Thanks to Uncle Ken for the background info about Twitter and that Turkey-Kurd thing. I continue to be impressed with his knowledge of history and current events. Too bad he's a Democrat.
The guy didn't call me today about my new truck, so apparently it's not ready yet. Maybe tomorrow.
Sorry, that's all I've got for today.
app
Thursday, October 10, 2019
kurds and the twitter way
Twitter was pretty popular before Trump. When it first came out it was widely ridiculed because it allowed only 40 characters. What can you say in 40 characters was the outcry, and then before you know it everybody was using it. Well everybody famous. It was a thing, if you wanted to remain famous you had to have a big footprint in social media. And you can't just blame the twitterers. They wouldn't be doing it if there weren't a lot of twitterees. Lots of folks want to know what Lady Gaga had for breakfast.
At first it seemed like it was mostly for celebrities who often got in trouble by getting drunk and twitting something stupid and mean. A money making suggestion I had for the Ten Cat was to offer free tweeting, and then phone the twitterer the next morning and say that the tweet had been held up overnight but now would go out unless the twitterer wanted the Ten Cat to kill it, which could be done for a 'reasonable' fee.
Politicians took to it though. Well if your opponent was on twitter you'd better get on it too. And then they all got followers and it developed that there were all sorts of unscrupulous ways to increase your number of followers (many twitter followers are bots), and there was a bit of a scandal about that.
Because it is such an easy way to gauge things the main stream media pays close attention to it, Every now and then they will proclaim that the twitterverse is on fire about something, but the thing is only about 20 percent of Americans are on twitter and most of them are teens following like the lady with the fake butt.
The Turks and the Kurds have been at it since the fall of the Ottoman empire. Back in the heyday of the empire a lot of the big shots were Kurds, but when Ataturk took over he wanted it to be a western-style nation comprising Asia Minor. and he wanted it to be exclusively Turkish which is why he massacred the Armenians, and also cracked down hard on the Kurds. But the Kurds are tough, and they fought back pretty hard, and there has been a long history of terrorist activities and brutal crackdowns between the two.
This Erdogan is a bad actor which is probably why Trump has cozied up to him, also he has a big Trump tower in Istanbul. He was on the phone with him (I'm sure it was a very nice call, as all his calls are), just before he pulled back our troops and invited the Turks in to wipe out the Kurds. Now he is making threats to the Turks, but they know they are hollow and are ignoring them.
Meanwhile back in Washington Moscow Mitch and Widdle Windsey are fretting and gnashing their teeth as if they are shocked, shocked, that the viper they have cuddled at their breasts is selling our national defense down the river for some shiny gold coins in the turnstiles of his towers.
At first it seemed like it was mostly for celebrities who often got in trouble by getting drunk and twitting something stupid and mean. A money making suggestion I had for the Ten Cat was to offer free tweeting, and then phone the twitterer the next morning and say that the tweet had been held up overnight but now would go out unless the twitterer wanted the Ten Cat to kill it, which could be done for a 'reasonable' fee.
Politicians took to it though. Well if your opponent was on twitter you'd better get on it too. And then they all got followers and it developed that there were all sorts of unscrupulous ways to increase your number of followers (many twitter followers are bots), and there was a bit of a scandal about that.
Because it is such an easy way to gauge things the main stream media pays close attention to it, Every now and then they will proclaim that the twitterverse is on fire about something, but the thing is only about 20 percent of Americans are on twitter and most of them are teens following like the lady with the fake butt.
The Turks and the Kurds have been at it since the fall of the Ottoman empire. Back in the heyday of the empire a lot of the big shots were Kurds, but when Ataturk took over he wanted it to be a western-style nation comprising Asia Minor. and he wanted it to be exclusively Turkish which is why he massacred the Armenians, and also cracked down hard on the Kurds. But the Kurds are tough, and they fought back pretty hard, and there has been a long history of terrorist activities and brutal crackdowns between the two.
