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One of those things that you don’t think about unless…

So I fired up Word. Yeah, after Microsoft being asses in the summer and my cancellation of the subscription. I waited a week or two then created another subscription that was for me only.

I don’t know why the idiots at Microsoft make it so difficult to change your subscription from Family, to Individual.

Nonetheless, I was able to signup using a different email address. If you try to use the email that you cancelled, Microsoft will only allow you to buy the PREVIOUS SUBSCRIPTION.

You know, the one you were trying to alter… 

Talking to Microsoft gets you to someone in India who is completely unhelpful and honestly… a bit obnoxious.

Anyhow, I fired up Word to type a letter. It wasn’t anything special but I don’t like the default font that came up in the blank document. Not really thinking about it, I pulled the font list down and was immediately presented with hundreds of fonts. 

A large number of those fonts were from languages that I don’t speak. I was sitting here thinking I don’t need Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, or Tagalog. I figured I’d leave one representative example of these languages in the event that some email or webpage I stumbled upon used them. But I saw no need to have 10 variations of each installed on my system.

That’s when I found that I could delete pretty much anything I wanted to delete, except Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, or Tagalog. I thought at first that I could delete any European character set, but couldn’t delete anything else. I’ve found that I can’t delete a few European character sets. The restriction doesn’t seem anywhere as broad as it is for non-European sets.

I found the font I was looking for and typed my letter.

As I was typing I began to wonder and remember there was a time when you’d have English (because you purchased your computer in the US. If you wanted additional languages you purchased the corresponding character sets and installed them.

My early personal systems had only European characters. Because I worked in the printing and font industry, I’d added Greek, Cyrillic, and Hebrew. 

I don’t think I ever had more than 20 or 30 fonts on my system. Now there are 387 fonts! Fully 1/3 of those fonts are fonts to languages I don’t read and rarely see.

Fonts themselves aren’t all that large, but having all these fonts makes my Font Dropdown in Word and other applications a pain in the ass to utilize.

You’d think deletion or deactivation would be an option. Apparently I’m terribly misinformed.

Do I really need Urdu?

I have been able to deactivate a large number of the foreign fonts. Don’t get me wrong, some of the Kanji fonts and Arabic fonts are beautiful to look at, but without the ability to read or write in those languages the fonts are simply in the way.

I suppose I’m a minimalist when it comes to computers, and phones. I tend to only have stuff on my technology that is used frequently. I like being able to see exactly what I”m looking for and not have to weed through a ton of distracting crap.

(See, “some of the Kanji fonts are beautiful…”) that’s how you know I got lost just trying to find a favorite Adobe font, to type my letter.

Being someone who may well be a legitimate ADHD person, I actively try to minimize distractions. If I don’t, I never get anything done. I’ll get started on a project, but if there are too many distractions I’m going to wander off into the weeds and never get back to the project I was working on. 

This is especially true if I’m stirred up emotionally about something.

This has made me wonder if our headlong rush into preserving or mandating diversity. As in the case of the fonts on my computer doesn’t inadvertently do a couple of things. 

1) We forget that those among the population who are legitimately ADHD aren’t being served at all by putting distractions in their way. ADHD folks like diversity and bright shiny objects, but too much stimulation causes us to be completely unproductive because we like chasing things down rabbit holes… Until we’re bored, or something else catches our attention. 

2) Aren’t we diminishing everyone’s freedom of choice when we force diversity upon them. I’m not talking about people here. You’ll always run across different people. But when even our technology, A.K.A. our tools have an enforced DEI can you really say that we own the tools? If something is mine, then I should be allowed to customize and configure that tool exactly the way I want it. I shouldn’t have to wade through things I don’t want just to get to the things I do. In this case 55 fonts that serve no purpose and that I’ll never use to find the one font that I purchased and installed because I prefer it.

By attempting to include everyone, we have excluded whole groups of folks “On the Spectrum” because we’re throwing bright shiny objects, metaphorically, in their path.

Perhaps we should get back to allowing someone to select what they want or need when they’re installing an operating system.

I wouldn’t mind spending 10 minutes answering configuration questions about my computer when I’m upgrading or installing an operating system.

What language(s) do you speak?

Do you want to install only character sets compatible with those languages?

Do you want to install Emojis, and special graphical character sets such as Dingbats?

Are there any other languages or character sets you’d like to install such as Math symbols, or Map symbols?

You can add additional fonts or languages from the control panel later is you desire.

