Baltimore You Have Major Problems and We Are Gratified That You Are Taking Action to Address Your Problems…Or are we?...Or are you?

Baltimore’s Problems

Ø Baltimore violent crime has spun out of control in recent years.
>There were 342 homicides in Baltimore in 2017.
>This is the highest homicide count in the nation.
>2019 is the fifth year in a row that there have been more than 300 homicides and there is still more than a month remaining in 2019.
>To add insult to injury, the number of homicides is climbing in Baltimore while it’s falling around the rest of the country.

Ø If that’s not bad enough, the city has an astounding amount of poverty to go along with crushingly high taxes.

Ø Baltimore isn’t even offering much hope for future generations because it has some of the lowest-performing public schools in the country, despite the fact that the city annually spends about $16,000 per student.
>In 4^th and 8^th grade reading, only 13% of city’s students are considered proficient or advanced.
>In 4^th grade math, 14% were proficient.
>In 8^th grade math, 11% were proficient.

Ø To top it all off, the city is contending with a heaping helping of corruption.
>The past three Baltimore mayors have resigned in disgrace.
>Former Mayor Catherine Pugh, who at one time was billed as a “reformer”, resigned in May and has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, seven counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and two counts of tax evasion.
>Pugh was originally caught in a scheme allegedly involving kickbacks for selling her children’s books to hospitals, in which she was able to pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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Baltimore Has Decided To “Fix” Something Else

Rather than addressing these serious problems, Baltimore’s politicians have opted for empty virtue-signaling. The residents of Baltimore are the ones left holding the bag, literally and figuratively because their leaders have decided to look right past all the above terrible and growing real problems and have Banned Plastic Bags.

That ought to do it…Or ought it do it?

This Blog Posting could end here but the Late Paul Harvey happens to be visiting Fella today and he is shouting at me to tell you the Rest of the Story.

The problem Ole Paul is shouting at me about is the fact that Bag Bans are not just annoying and inconvenient but they also add up to little more than Virtue-Signaling of being “Environmentally Conscious” but not actually Helping or Saving the Environment but only Brushing by it. There’s even evidence that such bans end up doing harm to the Environment.

A study by University of Sydney economist Rebecca Taylor in Australia found that banning plastic bags certainly caused customers to use fewer plastic shopping bags.

Warning: Some “Scientific Analysis” might stop right here and take solace in the Use Fewer Bags as Case Closed and Mission Accomplished.

Plastic Bag Bans Just Might Do More Harm Than Good…

Ø People begin to use other kinds of plastic bags to make up for the lost supply of the Banned Bags.

Ø The study found that in areas that had plastic Bag Bans, there was a surge in the use of the thicker 4-gallon bags, which use more plastic.

Ø Many customers actually reuse plastic bags for lining wastebaskets, among many other secondary uses but now they have to find something else to do these jobs.

Ø The laws also create a huge uptick in the use of Paper Bags, which—according to some research—are actually worse for the environment than Plastic Bags.

In the meantime, all the Baltimore Problems described in the 4 Bullet Points at the beginning of this Blog Posting are continuing to continue.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: In the Warning above I put “Scientific Analysis” in quotes. Not all things out of the world of science are carved in stone. Science is always evolving. It’s called Progress. It should not be called Mistakes.

I am presently reading a book by Mike Rowe named The Way I Heard It. It is like the next iteration of The Rest of the Story.

I know you are tired of me by now, so I’ll try and be quick…

Ø One of the shows Mike Rowe hosts for the Science Channel is How the Universe Works.

Ø He is sometimes called into the studio to re-record a piece of a show already recorded because new information has been received that corrects/contradicts the Prior Recorded Science.

Ø One of the quotes that needed to be corrected was that there were “approximately one hundred billion galaxies in the known universe”.

Ø Within a week a new method of measuring the cosmos had led astronomers to revise the number of galaxies from 100 Billion (that’s 100 Thousand Million) to 2 Trillion (that’s 2 Thousand Billion).

No matter how you look at it, the first estimate was not close but it was Scientific Fact at some point in time.

The Youth Of Today Have It So Hard. I’m Glad I Have Advanced Beyond Their Pressure-Filled Age Level.

I just read another article about how today’s young people have it so hard. The article tried to convince me that they are under constant pressure to succeed and to survive, in the Dog Eat Dog world of today.

