Northward / Acrylic painting / just stuff

Gus the Weather Dog has a sour tummy today.  My brother and wive came down to Columbus Tuesday and stayed over night.  They thought the weather was WONDERFUL.

They live almost on Lake Michigan in Kewanee and they had not really seen ANYthing even near 70 yat. I think "warm" was low 60s if that.  So 80s and humid was WONDERFUL!    They have two dogs so Gus had play friends.   I always have bully sticks for the doggies who love them.  Gus is not very fond anymore - however- of other dogs like them he will eat as many as he can. 

THUS - sour tummy Thursday.

Stacy (wife of brother) has been dabbling (an appropriate word) in Acrylic painting and I need to show this off.  VERY cool stuff and she is getting very good at it.

Awesome right?

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But meanwhile Wisconsin really went backwards exactly 2 weeks after the GOP opened up the state.  record infections, record deaths.  The argument is that with more tests there will of course be more infections.  Makes sense.  But the counter argument is that this means there are MANY more infected people that are not being counted yet.

 WHICH MEANS every time we go out there are infected people out there serving us and comingeling.  The pandemic is not over.   

BUT - at the moment the Columbus Independence day festivities are all GO!  Not that the City Council has put any say into it.  The Committee has yet to come forward with any plans on how to keep people safe.

Can you image the crowds that will come idf Columbus is the ONLY community in a few hundred miles to have anything?    One estimate was on a normal holiday 5000 extra people are in Columbus.  This year?  I would not be surprised at 15,000 extra.  YEA - that would be safe  LOL

In other news there is something brewing  businesswise in Columbus that I am not privy too.  I have a tiny idea as "I" was contacted a few months ago by an outside group wondering who they would contact about an exciting project.  Actual professional businessmen, not two guys with a hammer.  We shall see.

I won't get any hopes up but my spidey senses twerked for a second when they contacted me. Not sure if it's the same people but . . . . .

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I have to laugh when someone comments they don’t need a mask because they are not afraid.

But they own a gun because they are afraid of getting robbed in one of the safest states in America.

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I'm a fan boy of Floor Jensen  the most powerful female voice in metal. I was looking at her background and and then at Tarja's background (a famous symphonic metal vocalists - she basically invented symphonic metal).  FASCINATING

In Europe is is not uncommon for be in more then one band at once. WELL - I found that Floor, in 2007 teamed up with Jørn Viggo Lofstad for a solo album and had 12 songs ready to record.  Problem is that they have been so busy in the last 13 years with tours they never had a chance to record the project.  It's out.  The "band" is called Northward.  WOW - ROCK AND ROLL.

Floor Jensen the most versatile vocalists on the planet

https://youtu.be/bAiPeSsqD-4

They will never tour, never have a live event.   It's REALLY good. not symphonic rock at all.


FUN FACT - a new species of beetle was discovered by scientist Andreas Weigel. It was named after Jansen, dubbing it Tmesisternus floorjansenae

Anyway I was reading about Tarja and had to look a musical thing up.  Tarja is a She is a professional classical lied singer.  WHAT? A lied singer?  What?  German vernacular to describe setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music.  WHAT? polyphonic?  WHAT?  

Polyphony is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, homophony.

Fascinating 

WEATHER - 

going to be hot hot the first half of June.  Expect middle 80s once June starts 

Bourbon Street Chicken and Social Distancing is hard

Maybe I'll start every Monday (what the hell day is it?) with one of my favorite recipes just in case people are looking for something new. 

this is a base recipe where you can add in things as you go.  Such as next time I'm adding water chestnuts or tofu or mushrooms and so forth. 

Bourbon Street Chicken.  

We love Smart Chicken.  It's like the steak of chicken. 

Ingredients   

2 large chicken breasts chopped up
3 tbs olive oil
2 tbs garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, ground of whatever you have
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup apple juice
1/3 cup brown sugar. packed
2 tbs ketchup
1 tbs apple cider vinegar (we used rice vinegar)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 tbs corn starch

fry chunked up chicken in a pan

mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Once chicken has been fried put in a pot and pour the liqued on top and bring to a boil.  Should create a beautiful glaze 

 BAM - dare ya go hey! 

