Van Buren Supernova

I hate to park next to an ahole, because when they leave, I'll be the ahole. I'm also unsure if I can be mad at that ahole, because they might not be the original ahole.

Well, as you know, I’m not a language expert. However, I believe the first one is saying, “Kindly copulate with various types of greens, legumes, herbs here.” It’s not that polite, obviously, I’m inserting my own manner here. The second one read, “There are 90% scumbags who don’t know how to differentiate proper driving from a bunch of fresh toes so please use contraceptive for your horizontal exercise at all times.” Something like that, I don’t know.

I read there is a new Dexter series. I have watched the original (8 seasons) and New Blood (mini series). I enjoyed them. Apparently, there are two new ones Original Sin (ongoing series), and a prequel (Resurrection). I also found out there is a new Now You See Me movie. I like the first two.

Not sure where to post this, I don't want to ruin the Cute animal thread. As I might have shared here, my dog and I befriend many strays on the beach. Overtime, they become regulars. I know their spots, their time, their territories, their favorite treats, etc. Any day can be the last day I see them, some were gone due to sickness, human’s cruelty, or old age. If I don’t see them, I usually assume they are well somewhere, adopted, or just wandering else where. It happens and and it works better for me. Sometimes they appear again to my delight. However, over time, people notice and talk to me. They would tell me if something happened to the dog and if I knew they knew the dogs, I couldn’t help to ask. Sometimes it’s good news, other time is not. Today is another bad one, after another bad one last week. There should be a way to turn off feelings like what we always discuss. A bloody switch or something.

We don't deserve dogs.

Yes, I'm talking about Twitter. I have to be on at least one just to exist if I want a slight hope to sell my books. I thought writing was a safe industry full of introverts, smart, drama-free people. I was so very wrong. There are so many dramas there. Just a few of them are enough to cloud everything. Some can be very discouraging as well. Just saw a post of someone gloating about engaging professionals in everything, therefore his work is off course better quality than those who don't. I'm talking about numbers that can be equivalent to life savings here. Many chimed in in agreement and of course implying others who don't do so are inferior. I don't argue with his logic, he has a point, but just because X + Y probably equal to Z, doesn't mean that's the only way, right? This is just one example, my way or high way is very common.

That must be frustrating. Some probiotic supplements could help but I assume you had tried it. Little things can add up, it's getting harder to eat healthier, and life can be stressful. Please take care. I sort of understand this, I think. I live in two places, and I stop gardening. Every plants I have now are the ones that survive on neglect.

I have to admit I tried to read Shakespeare and didn't survive. It's too flowery and sophisticated for me. I am trying to eat healthier. Let me see what they have in the vegetable aisle. It has a point. Use contraceptive, people.

I was shifting through my old phone and found something. I believe I hadn't posted them, if I had I'm not sorry you get to see these again. I remember taking these pictures to post here, but something must have happened that I didn't. It dated back in 2019. These are postcards that came with something I purchased back then.

His vet recommended clothing at night when he had itch and scratching issue a while ago. I had never bought clothes for him because there was not need for that here, so I had to improvise using my old T-shirt with a rubber band adjustment at the back. (Of course I might not fit into this T-shirt now. Obviously.) The cute thing is I think it’s cozy for him, especially during colder hours. He has his cot and access to my bed anytime. He usually comes up after midnight to morning. I like to put blanket on him on normal days and he sleeps in it until it gets hot. I think he likes the T-shirt/blanket when the weather fits.

Yeah, some writing advices are okay, but most of them are a load of crap (loads of craps? Loads of crap? Load of craps?), because some snobbish people think it’s their way or no way. There is no size fits all except Sherlock’s sheet. Now that I’m back on social media (other than here, is this forum considered as social media?), the experience can be very weird to me. People can be so needy and dramatic, that’s a given, but there are others who cater to them, which makes it a cesspool. I remember it used to be a good place to make real connections, find missing friends, and a place to share updates with people who we actually know. Now, it’s full of fakes, bots, spammers, liars, scammers, identical-looking people fishing for compliments and sympathy, or mean people who kick others when they are down. It’s good that I still have a reasonable circle that makes the experience bearable and even fun, finding others who have the same lame sense of humor. I can’t imagine what it’s like to never experience a world without it. I really don’t envy the new generation. Done, this is my old man shaking the fist to the sky moment for today.

Sorry to hear that. Is it occasional or permanent? Public toilet is a nightmare to me, that would confine me as well. When I was still active in mountaineering, especially for longer expeditions, we were supposed to do it outdoor. Number one is thankfully rare because of sweating, but when I had to do it, it was hard. I really needed to be sure there was no one around. For number two, we brought machete for digging, presumably like kitty litter theory, and FORTUNATELY, I never needed that. Yes, there was a week long expedition, but we stopped by a local house mid week and they had a toilet! For other times, I still believe in this method and it worked for me: every time I started a climb, at the foot of the mountain I would choose a small, solid rock and put it in my pocket. A senior taught me that. I never had the urge and always made it on time to the proper toilet. I swear by this. That is not an advice! It probably wouldn't be easy to find natural, solid rock in urban settings. To be honest, maybe I'd prefer nature than dirty public toilet. Yes, absolutely. Yuck. Since we are at that, and you have been cursed to read this far, in one of the expedition in a remote island one of our agendas was to built proper toilet for the villagers, on the LAND. What they had was outhouse on stilts in the ocean. Again, thankfully we occupied the town hall and there were toilets. So, besides other things, we spent time building these for them. They were thankful and all were good. However, we found out they never used them. Why? Because they didn't feel comfortable doing number two without the ocean view and gathering of fish underneath. I have to say it's a very green way and now that I type this, it doesn't sound that bad, does it?

