Apologies but I’m high fiving myself like an idiot because of an article I just read in futurism.com:
https://futurism.com/within-the-next-decade-you-could-be-living-in-a-post-smartphone-world/
The whole article is interesting as it attempts to predict the near, medium and long term future of communications technology, but it was this paragraph that made me so happy:
This week, we got our first look at Neuralink, a new company cofounded by Musk with a goal of building computers into our brains by way of βneural lace,β a very early-stage technology that lays on your brain and bridges it to a computer. Itβs the next step beyond even that blending of the digital and physical worlds, as human and machine become one.
The only thing I’m sceptical about is the time-frame. Tech that you carry and tech that you ‘wear’ is one thing, but tech that invades your brain is something else entirely. I’m sure there will be some maverick individuals who will ignore the risk and give the neural lace a try, but most of us will not jump in quite so quickly. Think desktop computers and the general public. The vast majority of people who use smartphones now either never learned to use computers properly or never felt comfortable with them – i.e. the gain did not negate the pain.
I think the concept of an in-built, brain-machine interface will be around for quite a while before some tech comes along that will make the interface, safe, painless and most of all, easy.
To me, easy is the operative word because, as a species, we always look for the line of least resistance. I just hope I’m still around when it happens as the next few decades are going to be very interesting indeed. π
cheers
Meeks
December 22nd, 2017 at 10:34 am
I am nearing my likely-last decade, possibly a bit more … always optimistic, I hope to be lucid right up to the last, but that would be a bonus! Such wonderful things just beyond our horizon, we may never know what we will miss. I read an article in Newsweek magazine about plans to transplant human heads to other bodies. Apparently they have actually accomplished this fete with mice…hundreds of mice…and they think (hope?) that it will also work with humans. Of course the ethical concerns and the logistical questions boggle the mind.
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December 22nd, 2017 at 1:57 pm
Hmm…that actually scares me a little because I’ve never believed in the old ‘Mind/Body’ dichotomy. Even when we’re not ‘thinking’ actual thoughts, our minds are busy processing the billions of bits of information that our bodies absorb every second or every day. Take a brain out of its body, and you cut off all that stimulus. Unless you reconnect every single nerve ending somehow, that brain would be sitting there, ‘alive’ but more like one of those unfortunate victims of locked in syndrome than a human being.
I’d love to be able to extend my life to three or four hundred years but I just can’t see how a brain transplant would be worth it. π¦
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December 23rd, 2017 at 8:27 am
The article claimed that it was the head with all the connections and nerve endings…in the mice anyway. The idea of brain transplants may be more feasible than the joining of one person’s head with the other’s body; that would involve such complicated fusion of parts. I meant to find the links to the Newsweek article, I’ll get it from the print magazine.
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December 23rd, 2017 at 7:11 pm
I just read it. Thank you. π
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December 23rd, 2017 at 8:39 am
http://www.newsweek.com/2016/05/06/first-human-head-transplant-452240.html
Although I just read that article last week in a current magazine, apparently it’s been planned/considered for several years. This link ‘s article excellent speculation about how such an event could be accomplished. π
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December 23rd, 2017 at 7:10 pm
Hmm…this Doctor may prove everyone wrong, or his patient may die from one of a hundred problems.
I guess if I were in Spiridov’s shoes I’d probably take the gamble too, but only on the basis that any improvement is better than none. I wonder if it will ever go ahead?
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December 24th, 2017 at 12:59 am
Spiridov will not be the first patient, but since the procedure is being done in China, they will have a Chinese donor. The implications are enormous, I find it fascinating. So many technical questions I have. Being a natural skeptic, I do wonder if the whole thing is actually planned or if its a wishful-thinking kind of thing.
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December 24th, 2017 at 7:56 pm
If it succeeds the whole world will know about it. If it doesn’t…:)
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December 24th, 2017 at 1:08 am
Hope you have a lovely holiday. π
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December 24th, 2017 at 7:55 pm
The same to you. I wish you good company and good food. Nothing else matters. π
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December 25th, 2017 at 12:55 am
Thank you my new friend of 2018! That is a big deal. π
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December 26th, 2017 at 8:52 pm
-hugs-
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December 29th, 2017 at 9:10 am
Great post on Meeka’s Mind today… since the re-blog button was present I took the liberty of reposting it on my site, Sometimes. Thanks!
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December 29th, 2017 at 7:37 pm
Oh! I’m honoured. Thank you. It’s a topic I’ve been mulling over for a very long time now. Something really has to give.
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December 30th, 2017 at 2:23 am
Elections are like fifth grade popularity contests: the best candidates hardly ever win. I was interested to see that Australia has mandatory voting. I did not know that. Some of the Central American countries also have mandatory voting…especially the most repressive governments. They always get lots of “help” in various forms from the U.S.
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December 30th, 2017 at 8:40 pm
To be honest, I was shocked when I first learned that most Western democracies don’t have mandatory voting. I somehow assumed it was the norm rather than an ‘aberration’. Given that most everything else copies the Westminster system, I’d love to know why we chose to be so different.
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December 31st, 2017 at 1:23 am
Here some places are more interested in preventing certain groups from voting, with voter identification laws geared toward that end. In Central America, specifically Nicaragua and El Salvador (in the 80-90s) actually required people to vote, but fraud was rampant and also election results badly skewed.
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January 1st, 2018 at 10:29 am
Yeah, I’ve read that your elections happen on a Tuesday and that many people actually can’t get there because of work and other commitments.
Ours are always held on a Saturday so no one has an excuse not to vote! lol
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January 1st, 2018 at 11:08 am
Its all about controlling the votes. I never dreamed elections could be stolen in the United States.
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January 2nd, 2018 at 7:02 pm
Yeah, I guess anything can be hacked/abused, but something so basic is a shock.
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January 3rd, 2018 at 2:52 am
It is a shock for real, realizing the skull-doggery carried on in the name of democracy.
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January 4th, 2018 at 7:42 pm
Sadly no system is immune to human greed.
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January 5th, 2018 at 3:48 am
#45 seems to be imploding…how sad π¦ Not! π There are new books coming out by Trump’s former “staff.” I won’t be able to buy them until they pop up “used” on Amazon. All Hell is starting to break loose…45 bragging about his big “button” would be funny except his “button” could annihilate half the world.
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January 5th, 2018 at 10:31 pm
Yes, I’ve been reading about some of the stuff coming out about him. I think the boy is starting to realise his new toys aren’t as much fun as he thought they’d be. I sure hope some adult slaps his hand if it strays near /that/ button.
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January 6th, 2018 at 5:09 am
good lord! It gets worse by the minute. Let’s hope to god his “button” is just an air-horn ooga-ooga or plays a nursery rhyme song. π Yes, I think the message he got about his responsibilities as POTUS was simply —“wow…now I can be the most important man in the world!”
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January 7th, 2018 at 11:09 am
Yup. All politicians must have big egos, but 45 has taken the mindset to an absolute extreme.
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January 8th, 2018 at 3:13 am
He just yesterday told America and the world that he “very stable, and really, like, very smart.”
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January 8th, 2018 at 8:19 pm
I know! That tweet must now have travelled to every last corner of the known world. π
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January 9th, 2018 at 1:58 am
Indeed… actually he IS a brilliant con-artist, always was. Very rich, smooth and handsome, and suave … personally I think he has snapped under the load of being “the most important person in the world” as he has said.
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January 9th, 2018 at 2:27 pm
-blinks- I’ll agree to con-artist and rich, probably even smooth but handsome??? π¦
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January 10th, 2018 at 1:09 am
back in the day… in fact he is still nice looking when not glowering or sneering. Not my type…he’s so big that his hulking doesn’t help him.
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January 12th, 2018 at 12:52 pm
Ugh…not my type either I’m afraid. I much prefer thin men. π
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January 13th, 2018 at 4:04 am
one of the Senators was overheard on an open mike commenting that trump
“is SO big! and he isn’t that attractive.” Susan Collins. Actually Trump was always before tall and thin, and when he had real hair he wasn’t bad looking. He’s 70 now, and apparently eats too many cheeseburgers! π He even eats cheeseburgers in Japan I hear. He thinks if he orders food from McDonald’s it won’t be poison because it is ordered on the spot. π
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January 15th, 2018 at 10:23 pm
Gah…has no one told him about heart attacks? I had to wait around getting a tyre fitted today and it was raining so I went into McDonalds and had a fillet of fish. Tasted good going down but I’ve had indigestion ever since. π¦
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January 16th, 2018 at 2:29 am
too much grease I think. I do love McDonald’s, especially their chocolate milkshakes…I love it.
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January 16th, 2018 at 5:30 pm
Yeah, I think you’re right. lol no milkshakes for me…they’re fattening. :p
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January 17th, 2018 at 1:45 am
ha….really? I’ve always wondered why milk and ice cream and a tad of chocolate syrup would be fattening. π Wayyyy back in my soda-jerk days…my very first job…I learned to make sundaes and sodas, flips burgers, make shakes….I was the only employee there. Shake drinkers had an option…malt or no malt. yummy
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January 17th, 2018 at 11:01 am
I tend to steer clear of most sweets because all that sugar does pack on the pounds. I guess it all depends how much of it you have anyway. A bit never hurts.:)
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January 18th, 2018 at 11:35 am
well I admire that in you… sweets are my downfall, but especially bread in any form. I’ve always been various degrees of chunky…and now that I am not as active I have put on a lot of weight. Then I quit smoking cigarettes on my 40th birthday, and gained a number of pounds then,
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January 19th, 2018 at 11:10 am
I used to be 50 kg for most of my life. Then I too gave up smoking and hit menopause. Now I’m pushing 70 and I feel it. I still have to do all the maintenance around this place, but now it’s so much harder and takes just that much longer. Bah humbug. No fun.
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January 20th, 2018 at 1:27 am
a sad tale indeed…very similar to mine except that I am pushing…uh… 90? I will be 84 in July. good grief!
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January 21st, 2018 at 12:37 pm
It’s our metabolism. Or something. So unfair. π¦
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January 24th, 2018 at 2:20 am
π
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January 24th, 2018 at 8:38 am
Yeah, I’m 6-7
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January 8th, 2018 at 3:24 am
#45 was elected by our electoral college…a system that should have been abolished long ago…not by a majority of voters. His approval rating is very low, below 30%. Evangelists, gun-people, against abortion and Planned Parenthood, dislike foreigners, and believe 45 is the savior of the world incarnated. (My daughter accuses me of thinking I am “smarter than everyone else” but that isn’t true. I hasten to add that she is not a typical trump-base voter, is finishing up a master’s degree in Infomatics, retired registered nurse. Most of these people have an irrational hatred for Hillary Clinton.
Key for me is the Russian thing…being a 50’s-Cold War survivor.
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January 8th, 2018 at 8:22 pm
Yeah, the Cold War was still going when I was growing up so I know what you mean about Putin and the Russian connection.
Detente is a good thing. Winning at any cost is not.
