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I’m really starting to question the Smart house…

Way back when Nest produced their first thermostats I bought one. Our contractor installed thermostat was the cheapest piece of shit they could install, and honestly it didn’t fucking work.

We’d set the temp, the Thermostat was say it heated the house but a normal thermometer told us that the house was colder than when we’d started.

In the winter this presented a problem for the instruments (Harps, Guitars,) anything with strings. The people weren’t exactly happy either!

So at some point I got pissed and plunked down $300 for a Nest learning thermostat. In the beginning it was great and I highly recommended a unit to anyone and everyone. Then fucking Google bought Nest.

At first there didn’t seem to be too much of a problem. My programming of the thermostat held true and the unit adjusted to our changing schedules. It did what it was supposed to do and for a good 10 years the house was warm when we got home. I know the system was working the way I’d intended because if I was home sick with a cold or whatever, I’d have to override the thermostat during the day. I also saw the difference in the Gas bill in Winter and the A/C bill in summer.

Google got ever more invasive. Google wants to deprecate the Nest application login and force you to make a Google account. I’ve moved as far away from Google as possible and don’t even have gmail accounts anymore. That means I’m resisting.

Every time I log into the Nest Application or the Nest Website. Google has a shit fit! “Don’t you want to create a Google log in? Don’t you want to enable 90 factor log in security? “ On and on and on…

NO! I don’t want any of your shit Google! Just let me get to the actual control part of the damn application!

Lately, my thermostat is being reprogrammed without my consent.

62°F at night is too damn cold! Even with blankets and flannel sheets, I’m not sleeping well. I do sleep soundly if I’m in my sleeping bag that’s rated to 0°F. I shouldn’t have to sleep in a sleeping bag… IN MY OWN FUCKING HOUSE!

During the day if I’m home the temp is set to 66°F in the winter. That’s still a bit too cold but I’m willing to put up with it because I live in terror of the damn natural gas bill. Southern California Gas royally fucked everyone last year. Of course their executives still got their bonuses for incompetence. That’s another story!

I have specifically told the Nest Thermostat that I don’t want it learning. I don’t want it making adjustments, I want it to maintain my set temps within the schedule I’ve created and I want it to go to the lower temps when it figures out I’m not home.

Dirt Fucking Simple!

But… Somewhere, deep in the bowels of Google, some little Indian programmer fuck is deciding via programming that I don’t know what I’m doing and they know better what I need.

Every time they send a software update my schedule gets “Fine Tuned”. It used to be that having your temps set to 68° F or lower was considered worthy of a little environment leaf. Now the leaf doesn’t show up until you dial the temp down to 65°F. Nighttime temps of 63°F used to be “efficient” and worthy of the leaf. Now it’s 62°F.  The Nest “Fine Tuning” routine “adjusts” whatever your schedule is, to having the leaf indicator on.

If you scheduled 68°F during the evening… “Well you’re a moron! Let Google set your temp for you. There 65°F aren’t you happy? Gee sorry about that asthmatic child developing pneumonia. We’re about saving the environment, a little collateral damage is acceptable.“

I don’t care about the leafs, I care about not having my hands turn blue, or shivering in my bed all night.

Were I not thinking about selling this house and moving, I’d be shopping for a new thermostat. I have reprogrammed my schedule according to my needs 4 times in the past 3 months. If you see a little yellow/gold gear with a leaf at the bottom of your Nest thermostat display, guess what? You’ve been fine tuned! 

“We hope you like being cold living above the snowline. You’re welcome! Sincerely Google.“

My problem is this. I bought the fucking machine, I installed the fucking machine, I expect the fucking machine to obey my wishes, not the wishes of some asshole I’ve never met who doesn’t live my life, who has decided that they’re my better!

I may start shopping for a new thermostat anyway. I’d go for one of the really old units with a mercury switch and piece of coiled metal that reacted to temperature. Unfortunately, you can’t get mercury switches anymore. 

Mercury is bad dontchaknow even if it’s sealed in a glass ampule that never, or only rarely sees the light of day.

There are some old school thermostats like that in houses in this little town. Those scary dangerous mercury ampules have been in service for 70 years firing up heaters and haven’t hurt anyone yet.

