Category: WTF

Twit

Thoughts on 3lon buying the blue bird?

For myself, I barely use twitter anymore so I’m not trying to necessarily pick a side here. I am deeply concerned about how this will unravel though. He has plans to fundamentally alter twitter IMO. Like it or not, twitter has become a household name. It is a mass communication tool with global reach.

I’ve already seen folks within the #alphabetmafia applauding his purchase. I wonder if they’ve thought this through. twitter will now be privately owned, which means he can do whatever he wants with it (within some limits). He can dis(allow) any content he deems (un)worthy. He could try to monitize it thru more than just ads. What happens if he does and decides porn is no longer allowed? Can you say “Tumblr?” You may not care if porn gets the axe, but LGBT+ issues are routinely flagged as “adult material” online.

He may be the new sole owner but he leveraged that purchase and he will want a return on his investment. Keep in mind, this all started because he was censored for spreading conspiracies. Who will keep that in check now? I mean twitter wasn’t doing a bang up job before, but there was some effort to keep it honest.

I have no idea how this will play out. I don’t have any immediate plans to delete my accounts. I also wish I could say I don’t care, but I do. The ramifications of this are breathtaking.

A single man just bought a social media company with over 300 million users. What does that kind of wealth say about our society? What does it say about our future?

Taught

It is about this time of year you start seeing people lamenting how terrible the year has been and how “they are ready for the new year.” Somehow the new year will be better. I’m usually not in this camp, but clearly that has changed this year.

I think we can all safely say 2020 has been absolute dumpster fire! It started out ok but just ran right down the shitter as things progressed. It certainly has been educational for me. I only wish I could say in a good way. My enduring faith in humanity has definitely been challenged this year.

We’ve got these insidious behind the scenes machinations trying to destroy our way of life. The greedy and power hungry are pulling the strings of our ‘leaders’ while the general populace languishes in poverty. Said population is often so focused on survival they can’t see they are being used as pawns. And seeing some of the most needy in our society support the very same people hurting them is painful to witness. More so, it is a disturbing example of history repeating itself. Rome is definitely burning, folks. To polish off the trifecta, we have the indifferent. These are the people who are well off enough to be completely immersed in the their own little bubble of existence. Occasionally, tidbits of information pierces said bubble but there is no filter to determine it’s accuracy or relevance. At some point a “working knowledge” arises from which all their decisions are based for good or bad. These are usually where you find the Karens of the world. Pity the soul that incurs their wrath by causing them any level of inconvenience.

I am not even sure what my frame of mind would be right now had I not been able to get back in the gym. I had gotten to a point about 5 months in where I wasn’t doing well. I’m sure I looked fine on the outside, but I wasn’t. But, as Elle Woods would say, “exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy, happy people don’t shoot their husbands.”  And I’m referring to the endorphins, not my husband. lol  Being back in the gym has really helped lift my spirits and pulled me out of being depressed.

Even as I sit here writing this I am struck by my own privilege. I am fortunate to have the opportunity and comfort to sit here whining about this shitty year. I know that and for so many it has been that much harder. I wish I could say that doesn’t necessarily make the impact of this year any less painful. So yeah, I can’t wait for it to be over. I’m hoping the new year is better. I mean, hell. It can’t get much worse, right? [1]Don’t answer that

Hope does springs eternal…

References

References
↑1 Don’t answer that

Shut Down

I’ve pretty much given up on the idea of our country getting the pandemic under control. I predict we will continue to live with hodgepodge restrictions and shut downs thru the election in November. Only after 45 loses will we see a national strategy with a lockdown that will be consistent and effective. The mismatch state by state approach has obviously failed. There is no enforcement of any real value so people are free to disregard the directives. [1]And I’m not talking about people desperate to work or businesses fighting to exist. Shaming and viral exposure can only do so much.

The economy will continue to tank and businesses will shutter on a scale not seen since the Great Depression. Economists are already sounding the alarm. We blew it. Our selfish entitled attitudes created this mess. The ignorant minority continues to overshadow all the efforts of the responsible majority. We’ve allowed them thru mismanagement to take over the face of the pandemic. Maybe now that the Mango maniac has finally started wearing a mask, his cult followers will follow suit. We can only hope at this point.

