Better Warring

 Wars are nasty things when one faction, forces and threatens another faction to bend to its domination. I maintain that the warring folk are going about it all the wrong way. If you want to charm another country or group to go your way, as is said, "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar". That saying is all wrong, too, of course, because if you have an influx of fruit flies in your home, for example, you get out the nice red wine vinegar, pour it into a little jar with a tiny  hole in it big enough for a fly, and it's a fly trap. It is very effective and all the little insects have smiles on their faces having consumed large amounts of their favorite nectar. People are not flies, and you have to convince them in a better way. If one country, a mythical one, for these purposes, is it not better for it to find a way that doesn't involve putting a lot of military time, effort, people and money  to charm away the folks you want to conquer? It makes more sense to tempt your enemies and avoid the blood shed and all sorts of destructive behaviours that only hurts both sides. A potential conqueror might offer a package that is so good, it makes the former enemy, want to join up. For example, you can put forth a much more advantageous situation than the one that the other side is in. You could work hard at making the offer convince your former opponents of such a better lifestyle and future than the one they alread thought they had, they want yours. It can't cost more than warring. Few people could deny that upgrading their lives and  making them feel safer and more hopeful and joyous than the ones they struggle in currently would be nice. Most of what we call patriotism lies in an ideal existence that is beneficial rather than aggressive or  punitive, thus flag waving and pointing out heroes is mainly to show how great life has been and that one wants to continue down that pathway. It hasn't much to do with a piece of cloth but rather what it represents and that it is desirable to continue remembering it in the colours on that fabric. Patriotism  has to do with the word "pater" or father and in describing that strength which includes mother and father or that of a family. Family is a place of safety and security. Too bad war can't be turned into generous power, love, a much stronger than military force that causes humans to flee.

One Button

The other day, I lost my wonderful all-day music that I get via wifi from my TV server. I am a one-ish sort of gal. I dislike change but do change and then stick to it. I dislike buying anything that says "new and improved" because it isn't and hasn't. This sort of tells  you what kind of old lady I am. When I screwed up my system the other day by pushing the wrong buttons on my remote for the big, really big,  TV, I ended up with a screen abounding with what looked like another language. It asked me questions that led me down another path to where somehow I ended up ressurecting my set back to what is called "store". It was like fresh off the shelf now. I called my server company. This is major. First I got someone who is really no one, and I was asked what the problem was. Did I want a text. No, I hate cell phones. The phone I used said she would help. It didn't. I pressed zero and said agent, agent.  It worked and I was told that I would be called back on my number and not to worry because they'd give me three chances to answer. Later, I got someone in another part of the world who I doubted knew anything about my android seventy five inch TV on her desert island. She told me (I think) to look for the buttons on the side or the back of my TV. I told her there is nothing on the side or bottom and if I have to move it away from the wall, I could die if it fell on me. She said all TVs have hidden buttons. I moved the TV out. No buttons. Her voice snarled "all TVs have them". I repeated "there is only one button and it is for off or on". I hung up. Much later when I somehow solved the problem, having gone to Youtube and asked about the one button thing. One button does it all.  My music is back as well as all the other delights that make up my only entertainment. I don't go out. The secret is to hold the button down and magic happens. A screen appears and you tap the button lightly to move up and down and then hold it to keep. Simple. I told my server company, a huge one, to inform their tech agents through the little doodle in the corner. It  never gets it. It said, " please reword your comment; I don't  understand".  I replied, "Of course, you don't understand. You aren't human. Good-bye." 

Shedding

 Animals shed. People don't shed; not even pounds. How many times do we encounter ads about doing various things to lose weight?  Do we really need to take the popular pill so that we can continue to stuff our mouths with ugly foods, I use the term loosely, that make us load on fat? No. Do we really need to take out gym memberships and either go there four times a week if not more, or only once? No. Do we really  need to pick a diet to follow and then give it up via boredom? No. Do we really need to go to a weight loss clinics for scary shots and pills and weighers and tape measures? No. Do we really need to talk non-stop over the cafe table with our pals and bore eavesdroopers? No. Do we really need to cry into our pillows at night when the party dress or pants won't fit? No. So what do we do, if you're so smart? Stop stuffing yourself with things that you know will make you fat and stop making excuses as to why you need to, and stop fretting over the bathroom scales. I found  the perfect way to lose weight and it was so easy  and unplanned that I didn't notice that I had lost weight until my jeans fell off, even after I did up the top button. How did that happen I wondered? You know that little angel that sits on your right shoulder? She told me something my mother of long ago used to say constantly. "Don't eat unless you are hungry. When you are eating, the moment you are no longer hungry, stop eating no matter how much is left on the plate." That's the "diet"! Most mothers force us to eat all that's on the plate but that's for little kids, not us. I am not hungry after my first cup of morning coffee with honey and a dash of cream. I am not hungry really, until early afternoon. Really. Strangley, I began prepping a nice mid day dinner about that time every day. It takes an hour or so to do a mini gourmet.  When I did sit down and eat a lovely, but small dinner, as soon as I was no longer hungry, I quit. In the evening now when I like a snack, I have a treat. That's all there is to it. Don't laugh. Try it. 

Someone told me that was fasting. Whatever it is it works but then, I am not even thinking about shedding. That's not for humans. 

Atlasette Ninety

 The drawing of Atlas holding earth is classic. Although the tale means the strength of Atlas having to hold up humanity on earth and the sky, he is the epitome of being inhumanly strong. When you are eighty-five plus, it's the time when you have to be stronger than you have ever been in your life, been. Some may say, that's not true because here I am rearing a bunch of kids and working and surviving all of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, and there you are with a guaranteed pension and living in your own home and all you do is sit around all day. You've heard it all before. While it is impossible to convince the younger gens that my theory about the aged having to be stronger than they once were, it is a truth. You can, as an elder, give up and let your kids or your "home" or assistants do the maintenance of your living a long time, or you can buck up and do it all yourself. No one is going to thank you or even notice. To do it yourself takes almost inhuman grit. Facts are, that you still have to clean house and garden, endure daily natural pain with aging joints and  muscles that have been working for far too many decades. They are rebelling but stiffening or aching without an ounce of sympathy is necessary.  You just have to get on with it and there is no time for pity parties. You don't have a car, you live alone, you need groceries, to see you doctor perhaps, go to appointments and manage a budget that decreases with time and there is no cute hope of getting a raise in pay. You still have to pay income tax, property tax, insurance, house maintenance, groceries, transportation,  perhaps a mortgage or rent or condo fees and levees. Yep, it doesn't end when you "retire". You might retire, but nothing else does but the job that once paid you money with the possibility of increases. You have to manage on  shoe strings. And you know what Charlie Chaplin did with those. He cooked shoe string spaghetti. Now they call it cat food. Or spam if you can find it. Oh yes, my dear, better be Atlas, very strong and positive if you want to live to one hundred.  

Good, Bad, Ugly Shopping

 It's good to have on line sites to visit for purchasing, finding info and browsing. Having door delivery is marvellous. Lately, when I try to shop on line I have to go through a security hassle that makes me want to give up. When I have shopped with the same online business for years, I don't what to have to take my time to enter codes or delete computer history to sign in and shop on their site. I am an honest person who has never cheated a business and it feels as though I am a criminal suspect when I try to shop these days. For me to receive a code, I have to switch from one site to another which takes time and if I don't get back in time to enter that code, I am told I have to wait another period of time before I can try again. Now what is that? If they want me to switch from their site to my email site and back, I need  more than a few seconds. Give me a break. I shop for groceries in an online store that I have used for many years with no hassle. Suddenly, without a warning or notice or reasons why, now I can't enter the site without all this nonsense. When I call their head office they can find  me and enter me into their system. When I try to enter on line again, I have to go through the same long series of filling in blanks and receiving codes and they have to contact my bank. I was told I have to call my bank. My bank is very busy and it has no time to call me back. All this, I am told, is because there are some bad people who do cheat  stores on line. That is not my problem. That is their problem. If online stores want me, a loyal and long term customer, to stay with them, they are going to have to deal with their problem and make my purchasing from them easy and pleasant. If not, it's  good-bye.  It would be fine if it were just the one time, but it is every singlem solitary time I go to that site and all the others now.  Surely, once a person passes all the "gates" without trouble, one ought to be trusted. This whole mess that used to be good, is now bad and ugly for we honest people who used to love shopping on line. Fix it or lose us.