Racist, not racist, bigoted, or just dumb? You decide>>> This morning while perusing Facebook, I happened upon a video posted by a friend. It was of a young, black woman getting her hair braided in a very intricate and beautiful way. Clearly, the video was to showcase the stylist’s abilities and to show how pretty the lady looked when it was done.

As any of you FBers know, once you view a video on FB, an ad or two will appear below it on your timeline, which FB believes would be of interest to you based on the video you just viewed (and I’m sure based on other things – it’s an algorithm). As soon as I was done with the hair braiding video, FB shows me an ad – on how to crochet a hat. Wow, FB. Really? Exactly how is a crocheted hat in anyway related to hair braids? Specifically, black lady hair braids. Is FB’s algorithm really implying that black ladies’ hair looks like crocheted yarn? Why not show me an ad for a Raggety Ann doll? Ouch. Could you be any more degrading, FB?

Am I over-reaching here in feeling insulted? Why not offer to show me more hair braiding videos? Why in the world would FB feel there is any connection to crocheted hats and hair braids? I’m probably looking way too far into this. Yes, I acknowledge it’s an algorithm, but I suggest FB needs to adjust it. If this is not straight up bigotry, it certainly gives an appearance of complete ignorance to black hair, and that is just not acceptable in 2015. Get with the times or we will leave you behind, FB.

Here’s one of those odd coincidence stories for you. First, some background.

I often spend Savannah’s single winter month inside doing genealogical research. This year has been no different. I’ve recently put in some hours on my Ferguson and Quigley lines in an attempt to have some good ‘Irish Family History’ to add to my tree by St. Pat’s.

My research so far indicates my Irish ancestors came from North Ireland, Counties Derry and Antrim. To inspire me to continue on my N. Ireland research, on Tuesday, January 20th, I updated my work computer desktop with a photo of a statue of Manannán Mac Lír, a Celtic sea god, that was placed on a hillside in County Derry in 2013. It looks a little like this:

Well, it did, anyway.

On January 21st, I read that this statue was STOLEN. Yep, that’s right, someone(s) had the gall to steal a six foot, weight unknown but quite heavy, statue. Even worse, the jackasses who stole it thought it would be a good idea to leave a wooden cross in it’s place with a sign stating, “Thou Shalt Not Have False Gods Before Me”. Really, zealots? You feel threatened by this fiberglass statue? Pathetic.

Not a new point, but it’s worth repeating – if zealots feel the need to tear down a statue of a fictional character because it threatens their god, then their god is a weakling and shouldn’t be worshipped anyway. Suck it up cowards and return the statue. Your god wants you to. She told me.

My uncle found an abandoned 1960s Eko 995, and a number of family members were kind enough to make arrangements to send it here from Illinois. This weekend, with Mike as my guide, we were set to begin the tear down and clean up of the Eko. Unfortunately, we didn’t get very far. Turns out, the truss rod was broken off in the nut, so that killed any plans for this bass until we figure out whether we can get this fixed for a reasonable price.

Mike wrote about it more on his music blog, here: 1960s Eko 995 Broken Truss Rod Nut. He is reaching out to people he knows for ideas, and I am feeling slightly hopeful he will come up with a workable solution. In the meantime, I thought I’d share about this too in the off chance one you have an idea for this. I sure don’t want to have to part this thing off. It’s so pretty-pretty. Help!

Jerry Garcia was here.

And yes, I’ve broken out the colored pencils to, literally, color. I’ve reverted to 10 years old and it feels fabulous. Come join me on your next lunch break.

While I’m on the subject of adults coloring, some fun from 1961:
The Executive Coloring Book. Get your grey crayons ready!