Cute pencil cases

These are Fakus pencil cases. I'm including images of three types. Here's the thing: they're 2-D, not 3-D. It's a great optical illusion (though you have to hold it at a particular angle to see it clearly).

So now you know what to buy those kids on your list (or even a playful adult or two). They range in price from $9.50 to $12.50 and they're sold at Jet Pens (link above).

I like this store. Purchased items are delivered quickly and if you have a complaint, they really deal with it. Plus, if you order something you'll get a confirmation email that begins this way:

"Woohoo! Congratulations on your order at JetPens."

You gotta love a company like that. You gotta!

The Russian people worry me more than Putin

We know that Putin is a self-centered, myopic man with no sense of morality. Frankly, it's not surprising that he'd annex Crimea. After all, the west made fun of Russians for not knowing how many toilets go into a private bathroom. Putin will never get over that. I knew he'd strike out at something (though I thought it would be gay people rather than an entire country). But you expect this sort of nonsense from Puti. It's what he does.

What worries me more is the Russian people.

Pro-Russian crowds seized two Ukrainian warships Thursday and Ukraine said its troops were being threatened in Crimea as the European Union considered new sanctions against Russia for its annexation of the Black Sea peninsula.

The Russian people seized two Ukrainian warships?! The people, not the army? Maybe we should take a closer look at these folks. From what we've seen on newscasts, Russians enjoy taunting and beating gay people. Their glee is obvious. It seems they don't seem have a moral center, like other people do. It's all about making fun of others and harming them (while surrounded by Christian crosses and Coptic priests; just saying). And now they've seized a warship?! 

When I see Vladimir Putin on the news, speaking to a (pre-picked, I assume) group of people in a hall in Russia, and the camera shows the audience, I'm chilled. That sea of white faces gazing up at Puti with glazed, adoring eyes, reminds me of something.

It's like a scene from German history -- to be precise: the week before Kristallnacht. Hitler's atrocities could not have taken place without a craven populace who cheered his every abuse as they queued up for jobs at the concentration camps. The Russian people love what Putin is doing. They enjoy the abuse of gays, they relish the illegal move into Crimea. And hey, they seize warships.

This won't end well.

Skin in the game

It's disheartening that for the most part, the only people who fight discrimination are those with skin in the game. I've got two examples for you. Here's the first:

The city's historic settlement of a long-running case alleging discrimination in FDNY hiring practices will pay $98 million in back pay and benefits to minority firefighter hopefuls. 

The settlement represents the latest decision by Mayor de Blasio to change course and end a legal controversy stemming from the Bloomberg administration. 

It's great that this finally happened. But a racist mayor had to be replaced by a white guy with an African-American wife and children of color before this could happen. Skin in the game. It's not surprising that de Blasio gets it. I'm sure his son was frisked once or twice by the police. After all, he's not white.

 

And then there's this

At a White House ceremony, President Obama bestowed the Medal of Honor on the soldiers - most of them Jewish, black or Hispanic — including Pfc. Leonard Kravitz, of Brooklyn, an uncle of Grammy-winner Lenny Kravitz.

A government review concluded the soldiers — including another New Yorker, Sgt. Alfred Nietzel of Queens — were denied Medal of Honor years ago because of bias.

No white president ever took care of this oversight. But our African-American president righted the ship at the first opportunity. That it happened is great. But in both of these instances, it's easy to see the operative principle: unless they have skin in the game, they don't care. 

This makes me sick. Are people so damn craven that they're incapable of feeling empathy for anyone who doesn't look like them? Apparently the answer is yes.

Typo of the day

I found this today in an AP feed:

A bull apparently in no mood for vaccinations led police on a chase down a Texas city street before horse-riding, lasso-yielding officers were able to wrangle the animal.

If these officers should ever come after you, have no fear. Just threaten them with a lasso and they'll collapse like rag dolls. I believe they meant "lasso-wielding" rather than "lasso-yielding". But hey, what's the difference? No one can read anymore.

In which case, never mind.

Too funny

Sorry for ducking out to write real stuff. But if I don't write my books, who will? You see the issue there? Anyway, I had to stop by today to put this on the blog,

SALT LAKE CITY — The Mormon church is warning a group of women pushing for gender equality that it will not be allowed to protest in Temple Square next month during a biannual conference.

The gall of those women -- seeking equality, of all things. Honestly! What the hell do they want that for?! It's scandalous, I tell you, scandalous. I love the Mormon church's explanation for barring the activities of this group (which is called Ordain Women, BTW):

The church says activist events detract from the sacred environment of the weekend conference in Salt Lake City.

Yes, that's what it must be -- the "sacred environment" suffers when women want to be equal to men. You know how god hates women that.

Religious twits. Deep down, they're all the same.

No time for Timmy

Even though Timmy Dolan said incredibly stupid things about gay people, things I'd love to blog about, I'm putting down my keyboard. It's time to focus on writing the next book. See you soon.

It's that time of the year again

Vladimir Putin attacks Milo

I couldn't believe it. This morning when I got up, I did what I always do. I opened the back door and fed the birds. Since the usual flock of geese was in the yard, their trusted leader -- the illustrious Milo, the finest goose in the world -- began to eat the seed. As leader of the flock, this is his right.

But suddenly, from out the blue, an enemy goose that I've named Vladimir Putin, attacked Milo for no reason! Vladdy tried to take the spoils from Milo and then usurp his power and seize control of the flock! It was a fierce battle, as you can see from these images.

Well, I wasn't having any of that. Slipping into my butchest baritone, I yelled "No! Stop that! You will not take something that belongs to other geese. Vladimir Putin, you are acting like a Nazi!!!"

And that did it, for now. But I know Puti is waiting in the shadows. He will plunder Milo's flock and seize what is not his. That is his aim. Poor Milo! What a beast that Puti is!

There's a reason for that

I just noticed that the twit Christian TV show "The Bible" on the un-historic History Channel, is rated TV PG 14 - V. That V is for violence and there's a good reason for the rating.

The Christian God, if he existed -- which of course he doesn't -- would be classed as a violent psychopath, a true enemy of humanity. That's what you have to call a God who kills all of humanity except for the creatures on Noah's Ark, which of course never existed.

Just saying.

Not suspicious at all

I'm amazed that phishing ever works. I just got the following, allegedly from Optimum Online. Uh-huh. 

You are highly expected to update your email account by clicking on the link below,as you are required to fill and submit the
form.

On failure to adhere to the given instruction your email account will be
blocked.

Optimum Online.
Optimum Support Team.

Cuz that's just how we talk here in America. Seriously, how does anyone fall for these poorly constructed scams? I love the way the words "form" and "blocked" are pushed to the following line by a nervous finger on the return key. Plus, the lack of a space after the first comma, and the addition of periods after both lines in the sign-off are just plain wrong. These folks can't think or type correctly, which is par for the course for phishing scammers. They never seem to get it right.

Here's an interesting question. Judging by the words and cadence of the email, what country do you think the scammers are from? I'd say Russia. The email has that officious, out-of-it tone that's so popular in Russia. I could be wrong, of course. What do you think? Russian?