Happy Easter

So it's Easter. I don't know about you, but I am excited; excited to celebrate another holiday celebrating a myth and legend so huge, it has become more than just a day to celebrate the death of an imagined god.  

True to the developing entrepreneurial spirit of America, Easter has evolved into a day with widespread economic repercussions.  Beginning around 150 years ago and looking to  bolster sales and not bunch up any Christian panties, the greeting card folks, the candy folks and the chicken farmers created  another myth of bunnies and chickens conspiring together to litter the landscape with dead embryos. 

Why? What was the premise?

 I have never understood the connections there other than making money. Easter is a perfect example of religion and capitalism forming a more perfect union. Never miss a chance to score some more bucks; it's the American way.

Because it is Easter, I started off my day with a jig saw puzzle. Not a real, picking up pieces puzzle, but one online. After all, there are limits to my patience. It featured dogs in cute poses wearing rabbit ears. I love dogs, so of course it seemed an appropriately proper tip of my hat to a tradition I find silly.

On the other hand, there is always the darker side of my psyche pushing me for some kind of nod. I do my best to ignore it, but, well, I can only resist for so long until I just have to throw it a bone. 

The movie that inspired this cartoon on the left was the first of a now classic movie franchise that has been continuing to evolve these past 40 plus years. I guess it is only natural to lampoon it and at the same time irritate some over the top Christian Nationalist somewhere. If that is all I accomplish this Easter Day, I will have fulfilled my goal for today.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ......................

___________________

I wasted too many minutes trying to find suitable music that tied the movie "Alien" in some way to Easter. Other than the cartoon above, I found nada, nothing, not a fucking glimmer. My back up song quickly came to mind as I was listening to it when I decided to change gears. Here is "Imaginary", by Evanescence.

Somebody's Bitch

I have been very critical of America, especially over the last 20 years. Don't get me wrong. I love my country. I just hate that "we the people" handed over the keys of the nation to idiots. And now the only choice we have is one kind of normal idiocy we are used to and in opposition, a new kind of idiotic evil that if allowed to have its way will complete our country's conversion into a super sized Banana Republic. 

The term "Banana Republic" is kind of dated. But then so am I. There are more than a few definitions for the term, but let's pick the one I have always considered to fit my view of what a "Banana Republic" is.

Wikipedia defines "Banana Republic" as:

“A banana republic is a country with an economy of state capital whereby the country is operated as a private commercial enterprise for the exclusive profit of the ruling class. Such exploitation is enabled by collusion between the state and favored economic monopolies, in which the profit, derived from the private exploitation of public lands, is private property, while the debts incurred thereby are the financial responsibility of the public treasury.”

I feel that this may be where we are heading if the evil idiot and his band of evil side kicks win the day in November. They surely seem intent on completing the swap of our 3 tiered society for a two tiered system, with the only goal being to enrich an oligarchy of private sector Capitalists. 

Over my lifetime, this conversion has been plodding along under the main stream radar. It has had some setbacks, but all in all, because of its patient and insistent encroachment into the soul of our nation, it is now on the cusp of having its way with us. 

I ask that we don't solely place blame on the sneaky assholes who desire to own us. They are doing what they do in the open, right in front of us. It's what comes naturally to the self absorbed predator. We opened the door and continue to hold it open. We have allowed our country to become nothing but a labor pool being used and abused by a group whose only interest is lining their own pockets. 

I think the only difference between the "free" citizens of the USA and slavery or indentured servitude is a matter of degree. We aren't free. Not really. The need to survive all too often depends on the good graces  of the people with the purse strings. We also seem to need to serve as someone's ideological bitch. The problem headed our way now is we are about to be less free than we were.

If we want to blame anyone, we should all stand in front of a mirror and take a good look. Who is standing there? That person in the mirror and all the other people in this country share the blame for what we have to deal with today. If we can't retrieve the freedoms we have lost, we should at the least fight like Hell to retain the ones still available. And I don't mean guns. Guns won't do it for us. But voting just might.

Later ......................................

_____________________

Found an interesting music video on Facebook by Firehill. It's called "Somebody's Bitch". One recurring line contends:

"I don't want to get up to be somebody's bitch"

Hmm. Yet every morning most of us do exactly that.

The Promising Child

I took, hmm..... actually I started a Sociology course in college, "Culture and the development of the promising child". Do not ask me what it was about. I had not a clue then and I still don't. When I saw the huge pile of required reading I would have to purchase at cut throat prices over to the College bookstore, I dropped that class as fast as it took me to get to the registrar's office with maybe a toke break thrown in on the way. 50 minutes was all I needed to know that Culture's role in bringing up baby was a subject I was going to be able to skip and still maybe, most likely live a fairly full life. 

I never forgot the title of the course though.  Through all the future failures, the upcoming successes and up to last night when I spotted that spiral notebook; the notebook I planned to fill with the studious and industrious efforts of a young mind just wanting to suck the World dry of every fact, where and why. Bright eyed and full of piss and vinegar, I leaned in hard at college that first year.  

By year 3 1/2, I wasn't leaning as hard into it and I was still a good two, more likely 3 semesters from graduating.    So I hit the road instead.  Yee Haw and the madness began, or rather continued unabated as I seamlessly switched from the life of a college loser hippie to a workin loser hippie driving tractor trailers.

Yeah, I was full of promise one day long long ago.  Full of promises others had designed for me without much conversation or debate.  I was to follow the same college path the previous 5 generations of Macrum men had hiked.   Since I chose my own way instead of the traditional family path, I am sure several of my relatives and a couple of ancestors would like to sue me for breach of promise.

My parents were most likely disappointed to a certain extent. If they were, they did not hold that disappointment against me. They never berated me. They never abandoned me. They understood I had to go my own way. It was the outliers and casual acquaintances who passed the harshest judgement.

And now, so many, many years later, I may have a few regrets here and there. I certainly do not have any concerns or regrets about what others outside my family have ever thought. I lived up to the only promise that really mattered. That was to follow my own path.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ........................

__________________

Didn't work too hard to find a tune to go with the post. "Good Riddance" by Green Day on a playlist popped up, so I picked it. Seems to fit I think. 

"it's something unpredictable

But in the end, it's right

I hope you had the time of your life"

Exactly.

Aging is Relentless

I was 61 years old when the new haircut picture on the left was taken. I was sure I was an old fart by then and my then current aches and pains were payment in full for a life lived carelessly over the previous 61 years. They surely would not get any worse.

Ah, the naivety of the young. They just don't get it. 8 years later when the picture of the disheveled me was taken, I was 69 years old. Surely, this aging gig had finally peaked.

That had to be as obnoxious and uncomfortable as aging would get.

Ha!

I will be 72 in a couple of weeks and the aging process has not relented. It is even more tenacious now, with attacks on body parts I didn't even notice I had until pain had set up shop in them. I have resigned myself that the pain of aging will only stop when my ticker stops. Learning to accept the often painful discomfort is what I need to focus on. Pain Management is what some folks would call it I guess. 

BUT, I didn't mean to get off track like I just did in the first paragraph. What caused me to dwell on being old was a meme I spotted on Facebook regarding how too many of us old farts do not take advantage of the wide open world of Senior Discounts.

Asking is the best way to find out for sure if where you are shopping, eating, etc. offers senior discounts.

Aging never quits

Aging never lets up

No one will miss out 

If they make it that far

Doesn't seem like a fair trade 

For lasting so long

But Life is not fair

Glad I never expected it to be.

Now I look forward to whatever aging throws at me. It's part of the trip. 

Keep it 'tween the ditches ......................................

_____________________________

Again, there is only one song for this post. And Yeah, it's another anthem for me. Here is "Old Folk's Boogie", by Little Feat.

Grab a Fat Blunt. Strap on some headphones and find a comfortable chair. This tune always moves my hair.

