Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
Someone informed me that they would not vote for Kamala Harris for President because she’d slept her way to the top. She’d lived in California, and she knew.
This was a successful entrepreneur speaking, and a Republican. I was like, really? What evidence do you have for this smear?
I told her that nobody had been able to provide any evidence other than some Willie Brown bullshit that was easily put into proper context with a little searching. And I was surprised; she had been successful in business in California. I shocked her by suggesting that maybe she had slept her way to success.
Yes, of course she was shocked. I had no evidence for my claim, and it impugned her integrity and her character and undermined her accomplishments.
Yeah, see? Just as they’re doing to Harris.
I shared one of my posts to Facebook the other day. I often used to do so, inviting friends and family to ‘see what I’m up to’.
Facebook informed me that it had been blocked as spam. It was the second time in as many months that they labeled one of my posts as spam, claiming something like, I was posting it or sharing it just to get likes.
The nerve.
This happened to be a Floofinition, one of my silly pursuits. Of course I was posting it on Facebook for likes. Why does Facebook think people post on their social media accounts? Likes is one of many reasons for sharing things on Facebook, but they used to encourage me to do just that.
I protested their unilateral condemnation of my post, but my protest is limited in scope to their pre-canned reasons for doing so. And those are flawed and incomplete. It assumes a set of paradigms which frankly just displays how fucking lost thy are. And after I completed that, I thought, I never heard anything back from them about that one last month.
No, you never do. They reach out like some hidden Gods, do their thing, and then watch us like we’re ants running around after their anthill is damaged.
That pissed me off.
The clincher came the next day. It was like, “Michael, here’s a memory of something you posted before! Share it to remind others.” So sweet. So friendly.
And yeah, it was one of my floofinitions. Like the one they condemned as spam and removed for being posted to get likes.
Well, fuck you, Facebook. I’m done with you and your capricious two-faced arrogance. They are already a repository of right-wing memes and misinformation, so they were treading on my last nerve before. I know, they’re quivering back at Meta headquarters, wailing that they’ve alienated me and lost my support. “Oh, boo hoo. We lost Michael. Woe is us.”
That’s okay. It makes me feel better. Just as their community used to do. It’s like they say, the more things change, the more they go to shit.
My wife and I were out shopping for new sheets and pillows last weekend. She came to me with a mug and a grin.
“This is you.” She handed me the mug. “I’m buying it for you.”
She’s right. After running it through the dishwasher with a load, this is now my morning coffee cup.
Thanks, sweetheart.
Mood: Moontalized
And just like that, summer struck back. A friend wrote in an email about meeting up for a beer, “Is it PC to refer to this pleasant time of year as ‘Indian Summer?’ I sure hope so.”
Yep, autumn and autmer and sumumn have all been displaced for summer, if we use the weather as a ruler. It’s September 24, 2024 on the calendar. Here in Ashlandia, that should translate to autumn, or ‘fall’ as many locals call it. But with the low only dipping into the middle sixties last night and an expected high of 95 F, this Tuesday has summer scrawled all over it. Add in a deep blue sky tinged with hazy edges, and it feels like June has fallen on us once again.
There’s all manner of news spreading across the wires today. Good stuff like new 2024 election trends and Trump’s claim that if he loses this time, he’s done. WTF news about a blizzard in South Africa. Gold hit an all-time high, Texas is suing the Biden Administration, and Hurricane John is a cat 3 striking Mexico.
Oh, and Earth is closer to getting that ‘second moon’ we’ve always hoped for, though it’ll be just a temporary addition. Call it a trial run. We’ll need to be careful in how the new moon is introduced and ensure that it gets along with the old Moon. It’s used to being the only moon, so there’s some trepidation that the new and old moon will go after each other.
I was outside in the backyard at 3 AM (yes, it was a cat thing) when I was overtaken by the stunningly clear sky and brilliant, bold moonshine. I stood out there alone for a while, sucking in the fresh air and stargazing. That probably contributed to The Neurons posting a Thin Lizzy song, “Dancing in the Moonlight (It’s Caught Me in Its Spotlight)” in the morning mental music stream (Trademark two-step). The song came out in ’77 but it doesn’t get much radio play in the U.S. these days.
Stay positive, be strong, lean forward, and vote blue in 2024. I have reached the bottom of my coffee cup, so I am facing a personal sad time. Here’s the music! Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 