First misfire of the year

I forgot to post something yesterday. I have no excuse. I just forgot.

Sorry about that. I hope you found something else to entertain yourself with.

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I'm gonna say something and you can feel free to disagree with me but as Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts."

First, some facts:
Society is tasked with electing legislators.
Legislators are tasked with creating laws.
Police are tasked with enforcing laws.

Those are factual statements, not opinion. let's see where those facts take us.

Society:
We chose our legislators based on our own personal opinion, our own personal ethos and our own desire to have the life we want to have. Most of us vote for people that we think will represent us and do what we want done.  There are other people who vote for the person that they think is going to do the best job for others. They vote for someone because they think that person is going to help the less fortunate.

Legislators:
Once in office, our legislators are influenced by three things - their personal beliefs, their desire to get reelected and money. Those three things are not listed in any particular order of influence because it is my opinion that it varies with the individual legislator.

Some legislators are strongly influenced by money. It is not a question of whether or not they can be bought, it is a question of price. And the more influential the legislator, the higher the price. This is why there is a $9 billion dollar lobbying industry. This is also why we pay taxes to our legislators. The more taxes they collect, the more money they have to spend on their special projects.

Police:
Police forces are not tasked with preventing crime or resolving civil matters. They are not in place to watch over our persons and property nor are they in place to resolve our disputes. They are not bodyguards, they are not security guards and they are certainly not our parents.

Police are tasked with identifying and detaining individuals who have committed a criminal act. They are then tasked with delivering those individuals to the courts for determination of guilt or innocence.

So what am I getting at? Simple, really: Why are we only focused on the police? Why are we not looking our laws that require the police to arrest people? Why are people being arrested for drunk driving when they have done no harm to anyone? Why are people being arrested for selling single cigarettes, aka "loosies" when the only harm being done is someone is selling something and the state isn't getting a piece of the action?

Stop blaming the police for doing their job and start looking at the laws we have put in place. Maybe if the police didn't have to arrest every person they came across, no matter how meaningless the alleged "crime", they wouldn't be getting into fights with everyone.

Imagine if Rayshard Brooks was woken out of his drunken stupor and all the cops did was take his keys and issue him a citation.

Imagine if George Floyd was given a summons to appear in court to answer to the charge of uttering instead of being arrested.

Imagine if the frightened white guy who calls the police every time he sees a black kid walking through his neighborhood was told by the dispatcher, "Call us back when you actually witness a crime. Someone walking through your neighborhood is not a crime."

We need to change the laws. We need to stop our state and federal legislators from trying to run our lives and get back to common sense. We need to make the position of state and federal legislator a part-time position and stop them from legislating for the sake of legislating. And the single most important thing we need to do is we need to make it illegal for lawyers to run for office.

I'm done know. Feel free to disagree with my opinion but you gotta admit, the facts all point to a system that is a problem at the top, not the bottom.

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Well, that should make up for my failure to post.

Now it's time for me to eat some dinner, watch some hockey and then game 1 of the 2018 World Series.

You can visit these if you want:

• Sex-Crazed Zombies would be a pretty good name for a 1970s rock band.



• 2020 just keeps getting better and better....



• ....and better and better.



• Beer: Is there anything it can't do.



• Seems to me if she is concerned about exposure, she should stay out of those places.



• Yes, alcohol was involved.



• Well then it wasn't a skydiving jump, was it....



• Key phrase in this story: "Employees at Balmoral Castle, which the Queen frequently visits for holidays throughout the year, have complained about wet wipes being left on the estate and urged people not to use the spot as an outdoor toilet."

The bathroom is almost complete.

I have two things left to do:

1) I need to touch up the ceiling.
While I was rolling the second coat on the walls this morning, I managed to touch the ceiling with the roller. Now there is a brown spot on the ceiling and I don't feel like getting the ceiling paint out and touching it up.

2) I need to fix the exhaust fan.
While I was working today, I turned the exhaust fan on and was greeted with an annoying rumble and very little air movement. That means something is amiss with the bearings or shaft. I'll be taking that apart in the next few days and figuring out what it needs.

Or buying a new one to replace it.

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I would have liked to see some rain today. Despite the warnings this morning from the weather dweebs of thunderstorms, all we got was a light sprinkle that lasted all of 2 minutes.

We need a lot more rain than we got yesterday and we need it to happen over several days. I would like it to rain for at least one hour every day for a week.

If it does that, we will start to see our lawns sprout new growth and begin to turn green.

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No baseball and no hockey today but I do have many DVRs to watch.
(added note post-publication: I stand corrected. There is indeed baseball and hockey tonight)

While I enjoy a few hours of How The Universe Works, you can enjoy these:

• Texas is either going to have very full hospitals or they are going to show us that we were wrong to act the way we did.



• Yes, alcohol (or perhaps some other kind of drug) was involved.



• No one wants stale beer. No one.



• Key entries from our favorite police log:
  8:05 p.m. The golfer on the sixth green at a local course turned out to be a black bear.
  8:35 p.m. The black bear finished golfing and was now pacing back and forth.
  9:10 p.m. The bear was spotted on its way to the park.
  5:46 a.m. Exhausted Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials reported they had been dealing with the black bear “all night.”



• Only in Florida.



• 2020 just keeps getting better and better.



• Another reason I don't go to strip clubs.
  Well, that and the $12.00 beers...

Holy Crap! It's Raining!

Yes, I capitalized all of the words in the title on purpose.