We put this with some sticky rice and had a meal.  Normally Jasmine rice but that has been hard to find lately.   Really a good recipe.  love love it.

I was turned on to Jasmine rice by a Cambodian friend from work many years ago.  Scott Sandera who also turned me on to habanero peppers.  This was when habanero peppers were relatively unknown and he grew them. 

He gave me one and I chopped it all up and put it in some Lipton Spanish rice.  When done I tasted it and HOLE SHIT it was hot.  But I ASSUMED it was the actual temperature.  So I waited for it to cool off and then took a big bowl. 

O M G!    I felt my teeth were melting and my lips seemed to be  . . . . wait  was I tripping?  no no.  I had sweat dripping down my face, my teeth were curled and my lips were flaming.   I finished that whole bowl as my endorphins were kicking it and I just could not stop. 

I stayed home from work the next day and I rarely find things too hot now.
     
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Social Distancing is hard

OH - it's not physically hard but it takes practice.  Humans are not used to this.

I noticed this watching golfers as they would slowly gravitate towards each other and then remember and back off.  

My first time out in a "crowd" (meaning 3 people)  we did well but at times we would slowly move closer and then remember.  Then Friday we were out again and it was easier the second time.  But then you have groups that seem to be immune and look weird at people trying to keep 6 feet away.  

One guy was like trapped in the Kestrel Ridge Golf courses bathroom as a group of 6 were hovering around the check in and he could not pass.  

MEANWHILE - I had two worlds colliding at Kestrel Ridge.  I walk in to check in and there is SimCity (the city engineer) and Dr. Yes AND No (the city attorney).  I see my long time friends and of course give them some crap and they better not be ahead of us as we will be bombing into them.  

I get my cart and THEY ARE AHEAD OF US and I see Balderdash and the Black Cloud waiting.   I drive up and tell them to give them some crap and Balderdash is already laying into them.  

UNBEKNOWNST to me is I thought tee time was 12:35 and not 12:05.  My bad.          

I came back to earth in round 2.  

We hung out for a the new Kestrel Ridge Perch fry which was REALLY good.   But the kicker was the clarified butter.   WOW, did that take me back to fish frys of the past.  The LAKE Perch was lightly battered and pretty darn good fries, some coleslaw and I asked for some melted butter which came out clarified and amazingly good.   

When my parents introduced me to fish fries it I was not a fan until I had my first taste of clarified butter.  After that I was loving fish.  Heck I even love fish boils now and can get those pesky bones out of a fish in less then 1 minute.  (after I was showed how).

SO - Kestrel Ridge with 6 pieces of lake perch OR Yum Yum Thai with 3 larger pieces of perch are both great places it Columbus for Perch.

Speaking of food - We went to Mullins Drive In and had their new quarter pounder and it was juicy and delicious.  Bravo Kelly!  Plus ALL employees, even the outside ones wore masks which I felt was not needed but it shows they care.    

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I'm having a hard time this morning as I got my final stats for the month in Strat-o-matic just a few seconds ago.  One oddity is my team's OPS is exactly the same between LHP and RHP, a robust .842

I was 18-9 in April and 19-8 in May.  So far so good.    37-17 best record of the 24 teams.

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There is an outstanding documentary on NETFLIX called  "Have a Good Trip" which looks into  psychedelics with a bunch of hollywood stars talking about their experiences.  It's hilarious and so so true (I have heard). 

What is odd is how many others have had just bizarre real life experiences which seems to be the norm. 

https://youtu.be/FmQygtqDLHs



OH - finished UPLOAD on Amazon - what a great show and I can not WAIT for season 2.

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Wisconsin is holding our own when it comes to Covid19.   400 infections a day with about 7 deaths a day.  this does not count the number of hospitalizations where you are there for a month.  People keep saying WELL, you recovered.  Yea - AFTER A MONTH IN THE HOSPITAL.

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OH - my knee! 

Had a one on one with Dr Nielson at Prairie Ridge.  He recommended NO TKR yet.  OH!  I will need one but he said better to wait.  The older the better in my case.  They only last 20 years so if I can wait a few years . . . . .

