Month: January 2016

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Ok I’m a total geek

When it rains on a Sunday, most people watch a game, or a movie, or lounge in bed with their loved one reading the paper or loving their loved one.

When I was very young, I remember piling into my parents bed on rainy Sundays. Dad & I would fight over the funnies, Mom would make us calm down while she finished the Home and Garden section of the paper.

Eventually, there would be pancakes, followed by more tickling and “fighting” over sections of the Sunday paper. Since all this was in the deep south, by noon or one ‘o’clock the sun would be poking through the clouds and we’d go find something to do outside.

Southerners have a tacit agreement with God. Most Sundays it rains only while we’re in church and stops about the time the minister is wrapping up. Every once in a while though God gives us a break, (probably from an especially boring sermon) by making it rain all morning. If it’s raining when we’re supposed to be getting ready for church we don’t go. After all, the rain messes up mom’s hat and our sunday go to meeting clothes would be damp and musty all through church.

It’s all very civilized and Southerners understand that God has to deep soak the plants sometimes. God doesn’t seem to mind us staying inside and reading the paper either.

Now days, on a rainy Sunday, it’s me sitting up in bed listening to the rain on the roof, with coffee and a computer. These are the days I upgrade software.

Not nearly as much fun as other pursuits but necessary. Or as in this case optional but ultimately useful.

I’m upgrading my Windows 7 workhorse to Windows 10. I love VMWare for it’s ability to copy containers that contain opertating systems and all the files in that OS.

If this upgrade goes off the rails, all I have to do is trash this container and copy a backup to my system and everything is reset. It makes me a lot more comfortable experimenting like this.

I’m getting the impression that I’m going to be watching a lot more rain than learning Windows 10 today. Wow this process is crawling along.

Ah well, the sound of rain on the roof is a welcome change.

Have a good Sunday however you’re spending yours.

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Is it just me?

Images

Or have corporate web sites become more obtuse?

We’ve all heard the message on hold. “Most of your questions can be answered by going to our website www.blahdeblahblahblah.com” 

Some of us fume, (I’m one of the fumers) I hear that message and think, “If I had found what I was looking for on your daffy website, I wouldn’t have dug up your freakin phone number from your website to call you.”

The Hitchhiker s Guide to the Galaxy

I’m reminded of the passage in Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy between Arthur Dent and the Foreman of the construction crew ready to destroy Arthur’s house.

“But the plans were on display…”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.” 
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Indeed websites appear to bury the lead more frequently now than in the past. 

Design and Stylistic Rant

I632hexq l’ve decided that the next website I build I’m going to put all the contact information, frequently asked questions, phone numbers, mailing addresses, and any other useful information behind an image of a disused lavatory door with a sign that says “Beware of the Leopard” (That’s my web design idea, call it copyrighted). Optionally, I may add another layer of annoyance by forcing the intrepid web user to open a filing cabinet then simulate flickering of light to make reading the information (displayed as either yellow on grey or red on grey characters) stored in the filing cabinet, a much more challenging thing to do before your first cup of coffee. 

With all these designers with their media/ design/ art school diplomas in web design, you’d think that at some point some professor would have discussed that a significant portion of the population exhibit some level of red-green or blue-yellow colorblindness and a larger portion of the population are shade blind as well. 

Which means that putting a 10 point HelveticaNarrow font in white on a light grey page, is going to look to a lot of folks like a blank page.

I’m not shade or color blind, and stuff like that is annoying as hell to me. All it takes is an allergy day, a cold, or dry eyes and now my lovelies, your web page is useless to pretty much everyone. 

I shouldn’t have to open your page in an HTML editor to be able to see what’s on it.

Just Sayin…

Anyhow.

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My finger is hovering over a schedule time button on the Apple webpage.

I’ve spent 10 minutes thrashing through pages intended to answer every question and provide every service EXCEPT something that must take place in the physical world.

Why not make it simple? How about putting a button Front and Center that says SCHEDULE a visit with an Apple Genius? How about putting that right at the bottom of the opening page?

<sigh> It’s the age of obfuscation.

I’m finally on the page, I think, that will allow me to complete the task that I thought would be simple and only take a minute.

Hovering over the button, I ask myself why is it that I can ONLY schedule on a single day a week out? Why can’t I schedule an appointment on any of the other days that week? Why can’t I schedule an appointment 2 weeks out?

Why is Apple dictating essentially that I’ll have to make a special trip to their store and not be able to combine that trip with other things I might already have on my agenda?

My finger is still hovering. the first appointment is 2:15 in the afternoon, I’d really like a morning appointment, I don’t like being in Apple stores in the afternoon or evening.

Flightline

Then it hits me;

I DON’T LIKE BEING IN APPLE STORES AT ALL!

