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…)