Alternation

There are two words that are easily confused.  One is alternatively, and the other is alternately.

If you have an arrangement where you meet in one location one week, a different location the next week, and back again to the first location the next week, and so on, you would describe it as meeting in those two locations alternately.  That's a clumsy example, but I guess it works. 

On the other hand, if you choose to do something one way, but have a different idea of how to do it, that's an alternative.  To do something alternatively is to do it in a different way.

Both words involve two ways of doing things, or more.  But—it seems to me, anyway—if you say alternately, it implies doing something repeatedly; one time one way, the next time, the other way.  This is called strict alternation.  The use of the word alternative simply indicates different available choices.

Kay

Racism Still Rules Us

A sad conclusion from the events of last year is that one of the most major factors in deciding presidential races is racism.

During campaign season, I look at each candidate, and I ask myself the question:  can I visualize this candidate as the president?  I think that that determination, more than other, more important determinations such as

• Is this the best choice for the country and the world?
• Is this person the one who will work the hardest for economic prosperity?

are secondary.  So I must conclude that, for other voters as well, in fact, for the majority of voters, this is the major factor.

If they can only visualize a powerful orator in the Oval Office, that's the only sort of candidate they're going to vote for.

If they can't visualize a short person as president, only a tall person will get their vote.

If they can't imagine a woman as president, a woman isn't going to be elected president.

Most of all, if it is reluctant to them to imagine a non-anglo president—in particular, a black president—in the White House, they will not cast their vote for a non-white candidate.

Some of the best candidates for the last few decades have been women; it's becoming clear that none of them stood a chance.  This is perhaps the reason why neither 'major party' wants to risk fielding a woman.  I am convinced that the present woman president of Mexico will do better for that country than any current male candidate. 

It is a great shame that president Obama is likely to be the last black US president for a long time; in fact, all presidential hopefuls are likely to be crooked men.  Crooked white men!

Kay

April 19th

Today was supposed to be a huge demonstration across the nation.   Everyone was expected to go to some place in their town, and show the administration about how widespread the dissatisfaction is, and how angry the people are.   Motorbike gangs of oath takers and proud boys were supposed to be intending to disrupt the gatherings!

Well, I did go down with friends.  It was a good time; I read all the placards; they were insightful and wonderful.  One little kid, about 10 years old, had come along with her older sister, who was probably 12.  The little one's sign read: Please Save My Library!

These are not the signs, and these are not the sorts of rallies that will impress or frighten the extreme Republicans who control the government.  Essentially decent people have made the government decent and gentle for decades.  But the stern face that some people have wanted the US to show the world has been conspicuously absent.  The same with our demonstration. 

Meanwhile, Trump has been showing a tough face to China.  But not being consistent, many are not taking it seriously.  This will prompt Trump to do various knee-jerk, poorly thought out, extreme retaliations.  His Fox News friends will admire him, thinking: ah, that's subtle.

The time of subtlety has passed; today, actors who want to be noticed make big, bold, crude moves.  We're in sort of a crude age.  Clever, and high-tech, but crude.

Kay

Getting Meaning From This Cat

OK, I'm back in the house with the animals!  Not babysitting, this time, just hanging out. 

The cat was so happy to reconnect with me!

Communicating with animals—inter-species communication—is an incredibly fascinating thing.  With some sorts of animals, it can be done exactly; you've probably read about the gorilla who learned sign language, and could actually talk to humans.  There are dogs that actually know words, about a hundred or more, and they often know what you want to say before you finish saying something!

Some dogs, I have read, listen intently, their heads tilted to a side—you know, in that listening attitude—and then respond intelligently!

The cat tries to communicate, by blinking ("Hi!"), jumping up on my lap ("I want something!  You have to guess!")  Purring, miaowing, standing in a special place, etc.  The only thing is, she doesn't try very hard.  Dogs won't quit, but the cat quits fairly soon.  It's amazing that it tries at all.

In their own home, the cat is allowed to go out.  If she stands near the door, it means "I want to go out."  If she's doing that, but I don't see it, she just walks off, and does something else.  No wasted effort. 

