Day: November 6, 2020

Rory’s Four Aces

Fandango9 Comments

In his Friday Four series, Rory, A Guy Called Bloke, has once again posed four rather provocative questions for us to ponder.

Do you think society could survive without governmental authority or structure?

No, I think humans are generally selfish and self-serving, so I think some sort of governmental authority is necessary to ensure that critical services are made available and accessible to the members of society. And, the ideal governmental authority would be one that both protects and promotes the wellbeing of the citizens while encouraging individual achievement. Yeah, I know — Utopia.

Do we really need all the technology we have?

Do we need it? No. Humanity has managed to survive for centuries without all of the technology we have today. From my perspective, some technologies make our lives better and I can’t imagine life without them. Other technologies, however (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, hacking) have diminished our lives.

Everyone has a passion that can absorb them for hours and that includes talking about it with others for hours if left unchecked. Do you have such a passion and, if so, what is it?

I have a passion for blogging and yes, it absorbs me for hours.

What have you found yourself thinking a lot of late and that seemingly will not leave your brain alone?

Politics, Donald Trump, the presidential election, and all things related. I’m hoping that when Joe Biden is inaugurated in January, I will be able, albeit slowly, to wean myself away from such things.

Fibbing Friday — Guy Who?

Fandango19 Comments

Frank (aka PCGuy) and Di (aka Pensitivity101) alternate as host for Fibbing Friday, a silly little exercise where we are to write a post with our answers to the ten questions below. But as the title suggests, truth is not an option. The idea is to fib a little, a lot, tell whoppers, be inventive, silly, or even outrageous, in your responses. Today is Di’s turn to host and here are her questions.

1. Who met for the first time at The Duck and Drake Inn in London on May 20th 1604?

Donald Duck and Daffy Duck met there for a pistol duel at dawn where the winner would earn the title of World’s Best Cartoon Duck.

image credit: chilenosenti at DeviantArt.com

2. Why was the opening of Parliament delayed from July to November the following year?

The black plague was killing most of the population of England, and even members of Parliament were not spared.

3. Who used the name John Johnson as an alias?

Don Johnson before he became famous for his role on the TV show, Miami Vice.

4. Why did the Gunpowder Plot fail?

Someone left the keg out in the rain at MacArthur Park.

5. Who designed the iconic Guy Fawkes mask?

Um, Guy Fawkes. Duh!

6. Why are the cellars of the Palace of Westminster inspected before Parliament opens?

To make sure all of the damp gunpowder kegs have been thoroughly dried before the Parliament goes into session.

7. What do Macbeth and the Gunpowder Plot have in common?

Alas,  Macbeth couldn’t get the damn gunpowder stains off his hands no matter how hard he scrubbed. He was last seen roaming around the cellars of the Palace of Westminster screaming like a madman, “Out, damn spot.” It was a real tragedy.

8. Where will you find Guy Fawkes Island?

Just off the Fawkesland Islands in the South Atlantic.

9. Who was on the throne at the time of the Gunpowder Plot?

Donald Trump was sitting on his golden “throne” in his gold-plated bathroom at Trump Tower. After he lost the 2020 presidential election, his golden throne was relocated to the cellars of the Palace of Westminster where he was often heard screaming, “Out, damn mail-in ballots.” It was a real tragedy.

10. How did Guy Fawkes die?

He suffocated when he was unable to remove his Guy Fawkes mask.

Outcome Is Still Pending

Fandango17 Comments

It’s been a tough couple of weeks leading up to the U.S. presidential election this past Tuesday. And still, we sit in suspense three days later waiting for the fat lady to sing so that we’ll finally know, definitively, what the final outcome will be.

I surmise that in his zeal to stay in office (and potentially to avoid prosecution for his crimes), Donald Trump will pull out all the legal stops to try to invalidate what stands now as a four million vote lead in the popular vote and a narrow Electoral College victory.

His divisive rhetoric, his claims of fraud with no supporting evidence, his unjustified lawsuits, and his threat to have the Supreme Court, rather than American voters, decide the election, are intended to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election and to further divide the country and to stow discontent.

This behavior alone is enough to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Donald Trump does not deserve to serve another four year term as President of the United States. In fact, it proves that he shouldn’t have been elected to serve a first term.

Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (couple), Ragtag Daily Prompt (suspense), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (surmise), and Your Daily Word Prompt (zeal).

User Error

Fandango33 Comments

I still cannot “like” or comment on many of your posts when I access them from my reader on my iPhone. I’m sorry, because I do read your posts and I can “like” them if I read them in the reader view, which is not ideal because in reader view, much of your formatting is not displayed as it is when I view them on your site.But now, after the latest update to the iOS app was installed on my iPhone earlier this week, when I actually click on “Visit” to go to your site from within the reader, not only can’t I “like” them, I can only comment on your posts if I enter — each time — my name, my email address, and my blog’s URL.And that’s a real pain, since the app should know who I am without my having to reenter my credentials.

Well, the Happiness Engineers at WordPress have gotten back to me on what appears to be a bug in the latest version of the app for iOS. I have been exchanging messages with various “Happiness Engineers,” and it has come down to being told that “the issue you’re experiencing seems like it’s not an app issue.” Oh, I get it. It must be a user error. I must have broken something when the update to the app was automatically installed onto my iPhone one night when I was asleep. Yep, it’s not them, it’s me.

Bullshit!

I wrote back and said…

This was NEVER an issue within the WordPress iOS app on my iPhone until Version 16.0 was installed. I could “visit” posts from the reader of those who commented or linked to my posts and the app knew who I was and that I was actively logged on to WordPress. Thus, I could like their posts and I could post comments without having to enter my name, email address, and my blog’s URL each time.

But with the latest update, that is no longer the case. In your release notes for version 16.0 of the iOS app, you specifically pointed out that the reader was “redesigned” and “refreshed” to include “a number of changes….” Since the issue I’m having in the redesigned and refreshed reader didn’t occur before you redesigned and refreshed it, I cannot accept your conclusion that it’s not an app issue. What else can it possibly be? Up until the update to the app was installed on my iPhone, I wasn’t experiencing this issue on the app at all.

Please escalate this issue to your most tech savvy gurus who are responsible for the iOS app. I’m very unhappy and upset and between forcing the damn block editor down our throats and this latest issue in the “redesigned and refreshed” reader, blogging on WordPress is becoming more of a burden than an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

FIX THIS!

I’ll let you know what happens, but I’m not holding my breath. In the meantime, I once again apologize for being unable to like and comment on many of your posts.

Of Bubbles and Baths

Fandango14 Comments

I was sitting on the sofa in the family room when my wife, wearing a short terry cloth robe, approached me in a very sensual manner and, in a warm, sultry voice said to me, “Hey, lover, I’m in the mood for a bubble bath. Would you care to join me?”

I looked up at her from my iPhone, on which I was playing solitaire, and said, “No thanks, babe. I prefer showers over baths.”

My wife looked at me, saw what I was doing on my iPhone, and said, “I see.” Her voice shifted from warm and sultry to cold and nasty. “Well, solitaire is a good game for you to be playing, you bastard, because, as far as I’m concerned, you’re going to be spending a lot of time from now on in solitary confinement. I hope you enjoy playing with yourself.”

Written for Paula Light’s Thursday Inspiration prompt, where the theme is “bath,” and for the Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Tale Weaver prompt, where the topic is “bubbles,”