MISSION NOT QUITE IMPOSSIBLE

I bought a rowing machine yesterday from Rebel Sport. It's a York turbine  and looks like this:

 

Of course, when purchased it came in a flat pack box like this:

Out of the box it looked like this after I'd put the more obvious major pieces together.:

But fortunately it came with a 'helpful' assembly diagram Here:

Bugger me. I'm hopeless at assembling Ikea-type furniture and hate having to put together virtually anything you buy nowadays. I battled away for a couple of hours, having to install industrial-like lighting so as to see the tiny bolt and screw holes and to find the bolts, screws and washers that I invariably dropped on to the floor.

I only had one panic situation though as about a third of the way in I discovered that I was missing an axle, some vital bolts and washers and some foot-pads. Bummer. I searched through everything that I'd unpacked including going through the mountain of cardboard, plastic and styrofoam and couldn't find them. I laid out everything I had, photographed them and was about to ring Rebel Sport when I had one last look in the outer cardboard box. The missing items were shrink-wrapped onto a piece of flat cardboard that had been put into the carton upside down so all you could see was a bit of flat cardboard that merged with the bottom of the carton. Whew!

I eventually got it assembled and working.

The next step will be to get rid of a bed in one of the guest rooms (we don't get many guests nowadays), and set it up as a mini-gym.

LONDON'S CALLING

LONDON CALLING - THE CLASH 

I liked that Clash song when it first came out back in 1979. There were a lot of post-punk bands around some good, many atrocious but The Clash were good. The song still stands up.

So, why London?

I might have mentioned a couple of months ago that The Old Girl was toying with the idea of a job placement in London as a swan song for her career with the company that she's been working for, for nearly two decades. The idea was for a 6 month placement starting in August but for various reasons it came to nothing. We had discussed the option and agreed that she should do it and I'd commute a bit.

Well, today London called. They want her to set up and manage a new business division as a subset of the London office. That's good news and she's up for the challenge. They want her there at the end of August though so the time line is a bit compressed and, get this, they want her there for two years!

OK, that was a surprise but it can be a pleasant one. It just means that I will be doing a lot more commuting to London than I thought. It might be that I go there for 4 to 6 weeks, come back for 2 months and then repeat, This will mean about 3 to 4  trips a year. I'll try and get the best premium economy deals available at the time. Accommodation won't be a problem as The Old Girl will have taken a flat or an apartment. I'll be able to travel very light as I'll buy seasonal clothes over there. Theoretically, on each of the trips all I'll have to take is my laptop, iPad, phone and wallet.

Who say's that life can be boring?*

Which reminds me. I've got to get fit. The Old Girl asked me to buy a rowing machine to go with the exercycle that we she uses. I'd better get cracking on that to help her improve her fitness (she's fitter than me) and, if I'm going to be doing a bit of travel, get my own fitness and stamina up.

* Oh, it was The Old Girl. She said yesterday  that she felt that she was getting into a rut with her job and was considering retiring. 

ANOTHER NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

 The success of that last post has gone to The Religious Curmudgeon's head. He's written another.

THE HOLY SPIRIT - LOOK OUT!

NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

 CATHOLIC BISHOPS SOWING AND REAPING

"AND HIS MAMA CRYS ...."

 ...... 'Cause if there's one thing that she don't need
It is another hungry mouth to feed
In the ghetto.

The 1969 Elvis Presley song In The Ghetto could well be an anthem for the overturning of the Roe vs. Wade ruling by the Supreme Court in USA and the likely banning of abortions in most if not all states in USA as a consequence.

The repercussions for women, and girls down to very young ages who wish to terminate pregnancies for any reason will be serious. The reasons are many and varied but the worst scenarios are pregnancies due to impregnation through rape, incest and because mental health, poverty and family violence make bringing a child into a disturbed family situation unsafe and downright dangerous. I guess this particularly applies to that mother "on a cold and grey Chicago mornin' .... in the ghetto".

Overturning the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that made abortion legal across the USA means that abortion will be no longer protected at federal level opening the door for individual states to decide whether abortion is legal or not. Some states have already moved to further restrict access to abortion since the likely ruling was leaked in May. An example is in Oklahoma where the governor signed the strictest law in the country, banning abortion "starting at fertilisation with very few exceptions" and allowing citizens to report anyone who "aids or abets" an abortion. We saw stuff like that going on in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s.

I like what Richard (of RBB) wrote in a comment on my blog today:

Sadly, if plenty of US states choose to follow this federal ruling and ban abortions at state level, and the indications are that they will, then many women will be forced to complete pregnancies for babies they don't want or cannot care for. Countless children will be born, unwanted into lives of lovelessness, poverty and danger. Many young women will die or be maimed  as a result of illegal, unsupervised and unsterile 'back street' abortions. More 'underworld' criminal organisations will take advantage of this. Many countries around the world who take guidance (for whatever silly reason) from what the Americans do, will use this as an excuse to further repress women.  And why? Because Christian people like Robert who also have some pretty strange ideas of what women's rights are, decide themselves, without serious discussion or input from the majority of women, that they know best.

It makes me want to spit.

"THANK YOU JESUS FOR CREATING ME SO GOOD OF AND ON DURING THE DAY" .....

 ..... Father Patrick from St Peter and Paul's Lower Hutt. (as recalled by Robert).

Fr. Patrick Bridgman
Parish Priest

I'm told that Father Patrick at Saints Peter and Paul in Lower Hutt gives a pretty good sermon, getting his point across without being too concerned about grammar, fact and common sense -

 "full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes".

This suits Robert no doubt, who has no doubt that anything a man in a dress at the front of a Catholic church says is true. Father Patrick is his new best friend.

- Robert the apathetic sanctimonious sinner toilet cleaner and person refusing to employ punctuation

I was interested to hear more from Father Patrick so looked up his website.

Pat is embracing the modern age here and is updating the Catholic Church's message (no doubt following the latest brief from Frank at the Vatican) and I don't think he mentioned the Holy Ghost or God once, using the name Jesus a lot instead. Does this mean that the Trinity thing has had its day? Watch this space.

Anyway, I had a peek at the latest newsletter where Pat bangs on about Matariki and its importance through the ages and in a rather convoluted way tries to bend it into a Catholic message. I think he failed in this though as this extract - summary really - shows:

A new national celebration gives rise to new possibilities of celebrating. There are three aspects to the celebration of Matariki, remembrance, thanks, and promise. Remembering those who have died since last these stars were visible in the sky, gathering to give thanks for what we have, and looking to the promise of the future ahead. We as a Church celebrate aspects of these at other times of the year as well. Looking to the stars is to be encouraged whenever we can, for this encourages remembrance, thanks, and promise. And these human activities help us to live life to the full.
In today’s Gospel Jesus challenges his followers to live differently, not according to past patterns. When we look to the stars God helps us with this endeavour.

Nice words? Yes but do you see the contradiction here? Pat (or the Vatican scriptwriter who admittedly wrote in another language) said  that we should look to the past, the present and the future and then immediately tells us that old Jesus said bugger the past, do your own thing - live differently.

No wonder Catholics are so confused and don't understand the true and socially and politically dangerous repercussions of the US Supreme Court's overturning of the Roe vs. Wade ruling. Sheesh!

Now just a little niggle here. Robert, in previous and (sadly?) deleted posts has disparaged Anglicans and any non Catholic Christian churches who perform their version of the chimps tea party - the Eucharist - as a remembrance of what Jesus was reported (300 plus years later) to have said rather than something magic and mystical as the Catholics do - you know, the host becoming actual fresh flesh and the wine actual blood. Yet, in this image that Te Awakairangi website uses it shows actual bread and a cup (of wine I guess) which is more in keeping with the Anglican ceremony of remembrance. I can't see any Home of Compassion produced hosts here and I should know as I traded in them when I was a Sacristan.

I'm sorry if this seems pedantic but we at The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ take pride in getting our facts right, or at least nicely packaged up before presenting them to our vast readership.

KEEPING AN EYE ON THINGS

 

"I can see you guys."

Being the oldest in this blogging community (by 12 days) I often have to shoulder the responsibility of keeping things on-track when the others go off-track.

This week Robert's wheels fell off (Robert the apathetic sanctimonious sinner and toilet cleaner) and he deleted all of his posts and declared, in a comment on this blog:

I'm not sure what he means but can only assume that the good news is that he won't be posting about religion anymore.

I have mixed feelings about this  though because for years now, his posts about Catholicism and his silly ideas on religion have been a source of annoyance prompting both Richard and me to take umbrage but, on the other hand, his posts about Catholicism and his silly ideas on religion have provided an opportunity to poke fun at him. If there are to be no more religious posts then, what will be the source of humour and rebuttal? Commercial cleaning? Moera? Home handyman activity?  There's no fun in that.

At least he didn't say that he will be abandoning his nutty views on politics with his support of the right and blind dislike of anything left which he refers, rather contradictorily as fascist socialist communism.

Richard, on the other hand hasn't deleted his blog again or all of his posts but he has been away. The silly old fool didn't take his computer with him so hasn't been able to post. I mean, how unprepared and undedicated is that? Admittedly though he and Shelley did go to Himatangi where apparently houses don't have toilets, pubs don't stock chardonnay and hotel accommodation doesn't come with soap so they've been roughing it for - gasp - a night and two days.

It sounds like a bit of hard work has done him in and no doubt he'll be happy to get home and back to the blogs even if Robert has given up commenting on religion.

WELL THAT WAS FUNNY

 I was bringing in the washing this afternoon from the clothes line in the back garden when a bird flew down to the fence and sat watching me. 

It said "Coo" and I said "Holy fuck!" I guess I must have been thinking about what Robert will write in a post when he reactivates his blog and The Holy Ghost was in my mind.

Grey spotted doves while not native to New Zealand were introduced in the 1920s.

 

Robert likes The Holy Ghost or The Holy Spirit as he calls it which might be appropriate as it's obviously connected with hallucinations and garbled dialogue.

But then he reverts to calling it The Holy Ghost again. I'm confused.

As you can see Angry Jesus doesn't see it as a dove either. This parrot comment reminded me of a photo I took of The Old Girl when we were on holiday in Tasmania.

Maybe The Holy Ghost was trying to recruit her.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

 

Yeah right. The likelihood of me putting my credit card details, my bank account number, the passwords to those and the answer to the universe on that dodgy blog is---- NIL.

THE CURMUDGEON'S MEETING SERVICE - MEETING #1

 "IF IT WAS WRONG GOD WOULD PUT A STOP TO IT" *

****************

The Curmudgeons Incⓒ has instituted a new service for readers - THE CURMUDGEON'S MEETING SERVICE.

This is an on-line forum where members (readers) can meet with others in a non-partisan, neutral environment. This is useful for those who have a strained relationship with the person who they wish to meet with and/or a suitable neutral meeting place cannot be agreed on.

To start with a meeting has been arranged between Robert the apathetic sanctimonious sinner and toilet cleaner (and, as of current standing - ex blogger) and Trent Horn self proclaimed Catholic Apologist.

"I am over 60 years old and was educated in catholic schools in Wellington being taught by nuns, brothers and priests. In addition to this catholic upbringing I've re-discovered christianity and catholicism in recent years and have embraced it fully to the point of believing everything that's written in the bible, the catechism and the sermons given at Sunday mass which I attend, not wishing to commit a 'mortal sin' by having a well-earned sleep in."

"After my conversion to the Catholic faith, I earned my master’s degrees in the fields of theology, philosophy, and bioethics. I serve as a staff apologist for Catholic Answers, where I specialize in teaching Catholics to graciously and persuasively engage those who disagree with them."

This meeting has been arranged because recently Robert stopped listening to Trent's podcasts and declared that he wasn't going to follow him anymore.

Sensing that there may be a bit of conflict here, and that both Trent and Robert are aware that I am an atheist and will be going to Hell, I thought it best that a moderator be used. I managed to find a Catholic priest who knows Robert and has heard of Trent Horn. His name is Father Awaythebetter.

"I'm a Catholic priest and part of a worldwide organisation dedicated to saving the souls of believers and ensuring that they will have a place at God's side in Paradise.
Ha, ha ... just kidding ,,,, I'm part of a worldwide organisation dedicated to fucking young boys."

FATHER AWAYTHEBETTER: Welcome Robert the apathetic sanctimonious sinner and toilet cleaner (and, as of current standing - ex blogger) and Trent Horn the Catholic Apologist  .... er, do you think I can refer to you respectively as Bob and Trent? You can call me Father.

ROBERT: Yeah that's fine Dad ....

FATHER AWAYTHEBETTER: Father!

ROBERT: Oh, sorry ..... Father.

TRENT HORN: Yes, that's fine Father. I appreciate that the Catholic Church, under the guidance of Pope Francis is seeking to simplify structures and to adopt a more casual approach to its interaction with the congregation in its promulgation of teachings on God's attributes ....

FATHER AWAYTHEBETTER: Yes, thanks Trent, can you ....

TRENT HORN: What is God’s most fundamental attribute? You might say it’s his goodness, or his power, or his knowledge. But there is one thing about God that makes him “God” and not just another creature: his simplicity....

FATHER AWAYTHEBETTER: Yes, thanks Trent but ....

TRENT HORN: I don’t mean that God is simple to understand, but that God is the most fundamental aspect of reality. There is nothing beyond God that serves as the foundation for all existence, and in order to be that foundation for all of reality, God must be simple, or not composed of parts. St. Anselm of Canterbury put it this way: “There are no parts in you, Lord: neither are you many, but you are so much one and the same with yourself that in nothing are you dissimilar with yourself.” Almost a century later the Fourth Lateran council began its confession of faith by saying: 

We firmly believe and simply confess that there is only one true God, eternal and immeasurable, almighty, unchangeable, incomprehensible and ineffable, Father, Son and holy Spirit, three persons but one absolutely simple essence, substance or nature.

FATHER AWAYTHEBETTER: Can you please shut the fuck up?

TRENT HORN: .........

FATHER AWAYTHEBETTER: Ahh, sorry about that Trent. I was told that you were ... um ... loquacious. 

ROBERT: (thinking) Thank God for that.

FATHER AWAYTHEBETTER: Look, we don't have a lot of time as The Curmudgeon is a very busy person even though he doesn't attend Mass or chase after little boys. I'd like to thank him for hosting this  meeting and giving us the opportunity to bring you two together again.

ROBERT: Thanks Father. Yes, I'm keen and admit that I might have been a bit precupice , er presipitatios ... er presumbuous ... er quick there when I hinted that I was no longer going to listen to Trent.

TRENT HORN: (sulking) Whatever.

FATHER AWAYTHEBETTER: Come on Trent. Robert is trying here ...

TRENT HORN: (sotto voce) Very trying ...

FATHER AWAYTHEBETTER: What's that?

TRENT HORN: (still sulking) Whatever.

FATHER AWAYTHEBETTER: Come on Trent. Tell us how you feel about Robert's hint.

TRENT HORN: Hint? I know that Robert has deleted all of his posts but I have it on good authority that he had written in a post that he was upset and was going to 'ghost' me just because I've been buying up shares on Wall Street from those losers who've had to dump their stock and have been investing in cryptocurrency. No silly tithing for me ...

FATHER AWAYTHEBETTER: There you go .... talking again ... but you said you had it on good authority ....

TRENT HORN: Father Inthebetter.

FATHER AWAYTHEBETTER: What?

TRENT HORN: Father Inthebetter told me. Hey, are you two guys related?

FATHER AWAYTHEBETTER: (blushing) No. no. just good fiends .... we met at the Seminary.

ROBERT: (sulking).

TRENT HORN: (Sulking)

FATHER AWAYTHEBETTER: Whew! I mean Sheesh! Look guys I don't have time for this. I've got a few little er, things to do before evening Mass so maybe we'd better leave this for another time.

ROBERT: I love you Father

FATHER AWAYTHEBETTER: Thanks my son.

ROBERT: I love you Trent.

TRENT HORN: Whatever.

*  THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

I'M A FRAUD

  I know that readers of this blog will be shocked at the title of this post as they look up to The Curmudgeon as a beacon of truth, judgement and enlightenment.

In the past I've berated Richard (of RBB) for his dire choices of food, wine, art, literature, fashion, footwear and ...... well most things really and definitely including cinema. His love of action films is derisory and I have mentioned this and suggested some better films to seek out like The Conformist, Five Easy Pieces, A Clockwork Orange, Last Tango in Paris, La Dolce Vita etc.

Occasionally though, when The Old Girl is out of the room or preferably out of town or the country I dabble in 'the cinema of the low'. Yes, you heard it here - I watch Liam Neeson, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham and Arnold Schwarzenegger rubbish and sometimes enjoy it.

The Old Girl's in Auckland this week so last night, over a couple of glasses of wine and the forbidden potato chips I watched Die Hard 4.0 - a Bruce Willis film.

The funny thing is, that when I drove The Old Girl to the airport we were discussing why action and superhero films don't address the problem of computer scammers, hackers and phishers. I imagined Liam Neeson saying, on-line to a hacker - "I know who you are. I will find you and I will kill you." Wouldn't that be good? Well, blow me down, Die Hard 4.0 started like that with geeky computer hackers being blown up at their computers while trying to install Trojan-type viruses on other computer systems. Unfortunately this didn't carry through as a plot because the guy killing the geeks was himself a hacker and extortionist.

The film was basically crap and I don't know why I bothered. I just had to 'get it out of my system' like gorging on those potato chips I guess.

HEAVEN OR HELL?

We've been getting some sensational sunsets recently. The word is that the atmosphere is full of dust particles from the recent Tonga volcanic eruption.

I've taken a few photos but haven't posted them because of criticism from some members of this blogging community that my posts lack substance and are pithy (not true of course).

Tonight though the scene was so dramatic that I couldn't help taking a snap (iPhone not my decent camera).

The naked eye rendered the scene in much greater detail with the burning reds overlaying the vibrant egg-yolk yellows, both reflected in the calm water of the bay and overlorded by the glowering dark clouds. Magic.

I hope that this isn't prescient, suggesting an end of something. It can't be the end of Robert's blog posts because they'd already gone. Richard's blog is still limping along even though he's forgotten to post recently - I hope that he pays more attention to changing his socks and underwear. Maybe it's foretelling something else.

More in  the next post.

THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG-WINDED CURMUDGEON

 

In the blog community I 'play' in it seems that I'm the only one bothering to craft meaningful posts, kind of like the essays I wrote at school. Ideally these should have a theme with a beginning, a middle and a conclusion where the reader is brought back to the theme and, if appropriate, provided with a moral lesson or some sort of advice. I like to show readers that I'm right in these leaving no need to question.

That's in the ideal world. In this real world 50% of the readership never reads a long post, doesn't understand the 'message' in any given posts and, like a baby in a cot or a cat, is distracted by mention of its own name or of some mythical deity or bogus institution.  This doesn't get in the way of a degree of arrogance, self-righteousness and sanctimony however.

The other 50% has the skills to recognise and read a well-crafted post but of recent has become lazy and, I guess through advanced age has resorted to seeking affirmation of and accolades for its own rather faded blog and its posts. This self-doubt is getting in the way of any decent posting which is a shame.

It's also a shame as I begin to wonder if it's worth the effort writing long and sensible posts on this blog and the many others that I produce. There are only so many hours in the day after all. Maybe I should pander to the lowest common denominator and give them what they want - scatology, simplicity, vulgar humour and ..... a punchline.

NEW POST - THE CURMUDGEON'S AGONY AUNT

 

YEE HAW!

NEW POST - THE FOOD CURMUDGEON

 

GUT REACTION

HIGHWAY TO HELL

I've said before that Richard is going to hell in a handbasket and he himself admits that there's a place reserved for him there.

...... IN A HANDBASKET

Nothing that he's done or said in his posts recently changes this except for the fact that he has suffered from Covid and supported his wife during a trialling period when her brother died - maybe that will get him some remission? Who knows? I don't. Perhaps Robert will know given that he's complicit in the propaganda that the Catholic Church disseminates.

"Where is this post going?" you might ask - well, not to hell, handbasket or no handbasket (that was a little joke there - a play on words). This morning I discovered this great video clip of a Polka band playing 'Highway To Hell'. I thought you might like it.

THE HEIMATDAMISCH - HIGHWAY TO HELL

NEW POST - THE CURMUDGEON'S AGONY AUNT

 

WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID?

MARTINBOROUGH'S WILLIE R.I.P.

 Richard wrote a nice post today mentioning Willie Brown who we worked with at Murray Robert's Wines and Spirits in the 1970s. Robert was there too although the company title had nothing to do with him.

After that I met up again with Willie in the 1980s in Auckland where we were both still in the wine industry - Willie operating a wine distribution business named Brown and Garvie and me managing a specialist wholesale wine and spirit business named Quill & Company not unlike what Murray Roberts was in its day. I used to buy wine from and sell wine to Willie before he closed down the business and went to Martinborough to grow grapes and follow his dream to make Burgundy (pinot noir).

In the 1990s Geoff and I (Geoff also knew Willie from Murray Robert's days) got involved in a vineyard operation in Martinborough and frequently caught up with Willie at his little winery and vineyard named Muirlean Rise. We used to visit and drink wine with Willie up until Willie died.

Muirlea Rise.

Geoff sent me a photograph of Willie recently that he'd found in an old NZ wine magazine. It has Alan Layton in it as well (Alan used to work at Murray Robert's as well).

Willie in bottom left panel, Alan at right in main photo sporting his famous wig.

I should have visited Shawn when we were in Martinborough in 2020 but had caught up with him over the years when we used to go to the Martinborough Festivals.

MARTINBOROUGH R.I.P.

 I used to like Martinborough, it being my favourite Wairarapa township.

In the 1990s we were shareholders in a vineyard there and I helped to plant and develop it. We later sold the vineyard to Palliser Estate and I'm happy to say that they kept the name - The Pinnacles - which, if we'd taken the project to another level would have been a great brandname. We planted riesling, pinot noir and chardonnay and sold the grapes to other companies which resulted in gold medal wines.

I like Martinborough wines, particularly pinot noir and buy Ata Rangi pinot noir when we can afford it.

Richard of Richard's Bass Bag has also discovered Martinborough which is kind of like Attila The Hun learning of the northern provinces of Italy and deciding to visit.

"Where are the cleanskins?"

Richard is visiting Martinborough this weekend. I just hope that he doesn't wreck it.

COMPLETENESS

This evening, after dinner which was one of my favourite dishes - teriyaki fish and rice  for me ( a Japanese inspired dish) and The Old Girl's fish-burger for her  (both using terakahi),  I stepped out on to the deck after cleaning the kitchen and washing the dishes.

It is a very mild evening which is surprising for the time of year (winter) but it has been a lovely day. I mowed the lawn and got a fair bit of gardening in today taking advantage of the break from the stormy conditions that we've had for a while.

Out on the front deck which overlooks the bay I sat and admired the dark sky and the stars searching for Matariki .

It's about the time of year for 'Maori New Year'  and I was looking forward to enjoying the spectacle in unusually mild conditions for the time of year and time of day. Unfortunately too many wispy clouds obscured the view but, nevertheless I enjoyed the search.

I poured myself a small measure of Cognac (Remy Martin Club) and sat out on the deck for a while enjoying the stillness broken by the little sounds of night-time birdlife, the ripple of the waves and distant voices. It was magic and I'd only poured myself a small Cognac (but I did drink a glass and a half of pinot noir with my dinner) and it reminded me that life can be good, very good as long as we have the opportunity, or inclination, to take time out and enjoy what it has to offer.

I hope that you've enjoyed your evening as well.

"SURE ENOUGH, IN WALKED BLOODY KIMMY K AND PETER DAVIDSON"

It's often said that you get what you deserve.*

YOU GET WHAT YOU BLOODY WELL DESERVE 

In this case the 'scam' was a smart cafe owner not letting the truth get in the way of a good story. Good on him. If any idiot who got over-excited at the prospect of Kardashian and her massive bum visiting little old far north Queensland then they deserve to be disappointed ....... hold on, hold on ....

"Hold on, hold on."

.... if 'Kimmy' had turned up this is what the unfortunate Queenslanders might have had to look at:

Eeeyew!  They definitely would have been disappointed.

* Well, I often say it.

IN SEARCH OF TRUTH

 "OK" you might be saying "It's a bit rich you saying that you are in search of truth when you're always quoting Mark Twain who said 'never let the truth get in the way of a good story' and you have this on your home page":

All right - busted - but this post isn't about me (often it 'is about me') it's about another blog which purports to be 'original' and informative but IT'S FULL OF LIES! Sorry about the caps there but I'm worked up.

You no doubt guessed that the blog I refer to is Richard's Bass Bag (don't ask) which is a minor blog in this community that takes high-handed stances on issues like grammar, pronunciation, fingering techniques (not what you think thankfully) and religion.

The blog title is appropriately in shadow and unreadable. Never mind - moving on....

There are a couple of things on the Home Page of this blog that I want to draw to your attention. These are misleading and can be dangerous for 'young players'.

First the blog contains this statement which purportedly is a rolling tally of readership of the blog:

As of accessing this morning the readership counter reads 488,246. THIS IS A LIE. The blog may well have started back in the early 2000s and, if it had been published continually might well have reached this number especially as the blog writer accesses his own blog hundreds of times a day and writes his own comments (don't ask). The blog has not been published continuously and has been cancelled at least twice (maybe three times) before with all posts deleted. The counter has not taken notice of this and, like the odometer on his car (allegedly) has been doctored by Richard himself. Shocking!

The second misrepresentation is in this cartoon on the Home Page:

This suggests to 'young players' that Jesus was a carpenter when, irrefutable proof has come to light that Jesus and his bogus dad Joseph were in fact stonemasons (sources - Robert the inconvenient sinner and squeezer of pimples, Trent Horn and Sister Mary Ima Kitupasigoalong from Cambodia).

So there!

This expose was brought to you by The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ.