TexasJim     940-641-0076    jim@techjim.com    P. O. Box 1334, Gainesville, Texas, 76240

Wednesday, 10 March 2010

Daily Installment of Coffee Joe, by Jim O'Connor

Back to Main

While I was walking around on the roof, I noticed that someone had left a small pile of garbage up here. I really didn't give it much thought until I noticed a cigarette butt in the pile. I didn't go threw it or anything. It just caught my eye. I guess I knew I wasn't the only smoker left in the world, but usually people were a little more careful about these things. I thought it might also have been a trap to try to catch someone. I couldn't help but to think of all the times I had so freely driven across Nevada when I was younger. Then the thought occurred to me, I must have been getting old. It seems like I was spending way too much time thinking about the good old days. I needed to focus myself on the future. Life wasn't likely to get too much better, so I knew I had to make the best of it. I mean things are not all that bad. There are still hungry people around the world. We were quite lucky really. I guess I was just trying to convince myself how lucky we were. As I looked over to the other side of the wall, I remembered an incident that happen about a week after Nevada declared its independence. The U.S. tried to cut off air traffic to Nevada. Fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a commercial carrier, but when the pilot of the American Airlines jet refused to turn back, the Combined Defense Force ordered their fighters to shoot it down. The fighter pilots refused. So instead, the United States signed an agreement with Nevada, giving each other air space rights. The United States still didn't allow flights from Nevada to land at U.S. airports, but it did allow Nevada to fly their planes over the U.S. After staring over the city and the lake for about 30 minutes, I said to the robot "let's go." The robot responded "back to your room Sir?" I said, "Yes." It really was a nice day outside. I thought I might come back out here later. I followed the robot back in the room and I told it I wanted to hear the latest news. The robot said "Accessing news." then paused for a couple seconds. The news came on. "General Motors is being sued by a consumer advocate group known as 'Safe Products for America.' The group sued the automaker because an accident that happen in May of last year. The suit claims that the driver of the vehicle who was backing out of his driveway was distracted while trying to read the statement in the rearview mirror that read 'Objects are closer than they appear.' This could become a class action suit. General Motors said the warnings where only there to comply with a government regulation. Therefore the government should be held libel." I said, "That's it! Turn it off. Is there any good news?" I asked. The robot said "Sir, I'm not sure what 'good news' is or if there is any such thing." I told the robot to just turn it off.