No, I don't know why I did it, I just did it.

Move along now.

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So anyways, it's been raining all afternoon and it's a nice, steady rain. My lawn is breathing a sigh of relief and my trees are thinking, "Oy, this is fair dinkum!"

Yes, I gave my trees an Australian accent. I just finished watching the last four Ozzy Man Reviews videos so it only seemed appropriate to make the trees sarcastic Australians.

Move along now.

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I got a first coat of paint on the second bathroom today and once it dries, I'll know if it needs a second coat. It probably will because that's the way things go.

To quote Michael Corleone: Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in.

Once the second coat is dry, I can put all the fixtures back up and be done with my painting life. At least for now. At some point in the near future, I'm going to hear, "The first floor bathroom could use a new look..."

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I'm currently watching a commercial that is explaining the Massachusetts marijuana laws and it occurred to me that I live in a place that has made gambling and weed legal.

Where the hell were all these changes when I was a kid? Now that everything is legal, I'm too damned tired to go to the casino and, based on how quickly I get drunk on beer, I probably should not start using weed again.

To quote Sergeant Hulka, I'm too old for this shit.

At least the drinking age was 18 when I was a kid so I guess I got that.

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Time for me to watch some sports and whine about my sore legs/back.

Hey, let me know how you feel after  spending 4 hours in a small humid room, climbing up & down a ladder, planking out to reach unreachable corners and finally doing squat thrusts to get all the lower trim work done.

My back and my legs are sore and I'm going to whine, dammit.

Here are a few links:

• I'm thinking racoons might actually be intelligent aliens.



• All of these protests, accusations and thrashing will eventually come back to bite us all in the ass. As for me, I'm just going to stock up on ammo. Lots of ammo.



• Only in Florida.



• The name of this blog is "Survival of the Fittest" for a reason.

More painting

Despite the fact I do not like painting, I end up doing it. Today was a refresher coat on the walls of our master bath and a coat of urethane on some woodwork that is suffering the ravages of being located in a small humid bathroom.

Next week I'll be painting the other second floor bathroom but this won't be a refresher coat. This will be a complete color change. That means taping all the edges and doing the full trim work.

I might have to get more masking tape.

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Notice:

I'm trying to get ahold of Willie to confirm his retirement. Pat supplied me with an ancient email address (it's an msn.com address fer cripes sake) so I sent a message to it.

If I hear back from him, I will alert the media.

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I'm going to watch a one year old hockey game and a two year old baseball game. While I do that, you can click on these:

• Key phrase in this story: "...they told us that they didn't have snake detectors."



• Key phrase in this story: "...like having a nuclear weapon."



• There are more than a few "Key Phrases" in this story. Feel free to pick your own.



• Australia: What doesn't kill ya, is probably extinct.



• Please make them stop.



• "...the hackers most likely got access to the secure meeting after a link and password were publicly posted online".
  Well then they weren't hackers, were they. They were copy_and_pasters.

My chestnut is dying of thirst

The horse chestnut we planted last year suddenly started wilting and turning brown.

(Yes, that brown stuff on the ground is what's left of my lawn)
Today, I called the garden center where we bought it (16 Acres Garden Center, if must know) and I described what was happening to the tree to a nice young lady. She listened patiently and then told me to hold for Andy. So I did.

Did you ever have a conversation with someone and you were keenly aware that they were not using the words they wanted use when they were speaking to you? I had one such conversation today:

Me: Hi. Last year we bought a tree from you and now we notice it's dying.

Andy: Oh yea? Have you been watering it?
What He Wanted To Say: No shit Sherlock. In case you haven't noticed, we're in a drought, you moron, and young trees need water. A lot of water.

Me: Yes, I run my sprinklers every day.

Andy: Um, that's not enough. Sprinklers aren't going to soak the ground down to the root ball.
WHWTS: Good Lord, who let you plant a tree? Sprinklers only get the soil wet down to about an inch. You know, just where grass grows, dipshit. You're talking about a freakin' tree. It needs the water to go down at least 2 or 3 feet.

Me: Oh. So how often should I water it?

Andy: Water it every day. You really want the moisture to get down deep in the soil so give it a heavy watering every day.
WHWTS: Holy shit! Do you know anything at all about plants? Drought conditions suck the moisture out of the soil and kill the plants, you idiot. The only way to keep the tree alive is to keep it well watered, EVERY FREAKIN' DAY!

Me: Okay, Thanks,

Andy: You're welcome. Have a nice day!
WHWTS: Sweet Jesus on a Merry-Go-Round, if you kill that poor tree, so help me, I'll come over there and whack you with a freakin' shovel Now hang up the phone and go water the damned tree.

So now I guess we wait and see if watering it every day will bring it back from the brink of death.

On the other hand, the two little red maples I planted out front last year are doing just fine so I guess I got that goin' for me.

Maybe I'll call Andy and let him know.

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You can enjoy these links while I watch some old sport things:

• This is why I never buy $250,000 cars.
  Well, that and the fact I can't afford a $250,000 car...



• Um, Vermont does not have a coast. It is as land-locked as Kansas. How can it have "coastal rivers"?



• Thirty children?!? Jesus pal, first thing you should do is get snipped. 



• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, comes up to ya all nekkid and saves your life.



• I'm not sure if this is ironic or poetic...

Still no rain.

This morning, the weather dweebs all said the same thing: "Chance of scattered thunderstorms today".

They lied.

My lawn is a nice brown color and the closest we came to a "scattered thunderstorm" was when a small line of storms passed through Connecticut and up into Boston.

Oh well.

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I've noticed something the other day. The media has begun to capitalize the word "black" when they are referring to someone. They never did this before.

I'm no English major but I do know a little bit about the basics. In most cases, adjectives are not capitalized unless they are used to identify a person.

The best way to explain it is that the word "American" is a descriptive word, a.k.a. an adjective, but since it is used to identify someone, it is capitalized. The word "happy" is a descriptive word but it isn't used to identify anyone, it is used to modify a description, as in, "She is a happy person". We don't capitalize the word "happy".

When used in the sentence, "My friend Willie is not only Black, he is also an American and he is generally a pretty happy guy", the words Willie, Black and American should be capitalized because they are identifying my buddy Willie, who I understand retired in December and never told me, the SOB (Yes, SOB is capitalized because I'm using it to identify Willie).

I wonder why it took the media, which is made up of a shitload of alleged English majors, this long to start capitalizing the word black when it is used to identify a person or group? Could it have something to do with the current racial issues we are facing? Could it be that one of the reasons we have racial issues is because the media works hard to drive the narrative in this country and their narrative has always been formed around some kind of hidden agenda they have?

Just thought I'd ask to see if maybe someone had an answer...

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I'm going to watch some old hockey, then some old baseball and then fall asleep.

You should visit these:

• This guy is playing Trump like a two-string fiddle.



• Hitchhiking Marmots would be a fantastic name for a 1960s bubble-gum pop band.



• I'll believe it when I see it.



• Key phrase in this story: "The government aims to sterilize 500 of the macaques over the next two months."



• Shit like this is why I never go to New York City.



• 2020 just keeps getting better and better...



• Only in Florida.

I went to work today

I needed to update some software on my work laptop and the only way to do it is to use the on-ground process. That means going into the office and working while my machine calls out to the update service and gets the latest software.

It turns out our department admin has been going in almost every day. She has been working out of her office because, as she said, "It's nice and quiet. No one bothers me. It's also an excuse to get out of my house."

I told her that I might start working on-campus one day a week because, hey, we're all going a little stir-crazy and having some place to go sounds like a good idea.

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Tonight is game three of the 2018 ALDS. They aren't showing game two because the Red Sox lost that game. Apparently they are only showing the games that the Red Sox won.

I'm okay with that.

Here are some links for you:

• Key phrase in this story: "...lighthearted protest between friends."



• Oh my god! There is a U.S. version of The Sun!



• This is what happens when you hire the lowest bidder.



• Oh good, wait till the protestors learn about this thing.



• China: The Florida of Asia.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "10:13 p.m. Two men parked their car, looked around and stuffed rocks in their pockets. When asked what they were doing, they answered “oh s—t” and peeled out of the parking lot."

No lawn mowing for me

Yesterday, I stepped outside to mow my lawn and said, "Nah. I'll do it tomorrow."

Today, I stepped outside to mow my lawn and said, "Nah, I'll do it tomorrow."

Screw that, it's freakin' hot out there. My lawn will get mowed at some point in the near future but not today and probably not tomorrow.

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The other day my town held an election. One post was "Water Commissioner" and no one was running. So I decided to write myself in.

I didn't win but that doesn't matter. What matters is that as I was leaving, I came across this:

Leave it to the "authorities" in my town to create a giant sign that forbids a certain thing only to have them go ahead and do the thing anyways.

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Tonight's baseball game is from October 5th, 2018. It is game one of the ALDS between the Yankees and the Red Sox.

Before that, the Bruins will take on the Rangers in a game from 2009.

While I get my hockey and baseball fix, you can get a load of these:

• Researchers: Finally conducting meaningful research.



• Key phrase in this story: "...you’d have to try hard to get bit by one of these spiders..."



• I don't blame them.



• We are surrounded by incredibly stupid people.



• Key phrase in this story: "...was found by officers on the right shoulder of the eastbound 91 Freeway near Main Street."



• I'm betting that they don't normally refrigerate things like swim fins and cell phone covers.

Thank goodness for air conditioning.

Now if we could only get a little rain...

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My buddy Tommy called me this afternoon to make sure I was still alive. I asked when he was opening back up and he said, "Tomorrow".

Sounds like my plan to "buy a pizza" is a go.

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I'm going to go cook some blackened scallops and then mow the part of my lawn that is green.

Here are some links you might find interesting:

• The thing about social media that Donald Trump fails to understand: It is a double-edged sword.
  (I don't think he's as big of a genius as he thinks he is.)



• As I occasionally like to remind you, there are a lot of assholes walking around in our society.



• Perseverance is the Mars rover scheduled to be launched in July. It has a helicopter, which is pretty freakin' cool.



• Large Penis Carving would be a great name for a 1950s horror movie.



• Attention ugly men of Saint-Josse: You aren't getting any on Sundays.



• As much as I'd like to go to space, it won't be in a mylar balloon launched by some guy who got a tank of helium from the party supply store down the street.

The AC is running

I held off for as long as I could but around 1:00 this afternoon, my wife and daughter said, "It's time. If we're hot, you must be dying." I wasn't really dying but I was uncomfortable.

Right now I'm nice and comfy. And who knows, maybe we'll all be able to sleep tonight!

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Today is our summer solstice, the longest period of daylight for the year. From now until December 21st, our days will get shorter and our nights will get longer.

So hey, we got that going for us.

