Workin for the Man

My little brother works for the power company.
One time, when I spent the night following a computer gaming binge at his place, I noticed he'd left his computers switched on.  I switched them off.
The next day he acted all perplexed as to how or who had shut them down.  I told him I did, to save power.
He said, "I work the power company.  I don't want to save power."

It's clearly coincidence, but I thought it was funny as hell that the captured fugitive on the front page of yesterday's Edmonton Sun bears a striking resemblance to the dope-smoking ex-con "Ricky," a character created by actor Rob Wells for the TV show "The Trailer Park Boys".  The fugitive's photo was taken in 1995 when he was 33 and wanted for the beating and abduction of an Edmonton area man.  I've no idea what he looks like now. 

In a near perfect example of life imitating art, the police officers who broke down the guy's door captured him in the middle of a marijuana grow op.

SIGNS, The 5 Man Electrical Band

So I'm out on the back deck behind my little country house today enjoying a cup of coffee when the original version of 'Signs' by the 5 Man Electrical Band comes on the radio. I start singing along.

I've always enjoyed that song.

Until I got to the line about the sign to keep trespassers out, and "Man, you're some kind of sinner." I thought about scraping up the down payment to buy my 3.9 acres of country-side, going deeply into debt to build the house, and the years of hard work I put in to afford it. Then I thought of myriads of random strangers walking through, squatting, eating my wildberries and (inevitably) leaving their garbage littered all over the property.

And I thought, "Damned right, you fuckin hippies."

Unnecessary Update Hell

 

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2012-04-05/

I've discovered a new law of nature. Let me tell you about it:

When a computer program reaches a level of development where it works "just the way you like it" it's only a matter of months before it's makers will bring in updates to mess it up.

I'm still using an older version of firefox, 3.6. I've seen the trouble my friends have had with the bloated newer versions and I'm not eager to change. It's not the resource-pig that the latest version is, and I've got the plug-ins and add-ons working the way I like. Starting two weeks ago, every time I open it I have to put up with bullshit demands from Mozilla that I upgrade and add more layers of goo to my browser.
This is a pet peeve of mine that goes back to Microsoft Works, Word, and Office. The original version of MS Works that came with my first Windows95 system was easy to figure out, and easy to use. Office 97 was like a fancy dressed up version of Works, and the changes to the menus intuitive and logical. Office 2003 seemed like an unnecessary expense that just repackaged the Office 97 suite in a new box.
But it was MS Office 2007, which completely changed the menus, expanded, regrouped, and seemingly redistributed the commands at random, which proved that they must do this shit to justify keeping their jobs. 

 We hates them.

Zombie Bite Calculator

Politically incorrect doesn't' even come close to describing the Oatmeal. Damn. I really liked the "How Twilight works" and "How everything goes to hell in a Zombie Apocalypse."

Zombies?

Came across this while browsing David Markowitz's "Blog o Stuff." The Blog is called the Dead Journal, and is a series of daily posts beginning just this past August 19th. The anonymous blogger appears to be relating his family's survival during what appears to be a terrorist-caused zombie attack.

Sounds goofy unless you're into zombie movies and such. As my 17 year old son and I have been avidly playing Valve's "Left 4 Dead" online for the past three months, this weblog is merely fuel for the fire... (grin)

Spread it around

Found this while surfing. Spread it around.

101 People Screwing up Canada

Kudos to SPINK for creating the list, "101 People who are Screwing up Canada, and 10 who aren't."

Like Spink, I had read Bernard Goldberg's "100 people who are Screwing up America," picking it up on sale for $2 or $4 after Chapters/Indigo dumped it's copies into the discount bins (probably for not being Anti-American enough -it didn't quite fit in with the other books on the 'Anti-American Table' that usually has a prominent place in my local Chapters). I found the Goldberg book hugely entertaining. I'm really pleased Spink was able to compile his own list, and amply justify his choices, without turning it into one of those lame, 'Canadian-Version' sort of things we wince at and have come to expect from the CBC and the rest of the 'government-sponsored Canadian-Culture industry.