The picture that is painted of what they have to go through far surpasses anything faced by those who came and went before them…Or does it?

The article gave several examples to prove its They Got It Tough Contention…

• They have to cope with the constant pressure of having to keep their Smartphones charged. What could be worse than having a cell phone go dead right in the middle of a really important Tweet?
• How about the hour upon hour of laying in your bed unable to fall asleep worried about whether your mother had made a mistake when she only offered that Admission Official $100,000 to get you into that snotty Ivy League College instead or the $125,000 he had hinted might be a more “acceptable” figure. The way he had verbally underlined the word “acceptable” has really been keeping you on edge for days now.
• From personal experience I know the shock and horror of walking into a Jacuzzi with my Smartphone in the pocket of my swimming trunks. Actually this is probably worse than the What Could Be Worse Tweeting Catastrophe in the first bullet above.

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I was really beginning to Feel Modern Youth’s Pain when I started to think that maybe when compared to times past their pain may not be as painful as I think they think it is.

Imagine you are a Young, Skinny, Wiry Fellow Not Over 18 in the Spring of 1860 and you need a job badly. You need a job so badly that you respond to and accept the job offered by the following poster…

Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18.

Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily.

Orphans preferred.

Wages $25 per week.

You, young skinny man (you could not weigh over 125 pounds), have just become a Rider for the Pony Express!

• It was determined that a pony at full gallop could travel approximately 10 miles a day.
• You are expected to travel alone, day and night, regardless of weather.
• You could stop at one of the Pony Express Stations (approximately 10 miles apart) to switch ponies and get water.
• Only after traveling 75 to 100 miles could a rider switch out with another rider and rest.
• Since the riders would be traveling alone, they were subject to the elements and attacks from Wild Animals, Native Americans (back then they were Indians) and Bandits.
• Originally, the riders were armed with guns, but eventually most of the weapons were taken away to lighten the load. Speed of travel and carrying capacity were more important than the Skinny Riders.

There turned out to be some light at the end of the tunnel. The Pony Express went out of business after 18 months. It had earned approximately $90,000 but it had lost more than double that amount.

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Somehow, Keeping Your Smartphone Charged, Bribing Your Way Into Snotty Schools and Taking a Jacuzzi Dip With Your Smartphone in Your Pocket does not seem to measure up against being a Skinny Orphan on a Fast Pony Without a Gun.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Note to President Trump... It could be worse. You could have been born Abraham Lincoln.

Many news organizations opposed Lincoln from the beginning – much as they have President Trump in our time.

Negative attacks on Abraham Lincoln…

• “Within 90 days from the time Lincoln is inaugurated, the Republican Party will be utterly ruined and destroyed. His path is environed with so many difficulties, that even if he had the ability of Jefferson and the energy of Jackson, he would fail, but he is a weak and inexperienced man, and his administration will be doomed from the commencement.”
• “If he takes that radical section of the Republican Party, the conservative wing of it will cut loose and repudiate him. If, on the other hand, he courts the conservatives and pursues a moderate conciliatory policy, the radicals will make open war upon his administration.”
• “his election was a rash experiment, his administration is a deplorable failure.”
• “As President of the United States he must have enough sense to see and acknowledge he has been an egregious failure. One thing must be self-evident to him, and that is that under no circumstances can he hope to be the next President of the United States … (he should) retire from the position to which, in an evil hour, he was exalted.”
• “evidently a person of very inferior cast of character, wholly unequal to the crisis.”
• “Lincoln was “a barbarian, Scythian, yahoo, or gorilla.”
• “a frontier hack”
• “an idiot”
• “the original gorilla”
• “is universally an admitted failure, has no will, no courage, no executive capacity… and his spirit necessarily infuses itself downwards through all departments.”

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

I Am In A Quandary. I Need Your Help. You Could Go A Long Way Toward Helping Me Out Of My Predicament By Answering One Simple Question.

I wrote a Blog Posting in January of this year that contained this excerpt…

This kind of thing happens all the time in the Middle East...Someone says to a Middle East Extremist, “Why are you so determined to kill that guy drinking coffee over there? He looks just like you.”

After asking this perfectly logical question the questioner gets this indignant response from the guy who wants to kill the Coffee Drinking Other Guy, “Do you know nothing about history? Do you not know what his people did to my people in the year 1277?”

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I don’t want to imply that all people in the Middle East hold long-standing grudges…Or do I?

