Age of Information is also Age of Disinformation

We are living in the age of information. Never before have people all over the world had access to so much information. Today we, unlike our ancestors, do not have to travel to the great universities, libraries, and museums of the world to access arcane and obscure information. We just "google it." The world of information is a few computer clicks away. What a great time to be alive.

Data appears to be the gold standard these days. As just one example, data drives sports whether professional or junior varsity. NFL players consult their laptops on the sidelines. MLB, always a data greedy sport, uses almost instant data to analyze every aspect of the game. Back in the day, managers would shift their infields based on a hunch. Today infield shifts are much more prevalent because the manager possesses precise and up-to-date data on each opposing player.

Watching a professional golf tournament on TV is frequently like being in a physics classroom. In addition to the data golfers often referred to ( distances, speed of greens, number of birdies on a particular hole), today's TV viewers know the angle of impact, clubhead speed, trajectory, and distance traveled. All of this almost immediately after the swing.

Unfortunately, the same technology that provides all of this instant information is also being used to spread disinformation.

Back in the day, we would receive detailed information from newspapers which appeared on our doorsteps once a day. We would receive more up-to-date, albeit brief summaries on the radio, and then in the evening, we were able to watch a fifteen-minute TV account of the world and national news. These news sources were held to a standard of truth and fairness. Readers, listeners, and viewers could be reasonably certain of the facts reported. (Of course, even in those days, the question of what to report or not to report was a concern.)

False on so many levels, but repeated by many.

Today, almost anyone with a computer can publish whatever information they choose, and therein lies the problem. Anyone can fabricate a story and throw it out into cyberspace and there will be some who believe it, no matter how absurd because it plays to their fears and reinforces their prejudices. In the 2016 presidential election, fanciful, undocumented stories were everywhere on the internet, and many readers/viewers believed them and reposted them on Facebook or Twitter.


And then there are the bots--algorithms designed to send out millions of misleading or false stories. Most recently, Russian bots bombarded US internet users with seemingly scientific information about the evils of the MMR vaccinations. The resulting confusion prevented parents from vaccinating their children, and then the US experienced an unnecessary number of cases of measles.

On the one hand, the Age of Information is the best of worlds in that it allows everyone a voice and makes unlimited amounts of information available to all. The great democratizer. On the other hand, it is the worst of worlds in that it allows almost anyone to spread lies or recruit suicide bombers.

So what's a person to do in this new age?

The rules of navigating this new arena are quite obvious, but a bit cumbersome.

Check the source. If the source of an anti-vax article is an institution that no one has ever heard of, it's probably bogus, but one can always use independent fact-checking sites. The top fact-checking sites are FactCheck.org, Politifact.com, FactChecker.com (Washinton Post), Snopes.com. Images as well can be misleading, and TinEye.com will trace the origin of a particular photograph.

Depend on established news organizations whose reputations depend on getting the story right the first time. NPR, ABC, CBS, or NBC are run by real journalists who get the story corroborated by several sources before publishing it.

Triangulate. If the story is from an unfamiliar source, check to find it in the New York Times, The Hill*, Politico, Axios or other mainstream sources. If you have three respected sources agreeing, the fundamentals of the story are most likely accurate.

Facebook etc. channel information to you based on what you read and send to friends. Therefore one should view items from sources other than those catering to your point of view. You will then be exposed to uncomfortable information with the result that you have to give the issue some serious thought.

Share judiciously. If a news item seems sensational or extreme, don't share it; it's probably not true. Recall those people who shared the false article about Pope Francis endorsing Trump in 2016. You don't want to be one of those people.

Another challenge of the Information Age is that it threatens our privacy. In order to participate in the advantages of the internet, we have to expose some of our personal information. Fortunately, governments are beginning to demand that internet companies protect our private information.

The Information Age is upon us whether we like it or not. Ignoring it is not an option. We can embrace it and demand that it "do no evil,' and respect our privacy. Not easy, but necessary.






* The Hill, a conservative news organization, has a tendency to report and perpetuate conspiracy theories.

Memorial or Decoration Day

Everybody loves Memorial Day. It is the traditional beginning of summer, a well-deserved three-day weekend of relaxation and leisure recreation.

But then we remember that this day is set aside to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of preserving our constitutional democracy. 

