NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

 

I GOD

THINGS WE TAKE FOR GRANTED

 

We often take many things for granted in our daily lives. Here are some examples:

Clean Water: Access to safe and clean drinking water is a basic necessity that many people in the world still lack, yet those who have it often take it for granted.

Electricity: The availability of electricity has become so ubiquitous in many parts of the world that we tend to overlook its importance until we experience a power outage.

Health: Being in good health and not suffering from major illnesses or disabilities is something many people take for granted until they face health challenges.

Technology and Communication: We often forget how remarkable it is to have instant access to information, communication with people worldwide, and advanced technologies that make our lives easier.

Education: In many developed countries, education is easily accessible, but not everyone has this privilege globally. We may not fully appreciate the opportunities that education provides.

Stable Government: Citizens of stable and democratic countries might take for granted the security and stability that their governments provide.

Family and Friends: We may not always realise the significance of the support and love we receive from family and friends until we face tough times.

Freedom: The freedom to express opinions, practice religion, and live without fear of persecution is often overlooked in societies where it's a given.

Natural Resources: Many of us don't fully appreciate the earth's resources and their role in sustaining our way of life until we see their depletion or scarcity.

Time: We often squander time without recognising its value until we face time constraints or the loss of loved ones.

Sunlight and Nature: Having access to sunlight, green spaces, and nature is essential for our well-being, but it's something we may take for granted in urban settings.

Access to Food: In some parts of the world, food scarcity and hunger are still significant issues. Those with easy access to food may not fully comprehend its value.

Safety and Security: Many people enjoy relative safety and security, not experiencing the constant threat of violence or conflict.

Transportation: Having access to various means of transportation enables us to travel freely and conveniently, but we may not realise its significance until we don't have it.

Privacy: In the digital age, privacy is increasingly difficult to maintain, but we might not fully appreciate its value until we feel our personal information is compromised.

Life jackets on planes: How many times have you listened to the safety instructions on a plane prior to take-off? How many times have you checked under your seat to see if there is actually one for you?

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

These are just a few examples, but there are countless other aspects of life that we may take for granted until circumstances change or we see how different life can be for others who don't have the same privileges.

Please feel feee to add, in the comments section, other things that you consider we take for granted*

* For example, I'm taking for granted that Robert will have read this even though there's no mention of him, the Virgin Mary, Jesus or  Holy Ghost in it.

THANKS BE TO AI

 Robert's started using AI (ChatGPT probably) to write his posts. In his case this can only be an improvement. I wonder what AI thinks (?) about religion? I guess that artificial intelligence couldn't invent anything sillier than what the Catholic Church already has.

Robert used it to create a post about me see: THE CURMUDGEON'S CAT

I guess that this demands a reply so I've asked ChatGPT what it thinks about a Catholic guy from Petone who believes that the Catholic Church is the one true church created by Jesus but commercially cleans Anglican and Presbyterian churches.

This is the answer:

"It's important to respect people's beliefs and privacy, but spying on other religious institutions is not an ethical or respectful approach. If the man has strong convictions about his faith, he should focus on deepening his own understanding and involvement within the Catholic Church rather than engaging in questionable activities.

Interfaith dialogue and cooperation can be valuable for promoting understanding and tolerance among different religious groups. Encouraging open discussions and learning from one another's perspectives can foster a more inclusive and respectful community. Instead of spying, individuals with such strong beliefs should seek to engage in positive interactions with members of other denominations, focusing on building bridges rather than walls."

 

FOR 'MODERN AUDIENCES'

I like this reviewer. 

I'll be checking out more of The Critical Drinker's reviews having just watched the Snow White one and Oppenheimer. He's very curmudgeonly.

Check this out - it's worth looking at: 

It fits in with my recent gripes and, as Robert said: 

"I think it is a good yarn because it doesn't irk me. ...... Paretti's beliefs are in sync with my own, I find that important".

A commenter said:

As the reviewer saiid in his conclusion:

"Anyway, that's all I've got for you today. GO AWAY NOW!"

FOR RICHARD

 The wine Guy is sending you a label of your favourite wine brand.

Here it is:

Enjoy.

NEW POST - THE WINE GUY

 

YOU JUST CAN'T HELP SOME PEOPLE

WHERE'S THE NARRATIVE?

Like many others I subscribe to TV screening channels like Netflix, NEON, Disney etc and access free channels like YouTube, TV On Demand and others to view films, documentaries and television series.

