Ascii Pr0n and billion dollar debris
Ted Striker: I flew single engine fighters in the Air Force, but this plane has four engines. It's an entirely different kind of flying altogether
-- Airplane!
First off, ASCII boobies. You just gotta love 'em.
Picture going into a dealership and spending several years' pay (and when I say 'several years' I mean 'several lifetimes' and when I say 'several lifetimes' I mean somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.3 billion dollars - and let's not even look at the cost of continued maintenance) on a unique car. This car is the only one like it on the street, it does things that no other car can do, and comes with this maintenance package that only hand-picked engineers with a college degree (in Engineering mind you, not Liberal Arts) and ass-loads of experience can touch it. All the other undergraduates and high school scholars can only look at it and fondle their
tools. Now imagine, you're sitting in this amazing piece of machinery and everytime you take off from a light, shit falls off it. If it were me, I'd take my shiny new car and tell those cock suckers to either secure the foam or cut it off. This is bullshit if you ask me, NASA is spending ungodly amounts of money on a program that was originally pitched with a price tag at a
fraction of that.
So, what kind of stuff went wrong this time? Well, let's see, there was ice (June in Florida, yeah right), a fuel gauge, and a creepy little window cover (paragraph 12).
I had an '86 LeBaron convertable a few years ago that had a faulty fuel gauge. I still drove it by keeping an eye on the mileage. You can't tell me these NASA engineers don't know exactly how many inches this mission is going to travel (come on, NASA only hires the nerdiest of nerds) and put enough fuel in the damn shuttle. And even if they didn't know how far they were going and the fuel gauge was working at 100%, its not like they just stop for gas if they run out! This whole thing is a big ole clusterfuck if you ask me.
Plame Blame Game
Donny: Are these the Nazis, Walter?
Walter: No, Donny, these men are nihilists. There's nothing to be afraid of.
-- The Big Lebowski
I am sick and tired of hearing about this asshole. The media and all of the political spinners have latched on to this bullshit and just won't let go (I would normally link to some of the thousands of articles regarding this crap but seriously, I am just tired of it). There are far more important things to be paying attention to. We all have jobs, families, friends, booze, and tail to chase. Who really cares if some numb-nutts divulged an undercover agent's identity? Ok, notify us it happened, prosecute the bastard, fire the reporter, and desk the agent. Drop it already. You know, I'm sure 80% of the people of this fine country called 'Merica would not have even heard about it when it happened and the other 15% of us would have forgotten it already (yeah, then there's that 5% that doesn't know English (read: 'Merican), are illiterate, and/or homeless). Now, even the non-English speaking aborigines of the Australian Outback are sick of hearing about it. Fucking give it a rest! All right, one link, but it's to Google. I got sick of looking once I hit 20 pages of indexed links. That's over 200 articles about a guy, a reporter, and a CIA agent. Wait for it, FOX will make a sitcom out of it. I hope its animated.
Monday Monday...
I ain't gonna do you wrong while you're gone
Ain't gonna do you wrong (oo) 'cause I don't wanna (oo)
All I'm askin' (oo)
Is for a little respect when you come home (just a little bit)
-- Aretha Franklin "Respect"
I ran across this article in The New York Times this morning (its a week old but hey, I read slow) about Costco (!). Apparently they are pissing people off about the way they treat their employees and their customers. Jim Sinegal, CEO of the fifth largest retailer is 'Merica, has the nerve to ignore his shareholders and all of his (and others') analysts and continues to treat his employees... with respect. You see, this guy sees that if you keep your employees happy, and your customers happy, you will have less crap to worry about and more time to play golf - or whatever.
I am willing to bet Mr. Sinegal sleeps very well at night. And he should.
I've had the crap jobs that paid so little I've had to work a couple at a time to make the ends meet (or even the end's meat). Even now, as a professional, I haven't found a company yet that is like this. Though, the firm I am with at the moment is the best so far, I know people with less experience (and intelligence) with double my paycheck at the end of the week. No envy there, just... OK, there is envy and jealousy, but I am still happy with my position here because I could be (and have been) worse off. I may not feel completely fullfilled at the end of the month, but I am also not getting my dinner from of the dumpsters either. Now these guys have the coolest damn
job.
