Grading Ourselves
Our Howard Beale Rating System

Not all of our posts get us worked up. Some sail on still waters. Others are blowing in the wind. Some are just dusty. Some just got misfiled. So, we are introducing our version of the iconic “Don’t Tread on Me” flag.

It first flew in Philadelphia back in the Benjamin Franklin days. While it has some controversy associated with it, the symbol and words work for a show of our frustration with the news.

This system is in honor of Howard Beale, the iconic TV news anchor for the movie “Network” made in 1976, the year of America’s bicentennial. He is famous for his “mad-as-hell” rant and he was not going to take this anymore. Regrettably, his rant still resonates.

It will be used from time to time on selected posts. There are four levels of tread we identify.

When we are embarrassed by the nature of the story. Only the head will be red/flushed.
When we are getting miffed and the story is starting to irritate us. The head and first coil will be red.
When we are angry with the direction of the story. The head and first two coils will be read.
When we are mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore. The entire snake is red.