This bullshit with the thermostat has made me seriously start rethinking the smart house concept entirely.

So long as the devices in my home are controlled only by me we got no problem and I like the convenience. But when they start disobeying, or someone remotely overrides my settings we got a serious problem.

That’s why after the house burned, we didn’t sign up for Edisons Power Savings thing again. The A/C Compressor of the old house, Edison could kill remotely.  We were going to drop out of that program. The house burning down simply spared us the annoyance.

That previous summer, Edison shut down the A/C while we were at work several days in a row. The interior temps of the house exceeded 100° F and caused $50-$60 worth of harp strings to snap each day. It also caused a meltdown on a RAID array that contained all our data. The RAID array did a thermal shutdown but the damage was already done. (It was a shitty manufacturer and while it was supposed to shut down prior to damage, it didn’t.)

At the time I remember wondering how it could be better for the grid, to have all the home A/C compressors in Southern California running at the same time for 2 or 3 hours.  That’s what it took to bring the temps in everyone’s homes down to something livable again after work. It wasn’t good for the grid. But it was great for the Electric company executives who were making more money than ever, and bitching about the strain on the electrical grid to justify rate increases to the PUC.

When / If I move. I’m going to be considering very carefully how smart I make things. 

While I like having the lights come on when I get home, I could do that with a motion detector. I like having lights come on at a particular time, but I could do that with a timer. I like being able to turn the lights off at night with a word, but I could do that with The Clapper .

Do I really need the maintenance headache of smart lightbulbs, ceiling fans, thermostats, and security cameras?

Thinking about it, I had most of this back in the ‘80s. 

It was done with the BSR X-10 system. And I had one!

Nobody could screw with the BSR unit via the internet. (The internet existed but wasn’t offered to the Public yet.) If someone was messing around with your lights and things it was an accident. They’d set their box to the same base code as yours and it was easily handled.

I suppose it’s another case of the old way is the best way.

Just how smart does my house need to be to make me happy?

The answer to that question may be, “My house needs a lobotomy.”

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OH Really… Like this is a surprise.

The Jerusalem Post is reporting that the Hamas Leaders, you know, the assholes living in luxury in Qatar, have suddenly turned off their phones and left their nice digs.

I find it interesting that Hamas fighters will do all the horrific things they’ve done, on the orders of men sitting on their fat asses in another country. Men who never go hungry, who have the finest clothing, and the best of everything, and who order the poor deluded “Freedom Fighters” to do despicable things or order them to their deaths. That alone speaks volumes about the mental capacity of Hamas fighters and the Palestinian people in general.

Of course the same could be said to some extent of our “Elites” and our military. I hope and pray our average soldier still questions the morality of orders they’re given. I’m starting to wonder about that, but perhaps the discussion should wait lest I open another “Rabbit Hole” and never finish this post.

The Hamas Leaders “going on the run”, and that’s what they’re doing, suggests that they’ve realized the IDF was very serious about hunting down those responsible for 10/7. It’s also possible that the IDF is closing in on these fuckers.

Personally, I think a worldwide bounty would be more efficient. If Israel offered a million bucks for these guys heads I can think of a few people who’d take that action. Why not? Hell, Muslims all over the world would probably turn them in for the bounty. There is no honor amongst those people.

Were I younger, well trained, and healthier, I’d consider going all Predator on these cockroaches. The payday would just be a bonus. The real payoff would be ridding the world of defective, horrific, rabid animals, like Hamas. 

If they think they’re going to be safe in the US that’s a sad state of affairs on a number of levels. 

1) They shouldn’t be able to enter the country in the first place and they shouldn’t under any circumstances feel the US would be “Safe” for them. Unfortunately, I suspect neither is true anymore.
2) If they make it to the US they’ll use the Palestinians in the US as human shields hoping to “blend in”. Then they’ll pervert our laws to their protection. Our feckless politicians will allow it.
3) If pissed off folks in America start hunting Palestinians looking for these cowards then so called innocent people will be hurt. I question the innocence of Palestinians in general, based on Rashida Tlaib and the Protests in the streets. I’m willing to accept the possibility of innocent Palestinians for the time being.

I find myself thinking, “If no Muslim country will provide safe haven to the poor displaced Palestinian victims perhaps it’s reasonable to ask why. What do they know that the rest of the world doesn’t?”

I look forward to the heads of Hamas Leadership on pikes. 

Perhaps a little too Vlad, but my family origin is northern European. 

Hey, I could have gone full Vlad and called for them to be impaled alive, then have their posts set along the entrance road to The Dome of the Rock.

I know, if that were to be done, (deserved, given what Hamas did to women and children,) the Palestinians would run to the UN and whine like little bitches. “They’re being mean to us… This is a war crime… “

Yeah, whatever! Fuck off!

If the IDF were to use sling shots in defending themselves, the UN, the Muslim World, and the Palestinians, would accuse Israel of war crimes. 

My advice to Israel, “You’re going to be guilty of some war crime (even if you’re not,) no matter what, so carpet bomb Gaza. Then Napalm it. Then flood it. Repeat as necessary and make sure everyone else knows that Gaza is an example of what will happen to them.”

Go fucking crazy! Don’t bother with restraint. If the world thinks you’ve lost your minds they might just think twice before screwing with you.

It might take some time, and some examples, but as long as you say what you’ll do, and do what you say, eventually even the moronic muslim world will get the picture, or go extinct. Either way is a win.

The logic is pretty simple. If someone wants to kill you, (and muslims have stated they do, time and again.)

Kill them first!

May Hamas leaders come to brutally ugly ends. Heads on Pikes (optional).

As an aside… 

I’ve read it in news articles, and heard it said in the crowds of protesters shown on TV, that white people should be killed.

As a white person, from a family of white people who generally speaking, like our lives, families, God, and guns. You might want to review this philosophy…

The logic is pretty simple. If someone wants to kill you…

Kill them first!

Y’all probably don’t want to poke the white bear!

Just Sayin…

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Hmm, is this real or not…

I can’t imagine what kind of device Manuel might be.

I would have ignored this entirely except that it showed up in an email from LinkedIn. It was just too emblematic of the job search market to pass up.

I thought LinkedIn was supposed to be vetting their job listings. It looks like USTech is a real company, but I can’t locate this position on their web site.

So either it’s another SPAM job listing (All too common on LinkedIn) or it’s an old position that’s been filled so LinkedIn is just presenting it to waste the job seeker’s time.

I think it’s time to ask this simple question.

Is it time to abandon LinkedIn?

What does it really provide as far as service? The site has degraded to nothing more than a FaceBook clone.

Honestly, I can’t read more than a few of the posts before getting really bored. 

The years I was completely off of LinkedIn I got a lot less SPAM. Less than a week after rejoining LinkedIn, my SPAM levels tripled.

I only rejoined LinkedIn because a completely useless HR consultant told an entire class of people it was absolutely necessary to have social media and LinkedIn. This consultant supposedly walked everyone through the self marketing process. Social media presence, LinkedIn profiles, resumes, etc. Except they didn’t.

I can say, for me sitting in those classes was absolutely useless. I can’t say for certain that anyone benefitted, and the consulting firm doesn’t appear to be in business today. 

Our jobs, indeed most of our department was being offshored and the company had to wave its hands for the government, to make it look like they were doing something to assist those of us being laid off.

The majority of us who’d been through the layoff process before, knew within 5 minutes that these HR Consulting folks were bogus. These folks had the fundamentals of the layoff process incorrect and didn’t know that when a company lays off quantities of people above a certain threshold there’s government involvement and reporting.

They were getting paid likely an obscene amount of money but their curriculum was obviously a hack job and not one of them had ever taught a class or gotten up to speak  in front of a group of people. Yes, it was that obvious. Especially since I had stood up teaching classes to technical folks earlier in my career.

I’ve wondered what it would take for me to be one of the presenters for a corporation that does the “Employment Transitions and Assistance Classes” By the way, I claim that name, and the abbreviation ETAC as my own.

I’m sure I could put together a class that dealt with Social media (What to delete!) LinkedIn and resume writing. I’m also sure that I could put together something useful to the employees facing the end of their jobs. God knows I’ve been through the layoff process enough to have gained some useful experience.