2024. It’s happening. Yeah it is. All that scary stuff you never dreamed would happen is happening.
After 2023, and now we are nearly half-way into 2024, it isn’t something that people can deny. Most people have experienced some aspect of it. Wildfires near them. Earthquakes in places where there never were because someone or a bunch of someones are fooling around with the structure that we stand on, putting shit into underground reservoir cracks that shouldn’t be there… Extremes of weather. Droughts. Heatwaves. Flooding. Vicious storms. And still there are deniers. Selfish people. We become more aware, they become more resistant.
More political crazy nonsense. Obvious frauds and sex offenders, law breakers, snake oil salesmen, con artists… Convincing people that they are “their guy” – why do you think they’re called con artists? Duh.
Not just in the USA but in areas all over the world. Tyrants and dictators taking over whole countries and it doesn’t turn out well. What did we say back in the day? People have been warned. They didn’t listen. They were too busy having a good time. They called us paranoid.
Now we have crazy wars. Not just political bullshit, but whole areas of the world beginning to fight unfairly. Rule busting. Using starvation as a weapon. Denial of health care. Blowing whole cities up to get to a few terrorists. And armies that march in and rape, pillage and plunder while they are at it. Disgusting. Horrific. Killing babies, pregnant moms, children. This is biblical. It’s not just sporadic stuff. It’s out of control.
Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Not cheery. Hoping for better. My optimism is not going away. I have a grandchild, nieces, and some nearly step-grandchildren that give me hope.
There are artists, and there are poets, and there are others that can give us the message to change before it is too late. There is no “PlanET B”.
“hey people, smile on your brother, everybody get together try to love one another… right now.”
Jessie Colin Young – Get Together – The Youngbloods
“I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.”
From “The Human Family” a poem by Maya Angelou
2023. Well folks, things are just not on the uptick. I think that we are seeing that which everyone warned us about in the late ’60’s.
So, it began when I was winding up high school, that we became more aware of the environment and that there were some serious threats to it. The smog sagas from England and New York put some focus on pollution. I remember distinctly, riding through Birmingham, Alabama in 1971, with the windows rolled down in the car, while eating an apple, when suddenly I noticed dark specks on the flesh of the apple – which underscored the amount of big hunks of whatever in the air there, riding by the steel mills for which Birmingham is famous.
So the particulates are ubiquitous now, smaller and not seen as big hunks so much in as many places in the US, but there is stuff in the air that causes unhealthy outcomes. Now we have a really bad train derailment that has caused a huge impact to a small town in Ohio on the border of Pennsylvania – and it’s now a political hot potato where all sorts of political figures who want to sling mud at the current administration are doing so, using it as a point – even the scoundrel ex-president going there for a visit (aka political rally) so obvious that he has been called out… as he should be. Trying to deflect from his current legal woes growing worse, he tries to be a hero, which fell as flat as his visit to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria after he had just taken office…
But problems are growing increasingly worse with climate changes – the warming of the polar ice on both the Antarctic and Arctic ends are driving increasingly warm ocean temps which drive much of the weather that has indeed evolved to be unpredictable and freaky. The animals and plants are uncertain. Will it be freezing cold or will it be almost as warm as our old summer time (the new summertime temps are outlandish nowadays). In other parts of the world, same thing – floods, big storms where there haven’t been before, landslides, wiping out whole towns, burying people, and their houses in silt that is nearly one-story high. Killing livestock. Wild animals. Fish. Wiping out crops. The implications are that it is all connected and that means that this is not good for anyone or anything.
Will planet Earth be livable that many more years? Adaptation will be required, that is for sure.
2022. A crazy start. The world disaster just keeps on rolling like the Proud Mary.
Why are things still so crazy? Because the world has been upended by a virus, civil disruptions, crazy weather, a bad economy for most people, and… you asked… we pushed out some of the obvious answers.
We read the news and it continues to say the “highest ______” ever… Or, business is good, but the economy? Not so much. Hospitals overwhelmed. Healthcare workers having to come to work sick with the virus… Now that’s crazy. “Incidental infections” that you get when you go to the doctor or to get some treatment you’ve been putting off…
People are weary. People just want this nightmare to go away. People don’t know what to do. Hunkering down is getting old. It’s stretching already patient people into people who are not so patient anymore, and turning them into patients… When we thought we had done everything we could, and those didn’t keep us from getting sick… When we worry almost constantly that the time when we will see our family far away continues to stretch into an uncertain future…
We want to get prayerful. But, we’re thinking – “God must be on overload right about now…” or “What did I do to piss him off that bad?” “Are you there, God?” Yeah… it’s like that.
Is it 5:00 yet? Jimmy says, it’s got to be 5:00 somewhere…
2021. What can we say? It’s like no other year before, in most of our lifetimes.
I’m just going to say it. The world has gone bonkers. Totally.
The ongoing pandemic has a side to it that is not just physical.
We could go into conspiracy theories, as so many do – but imagine social unrest, egged on by “social networking” – another oxymoron like “healthcare”… All the crazy humans.
