What did you do today?

[zannej]

I like the dark chocolate truffle and the mint ones thus far. My brother likes the ones with raspberries.

I decided to make today be a day of rest for me. The kitties are happy about this because they get to sleep on me.

I'm downloading updated drivers and software for my printer/scanner. I can print but haven't been able to scan. I want to scan my father's sketches of house layout, measurements, electrical map (he drew in all of the lights and such). I'll have to zoom in once it's scanned to see if it shows which ones share the same circuit. I wish I could tell if the dimensions he put were inside or outside though.

Well, software downloaded, now I'm installing. Shows all sorts of stuff about printing, but I don't see any about scanning. It's a wireless printer though, which is nice. I can communicate with it through the router.

My new little desk extender is holding up thus far. *knocks on wood*. One of my speakers got knocked off the stand but it's still on the desk instead of behind it. I'm glad I got this one instead of the smaller piece that only would have supported the subwoofer.

A new foot clinic is supposed to be opening up in town so we can find out if my brother can go there to treat his ingrown toenail that requires surgery. I also wonder if my mother can start going there instead of to the one up in Alexandria to save on time and gas.

 

[Spicoli43]

I can't see me ever being in that situation.

I would say find a Real Doc, AKA a Functional Medicine Dr. They look to find the root cause of your problems instead of bandaging everything with Pharma drugs that only cause more symptoms which need more drugs.

https://www.ifm.org/find-a-practitioner/

 

[zannej]

Other than cooking for Mom, I got in plenty of rest. Watched some Holiday Baking Champinship on DVR. Huddled up with the kitties now.

 

[Guzzle]

I would say find a Real Doc, AKA a Functional Medicine Dr. They look to find the root cause of your problems instead of bandaging everything with Pharma drugs that only cause more symptoms which need more drugs.

https://www.ifm.org/find-a-practitioner/

I take half as many drugs as the average male my age and I still feel I take too many.



Today I found new ways of provoking the telemarketers & keeping them on the line without insulting them. One way is to ask them to report their con-artist employer to the police, and they must know by now that he is a con-artist.

Half hang up but I want to have most of them engage instead. Make them feel guilty for participating in a criminal enterprise. Follow their conscience!

 

[Spicoli43]

I'm forever done with drugs since I figured out the monetary reasons for what they say and the corporate links. It didn't hurt my plight when the VA's only response to my problems was tranquilizers. It did the opposite and woke me up to the point I also figured out the evils of Big Food.

I'll never take their Covid vaccine linked to abortion, which pretty much everybody on the Left chants about "My body my choice", except they demand people take the vaccine that blatantly doesn't work. That isn't hypocritical or anything. How much confidence can it instill in the public when a current Board member of Pfizer is the former Commissioner of the FDA. There's no conflict of interest there. The vaccine was "95 percent effective", honest! The problem is Pharma lies all the time.

I'm into Monoclonal Antibodies, they are the future. They are shut down for the same reason that Ivermectin is shut down... To protect the profits of the cool kid companies. Meanwhile, we all MUST get the vaccine to save America! Well, they could shut down the border instead of letting in Hundreds of Thousands of people with diseases that make Covid look like child's play. That would make sense though. We definitely can't have that!

Speaking of on artist telemarketers, they don't even need them anymore with the TV commercials there are...

 

[Eddie_T]

As for provoking telemarketers, a friend takes pleasure in this. If it happens to be a woman he asks her bra size.
When the one about expiring auto warranty calls he asks them which car they're calling about.When they they manage to ask him he tells them a 2025 Cadillac Escalade after they try to look it up and tell him it hasn't been made yet he tells them to call back after it's made.

 

[Eddie_T]

I'll never take their Covid vaccine linked to abortion, which pretty much everybody on the Left chants about "My body my choice", except they demand people take the vaccine that blatantly doesn't work. That isn't hypocritical or anything. How much confidence can it instill in the public when a current Board member of Pfizer is the former Commissioner of the FDA. There's no conflict of interest there. The vaccine was "95 percent effective", honest! The problem is Pharma lies all the time.

