October
1 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: October 1, 1933
The trip to town started with a stop at Sunny D’s for breakfast. They had the biggest early morning crowd that I have seen since being here this year. The grocery gathering went quickly and I returned to a new space in the Park.
When I left here last May I made reservations for October 2021 and Feb - Apr 2022. When I had to come back in June I thought I was to stay in the same space thru October. When I paid for electricity yesterday I was told that I should move into the October space they had reserved for me last May. So that is where I returned this morning and will be in it for October and then return to it in February 2022.
I spent a lot of time yesterday getting Bookmarks set up on my Amazon Fire 10. I’ll be using it as my computer while in the hotel; maybe even after I get back to Desperado. I’ll just see how it goes. The Raspberry has worked very well but with all the cords it is not a very compact or neat arrangement.
I have a couple more household chores to do. Most importantly I need to think of all the ‘stuff’ I need to take out of Desperado and put into the hotel room.
This quote is from the cited book but the essay was originally published in Polemic, No. 2, January 1946. It could have been written yesterday.
Any writer or journalist who wants to retain his integrity finds himself thwarted by the general drift of society rather than by active persecution. The sort of things that are working against him are the concentration of the press in the hands of a few rich men, the grip of monopoly on radio [TV] and the films, the unwillingness of the public to spend money on books, making it necessary for nearly every writer to earn part of his living by hack work.…
Everything in our age conspires to turn the writer, and every other kind of artist as well, into a minor official, working on themes handed to him from above and never telling what seems to him the whole of the truth. But in struggling against his fate he gets no help from his own side: that is, there is no large body of opinion which will assure him that he is in the right. Although other aspects of the question are usually in the foreground the controversy over freedom of speech and of the press is at the bottom a controversy over the desirability, or otherwise, of telling lies. — The Prevention Of Literature, in George Orwell Essays, Penguin Modern Classics
2 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The household chores have now all been completed. I’m ready for another month.
This space that I now have has the same neighbors on the east side that were there when I left at the end of April. I haven’t talked to them yet to see if they have been here all summer.
My west side neighbors have a fine collection of ‘stuff’ scattered all over their front yard. Some of it encroaching on my ‘property line’ but not worth confronting them about it. If they are still there in February when I come back then maybe we can talk about it. They are from California if the license plates mean anything so they have more privileges than most of us plebes.
People have not changed their ideas much since this essay was published in Tribune, 12 April 1946. Perhaps the love of Nature by urbanized people has become even more the settled ideal. Certainly that is what the advertisements for ‘outdoor’ products wants you to believe.
People, so the thought runs, ought to be discontented, and it is our job to multiply our wants and not simply to increase our enjoyment of the things we have already. The other idea is that this is the age of machines and that to dislike the machine, or even to want to limit its domination, is backward-looking, reactionary and slightly ridiculous. This is often backed up by the statement that a love of Nature is a foible of urbanized people who have no notion what Nature is really like. Those who really have to deal with the soil, so it is argued, do not love the soil, and do not take the faintest interest in birds or flowers, except from a strictly utilitarian point of view. To love the country one must live in the town, merely taking an occasional week-end ramble at the warmer times of year. — Some Thoughts On The Common Toad, in George Orwell Essays, Penguin Modern Classics
3 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I wasted a LOT of time yesterday attempting to open the cpanel at my website Host using the 'new' Amazon Fire 10. I was able to use the old Fire 10 to update my website with the daily postings, which requires a cpanel that opens. Contacted Host Support and got none.
I am able to open the cpanel with my Fire 8 using the Silk or Vivaldi browsers but that screen is too small. I could use it but it would be a pain. I can also open the cpanel using my old Toshiba with Firefox browser which I guess is what I’ll do while in the hotel. I would have preferred to take the Fire 10 but you do what you have to do.
I’m trying to install Vivaldi on the Fire 10 this morning but that has been a two time failure so far. If it fails the third time I quit for today and try again some other time. I wish I knew what I was doing.
I’ll be moving into the hotel tomorrow afternoon. Probably get a posting done tomorrow morning but all bets are off after that.
This seems to me to be a good explanation of the Woke movement of today.
In a society in which there is no law, and in theory no compulsion, the only arbiter of behaviour is public opinion. But public opinion, because of the tremendous urge to conformity in gregarious animals, is less tolerant than any system of law. When human beings are governed by ‘thou shalt not’, the individual can practise a certain amount of eccentricity: when they are supposedly governed by ‘love’ or ‘reason’, he is under continuous pressure to make him behave and think in exactly the same way as everyone else.… because the truth is always either self-evident, or else it is undiscoverable and unimportant. — Politics vs. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver’s Travels, in George Orwell Essays, Penguin Modern Classics
4 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I had the Fire 10 download an OS Update yesterday that took about 12 hours for the 1GB. Then this morning I installed it along with seven other Updates. Cleared all History, Cookies and Cache then tried to open the cpanel at my host. Got the same results as before.
This was the advice I received from Amazon Support to fix my problem. So I sent them another email that told them their advice did not work. Did they have another guess?
Packing up everything that I think I will need for a week in the hotel and hope it will be only for a week. I’ll be going to the hotel around noon to check in and drop off my ‘stuff’ then take Desperado to D & J RV Center. Maybe there will be someone there to drive me back to the hotel or they can call Uber for me.
Posting tomorrow will be whenever I can manage to get it typed and uploaded to the host through the cpanel.
There are people who are convinced of the wickedness both of armies and of police forces, but who are nevertheless much more intolerant and inquisitorial in outlook than the normal person who believes that it is necessary to use your violence in certain circumstances. They will not say to somebody else, ‘Do this, that and the other or you will go to prison,’ but they will, if they can, get inside his brain and dictate his thoughts for him in the minutest particulars. Creeds like pacifism and anarchism, which seem on the surface to imply a complete renunciation of power, rather encourage this habit of mind. For if you have embraced a creed which appears to be free from the ordinary dirtiness of politics — a creed from which you yourself cannot expect to draw any material advantage — surely that proves that you are in the right? And the more you are in the right, the more natural that everyone else should be bullied into thinking likewise. — Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool, in George Orwell Essays, Penguin Modern Classics
5 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The move into the hotel and dropping off Desperado went well. I have found the two places that I thought would be good places to get breakfast and ‘linners’ to be on good walking routes. So what more could I want?
