Category Archives: Opinion
Classic literature
I got a laugh out of that idiot the other day who thought the world should ban making fun of Muhammad. I find it unbelievable that adults, even so-called leaders of their countries, don’t have more important things to do. I’ll go out on a limb here and predict that one of these theocratic nations will be the one to start World War III, the end of humanity, the destruction of the Earth. Probably one from the Middle East, but a Republican-controlled United States is also a distinct possibility.
Now let us move on…….to “Banned Books Week.” That’s this week just in case you haven’t been paying attention. Yep. Here in our own United States of America, people want to ban books, of all things. Wouldn’t banning something like, say, divorce be more for the public good?
Interestingly, the desire to ban books is greatest in the Southern and Midwestern States. Care to guess which States are the most religious? Ah-ha! You’ve been paying attention!
Banned Books Week is the last week in September each year; someone explain to me why Banned Books Week this year is September 30 through October 6. That week has only one day in it from September, and who starts a week on Sunday anyway?
The first Banned Books Week was held in 1982, and the Week is sponsored each year by the American Library Association (ALA). Over the years, more than 11,000 books have been challenged, a term to indicate that someone wanted to ban a book from a school or library. In 2011, there were 326 challenges, but those are only the ones that were reported to the ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom,, which estimates that as many as 75% of challenges go unreported. Challenges are based on everything from insensitivity (!), religious viewpoint (!!), offensive language, violence, and sexual explicitness and can be as simple as a religious mom walking into a library and asking a librarian to remove a book from the library.
The Top 10 most challenged books last year were these:
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“ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r” (series) by Lauren Myracle
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“The Color of Earth” (series) by Kim Dong Hwa
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“My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy” by Dori Hillestad Butler
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“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie
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“Alice” (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
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“Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley
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“What My Mother Doesn’t Know” by Sonya Sones
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“Gossip Girl” (series) by Cecily Von Ziegesar
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“To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee
I have not read any of those so I cannot speak to whether or not they should be banned. Well, actually, yes I can. They should NOT be banned! And for the record, I did see the movies “Brave New World” and “To Kill A Mockingbird.” They were excellent!
Many of the books that are challenged are considered “classics,” with “Brave New World” and “To Kill A Mockingbird” fitting in that category. Here are some other classics that are regularly challenged:
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“The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger
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“The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck
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“Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck
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“The Color Purple” by Alice Walker
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“Ulysses” by James Joyce
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“The Lord of the Flies” by William Golding
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“Animal Farm” by George Orwell
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“1984″ by George Orwell
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“The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway
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“A Farewell to Arms” by Ernest Hemingway
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“In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote
Except for “The Color Purple,” all of those were on my high school and college required reading lists. Should I admit that I have not read a single one? I did read the Cliff Notes, though. (Like if you know what Cliff Notes are……..lol). I was too busy reading horror and science fiction to both with classics.
My list of the greatest classics, in alphabetical order by title:
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“Cell,” by Stephen King
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“Christine,” by Stephen King
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“Cujo,” by Stephen King
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“The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger,” by Stephen King
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“The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three,” by Stephen King
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“The Dark Tower III: The Wastelands,” by Stephen King
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“The Dark Tower IV: Wizards and Glass,” by Stephen King
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“The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla,” by Stephen King
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“The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah,” by Stephen King
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“The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower,” by Stephen King
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“Dolores Claiborne,” by Stephen King
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“Dreamcatcher,” by Stephen King
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“From a Buick 8,” by Stephen King
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“It,” by Stephen King
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“Misery,” by Stephen King
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“Needful Things,” by Stephen King
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“Pet Sematary,” by Stephen King
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“Salem’s Lot,” by Stephen King
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“The Dead Zone,” by Stephen King
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“Rose Madder,” by Stephen King
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“The Running Man,” by Stephen King
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“The Shining,” by Stephen King
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“The Stand,” by Stephen King
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“The Talisman,” by Stephen King
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“Thinner,” by Stephen King
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“The Tommyknockers,” by Stephen King
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“Under the Dome,” by Stephen King
I expect to add “11/22/63,” by Stephen King, to that list by the end of the year.
Happy reading!
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Answer: Money
Question: What do racehorse owners love more than their horses?
Many readers know that I was lucky enough to score a Photographer’s All Access Pass to the horse races of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club back in August. As I said in an earlier post (I scored!):
I’m not a fan of horse racing because I believe that animals of that size and age should not be forced to run around a track with an extra hundred pounds on its back. That belief is proven each year when hundreds of horses are killed (commonly called euthanized) because of a broken leg or other traumatic injury. Just at the Del Mar Races, which last about three weeks, dozens of horses are killed each year because they “break down.”
I have the finals on what happened at the Del Mar Races this year: Eleven horses were killed in 37 days of racing. That’s one horse every 3.3636 days!
Del Mar is a city of the 1%. Rich Republicans. The 2010 Census shows 4,161 people in 2,064 households calling Del Mar home. The racial makeup was 3,912 (94.0%) White, 10 (0.2%) African American, 8 (0.2%) Native American, 118 (2.8%) Asian, 3 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 25 (0.6%) from other races, and 85 (2.0%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 175 persons (4.2%).
The horses racing at Del Mar are age two to six.
Imagine the uproar if eleven children age two to six died in 37 days in a city of 4,161. Or any city really!
When I went to the races with the Pacific Photography Society, one of our members asked the Del Mar representative about the horse deaths. He said (loosely quoted because I didn’t record it, and it’s now two months later):
“It’s unfortunate, but horses are athletes, and athletes sometimes get hurt.“
I’ll give him the part about athletes sometimes getting hurt. Sometimes athletes even die of their injuries. Not a single one, however, was euthanized (the nice word for killed or murdered). Another difference is that horses are not athletes! They don’t have a choice as to whether or not they are going to race. Their choice is made for them, supposedly by good veterinarians. Nonetheless, the horses don’t get to make their own decision. Horse racing is nothing but cruelty to animals.
Here is the toll for horse deaths at Del Mar over the years:
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2012 – 11
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2011 – 12
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2010 – 5
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2009 – 9
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2008 – 14
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2007 – 12
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2006 – 13
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2005 – 23
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2004 – 26
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2003 – 17
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2002 – 22
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2001 – 13
Statewide in California, 200-300 race horses are killed each year due to racing injuries. Nationally, over 1,000! Remember Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby in 2008? Broke two ankles on live television and had to be killed. I don’t watch horse races but the darn news played the tape so many times it was hard to miss it.
Horse racing is nothing but cruelty to animals.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
A confused Gay American
A few months ago a new flag was installed at the corner of Normal Street (the name is appropriate; stay tuned) and University Avenue, smack dab (smack dab?) in the middle of Hillcrest.
The flagpole is about 65 feet tall, and you might have noticed that the flag is not the United States flag, or even the California flag. Nope. It is the Gay flag. Some of you might not have known that there even was a gay flag!
Hillcrest is one of the most vibrant gay neighborhoods in the nation (see why the flag being at Normal Street is appropriate?……..lol). Many estimates place Hillcrest’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning citizenry as high as 65% of the population there. Nonetheless, does that warrant a gay flag? I think not. I think it sets a bad precedence.
We have lots of ethnic neighborhoods here in San Diego — African-American, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Filippino, Mexican, Republican and Democrat (not sure the last two are ethnicities, though……..lol). Do they all warrant a flag for their ethnicities? I think not, but under the precedent set with the gay flag, they certainly could be justified in asking for a flag for their neighborhoods. What a mess that could be.
Another problem with this gay flag is that it is not on private property. I suppose that if someone wanted to put it on private property, I would not have a problem as long as it passed appropriate building and zoning standards. This flag, however, is in the public median at a very heavily travelled intersection and was paid for with public money. I’m just not understanding it, and yet it was passed unanimously by the City Council.
The next problem is that since this flag is on public property and was built with public money, I’m presuming that maintenance is on the public dole as well.
I might be a out and proud gay man in an 18-year monogamous relationship — we got married on October 30, 2008), but I’m an American first, and this flag simply is not sitting well in the American side of my brain.
I’m confused. Anyone help me out?
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Here today, gone tomorrow
I went out for an extremely early morning walk (4:30 a.m.) today. While I was headed to where I was headed, I saw this:
I thought it was interesting that in the same picture there are two things which have the potential to cause World War III – water and power — and two things that probably will be gone within five years — a still-working coin telephone and two weekly papers.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Great customer service doesn’t come from India
Whenever I need something beyond groceries, gasoline, and other daily needs, I like to do a lot of searching to find the best person or company to meet my needs. I don’t shop by price, reserving that tactic for groceries, gasoline, and other daily needs.
In the early morning hours of September 1, 2011, I had a serious computer problem. Not a great time to be having such problems because so many businesses close for holidays. I knew that if I didn’t get my problem resolved on Thursday or Friday, it was highly likely that it wouldn’t be resolved until the following Tuesday. I might have to spend four or five days not blogging. That would be devastating….
I resorted to a Google search for “San Diego mobile computer repair.” I called the first person in the returns, but he couldn’t come out until Friday morning at 8:30. I really wanted someone on Thursday afternoon, or even Thursday evening.
I called the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh……….. companies. None of them could come out until Tuesday after Labor Day. Sounds like some people wanted the weekend off.
I returned to #1 and asked if 8:30 on Friday morning was still open. It was. How lucky for me.
That #1 company was aGeek2Go.
My Geek, Nick, arrived a few minutes earlier than 8:30. After just an hour of testing things, he determined that it was the power supply. Unfortunately, I had a mini-tower computer, and power supplies for my brand weren’t available. However, Nick found one on the Internet for just a few hundred dollars. Add in shipping and installation, and the cost would be more than a brand new computer. I guess you know what I did.
Because of my description of how my computer failed, Nick thought that the hard drive might also be damaged. While I was buying a new computer and setting it up, Nick took my hard drive back to his office to recover a life-critical file. He emailed it to me that afternoon. Too bad I gave him the wrong file name; I was now on life support.
On Saturday morning Nick brought my hard drive back, set up so that I could use it as an external hard drive. All my files were there, including the critical one. The fact that I had no idea what the file name was makes a good case for doing things manually. My computers are so automated that I don’t remember file names like in the olden days. I just click on little icons and everything runs automatically.
aGeek2Go‘s price was reasonable, and Nick was the ultimate professional; knowledgeable, personable, and helpful. To get all three in any one individual, especially here in Southern California where so many people are of the ME generation, was an unexpected surprise and pleasure.. So thanks, Nick! Here’s to you!
If any local readers need quick computer repair at reasonable prices, I can highly recommend aGeek2Go, in case you don’t have one in the family.
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Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
I set Zoey the Cool Cat free
It’s no secret that I like the San Diego Zoo, and the Zoo’s Safari Park, and SeaWorld.
A comment to my post yesterday (Gimme some tongue, Baby!) asked, “What’s a good answer to people when they say they don’t go to zoos because they feel the animals are ‘trapped.’ ”
There are many answers, but as my wise old grandmother taught me, “Sometimes a question must be answered with a question.”
Your answer to those people should be this question: “Do you have any pets such as dogs, cats, birds, or fish; or snakes, lizards, rats, mice, hamsters, or guinea pigs; or horses, pigs, or cattle?”
You see, all of those animals come from the wild. Perhaps we should release them all back into the wild? That would be cruel. Many of them would not survive because they either don’t know how to hunt or they are not able to hunt.
As an example, Safari Park has two bald eagles. Both were rescued as injured young. Although they have been rehabilitated, their injuries prevent them from soaring through the skies. Thus they could not hunt like eagles hunt. They would simply be meals for other animals. That’s okay because survival of the fittest is part of life. It’s called the food chain.
However, the two eagles are male and female, and since they are young, in a protected environment like the Safari Park, they can mate and have young, young that can then be released into the wild to help the species survive.
Seeing these two eagles close up gives me hope that others who see them might take action to be better caretakers of the Earth. As long as the human race continues to ignore condoms and pills, continues to overpopulate the Earth, wildlife habitats will continue to be destroyed.
Elephants in the wild are killed for their ivory, which is believed by ignorant people to be an aphrodisiac or a medicine. Elephant habitats are being destroyed, thousands of acres a day, in the name of progress. We can’t really blame the Third World countries for wanting everything that we have here in the United States. Who are we, then, to tell them that they can’t clear their lands to build homes and farms, even if it’s at the expense of wildlife?
The Giant Panda would probably be extinct by now without the intervention of China panda sanctuaries and the San Diego Zoo, a world leader in panda research. The Gray Wolf, once prevalent throughout the world, is now extinct in many countries, such as Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Switzerland.
We need Zoos simply because we can’t control what happens in other countries. Heck, in many instances we can’t even control what happens in our own. Do I need to talk about the California Condor? Or the American Bison? The Eastern Cougar (extinct as of 2011)? The Arizona Jaguar (extinct as of 1905).
Some animal species only exist in Zoos, such as the northern white rhinoceros. At the pace that global warming is occurring, polar bears might exist only in zoos sometime within YOUR lifetime.
Perhaps a young child visiting the Zoo, seeing a northern white rhinoceros, and reading the exhibit plate about its demise in the wild will be inspired and grow up to be the next Bob Marshall, or Dian Fossey, or John Muir, or Henry David Thoreau, or Jacques Cousteau, or Rachel Carson, or Steve Irwin, or Theodore Roosevelt (see List of Conservationsts).
Each time I go to the Zoo, Safari Park, or SeaWorld, and see the excitement on the faces of not only children but adults, too, I know that there is a place for zoos and aquariums, and wildlife sanctuaries (I also belong to two wildlife sanctuaries here).
For a far better explanation than what I can offer here — and why re-invent the wheel? — see “Why have zoos?”, written by a woman who has been a member of the San Diego Zoo since she was three years old.
By the way, I opened the front door to set Zoey the Cool Cat free. I set her at the front door but before I could get a picture of her exiting the house to freedom, she turned around and scampered back to her favorite morning spot:
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray (that’s me!)
Should I continue following them?
On June 16 I publishing a post titled “There is a reason.” In it I revealed a certain experience in blogging that consistently has happened over the past five years. That experience is that every time I mention that I happen to be an out and proud gay man in a committed monogamous relationship (now at 18 years), I lose followers (called subscribers at the other site where I blogged from July 2007 to January 2012).
A coupe of comments asked me if I was going to follow up on how many followers I lost with that post. Here’s the scoop:
In the 24 hours following that post, I lost 33 followers but added 26 for a net loss of 7 followers.
In the 24 hours following yesterday’s post (It’s someone’s birthday today), I added two subscribers but lost 13.
It’s easy to keep track of new followers, not so easy to keep track of new losers unfollowers.
Here’s my question: Since I practice tit for tat (you follow me, I follow you), should I unfollow those who unfollowed me yesterday?It would take me about an hour or so to determine who they were.
I’m curioius as to what other people do when, or if, they find that someone has unfollowed them.
Here is my perspective:
No, I won’t determine who those unfollowers are, and even if I knew, I would not unfollow them.
One of the reasons why I am out and proud is to have an influence. I was 38 when I came out and accepted myself for the person I am. That was after years and years of praying to God to let me be or make me into the person He wanted me to be. He answered my prayers in April 1993.
By being out and proud, and continuing to LIKE and comment on the blogs of my unfollowers, I might actually help some homophobic person realize that I do the same things they do each day:
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Sleep
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Wake
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Feed Zoey the Cool Cat
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Eat breakfast
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Brush teeth
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Read newspaper
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Work
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Eat lunch
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Work
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Eat supper
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Shop for groceries
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Pay bills
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Calculate expected tax burden
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Blog
I might also help someone in the closet realize that it’s pretty dark in there with the door closed. Much more fun with that door wide open to enjoy all that the world has to offer!
Zoey the Cool Cat is betting on some interesting comments.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray (that’s me!)
Big Brother’s eye in the sky
One of the places where I like to go birding is the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve (say that fast five times, then have a margarita and say it fast just once):
As you can see from the map, it’s pretty close to the border with Mexico. That means that there might be a few spots where Mexican nationals (aka illegal aliens) might make it across the border and into the United States looking for seasonal work. No problem:
I went out of the Research Reserve and down to the southwester corner to find that “light pole” in the last spot accessible to the public:
Look back at that light pole and you can see nine lights and, at the very top, a video camera. Since there was a Border Patrol station nearby, I’m pretty sure this light pole is related to border activities.
However, this reminded me of the many malls and stores I patronize, those with dozens of cameras and video screens set up so any illegal or suspicious activities can be monitored.
Big Brother is here. Has been for many years, all in the name of safety for the general public. Another ten years and I predict all newborn children will have microchips implanted in their shoulders — maybe at the same time they get smallpox and other immunity shots, maybe at birth when they get names — so the government can keep track of its legal citizens and to provide them with citizenship benefits (voting), elderly benefits (Social Security and Medicare), etc. The government will provide incentives in the form of cash for all others to become microchipped.
Meow………. Ruff, ruff………..
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
If you write Parts 1, 2 & 3……………
Camping out in blogs today has been very difficult because I couldn’t get to previous posts or I couldn’t get to them easily.
If you write parts 1, 2 & 3, I presume that, logically, I would want to read part 1 before part 2, and parts 1 & 2 before part 3. The posts in our blogs are in reverse chronological order, so when I come to your blog, the first post I’ll see is part 3. Since I really want to read part 1 and 2 first, I’d like a way to actually get to them.
One of the blogs I was at this morning had absolutely no way to go back in time to earlier posts — no links taking me to previous posts, no recent posts list, no calendar, nothing. I got so frustrated that I simply left. I didn’t leave a message because it would have been public and I didn’t want to be critical in public unless it’s on my own blog. Here I can be critical.
I really believe that you can get more followers, more likes, and more comments if you will make it easy for people to visit your blog. There are themes and widgets for everything, so I would suggest a theme and/or widgets that
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show a calendar and the dates on which you posted
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will easily take the reader backward and forward in your blog, usually accomplished by lniked arrows or linked words like “older/previous” and “next”
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shows your most recent posts in reverse chronological order, allowing the reader to simply click on an older post to get there.
This is my opinion, and I’m sticking with it.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray (that’s me!)
Mean, nasty people get summarily deleted. Bye bye!
I have spent most of my life helping people, usually through organizations such as Key Club at King High School, Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity at Texas A&M University, and, after college, Jaycees, Red Cross, Muscular Dystrophy, Special Olympics, SPCA….
I specifically put SPCA last because of three comments I recently received to my post Population down from 150 to 17 (and that’s good!).
I used to spend so much time volunteering to help others that sometimes I neglected my own job, the job that paid my bills, put food on the table…. little things like that.
Although I still try to help others when I can, I don’t go out of my way to do it. I realize that I can’t do as much as I would like to do.
One of the ways that I used to help people was by having a conversation with them, going over the good and the bad, seeking to change their minds when possible or necessary, etc. The three comments I received yesterday were espousing illegal actions, violence, and cruelty to animals, specifically cats. Cruelty to animals, of course, is illegal in every state, although I don’t know if the commenter is in the United States because he is not brave enough to have a public WordPress site to espouse his vile and putrid garbage.
I replied to his first comment, but when he left two more comments that were worse than the first, I summarily deleted his three comments, as well as my reply to his first comment. It was obvious that he was not interested in a conversation. He just wanted to be mean and nasty, and mess up other people’s blogs and days. Some people are like that……. so sad.
Three snippets; all capitalization, spelling, and grammar are his:
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I managed to shoot and bury HUNDREDS of these invasive species cats to stop them from destroying all my native wildlife and spreading their deadly diseases even further. I, for one, know that NO invasive-species cat will EVER leave my land EVER again and become a problem for any living thing on earth — EVER AGAIN.
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Where I live the cat-lovers quickly learned that, collar or not, their cats get shot on-sight no matter what.
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The ONLY thing that works is destroying any of their cats found outdoors on your property. They either learn to stop getting more cats that die under the wheels of cars or from animal attacks, or they finally learn how to be a responsible pet owner, respectful neighbor, and learn to keep their invasive species animal under confined supervision, as it should be. Win win win all around. You can either destroy their cat for them humanely, or let their lack of concern for their cat cause it to die inhumanely. Your choice. By destroying their cat humanely you are showing them that you care more about their cat than even they do.
He did spout some facts, such as this one:
…cats continue to spread many deadly diseases that they carry today — FOR WHICH THERE ARE NO VACCINES AGAINST THEM. Many of which are even listed as bioterrorism agents. (Such as Tularemia and The Plague — Yes, people have already died from cat-transmitted plague in the USA. No fleas nor rats even required. The cats themselves carry and transmit the plague all on their own.)
I was not familiar with Tularemia, so I went to Google and Wikipedia:
Tularemia is also known as Rabbit Fever, Deer Fly Fever, and Ohara’s Fever. It is caused by a bacterium, Francisella tularensis. Although it is virulent in humans and domestic rabbits, it occurs mainly in beavers, muskrats, hares, and small rodents in northern Eurasia, where it is more virulent than in humans and rabbits. Primary vectors are ticks and deer flies, although it can be spread through other arthropods.
I could not find any source that said cats are responsible for Tularemia. Since that was the first “fact” that he cited, and it’s wrong, I didn’t bother researching any of his other “facts.” I suspect they are wrong, too. With that established, I deleted his three comments. I don’t like being a unwitting carrier of incorrect information, especially by mean, nasty people.
Mean, nasty people get summarily deleted. Bye bye!
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray (that’s me!)


























