Friday the Thirteenth

There was something really bugging me about work last night. As i tried to wind down over the evening, I didn't let myself get mad about anything. There was nothing I could do about the issue from home and the people whose help I needed would not even be in until late in the morning.

Elle went to bed and Nat stayed up playing some game online. I went to bed. I laied there thinking about work and the problem. I preyed about it and slept like a baby. This morning I got ready, still worried. There is nothing I can do from home and I had a long commute in front of me before I even got to work.

When I got to work, I started messing with the problem. I still needed the help of others. I would be great if I could do it all myself and fix things without having to know the whole background and peripheral issues. that is not possible for mortals.

It was a boat load of effort to get things to a reasonable level of working. I thought for a second someone had sent something out that should not have gone out. Fortunately, that was something completely different. Everyone I asked for help, helped. Every one who had a hand in things did their jobs to the best of their abilities. No one tried to get in the way or be a Wally.

I got to work at 7:30. Around 11:30, I looked at my watch and it felt like I had only been at work about an hour. Lunch was late, but at least I got one. Things were working out pretty well until Nat called and said she was heading out to Faire tonight instead of tomorrow. She called around 14:30. It took the wind out of my sails. There was still plenty of work to do.

Notes:

There is a berger vending machine in Tokyo. It is not really a machine. It is front for a fast food joint. It does pretty much eliminate the need for human interaction. There is a vending machine for panties in Japan. I got a t-shirt out of a coke machine once. It was some kind of promotion.

There was a podcast by the BBC covering the minsters who Tweet. When do you tweet/not tweet? Who does a good job? When had you better not catch any of the tweeting? It was enlightening. I can't wait until it catches on here in the states.

I can't wait to hear about the Clinton tapes. There is a book out covering some of them. Surely, they are not nearly as flaming as the Nixon tapes. Take what you can get.

Phone Woes

I was trying to clean up my phone and managed to blow away all my ring tones. Fortunately, there is a default ring that at least makes noise. This is probably called the "dumbaass hidden ring tone". I also managed to blow away my gmail settings on the phone. It kept reading "No connection!" when I tried to look at my inbox. I could use the browser to view my gmail. This was annoying mainly because I had no time to look in to it. 

Work is killing me. I'm putting so much in to getting everything in the world done at work that I just don't have brain cycles left over after the work day is done. I bust my ass all day. Come home and try to take care of things as needed. The family and house suffer for it. I need a couple clones who don't eat much to make it all work.

This evening on the bus, I took the time to hunt down the settings for Manage Apps. You can not really do much with gmail on the google phone, but clear the data. Fortunately, that worked. As soon as I started the gmail app again it did a sync and I'm back to running. This phone really does remind me of my old 386.

Notes:

The Engines of our Ingenuity has gotten lame. They have done some episodes that don't seem like they are on the topics that match the theme of the show. Consumerism comes tom mind. It just seems to me like the series is trying tojump the shark.

Google just bought a company that is all about mobile advertising. Be prepared to get slammed with adds on your phone. This may be a great opportunity for Apple to come out and limit the amount of advertising on the iPhone. This would make the pool smaller and make each advertisement more precious and thus worth more. The Android (Google OS) platform for phones will be much more difficult to control the amount of advertisement so there is opportunity for abuse.

Everyone wants a letter shape for the financial recovery. We are promised a recovery. What if this is the new normal? People say the recover will be a "U" shape or an "L" or "W" or "V" shape. I have a bad feeling it will look more like a lumpy saw blade. That letter shape is important to many because it is easy to know what to do on the way down. Nothing. You sit and wait. When the line turns up, that is when things get tricky. When do you sell?

Half of the workers in the U. K. have left a job because their boss sucked. Most managers in the U. K. are accidental. They were a good worker who was handed the job of handling others. I imagine the numbers are not as far off in the U. S..

Stitcher coming soon for Android. YES!!!

