Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/626125
GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Likemanyofyou,Iama creature of habit. Much of what I do is done because that is what I always do, rather than as a result of planning ahead. Take mornings, for instance. I am an old per- son, and I am an early riser. I always thought that being old auto- matically caused one to rise early. However, my wife Billie, who is nearly as old as I, could and would sleep until noon if I would just leave her the hell alone. That, however, is a mat- ter best saved for a future col- umn. My personal morning rou- tine normally begins around 5 a.m. when I awake and try to fool myself into think- ing I might just wander back off to sleep. I invariably toss and turn for a while, and by 5:30 or 6 a.m. at the latest, I roll out of bed and put myself in autopilot mode. Each day my first stop finds me stand- ing over the porcelain throne, whether or not I need to be there. Sometimes I am stand- ing there for 30 seconds, and other times for minutes at a time. I guess it is not really im- portant whether I use the darn thing, the important thing is I have given myself the oppor- tunity. Upon leaving the bath- room it is automatic that I will stop at my closet and throw on one of several dozen-base- ball caps that sit on the second shelf of the 20% of the master closet that I am allowed to oc- cupy. Unless the wife decides she needs additional space, in which case I usually regis- ter a silent but ineffective pro- test by throwing my stuff on the floor. I am a rather vain man, but at the same time, la- zier than most, so I throw on a hat rather than taking the time needed to actually comb my hair. This time of year I am nor- mally already wearing my warmer than warm Duck Dy- nasty pajamas, so I stum- ble out to the kitchen where I immediately put four heap- ing scoops of coffee in the pa- per holder, followed by a ten- cup quantity of water. I often wonder why the line on the pot says ten cups, when you run out of coffee after pouring about four. Though we have never formally discussed this particular job assignment, it is clear to me that it is my re- sponsibility and mine alone to ensure that the coffee is brewed, hot, fresh and avail- able when the little woman comes stumbling out of the bedroom. On the rare occa- sion that I fail to make cof- fee, I am greeted with a look that quite frankly is more in- timidating than the ones I get when I leave the heat on un- der the frying pan, or fail to remember to take out the gar- bage, or breathe when it is not appropriate. After hitting the brew but- ton, the exciting part of my day really begins, because by now it is 6:30 a.m., time to go to the mailbox and pick up the Daily News. I am one of the lucky ones, because my morn- ing paper actually arrives in the morning. I can't imag- ine how disappointing it must be to be forced to wait until 3 in the afternoon to read your morning paper. Like so many things in life, reading the newspaper is something each of us handles in completely different ways. Those of you who knew my mother will likely remember her sitting on her front porch on South Jackson Street with Daily News in hand as she watched the world pass by her front yard. The Daily News, her lawn chair, and watching the world pass by were more than a daily rit- ual; they were part of who she was. My wife, on the other hand, is far too busy to stick to a strict newspaper reading schedule. When she does pick up a paper it is sometimes sev- eral days old, making the out- dated news within said pa- per even more outdated, if you get my drift. I give her credit, however, as when she does pick up a paper she reads ev- ery single word. Unfortu- nately, if we are in the same room she either offers an opin- ion or asks for an opinion con- cerning every story she reads. If I am otherwise occupied, my responses sometimes have ab- solutely nothing to do with her questions. I, on the other hand, read very little of my daily paper. I read my column as if it is the very first time, because frankly I am my own biggest fan. I skim other columns to see what they have to say. I skim though letters to the ed- itor and articles concerning local issues to see who is in trouble now. I read the sports page, even though I am of- ten disappointed in the quan- tity and currency of articles therein. I read the obituaries to make sure I do not see my name. Good morning. Have a great day, Daily News staff. •••• Tomorrow evening, Jan. 14 at 7:30, the historic State The- atre will host one of country music's all-time favorite sing- ers. Pam Tillis, daughter of country music legend Mel Til- lis, is a former Country Mu- sic Association Female Vocal- ist of the year. With hits like "All the Good Ones Are Gone," "Don't Tell Me What to Do," "Maybe It Was Memphis," and "One of Those Things," Pam Tillis is a favorite country mu- sic concert performer and sells out venues across America. Tickets are $39-$49, and can be purchased at the box office, which will open at 6:30 tomor- row evening. Call 529-2787 for further information regarding what promises to be a very en- tertaining evening. •••• On Friday evening, Jan. 15 at 7:30, the State Theatre will host the Tehama Concert Se- ries concert The Acoustic Gui- tar Masters, featuring fin- ger-style guitarist Mark Han- son, jazz guitarist Eric Skye and classical guitarist Scott Kritzer. Admission is free for Concert Series Members, and non-members may purchase tickets for $30 at the door. BillCorneliusisalifelong resident of Red Bluff, a retired Chief Probation Officer, a champion of the State Theatre and an exceptional athlete. He can be reached at bill. cornelius@sbcglobal.net. William Tells Going through the rituals of the morning Cartoonist's take The smart car is upon us and self-driving automobiles soon will be commonplace — which will be the buzz at this week's 2016 Detroit Auto Show. In the past two or three years, you see, computer processing capac- ity has become powerful enough to rapidly manage and analyze massive amounts of complex data sets or "big data." What does this mean for au- tomobiles? By installing incredibly intri- cate roadside sensor networks and additional sensors in "smart" automobiles — both of which feed continuous data, via the Internet, to a powerful col- lection engine — automobiles will be in constant communica- tion with road conditions and each other. Smart cars can be pro- grammed to avoid crashing into roadside obstacles and each other, auto-correct if a driver strays from the road or sound an alarm if a driver shows signs he's falling asleep. In the U.S. alone, according to