I had a scary experience yesterday when I fired up my Yahoo email to find a missive from a friend:
"I'm writing this with tears in my eyes,my family and i came down here to London,England for a short vacation to visit a resort and got mugged at gun point last night at the park of the hotel where we lodged.All cash,credit cards and cell were stolen off me .I've been to the embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all,our flight leaves today and I'm having problems settling the hotel bills.
The hotel manager won't let us leave until i settle the hotel bills($1700) now am freaked out.Please reply and let me if can you have the money wire to me through western union i promise to pay back as soon as i get back home.
Thanks,
Maureen"
OMG! and at gunpoint! Something seemed a little off about the email but I instantly replied and shortly heard from 'her' again:
"Glad you replied back,i have nothing left on us right now and we're lucky to have our life and passports with us it would have been worst if they had made away with my passports.Well all i need now is just $1700, you can have it wired to my name via Western Union i'll have to show my passport as ID to pick it up here and i promise to pay you back as soon as i get back home. Here's my info below
Name - Maureen
Location - 59 Dan y Coed Road Cardiff,
London CF23 6NE United Kingdom
As soon as it has been done, kindly get back to me with the confirmation number. Let me know if you are heading to the WU outlet now???
Thanks.. I really OWE you BIG
Maureen"
As I had requested that her next email include a telephone number for the resort so I could call, and this email did not include it, I did not rush to Western Union, but re-mailed to "Please! send a phone number." Because I figured I could just give her my credit card number. While waiting for 'her' to email me a phone number, I googled the address in the UK and a blog came up from Tim Ross chronicling a similar situation as a scam and I was really thankful for that. I did not hear back from 'Maureen' and later learned that her email account, Yahoo, had been hacked. So here's my contribution and I surely hope no one gets scammed.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
MISSENSE
If that title isn't a word, it should be!
I have, for years upon years, felt assaulted, surrounded by nonsense, missense, cacophony. In my time I have railed against it. .But, there proved to be too much of it and I stopped railing. Although, just now, 2 minor radio spots stick in my craw and I think I'll let this post react to them.
The latest was t'other morning. It's a radio spot called Focus on the Family. The speaker/writer/preacher went on about a man who had been abused/neglected by his mother to the point that he did not even know what the word, 'love' meant. Then he grew and married an equally unloving woman. Then he went and got a gun and went to the Book Depository in Dallas and killed Kennedy.
WELL!! We HAD all been wondering how on earth a nice man like Kennedy could get himself killed! No mention of Cuba, no mention of LBJ, no mention of Mafia, no mention of 'lone gunman' conspiracy. NO, no no. It all happened because his mother didn't love him! Blame the female, blame the woman. What a crock. And, this is a syndicated crock! This blather goes all over the USA, infecting the minds of those not old enough to remember, not wise enough to look behind the scenes, too busy with the vicissitudes of life to try and glean the truth of history! No, let's make it simple for these morons, , , The WOMAN did it! My mind fails me in the face of such ludicrousness. I am just a lone voice, he is syndicated to probably millions. What a crazy state of affairs exist. There is no combating our devolution.
I could go on and on about it, and about this next bit, but what's the point really.
The second spot that abraded me, was an interview on Coasttocoastam. Art Bell was speaking with his guest about the possibility of 'life on other planets' and how wonderful it would be to advance to the stars and find, finally, alien intelligence!
What 'on earth' does he think this earth teems with!
We are surrounded at all times by intelligences that are certainly alien to us, although they are not alien to the planet. Is there a a cat owner that does NOT think their cat hosts 'alien intelligence'? I think not. Earth teems with life forms that have existed for millenia beyond our relatively short term stay here. And how do we communicate with them? Well, take the cow, how do we use it's intelligence? Got milk? How about the chicken? Or the wholesale slaughter of turkeys? Do they not have intelligence? The do! I wouldn't want to try and play chess with them, but still. Or the grandfather of all survivors, the cockroach! Come on, folks, get your game on! Go try and commune with a cockroach! Heaven knows they aren't all that edible, which is the main thing we long for in 'alien intelligence'.
Again, I could go on and on about the 'intelligences' right here on this planet with which we cannot seem to communicate, lobsters, crabs, pigs, bunnies etc. so why the hurry to find them on other planets? To eat them, or put them to work for us as we do the other species? Yeah.
Anyway, that's my rant, and you're welcome to it.
I have, for years upon years, felt assaulted, surrounded by nonsense, missense, cacophony. In my time I have railed against it. .But, there proved to be too much of it and I stopped railing. Although, just now, 2 minor radio spots stick in my craw and I think I'll let this post react to them.
