When Vita-mixes are criminalized, only criminals will have Vita-mixes.

Only know about chicken fish from Tom Waits and John Lurie.

U.S. has the Dr. Bronner’s soap label of currencies.

Yeah. I totally get it. It does take effort to preserve any wonder and stave off cynicism. Especially in these days of ever growing inequality and tougher material conditions for folks in general. When I was growing up there sure seemed more cause for optimism. Now, folks who look squarely at reality find it tough to muster, what with stagnated wages, an erosion of personal ties, a generally lousy work/life balance for most.

Still, I try to look to and look after my friends, my community. It’s not much, but it’s what I can do. I’ve seen hardship, illness, betrayal, personal devaluation, loss. But I’d rather not become a bitter, old bastard like so many I see in this region.

Tim Burtony soundtrack intensifies.

AT&T are trash. Took us far too long to dump them. Glad we did. Found much better service at a quarter the cost.

Koo-Koo, Katchoo.

Appalachian here. No doubt curbing demand for coal and doing little to take up the slack in viable livelihood has dropped an economic bomb on an already historically depressed region. All of the programs you hear about teaching coal miners to code and such are superficial window dressing and often non-profit grifts that fold in a short time leaving executives to float away on golden parachutes. Whichever way you turn it, people here are exploited and propagandized. Most often attributing their woes to the wrong sources. Folks that are for sure feeling the effects of a changing climate with frequent severe storms, 1000 year floods, etc.

Sadly, the sociopath/idiotic formula does seem to resonate with the algorithms and/or the public. There is a local creator that I know to be a thoughtful, well-rounded person, yet they had to reduce themselves to a cartoon caricature in order to get traction. But that approach seems to have worked out for them, at least initially through Tik Tok and YouTube. Now I see them taking on increasingly sketchy sponsorships as their 15 minutes fades. And of course audience capture indisputably steers media makers into conspiratorial niches they can’t escape without sacrificing views/payout. Authenticity be damned.

Whoa. “Going to Hell in a handbasket” just got literal.

If only. We knew lots of folks that died after refusing Covid vaccination. They’d been told batshit crazy stuff by the media they took to be gospel.

(purporpoise reasons)

No doubt. Some folks seem to believe everything has to happen in a vacuum.

Have heard folks unironically make this argument. “The insurance industry! Massive unemployment! My 401k is invested in them! I’ll be ruined!”.

Or you arrive to find the civilization has had time to collapse and given way to the rise of damned dirty apes.

Since pizza was classed a vegetable, all bets are off.

Split-screen simultaneous brawling action.

“What’s all this sectarian racket then? We don’t get Buddhists playing bagpipes in our bathroom or Hindus harmonizing in the hall! The Shintoists don’t come here shattering sheet glass in the sh__house and shouting slogans-”

“We report. You decide.”. But they say it disingenuously.

Almost a scene-by-scene rewrite of Ghostbusters. But I really liked it anyway.