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January 9th, 2018 at 2:04 am
SO true. Some today think the Cold War was a joke, and pooh pooh the Russian thing. I’m going to post some past blog entries from last year. π
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January 9th, 2018 at 2:26 pm
Yeah, we grew up with the spectre of world annihilation hanging over our heads.
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January 6th, 2018 at 5:10 am
remember the old saw about the gorilla in the middle of the room with a machine gun: what does he do? Yep, “anything he wants to.”
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January 7th, 2018 at 11:08 am
Ah so that’s what the gorilla with a handgrenade image grew out of.
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January 8th, 2018 at 3:11 am
Yep #45! Originally it came from an old joke “Where does a 600-pound gorilla sit? Anywhere he wants to.”
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January 8th, 2018 at 8:18 pm
-giggles- Definitely 45!
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January 9th, 2018 at 1:53 am
I’m starting to feel sorry for him now, his friends are deserting him like rats from a sinking ship. Dumb dumb dumb.
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January 9th, 2018 at 2:28 pm
I guess that’s when you discover who your real friends are. I wonder how long that Ryan guy in Congress will stick around. Sorry, I’m terrible with names.
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January 10th, 2018 at 1:14 am
Oh…yes. Paul Ryan is the Speaker of the House. He is something of a snake, but that is a necessary trait to survive in Washington. Ryan hates #45, as do 99% of the Republicans, but in view of 45’s popularity with his “base” he doesn’t have any choice. I think Ryan will step down as Speaker shortly. My own Senator is Sherrod Brown, a democrat. He has been in there for years, and although I no longer actively work with the campaign I appreciate him.
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January 12th, 2018 at 12:51 pm
I suspect the Republicans are going to have to rethink their whole purpose in life post-Trump. Between him and the Tea Party, the party seems to have been taken over from within. Let’s hope they get a massive trouncing in the next election and have to rebuild from the ground up.
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January 13th, 2018 at 4:06 am
My humble opinion is that the Democrats will be running things for a few years, until we get sick and tired of THEM. Trump isn’t actually a Republican…his “kids” are still registered Democrats I believe…he just jumped on to the band wagon when it came rolling through.
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January 15th, 2018 at 10:25 pm
Hah! That figures. And yes, there were comments on the news tonight about the Democrats being tipped to win control of something or other. Sorry, can’t quite remember.
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January 16th, 2018 at 2:32 am
It is quite possible that they will win control of the Senate, which consists of two senators from each of the fifty states. The House of Representatives (not sure how many, but reps from every district…hundreds) swings back and forth. The Dems will have to pick up a lot of seats to win the House. Who knows?
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January 16th, 2018 at 5:30 pm
With all the retirees from the GOP camp, I suspect the Democrats smell the sweet scent of victory. Fingers crossed.
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January 17th, 2018 at 1:42 am
Yay! Then we will have several years of the Rs sticking it to the Ds…graft and corruption will reign as always. Yes I am a cynic.
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January 17th, 2018 at 11:03 am
π¦
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January 13th, 2018 at 4:11 am
You may have heard of trump’s use of the word “shithole countries” yesterday at a cabinet meeting or whatever…. and today he is having Martin Luther King Day pre-gathering, and when the camera panned the room after the speeches we see ALL the people in the room were black….all of them I saw except one Marine…. I guess he forgot to request a special black soldier!
talk about pandering!
MLK Day is January 15, which is also my daughter-in-law’s birthday.
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January 15th, 2018 at 10:26 pm
Meh…the man tries to hard. And Happy Birthday daughter-in-law!
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January 16th, 2018 at 2:34 am
He doesn’t even try…but unfortunately what he says and the media makes a BFD out of (big fing deal) is stuff that many of idiot countrypersons say anyway. OMG! The F-bomb! What is its power?
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January 16th, 2018 at 5:28 pm
-sigh- I wonder if he has Tourettes?
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January 17th, 2018 at 1:41 am
I wonder…many people who just say whatever they think are just rude and mean.
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January 17th, 2018 at 11:02 am
Yeah. It would be nice if he did have an actual reason for his outbursts but I think you’re right – rude and mean describes him to a ‘T’.
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January 18th, 2018 at 11:37 am
a word I despise is “feisty” as a description ffor cute little outspoken women, which I prefer to use the terms “rude old bitch…” I’m bad.
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January 19th, 2018 at 11:08 am
lmao! That makes a nice acronym – ROB π
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January 18th, 2018 at 11:38 am
my late husband was a Capricorn, Jan. 4… he was the complete opposite from me in almost every way.
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January 19th, 2018 at 11:07 am
I don’t think I believe in the zodiac but…I do like the Chinese zodiac or whatever it’s called. In that I’m a most elegant dragon instead of a goat!
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January 20th, 2018 at 1:20 am
oooh….elegant is right. In Chinese I am Dog….
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January 21st, 2018 at 12:36 pm
-waves an elegant Dragon paw-
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January 16th, 2018 at 2:35 am
Barb is my only daughter-in-law, but I can’t imagine anyone better. She is a lovely woman, an artist like my son, she does lovely quilts and other art work. Very talented.
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January 16th, 2018 at 5:27 pm
They sound like a good partnership. π
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January 16th, 2018 at 2:36 am
my son-in-law Mike’s birthday is tomorrow, the 16th. January is our biggest birthday month.
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January 16th, 2018 at 5:27 pm
lol – that’s amazing. My late father’s birthday was on January 28th and Mum’s was on February 23rd. The Offspring just squeaked in on March 30. π
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January 17th, 2018 at 1:38 am
Jan 28 is my great-granddaughter’s birthday; her uncle’s the 24; one son the 31; my husband would have turned 101 on the 4th of Jan; another grandson the 6th.
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January 17th, 2018 at 11:03 am
Oh My God….?!? That is amazing.
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January 17th, 2018 at 1:39 am
when is your birthday?
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January 17th, 2018 at 11:03 am
Just had it. π Jan. 12th. I’m a Capricorn apparently.
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January 16th, 2018 at 2:43 am
Speaking of SIL’s one of our exes died Friday night. He was my oldest daughter’s first husband, father of her two kids. We don’t have many details yet, but according to coroner’s report he died of an over-dose. Yep, drugs. A text-book example of how drugs can ruin someone’s life.
The last family person he seems to have called was ME….his former mother-in-law from thirty years ago. Sadly I was the only person that would talk with him…..including his mother and sisters, and his daughter… very very sad. I am very likely to go into bitch-mode over this issue…be warned!
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January 16th, 2018 at 5:25 pm
Ugh. I know he must have given his family hell, but no one deserves to die, especially alone. I’m so sorry. -hugs-
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January 17th, 2018 at 1:36 am
apparently he wasn’t alone at the time. Arrangements got delayed over the weekend because of complications. Long story, He wasn’t a kid, 60 years old. The last person who talked to him from family was ME…his motherinlaw from decades ago. Sad…very sad.
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January 17th, 2018 at 11:04 am
Well, that’s something but definitely sad.
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January 7th, 2018 at 3:48 am
My nagging sense of fairness and compassion is making me feel slightly guilty. The man, #45, clearly has a condition with if it were physical…cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s…..would lead to empathy for him…but mental illness is still not “OK” no matter how much we pretend that it is understood. The issue, though, is like giving a gorilla a hand grenade and showing him how to pull the pin…shame on us for allowing that gorilla such a toy. We are talking about our world, Earth, here.
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January 7th, 2018 at 10:49 am
I like the gorilla analogy, but I’m just not sure about the mental illness part. I’ve read that he’s a sociopath or a narcissist and/or dyslexic, but…he’s not a complete fool. And I’m not sure how much of what he says and does is learned behaviour rather than illness. What I mean by that is that he’s ‘learned’ how to get his own way, probably from a very young age, and now he knows no other way of relating to the world.
I don’t know. I think historians are going to have a field day with this presidency, once it’s over.
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January 8th, 2018 at 2:48 am
There already several history books out. The big one is on sale now.
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January 3rd, 2018 at 2:58 am
It is cold here, brrr. I think I may be having a touch of the flu. I feel like sleeping, but can’t since the furnace guy is coming to fix the ignitor. The cost pretty much takes care of my “discretionary funds” this month. Also the gas bill is liable to be a real shocker! Last year we didn’t have any really cold weather to speak of, so the bill was light. I pay on a budget plan, metered out over the year. Last time I got a bill for $400 I about died… there’s no way I can do that, so I pay about $94 a month all year around.
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January 4th, 2018 at 7:42 pm
Hmm…I should probably do something like that as well. I hope the two bills surprise you in a good way. I know what it’s like to be on a tight budget. π¦
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January 5th, 2018 at 3:53 am
Yep, the “no charge” was good news on the follow up. I need to call the bank and plead with them regarding my mortgage payment…got gobbled into due to assorted year-end unexpected bills. I get pension checks the first and the “15”th of each month, (could be as late as the 22nd) so my budget is pretty strict. I have a piece of land to sell which will be a bonus, but it will take some hassle bills: like a lawyer, real estate person.
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December 31st, 2017 at 1:55 am
Our antiquated system involves the Electoral College, in which the actual presidential candidate is put into office via the vote of just a couple of political appointees in each state. This is the reason Hillary Clinton lost although she had more than three million votes MORE than #45. The same thing happened both times George W Bush became president, when assorted issues cast the winning votes to him even though the respective Democrats Al Gore and John Kerry actually both got more popular votes. Others back in history as well.
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January 1st, 2018 at 10:21 am
Hmm…we don’t have an electoral college but we do have each state divided up into ‘wards’ and essentially we vote to put someone into the ward in which we live. The party that ends up winning is the one with the most members in the most wards. So not the popular vote here either. Then again we don’t actually vote for a president so…bah, getting confusing.
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January 1st, 2018 at 10:55 am
We have a Ward Councilperson for each of 4 wards in this city; 3 Council at Large people, which makes 7 council members. And a Mayor. Then we have Counties., I think 88 in Ohio. too complicated and boring…. π
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January 2nd, 2018 at 7:08 pm
Yeah, the whole thing does my head in. I understand that you’ve got to balance out populations but…gah. π¦
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December 25th, 2017 at 12:59 am
One daughter and hubby will be here tomorrow, and my 97 year old sister-in-law, The next day another daughter and crew…including the woman back from Thailand! Can’t wait to see her…so exciting. (I often call her a “girl” but at 30 she is no longer thus in actual years.)
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December 26th, 2017 at 8:53 pm
-grin- that’s Family with a capital ‘F’! Enjoy. π
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December 27th, 2017 at 1:31 am
It was nice, just six of us…usually we have a huge mob and I zone out bonkers for the day. :-0 My day really brightened when my youngest granddaughter, Gina also arrived…she was originally going with her dad to Ashtabula, but they cancelled. She turned 21 in October. Today’s group includes my rocker-traveler, back from Thailand. I can’t wait to hear all about her trip. π
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December 27th, 2017 at 7:40 pm
We caught up with a brand new member of the family – a nephew twice removed by marriage? Gorgeous little boy. So nice to have some young ones again. π
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December 28th, 2017 at 1:22 am
hmmm… have to draw a family tree π We always say “my cousin’s kid is my second cousin.” But others say “my cousin’s kid is my cousin twice removed.”
