ROBOTS
January 28, 2014
Have you read about the Pentagon wanting to develop robot soldiers? That would be the worst thing that could happen it’s bad enough that there are commanders that have no problem ordering humans into places they may never come back from now you want to take whatever compassion and restraint that might be there and remove it. Could you imagine not having to worry about human life and you could just send these guys and not worry. There would be less reason and restraint to keep world war three from happening. I’ve met a military officers, that if all they had to do was point at robots and say go they would not hesitate to do so. They would have to worry about casualties causing public uproar and causing withdrawals from battle zones. The minute you impersonalize war you have condemned the human race to constant war and you will eventually have a Terminator scenario on your hands. Dam I’m so glad I’m a cat and don’t have to deal withal that shit this is Flounder saying CIAO from Colombia.
THE NEED TO THINK AHEAD.
January 24, 2014
OK for those that don’t know we live as residents in Medellin Colombia and the country issues to all foreign and its own citizens a Id card called a Cedula. It is essentially a national photo ID. You need it to use a credit card rent an apartment or just about any legal document you might sign. Well Jeff’s is set to expire in March as is his Visa and they will have to travel to Bogota to renew. Now Jeff wanted to go at the end of Dec or the Beginning of Jan. his wife says no we’ll go in February. Which of course is typical of Colombians they wait until the last possible moment to do anything they hate making plans for next week. Which brings me to the point of this post Colombians lack of a since of urgency or advance planning is what is holding this country back. They let a few wealthy individuals tell what they need and when they need it. The two more successful countries in South America Brazil and Argentina have that since of urgency about them and forward thinking. That doesn’t mean there isn’t still a ruling calls of people in those countries it just means that there thinking has allowed for more progress. Colombia is needs the anti drug money the US sends and is deeply concerned that if the peace process is successful the money will stop. All this brings us back to the point that the people aren’t planning ahead. The rich are only thinking about themselves and the poor are just getting along and are in no hurry to improve the life. Now I’m not saying that’s a really bad thing because progress is not always great. But without some forward thinking on the part of the poor this country will eventually become a fiefdom for a small percentage of rich people and then all hope could be lost. But as I say what the hell do I know I’m just a cat this is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin Colombia.
MISC
January 23, 2014
We don’t really have a topic for today so we’re just going to ramble on for awhile. First up Justin Bieber got arrested for drag racing and being drunk he another one of those stars that get rich young and thinks he can do anything without worrying about the consequences. After all OJ Simpson got away with murder. Then a Vatican bank official already in trouble gets busted for money laundering. People with money seem to think there not like the rest of us. Some Japanese pitcher got a contract from the NY Yankees for 155 million dollars to throw pitch, which is like playing catch when we were young. He gets that and they want to cut teachers’ salaries some where it all went wrong and we lost our perspective or if you like conspiracies you can read Orwell’s 1984 or watch Roller Ball to see how they use our love of sport to divert attention from the real world. You I’m about 71 years old in human years and Jeff is 68 and we never fail to get surprised by the stupidity of people, buts that’s a topic for another day. The northern US is freezing so the anti global warming people are out again, but they should look at last year which was the warmest in modern history for the planet. Jeff is almost finished with his next book he would have been done already but he’s addicted to playing solitaire on the computer and posting stupid pics on Facebook. Well I’m done, didn’t have much to begin with, this is Flounder saying CIAO from Colombia
IS THIS YOUR FIRST TIME
January 22, 2014
I decided today to act as if this is the first time you’ve read this blog; simple because one I think there might be some new readers out there and two I got nothing else to talk about today. This blog was supposed to be about me in the beginning and my adventures moving from New Jersey to Medellin Colombia from a cat’s perspective. But after living here for a year and a half there’s not too much new happening we’ve all sort of fell in to a routine. We didn’t even go to the famous river Christmas lights this year. So what do Jeff and I write about now? Whatever we feel like some days we’ll take on American or Colombian politics or some news maybe a human interest story. Other days Jeff just goes off on a rant and there’s not much I can do about that. So I hope those of you who are long standing followers will continue to be so and those that are reading this for the first time will enjoy hearing about things from a cat’s perspective. This Flounder, that my name by the way a very handsome tuxedo cat, saying CIAO fro Medellin Colombia.
YOU CAN COME DOWN AS FAST AS YOU GO UP
January 21, 2014
Right after Woodstock a new trend began to take place in the US, and no I don’t mean free sex. The trend was the disrespect music and later motion picture had for fans. You know fans the people that made them what they were and without them, despite what some of them might think, they would be just like the rest of us struggling to get by. The first one that Jeff was personally involved with was Sly and the Family Stone who before Woodstock might get paid 5000 dollars for a concert but after Woodstock demanded 35,000 dollars a show and would decide he didn’t want to show up or would be to stoned to perform. Ramey Lewis was another after the success of his Jazz version of Hang on Sloopy Jeff and his friends had a front row table to see him at the Village Gate in New York City, but guess what he was a no show, this one didn’t turn out that bad as Thelonious Monk appeared in his place. Unfortunately for Mister Lewis his career went back to ordinary after that. In today’s entertainment world you have super stars like Rihanna and Beyonce that seem to think fans are just a necessary evil. You have people that are dependent on fans who disrespect them all the time. I understand that people resent the intrusion into their lives but if they didn’t want the acclaim maybe they should have been an accountant, not that’s a bad thing, but you’re not going to have people crying if you don’t show up for a concert. Hey I don’t have to worry about that Jeff worships me as all cat owners do to their cats after all CATS RULE this is his Majesty Flounder saying CIAO from Colombia.
SCHOOL DAYS
January 20, 2014
Today is Hari’s our grandsons first day of pre-school now I don’t know about you guys but when I was a kid you didn’t star school until at least 41/2 years old and you went to kindergarten now this poor kid has to get up at the crack of dawn and go to school at the tender age of 31/2 and he now has about eighteen more years of school and then work for the rest of his life. How many of you remember the first day of school and how did you feel. If I knew what laid in store for me when I was born I think I would have stayed in the womb and not come out till I was retirement age. I think humans who tell you life is great are not talking about work their talking about their vacations. I for one am so glad I’m a cat I mean I start out retired what do I have to do other than scratch my ears, eat and poop after I’m born. I don’t have to look forward to 50 or 60 years of working so I can buy things I don’t need. Aw I really feel bad for you humans LOL this is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin Colombia
FRIDAY
January 17, 2014
Well yesterday was Jeff’s birthday and the fat boy went out and OD on chocolate ice cream, and he wants to know why I call him fats. He got birthday wishes from all his friends and relatives and that was cool. He went for the ice cream with Hader, John, Vanessa, and Ruby with of course Hari. Hari was very upset there was no cake he said Birthdays are supposed to be ice cream and cake not just ice cream. Hari starts preschool on Monday and we feel sorry for John and Vanessa because waking Hari up at 10 o’clock and getting him to take a shower is like trying to reanimate the dead. For preschool he has to be there Monday and Tuesday at 8:00 I think and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7:15. Hopefully he’ll like school then it will be easier to get him up. Fats hated school because he was one bored and 2 bullied because at ten years old he was over 6foot 2 and 200 lbs only the muscle hadn’t caught up with the fat yet. The week end is coming Jeff plans on lying low and that’s my normal routine hopefully they’ll but the football games on down here otherwise I’ll have to deal with an unhappy Jeff. Time to go this is Flounder saying CIAO from Colombia.
ITS GOTTEN ABSURB
January 16, 2014
It seem every time I go on line and look at the news somebody has gone into an office, school, market or mall and started shooting. What the hell is going on in the world? You know just because you have a gun doesn’t mean you have to kill things with it. I’m having a hard time trying figure out why I know people say too much violence on TV, bad parenting, mental disease but I’m leaning towards there are people who are just born bad that and far too many guns out there. If we’re going to have crazies running around let’s try and make sure they can’t get their hands on guns and I don’t care what the NRA says we need to make it harder for them to get guns. I mean when was the last time you read about someone going into a mall and killing 15 people with a bat, knife, or sword. That’s too much work for most nut cases they’d rather go down to the local sporting goods store and pick up a fully automatic AK47. Whew I’m really pissed off and depressed now so I’m going this is Flounder saying CIAO from Colombia. OH BY THE WAY IT’S JEFF’S BIRTHDAY TODAY
ALL IS NOT PERFECT
January 15, 2014
The Metro the rail line in Medellin which handles thousands of rider’s everyday has had to suspend its service to six stations due to a collapse of the river bank past Poplano. This brings up concerns for two reasons since an apartment building had recently experienced a partial collapse in the same area. My first concern is, are they doing sufficient geological studies before they build. In other words is it possible the area is geologically unsafe. My second concern is very real in that I don’t believe they do enough maintenance on their infrastructure. It appears to me especially after seeing pictures of the apartment building that they react instead of preventing problems. They seem to be surprised when part of a road gets wiped out by a landslide when things of that nature can be predicted to a certain extent. If you’ve ever visited this country you know that the roads thru the mountains while offering breathtaking scenery are dangerous to drive. Getting back to the Metro a lot of it runs alongside the river and you can see erosion of the concrete banks in many areas. Water is an extremely powerful element that you humans are constantly underestimating. Well time will tell if they improve their care of the infrastructure or if they continue to wait until something happens. Fortunately at least in Medellin there have not been a lot of deaths or injuries reported as a result of these failures. Whew that was a long post for me my paws are tired so this is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin.
STARBUCKS IN COLOMBIA IS THAT REALLY NECESSARY?
January 14, 2014
It was announced back in Oct of 2013 that Starbucks the coffee café from America was going to open 50 stores in Colombia WHOPPEE. Somehow I can’t see even the most sophisticated of Colombians going up and ordering a Caramel Macchiato from 8800 Pesos to 10400 Pesos. I know the economy is improving but this isn’t the United States where spending stupid money on exotic coffees is considered being cool. They sell Colombian Coffee in America for around 25,000 pesos for an 8 ounce bag. Most people down here find 8000 pesos expensive. But if they succeed in coming down here the availability of good coffee in the supermarket for the average Colombian will decrees and they will have to drink substandard coffee or change their habits. I’m an American and have lived here for two years and have subtle price increases and lower quality fresh food recently. Some can be blamed on the weather which has been very wet but I think most can be blamed on big American companies coming down here and buying up the good stuff and sending out of the country. Most of Colombia would be considered below middle class but the desire to be like America causes people to use the easy availability of credit to try and live that style. They should take a real close look at my country and see how many poor people there really are. Well that’s enough complaining from Jeff for today this is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin Colombia.
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