Why can't I fly with my Comfort Elephant?

A small town in Oregon is experiencing cougar sightings.
People are afraid and are being warned to avoid them (here, kitty).

No word on the whereabouts of the Real Housewives of Oregon.

• One of the airlines has decreed that comfort animals can only be dogs or cats. I'm going to complain under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The president has set up a GoFundMe for private contributions to building The Wall. In two days, the donations total about $20 million. 

Sorry, Mr President, but the government gets way too much of my money already. Bring all of our troops home and take it out of the defense budget. With the invasion of the illegals, we have a real defense security issue, unlike Iran or Afghanistan.

Dear lefty:

• Why do I have so many headaches in the morning?
• Mixing beer and wine, and hitting yourself on the head with a shovel.

• I can't go an hour without hearing someone say 'Mongolian gynecologist'. You?

Politics

A Danish politician put an ad on Pornhub, seeking votes. He explained that 'you have to be where your voters are.'

A bright light in the cesspool of politics.

The Texas state House has introduced a bill that would fine men $100 for masturbating. Hopefully they mean outside.

Ever try finding a news station?
CNN: Trump sucks
Fox: Trump rules
NPR: We've convened a panel of experts to tell you what Trump did wrong today
NBC: Hi, we're the propaganda wing of the DNC
RT: We have an interesting mix of actual news and propaganda
Local news: varies, some more interested in social media than news, less overt bias than the nationals.

"We read what we're told, right from the script."

• With the final episode of Game of Thrones comes news that 10 million people are expected to call out sick from work. We are a nation of morons. But wait!!!! At least one website is offering counseling. But there's always someone working to take advantage - it's the American Way.

So we're minding our own businesses, as we do, when we hear a loud CRASH. The two of us and the dog are on the couch. In the kitchen, an iron skillet, placed safely on a counter, tried to commit suicide by launching itself to the floor. By itself.

• South Korea's government is switching to linux.
• If North Korea does, we're in trouble.

Sexism in Hockey

A student activist group at the University of Michigan is demanding a 'No Whites Allowed' space.  Gee, this sounds an awful lot like... hmmm... what's that word? Oh yeah, racism. Martin Luther King is spinning...

• Very interesting article on three types of propaganda (Russia, China, and Milo) and how to counter them.

Someone (I can't get to the link) thinks white men should pay 5% more taxes because of their white privilege. I think we've reached Peak Stupidity. Or at least I hope we have. Personally, I gave up on this when I couldn't get a right-handed privilege tax enacted.

• Cool program alert: Privazer. This runs under Windows (boo) and cleans up a lot of garbage, from the Recycle Bin to temp files to Win and IE history. There is also a portable version, which doesn't technically install, for PCs you don't have install rights to (of course we never do this).

Over 820,000 user accounts were exposed, as well as potentially every voice communication recorded by a breach at CloudPets. Why?  An unsecured (no password!) database was discovered. The company was alerted multiple times from December 2016 onwards and did nothing.

Hmmm... what happens when you connect something (for children) to the internet and ok it recording everything you say? It records everything you say and sends it up to a server, which gets hacked, whether from gross incompetence (like not passwording your database) or general hacking.

I. Told. You. So.
It gives me no joy to say that.
Who am I kidding... there's nothing quite like an 'I told you so'.

Whether it's kids' toys, Alexa/Echo/Siri/Google stuff you put on your table or in your house or your cell phone to talk to.. this is what is going to happen. Also, every bit of data will be mined and used 'to make advertising more relevant'. And possibly mined by 'other' companies.

• What's next on the Fail Parade?  Air France, with its login password being 4-6 characters, NOT to include special characters. 4-6 character passwords? That's a Nope, Captain.

Ack - FURRIES!

It is not ours to judge.

It is ours to point and laugh hysterically.

• Congrats are in order for Carlos Santana and Joe Walsh, who won Vintage Guitar Magazine's User Award.

Actor Bill Paxton passed, from complications of an operation.

• A car plowed into a Mardi Gras parade in Gulf Shores, Alabama, sending eleven children from the marching band to the hospital (3 critical). I am not fond of marching bands either, but I just don't watch them. It never occurred to me to mow them down.

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I'm relating this strictly for amusement. All will be well:

It's been a highly interesting few weeks/months. With all the drama surrounding my mom and the Furry One, it's been a whirlwind.

• Marshall has had ear issues for months. We finally got him to the Doggie Dermatologist, who scheduled a procedure under anesthesia. Marshall went under and his O2 sat dropped (technical thingie meaning Something Bad Happened). They brought him back up, having barely started on an ear. Now he needs diagnostic work from the regular vet to figure out why this happened, then back to surgery again. He has pain medicine, which works well.
• The hole in the large pipe in the basement was patched in short order and remains solid.
• Car #1 went for inspection, will take a week, cost half what we expected.
• Car #2 waits for inspection, runs flawlessly
• We now have an 'interesting' leak in the roof. Insurance will take care of it.
• Mom is a bit fragile, but nowhere near as batshit as before.

What doesn't kill you probably makes you hurt a lot.