I was using this app for Android called StreamRagious or something like that. It sucked. Not only did it crash every five minutes, but one of the 'updates' recently took the settings button off the menu. I guess they thought that was only for paying customers. I would never pay 6.99 for something that crashes like that app did. I get a warning on my phone this morning "Low on space". This stupid app had eaten most of the free space on my phone. JUNK!!! I ended up downloading another app that is called 'A Online Radio' It is free and looks like it is about fifteen times better than that other app. Come on Stitcher.

Next generatin Android phone.

Notes:

On the walk in today I was set upon by bugs. I walked in to a spider web and chased the spider for three minutes until I flicked him off. Thirty minutes later I found a huge chunk of web on my shoulder. I was eaten alive by mosquitoes. I killed many, but I'm only one man.

'Volatility" is the word that every one says when analyzing the markets. In other words, no one know what the hell is going to happen. Companies are cutting costs by cutting workers. All that savings is going straight to the bottom line. Workers get screwed. Productivity went up like 9%. More work on the back of each worker. No one can keep this up for long. That kind of jump is going to have some push back at some point.

From a book review on the BBC. "Personally, I like my olive oil well shagged."

I'm watching Last night's Heroes. I really need to stop watching this show. It does little more than piss me off. I want several of the lead characters to die off. I mean real pretend death where they don't come back because of some power or time travel. I mean off the show, pursue other opportunities kind of death.

Global Warming Pole

Numbers that came an NPR interview. This is a list of the six levels of giving a shit over global warming. Notice I didn't capitalize the name. I wonder where I fit in this list.

18% alarmed
33% concerned
19% cautious
12% disengaged
11% doubtful
7% dismissive

The big deal over this in the interview was the fact that people are wising up. Oh, I mean changing their mind on climate change. They were all upset that the press was paying more attention to the economy and the wars all over the world than they were paying to climate change. The biggest changes happened in the mid west. The disparity between Democrats and Republicans on the subject of climate change is as wide as the Grand Canyon.

I'm not on a fence here. I think the whole cap and trade thing is going to bankrupt our country if we buy in to this crap. China and India have politely bowed out of the agreement. They hate each other and they are about to agree on their own symbolic treaty or pact or whatever that pays lip service and little substance to climate change. The rest of the world, besides the U. S. and Europe, may join them just to keep the money in the family.

Notes:

It took me half an hour to go through my email this morning. that is abnormal for me. The trouble was not junk or tasks, but keeping information and putting details down in bugs and in my notes. It was a hassle to make sure that I had information that might come in handy in the future in a place it might be found.

No Flanking Position this week. It appears life is getting in the way. Honestly, I expected as much. Adam, the guy on the left, is stretched too thin to carry off a video podcast.

Elle had sentences to write for homework. She is not getting the concept of write sentences.

My God it was a rough day at work. I have no strength at all. I'm tore up from the floor up. I'm vegging in front of some TV and then headed to bed.

Attacking the Freedom of Speech

The government, all governments, do not want to listen to what you have to say unless your are rowing the boat in the direction they want. We would not need a constitution protecting speech if that speech offended no one.

News Busted

Most of the hits on this week's show are anti-political-correctness. There is a tied and it is turning. I have no idea what will replace it. Hope it is better than PC. Maybe the truth would work. Maybe just saying what you mean and following it up with, what was the word, ... yes, action.

Mallware = Child porn

Malware Can Download Child Porn To Your Computer from Slashdot by timothy 2 people liked this 2muchcoffeeman writes "The Associated Press tells the story of Michael Fiola, a former Massachusetts government employee who was arrested in 2007 after child porn was found on his state-issued laptop computer. He was eventually cleared of all charges after some digging by the defense found that the laptop was infected with malware that was 'programmed to visit as many as 40 child porn sites per minute — an inhuman feat. While Fiola and his wife were out to dinner one night, someone logged on to the computer and porn flowed in for an hour and a half. Prosecutors performed another test and confirmed the defense findings. The charge was dropped — 11 months after it was filed.' The article also discusses the technical aspects of how it could happen and about similar cases in the United Kingdom in 2003." SlashDot

For goodness sake, run that Mallware program you hate so much. Really bad people might want to use your computer to propagate child porn. How evil is that?!?