Letter typed, I spent some time trying to figure out if I was missing something in turning fonts on or off. That led me to wondering what other fonts I could buy, which led me to wandering through font catalogs and coming to the conclusion that I didn’t really want to spend money on fonts right now. 

Which led me to updating my Desktop publishing  and Graphics software. Then I wandered digitally into a couple of rabbit holes before I remembered that I needed to print an envelope to go with the letter I’d finished a couple of hours ago. That required updating the laser printer driver, and so on…

Which is how I lose many hours just trying to do the simplest of things. And now it’s time for lunch.

How’s your day progressing?

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Whoopedy Fucking Doo! Yeah, this only means the Firewall is between Joe and Hunter is complete.

In the more bread and circuses column. There’s this headline.

Hunter Biden Indicted on Nine Tax-Related Charges, Three Felonies

We all know this is a big assed nothing burger. We all know Hunter isn’t going to jail, and that unlike the rest of us someone will be able to write a check for him. He’ll be snorting coke and dancing at the nearest Hollywood donor party the same day he pleads guilty and promises on a stack of bibles it will never happen again…

The Democrats will use this to say, “See we don’t have two tiered justice, and Republicans going after poor Hunter was nothing more than a witch hunt. Trump meanwhile will be found guilty of conducting normal real estate business practices in New York, that harmed nobody.”

The Democrat operatives at CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, & ABC will completely obfuscate the evidence from the IRS, and every other source. In the end they’ll paint it as a mean trick the Evil Republican Party used to try to get at Joe Biden.

The bitches on The View will probably screech, “Hunter is a victim, all those hookers and blow were forced on him and his laptops were given to him, then later stolen, so embarrassing videos would come to light. It’s a Russian or Republican plot!”

As to the Felonies… Hunter has already admitted to one of them and yet… NO Punishment. I doubt he’ll have any consequences from the remaining felonies. 

All this means is that the people handling Joe are confident that they’ll be able to shield Joe from the fallout for the remainder of his Presidency. It also means that Joe may not be the nominee. I suspect both are to some extent true.

I expect Joe to “Decide” to step aside. By serving up Hunter, he has a plausible excuse to “Decide to spend more time with his family.” He can back out of the campaign without losing face and still be the “dedicated family man,” a character deserving of compassion and privacy.

That last one is the biggy. They’ll finally admit that Joe’s not all there. Then the powers that be will call for compassion and kindness in this difficult time. They’ll say, “clearly he’s in no shape to stand trial.” If necessary, the Biden family will burn Hunter to the ground as the “Ringleader” for any wrongdoing and the rest of the Biden Clan will walk away with the cash. Hunter’s past indiscretions will be spun to make a believable illusion that coked out of his mind, “The Smartest guy Joe every knew,” was making business deals while measuring coke and having his knob polished.

Any questions, or charges leveled at the Biden’s by Republicans or law enforcement will be spun as pointless and cruel. So, all the corruption will just be swept under the carpet.

All of this is predicated on us not having World War III.

If we do end up in WWIII. Then it will all be moot. Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past the Biden’s to get us into a major conflict to cover their criminal activities. If the US is gearing up for War, we’re not going to care about the Biden’s. We’re going to want a strong leader that other nations respect and who is just crazy enough to make other nations wonder, “How crazy is this President? Would he Nuke us for the hell of it?”

Through it all, I do feel a little sorry for Hunter. I honestly don’t think he had a chance. He is exactly what his father and family made him and when they’re done with him, (which may be real soon,) they’ll throw him to the wolves and never look back. Let’s face it everything we’ve seen with the Biden’s could have been scripted by Machiavelli. I’m not sure the Biden’s get to the standard of the Borgias.

Enjoy your bread and the circus. I pray we don’t see Joe Biden naked on the balcony of The White House playing a fiddle.

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Just about when I think California isn’t that bad…

California slaps me in the face.

I guess that’s better than my Brother punching me out and waking up in a deprogramming camp somewhere in a flyover state. Don’t laugh, I wouldn’t put it past him.

My brother is absolutely convinced that California is the worst state in the union. This is coming from a guy who has lived in New York, Washington D.C., and Minneapolis, MN. I think he looks at California as a contaminant to the rest of the United States.

I’ve lived here so long a lot of the insanity here seems “normal”. When I’m out of California for a while I find myself thinking how strange this place is.

Then there are days like Wednesday…

I had my car in for service. I had a loaner and as usual I returned the loaner with a full tank of gas (even though they gave it to me with less than 1/4 of a tank) Hey, They Loaned me a brand new car. I treat it like when a friend loans you their car. Custom was, that you return your friends car clean, and full of gas.

