Fired

 Well, now isn't this a most joyous Tuesday morning?  There is not a cloud in the clear blue sky.  The temps are a bit cool, but there's nothing wrong with that, we're still in the month of April.  Sure we've had a few warm days, but they were just a teaser for what's going to be coming this summer.  Here in Central PA we've manage to escape the 100 (F) degree days so far like they've been getting down south.  Anyone who's been paying attention to the weather knows that's going to change.

Work was slow yesterday.  A customer called in to set up a measure, so I snagged that, otherwise all I did was meander around the department restocking shelves and filling spaces with products for non-existent customers to buy.  I had to work paint for a bit because of scheduling issues.  They lost an associate, and it took a while to hire a new one in.  They're going to be losing another soon.

Because the temps outside are so cool, today I'm staying inside and painting.  Can you see the joy in my words? 

And, of course, yesterday there was this:

Fired!

I was quietly sitting at the flooring desk when the news flashes began.  As I glanced down at my watch to see the notification, my heart leapt with joy.  A laugh rose in my throat; a hearty HaHaHa that refused to stop.  Fox New dumped Tucker.  Don't worry about his job prospects though, I understand Russian media was after him like a dog after a ham bone.  

What I thought was truly amusing that no one came out and said he had been fired.  Instead, everybody was saying that Tuck and Fox had parted ways... very suddenly.  Even smoothed over, that news was delightful.  Tuck has been fired from 3 cable news networks.  

And conservatives are flummoxed. Who can they turn to for lies and deceit if not Tuck?  The fact that Fox actually "parted ways: (hahaha) with him was a nuclear blast in the head of every MAGA in this country.  Their beloved Orange Anus is facing increased legal action from every side and his court propogandist has been silenced.  And, whether they understand this or not, this is just the overture.  Symantec is next up in the docket and if Fox caved to Dominion, they're sure as hell going to fold for Symantec.  One can only wonder how many heads are going to roll. 

Change

 So, is everybody ready for Hump Day?  There are readers out there who still feel that there is some importance in noting that they are halfway through the work week.  Thanks to Covid, those who work at home no longer see much purpose in having Hump Day, and those in retail have always though it rather absurd.  Things change and adapting to those changes is essential for good mental health.  

While I didn't work yesterday, I did pay a visit to the store, and not to make a purchase.  They're having a Silent Auction which starts tomorrow.  For me, Silent Auctions are a way to eliminate those household possession no one wants to be gifted.  This time, I've donated my PS4 Pro.  It was one of those "mistake" buys that I thought I would play more; well I didn't.  I was not impressed with the games offered, so the console took up space and gathered dust.  I did offer it to people.  There was little interest because the PS5 has been out for some time now.  No gamer wants an old console.  However, at a Silent Auction, there's a good possibility someone will take interest because... well, people do like to bid on things.  They think they're getting a deal and a there are quite a few who simply cannot turn down a deal.

And, of course, everyone knows Dominion settled with Fox News out of court.

Many were upset Dominion chose this path rather than follow through with their lawsuit.  Even if they had won, Fox would never have to publicly admit to lying.  That wasn't what this lawsuit was about.  Dominion wanted Fox to pay, and they did.  What the settlement did deprive Americans was the daily reports of how badly Fox lied.  Of course, Dominion did release a lot of examples of that before the trial actually commenced.  There's no doubt in most minds that Fox is a cancer on the skin of cable news.  What we don't know is what type of internal changes will take place at Fox to avoid further lawsuits... oh, wait, there are still a number of lawsuits waiting to go to court.  Now, isn't that nice.  The more pressure that gets put on the Murdochs, the better things will be in the world.  This isn't saying they'll change, however they might modify.

Running into Rocks

 Tuesday, and the weather is chilly.  Temperatures cool.  Ain't gettin' too warm today.  Overcast.  Yeah the clouds are low hangin'.  Oh, but soon... those clouds... will be rollin' away.

Tomorrow the temps are back up in the 70's (F).  That will be nice.  When I got home from work it was 68 (F) in the house and overnight outside they dropped into the 40s (F).  Since today's high is only supposed to reach the mid 50s, the heat is on... again, at least until tomorrow.

Work was boring yesterday.  Nothing happened.  Again, our garden business was hopping.  Paint was busy, too, so I helped out there for a while.  Towards the end of my shift I designed a $7000 order of shades and blinds for a couple.  Yeah, you read that number correctly.  They asked about the installation cost, which for them is going to be $180 which is nothing compared to what they're paying for shades.

