Month: April 2020

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Bwhahahahah! There are some things that tickle the hell out of me!

CNN: Wanted: People who know a half century-old computer language so states can process unemployment claims.

willcodeforfood.jpegI saw this and just about laughed myself stupid.

I thought, “New Jersey is going to have to check homeless camps, ask old bartenders, check with real estate agents, lawyers, and gas station attendants.”

That’s where most of the old COBOL or FORTRAN programmers ended up, all of whom were laid off in favor of H1B1s. Yep, a lot of those programmers were tossed aside like yesterday’s trash by businesses, and government back in the 80’s.

manonbench.jpegA lot of them moved on to other things and I know several that built lucrative businesses in other fields. For a while I had an Eye doctor that had been a COBOL programmer. He was making way better money as an eye doctor than he ever made as a programmer and the hours were better too.

He didn’t regret getting out of programming at all. Like most of us old school tech people, he’d gone through lay off, after lay off, and had “trained” his replacements at too many companies.

homelesstents.jpegHe went back to school after his last layoff, graduated and started his own practice. To do this, he lived in a leaky teardrop trailer for two years after cashing out everything he owned to pay for school. He wasn’t eligible for student loans because he’d made too much in his previous positions.

I know some real estate agents and a couple of patent attorneys as well. They were all great programmers and they were treated like shit.

Iusedtobeyourneighbor.jpegThey wouldn’t touch a programming job now. It brings back bitter memories for them to even talk about programming.

See, they loved what they were doing, they had their joy crushed and were considered disposable in favor of “cheap” labor. Many of them simply walked off the job rather than “train” their foreign replacements.

I say “train” because more often than not the foreign replacements weren’t up to snuff to begin with. Many of these folks couldn’t follow the code, so training was a pointless exercise.

Then I remembered Y2K and thought it’s been 20 years. Couldn’t these government entities be bothered to update the equipment and programs? 

Some of the COBOL guys did come back to rework Y2K systems and they charged frankly obscene amounts to do it. I’d heard that several paid off houses and cars loans with the money they earned from Y2K contracts.

Then I thought, “Who’s gonna test it?”

I went back to laughing.

I’m sorry that the people in need of unemployment benefits aren’t going to be helped it’s not fair to them. However, this brings into sharp relief, other problems “leaders” in business and government have been sweeping under the carpet for decades.

The chickens are coming home to roost.

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Well, that wasn’t unexpected.

Bernie Sanders via Fox NewsBernie Sanders has dropped out of the Presidential race.

All I can say is, Duh!

After his relatively poor showings in key states it was something that should have happened weeks ago.

Surprising that it took him so long to decide. 

I’ve never understood how someone like him who is rich, could condemn wealth. I’d trade places with him. Give him a taste of what being on the other side of the walled garden is like. I guarantee that after a week he’d be wanting to trade back. Of course by that time I’d have done a little redistribution of my own.

Honestly, I’m amazed that he did as well as he did.

Come on, you’ve got to admit in your heart of hearts that it’s going to be a tough sell. A rich guy telling a country of not rich people that being rich is bad?

My thought was always, “If being rich is so heinous Bernie, then give your money to those less fortunate in your home state.”  I know that wouldn’t happen in a million years.

Just so you know, I’m not above taking a 500K handout from him. I’d pay off my house, bills, and car, then I’d see if I could get a job at a fast food place until I could legitimately retire.

If you think about the fact the 500K would do it for me personally, you might start to understand my frustration with rich politicians.

With that relatively small amount, I could wipe my debt, and be in a situation where minimum wage would pay my utility bills, provide insurance, fund a retirement account, and allow me to have some monthly savings. Perhaps It would even allow me to take a vacation once every 5 years instead of once every 12 years.

Look at the amount of money folks like Bernie and other politicians waste & you’ll start to get why I’m opposed to bloated Government and high taxes.

If we could reduce the tax burden by the cost of countless pointless hearings and Pelosi follies, overall the average taxpayer would be better off.

Unfortunately that’s not the way it works. The Government will always find a way to keep what they’re taking and find new ways to take more.

Under Bernie, I wholeheartedly believe that it would have been business as usual and those of us in the middle class would have been worse off.

So it’s with a certain sense of relief that Bernie is out of the race.

Joe biden 2012 7 13Sadly, that leaves Biden. 

Biden was at one time a statesman that I respected.

But those days are past. He’s well past his prime and honestly I’m concerned over what appears to be his degraded mental state.

The last thing we need in a president is someone that’s not all there. With Trump we got lucky, he may not be all there, but he’s contentious enough that he’s not going to be manipulated without a fight.

Dourif lotrWith Biden I’m not so sure.

In his case, I start asking, “Who would be the power behind Biden?”

Would it be his VP? Or would it be some other shadowy character whispering into Joe’s ear?

If it was his VP then we could still come out ahead, so long as that VP was someone that had a brain and was minimally  interested in serving the people.

But we all know it doesn’t work that way. A corrupt VP could do much more damage to the country than a bad president. I know if I were nefarious, a VP slot with an “out of it” President would be perfect…

You do pretty much whatever you want, work it out so that you have two terms, arrange your power, take as much cash as you can, and let the outgoing President take the blame…

You bail to Malta with untold millions and live out your days quietly, opulently, and laugh every time your investments double.

I never said it would be right, moral, or ethical. 

It’s because I think of shit like this, that I’m mistrusting of government. The potential for abuse is just too damn high and no-one is above temptation.

Hell, I’m a straight shooting, ethically bound, guy. I can tell you without hesitation, If I were a VP with Biden as President, I’d have a tough time not taking advantage of the situation I described.

I don’t believe that the majority of politicians are equal to me in ethics, or morality.  

That being said, I think Biden in his current state, isn’t the man for the job. I think he’s not there enough to realize he’s being manipulated. Which leads me to believe if he’s elected we’ll have 8 years of super bad stuff happening in this nation.

Just my 2 cents.

This election year I again find myself in a position where I either vote for the Devil I know, or don’t vote at all.

Another thing I have to thank the Democratic party for… Really? You couldn’t come up with better candidates?

OH and for the record… I’m registering Independent. Because both parties have so utterly and completely failed our nation.

Later that day…

Well, that was easy. I just changed my voter registration to “Independent” online. Gee it’s nice when governmental online stuff actually works.

Now, if only the same could be said for CoveredCalifornia’s website or the Employment Development website. Both sites are terrible, buggy, and clearly untested across multiple web-browsers and operating systems.

Later Still… 

I realized that the American Independent Party doesn’t really align with my world view. In fact they seem to be a little to the right of the more radical parts of the Republican party. Clearly I’d confused The American Independent with someone else. 

So I began more research. I know that it’s not ever going to be a perfect fit between a party and me so it’s a matter of who fits best.

So the American Independent party is out.

The Democratic party is a complete no-go

The Republicans have drifted away from the principals they had back in my Dad’s time (When I first registered to vote)

The Green party is the Democratic party on steroids and a no go.

Obviously the Communist party is right out.

The Libertarian Party… Hey, their platform / mission statement resonates. Minimal Government, Freedom of the individual, personal responsibility, individualism.

Hmmmm.

Wow! There are a lot of political parties in the US. This is going to take some time to analyze.

But analyze I will. I want to be a member of a party that actually represents my beliefs and I want to be joined by other like minded people because in numbers there is strength.

I’m tired of tone deaf political parties that are only interested in their agendas and actively ignore the will or rights of the people they’re supposed to be representing.

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Winter is back

IMG 1303It’s that time of year when Nature is annoying as heck.

Up in the mountains we get a couple of days of warm spring weather and then a polar plunge.

Starting Sunday afternoon we were getting rain. Sometime during the night it turned into a slushy snow which continued through Monday. Last night we got more snow and I’m going to be out clearing the driveway, deck, and street.

Visibility is damn near zero right now.

I don’t mind so much if I’ve got nowhere to go. But I do have someplace to go this afternoon. 

There are times when I think nature has an active hatred for me.

With all the weather changes my sinuses go nuts. I don’t have Covid-19 but it sure looks like I do if I head out in public.

There’s good news and bad news with that. People tend to avoid me, which I’m fine with. But these days, the stink-eye you get if you’ve got the sniffles is annoying. 

The other day I watched an adult female have an emotional melt down in a parking lot because someone got too close to her. While I understand and appreciate not wanting to be too close to anyone, I can’t see the point in freaking out about it.

If you’re that terrified, well, stay home. 

This is a function of the 24/7 news cycle talking doom and gloom on every broadcast. People are scared. I get that, but the reality is there’s little you can do about it. I suspect that the majority of us have already been exposed to Covid-19 back in December or January. If you were shopping, or at an airport, or in a plane, you were probably exposed.

Turns out a lot of people are asymptomatic so there’s no way to know for sure if you’ve been exposed without a test. It’s also possible that the “flu” you had was Covid-19 and you’ve gotten over it. 

Don’t get me wrong this virus shouldn’t be taken lightly, especially if you’ve got underlying conditions but this genie’s been out of the bottle for a while now.

So chill out. Things will play out as they’re going to. Blind panic or emotional meltdowns won’t help.

Be smart, try to minimize your contact and try very hard not to think about the filth on the PIN pads that we all have to touch every time we use our debit cards.

Really, don’t think about that. It bugged me before Covid-19, those things are never cleaned, unless someone like me happens to be working on the device. I always cleaned ATM keypads and PIN pads when I repaired them. 

If you, like me, just watch people you’ll know that humans are a filthy animal at the best of times.

Anyhoo… With the change in humidity, pressure, and temperature, my nose is running like a creek. I had just enough spring pollen to activate my allergies, then wham! Cold air outside, combined with the drying effect of the heater running in the house. The math is pretty obvious.

On top of that, I don’t have any face masks. I gave the last ones to a neighbor who was doing some work around their house and forgot to replace them. I don’t even have a bandana since those were lost in the fire 10 years ago.

One of the things about a fire, is that you forget what you don’t have. I didn’t remember that the bandanas were gone until yesterday when I went looking for them. I went to the place that they were stored, and then it hit me. Duh! I’m a moron, it shows how I’ve not been replacing everything that I once had.

Bitten in the butt by my own desire for simplicity… Again!

Ahh if the President don’t need a mask… I’m going to go without one too.

Speaking of simplicity, yesterday I woke up cranky and totally stir crazy. I’ve really got to get out of the house. 

IMG 1301To fight the feeling of boredom I found tinker toys and Lincoln logs that had survived the fire and decided to sort them. I ended up playing with them building stuff and goofing around. It was good therapy after clearing the driveway and street of snow.IMG 1199

Dang near 60 and I’m playing with tinker toys. This lockdown is getting to me.

On the plus side, my cabin fever was significantly reduced, since I wasn’t looking at my computer or other tech.

I guess we all need to just turn off from time to time and let our simpler nature assert itself.

Were I in Florida, I’d be building guns with my Brother, that too is fun. The side benefit is that you see your accomplishment when you’re finished.

I’d love to go to my favorite bar and just have a drink. SO WHAT if I’m saying that at 8:00 in the morning?

I’m not saying I’d go right now, I’m saying it would be nice to take off and have a destination!

I’d head out, enjoy the drive, get a haircut and splurge for a nice barber shave, then head over to the bar and have a drink with real people around me.

That would be nice. I’d probably have to get a hotel room. I haven’t had any alcohol since I came back from Florida. A drink right now would hit me like a ton of bricks!

Not that it would necessarily be bad to have a hotel room. The bar is in a nice warm place and I’d probably nap by a pool  in the sun for a little while.

Maybe I’d even find a way to get into some adult trouble!  Yep, cabin fever is a bitch.

Have a good day and think of me shoveling snow. It’ll make you feel better.