?!?

Happiness is having a cat walk right up to you, hopping on the counter to headbutt you hello, and then going to the floor to snuggle at your feet to sleep, purring.

oops… I added 2 tablespoons of sugar instead of one. (2 tablespoons was if it was liquid)

I hope it doesn’t wreck the bread… change the texture too much. We’ll see!

welcome to the ghetto

I’m trying to decide if posting online test results are more annoying than seeing folks complain about online test results. both are generally non-content entries that causes my brain to flick off and skip the rest of the entry…. but I like to do them, m’self.

Another uprising is complaints about privacy in journals. this has been going on for years now (this first time for me being when a person I knew at the time outed another member of our gaming group… the silly thing is, I introduced her to livejournal)… if you don’t want folks to read what you have to say, the only way around it is not to write it. the internet is indexed fairly well, and with sites like http://web.archive.org , even deleting what you said later isn’t always an option.

This is the information age, folks. if you have a secret and publish it where other people can see it, be it online or the local laundry bulletin board… it stops being a secret. If you’re writing in public, there’s odds that someone will brush over it, sooner or later. Friend’s only and private posts are available. double-check that entry about enjoying broken glass in your rectum for privacy, if you don’t want your dad or younger sister discovering it.

As far as “well, how will I get readers / find good journals if all the spicy stuff is friend’s only” is concerned… I think that the best writers I’ve found have been through other friends or well-written observations left in public… Random is less than worthless, unless you want to find a 16 year old girl that’s having trouble in math class, with her boyfriend or is into cutting. The interests list is better, and one day, when the LJ-fairies decide to sprinkle pixie dust on the servers… we’ll have a decent location index among the other good features.

I write for myself, and filter a bit. some things, everyone can see, some are only things that lj-readers can get to, others are sweetheart only posts, and some are “my eyes only”.

In other Scotto news-

marine park is the worst online sales place I’ve ever dealt with… I ordered something online and they refused to ship it to my address (different than the billing address)… so I told them fine, cancel my order, and found my digital camera elsewhere. I get a statement back today, and they charged me for the camera! Never shipped, mind you. I called them this morning at 11am and was assured that I would be called back with a confirmation number. No reply until now. [5 hours later] I call back, and they have no record of any money being refunded. I ask again for a refund, and will wait until tomorrow morning to call them again. I got the name of the place via c-net and will be submitting a negative review of the store there shortly. The telephone folks were generally rude and uncooperative. Intolerable hold times, as well.

In other, other Scotto News… 3 hours until my peanut butter bread is ready. yum! I love bread machines! some fresh strawberry preserves on there will be my dinner.

“And the war on terrorism…”
What about the jobs, George?
“… and military spending…”
What about the jobs, George?
“… and we’re all good patriots…”
But what about the jobs?
*thunderous applause*

Color me unimpressed. It isn’t that I don’t support military spending, because I do. But the words I want to focus on are fiscal responsibility. We have states running deficits, high unemployment, giant corporate bankruptcies, the federal government in the red and… we’re going to start some kind of new US-wide volunteer organization? Wha? And we’re going to fund everyone’s pet project so we all get this warm and fuzzy feeling?

If we want to support some kind of large scale war, people have to be prepared to sacrifice more in their programs, not get more. Wars are not cheap. Wars are not just expenditures. Wars cost money, taxpayer money, my money. I support wars, but they must come at a cost, and we must be prepared to pay that cost. No amount of warm fuzzies is going to change the fiscal reality that the federal government is not terribly different than balancing a checkbook.

Bush is off in the thickets again. The entire State of the Union came off more like some kind of patriotic jingoism colored with a little bit of pre-campaign talk then as a serious speech on, well, the state of the Union. It wasn’t just a bad speech, it was embarassing — all applause and no substance. And when there was substance, it was bad substance. The war is all good and fine, but by summer the unemployment rate is supposed to hit 6.5%. No one is going to care much about killing bad guys when they can’t pay their rent. No one is going to be flying, not because they’re afraid, but because they simply cannot afford the tickets. That’s it.

I was not terribly pleased at the apparently erosion of state’s rights and the glad-handing of removing personal rights all in the name of “terror.” Nor was I thrilled with some of the vague handwaving at fixing Enron. “We’ll, uh, pass, uh, something so that, uh, there is more, uh, oversight over, uh, 401Ks. Oh yeah, did I mention investing your Social Security in the stock market?” Heaven save us from politicians and pretend statesmen.