I DON'T LIKE GUYS WHO WEAR SUITS

I don't like guys who wear suits. They are usually preppy douche bags, who have a fetish-like obsession with money.

Case in point: two guys who I had to deal with at work today. They were Republicans (naturally) and they were wearing matching suits. I just kept think to myself, "What did these two dimwits do to screw up their lives to make themselves so uncool?" and also "Why is everyone here at work acting like these guys are cooler than me? These guys are dorks who wear suits!!!" The sad part is these geeks make more money than me.

An opinion, like this one, is why I'm considered the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!!

SAN DIEGO RADIO MARKET PROVES THE INDUSTRY WRONG

The talk among radio listeners in Springfield this week is the sudden disappearance of Bass Country 92.9 from the local radio dial has some folks upset. Of course, I believe there is WWWAAAAYYYY too much country music on local radio. My goal in radio was to eradicate country music from the air waves. Now it is to eradicate right-wing talk radio first and then gt rid of the country music.

You frequently hear radio big-shots claim that only country music and talk radio are the only formats that will thrive in the Ozarks, while other formats don't work. I heard for nearly a decade that a CHR station "wouldn't work anymore in the Ozarks." Last ratings period, Power 96.5 was third. I guess some people were wrong.

You hear many listeners say they like oldies and smooth jazz, but radio big-shots claim that those formats don't make money. Tell that to the San Diego radio market. The North County Times of San Diego has a great article about how supposedly unsuccessful radio formats are tops in that area of California.

I've always said Californians were smarter than Ozarkers. Of course, that opinion has made me the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

IDEA FOR A DESDINOVA NOVEL

I've noticed some of the other bloggers on SGF Blogs have published original fiction on their blog sites. I'm considering trying this. I thought it would be interesting to write a series of comical/satiric novels about myself - Desdinova the Super Villain of the Ozarks.

There have been very few super villains who have been the main character in a series of novels. The only ones I can think of are Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu and Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter. In each novel, Desdinova would commit a crime that would horrify the Ozarks, but would probably not be taken seriously in California, New York or even Oklahoma. The local authorities would be so incompetent that they would be unable to stop Desdinova.

The plot of the first novel would be similar to John Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos, which has been filmed twice under the title the Village of the Damned. The plot is also based on the old joke about "something in the water."

Desdinova develops a technique called "covert hydro fertilization." He uses this technique to impregnate women attending a convention for Republican women through complimentary bottled water given to those attending. The women are not only shocked that they are pregnant (since Republicans don't have sex) but their pregnancies only last three weeks.

Once the children are born, they begin to grow and mature rapidly. The boys, who all look like the cute little boy pictured above, have a maniacal laugh (Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!). They do horrible things to embarrass their parents in front of their rich friends. Slowly they begin to try and bump off their parents. That is when it is discovered that they are under the power of Desdinova and their goal is world domination! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Just an idea so far.

ANDY OF MAYBERRY FANS IN THE OZARKS CELEBRATE THE RETURN OF THE B&W EPISODES

If you watch the news you know that there are horrible things going on. The worst oil spill in U.S history, never ending war in the middle east, Nashville destroyed by flooding, not to mention the economy, unemployment, and housing market, however, Ozarkers are rejoicing.

Yes, Ozarkers are wetting themselves with happiness because KY 3 has announced that they will be showing the black and white episodes of the Andy Griffith Show starting next week. As you know I think Ozarkers are obsessive about the Andy Griffith Show to such a point it is nauseating. KY 3 announced this on their Facebook sight Thursday and soon Andy of Mayberry fans were giddy with glee.

I personally don't hate the color episodes of the Andy Griffith Show. It is shocking how some grown people, men especially, get angry when KY 3 or TV Land shows the color episodes. Of course, I have a theory about the local guys who get upset about the color episodes of the Andy Griffith Show.

I still cannot believe that none of the local TV stations have never ran Batman in reruns. Maybe they are still upset about this incident during the shows original run. I'll just have to settle for this You Tube channel.

