RiedRants

Emergency Room Visit 2019

No research. No preparation—other than life—for this week’s episode. This week I will share with you my lovely experience (note the sarcasm) at the ER and hospital with my husband because he could not breathe last Saturday.

I won’t share all the nuance, the errors in recording medical history, the saying something and doing something else or the fact that we played a game of telephone.

This is basically a rant on how frustrating it is when life gives you a sharp left when you thought the road was straight. I spared you the use of the F-ing expletive but may keep in the YouTube version of the podcast.

My original topic was to be customer service...or lack thereof but instead I wanted to check in and let you know that this week was hard and I still wanted to post something.

You may not know about sepsis and I will go over that; but only slightly. I will wonder why so many of us go on in spite of the adversity we face. And I will remind you that we need to put the oxygen on our face before we help others in the event that the cabin loses pressure (note the plane metaphor).

I hope to get back on schedule by the word of the week on Wednesday. Until then thank you for your continued support and patronage.

RR177 Film Review Friday: Overboard (remake)

2018 PG 13 1hr 52 min IMDb 5.9/10, Comedy Romance. 24% Rotten Tomatoes Comedy, Romance Starring: Eugenio Derbez, Anna Faris, Eva Longoria. Director: Rob Greenberg Written by Bob Fisher, Rob Greenberg

Let’s get right to the point. This remake was so incredibly disappointing. I like Anna Faris. She is adorable and I find the movies she is in fun and light hearted entertainment...this one not so much.

I get that many film makers are venturing down that road of diversity, girl power like to switch it up a bit to combat the decades of minimizing and exclusion. Or maybe film makers believe if the movie is changed just enough in some respect it will be better.

In my experience this is rarely the case. Especially with this film offering; some scenes were identical to the Overboard of Russell and Hawn fame. Some of the gender reversals are ludicrous and unrealistic.

This remake seemed perfunctory and ridiculous. I don’t see how anyone can work two or more jobs raise children and study for an exam. (Kurt Russell’s character was working on his own business; a mini golf amusement park).

The movie droned on for about 40 minutes until we got the first laugh. I had considered finding something else until the film got to this mildly amusing status.

In the end it redeemed itself but only a bit. It did not seem to have strived to stand on its own merits. It was trying to live the glory days of the original Overboard movie.

I had high hopes for this film but alas it did not blow my skirt up.

___________

Research and Links:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1563742/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/overboard_2018

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/overboard-2018

https://play.howstuffworks.com/quiz/how-much-do-you-know-overboard-the-goldie-hawn-classic

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz07tkeud_bSx-1dWQC7Urw?view

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RR176 Word of the Week: Usury

Cambridge: the activity of lending someone money with the agreement that they will pay back a very much larger amount of money later; the lending of money at extremely high interest rates

Oxford English: The action or practice of lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest.

Investopedia: Usury is the act of lending money at an interest rate that is considered unreasonably high or that is higher than the rate permitted by law.

Etymology: c. 1300, "practice of lending money at interest," later, at excessive rates of interest, from Medieval Latin usuria, alteration of Latin usura "payment for the use of money, interest," literally "a usage, use, enjoyment," from usus, from stem of uti (see use (v.)). From mid-15c. as "premium paid for the use of money, interest," especially "exorbitant interest."

“...throughout history, certain religions have abstained from usury altogether as charging interest went against their core principles. Specifically, Judaism, Christianity and Islam (the three Abrahamic faiths) take a very strong stance against usury. Several passages in the Old Testament condemn the practice of usury, especially when lending to less wealthy individuals without access to more secure means of financing.”

“Predatory lending is broadly defined by the FDIC as “imposing unfair and abusive loan terms on borrowers." Predatory lending often targets groups with less access to and understanding of more traditional forms of financing” “...payday loans, also termed payday advances or small dollar loans,”

Synonyms: exploitation, stealing

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz07tkeud_bSx-1dWQC7Urw?view

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Research and Links

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/usury

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/usury.asp

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/usury

https://www.etymonline.com/word/usury

https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/usury

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/12/86

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/12/85

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=16&ved=2ahUKEwjU-5X-genhAhVHuVkKHTQHB4oQFjAPegQIAhAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cuna.org%2FuploadedFiles%2FAdvocacy%2FPriorities%2FState_Government_Affairs%2Fa-z_usury_lawguide.pdf&usg=AOvVaw38hWqxTua7MEAt4_gv0InT

https://consumer.findlaw.com/credit-banking-finance/usury-laws.html

RR175 Topic: Credit Cards, Inception, Interest and in general.

I find myself back in the hospitality industry and am reminded of how we tend to pay for food and drink.

I remember the days of Master Charge and Bank Americard

Bank Americard (from Bank of America nka Visa) inception date was 1958. It had a paper consumer credit card with a $300 limit.

