Why do people try to figure out how to time-travel when we have it already in our power to move forward or backward in time? Yes we can. By using our brains. For instance, I can think about the house I lived in over 70 years ago, and it as though I were there again. Also, I can visualize a future time in my "mind's eye" ..
For now, let's travel back to 2008 and see what was going on then.. and maybe guess at what became of that period's burning issues, and what may happen to them in the future.
Year 2008: P. Babcock. 35, of Kansas had been sitting on her boyfriend's toilet for two years. As a result, her skin had grown around the seat. The seat was detached and forwarded with Pam to the local hospital, where it was surgically removed from her butt.
Year 2018: P. probably is one of those 600 pound plus persons now and probably would crush any old fashioned toilet seat. We'll never know for sure, but we can guess and visualize.
Year 2028: I predict that P goes to Doctor M in Atlanta and loses 450 pounds after a stomach by-pass procedure. After a "flabby skin shave," P becomes a svelte model. Nobody knows she is 55 years old. She and her boyfriend have started their own business, selling organic toilet seats.
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Year 2008: A 50-year-old woman in Saudi Arabia filed for divorce because he husband lifted up her veil and looked at her face while she was sleeping. She had kept her face hidden for 30 years and although her husband apologized, she will not forgive him.
Year 2018: I suspect there was a different reason for hiding her face than religious fervor. She probably was ugly as hell. Today, at 60, she is probably wishing she still had her ex husband in her lonely life. Although, now that she can legally drive, maybe she would not need a husband anymore.
Year 2028: The Saudi woman tricked everyone by becoming one of the wives of the new crown prince.. the former one is awaiting execution for the murder of some journalist or other. At 70 years of age, she runs the harem. Since she was 50 years old, no other man has even tried to sneak a peek at her face.
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Year 2008: German tour company OssiUrlaub has started the world's first nudist airline. After boarding, passengers can drop their trousers and sit on hygienic seat covers, as they wing it to a "naturist" spa on a Baltic island.
Year 2018: Some nudists have planned weddings on that Baltic island and some now have even had their weddings on the plane. There have been some problems with that though, like when the wedding party couldn't agree on who was the "best man," and then they didn't like where he wanted to hold the ring.
Year 2028: Since the whole Baltic area has now become mandatory nudist territory, many airlines serve that population. Lots of folks fly in for a vacation where they can "hang out" for a fortnight.
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Year 2008: Yoda, the cat with four ears, has become an Internet sensation. However, many people feel that Yoda is the devil incarnate. She certainly looks evil enough. And who can prove that is not true.
Year 2018: At 20 years of age, Yoda does not seem to be aging as her fellow felines. Perhaps she is the devil, or at least an imp. She has a big staff of humans who do her every bidding. But then, that is not much different from what other cats manage.
Year 2028: Now 40 years old, Yoda is still around. She hasn't even begun to work on Life #2. One suspects now that Yoda is really Donald Trump, former President. We all know that DJT disappeared early in 2019 when Nancy Pelosi put a curse on him. As evil as he was, he must have made a pact with the devil to keep people working for him. We wonder what he offered Satan for his transformation, because he obviously did not have a soul to barter with.
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Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Sunday, December 16, 2018
Quick Views
I'm finding less and less time to do blog entries, but I need to keep my fingertips in the pot.. so to speak. So, here are a few thoughts.
Toys R $ for this Kid: Ryan, who is 7 years old, reviews toys on YouTube and this earned him $22 million in 2017! Almost as much as trump received from his father when he was 7 years old.
(When I was 7 years old, my 2nd grade teacher slugged me. I must have done something really bad.)
(My short-lived life of crime probably started in 2nd grade. It stopped when I was in 4th grade. And there is an amazing story there, which I recount in other blog entries.)
(A poor little 7 year old died from dehydration after her trip from Guatemala, to our nasty border. I would bet that there are lots more bad stories like this. When will we ever learn?)
Retirement $ for this Retiree: I read where Americans expect to have saved $250,000 by retirement, although they feel as though they need $610,000. Doesn't seem to add up. Experts say that if you want a "nice" retirement, you need to have saved at least $1,000,000 at retirement time. (I was a millionaire once, believe it or not.)