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December 28th, 2017 at 11:31 am
Yeah, I get totally lost on that geneaology.
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December 28th, 2017 at 12:51 pm
it’s that twice removed thing…that always confuses me.
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December 28th, 2017 at 7:27 pm
lol – me too!
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December 25th, 2017 at 1:01 am
The not so good news is that my furnace igniter decided to go out…so we have to plod downstairs to flip the switch. Worse is that it cost me $155 holiday-charges. Murphy’s Law of furnaces. That will throw my finances off kilter…damn!
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December 26th, 2017 at 8:55 pm
Ouch. You have my sympathy but I’m not surprised. This is the time of year things go wrong for me too. I guess we just have to shrug and say that’s life, but boy its timing sucks.
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December 27th, 2017 at 1:22 am
It makes me nervous to worry about the temperature. I keep it at 67 at night, about 70 in day. (Wear a damn sweater if you’re cold… I tell my son.) The furnace needs a new ignitor and I already paid $155 (holiday rate) for the guy who came out and looked at it but he didn’t have my ignitor with him. (of course he didn’t.) He was rude and I threatened him that I was going to tell the boss (a good friend of mine) on him. He said basically “go ahead.” Punk. Of course I won’t say anything…he’s right I should not have waited until the holiday. Bah humbug.
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December 27th, 2017 at 7:42 pm
Damn…that was bad luck. But holidays are exactly when things always break. It’s like fate having a laugh at our expense.
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December 28th, 2017 at 1:09 am
I have an appointment for Jan 2 to have the new ignitor installed. If the register is blowing cold air we go down and flip the switch on-off twice.
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December 28th, 2017 at 11:35 am
Roll on January 2. Do you have any backup heating if it fails before then?
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December 28th, 2017 at 12:46 pm
no, but we do have a small portable heater. Also, I could call the repair place but if they came out or did any work I’d have to pay double service rate because of overtime.
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December 28th, 2017 at 7:29 pm
Hmm…I understand about the economics of the thing but…stay well for goodness sake.
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December 29th, 2017 at 2:17 am
So far, so good. It is really really cold. We always have wild unpredictable weather, maybe because of the lake effect. Up in Erie Pennsylvania they had more than 5 feet of snow in the last three days. My granddaughter’s Dad’s family had to cancel their holiday thing because of the snow…they live along the lake shore up there too. Big snow belt. I don’t mind snow, really, but I am so afraid of falling.
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December 29th, 2017 at 7:44 pm
Hmm…do you have to go outside much? Even with the right shoes/boots, snow can be treacherous.
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December 30th, 2017 at 2:40 am
I try to avoid going out. Our city does a good job of snow removal from the streets, but it is still treacherous walking on the ice. Snow isn’t bad if it isn’t icy. This year’s cat shelter is such that I can step into it and not encounter any snow or ice. Cold, though.
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December 30th, 2017 at 8:32 pm
Oh that’s good. There was a thing on TV tonight about the freezing weather the US is having. π¦
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December 31st, 2017 at 1:43 am
The news media always make a lot out of the weather. This year the whole country has had all sorts of disasters…the terrible hurricane in Puerto Rico caused power loss that still has not been returned. Floods, tornados… my son et al live in Minnesota, which gets a ton of snow most winters. The last two times I visited in early December the Minnesota airport was closed. I was there when the destination/arrival boards were changing to Cancelled. Joe had to come back and get me…I stayed in the airport hotel one night then at their house another night.
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January 1st, 2018 at 10:24 am
I just can’t imagine being that cold. We /never/ get anything even close to that. Ever. π¦
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January 1st, 2018 at 11:00 am
The Brit newscaster on CNN just reported that it is 14 degrees Fahrenheit in Times Square New York; he added that that is -10 degrees Celsius.
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January 2nd, 2018 at 7:06 pm
Damn…I’m definitely staying in Australia. π¦
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January 3rd, 2018 at 2:45 am
Don’t blame you. I wish we would have stayed in Arizona after my husband got out of the army there.
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January 4th, 2018 at 7:45 pm
It’s so strange. Melbourne has been my home since the second year we arrived in Australia. I’ve never had to face the prospect of moving away from my home state. Must be hard.
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January 5th, 2018 at 3:40 am
oh…Arizona is not in fact my “home” . we were stationed there at an army base for three years, and stayed on briefly after husband’s discharge. Tucson, Arizona is actually the home of my heart, although Ohio is where I was born and lived here most of my life except from the time I married Bill and went to Germany, then eventually popped around with the army (Texas, Oklahoma, etc.) until we returned to Ohio.
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January 5th, 2018 at 10:29 pm
Oh I see! I’ve never been to either of those states. What’s so special about Arizona? Isn’t it mostly desert?
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January 6th, 2018 at 5:21 am
I think it would be that it is MY idea of heaven. ..specifically Tucson, Arizona. The city is right up in the mountains, in the desert, and is partially known for its many, many Saguaro cactuses. The last time we were there it reached 125 degrees F. Yes, it was hot, hot hot… in middle of July…how dumb is that? Part of my love for the place has to do with my longest-living BFF who lived next door in the trailer park near the army base. She is one son’s godmother, one daughter’s namesake. She is responsible for my great love for anything Spanish, Mexican, Southwest. (Note that is friendship love, nothing more.)
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January 7th, 2018 at 11:06 am
-hugs- I understand completely. Place and people go together for me as well.
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January 8th, 2018 at 3:04 am
π
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December 31st, 2017 at 1:46 am
My youngest great-grandson Edward is in hospital, diagnosed with pneumonia, croup, and ear infection. He is 4 and 1/2. His Mom is with him of course, and she told me last night he will be there at least another day, probably more. So that means his grandmother (my daughter) is with the two older kids, who are 10 and 12. I am just staying home minding my own business. π
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January 1st, 2018 at 10:23 am
Ouch, poor little kid. Hope he gets better quickly. Being in hospital is no fun for him or his mother.
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January 1st, 2018 at 10:58 am
He’s better, and home. His mother had just had a surgical procedure herself, so back to the hospital for her.
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January 2nd, 2018 at 7:06 pm
Talk about a perfect storm of bad luck. π¦
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January 3rd, 2018 at 2:44 am
yes. School is back in session, so the older ones are back, not sure if the little one is back yet or not he’s in pre-school.
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January 4th, 2018 at 7:46 pm
Probably won’t hurt him to stay at home until he builds up some resistance.
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January 5th, 2018 at 3:34 am
He’s a strong little guy. His Mom could have used a break, having been home from her own surgery just a couple of days before he got sick.
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January 5th, 2018 at 10:27 pm
Yeah, that’s true. How is she recovering?
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January 6th, 2018 at 5:22 am
She’s fine. Soon to turn 40…my oldest granddaughter.
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January 7th, 2018 at 11:04 am
Wow…my Offspring is yet to turn 31. I was a late starter though.
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January 8th, 2018 at 3:03 am
My oldest is 60, youngest 52. I was 23 when my first was born.
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January 8th, 2018 at 8:14 pm
Wow…you were so young! I was 34 when the Offspring was born so I guess I was an ‘old’ mum.
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January 9th, 2018 at 1:35 am
The one when I was 23 was much easier than the one when I was 31! Back in the early 50s girls could realistically expect to be a Secretary, a Nurse, or a Teacher. Marriage a week after high school graduation was common. Girls were expelled from school if they got pregnant. Girls planned their graduation parties at the same time they were planning their weddings….
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January 9th, 2018 at 2:33 pm
Both my parents were in their late twenties when they married so once I’d gotten past the “eek, I’ve hit 24 and I’m not married yet, I must be an old maid” thing I didn’t really mind.
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January 10th, 2018 at 1:31 am
yeah, girls/women past about 21 were looked at as having something “wrong” with them if they were not married. I was asked often when I was going to find a nice boy and get married. haha π
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January 12th, 2018 at 12:45 pm
I was a flower power girl so no one dared, not even my parents! π
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January 13th, 2018 at 3:58 am
my oldest was a flower child too, albeit too young to really enjoy it. My half-sisters were real flower children…they went to Woodstock, much to the chagrain of their brother-in-law, who was a cop in Virginia at the time. He tried to forbid them to go on to Canada when they drove up from Florida.
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January 15th, 2018 at 10:19 pm
Hah! To be honest, the closest I came to all that was one ‘joint’ and some cheesecloth. Didn’t really like either very much but I did love the music.
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January 16th, 2018 at 2:25 am
cheesecloth?
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January 16th, 2018 at 5:32 pm
Mmm…it’s what we call that kind of hippy material that was all the rage back then. Not sure what you guys call it.
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January 17th, 2018 at 1:49 am
well, thinking about the concept I sort of get it…the flowery flowing … ephemeral?
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January 17th, 2018 at 10:59 am
lol – flowery and flowing yes but it is definitely an actual type of cloth.
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January 18th, 2018 at 11:33 am
I do know what you mean now. I sewed my daughter’s wedding dress, of some filmy/sacky fabric and heavy lace….it was simple and very like her. Her head thing was a flower wreath do dad. Her husband was in the navy, wore his uniform in the ceremony, which took place in our front yard. It was really quite lovely, simple.
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January 19th, 2018 at 11:11 am
That sounds beautiful! I wish I could sew like that. I can do some basic repairs, and I’m good at curtains but that’s about it.
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January 20th, 2018 at 1:30 am
It was a pretty dress, very typical of her. She was 18 at the time, and very small and pretty. I used to sew a lot, made most of her clothes until she was about ten. When he was about 16 my son decided he wanted me to make him some shirts, which I did, and he actually wore them to school!
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January 21st, 2018 at 12:38 pm
-grin- You are so lucky your kids are appreciative!
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January 24th, 2018 at 2:19 am
yeah, right. I made my oldest daughter’s clothes until she was an older teenager…when she was about 13-14 the bell bottoms were in, and in order to preserve the “bell” we had to improvise by cutting and reassembling at the knee. She is still not quite 5 feet tall. She sewed many of her own clothing, also.
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January 24th, 2018 at 8:39 am
Wow…that is small. Finding clothes to fit would have been hard. Lucky both of you can sew.
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January 24th, 2018 at 8:57 am
well, straight leg pants and jeans could be just cut and hemmed, but the wide bell bottoms were lost when we tried to hem them.
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January 24th, 2018 at 8:40 pm
lol – yes, they would be!
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January 25th, 2018 at 2:17 pm
my mother used to sew clothing for us kids, and she taught me how to sew, along with the school home economics courses.
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January 25th, 2018 at 7:49 pm
My Mum was a very good cook but she wasn’t into crafts at all. Couldn’t knit or sew. When I hit my teens and short skirts were ‘in’, it was my Dad who took up the hem of my skirt. No idea where he learned to do it but he did a fantastic job.
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January 26th, 2018 at 4:17 am
If your Dad was in the military he probably learned it there, or just picked up the skill out of necessity. π My Mom was interested in all kinds of crafts.
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January 26th, 2018 at 12:55 pm
Yes, he was in the army so you’re right, that probably is where he picked it up.
