Tag: OCF Update

25JAN2021 – OCF Update – New Things

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The good guys at Whatfinger have asked me if I’d be interested in getting them to link up to a Friday feature on OCF where I put together a bunch links to good articles I’ve found.  With that in mind if any of the readers here come across any interesting links put them in the comments to this post and I’ll check them out.  I’ve also reached out to some other blogs that I am associated with to see if they have anything I might want to look at.  So this should be an interesting learning experience for me.  I’m thinking of calling it photog’s Friday Finds.  What do you think, clever enough?  You see, because ph sounds like f it’s alliterative, right right?  Anyway I’m still working on the name.

More people are coming to the site and commenting.  And yesterday I had a commenter “John Chapter 8,” who took issue with my definition of a what traditional wife was.  Okay, so we disagree.  He may state things a little more angrily than I choose to but I see the points he’s making.  Maybe he saw the point that my reply to him was trying to make.  The main thing is there was some dialog.  And as long as it doesn’t turn into some insane rant then information has a chance to pass back and forth.  And others reading this also can make up their minds about what is being debated.  I’m actually supportive of a reasonable airing out of opinions.  My way of looking at it is, have your say.  If everyone has his say then at least you get that much satisfaction.  It’s not like anyone is going to convince everyone even on a small site like OCF to think the same way.  But there is value in making your case.  Being forced to make a persuasive argument sharpens the mind.  You may even have to modify your own beliefs if you look at them closely enough.

I think a significant number of people have found the “Reclaiming the Family” series interesting.  I intend to look around at additional subjects under that category that I can think about.  In general I think it’s time to start looking at how all this madness in our politics is effecting regular people and write about that.  One avenue that could really use attention is the effect on the younger people.  And by younger I’m extending that all the way up to people in their forties.  As a codger I am sort of trapped in the “boomer mindset.”  I get a kick out of the “sure boomer” meme that the zoomers and millennials have adopted as their battle cry.  I am not unsympathetic to their position but I also think they are being manipulated to some extent by certain of their peers.  For every selfish old guy who is saying “let them eat cake” there are ten oldies who worry constantly about their children and grandchildren and want to help build a brighter future than the bleak dystopia that the Left is making.

Anyway, this should be a busy week and there are all kind of cultural and political things I am looking at.  I just started reading Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago and it has opened my eyes to just how far we will have to fall before we are anything close to the horror show that Soviet Russia was.  And other stuff too.  Have a great day.

22JAN2021 – OCF Update – Glass Half Full Kind of Day

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I feel disgustingly cheerful today.  It’s a very bright sunny day here in the gulag.  Because of the bitter cold, the furnace is roaring away on fuel oil and the forced hot water is merrily exchanging heat with the air in my living room here at the Compound.  Camera Girl has sallied forth in Old Car to Wally World to bring me flesh, and bring me wine, and bring me pine logs hither, sort of.  Old dog and not so old dog are lazing near the radiators and I have just finished listening to the ZMan’s Friday Power Hour, his weekly podcast, and despite the predictions of crime waves and government malfeasance it was surprisingly upbeat, I thought.

And I find myself almost ebullient.  In the last four days I think four of my posts were linked over at Whatfinger and several thousand extra pageviews were registered and new subscribers joined and new voices appeared in the comments and an interesting opportunity for the site has appeared that may bring still more traffic here.  So, a big shout out to Sergeant Pat and the other guys over at Whatfinger.

But in addition, recent events have led me to believe that the result of the fraudulent election will spark changes in this country that are all for the good.  The spell is broken.  Everyone is paying attention to the man behind the curtain.  And he is definitely not the great and powerful anything.  He’s just a cheap grifter with a very powerful organization pulling the strings.  The problem for him is that, us being able to see the strings takes away a good deal of the effectiveness of his grift.  If the suckers figure out that the three-card monte game is really there as a distraction to help the pickpockets in the crowd then it becomes a lot harder to pick pockets.  If the Eloi figure out that the Morlocks are cannibals then they’ll stop walking into the frying pan and that will make it a lot harder on the poor Morlocks trying to make an honest living eating Eloi.

And the other part of this whole thing is that I actually feel happier not having to make believe I’m in any way associated with people who either believe or publicly pretend to believe that Dementia Joe is their leader.  I want to be in a separate grouping from them.  I’m ecstatic if they shun me.  I look forward to having different social media platforms, payment processors, crowdfunding sites, even retailers and banks.  All those things will be immeasurably better if leftists shun them completely.  We should make a point of emblazoning on everything we own some triggering slogan that will send the SJW’s into paroxysms of rage and assure that they will never patronize that site.  If I thought it would do any good, I’d emblazon the header of my site with “All Lives Matter!!!!” or something equally scandalous.

Of course, an enormous amount of work is ahead of us to build these new platforms and the Left will do everything they can to torture and attack us every step of the way.  But we are still infinitely better off now that the lights are on and we can see the threats.  Blundering around in the dark is not only dangerous but it’s also demoralizing.  An unseen danger is much more frightening and confusing.  For tens of millions of people, the knowledge of who is and isn’t your friend will make avoiding harm a lot easier.  Thinking that Mitch McConnell and John Roberts will ride to our rescue is now obvious lunacy.  It’s Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown for the millionth time.  It’s done for all but the terminally stupid.

We are at last moving on from the grifters.

20JAN2021 – OCF Update – Day One of Post-America

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I was talking with some buddies of mine during the nailing up of the scarecrow in DC this morning and we were speculating on what kinds of things we could expect.  The first thing mentioned was that gasoline will be between four and five dollars a gallon as soon as fracking is banned.  That led to speculation about oil company stocks which have been significantly lower in price in the last year because of the COVID collapse in commuting.  We all agreed that they would start rising significantly in price.  Something to think about for long term investors.  A couple of guys brought up that Dementia Joe was sure to start the solar and wind grifts going again just like his old butt buddy Obama back in his Solyndra Scam days.  One guy said there would be a pay day if you get in and out before the collapse that was bound to occur after the scammers sucked the cash out of the government subsidies.  Another guy told him to stick to picking cards in three-card monte games as the odds were better.

I told the guys I’ve begun reading Solzhenitsyn to see if I can pick up any pointers on how to live in a gulag.  They thought that was a little gloomy of me.  But I told them I could see how looking at the Soviet mindset would be valuable.  I wished them a successful end of the week and signed off.

Today is a sad day for anyone who loved this country growing up.  It’s almost as if they thought long and hard at who would be the worst man they could pretend was President of the United States.  Look at the scorecard.  As a politician Dementia Joe was always a mediocre hack.  Recent developments prove that he sold his services to the Chinese and Ukrainians, with his crack addict son Hunter as the bagman.  Intellectually he was known to be a mental midget even in his prime, having been caught plagiarizing smarter people both in school and as a candidate for President.  And now in his dotage he can barely get through a paragraph of teleprompter text without stammering and drawing a blank on what he was trying to say.  He probably is closing in on middle-stage dementia and now we’re going to see him in charge of the nuclear arsenal and the world economy.

But replacing him with his Vice President will be going from the frying pan into the fire.  Willie Brown’s Ho is equally dim-witted and equally dishonest.  And listening to her speak is even worse than suffering through Biden’s jabbering.  Her histrionics during the Democrat debates reminded me of a female mental patient during an emotional breakdown.

I hope to spend some time mocking and lampooning our evil idiots in Washington.  There will be some joy in that.  I hope I can be scurrilous enough that they outrage the other side.  They truly deserve it.  But other than that I’ll spend my time looking for and highlighting activity on our side of the political fence and researching any strategies that will allow us to avoid the fallout of living under the tyranny of the banana republic regime that has been installed.

Just to repeat, this is a sad day for America but we must learn to adapt to these circumstances begin the job of building our own society.  Day One of Post-America survived.

15JAN2021 – OCF Update

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I have had a an account on Gab since 2016 but stopped using it because it was a pretty chaotic.  I’m going to try posting there again to see if I get any feedback there.

This week will be another circus as the Dems pretend that Dementia Joe is the target of an army of ninja assassins who will do anything to derail the great Biden restoration.  I will be studiously ignoring all of that nonsense.  I’m just waiting for the impeachment farce to play out so that I can collect the names of Senators who need to be primaried.

