(VIDEO) QUARTERBACKS

Emily Frankel gets John Cullum to explain why he loves Eli and Peyton Manning.

Enjoying the topic, John gives Emily -- who rarely watches sports -- a quick education about other famous quarterbacks, and the recent super bowl scandal about the deflated footballs.

DRONES

If you looked up and saw it in the sky, would you know it was a drone?

I wouldn't. I haven't yet seen one.

Yes -- I'm worried about drones. I read, and heard, over and over again, that America is not prepared to deal with them even though many drones are already filling the skies.

That drone that strayed into White House airspace recently (which is a no fly zone), shows us that a determined droner can get around the rules.

The acoustic sensors that are already at the White House and on the estates of celebrities (sensors can hear the drone and warn you), get confused by noises like weed wackers. Other methods for stopping drones -- jamming them, or shooting them down -- seriously affect other forms of communication, like cell phones.

Good news -- the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) boss, Michael Huerta, announced some rules recently. Drones weighing less that 55 pounds can be flown by operators who can pass a basic Aeronautical test. A drone can function only in the daylight, at no higher than 500 feet. It must remain in view of its operators; it cannot be used or flown over people.

This is a “good first step.” -- said the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems, a lobby group working for some big businesses.

Meanwhile, DHL, a delivery firm, has begun delivering medicine and other urgent supplies to Juist, a small island that's just a few miles off the German coast. It is the first drone-delivery service operating beyond line-of-sight in Europe.

Hey, a small drone now costs less than a few hundred dollars.  Are we, or aren't we going to look up and see a little package from Amazon, or a pizza being delivered?

I think drones -- like guns, the Internet, cell phones, sugar & fat in foods -- are part of the ongoing war between "Safety" and business guys. The business guys will win.  Maybe not New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, or Los Angeles, but like Jeff Bezos, the king of Amazon says in the video below, sooner or later the business guys will win.

INVASIVE ALIENS

INVASIVE SPECIES, COMING SOON TO A HABITAT NEAR YOU 
That was picture and the headline -- the scary stuff on the cover of Time -- often a worry-mongering magazine.

Uh oh, oh boy, I thought.

The photo of the huge python focused me on these snakes that started appearing 15 years ago. There are now about 100,000 pythons upsetting the ecosystem in South Florida. Many skilled specialists have tried, but can't get rid of them.

The problem was detailed with proof -- numbers and quotes from experts --  every border of our country is dealing with biological invasion. There are more than 50,000 alien species in the U.S. that are threatening our endangered animals; new species sometimes homogenize with the "native" species, and displace the natives.

The list of aliens includes: LIONFISH that scour coral reefs of sea life, in Texas; FERAL HOGS rampage through farmers' fields, in the Northeast, EMERALD ASH BORERS turn trees into kindling. ZEBRA MUSSELS are encrusting pipes and valves in the Great Lakes areas, rendering power plants worthless; CARPS from China that appeared in the Mississippi River, now appear in the Great Lakes and as they increase, they're hurting the region's $7 billion sport-fishing industry; GIANT AFRICAN SNAILS that were being sold for human consumption were discovered last month at L.A. International Airport.

The guy who wrote this cover story, Bryan Walsh, senior editor for Time, mentioned other invasive species that are brought into the country by humans, as pets or plants, saying "Some 10,000 species are moving around in cargo ships. Our planet is becoming a giant mixing bowl. It's global swarming.”

Mentioning the $120 billion a year our country has been spending on handling some of these problems, Walsh wrote, "There is no wilderness, no place that hasn't been touched by humans, that isn't also affected by greenhouse-gas emissions, global trade,. as well other facets of modern existence."

My heart sank, but in the last paragraph, he wrote. "It's up to us to create space and a place for what is invading our world, because we ourselves are the dominant invasives of all time. We are doing it for our own survival."

Wow, this cover story educates us. And yes, it also gives us, as invasive aliens, a passion to solve this, as well as a modicum of hope.

Thanks Bryan Walsh;  thanks Time Magazine.

(VIDEO) JOHN CULLUM ON ROBERT DUVALL

Back in the days when John Cullum and Emily Frankel were newlyweds, they lived at the famous Montecito Apartments in Hollywood, where many New York actors resided when working in films. That's how John got to know Robert Duvall.

Em finds it amazing, how John and Duvall's careers grew, since those days, in vastly different directions.

All the awards Duvall has received, the various fascinating characters, the major film projects that Duvall has been involved with continue to impress John. But Duvall's intensity is what John remembers -- not just from the films, but the way Duvall and he competed in tennis.