ROLEY

Author: Kris Roley

  • Cleaning the Social Media Gutter

    I’m noticing that quite a few people that view my stories on Instagram are people that I don’t know, and want nothing to do with. I started to go through my list of followers, and I quickly realized that leaving my account inactive for a long period of time might have been a mistake. A quick note about weeding the garden: Instagram doesn’t really make it easy, especially on the desktop version. It’s just a small scroll box in the center of the page. I really would like a way to bulk remove/block people. That should be a no-brainer.

    Yes, I realize there are 3rd party solutions that may allow you to do this, the point is that IG should allow you to do this. I’m going to look for those solutions so that I don’t have to waste more time in the weeds than necessary.

  • ARTICLE: More Unsolicited Olympic Opinions

    With the possible exception of the Salt Lake City Olympics, most Games lose money. Most cities that agree to host the Games lose money. After the Olympics leave a city, in some cases those venues fall into disrepair (See: Rio). Finally, depending on the location or other circumstances, some countries boycott the Games like Moscow 1980 and LA 1984. I’ve always felt there’s a viable solution to this, and for that we look to a little cartoon from 1980.

    Animalympics was an absolute sendup of the Olympics, voiced in part by Harry Shearer, Billy Crystal, and Gilda Radner. That alone should get you to watch this movie. Back in the day, you could count on HBO or Cinemax to have it in rotation during the Games. I’m not sure if it enjoys the same attention today, but that’s beside the point. The point is that all the games took place on Animalympic Island. One location made for the Games. Now, it’s not realistic for anyone other than Dubai to whip up an island out of thin air, but that’s not where you’d want to have Summer Games in any event. What would be more realistic would be for the IOC to pick one place where the Summer Games have been played, and one place where the Winter Games have been played. Bonus points if one location could do both, and the event venues are still in good condition or could be repaired for a reasonable amount. It’s got to cost less money than selecting a new place that’s never had the Games before, and possibly even less than a place like LA, who has hosted the Games twice before and about to have it a third time.

    It’s time to give some consideration to making a permanent venue for the Olympic Games, so that we can remove the politics, territorial disputes, and the river of red ink that has followed it for decades.

  • PHOTOS: December 2023

    Some selected photos from the Eastern Shore of VA and (very) Southern Virginia Beach from December 2023. Enjoy.

  • LINK: Marty Krofft Dies at 86 →

    If you’re my age, this man and his brother Sid were responsible for a lot of your Saturday Mornings.

    I always found these live-action shorts more entertaining than the cartoons. Probably because my earliest memories involve the Banana Splits and shorts like Danger Island. Filmation had really great stuff as well, like Shazam and Isis, but Sid and Marty were the Kings.

    Thanks, Marty.

  • MarkWayne Mullin Is Not A Serious Person →

    That’s the act of an overgrown man-child with no self-control. It should be automatically disqualifying; no person who acts that way has any business in that job.

    It won’t be, of course. He caters to a crowd, a constituency that most likely approves of his behavior.

  • LINK: First-Gen Social Media Users Have Nowhere to Go →

    Ever since the popular platforms got basically weaponized, it’s been a little more like which one is the leper with the most fingers left. I’ve found myself on Threads, which is Zuckerberg. At least he’s not an insane fascist as far as we know. I hardly ever post on Facebook anymore, and I’m warming back up to Instagram since they appear to be appealing to photography again.

    That said, I’m not going to worry too much about it. I have this place, and anything I have to say I can post here.

  • JOURNAL: Tuesday, November 7th, 2023

    I’m sure you know the old cliché, “The dog that caught the car.” If not, it’s when a person attains an ambitious goal and has no idea what to do next. Watching the election results this evening, I thought Dobbs was just one example of the car: the recent Speaker’s election and the preceding three weeks with a stalled House being another. An argument could be made that the response to COVID-19 is another car, and you might make the argument that it’s not a bunch of cars, rather everything since January 2017 is one large bus.

    You would think that after years in the minority, and in the case of Dobbs, 50 years of planning for the day Roe would be overturned, there would have been a plan. Not so much, which leads us to a hard truth: Today’s Republican Party has no interest in plans, policy, or even the bare minimum of governing. This new group is only there for the clicks.

    After years of getting my hopes up at other companies, I stopped worrying about merit increases a long time ago. If the company chose to give me anything for my work, I considered it gravy. I’ve been a salaried employee for a little less than ten years between two places, and the increases are usually better than anything I ever received as an hourly employee. It’s those 25 cent raises that beat the hope out of me, so I don’t worry about it. So it was nice to have received a note from on high telling me that I received something more appropriate for my work over the year. I still come from the school of not disclosing what I make to anyone, other than to say that I now make more than I’ve made anywhere else. As long as the bills are paid and I can still buy eggs, I’m solid.

    Friday off for the holiday, and we’re thinking about heading west to the Blue Ridge to see if we can squeeze the last bit of fall color out of the trees. Last year we went to High Bridge State Park, and in a strange twist, I had no trouble with the heights but Kim had terrible vertigo. Additionally, we had a storm come through that week, and it wiped out most of the leafs on the way through. Not a total bust, but close. Hoping for some better luck this year. Trust I’ll put some photos up here if we get lucky.

  • LINK: James Corden Inks New Podcast for SiriusXM

    I’m reminded of the revival of the British comedy show Spitting Image (see: Genesis’ Land of Confusion video) where any time I’ve seen Corden’s puppet on the show, it is usually shot in the head. The British knew all along.

    Friends don’t let friends Corden.

  • JOURNAL: November 6th, 2023

    A little housekeeping, even if you see it right up front. I’ve changed the theme of this site to something more manageable. The momentary downside is that it’s gray, and adding in some additional CSS code doesn’t quite cover it, so I’ll work on that. I like my blue and white jam. I was using a WP theme that I had to shoehorn it into doing what I wanted it to do. This one just does it by default. Roley happy now. Almost.

    I don’t know who needs to hear this, but when you slap a sociopath on the wrist for his bullshit, it’s not a disincentive. In fact, they’ll think they got away with it. They’ll hit you with more bullshit, and it will get worse. Stop coddling the sociopath.

    I wrote a video script today. it’s very short, but it works and that’s all I need it to do. Stay tuned.

    There’s a definite upside and downside to working with a cat in your lap. Both happen to be that you have a cat in your lap.

  • LINK: Trump Testily Testifies (CNN)

    I believe Trump is almost daring this judge to throw him in jail because he believes the persecution card is worth it.

    I wonder if a better idea would be continue to fine him heavily, demand the money in a timely manner, and figure out a way to give every fine he pays to places like Planned Parenthood, Everytown for Gun Safety, Immigrant Advocates Network, and so on.

    That probably can’t happen, but it damn well should.