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...How about this CS site? Sure, I've been brown nosing the Cyberscrutinizer and her suits for some time, now. But I love the place, and pray nightly, that my puerile antics here only land me in temporary jail, if that.
But not really being a computer jock, in fact, I still always consult my brilliant and lovely rug rats on the topic. Yet, I know this will sound odd, but people generally like me, and I have all sorts of friends. A few are big time computer types, and one even worked for a dating site for a while.
Now this, with a sample size of one, is a bit evidenced anecdotally. But I listened with interest to her story. Which I'll be glad to share, after much more urgent business---Bravo's walk. Tootles, all.

Back, folks, and pleased to inform that with little Bravo, everything seemed to come out OK. So, my totally vuckable hottie good lady friend computer scientist, and her alleged experiences in the employ of an unnamed love search site. And may a piece of one of Allah's own heavenly asteroids soon be upon her husband. But I digress.
Says she began as a low paid intern, who's job it was to expunge the pics if certain unmentionable male body parts from the site. Can you imagine? Our mods would certainly understand. And perhaps a few FANS of this site would worship the job. Nuff said.
But soon she was promoted, actually to use her cyber skills more professionally. So she soon had the skinny on site population demographics, not to mention a few funny war stories. No one would be surprised to know that men far outnumbered the tarts, in vulgarity, exhibitionism and scamming. With exceptions, as in our now rarely seen CS friends from Oz, and the Great White blackface North. And that men in their late teens, or early 20's almost exclusively ran the scams, hailing from the nether regions of God's world, and using pictures of hotties taken from various places, excepting with knowledge/OK of the lady herself. She claimed that almost no one found decent grounded acquaintances/partners via their efforts on site, at which my experience is at odds. One datum really surprised me, and made me question the validity of her stories. (Of course, ladies like she could lie to a schlub like me all day long.) She said that on average, it took fewer than half a dozen on site chats (things with these crowds soon went to private mail), and in most of these cases, dates soon followed. And here's the kicker, for this innocent fellow, sex almost always followed after only two or three "dates".

Lots more, but what a world! I must be protected by the purity of my essence, and by the Goddess herself. And by hanging out on a safe site.

It was no secret that membership for Trump's golf courses and Mar-a-Lago increased when he became president. I've heard the term increased significantly a few times.
That's not the only increases.
ABC News reports the Trump Organization has a history of overcharging the government when it comes to Secret Service staying at Trump hotels. According to an investigation released Monday by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Secret Service paid more than 5 times the recommended government rate.

"$1,160 for a room at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. for agents protecting Eric Trump on March 8, 2017. The government rate for D.C. on that night was $242. On Nov. 8, 2017, another ledger shows that the Secret Service was charged $1,185 to lodge agents protecting Donald Trump Jr. The government rate was $201."

Secret Service for adult children of the president, Eric and Don Jr. at five times the normal government rate.


Reader reviews swing both ways, some in defense of Trump and Biden sending millions in military aid to Ukraine. The key factor is the Trump Organization profited from SS stays at his hotels/resorts.

Oh, a link:

It's a busy Monday, so I put on a Focus - Energy - Concentration video on YouTube and moved the graphics down so it wouldn't distract me.
About 15 minutes into the video, I had to stop it because I couldn't focus on my work!

So much for focus energy... I think it's time for some aspirin.

I'm known for buying cheap office chairs. They usually last 3 to 5 years and get tossed out or handed down when a new one arrives. I've been through lots of fabric styles and a few ultrasuede versions. I dislike the bonded leather chairs as it's an emulsion of a polyurethane skin with fibers of leather for the backing. It looks and smells like plastic. Naugahyde is on my 'do not buy' list.

Also, I avoid real leather. Mostly for the expense and I don't like the smell.
Two years ago, I bought a stylish 'minimal' chair for my living room that was wood and thin leather cushions. I had to return it as the leather had a 'vomit-like' smell.

Someone I worked for years ago, bought an ultra-expensive judges chair with a high back rolled cushion top and rolled arms complete with the decorative tacks. Expensive in the range of $2,500, he made some statement his chair could easily last 15 years. Okay, but he used to shave his head and within a few weeks, the headrest started changing color from the oil in his skin! One day he came into the office (from working on something in the factory) and forgot to remove a screw driver from his back pocket. Deep scratch in the seat that will annoy him for the remaining 14 years in the life of his expensive chair!

Today I was at a local display garden filled with flowers.
I was there to take butterfly and hummingbird photos and accomplished both.
While waiting for some hummingbirds, I spotted 2 birds of another species......human.

One was TRYING to take a photo of a butterfly with her phone, but the insect wasn't too fond
of her getting close and thus flew away. I heard the 2 gals speaking Spanish, so I uttered "miras !"
and turned my camera around so she could see a full screen image of a monarch butterfly on a flower.

She exclaimed "muy bonita !" and called her friend over to see. Her friend took a look and also stated
"muy bonita !" and then the two of them started asking me a bunch of questions.
However, it was too fast and too complex for me to understand in Spanish. So I uttered,
"Yo comprendo solo un poco espanol." With that, she started shouting out for someone else, who was
apparently not too far away behind us. It was her boyfriend, who understands both English and Spanish well.

So, he asked me if I take pictures professionally.. I replied "yes" and I asked him if he and his girlfriend planned to get married. He said, "Yes, that is the plan." I joked that I heard yes from him, but I did not hear yes from his girlfriend. He smiled and said, "that's because she doesn't understand English".

I laughed and said, "oh right".

At that moment a hummingbird arrived at the flowers and I said look and pointed at the bird.
All 3 of them were oooing and ahhhing while the bird darted to different flowers.
I then showed them the pictures of that hummingbird, that I had just taken and more oooos ans ahhhhs were elicited.

So, they hired me to take photos of them in the park later this week. I'm guessing that, if they turn out well (of course they will), they will probably hire me to do their wedding.

And yes, you will get to see the photos........... of the butterflies and hummingbird in a few weeks.
But (in the voice of the Soup Nazi)....... No photos of people for you !

Expect trouble.
Two young men wearing ski masks walk into a smoke-shop in Las Vegas (and a 3rd holds the door open) obviously looking to rob the place. They get asked to leave by the owner. One grabs the money in a tip jar and the other jumps over the counter (probably to grab merchandise) when the store owner quickly pounces on him jabbing him several times with (what appears to be) a small dagger. He goes down and the other 2 run away.
(so much for partners in crime)



Stated in the news TV followup, the door will be fitted with a buzzer to restrict entry.

Last week, I received a call from a woman who is renovating her winter home in Florida. She claims to have lost communication with another design company and wants to find someone else. I told her the time-frame we can build by and it appeared to be acceptable.

For the layout and specific details, she had her husband send over drawings and an appliance list. We passed a few emails and I quoted a price. I also redid the layout as the one supplied wasn't to my liking. More questions and I had answers for every pass of mail.

Most of the questions were to lower the price... that can only be done by omitting something in the design or changing to a less expensive material. I again responded with options.

There is a $4,000 difference in my adjusted price and want they are willing to pay. The husband also included a statement he felt ripped off by the other design firm, especially that he bought chairs where the seats are 25" high. That's for a mid-height counter of 36" and his designer shows the counter at 42" which is normally bar height. This requires 32" high bar stools.

I'm waiting to hear back from them... either send a deposit and place an order or I move on. I cannot make the cabinets in half my normal delivery and cut corners just to fit their budget.

If they ask for any other adjustments in my product or price, my next comment will be "I'm sorry, there are no other options available. That would be like ordering a BMW with fabric seats. BMW doesn't offer fabric seats."

I'm working on the final installations for a project that started nearly a year ago.
It's been a struggle as the designer and contractor are working with me for a nice, but difficult client. It's an extreme renovation to a 40 year old mansion located on the coast, but it had severe water damage.
My first visit revealed walls cut open to treat for mildew, machines to dry the moisture between the walls and strong chemicals sprayed in attics, crawl spaces and all the areas affected by the water.

I got the contract for built-in units that include bathroom vanities, laundry, bar, butler's pantry and mud room. That went through. After, I was invited to bid closets and wardrobe units. I got that part added under a separate contract. Closets should be easy... but it turned out to be the hardest part of the project, as the client specified ultra details that took several rounds of drawing changes before she would approve production.

The client/designer ordered the hardware (handles) late delaying the installation. I did a walk through with the client and installer to go over the locations of the handles. It didn't appear that anything unusual would happen, but the client did an inspection after the hardware was installed and made a list of complaints.

Her email was copied to everyone in the team. She's out of town and only comes a few times a month to see the progress. I met the contractor this morning to address the issues stated in her email. No big deal. The installed mis-drilled a hole for a handle in one door, patched it and it's only visible when you look at the back of the door. That needs to be replaced. She and my installer agreed to the placement of the hardware, a specific distance from the edge of all the doors that was centered between the width of the 2-1/2" perimeter moulding. The master bath and guest bath doors have a wider moulding. It's 3" so the installer put the hardware in the middle of the space of those doors and the client complained because it's 1/4" different that the discussion of the other doors. Now she wants us to replace those doors.

The contractor & designer and I agree we installed them in the correct location. To use the dimension for the other doors would be wrong. All the instructions were verbal as we stood there holding hardware on the doors to agree the location. I'm now going to put in writing to explain why we did what we and hopefully, she will accept it.


Speaking of things in writing... There is a comment on a current forum thread asking who invited protesters on January 6th and was it in writing?
The answer is yes. @therealdonaldtrump did so on December 26. It's documented and part of a Twitter archive:
"The ‘Justice’ Department and the FBI have done nothing about the 2020 Presidential Election Voter Fraud, the biggest SCAM in our nation’s history, despite overwhelming evidence. They should be ashamed. History will remember. Never give up. See everyone in D.C. on January 6th."












Sometimes, when you put things in writing, it comes back to implicate you in an insurrection. But... that's the topic for another blog!

The other day, I read in music news that Daryl Hall has filed a lawsuit against his former musical partner John Oates and has asked the judge to issue a temporary restraining order. Documents were sealed and information was sketchy. This morning, more details came forward.

Why Daryl Hall obtained a restraining order against John Oates has been (partly) solved.
It’s now been revealed that Hall is attempting to block his longtime musical partner from selling his share in their joint venture to Primary Wave Music.
Hall is arguing that Oates' plan to sell off his share of a joint venture would violate the terms of a business agreement that Hall & Oates duo had forged.

The judge temporarily blocked the sale while legal proceedings and a previously initiated arbitration continue.

Primary Wave has already owned “significant interest” in Hall and Oates’ song catalog for more than 15 years. In a 2021 interview with Sky News, Hall alluded to disappointment with the sale of his back catalog.

Daryl's statement:
“Oh, in the early days, it got sold off for me and I didn’t get the money,” he said. In the same interview, he advised artists to retain their publishing rights, saying “all you have is that.”




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