And why was Get Smart never shown in reruns in Springfield? Or the Adventures of Superman or Have Gun Will Travel or Dark Shadows? Instead I have to buy the DVDs to see these shows, while the Andy of Mayberry fans get to watch their favorite show for free.

Besides, who would want to live in Mayberry? They probably have only one radio station and it is a country station owned by the Shepherd Group that plays that "Chicken Fried" song every hour. Also, there is no diversity in Mayberry. Everyone in Mayberry is WHITE. Yuck!

Of course, opinions like this one is why I'm considered the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I MISS THE CRAIG HALL CROWD & I STILL HATE THE PREPPIES

Permit me to wax nostalgic for a bit, but this post has been coming for awhile and it is something I have to get out of my system. I've been thinking about my college years, when I was obtaining my Bachelor of Science in Media. I was just out of high school, away from home and I didn't have a job, so I was able to enjoy myself and have fun.

I found it was easier to make friends with people at SMSU (now known as MSU) than it was in the Lebanon R-3. For one thing, the need to conform to what everyone else was doing disappears in college. Also, I seem to have more in common with the city kids. We tended to like the same music, movies and other activities. We were the "Craig Hall Crowd," because that was where the communications, media and drama classes were held.

The people I tend to hang with in college tended to wear tie dye shirts with peace signs on them or shirts that said "EAT THE RICH" on them. Some even had pink t-shirts with a photo of Howard McNear, the barber from the Andy Griffith Show on the front and the words "PINK FLOYD" on the back. Get it! Yeah, it was funnier in 1987. We tended to drive older model small cars with bumper stickers reading "He who dies with the most toys, STILL DIES" or "Wouldn't be nice if the schools had plenty of money and the Pentagon had to have a bake sale?"

Our dorm room walls were covered in posters of Jim Morrison, Ozzy Osbourne and James Dean, as well as numerous assorted scantly clad women. The only names I can think of for these women were Marilyn (The Seven Year Itch subway grate pose), Farah (These were usually kind of ragged because they had been around for several years), Brooke and Elvira (Yes, THAT Elvira - usually these were Budweiser promotional posters, so you wonder if these guys were more attracted to beer than the big breasted Goth chick). Oh, I cannot forget the Tennis Girl poster (above).

I should point out that there was a boom in psychedelic music and fashion. Part of this may have been because Rolling Stone was celebrating its 20th anniversary and running a lot of retrospective article on the Summer of Love and the 60s. However, as I look back, we may have been rebelling against the "Just Say No" crap that had been forced down our throats in junior high and high school.

There were some people that we didn't like. These people were what we called Preppies. These people were like the villains in a lot the comedy films of the time. While we were wanting to Bluto from Animal House, these people wanted to be Greg Marmalard and Douglas C. Neidemeyer from Animal House. These people took things way too seriously. They were like the people we didn't like in junior high and high school. They were all involved in Young Republicans and came to class wearing ties. They were always business majors of some sort, only interested in money and kissing butt. They were overachievers, who felt Bart Simpson was a bad role model for children. Bad part I see many young college kids now who are exactly like the Preppie kids. Kind of sad when you think about it.

Someone at the Standard gave one of these boneheads a column. I can remember his last name was Seitz, because I thought he was full of baloney. He spread hate toward anyone who didn't think like him and his tie wearing Preppie friends. He probably is either a talk radio host or a weenie blogger. They went to little meetings on Monday night where they listened to speeches by Mel Hancock and Jean Dixon. Needless to say these people were not out having fun like the rest of us.


I guess what has brought this on is the fact I keep running into or seeing the Preppies around Springfield, but the people I liked are nowhere to be seen. Maybe they went back to St. Louis, Kansas City and Chicago. At least one person, went to Hollywood. I see her on TV from time to time. I guess the Preppies were from here in Springfield. I hope my friends are still they way they were when we were in school. After all the Preppies are all still the obnoxious little twerps they were when we were in school.

