Category: Uncategorized

Somehow, someway….

Yesterday, I tweeted, “Go to Hong Kong?  Okay, if it’d mean good food, and a chance to put my fist through Snowden’s face.”

Some comments I got on Facebook made me think more about it, and the more I think and read about it, the more I want to punch the guy.

From what I can tell, what the government is doing is no different than the highway department putting traffic sensors on a roadway.  You know, the wires spreading across all lanes of traffic that seem to be connected to nothing.  They’re there to monitor the number of vehicles passing over that point in a given amount of time.

There’s also speed sensors that make the chromakey displays behind the perky traffic girl show congestion on a roadway.

What does she do when one goes from green to red?  She pulls up that roadway camera to see if she can see what’s up.

Now, imagine if one of the little pissants running the state’s traffic centers alerted everyone that they were being monitored because of these cameras……

Do I have some issues with the possible long-term retention of traffic?  Sure.  Separate issue.  I know that it’s tough for someone at this nincompoop’s intellectual level to understand.  (Or, for that matter, the average Hannity fan.  Don’t get me wrong, Sean is a genuinely nice guy.  I’ve met him more than once.  His big-time fans tend to be a little, shall we say, simpleminded.  Only NPR has the luxury of choosing its audience.)

But I digress;  back to the issue of monitoring.  The now knocked-up traffic girl only goes to a camera when she sees that there might be a problem.  Analysts brighter than Snowden do the same thing for Internet traffic.

As I told the folks on users, law enforcement generally notifies the provider whenever there’s an investigation going on.  Otherwise, that oh-so-cute fuzzy puppy pic your aunt sent you (because she won’t get on Facebook out of fears someone will steal her identity) just passes by unnoticed.  Just like your car would on the way to the liquor store if you took the Interstate.

Stopping my babbling now.  What are the takeaways?

1.  If you really want to keep something private, don’t put it into a computer, or say it over the telephone.

2.  Punching Snowden (and the people who think he’s a hero) is a-okay in my book.  Not so much for what he did, or may do, but simply because he’s inciting panic unnecessarily.

A big part of what I’ve been trying to do, professionally, is get people to think about what they actually need their systems to do.  We’ll deal with the years’ worth of cruft that’s there after we get a good working setup.

I’m also having to do that with my creaking shit at home.  This weekend’s task?  iTunes.  My libraries are a disaster. Between things I ripped back when I was trying to be a Free Software zealot, various things that I picked up when I was working on others’ computers, etc., my iTunes library is a hot mess.

“I think I’ve finally made mine Bieber-free.”

That’s nice to know, hon.

Bitch point?  ID3 tags go by genre.  If CDDB changes an artist’s genre, you could easily end up with two copies of the same song, from the same album, in your library.  I’m hitting a lot of dupes with Rock/Pop/Alternative, and Rap/Pop/R&B.

This ain’t pop — because that sucks — And you can New Jack Swing on my…

And he makes kids’ movies now, and has been married to the same woman over twenty years.  Hardcore, O’Shea.

Different from work with this is that I really don’t care about being vendor-independent anymore.  I’ve cast bet on Apple.  Oh well.  I hope I don’t come to regret it ten years from now.

(At the same time, I think It’ll be even less of a concern for me ten years from now than it is now…..)

Tecfidera:

It is what it is.  I’m becoming accustomed to it.  I don’t miss Rebif at all.  I’m hoping this latest exacerbation is calming down, though.  My vision has been affected more, lately, and it’s making everything in life difficult.

Side effects?  Digestive, primarily.  Some of the flushing in my face and upper torso. Headaches.  Is it as unpleasant as Rebif?  Uh, no.  Not even close.

(I also reflexively want to add an “h” to Tecfidera when I type it…..

Technology:

I cease to be amazed at how much cruft is around.  Everywhere.  But especially in IT.  Why does some of this cruft persist?  Two reasons.

1.  People are used to it, and demand that it continue in perpetuity, and;

2.  Nobody knows exactly what it is that the technology does.

Digging to the bottom of number two fixes the utility question.  Whether or not there’s a fix for the ubiquity question, I don’t know.  There’ve been baby steps in the right direcion, but the young people responsible for those baby steps have been pushed aside.  The grayhairs waint things to stay exactly as they were, and they’re the ones making the decisions.  So just replacing the functionality isn’t enough to make the argument for change…..

((exasperated sigh))

The stuff I wrote while I was trying Drupal follows.  I still get people trying to get to the direct links, which don’t work anymore.  Enjoy or whatever;  my blog sucks.

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22 Feb. 2013

Something

Well, the job search is over.  Yesterday, I received, and accepted, a new job.  Still lots of paperwork to do, but it’s nice to be out of the “job-seeker” category.

Mastars of the Universe

—–

Shmoocon Reax

Comments:

The more I think about it, the more illusory both seem.

Kind of in a pensive mood again after reading several Pilot stories, various tweets, seeing things on TV last couple of weeks…..

Both political parties ultimately seek to conserve different unsustainable priorities.

—-

**EDIT 1**

Yes, I do this sort of thing in my diary, too.  One of my acquaintances, being outraged, posted a story about the BorC execs being convicted during the plot that caused the bank to fail.

As I said on Facebook, the real story won’t come out for awhile, because it doesn’t reinforce the city’s ruling party’s lines.  Yes, the bank execs are criminals.  Yes, so were a lot of others like them.  Yes, there were local, state, and Federal politicians and bureaucrats who made it all possible.

But prosecuting the last group, even directing blame their way, doesn’t jibe with the ruling party’s line.

If it makes me a bad person to say that, I’m okay with that.

As I’ve aged, I’ve come to find some of my preconceived notions weren’t wise.  If that makes me to be “not a team player,” oh well.

Mixing colloquialisms?  Yes.  Reading this.  Republicans refuse to do math, and have managed to keep tax rates artifically low for more than 20 years now.  The power behind the Virginia Democrats get upset that money gets spent south of Quantico.

Go read Blue Virginia, and see the staunch opposition to the 460 project.

What was the first thing Jim Gilmore canned after revenues started drying up?  Adding another lane to I-64 from Bad Newz to 295.

Mark Warner spent nearly all of the Federal money in NoVA.  Timmay kept it up.

Mixing colloquialisms?  Yes.  Reading this.  Republicans refuse to do math, and have managed to keep tax rates artifically low for more than 20 years now.  The power behind the Virginia Democrats get upset that money gets spent south of Quantico.
Go read Blue Virginia, and see the staunch opposition to the 460 project.
What was the first thing Jim Gilmore canned after revenues started drying up?  Adding another lane to I-64 from Bad Newz to 295.
Mark Warner spent nearly all of the Federal money in NoVA.  Timmay kept it up.

I find that’s what I’m dealing with all too often these days.

I’m still trying to do good work while my body is failing, and getting paid less for it.

Good stuff, no?

Part of what I’m dealing with at work is that it’s difficult explaining to people that  just because there’s been upheaval, doesn’t mean that you have to revamp everything.  Watch a TV show about food, and you’ll hear one of the judges/critics chime in about someone using “good French technique.”  When a new chef comes in to a restaurant, he doesn’t need to retrain his cooks on how to chop onions.

Just because the old chef sucked doesn’t make the techniques wrong.  Maybe his ingredients did.  Maybe the recipes he’d chosen just weren’t that good.  And so on…

It’s frustrating to sit in a meeting, and hear people just pulling things out of thin air to do something different.  In my situation, “French technique” is codification of ITILv3.  Whether or not I really like it is unimportant;  we’ve been told to use it.  Someone spent copious amounts of time developing processes and procedures with its principles in mind.  Use it.

Maybe I’m worng.   If I am, cite something to show why you’re right.

In somewhat-related news, two shootings and a stabbing at the Oceanfront in Virginia Beach last night.  You want an example of a model that’s no longer working?  I’ll cite Virginia Beach.  For both the gangland that is the “tourist-friendly” Oceanfront, and for the suburban sprawl with incredible traffic.