Author: David

Over-educated Curmudgeon, Bit-Bucket Tuner and Budding Brewmeister.
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Saw the Headline and Immediately Thought, “Democrat, right?”

Right.

Parents, 12-year-old say Abby Broyles verbally ‘accosted’ kids at Valentine’s party

And, filed under “In vino veritas,” this lil pull quote:

“According to multiple accounts of the evening, Broyles became intoxicated and spoke derogatorily to some of the girls. She allegedly called one girl an “acne fucker,” which prompted the girl to leave the room in tears. Broyles allegedly called another girl a “Hispanic fucker” and another a “judgy fucker.”

“At one point, Broyles allegedly vomited into a laundry basket and onto one girl’s shoes.”

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Eprep Isn’t “Once and Done”

And involves a LOT more than just the time I spent today reorganizing and resupplying/rotating out/in items in both my EDC bag and BOB. Need also to recheck the pantry (for “shelter in place”–the most likely scenario), our PII folders for quick evac, GOOD-y boxes*, update FAKs and trauma pack, etc., etc.

In fact, for “shelter-in-place” scenario, a LOT of supplies need to be checked/updated. Update will? Yeh, but that’s a bit down on my list.

*GOOD-y Boxes: “Get Out Of Dodge”-y *heh* include more food, clothing, etc., as well as places to quickly file documents cleaned out of the safe, hard drives (which include ebook copies of much of my hard copy library, pictures, etc.), notebooks, etc.

The difficult thing about GOOD-y Boxes is maintaining enough transport space in vehicles. *heh* Have to leave room for pets and their carriers (in the case of the cats) and supplies.

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Tap-and-Pay Apps?

How Hackers Can “Tap” Your Bank Accounts

Yeh, nope. Tap-and-pay may be convenient, but I have never been persuaded that it is safe, and so have never enabled it. I’m far safer carrying cash (because muggers? *heh* No, for many reasons).

Condition Yellow should apply at all times to data/device security, not just physical security.
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For online purchases–another area of banking insecurity–I rely on several different tactics, including the careful use of a debit card tied to an account at my local bank that is designated for such use. . . a bank where my next door neighbor is head teller, and I know all the other folks in the bank as well. They look out for any anomalies very well.

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Room to Swing a Cat

Whenever I hear or read that phrase, I always catch at least a glimpse of my 5-y.o. self grabbing the tail of the mean cat from next door and hammer-throwing it back across the fence. Good times. . .

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It’s the Little Things #4,831 *heh*

I kinda wonder sometimes. . . I see snippets of TV (because I rarely see anything worth watching for a longer time), and programs that show characters riding horseback are, at best, a mixed bag. Sometimes, they’re just sacks of potatoes jouncing along. Painfully. At other times, I see riders posting the trot, but even then it’s usually very badly–often because their stirrups are badly hung.

I really have to wonder what the various people involved in the filming–from the actors to the directors to, well, whatever horse wrangler they may (or may not?) have are thinking. *smh*

But then, there’s the “Little Thing” #10 (and I am surprised there are any more highly ranked, but then. . . ): complete, total, and absolute blank space where firearms knowledge should exist in the script, direction, and action. That’s higher ranked, of course, because it’s dangerous (and not only on the set!).

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SpyWear™

“Smart” clothing?

How dumb do people have to be to call SpyWear™ “Smart Clothes”? Sure, it doesn’t HAVE to be that way, but unless folks make sure their data is kept locally, more than just air-gapped from the web, their private info. . . isn’t. I do use a fitness tracking device that coordinates with an old phone that is disconnected from _any_ network (including my local network). I can evaluate the data collected, so I get the benefits w/o “sharing” my data.

BTW, yeh, all the apps I have on that old phone do gripe at me, wanting network access, when they fail to phone home. I just smile and enjoy those gripes. (And yeh, I don’t just rely on disconnecting it from my network. I have it blocked at my router. 🙂 )

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Never Thought of That Before. . .

Just read a narrative describing some “eastern Über-urban greenhorns'” first experience tacking up and riding horses. I had never before considered just how intimidating horses could be to someone from such sheltered backgrounds. *shrugs* It had just never occurred to me.

*heh* Further descriptive narrative from short “horse trek” event: “Watch that back leg so he can’t cock his guns and [‘cow’-] kick you, and mind yer back when you pull off the bridle so he can’t bite you. . .” Yeh, probably the second and third lessons taught me by one cantankerous old guy. The first one was memorable (and I still remember it when the weather changes): watch your feet–or better yet, the horse’s feet.

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My Ever-Expanding World!

Left the house for the first time in nearly two weeks this morning. Went 10 yards. Installed new headlamp in Son&Heir’s car. Came back in. That’s enough for this week.

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Checklist

Runny nose — Check
Headache — Check
Fatigue — Check
Sneezing — 60%.
Sore throat — Check (minor, from drainage; progressed to major, for a few hours until ameliorative effects too hold)
Persistent cough — Check (Well, intermittently persistent *heh*)
Hoarse voice — Check (But that’s pretty normal from time ti time nowadays; progressed to full-blown laryngitis, but that’s been a lifelong likelihood with such illesses)
Chills or shivers — Check
Fever — Check
Dizziness — Check
Brain fog — Check (Or is that Olde Pharte Syndrome?)
Muscle pains — Check
Loss of smell — Nope. (Just slightly dulled)
Chest pain — Check

So, pretty much a Winter cold. Fever was pretty bad last night, but broke this AM (somewhere between 0444 and 1038 — I got back to sleep between those times, so can’t pin down the time any better).

Is it Omicron? I do not care. Apparently, I’m going to survive a Winter cold. Who knew? Been doing that for 70+ years, so there was a decent chance I’d live through it.

Oh, earaches, but again, those are pretty much normal for me with colds. Lil warm olive oil, cotton balls. Worked a charm.

One week beyond the above: I see to have mostly seen the back of this checklist, apart from muscle aches and fatigue, which are still very much hanging on, but I understand from my primary care doc that I should expect a slow recovery from those symptoms. My blood oximeter readings are not all that encouraging, falling below both my own norms and what is considered a baseline optimum of 95. Deep breathing exercises seem to ameliorate this, though.