Unlike Spink, I didn't think to make a Canadian list. It was a good idea, that was well executed and worth your time to read.

do not call lists

Since joining the CRTC's federal do not call list last September, the number of calls I receive has increased. The big difference however is they are all originating from the United States, where the CRTC has no jurisdiction.

I am especially offended by they way they try to pretend that I am already a customer or am somehow already associated with them, and their telemarketing call is a legitimate form of contact. They all include a notice to press a number (like zero) if you do not want to be contacted again. I have done this, and yet the calls persist. Clearly, pressing the indicated number to be automatically removed from their call list does not guarantee they'll stop calling you.

It's frustrating, so now I never push the number. The bastards are going to phone anyway. Instead, I push the number to speak to a live agent. If they can call and interrupt my day, one of their employees is damn well going to get his/her day interrupted back. Like Today. I just received a call from OHIO and I pressed the number to speak to a live agent.

Then when the live person comes on, I say I'm on the do-not-call list, and tell them to FUCK OFF.

The cathartic effect on my emotional state is amazing. I mean, how often can you tell someone to fuck off and it has a chance of bettering our society? It's my deepest heartfelt hope that the unlucky employee I spoke with will quit their job and the telemarketer will have trouble filling the position.

(happy grin)

Two images.

Two things on my mind tonight that I saw, and to pass on.

First, a series of Chicago P.D. mug shots. The people in these pictures aren't there because of their good works either. lol. Ann Coulter was right.

CHICAGO P.D. MUGSHOTS


++++++++++

Secondly, I've been thinking about the incredibly biased anti-Israel coverage the mid-stream media is giving the ongoing Palestinian Rocket Attacks on southern Israeli residential neighborhoods.

Oh, did the way I phrased that piss you off? Good.


Almost universally, the mid-stream media is characterizing the Palestinians as victims, and the Israeli Military as the bullies. They appear to be accepting at face value Palestinian claims that Israel is committing acts of genocidal atrocities and war-crimes against civilians. Despite an abundance of video available on the internet proving that Hamas is using it's civilian population to hide their incessant rocket and mortar attacks on Israel's citizenry, the media news reports all seem to delight in emphasizing the contrasting imagery of High-tech Israeli military vs. injured Palestinian women and children.

Despite repeated Isreali efforts to promote a peace process, -any peace process, certain elements among the Palestinians have pretty well always acted to provoke an armed response. Then, in 2006, the Palestinians elected to power Hamas, a radical offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Even the Muslim-Friendly Washington Post admits Hamas "favors the creation of a Palestinian nation on land that now includes Israel..."

That's a nice way of saying Hamas wants to wipe them out.

During the election Hamas made no bones about this, and the Palestinian voters voted for them. I'm now emotionally at the point of wondering if they deserve what they get.

There, I said it. Our fucking media won't.

Dumbass Parents of the Year Award...

...goes to Heath and Deborah Campbell of Hunterdon County, N.J. who are upset the local ShopRite refused to put their son's name on a Birthday cake. They also have two daughters, one whose middle name is "Aryan Nation" and the other who's middle name is "Hitler".

Apparently the ShopRite has also in the past refused to decorate the Campbell's family birthday cakes with swastikas and other similiar stuff.

Surely hanging these monikers on their poor kids is a form of child abuse, don'tcha think?

Large Hadron Collider - webcam

(Photo of the LHC during construction.)

Too much bs has been written by the world's luddites and chicken littles about CERN labs large hadron collider. It makes for a cool photo and smashing "the world's going to end" headlines but really, it's just another big cyclotron where they're smashing protons. Scientists are hoping for insight into our universe's conditions just after the Big Bang, but there's no shortage of alarmists out there trying to claim it'll create a black hole, and suck up the world.

Well the thing's been powered up and they've been running tests since the 10th of September. We're still here. A word of thanks to Dr. Jerry Pournelle for the link to the webcam at the LHC, you can even watch the ongoing tests for yourself.