|
Between the official date of this blogitem, 25 March 2025 as it claims on the left, and the day that I actually finished it and published it, the world came to an end. OK, not exactly, or you wouldn't be reading this. But the financial world and world trade nearly came to an end, recovered, came to another end, maybe recovered some more, and then, today I published this blog, today being already 27 April. Yes, I'm a bit lackadaisical. But all this end-of-the-world stuff, which you may remember, and may be re-re-eventuated subsequently counts as current events. Let's skip that and move on to the title promise.
A New Syndrome
The first blogstuff note, as luck would have it, is current-event-ish. Just as a syndrome called ADHD—something to do with attention deficit—has reached the top of the charts in recent years, a new syndrome, AEHD has made a recent appearance. It stands for Attention EXCESS Hyperactivity Disorder.
A few months ago I railed about DICE, the Department of Individual Citizen Efficiency, doing a poor job. Now in addition to wasting our precious remaining days with stupid activities, it's failing to prevent the government from consuming our brain cycles with perpetual news-related activities. I won't say more in case you've blessedly managed to ignore it all. I emit a simple plea:
Dear Government: Please take a nap. Please!
What Are The Blogstuff Files?
They're not exactly files. Rather, they're emails to myself reminding me of something I viewed as interesting, portentous, goofy, or, occasionally astonishing. Also, they are often incomprehensible. I have a 'thought' about which I scribble a few words, and when I look at the words weeks or months later, they make no more sense to me than they probably did at the time I wrote them. Here are some of the ones I've been able to interpret and, therefore, the ones of which I can now dispose.
Thanks, AI
I tried to look up something in one of my previous blogitems, which are well indexed in Google. But the AI summary told me I was "probably" looking for something other than the RIKLBlog. I can understand why it would infer that if I had, for instance, misspelled the name of my blog and it tried to figure out which (far more popular) blog I meant. But no, I spelled it as I have been spelling it for the last 19 years. Harrumph.
The Delmarva Peninsula
It's a chunk of land on the East Coast that embodies parts of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. When creating a portmanteau word, e.g. smog which is a combination of smoke and fog, one pays attention to how it could be pronounced. Smog? Easy! Ogsm? Not so much. But thinking about Delmarva, the other combinations sound just fine! Mardelva? Vadelmar? Marvadel? Maybe the real question is why I even think about this stuff. After you've read the rest of The Blogstuff Files, you'll probably agree.
An Item of Surpassing Insignificance: The Escheatment of Tiny Checks
More than half a lifetime ago (absent any spectacular breaksthrough,) I purchased single shares of a handful of stocks.** To this day some continue to pay dividends. Tiny dividends, often under $.50. I try to be conscientious about depositing them, but occasionally forget. If one goes missing, some years later it gets claimed by the state. Apparently no amount of money is too small to be ignored! The amount spent by the company, the state, and the occasional do-gooder or bureaucrat intending to repatriate my misplaced pittance is stunning.
Charlie Greer and the Bomb Threat
I don't think I've ever told that story! The short version: We both lived. The long version will have to wait. It's, well, long.
Bonus 10-Entities and the Penguin Tariff
Whether the Trump Tariff adventure is fresh in your mind or a historical factoid, many observers noted that he affixed a tariff to Heard Island, an Australian territory occupied by penguins and little else. This may have seemed stupid in the context of world trade, but it did serve one valuable purpose: My bonus entry detailing DXCC entities, with the addition of Heard Island, finally hit 300! And considering my minimal trade with the Penguins of Heard Island, will have cost me nothing!
Tom Lehrer Turned 97 on 09 April
Happy 97th birthday, Tom Lehrer.
Speaking of Superannuation...
Although I'm not in Tom Lehrer's decade yet, I'm definitely in the Social-Security-recipient crowd. Which means that at least once and often two or three times a year I receive postal mail from that bureau or department or directorate or office or whatever they style themselves. Wouldn't it be nice if they emailed my information so I didn't have to scan it to keep a record? Wouldn't it be even nicer if they sent it on standard-size paper instead of an unscannable and odd-sized continuous form that requires annoying yet careful separation that wastes my precious time?***
And, a twofer: I got in an elevator with two couples, one young, one elderly. I said "Howdy" to the older couple and one of them said to the other, "See? We're not invisible!" Having heard that many older people think they are invisible, I suggested that I could see them because I, too, am old. The younger couple chimed in "I can see them, too." I found that short trip to the ground floor surprisingly comforting.
Ready to Celebrate?
One of my Blogstuff items reminded me that November 20th is a special day. Oh? Yes! Utility Scam Awareness Day.
Have I Exhausted My Blogstuff Files?
No, only myself. There are more, some of which can't be so easily condensed.
Exciting PriUPS Web News
It came to my attention that the PriUPS web site was "insecure." Apparently all the words and photographs I have perpetrated are in some way dangerous, notwithstanding my total lack of tracking, beseeching for money, stealing your info, or, really, anything at all. Because the URL began "http" instead of "https," potential readers were often warned of this danger which may have discouraged them. In a spasm of zeal and with my no-doubt irritating interruption of people who know about this stuff better than I do, the site now sports a new "s" which somehow makes it more congenial.
Furthermore, the software that I use to perpetrate this blog, Adobe Dreamweaver, just updated itself. It hasn't done this for years, despite my faithful monthly payments. What I just got for my money seems to be the need to re-learn how to avoid new features and make the few I was using work again. Sigh.
* I am a non-prophet blogger. If the world comes to an end subsequent to this blogitem, do say I didn't tell you so.
** Some would have turned out to be good investments if I had bought more shares. If only we had made products for Berkshire Hathaway!
*** And the precious time of approximately 65 million others. But this is my blog; their precious time is of less concern, at least to me.
|
|