All other countries with active restrictions and enforcement are seeing lower and lower cases. Many have already opened almost completely up, albeit with some mask requirements and restrictions on large events. They listened to their experts and acted accordingly.

I know I sound like Debbie Downer, but I’m trying to take a realistic approach based on what I see every day. The virus is spreading at a rampant rate again. Even California [2]granted mostly in Southern California is seeing a big jump in cases and hospitalizations. And while the death total isn’t necessarily skyrocketing, people seem to forget, even those who don’t end up hospitalized can suffer for months after clearing the illness.

As of the news today, 1 in 5 Californians are unemployed. Many moratoriums on evictions (residential and commercial) are set to expire in the coming month. I expect California’s will mostly likely be extended, but the problem is still their looming over their heads. And it seems another round of stimulus checks might be coming, but they are drops in a bucket at this point.

I’m grateful for the fortunate circumstances I find myself in thru this; however, I worry for so many who are struggling between doing the right thing and being able to work and put food on their tables and a roof other their heads. The hubby is going stir-crazy being unemployed and home all the time; however, he is trying to hang in there. We get out on walks together on weekends to help break up the monotony.

If you’re struggling while you wait for “normal” to return, I’d put that aside. Normal is gone for 2020. Hunker down and adjust to our new reality for the next few months. I hope I’m wrong, but I’d be shocked if we have any meaningful developments before September. Hopefully, by year end the several possible vaccines will hold out to be effective enough to mass produce. A best case scenario is seeing a sense of normalcy returning before March 2021.

References

References
↑1 And I’m not talking about people desperate to work or businesses fighting to exist.
↑2 granted mostly in Southern California

Schock-ed!

Oh look, the hypocrite finally came out. Color no one surprised, henny! Seriously, we all knew! How could you NOT know?! He is only coming out now because he is being continually hounded and exposed for the continual liar and hypocrite he is. [1]I know, terrible way to end a sentence. I admit my seething hatred for people like this is hard to control. I have tons of terribly vile and yet appropriate names for him beyond the truthful ones, but I won’t allow myself to go on a personal tirade because I strive to be better than that. Nor will I link directly to his BS non-apology apology statement.

Beside piggy-backing on the self-loathing LCR crowd with his whole straight white male charade, he had to add insult to injury and be one of the most conservative voting members in the house, even beyond LGBTI rights. He bragged every chance he got about how conservative he was.

  • He repeatedly voted against all gay rights.
  • He voted against amendments to include sexual orientation and gender identity as hate crimes.
  • He supported the marriage act. [2]I don’t think he ever got a chance to vote for it as it didn’t come up again during his tenure from what I remember.
  • He aligned himself with the AFA, who hates all of us and wants us criminals or dead.
  • He voted against the repeal of DADT. [3]Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

So, no. Your BS letter does not make up for all the horrible things you did. It does not excuse you from being a crook and a liar while you were in office. And it certainly doesn’t make you “one of us” now that you were hounded into finally admitting the truth.

Simply put, until you show some real contrition and make an effort to undue the damage you’ve done, go fuck yourself!

References

References
↑1 I know, terrible way to end a sentence.
↑2 I don’t think he ever got a chance to vote for it as it didn’t come up again during his tenure from what I remember.
↑3 Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

Pressed

I was overcome w/nostalgia the other day while perusing the local Tar-gay. [1]Target

It was the funniest thing. I saw a guy checking out who had on a pair of pressed blue jeans. And by pressed, I mean they were starched and ironed. Is this a thing anymore? Was it every a thing anywhere besides the south? I grew up where it was routine to see folks in pressed jeans. It was a way of being ‘dressy’ w/o wearing actual dress clothes. It often came with a very large pressed shirt, of the country variety, as well.

I saw the guy and a flood of memories hit me. It was like I was back in high school. Random scenes flashed before my eyes of different folks wearing pressed jeans. Students weren’t the only ones either. I remember plenty of faculty who also wore them to football games, public speaking events, class, etc. While girls tended to wear them more regularly, plenty of guys wore them as their dressy attire.

I remember one guy who wore them all the time. He always said he liked the way they felt against his skin. There are so many ironies apparent to me now of course. One, he wore them w/o undies and his jeans were often skin tight. Two, they still weren’t very revealing. Three, while he was straight (and I believed he was), you could often catch him grabbing himself front and back to lift them up tighter. I could see it in my mind as if he had been standing right in front of me at the store. I could even smell the faint smell of his stetson cologne, of which he often bathed in. I’m sure the fact that he had a very round backside had nothing to do with why I remember him specifically. hehe

Another prevalent memory revolved around an Ag teacher who was famous for having all his junk pushed to one side of his jeans. [2]And it was an impressive display He was ‘straight’ and was routinely the topic of various gossip groups, teachers and students alike. But he loved his jeans pressed. I can’t think of a time actually that I ever saw him anywhere w/o his pressed jeans.

Anyway, it gave me a giggle. I hadn’t thought of it in years. I didn’t realize people still did it.

References

References
↑1 Target
↑2 And it was an impressive display

Game

I’ve been playing Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus lately. R&C has always been one of my favorite game franchises. I was more than little disappointed with the last game though. It had some major bugs that almost rendered the game unplayable.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love my beloved lombax but this last game felt very rushed. Games always have bugs. I’ve yet to encounter a single game that didn’t have at least one bug in it. It is just a fact of life. That said, one that prevents the game from continuing is pretty big.

The Pup got to see my frustration first hand as I was yelling at the TV and very upset over such a stupid mistake. [1]Unfortunately, he didn’t appreciate my slightly misdirected angst when I snapped at one of his recommended workarounds. Fear not, I made amends.  And I was upset because it is one of my favorite games. I only bought the PS3 for R&C and GOW. Had those two games gone to Xbox, I’d never have picked up the PS3.

Anyway, I finished the game, even crippled as it was. It sort of rights itself in challenge mode but even then it’s still slightly not right. I plan on leaving feedback on the developer site. I know they’ll make another. I’d rather a game be delayed vs being full of bugs.

If you plan on playing it, here’s a tip. When you get past the bronze and silver challenges and come back to the gold medal challenges in the arena, don’t stop and save during any of the gold challenges. Play all the way thru to the next world, then stop and save. This seems to overcome the bug. Also, the last Gargathon Horn is hidden really well. Go to the left side of the world in the area where you fly around a lot. Make a left turn when you come thru the mountain tunnel and look for the broken railing on the mountain side, it’s in there with the Smuggler’s parrot!

Beyond the bug, this most recent version is more like the old school R&C vs some of the sillier more recent versions. If you’re a fan, you’ll like this one overall.

References

References
↑1 Unfortunately, he didn’t appreciate my slightly misdirected angst when I snapped at one of his recommended workarounds. Fear not, I made amends.

No 1

On a total random vein of thought and this is not a post about how fabulous I think I am. (Unlike a certain other blogger we all know….*cough brettcajun cough*) No, today’s rant is a gross-fascination sort of topic. You know, one of those things ya usually don’t talk about it but it’s oddly fascinating to think about.

So how often do you find yourself in a situation where you start No 1 and then suddenly realize you need to do No 2? I’m sure who know where this is headed. heehee

Do you finish the No 1 before attempting No 2 or do you stop it mid-stream? Of course, this begs the question, do you zip up completely before adjourning to the porcelain throne or do you just walk on over with your bait and tackle dangling?

Even better, what do you do if it’s a public restroom and someone else is occupying it with you? Do you zip up and just stroll on over while they’re there? Or do you take a really loooong hand wash until they leave and then hit the stall?

Yes, it is burning questions like these the occupy my thoughts from time to time.

Hot

Just home from an awesome weekend in Phoenix. More on that in another post this week.

I’ve fully adapted to life in SF because I did not do well in the heat. lol Literally, as I’m getting off the plane the heat was like being in a dry sauna. It didn’t help that they were having one of their hottest weeks on record either.

