One year ago today: August 31, 2018, what’s with the handbasket?
Five years ago today: August 31, 2014, 5,200 gold Eagles.
Nine years ago today: August 31, 2010, Kava = Mud.
Random years ago today: August 31, 2013, just built a boat.
A turtle that likes refried beans. And onion, strawberries, and kale. I’m okay with kale but I would not order it at a restaurant. What have I done? The short stretch when the pellet food ran out had me using Texas logic, as in these turtles have outlived the dinosaurs, you know Permian and Jurassic. To they must eat the right things naturally. Therefore, give them a selection and let ‘em pick for themselves. Logic, right? And the longer they’ve been around, the more varied that diet, I’m saying, because plants evolve, too. Mimic what it finds in Nature. See that look on his face in this shot, it’s a look that says you know what you can do with pellet food now.
As for suddenly deciding to start protecting your identity, you can’t. The tracking databases have become so sophisticated, even if you completely change everything, just two or three “indicators” are enough to positively identify you by your habits. It can be active, such as a single phone call to your mother or a GPS destination. Or passive like which lotto numbers you play or your mix on the juke box. It usually takes the system only minutes to pick up your trail, and you are flagged for even trying. The ONLY way to keep ahead of the system is to slow it down enough that you become aware something is brewing and get a head start was to begin protecting your data twenty years ago. And back then anybody who issued warnings was ridiculed as a conspiracy theorist. Who’s laughing now?
The latest round of stupid suckers are the people who bought into that Ring doorbell system. The footage was never intended as part of Neighborhood Watch. But the police are keeping detailed records of which Ring customers ignore police requests for the recordings. How long before the system becomes compulsory and handing over the recordings also? How many homeowners are even aware the potential for abuse of these doorbells with facial recognition and now that A.I. lip-reading is only hours away.
Fenwich & Tilbrook lavender paint.
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I generate more sawdust than your average pet-sitter and some of it gets tracked indoors. This prompted me to sweep extra fine and what do I find? Way over near the front door there it was. The missing jigsaw puzzle piece. There’s only one way it got across the house from where the package was opened. And lurking behind that curtain doesn’t mean I don’t want her brought in for questioning. The piece is glued into the spot, but since the puzzle has been “painted” with glue, it protrudes a bit. A 3D sky.
So cancel most of the day. On the long walk back to the car, the dogs again scooted from shade to shade, finally waiting up for me under some neighbor’s tree. It was a picture perfect scene, the dogs splayed out and me trudging across the field. No camera, sorry, it’s back at the house connected to video cables. Several people driving past gave us the thumbs-up. These dogs are quicker than most to figure out charm is a good substitute for anything if they pour it on just right.
They did all the “gamboling about with reckless abandon” and I’m the one got tired. Back home, I listened to another two hours of “Betrayal”. By now, Fidel’s minions are rounding up everybody, so in a way there’s historical accuracy to the action. A lot of the revolutionaries who joined the cause became disillusioned with Castro with his pro-commie leanings and cult of personality. It makes it hard to figure out who is on what side. These things happened in the decade before I was old enough to grasp so current events were the same as history. You memorized what was needed to pass. The only part I liked was the jokes we used to make mispronouncing the names of some African dictator of the week.
The gist of the account is anti-Americanism with focus on the CIA. You know, at street level, most Americans don’t care for all the skullduggery, they’d rather be left alone. Most Americans only want enough government to protect our way of life from the rest of the world. We know for all their huffing and puffing, none of them can come close to America for our version of capitalism and nobody touches us for individual freedoms. Even with the erosion taking place daily, America is still the last outpost of liberty. We know there are forces that want to control us, but we also know this is the first time in all of history that the population has more firepower than the state. And nobody can tell what’s the boiling point.
Last before siesta, the big noise about the Chinese discovering a “gel-like” substance on the far side of the moon is hype. Nobody knows all the effects of a meteorite collision or can predict the bi-products. It is panic-mongering to make such announcements. Then again, have you ever read a Chinese newspaper? I have, but translated into English. It is all tabloid-grade editorial. Written by people who have gel-like brain matter.
And you know who else needs to be re-educated? The people who write instruction labels. This is 2019, the world no longer is fit for illiterate boneheads who mistranslate and can’t write English in the first place. For christ’s sake, let them get a job in the tomato fields where basic command of the language is not required. I’ll tell you who is a close second for the total stupid prize. Not just the people who can’t write but the people who print that for them.
Mind you, and I’m just saying this before some smart guy does, if they got rid of the non-official language crap all over the can, there would be plenty of room to print decent instructions in a dimension that can be read—provided Rustoleum would ever pay enough to attract employees with that high an IQ. Hasn’t happened yet in this century. Careful, rags soaked with this product can spontaneously combust, which is more than can be said for the creativity of the staff over at Rustoleum. They should be terrified if Trump brings back work from China.
But listen, I don’t want any of my readers to go away thinking I did not at least try to communicate with Rustoleum on their own level. How’s this. Listen, Rustoleum, our policy is when we see skinny old ladies wearing one of those dork topless sun visors holding a clipboard or a tablet and going door-to-door in the neighborhood, we put the attack dog in the front yard. We just know you are related to such people, so, how’s this for communicating? See, you can catch on if you try.
[Author's note: don't suggest a quick note to Rustoleum might solve the problem. Only an unsuspecting fool would fill out the form Rustoleum requires before you can contact them on-line.]
ADDENDUM
Something to watch, MOF. This stands for metal-organic framework, an extremely porous material capable of pulling drinking water out of the air. The principle is different than dehumidfying moist air. The process is still condensation with the twist that by warming the framework, out comes the water. The prototype uses the cycle of cool are giving up the moisture at night and solar panels providing the heat during the day. The implications are enormous. I would support the venture if only because the world is running out of fresh water and the mega-corporations have bought up what remains of the easily-controlled supply.
The atmosphere is said to hold as much water as all the surface water on the planet. The water produced is pure and drinkable and best of all, flies in the face of what the corporations have been planning. Since it already works, watch for announcements of a full-scale project. One cannot imagine what desert countries would pay for something that makes water out of air. Let’s recap oil for a moment.
It’s common knowledge the US supports Saudi Arabia for oil. But why? We all know America has enough of its own oil. Ah, but they want to keep that oil in case of war or scarcity. Saudi Arabia and others tried raising the price to over $100 per barrel, but got a talking-to about that. You see, raise the price too high and America will pursue alternatives. Plus the Saudi population is tiny, probably less than half what they claim. Without American support they could not resist an invasion by any of their greedy neighbors. If it was me, I’d take a close look at how these Arab countries have behaved toward America and sell them only the water, not the technology. Yes, by the barrel, and guess what the price would be?
