Tag Archives: Rants

Oct2

Hunk-a, Hunk-a Burning Stupid!

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Hunk-a, Hunk-a Burning Stupid!

I indulged this evening in a bit of websurfing, and came across a site that really made my brain hurt. I shouldn’t have been visiting the blog that linked to it, but hey, these things happen. Anywho, the guy is identifying himself as Jewish, contributing to jewish blogs, but in reality he’s christian. I mean, he’s written all these books and calls it “Jewish Trinitarianism,” but let’s be honest – you worship christ, that’s kinda where the word “Christian” came from. He is a creationist, uses links to Answers in Genesis, but simultaneously sneers at Ken Ham’s vision of dinosaurs. He links atheism with all the other ills of the world, and uses a quote by G. K. Chesterton to sum them up (Chesterton abhorred the treatment of Jews by the Nazis, but was otherwise known for his anti-semitism, partly from frequent mentions of “the Jewish problem” in many of his writings.) He cheers the Christians who support Israel, apparently unaware that many of them do so because they believe the “End times” will begin once all the Jews are over there. He’s quite liberal with “scientists say this” and “studies prove” to support his seriously non-scientific viewpoints, like that T-Rex was a swimmer, and many of the broken rib bones in fossils came from the big guys doing belly flops. However, he provides no links or any other information that might lead you to the supposed research that supports him. Plenty of links, though, to sites that “disprove evolution” and malign non-theists, all of which spew out the same religionist pap that makes up sciency-sounding stuff that reaches exactly the conclusion you’d get if you were trying to prove the bible without actually doing any science. Oh, wait, that’s what they do. Nevermind.

He throws in some stuff about software and electronic gadgets, with his advice about what’s good and what’s not, but if his technology expertise is anything like his scientific knowledge, I’d steer clear of it. He also photoshopped a picture so you could see the UFO in it (so you know it must be true, ‘cuz photoshop doesn’t make fake pictures???) and further supports his evidence by saying that Greeks and Romans saw UFOs, too.

I’m debating here, should I link, and risk drawing his attention? Might the blog I shouldn’t have been at in the first place become aware that I’m sneaking in looks here and there? Heck, I haven’t even pasted in some of the more egregious or bizarre quotes, for fear that someone looking for a quoted passage might find both me and him on the same Google search page. Worst of all, some of you, my few but treasured readers, might find your brains or your beverages spewed all over your monitors if you clicked on the link! The horror! Only if you think you can take it – I’m willing to take the chance of being invaded if you’re willing to handle the stupid-fication.

Sep24

Guess What? I’m Stupid and Irresponsible!

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Guess What? I’m Stupid and Irresponsible!

I stayed up last night researching, hoping to find what else might have happened to Rhonda, Dave, and Toby – I guess because the idea of a human predator was so gut-wrenching. I found news articles about all kinds of wild predators, when and why they might attack cats, and nothing seemed too likely because of the time of year or time of day, except when I came upon articles about eastern coyotes and fishers in the area. The habitat around here is suitable for both of them, they’ve been seen recently, and they actively seek cats as prey (whereas the other local wildlife is more likely to kill them in defense). Some of the news was disturbing – a coyote had attacked a child in June, and the fishers had been deliberately relocated and are voracious eaters. Wanting to grieve a little and also warn people, I got onto the Pets forum at NJ.com and posted this:

The first one disappeared at the beginning of August, the third sometime yesterday. We were doing our darndest to keep the cats indoors, but they were used to coming and going through the dog door. The last of our outdoor cats may meet the same fate, because keeping him in means keeping a constant watch on him, since he shows his displeasure by urinating and defecating all over the house. (He uses the box just fine when he gets his own way.)
We moved to Ocean County a couple of years ago, and this is the first time we’ve had this happen. The cats were healthy and safe, and kept their prey to rodents for the most part. When we moved here and found out the kind of damage chipmunks and voles do to houses, gardens, and pond liners, their hunting habits worked out pretty well.

At first, we thought that there might be some horrible person trapping and killing cats, but we couldn’t imagine someone doing that to a cat that clearly was a pet, not a stray – collar, name/phone tags, town license – but it was eating us up inside. Last night, though, I was reading that not only have there been coyote sightings, including a child being hurt by one in June, but government wildlife officials have introduced fishers into the area. They’re a species that was endangered by overhunting, since their fur is valuable. It’s a win-win for the dept. of fish and wildlife AND fur trappers. The former gets to crow that they saved an endangered species, the latter will be able to profit from hunting them again. In the meantime, they’re voracious, and cats are one of their favorite meals. (Of course, they won’t be out eating the voles or chipmunks, so our ponds and gardens will be toast.)

I suppose the idea that my beloved pets were killed by an efficient predator rather than a sick human is a little less disturbing, but it’s still awful. I have two cats now who are perfectly content to stay indoors – at least I won’t have to wonder what happened to them.

O. M. G. Immediately, the responses started coming. I’m lying. I ‘m a wackjob. I’m too stupid to realize that my cats are safer indoors. I deserved to lose my cats because I installed a dog door. I’m irresponsible. Amazing.