Plus I don't KNEED one right now.  I get around pretty darn well, it's just no long distance walks . . . . unless I get a cortisone shot or whatever.  SO - it's all good.

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Got a call from the Mayor.  My first thought was  What did I do know.   Seems the city needs people for committees and commissions. They MUST be desperate if I got a call.  You know me - I have no opinions on anything.

Cheers! 
    
 

Dr Fujita

A friend contacted me Monday saying his son was making a mint on Aurora Cannabis as it posted some pretty good numbers in sales.  Went from 8ish to 19ish in one day!  YUP - been there done that and hold on.  LOL 

I still have Canopy Growth which has settled down now and is acting like a real company now.

I heard from a friend that Illinois has fixed their supply issues with cannabis and no longer have restrictions on amount purchased . . except for the out of state 15 gram thing  . . Except Rockford which is basically a medical dispensary.  Still nothing like Denver where you walk in and see 30 different strains.  In Illinois it's 5 strains . . I have heard.

Meanwhile Ohio sold $14 million in medical cannabis and Oregon sold $89 million in April, a new record.

OG DNA Genetics announced that one of their strains called Miss USA will change it's name to Miss DNA - some trademark issues I guess.   Not unlike you cannot find the Girl Scout Cookie strain anymore. (GSC is awesome . . I have heard)

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Meanwhile - the tale of two Strat-o-Matic teams   SOM365 my strategy of drafting a complete above average team with no real stars is backfiring.  The plan was NO superstars but a completely even team  What I failed to take into account was injuries and with 9 games to go I and dead last and won't win 60 games LOL 

HOWEVER the team I have been building for 4 years in REAL Strat-o-matic my record hs 32-12   - WOW!! 

My home games are played by my opponents and I'm 15-3.     

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I mentioned I golfed Saturday and all was well with my knee.  I can put in a good 1500 steps before things get sore - HOWEVER - Monday I woke up and my OTHER knee was just throbbing.  Right behind the knee cap.  REALLY hurting - much more than my "bad" knee.   I say pain on the Dr Fujita pain chart of a 7 if not 8.

 Tuesday?  back to zero pain like nothing was wrong. 

Speaking of Dr Fujita.  He is/was the world's foremost leading scientists in tornadoes and responsible for the Fujita wind scales for tornadoes  F0 to F5 .

He was Japanese and lived in Kokura during WWII.  Kokura was the original target for the 2nd atomic bomb but because of cloud cover Nagasaki became the target.  Cloud cover saved what would become the worlds leading weather scientist. how ironic.

There was an excellent NOVA last night about him.  So much information and AMAZING footage of some of the most beautiful tornadoes I have ever seen.

The show seemed to be sort of a add on to a book called Storm Kings about the world's first tornado chasers  (Benjamin Franklin).    Nowhere in the world beside America are there tornadoes so when America started to be colonized this weather phenomenon was completely unknown to ANYBODY.

Dr Fujita was the first to prove that there are tornadoes INSIDEt tornadoes. 

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OH - I only saw part of the news but maybe someone can find this -  soccer team put blow up dolls in the stands to make it look like people were there.   Like 200 dolls . . . . they all turned out to be sex dolls.

Who has 200 sex dolls.  was it an orgy?

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Maybe going down to 2.5mg of prednisone will make me less of an ass hole.  at least that s my excuse for being cranky.  MAYBE down to 2mg next month?

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 Weather - off and on thunderstorms ALL next week except Wednesday.  Temps middle to upper 70s and sun between stormes   GREAT growing weather.  I tossed a lot of wild flower seeds on a vacant desolate hill and hoping they will germinate over the next few years . . .sort of like milkweed I tossed 5 or 6 years ago.

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Cheers

Kestrel Ridge - 2nd best Philly Cheese steak "I" have ever had

I need to find another book to read. I started Pirate Latitudes but watching Black Sails AND reading a pirate book (100 years before Black Sails) is getting me a little mixed.  Plus I started watching The Last Kingdom a Viking adventure on Netflix which is outstanding, more historical dramas.

I will get book 5 of the Renegade series . . . sort of Pirates in Space - a rousing adventure

An ancient threat is rising.

