I’m writing this at Folio, doing some reading and writing away from Dean and Robert’s almost-daily 2- to 4-hour kitchen conversations.
It’s 95° out, which is hotter than Folio’s air conditioning can conquer, so it’s slightly sweaty here. Stupidly, I took a window seat, where the sunshine showers me. |
| CRANKY OLD FART #442 [archive] AUG. 7, 2024 |
Diagonal from me, but in my peripheral line of sight, there’s a man of about my age, who’s (I guess?) meditating. He came in about five minutes after me, took the chair at my 10:00 position, and he’s been sitting there for half an hour, lotus-position in his chair, eyes sometimes closed, sometimes open but vacant.
Could be worse, I suppose. He could be ohmming.
And yup, soon as I think that thought, he starts softly ohmming. I’ll look for a seat in one of the other rooms.
Almost always an indy business is preferred — restaurant, theater, whatever — over a chain, but there are occasional disappointments.
• Bob Johnson’s Pharmacy has been handling my prescriptions for the past year or so, or I should say, mishandling. The latest go-around is ordinary: It’s taken three phone calls reiterating the same info three times, to get them to finally mail my prescriptions to me. Whoops, you wanted these mailed? and Sorry, we misplaced your credit card info. Something seems to go wrong almost every time, so this’ll be the last time.
• Teto’s Cantina is a Mexican place that’s locally owned, with a few locations. I tried the “Grande Burrito” at their Capitol Hill taqueria, with “your choice of meat.” My choice was chicken, but the burrito was 75% rice, 23% beans, all drizzled with white fat. There were exactly five thimble-size bits of chicken, and the burrito was dry, and so nearly flavorless that I couldn’t finish it.
Despite my hatred of the chains, there are rare occasions when I’d like the comfort of name-brand fast-food. But the “dollar menu” is gone, replaced by a “value menu” that’s really no value.
Last time I walked into Wendy’s, the smallest burger was $6.99, triple the price from just a few years ago. And at McDonald’s, the only way to be a customer is to use the kiosk, but the kiosk malfunctions reliably, or it’s just too much for an old man to figure out.
In my most recent attempt and failure, the machine taunted me by offering reduced prices if I download the app and log in. No, man. Once in a great while I’d like a Big Mac, but I’ll never want one enough to get the app.
One of the temp agencies I used to work with called, and offered me a two-week gig at Whitewater Marine. That’s a shipping concern that operates out of the Port of Seattle, which I know only because the same agency had sent me to the same assignment 10½ months ago.
I’d liked my one day at Whitewater, but this time I told the agency I’m retired, and they said they’d remove me from their roster. Man, I love being “out of work.”
Since there’s no chance that any prospective employer will be sniffing my urine, I’m on my way to a cannabis store, and I’ll be mentally unavailable for the rest of the day.
Here now, the news…
We’re supposed to believe Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was “the mastermind of 9/11/2001” and the others were his henchmen, but I never will, not when any ‘evidence’ was obtained via torture, with no trial, and with so many years of imprisonment in a place chosen and intended to be beyond the reach of any limits to cruel and unusual punishment.
But the next day there’s this — Defense secretary kills plea bargain for alleged “9/11 mastermind” and two other defendants — so they’ll be held for *another* twenty years without a trial.
I don’t understand anyone who’s “proud to be an American.” I’m ashamed.
In pictures: Banners in Paris against the Olympics
Evangelical pastor who condemned “wicked” & “evil” queers is arrested in sex sting operation
Twitter sues ex-advertisers for not advertising on Twitter
Golf course to be removed from atop ancient Native American earthworks
Judge throws out $4.7-billion verdict against NFL in ‘Sunday Ticket’ lawsuit In America, big money never loses.
Dems’ VP-candidate Tim Walz owns no stocks
Has this ever happened before — a non-stock-owner on a major presidential ticket?
Even more than the switcheroo to Kamala Harris for president, I am surprised by having Tim Walz as the VP-candidate. He’s no AOC, but he’s neither sucky nor blah, and there are only about a dozen Democrats in any office I’d say that about (not Harris, certainly).
From hospice, Jimmy Carter endorses Kamala Harris
Georgia’s new online voter portal makes it easy to screw with other people’s registrations
News media sues over Louisiana law making it a crime to be within 25 feet of a cop
Climate emergency:
• Study: Climate change could trigger the spread of novel cholera strains
• “Astonishing” Antarctica heat wave sends temperatures 50 degrees above normal
• Size of tropical glaciers at lowest point in at least 11,000 years
• Heat raises fears of “demise” for Great Barrier Reef within a generation
• Climate change deniers make up nearly a quarter of US Congress … but there’s money to be made, so la di da, la di da.
The Republican road to fascism:
• Crow Jim: Project 2025’s obsession with reverse racism
• A Republican state’s Attorney General fights to keep exonerated prisoners behind bars
• Trump continues to be baffled by the concept of Harris being biracial
• Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) demands advertisers explain why they don’t advertise on MAGA media sites
• Trump’s response to Harris calling him weird is actually so weird
• Appeals court further narrows scope of Voting Rights Act
• Trump congratulates Putin over deal that brought Evan Gershkovich home
• JD Vance is an investor in a video platform that hosts neo-nazi and white supremacist content
All cops are bastards:
• Internal Atlanta police records reveal monitoring of “Cop City” opponents’ political activity
• Sonya Massey’s mother called 9-1-1 and asked police not to hurt daughter, before shooting death
• Prosecutors say they plan to charge former police chief over Kansas newspaper raid
• Former Lee County sheriff’s deputy accused of stealing from motorists during traffic stops
• “He had everyone fooled”: Former FBI agent sentenced to life for child rape in Alabama
⚡ LINKS FOR THINKS ⚡
• Back to BASIC—the most consequential programming language in the history of computing
The only coding I ever did was in BASIC, and it was a blast — creating two all-text video games.
• To fight surveillance pricing, we need privacy first.
⚰️ DEAD PEOPLE ⚰️
Billy Bean
out baseballer
Joyce Brabner
wife of Harvey Pekar
Twinkle Borge
activist
Peter Dykstra
journalist
Edmar Goncalves
forgotten person
Leonard Hayflick
anatomist, “the Hayflick Limit”
Wayne Johnson
charity chef
Pavel Kushnir
pianist, hunger striker
Laurie Lindeen
rock’n’roller, Zuzu’s Petals
Adam Scott Miller
artist
Kenneth “Marley” Partee
forgotten person
Julien Terzics
antifa
Robin Warren
stomach ulcers
8/7/2024
Cranky Old Fart is annoyed and complains and very occasionally offers a kindness, along with anything off the internet that’s made me smile or snarl. All opinions fresh from my ass. Top illustration by Jeff Meyer. Click any image to enlarge. Comments & conversations invited.
Tip ‘o the hat to the Anderson Valley Advertiser, Atomic Raunch, Bleepity-Bleep, Breakfast at Ralf’s, Dirty Blonde Mind, Ensalada de lengua de pajaritos, Jesus Is My Hostage, Lemmy.world, A Sudden Violent Jerk, Mr Souza’s Happy Place, Voenix Rising, and anywhere else I’ve stolen links, illustrations, or inspiration.
Special thanks to Linden Arden, Becky Jo, Wynn Bruce, Joey Jo Jo emeritus, Jeff Meyer, John the Basket, Dave S, Name Withheld, and always extra special thanks to my lovely late Stephanie, who gave me 21 years and
proved that the world isn’t always shitty.
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