Author: wwducat

About: Writer, Technology guy, Photographer, Possibly EX-Software QA Engineer, Worker Bee. Interests: SCUBA, Working out, Friends, New Views, New Vistas, Photography
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Yawn…

Hope everyone had a good Labor Day.

It was quiet here, thankfully. We didn’t even have the usual garage sales. That was a bit strange, but it meant that the neighborhood was quiet.

Even the crazy folks on the next block weren’t screaming obscenities or arguing with the voices in their heads.

I was forced to be quiet because I’m nursing a bum knee. It’s getting better but only incrementally. On the plus side, if I stay off it I’m not in pain. That means I can, in a mostly guilt free way sit on my butt. Even the dog has figured out that something is very wrong with dad.

Yesterday, I got antsy and used my chain saw to help a neighbor, (who’s just recovered from knee surgery,) thin out some plants that grow between our properties. I heard him trying to get his chain saw running several times, to no effect. He was grumbling but not cussing about it. I figured that the neighborly thing to do was help out.

It was nice, he totally got that I’d be moving slow and was content to point out what he wanted to cut down, then let me get situated and do the cutting. He handled removing the material.

It worked out well. I really needed to be outside being productive, if only for a short while. I only paid a small price for being up and active. Spending the rest of the late afternoon with my knee up.

I know, we’re not supposed to “work” on Labor Day but ehh I needed to do something.

We’re already seeing signs of Fall. Some of the trees are just starting to change. On the one hand that’s nice because it means that it will start cooling off and usually brings the fire season to a close. On the other hand, it means time’s getting short for me to get summer projects done that have been delayed due to various injuries and disasters here at home.

I’ve got maybe another month and a half to get some caulking & painting done before the paint won’t setup correctly due to temperature swings. Much as I hate to do it, I may have to force the knee into service a little before it’s ready.

Have a good short week.

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Readers, Please pardon the Sidebar

It seems that WordPress decided to NOT tell me on opening the widgets panel, (Which I had carefully arranged the way I wanted them,) would result in a royal fuckup. This fuckup encompassed not only of the widget that I wanted to add a single line of HTML to, but destroyed every widget, including those that WordPress supposedly maintained.

Hey, THANKS GUYS!

Now I get to figure out the “New” damned widget system, and honestly my first take is this:

I DON’T LIKE IT!

I was perfectly content to use HTML to do what I wanted to. I was perfectly content to have a simple widget bar down the left side of my blog that presented information the way I wanted it.

I didn’t ask for a visual editor that randomly throws <SPANS> and Font changes, paragraph to paragraph. I didn’t ask for an HTML editor that apparently doesn’t actually like some of your <!– wp:paragraph –> tags in certain arrangements (even though YOU WordPress are adding those elements).

I ESPECIALLY don’t like the fact that you’ve created and released a buggy widget editor that incorrectly converts some HTML and chokes if there is a <Space> between the last character of text in a line and a <Line End>.

This is especially annoying, since there’s no way to see either, within the editor. Attempting to post such a line will result in an error that prevents the user from making any changes. Although, apparently this is an editor problem, not an underlying system problem since the badly converted text is displayed in the first place.

So what should have take 2 seconds has now taken at least a couple of hours to learn how to manipulate, partially reconstruct, and of course debug. (See Above)

Sometimes… making changes is not in the best interest of anybody. Sometimes making changes just creates more work. But I suppose it gave some coder 6 more months of work on a work visa.

Hey, here’s an idea… if you can’t save a chunk of something, how about providing something more descriptive than an error occurred? Better yet, HOW ABOUT HIGHLIGHTING the element you’re having a problem with?

Grrrr.

Just as a point. I’m not even particularly pleased with your new visual blog editor.

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Oh Come on now!

This article is one of those that makes you just wonder what the hell?

Welsh language use ‘systemically racist’, Arts Council warned

The headline is enough to get the blood boiling. The meat of the article, not so much, although it does leave you at a low simmer.

The synopsis is this;

Apparently The Arts Council of Wales, and National Museums Wales produce all their grant, and other normal business materials in Welsh. (You know, their NATIVE language…)

This use of their native language, presents an obstacle to artists that do not speak the language.

That’s not racist, it’s not white supremacy, it’s normal folks of a country going about their normal day, doing normal business.

If you visit an Arabic country, you better be able to speak Arabic or you’re not going to get too far without a translator. Does anybody think that China using Chinese, (Any of the dialects) is racist?

If you’re going to live in a country, you should probably do your best to learn the language. I’m an “Arrogant American“, yet while searching for a country to go spend time in, (longer than a vacation,) I came to the conclusion that prior to going to that country I should have a functional command of the language.

My selection was German. I’d like to visit Germany and perhaps get a work visa there for a time. My second choice is Norway. (Note: don’t try to learn two languages at once, it will blow your mind…)

This preoccupation with racism has become tiresome and childish.

Germans, Italians, and the Irish immigrated to North America and learned the predominant languages spoken there. English or French if they went to Canada, depending on the province. English typically if they moved to the US. (As a side note, they were still discriminated against.)

Canada AND France still by law, require that French appears on all imported goods. Is that racist? Hell NO!

Is it racist that Spain and much of South America conduct business in Spanish or Portuguese? Hell NO!

My experience with speaking languages (Spanish & French) to folks who natively speak those languages has been met with nothing but respect and appreciation. Sure I screw up, sometimes with hilarious consequences.

There is nothing more joyous than two complete strangers laughing so hard they’re crying because of a totally screwed up attempt to ask for directions. The laughter underscores that we’re all human and imperfect, and yet kindness is usually our default setting.

People in Mexico and people in Quebec have always demonstrated respect for my courtesy to them because I was trying to speak their language. They might very kindly switch to English for clarity and gently correct my pronunciation. They often commented that it was rare to meet an American that tried at all.

My German may suck. Even when I master it, I’ll always have a heavy American accent. When I finally get to Berlin, at least the people I encounter will know I respect them and their country, because I took the time to learn the language.

If I were an artist in Wales, I’d work very hard to learn the language for three reasons. 1) It’s a lot easier to sell art if you can communicate. 2) It’s a lot easier to have a social life if you get the jokes. 3) Art by its very nature tends to attract a somewhat effete clientele, you’d probably do much better applying for grants without a barrier of language.

It’s not racist for people of a country to speak their native language. It’s completely normal. The abnormality is that visitors to a country expect special treatment.

Why is it so hard a concept for some people to grasp?

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Apple, Just Stop!

There’s no shame in acquiescing to your customers.

You’re on a slippery slope with your CSAM scanning. Lots of folks are justifiably concerned that this particular system could be misused.

This concern could easily translate into losses for your stockholders. While I recognize that a substantial part of your revenue is dependent on China, creating a system that so obviously could scan a persons phone for an oppressive regime isn’t going to help.

Our own government is and has demonstrated that no government is above spying on its citizens. Please don’t make it any easier for them.

I personally have already pulled my personal photos off of iCloud.

I’d imagine that you’re seeing a lot of other people doing the same thing. Take a look at your network activity. How much network traffic is outbound? How many photos are marked for deletion?

The real tell for you will be how many people don’t update to your latest operating systems.

We won’t know that until you release the new offerings in September – October but I suspect that a lot of people have switched off automatic updates. I know I have,

The problem isn’t that you’re trying to prevent Child pornography. That’s a good thing, the problem is that you’re opening the door to scanning anything stored in what is supposed to be private storage.

If we’re paying for cloud services, I believe that you should be treating those cloud accounts like safety deposit boxes. What’s in them is none of your business. Unless you’re presented with a warrant, nobody, including the hosting entity should be looking at what is stored in them.

The problem Apple, is that you’ve gone further. By your own description you’re programming our phones to scan at least some of the data they contain. How long before you’re scanning all the data?

How long will it be before you’re looking for images of confederate flags, or a proud gun owner’s collection of guns, or “hate speech”, Anti-Vaccine comments, “Transphobic” remarks, any nude photos, or rude comments about The President or Vice President?

For the first time in more than 2 decades. I’m looking at Windows computers. I’m searching around for dumb cell phones, and considering things like not having an iPad or an Apple Watch. I’m considering eliminating Apple cloud services from my life entirely as well.

I can turn off iMessage. I could force all text communication to go over SMS only. I’ve not decided on that quite yet because so many of my text communications are innocuous and mundane.

It’s not even that I have anything to hide. It’s the principal that my communications could become subject to anyone’s approval.

What is next? Will Apple employ banks of people who censor conversations, becoming like FaceBook, Twitter, and Google?

Where is the Apple that just a few years ago told the FBI, “No we will not unlock a terrorists phone?” Remember that Apple? The Apple that I was proud of, the Apple that would not yield to government pressure?

Just Stop, before it’s too late. You still have time, no-op the code.

There’s a quote some thing like; Scientists contemplate can we do a thing? Scientists often fail to ask themselves SHOULD we do a thing.

Apple, it’s time that you ask, “Should we do a thing?”

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Like tears in the rain.

I don’t know if that phrase is from an older work, or if it originated in the script of Blade Runner.

Nonetheless, it’s a great visualization.

Afghanistan has fallen. Apparently President Biden was shocked, according to some reports. This, less than a month after he told America and the world that the Afghanistan Military could handle the country’s defense.

Uh huh.

There are tons of articles all over the net with various takes on this situation.

The most poignant was one I read on Apple News. It’s actually an article that appears in The Guardian here .

We’ve spent 20 years in Afghanistan. In that time we’ve lost troops, had others maimed, still others remain profoundly affected by what they saw and endured in that country. Those men and women did an outstanding job and their duty, of that there is no question.

I’m less certain that we should have remained in Afghanistan after we’d broken the Taliban. But that wasn’t really an option now was it?

The beliefs that allow the Taliban can’t be changed overnight, and apparently they can’t be changed in 20 years. I suspect that even 100 years wouldn’t change the underlying belief structure that creates monstrous ruling bodies like the Taliban.

You’d have to systematically destroy every mosque, kill every Imam, burn every copy of the Quran, wipe all memory of Islam from the internet, and destroy all of that religion’s adherents everywhere.

US soldiers take up their positions as they secure the airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. (Photo by SHAKIB RAHMANI / AFP)

First of all we don’t have the stomach for that kind of bloodshed. Second of all, it would be wrong for us to try. Third of all, it would be doomed to fail right from the start.

We have historical examples of failure to eliminate beliefs. Rome tried it with the Christians. Hitler wasn’t successful with Jews. Even the Ottoman Empire couldn’t eradicate the Jews in Spain, nor could the Inquisition. The kind of oppression required to attempt something like eliminating a religion would simply drive it underground.

You have to kill not only the practitioners of a religion, you have to kill all memory of it entirely. Which is something that the Taliban understands all too clearly. That is why no world heritage site, or non-islamic archeological dig is safe in Taliban territory. They understand how to destroy “false beliefs”. Their brutality in this is unmatched.

Which brings me to the point I want to make.

We as a nation must enact a non-interference policy. It is not our job to free anyone from their dogma, or give them a democracy by force. Our military is ours. It exists to defend us and our interests from invaders, or conquerors. That’s it. Our allies are by definition in our best interests and they too deserve our protections just as they offer their armies under treaty to our protection.

Taliban fighters sit on a vehicle along the street in Jalalabad province on August 15, 2021. (Photo by – / AFP)

That being said, when we’ve done the job, we should leave. To do anything else leads to decades of misery and unintended consequences.

Think of the misery the young woman in The Guardian article has to endure now. Had the Taliban remained in force for the past 20 years, she’d still have lived the misery to be sure. But now she knows there’s another way, she knows what she’s lost, she’ll feast on that bitterness for the rest of her life.

Were I in her position…

I’d develop a pretty healthy hatred of the US and all Americans for abandoning her to her fate after showing her how things could be different. I’d be teaching all my children to hate Americans, America is a lie, America cannot be trusted, America deserves to be destroyed.

That’s how the cycle of violence continues.

We MAKE our enemies, and frankly, we do it very well. How many more generations will spring from this one woman and all the others like her, enlightened and abandoned by our actions?

We shouldn’t have long term student visas for any country outside our allies. Short term upper division students perhaps, but not long term college educations.

Long term students simply become contaminated, then return to their countries with knowledge of a very different life. How can one of those folks ever be content returning to cooking over a fire pit or defecating in a hole in the ground, when they’ve lived the convenience and ease that Western civilization enjoys?

I know what I’m saying sounds cruel. But I think it far more cruel to “give” someone 21st century knowledge and then send them back to the 6th century.

President Biden’s legacy will be his Baghdad Bob moment a month ago. But the legacy of hatred and terrorist activities to come, belongs to our government from Bush through Biden, perhaps even further back than that.

I think it is time for us to exit the role of “good guys”, it’s time for us to stop trying to remake the world in our image. It’s time for Americans to be mythical beings in undeveloped parts of the world. Something whispered of, but never seen.

It is well past time for us to stop feeding our enemies, or pumping trillions of dollars, material, and American lives, into a hole that will never never be filled.

People make war on each other, and people die every day, disease and natural disasters happen all the time, these are facts of life. We need to get past our messiah complex and focus on our own problems.

There is no shame or guilt in recognizing that we can’t help everyone. The shame is in telling those people we will help, then breaking that promise.

Close our borders, allow visitors from allied countries only. That way we don’t contaminate and destroy primitive cultures.

We have historical examples of cultural contamination starting with the European conquest of North and South America. (Damage done. There’s no going back) We have examples of other indigenous people having their lives turned upside down in the South Pacific during World War II. (See Cargo Cults.) We even have contemporary examples of possible cultural contamination with all the hubbub surrounding UFOs and Alien contact.

Just the rumors of Aliens causes shockwaves and distractions in our “enlightened” culture. If they actually exist, it would make sense for them to be circumspect. Especially if they’re doing some kind of anthropology study.

We’re advanced compared to some of the folks on our planet, but we’re not superior.

We certainly don’t have enough positive outcomes to be dictating how any one else should be living.

It’s time for us to come to grips with our limitations and recognize that;

“Sometime you have to be cruel to be kind.”