A woman was walking toward me, middle-aged or older, graying hair, and a grumpy face. She reminded me of my study hall 'teacher' in high school, who wore a scowl perpetually. This was a woman not to be trifled with, and I didn't want detention again, so I smiled at her, though we were at a transit center so I was wearing a mask. Maybe she'd see the smile in my eyes.

She smiled back at me as she walked past, and became (seriously) one of the most beautiful older women I've ever seen. And I swear, she lost thirty pounds.

No, I'm not saying women should always be smiling. It's creepy when they do, actually. I'm just saying that smiling makes almost anyone look better.

Not me, though. Like Mom so thoughtfully tells me all the time, my teeth are all chipped, crooked, stained, or missing, and I need thousands of dollars in dental work. I look better frowning.

Waiting at the Transit Center for my bus, and the schedule on the wall promised a long wait. It seemed safe, so I sat myself on a bench, unzipped my go-anywhere bag, and pulled out a book to read.

Too soon, an interruption. "Whatcha reading?"

I glanced at the man who'd spoken. He was middle-aged, unshaved and disheveled. Homeless, probably. "A book," I said.

"Yeah, I can see that," he said. "What's the book?"

I flashed him the cover, and he read it and said it: "Ten Days in a Mad-House. Ha! Try 44 years."

"I hear you, bro," I said, and went back to the book, but only for a page or two. Ranting was coming loud and furious from behind me, so walking a few steps away seemed wiser. Book in the bag, zipped up, I relocated to a wall and leaned, looked.

It wasn't the same bum I'd shown my book to. This was someone older, uglier, angrier, and with fewer teeth. "What happened on December 7 was nothing!" was his headline, and the gist of his rant was that there'd be hell to pay.

Whether he talking about Pearl Harbor or a fist fight on some 12/7 wasn't clear, and I wasn't interested anyway.

The saner homeless guy, the one I'd shown my book to, came over and leaned on the wall a few feet from me. We didn't say anything more, but we were both glad we had each other, I think.

My credit union is at a busy corner where a busy street crosses another busy street. Directly in front of the credit union, the sidewalk has been torn up for months — dirt, rocks, and a few pipes protruding from the ground, with "Sidewalk closed" signs at each end of the rubble.

And it's unchanged since at least July, when I opened my account at the credit union. They're not even working on it.

On sunny days I walk carefully over the rubble. On wet days I walk around the building instead of directly to the front door.

I don't know what's up or why that block doesn't deserve a sidewalk, but this I know: The city and county would never leave even the tiniest street completely torn up and unusable, closed, for months.

Pedestrians, bikes, and wheelchairs are an afterthought to the urban planners, or whoever allows this. Or we're something not thought of at all. It's only cars that matter, and that's ridiculous. Cars are awful things that spew toxins and run people over.

People ought to be able to walk on sidewalks.

I tried to find a place to complain about this online, but this is the only place. The city and county websites are both confusing, and anyway, get real, it wouldn't accomplish anything. The sidewalks they ripped up months ago will be rebuilt months from now, and until then, tough.

One last complaint for today, I promise, and then the news.

This site is built on Blogger, software from Google. It's always hinky, but now it's not letting me post comments. Seems to be a Firefox thing, as it still works in Chrome, but there are other issues, always. It hasn't let me log in for months, and for even longer, random comments have disappeared.

Google lets this software be so buggy, and fixes come so slow, it's obvious that they don't give a damn about their Blogger product. It's only a matter of time until they shut it down entirely.

And now,
the news you need,
whether you know it or not
— — —

• UK's newest new Prime Minister is richer than the king, and plans cuts more brutal than austerity

• As big book publishers look to kill the Internet Archive, it introduces "Democracy's Library"

• "Slaves" crash a civil war enactment

• Plastic recycling a "failed concept," study says, with only 5% recycled in U.S. last year as production rises

• Nazis loudly support Kanye's antisemitism. Adidas remains silent about the sponsorship funding it.

• Swedish archaeologists find 17th-century warship

• Since Colorado implemented pay transparency law, wages up 11.5%

• San Francisco to honor the woman who saved the city's cable cars from extinction 75 years ago

• Ordered Dominos and this came with it.

One-word newscast,
because it's the same news every time…

Climate change isn't 'coming', it's underway. It'll kill billions, and we're not doing squat about it.

• climate • climate • climate • climate

— — —

All cops are bastards, or they know who the bastard cops are and do nothing about it, which is the same thing.

• cops • cops • cops • cops • cops • cops • cops • cops • cops • cops • cops

— — —

Republicans are the enemy of common sense, common decency, simple truth, and democracy.

• Republicans • Republicans • Republicans • Republicans • Republicans • Republicans

Other links I liked

• Old movie stars dance to uptown funk

It took a lot of work to make this so perfect.

• Kinda surprising that David Bowie did his own Ziggy Stardust makeup

• A brief history of Halloween

♦ ♦ ♦
Mystery links
"Like life itself, there's no knowing where you're going"
• click
♦ ♦ ♦
♫♬ Mix tape of my mind ♫
• "The Avengers" by Laurie Johnson
• "The First Day" by Eszter Balint
• "Sad Joy" by Manfred Mann
• "Trouble You Don't See" by Eszter Balint
• "What Would You Say?" by Hurricane Smith"
♦ ♦ ♦
The End
• Benjamin Civiletti
• James McDivitt
• Jim Redmond
10/25/2022
Tip 'o the hat to Linden Arden, ye olde AVA, BoingBoing, Breakfast at Ralf's, Captain Hampockets, CaptCreate's Log, John the Basket, LiarTownUSA, Meme City, National Zero, Ran Prieur, Voenix Rising, and anyone else whose work I've stolen without saying thanks.
Extra special thanks to Becky Jo, Name Withheld, Dave S, Wynn Bruce, and always Stephanie...