"Duh. I think silos might make good cemeteries."

It seems Ben Carson has revealed another one of his idiotic theories. Now he is of the opinion that the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids, not as tombs, but to store wheat. One can only imagine how easy it would be to access those vast volumes of wheat from narrow hallways and hidden chambers. He also feels that God helped them with the design and not some visiting aliens—equally unlikely helpers. The Egyptians did not worship Benny's non-existent God so it is unlikely He would have helped them with construction even if all supreme beings—from Osiris to Jehovah— weren't a complete fantasy. The fact that this truly stupid Being There character is number one in the polls is one of the great mysteries of the 21st Century.

Note: I think I found a clue to Carson's success. On the Internet I could not find a single photo that  reflected just how incredibly ignorant this guy is.

Odd rituals.

Straight men are terrified of showing affection for another man. A quick and awkward hug is about as far they will go. But just let them win a game or series and they're hugging, kissing, and rubbing their bodies together in ecstatic embraces. It's a pity that most men can't show the same kind of love for lifelong, or even recent, male friends that they do for teammates who may be total strangers to them off the field.

Everyone's missing the point.

This Sunday on "Meet the Press" Paul Ryan told Chuck Todd that the smell of cigarettes from Boehner's chain smoking still lingered in the speaker's office. He wasn't sure how he could get the smell out. This led to lots of media discussion about the evils of smoking and the lingering odors. But I think everyone missed the point of this story. I think this is an incredible indictment of Ryan's character. He chose to publicly ridicule John Boehner by pointing out that he probably smoked illegally in a public building, that he was addictive, and basically that he stank. Now I don't like Boehner and never have. But Ryan is supposed to be a loyal Republican. But in order to remind Americans how pure and healthy he is he chose to expose his colleague to public derision. I think this was a despicable act of disloyalty from a smug and thoughtless punk. Ryan should have dealt with the problem, embraced his new job, and kept his prissy little mouth shut.

So many baaaad ideas.

One of the most annoying requests in life, the one that fills me with fury and an immediate f.u. response is when any supplier, notably Comcast writes on the bill "Please put your account number on the check."What am I, their clerk?  While paying the bill that I think is far too costly anyway, why should I take the time to seek out and write down on the check their 15-digit account number? More and more businesses are depending on you to do part of their job, such as self check-out at CVS and Home Depot. No thanks.  I want someone to ring me up. Another major offender are restaurants and fast-food outlets that want you to bus the  table when you are done. This is a perfectly acceptable request when  the prices are so reasonable that one is glad to provide a helping hand to keep them low. (That, after all, was its original intent.) But it should not apply to such pricey establishments as Starbucks. But then we Americans are easily manipulated. Look how often we—including me—give tips to people who are standing behind a counter and not providing any extra service. Why do we feel we have to help prosperous business owners pay their help?

Comments please.

I get almost no comments from my blog. Surely I must have amused you, or irritated you or, even better infuriated you, but still no comments. Too bad because I like debating. And, besides, there are so many things I don't know that could be answered by someone reading my blog. But maybe you don't know how to reply. It isn't very clear. But I think it's simple. All you have to do is click,"No comments" and presto, you have a place to comment. So how about giving it a try. Especially you: One of my favorite people who showed up at my birthday party 33 years ago dressed as Harpo Marx.

Watch your step!

One of America's most popular and successful promotions has got to be this Dr. Scholl's machine which they promote as "state-of-the-art in foot mapping technology". It's hard to accept that this flimsy "kiosk" which seems to be made out of cardboard and powered by two AA batteries can diagnose anything. Still one is encouraged to step on it without one's shoes to see where your feet experience the most pressure. If the machine is working (they often aren't) you will be encouraged to purchase one of the displays inserts, which are absurdly overpriced. One friend suggested the goal of the machine is to have you step on the platform without shoes, get athlete's foot and buy a Dr. Scholl's remedy. Now I can't actually prove that this machine is worthless or that the costly inserts are a waste of money, but everything about this kooky kiosk screams scam.

It's three, three, three commercials in one!

I was curious to watch a clip from the ABC News special interviewing Leah Remini on her new book Troublemaker, in which she details why she left the Church of Scientology and how she feels about Tom Cruise. But before I could see this clip I had to watch a commercial for IHOP. Hmmm. Now why do I have to watch a commercial for IHOP when this Leah Remini clip is itself a commercial for ABC News in which Leah Remini is promoting her book Troublemaker, another commercial message?  This is a perfect example of how the American public are sheep when it comes to being forced to watch far more commercials than necessary to make a good profit. The advertisers want to make a killing, and they know consumers are complete suckers.