All was well. The issue with my car could not be reproduced so It’s a waiting game until the failure becomes a bit more obvious if it’s really a problem at all. It’s one of those things that is a weird sound. But it might be nothing at all.

Nonetheless I got two new tires and an alignment. The two old tires were showing their belts in a couple of spots. It was time! Especially since we’re coming up on winter and wet roads.

I went out to my car and opened the door.

WTF?!?!?!

Someone had been using my iPhone cables that were stored in the center console. I wouldn’t have minded except that it was obvious the person had also been playing their music through the car’s sound system. This was easy to determine because the cable was connected to the USB AUX IN (inside the console), and the entertainment system said “NO USB SOURCE”

But it didn’t stop there, both seats, Passenger and Driver’s were covered in greasy dirt.

Okay…

Time to go bring this to someone’s attention.

I tell the supervisor that we have a problem, as I’m heading into the parts department to purchase a package of leather cleaner wipes. $5 no big deal and I’ll use them next time I hit the car wash.

As I’m wiping the Driver’s seat I discover two deep gouges in the leather. Not quite cuts, but deep narrow gouges. Probably caused by a tool in someone’s back pocket or a clip of some kind attached to someone’s belt.

Now I’m seriously annoyed and I march back to the supervisor’s desk to bring this to his attention.

On the plus side, if the car hadn’t been dirty when I got it back I might not have noticed the gouges.

I was nice, but I told the dealership this kind of thing is beyond unacceptable.

They agreed!

Next time, I’m pulling all the cables out of the console. Oh, and there will be a next time because they’ve told me they will repair the damage to my seats.

I needed a drink. So I called a close friend and we went to lunch.

That was nice, and I was much happier getting back on the road. I really do like my car better than the loaners.

It’s 2:30 as I pull out of the restaurant parking lot. I make it to the 261 out of Orange County by 2:40 and the toll road is pretty clear.

I should have made it home in about 90 minutes. NOPE!

2.5 hours later I’m in the line to get off at my exit. I’ve been creeping up the hill for the past 20 minutes. And as I approach the exit, assholes start cutting in from the left. Why? Simple, because they are dicks! All the rest of us had been waiting patiently. Cutting in from the left like that is just jumping the line. These assholes know they can do it because no-one wants an accident and that’s the only way you can stop an asshole from cutting the line at an exit.

Them cutting the line like that by the way just makes the problem at the exit worse because now there’s more turbulence and more danger.

After the 10th motherfucker (This one diving directly in front of me,) I lost my shit and started laying on the horn.

For those of you living outside of California, that is supposed to be the height of rudeness when driving.

But wait it gets worse…

There’s road work near the exit. They’re putting lights in, (about fucking time!) Actually we did fine without lights since 1992 when I moved up here. There was only a stop sign. It was a 4 way stop and people OBEYED the law.

Now we’re getting lights. They’ve made one lane left turn only. The other lane is right turn only or straight through. The lights at the freeway exit are operational. The left turn lane turns into a single lane and YET, people insist on making left turns from both lanes then causing accidents when they run out of lane, and into concrete barriers.

I’ve watched an 18 wheeler make the turn illegally from the right turn only lane and damn near decapitate a motorcyclist in the process.

Again…

It’s about obeying the LAW. But apparently people in California have decided that the law applies to everyone else not them.

Kind of like the Biden clan. Or a lot of the Democrats in congress.

The thing is, 200 miles outside California, driving changes. Get past the Las Vegas strip and people even in NV are halfway decent drivers. Arizona, on the I-40 people get super courteous. Phoenix and Tucson are a lot more like California was 20 years ago. Don’t worry, they’ll both get as shitty as California traffic is because the Californians are bailing to Phoenix and Tucson.

There are also a lot of illegals driving there too and the mix of these drivers and those who learned to drive in the United States tend to breed a lot of shitty traffic and / or a lot of accidents.

All of this is to say that by the time I manage to get home, these days, I’m really wound up. It’s also why I don’t really like leaving the mountain. Driving has become such a chore. Either you’re expecting someone to barrel into you from 1 (or more) of 3 directions. Or you’ll drop from 75 MPH to 0MPH for absolutely no reason.

Well, there is a reason, some moron ahead of you is tapping on their brakes in time with a RAP song and the uncertainty and randomness of the flashing tail lights is causing everyone to tap their breaks too because they think there’s something happening on the freeway.