Of course, opinions like this are why I'm the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

SOMETHING FUNNY ABOUT THESE "MARRIED" SPRINGFIELD BOYS

This post will probably upset most of Springfield, but I feel this needs to be brought out into the open. Some of the other bloggers, such as Busplunge and Fat Jack, have brought this up in various post and it always produces a flurry of negative comments from those on the right (Usually that little punk named Jeremy). I don't allow comments, so I feel safe. I have noticed, while eating at a pizza buffett here in town, that there are a great number of attractive women married to upwardly mobile men who are closeted gay.

I know what you people are going to do. You will start saying I'm an evil person for suggesting this, but I'm observing this more and more in our community. You will see a whole group of families at a restaurant. The children will be eating and playing. The mothers will be swapping "mommy talk." While all of this going on, these lovely ladies' husbands are winking at each other, between yelling at the kids and talking about sports. Before anyone says it is my imagination, I want to point out that, at some point, one of these "family" men will say to another one (in a high feminine voice) "This chocolate chip pizza is to dddiiiieee for!"

They have all the trappings of being the kind of men that talk radio show host and News Leader letter writers think everyone should be. They drive an Escalade plastered with a McCain-Palin sticker and a "Support the Troops" magnet. They are wearing T-shirts with religious theme or a sports team logo on them. However, these guys act like their wives are a just a person who came along for the ride. No hugging, kissing or hand holding. She is just a kid wrangler.

I firmly believe there is a secret network of conservative groups and churches in this community that fix successful, gay Republican men up with attractive "beards" looking for a meal-ticket. They may have connections to some national groups.

I've noticed several ways to tell if a guy is one of these closeted-gay-conservative-family-guys-married-to-an-attractive-woman.

1. They call sports talk radio and whine about how people making fun of Tim Tebow.

2. They cry along with Glenn Beck.

3. They can't get their Blue-Ray DVD of Avatar to work in their DVD player and blame "liberals in Hollywood" for this.

4. They trash poetry books by MSU professors on their blog.

5. They are offended by Katy Perry’s "I Kissed a Girl."

6. They won't bring their wife's fudge to the office cookie swap at Christmas because they fear being labeled a "fudge packer."

7. They talk about how they think Sarah Palin is more attractive than Paris Hilton. They also think Dr. Laura is more attractive than Kim Kardashian.

8. They have a phobia about pink toothbrushes.

9. They tell people their occupation is a venture capitalist.

10. They have referred to Scott Brown as a "hottie."

Personally, I think someone should just let these guys be gay. These attractive women could be better suited with a guy like me. It looks like someone could find me an attractive wife. I may not be a Republican, from a well-to-do family or have a successful business, but I AM HETEROSEXUAL.

Of course, opinions like these are why I'm considered the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

THE DEVIL MAKES OZARKERS BE CHEAP

I've talked to several restaurant servers and coffee braristas in Springfield, who are complaining about a self-righteous and mean spirited (no pun intended) trend. There are some Ozarkers are not leaving their servers a monetary tip. Instead they are leaving religious tracks.

A few years ago, there was a report that came out saying that Springfield, Missouri was in the Top Ten of the worst tipping cities. These people work hard for very little money. They depend on tips to get by.

Also, Jesus would not approve of your greed, you Pharisees. Of course, opinions like this are why I'm the Super-Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

BETTER THAN STEALING CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

There was a form on a Dominoes Pizza box for a Jackie Stiles Basketball Clinic. I thought I would sign up one of her biggest fans. Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I'M A VILLAIN BUT SHE IS A HERO???

There was an incredibly stupid letter in the Springfield News Leader a few days ago by a woman who bragged about deleting her kids MySpace and Facebook accounts. There were people in the comments section saying "Good for you," "Way to go," and "I applaud you stance."

This is what is wrong with Springfield and the Ozarks. A woman who deletes her kids MySpace and Facebook friends is considered a hero, but anonymous blogger who pokes fun at talk radio scumbags, weenie-bloggers, tea-baggers, right-wingers and cranky adults is considered "a bad guy." This is another example of what I call Ozarks Correctness.

