As you can see, Axel has continued his progress from nervous wreck to very good boy. I caught this picture of he and Speck bathing together on the 14th, and I’ve seen them even closer than that on occasion. Speck has returned to her habit of wanting to be close to me while I’m unwinding on the sofa, though not as much while I’m working at the computer (which is probably for the best); he lies on the other side of me, sometimes cuddled very close to my legs, so he and Speck are less than an arm’s length apart for hours. He doesn’t even stare at her any more, nor does he try to chase Rocky or Lilith when he’s in the atrium, so last week I took a chance on bringing him through the chicken yard with me to go up the ramp, and he barely even looked at the hens. Yesterday, I decreased his trazodone from 75 mg/day (where he was for all of February) down to 50, and in two more weeks I plan to just start giving him 50 at bedtime rather than splitting it into two doses; I figure that will give me an idea if we’re getting close to taking him off of the meds entirely, since his blood levels should be pretty low by the time each evening rolls around. I think the warmer, drier weather is also helping, because he can spend a lot more time running around and sunbathing outdoors and playing with Trip, so he has less pent-up energy at the end of the day. Assuming that all goes well, it looks like he’ll be off the meds by June, and I imagine by the end of the summer his bad times should be no more than a dim memory in his little doggie brain.
Archive for the ‘Biography’ Category
Diary #818
Posted in Diary, tagged animals, drugs, psychology, Sunset on March 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Links #817
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged artificial stupidity, Austria, Believe Them, cops, drugs, Massachusetts, Missouri, politicians, scams, sex toys, Tennessee, video on March 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Ah, a proud assitarian. – MechaHitler
Here’s another unusual cover from a performer we’ve seen before; it was provided by Asawin Suebsaeng. I’d argue that “Purple Rain” as performed by Prince was already blues, but this more traditional arrangement makes that more obvious. The links above it were provided by Phoenix Calida; Nun Ya; Desiree Alliance and Dan Savage; T. Greg Doucette; and IncarcerNation (x2), in that order.
- This week in artificial stupidity.
- To lose two looks like carelessness.
- R.I.P. Robert Duvall and Jesse Jackson.
- Another cop demonstrating exactly what he is.
- It’s dangerous to be anywhere near a cop, “on duty” or otherwise.
- Cops are increasingly framing their brutal murders as absurd suicides.
From the Archives
- There’s no legitimate reason for a vending machine to have this capability.
- Another company the government is using “sex trafficking” myths against.
- The state feigns shock when men abuse power it gives them over women.
- Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do.
- Outsourcing one’s judgment to politicians & bureaucrats is a terrible idea.
- Nobody is safe until this odious practice is recognized as unconstitutional.
- The hysteria is imploding so hard, it’s falling all the way back to its roots.
- Censorious politicians compete to make their laws more unconstitutional.
- Erosion of civil rights starts with the marginalized, but never stops there.
- Laws enabling nuisance lawsuits will multiply until ruled unconstitutional.
- Authoritarians don’t care if your kind of sex work is (temporarily) “legal”.
- Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working?
- No rape charges; her remains were too far gone for evidence to survive.
- Shotspotter is a boondoggle designed to create false evidence for cops.
- Alabama has at long last got the “fetal personhood” it claimed to want.
- The headline is a bit misleading; he was found guilty of manslaughter.
- The entire “troubled teen” industry needs to be sued out of existence.
- This happens much more at “Christian” schools than at other schools.
- Doctors must keep suing cops who claim license to practice medicine.
- A good article about why the madonna/whore duality is pure bullshit.
- Texas doesn’t care how many women die because of its terrible laws.
- Bad laws just keep returning no matter how often they are defeated.
- The US flushes incalculable resources down the “culture war” toilet.
- Retrospectives of my blogging for February 2013, 2014, and 2015.
- Maybe this will teach fools what a danger biometric ID actually is.
- Oklahoma is another state which seems to simply hate women.
- The war on trans people has expanded to include drag queens.
