FB Posts

[Zema Bus]

Flopps posted this on FB today:

Unless my powers of perception are failing me I just spotted a huge spider - probably a tarantula - in the communal dustbin room where I live. i had just dumped my rubbish and was walking towards the entrance door when it shot out from beneath a bin, up the wall, to settle behind a loose wall poster.
I wanted to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me so lifted the poster. Mr furry brown eight legs scuttled out headed towards the rear of the room, probably more frightened than me.
Well I never.

[Grogan]

Shit... probably somebody's silly pet that got loose. I don't think tarantulas are native

[Zema Bus]

Another one of his posts, this is one of his longer ones. He's in his 70's now and talks about aging in this post.

I am travelling a journey undertaken by billions of my ancestors before me, a journey taken by human beings ever since they learned to walk upright.
It is a journey that in my earlier years I had no idea about, no understanding of and to be brutally honest, no sympathy for whatsoever.
This journey is called old age, senility, senior years, our autumn years.
I wonder why it is when we’re (most of us) young that we assume everybody we interact with, if they give no obvious outward physical signs, are on a level pegging on all tiers with ourselves? It’s not so much arrogance of youth so much as ignorance of youth I suppose.
I wonder at which age we start to, well – decay? The answer is probably it’s different for everybody, it likely being a genetic thing. What will fail – eyes, ears, bone joints, locomotion, mental well-being?
Some will be lucky enough to progress to death’s door without suffering any of those indignities and inconveniences but I suspect that’s not many.
By the time we reach the start of our gradual slide towards oblivion all of us will have experienced enduring the death of loved ones and people we know but from here on in other factors in death will raise their ugly heads and become fairly commonplace such as cancer, heart disease, organ failure and alzheimers. I sometimes wonder if these are a subtle hint telling us our time is done now would you please bugger off.
But despite all the afflictions that seem to befall us on a fairly regular basis from a certain age I’d still like to stick it out as long as possible as I still think there’s more worth staying alive for than rolling over and giving up.
Talking of which, if I had to reflect on my years and name the best thing that I’d ever taken part in/contributed to it would be my three daughters. I have a lot of music I love to listen to; I can still walk, see and hear and as I age I actually become quite amazed at how wonderful this planet is.
I never noticed it much in former times but all those trees, mountains, fields, animals, sunsets – the whole thing is fabulous. I’m not at all religious but I do sometimes wonder if a third party had a hand in shaping all this stuff just to please us people. If so then thank you.
As I’ve aged I have come to understand the human psyche a great deal more and sometimes I wish I hadn’t. There are a lot of damaged people out there and I sometimes wonder why as most of us don’t come into this world with an attitude. Is the key solely child-abuse? Abused children frequently become abusive parents? I have no idea.
Having said that I still hold the view that most people existing on this planet are good people. I’d like to think that most individuals, on seeing another individual in distress, would help them. Perhaps I’m being naive.
Getting back to the relationship between old and young folk my own attitude towards senior citizens when I was young was indifference. I did hold the view that lots of them were grumpy and an annoying number would insist that their generation was somehow better and I vowed I would never become like that – I’ve possibly partly succeeded. Astonishingly (to me) many of my own peers have now adopted the same point of view, bemoaning today’s generation and insisting their time(their time presumably being their youth) was better. I can only say – dinosaurs.
I’m currently suffering a trapped nerve and all this typing has made my left arm hurt so I will sign off. I’ve also had a nasty virus since last Saturday – fun and games eh?
I wish you all well.

[Grogan]

It sounds like he's doing well, and taking care of his health. He can have more good years. It doesn't sound like he's in mental decline... pensive as always

[Dark Angel]

I'll copy and paste my own post to save people the trouble.

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I tracked down and finally met my biological father last February. He died of lung cancer on the first of March last year. We had four days to get to know each other. I also gained three half sisters, and three half brothers (two of which were killed by a drunk driver), three uncles, and a raft of cousins. I'm the eldest, my youngest sister is the same age as my eldest son and has kids in the same age range.

[Grogan]

I'm sorry it was so short, but that's good to hear that you met him while you could. I'll bet it made his passing more peaceful.

Thanks for posting this stuff, I'm the only guy not on Facebook. I just can't stomach that platform. (had bad experiences)

[Zema Bus]

That was a very short time you had with him but glad you were able to meet with him before his passing.

[Zema Bus]

Flopp's FB post today:

Just spent five weeks in Lewisham Hospital and it really wasn't much fun. I'm out now, still weak, and I won't go into specifics as to my malady but suffice to say I'm still alive.
The service in an NHS run hospital is definitely less than it was twelve years ago, imo because of our former government killing it and Brexit. I suppose a private hospital might give better treatment but after paying almost fifty years of contributions to this service I'm a little loathe to opt out and pay some get rich quick opportunists for my health care. Anyway, they probably wouldn't enrol me ...

And his response to a comment by someone in Scotland (he quoted the comment):

Coupla quotes - "Dumfries hospital which is about 100 miles from here could not fault their service in any way whatsoever." "Perhaps there's a big difference in NHS Scotland I don't know but I was treated Quickly and marvellously" I shouldn't talk, really, about the hospital staff but I will say most of the staff were very very good. I think the biggest problem in Lewisham was I had at least six different medical departments dealing with me and there was a distinct lack of liaison between them which imo led to delays in my treatment. But my procedures (ops) were all carried out professionally and as pleasant as they could be and faultlessly. Some of the staff severely tested my faith in human nature though, which is a shame. Scotland is a different world to where I am, I know, I've spent time there, mostly working. I like the place and all the people I ever met there were alright.

[Grogan]

I'm sorry to hear he's been ill. It must have been serious, as 5 weeks is a long stay nowadays, when they'd be trying to send people home sooner.

[Michael_horatio]

I'm the only guy not on Facebook.

No, you're not..

[Grogan]

No, you're not..

I knew, from the non-facebook.com user directory that I was not alone

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[Zema Bus]

I hadn't seen any FB posts by Flopps for a while but he posted this today:

I recently took a few bits and bobs I no longer need or use to the local second hand emporium to get shot of for a few bob and after buying a used copy of Star Wars: Outlaws for the Xbox Series X found myself not really wanting anything else this outlet was offering. Yet I still hadn’t spent all the trader was offering in part exchange and the deal was less for cash.
Then I spotted a pair of Sennheiser Momentum 4 Bluetooth headphones for £170. I already own and use two pairs of Bluetooth headphones I’m happy with but these Sennheisers, new, cost almost more than twice what the dearest of my pairs cost new (Sennheiser Momentum 4 typically £309 new).
And I was curious so on a whim I went home with a new video game and another pair of headphones.
The other bluetooth headphones I have are a pair of AKG Y50BT which I bought at least 3 to 5 years ago and are now showing a few signs of wear. I bought mine for £90, they’re curently selling on Amazon for £104.
The other pair I own are Audio-Technica M50xBT2 which are £159 new on Amazon. The Audio-Technica ‘phones are a little unusual in that they don’t have noise cancelling technology, rare in a market that manufacturers seem to believe exist only for mobile phone users.
I don’t need that (noise-cacelling) technology to listen to my records at home which is partly why I chose the AT M50xBT2. I’m not that much of a Hi-Fi snob that I think only corded headphones are suitable for serious Hi Fi listeners, the current generation of cordless bluetooth ‘phones sound perfectly fine to me.
I’ve listened extensively to all 3 pairs of cordless bluetooth headphones over the last few days and I have to say first off that the Sennheisers are very acceptable indeed. But are they any better than either the AKG or Audio-Technica headphones I use? Are they worth twice the price of the Audio-Technica headphones? In my opinion – no. That is, of course, just my opinion but I bought my first serious pair of headphones in 1976 (Koss Pro4A).
Interestingly enough of those three pairs of headphones, the Sennheisers had the shortest range, cutting out when I left my living room to go to my bedroom.
I don’t want to discourage anybody buying the Momentum 4’s, they’re a fine headphone, but if I had to choose one pair of the three I have here at the moment it would be the Audio-Technica M50xBT2. And my AKG Y50BT are very acceptable too.
All I can say is that by trying the Sennheisers, that’s an itch scratched, a curiosity satisfied, so I’ll probably take them back to the second hand shop when next I trade some items in. Yes, I’ve lost a few bob but I did get to try them for as long as I like at home.

I guess "second hand emporium" is what they call a pawn shop over there.

[Zema Bus]

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I wonder if he has a posterior vitreous detachment.

[Grogan]

He sure writes well, I got a mental picture of his day

When you go back somewhere you haven't been in a long time, things always look different. Sometimes it's because they are, streets change, "can't get there from here" anymore etc.

I don't know much about eye problems, but it could be neurological from chemo/radiation treatments. That shit seems to damage sensory neurons. Flopps had partial hearing loss during his first bout of chemo, and cut it off a bit early because he didn't want to lose something that's so important to him, I remember.

My Mom permanently and completely lost her sense of smell from chemotherapy. She found out one day when she couldn't remember if she turned on the oven with the roast, because she couldn't smell it. Of course, that also destroyed all nuances of taste too, she can only taste sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. (she loves my BBQ hamburgers for the umami... fatty prime rib burgers, it's her favourite meal now because of it)

[Zema Bus]

I've noticed Tony hasn't been posting as much on FB, today he posted this about what he has been dealing with.

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That comment is from Darcy, she lost her brother about a year ago. I forget his name but he used to be on BBF, his user name was his first name.

[Grogan]

Shit... I'm very sorry to hear that. He's had a rough time since his cancer treatments. Radiation and chemotherapy do a lot of harm in themselves. He truly is a fighter.

I'm glad of one thing, that he still has his hearing for music.

[Zema Bus]

I saw this on FB tonight, looks like he posted it on 02/27.

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[Grogan]

That is sickening that these nations are kissing Trump's ass. They should refuse to deal with him. If you do, he only moves the goal posts.

Tony gets it, his head has always been in the right place, politically.

[Zema Bus]

Tony posted this today

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[Grogan]

That's a nice display. Not really a great gaming monitor though. Better for desktop use and video.

He should be able to get something for it at least. Versatile, it has lots of inputs, despite its age and still has VGA.

[Zema Bus]

He posted this a few mins ago:

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[Grogan]

I can imagine that Tony has some choice language for Herr Drumph that he can't use on Faecesbook.

Yes, I read that speech in the news. Good for Springsteen!

Donald was furious lol

“I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States. Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK, who fervently supported Crooked Joe Biden, a mentally incompetent FOOL, and our WORST EVER President, who came close to destroying our Country,” Trump lambasted.

“If I wasn’t elected, it would have been GONE by now! Sleepy Joe didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing, but Springsteen is 'dumb as a rock,' and couldn’t see what was going on, or could he (which is even worse!)? This dried out 'prune' of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just 'standard fare.' Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”

[Zema Bus]

I could hear his voice as I was reading his response lol! That almost sounds like he's making a threat to Bruce Springsteen.

[Grogan]

Yes, I hear his sickening, infuriating voice when I read his quotes too! His voice grates on the nerves, I can't stand him.

There's no almost about it, that's not even a veiled threat. He threatens everyone that opposes him, even Walmart now. (demanding that they eat the cost of his tariffs without raising prices or else, and he's "going to be watching them!". Of course they aren't going to do that, it would actually be illegal to not act in the interests of shareholders. They'd be sued for billions)

[Zema Bus]

Trump hated his songs so much that he used "Born in the USA" in his campaign rallies lol! Reagan at least asked for permission to use it.


Article at rollingstone.com


Article at vice.com

[Grogan]

Yes, the right takes songs and uses them with twisted meaning. When told to stop using them, it's always the equivalent of "we don't like them anyway"

They just keep repeating the parts of the songs they like for their anthems, it would never get to the real message of Born in the USA.

[Zema Bus]

Darcy posted this today. It reminds me why I don't like posting in public forums including FB groups.

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[Grogan]

I too might point out (as a matter of discussion) that an image looks photochopped. I often blow them up to square pixels to see telltale inconsistencies if it's a really good job.That doesn't mean I don't like it (Darcy would know lol). If I posted it, the intent wouldn't be to deceive anyone, just to entertain.

I'm not seeing much in that discussion, except one priggish answer from that Robin Michelle creature.

[Zema Bus]

Saw this last night:

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I see that sometimes in charts, where they discontinue regular cancer screening colonoscopies due to a patient's age.

[Grogan]

He's a risk because of multiple instances of cancer already, but he's had his last chest X-ray for cancer. He doesn't have lung cancer now, and if he were to get it after this it would likely take longer to kill him than other natural causes. They'd check him if something was wrong, but routine tests are pointless now.

We stop screening for prostate cancer at age 80 I think. The rationale is that it's slow and wouldn't kill you in your lifetime. On the other hand, my mother recently had an MRI and other tests to check for cancer because of inexplicable sciatica. Not cancer, it's bone degradation, but she got the full workup. (also has had cancers in the past). She no longer gets routine cancer checkups though.

I'm glad to hear he's cancer free at this time.