Personally, I think what this woman did is CHILD ABUSE, just like not allowing you kids to watch cartoons or listen to rock music. They should put people like this in prison. Of course, opinions like this are why I'm considered the SUPER VILLAIN OF THE OZARKS!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I ATTENDED THE OCTOBER BLOGGER MEETUP

Once a month Springfield area bloggers meet at Patton Alley Pub. I was able to attend for once. I met some bloggers I was unfamiliar with. I will be adding them to my blog role. The only person there that I already knew was Sarah Austin of SGF Blogs and A Fool of Myself.

Since I rarely attend, I thought I would take some photos to prove I was there. Here they are, even though they are kind of fuzzy. I can build giant robots and ray guns, but I can't take photos with my Blackberry yet. Left to right: Nigel Holderby of Tome Curator, Carie Benton of Our Crooked Tree, Uli Gulje of Half Past Awesome, Sarah Austin of A Fool of Myself & SGF Blogs, Linden A. Mueller of Linden's Pensieve.

This is me with Carie Benton, Sarah Austin and Linden A. Mueller.

I always have fun at these meetups. I wish I could attend more and I still need to get my Blogaroni from Larry Little. The good part was no weenie-bloggers showed up. If they had I would have vaporized them with my raygun. Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

SPRINGFIELD MUSIC LEGEND BENNY MAHAN DIES

Unfortunately, I never had a chance to see him perform live, but I've heard some recordings of his. I also recognize his name from countless marquees in Springfield during my youth. Local music legend Benny Mahan died over the weekend at age 65. The Springfield News Leader had a nice article Sunday on "The Local King" or music.

I also want to point you in the direction of a post on the Queen City Roller blog. It was posted about Benny Mahan on Saturday.

Tuesday evening, several people on Facebook mentioned his passing. A short time later, KSPR's Joe Daues mentioned he had talked to the family who said Benny Mahan was not dead but in the hospital. I didn't hear anymore, so I posted a message on Art Morris' Missouri Radio Message Board in hopes of hearing from someone who knew how he was doing. I had to keep bumping it because of the clogger/trolls that I mentioned in my previous post.

For some reason the subject of rock and roll and the local music scene upsets the clogger/trolls (They tend to listen to radio stations that don't play music), however, I received an e-mail on Friday from a friend of Benny Mahan's.

"It seems he had multiple bypass surgery on Monday and came through that ok. Sometime after that he had some plaque come loose in the arteries to his brain and suffered a series of mini strokes. He is in ICU and the prognosis is not too promising. Benny has a great love of life and hopefully his love of life will pull him through this. He certainly could use all the prayers you could say for him and if you're not a believer then just think positive and hopefully that will help pull him through this."

On Saturday, I contacted this person about the e-mail and they informed me that Benny Mahan had passed away.

I'm going to allow comments on this post for fans of Benny Mahan's. I will post them as soon as I can get them while screening out the trolls (I'm the unpopular one, not Benny). Also, you could post a message in the thread on the Missouri Radio Message Board (You will have to register).

THE LEGEND OF SHEBBA THE BELLY DANCER

This post on my blog has been over a year in the making. I had to go look through some of the old News Leaders and Daily News on microfilm at the Springfield Library Center to find the information I was looking for. It was in regards to a person known to many as "Shebba the Belly Dancer." When I was small, I remember that stories on the KY 3 6 o'clock news about "Shebba" sparked chuckles from my parents, but I also remember that the laughter stopped when "Shebba" took her own life. That name was stuck in the back of my brain for years, but I didn't know what it was that "Shebba" did.

Some of the info came from the memories of some veteran news people here in town, but most of it came from newspaper articles. I will not give her real name out of respect for any living family members. Also the photo above is not "Shebba" but a generic belly dancer.

"Shebba the Belly Dancer" first came to the attention of Ozarkers in 1977, when she asked to refuse her a place to display information of the benefits of belly dancing and how to get involved in belly dancing classes. City fathers thought she was going to be belly dancing in the courthouse. This spawned several visits to Springfield city council meetings where Shebba railed against the city council members for not listening to her when she tried to tell them what she wanted to do (They did allow her to set up a display with brochures in the courthouse rotunda).