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Phase 2, Step 2.... What the hell does that mean?

Bars are still closed but restaurants can begin to offer indoor seating. Sophias Pizzeria, my buddy Tommy's place, is a restaurant and bar combined together.

Here's my question: If the bar is closed, can we go in, sit at a table, and order adult beverages like we used to? Or do we need to order up a small pizza so we can pretend we are dinning while we consume our beverages?

Just asking for a friend.

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My wife is making BBQ spare ribs. I like BBQ spare ribs.

The baseball game and the hockey game for this evening are both only 2 years old. That's practically "live" considering some of the 20-30 year old games they've been running.

While I watch those games, you can enjoy these links:

• Anyone shocked by this? Anyone? Bueller?



• This is what I meant a couple of weeks ago when I said this about skinny white chicks that are at the BLM protests: They go home and tell their friends, "That was me! I did that that! Isn't it great that I made a statement for the black man!"



• Morons. We are surrounded by morons.



• The phrase, "published by a small and independent digital media company based in the United States" is just another way of saying, "Three guys in one of their moms basement with a Comcast internet connection and two old Dell PCs acting as webserver's."



• Seems like everyone is overly sensitive.

Surf and Turf

It's a grill kind of night and I'm cooking. My wife is having my special lemon butter swordfish steak and I'm having my bacon & provolone cheeseburgers.

I make a mean swordfish steak and my burgers are always spot on.

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Despite my daily watering, my lawn is turning a nice brown color.

To be honest, I'm not watering it to keep it green, I'm watering it to prevent it from dying. I figure once it starts raining again, the lawn will make a decent comeback as long as it isn't dead at the roots.

No one wants a $1,000 water bill...

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Tonights baseball game is only 4 years old and the hockey game is only 9 years old.

While I enjoy those, you can visit these:

• There are plenty of arrogant idiots on both sides of the issue.



• Well, these things are gonna be all over the side of the highways.



• Key phrase in this story: "Consensus among those who know him is that Ashmore, while batshit crazy, is not a liar."



• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.



• Another reason to not do any gardening.



• Why?



• Hey, it gets hot there. Maybe they were uncomfortable...

A bit sticky today

Not so bad that I turned the AC on but bad enough that I might be turning it on tonight for sleeping purposes.

One of the problems we have with AC in this house is that it gives my wife headaches. And since I've gotten old, I find that I'm not as bothered by temps in the 80s or humidity. Rather than make my wife suffer, I find that if I just turn on a fan, the breeze keeps me comfortable.

Tonight, however, is a different story. I cannot sleep in humid conditions so I'll probably fire up the AC.

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Tonight's baseball game is from 2007 so it's only 13 years old. The hockey game, however, is from 1989, which was 31 years ago.

While I enjoy watching a reasonably new baseball game and a hockey game filmed in lo-def 4:3 format, you can click on these:

• Face tattoos are never an indication of person that makes intelligent life choices.



• Fashion: I don't understand it.



• Attention criminal morons: Filming yourself committing a felony and then posting the video on social media is a terrible idea.



• I believe this was the premise of a 1950s horror movie.



• First moose. Now lizards. What's next? Kiwi birds?



• Cows.



• Who the hell exercises with a noose?

Two air conditioners are in

I have one upstairs and one downstairs which isn't enough if it gets really bad but it's enough for the next few days/weeks. The problem will come if we have a heat wave that sucks the cool right out of the house.

So far there are no heat waves in the forecast.

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We brought my daughter's car to the shop for some periodic maintenance so I am without a car tomorrow

All things considered, being without a car is no big deal because it's not like I have anywhere to go...

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Speaking of my daughter; I can't help bu notice that her and the other veterinarian she works for spend way too much time having fun with their patients:

As the old saying goes: Find a way to get paid to do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life.

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Here are some links that you might just find enjoyable:

• Key phrase in this story: "If it is yours please contact the Harris County Sheriff's Office to claim it."



• Massive Intestinal Wind would be a great name for a Japanese boy band.



• Holy crap! What the hell is wrong with people...



• Personally, I think things are going a bit too far.



• We don't answer our house phone even if we recognize the number. Scammers spoof caller ID all the time.

Data salvation is at hand

Johns brother, Dave, called me a couple of weeks ago and said his computer suddenly stopped working. It won't turn on, one small light comes one but nothing else happens. I asked him what OS he was running and he said, "Vista". I then asked him how old the computer was and he said, "I dunno. Maybe 10 years."

I told him he got his money's worth out of it and to go buy a new one. This caused him to get very concerned because his work (he's an architect) was stored on the hard drive and he had no backup.

He brought the computer over, I pulled the hard drive and that evening, I plugged it into a sata to usb gadget that belongs to Pat. (Yes Pat, I still have that. One of these days, I need to give it back to you)

The drive spun up nicely and I was able to see that it had plenty of data on it. I called Dave and told him to buy himself an external case and let me know when he's got it.

Dave showed up today with his shiny new case, I put his hard drive into it and plugged it into his laptop. All his work files data where in place and after some tedious searching, we were able to find his Outlook .pst file

He was a very happy guy. If he had lost all his work, he would have been screwed. And finding his .pst file means he has all his contacts and his emails.

Now as long as he doesn't do something bad like delete the files from the hard drive before copying them onto his laptop, he should be all set.

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In other news, our 12 year old dehumidifier died last month and I finally got around to buying a new one. After I got it running, I decided to do a little interwebbing on the old one to see if maybe it was a problem I could repair.