Girls at Recess

My wife mentioned a silly video reel she had found on Facebook the other day. Told me to check it out. I did and it was indeed silly. Three adult women  were performing some kind of group exercise. They were obviously friends. I cannot describe it really, but silly it was. The ladies were lost in the silliness of the moment like giggling school girls at recess.

Young or old, I have always enjoyed watching small groups of women enjoying themselves together and laughing without a man or boy anywhere in the vicinity. 

It started for me I guess in grade school when I would watch girls at recess hanging together, giggling and tittering, lost in their own moment. Though I would never admit it then, their laughter always made me feel good or maybe more accurately, made me feel safe. If the girls are laughing, Life at that moment was as it should be. All was right with the world.

When I moved to Florida half way through 3rd grade to live with my father while he worked his new job, we lived in an old farm cottage in a bygone orange grove in Northwest Tampa. The landlady, who lived in the big house adopted me, either by choice or my dad bribed her.

Regardless, I was soon adopted into the old lady gang the landlady ruled over. They took me all over Tampa over the next 4 or 5 months. We went to Lowry Park Zoo a couple of times. Every outing always ended up at a Morrison's Cafeteria, where I could show off my eating cred.

Yeah, those ole ladies might have smelled liked ole ladies, but when they got together, they tittered and giggled like they did at recess 60 years previous.

When the women are laughing, all is right with the World.

Remember that.

Later Gators ..............................

_____________________

Only one tune will work. I have used it before, so I guess it has become an anthem of sorts. Here is "Fat Bottom Girls", by Queen.  While any volume level is optional, I think the optimal volume level is best punched to WOW. ............ Enjoy.

History is Often an Unpleasant Circle

 

The problem with history is it needs to constantly remind us in order to be remembered. 

Why is that?

I am sure there are many folks with many letters behind their names who are cock sure of why this particular flaw in Humanity exists. But like most things not supported by facts, any conjecture or conclusions on why we cannot seem to remember History is useless. There are only explanations, opinions and excuses.

Since I have time now for useless endeavors, I have my opinion of course.

Most of us conveniently do not remember History now because we did not live then. This is true especially if that history runs contrary to current interests. Humans are so self absorbed with their existence in any given moment that thinking outside the narrow confines of their life is more often than not of no use to their here and now concerns. Humans are not inclined to long term thinking.

That leaves only the historians to keep track for us. And they do not often agree on how past events unfolded and what their significance for the future was. 

A perfect example would be Slavery and the Civil War. For years the southern apologists insisted the war was not about slavery, it was about states rights. The war was the North's fault. The South were the victims of a brutal war of oppression. 

Why did the Civil War apologists insist on painting this picture of being victims? Besides the obvious need to duck any responsibility for something that did not go their way, I can only assume it was in their interests, economic and politically, to play the victim card. The Jim Crow crowd  depended to a large degree on the appearance of southern victimhood to keep their evil policies of segregation in play.  It worked and is still working in some parts of the country and reappearing in others.

But no category of history has been manipulated as much as the histories of religions. Organized religion has been more responsible over the ages for more strife, anguish, and death than any other single idea. The fact that so many people still congregate in groups advocating hate and discount based on some kind of divine permission slip is the perfect example of Humanity's convenient disregard for what their various religions have unleashed on the World as they gained dominance on the World stage.

After the time I have used to think this through to this point, I have decided.............

We don't remember history because it all too often does not dovetail cleanly into our current rosy outlooks. Facing the past frequently forces us to face the unpleasant found in our present. 

Who would want to do that?

Keep it 'tween the ditches ..........................................

_______________________

I found two tunes that fit with this post. "History Repeating", by the Propellerheads w/Sirley Bassey rocks the casbah. Great tune.

And then there was a spoken piece , "History Repeats Itself", by Buddy Starcher. It is backed up with appropriately patriotic background music. I was not going to play it, but it pointed up some damn interesting connections between Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy. 

Out Like a Lamb? Yeah Right.

