This is the second book in Michael Connelly’s series of novels about semi-disgraced Los Angeles Police Department Detective Harry Bosch. It wasn’t bad. Bosch becomes involved in the apparent suicide of a fellow officer. He isn’t supposed to work on the case but one thing (or one murder) leads to another. Besides, somebody has to figure everything out. The ice referred to in the title is a heavy-duty drug that’s being imported from Mexico. Being the kind of cop he is, Bosch ignores his bosses and takes his investigation south of the border. He even ends up in a tunnel again, as you would expect in another story about an ex-Viet Nam tunnel rat.
Hillary Clinton: Surprise Upon Surprise
Which presidential candidates are Americans most enthusiastic about? According to a Gallup poll, 65% of Trump’s supporters are either extremely or very enthusiastic about his candidacy. That’s not a surprise. His supporters are nothing if not enthusiastic. What’s unexpected is which Democrat has the most enthusiastic supporters. Gallup found that Hillary Clinton’s supporters are more enthusiastic about her than Bernie Sanders’s are about him. Fifty-four percent of Clinton supporters say they’re extremely or very enthusiastic about their favorite candidate vs. 44% of Sanders supporters. Given how much publicity Feeling the Bern has received, that’s quite a surprise.Â
But considering how well Clinton has done in primary elections this year (as opposed to the small-scale caucuses that have favored Sanders), we should expect that she has lots of enthusiastic supporters. Counting both primaries and caucuses, she has received 8.9 million votes vs. 6.4 million for Sanders. Winning by that margin in a general election would qualify as a landslide victory.
One might ask, however, why so many Americans are enthusiastically supporting such a devious and dishonest person? It’s probably because they don’t think she’s as devious and dishonest as the Republicans, many in the press and some Sanders supporters claim. Jill Abramson, a former editor of the New York Times, published an article yesterday with the title: “This May Shock You. Hillary Clinton Is Fundamentally Honest”. The article is worth reading in full, but here’s a little bit of it:
As an editor I’ve launched investigations into her business dealings, her fundraising, her foundation and her marriage. As a reporter my stories stretch back to Whitewater. I’m not a favorite in Hillaryland. That makes what I want to say next surprising. Hillary Clinton is fundamentally honest and trustworthy….
…Â Politifact, a Pulitzer prize-winning fact-checking organization, gives Clinton the best truth-telling record of any of the 2016 presidential candidates. She beats Sanders and Kasich and crushes Cruz and Trump…
Abramson says Clinton distrusts the press more than any other politician she’s ever covered and that she needs to resist her strong desire to protect her privacy.  If Clinton were less secretive, Abramson argues, fewer people would think she’s hiding something. But Abramson also worries that too many people expect “purity” from female politicians. No successful politicians are pure, not even female ones, but Hillary Clinton may be purer than most. What a surprise!
Something to Keep in Mind When a Bomb Goes Off
As long as there are religious fanatics who think it’s a good idea to blow themselves up in public places or otherwise kill as many innocent bystanders as possible, we shouldn’t be surprised when it happens in Europe or even in America. If you want complete protection from suicide bombers and their ilk, don’t go out in public. And if you do, avoid crowds. (While you’re at it, never, never get in a car, smoke, get drunk, eat fast food or keep a gun in the house.)
We should keep in mind, however, that these mass attacks on civilians happen a lot more often in places like Iraq and Pakistan than in Europe or the United States. While we all heard about the massacres in Brussels six days ago, three times as many people were murdered in Lahore and Baghdad this week.
On Friday, an ISIS suicide bomber killed 41 and injured more than 100 at a soccer stadium in Baghdad. Yesterday, a Taliban group that supports ISIS set off a bomb in a public park in Lahore, killing at least 70 people and injuring hundreds more.
We can always say these attacks don’t get as much attention in the West because they happen far away and they happen so often. Still, we should remember that the most frequent victims of radical, fundamentalist Islamic groups like ISIS and the Taliban are other Muslims. These fanatics aren’t waging war on the West so much as they’re waging war on the rest of the human race, and in particular on innocent Muslims who pose no danger to us or anyone else.
