Monthly Archives: April 2020

Chocolate Taste Horrible

Posted in Awkward Situation, experience, Food, Pelosi, Uncategorized by

One day I was making a cake, chocolate of course.  The cake was already done and I sat it aside to cool.  Then, I started on the icing.  I had combined cocoa, butter, salt and water when, for some reason I had to pause and leave for a short time.  I can’t even remember what it was, but a child was watching me.

Before I left, I cautioned the child not to eat any of the chocolate.  I told her she wouldn’t like it anyway.  In a while, I returned and saw the expression that told me everything.  It was obvious that she didn’t listen to me.  Clearly, she just had to taste the little bit of dark chocolate in the bowl.

It is easy to understand.  I mean, who doesn’t like the taste of a chocolate bar.  That stuff in that bowl did look very inviting, even to those who know better.  However, most everyone knows that chocolate is very bitter and it has a very horrible taste.  If you taste even the smallest bit, it will contort your face.  In her case, she rushed for the faucet, turned it on.  She didn’t wait for a glass but drank straight from the tap.

Well, there was no harm done.  There was plenty left.  After mixing it into the confection sugar, I iced the cake and we both had a piece of it.

Needless to say, though, it was a well learned lesson for her.

Sometimes I think about the incident and consider that there might be an object lesson that we might take away from it…sort of like, all that glitters is not gold.  In this case, it is more like…chocolate taste horrible.  I don’t know; maybe it is a stretch.  Anyway, I still laugh from time to time when I think about it.

I hear Pelosi likes chocolate.  I wonder if she would like it if I baked her a cake.

Location, Location, Location

Posted in experience, Lawyers and Representation, Obama, Obama Care, Pelosi, Politcal Opinion by

I am told that the term, “old adage,” is redundant.  The word adage means, old saying.  So when we say, old adage we are saying, “old, old saying.”

Okay.  I get it.  So, I hope you’ll excuse my redundancy when I say that the old adage is location, location location.  Personally, I agree.  I am neither a professional business man nor do I claim any training in real estate.

Regardless, I think the guy who originally said it is more correct than he realized.  You see, almost every day I do business with someone.  When I do, location has a lot to do with where I spend my dollars.

Therefore, let me break down the adage.  The word, location is used three times.  Indeed, it has three meanings.  First, there is ease of access.  Second, there is security.  The third meaning has to do with parking.

Please permit me a word or two… maybe even three on each usage of the word.

As I said, first is access.  Whenever I decide to go to a store, I generally go somewhere nearby.  If there is a place within a few miles, why should I go 50.  Okay.  I’m being a little extreme, but I’m sure you see my point.

While distance is certainly a consideration, there is more to access than distance.  Do I really want to fight traffic for 5 miles or is it better to go 8 miles in light traffic.  Personally, I would much prefer to drive an extra few miles rather than face the traffic of downtown Memphis.  (Oddly, I have driven in downtown Los Angeles and I found the traffic reasonable.  Then again, that was a few decades ago.)

The second consideration is security.  Do I want to do business in an area where I feel safe or do I want to face the possibility of being mugged on the way back to my car.  I don’t know about others, but I find most downtown areas a little unnerving.  Every time that I must go into Memphis, I generally keep my head on a swivel and I remain a good distance from all those around me: black, white or purple.  In a matter of security, I am color-blind.

The third consideration, parking, can be the primary one.  If I can’t park within easy walking distance of the business, all else is moot.  In my own opinion, this is the primary reason that most downtown areas fail.  I get into downtown Memphis and then I have to pay through the nose for somewhere to park.  On the other hand, there might not be a place to park even if I’m willing to pay through the nose.

I mean, as I say, I’m not an expert; however, I do know why I don’t go downtown unless I have a good reason.

…and yet, when they built the basketball arena, when they built the new baseball park, they built them in downtown Memphis.  (in my opinion, dumb)  If there is a baseball game and a basketball game on the same day, you just might be better off staying home.

