Abandoned By God

 Third day with the new windows and they are so clear, the rain clouds look so crisp and clean, and they're cool to the touch.  You'd never believe the outside temp is 73 (F).  Sadly, I have to work today, so I'll not be able to wile away the hours watching the occasional, torrential downpours from the thunderstorms that will most likely skirt my neighborhood.  

Speaking of work, yesterday I had a big sale and my 3rd measure of the week, so now I'm golden for at least one shift.  And I've also been thinking about how I want to set my scheduling for when I get back from Greece.  It will be changing.  During Covid I worked a 5 hour shift 5 days a week. and that worked out well for me.  And, since there's going to be a puppy shortly after I return, I don't want to spend too much time away from the house, so I'm thinking of going back to 5 hour shifts from 2 - 7 for 4 days a week.  That would give me 20 hours.  No more 8 hour shifts.

And I woke up to something strange.  Something named Betty Elizabeth Hasan had liked over 30 of my pictures on Facebook.  It also left a comment saying it wanted to get to know me and that chatting with messenger was best.  Right (that's me being sarcastic).  So, I filed a spam complaint against Betty and had blocked access to my page.  I don't think it was a bot, because the comment had typos.  Human or not, it should never contact me again.

And in a little over 3 weeks:

I guess a lot of you may have seen that the Spawn of Satan, Donald Trump has agreed with Fox Entertainment that he'd debate Kamala Harris in an arena filled with cultists and moderated by two loyal members of the Fox Entertainment team.  The moldy stench of desperation is heavy with this one.  Firstly, people need to stop treating Fox as if it were a news network, it isn't.  They admitted they were an entertainment channel during the Dominion trial, the one they lost, the one that cost the $787 million.

Secondly, the Orange Anus is falling behind in the polls, even the bad ones, and they're all bad, and this is a miserable attempt to make Harris look bad.  How stupid.  His cultists will hang with him on this, but Independent voters are not stupid, they are seeing right through his badly played rouse.  

Finally, I think of all of those forlorn Christians, the ones who believe the God they worship is only powerful enough to flip the electoral college, are having to deal with the fact that He has evidently abandoned them for a black woman.  I've told so many people for quite some time now that Trump isn't here to give them what they want, he's here to destroy them, and that includes Evangelical Christianity.  For them, this will be worse than being abandoned by God.

Greed

 Hello sunny Sunday!  Slow day!  And a workday, too.  I'm scheduled to work tomorrow as well.  Rain is in the forecast.  This is how it goes.

I was talking about Climate Change with an associate... let me rephrase that, a conservative associate, who told me that there is not concrete evidence that the climate is changing.  His logic?  That Earth has been here for millions of years, has gone through so many different changes, and we as a people, have only been keeping records officially for a few hundred years.  When I pointed out that core samples taken from the ice provide an excellent record of past climates, he said, "but they were only taken in certain areas, they don't show what the climate was like all over the world."  There's not getting around stupid.  He also doesn't understand why we should take actions now when, as he says, "there's no definitive proof."  As a true conservative, he'd rather corporations make money that will he believes will 'trickle down.'

As some of you may have seen, Jack Dorsey is no longer the CEO of Twitter.  He wants to focus on Square, a financial services company.  Twitter management is in a bit of chaos, not because there are certain losers (I'm speaking of you, Loser #45), who would like to be reinstated, rather, they're trying to figure out how to monetize the social media platform.  That's right.  They want to sell more ads.  This is Greed in America.

Jack Dorsey, notice I chose a picture with him wearing a shirt

I don't know about you, but I'm really getting fed up with ads.  I have an Instagram account and I can remember where ads were sparse.  Not any more.  Instagram is owned by Meta, which is, as most of you know, Facebook, and Meta is monetizing the hell out of Instagram.  This is Greed in America, the Zuckerberg version of Greed.  Meta tracks the number of times people click on ads, so if people would stop clicking, eventually the number of ads would go down.  Of course, that will never happen because there are dumb shits out there who will see and ad for Quaker Oats and think, "wow, Quaker Oats, I wonder what that's about."

The Sacrificial Lamb

Yesterday it rained hard.  Last evening I turned the heat back on.  For the next week night time temps are predicted to drop into the 40's (F).  While I like wearing sweats, I also like things comfortably warm... or cool, depending upon the season.  And, even though today is supposed to be nice and sunny, tomorrow forecasters are calling for rain... again.  69% chance.  Weren't we supposed to be getting these spring showers back in April.  Oh, that's right.  We did.

Here's an amusing bit.  On the way home from work last evening, the clouds looked like they were forming two letters.  'U  T'  They were very well defined.  I'd have taken a picture, but I was driving way too fast to be fooling around with my phone.  Anyway, being the curious sort, and on the chance I might have been seeing a sign of some sort, I checked when I got home.  The first result was University of Texas, followed by University of Tennessee.  Disappointment reigned, until I searched in 'lower case' letters: 'u t,' that got me 'universal time.'  Wow! I may have gotten a sign about Universal Time!  Well, actually, my eyes just thought they saw two letters in the clouds, the rest was just my imagination.

Oh, and what about Facebook cancelling Loser #45?  I understand he and his base went on a bit of a bender.  This is way he's banned.  That and the fact that he lies constantly.  Oh, wait, I supposed technically they are the same thing.  "Lies Constantly."  This means you can not trust a single thing he says.  If he didn't believe his own lies, I'd say he was pathetic, but he does believe them which puts him about ten levels below loathsome.  He also wants loyalty, and that means complete fealty from his base.  And in case you're wondering, his followers are already preparing the sacrificial lamb.

It Fits

 Well, hello weekend?  What a shame I'm working.  Every day for the next 3 days I'll be at the Flooring Desk.  I am so excited.  No, not really, but I'll be perfectly honest, the money is nice.  I get to buy things while still adding to my my savings.  Nice.  And it's not like the job is brutal.  I haven't had to deal with a wacked out customer in a couple of week.

I just took my temp and it's 98 (F) according to the thin strip of a thermometer they gave us.  That's wrong, of course.  Every morning when I go to work I have my picture taken by a thermal camera.  Yesterday my temp was 96.7 (F).  I'm a cold one.  Even when I take it at home, with my 'real' thermometer, it's normal for my temp to be in the mid 97's (F).

We now have less than 2 months to go before the election.  Both Facebook and Twitter have said they're going to stop running all political ads a week before November 3.  YouTube needs to do the same thing.  For those who don't watch things on YouTube, let me tell you, there are a lot of political ads.  Some you can skip, others, however, are only 15 seconds long and you need to let those play through.  Most of the commercials I've seen have been for Biden.  I guess I just don't watch the same videos and the Idiot Jerk's base.

And, evidently, the Law and Order agenda the Idiot Jerk has been promoting is not taking hold.  I read in the Washington Post that only 10% of Americans prioritize crime as an issue.  Nope.  The vast majority are more concerned about... (are you ready) Covid 19.  And since the Republicans have been in charge 70% of Americans feel the country is going in the wrong direction.  That other 30%?  Republicans.  You have to remember, that 30% doesn't give a shit about anybody but themselves.  This has always been the selfish problem with Conservatives.  It's all about the "my."  They will never change.

And now for something light.  I saw this the other day and was impressed.  I have no idea why the character of Reno Sweenee has never been played by a man.  The lyric fits.

Stretch this way

So, I got up this morning to discover an escort service had left a comment on my blog, you know what I'm talking about, call girls.  From India, of all places, with about 10 links to different websites.  Don't look for it, I deleted it... permanently.  What's funny is that we all know there are dumb shits out there who would click on those links...  These are the same dumb shits who 'like' things on Facebook without knowing, or caring, that those 'likes' are sent to everyone of their 'friends.'  This means that if my friend Brandon 'likes' stretchy jockey shorts that wick away perspiration (he does), everyone is going to know that, because if Brandon 'likes' them, you should 'like' them too.