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January 27th, 2018 at 6:47 am
a lot of soldiers picked up sewing skills…buttons and even mending socks…if they wanted it done they had to do it themselves.
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January 27th, 2018 at 9:08 am
π
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January 20th, 2018 at 1:38 am
Update on my furnace! I will continue to manually restart my furnace if it doesn’t ignite properly…it needs a new circuit board, and the cost is exhorbitant.
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January 21st, 2018 at 12:39 pm
A circuit board? Gawd….:(
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January 24th, 2018 at 2:14 am
I just keep the thermostat set at 70(F) that way I don’t have to go downstairs to reignite the burner on the furnace.
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January 24th, 2018 at 8:40 am
Is that warm enough for you?
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January 24th, 2018 at 8:59 am
sure, I always wear a sweater or long sleeve top anyway. Normally I keep it at 72 during the day and 67 at night.
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January 24th, 2018 at 8:40 pm
oh okay so not a big difference then.
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January 25th, 2018 at 2:06 pm
daughter who is reading Innerscape 1 told me tonight that she was discussing your book with someone online and referred them to your Amazon info.
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January 25th, 2018 at 7:53 pm
Oh my god??? Please tell her thank you from me. Word of mouth is /the/ best form of advertising possible. Wow… π
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January 26th, 2018 at 4:13 am
I know. She said there was a discussion which led to her mention of Innerscape, and thus she told them it was available on
Amazon and I think forwarded a link. She has had my hard copy since I got the three from AZ, but hadn’t started reading because she was engaged in reading something else.
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January 26th, 2018 at 12:59 pm
Today really has been an amazing day and it’s not even 1pm in the afternoon. A writer friend of mine who’s much, MUCH better known than me did a review of Miira on her blog, and an interview kind of thingie and suddenly so many people are looking at Miira again. I really can’t thank you, and Diana enough. -hugs-
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January 27th, 2018 at 6:43 am
your creations and concepts are intriguing, unique and believeable…that’s good. All it takes to become well known is having a fan-base. I knew daughter would like your stuff when I first started reading Miira. I guess it was Innerscape 1 at that time. She encountered the others in a game that she plays a lot; cautioned me not to use her real name (which of course I wouldn’t) .. she can do that herself if she wants to.
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January 27th, 2018 at 9:12 am
She plays games as well? Oh then she may like book 2 even better. She’s right about naming no names, that’s why mine is ‘The Offspring’. Not to be paranoid but there’s no such thing as privacy online, not unless you use some kind of double encryption or something, and that would get into the realm of Dark Net doings. lol
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January 28th, 2018 at 1:56 am
Yes, she will love the game parts. I tried the game she plays once but I get bored easily and didn’t go very far. I can’t think of the name of it. oh…Second Life.
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January 28th, 2018 at 7:38 am
I played Second Life for a short time a few years back but couldn’t quite work out the ‘crafting’ program and gave up. It’s definitely the kind of game we’ll have more of in the future.
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January 30th, 2018 at 12:51 pm
It really didn’t appeal to me that much. I like to do “bubble shoot” games or squares, etc. Recently I have been into coloring a friend gave me a nifty journal to color in drawings, and I have enjoyed that. I like needlework sometimes, embroidery, and love to do beading. Recently I’ve been doing ebay work, going through my vast collection of Dollhouse miniatures…I need money and selling this stuff is fairly lucrative.
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January 30th, 2018 at 4:05 pm
Oh! You’re into Dollhouses? How lovely. Good luck with the sales.
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January 31st, 2018 at 12:59 am
I had two shops, one at an indoor flea market and the other at an antique mall. Books, mainly…and dollhouse stuff. Right now I have four large lots in ebay auctions, the first auctions I have done…though I have sold things buy-it-now.
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January 31st, 2018 at 8:50 pm
I’ve sold one or two things we didn’t need but that was just because ebay was the easiest place on which to sell something. Never tried anything serious. I am impressed.
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February 1st, 2018 at 2:08 am
My house looks like a warehouse, almost, all the dollhouse things need to be sold to get them out of here. I have thousands of books listed online, through Amazon, Alibris, Biblio, HalfPriceBooks, Barnes n Noble, eBay though I rarely sell any books on eBay. My books are mostly non-fiction. I have almost 2,000 actually listed and at least that many waiting to be listed. Time to get my lazy butt to work!
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February 1st, 2018 at 8:35 am
Dear god…how on earth do you fit all that into your house???? You must be incredibly organised.
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February 1st, 2018 at 11:16 am
Well, dollhouse stuff isn’t big or heavy, but it is fragile. The books are on bookshelves, in the garage, basement, spare room upstairs, my office room, and in closets here and there. The actual book inventory is organized. It is a big job…
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February 1st, 2018 at 8:15 pm
The Offspring and I have a lot of books, but nowhere /near/ that many. I can only imagine how big a job keeping the inventory is.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 3:10 am
I pay AOB to maintain the inventory. All I need to do is list the books and ship out sales. I could never do it if I had to do nitty gritty detail stuff.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 10:05 am
Yeah, that would be huge…
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February 3rd, 2018 at 1:43 am
AOB is a great service, and well worth the $20 a month.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 3:21 am
I had two physical book shops, that’s why I have such big inventories. Also I had the opportunity to buy out a woman who was school teacher/principal and her husband also something like that….so they had hundreds of books. Also bought out a woman at the flea market, plus “free” donations from numerous collectors. I do not have my personal collection of books listed on my inventory…at least two of my grandkids have their eye on that.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 10:00 am
You really are a true business woman!
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February 2nd, 2018 at 11:48 am
yes, but like everything I do half-assed. Writing is my true love and all I ever really want to do…housewife work as my son called it once never intrigued me. My two daughters are super housekeepers and highly organized
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February 4th, 2018 at 8:55 am
I do the bare minimum of housework now. At Christmas I’ll do a big clean and then I’ll feel righteous for a week or so. After that my priorities go back to the writing too. π
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February 2nd, 2018 at 3:21 am
so all that explains why I have so many books
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February 2nd, 2018 at 9:59 am
I read mostly on the Kindle these days because I can make the font bigger, but I still love the look and feel of real books. Can never have too many. π
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February 2nd, 2018 at 11:49 am
oh I love my Kindle, but it will never replace a real book. The print they use in many novels now is too small for me to read comfortably.
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February 4th, 2018 at 8:53 am
Same here. I do still read a real book occasionally, but only if it has decent fonts. Even with reading glasses, those teeny tiny fonts are impossible.
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:53 am
I had cataract surgery many years ago, and I have one close-up eye and one far-away eye. (So to speak.) which means I can read in bed. Yeah, I know…not really making sense. π
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:34 pm
lol – I used to be near sighted. Now I could probably drive quite happily without my glasses, but I need help with anything close up. Have 3 pairs of glasses – driving, computer and reading. π¦
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February 5th, 2018 at 1:18 am
ah yes, the plight of those with poor eyesight. My late husband never needed anything but the drug store reading glasses, and that when he was in 70s.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 3:23 am
I hope one of them will assume my online business when I … uh leave. π
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February 2nd, 2018 at 9:58 am
-grin- for Florida?
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February 2nd, 2018 at 11:50 am
nah…more like Arizona
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February 4th, 2018 at 8:52 am
Oh, of course. Sorry, I forgot your heartland was there.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 3:24 am
oh, another big segment of my personal books came from when my professor died and left his book collection to me and a couple of other grad students….yummy paydirt!
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February 2nd, 2018 at 9:57 am
OMG…treasure indeed.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 11:50 am
inventory
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February 4th, 2018 at 8:52 am
π
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February 2nd, 2018 at 3:27 am
on a different note… it is said that Pres. Bush told Pres. Obama that his most important advice would be “don’t p..ss off the FBI.” π 45 didn’t get the memo apparently.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 9:57 am
lol – apparently not!
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February 2nd, 2018 at 11:53 am
the FBI certainly isn’t happy with #45…he fired Comey, and his new hand-picked director who we thought would be a yes-man lackey may quit over this new outrage. #45 really has this whole country ham-strung…it is not funny, except in a grim disaster sort of way. The congress are scared to death of him.
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February 4th, 2018 at 8:51 am
It’s nice to know there are men with integrity standing up to 45. Congress will pay the price for years to come.
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:50 am
The congress is all shivering in their boots, Republicans at least…and a lot of the representatives are already jumping ship saying they aren’t going to run again.
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:35 pm
Someone should show them to the gangplank!
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February 5th, 2018 at 1:22 am
in my humble opinion, the big problem is the uneducated hillbillies that tend to be racist and god-run ignoramouses. NOT ALL… it is the Evangelicals that preach male dominance and favor such as the Clan, which still harasses and murders minorities in our southern states. (Yes, I am bigoted against bigots and fools.)
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:51 am
Florida is too hot, too muggy, and too many bugs! Alligators, too…though they usually mind their own business.
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:35 pm
Sounds like our North Queensland. So humid it feels like drowning.
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February 5th, 2018 at 1:19 am
My grandpa was from New South Wales, about third generation Australians from Germany originally.
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February 1st, 2018 at 2:12 am
Right now I have six lots up for bid, my first auctions…it is a huge job listing and doing photos etc. My son says I’m playing with my dollhouse toys…LOL, true, I do like to use some thought in assembling and arranging the items in the lots. Just heaping the things in a pile or rows just doesn’t cut it. π
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February 1st, 2018 at 8:34 am
-grin- now /that/ sounds like fun.
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February 1st, 2018 at 11:17 am
it is fun, each item in each lot has to be wrapped in bubble wrap and packaged; when sold I print the postage label and the mailman will take it away.
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February 1st, 2018 at 8:14 pm
Oh so you don’t have to take it to the post office? That’s handy.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 3:12 am
I print out the shipping labels and the mailperson picks them out of my mailbox and takes them to the post office.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 10:04 am
Ah, we don’t have anything like that here. In fact Australia Post is cutting back on its ordinary mail deliveries.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 11:39 am
We are on a rural mail route, and have a big mailbox, which is out by the road. Most packages can fit in it, and the mailperson will drive the buggy up to the house to pick up or drop off packages too large for the box. The service is part of the job. I don’t know how they handle packages in developments where the mail goes up to the door of the house. Maybe make special arrangements for pickup…surely a walking mailman isn’t expected to lug packages around too.
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February 4th, 2018 at 9:00 am
Ah, I see. We have a mailman who rides a small motorbike up to the letterbox, but he won’t pick anything up from there. To post stuff we have to take it in to a proper mail box or go in to the post office.
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February 4th, 2018 at 11:06 am
There are mail boxes, but can only be used for letters or what have you that weigh under 13 ounces. Part of the mail delivery persons job is to pick up outgoing packages…I guess it saves the post office a lot of hassle. I and other book dealers and ebay sellers print postage-paid labels for packages.
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:30 pm
I’m pretty sure we don’t have anything like that. Wish we did.
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February 5th, 2018 at 1:14 am
The media mail classification is what I depend on, otherwise postage rates would be prohibitive. As for the home pick-up, that too makes the book dealers and ebayers expenses reasonable. Just imagination the line at the post office if all the sellers were standing in line to post their packages.
