Random Thoughts – I'm angry. You should be too.

The Doctor and Me

To understand The Doctor, you have to understand Timelords. Timelords are a mysterious alien race with the ability to navigate time and space. They are quasi-immortal in that when a Timelord becomes too old or is mortally injured, they don’t die. They regenerate into a new person. This new person may have a completely different personality but does retain all the memories from their previous incarnation.

When the Doctor regenerated in 2007 the regeneration process produced a surprise: The Doctor didn’t regenerate into a humanoid. He regenerated into a baby chihuahua.

Please understand that I knew nothing of this when The Doctor came into our home. All pets are a great gift and he was that. But he also behaved differently than any pet I’d experienced before.

He was completely fearless. At that time we had two cats. One (Molly) was sweet and gentle.

One (Electra) was the spawn of hell. Electra ruled the house in no uncertain terms.

Until the Doctor arrived. The Doctor quickly made friends with Molly. As Electra had no friends, only subjects, she and the doctor came to a (rather violent) understanding. The Doctor came away with a slight injury (that bled a lot) and Electra came away with a fresh respect for Timelords.

The Doctor peeking from under the covers.

After resolving the Electra issue, the Doctor fell into a pattern of behavior that was pretty much like any other dog. He played, ate, slept, peed (A LOT. Somehow if he drank a teaspoon of water it generated a gallon of pee.), and defecated like any other dog.

Being a Timelord, he had a perfect sense of time. He always knew when it was time for food, even if I didn’t.

When it was time for food, he would find me (often in the TV room), sit, and stare at me until I fed him.

Time passed, as did Molly and Electra. This left The doctor alone. He seemed happy and content. For awhile.

Soon, he became less active and quieter. He could say so very much with his eyes. Now, there was sadness in those eyes. He could often be found rooting around where Molly and Electra had slept.

It was time for a change, an addition.

Mr. Blue joined our family and The Doctor was no longer lonely.

He was also not thrilled. He had graduated from being a rambunctious puppy to an adult dog (who is also capable of dimensional reasoning and time travel).

He was not very happy about having a loud, always in motion rat terrier intrude on his space.

Mr Blue and The (reluctant) Doctor in Doctor’s bed.

He was VERY unhappy when Mr. Blue decided to sleep in the Doctor’s bed, while the Doctor was in it.

The Doctor and Mr. Blue in Mr. Blue’s bed

But Mr. Blue was persistent. And soon they became a team. The Doctor had a new companion. His annoyance gave way to acceptance. He was more active and seemed to be his happy self.

The addition had worked. Mr. Blue and The Doctor were the best of friends and all was right with the world.

And then came Jack.

There was a momma cat and her kitten roaming the neighborhood. One day the momma cat appeared in the street, dead from an apparent encounter with a car. The kitten was soon scrounging for food and shelter.

He clearly needed a place to call home and we needed another cat. So we brought Jack into our home.

And soon, (sort of) we were all one big happy family. (sort of)

The team was complete and all was right with the world.

But time waits for no one, not even Timelords. Knowing the end was near, The Doctor said his goodbyes, entered his Tardis, and left. He didn’t want us to witness his passing.

And so in November of 2024 The Doctor took his last trip in his Tardis.

Or so we thought.

In December 2025, a new cat began roaming the neighborhood. Except that’s not quite accurate. He wasn’t really roaming as he seemed to exclusively roam around our house and seemed determined to get inside.

We weren’t sure why but Mr. Blue recognized him immediately. This was The Doctor, regenerated into a cat, a moderately uncommon cat, an American Bobtail. He was completely at home.

Our friend had returned and our family was again complete.

Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend

Just how are you supposed to walk away from the car?

The car that you had dreamed of, and finally owned?

Before that question is answered let’s look at the long journey to this car. (FYI: the images of the 2008 BMW 135i are for representation only.)

In 1978 I somehow came across an image of the current lineup of BMW vehicles. The M1 was BMW’s consumer version of the race car they were developing. It cost a stunning $25,000. To compare, the most expensive American car at that time was the Cadillac Seville Elegante cost around $18,000. The most expensive American sports car was the Corvette at $13,000.

That sticker price, might have well be a million dollars. So much for that dream. Time for a new one.

The new dream. The 1989 (yes, time has passed) BMW 635I. This is still the perfect example of a touring coupe. But this car was $50,000 in 1989. I did eventually make enough to buy a used one, but that was in 1999 and it didn’t make much sense to pay $15,000 for a used car.

The reality.