- The claims in these nuisance lawsuits are increasingly absurd.
- Preachy perverts nearly always blame their crimes on others.
- Where “disgraced” is used to mean “accurately represented”.
- Paxton doesn’t actually give a damn about women’s sports.
- Crumbs thrown to the peasants from their masters’ tables.
- Nevada model proselytizing can always be safely ignored.
- Nebraska’s float in the “monkey see, monkey do” parade.
- Useful idiots think the leopards will never eat their faces.
- Cops, artificial stupidity, Roger Corman, and much more.
- Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors.
- By now, the title “youth pastor” should be a big red flag.
- Cops, Elvis, Roberta Flack, Jerry Butler, and much more.
- Trumpist propaganda dismisses book bans as a “hoax”.
- The most Orwellian case of censorship so far this year.
- Presentation is not exactly my strong point as a cook.
- Your “leaders” say this trash is fit to “correct” others.
- This idiotic culture war has an actual body count.
- Throwback Thursday Has Risen from the Grave.
- Another cop demonstrating exactly what he is.
- Trans men are also targets of horrific violence.
- Another box of baby dinosaurs in my lavatory.
- The fourth leap year since I started this blog.
- Just another typical and representative cop.
- A small memorial observance for Grace.
- What did this guy think he was, a cop?
- Cops, British rap, and much more.
- Good riddance to bad rubbish.
- This just keeps getting better.
- Fallback Friday.
Diary #817
Posted in Diary, tagged Lost Angels, Sunset on February 24, 2026| Leave a Comment »
My life is made so much easier by the generosity of friends and readers! After my resourceful and generous Australian friend read about my current technology issues, he decided to do some research and discovered a free, open-source PDF-making software which will run on XP! He sent me the link last Monday; I downloaded it and it works perfectly, so now I’m back in the process of preparing Lost Angels for publication. The day before that, Chekhov dropped by, ostensibly to get some eggs and return a borrowed tool, but actually to give me a new TV set he claimed to have got on sale. It wasn’t too difficult to set up, and fortunately I was able to bypass all the streaming-channel setup stuff, which would have just been a waste of time. We did, however, discover that Samsung has planned-obsolescenced their own older soundbars by ensuring there is no compatible means of connecting them to their newer TV sets. Not to be daunted, Chekhov ordered a new soundbar to be delivered last Thursday, and though it was easy to connect I had a new problem: it barely put out any sound. To reach a comfortable viewing volume, I had to set the old soundbar at about 30 (of a maximum 100), but the new soundbar is nearly inaudible at that level; depending on the DVD and other, more mysterious factors, I had to raise the level to 75-100 for comfortable viewing (and it only goes to 100). The internet told me this is a known issue with Samsung soundbars, but provided no useful information on fixing it; every “separate” article I could find was apparently copied from some ur-text, right down to the wording, and none of them are much above the “make sure your cable is plugged in” level of helpfulness. Finally, Samsung customer service via text talked me through resetting the soundbar, so now it sounds good at 60. But I won’t be surprised if I end up having to do this more than once, or perhaps even regularly.
Links #816
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged acting, animals, Australia, Bluesky, China, cops, ethics, Florida, language, Minnesota, sporting events, STEM, video on February 22, 2026| Leave a Comment »
A young rock is probably a good thing. – Derek Leung
Though Fred Smith left Blondie before their first album was recorded, I decided to feature this little-known, very weird, very punk song from their debut album because I’ve always liked it. The links above the video were provided by Nun Ya, Kevin Wilson, Jeremy Malcolm, Jesse Walker, Franklin Harris, Yasmin Nair, and Nun Ya again, in that order.
- Metaphor alert.
- The geology of curling.
- This is actually pretty cool.
- R.I.P. Fred Smith and Bud Cort.
- How on earth did it get into a bikini?
- In case you think this is limited to the US.
- As the young say, “Not all heroes wear capes.“
From the Archives
- They said nothing while the Times spread propaganda against sexworkers.
- The trades of actress & whore were, until a century ago, indistinguishable.
- All I see about modern square work makes me happier I became a whore.
- I was fated to be threatened with state violence regardless of career path.
- Some still believe these sociopaths are motivated by “protecting children”.
- Both sides in the culture war have completely taken leave of their senses.
- This will continue as long as fools teach children obedience to “authority”.
- While sex work is marginalized, sex workers will be targeted for violence.
- Mom demands politicians stop unsupervised kids from gorging on candy.
- The worst rape defense after “she wanted to be raped by a random cop”.
- Prohibitionist politicians’ real goal is government control of the internet.
- Give aggressive thugs power over teens; what could possibly go wrong?
- When it comes to surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down.
- Are the Japanese the only people left who can tell fantasy from reality?
- Journalists must stop obediently calling senseless violence “correction”.
- Still think realistic porn cartoons are the worst use for this technology?
- Unconstitutional law is sort of suspended by an unconstitutional order.
- Ambulance-chasers give themselves power to rob internet companies.
- Another pogrom from the dangerous clown who rules Polk County, FL.
- Everyone abused by cops using this surveillance system needs to sue.
- Besides laughing aloud, I may have also clapped my hands in delight.
- So many rescue industry profiteers have been exposed as sociopaths.
- Surely you didn’t think they’d be satisfied with threatening librarians.
- This monster’s handlers made a conscious choice to let him run wild.
- Cops don’t like it when non-cops report “crimes” that didn’t happen.
- Cops, nightmares, Amy Winfrey, artificial stupidity, and much more.
- A dangerous new front in the Drug War has claimed another victim.
- Some politicians are starting to admit Shotspotter is a boondoggle.
- Judge vs currently-fashionable “monkey see, monkey do” parade.
- I’m sure they helped by occasionally yelling “Stop faking!” at her.
- Politicians wreck lives by inventing new crimes from copaganda.
- Remember, this isn’t “human trafficking”, but consensual sex is.
- Now that the moral panic is over, expect more articles like this.
- This will continue until there are federal criminal charges for it.
- Some cops don’t limit themselves to one type of creepiness.
- Surely you didn’t think this was just about porn, did you?
- Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors.
- Texas has a long history of “correcting” people to death.
- Those who facilitate cops’ evil are enemies of humanity.
- Cops are nothing more than state-sponsored terrorists.
- Cops, artificial stupidity, Gerald Fried, and much more.
- Cop “magic fentanyl” hysteria has escaped the US.
- Cops view alcohol as a means of facilitating rape.
- “Crisis pregnancy centers” for the 21st century.
- Tweet selections from 2023, 2024, and 2025.
- Cops, madness, weirdness, and much more.
- Some pretty mild early-spring type weather.
- Pathetic reruns of years-old fantasies.
- At least this one didn’t attempt to lie.
- Throwback Thursday of Darkness.
- Dracula vs. Throwback Thursday.
- A mural decorating my atrium.
- Grace’s prized shillelagh.
- Thoughts on The X-Files.
- Rapist cops of the week.
- Mud everywhere.
I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one. Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful. But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer. So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets. Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements. Thanks so much!
Tweet Moss
Posted in Biography, Current Events, History, Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged blogging, Canada, cell phones, cops, dating, Denmark, disease, ethics, fascism, Hollywood, illegal aliens, Korea, language, left-right myth, politicians, propaganda, psychology, Pyrrhic Victory, Samoa, scams, STEM, surveillance, Tennessee, yin and yang on February 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »
These guys really need to watch more film noir.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-15T18:12:23.909Z
You have to sleep sometime, guys.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-17T19:01:24.980Z
Four of these look WORSE in the "after" pictures. Middle right is DRAMATICALLY worse.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-19T02:53:53.205Z
They really do believe Heaven is clouds where people walk around in a semblance of life forever. It's remarkably stupid, childish, Bronze-Age thinking.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-20T08:26:34.100Z
The International Board of Kakistocracy
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-23T18:25:56.755Z
American flag lapel pins are virtue signaling. The FBI saying how much they loved MLK is virtue signaling. Laws named after dead kids are virtue signaling. State-sponsored "prayer breakfasts" are virtue signaling. Etc, etc. Any sincerely moral person can see the difference without effort.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-25T09:01:06.051Z
If I were Canadian, right now I would feel like one of the guys in this scene:
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-26T03:22:24.145Z
"Dismantled" in the same sense as the Hindenburg was "dismantled".
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-26T18:37:28.791Z
Treasury Secretary Meisterburger has some advice for parents.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-28T16:56:31.831Z
Modern journalists:Talking about a guy who has been out of political office for decades: "President So-and-So", "Senator So-and-So"Talking about a cop sent to prison for using his position to murder or rape somebody last year: "Former officer So-and-So"
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-29T19:23:12.888Z
I hereby declare the word "pivot" officially hackneyed. Find a different verb to beat to death by overuse.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-30T08:52:51.698Z
The "We need new Democrats" whine triggers off the Mom region of my brain: "You haven't done anything with the Democrats I already gave you."
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-31T18:05:24.186Z
Raise your hand if you're old enough to remember when it was the DEMOCRATS pretending "unified government" was a good thing.Extra points if you remember that the Clintonian slur for "checks and balances" was "gridlock".
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T18:02:15.967Z
Oh look, it's another of those things us cranks have been warning all y'all Very Smart Futurist People about for years.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-02T17:20:55.791Z
What is this thing supposed to be? An Easter Island statue?
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-03T03:38:50.271Z
If only there were some simple way to kill the bacteria so the milk would be safe to drink. If some genius were to invent such a process, we could even name it after him.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-04T03:20:03.432Z
Actual economists disagree.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-04T19:49:45.952Z
How can anyone who has ever read Asimov's nonfiction not know this? He used to BRAG about it. I knew Asimov was a sex pest before entering HIGH SCHOOL because when I was in 8th grade I got on a kick of reading all of his essay collections, and he talks about it more than a little.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-06T03:08:49.403Z
I was used to sex workers being the most *ethical* people on the internet, but in the past 15 years they've proven themselves to be among the most intelligent and literate as well.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-07T18:29:51.990Z
"Facts undermine his testimony" is such a weird, nerf-bat way of saying "He lied".
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-08T17:46:14.535Z
I was taught in catechism that God is all-forgiving, so from a Christian perspective the answer to this would be "yes".That having been said, I am neither a god nor a Christian, so I am under no obligation to forgive those who enabled the current police state over the past ≈ 150 years.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-09T19:09:35.536Z
They make ME think of the campfire scene in "Stand By Me" where the boys seriously discuss, "Who is stronger, Superman or Mighty Mouse?"
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-10T18:20:24.645Z
They really do think "But he gave them candy after molesting them" is a defense.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T08:51:42.315Z
It has dawned on me that most young people don't understand that political parties are about as fixed as sand dunes, and drift all over with the political and social winds over time. Which is just a more extreme example of the common inability to recognize that the same is true for species.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-12T18:25:49.074Z
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-13T19:18:32.880Z
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-15T08:58:03.773Z
Your regular reminder that Eisenhower warned us about all this in January 1961, but everyone just basically ignored him until it was much too late.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-16T18:10:17.125Z
You've gotta admire a man who trusts his friends' understanding of physics enough to attempt this.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-17T19:04:26.838Z
Given that the statement "This power will be abused" is always 100% accurate over the long term, you'd think the Pollyannas would've learned by now. But I reckon that's against their dopey natures.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-18T18:21:26.639Z
I just noticed this:
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-19T19:01:26.364Z
Diary #816
Posted in Diary, tagged animals, Sunset on February 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Laying chickens are bred for maximum egg output, so they tend to have shorter lives; two of our older hens died in the past few weeks at three and four years old, respectively, and both were laying up until the end. But Jae brought in four Ameraucanas a few years ago, which are now six years old; they don’t lay nearly as often, but they’re still laying at what is quite an advanced age for chickens. When I went to collect my eggs on Saturday, I found this in the middle of the henhouse floor; it’s even smaller than pullet eggs, and since it’s green it’s obviously from one of the Ameraucanas. Presumably, near the end of their lives they experience something analogous to menopause, and this is the result; it does make me wonder just how much longer I’ll still be getting at least some output from elderly hens that have always laid more eggs than I expected.
Links #815
Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged artificial stupidity, censorship, cops, hysteria, illegal aliens, India, language, Minnesota, politicians, porn, propaganda, psychology, video, witchcraft on February 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »
In the end, you don’t feel disturbed – you feel blank. – Monsumi Murmu
I wasn’t really a big Parliament-Funkadelic fan, but Grace was very fond of them; I think this is the sendoff she would’ve suggested for Billy Nelson. The links above it were provided by Dan Savage, Jesse Walker (x2), Mike Masnick, Nun Ya, Walter Olson, and The Onion, in that order.
- Sounds legit.
- R.I.P. Billy Bass Nelson.
- The new dark age has arrived.
- Bootlicking causes brain damage.
- Grinding up humans to feed algorithms.
- Trump would have deported the Beatles.
- The best satire cleaves closely to the truth.
From the Archives
- Surely you didn’t think they’d be satisfied with only threatening librarians?
- Politicians need to be targeted by so many lawsuits they’re driven to ruin.
- Lawheads still believe barricades magically eliminate the need for money.
- While sex work is marginalized, sex workers will be targeted for violence.
- Bloodthirsty politicians are furious about having their crusades thwarted.
- Ballard’s partners are trying to salvage as much of the scam as possible.
- Censorious politicians compete to make new laws more unconstitutional.
- Surely you didn’t think they’d be satisfied with only vandalizing libraries?
- He aced the predatory pervert job requirement, but failed the lying test.
- The racism of European “anti-trafficking” schemes grows more obvious.
- They figure describing rape as “sex trafficking” will net a larger payout.
- Texas’ ice-pick self-lobotomization is becoming increasingly spasmodic.
- Cops, artificial stupidity, Michael Jayston, Mojo Nixon, and much more.
- It’s amazing how often people die mysteriously when cops are around.
- This isn’t just about privacy, but the future of secure communication.
- Morally-bankrupt businesses make morally-bankrupt business deals.
- Like something written a decade ago at the apex of the moral panic.
- The resources flushed down the “culture war” toilet are incalculable.
- A judge’s half-assed attempt to stop Louisiana from torturing teens.
- Even seemingly-consensual sex with a cop may be something else.
- What kind of defective adult thinks it’s OK to do this to a teenager?
- The absurdity becomes more obvious when we substitute “toaster”.
- Cops use their panopticon exactly as EFF predicted they would.
- Denying bright kids honors or AP classes makes you an abuser.
- A bizarrely-anachronistic “sex trafficking” propaganda piece.
- Too bad all authoritarian organizations aren’t so short-lived.
- Most Americans still believe France is a sex-positive society.
- I’m glad I was wrong about the lawsuit’s chance of success.
- It seems weird to me when things are open on Mardi Gras.
- A society can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners.
- Coming to grips with the fact that Grace is actually gone.
- Nothing will be done about this under the Trump regime.
- I have no words sufficient to describe how foolish this is.
- Sexual violence is endemic to policing as an institution.
- Cops, artificial stupidity, Tom Robbins, and much more.
- Finding a term for heretical US “Christian” cultism.
- Feeling nostalgic for a time just before I was born.
- Cops, The Onion, Raquel Welch, and much more.
- My two previous columns for Valentine’s Day.
- Cops just love new ways to railroad people.
- I don’t go to a gym, but I do own a farm.
- Burble burble BLUE STATE burble drool.
- The Return of Throwback Thursday.
- The Rites of Throwback Thursday.
- Fixing a leak in my hot tub.
- Rapist cops of the week.
I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one. Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful. But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer. So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets. Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements. Thanks so much!
