We’re Still Sheep in Human Clothing – More Baa! Part Two

I said it before, I’ll say it again: nearly all of us conform to the sociological norm and rest comfortably within the cultural box society demands of us, because, ultimately it’s too much effort to really be an outsider, a free thinker and doer due in part to the social consequences of being, well, different. Let’s face reality; most of us are sheep most of the time. Here’s round two of ‘what the flock’ just to further drive home the point.

Most humans end up being garbed in sheep’s clothing most of the time. For some further examples: 

Continued from yesterday’s blog…

Giving

Some charity comes knocking on your door for a donation. You get an email request from a bona fide organisation you donated to in the past asking for you to volunteer some of your time for another really worthy cause. You get a phone call seeking support for those who are in need, or for medical research, or some other worthwhile cause. Your near neighbour down the street asks you to buy some of his daughter’s Girl Scout cookies. Your office colleague comes around hat in hand for the office sweeps, or asking for a donation for a gift for some worker who you’ve never met who’s about to retire. The collection plate is passed around at your local church service. Someone is always in your face with their grubby little paw sticking out asking for your money, or time, or both. Meekly, because it’s only $5 or just a couple of hours of your time, you cave in – again and again and again. The sheep can be relied on. They’re a soft touch since hardly anyone wants to be seen or known as a cheapskate. Baa!

Hype, Hype and More Hype

Hands up anyone that’s never experienced being on the receiving end of HYPE! No hands? I thought so. We’ve all experienced over-enthusiasm, especially when and where $$$ are concerned. The prime example is the super-ultra over-the-top month-long (plus) from which I cannot escape hype of all things Christmas. I asked a staffer at a local supermarket why we (staff and customers alike) were being saturated with in-store Xmas music. Well the obvious answer was to get those customers in the proper Xmas spirit and mood, which translated, meant customers spending, spending and spending their money in the staffer’s store (helping of course to keep staffers employed).

The British Royals get the Royal Hype by the press. It’s saturation media coverage for any Royal bit of news at all, including obviously any birth, death, marriage, divorce, or scandal, the sexier the better. Why the intense interest in these dysfunctional idiots is beyond me. I’ve never figured it out and I probably never will. 

Sports are another hyped up category, especially the Olympic Games, but all others like the NFL Superbowl, grand finals of any kind, the Red Sox – N.Y. Yankee rivalry, etc. are grist for the hype mill. The more people that tune in, the bigger the target audience for the advertisers.   

Then we have all those over-the-top at what seems like 100 decibel levels TV commercials hyping you to be the first on your block; try this new and improved; with a brand new taste; be the envy of your neighbours; never to be repeated; easy terms; it’s better than ever; it won’t last long; ends soon; act now; limited quantities; don’t miss out; and on and on and on it goes.

Then you get the saturation exposure to the premier of the newest must see ‘blockbuster’ film. What new fashion shows aren’t just pure hype and another form of planned obsolescence.

Why? Without all the manufactured hype, the average person just wouldn’t give nearly as much of a damn. And it works too! Baa!

The End of the World on the 21^st December 2012

Every time some nutcase makes an end-of-the-world prediction, you can bet the family farm that he or she or they will attract a flock of sheep who believe that specific end-of-days prophecy. Often that ends in tragedy as the flock sell their family farm and possessions; leave behind family and friends, only to have to crawl back on hands and knees looking the absolute fool they were. Sometimes it’s more serious than that – mass suicides have taken place by the true believers. The latest in a very, very  long line of case histories has been taken from the Mayan calendar which, much like our going from the 31^st of December to the 1^st of January, clicks over from one cycle to the beginning of a new cycle. Alas, the deluded, and/or those out to make a fast buck, have convinced many a human sheep that the end of the cycle is in literal fact the end of the world. The upshot, a lot of these end of the world soothsayers made a lot of money selling their tall tales to the great unwashed. They were the winners; the sheep, as usual, got fleeced. The world went on its merry way. As is now obvious to even the densest of morons, the world did not end on the 21^st of December 2012, as any sane person tried to tell you before-the-fact. For those who believed regardless, sucker! Baa! 

Anniversaries

There’s something very sheepish about nearly all humans attributing some special significance to the Earth making one complete orbit of the Sun, or in other words, returning to a specific point* one year later – otherwise known as an annual anniversary. Though it’s of no cosmic significance and purely a human invention and observation, god help you if you miss someone’s birthday or forget your wedding anniversary or fail to show proper respect for local, state, regional or national holidays, like the Fourth of July, or ANZAC Day, Washington’s Birthday or the Queen’s Birthday, VE or VJ Day, etc. Why a human invention? When’s the last time you observed your companion animal(s) or any animal in the wild ‘celebrate’ one of their anniversaries? They could care less – no muss and no fuss. Perhaps we should take a leaf out of their book; follow their example. Not even real sheep celebrate anniversaries! Baa!

*That’s actually incorrect since it’s not the Earth orbiting a stationary Sun, rather the Earth orbiting a rapidly moving Sun that’s moving it it’s own orbit around the central core of the Milky Way Galaxy. When the Earth orbits once around the Sun, it does NOT return to the exact same coordinates in space. And just to further complicate things, the Milky Way Galaxy isn’t standing still either, but moving position with respect to other galaxies, or whatever other points of reference you care to name. 

New Year Resolutions

Speaking of cosmically non-significant anniversaries, the annual renewal of the New Year Resolution list comes close to top-of-the-pops. Most people make them; most people break them; year-in-and-year-out. There’s only one New Years resolution anyone need make, and that is to “never make any more New Years Resolutions”. I did that decades ago, and lo and behold, I’ve never broken that commitment. As to the rest of you, Happy New Year (which, truth be known, you’ll probably be wishing good riddance 364 days later). Baa!

Diets

Probably the New Years Resolution that’s top-of-the-pops is to lose weight, as fast and as painlessly as possible. To cater for that segment of the human population, nearly every week some new fad diet is put forward and just as predictable a flock of human sheep gobble it up only to move on to the next newest diet fad and the next when each in turn is found wanting and doesn’t provide the painless quick-fix promised. Baa!

To conclude, there’s just no end to those facets of society and culture that see those humans garb themselves in sheep’s clothing. Baa! Baa! Baa!

We’re Still Sheep in Human Clothing – More Baa! Part One

I said it before, I’ll say it again: nearly all of us conform to the sociological norm and rest comfortably within the cultural box society demands of us, because, ultimately it’s too much effort to really be an outsider, a free thinker and doer due in part to the social consequences of being, well, different. Let’s face reality; most of us are sheep most of the time. Here’s round two of ‘what the flock’ just to further drive home the point.

Most humans end up being garbed in sheep’s clothing most of the time. For some further examples: 

Sales

Black Friday, Cyber-Monday, Boxing Day (post-Xmas) – There are sales and sales days; then there are SALES and SALES DAYS. There’s something extra special about those SALES and SALES DAYS that drives your average mild mannered person-in-the-street into a raging maniac. “All’s fair in love and war” should be updated to “all’s fair in love, war and sales shopping”. Strike first, strike hard and strike often. It is pure road rage only in the department store isles. The name of the game is doing unto others before they do it unto you. Let’s just say when shoppers hit the SALES, the sheep turn into rams on steroids! But a sheep by any other name is still a sheep. Baa!

Women’s Magazines

There are serious newspapers and then there are the tabloids. There are serious magazines, and then there are the magazines for the average great unwashed bored out of her ever-loving mind female, usually just plain Jane housewife whose idea of a good time is playing the pokies and whose IQ is struggling to reach triple figures. Porn sites probably contribute more towards human culture than what passes for titillation for the female masses, where any similarity between fact and the written word is purely a matter of coincidence. Yet these ‘true confessions, celebrity scandals, who’s sleeping with who, how I lost 100 pounds in one week’ magazines sell by the millions each week, every year. Readers, you are being fleeced. Baa!

Celebrities

Just taking one example, and examples could be numbered in the thousands, there’s a certain female celebrity, Kim Kardashian, who seemingly gets more coverage, more press stories, more interest accrues to her than the POTUS. For the life of me I can’t figure out why this person is important and why anyone gives a damn, yet millions do. I’m stumped, other than to conclude the obvious. Only mindless sheep would think this person should rate more than one second worth of their time, if that. Baa!

The Royal 2013 Brat

Within literally 24 hours of the announcement that, what’s her name, the  Topless Royal, oh yes, Kate, was in a family way, not only did the whole Internet light up and explode like some super Fourth of July fireworks display, but the first Royal Baby 2013 Souvenirs were on the retail shelves, ready to be gobbled up for all those Royal Lovers, oops, Lovers of all things Royal to take into their homes, no doubt to gather dust like all other non-eatable Royal kitsch, oops, knickknacks. What does this tell you about the nature of the human species? What does this tell you about the nature of human priorities? Baa!

Clothing Doesn’t Make the Man - The Suit and Tie

There are just certain occupations where certain items of attire are mandatory, usually for safety reasons, like batting helmets for baseball batters and the mask, chest protector, shin-guards, etc. if you’re a baseball catcher. Ditto shoulder pads and helmets in gridiron football. Hardhats are common sense if you’re a miner or construction worker; ditto bright safety vests if you work outdoors, say road construction, and need to be highly visible. Some professions do require uniforms, as in the military. However, many occupations require certain ‘uniforms’ that actually contribute bugger-all to the ability of that person to perform the job in question. I refer in particular to the civilian white-collar worker, who, if male, is just about required to wear a suit and tie, or at least a jacket and tie. Why? The ability to perform the function you are employed to do has nothing to do with what you wear. Your ability comes from whatever mental and physical abilities you have. Okay, you could perform equally well, in theory, in your birthday suit and in a tuxedo. Eliminating those extremes, you do your best work when you are attired in what is most comfortable. I would suggest that a suit and tie is not that attire; a clean open collar shirt and comfortable pants would suit 99.9% of those otherwise required to wear the suit-and-tie ‘uniform’. Given white-collar workers just meekly dress according to what fashion dictates, instead of wearing that conductive to productivity enhancing comfort, well, all sheep wear wool. Baa!

On the Run

What is it about our society that the sheep have to do everything as if the butcher were after them? I mean they eat on the run; they are not content to let the escalator take them up or down, they have to shove past you, gaining maybe five whole seconds – so where’s the fire? They talk on the run on their mobiles, they text on the run, and while they may have the runs, at least they have to stop and smell the roses when going to the loo. And since they are paying attention to anything and everything except the direction they’re headed in, let’s just be thankful they aren’t behind the wheel of a car! Oops, in fact that’s exactly where all too frequently they are. Driving or otherwise, it’s a sin to waste a moment not doing something, and you should probably feel guilty for sleeping! Baa!

Family Ties

The basic philosophy here is that if it was (or is) good enough for Mom and Dad, then it’s good enough for me – they can do my thinking for me. I mean many offspring usually settle themselves, at least initially, relatively close to where they grew up. Offspring often tend to follow in the same employment-related footsteps as their parents; like father – like son. If your parents were of this particular brand of religious faith, odds are that you will be too. If Mom and Dad drove W, used X, smoked Y, drank Z, chances are you too will be a WXYZ person. If your parents had particular interests, say fans of a particular sports team, well it’s likely you will root for that team too. The same applies to their politics; it’s your politics too. If your parents attended a specific type of educational institution, the odds are you will follow suit. All of the above of course isn’t set in concrete, but moe often as not, because of family ties, you’re a sheep. Baa!

To be continued…

We’re Sheep in Human Clothing - Baa! Part Two

We all probably like to pride ourselves for being independent thinkers and doers – thinking and doing outside of the box that society has tried to put us, and confine us, in. Dream on. Nearly all of us conform to the norm and rest comfortably within that box because ultimately it’s too much effort to really be an outsider, a free thinker and doer due in part to the social consequences of being, well, different. Let’s face reality; most of us are sheep most of the time.