Turns out the old one had a recall on it because it was a fire hazard! I also discovered that the recall was for either a prorated cash reimbursement or a replacement with a smaller unit.

So now that I have a dehumidifier running in my basement, I think I'll take the cash. When all is said and done, once I receive the cash, my new dehumidifier will have cost me all of $30.00.

Sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windshield.

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Now that my good deed for the day is done and my basement is getting less musty, I'm going to eat some dinner, watch some baseball and fall asleep early.

Here are some links:

• If the government tells us to stop flushing the toilet, I'm going to ignore them.



• If you have a spare $75k, this might be the perfect dog for you.



• Was it made by Cyberdyne Systems?



• If you like to stand very still for long periods of time, this might be the hat for you.



• Farting With Full Intent would be a great name for a new bar game.



• Australia: What doesn't kill ya, compromises your beer.

Odd power blip this afternoon

Years ago, when we first moved into this neighborhood, I could pretty much guarantee when we would have a power outage.

• The wind is blowing more than 10mph? Power outage.
• It's raining? Power outage.
• It's snowing? Lengthy power outage.
• It's hot? Also a lengthy power outage.
• Freddy down the street bought a new refrigerator? We'll be back in the stone age before power gets restored.

Then, about 10 year ago, the power company got sick and tired of fixing all the power outages out this way so they began the process of upgrading our power lines and transformers. Don't get me wrong, they weren't making it a priority but at least they were fixing the problem areas.

Then, about 9 years ago, the October Snowstorm hit and we were without power for 9 - 10 days. That was when they finally got serious about finishing the upgrades.

We have been pretty stable since then.

Sure, we still have power losses but only when there is a bad storm in the area. It's rare that we have a power outage that makes me go, "Huh? Wonder what caused that?"

Today we had an odd blip that made me say, "Huh... Wonder what caused that."

It was just enough to reset all the clocks to blinking 12:00 mode and turn on all my smart lights. The lights, by default, turn themselves on whenever power is lost and then restored.

I don't mind the lights being turned on because those are easy to turn off but resetting all the clocks is a pain in the ass.

As for what caused it, beats me. No wind, no rain, no heat, no nothing. It was perfect day and there was no reason for the power to go out.

Unless Freddy bought another new refrigerator....

⧫

I don't want to say she is lazy but she's the only dog I've ever seen who lays down to eat breakfast...

⧫

Here are some links you can visit while I watch old baseball and old hockey:

• That is a pretty specific number for what amounts to a wild-ass guess.



• Do you want to know why people are getting shot for nothing? This is why people are getting shot for nothing.



• There are some pretty stupid people walking around out there.



• In hindsight, it was a pretty dumb idea to blow up a dead whale but it was still pretty cool.

The garage wall is painted

My back is killing me but the south wall is done.

Because I painted it in full sunlight, there are a few paint blisters so I figure tomorrow I'll go slit them and brush a little paint on them to get them to settle out.

I'm hoping to get 3 or 4 good years out of this because by then we will be ready to either paint the entire house or side it with something that doesn't need paint.

I guess we'll see what happens then.

⧫

Not much going on today so how about we visit these links:

• This is actually a pretty smart idea.



• Key phrase in this story: "I think my treatment from KFC has been downright disgusting and discriminatory against people who use horse and carts."



• Key phrase in this story: "You’d think i was on drugs... but no!"



• In the first place, if you have a bag filled with gold, why are you riding a train? In the second place, why the hell are you taking your bag filled with gold for a train ride?



• Life is a very long time. It's essentially forever.

Porch is ready for use

I spent a few hours pressure washing and then scrapping the south side of my garage today. Because it is a due south wall that gets constant sunlight, I have to scrape and repaint it every few years and today was the day.

While I was doing that, my wife cleaned all the porch furniture and the porch itself. So now we have our nice little summer retreat ready to go.

Perhaps we'll take our evening repast out there.

So anyways, tomorrow I will paint the entire garage wall because, well, it kinda looks like shit with all the splotches on it. Once that is done, I won't have to worry about it until 2023 or 24. By then I'll be extra old and probably won't have any desire to climb a ladder.

Maybe I'll just sell the place and get us a nice little condo somewhere.

⧫

Tonights baseball game is from 2004 while the hockey game is from 2019.

I'll watch both of those.

You can see if there is anything here that you like:

• Maybe it's all the, "Stay away from each other!" orders we keep getting from the government.



• Krazier Kim seems to be taking over.



• Key phrase in this story: "We are still waiting for the formal Polish statement."
  (I guess, "Oops. Our bad. Sorry." wasn't good enough.)



• I suspect the second half of 2020 is going to be just as bad as the first half of 2020.



• Only in Florida.

Lawn watering isn't working.

My lawn has begun the process of turning brown despite the fact I water it every day. My fertilizer guy says it's because I cut it too short. I told him my lawn tractor and my push mower are both set at the highest setting. I can't cut it any longer.

I think my lawn fertilizer guy is making shit up.

He's good at what he does but when he can't explain why the lawn is starting to turn brown, he first says, "Well, you got to water it." That's when I tell him I water it every day unless it rains. Then he says, "Well, you're cutting it too short."

Sorry man but my lawn mower is no different than any lawn mower in the neighborhood. I didn't buy a special "short-cutting" lawnmower. I've got your basic lawn tractor and your basic push mower. Both are name brands and both work like champs.

