Sorcery

I walked into work not so bright, but very very early this morning, and right away I noticed something odd.  Very odd.  The air felt different.  It felt....cold.  

Sure enough, when I got to my work area, the little thermometer I keep on my stand said 71°.  

I quickly checked the calendar on my phone to make sure I hadn't walked through a time warp and ended up in January, but no.  It was still August.  What is this sorcery?

Seriously, I thought it was some sort of fluke, but no, the temperature never got above 83° for the entire day.  I'm telling you, work goes so much better when you're not absolutely miserable.  I just wish the upper management realized that as well.  

OK, moving right along, since Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, that is pretty much what I did yesterday.  I watched a few of my DVRed Shark Week shows while knitting on a hat, 

and behold, the finished object.  

I caked up the rest of the yarn and I think I have enough for another hat.  

I realized after the fact that I didn't include anything to give you a sense of scale, since I don't have any bananas around at the moment.  

The only other things I did yesterday was to scoop up some more of that dirt and fill in a little bit of this tire track -- you know the ones that are 4" deep in my front yard. 

And I planted a little more grass seed in a new spot. 

 I hope this stuff grows.  The package says to water it twice a day, but that isn't going to happen.  I already get up at 2:30 AM, I'm not getting up any earlier than that just to water some grass.  

And finally, Facebook is at its suckyness again.  This afternoon, I got a notification that two of my photos had been removed for -- get this -- child sexual exploitation.  

Yeah, I'm dumfounded, too.  They won't show me the photos they removed, and I can't even imagine anything I may have posted that is even remotely close to that, so I appealed.  They did not restore my photo, so I have no idea how I may have violated community standards.

This is why Facebook is a dying site.   The young people aren't getting on it, and the older folks aren't getting on as much because it just isn't fun any more the way it used to be.  

If it weren't for the storm chasers and meteorologists I follow, I'd probably leave the site altogether. 

But I'll still post links to my blog.  The ones Facebook doesn't remove as spam, at least. 

Substack

My apologies for the lack of a post yesterday.  I'd woken up at 3:00 AM and couldn't for the life of me get back to sleep -- and it had nothing at all to do with a certain cat yowling outside my bedroom door.  In my sleep deprived state, I just didn't feel like posting, even though I had something I wanted to talk about.  I slept much better last night and woke up to the blessed sound of rain!  Yes, rain!   You know, I think I may have had rain as a previous Thanksvember thing, but we need it so badly, I'm making it my Thanksvember Fourteenth:  rain!  

We didn't get much, but every little bit helps, especially now, when 100% of the state is under severe, extreme, or exceptional drought conditions.  

Even the majority of my little county has moved into the exceptional drought state.  So, yes, every drop of rain is desperately needed at this point. 

Before I left for work, I put my little chrysanthemums out into the yard so they could get a good drink of natural water, and when I got home, each one had a bud starting to open!  The weird part is, I'd bought two yellow mums, but these new buds appear to be red.  We'll see once they're fully open.  

In the mean time, here is a photo of hat progress.  

Now I'll tell you what I was going to talk about yesterday, and it just so happens, today is a better day for it anyway.  Why?  I'm not going to tell you.  How about let's play a guessing game.  Does anyone know what today is?  Anyone?  

OK, I'll tell you.  It's my blogiversary! That's right.  On this day way back in 2005, your humble blogger first sat at the keyboard and typed her first blog post.  It's kind of hard to believe it's been 18 years I've been doing this.  

Thanksvember Fifteenth is all of you who've stuck with me through thick and thin.  

You know, I wish blogging would make a comeback.  There was so much more depth to a blog post, and a much better sense of connection in the blogging community.  At least, I felt there was.  

By the way, I created myself a Substack account, but I'm still figuring out how to use it.  I only started it because on of my friends is moving her blog over there, and I wanted to keep up with it.  She'd been with WordPress and said it's "improved beyond usability".  Her words, but I feel the same way about Blogger.  It was so much more user friendly back in the day.  If I didn't have 18 years worth of posts here, I'd move to a different platform myself. 

I'll try to figure out how to do it, but if you follow me over there -- on Substack, I mean -- you're supposed to be able to get links to what I post in your email.  I think.  I'm not completely sure.  I do recommend you do it though, because I know most of you won't come here to read my posts if the links don't show up in your Facebook feed.  I feel that due to Facebook's algorithms, some of you are missing out on posts.  

Facebook is a dying platform anyway, partly because the young people don't get on it.  Facebook is for old folks, they say.  Even more so, because the old folks who are still there are getting more and more frustrated with the site.  

Ten years ago, Facebook was the happenin' place to be.  We would meet in the evenings and chat about what TV shows we were watching, how our day went, and yes...what we were having for dinner.  That's what social media was meant to be, after all.  Social.  

Somewhere along the way, someone decided it needed to be a political debate forum, and those who wanted the front porch atmosphere to continue were mocked and derided.  We were told we weren't serious about what's going on around us, and "by all means, show us your dinner while the world burns."  Completely forgetting as they did so that in real life, we do talk about our dinners.  That's been the topic of conversation all week at work.   Are you cooking for Thanksgiving?  What are you fixing for dinner?  

And we talk about what TV shows we watch, and what's going on in our lives, and what our kids and grandkids did in school-- kind of like we used to do on Facebook.  Used to do... 

Add in the algorithms and the seemingly arbitrary ban hammer, and you get a site that just isn't fun any more.    Ohhh, the ban hammer...It's gotten so bad they don't even tell you what you did any more.  Take yesterday morning for example.  I was in the reading room tending to business, scrolling through Facebook as I did so.  I wasn't even posting, just scrolling.  

While scrolling, I saw that one of my friends had changed his cover photo, so I liked the post.  Almost immediately, the ban hammer dropped. 

No explanation.   No chance to appeal.  Nothing.  All I had done that entire morning was like my friend's new photo, and post my Wordle score.  What was so wrong with that?  How did his photo violate community standards?  It was just a lovely little Fall scene with pumpkins and leaves...Nothing at all controversial or offensive about it.  

Always before when I have been put into Facebook Jail, at least I knew why.  I mean, I didn't agree -- the potted meat filled Twinkies meme was a joke folks, but at least they'd told me why.   And I wasn't really threatening to kill anyone with my brain; that was a line from a TV show, but at least they'd told me why.  This time, nothing.  

All that to say, Facebook isn't what it used to be.  It's too restrictive, and no fun any more.  Thus, the site is dying.  I seldom post there any more, other than links to the blog, Wordle scores, and the occasional comment about the football game or that cat of mine.   

I guess that's all I have for today.  I'm off to figure out how to use that new site I signed up for...

Laters. 

Facebook Jail

I forgot to tell you yesterday, I got put in Facebook jail last week.  Yeah, I did, and it was for a totally stupid reason.  See, my friend had knit a Jayne hat, and posted a photo of her husband modeling it. Naturally, we all started throwing out Firefly quotes in the comments.

Me, I posted this one (skip to 15 seconds in):

The bots on FB flagged it as threatening behavior, despite the fact that before they yanked the comment, it got two heart and one laughy face emojis.  I disagreed with the decision, and they claimed they reviewed it, but I doubt they did.  If you viewed it in context, anyone with half a brain could see it wasn't a threat.  Heck, the people whose status I commented on loved it.  Still, I got tossed into FB jail for 24 hours. I tried to file an appeal with the Oversight Board, but they won't even let me log in.  What good is having an Oversight Board if you can't even bring a case before them, then?  

Meanwhile, the post of Kathy Griffith holding a severed Trump head is perfectly fine.  Go figure. 

I'm getting pretty sick of FB, and have already greatly reduced my presence there.  I wish we'd go back to blogging communities, the way we had before social media took over everyone's lives. Or good, old fashioned letter writing.  I'm still up for pen-pals if anyone is interested. 

In the meantime, I strongly suggest you bookmark my blog if you enjoy reading it.  I know some of you don't even come here unless you see the link in your FB feed...but there is a good chance it might not be there sometime in the future. 

OK, moving right along...

What else is going on in my life?  I'll tell you...I was re-reading yesterday's post, and I totally realized I didn't include a single segue between topics.  It was a bit jarring to jump straight into a new topic, and I'll try to do better connecting things in the future.  

That being said, let's jump straight into a new topic without a segue...

There I was at work, just a working away, when I had to answer nature's call.  The bathroom closest to my work area was closed for cleaning, so I went up to the one by the front breakroom.  Now, those of you with Sheldon Cooper-like memories may recall that a few years ago, someone sat in one of the sinks and broke it.   When I came out of the stall yesterday, I noticed they'd finally fixed it.  By TAPING the pedestal back together.   Don't believe me?  I have proof:

See it?  That's tape.  Someone repaired the porcelain sink with tape.  Eh, at least they tried to fix it.  That's better than they usually do. 

Speaking of doing better, the deacons of my mother's church sent me a letter of condolence, signed by all of them. 

That's more than I got from the church I'm supposedly a member of.  Didn't get a card, or a flower, or a single casserole -- or even my name on the Wednesday night prayer list.  Seriously, if people don't believe the church cares, why would they bother to attend?  

On the other hand, one silver lining of this pandemic is that a lot of churches have ended that horrible greet one another time.  Let's just hope it's a permanent change. 

As for the pandemic, it's hitting Mississippi pretty hard right now.  We have more people hospitalized now than we did at this time last year.  The Health Dept does a good job of getting the numbers out there, and Dr. Dobbs does a video periodically explaining what's going on.  

