The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Richard Day's picture

    I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO THIS ANYMORE

    By Richard Day on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 6:27am |

    A picture of an old man sitting alone on a straw chair with his head in his hands, evoking intense sorrow.

    They just took away my Microsoft 365.

    'They' do not even know who I am.

    I cannot contact them.

    Hulu threatened to erase me just recently.

    I could not contact them.

    I paid them all the money they asked for every month.

    Paypal pays them every damn month.

    Now, after threatening messages to Paypal and other sites, I now get the Hulu I paid for.

    I canceled Netflix because they would not listen to me two years ago.

    I have other problems, like I do not have other problems. hahahaha

    I cannot get onto Salon. But when I do, I get half of a blog and then it disintegrates.

    There are many sites that just expire after a few moments.

    This last three days, I get upgrades that take an hour to perform, and I still cannot stay on Salon more than one blog or a number of other sites.

    Salon wants more money for extras? WP will not permit me to see more than five? issues a month. Salon wants money to get extras.

    Slate wants money to get extras.

    WJ wants money; like I would really give money to Murdoch?

    I used to spend 22 bucks a month to get on the internet and now they want $122.00 a month?

    Hell the NYT gets 15 bucks a month although their pay period is 28 days so for two months I pay twice that figure. And yet, the NYT wants more money for 'other' features.

    I am considering dropping all access to internet for 60 days.

    It might do me good.

    I just lost 105 bucks a month from my SS due to Medicare. And I refuse to see doctors anyway? There is not one doctor who ever helped me in my entire life. that is a fact.

    I may go away for 60 days. I make $250.00 just doing that.

     I will have to figure out how to communicate to my kids.

    But I will just read books and newspapers and attempt to find some solace.

    So if you do not see me for a couple months...I aint doing that well anyway on my blogs.

    I GET SO GODDAMN MAD.

    SOMETIMES.

    I already paid for another month but I have to change some things.

    I have to take my modems back and the authorities will tell me when the bills stop.

    I have had it.

     

     

    Do you realize that 'delete' does not even work at Dagblog?

    Irony, I feel deleted.

    I have no idea why I can get here.

    Frustration.

    Here is my real blog with a lot of editing.

    MR. SMITH ASKS FOR OPTIMISM

    All I offer him is JUMP IN.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h80T0WyAa0

    I am attempting to discuss the problems with just attempting to approach and communicate to those who control our lives.

    We cannot talk to them or email them or fax them or telegraph them for chrissakes.

    I get monthly and sometimes weekly communiques from all these goddamn corporate pricks and the message will say " we accept no replies".

    I understand the members of the tea party sometimes.

    The teaparty involves racist rotten idiots of course.

    But they feel they cannot communicate. ha

    There is no way to communicate.

    No one hears 'us'.

    I am so damned mad right now.

    I am having a break-down, but I think I need a breakdown.

     

     

    I AM LOSTED.

     

     

    Comments

    DD, you are not alone.   What you're going through, I'm right there on the edge with you.   My solution is usually to pretend.  I was an actor in my youth, so maybe I'm just used to pretending. Telling myself that everything is going to be alright.  An optimism that says, doom is not today, today is alright and tomorrow I'll deal with things, then when tomorrow comes, repeat today is alright and tomorrow I'll deal with things.   I won't go into my situation but it sounds a lot like yours.  I make way too little to be surviving in the 21st century with a disability.   Here's the unsolicited advice you didn't ask for;  don't disappear.    Find a way to keep at least one connection to what drives your heart, and clearly what drives your heart is the writing and ranting and interacting you do online.    I remember being upset a few months ago and telling my sister how unhappy I was and that all I lived for now was Friday so I could do my haiku blog, get some positive feedback and after work, go home and treat myself to a bacon cheeseburger deluxe from the diner on the corner.   That was, I felt, all I was living for.   And I still do.  (The guy at the diner now recognizes my voice when I call in to order and says the words, Bacon Cheeseburger Deluxe along with me.)  But I continue to carry on, slogging to work each weekday, because I can't afford not to, working at a mostly meaningless job for a salary which keeps me living in negative numbers, because it doesn't cover my basic living expenses.  I don't write this for your, or anyone else's pity or because I really particularly want anyone to know this, but because I hear the pain and frustration in your words and want you know you are not alone.   Do what you need to do, but don't go totally away from the thing you love and the friends that will sustain you.  Don't despair.  Listen to music that makes you feel good.  Read books that make you smile.   Keep what is necessary to maintain your spirit.   Hang in there, DD. 