Some unknown individual got artistic with our carpet samples.  I don't know if the pig drawing is supposed to be sending us a message or not.  Embiggen for clarity.

As one might have expected, Musk's big rocket failed to launch.  He is a man who has relied on the ideas of others to get where he is, however, as usual, once he puts his finger in the pudding pot things begin to curdle.

Fox evidently hoped that they'd be able to get out of Dominions lawsuit with a plea bargain.  I'm betting it must have been a really tabloid offer because it fell apart.  The Murdochs, like the Republicans, will never learn.  To do so would mean they were wrong.  That is something they will never publicly admit to... ever.

Ronnie DeSantis is throwing a real hissy fit down in Florida.  He's a whiny, little authoritarian wannabe and it's looking more and more that his wannas are going to be.  He's threatening to possibly build a prison next to Disney World, now how funny is that.  The hardcore Republicans in that state are fuming.  Their tiny dictator ship is running into all kinds of rocks.

Swinging in the Wind

 Well, we did have thunderstorms yesterday, for about 15 minutes.  Mostly the rain was nothing more than the occasional shower.  A high wind warning went into effect at 0800... and there was no wind.  We did have some 40 mile an hour gusts during that short-lived thunderstorm.  This doesn't mean we didn't get wind, we did, but it started last night around 9 PM when the actual cold front went through and this morning it's gone.  Forecasters are predicting today's temps to be in the mid 50s (F).  That's fine.

Tuesday the weather's supposed to be nice, so the yard work will commence.  My bulbs are coming up.  There are a lot of them.  Bazoom, bazoom.  

The threat of storms yesterday kept business down in the store.  As far as I know, no one in my department got either a measure or a lead.  I had some sales go through which put me over my goal, but all of my other numbers are zeros.  This is how it goes.  

There might be hope for my selling paperbacks through Barnes & Noble.   Since my covers are commissioned, hand painted mini-works of art, I need to convert the scanned JPEGs into PDFs, resize the size through the 'in flight' tab, and then import that file into Word to ensure colors are accurate.  Well, now there's a tab in Word that lets you convert and imported file to a  PDF, which means I might be able to skip the Adobe step.  I will have to play around with it.

Back covers need art too, so, if you buy the paperback version of The Body Under Ice from Amazon, it's quite likely this is what you'll see.  It's a shame we didn't have any snow this winter to give it a better background.  That's a Home Depot hat I'm wearing, and, of course, those ugly, yellow lensed glasses.

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I have to tell you that every time I read Tucker Carlson's over the top rants I cannot stop myself from smiling.  There isn't a single doubt in my mind that Tuck is scared.  If Dominion triumphs over Fox, Tuck's career will be over, unless he wants to join Newsmax and much lower salary level.  Every time Trump gets indicted (and more are on the way), his career is going to take a body blow.  The man's ego has always put him on the wrong side of reality.  It's almost as if someone gave him a long skein of rope and asked him to make something, and in his infinite stupidity he decided to make a noose.  The idea that his career choices might hang him has never occurred to him, which, knowing how his ego works, is not surprising.  Is Tuck terrified that his career might soon be swinging in the wind?  I don't doubt it.

 

News of the World Redux

 If, unlike me, you're not working today in Central PA, you're going to be dealing with weather, thunderstorms and high wind.  If the forecasters are correct, especially the high wind.  We're under a high wind warning that begins at 0800 this morning and ends at 0800 tomorrow morning.  That means things are going to blowing all over my neighborhood.  Usually this means a stray garbage can will blow into my backyard.  

I went to my local Giant supermarket yesterday, and when I got I home I gave my lawn a really big look at and realized I'm going to need to get my little mower out.  This is what spring means, growing grass that needs to be mowed, and I don't mind.  I don't mind being outside.

And I painted more of my trim yesterday.  I only put in about an hour at time.  I should have much finished on Tuesday, the first day of my weekend.  And Wednesday I'm planning on finishing off my kitchen ceiling.  

Each day, publication for The Body Under Ice gets closer.  I'm excited.  Yesterday afternoon I finished the last of the corrections from editor #4.  Today the manuscript will go out to the fifth and final editor.  

I made shrimp Lo mein for dinner last night.  The noodles ended up getting overcooked because of printer issues.  Even though they're too soft, they're still edible.  Half was dinner and the other half is going to be lunch today.

 And yesterday was a sad day for Fox News.... so get out your party hats.  A judge has ruled that Dominion has produced enough evidence to send their lawsuit against the tabloid network to trial.  Old Rupert is going to court... again.  That old fool has been sued before and has usually settled out of court.  Not this time.  Rupert's luck with juries is bad.  The prime example is the lawsuit brought against News of the World, a now defunct newspaper owned by Murdoch.  A brief synopsis:  reporters for that paper hacked into the phone of girl who had been kidnapped and murdered, and wrote articles saying she was alive, and Rupert knew they were doing this.  Things went down badly for Rupert.  From the information that has so far been released, Rupert knew his on-air personalities were lying about election fraud in 2020 and did nothing to stop them.  News of the World was shut down.  Let's hope the same thing happens to Fox.

The Force

 Holy Crap was it windy yesterday.  The March lion was definitely on the prowl in Central PA.  Not only did gustiness abound, yesterday was also garbage day, so quite a number of unfettered garbage cans roamed the neighborhood, propelled by winds with speed up to 35 mile per hour.   Having a driveway in which to park, my car was relatively safe, however those cars parked along the street were fair game.

Today I'll drive to the Municipal Building a pay my taxes.  There was a time when I'd go inside, but now I just put the envelope with the check in the drop box.  I could email my bank and have them send a check, but I'm also going to have to hit my local giant for walnuts.  

So, I watched "Everything, Everywhere, All at Once" last evening, or I should say watched most of it.  For some reason, there have been issues both times I've tried to watch it.  The first time the sound wasn't synced right.  I sat through the entire 2 hours and 19 minutes with words never matching lips.  Last night the sound was right, and I was enjoying my second viewing until 20 minutes from the end.  Then, a blue vertical rectangle popped up in the center of the screen, about 2 inches wide and 6 inches tall.  It was right in the middle of the screen.  The movie played for another few minutes and then shut down.  I had the option of restarting, but chose not to.  There's nothing wrong with the TV, but there does seem to be some force out there which wants to prevent me from watch this movie.

I posted this to my YouTube channel yesterday.

I find it amusing that Dominion is releasing all of these emails and texts sent by the on-air personalities of Fox; people whose on-air personas are extremely right wing complaining about Trump.  These says a lot about their lack of moral fiber.  They had no problem pushing Trump's outlandish claims of election fraud basically to insure they were getting a paycheck.  It makes you wonder if Tucker, and Laura are still being phony; do they take their programs seriously?  Is Rupert still pulling their strings?

Word is that a certain someone is going to be indicted this afternoon.  I give a name, but, if it's true, I wouldn't want to jinx the chances.  If it is true, there will be joy in Mudville this evening.

The Eyes Have It

 So, yesterday was a bit different, all around.  The day started off with bright sunshine, temps were moderate.  I had my eye exam.  Had my eyes dilated.  My ophthalmologist gave me a pair of those very unstylish sunglasses to protect my eyes from the glaring sun.  By the time I got to work, however, the skies had grown overcast.  I discovered I was scheduled for a lunch break and hadn't brought a lunch.  Then the weather turned sour, with heavy sleet and rain.  I scavenged my lunch, ending up with a Styrofoam cup of Ramen noodles and strawberry Pop Tarts. Tastee!

In the end, all I really got out of yesterday were some really neato shots of the inside of my eyes.  The eye on the left is actually my right eye and the one on the right is my left.  There are some light reflections on the screen and that banding across the bottom was caused by the camera and has nothing to do with the eye,

I am still borderline glaucoma, so I have an appointment for next February when we will do the whole thing again.

And I don't know about you, but I find myself feeling rather gleeful every time I hear the bad news coming from Dominion's lawsuit against Fox.  This doesn't mean I'm not pissed off by the evil that Fox represents, rather I am pleased that this shit, which so many of us have known in our hearts for so long, is finally being made public.  The fact that Fox sent copies of Biden's campaign commercials to Jared Kushner for analysis before airing them is treasonous, but then that's true for the entire conservative movement.  Why do conservatives feel the need to cheat?  No doubt it's because they're a minority group who can't win an election without deceit.  

As for old man Murdoch?  I'll bet that asswipe is shittin' bricks.  He pulled this same crap in the UK, funding conservatives who chose to listen to him in an attempt to control parliament.  There, too, it was one of his newspapers that brought him down.  Crushed him.  He got hit in the face with a cream pie and suffered public humiliation.  I don't doubt he has a little itch in his brain sayin' "been there, done that, doin' it again."  I, for one, find this simply satisfying as hell.