I want the Fire 10 to work like the old one did. I guess I have forgotten how long it took me to get that old one to work like it did. I do not remember it being able to connect to the cpanel at my host however.
I had an hour and half Chat yesterday morning with 5 different Amazon Support(sic) reps that accomplished nothing. They were all in India if their names were any indication and I was not impressed with their IT knowledge. I’m not so sure that 4 of the 5 even knew what a cpanel was, much less know why I could not connect.
This morning I tried to edit my Blog Writer .doc using the Fire 10 and could not do that either. I think I need to get the Google Play Store app opened and then download the Google Docs app before I can do that. Meanwhile I’m relearning how to use the old Toshiba with Firefox as a browser. Plus relearning how to use Filzilla for a FTP to transfer images. The Toshiba also has a worn out keyboard that makes typing anything more difficult. My posting may be much shorter for this next week. HA
The articles collected in George Orwell’s Essays illuminate the life and work of one of the most individual writers of this century — a man who elevated political writing to an art.
This outstanding collection brings together Orwell’s longer, major essays and a fine selection of shorter pieces that includes ‘My Country Right or Left’, ‘Decline of the English Murder’, ‘Shooting an Elephant’ and ‘A Hanging’. With great originality and wit Orwell unfolds his views on subjects ranging from a revaluation of Charles Dickens to the nature of Socialism, from a comic yet profound discussion of naughty seaside postcards to a spirited defence of English cooking. Displaying an almost unrivalled mastery of English plain prose, Orwell’s essays created a unique literary manner from the process of thinking aloud and continue to challenge, move and entertain.
This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Bernard Crick. — Book promo @ Penguin Random House
6 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The Fire 10 still does not open the Cpanel at my host. I sent Web Hosting Hub another request for help and they said that there was nothing they could do. I think that is probably true. I think it is a problem with the Fire 10 but Amazon can not/will not fix it. I did a factory reset, did it twice; once I did it the second time I had Amazon do a remote reset. I give up!
I have heard nothing from the D & J RV Center which is good. That means that they have not started doing any work which is not so good; but if they have started they haven’t run into unexpected problems.
We did almost 3 miles yesterday afternoon with great cloud shade and a nice breeze. Thought we were going to get wet a few times but it was just sprinkles — I knew we were tempting fate but got away with it.
I typed this posting on my Fire 8. I’m getting better using the on screen keyboard than the poor one on the Toshiba. It was typed in the Blog Writer .doc that is saved in my Google Drive. That is then copied and pasted into my web host account through the Cpanel using the Toshiba. That is a redneck way of doing it I’m sure but it works.
This hotel living is not too bad if I can just stop thinking about how much it is costing me.
7 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
There is not much happening with us. Even less than our usual uneventful days while in the Park. Since I don’t have to cook anything I have all that extra time to fill.
There are a lot of different walking routes available. That gives both of us some different sights to see and stuff to sniff. Patches has settled in and seems to be right at home. She has her bed but I didn’t bring her blankie and I think she misses that.
The email was not working on Fire 10 after I did the factory reset but fixed that today. So it is back where it was a week or so ago.
Truth shifts and changes like a cataract of diamonds; its aspect is never precisely the same at two successive moments. But error flows down the channel of history like some great stream of lava or infinitely lethargic glacier. It is the one relatively fixed thing in a world of chaos. — The American Credo, by H.L. Mencken, George Jean Nathan
8 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: October 8, 1933
The countertop project has become a bust. I found emails in my Junk folder last night from D & J RV Center that said they have not received the laminat from Home Depot. They wanted me to contact Home Depot and find out what the delivery status was. I need an order # to do that and the purchase receipt is in Desperado and I am in a hotel.
I have suggested that I pick up Desperado this afternoon. Then when/if they get the laminate delivered they set another date to do the countertop. This assumes that I have a working stove, sink and faucet in Desperado when I pick her up.
Other than that everything is going great.
This is a volume of short essays published in 1923. That makes it the Huxley of
9 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I received another email from D & J RV Center yesterday morning. They said that they had been in contact with Home Depot and were told that the laminate was to be delivered today (8 October). They also provided a FedEx Tracking # that claimed the same thing — Out For Delivery. D & J offered me two options:
First, they could install the stove, sink and faucet on bare wood and schedule adding the laminate sometime next year. This would be done at added cost.
Second, I could wait and see if FedEx would deliver and they would continue with the project because there was a cancelation that gives them the time to do it.
I selected door #2. That means I add another 2-3 days to the time I spend in the hotel. Maybe I will get Desperado back by next Thursday.
My routine is so disrupted that I thought I had put this posting up this morning. It was not until now when I was thinking about our afternoon walk that it came to my mind that I had not posted. Disrupted routine and getting old
I have quoted the seven characteristics of a National Security State. The question of the day is, does it describe China, Russia or the United States? This is another book that I have added to my To Read List although I can not find a free copy.
The first characteristic of a National Security State is that the military is the highest authority. In a National Security State the military not only guarantees the security of the state against all internal and external enemies, it has enough power to determine the overall direction of the society. In a National Security State the military exerts important influence over political, economic, as well as military affairs.
A second defining feature of a National Security State is that political democracy and democratic elections are viewed with suspicion, contempt, or in terms of political expediency. National Security States often maintain an appearance of democracy. However, ultimate power rests with the military or within a broader National Security Establishment.
A third characteristic of a National Security State is that the military and related sectors wield substantial political and economic power. They do so in the context of an ideology which stresses that “freedom” and “development” are possible only when capital is concentrated in the hands of elites.
A fourth feature of a National Security State is its obsession with enemies. There are enemies of the state everywhere. Defending against external and/or internal enemies becomes a leading preoccupation of the state, a distorting factor in the economy, and a major source of national identity and purpose.
