What's in Your Acifidity Bag?

     My Dad, born in 1907, used to tell about how as kids he and his siblings wore acifidity bags. 
     An acifidity bag was a folk remedy most commonly found in the Appalachian region in the 18th or 19th century. 
     Basically, it was a bag of pungent herbs, often including ginseng, pokeweed and yellow root, garlic, rosemary, onion and mint. However, the exact ingredients varied by practitioner. The vapors were supposed to ward off the flu, disease and as some believed, evil spirits. 
     The bag had to be made of muslin and when filled was about the size of a silver dollar (an inch and a half). You couldn’t just cram the stuff into the bag. The pokeweed had to be picked just as the sun rises while the plant is covered with dew and the smallest pokeweed leaves were the best. When it started to smell like rotten leaves the ingredients were about right. 

     If the bag failed and one got sick, my grandmother would smear bacon grease on the soles of the kid’s feet, sit them in a chair with their feet in front of a hot wood stove and bake the flu out. At other times a poultice of onions was placed on the chest and that would loosen up the croop so all the stuff congesting the lungs could be coughed up. My dad also had another remedy for getting rid of a chest cold...a mixture of coal oil and lard would be smeared on the chest and a big woolen scarf pinned around the neck.  In my day things had progressed to the use of Vicks VapoRub.  I remember being slathered in that stinking stuff and having my chest covered with that big woolen cloth.  I couldn't wait to get better just to take a bath and get the smell off of me. History of Vicks
     According to the book "Healing Spices," asafoetida was endorsed by the US Pharmacopedia as a remedy for the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that killed almost 100,000,000 people globally and claimed tens of thousands of American lives per week for two years. The putrid smelling spice was stocked by pharmacies to be draped around the neck inside acifidity bags in an attempt to deflect the deadly influenza. 
     Flu struck terror in the hearts of those that either heard about or lived through the epidemic to the extent that subsequent generations of babies and school children were forced to wear acifidity bags during outbreaks of polio, measles and during the winter to stave off influenza. 
     Asafoetida, a native of the higher altitudes of the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Central China, Iran, and Afghanistan, and is a primary imported spice to India, an essential ingredient in curries and used as a medicine for centuries (noted in ancient reference dating 400 BC) is actually a resin derived from the four-year-old roots of the Ferula asafoetida plant, a member of the fennel species. 
     The plant is cut back at the ground to make a slit in the top of the root for the resin to ooze out, then covered to protect from the elements. This is repeated until enough of the hardened resin forms a walnut-shaped brown ball for harvest. The brown clump is ground into a powder and mixed with flour and other ingredients for market. 
     Use of plant's resinous root juice has appeared in writings of Alexander the Great, medical practitioners in the first century, noted in the histories of ancient Rome, and used as a medicine into the Middle Ages. 
     The strong sulfurous odor of asafoetida mellows in cooking, yielding a strong sweet onion-garlic flavor to dishes. Very little of the spice is necessary so a small container lasts a long time. The potent powder is best fried in butter (ghee) to dissipate the smell before adding the remaining ingredients to the pot.
     The storage of asafoetida requires an airtight container enclosed in a sealable bag (or two) to prevent the smell from contaminating other pantry items. 

The powdered resin was thought to be useful for many things: 
* epilepsy 
* hysteria 
* whooping cough, bronchial, and asthmatic issues 
* antimicrobial, antiviral and antioxidant 
* cure for intestinal worms 
* toothache relief 
* breaking addictions 
* contraceptive and causing abortion 
* antiflatulent that eases digestion and constipation 
* meat preservative and pickling 
* lure for fishing...coat the bait 
* repels evil spirits and potential disease-infected strangers 

    Don’t laugh! During the swine flu pandemic in 2009, scientists worldwide were tested natural home remedies and lab reports proved that asafoetida resin lived up to its historical hype as a cure. The test results found multiple strong antiviral constituents and additional properties much more potent than some of the modern drugs. Further testing of asafoetida's, researchers also discovered the powerful antioxidants in it were successful in fighting many forms of cancer and irritable bowel syndrome. 

