Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
Flooftwin (floofinition) – Person and animal who bear startling resemblance to each other. Origins: 1960s United States.
In Use: “Among some of the stereofloofs that exist is the meme that bulldogs and their male owners are frequently flooftwins.”
In Use: “Sometimes, in response to a perception that a person and their pet are flooftwins, the human will start dressing the animal in the same style of clothes that they wear.”
We have such classic Trump in action: confusion, lies, misdirection, and trying to blame others. In this case, his administration rolled out an illegal spending freeze. His administration wants to vet the programs the money is supporting to ensure it aligns with his ideology.
Not how it works. He and his administration know this. But in classic vengeful, sulking child fashion, play his way or he takes his ball and goes home and no one plays.
Execution, as it always is with a Trump endeavor, was sloppy and poorly vetted. It lacked details and was so broad, it froze money to hundreds of systems, programs, projects, and communities. All across the nation, the response by civic leaders in towns, states, churches, schools, and offices was, “What’s going on?”
The press reported this. This made Trump sad. Angry. From a NYT story:
During a bill signing at the White House on Wednesday, Mr. Trump cast blame on the media for the confusion. “We are merely looking at parts of the big bureaucracy where there has been tremendous waste and fraud and abuse,” he said.
Once again, Trump proposed that you trust him over your lyin’ eyes. Even if his goal was to look at “parts of the big bureaucracy where there has been tremendous waste and fraud and abuse,” that’s not how it’s done. Laws are not ignored. The will of the people are not ignored. Nor is the voice and role of Congress.
Likewise, Trump’s reaction to the air collision between an Army helicopter and a commercial airliner is blamed on others. Trump’s kneejerk reaction was that it was DEI. What? He couldn’t specify how, only that it’s ‘common sense’. Yeah, WTF are you smoking now?
Next, Trump tried blaming his predecessor, President Joe Biden. Never did he admit or accept that his chaotic actions could have contributed to the tragic accident. The fact that he fired 100 FAA officials in the last 11 days? No, surely that had no impact. Nor did the ‘resign’ offer he sent the air traffic controllers. Of course not, right? Just a week before, on January 22, 2025, Trump issued a fact sheet that flat-out lied.
Almost unbelievably, as a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiative, the Biden FAA specifically recruited and hired individuals with “severe intellectual” disabilities, psychiatric issues, and complete paralysis over other individuals who sought to work for the FAA.
Common sense will tell you that such a ‘fact sheet’ probably did wonders for morale at the FAA.
But that’s Trump, lying, lawless, and reckless, self-identifying as a genuis when he’s just a bulllying cheat and con man who never accepts responsibility when things go wrong. Never has, never will.
He proves this every day, in every way.
It’s a potpourri of offerings and updates. Nothing important. Just sharing.
Tucker (pronounced Tuck-ah), my black and white wonder floof, had some issues this morning. I heard him in the litter box at a quarter to daylight this morning. The familar tones of him puking followed. I rose to check it out and soon learned that he was constipated. After comforting him, I warmed water and gave him a few CCs of that via syringe. Next, warmed water and made a slurry out of his kibble, which he eagerly took in. Finally, warmed water, mixed it with a Churro bisque and fed him a few CCs of that. Meanwhile, in his wanderings, three small, hard stools were released. After these treatments, he retired to his litter box and had a large bowel movement. Then he acted normal. But this is a warning shot; I need to shift his diet and ensure he’s eating more wet food. I’d noticed that since his teeth have been removed, that’s been a problem for him. I’m also picking up some cat laxative to keep on hand, just in case.
My healing continues, and my edema issues are improving. I’ve been experiencing bi-lateral edema. Started a few years ago, in conjunction with an obstructed bladder caused by an enlarged prostat. Ankle surgery last fall made it worse on my right leg and foot. I focus on reducing the swelling by day’s end every day. Here in general is what I’ve done.
This all seems to be paying off. My left limb and foot doesn’t swell much during the day at all. The swelling on my right foot, ankle, and leg is completely gone by each morning. Although it slowly swells during the day, the swelling isn’t as heavy. My mobility, strength, and flexibility have all improved, IMO, based on the exercises and my observations. I commence my lymph-edema massage therapy next week.
My wife and I both like to do word games like Connections, Spelling Bee, Wordle, and Hurdle. Each day, we talk about how easy or hard the games were for us. We also laugh about how we sometimes screw up. For example, with Wordle and Hurdle, you’re guessing a five letter word. You have six guesses. Correct letters show up in green. Letters which are in the word but in the wrong location are in gold or yellow. It’s humorous but irritating to realize after making some guesses that we’ve overlooked or have forgotten to use a letter in yellow in our guesses. It’s like, “OMG, I had a N in yellow that I forgot! What is wrong with me?”
It’s all fun and games.
We’re rocking toward the month’s end. I suspect the political chaos unleashed on us is likely to last beyond this month… Hope it doesn’t to too much to our spirits and sanity.
Last night’s sky was super clear. Man, the stars out there were awe-inspiring. To wonder about the distance, the worlds, the science…all subjects capable of reminding me how small and temporary we are.
This is Thursda, January 30, 2025. Sunshine slathers us under a sky that doesn’t seem like it can be any bluer. Temperatures dropped to 25 F around my place last night. Now it’s 47 F. Yesterday’s high achieved 56 F and we think today will visit 57 F. Thing about it is, walking along in 56 F temperature yesterday, I found that winter still skulked in the shadows. Felt like the temperature dropped by ten degrees and acquired a moody chill when I went through shadow.
Bad news was received yesterday. Part of the reason that I was outside last night, considering the sky and reflecting on existence. One of our beer group’s members passed away. Now, with people going through health issues and aging, you’d properly think it was one of them. But no, it was one of the youngest and newest members, Pete. Just 63 years old, he’d only joined us two plus years ago. He immediately revealed himself to be charming and intelligent, with a good sense of humor. Plugged right into group. He didn’t show signs of ill health or problems…but appearances can deceive.
One of our other members has known Pete since their third grade year. That amazes me. That friend joined us again last night and told us more about Pete. One of the revealations was that Pete had survived Hodgin Lymphoma. Beat it with a combination of radiation therapy and drugs. While he beat that disease, it left him with a weakened system and no spleen. Pete contracted a blood infection. Within a day of falling sick, spinal menningitis killed him. He leaves behind a wife, children, grandchildren, brothers and sister, parents. He also leaves a lasting impression. He’s another person I will deeply miss.
On to the music, which arrived by way of dream. After reflecting on the dream after I awoke, I saw that the dream image of me was like I appeared in the mid-1990s. That makes sense; I ranged from my late 30s into my mid 40s during that time, and that’s the mental version of myself who I carry forward. It’s always a surprise to find that I am no longer that age. You’d think that I would learn by now.
Anyway, by-product from the dream was the song “Shine” by Collective Soul. It was one of several songs I caught snatches of during the dream. Or was it? As I strained my brain to recall details, I was moved to wonder, did I dream those song snatches, or was I now just filling the void with falsehoods? Honestly don’t know.
As I popped through that mystery, The Neurons dusted off the song and slotted it into my morning mental music stream. It’s another tune, as with yesterday’s theme music, which gave a sound track to my life as I navigated existence around the San Francisco-San Jose Bay Area Peninsula region. And it’s more of that quasi grunge solid rock guitar ladened sound which I like. Hope you enjoy it and it coaxes memories of your own out of your cells.
Coffee is dazzling me with its caffeine once again. I’m bracing for another day of political chaos. Hope worse news doesn’t darken our existence but in this era, it pays to stay prepared for such. Here’s the music. Have the best day you can. I’m planning to do the same. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 