No wonder! I was pressing the up button, and the station was going down. Then I looked and realized the remote control was upside down.

LOL… My brother is a genius!

I got tired of being alone, even though I had my sister visiting, but it still wasn’t the same.  So now I’m back “home” with my sister on her lovely, funky, blog, the place where my blogging venture was born.   I have imported my posts here from my other blog, so that I can shut that one down with ease without missing my pearls of stupidity.  Haha!  The most absurd thing is that as I’m sitting here quietly typing away in the dark on my laptop, my brother is sitting downstairs making a racket typing some address with a typewriter.  Yes, we still have a typewriter, and my brother decided recently to go retro by typing any mailing addresses with it…  It is a true honor to be related to that man.

Just to warn you, I’m a bit ditzy, and have no intention of matching up to my sisters to eloquence in writing.  So yea, see you soon.  Really, very soon!   And I’ll leave you now with an amazing quote that I just read, which has nothing to do with anything I have written, but it is quite profound.

The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and the thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own for the children…the children yet unborn.
[-Rod Serling-]

I was watching some old video of President Bush (cleaning up my YouTube favorites…don’t ask why President Bush was in my favorites, I don’t know; and Obama and Hillary Clinton were favorited, too). It was late at night, and you know how late-night surfing goes: one click led to another, and  somehow I ended up looking up my IP, and then seeing if the IP locators are really all that great at pinpointing locations.

At first, I was freaked out because, wow, it is pretty accurate, and any of you for whom I leave comments can track me down and demand a cup of tea and slice of cake without even warning me you’re coming! So, at first, I thought it had my location dead-on target. Then I zoomed in, and was so relieved, because it’s off by like a mile, and of course that will force you guys to twitter me for directions, meaning I’ll have time to, I don’t know, fill the sugar bowl or something.

Then I freaked out again, because I realized that it has me located in the local cemetery. That cemetery even happens to have a Muslim burial corner. I am not blogging from the cemetery! I am not Twittering from the cemetery! I am not surfing the web from the cemetery! I am not! in! the! cemetery!!!

It would have been better for the locator thingie to have been dead-on rather than have me considered dead altogether.

How do you feel about copy-paste jobs in blogs? I don’t mind them as the blog post itself, so long as the blogger leaves in a reference to who originally wrote the article. I do mind them, though, when someone is commenting* and, instead of writing something in their own words, they’ll find a similar point of view from a newspaper opinion piece, and then paste it in as their own comment.

It drives me batty, especially when I happened to read that piece earlier under the name Betty Smith**, and now am seeing a snippet posted by say, trickOrTreatMuslim***. And then that person does it with about 10 other different writers, and as you know, every writer has their own particular writing style. These writing styles all conflict with trickOrTreatMuslim’s own writing style, and I’m often left to wonder if tOtM has some kind of personality disorder. Well, I wondered until it hit me to go search with Shaykh Google to see if those were actually professionally written excerpts.

Now that the mystery of the wickedly different writing styles is solved, I’m shaking my head in amazement. I’ve heard of people plagiarizing term papers, but that was for a grade, so I get what the pay-off is to their puny little brains. What’s the pay-off for plagiarizing a comment? Thoughts? Ideas? Feel like telling me to get a grip, it’s not that big a deal? It’s all welcome!

*This is not referring to anyone who comments on this blog. Ya’ll are all good, and nobody here is driving me batty {hugs (none for the dudes)}

**Not really Betty Smith, whoever this fine person may be; just using this name as an example.

***Not the commenter’s real pen-name.

Oh my God, look! It’s a ten eight page article on Bill Clinton. I guess the New York Times needed to a) fill up space, and b) get the salesnumbers up or something. Because what sells faster than a Clinton piece? Well, an Obama or a Princess Diana piece might…but only barely. The article starts off by following Mr. Clinton on a trip through Lima, Peru, while he is shopping for souvenirs for family and friends, and I particularly liked this couple of sentences:

Clinton selected one he thought would be great for his friend, Frank Giustra, the Canadian mining mogul, to give to Giustra’s girlfriend. Clinton said he likes picking out gifts for his friends’ wives and girlfriends.

Wink, wink; nudge, nudge. Clinton…women…get it?! Of course you get it. And if you don’t, you’re probably way too young, or completely out of the loop when it comes to American political drama.

If you’re interested in the dynamics of a former President living life while his First Lady is heading up the State Department, this article has a few insights. So you can read on without any further mention of Clintonian tendencies to inadvertently charm women.

I came across this article called The Six Secrets of Sneezing, and found an interesting blog-friendly passage:

How we sneeze could say something about us.
Of all the characteristics that potentially reveal our inner selves, I never thought sneezing could be one of them. However, body language expert Patti Wood says otherwise. She did Benadryl-sponsored study of 547 people and their sneeze habits, coming up with four types of sneezes that she believes are personality indicators.

• The “Correct” carries Kleenex and is careful to cover her mouth when sneezing, meaning she’s respectful of others and likes to maintain a dignified disposition.
• The “Supporter” tends to hold in sneezes rather than risk sneezing on someone, which indicates a quiet and caring character.
• The “Expressive” makes a big production out of sneezing and often sneezes multiple times at once, possibly making her a showy and dominating person.
• The “Driver” sneezes loudly but quickly, making her direct and forward-thinking.

Hmmmmmm….I used to be the second type, the Supporter: I’d hold back a sneeze or a cough till I’m practically choking, just so that I don’t disturb people around me. I don’t know when I had enough of torturing myself, but I’m now more of a “loud but quick” sneezer. The thing is, it’s still kind of embarrassing, no matter how quick I try to wrap it up. How stupid, right, to be embarrassed over an entirely physiological action? Well, anyway, what kind of sneezer are you? Or are you in a category of your own making?

