Never Forget
Cat Boy
The kittens are coming up on their 1st birthday in a couple months. This black one is an eating machine who was the runt of the litter, now outgrown his big sister.
He was barely half the size of his litter-mates to start with.
Almost Busted in Bosnia
People familiar with me know my penchant for finding trouble almost everywhere I’ve been over the years. A 1-car accident DUI in Denver back in 1984 led to a long intermission before they tried to retire me early from the Air Force for doing my white-hat hacking job at the Peterson AFB HQ. Then there was the whole Schriever thing. Bosnia was scary on many levels, but I came real close to pushing my luck a bit too far with the bosses at Butmir one day…
Me and the Major were returning from Tuzla late one afternoon with a couple hours of daylight left, so he decided it might be a good idea to take a detour and check on the whereabouts of a car bomber he’d recently become interested in. One hour and one cup of coffee too many into the drive at this point, I turn off down into the valley on this rocky, dirt road in the middle of nowhere, and start looking for someplace to pull off and take a wizz, which I proceed to do after about 5 minutes.
“Whooooooaaa!!” the Major yells, “what the fuck are you doing Shaffer?!! I don’t remember when the last time this road was cleared, keep it moving!” By cleared, meaning cleared of landmines. BTW, the entirety of Bosnia has by this time become the world’s most densely concentrated landmine hazard. Still not sure how seeing somebody on it earlier that morning made it safe to drive on this road now. He could remember where somebody half of NATO was looking for might be, but not if the road he was driving on was safe. Major in the MIB – Military Intelligence Battalion. Assuming this fuckwit actually knew what he was doing, I was taking a piss, but not in my pants.
So I buttoned up and climbed back into the Land Rover, at which point my passenger launches into a 10-minute-long tirade, starting with “If you EVER try ANYTHING like that ever again Seargent I WILL rip the stripes off your arm right where you sit!!” …and on and on. I responded every minute or so with an appropriately firm “yes sir,” or “no sir.” It’s lucky there was nobody with us that day. If he’d had somebody to go whine to the Commander with he’d probably have gotten at least one.
Of course the Lieutenant calls me over first thing next morning and says: “Major Anderson told me what you did on the way back from Tuzla yesterday.” To which I replied, “I hope you can understand there were extenuating circumstances, but do you know if he happened to mention it to anybody else, ma’am?” She said, “No. but don’t let it happen again.” I assured her it would not, and went on to ask about that flight schedule issue. “Sounds like a job for Major Anderson,” I quipped. Almost ducked, as she spun around and stormed out the door and up the stairs. I bet that young lady makes General someday. That was one of the last times we drove trucks between the COYs while I was there.
Social Unreality
The social media crap has got to stop.
“The most popular link on Facebook about the Johnson & Johnson news was shared by a conspiracy theorist and self-described “news analyst & hip-hop artist” named An0maly who thinks the pandemic is a cover for government control.”
Shut ’em down. Just shut ’em down and start over. Let’s see if the modern robber-barons can learn how to spell the goddamn word “security” before they go running around on the Internet sharing spurious bullshyt. Jezus-h-fucking krist.
I’m pretty sure Zuck belongs in prison at this point. Good luck with the non-existent law necessary to put him there.
And Again, and Again…
Once Again: FUCK THE POLICE!
Welcome to the first post of the year categorized “Crime” only. Sucks when the cops are out assauting random motorists with pepper spray and threats of physical violence. Oh wait – it was a black guy in that car. Like was mentioned recently in the Big Fail post, waaaaay too many of these cocksuckers have the authoritarian “ride the lighting” attitude for anybody they may wish to harass for any reason they might dream up. Fuck these assholes, they both belong in prison.
You mutherfuckers can obey the order to suck my dick and choke on it.
Looks Like I Called this One
It seemed pretty obvious to me, just from the inflammation symptoms, that Cannabis was going to be a good contender for Covid treatment. That it went this fast is remarkable. I expect the healthcare industry and government in this country to roundly ignore it, in favor of more expensive, dangerous, profitable avenues.
The big problem I see going forward is the market for specialized products like Provacan. This stuff is a commodity – a plant that grows in the ground. The Pharmas have already demonstrated their penchant for profiteering on diluted, synthetic substitutes that do not perform nature’s intended function as well as the real thing.
Health Status Update
I updated this last Symptoms Log entry to include the latest impression of what’s going on with me today:
30 MAR 21: No change. I’m going to start using the brace and/or cane continuously, whether I think I need it or not. Maybe that will at least delay the daily onset of more acute symptoms by evening. The lumbar has settled into somewhat of a steady state over the past couple of months. It’s the same thing that happened to my C-Spine in 2001, only much worse.
Cancel Culture
Is it any wonder these criminally-inclined cocksuckers are now screaming “Cancel Culture” from all directions across the political spectrum?
Wake up and smell the corruption. If you’re gonna be some morally bankrupt corporate, media or political crony bent on graft, greed, cheating and lies, your gonna get cancelled. We’re trying to live in a civilized society here.
Performative Bullshit
Just heard Fred Wellman, LPTV Director, offer a most apt high-level labeling of the Republican Party’s overall narrative today. Listen to the same words drooling from GOP lawmakers’ mouths, re-arranged to instill fear in the base on any number of topics. They would remain supportive of The Fuckwit were he (should be!) convicted for crimes against humanity. Trump suporters view any humanity outside their own neighborhood as something to be kicked down at. The Repugs will need a little luck with that going forward, because the loyal funny farm group of q-anon, white supremacist hillbilly mouth-breathers is lost and shrinking fast.
A quick check of any FOX network faux-news talk show reinforces the platform in wildly false, insulting ways. They get into the nitty gritty stuff the politicians themselves cannot utter publicly. It’s a propaganda machine fueled by lies and innuendo. Right-wing media employees, Hannity, Carlson, et al, are the deceitful actors in those puppet shows.
False accusations, lying, denial, and treason are the Republican Party’s messages for today. No wonder college is so expensive and student loans are nothing but a debt trap. This society doesn’t seem to work so well with smart people voting truth to power. Fuck them. ALL of them.
Qanon
Is it any wonder mass shootings continue un-abated? Or how everyday life stressors are directly linked with negative healthcare outcomes of all kinds? When things like Qanon enmesh with political activity at large, it becomes plainly apparent we don’t have a healthcare system – we have a sickcare system – with some of the most dangerous sickness not being cared for at all.
Social media’s contribution to this sad state of affairs is a classic example of ends-justify-the-means mindset. One good thing about their ubiquitous presence in the digital domain is how the data they keep has conclusively shown in numerous studies how social media algorithms drive sensational content, regardless of it’s veracity. Profit at all cost has taken the leading role in yet another emerging American industry.
Whodathunkit?
Big Fucking Surprise
These Trumpsters can’t seem to get out of their own way betraying their true selves. Is it any wonder this shameless imbecile is now entangled in underage sex nonsense? Playin’ with the kids, selfies and all that rot sure got interesting this time around, didn’t it? Commiserating creeps:
Aquarium Lids
Fishkeeper hobbyists will surely agree, the glass with flimsy plastic hinges is barely adequate when new, and more trouble than it’s worth after a few months. The hinges vary in quality but eventually always tear, and cleaning involves either complete removal or a painful exercise in arm contortion. So I spent some time coming up with a comprehensive re-design.
I’ve been using acrylic window sheeting for various things, but the aquarium lid application had a warp-age problem, I suspect from varying temps across the surface due to heat from the lights. I wasn’t going to take a chance trying to solve it just going thicker, because it gets expensive quick. The 3/8″ pieces used here are 2’x2′ costing $50@. We’ll find out soon enough, but I’m hoping the aluminum frame and back-bracing will keep things flat.
A big benefit for the fish is bright new, full-spectrum LEDs. But more importantly, we now have easy access for maintenance and cleaning, with no risk of dropping a piece of glass into the tank when the hinges fail. There is a 1/4″ gap along the sides of each lid promoting more evaporation – a big plus in our typically dry environment here. The prop stick shown is a prototype setup for measurement, to be replaced with something more substantial in the future.
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Saw This Coming Up 6th Avenue
Brazil set out to make a pandemic statement of the worst kind at the outset. At least the U.S. had the opportunity to change Presidents and shift into proper response mode. Brazil OTOH, is set to become the world’s SARScoV2 petri dish.
Bolsanaro pushed it all the way. Should be interesting to see what’s left of Brazil when the dust settles.
Can’t Wait to Setup My New Account
I’m fairly well accustomed to being banned from various social media platforms and message-boards around the Internet. I dabbled in that crap for many years, no different than most I assume, in my curiosity to explore the digital horizon. But it didn’t take long to realize what it was and what it meant: Fraud, hate and bigotry. That’s what you have when like-minded Americans get together to discuss their fears and foibles online these days.
But there’s a whole new land of cyber opportunity opening soon!
“Former Trump administration senior adviser Jason Miller said Sunday that the former president plans to return to social media in the coming months with his “own platform.”
“Trump has a long history of bold ideas that didn’t pan out — from a faltering airline to a defunct professional football league to countless offshoot products that failed.”
Good luck with that. I encourage everyone to join, lurk and learn. Sun Tzu was right about at least one thing, and this is WAR. IP addresses are a dime a million, and I have three legitimate email addresses that will certainly become banned once again from groups of people who don’t like my politics, among other things. But they’ll get well deserved face-fulls of it before I’m done. Three times. Then I’ll go the “il”legitimate route and really crank it up. I can use my power for evil too. White-hat targets are drawn. Just waiting for the shooting range to open up, so we can start Rockin’ the Casbah on geeknet…