I’m not dumb.  I know why they built the facilities downtown.  It helps to bring people to the downtown area.  Then again, I used to go to see baseball games all the time.  Since they moved the park downtown I saw one game.  I have never seen the inside of the basketball arena.  I have no desire to spend an hour or more fighting traffic to get there and then spend another half hour looking for someplace to park.  Then of course, while walking to and from, I am in constant fear of some drug addict  deciding that he needs my money more than me.

I have gone to several Dodger games when I lived in Orange County.  It was quite a drive, maybe thirty miles.  However, it was almost all freeway.  Within the park, understandably, congestion was immense.  If my memory serves me correctly, the stadium seat around 50-thousand.  On the way out, once I left the parking lot, I was on the freeway, traveling at freeway speeds.  Oh. By the way; there was always somewhere to park.  Attendants provided organized assistance.  It worked very smooth.

Sometimes, people understand the location adage.  Sometimes people don’t.  It is what happens when government makes the decisions.  Dodger Stadium was built with private money.  The location was decided by businessmen, not the city council.  It was built without public money, so there was very little waste.

So, when they decided to change our healthcare, who designed it, the government… Obama and Pelosi; two people who know nothing about medicine.  Now, years later, it is still messed up.

Love of Money

Posted in Christian values, Communism, Deceit, Elections, Lawyers and Representation, Pelosi, Politcal Opinion, Religion, Respect by

Some say the Bible says that money is the root of all evil.  Actually, that is not true.  First Timothy 6:10 says that it is the love of money that is the a root of evil.  (seems to me, older versions say the root, nonetheless, it is one of those almost quotes that serves the devil’s purpose.  You see, money is not root of evil.  Indeed, it serves a purpose for God.  It permits people to trade in an organized way.

On the other hand, when people take money through robbery or deceit, it defeats the purpose of money.  Normally, money represents something you contributed to society.  For instance, a doctor saves lives.  For this, he receives money.  With the money, he purchases other things: food that represents the work of farmers; cars that represent the work of factories and miners; and a home which was built by a whole bunch of folks.

It might seem to you that I am changing subjects; but please bear with me.

I was speaking to a Vietnam vet one day.  He asked me if I put in for some kind of Agent Orange compensation.  I told him that I was never near the stuff and I never suffered from it.  He told me to apply for it anyway.  He said we are all entitled to it.

Quite frankly, I could use the money.  However, to me, that is dishonest.  I did nothing to earn that money.  Therefore, if I received that money I would consider it thievery, even though it might be legal.

If I had taken the money, I would still been a thief.  So it is that the world is full of people who have no guilt in taking money that is not theirs.

…and so it was, when President Trump tried to distribute money to people who really need it.  those who had conscience lined up and took the money, even though they knew it was not intended for them.  Naturally, the dummycrats made their attempts to distribute the money to their contributors.  This, of course they did, knowing that the people who really needed it were being denied while they tried to incorporate many of their political ideas.

Businesses, colleges, and who knows who all, applied for the money and received it.  This, of course, meant that the ones who needed it didn’t get it.  That, however, is beside the point.  Though they knew it was wrong, they applied for it.  It was legal theft.

Fortunately, much of the ill gotten gain was returned; but only because they were shamed into it.

You see, apparently, they had a love of money that provoked them to do evil.

It is sort of the problem with government distributing money.  Much of it goes to legal thieves, those who are provoked to evil by their lust for an easy buck.  They have no respect for those from whom they steal.

As a side note:

It seems every time New York suffers a crisis, the rest of the country pays the bill for their lack of preparation.  If it weren’t for the loss of life, I would suggest we should have just let the state sink or swim on their own.  I had a storage shed in my back yard.  When it got wiped out during a storm, no one from New York offered to help me out.  When they get hit by a storm, we pour tons of money into the rebuilding of New York.  Just maybe, if we let them sink or swim on their own, they just might start preparing better instead of crying for ventilators on TV hour after hour… after the fact.

Let’s face it; a little prepping is a good thing.

What to Do With the WHO…& the UN

Posted in Abuse of Power, Communism, Politcal Opinion, Uncategorized, United Nations, World Health Organization (WHO) by

I used to think the best thing to do with the UN was to vacate the building and turn it over to the homeless.  After what the World Health Organization did to us… and the world, I think that would be too good for them.

Instead, I think the property should be condemned and reduced to rubble.  Then, the rubble should be pushed into the nearest body of water.  Then on top of the rubble, we should build a memorial to those that the WHO helped to kill.  (In case you are one of the few who don’t know how, by aiding the Chinese in the spreading the Corona Virus.)

The Who is not the only corrupt organization in the United Nations.  Indeed the whole outfit is so corrupt that there is no hope of straightening them out in this century.  It is sort of a fact of life, the bigger the governing body, the more corrupt it will be.

Even so, they did not act alone.  Our own national health organizations sort of helped them.  They hardly fought them.  They refused to call it a pandemic until after the WHO did.  They lacked the proper scientific suspicion, even though the WHO never really properly presented itself as anything more than what it is.

I would like to say we have learned our lesson, about the communist Chinese and the WHO.  However, it is more likely that we have learned our lesson until the next time.

So.  This is the purpose of my suggestion.  Hopefully, if we have a memorial, maybe we’ll remember.

As for what to do with the UN organization, we should unload them on some other country, maybe even China.  Then the Chinese would have to put up with all their diplomatic shenanigans, like parking illegally.

Then again, maybe they could take a hint from one of my books.  They could tow a bunch of barges out into the middle of the Atlantic and latch them together.  I am sure that with all of out great minds, we could build them so they would stay afloat.

The neat part about that is that there will be no need for diplomatic cars and no need to park them.

Viruses Complicate Things

Posted in Uncategorized by

Just went down to pay my car tag.  The place was closed.  I thought I had it bad.  The woman that arrived after me needed to register a new car.  Hope things go well for her.  I just went to the tax collector internet site and paid it in about five minutes.  (I type slow)  Somehow or other, I think it will be more complex for her.  I’m Glad I don’t plan on buying any vehicles in the near future.

Same, Same

Posted in Abuse of Power, Communism, Deceit, Dummycrats, Politcal Opinion, President Trump, Uncategorized by

When I was in Vietnam, I was introduced to a new phrase, “Same, same.”  At first I had no idea what the woman was trying to tell me, but then someone who had been in country explained it to me.  She was trying to tell me that the Cool Aid I made was the same as water.  (It seems that they like the stuff over there so much that if you turn you head a second or two it will disappear.)

At any rate, when I see what is happening over there in China, it reminded me of the incident.  It would seem that the Chinese government and business are the same, same.  To be sure, the more of us that realize that, the better off we’ll be.  To be sure, the line between private businesses and the communist government is non-existent.  It is simply an optical illusion that the communists would like us to believe in.

It would appear that President Trump knew this even before he was sworn in.  It would also appear there are many in this county who still don’t know it and they exists on both sides of the aisle.

HEADLINE: Obama Endorses Biden

Posted in Obama, Politcal Opinion, unbelievable, Uncategorized by

That IS NOT news!  It was totally expected.  Who else is he going to endorse?

Now if he had endorsed the current present, that would have been news.  That might even draw more attention than world war three.

Either way, when it is all over, Obama just might regret it.  After it is all said and done, he just might start looking for a cave to hide in.

Keep it Simple!

Posted in Computer Hacking, Computer Upgrades, Computers by

In the late 1980s, I bought my first PC, an 80286 that ran at 12 MHz and it had 1 MB of Ram.  Because it was running on DOS 3.2, I had to partition my 40 MB disk into to logical disk or I would not be able to access 8 MB. I had Windows 3.1.

To some, this may seem inadequate, but it worked well.  Indeed, the only two reasons I upgraded were:

  1. To access the greater hardware, especially hard drives and memory.
  2. To access USB devices.  Windows 5.1 theoretically allowed USB, but not in reality.  I tried it.

I consider windows 5 the best of all the systems, though I did have some gripes with the way Microsoft was already trying to take control of my system.  They came up with these really neat things called registries, which hardly anyone outside Microsoft can understand.  I’m not sure that there is any documentation on the things.

My personal opinion is that Microsoft is using them to keep people from pirating their software.  I have news for them.  It doesn’t stop the pirating but it does really mess things up for us honest folks.  Worse yet, it has made it difficult to install and backup system disks.  Until I had Windows 5, I backed up and restored my system once a month.  It was a good way to build confidence for the day that something bad happened.

Since then, Microsoft has come out with another operating system every time I turned around.  Some were better, some worse.  Windows ME should have never left the barn.  The new IBM PC bought came with it installed and it froze at least once a day, many times more.  (It taught me to make sure I backed up my work every 15 minutes.)

The real problem is that each newer system is more complex than the last.  It really makes me long for Windows 3.1, even if I have to give up USB and huge storage devices.  The fact is, a 1 or 2-hundred MB disk would be plenty if I don’t need a couple of GB just for the operating system.

Moreover, much slower systems would be far more productive if Windows 10 weren’t so much large and clumsy.

The worst part of it is that it seems every time I turn on my laptop, it is time for an update.  Some of the updates take a long time.  Essentially, I can’t do anything until it’s done.

I get it.  Mostly it is for security.  The thing is, the reason for the need for the security is because there are so many holes in Windows.  Sorry, Microsoft.  Sometimes the truth hurts.

As if that isn’t enough, Microsoft has decided I need the cloud.  Whenever I finish an update, their cloud program starts whenever I start the system.  It takes me a few minutes to take it back off.  They might like the cloud but I don’t.  It greatly slows my system.

Moreover, as I said, the system is full of holes.  It seems as if every month I hear of someone else who has had their system hacked.  That’s dumb.  I know enough about computers that I know computers operating systems can be built without holes.  It’s simple.  Build three operating systems.  You can keep one with all the bells and whistles… and the holes.  One system would be very simple, for folks like me.  All I need is the basic three: word processor, spread sheet and basic web interface, which would include a very basic E-mail.  Perhaps, the email could be integrated into the word processor.  The E-mail would be limited to text and photos.  It’s pretty hard to download a worm with an interface like that.  Upgrades would be less frequent and should be through stores, not the internet.  Finally, hopefully, backups should be quick and simple.  That way, when things don’t go right, it wouldn’t be a disaster.

The third operating system would be the same as the second, but it might have a few more bells and whistles.  It would have the big advantage of security.  Certainly, this would be used for any system that stores sensitive information: Names, SSNs, account numbers and such.  Governments at all levels should use this type of system even if Microsoft refuses to build it.  Mostly, should such a system have problems, the OS and programs should be restorable in minutes, not hours.  Also, restores should be practiced regularly.  Bottom line, there should be no way to cause any program to be downloaded and run remotely.

If all three systems were available, I wonder just which would sell the most.  I know which one I would want, not the one with the bells and whistles.  Those that select the system with all the bells and whistles just might want the simple system too, after they were bit by security problems a few times.  They might want to change the first time someone gets access to their bank account, or worse, their 401(k).

…and by the way, the simpler system would run much faster and would require less disk and memory.  The old saying is true, “Keep it simple stupid.”

The Preppers

Posted in gun control, Prepping, Uncategorized by

As a lark, I wrote a book, “The Prepper.”  I never intended it to be serious, just fun.  There are about a dozen or so people who have read most of my books and they give me feedback.   Every one of them has told me that “The Prepper” is my best book.  Apparently, they are not the only ones with that opinion.  It outsells all my other books combined.

