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.)