On the Bright Side

 When I woke up this morning the outside temp was 50 (F), that's warm for this late in October, and that temp is going to continue to climb for the rest of the week, hitting the low 80s (F) by Saturday.  Then it's gonna plummet, with daily highs only expected to be in the mid 40s, just in time for Halloween. 

Speaking of Halloween, I need to find out which night is trick or treating in my neck of the woods to I can turn my front porch light off.  There is nothing enjoyable in handing out pieces of candy to small children I do not know, many of whom don't even live on my street.  I can remember when people used to brag about the number of trick or treaters they'd get, the same way they'd brag about the number Christmas cards they received as if it was a badge of honor.  I guess it's this thing some people have with numbers, the higher the better, or perhaps it makes them feel as though they're more popular... well, I guess in away that's right, they are popular with strangers, for one night out of the year because they're handing out free candy.  Don't get me wrong.  I like Halloween.  However, like every other holiday, it's become super commercialized.

On the kitchen Reno: all the priming has been done.  Today I'm hoping to paint the walls.  Then, I'll be able to put away my rollers, and brushes, and stir sticks, and move onto something new, like the flooring.  There are 8 boxes of vinyl plank flooring still sitting in the back of my car.  I'll bring them inside this afternoon.

And yesterday this happened.

The Republicans unanimously voted in Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House.  Clean cut Johnson won the job, and not because he happens to be circumcised (you all know what a Johnson is, don't you?)  The anti-woman, anti-LGBQT, pro Trump election denier is about as hard line as the Republicans can get.  It's like they took the ugliness of Jordan and hosed it down to try and make it look squeaky clean.  However, nothing is going to change.  Remember that for the GOP to change, they would need to admit that those beliefs they hold sacred could be improved upon, that perhaps a Centrist approach might be better.  That will never happen.  On the bright side, even though Republicans have a majority in the House, they will accomplish nothing in the next year and a half.

On the bright side, this happened. The Scholastic Press has changed their mind on their book fairs.  They were going to offer an optional package of books on race and gender, however the word optional is no longer applicable.  There are 64 titles that are no longer optional, which is going to piss off those 5 or 6 people who want to censor the minds of young Americans.

  

Penises Everywhere

 Say hello to Thursday in the mid-state.  That's what we call Central PA around here, of course every state has a mid-state as well as a north and a south.  I'm curious as to what happens in one of the north or south states when something happens in the north, or south.  Do they say north, North Carolina or south, South Dakota?

Yesterday was a good day.  Much was accomplished.  It was also the anniversary of the Vesuvius eruption which destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum.  One of the media outlets, perhaps it was ABC had a headline about the eruption saying 20,000 people had perished.  That number is not correct.  As soon as the ash started falling people began to leave.  They were not stupid.  They didn't huddle in their houses in fear.  They left.  Most people today don't know that there was a Plinian eruption prior to the pyroclastic flows (6 altogether) which lasted almost 20 hours and buried the city in almost 9 feet of ash.  There were only around 2000 people left by the time the actual eruption happened.  Being buried in ash is why the city is so well preserved.  

On my treadmill, I'm over halfway through a 5 hour walk of Pompeii.  Funny thing:  At first the tour guide mentioned phallic symbols as being prevalent, then he called them members, now he just zooms the camera in so you can see them... all of them.  There are Penises everywhere.  This is a picture of a bakery; I did not take a picture of a penis.  Many of the ovens had a penis in the brickwork above them.  Scholars believe the Pompeiians thought the penis was good luck. 

Of course, Biden signed an Executive Order yesterday on student loan debt.  Republicans went through the roof.  The smart ones know this move was pure politics.  Mitch McConnell may have been the only one to point this out.  He's a selfish, lying sack of shit, but he isn't stupid.  75 days from the midterm elections?  How could you not think otherwise.  As for the debt forgiveness part of the order?  It may come to pass, if it ever overcomes all of the legal challenges that are going to be thrown up against it.

And, not too surprising, Trump's amateur hour attorneys had their second attempt to file their silly lawsuit thrown out again because they don't know what they're doing.  The judge actually told them where to find an example they can follow in order to try and get it right.

