Oopsie…

Seems that Starbucks pandering to the masses bit them in the ass…

A white Starbucks manager who was fired after two black men were refused access to a Philadelphia store bathroom — triggering nationwide racial protests — has been awarded $25 million by a federal jury after she argued she was axed because of her race.

Full article HERE from the NY Post.

I find it interesting that she had nothing to do with the cops being called, and was a higher level manager, and the ONLY one to suffer any ‘punishment’.

$600,000 compensatory and $25,000,000 in punitive damages is going to leave a mark.  And since this was a federal suit, Starbucks will probably lose on appeal, and drag it out as long as possible, but I’m betting this one falls off the news with a quickness!

Ramirez…

For the win!

The dictomony being pushed down our throats right now… And I would add, can’t own a gun either…

Just like with Big Pharma, follow the money, that will tell you ‘who’ is really driving this agenda, and what the real agenda is, is putting money in their pockets.

Interesting…

Truth, maybe???

Scientists in Wuhan working alongside the Chinese military were combining the world’s most deadly coronaviruses to create a new mutant virus just as the pandemic began.

Investigators who scrutinised top-secret intercepted communications and scientific research believe Chinese scientists were running a covert project of dangerous experiments, which caused a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and started the Covid-19 outbreak.

The US investigators say one of the reasons there is no published information on the work is because it was done in collaboration with researchers from the Chinese military, which was funding it and which, they say, was pursuing bioweapons.

Full article, HERE from the Times, London. And another copy HERE from the Hindustan Times.

I find it curious that NONE of this is getting any coverage by the MSM here. Strange that… Somebody driving the ‘agenda’ again?

Points to ponder…

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”

That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were  recycled.

But they didn’t have the green thing back her day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.

But she’s right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But they didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But they didn’t have the green thing back then!

Issues with Amazon…

If you’re an Indie publisher through Amazon, the price of Print on Demand (POD) is going up next week.

It behooves you to go in and check your pricing to make sure you’re not losing money, especially if you use expanded distribution that allows bookstores to get copies.

FWIW, I did the ‘automated’ update of all pricing and noted some rather ‘interesting’ things…

All of my The Grey Man series lost their categories, along with All territories (worldwide rights) being deselected on most of them and being reset to US only.

The next ‘issue’ was that with the POD price increase coming, I was literally going to lose money on the books in expanded distribution! As I said, I did the auto update and even with the automatic price increase, IF the expanded distribution was still selected, the books were making anywhere from $.03 to $.14!!!

So, I ended up raising the prices by an average of about $.60 per book, just so I get a few pennies more on the expanded distribution!

The other books weren’t quite as bad, but both Rimworld and the Bell Chronicles had issues with territories being deselected, pricing issues, and deselection from expanded distribution.

Talked with John Van Stry at supper last night, and he’s been dealing with the category issues also.

So what I’m saying is… GO CHECK YOUR BOOKS!

Sigh…

Words…

UP   
 
This two-letter word in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is ‘UP.’  It is listed in the dictionary as an [adv.], [prep.], [adj.], [n] or [v].

It’s easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP?  Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?  We call UP our friends, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.  We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car.

At other times, this little word has a real special meaning.   People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing:  A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.

We open UP a store in the morning, but we close it UP at night.  We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look UP the word UP in the dictionary.   In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used.  It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP.  When the sun comes out, we say it is clearing UP.  When it rains, the earth soaks it UP.  When it does not rain for a while, things dry UP.  One could go on and on, but I’ll wrap it up, for now . . . my time is UP!

Oh . . . one more thing:  What is the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night?

U       P!

Did that one crack you UP?

Don’t screw UP.  Send this on to everyone you look UP in your address book. . . or not . . . it’s UP to you.

Yeah, right…

Sure, he wants to ‘protect’ us…

California governor — and stealth presidential candidate/Ron DeSantis obsessive — Gavin Newsom announced a plan on Thursday to implement “common sense” gun control measures nationwide, “while leaving the 2nd Amendment unchanged and respecting America’s gun-owning tradition.”

Full article, HERE from PJ Media.
Funny thing is, like ‘most’ of the Dem’s proposals, you don’t get to see the actual verbiage that would constitute the new amendment… How can we ‘support’ something we’ve never seen???
What a surprise! NOT!!!

TBT…

Yes, I’m an old fart…

EATING IN THE FIFTIES AND SIXTIES

Pasta had not been invented. It was macaroni or spaghetti.

Curry was a surname.

A take-away was a mathematical problem.

Pizza? Sounds like a leaning tower somewhere.

Bananas and oranges only appeared at Christmas time.

All chips were plain.

Oil was for lubricating; fat was for cooking.

Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves and never green.

Cubed sugar was regarded as posh.

Chickens didn’t have fingers in those days.

None of us had ever heard of yogurt.

Healthy food consisted of anything edible.

Cooking outside was called camping.

Seaweed was not a recognized food.

‘Kebab’ was not even a word, never mind a food.

Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days, and was regarded as being white gold.

Prunes were medicinal.

Surprisingly muesli was readily available. It was called cattle feed.

Pineapples came in chunks in a tin; we had only ever seen a picture of a real one.

Water came out of the tap. If someone had suggested bottling it and charging more than gasoline for it, they would have become a laughing stock.

The one thing that we never ever had on/at our table in the fifties and sixties … was elbows, hats and cell phones.

Posted in TBT

Another nail…

In San Francisco’s coffin…

Another blow is being dealt to downtown San Francisco. The investment firm that owns Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55 hotels is walking away from its debt and surrendering them to its lender.

Park Hotels & Resorts has opted to cease payments on a $725 million loan, according to a press release.

“The Company intends to work in good faith with the loan’s servicers to determine the most effective path forward, which is expected to result in ultimate removal of these hotels from its portfolio.”

Full article, HERE from ABC7 in San Francisco.

This is damning on multiple levels, as supposedly those two properties are worth over $1.4 BILLION dollars. For them to walk away without even trying to sell them, that indicates (at least to me), that they don’t believe they can even get enough to pay off their loan, much less actually recover enough business to continue to operate in the black.

Union Square was the prime high dollar shopping area in San Francisco, but there were always a ‘few’ problems with its location. It is mere blocks from the Tenderloin District, which has always had a bad reputation in San Francisco. And they number of high end stores that are closing along with the transients/drugs/etc. on top of the lockdown during the pandemic have, at least to my mind, pretty much doomed the city.

And when you throw in the cost of living there, there is no way anybody in the service industry can live anywhere close to town, much less afford to park down there (and hope your car isn’t broken into).

Kiss the place good by and no great loss, as far as I’m concerned…

YMMV…

A little humor…

To start the week!

Aviator “wisdom”

Definitions: Pilots: People who drive airplanes.

Naval Aviators:
 Cold, steely eyed, weapons systems managers who kill bad people and break things. However, they can also be very charming and personable. The average Naval Aviator, despite sometimes having a swaggering exterior, is very much capable of such feelings as love, affection, intimacy and caring. These feelings just don’t involve anyone else.

Words of Wisdom From Aviators

Flying is a hard way to earn an easy living.

Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the airplane, the pessimist, the parachute.

If helicopters are so safe, how come there are no vintage helicopter fly-ins?   —  My favorite

Death is just nature’s way of telling you to watch your airspeed.

Real planes use only a single stick to fly.  This is why bulldozers & helicopters — in that order — need two.

There are only three things the copilot should ever say:
1. Nice landing, Sir.
2. I’ll buy the first round.
3. I’ll take the fat one.

As a pilot only two bad things can happen to you and one of them will.
a. One day you will walk out to the aircraft knowing that it is your last flight.
b. One day you will walk out to the aircraft not knowing that it is your last flight.

There are Rules and there are Laws.  The Rules are made by men who think that they know better how to fly your airplane than you. Laws (of Physics) were ordained by nature. You can, and sometimes should, suspend the Rules but you can never suspend the Laws.

About Rules:
a. The rules are a good place to hide if you don’t have a better idea and the talent to execute it.
b. If you deviate from a rule, it must be a flawless performance… (e.g.., If you fly under a bridge, don’t hit the bridge.)

The ideal pilot is the perfect blend of discipline and aggressiveness.

The medical profession is the natural enemy of the aviation profession..

Ever notice that the only experts who decree that the age of the pilot is over are people who have never flown anything? Also, in spite of the intensity of their feelings that the pilot’s day is over I know of no expert who has volunteered to be a passenger in a
non-piloted aircraft.

Before each flight, make sure that your bladder is empty and your fuel tanks are full!

He who demands everything that his aircraft can give him is a pilot;  he that demands one iota more is a fool.

There are certain aircraft sounds that can only be heard at night.

The aircraft limits are only there in case there is another flight by that particular aircraft. If subsequent flights do not appear likely, there are no limits.

Flying is a great way of life for men who want to feel like boys, but not for those who still are.

“If the Wright brothers were alive today, Wilbur would have to fire Orville to reduce costs.” President, DELTA Airlines.

In the Alaskan bush I’d rather have a two hour bladder and three hours of gas than vice versa.

It’s not that all airplane pilots are good-looking. Just that good-looking people seem more capable of flying airplanes.

An old pilot is one who can remember when flying was dangerous and sex was safe.

Airlines have really changed, now a flight attendant can get a pilot pregnant.

I’ve flown in both pilot seats, can someone tell me why the other one is always occupied by an idiot?

Son, you’re going to have to make up your mind about growing up and becoming a pilot. You can’t do both.

There are only two types of aircraft — fighters and targets.

The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline baggage.

You define a good flight by negatives: you didn’t get hijacked, you didn’t crash, you didn’t throw up, you weren’t late, you weren’t nauseated by the food. So you’re grateful.

They invented wheelbarrows to teach FAA inspectors to walk on their hind legs.

The FAA Motto: We’re not happy till you’re not happy.

Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.