The latest was t'other morning. It's a radio spot called Focus on the Family. The speaker/writer/preacher went on about a man who had been abused/neglected by his mother to the point that he did not even know what the word, 'love' meant. Then he grew and married an equally unloving woman. Then he went and got a gun and went to the Book Depository in Dallas and killed Kennedy.
WELL!! We HAD all been wondering how on earth a nice man like Kennedy could get himself killed! No mention of Cuba, no mention of LBJ, no mention of Mafia, no mention of 'lone gunman' conspiracy. NO, no no. It all happened because his mother didn't love him! Blame the female, blame the woman. What a crock. And, this is a syndicated crock! This blather goes all over the USA, infecting the minds of those not old enough to remember, not wise enough to look behind the scenes, too busy with the vicissitudes of life to try and glean the truth of history! No, let's make it simple for these morons, , , The WOMAN did it! My mind fails me in the face of such ludicrousness. I am just a lone voice, he is syndicated to probably millions. What a crazy state of affairs exist. There is no combating our devolution.
I could go on and on about it, and about this next bit, but what's the point really.
The second spot that abraded me, was an interview on Coasttocoastam. Art Bell was speaking with his guest about the possibility of 'life on other planets' and how wonderful it would be to advance to the stars and find, finally, alien intelligence!
What 'on earth' does he think this earth teems with!
We are surrounded at all times by intelligences that are certainly alien to us, although they are not alien to the planet. Is there a a cat owner that does NOT think their cat hosts 'alien intelligence'? I think not. Earth teems with life forms that have existed for millenia beyond our relatively short term stay here. And how do we communicate with them? Well, take the cow, how do we use it's intelligence? Got milk? How about the chicken? Or the wholesale slaughter of turkeys? Do they not have intelligence? The do! I wouldn't want to try and play chess with them, but still. Or the grandfather of all survivors, the cockroach! Come on, folks, get your game on! Go try and commune with a cockroach! Heaven knows they aren't all that edible, which is the main thing we long for in 'alien intelligence'.
Again, I could go on and on about the 'intelligences' right here on this planet with which we cannot seem to communicate, lobsters, crabs, pigs, bunnies etc. so why the hurry to find them on other planets? To eat them, or put them to work for us as we do the other species? Yeah.
Anyway, that's my rant, and you're welcome to it.
Monday, August 30, 2010
The Decline & Fall of Western Civilization
The other was day I saw a recipe for Guinness and ice cream in a blender. If that doesn’t signal the end of the world as we know it, what does?!
Saturday, August 28, 2010
DUMB AS A ROCK DUCK
I learned a bit this last winter about the mating habits of males. Yes, I’m older than dirt and still learning. About mating habits anyway.
First there was a local story about a male duck that had become enamored of a concrete lawn ornament. Usually, lawn ducks are just decorations that occasionally get dressed by their owners/guardians in raincoats and other foppish finery. This one was not attired, but must have been, unfortunately, so shaped as to resemble a curvaceous female duck or whatever passes as sexually enticing to male ducks
The male duck guarded his intended very jealously and lest you think this could not be all that serious, the story goes on to say that at one point no fewer than 7 people including members of the sheriff’s department were all standing in the kitchen having been shooed there by the avian lover.
The resolution of the above story is not germane to my point so let’s leave them all in the kitchen while I go on to the next which was a television show about some prairie bird, a grouse I think. A female investigator had rigged up a fake female grouse to ride along a miniature track, which was laid out to hopefully interest and include notice by the wild grouse population through which she had routed the track, while she filmed from a blind. The fake, track-duck also had a camera atop her to better film the goings on.
Many were the setbacks for our intrepid, young investigator all caught on film, or tape or whatever medium for yucks. The imitation female grouse’s head could be swiveled by remote control allowing her to fix her beady eyes on other grouse. Perhaps I’m making this up, but there may have been the grouse form of booty shake robotically added also. As our little miss grouse rolled along her track her booty shaking provocatively to the tune of Saturday Night Fever, male grouse were moved to fits of passion for , , , one of the rocks that littered the prairie. One male in particular tried his hardest, no pun intended, to ignite the passion of this rock. Do I have to add that it was to no avail? Meanwhile our heroine tumped over on her track, still filming albeit in a confusing, horizontal direction as the rest of the males ignored her, while the one still continued laying siege to the rock.
I just thought these two instances to be so typical of male hormones at work that the stories have stuck with me. And they go a long way in my understanding as to why, when my femininity ‘bloomed’ out years ago, some males found even me attractive. They eventually got over it, but until this last winter when both of those stories caught my attention, I never really connected it to me. Truth is out, and truth is that males will try to f*ck anything. ANYTHING!
If you don’t want to fish, don’t bait the hook was the saying of our day and my hook was never baited. I did everything I could to not draw male interest. Didn’t work. I might as well have been a stone lawn ornament.
