The Rationalia Blog Roll

[Tero]

Recycled 2010 stories. I used the first one for Kari entry

Office Worker Still Looking For Other Twix Bar From Monday
Cleveland,OH -- Mark O'Conner, customer specialist at Cleveland Mutual Trust, clearly remembers getting the Twix bars on Monday. The machine price went up to a dollar. So he ate one and put the other Twix bar in the wrapper in his desk.

He was still looking for the second bar today, Friday, as he could not remember eating it. Though witnesses seem to have seen him with a Twix bar Thursday close to quitting time. Mark himself suspects Max from accounting, who routinely borrows quarters out of his desk.

Book Store Guy in Baseball Cap was Scholar
Kansas City, MO -- Stopping by the local Barnes and Noble store to get some school books, Pam Tillson and daughter Amy were looking at a copy of Merchant of Venice. A guy in a baseball cap, looking much like Michael Moore, was taking a lot of space in front of the Shakespeare shelf. When he noticed them, he immediately started to give advice on editions. Turned out he was Shakespeare scholar named Barry from Oxford or something. He spoke a perfect British accent and could recite long parts of the dialogue. Amy, 14, was very charmed, as was mom.
Aliens Here to Steal Our Velcro Technology
Earth Orbit -- Earth has been tapped for some simple solutions to everyday problems. Currently five alien ships are cloaked in orbit to observe our velcro technology and its various applications in everyday life.

An anonymous source was quoted saying "we had to invent space travel so we have fallen behind in some of this simpler technology."
99% of Americans No Longer Make Anything
St. Louis, MO -- Taking the Saint Louis area as a model for the average city with a metropolitan population of a million of more, 5000 residents that were working full time were surveyed as to the product they make. 4950 could not name a specific product. Some named R&D and a field but no product by model or other name. The remaining 50 were involved in manufacture of animal feed, chemicals, construction of homes, road crews and similar local enterprise. The next biggest group of 3000 handled some product. It was either sold, marketed, distributed, recycled or put together from other smaller manufactured or farmed products.

The survey has some error, as it should have located some 20-50 airplane industry workers.


Democrats Plan to Tax Enpanding Universe
Washington, DC -- With carbon dioxide wrapped up, Democrats passed the first draft of a bill, which will tax the solar systems that are expanding toward the edges of the Universe. The money will be used to study the effects of the expansion and maybe slow it down. It may be good, or bad. They do not know.


Old Timers Excited About Daily Trip to Walgreens
Boston, MA -- Ted Stevens, 86, and Stella Stevens, 83, are always prepared for the exciting exploration of their corner drug store. They walk there from their retirement housing, though they do keep a car for those rare outings. Weekly, they can take a senior center bus to Target.

Ted, a former paleontologist, enjoys searching the shelves for new treatments for new ailments. He writes down prices of famtodine, to compare to Target prices in the Up and Up store brand.

Stella, a former brain surgeon, searches all the candy, stationery and gift aisles. Candy prices are mentally compared to Target, she needs no notes. Her mind is sharp as a scalpel.

Ted occasionally teases her and brings a bottle of what he labels "sexual lubricant", which seems to be a fancy hand creme. Stella sends him to put it back on the shelf.

Stella will occasionally buy some electronic gadget or toy and spring it on Ted at their apartment. Each pays for their own purchases. Ted does not wish to mess with checks or with coupons. "I'm no clueless grandma, cash only."

[Tero]

I've posted a few times about Trump steel and trade plans. He actually can do this under a 1962 trade act. I put my thoughts in a blog entry.
http://esapolitics.blogspot.com/2018/03/free-trade.html

[Tero]

6000 Copies of Trespass at US Truck Stops
http://karireport.blogspot.com/2018/03/ ... truck.html

[Tero]

From back in 2010
Old Timers Excited About Daily Trip to Walgreens
Boston, MA -- Ted Stevens, 86, and Stella Stevens, 83, are always prepared for the exciting exploration of their corner drug store. They walk there from their retirement housing, though they do keep a car for those rare outings. Weekly, they can take a senior center bus to Target.

Ted, a former paleontologist, enjoys searching the shelves for new treatments for new ailments. He writes down prices of famtodine, to compare to Target prices in the Up and Up store brand.

Stella, a former brain surgeon, searches all the candy, stationery and gift aisles. Candy prices are mentally compared to Target, she needs no notes. Her mind is sharp as a scalpel.

Ted occasionally teases her and brings a bottle of what he labels "sexual lubricant", which seems to be a fancy hand creme. Stella sends him to put it back on the shelf.

Stella will occasionally buy some electronic gadget or toy and spring it on Ted at their apartment. Each pays for their own purchases. Ted does not wish to mess with checks or with coupons. "I'm no clueless grandma, cash only."

[pErvinalia]

A short travel story I wrote at the other other place. I was going to post an earlier story about Romania and Yugoslavia, but it's pretty long and you probably won't read it.

Prelude To - The Bus Ride From Hell: The Time I Caught A 'Sleeper' Bus In India

On the face of it, it sounded like a great idea. A trip to a new city, and a night's accommodation, all in one! What's not to like?

As it turned out, plenty. And having caught a number of long distance buses in India before this point, I really should have known better.

Indian buses weren't renowned for their comfort levels, or much of anything really. Bare metallic shells, filled with bench seats containing the bare minimum of cushioning, these things weren't fit for a trip to the local chowk, let alone a couple of hundred kilometers to the next town. Having recently come from Turkey, where the buses were a class above first class, I was in for a rough time in India.

My first bus trip in India was from the teeming metropolis of Mumbai, to a sleepy little beach town called Ganpatipule, 375 km to the south. With thoughts of sun, sand, and bamboo shacks right on the beach, 375 km would be a breeze. Even in this metallic relic seemingly from the 1950s.

Well, I was quickly set straight on that notion. For a start, the trip would take nine and a half hours. Sorry, what did you just say? Yes, nine and a half hours! How is that even possible? How can a long distance bus go that slow (that's 40 km/hr average)? To this day I still can't quite explain why bus and train trips in India take so long. It seems like you are going fast, never stopping for long. Yet they take inexplicable lengths of time to complete. Still, though, I'd done 24 hour bus trips before, so I could surely handle nine and half hours.

That confidence lasted about three minutes. The bus, apparently, had no suspension. Driving over potholes, of which there were many in India, delivered a punch to the kidneys that even Mike Tyson would be proud of. The wafer-thin cushioning on the seat barely dampening hit after painful hit. And as if that wasn't bad enough, our ears were assailed with the sound of window panes crashing into the bare metal frames which loosely held them in place. Every pothole was an assault on kidneys and ears.

And it just got worse from there. Driving over hills on rocky dirt roads, the abuse to the body became almost biblical. Depressingly, I was the only person on the bus who outwardly seemed affected by this crime against humanity. I guess the locals were used to this sort of thing, and probably had to catch this bus regularly. To be honest, I was angry at the thought that the state allowed people to be subject to such abuse.

I arrived at Ganpatipule battered and bruised, and was glad to secure a beach-front tent in amongst the palm trees. After a few days rest, and clearly not learning from my previous experience, I was soon booking the next bus leg of my journey. Having been kicked out of my tent on Christmas Eve (a whole other story), I was soon back on a bus to the town of Panaji in the state of Goa. To be honest, I don't even remember that trip. I suspect PTSD. Either that or I slipped into a merciful coma. But it must have been bad, as my camera shook itself to pieces in my luggage.

All of this, however, was just a prelude to The Bus Ride From Hell. A trip that was to leave those of us who made it questioning our sanity. To this day I'm still not sure whether I dreamed the whole thing...

To be continued...

[Tero]

We spent some 5 hrs in China waiting for a plane.Vey hot indoors.This was before cell phones. I got hold of the local trip organizer, we got back to the hotel. The next day, another 5 hours. Finally the plane had been flown there, they had been repairing it the whole time. Waiting for parts on the Russian plane. We took off. Nobody local bothered putting on seat belts. I dug it out of the seat, it had not been used for a while. 1987.

[Tero]

https://karireport.blogspot.com/2018/12 ... world.html

Bezos prparing for end of the world
Concerned that Amazon stocks will crash sometime in the 2020s and life as we know it will end, Jeff Bezos has been making plans.

He has already built his survival bunker. The problem is to stock it, as Amazon and UPS will not be able to supply it after the stocks crash. And pretty much all of civilization crashes.

Now, he knows there needs to be water. There is a deep well with a pump nearby, but that would require electricity. So he also has a supply of buckets, hoses and water filters on hand. All rain watere on the roof will be collected. He had Scott Adams and Charlie Daniels come by and give him some tips. Both stayed at the bunker while visiting. Bezos put up with their libertarian ranting while listening for actual tips. Two things came up with both men. What to do with the women in the bunker. They have to be given separate quarters, perhaps a separate bunker. Maybe with some cloth and leather on supply plus manual Singer sewing machines that you pedal with your feet. The solar panels of the bunker only provide enough electricity for the lights. The second tip was baked beans. Bezos ordered some right away. He has a secret Amazon account under the name Frank Miller. Only the UPS delivery guy knows the beans are going to Bezos. Here is the first supply of beans. He is testing it for 12 days in a row at his above ground residence. Then some preserved cranberries and apparently canned beets. You have to get your vitamins. And pills are unreliable. They leave out one or two vitamins at random.