I've warned people to lock their wireless routers because someone might use their connection without their knowledge. Some say "What do I care? I have an unlimited connection."

"What if they download child porn on your nickel?" was my retort.

Which would invariable be followed by "How do I lock that thing again?"

Longer than 10 minutes on YouTube

1) The first method is a way to use a standard YouTube account "Youtuber" in order to get longer than 10 minute videos on youtube. This is a custom embed script that stitches one video right up against the other in order to make it look like a longer video.

The following is out of date, but so cute, I had to put it up.

2) A very fun way to switch to a "director" account in order to upload longer videos. I'm not sure what other requirements are needed to obtain a director's account. There may be a minumum number of views, or followers. Someone please fill me in.

3) WAIT!!!! Apparently you can't get a director account any more. You have to sign up for some kind of Partnership account now. It looks to me like the RIAA has insisted that YouTube have enough information on people so they may be tracked down and sued if they violate some copyright.

Apparently you need 100,000 views of your videos or 300 subscribers. That is not as easy as it sounds. You have to be popular enough that YouTube can afford to keep an eye on you so you do not violate copyright laws. I cannot find a page that says "You need A, B, and C to become a partner." That would be very handy YouTube.

There is an exemption for non profits. YouTube comes right out and says you have to have a good sob story or they won't bother. That is good to know.

"Change in Plans" by Lance

Lance plays a beautiful volley of chords. Not sure if he wrote this or found it. Either way it is pretty. I want the full album.

Political party

"Mark Steyn’s right of left of right of center party"

Left of center

Center

left of right of center

right of left of right of center

right of center

This just had to be drawn out. When drawing a table of the people who are indicisive enough to call themselves 'center' one must understand that there is no center. You just have a bunch of people who refuse to commit. People who refuse to pick a side and stick with it. People who are fed up with things that exist and insist on not making a choice until forced.

Our educational system must teach people to be wishy-washy. No one wants to make a choice. Every one wants it all. Every one wants to bounce along with the herd until unprejudiced cliff comes and everyone very equally leaps to their deaths. All with smiles I'm sure. Only the ones willing to peal off and seperate from the croud will survive. That is not the way. Stay with the herd. The herd is safe. No one is killed in the herd.

I am among them.

We are here, we got nowhere else to go

This is a real commercial.

Steam Shovel

I could so not do this all day. I would have to do something creative to pass the time. That is also known as a distraction and I'm sure frowned upon by the people who own the equipment and those responsible for safety.

By the way, I found this while searching for "camera on cat". I saw a video a couple years ago that was shot by a camera mounted on a cat's collar. Someone was simply interested in what their outside cat was up to all day and strapped a camera on them. I found this instead.

Still looking.

I tried to watch V

Really, I tried. V didn't work out only because I feel that same dragging sensation. The trouble with LOST, Flash Forward and now V is a sence that the viewer is supposed to hurry up and wait for each revelation. Each revelation only bringing more questions. yadda yadda yadda. Heroes was the same way, but it has gotten so bad that I just don't feel anything. The plot has ground to a halt.

Besides, the first episode is character establishment. I have a feeling the characters are shallow and stereotypical. Few surprises. How long is this thing supposed to run?

I'm already sick of the mother figure. The tees who tag and get obsessed by the visitors do not register on my radar. The special effects are nice. They cannot carry the show. The visitors are annoying and give me the distinct impression that they are secretly evil with every camera angle. I have a really bad feeling about those guys.

You frigging deserved it

Horses have young themselves. Surely they have some built in responses. I hope the girl is OK, but she deserved it.

Hamas growing pains

Hamas is suffering for having won the war. Hamas has to run the place (Gaza) and life there sucks. Hamas is being blamed. The tunnels in the area used for smuggling are not working. Hamas is helping security. They shoot the bad people. Hamas is simply not ready to run a country. The people they rule are looking for bureaucrats to run things.This is one of those old stories. A group is good at revolution, but suck at getting clean water to homes and keeping trashed picked up.

After World War II, the Jews world wide were handed a homeland. Israel was born out of guilt that the Jews were so hated all over the world that they deserved to have a place of their own. A place they can call home. Somewhere where they will not be opressed or spit on, few dirty looks and sneers from round corners.

For a while it worked. Israel was catching hell from the locals, the people who would become Hamas one day. That is, until 1967 and the Six Day War. Israel kicked Egypt's ass in fifteen minutes of effort. Made Egypt look like shit in the process. the whole reason Israel existed had just been torn down and blown up. There was no longer a need to feel sorry for Jews having been slaughtered or Israel in general because they were able to take care of themselves. All the old hatred could come back. Just so long as it was covered in a tarp of politically correct speech.

it is politically incorrect to hate a people or a religion or a thought or something people say. The word 'hate' is politically incorrect. In the name of political correctness, some Muslims wants to outlaw critical speech of Islam. This is a direct assault on the most fundamental part of democracy, being able to bitch about things. This effort is being held in the United Nations.

Hamas is about to find out what it is like when it becomes OK to disagree, complain, criticize someone. Hamas has moved from rebels with a valid cause status to a very poor governing body rife with human rights violations status.

Hamas has many choices.

• Hamas can fall apart and remain a rebel group leaving a vacuum that will be filled by someone even worse.
• Hamas might lumber on as the governing body of Gaza for a while and thumb their nose at the rest of the world and their complaints of poor leadership.
• Hamas might straighten up and make a serious attempt to become a political party. This would require maturity, leadership, control of factions within the 'party'
• Hamas might be kicked out by the next rebel group.

I'm with the first. What other bullets should be on this list?

There is one thing that I'm sure of. When all is said and done regarding Israel and indeed the intire middle east and all decendence of those who were born there or care even a little bit about the subject, people will still hate each other for no good reason.

Notes:

Bloomberg's approach of spending his own money to win the spot of New York is too showy. It has become evil to be successful. To have earned money is evil. There have been so much evil and bad behavior associated with rock and roll and rap stars, sports stars, movie stars, They have just plane ruined the idea of having money and doing anything good with it for the American public.

A couple places in the U. S. are adding casinos to their tax base. They are trying to get in on the whole taxation of stupidity thing that Los Vegas has had a lock on for a while. Not sure if they have taken a look at the latest numbers from Los Vegas. Even stupid people go broke. The gaming industry (that means gambling) will take the toe hold.

I set up that 11x17 printer at work in someone else's office. The morning had been foggy and the view out the window showed the bluing affect in the distance very well because the sun was shining in from that direction. There were all kinds of sparkles in the distance that were cars driving around reflecting sunlight as they moved. the fog made the trees in the distance look like hills. it had quite a mystical feel. Made me think of that the wood fey. <stop, sniff rose, move on>

Notes:

In the U. S. we call old cars 'clunkers' many times. In the U. K. they say 'bangers'. Close, but no cigar. It is funny how close our sayings are. U. S. says 'hood', U. K. it is 'bonnet'. We are indeed separated by a common language.

The oldest dog according to the Guinness book is 20 years old. He resides in the U. K. somewhere. He is in relatively good health and is a mutt.

One of the podcasters said (from memory) "I have made excuses at the front of the last ten podcasts about how crazy things are. Tell you what. If things suddenly turn normal, I'll let you know." Sounds about right.

The Beatles have a huge box set that is a tiny USB apple. It looks like an apple because of Apple Records in the U. K.. Great. I wish they had made the USB drive look like a yellow submarine. That would have just made sense. You get movies and documentaries and documents and remastered music and blah blah blah. It costs more than the box set, but you get much more. All on a little USB drive. Still, I like the idea. it took the Beatles (Apple Records) a long time to get in to the digital age.