The politicization of the pandemic may be over, but the pandemic itself is still out there.  The good thing about the Delta variant -- if there can be such a thing -- is that while it's more transmissible, it appears to be less deadly than the original.  This thing may eventually do what SARS and MERS did, and mutate itself out of existence.  Let's hope so.  

And finally, it looks like the Atlantic is starting to wake up again,  

which means Sahara Dust season is almost over!  Woo hoo!  I'll be able to breathe again soon!  I mean, other than my normal allergy breathing troubles, that is.  

One of the meteorologists I follow said it looks like someone spilled Cheetos in the Atlantic.  It's way too early to tell, but it looks like both of them might be headed towards the Gulf.  

I might finally get to light that Jim Cantore candle I bought...

Do You Ever Wish

you could crawl through the computer lines and slap the holy Hades out of someone who desperately needs it?

Yeah..

So, I saw where Brett Favre supposedly is going to retire again. I have a lot of friends who like football, and some of them had already commented on it in their Facebook statuses. Wanting to strike up a conversation with my football loving friends, I posted the following:

So Brett Farve is retiring--again. Wonder how long that will last?

The very first comment was somebody sneering, "Who cares?" Well, obviously I care, you dolt, or I wouldn't have posted about it. It really ticked me off, but I didn't say anything about it. Maybe I should have commented, but I didn't.

Several of my football friends joined the conversation, and we were chatting merrily away--through the comments--when someone else posts:

----and we care because?---

Well, that was just too much.  I responded, "We care because we care.  Just because YOU aren't interested in something doesn't mean the rest of us can't be."  I mean, sheesh.  If you don't care about the topic we are discussing, then stay out of the flippin conversation!!!!!  Just leave us to our chatting and mind your own business!  What?  Do you really think that the whole world should totally eliminate everything you are not interested in?  She did the same type of thing a few months ago when we were all talking about the Lost season finale.  She lost --he he, get it?  Lost? --no opportunity to remind us that she had never watched the show and wasn't the least bit interested in the finale.  So what?  If you aren't interested then stop butting into our conversations!  I finally, after reading the 298th comment about her not being interested in the show, pointed out to her that a lot of us were interested and were looking forward to watching the show.  If she weren't interested, no one was forcing her to join into these conversations.  Some people just don't seem to understand that it's OK for people to be interested in different things.

I liken Facebook to a city park type of environment.  When you go there, there will be all sorts of people having all sorts of conversations.  Some people on this bench may be discussing politics, others may be in a corner playing games, and still others will be talking about sports.  You will hear these conversations while walking through the park, but that doesn't mean you have to jump into all of them.  Especially if it's a conversation that you aren't that interested in.  Just keep walking and let those people carry on with their chatting.  And you certainly don't have the right to *** into the middle of someone's conversation and demand that they cease and desist just because their topic doesn't interest you.  Just move along...move along. Mind your own business and move along.

I suppose you can tell I'm a little steamed. 

Just for the record, Cowboy fans should care about this.  Or have you forgotten that they play the Vikings in October, in Minnesota.  That game will be a whole lot tougher with Brett Favre at the helm than with Tavaris Jackson leading the team.  Plus, it was BRETT FAVRE who scored that last second touchdown even though they had a 20 something point lead, childishly rubbing the Cowboys noses in it.  I'm sure there are a few Cowboy defenders *cough* Keith Brooking *Cough* who just can't wait to get up there and plant his face in the turf a few times for that. I'm looking forward to that game, too, but I'd rather see Jackson as QB than Favre.

Either way, I'm not going to base what I post in my status upon whether this person or that person will approve of it.  I will post what I post, and if you don't like it, just move along...move along.

Mind your own business and move along.

Just A Few Thoughts

1.  Facebook has no plans to start charging for its services at this time.  They make enough from advertising that they do not need to.  Therefore, there is no need to fly into a panic and join groups to stop them from charging $3.99, $4.99, $14.99, or 15 British pounds per month.  Even if Facebook did plan on charging monthly fees, joining a group would have no effect whatsoever.  In fact, most of these groups contain malware and should be avoided at all costs.

2.  The status about Patrick Swayze, Michael Jackson, and President Obama being your favorites is a JOKE--albeit a tacky and tasteless one--and should hardly be interpreted as a serious petition for God to strike the man dead.  There isn't really a group of people who meet regularly to pray for Obama's death.  God knows the difference between a prayer and a snark.  Get a grip, people.

3.  Failure to uncheck the "allow" box in your privacy settings will NOT release your birth certificate, social security number, bank account numbers, medical records, or your secret FBI files to the general public.  All this box does is to allow other sites that you visit to read the information you have already and voluntarily made PUBLIC on Facebook so that they can select ads based in your interests.  And if you set your Facebook profile to private, there is really very little information they can glean as it is.  If you are that secretive, perhaps you shouldn't be on a PUBLIC site like Facebook at all. 

There, I feel much better now.