I’d contributed in the past, but it’s more a blessing to receive than to give, so yesterday was my first visit to a food bank.
I was expecting a bureaucracy, with forms to be filed, ID and citizenship and income to be confirmed, but it was the most pleasant surprise since April gave me a blow job circa 1982.No questions asked.You simply walk in, and the place is laid out like the world’s smallest convenience store. You grab a handheld basket, and take what you need.My main hope was for some bread, but the bread shelf was empty (I should’ve come earlier in the day). The other shelves had plenty, though, and I got all the canned goods I usually have at home — corn, peas, chicken soup, sliced peaches, etc.Then, just like in a store, you bring your basket to a cashier for bagging, only the cashier doesn’t have a cash register and there’s no paying. She simply bagged my groceries, we exchanged some brief pleasantries, and I rode the bus home.This is the way a charity should work — no hassles, no humiliation, only help — so my sincere kudos and thanks and a rave review for the Sodo Community Market, a service of Northwest Harvest. ♦ ♦ ♦
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| CRANKY OLD FART #424 [archive] MAY 21, 2024 |
Donald Trump is your dumbass wingnut uncle — a doofus with a head full of dumb opinions he loudly shares about everything, always wrong and always mean.That’s all he is, but he was born rich, had money all his life, so nobody’s ever told him to shut up or slugged him in the nose.Being the world’s most famous loudmouth know-nothing, about 40,000,000 dumbass wingnut uncles made him President once, and might again.
Powered by AI in Windows 11, Microsoft has proudly announced ‘Recall’, which “records everything users do on their PC, including activities in apps, communications in live meetings, and websites visited for research.”For, you know, reference purposes? They’re calling this a ‘feature’, but it’s a venomous bug. Who would want their computer tracking and remembering and taking screenshots every few seconds, always?
This article at The Atlantic, New 9/11 evidence points to deep Saudi complicity,
seems painfully naïve. It’s surprised right from the top that decades
of claims that al-Qaeda alone was behind the attacks of 9/11/2001 might
not be true. Puh-lease. Haven’t we known this for about twenty-three
years?Here’s the excerpt that got my attention:Astonishingly,
the attacks of 9/11 had little effect on the Saudi approach to
religious extremism, as diplomats and intelligence officials have
attested. What finally changed royal minds was the experience of
suffering an attack on Saudi soil. In May 2003, gunmen and suicide
bombers struck three residential compounds in Riyadh, killing 39 people.
The authorities attributed the attacks to al-Qaeda, and cooperation
with the U.S. improved quickly and dramatically.① There’s
nothing ‘astonishing’ here. Saudi Arabia is a monstrous theocracy and in
no sense an ally of anything any sane American would want. But mostly ② the paragraph in its entirety is again naïvely accepting whatever ‘authorities’ say — in this case, that al-Qaeda did another dastardly deed.Much more likely, that attack on Saudi soil was planned and/or executed by the CIA or some US agency you’ve never heard of, and blamed on al-Qaeda. RIP, 39 people, but America got the policy cooperation it wanted, and to America, that’s all that matters.Any
evidence for such charges, Doug? Nah, just a lifetime’s experience
watching how the US government conducts its ‘foreign affairs’.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi says kooky Republican Senator Lindsey Graham’s call for nuking Gaza is “extremely regrettable.” And the Japanese know a thing or two about such things.
From vaccines to smoking to climate change, news reports about scientific matters usually say that scientists “believe” instead of scientists “know” something. Seems a tiny thing, but that word choice adds a measurable element of doubt for ordinary people, even on matters where there’s no doubt at all.
I bought a lot of superhero comics when I was a kid, mostly DC but with a smattering of Marvel, and I even subscribed to a few titles, like Detective Comics (Batman) and Fat Fury.
But jeez, it’s wacky to learn that DC and Marvel jointly hold a trademark on the very word ‘superhero’. Thank Zeus, someone’s suing to overturn this.
♫♬ MUSIC YOU SHOULD HEAR ♫ Blowin’ in the Wind
by Bob Dylan God Is A Freak
by Peach PRC Industrial Disease
by Dire Straits Take Me to the River
by The Eurythmics The World is a Beautiful Place
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
⚰️ DEAD PEOPLE ⚰️ Ivan Boesky
just another capitalist Robert Dennard
dynamic random-access memory Ebrahim Raisi
son of a bitch
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 AVA, BoingBoing, Breakfast at Ralf’s, Chuff, Dirty Blonde Mind, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, Lemmy.world, Looking for My Perfect Sandwich, Miss Miriam’s Mirror, 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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