I just need a bit more specific information. Was the guy who wanted to kill the Coffee Drinking Other Guy talking about 1277 BC or 1277 AD?

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Hillary Elizabeth Selfie's Chickens

Hillary Clinton’s Strategy for getting elected in 2016 was to take a Selfie with Everyone in the Good Ole USofA.

When I wrote my Blog Posting about this I thought I was joking around (I have been known to Joke Around) but it seems the Strategy did not die with Hillary’s Defeat.

Enter Elizabeth Sometimes-I’m-An-Indian-and-Sometimes-I’m-Not-An-Indian Warren. She is actually attempting to Selfie her way into the White House on Steroids.

Last night I heard her say she had taken her 75,000^th Selfie. My heavens! Are they really keeping track of how many Selfie’s they take? If this works, it will be conclusive proof that the Smart Phone has made all of us Stupid.

Below, between the asterisks is the link to my May 8, 2017 Silliness about Hillary and her failed Pantsuit Nation Take a Selfie with Everyone in the Good Ole USofA Campaign. After that you will find that Pantsuit Nation has been taken over by Elizabeth’s Wear A Sweater In The White House All The Time Campaign.

Yea, I played around with the term “Pantsuit Nation” but I did not invent the term: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantsuit_Nation

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Here is the promised link to the May 8, 2017 Blog Posting…

https://forii.blogspot.com/2017/05/if-you-are-sad-hillary-lost-it-is-safe.html

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You really ought to have something better to do than read these articles below. I am just listing them to make my point that Taking A Whole Bunch of Selfies is an Actual Vote-Getting Strategy … AGAIN!...

• https://time.com/5683099/elizabeth-warren-selfies/
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/09/18/frederick-douglass-photos-smashed-stereotypes-could-elizabeth-warren-selfies-do-same/
• https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/voters-wait-hours-elizabeth-warrens-selfie-line-strategy/story?id=65251043
• https://news.yahoo.com/inside-elizabeth-warrens-selfie-strategy-135837940.html

I’ll stop now but this list could go on forever…Or could it?

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One final Wise Guy Commentary…

Somewhere back in Political History a savvy politician came up with the Catchphrase, “A Chicken in Every Pot”. (The phrase has been attributed to 4 Presidents between 1920 and 1936 but actually it goes back to King Henry IV of 17^th Century France who reputedly wished that each of his peasants would enjoy "a chicken in his pot every Sunday").

Thank heaven this Blog Posting is about to come to an end but I promise you it’s going to have a great big ending thanks to the Town of Fitzgerald, GA.

It seems Fitzgerald, Georgia is planning to build a 62 Foot Tall Chicken that will cost $150,000, use at least 16 tons of steel and include an apartment inside that town officials intend to rent to visitors.

Hats off to Fitzgerald’s Mayor who will go down in history for replacing, “A Chicken in Every Pot” with…

“Why Don’t We Just Build A Big-Ass Chicken?”

Read all about it… https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/why-dont-we-just-build-a-big-ass-chicken-small-georgia-town-plans-to-build-world-record-rooster

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Millennial, You Are In Danger!

I've officially now have gone over the hill and am careening down the Slippery Slope. I sent this out as an EMail and not as a Foolishness...Or Is It? Blog Posting.

If you want to read it again, have at it...If you don't, don't.

Personally, I'm going to listen to Kitty Kallen one more time.

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Here is the Blog Posting...

I’m not going out of my way to impugn Millennials but we must face facts…Or must we?

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Picture these radio transmissions in your Mind’s Eye (whatever that is) between an Old Timer Combat Flight Leader and his Millennial Just-Out-Of-Flight-School Wing Man…

Ø Old Time Flight Leader: Millennial 22, heads up! Bandit approaching you at 2 O’clock High!

Ø Millennial 22: I object to your transmission regarding my being high. I have not been high since last night.

Ø Old Time Flight Leader: Forget your highness, jerk! You are in danger! I say again. Bandit approaching you at 2 O’clock High!

Ø Millennial 22: I appreciate your concern but what is this 2 O’clock High Stuff you keep talking about? Does this have anything to do with an old-fashioned wrist watch with those little Mickey Mouse Hands on them? I never did figure out what those hands were for. You should understand I am from the digital age. Request a more modern way of warning me of the danger you are so worried about. OK, try again. Explain 2 O’clock and don’t say anything about High or I will turn this thingy around and head back to Happy Hour early.