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February 4th, 2018 at 11:07 am
I already have given things to my kids, like jewelry and a few other possessions.
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:29 pm
Well, there’s no rush, is there?
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February 1st, 2018 at 2:13 am
I have a lot of tarot books and cards for sale too, when I was into that I bought a lot of stuff and those go good….on the book venues moreso than ebay.
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February 1st, 2018 at 8:30 am
I wish I knew as much about the marketing side of things. Everyone online talks about self-publishers having to be business people. Hah. Easier said than done. I love talking to people about books. I hate trying to talk people into buying books. It’s one of life’s small connundrums.
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February 1st, 2018 at 11:21 am
This is one reason I have only begun to look into self-publishing. A lot of my business is done by the online book venues, and the post office helps. I have an excellent inventory service (TheArtofBooks) that takes care of that end of the business. However…I never do as much as I should, which is why I still have all this merchandise. Now I am selling to clear space and to raise some cash.
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February 1st, 2018 at 8:13 pm
Ah, ignore the comment where I asked about the dispatch side of things. You just answered my question. lol
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February 1st, 2018 at 11:23 am
Most of my book inventory consists of 1970s+ paperbacks, which are still in demand and difficult to find. I sell more modern books too, especially inspirational and self-help.
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February 1st, 2018 at 8:12 pm
You clearly know the market. Is there a lot involved in getting sold books dispatched?
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February 2nd, 2018 at 3:14 am
well my inventory shelves are about the only thing in my life that is organized π I use a straight numerical system… the next book I list will be by number not by title or author. My system works most of the time.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 10:04 am
Still a lot of work.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 11:41 am
Well there is some concern about what will become of all this stuff. #1 daughter is as much of a “thing person” as I am…but #2 and #3 are down-sizers, so they don’t have to worry about extraneous belongings.
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February 4th, 2018 at 8:58 am
In my will, everything goes to The Offspring because I have only the one. You’ll have to rival Solomon with four?
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February 4th, 2018 at 11:03 am
It’s not that they want my stuff, per se, but that they don’t want to have to get stuck with my book inventory and that. I don’t have anything to speak of, except my house and land, and the bank owns more of it than I do.
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:31 pm
lmao – trust me, I’m in the same boat. They’re survive. π
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February 5th, 2018 at 1:11 am
Things that were my grandmother’s are (to me)sacrosanct, in fact some have little notes attached that promise eternal haunting if they are discarded.
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January 31st, 2018 at 1:13 am
One of my daughters and I bought out a former dealer in New Hampshire…$3,000 worth of doll house stuff. My son lived nearby in Massachusetts and was able to pick-up the bins and boxes from the lady’s house. Daughter2 sold a lot of it on ebay years ago… good merchandise originally from the 1980s.
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January 31st, 2018 at 8:45 pm
Wow…you really are an entrepreneur. I love dollshouses and built a few from scratch for when The Offspring was little. π
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February 1st, 2018 at 2:24 am
Second daughter was the dollhouse person…she built them, collected paraphernalia, sought out items. She saw the original ebay listing… and the rest is history. Most of it is in my house.
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February 1st, 2018 at 8:24 am
-waves to second daughter-
I stopped making them when we moved and I no longer had the space for a ‘workshop’ but I can totally understand your daughter’s obsession. π
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January 30th, 2018 at 12:53 pm
I need to get back into writing, too. I’ve been neglecting that under the guise of being sidetracked by our government antics….time to give up that scary pursuit. π
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January 30th, 2018 at 4:04 pm
Yeah, I know what you mean. I feel it myself, but being angry the whole time simply isn’t healthy. π¦
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January 31st, 2018 at 1:03 am
I’m not angry, actually, but this situation in our country is very serious. It is like watching a soap opera, something happens not only every day but every hour! My “Historian-Hat” is on all the time. π
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January 31st, 2018 at 8:49 pm
Our news tonight was all about /his/ State of the Union speech. Soap opera is right. π¦
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February 1st, 2018 at 2:15 am
Did you see Melania in her white pantsuit? !!! She is a pretty woman, nice to see her in normal (non-fashion model) clothing. It is obvious that she absolutely HATES you know who. wonder why…snark…
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February 1st, 2018 at 8:28 am
Yes! At one point the camera caught her looking as if she were gritting her teeth. I do feel sorry for her.
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February 1st, 2018 at 11:24 am
I’m sure she knew what she was getting into, but since she has had her young son, who is 11, she must be in a trap of sorts…45 is such a prick that I wouldn’t doubt that he could really hurt her if necessary.
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February 1st, 2018 at 8:11 pm
I’ll bet he’s threatened to get custody of the boy if she leaves. π¦
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February 2nd, 2018 at 3:15 am
I’m sure he has a airtight prenup…he got burned on his first wife when she divorced him years ago. Melania is his third wife.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 10:03 am
Was that Ivanka? Smart woman. π
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February 2nd, 2018 at 11:43 am
Ivanka is the daughter, #45s first wife name is Ivana… she is the mother of daughter Ivanka and the two grown sons DonJr. and Eric; There is another daughter Tiffany whose mom was 45s second wife; and Melania, who is Barron’s mother.
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February 4th, 2018 at 8:57 am
Oh! Right. Sorry, I remembered Ivana’s face and that beehive? hairdo, but not the name. Sounds like wives 1 and 2 were the lucky ones.
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February 4th, 2018 at 11:01 am
daughter Tiffany’s mother is Marla Maples…who 45 divorced Ivana for, and
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:31 pm
Ah now that name does ring some bells.
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February 5th, 2018 at 1:15 am
45 has always been a colorful character, scandal upon scandal.
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February 1st, 2018 at 11:27 am
Hillary Clinton was known for her pantsuits, and wore them almost exclusively. So when Melania came up with this pantsuit…in white, yet…it surprised everyone. Her not standing when 45 was talking about “faith and religion” seems significant. His old-affair with the porn star didn’t help, I’m sure.
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February 1st, 2018 at 8:09 pm
Yeah, Hillary always looked elegant. This was the first time I actually thought, wow, Melania does have some class. As for the porn star thing. God, can you imagine how she must have felt, to have her humiliation plastered all over the media? 45 is luck she hasn’t knifed him in his sleep. I think I’d be cutting something off…
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February 2nd, 2018 at 3:18 am
The number one thing women had against Hillary was that she “allowed” her husband the president to maintain his philandering. There are two ways to look at the “dump him” answer to marital cheating….has more to do with practicality than with propriety.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 10:02 am
Absolutely. By then Hillary had invested a heck of a lot of her life in the partnership. I always understood that her ambition was stronger than her anger, but I’ve never seen that as a reason to hate her so much.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 11:46 am
The hatred against Hillary was carefully orchestrated by the Republicans. Everything she did as Secretary of State, and as Senator from New York…and First Lady, of course…was blown way out of proportion and used against her. Russian troll/bots were responsible for all sorts of terrible stories about Hillary.
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February 4th, 2018 at 8:56 am
I guess that’s almost a compliment, isn’t it? I mean, they must have really feared her to go to so much trouble to discredit her.
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:56 am
yes, and Putin is said to hate Hillary…she was Sec. of State that interfered with Putin’s antics in the Ukraine, and I think he got his kicks out of undermining her before the last election. They really did a hatchet job on her.
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:32 pm
That creep. Honestly, Putin is as vain as 45. They make a lovely couple. π¦
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February 5th, 2018 at 1:16 am
except Putin is good looking π
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February 2nd, 2018 at 3:31 am
in my humble opinion there is a “rule” about wearing stiletto heels all the time… she appears that she must always look like a model. I had to cheer when she showed up at the hurricane in sneakers….after first showing her sex symbol shoes. Note: his other women, daughters, daughters in law….all wear those insane shoes as routine.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 9:57 am
I used to love high heels coz I’m fairly short – 5′ 4″ and shrinking. π Back in the day I could almost sprint in heels, but I’ve grown out of that stereotypical ‘fem’ garb these days. One of the nice things about getting old enough not to ‘care’. π
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February 2nd, 2018 at 11:56 am
Yeah, I used to wear high heels it seems like all the time, and I could run and walk. Remember learning to walk in them? a hoot… we saw a youngish (20-something) woman, an attorney, with some really too-hig heels that she obviously wasn’t used to….looked like she was dying of pain, slumped over sort of. I wanted to tell her about taking long strides, back straight, smooth… but I couldn’t get a pair of heels on my feet…let alone walk in them.
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February 4th, 2018 at 8:50 am
You too? Yes, none of this flopping forwards or backwards. Stomach in, shoulders back and /stride/. Ah I miss my high heels.
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:48 am
I miss looking half-way good in heels. It’s all I can do to keep from falling on my face now.
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:36 pm
I’m still okay balance wise but high heels put my lower back out. I guess it’s flats for both of us.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 3:33 am
I don’t know as Stormy is actually a porn star…she’s a stripper but IMHO that doesn’t mean porn! Some women dance for a living…some sell books. π
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February 2nd, 2018 at 9:53 am
Hmm…sorry, I haven’t really read much about it. That’s just how someone here reported it.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 11:59 am
Yes, they call her porn star… she apparently had some kind of scandalous encounter with #45 about ten years ago…right after his young son was born…and 45 or some lackey paid Stormy $130,000 or some ridiculous amount of money to keep quiet about it.
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February 4th, 2018 at 8:49 am
My how things have changed since the Clinton days. -shakes head-
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:47 am
well Clinton had a lot of trouble with women, and so did Kennedy years ago. But they might have been womanizers, but they weren’t stupid, and they were not traitors.
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February 4th, 2018 at 10:38 pm
Exactly. They weren’t boors either.
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February 2nd, 2018 at 3:35 am
Melania has made it very clear that she was not happy about the porn star thing. As for Bill Clinton, well I’m sure HE caught an ear full over the Monica Lewinsky thing. yikes!
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February 2nd, 2018 at 9:52 am
lol – yeah, I don’t think Hillary just shrugged it off. π
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February 2nd, 2018 at 11:59 am
broke her rolling pin, no doubt lol
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February 4th, 2018 at 8:48 am
-giggles- Go girl!
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February 2nd, 2018 at 12:01 pm
All this crap going on is a smokescreen #45 is spinning to try to foul up the investigation into the collusion with Russia. They will get him eventually, but it won’t be easy.
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February 4th, 2018 at 8:48 am
Yeah, he wasn’t smart to get involved in this in the first place, but he’s slippery and cunning. π¦
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January 25th, 2018 at 2:09 pm
good news today. I went to the dentist for evaluation and plan, expecting him to complain about my terrible neglected teeth. Contrarily he told me that my teeth are good; the extensive work will be relatively easy; my insurance will pay for most of the work; and that I have “good bones.” I am thrilled…fully expected to have to lose all my teeth and start over…so that was really good news.
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January 25th, 2018 at 7:52 pm
That’s brilliant! Good strong teeth are so important for everything from a smile to dinner. π
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January 26th, 2018 at 4:15 am
absolutely, I was pleased to learn that the neglect hadn’t done as much damage as I had thought. As for my bones, maybe its because I drink a lot of milk.
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January 26th, 2018 at 12:56 pm
I’m starting to get a bit of osteo porosis [sp?] but I try and keep active and yes, I drink quite a bit of milk as well.
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January 27th, 2018 at 6:46 am
ooh osteoporis is not good, but there are meds that help. My sisterinlaw (she is 97) has it. The dentist who was going on about my “good bones” asked me if I had ever taken any osteoporis meds…I hadn’t. I do drink a lot of milk, 2 %, which may help my calcium content.
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January 27th, 2018 at 9:09 am
Mine isn’t bad enough to take meds yet but I will if diet and exercise don’t help.
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December 31st, 2017 at 1:48 am
I just had a brainstorm…possibly it is just the thermostat that is faulty. Hmmm, I should be so lucky, cost wise.
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January 1st, 2018 at 10:22 am
OH! Yes, that could be it. In fact, it probably is the problem as the heating does work at least some of the time. Good thinking 99. π
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January 1st, 2018 at 10:57 am
I put new batteries in the thermostat, but still had to go downstairs and flip the switch on and off to ignite the burner.
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January 2nd, 2018 at 7:07 pm
That’s a shame. I was hoping it would be a simple solution. Mind you, if the thermostat is faulty, it might still be a fairly inexpensive fix.
When is the repairman coming?
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January 3rd, 2018 at 2:42 am
He will be here today. I re-set the ignitor this morning, after it cooled down or not.
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January 4th, 2018 at 7:47 pm
I hope he’s been and gone by now and that you’re feeling warm and comfortable. -hugs-
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January 5th, 2018 at 3:33 am
He has been here and gone, assured me all was well….but it isn’t, as I still have to go downstairs and flip the flipping switch. I’m pretty sure it is the thermostat acting up, I’ll call back and tell the woman at the phone station that…they didn’t charge me for the last visit. sigh
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January 5th, 2018 at 10:27 pm
Grrr…that’s insane. Why would you call someone out and pay for the privilege if the system was working the way it should?
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January 6th, 2018 at 5:29 am
well I, in my great wisdom π have deduced that the thermostat is to blame. Occam’s Razor there… there is a timer sequence connected from the upstairs thermostat to the furnace downstairs. Putting 2 and 2 together, I take as ominous the paragraph in the manual…which I consulted online…” compressor delay feature is active if icons are flashing” and “will not turn on until the 5-minute delay has elapsed.” Further more, the time sequence (4 hours) cannot be a coincidence… god maybe I can get a job as a furnace repairperson…? lol
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January 7th, 2018 at 11:03 am
Good for you! Quote that bit when you ring and complain about the repairman. Maybe mention that you have a blog and you’re not afraid to use it. π Bad publicity should get some action.
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January 8th, 2018 at 2:53 am
Actually the owner of this company is a good friend of min, I’ve know him since city council days. The only time I complained about a tech was when the guy insulted my son-in-law (next door.)
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January 8th, 2018 at 8:11 pm
Fair enough, but you can’t afford to pay twice to get the furnace fixed.
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January 9th, 2018 at 1:29 am
I won’t pay twice.
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January 9th, 2018 at 2:34 pm
Good. π
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January 8th, 2018 at 3:01 am
Incidentally, I know exactly what is wrong now…a benefit of actually reading operating manuals. It is the thermostat, which has its compressor delay feature messed up, so once I alter the thermostat—like turning it down at night, I like it at about 68 and 71-2 during the day. Once I alter the (desired temperature) on the thermostat it resets the thing so it will revert to the “minimum-minus” pre-sets which means it won’t get colder than about 59 at night if left to its own auspices. I tested my theory last night by not adjusting the temp… set it at 72 in the morning when I had to reignite it, then then NOT changing it all day and even now, the next day, it is working as expected. I will call again Monday and tell them to fix the thermostat or replace it! (There is some kind of government incentive to buy a fancy-dancy thermostat that does various tricks, but all I want it to do is what it is supposed to.
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January 8th, 2018 at 8:13 pm
Well done you! That’s really clever. I’d love to see their faces when you tell them what’s wrong and why. π
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January 9th, 2018 at 1:31 am
The key is tact π All they had to do was read the f-in’ manual.
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January 9th, 2018 at 2:34 pm
lmao – yup, tact. yup…;)
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January 6th, 2018 at 5:32 am
I did put new Energizer batteries in the thermostat, which should have activated the doohickey to start the thingamabob sequence and since the little “thingies” that look like rain drops are not flashing, as they are supposed to…I think….. uh
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January 7th, 2018 at 11:01 am
-giggles- Okay?
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January 8th, 2018 at 2:51 am
do you see the pink bunny with the drum ads? The Energizer Bunny. He’s been around for decades.
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January 8th, 2018 at 8:10 pm
Ah! I see. And yes, we used to have that adv on tv too. π
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January 9th, 2018 at 1:28 am
The Bunny is a real fixture on our TV
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January 9th, 2018 at 2:36 pm
Not sure whether we still get that adv. or not. I stopped watching commercial tv about the time I got hooked on MMOs – online computer games. That was about 12 years ago now. I’d far rather play than just watch.
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January 10th, 2018 at 1:35 am
The bunny is always with us! π Perhaps there is a message here in that we are fascinated by pink bunnies banging on huge base drums and wearing flip-flops and sun glasses.
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January 12th, 2018 at 12:45 pm
-cough- right….:p
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January 13th, 2018 at 3:55 am
buy Energizer batteries…. π
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January 15th, 2018 at 10:16 pm
π
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January 16th, 2018 at 2:24 am
a pink bunny toy with sunglasses, flip-flops and a loud off-beat banging drum gets attention…LOL and the batteries get advertising. Case in point, when I first typed the maker name I wrote Duracell….but the manufacturer is Energizer. (I always say an ad is ineffective if I don’t know what it is for…”
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January 16th, 2018 at 5:33 pm
Oh! But I thought the maker was Duracell as well. How odd. ?
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January 17th, 2018 at 1:50 am
nope, Energizer.
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January 17th, 2018 at 10:58 am
Ah. Okay.
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January 13th, 2018 at 3:56 am
the Energizer Bunny runs on batteries, and he just keeps on going… π
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January 15th, 2018 at 10:17 pm
lol – I remember he was also a very cute bunny!
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January 16th, 2018 at 2:25 am
oh yes he is adorable! sincerely… its maybe the single most effective advertising gimmick I can think of
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January 16th, 2018 at 5:32 pm
π
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January 10th, 2018 at 1:39 am
So…now Oprah Winfrey is posturing and positioning herself in line to be POTUS? Well she would be an enormous improvement! I don’t care for her because she thinks she is so important and hot….hmmm, come to think of it she IS important and hot. π I wish she would scrap the dark glasses and over the top wig…and cover up her … self. π
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January 12th, 2018 at 12:44 pm
lol – we saw that rousing speech as well. She does have a definite presence but I didn’t know about the wig. Oh well, there goes another naive assumption. lol
If an entertainment personality has to be the next POTUS I’d much rather it were her than say a rock star or soapie star. π
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January 13th, 2018 at 3:48 am
I never liked her much. Having said that, I must say she is a big personality, and really has accomplished some very worthwhile charitable fetes. The wig is over the top…and who the hell makes a speech about harassment with their low-cut gown displaying the goods? bah humbug!
We did have Ronald Reagan as president…and Arnold Schwartzenegger was governor of California…and Jesse Ventura was governor of Minnesota… shriek!!
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January 15th, 2018 at 10:14 pm
lmao – definitely precedent there π
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January 16th, 2018 at 2:19 am
I guess Oprah is sincere enough, but she is a super drama queen! I heard she was the richest woman in the world…even more than the Queen!
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January 16th, 2018 at 5:34 pm
I wonder what that much success and power does to a person? Maybe not such a great candidate after all.
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January 17th, 2018 at 1:58 am
I’m not so sure. Oprah has done a lot of good, and she is very rich but uses her money well…. I THINK… The person that comes to mind here is Hillary Clinton…”they” did a bad hatchet job on her over the last few years….and I, who tend to be highly critical, have never had anything against her. Her husband Bill Clinton was president for eight years, and his things like NAFTA was very objectionable to me as a political left-wing radical. But Hillary managed not to run afoul of me π which was some fete….my like-minded friends (few and far between) shared my attitude toward Hillary, so it is a mystery to me just how she got such vicious venomous opposition.
Yeah…the Russian bots on Facebook. I scoff at myself for even putting that in print…right out of SCIFI world.
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January 17th, 2018 at 10:58 am
Hillary has always been too smart for her own good. More radical fem than stay at home ‘mom’ baking apple pies for the family. I think people just wanted to think the worst of her, yet her work with and for children has been exemplary. But it’s not advertised so people don’t know or care.
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January 17th, 2018 at 11:07 am
One huge problem for Hillary was that for years before the election the republicans in congress constantly held hearings after hearings, even when the hearings showed no wrongdoing. Plus the media arm of the republicans called fox news outright lied and constantly spread conspiracy theories about her. Sad but true, one republican chairman admitted it was all about knocking her poll numbers as low as possible. They are starting it again to take attention away from tRump’s scandals by investigating things again that have long been known to have not wrong doing. Funny fox news tells their views Obama did horrible things as president before he was even elected. Shows their clear bias.
Hugs
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January 17th, 2018 at 10:09 pm
Bloody hell…talk about fake news. Why don’t people, i.e. Hillary, sue for libel or something?
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January 17th, 2018 at 10:44 pm
Our laws are strict on what is considered slander and libel. With the right of free speech it is hard for the government or people in government to sue about lies. Hugs
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January 18th, 2018 at 10:24 am
π¦
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January 18th, 2018 at 11:30 am
Hillary would have made a good president, she was good at her duties and projects as first lady, and her daughter seems to be a nice person too. Bill Clinton was a charmer and womanizer, and stupidly got involved with that intern Monica. However, Clinton was a very popular president, and the economy was booming when he was in office. I’ve always admired Hillary, and respected her for what I think was her knack for having the best of both worlds….mommy and wife, homemaker…and successful lawyer and active in politics and various good works.
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January 19th, 2018 at 11:12 am
Yeah, I’ve always admired her too. Maybe the dislike stems from envy?
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January 20th, 2018 at 1:42 am
In my opinion it is largely due to a concerted effort to deliberately slander her and poison public opinion. It is key to remember that she actually DID garner three million more votes than #45. And the Russian hacking infect Facebook etc.
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January 21st, 2018 at 12:40 pm
Yes, very true. But the Democrat vote was divided with younger, more radical voters going with Bernie Sanders. Just bad everything all round. π¦
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January 22nd, 2018 at 1:15 am
-barks in adulation π
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January 22nd, 2018 at 3:37 pm
π
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January 26th, 2018 at 4:29 am
The Dragons included my late husband, and one of my daughters.
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January 26th, 2018 at 12:54 pm
lol – I think we’re good luck or something?
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January 17th, 2018 at 2:00 am
My oldest was simply aghast at the mention of Oprah…with the comment that “that would be terrible, she would put in blacks everywhere.” Yikes….