In 1975 the first debit card had its debut.

1975 Bank Americard changes names to Visa because it sounds the same in every language. After going global it’s important that name makes sense to everyone I suppose.

1996 Financial literacy training was launched. Likely because folks were getting themselves in trouble paying with plastic.

2008 IPO the largest one in history

MasterCard fka MasterCharge is in my opinion the little guy trying to keep up

American Express was historically and may still be the cool kid on the block credit card. Because it is inferred that to carry this card you must be financially secure enough to pay it off every month. Then they came up with American Express Blue; the revolving line of credit. With an unbelievable 26% APR

Speaking of unbelievable the AmEx black card is by invitation only and the annual fee is $2500.

AmEx Green is $95 per year and 20% interest with the payment option.

Fees to use credit include the annual fee and the interest rate.

Yes, credit card can come in handy but they are the sweets of the financial world nice to have as well as satisfying but can get us into a heap of trouble.

Apparently credit cards are exempt from adhering to usury laws. But usury laws are not the greatest either because some lenders can charge 36% interest. Payday loan outlets can charge as much as 500% according to one article.

This is part of the reason we need to be sure to understand the ramifications of using credit for purchases.

Research and Links:

https://usa.visa.com/about-visa/our_business/history-of-visa.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-credit-cards-2015-2

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/usury-laws.asp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usury

https://wallethub.com/edu/cc/usury-laws/25568/

https://www.daveramsey.com/

https://www.creditcardinsider.com/blog/metal-credit-cards/

https://cashmoneylife.com/10-reasons-credit-cards-are-good/

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/history-consumer-credit-one-infographic/

https://americansforfairnessinlending.wordpress.com/the-history-of-usury/

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Or even https://soundcloud.com/riedrants

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz07tkeud_bSx-1dWQC7Urw?view

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

RR174 Max Steel Film Review

2016 PG 13 1hr 32 min IMDb 4.6/10, Action Adventure Family. 0% Rotten Tomatoes Action & Adventure, Comedy, Science Fiction & Fantasy Drama Starring: Ben Winchell, Josh Brener, Maria Bello Director: Stewart Hendler. Written by Christopher L. Yost

Every single critic review on rotten tomatoes seemed to hate this flick for one reason or another.

Budget of 10M Gross USA 3.8M gross worldwide 6.2M Clearly this movie was not a hit at the box office. Definitely a film that stayed in the red.

But I disagree with the notion it had no value and was bad. This is a light hearted movie that had great plucky comic relief. Certainly this is the reason that I liked this film.

No, it was not the greatest acting. Yes, the villain was hokey. Yes, the super suit was silly. But was it any worse than Star Kid? As I look up the reviews for star kid I see that movie was not well received either. Another movie that I watched and found it to have entertainment value.

Maybe it is because when I watch a movie I watch according to my mood. If I want a kid flick with a scifi theme I never expect it to be an epic masterpiece. Sometimes you only want to decompress and watching a ground breaking phenomenal movie is unnecessary.

Hokeiness incarnate included the practice fight scene in the abandoned building, the hero vs. nemesis fight scene, when are hero newly discovers energy emitting from his hand and he attempts to smother it with a pillow.

Fun Stuff is the interaction between Max and Steel. For me this is really what made the film entertaining. Without this element it is likely I would have passed on this film.

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz07tkeud_bSx-1dWQC7Urw?view

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Research and Links:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1472584/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/max_steel

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/max-steel-2016

https://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/max-steel-review-1201889470/

https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/max-steel/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Steel action figure

RR173 Word of the Week: Notoriety vs. Publicity

I went over this word back in 2017 before the show was broken down into three segments. I want to go over it again only because I have heard folks using it again presumably thinking it is the same as publicity.

Notoriety

Cambridge: the state of being famous for doing something, esp. something immoral or bad (Also infamy)

Oxford English: The state of being famous or well known for some bad quality or deed.

Publicity

Cambridge: the activity of making certain that someone or something attracts a lot of interest or attention from many people, or the attention received as a result of this activity

Oxford English: Notice or attention given to someone or something by the media. (first definition)

Notorious Etymology: 1590s, from Middle French notoriété or directly from Medieval Latin notorietatem (nominative notorietas), from notorius "well-known" (see notorious).

Notorious 1540s, "publicly known," from Medieval Latin notorius "well-known, commonly known," from Latin notus "known," past participle of noscere "come to know," from PIE root *gno- "to know." Negative connotation arose 17c. from frequent association with derogatory nouns. Related: Notoriously.

Publicity Etymology: 1791, "condition of being public," from French publicité (1690s), from Medieval Latin publicitatem (nominative publicitas), from Latin publicus (see public (adj.)). Sense of "a making (something) known, an exposure to the public" is from 1826, shading by c. 1900 into "advertising, business of promotion." Publicity stunt first recorded 1908.

