Puppy Training

 It's a chilly 55 (F) outside and we have a steady drizzle.  Rain is expected today.  If the forecasters are correct we should be accumulating about 3/4 of an inch.  Looking at the Accuweather map, I can see that most of the heavier precipitation is to our north, still being overcast and cloudy with steady drizzle does not help when there is yardwork to be done.

Yesterday was busy.  Much of the morning was eaten up at the Firestone dealership where I sat for an hour and a half while they put new tires on my car.  I believe I got a deal on the tires, however, the two agents I dealt with a had used-car dealer approach to growing their sales.  The first had to do with my wheel alignment; it's off slightly.  Should I choose, I could pay an additional $520 to have that fixed.  He then added, "if you don't it might void your warranty."  Idiot.  The second tried to get me to sign up for a Firestone Visa card and unwanted pressure was applied.  There are two rebates available, he said, but I "lost one because I didn't sign up for the card."  The orange retailer does the same thing, if you sign up for a credit card you can get a coupon for up to $100 off your next purchase.  Idiots, both.

The new printer is set up and ready to go, so let the printing begin!

And this showed up in my Facebook account this morning.  A memory.  It's been 14 years since I stood at the base of the Eiffel Tower and took this picture.  It was a cool, breezy day in November since I was there to celebrate my birthday.

You know, I honestly wish we could go at least a day without there being a shit show in Washington.  Did everybody see that clip where Orangie finished talking to the press and turn to walk into a wall?  Here it is in case you missed it.

More people need to be talking about this and spreading the word.  When you're on Social Media and one of the Main Stream Media outlets posts a lie, give them a negative comment.  Learn how to use the algorithms to work against them, not for them.  Remember almost everything the MSM posts has a pro-Orangie bias.  They want access to him, to his shit-show. so never click on an article they might post. Go somewhere else, like Meidas Touch, these 3 brothers are great.  This is so much like puppy training.  You don't want your puppy to shit in your house, so you train him to take his shit outside.

Finally, is anyone out there truly surprised that Kristi Noem does not know what Habeas Corpus is?  Supposedly, she shed a tear because of her humiliation.  Nah, don't believe that for an instant.  That was her hidden rage that a sitting Congressman would humiliate her so bad in public.  I'm betting her maturity level is right down there with Nancy Mace's, who yesterday showed some sort of silhouette of her supposedly naked body in an attempt to humiliate her ex-boyfriend.   Dear Lord, what is wrong with these people?

Trump Has No Balls

 Yesterday was... not quite meh, but not terrible.  The temps climbed into the mid 80s (F) and the humidity dried up a bit.  There was supposedly a threat of thundershowers, but that amounted to nothing.  Clouds came and went, and I hung 2 loads of laundry outside to dry.  No worries.

There's already a load of my brightly colored T-shirts hanging on the drying rack.  I'm loving this summer.

So, I've been debating if I want to give up my Xbox Game Pass.  They just raised the price, and with tax (there's always tax) it's $20 a month.  There would be value in this if I were downloading and playing lots of games, but I'm not, there are very few studios that I follow.  Besides, most of the games being produced are geared for young adults, or Teens, and are uninteresting.  I also don't see many games coming out that I feel a desperate need to play.  

And, the Paris Olympics begin today, and rather than build brand new venues, Paris is going to be showcasing what's already there.  There will be rowing on the Seine!  How exciting is that!  Fencing at Versailles!  Of course, Parisians will be upset because of delays, and crowds, and the changes that are happening.  I've met Parisians and they are very difficult to satisfy.  In a week's time, this will all be in the past and Paris, and France, will be much better off financially.

And the coward Trump will not be debating Kamala Harris.  No surprise there.  I laughed at the bit where he says the Democrats are in chaos.  

