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Sunday, May 14, 2017

The Writer's Life 5/14 - Wanna Cry

Here are highlights from an article in today's NY Post by Aaron Short, heavily edited by yours truly: State Police officers have doled out 14,542 summonses in NYC in the first four months of 2017, a 759% increase from last year's 1692. They gave out only four tickets here in 2015 and none in 2014. In December Governor Cuomo deployed 150 state cops to patrol city highways, bridges and tunnel crossings. Their presence achieved two goals: generating revenue for state coffers, and rankling Mayor de Blasio. The ticket blitz has likely brought in more than $3 million. A typical speeding ticket costs $203, with $88 in surcharges going to the state and the $115 balance to the city. A cellphone summons costs $288. Troopers have made 93 arrests so far this year, 48% more than the 63 in 2016. They made no NYC arrests in 2015.

And here's a snippet from an op-ed piece by Melanie Notkin, a sign of the times: ...for the first time in reported history over half, 53.8%, of women 25-29 are childless and a record 30.8% of American women 30-34 haven’t given birth. Most are college-educated, most are single. Traditionalists will likely weep upon reading those numbers.

And this from a story by Bill Anderson: A British computer researcher spent $10.69 on a plan to slow the global cyber attack that struck dozens of countries around the world. Deep inside the nasty “WannaCry” internet worm was a kill switch, likely inserted by the crooks in case something went wrong. It was a web site address. If any malware was directed to attack that address, its spread slowed. The slimes who orchestrated the scheme demanded $300 worth of BitCoins in exchange for captured files. Microsoft published an update in March designed to stop the virus. The gentleman wasn't sure what he'd acquired and had the grace to admit he'd stumbled into the rescue. Nonetheless, he deserves kudos. He saved a lot of people tears of frustration.

Carson Huey-You received a degree in physics Saturday at Texas Christian University. He's only 14. He began college at the ripe old age of eleven. He also earned minors in Chinese and math. I'm sure his parents shed tears of joy.

There were also tears of happiness at today's session of the floating book shop. It started when a young man purchased a book on depression and 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior by Scott O. Lilienfeld and Steven Jay Lynn. Then along came the Russian grandma and the granddaughter for whom she's amassing a library of classics. She found only a book in Russian today and was walking away when the kid, who'd read the sign around my neck, spoke to her. Grandma turned back and wound up buying A Hitch in Twilight and Killing. Thanks, Sasha. Later, a gentleman bought six hardcover best sellers for his mom: three by Danielle Steel, one each by Mary Higgins Clark, John Grisham and Nora Roberts. Finally, Monsey and one of her daughters approached. She was fascinated by a CD, San Patricio, a collaboration between Irish folk group The Chieftains and guitarist Ry Cooder. A blurb at Amazon describes the disc as: "... illuminating musical and historical bonds between Ireland and Mexico. The album tells the nearly forgotten story of the brave San Patricio battalion, a downtrodden group of Irish immigrants who deserted the US Army to fight on the Mexican side in the Mexican/American War." Who knew?
Vic's Sixth novel: http://tinyurl.com/zpuhucj 
Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc

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