The cosmetic industry is into the abortion products game as well;

Does PSP really come from dead babies?​

PSP (or Processed Skin Proteins) is a registered trademark of Neocutis S.A. The ingredient’s origins can be traced back to research conducted at University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland which showed that cultured fetal skin cells could speed wound healing. The cells used in the original research came from a “small biopsy of fetal skin…donated following a one-time medical termination.” These original skin cells were then duplicated by culturing them in the lab and have been used to create a cosmetic version that is known as PSP. Hopefully the fact that PSP does not come directly from dead babies will help your neighbor rest a little bit easier. This is not a new issue and, not surprisingly, there has been quite a buzz in the media over using fetal-sourced material. This whole discussion will disturb some people and intrigue others but you can click here to read more about Neocutis’ responsible use of fetal skin tissue.​

 

[Spicoli43]

The cosmetic industry is into the abortion products game as well;

Does PSP really come from dead babies?​

PSP (or Processed Skin Proteins) is a registered trademark of Neocutis S.A. The ingredient’s origins can be traced back to research conducted at University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland which showed that cultured fetal skin cells could speed wound healing. The cells used in the original research came from a “small biopsy of fetal skin…donated following a one-time medical termination.” These original skin cells were then duplicated by culturing them in the lab and have been used to create a cosmetic version that is known as PSP. Hopefully the fact that PSP does not come directly from dead babies will help your neighbor rest a little bit easier. This is not a new issue and, not surprisingly, there has been quite a buzz in the media over using fetal-sourced material. This whole discussion will disturb some people and intrigue others but you can click here to read more about Neocutis’ responsible use of fetal skin tissue.​

Huh... Didn't know that. I guess I'll have to dump my Mascara, Brighteners, Whiteners, Darkeners, Exfoliants, Thickeners, Sparklers and Touchuppers.

 

[Eddie_T]

I double checked my wound care collagen (EMTGel) finding it to be bovine sourced. I thought that might be the case since it is made for animal use. Hmmmm, I wonder if collagen from chuck roast connective tissue would be good for wounds (it's nice and sticky)?

 

[zannej]

Yesterday I went to the post office and Walmart to get stuff. Mom sniped at me for not getting a new set of plastic drawers (I said I was going to look to see if they had anything good) until I told her I looked & they had absolute garbage ones for $50+. The one she needs to replace was 1/3 of that price. But the plastic has warped and it won't stay upright properly anymore. It actually lasted several years though.

The neighborhood guy came and scooped up the trash that wouldn't burn from my burn pile and dumped it in the hole made by a fallen tree-- several feet deep-- it uprooted and left a huge pit. He left a roll of hay in the field. Unfortunately, I didn't get out there before he left so I didn't get to thank him and pay him for the hay yet. I'll have to swing by and see if he's home later. I'm trying to motivate myself to get up and clean.

I never got in to the whole makeup thing. Always hated it. Hated the feel of any makeup on my skin. Couldn't bring myself to get stuff near my eyes. I think I wore light makeup for my senior school pictures and my mom did a horrible job putting makeup on me for prom. She used some sort of muck all over my face (I think she called it foundation) that was too dark for my skin & looked awful. She also did 1960s style eye makeup and blush. In her defense, she never wore makeup either. LOL.

Still feeling tired. My brother cooked the other ham in the pressure cooker so I will have to put the meat away & pull out all the bones. He eventually had to throw out his red sauce stuff because he left it in the pressure cooker too long. I'm surprised he actually threw it out himself instead of leaving it to me, but he wanted to use the pressure cooker. I need to do some cleanup but trying to figure out where to start.

 

[Guzzle]

current Board member of Pfizer is the former Commissioner of the FDA
see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolving_door_(politics)and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture
There are rules that even these high-rollers have to follow, but not many.

At least once, a family member of one of these was harmed by his conduct. Ralph Nader pointed this out in public & then watched the fireworks.
I don't think the guy was mad because his family member was harmed, I think he was mad because this was made public. The psych people might call this person a sociopath.

And if event A follows event B there's a math way of deciding if these two are a coincidence, but it cannot say that "person X" gave the order for either event, even if he is in the middle of these happenings. It might have been an underling who did this for his own gain.

And then there's Russell's Teapot.

 

[Spicoli43]

Well, written rules don't mean a single thing as far as publicly traded companies in the Bio sector. Pfizer and Moderna both claimed 95% efficacy with their vaccine, which is a blatant lie. If that were true, there would be no such thing as a booster... Having a "Booster" is accepted throughout the history of vaccines though, so people don't question them.

