"A Dog's Purpose" disturbing video

No, I haven't seen this picture, and I don't intend to either. I don't intend to spend my $$ on a film that was made by what I consider abuse to a dog.

TMZ has posted a video of a dog being forced into rushing water, and the dog was obviously terrified.

TMZ reports:

Quote:

You can see a trainer forcibly shoving a German Shepherd -- one of at least 5 dogs used in the production -- into the frothing water, but the animal wanted NO part of it ... and repeatedly clawed at the pool's edge. Sources connected to production tell us 8 outboard motors were used to churn the water and recreate a rushing river. The dog eventually got in the water -- or was forced in -- but was quickly submerged.

After being forced into the raging water, the dog is submerged and filming is halted while the staff scrambles towards the underwater dog.


I hope the film goes bust. There were plenty of witnesses to what was happening, and nobody stepped forward to stop it. At least, thankfully whoever was filming the video from behind the scenes put this out, and now the public can avoid supporting animal cruelty, by the withholding of their ticket dollars.

"A Dog's Purpose" disturbing video

Sunset Memorial Park - problems increase

Sunset Memorial Park (Cemetery) in Pearl City is in the news again. Families continue to try to improve the cemetery, the maintenance of which has been seemingly abandoned-by-the-cemetery-owners. Over the years, there are graves that are sinking, and the columbarium is falling apart and dangerous.

Finally it has come to this, as reported by KHON News:

Quote:

".... her family were in disbelief when they visited the cemetery a couple of days ago. A group of homeless people had set up camp over the graves of their father, uncle, and their aunt."

Whaaattt?? :eek:

Volunteers have offered to help over the years, "But they can’t do anything because of liability issues".

Quote:

Rep. Gregg Takayama, public safety committee chairman, says he plans to introduce a bill to address that, as well as get the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to put together a long-term plan for the cemetery, and allow the state to tap into the cemetery’s trust fund.

He plans on introducing the bill next week. It's an issue that can be influenced by the public's demanding that the state step up to help remedy the problem, instead of letting the conditions worsen each year.

Homeless ..... living in a cemetery ..... in Hawaii?? How sad that our state allows that to happen.

Sunset Memorial Park - problems increase

Falls Of Clyde desperation

that anything other than being considered by local officials or community leaders towards complete protection of this uniquely immense treasure is absolutely unacceptable, and that they are so insanely gung ho to destroy her is beyond a crime to history, Hawaii, and all humanity.
fortunately, there is awareness of her astonishing value that there is still hope of freeing her from the clutches of blatant stupidity, but it means Hawaii loses this incredible gem and risks the high seas in transport. at least she can go home to where there's full appreciation for such an awesome vessel.
http://ift.tt/2k4balA

Falls Of Clyde desperation

Questions about the Apple TV

Just wondering if anyone has an Apple TV device? I am kind of looking for information based on actual usage of the device.

If so does the device is able to access your iTunes library of purchased TV shows and movies from the Apple Store?

Does it also have access to your purchased music as well?

What happens if the size of your library is greater than 64 Gbytes? Can select which entries can be on the Apple TV device?

Questions about the Apple TV

Passengers (2016)

I saw the movie Passengers at the Ward Theater this past Wednesday night (1/11/17).

The movie is about a starship carrying 5,000 passengers and over 300 crew members to another star system that will take 120 years to complete. Everyone on board are in hibernation pods, 30 years into the journey the starship collides with some asteroids that its self repairing system can not repair the damage.

For whatever reason it wakes one of the passengers played by Chris Pratt who happens to have the skills needed to repair the damage but since he is not a crew member he doesn't have access to the ship to either repair the damage or wake up a crew member (their pods are off-limits to the passengers).

The movie has some plot holes in it. If you are the type of person who likes to rip apart sci-fi movies this might be one to watch.

While this movie won't win any kind of awards it is not a stinker either.

Passengers (2016)

Repealing of Obamacare (ACA)?

A news article today talks about "Republican-led Senate takes first step to repeal Obamacare".

Politics aside, what has been your experience with Obamacare? [The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly called the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare, is a United States federal statute enacted by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010.]

