Category: Things that make you say hmmm?

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One of those dreams that you wake up from with chills

Iearth.jpgn the dream I’m sitting at my computer wandering down an unfamiliar data pathway on the ‘net.

My screen freezes then starts showing random characters.

The characters resolve into a message:

After careful observation and consideration. It’s been determined this civilization will not achieve Kardashev Type 1 status.

Therefore the warning message transmitted from Buoys in the Oort cloud has been modified and will broadcast for another thousand cycles.

New Message Reads, “Warning – Do not approach the third planet. Primitive species, extremely dangerous and warlike. Minimal spacial abilities with crude atomic weapons. End Message”

Message is being transmitted on all frequencies and in all known languages. Additionally system wide cradle defense batteries have been deactivated. This world is of no further interest to our people, and no longer under our protection.

Humans will have to fend for themselves. We will no longer provide protection from Slaver or Raiding species. Nor will we provide any protection from asteroid impact.

Orders are as follow: Evacuate. Collect any genetic material of interest, finalize reports, back up all cultural databases for subsequent study on Phoenixie Prime. destroy all bases and fall back to our ships. As we exit the system we will destroy all of our technology except warning buoys to prevent potential misuse.

Ten thousand years has been more than enough time for a civilization to evolve. Most do it in four thousand years. We’ve been too lenient and allowed our love of this species to stay our hand.

Report to your assigned ships for evacuation no later than 90 days from today.

Signed,

Commander Sol 3 Joint Annunaki / Phonexie Research Expedition.

Then the screen scrambled again and my computer rebooted.

I woke up in one of those Who, What, Where, things you have when you wake up from a nightmare.

As I collected my wits, I realized that a message like this appearing on every display device across our planet would at once confirm the existence of extraterrestrials, and just how disappointed they were with us as a species.

The ensuing chaos would be epic and imagine the wonder and sadness the world would feel as space craft suddenly appeared and left in very unsubtle ways. 

Then it occurred to me. I don’t think there’s been a significant meteor impact (meaning really damaging) for about 8 to 10 thousand years.

Now you have some insight into the weirdness of my mind.

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Abracadabra Alakazam Your online security is all a Big ‘Ol Sham

Just like the TSA waving their hands and muttering incantations when you try to board a plane.

10 years ago, I moved my checking and savings accounts away from Wells Fargo.

Recently I had need to speak with them and got the usual “you can get faster service by going to our web site”

During the course of the conversation, the representative, a lovely lady from Virginia told me that my records were very out of date. (I rarely have need to do business with them.) 

I told the lady that I knew that. And then told her that the reason for my call was that I couldn’t do what I needed to do online because the online system wouldn’t let me update the account profile.

The reason is this, I needed to change the phone number and the email address, but in order to do that I had to have access to one or both. Since I have access to neither, the system wouldn’t allow a change.

This was compounded by the fact that they didn’t have a cell phone number on file with which to send me a verification code.

Okay say I, “Since I’ve given you all the verification information and was able to tell you what the old number was, can you just make the changes? And can we proceed from there?”

Her answer is yes, “but we’ll have to add your cellphone number and then you’ll have to wait for us to send you an email telling you your number has been accepted, so that when you call us back to actually do what you needed to do, we can send you a verification text, so that we know it’s you…”

This somehow seemed totally logical to her.

She followed up by telling me it was for my security.

Sigh…

If I were a nefarious person, I could just as easily play along with this game, having changed the cellphone and email addresses, and I’d have access to do what I was trying to do in the first place, It would only take me keeping track of stuff for 24 hours and then calling back.

What exactly does the bank think is going on? Do they think that criminals have some kind of short attention span?  Are they thinking a criminal is going to forget about the score they were working on, over the course of 24 hours?

By the way this is the sort of thing that has turned me off traditional banks. Credit Unions seem to be a little more direct about getting the job done. 

The banking and insurance systems seem intent on making things so secure… That ONLY criminals will be able to access our data, because they have the time to commit to accessing the accounts.

40 minutes on the phone, and I still have not accomplished what I set out to accomplish.

So now I’m waiting on an email… 

I’m thinking that it’s not worth it. A far more direct method would be to keep my money in my mattress and eschew traditional banking institutions altogether. The problem is that  gold is heavy, and hard to store or move. Diamonds on the other hand are small, light, and easy.

Hummm I wonder…

Perhaps it’s time to close this last bit of business with Wells Fargo. To do that I’ll have to be in a bank branch sooo that’s on my TODO list.

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I am in shock that PC bullshit has gone this far.

Laura.jpgThe American Association for Library Service to Children has removed Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name from one of its awards. They’re changing the name to Children’s Literature Legacy award. Read the article Here

For those who may not know that name, this is the Author of The Little House on the Prairie series of books. You know, an American Classic. The books are considered semi-autobiographical. 

This is being done because in the books she implies Native Americans were not people, and later describes African American people as “Darkies”. 

Laura Ingalls Wider was born in 1867. The books were published between 1932 and 1943. 

Since the books are semi-autobiographical in nature, it is not surprising that they might contain some racist stereotypes. From the perspective of the author, these stereotypes would have been a normal part of her lexicon and she wouldn’t have seen anything wrong with using them.

Once again the PC police are subjecting classical literature to the standards of today. Who’s next? Mark Twain? After all, his writings speak of a black man who was a slave.

I honestly don’t see the point. Why waste the energy to rename awards? In the words of a famous politician, “What does it matter at this point anyway,”

Fahrenheit 451 6I read about stuff like this and think Fahrenheit 451,  or the book burnings of Nazi Germany.

Authors create snapshots  of their times and environment. Without those perspectives from more or less “average people” I feel we risk losing something of ourselves. This is especially concerning if we continue moving toward editing our past just because our current standards are rightfully different from those of our past.

Maybe I’m worried over nothing, in fact, were I in my twenties reading this, I’d probably give it no thought. But one benefit of age is perspective.

It’s not about looking back fondly on older times. It’s the realization that one of the best ways to mark progress is to look at where we’ve been. In that, literature gives us a view that we might otherwise not have. A first person narrative while biased, allows us to see what was normal and contrast that with what is normal, for better or worse.

NevilleC_Hitler.jpgAppeasements typically don’t work, ask Neville Chamberlain. If you don’t know who that is, look him up. He & Hitler had an interesting relationship.

This kind of renaming and whitewashing of history is nothing more than appeasement. In the long run, one incident isn’t significant, but when the appeasements add up well, Poland gets annexed.

Even if you don’t agree, give it some thought and figure out where you personally would draw the line.