Category: Rants

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Wow! Forgot how insane people are on Holiday weekends.

Just got back from running the sound system down to a pickup point.

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Unfortunately I had to go to a shopping center I loath! I seriously considered heading out to a factory store near Palm Springs or another factory store at South Coast just to avoid going where I had to go.

It’s not that the shopping center is bad per-se it’s the people that go there. 

Lets just say that most weren’t raised in this country… As a result It feel like I’m walking into a 3rd world cesspool every time I have to go to this particular center. It’s not just the language(s) it’s the entire cultural difference that you’re suddenly confronted with. 

Many Asian countries don’t have the same personal space requirements that we Americans do. The same is true of many countries South of the border. Then add the exaggerated walk and arm swinging of so called African American “Culture” plus a large crowd…

Well that’s a  recipe for someone like me to have my threat assessment systems go to DEFCON 5 in a very short time…

That’s really my problem not the problem of the patrons of the mall.

It’s also a reason that I don’t as a rule enjoy Knotts Berry Farm, Magic Mountain, or Disneyland.

Too many people and all of them seem to be from a culture other than mine. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out if someone is a threat, trying to pick a fight, or simply behaving like they would if they were back home.

The simply act of getting to the shopping center was a challenge…

I personally witnessed at least 4 people completely run stop signs. When I say run them I mean they didn’t even touch their brakes. Several others blew through  stop lights that couldn’t have been any redder if they were the size of klieg lights.

Once I got to the shopping center, there were already people fighting over parking spaces. Really! I saw one shoving match and one screaming match in progress. The amusing thing about it was that the parking lot was pretty much empty.

The people had gone to war over a parking space when less than twenty feet further on there was a wide open expanse of empty spots.

Like most people here or anywhere now day I ignored the insanity once I’d determined that the people involved weren’t an immediate threat.

After unloading the stuff from my trunk, and humping all it across the parking lot,  I get into the store, arms full with 50 lbs of equipment.

This after fighting my way through doors that swing OUT and automatic doors that are broken, only to find a woman whose blocked all three customer service / cashier stations with a shopping cart and her fat ass so that NO-ONE may get to it. The store employees tried politely asking her to move but the woman would not shut the hell up. She seems somehow to have thought that by blocking access to all the counter she was going to make her point better. The only point she made for me was that she was a rude idiot who really needed a reality check..

After standing there for 5 minutes I’d finally I’d had enough, I said “Hey you old battle-ax how about you move your shit so other customers can drop off OR BUY something?“

That shut her up for only a moment…

But I got to put my stuff on the counter. A perky young lady immediately started filling out the necessary paperwork. While I’m answering questions the Battle-ax is continuing her screeching. 

Then I start paying attention to what she was complaining about and my brain melted.

She’d purchased some sound system thing (I couldn’t identify what exactly) about 3 months prior. Then one of her friends purchased the same thing only it was slightly different and in the opinion of the battle-ax “Better”. She was in the store being a raving lunatic trying to intimidate the employees into exchanging her using for the “Better” one at no cost. REALLY???

Does that work?

I guess it works enough that people continue to do it. 

No wonder the costs keep going up even though the jobs are off shored to cheaper labor.

I’m going to be taking a trip soon. Since I’m driving, I’m hoping that I can scope out some places where maybe the insanity isn’t quite as bad. Who knows If I find a nice place, I might just stay there. 

I know I’m just as nutzs as all the other people here… But I keep hearing that shaman from Avatar… “Let us see if your insanity can be cured.” 

One can hope, In the mean time I’m hanging out up where I can see trees and sky and watch the occasional sunrise.

Hope every one has a great weekend.

 

 

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CISPA Ahhh a rose by any other name, Is still a stinking pile…

First it was SOPA, and PIPA.

Now it’s CISPA.

People, this is classic government Bull Shit! One of the thnigs that you must remember about our governement is that the idiots running it are… well idiots! 

Having worked however briefly with the government, I can tell you one true thing. Projects, AKA Bad Ideas never die. They’re just recycled.

Politicians are inherently lazy. They’re not going to create anything new or original they’re going to pick up the tattered remains of some discarded bill. They’ll read about 10 lines of the summary, then they’ll put a new name on it, dress it up with some fancy new benefit and have it on the Senate floor again in a year.

“One Bill” Gill Cedillo is a great example of this. Except in his case he kept presenting the same bill over and over again in the House. He thought it was a good idea for illegal immigrants to have drivers licenses. Every year for 4 or 6 years he’d dust off this stupid bill and present it to the House.

One year is was about Safety, then Next years he said the illegals would get insurance, the next year he made the case that California would see increased registration fees, and so on. In every case his bill was voted DOWN because the people raised hell and in a loud voice told Sacramento HELL NO! 

The people saw that giving Drivers Licenses to illegal immigrants would make being here illegally seem more legitimate. 

The problem with politicians is that they keep presenting the same shit in a different Sunday Hat over and over again. After a while, we’ve all heard about some astoundingly bad idea and voted it down enough times that we think it’s a dead issue. When we turn our attention elsewhere… that’s when one of these moronic ideas gets through the House and Senate and becomes Law.

So it is with this new stupidity.

CISPA Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act

First of all there are only a few organizations within our Government that have the technology and / or brain power to begin to worry about cybernetic data. They ALREADY share information and have since shortly after 911.

The real concern with this Act is much the same the same as it was with SOPA and PIPA OUR privacy. Unless you’re ready for an Orwellian future we all need to pay close attention to the erosion of our privacy.

The primary opposition for this incarnation of a Gee we’re the government you can trust us to spy on you act is that the controls for who is spyed on, where, when, and why are so weak. By WEAK I mean without warrant, or even probable cause.

Even President Obama who in my opinion has serious socialist leanings is against this particular act. He’s already stated publicly that he will not sign this into law. (Hey, even a broken clock is right 2 minutes a day.)

So for those who missed it the first time…

365 Orwell1984

CISPA Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act

Allows for the routine monitoring of any corporation, or individual who the government may find of interest. This monitoring will be done with no warrants, and no judicial oversight.

Couple this with the concept that all it takes for you to BE a terrorist is for the President to SAY you are a terrorist.

The implication is obvious. If someone in the government were to decide that you were a bit too much of an activist or you were exposing criminal wrongdoing via a blog, email, YouTube, or other electronic means. (Think about the secret service scandal. )

The electronic evidence could and would be turned over to government representatives simply because they asked Google, AT&T or whoever. BOOM, suddenly you’re arrested for being a terrorist insurgent trying to undermine the United States. Oh and by the way,  the government would have all the evidence they needed to try, and convict you in a military court. Hope you like GITMO during hurricane season.

This act if passed would also circumvent the Wiretap act and Electronic Privacy act. Both of these acts were passed specifically to prevent this kind of abuse.

So get on the phone, get on email, post your opposition to your blogs, LIGHT UP THE CONGRESSIONAL SWITCHBOARD Demand to be heard.

Demand that your representative answer why suddenly they’re willing to undermine our freedoms? Why haven’t they repealed the Wiretap act and Electronic Privacy act if they now think that CISPA is the proper way to go?

Take control, make your representatives REPRESENT YOU!

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Lady Gaga offends with innocent comment.

You have to be fucking kidding me!

The Huffington Post carried a story about offended fans of Gaga

Cheeseburger

Lady Gaga said in a tweet she’d just done two spin classes back to back and was eating a salad but dreaming of a cheeseburger.

She hashtagged the tweet with #popsingersdonteat and it looks to me like she was being funny.

Anyone who’s spent any time in a gym knows damn well that we eat the salad because it’s good for us.

But in our heart of hearts after burning a ton of calories our bodies are telling us;

“MEAT!  After all that work I want fucking mammoth meat and I want it NOW!“

Apparently organizations which deal with eating disorders and many fans took offense that Gaga might have said something TRUE about her personal state of mind.

Gaga demonstrated once again that she is a human being with a brain, wants, desires,  a sense of humor,  an understanding of irony, and apparently the ability to integrate it all.

The National Eating Disorder Association seems to have gone way out of the way to make a statement that I personally find moronic. They say in their twitter account;

“Huh? This is the same person who recently implored girls to stop dieting?”

What? Lady Gaga wasn’t making a blanket comment about people with eating disorders or anything else. Since when does not needlessly dieting equate to not getting off your ass and exercising?

Abraham Lincoln once said “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.“

I’m using a modernized variant “You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot please all of the people all of the time.“

Frankly, I’m done with even trying to please anyone anymore. Accept me as I am, because as Gaga says… I WAS BORN THIS WAY!

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I’d really like to thank my prescription insurance provider …

I wrote this a few days ago. I’ve been waiting to post it for a couple of reasons.

I wanted to make sure that I still felt as strongly about it as I did when I wrote this peice.

I wanted to end this on a good note

Pills

My insurance provider has decided that they know better than my Physician.

In order to save .02 per pill, for an overall savings of 1.80 per prescription, my insurance provider ExpressScripts changed my prescription. You know… I’d have paid the 1.80 extra just so I didn’t have the hassle. Unfortunately, I wasn’t given that choice.

They assure me that the drug they’ve substituted is the SAME as the drug that I’ve been using successfully and with no problems for 3 years!

If it’s the same then why is the molecular structure different? Why is the chemical formula different?

I went on the new drug this morning. Less than 12 hours after the switch I’m feeling like shit.

My diastolic Blood pressure has climbed 10 points in the past 6 hours and I’m not doing anything.

I have a couple of questions to ask.

Why can my insurance provider execute “Step Therapy” without actually seeing me? STEP means we’re going to fuck you in the name of savings.

The FDA claims that if we purchase drugs from Canada, or Mexico we’re placing ourselves in danger.

At least buying from Canada and Mexico I’m actually GETTING THE DRUG that my Doctor prescribed!

Yet the FDA has no problem with prescription drugs being substituted without a Doctor exam, and in some cases without actually contacting the physician that wrote the prescription in the first place.

Why would you take a patient off a medication that was working just fine, with no side effects, and essentially experiment with them? I thought we outlawed that kind of experimentation after Joseph Mengele’s experimentation in the death camps came to light.

Sterile latex surgical gloves

Essentially, this phamaceutical insurance company has decided that it’s OK to have me start taking a drug which may … OR MAY NOT work.

They’ve done this in a situation where I am likely to be at work, or at home and the effect or lack of effect may be subtle enough that I won’t notice. By the time I figure out that I have a problem…   I could conceivably be on a gurney in the back of an ambulance.

Then it occurred to me, if I’m hospitalized it would not be their problem…

It’s MINE and can easily be covered up as a “Natural” event, NOT A DIRECT EFFECT OF ExpressScripts swapping my medication with ZERO SUPPORT.

As of today, almost 2 weeks after the switch I’m adapting. The initial 96 hours was very rough. I’ve been having good days and bad days however I’m returning to my normal self.  I spoke with the Doc yesterday, he wasn’t too concerned. He mentioned that new research had expanded the definition of “Normal” and that I was well within the range.

He also reminded me that I needed to come in to see him and that he had a rubber glove waiting with my name on it. DAMN!

You know… his fingers don’t look that big, should a prostate exam take 30 minutes and why does he dim the lights?

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Ms. Manners asks How Rude are you?

How rude are you when commenting on someone’s blog, or on an article you’ve read?

I remember some of the FLAME Wars that would erupt on the IRC channels. Those would get downright vicious and sometimes so brutal the IRC channel would be killed because people simply got tired of reading one venomous message after another.

I’ve seen Flame emails start and persist for DAYS at some companies where I’ve worked.

The best of these usually revolved around someone accidentally sending a message to “ALL” then all hell would break loose.

Often some “Kind” soul who knew much better than anyone else how the email system was to be used, volunteered to tutor the miscreant who dared to send to ALL.

I actually looked forward to these events because they were a great way to figure out who in the company to avoid at all costs. I mean if people are wrapped so tightly that they over-react to a simple mistake, it’s probably best that I not interact with them EVER.

The funniest part of these flame wars was that inevitably the “Kind Hearted” superior soul would chastise the miscreant and would do it BY REPLYING TO ALL.

This would lead to a furball where a bunch of other people would get really snippy and hostile. Particularly if they were part of the effete corporate Blackberry class. Apparently, the folks the company provided with Blackberries were simply TOO important to turn the machine off when they went to bed.

The strangest part of the intra-corporate flame war is that there is no anonymity.

A corporate directory will tell you exactly who someone is and who they work for. And yet all sense of decorum would fly right out the window.

At one company, the CEO sent a message to ALL that said simply, “This is the last email about this subject, the next one of you that hits REPLY ALL is fired!”

I’m sure some idiot hit REPLY ALL after the CEOs message.

If people in a corporate setting where there is no anonymity are willing to flame each other publicly I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at the verbal violence we see when people can comment anonymously.

I used to think that rude comments and flame wars were a function of the “newness” of the media being used. All of us have sent one of those ill consid

Angry old woman 1

ered emails at least once. Usually we learn

Lately, I’ve been reading lots of blogs, and newspapers online lately. People not only HAVEN’T changed, I think they’ve gotten worse.

A blogger that I read with some frequency posted a very eloquent article recently about this issue.

His blog describes events in his life. These events are in his past, EVEN if the event he writes about happened only two hours ago.

He’s apparently received highly caustic comments regarding his life choices, relationships, and sexual proclivities. People feel the need to sit in judgement of him while they’re reading HIS blog where he’s voluntarily sharing his life with the world. It’s not like these folks don’t know what they’re going to read about. They’re not being coerced in any way to read what he has to say.

This blows my mind!

I’ve occasionally opened my mouth metaphorically in newspaper or blog comment sections. I have also attempted to refute some of the most hateful statements others made.

Most recently, I opened my mouth on a newspaper in Miami. The article was about Marine kiss in Hawaii. I was astounded at the things people thought were appropriate to say. Then as I read further, I couldn’t help myself… I opened my mouth. Several people took offense at what I has to say and I responded politely to their concerns.

I’ve been wondering lately if this really is getting worse or if its my perception.