There's a cat I know, who keeps howling until someone responds.  That's annoying; but that's a very young cat.  This cat (I'm tempted to call her my cat, but she isn't, though) sometimes jumps into my lap.  I say "What do you want?  Go outside?" And she jumps off, and walks to the door.  Then I know: she's wanted to go out, but I wasn't noticing her, so she jumped on my lap, to get my attention!  She hardly ever cries, so she gets my attention by jumping on me, or jumping on the arm of the chair I usually sit on. 

Kay

Plurals

Most of the time, you just add an 's' at the end.  That's all!  One cashier, two cashiers!

With certain names, you have the option of doing something extra:  'The Joneses have invited us over!'  That's because, the name Jones ends with an 's' anyway, so people have done plurals this way for a long time; and you pronounce it that way, too. 

'Count all the 3s, and ...'   Well, today it's not considered too strange to write 'Count all the 3's, and ...'  Did you notice the apostrophe?  It's not required, but it makes the sentence look a tiny bit less strange.  Same rule applies to sentences about decades.  You are allowed to write 'The 1970's were an ...' whatever. 

Kay

New Pair of Words to Not Confuse Under ANY Circumstances

I recently read a really sweet story about a newborn calf that had disappeared from a pasture.  The title said that its mother cow had been 'balling' furiously for hours, or days, or whatever.  (The little guy had fallen through a sinkhole, and was later rescued.)

As it happens,'Balling' is a word that means screwing, having sex!

Clearly, this poor mother cow was not enjoying herself; the intended word has to have been 'Bawling,' crying for the missing calf.  Mothers are usually like that.  Also, as it happens, she was trying to show the farmer exactly where the calf had disappeared. 

I'm guessing that the confusion arose from a combination of Voice-To-Text software, and an AI routine that was obviously trying its best.  If you use V-T-T, check your text carefully. 

Checking In

Well, I haven't written about the Deviant Art site for quite a while.  I have sort of concluded that, well, I had expected whoever managed the site to be a human, but it seems it's just a robot, or, as they are called, AI.  My incoming stream is pure clickbait.  AIs are good at generating clickbait; in fact any idiot can generate clickbait; all you need is a record of what sort of things member x has 'liked', for each member of the site.  Then, they show you only that sort of stuff.

All the sites do it; I was just slow on the uptake.  You guys must have been chuckling to yourselves.

In fact, I was frustrated because all the girls were looking similar to each other.  Well, duh.  The site itself probably has a fake AI 'member' who simply generates images based on the girls each member 'likes', using AI, of course, and does this for (with) every member.  It's quite possible that there are more of these AI members than real members.

And now, members use AI almost totally.  It's so easy, especially for kids who like to look at girls, more than create pretty girls from scratch.

I'm not dissing on (real) members who have complex ideas to make images, and use an AI to realize (that is, make them come true) what's in their minds.  That's what art should be, especially fantasy art.  But some Real Members then proceed to dump a million versions of their idea on the website, which cheapens the whole thing. 

Some RMs—as I've written before—are a little weak in the head.  They are so eager to upload their fantasy creation, that they forget details such as: anachronism (clothes or accessories that are the wrong style for a period image; such as a metal sword for a stone - age character).  Or blowsy hair for girl engaged in a fight.  If anyone of you are women, getting ready to fight, tie your hair back.  You don't want your hair getting in your eyes while fighting.  Trust me: you don't fight to look cute; you fight to win, assuming you're fighting seriously. 

BTW, the little cat that figures in my posts sometime, has taken quite a proprietary attitude towards me!  She gets irritated when I don't pet her long enough, and taps me with her paw, sometimes with the claws out.  You can just imagine my attitude to that. 

Kay.

Cruelty or Tough Love?

I think I've figured out the rationale for some of the things that the administration is doing, that seem incomprehensible to ordinary folks. 

A lot of what the government does is: cover up for the carelessness, or absent - mindedness, or obliviousness of people.  For instance—and I'm not sure whether this particular offense is one that they have targeted: lots of people forget to do something by a deadline.  Pay your taxes, get your car inspected, etc.

A kinder, gentler bureaucracy often softens the blow of a harsh penalty by either giving warnings, or making the punishment proportional to the lateness.  Though the people are grateful for these (old time) leniencies, they don't realize that it is expensive.  There is often additional staff to handle the processing, and checking the conditions for the leniency.  They need to be paid.  They need to be supervised.  And people have to deal with the paychecks and benefits of that extra staff, which—knowing how bureaucracy operates—requires yet more staff.  

Musk probably thinks that 90% of the Washington bureaucracy is for the purpose of determining who the shysters are.  Instead, Musk probably thinks, let's slap the fines on anyone who appears to be out of compliance, and let the person assessed for the fine, deal with convincing us about deserving leniency, instead of us proactively being lenient.  This is a sort of 'Kill them all, and let the gods decide the innocent' approach.

This attitude is sure to be seen as harsh by practically everyone.  We can all sympathize, having been in the position of forgetting to do something, or do it on time.  (Caused by the multitude of stupid things that everyone has to do, which makes it impossible to remember all of them.  Register to vote.  Fight the crowds at the polls.  Remember who to vote for, because not every candidate is marked so that we can tell whom to vote for, etc etc.  To make it worse, a lot of judges are on both the Democrat and the GOP ticket.)

So as time goes by, the bureaucracy gets bigger and bigger, as the government makes it easier and easier for people to do their duty.  "In the old xxx days," Musk must have said, "we just beheaded people for not having gotten the safety inspection on their chariots.  In this society, we let them off easy, and give them a lollipop if they pay their fees on time!  We treat adults like babies."

And of course, similar hostility towards education.  What about the poor deserving souls, who can't do their homework because of their heel spurs?  Well, off with their heads.  (And we impound their Mustangs.)

Of course, all this has to be explained to the representatives of the MAGA crowd in the House and the Senate, who are (of course) pea brains, who possibly bribed their way through law school (though some Democrats probably did that too, like this Menendez guy, who took bribes from Egypt).  So it's all stated in terms that are common in MAGA circles, in terms of huge lies that people tell, and Social Security checks being paid for dead people, etc etc.

Meanwhile, there is a huge amount of waste in the armed forces and the Pentagon.  It remains to be seen whether Musk's horde of hackers have the guts to walk in there, and demand to inspect their receipts.  Their budget—unaudited for absolutely decades—is unbelievably enormous; so one estimates that the waste is, proportionally, enormous.

My savings are invested in stocks, because the pitiful interest that banks pay for savings can't keep up with inflation.  So I'm not at all happy with how things are going.  I don't support Hamas, but I support Netanyahu still less, so that's pretty bad anyway you look at it. 

Kay.

This Crazy Affectionate Cat!

I did another—brief—stint as a cat sitter. 

Honestly, this kitten loves me far too much!  I was seated in a nice comfy chair with my glasses on.  She hopped up on my lap, gazed into my eyes, purred, and proceeded to lick my lenses!  My glasses weren't too clean after that. 

K

Setting Teslas on Fire? Why?

'Liberals', and those opposing Musk—which is almost everyone I know—are naturally eager to ruin the Tesla brand, which they hope will be detrimental to Musk.  I hope so, too; I used to suspect that there was a lot of unnecessary bureaucracy in Washington D.C. that kept track of whether various tiny laws were being respected.  But the high-handed way Musk has been shutting down agencies such as USAid has got a lot of people angry, including—let's be honest—me.  If there were a Tesla dealership in our town, I would picket against it (if picket is the right word).

But some of these anti-Maga jokers are shooting at Teslas, and setting fire to them!  What's the idea?

If you picket the dealership, and carry anti-Tesla signs, that makes sense; Musk has been demonstrably against the common people, particularly poor people.  But attacking Tesla cars, owned by ordinary people, is a blow against people who have very little to do with Tesla.  They've already paid their money, and now destroying their cars does not hurt Musk at all!  It certainly conveys their rage.  But it looks a lot more like just giving these people—the shooters—the thrill of using their guns, and their gasoline!

No; focus on the Tesla dealerships, and supporting the Federal agency heads who are suing DOGE and Tesla in court.

Kay.

Envy and Jealousy: Not the Same

Many folks use the word 'jealous' to sometimes mean 'envious.'  There is a general trend among language authorities towards always loosening the rules; we can imagine that, in a few years, it might be accepted that the two words mean the same.  That would be a sad mistake. 

Envy is the emotion of desiring what someone else has.  Oh man, I wish I had a car like that!  Or, that woman is too good for that man.  Or: I wish I could sing like X, whoever that is!  That's all envy, and by now you must be thinking: wait, I call that feeling jealousy!!  Well, it's not too late to change your evil ways!

Jealousy is significantly different.  It's the attitude that you don't want to share what you have.  You're jealous of your privileges; you don't want others to have them.  You're jealous of your wife; you don't want others to look at her!  As you can see, it's completely different from envy.  Envy is a common emotion.  Jealousy is a far more petty emotion.  (Except in the case of wanting to completely control your spouse, which is to some extent supported by society, though the spouse in question might not appreciate this attitude.)

Even the writers for the New York Times, it seems, confuse Envy with Jealousy.  This writer would be jealous if she did play this game, but hated anyone else to pick it up!

In my opinion, the words mean such different things that using them as interchangeable gives up far too much. 

Kay

Funding the Government

Congress (the Senate, anyway) seems to have dug their feet in, and refused to pass the budget put forward by Speaker Johnson.  There might be a government shut down. 

I'm wondering whether shutting the government down will help Musk/Trump, or hinder them.  So far, it appears that they like chaos, so shutting the government down will probably play into their hands. 

Kay

P.S. An update: A spending bill was passed since this post was written. 

Homonyms from another source

This comes from Easy English:

Another photo from Facebook:

I'm totally in love with the photo of this dancer, WW2 era.  What an expressive face!

Kay

Corruption in Washington, D.C.

Senator Chris Murphy describes what the white house and 'DOGE' are doing.  Actually doing. 

This is so embarrassing, because Democrats have done it, too.  But Trump has raised the art to new heights.

Soon, I hope, ordinary folk will get angry at these actions.  And stay angry.

Kay

Trump-Ukraine Talks Not Going Anywhere

Trump lectured Mr. Zelenskyy about the lack of gratitude for US military aid.  Vance lectured him about his (Zelenkyy's) lack of respect for Trump!

It became a sort of brawl, and a bad scene, generally.  Trump's job was easy: figure how to refuse them any military aid.  He probably succeeded within minutes.  But many of the European governments said they would try to rise to the occasion and provide as much military support for Ukraine as they could. 

Of course, Trump has complained for years that the Europeans had left the defence of Ukraine mostly to us Americans, so this is a welcome change of direction on the part of the Eurozone, to coin a phrase.  Well, even if this wasn't what Trump wanted, he'll pretend that it is. 

Meanwhile, Musk is destroying the Veteran's Administration and Social Security.  This doesn't really immediately scare us younger people, but it does mean that we're going to have to take savings a lot more seriously.  I know all about that; I saved 15% of my earnings for all the while I was working, and lived very frugally.   But that lifestyle isn't for everybody. 

But, worst of all is how the Trump Administration encourages parents of infants to skip vaccination.  This has resulted in outbreaks of Measles in, I believe, Texas.  RFK has conceded that we can expect Measles outbreaks at least twice a year henceforth.   This is terrible news.  

Kay

Feng Shui

That's a fake title for today's post; I've signed on to today's economic girlcott (just kidding; I didn't want the google AI figuring out exactly what I'm saying), I'm staying home and not spending any money.  Unfortunately, I'm a total loss as far as contributing to the Economy is concerned; my economic footprint is smaller than that of an ant. 

Tomorrow (or even this afternoon) you can expect businesses—Amazon, Walmart, Big Oil, and so on, to begin sneering that this boycott did less than nothing to damage Trump or his enablers!  But it's more for us than for them; our generation hasn't got into political activism in a big way at all, so this is a gentle way to ease us in.  Very Feng shui. 

Kay

It's Quiet Without the Cat

I forgot to report that the kitty has been successfully repatriated, and now I'm all alone (sob, sob)!  She really was a lovely presence in my little house!

If she thought I was bored, or lonely, she'd come over and climb into my lap, usually purring like mad!  Most of the time, though, she would be pacing about, making sure that she knows where everything is.  After she had been here a day or two, I think she was more making sure that nothing had been moved. 

She had come with a bag of food she ate, and she just ate a bit of that, out of her little bowl.  When she saw me eating, she wanted to check out what exactly it was; she wasn't really wanting any of it.  But she was curious. 

Now that she's back home, she quickly checked out how her buddy, the dog was doing.  That dog is not very worth keeping tags on; it's the most boring dog ever.  But if he wants to go out in the backyard (where he does his business; nobody knew where she did hers), at least half the time, she'd want to go out too, to keep an eye on him!

Now that I know so much about her, if I ever write another story, I would really like to have a cat in it!

Kay

Our Companion Blog

The Helen Blog—there's a link to it on the Web version of this—has many recent posts I have put up.  I tend to post things there if they directly bear on the Helen story, but also if they have more 'adult' material that casual readers might not like. 

This is the older blog; I started this one a while before starting the Helen blog, because I had decided that the Helen story contained more adult elements.  (It doesn't; I cleaned it up.)  As a result, this blog contains more general- interest material, like politics, and grammar and spelling. 

Unnecessary Vilification?

I just re-read a blog post from a few months back, in which I write that the constant vilification of Donald Trump was excessive and unnecessary. 

Well, I think he's grown into it.  Or is it a case of 'give a dog a bad name'?  Difficult to say. 

I think one thing that could be happening is that Trump has set Musk to do a lot of high-profile damage, and once the consequences start to hurt his electorate, Trump could step in and rein in his hound.  That could earn him a lot of gratitude, for curbing the disasters that Trump himself created in the first place.  Meanwhile, Musk is destroying a lot of the evidence the Biden administration had against Musk: workplace danger, environmental problems, etc, etc.

The damage done to the Washington bureaucracy is really considerable.  The records are like gold for the officials who need to enforce laws.  They've destroyed evidence against banks for their wrongdoings against credit-card customers.  How are charges to be brought against credit-card issuers (banks)?  Elizabeth Warren had worked hard to get this watch dog agency in place.  Banks hate her like the very devil; now credit card companies will worship Musk.  Sad.

A little unnecessary vilification would be quite all right, as I see it now. 

K

Trump Gets Going

I haven't talked very much about politics, mainly because I don't know what to say. 

Some of the things Trump has been ordering (the so-called executive orders) have been countered by the courts.  Trying to take away birthright citizenship was particularly silly.  But these are calculated risks; he figures, well, the rural poor whites are not likely to know anyone who became a citizen because of being born here; taking that away was sort of a no-brainer.  But no, that's a right granted in the constitution.  Trump seems not to know the constitution at all. 

Elon M and a team of his employees have been working on looking at the computer databases of social security and the Treasury, and apparently they know all about the bank accounts of citizens.  I'm concerned, not because I have a huge bank account, but because I'm not employed, and I live on my savings. 

There was an attempt to deport illegal aliens who had been charged with crimes.  Even being charged was enough; they were not brought before a judge.   But these immigrants are the most vulnerable among us, and Trump has a reputation of being a bully.  They were deported, though their home governments protested.  And now Musk is doing it, too. 

You would probably have heard about the tariffs, being charged against Canada, Mexico, and China.  Those countries retaliated with their own tariffs against the US.  It'll take a little time to see how that works out; probably badly for us, in which case it will be stopped, I'm guessing. 

Nothing that really helps ordinary people has been done yet; only the satisfaction of damaging the government is being shown the ordinary Trumpees. 

What's Going On in Indiana?

Well, first off all, they retired Caitlin's number 22 jersey in the University of Iowa.  (They do this sort of thing if the person who wore it really did it proud, I guess.)  A whole lot of sports celebs turned up for the celebrations, and the jersey was ceremoniously hoisted up to the rafters.

Then, the Indiana Fever re-hired Kelsey Mitchell.  I'm not sure why they didn't just keep her on.  Being almost a total outsider to team sports, which appears to be an unfortunate blend of basketball skill and big business ambition, I don't know what to expect from these people, and still less, what reaction to expect from Caitlin herself.  As time goes on, Caitlin will get better at expressing her feelings about all this shuffling around; right now she's just a (what's the word?)  a first- season player, and—if I know Caitlin—she'll diplomatically keep her mouth shut.  Won't be easy with all these microphones thrust in her face. 

Many other new players have been hired; only five of them will be on the court at the beginning of each game, though, the so - called starters.  This means that a whole lot of players will be on the bench (how do you like that for sexy basketball jargon?)  As far as I know, there's Lexie Hull, Aliyah Boston, and a couple more well- known players who've been traded for. 

I'm really uncomfortable about this trading business; it's better to look the other way while all that is going on, and then pay attention once the season starts. 

K.

[Added later]

I'm a Cat Mom!

My friend is going to be away for a while, so I'm getting to look after my little feline friend until she comes back!

Right now, I'm furiously kitty-proofing my house; it seems fairly kitty-proof as it is, but I'm not taking any chances.  My friend will check it out before she lets the cat out of the sort of crate thing.  If I don't write for a while, please excuse me. 

K

[Added Later]  Well, I was watching a YouTube video of a wren—a tiny bird—with the sound on, and it was singing away, carrying on about various things that were on its little wren mind.   Then, the cat appeared!  She was super interested; where is that bird?  She jumped up on my lap, inspected my phone, and even looked behind it!!  I had thought, well, cats would do this sort of thing.  But it was startling to see it actually happen!  Wish I had a photo to show you!

Kay

Friday, Jan 30: She came over to talk to me, and there was a teeny drop of moisture on the end of her nose!  She has a cold!  I got a tissue and wiped it off (after a small struggle).  Now she's sitting on my lap ('sat on my lap,' as our Brit friends would say), purring. 

Cats

I have noticed that, at least on video clips, guys do a lot of teasing of cats, to make the cats do something interesting!  Well, they certainly succeed; and there seems to be no resentment on the part of the cats concerned.  They happily dive into whatever mischief these guys lead them into!  I've seen cats on skateboards, swinging from chandeliers, doing all sorts of crazy things.  I don't doubt that the cats do most of these antics willingly. 

[Added later]

Have you seen those sickeningly cute videos of kittens 'singing' the Bruno Mars / Rosé song A.P.T. ?  The first time I saw one of those, I was totally captivated, but it's getting to be a little same old, same old!  But the first time it appeared on my Fb feed ...

Lexie Hull / A Homeless Family

Lexie Hull, the player in last year's Indiana Fever basketball team with Caitlin Clark, is a really pretty woman!  (Many players on that team are really cute, but I like Caitlin and Leslie, and Aliyah Boston the best.)

Lexie appears to be an very 'What you see is what you get' sort of girl—a married woman, really.  Most of these full-face photos show her with makeup on (the same goes for Caitlin Clark, and all these basketball women, and even on the court, most of the time), but most girls do that automatically.  I look fine with practically no makeup, so it looks weird to me, though I grew up surrounded by girls wearing a dash of makeup from about sixth grade on.  (These days

they wear a lot less than in the past, but it varies from place to place.)

Well, that's all I really have to say.  The little cat spent the night in her carrier, and she's just emerged, to check the place out.  It's cool in my house, so I'm pretty sure she'll soon be settling down for a nap. 

Kay.

[Added Later:]

I was reading a Fb post about Caitlin Clark, that said that she noticed a woman and her baby, who seemed to be living in a car, and she found out what was going on.  (Apparently medical expenses had resulted in their losing their home, so they were driven to homelessness.)  Caitlin helped them get a room in a hotel, connected them up with non-profits that helped people in their positions, bought the mother a pre-paid cell phone, and generally extended a helping hand. 

A comment from someone said that it was all lies, that Caitlin was a completely self- centered ... you get the drift. 

Well, I can see where this comment is coming from, especially if CC was rude to this person's favorite basketball player, or something like that.  There's hate everywhere, and people without discretionary funds find it impossible to believe that people could go out of their way to help strangers. 

Honestly, if I was in that situation (in Caitlin Clark's financial position,) I would help in exactly the same ways that Caitlin helped.  I know people who are involved in public assistance, and I'm impressed that CC managed to hook this woman up with the best agencies that were designed to help those sorts of people.  I couldn't have afforded to put her up in a hotel room, so I couldn't have done that part, but the rest of it made perfect sense. 

I guess some people are embarrassed by the lengths to which people go to help others.  They lash out with insults for some reason; I guess you need to be a psychologist to know why. 

The point is that CC can afford it.  She made a lot of money last year; the interesting thing is that she chose to spend it this way.  If you don't have the money, or the energy, to do this kind of Good Samaritan thing, you don't have to do it, but why spew venom on someone who does?

K. 

