also, according to some studies Facebook (and other social networking sites) can have a profound impact by hurting a woman's body image, cause people to obsess over failed relationships and even lead some people into depression. In fact, there's term called "fear of missing out" in which some people get depressed because they aren't taking part in many of the activities they see on Facebook.

      Psychological tests on Facebook addicts have even revealed that Facebook cues were much more potent triggers in people's brains than the traffic signs. How important is that finding? It means that, if they are driving on a street next to someone who has a compulsive relationship with Facebook, they are going to respond faster to a ringing cellphone than to street signs.

      What causes addiction? A trigger, such as loneliness, boredom or stress; an action, such as logging in to Facebook; an unpredictable or variable reward, such as scrolling through a mix of juicy and boring tidbits in the newsfeed; and investment, which includes posting pictures or liking someone's status update. This comes from said the startup founder and author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products.

Would You Buy A Used Car From These Men?

     Robert S. McNamara (June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Sometimes known as the “Author of the Vietnam War”, he played a major role in escalating the United States involvement in the war. I never liked the guy and likened him to a weasel. Nor did I like his boss, President Lyndon B. Johnson, who I considered to be a crude and vulgar man.
     McNamara was born in San Francisco, California, graduated from UC Berkeley and Harvard Business School and served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. After the war, Henry Ford II hired McNamara and a group of other Army Air Force veterans to work for Ford Motor Company. These "Whiz Kids" helped reform Ford with modern planning, organization, and management control systems. After briefly serving as Ford's president, McNamara accepted appointment as Secretary of Defense.
     He became a close adviser to John F. Kennedy and advocated the use of a blockade during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy and McNamara instituted a Cold War defense strategy of flexible response, consolidated intelligence and logistics functions of the Pentagon into two centralized agencies: the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Defense Supply Agency.
     Beginning with the Kennedy administration, it was McNamara who presided over the build-up of the US military in South Vietnam. After the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, the number of US soldiers in Vietnam escalated dramatically. Eventually he grew skeptical of the efficacy of committing US soldiers to Vietnam and in 1968 he resigned as Secretary of Defense to become President of the World Bank. At least he deserves credit for admitting he was wrong. But, let me tell you what he did that lead to over 58,000 Americans, many of them my friends, and who know how many Vietnamese, getting killed for nothing.
     The Gulf of Tonkin incident, also known as the USS Maddox incident, was an international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War. It involved alleged confrontations involving North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. The whole incident, which occurred in President Johnson's first year as president, was fake.
     On August 2, 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox, while performing an intelligence patrol was pursued by three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats and Maddox fired three warning shots and the North Vietnamese boats then attacked with torpedoes and machine gun fire.
     The National Security Agency claimed that a Second Gulf of Tonkin incident occurred on August 4, 1964, but that was simply not true. The second incident was the result of an overzealous US Navy radar operator and ghost image on the radar, and some politicians took advantage of this non-incident for their own purposes.
     James Stockdale (December 23, 1923 – July 5, 2005), a Navy Vice Admiral, who served as a pilot and was awarded the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War during which he was a prisoner of war for over seven years flew missions during both events confirmed that there were no North Vietnamese boats during the second “incident.” In a 2003 documentary McNamara even admitted the second Gulf of Tonkin attack never happened. In 1995, former Vietnam People's Army General Vo Nguyen Giap also claimed “absolutely nothing" happened.
     Secretary McNamara told President Johnson that a US Navy vessel had been attacked and urged retaliation. The President agreed. Johnson ordered Maddox and another ship, the Turner Joy, to stage daylight runs into North Vietnamese waters, testing the 12 nautical miles limit and North Vietnamese resolve. The outcome of these two incidents was that Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which granted President Lyndon B. Johnson the authority to assist any Southeast Asian country whose government was considered to be jeopardized by "communist aggression". The resolution served as Johnson's legal justification for deploying US conventional forces and the commencement of open warfare against North Vietnam. 
     On August 2, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon the orders from the Maddox's captain were to open fire if the Vietnamese boats approached within ten thousand yards. Five minutes later the Maddox fired three rounds to warn them off and the gunboats turned around. The Johnson administration lied about this fact and insisted that the Vietnamese boats fired first.
     Shortly before midnight, on August 4, 1964 President Johnson interrupted national television to make an announcement in which he described an attack by North Vietnamese vessels on two US Navy warships, Maddox and Turner Joy, and requested authority to undertake a military response. Johnson also referred to the attacks as having taken place "on the high seas," suggesting that they had occurred in international waters which was not true.
     The whole mess started when some fast patrol boats were quietly purchased from Norway and sent to South Vietnam. In 1963 three young Norwegian skippers were recruited by a Norwegian intelligence officer, who unknown to them, was working for the United States.
     They agreed to a job involving sabotage missions against North Vietnam. The missions themselves originated from the office of Admiral U.S. Grant Sharp, Jr., CINCPAC in Honolulu, who received his orders from the White House.
     After the sabotage attacks began, Hanoi lodged a complaint with the International Control Commission which oversaw the terms of the Geneva Accords, but the US (meaning Johnson and McNamara) denied any involvement. Four years later, Secretary McNamara admitted to Congress that he and Johnson lied.
     Regarding the Maddox incident, Oregon Senator Wayne Morse smelled a rat. He attempted to raise awareness about possible faulty records of the incident involving Maddox. He supposedly received a call from an anonymous informant urging Morse to investigate official logbooks of Maddox, but the logs were not available before President Johnson's resolution was presented to Congress. Morse tried to warn Congress to be wary of President Johnson's conniving, but nobody believed him because he had no hard evidence. After the United States became more deeply mired in the war his claim began to gain support. When Morse ran for re-election in 1968 he was defeated.
     Theories abound. Various government officials and even embers of the Maddox's crew have suggested the whole scheme was designed to provoke the North Vietnamese and escalate US involvement. It's also been claimed that American politicians and strategists had been planning provocative actions against North Vietnam for some time. American diplomat George Ball told a British journalist after the war that "at that time...many people...were looking for any excuse to initiate bombing".
     According to Raymond McGovern, a retired CIA officer, the CIA, President Johnson, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy all knew that the evidence of any second attack on the evening of August 4, 1964, was highly doubtful. He also claimed Johnson and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were eager to widen the war in Vietnam.
     In his book, Body of Secrets, James Bamford, who spent three years in theNavy as an intelligence analyst, writes that the primary purpose of the Maddox "was to act as a seagoing provocateur—to poke its sharp gray bow and the American flag as close to the belly of North Vietnam as possible, in effect shoving its five-inch cannons up the nose of the communist navy.... The Maddox' mission was made even more provocative by being timed to coincide with commando raids, creating the impression that the Maddox was directing those missions..."