Day: December 14, 2020

TMP — Bad News

Fandango25 Comments

Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve prompt, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off. Actually, I was pretty stoked today because I really wasn’t pissed off about anything, so I was going to skip today’s Monday Peeve.

This afternoon I saw that WordPress had just come out with a new update to its iOS app for the iPhone, version 16.3, and I got very excited. Why? Well, because I had been advised a few weeks back by one of the Happiness Engineers, that version 16.0 of the WordPress app, which was released in early November, included a fix to a different feature that, “unfortunately, had a side effect that would cause the in-app browser to be logged out for certain sites.” Talk about adverse side effects! Anyway, I first posted about this so called side effect here.

On December 1st, a Happiness Engineer notified me that “once we learned about the problem we put together a fix, which is still being tested, but if all is well, should be coming in version 16.3.”

Oh goodie. The fix is finally here! So I uploaded version 16.3 of the iOS app to my iPhone and gave it a shot. I tried to visit a post from my reader that didn’t have “.wordpess” in its address and to like the post. No deal. I tried to comment on the post. No deal.

So I wrote to the Happiness Engineer who told me they expected the bug to be fixed in version 16.3. I wrote…

I just updated my WordPress iOS app to version 16.3 and I am extremely disappointed that the issue we have discussed remains unresolved. In your comment you said that your team was working on a fix and that you thought that it would be addressed when version 16.3 was released. Sadly, that’s not the case.

So it’s Monday and I’m peeved. I’m pissed. I’m vexed. I’m angry. Hence, my Monday Peeve.

We Are Screwed

Fandango19 Comments

“It’s not brain surgery, Jack,” Alan said. “It’s the Electoral College.”

“Well, it’s all a bunch of gibberish to me,” Jack said. “It astounds me that Biden could have won the popular vote by more than seven million and we still have to go through this electrical college bullshit before it’s official.”

“It’s electoral, not electrical,” Alan said.

“Sheesh, Alan,” Jack said, “I didn’t peg you to be such a word nerd. Still, it’s all a bunch of political mumbo jumbo to me.”

“It’s an antiquated concept that the Founding Fathers came up with when they were writing the Constitution. The plan was to ensure that the people who elected the president were smart enough to make an informed decision. The Founding Fathers were concerned that 18th-century voters, especially those in rural outposts, lacked the resources to be fully informed about the candidates. And, of course, they didn’t want slaves to vote.”

“So you’re saying they cooked up this electorial college to send people to in order make them smarter?”

“It’s electoral, not electorial,” Alan said. “It’s not an actual physical college, Jack. When you vote for a presidential candidate, you’re technically voting for a slate of electors selected by the candidate’s political party in each state. The idea is that the electors selected to represent their party’s candidate would be faithful to the popular vote in their respective states and would then vote for the candidate who got the most votes in that state. It’s supposed to be a winner-take-all proposition, where the candidate that gets the most votes in the state gets all of that state’s electoral votes.”

“And what if these electricians are unfaithful?” Jack asked.

“It’s electors, not electricians, Jack,” Alan said. “And, as in any other instance of someone being unfaithful, if these electors are unfaithful, then we, as a country, are, plain and simple, screwed.”

“That’s fucked up, Alan,” Jack said.

Alan shrugged his shoulders. “I can’t disagree with you on that, buddy.”

Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (surgery), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (gibberish), Word of the Day Challenge (astound), Ragtag Daily Prompt (peg), MMA Storytime (plan), and Your Daily Word Prompt (faithful).

Share Your World — News, Cringeworthy Christmas Songs, and Holiday Dishes

Fandango27 Comments

Share Your WorldIt’s Monday and that means it’s time for Melanie’s Share Your World prompt.

What news event do you vividly remember hearing about as a child, and where were you?

The news event that most vividly stands out in my memory was on November 22, 1963, the day that then-President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas. It was a Friday afternoon and I was standing on a ladder in the high school gymnasium putting up decorations for a dance that was scheduled for that night. The school’s principal came over the PA system and announced that the president had been shot. Suddenly everyone — students and teachers — went silence. The only sounds that could be heard were people crying, sobbing, and sniffling. It was eerie, sad, heartbreaking, and devastating.

What is a Christmas song that makes you cringe?

Pretty much all of them. I’m not a big fan of Christmas music.

What is one place you shop(ped prior to Covid) that might have surprised people?

I don’t know. Spencer’s Gifts, maybe.

What is your least favorite holiday side dish?

Anything made with sweet potatoes (e.g., soufflé, casserole, whatever).

Share something heart warming that’s happened to you lately.

My wife and I got a visit from our son, our daughter-in-law, and our grandson on Saturday. He’s seven months old and is such a good, happy baby. And then our son held up a baby-sized t-shirt that said, “World’s Best Big Brother” as he announced that they are expecting their second child. Yay!

Blogging Insights — Persona

Fandango12 Comments

Blogging insightsIn today’s edition of Blogging Insights, Dr. Tanya wants to know if we are in real life who we appear to be in our blog. She asks…

Is your blogging personality the same as your real life personality? If not, how is the blogging you different from the real you, and why?

My blogging persona — the person you all know as Fandango — is more of an honest reflection of who I really am and how I truly feel than probably anyone in real life, other than my wife, knows. That’s because, as an anonymous blogger, I don’t have to filter what I say or how I say it as, depending upon the situation, who I’m talking with, and what we’re talking about, I must occasionally do in the real world.

There is nothing I write on my blog that is not what the real world me thinks and feels. Except, of course, when I’m writing flash fiction. That’s all made up stuff. The real world me is not a liar. An exaggerator and an embellisher maybe, but not a liar.

I will admit, though, that the blogging me is probably more articulate than the real life me. That’s because I can jot down my thoughts in draft form, read them, edit them, and fine tune them to make sure I am expressing myself and my thoughts as clearly, concisely, and effectively as I can.

When I am talking with people in real life, things that I say orally don’t always come out the way I might have wanted them to, which can lead to misconceptions and misunderstandings. And once those spoken words come out of your mouth, they can’t be unsaid or unheard.

But the beauty of blogging is that you have the ability to consider what you want to communicate, organize your thoughts and words, and refine them before making them public. That, I think, makes me sound smarter than I probably sound in real life.

And wittier, too.

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #96

Fandango22 Comments

Welcome to “Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge.” Each week I will be posting a photo I grab off the internet and challenging bloggers to write a flash fiction piece or a poem inspired by the photo. There are no style or word limits.

The image below is from Victor Moriyama at the New York Times.For the visually challenged writer, the photo shows people seen in individual units through the large windows of a multi-unit apartment building.

If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post. I hope it will generate some great posts.

Thanks to all of you who have participated in these challenges. Your posts have been very creative. Please take a few minutes to read the other responses to this photo challenge.

Please create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.