Digital currency

is going to be an easy sell in the 'burbs because Karen and Ken are lazy and stupid.

While for the most part I do use my plastic, I do so in order to watch my spending. I get a record sent to me monthly which is all well and good. Still, there are things I do use cash for some things and will continue to do so. I just got an offer of a 4% discount on a major home repair job if I don't use plastic to avoid the fees and that's a slam dunk lead pipe cinch that I'll write a check or take a trip to the bank for green stuff. 

Of course some guy was trying to sell it on another website and said the biggest reason to not want to go digital was they engage in 'illicit activities'.

Interesting choice of words. It's kind of a standoffish choice.

Earlier in my career I had a supervisor say "He was high on marijuana" in a lame effort to distance himself. I saw that for what it was because word was that until the Coast Guard started drug testing the man was pretty much of a pothead. Apparently he thought that saying "He was stoned" meant he was familiar with it. Being familiar with something could mean he had partaken. There was a lot of this early on in my career. False, self righteous denial. I'd have actually respected him had he said he had cleaned up his act when the rules started to require drug testing instead of trying to be a plaster saint.

I always wonder about people like that. 

The first thing that came to mind was there are an awful lot of 'illicit activities' that do not require the transfer of funds. While we're at it, there are a number of legal activities that are just plain wrong. As I have said before I don't let anyone-especially the government- define my morality. 

Anyway, the first thing I started to type to his "illicit activities" crap was that one does not have to transfer funds to be a pedophile but decided against it. The whole board would have gone stark staring bonkers. It's a true statement. Of course it would be taken out of context and read as an accusation. Instead I suggested that because he didn't take part in 'illicit activities' he probably would have ratted out Anne Frank.

While I don't know for certain who reported my Anne Frank answer I'd bet heavily that it was the person that I offended. Plaster saint's get offended easily over things like that and it immediately makes me wonder what the person has to hide.

As to be expected, he reported it and the usual cycle of crap took place and I got my pee pee slapped (again).

The term 'illicit activities' conjures up a lot of things that I am guilty of. Most recently a drug offense when a couple of nights ago I decided that because I was not going to be home at the necessary time I'd put a pill on a vial on my key ring which I keep for just this very reason. It's illegal to carry prescription medication in anything other than the original container. So sue me. I see no purpose in carrying around a big bottle with me.

When my license wouldn't scan I had a beer bought for me by a teenager with a fake ID. So sue me. If the system is so screwed up that a 71 YO man can't buy a beer than it gets what it deserves. It gets ignored. We've gotten so stupid that a 71 YO man has to have a beer bought for him my a teenager with a fake ID. As a lot of you regulars know I don't do stupid very well. 

I suppose on the other hand that if they didn't require a scan that some kid working there would let his buddies waltz out of there with six cases of PBR or something like that. Actually the answer is not to hold the store accountable but the individual person that committed the crime. Now if you look like you're over 40 they don't card you anymore. I wonder what happened to make the system smarten up. In a way it's scary.

In the FWIW department the clerk that refused me told me he had to refuse a sale to an ancient old woman that wanted a single beer for a recipe to make something for her grandson with a couple of rabbits that he had bagged while hunting. The clerk had the decency to say he felt like hell after having to deny the sale.

Had I been in the store I would have bought an old woman a beer.

I am one of those suave, smooth devils that would have given the old woman a smirk and a wink and asked her, "Young lady, buy you a beer?" And bought her one.

Other illicit activities I routinely take part in are things like stopping at lemonade stands and hiring the local kid to mow the lawn when I'm either too busy or plan on being out of town. God only knows what rules and regulations I break while doing that. There's probably a whole laundry list. I wonder if there's a tag on any of my pillows.

Incidentally about 10 years ago when he was 12 I hired a young man to look after the cat take care of things at home when I was at work and the wife was out of town. 

He was just the man for the job and after the second or third time I came home to find out that Kitty had gotten sick and that he had somehow wangled a veterinarian to make a house call! When I called the vet to find out how much I owed I wound up settling with him for a bottle of Dewar's.

I also found out he was spending at least an hour a day with Kitty instead of feed him and run. 

This, of course probably put me in violation of 1001 child labor laws or whatever and God only knows what else but he did a damned sight better job than most adults and  older pet watchers would have done.

All I can say about mister 'illicit activities' is that people like him seem to be on the increase. We're turning into a bunch of zombies walking around staring at cell phones and obeying a bunch of rules and regulations without thinking about what we're doing.

It's scary.

(Yesterday I needed my phone to answer a quick text in the UPS place and when I was done I looked at the clerk and said, "Please note I am putting my phone back in my pocket instead of staring at it like a damned zombie." She grinned. I was mildly surprised she didn't look confused.)

Back to digital currency. How about no? 

We've already seen what Trudeau did to the truck drivers when he got their accounts frozen. All it really took was one click of a mouse and BINGO! You ain't got no money. 

Of course the bulk of the idiots that want to trade their privacy for convenience always fail to realize that if they OK it for something to happen to someone else they tacitly agree that the same thing can happen to them. 

Mister 'illicit activities' likely hasn't figured that one out yet. 

When it happens to them it's too damned late. Of course they will be standing there agape wondering what happened. He or she will stand there dumbfounded over the ticket and fine that arrived that they have to pay for not wearing their seat belt and will wonder where, why and what happened until they recall that they didn't put it on when they moved the car two feet ahead in their driveway.

Imagine a world where everything you do is traced and followed. You can't even hire the kid to mow your lawn. You can't buy a damned lemonade. Bubbles even has to get a card reader installed because there are no more dollar bills to put in her G-string. 

The more I watch the more I see a lot of us are just becoming little automatons and zombies.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY