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REPRINTED  FROM THE WHITE PLAINS WEEK INTERNETCAST OF AUGUST 21:

WELL YOU KNOW I WAS ACTUALLY SHOCKED SHOCKED WHEN THE CITY POSTING ON THEIR CITWEBSITE  THAT OPTIMUM SERVICE WAS OUT.  I HAD BEEN VIEWING STREAMING PROGRAM ON SUNDAY AND VISITING THE CITY WEBSITE ON SUNDAY, TOO.  NO REASON WAS GIVEN FOR THE OUTAGE.

THERE WAS JUST A LINK TO THE CITY CHANNEL THAT SHOWED THE CITY WEBSITE.

THE RELEASE SAID THE CABLE STATION STAFF AND OPTIMUM WERE TRYING TO LOCATE THE PROBLEM. WITH SERVICE BEING OUT, WE WERE NOT EVEN TOLD VERIZON SERVICE WAS RUNNING.

WHEN THE CITY ON WEDNESDAY CONFIRMED SERVICE WAS RESTORED. IT SAID THE IT WAS A WIRE PROBLEM IN A PUBLIC BUILDING.

I  CONSIDER THIS A PROBLEM THAT SHOULD BE DISCUSSED WITH THE OPTIMUMS AND VERIZONS OF OUR BRAVE, NEW, CONNECTED WORLD.

CAN THEIR NETWORKS BE STOPPED COLD BY JUST CUTTING A WIRE MANY OF WHICH ARE ON TELEPHONE POLLS? CAN THEY BE SABOTAGED IN A CONNECT-IT-YOURSELF EFFORT TO WIRE UP TO A SERVICE?

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT ONE LOOSE WIRE AND PUT OUT EVERY OPTIMUM SUBSCRIBER IN THE CITY?

Why should other utilities like Con  Ed have to rely on we the customer to tell them we are out of power? CON ED has a map of outages. They sanctimoniously put up when there are widespread power outages.

In fact this Optimum “out” is no minor incident. It is a wakeup call.

My telephone service with optimum was out three weeks and I went through call after call to Optimum’s automated service line, where I was consistently asked to reboot the system which did not work. The problem was I could not  get connected to the line.

After calling 855 line I finally got a person to talk to. They sent a technician over right away but he could not fix the problem, diagnosing that the wire was down to the  house and that another company had to reconnect the wire.

So they arranged for another tech to arrive. He came last Saturday. He surmised the problem that my line to one phone that was working had be to be connected to the modem (internet was working). He rigged my vitech unit into the modem and voila’ – the phone was back in business.

Despite Optimum being highly responsive and cooperative in working to locate where  the short circuit in the network was, they need to look as to why this happened and make sure it never happens again or  this cannot be done intentionally by communications terrorists for lack of a better term.

News judgment has to be made to inform people more explicitly on the front page of the city  website  or by email from the police or using the phone emergency alert system used for years to notify us of garbage collections. Had I not gone to the website to look at video I would not have known Optimum was out.

I had electric trains when I was a kid. When a train jumped the track, the layout would by short-circuited and other engines running would stop.

If our communications hookups  are as vulnerable as electric train sets are to be knocked out by building maintenance fiddling with connections without knowledge of what they are doing that is a problem. Or perhaps rats who love the taste of wire were the problem.

Details of the outage should be explored on steps to avoid “short-circuits” no matter how technical a staffer thinks they are, have to be secured.

Washington should stop worrying about ridding the country of people they do not like and pay attention to the networks that connect the country and how vulnerable the networks are to interference. You would think.

Dr Marisa DONNELLEY ‘s newsletter on White Plains Week last week, warned of the rise in smoking among young people.

Dr. Donnelley  wrote tobacco and vaping  are associated with an increased disease rate in loss of  the bone and gums that are holding your teeth IN PLACE. PLUS THERE OCCURS AN INCREASE IN THE SPACE BETWEEN GUMS AND TEETH.