I have been re-reading Homer’s Odyssey (Fitzgerald’s poetic translation).  It is a great story and reminds me that the timeless story of a brave man and a faithful woman facing the adventure of a mad world still has something to say to us today.  But it was so strange.  The sunburned Aethiopians were mentioned but at no point did Zeus get around to giving the rest of the Olympians a struggle session about how Sunburned Aethiopians Lives Matter.  And shockingly, even though Odysseus was accosted by several goddesses during his wanderings not a single one of them was a trans-goddess.  Well, I’m sure the publishers will write one in.

When I get through I’m going to start reading J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy.  I heard they made a movie out of it which kind of scares me.  But I’ve heard it’s interesting.

And I’ve started re-watching the TV series Justified.  Camera Girl and I agree that there just doesn’t seem to be a new show that’s anywhere as good.  Just proves that good writing trumps everything else in drama.

30DEC2020 – OCF Update – End of Year Roundup

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Well, I’ve posted my New Year’s Resolutions and now I will do a review of the site content and select my favorite photos, quotes, and posts from the last twelve months.  There are bound to be some surprises in there.  Hopefully I’ll post them today or tomorrow.  I’ll try to keep bitter irony to a minimum because it’s best to start the New Year as optimistically as humanly possible.  Hope is a flickering candle and should be protected from the cold wind of reality as well as can be.

And just to get the ball rolling on my endeavor here is the photo of the day from last January 1st.  This definitely won’t be a best of but it is the first picture of 2020.

23DEC2020 – OCF Update – Christmas Holiday Notes

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Well, that last post ( The Deplorables Are Waiting for a Sign ) must have hit a nerve.  I think a whole lot of people are just as fed up.  And as I said I think they’re right.  Words aren’t going to change anything so what’s the use of a lot of talk.

So I think I’ll take a couple of days and enjoy some really splendiferous food out of Camera Girl’s kitchen and spend some time with the family and think a little bit before I pontificate.  In the absence of a successful action to send Creepy Uncle Joe back to the cracker factory I think that local actions will be the only things that do any good.

I may have some reviews and maybe some links if anything good shows up but I’ll spend the next couple of days enjoying life.  I hope you do too.

Merry Christmas

photog

19DEC2020 – OCF Update

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The Christmas season is upon us here and it is taking its toll on my writing schedule.  But I’ll crank somethings out as soon as something interesting catches my attention.  In the meantime I’ll be providing movie, music and book reviews as I finish them.

The election and its aftermath are the big question on everyone’s mind but I’m already focusing on how the two camps in our country will begin dealing with each other.  I’m expecting that there will be a reaction to the election fraud in some major way.  The idea of a new party is one version but some kind of organization will be needed and also a clear plan for making the needed changes to who represents us.  I’m also interested to see who step up to become the leaders of our new movement.  President Trump, of course will be in the forefront.  But what needs to be seen is who are the leaders for the future.  We also need governors and senators who aren’t losers.  No more McCains, no more Romneys.  And we need new media that won’t lie to us and stifle our voices.

On a personal note Christmas Eve and Christmas are shaping up nicely with Lasagna on the Eve and a Roast for Christmas.  And it looks like we won’t have bitterly cold weather but actually quite warm (50’s).  And I assume all you folks out there are spending less time on-line and more time with your holiday plans too.

 

So hang in there and I’ll have some interesting content soon.

 

 

10DEC2020 – OCF Update – Things That I Am Trying to Figure Out

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Output’s been slow the last day or so because I’ve been working on some bigger fish.  I’m starting an sf&f book that I’ve been kicking around for a while.  It’s sort of a combination of sf and fantasy.  It always gets blurry when you start adding multiverses and immortals.  And that’s fine as far I’m concerned.  If you consider the ramifications of things like quantum superposition then it’s hard to say that reality draws a clear line between science and magic.  But it’s been fun and I’m making pretty good progress on both the outline and the beginning of the book.  But it has cut into my blogging time lately.