They're only talking about the underwear

Anyway, I paid my taxes yesterday... that was fun... well, maybe not.  I don't rally mind paying them, they're not that high because East Pennsboro has a lot of large businesses which supplement our tax base.  I keep telling people to move here.  My suburb has the lowest taxes, the lowest crime rate, and one of the best school districts in the area.  For years no one listened.  Now, new housing is Expensive, because people want to move here... except there's only so much land in the district.

The Idiot Jerk in the White House dropped his phony budget yesterday.  No one is taking it seriously. Domestic spending is cut in order to provide money for his racist WALL.

And I saw that Jeanine Pirro shit in her pants with her Anti-Muslim rant.  One can only wonder if she wears the 'stretchy' underwear.  She got a 'rebuke' from Faux News.  I don't think Jeanine understands that Evangelical Christians really don't like Catholics... at all.  They see them as phony Christians and if they ever do take control of the country she will be persecuted beyond belief.

More Tucker Carlson audio recordings have emerged...  Not good.  His problem is that he settled for Tommy John underwear, they only stretch one way and have a serious problem of climbing up your ass... well, his ass at least.
Finally, I do like Nancy's comments on the possible impeachment of the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  She has a really good point.  While impeaching him would create much needed relief, weaponizing him against the Republican Party would do so much more.  I'll be honest here, they create a lot of perspiration in my 'nether' regions and right now I'm looking for something stretchy, which will fit my needs, and will wick that sweat away.

Weathering the Storm

Today is the first of my 2 consecutive days off.  It will be filled with chores - cleaning & laundry, and hopefully some cardio later this afternoon.  Right now Biggie is laying beside me as I type.  His loyalty is amazing, especially if there are  biscuits nearby.
My brother in law got my sister a Facebook Portal (what ever that is) for Christmas... this means she's now on Facebook.  My nephew and his girlfriend live 2 hours away, and that's the only way she can get her fill of baby pictures.  And they have another on the way.  It seems as though grandchildren are the only way she can be forced into the 21st century.
For those who look forward to such things, we have 4 more days until the Winter Solstice.  I like long, sunny days.  They don't need to necessarily be warm, just sunny.  Hitting the shortest day of the year is always a turning point.  The days will begin to get longer.  Hopefully 2019 will be sunnier.  2018 was, for us, the rainiest year on record.  My lawn is still green.  Shit.
The weather patterns this past year have been shit for this country.  We've had rain, rain, and more rain.  There were record breaking rains in and around the DC this weekend.  California is warning people to stay away form beaches because they're going to be getting 50 foot waves....  That's a big wave.  In fact, it's relatively easy to see a correlation between the Idiot Jerk in the White House and the chaotic weather patterns that have dominated the US this past year.  Chaos equals chaos.
In literature, in film, and in art, storms have always been an indicator of inner turmoil.  "The Tempest" begins with a storm.  "King Lear" ends with a storm.  Those are just 2 literary examples, there are many others.  In film, from the complexity of "The Ice Storm," to a tornado that takes Dorothy Gale from the chaos of Kansas to land of Oz (that's film and literature).  This is what art says.  This is what Karma does.  So, is it any wonder I see a correlation between the weather the the Idiot Jerk's administration.  And the weather seems to be getting worse.  The Idiot Jerk doesn't believe in Global Warming.  He only believes in himself.  He lives in a whirlwind of purchased friendships, where bought allies orbit in and out of his sphere of stupidity purely on the depth of their transient loyalty.  And we've got some really bad weather raging across the country.  This isn't "hold on to your hats" weather, this isn't even "fasten your seat belts" weather.  All we can do is hold on tight and wait for the damn thing to blow over.  Remember, storms are Nature's way of cleaning up the shit.  Just make sure you're not near a sewer when this shit starts going down the drains.

Mission Accomplished

Yesterday was a day for getting things done!  Mowed the lawn - early, since they were calling for possible showers and thundershowers.  We got some showers late in the day, but nothing else.
Two loads of laundry washed and folded.  Dishes hand washed.  I have a dishwasher, but unless I'm cooking something big, usually resort to Palmolive.
Got the grocery shopping done.  Time for another BIG bag of Beneful. 
Half the floor in the computer / gym / cycling room got 3 coats of paint.  Only half because I move everything from one side of the room to the other side.  It looks nice.  Color is called Breeze Way..., sort of a swimming pool color.  The dogs only walked on the wet paint once!
It's nice when you accomplish more than you plan.
Earlier in the week Facebook took a shit in Mark Zuckerberg's pants.  Was it enough to wipe that smug little smile from his face?  Probably not.  What I thought surprising was people being... shocked.  Excuse me, people.  The lifespan of a social media network is evidently not that long.  Remember My Space.  Everybody wanted to be a part of My Space.  I think some are still on it.  I bring up Facebook because yesterday Twitter took a dive.  Oops.  People just don't seem to be signing in as often.  That's hurts advertising.  What is happening to all of the followers?  Well, duh, you don't need to sign in any more.  Look at the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  His every Tweet gets reposted almost immediately.  Before he began dominating the Twitterverse, you might read something and say, "gee, that's interesting."  But the Idiot Jerk?  Everybody knows he lies, and Twitter is the easy forum he has for spreading those lies.  If his main goal was to kill Twitter, he should get a "Mission Accomplished" medal.  He could wear it like all those phony medals dictators seem to enjoy wearing.
In case you missed it, yesterday he took credit for the economy in a Tweet.  Of course, he forgot to mention that the last time the economy was this good was in 2014 - when Barack Obama was president.  Ooops.

I just lost $15 billion dollars

So, what target is the Idiot jerk aiming for next?  My money says Instagram, which means he'll be able to do it with pictures.

Ringo and other things

While for most of you today is Sunday, for me it's Monday since this is the start of my work week.  Originally it was supposed to be a 7 day stretch but my friend Patty's Mom died last night so I'll be taking off one day to go to the funeral.
Yesterday was my day of rest, well, I did take the weed wacker across the front yard to knock down the weeds that are growing much, much faster than the grass, but that was like... well, maybe 15 minutes of work.  I also made popcorn, one of my favs, in a pan, on the stove.  I haven't done microwave popcorn in years.
There was an interesting article in the LA Times this AM about Ringo Starr. he's 77 years old.  Holy Shit!  I am always astounded to see things like that since age rarely seems to enter into my conscious thought.  No one stops aging.  The days continually add up as the years creep by, and then one morning you wake up and realize you're not as young as you think you are.  And then there are those days when I almost believe my consciousness has been around forever.  Screwy, ain't it?
I've also pissed off some people on Facebook, not with anything I've posted but with a certain restriction I am initiating.  I've been telling people that if they want me to read their comments they need to be 25 words or less.  I don't know why it is, but some people feel that being verbose defines them as being an expert, of course they think they're getting their point across.  They don't like it when I tell them that they need to be more concise, more succinct, that they need to measure what they are saying.

Notice how I didn't say anything about the Idiot in the White House...  mostly because big budget battles are forecast because the "do nothing party" only wants to cut taxes for the rich.  The shit is about to hit the fan.

The 11th Commandment

As I was skimming down Facebook yesterday, and yes, I do skim, I don't read everything posted, I saw that one of my friends, Alicia, had posted anti-Trump video in which actors sang some sort of song.  I didn't watch it, however I did read the 2 comments.  The first was from a woman who put the 'K' in Krazy Kristian, and she went on... and on... and on, about using the Lord's name in vain, and how Liberals were going to burn in hell, and you know the diddy by now.  Now Alicia had posted a warning that there was some language in the video and this woman watched it anyway, with the sole reason, I suspect, to damn it to hell and back.  Being curious, I checked out this woman's page and found lots of Krazy Kristian links.  For Halloween she'd actually carved a pumpkin to look like Jesus... seriously.
Anyway, I had to put in my 2 cents.  I told Alicia to unfriend this woman since she was obviously unbalanced in a Krazy Kristian way and because she has never understood the 11th Commandment.  Now I don't claim to be a Christian Scholar, and I know there are only 10 Commandments on those clay tablets, but if you've ever read the New Testament you'll know there is one.

To be continued

Too many Christians don't pick up on it because they want to be the voice of Authority.  In case you're wondering, here's the 11 commandment.

Thou shalt not cherry pick My Word in order to justify your self righteousness and pass judgement.

That's it.  I mean any fool can pluck out a few words here and a few words there and use them out of context to damn you.  Think of it like eating a banana split.  You've got 3 scoops of different flavored ice cream, you've got bananas, you've got 3 different toppings, with nuts, and whipped cream and a cherry on top.  These people only eat the cherry on top because that's all they want.

I got a thank you note from Alicia.  And she unfriended the woman.

Trumps speaks Trumplish

Am I the only one who's notice that Trump doesn't really speak... well, English... well?  He sort of wanders his way through words in something I feel we should start calling Trumplish.  And it's not only Donald, his Trumplodites have the same problem.  Now I realize that most of them didn't graduate from high school and those that did hated English but can't they at least try to be a little coherent?  Here's an example from Facebook.

I agree life is going to get worse if Hillary becomes president and Obama is not done trying to kill or destroy so much more for us before he leaves office. It is crazy and sad our own president against our country and Hillary is just like Obama. 😓 worried for all of our Safety.

Now, I don't know this person, but evidently they he / she has no concept of just what is a run on sentence.  Or maybe this is just they way they think... stream of consciousness.  One can only ponder if this is what Joyce aiming for in most of his work, and that maybe he has succeeded in ways he never conceived.  Nah, this is just some dumbshit.   This is just like Donald.

He doesn't even know how to conjugate.

Can you even imagine his acceptance speech if he wins?  

Facebook - Financial Trap of a Lifetime

While I enjoy Facebook, I don't spend that much time on it.  Usually I'll scroll down through it in the morning to see if there's anything interesting and then later in the evening before I go to bed.  Even when I was totally incapacitated, Facebook was not a place I visited very often.  This is because most of what my friends post is not that interesting (sorry friends).  Yesterday was a bit unusual in that I saw one of my friends, a woman I graduated from high school with, was all hippy dippy happy because you can now use Facebook to transfer funds.  A bit of discourse ensued.  You need to use your own, personal debit card to process these transfers and I told her current security protocols dictate never using your debit card for Internet transactions.  Her response was "but it's Facebook!  It can't get any safer!"  Duhhh

The bait

There was some discussion back in March when the information was released, but there are still a lot of questions.  It's free for Facebook users, but is your bank going to charge you a transfer fee?  Or, if the receiving card is with a different bank, will they get a charge?  Right now it's only for debit cards but eventually they're planning on opening it up to credit cards.  If you use a credit card, will it count as a cash withdrawal?  One of the bits in the "fine print" that most people don't see is that it may take up to 3 days for the transfer to actually take place.  So what do you do if it's an emergency and someone desperately needs funds?  Use Western Union?

Of course none of these thoughts passed through her head because she was so caught up in her "how cool is that" moment.  Anyway, she wasn't too happy with me because I urged the use of caution and restraint rather than jumping on board the Bandwagon and starting to wave the Facebook flag.  For people who can't manage their finances this could be the trap of their lifetime.

Facebook Flap

Evidently there is a big flap going on right now about Facebook's decision to enforce a rule they've had for some time - you need to use your real name for your personal accounts.  I can understand the concern some in the gay and lesbian community might have for this.  I also understand that one of the reasons for this rule is to curtail predatory behavior.  This is a bit of a dilemma. What I do find amusing is drag personas clamoring about how this rule does not seem to apply to all people.  One of the names they throw out is Madonna's.  I looked at Madonna's page and it's identified as a fan site and fan sites are allowed.    What makes this even more amusing is that Madonna is her real name, not a stage name.  She's not really Ruthie Ciccone (sp) from Detroit, she's Madonna Ciccone (sp).

aka Madonna

They've also bandied about Lady Gaga, and her's, too, is a fan page.

Now I'm not saying this isn't a problem for a certain group of people, but there is a bit of a difference between safeguarding your privacy and dealing with an ego inconvenience.  

Facebook goes to Hell

Hey, remember when Facebook was nice?  Not the puppy dog, kitty cat nice, but nice meaning free from hard core commercialism?  Back then you actually had to look for something to 'like.'  You know, your favorite musical group?  TV show?  Movie?  And once you did choose to 'like' it, nothing really seemed to change much.  Boy, those days are shot to shit, aren't they.  No matter where you go on the Internet these days, you are being asked to "like us on Facebook."  This is because everybody and his fricking brother is selling Ad space and the only way to generate revenue is to have you and all of your friends start clicking on their ad.  As you all know by now, every time one of your friends likes someone, everybody on his friend list finds out.  What's really funny is sometimes I look at these 'likes' and can't help but wonder what in hell is going through my friend's head.  And then I wonder, should I really have this guy as a friend?  I mean, look at what he likes!  Yikes!!

And it isn't only your 'friends' who are making recommendations.  Hell no.  Facebook does it.  You see they have this monster computer buried away under a giant mountain which is constantly reviewing your profile.  Constantly.  You see Facebook wants to make a lot of money selling Ad space too, so every time this giant computer infers even the most vaguest of links between your profile and some commercial venture willing to pay them big bucks, Facebook will suggest you 'like' a page.  Do I ever click on their recommendations?  Hell no.  Let's be perfectly honest, my profile is rather vague, so no matter what they suggest it's most likely not going to pique my interest.  Will they every stop sending me recommendations?  Hell no.  You see I have  pudding head friends who click first and think later.

Dealing with the hell that is call Facebook

One of the most insidious evils in today's society, and you might never think of it as evil, is, of all things, Facebook.  Remember when you could use it to find long, lost friends, or acquaintances you might want to think of as friends?  Well, you can still do that, however one of things which has changed is those people have not been given a platform on which to shout out their loves, their hates, and their grievances.  Facebook is not about catching up any more, or simple socializing, Facebook is about forcing your "likes" down as many throats as possible.  You are basically given three choices in dealing with these morons:  unfriend them, ignore them, or join them.  I've been doing the first, after a polite message from me to them explaining my reasoning.  Most of them provide me with an angry retort before they disappear forever.  My ego does not need countless friends in order to survive.

Another really major problem is the relentless advertising.  In case you don't know, if one of your friends clicks on an advertisement, you will soon be getting a little notification which starts off "you might also like..."  Facebook is not about making your life simple by giving you valid suggestions, Facebook is about creating revenue from advertising.  What is even more surprising is that there are all of these dumb shits out there clicking on things left and right without understanding Facebook keeps a file with their computer ID on it and every time they click they add a bit of information to that file.

I suspect Facebook's main goal is creating a hive mentality in our culture.  Try finding a product or a service which doesn't have the Facebook logo attached.  All it takes is one click and you've found them on Facebook.  In the end, what will save society is product overload.  It's already beginning to happen.  Just because you like something doesn't mean you're going to buy the product, or even visit the website more then 2 or three times.  Just because some moron out there likes 400 or 500 different companies doesn't mean that bozo brain is going to be spending his hard earned cash with those companies.  At some point in time the revenue spent to advertise on Facebook will out way the cash returned.