UFO's, sexy bovine, and DST2K5
Gabriel: I'm an angel. I kill firstborns while their mamas watch. I turn cities into salt. I even, when I feel like it, rip the souls from little girls, and from now till kingdom come, the only thing you can count on in your existence is never understanding why.
-- Prophecy
I'd like to welcome back Prophet Yahwey, Seer of Yahwey, and his side show extravaganza!
Maybe I just don't see the problem for anyone (or anything) that doesn't rely on time itself, but CNN is
reporting that cows might suffer from the pending changes to the time changes? Here's something real easy to figure out:
Cows +
Panties =
Cow Panties. It just isn't rocket science. I'll tell you who
is going to suffer though, all those legacy app developers (read: COBOL programmers) that will be working into the wee hours of the morning (or with this change would it still be afternoon?), that's who's gonna suffer.
Turn about and all that
Pumpkin: Fucking-A right, it worked. That's what I'm saying. Knucklehead walks into a bank with a telephone! Not a pistol, not a shotgun, but a fucking phone. Cleans the place out, doesn't even lift a fucking finger.
Yolanda: Did they hurt the little girl?
Pumpkin: I don't know, there probably never was a little girl in the first place. The point of the story isn't the little girl, the point of the story is, they robbed a bank with a telephone.
-- Pulp Fiction
Mike over at
Visual Distortion found this great
phone script to use aginst telemarketers.
Do you remember that movie,
Searching for Bobby Fischer they made back in '93? Call off the search, bring back the dogs, for what its worth,
here he is. I know, I wasn't impressed either.
DST2K5
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
-- Pink Floyd "Time"
Yup, here we go again, they are changing the
natural order of things. Be prepared COBOL programmers, your time will come.
Is it a right or a privilege
Sickening pessimist hypocrite master
Conservative communist apocalyptic bastard
Thank you dear God for putting me on this Earth
I feel very privileged in debt for my thirst
-- Nirvana "Downer"
Slashdot this morning has an interesting bit about this guy getting out of a speeding ticket. And in Slashdot style, the threads became consumed with the tyrany of the legal system. The question up in the air was the right to travel; is it a right or a privilege?
Privilege
A special advantage, immunity, permission, right, or benefit granted to or enjoyed by an individual, class, or caste. See Synonyms at right.Right Qualities (as adherence to duty or obedience to lawful authority) that together constitute the ideal of moral propriety or merit moral approval Just to pick some of the more obvious things here, a
privilege is a
special advantage while a
right is
the ideal of moral propriety. So, it can be said that while we have a justly implied
right to travel, driving itself, is a
privilege not a
right.
With that solved, we also have the right to
face our accuser. But should this right extend to the fully automated cameras poised atop trafic signals? I mean, how is being allegedly caught by an autonomous device the same as being nailed by a beat cop? The interaction between the officer and the alleged offender ultimately determines the outcome on the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law. Machines that merely observe and pass judgement without interpretation, is that the way we are headed? But then again, M would say, "If you aren't breaking the law, you have nothing to worry about." We'll see.
... and a moment of silence please
Scotty: The energizer's bypassed like a Christmas tree, so don't give me too many bumps.
-- Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
Yeah, I'm a geek, and probably even a dork, but you have to admit that
James Doohan played an important role in not only the 'Trek universe, but also the real one. As secondary cast member (or would it be lesser primary cast member) of the original Star Trek series, "Scotty", Doohan showed me (if not the rest of the world) that no matter how much you bitch and moan about the impossibilities of a task, if you give it your all, you can get it done.
When will it end?
Money, get back.
I’m all right jack keep your hands off of my stack.
Money, it’s a hit.
Don’t give me that do goody good bullshit.
-- Pink Floyd "Money"
Ok, I worked from home yesterday so I could be there to give the A/C repair guy 400 beans and hold hands with the insurance adjuster. As it turns out, my roof will need to be replaced entirely. Good news is, the Evil Insurance Company will be forced to pay for a portion of it. Bad news is, so will I. At least I don't have to fork out the whole amount for the roof, or really, even
The Lion's Share.