The original forecast I heard was 3" to 6" of snow followed by rain. That was a few days ago. I figured since it's now the "out like a lamb" side of March, I won't worry about clearing the snow. I'll let Mother Nature do it for me.

Hmm .........

You would think that by age 72, I would have learned to not trust a meteorologist when they are giving a forecast. 

Last night a newer, more up to date screen shot of predicted snow crossed my computer screen. I did a double take. Apparently March, 2024 did not get the memo that the second half of the month, there will be no misbehaving, no hi-jinks, no fucking around. Acton now sits on the border of  6" to 12" and 12" to 24".

There is already 6 or 7 inches out there and it is only 8:18 AM. It's not a heavy wet snow. It's a dense pellet snow holding a lot of moisture. I would be well advised to try to keep ahead of it. So, with that in mind, I am suspending further comment and will now bravely face the elements with my 30 year old John Deere garden tractor. Together we will do what John Deere Tractors do; blow the shit out of that snow.

Still snowing. another 3 or 4 inches have covered what I blew two and a half hours ago. My britches are still wet and it looks like this storm is going to be a two blow storm. 

Later .................

__________________

I often use selections from my playlists to write by. This morning I picked "First - 2022", 2.2 hour musical binge of some of my favorite tunes. "Its Been Awhile", by Stand. I had not heard it in a long while; maybe since I created this playlist in 2022. Anyway ....... enjoy. 

An Unhealthy Obsession

So I woke up this morning, March 20, 2024 and not much had changed since yesterday. Trump was still alive and still parading around with his idiot clown show. Yet, I was okay with it. 

I have decided that all the political soap operas unfolding do not mean squat when considering whether Trump will continue to own us or become just another nightmare we had to endure. 

The election coming on November 5th is my demarcation point; my line in the sand. If the orange shit for brains loses, the country wins, and we most likely will survive as we have for the past 240+ years. If the orange shit-gibbon wins, the politics and policies of our country will be turned on their ears. What happens then is anyone's guess. I am assuming it will not be good.

For me, the two choices are all we have. This endless focus on what the Orange Imbecile is doing, isn't doing, and what he claims he is doing are a total waste of anyone's time at this point. We've had a lifetime exposure to this buffoon. What the Hell?

So ....

Once I realized Donald was still kickin, I got on with my day; at least I did until I sat down to write a post. And see what happened? I still can't get the Human Corncob out of my head. I am not usually one to become so obsessive over anything, but there it is. The man owns real estate in my head. 

I'd charge him rent, but he would never pay.

Stay sane .......... Forget Trump until election day.

____________________

I picked the early 1980's MTV hit, "Obsession" by Animotion. I remember only hearing this tune once before when I saw it on MTV in the early 1980's on a friend's television that was hooked up to cable. The sentiment fits my current perspective on the unhealthy relationship I have with Donald McRonald. 

Enjoy.

Avoid Disappointment and Future Regret

The TV ad assured me they were going fast. They insisted these "Donald the Perp" $2 bills are so popular they will only allow me to buy five as there will be a very limited printing.  

At the same time they are offering a deep discount. Why? Hell, I don't know. But I tell you what, they will only gain in value. They could become that MAGA hedge against future inflation those Satan worshipping Libtards will surely create in our futures. 

The TV ad ended with another reminder that there will be few bills printed and if I wanted to "avoid disappointment & future regret", I had better order today. 

Don't forget, your purchase of these once in a lifetime historic two dollar bills will go toward defending our Heaven sent savior from earthly persecution by Satan's henchmen.

 Praise the Lord and Amen brother!

_____________

And the clown show not only continues unabated, it gathers more steam as it rolls over any Republican who has ever hinted a bad word about the orange fruitcake. The MAGA movement owns the GOP now and unless all of us who oppose Trump and the lazy, useless, apathetic citizens who can't be bothered to vote..... unless everyone gets off their couches, puts down the gaming consoles, and turns the Kardashians the fuck off on November 5th and vote, well, their complacent lifestyles will not be so complacent in their future.

