Hobson's Choice (revisited)
Damn, my winter coat is getting a bit frayed.  I've had it a while though.  I could stand to replace it.

Problem is, with spring around the corner will the stores still be stocking winter apparel, what with their "seasonal" stocking practice?  I don't understand why they can't at least keep a handful of, say, winter coats in stock throughout the year, even in warmer weather, for those who wish to make a purchase of an item for future use.  It's not like if I buy a winter coat in March or April I intend to parade around in 95-degree (F) July weather wearing it while everyone else is strolling around in cut-offs and t-shirts.

It's like when you buy paper clips, you only need one or two, but you still have to buy the whole box of 500.

I'm old enough to remember when I could go into a record store and buy just one blank cassette tape if  that's all I thought I wanted at the time.  Then, years later, they started only offering pairs and packages of five and ten---eventually doing away with the pairs.

    NO SHIRT 
                         NO SHOES
                                               NO SERVICE 

 Just what kind of a restaurant is this anyway?  And what kind of employees do they hire to work here?

More CeleDeaths

*With the passing of Peter Tork the Monkees have now officially been "split in half".
I never knew he was a multi-instrumentalist.  He played the harpsichord on THE GIRL I KNEW SOMEWHERE---a song written by Mike Nesmith, with Micky Dolenz on lead vocals.


*Mark Hollis, lead singer/songwriter of the 80s group Talk Talk.  He was 64.


CeleBirthdate: William "Smokey" Robinson turned 79 last week (the 19th)



                                   Another site to check out: www.makeitmissoula.com/blogs/bob-wire-has-a-point/

                                          Musing For Today
A lot of projects that end are often not really finished or completed.  Many times they're merely discontinued.  You'll find they had "more cards to play", but for some reason they never went any further even though they still had plenty of substance to work with and good reason to continue.

There are usually three main reasons one would suddenly abandon a once-ambitious project or hobby:  financial, circumstantial, or psychological
*They can no longer afford to constantly incur the expenses that come with the project due to other expenses in their life
*The project has taken over too much of their time and seems to "own them", creating an imbalance of sorts in which they aren't giving enough attention to other areas of life
*The world and life itself is interfering too much with their life, cutting into the time and resources necessary for them to be able to focus adequately enough on their project
*The stress and effects of dealing with adverse personalities and situations is messing with their minds too much for them to be able to remain clear-headed enough to retain the focus and creative energies needed for executing the project properly.

It's a lot like those who quit their job, not because the work is hard, or because they don't get along with the boss, but more due to insufferable coworkers---those who constantly mess with them, sabotage their on-job efforts, behave threateningly toward them for alleged "offenses" (being too "gruff", not being dutifully respectful or for being "unfriendly"---never mind these coworkers themselves have their fair share of "meltdowns" and also act rude when they're experiencing "personal issues"), and act like they're also "in charge" and can make rules of their own.  

Where have all the sit-down full service restaurants gone?
Only a handful remain, and of those remaining chains only about 1/10 of the number of them remain scattered about.
These days it's all either ethnic or specialty "health conscious" eateries---vegetarian-based, or "grain-fed beef only served here".  And all exorbitantly priced with small portions at that.

I just crave the good old traditional "meat-and-potatoes, vegetable and rolls" type of  meal.  At an affordable price.
It's not like I'm not on any kind of "diet"
...well, actually, I am---my own "whatever I can afford and whenever I have time to eat/fix it" diet.

But I'm just saying it seems the restaurant and food industries have also been hijacked by the "social reformers" (the ones who want to lecture us about what's "for our own good")---the same way the television, movie, and music industries have.
All these "self-help" gurus have more authority and clout than even the government and police it seems.
Alas ....cue up a copy of DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY ....or even THE OLD PHILOSOPHER ....

                                            Occam's Razor
                                            No Other Brand Can Guarantee A Smoother Shave
My overall interest in politics is pretty much nil.  Like, when it came to the partial government shutdown my main concern was primarily with not being able to access certain government services if needed, and the way it might mess with the economy.

I'm a simple sort.  All I really want from society is for the trains and buses to run on time, to be able to mail a letter and have it arrive at the right address, to arrive at a scheduled appointment with my doctor or dentist and not be told "I'm sorry, he/she is not in today.  We meant to phone you but apparently someone forgot.", and for those I do business with to have a modicum of transparency in their dealings and not just be "out to 'fuck with others'".

                                      2nd Musing For Today
When I was in grade school I had buck teeth and the kids would beat me up and mock me over them
...a couple years later my parents put out a few hundred bucks from their own pocket to fit me with braces
...then those rotten fascist-minded schoolmates beat me up and mocked me for having "tinsel teeth"

The privileged and favored are always free to throw rocks at the "lessers" all they want
...but should the "lessers" decide to throw any of those rocks back at any of the favored in a gesture of "Thanks, but no thanks!  I don't need these---you can have them back!" they stand to get taken down by the system for being a "menace", a "threat", or a "terrorist".

The "Israel complex":  when the eternally persecuted decide to turn the tables and be the aggressors for a change, then the world starts condemning them for being "barbaric" and "terroristic", conveniently ignoring their past histories which explain why they would assume such a radically defensive stance
...a term which also readily applies to all outcasts of the world. 




                                   Another site to check out:  www.field-negro.blogspot.com

                                            Musing For Today
You know, I think it's tragic that our cities and towns are so obviously strapped for taxpayer dollars they can't even afford to provide proper facilities for all those "health nuts" to jog around and ride their bicycles in.

Without access to a designated track and field they're forced to use public sidewalks as jogging and bicycle trails
...which makes it hard for us pedestrians, as we can never step outside to go anywhere without being nearly sideswiped by an array of ticked-off petulant joggers and bicyclists who regard us as little more than a public menace and nuisance who "have no business being present" in their "territory".

You should know that when I step outside to go anywhere I usually have a reason for doing so.  I'm not just "trying to get in everyone's way" for the hell of it.  I often have somewhere  in mind and a purpose for going there.
And even when I AM just walking around, I'm not doing anything immoral in being under the illusion that I "also should have  the same entitlement to be part of this world".





                                            Note to all you motorists out there:
Right-on-red is not an unconditional Constitutional right.  It simply means that if there's no cross-traffic or anyone crossing (pedestrians, bicycles, e-scooters, skateboarders) you're then free to make a turn if you wish.
Nothing more.

            Attention all geniuses and prodigies:
Realize you have a special and unusual value to the world, and, as such, you should never have a cavalier attitude toward your own life and existence and think it's okay to behave recklessly or to carelessly and impetuously put yourself in harm's way unnecessarily, as you are the ones who matter more than any of us "average Joes and Janes".

Don't do what Buddy Holly and Ritchie  Valens did 60 years ago, when they were so anxious to get to their next performance gig a few hours early in order to get a few of their personal affairs in order before having to hit the stage again, they hastily threw a few bucks at a local privately owned fly-by-night air transport outfit with poorly maintained equipment operated by hack amateur management and crew as their make-shift on-the-spot means of getting to that next destination

...resulting in the untimely demise of two promising ultra-talented creative singer/songwriter musicians who potentially stood to change the course of and improve upon the present state of popular music.
Instead, we wound up having to rely on others of equal aptitude to inject and infuse THEIR visions and perspectives into that realm, always perplexedly wondering what might have been had Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens still been around to interact with the music scene of latter-day.

   More Prognosticative Misgivings About Artificial Intelligence (so-called "intelligence")

My biggest fear concerning Artificial Intelligence (or "A.I.") is "Who's going to be responsible for programming all these units?".

Surely not our illustrious federal government!

Not the one whose Social Security Administration sends us annual charts through the mail projecting our "future income", all based on however much we've been earning the past 5 years.  Or whose agencies are still sending mail to our previous address or are still trying to call us at our old phone number after we've already sent them forms and letters informing them of our change-of-address and new phone number.

Surely not any of the businesses who still send us coupons through the mail for products we used to buy on a regular basis that we no longer purchase or bother with.

Do we need to be completely controlled by mindless automatons that think the same way as a typical bureaucrat, where there's "only one right way to do" whatever project or task is being undertaken, or "there's only one solution to" whatever the given problem, or in the case of a conflict between persons there's "always one individual or group who's at fault and guilty of causing all the problems and everyone else is an innocent victim of their ways"?

That's the typical mindset of industries, academia, lawmakers, the police and the courts.

That inaptitude for noticing and recognizing the dynamics of nuances and variations  of (and in) character and temperament.

Whatever you've done in the past, or however most others judge you, that's what you're stuck with the rest of your life

...and if you wish to live under a system like this, controlled by inflexible mechanical minds pre-programmed by inflexible authorities representing an inflexible social system, then I guess you'll be okay with an A.I.-controlled environment

The rest of us?  We'll still continue "kicking and screaming" and suffering in silence.

National Healthcare, Illegals, Bail-out, Trump Administration---conflated

I take issue with the notion that a national health care system is "fiscally unsustainable", that it could "collapse the U.S. economy", as a valid argument against it.

Those who would make such an ultra-myopic conjecture don't take into account the 2009 multi-billion dollar bail-out of major "too big to fail" companies, or the way this country still continues to allow non-citizens who entered this country improperly and unlawfully access the social safety nets like food stamps and Medicare/Medicaid, or the various forms of "corporate welfare" that benefit huge successful companies and institutions.

All those in charge would have to do, for example (as in the case of illegals receiving safety net benefits), is allow only U.S. citizens (who are eligible) to apply for and receive any "safety net" services provided by federal and state governments.  That, all by itself, could put tens of millions of dollars back into the national till.

Now, I don't care too much for President Trump and his administration (in particular, their economic plans and the way they seem intent on doing away with the social safety nets in general)
...but I AM all in on Trump's (stated) viewpoints on the "illegal invasion" issue.  Although my reasons for harboring similar sentiments on it probably differ from his.
Of course you and I both know there's no way in hell the "border wall" can ever be finished soon enough to prevent further influxes of mega-invasions of non-citizens from our neighboring continental countries just south of us (or "just south of U.S."?) with dysfunctional governments.

Now, if only the Trump administration wouldn't be so supportive of big businesses.  But, being a billionaire elitist himself, one WOULD expect him to naturally take sides with those of his ilk.

But, let it be known that tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy alongside government "investment" in huge companies and institutions quite capable of financial self-sustenance on their own is also as much a fiscal threat to this nation as is giving away select government resources and revenue to unauthorized faux "resident" outsiders. 

CeleDeaths 2019 (so far)

Thomas "Dean Ford" McAleese
Lead vocalist/songwriter of Marmalade

James Ingram
"Just Once"; "One Hundred Ways"; "Somewhere Out There"
...paired with Quincy Jones, Patti Austin, Michael McDonald, Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes, Linda Ronstadt, others.

Maxine Brown
Of The Browns ("The Three Bells"; "The Old Lamplighter")

Bonnie Guitar
Of "Dark Moon" fame