Ron says … What!

[Ron]

Inexplicably, I was shuffled to a website where disgruntled former colleagues offered critiques of GA (I have no idea why), but I found every one of those critiques to be poorly illustrated, merely a whine; whine; whine. I kind-of get that people can be disgruntled with rules, but once you understand them — the reasons for their existence — to then rail against the rules seems to me a contradiction of principle. To leave after knowing the facts and then complain on another venue, all without stating who you are (or were), seems to me such petty thing to do.

[chris191070]

I totally agree. Rules are in place for a reason, it what helps keep GA running with no major problems.

[Bill W]

13 hours ago, Ron said:

Inexplicably, I was shuffled to a website where disgruntled former colleagues offered critiques of GA (I have no idea why), but I found every one of those critiques to be poorly illustrated, merely a whine; whine; whine. I kind-of get that people can be disgruntled with rules, but once you understand them — the reasons for their existence — to then rail against the rules seems to me a contradiction of principle. To leave after knowing the facts and then complain on another venue, all without stating who you are (or were), seems to me such petty thing to do.

I agree with you, but your post left me with one question.  You start off by saying the complainers were "former colleagues", but at the end you state "all without stating who you are (or were),"  If they never stated who they are, how did you know they were former colleagues?  The contradiction just made me curious.  

[Ron]

8 hours ago, Bill W said:

If they never stated who they are, how did you know they were former colleagues?  The contradiction just made me curious.

They said that they were former writers and members but they didn’t include their nom de plume’s.

@Cia had replied to at least one of the complaints.

Edited July 1 by Ron

[Jeff Burton]

Wait we have rules? I thought all that was basic common sense lol

[Ron]

6 hours ago, Jeff Burton said:

Wait we have rules?

There are always rules. 😉 It’s just that sometimes we don’t agree with them, and that causes strife — and disgruntled (former) colleague complaints by those who don’t identify themselves. 

[Krista]

Yeah, pissed off people tend to be more vocal than satisfied ones, especially within social media platforms.  So, it is always nice to see people take initiative to be vocal about what they have found value in. Appreciation may well be one thing that keeps things going, knowing there are people out there that still seek out and enjoy what you're doing. 

 

[Ron]

33 minutes ago, Krista said:

Yeah, pissed off people tend to be more vocal ...

This does appear to be a worldwide contagion. But there may be hope.

"Shut up, you." the quiet ones said. And all the while brandishing their sticks. (Whack! Thwack!) "There, that ought to shut them up." (The silence was deafening.)

The moral of the story is that the meek shall inherit ... something, something or other. (But, perhaps, after it's too late.)

37 minutes ago, Krista said:

Appreciation may well be one thing that keeps things going, ...

Well, yes. That and a little cash wouldn't hurt.  

[Ron]

I've been reading reviews of Lorde's newest release: "Lorde is Back."

Say, what?

I would add caveats: This new work tries to harken back to their initial explosion onto the musical scene; It's recorded 'hotter' (part of the so called 'loudness wars') than Pure Heroine is (unfortunately); also, although I have listened to Virgin a few times, I don't find the lyrics or musicality (rhythm and timing) to be memorable.

[Jeff Burton]

3 hours ago, Ron said:

I've been reading reviews of Lorde's newest release: "Lorde is Back."

Say, what?

I would add caveats: This new work tries to harken back to their initial explosion onto the musical scene; It's recorded 'hotter' (part of the so called 'loudness wars') than Pure Heroine is (unfortunately); also, although I have listened to Virgin a few times, I don't find the lyrics or musicality (rhythm and timing) to be memorable.

I haven’t listened to it yet I’ll make the time tho to give it a go.

[Ron]

Even if you’re outside for just a little while in 91 degree heat along with 50 percent humidity it takes a toll. 🥵

Edited July 6 by Ron

[Zombie]

On 7/2/2025 at 12:01 AM, Ron said:

It's recorded 'hotter' (part of the so called 'loudness wars')

this was the bane of homemade-mixtape makers (remember cassettes? ) and it’s still a pain for Playlists  

[Ron]

43 minutes ago, Zombie said:

a pain for Playlists

Yeah, absolutely. That's part of the reason I just started to listen to all the songs on a specific release rather than trying to string along disparately recorded music from different artists. (I guess that's a playlist, right? )

Edit to add: I'm listening to Rainbow Kitten Surprise's How to: Friend, Love, Freefall. I heard the song Fever Pitch and sought out the album it's listed on, and I found the whole of the work enjoyable.

Edited July 6 by Ron

[Ron]

Leaving Whole Foods and waiting for the walk sign. Women in Porsche SUV waiting to make her turn when the light turns green. 

Both lights change at the same time. Me, one foot raised. Porsche woman steps on the gas; must beat pedestrian. I give her the dirtiest look!

Porsche woman makes the turn and promptly gets stuck in stopped traffic two car-lengths away.

I walk safely across the road. People!

[Bill W]

1 hour ago, Ron said:

Leaving Whole Foods and waiting for the walk sign. Women in Porsche SUV waiting to make her turn when the light turns green. 

Both lights change at the same time. Me, one foot raised. Porsche woman steps on the gas; must beat pedestrian. I give her the dirtiest look!

Porsche woman makes the turn and promptly gets stuck in stopped traffic two car-lengths away.

I walk safely across the road. People!

People with enough money that they can buy things like a Porsche often feel that they're better and more important than the rest of us slobs, and, therefore, act accordingly.  I had something like that happen once.  I was on the interstate and there wasn't a lot of traffic at the time when suddenly a BMW came flying out of nowhere and got right on the ass of my car.  I thought he'd just go around me, since there was no traffic in the passing lane, but he didn't do it, so I speeded up to get some distance between our vehicles, since he was less than half a car length behind me.  After I sped up, he did the same, and once again he was tailgating me.  I tried slowing down next, figuring that might get him to pass me, but no, he slowed down as well and maintained the same distance behind me. 

Pissed off, I eventually tapped my brake peddle a couple of times to let him know I didn't like playing his game, and that obviously pissed him off,  He suddenly swerved into the other lane and pulled beside me, and after shouting at me, although my windows were up and I had the radio on so I couldn't actually hear what he was saying,  That, however, was followed by him first givomg me the finger and then the old Italian salute.  That's when someone raises the forearm of one arm with the first closed and uses their other hand to smack down on the bicep of the raised arm.  After that, he pulled sharply in front of me, nearly striking my car with his, as well as nearly running me off the road. 

Unbeknownst to him, since he'd been focused on me the entire time, there was a state trooper parked in one of the crossover lanes located between the two pairs of lanes going in opposite direction.  As soon as the guy speeded up after his reckless move, the lights and siren on the state police cruiser came to life and the trooper took off after the guy.  I ended up passing both of them a short time later, because the trooper had him pulled over on the side of the road a little farther ahead.  At lease I got some satisfaction that the idiot got a ticket, minimum, and I have no idea why he was pulling that stunt in the first place. 

[Ron]

This has been going on for years and I finally decided that I wanted to learn, why?

I prefer boxer-briefs to tighty-pick-your-colors, except for maybe jeans once upon a time (I gave up tight jeans years ago when that indentation around my waist began lasting for a couple of hours after I took my jeans off. Nobody wants to see that. 🫣). But my boxer-briefs constantly and consistently (around 80% of the time) came out of the dryer inside out. So, I experimented by turning all of my briefs inside out before putting them in the wash. After having dried the briefs, only around 20% had turned right side out. 😮

So the moral of my story is:

Spoiler

No matter how brief (see what I did there?) a time that you wear your undies, wash them.

 

[Bill W]

7 hours ago, Ron said:

This has been going on for years and I finally decided that I wanted to learn, why?

I prefer boxer-briefs to tighty-pick-your-colors, except for maybe jeans once upon a time (I gave up tight jeans years ago when that indentation around my waist began lasting for a couple of hours after I took my jeans off. Nobody wants to see that. 🫣). But my boxer-briefs constantly and consistently (around 80% of the time) came out of the dryer inside out. So, I experimented by turning all of my briefs inside out before putting them in the wash. After having dried the briefs, only around 20% had turned right side out. 😮

So the moral of my story is:

  Hide contents

No matter how brief (see what I did there?) a time that you wear your undies, wash them.

 

Besides, what difference does it make if turn them right side out AFTER you wash them or turn them wrong side out before you wash them?  Well, I would prefer handling the clean undies, rather than the dirty ones.  

[Ron]

7 hours ago, Bill W said:

Besides, what difference does it make …

It was an experiment, Bill. I wanted to know, and knowledge is more important than ‘what difference does it make’. Besides, there’s a little thing called soap and water that does wonders for the cleaning of hands after handling one’s undies.

[Ron]

Quote

“The apartment smelled like PineSol, sausage gravy and scattered potatoes.”

What?! 

That’s the best line in a story I’ve read so far all week. I don’t know that smell, and, yet, I can somehow imagine the scent.

[Jason Rimbaud]

On 7/17/2025 at 9:40 PM, Bill W said:

 I would prefer handling the clean undies, rather than the dirty ones.  

