opinion

Article Titles to Avoid

I have a lot of ideas about what a good title should be when writing an article, book, chapters, or anything else that literally requires some sort of title.

In my most humble opinion, I don’t see the value in taking leaps or making assumptions about how the reader should “feel” about your article. Look at the following example.

19 Photos From Dumpster Divers That’ll Make Anyone Who Hates Waste Scream At The Top Of Their Lungs

Really? If I hate waste (hate is a strong word) then logically (in your mind) I should scream at the top of my lungs?

I don’t think so.

That headline isn’t even good click bait.

I don’t think that you should ever tell anyone how they should feel, how they should live, or anything else really. Why? No one is smart enough to do that. Let’s face it. People are dumb. ALL of us.

Yes. I include myself in that.

Perhaps, the article title could be written in a much better way.

19 Photos from Dumpster Divers.

That title alone peaks my interest. No need to tell me how I should feel about it. I can make that determination on my own. Thank you.

Aliens or Not?

I am convinced that aliens would never visit this planet because they would have killed themselves off before they reached that level of technology. 👌🏼

Saturday Night

I wasn’t sure what to write about this evening and then I decided to backup my MacBook Pro. This means that I can’t use it so it left me with a dilemma. How could I write a blog post without the main computer.

Answer: Write the post on the iPad. I am doing that now but I am not using the external keyboard but rather the on screen keyboard. It isn’t too bad on the iPad Pro. the screen is so big that it feels like you are typing with a full sized keyboard anyway.

I had a couple of major projects I wanted to finish this weekend and I have finished one of them. The other major project was to try and fix and old iMac but atlas, it is not really fixable. not for a reasonable amount of money. The problem is the video card. This used to be my computer and I remember having to get the video card replaced a year or so after I bought it. In fact, it failed just after the warranty ran out. Of course.

I plan on getting a new iMac when the bigger sized machines come out. With the chip shortage, I don’t know how long that will be.

Anyway. That is a quick look into my excessively boring life.

Sorry for your pain.

Fear Culture

This happened on Sunday near me…

Multiple people were injured at Spooky Nook Sports on Sunday afternoon after a sudden disorderly flight of players and spectators from the building caused several people to be trampled, according to Diane Garber, a spokesperson with the East Hempfield Township Police Department.

Emergency units, including numerous firefighters and at least a dozen medic units, were called to the sports complex at 75 Champ Blvd. in East Hempfield Township at 2:26 p.m., a supervisor with Lancaster County-Wide Communications said. Garber said officers were initially dispatched to the sports complex for a report of shots fired, but there was no evidence of a handgun being fired, and no gunshot injuries were reported.

No one even knows what happened to make everyone run but police are fairly certain it was not a gun.

Run. Panic. Scream. That is what we do now.

Touch ID under Duress

A feature that I would like to see on Apple’s Touch ID devices is what I call a “duress” mode.

Let’s say someone is mugging you and demanding that you unlock your device. What if you assigned a specific finger to something called duress mode that does things behind the scenes while appearing to unlock the device.

You could even have a flash “store front” of apps that load up if you use this particular finger. None of them really do anything and your data is still protected. It may even add an extra layer of security that is required to unlock it by Apple. Once your device is put in duress mode, only authorized people could unlock it. By unlock it, I mean get it back to a state where your normal fingerprint would unlock the device. Apple couldn’t directly unlock it.

By using this finger, you have also alerted family, friends, and anyone else you designate that you are in some sort of duress. These messages could include your GPS location etc.

I think in the future, this type of functionality will be necessary. It might even save lives.

Picture from here.

Fireworks Laws

I wasn’t sure but I had a feeling that fireworks were illegal in my area.

Law changed in 2017
Until a few years ago, it was illegal for Pennsylvanians to buy most fireworks, with retailers focusing on sales to outof- state residents. When the law was loosened in 2017, it included some restrictions on exactly where and when fireworks can be set off: It’s illegal to ignite them within 150 feet of any structure or on any public or private property without permission from local authorities. In a densely populated city like Lancaster, that leaves very few places where people can safely ignite fireworks.
The law lays out penalties that local authorities, like Lancaster’s police bureau, can impose for violations: “A person using consumer fireworks in violation of the provisions of this article commits a summary offense and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $100.”

Religion Origins

Historical fiction is a story that takes place in a certain period of history but the characters are usually fictional.

Religion is the exact same thing.

Especially if your religions doctrine cannot be independently verified by historians of the time.

That is a very basic requirement. You can make all of the bold claims you’d like in your religious text but if they are true, someone else would have seen it and written it down.

Don’t believe something just because someone says it is true. Find out for yourself. Do the research.

Even if it is your spiritual identity.

Don’t blindly follow anyone.

Ok. Life advice over.

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Sad

Local newspaper shenanigans.

There is no way that the little girl shown below…

1. Gives a shit about school funding or even knows what it means.

2. Is only 2 years old.

Newspaper. Fuck off.

Streaming Services

There are too many of them.

My prediction is that this business model in its current form is unsustainable.

People just want one place to pay and watch; they don’t want 100 of them. That is too much shit to keep track of. One place. One login. Done.

People are lazy. Paying for everything in one spot? How much lazier can you get?

Apple News

I absolutely love the Apple News app.

The News app on my iPhone that is.

The News app on my computer is something quite different. For me, it all comes down to one simple thing. It is the inability to save anything to Instapaper.

Even though I have the option checked and enabled, it simply doesn’t show up as an option. The only options are apple’s built in choices. So, even though it appears you have choice here you don’t.

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Even though I obviously have it checked here…

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I think the phone just works better anyway but there are times when I am charging my phone that I’d like to be able to just use the M1 MBP.

Ok. My venting is over.

The Mystery of Dark Matter

Today’s random thought is about Dark Matter.

As I was sitting here at my desk thinking about all of the things that we are so close to achieving as far as space exploration, I had a wandering thought.

Actually, it was more like a question.

Why do we waste so much time trying to understand something that we made up to explain something that really doesn’t need explaining?

There is air. There is space.

Can we move it along, please?

There are infinitely many more things out there that need to be analyzed, probed, and then probed again.

We are wasting so much precious time on something that may or may not exist. Some people will devote their whole lives to this and to me, that is such a waste. A waste of someone’s life.

I personally believe that if it wasn’t for all of these “side projects” we would probably already have a colony on the moon and also on Mars.

Can you imagine what the world would be like if all of the scientists were focused on achieving one goal. The could all have their roles to play but what if they were all driven towards a common goal?

Wouldn’t that be cool?

Biking Season

I am most pleased about being able to bike back and forth to work once again.

This will be the 3rd day so far this week.

I have been tired for the last couple of days but there is a period of acclamation where the body needs to stop and realize we’re doing this again.

The journey back and forth each day has been extremely wonderful even in the bad weather. It is much different than driving back and forth in a car. You are relying on yourself. It is just you, the bike, and the road.

I’m just happy to be able to do it again.

Wondering Why Hiring Sucks?

I think with out the need to write more about the subject, the picture from today’s paper below demonstrates why it is so difficult to hire right now.

The company I work for goes through employees like shit through a goose. They hire 5 and the next day 3 leave. I’m not certain that the reason is so that they can say they’ve “tried” to find something.

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For an employee who is not in managment, they make more money by not working. I have always felt that was the case but this chart puts those thoughts into a concrete form.

Why go to work when you can make more money by staying home? Probably also doesn’t hurt your need to feel safe from Covid as well.

Societal Concept

Since I write a lot of science fiction stories, I often wonder what would cause a civilization to never make it into space or not very far before the society collapses.

The collapse could be for any number of reasons.

Here is why I think the inhabitants of any planet can either kill the planet or as a people they thrive and reach out to the stars.

I believe this equation best describes it.

If you grow as a society faster than the rate of innovation, you die.

I think we are there. We’re producing shit tons of plastics that will have no where to go when we’re done with them. You could say “recycling” but you’d be wrong. Most plastic ends up either in the ocean or in a land fill. We could sure use an atomizer.

Too bad we didn’t invent one yet.

Sports

I grew up with sports.

I used to watch my favorite NFL football team play every weekend and couldn’t wait for the Super Bowl. I remember getting depressed after the All-Star game because I knew there would be no football until next season.

I actually liked the XFL and I loved that it filled the gap of the missing NFL. It only lasted for a season which sucked royal money balls.

I turned 50 and something happened. I’m not sure exactly what it was but I started to not care as much about football as I once did. I’m pretty sure the enormous salaries had something to do with it. I’m sure making teams change their name because someone is “offended” may also have something to do with it. I think it was the money mostly.

Right now, the Washington Redskins don’t even know who the hell they are. The people that are offended aren’t even the people that are supposed to be offended. The real Redskins (the Indians for you new people) don’t give a fuck.

When the coronavirus hit, sports because the last thing on Earth that people actually cared about and I was ok with that. I guess it took the pandemic for me to realize just how insignificant sports really is. The sports went away for a period of time and everything was ok.

This is from an article in today’s paper.

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First of all, these kids did NOT lose everything last year. They are still fucking alive aren’t they? You fucking moron.

Everyone didn’t die. The newspaper was a lot more fun to read for me because the sports section (if it was in the paper at all) was only a page or half of a page.

To sum up this article…

…fuck sports.

Assumptions

If I am hot and sweaty and I decide to wear something that lets my upper body breathe (mostly talking about my tits), why do men automatically think that by the act of wearing said garment I am advertising that I am available?

If I am walking through a mall and see a guy wearing shorts rocking a nice cock outline, I don’t automatically think he is wearing it to pick up women. He might be. I don’t assume that.

For my 1st post with Mike’s website, I thought I’d write about something that always pisses me off.

Assumptions about my availability piss me off. Based on what I am wearing? Really?

I love men.

But, sometimes I don’t.

This post may or may not have been “triggered” by a recent trip to the store.