Cheaters

So yesterday a federal judge overturned Tom Brady's four game suspension in the deflategate ordeal. The NFL says that they'll appeal. You can read all of the details here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/patriots/2015/09/03/deflategate-tom-brady-roger-goodell-judge-richard-overturned-berman-new-england/71504142/

I'm not a big NFL fan. (Well, I was up until about a week ago when my former favorite team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, signed on Michael Vick, but we'll save this tirade for another blog post.) But I am a big fan of honesty and playing by the rules.

Back during the playoffs, it seems that Tom Brady and his teammates felt that their skills were lacking enough that they had to deflate their balls (footballs, not testicles) in order to play better or catch them better or something. Whatever their reason was, it helped them to win that game and advance to the Super Bowl.

Someone reported them and even though it had been reported and was being investigated, they were still able to a  play in the Super Bowl and they won.

Well after the Super Bowl was over and done with, the investigation was complete, lo and behold, it was found that Tom Brady, indeed, had cheated. Gasp!

He shall be suspended for four games!

Gasp!

And on September 3, 2105 a federal judge overturned that because in America it's okay to cheat. But the NFL is planning to appeal, the article says.

Where am I going with this?

Tom Brady and other athletes, celebrities, etc are looked upon by children as heroes. Everything they say and do is taken in by those little eyes and ears. If it's okay for them to cheat, then why isn't it okay for the little children to cheat?

Judge Richard M Berman, why is it okay for Tom Brady to cheat and get away with it? How do we explain this to our kids?

A PSA for American Facebook Users

I'm sure you all have seen the attached photo that is floating around Facebook for the past few weeks and you've thought it was awesome and hit that little share button without even looking at the link that is just above the picture.

Well, let's take a close look at that link, shall we?

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/smoking-in-vehicles

Look closely after the https://www.gov. part. It says UK. Not US. That means that law is going into effect in the UK. Not the US.

Now let me say I don't think you should ride around all day with your kids while you chain smoke. I'm not saying that at all. I also know that there are several states in the US that has that law in effect.

Then what is it that I'm saying?

Know what you're sharing before you share it so that I don't have to post a PSA about it. There are so many hoaxes being passed around on social media these days and all it does is makes the person that's sharing it look ignorant. Take a second and do a little research before you share it.There's a great website called snopes.com. Go there, look for there search box and type in a little info on what you're looking for. It will tell you if something is true or false.

Thanks and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Ancestry

So it's been a while but not much has been going on to write about. I've been in a lot of pain with my fibromyalgia and some new health issues but I don't like being a Debbie downer so I've been keeping that stuff to myself.

A couple of weeks ago I started working on min and Mark's family trees. When I hit a road block I sent out an SOS on Facebook to all my family members and my cousin Emmy sent me a list of my Papa's aunts and uncles. Among them was my great great Uncle Thomas Rance Yarbrough.

Thomas was an employee of the Chiquola mill. In September of 1934 some of the employees decided to unionize and strike because of wages and long hours. The superintendent, who was also the town's mayor, deputized some of the men who hadn't joined the union and armed them with pistols, rifles, and shotguns. On September 6 things turned violent and shots rang out leaving seven men dead, including my great great uncle. Several others, including women, were wounded. Strange enough, all of this took place in the town of Honea Path, the town I moved to about 18 months ago.

I have to give credit to Frank Beacham and his e book, Mill Town Murder, for a lot of the information above. I highly recommend reading this book.

Today, Mark and I explored the ruins of the Chiquola mill. I read in an 2014 article from the Anderson Independent that an earthquake in February 2013 destroyed a lot of what was still standing of the old textile mill. As I explored it was easy to imagine the sounds, the sights and even the smells of what it must have been like back when it was still in operation. I grew up about two and a half blocks from the JP Stevens plant in Whitmire. I would fall asleep every night to the hum of the sounds the machines. I remember the smells from a tour the powers that be allowed when I was child. The place seemed huge. I recall my Meme coming home from her second shift job with lint in her hair.

Mills were the heartbeat of the southeast at one time.

On September 6, 1934 my great great uncle's heartbeat stopped on the sidewalk in front of a mill.

RIP Thomas Rance Yarbrough

You've heard of fair weather friends? Well...

I have a story for you. Grab some popcorn, wine, vodka, Resse's Pieces or the snack of your choice.

I had (had, you see) this friend. We'll call her S. A and I had been friends for about six years. We were close friends and had even became "sisters" at one point. A lives out of state and has visited me twice.

In the past year, things started getting nuts with her. I stopped hearing from her on a regular basis. It got to the point that I only heard from her when him she needed to bitch about the current boyfriend. (This was the first current boyfriend of the year, not the current current guy.) she would go on and on about how he had wronged her in one way or another and me, trying to be a good friend, would sympathetically listen and then always agree that he had just done her wrong. And of course I always told her what a great person she is and tell her everything she needed to hear to make her feel better. Even though she says she sugar coats nothing, she needs everything sugar coated for her. 

However, if I needed to talk to her about an issue I was having either she didn't have time or it soon got turned around to her current problem. The opposite of a fair weather friend.

Since then, she has gone through 3 (I think, it's hard to keep up) guys in the past year. That's really none of my business except for the fact that she told me in one of our last conversations back in the fall last year that she wasn't going to date anyone for a while and that she was gonna work on herself. Ok. Good.

Near the end of last year, I shared a picture on Facebook that said something like "in the past year you've posted more pictures on Instagram with the caption me and my better half. You must be an extra large pizza." I thought it was funny but honestly had not one single person in mind. Apparently, S was feeling guilty because she was the first to comment with "you must be talking about me." Well, honey, if the shoe fits!

So, S, (and since she's blocked me on all social media I doubt that she'll see this) I'm not sugar coating anything anymore:

1.  Honey, you need some serious help. You say one thing and do the exact opposite. You're gonna stop dating and work on yourself so you go through 2 or 3 more men after that.

2.  No one believes anything that comes out of your mouth anymore because of past lies. Who knows what lies you're telling at this very moment. 

3.  Kiss my ass.