NOTES FROM DOGTOWN'S DOG POUND (Or, BAN STUPIDITY!)

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[DOG POUND NOTES are simply random thoughts, ideas, and maxims that have occurred to me. I am totally convinced of the merit of some of them. Others may merely be food-for-thought or even outright Doggy Doo-Doo. I'll let you guess as to how I categorize each of them.]
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I think we need to ban Stupidity. And I don't just mean Auto or Semi-Auto Stupidity, but ALL STUPIDITY. Even Single-Bullet Muzzle-Loading Stupidity!!

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SAVE AMERICA! BAN STUPIDITY!!MAGA!!!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENN1eeyuLPY

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~ Stephen T. McCarthy

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NOTES FROM DOGTOWN'S DOG POUND (Or, GRAMMAR NAZISM)

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[DOG POUND NOTES are simply random thoughts, ideas, and maxims that have occurred to me. I am totally convinced of the merit of some of them. Others may merely be food-for-thought or even outright Doggy Doo-Doo. I'll let you guess as to how I categorize each of them.]
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No, I am not a "Grammar Nazi". I can't afford to be, as my own grammar is not good enough for that.
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Nevertheless, I do have a grammar pet peeve. And that is when people say or write "I could care less" when what they should be saying or writing is: "I couldn't care less".
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Not only is "I could care less" wrong, but it is 180-degrees wrong (literally, as wrong as it could possibly be), expressing the EXACT OPPOSITE of what the person really means to convey. There's just no excuse for that. And especially when it comes (as it frequently does) from professional writers and commentators. Start paying attention to how often people get it wrong, including people who make their livings using words, and you will be shocked inside of one month. 
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Although this does not rise to the level of a pet peeve for me, another thing I've become painfully aware of is how often people say or write "BY THE WAY" ("BTW"), when what they really ought to be saying or writing is "INCIDENTALLY". Or even nothing at all.
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There is no rule stating that you may not move on to a new topic without preceding it with an essentially superfluous remark like "By the way" or "Incidentally". 
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However, if you do wish to include an introductory remark or word, you should not be using "By the way" unless what you are about to say really is somehow related to something that was just expressed. "By the way" means that we are... by the way... or "in the neighborhood" of something that we were just discussing. There should be some shared idea or mood between what was just said and what you are now about to say if you are going to begin with "By the way,..."
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"Incidentally" can be used to begin a new topic, if the new topic is not really related to anything that came before it. Or, if you'd prefer to save your breath or wear and tear on your fingers, you can just launch into the new topic without any introductory expression or word at all. "By the way" and "Incidentally" are really just conversational traditions that are mere ornaments; they are not at all necessary.
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Lastly, I want to say that I cringe every time someone says, writes / texts "K" instead of "OK". Have we really reached a point where we're going to "dumb down" OK to K, just to save the trouble of saying or typing a single letter? WTP?! (I'll spare y'all the lecture on why "OK" should, technically, really be written as "O.K.", O.K.?) 
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What's next? Just leaving half a parenthesis for a smiling face -- ) -- because adding a colon or semicolon for the eyes -- : ; -- is just way too time-consuming?!
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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POLICE STATE, USA (Or, A YOUTUBE CHANNEL RECOMMENDATION)

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Loose DogGs & DogGettes ~
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This is just a quickie with a couple of short videos I want to share with y'all.
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One of the YouTube channels I subscribe to and most frequently visit is HighImpactFlix. Definitely one of my very favorites! I don't particularly care for the name, which sounds like a place you'd go to watch bonehead Action movies with lots of car explosions, ridiculous martial arts nonsense, massive shootouts and CGI overkill.
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In truth, this guy, who is obviously educated and articulate, posts a lot of Social Commentary videos. Not all but many of them address the serious problem we have today in America of a militarized Police State actually enforced by police officers, who have become a de facto standing army for The Wizards Behind The Curtain. Our Constitutional rights are being trampled by an army in blue operating under the pretense of protecting us. (Have you ever read the Fourth Amendment? Are you familiar with our Founding Fathers' view of a "standing army"? Do you know anything about the history of police departments? Do you really think the police officer is your friend?)
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In the ten years of Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends' existence, I have written and posted several blog bits about Law Enforcement. It's a subject I have some personal, first-hand knowledge of, having been involved in the Police Explorer program for a few years in my teens and actually having been employed by a police department to work in its Property Room. I have known and socialized with a good number of police officers. I have seen them in professional situations and have had many casual conversations with them, so I have a bit more "insider" knowledge than the average person does.
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Being the strict Constitutionalist that I am, this militarized Police State that America is quickly becoming with the advances in technology, and police departments large and small operating with no citizenry oversight to speak of, concerns me greatly. And it's no secret that I am no fan of LEOs in general. 
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Below are just two of MANY very good videos I've found at HighImpactFlix that address this disturbing topic and trend. These are short, so please take the time to watch and think about them.
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I would also urge you to subscribe to the HighImpactFlix channel at YouTube. So far, I have only ever seen one video posted there that I disagree with, and that's a pretty impressive track record because, as you probably know, I'm a very "disagreeable" person. 
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HOW HEARTLESS DO YOU HAVE TO BE... ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXCwnOAMAFY


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WHY ALL COPS ARE BAD!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB5zsYqM_QE


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HighImpactFlix channel HERE.
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There is another cop-citizen video I intend to post here at Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends before too long, but I figured I would sort of ease you into the topic by first setting the stage with these two introductory videos above. Feel free to comment below...
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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9 INNINGS OF BIBLE BASEBALL (OR, LEARN THE BIBLE IN 5 SHORT CHAPTERS)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfbSDoXxcsI

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Recently, I discovered at Christianity.com a trivia game called Bible Baseball. (Click HERE to play.) The Bible questions come in four levels of difficulty -- Single, Double, Triple, Home Run. When you're doing the pitching against the computer, the questions are randomly chosen and seem to come from all four of those different categories.
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Bible Baseball is EXACTLY like real baseball... but without the hot dogs. ...And without the peanuts and Cracker Jacks. Uhm... and without the smell of fresh cut grass, the warmth of Summer, girls in the stands wearing halter tops and short shorts. Without the voice of Vin Scully coming through a transistor radio while Steve Sax steals second. Without "Leather-Lungs Louise" shouting near your ear and that drunken boob spilling his beer on you. ...Other than that, it's exactly like real baseball.
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After experimenting with Bible Baseball a little bit, I decided to play a full 9-inning game to see how I'd do. So, I put on my Dodgers T-shirt and I got settled in front of my computer monitor:
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Naturally, I was representing the Dodgers. And I decided that the computer would represent the Giants. Lemme tell ya, I hate the Giants so much that I'm actually rooting for the earthquake -- The Big One. Ha!
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In Bible Baseball, when you are on offense (i.e., at the plate, hitting), the screen looks like this:
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And when you are on the mound, pitching to the computer, the screen looks like this:
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And when the cover of your Bible is worn like this...
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and when the margins of your Bible pages are covered in notes like this...
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...then after nine full innings of Bible Baseball, your scoreboard will look something like this...
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Yeah, yeah, I know that looks pretty impressive. But in truth, I fell short of my first and primary goal. I really wanted to shut out the Giants (computer). And, actually, I DID have a shutout going after 7 full innings!
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But in the bottom of the 8th inning, a combination of a couple tough questions, a bit of complacency which had seeped into my mindset, and a bit of clock-watching (I needed to make an important phone call to my Brother soon) caused me to give up back-to-back home runs. At the end of 8 innings, the score was 99-2.
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At that point, I necessarily shifted to Plan B Goal 2: To score at least 100 runs more than the computer does. In my half of the 9th, I added 4 more runs to my total. But in the bottom of the 9th, the Giants hit another home run off me, and followed that up with a double.
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I was in trouble. With two outs, the Giants had a runner in scoring position. Any kind of hit at all, even just a single, was going to get the Giants another run and they'd pull within 99 runs of me.
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I felt a bit nervous when I clicked the "Throw Your Pitch" button. But as soon as the following question popped up, I knew the game was over and I had my 100-Run Victory:

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Ain't no way I could miss a question that comes from my all-time favorite "book" of The Bible -- 1st John 1-5.
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Below is another question that came up during my 9-inning game. It's one that I know my good friend Trainyard Julio would get right. Do you also know the answer?...
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Many times I have said, "Show me a person who doesn't believe The Holy Bible is the inspired Word of God, and I will show you someone who has not studied it, or who has not studied it enough."
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I've also been known to say this: "The essential message of The Holy Bible is encapsulated in the five short chapters of 1st John. The rest is details."
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That's right! If you simply read 1 John 1-5 over and over until you fully understood it, and then applied it in your life, you would be following the entire Divine program with a clear understanding of its foundation.
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Of course, I really recommend that everyone read the entire Bible from cover-to-cover every year. (You can't score 100 runs in Bible Baseball by reading only 1 John!) And there ARE various types of Daily Bible Reading Schedules online which, in a single year, will take you through the entire Book in small, bite-sized segments. But if you really just want a "Bible Made EZ" Bible reading program that you can go through in way less than an hour, then 1 John 1-5 is for you. You can read it by clicking HERE. That's the core message of the entire Bible right there. 
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The Holy Bible is indeed God's message to mankind. It's The Truth. And don't you think you ought to know it? ('The Dictionary Of Cultural Literacy' states: "No one in the English-speaking world can be considered literate without a basic knowledge of the Bible.")
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Why not start with 1 John? And before you begin reading, say an honest, humble little prayer to Jesus asking Him to open your heart and mind to Scripture, if in fact it really does come from The Creator. You may be quite surprised by what happens.
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How do I KNOW that The Bible is the inspired Word of God? How do I know it isn't just a Book of myths, like so many atheists try to tell you it is? Well, for one thing, as my buddy, Bryan, wrote with a patina of humorous sarcasm:
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"You know, back in a time when people didn't even understand the concept of basic geometry and thought that mice spontaneously generated from rags, a small group of scam artists banded together and wrote a fake storybook that takes a genius level IQ and years of reading to fully comprehend."
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Yep, I'd say that pretty well sums it up. If you can believe THAT, I suppose you could be convinced of just about anything.
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Test your Bible knowledge by playing Bible Baseball HERE.
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Bless And Be Blessed,
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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MONDAY MEMES (14) ON SATURDAY (1)

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Below are 4 memes that I saw and liked, plus one meme that I made all by my lonesome. Click on 'em for enlarged views:
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This last meme is by D-FensDogG

(aka Stephen T. McCarthy)

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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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