For those who cannot wait for Black Friday sales, many retailers are already into Pre-Black Friday. I stopped at Walmart this morning and they are filling corridors with things for the holidays. Hurry, get your Pre-Black Friday shopping done before Black Friday arrives.
After months of capitulation, Elon Musk signs the Twitter deal and all those who were fearful of their 'freedom of speech' being repressed can sing happy phrases.
On day one, the axe swings and some top executives disappeared. This morning I see he also fired a woman who was a key figure in permanently banning Donald Trump.
Does that mean he will be invited back to spew more lies that got him banned in the first place? I wager yes and that will only accentuate his ability to say literally anything he wants without fear of repercussion. Anything goes as the worlds greatest con artist will have millions of loyal followers and exercise no restraint.
Thanks Elon, you're my hero!
Tropical storm Nicole affected my vacation plans. I moved my departure a day earlier expecting to be on my way prior to the storm, but all flights were cancelled a day before departure.
Nicole is expected to be a category 1 hurricane, winds around 70mph tonight as it crosses Bahamas it will drop back to a tropical storm below 70 when it hits the east coast of Florida in the early morning.
Between cancellations and rebooking, I've lost a few hours on the phone with customer service and I have to wait 72 hours for a credit to apply for the return flight next week. It's a good thing I purchased travel insurance so my original tickets aren't lost.
It is what it is...
Does it get better than this?
"Former President Donald Trump on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in his fight to prevent a U.S. House of Representatives committee from gaining access to his tax returns for reasons he claims are politically motivated."
Wow...
A few years ago he wanted to reveal his taxes, or at least he said he he would.
Link:
Officially Blog # 70,660
I have a pretty good memory for photos I've seen before. Checking new members on another site, I came across one I thought was suspicious... just something about it that got my attention. It reminded me of the 10 members with the same dress, hairstyle and brick wall background.
That led me to a site called 'faceinahole' where you could superimpose an image into an existing surround. It's like 'Photoshop for dummies'
My suspicion was correct. While I don't know the origin, I was able to find other photos of 'different faces with the same background' and consider them to be fakes...
Why? Because they are.
Here are 3 examples of faked photos:
(I know, the 3rd one is a little frightening)
Investigating more, I found a site that links to TikTok and a few short clips showing how someone stitches their face into a background:
It looks like Elon Musk is doing the back-stroke after abruptly firing thousands of Twitter employees. Rethink that, you might actually need some of those programmers down the road. Twitter members are spoofing by changing their Twitter handles and pretending to be other people... like Elon Musk. Oops... Hate tweets are again on the rise. Free speech? Kathy Griffin's account got suspended for mocking Musk.
Tropical storm Nicole will become a hurricane striking Florida Thursday morning. I was able to reschedule my flight a day ahead of the storm. Close call...
Governor DeSantis in preparation, declared a state of emergency in 34 counties.
I have an old Samsung notebook running Windows 8 with 4g LTE wireless service. My plan was to take that with me on my vacation. After charging the battery, it worked for a few seconds then stopped working. Dead is a good description. Shopping for a replacement, I found another Samsung product that supports 5G. Unfortunately, none of the stores within 50 miles have stock. I can get it directly from T- Mobile but they cannot guarantee next day shipping in time, so I'm having it sent to my brother's house and I'll set it up to work there.
Last week, I read that Paul Pelosi is expected to make a full recovery... long recovery process and convalescence is the new prognosis. Obviously, it sound like the first was playing things down. Depending on the outcome of the mid-term elections, Nancy is on the fence of retirement. (Should she say or should she go, sung to the Clash song)
Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes on trial for seditious conspiracy also appears to be on the fence with regard to blocking Biden's certification, but not storming the Capitol.
Stewart, you can't have your cake and eat it too! It's not rocket science, to block Biden's certification, you'd have to storm the Capitol.
It appears Aaron Carter did himself in. Dead at 34, a troubled young man.
There's more, I'm sure...
I've never lost my car in a parking lot... with the exception of it being towed once. So... it technically, it wasn't lost. I parked in a plaza and walked across the street to meet a client who was moving to a high-rise on Miami Beach. The plan was to go to lunch in one of the restaurants at the plaza. On my return my car was gone. I'm told the vendors get a commission when they turn people in as they use the free parking to avoid paying for valet parking.
It was business and my boss reimbursed me. He came to drive me to the yard where towed vehicles are held as hostage. Explaining them the situation of meeting someone to return to eat did no good. It was $100 to get my car back. Bastards...
