Blah, blah, blah

Posted on 23/06/2021 by Grumpa Joe

The older I get the more I like things that are rock solid reliable. My problem is that the rest of the world doesn’t seem to want reliability as much as they want change. A friend recently recommended I cure my difficulty with passwords by using a password manager. He also shared information about the one he uses. I went to the website and began to register to buy into this software. A message returned that my computer wasn’t up to the level they require for their program to work. Now I must search for software that does. Yesterday, one of my hearing aids died. I called to bring it in for repair. The answer was that the guaranty on my aids expired in February but they will fix them for $400. It was a grand three years of rock solid performance, but it came to an end. Now I am looking into buying a new brand which is touted to be the best in the world, online. How scary is that? Buying something like hearing aids online is terrifying, but I’m gonna do it.

My latest car has been a solace to me. I have owned it longer than any other car in my lifetime. I rid myself of most cars because they have become unreliable, and are atrocious looking rust buckets. This one is running fine and looking good. I love it, but I’ve reached a point where I fear it too will begin to have issues, and I don’t like having issues. So I’m looking for a new car, a carbon copy of the one I have with very low mileage. I learn there are very few new cars available. It seems that COVID-19 shut down production last year and disrupted the supply chain. Now that the car companies are getting back into production, they have learned that there is only one supplier in the world that makes the computer chip needed to make a car. Hence a shortage of cars. That has pushed the buyers to buy used cars, hence the price of used cars is approaching that of the unavailable new ones. All I can say is “Shame on you car companies for not using multiple supply sources for your product.” At the opposite side I say, “good for you chip company, you hit a home run.” Now we realize why Henry Ford believed in vertical integration of his manufacturing process. He wanted control of every nut and bolt in his model T’s.

To me reliability is the gold standard. It signifies a healthy product built to give me years of service. WordPress has been in that category for ten years, although they have experimented with format changes on a regular basis. They always seemed to have a way for an old bastard like me to return to the old format. It takes me forever to learn how to use a program and when i do I don’t appreciate a change just to appease a millennial. This post is an experiment to learn if WP has solved their problem of not liking Safari, but loving Google. If I write enough words I will reach the black out stage and end the post.

he Last evening, I. and I attended the Tuesday night meeting of the Stray Group and had a really wonderful time. Both of us had too much wine and were exhausted upon returning home. The group was hungry for talk and sharing experiences of life with each other. A new member who is on summer break from his teaching job at Joliet Junior College comes to New Lenox, our meeting place, from Glen Ellyn (30 miles) a very northern suburb. Why? He loves the discussions and the camaraderie of the group. I learned the hard way that he suffers from hearing loss as I do. Every time I spoke to him he asked me to repeat and had to look straight into my face at the same time. Hearing impaired people automatically learn to read lips, and they don’t even know they are doing it. Next week the group moves to Bourbonnais, IL to meet at the home of one of the premier members. That will make this man’s trip ninety miles, just for conversation.

During COVID-19 times when we were required to wear masks I found on that I loved, and bought it for my personal use. I have had many comments regarding the election. It is a simple light green cloth with the word Blah blah arranged at random all over. I’m thinking we should rename our Stray Bar group to the Blah Blah group, because that is what it is all about blah,blah, blah.

The blackout just appeared below and that is my signal to shut the pie trap.

At this point I tried inserting the pictures and failed. I switched to Goole and everything worked normal. As much as I hate Google I will use it from now on.

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Safari vs Google

Posted on 20/06/2021 by Grumpa Joe

Ever since the last election in the USA when my favorite candidate was opposed by Facebook, Twitter, Google and Amazon along with a few million left wing dingbats who voted for taxes, a green new deal, and global warming, I have a personal war going against ground squirrels, rabbits, and Google. For years I have avoided using Google as my web browser in favor of Safari. Safari is so simple compared to Google’s many and complex ways to reach into your pocket and empty it’s contents of any or all cash.

Recently, I got myself involved in a project which required that I share many scanned documents with a lawyer. The lawyer insisted I use Google Drive which I had never heard of before. Google Drive allows one to set up a cluod based file system that can be shared with a single person or teams of people depending upon one’s needs. It seemed to make sense, so I opted to take the recommendation.

It took me a few dollars to lease cloud space from Google which now renders my cloud space from Apple so much more useless. It also has a space especially designed to share photos which I needed for my project, which also requires cloud space. Again, this is a duplication of resources. Anyway, I am now reluctantly using Google for more than I ever did before, but Safari remains my favorite browser.

A few weeks ago, I encountered a problem on WordPress that Is still with me even after bitterly complaining about it. WordPress has a bug which is activated when using Safari. The post has a mind of it’s own while I compose online as I am doing now. I hate to write using Apple Pages or Microsoft Word and then copying to WordPress. I skip the middle men and their various hangups, and opt for direct writing into WordPress. What happens is that after a couple of paragraphs the screen suddenly turns black for no reason at all. I can continue to write, but I must be a able to read black print on a black background. When I preview the post it all comes out normal, but it makes writing creepy.

I contacted WordPress help, and they determined that I am using Safari when this happens. WE have our team working on resolving the issue, they said, but we recommend you switch to Google as your browser to make it go away. I have chosen not to do that. Instead I will haunt WordPress until they make me go away. How could this be a Safari problem when WordPress is “fixing” the problem at their end? To me they are deflecting the issue by blaming it on someone else. A very famous liberal trick to avoid responsibility.

In the meantime, let me complain about Google. I have it open on my computer now, and I am continuously deleting an annoying string of pop-up ads from the left side of the screen. I know there is a way to eliminate this but I don’t want to take the time to find the switch that will shut it off. Google’s business model is one of give the user free stuff, and then charge them for it when they get hooked on it. They gave me free cloud storage when I began using Google drive but I ran out of space quickly. Thus I had to buy extra space. Within two days I ran out of the new space Bought and had to upgrade again. Slowly, my pension money is being scammed by my lust for giga bytes of storage space. Google also drives me nuts with their insatiable need for passwords. In that regard, they are not different than Apple, amazon, Facebook or Twitter. My biggest problem with internet usage is my lack of memory to remember good strong passwords to let me in. It doesn’t matter if it my desk-top, lap-top or phone the internet thirty for passwords. What the world needs is a secure password free system. Frankly, I don’t understand how the millennial can handle all their internet usage and keep passwords safe and simple. If you ask me I believe they by-pass passwords completely and take chances with people stealing their useless content.

That is my opinion and I’m sticking to it.

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BO Really Believes We Are Stupid

Posted on 02/11/2008 by Grumpa Joe

My Flag Flies Everyday

My Flag Flies Everyday

In the summer before Barack Obama enterred Harvard he spent time visiting his relatives in Kenya. He had to reunite his soul with his black family. During that visit he and his sister Auma went on a safari. BO writes very eloquently about the journey to see wld animals is Kenya’s National Park. His driver, a Kenyan named Francis, related that he worked for a travel agency that sponsored the tour they were on. Francis and his family of six children lived on a small farm. They raised coffee. Francis complained about the taxes he paid. Even though he was a small business owner in a small African country he had a hatred for taxes.

Here is the dialog from “Dream Froms My Father,” (pp 352-353)

“Francis looked into the fire, combing his mustache with his fingers. “I suppose it is not only the government’s fault,” he said after a while. “Even when things are done properly, we Kenyans don’t like to pay taxes. We don’t trust the idea of giving our money to someone. The poor man, he has a good reason for this suspicion. But the big men who own the trucks they use for the roads, they also refuse to pay their share. They would rather have their equipment break down all the time than give up their profits. This is how we like to think you see. Somebody else’s problem.”

I tossed a stick into the fire. “Attitudes aren’t so different in America,” I told Francis.

“You are probably right,” he said. “But you see, a rich country like America can perhaps afford to be stupid.”

I do believe BO got the  idea to raise taxes from this comment. Even in Africa, small business owners hate to pay taxes. They consider the rich countries “stupid,” for doing so.  Is this why BO had to destroy Joe the Plumber? Poor Joe asked him a legitimate question about taxes and BO let it be known that he was all for raising taxes on small businesses. BO really believes we are stupid.

BO will destroy this great country with his plan to socialize us. He has hypnotized too many people into believing that he can give us everything. He has promised it will cost you nothing. He will take it from the very “stupid” rich companies who already pay well over half the bill for Uncle Sam’s excesses. BO thinks these “stupid” rich companies are a bottomless well. They are not, and when the well runs dry, guess who will get the bill? Shortly after you get a benefit, you will pay tax on the things he gives you.  If you don’t believe that, look at the Democratic record of dealing with Social Security. The only ones to win in his plan are the fat cats in Washington who will be paid exhorbitant salaries to administer the new give away programs. In the mean time, the citizens of foreign countries will benefit from our “stupid” rich companies who have fled to avoid paying taxes.

Filed under: Election, family, Funk, Garden, grief, Memories, Motivation, politics, Travel, Uncategorized, Writer | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »