Share Your World

Share Your World — Going Deep

Fandango10 Comments

Share Your WorldFor today’s Share Your World edition, Melanie said that she’s asking a few philosophical questions. While she’s going deep with her questions, I’m going to wade in the shallow end of the pool with my answers.

Must we have evidence to know the truth?

It helps, although the Republicans in Congress can’t seem to acknowledge the truth about their president despite all of the evidence about his misdeeds and incompetence.

How much control does a person have over their life?

You can control only your own actions and life, but you have little control over the actions and lives of others and how that might affect your own life. You can only do what you can to make the best of it.

What is gravity and how does it work?

According to Albert Einstein, gravity is “a consequence of the curvature of spacetime caused by the uneven distribution of mass.” I have no idea what those words actually mean, so don’t even ask me to explain how it works. All I know is that if you drop something, it falls, and that’s somehow due to gravity.

Can a person be happy if they have never experienced sadness? How about vice versa?

I don’t think experiencing happiness or sadness is dependent upon having experienced the opposite. As the old song goes, if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. If your sad and you know, but you don’t want to show it, go take a nap and sleep it off.

Share Your World — Motivational Flavors

Fandango17 Comments

Share Your WorldMelanie brings us another edition of Share Your World. Today she wants to know our thoughts on motivational speakers, flavors, rustling in the bushes, and climate.

What do you think of professional motivational speakers? Do you think they motivate?

ProSolutions National 2006To me, it’s all a bunch of happy talk bullshit and all it motivates me to do is to vomit in my mouth. But I’m a cynical skeptic, so there’s that.

Do you have a favorite flavor?

A favorite flavor of what? To be honest, since I lost my sense of taste after middle ear surgery at the end of last year, any flavor that I could actually taste would be my favorite flavor.

While out walking, you hear a rustling in some bushes. What do you think of?

Speaking of the middle ear surgery I had late last year, I can no longer hear anything out of my left ear, so if the bushes were on my left, I wouldn’t be able to hear any rustling. If the bushes were on my right side, I’d think, Hey, I actually hear rustling in those bushes. Cool!

What’s your ideal temperature (nature-wise)? Hot, cold, temperate and mild, humid, or bone dry?

One of the things I liked best about living in San Francisco was the climate. It was temperate, rarely getting into the 80s in the summer or down into the 40s in the winter. Year round, typical daytime temperatures ranged from highs in the mid-fifties to the low-seventies. Today’s high in the section of San Francisco that we used to live in will be 66°F. Delightful.

In February we move just 35 miles away to the east side of the San Francisco Bay. In February and March, the low temperatures just before dawn occasionally dipped below freezing. And starting in May, we’ve had around a half-dozen days already where the late afternoon highs reached 100 or more. Today’s high here is projected to be in the upper 80s. Too damn hot!

Share Your World — Trees, Bridges, Sacrifices, and Priorities

Fandango16 Comments

Share Your WorldMelanie is at it again with her Share Your World prompt. These are so much fun and I look forward to Mondays for no other reason than to respond to her questions. So let’s get to it.

Do you have a favorite kind of tree?

First, I prefer trees that are living to dead trees. But when it comes to living trees, I really like paper white Birch trees. I like their unusual white bark.ADF18008-1FD7-448D-BE8E-262495D23D30

What bridges are you happy you burned?

Wait just a minute there, young lady. Are you implying that I’m some sort of arsonist and go around setting fires on bridges? I’ve never burned a single bridge down in my whole life and I resent the inference. How dare you?

Would you sacrifice yourself (die) for a stranger?

For a total stranger? Are you nuts?

How have your priorities changed since the C-19 virus took over?

Absolutely my priorities have changed. My number one priority is to not get the C-19 virus! 

Share Your World — Stress Relief, the Afterlife, Koalas, and Creepy Tech

Fandango23 Comments

Share Your WorldIt’s Monday and that means that Melanie, over at Sparks From a Combustible Mind, has asked us to participate in her weekly Share Your World prompt. So let’s get to it.

What do you do to get rid of stress?

According to the New York City Health Department, I should masturbate. But I’m also I’m watching less news and my wife and I are playing a lot of very competitive games of Yahtzee, Backgammon, 500 Rummy, and that old no-brainer standby card game, War!

In the past people were buried with the items they would need in the afterlife, what would you want buried with you so you could use it in the afterlife?

First, as an atheist, I don’t believe there is such a thing as an “afterlife.” When it’s over, it’s over, so I have no need for toys after I’m dead. Because I’ll be dead! Second, I intend to be cremated, so anything I would take with me would be, like my physical body, be relegated to ashes.

What’s the opposite of a koala? (This is strictly for fun. I know what I came up with as an answer, but it was nonsensical. Alaok. See? It’s okay to pass on this one too if you want)

What kind of question is that? That’s like asking what is the opposite of human. The answer: Republicans in the U.S. Congress. But back to Koalas. They look so cute and cuddly. So I’m going to go with grizzly bears, who will tear you to shreds over a package of Oreo cookies.

What’s the creepiest tech out there? (My interpretation of “tech” is app or program. If you know what “tech” is supposed to mean, hey! Great! Educate us.

The creepiest tech is the tech used by hackers to steal your identity.

GRATITUDE IS AN ATTITUDE

What method are you using to find your smile right now? Please explain in detail so others might utilize the same ideas. Some bloggers have shared a daily (weekly sometimes) method that they are using to keep their spirits up right now. I’d love to hear from anyone who does and is successful at it! Have a great week and stay safe!

Today I received delivery of 18 rolls of toilet paper and 18 boxes of facial tissues. And, oh boy, that made me smile!

Also, this item that I received in an email today made me smile:

If Trump were captain of the RMS Titanic

There isn’t any iceberg.
There was an iceberg but it’s in a totally different ocean.
The iceberg is in this ocean but it will melt very soon.
There is an iceberg but we didn’t hit the iceberg.
We hit the iceberg, but the damage will be repaired very shortly.
The iceberg is a Chinese iceberg.
We are taking on water but every passenger who wants a lifeboat can get a lifeboat, and they are beautiful lifeboats.
Look, passengers need to ask nicely for the lifeboats if they want them.
We don’t have any lifeboats, we’re not lifeboat distributors.
Passengers should have planned for icebergs and brought their own lifeboats.
I really don’t think we need that many lifeboats.
We have lifeboats and they’re supposed to be our lifeboats, not the passengers’ lifeboats.
The lifeboats were left on shore by the last captain of this ship.
Nobody could have foreseen the iceberg.

Share Your World — A Twofer

Fandango9 Comments

I missed responding to Melanie’s Share Your World prompt last week, so today I’m going to double down.

First, here’s her SYW from February 10th.

Do you snore? How do you know it, if you do?

According to my wife, I’m a very loud and very annoying snorer. She either slaps down hard on the bed or punches me to get me to stop. She has threatened on a number of occasions to throw me out of the master bedroom and make me sleep in the guest bedroom.

What do you find funny? (Credit for the question is given to Rory in this post.)

Our cat, our dog, and late night comedians, such as Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, and Samantha Bee.

What was the last furry thing you touched?

Our cat and our dog.25DEF281-F18C-41BA-A26A-C787CE57CB76

How do you handcuff a one-armed man?

Hand to immovable object? Hand to foot? Both feet?

And now here’s Melanie’s SYW for today.

How can someone win a gold star (i.e., win your approval and/or admiration) with you?

By not being a Trump supporter.

If you didn’t have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?

Read.

Do you have a favorite type of exercise?

Walking our dog.

Do you sleep with a top sheet? Why or why not?

Of course I sleep with a top sheet. I’m not a savage, you know.