Category: Things that make you say hmmm?

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All I wanted was to listen to music…

Riiiiight!

I pulled a thread, and now none of the smart lights in the house are working. The security camera is also offline. I managed to kill the battery in my phone about 5 PM.

As Mr. Scott once said, “The more complicated the plumbing, the easier it is to clog up the works!”

This is what happens when you have a “smart house”

I have no clue exactly what the hell is going on. But I’ve done factory resets on my router, and all the smart light bulbs. I’ll be factory resetting the HomePod Minis, the Apple TVs and the Big HomePods.

I’ve been playing whack a mole. I’d get the lights working, then move on to the next thing that was broken, and boom the lights stopped working. Then I’d fix a light and something else would suddenly go offline.

It’s the darnedest thing.

For those of you wondering why I’m mistrustful of AI, here’s a perfect example why i don’t trust AI and think all AI systems should have a kill switch! That switch should be something totally mechanical that can’t be programmed around. Possibly augmented by a very large Axe.

None of the stuff at my house is particularly complex but something is running through the devices like a horseman of the apocalypse.

I’m thinking that I may have to power down then reset each and every device in the house to factory default then add them back one at a time.

I’m also thinking that I’ll need to delete the house from all the HomeKit enabled stuff.

By the time I’m done with this, chasing this problem around and around the house will have cost me 2 days. I started farting around with this Bullshit at 8am yesterday morning. I was listening to music, then suddenly there was no stereo. I asked the question, “Why?”

Before I knew it, I’d been consumed, as had my day. I actually had other things that I’d planned on doing yesterday none of which I got done except the laundry…

It’s also a good thing that I didn’t have any video I need to preserve. Because the security camera has been removed and re added to the home controls twice and will require the procedure again. Each time, any recorded video stored in the cloud is erased.

Totally brilliant bit of software engineering there. Another interesting feature is this, If the camera is offline in the Apple Home application then you can’t even look at video that’s recorded in your iCloud. So once the camera goes away and requires that you delete it and re-pair you’ve lost anything and everything stored for the last 30 days anyway.

I’ll be looking at a different paradigm for cameras in the future.

What’s the point of having the data recorded but completely inaccessible due to some silliness caused by a software update. Isn’t that the point of storing videos in the cloud???

Apparently, I’ve missed a memo somewhere.

Here’s the update. Flushing everything seems to have worked. I now have music throughout the house again and the smart lights are working. This was definitely the brute force method of solving the problem. I’m sure that it will reoccur at some point in the future.

That cynicism comes from experience with technology. Even if you’re not the one fiddling around with the devices, there’s always someone in development who’s tweaking a line of code here or there. Then someone else decides that a software update is necessary, or some scumbag hacker takes advantage of a security flaw and causes an update. One way or another, something is going to change and your nice stable system will be completely hosed.

I’d really like to be able to bill for the time lost to SPAM Email and all the software update related issues. The folks I’d like to bill are the little scumbag hackers, or their parents, or their countries of origin.

Well on with the rest of the day.

Have a great weekend

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I’m not sure this is a good idea.

I just got an invitation from some of The Other half’s circle of old friends, to attend a beginning of summer event.

Generally speaking members of the group are okay people. There’s one however who drinks too damn much and then becomes an asshole.

NO, It’s not me… I’m an asshole ALL the time! I don’t need booze to become one.

On the one hand I’d like to see some of these guys and I’m sure they have questions about the Other Half’s passing. They deserve answers and I suppose it’s out of a sense of duty to the Other Half that I’m considering going to the event.

I’ll admit to an ulterior motive in going because the asshole likes to pick on people he considers to be “less than”. This particular person is an academic elitist with an Art degree of some sort and considered people like me “less than,” in spades.

I’m not an academic, and I was actually involved in the production of goods and services. He’s always liked getting under my skin, it was somehow amusing or entertaining for this guy to sour every single party we attended. I was always restrained so that I didn’t embarrass the Other Half.

But now the Other Half isn’t around, and he wouldn’t be embarrassed if I just said exactly what I thought.