Growing up in the South, I am no stranger to hot weather.  I even lived on the beach for a number of years. But having been here over 12 years, I have definitely lost that former resilience. Just walking from the car to buildings while in Phoenix was a struggle for me over the weekend.

Ironically, getting back into SF via BART, it was in the low 70’s/high 60’s and it felt chilly after being in the heat for 4 days. hehehe

Project

I was all set to write about how fabulous the work was going on my project until yesterday. I lost 2 1/2 weeks of data that was very tedious, involved, and complex to get into the system. To say I was upset would be putting it mildly. Once I figured out what went wrong and why I was so incredibly furious I had to leave work. Seriously, it was that or start cussing people out. And since I value my job, I took off early.

I’m using an add-on software that communicates with the primary software on the server. Well it is supposed to. Apparently, there was a domain resolution conflict between the server access and my terminal access. One side was set direct w/no need to access DNS resolution. One side was set to depend on DNS resolution. Of course, at the time I am unaware of any of this. Since I don’t control installations, it’s not really something I’d be expected to know.

After we push to production, I notice data is missing. I reload the add-on software and the work I spent so much time entering is gone. Two hours later it’s obvious the data is unrecoverable. I revert to my backup to recover the lost data. And here is where stupidity rears it’s ugly head. I load my backup and it’s basically empty. After some intensive research and more than a little frustration, I discover the flaw. Apparently, the software decided to ignore my direct saves to my backup folder and save internally to a cached file. And here is where it really gets juicy. The moment I opened my backup copy it overwrites the internal cache wiping my work. No notice, no pop up, nothing. It just overwrites the cache. To say this is a stupid bug in the software would be an understatement. I pulled up the journal entry and sure enough it just re-saved to the same file twice every day. The first save was the default save and when I used ‘save as’ and pathed out my backup folder, it just overwrote the internal cache file. Utterly stupid.

So yeah, 2 1/2 weeks of work down the tubes. And while I’m sure the bug will get fixed, that does nothing for me now. There is no ‘undo’ function and since the data never made it to the server database, it can’t be pulled back. At least this time around, I know the material better and will have to do less trial and error. I mean building calls to restricted confidential databases requires a lot of specialty message keys. I kept great notes as well so the rebuild won’t take as long but will be just as tedious. I’ve also created a sync call for the cache copies of said files to avoid this painful bug in the future.

On a good note, I was so angry I had a killer workout at the gym. lol I baked my chest and triceps to the point of almost not being able to put my shirt on afterwards.

 

Jig

While some people hide embarrassing moments, I tend not to. And since I wasn’t really embarrassed I guess no worries there either.

So I’m at the gym recently. I was in a bit of a cornball mood so I’m feeling my music. I always work out blasting Spotify or Google music thru my headphones. As sometimes happens, I had to take restroom break. I enter the upstairs restroom enjoying my tunes. One of my fave dance songs came on right at that moment so naturally I start dancing a little jig. Well, in my exuberance I neglected to lock the bathroom door. I’m full swing into  dancing my jig when someone opens the door! It was funny because I think he was actually embarrassed for me! lol He sort of started to apologize then saw my grin and stopped mid attempt. I shrugged it off and politely asked if I could finish my business. He obliged. I finished what I went in there for and continued with my workout.

It gets better. He happens to be next to me a little later working out. He sees me grinning like a devil so feels ok to chat about it. He proceeds to ask me why I wasn’t embarrassed. Feeling a bit cocky,  my first crooked thought was to say, “have you seen this?” and point to myself. Even for me that would have been over the top and really not my style so I quickly discarded the idea. Instead, I just explained I wasn’t doing anything wrong or bad so why feel embarrassed? I was dancing a jig and enjoying myself. He laughed w/me and we split ways to finish our respective workouts.

After I thought about it, I figured most folks would have been completely embarrassed in such an unexpected interruption to what was intended to be a private moment. I laughed at the humor of it. I’m just nuts like that I guess.