Stop It!

If you use Facebook - as do many of my friends and family who follow me in this blog - you've probably received a request to play a game. Now, I spend far too much time online as it is and already have too many addictions websites I visit every day and don't need to spend even more time playing games. I recently had a games request from a long-time online friend's son and hated to turn it down, but felt I had to. I probably should have messaged him to say why I didn't want to play the game.

It's not just that, though; if you use Facebook, you've probably noticed strange messages on friend's walls, saying they've entered a contest and you should too, or you need to view some video or visit some link where you'll see something "Shocking!". Sometimes it's even posted on your own wall. Those are the "rogue" applications that can take over your account. What's worse, if you click on the link and your computer isn't completely protected, you stand a good chance of having some nasty malware installed.

For example, I just got a request from a Facebook "friend" to install an application - it was a game called "Messages From God". Now, if I want a message from God, I'll pray for one. He's seen fit to send me messages before, some I didn't want to hear.

Anyway, here's a screenshot of the request. I cut out the application name while I was deleting my personal information.(I wasn't going to name it, but since they don't care about MY privacy, why should I theirs?)

Click graphic for larger view

As you can see, the application wants permission to access your basic information, even when you're not using the app.  If you accept the app., you also grant it permission to send you email...IOW, to spam you.  Since it can access your Facebook friend's information, that means it can also spam them. Since using Facebook, my email has had a ten-fold increase in spam.  I'm certain that some of the applications my "friends" have installed are responsible.

That's not all;  as I mentioned earlier, you're also giving the application permission to post "on your behalf".  That's not only annoying to me, it infuriates me. (I post enough stupid stuff as it is - I don't need an application doing it for me.)

I've blocked the application and blocked any more application requests from my Facebook "friend".  (to paraphrase an old adage: "With friends like that, you might as well have an enema")  I've posted on my wall several times that I don't play games, don't want to be sent requests.  *Some* people don't care - or read - what you post, seems like.  If I get one more request from her, I'll just unfriend and block HER.

Facebook - other than that - is a great social media, but they sure need to do something about the security issues. It would also be nice to be able to just go into your settings and block ALL application requests.

Prop Bets on the Super Bowl

I'm not a gambler, not unless you count buying lottery tickets when the jackpot is huge or the occasional scratch ticket if I have a spare dollar or two, but I've always been fascinated by proposition bets (AKA "prop bets") They're specific bets on certain things happening in the game, such as heads/tails on the coin flip and who wins the toss, who scores first and whether it be by pass or run.

The first score was on a safety and that paid 50-1. Would've been nice to have a thousand dollars on that prop bet...but who in their right mind would have risked that much money? I guess someone who wasn't in their right mind and/or had a lot of money to risk. Not me. (I don't have that kind of money, but many say I'm not in my right mind. The odds on that are pretty much even)

Other bets were more esoteric, such as would Kelly Clarkson's bare belly be showing when she sings the national anthem? Will she forget any words to the song? How long will it last? (on the last - Odds: Over 1 Minute 35 Seconds (-115), Under 1 Minute 35 Seconds (-115) )

You could even place a bet on who the MVP will thank first. (Odds: God (+125), Teammates (+200), Does not thank anyone (+250), Coaches/Owner (+400), Family (+500)  I think it was a pretty safe wager that he'd say "I'm going to Disney World!"

There were over/under bets on who many times Tom Brady's wife appeared on TV and if they'd show his son AND if he would be wearing a Brady jersey. (I didn't look those or a few others up, sorry. If you're really interested, I'm sure you could find that information. I'm just hittin' the highlights.)

What color will the Gatorade be that is dumped in the winning head coach? Odds: Clear (Even), Yellow (+200), Orange (+250), Lime Green (+550), Red (+800), Blue (+1000). I haven't had any Gatorade in years and years, not since my own football days. I once drank too much of it after a practice and promptly threw it all back up. It was orange colored, btw.

The prop bets don't end with the game's end, either; you could also place a bet on where the Dow Jones Average will be on the day after the game. Speaking of the Dow Jones: I've always thought the stock market was the most extreme form of gambling....well, that, and cheating on your spouse. Wonder what the odds would be on who would shoot you first? Your spouse or the spouse of the person you cheated with?

More prop bets at: Super Bowl 2012 Prop Bets: The Weirdest Ways to Make Money

Bogus Barclays Bank Bilking

This was in my spam folder earlier; it's not the first similar one I've seen, but it got me to wondering just how many people fall for this scam

---

Important Security Message !!

Barclays Bank Plc.
security@barclays.co.uk

Dear Customer, Your account is suspended due to the number of incorrect login attempts. For your protection, we've suspended your account .

To reactivate your account please download the document attached to this e-mail to review your account activity.

If not completed until February 07, we will be forced to close your account .

Note: If you received these e-mail in your BULK/SPAM section please add to your address book member@barclays.co.uk

Thank you,
Customer Support Service.

Copyright © Barclays IBank Plc. Limited.
All rights reserved.

---

Of course, I don't live in the UK nor do I have a bank account there. I guess they just use a "shotgun" mailing, sending to harvested email addresses in hopes they'll find a few who DO have an acct. with Barclays. Note the official copyright notice - added there to put someone at ease and convince them it was an "official" mailing.

I wouldn't open up that attachment for a hundred bucks...or pounds, even. They can just go ahead and "close" my account.  I'm probably overdrawn, anyway.

50-50 Weather

This was today's question at StartSampling, one of the websites I visit every day. I've posted about it before, but for anyone who isn't familiar with the site, it features recipes, contests, trivia and a daily poll. (which is great for me, because those are among my favorite things) Today's poll question is about the weather and as you can see, the responses were equally divided.

I reluctantly voted for the hotter temperature; I'd rather it be somewhere in the middle, even an avg. of the two - somewhere around 70 degrees. Even though 105 deg. is too warm, I'd rather suffer through the heat than sub-freezing temps.

OTOH, my grandpa worked out in all sorts of weather and he always said he'd rather work in the cold than the heat.  His reasoning was you could always put on more clothes, but there were only so many you could take off. 

I never cared for working in either extreme; during frigid weather I've worn so many clothes it was hard to move and during really hot weather I sweat like crazy, pouring down into my eyes where I can't see.  (I've heard people say they "sweat like a pig" or dog, but pigs and dogs don't sweat) I've never worked at a job where I could take off nearly all my clothes, but if I did, I think I'd like to work with a bunch of women.

Vive les femmes poilues!

Saw a photo of a beautiful fighter jet earlier today; it was identified as a French Dassault Rafale
 

I'm not so sure it's a French plane, though.

There's no hair under the wings.

Late Arrival for the Soul Train

I was saddened last night to hear of the suicide of Soul Train host Don Cornelius.

Soul Train was a favorite Saturday afternoon program of mine and I liked watching it more than I did the popular American Bandstand. The dancing was better and I preferred Motown over the mostly pop music featured on Bandstand.

Thinking of Cornelius made me think of Soul Train which in turn made me remember a black guy I used to know.  I had known him (lets call him "Freddy") since high school; he was an excellent basketball player and all-around athlete.  He lost a chance at a big school scholarship when his team was playing its biggest rival and one of the opposing players called him a racial slur.  Freddy knocked the guy on his butt and was immediately ejected from the game - the other team's intent.  Later, the player apologized to Freddy and told him his coach had told him to say what he did. 

After high school, Freddy got mixed up with drugs and lost two very well-paying jobs and it was after getting fired the second time that he approached me for a job.  At the time, I was drilling the daylight shift on a rig;  my immediate boss was a mutual friend of Freddy's and I figured he had told Freddy that I needed another hand.

With much misgiving, I told Freddy that I'd hire him, but he needed to know that the drilling superintendent was of another generation and had many of the prejudices of his era.  Oh, he wasn't what I'd call an extreme bigot, because he had hired a crew of Hispanics, but he did make some inappropriate jokes behind their backs.

Freddy said he didn't care, he really needed the job and that he'd work hard and would, when possible, stay away from the boss and try to prove himself. 

I nodded, but went on to warn him that I expected him to be on time when I picked him up in the morning.  I told him we left very early, leaving in plenty of time to allow for a sensible driving speed and time enough to stop at the store before leaving town.  He asked when we left and I told him the time - he winced, but still was steadfast that he needed the job.  Again I warned him that I wouldn't wait on him, that I'd leave town without him if he wasn't ready and that I'd fire him if I had to wait on him more than once.  He assured me that he wouldn't let me down.

I'd roughnecked with Freddy before and knew he had drank beer on the job.  I warned him that wasn't tolerated and neither would be drug use on the location.  He promised he wouldn't do either.

We stood there in silence for a minute, me wondering if he would hold up his end of the bargain and I think he was wondering the same thing.  He then asked what time we got back to town after work.

"Depends." I replied. "If the relief gets there on time and everybody doesn't dally around and no one has to stop to use the bathroom or get beer or a coke on the way home, we roll into town around four or so." (It was a long drive) I went on:

"Since you live closest to me, I would pick you up first and drop you off last, just makes the most sense and saves me time and distance picking up/dropping off the crew. You'd probably get home around 4:30."

Freddy didn't hesitate. "I can't work for you." he said with an abrupt turnaround. "Why not?" I asked, incredulous with his change-of-heart.

"Soul Train starts at 4." he said. "I can't miss Soul Train."

---

Edit to add: I bumped into Freddy's cousin the other day while getting water. We exchanged the usual pleasantries, asking about one another's families and all that and I was pleased to hear that Freddy was living in another state and was clean and drug-free and had a family. The guy told me he (him, not Freddy) had been working in a local grocery store and had thought he had seen me there, but wasn't for sure if it was me. I told him "Well, you know all us white boys look alike." He laughed and said "You still crazy, for sure!"

Happy Groundhog & Garazon Day!

A"bump" since I'm too busy celebrating Groundhog Day to actually put up a new post about it.

 

(have to use a graphic because Blogger won't let me put in those special characters) means "grin" in IM chat or forum posts, but it in this case it also stands for "Garazon", one of my best and long-time online pals. The G for grin was first used by our mutual friend, Brad and I guess Garazon and I picked it up around the same time. It became a "nickname for the nickname" for me with Garazon and that's how I started abbreviating his screen name.

Garazon and I "met" in MSN Groups, but started to become good friends when he made a flashy Halloween page for his group, complete with embedded midi sound file and some other special effects. Making a page was one of my goals when I first got online and I was determined to learn how to do it, so I started asking Garazon all sorts of questions. I'm sure he grew weary of me bothering him, but he should have been flattered if he had only known how hard it was...and still is...for me to ask for assistance. 

I hope we don't ever lose touch, but even if we do, I'll always remember Garazon because of our time in Groups and that he once said Groundhog Day was one of his favorite holidays. I don't remember exactly WHY he said it was, but I thought that was very funny and every year since we met a dozen years ago in Groups, I always think of him on this day.

The 1993 Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day is also one of my favorite flicks and I try to watch it whenever it's on. I link to IMDb often when I post about movies, but sometimes I get so annoyed when reading posts about my favorite movies; the site is full of argumentative and insulting posts.  I can understand contention when discussing politics and religion, but movies?  Good Grief.  It gets extremely nasty when a movie contains plot elements of either of those two subjects and sometimes people try to interject one or the other into the discussion when there's no reason to do so.

Anyway...just heard on the news that the groundhog saw his shadow and there will be six more weeks of bad weather.  That doesn't mean much here in the Texas Panhandle; it was a beautiful, fairly warm day yesterday but this evening is supposed to bring freezing temps and rain and possibly snow. 

What It's Like

To Be Me

Problems With Quiz

Well, more problems than I usually have. Most of the other can be chalked up to stupidity and ignorance, but this one is beyond my control. (come to think of it, so are the others) I tried to play earlier and got an error message that said the site was too busy. I waited an hour, then tried again and got this one:

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, root@localhost and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

---

I hope that the clock isn't still running after one of my first attempts; it looked as though the site was going to load, but after about a minute or so, I gave up. I will try again later.

---

Update: I just tried again and got this error msg.:

FunTrivia.com We are temporarily experiencing some technical issues. Please try back later. We apologize for any inconvenience!

---

I had gone to Down or Not just to make sure it wasn't something on my end. When it said FunTrivia was up, I went to the site (not ToTG Trivia Tournament) and got the above msg. Oh well.

OMG

I'm gonna be rich!

---

Note: I have never used "OMG" in mails, posts or anywhere else on the internet before now. It's not a phrase - abbreviated or not - that I use in "real life" so I don't use it online. I don't invoke God's name when I curse nor when I'm exclaiming...not that I don't use other offensive words. (WTF you say?) I used it here because of the subject of this scam-spam email. As I always do when I post these emails, I've included their email address(es) so the web spiders will pick up on it and other spammer/scammers will spam the spammer/scammer.

---

Mrs. Julian Martinez Reply-To: julianmartinezmrs@kimo.com 

Dear Beloved in Christ, 

I am Mrs. Julian Martinez an aging widow suffering from long time illness. I have some funds I inherited from my late husband, the sum of 7.5 Million Pounds and I needed a very honest and God fearing Christian that will use the fund for God's work, I found your email address from the internet and decided to contact you. Please if you would be able to use the funds for the Lord's work, kindly reply me at (julianmartinezmrs@kimo.com) to explain more for your full understanding 

Yours in the Lord, 

Mrs. Julian Martinez.

---

I've said this before, but I think there's an extra-warm corner of Hell for people who bilk others in God's name.

Rumspringa

That's a new word I learned today. I saw it in a reply to a post in Big Hollywood - the topic was Katy Perry, Jessica and Ashlee Simpson and how they were raised in a church, but weren't being Christian in their careers. I like to read Big Hollywood but don't really like it when they interject religion or politics into their articles. (because 99% of Hollywood is liberal and the posts and replies mostly bitch and moan about it... and criticisms of religion almost always wind up sounding "holier than thou".)