I SAID IN MY PERSPECTIVE LAST WEEK THAT YOUNG PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO VAPE AS WELL AS THOSE WHO SHOULD KNOW BETTER YOU ARE POSING SERIOUS RISK TO YOUR TEETH. IF YOU CONTINUE TO SMOKE CHEW  OR VAPE YOUARE LOOKING AT MISERY AT THE DENTIST AS YOU AGE UP

WAIT THERE IS A REASON I AM BRING THIS UP –

THE PRESIDENT IS ABOUT TO APPOINT DR. HEIDI OVERTON HEAD OF THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION ACCORDING TO A NEW YORK TIMES STORY BY CHRISTINA JEWETT. MR. TRUMP HAS URGED APPROVAL OF FLAVORED VAPES. MOST RECENTLY,   AFTER THE PREVIOUS FDA HEAD  DR. MARTY MAKARY LEFT BECAUSE HE WAS NOT IN FAVOR  OF “ALLOWING MAJOR TOBACCO AND VAPE COMPANIES TO SELL FLAVORED E-CIGARETTES.”

A WEEK AFTER THE PRESIDENT LUNCHED WITH TOBACCO AND EXECUTIVES, THE FDA APPROVED MANGO AND BLUEBERRY VAPES. I RECALLWHEN INTERVIEWED THE FIRST VAPE SHOP OWNER ON PEOPLE TO BE HEARD 5 YEARS AGO. HE TOLD VAPES WERE INTENDED TO HELP SMOKERS CUT DOWN ON THEIR DEPENDENCE ON THE NICOTINE OF CIGARETTES AND HE TOLD ME THEY HELPED HIM QUIT BY GRADUALLY GIVING HIM LOWER AND LOWER DOES OF NICOTINE DOWN TO ZERO.

THAT THE PRESIDENT SUPPORTS THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY AND THE RECREATIONAL USE OF VAPES AND NEW YORK IS PROMOTING A CANNABIS DISORDER  IN VIEW OF THE DAMAGE SMOKING HAS DONE THE LAST 200 YEARS IS DEPRESSSING.

SPEAKING OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES  AND THE “WHO KNEW DEPARTMENT” THE TIMES  RONI CARIN RABIN REPORTED

“A GROWING NUMBER OF AMERICANS  SAY THEIR CANNIBIS USE IS “PROBLEMATIC,” ACCORDING TO A NEW STUDY RELEASED WEDNESDAY. APPARENTLY THE MOVIE REEFER MADNESS IS RIGHT.

YOU CAN GET ADDICTED TO MARIUANA. THE REASON: HIGHER CONTENT OF THE DRUG TETRAHYDRO CANNABINOL

TETRAHYDRO CANNABINOLIS THE PYSCHOACTIVE COMPOUND IN CANNABIS .

MANY VARIETIES OF  CANABIS PRODUCTS TODAY HAVE HIGHER AMOUNTS OF  TETRAHYDRO CANNABINOL  WHICH MAKES THEM MORE ADDICTIVE. THE STUDY APPEARED IN JAMA PYSCHIATRY . 

CANNIBIS USE DISORDER IS DEFINED AS EITHER BEING UNABLE TO QUIT OR CUT BACK AND CONTINUING TO USE IT  —

EVEN THOUGH IT LEADS TO INTERPERSONAL PROBLEMS.

BUT THANKS TO LEGALIZED CANNIBIS IN WHITE PLAINS WE NOW HAVE THIS STATE-SANCTIONED REVENUE SOURCE, WHICH IS THE REASON CANNIS WAS LEGALIZED BY THE STATE, WE HAVE ANOTHER VICE PROMOTED FOR ITS REVENUE PRODUCING BENEFIT TO THE STATE.

HERE IS WHAT THE STUDY OF CANNIBIS USE DISCOVERED:

9%  OF MEN  UP FROM 7% IN 2021 OF MEN USING CANNIBIS HAD THE DISORDER

WOMEN USING THE DRUG IN 2024 21% SAID  THEY USED CANNIBIS COMPARED TO 18% IN 2021

30% OF THE SURVEY PARTICIPANTS SHOWED SYMPTOMS OF CANNABIS DISORDER.

PERHAPS THE STATE SHOULD PUT WARNING LABELS ON CANNIBIS PRODUCTS: WARNING:SMOKING CANNIBIS CAN LEAD TO ADDICTION YOU CANNOT STOP AND DETERIORATE YOUR ABILITY CONDUCT PROFESSIONAL TASKS AND  RELATIONS WITH OTHERS.

 

THIS IS JOHN BAILEY REPORTING FOR WHITE PLAINS WEEK. GOOD NIGHT AND THANK YOU