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Before internet, If I found a product that didn't live up to expectations (based on the manufacturers advertisements) I would mail a letter to the company and demand my money back! Who refunded my money?
Muffler Bandage and Instant Tooth Repair. Those were products selling for less than $5.

What happens when you buy a $500 TV or $800 refrigerator only have remorse for the purchase? Typically, you had to get upper management involved if a major purchase didn't work as advertised.

It was only by word of mouth to tell people about inferior products. Asking a salesman information about a product often didn't get the response you wanted/needed, especially if they had a vested interest (commission) in the product being sold.

Fast forward... we have internet and many stores have websites that allow users to post reviews... good or bad.

On a current blog, the trend is to read reviews describing products or services to help the reader avoid troubles choosing the wrong hotel or purchasing an inferior product.

Worthless reviews are everywhere... for example:

***** IT'S GREAT

( but they fail to tell the readers what was great about it )

* DON'T BUY THIS PRODUCT

( Same thing. They decided to take 3 seconds of life to write a product review and fail to explain why or what they didn't like about the product )

Their cartoonish image of the President’s base dooms them to failure.

It’s an article of faith among Democrats that the President’s base consists primarily of white working class voters without college degrees, and that they must be won back in order to beat Trump in 2020. This is why Elizabeth Warren inflicted that cringe-making, “I’m gonna get me a beer,” video on a long-suffering electorate. It is why Joe Biden, who reputedly enjoys a special rapport with blue collar voters, is the frontrunner for his party’s presidential nomination despite his penchant for gaffes and plagiarism. Thus, during this week’s Democratic debates, the candidates will devote considerable effort to courting the “deplorables.”

This will, however, be an exercise in futility because everything they believe about Trump’s base is false. Their view of this large and growing segment of the electorate is distorted by a myth concocted primarily by the media to explain away a deeply uncomfortable reality — that Trump possessed a better understanding of the public mood than did the professional political class. They were unable to abandon their preconceived notions about Trump and his supporters, despite easily accessible contrary data. The belief that his message was resonating only among the working class was debunked by Nate Silver as early as May of 2016:

It’s been extremely common for news accounts to portray Donald Trump’s candidacy as a “working-class” rebellion against Republican elites.… But the definition of “working class” and similar terms is fuzzy, and narratives like these risk obscuring an important and perhaps counterintuitive fact about Trump’s voters: As compared with most Americans, Trump’s voters are better off. The median household income of a Trump voter so far in the primaries is about $72,000.

That figure wasn’t merely above the national median household income, it was higher than the median income for Hillary Clinton’s supporters. Silver went on to point out that the general portrayal of Trump’s voters as uneducated also failed to conform to the facts: “About 44 percent of Trump supporters have college degrees… higher than the 33 percent of non-Hispanic white adults, or the 29 percent of American adults overall, who have at least a bachelor’s degree.” Blue collar workers were a real and valuable cohort of the President’s supporters, but the financial and educational make up of his base was more complex than most acknowledged.

Yet, even a guy as smart as National Review’s Kevin Williamson succumbed to the Never Trump delusion that Trump’s supporters were a bunch of white trash losers. In an essay published in the spring of 2016, he snarled, “Donald Trump’s speeches make them feel good. So does OxyContin.” Even after Trump won the Republican nomination, the legacy media, the Never Trumpers, and the Clinton campaign clung desperately to their belief that his supporters were a contemptible collection of irredeemable, uneducated homophobes, xenophobes, and racists. They were, as Clinton famously phrased it, “a basket of deplorables.”

I, as well of all of you, have noticed the amount of blogs of late about gender differences/gender-blaming, gender-bashing and even some gender-loving.

No, I lie, there is no blog about gender-loving.

Now, it is easy to dismiss the more stringent threads which appear to be anti the other sex, these may look like the work of bitter and twisted individuals of both genders.
However, even if the language used is not conducive to most moderates joining in, the simple existence of blogs about these subjects shows that there is a concern out there from at least the minority of men about women (that is what I am going to focus on for this blog)

The main topics…feminism and menopause.

Yes both exist. We are all in agreement about that.

However, the definitions and experience of people regarding these topics seems to vary considerably, from non-existent to off the wall.
Yes, extremes of everything exists. Extremism exists in religion; politics; cleanliness; animal rights; cultures and yes, feminism and menopause.

But should anything be defined by its extreme elements? Most extremists frighten even the moderates of any belief. Moderate Muslims are in as much danger from ISIS as Christians, possibly more, and moderate feminists are probably hated more by extremists than men are.

As seen on Crazy’s blog, menopause isn’t the end of the world for most women. Indeed many see it as a new beginning. And it passes by others without as much as a wave. An extreme menopause is going to affect the woman terribly, and to a lesser extent the man in her life, but extremes are in the minority.

Most people who believe in equality of the sexes are not man-haters, they just believe in equality.

Personally, I believe that in many aspects of life in the West, women do have equality, but it has still to be fought for in other cultures.

And men’s rights also need to be fought for in terms of access/custody of their children; single father’s rights, etc. That is what equality is about, it has to be equal for all.