I guess I'm just destined to have brownish grass.

⧫

Tonights baseball game is twenty years old but that's okay, I'll still watch it. I'll wonder who half the players are but I'll still watch it.

As for the hockey game, it's from last year so that's not too bad. I'll at least recognize most of the players and remember their names.

While I watch those, you can visit these:

• Oh Canada.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "The mother later reported that she was able to get into the room by using the old credit card trick."



• This is why I never let fire performers practice in my house.



• Religion: Killing innocent people for more than 3,000 years.



• I'm pretty sure people are just making shit up now.



• I spent a good many years driving through Vermont when my daughter was attending college in Colchester. I can attest to the fact that they do indeed have moose in the state. I also believe that those moose don't give a shit about you or your car.

Welp, so much for my genius

The freakin' market crashed again.

I'm never going to be able to retire.

⧫

There was lots of furniture moving today.

Now that the majority of the tree sperm, or as everyone else likes to call it, "pollen", is on the decline, it was time for our annual "spring cleaning and moving stuff around" event. This year was pretty light, just a few small tables, a couple of cedar chests and some cabinets.

We also gave the porch a decent cleaning and will probably set that up in the next few days.

Summer is fast approaching and we will be ready.

⧫

Speaking of summer, here's a picture I took at Tanglewood on July 5, 2017:
Remember when we could do that without special permission from our government? Boy, those were the days, huh?

⧫

Time for me to watch some old baseball and old hockey.

You can click on these:

• At some point, the feds have got to remove weed from the drug schedule.



• This is probably not a good idea.



• It was only a matter of time.



• This is probably going to end poorly.



• Key photo description in this story: "picture posed by model"

I run an adblocker at the highest setting I can find

I admit it. I’m one of those people that block all advertisements on every website I visit. I have my adblocker set so high that I don’t even see those little 10 second video clips at the front of almost every youtube video.

I mention this because there are times when I visit a news website and I am greeted with a message that says, “you are running an adblocker. Either unblock our ads or pay for a subscription”.

Guess what? I’m doing neither. I just close the website that showed me that message, go to google and search for the headline of the story I wanted to read. I do this because guess what else? For every website that thinks it’s content is valuable (it isn’t), there are ten more that have copied/pasted the same story from AP/Reuters/etc… who aren’t blocking me.

Masslive is a perfect example of a copy/paste “news” site. I’m willing to bet that a vast majority of content on masslive comes from another source and masslive is simply a reseller of someone else’s work. They pop up that, “unblock or subscribe” message every time I accidentally click on a link that takes me to their incredibly biased and inaccurate “news” site. They do it even if the story I’m clicking on has the byline “Associated Press”.

Want to know something masslive? All of those stories you post from the AP and Reuters are available on… wait for it…  the AP and Reuters websites!

Why do I block ads? Because websites like masslive put more work and effort into their ads than they do into their content. The clincher for me was two years ago when masslive popped a full screen political ad, complete with sound, for a woman running for office in a town I don’t live in and can’t vote in. They popped that full page ad over top of every page you visited on their website.

When I visit a website and I notice that within 5 seconds of opening the page my computer cooling fan kicks on, I know that there are a lot of background applications being run that I don’t want running. I know that every ad on that website is some kind of java/flash/”pick yer poison” code that is using 90% of my available CPU power and probably writing tons of tracking data onto my hard drive.

If content providers simply ran small static ads, not video or audio ads, there would be no demand for adblockers and all of these content producers would still make money selling advertising space. But they won’t do that because despite the fact they constantly remind us that the constitution guarantees us a  “free press”, the news media is most definitely a for-profit business that is for sale to the highest bidder. And right now, the highest bidder happens to be a bunch of scam artists. When I use my work computer to visit a website, I've seen ads for special masks that prevent coronavirus (no such thing), sure-fire investments (also no such thing) and single women in my area looking for me (stay the hell away from me).

And for the record, I’m not singling out masslive because they are the only ones doing it. I’m singling them out because they are local to me and the google news aggregator constantly links me to stories they post that google thinks are important to me. It's not just masslive, all of the alleged “free press” websites are nothing more than money-grabbing hypocrites.

⧫

Wow, I got a bit wordy there. Sorry about that.

To make up for it, here's a very amusing picture I found on the interwebs today:

⧫

Now I'm going to watch a little baseball and then some hockey. After that, I'm going to bed and try to sleep all night long.

Here are some links for you to visit:

• Krazy Kim and his little sister, Krazier Kim, are up to no good.



• Oh no! Where will parents go to brawl in front of their kids?



• Technically, alcohol was involved.



• Only in Florida.



• After listening to de Blasio prattle on like an uptight puritan, I'm pretty sure the New York City government needs to stay the hell out of peoples sex lives.



• Here's your Naked Guy(s) in the News story.

Lite post tonight

It was Chinese food night here at the blog World Headquarters and your host spent quite a bit of time stuffing his fat face.

⧫

Right now I'm watching tonights old baseball game.

I'm not sure how long I'll last tonight. The owls spent a lot of time chatting last night and they kept me awake. And when I say chatting, I mean all four of them were screeching back and forth like old Italian women yelling out of tenement windows.

I'm tired.

⧫

Here are some links:

• If you don't know who Jacinda Ardern is, let me enlighten you. She is the Prime Minister of New Zealand and when she was asked what her reaction was to the fact there were no active Covid-19 cases in New Zealand, she said, "I did a little dance." I would vote for her.



• Key phrase in this video: "Explosives are dangerous and heavy items can fly really far from explosion."
  (Jump to 7:00 minutes for the fun stuff)



• Only in Florida.



• What I find a little disturbing is that mom left her kid with him in the first place.

Sometimes I think I'm a genius, other times I think I'm an idiot.

In mid April, I was poking around the stock market and I discovered that American Airlines stock was down from a February high of $30.00 a share to right about $10.00 a share.

Since I'm a genius, I decided to toss $100.00 into the pot and buy 10 shares.

Since I'm an idiot, I didn't go big.

I should have tossed $1,000.00 or 10,000.00 into the pot because as I type this, AAL is listed at $20.00 a share. I doubled my money in one month yet I am still only a hundredaire.

And once the 'rona paranoia is over with, I suspect AAL will surpass its February level of $30.00 a share, possibly to $35.00 or $40.00 a share.

I'm a brilliant idiot.

⧫

So it turns out the layer of paint underneath the top layer of paint is darker than the stuff I was able to get off.

Left is "before" and right is "after":

I have a feeling my neighbor is correct and I should just repaint it.

⧫

This evenings Red Sox game is from 9/10/99 when the Red Sox headed down to New York City to take on the Yankees. Spoiler alert, Pedro Martinez goes all nine innings and beats the Yankees.

While I watch that 21 year old baseball game and then a 16 year old hockey game, you can visit these:

• Key phrase in this story: "He claimed it was from a devastating lawnmower accident..."



• Yes, alcohol was involved.



• Giant Snake Brawl would be a great name for a 1980's made-for-tv suspense movie starring Jim Brown, Lindsay Wagner, O.J. Simpson, Liza Minelli, Ernest Borgnine and George Kennedy.



• Oh Canada.



• Key phrase in this story: "I just love reuniting people and their belongings back together it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside."
  (No, I'm not entirely sure what a "fly-tipper" is.)



• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.

Pressure washing is done

The porch slab looks better but it has splotches of paint all over it.

I talked to one of my neighbors and he told me, "Give it up. I spent 5 hours on my hands and knees with a diamond wheel and I couldn't get it all off. Just paint it."

I'm not giving up just yet but I'm also researching coatings to see if there is anything worth using besides paint. I'd almost wonder if there is some kind of epoxy that would be worth  pouring on.

He told me that if I find something, let him know because he painted his three or four years ago and it's peeling already.

⧫

After spending several hours blasting the slab, I decided I needed to mow my lawn.

And now I'm watching, as my daughter put it, ancient baseball. I'm watching a game between the Red Sox and the Twins from 1967.

So while I enjoy watching Carl Yastrzemski hitting baseballs and playing left field, you can enjoy these two links:

• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.



• Key phrase in this story: "So, uh, I know this sounds strange, right over that stone wall? Is a 300 pound pig."

Pressure washing is ongoing

I started working on our front porch today. Turns out I need to use the 0° nozzle to get the paint off and even then, it isn't taking all of it of.

I'm half way done and I suspect that when I finish it up tomorrow, I'm going to need that paint stripper I talked about. Even than I'm not sure it will take it off.

I started from the green door and worked my way towards the camera. There is still a lot of paint left but I will tell you that after things had dried, I swept up about two pounds of paint chips so I did take a lot off.

As I said to my wife, "Worst case scenario is I have to repaint it." My daughter suggested I paint it cement color.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

⧫

No baseball tonight but there is hockey from 1994. That means I'll be watching Cam Neely & Ray Bourque and after that, I'll probably watch an episode or two of Bearing Sea Gold.

While I do that, you can do these:

• In the case of Florida, "returning to normal" is a relative term...



• Only in China, and probably also Florida.



• This is what needs to happen more often than it does.



• This also needs to happen more often than it does.



• I guess you gotta look for the silver lining.

Not much to prattle on about today

I was a bit wordy yesterday so I'll keep it short today.

⧫

My pressure washer arrived and for the first time in a long time, my patio looks like cement instead of a slab of algae. That thing did an awesome job.

And John was correct. - it does cut wood.

We put the 0° nozzle on and my daughter cut a hole in a piece of cedar shake and then a piece of ¼ inch plywood. She started to bore a hole into a ½ inch piece of pine but once it started into the wood, it back sprayed like a spoon in a sink and she got covered. She figured that was enough.

Tomorrow I will attempt to remove the old paint from my front porch slab. I suspect that will require some paint stripper but I need to get something that will not kill the plants. I'm leaning towards Ready-Strip simply because it claims to be environmentally safe.

I really don't want to kill my wife's garden.

⧫

Once again, I'll be watching some old-time hockey (from 1994) and then game 4 of the 2007 world series.

Here are some links:

• I'm pretty sure this was the opening scene in one of those 1980 eco-horror movies. And the way 2020 has been going so far, we probably shouldn't introduce mutant, blood-sucking bugs into the environment.



• Only in Florida.



• The crazies are everywhere.



• Well what does he expect? It is Cleveland after all.

There is nothing more entertaining than a public shit-show

Four years ago, Donald "I was the greatest New York slumlord ever!" Trump gave a speech where he announced he was nominating General James Mattis to the cabinet position Secretary of Defense. In that speech, Donald "I had the biggest, bestest inauguration ever!" Trump called Mattis, "The living embodiment of the Marine Corp Motto 'Semper Fidelis', Always Faithful.".

