Taiwan Won One Tie

I can't imagine the United States government getting upset if China's leader called the governor of the state of California, so communist China shouldn't be so upset if Trump, who isn't even a real president yet, has a phone call to the 'wrong' China by talking to the leader of Taiwan. There is a strong possibility that Trump didn't know which China he was talking to on the phone, and there is an even higher probability that he didn't care if he was talking to the 'wr₀Ng' China.

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Here is my veRy first Dutch language joke:

The Dutch word for 'tail' is 'staart'. But the tail on my dog is at the end, so I would have chose the spelling 'eend'.

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I saw a news article where someone tried to blame part of Cuba's economic problems on the US embargo, but then I thought, didn't Cuba have the entire rest of the planet to try to conduct foreign trade?

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So Donald Trump and Al Gore have a meeting to find common ground. 

They both have 'al' in their first name and 'r' in the last. Oh, and one of them 'used' to be a Democrat.

We Are Not Mice

I sUddenLY discovered that the kind folks who invented the lid for my disposable coffee cup added a recessed region for my nose to make it easier to drink my morning resurrection concoction. Get the noser closer to the action. 

Actually I am sitting outside with my sick dog hoping we get to go inside soon. Its not too bad, I am actually wearing pants instead of the usual cargo shorts, and have this large towel over my head, tenting it. If I leave the sick dog outside by himself he starts getting barky-barky. The non-sick dog is curled up under my bench, wanting attention from my feet in the form of massage. Very little of me is actually cold. 

I am probably the only person outside at 6 AM studying Dutch in my tiny town of 13k in the dark. The people who made this particular group of lessons added several silly parts. I am using an app called duoLingo which I absolutely love. I used it for French (YES!!! I actually enjoyed studying French for the first time in my entire life.) As my younger son says from time to time, "Oh, the Dutch". 

Strange Dutch Examples: 

• The birds read the newspaper. 
• We are not mice. 
• The boy is wearing a dress.
• You are sour, just like a lemon. 
•  and my favorite: Excuse me, I am an apple

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YEA!!! My friend is coming home from prison veRy veRy soon!!! I am going to cook her a buncha stuff and I have been saving beer from every batch for her. I plan to spoil her even more than I did before her incarceration.

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NEW BEER: I am going to try brewing a new type of beer from Northern Brewer Homebrew Supplies called Northy 12 Belgian Quad.

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So the panda bear at the National Zoo had to have surgery to remove a half-eaten piece of bamboo. Here is my headline:

Bei Bei Has Bamboo Boo-Boo

Movie Idea: Deplorable Me

I came up with an animated movie idea: Deplorable Me based on Despicable Me, where the character Gru is replaced, somewhat, by Donald Trump, and the minions are a wide assortment of his rabid fan base, who actually adore being called Deplorables.

Let The Fool Build His Wall

I think they should go ahead and let Trump build his wall with his own money, but have to do it only 1 inch vertically at a time, complete 40 foot width and Pacific Ocean to Gulf of Mexico length. That way when it gets to be about 5 inches thick, we can stop the project, and rename it "Interstate Zero", a troll road.

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I am of the opinion that Supreme Court Justices should be allowed to speak their minds about Presidential candidates. Why should 300 plus million US citizens get to express their opinions and yet the nine members of the top bench should not? 

Donald Trump is again at his nastiest calling for Ginsberg's apology and hoping she gets off the court soon.

If it is wrong for the judiciary to express their opinions of Trump, then it should be just as wrong for members of Congress. 

I, for one, welcome the words of wisdom from legal scholars. I don't think enough politicians are saying strong enough words against The Monster that is Donald Trump.

I am not so sure that Trump understands there are three equally important branches to our Federal Government.

Tiny Useless Evil Minds

A veRy sad day for our country. To target to kill people, especially police, simply because they are white is so unimagineably heinously bizarre. What tiny useless evil minds some people have.

Quote I found during puzzle play:

"QUIET MINDS CANNOT BE PERPLEXED OR FRIGHTENED, BUT GO ON IN FORTUNE OR MISFORTUNE AT THEIR OWN PRIVATE PACE, LIKE A CLOCK DURING A THUNDERSTORM." - ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

Veteran Suicide Rate Misinformation

I think the news organizations are misleading the public about the suicide rates of U.S. veterans.

They report that veterans have a suicide rate that is twice the general population.

But then I thought, those two groups don't have the same gender ratio. 

In the group veterans, the ratio of men to women is about 10:1

In the group general population, the ratio of men to women is 97:100

But the ratio of men to women suicide for the general population is 3.5:1

So, these numbers seem to indicate that being a veteran doesn't mean they have a higher rate of suicide because gender isn't being factored into the information.

Determining My Cause of Death

I have figured out how I am going to die. It will be by heart attack because someone, most likely my wife, frightened me.

I spend a great deal of time alone, either at home or at work. When I am at home my dogs are almost always with me, but I am away from other humans. So my dogs never seem to startle me drastically, even if they come to wake me up.

But at work I am usually the only person working in the southern half of the building where our printing business is located, and I don't hear people walking (carpet) and they are suddenly right behind me in my office and start talking to me. This scares me terribly. I need to install motion detectors.

Sometimes it is remarkably silly. I am sitting in the dining room in the early morning and the younger dog is headed to the bedroom area. I know he is going to wake up my wife, most likely. I have thought that all through. But when she appears a few minutes later, I am still drastically startled.

I guess I need to live on a desserted island. I didn't spell it 'deserted', as I would like to live on an island that has a Cheesecake Factory. I had dinner in Wyoming a few weeks ago, and it was a marvelous steak dinner followed by cheesecake. They had a huge variety of cheesecake that are brought in from Denver.

It appears I will finally get to go to a Cheesecake Factory in Oklahoma City soon. It will be on the way to Missouri. When several people were talking about things to do on our vacation in Branson, while we were at my wife's cosmetology section of the building, they were mentioning all these faith oriented tourist attractions. I cracked everyone up laughing when I asked, "Do they have attractions for us atheists?". I am not eXactly sure how you would make an atheist themepark. No one asked me if I was serious about being an atheist, which I found surprising, not that I ever have conversations about what I believe with anyone. I like to remain a mystery. 

Another Happy Pineapple Plant Owner Has Happened

This pineapple plant showed up at the diner, a present to Sandy from Frankie. Sometime in the future I will try to conduct a pineapple plant census of Borger Texas to determine our per capita pineapple plant ratio. 

I have a new neighbor who would like to move in, but I don't think my wife would approve. Both dogs have left this frog/toad alone now for at least three days, and he is right here at my back door every evening.

You can just barely see a part of Pepper in this picture. 

Update: The next evening he was back again, and the dogs didn't mess with him, eXcept for maybe an occasional sniff while in transit to the great outdoors. Because there is a light on just inside during most hours of the night, there are alot of bugs attracted to the area, so the frog/toad is most likely well fed. See, electricity can help feed frog/toads!!!

Here is a better picture of Pepper laying on the floor holding me. His mantra is, "I told you, I must hold you"

I Wonder If There Is A College Degree for This

Some people are into time management, wild life management or managing their 401K stock market portfolio.

I am forced into Dog Biscuit Management. 

When Santa Claus first got the younger dog Pepper for me in December he ate everything at a voracious pace, most likely after living a life of extreme scarcity. But after living here 5 months he has figured out that he has hit the doggie sweepstakes, and suddenly has become very nonchalant about eating things.

This suddenly blew up veRy early last Sunday morning after giving both dogs their dog biscuits while I was trying to make coffee. There was a veRy loud furry fury from the living room from The Big Dog, Cooper, as he most likely had finished his three items and was moving on to Pepper's uneaten items. But I am the alpha leader of the pack and shut them down pretty fast. 

So I have to be careful every time I give them treats. I am trying a new technique today of putting Pepper's treats on the kitchen floor on the south side, where Cooper rarely goes, and giving Cooper's to him in the living room. But Pepper still carries his treats into the living room.

I try.

No, I Am Not A Thief

On any given night there is a strong chance I will be woke by a stray dog in the neighborhood. I sleep with my window open.

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It has decided to be Spring finally and it can't decide when to stop raining, so it has made it difficult to mow, and it is too cold too often. But at least it isn't snowing here like it has been in South Dakota.

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I had a bizarre thing happen at the diner. I sat down at the community table in the chair nearest the kitchen so I could chat with Sandy the owner and have a beverage. It was last Saturday evening late and my wife had already fed me a huge supper at home.

After maybe an hour I was momentarily alone as Sandy had wandered off to perform some task and I was reading some news, when suddenly from the kitchen through the vertically narrow window for food delivery the owner's grandson, the chef, asks me if I would like a sandwich.

Bear in mind it is not uncommon for me to both give and receive food as a gift at the diner, my home away from home. I am always sharing new recipes, home made brew and stew, a birthday cake or two, to name but a few. So I ask what kind of sandwich, and Gabe tells me it is an egg and bacon sandwich, but just as he was fixing to hand it to me declared, "Oh, I forgot the cheese!" and he sets it back down and jokes about how masterfully he cuts a piece of cheese with surgical skill, we laugh, and I ask for a side order of mustard, which he puts a spoonful and a half into a small glass container. I remembered that I had promised to get him some cake soon, but I haven't baked in quite a while.

So I thank him and simply turn to sit back down at my spot, and I get to about the middle of the second bite of sandwich even though it has LETTUCE on this sandwich, which I thought was bizarre.

Suddenly Sandy appears exasperated semi shouting, "Ernie! Why are you eating Hawk's sandwich!!!"

I am taken aback, and I said, "What?!?!? Gabe offered me a sandwich, so I just ate it! He asked me, 'Ernie, would you like a sandwich?'" Somehow Gabe thought it was my order, and what he probably said was, "Are you ready for your sandwich?" not wanting for me to have to wait for the waitress to get back to deliver it just 6 feet and get cold.

The waitress had seen me from across the room get the food from the window and had not heard any of my interaction with Gabe, so she had talked to Sandy before confronting me. So then everyone cracked up laughing and started teasing me about stealing food. Of course, I returned the favor.

The customer named Hawk was sitting in the closest booth to the south of me and he enjoyed the episode too. As the second sandwich arrived in the delivery window the waitress exclaimed, "Ernie, don't steal that second sandwich!!" and laughed, to which I waited until she delivered it to Hawk to say across the room, "Be sure to charge him for 2 sandwiches!!!" which cracked up everyone to laughing again. There were a few more lines that I have forgot by now.

About 5 minutes later Sandy decides to join me back at the community table with a plate of food, and I promised not to eat any of it. She laughed, and left to go back to the kitchen, AND what appears next?!?!?!? Sandy brings me out an unrequested bowl heaping with strawberry and chocolate ice cream!!!

She lets me know that the ice cream is actually a gift to her from another regular diner patron named Frankie. I tell her that I rarely receive things from Frankie, that my wife is usually the recipient of his gifts, as he always brings her things from the grocery store, as my wife cuts his hair. BUT that day I had actually received TWO things from Frankie indirectly, the ice cream being the second. But I told Sandy there was absolutely NO way she would ever be able to guess what Frankie had given me to give to my wife earlier that day. He had me follow him out to his truck at our place of business in order to give me an old dirty plastic bucket!!! He had given my wife one a couple months ago so that our dogs could have a larger water bowl at the house. And now they were getting another bucket for outside water.

So Sandy sits down to eat her supper and tells me that my event of eating the sandwich tonight reminded her of an old customer named Denver, now deceased, who used to come into the diner and would stand at the north end of the bar - Sandy turning left to point at the spot just across the aisle - and he would always drink these short bottles of beer (I forget the brand). She said that one night she caught Denver walking out the front door with an expensive compound plate and insulation pan underneath it piled high with hot Mexican food that he had taken right out of the food delivery window when no one was noticing! She hollered at him, "Denver! Get back here with my expensive plate and I'll put that food in a to-go container for ya!" So that explained why there had been several sporadic episodes where the waiter and the chef had gotten into arguments about missing plates of food, where Denver had absconded with meals. He would just wait for something of interest to show up and run off with someone's food.

An Egg Sell Lent Dream

I just woke from a simple short dream in which my wife walks into the room and announces that I will no longer be allowed to have pet roosters (yes, plural)

First, I have no pet roosters

Second, I have no desire to have pet roosters

Third, why do I have this sudden desire to immediately start building a chicken coop?!?!?

Fourth, why did I think that 'Kanga' was such a great name for a pet rooster? Hold it, no, 'Kanga Rooster' is a great name for a pet rooster. 

Googling 'prefabricated chicken coop'

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Well, I finally found something unique to give my wife for her birthday. I got an e-mail from the John R. Kasich presidential campaign letting me know that all their merchandise is FIFTY percent off!!!! 

(See, I am a true fan, I knew his middle name.)

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So, Cinco de Mayo celebrates an 1862 military battle defeat of the French army by the Mexican army. I think that means we can create a holiday for any day where some battle took place by any pair of nations. I think that will limit us to only 365.25 days out of 365.25 days of the year.

Do We Have a Serial Killer or a Hit Man on the Loose?

Interesting Borger News: on Monday morning at the diner Sandy just barely avoided being shot while in the kitchen. 

She had just turned to go into the north prep room from the kitchen and a bullet came in the huge window right at where her head had just been standing by the grill. The bullet then went through a frig and a bottle of salsa then after it came out of the refrigerator it entered a bottle of some cleaner but the liquid changed the trajectory suddenly 90 degrees where it then ricocheted off a few more surfaces entering at least one more room leaving a bit of an exit wound in the wall. When Sandy heard it she initially thought her deep fat fryer had exploded.

Sandy brought a 45 ACP bullet from her house to compare it to the second hole, the frig entry point and it was about the same size.

The second entry point was a few inches higher than where the bullet came through the glass and so it seemed to be on a slightly upward trajectory as it entered the building, so a rough calculation seems that the shot was fired by someone in a car on Main Street, rather than a higher position or a long distance shot which would have had to have cleared the building across the street and the huge number of stationary tanker railroad cars on farther east.

Thankfully our Sandy survived intact.

[I took plenty of photographs which I will try to get from my camera later.]

Republican Pennsyl Mania

This data shows that Republican voters in Pennsylvania want to have their cake and eat it too. Kasich polls last among the Republicans BUT performs better against the Democrats in a general election match up.

Puzzle: Solve 6 + 4 = 4

I saw this puzzle on Facebook, and solved it by changing the 6 to a 0, to 0+4=4

Then someone else took a match from the + to change the 6 to 8, 8-4=4

Then another person changed the 6 to a 5 and then the right 4 to a 9, to 5+4=9

Then I thought about using other number bases besides base 10, and found this solution in base 9:

Change the right 4 by moving the horizontal piece, so that 4 changes to 11. Then 11 in base 9 equals 10 in base 10

6+4=11

The Last and Lost Jaguar in the United States of a Mirror of Culls

I walk into the living room to tell my wife about the news story I have just read about the last wild jaguar named El Jefe that roams in Arizona. It is s'pposedly the only known jaguar in the U.S. and likely part of a group of jaguars that are in nearby northern Mexico. There is a conflict concerning a new open pit mine that would endanger El Jefe's wandering life style.

I tell my wife that there is only one jaguar left in the United States and she is amazed and asked how they know that. When I start to eXplain the techniques the scientists use to track and record the animal, she laughs and says, "Oh! I thought you meant Jaguar the automobile."

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Yesterday was half filled with cooking, both gumbo and spaghetti. So as part of a long birthday celebration for my friend who is a co-owner of the diner that I frequent, I gave her a portion of each food plus a bottle of my beer from my 3rd batch, an American Cream Ale. Today I will make her a German Chocolate Cake, so she can enjoy it on her day off tomorrow.