Country Cures and Doctoring

Where Does Food Come From?

     A lot of Americans (and citizens of other countries, too) are concerned about health, food safety, the humane treatment of animals, etc, etc. Throw in the occasional Facebook scare about food from China and people want to know where their food comes from...and with good reason!

     The Chinese are notorious for supplying fish raised on feces plus doing a lot of other nasty things to food. Seriously...in June troubles with tainted products from China reached the point that U.S. health officials halted the import of farmed seafood from China. The FDA is not allowing the import of Chinese farmed seafood products until the importers can prove that the seafood is free from harmful contaminants. 
     China is not the sole offender. Import alerts have been ordered for firms in the Philippines, Mexico and several other countries, but this is the first countrywide import alert. 
     According to the National Fisheries Institute more than 80 percent of the shrimp eaten in the United States is imported, including 7 percent from China. About 10 percent of catfish eaten in the United States comes from China. Tilapia’s rise in popularity in the United States over the past decade has been rapid, but the Trump administration has targeted Chinese seafood with a 10 per cent tariff and so tilapia’s popularity may come to an end. 

    More people want to know that their beef comes from cattle that have been fed grass (which makes it lower in bad fats and higher in omega-3 fatty acids) rather than animal by-products and corn. And before that chicken gave its life that we might live, they want to know that it lead a happy life roaming free and not shut up in cramped cages.
     The problem is labels like cage-free and organic may not always mean what they imply and you can’t always believe the labels. I have heard many people pray a blessing over their meals and some, in addition to asking that the food be nourishment for their bodies and asking a blessing on those that prepared it, also request that any impurities be removed from it. Or, as I once heard someone say, “...take all the nasty stuff out of it that would hurt people.” Seriously, these days this is probably the best thing we can do before we eat because who knows what kind of crap (literally) is in our food? 

How Food Manufacturers Trick Consumers with Deceptive Ingredients Lists 
15 Health Foods That Are Really Junk Foods in Disguise 
12 Deceptive Words Food Manufacturers Are Using to Trick You 
Can You Determine a Product’s Country of Origin by Its Bar Code?

Playing the Spoons

Spoons - Musical instrument
How to play the spoons

Fruit Flies

     Fruit flies include a number of small flies in the family Drosophilidae. They are very small (about two to four millimeters long) and vary in color from yellow to brown to black. They are found throughout the world but are most common in tropical areas with humid climates. 
     They just appear out of nowhere, or so it seems, but that’s not really where they come from. Actually, by nature they find fermenting fruit...they can detect the smell of ripe fruits and vegetables from a long distance away. Because they are so tiny, they can get in through window screens or crevices around windows or doors. 
     Fruit flies can also hitch a ride into your home on fruits or vegetables ans so they may already be harboring fruit fly eggs. Grow your own fruit and vegetables? Letting them over ripen on the vine before picking and you may be harvesting fruit fly eggs. 
     Any unrefrigerated fruit, whether it's on display in the grocery store, in the garden, or sitting in a bowl in your kitchen may attract fruit flies. Once inside, they start reproducing. 
     A female fruit fly lays 30 to 50 eggs per day throughout her lifetime at room temperature. When it’s cold, she may produce far fewer eggs. Fruit flies have a short life cycle; they can go from egg to adult in just eight days. That means one overly ripe tomato can give rise to a small swarm within a week. 
     Fruit flies are also known for their persistence once indoors. Although a female fruit fly adult will only live about a month at best, in that short time she can lay 500 eggs. And, they don't need fruit to keep reproducing...they can breed in the slime inside plumbing or on an old, sour mop or sponge. This is why even getting rid of fruit won’t stop them. Just one fertile mating pair can produce hundreds of genetically identical offspring within 10 to 12 days, so long as the temperature is at 77 degrees or higher. 