A fifth ideological foundation of a National Security State is that the enemies of the state are cunning and ruthless. Therefore, any means used to destroy or control these enemies is justified.
A sixth characteristic of a National Security State is that it restricts public debate and limits popular participation through secrecy or intimidation. Authentic democracy depends on participation of the people. National Security States limit such participation in a number of ways: They sow fear and thereby narrow the range of public debate; they restrict and distort information; and they define policies in secret and implement those policies through covert channels and clandestine activities. The state justifies such actions through rhetorical pleas of “higher purpose” and vague appeals to “national security.”
Finally, the church is expected to mobilize its financial, ideological, and theological resources in service to the National Security State. — Brave New World Order by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer
10 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The goal for today is get this posting up before late afternoon. I got distracted by something yesterday and forgot to upload it to my host.
Not that I had a lot to say then or today. With time on my hands and ‘free’ WIFI from the hotel I have been doing a lot of web surfing. Finding a lot of ‘stuff’ to read with most of it being of no use to me. Be that as it may, I’m a repository of meaningless information.
The morning temperatures are getting lower with it down to 45° this morning and a little wind. That made it almost too cold for just my light shirt and windbreaker. I may need to start wearing my flannel shirt which I had the presence of mind to bring. That will certainly be true for Wednesday morning with the forecast low to be 37° and windy.
It is now the time to post this before I forget. Then back to reading more web finds and what I have on my Fire 8.
It is too bad that the neoliberals in the US State Department don’t take this advice. They seem to follow this path for creating freedom: The bombings will continue until you do things our way.
…one’s means must be consonant with one’s ends; one cannot create freedom through authoritarian means; that as much as possible, one must embody the society one wishes to create.–The Twilight of Vanguardism, David Graeber
That centrifugal forces are at play in every society and occasionally lead to its unraveling tells us that culture alone is not enough to hold a society together. There are three other ways to keep a society intact. One is to create a foreign bogeyman [terrorist, Russia, China] sufficiently fearful to motivate the society’s members to work together to defend against the threat. Another is to unify a majority by defining a treacherous “other” [White Supremacists] within the society itself. But the most important way societies prevent disintegration is by building formidable political institutions, for which there is no substitute. — Great Delusion by John J. Mearsheimer
11 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The low this morning was 41.5° but no wind. Colder than yesterday but felt warmer without the wind. I have been sitting outside when having breakfast at the Landmark but not this morning — too cold. I think those outside breakfasts are no longer on the menu so to speak.
I went to the hotel check in yesterday and told them I would need to stay until at least Thursday. Today was going to be the day that I checked out but Home Depot changed that with their late delivery. It is now in the hands of D & J RV Center to get the work done in the two days that they think it will take. However, I was told somewhere along the way that the laminate needed to ‘set’ for 48 hours before they could cut the holes for the stove, sink and faucet. So, that would seem to mean they need three days. We will see.
To understand how thoroughly progressivism has triumphed, consider how liberalism relates to the major political parties in the United States today. The Democratic Party’s ruling ideology is clearly progressive liberalism, and it acts accordingly when it controls the key levers of power in Washington. If you listen to Republicans, you might think they follow the dictates of modus vivendi liberalism. That is usually true of their rhetoric, but it is not how they govern. In office, Republicans act like Democrats.…This short article might explain why there are so many unfilled jobs available and a decreasing labor force. Not just in the US but all around the world.
Republicans, in short, are deeply committed to the interventionist state and the extensive social engineering that comes with it. — Great Delusion by John J. Mearsheimer
Our society is addicted to work. If there’s anything left and right both seem to agree on, it’s that jobs are good. Everyone should have a job. Work is our badge of moral citizenship. We seem to have convinced ourselves as a society that anyone who isn’t working harder than they would like to be working, at something they don’t enjoy, is a bad, unworthy person. As a result, work comes to absorb ever greater proportions of our energy and time.
Much of this work is entirely pointless. Whole industries (think telemarketers, corporate law, private equity) whole lines of work (middle management, brand strategists, high-level hospital or school administrators, editors of in-house corporate magazines) exist primarily to convince us there is some reason for their existence. Useless work crowds out useful (think of teachers and administrators overwhelmed with paperwork); it’s also almost invariably better compensated. As we’ve seen in lockdown, the more obviously your work benefits other people, the less they pay you.–To save the world, we’re going to have to stop working, David Graeber
12 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The forecast for a low with winds for tomorrow has been revised. The low temperature of 37 has been increased by a couple degrees. We got the forecast winds this morning with gusts of 30mph. Maybe back to lower 80s and lower 50s starting this weekend. Just a little taste of fall weather this week.
The weather is all that I can report as News. I certainly am not doing anything except web surfing and reading the couple books that I have on Fire 8.
John J. Mearsheimer says that the features of a nation-state are a powerful sense of oneness, a distinct culture, a marked sense of specialness, a historical narrative that emphasizes timelessness, a deep attachment to territory, and a strong commitment to sovereignty or self-determination. I have quoted his definitions of those features. Using them as a standard, I wonder if the U. S. can still be classed a nation-state.
A nation is a large community of people with a powerful sense of oneness, even though each member knows only a small number of fellow nationals.
Each nation has a distinct set of beliefs and practices [culture] that are shared by its members and that distinguish it from other nations. The practices involve things like language, rituals, codes, music, and symbols, while beliefs involve matters like religion, basic political and social values, and a particular understanding of history.
Most people think their nation is superior to others. It has special qualities that merit its being privileged over other nations. [An exceptional or indispensable nation] History matters greatly for all nations, although they tend to emphasize creating myths rather than getting the facts right. Nations invent heroic stories about themselves to denigrate the achievements of other nations and buttress their claim that they are special.
Nations invariably identify with specific geographical spaces, which they treat as sacred territory. People form a deep emotional attachment with land they perceive as their rightful homeland. The principal aim is to establish sovereignty over that territory, which is inextricably bound up with the nation’s identity.
Finally, nations aim to maximize their control over their own political fate, which is another way of saying they are deeply concerned about sovereignty, or how political authority is arranged inside a state as well as among states. In domestic terms, sovereignty denotes where supreme political authority lies within a state. [Note: State here is used to identify a nation-state, not a U.S. state within the nation-state.] — Great Delusion by John J. Mearsheimer
A meme that describes the deplorables’ tolerance.
We are no longer accepting things we cannot change.
It is now time to change the things we cannot accept.
A meme that describes where California is now.
California, where you can take a dump on the street but you’ll get a ticket if you don’t wear a face mask while you do it.
13 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I picked up Desperado this morning. The countertop looks great but the stove top, sink and faucet are even better. However, I had to have the new countertop so I could install them. Now if I can just get it out of my mind how much it cost me to do this. HA
Got checked out of the hotel which added to the overall cost that I want to forget. Then back to my space in the Park and maybe 45 minutes later I have everything put away or put back where it was before. So it is great to be back home.
It was cold this morning, or from the old Johnny Carson shows “How cold was it?” It was freezing, below freezing at 31.1° Much colder than the forecast 39. The flannel shirt and windbreaker was almost enough but my hands were very cold without gloves. We also cut the walk a little short. Maybe warming during the next few days if the weather guessers get it right.
I have too much time on my hands — I know this. When that happens I start finding ‘stuff’ on the web that I usually would not. For instance US Mortality or specifically Arizona mortality and most specifically age group 0 to 44.
It seems that for the year 2020 and 2021 to date (per USMortality.com) there was an excess mortality (more deaths than staticialy expected) of 4,030 in that age group. I thought that could be easily explained by checking to see how many people in that age group died from Covid-19.
What I found was that 1,083 people in that age group died during the same period (possibly not matching dates, but close enough for government work). Why did 2,947 more people die than was expected from causes other than Covid-19? I don’t have an answer — I just ask the questions.
If I were to answer my own question I would say that I strongly suspect the Covid-19 vaccines. However, there is overwhelming pressure both official and unofficial to just “shut up, stop asking awkward questions, and get vaccinated”.
The United States has proved that the likely outcome of international liberal interventionism is failure but continues the effort. It is now suffering the backfire, the empire is collapsing and may take the nation-state with it.
A liberal great power operating in either bipolarity or multipolarity cannot pursue liberal hegemony, because of the presence of other great powers. Nevertheless, it might occasionally ignore balance-of-power politics when it should not and selectively pursue liberal policies. The likely outcome of this limited form of liberal interventionism is the same as when a unipole pursues liberal hegemony: failure. Promoting individual rights and turning other countries into liberal democracies is an exceedingly difficult undertaking that rarely succeeds and often backfires. — Great Delusion by John J. Mearsheimer
14 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I’m not planning on doing anything today. However, it is very nice to do nothing in my home once again. The hotel room was like living in a cave; an expensive cave.
It was warmer this morning with a low of 36.9° and I was wearing my wool shirt/jacket, wool cap and gloves. The weather guessers still think it is going to get warmer. But I know it will be winter soon and have ordered a wool shirt for casual wear. The flannel shirts that I have will be worn for morning walks combined with a wool shirt/jacket, padded hunting jacket or capote depending on the temperatures.
That is about it for today. More web browsing and reading the stack of books that I now have on my Fire 8.
James Maison was one of those Old White Guys but he certainly got this right.
States that pursue liberal hegemony invariably damage the fabric of liberalism inside their own borders. The main reason is straightforward: a country pursuing this ambitious strategy abroad has little choice but to create a powerful national security bureaucracy to fight its endless wars and monitor and shape the world in its own image. But a formidable national security state almost always threatens liberal values and institutions at home. The Founding Fathers understood this problem well: as James Madison observed, “No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” — Great Delusion by John J. Mearsheimer
When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it. – Frédéric Bastiat
15 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: October 15, 1933
I thought it felt colder this morning than yesterday. But the 35.8° versus 36.9 sure felt a lot colder than just 1.1°. It was also a lot colder than the 40s the forecasters keep expecting.
I have hulled barley and oat groats in the Thermal Cooker this morning. It is good to be back eating my usual breakfast again. Getting an omelet once a week is a treat but I was getting very tired of them after having one everyday for over a week. I think the Landmark is off my list of breakfast stops until next year. HA
A major theoretical statement by a distinguished political scholar explains why a policy of liberal hegemony is doomed to fail.
In this major statement, the renowned international-relations scholar John Mearsheimer argues that liberal hegemony—the foreign policy pursued by the United States since the Cold War ended—is doomed to fail. It makes far more sense, he maintains, for Washington to adopt a more restrained foreign policy based on a sound understanding of how nationalism and realism constrain great powers abroad. The Great Delusion is a lucid and compelling work of the first importance for scholars, policymakers, and everyone interested in the future of American foreign policy. — Book promo @ goodreads.com
16 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
It was a lot warmer this morning with the low at 48.6° I was almost overdressed. We might see those lower 80s for the high and lower 50s for the lows during the next 10 days but I would not bet on it.
I have yet to receive an email from either of two dentist offices that I have tried various means to contact for a cleaning appointment next summer. They seem to want ONLY patients that have telephones. I have therefore sent a Contact Us message to another dentist office in a more distant town asking for a cleaning appointment. If I get no response to that I’ll try their email address. They do provide both options in addition to a telephone number so they have that to recommend them.
The same thing can be said for RV Parks. They ONLY want to make reservations using a telephone. They do have a better excuse than dental offices perhaps. Most people in dental offices can read and write whereas I’m not so sure that is true of many RV Parks.
A companion piece to the popular Directions to Servants, Polite Conversation is a witty, brilliantly conceived treatise on manners and small talk from the master of English satire. Beginning with an “expert” introduction to the perils of ill-educated discourse, Swift seeks to offer a remedy for conversational disasters.