First there was a local story about a male duck that had become enamored of a concrete lawn ornament. Usually, lawn ducks are just decorations that occasionally get dressed by their owners/guardians in raincoats and other foppish finery. This one was not attired, but must have been, unfortunately, so shaped as to resemble a curvaceous female duck or whatever passes as sexually enticing to male ducks
The male duck guarded his intended very jealously and lest you think this could not be all that serious, the story goes on to say that at one point no fewer than 7 people including members of the sheriff’s department were all standing in the kitchen having been shooed there by the avian lover.
The resolution of the above story is not germane to my point so let’s leave them all in the kitchen while I go on to the next which was a television show about some prairie bird, a grouse I think. A female investigator had rigged up a fake female grouse to ride along a miniature track, which was laid out to hopefully interest and include notice by the wild grouse population through which she had routed the track, while she filmed from a blind. The fake, track-duck also had a camera atop her to better film the goings on.
Many were the setbacks for our intrepid, young investigator all caught on film, or tape or whatever medium for yucks. The imitation female grouse’s head could be swiveled by remote control allowing her to fix her beady eyes on other grouse. Perhaps I’m making this up, but there may have been the grouse form of booty shake robotically added also. As our little miss grouse rolled along her track her booty shaking provocatively to the tune of Saturday Night Fever, male grouse were moved to fits of passion for , , , one of the rocks that littered the prairie. One male in particular tried his hardest, no pun intended, to ignite the passion of this rock. Do I have to add that it was to no avail? Meanwhile our heroine tumped over on her track, still filming albeit in a confusing, horizontal direction as the rest of the males ignored her, while the one still continued laying siege to the rock.
I just thought these two instances to be so typical of male hormones at work that the stories have stuck with me. And they go a long way in my understanding as to why, when my femininity ‘bloomed’ out years ago, some males found even me attractive. They eventually got over it, but until this last winter when both of those stories caught my attention, I never really connected it to me. Truth is out, and truth is that males will try to f*ck anything. ANYTHING!
If you don’t want to fish, don’t bait the hook was the saying of our day and my hook was never baited. I did everything I could to not draw male interest. Didn’t work. I might as well have been a stone lawn ornament.
Friday, August 20, 2010
JUS SAYIN
8-20-10
Today, The View was appalling. I think only Joy made any sense. Not to jinx her, but she often is the most rational, not to mention humorous, on the show. The subject was Mel’s ex, Oksana. Less was said about his ranting than about her taping his ranting. I could only watch them trying to mutilate her for a little while before turning it off, so maybe they mellowed eventually, but the gist of it was that “she sounded scripted”. Duh. Put yourself in her place: you’ve been assaulted repeatedly; who is going to believe you when they can believe the honorable Mad Mel? What better way to prove it than to get him on tape? So, while he is screaming obscenities, threatening to burn the house down, presumably with you and his own child in it, you realize you have to compose yourself long enough to get his words down. Be still my still beating heart. You might even put a list of the points by the phone, so that when your heart leaps into your mouth because the man you thought you loved wants to put you through a meat grinder calls, you can still have the presence of mind to do what must be done. What other defense did she have? I think eventually the police were called, but as a child of domestic violence myself, I can assure you, that CALLING THE POLICE IS NO GUARANTEE OF HELP, often pissing off the offender more and alerting him to your serious intention. For the women of the View to presume, or assert otherwise is disingenuous at best and downright ignorance at worst. To see how easily people, including police can be duped one need look no further than Whoopi. Most made the point of saying to the effect that, ‘we aren’t taking Mel’s side, but , , ,”. No, of course not; impugning the reputation, motives, agenda etc. of a brutalized wife by no means implies that Mel might have a case for say, killing her. Yes, the police must be notified, but in the midst of such a vile situation, maybe getting your own proof together might take priority, before Mel learns that he can’t lie his way out of it. Oksana might not be a virgin, or the nicest kid on the block, but she survived. I don’t think they ever invited her on the show did they? Wouldn’t that be where a strong woman would shine? I have been a victim of ‘foot in mouth’ disease so many times, that I really shouldn’t rant when others also open mouth insert foot. But I hope the women of the View and especially Whoopi, who has so many fine qualities going for her, come to their senses about this. In fact, given the special relationship Whoopi has stated she has with Mel, she should probably just recuse herself from any discussion regarding him.