P.S. If anyone among my readers happen to not be too keen on some celebrity, who's trying to be generous to some person in dire straits, I would ask you not to discourage them.  I know our society is designed for the government to look after people without money or other resources.  (I should say it used to be that way, but now because of people whining about taxes, and conservatives cutting down on welfare services, there's a lot less of that available.)  When some celebrity helps someone out, he or she is doing that on behalf of all of us.

K.

LindyFest

I saw a really cute photo from Lindyfest on Facebook:

I can't believe what dazzling smiles these girls have; I could barely smile at all, throughout my childhood, and only started practicing my smile once I started teaching. 

I can't dance, either, except for the Waltz.  I can just barely do it, until I can escape the ballroom!  You people who can dance are so, so lucky.  At least, for the Lindy Hop, the girls seem to wear just reasonable medium heels.  For Latin dances, they wear 8 inch heels, which look elegant, I grant you, but are so ridiculous. 

Kay

What To Do?

I have to concede that, at one time, Hate came easy to me.  I didn't have a lot to hate about—though the little I had, I pulled out of the freezer several times a day, when I was just about 20—until I broke up with the person I was going with back then.  (Quite honestly, my frustration with my life might have had something to do with it; but I never actually hated that person.  That's something to look out for.  An unhappy relationship could get one spewing hate at completely unrelated things.  That's so pathetic; I only realized what was going on once we broke up, and I stopped being hateful!  I was incredibly embarrassed.)

Right now, honestly, I could hate the new administration if I tried.  I could hate the frigid weather we're having in Pennsylvania if I tried, and the scorching weather over in California.  I could hate the ignorant things some of the most immature members of the Trump administration simply toss out, just for no good reason at all; perhaps to enhance their coolness.  But it gives me more satisfaction to hold back, grit my teeth, and give Trump and his team a chance to Make America Great, if not 'again', perhaps for the first time. 

Well, I want to pause what I was saying!  Imagine my surprise to read on the Internet, that the president attended a prayer meeting at the Washington Cathedral, and Bishop Marion Edgar Budde said these words:

“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you, and as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. 

"There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals; they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwara, and temples.

"I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away; and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and walk humbly with each other and our God, for the good of all people, in this nation, and the world. Amen.” 

When asked about her words in an interview following the sermon, Bishop Budde said that she was moved to address the president directly because she was concerned about “the level of license to be really quite cruel” that some people feel [able to use] now, and due to "the fear that I have seen and experienced among our people -- people that I know and love, both within the immigrant community and within the LGBTQ community, and how terrified so many are.” She reflected that, "I was trying to say, ‘The country has been entrusted to you.' And one of the qualities of a leader is mercy, right? Mercy. And to be mindful of the people who are scared.”

This Bishop has expressed so well what I should have tried to say!

Kay

P.S.  [Added later]:

Tea Party and maga citizens seem unable to draw lessons from the current president's actions.  He has withdrawn the security details from several of his former secretaries of state (?) like Mike Pompeo, who are still in danger of threats from Iraq.  Trump supporters are probably under the impression that Trump would never be harsh with them, though he's harsh with so many others.  Sad.

Politics Again

All sorts of sad things are happening in politics.  These are considered amusing by guys; just playground horsing around by political leaders such as Trump, and business leaders, such as Elon Musk (and perhaps Vivek Ramaswamy), and Podcasters, such as Steve Bannon, and the undisciplined hooligans who are Republican Congressmen.  But I'm not amused; there is work to be done; terrible fires are burning in Los Angeles.  Russia is bullying the Ukraine, the Middle East is struggling to have some sort of peace, but lots of leaders there are trying to arrange to be in positions of power when things settle down, and everywhere—while everything is unsettled—men are manipulating circumstances to control women, and wealthy businessmen are trying to control politics so that they get wealthier. 

This was all let loose by Trump (who really seems to be a puppet of some of these businessmen, but they keep Trump happy by flattering him), who is either too unconcerned to worry about these things, or is happy to have everyone fight among themselves, as long as they leave Trump alone to watch TV by himself. 

Leaders of Congress and the Senate probably have an inkling that all this is happening, but I don't think they trust each other enough to get together and talk about it.  At the moment they're kept busy confirming Trump's proposed cabinet, which consists of very controversial nominees.  That keeps the Senate distracted, but getting a cabinet set up is important. 

Congress is a sort of compound Nero, the Roman leader, who is said to have been fiddling while Rome burned.  Here, California is burning—at least LA is—but California is a Blue state, and perhaps the Republicans don't care too much. 

Some parts of the US are getting tons of snow (and some parts of Canada too), while other parts are dealing with strong wind that keeps blowing the flames closer to the center of LA, which is going to be a financial catastrophe. 

Meanwhile, the Democrats are organizing protest marches, and diverse peaceful expressions of disapproval, and I don't know where that will go; as always, Trump will pretend that he had the most fantastic inauguration in the history of the universe.  At least Carrie Underwood is singing!  Could be worse, I guess. 

All I can do is just stay home and read, I guess.  I have no consoling thoughts for any of you!  Is the wind trying to blow down your door too?  At least it's not trying to blow fire on our homes.  I'm not depressed; just exhausted with this foolishness.  This is the worst possible time for young people to give up on politics. 

Kay.

New Owners of Smashwords: Draft 2 Digital

Smashwords, the company that managed my self-publication business, decided a couple of years ago, to sell the business to snitch company,  Draft2Digiral.  I had never heard of this company, and I was suspicious of this plan, wondering what downsides there would be. 

My Stories on Smashwords were, many of them, free to download on Smashwords.  But now, I am informed that I no longer have control over the prices of the stories; D2D sets the price.  This is a serious disadvantage, and I don't know what to do about it. 

There are two obvious things I can do:

1. Delete my books from D2D, and try to put them up on some server, for anyone to download. 
2. Try to sell them on the Amazon, or some other agency. 

I don't have the energy to look up how to do either of these things, and I don't know what to do. 

Kay

Singers in My Stories

I just realized that there are few—or no—singers in my stories!  This is so strange; almost the only thing I can do is sing.  Not well, mind you, but better than I can do anything else, except play the guitar, I suppose. 

All the more strange that there are very few instances of singing in my stories: Alexandra sings (in Alexandra), Maia sings in Prisoner;  now I come to think of it, Helen does sing on lots of occasions; Jana sings in Jana, but I didn't publish the Jana story—except on this blog, in installments!-—so of course you wouldn't know about her.  And two of my favorite characters: Christine and Kelly, sing in my seasonal story, Christine's ... Amazing Christmas.

But I'm surprised that singing was never a plot element in any of the stories. 

Kay.

Less Volume on Hate, Pls

I'm not calling on haters on media to tone it down (though toning down on hate by everyone, everywhere would be a good thing); I'm calling on (so-called) liberals—including myself—to recognize some of our humor as hate in disguise, and tone it down.

The Trump family has been the target of focused hate for close to a decade.  Their patriarch is so oblivious to negative feedback (that is, people on all sorts of media expressing unhappiness about various things he says), that it makes these people escalate their disapproval to the level of hate, even if it didn't start out that way.  At this point, the members of the Trump family, apparently even more insensitive to criticism than the, er, patriarch, amplify the rhetoric they must hear around Trump Central, and say things bluntly that the Don has said more delicately.  (I never thought I'd be using that word in connection with these people, but there, now, this is creeping toward hate.)

As a result, the camp opposed to Trump—that includes myself, and many sane people—hate this rhetoric, and Trump and his, well,  followers, for lack of a better word, love it.  They know that we hate it, and that knowledge makes them love it even more!  So MAGA rallies almost completely feature this sort of material. 

We're going to get—or already are—labeled as 'Haters,' which will surprise many of us, again including me, because I have never considered myself a hater of any sort, except recently, because the incendiary Trump combination of lies, misconceptions, twisted humor, and rhetoric does make me respond with a knee- jerk reaction that is, on examination, nothing but hate.

The sad thing about hate speech is that it is easy to discount.  'Oh, that's just spewing,' I say to myself, and those who I intend should read it, my target audience, could be doing the same. 

It's all very sad.  But may improve, especially if the MAGA people want us to cooperate in various programs.  Immigration, for instance, is one area where we can cooperate. 

Kay, surprised to be a hater

Meditation, from Thaïs, by Massenet

This is one of my favorite violin pieces.  My parents used to play it at night; oh, so romantic!

https://youtu.be/ImEUiNAL9go?si=fgAq1er-Qf1EaP6l