The next time folks heard of her was when she showed up a city council meeting where a group called Springfield Council Against Pornography was pushing a tough anti-porn ordinance. Shebba told everyone that she recognized the preacher heading the anti-porn group as a man, who had tried to hire her and her dance troupe to perform a "nude fire dance" for a party with some of his male friends and possibly make some "films." The preacher resigned his position as head of the group. He didn't admit to Shebba's charges, but said the accusation drew too much attention to him (Some locals say that Shebba's accusations held water - one long- time Springfieldian referred to this as a "Baptist Boogie Nights").

The next month, Shebba had a scuffle at her home with Springfield PD when they came with a search warrant. It was believed that Shebba and her husband had reported a burglary and vandalizing of the home earlier. The police came to search for evidence that she had damaged the home herself as part of an insurance fraud scheme. This began a succession of assault charges, court appearances, police visits and fights with neighbors. One neighbor claimed that she tried to shoot him. She was charged with firing a gun into a building (she died before this went to trial).

In the middle of all of this, she would frequently call members of the media to tell them about the benefits of belly dancing and the "evils" of the Springfield city council and police department. One Springfieldian remembers that she once performed a sabre dance on the porch of the police department, facing Chestnut Expressway, and knocked the P & O off of the side of the building with her sabre, so it read "SPRINGFIELD LICE HEADQUARTERS."

Shebba's neighbors asked Mayor Paul Redfern to have her locked up. In August of 1978, she went to jail before being sent to Park Central Hospital for psychiatric evaluation. While on a weekend furlough from the hospital, she went back to her old neighborhood and walked around shouting "SHEBBA IS BACK!"
One of the neighbors snitched to the Assistant Greene County Prosecutor, who revoked her furloughs. A judge, shortly thereafter, ordered Shebba to be transferred to the State Mental Hospital in Fulton. While waiting for her transfer, she hung herself in a closet with a bed sheet.

The News Leader tried to interview neighbors, but many would not speak to the reporter. One neighbor, who said she never had problems with Shebba, blamed the other neighbors and the assistant prosecutor. Shebba's psychiatrist said he thought the prosecutor's office was over zealous, while the prosecutor's office said they believed that she was "a threat to the community."

A neighbor was quoted in the News Leader as saying "We didn't want her to die." It was a sad ending to a story that started with the same recurring theme that all problems start with - the Ozarker's repressed sexuality and there need to find "an enemy." Was Shebba "a threat to the community" or just to her nosy neighbors? Only God knows that.

The community has a problem with thinking that someone is "the enemy" or "a threat" to "the good life we have in the Ozarks." If Shebba was such "a threat" how come only those who dealt with her in someway remember the details and some of those feel she got raw treatment. Most current Springfieldian's have never heard of her and even some old timers memories of her are vague as to what she did.

I'm sure some people will be upset by this post. They will go into the entomology of some of the words I used in this piece or find a neighbor who "still has nightmares about Shebba" or call me "an unpleasant coward" because I "call people names" (That is like the pot calling the kettle black).

You might say Shebba the Belly Dancer was the original SUPER-VILLAIN OF THE OZARKS!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

ED SULLIVAN OFFENDED OZARKERS IN 1960

My twin brother/roommate has been working on a novel for several years now. The novel takes place in a small southwest Missouri town in the 50's and early 60's. He spends his off hours at the Springfield Library Center looking at old Springfield Daily News and Springfield News Leader & Press from the 50's and early 60's. I sometimes go with him.

I had remarked that I had seen very few of the "typical" anti-media/entertainment letters that have become so prevalent in the News Leader over the years. Then we came across a several letters in the March 1960 Sunday News Leaders (they only ran letters on Sunday back then - Thank God) having to do with "vulgarity" on the February 21st Ed Sullivan program.

I should note that the first letter writer mentioned "not hearing" Jack Parr's "offensive" joke (That is because it was edited out before the broadcast, dummy), but was shocked by the "vulgarity" that was "set to music" on the Ed Sullivan Show. She felt the FCC should step in and the Ed Sullivan Show should be taken off the air. Follow up letter writers said they had not seen the act not the Ed Sullivan Show, but they felt that the FCC and the TV stations should take the Ed Sullivan Show off the air. DOESN'T THIS SOUND LIKE EVERY STUPID LETTER IN THE NEWS LEADER? Just substitute The Simpsons, Roseanne, Twin Peaks, Beavis & Butthead, Ellen, Friends, Seinfeld, David Letterman and MTV for The Ed Sullivan Show and you have about any letter that has ran in the News Leader in the past 20 years.

I found a website that list the guest for each Ed Sullivan Show. I guessing that the Ozarkers were offended by (Are you ready for this?) ballet dancing choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Maybe the tights were exposing too much or Ozarkers resented Sullivan for "puttin on them thar fancy toe daincers in thar underwar instayed of good daincin like dey have on the Ozark's Jubilee."

The people who wrote those letters probably were the parents of the people who wrote the anti-Simpson letters and anti-Normal Heart letters and they are the grandparents of people who complain about Family Guy, Sponge-Bob, Letterman's jokes about Sarah "Moosaloony" Palin and those Illusions Gentleman's Club ads on Jock 98.7.

Yes, Ozarkers have always been a bunch of crazy prudes.

DOES SPRINGFIELD STINK?

I want to address something that is not being talked about on either KSGF or KWTO. It's something that is not being written about in the News Leader. None of the TV stations have reported on this. I going to say this delicately yet in terminology that even a small child could understand: SPRINGFIELD SMELLS LIKE POTTY.

The area where it stinks the most is Sunshine and Highway 65. However, in the last week I have noticed this stink now covers an area from Sunshine and Hwy 65 to about Battlefield and Lone Pine.

It is obviously a problem with the city sewage system that needs to be fixed. It is really bad on hot days. I'm sure some of our typical Springfield cranks will start in with the old "It-will-cost-the-taxpayers-money" garbage they start in with when any improvements are needed in the city. Think about this folks, DO WE WANT OUR TOWN TO SMELL LIKE A TOILET? Something is wrong and it needs to be fixed.

If You Don't Agree With Sarah Overstreet On This One, You Can Drown Yourself

I know I have given Sarah Overstreet a hard time about a few of her columns, but her column in Sunday's News Leader was about one of my big complaints about Springfield - the flooding problem during the rains. I have complained about the streets flooding during the slightest rainstorm since 1987. Usually, falling on deaf ears or having some Ozarker tell me "We don't want to pay the taxes to fix it."

My parents attended a funeral here in town on June 13th. It rain quite a bit that day. They told me they would never again doubt me when I said the streets of Springfield flood when it rains.

Sarah suggest that the resistance needs to stop: "The scenario again is as follows: Old infrastructure, lots of old and new problems to be fixed, and virtually no funds in comparison to need. If you care about your fellow citizens and don't want to see them crying outside their houses and picked up by fire-and-rescue units, you're going to have to give up some greenbacks. It won't be much per resident, but we've got to push the issue and be willing to follow it up with "yes" votes.

This is one time where the "we already pay too much taxes" argument just doesn't wash. Don't want to help? Tell that to the guy sitting in the pew with you next Sunday, who's been up all night with a bucket bailing out his basement."

Of course, in the comment under this column on the website, some idiot is claiming the photos of flooding where "doctored" by the News Leader. Well, then there are doctored photos on the TV station websites and well as the Remembering Springfield MySpace site. There is a photo over at Ebbett's Field of a guy kayaking down Walnut Street.

Ms. Overstreet says she will have more articles on this in the coming weeks. Good. Here is MY suggestion if you feel as strongly about this as I do.

1. Carry a whiffle ball bat with you on the days we have rain.
2. Bring up the streets flooding in conversation.
3. If someone tells you that it will cost tax payers money and we pay too much taxes to fix it, you have Desdinova's permission to HIT THEM UPSIDE THE HEAD WITH THE WHIFFLE BALL BAT! Or you could...
4. Take them outside to the nearest flooded area and "baptise them" until the "believe" we need to overhaul the drainage system. Or...
5. Just ask them the old Bill Cosby line, "How long can you tread water?"

What is it going to take to solve this problem? Loss of property or life. How long can we tread water?