[Tero]

Working on new one:
”Trump moves entire cabinet to Fox News headquarters building.” Empty positions filled directly from Fox. Like:

https://www.theonion.com/fox-news-inter ... 1830944885

[Tero]

Trump Moves to Trump Tower, Cabinet to Fox News
http://karireport.blogspot.com/2018/12/ ... et-to.html

[Tero]

This is the all time most viewed blog entry with 900 views since 2013
http://karireport.blogspot.com/2013/08/ ... t-fed.html

[Tero]

Money (not humor)
https://esapolitics.blogspot.com/2018/12/money.html

[Tero]

https://esapolitics.blogspot.com/2019/0 ... cians.html

Who wants to make a career as a politician? What skills do they have? What motivates them? Who wants to spend decades in an office building with meeting rooms? Suppose you are in Montana or Idaho and are public minded, and here is where you go, or even a more plain office block building built in the 1900s. There the passionate Republicans can debate for days and days about acceptable ways to execute criminals or perform abortions. Or to ban the clinics in some technical manner, making the abortions more or less impractical.

[DRSB]

I am the storytelling go to guy: https://zurichnetworkinggroup.com/story ... strengths/

[NineBerry]

A short travel story I wrote at the other other place. I was going to post an earlier story about Romania and Yugoslavia, but it's pretty long and you probably won't read it.

Prelude To - The Bus Ride From Hell: The Time I Caught A 'Sleeper' Bus In India

On the face of it, it sounded like a great idea. A trip to a new city, and a night's accommodation, all in one! What's not to like?

As it turned out, plenty. And having caught a number of long distance buses in India before this point, I really should have known better.

Indian buses weren't renowned for their comfort levels, or much of anything really. Bare metallic shells, filled with bench seats containing the bare minimum of cushioning, these things weren't fit for a trip to the local chowk, let alone a couple of hundred kilometers to the next town. Having recently come from Turkey, where the buses were a class above first class, I was in for a rough time in India.

My first bus trip in India was from the teeming metropolis of Mumbai, to a sleepy little beach town called Ganpatipule, 375 km to the south. With thoughts of sun, sand, and bamboo shacks right on the beach, 375 km would be a breeze. Even in this metallic relic seemingly from the 1950s.

Well, I was quickly set straight on that notion. For a start, the trip would take nine and a half hours. Sorry, what did you just say? Yes, nine and a half hours! How is that even possible? How can a long distance bus go that slow (that's 40 km/hr average)? To this day I still can't quite explain why bus and train trips in India take so long. It seems like you are going fast, never stopping for long. Yet they take inexplicable lengths of time to complete. Still, though, I'd done 24 hour bus trips before, so I could surely handle nine and half hours.

That confidence lasted about three minutes. The bus, apparently, had no suspension. Driving over potholes, of which there were many in India, delivered a punch to the kidneys that even Mike Tyson would be proud of. The wafer-thin cushioning on the seat barely dampening hit after painful hit. And as if that wasn't bad enough, our ears were assailed with the sound of window panes crashing into the bare metal frames which loosely held them in place. Every pothole was an assault on kidneys and ears.

And it just got worse from there. Driving over hills on rocky dirt roads, the abuse to the body became almost biblical. Depressingly, I was the only person on the bus who outwardly seemed affected by this crime against humanity. I guess the locals were used to this sort of thing, and probably had to catch this bus regularly. To be honest, I was angry at the thought that the state allowed people to be subject to such abuse.

I arrived at Ganpatipule battered and bruised, and was glad to secure a beach-front tent in amongst the palm trees. After a few days rest, and clearly not learning from my previous experience, I was soon booking the next bus leg of my journey. Having been kicked out of my tent on Christmas Eve (a whole other story), I was soon back on a bus to the town of Panaji in the state of Goa. To be honest, I don't even remember that trip. I suspect PTSD. Either that or I slipped into a merciful coma. But it must have been bad, as my camera shook itself to pieces in my luggage.

All of this, however, was just a prelude to The Bus Ride From Hell. A trip that was to leave those of us who made it questioning our sanity. To this day I'm still not sure whether I dreamed the whole thing...

To be continued...

I am waiting...

[pErvinalia]

Haha, yeah. I revisited this the other day and thought I should write the sequel. I'm not really in a writing mood for quite a while now, though. Eventually I'll do it.