WHAT'S AHEAD?
September 13, 2022
Welcome to RUPP'S NOTES/FBI SPECIAL AGENT HARTMANN SERIES post for September 13, 2022. I'm novelist Richard V. Rupp, writing from Burbank, California.
I'll start on the lighter side and work up to the heavy stuff.
Congratulations to my Dodgers for being the first team to clinch a playoff berth this season. They have had a terrific season, and with a bit of luck, the way they are playing will take them to the World Series.
Over the past several days, I spent a lot of time watching football. Last night I flipped back and forth between Monday Night Football and the Emmy Awards. The game between the Seahawks and Broncos was better than the awards show. My Super Bowl-winning RAMS looked terrible in Thursday night's NFL opener. They were outcoached and outplayed. I loved that my Chargers managed to get past the Raiders. Both USC and UCLA looked great in their wins. USC moved up to 7th in the college football rankings.
As a novelist, I love reading other authors' writings. Of course, like the rest of the world, I fell in love with J.K. Rowlings' "HARRY POTTER" series. But it may take me a while to get into her current mystery novel effort, "THE INK BLACK HEART." It's 1,024 pages in length. WOW! Maybe that's why she released it under the pen name Robert Galbraith. I doubt I will ever come close to writing a novel of that length. It's like you get two books for the price of one.
Staying with the subject of writing, I read an interesting article in the LA TIMES by Mark Kurlansky about how lying has expanded exponentially as the ease of communication developed. From word of mouth, scribes writing on paper, the printing press, radio, and television, to social media communications. My interpretation is that it took more intelligent people to be scribes, printers, and radio and television personalities (not sure about the latter). Communication has gotten so easy with social media that "any idiot can weigh in." And it's easy to use effectively. Here's his conclusion, any idiot on social media can "put out an immense volume of lies on his own and dispatch them to tens of millions of people in a moment. Goebbels, however, required a staff of nearly 1,000 professional liars. . . . And there is something else: Only a small portion of listeners believe a lie when they hear it. If you lie to 100 people, you might get two or three believers, and if you lie to thousands, you might get hundreds. So what happens when you lie to millions on the internet?"
The world lost an anchor that helped keep it steady with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. According to the new Prime Minister Liz Truss, she "was the rock on which modern Britain was built." May she RIP. Here is what MASTERPIECE had to say. "For more than five decades, MASTERPIECE has been honored to bring signature British shows to U.S. audiences. As a writer, I love that she constantly communicated and involved herself with artists and architects, poets and novelists, playwrights and actors, choreographers, and dancers. We've followed Her Majesty's dedicated and tireless service to the public with great admiration. The Queen was a significant patron of arts and creative organizations in the U.K. She illuminated the work of such groups as Britain's National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), from which she received an honorary award in 2013."
There is an old expression, "it skips a generation" [A trait or behavior occurring in a person and the person's grandchildren, but not in the intervening generation (original person's children)]. The Queen was loved by her people and understood them and her duties. Now the question is whether King Charles III, the longtime sovereign-in-waiting, can maintain public support for the royals across Britain and the Commonwealth. Charles III is reportedly a spoiled royal with a big ego and socially awkward personality.
I hate to mention Vladimir Putin in the same breath as Queen Elizabeth II. But his invasion of Ukraine to reestablish the Russian Empire and the Queens' passing are signs of a changing order in the world. Putin (69) has aged in isolation, and what he remembers about warfare has changed. He wants to go out being remembered as reunifying the old Soviet Union, but I suspect that is not in the cards. According to recent reports, thousands of Russian troops have abandoned their weapons and ammunition stockpiles and fled the Kharkiv region. Ukraine's offensive over the weekend has made significant headway and clawed back thousands of miles of the territory once lost to Russian forces. This development has caused issues for Putin at home and abroad. What's ahead? The use of nuclear weapons or the unexpected demise of Putin?
Our political leaders, on both sides of the aisle, appeal to the most radical parts of their base to avoid primary challengers. Media outlets and social media algorithms gravitate toward extremes, so much of what we hear and see confirms this perception. Common ground is hard to find, and problems are harder to solve. Add to these events the partisan polarization occurring in our world, and you have to ask, "What's ahead?"
What's ahead in the private social club scene in L.A? Apparently, times are changing, and as an old white male, my chances of joining one are slim. Don't worry; that's not what's ahead. Based on an LA TIMES article about L.A.'s new clubs by Andrea Chang, I'm no longer wanted in an L.A. club. Here are the new criteria. Having a lot of money is a good start. "Bonus points if you're young, successful, and demonstrate a winning personality; these days, not being white also helps.
What's ahead now that climate change is here? Heat waves. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, over the past thirty years, extreme heat has caused more weather-related deaths on an annual basis than any other natural calamity, including flooding, hurricanes, and tornadoes. California has recognized this and will be the first state to adopt a ranking system emphasizing the dangers of sweltering heat waves. The California EPA has been charged with creating a ranking system for extreme heat events by January 1, 2025.
With that thought in mind, it's time for a gin and tonic.
Cheers,
Richard V. Rupp, Author
Website – www.richardvrupp.com
Email – rupprisk@gmail.com
Copyright©2022 by Richard V. Rupp