However, retirement living in a continuing care community ate most of that up in short order. But... the community will take care of me til I die, even if all of the rest of my money evaporates.. so the expense is worth it, in my opinion.
They will probably win their case if the judge rules like was done in another case where a guy broke into a home to burglarize it, hurt himself, and then sued for damages... and got them!
............................................................................................................................................................
Toys R $ for this Kid: Ryan, who is 7 years old, reviews toys on YouTube and this earned him $22 million in 2017! Almost as much as trump received from his father when he was 7 years old.
(When I was 7 years old, my 2nd grade teacher slugged me. I must have done something really bad.)
(My short-lived life of crime probably started in 2nd grade. It stopped when I was in 4th grade. And there is an amazing story there, which I recount in other blog entries.)
(A poor little 7 year old died from dehydration after her trip from Guatemala, to our nasty border. I would bet that there are lots more bad stories like this. When will we ever learn?)
Retirement $ for this Retiree: I read where Americans expect to have saved $250,000 by retirement, although they feel as though they need $610,000. Doesn't seem to add up. Experts say that if you want a "nice" retirement, you need to have saved at least $1,000,000 at retirement time. (I was a millionaire once, believe it or not.)
Pending Legal Claim: Two women who broke into a closed amusement park are suing for injuries sustained when they were hurt sliding down a non-operating mechanical ride. They want damages because the park owners "should have had safety features which worked when the ride was shut off.
They will probably win their case if the judge rules like was done in another case where a guy broke into a home to burglarize it, hurt himself, and then sued for damages... and got them!
............................................................................................................................................................
Sunday, December 9, 2018
Some More Stuff
Lots going on. Schadenfreude nochmals over problems that trump is having. Seems to me that he is already an "indicted" co-conspiritor with Cohen and Manafort.
Here are a few life items in no specific order.
1. Son Chris and his beautiful wife, Kathleen, are waiting (not patiently) for my new grandson to be born. Chris says that Kathleen is eating special foods known to hasten birthing. Her due date is next Thursday, December 13th. My daughter, Diane, will be acting "doolah" to assist and encourage Kathleen in the birthing room. Should be a very happy time.
2. A Netflix presentation from the Korean Broadcasting System, has a section in which they discuss how to eliminate Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT). They interview a lady with CMT who had the CMT gene removed from sperm and ovum (I think.) The Chinese are messing with genes too. Soon, we will all live forever... not me.. I' already too old. My new grandson should live a very long life. I just hope that trump disappears so that the world will not disappear too.
3. At yesterday's Genealogy Gang meeting, we discussed DNA, and of course, I monopolized the conversation. I'm waiting for Douglas Ivan Gifford's DNA test through Ancestry to be finalized. There could be three results: a. He is my brother. b. He is my cousin. c. He is an adoptee and is not a Gifford after all. Time will tell.
4. Also, as the meeting, I mentioned how one can easily set up a blog and fill it with family information and then cheaply (I think) print it into a nice book. I did this twice and have two very nice books. I'll bring them into the meeting next month.
Enough for now... I don't have much time for blogging lately.
Here are a few life items in no specific order.
1. Son Chris and his beautiful wife, Kathleen, are waiting (not patiently) for my new grandson to be born. Chris says that Kathleen is eating special foods known to hasten birthing. Her due date is next Thursday, December 13th. My daughter, Diane, will be acting "doolah" to assist and encourage Kathleen in the birthing room. Should be a very happy time.
2. A Netflix presentation from the Korean Broadcasting System, has a section in which they discuss how to eliminate Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT). They interview a lady with CMT who had the CMT gene removed from sperm and ovum (I think.) The Chinese are messing with genes too. Soon, we will all live forever... not me.. I' already too old. My new grandson should live a very long life. I just hope that trump disappears so that the world will not disappear too.
3. At yesterday's Genealogy Gang meeting, we discussed DNA, and of course, I monopolized the conversation. I'm waiting for Douglas Ivan Gifford's DNA test through Ancestry to be finalized. There could be three results: a. He is my brother. b. He is my cousin. c. He is an adoptee and is not a Gifford after all. Time will tell.
4. Also, as the meeting, I mentioned how one can easily set up a blog and fill it with family information and then cheaply (I think) print it into a nice book. I did this twice and have two very nice books. I'll bring them into the meeting next month.
Enough for now... I don't have much time for blogging lately.
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Even More Observations
I guess djt can't control himself. After fighting with another war hero, he is into it with Chief Justice Roberts!
This week, djt also said that he is a Nationalist. Well.. so was Hitler. This is what Charles de Gaulle said on the subject:
"Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate of people other than your own comes first."
................................................................................
Names can hurt: Jessica Manafort wants to legally change her name to Jessica Anne Bond. She says that she is a "passionate liberal" and a filmmaker. She says that the name will more closely reflect her profession. (How? I think she just wants to keep people from judging her by her father, Paul Manafort.
....................................................................................
New Scrabble Words: Two new legal words have now been added to the Scrabble vocabulary:
ew and ok
....................................................................................
Shame! Last July, Facebook censored five paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence for being inappropriate.
......................................................................................,
Appropriate word: Dictionary.com named "complicit" as the 2017 Word of the Year. It means: "Choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others."
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
This week, djt also said that he is a Nationalist. Well.. so was Hitler. This is what Charles de Gaulle said on the subject:
"Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate of people other than your own comes first."
................................................................................
Names can hurt: Jessica Manafort wants to legally change her name to Jessica Anne Bond. She says that she is a "passionate liberal" and a filmmaker. She says that the name will more closely reflect her profession. (How? I think she just wants to keep people from judging her by her father, Paul Manafort.
....................................................................................
New Scrabble Words: Two new legal words have now been added to the Scrabble vocabulary:
ew and ok
....................................................................................
Shame! Last July, Facebook censored five paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence for being inappropriate.
......................................................................................,
Appropriate word: Dictionary.com named "complicit" as the 2017 Word of the Year. It means: "Choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others."
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Friday, November 16, 2018
Some More Observations
Our furnace gave out today at 2 am - on a 28 degree day with 6 inches of snow. OY!
Deja bus
Recently, a Greyhound bus driver lost his way on a trip from Ohio to New York. Passengers got a little alarmed when they saw the same gas station over and over through their windows. The driver, who was (as women say: a typical male) refused help from passengers with GPS apps and he finally completed the run, although he was 4 hours late.
I recently gave up and decided that I will now fully utilize the GPS system in our van, rather than get lost, as I did a couple of times so far in 2018.
How could I have ever gotten lost, because all of my life I have been blessed with internal maps.. it started when I was given a two-week stay at Camp Royal Ambassador, in Maine. A friend's father drove us up and through Boston, and I was able to guide him through the Boston mess, and then guide him back home at the end of the stay. (I think I was 12 years old.)
Yes, I know, I need to tell you how I got lost two times in 2018.
First: My granddaughter, Adrienne, was getting married on an out-of-the-way farm in Pennsylvania. I decided that we should do a dry run to get there, so we would not get lost on the wedding day.
Carefully plotting the way on a map and following good signage, we made the trip in under one hour.
So, now that we had done the trip successfully once, we should have no trouble getting to the wedding on time. Wrong! In one of the small towns we went through there was a fork in the road. This time, I took the wrong fork and we ended up lost and late for the wedding.
In a panic, I used my cell phone to call my son, Chris, to see if he could give me directions from where we were. Chris said: "Don't you have GPS?"
Holy cow! Yes I did, even though I had never used it or felt that I needed it. But now.. being lost, I decided to get baptized in my GPS System. Bingo! It gave us instructions that allowed us to get to the wedding only 45 minutes late... and they had held up the wedding for us.
Now, I said to myself: Dumb Ass! Start to use the GPS. Lose that stupid pride!
Last: I attended a function in Glen Burnie, Maryland and I asked myself: how hard could it be to get there without the GPS? No problem. I rolled right along and got there in plenty of time. However, the return trip boggled my mind.. I thought sure that I would have no problem reversing my arrival channels. Dump ass again! For a trip that would have taken me 45 minutes, I spent 90 minutes acting like that Greyhound driver. I hope that I have now learned to stifle my pride and use my GPS.
BORING! Yes, I know.
In the Buff Stuff
Some Florida folks are asking the police to stop one of their neighbors from mowing his grass or washing his car in the nude. Is there a Constitutional amendment for this?
Once, my late wife and I were asked to deliver an important package to an acquaintance who played for the Boston Symphony. We tracked him down to a seaside cottage across town. My wife and I knocked on the front door of the cottage and when it opened, we saw what probably was half of the Boston Symphony artists playing their instruments in the nude.
There was police blotter notice about a woman who complained that her neighbor walked around his property in the nude. When the policeman went to investigate, he noted that there was a fifteen foot fence all along his property. When he asked the woman how she could see the nude man when the high wall would block anyone's view. She replied, "Well, if you stand on a ladder, you have a good view."
................................................................................
\
Deja bus
Recently, a Greyhound bus driver lost his way on a trip from Ohio to New York. Passengers got a little alarmed when they saw the same gas station over and over through their windows. The driver, who was (as women say: a typical male) refused help from passengers with GPS apps and he finally completed the run, although he was 4 hours late.
I recently gave up and decided that I will now fully utilize the GPS system in our van, rather than get lost, as I did a couple of times so far in 2018.
How could I have ever gotten lost, because all of my life I have been blessed with internal maps.. it started when I was given a two-week stay at Camp Royal Ambassador, in Maine. A friend's father drove us up and through Boston, and I was able to guide him through the Boston mess, and then guide him back home at the end of the stay. (I think I was 12 years old.)
Yes, I know, I need to tell you how I got lost two times in 2018.
First: My granddaughter, Adrienne, was getting married on an out-of-the-way farm in Pennsylvania. I decided that we should do a dry run to get there, so we would not get lost on the wedding day.
Carefully plotting the way on a map and following good signage, we made the trip in under one hour.
So, now that we had done the trip successfully once, we should have no trouble getting to the wedding on time. Wrong! In one of the small towns we went through there was a fork in the road. This time, I took the wrong fork and we ended up lost and late for the wedding.
In a panic, I used my cell phone to call my son, Chris, to see if he could give me directions from where we were. Chris said: "Don't you have GPS?"
Holy cow! Yes I did, even though I had never used it or felt that I needed it. But now.. being lost, I decided to get baptized in my GPS System. Bingo! It gave us instructions that allowed us to get to the wedding only 45 minutes late... and they had held up the wedding for us.
Now, I said to myself: Dumb Ass! Start to use the GPS. Lose that stupid pride!
Last: I attended a function in Glen Burnie, Maryland and I asked myself: how hard could it be to get there without the GPS? No problem. I rolled right along and got there in plenty of time. However, the return trip boggled my mind.. I thought sure that I would have no problem reversing my arrival channels. Dump ass again! For a trip that would have taken me 45 minutes, I spent 90 minutes acting like that Greyhound driver. I hope that I have now learned to stifle my pride and use my GPS.
BORING! Yes, I know.
In the Buff Stuff
Some Florida folks are asking the police to stop one of their neighbors from mowing his grass or washing his car in the nude. Is there a Constitutional amendment for this?
Once, my late wife and I were asked to deliver an important package to an acquaintance who played for the Boston Symphony. We tracked him down to a seaside cottage across town. My wife and I knocked on the front door of the cottage and when it opened, we saw what probably was half of the Boston Symphony artists playing their instruments in the nude.
There was police blotter notice about a woman who complained that her neighbor walked around his property in the nude. When the policeman went to investigate, he noted that there was a fifteen foot fence all along his property. When he asked the woman how she could see the nude man when the high wall would block anyone's view. She replied, "Well, if you stand on a ladder, you have a good view."
................................................................................
\
Monday, November 12, 2018
Observations
Looking at some entries in my old "Joe Reads the News" blog, I find lots of comments from Arabs.. most of it in Arabic, but a little in English. They say they like the blog... I wonder why.
To take my mind off of some sad things this last week.. I will try to obtain catharsis by mentioning things in the recent news cycles that appear weird to me.
But, before that, let me quote a famous philosopher:
"People say, 'I'm going to sleep now,' as if it were nothing. But it's really a bizarre activity. 'For the next several hours while the sun is gone, I'm going to become unconscious, temporarily losing command over everything I know and understand. When the sun returns,, I will resume my life.' If you didn't know what sleep was and you had only seen it in a science fiction movie, you would think it was weird and tell all your friends about the movie you'd seen." George Carlin
Think about it!
