Category: Rev. Joe Dirt’s Ramblings

The unsolicited, unreasoned, uninformed, unapologetic opinions of Rev. Joe Dirt

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #2,637

yeah I know you did not ask!

You should so be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between my rumored neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of my random thoughts.

Jensen Huang is the former CEO of Nvidia who recently resigned as the result of scandals over his multiple affairs including one with an alleged Chinese spy.

Proof positive that no matter how rich you are (19 billion net worth) or how smart  you are, that if you are a man, your little head still rules you way more than it should, even if you are 63 years old.

**************

Of course, I read this morning that the pair were allegedly in a business relationship to sell these restricted AI chips to China.  If true that would be a crime.

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Paula Poundstone, “Hey Donald Trump”

I subscribe to a few newsletters, less than a handful, to get the writer’s take on various happenings in our political world.  I will occasionally read other pundits as I come across them.

However as an alternative to ponderous, pedantic punditry , I am pleased to present for your consideration, the comedian Ms. Paula Poundstone and her “Hey Donald Trump“video series on her YouTube channel. She dishes out pithy, on point, topical commentary about Donald J. Trump as he presides over his ongoing freak show. She has been putting out about one a day for  quite a while now. Fortunately, from her comedic point of view, for Poundstone, and unfortunately for us as citizens of this country, tRump gives her plenty to satirize. They are short, usually around three minutes, entertaining, and frequently have the bonus of watching one of her cats crawl all over her.

I have included one of her recent videos below for your amusement and to give you an idea of what they are all about.

As an aside, if you ever get the chance to go see Paula live, jump at it.  Señora and I did so a few years back here in St. Louis at The Sheldon, and she was absolutely hilarious. She has some set pieces that she does, but most of her act is crowd work.  She has an extremely quick wit, and is an absolute master of this type of comedy. I will admit I was glad that we were a little back and to the side of the stage as I did not become fodder for her wit.  However, those that did, seemed to enjoy it.

If you listen to NPR you might know her as an occasional guest/contestant on their program Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me!   She is unquestionably my favorite guest.

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Curmudgeon Alley meet AI

Even an occasional reader of my silly, little blog will know I am not a fan of Artificial Intelligence (AI).  I won’t rehash my reasons for why, except to mention one, which is that they are forcing this technology onto us whether we want it or not.  It is impossible to avoid, and if I eliminate some AI function on a personal device, next update there it is again.

I picked up Señora‘s phone the other day as it was handy and I wanted to show her something on my blog.  To do so I typed the URL for it into the search bar on the home page of her phone, and the following came up.  Interestingly, it does not do this on my devices.  Also, interestingly, I did it three or 4 times on Señora‘s phone, and the answer was slightly different each time.   I wished I copied the first one that came up as it was longer and caused me to chuckle.

Anyway, here is AI summary of my scribblings.

AI Overview

Curmudgeon Alley is a personal blog written by self-described “Little Known Blogger” who shares unsolicited, candid, and often political or cultural opinions, quotes, and word notes. [1, 2, 3]

The site features content such as:

        • Political and social commentary (including reflections on current events and elections) [1, 2]
        • Quotes of the day featuring excerpts from various thinkers and writers [1, 2]
        • Words of the day and occasional humor or personal updates [1, 2]
        • Guest curmudgeons sharing posts from other contributors [1]

Are you looking for a specific post, quote, or topic on Curmudgeon Alley?

Perhaps it has captured the essence of my hobby.  In any event it was interesting to see how it summarized my life’s work… that’s a yoke, son, a yoke.

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James Talarico Victory Speech

I have a personal semi-rule to not annoy folks with more than one post a day, but today I am going to make an exception.

Below is the victory speech of James Talarico, who just won the senate seat from Texas, defeating a truly awful Republican candidate, Ken Paxton.

I did not watch the video, but I read the transcript.  It literally gave me chill bumps as I read it as it was one of the most hopefully things I have read in a long time. He talks about the country we could have instead of the country the right wing oligarchy has been trying to force fed us.

I find it somewhat amazing as if I did not know more about Talarico he would be the type of person I would tend avoid, a seriously religious Christian.  However, while he is upfront about his beliefs, he is not pushy. That is refreshing.  Outside of the religion, his core values seem to be my core values.  He gives me hope that maybe, just maybe we can get our country back, maybe, just maybe we can get our democracy back.

I have included the video of his speech as well as the transcript. Either would be well worth your time.

Transcript of James Talarico’s Victory Speech

We just took back Texas. We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas. We just showed that a politics of division is no match for a politics of love.

And we just sent a message to every Continue reading “James Talarico Victory Speech”

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Quote of the Day – Arthur C. Clarke

Quote of the Day… not actually daily, but whenever I encounter one I think worth sharing and there are not too many in sequence.  I like quotes as they frequently distill a piece of wisdom into a brief passage, or make other points very succinctly – such as the witticisms of Oscar Wilde.

“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” – Arthur C. Clarke

A little something to ruminate on for the this post election day.   I personally think there is other intelligent life out there.  However, our civilizations are like an old married couple in a king size bed, too far apart for anything to happen.  Unless you have a faster than light drive in your pocket somewhere, it is difficult to image how we would make contact.  But who knows, in the 50s I never envisioned the possibilities of hula hoops or cell phones…

To see more Quotes for Day, visit this link: Quotes for the Day

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Quote of the Day – Woodrow Wilson

Quote of the Day… not actually daily, but whenever I encounter one I think worth sharing and there are not too many in sequence.  I like quotes as they frequently distill a piece of wisdom into a brief passage, or make other points very succinctly – such as the witticisms of Oscar Wilde.

“If there are men in this country big enough to own the government of the United States, they are going to own it; what we have to determine now is whether we are big enough, whether we are men enough, whether we are free enough, to take possession again of the government which is our own.” ~~ Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States

It is time to cowboy up (or cowgirl up) and take our future out of the hands of the oligarchs, the super rich.  Voting Democrat for the upcoming mid-terms and eliminating the current rubber stamp Congress would be a great first step.  I absolutely cannot believe what this country is devolving to under tRump.  I could list many of the reasons, but if you have been paying attention, you know what they are.

It is time for a change.

To see more Quotes for Day, visit this link: Quotes for the Day

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I Shocked Them at the Golf Course     

I have a real bugaboo about businesses tacking on a credit card surcharge.  Undoubtedly, the businesses who do not, are including it in the price of whatever they are selling.  But, since that is not so obvious, it does not stick in my craw quite as much. I personally think the credit card companies are out of control, but I seriously doubt that is going to change.  I had an opportunity to work a programming contract for one of the major credit card companies many years ago, but declined the opportunity as I see much of what they are doing, while legal, as being borderline unethical.

To get back on subject… So, what I do is about once a month is to go by the bank and get a pile of Continue reading “I Shocked Them at the Golf Course     “

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Quote of the Day – Harry S. Truman

Quote of the Day… not actually daily, but whenever I encounter one I think worth sharing and there are not too many in sequence.  I like quotes as they frequently distill a piece of wisdom into a brief passage, or make other points very succinctly – such as the witticisms of Oscar Wilde.

“Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years. Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.

When the Republican candidate inscribes the slogan “Down With Socialism” on the banner of his “great crusade,” that is really not what he means at all.

What he really means is “Down with Progress–down with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal,” and “down with Harry Truman’s fair Deal.” That’s all he means.” ~~ President Harry S. Truman‘s in remarks at Syracuse, New York on October 10, 1952.

How timely to have Continue reading “Quote of the Day – Harry S. Truman”

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Barack Obama At Democratic Rally Ahead Of Midterm Elections

Obama is not the best orator, but compared to the current occupant of the White House he is a Williams Jennings Bryant. Of course, the other thing that Obama does that is beyond tRump is speak the truth and deal in facts.  What a concept!

He nails what is wrong with the current malAdministration while campaigning for the Democrats in Michigan.

Like he kept saying, “don’t boo, Vote.”    We need politicians who are not focused on the super rich, but rather on the plight of the majority of us.  Now wouldn’t that be refreshing.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #928 

yeah I know you did not ask!

You should so be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between my rumored neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of my random thoughts.

If you are of a certain age, you will remember the Johnny Carson show.  He had several recurring shticks. One I fondly remember would start out by his saying, “It was so cold today…” The audiences then would always chant back at him in unison, “How cold was it?” He then would come back with the punchline. Usually something along the lines of, “It was so cold in New York today, I saw a politician with his hands in his own pockets!!”

I was filling up Li’ Blue, my Mazda MX-5 Miata.  I stood there watching the gallons and dollars ramp up  on the digital display of the gas pump when the thought came to me, “I am so old that…”

I could hear my imaginary audience chant back at me, “How old are you?”

“I am so old that I remember a time when the number of gallons on a gas pump added up quicker than the dollars.”

Now that is old, my friends.

We will talk about my imaginary audiences later.

And that is all for the Mayan Long Count Date of:  13.0.14.0.15 

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