This Erdogan is a bad actor which is probably why Trump has cozied up to him, also he has a big Trump tower in Istanbul. He was on the phone with him (I'm sure it was a very nice call, as all his calls are), just before he pulled back our troops and invited the Turks in to wipe out the Kurds. Now he is making threats to the Turks, but they know they are hollow and are ignoring them.
Meanwhile back in Washington Moscow Mitch and Widdle Windsey are fretting and gnashing their teeth as if they are shocked, shocked, that the viper they have cuddled at their breasts is selling our national defense down the river for some shiny gold coins in the turnstiles of his towers.
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Ten Times a Day?
"My God, I hear Trump's side in his own words at least ten times a day from the Cheeto himself."
I only watch the news for about ten minutes a day, usually while waiting for the weather report to come on. This time I went to the Bloomberg Channel to get the stock market numbers and Trump was talking, so I turned on the sound out of curiosity. I can't remember the last time I saw him in person for more than a few seconds. Usually they only report what he said on Twitter today. One thing I can say about Trump is that he put Twitter, an adolescent social networking site, on the map. I think he was the first politician to use Twitter, and now they all seem to be doing it. Funny, none of them seem to be interested in posting on the Institute. I guess that famous guy was right when he said, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people."
Speaking of Trump, I see on my news app that he has abandoned the Syrian Kurds to the tender mercy of the Heathen Turks, which has pissed off some of his loyal fans. This wouldn't be the first time our government has cut and run, leaving one of our allies twisting in the wind, but I understand that the Turks and the Kurds have been skirmishing on their border for years, so this may be just another chapter in the continuing saga. Meanwhile, I haven't seen anything about the defense of our own border lately, so I assume the illegals are still swarming across by the thousands every day. Funny how the news media makes such a big deal about something for awhile, and then drops it with no explanation of how it turned out.
Glad to hear that Uncle Ken's surgery turned out so well. My hypothetical wife had that done a few years ago, and she said it wasn't much of an improvement when the patch first came off, but that it got better over the next few days.
I only watch the news for about ten minutes a day, usually while waiting for the weather report to come on. This time I went to the Bloomberg Channel to get the stock market numbers and Trump was talking, so I turned on the sound out of curiosity. I can't remember the last time I saw him in person for more than a few seconds. Usually they only report what he said on Twitter today. One thing I can say about Trump is that he put Twitter, an adolescent social networking site, on the map. I think he was the first politician to use Twitter, and now they all seem to be doing it. Funny, none of them seem to be interested in posting on the Institute. I guess that famous guy was right when he said, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people."
Speaking of Trump, I see on my news app that he has abandoned the Syrian Kurds to the tender mercy of the Heathen Turks, which has pissed off some of his loyal fans. This wouldn't be the first time our government has cut and run, leaving one of our allies twisting in the wind, but I understand that the Turks and the Kurds have been skirmishing on their border for years, so this may be just another chapter in the continuing saga. Meanwhile, I haven't seen anything about the defense of our own border lately, so I assume the illegals are still swarming across by the thousands every day. Funny how the news media makes such a big deal about something for awhile, and then drops it with no explanation of how it turned out.
Glad to hear that Uncle Ken's surgery turned out so well. My hypothetical wife had that done a few years ago, and she said it wasn't much of an improvement when the patch first came off, but that it got better over the next few days.
a world as clear as new blue Cheer
I found it interesting to hear his side of the story in his own words.
My God, I hear Trump's side in his own words at least ten times a day from the Cheeto himself. Of course it is always changing and often contradicts what he said the last time. The one constant is that it always contains three or four lies, as did this last one.
I guess what Jesus meant to say was "Let Beagles cast the first stone."
The reason Trump fans like him is because they are stupid. There, I don't need no stupid jibber jabber stinking article.
I think the first time I noticed there was something wrong with my eyes was towards the end of the baseball season in 2015. I went to a make up game between KC and the Cubs. It was a night game and where I was seated I couldn't see the full scoreboard, all I could see were those numbers on the sides of the stand. Only I couldn't really see them. I had a double image and I couldn't tell one number from another. I knew something was wrong because I had always been able to read them before and people around me were reading them without trouble.
Well how often do I go to a night baseball game? But then I noticed when I was in a car and the driver asked me to look for Anderson Street, I couldn't make it out until well after the driver did. Meeting my sister for lunch if she was across the street I couldn't make out her face for sure. I guess the last straw was when I had trouble making out small print on the computer screen.
When I finally went to the eye doctor last summer his assistants shined all manner of lights into my eyes and he said yep, you got em, and he said I'll see you in half a year, and I was like well, maybe in a year and he shrugged, suit yourself. I did make it a year which was probably too long. Meanwhile what I kept hearing from people was how great it was, not a lot of muss and fuss, and afterwards, omygod it was like the world had been washed in new blue Cheer. I called him this summer thinking I would get an appointment in a week, but the closest I could get was October. I guess that's why the doc shrugged, he was booked solid, all those boomer cataracts ripening about now like a field of pumpkins.
The thing is you have to be able to see to not bump into people and read street signs and directions on your prescriptions, but beyond that I just like seeing things, the colors, the shapes, the psychedelia at the edges of the workaday world, white whites, more vibrant colors, details crisp as fresh lettuce.
I had to wear an eyepatch home and I didn't get unwrapped until yesterday morning. The nurse was all casual like but I was all like, what, what, WOW! The whites weren't all that white nor the colors all that vibrant, but the crispness, my God, does everybody else see like this? All the time?
And it just kept getting better. I've mostly just been looking at stuff. Took a walk around the block last night just to see what things looked like at night. Fantabulous!
Oh impeachment is on Babies. It's going straight to the senate and nothing is stopping it. It's like a WW I army that once it starts to mobilize there is no way to stop it. Myself I still don't think it's a good idea, but the dems lose all credibility now if they stop short of the gates of the senate. And this is something they want, and more importantly the polls say the people want it, even a healthy slice of republican voters have cleaved from their mob.
I don't see him getting convicted in the senate, but his supporters in office will be so stained with his crap, that they will have to wear proudly, that outside the reddest of the red states their careers will be done. And into the rubble will stroll Warren and socialized medicine.
Anyway I think that's the strategy.
My God, I hear Trump's side in his own words at least ten times a day from the Cheeto himself. Of course it is always changing and often contradicts what he said the last time. The one constant is that it always contains three or four lies, as did this last one.
I guess what Jesus meant to say was "Let Beagles cast the first stone."
The reason Trump fans like him is because they are stupid. There, I don't need no stupid jibber jabber stinking article.
I think the first time I noticed there was something wrong with my eyes was towards the end of the baseball season in 2015. I went to a make up game between KC and the Cubs. It was a night game and where I was seated I couldn't see the full scoreboard, all I could see were those numbers on the sides of the stand. Only I couldn't really see them. I had a double image and I couldn't tell one number from another. I knew something was wrong because I had always been able to read them before and people around me were reading them without trouble.
Well how often do I go to a night baseball game? But then I noticed when I was in a car and the driver asked me to look for Anderson Street, I couldn't make it out until well after the driver did. Meeting my sister for lunch if she was across the street I couldn't make out her face for sure. I guess the last straw was when I had trouble making out small print on the computer screen.
When I finally went to the eye doctor last summer his assistants shined all manner of lights into my eyes and he said yep, you got em, and he said I'll see you in half a year, and I was like well, maybe in a year and he shrugged, suit yourself. I did make it a year which was probably too long. Meanwhile what I kept hearing from people was how great it was, not a lot of muss and fuss, and afterwards, omygod it was like the world had been washed in new blue Cheer. I called him this summer thinking I would get an appointment in a week, but the closest I could get was October. I guess that's why the doc shrugged, he was booked solid, all those boomer cataracts ripening about now like a field of pumpkins.
The thing is you have to be able to see to not bump into people and read street signs and directions on your prescriptions, but beyond that I just like seeing things, the colors, the shapes, the psychedelia at the edges of the workaday world, white whites, more vibrant colors, details crisp as fresh lettuce.
I had to wear an eyepatch home and I didn't get unwrapped until yesterday morning. The nurse was all casual like but I was all like, what, what, WOW! The whites weren't all that white nor the colors all that vibrant, but the crispness, my God, does everybody else see like this? All the time?
And it just kept getting better. I've mostly just been looking at stuff. Took a walk around the block last night just to see what things looked like at night. Fantabulous!
Oh impeachment is on Babies. It's going straight to the senate and nothing is stopping it. It's like a WW I army that once it starts to mobilize there is no way to stop it. Myself I still don't think it's a good idea, but the dems lose all credibility now if they stop short of the gates of the senate. And this is something they want, and more importantly the polls say the people want it, even a healthy slice of republican voters have cleaved from their mob.
I don't see him getting convicted in the senate, but his supporters in office will be so stained with his crap, that they will have to wear proudly, that outside the reddest of the red states their careers will be done. And into the rubble will stroll Warren and socialized medicine.
Anyway I think that's the strategy.
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
Of Trump and Trucks
I'm not saying that I believe everything Trump says any more than I believe everything the other side says, but I found it interesting to hear his side of the story in his own words. Most of the news is the same thing over and over again, but this was a different slant that I hadn't heard before.
"My definition of sin is that you know what it is in your heart, not because of what anybody else tells you. You may do it, even if it's wrong because it may make you rich, or impress some babe, that kind of thing." Okay, that's why I have said that I am without sin, because I would never do anything like that. Anytime I have done something wrong it was because I listened to somebody who claimed to know what he was talking about or I acted impulsively without thinking it through. At my age I have come to take everything I hear with a grain of salt, and I no longer have the energy to act impulsively, so I'm pretty safe now.
A half ton truck is still the standard model for a "full size" pickup. Nobody makes them with manual transmissions anymore, so I had to settle for an automatic with air conditioning. The good news is that it is indeed red. They still make pickups with single cabs, which is what I am getting, but the extended cabs and double cabs do seem to be dominating the market these days. I had to accept a few bells and whistles that I wouldn't have ordered, but that may be good thing. That's how I ended up with a CD player in my old truck, and it turned out that I used it way more than I thought I would. The new one comes with a trailering package, some of which I don't need, but some of which I would have had to install after market. There is also something called a "convenience package", which includes heated side mirrors. Some of the school busses I have driven had them. My experience was that you don't use them often, but they are nice to have when you need them.
This just in, yet another perspective:
https://a.msn.com/r/2/AAIrSKw?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare
This just in, yet another perspective:
https://a.msn.com/r/2/AAIrSKw?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare
High on the hog
Going in for cataract surgery today.
Yikes! Was this sudden turn of events or something that was planned some time ago? I ask because when I got my new glasses a few months ago the eye guy said that I'm getting cataracts but there was no sense of urgency indicated. Except for some halos around bright lights at night time I don't have any problems, yet. Any clues about the progression of cataracts would be much appreciated, Uncle Ken; I suspect that both eyes require the surgical procedure, no? I think you are the first member of the Institute that is qualified to speak of things that are "better than a sharp stick in the eye." Good luck with your recovery!
-----
Mr. Beagles sounds like a very happy camper, counting down the hours until he is behind the wheel of his new, shiny, red truck. Is is red, isn't it? Earlier posts indicated that you wanted a manual transmission but it sounds like that is off the table or did you get lucky? Modern vehicles baffle me with all the screens and gizmos but such is progress. I don't mind the safety features but I think that some of the convenience features take things a little too far. There's an awful lot of stuff that can go wrong with all the electronics but then again, those same electronics make it easier to solve any problems. I like the fact that you can get a gadget that you can plug into a port and it will tell you what's going on when that damn "check engine" light comes on; might save a trip to a mechanic if it's only a loose connection somewhere.
Speaking of the end of an era, the 2020s and beyond will not have CD players in them.
But you can still play your eight-track tapes, right? Just kidding, but another thing I noticed about all pickup trucks is that they all have a second row of seats, like crew cabs, or so it seems to me. Trucks used to be classified by capacity, such as a half-ton or three-quarter ton pickup, but I don't know if they still do that. Towing capacity seems to be the big metric these days and a trailer hitch is probably standard but it's been almost twenty years since I drove any pickup trucks. Place I worked at had a couple of Fords, an F-150 and an F-250, The 150 was nice but the 250 was a little too big for me to negotiate the side streets and alleys. But damn! You knew you were driving a truck, that's for sure.
-----
I don't think any sane person can keep up with all of the political drama that's been going on lately. If Congress stays true to form the impeachment inquiry will stall and nothing will come of it. Trump has the political establishment and mainstream media bamboozled and they are unable or unwilling to do anything but the increasing pressure will cause Trump to self-implode, and that will be that. He's starting to remind me of the Humphrey Bogart character in The Caine Mutiny and it's only a matter of time before Trump dives off the deep end and bails out.
-----
A couple of years ago I mentioned a Netflix film by the Korean director Bong Joon-Ho. It was called Okja and it was about a big, genetically modified pig and it looks like the film maker was prescient. The Chinese now have a program of their own to breed giant pigs, the size of polar bears. It's a brave new world.
Yikes! Was this sudden turn of events or something that was planned some time ago? I ask because when I got my new glasses a few months ago the eye guy said that I'm getting cataracts but there was no sense of urgency indicated. Except for some halos around bright lights at night time I don't have any problems, yet. Any clues about the progression of cataracts would be much appreciated, Uncle Ken; I suspect that both eyes require the surgical procedure, no? I think you are the first member of the Institute that is qualified to speak of things that are "better than a sharp stick in the eye." Good luck with your recovery!
-----
Mr. Beagles sounds like a very happy camper, counting down the hours until he is behind the wheel of his new, shiny, red truck. Is is red, isn't it? Earlier posts indicated that you wanted a manual transmission but it sounds like that is off the table or did you get lucky? Modern vehicles baffle me with all the screens and gizmos but such is progress. I don't mind the safety features but I think that some of the convenience features take things a little too far. There's an awful lot of stuff that can go wrong with all the electronics but then again, those same electronics make it easier to solve any problems. I like the fact that you can get a gadget that you can plug into a port and it will tell you what's going on when that damn "check engine" light comes on; might save a trip to a mechanic if it's only a loose connection somewhere.
Speaking of the end of an era, the 2020s and beyond will not have CD players in them.
But you can still play your eight-track tapes, right? Just kidding, but another thing I noticed about all pickup trucks is that they all have a second row of seats, like crew cabs, or so it seems to me. Trucks used to be classified by capacity, such as a half-ton or three-quarter ton pickup, but I don't know if they still do that. Towing capacity seems to be the big metric these days and a trailer hitch is probably standard but it's been almost twenty years since I drove any pickup trucks. Place I worked at had a couple of Fords, an F-150 and an F-250, The 150 was nice but the 250 was a little too big for me to negotiate the side streets and alleys. But damn! You knew you were driving a truck, that's for sure.
-----
I don't think any sane person can keep up with all of the political drama that's been going on lately. If Congress stays true to form the impeachment inquiry will stall and nothing will come of it. Trump has the political establishment and mainstream media bamboozled and they are unable or unwilling to do anything but the increasing pressure will cause Trump to self-implode, and that will be that. He's starting to remind me of the Humphrey Bogart character in The Caine Mutiny and it's only a matter of time before Trump dives off the deep end and bails out.
-----
A couple of years ago I mentioned a Netflix film by the Korean director Bong Joon-Ho. It was called Okja and it was about a big, genetically modified pig and it looks like the film maker was prescient. The Chinese now have a program of their own to breed giant pigs, the size of polar bears. It's a brave new world.
the cyclops speaks
I guess the surgery went ok. I go back to the doctor today to have my 'eyepatch' removed. I'm hoping it will be like in the movies when the plastic surgeon removes the bandages, only in this case it won't be me that looks different, but the world that looks different to me.
I didn't get enough joy juice so I was aware of what was going on all the time. I was numbed so there wasn't much actual pain but being poked repeatedly in the eye is pretty uncomfortable. Here's an amusing moment. You know how they won't let you leave the hospital unless you are accompanied by somebody? I had made an arrangement with a neighbor to pick me up, but when the time came for me to leave he wandered off, and then I got a call from him that he'd be back in half an hour. Half an hour? You know when the hospital lets you go you don't want to linger, and like I said they were so parsimonious with the joy juice that I was perfectly fine.
There was a nurse watching me, but when she went out of the room I made my break. I headed for the first sign that said EXIT, but it turns out it lead to one of those stairways that you can get into but not out of. I tried the next door up and the next door down but I couldn't get in either. Finally they discovered me and I pretended that I was just confused. Later I confessed to trying to escape, but they didn't give me a hard time about it. I imagine it happens all the time,
Why are you listening to that liar unfiltered? The full transcript of the conversation has not yet been released. The White House released its own transcript in which Trump is pretty clearly saying before Ukraine gets its money for defense Trump expects a favor from them, namely dirt on the Bidens.
It's kind of surprising that the white house released this version of the transcript because it makes the prez look so guilty, it kind of reads like one of those phone calls where the mafia guy makes you an offer you cannot refuse. Schiff did kind of a parody of it, putting it into gangster talk, and now the Trumpists are saying that this is what Schiff says the transcript actually says.
My definition of sin is that you know what it is in your heart, not because of what anybody else tells you. You may do it, even if it's wrong because it may make you rich, or impress some babe, that kind of thing.
I didn't get enough joy juice so I was aware of what was going on all the time. I was numbed so there wasn't much actual pain but being poked repeatedly in the eye is pretty uncomfortable. Here's an amusing moment. You know how they won't let you leave the hospital unless you are accompanied by somebody? I had made an arrangement with a neighbor to pick me up, but when the time came for me to leave he wandered off, and then I got a call from him that he'd be back in half an hour. Half an hour? You know when the hospital lets you go you don't want to linger, and like I said they were so parsimonious with the joy juice that I was perfectly fine.
There was a nurse watching me, but when she went out of the room I made my break. I headed for the first sign that said EXIT, but it turns out it lead to one of those stairways that you can get into but not out of. I tried the next door up and the next door down but I couldn't get in either. Finally they discovered me and I pretended that I was just confused. Later I confessed to trying to escape, but they didn't give me a hard time about it. I imagine it happens all the time,
Why are you listening to that liar unfiltered? The full transcript of the conversation has not yet been released. The White House released its own transcript in which Trump is pretty clearly saying before Ukraine gets its money for defense Trump expects a favor from them, namely dirt on the Bidens.
It's kind of surprising that the white house released this version of the transcript because it makes the prez look so guilty, it kind of reads like one of those phone calls where the mafia guy makes you an offer you cannot refuse. Schiff did kind of a parody of it, putting it into gangster talk, and now the Trumpists are saying that this is what Schiff says the transcript actually says.
My definition of sin is that you know what it is in your heart, not because of what anybody else tells you. You may do it, even if it's wrong because it may make you rich, or impress some babe, that kind of thing.
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