Are we in Kansas yet, Toto?
Using the forensic talents of the FBI, the famous ruby slippers from The Wizard Of Oz movie were recovered and returned to the Minnesota museum where they were stolen 13 years ago.
That reminds me of a great recent cartoon that showed Trump as the Wizard, but with the curtain behind him opened enough to show Putin manipulating Trump's strings.
No poopie on the floor, Chickie.
It had to happen. Recently, people have begun to keep chickens as pets. So, an enterprising lady in New Hampshire has opened a business selling cloth diapers for chickens.
Famous Hoaxer Dies... maybe.
Alan Abel died in October. He was a hoaxer extraordinaire! Some of his hoaxes were:
He founded SINA (the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, whose motto was: A nude horse is a rude horse. The stated goal of the society was to clothe any animal "that stands higher than 4 inches or is longer than 6 inches."
He founded Omar's School for Beggars in New York City. This was designed for the newly poor to learn the "tricks of the trade."
He started the First Topless String Quartet (Bach with Breasts.)
In 1980, he faked his own death. Fake grieving widow; fake undertaker; fake obituaries. He "rose from the dead" a little while later. However, he was now afraid that if he were to really die, nobody would believe it. (We'll see.)
Interfaith Hypocricy
Recently, famous sycophant, Mike Pence, made a big show of meeting with a "rabbi" to honor the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. As usual, Mike showed his true feelings, because the "rabbi" was Loren Jacobs, a Messianic Jew, who tries to convert Jews to Christianity.
........................................................................
To take my mind off of some sad things this last week.. I will try to obtain catharsis by mentioning things in the recent news cycles that appear weird to me.
But, before that, let me quote a famous philosopher:
"People say, 'I'm going to sleep now,' as if it were nothing. But it's really a bizarre activity. 'For the next several hours while the sun is gone, I'm going to become unconscious, temporarily losing command over everything I know and understand. When the sun returns,, I will resume my life.' If you didn't know what sleep was and you had only seen it in a science fiction movie, you would think it was weird and tell all your friends about the movie you'd seen." George Carlin
Think about it!
Are we in Kansas yet, Toto?
Using the forensic talents of the FBI, the famous ruby slippers from The Wizard Of Oz movie were recovered and returned to the Minnesota museum where they were stolen 13 years ago.
That reminds me of a great recent cartoon that showed Trump as the Wizard, but with the curtain behind him opened enough to show Putin manipulating Trump's strings.
No poopie on the floor, Chickie.
It had to happen. Recently, people have begun to keep chickens as pets. So, an enterprising lady in New Hampshire has opened a business selling cloth diapers for chickens.
Famous Hoaxer Dies... maybe.
Alan Abel died in October. He was a hoaxer extraordinaire! Some of his hoaxes were:
He founded SINA (the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, whose motto was: A nude horse is a rude horse. The stated goal of the society was to clothe any animal "that stands higher than 4 inches or is longer than 6 inches."
He founded Omar's School for Beggars in New York City. This was designed for the newly poor to learn the "tricks of the trade."
He started the First Topless String Quartet (Bach with Breasts.)
In 1980, he faked his own death. Fake grieving widow; fake undertaker; fake obituaries. He "rose from the dead" a little while later. However, he was now afraid that if he were to really die, nobody would believe it. (We'll see.)
Interfaith Hypocricy
Recently, famous sycophant, Mike Pence, made a big show of meeting with a "rabbi" to honor the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. As usual, Mike showed his true feelings, because the "rabbi" was Loren Jacobs, a Messianic Jew, who tries to convert Jews to Christianity.
........................................................................
Saturday, November 10, 2018
"Worst of Times and the Best of Times"
Recently, I learned through DNA that I had a cousin named Pat Shinn. Pat lived in Florida with her daughter Cheryl and other relatives. We go acquainted by mail and Pat wished that I was the brother that she never had (her twin brother died close to birth.) I was pleased to grant her wish and become her putative brother Joe. We had a nice correspondence going on until last week when she passed away because of diabetes complications. This was very sad and a "worse time" for me... but also a "best time" because I had gotten to know a sweet "sister" I didn't know I had... even though it was for a short time.
Rescquiat in pacem, dear sister.
Rescquiat in pacem, dear sister.
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