It seems that another creator has the same disconnect that I have with the present day use of this word. This writer covers more of the origins and usage than I do here. My hope is to spread the word that notoriety is not a word that is interchangeable with publicity.

Synonyms: celebrity, fame, flak, infamy, opprobrium, renown, spotlight, ballyhoo (extravagant publicity), dishonor, disrepute

Research and Links

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/notoriety

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/publicity

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/notoriety

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/publicity

https://www.etymonline.com/word/notoriety

https://www.etymonline.com/word/notorious?ref=etymonline_crossreference

https://www.etymonline.com/word/publicity

https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/10/notoriety.html

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz07tkeud_bSx-1dWQC7Urw?view

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

RR172 Blue Light Up All Night

WARNING Expletive PG-13 words damn it and God

Blue light is good for you if you want to stay awake. If you are hoping to fall asleep anytime soon avoid it. This means any source of blue light including your phone, TV, laptop, desktop and for folks north of the Arctic south of the Antarctic, American Southwest and northeastern Africa the sun.

“implying a causal relationship between two things that are actually unrelated: the light emitted by digital screens and the strain we feel from looking at any one thing for too long.”

“according to Rahul Khurana, an ophthalmologist and clinical spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, digital eyestrain and the negative effects of blue light on your eyes are two separate concerns”

Although I found most websites touting that blue light glasses prevent eye strain. Can you say snake oil?

Some give tips on how to combat blue light exposure but you do not need their glasses in order to accomplish this issue.

If your eyes are bothering you BLINK. Blink completely and often.

According to Harvard Health “...research shows that it may contribute to the causation of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.” Certainly this is spurious or at the very least correlated not causal because if our sleep is disrupted in the extreme, often enough it can literally kill us.

Okay there is some research that connects the instance of diabetes with disruption of the circadian rhythm but the sample size is way too small to have any substantial validity.

“A Harvard study shed a little bit of light on the possible connection to diabetes and possibly obesity. The researchers put 10 people on a schedule that gradually shifted the timing of their circadian rhythms. Their blood sugar levels increased, throwing them into a prediabetic state, and levels of leptin, a hormone that leaves people feeling full after a meal, went down.”

“too much exposure to blue light can damage light-sensitive cells in the retina. This causes changes that resemble those of macular degeneration, which can lead to permanent vision loss.”

Blue light does a body good: “It's well documented that some blue light exposure is essential for good health. Research has shown that high-energy visible light boosts alertness, helps memory and cognitive function and elevates mood.”

Remember blue light messes with sleep and the ability to produce melatonin. No, that does not suggest taking melatonin. If you have enough serotonin you can make all the melatonin you need.

Sometimes the lack of sleep can be easily rectified by staying away from blue light sources two the three hours before bedtime.

Sometimes depression and feeling down can be mitigated by being outside or having blue light therapy.

Research and Links:

http://nymag.com/strategist/article/blue-light-blocking-glasses-work.html

https://education.seattlepi.com/places-earth-hours-sunlight-4549.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/11/blue-blocking-glasses-instagram/575965/

https://www.uab.edu/news/youcanuse/item/7258-debunking-digital-eyestrain-and-blue-light-myths

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side

https://www.allaboutvision.com/cvs/blue-light.htm

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz07tkeud_bSx-1dWQC7Urw?view

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

RR171 Friday Film Review: The Dirt

Expletive WARNING: "shitty" and "sucks"

2019 TV-MA 1hr 47 min IMDb 7/10, biography comedy drama How? There are self-proclaimed scenes that never happened?. 40% Rotten Tomatoes Drama Starring: Douglas Booth, Iwan Rheon, Daniel Webber Director: Jeff Tremaine. Written by Amanda Adelson (screenplay)Tommy Lee (book) Mick Mars Vince Neil Nikki Sixx Neil Strauss (book) Rich Wilkes (screenplay)

The husband was watching this movie when I got home and since it seemed to be on only for a short time I thought what the hell? I will review this clearly corny romp with the motley crew that comprises Mötely Crüe.

I am not a big fan of metal bands, never have been. But I do enjoy a good story of stardom and fame. I also enjoy being reminded of the cornball hair and clothing from the 80s, maybe because I lived through that time.

Originally I figured I missed 20 minutes of this film. Still I wanted to watch what I missed last night prior to giving my review. As it turns out I missed 41 minutes of this movie.

It’s a good thing too because I missed quite a bit of back story. Funny thing is that even with watching what I had previously missed; I found later there were a ton of material errors in this Biography. Besides how can anyone recall exactly what they did 20 years ago when they were sober much less recalling memories that are colored by the haze of booze, cocaine and heroin?

