The “selfie” phenomenon generally gives me a rash. Nevertheless, here’s my most recent self-portrait. Methinks it doest have a certain je ne sais quoi, non?
Now, off to apply some Budreaux’s Butt Paste for the rash. . .
Slow Boat from China
So, ordered an external enclosure for a laptop optical drive from an Amazon retailer knowing full well it would come by “slow boat from China,” since it wasn’t a critical piece of equipment and not needed tout de suite. Eventually, it arrived. Again, no problems with the six week delivery time, since I ordered it with an expectation that delivery would be glacially slow.
But.
It was neither as described in the product description nor as pictured on the product display. It was missing the ONE essential element that allows using a laptop optical drive as an external, portable drive: an interface card. The card was neither built into the enclosure nor flopping around loose in the box. I had a plastic box, a couple of short USB cables, and a faceplate. Useless, except perhaps for target practice.
Corresponded with the seller. Seller wanted pictures of what was missing from the box. Yes, that is indeed what was stated.
*head-desk*
After several emails back and forth (and a complete unboxing sequence sent, along with copies of the text and pictures from the product page for comparison), the company offered to “make me whole” by refunding all but $0.44 of what I paid them for the trash they sent me to dispose of for them.
*sigh*
But at least they didn’t ask me to send their trash back to them.
Still, one strike and the seller is OUT. I’ll never buy from this seller again. Seller “TOOGOO”? “Disrecommended”
Mexican Politics: Always an Entertaining Show
A farce of populism (isn’t it always. . . until it degenerates into a Reign of Terror?) is currently playing out in Mexico. . . again. López Obrador’s “goo-goo” policies are more corrupt populism than actual socialism: pure vote-buying via “benefits” paid for by “handwavium” and backed by the hardline “drug war” policy turn of amnesty for drug lords and jobs for po’ folks created out of thin air, etc., etc., are gonna be fun to watch crash and burn. All the popcorn and beer his policies call for are gonna ruin my keto regimen. . .
Of course, corrupt populism of López Obrador’s type is indistinguishable in the short run from socialism–and frequently even claims high socialist “ideals,” but real socialism is slightly more brutal, and he’s not yet shown a socialist tyrant’s facile use of force, so. . . on with the show!
Expect the ricos to come out of this richer than ever, and López Obrador’s base to–as always–eventually get the shaft, and watch as Mexican politics once again demonstrates that the more things change, the more they remain the same.
I Understand. . .
. . . why some folks use “straightjacket” to refer to a straitjacket, but I wish they’d use a dictionary instead.
Beyond Eclecticism
Methinks my Wonder Woman’s “Welkommen” door plaque clashes with my “Go Away” door mat. . .
Amateur Flooring Project. . .
. . .is proceeding at a snail’s pace.
But, overall, that’s a Good Thing. For example, lifting two layers of vinyl flooring in the kitchen, at the garage door entrance, uncovered. . . rotting particle board. Particle board?!? Yep. And it seems to be original to the house, which is around 45 years old. Fortunately, as I began removing it, I discovered that the rot
a.) only extended about one foot into the kitchen from the garage
b.) did NOT include rot of the sill plate on the structural wall
c.) did not extend to the one inch (nominal; really ~3/4-inch) wooden boards that were the subfloor.
Well, as everyone knows, particle board is crap, and unsuitable for virtually ALL construction, but I wasn’t about to begin tearing up all the entire kitchen floor, once I got back to still solid particle board.
So, what to do? It looked like all the rot had been confined to directly un front of the door entering the kitchen from the garage, so, in fitting with my original thoughts for that entry, I
1. Cleaned a 2’x4′ area in front of that door, all the way down to the solid, unaffected (real) wood subfloor;
2. Caulked all cracks with “40-year” paintable caulk;
3. Painted the subfloor with Drylock™ where it had once been covered with tar paper (likely what prevented the rot from proceeding to the subfloor);
4. Put down “hardy board” backer board;
5. Laid and grouted ceramic tile, bringing the level back up to juuuuust barely over the level of the current floor+2 layers of vinyl.
That will, I think, adequately protect the subfloor from any insult, and provide very little transition downward for the laminate I am finishing up installing in the kitchen. BTW, the laminate is very water and moisture-resistant, but I am gluing the joints with a waterproof glue designed for laminate flooring, as an added precaution. A 2’x7′ area in front of the kitchen sink and dishwasher will not be getting laminate flooring but a fairly thick adhesive vinyl tile that is designed to be grouted. (I’ve already used the same vinyl tile for the front entry, and it has performed like a champ there, with heavy traffic for several months.) Same treatment in front of the French door exit/entry from dining area to deck.
After this flooring is down, since the bedrooms on this floor will only need carpet and staples removed, and some cleanup, minor restoration, I’ll then be able to start on replacing all the trim. Oh, yeh, I think I mentioned a month or two ago that the bedrooms have some nice oak flooring under the carpet. *smh* Means we have more laminate that we need for this floor. Hmmm, the laundry/pantry is begging for a reno (could be a half bath/cleaning supplies pantry), and the garage needs to be emptied for a conversion to laundry room/pantry/workshop. Laminate flooring used those places?
*huh* Will STILL be some left over. Probably enough to do the deck, once it is fully enclosed, eh? 🙂
Oh, and methinks my Wonder Woman wants new cabinets in the kitchen, too. And the master bath needs an update, and. . . 🙂
I’ll never have time to die. Especially since my amateur “handyman” approach is slow, largely from excessive creativity (or so I tell myself *heh*).
