You totaled your car. Luckily no-one was hurt.
So now you call your insurance company to make a claim.  But then they tell you they'll only give you 2/3 of what you paid for your car. What are you supposed to do? Drive around in 2/3 of a car?


Actually, if one is savvy enough of a shopper one could probably come across a used car in good condition of an even better make-and-model and of better quality than the new one they just destroyed at maybe even 1/2 the price.
Still putting them ahead a few hundred bucks.


Besides...
Why is it essential lately for car insurance companies to be pandering toward obviously reckless (and even inexperienced) drivers anyway?
Why are these companies seemingly intent upon rewarding bad driving habits?


Are they fearful they won't have enough of a customer base to stay in business if they don't "compromise" themselves a little?


Instead of a "new car replacement" methinks that dizzy-headed lady should, perhaps, start getting the hang of riding public transit. Or start taking cabs. Or be willing to start paying some of her friends for special "transit favors".

My phone bill arrives on the 18th.
Payment's due on the 29th: $17.07.
After the 29th: $22.17.


This is the kind of thing that happens when big companies lay off all their professionals and replace them with "contract worker" hacks.


One question:  Did their billing department really HAVE TO hire in unemployed former loan sharks and extortionists?












                                                 Adage/Musing For Today 
  Living is simply all about attempting to create and maintain order and structure in a reality environment of chronic anarchy.

Just How Monolithic Is American Society?

I'll put it to you this way:
When you go to a restaurant to eat, instead of ordering from the dinner list you decide to "get creative" and instead mix-and-match a few side dishes.
After taking your order the waitress then turns around and yells out to the cook "ANOTHER # 12 ON THE BLUE PLATE".


That's how limited I think our choices are anymore.  You can only improvise so much on the meager offerings anyone gives you these days.












                                    Another site to check out: www.bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com
                                                             ...and another one: www.invisiblevisibleman.blogspot.com

I would wish for retailers to stop sending their flyers to my address, cluttering up my mailbox.

Also, I would wish for certain supermarket chains I frequently shop at to quit mailing me all those "loyalty card" coupons for items I purchase infrequently or just randomly (like only once or twice).  If I routinely only purchase one or two money orders a month (for example) I don't need a "three for the price of two" coupon, especially one that expires in four weeks.

Damn these companies and their "bottom-line" mentality.  They think consumers are soulless automatons whose future behaviors are easily predictable simply by programming certain (limited) acts they've performed in the past into some mindlessly perfunctory computer program with a one-dimensional criterion.

It's just the attitudes of those (in-charge) who think they're "above the rest of us" ...the way they assume "the right to" manipulate anyone they view as being mere "plebeians".










                                                                     Musing For Today
  There are only four basic categories each and everyone and everything falls into:  reasonable; unreasonable; logical; absurd.
Every situation and every person falls into one of them at any point in time.  This is the universal rule to abide by when making ANY kind of judgment call on anyone or anything.

                                   Quit complaining about the weather.
            After all it's beginning to look (and feel) a lot like Christmas
                               ...even if Christmas in Barrow Alaska.







                               Another site to check out: www.icedteaandsarcasm.blogspot.com   
                                                               ...and another one: www.friendlymisanthropist.blogspot.com
                                                                       ...and still another one: www.streetsblog.net

One thing intriguing about these insurance company commercials:  in particular the ones for their car insurance coverage and especially "total car replacement" policies:  the portrayal of "customers" who talk about "their" accidents or about totaling "their" cars ...but, then, never mention getting injured, losing their license, being prosecuted or sued for the wrongful death of or injuries to another, or of having to compensate for property damage.

                                                           Attention!

Recently the automaker GM has recalled hundreds of their vehicles due to a defect in the ignition systems in many of their makes and models
Electrical malfunctions in these systems are known to cause the ignition to suddenly shut itself off without warning

If you or a loved one have experienced serious injury or even death due to any of these malfunctions you may be entitled to substantial monetary compensation


Or "even death" you say.  "Entitled to substantial monetary compensation".  Even if you died.
Hmmmm ...do these ambulance-chasing commercial law firms ever get any business from those now in the afterlife?








                                                             Adage For Today
                                      Shut those god-damn cell phones off already and start learning how to communicate for a change

Happy Birthday

Neil Young
Turned 69 yesterday
Born in Toronto November 12 1945


Gordon Lightfoot
He turns 76 this Monday
Born in Orillia Ontario November 17 1938

He sees you when you're sleeping
                               He knows when you're awake
                                                             He knows if you've been bad or good,
                                                                                        So be good for goodness sake

                          Are we talking about Santa Claus here or the NSA?


Speaking of Santa, he would feel quite at home here in the U.S. right now with this "arctic invasion" currently barreling down on us.

Oh, wow!!!!  Soon it'll be election day.  And the two theme songs (by Alice Cooper and Arcadia) will be in order.

I'm not embarrassed by the fact that I voted for Obama (twice).  So he wound up to be a dud of a President, but I'm not phased by that fact.  It only reiterates the old notions that I've always had from the start: that the REAL power-and-control stems from behind-the-scenes and that the Presidents are all little more than front-men.

Get a Republican in office and voila:  he/she will probably end up being the President who gives the "green light" on furthering stem cell research and on funding alternative energy measures as well as legalizing marijuana on the federal level.

And conservatives everywhere will be left standing with their mouths open, wondering "What happened?"
And the sense of "betrayal" shall abound amongst them.





                             Another site to check out: www.theviewfromoutsidemytinywindow.blogspot.com

Life in a conflagrational world

The ebola crisis now includes more than a dozen new cases originating in the U.S.
The medical societies of the U.S. participate in what's known as "reckless ebolation".


Some do-nothing suburb of St. Louis becomes a household name because some hotshot local cop responds overzealously to the roguish antics of a local hotshot scofflaw, shooting him dead in the process.  Cop is white, scofflaw is black.
Time for another "March On Washington" it seems.


Dirtbag terrorist supergroup taking over the middle east.  Western society pretty much sits back and watches.  Can't nuke Syria or Iraq.  We'd kill too many innocent civilians.  And killing too many innocent civilians is the job of the terrorists, so it makes sense to let them do it instead.

I just turned 60 a week ago (the 12th).

But don't congratulate me as I'm less-than-impressed by the way I turned out, being that I'm still quite hedonistic, narcissistic, lustful and puerile.

Pretty much the same way I've been since I was a kid, even prior to grade school.  I've aged physically, but mentally I'm still stunted.

All I ever want to do is just listen to my audio discs all the time (all 363 of them).
And I resent contemptuously any kind of invasive elements, such as responsibilities, obligations, and other people's noise.

Be Prepared

Always make sure your wallet is on you at all times.
Carry wallet in your front right pocket.
If you're stopped by the cops your wallet's on you when you step out of your car.

One guy had his wallet in the front passenger-side seat and when a cop stopped him and asked to see it he turned around and headed back into his car to retrieve it.  The cop pulled his gun, shot the driver, and ordered him on the ground and proceeded to rough him up.

We have some paranoid and skittish police, don't we?
But, if that's the kind of society we live in we just have to take certain precautions, try to foolproof things as much as possible.

If the driver's wallet had been on him (in his front pants pocket) he could have simply stated:  "It's in my front pocket!"  Then the officer could have either walked over and pulled it out himself or told the driver:  "Okay, pull it out---SLOWLY!"

We can't ever be too relaxed in this modern-day world of ours.  We can't allow ourselves to be all sloppy/freelance/slipshod.

If one lives on a fault line, be aware one can find themselves buried alive anytime.
If one lives in a valley, be wary of heavy rains and of the mountain snowmelt in spring.


 

One Bad Apple

My God, can it be?
That there's a glitch in Apple's latest "you can't live without this one either" offerings, the iPhone 6 and 6-plus?
After all the anticipatory exuberance and frenzy (eliciting more hysteria than even the second coming of Jesus Christ ever will) it must be some letdown for all these trend-obsessed civilian aristocrats to have to acknowledge their beloved iconic idols at Apple Corps might possibly be producing products that focus more on mere style and the company's namesake and brand imagerisms than on products that actually concentrate on functionality, greater efficiency, and greater reliability.  That sort of thing reeks of gimmickrism already.

The paper-thin aluminum frame is known to bend a little too easily as well.  Some users complained that their phones got bent out of shape when they sat down while their phones were in their back pants pocket.

I don't understand why people put items in their back pants pockets.  Doesn't that make sitting down uncomfortable?  I never do that myself.  It puts too much pressure on my asscheek bones.

I was listening to a 1979 Jimmy Buffett song, FINS, a couple days ago.

Interesting lyrics. They touch on a topic these days considered "sexual harassment".
It was intended to be a tongue-in-cheek commentary about the "boys-will-be-boys/men-will-be-men" phenomenon in which males always seem to be sexually obsessed and predatorily lustful toward women as a rule of thumb.

Not that it's void of empathetic elements by any means.  The focal character of the song is a single woman who moves out of state to be on her own, but everywhere she goes she's outnumbered by men with ulterior motives, intent upon satisfying their hedonistically narcissistic lustful desires, and who obviously don't exactly have her best interests in mind.  She winds up moving from place to place to try to get away from guys intent upon trying to use her.

However, it's not a "crusader" type of anthem by any means.  It's done in a very loose-knit tongue-in-cheek manner, and the lyrics are facetious:  "The sharks that swim on the land"; "Can't you feel them circling you honey?"; "You got 'fins' to the left, 'fins' to the right, and you're the only girl in sight".

Isis: An Egyptian nature goddess and wife and sister of Osiris

ISIS: Fanatical anti-western-culture terrorists ...and "rod of God's wrath" aimed at modern-day western civilization for being too hedonistic and disavowing the spiritual aspects of living

If these ISIS kooks are really that convinced they have some great "cause" for all the atrocious things they've been doing they should at least be going after some REAL culprits.
Instead of executing missionaries and journalists they should track down some of those computer hackers and identity thieves and put THEIR heads on the "chopping block".  Then they might be able to claim a certain degree of "moral justification" for their position.

Who knows: maybe then I might even start rooting for them.
...Maybe...

When viewing a commercial for a firm which specializes in cosmetic surgery to "undo the effects of aging" the announcer asks a proverbial question: Are you tired of looking older than you feel?

What do looks and age have to do with how one feels?  Isn't how one feels a matter of one's frame-of-mind?
How one feels is dependent on one's personality, viewpoints, and circumstances at the time.

You're always going to feel like yourself no matter how old you are or how you look.

I love the faulty logic advertisers use to cajole potential consumers into transferring a certain percentage of their (consumer's) personal wealth into (the advertiser's) hands.
Every time I turn on a radio or TV I always find myself having stuff I either could never afford or would never be interested in buying being "shoved in my face" like they are "must haves".

The Wrong "Rights"

One day, when I was out walking around, I was forced to "detour" around a group of fraternal buttfuckers who were hogging the whole sidewalk shooting the shit, and as I stepped off the curb to go around them some cop who was driving by at the time yelled out at me to "GET OUT OF THE STREET!"

On other occasions I would witness people skateboarding in the middle of the street (slowing down traffic) with nobody even batting an eyelash, like "No big deal".

So, skateboarding is allowed in the street, but if a pedestrian steps off the curb it's a "safety violation"?  Interesting.

Society has a "split personality".  There's too much laissez-faire toward things that should be heavily restricted and too much draconianism toward that which it could afford to "lighten up" on.

It's something how certain performers from the 1960s and 1970s still continue to remain popular in the collective psyche.

Collective memory cherry-picks select groups and singers to continue their "dominion" in the pop and rock music sphere alongside the latter-day and present-day performers while either disavowing their original contemporaries or relegating them to either a secondary status or to a different nostalgia format.

Take, for example, groups like The Who, or The Doors, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, or Neil Young, or Bob Dylan, or Jimi Hendrix, or Janis Joplin, who are still revered to this day.

Back in the mid-to-late 1960s and early 1970s, even if you weren't gravitating toward the psychedelic or "progressive rock", or strictly buying albums ...even if you were still buying 45s you'd STILL hear the single hits by the likes of Cream or The Doors alongside The 5th Dimension, or Wilson Pickett, or Spanky and Our Gang, or The Royal Guardsmen, or The Grassroots.
Tommy James and the Shondells and The Bee Gees were getting played on the same stations as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, the same stations also playing The Cowsills and Petula Clark, and The Who, and Aretha Franklin, and the "Motown Sound",  and Simon and Garfunkel, and The Mamas and the Papas, and The Lovin' Spoonful, and The (Young) Rascals, and Sam and Dave, and The Turtles, and Sandy Posey.

Having grown up in the mid-to-late-'60s and early-'70s myself I wish to retain MY share of the "claim" on the likes of The Doors, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, The Who, and Cream, and others of their ilk alongside the likes of Neil Diamond, Bobby Goldsboro, The Fifth Dimension, other "British Invasion" performers: The Seekers, The Searchers, Petula Clark, The Zombies, The Hollies, Herman's Hermits, The Dave Clark Five, Dusty Springfield, and so forth.
And the '70s being: The Carpenters, Elton John, The Stylistics, Sly and the Family Stone, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Jethro Tull, Grand Funk Railroad, The Jackson Five (yes, I'm also retaining a "claim" on early Michael Jackson material), The Eagles, Helen Reddy, Cat Stevens, Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, The Staple Singers, James Taylor, Alice Cooper, Lobo ...you get the general picture.

So it's like ...The Monkees followed by Jimi Hendrix?  Or The Doors followed by The Association?
...Why not?
I deserve to co-claim the commercial music I grew up with and have long loved.

I've never been much on fraternizing or partaking in social activities.  I would try from time to time, but somehow I could never blend in.  I never felt I could ever contribute anything to the moment.  It's like I'm more a witness to everything than I am a participant.

Anything I was ever successful at in any way would come about as a result of my conducting select activities "under the radar" (to avoid interference from others and to avoid certain prejudices) and my knack for figuring out how to establish my own "headquarters" and to bring them with me wherever I go.

Even here on the interwebs my space here is more "a world of its own" than it is "just another blog site".





                                       Another site to check out: www.vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com   
                        

                                                                                              Adage For Today
                                                                    Aging is only for those who don't die young. 


 

With all the attention being given to the events transpiring in the northern St. Louis suburb of Ferguson it's easy to allow ourselves to be distracted by all the focus on the "Black vs. White" aspect of the ever-ongoing civilian cold war phenomenon (sometimes going full-frontal from time-to-time).

But let us not forget about all the other disenfranchised members of society:  the American Indian(/Native Americans), or the eternally-impoverished Appalachians (so much for the myth of "white privilege"), or anyone considered "odd", "freaky", or "undesirable" in any way.

"Prejudice" is not a synonym for "racism".  It means any kind of unjust or unreasonable disparaging judgment made against any individual or group.






                                          Another site to check out: www.diehipster.wordpress.com

The Officious Ones II

Picture if you will:
A couple walking down the street apparently having a heated argument, maybe with a little pushing and shoving involved as well.

And someone walking or riding their bicycle on the other side of the street witnessing their momentary conflict.  But, figuring it's a possible domestic abuse they're witnessing, this person takes it upon themselves to call the police and report this incident.

Do I have to mention the potential hazards this type of scenario could possibly pose for the arguing couple?  How a quota-seeking cop might finagle some kind of "just cause" as an excuse to make an arrest (or worse)?
Or that the motto of the police should read "To Purge Is How We Serve"?

                                I would wish that
I was custom-mentored in all the special knowledge and cultural secrets all others around me seem to be aware of that I've never been let in on

I had support and backing and recognition for any good ideas and plans I would come up with as well as for my aptitudes and abilities

I'd get all the opportunities and free passes so many people take for granted: the opportunity to make decent money, travel abroad, to have intimate relationships, to enjoy a high (or high enough) status

                                  In return I would wish that I would
Have been mature and self-disciplined when growing up

Have been somehow more knowledgable about more things

Have been more excited about life itself and had more motivation

Have been born with a charismatic personality

Have been born physically attractive instead of so ungainly


God should send me back in time with all the above elements intact so that I may get a chance to do my life  THE RIGHT WAY this time around

 

One might wonder: What makes a person like me tick?
Why is it people like me are always so condemning or mocking of other people and their ways?

First off, people like me, when growing up, constantly had the ethos of social etiquette drummed into them repeatedly.

We had strict parents who were always emphasizing "showing consideration for others", "being sensitive to the feelings of others", and "respecting the rights and property of others".
They taught us that when returning home late at night you keep your voice down when talking and close the door behind you slowly and softly because "people are trying to sleep".
They sternly asserted: "You need to show respect for others".  It was always important to "never offend anyone".

If they took us along to visit a friend or acquaintance and we would commit some faux pas like, for example, snooping through some of their belongings or, maybe, asking them a question that was a bit too touchy or of a personal nature, as soon as our folks got us alone somewhere they'd slap us around or even beat us---as if we had just committed the worst atrocity against humankind imaginable.

Fast-forward to adulthood after years of being taught "fair play", "wait your turn", and the ethos of decency, culture, integrity and responsibility---and enter into the real world:
It's all barbaric, bigoted, illiterate, corruption, a bunch of gangsters and con artists, aggressive "respectable" snobs who have privilege at the expense of others, hypocrisy galore, domineering authorities and business owners accusing us of having some kind of vague malicious intentions, and all manners of prurient mindsets who then try to accuse us of having ulterior motives of our own (or at least implying such), and all manners of the reckless and irresponsible as well.

And we're like: What the hell is THIS shit? Like we were taught all that "golden rule" stuff all in vain.
We do as we should but we get no credit for it.
We have all these people fucking things up left and right but one mistake on our part gets us crucified.

So, our response is to produce essay-style blog sites showing our reactions and responses to this phenomenon of the world in relation to our place in it.




                                             Another site to check out: www.asshatrants.blogspot.com
                                                                          ...and another one: www.beefblogonoff.com

Two weeks ago (July 20th) was the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and mankind's first step on the lunar surface when Neil Armstrong was the first of two astronauts to step outside the spaceship.

There are those who contend that this event was all a staged fabrication.  That no human has ever traveled to the moon.  It was all an elaborate hoax.
They'll point to the fact that we've yet to return to the moon or to go beyond in space as "proof" of this notion.

Personally I think the reason we've never gone back is because we actually DID successfully land on the moon, and that what we had to do in order to achieve that goal took such a big plug out of us as a society we've never recuperated from the effects of all the "Peters" we robbed to pay this humongous "Paul".  I suspect a lot of the economic problems we've been plagued with for so long originated with the expenses of that project, including: the shortages in remaining funds for social security; the highway funds reserved for road and bridge repairs; the funds needed for infrastructure maintenance; the Medicare/Medicaid funds; etc.
And no telling what the environmental effects are. The hole in the ozone layer? The dwindling fossil fuel resources?

You'll find that when something exceptional is brief or short-lived it's usually from being so high-maintenance in nature that it's creators, owners, curators and overseers eventually get burned out from the complexities involved in keeping that project going continuously or indefinitely.  (Maybe this might be what happened with The Beatles' career as a group.  Or with the old traditional top-40 radio formats of the 1950s/60s/70s.  Or with the original "progressive rock" format.  Or with the big band era, or even the progressive jazz of the 1950s and '60s.)

                     Texting While Driving
                     Selfies
Two prime examples of "Throwing Pearls To Swine".
You just can't allow the average person to have access to anything nice or classy.  All most people know how to do is bastardize or subvert whatever they get their grubby little paws on.







                        Another site to check out: www.ihopeyourbagiscomfortableasshole.tumblr.com
                                                             ...and yet ANOTHER one: www.paulmodrowski.blogspot.com

With all the attention being given to the legendary pop/rock quartet The Four Seasons lately I thought I'd put my two cents worth in:
I think what made the "Seasons" work is a combination of Frankie Valli's histrionic (somewhat hyperbolic) singing style alongside tight-assedly precise vocal and instrumental arrangements, first-rate production, and some of the most professional backup studio musicians.




Why are the Heavens being so mean to Malaysia these days?
Just what has that country done to anyone else in the world to be deserving of the wrath it's been getting lately?

The More Laws There Are The More Criminals You'll Have

I don't think it's right the way society humiliates those with arrest and conviction records. With so many laws on the books and so many types of acts considered "offenses" it's a wonder 90% of the population doesn't have SOME kind of a criminal record.

I think those who've never been in trouble with the law have either never been caught or they just have influential individuals or organizations covering up for them when they DO fuck up.
Society views them as somehow "too highly regarded to fail".  Not to mention I find the pompous attitudes and sense of self-assurance and self-righteousness of such persons to be insufferable.

What I would wish on such persons:
It's discovered by authorities that one of their offspring has been running a meth lab.
Or, when engaging in one of their usual aggressive driving antics, they either hit a pedestrian or bicycle in a crosswalk (who has the legal right-of-way) ...or, when cutting through a parking lot at full speed (to avoid having to wait for the light) they crash head-on into someone trying to enter the (same) lot.
You know ...the kind of situation they can't weasel their way out of.
 

Elements

What kind of elements should comprise a program, be it a radio program, television program, or a magazine article, or a blog post?

Should it be pragmatic? Should everything be all about protocol, being tightly structured and regulated? Should only reality rule? Should everything be done clinically, no humor or imagination?

Or should it be creative, innovative, inspired, and improvisational? Should we focus on being crafty and "tricky" in a clever manner? Should all dialogue comprise ambiguous double entendre type writing or talk whose meanings are able to extend way beyond the immediate subject matter at hand?
Should it be obsessively philosophical and focus on "intellectual" matters?

Or should it be frivolous and mostly ephemeral, purely "fun-loving" and focused mainly on the "entertainment" aspect?

Personally I think the best programming and literature are those that are able to craftily and discreetly infuse all those elements into one overall package, highlighting each when they're called for and best fitted for the occasion.

                                                             The 1990s:
When a recording group or singer could determine how successful their latest hit was by how often it was getting played at McDonald's



                                                              Sports Obsessed Nation
The fault is not with the sports themselves.  They're simply elaborate interactive games someone concocted way back whenever.
It's the worship and idolatry of both the game and of select players.  When, instead of just being integral to the culture, it becomes too central to it, superceding other equally worthy factions in priority.



Google "mack h67 pics" and up will come photos of Mack's classic "Rolls Royce grill on a Volkswagon" style cabover model from the late-50s/early-60s.

As strange as it sounds, once I'm done producing any one post on this site I only look at it just long enough to proofread it to check for typing errors and proper wording.  Then I "move on" and read other sites.  In fact I enjoy reading what other people write more so than what I put out.

The reason being that I realize my views and opinions are always going to be hampered by my limited knowledge and experiences as well as by whatever inner prejudices I have.
No one person should ever have a final word on any given subject, no matter how enlightened and knowledgeable they are and for just those reasons.

One should be openminded when it comes to the internet, just as they should be with anything else.
To read other people's sites, to go outside of one's niche and belief systems and take into consideration arguments others make for how they think and what they believe.
Not that it should necessarily cause one to turn away from their own worldview, but to realize whatever one thinks is never going to be the last word anyone has on any subject.

Likewise, my blog site represents how things look from my vantage point.
Nothing more, nothing less.

...And so I went out to the country about 30 miles or so east of the city to visit my brother and his elderly godmother and their many cats this past Thursday.

I must say it was nice to be somewhere where one isn't subjected to the constant sound of emergency sirens every half hour or to helicopters hovering above you all the time.  Or to obnoxious traffic noise.

To be around people who talk to me in a respectful and straightforward manner as opposed to cocky strangers making unwarranted contemptuous comments to me  randomly when I've never done anything to them.

The only noise around here were crows screaming at raccoons who were nesting in the bird feeder.

Compare this to an environment that normally resembles the Democratic convention of 1968 in Chicago, or the Detroit race riots of the summer of 1967 ("summer of love"?).  Or a social climate of "Kent State"esque shootings, only instead of a National Guard those who pull the triggers are either local civilian authorities, gang members, or disillusioned despondent individuals who's only good fortune in life seems to be having enough to their name to purchase firearms.

             Richard "Ringo Starr" Starkey turned 74 on Monday.

Mick Jagger also has a birthday later on this month (the 26th, a Saturday).  He is set to turn 71 that day.
He's dating some 29-year-old (or someone like that) at the moment.  What a philanderer!
Too bad old Rolf Harris never had the celebritistic prestige or charisma of old Mick.  He wouldn't be in such hot water now if he did.
What do you think of incompetent authorities who expend all kinds of time, resources, and effort to go after an 84-year-old for stuff he did while still in his 20s, 30s, 40s, and/or 50s?  Obviously a sanctimonious gesture done to obscure their inefficiency as well as to appease popular prejudices and current-day hysteria.
In other words:  If they couldn't nail the guy BACK THEN they should forever hold their peace.  FORGET IT! You waited too long to respond to all of this.

 

The Officious Ones

We all had that ditsy aunt or grandmother whose idea of a Christmas present or birthday present was a sweater that always seemed to be the wrong size.  Who always felt obliged to be "generous", bring over tons of food of which we had to give half away ourselves simply due to not having enough space on our shelves or in our refrigerator to accommodate it all.

Recently some church group provided a "charity" service at the laundromat I always go to, in which they washed, dried, and folded clothes for the patrons for free.  Of course when I handed them my bag I made sure to mention I had detergent in a sandwich bag already premeasured among my dirty clothes, and to make sure not to put my laundry bag itself in the dryer after washing.  (As a "bonus" they were also serving us free hotdogs and soft drinks while we waited for our clothes.)

When I got home to put my clothes away I noticed they were still damp.  Whoever washed my stuff did not put enough time on the dryer apparently.
It was then that I thought: Shit, I would've been better off if they simply handed me a bunch of quarters and just let me do my stuff the way I normally do.

But that's what I'm getting at:  People who do "favors" for you randomly that you never requested or asked for.  All the unwanted gifts.  Bringing you tons of food that you have nowhere to store in your small apartment and can't possibly eat up before it spoils.  Or they loan you personal items of theirs even though you're not into borrowing or lending out yourself.  You wind up "babysitting" someone else's private property for months.

I'm not against people being generous.  It's just that if somebody wants to "do something for" another person they should first make sure that their acts and deeds will actually BENEFIT that other person---as opposed to merely alleviating their own guilty conscience or just being some kind of pious gesture.

In short:  Just give me some goddamn money and I'LL decide for myself what it is I either want or need!

                                                           Musing For Today


There's something to be said about a xenophobic social rank fascist society run by autocratic-minded officials and citizenry running ad campaigns like "End Discrimination Now" and "End Bullying Now".

                                           What is "hate speech"?

Is it ANYTHING that's disparaging, or flippant and sardonic?  Anything not "sugar-coated" sanctimoniousness?

If "hate speech" signifies anything harsh, derisive, or contemptuously critical then I'm guilty myself of such.

The way I see it, if it's okay for certain others to treat me like crap then it should be okay for me to respond candidly to such and to express my sentiments to and about those individuals or factions that/who prompt my ire.


                                                              Where do I start?
The way social service agencies are constantly changing their rules and policies "every five minutes" on how they provide services for food stamp entitlements, MEDICAID services, HUD public housing facilities?

Or businesses and government agencies who, these days, seem to be constantly moving their facilities from one location to another every other year?  How is it these people don't seem to have enough wealth and stability to establish any kind of permanent base and keep their roots firmly laid down?
They give in to the highest bidder who wants the land or property to build a casino, shopping center, or high-end nightclub on (in the name of gentrification).  You know, the very things that enhance our cultural climate and contribute to civility in general.  Casinos and nightclubs=loud drunks, DUIs, more noise and air pollution.  And more employment opportunities for those who work at rehab and addiction centers.

How about defective consumer products?  Or lousy consumer services?

How about the way any subversive with a laptop has the "right" to cyberembezzle anyone's bank account, checking account, or credit card account because banks and businesses are too cheap to invest in any kind of credible and effective security measures?

Responsibility is...

You're eating out in a dine-in/sit-down restaurant and the party in the booth behind you decide to do a "dine-and-dash" and haul ass out the entrance.

When you go to pay your ticket you're informed that you also owe the tab of the delinquent guests, a gulit-by-association due to your close proximity to them. And, if you refuse to also cover their tab you're threatened with arrest and prosecution for "theft".





                                                                 Adages For Today
               
            Most of what you learn in life you learn too late for any of your knowledge to do you any good.

                                Those who lay booby traps never put up warning signs.

                           Two ways to learn the laws of your land. Attend Law School. Or get busted a lot.

             When it comes to urban noisemakers there are two types:

                                                                         The  Nightlifers

These people either have a plethora of great wealth or one hell of a great credit rating because they seem to have an endless supply of funds for purchasing of all manners of alcoholic beverages and also always seem to have gas money to keep their vehicles running up and down the streets nonstop at all hours of the night.
As one can guess these folks don't exactly "tip-toe and whisper" their way around town while engaging in their ultrahedonistic activities.  They figure since they don't finally get to sleep until 4:00 A.M. no-one else should be allowed to do so either.


                                                                          The Earlybirders

These idiots are the morning commuters, the city refuse workers, construction crews demolishing the building next door to wherever you live, delivery services who "have to" come around at 7:00 A.M. to drop off packages and who honk their horns repeatedly until someone finally comes out to greet them, service providers (plumbing, exterminators, maintenance crews, inspectors), road repair crews who "have to" get started at 6:00 A.M. to continue their resurfacing job on the street and sidewalks of the block you live on, who think "just because they get up at 5:00 or 6:00 A.M. everyone else should too".

And I'm the "urban dweller", the one-in-the-middle, who has to suffer being beset and vexed by these eternal morons. 

I wonder: How do these idiots all manage to find sleep themselves? You would think each one's lifestyle patterns, being so antithetical, would interfere with the other one's, but somehow I seem to be the only one affected by all this.

Maybe these people live in their own isolated soundproof enclaves out in the woods somewhere and only come into the city to either party or to work.

There are theories abound expressing the notion of some kind of "natural selection" process transpiring in the way people choose their mates and lovers.

It's no trade secret that women are only attracted to men who exhibit domineering traits: aggressive, excessively self-assured, smug, arrogant. Even-tempered or milquetoast types they consider undesirable. As are those perceived to be "child-like".
Women want either a surrogate father or a swashbuckler ("bad boy" type).

Men want "trophy" cunts.  They go for the good looks and "sexy" clothes.  If they score a good-looking chick it's like scoring brownie points.  They want to feel like a "real man", and scoring fat chicks or "plain Janes" just won't do.
Everything is visual for the human male.

Now, there are those who contend that this phenomenon is a subconscious preprogrammed instinct put in place by nature for the purpose of ensuring only the most desirable genes get reproduced for the sake of the survival of the species.

However, this notion does nothing to explain why, for example, so many married couples one runs into fit into some of the categories of "undesirables".
Nor does it explain why so many people exist who have profound defects: diabetes; heart disease; epilepsy; mental retardation; mental illnesses; low I.Q.s; arthritis; cancers; obesity; glaucoma; skin diseases; and so forth.

If nature's REALLY "tricking" us into passing only our "best genes" along it's not doing a very good job of it.

(Then again, I never cared much for any kind of Darwinian-minded theories.  They always seem a bit nihilistic---if not literally, then in a manner of speaking.)

                                    Musings / Adages

The "system" is a tall tree with long invasive roots capable of upending structures, foundations, and pathways and routes necessary for functionality.


General Motors should just pack it in and dissolve.
Their products are defective and dysfunctional and it's only their ongoing legacy and imagery that keeps the company going.
They should just demolish the headquarters building and erect a plaque or monument paying tribute to the company as "a great American legacy which is no more".
They violated the trust factor a few times too many.  No private individual would ever begin to pull off being that incompetent and corrupt without being disgraced and blackballed.


I hate this modern-day practice of having contractors and contract workers performing jobs formerly held by professionals, specialists, union workers, and wage earners.  You know: people who actually did those things for a living and were formally trained in their respective fields, occupations and professions.
Nowadays it's all about "meeting quotas".  And, as a result, society has become totally substandard in all areas.


There's something to be said about a society where full-grown adults need to be reminded to "not text while driving". 
 (Note: Woodbridge Township in the state of New Jersey outlawed the use of headphones while driving, jogging, or riding bicycles back in 1982. The main culprit at the time? The SONY Walkman portable cassette player. Distracted driving, "old-school" style.)



A computer program will only be as accurate or intelligent as it's programmers.