Category: Annoyances

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Isn’t that interesting ?

As I’ve mentioned over the past 6 months or so, SPAM in my email had become a major problem. 

Spam email

At one point I was getting over 100 SPAM emails per hour. That was at the height of the SPAM blast and it was very annoying.

I’d given up. No filtering that I could apply stopped the onslaught. It had gotten to the point that I didn’t even open email because my email account had been reduced to complete uselessness. 

I’d got to bed with zero SPAM email in my junkman folder and by morning there’d be 1000 and more coming in. 

I finally started just emptying the junk folders blindly. I wouldn’t even look, I’d highlight everything and hit delete.

Now, over the last few days, the SPAM email count has dropped off precipitously. I have no idea why. As I said I’d given up trying to set up filters because nothing I could do would stop more than a handful of the ever changing addresses. 

I still believe that I should be able to select specific countries to literally lock out. Pretty much every country has a specific set of IP addresses. Why shouldn’t I be able to say, “I don’t want ANY email or communications from country X, Y, or Z?” If I don’t know anyone there, am I going to be interested in email from strangers? Probably not!

The thing that annoyed more about all of this is the cost in battery, CPU time, and my time to deal with bullshit emails saying I’d won this or that, or I was eligible for a legal settlement or asking if I’d like to see some whore’s pussy or prolapsed anus.

Every one of these emails imposed a penalty on my computer, phone, and iPad performance and battery life. Not to mention sucking up cellular data if I happened to be carrying my phone outside my WiFi range. I think I should be compensated for those costs.

I’m not holding my breath, mind you, but this stuff has a real cost and consequence associated with it. Which is one reason that I think all SPAMMERS when caught should be castrated with a dull spoon.

Now suddenly, this major annoyance has pretty much dried to a trickle. In fact it’s back to the level of SPAM that I was getting before the FTC blasted my email address to fucking PayPal who then sold my information to SPAMMERS. All for a lousy $10 settlement against LifeLock.

I think the FTC and PayPal should cough up $10,000 for the inconvenience they caused me.  Again, I’m not holding my breath.

It is nonetheless interesting that as quickly as this began, it’s over. I ask the question(s) Why? & How?

Did someone just realize that their servers were wide open and insecure? Or do the SPAM lists get old enough that they’re retired?

I know it sounds like I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I’m curious. Did the Russians or Ukrainians blow up a server farm???

Has China given up trying to extort me over my porn habits? They can threaten me all they want, If you get pictures of my naked ass, and like ‘em please send $2.00. Thank you!

Oh God!!!

Maybe the folks trying to extort me have decided I’m too old and not hot enough.  That would totally suck!

I’m not sure how I’d feel discovering that I was too old and gross for SPAMMERs or Hackers to try to extort money from me by threatening to post captures of me jerkin it in front of my web cam…🤣

In any case, I’m glad to not be buried in SPAM anymore. I just hope this lasts.

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I heard the dog whistle on Friday

Friday on her show Deadline, Nicolle Wallace of MSNBC said, “shit is about to hit the fan in this country,” she apparently believes this because former President Donald Trump was inciting his “cesspool” MAGA base.

Nicolle Wallace

People like Wallace and Joy Reid, and too many others to list say things like this and completely miss the irony of their statements. 

When Wallace and these other talking heads effectively call the approximately 50% of the county a cesspool, you better believe folks are going to be offended. In that offense, and the divisiveness already existing in this country, if something were to happen. A mass shooting for example, or a building being burned down, then Wallace should be held to the same standards as Trump.

Trump supposedly gave a speech on Jan 6th that incited an insurrection. Wallace called half the country a cesspool because they happen to disagree with her position and that could incite violence too. So do we indict people like Wallace before or after something bad happens?

I don’t want Trump in office again, but I’ll be damned if I vote for Biden or Harris. If it comes to Trump versus a Democrat I’ll vote Trump!

That being said, I really detest these talking heads painting everyone who has had quite enough of Biden, Bidenomics, Harris, and the rest of what is clearly the worst administration in my lifetime including Nixon, Carter, Clinton, and Bush 1 & 2, and oh lets not forget the Obama years, as some kind of wrong headed piece of shit.

That is what she’s saying. She’s saying MAGA comes from a cesspool. It’s understood that the floaters on the surface of a cesspool are shit.

Isn’t her statement what the Democrat party likes to call a dog whistle? Is she trying to incite violence against anyone who is pissed off at Biden and his administration and what he’s done to our country in such a short time? Is she trying to silence dissent by demonizing and devaluing people who may be in favor of making America Great, regardless of their party affiliation.

Adam schiff

On the same show, Adam Schiff made the comment, “the Biden Inquiry is an evidence-free impeachment proceeding.” After my brain rebooted I thought, “Well asshole, you’d know all about evidence free impeachments!“

Still waiting to hear or see that incontrovertible damning evidence of Trump’s Russian collusion! I’m not holding my breath, you lying sack of shit.

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Ughhh! It figures! Crappy Nights sleep and I really need to be on the ball…

I’ve got an appointment with the accountant today to hopefully finish up the tax crap dealing with the other half and my filing.

I took advantage of the automatic extension afforded us by the disaster declaration caused by the blizzard this year. It’s a darn good thing, because the other half’s filing system and document storage leaves a lot to be desired!

But I spent the night tossing and turning and feel like absolute crap. My brain isn’t working worth a darn but this is one of those things that must get done.

IRS Logo

I had a lot of weird abstract dreams all night. But my computer is fully charged and hopefully the parts of my brain that aren’t working will be augmented by the device. Thankfully the machine fits nicely in my briefcase.

Later this week I’m going to have to pick up the snow blower, it’s in for repair and a tune up after 15 winters of hard use and being put up wet. The repair guy said it had the wrong size belt on it. I told him that was the factory original belt and he was surprised. He said that explained it, the belt was so worn and stretched that’s why the machine was smoking when you tried to use it. 

I didn’t explain any further, the snow blower was the domain of the other half and as has been established the other half was not particularly kind to machines. I’m pleased that the repair didn’t cost too much.

Apple event 1

Today is the annual Apple reveal of new iPhones and other hot desirable items to populate the Christmas wish lists of millions. I usually watch just out of habit these days.

I’ll be watching the event today because I want to see what my options are for a new iPhone. My current phone is getting long in the tooth, It’s to the point of replacing the battery or replacing the phone. My phone is 3 generations old. I’d like an improved camera, and I’d like to have USB-C connections across all my devices. I’d like the satellite SOS ability and crash detection.

All the above features are available on last years model (except the USB-C). I’m curious to see what this year’s model brings. Tim Cook will once again be Captain Obvious with his proclamation, “This is the best most advanced iPhone we’ve ever produced,” uh yeah Tim, that’s the nature of technology… Moving on!

The USB-C connection is a pretty sure bet. Other hardware & software features may be announced that have not been leaked. All of this will influence my decision, “New Phone vs. New Battery”.

I’m also hoping that Craig Federighi does most of the presentation this year. I really don’t enjoy all the “Diversity” players because they’re just not exciting.

Federighi is electric and his playfulness and enthusiasm come through, even if he’s presenting dry specs and figures. He’s a fun presenter and somehow he always makes you hold your breath when he starts a live demo.

I guess I see it because I’ve done my fair share of live demos where it was entirely possible for the thing you’re demonstrating to fail right then and there. He apparently has done his fair share of demos where everything went wrong. He telegraphs that tension and makes it fun, it’s a “We’re gonna have an adventure…” feeling.

I’ve always gotten the impression that if a live demo went to absolute shit… Craig Federighi would somehow find a way to laugh, reset, and try again without missing too many beats. Federighi could almost convince me to upgrade my phone every year. 

That being said, there have been some comments associating his rise to SVP of Apple Engineering to the decade long slip in software quality across IOS, & MacOS. I don’t know if there’s a cause / effect connection or that the level of complexity in the software has caused the problem.

Personally, I believe that the issues have been, if not injected, then exacerbated by the rise of too much automated testing and not enough human eyes on the software until after it’s released. In the back of my mind, there’s a thread that questions if some of the problems aren’t based in diversity quotas.

When you hire someone based on anything other than their ability to build a product, you’re inherently degrading the final product. That’s not racist or sexist… That is simply a mater of fact.

Another of the dirty little secrets the diversity crowd would like to keep hidden and that no body is supposed to think about.

I’m not super thrilled with the expense of a new phone, but if there are sufficient improvements from my model to this one I could be moved to spend the money. Having USB-C is almost enough for me to plunk down the cash, on its own merit.

I’d like having only ONE cable and one charger for all my devices. So long as all my devices are smart enough to limit the charge current so that they don’t damage themselves. There aren’t many things I agree with the Europeans about, but de-cluttering my wall outlets, power strips, and the knot of cabling in my briefcase is one thing I heartily agree with.

Anyway, we’ll see how all this goes. I may be ordering a new phone soon.