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 #8,600

yeah I know you did not ask!

Divorce is never easy, sometimes very necessary, but never easy.  While going through mine during the last century I came across the following that accurately described how I felt at the time.

Divorce is like hacking off one of your limbs, yourself, using a rusty, very dull, undersized pocket knife.

Oucher for sure.

I was thinking about divorce for reasons I do not need to get into here, but when do you know it is time to get a divorce?  Obviously, it is a very complex situation with many factors, and it is different for every person/couple. Getting divorce can be expensive, time consuming, and emotionally devastating. Frequently it is not for the weak of heart.

However, I think the when can be summarized by saying it is when one or both persons in a marriage stop treating the other person with respect, especially if it is a long term pattern.  It is time to go.  It is time to split the blanket. Life is too damn short to live like that.

And so it goes… about 50% of the time in the United States of Acrimony.

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How Each Little Rascals Cast Member Died (Our Gang)

I subscribe to several YouTube channels and when I go there they usually have several “suggestions” directing you to the YouTube rabbit hole.  I fell into this one as I met a Little Rascal years ago.  Not one the original members recounted in this video, but a later replacement. But still a Little Rascal.  Follow this link to read about my encounter with this child actor: Dissed by a Little Rascal

It was a little traumatic at the time, but now I have a funny anecdote.

And so it goes.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #3,181

yeah I know you did not ask!

Question: What is the sound of nerds being amorous?

Answer: Eyeglasses clicking together followed by a loud, wet smack.

 

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #2,825

yeah I know you did not ask!

Ahhh… the rumble of plastic rollers upon the pavement  as a swarm of trash and recycling bins are pushed, pulled or dragged to be perched on the curb in anticipation of offering their contents to the cacophonous, blue agent of the alien region, simply known as  Fieldlandia.  It must be the eve of Thursday trash day.

Gotta love the soundtrack of suburbia .

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1984 – Ring Camera

Books can talk to you in different ways at different stages of your life.  This is especially true of great books, such as George Orwell’s 1984 which I have read at least 3 times.  I recently watched a Wondrium class George Orwell: A Sage for All Seasons that was utterly fascinating. I would wholeheartedly recommend this class to anyone with an interest in literature or history.   Watching the class inspired me to reread both Animal Farm and 1984.

The Guardian in 2007 proclaimed 1984 ‘is definitive book of the 20th century’. The Atlantic in 2019 declared that “No novel of the past century has had more influence than George Orwell’s 1984.” In my world view Orwell’s book would be required reading for all high school students, and most certainly for college students.

The book is generally summarized as Continue reading “1984 – Ring Camera”

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Veil Replacement

I had to run down to The Hill area close to downtown St. Louis this morning.  On the way back I passed a compact, maybe a subcompact vehicle. I did not notice what brand it was as I was focused on the vanity license plate which read MN’TALA. I was busy trying to decipher what that meant in license-platese. I finally decided it must be a name which piqued my curiosity.

As I passed the vehicle I peeked over from the high peak of my pickup truck to see who was driving the subcompact.  It was a smallish, Arabic looking women dressed Continue reading “Veil Replacement”

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Choice is Good

I have two frequent muses for my silly, little blog.  One is Señora. Most of the time she is okay with being my muse, sometimes she is tickled, and on occasion, she will arch one eyebrow and give me that look. After two bouts of the the brain fever known as matrimonitis I have gained enough “wisdom” to seek Señora‘s approval before releasing stories involving her into the wilds of cyberspace.

My other muse is The Wee Dog, aka Princess Lily, our 7 kilogram rescue dog. A year or so after we adopted her, on a whim – and on sale – we had her DNA tested.  She is 3/8 Bichon Frisé, 1/4 Dachshund, 1/8 Pomeranian, 1/8 Pekingese, 1/8 Shih Tzu and 100% adorable except to squirrels, rabbits, moles and especially chipmunks.

Señora and Princess Lily are essentially surgically/psychically/telepathically connected. Neither one of them can stand not knowing where the other is, generally they are in the same room together.  As revealed in True Confessions, I, by spells, have my roles to play in this ménage à chienne. For reasons known Continue reading “Choice is Good”

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Shopping Amazon…Bad for the Environment?

I generally agree with Bill Maher, but I find him so self-righteous that at times I find him hard to take.

I find myself between a rock and hard place shopping these days for all things except groceries.  In full disclosure (smiley face) Señora takes care of that.  I really do not like buying from Amazon because 1) I find Jeff Bezos obnoxious beyond words 2) I do not see Amazon’s business model good for anyone except Jeff Bezos and maybe Amazon shareholders 3) they like many of these big tech companies went over to the dark side long ago.

Where is Luke Skywalker when you need him?

Yet I keep buying from Amazon.  When I try to buy locally I generally cannot find what I want. I say locally, most the stores anymore are really part of huge corporations.  And these huge corporations continue to eat into many businesses that have traditionally been local mom and pop operations. Have you tried to find an independent barber shop lately?

So then I try to buy online, but not from Amazon.  But somehow Amazon always beats everyone else to death price wise. I thought I found a good source for used books that was not Amazon, Abebooks. Guess what. Amazon owns them.

Where is Teddy Roosevelt when you need him?

If you are sensitive to “colorful” language… you might want to avoid Mr. Maher and this video.

After Bezos rode into space on Blue Origin’s maiden voyage, he famously said this in a news conference.

“I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all this.”

To me ears that was one rankest statements of hubris I have ever heard, given Amazon’s reputation for overworking and underpaying employees, given how their business model has changed the American landscape – and not for the better.

And so it should not go.