Ø Millennial 22: Hey, what’s that big noi…

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe Bonus: From an era when singers depended on strong vocal cords and actual singing and not screaming and tattooed necks: https://www.last.fm/music/Kitty+Kallen/_/Little+Things+Mean+a+Lot

Communities Around The Good Ole USofA Are Telling Other Communities Around The Good Ole USofA That They Know What’s Good For Other Communities Around The Good Ole USofA And Threatening The Other Communities To Start Thinking As They Are Told To Think Or Economic Pressure Will Be Brought Upon Them To Correct Their Thinking.

So Far I Have 140,804 Views of My Blog. I’m Right Behind Justin Bieber…Or am I?

In this country we once had a bunch of Freedoms. Now we are evolving into a nation of We Know Better Than You Know and, if you don’t do as we tell you to do, we will organize my fellow clear thinkers to stop buying your Cheez-Its and, if that does not work, me and my fellow clear-thinkers will come into your grocery store and stomp on your Cheez-Its.

Once upon a time we used to be able to make up our own minds about what we liked and disliked but now we are being told what we have to like and dislike. I like the old days (where I come from).

For example, the City of Galoshes depends on the sale of Galoshes for its survival. The City Council of Galoshes has determined that any City, Town, Village, Hamlet, Cardboard Box in Los Angeles or San Francisco or Portland or Seattle that does not support the City of Galoshes by buying their required assigned annual quota of Galoshes is no friend of the Galoshenites of Galoshes.

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If the above paragraphs sound silly that’s because they are silly. However, the very fabric of this Good Ole USofA is being turned into a confusing quagmire of dos and don’ts and if you don’t do your required dos or do do your forbidden don’ts, you are subject to harsh penalties.

You can bet that all of this craziness has something to do with the Once Great State of California because craziness in the Good Ole USofA usually gets its start in the Land of Fruits and Nuts.

If you want to read all about it, you can read the Lagniappe Link at the bottom of this Blog Posting.

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Actually, City Governance has now become easy in the Good Ole USofA. Find out what San Francisco is doing and do the opposite. 

Here is a partial listing of what San Francisco is demanding of us…

Ø Eat one package of Rice-A-Roni (the San Francisco Teat) every day for breakfast (the flavor is optional for now but that may change in the not too distance future).

Ø Take a ride on a Trolley every day. If there is not a Trolley where you live, move to a place where there is a Trolley where you live.

Ø Each of us must accept the fact that the $1,000,000 Cardboard Box is the wave of the future.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: Before you read the link below think back to those thrilling days of yesteryear…

Ø When Americans had the right to express themselves openly without fear of seeing throngs of demonstrators marching outside their place of business.

Ø When we did not see signs that read…”We respect your right to think for yourself. We just hate you for thinking for yourself.”

Ø When your customers came into your Grocery Store and said to you…”I could not disagree with you more about what you just said but I’ll buy your Pork ‘n Beans anyway because you have a right to think what you think and Pork ‘n Beans aren’t that important”.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-16/san-francisco-22-states-for-restrictive-abortion-laws

Lagniappe #2: Would it not be great if Californians loved Kumquats and Kumquats could not be grown in California and the other 49 States refused to sell them Kumquats?

Stop Them From Stopping!

To gather information for this Blog Posting, I searched: “Idling at drive-thru restaurants is causing Global Warming”. If you want to check me out to see if I made up the idea for this Foolishness, have at it.

Come to think of it, the Drive-Thru was invented way back in 1930 when the Grand National Bank of St. Louis, Missouri set up the first Drive-Up Teller Window. The Drive-Up/Drive-Thru Window has been around a very long time. This means that the Drive-Up/Drive-Thru Window just might be the single biggest cause of Global Warming…Or might it not be?

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Drive-Thrus which allow a customer to pull up to a business’s window in their vehicle while exchanging cash for goods, often fast food, are beloved for their speed and convenience but they require waiting in a line of other cars, which all have their engines running.

Multiple City Councils in the Good Ole USofA are imposing bans on Fast-Food Drive-Thru Windows after this much-loved feature was linked to Global Warming.

Drive-Thru Windows are now under attack because they are seen by some as causing Vehicle Noise and Air Pollution, and several City Councils across the US (this is not a complete list…Orchard Park, NY, Creve Coeur, MO, Fair Haven, NJ, Long Beach, CA, Minneapolis, MN) have moved to ban restaurants from adding them to their business.