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On Monday I started my 4th beer batch. It is a Witbier of the style like Blue Moon Belgian White. I will transfer it from the primary to the secondary fermentation tank today or tomorrow. So I have now tried making 3 different kinds of beer, and enjoyed the American Light, and American Cream Ale. All these kits come from a company called Brewer's Best. My dog Pepper destroyed one of my jugs of water while I had gone to the store very briefly to get a piece of equipment for the extra mash stage of the Witbier. So I ran both dogs outside so I could make beer in peace, otherwise Pepper would have been constantly in the way.

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The Iowa caucus was bizarre. It seemed so undemocratic with coin tosses and delegates and super delegates. I don't understand why there isn't simply voting and then deciding a winner based on who gets the most votes. I was so overjoyed that Trump didn't win. I didn't care about who won but only who lost. 

You can tell Trump is starting to really lose it mentally by his increased use of profanity and the choice of which bad words he uses. I wouldn't be surprised by anything now. I am thinking he might as well bring a Moslem "terrorist" on stage at his next rally and strangle him with his bare hands. (I am not encouraging him to do that, I am just thinking what is something bizarre, and that is just one of many things, but I won't bother you with the others.) I am just surprised that no one has made an assassination attempt on him yet. He has white supremicists backing him. He has irritated so many people. The British Parliament debated banning him from their country. Putin likes him and then Trump gave a bit of praise to the leader of North Korea. If someone would have created a movie a year ago about all the things of the Trump 2016 campaign, people would have thought it was unrealistic.

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I have had fun this week converting an old laptop running Windows 7 with an upgrade to Windows 10. It has been rather smooth, and I have seemed to be able to get the latest versions of my business software to run on Windows 10. So I have more confirmation testing to do before I upgrade my main computer used for design and manufacturing. I will also be doing my first hard drive to SSD upgrade most likely next week.

Cooper: Lasagna Delivery Service Complainer

As I was preparing the dogs' food this morning, Cooper started complaining in a sad low volume whine. I told him, "Be quiet, there are dogs in Ethiopia who are not getting [what you are getting] lasagna for breakfast. Several of them."

And then about 14 seconds later I remembered that Italy invaded Ethiopia [in 1936], so there might actually be several Ethiopian dogs who had lasagna this morning.

Link to Ethiopian Lasagna Recipes:

https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/great-recipes.asp?food=ethiopian+lasagna

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I am trying to understand why anyone would think this is a valid news story:

Shark Eats Smaller Shark at South Korean Aquarium

This isn't "news" - fish have been eating fish for a veRy long time.

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At first I thought 'Ted' Cruz, besides being Canadian, might secretly be a TMNT, but then I saw there was a spelling diphpherence between his real name 'Rafael' versus the TMNT 'Raphael'. Then I thought, does the U. S. Constitution require you to be a human to be president; can you be a turtle?!?!?!?

Because turtles come from eggs, this would not be a 'birther' controversy, but rather a 'hatcher' one.

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Yea!!! Better Call Saul, season "won", is finally on Netflix. Winter is over, I have a reason to stop hibernating.

Design Rejected By School Admin

I was asked to create a design for a school class T-shirt for a local school. 

The graduating class is 2017, and they wanted to incorporate the number 17 as an abstract X in the two words WE'RE NEXT. They aren't the current graduating class, but they're next. At first it seemed like a strange design, but after playing with font choices it grew on me. I purposely put the 1 on top of the 7 with the spacing between the numbers to indicate they were layered separate elements, yet stylistically combined to create an abstract X. The 1 is on "top" and rotated left and the 7 below rotated right seemed to be the logical way (to me) to read the numbers as a 17, the mind interpreting the 1 first then the 7.

The customer seemed very pleased, and began the process of collecting orders from other students, so we could begin the printing process.

BUT ... the design was rejected by the school administration because they said it resembled a Nazi swaztika! 

I looked at several examples of Nazi swaztikas online, and they seem to always be solid and symmetrical about a rotational axis at 90 degrees. Our X is incorporated as part of a word, and is meant to be separate elements of 1 and 7 layered and they aren't solid, there is a gap. The line width on a swaztika is very uniform width throughout the entire design, and our design clearly is not uniform width.

Donald At The 5TH

I am thinking perhaps Trump had drank a fifth of something, causing him to say this:

"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?" Trump told an enthusiastic audience at a Christian school, Dordt College, "Its like incredible."

I am hoping that Donald will go ahead and do that, and that the person he shoots is himself.

The 5th Avenue that Donald speaks of is of course, New York City, which is currently in a blizzard. So we might get double lucky and he will go outside and freeze as well.

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I love this headline!!! It appears that Jeff Bezos has turned himself into a rocket, yes, that would be a first, amaz-on-ing.

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From Thursday in my car

I was just now so hilariously confused at the busy 4 way stop at the intersection of 5th & Main because a f-'ing idiot in a gray Camaro did a U turn in the MIDDLE of the intersection. It was so majestically stupid that I applauded.

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Pepper has made progress by learning to play fetch with a tennis ball. He has caught it several times in mid-air.

Wal-Mart Dis Disappearing While Meteorite Guns Are Appearing

I think its strange when someone writes an article with the headline: 

"Walmart to Close 269 Stores, Lay Off 16,000 Employees", 

BUT then the fourth paragraph from the end is:

Also Friday, Walmart announced that as many as 405 new stores would be opened worldwide during its next fiscal year, with a focus on large warehouse stores and suburban areas.

So ... the net effect is Wal-Mart is actually in the process of growing.

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Pepper made progress today: He caught a tennis ball in mid-air!

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I love how the people running for President talk about, 'America', all the time. They are seeking to lead a country and they don't even use the correct name.

The Americas, I believe, are really both continents, North -and- South. So when Ted Cruz was born in Canada, he was born in, you guessed it, America. Hahahaha

(No, I am not a Cruz-ader)

'Make America Great Again' ?

No, I don't think that is really possible, for the simple reason that it never really ever stopped being great.

I will just be glad when this eXtremely bizarre presidential campaign is OVER.

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I feel terrible.
Why?
I am in a strange state of pain from being jerked awake by starting to fall off my bed after falling asleep too close to the edge, and then waking up and finding yourself rolling off the bed.
I had been reading with my iPad propped up on the nightstand. 
So it wasn't just falling off the bed but also the process of almost hitting my head or face into the nightstand as well.
PLUS...this isn't a rare occurance, sadly, I did this yesterday, too.

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So, someone wants to pay $1,000,000 for a firearm with most of its parts made from a meteorite? I was under the impression that rocky planets, such as earth, were basically an agglomeration of meteorites. So the only difference between an ordinary firearm and this one is when the metal arrived, not necessarily the source.

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Todays Gunny Funny:

If the president is successful in taking away all our guns, then the band 'Guns And Roses' can rename themselves 'Neuroses'.

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Today's New Word: Ambi-dogs-trious 
I have learned how to pet/rub/massage two dogs at the same time.

Happ Ne Yea & y w r

(From Jan 1st 2016 PM)

I am at the diner watching people play the card game 31 at the community table. The guy on the west side of the table is drunk and has just started causing problems. The two guys on the east side are telling him they want his mother's phone number so she can come down to the diner and give him a spanking. The drink got a lot louder and the owner came out a couple times to tell him to settle down He mumbled an apology.

Meanwhile the song, "The Boys From Oklahoma Roll Their Joints All Wrong" is playing on the juke box.

The drunk just asked me what I said, but I told him I had said nothing.

Suddenly the song "Easy Like Sunday Morning"

He asked "Who played this song? It's a good song"

I lied and said, "I did"

Of course, I was just messing with him, as I had not left the table.

He said, "All right!" and put out his hand to for me to shake it, so I did.

He told the elderly man to my right, "Harold, if you ever need a drunk to work for you again, just give me a call."

He then asks Harold if he was a good worker. "Not when you are drinking."

A small child came into the diner to get the diner to get the drunk. He had a ride home.

I left to go groc shopping. As I was leaving the song "People Are Crazy" by Billy Currington.