Oswald's crappy 6.5 Italian Carcano rifle Dallas, TX — Lee Harvey Oswald was a former Marine.    He was trained on the eight round semi-automatic M-1 Garand rifle.   In 1963 he military was dumping those fine rifles on the surplus market when they switched to the 20 round M-14 rifle. Klien’s Sporting Goods in Chicago was selling both the far superior M-1 Garand and the crappy 6.5 Carcano rifle that Oswald bought and used on Kennedy.   Of course Kline’s sold many other rifles by mail order back then.   Oswald selected the really cheap Carcano rifle.   He also bought a cheap 4X scope.   Had there been any kind of conspiracy Oswald would have purchased a far superior rifle like the M-1 Garand he was trained to use.   Certainly had others been involved a better rifle would have been chosen. The distance between Kennedy and the sixth floor window was just  81 meters .   Kennedy’s limo was traveling in a straight line away from ...

Los Angeles, CA —We are now in a truly multimedia world.   TV and Newspapers are on life support because of declining viewers and readership.   Today’s people want news on their terms, instantly, short, sweet and with compelling video. People want to see news on the iPhones and IPads.   They want it while they are between tasks. They seek it out while in the grocery checkout line or when waiting at the barber’s office or hair salon. The opportunities for citizen journalists are starting to surface.   Today the pay may be low but now’s the time to prepare.   You can be creative and lead the pack or be left in the dirt. You need writing skills.   Hopefully you learned them in school. Multimedia is the venue.   That means writing, photography, video and video editing.   You must be a master of all media forms.   You also need to learn how to transfer your work to the Internet.   Most people have some of these skills right now. ...

Los Angeles, CA- -While attending the German Film Pre-Oscar Reception here I saw an attractive lady and asked a fellow who I was chatting with what he knew about her.  He made a disapproving face and said she made documentary films about rocks.  He then said  that her films must be dreadful!  That lady was Petra Haffter and I didn't care about the the quality of her films because she had a great presence and she rang my bell.  I had to meet her!   I forgot the line I used on Petra, but she responded in a warm and friendly manner.  I liked her more by the second! Her personality was equally attractive!  Petra then invited my to a screening of her film series on rocks.  Suddenly in my mind I could see the disapproval on the face of of the guy who thought Petra's films must be dreadful.  I tried not to show Petra any skepticism but I had some serious doubts.  I then called the Goethe Institute and put in my RSVP for the screening. ...

Los Angeles, CA -My DJI Inspire 1 drone cost well over $3,000.00 extra batteries are well over $200.00 each.  Realistically you need several additional batteries if you plan to do any extended flying.   One of the batteries I purchased was only recharged seven times and somehow gave a "damaged cell" warning.  The battery is absolutely unusable.   Three DJI technical support calls later they told me to send it in with photos of all six sides of the battery with proof of purchase and I'd get a replacement.  Sounds simple!  Not so fast!  The date on the receipt Oct 2015 was not readable.  So they refused to send me the replacement.  Without a better copy of thr receipt I'm out of luck!  So now I'm supposed to kiss enough ass to get a better copy of the receipt from my dealer.  He's closed today so it will delay replacement assuming the dealer will generate another copy. My drone dealer is top notch in every way ...

LosAngeles, CA --instead of having a contest about the art of filmmaking, acting and soundtracks we now have a disgraceful political exercise, The Oscar Awards . The Olympic Games began as a way to unite people everywhere.  The common enjoyment of sports connected people with the  singleminded goal of excellence.   Instead of creating dividing issues with race, politics and religion the Olympics have brought people together. Likewise the art of entertainment should be a uniting force.  However the evil of division, hate and distrust has turned the Oscars into a political freak show. The participants now wear ribbons and bracelets and campaign for political crap that has nothing to do with art or entertainment.   Nobody benefits from divisive, abrasive or offensive political rhetoric, boycotts or blacklisting.  Those being offended the most are the ticket buying audience.  The only thing that should count at the Oscars are compelling stories told by t...

Los Angeles, CA- -As the final preparations are being made for Sunday's Oscar Awards Gala terrorism is a real possibility.  Terrorists love to create havoc during events that draw worldwide publicity. Having untrained minimum-wage earning workers in pseudo police garb is beyond silly.  Thankfully the LAPD will be out in force with every possible resource to deal with these issues.  I keep wondering when terrorists will employ mortars for assassination and terror within the USA? That may be old technology but teemed up with small computers those things would have amazing accuracy.  Air surveillance by helicopters or drones is  now more important than ever.  Our large shopping malls are perfect soft targets because they phased out armed security over 40 years ago.  Before everyone had a cell phone there was an advantage to mall guards with radios.  They could notify their office to call police to deal with problems.  Now anyone can make the ca...

I Los Angeles, CA --Last night I attended a screening of RACE at the Director's Guild Theater in Beverly Hills.  I was waiting and waiting to see my personal favorite actress, Carice van Houten playing Adolf Hitler's cinematographer, Leni Riefenstahl .     Riefenstahl was more than a filmmaker, she was an amazing artist that invented film equipment like jibes and cranes that are still in use today.  RACE was about the Berlin 1936 Olympic star athlete, Jessie Owens wonderfully played by a fine young actor, Stephan James.   The script by Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel was a historically correct, spellbinding masterpiece.   Actor, Jason Sudeikis rocked as Owen's coach, Larry Snyder .  The issues of racial differences and bigotry were overcome here by a simple conspiracy to make Owens the fastest man alive.  In 1936 while World War Two was still unthinkable the Nazis were rounding up and deporting Jews.  That atroc...