When it comes to films - films especially made for streaming like the Netflix commissioned ones I'm finding that they are churned out so quickly that basic things important to filmmaking are left out. These include acting, dialogue, location settings and, increasingly, narrative sense.

It seems that for the 'popcorn' audiences, narrative sense isn't important anymore as long as there's a bit of titillating sex, crash bang action sequences and actors with good hair and teeth.

I watched a new Liam Neeson film the other day - Blacklight:

Sure it was typical Neeson action adventure with the usual unrealistic plot but this one made no attempt at making sense. There were no consequences for the gratuitous violence, no police follow up to the murders and explosions and the end was twee and frankly stupid.

Does it matter? I guess not to most of the viewers but I'm getting pissed off with trash like this taking up space that should be filled with good films that have story lines with beginnings, middles and endings.

I'm not alone in this as you can see from these reviews I found on Rotten Tomatoes:

I'm sure that Richard and Robert will love it though.

 

IT'S ALL OVER NOW BABY ... RED

 

Kiri Allan's car crash and resignation yesterday is like a metaphor for Chris Hipkin's Labour government.

Following on from the resignations of ministers Meka Whaitiri, Michael Wood and Stuart Nash, Allan's latest actions are really a nail in the coffin for Labour and, unfortunately we are likely to see the blancmange man and his band of  lip- servicers gaining  power in the coming elections.

I feel a bit sorry for Hipkins. He's not a bad guy and has been doing an OK job against tremendous odds. The country has problems but these are not being helped by rogue cabinet ministers and a sniping and insincere hypocrisy coming from Luxon and his National toadies.

Luxon, if he and National get elected though had better watch his back from the scheming Nicola Willis.

"FUCK 'EM I SAY" ...

 ... I said that quite a few times to The Old Girl on our recent holiday trip when complaining about some aspects of the trip - some obnoxious and 'privileged' other train travellers, a couple of rude fellow walkers who ignored our 'hellos' on the walking tracks and the keas who failed to turn up at the glaciers.

I often save this expression for the younger generation(s). At age 70 there are a few 'generations' to refer to now. I'm of the 'Baby Boomer' generation. I'm followed by Generation X,  Xennials,  Gen Y/Millennials and Generation Z. 

There are lots of young people for me to complain about.

In the broadest terms I and most of my 'Boomer' pals, especially those who have never had children of their own, see these different generations like this:

Generation X: Born 1965–1980

The slacker generation. Generation X lived through the AIDS epidemic, MTV culture, and a shifting cultural landscape that gave rise to LGBTQ+ rights.
Generation X parents used 'helicopter parenting' and wrapped their kids up in cottonwool thus creating the 'snowflakes' and me-mes who wanted everything now.

Millennial Generation or Generation Y: Born 1981–1996

Millennials lived through great social, political and technological change and are the first generation to know a childhood both with and without the internet which now drives their business and personal personal lives.
Us Boomers see Millennials as also being self-centred and entitled due to their excessive use of technology, but this generation, unlike the Xers are becoming incredibly community-oriented and environmentally conscious, which are traits that are being picked up by their children in the next generation.

Generation Z or iGen: Born 1997–2010

While still very young Generation Z kids are the first to be born into a world where they know nothing else besides being constantly connected to one another, albeit through phones, screens, tablets and social media platforms. There's good and bad in this - good in that they are very savvy in dealing with this technology but bad in that they lack practical coping skills if, and when the whole damn thing collapses through the growth of AI, energy and communication failures or global warfare. They are damned handy though when needing to set up new TV, phone and computer purchases.

OK, you can see that I'm opinionated, bigoted and generally obnoxious but, at age 70 I'm entitled. Entitled to say "Fuck 'em".

I've mentioned 'snowflakes in previous posts:

OK SNOWFLAKES

PC INTERPRETERS

The trouble though is that my friends and family  have nice children from the X, Y and Z generations who don't show the traits I rage against and who are having children of their own now from the Alpha and later generations.

It's hard being a curmudgeon sometimes.

I was thinking of this today when enquiring as to the status of my niece's pregnancy. She's the eldest daughter of my sister and will be having her first child soon. She is a real treasure - intelligent, caring and kind. She completed a double fine arts degree - applied art and curating at university and then went on to primary school teaching. she chose low-decile schools and is a very good teacher. She has volunteered to work with high risk prisoners in maximum security prisons, teaching them reading, writing and other communication skills. She will be a great mother. Born in 1989 makes her a Millennial or Gen Y. I don't see her as self-centred and entitled.