One of the replies said the girls might be on their Rumspringa "and they'll get over it." From the context, I had an inkling as to what the word meant, but I wasn't familiar with it. Wiki says Rumspringa is a time when Amish youth "sow their wild oats". It was an interesting and informative read, so I did a little more research. I've read about Amish kids being busted for selling/using drugs and I seem to recall a recent murder that shocked the Amish community, but the funniest thing I have read about Amish crime has been beard cutting assaults. (Well, funny to me, but I wasn't the one getting my beard cut off.)

Maybe I'm insensitive about that, but I've never been able to grow a beard, just a mustache and Amish men don't wear mustaches. (I'm not sure about the Amish women) I could never be Amish, I guess, because I like my 'stache and my TV and microwave.

I also found out there's a band named Rumspringa and this is where I'd normally add the video, but I'm not in the mood for alternative music.

I do know an Amish joke, though:

What goes "clip clop clip clop - BANG BANG BANG - clip clop clip clop"?

An Amish drive-by shooting.

So Far, a Lucky Week

This just hit my email inbox:

I forget why I entered the contest; I'm sure the Grand Prize was something I really wanted or I wouldn't have made the effort. A magazine subscription isn't too bad of a consolation prize - I love to get magazines and after reading, they're good to line my trashcan with or to tear pages out of and put under the Beej's water and feed bowls. I used to take my old magazines to the laundromat but they would get stolen within the day.

It's been a fairly lucky week for me; I won this magazine subscription, fifty extra points for correctly answering the movie trivia question at StartSampling and last night I won $12 on the Powerball lottery.

It was also a very lucky week for some young punk in a red car.  I was out earlier and about to turn onto a busy street.  The light was red and there was a car ahead of me.  I started slowing as I normally do, easing to a stop. (saves gas, saves brake wear) There wasn't but a few car lengths between me and the other vehicle when the red car zoomed around me and cut in front.  I had to slam on my brakes to avoid slamming into the car.  I saw him glancing in his rear-view mirror and I gave him the bird.  He didn't look back again.  I was itching for a fight- he had scared me and that just about makes me angrier than anything else.

As we sat there waiting for the light, I got more angry.  He wasn't saving any time, he had to wait anyway.  When the light changed, he sped off, zipping from lane-to-lane w/out signalling. He also ran a yellow light when he got to the next intersection and turned. 

I wasn't in a very good mood, anyway.  I had tried to drop off my vehicle insurance payment last week, but there was a sign on the office door "Be Back Soon". I went back by several times, but there was no one there.  I put the check and invoice on the passenger seat and forgot about it.  When I got in my truck earlier, I noticed it and remembered that it was due tomorrow.  I got to the insurance office and saw the same sign on the door.  I went to the Dollar Store, did a little shopping and dropped back by only to see the business was still closed.  I killed a little more time and went back - the sign was still up, the door still locked.

Fuming, I went home and called the after hours number listed on the door.  Nothing.  I then called the regular number and a woman answered.  I told her I had been trying to bring my payment by and wanted to make sure someone was there to take it.  "Oh, I stepped out for a little while." she told me.  Yeah, a week is a "little while" I thought, but didn't say it.  She then informed me that the boss was gone, had been for a week.  That made sense then - she was enjoying her four hour lunch breaks.   She's lucky I didn't lose my temper with her.  She's even luckier I didn't have to file a claim for rear-ending that red car.

I'm lucky to win the few things I have this week.  To be honest - I'm even more lucky I haven't stroked out.   I seem to be getting more and more angry at things here lately.  I got a little angry earlier at a reply to my license plate post on Facebook.  An old friend and schoolmate wrote "Why would I want a license plate with 'Mike' on it?"  It shouldn't have, but it hit me wrong.  I started to reply "Well, it would be just as well....'smartass' wouldn't fit."  I've been a little snarky on Facebook myself lately, though, and didn't want to be a hypocrite.

To top all that off, the stray cat I've been feeding has been in heat. (I thought she was pregnant, but she is just fat.  I've cut back on her food- all she gets is B's leftovers now) I love cats, but the only thing more disgusting than the smell of cat urine is a female cat in heat.  Thanks to her "condition", there has been a dozen tomcats hanging around.  I've been woken up a dozen times  this week by the caterwauling;  it's either her and a male cat or two males dueling for her affections.  I've discovered one thing about cats;  you can't tell whether they're fightin' or foolin' around by the sounds they're making. 

It would probably help a great deal if I quit frequenting political forums.  If the Republicans nominate Gingrich, then they will have to give up the "party of family values" label they brag about.  If they nominate Santorum, then they'll lose any chance of getting a gay person to vote for them ever again. Both of them are a little...let's say "ethically challenged".  The Republicans definitely need to stop touting that they're for limited govt. and need to quit pretending they're conservative. (and the TEA Party has allowed itself to be hijacked by the neocons) I'm lucky I'm too old for the draft, because we'll need one for the war machine if we take on Iran.

I know I lowered my blood pressure at least fifty points by not reading posts in Dallas Cowboy forums.  The "Tony Homo" posts infuriated me.  Probably Santorum supporters.

Job Offer

Checking my spam folder, I saw a mail with my full name as the subject line.  I get those now 'n then, but they usually just say "Mike" ("check out these hot women!" or "Mike, want a bigger...? Well, you know.) I opened it up to see this job offer:

Tricia Casey
geCaseyTisricruia@hotmail.com

Greetings.

Available opening: Payment Manager
Location : any place within the United States
Terms of compensation: percentage + bonuses
Work-at-home job only (no office positions are offered)

Basic information about company:

Our financial company is one of long-time leaders on the investment, online payments and finance management markets for the last few years. Top quality standard and level of services we provide have gained us the highest ratings both from individuals, and from large businesses and corporations that operate in various fields. We work in different business industries, that is why we look for initiative and goal-centered people who may not possess specific necessary skills to join our staff. The majority of our customers until this point were situated in Europe and Asia Our headquarters is located in London. In the coming years we will enlarge our branch network to America and Canada as well.

General description of the opening:

Your duties will include providing support to our financial department. This is a remote free schedule job, which will demand not more than 15 hours weekly. We offer very competitive salary. You will get your compensation in your account; it will be available immediately on the payment day. We cover all extra expenses that may appear during the transactions processing.

Our requirements:

- Computer and access to the Internet, MS Office or compatible office software;
- No criminal record;
- Confidentiality and discretion;
- Attention to detail;

We would like you to become a member of our staff. We are confident that the terms of employment and the salary that we offer to our employees are very competitive and will persuade you to make the best decision.

To apply for this position: Please reply to this message and we will get back to you within the next 48 hours.
-------------
I did a search for Tricia Casey and found several listings.  Of course, that's not an unusual name and I found several different people with that name. Checking a LinkedIn profile, I discovered that this Tricia was indeed a personnel mgr. for a company that seemed similar to the one described in the text of the spam mail I received.  I also went to her Facebook page and thought about messaging her, but decided I wouldn't because I'm convinced it's a scam.

What makes me think that?  Well, for starters I would think that a company which had its own website would also give its employees email accounts with their domain or company name.  I have known of companies that used Hotmail for their commercial business, but that's been ten years ago.

I've also never applied for a job online, never given my current employment status to any site. (When filling out surveys, I always check "prefer not to answer" on most of the personal details.)

I'd also think they would have named the company. Wouldn't a legitimate offer include who wants to hire you?

