Stormbringer's Thunder

Buon giorno. While this may appear somber at first, keep going. I did not make it to my brother's funeral. With the snow and ice in Michigan and New York, the cost and difficulties of actually getting a flight just after Christmas, etc., I was not expected to be there. But I expect to make it to the interment service in the spring. However, aside from being there in spirit, parts of this earlier post and Sharon's writings were included. My other brother and his wife told me that it went well. And it was very different that what you might expect. Sure, it started with a hymn (one of his favorites, "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands"), Scripture readings and prayers at the beginning and end. But the part I like was based on one of Jack's favorite characters, Frosty the Snowman! This was also because Jack was a "happy, jolly soul". The sermon title was, "Don't You Cry, I'll Be Back Again Someday!" What a great double meaning! I w...

Don't worry, gang, Stormbringer still has plenty of thunder left in him. Not as loud today because I'm tired after the Christmas festivities. First off, I want to clarify. At my age, I use the term "kids" loosely. It doesn't have to be someone college age or younger. I've seen people in their thirties that I consider "kids". "What in the world are you on about, Cowboy Bob?" People consider themselves bulletproof. The younger they are, the more indestructible they seem to think they are. Especially in areas related to health. Scott the Collector can booze it up, stay out late and still come in to work and I don't see a lack in his performance. Ernie the Gambler is gambling by chowing down on fast food and sugary sodas instead of decent meals. I don't mean that it's wrong all the time, but it's a lifestyle for him. That crap catches up to you. (It's funny, ZZ Top's "TV Dinners" just started playing...) I want...

Not much thunder from Stormbringer today. Isn't it strange how sad events happen around Christmas? One friend told me that his brother-in-law's wife died last week, and that the brother-in-law has had a series of difficulties recently. Another friend knows someone who has suicidal tendencies. A third friend lost his father on Christmas Eve. I can name other disasters that happened around the week or two before Christmas. Yes, they happen all year round. But it's certainly more difficult at this time of year. Today is December 21, 2008. About an hour and a half ago, my oldest brother died. He was 64. Jack ("Jackie" to many family and friends) was born with Down Syndrome . He could not talk, but was able to do basic functions for himself. He was content to watch television or listen to his phonograph records. Jack was not able to stay at home for most of his adult life, and was in various state institutions and eventually into foster care. For the last few y...

Gather 'round, kids. Uncle Bob has another story to tell. This one is true (and I do tell you when they're not), but I'm not going to give names and locations because I don't want to cause undue embarrassment. I have proof, but that's only for my own satisfaction and not for public view. Also, I pieced together some of the details after the excitement. I was messing with an instant messenger and picking on the daughter of one of my goomah's . She's in college, and I started playing. She did not know who I was, but the clues were there and she would have figured it out. Why didn't she? She's a bright girl. The problem was that she has a jealous, controlling boyfriend that was right there. He took over the messaging and started in on me. The girl had told him she knew who it was, but he was having a good time thinking that he was ripping me a new one. He dared to accuse me of sexual harassment, which was laughably untrue. (I have plenty of girlfriends...

Buon giorno. I had been putting off writing this article until the first of the year, but I think people need to know now rather than later. Now that Obummer and the other Socialists are going to be in charge in the USA, and economies are interconnected, perhaps what I have to say will affect readers outside these borders as well. Much of what I'm going to say is common sense, but sometimes things need to be summarized and repeated. The economies are in bad shape, we all know. Our national "leaders" have points of view that will only make things worse. They will continue to create an entitlement (welfare) mentality, and will raise your taxes to do it. You believe that B. Hussein Obama will keep his promises to only raise taxes on the "rich"? Dream on. Or you want to see them pay more than they already do? You're dismissed. We don't need class warfare in this room, anyway. I have no intention of giving you investment advice, however. This is simp...

Buon giorno. This arrived in my Inbox, and I decided to share it with the world. I'm voting Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would. I'm voting Democrat because freedom of speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it. I'm voting Democrat be cause when we pull out of Iraq I trust that the bad guys will stop what they're doing because they now think we're good people. I'm voting Democrat because I believe that people who can't tell us if it will rain on Friday CAN tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if I don't start driving a Prius. I'm voting Democrat because I'm not concerned about the slaughter of millions of babies so long as we keep all death row inmates alive. I'm voting Democrat because I believe that business should not be allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for ...

Buona sera. Cowboy Bob really hates the moving process, and that's what I'm in the middle of right now. There was the search process (which is frustrating and irritating enough), and I came through that in one piece. After the elation of finding a new place to go, there's the very tedious and stressful process of getting everything over there. Sure, the boys in the crew are more than willing to be pals and help drag furniture and boxes. But I have to put the stuff in the boxes, pack fragile items carefully, mark the boxes correctly ("Where the hell did I put the spare clip for the P-99?") -- and sort things. The older we get, the more we need (and often want) to simplify. When moving day comes, you regret being a pack rat for all those years because you have to carry things that you haven't looked at in years or even forgot that you own in the first place. When the moving process is not hurried, you have time to sort through things and get rid of stuff. (Whe...

