Dedication

I am Canadian and therefore I don't have a vote in the upcoming U.S. election.

However, Donald Trump scares me.  How he could even have become a candidate for President of one of the most powerful nations in the world scares me even more.  His rise only proves that the undercurrent of misongyny, racism, barbarism, and fear is still alive and well below the thin veneer of modern civilization.

My paternal grandmother distrusted black people to the extent that once when she was hospitalized for an infection she refused to be attended by a black orderly.  My father made a point of never buying cars that were made in Asia, and maintained that Asians who insisted on not integrating with our society had no business coming here.  Both were fearful that Muslims would one day "take over".

Thankfully I don't share that view.

What I will share is the experience of educating myself and growing beyond the family history of suspicion and bigotry.  I will share the experience of being threatened, controlled, and sexually assaulted by someone who said that I had to meet his needs or else he would discard me.  I will share the experience of being a second class citizen in my own province because I don't speak the language of the majority.

All one has to do is look at the American political scene to see that there is a large number of people who openly declare that a woman's place is in the kitchen, a man's place is at the top of the heap, and immigrants' places are not in America.  That's no way to create a strong country.

I would dedicate my no-Trump vote to all those who learned from experience that they must grow as a person and respect those who care about real issues instead of blindly following deplorable personalities.

#DedicateYourNoTrumpVote

To Dedicate Your No-Trump Vote, Click Here

Black Joy Challenge

This post is courtesy of a friend who was reacting to the shootings of Terence Crutcher and Keith Scott.

"This my challenge to you. Stop posting videos of black men, women, and children being hurt and killed by police, if only for a little while. Black people have been telling you this stuff has been happening for ages, even when there were no cameras. Now that there are cameras, people still don't believe/care/do something about it.

If you need to let us know, post an article, but be mindful of the picture that is used. These leave scars on our soul with such frequency and in such number. We also are aware that there is enough we don't see that is also occurring at the same time.

If you've been getting this information from your black friends, maybe it's time for you to do your own homework. We pulled away the curtain; now it's time for you to get on stage.

Instead, post a picture or video about black joy, the flipside to our pain. There is no joy like it, as the two are intertwined. Show us when we are happy, carefree, loving ourselves.

If you cannot accept this challenge, how about this one: If you have to post a video or something, post something showing the other side.

Or just flood the whole place with #blackjoy. It's not like we don't know the other stuff is happening.

And I don't want this post to be used to pull any bullsh*t to criticize people who do talk about these issues. I'm not saying to ignore it. I'm saying presentation is important, and also that we are fully-realized human beings."

Game Moving

For the past two and a half years I've been playing a secondary character on my daughter's 3DS game of Animal Crossing New Leaf, which is basically a simulation where the primary player manages a town as its mayor.  Lately she has become rather possessive of the game and doesn't want me to play it as much, so I've been considering the purchase of my own 3DS and copy of New Leaf.

Fortunately New Leaf has the option of moving a non-mayor character to another game cartridge via wireless connection, and that character becomes the mayor of the new town.  There are online guides for character moving but many are not complete, so after doing a lot of searching I'm consolidating the information here.

When moving to become mayor of a new town, the new game cartridge must not have an already existing save file.  The player can choose the layout of the new town but the appearance of their avatar stays the same as before.

The following information is transferred:

1. The character's existing house with all upgrades.
2. Items in pockets and inventory, locker storage, and inside character's home.
3. Saved custom designs and saved letters in the post office.
4. Bells (game money), both on hand and deposited in the ATM.
5. Character's encyclopedia of caught bugs/fish/sea creatures.

The character loses:

1. Unlocked public works projects from town of origin.
2. Letters in the character's mailbox.
3. Items in Re-Tail store and museum display rooms in old town.
4. Item catalog, badges, joke book are all reset.

So moving to a new town has its advantages if one is willing to work at re-gaining the achievements.

America Got Revenge But it's Still Afraid

This post is courtesy of Jim Wright and Lou J. Berger.  The original poster had valid points with which I agree.  It's one thing to observe the anniversary; it's quite another to not have learned anything from it.

"Earlier, I shared, without comment, Jim Wright's post about 9/11.  My post has disappeared, because Facebook found the contents of his diatribe violate Facebook standards, so they deleted HIS original, and all the shares. Mine was one among over 2,500 shares.  I will post it again, but will anybody who is offended by it please PM me before reporting it? Thanks in advance."

"You're expecting some kind of obligatory 9-11 post, aren't you?

Here it is, but you're not gonna like it.

15 years ago today 19 shitheads attacked America.

They killed 3000 of us.

And then ... America got its revenge for 9-11.

Yes we did. Many times over. We killed them. We killed them all. We killed their families. We killed their wives and their kids and all their neighbors. We killed whole nations that weren't even involved just to make goddamned sure. We bombed their cities into rubble. We burned down their countries.

They killed 3000 of us, we killed 300,000 of them or more.

8000 of us came home in body bags, but we got our revenge. Yes we did.

We're still here. They aren't.

We win. U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A!

Right?

You're goddamned right. We. Win.

Except...

Every year on this day we bathe in the blood of that day yet again. We watch the towers fall over and over. It's been 15 goddamned years, but we just can't get enough. We've just got to watch it again and again.

It's funny how we never show those videos of the bombs falling on Baghdad today. Or the dead in the streets of Afghanistan. We got our revenge, but we never talk about that today. No, we just sit and watch the towers fall yet again.

Somewhere out there on the bottom of the sea are the rotting remains of the evil son of a bitch who masterminded the attack. It took a decade, but we hunted him down and put a bullet in his brain. Sure. We got him. Right? That's what we wanted. that's what our leaders promised us, 15 years ago today.

And today those howling the loudest for revenge shrug and say, Well, yeah, that. That doesn't matter, because, um, yeah, the guy in the White House, um, see, well, he's not an American, he's the enemy see? He's not doing enough. So, whatever. What about that over there? And that? And...

Yeah.

15 years ago our leaders, left and right, stood on the steps of the Capitol and gave us their solemn promise to work together, to stand as one, for all Americans.

How'd that promise work out?

How much are their words worth? Today, 15 years later?

It's 15 years later and we're STILL afraid. We're still terrorized. Still wallowing in conspiracy theories and peering suspiciously out of our bunkers at our neighbors. Sure we won. Sure we did. We became a nation that tortures our enemies -- and our own citizens for that matter. We're a nation of warrantless wiretaps and rendition and we've gotten used to being strip searched in our own airports. And how is the world a better place for it all?

And now we're talking about more war, more blood.

But, yeah, we won. Sure. You bet.

Frankly, I have had enough of 9-11. F*** 9-11. I'm not going to watch the shows. I'm not going to any of the memorials. I'm not going to the 9-11 sales at Wal-Mart. I don't want to hear about 9-11. I for damned sure am not interested in watching politicians of either party try to out 9-11 each other. I'm tired of this national 9-11 PTSD. I did my bit for revenge, I went to war, I'll remember the dead in my own time in my own way.

I'm not going to shed a damned tear today.

We got our revenge. Many times over, for whatever good it did us.

I'm going to go to a picnic and enjoy my day. Enjoy this victory we've won.

I suggest you do the same." - courtesy of Jim Wright.