All the anti-vaxxers that might be your neighbor or a family member suddenly suggesting that you spray iodine solution up your nose, or eat heart-wormer pills that normally you give a dog or a horse…
We could go into this virus that has taken over the world like tiny packs of aliens invading from outer space (who knows, maybe these are from outer space?)
This has become the very thing that has driven everything into new levels of crazy.
Switching subjects, slightly… Weather disasters, intense heat and cold spells. Texas Politician’s responses to being cold? Go to Cancun! As your constituents are freezing their asses off…
As we are beginning to end up 2021… things are still as uncertain as ever.
What will 2022 bring? Almost to scary to ask – too scary to imagine. But we have hope, always…
Social Networking. Let’s review. A critic’s corner… An early 2020 Review.
So, hear me out on this. Let’s review the most popular “in the news” social networking platforms: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn (Microsoft), Reddit, Instagram (Facebook) and of course the myriad of messaging applications and collaboration tools including Snap Chat, Messenger (Facebook), Slack, Base Camp, Google Groups, Pinterest, etc.
Facebook – what it started out to be was this friend connecting interface that some college kids designed (Mark Zuckerberg, and a few others) to enable people to see one another and communicate – at least that was what they said it was for… well, we now know that good old modern greed and power all goes straight to the head, in this case, to the heads of leadership at Facebook. It’s likely in history going to turn out to be the most human-exploitative platform ever – where unsuspecting people exposed their personal details to the likes of large data miners who did behavioral profiling, surveillance, and essentially – some of those were state-supported hackers who manipulated the public discourse to an extreme degree by impersonation and fraud, that ended up turning the world on its head.
If you tell people that you don’t “do Facebook” and they ask you why, and you tell them it’s because Facebook is a creepy platform that steals your data and manipulates people’s behavior – they either (a) think you are paranoid, (b) don’t believe you because it’s “fake news” (which is the sign of another BIG modern problem), or (c) really don’t care because they love Facebook and telling people what they ate for breakfast, posting selfies (it’s all about ME ME ME!!!), talking about the fabulous things that they are doing (BOR-ING!) – and it’s one of those things that if you are “on Facebook” you may find yourself getting sucked into doing… Someone says “like me on Facebook” or “like what I post – I have to get all these likes so that I can do this or that” or any other “Facebook behavior” like responding to something outrageous that someone posts, or any number of provocative things that happen there…
Facebook has its “Facebook Messenger” product that is fraught with hackers – people who send things that are malware links, people who impersonate your friends or you, sometime legitimate messages – but as far as I can tell, it’s to be avoided. More than once have there been phishing attempts, and malware found in messages from “friends” who are not “friends” – this gives it a “dangerous and useless” rating from me – nonetheless people use it, sometimes exclusively, to communicate – their “one-stop-shop”. Realizing that people think that people like me are “paranoid” – I guess attending Cyber Security Workshops and training have me spooked, more than a little.
I don’t look at Facebook much anymore, haven’t yanked my account, YET, but likely, I will, eventually…
At this point, I marvel that something that started out one way has evolved into something that could likely take down the planet – in my opinion, it’s the most creepy thing that anyone ever invented. Total exploitation and manipulation of people by people who are ill-intended driven towards power-gaining goals, at any cost.
I have no respect for its owners, its management and a high percentage of its users. What they ultimately are responsible for facilitating is a list of crimes – fraud, state-sponsored infiltration of elections to alter results, murder, incitement of violence, bullying, pornography, human trafficking, and more. Free speech is one thing, but harming others due to it is out of line.
Twitter – What can we say about Twitter? It’s the “official” voice of the President of the United States. It’s where he does his business (that’s right, it’s where he takes his daily shits…complete verbal diarrhea…) – he announces firings, hiring, public policy decisions, anything he feels like blabbing about including exposing his extreme ignorance about most things related to U.S. history, statistics, his opinions about people who are being arrested or put into jail, his call outs against people that show what a misogynist pig and a racist he is – anything. So, what can we say?
The owners of Twitter should cut him off – make him go back to doing things the way that presidents have done things for generations – with decorum. But this is “social networking” and “social engineering” at its finest – showing the finest people’s back-ends and best behaviors – yes… ain’t it great? So all his followers, that he tries to control – well, it’s interesting to see that on the Twitter platform, that although he is followed by 65M people, loves of his tweets range less than 100K, the re-tweets rarely reach into the 50K range, and responses vary, depending on the horrid factor – the more horrid, the more people talk back – mostly supportive… Twitter can be dangerous, especially if you do not like to joust. In one experiment, someone effectively continued to badger and harass me, so I deleted that account. It is against Twitter’s policy for people to do that now and they do remove offensive posts.
