Is Anyone Buying This?

We all get advertisements popping up on Facebook. However, because of the nature of Facebook, we aren't necessarily seeing the same ads.

Because I live in Philippines, I often see ads for an online store here - shoppe.ph -. I'm posting screenshots of items recently featured in the shoppe.ph Facebook ads. These items all display an old style hammer and sickle from the now defunct Soviet Union. Is there really a market for these items here in Philippines? I can't imagine these things being purchased in this country.

Am I wrong?

On the other hand, after coming upon coffee mugs with swastikas I shouldn't be surprised at anything.

Male Piglets File Case In Court

According to an article at greenwichtime.com, Germany's male piglets become the latest animals to file cases in court.

Of course, it isn't actually the piggies filing cases with Germany's Federal constitutional Court , but rather PETA doing it on their behalf.
PETA is arguing that the castration of male piglets is in violation of German law, which states that animals shall not be harmed without reasonable explanation.

Regarding there being a a reasonable explanation for the need to castrate male piglets, one need merely go to porkgateway.org to read the following :
Removal of the testicles reduces the potential for odor and taint associated with male hormones in boars after puberty.

Clearly, pig farmers do not castrate piglets for sadistic pleasure, but because not doing so would give the meat of the grown pig an offensive odor.

I first learned of the need to castrate male piglets when I was nine or ten years old, when the father of one of my friends in the neighborhood had managed to capture a pig that some jokers had released unto Bankhead Hwy. near Georgia Tech in downtown Atlanta. The boy's dad was keeping his treasure in a pen in their backyard and the boy explained to me that the pig had to get his "nuts cut off".

Being pretty much a city slicker, I had never witnessed the castration of a piglet until 2007,  while on a trip to visit my wife's family in Philippines. As I wrote in a blog post at the time :

There was quite a commotion outside behind the house. The pig were squealing loudly and even the dog and roosters were in some sort of stress. My wife told me that Papa was circumcising the piglets. My first thought was that, perhaps, if what she said were true, then it might be possible to make pork Kosher.
After I had explained the difference between the definitions of circumcision and castration she admitted that her choice of words had not been the right one.

At that time I simply watched my father-in-law, with the help of one of his sons-in-law, do the deed. Fully ten years would pass before I would assist in castrating piglets. These were my piglets, so I was obligated to help Papa.

Fortunately for me, there were only two male piglets at the time. Papa and I were sitting in chairs opposite one another. I was holding the squirming, squealing piglet while Papa performed the operation. The 2nd piglet was squirming so much that my chair toppled - I fell over, still holding on to the piggie.

About the age when male piglets are castrated, both males and females have another procedure done. Both sexes have to have their teeth cut. In Philippines, this procedure is done with large toe-nail clippers. I've assisted with this, and let me tell you, it's as difficult as the castration. I'm surprised PETA hasn't filed suit on behalf of the female piglets for this.

Sounds a bit sexist, if you ask me.

Coral Stone Fusion - Part Two

For an explanation of these photos, go to Coral Stone Fusion - Part One .

Coral Stone Fusion - Part One

While walking on the beach this morning, I came upon, what I can only describe - for lack of any other term - as a fusion of a coral and a stone. After spotting a number of similar ones, I began photographing them as I came upon them.

I don't know exactly what to make of these things; I'm a bit con -fused myself.

I photograph approximately two dozen. Nearly all were located in a relatively small are of the beach. I'm breaking up the photos into two groups to be published in different posts.

Twelve in this post and twelve more in a post to follow.

The Left Embraces the Anti-Science Label.

For quite some time, Democrats and other assorted Leftists have attempted to mock Republicans and Conservatives as anti- science. Republicans are seen as anti-science by the Left because of some Republicans views on Climate Change and Evolution/Creationism.

According to an article at theatlantic.com, however, that while it's sadly true that half of all Republicans believe the Earth is only 10,000 years old, 34% of Democrats believe the same. Also, according to the same article, twice as many Democrats as Republicans believe in astrology.

Democrats most often reject science when it deals with sexuality; Liberals and Progressives reject the scientific fact that the fetus growing inside a human female during pregnancy is a unique, human being in its own right. Despite having it's own unique DNA showing otherwise, the pro-abortion Left believe this human being is actually a body part of the female; or worse; that the fetus is a parasite growing inside the female host.

While eight-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say that whether someone is a man or a woman is determined by the sex they were assigned at birth, most Democrats and Democratic leaning voters (64%) take the opposite view and say a person’s gender can be different from the sex they were assigned at birth. This unscientific belief held by a majority of Democrats is contrary to what scientists know about DNA and the different chromosomal makeup of males and females.

Now, to further show that Democrats make up the anti-science Party, Sara Giordano, assistant professor of the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program at UC Davis, maintains that science is rooted in racism, and has been used to perpetuate racism and colonial practices. Giordano has vowed to "challenge the authority of Science" by "rewriting knowledge" through a feminist lens. She also believes "We need to disrupt the epistemic authority of Science…[and] the assumption that science = truth."

Giordano hopes that people will soon come to "embrace an irreverent disdain for traditional science and instead practice feminist science," adding that this is time for a "much needed anti-science, antiracist, feminist approach to knowledge production."

It appears that science has rejected her views on "gender", and now Giordano wants to reject science.

P.C. Patrol Enabling the Mentally Ill.

According to the Huffing and Puffington Post, Filipinos Aren’t Happy With This White Woman Claiming To Be Filipina.

In Tampa Florida, someone going by the name Ja Du is self-identifying as a Filipina, despite the fact that he was born a white male. Sadly, the writer of the article, Kimberly Yam insists on referring to "Ja Du" using pronouns such as "she" and "her".

In the video embedded in the article, Ja Du is seen driving around in a "motorized rickshaw" which he claims is called a "tuk tuk". I haven't seen any quite like the one Ja Du is driving in Philippines, but similar vehicles are called "tricycles" or "pedicabs", not "tuk tuk". He'd know that had he ever traveled to Philippines.

An article on the story at truthrevolt.org quotes a local psychologist, Dr.Stacey Beth Scheckner, who maintains that Ja Du's delusions are perfectly fine and dandy:

"If someone feels that they feel at home with a certain religion, a certain race, a certain culture, I think that if that’s who they really feel inside life is about finding out who you are. The more knowledge you have of yourself, the happier you can be. And, as long as it’s not hurting yourself or anyone else, I don’t see a problem with that.
"If that’s who they are and they want to celebrate it and enjoy it, then you have to think what harm is it doing? All they want to do is throw themselves into that culture and celebrate it.
"I think before we get offended, we need to take a step back and think about what is the harm."

The only thing that offends me about this situation, is that quacks like Scheckner are enabling Ja Du's mental illness.

More Curious Google Ad Placement

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post dealing with the sometimes odd Google ads that appear on this blog. I've been led to think that a good deal of the logic behind the ad placement is content related. On my PC, when I view my blog, I see quite a few ads for farm related products - with pig farming equipment coming up most frequently.

In that earlier post, I noted that the ads for farming seemed logical because many of my posts have been about my attempts at gardening and the raising of pigs. It struck me as odd, however, that along with the ads for pig farming equipment, I was seeing ads for products related to prostate problems.

Now, along with the swine related ads, I'm seeing ads for Facebook with Arabic lettering.

I have no explanation for that combination.

Confusion Over World Naked Gardening Day 2017?

Although the wikipedia article covering the subject maintains that World Naked Gardening Day (WNGD) is an annual event dating back to 2005, I had never heard of WNGD until I came upon a link to a news story about it on Facebook.

As can be seen by the photo, the link informs us that this year World Naked Gardening Day lands on May 7th this year. However, clicking on the link, we see that the story gives the date as May 6th.

From what I gather, WNGD is suppose to be the first Saturday in May, so that would put it on May 6th this year (2017).

Also, according to wikipedia, the first annual World Naked Gardening Day event took place on September 10, 2005. It was in 2007 that the date was changed to the first Saturday in May. Perhaps that might explain some of the confusion about this year's event.

Nah.......probably not. I don't think anyone I know is planning to participate. Trust me, that's just as well.

The Bizarre World of Algernon Charles Swinburne

One of the last short stories in Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant is a story based on an 18 year de Maupassant's encounter with the decadent English poet, Algernon Charles Swinburne.

Prior to reading this story, I was unfamiliar with Swinburne. De Maupassant's description of the poet intrigued me enough to look into Swinburne's life and work. Poetry is my least favorite literary form, and I never read poetry, but I thought that I'd investigate this poet due to the fact that he had impressed de Maupassant.

Reading the wikipedia article on Swinburne changed my mind on any attempt to read his poetry. The article describes Swinburne as a sado-masochist and an alcoholic. De Maupassant's story mentions Swinburne's habit of eating monkey flesh, but the wikipedia article goes on to tell that at one point, Swinburne spread a rumor that he had had sex with monkeys before eating them. Oscar Wilde stated that Swinburne probably didn't indulge in the things he claimed to have indulged in, but his claim is enough to convince me that nothing can be gained by my reading anything Swinburne produced.

Quite Possibly the Strangest Video You'll See Today

Back in January, 2012 I came upon the story of a Seattle woman named Babylonia Aivaz, who took it upon herself to marry a building. That's right, she had a ceremony of her marrying a building. It was said she did this to prevent the building from being demolished.

During that time period, when her story was fresh, I came upon a video of her just before the ceremony and uploaded that video to Youtube. I had pretty much forgotten about the video. The video received a few comments four years ago, but since then, the comments have averaged about one a year. I was reminded of this when I received an email letting me know that someone had seen the video and left a new comment.

I'll post the video below, but there is more to the story.



When I received the comment notification, I decided to watch the video again - it's been years since I've seen it. After watching the video, I searched on line to find any updates on the "marriage". I found nothing related to the marriage, but I discovered that Babylonia Aivaz has her own Youtube channel. That's how I found her "HOW TO OPEN YOUR THIRD EYE" video. I'm posting that video below without any introduction, other than to say that this one is stranger than the "marriage" video.

Coconuts

To paraphrase a question asked by Coconuts Manila,
"What does a man need to do to be in the same league as Hillary Clinton, Beyonce, and Simone Biles"?

My answer, have his coconuts removed through sex reassignment surgery.

It's a good bet that Roman will not be singing the karaoke version of this number.

Trump Inducted into Rock n Roll Hall of Fame

OK, I made that up, but with the latest news concerning Bob Dylan, I couldn't resist.

I first learned that Bob Dylan had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature from the blog Abbey Roads. My reaction to the post was this comment:

"Well, if Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama deserve a Noble Peace Prize then I guess Dylan deserves the Nobel Prize in Literature".

While most folks appear to be pleased with his selection, I'm not the only person on the planet who finds Dylan winning a Noble Prize for anything more than a bit bizarre.

Writer Irvine Welsh had this to say -

"I’m a Dylan fan, but this is an ill conceived nostalgia award wrenched from the rancid prostates of senile, gibbering hippies".

In the Swedish daily Sydsvenskan, literary critic Per Svensson wrote,

"This is a 'trumpification' of the Nobel Prize. It's very depressing."

I never imagined I'd ever read a comparison between Bob Dylan and Donald Trump, but Svensson's comment seems appropriate.

See also:

A world that gives Bob Dylan a Nobel Prize is a world that nominates Trump for president

Man Impregnates Woman and World Goes Insane.

My vote for the most insanely stupid headline of the century goes to express.co.uk with their lede, "Transgender man gives birth to his OWN BABY in world first".

The article gets difficult to follow, so I'll try and unravel it.

It begins, "A TRANSGENDER couple has become the first to have their own child after a man gave birth to his own baby."

Absolutely wrong. The article states, "Fernando Machado, who used to be a woman, met Diane Rodriguez, who used to be a man, on social media two years ago and started a relationship."
Fernando was born a woman and remains so. She has had no "corrective surgery" and remains biologically a woman even though she believes herself to be a man. Her spouse, Diane was born a man and remains so. Fernanado still has a functioning vagina and uterus while Diane still has a working penis.

