Tag: Musings

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Apple, You Kinda Screwed up…

From the moment that Apple HomePods were announced, I was interested.

That being said, I wasn’t going to pony up 600-700 bucks for a pair unless I could hear them. Therein was the problem.

You see you could look at them in an Apple Store you could play with the colorful Siri swirl. But you couldn’t actually hear them. Anyone who’s been in an Apple Store knows the chaos the customers endure to shop there.

People playing with every device at every counter. The loud talking, the kids shouting, the Apple Representatives talking louder to be heard over the din.

Boops, Beeps, suddenly loud music from various corners of the store, the Apple Training person giving a class, people trying to get their computers working, and asking endless questions about their new devices they’re in the process of setting up, all over the drone of the latest popular music that the store is playing to “enhance” the customer shopping experience…

You get the picture.

If someone wanted to hear the HomePods with music similar to what they actually listen to in a quiet environment they were pretty much SOL. Against the cacophony of the store there’s no way you could actually hear Mozart, or the delicate pluck of a string. There was no way to actually hear the speakers… Just the speakers.

When Apple released the HomePod mini at $99 it put a HomePod device in the realm of buying one just to try it out. Worst case scenario the sound was crappy but you had access to Siri and could ask about the weather as you made coffee in the morning.

That’s how we came to have a HomePod mini.

We were astounded at the quality of the sound from such a little device. So astounded in fact, that we bought 3 more.

Several weeks after that, we were visiting a neighbor’s house and he had two full size HomePods. He also had a regular set of very nice speakers for listening to his vinyl collection.

I asked if he liked the HomePods. He said, “Yes, very much,” He went on to explain while switching off the turntable that they sounded great when he was streaming music and that he also had several HomePod minis scattered about the house in the bedrooms and his office.

Then he started streaming music to the HomePods.

The sound was glorious. Amazingly glorious, the room was filled with well balanced music. The bass was strong but not overwhelming and the treble was crisp and clear. Had I known what HomePods really sounded like in a quiet room I’d have bought a set shortly after they came out, and I said so.

Then the neighbor said, “If you want a pair you’d better hurry. Apple just discontinued them today.”

I was bummed out.

The other half who is not often impressed with speakers or reproduced music asked a few questions and I thought that was it. I’d missed out on something that was really great.

Two weeks after that a couple of boxes addressed to the other half arrived via UPS.

Magically, two space gray HomePods had appeared. The stereo pair of HomePod minis moved into my office and a new stereo pair was created in the master bedroom. The HomePods are on the credenza flanking the TV now. They handle music in the living room and serve as speakers for movies being played on the Apple TV.

They support the Dolby Atmos stream from the Apple TV and the sound is amazing when playing movies or even TV shows.

There have been some articles calling the HomePod a failure. I don’t think the devices are failures, Apple’s marketing department failed. They clearly didn’t understand that while people will pay 2 or 3 thousand dollars for a computer they’ve never seen or used, folks will need to be a little more “Ears On” for a set of speakers. Even if those speakers are $299 each.

A computer, will adapt and you can hammer it into what you want or need.

Speakers on the other hand either please your ears or they don’t. We all hear differently, it’s not a one size fits all solution.

There are some magna planar speakers that I really like and yet I’ve heard others that I didn’t care for. Some models “hiss” while in operation and that hiss seems to be independent of the speaker’s input source. I find the hissing to be irritating. So even if I had enough cash and space to buy a set of magna planars I’d still be listening to them very carefully as I was making my selection.

Spending $600 on a set of machines I’d never heard before was simply too big a leap of faith for my budget. Sure, I could have bought a set and if I didn’t like ’em I could have returned them, but who wants that hassle?

As I sit here writing this, my Office HomePod minis are playing a selection of guitar solos that are quite beautiful and quiet. I could never have listened to this kind of music in an Apple Store.

The Apple Store venue would have made this music sound like the speakers weren’t of good quality regardless of it being played on full size HomePods or the HomePod mini.

As I said, if there was a failure, it was on the part of Apple’s marketing.

I think they were a bit too arrogant in believing that slapping an Apple logo on something would entice people to buy whatever that thing was. Sure there are lots of Apple fans who salivate yearly for the next Apple widget.

There are a lot more people out here that look at Apple products from a more objective position. We want to evaluate the product and we want to be able to think about the product and it’s utility to our lives.

I didn’t get on board with the Apple Watch until Gen 3. Only then had the watch’s utility caught up to the hype and expense in my mind. Yes, there were other reasons for my purchase of the Gen 3 at the time. I eventually upgraded to Gen 5 and don’t anticipate another upgrade until Gen 7 or 8. Then, only if the Watch provides additional utility that is well beyond what my Gen 5 provides.

I would recommend HomePods (The big ones) if you can find them. I’ve been very pleased with mine, and I continue to appreciate and enjoy my HomePod minis on a daily basis.

That may be in part because there is so little I want to watch on TV and I’ve been shifting more to music and reading a good book.

On music, I have to mention that since I started with Apple Music at 9.99 a month I’ve not been disappointed. Perhaps its because I have access to a world of music that I’m listening to more. Being able to stream literally anything without the worry of buying a crappy album and being stuck with it. I’ve become far more likely to listen to new artists and Apple’s curated lists of music. “Guitar Chill” is my latest discovery.

These lists are updated typically every week and they’re usually quite good. The HomePods let me enjoy them without having something stuffed in my ear. Being able to say, “Siri Stop” is really nice when the phone rings. Although you can use the HomePods to answer the phone and then they’ll act like a speaker phone. I use that option rarely since I don’t like speakerphones in general. I’ve got to admit that it’s nice if I’ve got my hands full.

Thinking about it, I wonder if it would be too over the top to have a set of HomePod mini’s in the garage? If I was doing a lot of work in the garage or working out daily there, it might just be worth it.

Hmm… Nah, I’ll give that one some more thought.

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And Here it is Folks!

New York has rolled out a vaccine passport. The Article is here.

Yes, at this point it’s only New York. But the plan is to roll this kind of dystopian nightmare out across our country and across the whole planet.

I’ve got just a few questions…

How the heck does anybody think this is a good thing?

At a time when a law requiring a citizen to produce ID to vote is “racist“, and has been described as akin to Jim Crowe. It’s apparently it’s A-Okay to require someone to produce proof that they’ve been vaccinated so that they can enter a venue, or shopping center?

At a time when the stratification of our society is by far, worse than it’s even been in my memory (figure 50 + years), we’re fine with saying some people are not able to enter some buildings, shops, etc?

What happened to equality? Not everyone will get the vaccine for various reasons.

Some people literally can’t take the stuff. They’re to be excluded from participating fully in society? Shopping, Travel, Sporting events, concert halls, you name it, all due to a quirk in their biology?

One could easily describe higher or lower quantities of melanin in the skin as a biological quirk.

Will we see “Vaccinated” and “Un-Vaccinated” Water Fountains?

Will we be okay with “Vaccinated” and “Un-Vaccinated” Subway trains, or Buses?

Will we be more okay with marginalizing a segment of our society for supposed “Bio-Hazard” reasons instead of racial reasons? What does that look like?

People in tattered clothing with a pink Bio-Hazard label on their lapels?

Homeless, destitute, hungry, but otherwise completely healthy people, excluded from society? Will we force these people into the bowels of our cities to work in filth (regardless of their intellectual ability,) becaus they’re presumed to be; diseased, carriers… expendable?

Or will we just opt for leper colonies that look more like Hitler’s concentration camps?

Trouble is, no matter how much you want these assumed “pariahs” to die, they probably won’t.

They’re likely to become stronger, healthier, and because they won’t have the benefits of an easy life where their feelings aren’t being hurt, they’ll be tougher mentally too. Quite likely, they’ll be much more clever at survival.

See, I have a lot of faith in biology and the adaptability of the species. Apparently a lot more faith than what passes for “Science” these days.

I reiterate, COVID-19 has a survival rate of 97% or higher.

The next question is;

Might we be over-reacting a bit?

We’re still learning a lot about this virus. New discoveries are being made, peer reviewed, and published papers, show up in reputable medical journals almost daily.

A lot of those discoveries are actually pretty good news. The human race may have dodged a bullet this time around.

Would it not be better to consider this a dry run? Learn from this experience what works, and what doesn’t, then lay down the groundwork necessary to mitigate the next, likely more deadly pandemic?

Say something like an airborne Ebola, or the Black Plague, that kills in 6 hours? (Come on… You know some insane government or military somewhere on the planet has thought about it.)

I’m simply not ready to go to a GATTACA, The Walking Dead, Omega Man, or other dystopian nightmare scenario just yet.

I don’t think it’s right or reasonable to demand vaccination records to transact business.

Politicians have been attempting to spin shame for those people who choose not to wear a mask.

What’s the saying, “You’re not wearing a mask for your protection. You’re wearing a mask for the protection of others.” Implicitly stating that you’re a selfish bastard for not wearing a mask.

The spin machines have been trying to conflate wearing a mask as an act of patriotism, when in reality it’s probably more likely government mandated virtue signaling. A way of reenforcing that “We’re all in this together…“

If the shaming, spin and conflation continue to their logical conclusion. Things will be a lot worse than someone at a dog park being maced.

Picture the poor schmuck standing in line at a grocery store who discovers too late, that they don’t have the “Correct” vaccine de jour.

Crowds who believe they’re right, and just, get very ugly, very quickly.

I could see someone being beaten to death because their vaccine scan failed. (Sadly, they’d be counted as another COVID-xx death.)

Being the cynical and dark fuck that I am, the following scenario occurs to me.

Because the vaccine is essentially free, and the vaccine passport is also free I could see a scenario where the next 3 – 5 years is a period of adjustment.

A “New Normal” where everyone scans their vaccine passport to enter everywhere. Once people aren’t thinking about it anymore big pharma starts charging for the booster shots.

Picture the level of non political control a government or company could exercise on an entire population. “Oh, we’re sorry, you can’t cross the state line, or enter this city, or corporate office, without a booster shot. It costs $2200 for nonessential people, and we can give it to you right now if you can afford it…”

If you were one of the people in control, you could create an immediate two caste system, and easily control who was elite and who wasn’t simply by controlling the price of a vaccine or booster shot. All you need to do is keep fear alive.

No bullets, no war no political systems or parties… just simple absolute control.

If that doesn’t scare the hell out of you, it should. History has shown us repeatedly that control is the goal

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We’ve reached the end of the week.

Annnnnnnddd… Nothing is new!

Had a job offer rescinded. Disappointing but in truth I had some reservations about the job. The pay was good, but the Job itself was in Florida.

Florida wouldn’t be bad for me personally, but it would mean leaving Jesse, my home, and probably any reasonable chance of returning to California would be gone too, except to sell the house eventually.

I thought about it and had come to peace about all that I’d be leaving and all that I’d have to clean up eventually.

The reservations about the job in addition to those stated, also had to do with the relationship of the person I’d be working for and my family’s involvement. What happened to the job if things went sour between my boss and the family? Those questions were apparently answered when the offer was rescinded. I know from the family’s perspective that something happened.

I’m trying to convince myself that it was for the best and have mustered at least some strength of will to continue this fruitless search.

I’ve been considering just entering warehouse work. There’s a nice symmetry in that. One of the first jobs I had, involved warehouse work, and I sorta liked it.

No politics, simple labor, In motion all day long, and not trapped behind a desk. Do your job, do it right, and go home at night.

There’s also a pot grower nearby that is looking for help with the growing. The pay isn’t as high as the warehousing positions, but I like making things grow. I’d also be a good candidate because I don’t particularly like pot. The employer wouldn’t have to worry about me taking merchandise or being stoned out of my mind on the job.

The longer this unemployment goes on, the more I’m leaning toward abandoning technology as a career and doing something that’s actually constructive.

I’ve been thinking maybe it’s time to let software continue it’s slide toward horrific inadequacy without my interference.

After all we’ve all seen the debacles across the software industry in recent years. From simple things like, Typos salted through menus and help texts, to data breaches exposing a corporations entire customer database to the world.

Remember… the software “Passed” testing…

I wonder how happy I’d be returning to an office environment where any bug I discovered could be called “Racist” based on the color of a programmer’s skin or their national origin. Software either works correctly or it doesn’t. As a QA person my job is to find the problems and report them. I don’t care who or what the programmer is, a bug is a bug.

The problem is, that if you’re assigned to test a particular part of functionality it’s often a particular programmer’s code. Programmers hate QA finding bugs in their code I could see it devolving into a “He’s just a racist and going through my code with a fine tooth comb because he hates: X, Y, Z colored people.“

No matter how you play that scenario out, as a white man these days you lose. Even if you’re treating all the code you test in exactly the same way.

Then I ask myself do I really want to deal with being afraid of using the wrong word or pronoun.

Years ago I was called on the carpet during a class that I was teaching for using the term “dikes”. It was a common term that described diagonal cutters (as in for wire).

I don’t know how the term came into common usage, as that happened decades before I was an itch in my Daddy’s pants. But there I was, facing a pissed off lesbian who’d taken offense.

First of all, I didn’t know or care that she was a lesbian. Second of all, I used a term that the other 30 people in the class knew, and my use of that term caused them to all pick up the indicated tool to perform the indicated action.

I asked her what term I should use, her reply was, “diagonal cutters”. “Fine,” I said, “I’ll use that term for the rest of the class.”

While she was yelling in my face about how hurtful the term “dikes” was, I could see the other 30 people in the class rolling their eyes in annoyance.

I told her in front of the class that I happened to be gay and that I wasn’t offended by the term “Fag.” In fact I expected to hear that term frequently when I was in London.

I then asked if we could get on with the class. She’d have none of it. She demanded satisfaction in the form of an immediate written apology for using an offensive term.

Her boss spared me wasting time on an endeavor to satisfy 0.03030303 % of the class by removing her from the classroom.

Several other women were present and two of them said they too were lesbians, and didn’t mind my use of the term in this context. One of them quipped, “I hope Sheila NEVER visits Holland!“

The class burst into laughter and we got on with business.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that incident over the past year. I honestly can’t say if I’d be happy in an office full of people just waiting to pounce on the wrong word, action, or pronoun, just to be offended and cause drama.

Perhaps I’ve had enough of the corporate grind.

I know I’ve had enough of the HR bullshit where a corporation states their policy then promptly discards the policy based on skin color.

Yeah, the last place I worked had a few incidents like that. I’m rule based. Give me a rule & I’ll follow it until you aren’t following the rules. At that point, don’t try making me selectively follow your rules, especially not based on the color of my skin versus someone else’s.

The last place I worked, was just starting to see the perpetually aggrieved. I have to wonder how much worse that’s gotten over the past year.

I just want to go to work, do my job, be paid for my effort, and go home. I don’t want to be terrorized all day into silence or be expected to show up at some event to show corporate support for a cause that I don’t believe in.

Sadly, that too seems to be required by some companies.

Time will tell…

I wonder if it’s too late in my life to move to Norway. A nice simple one room cottage perched on green hills overlooking a fjord. Maybe some sheep, a cow, and a windmill or solar panels to charge the electronics, (At least much of the year…)

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Wow! Just Wow.

Obviously I must have misunderstood the Democratic reconciliation message.

Governor Abbott of Texas has decided to lift all the COVID restrictions… Pundits, politicians, and Hollywood Elites are losing their minds. (Uh, last I checked neither Pundits or Hollywood’s elite had access to the same information that Governor Abbott has access to from his state health services.)

For those that may have missed the subtext… that means “Shut the hell up!”

The President described lifting the lockdowns as Neanderthal thinking.

Well Mr. President, you would know all about that, given that it appears your thought processes have devolved to a sub-neanderthal level. At least it appears Neanderthals could string two sentences together.

They were tool users, had command of fire, structurally their bodies may have supported more muscle making them stronger, and their bones were built a tad stronger than ours. Their brain size was also not too different.

It may simply have been a fluke that we survived and they didn’t. Although evidence does suggest that there was interbreeding between the species. So you might want to speak kindly of Neanderthals, after all, you never know who’s lineage you might be insulting.

They, unlike you and your staff appear to have disregarded things that didn’t definitively work. While you and Dr. Doom & Gloom Fauci on the other hand, continue to cast the bones, chant, and wave your arms around, about masks.

Next, one of your staff will be saying that we should use Oni masks to scare away the evil spirits released upon the world by China.

The next day though your administration would be scolding us for cultural appropriation and calling us all racists.

Who knows? The Oni mask might actually work, the Japanese have been dealing with China a lot longer than we have.

One of the best of the many screaming about Abbott’s decision, was Keith Olbermann. Let’s see, a washed up sportscaster who blindly Hated Trump and now has to content himself with just hating Republicans came out with this:

Why are we wasting vaccinations on Texas if Texas has decided to join the side of the virus? https://t.co/Yn2i7zT8KL

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) March 3, 2021

Say what?

Let me get this straight Mr. Olbermann, are you saying that because the Governor of the state of Texas does something that you disagree with, you’re in favor of denying the vaccine to ALL THE PEOPLE OF TEXAS?

NICE! Very forgiving, how very enlightened!

Last time I checked it didn’t take much more than a big mouth, and the ability to watch sports to be a sportscaster. Keith, do you have a medical degree you’ve not mentioned?

How about this? Just floating the idea here, maybe we should deny the entire state of New York access to birth control, since Governor Cuomo obviously can’t be trusted not to sexually harass women?

That would make about as much sense as what you’ve suggested.

(And don’t even get me started about Como’s nipple rings… Yeah, that’s a thing, look it up.)

Then we have the perennial favorite AOC, declaring that re-opening Texas endangers The whole country.

This endangers the entire country and beyond. We are in a pandemic. We know that COVID spread isn’t neatly contained by state borders, and explosions in COVID cases can increase the likelihood of new COVID variants to develop or spread to new places. It’s dangerous.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 2, 2021

This hyperbole is what we’ve come to expect from AOC. At this point, I think she’s being kept around for nothing but comic relief, or perhaps she’s just serving as an example of how not to be a village idiot.

“Now Johnny, if you don’t work hard and study, you’ll be just like AOC. You don’t want to be that stupid do you? Don’t you want to be at least a ditch digger and not a politician?“

AOC also demonstrated her profound stupidity this weekend by saying that NYPD sending in a robotic “dog” to assess a possible hostage situation was racist.

I tried to wrap my head around that one and found that I couldn’t.

The “Dog” costs 75K it was not armed, and couldn’t really escalate a situation in the same way that sending a human into harm’s way could have.

I found that I wasn’t willing to undergo a lobotomy to understand how she came up with racism from that one. Especially since the perpetrators had been holding two men hostage, while torturing them, and demanding money.

AOC can expect a lot more of this kind of racism going forward. Just wait, it will probably get more interesting when robots are armed, and bring a situation under control by shooting first and asking questions later.

Can you really accuse a robot of being racist? Of course, killer robots as police would save the state a ton of money in trials, juries, and prison expenses. I’m fairly sure that we’d see a lot more homeless lawyers too.

The body cam footage from a robot would be priceless. Robot orders perp to stop or be fired upon. The perpetrator takes a shot at the robot, the robot blows the perps brains all over the place. Simple, dispassionate, efficient, and brings a whole new meaning to “Death by cop”.

I can imagine hostage negotiations; “Okay, let the hostages go or we’ll send the ‘bot in… ” The hostages come running out and the perps handcuff themselves. Just like RoboCop, I just hope we don’t get to the Gort version. What would happen to a city like Chicago with 100 Gorts running around? I’d imagine there would be one really bad weekend, and then Chicago might be a super nice place to live.

The courts would be hard pressed to say the robots are racist. Robots could simply hate all humans equally.

I’ve digressed.

I keep looking for this reconciliation the Democrats keep talking about, all I see is vengeance.

Democrats … You won! How about you stop beating dead horses and get to work making good on all the promises you made about how much better things will be under your benevolent, loving rule?

Orange man bad… Democrats good. Remember????

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Deleted Parler Today…

Update: 3/5/2021

While Parler is indeed back. Apparently they’re Hotel California. I checked the site today to answer the question, “Why haven’t I gotten an email saying your account is canceled.” The answer to that question is that my account hasn’t been cancelled.

Turns out that going through the “Delete your account” isn’t working for me. I click on the button, enter the password and … nothing. The site just loops back to the page you were on. This isn’t unusual because lots of pages on the site do that right now but even though you’re on the same page with apparently no changes having been made if you exit the page and come back in, you’ll see the changes.

Evidently, the same is not true for the “Delete my account page”

So, for the time being, I’m still on Parler. I still have the same number of followers I had but all of my messages have been deleted. Sigh…

What I really want is for the entire account to be gone. I’m trying to be completely done with social media and all that encompasses. For now, I can check out of Parler, but I can’t leave.

Looks like they’re finally back.

Good for them.

Since Parler was the last of my social media accounts, when Amazon, and the Democratic Party (make no mistake, they too were complicit) took Parler away I was suddenly without any Social media.

After the initial shock and withdrawal, I found I was fine. After a week I didn’t care anymore, Whether by hook or crook, the Democratic Party won the day. Bitching about it, or reading others bitching about it, serves no purpose.

I don’t fear being labeled a conservative anymore. If the government wants to harm you, they’ll find a way. The people in power have demonstrated the lengths to which they’ll go to remove anything or anyone they find disagreeable. They’ve amply demonstrated that no abuse of power is too much.

At this point I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if the DOJ assaulted Trump’s home in Florida in full on Waco or Ruby Ridge style. That is the legacy of the 2020 election for me. While I’ve always harbored a certain mistrust of the government. Now, I don’t trust our government or electoral processes at all.

The line, “Follow the money,” is more true today than ever before.

Couple corruption with the almost unbelievable stupidity of so many Americans and well… what you get, is plainly evident.

I’m not just speaking of the stupidity of America when it comes to questioning voting results, but the stupidity of well educated Americans in basic things like knowing how or why things work, (or don’t as the case may be).

Elements of our technology might as well be magic and fairy dust for far too many people. Apparently even the use of fire is beyond some people, as is evidenced by so many people suffocating in their homes across the South during this very cold series of storms.

Fire is not new, it’s been around since we lived in caves. We decry second hand smoke, but don’t think open a window? Uhh yeah, right! There’s gonna be a ton of “Darwin Awards” come springtime. Perhaps that will ultimately be for the best.

I’ve lost interest in Washington. For that matter I’ve lost interest in COVID, politics, social justice, cancel culture, sports, entertainment, and anything else that is not directly putting cash in my pocket, gas in my car, or food on my table.

I suppose, this is the new reality of many people. We’re all just tired of the bullshit. I know, I’ve got better and more important things to do.

Social Media doesn’t rank in the top 100 for me anymore.