So what music would go with this post? Let's try googling "music about being conned". More than a few songs popped up. "Con Man", by Dispatch fits the bill. 

The Decade of the Mullet

The 1980's was the first decade I experienced as a nose to the grindstone un-hip white dude. My slip from hip-ness was due to several factors I guess. I got married, stopped hammering the drugs and alcohol, and started a family. Life was suddenly serious now. I couldn't laugh it off anymore.

I was too busy to try to understand the social and cultural fads of the 1980's and 1990's. By the time I did notice many of them, they had been well entrenched for awhile and were way beyond my control. I honestly feel that if I had been paying attention, we would never had to deal with the mullet as a hairstyle for longer than a year or two. But because I was too busy with a family, a job, blah, blah, blah, my inattention allowed the scourge of the mullet to take hold in  America's heartland. And then it was but a hop, skip and a jump until the hairdo pestilence of all time spread coast to coast.

Suddenly it looked like all of us lived next door to Meth cooks, wannabe Glam Rockers, aged out hockey players with bad knees, or recent emigres from Australia. Someone told me it was not my fault. They might be right. But then, they might be wrong. so just in case and in an effort to keep my healthy sense of self loathing alive and well, I will take the blame. 

I won't take the blame however for is its recent resurgence as an acceptable coiffure. That blame definitely lies squarely on someone else; somewhere south and west of here where it used to be known as the "Kentucky Waterfall".

 Apparently it's popularity never completely faded in the sports world like WWE wrestling and Double A baseball. We are destined to be punished with the mullet topped Kiss Army reenactors, Hulk Hogan impersonators and aging Billy Ray Cyrus fans crooning offkey versions of "Achy Breaky Heart" at the local watering holes on Karaoke night. 

I am sure the only reason someone somewhere insisted on resurrecting the mullet was to piss me off. If I was a hardcore law and order guy, I'd lobby Augusta to make them illegal in the the state of Maine. But I am too lazy. All I can do now is shake my head and try not to look at them. 

............  Yeah right. It's like trying to not look at an accident as I pass by. 

Please join the MFA( Mullet Free America) and stop this bad idea from raising its ugly head again.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ......................................

_________________________

Billy Ray Cyrus, and his undeserved hit, "Achy Breaky Heart", was to be my pick to go with this post today. There were two insurmountable problems though. One is the tune did not come out during the 1980s. It hit the charts in 1992. Second and probably the real reason the song won't work is, I cannot stand it. It is a deeply rooted visceral hate I have for the song. I might go insane if I have to listen to it all the way through ever again. 

So then I thought that since Billy Ray rocked one of the great mullets of his time, I figured his 2017 tune "I want my mullet back" would be an acceptable replacement. Sadly or maybe it's a relief  to say, "I want my mullet back" is even worse than "Achy Breaky Heart". 

And since there is not a tune by Kiss I feel should be played in public or private, I will have to expand my search beyond the original and logical choices.

So I found a suitable tune. Here is "Better than KISS", by Teenage Bottlerocket , skatepunk rockers from I assume the West Coast.

SOTU

I did not watch Biden's State of the Union address live on Thursday night. I watched the CNBC replay Friday. Total time of the video was 1:58 and change. the first thirty eight minutes of it were just Big Wigs and Lesser Wigs co-mingling and smiling at each other as they squeezed hands and patted backs. Then Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, stood up and tried to bring the herd of cats to order. He obviously was out of his depth, but we all knew that going in.

When Bernie came in I chuckled. Love Bernie and his never give in attitude. Coach Potato Head, the Senator from  Alabama, began yukking it up with MTG, the idiot savant of all things MAGA. Tuber Head's politician smile suddenly became wider and his eyes, brighter. I couldn't see Marjorie's hands, so I don't know if they had anything to do with it. I do know that between the two, the shared IQ is still only in the single digits.

Biden took over three minutes to make it from the entrance of the House Chamber to the podium. It was not because he was old, it was because he had to schmooze with anyone he ran into on the way. The man shook more hands and squeezed more shoulders in those 3 minutes than I have in a decade. 