Diary #815
Posted in Diary, Miscellaneous, Q & A, tagged STEM, Sunset on February 10, 2026| 2 Comments »
As I mentioned last week, CenturyLink finally got around to fixing my internet problem; the main issue was a corroded wire in the node near my house which was causing a series of errors that eventually caused my modem to “time out”. The technician said having an older modem, while not the actual cause of the issue, was exacerbating the problem, so he gave me a new one, and everything has been fine since. However, two other tech problems have now materialized, and with Grace gone I have nobody here who knows about this stuff enough to help me. So I figured I’d ask my many tech-savvy readers for help.
The first issue is that the PDF Architect software I bought in 2014 and have built seven books on suddenly decided that my copy was not “authenticated” and refuses to function without a new key PDF Architect will not give because they conveniently no longer “support” the software I bought and paid for which still perfectly fulfilled my needs up until now, and want me to pay for their fancy new subscription-based service over and over again each month, though I only use the software when I’m publishing books. Frank found me free software that will run on my XP machine, but he has never used it himself, so I’d like recommendations; all I need is resident software (not web-based) that will run on XP and combine multiple Word files into a PDF. That’s it; no bells & whistles are necessary, and free is good but inexpensive is also OK.
The other is that on Saturday evening my TV, which has been unhealthy for a few years, did something really strange: I was watching a show and a sharply-delineated vertical white band, bounded by several alternating bands of grey and black, suddenly appeared in the exact center of the screen. Stopping the disc had no effect so it was obviously the TV rather than the disc; I turned it off and turned it back on, and the problem vanished for the rest of the evening. But this smells like a harbinger of imminent catastrophic failure, so I’m going to replace it. Given that the last attempt at replacement was a failure, I should probably get either a newish low-end Samsung (to be compatible with the DVD players) or a 7-8 year old refurbished something else. But again, I don’t need bells & whistles, and I don’t even really want it to connect to the internet; I want the closest thing to a dumb monitor that will simply allow me to play DVDs that I can get. Any advice?
Diary #814
Posted in Diary, tagged animals, drugs, psychology, Sunset on February 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Axel has been slowly improving where Speck is concerned; if she crosses the floor while I’m in the room, he just watches her intently but doesn’t move toward her. And every time she completes a back-and-forth I tell him he’s a good boy and give him a treat. But it’s much harder to train a dog to refrain from doing something than it is to train him to do something, so progress has been slow. But last week, we hit three landmarks. On Tuesday, CenturyLink finally sent someone to fix my internet (it was a corroded wire in the node out in the lane), and when the technician came into the house Axel barked at him once, smelled him, and then was calm for the rest of the time. Then on Wednesday, I had to go to Seattle; I left him outside when I left at 11 AM, had Chekhov come by about 4 to feed the farm animals and let Axel into the house, and then he was alone until I got home about 11 PM. He was pretty excited when I got back, but I was able to calm him quickly and there were no signs he had acted up (chased Speck or torn anything up) while I was gone for about 4x as long as I’ve ever left him before.
But the best was late Friday night; he was with me on the sofa while I was watching my show, then around midnight he had to go out. He was gone for a while, probably doing poo-poo, and while he was out Speck came and sat on my lap, then moved to the arm of the sofa. When he came back in, he got back in his spot, and though he kept looking at her he didn’t lunge or growl or anything else. I stayed there a while between them, petting them both, then eventually got up to check my social media one last time before bed, and took this picture during that time. He kept looking at her and occasionally at me, but did nothing bad for about an hour, at which point Speck decided to go back into Grace’s room. And of course I praised and rewarded him. Then Sunday night they got even closer; Speck came to cuddle with me on the sofa while Axel was right next to me, less than an arm’s length away. So I think we’re getting there; as of Sunday I’ve lowered his trazodone to 75mg/day, and I’ll keep it there until the beginning of March. And within a few more months I think he will complete his transition from nervous wreck to happy, well-adjusted puppy dog.
Links #813
Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged animals, artificial stupidity, consensual crime, cops, Florida, France, games, I’m Sure You Feel Safer Now, law, Minnesota, politicians, video, Washington DC, weaponry on February 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Get back in the game, or I’ll shoot you. – Andrew Lawson
Due to the plethora of guillotine memes that have populated social media since the current guillotine-worthy regime took power, I’ve often thought of this song, but it was the recent death of Brigitte Bardot which finally moved me to feature it. The links above the video were provided by Nicholas Grossman, Jesse Walker, The Onion, Nun Ya, Jesse Walker again, Jessica Pishko, and Popehat, in that order.
- R.I.P. Catherine O’Hara.
- I’m sure you feel safer now.
- Another perfect strike from The Onion.
- The funniest thing I’ve read so far this year.
- Criminality is a status defined entirely by the state.
- Even being in the same room as a cop is dangerous.
- Goons slam man into wall, claim he did it to himself.
From the Archives
- Better cops escape consequences than this ugly trope be reinforced again.
- Cop deals with disagreement in typical cop fashion & the press is shocked.
- Texas is completely uninterested in controlling its psychopathic politicians.
- Remember that legal protection we used to have against double jeopardy?
- All laws should sunset in 10 years unless specific action is taken to renew.
- This piece is so restrained it doesn’t even use the term “super gonorrhea”.
- Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do.
- A grab-bag of bigotry & superstitions sprinkled with a few Biblical quotes.
- The way local media parrots clearly-foolish copaganda is utterly pathetic.
- Everything that comes out of government bureaus is now pure trumpery.
- If it’s supposedly on the news now, why should the victim pay blackmail?
- Laws enabling nuisance lawsuits will multiply until ruled unconstitutional.
- Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working?
- Cops really don’t care how many false positives these systems shit out.
- The First Amendment is now being eroded just like many of the others.
- Politicians believe they can excuse hypocrisy by the magic word “illicit”.
- Raping women & clumsy censorship attempts must run in cop families.
- Trans people have become another canary in the civil rights coal mine.
- Declare anything a “public health crisis” and it can be harassed at will.
- Politicians compete to make their new laws the most unconstitutional.
- “Age verification” laws are bad for speech, but good for VPN business.
- One of the people the government empowers to police your sexuality.
- “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time“.
- This’d be a real improvement if the release conditions were objective.
- Silly “awareness raising” stunts are now merely marketing gimmicks.
- Dr. David Ley schools his fellow therapists on the reality of sex work.
- Retrospectives of my blogging from January 2013, 2014, and 2015.
- Give aggressive thugs power over teen girls; what could go wrong?
- If only there were a concise term for “having sex without consent”.
- Note that cases of actual coercion don’t look much like the myths.
- CGI women are replacing “sex robots” in prohibitionist fantasies.
- Cops, prohibition, Mary Weiss, Carl Weathers, and much more.
- This will keep happening, because too many people want it to.
- In which natural stupidity masquerades as artificial stupidity.
- A small obstacle to Amazon’s fascist collaboration with cops.
- Censorious sleazebags are targeting Onlyfans models again.
- Just another kind of federal cop, with behavior to match.
- Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors.
- Cops, Gina Lollobrigida, David Crosby, and much more.
- Rapist cops often specifically target vulnerable women.
- Cops, artificial stupidity, Jules Feiffer, and much more.
- Rapist cops are rarely caught after only one victim.
- They only start with relatively minor offenses.
- Laws are for the peasantry, not the rulers.
- Your “leaders” refer to this as “correction”.
- Caring for our elderly cat in her last days.
- There is nothing contradictory about this.
- It looks like Florida is aping Texas again.
- Why does anyone still trust Facebook?
- For those inclined to wade in sewage.
- My two previous columns for Imbolc.
- The Legacy of Throwback Thursday.
- The Horror of Throwback Thursday.
- On the passing of my best friend.
- On movies I’ve never seen.
- Beginning the annex decor.
- Rapist cops of the week.
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