Advisory: Mature Content Yep, I put an advisory on this one. It’s not going to be profane, illustrated or full of graphic descriptions of personal acts, but I’m reluctant for kids to read this. Yours truly is not in much of a mood to kid around, so I’ll just get right to it. This one is for the men. If women are reading, fine. In fact, maybe you’ll want to send the link to this post (or use the e-mail button at the bottom of the article, next to the comments tag) and send it to male friends that need it. I don't know how the rest of the world acts, but Western society places a great deal of value on the size of, uh, certain appendages. You know, the ones we usually cover up in public. Yeah, I see you’re catching on. Well, I’ll start with women anyway. I know you’re still reading this, and the first discussion point helps work towards my main goal. I've heard women saying that they wish they could “upgrade” to larger breasts. Why? Because of the role society places on ...

I've been pondering this for quite some time, and some recent observations prompted me to write about it. Remember about a year ago when I wrote about The Arrogant Atheist? Yes, then I did some other stuff that was similar. I've noticed that atheism (and its kid brother, agnosticism) and liberalism go hand-in-hand. It appears that there is an elitist approach to atheism. Why would someone claim to be an atheist? I can think of several reasons, including: Upbringing and bad educational experiences Bad experiences in life Cultural influences Political and social environment Peer pressure, or the desire to please other people Disappointment based on bad experiences in life (i.e., expecting God to be a grand Santa Claus in the sky, giving you whatever you want, whenever you want it) Elitism Moral choices It's the last two parts that I want to touch on today. Please pay attention, 007! I am not going to say that all atheists are the same, and that my definitions ...

You know I'm frequently trying to provide a public service. Here's another one. This puppy just dropped into my personal Inbox. If you get this, don't click on anything, just delete it. It claims to give me an update to Windows XP and to Vista. If it was from Microsoft, well, my computer is registered, I get automatic updates, and they know full well what system I have. Why delete it? After a brief search, I found out it's a phishing scam (click for definition) , and I took out the active link: Free Update Windows XP,Vista About this mailing: You are receiving this e-mail because you subscribed to MSN Featured Offers. Microsoft respects your privacy. If you do not wish to receive this MSN Featured Offers e-mail, please click the "Unsubscribe" link below. This will not unsubscribe you from e-mail communications from third-party advertisers that may appear in MSN Feature Offers. This shall not constitute a...

A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Why the long face?" Jokes are over. OK, Gang, Uncle Bob is feeling a bit philosophical. Not the "meaning of life" kind of stuff. These questions are more immediate and, dare I say, relevant. This post is mainly for men. I'm sure women will read it and chime in with the comments button, too, and that's fine. Over at The Art of Manliness , questions have been raised about, "Is (activity) manly?" The problem is, the term "manly" means different things to different people. Does an activity make you a better man? Maybe, and maybe not. I'm hoping that the guys at TAOM read this and give some input. An assumption that can be made is that, if something is not "manly", it is somehow "un-manly". What does that mean, then? That it diminishes your manhood? Careful with that six-gun, Tex, you can shoot yourself in the foot with that assumption. Worse yet, there's the assumption...

Buona sera. I've been busy. Not only was Lela out and my crew had to do extra work (yes, including yours truly), I've had to spend a lot of time talking to my old friend Neil (and I still wish he was in my crew). In our talks, I've mentioned the control freak and the way she makes Neil's life a living hell. First and foremost, she's a selfish, whiny control freak (see this post ). Also, she had a go at Neil, who showed amazing restraint in not ripping her head off (discussed in that post ). Neil's drawback is that he's been trying to be a nice guy instead of heading for the hills when he realized that the control freak's mother is an enabler and wants this lazy welfare slob ruining and running her life, and ruining his life, too. This cazzo is physically an adult, for crying out loud! Time to grow the rest of the way up and get a life! After interrogating Neil for hours (I didn't think I was interrogating him, but he felt that way), I'm going ...

What can I say? If you get something like this, don't fall for it! And this is hilarious: Two of the links show that Kim Woo Choong is going to jail for fraud! These losers can't even scam right! And they want me to invest funds in China? Yeah, I'll invest in the Tibetan people! It'll be a helluva birthday gift for the Dalai Lama! Now, I also hope you don't break the cardinal rule, and I'll say it again: NEVER give personal or confidential information away to strangers. "If it's too good to be true, it probably is" still holds true, so don't trust this stuff. Some of these stronzos are stupid enough to keep circulating their names all over the Internet for a while. But later on, they'll change their names. The basic approach that I've posted in scams in this Weblog will still remain, however. So don't be fooled. Dear Friend, This is a Management Placement on behalf of Mr. Kim Woo Choong. Mr. Kim Woo Choong is looking for an expe...

Wowie! No more sneaking at night, no more shaking down late payments for cheese deliveries, no more government work...Yeah, sure. One of the first rules in Not Being Scammed is that you don't fall for "winning" a lottery that you never entered. In a foreign country. Where they don't know your name. Don't be a cafone . I have fun showing these scammers up, so here's today's lesson. From the keyboard of the lovely and talented Stephanie Wilson: UK GAMING BOARD ALERT. Compliments of the day to You and Your Family. We wish to inform you of the result of the National Lottery Sweepstakes program The entire staff of the Uk National Lottery wishes to inform you that your Email address has won the total Cash Prize of £850,000.00 The draw was done electronically with several email addresses provided to this office by microsoft to enhance the utilization of the internet. Your email address attached to Serial no: 5368/02, was Picked as One Of the Five Winning email Ad...

Ernie the Gambler, Neil and I were having an interesting talk about control freaks the other day. We were trying to figure out what their problem is in the first place, and how to disarm them. Remember when I did that piece about manipulation and being manipulated ? Well, the control freak is worse. Everyone wants to have some control of their lives, their destiny, their workplace, their front porch, whatever. And mentally healthy people don't want to be controlled, they want at least some say in their relationships. These people are so weak minded that they are in so much fear and anxiety in their own lives, they want to control your life as well. You don't have much say when you're in a relationship with a control freak: Do what you're told. The problem is, when a control freak is a raving psychotic, there is no pleasing them; the rules constantly change. When you do what you're told or forced to do, this worst of controllers is still not pleased. Control freaks ...

Uncle Bob is angry today. The Internet should be a fun and safe place. What a crock! (Although what it says is true, this link has strong profanity.) Hal the Hacker was busy, so I had to help Teenie on my own. She got her fingers on the "XP Antivirus" software. It's vicious. And why was Teenie surprised by this, after all I've taught her? Well... "The new XP antivirus 2008 , that hit the World Wide Web computers in March, is a major update to its predecessor. By calling it "major update" I mean that XP anti virus became more violent, more resilient, more immune to removal attempts, more "intelligent"; now it's recovering itself after being removed via Add and Remove Programs option in Windows Control Panel...This year's XP antivirus is more colourful, too, and features same interface as many legitimate antispyware software tools. It's totally understandable why even senior computer users install this rogue antivirus blindly believ...

Still waiting for news on the Tibetan protests for yesterday and today. The Chinese changed the route of the Olympic torch, and the timing, and kept it secret. If it's so much hassle, why bother? It's only a part of the Olympics since Hitler's 1936 games in Berlin. Hey, you ChiComs have a lot in common with Der Fűhrer, huh? Stronzos. OK, so this guy sends me a comment that is longer than the original "Monkey Business" post. Right. Like I'm going to get into an essay war with someone and bore all of you to tears. Hal the Hacker wanted to send him a "personal message" that would show up on his computer, but I don't want him to stop trying to put that virus in the CCP computers in Beijing. Nicky says, "Fuggedaboudit" — after all, he must have ignored the warning that I am right. Instead, I'll just go on a bit more. But I won't get into all the deep science that I used to study. You and I have better things to do. So get ready, Cow...

Buona sera. While I'm waiting for the reports to come in for the Global Day of Action for Tibet (June 18, 2008), I'll tell you about a discussion the boys and I were having. We have a spectrum here. One guy believes in Creation Science or Intelligent Design on faith, without science. Another is pretty much hardcore in the pseudoscience of evolutionism (yeah, I know, big words again) and believes that materialism explains everything. Another thinks that God used evolution to create life on this planet, and that Genesis is only an allegory. (Of course, where it stops being allegory and starts being history is a question he can't answer.) As you see, the use of the term "evolution" in this case is the "general theory" of the origin of life. As for me, I believed in evolution because of the way it's presented: It happened, and that's all there is to it. Everywhere you go, everything you read or hear, whenever origins of life are discussed, evoluti...

Buon giorno. I should have Neil write this because it's his story, but he's too busy trying to make money to pay the bills. As for me, I'm in a better mood because some money has come to me that I've been waiting a long time to receive. Neil works for a major American corporation. It's very big, and has international holdings. They complained that in their last quarter, they did not make as many tens of millions of dollars as they expected. Poor darlings! Neil says that this company is too big and too impersonal. I agree. The problem is, that's the way most of them get. His company does not care about its employees. They make a pretense at benefits because they could not get anyone to work there if they did not offer them (and their health benefits are laughable; many employees rely on their spouses for coverage). They cut out the overtime that many employees relied on to survive. Instead, they will have to learn the hard way that there is too much work, too li...

Buon giorno. You're traveling through a realm of annoyance. It is a realm that lies at the summit of man's irritation or the pit of his tolerance. It is a journey through a land of both ego and pride, of stupidity and ignorance. Arrogance is paramount. Introspection is rare. There's a signpost up ahead. Your next stop: The Obnoxious Zone. OK, enough of the bad Twilight Zone introduction re-write. But I had to blow off some steam. Very rough weekend, especially with the brutal heatwave. Tommy the Knocker has put dry ice in front of his fan, it's so bad. Maybe if it didn't hit six weeks before the usual time, it would be easier to tolerate. Yours truly has had to do some self-examination. Do I trash something that I like because of the people associated with it? That's what it comes down to. You see, I'm more than fed up with the "Spread Firefox" community. Basically, it's full of virgin geeks doing their "Yeah! Firefox rocks, dude!...