Finally, from Newsweek, the documentarian who testified before the January 6 committee had a little Q & A on reddit.  Things we learned:  he can barely stomach Trump.  Eric's terrified of Donnie Jr.  Donnie Jr and Ivanka are just like their old man.  Trump is obsessed with his appearance and always wears a lot of makeup.

Tomfoolery

 Happy April First!  I don't do fool's jokes since I've always thought the jokes to be more about tricking people rather then fooling them.  Only the initiators seem to think their jokes are amusing.  And I have yet to meet a person on the receiving end who slapped their knee and roared with laughter.  Honestly, no one wants to be treated like a fool.

Yesterday was kind of boring at work.  I expect the same today since we have rain.  The forecast is for showers on and off, with temperatures hovering around 47 (F).  This is my hump day, no fooling.  After today I will have 3 consecutive days off.  I am anticipating those approaching hours.

Something has changed at work, however.  One of the managers picked a new radio station / playlist.  Mostly 80's music.  So now we're listening to ABC, The Eurythmics, Frankie Goes to Hollywood.  I have to chuckle whenever Frankie comes on.  I bought that double album, and I'll never forget my surprise at opening the jacket to find a giant penis inside.  That was rather bold and brave of Frankie, wasn't it?  Oh, wait, can I show this?  The blog's supposed to be rated PG 13?

Click to boldly embiggen

Well, I guess that was a bit of tomfoolery, now, wasn't it?  Actually, I don't know if the model's name was Tom or not, so tomfoolery might not be the correct word.

And Uncle Joe revealed his infrastructure plan yesterday followed by an almost ear shattering, collective shriek from Republicans.  They hate it when Americans are put first.  Most of them couldn't even give him a grudgingly nod of approval when he signaled out Amazon as paying no taxes.  You see, Republicans love their lie about trickle down economics and if we start taxing Amazon, we'll also start taxing other large corporations like AT &T.  Remember that big tax cut they gave AT &T?  Remember how AT&T made headlines by giving a meager portion of that back to employees?  Well, that gift only happened once.  Well, AT&T was one of those corporations still getting that nice tax break when Covid hit... and they started cutting jobs.  Believe me, there was no tomfoolery there.

Abstract Penises

Well, here it is Monday... and some will have to go back to work, but not me.  My work week will start tomorrow.  Then I will work for 5 days and then have off for 4 days.  That's fine with me.
I had a call from my Mom's Senior Living Facility yesterday morning, but there was no message to call them back.  They will call to remind me of 'family fun days' from time to time, however yesterday was not a fun day.  Evidently my Mom thought my brother was going to pick her up, and so stood outside waiting for him.  This was her being very confused.  No such plans had been made.  My brother had planned to go over last evening, which he did.  The sad thing is then she'd forgotten the whole thing.  Dementia.
Yesterday I rode 12.5 miles in 'race mode,' and my legs were sore.  That's not a bad thing.  There's a difference between pain and soreness.  Soreness means you worked the muscles, pain means there's something wrong.
I saw this AM that the Dow is on a bit of a bounce back.  The Idiot Jerk needed to Tweet something about Trade Wars, and how they might not be necessary for this to happen.  His henchmen Mnuchin and Kudlow hint at back door talks.  The Chinese, however, said that's not happening.  The Idiot Jerk also said he believes the Chinese will cave first... of course, he's also as dumb as a fucking brick.
And speaking of the Chinese, they've evidently been building resorts off their southern coast on man-made islands.  Phoenix Island is one such place.  So, I'm reading through Bloomberg this AM and I see a picture of some of the hotels and think... "wow, don't they look like abstract penises in condoms?"

Gee, the architect even gave them little heads.  I thought I'd investigate and... lo and behold, there's an abstract vagina as well, and brightly colored, too.

Leave it to the Chinese.  You know that the Crazy Christians who want dictatorial control of America would flip out if someone tried building abstract penises in this country.  However, I'm fairly certain that an abstract, brightly colored vagina would make them giddy as hell.