LinkedIn – the business social network. What is interesting is to see how people want to treat LinkedIn like Facebook, at times posting outrageous or provocative content. People attack others in their posts, saying things that they would not if you met them face to face – being openly critical of content, of ideas, of you, personally – it’s all happened and still does, but it’s not as often. I have been impersonated (LinkedIn has good security, so they disabled that one after they investigated it and validated my story). I have been asked to connect by people (men), then they tried to get sexual with me (I disconnected immediately and blocked them) – lesson learned – do not connect with people who have no common connections, or who do not have an apparent reason to connect with you business-wise. What I observe is that some women post provocative head shots that include their cleavage showing at the plunge from their neck and chin areas. You have to ask, what’s up with that? Are they looking to get a date or to get a job? At times there have been people who were my connections who posted such offensive political discourse that I had to disconnect from them – it is a matter of not wanting to associate with people who do that.
Reddit – I don’t know too much about this platform, except that certain groups establish themselves there. It’s apparently supposed to be a place for people to discuss things, sort of like Facebook – but definitely more oriented to communities around topics and discussion – it can have an interesting tilt to it, according to many. It has specific content policies that prohibit certain content and regulate behavior. Their moderators are specific to communities – there are tools to enable them to make rules for their communities that may differ or extend Reddit’s policies. It is clearly a discussion forum vs. a socially oriented forum like Facebook. Reddit is interesting blend that takes what you might see on Twitter and gives more space for deeper discussion and referencing.
Pinterest – This is an interesting network of “pinned” ideas, posts, and such – but, two friends mentioned this one evening as being a place to find recipes, ideas for designs, how-to’s and lots of other “interests” (hence the name) – that you can “pin” to your list so that you can get back to them. Despite that it has become quite commercial (lots of ads now) since I started using it, it is still a good place to go looking for information, with more focus that “Googling” for it.
The “collaboration forums”: There are several that people use including Slack, BaseCamp, Google Groups, and the Microsoft family of products (Teams, SharePoint, Skype + Skype messaging, etc.) – all of which have their focus and purpose. Slack is very useful for discussion during projects, especially where you have people working remotely from across the world, 7X24. Skype is good for IOP communication. The Microsoft suite has established it’s purpose and continues to evolve, although it is hard to keep up with best use of all that it offers. Google? What can we say – it is useful, but dangerous if used without knowledge that everything you enter into a search goes into a big data machine that does God only knows what with your search data… Enough said.
At any rate – watch this space – over time, we will see how this Cyber-stuff evolves… Prediction, it’s not over until it’s over.
It’s making me crazy. In fact, there are times when I really should not be having conversations. I just can’t handle the barrage of strong opinions.
It’s happened more than once. I have these awful interactions. I think that I am on my last chances with some people, if I haven’t lost friendships already.
It used to be that we could ignore our differences. But these people want me to agree with them that this guy in charge is OK. Well, he’s not.
If you take away everything and say, “Look. If he wasn’t the prez, would you like him? Would you think that he was a good guy? “
Or more directly, “Do your values align with his? Would you do the things that he has done or does now (like lie, cheat, and steal????).
Would you pay people off to keep their mouths shut? Would you take every ounce of credit to the degree that it is embarrassing that this happens?
If you had a relative or someone that you knew who did this, would you not have some pretty strong emotions about it? What if you got fired on Twitter?
But the worst is the situation with the families and the kids… This simply is horrid. This did not happen before.
The man is paranoid crazy – and he thinks that they have a “hive mind” and are a bunch of zombies coming to get him – when he actually can’t fathom what it is like to be desperate, afraid, and fearing for the lives of your family – of the children – of your future.
Actually, it may be that to him they are zombies. He may not be able to tell the difference.
This should scare you. Zed says so.
Here we are. The show continues to get more and more crazy. The drunk uncle is about to crash, or not.
It is how it is when you have an abusive individual leading things. It’s a terrifying situation for everyone, especially if they are crazy and they have “ideas” about what they want to do. It is also another issue as to whether they are stubborn and unwilling to negotiate about anything at all.
It is more about being “right” and getting one’s way, as we have seen demonstrated. In the meantime that someone exaggerates and lies about themselves and what they have done. As we always called this being a legend in one’s own mind. In the meantime, the country is in a perilous situation – teeter-tottering on revolt in some places – since someone decided that decorum wasn’t necessary that there was not a need for mature adult to be in charge (guess it was that adult that should have been elected that wasn’t that at least had maturity and wasn’t a crazy narcissistic sociopath).
Oh well. Here we are in the years….
It is near the end of 2018. October. The Mess.
And if we thought that 2017 was weird, 2018 has been such that we grow numb – every day something else breaks, more outrageous than the day before, it seems.
If you let it bother you, your head starts to spin because you know that there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Nada. Nothing. Hey, the guy could shoot someone on television and nobody would do anything – it’s all about the money – it’s all about the power. Now I am getting revved up again and this should actually go on the “today’s rant” page…
Sorry.
So the latest is that it’s early voting in progress. Those who can will go vote. But, here in the red state, we have little hope of doing anything to turn any of this around.
There is no clear candidate that can beat the guy, either. That’s the tragedy of it all. And he does real damage to people on a regular basis – but, he picks on the weak, on women, on minorities, and people who are disabled. He does not lead by example – he leads as if he is a killer of spirit, all out to win – he only thinks of himself, and just at the moment.
He is the least educated, most stupid man ever to sit in that chair. Anybody who voted for him should be ashamed by now, but they aren’t. Morals, ethics, all of it — out the window. Bye-bye.
Report from the scene is that there is lots of chatter, and I can report that it’s active out there.
I voted today. It was more crowded than usual, but I didn’t see many whose faces told me how they would vote. I saw a friend who is running for office and spoke to another whose postcard I had received recently for a local election.
The guy in back of me was calling people running as Democrats “socialists” with a disgruntled voice – he says, “I don’t want nuthin’ to do with them socialists…” He was wearing a cap with his veteran of Vietnam War info on it – and his wife says to him, “Shhhhhh! stop that talk right now…” She was obviously embarrassed.
We were standing there a while, so I turned around and said, “I remember when we had two parties (or more) here in this country, and it wasn’t like either one was an enemy…” He scowled at me, and his wife said, “and yeah, things weren’t such a mess…” To which I agreed. I think that the anger from her husband is clear. He was proudly defensive – when I asked what he did for his work, he said, “retired”. I said, “from what?” and he said, “Labor”. I said, “did you work construction or something?” and he said, “yeah, that, and fast food and…” He trailed off. He said that he had lived, “all over”. He had obviously lived a hard life. No telling, if he was a vet and did not have a solid income, he probably is pretty ticked off.
We talked small talk until it was time to check-in to vote. I pretty much know what he would have done, but the wife? I wonder if secretly she voted for people who were more prospective for getting us out of “the mess”.
That’s the thing about voting here – unless you are incapacitated or need assistance, no one will know who you voted for in your little ballot booth. That wife, she could vote how she wanted and that’s a good thing.
2017 – Nearing the End of a “Very Strange Year”… Likely one of the strangest “in your face” eras in the history of the planet (that we have ever known or known about). Hmm
Wonder if that first extinction had anything to do with…
My post about the year beginning last January, I way underestimated the wild ride.
We knew it would be wild, but did we ever imagine the dimensions of this ride? As I said, it is like we are being driven by a drunk uncle, who is loud, boisterous, and crazed behind the wheel. Ever had that experience? If not, this is it.
We are still coping with this calamity. It’s a daily freak show. Everyday, it is something different. Bottom-line, the combination of social media, our “dear leader” and his compulsions to be always “shaking it up” by being shocking on Twitter, it all adds up to one big headache – the total departure from decorum. Sometimes, I just have to tune it out – turn it off – but then, it is as if we are addicted to peeking to see what “he” said since the last time we __________________( fill in the blank – heard, looked, read). He certainly is a shocker of the greatest proportions.
Even across the world, what he does and says is in the magnifying glass. We know. We have been across the world. It’s true.
Where went dignified leadership? Alien abduction, no doubt.
God indeed only knows. One thing is for certain, the leadership position of this “corpo-country” no longer has any of that. Bad manners, bad hair, rude, crude, and uncouth.
This is now no country for:
old people
less than the 1% upper crust of the wealthy
small business owners
people who don’t own hotels and golf courses all over the world
people who are not “designer clothing brand” owners depending on poor starving people in factories in third world countries
people from anywhere but here
people who might get sick who don’t have millions of dollars
people who are NOT extreme rude womanizers and racist haters…
He is racist, mean, vulgar, and as my mom would have said, a “male chauvinist pig”.
Yes, Mom, you would be absolutely right. I can imagine that she would be asking me what I think on a daily basis. Maybe hourly.
It is the most unimaginable combination of age-cultures, lack of education, dominance, narcissism, interference by foreign governments, balancing the unbalanced, the unbalanced unleashing the horrific violence on crowds of people – our worst nightmares coming to life – without understanding the cause – all the while the freak who occupies the seat of the purported most powerful leadership position in the world being likely the most narcissistic individual one can ever expect to encounter – besides some of the wild-ass crazy leaders who have gone down in history as rather “certifiable”, normally being corrupt leaders of third-world developing countries – this is remarkable that the people and the “system” allowed this to happen.
This was all because, as one friend told me, “we need to shake things up” – no kidding. Well, she got her wish. That was an understatement. Be careful what you wished for… This friend now, after drinking a couple of glasses of wine, apologizes to me. Her daughters have now brow-beaten and shamed her for what they term as “this is your fault MOM.” Parents responsible for everything… sigh…
At any rate. Indeed, this has been a record breaking historic strange year and it’s not over yet. At the next entry, just after the new year turns, I will update this column with a recap – not a Red Cap, but a recap.
Poor America. Greatness score is going down, down, down…
Crazy driver alert! Egomaniac at the wheel!
2017 – The Year of The Red Cap
Yes, folks, it’s nearly time for “High Anxiety Adventures” – it’s coming off like one of those sarcastic futuristic sci-fi novels, isn’t it? Hmmm, just thinking of the examples of parodies of the past…
Right about now, people in the casa blanca are packing their bags, readying the place of the new “occasional occupants” who “only come when they have to” because they “prefer NYC and Florida” – and the casa blanca just isn’t flash enough…
Would love to see the actual “Day one” when it all begins – fly on the wall style – the “OMG” moments as they roll in the door – the thought bubbles “gee whiz, this ISN’T BEAUTIFUL” or “this is some ugly scary shit! can I just let someone else do this job?” “Oh shit, I can’t just deal my way out of this!?!” “You mean that there are bigger bullies than ME?” Or, “OMG, I’m not smart enough for this – I don’t understand this shit! It’s not like Twitter!” “OH. I can’t use my own mobile? I have to use THAT one? Does it have Twitter? I MUST tweet!” “HELP ME!” or the message from the missus – “Dahlink, I think you should come here… you know, we just can’t have our parties here – it’s too staid…”
Holy MilliVanilli Batman, will this be real? you betcha. Be careful, voters in those swing states, this is what you asked for! When you first get a clue, you’ll be going “hey! what about ME?” and doing that for the next four years. Ooops! He forgot about you!? Too bad. So sad. No health insurance? Awwwww. That’s what you wanted, right? Get rid of that awful Obamacare. Now you wish you had it because if you can even get insurance with those preexisting conditions, good luck with paying for it now! Too bad you were just a dumb ass racist, acting out… You never thought that you were actually going to have to go without, did you?
Seriously, what will we be in for??? Likely, some scares, and more than likely, some entertainment! I am certain that Alec Baldwin is going to have a blast with his creative latitude – may he never back down, no matter what!
This is what I do know about the next four years – it is going to be a wild ride…
Just as we suspected.
In our latest episodes of “The People With the Blue Hair and Red Caps“…
Now it really seems that effort is required to stop the madness, as the madness goes on and increases by the day: but effort must be evaluated and determined as to whether it is (a) do-able, (b) there is a probability of success (Ps), and (c) what the pro’s and con’s are for a group of people where this is their (supposed) leader in waiting, elected legally (supposedly), but now appearing in more ways than one to be manipulated in a strange way – the facts not yet presented to those who would do anything – and given the period of time – (they must be thinking) should we just wait until the impeachable offenses mount up? Or should we do this now? What is more costly in what way?
It is as if there is a pushing over the line, almost daily, and new lines are drawn (maybe?) – or the lines are ignored (more likely), and outlandish new developments are revealed, as if someone is saying “just stop me.” Like a child, out of control – all they want really is for someone to stop them, tell them everything is going to be all right, and to tell them that they are the best in the world forever.
All that I can say is that we don’t know what we don’t know – yet. It could be an interesting start to 2017. Can’t you just hear that song in your head that says “How you like me now?”
That is for certain. As the worm turns.
it just gets more ridiculous by the day. is anyone going to do anything about this? where is the moral compass pointing? looks like down to me.
crazy is taking over common sense. yep. it’s happening. people seem powerless to stop this. what bothers me most is that it is not “innocuous” it has the potential to cause big harm to the world. the selfish nature of how these folks think – to reduce greater good – to not recognize ALL people as having skin in this game, but to uphold the least helpful aspects for people who are already in a world of hurt — and to head into such unprecedented extreme “ruling philosophy” that this country is NOT founded upon – well, to say the least, this is extremely disturbing in many ways. Extremely is not strong enough of a word to describe it.
our modern life in 2016. it is that slap in the face, “the world is changing, you idiot!” situation that wakes you up with every single thing that comes up when you hear it or read it and go “what the F***? really?”
honestly, there is a lot of stuff now that you think about, say ten years ago, even five years ago, hey – even three years ago that people feel they now have a license to say – and OMG, if my grandmother heard this, she would definitely be saying something on the order of: “where are your manners, young (man/lady)?”
remember that I told you that she graduated from a “Finishing School” – they do not have those any more, I don’t think. I pretty much think that you aren’t finished until you are DONE. know what I mean? yeah. we just keep going… until we don’t.
but today will be an interesting day. not sure how I will feel about it, just yet. it’s scary when you hear people threaten with death to people if there are certain outcomes… scary when they feel comfortable saying this out loud, in public, as if there are not laws against that sort of thing…
it is unreal, but you can’t dream this shit up. reality imitates fiction. it seems that way these days. it’s a say it out loud kind of place officially licensed by at least one of the candidates, and several before him in increasing ways. news has become more sensational. the media have poured gasoline on the fire, no question. the hackers are exposing the underbelly when it was probably better that we did not know the intimate details of every email that someone wrote – yet this is lopsided – only one candidate’s emails are exposed. but ah-ha, then come the videos of the other candidate in a most exposed and compromising few minutes showing and allowing us to hear and confirm that he is a true ass with a careless disregard of others. he is an “it’s all about me” kind of guy – he can talk the lead paint off the wall and say it is not toxic. seriously.
he enables violence and hatred over and over. he follows up with schmoozing the riled group with calming promises. over and over. what a technique. 100% sales and marketing. bait and switch. where are the used cars?
the violent nature of humans, unleashed on air – on you-tube – and no one seems to care very much until someone is shot, and then they report it as some sort of sensational event. over and over.
the threats that i read on twitter and Facebook are appalling. scary. are people living in their heads or do they really think that they can get away with this type of violence? is not this behavior breaking some laws? used to be that if you uttered such, some men in black suits would promptly have you hauled away to ? who knows and there would be some headlines about threats and then someone would either be put to trial or put in a place for the mentally ill… or both. hmm… oh right. we do not treat mental illness in this country anymore. we just let people adapt or suffer or play out to their worst delusional outcomes.
seems that it’s more about people getting arrested or investigated about banal things, and the blatantly offensive getting away with it until they shoot someone or self-destruct. kind of a reverse thing, like walking on a mirror and realizing that what is in the mirror is the true reality.
this is the sci-fi reality that technology actually injects into life. guess it is how it is supposed to be. what other way is there? control is just a facade. guess we have to get used to it. modern life, modern problems.