So let’s get that part straight humans have difficultly; if not impossibility recalling facts period. Our brains are constantly filling in the holes of our reality regardless if the information is true.

The Good

A fun somewhat raunchy ride with a band of guys who ended up making their dream true.

Love the 80s kick back even if a lot of it was not quite right. (See the list at IMDb of the flubs ups).

Talking to the audience like we were there at that time which I only now found out is called “Breaking the fourth wall.” I have always loved this technique and I am confused that I have only now found out what it is called.

The Bad

The hair on the actors. I am thinking the wigs could have been so much better. There was something so odd in how most of these guys looked. Certainly it was due to makeup or how they had to transform themselves to play in the movie.

The Ugly

This movie is a reminder about how a lot of the life of a metal band is lived through the filter of drugs and alcohol; meaning was it really that cool and rad?

That this movie is a form of entertainment, it is not a biography.

I would have never watched this flick on my own. So it does not get a blow up skirt score.

___________

Research and Links:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800325/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_dirt_2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuHvN4l6amY

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/motley-crue-the-dirt-fact-check-808838/

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz07tkeud_bSx-1dWQC7Urw?view

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RR170 Word of the Week: Zealot

To me this word sounds like some sort of vegetable...like Brussels sprouts (yeah, it's plural).

But zealot is another thing entirely; a not so good thing. More not so good than Brussels sprouts.

Zealot

Cambridge: a person who has very strong opinions about something, and tries to make other people have them too

Zeal: great enthusiasm or interest

Overzealous: too enthusiastic and eager

Oxford English: A person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals.

historical A member of an ancient Jewish sect aiming at a world Jewish theocracy and resisting the Romans until AD 70.

Zeal: Great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective.

Overzealous: Too zealous in one's attitude or behaviour.

Etymology: early 14c., "member of a militant 1st century Jewish sect which fiercely resisted the Romans in Palestine," from Late Latin zelotes, from Greek zēlōtēs "one who is a zealous follower," from zēloōn "to be zealous," from zēlos "zeal" (see zeal). Extended sense of "a fanatical enthusiast" first recorded 1630s (earlier in this sense was zelator, mid-15c.).

Synonyms: activist, diehard, extremist, fanatic, maniac, militant, nut, radical, fiend

Antonyms: conservative, moderate

It would seem that this word has a decidedly negative connotation, as does overzealous. Hmm, maybe it would be good to reconsider my use of the word overzealous.

Research and Links

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/zealot

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/zealot

https://www.etymonline.com/word/zealot

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/zeal

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/zeal

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/overzealous

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/92175/can-zealot-have-a-positive-connotation

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RR169 Adulting, Being a Grown-up and Arrested Development

I re-watched a TEDx talk by Alan Watkins and was again intrigued by his explanation of levels of awareness and the phrase “Disease of Meaning” A lot of the talk circulates on how we handle situations in our lives as our emotional self develops.

I thought it would be a good subject for today’s episode.

Many of the concepts introduces revolved around emotional intelligence...or in layman’s terms; being a grown up.

So I started searching the internet for the terms arrested development, levels of awareness and disease of meaning to name a few. However, I got no good hits. In fact disease of meaning did not even come up. The term levels of awareness did return quite a few hits but the number of levels varied from 3 to ten or so.

I got hits from the Freud philosophy to blogs that sounded good but were misspelled or used bad grammar.

In short, I was unable to find any sources which I found terribly credible. Sure I got hits on arrested development as it pertains to mental retardation or intellectual disability. But that was not helpful.

So many of us wander around life and look like we are grown up but actually our bodies have grown up...not necessarily our emotional responses.

We might still blame others for our shortcomings. Fail to take responsibility when we screw up. We assign blame to others for “making us” feel a certain way.

This all can be trialed back to thought versus action.

Thoughts are uncontrollable, action is controllable. Even though someone is mean to us or nice to us, it is on our hands on how react to it.

Often we think that the urge to do something should come to us by osmosis. But as

Mel Robbins put it You are never going to feel like it.

This is where that wonderful executive brain function kicks in—if you are past your mid-twenties when the brain is finished growing—you can choose how to respond.

This comes down to impulse control and being able to think. Sometimes this is very hard. Sometimes it is not possible because how we feel. Sometimes we will breeze through a difficult situation because we are feeling particularly well.

Remember being an adult does not mean the fun is over. I think it means that we need to focus on the little spaces which bring us joy. That can be from anything like dancing to a song you hear in the grocery store to reveling in a sunny day.

Research and Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-rRgpPbR5w

https://discventionspsych.wordpress.com/2017/01/14/why-you-feel-what-you-feel-alan-watkins/

https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/erickson/

http://www.minddisorders.com/Kau-Nu/Mental-retardation.html#ixzz5kVNLE6r6

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