Also, I’ve been trying to do a little more analytical thinking about our present political situation.  We may have reached the point where yelling at the top of our lungs for people to wake up is no longer a useful task.  I think everyone who isn’t stupid or evil has acknowledged that our government is hopelessly compromised against us.  We need to switch gears and now focus on concrete plans to change the status quo.

And guess what, that’s not the easiest thing in the world to figure out.  It’s not just one thing.  It’s a million things.  We are up against an almost monolithic structure that is intent on destroying our way of life.  Individual defensive and offensive actions against such an opponent are so microscopically weak that they border on futility.  It’s obvious that organization is the key to expanding our impact.  But what organizations exist and which can you trust?

That is the kind of research I’ve been doing and it takes a lot of time and doesn’t provide instant results.  But there is no way of getting around the analysis.  So even though I enjoy ranting and raving and even though I think there is value in providing moral support and personal testament on the day-to-day events in the news I’m also looking to find answers to the questions we all have.  Is there an organization that is making progress against our enemies?  Is there an organization that can help us if we are attacked?  Is there a resource for finding allies in the different activities of our lives?  Such as religion, education, family activities, entertainment, sports, literature, professional societies, legal help, political organizing.  What corporations are on our side, or at least have made a point to remain neutral?  What news or social media companies will cater to us?  If any of you have done similar searches feel free to leave something in the comments that will provide a lead in my search.

I know this is a very long-term project so I try to keep it from dominating my day.  But at the same time, sometimes I have to follow a white rabbit pretty far down a hole to find out if he’s real or not.  So that’s what I’ve been busy with lately.  And I have the real-life stuff going on like all of you.  Christmas is coming up and we have things to take care of, and end of year stuff to attend to.  There are the young who need to be taught and the old who need to be remembered.  And Camera Girl is there to roll her eyes and shake her head in disapproval and attend to the ordering of her domestic universe, which she believes gives her authority over all of my world.  Hah!

24NOV2020 – OCF Update

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First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all of my fellow Americans out there.  I know we’re all living through the horrors that the Left has cooked up for us.  The lockdowns, the rampaging psychopaths and finally the fraudulent election plot.  It may seem insane to even talk about a happy anything but I refuse to let these horrible people rob me and my family of at least part of the joy that the holiday is supposed to provide.  My family gathering won’t be as large as some years but it will still be joyous and include children and grandchildren and a whole lot of turkey and other fattening food.  I hope to introduce my two year old granddaughter to the March of the Wooden Soldiers, Gulliver’s Travels and the art of getting the larger piece of the wishbone during the contest.  So please make sure to have some joy on Thursday even if it has to be by phone or video call.  After all generations of Americans have had to delay gatherings because of war and other emergencies.  We can hope that the present travesty will be ended some time in the near future if for no other reason than because a vaccine is imminent.

Secondly, I want to say that content may be a little sparse here because of all this merrymaking.  I intend to put out posts as often as possible but usually there is a lull in news and in web traffic during the holidays so the resource and the need may both lag to some degree.  But I intend to put up various reviews of movies, tv shows, books and other items that I think will be of general interest.  And I will continue to look for content from guest contributors.  So if you have something you’d like to contribute leave a note in the comments and I’ll get back to you.

Thirdly and lastly, I’d like to just address the election situation.  Many gloom and doomers seem extremely eager to throw in the towel.  They call me every day with some latest disaster that they hope will convince me that I must join them in the ranks of the defeated.  I’ve asked several of them whether they’ll get some kind of early bird special bonus for conceding now rather than wait for the actual resolution.  I have to say I really don’t understand why they’re in a hurry to concede the election to Joe Biden.  That seems like a situation that I would want to delay for as long as humanly possible.  But to each his own.  Anyway, I’ll allow President Trump and his legal team all the time they need to plead their case before the Supreme Court.  I think that anyone who claims to know in advance how that decision will be made is mistaken.  My opinion, and it is just that, my opinion, is that the odds are exactly 50/50.  So I’d prefer to enjoy Thanksgiving and let the process play out.  There’s plenty of time to react to the facts on the ground once they are.  So I’ll wait until there’s something interesting to discuss and then I will.