Heard this song on 89x last night.
We have to all agree to hate this band right now for two very good reasons:
1) "3OH!3" IS NOT A FUCKING NAME! That looks like you had a seizure while typing your band name in.
2) Just on principal, I have to hate any band that comes up with, and then has the balls to release a song with, the following lyrics: "Do the Helen Keller & talk with your hips" (at about 2 minutes in).
I've said before, everyone in the US should have to take a macroeconomics class. But lately I think that's not enough. People always seem to want a simple answer to every problem. Even if they understand that stuff is complex, they don't seem to want to think about it. They want to blame it on the first scapegoat they can so they can focus their anger and get their government to DO something.
Oil is the latest example of this; Everyone is on the "speculators are to blame" bandwagon. McCain, Obama, the media, everyone. Except for... oh...the government themselves!
NYT: Speculators Aren’t Driving Up Oil Prices, Report Says
And then there is the ever present drive to drill along the US coast. Now don't get me wrong, I'm actually in favor of it. But politicians would have you believe that if just started drilling today everything would go back to the way it was by the end of the week. But wait! Once again a government report would beg to differ:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ae/otheranalysis/ongr.html
“The projections in the OCS access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030....Because oil prices are determined on the international market, however, any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant."
It's been a while since I last bitched about work. I'm a little afraid you all think that I have this perfect job where I am stress free, working in my underwear at home, making a bunch of money, and then shut it all off whenever I want.
Sadly, that about as far away from the truth as you can get without approaching from the other side.
Like any job, I have good days and bad days. Lately it seems like I have WAY more bad days then good though. And it all boils down to one reason:
I fucking hate Matt.
Matt is the sort of developer that makes every other developer want to cock punch him...repeatedly...with a 2x4....that's on fire. Matt is one of the only people on Earth that given to chance to kill him without anyone finding out, I would really do it.
Its not that Matt isn't smart; oh how I wish it was that simple. Instead, Matt is a really smart guy who has the managerial skills of a rabid bear and the social skills of 3rd grader.
Good example: Yesterday I had a conversation with Matt that went something like this:
Matt: I think we should rename everything in the project to use this format < some technical garbage >
Me: We could I guess. I think this other format is simpler though, and we already have a bunch of code that uses it.
Matt: Really? Are you sure you we shouldn't just use my naming convention.
Me: Yes really. The current names are fine.
Matt: <long pause> OK. I'll ask some other people and we can talk about it later.
Translation: I don't like your answer, so I'm going to change the spec anyways and force you to change everything later.
And this is how it is with every decision on the project. Matt is one of those guys that can't let stand any decision that wasn't the one he would have made, even if the decision is really fine in the grand scheme of things. Things like naming internal tools, internal code layout, table formats: everything has to be "Matt's way" or it is wrong.
I fucking hate Matt.
NY Times: Bill to Regulate Tobacco Moves Forward
So I'm perusing this article just to see what sorts of regulations they are planning on when I hit this golden nugget of a quote from John Dingell, a representative from my state:
Representative John D. Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, acknowledged that the bill was not perfect. “In a perfect world, we’d ban all cigarettes,” he said. “But the hard fact of the matter is that there are a lot of jobs depending on this. And more importantly, there are a lot of people out there who are addicted to this and they've got to have their fix.”
Sue and I were watching a segment on the The Daily Show the other day where they were making fun of all the news networks for asking the question, "Is America ready for a woman president?"
Huh?
Sometime I swear English is a second language to me. I don't even understand what this question is asking. Ready? Ready for what? What exactly do we have to prepare for? I'm a little angry that we even ask stupid questions like this anymore.
Its like asking if we are mentally capable of considering the possibility of a human without a penis giving State of the Union addresses. I mean, I know TV executives as a rule have a low opinion of the IQ of the average TV watcher (they're not the only ones), but still!
Mi-Oyce's recent post about Christmas retailers reminded me it time for my annual complaining about the Christmas season post:
FUCKING Target with their Christmas lights already on sale.
First off, its still technically summer you nut jobs.
Second, what crazy person shops for Christmas lights in September? I mean, what the hell is your target demographic here? I'm thinking shoplifters, manics, and folks who have WAY too much fucking time on their hands. Who else on the entire planet would shop for outdoor decorations 3 months before you need them?
They're not even on sale. Who the fuck buys them 3 months before they need them at full price?
Know what I hate most about this time of year? The completely STUPID things that candidates will say to try and get votes/attention. For example, the topic of interest at the moment is the meltdown in the sub-prime mortgage market. From the Economist:
Turning up the populist rhetoric, Hillary Clinton has promised to clamp down on “unscrupulous brokers” and wants to give $1 billion to states to help homeowners avoid losing the roof over their heads. John Edwards would produce legislation to regulate “predatory” mortgage lenders and ensure borrowers only receive loans they can afford. Earlier this year Barack Obama called for a “homeowners preservation summit”.
I'm really tired. Please take what I say in this post with a grain of salt.
CNN.com - Baghdad bombers target soccer celebrations, killing at least 50
WTF is wrong with these people? Stories like this sometimes make me think for a brief moment that we should just move all our troops out of Iraq, then bomb it until it was a big sheet of glass. People who would do something like this deserve no mercy and will never ask for it anyways.
Sigh...
Experts warn of lightning-strike injuries with iPods
Seriously? This is what CNN.com chooses to put on their front page? A story about people being injured by their iPod while being struck by lightning? I can picture just how this story got approved...
Reporter: I've got this idea for a story about people being hit by lightning.
Editor: Yawn... Lightning? Lightning?!?!? Who cares about lightning? Its been going on forever. What's new to say?
Reporter: Well, see, I've got this angle to involve the iPod and some other...
Editor: APPROVED!
The worst thing is that the article mentions a grand total of two cases of people injured by lightning while wearing iPods. Two. Two cases in the last six years and I should be even thinking about this? Why I am wasting brain cells on this again? And the article even mentions that it is nothing specific to iPods. Nothing like "iPods make it more likely you will be struck". Just the fact that having ANY electronic device nearby will make the burn worse. So why does the title focus on the iPod? Oh right, because that will get people scared. Scared enough to read this boring and pointless article.
CNN: Fed up station owner shuts off gas pumps
I've seen this idea float around the internet from time to time. Seems like every May, someone decides that if gas companies didn't make money for a day, it would make some huge difference.
This year, some idiot in Wisconsin actually decided that closing his station would be a good way to effect the price of gas. The best quote was "Schwartz called that [price] 'outrageous' and said even he can't fill up his SUV at that price." Good. Maybe sustained high prices will finally convince people that buying a car that gets less 18 MPG that you drive everday is not a good idea.
What's the logic behind this? Sure, if no one bought gas on a given day, gas station owners will be out $3 billion for the day. But its not like we're using $3 billion less in gas. If you don't buy gas one day, that just means you are going to have to buy it some other day. That's a net $0 difference idiot.
If you want to change the price of gas, there is only method that is going to have any effect:
Speaking of shows that shouldn't have been cancelled, I'd like to add Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip to the list. That show was funny and witty and didn't talk down to you or pretend you were a simpleton. I mean, sure, it made fun of everyone in the red states at every opportunity. Who doesn't do that? But it also gave them an intelligent voice who was devote without acting like the stereotypical nut-job. This is what fair and balanced really would look like. Boo NBC for canning this show.
Although I will give them props for renewing Friday Night Lights. What I don't get is why Medium and Friday Night Lights were renewed (both are in last place in their time slots), yet Studio 60 is canned.
I've noticed over the last few weeks that true.com has got some truly, truly, TRULY, perverted people working in their ad agency. For example, I've seen the following all show up on myspace.com at least a few times (sorry for the giant space here; blogger.com is stupid sometimes):
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Seriously...You really expect people to believe that a bunch of girls who look and dress like that are on your site? Really? I mean, exactly how dumb do you think we all are? I know TV gives us a completely unnatural view of the number of beautiful people in the world, but still. Even guys living in trailers know better than this.
I’m in WI again this week for work. So you already know that I am not in the best mode. My time at Detroit Metro Airport did not help the situation.
Anyone thinking that jet setting around the country is a glamorous life is clearly uninformed about typical airline service. Just for this segment of my trip alone, I’ve already been subjected to far more customer service nightmares than I would accept from any other industry on the planet.
I was given a reservation on a flight that was overbooked. One of the joys of flying that you quickly become accustomed to is the fact that airlines regularly sell more seats then they have available on a flight on the theory that a certain percentage of people will cancel or miss the flight. This of course means if everyone actually shows up, someone (perhaps several someones) who were sold a seat will be forced to wait for the next flight. In what other industry would we accept this?
My flight was 2 ½ hours late leaving the airport. Of course, they didn’t come right out and tell us that. Instead, they changed the departure time every half hour for 2 ½ hours. No ability for us to get dinner or look for somewhere to hang out for a while. Just sit around here and wait for us to get to you. In what other industry would we accept this?
And no explanation either. In fact, when we initially asked the attendants what the delay was for, they claimed they had no idea. No idea? What the heck is that little screen there in front of you for anyways? That’s just being too lazy to find out. Look, I’ll accept a lot of delay if you will just tell me why I’m standing around this gate. No explanation immediately makes me think that you are just fucking with me. In what other industry would we accept this?
Finally, 2 ½ hour delay with no monetary kickback is ridiculous. My transaction with you was to give you money in exchange for getting me to WI by 8pm. Not, “whenever the fuck we get around to taking off”. I can understand weather delays, but I’m fucking pissed when you tell me that you discovered at the last second that your plane can’t fly because of a minor mechanical problem that took YOU 2 hours to fix (a screw had fallen out the stairway leading into the plane). That’s not my problem. You failed to live up to your end of the bargain. In any other industry when you fail to make a customer happy, you would reward them with something to make up for it. In what other industry would we accept “well, I’m sorry but please sit here for 2 ½ hours because of our incompetence?”
Detroit Free Press - Racy Green Oak mall displays stir up protests
Saw this on the news the other day and I just had to say something. I live within ten minutes of the mall mentioned in this article, so it caught my attention when a group of folks from one of the local churchs started protesting the display in the window of the mall's Victoria Secret.
I don't understand the concept of protesting against underwear displays. You seem to be implying that underwear of and by itself is somehow evil. Aren't you sort of giving the impression to young impressionable girls that they should avoid underwear altogether? Hey, if that is your message I'm all for it:) Maybe I'll show up this weekend with a big sign that reads, "Looking at underwear may make you sin. Avoid the temptation and don't wear any!" I bet the ladies from Holy Spirit would love that:)
Moreover, I don't understand what the big deal is about seeing women's underwear on a mannequin. Did someone walk by the store and think, "Oh my God look! You can see all the way to that mannequin's mold seam. Someone should do something about that!"
Trying to link seeing underwear in a store window with women's dignity is insane. Hey! If you want to wear granny panties all the time, that's your choice. Don't ruin it for the rest of us!
CNN: Mixed reaction to Cheney's daughter's pregnancy
For those unaware, the Vice President's daughter Mary Cheney announced Wednesday that she is pregnant. Normally that would be a huge press opportunity, with the expectant mother brought out into the Rose Garden so everyone can comment on her "glow" (whatever the f#%k that is. The only people I've ever seen glow are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and congratulate her for being so fertile and all that, not to mention trip over themselves telling the VP how to clean up baby spit-up off a Halliburton tie. What a wonderful picture...
Sadly, it's not to be. You see, the vice presidents daughter is...<looks around to make sure no one is listening and whispers>....gay.
That's right. A lesbian. A lesbo. A carpet-licker if you will.
So what would normally be an event that the press and white house would be positively wetting themselves over is now something that moral conservatives can comment on so they can appear even more heartless than usual. And as is always the case whenever anyone tries to defend why exactly gay couples shouldn't be allowed to love and marry like us straight folk, they resort to some truly horrible logic:
Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America described the pregnancy as "unconscionable" and said "It's very disappointing that a celebrity couple like this would deliberately bring into the world a child that will never have a father. They are encouraging people who don't have the advantages they have."
I see. So if you are a gay couple with connections and money, we don't think you getting pregnant is an issue. We are just concerned that you might convince some poorer, less connected lesbians to follow in your footsteps. We can't have that! Ah...right...
Focus on the Family's Carrie Gordon Earll had this gem to share: "Just because you can conceive a child outside a one-woman, one-man marriage doesn't mean it's a good idea. Love can't replace a mother and a father."
That's your logic? If you have to choose between two people being in love raising a child and two people who don't love each other but happen to have a different number of orifices, you would go with option B? Cause that's the way I read that sentence. I know I haven't been on this planet all that long, but I saw enough truly horrible parenting growing up that I know that simply putting a penis and vagina in the same house does not result in well-adjusted, happy children.
WARNING: This post is the cynic in me talking more than anything. It’s probably going to piss you off by the time you get to the end. Please take a few seconds and breathe before you write a comment.
So I was reading this article by some pompous software engineer about how the mythical programming man-month is a complete joke (he's right FYI), when I came across his claim that the statement "All men are created equal" in the Declaration of Independence was derived from an older proverb: "All men are created equal but by practice grow apart"
I never knew this. And the fact that I didn’t leads me to a completely new rambling:
I’m torn between liberal and conservative in a lot of ways. On the one hand, I’m a big social liberal. Gun control (to a point), abortion (to a point), environmental protections, free speech, gay rights – I’m for them all. But…
Sometimes I think that some of the other liberal ideals are driving us towards are society of completely brain dead drones. Schools are a good example of what I'm talking about: We try so hard to make sure no one feels “dumb” or “slower” than the other students. We don’t reward personal accomplishment; we hide it in the name of keeping everything “fair”. We tell everyone they’re “special” without having to do anything.
Some people have to try harder to accomplish the same thing. So? Why is that such a horrible secret that we now hide it our children?
More than anything else, the conservative idea that we need to take personal responsibility for our actions rings true with me. I think that is a large part the problems our society faces these days stem from the fact that no one takes any responsibly for the things they do. It’s always "someone else’s fault". We are all a victim of something (parents, society, the government, whatever). You know what I mean:
“I'm an alcoholic because my father was an alcoholic”
“I abuse my children because I was abused as a child”
Bull shit. You do those things because you choose to do those things. Take the first one: Don’t give me this shit that you're an alcoholic because your father was an alcoholic. You drink because you want to drink. Ever time I hear someone say that alcoholism is a disease I want to whack them upside the head with a beer bottle. To me, alcoholism is when you (key word here) make the choice every day to drink instead of making the more difficult choice of dealing with whatever problem you are drowning with alcohol. That’s the problem with this idea that you are not at fault. You suddenly feel no guilt for taking the easy choice and continuing your poor habit.
And yes, I see some of my habits as this same choice. I don't deny it, but I don't blame anyone else either. I know my bad habits are my own. And I'm ok with that.
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