17 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I went out right after breakfast to dump holding tanks and add water. That will probably be all that I will do today that could be considered constructive. There will be a shopping trip in town tomorrow so I am prepared for that.
The low this morning was 47.8° which didn’t make it to the low 50s that were forecast. However, it was very nice for our walk. I was wearing my flannel shirt and windbreaker with possum fur ear band and gloves which was just the right dressing for that temperature. Now if I could know what the temperature was going to be I would know how to dress; the forecasts do not help much.
A good article.
When Covid broke out in January of 2020, I was in Laos, and since then, I’ve been to Vietnam, South Korea, Serbia, North Macedonia, Lebanon, Egypt, Albania, Montenegro and, now, South Africa. Nowhere did I have to endure a lockdown, though it was technically in place for two weeks in Lebanon. So lamely enforced, it didn’t cramp me.
Lockdowns weren’t necessary, I realized, for life went on everywhere I went. Nearly each day, I ate and drank in crowded cafes and restaurants, and walked or rode buses among the masses. Also, an extended lockdown in Albania, Lebanon, Egypt or South Africa would have triggered massive social unrest, since their economies were already so precarious.
Even in richer countries, though, lockdowns inflict tremendous economic harms, so why has it been enforced so ruthlessly in so many places? Vaccine passports and mass layoffs of the unvaccinated are also wrecking economies. None of this makes sense until you realize many governments are not just trying to cripple, but kill their own people.–Mass Death Ahead, Linh Dinh
18 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The breakfast stop this morning was at Sunny D’s where I was their only customer for about 10 minutes. Then there were three people there when I left and two cars in the parking lot. When I drove past on the way back to the Park the lot was almost full.
I then went to the laundromat and got the clothes washing chore taken care of one more time. A relatively quick stop at Fry’s for groceries. They are moving some things around and some of the shelves are partially bare. I got everything that I wanted but I can see that there will come a day soon that I won’t be saying that.
I love them.
My friend Jack claims he can communicate with vegetables.
Jack and the beans talk.
19 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
There is nothing on my agenda for today. I have one package waiting for me at the UPS Store with another one, from the VA, maybe on the way. If it is delivered I might go get both of them. That is before my next shopping trip. If the VA package does not show up before then I’ll just get the one that is there now.
The dentist office that I sent a Contact Us Message to responded promptly yesterday and gave me an appointment. I forwarded xrays and exam notes and asked them to confirm receipt of them which they did promptly.
I now have a dentist for next summer and a place to live. Unfortunately, they are not that close to each other but the closest dentists do not want patients unless they have a telephone. You do what you have to do.
Colin Powel is being given the same media treatment that they gave John McCain. Fortunately this will be only for the usual media cycle and the world can forget about him again as they have John.
But it’s hard to dispute that his greatest lasting legacy will be his immortal reminder to future generations that there is never, ever a valid reason to trust anything US officials tell us about a government they wish to bring down.–Creator Of World’s Most Effective Anti-War Meme Dead At 84, Caitlin Johnstone
Political language — and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists — is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. — Politics and the English Language by George Orwell, First published: Horizon, April 1946.
20 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The low this morning was 40.6° but felt colder than that even with my wool shirt/jacket and gloves. The weather forecaster insists that the lows are going to continue to be in the lower 50s for the next 10 days. I wish they would be right.
I have the distiller working again which requires only a little work on my part. That is the plan for today, to do very little work.
The problems that I had with Amazon getting them to replace the Fire 10 that I bought was the last straw. They do not want to sell to anyone that does not live in a fixed sticks-n-bricks which precludes them from fulfilling this “the whole name of the game” goal.
I don’t care about how quickly I get something I order — I care about getting it. With Amazon I never knew. They no longer get any of my business which makes me look harder for someone to sell me what I want but so be it. I predict that they will not stay in business as long as Sears and JCPenny did — the mail order giants of the late 19th century and early 20th.
The whole name of the game is getting the product to the customer in the quickest, most cost-effective way based on shipping costs. — Clint Autry (pseudonym), general manager of Amazon Fulfillment in Thornton, CO from Fulfillment by Alec MacGillis
This is an article that gets it right excerpt for comparing the U.S. Empire Fall to that of Rome.
When you think of the destruction of Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, and Palestine, and the attempted destruction of Syria and Iran, just to mention some of the atrocities of our current era, it is possible to comprehend why the West has lost its moral gloss and is increasingly despised by growing numbers of its own citizens in addition to Arabs, Africans, Latin Americans, Russians, and Asians.From a meme:
Corrupt and evil Western “leaders” have succeeded in marginalizing the West. Every western country now consists of refugees from countries that the West has destroyed and citizens who have lost confidence in their leaders and culture. We ourselves are experiencing the fall of Rome.–The killing of Gaddafi 10 years ago has resulted in the death of the nation of Libya and the destruction of its people, Paul Craig Roberts
Is the fall of Rome comparable to the current situation in the United States?
No, Rome had good roads.
21 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I went to town again this morning after having breakfast at Sunny D’s along the way. I had a couple packages waiting for me at the UPS Store; the most important one having more eye drops from the VA.
It was also a good day to go get a haircut rather than on Sunday, my next shopping day. I was the first customer so no waiting just in and out. Looking good again. HA
The low this morning was 44.2° which didn’t feel that cold. A little chill with just my windbreaker rather than the wool shirt/jacket but overall pretty nice. The highs are reaching or exceeding the forecast but the lows are not coming close to the expected lower 50s.
This innovative book is the first comprehensive synthesis of economic, political, and cultural theories of value. David Graeber reexamines a century of anthropological thought about value and exchange, in large measure to find a way out of quandaries in current social theory, which have become critical at the present moment of ideological collapse in the face of Neoliberalism. Rooted in an engaged, dynamic realism, Graeber argues that projects of cultural comparison are in a sense
A meme for you to contemplate.
Imagine, if you will, that there’s a 99.97% chance that you won’t shit your pants, but you’re forced to wear diapers just in case.
Now, imagine that you must wear those diapers to prevent your neighbours from shitting their pants as well.