Um, you are so living your life the wrong way...

J (love of briefs, boxer briefs, jockstraps, whatever style this new pair is called in hot pink that I bought last night at a store named Knobs in the gay district of San Francisco after a few too many whiskies, and whatever you are wearing) 

PS: By reading this comments you automatically promise to never wear boxers, purchase them, or send them to people name Jason Rimbaud as a joke. 

[Ron]

I listened to The Black Keys' new release NO RAIN, NO FLOWERS tonight, all through without critically listening and they have a hit on their hands, as far as my opinion goes. Rollingstone magazine has reviewed the release positively, too, if that means anything to you.

[Ron]

I'm breaking in a newly purchased espresso machine, albeit cheaply acquired using acquired points - thereby halving the price of it plus the addition of tax, and I find myself needing to grab one piece of paper towel after another ... one must clean up this and/or that throughout every new adventure when breaking in a new appliance, even if you are not me; when a thought popped into my head, although I was unaware of it at the time -- but consider me nonplussed when -- suddenly, I said aloud 'No wasting of paper towels' into the vacant, kitchen air -- when the thought previously introduced brought me way-back to this one time when I was visiting friends who lived very near Victoria Rail Station (very easy to get around from there) in London (not so very far from where the formally big bee herself was reputed to hole-up now and again) at some point in the mid-nineties, and during a visit to the grocery (I think that's how the British say that: 'went to the grocery'; negating the word store from: I went to the grocery store, as civilized people do say) and I began wrapping my purchased wine bottles around with plastic to keep them from knocking about (I think that may be another British-ism) and thinking about my poor, abused credit card -- don't get me started on exchange rates, back then; and fees -- losing out to a broken bottle on the way back to my good, British/Italian friends (good boys; married) home where, I'm sure, they would certainly not want to be at the end of my grief; and I was daydreaming about that very same thing while wrapping my purchased wine when a voice (as if from the outer world [my words]) rang out, screaming at me even, 'No wasting of plastic bags!'; I suddenly thought 'Woe!'; and with that you should reasonably think of me as being nonplussed at the time, what with that juxtaposition from out of time going on, and all that.

 

[Ron]

In the new Superman movie there comes a point where Superman is clobbered and lands in a hole in Metropolis (this is actually Cleveland, Ohio) and my sister in-law is an extra in that scene. If you watch the 'bystanders' crowded around Superman you can easily spot her; she's the attractive, short, blonde haired woman in the front of the crowd.

During the multiple takes it took in order to get the shot done she said the crowd didn't have much to look at but Superman's crotch -- it was right there in front of them, what with his legs splayed out like they were.  Ahem.  I'm sure she's right. 

Edited August 15 by Ron

[Ron]

Ouch! Once again both the title and the last line to a story came to me at the same time. 

Stop! Stop, I say! I need filler!

[Inkognito]

On 8/13/2025 at 8:11 PM, Ron said:

I'm breaking in a newly purchased espresso machine, albeit cheaply acquired using acquired points - thereby halving the price of it plus the addition of tax, and I find myself needing to grab one piece of paper towel after another ... one must clean up this and/or that throughout every new adventure when breaking in a new appliance, even if you are not me; when a thought popped into my head, although I was unaware of it at the time -- but consider me nonplussed when -- suddenly, I said aloud 'No wasting of paper towels' into the vacant, kitchen air -- when the thought previously introduced brought me way-back to this one time when I was visiting friends who lived very near Victoria Rail Station (very easy to get around from there) in London (not so very far from where the formally big bee herself was reputed to hole-up now and again) at some point in the mid-nineties, and during a visit to the grocery (I think that's how the British say that: 'went to the grocery'; negating the word store from: I went to the grocery store, as civilized people do say) and I began wrapping my purchased wine bottles around with plastic to keep them from knocking about (I think that may be another British-ism) and thinking about my poor, abused credit card -- don't get me started on exchange rates, back then; and fees -- losing out to a broken bottle on the way back to my good, British/Italian friends (good boys; married) home where, I'm sure, they would certainly not want to be at the end of my grief; and I was daydreaming about that very same thing while wrapping my purchased wine when a voice (as if from the outer world [my words]) rang out, screaming at me even, 'No wasting of plastic bags!'; I suddenly thought 'Woe!'; and with that you should reasonably think of me as being nonplussed at the time, what with that juxtaposition from out of time going on, and all that.

 

Holy one-sentence-paragraph-shitballs, Batman!

... Sir.

Sir, please step away from the espresso machine.