Blog # 70,700
The Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie story is far from being over. According to ABC News, parents of Gabby Petito have filed a $50 million wrongful death suit against Utah police.
'
The suit alleges that if the Moab police had followed a Utah law on domestic violence, "Gabby would still be alive today," James McConkie, one of the attorneys representing the family, said during the briefing.'
Link:
Again, I find reader comments very interesting.
I've been watching this storm shortly after Hurricane Fiona formed. The early predictions and trajectory from the National Hurricane Center all appear to be correct.
Tropical storm Ian will pass to the East of Jamaica on Sunday, cross over the Cayman Islands early Monday as it intensifies to Hurricane strength, strike the Eastern coast of Cuba, strengthen when it reaches the Gulf of Mexico, then hit the West coast of Florida centered around the Tampa area Wednesday.
Florida's sun coast residents, you've got plenty of warning... prepare and don't panic. I've heard reports of long gas lines already.
Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency in several counties in preparation of the upcoming storm.
Now that I have a subscription to satellite radio, I'm listening to lots of 70's and 80's bands I may have known, but didn't actually listen to all of their songs back then. There is a channel called Deep Tracks that feature songs from famous groups that probably didn't get any air play or B-side material. Good stuff, just obscure from FM classic rock stations.
Between song breaks, the announcers (called disc jockeys from an earlier time) sometimes give history about the bands, albums with a little interesting trivia. On occasion, they mention artists who have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
A good example would be 3-time inductee, guitarist Eric Clapton. 1992 with the Yardbirds, 1993 with Cream and 2000 as a solo artist. His career spans more than 55 years!
There was a time I was influenced by the aura created by the R&R Hall... but little by little, I'd see Hip-Hop/Rap artists eclipsing some long time rockers. I mentioned this to a musician friend of mine about one band that were front runners to heavy metal and his comment was "It's political" as the singer in the band we talked about had a big mouth, especially when their albums received poor reviews. His mouth got the band black-balled.
Curious, I went to
expecting to see some museum tours and memorabilia. Instead, it's a whole community of membership, classes, lectures, calendar events, swag and other stuff to buy... much more than I expected.
It's too soon to poo-poo the idea, so I won't write them off for now and one day if I retire and decide to take a road trip or an extended vacation to see my brother in Dayton, I'll have to head east to Cleveland, less than a 90 minute drive.
38 year old actor Rich Rotella was always concerned about his height. As an actor, he felt it was an impediment to his career. Rich stood 5 foot 5 inches as a teenager and never grew taller.
Looking for a solution, he researched leg-lengthening surgery, an expensive process.
For those of you who might puke over the details, they basically were able to make his femur bones 3 inches longer. He was unable to work for months and required lots and lots of physical therapy.
The cost: $100,000 and none of it was covered by insurance.
I'm thinking, if it boosted his career and he started getting acting parts right after, that could be a tax 'write-off' the same way actors/actresses improve their appearance to further their careers.
As a way to pay for the surgical procedure, Rich is working on a documentary and plans to release it in 2024.
Going from 5'-5" to 5'-8" looks like he reached the height of his career!
Yahoo link from Business Insider:
Hurricane Ian passed through Tampa, Florida last month and flooded the entire west coast. Photos of waist high waters in several counties were on the news. Many of the cars had to be totaled due to salt water intrusion. Once water enters a vehicle and soaks into the wiring harnesses and electronics, the reliability lost and the vehicle can become hazardous with all sorts of irregularities both mechanical and electrical.
What happens to these vehicles? That depends on the decision of the insurance company. They could write checks to the owners of cars and pay out current value. They take the cars and dispose of them. If the damage is minor, they could offer a lower settlement for the owner to keep the car but have to re-register the title. That puts the vehicle in a different classification similar to rebuilding a junker! Your old car isn't what it used to be.
Reclaimed cars in the hands of insurance companies often get sold at auction, many of them are bought by wholesale companies who special in the used car market. They get cleaned and appear aesthetically 'in good condition' only to be moved around the state and sometimes other states to be resold. Some get shipped out to foreign countries.
This isn't a new problem and happens after hurricanes, floods and other disasters.
If you are planning to buy used after a hurricane, make sure you have a reliable technician/mechanic go over the vehicle and do a careful inspection specifically looking for signs of water damage. What to look for? cars with a mildew odor, late model cars where the interior and seats were replaced is a good starting point.
All cars have a history and it's recommended to pull the 'car fax' report to see the history and location of every time it was bought and sold. Also if there are any damage reports.
Taking that further, be wary of buying a used car in (or from) Florida...
online now!chatillion Blog (1,880)