As it turned out, the adjuster was a really nice guy, very funny, curteous, and easy to get along with. He was very experienced and it showed; being able to "eye-ball" the damage spots in my roof. Also, he had a bit of trivia for every subject from the Vietnam
PBR's to hurricane
Opal. Once again, a real nice guy.
And then there's the
water pump in the Durango and my car needing four
new tires, a new windshield, a tune up, serpintine belt, break job, oil and trani flush, and who knows what else. Let's not forget Thing One and Thing Two need new school clothes, I need a new oven (because the last one decided to throw sparks like one of my wall outlets), the entire house needs to be rewired and needs to be insulated (because the original insulation has gone the way of the dust). Sometimes, I hate being an adult.
Finally, a reprieve
Go back to sleep...
Go back to sleep...
-- A Perfect Circle "Lullaby"
Last week was basically hell week for me, and while I am no where near being close to finsished with anything I have to do, I've been able to take a breath, look around me, and assess the damages. Last week I think I netted about 10 hours of sleep and almost caught up with it this weekend. I am going to start researching sleep deprivation and its effects because let me just tell you, while this is basically the norm for me (and just about any other software developer under deadline on more than one project), odd things started happening. After my second all-night'er last week I started seeing streaks of light in my peripheral vision. These streaks continued to spuriously appear even after getting a good 6 - 8 hours of sleep. Though it would seem this has ended for now, I'm not so sure what to make of it.
I did manage to look in to
Ruby and
Ruby on Rails this weekend. I've been kicking it around for a couple of weeks now but a very good friend of mine and web host showed interest in it and installed it on his server so I thought I'd give it a shot. My initial opinion of it two weeks ago was of distain mainly for its language syntax; like Objective-C, it just didn't sit right. Because of my venture further into the Ruby language last night, I plan to give Objective-C another shot some time in the future. I am now however kind of liking Ruby on Rails. And though I am still having a bit of trouble getting it working with MySql on the Mac, I am currently impressed with it as a web design language. More to come.
What is wrong with people
People are people so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
-- Depeche Mode "People Are People"
CNN
reports. Fta, "ETA has staged nearly a dozen non-lethal attacks since the Spanish government announced in May that it would hold talks with the group if it renounced violence." OK, obviously these guys don't want to talk. This is Spain now, not 'Merica, you can shoot to kill. What is wrong with these people? When was the last time someone's cause was fullfilled without retalliation through the use of violence? We, as people, have proven time and again that history matters not. "If I don't get my way I'm gonna blow something up" seems to be the global mentality. It happens
here, it happens everywhere. One of these days, I'm sure we'll figure this shit out. Or maybe
not
What a day
Joker: It's gonna be a hot time in the town tonight
-- Batman
It's only 8:20 and the day is already turning out pretty sticky. I have a ton of work to do on both my day job and my contract work. My A/C at home is on the fritz, my roof is leaking, all the plants I purchased to landscape my yard are dead, and the A/C at my My Day Job is not working.
Last week I was told "between 12 and 4 the service man will be there to look at your unit." hehehe. My A/C people are taking lessons from the cable company. He arrives at 3 and spends and hour poking around and can't figure out why it just isn't cooling. "Everything is working fine." Well, no, if it was, you wouldn't be here. Anyway, at what seemed a last minute jolt of inspiration (or possibly because he couldn't leave without finding something), a mysterious valve with throttling capabilities is discovered to be afoul. Not only do I have to pay the $60 service fee, but I also now have to pay the labor portion of replacing this part; to the sum of $310. Why am I stunned by this? This unit is less than two years old - they say it is more than two years old, which is why I have to pay for labor. I'll be digging into this one deeper.
If you'll recall, when I discovered my roof had soft spots in it I was preparing to do some landscaping. Well, after that ordeal, it never got done. And I mean, never. So I've got all this mulch, top soil, and a bunch of new plants in my front yard and it is all just going to waste. I am such an overworked and lazy jerk. M told me, "you don't have time to do this." And I told her I was sick of looking at the front of my house, that something needed to be done about it. Oh well...
It was warm when I first got here and it is getting warmer. This is not the first time the A/C has gone down either. But hey, if it keeps up, they'll let us go and work from home. The only problem with that is I'll be walking home; M has my car because her's is still in the shop.