How (Not) To Use Google Maps
Like it or not, a person sometimes has to visit IKEA. It can’t be avoided if you live in the modern world (unless you happen to live in New Zealand, a small country the Swedes are still looking for). It’s been years since I last roamed IKEA’s circuitous aisles, but there I was again today.
The last time I drove to our nearby IKEA was in the pre-smartphone era. Nearing my destination, I misinterpreted an oddly-placed highway sign and drove off in the wrong direction. That precipitated driving through a seemingly endless series of industrial parks and vacant lots in the vicinity of Newark’s airport. Not wanting to repeat that fiasco, I looked at Google Maps to find a safer route.
This is what Google Maps had to say about the best route through Newark to IKEA:
Drive from I-78 E to Newark. Take exit 57 from I-78 E.
Get on NJ-81 S in Elizabeth.
Continue on NJ-81 S to North Ave E. Take the North Ave East exit from NJ-81 S.
Continue on North Ave E. Drive to Ikea Dr.
I looked at the map, made a few notes and we were on our way. I’d considered letting my phone talk me through the trip, but why bother? Look at those directions! Besides, if we don’t use our brains to perform easy tasks, how will we be able to do hard things? (Although, scientifically speaking, I’m not sure there’s any connection.)
As you might expect, it wasn’t a smooth trip. The trouble started when I realized there were some variations on exit 57, such as 57-A and 57-B and north to this and south to that. The trouble soon got worse when there weren’t any signs directing me to NJ-81. There were plenty of signs with many, many destinations, but not one gave a hint about finding NJ-81.
Suffice it to say that we got to IKEA eventually, didn’t have to walk through the entire store and the trip home was uneventful. But I did think about sending Google some nicely-worded criticism. What good are instructions to get on NJ-81 if there aren’t any signs telling you where NJ-81 is?
Before giving  Google a piece of what’s left of my mind, however, I went back and looked at Google Maps’ directions, as well as the accompanying map. That’s when I decided to click on one of the little white dots scattered about on the road between I-78 and IKEA. Lo and behold! The little white dots bring up tiny windows with further instructions, such as:
Use the middle lane to keep left at the fork and follow signs for US-1 S/US-9 S.
Hey, that’s the kind of information I needed when I was trying to find IKEA!
Obviously, these little windows wouldn’t help anyone driving a car or printing out directions. That got me to click on a little gray “>” symbol next to one of the instructions I’d attempted to follow. Lo and behold again! Clicking on the “>” next to “Drive from I-78 E to Newark. Take exit 57 from I-78 E” revealed more detailed assistance:
Use the right lane to take exit 57 for New Jersey 21 N toward Newark Airport.
Use the middle lane to follow signs for Main Terminals/North Area/South Area.
Use the middle lane to keep left at the fork and follow signs for US-1 S/US-9 S.
In fact, clicking on the “>” next to “Get on NJ-81 S in Elizabeth” revealed an entire trip in itself:
Use the right lane to keep left.
Use the right lane to turn slightly right (signs for US-1 S/US-9 S).
Keep right.
Use the middle lane to keep left.
Continue straight.
Use the middle lane to take the ramp to NJÂ Turnpike/Interstate 95/Dowd Ave/North Ave/Elizabeth Seaport.
It’s certainly to Google’s credit that they provide such detailed directions and their directions almost always get you where you want to go. On the other hand, if I’d realized how challenging it is to get from, for example, I-78 to NJ-81 (my favorite instruction being “use the right lane to keep left”), I would have chosen a less interesting route.
In conclusion, therefore, I offer the following advice, which I should remember to follow myself:
- When getting directions from Google Maps, click on the little “>” symbols in the list of directions or the little white dots on the map.
- If the symbols or dots reveal a series of complicated instructions, look for a different route.
- Turn on your damn phone when you don’t know where you’re going. Not wasting your brain power performing easy tasks will mean you’ll have more brain power for the hard things! (Although, scientifically speaking, that probably makes no sense at all.)
- If that doesn’t work, shop online.Â
He Wrote It, Not Me
Image
Actually, I think the masses of plain people will do okay this time.
Whereof One Can Speak 🇺🇦 
You must be logged in to post a comment.