Month: June 2020

Not even

Posted on by backuphill

red and yellow stop sticker

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You’ve probably heard this one:

“Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part.”

It’s a great saying. I like it. I try to keep it in perspective when dealing with my personal and work life.

But there are a lot of people who seem to feel the opposite. Everything is an emergency, and it has to be taken care of right now! Like seriously, right now!

We see it all the time in the “Me” culture.

What’s more worrisome is that parents are allowing it or, worse, encouraging it. Children who have every need and want catered to when they are young, instead of having to earn it, work for it, struggle for it, are causing us to see it in society at large. What’s even worse is when two people in a house can’t agree how to handle “emergencies” when it comes to adult children and bad choices. As such, there are a lot of “emergencies” in my life that frustrate the hell outta me.

Anyway, seen a “Karen” lately?

Probably. Definitely can be attributed to the “Me” culture, but could it also be that we have conditioned ourselves to “everything’s an emergency”? As such, people expect to have their every need and want fixed right now.

Let me say, not even.

Karen, children, others…all need to hear that saying above WAY more often.

 

 

Protection?

Posted on by backuphill

face masks on blue background

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Anyone tired of this face condom thing yet?

Scoff? That’s not what it is…you say…

If I understand the science (that is still all over the place on actual effectiveness) I am being told, then that’s exactly what wearing a mask essentially is – a face condom.

So, according to widely spread, not supportable, social media statistics, if two people wear masks there is a 1.5% chance of a healthy person contracting Covid-19 from a sick person. Now, the CDC won’t confirm those numbers because they have no idea of the accuracy, but the claim is always followed up with “it’s just good to be safe and watch out for others.”

OK, so the CDC won’t give stats on this particular issue.

Interestingly, they also don’t give stats (at least I can’t find any) on their website about the effectiveness of condom use. It can be found in other places though. 98% is the number.

That means (roughly) that condoms and masks work (mostly) with the same effectiveness (if you believe the mainstream narrative) from keeping someone from getting something they don’t want.

Thus, 2020 is the Year of the Face Condom.

You’re welcome.

 

Want to?

Posted on by backuphill

Head in Hands

No, actually I don’t want to.

Adulting.

Being required to do things we don’t want to sucks.

No, I don’t want to wear a mask every fricking place I go.

No, I don’t want to follow stupid city and country rules about how to use my own property.

No, I don’t want to go your stupid trainings.

No, I don’t want to help the constantly needy and irresponsible kids, again.

No, I don’t want to mow the lawn.

No, I don’t want to pay stupid taxes so my money can be used by stupid people for stupid things.

No, I am not answering your stupid question(s).

No, I don’t want to pull weeds.

No, I am not going to do your job for you.

No, I don’t want to go to work.

No, I don’t want to share my food.

No, I don’t want to make you food.

No, I don’t want to exercise.

No, I don’t want to eat something other than pizza and burgers. And ice cream. And chocolate chip cookies. And popcorn.

No, I don’t want to see people. Or talk to them.

No, I don’t want to stop rolling my eyes every time you say something.

No, I don’t want to stop pointing out every time you do something stupid and then it bites you in the ass.

No, I don’t want to listen to your ideas.

No. I don’t want to.

No.

I just don’t want to.

Anyone else feeling this way? Anyone agree with anything listed above? Got a “No, don’t want to…” to add?

Tell me what you think or add another in the comments!

 

Shoulda

Posted on by backuphill

fawn pug lying on concrete surface

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I shoulda just called in sick today.

That’s not really the right attitude to have, but work sucks today.

I can think of hundreds of other things I’d rather be doing, or hundreds of other places I’d rather be.

Having a hard time dealing with it.

Just not motivated to exert myself in employment today.

My brain already hurts and I’m tired.

Shoulda. Shoulda done a lot of things. Shoulda, shoulda…

Masks

Posted on by backuphill

man wearing hoodie and mask

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My idiot governor has now “mandated” the use of masks statewide.

I hate the idea. Many, many, many people hate the idea.

The science is all over the place and if there was no need to do it previously (remember, they told us not to…because they were afraid there would be a shortage but now any old piece of fabric supposedly works) than what is the need now?

Power.

Government officials feel their power slipping away. In this state’s case, its likely an ego stroking for the governor too.

So, here we go.

To mask, or not to mask? That is the question.

To sheep or not to sheep? Also a question.

 

Loud and clear

Posted on by backuphill

sunset love lake resort

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You ever feel like you are under-appreciated?

We just passed a holiday of sorts – Father’s Day.

I remembered my dads. I have three (dad and two FILs). It’s an easy thing to do, right? Talk to one, remember the others. Acknowledge them, appreciate them, take time out of your day to help them feel special for a moment. Doesn’t take a long time, but it is important.

Now, background here…I married into a lot of kids the second time around. Most of them adults by the time they came into my life. So now, including spouses of the kids who are married, there are eight.

Could of days ago, I heard from three.

That’s it. Three.

Didn’t hear a peep from 5 of the 8. There haven’t even been any “after the fact” acknowledgements either.

So, now full disclosure, you know the source of a LOT of the Piss and Moan material.

I try to deny the fact and ignore it, but there just isn’t any denying it.

Look, I realize they have another dad. I haven’t ever expected to be the top of the list. But at the very least acknowledged? Yes.

I am not looking for anything fancy, lord knows that most of them can’t afford crap (see other, numerous, posts about adult children living in our house or on our property). But it doesn’t take much to make someone feel appreciated, right?

Is it wrong for me to feel this way?

 

Project overload

Posted on by backuphill

black claw hammer on brown wooden plank

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Spring and summer…

…mean projects.

Somehow, I keep adding projects to my list instead of actually finishing the ones I have already going. I am getting to project overload. Or is it projects overlord? Either way, I have enough to do for the rest of the summer.

I gotta stop this.

I can only track so many things at once. Men have “boxes” and too many “boxes” means that we can’t get anything done because we are trying to arrange and balance those “boxes.”

As such, focus is lost because now I am worrying about how to make those boxes work.

Time to dump boxes and focus on one.

Which is most important? One thing at a time. Please.

Roofers

Posted on by backuphill

architecture build building construction

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The sun is out.

It will be for (at least according to the fairly inaccurate Weather App) for the next two weeks. Of course, weatherpeople can be wrong 80% of the time and still people look to them to provide answers.

Anyway, the roof still hasn’t been done and, as of writing, I have no idea if I am on the schedule for anytime over the next two weeks. Supposedly, two weeks ago, my house was slated to be done the following week when I reached out to them, but that was weather dependent, of course. I understand that part.

Its rather tiresome that the tarp on the roof of the house has been there since mid to late November. In that time, I have contacted 12 roofing companies. Five have come out to give estimates. Two have had signed estimates returned to do the work. One ghosted me. The other is still pending…

I was hoping it would be done before the end of the month, but I guess what little optimist is in me (I am 94% pessimist) is growing tired of waiting.

Tired of the run around. Tired of climbing on the roof to check the tarp. Tired of worrying about water destroying the house. Tired of worrying about ants.

Tired.

Sometimes, not owning a home would be nice.

 

Twitter twits

Posted on by backuphill

apps blur button close up

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I don’t use Twitter.

I’ll make that clear from the start, so I am not completely sure how exactly it works but familiar enough that it’s function and purpose are pretty clear. I have no desire to use Twitter (except maybe to complain about service from companies I have been a customer of since that seems to generate a response).

What I have seen as of late, because everyone who seems to use Twitter also has their other social media connected to it, is that Twitter is used to proffer a lot of unsubstantiated claims about a whole spectrum of subjects (yes, I am aware the President is also guilty of this too).

120 people have been killed by police since George Floyd. 20 days, 120 people.

Now, obviously the unsubstantiated statement above is going to trigger lots of people, considering the climate in the country right now.

That claim has been spread widely on social media. I have seen Twitter messages (shared via Instagram) and Instagram messages propagate this claim. It obviously fans the flames for fear or outright disdain, dare I say “hatred,” for law enforcement. It is meant to be inflammatory. A lot of things these days are purposefully being shared because it fits the narrative they want to believe.

This, of course, is unfortunate.

I am not a Twitter Twit.

I am not one to take something as fact without evaluating the information and it’s source. When I saw this shared by dozens of people I follow on Instagram my first thought wasn’t, “OMG! The police are outta control. Bastards. We should get rid of them all because they’re all bad!” Nope. Not even close. My first thought was, “What is the source of this claim? Where did they get this info? Is this true?”

I looked. I investigated.

Not a single person who shared this claim offered any sort of proof, source, data, etc. It was shared based on emotion and agenda – “Truth be damned!”

So I dug.

As it turns out, I could only find one article checking the accuracy of this claim. Conclusion of the article? It might be accurate, I might not be accurate. As usual, it depends on how you interpret the data…data that is incomplete and not “official,” and data that might be inaccurate or biased. Oh, and I would like to point out the site’s “About” page does offer a glimpse into WHO is doing the fact checking, but as all fact checking sites do, it claims to be bias free. Take that as a grain of salt, as the WHO have also been involved with traditionally liberal journalistic organizations.

Anyway, Twitter is filled with lots of twits who care nothing for the truth. Just that it generates a lot of likes and retweets, likes and shares, etc. etc. etc.

Conclusion: Twitter is mostly useless.

Tweet that, twits!

 

Hey, Siri!

Posted on by backuphill

apple applications apps cell phone

Photo by Tracy Le Blanc on Pexels.com

Get clicks.

Promote the fear of law enforcement to support an agenda.

Encourage illegal behavior for the sake of making money.

“Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over.”

Interesting thing…it’s illegal to record someone without their knowledge (this article takes you to WA, specifically, but you can scroll to the top and see all states) and none of these articles mention that fact at all. They don’t even recommend to check local laws to find out what is legal and what isn’t.

Looking at all the articles, they even read very similarly, like they are written as a press release and the authors just changed some words around and hit publish.

Only one article cautioned about using a third party app (this is not an official app or feature from Apple) but only in passing. So, they are promoting an app or feature that is developed by a third party and there is almost nothing about the data the feature may collect. Lack of concern is interesting. What are they getting for their promotion?

This stuff is irritating because it is playing into and promoting the narrative that we need to fear the police, which is incorrect. Plain and simple fear-mongering to justify clicks.