This holiday “weekend” has been chaotic and fragmented by forces personal and institutional. Saturday and Sunday were large family gatherings during which no usable amount of website work was possible. And that is as it should be. But just to make sure I was completely ineffective I’ve been wasting my time trying to figure out why the new Google Analytics (GA4) data was so awful. I could see the “Realtime” pageviews but the reports that approximate the old ones were blank. Well after hours and hours of horsing around on-line trying to tweak them into compliance with my needs, I find out the real problem is they’re time delayed. The results can be hidden for up to eight hours. How useless is that? Oh well. Now I have a completely new reason for hating Google. They’re probably trying to save money. The cheap bastards!
Well, France is burning. This must be their Summer of George moment. It sounds like their police haven’t taken a knee yet. Who knows? Maybe they’ll bite the bullet and fight the war they’ve created for themselves within their own country. Or maybe not. It’s an interesting moment. Macron is a useless weasel. In point of fact, he probably gives useless weasels a bad name and they’d like to disown him in order to get out from under the cloud of revulsion that he generates around him. I wonder if this will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and throws France into the arms of the Right Wing. After all, it’s a long summer left and things may get much, much uglier before it’s over.
It looks like Elon Musk is serious about turning Twitter into a legitimate town square. Crippling the Big Brother bots that scrape the site for instances of bad think is very encouraging. If instead of 900,000,000 tweets being scraped a day it’s 8,000 well, that’s a reduction of about 99.999%. Not bad! Seriously, he’s got a tiger by the tail and they’ll surely make his life hell but at least he’s putting up a fight. For the first time Twitter is somewhat fun. I even see some of the “bad thinkers” rattling around in there. It’s down-right egalitarian.
On the local front, Dunwich has been inundated with a Noachian flood that is even frightening the fish in the local swamp. I was trying to imagine how I would get pairs of the various species, male and female into the trunk of my car but I kept worrying about the poor transgender salamanders that might be discriminated against in the mini-port-i-sans that I would create out of household items found in Camera Girl’s recycle bin. I was thinking that the dairy creamer bottle would be best. I was trying to figure out what would be the internationally recognizable symbols for male salamanders and female salamanders to adorn the bathrooms. Possibly accentuated eyelashes for the girls? It’s so complicated. But regardless we are very waterlogged at this point. The vegetable garden hasn’t given up the ghost yet but the zucchini does appear slightly bilious.
Recently Camera Girl has placed a sign in the kitchen that declares, “IT IS WHAT IT IS.” Apparently one of her sisters believes that this is one of her favorite expressions. Now, for years Camera Girl has claimed that she invented “JUST DO IT” well before Nike trademarked that saying. Well, I’m a little dubious of her claims and those of her nuclear family. But looking at that sign every time I range into the kitchen I am becoming more of a fan. I am surrounded by faits accomplis everywhere I look. Let’s face it, almost every enterprise and government jurisdiction is a racket or a grift. Being outraged is a waste of time and just keeping track of them is a full-time job. Saying, “it is what it is,” is another way of resetting the situation and moving onto something more profitable.
So, most of the time I don’t bother looking for the articles decrying some outrage. Instead, I look for one pointing to something practical like joining a boycott or finding an alternative platform for something or supporting someone who leans our way. But I most enjoy punishing my enemies. I’ll do far more to see Mitt Romney primaried than supporting some moderate who “will get the independent vote.” But coming to terms with how bad things really are is liberating and it’s healthy. Lately I feel a lot less down. So, “it is what it is.”
I’ve got some work on both Tuesday and Thursday and an out of state trip on Saturday so there will continue to be a slightly lower throughput. But next week is the new regime. And I promise to do better. So, hang in there.
“So, most of the time I don’t bother looking for the articles decrying some outrage. Instead, I look for…”
Increasingly, I look to see if some politico(or worthy other) is either arrested or being put in jail. Saves a lot of time.
Neil, a happy ending is always nice.
Governments, ours and allies and enemies alike, are not only more corrupt than you imagine or that you can imagine, but it goes even deeper and wider than that.
You’re right War Pig. So now I try to concentrate on what I can control or at least influence.
Camera Girl’s poster reminds me of a similar expression from the TV Series “The Prisoner”. When his entry in the Village Craft Fair brings much consternation, one of the judges asks “What is it?”
He answers “It is what it means!”
But what does it mean?”
“It means what it IS!”
Be seeing you!
Like Camera Girl some people enjoy being laconic. I on the other hand strive for clarity. But fail miserably. But the journey is its own reward. Hey that sounded profound!