Dog-Eat-Dog Enterprises

CAUTION: THIS WEBSITE IS BEING RESUSCITATED BY AN AGING RETIREE; DON'T EXPECT MIRACLES.

As of 2 April 2025 [8 am DST]

April 2nd 2026

My fellow earthlings! I have had a giant taste of hubris again over the past week [big surprise]. But it is time to share some images, thoughts and reflections again. I survived another common cold attack and am now ready to get back into the saddle.

After working on the new content viewing options design (which is taking quite a while, but it might be worth it, trust me). The good news is that I am learning (or relearning) more about HTML and CSS, a new kind of database, and responsive design (JavaScript, too, eventually). The bad news is that my first attempt went very badly. I could not even read it on an iPhone!

[Here is a link to the current version, which will be revised whenever I have time to work on it].

While I have been taking the course, volunteering for Graham Platner, and working away on the redesign: Trump has invaded Venezuela, threatened to invade Greenland, and attempted to bomb Iran into the Stone Age (while he somehow found time to work on his presidential library, his ballroom and sundry voting reduction plans).

IMAGE: A picture of my new computer, finally replacing the previous device (which could no longer be updated with the current versions of most of the tools I used to develop this website).
Photo by MJ

31 January to 15 February 2026

Hello [again] fellow earthlings! It is/are the Ides of February. Time to share more images, thoughts and reflections.

Still working on the new content viewing options design (which might take a while, but it will be worth it, trust me). The good news is that I will get a chance to learn more about JavaScript and HTML (however temporarily). The bad news is that there is still a lot of bad news out there. You can either join me and stare reality in the face, or escape reality with me by viewing some lovely images and cartoons [note: I have included some reality-based cartoons, also]. The rumor is that the Seahawks triumphed over the Red Sox at the SuperBowl (according to the New York Times); we missed it in favor of watching the new Frankenstein film.

IMAGE: A picture of Dippy, a small dog with a big heart. No longer with us, but fondly remembered.
Photo by Gale Davison

IMAGE: A picture of some creature from the fertile imagination of Edd Cartier, one of my favorite artists.
Drawing by Don Smallidge [copied from one of the Science Fiction magazines years ago when I still had aspirations to be a cartoonist] - for the Memoir.

"FLOODING THE ZONE" TRACKER™

. . . Plus Local and Personal Updates

Click on the Show Politics-related Content button above to see more details.

A lot has happened since this page was last updated [understatement]: just real life, plus more "flood the zone" tactics.

• [1] NEWS: More Violence in Minneapolis: Alex Pretti.
  
  

IMAGE: A picture of Alex Pretti. Thank you to Wikipedia:

On January 24, 2026, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old American intensive care nurse for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, was shot multiple times and killed by two United States Customs and Border Protection officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The incident occurred amid widespread protests against Operation Metro Surge, especially following the killing of Renée Good on January 7 by a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

Unfortunately, there is much more detail, commentary and video of the event in many YouTube videos.
WARNING: Some of this footage is very disturbing. It is sad how quickly the mainstream media moves on to cover the next flash bombs; does any story have legs any more (now that the news has been purchased by the lap dogs)?

My best-laid plans to share videos I had been collecting ran afoul of events beyond my control. Maybe later in the new redesign pages. Number 16 below is live.

• [2] FTZ-NEWS: Trump threatens to attack Iran. They are still talking (deal making?).
• [3] FTZ-HUMOR: The "Melania" Documentary premiers. Yawn? Mixed reviews actually. How much of this is hype?
• [4] VIEWING: Interesting new series on Netflix [to us]: The Chair
• [5] MOVIE: Watched xxx on MGM+ [thanks to recommendation from Linda].
• [6] NEWS: Decided to resubscribe to the New York Times after all.
• [7] YOUTUBE: Found more interesting commentators.
• [8] CIVICS: Continued to volunteer for Graham Platner.
• [9] CHESS: Decided to cut back on over-the-board chess.
• [10] HEALTH: New physical therapy challenge; new leg pain issues.
• [11] HISTORY: Reading Berlin Diary & Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
• [12] FTZ-NEWS: ICE in Maine.
• [13] HEALTH: Arthritis is back in my knee; learning to use a cane.
• [14] WEATHER: Big Snow Storm.
• [15] CIVICS: Eyes on Ice Training.
• [16] AI: AI-Powered Disinformation Swarms Are Coming for Democracy - from WIRED.
• [17] FTZ-NEWS: Senator Collins spoke to Kristi Noem about cutting back on the ICE "surge" in Maine. Roughly 200 individuals taken by ICE [not sure where or why and answers are hard to get from the Trump Administration].
• [18] SPORTS: Super Bowl. If you watched it, you already know.
• [19] MOVIE: Frankenstein (2026). Contender for the Oscars; pretty good film, probably a lot closer to Mary Shelley's story than the Boris Karloff version from 193x (my favorite). Well done and worth watching as long as you can handle full color blood and body parts.
• [20] POLITICS: Pam Bondi testifies to House. If you watched it, you already know.

---

As Joyce Vance says: "we are all in this together". Including the hens, pigs, cats, dogs, frogs, owls and all the other critters (real or imagined) who are also potentially affected by the activities of our government and [let's face it, even by other governments].

Cheers, Don

p.s. I know these entries belong in the blog, but I only update the site whenever I have a few minutes; I will be moving this kind of material to the blog where it belongs when I can. Besides, I am working on a new format for this page which will make shuffling blog material around easier [or completely unnecessary]!

There is no Authenticate button yet to see the rest of the site (which is always under construction, i.e.: in complete disarray). If you can find an authenticate button, let me know. For now, just try the "Blog" Button instead.

The astute observer will notice that authentication is not actually conducted yet. This website is almost universally constructed with "HI" but some "AI" is bound to creep in at some point, despite my best efforts (and deliberately on occasion).

Note: "HI" = Human Intelligence; "AI" = Artificial Intelligence; "NI" = Natural Intelligence. LOL