Jace Hughes has successfully crippled the Union, saving a small civilization in the process. With a new army at his side, he sets his sights on Earth, the lost homeworld of humanity, vowing to finish the job he set out to do.

But there is something looming on the horizon. Another threat of unspeakable carnage, and it isn’t the Union or the Sarkonians.

It may not even be human.

Journey alongside Jace as he attempts to save his crew, his people, and himself from an enemy he cannot see (Covid19?). The mission is bleak, but the payoff is huge, and everyone wants him dead. In a galaxy full of violence, he’ll be lucky to make it out alive.

Just another day for a Renegade.

I really love this series , a fun read. Each book is only a few hundred pages long and cost $4 (or free with Kindle Unlimited). 

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Speaking of an unseen enemy.  The owner of Papa Murphy's in Beaver Dam is mask shaming people who enter his place with a mask on.   It was posted on facebook and people came out of the woodwork blasting this neanderthal for belittling anybody wearing a mask.  I guess it's hits thang.   

Then a campsite up north has signs saying masks are not allowed and if you are wearing one they consider it a robbery in progress.   I REALLY want to test both.

Meanwhile in little Columbus the pandemic seems to be over as only 20% wear masks OR social distancing and it sounds like the Independence celebrations will go no as normal.  Although all larger cities are smart and canceled all summer events.  

remember - there are 2 things that effect Covid19

1.  The density of the population 

2.  The density of the population

So - adding another 10,000 people to Columbus's 5000 population seems the best way to toss some gas on the 2nd wave Covid19 fire.  

BUT - things are a little more advanced now but it seems there is a lot of cheerleading with false information and way way over the top optimism.  It will be a year before a vaccine is really available and NOT "the end of the year" promises.     

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Remember the Spanish flu?  of course you don't.  Know why it's called the Spanish flu even though it originated from kansas?  

Because Spain was the only country who's media was not censored and they printed reports of it spreading in America and England who would not allow pandemic news of it to spread. So Americans were free to spread it at will  (not unlike right now).   Thus - because Spain actually admitted there was a problem  . The Spanish flu.  

Sound familiar? 

In 1918 after the first wave summer celebrations went on as normal spreading to millions of people.  Then BAM the second wave hit but it had mutated over the summer in the heat.  The ONLY thing that could stop it from killing was guaranteeing and social distancing but it came too late for 17 million people who passed away drowing on their own phlegm (sort of like how you die from lung cancer). 

As my buddy Elwood mentioned - people seem to believe blacks are having a worse time with Covid19.  He says it's not blacks . . . its the poor.  No health care, no place to get masks, no information, no health care (again). 

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GOLF - The first time I swang  (swung?) a golf club at a golf ball this summer was on the 1st tee at Kestrel Ridge saturday.  Had the best round of my life.  49 front 9 and 39 back 9 for an 88.  I was on fire. 

The issue was my GPS still had the old course layout so I was fumbling around putting my scores in. When I got done I contacted Golfshot to fix the layout.  They needed a course map and I looked on the Kestrel website and they had two #10s and one was NEVER a #10 .. ever . . LOL  man I mixed me up. 

Golfshot - I have every round played since 5/31/2010 in my app.  My first round was a 50 at Kestrel Ridge 5/31/10

I gotta say - I have never had a REAL philly cheesesteak but I had my second favorite at Kestrel Ridge. Also they burgers are SO much better then The Oaks burgers.  And zero masks or social distancing at all.  

The best was at The Ditch in Winter Park CO.

OH - Perch fry Friday night at Kestrel Ridge.  I'll let you know - YumYum's perch fry was fantastic. 

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OH - that huge explosion in LA?   I did not know what  butane honey oil was - It's butane HASH oil it seems.   It was a legal hash oil extraction place.  

A study of mice found that full-spectrum CBD-rich extracts "reduce the incidence of tonic-clonic seizures by 40%, increase the survival rate by 50%, and the latency to first tonic-clonic seizures by 170%."

full-spectrum CBD is CBD WITH THC and there have been numerous studies showing full-spectrum is the key!  