Continued from yesterday’s blog…

Marketing Those Fads & Fashions: Since you were knee-high to a grasshopper, you’ve been exposed to hundreds of thousands of marketing gimmicks* designed to make you think you need something you probably don’t, at a higher price than you should pay, all for the sake of the almighty profit of thousands of for-profit companies. You’re bombarded with ads on the telly, on the radio, in the movie theatre, in the baseball park, on billboards, skywriting, on the sides of buses, on buildings, in magazines and newspapers, on the Internet, email spam, junk mail spam, even the layout of goods in the shops is designed to get you to part with your money. Neon signs flash out their messages of ‘must haves’. You get bombarded constantly with symbols, jingles, too good to be true images, sex appeal that sells, appeals to the good life, promoting being forever young, etc. Hype, hype and more hype is the order of the day. Is there any product in existence that hasn’t been ‘new and improved’ dozens of times over? What does ‘whiter than white’ or ‘fresher than fresh’ or ‘flavour you can see’ really mean? Then there’s ‘certified organic’ food, or ‘real food’ (as if to suggest some foods aren’t real or aren’t organic – maybe they mean those plastic apples and bananas, etc. that decorate some living room bowls). If there were really such a thing as truth in advertising we wouldn’t need any agency dealing with consumer affairs. Where does it all get you? As the song lyrics go, “another day older and deeper in debt”, and a lot unhealthier too since a lot of that marketing goes into foods that contribute more calories than nutrition, alcohol products often abused, tobacco products which help keep the medical profession fully employed and a profitable one. The bottom line is that such gimmicks work; otherwise ads would have proved to be more expensive than the profits they brought in and cut from the company’s bottom line. Actually it doesn’t always have to be a for-profit motive. ‘Join the Navy and see the world’ or ‘vote for me’ are non-profit marketing exercises. Still, Madison Avenue and associated equivalents not only think you’re sheep, they know you are. Baa!

There’s A Sucker Born Every Minute: There’s a sucker born every minute so it doesn’t take all that long therefore to gather together a flock of suckers. For example, why would anyone spend their dollars on bottled water when tap water is nearly free in comparison – unless of course there’s something seriously wrong with the tap water but that’s rare in most advanced countries today. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the tap water where I live. It tastes A-OK and I haven’t gotten ill from using it yet, yet bottled water is a big seller locally. It nearly flies off the supermarket shelves so it’s a flock of suckers buying it. Why? Well, there’s a sucker born every minute, that’s why. Baa!

Walking Billboards: Many of us, probably all of us if truth be known, own items of clothing, usually tee-shirts, which ‘advertises’ or promotes something or other. Perhaps that lettering or image reflects a product like a soft drink, or perhaps a band tour, the name of a company, your alma mater, a favourite sports team, an entertainment figure or image, your holiday destination; the range is just about limitless. No doubt that reflects some personal parts of your, well, personality, something that’s your favourite something. Akin to that, you drive a certain brand of automobile that probably has a nearly irremovable sticker of the automobile dealer you bought the car from. Those items of clothing, that brand of car, that dealer’s sticker, and a lot more besides, are all free advertising donated by you to whatever agency owns that image or brand name. When you buy a home the real estate agency slaps a big “SOLD” sign with their logo in front for all to see. If you have some sort of renovations to the home’s exterior, the company doing the work will place a sign in front letting all who pass by who did that fine bit of reconstruction, It’s pretty hard to avoid advertising someone else’s product or business, but you do it and boy-oh-boy, don’t those outsiders just love you for it since it doesn’t cost them a cent. They are just ROTFLTAO at how they get extra mileage out of you at no additional deficit to their profit margin; in fact you are contributing to additional profits for them without anyone helping out your economic bottom line. Baa!  

Reviews: The point of an independent and neutral ‘Review’ of say restaurants, books, films, CDs, etc. is to inform. Your reaction to such reviews is a go/no-go depending on what the reviewer says. So in fact, the reviewer is leading you around by the nose. Around the water cooler at work, you don’t want to be caught out not having read this week’s ‘must read’ (or vice versa, having read something some ‘expert’ bucketed), or admit not to have dined out at this new five star eatery (or again vice versa if you had and the review suggested that not even a cockroach would be seen dining there). Reviews and reviewers may have their place, but the implication is that you’re a sheep that needs them to do your thinking for you. Baa!

Keeping up with the Jones Family: Who hasn’t heard of that expression? But isn’t it really way more than just an expression? Your fellow co-worker just moves into a new four bedroom home while you are still in a old three bedroom resident. Is this a motivation to move on up in the world? Your neighbour buys a new deluxe 4WD automobile while you still putt-putt-putt around in a Model-T by comparison. Is a trip to the automobile dealer on the agenda next weekend? Your second cousin just upgraded to this new and improved wireless PC while your landline tabletop computer is within months of a hard disk crash it’s that old. 99% of all those around you seem to have this tablet, that smart phone, this iPod, while you are still a relatively technological Neanderthal. But you’ll show them!!! Your wife complains that you earn twice as much as her best friend’s husband, yet his wife dresses twice as well as your wife does. What are you going to do about that? Have you been told today? Consider yourself told and act accordingly. Baa!

Melbourne Cup: Though this is uniquely Australian, I’m sure similar examples can be found around the globe. The Melbourne Cup is just another horse race in a land where horse races are a dime a dozen. However, this particular horse race is touted as the race that stops the nation. It’s run on the first Tuesday in November, which is now a public holiday in the state of Victoria (where Melbourne is located) and there are serious calls to make it a public holiday throughout the entire country – for a horse race mind you! Anyway, holiday or not, for some inexplicable reason, for just this one horse race, the whole nation goes bonkers! For hours before and after the race no work gets done. Transport comes to a standstill during the race itself. People are glued to their TV or radio sets. Women dress up to the nines trying to outdo each other in who can appear in the most ridiculous hat. Everyone and his or her maiden aunt has a flutter (bet) on the outcome, and short of World War Three starting, it will be the lead item on the evening news and in the following morning’s newspaper front page. All for a horse race mind you. Absolute insanity! Baa!

Not an overly pretty or flattering picture, is it?

*I’m surprised some marketing guru hasn’t yet come up with “buy our new and improved Manna Bread, the bread that God Himself endorses, and atheists can enjoy Manna Bread as well”!

We’re Sheep in Human Clothing - Baa! Part One

We all probably like to pride ourselves for being independent thinkers and doers – thinking and doing outside of the box that society has tried to put us, and confine us, in. Dream on. Nearly all of us conform to the norm and rest comfortably within that box because ultimately it’s too much effort to really be an outsider, a free thinker and doer due in part to the social consequences of being, well, different. Let’s face reality; most of us are sheep most of the time.

Sometimes it’s good to be a human sheep, like when you’re driving in traffic or following the tried and true training regime, being part of the work team, obeying lawful orders in the military or from other authority figures vetted for that purpose. You’re expected to be a sheep and follow the rules when participating in sporting events.

On the other hand, at times there’s something to be said for marching to the beat of a different drummer. Alas, what’s drummed into you tends to be something akin to being told to “Jump”, and you meekly reply, “How high?” Baa!

Unfortunately, there’s no shortage of that “How High” reply. For example:

Religion: There’s relatively little that need to be said here. Billions upon billions of people past and present would bet the family farm that a monotheistic deity (Allah, God, Jehovah, the Almighty, etc.) exists despite the fact that there is no evidence that one can see, hear, touch or taste or smell than even remotely hints at such a deity, far less confirms the actual existence. Whether Muslim, Christian, or Jew, there are just certain times of the day, week, month or year when you go to your closet and pull out and don your sheep coverings. It’s all due to the concept being rammed down your throat by authority figures from an early age, because they had that concept rammed down their throat when they were young and impressionable, and so on down the line to thousands of years ago. Would someone born and raised in an environment that had no concept of the supernatural come to believe in a monotheistic deity of their own intellect? - Probably not. Baa!

When in Rome: Unless you’re a hermit, you have to mingle with the great unwashed and it’s not just ‘when in Rome do as the Romans do’ but in anytown do as the local anytowners do or you will find yourself in social strife. Many a movie plot revolves around that theme of the alien and the alienated other, a stranger in a strange land; the outcast. Dare to be different but wear iron-plated underwear. It doesn’t take much otherness for anytowners to resort to necktie parties. On a scale of 0 to 10 for human tolerance of the other, well maybe 0.5 is a reasonable score. The other had better conform. Baa!

Christmas: The bills, the cards you send to people you really don’t give a damn about, the bills, the unneeded and unwanted presents you receive, the bills, all those presents you get to give to the great unwashed, the bills, the wrappings, the bills, the Xmas trees, the bills, the baubles, the bills, the Xmas lights, the bills, the decorations, the bills, the family guests you’d rather not have come around, the bills, the extra food (with a usually ever unchanging and boring menu), the bills, the cleanup, the bills, all those lengthy hours spend Xmas shopping for others instead of yourself, and oh, did I mention the bills that come due? Are we having fun yet? Why do people voluntarily subject themselves to total insanity; this annual nightmare, even if you can afford the bills? The only institutions to benefit are the banks who issue the credit cards and the retail sector. Nor can you use the excuse that you’re just part of the masses observing the birthday of Jesus. Nowhere in any religious literature, like the New Testament, will you find the date, even the month or season when the alleged deity Jesus was born. And woe to any authority figure who says there’s no Santa Claus. They will be crucified – reality is damned. Baa!

Birthdays: We nearly all ‘celebrate’ birthdays, our own obviously, and those most near and dear to us: WTF? Why ‘celebrate’ another anniversary of coming ever closer to your final demise, or the demise of those nearest and dearest to you, and why not celebrate, if you must celebrate, a date some nine months earlier at the conception instead of when you or yours were hatched? Many people also ‘celebrate’ the birthday of those already dead, why I’m not sure since they can’t participate in that ‘celebration’. There’s also the idiocy of ‘celebrating’ someone’s birthday on the wrong day, the example that immediately springs to mind is that of the British Queen Liz, at least in Australia. Then there’s the even greater idiocy of ‘celebrating’ the birthday of someone on a date that isn’t known with any remote degree of certainty, and of that same someone whose very existence is open to question – Jesus. Baa!

Peers Rule, OK: People, especially young people want to fit in, be accepted by their equals. In order to do that, they have to be just another face in that crowd of peers, and dress the part. If the ‘uniform’ of the day is wearing backward facing baseball caps, then to fit in you’d better wear your baseball cap on back-to-front. Another common ‘uniform’ accessory is the 600 ml bottle of water or soft drink tucked away in the required backpack, all part of the non-conformist uniform (vis-à-vis your non-peers) you wear to conform (vis-à-vis your peers). Now that bottle has to contain THE brand name. Any old brand just isn’t acceptable. Now marketing gurus, knowing this, rub their greedy little paws together and laugh all the way to the bank. It doesn’t take much to verify that a 600 ml bottle of top brand X will usually cost twice to three times as much as a standard 1.25 or even a 2 litre bottle of the same. THE top brand of course, in any size, will cost way more, two to three times more, than an in-store house generic brand of the same size, even though the difference in taste is usually minimal, if that. But, your peers say that THE brand, in this size, is required to be part of the in-crowd, so THE 600 ml top brand it is. Baa!

The In-Crowd: The in-crowd is not the exact same mob as your peers. The in-crowd is a combo of the ‘right’ place populated with the ‘right’ people. Not just any crowd found in any old place qualifies. Personally I find pandering to the social scene, the society pages, as if this somehow elevates your worthiness Boring (with a capital B). Besides, when all aspire to be one with the social set, the in-crowd elite, you become part of a flock again, even if it’s the upper-crust flock. Baa! 

Fawning Over British Royalty: Why do millions of people fawn over just a couple of handful of peoples who lead the super ultra good life plus; are a drain on the public purse; are a totally dysfunctional family; who never had to earn their position in life, yet who sit on the commoners throne in the same manner as the great unwashed? What’s Queen Liz (for example) done for you lately to earn your bowing and scraping? Baa!

Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.: Its obvious physical substances can cause addictions. Apart from tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, legal and illegal, you’re addicted to eating and breathing! You can also become addicted to various chemicals your brain produces when gambling, which is why gambling is addictive to some. But email addiction? Though I know humans are social animals, there’s something totally over-the-top in and use and abuse of social media. When you feel you have to log into these sites dozens, even multi-dozens of times a day, even when sitting on the throne or in a movie theatre or while shopping in the supermarket then you’re an addict, and IMHO in serious need of some therapy. You know, every now and then it’s good to just chill out, unplug the computer, and be your own best friend. Baa!

Mobile Phones: Closely related to the above, it seems that everybody and their great grandmothers have got to have a mobile phone, turned on, right next to their body, 24/7/52, in case someone wants to get in contact, or, shock-horror, failing that, so they can contact someone. This obsession with talking to people virtually non-stop is beyond my comprehension, especially when you overhear the nature of the conversations; say on the bus or in the supermarket or, much to the annoyance of others, in the theatre. It’s usually anything but important. In fact, it’s usually so trivial as to even be below the level of trivia. Whoever invented the mobile phone must be laughing all the way to the bank to deposit their latest billion dollar profit on the royalties, all because they had the insight that people somehow feel they need to bend other people’s ears, and have their ears bent in return, with trivia, trivia and more trivia. It used to be the case that only politicians and real estate agents and used car salesmen spouted off hot air. That’s no longer true. In the here and now, never have so many, said so much, about so little. Baa!

To be continued…