Society Blogs (898)

For short, let me call him K. He was a charming kiddo, the unexpected late child with much older siblings. Funny and innocent. The last word is a bit difficult to define. It's part of his charisma, somehow.. He can be a bit naughty, but in a childish, innocent way, and with his wit, his smile, he is easy to forgive. Anyway, he has always been getting away with about anything. It is somewhat of a conundrum, as if anyone else had done it, they would probably end up in jail. I would not say that he is criminal. It's more like some naughty pranks he may have done, so you kind of excuse it, smile or have a laugh, but...in fact, many of the things IS criminal. It would be criminal if anybody else had done it. We often have a sort of relaxed notion about crimes, like maybe cheating on your taxes, or perhaps some minor insurance fraud, or .. Well, you know what I mean.

Now as a kid, we may expect a bit of that, but as an adult we expect them to learn and behave. However, he hasn't changed. And for some
strange reason, he is still able to pull off the childish and naughty acts. However, others around him is picking up on some of the same acts, but cannot pull it off like he can do it. So, they may end in trouble.

He has a lot more charm then Mr.Trump, but it made me think of this. K. doesn't boost or brag, he isn't mean, and he doesn't do any big things, as far as I know. But in order for society to work for us all, we have to abide certain rules and laws. And if we don't, we will slide down a slippery slope. It is corrupting, and there is always some that will push it further. We are exposed to a tremendous amount of deliberate propaganda, designed to make us uncertain about everything. Distortions of facts, distortions of rules, fake news, lies, and bullshit.

It is easy to loose one's footing, and that is exactly the intention. It's funny to hear how many perpetuate the famous Shifty Schiff basement as being so unjust, a plot, and who knows what.

It was the "United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence" with both parties represented. Later the hearings was conducted in full view of the public, with both parties represented, with equal time at disposal, and still we hear about this as being a biased and unfair hearing.

This is what and how propaganda operates. Most often just a little tweak, choice of words, making room for uncertainty. It is a bit of mirrors and smoke, some tiny doubts in our mind, - did we hear it right ? Maybe we didn't pay enough attention ? And of course when other people echo it enough times, we may feel certain.

We don't pay to much attention to the sales-slip after we did our Christmas shopping. Yes, we sort of know we spent more money then we had planned. But the sales person was soo convincing, and we sort of admit that - it was probably a much better buy to go for the model that was more expensive.

We are easy targets.

I am in a constant battle at many sites. I have to clean my browser for cookies, else I end up with pre-selected contents that just echos the same arguments, and if you add in those that pay for having their stuff enter the top of your selection, you are being programmed.

How often I long for the good old days on the internet, were I could search and decide on my own, could explore all sorts of interesting stuff for free. Now most of that is closed. You have to be member, and the real stuff of interest is hidden by subscription fees, or all sorts of junk. Before you had a lot of trustworthy academics that kept everything very correct, and was pleased to have visitors that would appreciate their effort. But big corporations control it now. Your news, your media, your time, your data and money.

Please feel free to visit anytime.

I'm expecting a very special guest, but he won't come if he thinks we are waiting for him, so I want everyone to be very quiet.

He's a really great comedian, apparently.

Between the forum, the blogs and the poetry section?

They all seem to work on different time scales. In the forum the responses can be measured in seconds, whereas on the blogs, minutes slowing down to hours is more usual. In the poetry section the days and weeks go by as if life were eternal.

She said I was smug. Unlike the snug bug in the rug.
To be sure, I looked in a book to find this information I took...
Smug: contentedly confident of one's ability, superiority, or correctness.

Was she talking about me, did my struggle here make a rub, upset the bug in the rug?
Do I sense some disdain for her to mention my name, oh the woman in Spain? Does she live on the plain? I know it gets hot in Spain... she said chatty man and that's really not my name. Was it used in vain, did the cold run through her vein that would make her reference me without really mentioning my name?
My blogs are all too tame and many tell me about the same, reference to her blog, I decided to refrain and I'll live without comment, I know I will abstain.

Yeah, I married once before but a member called me a whore, I clicked the button and showed her the door. To the woman now in France, keep your distance, that's my stance. I'm not here to give you money, I'm here to blog and occasionally say things funny.

I'll respond to the suspicion from the South African guy, Jim N's my friend but he is really not like I, for he likes lemon cake and I like cherry pie.

Why are some people so uptight about breaking the rule on not asking questions in a blog? If, when asked why such a rule should be rigorously obeyed, all they can say is, "well, because it's a rule", then, quite frankly, I have no time for them. If seeing a question that shouldn't be there is so offensive to you that you feel compelled to annoy others who are not offended by it by complaining, it is probably a sign of some sort of compulsive disorder, and the referral of yourself to a psychiatrist, rather than the blog to a moderator, would probably do you more good.

So, if you are one of those people who simply cannot bear to see a question in a blog, I make no apology for asking: What the fcuk is wrong with you?

I got an email from my walking group today. The proposed Boxing Day walk has been changed to another route because of all the rain we've had lately. The planned walk is too muddy, apparently. I was intending to go on that walk, but I probably won't bother now. Now that the possibility of someone slipping into the canal has been removed, there doesn't seem much point.

While walking along the edge of the sea on a beach at Bridlington some years ago, my wife and I passed on to an area where naturists were permitted to go. It wasn’t a particularly warm day and there were very few other people on the beach. About a hundred yards in front of us, someone was lying on the sand, not very far back from the waters edge. As we got nearer, the person sat up and I could see that he was a late middle-aged man. When we got to where he was and were walking by him, it just so happened that our arrival at that spot coincided with the man’s need to stand up and have a good stretch, and yes, he was a naturist.

On our return along the beach there was another clothed couple walking in the same direction a little way in front. There was also a figure some distance away, walking towards us. This turned out to be another male naturist past his prime. He did have a towel thrown over his shoulder, but it didn’t cover enough to conceal that he was a naturist. When the scarcely covered man reached the couple in front of us, he stopped and engaged them in conversation, and we walked on past, feeling thankful that we had been the hindmost couple.

That is the only time I have ever been on a naturist beach, and, considering how few other people were on it, I was struck by how eventful our short time there had been. I was left wondering what we might have witnessed had the weather been better and the beach more heavily populated. It also occurred to me when I thought about the behavior of the only two naturists that we came across, that a woman would be far less likely to conduct herself in a similar fashion. I could be wrong, I don’t know; presenting oneself naked in front of total strangers in a way that is tantamount to saying “look at me, I’m not wearing any clothes” may not be an impulse exclusive to middle aged men.

I've just become aware that Daniela has cancelled her account. I am devastated. As this site is being dominated more and more by agenda driven extremist undesirables, it seems like yet another nail in its coffin when yet another kind, gentle, thoughtful and interesting member decides to throw in the towel. I, for one, will miss her very much.

Re-gifting.
No choice but to give away gifts I don't plan on using.