I would not have brought it up but it does seem to be relevant to our current events.  Of all the things that dooms day preppers prepare for, the one that I always thought of as least needed was the idea of preparing for an epidemic.  Now look.  It would appear that I must reconsider.

Note: While we out here fight to avoid the virus, there are possibly doomsday preppers who have retreated down into their bunkers completely safe from the little things.  I did a little research on the things.  They are about 1 millionth of one meter, too small to be seen with any standard microscope.

It would seem I should have done some preparing.  I am now down 4 rolls of TP and every time I walk into a store, the shelves are empty.  I haven’t been able to find any rubbing alcohol for at least a month.  I can’t even find the little pads I need as a diabetic.

I noticed the other day that I was running low on 409 spray cleaner and decided to get some more.  Not going to happen.  None of that around or anything like it.  Oddly, there is plenty beer.  Can’t quite figure that.  Is it so important that they want to make sure we have plenty or is that they don’t want to lose the chance to sell the high profit proeduct.  I did notice that the PX’s in Vietnam never ran out of beer but there were times that there were shortages soft drinks.  (Just an observation)

Needless to say, I have a whole new concept in priorities.  Once this is all over, if I survive, I will become something of a prepper.  I will make sure I always have at least 200 rolls of TP and at least a dozen bottles of rubbing alcohol.  Oh, yes.  I will go out and buy more of the alcohol pads any time I have less than six boxes.  It might seem a bit extreme and I used to think so too… a couple of months ago.

Now, I wonder if it will be enough.  It’s not that expensive, but it does cause problems when we run out.

By the way, I would appreciate if you buy my book and I think you will have fun reading it.  Conceivably you might be able to find it by just entering “The Prepper” on the search line.  I don’t know.  It worked for me but it might not work for anyone else.

If the above doesn’t work, you can go to my author’s page or do a search on me, Ben Rhodes on Amazon’s web site.  As always, I always appreciate comments or questions.  Just please keep them short and G rated. My E-mail is Kaay@att.net.

One more kind of side note.  My first book is, more or less, about a ring.  After reading it, I realized something.  It’s better to write people.  Hence “The Prepper” is about people and specifically a prepper named Will.  It is not about prepping.  Apparently, this disappointed one person who read it.  Sorry.  I guess I should have made it clearer.

So, other than “The Secret of the Ring,” all my books are about people, not things.

2 Questions I’ve considered

Posted in Abuse of Power, Communism, Lobbyists, Mistakes, Politcal Opinion by

Why is that the CDC refused to isolate people who contracted a disease that was 100% fatal, namely AIDS, and they insist on isolating people with a disease that is likely less that 1% fatal, namely Coronavirus?

OK. I get it.  AIDS is normally not passed through the air.  However, originally they didn’t know that.  So it is that millions died because they got it wrong.  Considering these scientists have a bunch of college degrees, they sure do some dumb things.  Right now, I’m not sure I would trust them to, well, anything.  Certainly, I would not want them running anything such as the nations health system.

It just goes to show what happens when a bunch of people are given a task to run something when they are not elected and are not responsible to anyone, also know as bureaucrats.  Let’s face it, no matter how badly they mess things up, not one will be fired, or even demoted.  Indeed, many will tell us how well they handed the epidemic.

This brings me to the second question, why do we put such important things in the hands of bureaucrats?  Maybe the best thing for us to do for our health is to shut down the CDC.  Right now it is starting to look like a bunch of people trying to protect their jobs, not the health and lives of Americans.

…and by the way, we all know the reason AIDS patients weren’t isolated.  The first time someone tried it, the homosexuals yelled like someone hit their thumbs with a hammer.  (by the way, it was suggested a time or two, but not for long.)

A side note: The isolation would benefit the AIDS patient as well. AIDS weakens the immune system.  People who have it are more susceptible to diseases other people bring to them.

And so it was that millions died so that the nation would serve the god of political correctness.