No Scrubs

This might be the last one I do of these.  The previous ones were all funny*, but this one has a few observations that aren't necessarily meant to tickle your funny bone.

Yes!

This is SO spot on, it is frightening. 

Yes. x 8. 

😂😂😂😂

This kind of made me laugh. 

This really made me laugh. 

This is perfect !!!

*it's all relative



Song by: TLC

What You Didn't Say

We can talk about all the ways Michelle Pence was stupid while he was at the Mayo Clinic. I think we should focus on his comment about not wearing a mask so he could look the hospital workers  "right in the eye".


I'm just going to let you all mull that one over on your own.


Actually, that's not the stupid I want to talk about associated with Ms. Pence.  It's about the unavailability of testing.  .....and by the way, it's your fault, not his.

When asked by a reporter why it took so long to get tests out (you know the beautiful ones!). The reported mentioned that Pence said the country would have 4 million tests by mid-March.

It didn't.

We didn't.

Pence's response?  "It represents a misunderstanding on your part and frankly the — a lot of people in the public's part — about the difference between having a test versus the ability to actually process the test."

So, true to this administration, not their fault. It's yours.

YOU misunderstood.  He did not say he wasn't clear.

I dunno about you, but that doesn't seem very Christian of him.



Song by: Mary Chapin Carpenter

On Your Own

No. Fucking. Shit. BLOTUS.

The states have found PPE, test kits, funds, direction, medical advice and everything COVID related on their own.

This dick not stepping up to the plate should come as no surprise to anyone.

He is a nasty and vindictive liar.

I mean, what about those tests for everyone. You know the ones that 'are gonna be beautiful' ?

I guess they''re not. Or perhaps, they're only pretty for Jared.

I totally get this is the way he is, and has been. I am stupefied that any republican governor can legitimately back this knob. Of course, they're the same ones pushing to reopen at any cost to their citizens, so........maybe I do get it.

This is a horrible thing to say out loud, let alone in print, but I hope there is a surge in COVID come in early October. A HUGE one.

It's a risk for sure. Some would no doubt try to postpone the election, but the blowback from the mismanagement of this pandemic would (or should) be in the forefront of any elected official running for office who didn't proceed with caution and caring.

Dr. Oz and the Lt. Governor of Texas thinks a 1-2% rate of death is acceptable to open the economy back up, so it should be ok for an election too, right? I mean, there can't be gradations of what is and isn't acceptable in a surge in deaths. You're either good with it or not.

If it means getting that fuckhead out of the White House, I'm good with it.




Song by: Bananarama

My Music Monday

Another semi / pseudo / faux Covid-19 themed release today.

Well, it is and it isn't. Technically it isn't, but can be backed into it, I suppose.

Months ago, two of my favourite artists, both who have been featured here before, John Paul White and Rosanne Cash wrote a song together, but did not record the tune.

"We're All in This Together Now" makes it sound like this is a pandemic song, and there is a line or two in here that skews that way, but the rest of the song does not.

The story goes that Cash and White - who have worked together before on one of her disks, and with Rodney Crowell on his - wrote this in 2019, she the lyrics, he the music. The written tune sat on a shelf not right for either's last releases. Cash called White to say how was the time to record.

And they did - White in Alabama, Cash in New York.  The song was thought to be a White song, but he asked Cash to sing on it.

The proceeds of the song go to Music Health Alliance, which provides assistance to members of the music community, Spotify is even matching the proceeds from this song, which is nice. They monies will go to COVID-19 Relief Programs.

The video is of COVID related shots - community, healthcare workers, etc.

The song itself is low-key and nicely done.  Acoustic guitar. Cello. Vocals.  That's it.


It ends with the poignant lines:

It's a lonely world 
It's our only world
We're all in this together now


In reality, we always were......it's just more obvious now.

Sound of Silence

If I have to see that fucking video clip of "Dr." Brix listening to BLOTUS talk about bleach, I am going to lose my shit (well, more than I already do).  ....especially, the "I feel your pain" portion.

I do NOT feel her pain.

I'd like to add to it, should she have any at all, but I don't feel it.  To paraphrase Melanoma's jacket, I don't care; do u?  (that might be a direct quote, actually.)

That twat (and I'm being kind) in all her scarfy badness (honestly, another GOP leaning woman who doesn't have a gay friend to just tell her, "no!"?), has a medical degree (allegedly) and a voice. In whatever role she has, she uses neither of these.

It is my personal opinion that the AMA should revoke her medical license.

She is complicit in the BLOTUS web of lies, deceit and continual medical information he puts forth - up to and including the injecting bleach bullshit. Her silence is nothing more than a free pass to this gasbag of a president. No, he doesn't get that uppercased, he hasn't earned it.

But Brix has stood there, day after day after day, listening to this dick ramble on about it will be like a miracle and one day it will just disappear, or that it wasn't a thing at all, or that warmer weather in April will kill it.

She is allegedly an infectious disease doc. I have yet to hear any ID doc who doesn't quite toe the line in terms of medical data and science. So, she's just as guilty as BLOTUS with her silence. It's almost like lying by omission.

So spare me the, "oh look at the look on her face" bullshit.

If keeping her job of standing on the podium behind BLOTUS is more important to her than, oh you know, her 'first do no harm' job, her Hippocratic Oath has already become a Hypocratic one.

Fuck her.


Song by: Simon & Garfunkle

Love Among the Ruins

An ok week. It was a busy one for me, so the pets didn't get all the attention. Today though is a Sophie heavy day. I know a number of you will like that.

Soph loves to be close. She's not an aloof cat at all. 

Pretty day for a hike around the Lower Shaker Lake. 

Cat amongst the ruins. 

Sophie working with Dad #1

I hope she makes it on a Zoom call. Shep's barking has. 

Lazy co-workers. 

And apparently, nap time. She thinks it's nursery school. 

Song by: 10,000 Maniacs

Nothing

It's been a while since I've had one of these:

Nothing.


It really has been months since I've given you a squat post (though it could easily argued they all are).

Yes, here it is.

Nothing.


See you tomorrow.

App of the Month

This is the first app I've seen advertised on InstaGram that I've either seen, or to which I least paid attention. It is certainly the first one I ever downloaded because of that app.

FilmBox seemed intriguing, as it converts your negatives into digital photos.

Naturally, the ad made it look a lot easier and slicker than it actually ended up being.

This might all mean nothing to any of you. I happen to have most, if not every, negative from every roll of film I have ever taken - at least with an SLR. The Kodak Instamatics don't really count.

In theory, the process is simple, hold your negative up to a light source (problem #1), use the app to snap a pic of the negative, and in seconds, it scans it and makes it a digital image.....on their program (semi-problem #2).

I played with both black and white negative and colour ones. Granted, I didn't spend tons of time on either, so it might be a better program had I been meticulous about it all, but I'm me, so that isn't going to happen.

The promo I saw had you holding up the negative to a laptop screen as the light source. That was ok, but not horribly sufficient.

This is the image it digitized. It's dark-ish. 

This one was done in front of a window, cloudy day, and against a white window shade. It's a little lighter, but doesn't seem to have as good of clarity.  Either way, Jon and I are total badasses. 

So with that example, it's fine, but nothing more than that. 

Another example was mucho more difficult. 

Negative image seems ok.  

For the life of me, the app cut it down to two people (and none of them me!) about 18 times. 

I finally got it to go, but this is the image I got. Not great. 

I tried flipping the negative around, but that did not work any better. 

This was a colour negative. HORRID. Mind you, the light streaks at David and Morty's legs are most likely from the light source, but still......

And there is a function to turn black and white photos to colour. 

Meh. Not as horrible as it could have been. 

At best, I'm underwhelmed by the app as functioning tool, but the download "looked" free. And it is.....for three days. Then they charge $5.99................per month!   

Oh, hell no!

On the plus side, while I know these images were taken with my camera, I don't remember seeing these pictures at all.....except for the last two. So, it was fun to look at these. 

P.S., the last one was a karaoke night, when they still only did that in Japanese restaurants. 

Between Me and You

Our Shelter in Place is pretty consistent. Our outings usually are Shep related. Walks around the 'hood, where we almost always never encounter anyone, and hikes on weekends (and some evenings).

Now, pre-Covid, we'd see people here and there on our hikes, regardless of whatever route, park or trail we'd choose in a four county area. Oh yes, we go out of our way to make it interesting for the dog.......and us. In that order.

These days, there are people EVERYWHERE.

It's both encouraging and annoying.

710 has asked on a few occasions, "is it my imagination, or are there a lot more people out walking?".  He wasn't just talking our hikes, but on almost every street we'd drive down or walk near.

My annoyance comes from the folks who feel the need to be out because they have been social distancing, until they're out and not social distancing.

Forget wearing a mask, or even being six feet apart.

Now, 710 and I will always stop if we are too close to someone and we always move out of the way, veer off a path to keep that distance. What we notice is: no one else does.

I'm 99.4% sure that if we did not veer, neither would they. They seem to take zero initiative to keep others safe, let alone themselves. And honestly, I'm kind of tired of having to step into mud, wet grass or puddles because these folks assume someone else will do it - or worse, they don't care we wouldn't and they'd just come close to others. Again, it's one of those times I consider just standing there, not moving, and cough. I fear even that would not be a deterrent.

It is great that people finally discovered the outdoors. Maybe, once (if) this is all over, they might enjoy nature, use the park systems and actually, move.  But just move out of my way, as I'm tired of moving out of yours.



Song by: Brandon Flowers

Smile

More Covid-19 memes.  I mean, why not.  It's not like I had anything new / original to post today.

This was probably funnier before they just moved the date of the games. 

Op-Ed Opposition

Song by: Weezer