The giant problem with all Pharma is that the companies themselves create (and doctor) trial results and efficacy to suit their needs. The FDA has nothing to do with that, although they are supposed to "regulate" the companies. The only thing the FDA does is find a bad batch of Spinach every once in a while to continue the guise that they are "protecting the public"...

Real vaccines that work include Polio and Rabies, which date back to before the Pharma companies figured out they could be absolutely corrupt and they wouldn't pay for it. A Veterinarian that has been in the business for 40 years or is retired will still have a positive Titer from their one and only Rabies vaccine that they got at the start of their career. There is no such thing as a need for a Rabies booster for animals, that's a con job.

 

[Eddie_T]

And then there's the 80/20 rule with government agencies, that 80% of the work is done by 20% of the employees.

 

[zannej]

Even though Mom is the one who got the flu shot at the last doctor's visit, I'm the one who has been feeling nauseous. But, seasonal allergies & my allergy meds don't seem strong enough so I've had post-nasal drip. Mom commented on how late I slept in & I said I woke up feeling sick. She was cool about it. Sent me to the pharmacy to pick up her prescriptions.

Stopped by to check on my friend. He said cops rolled by frequently last night to let the pre-teen hooligans know they were watching. New security camera is great. Snaps a pic every time a vehicle drives by and sends it to my friend. He got a few pics of his grandfather (who rolls by at least 3 times a day). Oops. I forgot to mention that bit of drama last night.

Some background: There is a neighborhood kid named Huey who is supposed to be on house arrest bc he shot up the school with a gun. He's got an ankle monitor & is somehow not in juvie. He's been leaving the house to break in to nearby homes and has been pulling a knife on people & threatening them and been trying to stab neighborhood animals (may have stabbed some-- we think he's the one who hurt my friend's fluffy gray kitten). Despite catching him in the act of breaking in to his ex's house and calling the cops, the cops wouldn't do anything about it. The mom said that without video or pictures there is no proof. (Nevermind that witness testimony has been good enough for court for a very long time). When my friend confronted him during the break-in, he threatened my friend with a knife. After the cops left, the kid went to my friend's house, into his yard, and pulled a knife on the gf's 12-yr-old nephew. (This Huey kid is between 11 to 12 yrs old). At least 5 people saw him trespassing & pulling a knife on the kid and then his group of moron friends started carrying knives and pulling them. The group of punks have been hanging out in my friend's driveway (until told to gtfo) and then across the street just staring at my friend's house. Huey's mother keeps driving by my friend's house super slow and glaring (she'll go by more than once- back and forth). So, yesterday, kids in the area started telling my friend that Huey & his buddies were having a sleepover at the house next to the one directly across the street and that "It's going down tonight" and that they were going to "f*** something up" at my friend's house. So I headed over there to take my friend to Walmart to get a security light, a security camera, and then take him to the police station to file a report. It was 7pm so none of the cops were in the station. He had to call for them to send a cop over to the station to talk to us. Told the cop everything we'd heard & the history with this kid. Cop said he knew the kid & he was supposed to be on house arrest. Asked for any other names or info and where they were staying. He said if those kids were "going to act grown" they were going to face consequences like grown people. Said he'd go have a chat with the parents in a non-accusatory way to not get their defenses up & check out that house across the street. He later popped over to tell my friend that there were 7 kids in the house, including Huey. He let them know that there is a curfewy, he's aware of potential threats made to my friend's house & that they would be given citations if they left the house & if they set foot on my friend's property- and that my friend was prepared to shoot them if they attacked anyone & that any property damage at all would be linked back to them & they could got to jail for it. They then sent patrols by all night.

Not sure why this kid wasn't put back in jail though. But, now my friend has the security camera. It has a speaker and a microphone so he can hear conversations on the porch and speak to people through it. It works even if he's at work. So he can send a message telling them to run for their lives if they come around.

Maybe Spicoli is right, I should find myself a screen writer and send this to some tv show. LOL.

 

[ekrig]

And then there's the 80/20 rule with government agencies, that 80% of the work is done by 20% of the employees.

That may well be a good case.
My wife worked for some time for the supply chain department of a public hospital as a contractor. When she started, their system and database had all sorts of inconsistencies that required constant manual fixing to the point where they even had hired people on staff to do it. Over time she fixed the entire system and rot rid of the bad programming and other issues introduced by the hired admin staff. I remember she telling me that hoped for the days in which the hired staff didn't touch the system because they only made things worse. There were ~3 employees making 3-4x more of what she made hired to manage the system, plus several other folks to manually correct the inconsistencies, and she rendered them obsolete within half a year. The worst of it all was that, in spite of her achievements, they refused to hire her permanently even though they had promised to do at the beginning; they wanted to keep her simply as a contractor. She refused to stay and the boss, who had just been promoted thanks to the improvements in the system and wouldn't hire her and lied about it, berated her for "not doing want he wanted" and refused to provide a letter of recommendation.