But the morning is always preferable to afternoon.

I slowly come to realize that while I like Apple products, I can’t stand the noise, crowding, confusion, and general disarray that every single Apple store has become. I’ve actually been to shooting ranges that were quieter than most Apple Stores.

It’s like being in an ‘80s disco bar.

Everyone is yelling to be heard, there’s continuous BOOMING driving base coming from the PA system and at least half a dozen different sound sources all around the room. People are shoving to get to whatever bright and shiny, they want to play with, and they’re rude about it.

4246303 683742 cocktail a mix of various drinks sometimes alcoholic drinks

At least in a bar, I’d have a drink that would be acting as an anesthetic. 

Alas, Apple stores, for all their other bar-like similarities are lacking the one critical component that would allow me to justify shouting over music which is indistinguishable from being on the flight line of a aircraft carrier during a fighter scramble. 

Whiskey!

The only bar I’ve ever enjoyed with noise as loud as the Apple store, was a place where you could get a drink and a BLOW-JOB at the same time.

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The volume of the music was to hide the grunts, shouts and “Rebel Yells” of various guys blowing their loads down willing throats. In other words, the pain in my ears was offset by alcohol and nasty pleasure.

I’m spending premium dollars in an Apple Store. I don’t need Vivaldi but I would like to conduct business at some decibel level below 200. I’d like to literally be able to hear myself think.

The 2:15 appointment has vanished. 2:45 is available.

My finger still hovers over the button.

Nah… I’ll wait.

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This is totally weird

It’s in the 50s

Some of my plants are budding as though they think it’s spring.

A couple of weeks ago we had almost a foot of snow. Now I’m wandering around barefoot, in jeans & in a T-Shirt.

We’re just barely making it below freezing at night.

This time of year it should be pretty much freezing all the time, with ocassional highs in the 40s.

God NO!

Global warming is going to drive the riff raff up into the mountains!

Alright, I demand that we quadrupal the carbon taxes! Start spray painting everything white so we can reflect all the heat back out into space.

We need an ice age!

I’ll do anything to avoid having to deal with Riff Raff on a daily basis.

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Published without further comment…

 

Saudi cleric calls chess ‘work of the devil,’ issues fatwa

Saudi Arabia’s top Muslim cleric has issued a fatwa against chess, saying it is like gambling and is forbidden by God. The mufti said the game was a waste of time and stirred enmity among people.

“Chess is like alcohol and gambling that God has forbidden,” Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Aziz al-Sheikh announced in one of his broadcasts that has appeared frequently in the last months.

The cleric expressed his views in a Saudi religious television channel called Almajd.

Chess buffs in the country said they were upset by the mufti’s statement. “The mufti has no background about chess and its modern systems,” Moussa Bandr, an official of the Saudi Chess Association, told journalists of the dpa news agency.

“This fatwa could open the door for the religious police in the kingdom to have a legal reason for stopping us from organizing chess tournaments,” Bandr said, adding that a chess event had begun on Friday in Mecca without any problems.

Meanwhile, chess mogul Garry Kasparov came to the rescue, condemning the fatwa and demanding that Riyadh concentrate more on human rights and democracy.

Chess is popular in Saudi Arabia, where men play the game at home or in coffee houses. Riyadh follows a very strict interpretation of Islam called Wahhabism which imposes strict restrictions, including the segregation of men and women in public and a ban on women’s driving.
mg/bw (dpa, AFP)
– via DW.COM

Except to say this is one of many ways to make sure your people continue to wallow in irrationality and illogic.

 

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How long will Germany put up with it?

Swimming pool 2 640x480

This Blog post started when I saw a headline meant to SHOCK “Immigrants BANNED from pool in Germany”

It’s not until you get well into the article that, almost as an aside, the author mentions that one of the immigrants was molesting a 3 year old boy. 

Up to that point the author appeared to be writing as a proper SJW, implying that the “Mean Germans” were denying immigrants pool time.

The author of that piece (which I can’t find now) didn’t mention all the other incidents at the pool, OR any of the incidents at other pools throughout Germany.

New information is coming to light about the behavior of Middle Eastern immigrants in public places. And indirectly how this information is being suppressed.

There was a leaked report to Bild (the link takes you to the article,) which in part, explains the decision to close the historic Johannisbad baths in Zwickau, Saxony.

Baby ruth in the pool

I was able to find a number of references to pool closures and immigrant bans in Germany. None of them were racist. The bans and closures are for just cause.

The list of offenses is disgusting.

Masturbating to ejaculation in the Jacuzzi.  (Ok, who hasn’t had sex in their Jacuzzi? The difference is I owned the jacuzzi, so it was my mess to clean up. I’ve NEVER done it in a public shared Jacuzzi or where there were children watching)

Defecating in the children’s pools (Apparently public pools in Germany have shallow pools set aside for children.) 

