Yet more Sunday thoughts
I had them in the morning but didn’t bring my laptop on a 4-hour hike – so here you go.
Just realized as I’m writing this that I forgot to send birthday wishes to Maine at 00.01 Eastern. So, let me start with that. Happiest of birthdays to a wonderful friend in Maine. Love you!
The peacefulness of an early Sunday morning. Was up way before sunrise to catch the 5.28 train (no buses yet on a Sunday). The 5.34 train from Aarau was nearly empty. Not as empty as one would think, though. Other trains tend to get really crowded even early on Sundays. Those are the ones that take you to the hiking hotspots. I was just hiking kind of locally, but I did need three trains to get there. Hang on, it was four trains. I forgot to count the first one from Buchs AG to Aarau. Transfer times were 2, 3 and 3 minutes. Works well on that route. Don’t think I’ve ever missed a connection. The first one is not an official one and you need to know what you’re doing. The last two trains were full of people making their way home from a night out in either Zurich or (more likely right now) Baden, where there’s a bit party going on that’s only happening every ten years. It’s called Badenfahrt if you want to look it up. Not my thing.
Anyway, I was grumbling quite a bit last night about how a billionaire can just swoop in and destroy a platform that might have had some faults, but that brought people together and that some of us actually had fun using. Now we’re faced with yet another change. You can no longer block people. That’s just ridiculous. I mean, I don’t think it will affect me directly. I never look at replies from people I don’t follow. Or rather, I don’t see them unless I specifically go back to the post and have a look. Still, this is a change that will make the platform yet more toxic.
I don’t really care about the ads. I scroll past those. I don’t really care about the edit button only being available if you pay. And I can’t even remember the other stuff. However, I do care about toxicity. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I like my bubble and I have set my Twitter account up in a way that lets me escape all the drama. It’s not that I ignore it, I just don’t see it.
Let’s go back to those fun gods I mentioned last time. Now, what would they do with a narcissistic … I don’t wanna use the c-word. How about knobhead? Might not be strong enough but there we go. So, what would those fun gods do with a narcissistic knowhead? I do think they’d have found a couple of gods that would have put an end to this nonsense. I think the Vikings would have sent in Loki for sure (God of Mischief) and also Váli (God of Revenge) and a bunch of trolls for good measure. That’s a given! Possibly some giants too, just to lift somebody up by their feet and shake them a little. I’m sure Thor could have made some noise as well. They would have had things sorted out in no time.
But hey! Somehow people convinced Europe that the one God policy was worthwhile. I still can’t believe people fell for that. Then again, they were killed if they didn’t go along. Imagine making up a god and then killing everybody who didn’t believe in it. I mean … seriously?!
Also, have a look at the ten commandments. The first one says that no other gods are allowed. How messed up is that? What’s this one all powerful God afraid of? Competition? From Thor maybe. That’s one mighty hammer after all. Commandment one and things already stop making sense. The ones that make sense have made it into laws in most countries. Those seem quite universal and don’t necessarily have anything to do with the Bible or other holy tests. Don’t murder anybody – we’re on board with that. At least I am. Unless it’s used in pro-life arguments, because … Seriously people! Science, schools, learn about biology and stop spreading this BS. But anyway, this is not a rant.
No stealing – yes, sounds reasonable. As for the rest, some have made it into laws, but it depends on where you live. In Switzerland there are certain things you are not allowed to do on a Sunday – by law. Essentially anything that’s noisy and shops are closed on Sundays. All shops. Unless they have special permits and/or are at train stations, airports, gas stations or tourist hotspots. The noisy thing does not go for church bells in case you were wondering. There have been several petitions to turn off the church bells at night. As far as I’m aware this hasn’t happened here yet. Other towns have done it.
Cow bells are another issue in Switzerland. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about them. I don’t like the huge loud ones. The smaller ones seem okay-ish for people and cows alike. They are used to locate cows – that’s true. And I have been involved in helping a farmer get his cows back down a mountain. The only way we’d know where they were, was by listening for the bells. They had gotten away and managed to get stuck up on a ridge trail. That’s where I found them. The bells were very useful in that case. They could have and probably would have gotten hurt if we hadn’t guided them back to safety. So, I can’t really say “ban the bells*. Also, I like the sound of them when cows are grazing in a field. As long as it’s gentle and not too loud.
There are not that many cows wearing bells around here though. Not much need when they are out on a pasture that is visible from the farm. More useful up in the mountains and hills where cows can quite literally be anywhere. How did we land on the topic of cows now? Anyway, I love cows. I grew up with cows walking right past my bedroom window at 7 every morning – like clockwork. There was a farm down the hill from us. I know how to milk a cow. I know what to do to not be attacked by a cow when out hiking. Now I just need to improve my Italian so I can talk to the cows in Italian-speaking Ticino. They are super-cute down there. Here’s proof:
Have a lovely Sunday everyone!
Evelyne, the first photo you included was simply awesome! Oh how I would love to live in your part of the world. My iPadPro updated OS enlarged and took me all around the initial photo, was it a video? So was able to see countryside far and wide! Must look again after eye surgery Wednesday.
As for what we call the White Christian Nationalists, well, they are anything but concerned about others. The GOP MAGA idiots use it as a tool for censorship; in the worst case scenario, Florida, the state government has actually banned teachers and schools from teaching SHAKESPEARE! They continue to limit rights and move toward fascism.
And the Governor who started this movement Desatan is running for President but falling very far behind in polling.
He doesn’t have a prayer of getting nomination or winning.
Just TMI due to too much coffee, the first debate for GOP candidates is Monday night but Trump has made up his own rules since he is not behind bars YET. He will be interviewed instead by fake news personality Tucker Carlson and that could be interesting; the more he runs his gob, the more likely he is to incriminate himself further thus activating a restraining order that could incarcerate him until multiple trials. There are many Democracies in jeopardy at present;
I truly believe the Democrats with sleepy Joe Biden will pull out another win but geez, it is exhausting trying to maintain some activism for the man who has done so much to bring us back from the brink. Loved your article. I too think the Ten Commandments are useful but can arise from many religions, ideologies. The point is after all caring for one another and having our freedoms intact. Bye now, no more coffee for me!
Happy Sunday! Happy birthday to Maine! I don't believe we've lost the block button. Seems he's rethinking this. His ex thinks he wanted to eliminate block because she uses it each time he creates a new identity in order to troll her and she figures it out. This is the kind of "adult" who purchases a popular platorm in order to destroy it, just because. So very interesting. Love the cute cows 🐂