Archives for February 2022

OMG!  Last day of February…almost March already!  It’s going so fast.  WTF! 
Okay…I’m Back.

Sounds like I am describing a typical day in Washington or Mar-a-Lago.
So today I CHOOSE to block the noise and focus on truth before it breathes its last:

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love’s light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.
                                    Excerpt from “Touched by an Angel”  Maya Angelou (1995)

SAYS “ANYONE WHO BELIEVES OTHERWISE IS A BIGLY STUPID MORON.”

At least I think that was him talking on TV.  I was only partially listening because I was busy printing phony ballots to rig the midterms.
But I do stand by the part where anybody who still believes the elections were rigged is a…maybe not a moron but a person of questionable intellect or a russian agent pretending to believe.  Or both, like him.

Denis Diderot (1713 – 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, writer and co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the Encyclopédie, a compendium of all available knowledge.  From a family deeply connected to the church he came to believe in nature and humanity, choosing to cherish and protect what he could see and not fables in a book.

Can you imagine believing the greater good is caring for our natural world and the human beings that inhabit it?  Blasphemy!

Since the general consensus is the world has gone mad with: viruses, declarations of war, tanking stock markets, douchebags still whining  and lying to an ignorant base about a rigged elections, nut-bags and rapists on the Supreme Court, trusted food being recalled for contamination, Russia directing our elections, postmaster general running wild filling his own pockets at our expense, and nobody is doing anything meaningful to right the ship,
So I am declaring a holiday from worry. A boulder of mind-numbing events over which we have no control is rolling down the hill, and if you get in the way you will be flattened.  So, what to do?

1. Call in to work and then turn off your phone.
2. Have breakfast.  Honey Nut Cheerios always a good choice.
3. Go outside and do something physical like a walk in the park.
4. Refuse to discuss, watch or listen to anything even remotely tied to current events other than the beautiful weather.
5. Take the time to just sit, read and reflect.
6. Ignore anyone who interrupts the process and display a protruding middle finger to those not easily deterred.

That’s all, be on your way.

Two Points if you answered “Executive Mansion.”  Before it was known simply as the White House, the U.S. President’s place of residence went by several other names including “The President’s Palace.”  Officially called the Executive Mansion in 1819, it was not until 1902 that President Theodore Roosevelt renamed it “The White House.”

Half credit will be given to those who mistakenly put the unofficial name the White House was given from January 20, 2017 through January 19, 2021: “The White’s Only House.”

This the title of a story in this month’s on-line Business Insider Magazine.  When you click to read the story you are blocked and given an irresistible offer to subscribe to the magazine for $1.00 for the first month and then $12.95 a month, hopefully forever, like a gym membership.

Can you think of any topic that so accurately strikes a chord the heart of an average businessman these days?  What greater problems are weighing on our minds right now than the fear of purchasing a vacation home in the wrong city?  I am going to pass but let me know if you read it and buy a second home. I’ll come visit.

Note to Marketing Department: an article like this might really get some traction if the targeted audience subscribes to a publication called Big Pharma & Banking CEO’s Insider Magazine.

When I was in school many, many, many, etc. years ago we celebrated George Washington’s Birthday on February 22nd and Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday on February 12th.  In the quest to cut down holidays and have them fall on the much more convenient Monday, an amalgamation of the two birthdays became Presidents Day.  Celebrated on the third Monday of February it has since been expanded to honor all Presidents.

Since there is, at last hope, I’d like to suggest to congress they pass a bill declaring a new holiday, “President’s Indictment Day.”  It will commemorate when the worst president in the history of our nation is finally made to answer to the people to whom he has lied, swindled, materially harmed and embarrassed.   How about June 14th?

If you met with an unscrupulous profiteer in Casablanca at Rick’s Café American in early 1941** to sell diamonds, this is what you were told when offered a painfully low price.  The Nazi occupation of France happened less than a year ago and you are so desperate to get the fare for the clipper to America you accept 10,000 Francs for your irreplaceable family treasure worth 250,000 francs.

Supply and Demand; after basic cost of materials the most important factor in setting a price for goods and services.  You might imagine that when all costs are tallied and a reasonable profit added that would be enough.  You are so naive grasshopper!  Look around the world now in the hands of giant corporations and their toadies in congress where profit and stock price rules decision-making.

If you are truly worried about the next catastrophic event like a pandemic, zombie apocalypse, gigantic meteor, mid-term elections or apparent lack of empathy in the world today, better stock up on toilet paper and dried beans or expect to pay the inflated price.

(**Editor’s Note:  Some may consider it a blessing in disguise but Rick’s Café American was closed soon after this incident as Inspector Renault, The Prefect of Police, discovered just after he collected his winnings that there was illegal gambling going on in the back room).

Interesting Article I was greeted with this Morning.  “Not much” was my answer but thought I’d share a few facts:

• Korea’s National Dish is Kimchi, a fermented dish of vegetables (not only cabbage), garlic, ginger and various spices.
• South Korea hosted the 1988 Summer Olympic Games and the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
• Besides South Korea and China, North Korea also shares a border with Russia.
• Korean Currency is called the Won.  Currently USD $1.00 = ₩1,195.00.
• Traditional Korean clothing, known for its vibrant colors, is called Hanbok.
• The Taekwondo TI Stadium in Muju, South Korea, is the largest stadium in the world for the sport.
• While South Korea is a democracy, North Korean citizens suffer under the dictatorial rule of a murderous tyrant who also serves as a role model for our own homegrown tyrant, former president DJ Trump, who saluted a N. Korean general on his visit.

Seriously, the last one surprised you?  Have we met?