C’est la vie…
In many ways, this life is meant to be lived well. At least, for many that is the thought line.
This is the hope. But for some, it never was. Regardless of being born into poverty and danger, or a life of privilege, stuff can happen to disrupt the road to happiness.
This is what we chase every day, with our never ending quest for happy-ness. Happiness.
Are we there yet? I’m not quite sure that it is anything but transient, fleeting, and to be enjoyed for the moment — to be savored, before it moves on… And it may come again, and again, repeatedly… Or not. Not ever, for some. Who do you love? What do you like? Do what you like. Love is the answer. Holiness is better than what? Cleanliness is next to Godliness. A thousand or more different ways to express what people feel about ‘la vie’. The life we live.
As Mose Allison sang “I love the life I live, and I live the life I love…” True jazzy blues, well listened with a glass of Scotch Whiskey or Brandy in hand, darkened dusky rooms, totally at peace with the world. Sounds dreamy, and it can be… or could be… depending on the situation.
But anything can happen these days, and it’s always been that way. The people who get bored with the routine of life, sometimes wish that it was more exciting. Those who have a crazy life, full of excitement, sometimes wish that life could slow down, so that they could take more enjoyment. We get caught in the “stressures” and pace of whatever we are doing in our lives. We wait for time to pass, or time passes us by so quickly that we cannot seem to keep up with it – we get dizzy in the head, just trying to avoid being overwhelmed by this.
But, it’s life, and c’est la vie – or rather “whatever”, because often it is what it is, and although we think that we have control, we really do not… From one moment to the next, we are on this spinning ball that we call planet earth, rotating around the sun, with the moon rotating around us, and an ever growing “trash belt” of satellites, dead and alive, occasional meteors sizzling through it, on their way down to the planet’s surface, compelled by gravity which caught them and is bringing them end for a fiery, cooling journey to destruction — maybe before they reach their destiny, maybe not.
The current state of affairs – in the world – in politics, in religion, in all – not looking so good…
The picture says it all. It’s the representation of the total ludicrous nature of those who support the angry, declarative, disruptive, judgmental, and wholly not forward thinking nature of the candidate who says that he will “make America great again!”. This is the stuff that movies are made of – the whacked-out, total insanity of it all. This picture is derived from the news, and certainly, it’s out there in the wild if you type in the “Make America Great Again” phrase into your Google and look at the images that pop up.
And they call this “health” insurance – it’s certain to drive you into having a stroke or a heart attack!
My ongoing saga of keeping heart and soul together while trying to arm-wrestle health insurance, medical bills, and the ridiculous pharmaceutical stuff – we should call this the trifecta of a living hell – it hardly resembles anything related to health insurance or health to begin with – they should just call it “hell insurance” – that is a more descriptive term. How do people deal with this who are not (1) able to understand the dynamics (the true ones, not the “advertised ones”), (2) the communication linkages, or (3) how to calculate the economics…
There is no help for this. If you ever sign-up to shop on “the marketplace” (bizarre) – you never get out of it – it’s a Hotel California – “you can check-in, anytime you like, but you can never leave!” Same goes with trying to back out of a policy after you have ended it and started a policy with another company – you get hounded to death… No kidding. They even continue to make changes to “your coverage” that is no longer yours. Phantoms. Un-frigging-believable.
I’ve figured it out. Here’s the deal:
- The law passed for our new healthcare called “Affordable Care Act”. Well, it’s not affordable.
- It is designed to fail.
- The forces at odds with one another – big MED, big PHARMA, BIG INSURANCE, and those who want to have a standard of healthcare for every citizen are simply – at war.
- The negotiation was to have it be a win-win for everyone, but all of those forces are pushing hard, and the so-called beneficiaries (us, the citizens of the NUnited States) are struggling and losing out.
- Why? Because the big forces of business in this must maintain the ever-escalating profitability of any other company on Wall Street – they are in it for the money. Human sacrifice at its finest.
Cases in point:
- Advertising pharmaceutical products that, when you listen to the fine print, can do extreme harm to you. I asked my doc about this and he says its “risk benefit” – if it helps you, and you can “tolerate” the drug, then it’s a good thing. That word “tolerate” bothers me. Usually, it is that you can endure something that is really annoying without expressing how you feel about it – like “I tolerated being around that asshole, because I knew that it would only be an hour long meeting…”
- Advertising insurance in the context of “it’s good for you”, or “you’ll be sorry if you don’t” – or like any one of the insurance companies have anything different from the other – because they can’t – they all have to go by the same rules. It’s smoke and mirrors.
- Advertising health or medical things that you likely don’t need – just like advertising gadgets… Because they know that the insurance company might pay for it. You need zillions of these catheters, or syringes, or diabetic supplies – test strips – because you might get fill in the blank if you continue doing the same as it ever was.
OK, I have now established that we have some pretty weird stuff going on that will no doubt go down like the Federalist Papers in US History. These were some interesting times documented about the formation of our government – a little cited, little read because the big reveal is that what is happening right now was envisioned by the architects of our government – Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay – some pretty heavy hitters…
These forefathers of our country, worked to architect a government that would be sturdy enough to withstand this type of thing… It indeed is now being tested, and it is creaking…
At any rate, it seems that this place is heading toward the unlivable and the unbelievable. We are starting to have these clowns that say they want to be president that are damned scary – and yes, clowns ARE scary… Especially if the likes of one of these crazies running on the side of the Republican Party are elected into leadership (I use that term loosely).
Being taken over by extremists – and the history repeating itself is kind of a scary option… Back in the 1860’s we had a Civil War. Okay, it was freeking destructive. Proportionately, it killed many people – lots of exposure and starvation in addition to weapons – but think of the weapons today – quite a marked difference.
If you even take a small peek at the crazy people out there who are “getting ready” and are sitting on extremely large stockpiles of “legal” fire arms and ammo, you get a sense that if they get agitated in great numbers, we could very well have a “situation”. One only has to imagine the Murrow Building. Yeah. Imagine that the boys from the woods have things like that, plus their “legal” automatic, semi-automatic, and other home-made things that’ll killya – stashed away in parts of the country that are remote and protected by “Big Foot” himself.
I’m not kidding. It really is the belief of some that they are going to be having to protect themselves – they are that unhappy. All this stuff about the NSA and all of that — it just eggs them on. It just underscores the proof. You make health insurance more expensive and enough of them feel compromised – in addition to that, you make it so that they perceive that their “rights” are being removed further, mark my words, these people are itching for a fight.
Yes, I worry. I wonder and have bad dreams about it. Jimmy Carter is right. Our problem is extremism – these people look as extreme as any Middle-Eastern radical sect that you can imagine. Remember the 1970’s? Just go back and search what happened beginning back then… Watch the CNN Series – The Seventies – and ahead of that, you can watch The Sixties to get a flavor of the decade leading to that. Very revealing historical timelines to understand better how we got to where we are. I was a teenager in the 1960’s and early 1970’s – then progressed through my twenties – my memories are pretty patch-work for some events, because I was growing-up, and did not pay attention 100% of the time — but these series have given me a better joined-up perspective.
Go ahead. Call me crazy. Might as well, because all if this is going to drive me there!
Modern Technology – gotta love it – also hate it. Hissssssssss… Where’s my pet snake when I need her?
Yeah, I hate this. Technology Company A updates something that has integrated functionality with Technology Company B. It doesn’t work. In fact, not only that, but it doesn’t work BAD. NO SYNC.
No word from Company B (name happens to describe the pair of items in this picture) that they are working on it. Instead, you get some “finger pointin’ pass the buckin’ blaming deflecting kind of crap” that equates to “we don’t know what the developers are doing, and it must not be high on their priority list…”
Okay fine. But don’t get surly about it. Don’t yank my post from your support site that appeals for you to come out of radio silence and give us an answer. WTF? Now that’s out and out surly. Bite the customer.
Well… it has me thinking, “do they really want me to be their customer?”
Maybe not. I can say that I have come close to walking away before… but then, its an addiction… sort of. You download the books and the songs – and you have photos up there in the computer heavenly storage space that they rent to you – Oh and then there is the reconfiguring and learning yet another somebody’s way of setting up the buttons, etc. AYE! GOT ME!
GEEZ, I am starting to sound like “old people” — darn whippersnappers…. I might go INSANE. Stop. Maybe I am already there… Or will be shortly. Oh well. MODERN PROBLEMS. If it was 15 years ago, I would be complaining about something else…
I just need to settle down.
Funny that each day I wake up I have to move through the fog of sleep into where my mental state will settle for the day. Some days it’s upbeat and cheery, other days, I must have dreamed something weird. Maybe it is those clowns again. EEEEEK. I hate clowns. But, you already know that if you read this blog. Clowns are an old problem.
And then there is the news. It’s always “BREAKING NEWS” – well, it’s official. The news IS broken, and you can’t fix it because it is actually advertising in disguise. Yep, folks, it’s a fact. Unless it is about traffic, and these days, more than half of my “headline alerts” on my “i-things” are related to one roadway or the other, completely shut down by a crash – for hours – so, once again, don’t leave to go anywhere because the traffic will just be BAD. City living at its best. Okay, so now I’m in a bad mood again. Sigh…
However, there is much to which we look forward to experiencing in the positive (that’s future, folks) and much to let go into the rearview mirror — all that negative crap that we just do have to let go or it brings us down. BTW, great song – The Animals – sixties – “Don’t Bring Me Down” – just got it again on iTunes.