Groping incidents in the saunas (when the employees tried to intervene the immigrants ignored or threatened them. So the employees closed the saunas. Then the immigrants were banging on the doors insisting that women were inside and demanding access.)

Groping of girls and women throughout the pool complexes.

What’s happened is the locals are being run out of these facilities. The facilities are having to close to clean up the mess.

The immigrants are costing the German people yet more money, while at the same time making the German people feel unsafe in their own Facilities / Towns / Streets / Country.

Then there was the 16 year old girl whose video went viral. She’s calling out Merkel asking why are the elites safe and she’s not?

TRANSCRIPT: (From Breitbart)

Hello, you can read the newspapers but this video is about the real situation in Germany. I would like to tell everyone about this on Youtube and Facebook. I am almost 16. I would like everyone to know what is going on, what I am authentically feeling at this moment.

And I am so scared everywhere. For example, if my family and I go out together, or if I see a movie with my friends. Usually I stay at home, but sometimes I stay out until 6 pm in winter, and it is so scary. It is just very hard to live day-to-day life as a woman.

I just want to say that I am not a racist. But one day, a terrible thing happened at the supermarket. I ran all the way home. I was so frightened for my life. There’s no other way to describe it.

My aunt and her friend have said you have to grow up. Why should we, children, have to grow up in such fear? It’s not just me, my friends too. You can see on Facebook, a 17 year old attacked, a 15 year old attacked, two 12-year olds attacked, so many. It is really so sad that this is happening … because of YOU PEOPLE. 🙁

I cannot understand why they do this. But more importantly, I cannot understand why Germany is doing nothing! Why is Germany standing by, watching, and then doing nothing? Please explain, why. Men of Germany, these people are killing your children, they are killing your women. We need your protection. We are so scared, we don’t want to be frightened to go to the grocery store alone after sunset. The politicians live alone in their villas, drink their cocktails, and do nothing. They do nothing! I do not know what world they live in, but please, people, please help us! Please, do something! I cannot understand why this is happening. One day, my friend and I were walking down the street, and a group of Arabs were protesting and demonstrating. They shouted, “Allah! Allah! Allah is the one God! Kill those infidels! Allah Allah!” What should I do? Should I wear a burka? Why should I have to convert to Islam?

It’s fine if you believe in Allah, but why do you want to make everyone else believe in Allah too? I just think it would be better if there were no religion. Stop trying to make everyone else believe in your God when they do not want to.

Please, people of Germany. Do something!

When I try to tell the authorities about what has happened, they hold their hand up towards me and they say it is a problem and then ignore it. and they laugh. It is unfair. They laugh at us. They say we are dumb. They think this not only of me, but of the entire state of Germany. They don’t care about our fear. Please help us. This is an emergency! There are more and more of them.

One time in summer, the Muslims said we were sluts for walking outside in a t-shirt.

Yes, we were wearing t-shirts. It’s summer!

Another day, I was wearing this. My friend and I purchased it while shopping hehe. If we feel like wearing it, we will wear it! And you Muslims have no right to physically assault or rape us for it! God willing, never in my life. You have no right to attack us because we are wearing t-shirts. You also have no right to rape.

The life of Germany has changed because these people cannot integrate. We give them so much help. We support them financially and they do not have to work. But they only want more babies and more welfare and more money. Men of Germany, please, patrol the streets and protect us. Do this for your women and your children. If you do that, I believe that we will have a chance.

This sort of action would be wonderful. We would be so grateful and thankful. So many thanks, if steadily, more men would come to protect us. We are so scared.

I am so upset about what Merkel has done.

Thank you, Angela Merkel, for killing Germany! I have no more respect for you, Merkel. I do not think you know what you have done. You do not see how our lives have changed. Open your eyes! Is this normal? Should I, a 16-year old who is almost 17, be so scared to walk outside my house? No, it is not normal. You have killed Germany!

This is the truth. We are no longer allowed to walk outside. We are no longer allowed to wear our clothes. We are no longer allowed to live the German life. This is the sad truth.

I think it’s about time to end this video. I believe I have given a full account from a normal person. I hope others can see this and understand.

I only want to end with one message: Men, please, help your women. Help your children. I am so scared. My friends have the same fear. We are shocked that this has happened. I hope this video can convince you, and that this terrible events can stop.

I don’t think she’s just exhibiting teen-aged angst. I think she’s the canary in the coal mine.  We know what happens historically, when Germany becomes nationalistic. 

I think the question is, how much more will the “average” Germans take.

Oh and “Note to Self, Don’t go swimming in Germany’s pools right now.”