Courtesy of Ajla, I found a new quiz thing. I didn’t find out anything new about myself, but it was fun and pretty quick. So, the result is that I am a Sensitive Doer. That means I my feelings are easily bruised, I cry easily, and I like to do think with my hands, not my head. How about you? Post here, or on your own blog.

We were waiting at a red light, which seemed to be taking forever. Eyes were wandering around, looking for something to distract ourselves with. We saw two girls on a bike. They came to stop at the intersection. The girl pedaling the bike got off, and the girl who was riding the handlebars took the newly vacated seat. The first girl walked off in one direction, while the girl on the bike headed off in another direction. My brother said, “Aww, she stole the other girl’s bike!” I said, “No, it was the second girl’s bike, not the first girl’s. If one is giving you a ride, shouldn’t you at least pedal till you reach the split-off point?”

I wonder if this is how those negotiation went down:

Girl 1: I’m headed to the bus-stop. Thanks for studying with me.

Girl 2: Want me to give you a ride to the bus-stop?

Girl 1: That would be great! Where’s your car parked?

Girl 2: No, I came by bike today, it’s such a beautiful day and I could use the exercise!

Girl 1: Oh…your bike…ok…I’ll fit on your handle-bars.

Girl 2: Oh no, you don’t! You could use the exercise, too! You pedal till we get to your bus-stop…

Girl 1: Hmmmm. Ok. Good idea. I get to exercise, too. Lovely idea. Just stellar, my dear!

I swear to God, the people at Huffington Post, both writers and commentators, are driving me a bit crazy. Sometimes, I click on links that I know are going to be too dumb for words…yet, I click in the hope that maybe it won’t be as dumb as I’m predicting. I’m always disappointed. Then, I think maybe at least 50% of the comments will be down to earth. Again, I am disappointed. I saw a link a few days ago to a story about the First Lady’s propensity for hugging. I did not click the link, because, really…who cares? It’s her job to get in touch with the public, and hugging is part of that whole get-up.

Today, I saw the same article featured, and I’m thinking, “Really? Again?” So, of course, curious about what exactly must be so compelling about this topic, I clicked the link, and read through stuff about how “this is so great that we are seeing a First Lady who is in touch with the people” (as an aside, did you get that pun?) and another about “Wow, isn’t it amazing that President Obama pulls the chair out for his wife before dinner” and a caption on one picture with the President and First Lady hugging during the campaign saying, “Even Oprah is impressed.” Oh my God. For real? Seriously? We’ve never seen a First Lady hug anyone before? Never seen the President hug his wife? Ever?! Fine. I am going to have to prove to the World Wide Internets that all First Ladies hug. All of them. Except that I’m not going to have the patience to go beyond Nancy Reagan, so you’re just going to have to either a) take my word for it, or b) dig up pictures of Martha Washington hugging a school-child all by your lonesome. (They did have school-children back then, right?)

Right. Let’s begin. We’ll start with The First Ladies Hug the Public:

One on one.

Oh! Crossing racial lines! That was a good one!

Looks like she was enjoying the moment. Who knows with a Clinton, though, right?

Just to prove the above one wasn't a one-time occurrence. Hillary Clinton again. I'd say "take it with a grain of salt," but she is a Clinton, so you may need a bag of salt.

Nancy Reagan hugging Yolanda, a former crack user, as her mother, Louise, watched yesterday at Phoenix Academy in Shrub Oak, N.Y. With them was Kevin, also a former drug addict. Escorting Mrs. Reagan, at right, was Dr. Mitchell S. Rosenthal, president of Phoenix House. Mrs. Reagan spoke to six former addicts from New York City and five of their parents at the academy, a residential school and treatment center. Page B13. (NYT/Joyce Dopkeen)

[Sorry, no picture ]

Oh yay! Nancy Reagan hugging a child.

Rosalynn Carter giving a hug! This was a bonus, inspiring me to dig further back...

When a group of rural people visited the White House to present a quilt to the First Lady, many were overcome with nervousness; upon hearing their weeping, Pat hugged each individual tightly, and the tension dissipated.

[Taken from Wikipedia. Sorry, no pictures ]

Now, we’re ready for First Couples Hugging the Decades Away.

While nothing beats the uniqueness of this:

The hug to end all hugs. Even Oprah was astonished.

allow me to continue all the same:

Seems pretty spontaneous and unscripted

I know, already. The Most Insincere Hug In History. They're the Clintons. I get it. Yet, I felt compelled to include them, for some odd reason. Oh, yeah...because thank God they hugged, helping me to prove my worthless point.

Oh, well...we all know he was one big actor!

Doesn't this count as a hug?

Apparently the Nixons and Carters did not hug. Or they came before Public Displays of Affection became de rigeur for anyone in, or aspiring to, public office. Unfortunate, lifeless, insincere and unlovable souls!

Have I entertained you all sufficiently? Can Huffington Post now end the season know forever to me as In Love with the First Hug? What are they trying to prove, exactly? That America can breathe a big sigh of relief, because the First African American Couple are human after all? That we can finally let go of the image in our head of minorities as weirdos without normal emotions, instincts, and social cues? What the heck is the point? I feel certain there must be a point to all the harping on the Hug Factor, because this is getting just a tad bit ridiculous.

Someone landed here on the search term, “the biggest bug.” Hmmmm, I’m sure there are few people who would find this to be a wildly accurate description.