In 1989 A BMW did grace my garage. It was a 1982 BMW 320i bought for $2500. It replaced a 1984 Nissan 300ZX. (Don’t ask) To say it was a disappointment was a huge understatement. It was not fast. It handled well but was ultimately underwhelming.

Time passed and in 2005 I had essentially given up on BMW’s. But not on convertibles. That year the stars aligned and granted me the opportunity to buy a new car. The 2005 Toyota MR2 was my choice.

It was a very fun car. But it had a shitty stereo and was NOT fast. Still, it was enough for a time.

A few years later I was looking at a 2008 Honda S2000. My oldest son (the ultimate car person) suggested a 2008 Mazda Miata Grand Touring hardtop convertible. This one felt much faster. The hard top power convertible top was just so freaking cool. The stereo was still shitty. So this graced my garage till 2012. This is the car that made my baby cry.

In 2012 my wife broke down in tears when I was teaching her (at her request) to operate a stick shift. So I decided to buy a car with an automatic transmission.

I religiously checked CR and was amazed and delighted when they listed the 2008 BMW 135i as a reasonable choice. So I went looking.

This is what I found:

The BMW 2008 135I Convertible was the most enjoyable car I had ever owned. It handled like a dream. It was SUPER fast. It was a powered top convertible. And the topper was it’s sound system was as good as my home system. And it was an automatic so my wife could drive it. (Though she never did.) The funny thing is that this car used cost almost exactly the same as the BMW M1 did in 1978. Ironic.

I loved this car. I loved driving it, looking at it, just appreciating the fact that I finally owned my dream car.

But the years passed and they took their toll on my dream. The car’s electronics were groundbreaking in 2008. In 2026, less so.

Then it developed an electrical issue that would kill the battery overnight. The one bad thing (and it was a huge one) is that while this model was more reliable, it still required regular maintenance that was sort of expensive. An oil change was over $100. Any sort of repair was around $2000. So it was time to move on.

We elected to donate it instead of going the hassle of another repair and selling it.

The tow truck came Monday afternoon. The driver marveled at good it looked and how the power convertible top worked. (Had to lower and raise it one last time.) He hooked it up to his truck and drive away. I didn’t actually see that. Just couldn’t watch.

Goodbye old friend. You will be missed.

Comforting Words From Your Governor

Hello fellow Texans! You may have noticed that the weather has turned a bit nasty. The evil liberal media machine no doubt used their Evil Satanic Dark Powers to cast a shadow on our Mother Texas.

Because of this, many of you are cold, possibly wet and cold at the same time (my peons tell me this really sucks!), and you probably don’t have power.

This might make you think that my God-Picked legislation has not done their jobs very well

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Remember, the power is ALWAYS on for those who believe correctly (in me and in GOD). So if your power is out that just means you don’t have enough faith.

So you see, you’re to blame for this.

You should be ashamed.

How Microsoft, Sony, and all of the major retailers have consistently shown that they do not care about their users. And how all of the major game related news sites have done nothing to report the problem.

The Xbox Series X, Series S, and Sony PS5 have been out for over a year now and at no point during that time has the average consumer been able to purchase one without overpaying or jumping through hoops.

And Microsoft, Sony, and all of the major retailers do not care at all.

Why? They are selling the consoles as fast as they can produce\get them and that’s all they care about: The bottom line.

Shocking? Not really.

What’s really shocking (or should be) is that this has been going on for over a year and not a single gaming news site has kept this story in the forefront of the public’s attention.

Why? Another easy answer; gaming journalism, the kind there used to be, just doesn’t exist.

All have been replaced by click bait crap sites.

Several gaming news sites have recently posted stories on the “surprising” console sales winner of Black Friday: the Xbox Series S. They all refer to the Xbox Series X as being “pretty hard to come by” (quote from Games Radar)

That seems to be true for actual users but why is it that scalpers seem to have no difficulty at all getting systems? Look at Ebay or any of the resale sites. You’ll find plenty of PS5 and Xbox Series X units, ready for immediate shipment. At scalper prices of course.

Of course, this isn’t just true of consoles. Tried to buy a video card lately? Same thing. You’re looking at paying an enormous premium to a scalper to get one.

The handwriting on the wall is very obvious: Unless this is addressed as the serious issue that it is, the problem is only going to get worse.

I’d really like to be wrong about this. Perhaps there is some news site that’s giving serious attention and coverage to this very real and ongoing issue. If so, I’d really like to see it.

We Are Fucked

Perfect Illustration of the currant state of the USA.

Sad but true. This country, the one we’ve been crowing about for nearly 250 years as the shining example of the triumph of democratic achievement has one, tiny, little secret:

It was all a big fat fucking lie.