Today, The View was appalling. I think only Joy made any sense. Not to jinx her, but she often is the most rational, not to mention humorous, on the show. The subject was Mel’s ex, Oksana. Less was said about his ranting than about her taping his ranting. I could only watch them trying to mutilate her for a little while before turning it off, so maybe they mellowed eventually, but the gist of it was that “she sounded scripted”. Duh. Put yourself in her place: you’ve been assaulted repeatedly; who is going to believe you when they can believe the honorable Mad Mel? What better way to prove it than to get him on tape? So, while he is screaming obscenities, threatening to burn the house down, presumably with you and his own child in it, you realize you have to compose yourself long enough to get his words down. Be still my still beating heart. You might even put a list of the points by the phone, so that when your heart leaps into your mouth because the man you thought you loved wants to put you through a meat grinder calls, you can still have the presence of mind to do what must be done. What other defense did she have? I think eventually the police were called, but as a child of domestic violence myself, I can assure you, that CALLING THE POLICE IS NO GUARANTEE OF HELP, often pissing off the offender more and alerting him to your serious intention. For the women of the View to presume, or assert otherwise is disingenuous at best and downright ignorance at worst. To see how easily people, including police can be duped one need look no further than Whoopi. Most made the point of saying to the effect that, ‘we aren’t taking Mel’s side, but , , ,”. No, of course not; impugning the reputation, motives, agenda etc. of a brutalized wife by no means implies that Mel might have a case for say, killing her. Yes, the police must be notified, but in the midst of such a vile situation, maybe getting your own proof together might take priority, before Mel learns that he can’t lie his way out of it. Oksana might not be a virgin, or the nicest kid on the block, but she survived. I don’t think they ever invited her on the show did they? Wouldn’t that be where a strong woman would shine? I have been a victim of ‘foot in mouth’ disease so many times, that I really shouldn’t rant when others also open mouth insert foot. But I hope the women of the View and especially Whoopi, who has so many fine qualities going for her, come to their senses about this. In fact, given the special relationship Whoopi has stated she has with Mel, she should probably just recuse herself from any discussion regarding him.
Monday, August 16, 2010
JSTFU About That About Which You Know So Little
For me, I am never at a loss of having something to carp about. Finding the time, energy and will to carp about it is another story. The latest attack on my sensibility is two commercials. The first is for some drug to control fibromyalgia. It pisses me off. The shill begins by talking about the chronic pain and then informs us that doctors say it’s ‘over-active nerves.” I bet they lost sleep coming up with that explanation. But wait, maybe they just consulted with the drug for “over-active” bladder! Yeah, that’s the ticket. Given that both are primarily women’s issues, is it any wonder that both conditions are due to an over-active state? After all, in truth aren’t women supposed to be passive.
It’s ludicrous. Given the deterioration of our air, our food, our water; the “over-active” rush of chemical pollutants into every corner of the earth, must it come as a complete surprise that some women might become overly-sensitive to all this CRAP?! Might it not be possible that these conditions are due to some CRAP that’s in their environment?! Or the absence of any good, organic mineral in our food?!
This is just the newest version of ‘hysteria’, ‘women’s diseases’, and all the other failed medical doctrines throughout his-story. I don’t know who is stupider, the men who concoct this BS or the women who believe it. Such stupidity wears on me and wears me out. Oh, and women, be sure and don’t drive or use machinery when taking these pills. Telling women not to drive etc, doesn’t that sound familiar? In the same way we weren’t supposed to ride horses, ride bicycles, exercise? Didn’t we hear a lot of that last century? And the one before that? This tag line is never delivered in a Viagra commercial for instance. I suppose a 4-hour erection leads men to drive BETTER!
For the sake of what little sanity I have left after the constant onslaught of this sort of nonsense, I have to believe that men, perhaps, mean well in their errant analyses of ‘women’s problems’, but, as a famous, female feminist whose name escapes me just now said: My next essay will be on how it feels to get kicked in the balls.
It’s ludicrous. Given the deterioration of our air, our food, our water; the “over-active” rush of chemical pollutants into every corner of the earth, must it come as a complete surprise that some women might become overly-sensitive to all this CRAP?! Might it not be possible that these conditions are due to some CRAP that’s in their environment?! Or the absence of any good, organic mineral in our food?!
This is just the newest version of ‘hysteria’, ‘women’s diseases’, and all the other failed medical doctrines throughout his-story. I don’t know who is stupider, the men who concoct this BS or the women who believe it. Such stupidity wears on me and wears me out. Oh, and women, be sure and don’t drive or use machinery when taking these pills. Telling women not to drive etc, doesn’t that sound familiar? In the same way we weren’t supposed to ride horses, ride bicycles, exercise? Didn’t we hear a lot of that last century? And the one before that? This tag line is never delivered in a Viagra commercial for instance. I suppose a 4-hour erection leads men to drive BETTER!
For the sake of what little sanity I have left after the constant onslaught of this sort of nonsense, I have to believe that men, perhaps, mean well in their errant analyses of ‘women’s problems’, but, as a famous, female feminist whose name escapes me just now said: My next essay will be on how it feels to get kicked in the balls.
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