The job offer sounds good though...almost too good to be true. (and you know if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't good or true)  Who wouldn't want to have an easy job working only fifteen hours/wk?

The clincher that it's a scam is in the sketchy financial details. I'm sure if I had replied to the email that I would have been asked to fill out a form w/ my SS# and then I would have been immediately "hired" and in the next email, asked for my banking details so they could "deposit" my earnings.  Yeah, sure...more like drain my account, ya reckon?

I'd bet a hundred bucks someone has "appropriated" this woman's name and did enough research to make this unnamed company sound similar enough to the company that employs her just to make it sound legit. 

I hope no one falls for this scam, but I'm sure there will be some gullible folks who will.  What with how the economy is, there will probably be thousands of applicants.  I have a little sympathy for those thick enough to take the bait, but get furious at those low-lifes who take advantage of the desperate.

It's a good thing I'm not King - if I found someone doing this, I would have - or do it myself - their fingers crushed with a hammer so they couldn't get on a computer until they healed up.  Next offense - if they had the audacity to do it again -  they'd be gutted with a dull knife and thrown in a shark tank.

Three strikes are for baseball;  two strikes are more than enough for scam artists.

National Pie Day

Today - what's left of it - is National Pie Day. (I always thought a better day would have been on March 14th - 3.14, get it?) My reader has been filled up with pie recipes from all my food sites, which is good for my food porn addiction, especially as I love pie as much as I do any other dessert.

One interesting recipe for lemon pie hit my reader earlier;  it was made without gelatin because the author didn't like using animal by-products. (I've not been a fan of Jello since I learned what gelatin was made of...plus having to eat it the few times I've been in the hospital.  It always astounded me how they could make something simple taste so nasty)  She - the creator of the recipe - mentioned that the pie was not only vegetarian, but kosher.  That made me wonder just how many vegetarian Jews there are, but decided I'd save that search for a rainy day.

She had a novel idea for the crust; instead of making one out of a regular pastry dough or one made from graham crackers, she made a crust from animal crackers.

Novel...and ironic, considering it was a vegetarian dessert.

Blogger Bookmarklet

I have a "Share This" bookmarklet for Facebook, but since I've decided to do less there and return to my blog, I wanted a way to share articles in here without having to come to the blog and starting a post, then adding the link. There are add-ons for Firefox that will do that, but I wanted an easier way. I did a search and found a bookmarklet that allows me to do that.

What is BlogThis! ? - Blogger Help

Just go to the above page and drag the link to your browser's bookmark menu. It should open up the menu and just drop it in, easy!

The only thing that the Blogger post window lacks that the regular one has is the add photo feature, but that's not really a problem unless I was wanting to upload a screenshot. (which I was going to do for this post to show the way to add the bookmarklet) There's also no preview feature, but that's just a minor inconvenience. It's still a nifty way to share, though, and if you have multiple blogs, there's a drop-down menu to choose to which blog you wish to publish the link.

No, Thanks

I already have a set.

Couldn't sleep, so I got up to check my reader and noticed a new posting from WikiHow, my subscription to their "How to of the Day" feed. I had to laugh because it looked like they were talking about either obtaining some incredible intestinal fortitude or making something that could only be made on an expensive and advanced lathe or milling machine.

There was another similar post from WikiHow that hit my reader while I was clearing out the rest of the posts - this one was about making Brass Ball cocktails.  The article was blank, as was the original one and I noticed that it had already been edited a dozen times.  That's the trouble with the Wiki sites, namely that anybody can edit them.  "I know that's true, I just read it on Wiki!" "Oh yeah, that's not a good source."  "Well, I know it's true because I just wrote it!"

Back when I was active in MSN Groups, the help group "Community Feedback" had a Wiki listing.  They had a description that went like this: "Community Feedback is dedicated to giving help to MSN Group managers." along with a bunch of other self-congratulatory crapola.  I used to go in and put "dubious" in front of "help" in the sentence. Petty of me, I know (some might say infantile or even passive-aggressive), but I loved to annoy them.  It was cheap entertainment.

Speaking of brass balls, I watched one of my favorite History Channel programs Saturday morning: "Heavy Metal".  The show is about all things military, but my favorites are when they highlight ships, tanks and airplanes. This program was about the B-17, one of the best U.S.bombers of WWII. One segment detailed the heavy losses incurred during the raids on the Schweinfurt ball bearing plants.

After the program was over, it made me think of ball bearings and different situations in my life involving them. One time when I was a driller on a rig I had a bearing out of the drawworks and was about to replace a couple of the small ball bearings when one of the guys who worked for me accidentally kicked it and sent them rolling everywhere.  We were down for quite a while until I could scavenge enough to replace the ones that we couldn't find.  Wasn't my fault, but guess who got the butt-chewing?  I passed it along, of course.

Thinking of the rigs - and ball bearings -  reminded me of a joke about a govt. man sent out to test the intelligence of rig workers.  He started the tests out with a roughneck, giving him three steel balls and told him to do something with them. The govt. man turned his back, but when he turned around again, the roughneck was gone.  He looked around, but couldn't find him.

Getting another three balls from his briefcase, the govt. man went to the roughneck's immediate boss, the driller, gave him the three balls and told him to do something with them.  The driller looked at the balls for a while, scratched his head and then put two balls side-by-side, then balanced one atop the bottom two.  It was a fairly difficult and ingenious feat, so the driller got a good score.

The govt. man looked around for the roughneck, but still couldn't find him so he then gave the three balls to the driller's boss, the tool pusher.  The pusher looked at the balls for just a little while, then stacked one on top of each other, nearly impossible to do...but that was why he was the tool pusher.  He got a great score from the govt. man.

About that time, the roughneck came ambling up.  "Where are those balls?" asked the govt. man. "What balls?" replied the roughneck. "Those three balls I gave you an hour ago!" exclaimed the exasperated govt. man.

"Oh, THOSE three balls." the roughneck sheepishly said. "Well," he went on "I lost one...broke another..."

"But the other one's here in my lunch box!"

My!

How spam has changed! Cleaned out the folder an hour or so ago, then decided to check my mail again to see if I had got a reply to one I had left in a forum. The spam folder had quite a few entries already. (click pic for larger view)

I used to get dozens of spam mailings wanting me to check out the naked women or informing me how to enlarge a certain body part, but now they're much more diverse. Only one of the above has anything remotely to do with sex. ( I have more than enough testosterone, thanks all the same. I've been wondering if I have TOO much, considering my premature baldness and that my libido is only slightly less than it was when I was 16). I keep getting those Scooter adverts - guess someplace I signed up for their newsletter also sold my email addy along w/ my personal information, like my age. -sigh-


The ones that annoy me the most are those from political candidates. I got a phone call earlier from the campaign of a person I'd never vote for in a million years - they got a little upset with me after I told them to perform a sexual act upon themselves and told them their candidate's mother most likely wore a flea collar. (not in those words, but I had to clean it up for this blog).

Wow

It's been two weeks since I last posted anything. I don't think I've ever gone that long since I created this blog. There's been several reasons:

One, I haven't been enthused about it all that much. I've not been "bored" with it, but I run hot and cold on my interests.  I've always been that way - my dad was the same way and it might be that I'm a Gemini, who knows?

