One year ago today: xAugust 17, 2020, one pipe, one morning.
Five years ago today: August 17, 2016, nerds, the first casualties.
Nine years ago today: August 17, 2012, training & mantenance. Right.
Random years ago today: August 17, 2008, maybe in Alaska.
Dental surgery. The sound alone gives me the willies. Chloe, the fat cat, went in this morning for the whole day. She was not in pain but I'm not the one who determines things. The good news is on the way back I found an eyeglass repair sop that can fix my $400 driving glasses. The ones where the arm broke off the week after the warranty expired. I went back anyway to see and they had just declared bankruptcy. Screwing you around is the only thing Florida business doesn't do half-way. Maybe tomorrow, as the cat is on the seat beside me and looking on the groggy side. And cancel the next postponement, I will likely be here past the weekend. One day, everyone finds their Tennessee and life as you knew it changes.
I just learned that there are 10,000 contractors, read ‘civilians’ in Kabul. Leave them there, they got there on their own and stayed past their welcome. I’m the guy that warned you back when there were only 800 of these bastards in Iran. Read my lips, these pricks are there, avoiding paying taxes, doing the Devil’s work (many say), and banking on being baled out by the taxpayer. Screw them. They chose to stay on long after warnings and directives were issued. If they are American citizens, then they can listen when they are told to clear out. After that, they are on their own. Sure, I say, rescue them. Then send ‘em the bill.
The primary purpose of this trip was a transition to the new doggie, something that carries less gravity with me than other reasons. I kind of know dogs learn loyalty to those who feed them, all other theories are secondary. So far, progress is minimal. The dog has no interest in obeying any commands, but has learned admirably how to behave while she is watching, just like Millie and Wallace. As ever, these doggies have learned the back of the van has that memory foam and get ever harder to dislodge. You see, the van is big enough for them to crawl away faster than you can crawl in.
Just when you think you have heard everything, a caller to NPR complains that in those photos showing the Taliban in the Presidential Palace do not have enough "women representatives", while a UN spokesthing sends a "strongly-worded" letter to the Taliban to "respect women's rights". A Rasmussen Poll finds 10% of those who voted Democrat in 2020 regret it. Making the rounds is the joke that Biden's defense against impeachment will be that he isn't the President. And welcome the first series of polls that had to be repeated dozens of times to lift Kamela out of the lowest approval ratings in American history. The Democrats are done. They will not be missed.
I swear, if these dogs did not have to walk somewhere to poop, they would glue themselves to the the bed of the van for the duration. I done told you, it is a magnitude more comfy than the same in the old station wagon. So here I am, stuck walking two dogs that, unless Nature calls, have learned they can stay just out of reach of the leash clips unless you crawl into the van yourself—which you love to do at my age. Didn’t I tell you about this already? Good, let’s go over it again to show a little mercy for my bad shoulder and my broken air conditioner. Ho very thoughtful of you.
And let me detail something else. When I do the extension exercise at home, the spring strength is 15 pounds. Chookies, tipping the scales at 63 pounds, can best that any time. This dog does not respond to gentle pressure when she is not around This happened with Sparkie, who eventually learned to tolerate my lead. From here on, it is largely guesswork, since Sparkie had been partially trained and Chooks has never even learned to sit.
Albanian barber.
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I just read a new word for pseudo-scientist. "Bioinformatician." What can I say, this entire millennial generation is going to get the ass-whupping they've been begging for. It seems to be what they need most to get them on track with their nothing lives. For example, I have a broken eye-glass hinge. Now, you would think in this day and age it would be a simple matter of pulling up a parts diagram. Ho-ho, enter the millennial crowd. Ten thousand posts, and not one of them worth a shit. This is the millennial reality, everybody's an expert until you ask an intelligent question.
To help them out, I've devised a short list of millennials who should not post videos on youTube. By no means an inclusive list, this would cut down the bullsh by 90% in most categories. A possible assist could happen if youTube simply dropped the bottom 10% of the most-searched terms every month. But quality is not what youTube is all about.
Here are the basic rules for posting a VIDEO.
A) a series of stills in NOT a video.
B) a screen recording is NOT a video.
C) a cartoon of any kind is NOT a video.
Types who should NOT post "How-To" videos, ever:
1) Mouth-breathers.
2) Dalit accents.
3) Anyone who says, "Hi guyz."
4) Millennial accents.
5) Left-handed guitarists.
6) Sputterers and stutterers. You should know better.
General background rules:
i) draw your diagrams on your own time, asshole.
ii) don't even THINK you can wing it, moron.
iii) buy a tripod, you cheap bastard.
iv) rehearsal is a real event, Brandon.
And real men are not afraid to post their advertising at the END of the video. Real men know if their video was qualilty and on-topic, viewers will support them.
ADDENDUM
My book on Winston Churchill is nearly half done and he's just now escaped from the Boer camp, greatly assisted because he looks like a Boer. By now, I have to chuckle at some parallels with my own personality. That's a claim I'd be wise to explain. At rest, that is, in neutral, him and I share may quirks, strongly including an aversion to taking orders from people I did not choose to issue them. I follow the right leaders with a passion, but civil servants can kiss off. Mind you, such patterns are not comparisons, because how often are things calm for long? When things go wrong because others are at fault, I get nasty to the perpetrators where Winston writes home to mommy. He is honest, kind, and brave when people are watching, otherwise he broods in the corner with no qualms about lying and blaming others. Where we are markedly different is when things go right. To me, there is little change because that is the way things were supposed to go. Churchill, on the other hand, morphs into some kind of charging monster convinced he is on a divine mission.
Churchill further exhibits a quality that irks the hell out of most people. That's taken to mean most people are born without talent, money, looks, or other favors. Extend that also to those born with something they are blocked from using. To such people it is infuriating to listen to the Churchills and Trumps of this world insist they made it on their own. This quality, Churchill has in spades. Such people are admired for their successes but detested for taking altogether too much credit for themselves. I've always supposed the reasons for this is how they never learn humility because they never learn from mistakes of the sort that wipe out ordinary folks for life.