    by MrSmith1 on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 7:42am

    See, I just wrote six paragraphs to you and they are gone. hahahah

    Look, I aint gonna blow my brains out, hell I am antigun. hahahahahah

    I have to leave so that I can get a grasp on this mess I have created the last seven years or so.

    If I give 'them' all the tools they have rented to me, I can bathe in a new baptism and then re up.

    as they say.

    see I will lose my thoughts and writings again if I do not stop here.


    by Richard Day on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 9:00am

    I quit Netflix because despite frequent password changes, someone else had access to my account. Netflix was useless in helping. It is a scam.


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 8:47am

    I cannot figure out what to do?

    I have no alternatives.

    I just decided I have to break.

    I have to stop all internet access for a couple of months and delete all internet charges.

    I will most probably get a better charge.

    Scam?

    Yeah, you and I know it is all a scam.

    Except that blog sites like Dagblog, and there are a number, do not even attempt to scam anyone.

    HOW THE HELL DID THAT COME ABOUT?

    hahhahaahhaha


    by Richard Day on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 9:13am

    Mr. Smith has very sage advice. Could not put it better.

    A tip that works of SOME pay sites, if you use Firefox an add-on called 'cookie controller' can handle cookies site by site. Options under 'Exceptions' for cookies are to allow, allow for session, or block.

    When on a website you go to Cookie Controller and choose what to do with the cookie. For many sites cookies is all they use to see how many articles you have read that month, so 'allow for session' allows a cookie to be made, but then deletes it and that one only when you close the browser. If you do nothing for a site the cookie is set as normal.

    For banking sites, or sites you pay for, or PayPal, you check 'allow' and cookies are from then on always left alone.

    The 'allow for session' works with many routine newspaper sites to reset your # visits, but doesn't on the more sophisticated ones like NYT or WSJ, which must track your internet address location/computer.

     


    by NCD on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 10:08am

    Mr. Day, sometimes a laptop can seem like an adversary, I really sympathize with you. I just upgraded to Windows 10 and was nervous as hell. I give you permission for a couple of days off. We love you.


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 1:29pm

    You are brave to upgrade.  Please let us know all about it when you have a chance.  Tell us what you like about it and what is bad about it. 


    by trkingmomoe on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 1:41pm

    I haven't upgraded to windows 10 yet but I'm planning to do it this week. Most of the articles I've read have been very positive. I've come across only one problem, privacy. This article explains how to deal with that problem

    http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2015/08/windows_10_priv...


    by ocean-kat on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 2:43pm

    Thanks for the link.  I will take a look. 


    by trkingmomoe on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 2:45pm

    Good info, Kat. Any idea on how to backtrack on any of this?  Maybe in "settings". I don't remember any of those screens---perhaps they were embedded in the service agreement, which I didn't examine closely.

     

     


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 6:25pm

    Maybe this will be some help.  I found this while researching the new windows.  I am trying to make sure I know what I am doing before I start this. He is explaining how to change the privacy settings and where to find them.


    by trkingmomoe on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 9:34pm

    Trking, this is great.

     


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 9:47pm

    Trking, it's an improvement over W8. One thing is you don't have to go searching with a mouse down the right hand side looking for "power", etc.  Isn't it awesome when things like that make your day?


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 6:31pm

    You MEAN I won't have charms flying out of the right side at me when I am trying to scroll down the page anymore?  Then when I want to shut down I have to hunt for them because they are not in the mood to come out. 

    I pay no attention to the app blocks and have an old windows shell down loaded.  When I power up it goes straight to that like windows7. Will I have to fiddle with the app blocks to find my browser?  I don't have a touch screen lap top at the time they were out of my price range. I started with windows8 and then down loaded 8.1 which was an improvement. I really don't like having to sign in everytime.  That started with windows8.1  I jump on and off all day when ever I have a few minutes and it is a pain to use a pass word to do that.  I did take note of the article about avoiding that.

    Is there a word processing program with it or is that extra like it is with 8? Or do you have to rent that software for a year or a monthly fee.   That has been the big down fall for microsoft to take that out of the software package.  Not everyone can afford that or have the basic skills or courage to use open face software. 


    by trkingmomoe on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 8:36pm

    Oh my.  Microsoft 365 is only for 365 days. Then you have to buy it again for another year. This is why I went to Open Office. Has it been a year since you bought it?  Microsoft is trying to move all of us to a monthly cloud service fee to them so that they can prevent pirating of media and software.  The schools here is going to give the kids free microsoft 365 when school starts.  They are already having problems with it. 

    I am confused about Salon?  I read it all the time and never had to pay a fee?  I follow it on my face book page. I don't comment on the site and have never signed up for it.  Joan Walsh is who I enjoy and follow her also. 

    I only read Krugman on NYT.  I only do that after he gets reviews from others who have just read his article.  I think I get 10 free times a month but never seem to use that up. It is the same thing with WaPo.  

    It sounds like your browser is the problem.  I don't use Foxfire so I can't help.  I use Google Chrome and have learned to deal with it. 

    Just tell all the media that has their hands out for money "no,"  Unsubscribe to them. 

    Did your internet service connection fee go up?  

     

     

     


    by trkingmomoe on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 1:38pm

    Every time I might complain about Microsoft I thank them for never denying a new install of Office 2003 Home Student on another computer. 


    by NCD on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 6:28pm

    My Uber account got hacked. My iPhone woke me up one morning to tell me that an Uber car was coming to pick me up from Lady Margaret Rd. near Heathrow airport. I was in bed at home in Harlem. So I canceled the car, but the hacker requested another car from the same location. I kept canceling, and the hacker kept requesting. My wife, who shares my account, was in Mexico at the time. She also received the iPhone notification and hit cancel. So the three of us played cancel-the-car for the next five minutes, me in New York, my wife in Mexico, the hacker in London. Then an Uber representative called me from San Francisco to let me know that my account had been hacked. She disabled the account, the hacker went away, I changed my password, and everyone lived happily ever after.

    Except...

    Two weeks later, I needed a car from the boonies outside Jersey City. I pulled out my iPhone and requested an Uber car, but the app told me: sorry bro, no car for you. My account was still disabled. I looked for a customer service number. No number. I googled for a customer service number. Sorry bro, Uber doesn't have a customer service number. So I contacted Uber by email to explain my predicament and received a cheerful response telling me that an Uber representative would get back to me within 24 hours. Wunderbar.

    So I got back on the google and found an old-fashioned cab company. They cost three times as much and took 20 minutes to arrive, but at least they had a fucking phone number.

    I hated Uber anyway. It's run by assholes. Now I use Lyft. They don't have a phone number either.


    by Michael Wolraich on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 3:24pm

    You know I expect this kind of response from Mike M. hahahahah

    Or even Q, although I cannot see Q using a cab let alone Uber. hahahahah

    Tech is a wonderful thing, but damn, the corps just control so much of it.

    WE WILL CONTACT YOU TO SELL OUR WARES, BUT FUCK YOU IF YOU WISH TO REPLY.

    HA

    (You do keep a tech tab on your wife in Mexico, right?)


    by Richard Day on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 3:56pm

    Well, I get alerted whenever she hails an Uber


    by Michael Wolraich on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 5:00pm

    Richard,

    You might like to try one of these to use.  Open Office is what I have been using and you tried it but some how it didn't work for you.  There is Word on line that is free but you will need windows 10 because that has one drive that you use to down load it to.  I have not looked at it yet. This video just came out yesterday from microsoft. They are doing a series on you tube with the roll out of win 10.  

     

     


    by trkingmomoe on Tue, 08/04/2015 - 11:37pm

    I am putting one more video on this thread.  I guess the new browser called edge has some problems right now.  It is not working with all sites yet.  This shows how to find internet explorer that is hidden in windows 10 and add it to your bottom bar on your desk top.


    by trkingmomoe on Wed, 08/05/2015 - 12:26am

    Hey, Dick! If you're a bit overwhelmed our mutual friend wants to help - check your email! Remember back in the Cafe days when Seashell gave you a hand? He can do much the same, you just need to get back with him.

    By the way, do you run a good virus/malware scan on a regular basis? It sounds to my unprofessional ear like your computer's clogged up.


    by barefooted on Wed, 08/05/2015 - 12:40am

    I second that.  He knows how to.  So please please please take him up on his offer.  He has pinged you also on Facebook. 


    by trkingmomoe on Wed, 08/05/2015 - 3:40am

    In the past, we paid for electricity and gas. We bought a television and watched TV.  We got a free library card. Life was good. Then we needed cable or satellite TV to get multiple channels, most we don't use or actually find by accident. I remember sitting around at my sisters house and punching in numbers in the 400s that were the music channel. My sister and her family were unaware that these channels existed. The music channels were much more relaxing than the noise on the multiple networks.

    We traded library cards for Kindles. We now pay for books we can read for free because it is easier to push a button than make a trip to the library. We have lost the beautiful of stumbling upon a book in an actual bookstore. We get single songs on iTunes or pay for universal access on Apple music or Spotify. We no longer find music by reading liner notes on CD covers. We are directed to songs by word of mouth or what a paid music reviewer tells us is important. We no longer really discover a new artist we are led by the nose. We no longer enjoy the pleasure of going through a complete album constructed by an artist with a theme in mind.

    We have multiple access to data from multiple sources. We have gone from free TV to paid satellite, paid Netflix, and paid Hulu. We go from music we choose to a grab bag offered by streaming service that charge us. If the internet dies, we have no personal music to call our own. If we drop the Kindle or iPad our book collection is gone until we get to a laptop.

    Every service wants a different sign in . We have to remember the sign in for an app that allows us to plug in the passwords for all the other crap we need access to. If we lose that password, we are toast. If we forget to open the app to enter access data for some new website we joined, we are toast.

    Sometimes the iPad wants a fingerprint to sign in, other times it wants a number. If you can't remember the number for iPad access, you are toast because you can't open the iPad to get to the password app that has the iPad access number.

    The only default to is go to the laptop, hope that I can remember the sign in code and access the password app from there. Of course my Windows laptop runs Windows 8, the worse operating system ever created. Who in the world thought that apps called charms was a brilliant idea? I can't find crap on that piece of crap operating system. This is why I use the IPad.

    They now have Windows 10, but I know if I install Windows 10, something that works fine ( when I can find it among the charm-ing Windows 8) will no longer work. I have to buy a new laptop with Windows 10 to insure things will work properly. But first I have to let the initial purchasers of Windows 10 beta-test the system, because I know there are bugs.

    You are right. Life sucks. We are nickeled and dimed for every advance we supposedly have. The Chinese have my personal information. Facebook has my personal information. I don't remember all my sign in crap. I'd call the Chinese government or Facebook for help. But I can't find a direct phone number.


    by rmrd0000 on Wed, 08/05/2015 - 12:22pm

    Well that about sums it all up. hahahaha

    Word just welcomed me again and requested a 28 character code; a code I do not have because my son made me get rid of all this garbage in my apartment. hahahahah

    He checks for mold in my fridge and yells at me for not properly vacuuming my carpet. hahahah

    I am getting closer and closer to a retirement home.

    Life sucks; but the sun is out and I mostly see green out my window....

     

     


    by Richard Day on Wed, 08/05/2015 - 2:19pm

    There is a wine tasting tonight, so I won't be able to use any electronic gear anyway.

    Cheers.


    by rmrd0000 on Wed, 08/05/2015 - 2:27pm

    Kids call me a hoarder, but I still keep throwing all the paper in a large box so I can dumpster dive for 28 character codes when I need them. Just hid it under the bed when he comes. 


    by trkingmomoe on Wed, 08/05/2015 - 3:24pm

    I have stopped paying half my bills on the internet because of all the changing of passwords and extra pictures you have to pick.  I drive around on bill paying day to pay some of them with my debit card or by check. I still make everyone send me a bill in the mail and that is because I live in hurricane country,  I can still pick up my mail after a disaster and use it to pay accounts with. 

    Right now I don't have any streaming accounts but because internet service is so expensive I can't afford cable so I will settle on one later this year.  I won't be using pay pal they pissed me off back around 2000 with their screw ups.  I used to sell on eBay and that service was needed for that. 

    20 million people have down loaded win 10 this past week.  The first fix is going out this week.  I guess there is going to be a big update with fixes in October.  We do have a year to down load it.  

    I have to end up with a down load before school starts on Aug. 24 because Microsoft word is needed to do homework using a thumb drive.  The school equipment does not support open office even with a Microsoft format.  I can't even read their on line home work assignment with out it because of the way it is posted.  My 7th grader will have power point presentations to do this year in all his classes.  I have provided the computers and tablets with the internet service at the expense of other necessities because we live under the poverty line. This is a form of economical segregation of the poor as part of class warfare. He had an pre-algebra assignment this summer and it's links didn't work. Until just a couple of weeks ago, they finally got up the correct links on the school web site. We just used you tube to help and slogged some of it out and I had to relearn it to help him. Now his is under pressure to finish the coarse which would have moved along faster if the correct links were up.  

    So it is not just the nickel and dime stuff it is also been made into an education problem for half the children population. 


    by trkingmomoe on Wed, 08/05/2015 - 2:29pm

    There should be a way schools cover some of these costs, but the U.S. no longer cares if we are educating children.

    We also allow corporate interests to tell us that we cannot have universal access to the Internet no matter your location. Third world countries don't require you to have to find a library or Starbucks to maintain Internet access when you are away from home, but here in the U.S., we pay outrageous prices for limited access that is low speed compared to the rest of the world.


    by rmrd0000 on Wed, 08/05/2015 - 2:58pm

    It seems many software makers now want permanent income from users, to 'rent' software.

    Office Home and Student 2003 (Word Excel PowerPt) is compatible with Office 2010 and probably current versions, and seems to rarely restrict installs, and can be bought for under $20 on Ebay.

    A classic been around a long time, runs on 32 bit 64 bit windows, safe secure password storing program is Password Agent.

    Free for 25 entries, and if you need more passwords you can list them under one heading as text notes. It doesn't back-up to the internet or do anything on the internet, no spyware, browser hijacking etc.

    General advice, if you download any free file from the internet, and it is under 25MB. Upload it and run it through Jotti's Malware scan and it will be run through 15 or so antivirus programs for free.


    by NCD on Wed, 08/05/2015 - 3:18pm

    In the meantime who does the dishes and folds laundry, also picks the kids up. We should not have to spend all that time in order to use a product. I drop payments off as I shop and I like the reason to be out of the house once a month. Let the bank worry about the hackers. 

    There is always a new learning curve with each change. Using a bank teller and drive in window don't have a learning curve. Payment centers that look like an atm can be easier at the cell phone company or cable company service store. There is always some one you can ask if it don't work. Once you learn it, it don't change until they put in a new machine and that don't happen as often as it does  with on line software that demand a new pass word set up. I got tired of all the changes that were happening every 6 months. 

    I have thought about buying Word on line at eBay.  I am going to try win 10 on one computer for this cloud service.  It will be a free service for now. I am pretty sure this is the band wagon the school wants us to jump on.  I will find out more the week before school starts at going back to school night. 


    by trkingmomoe on Wed, 08/05/2015 - 4:05pm

    OK. Two things.

    1. You are not the first person to face this problem:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQhOcDFbflQ

    2. Here is the real problem.  You are the internet.  Without the few soulful fellows like you the whole thing is just a waste of electricity.  You're trapped.

    On the other hand if you do go away then I will be in total control which is the only thought that has kept me going all these years since GWB.


    by LarryH on Wed, 08/05/2015 - 10:33pm

    Yeah, you got that right!

    WE are the internet.

    This crap about fairness and legislation...

    Mediacom has been fucking around wth 'speeds' since 2008 when I got back on the internet  again. hahaha

    Pay more and get faster?

    We are trapped.

    But hell, I will stick it out...maybe with some modifications. hahahahah

    Again Larry, there are hundreds of sites like Dagblog that just let us say anything we want unless we troll and attack fellow readers.

    I asked Mike W to just do a little advertising many times. Green growth or anti air pollution or Louis CK for chrissakes.

    How would that hurt anyone?

    I am just reading thru Obama's tome, the latest one, and he forgives everyone.

    He really does. You know this President is more like JC than any other leader I have ever seen except for LBJ, and he admitted to being a sinner. hahahahah

    We are all sinners after all.

    And the repubs just HATE My President.

    And I do not know why.

    He defends GW and Reagan and a host of others.

    WHAT THE HELL WAS THE QUESTION AGAIN?

     


    by Richard Day on Thu, 08/06/2015 - 2:02pm

    Dear Dick.

    Above all, do not let Larry take over the Internet. 

    After a great deal of research, I have concluded that "Larry" is, in fact, the sentient offspring of a Mule-Deer and an old Remington typewriter. 

    And that is one piss-poor genetic mix. 

    Therefore, it would be bad if Larry were in charge.

    Respect,

    Q


    by Q (not verified) on Sat, 08/15/2015 - 11:34am

    So unlike Reagan he has a memory and full colon, but is attracted to salt licks, has a rabbit named Thumper stalking him and carries borleosis-laden ticks. Th innertubez ain't safe like the old days.

    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 08/15/2015 - 11:41am


    by Richard Day on Sat, 08/15/2015 - 7:16pm

    Dear Q. I knew Larry and Larry was my friend. And you sir, aint no Larry. hahahahah


    by Richard Day on Sat, 08/15/2015 - 7:19pm

    I just forwarded Q’s slanderous remarks to my parole board.  They are going to have to let me out now so that I can defend myself against these calumnies.  More later.  It is hard to think when I’m in this sensory deprivation chamber they keep me in.

    Don’t be a chump. Vote for Trump.


    by LarryH on Wed, 08/19/2015 - 1:23pm

    Oh hell.  I hate it when you write well.  It makes me want to think again.

     

    The stomach is much brighter than the brain.

    Why can’t the soul throw up and then be well?

    It falls in love and can’t let go of the pain.

    It nurtures grief and fashions its own hell.

    F. Nietzsche

     

     

     

     


    by LarryH on Wed, 08/05/2015 - 11:08pm

    Jeeez I love this.

    I was wandering around the real grocery store half a mile from here (rather than the corner store in the next building) and discovered a three dollar pork loin package with no bones.

    I thought, I can handle this.

    So I took out my slow cooker last night and put in the loins with real pepper (unground) and pickle juice and worstershire and some dice tomato (with hot peppers) and orange juice (close to decay) and six hours later, I have pulled pork.

    I have nothing else to do and I will watch two hours of the food channel.

    And I read my Momoe and such.

    What a wonderful sandwich I discovered. I have done this before but the trick is to change the recipe. hahahaha Especially when you are going from memory.

    There is a point here?

    Nietzche understands that we are more than just the brain, we are also the stomach.

    Although....

    Sometimes I just wish to throw up. hahahahaha


    by Richard Day on Thu, 08/06/2015 - 2:17pm

    I would be completely lost without the internet. It has become an integral part of my life. But a person has to do what a person has to do.

    I suspect you'd be gone for 5 minutes before you succumb to withdrawals and are back. I hope.


    by stillidealistic on Sat, 08/08/2015 - 5:45pm

    Hi Stilli

    Missy's friend came to help me today for sometime under two hours.

    Yeah, withdrawals.

    Oh, Stilli I received three more pix of my grandkids.

    My son was here just four weeks ago and we went hunting for toys at the discount stores on Chesterstreet. hahahha

    There is this ABC plastic thingy with batteries. Everytime you hit A you hear A.

    Then there was this pretend remote that talks all the time.

    hahhaaha

    Three years and jus about one for the other and I get pix and sure enough, the duo are playing on both of them.

    Oh and as long as you are here


    by Richard Day on Sat, 08/08/2015 - 6:58pm