Are there things that were beneficial to you under ACA? I liked a few of the improvements under ACA that affected my medical insurance coverage:

• children covered until 26 yrs old
• elimination of denial of coverage due to pre-existing health problems
• elimination of life-time maximum
• preventive care, vaccinations and medical screenings cannot be subject to co-pay or deductibles
• annual out-of-pocket maximum

I hope that the shaking of the ACA tree at least leaves in place those valuable coverage protections for the insured and their families.


On the flip side, even though my premium rates were not really affected, but I know some folks have experienced awful increases.



What would you like to see kept in place and/or changed with the probably ACA shake up to come?

Repealing of Obamacare (ACA)?

Physician-assisted-suicide legislation?

I wonder if there will be a revisit by the legislature of the topic of right-to-die/death-with-dignity/physician-assisted-suicide legislation this upcoming session. Partly because of a law suit being filed by an experienced terminally ill lobbyist.

SA:

Quote:

Longtime state political lobbyist John Radcliffe has stage four liver and colon cancer and wants to choose when he dies. He already has chosen a doctor to help him, but he doesn’t want the doctor to be criminally prosecuted. So Radcliffe, 74, is asking the court to declare that Hawaii’s murder and manslaughter laws do not apply when a physician helps a mentally-competent, terminally-ill adult patient who chooses to die.

Will the legislature use the momentum of Mr. Radcliffe's lawsuit as a reason to pass new legislation that eliminates the illegality of physician-assisted-suicide?

Quote:

So-called death with dignity, or physician-assisted suicide legislation, have failed in the past on religious and moral grounds. One medical argument that was used to defeat the legislation is that advances in pain management have lessened patients’ suffering.

Have you experienced the care taking and heartbreak of having a terminally ill family member or friend? Did the intimacy of that experience give you a new perspective, or reinforce an already held opinion, on the topic of physician-assisted-suicide (pro or con or in between?)?

Physician-assisted-suicide legislation?

Hawaii Public Radio | HPR 1 | HPR 2

Hawaii Public Radio's 2 stations reach practically all of the Hawaiian islands these days with transmitters set up on each of the major islands to spread their programming of news, talk, classical music and more throughout the state.

HPR as the stations are commonly known will be "re-aligning" their station programming starting next month with the classical music format moving to all HPR 2 stations and the news / talk / jazz / world music programs moving to HPR 1.

Read all about it here:

HPR's Program Realignment on February 14

Quote:

We're excited to bring you more of what you love starting February 14. HPR-1: news, talk; jazz, blues, world music HPR-2: your home for classical music

I'm sure there are several HPR listeners here. Use this thread to discuss all things related to Hawaii Public Radio.

Hawaii Public Radio | HPR 1 | HPR 2

Fences

My movie going friend and I saw the movie Fences on Sunday afternoon (1/1/17). The major reason we went is the screenplay is by August Wilson who also wrote a play that we worked on in the early 2000's.

The movie is a drama and is set in mid-1950's Pittsburgh. It is about a man is building a fence around his house while dealing with his kids and his life.

Fences

Online petitions

Have you ever started or signed an online petition? How'd it work out?

I was looking for a particular petition that I'd heard about on Change.org. I've never signed a petition on that site, but did look around a bit while I was searching for the one I wanted to read. The topics about Hawaii are varied, here are a few for your reading enjoyment:

Quote:

BE IT RESOLVED by the people of the State of Hawaii that we request the Hawaii State Legislature and Governor to ban Donald John Trump from entering the State of Hawaii;

Quote:

Please ban the eating of dogs, cats and horses in Maui, Hawaii.

Quote:

Stop the spread of ukus in Hawaii pubic schools!

Quote:

We want the City to allow inflatable water slides at the City & County beach parks.

Quote:

Why NOT Hawaii for an NFL team?

Quote:

Stop the import of chickens to Maui for commercial sale. Maui has an ever-increasing chicken overpopulation problem.

Many petitions connected to Hawaii are related to animals (protect the seals, protect the turtles, no more chickens, don't eat dogs, etc). I'm thinking that the animal protection people utilize the petition process quite a bit, and the animal-rights issues presented can be of interest to mainland people too (results: more signatures). Matter of fact, not all the petitions about Hawaii even start here.

Online petitions

Moana

Saw the movie Moana at the Ward Theater on Sunday mid-day with friend.

If you like the type of movie that combines comedy, musical, adventure, and animation then this movie should fit the bill.

Moana