Aurora Cannabis Inc. reported quarterly net revenue of $78.4 million and an adjusted loss of $45.9 million.  Thus the stock has gone from about $12 to $19 this week.  

The stock market? 

It is a normal pattern for the market and stocks to make a move in one direction or another and then go into a trading range or consolidation period before they make a move again. The market indexes have been trading in ranges for the past six weeks and although the daily volatility continues to be high and the news is concerning, the indexes are largely unchanged after the initial recovery from the lows. We believe the current range is a short-term topping pattern that will lead to a test of the low to some degree, but we are not expecting a larger move to the downside. The current 2000-point range on the Dow Industrials implies a 2000-point pullback could develop on a break of the support area of 23,000, and the same math would apply if the index was to break through the high end of the range which is around 25,000. We believe the most likely move out of the range would be to the downside.

Bob Dickey – Technical Strategist

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NASCAR is running 7 races in 2 weeks.  Seems they want to get as many races in before the 2 week incubation period puts a stop to racing.  

OH - if you ordered a mask - it's coming and you are not the only one waiting. 

OH - last week?  look who was reading the blog 

Have a great beautiful gloomy Monday

   

  

          

Diamonds in the rough . . . or canvas

Wisconsin is doing just fine yet I see people complaining that it's not as bad as everyone thought . . . that is because what Ever's is doing is working The parachute is slowing down the descent to the ground.  Let's not take the parachute off until we actually make it to the ground right? 

The BIG question is America has about 16 weeks until the BIG wave of Covid19 appears.  Like all global pandemics it comes in waves and the second wave is much bigger because people falsely believe the first one was "not so bad". 

 SO - as I said - we have 16 weeks to prepare.  We all know Trump waited 8 weeks to do ANYTHING for the first wave and when he did he said it's not HIS problem, it's theStates problem.  . . . what is his plan for the BIG wave.  Has anybody heard ANYTHING?  

Has he ramped up producing PPEs (no).  Has he done anything to coordinate a National response for testing? I'm not talking the clinical test that take 5 days that we have now but the on the street tests like all the other first world countries.  (no).  

He spent ALL DAY yesterday watching TV and tweeting. No meetings, just watching TV and tweeting every 20 or 30 minutes about how Obama did nothing.  Well . . . . . what the hell is he doing?   Oh yea tweeting about how Joe Scarborough should be arrested for murder.      

The head of the GOP spent all day obsessing over anything NOT Pandemic. 

“When will they open a Cold Case on the Psycho Joe Scarborough matter in Florida. Did he get away with murder? Some people think so. Why did he leave Congress so quietly and quickly? Isn’t it obvious? What’s happening now? A total nut job!”

That is how the head of the Republican Party is dealing with Global Pandemic and getting Americans ready fo the big wave.  Yea - we are in great hands. 

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Meanwhile craft stores are doing GREAT!  

DJ started a new hobby/obsession - diamond painting 

It's like paint by numbers on steroids 

 She takes a little pen-like deal with wax on the tip and places each tiny diamond-like piece in it's appropriate place.   

The one she is working on now has about 38,000 pieces.  Here is the problem.  90% of the canvase are sold out.  

Not unlike Joanne fabrics with sold out cloth.   Up next?  Flour.  Flour is being purchased at a rate of 2000% above average and there are flour shortages as people have rediscovered their kitchings.   

With so many Twitter, Facebook and social media post about making bread and anything else people are not "hoarding" but just making a LOT of bakery.  

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I took this image a couple years ago near Rio.  

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One of the apps I like to look at is Yahoo Finance.  That have a whole bunch of watchlists so each day I can see what group is winning and what group is losing.  

Today the winning group are  

1. Fight against covid19 (Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson BioNTech and so forth)

2.China Internet (JDcom, NetEase, Baidu . . .)

3.Online Gaming (Electronic Arts, NetNease, Take Two (2K sports** more on this below)

4 Crowded Hedge Funds

The biggest losers groups

1. Frack Attack 

2. Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio

3. Rising Interest Rates

4. Buyback Leaders    

**  Take Two . . also called 2K Sports. Big announcement coming later today or tomorrow.   The Golf Club, the best virtual golfing simulation was purchased by Take Two and a new better(??) game is going to be announced with "The Golf Club" name being totally erased. 