The truth is that Donald Trump has always been a coward.  The instant he has to "put up, or shut up," he chickens out.  This old man is terrified.  I don't doubt that even the idea of standing on the stage next to a smart black woman has him cowering in his boots.  And, as always, he's trying to place the blame on someone else.  Honestly, if he truly wants to be president he should see this as a challenge.  Can you hear me laughing.  I'm surprised he didn't try a "well, I'm too busy with my campaign to debate" excuse.  The Republican party just took a major hit because many of their voters who are sitting on the fence will now just stay home.  He's a weak man who has always depended on the balls of his attorneys to survive.

And what is all this stuff about JD Vance having sex with a sofa?  He definitely is not out to impress the ladies, is he?

Rejection.

Wednesday... and schedules are due to be updated in the system.  I can't wait to see what mine looks like because it's been kind of crappy here lately.
Temps here are supposed to 92 (F), which is stinky winky hot.  And, of course, some moron at work claimed this was Indian Summer....  Sorry.  Indian Summer does not occur until after the first frost of the year.  Oh, and we don't always get one.  And some years we'll get two.  People just don't understand weather lore.  I don't expect them to.
And, of course, the Idiot Jerk in the White House termed his henchie Bolton, who's lucky, if this were North Korea he'd have had his ass fed to the dogs.  The firing was... messy.  You know it's bad when things like this turn into Twitter Affairs.  But then the Idiot Jerk lives for Twitter.  Twitter keeps the spotlight on him.  He needs that.  I found it interesting that, at least from what I heard, two voices kept him from bringing the Taliban to Camp David:  Bolton and Pence.  Now, one of them is gone.  Rejected and ejected by the Idiot Jerk because he just didn't say 'yes' enough.  He'll keep Pence around because he can't afford to alienate his Crazy Christian Base.
I also saw where the North Koreans want to sit down and chat again.  Is another breakfast buffet in the works?  How is this for speculation:  with Bolton out of the picture, the Idiot Jerk can, courtesy Air Force One, fly Kim Dumb Shit to Washington for an "very important morning meeting on the Mall."  Hey, with maybe a stopover in Disneyland so Kim can ride Magic Mountain!  Even though Bolton hated everything that wasn't pure, white, and American, he did wield some control over the Idiot Jerk... now he's gone. Soon to be replace by a 'yes man' extraordinaire.
I began playing Greedfall last night.  This game is from an independent group of game developers named Spiders located in Paris... yeah, that's right, the City of Light.  Right now, if I'm correct, about 22 people are employed by Spiders.  This is amazing when you consider how complicated video games are these days.  Developers like Bethesda employ hundreds of people and have studios all over the United States and Canada.  Because Greedfall is a Role Playing Game, you can have relationships with most of your companions.  So I tried to pick up the first Companion I signed up:  Kurt.  Of course, I got rejected.  He's still suspicious of me.  But, it's a role playing game so that can change.

Ghosts of Notre Dame

It's Tuesday, they're coming to do some work on my gas meter this morning.  Supposedly it's only going to take them about 2 hours... I hope it takes them much less.  There are things to do today.
Bernie released his taxes... he's part of the 1% group.  Most of his money comes from a book he wrote... don't ask me the title, not a Bernie fan.  Evidently he sold around 273,000 copies.  That means he was making over $4 a book - a lot more than I get.  This means I will probably never be part of the 1%.  Of course, for me writing is a lot of fun.  While I do deal in mystery and suspense, my writing also has a lot of humor.  Sometimes I will write something and have to pause because I'm laughing.
And Notre Dame burned yesterday.  My sister called me at work to let me know, of course I had already been watching the clips on my phone.  I've been there.  I have pictures.  While I can take pictures like this:

I also take pictures like this:

The above shot is the better of the two, I think.  Sometimes, I will get artsy and take pictures like this:

I call this Ghosts of Notre Dame.  At first, it looks like a blurry picture of people walking... until your eye focuses in on the couple in the center.  Suddenly they become the focal point:

And your mind starts to wonder... just what was going on?
If you're wondering what my most favorite picture of Paris is, it's the one below.  I flew to Paris for my birthday.  On that cool morning in November, I walked to the Eiffel Tower.  This was my first view of it up close.... and I was amazed.

How was I to know that years later it would be one of the settings for The Body in the Tower?