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January 17th, 2018 at 10:52 am
Wow…how odd. Isn’t that what everyone was scared Obama would do? Besides, I thought Oprah had almost universal appeal?
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January 18th, 2018 at 11:25 am
Actually a lot of folks were against Obama because he did not favor black people. Damned if they do, damned if they don’t… I actually think Oprah might do quite well. She is very widely respected, and seems to be highly intelligent. She appears to be very ambitious, and gets things done. My reasons for saying I didn’t like her were mainly petty stuff like too much plastic surgery and don’t like her wig. (ok, I’m a jerk)
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January 19th, 2018 at 11:14 am
lmao – well, I think we can realistically say she’s a wee bit vain. π
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January 20th, 2018 at 1:46 am
perhaps, in the sense that she has plenty of money and can afford lots of twekes …like one might get contact lenses instead of glasses; do some liposuction on lips; straighten a nose; dye hair; use suntan stuff; new boobs… and wear wigs. Wow!
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January 21st, 2018 at 12:42 pm
-giggles- That is too much hard work, forget about the cost! I’m too lazy to even dye my hair. I tell myself it’s going a nice shade of ‘silver’. π
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January 22nd, 2018 at 1:23 am
silver works for me π
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January 22nd, 2018 at 3:36 pm
lol – we are ladies of class. π
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January 24th, 2018 at 2:09 am
oh my, yes
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January 6th, 2018 at 5:36 am
I’d like to ask the woman who answers the phone to come out and look at the job…but the one repairman already thinks I am an uppity woman. π
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January 7th, 2018 at 11:00 am
-grin- Let him! The only really nice thing about getting older as a woman is that we can finally rage and stamp our feet instead of being meek and mild! You pay for something, you deserve to get value for money. Do it!
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January 8th, 2018 at 2:50 am
I do it all the time. My kids call it the “old lady card.”
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January 8th, 2018 at 8:09 pm
-giggles- Does it work?
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December 28th, 2017 at 12:46 pm
it is 12 degrees Fahrenheit. brrr
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December 28th, 2017 at 7:28 pm
Very cold. π¦
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December 29th, 2017 at 2:35 am
It’s the Andaman Sea, which I never heard of before. Not that it is unusual for a place to be unknown to me…. I am SO jealous!
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December 29th, 2017 at 7:40 pm
Eek…I haven’t heard of that either. Just looked it up. The pics look lovely but I”m still no wiser. lol
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December 30th, 2017 at 2:19 am
It is amazing how many little towns I never heard of here in my own state…let alone the country.
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December 30th, 2017 at 8:41 pm
lol – we’ve been here in Warrandyte for over 12 years now and yet there are big chunks of the ‘township’ that we still haven’t explored.
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December 31st, 2017 at 1:19 am
Even our own town has grown so much with new streets there are places I haven’t even heard of. My late husband was the fire chief, and he always kept up on new developments, obviously.
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January 1st, 2018 at 10:31 am
When I was younger and used to do a lot of walking, I’d walk around my neighbourhood [with my dog] and get to know it that way. Here, it’s very hilly, there are few footpaths and little dog with short legs ends up being carried so we don’t really explore. π¦
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January 1st, 2018 at 11:09 am
I’ll have to look up your town.
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January 1st, 2018 at 11:27 am
Well I just took a quick tour of the world between here and Australia….found Warrandyte, and Melbourne, and Grafton (up far in NSW) where my Grampa was from. How exciting…. I absolutely LOVE maps!
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January 2nd, 2018 at 7:01 pm
lol – Google maps? with the satellite images? I love them too.
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December 27th, 2017 at 1:23 am
It’s pretty simple: if the register is blowing cool air we go downstairs and flip the switch on and off. Easy enough…but it makes me nervous!
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December 27th, 2017 at 7:41 pm
Plus stairs can’t be fun.
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December 28th, 2017 at 1:14 am
It is getting more painful for me to climb stairs, due to slight arthritis in my knees. On Xmas my sister-in-law was here, and my “kids” picked her up in sil’s pick-up…a major deal getting her into the truck! She has a big problem with stairs, even the two or three up to my front porch. She’s 97.
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December 28th, 2017 at 11:34 am
Oh my god…she’s doing well just to be able to get out at all. Your family is strong and long-lived. My sister-in-law’s Dad is 94 and he joined us for Christmas lunch but…he’s barely there any more. I’ve always been very fond of him and it was devastating to realise he didn’t know who I was. He did remember me later, which was a lovely gift, but I fear he’s fading fast. π¦
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December 28th, 2017 at 12:49 pm
She’s my late husband’s sister; all the women in her family lived to be upper 90s, her mother was 96, one aunt was 106. My own greatgrandma was 93 and my Dad’s cousin was 96.
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December 28th, 2017 at 7:28 pm
In that case, I expect to wish you a happy 100th one day. π
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December 29th, 2017 at 2:18 am
Maybe… I hope so.
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December 29th, 2017 at 7:43 pm
You have way too much to do yet to leave. -hugs-
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December 30th, 2017 at 2:38 am
I know…that occurs to me sometimes. I have so many things I would like to do and learn. My traveling days are over, running through airports dragging luggage is just not something I could do now. But I absolutely loved my traveling years as a loner, some research trips. I don’t mind being alone. My husband and I traveled a lot. I wish I would have gone to Australia when I had the money and time to do it….two of my cousins went about ten years ago and loved it. Our family is from Grafton, Australia, specifically. Where Grandpa ran away from on a sailing ship when he was 16.
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December 30th, 2017 at 8:33 pm
Don’t say ‘never’. You may still win the lottery and come out here on your own private jet. π
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December 31st, 2017 at 1:36 am
That would be nice! I’d do it, too. Both the distance, and the cost of travel from here to Australia was always beyond my means.
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January 1st, 2018 at 10:25 am
I desperately want to go to Japan but the cost is just beyond me. If I did go though, I’d have to do it in nice little ‘hops’ as I don’t think I could cope with a 12 hour flight or however long it takes from here.
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January 1st, 2018 at 11:02 am
I believe the flight from here to maybe Singapore was 23 hours . The longest flight I was ever on was to London from Cleveland.
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January 2nd, 2018 at 7:05 pm
I’ve been to Europe a couple of times and the US once [for a week only] and the trip to London was awful. 24 hours of canned air, terrible food and aching tiredness. Can’t sleep sitting up so… π¦
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January 3rd, 2018 at 2:47 am
My favorite flights were on Aero-Carib…small planes, great food.
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January 4th, 2018 at 7:44 pm
-shudder- small planes scare the hell out of me.
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January 5th, 2018 at 3:42 am
I tend to be claustrophobic, so its the huge airliners that bother me.
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January 5th, 2018 at 10:29 pm
-grin- Let’s compromise and not fly at all!
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January 6th, 2018 at 5:12 am
the first (only) time I went to Germany was on a US Navy transportation ship… 9 glorious days on the ocean! At least I thought they were glorious…I was on deck every moment I could be there.
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January 7th, 2018 at 11:07 am
-giggles- I’d probably be seasick on a boat, even a big one. Honestly, I can’t really see myself travelling any more, I like terra firma way too much.
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January 8th, 2018 at 3:06 am
I was 21 when I went to Germany to join my new husband, who was in the army, and stationed there at the time. So I was traveling alone within a group of military wives and some higher-rank military officers. I loved the ocean…absolutely loved it!
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January 8th, 2018 at 8:16 pm
You really have led an adventurous life. Have you never thought about writing a memoir?
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January 9th, 2018 at 1:43 am
That’s what the blog really is. Maybe I’ll re-post some of my early blog entries. The thing about being an army wife was very common back in the day, after World War II when they were stationing troops all over the world. I just happened to be involved with a soldier…also not unusual at the time…the U.S. still had the military draft. The German cities were still bombed-out in 1955, which was 10 years after the war ended. My first husband was a Korean-war vet, actually.
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January 9th, 2018 at 2:31 pm
To be honest, all I know about the Korean conflict is what we all saw in MASH, but I imagine it must have been just as awful as any other war where death is the name of the game. π¦
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January 10th, 2018 at 1:30 am
When I was in high school (a very small population) many of our boys quit school to join the military. Or joined up right after they graduated. One of my good friends died in a tank explosion in Korea soon after he got there. The air force pilot I dated(almost married) got his Mechanical Engineering degree after he got out of the air force. In those days virtually everyone served by being drafted or enlisting. It was before Vietnam. There were deferments, of course, but except at very high hoop-de-doo levels (read Bush, Trump, others in the National Guard etc.) almost everyone (men) was in.
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January 12th, 2018 at 12:48 pm
I had no idea. Makes sense though. It would have been not that long after WWII with the Red Menace just around the corner. How horrible though for that whole generation. And now we have Trump and the aftermath of that conflict sniping at each other on Twitter. π¦
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January 13th, 2018 at 3:54 am
The key being the Russians, who were always right there. having said that…I must add that while we kids here in the US were constantly threatened with annihilation…. the British kids,
French kids, Russian kids, Japanese kids, etc etc ….. where not only threatened but also literally ran from airplanes with machine guns and had real bombs dropping on them.
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January 15th, 2018 at 10:16 pm
Yeah, it seems unbelievable that little more that 70 years ago everybody was busy killing everyone else. I truly do not understand how we let things like that happen.
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January 16th, 2018 at 2:21 am
greed…money…oil…politics…idiocy…lack of education…stupidity. uh…. complacency…
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January 16th, 2018 at 5:33 pm
Gah…stop! Every single one of those words sounds so very familiar. π¦
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January 17th, 2018 at 1:51 am
bah!
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January 9th, 2018 at 1:50 am
Sometimes I suspect that some readers don’t believe me. Life is full of wonderful opportunities. A lot of it is “being in the right place at the right time.” Once my son called me from an airport someplace and said “MOM! You were right about being in the right place at the right time! I got the job!” Joe always said I had a million lectures.”
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January 9th, 2018 at 2:29 pm
Totally agree. Right place, right time and maybe…right attitude?
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January 8th, 2018 at 3:10 am
My brother was in the navy at the time, and he told me everyone gets sick at times on the ocean. I was determined to prove him wrong, so I bought some MotherSill’sSeasickRemedy pills and did not get sick at all. However I did get car sick over the years, and the worst of that was in high altitude places, especially mountains in Mexico. My doctor gave me a prescription for some stuff that he said mountain climbers used successfully, and it worked like a charm!
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January 8th, 2018 at 8:18 pm
I don’t get motion sickness in cars or planes but I don’t think I’m brave enough to test that on the ocean.
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January 9th, 2018 at 1:52 am
ha! I have been violently sick on ships and boats, just not that ship I went on to Germany in 1955.
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January 9th, 2018 at 2:28 pm
Oh! lol That’s good coz I was feeling most inadequate. π
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January 10th, 2018 at 1:17 am
Oh! My non-sick voyage was largely due to a life-long competition with my brother. π Actually I finally learned that my motion sickness is due to altitude, not necessarily movement.
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January 12th, 2018 at 12:49 pm
How interesting. I’ve never had nausea on planes but definitely in cars. Not all the time just sometimes. Very odd.