The Truth about the Bony Penis

You know I read a lot of stuff, some of which might rot my mind if I take it too seriously.  This morning, sitting here with my coffee, I chanced upon an article about the baculum.  This is the bone a lot of mammalian males have in their penis.  Humans don't have one, even though some men seem to think they do.  Here's the article, and it's based on research headed by someone named Brindle who doesn't have her doctorate, but seems to be aiming her thesis at penis bones.  She believes that as we became more monogamous there was no longer a need for a penis bone, and so it devolved.  Personally, I think the article reads more like a subtle article favoring one man, one woman marriage rather than about sexual behavior; men don't have a bony penis because they no longer try to bone anything and everything that walks in front of them.  Evidently she has never heard Trump's pussy tape.  Or, perhaps, she just isn't identifying strong enough from the male perspective.  And then there's this article which does tend to question the hypothesis, that monogamy might have less to do with this disappearance, that the baculum has disappeared in human males because there's no longer a need to tickle eggs into the uterus.

For some reason, I found this a rather interesting subject and so perused quite a number of articles, most of which were written by women, and I wondered why so many would find this topic so consuming.  I know there are a number of men who would rather have something of more permanence, of course that would be the ruination of certain drug companies.  I do believe there are already implantable devices on the market.  Perhaps they should take a clue from the Eskimos who already know how to decorate a baculum.

My, doesn't this look like something a Republican would want.

The Teeny Weeny Truth (about male frontal nudity in films)

Recently there was a big commotion  about the possibility of seeing Ben Afleck's penis in "Gone Girl."  Of course, it was nothing but commotion.  At the same time there was an undercurrent of murmurings about the lack of frontal male nudity in films.  Why is it so many women do the money shots and men don't?  I would think the answer to be fairly obvious, (or maybe not).  Not all men are created equal, some are more equal then others.  Unfortunately a lot of things effect that equality, sometimes on a minute to minute basis.  Let me use women's breasts to make my point.  If you have an actress who wears a 38 D cup bra, and you put her in a cool room, she doesn't need to change to a 32 A cup.  However, if your average actor takes off his pants in a cool room, things minimize rather quickly.  And it's not just temperature which can effect these changes; all sorts of variables suddenly come in to play.  Even someone well endowed has times when all he seems to have are short comings.

Take Chris Evans, there are a lot of people who would love to see him doing full frontal on the silver screen.  Is it ever going to happen?  While 'never' is a terrible word to use, I'd say the possibilities of it happening are very, very unlikely. For him to do so, I suspect the scene would need to be the lynch pin of the film, that integral part holding it together.  Of course, then there is fan expectation.  What if it's a cold day on the set?  Would you really want fans to ask "is that all there is?"  In spite of what people may want, something like that can ruin a career, especially if that's the only reason they go see a film.  Sometimes the smartest move is not to give fans what they want.  If some things didn't seem to have a mind of their own, if they weren't fickle about the temperature, or who's looking at them.  If, in general, things were more equal, you might see more male frontal nudity.  As I said, however, there really are too many variables and, unfortunately, that is the teeny weeny truth.   

Ben Affleck's penis

I'm going to see "Gone Girl" tomorrow evening.  It did well at the box office this past weekend, of course that is no indicator of whether the movie is good or not.  This is because, I suspect, many of the ticket buyers were going for the sole purpose of getting of glimpse of Ben Affleck's penis.  In case you hadn't heard, there's evidently a wee snippet of film where it winks at the camera.  I haven't searched, but I'm certain it also scored a big hit on the Internet.  What a learning experience this has been for Ben, that such a little thing can score big at the box office.  It wouldn't surprise me if he has them edit a little wiggle in to all of his past films which didn't break the box office bank.

Having said this, it's with heavy a heart I tell you that a very, very trustworthy source has informed me it's CGI.  That's right, it was shot in front of a green screen.  That isn't really Ben Affleck's penis you're seeing.  Nope, it's nothing more then code.  Amazing what they can do with a keyboard and mouse now-a-days, isn't it?  A dot here and a dot there and voila!  Giddy fans spending their giddy dollars.  And do you think my honesty is going to change anything?  Hell no.  They're already lining up at the box office to get a second glance of Ben Affleck's penis.