Friday Follies...

Welcome to...THE WEEKEND.
And is it me, or does Thanksgiving seem to be coming like a jail-on-wheels?
In just TWO weeks, we will be there in full swing.
Fourteen days.
THEN, we can begin the Christmas season for this year...properly.
In the meantime, our Hoosierland weather finds us with MORE coldness outside, with highs today again barely climbing to the above freezing mark. And yes, because it's cold out, we now have WIND CHILLS, which on days like these, can make it feel like 14 degrees, thanks to whatever breeze comes our way. Nice, huh?
Well, let's think "warm" thoughts as we get ourselves a cup of our favorite morning beverage and see what's been going on...
*** First out of the cave is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
November 14 - 
-- Today is OPERATING ROOM NURSE DAY, and I trust none of you are in such a place on this morning.

What about all the OTHER nurses? Don't "they" get a day as well? Seems a bit unfair in that regard.
-- It's also WORLD DIABETES DAY, and I have to say that we're seeing record numbers of KIDS developing diabetes these days.

Now, could it possibly be all the sugary crap they're eating?
Or maybe it's the AMOUNTS of such items?
Seems we had a lot less of this medical issue when we all practiced a bit more MODERATION in everything we partake.
I do know that being overweight is an important contributing factor in the onset of diabetes.
For more on this (as a PSA), let's consult this informative website:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/diabetes/
Consider this a CLIFFS NOTES on diabetes...so now you know.
*** And while we're at it, let's include this WEEKEND with what's going on:
November 15 - 
-- Saturday is CLEAN YOUR REFRIGERATOR DAY, and that doesn't mean eat everything in sight, but time to sort out all those "mystery foods" that have become more SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS than edible delights, and you know what I'm talking about.

(the fridge is not a storage facility for home made petri dishes, got it?)
-- It's also AMERICA RECYCLES DAY, so why not recycle the stuff in the fridge into the local landfill, hmm?

(like to do that with some of the "locals"...lol)
--And, it's NATIONAL PHILANTHROPY DAY, and to me, I could do ALL THREE at the same time.

Talk about being philanthropic by getting rid of the locals by recycling THEM into the nearest landfill with the fridge garbage...whatta great idea.
Novemver 16 - 
-- Sunday is BUTTON DAY (thought we just had one of those?).

The ONLY button some people know.

Be a good day to check if you HAVE all YOUR "buttons" and haven't lost any, and if you encounter a loose one, what the hell, sew it back on.
-- It's also HAVE A PARTY WITH YOUR BEAR DAY...okaaaaaaaaaay.

We had a family over for lunch.

I am HOPING they mean a STUFFED bear (and not a bear that's stuffed with a family member or pet).
To consider something other than that is just a wee bit gruesome to contemplate.
And now, YOU have your weekend all planned out..enjoy (and no feeding the bears).
*** Wifey called me from on the road and told me the K-Mart on E. Coliseum Blvd was on FIRE. Four engines showed up and traffic was slow, thanks to the lookie-loos (and the fire engines).

Well now, I guess that STORE CLOSING SALE might be postponed indefinitely...or they might hold a FIRE SALE in it's place.
Curious that the store caught fire...perhaps some people are pissed of that K-Mart is leaving Fort Wayne.
Would not surprise me in the least.
 I know I am.
One good thing could come out of this...all the items originally marked down 30% have just gone to being marked down 100%...as in trashed and burnt beyond recognition.
Not good for sales, but good for the insurance company claim.
Moving on...
*** Yesterday, I mentioned about CHINA hacking into our servers in the USA, as well as showing off their new (read poorly-copied) stealth fighter.

But, have you stopped to think about HOW MUCH of what we have around us every day is MADE IN CHINA?
It's like the 1950s when we had MADE IN JAPAN stamped on stuff (and it was once considered crap).
The Japanese learned from that and made some great QUALITY items...and they still do.
But China, has far surpassed Japan (and us) when it comes to manufacturing.
They are now (hands down) THE largest manufacturing nation on the damn planet...
When you consider ALL the things they make, and how many PEOPLE they have making them, it's not that hard to see I'm correct in this assessment.
That's not to say we're not manufacturing things (here)...we still make a LOT of quality items, but, thanks to unions, OUR items are often priced higher than their Chinese (or wherever else they're made) counterparts.
Just look around your house or apartment and see how MANY things are made in China...
You'd be had-pressed to find anything made in the USA these days, and I wish it wasn't that way.

Made in DENMARK...!

Every toy in creation (with the possible exception of LEGO bricks) is made in China.
ALL the action figures, toy cars, boats, airplanes, soldiers, and even all the cuddly stuffed animals...made in China, excluding Build-A-Bear - you "make" those yourself, but the PIECES that make up the bears are made...(your guessed it)...in CHINA.
There's just no getting away from it.
Almost makes me want to start studying Mandarin.

Wonder if that's ENOUGH time?

Interesting thing...we're not seeing hardly any Chinese immigrants coming to the USA, at least not in the numbers that OTHER nations are sending their castoffs.
Biding their time, maybe?
In recent media, we see evidence of Chinese making it's way into future languages.

S\wearing in Chinese is cool.

In the series FIREFLY, the characters interject Chinese with English quite often, as if it's part of OUR (possible) future.

The same goes for the movie BLADE RUNNER...a curious mix of Chinese, Spanish and English is the main language.
All sounds a bit prophetic. Funny, Star Trek never did that...they all "spoke one language", and they also had that nifty "universal translator"...convenient as all hell.
Rosetta Stone is looking better.
*** It would appear that all we seem to hear about (now) is this Jonathan Gruber jerk.
Well, at least on FOX news. I knew this would be a big deal, and that's why I mentioned it earlier this week

Caught with his britches down around his ankles.

CBS did have ONE mention of him, but all the other media networks ...nothing but crickets.
Goes to show how far the lame-stream media is in the pocket of our fearless leader and his minions.
Kinda disgusting if you ask me...all the "lock-steppers" doing what's expected of them by the elitists on the left.
Some day these morons will wake the hell up, and start reporting the REAL news, and not trying to divert our attention from what (they think) we NEED to know about...it just won't happen today.
I much more care about my country - where it's headed, what future we have, and what's being done to get us back on track, so I couldn't give a rat's ass about sports figures (and the laws they break), music "superstars" (and the laws THEY break), or any other tripe that's being spoon-fed to the masses, in the hope they will be entertained like an infant drooling over those dangling key rings, while the nation unravels like a cheap-ass sweater.
*** Last back to the garage...America used to stand for a lot MORE than it does today, and that should make any real American sad to the bone, if not pissed off outright..

We see our military downsized to numbers as low as at the end of WW2, while we see funding for welfare reaching new highs.
We have fewer people working, while those who ARE employed no longer have the "safety" of being able to retire from whatever company they find themselves.
We produce more food than before, and yet we still hear reports of starving people HERE, all the while, we EXPORT the food that could feed OUR people with what is being sent to other nations, rather than teach those nations how to grow and harvest their OWN food.

Reagan had it RIGHT.

We allow the government to intrude into every facet of our lives...for some sake of perverse freedom, when in fact, we are negating it altogether.
We should be more self-reliant, but settle for larger government to perform that job for us.
All this needs to go away, and as soon as possible, if we are to become the America that I recall.
We used to be all those good things, so why did we piss it all away?

I look to the upcoming holiday as a time to give THANKS, and when I look around, thanks is not the first thing I would think of.
But as long as we're all living and breathing, we can cause some sort of change for the better...THAT I do believe.
I also know that I would not want to see the words "Made in China" affixed to the future of this nation.
There;s something to think about.
Have yourselves a good weekend.

Be well, make a difference to someone today, and as always,
Stay SAFE out there, America.