We are all in this together, we have to either work together for the greater good, or be divided and conquered

All thoughts welcome.

Many have their perceptions and ideas of what feeds them emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
Yet, by simple observation we see so many here seemingly lost and alone and have come to embrace that loneliness as their only trusted friend. Many seem to share that "drink of loneliness for its better than drinking alone" to quote Billy Joel and here like any other place is just as good as any. After awhile nobody feels so alone
because they all have something in common to share in their plight.

I find it unique the things many discuss and the crazy questions with the serious and the mundane.
Perhaps within the chaos we see in the news and things of the world to have a place to come and let it out and seek some sense of hope for some who have nothing else. I have learned that in our search for love from
anyone we perceive has greater value over another its all about a search for self.

Hence, we tend to give to that which feeds us and the quality of receiving is measured by the quality of giving.
True its nothing new with this idea but, when I see so many seeming to throw up their hands in surrender vs in praise for the things or people they do have in their life. We write profiles that are not probably the real truth of ourselves to make an impression to anyone out there who may be interested. Yet, if we told the truth how many would be knocking on our door wanting to shag us? We write our declarations of what we are willing to put up with and we place in most cases unrealistic expectations in our search for a friend.

Then of course since this is a international site the chances of meeting up close and personal is slim to none. The locals around the corner are more baffling because they have a chance to meet up close but choose to think the grass is greener elsewhere. Nevertheless, if we follow the natural order of things we find what truly feeds us is our instincts and since life and love is about connections we only will connect to that which we can identify with as truth as we understand it.

Nobody was put here to live and die alone. We know that people who live alone are generally miserable and have various health problems mental, emotional and physical. They also do not live long. I know for myself I am one of those types.

Overall many will think how dark and sad this blog may be but, to live in denial and pretend things are fine
or put up a shield, a barrier to avoid the drama of people who may be suffering but do not want to blab it to the world that basically don't give a damn.
Many would suggest tell it to a therapist who gets paid to listen to drama.

Nevertheless, it boils down to finding what feeds us and gives us hope meaning and purpose other than writing blogs or seeking social approval online. Soon Christmas will be here and we will be shopping and giving things to people who are found to be ungrateful all year or treated us like crap or did something to lessen the feeling and meaning of Christmas.

We will have to discern then and reflect upon what and who fed us and measure our value with each other.
Because once the new year begins in about 37 days we will make our resolutions our hopes for the future
and decide who we will be spending it with.

Seen lots of programmes since that dreadful day and still haunts me watching those poor people jump to their deaths rather than burn to death,.....

When I was a child – and even as a young man – I have always wished to be American. As I grew older I came to realize that it was not all milk and honey in the US of A.

I guess that is the price of prosperity. Everybody want to take it away from you. They are surrounded by enemies; communist fanatics, Islamic extremists, drug cartels… and enemies deep inside. Yet, it would appear that the Americans are their own worst enemy.

Never mind the politics, the racial friction, their foreign policies, the terrorist attacks, the wars, the illegal immigrants and the organized crime. We have more than our share of that here; I’m used to it.

I’d think twice before going there. I’d be too scared to do anything in fear of being sued. Just about everybody and every business are being sued for every conceivable little misstep. Attorneys are actively canvassing for clients on whose behalf to sue; they even sue one another for malpractice. I can understand why medical doctors simply walk away if they happen to stumble across somebody who needs their help; even if they can save their lives. They’re likely to be sued for anything else that may go wrong even though they saved the person’s life.

It won’t surprise me to hear about parents suing teachers for incompetence because their children failed a test or examination. And if it already happened it will surprise me even less. And I think it is outrageous that a burglar can sue the owner of a house for injuries sustained while breaking the law.

No, I’m not trying to crush the American dream; things are no better here though we have the opposite. It is very hard to successfully sue a professional. You won’t find a medical doctor to testify in court against another medical doctor. And the same goes for the legal profession – or any other profession for that matter. They cover for one another. Apparently a successful court suit gives the profession a bad name. And you can forget about suing a big business. You will ruin yourself financially in the process.


But have a great day regardless. It is Friday!

I’m very even tempered; always the same. When somebody or something pissed me off, I don’t take it out on the next person and I cannot understand why some people are like that.

My neighbor's wife is one of those. Generally she is very sweet and we get along well. I have entertained them a few times and go there sometimes as well. I think we can consider us friends. But every now and again she gets into a bad mood and then she is the unpleasantness in person.

Yesterday afternoon when we came from the beach, my neighbor's wife was in the garden and when I greeted her, she ignored me. I repeated my greeting but she promptly turned around and went into the house. I opened my house door for my guests, asked them to excuse me for few minutes and walked around to my neighbor's place.

She opened the door and I spotted her husband standing a few yards behind her making some gestures towards me that I translated as ‘run for the hills’. I was not going to take such advice.