I ended up explaining how and why the cats were allowed out (or in Rhonda’s case, got out accidentally) and what happened when we attempted to keep them in. I let them know that I always have had, and still do have, cats that are kept indoors, and that indoors is the first choice. I’m not too good at letting attacks on my character stand, even when they come from a bunch of insensitive strangers on a forum. Now, though, I think I’ve addressed all the possible snark, and anyone who comes in with more isn’t reading and is just looking for an opportunity for anonymous sniping. But so much for pet owners being sensitive and sympathetic people. Geez Louise.

Sep18

Stuff in My Brain

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Stuff in My Brain

Last night, we pulled up all the dropcloths, dabbed ceiling white on the spots that got speckled (damn popcorn ceilings!!!!) and put the living room furniture back in some semblance of order. Hubby hung the blinds back up. I need to go out and survey the potted plants. I fear that some of them were not terribly happy to take a vacation outdoors. I’ll bring the live ones indoors and find spots for them, clean out the pots of the recently deceased, and see what else needs attention. If I can find rugs, I’ll get them and put them down and put up pics later. Right now the living room looks kind of stark. However, it’s not covered with dusty plastic, blue tape, and newspaper, so it’s an improvement.

I have tons of laundry – some clean and ready to fold, some needing ironing, some still awaiting a trip through the washer. You’d think I never washed clothes around here.

Bits and pieces of furniture and decorative items are still scattered about in the wrong places. We have to decide what’s going to get moved back and what’s going to get moved elsewhere. Soooooo much crap! Some things I’ll freecycle. I think the oriental rugs will go in the classifieds, though. They weren’t cheap enough to give away to just anyone. The cedar chest will go. Outdoor light fixtures and some indoor lamps will go. Ugh. And now the art studio beckons. Gotta sand and prime and paint, then insulate, then cut and install moulding and paint that. . .but not today.

I have prescriptions to refill, and since I have to go to the ShopRite to fill them, I need to make up menus and shopping lists. My stomach is roiling from the morning fish oil capsule, and the last thing I want to think about is food. I’ll get on the treadmill, take a shower and get dressed, and think about it then.

Mornings are the hardest part of the day for me. I wake up, I never feel as if I’ve slept well, and my brain immediately kicks into high gear with the to-do list, and all the other wishful thoughts it can possibly cram in. At the same time, my attention span is short, so I’m both mentally and physically bopping from one thing to another. I can’t finish reading the paper. I’ll start to unload the dishwasher and then do something else. I know that when the Adderall kicks in I can breathe a sigh of relief because I’ll be able to relegate the extraneous thoughts back into storage and take a rational look around me and decide what needs to be done and in what order, and look at the chaos around me as just stuff instead of an entity intent on destroying me. It takes about an hour and a half, and it’s just kicking in now, gradually. I functioned, more or less, like this for all my life. Now that I know it can be better, though, I have a lot less tolerance for it.

Now, one thing I did manage to read today was a story about two brothers, ages 48 and 51, visiting relatives in Rutherford, NJ, from South Carolina. They were in the car together, and decided to go around the gates blocking train tracks. The engineer was going below the speed limit, had blown the horn multiple times as he approached the crossing, and the gates and warning lights were in working order. Needless to say, they’re both dead, but at least nobody on the train was injured because of their actions. So in the article about the accident, relatives are making comments about this “accident” and “why did this happen to them?” Well, gee. . .ya think? The train was close enough that the engineer saw them as they began to cross the tracks and applied the emergency brakes right away. It wasn’t an accident, it was stupidity. It didn’t “happen” to them, they did it to themselves. I have loads of sympathy for people who are accident victims, and I feel sorry for people who lose a loved one, regardless, but this is a pretty cut-and-dried case of people paying the price for doing something they should have known not to do. The article says 17 people have been killed on NJ Transit train tracks so far this year and mentions a pedestrian who was hit in Red Bank as another recent one. It doesn’t go into detail about which categories the deaths fall into, but I’d lay odds that there are only two categories – suicides, and people who drive around warning gates. Both types make me angry, because they’re completely preventable, and they leave train operators and crew with horrific images and undeserved guilt to contend with. Many of them end up leaving their jobs because of traumatic stress. Sorry, I just can’t feel bad for these two guys. They were old enough to know better. My sympathies go out to the two people operating the train.

Now the piss and vinegar is flowing! Woohoo! I’ll put on some medical show I recorded and hop on the treadmill and be able to accomplish at least a few things today. Oh, and it reminds me of one I was watching yesterday while folding laundry. Only paying half attention because I didn’t have my glasses on and couldn’t really see it, but one of the patients was a girl who went off the road in her car. The focus was on her love of dancing and how her injuries to her foot and legs might end ballet for her. Well, everything turned out OK, and some doctor or paramedic said that it would have been worse if she’d hit one of the trees head on instead of going between them. The dad, I think (again, no glasses, only half my attention) said “God must have been looking out for her and made her go between the trees.” Geez Louise. If God was watching out for her, he’d have made it so she didn’t have an accident. Yeah, God, the sadistic bastige, was watching her and decided he’d have a little fun and only nearly cripple her. Give her a little scare. C’mon, can’t you guys take a joke?

So anyway, off I go to try to make order out of chaos. I might be back later today, might not. If your weather looks as lovely as ours does, go out and enjoy it!