IT Insights Blog — security

The votes have been counted, and the results are in. Donald J. Trump will be the next president of the United States of America. Trump’s victory is being heralded as “the biggest upset in modern political history.” The results seem to have left every American with the same question on his or her breath: What does this mean for the country?

One of my favorite actors is Paul Giamatti. His performances John Adams and Cinderella Man are spot on. Whether screaming pugilistic encouragement to Russell Crowe or reluctantly accepting acting advice from a family of cinephiles, he always seems to sum the situation up with a sentence or two. In the 2015 disaster flick, San Andreas, Giamatti (son of former baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti) plays Caltech seismologist, Dr. Lawrence Hayes.

Over the last two weeks, America has witnessed the rise and subsequent fall of a cultural icon by the name of Ken Bone. We were introduced to Ken on the night of the second presidential debate between POTUS hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Ken stood up in a white shirt, white tie and red sweater to ask a straightforward question about the energy crisis. Hours later he was a celebrity.

I was at a high-school football game the other evening watching the home-town team get beat like a rented mule. They were down by 30 points at the half and it didn’t look like things were going to get any better for them. One of the coaches gathered the defense and led them in a cheer: “Good, better and best. Never stop trying until the good is better and the better is best!” The players seemed to respond like a different team. They completely shut down the opposing offense, giving up just two first downs the entire second half, and coming back to make a game of it.

March 29, 845 A.D. The scene is Paris. Five-thousand Viking warriors plunder and occupy the city. The French king, Charles the Bald, wanting to get rid of these unwelcome intruders, offers a ransom of 7,000 livres (5,670 pounds), payable in gold and silver, if they agree to leave. As part of the deal, the Vikings promise they’ll take the loot and never return. Charles, eager to avoid a drawn-out and destructive fight and faced with a great many other kingly problems, settles up, hopeful that he’s seen the last of his northern visitors.