Irritants

It has long been established that I am a curmudgeon.  And that tendency is not diminishing, rather, it seems to be accelerating, and that acceleration is increasing (is that the first derivative?).  In random order of important to mundane, here are a few things I’m currently grumbling about.

Ten years ago or so, I took over the dinner cooking responsibilities.  I like it.  I like looking for new recipes.  I like the fact that it is a task that I can conceptualize, prepare and prep, and complete all in the same day.  Like no other job I ever had…instant gratification, clear feedback, and the ability for a ‘do-over’ the next day.  Cool.

However, I do not understand the fascination with celebrity “favorites.”  I do not care that Humphrey Bogart ate bacon and eggs and scotch at every meal he had at Romanoff’s.  I do not care about Michelle Obama’s favorite dessert, George Clooney’s lunch choices, what Taylor Swift eats before a concert, or which restaurants the rich and famous  choose.  I like recipes.  I do not want to spend any of my time being a voyeur about the food famous people eat and I think it is ridiculous as entertainment.  Show me a recipe with ingredients and instructions.  I couldn’t care less what Grace Kelly drank with Cary Grant or or what Simone Biles has for lunch or what any other “celebrity” ate or talked about eating.

Every serious analyst of the Israeli-Hamas war has categorically stated that death and casualty figures provided by Hamas are unverified and likely unverifiable.  Why then do even the most revered of news sources, the NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times, CNN, and the major network news shows still use and publicize those inaccurate numbers?  I’ll tell you why.  Because those news sources, along with those less prestigious and most if not all social media platforms do not give a shit about the actual news.  They don’t give a shit about accuracy either unless there is a good possibility of being sued.  They are like Trump or professional wrestling….it doesn’t matter who’s good or bad, what’s truth or fiction, or who’s right or wrong.  Jonathan Last, writing on Substack’s The Bulwark has it right – all the media cares about is generating “heat” be that selling copies, collecting hits, or counting eyeballs.  News is a business.  Media company loyalty is to their owners and stockholders and truth be damned.  Thus any attention, any heat, is good.  And that is bad for the rest of us.

Have we always been such shitty drivers?  Few people signal a turn, fewer people understand that a truck lane is meant for the faster vehicles to get past the slower ones on a hill.  Very few drivers truly understand that, on a four-lane highway, you should be in the right lane unless passing.  Almost no one understands that STOP means a complete cessation of forward movement and momentum.  A STOP sign is not a “slow down but keep moving as you look” sign or a “don’t slow down if you can see its clear” sign.  It’s a STOP sign and you need to fucking STOP.

 Where we vacation, the United States Postal Service (USPS) will not deliver mail to our address because our driveway is accessed via a “Class 4” (un-maintained) road.  Meaning it’s a dirt road with a few potholes and bumps. OK, I can almost get it.  Nah, I really do not.  Those Postal Service vehicles that can’t handle the Class 4 road are being upstaged daily by FedEx and UPS and occasionally even by my daughter’s 11-year-old Honda Fit that has like a couple of inches ground clearance – all of which manage to brave the wilds.  So we had to get a PO Box and schlep to the Post Office to get our mail. 

Speaking of mail, since I started getting invoices electronically and having signed up for autopay for many bills my mail now consists mostly of catalogues I do not want and did not ask for, 3^rd class mail offers for windows, snow plowing, and landscaping which I also do not want or need, advertising which I really do not want and political campaign pitches I can definitely do without.  It keeps the circular file full.

Finally, has anyone ever tracked how much time they spend getting through the automated phone handling systems that most entities now use to answer customer calls?  Combine that with the amount of time spent on hold waiting for the “next available service person.”  I bet it would shock the hell out of you.

Moreover, why is every single business burdened with “unusually high call volume” all the time.  Perhaps their infrastructure is inadequate.  Or, alternatively, perhaps they really do not give a shit about their customers.

That’s it.  That’s my list of current grumbles.

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Oh, I lied.  I am also very tired of hearing about Elon Musk.  He used to be just weird and peculiar.  Now he is weird, peculiar, and sucking up to fascists.  I don’t think I will ever buy a Tesla.  And I am not going for any space flights, either.

Now, that’s it.  More to come, I am sure, in the future.