The other day, Donald "I know more about every thing then everyone else, ever!" Trump said, "If a city or state refuses to take the actions necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them."

The problem with that statement is that it is illegal for the federal government to deploy the military (army or air force) against US citizens to enforce laws.

Well, Mattis, who seems to be highly respected by his peers and anyone who served under him, came out the other day and said, "I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside."

This caused Donald "No one has ever done a better job as president than me!" Trump to say, "Probably the only thing Barack Obama and I have in common is that we both had the honor of firing Jim Mattis, the world's most overrated General."

Taken in one big bite, that is a mouthful. Try taking it all in smaller bites:

1. Trump used to love Mattis
2. Trump thinks the Constitution is a guideline.
3. Mattis thinks Trump may be a danger to the Constitution.
4. Trump hates Mattis.

Here's what I think - If Donald "I can too do it! You just watch and see, I can do anything!" Trump doesn't reign in his ego a bit, we are going to have an issue. A big issue. A constitutional issue.

I also think that if Crazy Uncle Joe Biden doesn't get his shit together and start acting like he cares about the silent majority, he won't beat Trump and Trump will win another four years.

If you think his ego is out of control now, wait until he wins reelection....

⧫

I'm going to watch some old-time hockey and then game 3 of the 2007 world series.

You can visit these:

• "He is described as a white man in his 50s with medium build." Huh. That pretty much describes 50% of the people on the North American continent.



• Why do people do this kind of thing? There has got to be some kind of mental defect that causes people to do this.



• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.



• What do they mean by "may zoom past"?



• That's a lot of beers.



• Key phrase on this anniversary of the Cleveland Indians fans finest hour: "During the game, fans became heavily intoxicated, culminating in a riot in the ninth inning."



• This satire from Australia is actually pretty damned funny.

And the "protests" continue.

Unfortunately, these protests are far from peaceful or productive. There are undercurrents of violence that are uncalled for and counter to the call for justice. My brother is in the middle of all this, trying to help his fellow officers maintain some semblance of peace. I'm really hoping that no one, particularly him, gets injured. But if he does get injured, I hope he fights back with the ferocity we were raised to display when attacked.

Speaking of justice, it is being served. Someone needs to explain this to them.

⧫

I'm going to watch game 2 of the 2007 world series.

You can click on these links if you want:

• Weird. Just plain weird.



• If you are missing several pounds of coke, give the Billerica cops a call.



• Giant Toxic Toads would be a fantastic name for a 1990s punk band.



• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.



• But it was healthy...



• Psssttt, buddy, interested in a hot racoon?



• Key phrase in this story: "I am a woman who is not ashamed."

People look for things to protest.

George Floyd was murdered. His murderer was arrested. He will be tried in court and his guilt/innocence will be determined by a jury of his peers.

All of the skinny white girls that are spraypainting "BLM" and "F*** the Police" on the walls of the local Starbucks are there because it makes them feel good, not because they give two shits about George Floyd. They are doing it for the attention they get. They go home and tell their friends, "That was me! I did that that! Isn't it great that I made a statement for the black man!"

No honeybunch, it's not great. It sucks. Stay home and let the adult voices be heard.

Let the people that are using their right to petition the government for a redress of grievances be heard.

⧫

Time for some weekly blog stats:

Chrome still dominates the browsers but Firefox is right behind it. Windows still dominates the operating systems and that is probably not going to change any time soon.

⧫

Tonight's baseball game is game 1 of the 2007 World Series between the Red Sox and the Rockies.

Spoiler alert: The Red Sox win. As a matter of fact, my elderly brain remembers that the Red Sox sweep the Rockies and win the World Series in four games.

I'm going to watch the 30 year old hockey game and then the 13 year old World Series. While I do that, you all can do these:

• Shades of Alice's Restaurant: This was a multi-agency investigation across two states.



• Safety tip: Don't let a auto mechanic straighten your teeth and don't let a dentist fix your boobs.



• So I guess Trump isn't the first to propose an untested "cure" for a pandemic.



• Survival of the fittest.



• I'll pass.



• If the 'rona don't get ya, maybe the West Nile will.

Working part time means

I have more time to do things like paint walls.

Now that my daughter is back with us for a while, she and her mom are in the process of making sure this is her home. That means doing things that make her comfortable.

For instance, the room we have always called "the playroom" is now called "the den" and it is her space for her stuff. All her video stuff, all her crafting stuff, and all her pet stuff.

Another example is her bedroom. The last time her bedroom was decorated, she was a highschool student. She is now 10 years older and tastes have changed.

So today was painting day.

After my daughter went to work at the clinic to do her critter doctorin' and I settled into my home office, my wife went upstairs and did all the edging on three of the walls. After I finished working, I went upstairs and rolled a nice coating of paint on the three walls. Several hours later, after the walls had dried, we applied a second coat and, ta-da, the three walls are done.

After those walls have had a good 5-7 days for the paint to cure, we'll tape off the corners and paint the fourth wall with a different color. That will finish the painting project. After that it's decorating and she is a happy camper.

⧫

I'm going to watch a 31 year old hockey game and then a 13 year old baseball game.

While I do that, you can click on these:

• Another reason to not go to Siberia.



• Drunks on Bicycles would be a great Monty Python skit.



• Yes, alcohol was involved.



• Most people are decent, respectful humans living together as peacefully as possible. A few people are assholes.



• Only in Florida.



• Vermont has four seasons: Winter Season, Later Winter Season, Mud Season and Early Winter Season.