I greeted her again and asked her why she does not want to greet me. She said that she can greet whoever she wants. I agreed with her but added that then she should be consistent so I don’t waste my time greeting people who don’t want to greet me. Her husband still stood at the back grinning and covering his head with his arms as if expecting a nuclear detonation. I had trouble keeping my face straight. Sorry, she said, she’s not feeling well. I’m sorry too, I thought but left it at that. To rub my misgivings in a bit, I greeted her again and she managed a weak smile and greeted me back. Fourth time lucky!

Later, after my other two guests have departed, I relayed the story to my girlfriend and she suggested PMS. I have heard a lot of this ‘evil spirit’ that possesses women at times but cannot always understand it. I can understand that it leaves the host irritated and frustrated but is it really reason to be rude to people who you have a good relationship with?


Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Enjoy it!

I find it disturbing that people can call it justice when a human is killed and mutilated by a wild animal and yet when a human kills another human they don’t want to see the death penalty being implemented.

Has the life of a wild animal now been elevated to above that of a human being? I agree that poaching is wrong and should be punished severely and I agree that a poacher eaten by a wild animal brought it onto himself but it is not for us to say that he got what he deserved. We are supposed to be compassionate beings; the senseless killing of another living creature, be that animal or human, is a tragedy. At least that is what it should be!

It is a disregard to human life that leads to callous remarks like we saw just the other day on Annlee’s blog. That is why we have a situation where cruelty to animals, treason, tax evasion and the likes is punished more severely than murder. We have lost our respect for life, especially that for human life.


Relax, it is Friday

Every now and again I produce a blog that is completely misunderstood because of an innocent word or phrase appearing somewhere in the blog. I’m talking about a word or phrase so irrelevant that if the sentence containing that word was omitted, it would not have changed the spirit of the blog and yet, the inclusion of it changes the entire flow of comments. Somehow some people latches onto that word or phrase and respond to it in stead of the blog as a whole. This happens mostly when the ‘trigger’ appears in the first or last paragraph.

In this way even a tongue in the cheek blog becomes a serious affair. I’m led to believe that some people only scan the blog for a ‘forbidden’ word or phase to react on, often negatively and sometimes completely out of context with the spirit of the blog. All you need is the first few comments to be off track and you never get your topic back. I will include a few examples in the comments section.

These triggers may change from time to time depending on world affairs and other blogs at the time but some always remain controversial. Some of the more popular triggers in the past included corporal punishment, PMS, poaching, death penalty, scammers, rape, sex, hunting, meat production, and any form of woman/child/animal abuse. While these are all excellent blog topics they tend to derail my blogs if mentioned en passant. This phenomenon also appears to be regional because I noticed that Americans can get quite excited if the word ‘Trump’ appears in a blog.

I have intentionally included a lot of triggers here to give everybody something to latch on to. You have my blessings to comment on anything and maybe suggest more controversial triggers so I can avoid them in future. Oh dear! I should have listed then in the first or last paragraph

It seems that I come from a notorious family of writers. My father writes checks that no bank will honor, my mother wrote memoirs that nobody looked at, my brother wrote novels that nobody published, my other brother wrote songs that nobody ever sang, my sister writes poems that nobody recites and I write blogs that nobody reads.

It happened about seven houses from home. The man saw me coming and moved to his garden wall as I returned from my regular morning walk. I cursed at myself for not being on the other side of the road.

It was obvious that he intended to talk to me and I don’t want to talk to him. I avoid people I don’t like. If a woman has to wear sunglasses to hide a black eye at times one can still argue that she walked into the door jamb; they both drink excessively during weekends but I know that is not the reason for the occasional black eye. I greet him when I see him but that is where it ends whereas I normally stop for a little small talk with the other neighbors.

He asked me if I’m upset with him and I denied it. I’m not upset with him, I simply don’t like him. Then he asked why I never talk to him. I had already tried to get out of it by my tame reply on his previous question but he was not going to let up so I told him that I don’t like him. It is not an insult. I just don’t like him.

He wanted to know why I don’t like him. “Look,” I said, “I’m sure you will be able to think of one or two reasons that will cause people not to like you. Some people dislike me as well. So why not leave it at that. I don’t want to get into an argument with you about this.” I was about to resume my walk home.

But he insisted that I tell him so I told him that I don’t like the way he treats his wife. He turned red and told me I’m interfering with his privacy. I replied that as his wife had to run to the neighbors for help several times in the past, it is no longer a private or domestic affair. He said that we’re a bunch of busybodies and that we should stay out of his private life.

I told him to hell with his privacy and that if he asked a question, it is not my problem if he did not like the answer. I started walking again.

When I was about ten meters off he shouted, “You effing oxygen thief. You should stay out of my private affairs, effing rude old bastard.” I preferred to ignore him and walked on. For special effects he still added: “You effing stupid old arsehole!” He’s got a good thirty years on me but I fancied my chances with him. I had a good mind to turn around but sanity prevailed and I walked on.

Now, more than two weeks later, I find the episode amusing and I wish there was somebody around to record a video of it. I would have loved to look at it from another angle but one thing stuck with me. How can he tell me I was rude when he was the only rude one around? I was polite and soft-spoken the whole time. I only responded to questions that he insisted on being answered.


May you have a glorious Monday!