Two, my connection plays up all the time, but that should be fixed (again) this next week. I'm so impatient, I don't like waiting a minute or more to upload a photo.  I can't easily view YouTube vids, either, so that's why I haven't posted any of them. 

Three, Facebook has cut into my blogging time and that's probably the main reason I've not been posting here. I'm beginning to dislike Facebook - there's the security concerns, plus I don't like the new timeline layout that's about to be put in place. I like to keep up with friends and old school mates, but sometimes the sheer amt. of posts overwhelms me...and to be honest, I'm not that interested in reading about their grandkids or where they ate lunch. I'm also subscribed to far too many groups and it takes too much time to read through them all. I've got my reader subscriptions and they take long enough to sort through as it is.

Fourth, and last, I've been too engaged in politics, both in my reader and on Facebook.  I know who I'm voting for (Ron Paul) and there's no need to do any more reading about any other candidates.  I'm tired of trying to convince others why he's my candidate or to disabuse them of their misconceptions about him. 

So, it may take me a while to get rolling again, but I plan on doing a lot more to this pathetic excuse for a blog. (It's always been pathetic, but more so over the last few months.) To my regular readers- all three of you - I'm sorry I've been slacking off. I promise to make more of an effort...but not too much, because that just wouldn't be me. I'm a slacker, after all.

I'm a Pizza-Loving Redneck Intellectual?

As I've said before, I don't put a lot of stock in the results from these quizzes - I take and post them just for fun, but I don't remember a quiz with such a schizophrenic analysis. Personally, I prefer a "supreme" style pizza with everything on it. I also don't complain in restaurants, not that I wouldn't if the appropriate situation arose, but I'm more likely to never return to that establishment.

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Your Pizza Says You Are a Food Snob

You have a hearty appetite. You are likely to complain if a restaurant has small portions. You are a very picky pizza eater. Not any pizza will do. You fit in best in the Northeast part of the US. You like food that's traditional and well crafted. You aren't impressed with "gourmet" foods. You are generous, outgoing, and considerate with your choices. You are cultured and intellectual. You should consider traveling to Vienna. The stereotype that best fits you is redneck. Your friends secretly agree.

What Does Your Pizza Say About You?

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

The Year in Review

Your Year Was an "F" Year

No need to sugarcoat this one... you had an absolutely horrible year. Possibly the worst of your life. It was the year when very little went right. There's not much to salvage from this one! It may take you a while to recover from this year, but that's okay. You'll end up stronger from it eventually. Take a big breath, and prepare yourself for the coming year. Hopefully it's a big more manageable.

How Would You Grade Your Year?

The First Rule of Blogthings Is: You Don't Talk About Blogthings

Amish Christmas Lights

From the email archives:

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Lovely photo of some Amish Christmas lights:

Silly! You know very well that the Amish don't use electricity.

Little Girlie

Got another one of those "Saw your profile" spam emails this morning. The subject line was "Hulloo!" It had the usual teaser text:

Hi How are you doing? I like your profile.


Want to check out my best private photos?


Email me at selianoy669@hotmail.com and i am going to respond back with my private pics.

And it included this photo: (just barely holds to this blog's "G" rating, I think)

The mail was from "Little Girlie", along with the reply to address - igive2live@gmail.com - and this one also in the text- vdrxiztdy@haverkamp.com

I include the addresses in hopes the email spiders will pick up on them and other spammers will then spam the spammer.

Pretty hot photo, though, but it didn't show her face. I've got a program that will take the embedded information in the photo and will show the other side of it. I'm sure glad I did that before I replied asking for more pics.

No Age Discrimination Here!

I was entering a contest earlier (for a washer/drier combo) and the entry page wanted all my pertinent information: gender, address, email and my age. Now, I understand why they want the contact information and also why they want the other information for their marketing purposes, but something struck me funny about the drop-down menu for the birth year:

I wonder just how many over a hundred yr. old folks they expect to enter the contest? I'd say they were already a winner for living that long.

I really need that washer/drier combo, though.  I hate going to the laundromat; I figured a while back that I could easily buy a washer and drier with what I spend there in a year.  Just the other day I was listening to a local "swap and shop" program on the radio and heard someone say they had a barely used washer and drier for sale for 25 bucks.  I quickly called the number and made arrangements to go check out the pair. 

I was disappointed after I got there, though...I found out the washer and drier was an old douchebag and towel.

No wonder they were so cheap.

Combo Spam

For a change, I didn't have a lot of spam in the junk mail folder, but there were these three. I thought the combination of them was funny.

What can I say? I'm weird.

Finder's Keepers

Losers weepers, so goes the old saying.  That was also said in this recent Amarillo Globe-News article:

Good Samaritans turn in $1,200 lost cash

There wasn't the usual comment section at the website, but their Facebook page linked to it with this comment:

If you randomly found $1,200 on the ground at the mall, would you keep it or turn it in? Be honest!

I found that ironic after reading the comments; many were "honest" and said they'd keep the money. Here's my comment:

I wouldn't turn it in; I'd inform the mgr. of the store where I found it that I had found a sum of money and give him my contact information. If someone called me and told me they had lost that specific amt. of money, then I'd return it to him. Otherwise, the mgr. might very well keep it - I've seen that happen before with smaller amts.

This was a lesson I learned a long time ago; my sister found a bill (forget what it was, but I think it was a ten) on the floor of a dept. store and turned it in to the service desk. My folks were proud of her for being honest, but also told her that they bet the clerk probably kept the money and the next time she should do just as I commented. That always stuck with me.

I've found money and wallets and in the case of the latter, always managed to get it back to the rightful owner. The times I've found money, it wasn't by or in a store, so I figured there wasn't any way to find who had lost it. One time I found a twenty stuck to a weed while I was out walking!

Like most controversial subjects, the comments on the Facebook page were varied. Some, as I mentioned, said they'd keep the money, but most said they'd return it. (I got something like 15 thumbs up for my comment). And, is the case, there were self-righteous people criticizing those who said they'd keep the money and a few snarky comments in reply. Far be it from me to judge them - if I was really hurting for money, I would probably justify my new-found windfall some way.

I've not lost total hope in my fellow man, but my half century plus on this world has made me a cynic in human nature. Not long ago, a local EMT was arrested for stealing the wallet of an injured man; another fairly recent case was of a fireman responding to a vehicle fatality and taking a Rolex off of the victim's wrist.

One of the replies on the Facebook post was by an Amarillo TV news anchor; he said he'd turn it in to the police. (naming the officers he trusted) I thought that was all well and good, but like the emergency responders who stole, cops can be thieves, too. It reminded me of the case of a local man who, while driving to work, saw a briefcase in the weeds by the side of the road. He stopped and got it, then when he got home, jimmied the lock and found a couple ounces of cocaine and something like $14,000. He did the "right" thing and turned it into the police.