Many of us that have been around since the almost beginning are viewing this with trepidation as we have seen what 2k Sports can do to a game.  Will it go back to being a arcade game like Tiger Woods?    We all saw what happened to the AMAZING August course that was deleted from the over 200,000 user created courses.   We wait. 

this is all we know so far 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52kHtUzpAGU

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UPLOAD - we are on episode 5 and just taking our time to enjoy each episode.  LOVE the show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZfZj2bn_xg

Currently I'm on Season 3 of Black Sails,  Season 2 of Outlander and just started The Last Kingdom which seems like a keeper.  Vikings another show on . . .vikings is a LOT grittier and 100 years before The Last Kingdom.  

Vikings are as fascinating as pirates. Vikings are like pirates 1000 years earlier.  

HAPPY MONDAY!!

GREAT weather is coming . . . after the bad weather.  There is MAYBE an 80 degree on the horizon.  Look for MUCH warmer weather s the rain moves in later this week.

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So look what was at our feeder this morning

Lot's of reports of scarlet tanagers, blue birds (not indigo buntings but real blue birds), oranged headed crows (have never seen one) in the area.   

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You have all seen the video of the 2 white racists that killed the black dude down south right?    That video that was "leaked" seemed odd. Then when I saw the guy that leaked the video my spider senses were going off.  Something was off but I did not know what.

Now I do.  

The video was taken by the white dudes friend who was in a vehicle behind the pick up.  He was filming the entire thing.   But here is the kicker.  He THOUGHT leaking the video would get his buddies off the hook.  

FAIL!!  The three amigos have the total IQ of maybe 50?  

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We are not hoarding food but geez . . . . anybody else have a large amount of food in the refrig and cupboards?  

On facebook I have been posting graphs.  This was one I created when I saw a person saying covid19 was just like the flu.   ummmmmm     no  

Then I was looking at death rates around the world - SORRY Turkmenastan, you guys are not letting anybody know about your covid19 issues.   BTW - are you Turkmenastanions  reading EVERY page from the last 12 years?   literally?  I LITERALLY have more readers from Turkmenastan (and Russia last week) then America!

WELCOME COMRADES.  LOL    

 

What is sad is when Doctors Without Borders are flying to America to take care of American Indians who our government seems to be abandoning.  Actually our federal government is abandoning ALL Americans.  

The Illinois Governor in a press conference yesterday said "we are going it alone.  The federal government has promised us so many things that never happened."  It's like the White House has washed their hands of the whole Covid19 pandemic and want nothing to do with it.     

It's a State problem, not a National issue.     

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NO SPOILERS - we are watching UPLOAD on Amazon and it's a fun fascinating show about uploading "YOU" just before you die into a virtual world.    Loving it so far.  

"Life has never been better after you die" 

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25 years ago today I took Diane Jacob to lunch on our first lunch date.  I knew 1 hour later I would marry this woman.  One year later we flew to Las Vegas and got married.   Best gamble of my life!

The plan was to go back to Las Vegas for our 25th wedding anniversary next year. We shall see if LV is open. 

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Seems the biker bar will remain open as the anti patriots will spread covid19 to all of their families.  It seems 70 people have tested positive for Covid19 after attending a LARGE event in Wisconsin.  The only large event was a protest to open up Wisconsin at the Capitol. 

Let's see,  70 tested positive and with an average of 3.1 people infected by each positive person. That means 217 others were infected and just wait those 217 infected 672 more. 

FREAKING MORONS! 

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I got my Pirate Latitudes book  . . . . .. about pirates.  $4 for a hard cover. It's funny how you can order something and it says $3 for shipping 7-14 business days or $10 for expedited shipping 4 days.   

I go cheap and get in in 5 days  LOL 

Also got Season 3 of Black Sails.  OH - the Republic Pirates is happening (a real thing).  The entire cast is so much sexier then the first 2 seasons  LOL  It's like the first 2 seasons were the minor league and Season 3 is IT'S SHOW TIME!    It's gottin real!   

Gotta say this is an amazing show MINUS the first 2 episodes.  NOTE - I promised my brother I would watch The Last Kingdom which is 4 seasons at the moment (like Black sails)

https://youtu.be/Uq61obO9lww

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Nuff said today!! 

Cheers  

Still alive

REMEMBER - they did not make The arrest because THEY saw the tape.  They made the arrest because WE saw the tape. 

for my friends in Turkmenistan  (so many) there was a killing in the southern part of America where a father and son killed a black athlete jogger because . . . well . . he was black.  Their were no arrests because  . . .well . . .that is a good question.   

All of a sudden there is a video that shows the unarmed kid getting shot for no reason and THEn things got interesting.  FINALLY after 2 months they arrested both for murder.

How much you want to bet that those same two racists also protested with Nazi flags demanding freedom to open the State up to commerce.

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 There is a show that DJ and I both love called Dress This Mess.  Sort of a modern Green Acres.  I had my doubts about the show but it's pretty funny and every show there are a few lines that are hilarious.

Last week one reminded me of what the Open America NOW cult might say when everything opens up.

"HONEY - put your best bra on we're going to the Sizzler" 

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My Die Hard power drill died very softly . . .not hard at all.  Is that false advertising?   So I asked my brother what his contractors used and they all loved RYOBI.  So I saw Home Depot had them and ordered one on line for a SAME DAY day pick up. Easy.  Just wait for the email saying its ready to be picked up.

Nothing on day one.  I had to go to retired Elwood's place to take him to the bank as he had checks and no car.  So I went to Home depot WITH A MASK and - NOPE - not ready.  The woman said they have been getting 500 orders an hour for same day pick up.

SO - she printed the receipt and told me to just go and get it and walk out.      OK THEN!

So I did and no hot dogs  at Home Depot. :-(

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I was at Pic n Save in Columbus WITH MY NEW MASK from RodMelotte.com 

And maybe 50% of the customers were wearing masks and this one woman kept meeting friends and taking her mask off to talk to them.  I then got in line to check out and she took off her mask to lean around the plexi glass to talk to the checker.   sigh. 

Then to get Sassy Cow milk and look for Bagels Forever bagels I went to HyVee and 80% of the customers were wearing masks  and 1% were wearing them on the chin only . . . . .OK THEN!

No Bagels Forever bagels but they did have sassy cow Milk.

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Here in Columbus there is a great thing going on.  A group has organized a raffle with all money going towards businesses that are closed.   The first business was James Street Pizza.  For $5 you can get a ticket worth $40 in pizza.

I LOVE James Street Pizza, ESPECIALLY when I found out Chicken George from Big Brother 1 and 7 was the owners brother. 

WELL - the first drawing was a few days ago and over $1000 was donated to James Street Pizza who immediately donated the money to workers and farmers who provided ingredients (as opposed to large GOP headed corporations that kept the Tax Break for the wealthy money for themselves).

Next up a couple hair places that we donated some of our pretend stimulus money (we have not gotten a dime yet).

SADLY - I don't think there will be a Big Brother this year.  The #1 pure strategy show  on TV. 

BTW - Survivor Season 40 has been fantastic this year.

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Prednisone - dropping from 3mg a day to 2 every other day now.  My knee feels GREAT for the first 1000 steps . . .then it gets a little tender. 

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Since DJ and I met 25 years ago we have had a few "summers of"   We had the Summer of Rum and we had the Winter of Vodka and now couped up in the house we're having the  "Summer of Love"  because of this Pornovirus.  Nothing like a Quarenteen to rekindle a love affair LOL (not that it was ever lacking). 

Funny story - During teh Summer of Rum we were at a pool and DJ was reading one of the "Beauty" books (The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty actually)- PRETTY racy stuff if you know what I mean.

A kid is making friend and asked what what are you reading (we were pool people back then)? And she hands him the book  LOL    I bet he had a boner for weeks and could not go to the pool.       

To much information? 

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Illinois sold $37 million on cannabis in April.

Oklahoma collected a little under $10 million in tax revenue from Medical cannabis in April.

Montana and Arizona continue to move forward with recreational cannabis.

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GREAT warm weather is on the horizon way off in the distance.  Not NEXT week but the week after we are talking mid to upper 70s   

Have a great but cool and wet weekend.  

      

Elon Musk's Starlink satellite fleet

Not sure how many people saw Elon Musk's Starlink satellite fleet cross the sky last night - 60 satellite's all lined up in a row.  This was just the beginning of the controversial satellite fleet Musk is creating which will have 1200 total satellite's.

They vision is all 1200 will bring internet to the entire world. SEEMS good but right now there are 5000 satellite's up there and only 2000 operational so adding 1200 more seems like a crowd.  But the BIG problem is that those 1200 will pretty much kill all ground based radio telescopes because of the interference.

The argument FOR them is that internet for the entire world is more meaningful and the vision is to have dark side of the moon radio telescopes in the future.

So if you are looking up in the sky one night and see a constant stream of satellite's.  Its the start of world wide internet. 

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Meanwhile in Michigan their governor extended Stay at Home  until the end of May.  SADLY they voted with bullet proof vests on because of the right wing morons who believe money is more important then life.

My buddy a political scientists has his view of the protests in Madison

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My take on the protests going on in Wisconsin is that the racist right is trying to re-create the energy of the Tea Party movement during the Obama administration to whip up the base to defend their fearless leader in November.

It is a coalition of the deplorable.  People who are part of the Boogaloo Movement (they believe and appear to lust for a modern Civil War in the USA, there are dozens of websites whose focus is planning and yearning for a Civil War to erupt).  Plus of course, regular gun nuts, anti-vaxxers, white identity trolls, and anti-abortion Evangelists along with the random Ayn Rand influenced economic Libertarian or two.

What struck me looking at the photos is what a display of white privilege it was.  Every single protestor who I saw in the photos was WHITE.  They are fine with urban blacks dying in droves due to COVID-19, and they lack even a smidgen of basic human decency.  In a sense they are the ultimate expression of the philosophy of Ayn Rand, it is all about ME 24/7.

My other take is how uncomfortable these protests are making Republican office holders.  I cannot think of any Republican office holders who gave them words of encouragement besides Trump.

Ron Johnson, not a word.  Boss Vos and Scott FitzGerald, crickets.  The Republicans recognize these people are the radioactive part of their base and they don’t want to challenge them, but they also don’t want to be defined by them either. 

Put another way, these extremists are so far out there that even the Scott Walker incarnation of the Wisconsin GOP is at a loss over how to react to them.  While these wing nuts are getting the media attention the truth is most Republicans do indeed currently support the shelter in place restrictions and they are leery of opening the economy as soon as they can, the opinion of the medical community be damned. 

They are just being quiet about the support for shelter in place to avoid becoming targets of the Trumpists who currently are large and in charge in the current incarnation of the GOP. 

My mother buys into most of the Fox News drivel yet she is taking the shelter in place directive very seriously, and she better because she is 85 years old currently.  She will argue Trump did a fantastic job responding to COVID-19 because he closed the border, but even she will not consider injecting herself with Lysol on Trump’s say so. 

Politically he hurt himself badly when he verbalized that particular stream of thought.  No one is listening to him any more, his credibility is shot.

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I've been trying to see why BING is referring so many to this blog and the big draw is

Grinders Island: How Mary Poser Saved Columbus

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yesterday I helped Elwood push the final button for submitting for Social Security.  WHEW


OH.  My new site has mask for sale.

Want to go grocery shopping and be left alone?  Wear this new custom mask!

All of my images on my newsite (that has yet to become RodMelotte dot com - will happen over the weekend)

https://rod-melotte.pixels.com/

A few others

and check this out - I put on a clean shirt AND pants for my 2nd ever selfie 

Collect them all. They cover a little more then the common masks so when you talk they do not ride up your face.  Double material and polyester so they will not shrink and yes - you CAN breath and are "comfortable" (as much as a mask can be I suppose).

I've ordered a couple and they are selling like hotcakes for $15 (I make a couple bucks on each one so I will soon be a MILLIONAIR )

for the manly man who about a bomber!

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Have a GREAT weekend