Land of Oz

Peanuts

I was walking past a desk that had a bag of pistachios on it and it reminded me of one of the offices I worked in while in the USAF. While life for me was normally a square peg in a round hole, with one group in particular I just didn't come anywhere close to fitting. I actually loved the work, but just couldn't fit in with the folks there. Anyway...

I was trying to get out of the group and ended up working in the scheduling office with a MSgt who was real close to retirement - basically putting in his time. He fit the group about as well as I did so both of us took great pleasure in tweaking the noses of the "establishment."

One of those tweaks took place every Friday afternoon. One of our duties was to strip and wax the floor every Friday afternoon before quiting for the day. I was low man on the totem pole so usually did that. I must admit, however, that the "old" sergeant would always pitch in and help. He started bringing in a big bag of peanuts in the shell and after lunch on Fridays we'd open them up, eat peanuts and dump the shells on the floor. I'd also like to add that we were somewhat off the beaten path in the offices so we didn't get a lot of foot traffic. It sure pissed the officers off though - especially one in particular. The one who'd hold prayer meetings every lunch.

The same officer was in charge of harrassing the troops during the annual Consolidated Fund Campaign (CFC). I didn't really have any problems with the idea of a charity fund raising, but I had a real problem with the fact that it was pushed so hard - no actual threats mind you, but they were there. A unit would be rated as to its percent of participation. One of the things that was commonly done was to use funds from people who donated over the minumum to cover those who didn't donate at all. When the Captain (If I remember his rank correctly) asked me if I minded that, I said I did, which really ticked him off, and he barely listened to my whys (basically I don't like to be pushed or threatened into charity projects). He finally gave up after several minutes of veiled threats and illogical logic. What made my day, was when he asked the MSgt to donate and he said no. When asked why, the MSgt told the Captain, "he (referring to me) said it all."

That Captain and the rest of the unit would often try and get me to "volunteer" for some real crappy temporary duties after that. It actually got to the point where I would carry a copy of the regulation spelling out why I was expempt from being sent involuntarily. Thankfully I found a way out of that organization not very long afterwards. I still get a kick out of an office floor full of peanut shells though.

Labels: food, military

Thinking of What?

BBC News about Iran's Presidential visit to USofA: Asked about executions of homosexuals in Iran, Mr Ahmadinejad replied: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country."

Reacting to laughter and jeers from the audience he added: "In Iran we don't have this phenomenon, I don't know who you told this."

I don't know why people were laughing about this. I'm pretty sure it's a true statement. The Iranian gay population is obviously not like the gay population in the US or most other western countries. Can you imagine a gay pride parade with lightly clad demonstrators on the streets of Tehran? How far behind the parade do you think the Mullahs and their pious followers would be - carrying buckets of rocks?

Also, it's true that Mr Ahmadinejad would like to see more research about the Holocaust. He and his country would like to do more research to make sure they get it done correctly the next time.

Labels: freedom, government

Apple

If you've seen my other Apple gripes, you might have read the one about where actually Apple and Windows are really the complete opposites of what most marketing would have you believe. The iPhone seems to really emphasize that point.

Apple seems to be doing everything in their power to clamp down on the "creativity" of iPhone users. You have to use Apple's software and Apple's cell network and Apple's choice of ring tones, etc. If you try to expand on the narrow confines of what Apple wants you to do with the iPhone, you'll probably be hearing from Apple's army of lawyers sooner rather than latter.

It seems that Apple gives you freedom as long as you confine that freedom to what Apple allows.

Labels: apple, gripes

I'm sorry... grovel, grovel

BBC News: Man, what did China threaten Mattel with? I'll accept a certain amount of blame by Mattel for specifying the junk they accepted, but to tell the Chinese we're so sorry your crap is crap is beyond me.

I'm sure somewhere there is something that the Chinese can make well. In all honesty, if it's something made in the last few centuries I haven't run across it yet. The law of averages will make an occasional item in a product run good no matter how shoddily it's made. Sooner or later enough mistakes will acrue on one item to where it exceeds the rather crappy specs that, yes, the US buyers make.

I don't completely blame the Chinese mind you. If we didn't buy so much of there crap, they wouldn't make it. As long as stores like Harbor Freight and WalMart offer crap that people will joyfully line up and buy, the Chinese - and any other country - will make it to sell to us.

If the public would go to WalMart and say, "I don't care that your crap is %10 lower in price than the crap across the street, I'm not buying it anymore," then actually go across the street and pay more, then lead laden teething rings and wrenches that last half-a-job would be a thing of the past.

I have power and hand tools that were made in the USofA that date back 20-30 years and are still working just fine. I also have a significant amount of tools - with the same labels (listening Craftsman and Stanley?) - that I've bought over that last few years and are sitting broke in a box of crap on a shelf. And I don't even want to explore the no-name stuff I've been foolish enough to buy and discard almost immediately over the last few years. Like the 7 piece drill set I bought for $15 and have since replaced with a $45 set that works oh, so much better.


So we, and yes I include myself, have to quit accepting the crap and garbage that stores are offering today. Is saving %25 on a product worth it if that product only lasts half as long? We need to get a little pride in what we'll accept and realize it worth the time to wait and save for something better. So, Mattel, quite apologizing for the American acceptance of crap. After all, if we didn't buy the crap, you guys wouldn't sell the crap, and China wouldn't produce the crap.

Labels: gripes, oldies

Capital One

First let me say right off the bat, I don't get the commercials. Something about the middle ages and credit cards. I did get the king's girlfriend one, but not much of the others. I would never buy/apply/ or whatever they want me to do for something for which I don't even understand what it's for.

They aren't really affrontive to me, just confusing. Which brings up what inspired this post. They sent me some paper spam about a "frequent flier mileage" program they have. I don't have all the docs, since I trashed it sometime ago, but part of the package was a refidgerator magnet type ad that was credit card sized. Now think about that for a minute. A magnet the size of a credit card. Aren't lodestones and credit cards bad for each other?

Like I said, this company really confuses me. But, hey, they did get some free advertisement from me didn't they?

Labels: gripes

Freedom of Worship

Veils and women. Guys and knives. Anyone and turbans. Feet washing and Friday night fish fries. Yes, as an immigrant you may have been used to those types of customs in your life. However, I don't see a reason for you to expect the country you immigrate into has to support the same customs you were used to at home.

Why do you expect the same customs in the new country? Obviously there was something wrong in your native country or otherwise you wouldn't have left.

If and when I decide to live in another country I wouldn't expect them to support my beliefs. If I have to give up gun ownership and accept stricter government control of what I do, then so be it. If there's higher taxes to be paid and some customs are unacceptable, then either I follow what they already have or I stay where I am. I don't expect a new country to accept me -- I expect to accept the new country.

Labels: freedom, government, gripes, religion

Apple & HP

This is probably more a tirade against HP (Hewlett Packard) than Apple, but Apple isn't completely blameless. We have a HP PSC 1500 all-in-one printer hooked up to our newish iMac. it used to be hooked up to the WinXP machine a couple of months ago. One thing I hated about the HP was the gargantuan pile of software that got installed when you installed the supplied driver software.

After running the WinXP installation, HP crap was everywhere - in the startup menu, checking online, running hither and yon all over the Windows expanse. I really-really hated it and regretted ever buying HP. My previous Epson was much more software friendly when running (granted it's a few years older, so Epson may now be just as bad). And of course something simple like checking ink cartridge levels was buried in the system driver routine (I think anyway).

So when I got the Apple and hooked up the printer I was gladened that it seemed to print just fine with what Apple came with. That was OK until I tried to scan with the all-in-one. No matter what I tried the iMac just couldn't see the scanner. So I went to the HP site and downloaded the Mac 10.4 driver - all 170MB or so. I installed it and guess what - it couldn't find the printer. Now I had gobs and gobs of HP crap on my iMac and still couldn't scan. And you know what? Now when I tried to print from Firefox, Firefox would just close - boom, no warning, no nothing - just gone.

I looked for HP driver updates - none, and tried to uninstall and reinstall the existing drivers; I looked for Firefox updates and installed the latest, I plugged and unplugged and booted and rebooted, all to no avail. Finally in desparation I dragged the Mac OSX install disks out and looked on them for printer stuff. I uninstalled the HP stuff - leaving god knows how much HP detrius on my iMac and rebooted and installed the .pkg HP driver stuff from Apple and rebooted again.

Final result is that while I still can't scan and now have little HP bits scattered about, I can at least print from Firefox again.

Labels: apple, computers

Why?

"Barry Bond's record-breaking home run ball was auctioned for more than $750,000..."

It's a baseball for crying out loud. Some people have just too much money for their own good.

Labels: gripes

Size?

"...because the new Nano has a much larger screen (two inches diagonal). With 320-by-240 pixels crammed into that space..."

"Much larger screen?" Please. Two inch - diagonal no less - is notthing that I would add "larger" to, unless maybe I was working in a microbiology lab. I think "not as small" would be much more accurate. And there's a lot of reviewers talking about how nice a picture it is??? We have something like a 28" CRT TV at home and I wouldn't consider it large - let alone much larger than anything.

I guess it must be my middle-aged senses screaming for help, but a 2" screen isn't something I'd like to watch a TV show on, let alone a movie. Poor Genie wouldn't have to worry about her belly button shocking Middle America on something like that. I have dust-bunnies in the TV room that would eat a 2" screen for lunch. I really find it hard to believe that there is any kind of market for videos on something that small. Even youtube.com stuff is pushing the limits for me. How can you really enjoy looking at something that is smaller than most pictures in my wallet?

By the way, I think the quote came from a NYTimes article.

Labels: computers, gripes, tech

Celebs

Yeah - I'm lowering myself and jumping on the celebrity overdose bandwagon.

Was it fair? Did Spears, lest we forget a mother of two, deserve to be held up against the standard of her once fantastically toned abs, sculpted by sessions of 1,000 tummy crunches? Or was she asking for it by choosing that unforgiving black-sequined bikini?

Of course it isn't fair. Celebrities aren't treated fairly in anyway shape or form. Why should an actor get paid hundreds of thousands (or millions) for making a movie when local cop who just saved my life is only making $60,000 a year? Is the fact that an actor can memorize lines and not look at the camera worth that kind of reward?

I haven't seen her performance, but I have seen a few photos of Britney on the stage. First, she's still a very good looking entertainer. But yes, I think she asked for it, by appearing in the clothes she wore. Yes, she's a mother of two, but I'm not watching her (and I don't think too many others are either) as a mother of two, but as a hot, blond singer/dancer.

If she wants to be judged as a mom, then she should be wearing some Lawrence Welk leftovers and leave the jumping and grinding to the next generation of youngins. The reason celebrities are celebrities is that they are people who transcend our humdrum life. As much as I think I would like to, I hope I don't meet Jennifer Anniston or Demi Moore in raggedy sweats buying a Big Gulp at the local 7/11. I think it would end up being a big disappointment. Jennifer and Demi aren't really any better than me or my friends and seeing them in the same setting as the beer-drinking slob next door would tarnish an admittedly, unreal image.

Often, actually attaining your dreams for real can be a crushing disappointment.

Labels: celebs

Comforting

A recent "odd" news article stated:

Both were cited for drunken driving and driving while revoked. They're planning to defend themselves in court with an argument that neither had control, so neither was driving.

Miller blew a 0.16 percent blood alcohol reading on the breath test and Marzinske was at 0.09 percent, the police report said. The legal limit is .08 percent.

Miller said he takes drunken driving seriously, "but we were doing things as safe as possible."

Police clocked them going 35 mph in a 55 zone.

Marzinske acknowledged the arrest was embarrasing(sic).

"I asked my daughter right out, 'Are you embarrassed about this?'" he said. "She says, 'A little bit Dad, but it sure is funny.' So we just have fun with it. There isn't much else you can do."

It's nice to know that neither one of these idiots felt they weren't in control. I'm even more impressed that they're teaching their kids that it's funny to drive without a license and while drunk. Maybe if they have to peel their kid off a tree some night, they might lose a little humor. Can you actually believe they didn't think there was anything wrong with what they were doing? I'm guessing that back in them-there rural hills of rustic Wisconsin, telephones to call for a ride haven't been put up yet.

Labels: crime, driving, gripes

Guns

I just read an article where the courts are again going to debate the right of people to bear arms - own weapons.

First let me state that I am 100% for the personal ownership of weapons. And not just handguns and long guns - but any weapons. If someone wants to own a Browning .50 machine gun on a jeep, let him. If some woman wants to own a 10 gauge double-barrelled shotgun cut down to a 12" barrel, let her. I really have no problem with that. However, if that same person uses that weapon (or even a baseball bat) in a crime, they should pay some severe consquences for that action.

But I have to tell you. If I for one teeny-tiny moment thought that all (or even most) rapists, murderers and robbers would turn in their weapons just because a new law was passed banning ownership of guns, I would be all for it.

I just don't understand how any thinking person can imagine that some cretin who has no problem with raping an 80 year old woman, or holding up a 14 year old for her iPod would suddenly think, "Oh goodness, the Bryco .380 I used to hold up my last six 7/11 stores is illegal - I must turn it in to the police at once!"

Labels: crime, government