Important to Science
 
     For more than a century, fruit flies have been the stars of genetic research. Thomas Hunt Morgan was one of the first to systematically study fruit flies at the turn of the century and his work won him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933. 
     During the last century, fruit flies have yielded a great deal of information about how genes work and have been used to discover the rules of inheritance and how a single cell becomes a whole animal. 
     Because fruit flies have many of the same genes as humans, researchers can use fruit flies to simulate diseases that plague humans. To keep the flies from flying away doing research they are made woozy with carbon dioxide before they let them out of their test tubes for study. 
     The brain of the adult fruit fly has more than 100,000 neurons that form circuits that control behaviors, including circadian rhythms, sleep, learning and memory, courtship, feeding, aggression, grooming, and flight navigation. They are also important in developing beer flavors. 
     An experiment at Stanford found that fruit flies were attracted to beers with fruitier base yeasts, which tend to be the beers humans prefer as well. Sexually rejected male fruit flies also drown their sorrows from drinking alcohol. A study done at the University of California, San Francisco found that the male fruit flies who had been rejected by females drank four times as much alcohol as the mated flies. 
     Using fruit flies as test subjects, it has been discovered that in wounds, cells enlarge to compensate for cells that are lost and has changed the understanding of how the body reacts to injury. 

13 ways to get rid of fruit flies naturally

Too Smart To Be A Policeman

     Amazing… Can a person actually be “too smart” to be a cop in America? A federal court’s decision back in 2000 suggests that, yes, you actually can be. 
     Robert Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, scored a 33 on an intelligence test he took as part of the application process to become a police officer in the town of New London, Connecticut. The score meant Jordan had an IQ of 125. The average score for police officers was a 21-22, or an IQ of 104. New London would only interview candidates who scored between 20 and 27. Read the rest of the story… 
    
      “The Fourth Amendment was designed to stand between us and arbitrary governmental authority. For all practical purposes, that shield has been shattered, leaving our liberty and personal integrity subject to the whim of every cop on the beat, trooper on the highway and jail official.”—Herman Schwartz, The Nation Our freedoms—especially the Fourth Amendment—are being choked out by a prevailing view among government bureaucrats that they have the right to search, seize, strip, scan, shoot, spy on, probe, pat down, taser, and arrest any individual at any time and for the slightest provocation. Read more…note another stupid detective 

     We can no longer count on police to save us from the worst in our society. In many cases, rather than being part of the solution, America’s police forces—riddled with corruption, brutality, sexual misconduct and drug abuse—have largely become part of the problem. Read more…

The Militarization of the Police-Part 1 
The Militarization of the Police-Part 2

Pet Raccoons and Monkeys

     Squirrel monkeys are small, cute, and, by all appearances, cuddly. In reality tough, they are NOT cuddly. Today squirrel monkeys regularly show up in primate rescue centers. 
     Back in the 1960s and '70s, large numbers of squirrel monkeys were imported into the United States from Peru and Colombia. And why not? In some parts of South America, squirrel monkey pets are not out of the ordinary. 
     These monkeys and even pet raccoons were offered for sale in comic book ads. They were advertised as eating the same food as humans and it was mentioned that they even liked lollipops. The monkeys were crammed into cardboard mailing tubes for shipping. 
     More than one primatologist will tell you that they wouldn’t want one for a pet because they’re very destructive. Besides, you have to keep them entertained and if you don’t, they get really destructive. In addition to that, they’re social animals so it’s recommended you keep more than one. 
     Oh, some thing the ads didn’t mention...monkeys throw their feces, wash themselves in their own urine, often bite and males frequently masturbate. 
     No instructions were included with the monkeys, they just arrived in their shipping container. Most had a waist belt or a collar and came with a leash. There are stories of people who actually bought one and they tell about the monkeys screaming, yelling, running around swinging and climbing on everything as soon as they were let out of the shipping carton. And, when attempts were made to capture the critters they would begin biting as if their lives depended on it. 
     Many if them were captured for sale on the black market; poachers shoot squirrel monkey mothers to get at the babies that cling to their backs. Often the babies die within the first few weeks of captivity because they haven’t been weaned from their mother’s milk. In some populations, females only give birth every two years and babies take three to four years to mature. 