At this point they are not requiring that existing Drive-Thru Windows be bricked up but only that new construction cannot have them. The bricking up law will come later.

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This may come as a shock to you but I agree with these Forward-Thinking City Councils, however, I think they need go further.

Why are we stopping at Stopping and Idling at Fast Food Drive-Thru Windows? If we are going to fix this problem, we ought to go to the Heart of the Problem.

I say let’s Get Rid of Traffic Lights! To think of the amount of Vehicle Noise and Air Pollution these lights create boggles the mind! Add to this the humongous amount of wasted gasoline and we have a Worldwide Crisis of Epic Proportions!

Did I just hear some of you bring up the possibility of increased Traffic Accidents? Those some of you disappoint me. So what if there are a few million more traffic accidents. I think it is a fair trade off when you think there will be millions of drivers who will not get into accidents and, therefore, they will be rewarded by getting to their Fast Food Drive-Thru Windows Lineup sooner!

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Oh my gosh! I just realized there is a major problem with my otherwise perfect Get Rid of Traffic Lights Idea.

If the Drive-Thru Windows would be eliminated, people would be forced to park their cars and go into their Fast Food Restaurant and buy from the counter. This would increase the wait time at the counters.

Do you see the problem? You don’t? Again you disappoint me.

Because parents will be standing in line this extra time, more babies and fur babies will die in hot cars than ever before.

If you think I am getting carried away by warning about Hot Car Baby Deaths, click below…

https://www.kidsandcars.org/how-kids-get-hurt/heat-stroke/

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Are The Bad Guys Smarter Than The Good Guys?

Sergeant Schultz on Hogan’s Heroes used to say, “I know nothing!”

If Sergeant Schultz were a Modern-Day Computer Hacker, he would be saying, “I know everything!”

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If there are any Good Guys out there, they are not very good at stopping the Bad Guys (Hacker Guys) from having their way with us.

Here is a string of headlines I found on the Internet about what the Hacker Guys (Bad Guys) have been finding out about us.

These Bag Guys Are Very Good At Being Bad…
Ø Approximately 200 million Words with Friends and Draw Something accounts reportedly accessed.

Ø Comodo Forums Hack Exposes 245,000 Users' Data.

Ø Over A Billion Malicious Ad Impressions Exploit WebKit Flaw to Target Apple Users.

Ø New Critical Exim Flaw Exposes Email Servers to Remote Attacks.

Ø Exclusive — Hacker Steals Over 218 Million Zynga 'Words with Friends' Gamers Data.

Ø More SIM Cards Vulnerable to Simjacker Attack than Previously Disclosed

Ø Hacker Releases 'Unpatchable' Jailbreak for All iOS Devices, iPhone 4s to iPhone X

Ø Microsoft Warns of a New Rare Fileless Malware Hijacking Windows Computers

Ø DoorDash Breach Exposes 4.9 Million Users' Personal Data

Ø Outlook for Web Bans 38 More File Extensions in Email Attachments

Ø iOS 13 Bug Lets 3rd-Party Keyboards Gain 'Full Access'

Ø 1-Click iPhone and Android Exploits Target Tibetan Users via WhatsApp

Ø Russian APT Map Reveals 22,000 Connections Between 2000 Malware Samples

Ø Microsoft Releases Emergency Patches for IE 0-Day and Windows Defender Flaw

Ø Update Google Chrome Browser to Patch New Critical Security Flaws

Ø IT Firm Manager Arrested in the Biggest Data Breach Case of Ecuador’s History

Ø Smominru Botnet Indiscriminately Hacked Over 90,000 Computers Just Last Month

Ø Thousands of Google Calendars Possibly Leaking Private Information Online

When I used to listen to the Radio as a child back in the Old Days (where I come from) I thought every criminal (bad guy) had been caught or was in the process of being caught. 

If any of these Hackers are being caught, it is a well kept secret. All we hear about in the news are reports about them perpetrating their Dastardly Deeds but we never hear about them being apprehended and punished.

Many years ago I read about a Teenage Virus Maker in Europe who had been caught. His virus had cost companies worldwide millions of dollars. He was sentenced to house arrest and prohibited from using his computer for 6 weeks. At his “sentencing” the judge told him to be careful because a lot of people were really mad at him.

We can only hope that today’s Caught Hackers (if there are any) are being more severely punished than this Computer Deprived Teenager.

Would I kid u?
Smartfella

A Fella Public Service Announcement

Our Connected Society is a Wonderful thing…Or is it?

Our Smartphones are Wonderful things…Or are they?

The Internet is a Wonderful thing…Or is it?

All of the above Wonderfuls are Wonderful but that does not mean they are Wonderful all the time.

Below is an excerpt from an information piece sent to me by Malwarebytes. It tells us that we had all better be aware that there is a lot of danger hidden in our Modern Electronic Toys.

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Stalkerware is software that was created to monitor a person’s activities on their computer or, more commonly, their mobile device without the person being monitored knowing that they are being monitored. Though often advertised as a tool for parents to track their children’s activities, these apps are more commonly used for nefarious purposes.

Here are some of the things Stalkerware Applications can do while hidden from view…

 Track unsuspecting victims’ locations

 Record calls

 View text messages

 Pry into locally-stored photos

 Rifle through web-browsing activity

Here is a list of information that Stalkerware can gather (all of which can be sent to a remote user) as well as activities an abuser can conduct on a user’s device without their knowing or consent...

 Can see your Geographic Location by using your GPS

 Can see the IP Address of your device

 Can have access to your SMS Message History

 Can see your Phone Call History (including call length)

 Can see your Browser History

 Can see your Contacts (including phone numbers and email addresses)

 Can see your Email Account Credentials

 Can see your Email Content from all accounts accessed from device

 Can see Photos, Videos, and hear Audio Recordings and stored on the device or connected cloud account

 Can Take Pictures using your front/rear camera

 Can Record Audio using your device’s microphone

 Can remotely Turn On and Turn Off your device

Malwarebytes detects Stalkerware Applications through the longtime mobile threat category monitor, which is a subset of potentially unwanted programs (PUPs). Because some of these Stalkerware Applications can be used “legitimately,” they are currently flagged as programs users might not want on their phones. However, once presented with what Stalkerware can do (or once gaining knowledge of a program that’s been installed on their device without consent), many users will likely want to delete these apps.

These applications represent real-life threats to domestic abuse victims, who can readily be tracked down (along with their children), even when hidden in shelters.

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Be Afraid…Be Very Afraid.

I wish I were kidding u.

Smartfella

Those That Say George Orwell Was Wrong As Hell When He Predicted That One Day Big Brother Would Be Watching Our Every Move Ought To Rethink What They Think About Ole George…Or Ought They?

What harm can a few Cameras do?

George wasn’t kidding u.
Smartfella

It’s Awful Out There!

This is not my first Blog Posting. Actually it is somewhere around the 1,400th Blog Posting but who’s counting?

I did one about the Traffic Report People running out of drastic words because they are constantly screaming at us thing like, “Highway 123 Is a Disaster Area!”

I also did a blog about the Wind Chill Factor and how it was an example of the Weather People trying to make things seem as bad as possible. They define Wind Chill Factor as the Effect of Wind and Temperature on Bare Skin. Since I hardly ever go outside naked on cold nights, I really could not care less about their Wind Chill Factor.

Today they (whoever “they” are) are at it again. For the first time I heard them (“them” is “they”) say, “Traffic Misery Index Reading”. 

Is this really necessary?

 Do we really need an index misery reading for us to worry about the traffic we probably are not driving in?

 For that matter, do we really need an index misery reading for us to worry about the traffic we are driving in? 

 If we hear about a Critically High Traffic Misery Index Reading what are we to do about it? 

 Should we pull over? 

 Should we call 911? 

 Should we tweet our Congressman?

 Now that we know the Traffic Misery Index Reading, will we get home sooner or later?

I think we will get home later because it is really hard to drive a car in the Fetal Position.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

The New York Stock Exchange Ain’t Paying Attention

Do you waste time going to my Blog only to find out that I have not yet posted a new one? Save yourself the time and disappointment by asking me to add your email address to my Blog Notification List.  Then all you need do is Click, Sit Back and Enjoy my latest Foolishness. Send your request to be added to my Blog Notification List with your email address to zooombuggy-forii@yahoo.com.

What is wrong with the Stock Market? Many times when everything seems to be going the hell in a hand basket the Stock Market does not seem to notice…

• The Price of Gasoline goes up and so does the Stock Market.
• The Unemployment Rate goes up and so does the Stock Market.
• The Federal Debt goes up and so does the Stock Market.
• The stock Market even goes up when Iran says that after they wipe Israel off the face of the Earth tomorrow they are going to do the same to the Toledo the day after tomorrow.

The only thing that used to make the Stock Market nervous was a few years ago when it appeared that the country of Greece was about to go belly up. We heard such “logic” as, “Things were really bad in Greece today but yesterday things were really really bad in Greece. Since one really is one less than two reallys, the Stock Market went up today”.

If the Stock Market ever starts paying attention to the world around it, it is going to go into a rapid and prolonged decline.

This Fella doesn’t purport to know what I am talking about when it comes to the Stock Market but I bet I know more than the Smart Fellas who push the Up or Down Button behind that big curtain at the New York Stock Exchange.

Would I kid u?
Smartfella

AngieTaklAdvisor

Do you waste time going to my Blog only to find out that I have not yet posted a new one? Save yourself the time and disappointment by asking me to add your email address to my Blog Notification List.  Then all you need do is Click, Sit Back and Enjoy my latest Foolishness. Send your request with your email address to zooombuggy-forii@yahoo.com.

In the Old Days, where I come from, things were different. I think things were better. You may not agree but I don’t care whether you agree or not. I only thing I care about is that you read my Blog Postings and I know you do because, if you didn’t read my Blog Postings, you would not have just read that the only thing I care about is that you read my Blog Postings.

Now that I have made you laugh or confused the devil out of you I will move on with my Silly (Or is it?) Commentary for today.

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In the old days the Father of the House would come home from work and he was met at the door by his distressed family who said to him something along these lines, “Oh, Father, we are so glad you are home! We have been in a quandary waiting for you to arrive. Your family needs you! The Clothes Dryer is not working, a Tree Was Blown Down in the back yard and needs to be cut up for firewood and Horizontal Holding Tube inside the TV has blown up! Do you think you can make all this better before we eat our Family Supper, like we do every night?”

In the old days the Father of the House would immediately come to life. His face would light up, he would drop his brief case on the floor and run for his hat. (He always felt comfortable with his hat on his head. He knew his hat’s message told the world who he really was because it said, “I Am THE Handy … Man!”)

The Rest of the Story is that by the time Family Supper Time rolled around...

Ø The Clothes Dryer was good as new.

Ø The Downed Tree was cut and stored in the wood shed.

Ø The Blown TV Tube was replaced (Father always kept one of each TV Tube next to his workbench for Replacement Emergencies such as this).

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That was then but this is now…

The Father of the House comes home from work and he is met at the door by his distressed family who said to him something along these lines, “Oh, Father, we are so glad you are home! We have been in a quandary waiting for you to arrive. Your family needs you! There is a Light Bulb burnt out in that room where we used to eat our Family Supper on in the old days. Of course, that’s where we now have our Computers, our Xbox's and the Bird Cage set up. Can you change the Bulb before we don’t eat Family Supper together tonight?”

Father says, “Oh not again! It’s always something! I need a beer! Call AngieTaklAdvisor and have them take care of that bulb! This is second time this year a Bulb has burnt out and it’s only November! Besides they advertise on the Radio that it’s, “Free to You”. That, of course, must mean they do not charge us anything…Or do they not? Besides, I gave my Handy Hat to the Salvation Army long ago.”

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I don’t know about you but I preferred The Old Days.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: I wonder how many times AngieTaklAdvisor receives a distress call to Stain a Back Deck, Add a Nursery onto the back of the house or Install a New Motor in a Dish Washer where the caller gets angry and accuses AngieTaklAdvisor of False Advertising because the radio ad says, “Always Free to You”.

These are the same people who get an Income Tax Refund and then go to work the next day and tells the guy next to where the Water Bubbler used to be, “I didn’t pay any Income Tax last year and instead the Government actually send me money”.

The guy next to where the Water Bubbler used to be says in return, “Yea, me too”.

The Dutch Golden Age Ain’t So Golden Anymore

It looks like it is not just the Good Ole USofA that is under attack by its own people. The Dutch are tearing their history apart also.

A permanent exhibit in Amsterdam's Hermitage Museum, has changed from "Dutchmen in the Golden Age" to "Group Portraits of the 17th Century".

I guess what they are trying to say is, back in the 17th Century, Some People Did Something.

It looks like some Silly Dutchmen are acting like some Foolish Americans.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella