Category: BullShit

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After being chastised for too much techno-drivel I choose current events for $800.

I’m not sure what to write about…

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How about the 160,000 people that will be losing, or have lost their insurance in California due to the implementation of Obamacare? Yes, Yes, I know it’s actually called ACA now that  The President is trying to distance himself from the controversy.

I note that he called it Obamacare in at least one speech…

Of course that was when he was still telling us all that we’d get to keep our current healthcare coverage. That was when he was trying to be a salesman instead of The President.

How about the controversy over the Governments website? Or the fact that there are so many out of work QA people like myself who’d have loved to have jobs testing the code.

Oh, right! The government was so sure that their code was perfect they didn’t bother to test it until the last two weeks before going live.

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I suppose I could comment on the hearings about the website, and that the insanity you’re hearing or reading about is totally normal in almost ANY government contract. 

No one in government has a good idea about what the “Current” technology looks like.

The government tends to write contracts such that even if you have a better idea, or more current technology that is faster, cheaper, and works better, you can’t implement it.

Why???? Oh my dear boy… it’s because the contract can’t be changed without a review and the review will take at least 6 months and have to be voted on by some committee or possibly even Congress.

So this means that HTML ver 2.0 was used instead of the later version that is better, faster, and potentially more secure.

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Or that the CPU used in a particular piece of hardware that used to cost $20 when the contract was finalized, will cost $2020 in runs of 10,000 by the time the contract actually is completed.

The cost increase for the CPU is because the CPU is obsolete and now has to be custom manufactured.

It’s this kind of insanity that causes lots of companies to actively refuse government contracts.

Which inevitably leads to specialized government contractors who will do exactly what the contract says. Even when they know what the government has specified will not work.

After all why shouldn’t they?

There’s no real upside in suggesting changes to the contract.

In fact while the changes are under review the government won’t pay to keep employees assigned to the contract, this is called a stop work situation.

Then when the changes are approved the people that were working on the project are no longer available. Those people have been reassigned to other projects or they’ve been laid off and found employment elsewhere.

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The upside for these government contractors is reworking the project for years and billing the government to do it.

But boys and girls… this is the way things in Washington work and to some extent it’s a direct result of a government that is too big and bloated. For all the hand wringing and yelling in any of these hearings…

Nothing will change.

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Oh for Pete’s sake! I’m so over these Silly Assed Boycotts!

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I was scanning twitter this morning and ran across this;

@jeromeehudson So, you’re at Chick-fil-a (AGAIN), eh @BruceCarrollSC?? You’re a self-loathing piece of work

I thought “Oh God!” aren’t we past these things yet?

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Mr. Hudson is going on about the Chic-fil-a ruckus, that started when some executive from Chic-Fil-A said he didn’t agree with gay marriage or didn’t like gay people or some such.

As you can tell I was offended so much by the comments of the Chic-fil-a person I totally remember exactly what it was all about. Yeah right! I so didn’t give a shit

Mainly because I don’t care what one person says or that (he or she) is an executive of a company or that they’re making 1000 times more money than me.

This is one of the things that I find so damn offensive about the mainstream GLBT community. My sexuality has never defined my politics, why does the GLBT community allow it to define theirs?

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The GLBT community and others, tend to boycott at the drop of a hat over no damn good reason. In some boycotts the GLBT folks will even devour their own. Such as the gay bar owner who was… Horror of horrors Republican!.

Now we’ve got the Barilla boycott. Really? Lets see a name like Guido Barilla, anybody care to guess what his religion probably is? Can you say most likely traditionally Catholic? Are you really surprised that he’d be opposed to showing gay families? More-over, why isn’t he allowed to speak his mind without haveing to live in fear that some half baked group will get their panties in a twist.

Aren’t there far more important things to worry about?

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Anybody remember the Coors boycott of the ’80s? It was in all the papers, well at least the gay papers. Coors was being mean and oppressive I vaguely recall it was something to do with firing gay workers or some such. So the gay community made the grandiose gesture of not buying Coors beer or serving it in gay bars.

This went on for years… As did Coors Brewing. I doubt seriously that Coors noticed much of a dip in their bottom line.

I honestly don’t know if you can get a Coors beer in a gay bar now. I’m afraid to ask for fear that the patrons of the bar would go feral, turn on me and rip my carcass to bloody shreds.

Just for asking the question…

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Oh hey, look at that. Coors is marketing specifically to gay people. Well it only took 25 years for the gay community to forget about the boycott.

How about the Great Hotel boycott of the early 2000s in San Diego? OMG someone at the hotel said some bad things about the GLBT community. They must be boycotted forever to make them understand that we are important and powerful and …

OUR OPINION MATTERS MORE THAN THEIRS DOES!

In short, Convert or die!

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Not a particularly healthy attitude and I’m apparently not alone in beginning to feel that the GLBT community is being perceived as Nazi-esq.

I stumbled across this little jewel of a graphic to the right, on the internet. It came up within the first page of images. 

All I can say is DAMN! I’ll bet the Stonewall democrats and Log Cabin Republicans never saw this coming.

Then the executive at Chic-Fil-A said he didn’t agree with gay marriage AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHGGGGGGHHHHH! The GLBT community whips itself into a froth AGAIN. With boycotts and protests and all manner of idiocy.

The Chic-Fil-A executive expressed HIS opinion! He’s entitled to speak his mind.

That folks is a right protected by the first amendment of the constitution.

You know the same right that allows the GLBT community to express their opinion with protests, signs, and boycotts?

Why the hell is it wrong for a single person to say what he thinks, and yet OK for the GLBT community to disrupt (or attempt to disrupt) his business?

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More recently there was the great Vodka pouring in LA and New York because of the Russian governments oppression of gay people.

As the Russians were probably saying “Big Deal, So What?”

Much of the Vodka you morons were pouring out isn’t even made in Russia. So if you really want to make an impact don’t go to the Olympics in Russia. Don’t watch it on television but that’s about all you can do. The GLBT community is largely impotent in the affairs of the Russian government.

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Why isn’t the GLBT community boycotting OIL, after all Iran and Iraq have some of the most hideous laws against GLBT people. Oh right, our cars… well we need them don’t we?

The single most offensive hypocrisy I have every heard of is this;

Apparently a Gay bar in San Diego was the object of an intended Boycott by GAY people because the Owner of the bar happened to be Republican and expressed his dismay at President Obama’s re-election. I’m putting this perhaps more delicately than reality. The Bar Owner was flat out pissed off about it, and said so in public in the bar.

That probably wasn’t the wisest move but HE OWNS the place and therefore should be able to express himself even in a fit of anger.

What followed was insanity.

This bar owner is known for his generosity and contributions to the community. But because he’s a Republican, and not in lockstep with the predominately Democratic members of the GLBT community he was suddenly targeted for destruction.

After all if you don’t believe every word that falls from the lips of the approved GLBT roster of celebrities and politicians is pure gold you must be defective. Even if you’re asking legitimate questions for legitimate reasons.

I’ve always pictured the end of “Invasion of the body snatchers” when I think about this subject.

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It’s time for the GLBT community to grow the hell up, & start acting their age.

We’re not going to be liked by everyone, any more than black or hispanic people are. Get over it!

We can’t force people to like us with litigation (See Affirmative Action) or protests (See A Day without Mexicans) or sweet words (See President Obama).

There will always be a percentage of the population that doesn’t like either a particular minority group or several. SO WHAT? SHIT HAPPENS!

Move on with your life like an adult.

I’m an American. I’ll eat what I damn well please, drink what I damn well please, and no-one is going to stop me. I’ll smoke if I want to, I’ll fuck who I want, when I want to, and whatever gender I choose.

No, I don’t suffer from self loathing. I suffer from pride in myself and my ability to make up my OWN mind. I reject group think. I participate in those things that I’ve decided are worth my time. Silly assed boycotts simply don’t make the cut. Hearing about silly assed boycotts just pisses me off.

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If you don’t like it… shut the hell up.

Go engage in that ancient & time honored tradition the world over…

Gossip about it behind my back!

But don’t you DARE tell me to boycott someone or infringe on THEIR right to have their beliefs, opinions, or freedom of speech. 

I realize I’m asking for a lot. After all you’d have to actually read several news papers then compare and contrast the various arguments pro and con about a particular subject.

Who has time? After all you’ve got to get your hair cut, text all your friends, and be at the next party, with a whole new wardrobe.

It’s easier to be told what to think by a 30 second news report that will define how you vote, which maybe you’ll do… If there’s time on the way to the party.

Equality doesn’t mean domination. It means we live peacefully, as neighbors and don’t bother each other with our stereos.

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Shutdown… Shutdown… SHUTDOWN… AHHH THE Sky is falling!

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I had another blog that I was working on.

It wasn’t going well, and may end up in the dustbin.

Hey, it happens sometimes so sue me… it’s not like you’re paying for my assault on your senses.

By now we’ve all heard about the government shutdown.

Sure the government is shutdown but it’s pretty obvious that the powers in Washington DC are playing games to make sure that the Shutdown is right in the faces of the citizens.I’m convinced that a lot of this is pure theater.

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Riddle me this? What kind of sense does it make to allocate resources like barricades and police to patrol monuments that normally have no such patrols of barricades?

It’s not like the Monuments in Washington DC have huge fences around them and single entrances. 

I’ve walked the length of the reflecting pond toward the Lincoln memorial from the Washington monument and never encountered a fence, park ranger, officer, or any other Government tendril.

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These places are open, they are designed to be open and accessible. These places are designed this way with purpose.

For me, these monuments are not only about venerating the great men that helped build this country, their openness is a comment on our freedom.

How times have changed!

These monuments are also a reminder that at one time we walked with our heads held high, fearless, and the concept of vandalizing any of these monuments was simply unthinkable. 

Getting to the Lincoln memorial at dusk and watching the lights come on was for me important and powerful. Entering the memorial itself was timeless and I took my time reading the great words inscribed inside. 

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By the time I left the memorial night had fallen. The lights of the Capital twinkled in the distance and the various monuments were awash in light.

I was in one of the oldest cities in our country and I felt a pride that was almost overwhelming. 

Now because of The Shutdown (Doom musical sound effect… please)

These free parks and open spaces are being closed at great expense and difficulty. WHY?

What does this prove, other than our leaders are far more interested in being vindictive and stupid. They’re making absolutely sure that vacation plans while already disrupted, are completely ruined.

Families in transit arrive in Washington DC, only to find that they can’t visit open air memorials? What’s the sense in that?

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What next, huge concrete domes over monuments, armed guards checking passports and a visitors right to be there? Metal detectors, body scanners, and then full body x-rays to make sure that you’re not carrying contraband in your anus?

How is this saving money?

In every instance it’s taking more man power to tell people the monuments are closed than it would to simply allow the monuments to be open and accessible.

The WWII memorial, the Vietnam Wall closed? Really?

This is exactly the kind of vindictive wasteful thinking that got us into the shutdown in the first place. But now instead of Congress kicking each other in the nuts, they’re kicking the average citizen.

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Another stupidity is that the Government put notices similar to this one, on Websites immediately.

We all know that the government IT departments haven’t shut down. This is another Fuck you to the people from our elected officials in Washington.

At the risk of sounding like one of the crazy right wing nutjobs.

It’s time for We The People to stand up and raise hell.

We need to kick all of our so called leaders to the curb and get some people that are actually willing to do their jobs.

The problems we’re facing aren’t going to magically go away. It’s going to take thinking, reasoning people who understand that cooperation is necessary for the good of the country.

Impeach ’em, Recall ’em whatever it takes. They are OUR Employees and they haven’t done the job(s) they were elected to do. Time to fire them and find someone who will do the job as we direct.

This vindictive bullshit has got to stop.

 

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You have got to be kidding me…

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I saw some video of the person trying to ram the gate at the White house.

It didn’t look to me like she tried to ram anything.

It looked a lot more like she’d made a wrong turn and was trying to figure out what to do next when the DC police and Secret Service responded with shouting and waving a whole lot of guns at her.

That video is not available on the web yet…  And it may never be because it makes the DC police and Secret Service look really bad.

I think she decided to just get the hell away from all these crazy people and their scary guns, who then started shooting.

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This led to a police chase where our “evildoer” hit a cop car practically destroying it, then sped on to her final destination.

Really? Crown Victoria vs. Lexus and the Lexus is drivable? While the Crown Vic is totaled. Really?

I think it’s far more likely that the cop driving the Crown Vic hit something else or was hit because you can see the front of the Lexus in some of the photos.

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This one for example.

The front of the Lexus doesn’t look nearly as screwed up as I’d expect after seeing the Cops car.

The initial news reports were that the Woman had started shooting at the cops.

As it turned out she was completely unarmed and had a 1 year old child in the back seat.

I can easily imagine a Mother getting freaked out because she was lost or made a wrong turn then was suddenly confronted with 20 or 30 men with guns all shouting at her and she decided…

THE HELL WITH THIS!

I’m getting my child and myself away from these crazy people who aren’t listening to what I’m saying.

I’ll grant you it probably wasn’t the smartest move.

Honestly if I was already stressed because I was lost and then turned into an area to consider my options, then looked up and saw a bunch of guys pointing guns at me and screaming at me… I’d be very much inclined to run.

OUT OF FEAR FOR MY LIFE!

These cops in the first video are obviously cranked beyond any reasonable notches. The gate in question is quite some distance from the White House.

That these folks were cranked tighter than a Meth addict coming down hard is something we as a people and a country should really take a good long look at.

A couple of weeks ago NYPD shot innocent bystanders because some nut job was running around in traffic.

The police missed the nut job they were shooting at.

Last year I believe NYPD shot 13 or 14 people in a similar incident where they only grazed the actual criminal but did a lot of harm to innocent bystanders.

Now it looks as if the DC police are just as amped up, stupid and irresponsible as NYPD. 

DC police killed this woman in front of her child. 

This lady was unarmed, obviously afraid, and we will never know what her intention was.

The one thing that we can be sure of and that we need to dial way down is living in fear.

The media, bloggers, Twitter, and god only knows what other media sources seem to thrive on filling us up with fear, of living.

It’s unnecessary and it leads to police over-reaction to common every day events.

What ever happened to an officer approaching the vehicle and saying something civil like “Ma’am you can’t park here you must move along.“

How about the civility of “Are you lost Ma’am and can I help you?“

Instead because DC is freaking out, the response was probably something like;

GET OUT OF THE CAR MAGGOT, FUCKING BITCH,  DOWN ON YOUR KNEES, NOW, NOW, NOW, I DON’T GIVE A SHIT WHAT YOUR EXCUSE IS, GET OUT OF THE CAR ON THE GROUND, NOW BITCH! 

Then there’s the very real possibility that if you don’t move fast enough or you move too fast you’re going to at minimum get beat to hell and at maximum you’re going to be shot.

Given that choice I’d probably opt to stay in the car and make a run for it. At least I’d have a cocoon of steel around me.

We need to take the fear mongering down several notches. 

Not everyone is planning to do congress or the president harm. If congress and / or the president are that fearful, maybe some introspection on how they are doing their job is in order.

Sometimes people make wrong turns. Sometimes people veer onto side streets trying to avoid an accident, then have to figure out how to get back on course. It happens every day in every city in the US.

They killed an unarmed woman… 

Will she be mourned and venerated like Trayvon Martin?

Surely her life was important and she was worthy of a police officer listening to her.

“It’s painful to live in fear“

The reports this morning are even more bizarre. This lady suffering from post partum depression loads up her child, drives from Connecticut to Washington DC and tried to ram a barricade at the White House? Was the child the Presidents?

None of it makes any sense and honestly given the spin that the DC police and the media are putting on this event. I am for the first time in my life fearful of the police and my government.

The behavior we saw yesterday and the police now trying to imply, if not outright say this woman was a threat to the security of the White House is ludicrous.

The internal investigation of this incident will be covered up. The police will be found completely blameless. The Secret Service will continue to claim they acted properly. 

Meanwhile the woman’s name will be slandered and her child will be without a parent.

The handling of this incident makes me want to vomit.

The truth of the matter will never come out. If we were able to keep track of the officers quitting the DC police department over the next year I wouldn’t be surprised to see a huge turnover.

I don’t think the officers leaving would be bad cops, rather I suspect they’d be the cops whose morals and ethics wouldn’t let them continue to work for a department that clearly has no moral boundaries.

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Yet another example of poorly thought out projects.

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In an earlier article, the LA Times mentioned in passing that several of the schools that iPads were being distributed at, didn’t even have internet. 

I’m not talking about WiFi, the Times article led the reader to believe that internet wasn’t available at all.

This is a situation where the school district is wasting money right from the get go for Political reasons not for the benefit of the kids.

Now it’s clear that the software is far less complete than the first article led the reader to believe.

Yes, That first article listed a plethora of issues

No interenet at schools

No WiFi

Software that was being rolled out but was incomplete.

Teachers with little or no training on the software, or how to implement it in their curriculum.

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Now this morning there is a report of 71 iPads missing albeit apparently from a pilot program. Followed by this article describing that the students had “hacked” the iPads.

This is not hacking. This is nothing more than kids being handed something that frustrated them. Their natural response was to say “fine I’ll really screw it up!” Then they discovered the hole in the software that let them actually use the device as it was intended to be used, sans incomplete buggy software.

Second, the sites that the children were accessing should have been blocked at the school district infrastructure level.

This is done in corporate America all the time, it’s no mystery and not magic. Sure the iPad would work normally at a Starbucks but who cares? The kids aren’t at Starbucks if they’re in class are they?

Another article in the Times said that the iPads weren’t allowed to be taken off school grounds when did that change?

And then lets not forget that LAUSD figured out that they’re probably going to need keyboards. D’OH!

I’m all for education.

But I’m more for having a plan. Technology can’t and shouldn’t be expected to fix all ills. Poorly implemented technology is worse than no technology.

There’s nothing wrong with a book, or a school library. Or for that matter computers in controlled educational settings.

This debacle is going to cost not only the tax payers in dollars, it’s going to cost the kids in time lost in the classroom fiddling with technology when they should be fiddling with learning.

The software company who’s developing the programs for LAUSD and their contract should be reviewed by an independent group to figure out what was agreed to, what was delivered, and how deadlines were arrived at.

If LAUSD rolled out the software and iPads prior to the originally agreed upon time, then the folks at LAUSD should be replaced.

Sorry, but rampant stupidity just spins me right up…