Entrepreneur.com, "self-driving cars could eliminate the more than 33,000 motor-vehicle traffic deaths a year, 2.3 million injuries and billions in car damage." Traffic jams will be signifi- cantly reduced or eliminated. Imagine if every car sitting on the Parkway in front of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel could be safely guided through at a coor- dinated speed that eliminates stop-and-go driving. How about energy savings? "Street lamps could automat- ically switch off in areas with no nighttime traffic, and turn on only when road sensors de- tect a vehicle getting closer," re- ports Information Week. It's hard for a car buff like me to imagine — I love to drive — but driverless automobiles will soon be everywhere. "A separate study released last month by Britain's Juni- per Research anticipates 25 mil- lion self-driving cars will be on the road around the world a de- cade from now," reports The De- troit News. According to a Rand Corp. re- port, that means people who are unable to drive — the blind, dis- abled or people too young to get a license — will enjoy "indepen- dence, reduction in social isola- tion and access to essential ser- vices." Self-driving cars have the op- portunity to save the average erstwhile car owner a bundle. According to The Wall Street Journal, the average utiliza- tion rate for a typical car owner is only about 5 percent — that means your car sits idle 95 per- cent of the time, a waste of money. When you include insurance costs, fuel, wear and tear and car payments, the average per- son is spending thousands a year to own a car — but would spend significantly less than that if he or she paid by the mile utilizing a self-driving car fleet. Ravi Shanker, a Morgan Stanley U.S. auto analyst, says self-driving cars could "contrib- ute $1.3 trillion in annual sav- ings to the U.S. economy alone," reports The Journal — which will dramatically disrupt the auto manufacturing industry. What is happening to the au- tomobile — as our technology is able to analyze and manage big data — is happening across ev- ery industry. We are at the cusp of another industrial revolution, also re- ferred to as Industry 4.0 or the fourth industrial revolution, whereby interconnections be- tween machines, systems, as- sets and people will enable massive improvements in effi- ciency and performance. Its scale, scope and complex- ity will be unlike anything hu- mankind has yet experienced, according to Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chair- man of the World Economic Forum (which will meet this month in Switzerland to dis- cuss "Mastering the Fourth In- dustrial Revolution"). Hey, America, we may be sit- ting on a pile of debt, but if we make some smart decisions — if we press our political class to unleash, rather than inhibit, the collective genius of our most in- dustrious people — great times are still ahead for our country and the world. Tom Purcell, author of "Misadventures of a 1970s Childhood" and "Comical Sense: A Lone Humorist Takes on a World Gone Nutty!" is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Send comments to Tom at Tom@ TomPurcell.com. Tom Purcell Mastering the fourth industrial revolution My wife, on the other hand, is far too busy to stick to a strict newspaper reading schedule. When she does pick up a paper it is sometimes several days old, making the outdated news within said paper even more outdated, if you get my drift. Tom Purcell By Ron Paul The nation's attention turned to Oregon this week when a group calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom seized control of part of a federal wild- life refuge. The citizens were protesting the harsh sentences given to members of the Ham- mond ranching family. The Hammonds were accused of al- lowing fires set on their prop- erty to spread onto federal land. The Hammonds were prose- cuted under a federal terrorism statute. This may seem odd, but many prosecutors are stretch- ing the definition of terror- ism in order to, as was the case here, apply the mandatory min- imum sentences or otherwise violate defendants' constitu- tional rights. The first judge to hear the case refused to grant the government's sentencing request, saying his conscience was shocked by the thought of applying the mandatory mini- mums to the Hammonds. For- tunately for the government, it was able to appeal the decision to judges whose consciences were not shocked by draconian sentences. Sadly, but not surprisingly, some progressives who nor- mally support civil liberties have called for the government to use deadly force to end the occupation at the refuge. These progressives are the mirror im- age of conservatives who (prop- erly) attack gun control and the Patriot Act as tyrannical, yet support the use of police- state tactics against unpopular groups such as Muslims. Even some libertarians have joined the attacks on the ranch- ers. These libertarians say ranchers like the Hammonds are "corporate welfare queens" because they graze their cat- tle on federal lands. However, since the federal government is the largest landholder in many western states, the ranchers may not have other viable alter- natives. As the Oregon standoff shows, ranchers hardly have the same type of cozy relationship with the government that is en- joyed by true corporate welfare queens like military contractors and big banks. Many ranchers actually want control of feder- ally-held land returned to the states or sold to private owners. Situations like the one in Or- egon could become common- place as the continued failure of Keynesian economics and mili- taristic foreign policy is used to justify expanding government power. These new power grabs will increase the threats to our personal and economic security. The resulting chaos will cause many more Americans to resist government policies, with some even turning to violence, while the burden of government reg- ulations and taxes will lead to a growing black market. The gov- ernment will respond by be- coming even more authoritar- ian, which will lead to further unrest. Fortunately, we still have time to reverse course. The In- ternet makes it easier than ever to spark the ideas of liberty and grow the liberty movement. Spreading the truth and mak- ing sure we can care for our- selves and our families in the event of an economic collapse must be our priorities. Ron Paul is a former Congressman and Presidential candidate. He can be reached at VoicesofLiberty.com. Ron Paul Oregon standoff a sign of things to come Bill Cornelius OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, January 13, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6