 

[Guzzle]

Ran a 100' cord to the pergola so I can fasten down some warped planks with very long screws.

Looked for my lost flip phone.
The present company who administers the Virgin Mobile contract gave my wife the runaround so I now have to send a registered letter to a bricks & mortar address, if I can find it.
This lost phone can make us liable for 10s of thousands of dollars.

Checked Xmas lights & found that half of them are unreliable. They're not worth fixing, you can't make silk purse from a sow's ear.

Had 100 milliliters of Rum mixed with 300 milliliters of Coca Cola to put this all in perspective.

 

[zannej]

Still feeling a bit meh. Threw up a little last night. Been sneezing my head off all morning. Took my allergy meds & waiting for them to kick in.

I ordered something from Walmart on a pre-Black Friday sale several days before black Friday. It sold out quick after I purchased it, but apparently they did the equivalent of an airline overbooking. They didn't actually have enough in stock to honor all of the orders but they didn't mark it as "out of stock" or cancel due to being out of stock. The day it was supposed to arrive I got an e-mail saying it was "delayed". It sat on "delayed" for 2 weeks before I finally canceled the order. Found a better item on Amazon for more $ but the quality made up for it and it's already shipped out.

ekrig, that really sucks, but I can't say I'm too surprised. So many supervisors these days do not appreciate good employees. It's one of the most common reasons for people to quit. But, sounds like this guy qualified for a YTA answer on reddit.

 

[Spicoli43]

I have the Walmart delays every year it seems, last year was Kids toys, this year it's a 100' Poly Air Hose for myself. Walmart won't let me pick it up. (They will ship it to me no problem, extra $5.99)...

Northern Tool had them for about the same price, but I had to order 2 and use a promo code for free shipping. There's no way I put up the interior of my shop with one hose, and I give myself a pat on the back for avoiding Walmart, so it's all good.

 

[Spicoli43]

In other fun news, I got a Chocolate Melanger (AKA Refiner) so I can experiment making my own. It's so stupid simple to make Chocolate without added garbage and preservatives, but I mainly got it because the Soy Free 3 Oz bars are now "On Sale" for $2.49... I can make 3 Oz. All Organic from Bean to Bar for barely over $1 each.

You have had Chocolate that goes through a Melanger or Giant Refiner, that's how it's done commercially. This home model is simply Granite wheels with a Granite base that rub the ingredients until they are smooth. I'm going to do 1 Kg recipes so it's easy to follow, which ends up being 11.7 bars before I add stuff. The 1 Kg will start off with 5% Cacao Butter to grease the wheels, 70% Cacao Nibs and 25% Cane Sugar, but I will experiment with Stevia, Erythritol etc.

I can also change it up with 5% Cacao Butter, 50% Cacao Nibs, 30% Milk Powder and 15% Sugar for a Milk Chocolate version...

I can then Geek out and add Coffee grounds or whatever powder I want... Crystallized Ginger, Cayenne etc... I plan on using that .7 leftover on each batch to try something else like adding Maple Syrup or Mint or Orange flavor or whatever and seeing how it turns out instead of a whole batch...

The only catch with these machines is NO liquid is allowed, it will seize the recipe and possibly kill the motor. Anything liquid has to be added when the Chocolate is in a bowl ready to go in a mold.

Here's a video of the machine I got, it's real easy, only 3 ingredients, nothing you look at on a label and have to use a search engine to figure out what it is... BOOYAH!!! Geek Time in my Kitchen!

 

[zannej]

That is very cool! I loooove chocolate. Doctor put me on to the sugar free russel stovers kind and they are so good.

Kitties are purring for me and making me feel better. Taking an extra lower dose allergy pill with my regular allergy meds and such helped also. I was able to make myself get up and clean up an area I'd been putting off cleaning. Got it cleaned up so I feel better about that. Rupert is sitting on my belly & warming it. Lately he's been wanting to cling to my shoulder and be carried around.

Tomorrow I need to go pick up mail.