Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 3-17-20

Editorial/Columns
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Loneliness Is The Price We Pay
few weeks ago a very close friend hit me up and asked if I had been
watching a new Fox television series called For Life. I told her I hadn't, but that I would check it out if time permitted.
The show, executive pro- duced by rapper 50 Cent, cen- ters around a man who, after being wrongfully convicted and given a life sentence, obtains his law degree and goes on to represent other inmates with their appeals while fighting for his own freedom. It is a far- fetched concept that mostly works because it takes the ex- pertise many jailhouse lawyers develop during their incarcer- ation, adds the extra layer of a court setting, and gives a fairly accurate depiction of what peo- ple deal with inside of a prison environment.
The first episode I caught focused on the wife of the main character who has been by her husband's side from the very beginning. The segment high- lighted all of the emotional, fi- nancial and mental struggles spouses tend to endure as the sole means of support for their incarcerated partners.
Toward the end of the pro- gram the loneliness of being separated from the man she loves eventually takes its toll and the wife, reluctantly, comes to the decision to move on from her estranged rela- tionship after developing feel- ings for a close acquaintance. She informs her husband of her decision and afterwards is shown sitting in her car solemnly reflecting on the choice she just made.
For some of the guys watching the show with me the image of the wife leaving visi- tation, as the husband pleads for her to not give up on him, was hard to handle. The scene, I imagine, conjured up memo- ries of what they had gone through themselves and had many viewing the wife as the embodiment of the kind of dis- loyalty that was all too familiar.
Even though I could feel where these men were coming from, based on my own per- sonal experience, I had to re- mind them that the so-called "ride or die" mantra, which has been firmly entrenched into the street ideology over the last 30 years, is rooted more in fan-
tasy than reality. And that holds especially true when the time a person is expected to ride out far exceeds the decade mark.
The truth is that no one is going to place her or his life on total hold for a man or woman who's doing a significant stretch in the joint. The most any individual in prison can hope for from the person they left behind is the occasional Money Gram, accepted phone calls and semi-annual visits.
The fact of the matter is that, when a man or woman goes away, there's no rule stip- ulating that the person who they were involved in a mean- ingful relationship with has to place her or his life on ice as well. And, to be completely honest, only someone caught up in his or her own selfish de- sires would expect such a sce- nario to be the case.
What I think most people tend to forget is that living a life of crime typically involves a lot of collateral damage. And some of the main things that are lost in the chaos are rela- tionships, which tend to col- lapse under the stress of absence and distance.
Unfortunately, though, when you answer the call of the wild in hopes of pulling in stacks of the almighty dollar, it's the inevitable sacrifice you have to be willing to make.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. You can contact Mr. Barr at: cbarronice@- gmail.com.
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The Coronavirus And Church On Sunday
ow, let us say up front, what the Donald Trump
Administration has been unwilling to accept until just recently: The Coronavirus is not a Nancy Pelosi political plot; it is not a Democratic Party scheme to steal the Presidency; and if it is indeed, the aftermath of a Chinese Doomsday weapon, obvi- ously, the Chinese have been the first to feel its ef- fects. But, what we do know is that the Coronavirus is nothing to play with.
It is not akin to the common cold, and is thought to be ten times more virulent than traditional in- fluenza. Ask a Georgia man who was singing in his church choir when he and several other church members came down with the mystery disease. So, regardless of Trump’s earlier dismissal of Corona as nothing to sniff at, the entire world now knows bet- ter, which brings us to the subject of this Editorial: You, our readers.
Just recently, we have heard and read the warn- ings about the possibility of contracting this dread- ful disease. We have been urged to wash our hands, avoid shaking hands, hugging, etc. But we wonder how many of us have taken heed to these warnings?
Also recently, people have been warned to avoid a large group, which means meetings of lodges, sororities, fraternities, etc. But it also includes church services. At this point, Gospel meets health and common sense.
Might church services opt to go online or confer- ence call for Sunday services, or use other “hi-tech means of worship?” This last Tuesday, a local church held its Bible Study by conference call and asked members to pay their tithes and offerings by “Givify” or other religious applications. It went ex- ceedingly well.
Therefore, we advise this: When worship be- comes an issue in future church meetings, certainly God’s blessings will continue to prevail if His repre- sentatives opt to have virtual services instead of reg- ular physical congregate services. “Amen. Amen.”
Apple Caught Slowing Down Older iPhones
A pple has recently ad- mitted to intentionally slowing down older
models of the iPhone to force customers in upgrading their iPhones. The startling news came as French watchdog group DGCCRF found evi- dence of Apple deliberately slowing down the iPhone 6, SE, 8 and XS phones.
Apple has been fined 25 million dollars for slowing down the above mentioned models. Apple has stated they did not however encourage their customers to upgrade older models of the iPhone. Apple further claims they had released a software update for
the iPhone 6 and 6S to bal- ance the battery life of these phones.
Per the French watchdog group who first started inves- tigating Apple, they found iPhone users were not prop- erly informed that installing iOS updates 10.2.1 and 11.2 would cause their iPhoneto slow down.
Apple has defended slow- ing down the iPhone stating that lithium-ion batteries used in smartphones are not capable of delivering opti- mum performance in cold weather and can only hold a lower battery charge as they aged.
This is the first-time Apple has been fined for deliber- ately slowing down several models of the iPhone. Since Apple has partially admitted to slowing down the iPhone, it is expected they will pay the fine levied against them by the French government.
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, released a statement recently informing Apple users they did indeed slow down certain models of the iPhone, but claims many customers were not paying attention to the press release in 2018.
The controversy has not seemed to affect Apple stock marginally. Apple also ex- pects to make strides to mar- ket growth with its release of the Air Pods 2, Mac Books Pro and Beats Pro instead of rely- ing on the iPhone itself.
(Eric Hall holds a Mas- ter’s Degree from the Univer- sity of South Florida in Instructional Technology and Cybersecurity Digital Forensics. He has been a computer technician for over twenty years.)
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PAGE 6 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2020