Texas law states that, if no one claims it, the finder gets the found property after 90 days. (Of course, he wasn't going to get to keep the drugs). The three months came and went and the sheriff's office stonewalled him, claiming it might be needed for a trial. They kept putting him off for close to a year and the man had to go to court to force the law to hand over the money. Rumors were hot and heavy about why the sheriff didn't want to hand over the money, but I figured he thought he could bluff the guy out of his find. (the Sheriff was a beloved figure here in town for many years, one of Texas' longest serving law enforcement officials, but he ignored civil rights and enforced only those laws he wanted to enforce. It was said that many times he would bust someone for a large amount of pot, then in a few months the weed found its way onto the street..."somehow". )

Due to many betrayals of trust, I have found it hard to trust people. The last straw for me was about three years ago at this time of year and learning from the wife of a friend that one of my sister's classmates had terminal cancer. I got a Christmas card, put a hundred dollar bill in it plus a $25 WalMart gift card and the next time I was visiting my friend, told them I was going to go over to her house and give it to her.

My friend's wife told me that wouldn't be a good idea, that she was very sick and having visitors wouldn't be good for her, that she would give it to her the next time she saw her. So, I gave the wife the envelope.

A few weeks later, I was visiting again and asked what the woman thought of the present. The wife stuttered and stammered and said she was thrilled. Something about her attitude struck me as odd, but I shook the feeling off. Surely my friend's wife wouldn't be so low as to steal from a dying woman. Noticing a new TV, I asked about it and my friend said they had just got it from WalMart.  Hmmm....

Anyway, long, sad story short, the woman passed away. I later became Facebook friends with her brother, an older guy I had always liked. I private messaged him, told him what I had done and asked if his sister had ever mentioned my gift. He told me no, but it was unlike her to have not told him. I told him the arrangement I had made and he asked for my number and called me just a few minutes later, telling me he had heard my friend's wife had been a little shady in her dealings with some people he knew.

A few weeks after that, I had messaged another Facebook friend I had gone to school with, asked her what she thought of my friend's wife. (I didn't mention the suspected theft) She told me a story of some money going missing from a purse at a party they had both attended and her being fairly sure that it was the woman that stole it.

So...forgive me for being cynical. I wouldn't want to keep money that didn't belong to me and I'd hate to think that if I did, it would cause extreme hardship to the person who lost it. As far as the $125 I'm sure my (now ex) friend's wife stole...well, that's an awfully low price for which to sell her soul.

Damn Ham

Shortly after Thanksgiving, I was shopping in the grocery store closest to my house. I pushed my cart through the meat section, looking for sales on my favorite lunch meats, hamburger, etc. when I noticed they had hams on sale. They weren't "real" hams, but those pressed lumps of pork, usually with a fair amount of gristle.

Now, I don't eat a lot of pork. I like it, but for various reasons I try to avoid it. Oh, I'll get bacon or sausage on the rare occasion when I eat breakfast at a nearby cafe, but I don't normally buy it. I try to buy chicken or beef hot dogs and about the only time I'll eat a wiener made w/ pork is when I buy a corn dog from the convenience store. I don't REFUSE to eat pork, but like I said, I just don't eat much of it.

So, when I saw those hams, I started to walk on by, but I stopped. The price was certainly good: $5.99. I hadn't seen them so cheap for years. About ten years ago or so, I practically lived on those things. (one of the reasons I don't eat much pork) At the time they were five bucks and one of them made meals for a week or more. That was nice, but ham sandwiches twice a day made me start to dislike them.

Still, a ham sandwich DID sound pretty good, so I bought one and took it home. I unwrapped it, cut off the "rind" and cut that up for the stray cat that hangs around, then thinly sliced enough off for a fat sandwich. I slathered two slices of of my double-fiber bread (I hardly ever eat more than one slice/day because of the carbs) with salad dressing, sliced up a tomato and made a sandwich that would have made Dagwood jealous.

It was delicious! So, for the next week I had a ham sandwich every day. When I reached the end of the meat, I went back to the store to see if they had more. They did - they must have over-ordered too many for the holidays. I had more ham sandwiches. I ran out again the other day, went back to the store and bought yet another one. I was a little worried about eating too much bread, so I ate ham on crackers, diced it up with beans, nibbled on a slice without anything else just for a snack. It tasted SO good, even if it wasn't a "real" ham.

Then the other day I stepped on my scales. I read the number, then thought I'd better take off my shoes and hoodie I was wearing because that weight COULDN'T be right! I stepped back on the scales and saw that the items of clothing I had taken off hadn't helped much...I was ten lbs. heavier than I had been just a few weeks ago!

Just polished off the last of the ham for a midnight snack. I think I've hammed it up enough. Tomorrow I start on a diet. -sigh- Damn ham.

Best Slam Ever!

There's a time for snark and there's a time to just not say anything if you can't say something positive.

An Amarillo news outlet's Facebook page posted a link to a horrifying article:

Texas online editor walks into plane propeller

Lauren Scruggs, 23, landed at Aero Country Airport -- off Virginia Parkway -- about 9:30 p.m. after viewing North Texas Christmas lights from a small, private airplane.

The prop struck her upper body, according to her friend Janeé Harrell, resulting in a skull fracture, severe facial cuts and the amputation of her left hand, among other injuries.

There were several comments wishing the injured woman well, but as is far-too-often the case, there were some cruel and thoughtless posts, too. (One said "She's a blonde!") Someone wrote they couldn't understand how this could happen and I wrote:

One of the posters who had the poor taste to make a crude comment then made this reply to another person criticizing her for her comment, then someone else replied to her with the best slam I've read on the 'net in a long, long time.



Yep, that described her to a "Tango".

French Toast & Fresh Tears

Earlier today I followed a link in my reader to a recipe site post about French toast. I didn't learn anything; the post was about how good the ends of a loaf of bread were for that dish, but a single sentence about her mother eating the ends of the bread because her kids wouldn't eat them touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes.

Moms make sacrifices all the time, both big and small. I didn't realize it at the time, being a self-centered child, but my mom sacrificed so much for her kids. I couldn't even begin to list the things she gave up so my sisters and I could have a better life...and there were probably hundreds more I never knew about.

I sure miss my momma. I’d give half the rest of my life to have her back for just one day.

You Don't Have to Spell 'Em

To have 'em, I suppose.

This screenshot is from the Facebook page of an Amarillo media outlet. The subject was mandatory testing for AIDS and as is usual with controversial topics, there was plenty of outrage...and "moral" superiority.

The names were blacked out because...well, I'm pokin' fun at 'em.

I had "some" Moriales once...Rosa, think her first name was.  She didn't give me AIDS, just a little something penicillin cured right up.

Just kidding, but the real joke was the self-righteous attitudes, one lecturing on "moriales" and the other calling the first one out, not realizing she was nearly as bad as the first - and making a spelling error, too.

I Found My Thrill

With a blueberry spill.

Went out to WalMart yesterday evening; I'd been having problems with the sound on my computer and finally figured out it had to be my headphones. I really don't like to get out and waste gasoline on a single item, so I gave a quick thought to what else I needed at WM.

Got there, got my headphones (no inexpensive ones in the headphone section, but there was a greater selection in the mp3 player aisle, go figger)then went shopping for the other items I intended to purchase: dry cat food, tuna, bread and I also wanted to price small coffee makers or a french press if they had one.

I got the things I needed, then since I was near the bakery dept. on my way out, I decided I'd go look at and smell of the donuts. (was tempted to buy a half dozen, but didn't!) As I was making my way towards the check-out counters, I went by the produce section. For some reason, WalMart usually doesn't have as low prices on produce as does my grocery store, but I noticed blueberries at a decent price, so I stopped, grabbed one of the "clam shell" packages to look at the berries. I like to inspect not only where they're from (I don't buy produce from Mexico) but also check to make sure there aren't many broken or off-colored berries. They're too expensive to buy rotten ones.

As I turned the pkg. over to look at the bottom berries, the top gave way and berries went everywhere! To make matters worse, at the same time a man in a wheelchair passed by, crushing berries as he went. I hastily said I was sorry, briefly thought about trying to pick up the berries - some of which had rolled 15-20 ft. away - then did like a kid who had just hit a baseball through a window and skeedaddled after grabbing another pkg. (I didn't inspect this one)

I picked the closest cash register and started checking out. From my vantage point, I could see a produce dept. employee standing there, hands on his hips, shaking his head with a scowl on his face. I really wanted to go over to apologize, but that wouldn't have put the berries back in the box and I was afraid I might be banned from the store.

Oh well. At least I got some blueberries for my oatmeal. I'm a little leery of karma though and am afraid one will get lodged in my windpipe.

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Blueberry Hill - Fats Domino

Spam: The Story of my Life

Checked my email first thing this morning, read the mails, cleaned out the spam, then did my regular rounds. After an hour or so, checked my Gmail acct. again and saw quite a bit of spam in the folder.

How do they know so much about my life?

I used the black dating service and met a lovely young woman. She loved to prance around only in her bra, which necessitated me getting some extra testosterone, even though I really just wanted to watch my new satellite TV. To be honest, I'm not sure my heart can take all these extra hormones and lovemaking.

Buying all that underwear made me have to get a new job, so I found a job on weekends making graphics for websites. The stress of the extra job made me start drinking, then I lost my part-time job AND my regular job and had to declare bankruptcy.

I love my new girlfriend, but I'm not so sure she loves me back. I just found out she had taken out a million dollar life insurance policy on me...and bought some more sexy bras.

Chile in Texas

From Wiki:

The flag of the U.S. state of Texas is similar to the Chilean flag, which was created and introduced 21 years before that of Texas.



The national flag of Chile is also known as la estrella solitaria which is Spanish for "the lone star". The star represents a guide to progress and honor; blue symbolizes the sky and the Pacific Ocean, white is for the snow-covered Andes, and red stands for the blood spilled to achieve independence.

The Texas flag



Also from Wiki:

The Texas flag is known as the "Lone Star Flag". This flag was introduced to the Congress of the Republic of Texas on December 28, 1838, by Senator William H. Wharton. It was adopted on January 25, 1839 as the final national flag of the Republic of Texas.

When Texas became the 28th state of the Union on December 29, 1845, its national flag became the state flag. While the Lone Star remained the de facto state flag, from 1879 until 1933 there was no official state flag. All statutes not explicitly renewed were repealed under the Revised Civil Statutes of 1879, and since the statutes pertaining to the flag were not among those renewed, Texas was formally flagless until the passage of the 1933 Texas Flag Code. The code assigns the following symbolism to the colors of the Texas flag: blue stands for loyalty, white for purity, and red for bravery.

I Got a Kick Out of This

Checked my Google Reader a little while ago; most of the articles were uninteresting, so I hit the "Read All" button except for two Dallas Cowboy posts. One was from Blogging the Boys: The Bossness Of Dan Bailey.The article was about the phenomenal rookie place kicker for Dallas. He's already set several NFL rookie kicking records and will hopefully break the team record for most consecutive kicks made. From the website:

Dan Bailey is breaking records.

His 26 consecutive field goals this season is an NFL rookie record (the next best rookie mark is 14). His four game-winning kicks - defined by the NFL as kicks made with less than two minutes remaining in regulation or in overtime - are also a league rookie mark. And he tied an NFL rookie record with six field goals made in the Week 3 win against the Washington Redskins.

They had a poll on the site, asking the readers to vote for a nickname for Bailey.  Here are the options:

I voted for "Dan the Man", but as you can see,  "Steely Dan" was winning at the time I read the post. Now, I'm an avid Cowboys fan, but I also consider myself fairly knowledgeable about music trivia and while I love Steely Dan (esp. "Reelin' In The Years") I don't think it's an appropriate nickname for Bailey.

From the Steely Dan website FAQ:

With the core band recruited, Donald and Walter need a name for their group. Since both of them were avid readers of 1950's "Beat" literature, they decided to name the band "Steely Dan" after a dildo in William Burroughs' "Naked Lunch."

Yeah, that'd be a GREAT nickname. Uh huh. -snicker-

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What American accent do you have?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
Boston
The West
North Central
Philadelphia
The Northeast
The Inland North
The South
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

But I Don't Use a Litter Box

You React Like a Cat

You are introverted and mysterious. People are curious about what makes you tick. You trust your intuition. So far it has a good track record of not leading you astray. You have an amazing amount of strength. You refuse to let stress bother you. You don't mind if the world doesn't understand you. No one is going to harsh your mellow!

Do You React Like a Cat or a Dog?

Work is Hard. Time for Blogthings!

rankle

rankle\RANG-kuhl\ ,verb;

1. To cause keen irritation or bitter resentment in.
2. To continue to cause keen irritation or bitter resentment within the mind; fester; be painful.

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Many things rankle me on the 'net - the idiots who say "Tony Homo" when referring to the Dallas Cowboy QB, so-called conservatives who call Ron Paul "RuPaul" and asshat trolls who like to post on message boards just to get a rise out of others.

Those first two types are really just specific examples of the third.

My Inter-Tubez Wuz Clogged

WTF? (Yes, I said that, but didn't abbreviate) I was on a page, then it went to another one: Cool Web Search. Hmmm....maybe I had accidentally clicked on a link, done it before. I went back to the page I was on and was reading and about five minutes later I was directed to another page.

Oh, no. I immediately knew what was wrong; I had picked up a Trojan. (which I've always found semi-ironic - a Trojan brand condom is supposed to PROTECT you from bad stuff) I had been on a dicey site earlier, following a link on Facebook. A little research told me what my computer had, the "CWS" (for Cool Web Search) trojan. I then ran my HiJack This app. but it didn't pick up on the infection. Then I ran my anti-virus program, a full scan but it didn't want to repair the damage. An article found in the search had told me this was possible, that the trojan could keep itself from being repaired. I also noticed in my virus scan log that about two dozen attempts at contacting the 'net had been denied by its web guard feature.

Long story short, I d/l a small application called "CWShredder" which zapped the thing out of my computer. I had also d/l another small app. that does the same thing and ran it too. Another virus scan came up clean. I wondered why my firewall hadn't stopped it, then discovered it was disabled. I enabled it and *hoped* everything would be OK. Things were fine until a few hours ago.

