Community | Piss and Moan

Bent but not broken

Posted on June 27, 2019 by backuphill

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Can you believe some people use this as justification for breaking the rules?

Recently someone said, “Well, you never said I couldn’t…” – fill in the blank. They had bent the agreed upon limitation (rule, if you will) so that it could accommodate their desired outcome.

So, if that is the case, unless we explicitly define every possible circumstance then bending the rules is fine. Never mind the intent of the rule, or even the law.

That’s the problem today with society. We will do whatever we can to make things as easy and accommodating to get what we want. We find every way possible to bend the rules, which we know is wrong to do, just so we can get what we want.

Speeding? Oh, well, I was going downhill.

Cheating on a test? Well, is it really cheating if they didn’t say I couldn’t use the book?

Affair? It’s not an affair because we didn’t have sex.

Murder? Oh, well, I didn’t want the as yet to be born baby.

Sick day from work? No, I wasn’t sick but everyone does it. It was for my “mental health,” and go to the beach.

Which, or what, bent rule irritates you the most?

Don’t be that guy

Posted on June 26, 2019 by backuphill

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Don’t be that guy.

Or that one.

Or even that one.

What is with people and leaving their trash cans or recycle cans (or all their cans) out on the road after pickup? I mean seriously. Is it that much work to put your cans away?

I drive through the neighborhood and there are four or five people in about 4 blocks that have had their cans out since the last pickup day…5 days ago…

Don’t be that guy.

Take in your can(s).

If you’re out of town, arrange for someone to do it for you. Otherwise, you really have no excuse. You have to drive or walk by it when you return home so take care of it!

Oh, and while you’re at it, don’t be that guy that lets the animals or birds spread your garbage all over the place either. That’s just irresponsible and lazy.

Do you have any neighbors that do anything that drive you nuts? What do they do to send you over the edge?

Half truth

Posted on June 19, 2019 by backuphill

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I think I have talked about this before, but I can’t find the past post. I think it had something to do with “omission,” when someone intentionally leaves out part of the truth. I guess that means it is possibly “half the truth.”

But really, do you just get the feeling like you’re being lied to? Like something just isn’t quite right?

I can’t put my finger on it, but I know when I am being lied to. Or, as some would say, just not getting all the truth. Let’s just say too past experiences have developed this sense.

I don’t get this feeling at or from work.

Relationships are hard. Sometimes I just wanna be alone and not deal with it all. If I try to ignore it, will it just go away?

Perhaps I just don’t like people. No, not perhaps. I mostly don’t. like. people.

OK, to be fair, most people. I don’t like most people. There, I said it.

Maybe I am just tired of distrusting people. I would like to trust them, but I am finding the trust is misplaced. So, trust is hard to come by.

The fog of life has got me thinking…

Anyone else have trust issues? Do you find you keep putting in the wrong places or people? What do you do to build it, keep it, etc.?

Priorities matter

Posted on June 14, 2019 by backuphill

grayscale photo of human lying on ground covered of cardboard box

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If you’re homeless in California, you gotta be wondering what the hell is going on in the state.

If you’re political grandstanding, like California politicians, then you know exactly what is going on.

Fund healthcare for young illegal aliens, but continue to allow your streets to fill up with homeless camps and drug addicts, most of whom are legal citizens.

Yeah, that makes logical sense.

This from a state that was in a budget crisis emergency not too many years back, and one that continues to tax people and businesses right out of the state. Oh, and throw in a possible economic downturn in the near future and you have yourself a situation rife for another budget crisis.

But hey, people in the country illegally make a louder splash in the news politically than doing something about the homeless crisis.

As usual, California has things backwards and priorities in the wrong place.

Ask not

Posted on June 6, 2019 by backuphill

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What can you do for me? What am I going to get out of it?

That seems to be the prevailing question these days. No one does anything for free, or because it’s the right thing to do. There always seems to be a catch, or something has to be gained from it. Is it a millennial thing? Is it just a generational thing?

The entitlement generation. A generation that feels something is owed to them – for doing not much of anything.

Contrast that to the Greatest Generation. One who didn’t ask what could be gained. One that didn’t ask what was in it for them. One that didn’t ask if there was danger. They just did it when they were called.

Today, on the 75th anniversary of D-Day, we could use more people who answered the call without hesitation (not just drafted but volunteered) and did their duty without asking for anything. Even today, they don’t recognize that they are heroes. I have been told many times by vets of WWII, “We just did our jobs.”

JFK said in a speech a few years later, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” We have far too many people asking for the country to do something for them. Too many.

It’s time to stop asking for. No one is owed anything. You earn it.

Hard work. Perseverance. Sweat. Time. Patience. Hard work.

Ask not.

Give.

Friendship tests

Posted on May 29, 2019 by backuphill

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Anyone else tired of those things going around on social media, or real life, that try to prompt people into a response?

You know, the one that says read this all, copy & paste this, and then I’ll return the favor? Or, the one that says I am cleaning out my “friends” list so unless you comment something I’ll likely delete you? This one is great…I am trying to see which of my friends is paying attention…or, copy and past this obvious phishing scam answer skimmer test so we can play a game together and learn more about each other.

Desperate attempts at attention much?

OK, so social media has allowed us all to be voyeurs in each other’s lives (or at least the “best parts” of it) when we allow others to see it.

But what about those friends/acquaintances that probe your friendship by popping in and out of the picture to see if you’re still there? Like that friend from high school or college that randomly messages/texts you to see what you’re up to but you think might secretly have an agenda? Or that friend you only hear from once every 6-8 months, checking in saying, “Hey, we should get together and hang out” but then never follow through. Better yet, how about the one that will get back in touch and act like your best friend for a short time, reconnecting like no time has passed and it was only yesterday that you stopped seeing each other, only to disappear a few weeks later?

I can see you nodding your head…I see you have people like that in your life too…

Hey, wanna be friends? LOL

Don’t mix them up

Posted on May 27, 2019 by backuphill

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Here in the US we have a national holiday today. Unfortunately, I am sure there are many people who take advantage of the day off but have no idea what it means or why. Then there are those who get the day mixed up with a different holiday.

Today is Memorial Day, a day set aside to remember those who died protecting and serving our country. These men and women gave everything so that we might be free. They deserve our honor.

But, some people get today confused with Veteran’s Day, which is in November and is meant to celebrate those who have served or are currently serving in the armed forces. Key distinction, Veteran’s Day is for those who are still alive. They too deserve our honor for their sacrifice, but their sacrifice is different than what we celebrate today.

It is irritating, to me at least, to hear people mix the two up. Yes, veterans deserve our respect every day but let’s at least keep the day for honoring the dead for the dead. Their sacrifice was the greatest because after their lives, there was nothing left to give.

We Piss and Moan about a lot of things around here, but we are thankful for the sacrifice of the men and women serving our country to keep us free so we can.

Asking for a friend

Posted on May 17, 2019 by backuphill

black and white business career close up

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So let’s get this straight…generally speaking…

The people who are against the death penalty for murderers, rapists, and child molesters are the same people who support abortion and infanticide?

The same people who are outraged by animal shelters killing unwanted animals are NOT similarly outraged by killing babies.

The same people who are worried about animals going extinct place more value on the animals than on human life?

Is any of this incongruent?

Again, asking for a friend…

Trailer park

Posted on May 16, 2019 by backuphill

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Sometimes you do nice stuff for people. Sometimes you don’t.

Sometimes people take advantage of your niceness. Sometimes they don’t.

There are some people staying in my yard, in a trailer. Let’s call them, family. This is the second time they have stayed in the yard, only the first time they were staying in a bigger POS than they are in now. This accommodation was made within the last 15 years, the former was at least 30.

Regardless, I didn’t have much of a say in whether or not they moved into the yard the first time and once again I didn’t have much of a say about their return either. Sometimes, against your better judgement, you have to do nice stuff.

What I didn’t want was for the yard to start looking like a trailer park. What I am getting is that the yard is starting to look like a trailer park. The living space and storage of the trailer is slowly creeping outside and into the yard.

Sometimes nice…isn’t.

Welcome to the trailer park.

Precedent can be dangerous

Posted on May 14, 2019 by backuphill

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Sound the alarms! Everyone to the streets! Crisis! Crisis! Oh my! Let the fear-mongering begin.

Alright people, let’s calm down.

Precedent can be dangerous. The Supreme Court has shown this in the past and is showing it again in the present. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

A court can’t rely solely, or place too much weight on precedent (past SCOTUS decisions), or things can’t/don’t/won’t change for the better.

If the Supreme Court never breaks with precedent, then it isn’t actually doing it’s job and would just continue to “pile on” bad past decisions.

Think of it this way – as a parent, are you allowed to change your mind in how you parent a child if a decision you made previously didn’t have the intended outcome? What if you didn’t have that ability or you were required to maintain the bad decision because that was the way it was always done in the past? Yeah, I don’t think any of us would like that.

The Supreme Court should be no different. Sometimes, the court has to fix its own bad decisions from the past. Prime example: Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896). The “separate but equal” precedent was never a good decision to start with and everyone knows for all intents and purposes that it would not be applied equally. For the next 58 years there were lots of challenges to Plessy and that precedent. The court held with precedent. It wasn’t until 1954 that the court finally broke with precedent and decided that “separate but equal” was not equal in Brown vs. Board (1954), correcting a previously bad decision.

Those who protest about breaking precedent now, in essence, are arguing again correcting previously badly or erroneous interpreted decisions. Is that what you really want from SCOTUS? To never fix their errors?