Created by rich white men, most of whom either owned slaves, had owned slaves, or would own slaves. They were almost certainly not the enlightened and completely altruistic heroes we’ve been told about. They regarded most women as property. Sure, some allowed themselves to lower themselves to the level of women and were duly rewarded when such women seemed to bloom under their care, guidance, and tutelage.
(Of course, what was really happening was they were allowing themselves to recognize the skills, value, and abilities that had always existed in these and all women.)

Is it any surprise then, that at the end of the day, this country, every scrap of it, has an incredible bias towards white men and rich white men in particular. This bias is so very fundamental as to be nearly invisible.

Make no mistake. These men created this country for the benefit of all. No doubt about that.

But in their hearts, the word “all” was synonymous with “white men” first and foremost. All others came a very distant second.

This is the unspoken fundamental truth that we’ve been in denial about since forever.

Not surprising, considering white men had been pretty much running things forever.
There was no reason to change.

Think about that.

Re-read all of the great, glorious, magical, documents associated with the birth of our country. See all the references to “men”. We’ve culture-corrected those references, in our own heads, to mean “people”. (After not a little pushing, shoving, bleeding, dying, killing, etc.)

But this does not change the intent and underlying world view shared by these great men. They envisioned a country filled with all sorts of entities; men, women, and others.
That’s how they saw people. Anyone not white belonged to the “other” category. These were entities that were “almost” people.

The simple and somewhat ugly truth, the truth that we’ve been denying, is that these men, the founders of our country, created a world where they, as the destined ruling class (that being white men) would thrive and prosper.

And they (most of them anyway) gave absolutely zero thought to anyone outside themselves.

Don’t misunderstand, they wanted only the very best for everyone. (Provided the quality and opportunities of their own personal lives were never impacted negatively.)

This is why our country is broken. It was broken from the beginning.

Can it be fixed?

There was a time when the answer was “Of course! The US can do anything!”

But that’s a lie. We’ve clearly demonstrated the profound ability to NOT be able to do anything, other than to make rich white men richer and more powerful.

We make it through the so-called civil rights movement. We thought gains were made. We thought the country was moving forward.

We thought it was working.

And at some levels, town, city, and state, it might have been.

But at the federal level, the rules still give all the power and opportunities to rich white men. Others need not apply.

The civil rights movement did nothing to eradicate the underlying hate, resentment, and outrage that afflicted so many white people. When they no longer felt welcome in the national conversation, they didn’t go away. They went silent and underground.

And they grew. Initially, via word of mouth and personal relationships. The internet age brought them all the tools they needed to connect, thrive, and most importantly, influence.

Still doubt the idea?

Take a look at the baby-man Cheeto “running” the country.

All of his perceived faults, the thinly veiled hate, the ignorance, the lies, the denial, the seemingly endless list of character flaws, are perfectly representative of the kind of person our founding fathers saw as the perfect leader: A rich white man.

They would have seen no problem with the Cheeto. They would have clucked their tongues at his boorishness and ignorance. But his fundamental right to be a leader would be a given.

And there’s obviously a great number of people who still feel that way. They see him as a leader…a great one.

We are truly and profoundly fucked as a country.

Until a majority of the people of this country understand the fundamental shortcomings of our leaders, how can we possibly begin to effect real change?

The only way forward is to fix everything from the ground up.

Not amendments, not presidential edicts, not shaming, not focus groups, not anything like that.

We have to start with one simple shared and committed concept: every human alive in this country has all the rights, opportunities, and responsibilities of every other human.

For real this time.

Once that is done, we get really radical.

We level the playing field for real.

For everyone.

We perform the herculean task of equally redistributing all real wealth.

All of it.

There’s about $98 trillion owned by US citizens.

There’s about 208 million adults in the US.

$98,000,000,000,000/ 208,000,000 = (roughly) $471,000 per adult.

That’s right, that’s how screwed up this whole thing is.

We start by taking it all away and actually distributing it evenly.

That’s where we start.

And if we actually do that, it will solve most, if not all of our countries issues.

Let’s get started.

The Problem Is Me.

The existential dumpster fire that is the current reality in the US is most frightening not because it represents some sort of bizarre action movie whereby a crack team of heroes must make superhuman efforts to overcome a monstrous, invisible, and insidious enemy, all while having little or no chance at survival, much less success.

It is frightening because we know exactly how to overcome this crisis, but because of the very thing that allowed us to get to this place in our existence, our fervent, fundamental, and immutable tribalism.

Tribalism allowed us to pull together as small groups to survive a practically impossible beginning; animals that were weak, slow, vulnerable, and most of all, tasty.

Left as individuals, humanity would certainly have died out millennia ago.

But we were given one great gift: a brain far more advanced then most. This gave us relative superpowers respective to the animals around us. This great gift allowed us to not only survive, but to flourish.

Ultimately, it also gave us biases.

We learned to fear the unknown and the different. We clung to our beliefs and distrusted any deviation. We decided was TRUE and based our thinking and behavior around that, regardless of its actual veracity. Remembering and thinking of what specific behavior or thinking was correct took time and effort. Our ever-helpful brains eventually made this easier for us by making all that TRUTH part of the very makeup of our identity.

We developed unconscious and profoundly effective biases.

Biases push us towards that which is familiar and reassuring and away from anything else. They push us towards and away from people.

Here is the hardest part (for me anyway) to accept: “I am not, and have never been, in complete control of how I think and act.”

The price we must all pay to resolve this crisis is high indeed. It is nothing less than turning our backs on almost everything we believe at a fundamental level.

Many point to racism, ageism, elitism, and a million other “isms” as the culprit. Sadly true but it doesn’t go quite far enough.

The problem is not and has never been them, or them, or them, or them.

The problem has always been and will always be us, until we, as individuals and as a people decide to change.

We Must Change. All of us. Everyone. There are no exceptions and there is no room for equivocation.

We Must Change.

Or we will fail.

Perhaps the perfect expression of the downside to accepting the status quo is from the immortal “Casablaca”: “…If that plane leaves the ground and you’re not with him, you’ll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.”

Perfect, except that it is not “the rest of your life”. It is the rest of all our lives.

As a nation, as a people, we can endure and prosper during this time. But doing so will require great effort, understanding, empathy, and above all else, sacrifice, from everyone, all of us.

Because this is not about them. It’s never been about them.

This is about us.

We must, somehow, move beyond our fundamental tribalism and come to understand that we have a great and terrible choice: We can continue on our current path and pay a terrible price measured in human pain, financial loss, and even greater tribal divisions.

Or we can pay a potentially even higher price, at least in the short term; rip away the world views, concepts, and ideas that keep us, as a people, apart. Commit to do whatever it takes to make sure every person has the same rights, opportunities, and protection.

For real this time. Not just words on a page.

We’re lucky in that agreeing to one simple concept will get us very far down that path:

Every human being, regardless of race, color, wealth, education, residence, occupation, etc, is just as valuable, relevant, and important as every other person.

Irrespective of the flowery elegance of our national documents, this has never been true. We must make it true now.

The World That Never Was.

cake

Have you figured it out? The world I mean. Maybe you haven’t. If so, sorry for the spoiler.

You see the world we were taught about, the dreams we were given, the instruction, the rules….

All of it is bullshit.

The world we were told about never existed.

Not for most of us.

We are told that anything is possible if we are willing to work hard.

That is a total lie.

We are all born into different situations with different advantages and disadvantages.

The issue is that some are born with practically every advantage and some with practically every disadvantage.

That’s hardly fair.

But see, that’s the point. Life isn’t fair. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

Want to succeed in the US today?

No problem!

Just be born rich, white, and male.

You’ll be on your way!

(Otherwise, you might want to temper your life expectations.)

So let’s assume you’ve succeeded in being born rich, male, and white.

Now all you have to do is work hard and you’ll make it!

You’ll need to be smart, honest, and loyal.

Bullshit.

None of that shit is important.

Why? Politics.

Not the GOP and Democrat political bullshit (not yet, important, but we’ll get to that.)

Office Politics.

All you need to do is suck up to the right person or persons.

Hyperbole? Perhaps, but not by much.

I don’t know if everyone comes to the same realization that I did: that the reality of which I was taught, by parents, teachers, professors, practically every authority figure actually never existed.

You know what I’m talking about. Study hard, work hard, do your best and the world will take care of you.

Bullshit.

This country is made for the rich, by the rich. They control everything, including you.

And good luck if you don’t like it.

The GOP has one goal: To promote a two-class system. That system consists of the ruling class; rich, white, and mostly male. And the wage-slave race; eternally poor.

The Democrats have one goal: To oppose whatever the GOP promotes, at least on the surface. Their true goal is simply to stay in power.

Have a nice day.

The Dangerous Fallacy of “US vs THEM”.

us-vs-them

Color me guilty of this. You probably are as well. It’s just far too easy to blame practical and existential difficulties on others. After all, we’re doing and thinking all the right things.

Aren’t we?

I don’t know about you, but I’m not. I’m not doing much of anything except bitching about how “they” are making my life so bad.