22 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: October 22, 1933
The only thing that I have going on is finishing the distilling. One more gallon and that will be done for another week or 10 days.
I think the push for the “jab” is over in the US. The president put paid to it when he declared them to be mandatory. The blowback has become more than he and his handlers expected and they are quietly retreating.
There are electric highway warning signs on all the main highways in Arizona. One of them is on AZ90 between the Park and town. In the past two years there were Coronavirus® exhortations posted on that sign every time I went past it UNTIL about a week ago. I am now also seeing more ‘Get Your Flu Shot’ messages; not on the highway signs yet. Received one such message from the VA which I have not received for the past two years while Coronavirus® was the disease du jour.
I think we are only a few weeks away from president Biden announcing — Covid Mission Accomplished!
The higher the percentage of the population that is vaxxed the higher the new cases and the higher the death count. Something tells me that this is working exactly as planned.
Singapore’s recent surge in new coronavirus cases has baffled health experts, as more than 80 percent of the city-state’s 5.7 million residents are fully vaccinated against the Chinese coronavirus. The Republic of Singapore’s government has approved three different Chinese coronavirus vaccines to include in its national inoculation drive, which launched on July 2. Vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Sinovac are currently administered by state health officials as part of the campaign. Most of the Chinese coronavirus vaccines administered to Singaporeans so far were made by either Pfizer or Moderna.–82% Vaccinated Singapore Records Highest Daily Coronavirus Cases Yet, Gabrielle ReyesMy posting about the “excess mortality” in Arizona for the age group 0-44 was not a one of analysis. This is happening everyplace that has adopted the “jab” to save the world. The “excess mortality” is even worse for those ages over 44. I think I’ll give it a pass.
Meanwhile, the West is seeing the first signs that the Covid-19 vaccines it went cuckoo for may be producing a strange phenomenon of “excess mortality” around the world. Suspiciously higher rates of heart attacks, vascular disorders, cancer, and other bad stuff. It’s downright spooky. In Scotland, for instance, the vaccination rate is 87 percent and weekly deaths are up 30 percent. Pandemic reporter Alex Berenson said on TV that non-Covid-19 deaths were significantly higher everywhere, and he mused out loud that there was some connection between this and the vaccines. Uh oh.–“What Am I Doing?” He Asks, James Howard Kunstler
23 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I didn’t much feel like doing the holding tank dumps this morning but got out there and did them anyway. I did need to add water which was the motivating factor. The Park had the water shut off one day this past week was another motivating factor. They rarely get anything fixed on the first, or even the second, try so I anticipate more water shut offs to come.
The weather forecasters are sticking with their guess for the lows to be in the lower 50s for the next 10 days with an outlier of 42° for next Wednesday morning. The reality is that we continue to get lows in the mid to lower 40s.
This is something that Catlin Johnstone has written about repeatedly. It is also what has driven the fear of the Coronavirus® to the heights that it has reached.
Fear is one of the most powerful human emotions. While highly useful in situations where threat of immediate harm exists, it is the most debilitating and dangerous of emotions when present unnecessarily.…
Humans, especially since the Industrial Revolution, have become increasingly protected from the dangers that our ancestors faced in relation to the natural world. But as mankind’s fear of nature and the elements has fallen, in its place many other fears have come to fill the void. Some of these fears have arisen in response to real threats, but many have been in response to things imagined.
The artificial construction and maintenance of fear in a population by a ruling class has remained pervasive from the time of Ancient Egypt up until the modern day. Oppressive governments often maintain their grip on a nation by continually invoking fear, and then proceeding to claim that only they, the ruling powers, have the means and ability to protect the population from such a threat:The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. — H L Mencken–Fear and Social Control, Academy Of Ideas
24 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
A quick shopping day after breakfast at Café Olé. I probably spent more time in the checkout line at Fry’s than I did gathering up my shorter shopping list.
I noticed that the chips and bottled juice aisles were looking like a gap toothed smile. The only thing in short supply that I wanted was some cran blackberry juice with no added sugar. There was none.
I probably should have filled Desperado’s gas tank today. The price of gas is going up almost every day so I’ll pay more next week when I plan to fill up.
I think this is where the people in the US are now and have been for many decades.
To understand what this form of escape [forward escape] entails we will contrast it with two other ways to escape from the hardships of living through an attempted totalitarian takeover — the backward escape and the physical escape. The backward escape, entails dulling one’s awareness of the reality and precariousness of one’s situation through the use of drugs and alcohol or by zoning out in front of screens for hours on end. The backward escape can provide short-term relief to feelings of anxiety, depression and boredom, but the more one relies on such activities the more one’s mental health deteriorates. Furthermore, the backward escape does nothing to prevent the rise of totalitarianism as it promotes docility, passivity, and apathy, all traits that make people more manipulable and controllable, or Dr. Joost Meerloo wrote in his book on totalitarianism:The cult of passivity and so-called relaxation is one of [the] most dangerous developments of our times. Essentially, it represents a camouflage pattern, the double wish not to see the dangers and challenges of life and not to be seen… Silent, lonely relaxation with alcohol, sweets, [or] the television screen… may soothe the mind into a passivity that may gradually make it vulnerable to the seductive ideology of some feared enemy. Denying the danger of totalitarianism through passivity, may gradually surrender to its blandishments those who were initially afraid of it. — Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind–How to Escape from a Sick Society, Academy Of Ideas
25 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
This is going to be another uneventful day. I hope it will be anyway.
I sent an email to my next RV Park camp yesterday confirming my arrival and found out that the reservation that I had made was not made. The woman that I spoke to at that time is no longer there. Her replacement was VERY responsive to my email however and I anticipate that when I show up there will be a space for me.
I have added the underline and the footnote leads to what Caitlin says in her posting.