You see, even after I stopped going to the events hosted by the Other Half’s friends, the drunk elitist simply turned his venom on my Other Half. Within a year or two my Other Half stopped accepting invitations to their parties as well. I don’t think my Other Half had seen this group of old friends for at least 4 perhaps 5 years.

It might be cathartic, hell it might just be dang fun to inflict pain on someone that offended me and my other half on so many occasions. I can’t decide if ignoring this particular bloviating asshole or confronting him directly and brutally would be the best path. I think I’ll have to make that decision on the fly if I decide to go to this event in the first place.

It will probably be the last time I see any of these people and as such… Well I might as well go out with a bang!

I would like to spend time with the hosts and at least one if not two of the other guys. If it becomes too much I can leave. Since I’ll be alone I won’t have to worry about forcing the Other Half to cut the evening short.

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So this is interesting. I was half tempted to do this as a reaction video…

I decided that I didn’t want to do the video thing about this but I’m thinking about starting up a video blog. Perhaps more on that later.

However, to the point, The Durham Report is out. All I can say is Damn! 

John Durham

You’ve got to be kidding me! What about those people who were imprisoned, bankrupted, or otherwise had their lives utterly destroyed by the DOJ/FBI perusing a totally fake investigation? Do they get their lives back? Do they get the time they spent in prison back? Do they get reparations? 

What about the fundamental loss of faith in our justice system, or our political system, on the part of the people? Why would anyone believe in the government or DOJ ever again? 

This is serious shit!

We have a clear comparison of justice as applied to Democrats versus Republicans (Specifically Republicans associated with Trump). Hilary Clinton, had some skeletons in her closet running up to the 2016 election but her issues were ignored while the FBI opened an investigation based on rumor into Trump. To do so they appeared to falsify information so that the FISA court would allow wire taps and surveillance on the Trump campaign.

For me this begs the question: Can we remotely trust that the J6 prisoners are getting a fair hearing? Can we believe that anything the Biden administration has passed or rescinded was done legally? If the DOJ is compromised what assurances do we have that the law is being followed.

This confirmation of what we already knew is sickening. 

It’s completely insane that all of the things that Durham reports were allowed to happen and that there will be no accountability about it. I personally think that a lot of this is damn close to treason.

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There’s so much that’s just nuts!

My god, the CNN town hall (which I didn’t care to watch,) appears to have had Donald Trump on. Then they CNN, and apparently the rest of the news media are losing their minds over Trump… BEING Trump.

What surprised them about him?

Then we have Anderson Cooper apologizing for having Trump on. And to some extent Anderson Cooper almost seemed to be saying that free speech should be denied Trump specifically.

Then we have MSNBC loading up Al Sharpton to lecture us on all things racist. In Sharpton’s world view, no matter what a white fucker is doing, even if it’s trying to help the black community, it’s always racist unless the white people be putting money in Sharpton’s hand. Trump, according to Sharpton is the Über racist of all racists, Trump is the combination of all the members of the KKK ever and all the members of the Nazi party. It’s easy to understand, Trump weakened Sharpton’s ability to convince Black people they are always oppressed. That’s how Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and BLM make their money.

Then we have the Biden’s growing scandal. Shell companies? Wasn’t that one of the things that the Trump Impeachment(s) and all the subsequent lawsuits have looked into regarding Trump?

How can President Biden expect to not be impeached?

For that matter when the DOJ/FBI is refusing to honor a congressional subpoena something is seriously wrong and we should bring everything to a screeching halt because if we can’t trust the DOJ and / or the executive branch of government then we need to bring our full attention to fixing that.

Then we have the young man in NY who stepped up to subdue someone who was clearly deranged and stated that he was going to kill someone. While terrifying the passengers in a subway car.

Sadly this young man is going to be tried for manslaughter.

The message is clear, if you’re out in public, do not interfere in any criminal behavior. Do not protect your fellow citizens. If there’s a rape happening, or a mugging, or whatever… don’t get involved. If you do, you’ll be charged with a crime. Your life will never be the same and this is doubly true if you happen to be white and the person engaging in criminal activity is black.

So much for progress in eliminating racism.

The young man had to cough up $100,000 in bail. But wait, isn’t New York a Bail Free state? Or does that only apply if you’re not white?

And finally… Title 42 has expired. Title 42 is being touted as one of the last items restraining the illegals trying to get into the country.

I’m not sure that Title 42 was having that function per se, since it was about COVID and diseases in general. I will admit seeing the large numbers of people camped and reading reports of other migrant caravans heading north is concerning. How many uneducated poor people can we absorb? Ellis Island in 62 years of operation processed only 12 million or so. It’s thought that we’ll exceed 12 million in one year.

So now we have… what? Do we have a border at all? Do we have a country? Do we have any privilege of citizenship? I suppose the privilege is to be paying for Illegals, paying for Ukraine, paying for a government that isn’t constrained in its spending at all?

If we don’t have a border, then that sort of says we don’t have a country. If we don’t actually have a country, then why pay federal taxes?

Perhaps we should be paying only state taxes and calling our Governors, Presidents. Perhaps each of the states should be looked at as an individual country. Maybe then we as citizens could force our leaders to listen. California could go full communist and Gavin Newsom could cream his jeans over suddenly being dictator for life.

Texas could secure their border and enforce that security with guns. Then again, if there’s no United States and therefore no money, resources, or free shit to be had, There’s no advantage for immigrants making the trip.

Well, that’s one way to stop illegal immigration.

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Did I miss a memo from God?

God & I have a relationship.

Right at the moment I’m a little angry at God but not so much that I’ve turned my back on him. He knows why I’m angry and that I have faith perhaps everything was, or will be, for the best.

I’m willing to acknowledge he knows more than I do. I’m sure that he’ll forgive me for being a bit angry because I can’t see the whole picture like he can. I’m also sure he’ll forgive my ignorance and demands for answers. Compared to God I’m a petulant child and like my Father used to do, God is probably sighing in a slightly annoyed way, but is not angry at me.

I think of God very much like a good Dad. I treat the relationship with God the same way.

So I am generally confused when I see or hear things like, “I prayed over whether I should purchase an ice cream cone,” or something equally insignificant.

I understand having God in all aspects of your life but come on, would you call your actual Father up 50 or 100 times a day to ask about trivial bullshit?

No. You call your Dad to ask about serious stuff. “Hey Dad, I think I’m in love and want to get married. What do you think?  You’ve met ‘em.” Equally, I can see praying to God about getting married and asking for a little guidance on the question of, “Is this person the right person for me?”

That seems appropriate and I totally get it.

I’ve never thought of God as genie or Santa Claus. Even as a child somehow I knew that you only asked God for serious stuff. “God, please help Grandma get out of the hospital soon. I really miss her biscuits.”

(Yes… I did actually make that prayer as a child.) I’m fairly certain that God smiled at that childish, selfish prayer much the same way that my Father did tucking me into bed.

So when I see people saying they prayed over this, that, or the other trivially stupid thing, all the damn time I find myself wondering if they’re serious or just virtue signaling. I honestly don’t know, and am trying to refrain from rushing to judgement.

If these people are actually praying like this over any stupid thing, then I feel sorry for God. How many people are doing this all day every day? Even God has his limits. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah? How about the flood? Yeah what happens when God finally has enough of the whining and bitching and flings the planet into the sun for a 5 minute cleansing.

My Dad used to joke that if I didn’t behave, he could give me away and make another one just like me, who would behave properly.

With God… He could actually do it!

So all you bible thumpers out there. Y’all keep on preaching,  but how about not clogging the heavenly switchboard or voicemail with moronic shit?

There are some folks trying to get through with really important stuff. You know like, “God, should I marry this person? God, could you please help Russia and Ukraine tone it down a little bit?”

Most importantly, “Hey God, could you give me a little help making Grandma’s biscuits, I just can’t get ‘em quite right.”

How about all of us just thank God for another day and give him a break?