Whatever it is, I always watch what I eat, I am too old to do this.

I have no idea about all this. What I can say is it’s fun to read Brit cursing, if that makes sense. I saw a rant post with ‘oi’ innit’ and I can imagine someone sophisticated trying to curse. I don’t know, that is supposed to be your language. I add that disclaimer just in case there is any. I guess there is, I think I have read some, but it’s not fun to analyze and some of them sound like made-ups. My history lessons come from Asterix and Obelix. I think I have a faint memory of those!

So what is the answer? Who is cooking? It was a fun day this morning, we tried to help newly hatched turtles get to the sea. It had happened a few times before along this stretch of beach we patronize often. Someone found the nest after his dog alerted him. This beach has a very wide shore (and the tide was low this morning), so it's not a safe area for hatchlings because there were many people, dogs, sand rakers, service vehicles, and even horses around, and the distance these turtles needed to make was very far. The dogs around us were curious, but they didn't disturb them except one, who wanted to play with them while they were swimming. (No turtles were harmed!) A few were already dead in the nest area. One was not moving on the shore, unlike others that were actively moving their limbs. Fortunately, when I put it in the water, it started to swim (although it took awhile) and continued swimming. We were there for a while and could confirm that everyone managed to fight the wave and make it to the sea. Hopefully, they will survive and thrive. P.S. And this happened in the beach I named after Locky (we can make suggestion in Google map and I did)

Another thing that confuses me is plural vs singular. For example, surroundings in normal term (environment around you) is always in plural, while information is never informations. I remember asking about die and dice. There are many more examples but I can't think of them right now. There is barely any method to its madness! (yes, I know there is, but sometimes I think they are pushing it, you know )

Actually, that is not a good advice, imo. Imagine only writing about the things you really know. You wouldn't get LOTR, Star Trek, right? Research and imagination is powerful, don't give yourself limitations. P.S. I have only written males' PoV, and thankfully, not one had criticized or complained about them yet (5). There are many readers who think I am a male, which I neither confirm nor deny. They didn't ask anyway, they are just very confident with the pronoun. But I'm happy!

Wait, which? The reply or the ginger Mycroft?

I guess you don’t realize this has been a very big thing since a while ago. There are many suicides related to this. People don’t need to be advised, many are already doing this. Let me see if I can pull a quick example, here https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/oct/23/character-ai-chatbot-sewell-setzer-death This doesn’t only happen to teenagers or with AI. There are many examples of people having ‘relationships’ with objects, video game characters, anime. It’s not indirectly related, I’d say this is also why romance scam is still a very lucrative industry (and I believe those preying on elderly and vulnerable people should be flayed), because they target human’s loneliness, the difficulty of making connections with others, the disappointment with past relationship, or fear for the potential ones, which is the same reason many people might find companionship in AI chat-bot. It’s very sad actually. I’d say as an introvert, I think at the very least, we have some advantage on that. We are not easily lonely, because as you said, Carol, our heads are busy and we only need minimum interactions. It's annoying to see those post on Twitter 'Would you stay at home for a month for 100000 dollars?' This comes in many permutations, each more annoying than the other. I'd be filthy rich by now. WHERE IS MY MONEY?

Actually I’m really glad I studied in the era before laptop. Want to cheat? We had to make an paper accordion with micro writing in it for math, chemistry, and physic formula. Or a PSST to a friend and crumpled paper throwing, or finger signs to answer multiple choice questions. 1 finger for A, 2 fingers for B, etc. And the quality of the cheat is only as smart as the cheat provider. At least, the playground is leveled enough. Intelligence and diligence means something, and there was barely any need to defend your result. I don’t envy kids now or their future. You were not describing me right? I remember I was chastised for this on my first week here. As for social media, yes, I’ve seen horrible ones. Fortunately, the one I’m active with seems to be populated with great users with great attitude, maybe I’m helped by the algorithm from those I regularly interact with.

The sad thing is these people go to publish books written by AI, which in turn, clouds the whole indie writers pool and undermine books written by genuine indie authors. I used to avoid reading reviews before the books, but now I have to skim through them because they are allowed to exist, and sometimes it's not easy to spot them, so I could only count on other readers pointing them out. As the decline in writing skills, sometimes I see jarring mistakes made by native speakers, especially those obvious ones like your, you're, yours. Selfishly, it makes me feel better, but in all seriously, it's alarming, like you said. However, I see it happen in my native language as well. People butcher words (purposely) and I have to admit I barely understood anything after working abroad for a long time. There are so many informal slangs and ridiculous translation they smash into new words, and the abominable vocabulary is growing! I've had it a few times, mostly because it was automatically turned on after I clear cache I guess. There were many wrong words, just like, you know, the time when we were in high school and tried to write down lyric from the radio "You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seven teeth..."

This. And now the eradicated diseases have started to make a comeback, thanks to uneducated numbnuts. To my experience in seeing some arguments out there and unfortunately, from one family member, the Dunning Kruger Effect is really proven here.

This guy looks suspiciously like ginger Mycroft.

That is nice! Nah. I'm a firm believer that someone should come by their own will at their own time on their own preference... ARCADIA PLUEAHSE! I am much better at puns now!

I'm not familiar with Yellowstone. Is it a TV series?