Inaneness

      The process of asking silly questions and answering with absurd replies.  For an example; once I had run out of gas on a four lane divided roadway. Just ahead was a crossover so I decided to push the car to it and get out of the traffic flow. A patrol car pulled even and the cop inquired "won't it start?" to which I replied "yeah, but I wanted the exercise by pushing instead of driving." He gave me an angry look and drove off.

     One Sunday afternoon I was red-lighted by a squad car.  "The reason I stopped you is you were doing thirty mph through that school zone" to which I said " it's Sunday so according to the sign there is no school or zone here."  He felt like a fool and decided to check me out. He asked if I was wanted for anything? "Only my good looks" I replied. I love it when I have no outstanding traffic tickets or unpaid parking tickets and can answer inane questions with equally silly replies.

     Back in the late 1960's, I lived in Louisiana. A total solar eclipse was expected that coincided with Mardi Gras and could be viewed from New Orleans. A friend was visiting me and hearing about the solar event was looking forward to it. She asked me if it was cloudy or rainy on that date, would it be cancelled or postponed. In a serious tone I told her just to be safe, maybe she should plan on staying over a couple of days so as not to miss it. As fate would have it, the eclipse happened on a clear sunny afternoon. She cancelled her delayed trip and happily flew back to New York on her original schedule.

     Speaking of flying, a lady on a plane looking out her window saw the wing moving up and down as we encountered some turbulence. She asked ne about it and I told her "sure it was moving up and down like a bird's wing. That's what keeps us flying; it flaps for awhile then coasts for awhile until we land."  She went to sleep, secure in her new knowledge of airplanes and flight.

     Sometimes it's just too easy to ignore.

    

Irksome Things

     I'm normally a calm steady kind of person. Unfortunately I'm a classic Virgo which means I'm also a rabid nitpicker.  Most people just overlook the little matters that normally are either ignored or simply don't register in their brain.

     Every morning I read a political newsletter that like most are financed by advertisements. There is one particular ad that irritates me no end. The gist is some finance guru has discovered a plot against America and if you just click on his statement that Obama is due to be embarrassed when this event occurs and learn about this 'treat' to America. I believe he means a 'threat' to the US, not a treat. Further on in his diatribe it becomes clear that the word is threat, not treat as his bait states. Some one was paid to make this error and why it appears daily without correction is offensive to me.

     Later this morning I watched as the TV weather host said it would be 97 degrees today and feel like 104. How does he presume to know what anyone feels like? I worked in an office where in winter, women turned on their under desk heaters if the building fell below 78 degrees. Some of the men turned on desk fans at 72. If the temperature is 97, then it feels like 97 by any objective reality. If someone feels different subjectively that's too bad. Live with it.

     Since I spend a lot of time online, I am bombarded with ads promising free upgrades, free cleanups, free virus protection, etc.  There is usually a box attached if you click there it lists a free download.  Turns out the only free anything is the download. Now that you have it on your hard drive, it's useless until activated by paying a small or large fee. So most people have junk files like this slowing up their computer.

     These are a few of my un-favorite things. For people like me, a good shot of whisky is a medical necessity. Helps when friends tell me "just chill out" over all that crap.

Trump Destruction

     Donald Trump is a con man and thus susceptible to a scam himself. He only has to think all hope for him has gone. This belief will hasten and deepen his inevitable implosion which is likely to come in the next few days or weeks.

     All everyone has to do is ignore him. When he makes some insane statement, don't make any comment or rebuttal. Just pick a buzz word like 'sure' or 'okay' to acknowledge only. Better yet would be crickets chirping in complete silence. He craves attention so give him none. When questioned about him, the standard answer should be "no comment."

     Stay off Twitter and Facebook with anything about him. Let him tweet to dead air. It will drive him crazier than he already is. Never admit you watched him on TV even if you did. Put any TV rating in the toilet if a surveyor asks you, after all Trump thrives on lies himself so it's ok for you too.

     In college I once participated in a psychology experiment involving a quite room. A totally white room with absolutely no sound so that you could only hear your own internal sounds like heartbeat, blood rushing through veins and bowel activity. Very creepy and scary. You could only last a short time in there.  Trump should be subjected to utter quite from the real world. We would probably be rid of him post haste.  

Trump an Amateur Gambler

     Donald Trump shows his neophyte status when he doesn't as Kenny Rogers sings "know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run." It's rapidly getting time to run away. Sooner or later he has to realize that. Even in his deluded state reality is going to finally hit him like a falling brick. Then what?

     The question is how and when he's going to leave. I think it will be Labor Day or soon thereafter. The how is indeterminate with so many scenarios that fit his style and temperament. One thing is not going to happen is he leaves with integrity and dignity. Not possible knowing what we do after seeing and listening to him for so many weeks.

     We know he will announce it as Clinton's or Obama's or the Republican's fault for his demise.  He will never admit he might have to blame himself. Whichever intervention team succeeds in restraining and subduing him will earn the thanks of a grateful nation.

      Then what? Do we replace him in a contest for the presidency and is that possible at this late date. Times like this I'm glad to be a Democrat. Will Hillary run against Pence, an empty chair or is it possible for one party to cede the election and Clinton run unopposed?  We're breaking new ground here and I'm so glad to be alive to see what ultimately transpires.

Ancestors

                                                                        Deiterman

                                                                   Prasifka

      These are my immediate genetic last generation of forbears.  My father, the Deiterman family.  My father is second from the right in the first row and my grandfather third from the left, first row. My great grandfather, Edward came to Texas from Germany in 1857. He moved to Teutopolis, Illinois where my grandfather, Albert was born there and came with his family on a wagon train in November 1874 to Tours, Texas.  Edward and Albert each homesteaded 640 acres of rich farmland.  Two square miles each. They lived in the wagons for the first year and set up a school that Albert taught along with working the land getting it ready for the first spring crop planting.  Soon Crezanze Berger arrived from Wien, Germany.  She and Albert married and started making children.

     I've never understood how Albert managed to play baseball, play a trombone in a German band, serve his church, work a square mile of farmland, work in his blacksmith shop and still be able to father and raise 12 children.  He must have been a mighty man indeed.  When I met him his memory was lost to Alzheimer's and I've always regretted not being able to hear his stories first hand instead of through my dad's memories.

    

     John Prasifka and his mother, Petronila, left their home in Bordovice, Moravia after John's
father, Thomas, a coal miner died of black lung in 1851. They went to Bremen, Germany and          embarked  on a steam ship going to Galveston, Texas arriving in April of 1877.
John worked as a butcher, a lightening rod salesman, a coal miner, a hotel owner and grocery store owner. He married my grandmother, Mary in1893 when she was 16 years old and she gave birth to ten  children. With the help of her boys, she worked a hundred acre farm just outside Dallas, Texas while John sold it's output in his store in East Dallas. He died in 1942. I lived with him till just before he died. He taught me how to play checkers and dominos with him when I was three years old.

                                                                  

Moving

    
      Moving is a major decision to make.  I've listed the pros and cons and this time the cons are heavier than the pros so the future will find me in the same location. For a month or more ago, I was unhappy with the conditions here so I have done my best to either accept them  gracefully or to effect changes in those conditions that are possible for me personally. 

     I like the people here but I dislike that none of them share any interests like mine and I consequently have no one to discuss ideas or events in the world or local news.  I compensate by posting blogs and comments on the internet.  If I moved, I would find mostly clones of the same people types as here. I might like or dislike them and I would have to learn again about this new group.  Why remake that effort?.

     I resented the caregiver here for moving me off the dining room table where I worked for over a year.  She moved me to my room and supplied a work table I wanted from day one here.  I now like it much better than before.  It's not as cool here but my wife reminded me I just spent nearly two years living outside in a tent without any air conditioning besides the wind and nature. Puts things in perspective for me.  I have two roommates that I no longer hear their snorts, snores and farts.  Neither of them talk to anyone or have visitors. They are ideal.

     So I decided like Hamlet to bear those ills I have rather than fly to others.  So here I will stay. On a positive note things keep happening for the good. That can't be beaten. 

Standard Opinion Polls

    I'm reading the presidential opinion polls this week. With such disparity, who can know what to believe or think.  Opinion polls each take a sample of potential voters.  By presentation of questions asked and groups queried, the results can be skewed however desired.  With 1 hundred million votes, any sample of less than a hundred thousand is guaranteed to be inaccurate.  The idea of a sample of 1200 people telling much of anything is ludicrous. I don't think extrapolation that extreme can tell much of anything.  It all boils down to what various analysts think and publish.

     The political parties involved need to get together on a polling revamp they both could benefit from. I propose a standard questionnaire of ten to twenty topics agreed on nationwide.  Each state will receive 2,000 copies.  There should be a lottery drawing in each state among registered voters.  Each filled out survey will be paid three dollars when turned it to a collection station.  Since each survey will be mailed to the address on the voter registration cards, potential voters only will participate this way.

     Each survey will be entered into a computer for an end results printout. This will be sent  to a national computer database for a final printout to be shared with everybody interested. One can't  fight a modern war without intelligence as to an enemies strength and weaknesses. Then one can make rational decisions as to how to proceed.  A political election is a war between parties. The same rules apply.

      Wouldn't all that be nice?