(VIDEO) WAITING FOR THE VERDICT

After an audition, see John Cullum NOT thinking about it, NOT making plans or a new schedule.

As wife Emily plans new dates for various appointments, you'll be amused at the way John avoids wondering how well he did, or "did I get the job?"

WHEN WILL WE BE USING DRIVERLESS CARS ?

The guys who make them, (they call them AVs), claim they will be on the roads by 2020, filling our roads by 2030.

Facts: General Motors ((a/k/a/Cruise Automation) is seriously behind schedule. Ford, Tesla, and Google are dealing with tech issues they haven't yet figured out how to solve. AVs get confused in construction zones, also, when they're "turning left" against oncoming traffic. An Uber AV, doing 40 mph in Tempe, Ariz., fatally struck a a  pedestrian crossing the street because the car got confused by the bicycle she was wheeling.

Uber has quit testing AVs, but there have been at least 100 "confusion" accidents.

Also, there are problems with LIDAR, the rapid-fire light detection sensors that map a vehicle’s surroundings. LIDAR falters in heavy rain and snow. In California, LIDAR can't detect the little plastic bumps that are used to divide lanes. LIDAR's CEO says, “We’re not yet able to handle diverse conditions.”

Meanwhile, Google tested 600 of its cars in 25 cities and ran computer simulations for 7 billion miles of driving in Silicon Valley. In the Phoenix area with its wide flat roads, Google is giving free rides to 400 households.

AVs can be used in Washington, D.C. only if there's  a safety driver and a secondary engineer.

In Texas, AVs are being used on closed roads, and transporting people between parking lots and sports stadiums.

The manufacturers promote the fact that AVs are safer than human-operated cars--they're operated by computers that don't drive drunk, or distract themselves by texting, or succumb to road rage.

Fact: In the U.S, there were about 40,000 traffic-related deaths in 2017. Researchers say 94% car accidents are caused by human error; and most Americans don't feel safe riding in an AV without a driver. Most people wonder about ethical problems such as, "Should a car whose brakes fail crash into five people in a crosswalk or veer off the road and hit one person on the sidewalk instead? Should the car stop short for an animal in the road, even if doing so would endanger humans in that vehicle and in other cars?

A group of MIT researchers say, “Before we allow our cars to make ethical decisions, we need to have a global conversation to express our preferences to the companies that will design moral algorithms.” These researchers remind us that car insurance needs to be entirely reworked and traffic laws will also require an overhaul. They mention that AVs may create pollution woes, and hacking (cyber security dangers) may be a problem.

So, will AV's be on our roads by 2030? Wise people say YES. Wise people say NO. Perhaps we're  feeling what folks felt back in 1893 or thereabouts when they saw this.

Back then the science wasn't there. The roads weren't there. The cars weren't there. Even so, autos came into our lives, and changed our county, and changed the world.

 I can't say or think BOO about confused computers, unfixed problems, when millions of people, more every year, and millions of dollars, every year more, are deeply involved and committed to updating how we travel.

Guys, brace yourself--I am saying the words out loud to myself, loud enough for you to hear--it's progress.  It's happening. It's too late to say anything but a big HURRAY YAY, and go with time marching on.

FAMOUS IN SEPTEMBER AND NOW.....?

Brett Kavanaugh was nominated by Trump to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by Anthony Kennedy.

The "New Yorker" reported a woman claimed that Kavanaugh, as a high school student, “held her down, and … attempted to force himself on her.” Christine Blasey-Ford, author and Psychology Teacher at Stanford and Palo Alto Universities, came forward and answered all questions.

Kavanaugh passionately, with anger and tears, denied all the allegations.

Both of them were further investigated. She took a polygraph. He didn't. His testimony did not convince me that he was innocent. Her demeanor and unwavering honesty convinced me the was telling the truth. Though two other women claimed that Kavanaugh in high school had tried to force himself on them, Trump confirmed Kavanaugh.

Today, Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh is working on a lawsuit between drug manufacturer Merck, and the FDA that will affect other drug companies. Today, Christine Blasey-Ford is not able to work. With media, crowds outside her home, and death threats, she and her husband and two teenage sons have had to move four times--she's living in an undisclosed area of California.

I feel what happened to her and what he did in high school tells a lot about boys and girls growing up in America--females, from day one, are taught to be seductive, and charming--males from infancy on learn how to succeed and get what they need.

Maybe she'll write a book about this at some point--she's a name now, as is Supreme Court Judge Kavanaugh. He'll be in history books, and revered for the rest of his life. He won. She lost. What could she have won? A better job at a more prestigious University?

Hey, whether we sympathize with her or him, Christine could not win, and Kavanaugh could not lose. We're grownups. As grownups growing in our flowerpots, we express what we've have been trained to feel. So guys, I'm saying what I can't help but feel.

(VIDEO) JOHN CULLUM'S 3 SELVES

Does Broadway Star Cullum have good luck traditions, routines, rituals he does, before an opening night?

       John surprises wife Emily Frankel answering this question, as he describes growing up--learning to behave differently as a singer in church--as a college student,  and socially as a "party boy."