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January 13th, 2018 at 4:00 am
altitude changes was my problem; mountains (heading down especially) and airplanes landing in high places like Mexico City.
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January 15th, 2018 at 10:19 pm
So maybe an inner ear problem?
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January 16th, 2018 at 2:28 am
I don’t know. But when I told my Doc I was going on the trip and I dreaded being sick, he is the one that thought of the altitude sickness meds…the mountain climbers in the Andes etc. had had some success with it. The clue was that it is only in a descent that I got sick, like airplane coming into Mexico City…very high altitude airport. Or mountain curves headed DOWN the mountains.
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January 16th, 2018 at 5:31 pm
Well, at least you have meds to help. That’s something.
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January 17th, 2018 at 1:46 am
that was at least 30 years ago…hard to believe.
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December 24th, 2017 at 1:17 am
How awful it would be if the subject survived the procedure and was like a new person…a MAN of course…and then upon leaving his final exam before the whole project is declared a huge success…he is hit by a huge truck and dies? Oh the irony….
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December 24th, 2017 at 7:54 pm
lmao!!!! Oh you are wicked. π
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December 25th, 2017 at 1:17 am
The procedure has been done, apparently, on human cadavers. Not so far fetched as I thought. Heart transplants started within my lifetime…the last 50 years or so. All organs and tissue transplants; also people donating kidneys to siblings, etc. My youngest daughter worked for many years for Life Banc, which procures and arranges them. She had a young widow bring a photo of her, her late husband, and some kids…to “show her what he looked like.” The most difficult part of the job was dealing with family members, etc. that objected to organ donation. Just the desire of the donor alone is not sufficient…the procedure can still be blocked by spouses or whatever.
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December 26th, 2017 at 8:56 pm
Yeah, it’s a tricky thing. I think I’d be okay donating my own organs but I don’t think I could bear to donate the Offspring’s. π¦
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December 27th, 2017 at 1:16 am
The offspring would have to do their own donation authorization, although the procedure can be reversed or delayed at the time. Do you (Aussies) have the organ donation info on your driver licenses? It is optional of course. π
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December 27th, 2017 at 7:43 pm
Mmm…I don’t honestly know. I haven’t looked into it much but I think I remember reading that we don’t have a lot of donors so…maybe not?
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December 28th, 2017 at 1:07 am
There is a whole urgency about the procedure, obviously. I am told that one donor can save or help up to 30 recipients.
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December 28th, 2017 at 11:36 am
My head knows that being a donor is a good thing. I’m just not sure about my heart. π¦
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December 28th, 2017 at 12:55 pm
I do know what you mean. π
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December 28th, 2017 at 7:27 pm
-sigh-
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December 28th, 2017 at 12:56 pm
The outside temperature is 12 degrees F. I doubled down on the cat shelter contraption I have on my back deck. π Brrr, my daughter brought me a bottle of Drambuie for Xmas, warms the shackles nicely.
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December 28th, 2017 at 7:26 pm
Ugh…that’s a long way below freezing isn’t it? I hope your heater is still working as well. π¦
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December 29th, 2017 at 2:23 am
Yes, freezing is 32 degrees F. I was concerned about my outdoor cats. This year I have the shelter right outside the back deck door, A couple of bales of straw is an effective wall, plus more straw for the bedding….I dragged out some old blankets also for them, and some ancient sofa cushions.
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December 29th, 2017 at 7:42 pm
I’m sure they’ll be fine, or like that little cat you mentioned, they’ll come inside and not leave!
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December 30th, 2017 at 2:33 am
I did let Peggy come in last night, but she was anxious to get out this morning. She is Bob/Baby’s mother. I also put out an old sofa cushions and a warm blanket for them. They all huddle in a pile in the shelter.
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December 30th, 2017 at 8:35 pm
Your feral cats are the lucky ones. I hate to think how others out there must be faring. π¦
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December 31st, 2017 at 1:32 am
Cats are resilient critters! Peggy declined my invitation to let her go back outside this morning…wonder why? It is bitter cold. My furnace igniter is still acting up, but when I started downstairs this morning the warm air was coming out of the registers…no idea why but I’m happy about it.
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January 1st, 2018 at 10:26 am
lol – Peggy is a smart cat. And I’m so glad you’ve still got heat.
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December 29th, 2017 at 2:30 am
My granddaughter is back from Thailand. She loved it…she said where she was isn’t a big tourist area, which is always a bonus! She didn’t take her own guitar with her, but bought one there when she first arrived. She played everywhere she went, and she loved the people…who of course speak Thai, little English, but she managed to learn a few phrases and words and did just fine.
She brought me a small box of seashells that she gathered along the shore. I’m not sure of what body of water it is, I need to check a map. π
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December 29th, 2017 at 7:41 pm
Aaah! A light dawns. This is the Andaman sea area you mentioned?
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December 30th, 2017 at 2:30 am
Yes. I asked her where she picked up the seashells from the beach, and she said its an island shore of the Andaman Sea. Off the other coast of Thailand is the Indian Ocean I think? I don’t know if she was just traveling through, or if she actually was staying in that area. She did say there were not many tourists…and that the “foreigners” were not Americans. Mostly she talked about her guitar playing and the friendly response of locals.
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December 30th, 2017 at 8:36 pm
It looks quite lovely on the internet. Off the beaten track but I suspect that’s exactly what she wanted.
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December 31st, 2017 at 1:30 am
She visited at a friend’s invitation, and likes to avoid tourists. Meeting the real people is always a good thing. Being unencumbered and more or less carefree….I know that is potentially dangerous, but my motto is “if your afraid of everything you’ll never DO anything.” I believe that. I had some experiences in Mexico where I wondered “what the hell am I doing here?” My husband would not go on the “reality tours” with me, he said masked men with machine guns were not his idea of fun. Last time he went (not me) he met me in Mexico City; I had been in Chiapas for two weeks.
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January 1st, 2018 at 10:27 am
lol – I’ve always enjoyed travelling by myself too, although ‘masked men with machine guns’ isn’t exactly my idea of a fun adventure either.
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January 1st, 2018 at 11:07 am
That was one of my Global Exchange reality tours…also known as “war tours” back in the 1990s. GEx is a human rights outfit out of California. I went on three trips with them…very very excellent! The Chiapas rebellion…Zapatistas … π
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January 2nd, 2018 at 7:03 pm
Reality tours? Did they have virtual reality back then??
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January 3rd, 2018 at 2:50 am
Funny! Not exactly, it meant non-touristy visits to far out villages, real food prepared by real people, and interesting materials. I loved it!
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January 4th, 2018 at 7:43 pm
Oh…duh. π Sorry. And that sounds brilliant. I’ve never liked following the tourist paths like sheep!
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April 5th, 2017 at 2:28 am
Well done, you! And quite concerning…
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April 5th, 2017 at 10:03 am
Yes, I’m a bit stunned myself as I had no idea the technology was anywhere /near/ this stage.
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April 4th, 2017 at 8:19 pm
I think there’s too much that could go wrong, however much we may think we’ve achieved perfection with the technology. I wouldn’t want to be around.
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April 4th, 2017 at 8:34 pm
Yeah, I think I’d need a very compelling reason to allow anyone to mess with my brain!
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April 4th, 2017 at 4:36 pm
Ohhh, interesting – thanks for sharing! Personally I can see this these sorts of things being the 21st century’s version of the “flying cars” from the 20th century. You remember those? In the 1950s we were all going to have our own flying cars… until the snags meant that we didn’t.
I can see something similar here: right now there are all kinds of problems that could prevent tech this becoming a reality. In any case, regarding tech in the body, I think communications will come second to medical needs, e.g. implants under the skin that monitor blood pressure, and constantly check the condition of your blood or specific organs, etc then let your doctor know when something starts going wrong.
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April 4th, 2017 at 8:37 pm
I agree, Chris. Medical implants are already happening – think pacemaker – so they’ll simply become more ubiquitous. But non essential implants? Especially to the brain? No, can’t see it happening, at least not on a society-wide scale.
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April 5th, 2017 at 9:41 pm
Exactly: I think medicine is where we’ll really see some sci-fi become reality, like cloned organs. Imagine a new heart/lungs/kidneys being grown from one’s own cells with no chance of rejection? Obviously it will be too expensive for the peasants, but the 1% will be able to live forever in a few decades π
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April 6th, 2017 at 8:43 am
lmao – peasants indeed. :p Actually, I just read an article today about a new idea being tested to help people with spinal cord injuries walk again. A ‘device’ is implanted just below the point of injury and somehow connected up so that the patient can start to move his legs again. Only been tried once so far but pretty amazing.
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April 4th, 2017 at 3:34 pm
If humankind can do something (or has the potential to do so) then as sure as eggs are eggs someone will give that something a go. Whether that is aalways wise is a very different kettle of fish. We already have a significant number of people (particularly among teenagers) who are addicted to technology. I worry that we are in danger of allowing tech to become our master rather than (as should be the case) our servant. I do, of course recognise the value of implants from the point of view of people with disabilities. Giving a person with paralysis the ability to control a robotic deveice enhancing their independence is a wonderful thing. I do wonder though if wearable tech gets to the stage where a gadget the size of a tiny earring can be worn (possibly even as an earring) might that not negate the desire for brain implants. It would, after all be relatively easy to remove so, if someone wanted to be alone with their own thoughts (I.E. without receiving noise from cyberspace) they could (relatively easily) unplug themselves. Kevin
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April 4th, 2017 at 8:42 pm
Hi Kevin. π I agree, we do have a crazy streak a mile wide and some would do it just for the thrill of being different. But if neural lace/interfaces do become possible I worry that they’ll be used to directly stimulate the pleasure centres of the brain. Not a new idea, but for the first time, that type of addiction is a real possibility. Hope it doesn’t happen.
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April 4th, 2017 at 11:17 am
Hello Meeka. I agree but think there will be a few intermediate steps much sooner than we realise. I love the idea of a neural net and being super connected to a computer, but I would need a flow control. Not sure I can handle functioning and the incoming full data stream. π However every sci-fi show that uses computer / human interactions seem to have some type of combination of external and internal parts. It seems they have plugs inserted in the brain they can lay an outside thing on, or a “jack” hole they can insert a jack in to display / control the interface externally. Then when the plot calls for the human part to overload they or their hero can pull the jack out, or yank the device off them. Using that Idea I am thinking as you once mentioned I think of the many prosthetics today which have a neural component and use thoughts from the brain to move the limbs. So do not despair good lady, your ideas will see truth far earlier than you thought. Hugs
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April 4th, 2017 at 12:19 pm
lol – thanks Scottie. Trying to second guess the future, both in terms of tech and life, is one of the great joys of my life!
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April 4th, 2017 at 12:19 pm
You do it well. The love shows. Hugs
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April 4th, 2017 at 11:10 am
You just wanna join Innerscape so you can say you predicted the neural net. and get off with some fancy doctor.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx β€
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April 4th, 2017 at 12:19 pm
ROFL – of course. How could I not be in love with Dr Sexy? -hugs back-
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