Her younger sister is also a Gen Y. She is also intelligent and caring and is creating a very good career for herself in the hotel industry. Her career advancements don't get in the way of her family considerations and values.

The youngest sister is probably the most intelligent of the three. She has two small and lovely children who will be brought up balanced, enquiring and socially competent. I always thought that she would be the one who would become a medical doctor like her parents. She opted for owning and running restaurants and cafes and now, has completed a nursing degree, She will be a great nurse as she is a great parent. No self-centredness there.

My brother's children, my other  three nieces are X, X and Y. They all three are confident, intelligent and nice young women (getting older now) and are not 'snowflakes' or 'me-mes'. I love them all.

DESPERATELY SEEKING ROBERT * - FOR ADVICE

 * Sorry about the reference to that dire 1985 Madonna film.

The Old Girl's coming home at the end of the week after having been in Christchurch for 3 months. This means that I have to do a bit of a spring clean of the house (3 months worth really) before she gets back.

Today I concentrated on dusting and vacuuming, cleaning all surfaces and getting rid of cobwebs. I have an extendable feather duster that can reach to the corners of the ceilings (14ft). I have continual problems with vacuuming though.

Our current vacuum cleaner is a Phillips Power Pro 1900

Phillips seem to be proud of this machine. See what they say about it here:

Wow!

370W of high suction power for thorough cleaning results. I wonder what happened to the other 1530 watts? Maybe they were all used up making the machine look good.

Now, to be fair, this machine is better than all of the other crap we've bought over the years which end up being donated to Free Stuff or Op shops but it can hardly be accused of high suction power.

I don't want a complicated and expensive commercial machine ... 

... but I do want one that lives up to its advertising promises.

Why is it, that in the age of AI robots, space travel and massive technological advancements, simple basic things like household accessories are still no better than the things previous generations used?

Hopefully Robert can suggest a brand/model.

STATISTICS

 IT'S TIME TO CHECK OUT THE POSTING STATISTICS YEAR TO DATE 2023.

THE CURMUDGEON 264 POSTS

RICHARD'S BASS BAG 137 POSTS

Richard deliberately uses hard to read font size and colour to obfuscate the quantity of his posts.

ROBERT THE WHATEVER - HIS GOD ONLY KNOWS

Robert doesn't include a post counter. This is in keeping with the principles of his Catholic church which hides all relevant information.

An informative graph is called for to more easily demonstrate this:

There you go.

WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING ON THE BLOGS OVER THE LAST WEEK?

 Not a lot - that's for damn sure.*

Robert's been posting about the music of countries that have poor records in respect to humanity, following laughing and incomprehensible fools on Catholic Answers, fantasising about cleaning the floors in Catholic churches, wrongly installing kitchen furniture and dreaming of crossing deserts. 

"... the desert will not be frozen, that's for sure."

Richard hasn't written a lot other than doing some 'parallel universing' in regard to my glacier posts, written and deleted some posts that attacked Robert's favourite religion and his amour Trent Horn and got his big panties in a twist because he got bottom billing for a forthcoming concert. Sheesh!

At least he's on the front of the poster.

It's just as well I kept things going with a new series - a kind of travelogue. I wonder if a travel writing curmudgeon is needed?

* I've ben re-reading a Jack Reacher book

TRANSALPINE TRIP #6

 I'm sorry to say that this is the final episode in this series.

You will remember that I left you with me in the bath after the glacier walks.

The next day we drove back to Greymouth. We had intended to do the treetop walk and also to have a stroll around Greymouth but it was raining and my hip was giving me gyp. It' s still not right so I must have munted it on the walks. I can't believe that arthritic hip problems come on so suddenly but I'll have to get a doctor's advice on that. Robert has suggested hip replacement but at this stage I'm loth to do this for a few good reasons. I'll take a course of Gabapentin nerve medication to see if it relieves it first.

We boarded the train to Christchurch in the early afternoon on Monday and once again had a thoroughly satisfying trip through the alps. 

On the way I spied The Old Girl's handbag looking at me so I took a photograph.

I told her that it was giving me funny looks to which she gave me a funny look.

Have a look at this closeup to see what I mean:

It reminds me of some sort of TV cartoon dog or other critter and is very disturbing. I searched for the character it reminded me of with no success other than these:

They aren't what I think I'm looking for though. Can anyone help me out here? Not The Old Girl. She told me that I'm nuts.

NEW POST - THE ALUMINIUM FOIL CURMUDGEON

 

KICK BACK

TRANSALPINE TRIP #5

 FOX GLACIER

We had not planned to go to visit Fox glacier but as it was still mid afternoon after having done the Franz Josef glacier walks we decided to drive to Fox.

As you can see in the map above Fox isn't  that far from Franz Josef and is a nice drive down SH6 passing Lake Matheson on the way.

Robert might remember when, in 1977 we drove this way and, when going over Mount Hercules came across a car upside down, off the road. It appeared as if the accident had just happened as the car doors were open and belongings were strewn about. We stopped to check but there was no-one there. I think we found out that it had been a very recent accident and the occupants, a family had been taken away. I believe that I drove a bit slower (for a while) after this.

I'm glad that we took the time to go further south to visit Fox. It was late in the afternoon but there was still good light as the weather cleared. We took a long track to a viewing area and, after a reasonably strenuous walk were rewarded with a magnificent view of the glacier. I guess we lucked out because the late afternoon sun lit it up more than would have been the case earlier.

I've got many nice photos of this but won't put them on here because - you know .... the slideshow.

Fox glacier isn't far from Aoraki/Mount Cook and it was tempting to climb further for a view of it but dusk was close and we were the last visitors on the track so. prudently we headed back to the carpark. My hip was sore  and giving me trouble at this stage so it was slower going down than it had been going up. We'd done more walking than planned so back at the hotel had a long soak in the  bath at the hotel before dinner.

** Coming up - maybe the final episode of The Transalpine Trip series **

TRANSALPINE TRIP #4

 FRANZ JOSEF

Oh, hello. You're still here then?

Good, you're just in time for episode four in the Transalpine series.

We headed south on Saturday morning having a leisurely drive on the excellent Westland roads. Roads in the South Island are generally better than those that we have up north. Up here heavy transport trucking has fucked the road surfaces creating difficult and dangerous driving conditions with potholes, fissures, surface stripping and under-road damage that gets 'cosmetically' mended. It's time that infrastructure was seriously looked at in New Zealand with either rail networks being reinstated or transport vehicles being charged higher road transport fees so that the roads can be better maintained. But - I digress.

And I have known the arms already, known them all—
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
(But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!)
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin

        T.S. Eliot 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' 

Near Hokitika we checked out Treetops the treetop level forest walkway and zip line. This looked pretty good but it was drizzling so we decided to kept going south with the intention of maybe having a go on the way back on Sunday.

Richard wouldn't like this but it occurred to me that Robert would like to take his family there to give them a go.*

We arrived at Franz Josef late morning and found and checked into our hotel the Te Waonui Forest Retreat.

It's a pretty nice hotel, well appointed with comfortable rooms with bush views. It's owned by Scenic Circle. I'd booked in the Scenic Circle Franz Josef Glacier hotel but, a few days earlier they sent me an email saying that they'd closed this hotel for the winter and that we'd have a free upgrade to their other hotel the Te Waonui Forest Retreat. This of course is marketing bullshit. There's no way that they would have 'just closed for winter' and they took the booking knowing that they'd flick us on to their other hotel. I reckon that it's a way of capturing the limited tourist clientele by having two properties to advertise instead of one - a way to keep ahead of the opposition.

Double the chance

They were at pains to tell us how lucky we were to get the upgrade to "5-star" accommodation but a quick internet search showed that they've been doing this for months. Scenic Circle is in trouble having laid off a lot of staff and closed hotels and the dismal dining experience that night showed this. Never mind - the room was very nice and facilities and service top notch.

We dropped off our bags and headed off to see Franz Josef glacier. It wasn't far away and we parked the car and checked out the walks, doing a couple that got us reasonably close to the (shrinking) glacier.

The walking tracks are well maintained - a credit to whichever tourist board is responsible, like the Punakaiki tracks.

Glacier in background with a rainbow.

I played around with the phone settings taking about a dozen of the same view. Here are a few of them:

The Old Girl takes better photos than me. When she's back from Christchurch I'll get her to download them to this computer so I can put together the slide show for visitors.

The viewing areas are on fragile ground overlooking the river valley so there are barriers set up to discourage idiots. A cut-out of a ranger is quite effective.

This reminded me of this old guy ignoring the signs on Matiu/Somes Island:

Some (Matiu) people huh!

*** Coming soon! TRANSALPINE TRIP #5 ****

* Note : As this is a long post it's important to mention Robert at least once to maintain his interest.