Images of Arlington National Cemetery, the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer in Normandy, and the Vietnam Wall in Washington remind us that trying to solve problems on a battlefield destroys both the victorious and the vanquished. In the Civil War, for example, 500,000 soldiers died - 2% of the population.

Some of us who have been hanging around this planet for quite a few years will remember this day was often referred to as Decoration Day. At a Civil War memorial event at Arlington National Cemetery, General John A. Logan declared May 30 to be "Decoration Day." He said the fallen should be honored by "...strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating, the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country..."

However, in the 20th century, especially after WWI (over 100,000 American deaths), the term. " Memorial Day," became increasingly popular in that it honored all American military fatalities, not just those of the Civil War.*

In 1971 Congress made Memorial Day an official national holiday to be celebrated on the last Monday in May.

In 2019, the last Monday of May is a good time to not only remember the fallen but remind ourselves of the indiscriminate and senseless slaughter of war.

*Veterans Day, on the other hand, pays tribute to all who have served in the military.

Is there any limit to what Trump can get away with?

A constitutional democracy is in danger when elected officials choose loyalty to party or fidelity to a president over the constitution. Regrettably, the USA has reached this perilous point.

We currently have elected officials who are willing to ignore the rule of law in order to maintain the power their party enjoys; or even more frightening, they are afraid to incur the wrath of the president.

President Trump "reportedly told Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan that he would grant him a presidential pardon for breaking immigration law. Trump specifically reassured McAleenan that he can count on a pardon if he is arrested and convicted of denying lawful asylum seekers entry into the country." (Robert Reich)

Such behavior has to be an impeachable offense, but our elected officials are remaining silent. And what is worse, the media and the citizenry have become desensitized to this sort of attack on the rule of law. We have been bombarded for two years with presidential behavior no one could have predicted. 

The sad fact is we have a president who has no respect for the rule of law or the constitution. Within the past few days, the President of the United States tweeted: " We have the worst laws of any country in the world." Let that sink in for a minute. 

Perhaps they are the "worst laws" because Mr. Trump so frequently finds himself in conflict with them. Since Congres has requested Mr. Trump's tax returns from the Treasury Department, the Secretary, after consulting with the White House, is refusing to turn them over as required by law -- that must be one of the "worst" laws.

And lest we forget, in the early hours of his presidency Trump shared in the Oval Office secret information with  Russian officials. I think there is a law against that sort of behavior.

Our elected officials cannot continue to ignore this president's attack on our country's laws.

Over and above the rule of law, our country subscribes to the rule of decency. Consider for a moment how often Mr. Trump has violated our sense of decency. At the present time, it appears that the White House, influenced by Stephen Miller, is about to reintroduce the policy of separating children from parents seeking asylum.

History has recorded the Japenese internment during World War II as a low point in our history, but at least in those days, we did not separate the children from their parents.

And finally, there is the rule of common sense. Just recently, our president has told us the wind power causes cancer, and that the US if full -- I guess in that case, the government should start dispensing birth control pills. 

When will elected officials demonstrate the courage to reinstate the rule of law, the rule of decency and the rule of common sense? Hopefully, sooner rather than later.

The Paragon Hotel: Nobody's Here

This novel, The Paragon Hotel, by Lyndsay Faye brings to mind a poem by Emily Dickinson:


I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you - Nobody -too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise - you know.

Alice James, 25,  the central character in the novel, acquires the sobriquet of "Nobody" because as a child when asked "Who's there?" she answers: "Nobody." Her mother jokingly starts referring to her as "Nobody" and surprisingly, Alice likes it. She likes being inconspicuous, always lurking about unnoticed, listening and observing. 

This trait, however, does not go unnoticed. A "friend" of her mother realizes the advantage of being a Nobody and recruits her into his Mafia family in the Harlem of the 1920s. Being part Italian she moves about the neighborhood unnoticed, but ever vigilant and observant. and provides Mr. Salvatrici information about his enemy, the Boss of Bosses.

Such doings, of course, lead to trouble and Nobody, nursing a couple of bullet wounds, flees Harlem and heads cross country to Portland, Oregon, because that is as far as she can go in this country and she can get there by train. And, it is in Portland that she ends up as the only white in the all-black Paragon Hotel.

And thus begins an entertaining, and somewhat surprising, view of Harlem and Portland in the 20s.

In the course of following Nobody's captivating tale, the reader also becomes acquainted with interesting bits of  American history.

For example, in 1896 the state of New York, in an effort to reduce the consumption of alcohol, passed Raines Law which among other provisions, prevented the sale of liquor on Sundays except in hotels. The result was that any building with a few rooms on the second story became a "Raines Hotel." It was not long before the ingenious owners realized they could use the upstairs rooms for prostitution.

And then there is Oregon, established to be an all-white utopia. In 1844, prior to statehood, the territory passed a provision that all blacks had to leave the territory, and those refusing to leave were to be flogged every six months until they left. Once it became a state, it was the only one among the fifty to explicitly deny blacks the right to live and work there.

In 1870, Oregon was only one of six states that refused to ratify the 15th Amendment which granted people of color of the right to vote. They eventually ratified it in 1959!

The Ku Kluz Klan plays a significant role in The Paragon Hotel, and in the 1920s Oregon boasted the largest KKK organization west of the Mississippi

KKK In Portland in 1920s

One might wonder why a Paragon Hotel even existed in Portland, given the prevailing fear of blacks. The answer is the railroads. The staff on most transcontinental railroads was black, and they needed a place to stay before returning on an eastbound train. Some clever entrepreneur recognized the need and founded an all-black hotel.

Readers will find many reasons to like Nobody and the supporting cast of interesting characters in both Harlem and Portland, but the one ingratiating aspect of Lindsay Faye's novel is her mastery of 1920s slang. Nobody, the narrator describes her mother this way: "In any case, she emigrated to New York in 1893 with nothing but a scalawag husband. After a week, she misplaced, him and she wasn't too sore. Everything was jake."

On the other hand, she can be quite "literary," as when she writes: " The skies are enormous, flung open and sprawling. A bucket of spilled cerulean."

I have avoided revealing much of the plot because I hope you will read The Paragon Hotel, experience the story as it unfolds, and appreciate what it says about our current situation.

The Wall: Belief "Trumps" Reason

Since Donald Trump did not attempt to get Congress to fund "The Wall" when his party controlled both houses of Congress, it seems likely he doesn't give a damn about the wall.* His problem is that his GOP base does. He promised them a wall that would be paid for by Mexico and they believed him. Obviously, Mexico is not interested in wasting money for a wall, so now Trump has waited until the Democrats control the House of Representatives to ask Americans to pay for his glorious wall. Of course, he knows the Democrats, just like Mexico, are not interested in wasting money on a third-century concept. But he can now tell his base that it's the Democrats' fault the wall will not be constructed.

But the problem is the GOP base still believes that a glorious wall is a solution to all of our problems. This past week, amid all the noise about Jeff Bezos, the National Enquirer, and Virginia politicians who wore blackface 30 years ago,  the House of Representatives was holding a hearing on gun violence. During a discussion about easily accessible guns, ammo and automatic weapons, a GOP member from Florida, Matt Gaetz, dismissed considerations like background checks and suggested "...a wall, barrier on the southern border may have..." prevented gun-related murders.  Really? Americans are being killed by guns every day because we lack a wall? Clearly, Mr. Gaetz has been drinking the NRA kool-aid as well as taking their money.

The problem is that a large segment of Trump's base/cult has convinced themselves that not only is the "Wall" of great importance, but also look upon it as the solution to many of our problems. The fact that this line of thought makes no sense is not important. We are not talking about reason, we are talking about belief. If one believes, one is not concerned about facts, science or rational arguments. Belief does not require proof.

Therefore, our country has reached a point where a president can repeatedly lie and one of his assistants can refer to his lies as "alternative facts." He can characterize whatever is happening on our southern border any way he chooses and his followers will believe him. If he suggests that the lack of a big, beautiful wall is a threat to our security, they will believe him. In fact, like Mr. Gaetz, they will see the wall as a solution to gun violence, the opioid crisis, the scarcity of meaningful, middle-class jobs, the recent measles outbreak, and perhaps even the recent Polar Vortex.

The fact that illegal border crossings are at an all-time low should, therefore, mean that gun violence, the opioid crisis, the lack middle-class jobs, and the measles outbreak, should be at an all-time low. That they are not would seem to be one indication that the wall is not the solution, right? Wrong.  Such reasoning means nothing to the Trump cultists. Belief "trumps" reason in their world-view.

Why? Why do people choose belief over facts? There may be many psychological reasons, but I presume the main reason is fear. They see the asylum seekers, not as human being fleeing violence and seeking a chance to raise their families in peace and security, but as an army of desperados intent upon destroying American society. The President has gone to great lengths to fuel his followers' fears. He continually refers to asylum seekers as criminals and rapists. His propaganda network, Fox, refers to them as "dirty." The message is simple: be fearful of these brown people trying to become Americans, they are a danger to you, the true Americans. And, one who is fearful will believe almost anything that they perceive as eliminating their fear.

Democracies like ours are susceptible to demagogues like Donald Trump, but the hope in the United States has always been that an educated electorate will recognize absurdity when it sees it. The fallacy of that is that it does not acknowledge people's fears and their willingness to believe rather than think logically. (It's worth noting that demagogues fear an educated electorate and tend to attack educational and journalism institutions.)

The "wall" is about so much more than the wall, and thus the debate has closed down the US Government for the longest period of time in our history.

*Of course, the idea of having his name on the wall is irresistible to Donnie. Ask any junior-high kid about that.

Wastin' Away in Ohio

If you're from Ohio, you know that your state is home to some great art museums in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Toledo. You also are aware of the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, and the Wright-Patterson Air Museum near Dayton You may even be aware of COSI (Center for Science and Industry) in Columbus and Toledo, but many Buckeyes are not aware of the other many and various museums that call Ohio home.

Toledo Museum of Art

Even if you are living a full,  busy and eventful life, you might want to carve out some time to attend Ohio's major museums of art and possibly some of the other above-mentioned museums and halls of fame.

On the other hand, you may choose to pass on some of the lesser-known Ohio museums. I guess what I'm saying is: if you have half of a day to waste, maybe you should forget about some of these and instead get out the Monopoly board and teach the young-uns the basics of ruthless capitalism.

On the other hand, if you are retired but not too tired, if you're looking for reasons to get out of the house, and if you can't afford to take a real trip to St. Petersburg, you may want to gas up the Ford, pack a lunch, and take a day trip to one of these Ohio museums.

Here they are in no particular order:

The National Construction Equipment Museum located in Bowling Green. This, of course, is an outdoor museum, and I suspect you and your spouse could eat your lunch in the cab of a road grader. Who is going to object?  After all, you'll be the only ones there.

If that's too much excitement for you, there is the Pencil Sharpener Museum in Logan. If you go, take all those little pencils you stole from various golf courses and get those babies sharpened, not to put too fine a point on it. (Give me a break, sometimes I can't help myself.)

Those of us feeling particularly pious may want to visit the Museum of Divine Statues in Lakewood. I think that when Catholics remodeled their churches after Vatican II, someone gathered up these statues and took them to Lakewood. Joan of Arc being consumed by flames. Jesus with his heart on the outside of his tunic. St. Patrick chasing snakes. Save your lunch for later in the day.

If the Missus and you own a motorcycle, you may want to consider a trip to Pickerington's Motorcycle Hall of Fame. You can check out the Harley hogs, Indians, and Victorys of yesteryear as well as a variety of newer Japanese two-wheelers. Speaking of two-wheelers, the Bicycle Museum of America in New Bremen features all the neat bicycles that your parents refused to buy for you when you were too young to appreciate the value of a dollar.

If you happen to be in Hilliard with time on your hands, you should reevaluate your life or visit the Early Television Foundation and Museum. Presumably, they have working models of TVs from the 1920s. For kids who watched test patterns (you know who you are), you might enjoy a grainy screenshot of Howdy Doody and creepy Buffalo Bob.

In Cincinnati, one can attend the American Sign Museum which is a shrine to American advertising. I think what happened was, back in the day, Ladybird Johnson launched a campaign to beautify our highways, and somebody took down all of these signs and bestowed them upon Cincinnati. Therefore, Mail Pouch, Howard Johnson's and Phillips 66 will live on.