Then I started having problems with my internet connection. I have had problems for a year and the phone company has been out and "fixed" it, but when it rains, the connection slows way down. I've been looking into other ISP providers because of the crappy service work. At first I thought it might have something to do with the CWS thing I had got, but another scan came up clean. (I even ran the cleaner tools again)

I was getting frustrated - I had cycled the modem off and on, but no joy. Most of the lights were green, even showing I was connected, but the internet light would only flicker now 'n then. When it was steadily on, I would try to get a page to come up and the activity light would blink once, then stop. Dammit. I don't mind trouble so much, most things can be fixed, but when you can't even diagnose the problem....

I had given up and started watching the TV but there was nothing on I really wanted to watch. I had d/l a couple of Dallas Cowboy talk shows before the trouble, so I got up to listen to them. I always like to do something else while listening to shows like that or music or online radio, either playing a game or looking at GoogleEarth. I opened up the GoogleEarth application just to see if the image files would still be on my disk even though my DSL wasn't working. Lo and behold, my connection started working again!

I don't know what the trouble was, but it was like the "blast" of the GoogleEarth had opened up the inter-tubez again. -grin-

So, for now all is well. If you don't see me on Facebook or participating in the quiz, I'm down until I can suss it out.

(and, after writing all that, I am having problems again. Going to try to send this when the light goes green again)

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UPDATE: Had a little trouble again, then closed GE, then reopened. Everything was fine f/ a while, then went offline again. Now it's OK. I managed to play the quiz. Funny thing, seems like everything is loading faster for me than has in quite a while. Gonna call the phone co. again Monday.

In Case You Missed It

You'll have another chance this evening. Thank goodness for P.M., huh?

At eleven minutes and eleven seconds after eleven o'clock on November 11, 2011, it is:

11:11.11 11/11/11

Oh Well

I had to remove the "What I've Been Reading" module from the right-hand column.  Google Reader recently updated and the share feature to add it to the module is gone.  I can still re-post articles to Blogger or on Facebook, but the ability to add it to my reading list is gone.  They now have a feature to add it to Google+, but I don't use that...and doubt I will. 

Oh well, I had too many modules anyway.  I probably should do away with one of the "counters", but Feedjit shows what people are looking for when they arrive while the Flag Counter shows a total of visitors per day/month/year, plus it's cool. 

I COULD get rid of the weather module, but I like it.  This blog is, after all, about this area.  I'm sure people don't visit just to see the weather, but I like to think my friends look at it now 'n then and think "Wow, I bet Mike is cold/hot/wet!"

I could probably do away with the Trivia module, but I've noticed several people come directly to the blog to then go to the quiz.  I've got the quiz bookmarked, but I don't expect others to do so.  I also would like to keep the Word of the Day, Quote of the Day and Today in History modules because I always look at them every day.  I could probably do away with the Dallas Cowboys headline module, but again,  I like it, even though I visit that website every day anyway.  I think I'll keep the news because it's local.

So, maybe this blog will load a little quicker for a while, until I find some other module to slow it down.  Blogger keeps adding things and I haven't checked them in a long time!

Cat Food For Thought

Up until last night I "liked" a Facebook page, "And My Cat". I don't know why I ever subscribed to the feed because it was mostly full of people posting photos of their cats. I love cats, but the attitude of *some* people regarding their cats really irks me. (never been a fan of "cutesy", y'know?) Pets can be a child substitute, but they're still animals. (and so can be some children, but that's for another rant)

The post that made me "unlike" the page was when the creator of the page wrote that she had recently discovered that Amazon sold cat food and that she had signed up for Amazon Prime and scheduled regular deliveries of Fancy Feast^TM. I've also thought of signing up for regular shipments, but of McCann's Oatmeal. Anyway....

I didn't think deeply about the post; that brand of cat food is OK, I suppose...it's a little too expensive for my budget and frankly, the Beej will eat it but seems to prefer the WalMart brand or even the discount store kind that's about 40% cheaper. However, when I visited the post again because I saw there had been 40+ responses, I got a little angry, then a LOT angry.

Most of the posts immediately following were thanking the page owner for the information, while others mentioned their own cat's preferences. Then came the self-righteous asshats, saying that the cat foods being mentioned were garbage, that THEY bought such and such brand. I took an hour or so to research the brands being touted, even pricing them through various online outlets.

All of the brands were outrageously expensive, costing from $30-40/case. Whoa! At first I was a little ashamed of the cheaper food I bought my cat and even more ashamed when I read some of the comments on the 'net about it being garbage. B eats it up, though, and I can't see any ill-effects from him eating the "garbage". I'm happy he deigns to eat it, being one of the more finicky pets I've ever owned. He prefers the pouch food to chicken or beef that I buy for myself at the supermarket deli.

Reading more about cat food, I perused an article about how dry food is bad for cats - how cats were genetically programmed to eat "wet" food and that's how they get the bulk of their water. Hmmmm....the Beej drinks quite a bit of water; in fact, all cats I've ever owned drank a lot of water. (I once noticed his water was a little dirty from food falling off his mouth into the bowl, so I changed it with fresh. He then wanted outside and went directly to a mud puddle in the driveway to drink) I also read about "no-no" foods for cats - grapes were one, which I found odd - and that milk wasn't good f/ cats, either, same for tuna.

THEN I read another few articles that said hard food was GOOD for cats and that - unless the cat has an obesity problem - owners should have hard food out f/ their cat all the time. That's what I do w/ a gravity feeder, plus feed a pouch or two of wet food daily. I also read that tuna isn't bad if fed in moderation. I feed it to the Beej on the weekends - "Sunday dinner", I joke to myself. I also will mix a bit in w/ the types of food that he doesn't like as well as others just so it won't be wasted.

What I found out was there is a LOT of contradictory information about cat food on the 'net. I really wasn't all that surprised, but one poster in the Facebook page said she had done her research and insinuated she was right and everyone else posting was wrong.

(And you probably know there are "facts" on the 'net that "prove" 9/11 was an inside job, the CIA killed Kennedy and that we really never landed on the moon)

Then came this guy that said "It's sad to see so many people in this thread that don't care about their cats."

It made me wish I could magically transport myself to where he was just so I could slap him. I cannot stand self-righteous people. It's OK to have strong opinions, but his statement crossed the line. I don't think it's abusing your pet to feed them a cheaper food. What's abuse is not feeding them at all, or keeping them tied up in the back yard, or kicking them when you're angry. My cat might eat cheap food, but he eats better than a large percentage of people in the world. He certainly eats more regularly than I do!

I just can't stand the jerkwads who feel the need to criticize others for something that - considering the massive misery in the world - is so trivial. We should gather all these holier-than-thou people together, then grind them up for pet food.

On second thought, probably not. I bet the Beej would turn up his nose at them.

Two Sides of the Same Coin

From one of my Facebook groups, True Conservatives.

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“Conservatives” who preach against government intervention in our domestic economy praise the very same government when it sanctions, invades, and militarily occupies foreign countries. “Liberals” who criticize a Republican president for war crimes and the destruction of the Constitution turn a blind eye when a Democrat does the exact same things, instead giving him a pat on the back while writing a check for his reelection.

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And this is why I now consider myself a "small L" libertarian. I agree with much of what the Libertarian Party stands for, but certainly not all.

Ron Paul 2012