The re-alignment of the balance of power presupposes a redistribution of shares in favor of rising and developing countries that until now felt left out. To put it bluntly, the Western domination of international affairs, which began several centuries ago and, for a short period, was almost absolute in the late 20th century, is giving way to a much more diverse system.…
That opened the way to another oblique characterization of hybrid warfare as the new modus operandi:
Previously, a war lost by one side meant victory for the other side, which took responsibility for what was happening. The defeat of the United States in the Vietnam War, for example, did not make Vietnam a “black hole.” On the contrary, a successfully developing state arose there, which, admittedly, relied on the support of a strong ally. Things are different now: No matter who takes the upper hand, the war does not stop, but just changes form*. As a rule, the hypothetical winner is reluctant or unable to ensure peaceful post-war recovery, and only worsens the chaos and the vacuum posing a danger to the world.–The world according to Vladimir Putin President Putin quotes by Pepe Escobar
*As we discussed after Biden took office, this is the modern model of US warfare; a de-emphasis on Bush-era Hulk Smash ground invasions in favor of drone warfare, missile strikes, starvation sanctions, proxy wars, staged coups, special ops, and cold war maneuverings. Constant footage of flag-draped coffins coming home during Bush’s wars caused a PR nightmare for the empire from which it still hasn’t fully recovered, but technological and strategic advancements has made such bad publicity largely a thing of the past. Troops deployed overseas are now far more likely to die by their own hand than by combat.–Cool “Afghanistan Withdrawal”, Bro, Caitlin Johnstone
Does this sound like what someone would say in totalitarian China? Maybe totalitarian Cuba or Iran or Russia?
“There is a plan, should these people not want to be vaccinated, towards education and counseling to get people the information they need so that they are feeling comfortable in getting vaccinated.” — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky
I’m betting that they find that Brian Laundrie’s cause of death was Coronavirus®. I would also bet that he was unvaxxed and if he had been vaxxed Gabby Petito would be alive today. Lest you forget — It is Trump’s fault.
“No manner or cause of death was determined, and the remains were sent to an anthropologist for further evaluation,” the Laundrie’s family lawyer, Steven Bertolino, explained to the Post on Friday.
26 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I have had something that irritated me for a long time when web surfing. I am reading a long article that I want to stop reading and bookmark but when I open it again I want it to open where I left off. I never could do that until yesterday; I finally discovered how.
It can be done using the Text Fragments feature which is supported in version 80 and beyond of Chromium-based browsers. Go to Boldly link where no one has linked before: Text Fragments for an article about it.
As an example let’s assume that you want to bookmark this posting and want it to open where Party(XXXX) Congress appears on the web page. When you set the web page bookmark you would usually see http://edwardfrey.com/index.html. To get it to open where you want it change that address by adding #:~:text=XXXX at the end of http:/edwardfrey.com/index.html before saving the Bookmark.
That is my web browsing Tip Of The Day. Some of the simplest things make me very happy.
Fox and Empire is the final volume in the Elabon Series. It was originally published by Baen in 1998. The title is a reference to Isaac Asimov’s novel Foundation and Empire.
Fox and Empire is set twenty years after the events of Werenight. When the novel opens, Gerin the Fox, king of a large part of the northlands, is preparing for war against his neighbor, Aragis the Archer. Upon reaching the frontier, however, Gerin and Aragis find themselves allied in a conflict against a resurgent Elabonian Empire.
The situation is complicated by the appearance of Ferdulf, a demigod fathered by the Sithonian wine-god Mavrix on a peasant girl. Ferdulf is only four years old, but much more knowledgeable and powerful than a child and well aware of his divinity. — Book promo @ turtledove.fandom.com/wiki/Fox_and_Empire
What does the forward escape entail? To answer this question we need to dispel with the notion that totalitarianism can be defeated through compliance. Many people cede to the commands of would-be totalitarians because they believe that so doing is the quickest means to return to some semblance of normality. But this is a cowardly and ignorant way to act. For compliance only emboldens totalitarian regimes, a point emphasized by the political philosopher Hannah Arendt:…the most characteristic aspect of totalitarian terror [is that] it is let loose when all organized opposition has died down and the totalitarian ruler knows that he no longer need be afraid… Stalin started his gigantic purges not in 1928 when he conceded, “We have internal enemies,” …but in 1934 when all former opponents had “confessed their errors,” and Stalin himself, at the Seventeenth Party Congress …declared “…there is nothing more to prove and, it seems, no one to fight.” — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of TotalitarianismCompliance is the food that feeds totalitarians. Compliance is not, and never will be, the path back to some form of normality. Rather non-compliance and civil disobedience are essential to counter the rise of totalitarian rule. But in addition to resistance, a forward escape into a reality absent the sickness of totalitarian rule requires the construction of a parallel society.–How to Escape from a Sick Society, Academy Of Ideas
27 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I started my month end routine yesterday by getting the next month’s Will Rogers weekly articles prepared. Maybe get to doing some of the household chores later today when it warms up a little.
The low this morning was 36.1° or some 6 degrees lower than forecast. I was expecting that so I wore a padded jacket that was given to me by my east side neighbor last April. That plus my wool cap and gloves made for a comfortable walk although the legs were a little cold.
The only thing that I have going on this morning are some oat groats cooking in the Thermal Cooker. I ended up using an unequal amount of hulled barley so it is oat groats only for the next few breakfasts.
The people that say “follow the science” have become seduced. It is not science that they are following but the technology that has been derived from pure science. The vaxx is nothing more than synthetic biology which is a new technology that the science does not yet know what all the ramifications might be.
In his book Technopoly, media theorist and cultural critic Neil Postman writes of the deification of technology, meaning that the culture seeks its authority, finds its satisfactions, and takes its orders from technology. Technology seduces us. Furthermore, once seduced, we become addicted. The analogy with the more traditional context of seduction is a good one, as many of the same processes and incentives seem to be at work, with connotations of persuading someone to do something unwise or overcoming someone’s better judgment. The physicist Robert Oppenheimer, in his hearings before the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, described his seduction thus: “When you see something that is ‘technically sweet,’ you go ahead and do it and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success”. — Future War by Robert H. Latiff
A meme that makes you think.
When asked what surprised him about humanity the most, the Dalai Lama replied:
“Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
28 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I fired up the Wave 6 yesterday morning for the first time this winter season. When I checked to see when I did that last year I found that I did it on exactly the same calendar date — 27th of October in both years. Am I a creature of habit or am I not?
I didn’t get to any of the household chores yesterday. Have started on them this morning after breakfast and maybe get them all done today.
I was distracted by trying to fix the problem with my Fire 10 not opening the cPanel at my host server. Contacted their support and got none.
Received another email this morning from the third support tech that is “sorry to see that you are having trouble with accessing your cPanel”. They are all sorry but can not do anything about it. It is an Amazon problem. The techs at Amazon are also sorry and say it is a host server problem. The cPanel techs will not even say they are sorry; they just say to contact my host server.
This book was published in 2017 and nothing has changed. It does not appear that our defeat in Syria and Afghanistan has had any effect on the thinking of the elite, the press or the general public in this country. “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”
With ongoing work in computers, artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomous vehicles, we are attempting to make machines—inanimate objects—approximate the behavior of humans. At the same time, with work in soldier enhancements, be they physical, neural, pharmaceutical, or performance-based, we are attempting to make humans behave more like machines. In both cases, we are blurring the concept of what it means to be human.…
Even with experience as our teacher, many continue to think that our technical military prowess makes us invincible. Far too many technology zealots believe that all problems can be solved by science, and military zealots believe that our amazing new weapons will allow us to win any war with few casualties. Many of the more strident supporters of the frequent use of military force insist that technology will give the United States an unquestioned superiority over all potential enemies. Such hubris, feelings of exceptionalism, and militarism all too often replace good judgment.…
I believe this hubris has also become part of the fabric of our society and leads to an outsized perspective of both the power and the appropriate uses of the military. When we have an unrealistic view of technology, we get uninformed decision making, with politicians too quick to pull the trigger. — Future War by Robert H. Latiff
29 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: October 29, 1933
The problem with Fire 10 opening the cPanel at my host has been solved — sort of. Finally, there was a support tech at my host that came up with an idea that proved to be correct. He said that the cpanel was opening but I might need to “pinch-zoom” to make it appear. Sure enough that was true and it worked.
When I have been trying to open the page in the past I saw only a blank screen. If I do a Ctrl + the – key five times the cPanel page appears as a very narrow page on the far left of the screen. A pinch-zoom will then expand it so I can use the icon links on the page. Even better when the page ‘opens’ I can right swipe the screen and bring the page into view where I can then use it.
Why the Fire 10 is doing this I have no idea but the problem work around is “good enough” as the Bulgarians were wont to say.
It was a little warmer this morning and I was almost overdressed. That probably will not be the situation during the next 10 days with lows forecast to be in the upper 40s and highs in the 70s. I believe that winter is now upon me. My next camp will have almost the same highs and lows so the move is not going to make much difference in the weather.
Almost all the household chores are completed. I’ll get Desperado’s cab cleaned up and the windows washed later this morning when it warms up. Shopping tomorrow then a rest day before moving day.
An urgent, prescient, and expert look at how future technology will change virtually every aspect of war as we know it and how we can respond to the serious national security challenges ahead.
Future war is almost here: battles fought in cyberspace; biologically enhanced soldiers; autonomous systems that can process information and strike violently before a human being can blink.
The evolving, complex world of conflict and technology demands that we pay more attention to the issues that will confront us, before it is too late to control them. Decrying what he describes as a “broken” relationship between the military and the public it serves, Latiff issues a bold wake-up call to military planners and weapons technologists, decision makers, and the nation as a whole as we prepare for a very different future. — Book promo @ goodreads.com
30 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I wasted(?) a lot of time yesterday afternoon making Metager my default browser on the Raspberry. If it works out I’ll try adding it to my Fire 8 and maybe the Fire 10. I have been running DuckDuckGo which is not better than Google for a Search other than their claim that they protect your privacy.
What I found available at Metager is the ability to Blacklist. What this means for me is when I do a search for some product I won’t get a list of suggested web pages that are all at Amazon. I am able to exclude all of them! If I want to include Amazon then it is very easy for me to change Search Engines or simply go to Amazon and Search the website for what I want. So far I like it; like it a lot.
There is a Chrome Extension that will let you do the same thing. Or, you can type 'search word’–:amazon.com every time you do a Search. This Metager Search Engine seems like an easier way for me. That is your browser Tip Of The Day.
This morning I did my last shopping trip to Sierra Vista during this stay. Stopped at Sunny D’s along the way. I was able to get most everything that was on my list except non dairy yogurt. I was sort of expecting this since last time I got the last two containers; today there were none. I have tapioca in the Thermal Cooker now as the replacement.
Clarissa grew up in a totalitarian ruled country, she knows whereof she speaks.
The regime is at its mildest stage at the beginning. Everybody is going to get their punishment sooner or later but the longer you stay in the role of a good, obedient boy or girl, the more virulent the regime will be with you. Every act of compliance makes things worse for you. Punishments will get harsher.
People think that they are buying themselves some leniency with compliance. But the reality is the opposite.–First Stage of the Purge, Clarissa
I haven’t quoted from There’s a Hole in the Minds of Democrats by Tom Luongo, just giving you a link and suggest that the posting be read. It is a good one.
31 October 2021
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
There will be another holding tank dump and water added a little later this morning after it warms up. It was not too cold this morning, at 47.8°, and I was slightly overdressed. If the forecast comes to pass there are 10 more mornings that will be just like the one this morning. I’m not betting on it and expect some of them to be colder.
I have a short travel day tomorrow but will follow my usual routine and get to the new camp early. Sort of like a shopping day.
That is about all there is. I’ll be filling the rest of my day with the usual reading and routine walks.
A macabre pun but I like them all.
cop: Do you mind identifying the body (puts hand on my shoulder). I have to warn you the body was hacked up.
me: (tearing up) Yes, that’s my brother Reese.
cop: You’re sure?
me: (nodding) Those are Reese’s Pieces.