On a positive note, I am blessed with work.
Can it get any better?
Murph: So, I guess you're the big hero, huh?
Sully: You would have done the same for me. Isn't that what I'm supposed to say?
Murph: You can say what you want, but... I'm sure glad you know how to swim.
Sully: Well, that's real big of you, Murph.
Murph: It's all I can manage right now. I'll work on it. All right?
-- The Perfect Storm
Well, here's the sitch'. My home owner's policy has been reinstated and the field adjuster called wanting to come over and play. M's truck is at the body shop so we are sharing a ride. When I say "we are sharing a ride" I mean "she uses my car". When I say "she uses my car", I mean "I travel at her discression". And because the shop just called and said they found more damage, I am stuck without a car even longer. Its not like I would go anywhere, its just that feeling of being stranded somewhere, even at work - especially at work - that I don't like.
So, how do I schedule a time I can meet with the adjuster and not miss too much time at work? After all, my most recent simple task just exploded into about 120 hours worth of coding to be done in a week. And then there's that damned hurricane Dennis and I still need to install shutters on my windows. Plywood is far too ugly and cumbersome so I am looking to go with aluminum. Lasts longer, stores easily, aluminum. Good stuff. Expensive as all hell, but good stuff.
Woe is me
Pink: I'm waiting in this cell because I have to know... have I been guilty all this time?
-- Pink Floyd The Wall
Last Wednesday is when the struggle began, and it continues to fester. Because I am tired and fed up with this whole issue I will paraphrase:
Insurance company says, "your policy was cancelled last September for non-payment."
Mortgage company says, "your escrow was deducted last September for your insurance payment with them."
Insurance company replies, "we have no record of that, and besides, its your fault this is happening anyway, the contract we have says you are going to pay, not Company C!"
Confused, I say, "Company C is not my mortgage company, Company B is."
My real mortgage company says, "Here is the check we paid them with"
Insurance company will no longer accept my calls. WTF?!?!
Insurance agent (a private person that does not work for the insurance company itself) says, "Get a photocopy of the check from your mortgage company faxed to us and we'll work with the insurance company".
Luckily, my mortgage company and insurance agents have all the correct information and are on my side. But the insurance company is being very stubborn and denies responsibility. How the hell can you deny responsibility when you have a copy of the cancelled check and undeniable proof that X dollars of the total amount (it was a mass-dispersal check) belonged to me and were for my policy. And then turn around and act all benevolent by offering "if your client can prove this payment was made and was intended for his account, we will reinstate his policy without lapse." Well thank you very much jerkwad, I would expect nothing less. You have the @#!&@% proof no reinstate my policy and get someone out to my @#!&@% house and cover my damages!
You really have to appreciate the freedoms we have as human beings. It is these rights we enjoy and take for granted that allow us to do the
stupidist things.
updateJust got off the phone with my insurance agent. Her response to my "what's up?" is that "they are still researching the problem." "What problem?" I asked. Incredulously she responds, "they have to research where the money went." Searching for restraint I swallow hard and say, "they have undeniable proof now, they have a front and back copy of the check with a letter from the mortgage company clearly stating X dollars were for my policy. Why would they need to find where they screwed up before they reinstated my policy?" I had to take several deep breaths while she comes back with, "you see, they need to research where the money went first." "That's not my problem, this is a parallel issue that should not interfere with the reinstatement of my policy." Amazingly, I managed a level tone; I'm so proud of myself. "Well, they need to be able to find the error so they are researching where the money went." She regurgitated.
You know, I actually thought this lady was on my side. I actually thought for a brief moment she was working with me to fight this injustice. But now I know. She could have said, "yeah, I know, its a lame excuse but this is how these guys operate, I am going to call them and try to find out what's really going on" and I would have commiserated in their ineptitude and would be seeing a very veiny red at the moment. But no, she had to stoop to their level of stupidity and repeat herself over and over again as if she had nothing truely insightful to add to the discussion but did not want to admit it. So basically, the Insurance Company From Hell is going to keep my policy suspended until they figure out where the problem occurred and how they can spin it so they don't have to reinstate it without lapse and penalty. Very nicely played.
