Now I understand. (I think.)

     I wondered how some of the new quiz shows could get away with being so obviously staged and phony, given the strict regulations imposed by the FCC after the Mark Van Doren debacle. That is until a well-known authority reported that shows featuring celebrities are exempt from those rulings. Believe it or not.

Birthday Cake Make-up Date

 

The Mind of America

    According to those in the advertising market, not of the highest intelligence. I admit I don't watch commercials deliberately, so I often miss the beginning. But take this commercial: A young woman presents her apparently significant other with some apparently small gift; "One for me and one for you,"  she says. I acknowledge I don't know what these gifts are. He reciprocates by leading her outside where a pair of brand-spanking-new trucks are parked in the driveway. "One for you and one for me," he tells her. Without any question as to how the vehicles showed up there, what they cost, why they would want 2 of exactly the same model, she runs to the darker colored truck, exclaiming "I love it."  No thank-you even. When the poor doofus tries to explain that the vehicle she is embracing was the one intended for him, she repeats her claim, "I love it."  He than concedes that "I like red."  

    I don't care what happens in that simulated interaction, but can't help but wonder what the creators of the ad were thinking when they came up with this idea. Who are they marketing to?  In what setting would one partner go out and buy 2 brand new trucks without consulting the other, as to make, model, need, budget, personal preference, not to mention who the heck surreptitiously delivered them. Are the advertisers directing their appeal to  millionaires, very young ones at that.

  Many Americans are presently not engaging in large purchases and it would not be smart of them to do so. Maybe the target  audience are those who watch fake and staged shows like The Masked Singer, I Can Hear Your Voice, The Bachelorette, Wrestling, Survivor, Jerry Springer----wait, there are a lot of those folks out there.

Maple Stump

 All that's left:   I rather like the stumps being there because it serves as a barrier. Off road traffic has hit that tree and others several times over the years. I can always put flower pots on the stumps for a classy look.

Bemis Heights 1844

 

Liar (N0, not who you think)

 I had a primary care doctor in his Waterford office, Dr. C. He left his practice abruptly and was replaced by Dr. N. My first 2  few visits to her were uneventful, but my last visit was different. The nurse had shown me to a waiting room. I waited a very long time. I went to the door and peered down a long hallway and was able to see Dr. N. in a glass-paned office at the end of the hall. She was chatting with another woman, and for a long time. I waited and waited in my exam room, so long that the nurse came by, assuming I had seen the doctor and wondered why was I still waiting. I told her the doctor had not been in. She left to talk to the doctor, and returned to tell me that the doctor had been to see me, but had said the room was empty, that I must have left to go to the bathroom, so she had seen other patients.  I had not set foot outside the examining room, until then. I left and never went back.

Yes, but...Virtual signaling, Apologists, Blah, Blah, Blah

    Yes, Democrats, we know, it's a mess. A great number of people voted for the incumbent, and we were not prepared for that, the Republicans gained seats in both the House and the Senate, much of the country is still under the spell of their Chosen One, the transition will be awkward and painful, COVID will remain disastrous for a while, the economy is in the dumps, our international status is in the basement, security threats are escalated.  There are many things to be concerned about . There is a lot of work to be done. There are recriminations about what Democrats should have done better.

   But enough of the self flagellations and regrets for now.  Let us rejoice---TRUMP, ALONG WITH  HIS DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY,  HAS BEEN VOTED OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE.