I think it’s cute – and the top I am I love those asses. Damnation.
Month: March 2014
If you’re trying to listen in this way you’re doing it wrong
So I ran across this cartoon on the web. It shows President Obama up on a pole, with headphones and a laptop with leads going up to wires above.
Now let me state – I know a thing or two on how to tap a phone. In the olden days you had to basically hook up to the line physically. Now you just tap it via the telephone switch – because those switches – they’re at the basic level computers.
But to the cartoon:
Now if you look closely – you’ll see he’s jacked into the 480V feed on the pole. Not a bloody good thing to do. I guess the cartoonist doesn’t know how to tell what the order of wires on the poles are. It usually goes 480V, 125V, Cable TV and then phone at the lowest level.
So ha!
Tristan Emmanuel is a Grade A Wing Nut
You have to watch the video first. That this guy appears to sincerely believe what he’s saying is interesting. But here’s the thing, he KNOWS he is going to take flak for what he’s saying because he turns off commenting on his YouTube videos. I’m doing so here.
First let us go to the act he read – judging by the usage of an ‘f’ like character for ‘s’ sounds – it dates to the 16th and 17th centuries when we had a rather troglodyte view of the rights of man. It was written back in the day when a cohesive community was all important, or at least that was the prevailing theory at the time. In fact it was a theory so odious that one Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island wanted no part in it and so exiled himself about 50 miles to the south. Williams is also part of the impetus of separation of church and state with the motto of Rhode Island being ““To hold forth a lively experiment that a most flourishing civil state may stand and best be maintained with full liberty in religious liberty”.
It is also by the way how I end up with native American ancestry in my blood. One of my ancestors went native. Probably dates to prior to 1850 or so.
Yep – the yoke of religion is too much to bare for many of us.
Of course Emmanuel goes on to talk about Maher going over the air waves. Um, Maher has his own show on HBO. HBO is delivered via a little thing called fiber or coaxial cable. It doesn’t go over the air per se. It goes over the wire or glass. Shows how stupid and ignorant Emmanuel is that he doesn’t know that little fact. But even worse than the prior, he’s more than likely PAYING to receive HBO into his home.
Yep, Emmanuel is a clueless clod. But the fact he knows that he’s a clod is telling and explains why he turns off comments on his ludicrous YouTube videos. He can’t stand the heat. And if you can’t stand the heat then get the fuck out of the kitchen!
A Meme I haven’t done buit will now Saturday 9
Saturday 9: Too Close
- This song is about a friendship that turned romantic … and it doesn’t end happily. Have you ever crossed that line with a friend? If so, how did it work out? –Friends are friends, not sex or romantic partners. It just doesn’t happen in my world.
- When he was a kid, this week’s singer, Alex Clare, listened to his dad’s Stevie Wonder records. When you were in 7th/8th grades, what music were you into?— Earth Wind & Fire, Ohio Players, stuff like that.
- “Too Close” has been featured on the TV show, The Vampire Diaries. Do you enjoy shows/books/movies about the supernatural?— I think the whole supernatural meme has been done to death.
- Some of Alex Clare’s tour dates were sponsored by Bud Light. Do you like beer?–I generally consider most U.S. mass market to be piss water. IPA’s sometimes pass though. And I do have a preference not for beer but ale. My favorites originate in the UK, the first being Newcastle Brown Ale and the other being Smithwick’s Dark Ale. And regards Mr. Clare – if you’re that sold out I really don’t know if I’d want to listen to your music.
- Mr. Clare trained to be a chef, just in case the music thing didn’t work out. Are you a good cook? — I’m a ninja in the kitchen. Seriously, to the point where I can take stock of what is around me and create a dish from it.
- Crazy Sam (the mistress of this meme) is forever running out of mayo because she slathers it on her sandwiches. What is currently on your grocery list?— More oatmeal, but other than that we’re all stocked up so no need to hit the market.
- Where are you most likely to find spare change — between the sofa cushions, in your jeans as you toss them into the washer, or under the floor mat of your car?–Pocket change gets put in either the jar in the living room, or into one of the payphones with a coin box. Only issue there is because I don’t have a 130VDC power supply (But I do have the parts to build one!) I can’t trip the coin relay – so the coins just clog up th works. I have to open the thing up and tip the coin relay forward and then they drop into the coin box. There’s probably about $50 in there right now.
- How did you spend your Friday night — working late, hanging out with friends, or just enjoying a quiet night at home?— Working on Gubernatorial Candidate Todd Giroux’s campaign. But around 5:30PM the booze was brought out and picture if you will, four gay men of varying political orientation. The conversation was interesting as all hell.
- Do you use Pinterest?— I don’t need one more waste of time on the net. Facebook for example serves that purpose.
An interesting time last night
So yesterday I did some work on the Giroux for Governor campaign. I sent out close to 400 emails asking for volunteers. Let’s see what I get.
Plus got the candidate to update his web site. Clean it up a little. Also walked him through how to post pix and videos to the blog for the site. Lots of new stuff I’m throwing at them. Also find out I get to interview the campaign manager. King maker indeed.
But around 5PM the wine came out – a few toasts were made and we started talking. A group of four gay men – haven’t been in that type of environment in a long time.
But one thing came out of that I want to explore. I’m viewed by some as get this, an authoritarian. I did email telling that person that I’m no such. I do have the face that I can go stony at any time. And I’m also very assertive. I tell them when it’s something I truly believe or want, I’m direct as hell about it.