All it takes is one idiot in the fast lane farting around and the whole freeway turns into a fucked up traffic jam.

Anyway, after I got home, I had time to take the pup for his walk. It was a short one because I don’t like walking him in the dark.

We have bears, mountain lions, bobcats, and coyotes. Generally, they’re all happy to avoid a human and his dog in the daytime. But at night, things change. These critters conclude they might have an advantage and things can go south from there.

I’d hate to be responsible for one of these beautiful creatures being put down, because I did something really stupid and looked like I was walking a tasty treat, or worse yet… That I was a tasty meal. Either event would result in one of these creatures being hunted and killed.

That would be tragic.

I need to schedule a spa day for the dog. I’ve got my haircut scheduled. I’d like a massage maybe I’ll schedule that in the upcoming week or so.

I’ll keep tossing stuff out of the house through the winter. The goal is to have the place in shape enough to put it on the market the first day of spring.

As I started this post. Just about when I think staying in California would be okay… The reality of California slaps me in the face. One of those realities is traffic getting consistently worse.

Another reality is $425 registration fees for a vehicle. And let’s face it, jobs are problematic. Both of my 2 oldest friends. Guys I met when I first moved to California, we started working at Toys R Us in our teens, have retired in the past year.

Why? Because they were being chronically fucked with by managers who couldn’t manage their way out of a wet paper bag.

I retired because no-one claiming they’re hiring will return a fucking phone call.

Note, none of us have reached “Retirement” age. We’re taking our Social Security early.

We’d all like to work…

But we’re apparently the wrong sex, wrong color, and the wrong age.

So we’ve all decided to take our football and go home.

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Dec 7

Perhaps today we should all take a break from the bullshit and remember the people who died during the bombing of Perl Harbor in 1941.

The bombing marked our entrance into World War II. Until the bombs fell, America was divided about going to fight another war.

After the bombs fell, America was pissed off enough to engage in what was essentially a two front war and 4 years later America was still pissed off enough to drop two atomic bombs on Japan.

Today, I’m putting politics aside and just remembering the people who died. 

It’s been 82 years since Pearl Harbor. Let’s pause and realize that as bad as World War II was, World War III would be exponentially worse. 

Today, it might be a good idea to pause and reflect then see what can be done, or should be done to turn us away from World War III.

Compared to the bombs the Russians and the US have today, the bombs the US dropped on Japan are firecrackers.

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Well There’s your problem!!!

Watching Harvard President Claudine Gay testifying before congress was one of the most disturbing things I’ve seen in a while.

Gay is a political scientist and should have been a politician. It’s rare that I see someone so unbelievable slimy, obviously duplicitous, and plain revolting. Listening to this vile cunt answering (with non answers) produced a visceral reaction that left me disappointed when a bolt of lightning from on high, didn’t fry her scummy ass.

Nothing pisses me off more in these hearings than hearing someone refuse to answer a yes or no question, with some long assed bullshit bunch of words.

Fuck! I’d bet if I asked this Harvard diversity hire if she was in fact black, she wouldn’t just answer the question.

Elise Stefanik wasn’t having any of this bullshit either. We all know nothing will be done though.

The other Presidents of higher educational campuses were no better.

I’m not sure that any of our Universities can be saved.

It’s absolutely obvious that these places are not about education.

Harvard, Yale, UPenn, and MIT no longer produce well rounded, educated lawyers, economists, or scientists.

Since God chose not to strike these people dead, I can only assume Hell’s admissions line is full.

I caught another clip showing the UPenn and MIT presidents responding with slimy weasel words instead of just answering directly.

God I miss plain speech!

I think speaking plainly is a lot more healthy than sliming your way around an uncomfortable subject. It’s like just grabbing ahold of a nasty splinter in your foot and yanking it out so you’re done with it, versus someone playing with the splinter because they “Don’t want to hurt you”. In the first case you get on with your day and by sundown you’ve forgotten you had a splinter. In the second case the splinter is still in your foot only now it’s starting to get infected.

Safe spaces, hate speech rules or laws, and intimidating folks into silence do not help us, or serve the greater good. There are people who will always hate each other. Better that it’s out in the open because then the hated know when and where to carry a gun.

If Harvard, Yale, UPenn, & MIT are anti-Semitic then fine. Tell all your Jewish students, refund them their current semesters fees, and housing and let them call it DONE. Then they can move on to a school that is not anti-semitic, finish getting their degrees, and get on with their lives.