The Colorado Murders - November 2015 edition

let's see, so far the Colorado murders have revealed about American hypocrisy:

- it's not terrorism if it's a white guy;
- cops only kill black people;
- it's not murder if the victims were within 50 ft of some place where an abortion may have ever happened (even if said victim never had anything to do with an abortion, ever);
- it's not terrorism if he's Christian;
- the Sixth Commandment only applies when we feel like it;
- this wouldn't have happened if only those baby killers had been carrying guns, too;
- stirring up crazy people to go out and kill people isn't wrong, it's just good business

Come on, I'm sure we can make this list go on forever.


(Note, I called this the "November 2015 edition," because there have been so fucking many mass shootings in Colorado - seriously, just run a generic search.)

Fictional Friday - Albus Dumbledore's secret life

Let me get this straight, 

Albus Dumbledore is

• A completely fictitious person, who doesn't really exist;

• A wizard who uses magic instead of technology for everything. I mean, hey, can't be bothered to use a flashlight?

• Wears dresses all the time;

• Keeps a flaming bird in his office and expects it to die and rebirth itself;

• Puts his memories in a bowl instead of keeping them in his head, like normal people;

• Has been known to trick young boys into reliving the memories he put into that bowl;

• Machinates in the background, with this huge plot;

• Waves his magic wand about in public;

• You caught the part about using magic right?

And people have their panties in a bunch because he likes to cuddle with other grown men?

Oh, good grief.

Happy Thanksgiving 2015!

Happy Thanksgiving! This is the message I wrote last year, and helps explain why I'm the kind of "big picture" person that I am.

A lot has happened in the past 365.26 days, but I re-read this post, and I pretty much feel the same way. 

I am grateful I woke up this morning.

I am grateful for all the new friends I've made here on G+.

I am grateful I've found my voice (online) and had such positive feedback.

Thank you everyone!

HUGS and love and may today be the best day of your life, and may tomorrow be even better!

Cool quotes: Stop pissing on my shoes

Mark Craddock said

"I think what chafes my ass is that if the people who are pissing on each other's shoes would take a few minutes and listen to each other, we'd solve more problems than we'd create."

Ever bounce a check? Your ass still hurting from it?

Ever bounce a check, or otherwise overdraft your bank account? Doesn't matter why. Unless you're rich, you've probably done it at least once.

Anyway, www.StateCheckFees.com provides a list of all 50 US states and what banks are legally allowed to charge you when you bounce a check. 

Okay, there is no good reason for these fees to be this high.  Once upon a time, say, in the 1970s, bounced checks had to be handled by human beings.  There were labor costs in running people down, or managing the flow of money through accounts, etc., blah, blah.

Today, this is all handled by computers, so the actual "cost" is slightly more than zero. That means these fees are just exploitation of those who don't have the money to protect themselves from being exploited.

Same Shit, Different Day.  

The poor and middle class are vulnerable.  We don't have a lot of options to change banks. We don't have the slush funds available to protect ourselves against accidentally forgetting a scheduled payment, or a deposit being delayed (or bounced, or not delivered at all).

It's Class Warfare, Bitches.

Musical Monday - Taylor Swift - Bad Blood

I WANT TO SEE THIS MOVIE ;-)

Except that it's not a movie. It's just a fun song, with a massively Shadowrun wired-up video.

Tell me this vid doesn't remind you of every Shadowrun game you've ever played?  Everyone in body armor, everyone with Super-Kick-Ass Weapons and Mad Skilz, then it all comes down to blowing shit up and trying to roll more dice faster than the enemy - mostly by keeping the GM off-balance, since the players outnumber her  ;-)

(And if you're like me, you're like "Hey, wasn't that the awesome Mariska Hargitay?? Yes, yes it was.)

I love Shadowrun. I haven't played it in ages, but it has such a rich setting, and lots and lots of cool toys to play with.  You get a group who knows how to take a breather every couple hours to clear their heads, and doesn't mind waiting a week for the adrenaline rush action sequence, and you can get a really bitchin' campaign going ;-)

Ensemble Casting - the true secret of Star Wars success

I think one of the best choices Lucas ever made for Star Wars was to cast by ensemble chemistry and then stick with them 

I can picture pre-production on Empire like "Hamil screwed up his face and isn't pretty anymore," and Lucas be all like "No, Luke got punched in the face by a giant monster."

Or Jedi where it must have been "Carrie is coked up half the time, we have to replace her," and I can imagine Lucas as "No, that's Leia who watched her entire home planet blown apart after betraying everything she believed in. Anyone might need a little help getting through the day, after that."

And finally with Force - "I don't care of Mayhew decided having his picture taken is against his religion, and he is living in a yurt on top of a mountain. Someone go get him, because Chewbacca is due on set Tuesday at 6!"

(I'm guessing the guy with glasses played Darth Vader.)

Tea Partiers Hate Justice

I will be a snarky bitch and spread this one. It's subtle, and I love subtle.

The vast majority of Tea Party members are just normal people with passion for their country, their family, and their faith.

Unfortunately, those same people tend to be ruled by their passions, and don't think things through very well, and have therefore been exploited (to the point of butt hurt) by a small group of highly educated, highly paid, very rich, greedElitist Opportunist Pigs. 

Yes, exploited. The Tea Party was a sham from the start to screw people over, and increase divisiveness, rancor, and strife among the peasantry, so that we'd be too busy fighting each other to notice the robbery and pillaging of the very rights and opportunities the bastards claim to want "to defend." (More like "to defraud.")

Wake up Tea Partiers - you're nothing but patsies in a shell game of rape, pillage and burn your dumb ass by a small group of highly educated, highly paid, very rich, greedElitist Opportunist Pigs.

Re-inventing the wheel with every generation

It is the role of every generation to re-invent the wheel, and fervently believe they are the first to have ever invented the wheel. The upside is that the new wheel does often take advantage of changes in society and technology in ways the old wheel makers would not have thought of, and progress rolls slowly forward.

At least, that's what we always hope...

"Game of Thrones" Spoiler Alert

1) He dies,

2) She dies,

3) He dies, too,

4) OMG, you would not believe the horrible way he dies!,

5) Yeppers, her, too,

6) Hey, look! He's still..!... shit, nevermind.


There is a LOT to love about GoT, but don't get attached to anyone, because cool people tend to end up dead at the least provocation.

Being Silly While Grownup

Whenever someone calls me "Silly," I reply "I may be silly, but I'm having more fun than you."

Being silly is good and healthy. The trick to growing up isn't learning to stop being silly - it's learning when it's appropriate to be silly, and when to be serious.

It's a Gun, Not a Condom 7 - total perspective check in one quick video

How gun nuts sound to normal people.  In other words, "nuts."

Tangentially, it's a funny video, even if you ignore the "guns" part.  The production values are good, and someone put a lot of effort into building  a script, finding locations, finding actors, etc., etc.

Props to the filmmakers for their passion and technical skill.  Extra props for being snarky bastards and doing it well ;-)

Daylight Saving Time - The Movie

Daylight Saving Time - Epic Movie Trailer

Daylight Saving Time - Spring Forward! - Epic Movie Sequel

Cats vs Dogs vs Pie

One of the reasons I prefer cats to dogs, is that while cats do also steal food, they are more circumspect about it.  Cats are slow and methodical hunters. Dogs have poor impulse control, and attack quickly and defiantly, lunging in to snap hard and shake the kill.

I bake slightly more often than never.  Baking is a pain in the ass. It is a massive time sink, the whole preparation crap and cleaning crap.  It's one of those things done on special occasions, like birthdays and friends from out of town. And when it turns out well, one feels immense pride, and wants people to enjoy it.  Shit like that.

You can usually stop the cat before the entire pie is destroyed. Dogs only need about two seconds of gap in the constant supervision required to control their nose-commands-stomach behavioral disorder.

I love my man, and his dog, but I'm not sure I will forgive this one.

That guy who used to be pro-choice until

"Yeah, I'm that guy who used to be Pro-Choice until listening to an abortion survivor speak. "

It's not my intention to call out the guy who wrote that sentence. It's my intention to run with the fact that someone said it at all.

Survivor of what? Back alley abortion? Clean, safe legal abortion?

The guilt a woman feels over making the choice to have an abortion gives her neither right nor privilege to stop other women making that choice. and it's an even lamer excuse for someone else entirely to decide he needs to dictate what others are allowed to do.

That's like saying "I chose to have a gun in my house, and someone died, therefore no one else is allowed the choice to have a gun in their home."

And in any case, the simple fact remains: It's not your body, motherfucker, so shove your righteous opinion up your ass.

Vote now, before someone takes away your right to vote

Voting is a right that must be constantly paid for in blood.  Or something like that.

In the United States, the Government is Of The People, By The People, For the People.  That means You, Me, and yes, even Donald Trump.

The "gummit" is not the goddamn enemy, as long as you get off your ass and be part of it.  The corportist / fascist

If you live in Washington, then use the legally mandated machinery of government that tells you how to vote.  I guarantee you some rich elitist asshole like Tim Eyman has read all the rules and laws, and is using them to kick your ass around.  Your best defense is to read the same rules, and fight back by knowing your rights, before these assholes strip you of your rights.

If voting didn't matter, then the GOP - at the behest of their corportist masters - would not have spent so much time and energy stopping people from voting. That alone should tell you it fucking matters.

If voting didn't matter, then the corportists themselves would not burn and churn so much of their expensive talking heads trying to convince you that it doesn't matter.

Stopping you from voting is part of their power grab.  If you can't vote, you can't stop them.

It's Class Warfare, Bitches

#ClassWarfare

#GOPhatesAmerica

Musical Monday - Star Wars - The Jedi Only Held Me Back, Anyway

Everybody loves Star Wars.  Everybody loves Frozen.  Everybody loves smashups.  What could go wrong?