“Alright” Is NOT All Right
I know I have already said things like this before, but whether you are all ready to read it again or not, here is is again. All together now, repeat after me: “Alright is altogether all wrong.”
OK, I will make an exception. If a writer seriously wants to indicate that he is faux literate and does not want me to purchase his book or lend him my “eye time,” then he should go ahead and use “alright.”
That is all.
No, it’s not. Completely unrelated sidebar: Brit writers who set a story in the US? Stop referring to the second floor of a building as the first floor. Do that for stories set in “BrE-land.” Give “boot” the boot unless you are referring to footwear or kicking something. And for the sake of all things linguistic, learn how to express the subjunctive mood!
NOW that is all. For now.
*grumble-grumble-gripe-complain*
BTW, it’s not just me.
https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/alright-vs-all-right
And there are more such worthy commentaries. Many, many more. And a few quislings who are perfectly happy to sully the English language with such despicable monstrosities as “alright.” And yeh, James Joyce apparently used “alright.” Once. That only condemns his “suckitudinous” writing even more. (That he used “all right” the rest of the time does not excuse the shitty nature of his books.)
“Grammar Nazi”
“Grammar Nazi” is a term widely used by illiterates in an attempt to demean those who appreciate good speech and writing. It is used by people who do not know–and do not care–what the meanings of the words are.
Grammar “is simply the collection of principles defining how to put together a sentence.” It is the structure–more the internal logic of the structure–of a language. It is not spelling or word meanings or the like; those are the separate issues of orthographic representation of phonemes, and semantics or meaning (the whole reason for language to exist–the transmission of meaning in a clear, comprehendable format).
However, those who reject good grammar also usually reject clear communication in text via orthographic reproductions of phonemes (AKA, “good spelling”), and useful distinctions between words (semantics, or meaning), thus demonstrating that their committment to poor reasoning extends to a committment to poor, fuzzy (or non-existent) reasoning.
Marshall McLuhan was someone whose work I might generally dismiss as, in large part, “academic twinkletoes” bushwah, but I have to admit some of his intellectual BS made some sense (blind pig, and all that). One of his assertions (in Understanding Media, IIRC, though it’s been 45 years since I read his work, and it might well have been in another) was that simply reading the written word (in English, though I believe it works in many other languages, as well, from my own experience) teaches inferential or logical thought–both strict logic,deduction, and induction, as well. The reasons for this seem to center not so much around the semantic content as simply around the structure. . . the grammar.
N.B. The below is more or less a stream of consciousness piece, a rant if you will. So, FWIW, here it is:
Good grammar = sound structure = the internal logic inherent in putting together a sentence that–at the least–has even the remote possibility of making sense. (The rest of the responsibility of “making sense” lies with selecting and using words that can convey the meaning one wishes to convey.)
Here’s an exceptionally minor example of syntax–the essence of grammar at its least form–changing the meaning of a sentence. Note the difference in meaning between:
“the internal logic inherent in putting together a sentence that . . .has even the remote possibility of making sense.”
vs
“the internal logic inherent in putting together a sentence that . . .even has the remote possibility of making sense.”
A minor change in syntax changes the meaning of the words, at least for the careful reader.
And syntax is only one element of good grammar.
Learning the logic of a language, the orthography of a language, and its content (word meanings plus structure of sentences, plus context) and then attempting to reproduce these elements clearly and unambiguously is not a trivial task, nevertheless, it is one that countless folks have accomplished for millennia.
Until the Internet, where doing so is derided by lazy-assed know-nothings who are proud of their ignorance and laziness, and would prefer to demean those who make an effort to use their language well, especially if they should happen to point out that the know-nothing tyrants are wearing no clothes.
Hmmm, Addicted Much?
The printed page is my chief addiction (well, apart from procrastination, I suppose *heh*). Sample: a “My Books” filter at Baen results in nineteen pages at 20 ebooks per page, plus another page of eleven ebooks. Three hundred and ninety-one ebooks at a site where I purchase books maybe a couple of times a year.
Amazon’s listings of my ebook purchases run to the “many more than a few”. . . thousands.
Gutenberg doesn’t have a way to track all the books I’ve downloaded from its site, but I started there with a set of optical disks that–at the time–had everything Gutenberg offered (haven’t yet gotten all the way through that collection, and probably won’t, since some of the offerings are not necessarily to my taste).
And then there is my print collection, which beggars all the ebooks combined.
Yeh, the printed page is a trap for me. Ah, well. It could be worse. I could be addicted to Mass MEdia Podpeople Hivemind *cough* “news” *cough*.
Costume Party Idea
I don’t generally like costume parties. The last one I went to, about 42 years ago, was a Halloween costume party. I went as a nearly penniless grad student. *pa-dump-bump*
But, if I were to go to costume parties nowadays, in this age of SJWs berating folks for racism (and all other kinds of pseudo-“isms”and -“phobias”), methinks I might dress up as my favorite characters from books read as a young lad or from even earlier childhood: Little Black Sambo (eschewing the blackface makeup, just cos I don’t wear makeup well, at all, at all ?), Mowgli (now there’s a sight: Mowgli as some Olde Pharte in his seventh decade. Pass the mind bleach, please. *heh*), Uncle Tom (again, no makeup — it’s not you; it’s me 😉 ), etc.
Why? I dunno. Just to provoke some lame brained (or brain-dirtied) idiot into mockable behaviors. Because.
Now you know why I no longer get invited to parties. Works for me. Too many people give me a rash.