MISCELLANEOUS ...

 ...  Or, as those wi* from the "Nui would put it: 🚀 *.

Miscellaneous #1

New World supermarket.

Last week as I was buying groceries a pushy woman (PW) customer at the checkout behind loaded all of her shit close to my good stuff on the conveyor belt. There was no divider to put down. As I was watching the cashier scan items I saw that at the end of my stuff she had scanned the first of PW's stuff - a $9.95 charge for McCain's frozen pizza slices. Shit in fact. I make my own pizzas. I alerted the cashier and she put the item back amongst PW's crap and I assumed cancelled the entry. 

Yesterday when I found the till receipt in my jacket pocket I checked it and there was a $9.95 charge for pizza slices. I went on-line to request a refund but found the website process difficult and when I did manage to find a portal there wasn't enough allowance for characters for me to explain the reason for the refund request.

I then found a phone number to ring and after a long wait explained to the person at the other end what I wanted only to discover that he dealt with on-line purchase problems only.

I found another link to complaints and re-entered everything that I said initially on the website form and sent the request away. To where I don't know. It might as well have been to Mars as I received no acknowledgement of acceptance and today no follow-up email. Bummer.

Today I decided to go to the store in person (which I didn't do yesterday as my foot was sore.) Today I had to go out anyway to pick up a prescription from the pharmacy which isn't far from the supermarket. I was prepared for an argument only to discover that the guy manning the customer service booth was very helpful and immediately processed the credit to my bank card. He also told me that as the error was a scanning error on their part the policy is the credit double the amount so I received a $19.90 credit! Remember - it pays to keep take your receipt when they ask and keep it for a few days just in case.

Miscellaneous #2

The doctors.

Last week I requested a repeat of my medicines and, after a few days received a notice that the 4 items were approved and that they were available from the pharmacy. Last Friday I went to the pharmacy only to discover that 2 of the 4 items were dispensed. When I queried it they said I had to order again via the doctors. I went on-line again to the doctors via Manage My Health and requested again the missing items. On Monday of this week I received a reply from the doctors saying that the request was rejected as the initial request had been processed.

Yesterday I marched limped to the pharmacy with the copies of the initial prescription request (4 items) that were marked as approved, the prescription receipt from the pharmacy (2 items) and the rather snippy response to my second request from the doctor saying that the request was rejected AS IT HAD BEEN PROCESSED DAYS EARLIER! I spent a half an hour with the pharmacist and his assistants trying to get a resolution with no success. They said that they only received an order for 2 items and the doctors maintained that they had sent an order for 4.

I went next to the doctors surgery which fortunately is next door to the pharmacy. I then spent another 10 minutes explaining the situation and then had to wait to see a 'clinical' nurse. I explained it all to her and she looked up the details on the computer. This showed my initial request and the doctor's approval of 4 items and the order of 4 items to the pharmacy. It was then that the nurse said that they have been having problems with the computer system and glitches were occuring. She promised to request the prescription again, urgently from the doctor who was at that moment busy with a patient. "I'm more than a patient" I thought "I'm impatient" but thanked her and made my way home.

Today I received an alert from the doctors surgery and the pharmacy conforming the availability of the 2 items which I collected before going to the supermarket.

The result was positive but the downside in this in time and stress is unacceptable. It's just as well that I'm so easy-going.

* Half 'wits'

ATHEISTIC DEVIL MAN

Robert has taken a new tack and instead of going about loving everyone including sinners he has gone on the offensive like that old version of god who likes to drown people. In recent comments he has said:

"Bullshit. Get a life atheistic devil man."

"Get a life and start posting how wonderful atheism is."

He did say this and here's proof with screenshots as he will delete his blogs and comments soon:

I kind of like being called an atheistic devil man. It's better than "Hey you!" or "Stop thief!" I guess.

Apart from the interesting image it conjures up ...

...  the paradox in Robert's statement intrigues me.

He has mixed the religious representation of evil - the devil - with the platform of rejecting religion and the supernatural - atheism.

"Well done that man!" as Father McCann (a living manifestation of the devil if ever there was one) would have said. 

At least Robert is being consistent in his contradictions.

WHAT'S HAPPENNING AROUND THE BLOGS #2

"I went to confession and received Jesus twice. Feeling good and ready for Heaven"

- Robert 

That statement could be misinterpreted and you have to be careful with the spelling of his new blog name.

WHAT'S HAPPENING AROUND THE BLOGS?

 

"I changed my strings a couple of days ago. I took off my Evah Pirazzi Gold ones and put on a set of Evah Pirazzi (without the Gold)."

         -  Richard of Richard's Bass Bag 

"What do you think?"

POSTUS INTERRUPTUS

The post titled 'NOTHING" I wrote a few days ago was very successful not only receiving a comment but it was the longest comment that Robert 'Walk with me Jesus' has ever written!

 A fine accolade which made me think that interrupted posts might be the way to go given that ...

Interrupted *

This post has been approved by The Catholic Church and The Vatican's teachings.

BLOODY AI

 

Regarding the comments function Google tells me this:

The primary reason why the Google Blogger comment function fails to work or throws errors like "Failed to publish comment. Please try again later." is due to how modern web browsers handle third-party tracking and cookies. 
Because Blogger's comment infrastructure is an outdated architecture, the system loads the comment section from the blogger.com domain inside an iframe, while your actual blog runs on blogspot.com or a custom domain. Modern browser privacy settings interpret this cross-domain loading as a malicious tracking attempt and block it entirely. [1, 2]

Core Issues Explaining the Failure
Third-Party Cookie Blocking: Browsers like Google Chrome, Apple Safari, and Mozilla Firefox now strictly restrict third-party cookies by default. Because the blog domain and the blogger.com validation domain are different, the browser blocks the connection, stopping the system from recognizing that you or your readers are logged into a Google account. 

Enhanced Tracking Protection: Security extensions (like Privacy Badger) or integrated browser protections (like Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection) mistake the comment iframe for an invisible tracker and silently suppress it. 
Corrupted Dashboard Widgets: If you can see the comment section internally but it fails to load on live pages, the template's HTML rendering engine or "Post Page" widget might be broken. 


How to Fix the Comment Function

For Blog Readers & Commenters
If you are trying to leave a comment on someone else's blog, use these steps to bypass browser blocks:
Disable Tracking Protection: Click the shield icon in your browser address bar (on Firefox or Chrome) and turn off "Enhanced Tracking Protection" or "Block Third-Party Cookies" for that specific website. 
Turn off Cross-Site Tracking (Safari/iOS): If using Safari on Mac or iPad, go to Settings > Privacy and toggle off Prevent Cross-Site Tracking. 
Use Incognito/Private Mode: Open the blog post in an Incognito window to check if a specific extension is interfering with the scripts. 

For Blog Owners
If you host a blog on Blogger and your readers cannot comment, try these backend adjustments:
Change the Comment Location:Go to your Blogger Dashboard.
Select Settings > scroll down to Comments.
Change the Comment location from Embedded to Full page or Popup. This forces the page to reload the comment structure outside of the broken iframe system. 
Verify Layout Permissions: Go to Layout > edit the Blog Posts gadget > make sure Show comments with count is turned on. Disabling this accidentally hides the comment window globally. 
Reset HTML Templates: If using a custom theme, your HTML widgets might be outdated. Navigate to Theme > Edit HTML and choose to Revert widget templates to default to restore native scripts. 

OK - I tried some of that and it has made no difference.

I equate this problem to my gout condition. The medical providers have been bloody unhelpful so I'm just waiting until the condition comes right by itself without drugs - maybe a week or so. 

I guess Aunty Google might get this sorted so I'll wait it out. What's the downside anyway? No Robert's posts? I think I'll be able to manage.  

NOTHING

I was most of the way through writing a long post on tax but got distracted and couldn't be bothered finishing it.

Hey! Here's the draft that I was writing - it's not complete but you probably wouldn't be arsed reading the whole thing anyway:

Draft .... A fixed term savings account of ours rolled over this week and I looked at the interest rates offered by our bank and didn't fall off my chair. While the new rate was lower than the old one it was still in the positive which is a plus and certainly would be for many European savers. I pressed the button to lock in for another 9 months - full term that Robert and his gang, the Catholic Church would approve of.

I didn't check out the dazzling rates that precious metals, cryptocurrency, the AI industry, IT companies and anything that Donald Trump has his greasy mitts in offered as I'm risk averse. I'm also I like to think, moral and am governed by in an in-built Protestant guilt which is strange given that I was baptised and educated as a Catholic. Go figure.

Protestant guilt apparently is an internal sense of moral failure or anxiety rooted in historical Protestant teachings about individual accountability, divine judgment, and the work ethic - or that's what a Google search uncovered.

Catholic guilt, on the other hand is tied to institutional confession and penance as they have been told all their life that they are sinners. Protestant guilt places the individual directly before God without a mandatory ritual of absolution. I think I prefer the Protestant guilt thing even though both concepts are moot because I 'm an atheist and don't believe in a god and think all this religion stuff is nonsense.

Anyway, I digress. On the bank transfer form a default tax rate was highlighted of 17.5%. I guess this is my tax rate as I only have superannuation as income. I'm certain though that previous bank interests have been taxed at a much higher rate of 33% which is the Old Girl's rate seeing that she is a salary earner. I guess the fiscally sensible thing for me to do is to ensure that, at tax return time, that bank interest is declared and taxed at my rate not hers. This got me to investigate what the tax situation is in New Zealand and what it will be in the near future.

I have no real issues with taxation. Public services have to be paid by taxation. Taxes, when run equitably benefit most people especially middle and low earners and help to mitigate income inequality.

Sensibly calculated and applied progressive taxation is how society provides those services (health, education, social welfare, policing etc) and to invest in the country's future prosperity.

I'm not one of those aluminium foil hat-wearing people who bizarrely oppose taxes, even if they benefit from a stronger economy and free or subsidised services and infrastructure. I'm not a rich or super rich person either and suspect that many of these oppose taxation and have batteries of accountants looking for loopholes on their part and or using safe havens for their wealth.

What's so hard about understanding that and who would have a problem with it?

Well, blow me down, the National-led government which generally caters to the more affluent percentage of New Zealand wants to get rid of many taxes for example:

•  the bed tax which is supposed to support tourism. National won't support this anymore and are leaving it to ratepayers to fund improvements to tourism infrastructure but ...
• ... the Luxon government is imposing a 4% cap on rates increases ( below the current rate of inflation) which means local councils will be unable to raise revenue to undertake improvements....
  

                               ..... Abandoned 

CATHOLICS LOOK AWAY NOW - From Uncylopedia

Dogma

This article contains unquestionable divine truths.

Dogma is one of the best kept secrets of the Catholic Church. In order to get to Catholic Heaven (which beats Hindu Heaven hands down, but loses by a smidgin' to Mormon Heaven, and according to The Simpson is way funnier, less judgmental, and more drunker than Protestant Heaven) you must believe in dogma.

Here, in a nutshell, is the essence of Catholic dogma:

1. You must worship the cross.
2. Sex is bad and should make you feel guilty. Except when it's with kids, of course.
3. Money is bad and should make you feel guilty.
4. Altar boys are bad even though they make you feel good.

These two dogmas are the entire essence of the Catholic Church's teachings, and explains their position on everything from sex (it costs money) and abortion (it's from sex), and why you should put money in those little baskets they throw at you during Mass.

From this dogma, the Catholic Church has the Catholic Catechism:

• Pleasure is bad and should make you feel guilty.
• Food is bad and should make you feel guilty.
• Being born is bad (called original sin) and should make you feel guilty.
• Eating meat on Friday is bad and should make you feel guilty.
• Sleeping in, especially on Sundays when you don't have to go to work, is very bad and should MUST make you feel guilty.
• The Catholic Church is good and should make you feel happy.
• The Pope is very good and should MUST make you feel happy.

Modern theologians are in full agreement that if St. Paul had gotten laid, even by that Mary Magdalene chick, the Church today would be very different. And a lot more fun.

Karma

Catholics don't believe in karma. They believe, instead, that someone is watching to see if they are good or bad, making a list, and checking it twice. O.K., call it "instant karma", instead. Every December.

Wilma

Catholics are afraid of Wilma Flintstone: To them she is the Red-headed Whorebeast of the Apocalypse who shall slay all those who don't partake of her chewable vitamins. Some of her symbols (weird hair, stupid consort, pearl necklace) can be traced to the modern-day wiccan, Marge Simpson.

Mortal sins

Catholics believe that if you die with a "mortal sin" on your soul, you go straight to Hell.

• Playing with your food
• Playing with your self
• Feeding yourself
• Playing with the person next to you
• Feeding the person next to yourself in a playful manner
• Just playing in general
• Not cleansing yourself after you do the "Bad Touch"
• Wearing a condom, especially in Africa
• Failure to donate your money to the church, you selfish asshole
• Making sex
• Making sex for money
• Kitten Huffing^{[citation needed]}
• Adoption
• Getting a divorce from your obese, violent, faithless, lazy waste of a spouse without a fucking permission slip signed by the Pope
• Getting a divorce with a permission slip signed by the Pope^{[Citation not needed at all; thank you very much]}
• Eating pizza and drinking milk at the same time
• Smoking weed on the Sabbath
• Not smoking weed on the Sabbath
• Listening to a woman in church
• Using your driver in the middle of the Fairway
• Using your wood in the middle of a whore
• Putting your elbows on the table
• Tossing the Holy Hand Grenade on a count other than three
• Reading this article
• Denying that any of these is a mortal sin

The Catholic Church's position on sex is very firm. To sum it up in a quick easy-to-remember sentence: you will get sent to Hell if you have oral sex, anal sex, penis sex, vagina sex, phallis sex, vageena sex, premarital sex, sex with the steps in front of an altar, gay sex, finger sex, underwater sex, upside down sex, loud sex, sex with the lights on, sex on a pool table, protected sex, unprotected sex, semi-protected sex, or (AND MOST UNFORGIVABLY!) NAKED SEX. It's quite obvious that God prefers us never to have sex with anyone. Obviously, if he wanted us to procreate, he would just slap up some mudpies and make himself some more humans. Or, if he REALLY wanted children to be born, he would impregnate all the women himself, and thus, by this concise logic, it should be apparent that NO ONE should have sex EVER. Don't even try it.

There is only one unforgivable sin that, when you die, will send you straight to Hell – being a dick on Uncyclopedia. Burn, baby, burn!

Fortunately, private investors such as eDulgences are interested enough in your sins to absolve them for you!

Finally, remember, too much Catholicism can make you go blind.