If you happen to be near Case Western Reserve, attending the History of Contraception is a possibility. Please don't take the children. It's not a good idea to show our offspring all the things human beings have done over the years to not have children.

More child appropriate is the Carousel Museum in Sandusky or the Lego Museum in Bellaire. And, in Cleveland, you can take them to the house (now a museum sans Ralphie) in which the movie, Toy Story, was filmed.

There are more, but if you have attended all of these, you may have a problem. Perhaps you should stay home and self medicate or go to the Senior Center and cheat in a game of Rummy.

The Uneven Playing Field of Ohio Schools

In a democracy, "the land of opportunity" implies equal opportunity. Every citizen should have an equal chance to succeed. 

We all know that such talk is a utopian idea that will never occur in our flawed country. If for no other reason than geography or skin color, Americans will not have equal opportunities. However, the lack of equal opportunities does not prevent some of us from succeeding, even against seemingly insurmountable odds.

For example. success was possible for many of our immigrant grandparents or great-grandparents because of public education. They may have been living on starvation diets, but they had a future if they were able to acquire an education.


Unfortunately, in Ohio and other states, public education is not equal and fails to provide equal opportunities. To illustrate that point, I offer the following letter written by Jim O'Connor, a Princeton high school teacher, entitled "A Tale of Two Districts."


"Years ago, Ohio’s General Assembly borrowed the idea from other states that the best way to evaluate public school districts is to categorically compare them by letter grade. The goal, as stated in the Ohio Department of Education Report Card website, is to “ensure equitable outcomes and high expectations for all of Ohio’s students.”

One would think that equitable outcomes imply a level playing field in terms of financial inputs. After all, equality is the flip side of the equitable coin. However, when you scroll down to the bottom of each district’s Report Card, the amount spent per pupil says otherwise. The difference in funding between wealthy and modest/low-income school districts is striking.

The tale of these two school districts in the same county (Hamilton) sheds light on what Jonathan Kozol called, nearly thirty years ago, the “savage inequalities” of school funding. The two districts are Indian Hill and North College Hill.

Indian Hill

Take a look at the data and make your own conclusions. In 2016-17, Indian Hill spent $12,189 per student (1929 students). NCH spent $6,629 per student (1,590 students). IH student body: 91% White or Asian and 7 % Free or Reduced Lunch (at or near poverty). NCH student body: 92% Black or Bi-racial, 81% Free or Reduced Lunch.

Savage inequalities, indeed! Because of an unconstitutional over-reliance on local property taxes, NCH can only spend 55% of what Indian Hill spends on each student. For IH, this means better-paid teachers, more electives and counselors, less staff turnover and smaller class sizes. For NCH, the opposite is true.

Despite this “Have and Have Not” funding system, the state of Ohio uses the same measuring sticks for each district. The Report Cards are mostly the result of standardized tests. Yet, there is nothing standardized about the allocation of resources to fairly educate ALL of Ohio students.

The Indian Hill-type districts will continue to receive awards and platitudes while the North College Hill-types will continue to receive condemnation and punishment.

The state leaders of Ohio are not fulfilling their constitutional mandate of a “thorough and efficient” education system. It is thorough for White, wealthy districts; it is not for Black and/or low-income districts. Ensuring equitable outcomes can only be achieved, and fairly compared, by the equitable inputs of resources and funding for each and every district.

On May 17, 1954, Justice Earl Warren stated in the Brown v. Board of Education case,  “in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place,” as segregated schools are “inherently unequal.” They were then and they still are today."

Mueller: Christmas Witch Hunter

The Christmas season is upon us, and it's time to make a list of what to get for the famous and infamous. Even those who seemingly have everything one could possibly want are in need of something. In no particular order, my 2018 list:

World Leaders:
Vladimir Putin, a human soul.
Donald Trump, a year's supply of antipsychotic drugs.
Kim Jong Un, a new barber.

Political types:
Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education, a case of Smart Water.
Lindsey Graham, Putin sycophant, a set of Russian nesting eggs.
Rudy Guliani, a dictionary with the definition of truth.
Ohio senator, Rob Portman, a spine implant.
Paul Manafort, a "Get Out of Jail" card.
Robert Mueller, a "Witch Hunter" cap.
Donald Trump, a witch's hat.

Newsmakers:
Parkland shooting survivors: sensible gun legislation.
Meghan Markle, peace among the Royals.
Baron Trump, an anchor baby certificate.
Melanie Trump, lessons on how to smile.
Ivanka Trump, a few more Chinese patents.

Athletes:
Hue Jackson, a permanent home (retirement home) in Cincinnati.
Aaron Rodgers, a new Green Bay Packer team.
Phil Mikelson, a new book, "Putting a Moving Ball"
Justify, triple crown winner, a giant vault to hold his stud fees.
Serena Williams, a certificate for an anger management class.

As for the rest of you, refurbished chia pets and a "Merry Christmas."

The Other Woman in the House

There are two women in our house. My dear wife, Sandy, does all the important things, cooking gourmet meals and telling me that the glasses I can't find are pushed up on my forehead.

The other woman is quite petite, and not very shapely. Her name is Alexa, and what she has going for her is she knows a lot of shit.
If you're interested, she can tell you the temperature in Wasilla, Alaska, the home of Sarah Palin. And more importantly, she can tell you that it is impossible to see Russia from Wasilla. And in case you want to know, she can tell you that on December 6, Mars is 97.4 million miles from earth. She can also tell you things you should know but have forgotten  -- there are 16 fluid ounces in a pint.

In addition, Alexa can do things -- turn your TV or lamps on or off. She can wake you up at 6 AM by playing Eva Cassidy or any other music you choose. Since Alexa is an Amazon product, she can buy almost anything you want, and it will be delivered to your door after your credit card takes a hit.

But Alexa can be discretely obtuse. When asked how babies are made, she replies "through the process of reproduction." Duh! Methinks that does not answer the question. Apparently, the AI world of Alexa is not familiar with sex,  Alexa is just like the girl I dated a long time ago. She knows her history, literature, current events, geometry,  physics, chemistry, meteorology,  but not so much about human anatomy.

And in spite of her soothing voice, There are many things Alexa doesn't get. For example, she thinks:
- Trump is the strong suit in a game of euchre.
- Atlantis is located in the Bahamas,
- Bloody Mary is a queen and not a cocktail.
- George Washington is a university and not the first US president, or vice versa.
- an autonomous car is made by a no-name company.
- Donald Trump is 6 foot 3inches tall and weighs 239 lbs. because that's what the White House said.

There are also, many things Alexa can't do:
- make the sun shine on a cloudy day.
- eliminate homelessness, poverty, and greed.
- improve my tennis game.
- stop school massacres.
- repair a leaky faucet.
- re-establish the rule of law in Washington D.C. and state capitals.
- clean my gutters.
- eliminate gerrymandering.
- wash my car.
- make the President take his meds.
- make Brussel sprouts palatable.

In spite of her limitations, I must admit that Alexa is more knowledgeable than I am; and in spite of a rather lack-luster appearance, she is nice to have around. She always answers me, and never gives me the "really?" response.

A Big, Very Big One

Dictators, in particular, are fond of erecting large, flattering statues of themselves. It seems they need to see a physical structure to reinforce the notion of their fleeting greatness.  They also tend to have large military parades to reassure themselves of their power. And then when their moment in history disappears, their statues come tumbling down ala Saddam Hussein.

In light of that, I was fascinated to learn of the new statue of Sadar Patel in Gujarat, India. Rather than a figure of imposing power, this represents a man in quite ordinary clothing, shoes with toes missing, an unflattering middle-aged girth. Sadar was a key figure in India's freedom movement in the 1940's and a popular deputy prime minister.

This statue, known as the Statue of Unity, is a record 597 feet tall.

In comparison, the Statue of Liberty is a mere 305 feet.


My fear is that Donald Trump will hear of this statue and will want to build one of himself, only larger of course. He is into building things with his name attached. After all, he is the one who after the World Trade Towers collapsed on 9/11 proudly remarked that Trump Tower was now the tallest in NYC. He is, also, the man who admires dictators, whether Kim Jong-un or Vladimir Putin, and their military parades.

How could he resist building a "big, a very big" statue of himself? And, of course, Mexico will pay for it!

Or perhaps, he will redo Mount Rushmore.



Or maybe a classic nude.

No, that's just disgusting.