Bottom line of modern life – you must take a step back at times and look at the whole picture – of course – as this is what wisdom is all about. It is constantly putting things in perspective… We all have to do that or else we go down the rat holes of “nutsville” where the squirrels live.
Ok, so it’s just one more thing that ticks me off. Urgency, then waiting.
How can it be that someone says “you need to deal with this as soon as possible”, then you ask how long is the wait time for a consult appointment, and they say “3-4 weeks, usually, maybe less…” and I go, “REALLY?” So I ask, what the heck? Why? I am not sure if it is just the way people look at things, or they can’t say “no”, or they are “rolling prioritizers” – just not understanding how maddening they are? Or…maybe it’s the “all about me” thing – no recognition of the anxiety it creates when there is this waiting that goes on…
I am not happy to wait. I want to get through things, expediently. If someone has too much business, then I’ll go where there is less business – like standing in the grocery line…
Jump to the line that is shorter – as long as the check-out is the same.
Just sayin’…
Just sayin’
Here lately, we encounter problems – communication being the main culprit – whereby people talkin’ about this, are REALLY talkin’ ’bout that… Well… there is so much in the gray fuzzz, its the defining of the vague… We all need to understand one another better. Just sayin’
mom said it all… she could give them a piece of her mind, alright.
pretty sure that this is genetic…
Ok, these people, the ones that are trying to drive me crazy… You know, the insurance company with it’s really bad website? The Massage Envy people that give you the runaround? Who else? How many hours do I have to spend on hold? How many hours do I have to spend trying to catch people in their offices, when someone has told me to call back after a certain day and time? Hello? Is this some sort of crazy-making plot or is it just the world as I perceive it? Criminy.
Here I am trying to be on holiday and people do not have their SHIT together! Stealing money from my credit card then give me some story, then a different story, then a different story… C’mon, do you think I am born yesterday or fell off the back of a turnip wagon?
And then there is the “bias” against the ACA insurance when it costs the same friggin’ amount as the insurance direct from the insurance company’s website. Really? Really? REALLY? What the f?
Maybe this should go on my RANT page? It’s a toss-up, because it is a modern problem. The world is getting really full. Full of shit, that is. And yes, I’m grown, and I can say bad words if I want to.
Besides, tomorrow is my birthday. It’s my party, and I can cry if I want to…
Thanks Leslie.
Sure wish I had that doll cake. There is nothing like the taste of a 1950’s birthday cake, is there? Oh well, nowadays, I don’t eat cake much. Maybe it’s my taste buds, or maybe it is that things have changed. Whatever!
Travel These Days, The TSA, and “The Full Monty”
After the frisk. The TSA version of e-Harmony…
Imagine me. As much as I have been in the air lately (starting to feel like the characters in the movie named that starring George Clooney) – one would think that my little purple carry-on being packed the same way every time would not give off a “scent” that would trip the sensors… Well, I be wrong! Apparently, something inside caused the alarms to be raised, and so much so that I was awarded “The Full Monty” AKA pat-down search of me and all of my belongings, including the patting of my private parts… yes folks, “spread ’em” – and yes, I got a breast exam, too, thrown in for free! Hmmmm… Hubby says he’s not jealous, but perhaps I should have said, “does this mean we are “going out”?” to the female officer…
To be honest, it did upset me a bit… after the whole experience, I was shaking like a leaf – had to be settled by a strong G&T prepared by my beloved husband in the lounge right afterward — after I burst into some tension releasing tears, first! Good grief! Happy Holidays! Of course, no apologies given to this nearly 61 year old lady – the least likely to be someone to terrorize anyone, except maybe the texting people driving on the freeway in my dreams!
But of course, I try to find humor in this… but at the time, it wasn’t very funny at all… Goodness gracious, what is the world now since the “zealots” took over the controls? That is really it, isn’t it. Bureaucracies trying to manage an unmanageable world and doing it wrongly at so many levels. Wasting time, and money – and still unable to do what they are trying to do – “keep us safe” – right – just tell me how that “kept us safe”.
Really.
EBOLA
Let’s think about this. We have in our world, some really smart people who are looking for and studying to solve problems all the time. Let’s take the example of EBOLA.
The power-people with the money-control, who often are not as smart, don’t listen to the smart people, because they look at stuff with a different perspective, because they live in a different paradigm. …and they are very selfish, a lot of the time… not always, but a lot of the time they are.
And then, there are the rest of us… neither exceptionally smart, nor exceptionally powerful and wealthy…
In a world wide situation, there are constraints to collaboration and getting a solution to a problem in place in a short period of time.
Seven sins and then some. Greed, prejudice, selfishness, power, apathy, arrogance, and then the plain old garden variety “I just don’t care” or even meanness.
This is going to take us down. I swear it will.
Here is an example of the combination of that perilous situation:
As I have written about this situation, we really need a sea change here. Not only here, but in lots of situations caught up in this bad formula of people characteristics that don’t equate to a beautiful world.
Modern problems.
a