Quick post in between rain storms to say "Happy 4th of July" to those celebrating "the birth of the USA". I know I have readers around the world, so there should be some clarification (which I know is silly of me).
As my neighbors have their flags out, I went over to one of them and took a couple pictures with my iPhone 17. Edited for content with Photoshop, and I know I need to practice my color correction more).
It's starting to get a little windy out, so like I said, we're in between storms at the moment, which is why the flag is moving the way it is.
Locally, there are fireworks scheduled tonight, however, like a lot of places in the United States, we're under a ban burn. Therefore, what's going to pop off later, will be highly watched so no fire is unintentionally started.
Which is kind of crazy since we've been having sporadic rain bursts the last 72 hours. It hasn't been enough to keep the ground saturated since it's been so hot, but the flooding in some of the streets say otherwise. It's a part of life down here - the random deluge of water and the way it quickly floods certain areas and then stops just as fast as it started.
Hopefully the pyrotechnics tonight won't be cancelled due to storms, but you never know. It's kind of heavily overcast right now and I know my friends up north are bummed their cities aren't doing anything.
The news today has been showing all the celebratory stuff across the country as well. From coast to coast, news anchors are interviewing locals and reminding viewers of national monuments and treasures. As this is the 250th birthday of the country, it is a special time in people's lives. It also is coinciding with the World Cup, being played in North America, so all the soccer football fans are getting a special treat.
There's a moth sitting outside my window that is hanging out on the screen and it's squirreling me. It's been there all day and I don't know what it wants. It can't come in; "there's nothing for you, here!".
Go. Away.
Speaking of going away, I had to disable my adblocker on Chrome because YouTube finally caught up with me: I was having ads not play while watching random videos.
I got a message two days ago, saying "Ad Blocker violates YouTube's Terms of Service".
Whomp. whomp.
Message received... I had to turn it off, unless I risk being banned from YouTube and other Google Services.
I never thought twice about the ads, since I've gotten used to seeing them on other devices (televisions for example). When I got this on my laptop, a quick search said this type of message has been around for a few years already and it's a catch-all for various revenue streams and other incidentals.
I'm not going to get into the politics of it, but now that I read up on it, I'm surprised it took this long to get that message, truth be told.
I'll have to be fine with it, if I expect to keep my accounts "in good standing". The expectation (in my head) is, if I'm still going to blog here, have a Google email address, utilize Chats and upload occasional videos to share, I need to comply with the ToS thing and turn off the adblocker. I'm sure it's a scare tactic as there are comments floating around the internet pointing in various directions, but I'm not going to take the chance. I also don't want to pay for premium, but if that's your jam, I'm not going to hate you for it. It's not for me; I don't watch YouTube often enough to warrant an extra subscription service.
So there you have it. Two days of shenanigans wrapped up in a small post.
Or would be small post if I didn't include photos.
Whatever the case, if you're celebrating today and tonight, I hope you're safe and stay hydrated. If you're celebrating with the States from another country, woohoo! Party across the continents! If you're staying low and chill, not doing anything, I don't blame you one bit. I remember a couple years running, Tay and I would have an email going back and forth on this day, and it would be entitled "Are you [expletive] the fourth just like me?". Meaning, it was a regular day and we just chilled; didn't do much, didn't go out. It was business as usual and the usual business was protesting something. somewhere. Even if it was just in our heads.
Tay, if you're reading this, "Eff the Fourth. Email me; I would like to talk to you since you've taken too long of a powder".
For now, I hope everyone remains calm, cool, hydrated and fantastic. Until something else happens and I post something new. Take care of yourselves and your friends.
Cheers;
See also (links via Amazon):
* "There's nothing for you, here!" comes from Edward Tatsyrup, a character from "The League of Gentlemen", a BBC dark comedy. Watch how you order on Amazon; some are PAL discs while most are coming from third party vendors.
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Thanks for sharing!