Day: December 30, 2022

WDP — Political Views

Fandango22 Comments

How have your political views changed over time?

I’ve always, ever since I was old enough to have formed political views, thought of myself as a social liberal and a fiscal conservative. And in both cases, I would have said my positions were moderate. Neither far left on the social side, nor far right on the fiscal side.

But my political views have, over the past two decades, shifted more to the left. It started with the 2020 presidential election when the conservative Supreme Court handed the presidency to the Republican candidate, George W. Bush, even though the Democratic candidate, Al Gore, had half a million more votes nationwide, than did George W. Bush.

But it was when the totally unqualified egomaniac, Donald Trump “won” the presidential election in 2016, even though the highly qualified Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate, received three million more votes nationwide than did Trump, that I moved even further to the left.

And when Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, but claimed the election was stolen and, to this day, has yet to concede, and then orchestrated an insurrection to attempt to stay in office and to prevent Joe Biden from being officially declared the winner, that is when I moved very far to the left and lost my faith in politics in America.

So my political views in the past two decades have changed from one who believed in and supported the political process in America, to one who has lost all hope in that process.

Throwback Thursday Inspiration — Getting Started

Fandango19 Comments

I’m actually going to combine Jim’s Adams’ Thursday Inspiration prompt this week this week with Maggie and Lauren’s Throwback Thursday prompt. Jim has given us the prompt word begin and the image of a January 2023 calendar page. He’s asking us to focus on new beginnings, Maggie wants us to reflect upon this past year.

Looking back at 2022, I think it’s been a mixed bag. My honest appraisal of the year is that there wasn’t a whole lot to love, but it wasn’t all bad. I personally experienced some highs and some lows, but on balance, 2022 wasn’t much better than 2021, but it wasn’t much worse, either.

As we begin the new year, I’m hoping that by this time next year I’ll be able look back at 2023 and give it an unequivocal thumbs up. But I’m not optimistic. Without a seismic shift in the current geopolitical and societal trajectories, I’m expecting to feel about 2023 next December as I feel about 2022 this December: not a great year, but not a horrid year.

And with that, I leave you with this as we begin the new year.

Fibbing Friday — Occupations

Fandango7 Comments

Di (aka Pensitivity101) hosts 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 our responses. For this final Fibbing Friday of 2022, Di is asking about different occupations.

1. What is a dentist? Someone who works in an autobody shop and specializes in repairing dents and dings in car bodies.

2. What is a paralegal? A person who is legally certified to teach people how to jump out of airplanes using parachutes.

3. What is a nanny? An annoying child who goes around ridiculing others by repeating the words “nanny, nanny” over and over again.

4. What is an auditor? A specialist who helps fit people with hearing aids

5. What is a programmer? Someone who binge watches TV programs all day long day after day.

6. What is a cartographer? A street vendor who sells items off of a pushcart.

7. What is a musician? A magician whose props are primarily musical instruments.

8. What is a cordwainer? A person whose job it is to wind cords around spindles.

9. What is a taxidermist? A cab driver.

10. What is a penciller? An artisan who designs fancy, expensive fountain pens.

Choice of Words

Fandango11 Comments

Memo to: Advertising Copywriters
Memo From: Head of Advertising
Subject: New Copywriting Mandate

As a result of my scrutiny of some recent print advertisement copy, I have noticed on a number of occasions that our copy contains words that would require a reliance on either a dictionary or a thesaurus in order to understand the meaning of the choice of words.

For example, in one recent advertisement for a novelty shop we represent, I saw the word “esculent” for one of their products. When our client read the ad, he contacted me with a concern that that choice of words might not achieve the outcome he was hoping for. He suggested that his prospective customers would not know what “esculent panties” are, thus retarding the sales potential for that particular product. He went on to suggest that “edible” would have been a better word choice.

He, of course, is 100% correct. Henceforth, you shall cease and desist using uncommon or obscure words in your advertising copy. You should follow the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) methodology. Our role in copywriting is to persuade the customer to buy a product or service, not to impress them with your sesquipedalian loquaciousness.

Written for these daily prompts: Word of the Day Challenge (mandate), Your Daily Word Prompt (scrutiny), The Daily Spur (reliance), Fandango’s One Word Challenge (advertisement), Ragtag Daily Prompt (esculent), and My Vivid Blog (outcome).

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — December 30th

Fandango18 Comments

Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.

How about you? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Friday Flashback post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.

If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on this day (the 30th) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on December 30, 2017.

Almost Over

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The year 2017 is almost over and many of us are quite happy about that. It was, in the macro sense, a pretty shitty year. Can the upcoming year be any worse?

Personally speaking, though, 2017 wasn’t a bad year. I retired at the end of last year and managed to survive. Someone once told me that fifty percent of men die within their first year of retirement. I don’t know if that’s true, but if it is, I’m happy to still be among the living.

No one I personally know died in 2017, which is a good thing. And my wife and I remain relatively heathy for aging Baby Boomers, so there’s that, as well.

I also started this blog in May of 2017, and I consider that to be an accomplishment. My wife is happy about it because it keeps me occupied and out of her hair.

So while 2017 saw the world cratering, I’m doing okay. I just hope that next year at this time, when 2018 is almost over, I will not be calling it yet another truly shitty year.

Assuming, of course, the world doesn’t end and I live through my second year of retirement.

Written for today’s one-word prompt, “almost.”