Friday Afternoon Rants

Today is one of those days. To be honest, I'm mad at everybody. I stopped talking to myself because I was getting into too many arguments. If you don't want to hear me complain, you might want to stop here.

I just dropped almost six bills on my motorcycle in preventable damage not covered by warranty. The a fan belt busted because the front brake had seized, putting too much strain on the belt. The brakes were supposed to be checked every 4000 miles. I found out that the authorised mechanic from Honda had probably not checked them from day one. When the new repair man got through, it was running like brand new. It was like a different motor cycle. Out of one piece of bad news I got three pieces of good news.
1) My Honda cycle is well built enough to survive three years of a bad mechanic.
2) I found a really good mechanic to replace him.
3) During the week I had to use the subway, I started reading Meam Loez Torah Anthology translation of the biblical book of Isaiah. It was originally written for Spanish Jews who escaped the Inquisition and had no Jewish knowledge. Getting back into reading the prophets and gaining some appreciation of the meaning and historical context was worth having a hefty repair bill.

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The other pain in the neck this week is computer trojans and malaware. I was getting computer freezes, popups and all kinds of idiocy. Someone wanted to sell me something so they essentially installed garbage on my computer without permission. Viruses I understand. People who make them are just nasty lowlifes who like to torment total strangers. They may even be promoting anti virus programs. But if you want to sell me something, just spam me. If you want to send me junk e mails, I'll most likely delete it, but you have a right to try to sell me something. But malaware gets me real mad.

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One thing that irked me on the subway was the preacher ladies. If you want to stand on the street and preach, that is OK. I can walk away. But on the train I have no choice. Hand me a leaflet. Panhandle. Play your guitar. But preaching on the subway is real rude.

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The only people that shouldn't preach on the street are the Israelites. They dress up like they are in a high school play about Moses and spew racial hatred against whites and Jews. I thought religion was about doing good deeds. The only thing you can get these people on is noise ordinances. But if you try calling the cops, it does about as much good as writing them a letter.

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Brooklyn has far too few general bookstores. Park Slope is well served in this regard. So is Borough Hall. But there are way too many nail salons and way too few bookstores in the rest of Brooklyn. Thres are a few guys who sell used books for a buck each. They make my day.

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Did anybody catch this? Why was Obama busy promoting sports betting? The stock market is going to hell in a hand basket. Why can't he encourage people to invest again? The stock market is also gambling. But that is how money is raised for business. Sports betting doesn't create nearly as many jobs as investing in a business that is trying to fund a venture. The only Obama to talk any sense this week was Michelle. She was speaking about the role of proper English in getting ahead, that you can be Authentically African American without ghetto jargon. Before the election, Michelle was the one who made more of a fool of herself. Now Barack seems to be the champion at putting his foot in his mouth.

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Shabbos is coming soon. I have to sign off, and will do so with a prayer. May G-d save us from our enemies and from our government. Have a good Shabbos