He and Marjorie Taylor Greene had a moment. Made me laugh. His eyes got big when he decided to notice her. His smile widened and he threw out his hands as if to say, "Well look at you child.... you are so cute." Then he paid attention again to the adults in the room.

I have always struggled to watch full speeches by any politician. I was sure Sleepy Joe would end up making me sleepy also. Well, I have to say, that State of the Union speech was anything but boring. President Biden came with his A game. He was ferocious and strong. He was not going to take any shit from the Grumpy Gusses sitting on the Right. He called them out every chance he had. He owned them Thursday night. 

The Joe Biden I knew existed showed up Thursday night. He challenged the GOP to pony up or take the consequences. He looked right at the Supreme Court Justices and told them if he is reelected and the people give him a reasonable Congress, he will make Roe v. Wade the law of the land. He was not just feisty he was angry and I was so proud of him.

Absolutely the best political speech I have ever witnessed. 

Enough said.

________________________

No song with political overtones for this post. Just a song from one of my favorite bands that hails from my home state of Maine. Here is Rustic Overtones with, "Gas on Skin".

Enjoy. 

Weakness

I watched an interview of Rex Chapman this AM on MSNBC. He is a former phenome in college basketball back in the day. His NBA career was cut short because of his addiction to drugs. I have not read the memoir.

I took two things from the interview.

Mr. Chapman mentioned that while writing the memoir, one memory led to other memories he had forgotten. I can relate. When I became actively interested to writing down my past some 20 years ago, I would dredge up memories long buried by writing down the ones that had sat front and center through all the years. Some of them were wonderful, others made me sad, and the worst of them, well, one of the worst I still have trouble facing.

Rex mentioned how one memory led to others to set up his tale of being so desperately addicted to opiates, that he stole from an Apple store.

Effectively, what he said was:

"I can't believe I stole from an Apple store. If not for the drugs, I would like to think I would not have."

Sadly, he will never know because he has decided it was drugs that ruined his life. It was not drugs, it was that he was basically weak and even now, years later, he won't own up to it.

I had my own struggle with drugs. Serious struggles with drugs. Maybe the reason I finally found my way out was because I never blamed the drugs. I put them in my mouth or in my arm willingly. I did it because I was weak. Nobody's fault but my own.

We all grow up with baggage. Some of us are saddled with more than others. But we all have baggage, much of it invented internally to help with perceived and/or real injustices to our being.

My advice to folks struggling to overcome addictions is:

Deal with addiction first and then with the weakness or flaw that created the addiction in the first place. Blaming some one or something else for the bad turn a life has taken is counter productive in my opinion. If the problems are real, address them, not just the substance abuse that was the result.

Honestly, I had intended an upbeat post today. Then I watched the interview and it pissed me off. But I feel better now. Is not that one of the many reasons I started a Blog, to feel better about myself? Actually, the original reason is still the most important. A blog was a perfect vehicle for a sloppy below average writer to pick up his game. Where it ended up taking me, well, was here after over 1700 posts in the last 20 years.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ........................................

___________________

What's the prompt word for a tune that fits in with this post; Drug addiction? Weakness? Or something totally unrelated just because it's a tune I like. One thing is for sure, it will have to be a Blues tune.

I found one song I had not heard by Keith Richards. It's his acoustic version of "Cocaine Blues".

Enjoy.

Zealots

The image to the right started it all. Set me on another adventure down another useless rabbit hole. But then, lately Life has become a rabbit hole. How can anyone expect me to tell the difference between the rabbit holes of worth and the ones that end up, uh well, as just another rabbit hole to nowhere.

The caption that accompanied this cryptic Facebook image read:

"CANT WAIT TO HEAR YALLS BULLCRAP EXCUSE ON THIS ONE....."

"The Lake Pontchartrain bridge in Louisiana was constructed perfectly level across the 24 mile expanse. That should be 384 ft of downward curvature, but there is zero downward curvature."

Whenever I visit this local Texas Facebook page, I am often looking to reinforce my own normalcy by reading the lunacy of a bunch of real Texans exchanging political views. One thing is for sure, Texas is not just full of Right Wingin, Gun Totin, Bible Thumpin zealots. The state is big enough, populated enough, and loud enough to be home to a wide variety of views. Listening to them mix it up among themselves actually makes me feel warm and fuzzy; kinda. 

Texans don't shy away from political discourse. Texans are not polite, though many would like to try and hide behind that "southern charm" Bullshit. Real Texans let you know how they feel, and if you don't like it, they'd be more than happy to shove a Lone Star long neck up your ass. 

Their clarity of position suits me. And while I have yet to find a Lone Star shoved up my ass, I am guessing there would a line waiting for me if I ever re-visited this state from my younger days.

Sorry, off again on another tangent. I apologize.

I was curious about the image of a bridge I had crossed more than a few times while pounding the super slabs hauling goods of one kind or another. I had no idea what the Hell this was about. So I googled myself right into a 3 or 4 hour rabbit hole I feel compelled to share today.

This meme is the mastermind creation of one "JR", champion superstar Flat Earther and unapologetic Bible thumpin gun totin Righteous Wingin advocate.

His premise is that since the builders of the bridge claimed it was level throughout its 24 mile run, without the necessary 384 ft worth of curvature to compensate for the curvature of the planet, well that right there proved the earth was flat. After all, 384 ft or 0.003 % of downward curvature over 126,720 feet should be visible to the naked eye.

I mumbled, "Hmm."

JR's use of "downward curvature" to describe the kind of adjustment the bridge needed seemed bass-ackwards to me. If as many of us claim, the World is round, wouldn't the curvature correction be upwards, not down? Anyway, his argument made no sense to me so then ................

I made my biggest mistake. I commented on the meme.

As a rule I try not to argue with idiots. But yesterday, I stupidly mixed it up with them anyway. It turns out JR has 23,000 followers. ...... That's right, 23,000.

As he is also a Winger Gun and Bible Nut, the whole Flat Earth thing might just be an effort on his part to round out his Lunatic quiver and boost his credibility among his peers. 

JLC, of  California had JR's back. She was right there with back up and "proof" the Earth was flat. She even admonished me by pointing out "it is easy to Google" the proof if I chose to. I supposed that was a backhanded insult, so okay, I was crushed, beaten and humiliated. At least I figure in her mind I was.

So anyway, her proof came in a couple of images she must have found on the "Lunatic Fringe Christian Network". The one to the left I chose to illustrate her dedication to truth, the Bible, and God Almighty.

I knew immediately I was in a fight I could not win. I stayed a few rounds just for shits and giggles. Then I blessed her heart and came back here to lick my wounds.

Not sure why I engage folks like her and JR. Maybe it is my lifelong fascination with the fringes of our culture. I have to say living in their fantasy world is often more interesting than the one I currently live in.

Later ..................................

_________________________

Looking up "Flat earth music", I came across this debut tune from Fixation, a new Metal band from Norway. The boys are talented. Here is "Flat Earth".

Another Day on the Planet

Today is just another day on the planet. Another point in time. However, I know that today, important events will unfold. Every day, important events always unfold. That we do not notice most of them does in no way negate their importance. Many will not prove their importance until it is too late to change their outcomes. Many will not have any lasting importance on our existence, yet many people will attach more significance to them than they deserve. And meanwhile, while we focus on the stupid and meaningless, the unnoticed events will work in the background to haunt our futures.

Don't pay too much attention to the loud noises. But, definitely keep an ear to the ground for those quiet sounds that hope and pray we don't hear them coming.

I originally wrote and posted this now slightly edited piece on Facebook in January of 2017. It popped back up as a memory a short while ago. When I read it I realized I really liked it. I liked it for its large message packed in a small package.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ..........................................

___________________________________

Janelle Kroll's song and video, "Walk with You", seem to fit. Regardless, a nice tune.