And of the group – three of us sort of liberal, one a gay Republican, not only Republican by Mormon. He and I sparred about marriage equality – he has Libertarian leanings – so he was saying how he and his partner don’t want to marry. I start in with theoretical situations – what happens if one gets sick or dies while they’re not married etc. It comes down to the fact that he was squicky about calling his guy his husband. {Sigh}. I told him he had to get over that artificial ickiness factor.
One other thing I did – I had at least two members of the group of us take the Political Compass test. Now the test ranks you where the Y axis runs between authoritarian and Libertarian, while the x axis goes left to right as in political leaning.
What was interesting is that the Republican and the other guy both placed in about the same lower right quadrant. I place in the lower left quadrant – somewhere to the left of Ghandi. But we all rank about the same level on the Y axis. I haven’t had the candidate take the test yet. I suspect he’ll fall into the same quadrant as me.
A Funny Fake Magazine
I mean really – a magazine titled “Meh” If it’s ‘subscribers’ were really that much of a procrastinator it’d never get published.
Maybe it’s time to think differently
I’m not a big fan of fracking – I see it as environmentally too expensive and security destabilizing. Plus there is what we do with those fossil fuels right now as in burn them – releasing tons of CO2 into the air along with all sorts of other nastiness.
And most recently I’ve read that Oklahoma is experiencing an increased number of earthquakes. They suspect it’s due to oil and gas mining operations.
Here’s my proposal. It’s going to sound far fetched but the technology currently exists to do this, if only we diverted say $100 billion or so away from the U.S. Military machine each year.
Build robotic spacecraft to mine Saturn VI aka Titan. It’s a hyrdrocarbon aka Methane world. Suck up the liquid product transport it back to orbit and retro it back to Earth. Only don’t burn it – use it to energize fuel cells – the byproduct of which would be electricity and water. Then if you want burn it. But extract as much as you can out of it before doing so. Imagine spacecraft the size of ocean going ships that currently carry natural gas. Ion propulsion would work too. And with that Ion propulsion the cost of getting it back to Earth would be relatively inexpensive.
On Weird turns in life
I was thinking today. I’ve turned into a political consultant. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d be doing political work. It came pretty late for me.
But I’d always said I’d rather be king maker. And it’s true. It’s just odd that in my I.T. career couped with experience on another campaign and I end up in a suit and tie advising a gubernatorial candidate. It’s bizarre, but I enjoy it.
Plus I’m a data wiz. That doesn’t hurt. Want to pull all the Democrats in a town who voted last 3, 4, or 5 election cycles? I can do that. I can even, based on the voting pattern tell what party to which an unaffiliated voter really belongs. You may think you can hide, but you can’t.
Plus I know fundraising – which is odd. But then I’d been to enough political events myself to know how to do it.
It’s definitely a weird turn in life. I also want to be nominated for the Constitutional convention about to take place in Rhode Island. That would be enormously fun.
But then I rememeber – my family has always been political. Even as a kid I knew who the state Rep, Councilor and Senator were. Went to all the political events too – the dinners etc.
My paternal grandfather though – he was the most active. He was a state administrator for a time. And his famous saying “Follow the money” has served true to this day.
But my activity in the political sphere happened through an odd confluence of events. First I was working for the state and second, Charlie Fogarty’s campaign office was right next door to where I lived. Walked in one day and became a part of the campaign, just like that. And here I am, on another Gubernatorial campaign – one in which if we get just a little bit of money, we can trounced the other candidates in the primary.
Where once again UPS forgets what logistics are and how to deliver a package
So I ordered a call blocker on Amazon. The vendor decided to ship via UPS. I mean the whole thing weighs .9 pounds. The Postal Service could have delivered it.
So yesterday I get an alert email from UPS My Choice – that they tried to deliver but nobody was there. So I called UPS and ripped them a new one. I really should record my calls with UPS because I’m told I’m pretty assertive with them. They’d make for an amusing listen that’s for sure.
So later yesterday they call me back. Driver is already in. I asked the question, was the package shipped with signature requested? No it was not. So I asked why then did the driver not just leave the package in front of the door. Postal service has no problem doing that. I made sure to mention that to him. He says UPS policy allows drivers discretion in multi-unit dwellings. I live in a two family home. It’s not a big complex and I told the guy this. I told him that I’d heard varying quotations on UPS policy over the years but none that gave the drivers any discretion over whether or not to leave a package. In fact next door to me is a business that gets almost DAILY deliveries and pickups from UPS. So it shouldn’t be so hard for them to deliver a package weighing less then a pound RIGHT NEXT DOOR.
The upshot is I told the guy I don’t care what they do – deliver the package. And that the next time I dealt with the vendor I’d specify US Postal Service.
It’s one thing that this happens on occasion – but every fucking time? Come on UPS – if you really Love Logistics you should be better than that.
Support for Gay Marriage rises in black churches
‘The sharpest change has occurred among black Protestants, only 32% of whom favored same-sex marriage in our aggregated 2013 polling,’ Pew Research notes.
‘A survey we conducted last month found that figure has now risen to 43%,’ the organization continues.
The study also points to an uptick ‘among white mainline Protestants (from 55% in 2013 to 62% this year).’
And the same is true in the white mainline Protestant sects.
In fact people in general are starting to wake up to the fact that religious leaders have used fear and hatred to try to propagate their agenda, but that agenda doesn’t necessarily jibe with the alleged teachings of the church, and people KNOW that.
I also see it as a function of the fact that we’re becoming a pretty literal society. That by itself is enough to demolish the religious pseudo-arguments.
Spewing Truth in the face of Lies 