FACEBOOK APPROVES VIDEOS OF ANIMAL CRUELTY

 

I'm quite broad minded and seldom if ever report posts. But I saw a horrible video yesterday. Someone posted sick people tormenting their pets by cutting up animal cakes in front of them so they could have a good laugh at the poor creatures' reactions as they recoil in horror at what, to them, is utter carnage.

One labrador was visibly traumatised when a chocolate covered puppy cake was cut in half in front of it. Its terror was very real. So cruel. I reported it but FB says it doesn't go against their community standards. So I reported again - same response. I checked out the comments.  Most posters thought it hilarious although a few recognised it for what it was.

Facebook say their standards are set by the opinions of their users. What is wrong with so many people? How can this be published, no doubt giving other people ideas?  If this sort of thing was done to children there would, quite  rightly, be an outcry. At least I hope there would. So why is it ok to terrorise dumb animals?

Parking in Brighton is a PAIN!

On Monday my son parked his car near his house, legally in a recognised parking bay.

Unknown to him, some men came along on Tuesday and painted a disabled bay around the car. Then he got a ticket that very afternoon. On Wednesday, unaware of the problem, he got another ticket. 

The council, Brighton & Hove, didn't want to let him off paying his fee, but he rebelled - as you would in the face of such an injustice. They said he should have kept an eye on the space - (presumably in case some men came along and painted a disabled bay around the car.) 

Then they said, okay, they'd let him off one of the tickets if he paid the other. Still, he rebelled and refused.

Finally they sent him a note sayiing due to a technical difficulty the tickets were cancelled.
Have you ever heard anything like it?

The Joy of Crutches!

It's weird. I have such mixed feelings about being on crutches, but it's taught me a lot about human nature - and my own, maybe, unrealistic expectations. In spite of welcome progress in the way we view our fellow humans,I've still felt disgruntled about certain areas of inequality, at least as far as respect is concerned. Of course, no decent person can uphold inequalities about religion, gender, race,sexual orientation, disability and so on. But there are still some areas where it's "okay" to discriminate, even amounting to mild abuse. One is age. The other is vegetarianism. 

As far as age is concerned, I feel as though I'm not here much of the time. People walk straight into me as though I'm invisible, force me out of their way, jostle me. This can be especially dangerous when climbing stairs and needing to hold the rail and then some burly bloke virtually eyeballs you into letting go the rail and letting him pass. (I did because I was afraid he might push me and there were a lot of steps.) 

Recently I took a bus just for the ride because I had a bad knee. I just needed to get out, but couldn't walk far. But because I didn't get off at the end of the journey the driver shouted at me from his cab along the lines of "Where the hell do you think you're going?" (I wasn't fare-dodging as have a bus pass.) He was chastened when I told him the reason but only after he had given me a piece of his mind!

As a veggie I am frequently targeted quite aggressively, as though my life choice is a dreadful insult to the other person.People will actually challlenge you into an argument you don't want.

I can't do much about veggie opposers but I have noticed a considerable difference in the way I am treated with my crutches. Disability seems to cancel out age. I get all the concern and consideration I never had before, but really needed, on occasion, just as much. 

It's made me realise many people aren't unkind, they just don't notice. I feel I always see everything around me and am aware of situations but I guess that's part of being a a writer and not everyone is that perceptive.

EIGHTEEN AMAZING WOMEN PHILOSOPHERS you should have learned about in school but probably didn't.

This is my misery blog, of course, so in a way, this doesn't belong here. Except it does - if only that it's a crying shame not more is known about women philosophers whose work has had a major impact on all our lives. To address this, here is my book which covers great female philosophers from ancient history to modern day:

The e-book:
EIGHTEEN AMAZING WOMEN PHILOSOPHERS

and the paperback

EIGHTEEN AMAZING WOMEN PHILOSOPHERS

My Top Jobsworth Nomination of 2018

Sometimes it's like walking on eggshells!  Copyright Janet Cameron

It happened just a year ago, May 2018. Tidying up my computer I just found the letter I wrote to my local Boots pharmacy. I  received an apology from the manager but not from the perpetrator. So on the anniversary of  the pharmacist's unwarranted aggression, well, Boots, your Let's Feel Good slogan does nothing for me!

Here's the letter, which is self-explanatory:

  

Hello,

On Friday morning I queued at the Sales counter with what I thought was a reasonable request for blood pressure tablets that did not need a prescription, to tide me over until my Doctor’s appointment on 14 June, the earliest I could get to deal with my BP.

The problem is ongoing from 11 April, but I know the surgery is under enormous pressure. However, a reading of 180 over 98 at the surgery last week concerned me.

To my surprise instead of helping me to locate the right product, or simply inform me if you did not have them in stock, the sales lady rushed off to call the pharmacist. The pharmacist was annoyed and asked me who had told me I could get blood pressure tablets without a prescription. I tried to explain that I was “asking” if you had any blood pressure tablets I could take without a prescription, and that I had seen them advertised on the internet, and also on Holland and Barrett’s website.

I could not make myself heard or understood. The pharmacist talked over me and told me what I already knew, that she couldn’t give me blood pressure tablets without a doctor’s prescription. She also said that it was nothing to do with Boots (even though the non-prescription tablets are part of your range!) and I had to take it up with my GP  (another suggestion that was equally unhelpful.)

I left and went to get the tablets from Holland and Barrett. I called back just to prove to the pharmacist that I was not, in fact, asking her to carry out an illegal transaction. As I couldn’t see her, I spoke to the sales lady who said these tablets weren’t “medicine,” which, of course, I knew.

The point is I wasn’t queuing at the pharmacy counter for medicine. I was queuing at the sales counter for non-prescription blood pressure tablets, which, as mentioned, are itemized in your own range of products for sale, see attached sheets.

Crossed wires, of course, but all the same, there is no excuse for the way I was treated,  it made me feel low for the rest of the morning.

Janet Cameron

It's not just about being right. It's about aggression and a poor attitude. I don't mind she made a mistake, but I do mind being shouted at in a shopful of people!  

Wouldn't you?

10 Pet Hates

I hate this artwork (Tenerife) Photo copyright Janet Cameron

I thought I'd post my 10 pet hates. (IWell, 11 if you count the photo)  I'm not including obvious "big" things in this list relating to politics, etc. Just little things that I find very very irritating.)

1. OAP Fish 'n Chips - I'm not an acronym never mind one as disrespectful as this. Keep your cheap fish 'n chips.

2. 2nd one FREE - It's not free if I have to buy something to get it.

3. Huge Fierce Eyebrows. I'm all for feminism and power but - please - these young girls scare the bejesus out of me!

4. Commercials on daytime tv shows -These commercials are relentlessly repetitious. For example, happy old men and women adveritising jolly (and cheap!) funeral plans, Oh how exciting! Hurray! I think I'll get one too. How about you? Let's have a nice cup of coffee and discuss it cos our kids are gonna be so happy and impressed! (Guilt trip implication here.) And all the cringe-making medical ads that I won't go into here. 

5. Bus drivers who accelerate suddenly before you've managed to sit down. Shame on you, meanies! You will be old one day.

6. Packaging. Everything is so hard to get into. I completely understand and endorse safety aspects to prevent children from accessing dangerous chemicals, but honestly. for many things it's all gone too far. If you need to use it immediately and if you don't have scissors, pliers or some gunpowder to hand, forget it.

7. Being Patronised. I'm quite old and sometimes a little deaf and slightly visually impaired, but I am not daft. (Well, not all the time.)

8. Labelling Products. Products should be more clearly labelled to accommodate those of us who can't see 8 point font. What the product is should be in the largest possible letters for its size.

9. Very cruel jokes. Stand up is becoming more and more offensive. I don't mind risque, 
naughty, challenging or mickey-taking, but I hate sick or hurful. 

10. Gratuitous moaning. So this is where I check out

READ (while) NOT DEAD

Where does Google bury old blogs and the money
they earn?

I have been running my six blogs for quite some time, but the earliest -janetcameronwriting.blogspot.com - has been going for 13 years. I've had page views and good comments (and a few negative ones too) and I've posted frequently albeit with some gaps when life got in the way.

I've had ads going too, and shifted them about to try to optimize my "profits." So far I've earned £19.26. Lucky I do it for pleasure and not the money!

All the same, I will never see that £19.26 or any further profit I make. The sad truth iis, since it took me 13 years to earn £19.26 and Google only pay out when you reach £60, I am not going to live long enough to hit gold, and even if I did, I will be too gaga to know it. (PS: that might be dollars, I'm not sure. Still makes no difference under the circumstances.)

Fortunately, as I writer, I have had alternative more profitable employment, but I do wonder what Google do with all the money from ads left on the Earnings tab of people who have done their best and sadly popped their clogs.

It would be nice if it went to charity.