You think I haven’t noticed?

1. We have known for DECADES that you track our individual internet and viewing habits to “personalize our experience” and target advertising to maximize your own revenues and the value of advertizing.

2. So why the everloving f%&k!! Does Netflix insist on recommending movies that aren’t even in ENGLISH to me? It would be trivial for them to add a “button” that says “only show me movies in AN F-ING LANGUAGE I UNDERSTAND”. I asked them to do this years ago. They declined. They want to ensure I dont totally ignore their low budget content.

3. Why in the name of all that’s holy, does Amazon show me non-stop commercials featuring BLACK people and mixed race couples, when I can’t possibly relate to them?

4. Why does Hulu produce and then push a totally stupid series about a vulgar fat woman, when they KNOW WITH CERTAINTY, I will never ever be tempted to watch it, even after I have been locked in my home for 6 months and have exhausted all other options?

Have they lost their freaking minds?

And while I’m at it. You think I havent noticed that Every Movie and television series has actors and actresses who have pierced ears, but no ear jewelry. What!! You are saving a whole $5 in makeup by not filling those holes?

Total lack of self awareness

An Army 3-star general is giving a speech to his subordinates about inclusion and equality. Bottom line: create an organization that values our unique talents and where everyone has an equal chance to succeed.

The US military is a hierarchical organization. It only needs a few generals and a million privates. Do the math. They arent all going to achieve career success.

The US military has very few people with unique talents. We have a vast network of schools to train our people to have the common (but valuable) talents that we want them to have.

The army needs to be really inclusive and treat everyone fairly… except you old white guys.

Mentorship is great. We need a lot more of it… remember though that every leader has about 10 followers, so, one gets to be mentored and the other 9 get the message that they exist to sacrifice their careers so teacher’s pet can succeed. This has always been a way for lifting some people off the ladder so they don’t have to climb or risk losing their grip. The military isn’t going to let everyone get off the ladder.

This has zero to do with race. This same dynamic has always existed even in the “all-white” armies. It’s what rank is all about.

Obsolete spider is obsolete

He was on the web, but now is spinning DVDs for his data collection.

Wild kingdom

I have lots of animals around my house. Mostly deer.

And more deer.

I had some mice a year ago. They were evicted. The legal notice took the form of the traditional serving of poison. They took the hint and left.

Yesterday I discovered this…

Snake skin, hanging 12 feet off the ground. Either the snakes have discovered the pleasant environment of the deck and enjoy hanging out there, or the mice are back and they are taking trophies.

Dear government: BLM and Antifa are Terrorists. Do your Job!

They are more terrorist than Timothy McVeigh or John Mohammed.

1. The body count is not what makes you a terrorist.

2. Both BLM and Antifa are organized and practice intentional acts of violence designed to intimidate as part of a larger organized effort to accomplish a political end. By any definition, they are terrorists.

3. Causing people to be terrified is not what makes them terrorists. If that were true, Stephen King would have been executed decades ago.

4. McVeigh was just a psychopath. He had zero plan to turn his violence into a political goal. He was the underpants gnome of terrorists. He just wanted to hurt people.

5. John Mohammed (aka beltway sniper) motive was to conceal his crime of killing his wife, then to profit from it. Personal gain, while indifferent to the harm he does to others, makes him a sociopath, not a terrorist.

6. But BLM and Antifa are actively engaged in violence with the specific motive of political gain for their organizations, using intimidation deliberately as a tactic.

The US government, with the full cooperation of state and local governments, should be using RICO statutes to root out and arrest their leaders, members, and anyone who has given them material support. All of them. Heck, different agencies should be competing against each other to see who can get the high score before all the targets flee to Canada/Mexico. And now that BLM has about a billion dollars in the bank, I am mystified as to why everyone with a badge isn’t trying to asset forfeiture their asses into bankruptcy, while handing out some huge Christmas bonuses to helpful police.

Since police at all levels seem totally uninterested in doing that, they should STFU about their Oath ™ and being “sheepdogs”.

Lessons from Yugoslavia.

1. It is insanely easy to stampede populations into war.

2. Mass media, radio, tv, newspapers have an insane amount of credibility, even when they have been wrong about everything for decades

3. Once you convince people that some other group is “out to get them”, getting them first becomes a trivial argument.

4. Once you have seen the hillsides of Sarajevo blanketed with grave markers, you really think “it can’t happen here”?

5. It takes an enormous leap of faith to set your guns aside and say, “no. This I will not do”.

6. Atrocities are committed by regular guys who think they have good reasons. REALLY good reasons. Is that what you want your name on?

Do not be stampeded. Be cynical. Don’t trust your media, not even the media you like. Be generous in forgiving your neighbors minor transgressions.

Don’t be Yugoslavia.

Flying the flag of my people*

Relax. It’s not a hate symbol. I googled it and then downloaded the version from the ADL**. They would NEVER, EVER distribute hate speech symbols. So, all good.

Anywhays, my neighbor’s house is for sale. I’m strongly considering getting one of these flags (plentiful at local vendors) and flying it prominently in front of my house. Why? Certainly not because I’m down with the cause or am supportive of any of the make-believe hate speeches that emanate from such a flag. I want to fly it as douche-bag repellent for the house across the street. No self-respecting liberal would buy a house next door to one flying “that flag”. So, the potential quality of my neighborhood is improved.

If only I had a way to make it visible only when realtors are detected nearby.

*”My People”= the ones who are not fleeing a northern state with high taxes, high corruption, high crime, and over-regulation, only to vote the same way they did before, for the same people who will over-regulate, be corrupt, raise taxes and increase crime.

** Special thanks to Google and the ADL website, without whom, distributing this image would not have been possible (as easy). I wonder if their gift shops sell full sized cloth versions.

On lockdowns, masks, and distancing

We have collectively been doing this for 5 months now. If all that stuff had any benefits at all, we should have seen all the benefits we were going to get from it. There is no point arguing over it any longer. The thing has fully run its course. Anyone who is still demanding any sort of lockdown, lockup, distancing, or masking, has something other than public health on their mind.

Arts and crafts: car maintenance.

I have been deferring car maintenance for I while and finally knocked some out.

Oil change. Check.

Tire rotation. Check.

Front CV axle replacement. Check.

Interior carpet spot cleaning. Those old spills were on my nerves, but knocking over the recycle bottle bin was the final straw. I had no idea I wasted so much beer in the bottom of those bottles I throw out. I will try to be less wasteful in the future. Check.

Next is replace the transmission fluid and filter. I have the parts and it’s an easy job. Less than 30 minutes. Problem is the job is obstructed by an exhaust pipe that looks solidly rusted into place. Loosening that could add several hours to the task and risk snapping/breaking/bending something that will mean I then have to do an expensive exhaust repair.

And I’m also still deferring replacing the valve cover seals. They are leaking on both sides. That’s probable an easier 1 hour job with low risk of something ganging agee.

And finally, I still haven’t replaced my timing belt. That includes all new belts, new pullies, idlers, coolant drain and replace, tensioner, water pump and thermostat. This is also a pretty easy job unless I can’t get the crankshaft bolt off. Then it becomes a wrestling match with me trying to gain sufficient leverage, (but not too much). I’m a little afraid to get it all disassembled and then need another part and have no way to get it. I hear parts stores deliver now. I may try that out.

KRAFT Mac and Cheese update

I contacted Kraft on line to tell them about my experience, using the website on the packaging. Rama Rengarajan assured me that no changes to the pasta had happened and blamed “something happened in shipping or starage or maybe humidity”. They are sending me coupons to compensate me.

I thank you all for the many fine recipes you sent me for mac and cheese from scratch. But the point of the previous post was to populate the internet with my experience and see if other people have had similar experiences but thought it was just the “humidity”.

I don’t see the point in the coupons. I’d have to shop at a store that accepts them, and I pretty much exclusively shop at COSTCO and McDonalds for food. And coupons are nearly impossible to give away to anyone who might use them. What’s so hard about sending me a gift card? Every retailer in America has them. Is Kraft too 1970’s to bother? I suppose I should be grateful they didn’t give me S&H Greenstamps, but it’s pretty close to the same effect.