     Fewer people probably wanted pet baby raccoons that grow up to be vicious, wild, rabies carrying critters.
     Raccoons are wild animals and even so-called tamed ones are extremely high maintenance and require an experienced, knowledgeable caretaker. What’s more, even several generations of captive bred raccoons still exhibit all of their wild instincts throughout their lives. Also, it's illegal in certain states in keep raccoons as pets.
     In order to keep a raccoon as a pet in the following states, the owner must obtain a permit or license, or must register the animal with local authorities: Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Dakota. 
     My Uncle Floyd was a scofflaw. He illegally kept a raccoon in a cage that he used to “train” his coon dogs. I am not sure how/why a “coon dog” would need training, but I guess they do. I remember feeling sorry for the raccoon being caged up like it was and it must have been terrified when it was time to be used as training material for the dogs. 
     Raccoons simply don’t make good pets. Even though it’s illegal to take any animal from the wild, you can buy baby raccoons from licensed exotic animal breeders, but doing so is not a good idea. 
     Raccoons are very clever and mischievous and they can quickly destroy a home and its furnishings. Adult raccoons in particular can also be unpredictable around both humans and pets. 
     Most veterinarians are not trained in raccoon care and they (the racoons, not the vets) harbor many diseases that can pose health risks. Even if you do find one that can treat the animal you must show proof of purchase, or there's no way to prove you did not illegally take the animal from the wild. If you own a raccoon that was taken from the wild, you are at risk of having the animal confiscated and being fined. 
     Raccoons purchased as pets can no longer survive in the wild, so owners must be prepared to take on a 10 to 15 year commitment to an animal that often requires 24/7 supervision. 
     Raccoons aren't easily house trained, so unless you can train one to use a litter box somewhat consistently, they’ll be relieving herself around the house. Raccoons are notorious biters and when angry, frustrated or stressed they will bite any human, or other pet, that’s within biting distance; this makes them a medical and insurance liability. They can also carry parasites and infectious diseases (including rabies) that pose a threat. 
     If you want to take a trip away from home, finding someone to care for the animal will be next to impossible. Left unsupervised they like to dump out house plants, pull buttons off of clothes, throw books out of bookcases and move small items around the house. Did I mention that sometimes they like to pee on stuff they’ve been messing around with? 
     The ads never mentioned any of this.

Flies and Maggots

     Did you ever throw something in the garbage then have to search through it to find the discarded item? I did and in the process accidentally left a plastic grocery bag filled with who knows what on the floor behind the big city garbage can which is kept in the garage. In the heat whatever it was rotted very quickly, attracted flies which left it crawling with maggots which turned in to more flies.
     That’s what maggots are...fly larvae, usually of the common housefly and also the bluebottle. Flies are attracted to food and other rubbish and they lay their eggs on the rubbish which hatch into maggots. A fresh garbage bag, rubber gloves and household cleaner solved the maggot problem, but the next day there were flies galore in the garage. It took several trips to the garage with an insect spray, but in the evening they were gone...or so it appeared. The next morning they were back. More spraying off and on during the day solved the problem because by evening the flies were gone...only they weren’t. They were back in the morning! 
     That’s when I discovered that like most flying insects, flies, although they can be active at night, are most active during the day. They generally prefer warm weather and sun, so they aren't active at night and when the sun goes down they rest. They don't have a nest, a colony or anything. They just find a place to land and rest. This could be anywhere. 
     According to the Cornell University Department of Entomology, they get most of their activity when it's sunny and the temperature is between 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. When the temperature dips below 45 degrees Fahrenheit, or when the sun goes down otherwise, they return to their resting state. 
     Where do flies go in winter? Adult house flies spend their days in cracks and crevices, away from humans. In the spring, they flies lay eggs on decaying materials. Although this behavior can be compared to hibernation; they spend winter in diapause, a hibernation-like state of reduced metabolic activity. Once temperatures climb in the spring months, the fly’s appetite and development return to normal. 

     Back to the flies in the garage...the easiest and quickest way to get rid of them cost $4. I went to Lowe’s and bought a RESCUE! TrapStick for Flies Disposable Fly Trap. The thing catches all major species flies, lasts for weeks in typical indoor location and, get this, it has a pattern printed on it that causes the captured flies blend in with pattern! Within one day the flies were gone...stuck on the trap. One bit of advice...be careful not to touch the sticky part of the trap...it is really sticky and the goo is hard to wash off. 
     Reading the customer reviews of this product was deceptive as about half of the reviewers gave it one star and claimed it was dangerous because it caught more small birds that flies. Apparently they did not read the instructions: Use TrapStik for Flies indoors, anywhere around the house or garage. It’s best to hang the TrapStik right where the fly problem is, such as around windows or in mud rooms and covered porches. So right there it says use indoors or on covered porches. 

15 Facts About Maggots 
How To Get Rid of Maggots In Your Garbage Can  
What Happens If You Eat Maggots?

Gendered language to be banned from Berkeley's city codes

via GIPHY

Soon there will be no manholes, only maintenance holes, in the city of Berkeley, California, but there are plenty of holes of another kind running the city. 

There will also be no chairmen, no manpower, no policemen or policewomen. No, that doesn't mean a whole city will be without committee leaders and law enforcement. It means that words that imply a gender preference will be removed from the city's codes and replaced with gender-neutral terms, according a recently adopted ordinance. Read full story…

This explains a lot...

How to Clean Spider Droppings Off of the House

     The exterior of your home provides an excellent location for spiders to live, thrive and breed. 
     Many people don’t realize it but spiders leave behind droppings that cause your home's siding to appear dull and dingy and have spots all over it. 
     I always leave the front porch light on at night and it attracts bugs which attract spiders which, when they take a dump, leaves spots all over our new siding and the mailbox lid...nasty! 
     I am amazed that spiders no bigger than a pin head can generate so much waste.  They must crap their own weight every day. Curious, I Googled it.
     One site on spiders had a question about spiders urinating. According to the expert, spiders have structures designed to get rid of nitrogenous waste called malpighian tubules that function in a manner similar to our kidneys. Spiders don't produce urine like we do, but produce uric acid, which doesn't dissolve in water and is a near-solid. Spiders have this alternate form of waste because they can't afford to lose as much water as we do. 
    The urine drains into an pouch attached to the digestive tract where waste from their "kidneys" is combined and eliminated together with solid waste from the digestive tract. So, when a spider craps on the side of your house, you are actually getting two forms of waste in one.  Bet you didn't know that!
     You can clean the exterior of your house and remove the spider droppings using inexpensive and common household items. First wash the siding off with a hose. Then mix oxygen bleach in a bucket of water. You could use chlorine bleach instead, but oxygen bleach is safer. Then use a scrub brush and scrub the spider droppings off the siding. Alternatively, fill a pump sprayer with the mixture, saturate the siding then scrub it down. Leave the mixture on for 10 minutes then rinse until clean.

     Another method is to purchase a product called Star Brite Spider and Bird Stain Remover for about $14 a bottle. This product claims to quickly dissolve spider and bird droppings and is non-toxic, all-natural, contains no bleach, is safe for use around kids and pets and will not remove polish or wax. 
     Or, you can do what I did and it worked beautifully. Spray the crappy (literally) areas with Windex glass cleaner and wipe off with paper towels.  

21 Unusual Uses For Windex

 Naturally there are some who claim using WIndex can result in skin or respiratory irritation, watery eyes, chemical burns and, of course, cancer.  Somewhere in the world since 1933 when Windex was introduced I am sure somebody used it and died, too.  Anyway, if you have any concerns about the dangers of using Windex you can visit THIS site.

     As a public service announcement I should probably add that Windex contains cleaning agents, solvents, surfactants, and ammonia. DO NOT DRINK WINDEX!  Serious abdominal pain, throat swelling and difficulty breathing may result and your odds of serious injury or death will depend on the quantity consumed and how quickly it's treated.

Optical Illusions

     Optical Illusions can use color, light and patterns to create images that can be deceptive or misleading to our brains. 
     The information gathered by the eye is processed by the brain, creating a perception that in reality, does not match the true image. 
     Perception refers to the interpretation of what we take in through our eyes. Optical illusions occur because our brain is trying to interpret what we see and make sense of the world around us. Optical illusions simply trick our brains into seeing things which may or may not be real. 

Here is a link to a site with a lot of interesting optical illusions that include the categories: Afterimage, Ambigrams, Ambiguous, Anamorphosis, Animation, Color, Composite, Estimation, Forced Perspective, Hidden Objects, Impossible, Miscellaneous, Motion, Natural, Shadow, Skul,l Stereo, Tessellation, Trompe L'oeil, Upside Down, Video.

Idiots At The Environmental Protection Agency

     Idiotic government regulations are wrecking our lives. I forgot what idiots they are at the EPA until I emptied my 30 year old gas can into the lawn mower, then since it wasn’t quite full, I topped off the tank with gas stored in a Portable Fuel Container, or as we used to call them, “gas can.” 
     This Portable Fuel Container was designed and manufactured under strict specifications set by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency which have been in effect since 2009 and includes design features that minimize air pollution and improve safety.  At least that's what they say.
     The EPA banned normal gas cans in 2009, following the pioneers at the California Air Resources Board, which said: The Portable Fuel Container (PFC) regulations are an important concept in our efforts to improve California's air quality.

     No gas cans, excuse me, I meant Portable Fuel Containers, available for sale anymore have vents so when trying to pour gas out of them you get a bubbling eruption of gasoline from a very complicated spout that is easily broken...that is assuming you can get the contraption to work at all. In my case the spout on the PFC either doesn't work or I am not smart enough to figure out how to use it.  Even getting the spout unscrewed to dump the gas into the old, illegal, environmental polluting can was a challenge.
    You can find hacks on Youtube that will enable you to fix the spout problem.  They're probably illegal, but who cares?

Air Conditioning Capacitors

     After having had a problem with my home air conditioner leaking water repaired the next thing that happened was that it quit blowing cold air! This time it was the capacitor. 
     An air conditioner has many parts and one of the essential components is the capacitor. The capacitor is a small cylindrical container inside the air conditioner and its primary job is to store and supply energy. That is because when the air conditioner starts up, it requires more power than your home electrical system can produce—and that’s where the capacitor comes in. 
     While the air conditioner is running, the capacitor collects and stores energy sort of like a rechargeable battery. That way, when it’s time for that big burst of energy the air conditioner needs, the capacitor can supply it. 
     The air conditioner’s compressor, blower motor and fan motor all rely on the capacitor.  If the capacitor isn’t working, that can lead to all sorts of problems. Sometimes, your air conditioner will be running, but the fan isn’t moving. Other times, the fan may be running, but the air isn’t cold, or the AC doesn’t stay powered on for long. In these cases, it’s likely you have a non-functioning capacitor and it can’t provide the kick start of energy the fan, compressor, or blower needs. 
    Capacitors aren’t prone to malfunctioning, but they do go bad and without a properly working capacitor, your system won’t function properly. The most common signs and symptoms of a bad AC capacitor include: 
# not blowing cold air 
# takes a while to start once you turn it on 
# humming sound coming from your air conditioner 
# shuts off on its own 
# won’t turn on 
# fan not spinning 
# copper tube leading to outside unit is very hot 

     When the air conditioner is not working properly, all sorts of questions come to mind and if you’re the type of person who likes to try to troubleshoot problems on your own, diagnosing the a bad capacitor is fairly easy. 
     It’s not a bad idea to have some idea of what the problem is even if you are going to have a professional make the repairs just to make sure you don’t get scammed for unnecessary repairs. While you could do the repairs yourself, it is infinitely safer for both you and for your air conditioner to contact an HVAC professional! 
     The capacitor for my home air conditioner costs $15 on Amazon, but it would take a few days to get it in the mail and most HVAC contractors won’t sell you parts...they don’t want you making repairs yourself! Besides, I do not like messing with something that may cost thousands of dollars to repair if I mess up something, so I paid $151 to make sure it was done correctly. 
     If the fan on the outside unit isn’t isn’t running a simple test to tell if the capacitor is bad is to take a stick and spin the fan while the air conditioner is running. If the fan starts moving, your capacitor is most likely damaged. 

     If you’re up to removing the access plate and actually looking at the capacitor, if the top of the capacitor is starting to bulge or if there’s leakage, that’s a sure sign that it needs replaced. Be careful monkeying around with the capacitor...remember it stores a charge and needs to be properly discharged!
     Capacitors are subjected to a high strain over its lifetime and having an air conditioner run more than usual increases this strain. Most capacitors are built to last for about twenty years. 
     Generally, the common causes of failure are: 
# Heat exposure - the hotter the area is, the higher the risk for capacitor failure. Overheating it can damage the unit and shorten its lifespan. Keeping your air conditioner shaded and well ventilated can help reduce the risks. 
# Voltage Rating - different AC models have different voltage ratings and using the wrong one (usually because lower voltage ones are cheaper) will shorten their life. 
     A major problem with an AC capacitor failure is that it can lead to damage to other parts that it powers, so once you notice the capacitor is the problem, it’s best to shut down the system and call a repairman.

Fonts...Thousands of Fonts!

dafont 

This amazing site has 42,410 fonts of which there are 13,271 with accents and 15,302 with the Euro symbol. Categories include: Fancy, Cartoon, Old School, Horror, Retro, Mexican, Roman, Techno, LCD, Sci-fi, Gothic, Celtic, Calligraphy, Handwritten, Graffiti, Animals, Bar Code, Sport, Holiday and literally thousands more!

Enjoy Hillary Klug and Thomas Maupin

maydavid...this is for you

     I have no idea who maydavid is, but I would like to punch him or her in the face for spamming my e-mail and this blog on an almost daily basis. This person, apparently from South Africa, links to tons of crap on the internet nobody wants to buy unless perhaps they live in South Africa.

More Idiocy

     I saw a couple of politically oriented Facebook posts that made outlandish claims that supposedly were not reported by the major media sources. Why? It was not because of some conspiracy. 
     They were stories from a site called DailyWorldUpdate. In the site’s About section it clearly states the site is contains “parody, satire, and tomfoolery, or as Snopes calls it: Junk News. Because they’re too stupid to understand what ‘satire’ means.” 
     The site then explains satire: “The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues."
     The site then states: "Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site’s pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical.” 
     I am discovering that the idiots that post this stuff on Facebook not only believe it’s real news, but a lot of other people see it and also believe it is real news. 
     Book 7 Teaser: Why we’re so susceptible to fake news - Because we don’t want to think. That’s so like, boring. We don’t want to study, to research, to ponder, to analyze–we just want to be fed so that we can get back to playing and being entertained, as quickly as possible. Give us easy information, sensational too, because we love to be entertained.