Dressing up in the other gender's clothes and changing your name does not make a man a woman or make a woman a man.

This is simply a case of a woman, who thinks she's a man, getting pregnant by a man who imagines himself to be a woman.

Sorry, but a man did not give birth to a baby.

A Bit of Weirdness from Google Maps - What Else is New?

Google Maps approved four of my edits this morning, but not without a bit of weirdness.

The first two, Quench Buddy Water Refilling Station in Sibulan and Jetti gas station in Dumaguete, near St. Paul University, were approved, rather quickly, after a relatively short review.

The weirdness began with the publication of One DGT (Dumaguete) Travel Services on San Jose St in Dumaguete. The location is correct in that it is located on San Jose, but it was placed - not where I placed it - but on the wrong side of Rizal St., west of its actual location. I added a photo, and put in an edit which was, you guessed it, put into pending review status.

I added another sari-sari store this morning, Mayeng's Store, after taking my son to school. Google Maps published this edit immediately, but put the name as "San Antonio St". My attempt to correct this went unanswered by Google Maps.

Update:
After looking at the Google Maps placement for Quench Buddy, I noticed an error in the location. I corrected the error - GM published the correction, but I'm not sure its showing up on the map.

Marivic Store

My newest hobby is, by being a Local Guide with Google Maps I've been able to add photographs, write reviews and sometimes add locations which have gone unnoticed and unlisted on the Maps.

I've mentioned before that the editing process - that is, adding new locations - seems to be a bit hit or miss. As of this writing, I've been credited with adding 17 locations, although I've attempted to add more than forty to date. Three or four of these additional edits have been approved with my not having yet received "credit" for them. Slightly more than half of my edits are under review. I've yet to have one that has been put it review, approved. So far, the 17 approved were approved immediately.

I wanted to go out this afternoon on an unnamed road that follows the coast in Cangmating in order to add something to Google Maps. Rather than fool with the editing BS, I decided to open the map and make a list of locations already given on Google Maps and simply take photos of locations on the list. This particular road has several beach resorts, as well as very expensive private homes. I made a list of six locations and headed out with my camera.

Most of these resorts/private homes have no signage. I was unable, for example, to locate "Regalado Beach Lot" due to this absence of signs. Of those six locations, I was able to positively identify three. Again, I'm puzzled by the ends and outs of Google Maps approval system.

I found it surprising when quite a number of my edits went up for review. I cannot understand why my addition of the Hyundai dealership (to name one) hasn't been approved. The dealership is located on the National Highway - not far from the Mitsubishi dealership - yet my edit for Ralyn Wood Supply, located off in Bumfuzz, Eygpt was published instantly.

The reason I'm mentioning this now is my discovery of Marivic Store. It makes its way onto Google Maps, just above Baybayon Resort.

Take a look at the photograph of Marivic Store.

The place is simply an average, run of the mill sari-sari store. There are millions just like it all throughout Philippines. How in Heaven's name did Marivic Store make its way to Google Maps, when the Hyundai dealership has been in review for more than a week?

Can anyone explain this to me?

'Go Topless Day' and its Raëlian Connection

This past Sunday, August 28, 2016 was International Go Topless Day, and women through out the United States bared their breasts in protest against laws that prohibit women from going topless in public. Compare this to the situation in France where women are being prevented from dressing modestly due to attempted bans on the wearing of burkinis on beaches.

I became aware of a strange twist to this when I read a recent article on sputniknews.com. Sputnik news is reporting that, according to French writer Roger Gonnet, Go Topless Day is not motivated by a support of "women's rights", but is actually a recruitment drive for the UFO cult, Raëlism.

Raëlian priestess and President of GoTopless, Nadine Gary, in an interview, told sfgate.com,"Monotheistic religions are the culprit for the guilt humans feel about their naked body, their sensuality, their sexuality with of course a woman as the ultimate instigator of 'the original sin'".

Is it merely a coincidence that the movement to ban the rather modest swimwear know as birkinis and the movement pushing for women being permitted to go topless in public, both have their origins in France.....as does the Raëlian religious cult.

I'm not saying that the Raëlians are behind the birkini ban, but there is a French connection behind all this.

White Folks Showing Up

The Newspaper and on line website, National Catholic Reporter, is commonly known in traditional Catholic circles as National Catholic Distorter because of the editorial staff's less than orthodox views on Catholic teachings.

An example of one such view can be found in a recent article, "Showing Up: A white person's guide to racial justice". One of the tags for this article is Buddhist meditation.

The writer of the article, Mary Ann McGivern tells us of Jardana Peacock, who believes part of the solution for racial justice is the Practice of Showing Up. Ms. Peacock describes this practice as a combination of Buddhism and Yoga which includes sitting, bringing the mind back to attention, or even "doing the dishes mindfully".

McGivern says working through the exercises on the website is only isn’t [sic] a huge investment of time or energy. I've looked over the site, and I can't seem to locate these exercises. Perhaps I need the decoder ring.

Maybe McGivern and Peacock are over thinking the problem. Seems to me, the solution to racial injustice might be simply treating everyone the way you like to be treated. I'm hardly the first to suggest that.

University Students Struggling to Read Entire Books

University students are struggling to read entire books.

Why?

Blame Whitey.

Lizzy Kelly, a history student at Sheffield University says:

"Students might be more inclined to read what academics want them to if our curricula weren’t overwhelmingly white, male and indicative of a society and structures we fundamentally disagree with because they don't work for us."

Hello Cedartown Georgia

Hello, Cedartown, Georgia. Thanks for making my blog a regular part of your routine.

Take care and God bless.

My Haunted PC

Today is my 64th birthday, and to celebrate, my son and I went to the gym. In addition to our workout, I wanted photos.

I brought along the Canon; J.P. took photos of me and I took photos of him. The store owner took two photos of J.P. and I together.

I have a USB thingamajig which holds the memory card of my Canon which allows me to download the photos onto my PC. There, I'll edit the photos and store them away. After the photos are transfered, I'll delete the folder from the camera. That's where the problem arose this morning.

I guess it comes down to dust. When we were in the U.S., I would regularly purchase canned air from Wally World and blow out the PC. I haven't done such a good job of that since arriving in Philippines. The cans of compressed air are difficult to find and are very expensive when you do find them. As a consequence, I've allowed the dust to build up more than I should.

Dust has accumulated inside the USB terminals. I'm not connected via cable or wire to the Internet - I use another USB thingamajig to connect via wifi. When I connect my camera's USB thingamajig to transfer the photos, somehow this additional USB device will cause the wifi USB to disconnect from the Internet. It doesn't happen every time, but often enough.

I've often suspected that the problem is due to the dust build up.

After transfering this morning's gym photos to the PC, I did a wee bit of image scaling with GIMP and set about to upload a few of the photos to Facebook. You know where this is headed. I had lost Internet connection. This reoccuring problem is fixed by removing the camera USB and rebooting the PC. That's when the spooks attacked the PC.

The PC would not restart. I was getting a message that a start up repair was required. Unfortunately, when doing this, the system created a restore point which was before this morning's photos were put onto the PC. So, when the PC finally started, the photos had disappeared. As far as Windows was concerned, the photos had never been on my PC.

I had deleted the photos earlier from the camera's memory card and now it was as if the photos had never existed. Gone.

After this disaster, I decided that enough was enough. I unplugged everything from the PC and carried it to a computer repair place in Sibulan where they used a small air compressor to blow out the dust. The dust looked thick on top of the PC innards, but I was really surprised at the amount that was blown out.

Total cost: 150 peso (roughly three bucks and change). That's a lot cheaper than the elusive cans of air - when they can be found. I'll definitely be going back regularly.

When I plugged everything back in and rebooted the PC, there was another sytem restore point message. This time, when the PC restarted, the gym photos had magically returned.

The thing is haunted.....that's all there is to it.