In the catacombs

Okay, so it's Thursday.  The temperature is supposed to go up to 35 (F) today.  That's almost balmy. 
This is also our inventory day.  Normally they bring in food for everyone, I was told this year they're only bringing it in for those helping with the inventory so I'm going to be taking some fried chicken just in case my lunch is not going to be provided.
Also, my new schedule was posted yesterday and the new scheduler made some mistakes.  She used my 'days off' to cover my Jury Duty.  We do not do that.  I will need to have a sit down with her tomorrow to revise my schedule. 
And I see that the Trade Deficit, one of those 'major problems' the Idiot Jerk in the White House was going to fix is... getting worse.  He said he would bring that deficit down, which is why we have those silly little tariffs, and actually it's going up.  The idea was for foreign products to go up in price, therefore making American products more competitive.  Well, 'made in America' is still 'made more expensive.'  Giving people a bit of a tax break in the paychecks is no incentive to buy the more expensive 'made in America,' which is something Republicans just don't get.
And little Stevie Mnuchin has asked Congress to increase the debt limit ASAP because we need to be able to pay off our creditors.  You see that great tax break the Republican congress gave to corporations and the very wealthy is costing the United States buckets of buckos.  Yeah, they had to borrow money to pay for it.  You see, in the Republican drone state of mind corporations will use those to tax breaks to pop up employee pay rates and those employees will compensate for the tax breaks.  That's right, your average American is going to foot the bill.  Republicans have always been stupid about economics.
And finally, I thought I'd write a little about the catacombs of Paris.  They're big, and some of them are deep and only a small section is open to Tourists.  Of particular interest to us are those around the Arc de Triomphe which are not open to the General Public.

When bones were being moved from cemeteries they were put in a number of locations, depending upon the arrondissement where the cemetery was located.  Over the years cataphiles have done much with graffiti.. and the bones... and the little alters they built for their ancestors.  Oh, and except for certain areas, there is on lighting.  What illumination you have is that which you carry, be it a headlamp... or flashlight.  Without either of those you are walking in pitch black darkness.  If you ever venture down into the catacombs make sure you have a reliable guide.

Assassin's Creed, dive right in

So, the trailer dropped yesterday for Assassin's Creed.  And yes, it's based on a video game.  And yes, the movie looks... very interesting.  Over on Towleroad they actually linked to a bit written by some none game player at Forbes.  I know he was a none game player because... well, he didn't know what the animus was, or is, depending upon how much you like the game.  It's a lot like the holodeck on Star Trek only it relies on your genetic memories, it actually gets plugged into your neck.
The Assassin's Creed series is based up a war between the Knights Templar and the Order of Assassins, one group wants to rule the world by control, the other by freedom.
Anyway, Jason over at My New Plaid Pants was besides himself because there are a couple of shots of Michael Fassbender shirtless.

Here's one

There were also shots of the parkour.  That's right, this is a video game where you need to run, and jump and scale buildings.  If your hand / eye coordination isn't too good, well, you're going to die a lot.

This is from Unity, which takes place in Paris during the French Revolution

Here it is if you haven't seen it.

Oh, and the dive from the cathedral at the end?  That's a skill you need to master as an assassin.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, you are the assassin.

Monitor this!

I know there are those out there who are going to read this and say 'meh,' but I purchased a new monitor.  It's about time.  Not that the old HP 2311x stopped working.  Nope, however the upstairs PC has a very nice Nvidia 760 Gforce video card with G-Sync and the monitor wasn't made to handle the graphics.  Sure, there was no problem but it was kind of like using a flip phone for surfing the Internet - it can be done... sort of.  Now I have a monitor that is pretty amazing, and, even though I consider it expensive, it's still considered an entry level gaming monitor.  Oh, yeah, top of the line models run into the thousands of dollars - I'm not that rich.

And yes, it's big... a 27 incher which is measured diagonally, and no matter what they say, remember, bigger is better.  It's an Acer XB270HU abprz Black 27" 144Hz 2560 x 1440 Widescreen LED Backlight LCD G-SYNC Gaming Monitor.  

Anyway, a funny thing was after I set it up I snapped a picture and posted it on Facebook.

And I got comments about the glow in the dark stars on my desk.  So, I'll repeat my comment:  I not only have glow in the dark stars on my desk, I also have the nine planets which make up our solar system, as well as the Enterprise scooting past the rings of Saturn.  Oh, and pic of the Eiffel Tower I use as wallpaper?  I took that.  Neat, huh?

Taxi this

I truly did enjoy this article, especially the second one listed, the one concerning automobiles.  Cars are, after all, nothing more then vehicles, they get you from one place to another.  Do you need a stylish ride to get you from your house to the supermarket where you can fill the trunk with bags of groceries?

As someone who manages a paint department for a large home improvement retailer, I can tell you we also sell the 2 part epoxies you can put down on your garage floor (with or without the speckles) to give it that showroom luster.  About a year ago I dealt with a middle-aged gentleman who stopped in to do some research.  What he really wanted to know was how long the process took and just what was the drying time.  When I told him it would take between 24 hours and 48 hours before he could park his car on it he became more then a little flabbergasted.  "My car has never been outside of the garage over night," he said, "ever.  I've worked long and hard to get this," he said, waving a Mercedes key fob in front of me.  So, I repeated myself, "it's going to take between 24 and 48 hours before you can put your car in the garage."

It was obvious to me that, in spite of his pretentiousness, this gentleman had never been to Europe.  How do I know this?  While I was waiting for my shuttle on the first time I went to Paris, what was most surprising were the number of taxi drivers who were using Mercedes.  They were nice, and shiny, and black, and they were... taxi cabs.  And I wanted to ask this gentleman if he would be just as concerned if he owned something yellow with a checkered flag stenciled down the side.

What would probably be even more disheartening to him would be for me to take him to some of the poorer districts in Harrisburg.  People there do not make a lot of money, but it's quite common to see high end vehicles parked in front of houses.  Volvos are very popular, so are BMW's as well as Mercedes.  None of these vehicles are parked in garages because for these people they are considered status symbols.  Their Mercedes puts them in the same league as the gentleman who's Mercedes has never spent a night outside of a garage.

No matter how much you spend on it, no matter how much of a boost it gives your ego, in the end your car will never be anything more then a car.  Just because you're not using it for taxi service in Paris doesn't make it any different.

 

The Louvre - and how to visit

I saw in the NYT this AM that the director of the Louvre is being revamped to make it more tourist friendly.  Several years ago, when I wandered through the museum, I didn't really have much of a problem.  But then I will have to admit I'm not your average tourist.  Seeing the Mona Lisa was not my soul purpose for being there.  That painting is, unfortunately, one of the main reasons attendance is so high.  Everybody wants to see the Mona Lisa.  I saw it and took a couple of pictures.  Surprisingly, there was a small crowd, but it wasn't at all bad.  Of course, as I'd said earlier, I'm not your average tourist.  I went to Paris to celebrate my birthday, which is November 8, not a peak tourist time.

Above is one of the pictures I took of the Mona Lisa... and there were not a lot of people in the room.

Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of people there, but there were no long lines.  I bought my ticket and walked in.  My plan was just to wander around the museum.  That's what I did.  Here are my hints for a hassle free visit to the Louvre.  Go in an off season.  Visit on a week day rather then a weekend.  Be there in the morning when it opens, the earlier the better.  Have a good map, I bought a detailed book - it was well worth the money.  And, most important, plan on spending the entire day there.  I did.  If the only reason you go is to see one painting, you're going for the wrong reason and you're most likely going to end up being disappointed.

The unanimous dis-satisfaction with Unity

Back on Tuesday, Ubisoft, a French game developer, released Assassin's Creed - Unity.  I've enjoyed the Assassin's Creed franchise and was looking forward to this installment.  Previous games have dealt with the American Revolution and Pirates in the Caribbean.  This one deals with the French Revolution and centers on Paris and Versailles.  The trailers were amazing so I pre-ordered it for PC.
I started the download on early on Tuesday morning (yes, it was one of those work days) knowing it would be finished when I got home.  Of course I already read about all of the troubles that came with the release, but I was still hopeful my game would be playable.

This was not the case.  When I went to verify the game I discovered that some of the files had failed to download, which meant more time fixing the download.  And then, of course, when I did finally start to play the game there were more problems.  The screen was teeny, weeny, and neither my game controller nor the keyboard with that did that wonderful mouse I just got, the which fits so nicely in my hand, worked.  I could pause the game, but I couldn't get to any menus.  In fact I need to use the Task Manager just to stop the game.  I tried rebooting the game and rebooting the laptop and each time needed to use the Task Manager.  So I deleted the game and downloaded it a second time, which is time consuming since it's over 41 thousand MB.  And this is what a got:

Yep, that's my laptop.  Nice keyboard, eh?  And that teeny, weeny screen in the center is the game.  When it's that size this game looks damn good.  However, now I have a menu which allows me  to change the size of the game - I got rid of the black boarders and it fills the screen.  And it doesn't look as good.  Now I can see all of the issues people were complaining about.  Faces disappear, you try and climb a scaffold and your in the scaffold, or you turn and you're in a wall.  On occasion, Parisians float horizontally down the street.   Things that are crisp and sharp when it's teeny weeny are flawed - hair sometimes looks like it was drawn by a 4 year-old.  

Because there were so many complaints, Ubisoft's stock took a big hit.  The lesson to be learned is you don't release a game that's not polished.  If you have to spend money putting out patches to fix problems, then the game should have been delayed.  The only unity in Unity seems to be complete dis-satisfaction.  

Stupid NBC Sports craps on both the Tour de France and Amgen

When NBC Sports decides to drop a turd on the American cyclists, they drop a big one.  I checked out their sports network to see if they were broadcasting at least a highlight show of the Paris-Nice race and saw they weren't.  Their coverage of the race begins at midnight, Eastern Standard time.  Hey, dumb shits at NBC Sports, I don't own a DVR.  Back when the network used to be Versus they broadcast a lot of cycling, but since it became NBC Sports those moments are becoming few far between.  Maybe some moron executive believes cycling to be slightly un-American.  Most likely, however, it's simply a ratings issue.  I suspect that of all the sports networks, non of which are ratings giants, NBC Sports pulls in an average amount of viewers, and they do have to pay Dan Patrick; that guy seems to be all over the place.  This means there might be a few thousand more people watching college basketball then there would be watching Paris-Nice.

Of course their stupidity goes beyond that, it becomes incredulously dumb.  This is how they note times for the races they will be broadcasting (my highlight).

"This TV schedule is subject to change and all times are considered ET. All events are same day delay or next day delay except for Amgen Tour de France, Tour of California, USA Pro Cycling Challenge, and Paris Roubaix."

Holy Shit!  Amgen is now sponsoring the Tour de France! Someone must have their head up their ass at NBC Sports.  Not only do they insult the Tour de France, they insult Amgen.  Of course, maybe they believe I'm the only one out here who looks at their cycling website, which would be fricking stupid.  Of course, for all I know this copy was written by Dan Patrick.

Ambulance chasing Relion Group

I rarely watch network television preferring the semi-documentary fare of the Smithsonian Channel, NatGeo, and the like; sometimes I'll even watch ID, though not that often.  One thing I've noticed is the growing preponderance of ads by "legal firms" solely interested in making money by forcing litigation against large firms over what I would call simple bad luck, or, in other words, and accident.  This is not new, years ago they used to call such despicable law firms and attorneys "ambulance chasers," since they tried to make money off of every accident they could.  The Relion Group is an example of an accident chasing law firm.  I saw this ad and thought, "Holy Shit, these people are real losers!"

Occasionally bad things happen to people, this is the way the world works, just deal with it.  If I had a nickle for every time I heard "I am a not attorney spokesperson" I could afford a nice, long vacation in France where I could take more pictures like this.