But the truth is my life is as it is because of the choices I’ve made. There was some luck involved, but it’s all on me for the most part. I suspect that’s true for most of us.

The unpalatable truth is there is no them. There’s only us.

And we have to work together. That isn’t an option. That’s survival.

If we don’t find some way to work together, then nobody wins.

That’s the second biggest fallacy: One side can win. That’s just not possible. There’s no winning here. There’s only losing. And that’s what’s happening right now.

We’re losing.

All of us. Because there’s no them. It’s all us. And if anyone loses, we all lose.

White power groups live in a fantasy world where eliminating everyone of color will fix everything.

That will never happen and if it did it would fix nothing.

We have to fix this. If we don’t, there’s no real future for any of us.

Johnson Smith and my eternal passion for Mail Order Treasure.

When or where I met them, I don’t actually remember. Sometime in the mid to late 60’s, in my proto-concious pre-teen years. Somewhere between the pages of Superman, Richie Rich, Batman, World’s Finest, etc.

They had stuff.

Things.

Marvels.

Magic.

Items that were just slightly sleazy.

johnson_smith_company_ad_marvel_april_1980

Their offerings entranced and obsessed me. They seemed to be from another time and place. Someplace better, shinier, and much more fun.

js telescope

Each purchase was an adventure. It’s execution a dangerous process.

Each step had it’s ups and downs, it’s hills and gullies.

Step 1: Selection: The overloaded ad screams it’s wares and I reel with wonder and not a little item-lust. Decisions are made, scrapped, re-considered, made again, scrapped, re-considered again, and finally made.

Step 2: Funds Allocation and\or Procurement: Sometimes I had money. Mostly I didn’t. Too much candy, cokes, etc within walking distance.

But there was my mother. If the $$$ needed was reasonable or only slightly unreasonable, funding was assured.

Step 3: Money Order: Johnson Smith accepted cash (not suggested), checks (expect a lengthy wait), or money orders (BINGO).

Step 4: Assembling the Order: Now I CAREFULLY and SLOWLY fill out the order form and CAREFULLY and SLOWLY address an envelope. The money order and order form are inserted. The envelope is sealed. A stamp is procured and applied. A short walk to the mailbox, drop it in, and raise the flag.

Now we proceed to the hardest step, the most worst step.

Not even kidding.

Step 5: Waiting: A textual description of the comprehensive physical and emotional effects of waiting is impossible. This simple image comes close:

(The average time from mailing to reception was actually around two weeks.)

Step 6: Reception and Evaluation: Surprisingly, the best part of a great many mail order adventures, from my childhood through today, is the process of seeing the box (on my porch or in the mailbox), moving it inside to an appropriate opening location (dependent on the nature of the item), obtaining the special knife (A small folding version, bought (by mail order!), but blade action was too stiff to carry), and, of course, opening the package.

Here is where all the dreams, all the hopes, all the mystery ends.

You open the outer box. (There’s almost always an outer box)

You see the inner box.

(Sometimes the magic ends here. The appearance and\or size of the box may start you on the bad path; the path to DISAPPOINTMENT.)

You open the inner box.

You are now well on your way to fulfillment, acceptance, or DISAPPOINTMENT.

Fulfillment is rare. Memories of only a few of the many items ordered that actually appeared as described and performed as described.

Much more common is acceptance. The item isn’t what you’d hoped, but it is valuable in some useful or emotional way.

And then there’s DISAPPOINTMENT.

This is when the item does not look like it should and does not provide any practical value, emotional or otherwise.

This is the worst.

And even so, the adventure is ALWAYS worth it!

There is treasure out there between the pages, whether those pages be in a comic book or website, there is treasure to be found.

And I am bound and obsessed to find it!

The Hypocrisy of the Religious Right Political Movement.

Jesus_Angry_RECT

First and foremost, let me make it perfectly clear that I’m a hard-core atheist. Despite that, I find a great deal of truth in the (selected) teachings of Jesus.

Faith in Christ and in the Christian God were important parts of my life for over 10 years. During that time I spent a great deal of time and effort to read the Bible and learn it’s lessons both on my own and through group study.

The bottom line is that I have more actual Biblical knowledge than most “Christians”.

This becomes very apparent when I observe the behavior of “Christian” political figures.

It would be easy for me to use my own Biblical knowledge to point out just how wrong headed, hypocritical, and outright wrong (in a scriptural context) most of the prevailing “Religious Right’s” views are. But the words would be tainted by my own beliefs.

How fortunate that there are actual believers (and quite a few of them) who see the truth as plainly as I do.

Here’s one. They see the sham that is today’s Christian Politics.

The Politics of Jesus by Harold Rhodes.