No Tragedy, Please (Tirades)

If I hear one more commentator or newscaster use the word "tragedy" to describe the massacre at Fort Hood, I think my head will explode.

Let's be clear about this. It was not a "tragedy." When an accident occurs and someone is killed, that's tragic. This was not an accident. Major Nidal Malik Hasan's murder of 13 people at Fort Hood was a deliberate atrocity; another act of war in Islam's assault on America; cold-blooded, first-degree murder; a calculated betrayal.

After he's found guilty and sentenced to death, I suggest a public choking with pig genitalia. Not only will this method humiliate him, it will make him ritually unclean and thus ineligible to enter paradise and claim his 70 virgins.

And, for the record, I understood it to be an act of Islamic terrorism immediately. Only the vacuous, fatuous, and fatally politically correct could pretend it was anything else. Fools. When someone says they want to kill you, you're ignorant if you don't take them seriously.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 22:29 2009-11-12 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

The All-Seeing Eye (Tirades)

Or, not so much lately. I have a marked recurrent corneal erosion.

I saw the cornea specialist on Wednesday. After an exam, she discontinued all the medication I've been on except for the Vigamox. She also put in a new “bandage contact” and said I would need to wear it for a least a week. We'll reevaluate the contact after a follow-up on June 17th.

So, in the short term at least, no corneal debriding. However, the specialist also said that if the erosion re-opens between the time she sees me next and a period of about three months afterward, she will debride the cornea in an office procedure. If that doesn't work, the next step is to smooth out my entire cornea using a laser technique. She wouldn't perform the latter procedure. I don't even want to contemplate where we'd go if that didn't resolve the problem.

I'm not going to take chances with my eyes, of course, but there is an element of the absurd in all of this effort going into what began as a tiny scratch.

Meanwhile, happy Friday. Tomorrow (well, later this morning, actually) Kelly and I are are going to Golden Gate Park in the city. We'll be taking lots of pictures with which to bore you. :-)


Posted by Kurt Wall at 00:30 2009-06-13 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Virus Writers (Tirades)

…should be shot, beaten, stabbed, hung, drawn, quartered, diced, sliced, fried, injected, skinned, electrocuted, maimed, set on fire, dismembered, given hot lead enemas, pushed out of aircraft at high altitudes sans parachutes, and made to eat liver.

I spent this morning getting rid of the Vundo or Virtumonde virus on my wife's PC. I am not amused. Microsoft knows how insecure their operating system is but has not made a genuinely substantive effort to resolve the issue. Either they don't care or they're incapable of doing so. Vista's security theatre was just that, theatre. It pushed an awful lot of security work onto users and bolted security features onto the OS instead of writing security into the OS.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 10:21 2009-01-17 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

No More Child Support (Tirades)

Cue the choir of angels singing Alleluia! I made my final child support payment on 31 Dec, 2008! Yet, therein lies a tale.

The court-ordered arrangement (which, I might add, was suspended in 1999 and never reinstated) was that child support would continue until the children were 18 or graduated from high school, whichever event occurred last. Fine. The ex-wife helped me out a couple of years ago by permitting my daughter, now 20, to quit high school. On her 18th birthday, child support dropped to $600/month. Fine. I didn't think much of that decision — the days are long gone when one can survive on just a high-school diploma or GED — but there was nothing I could do.

After receiving the January 2009 child support payment for my son (paid on December 1, 2008, yes, a month in advance), my ex-wife wrote, “Just think, next June you won't have to do this any more,” attempting to imply that he was still in school. An important detail here is that my son turns 18 in February.

With the February 2009 payment, I included the following note:

Accordingly, unless [our son] is still in school, this is your final child support payment. If [our son] is still in school, please provide enrollment or attendance records to this effect. One month seems sufficient time for you to obtain this information.

Kelly gets credit for suggesting that I ask for proof of his continued attendance.

The catch here is that I already knew the ex had allowed my son to quit high school. How I came to know isn't important. I knew that she couldn't provide the evidence I requested. Not to be outdone, though, the ex sent me this message upon receiving her money order yesterday:

Subject: Congratulations on your last child support payment

[Our son] is behind in a few credits that will preclude him from graduating on time with his class, however, he is enrolled in a GED preparation course through SLCC which will prepare him to take the GED in April. He is doing 98% and above in his mock tests, and will likely pass the GED with flying colors. He has plans to enroll in a graphic arts program beginning in the summer.

I have to let you know I am relieved you are no longer obligated. I really don't have any need for your child support, or I would go to the pains of providing you with his enrollment in his prep courses. It's just so much kissing up to you, however, and I won't be made to feel it is necessary to “report” to you. So I'll gladly forego the extra couple of months' payments to be released from this self-entitled lordship. I laughed OUT LOUD at your request in your letter. I anticipated it. It's just so typical of you. I had plans to notify you that I was releasing you of the obligation anyway. Oh, the irony . . .

I will trust there will be no further contact between us. Thanks for the years of paying the child support, albeit it was not without a few hitches and complications.

Notice that she fails to mention why my son is “behind in a few credits.” Moreover, didn't her previous message suggest that I look forward to child support payments through June? If she didn't need the money so badly, why did she write me almost every month, especially when the 1st fell on a weekend, to find out when she would receive the payment? And how is that my son, whom she permitted to drop-out because he was not getting the one-on-one attention he needed and who was having serious academic problems, is now passing his mock GED tests with flying colors? Not that I doubt he's capable of it. Rather, I doubt everything she says.

The bottom line is just this: my ex-wife attempted to lie to, deceive, and take advantage of me. She got caught, and instead of having the grace to say so, tries to turn it around by attacking me and claiming she was going to “release” me in the first place.

I was born at night, but it wasn't last night. I just checked the mirror and I don't have d-u-m-b-s-h-i-t stencilled on my forehead.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 16:41 2009-01-03 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

DMV: The Saga Continues (Tirades)

After foot surgery, I'm on crutches for four to six weeks and going to be significantly limited in my mobility for another four to six weeks after that. Accordingly, the surgeon signed a form that tells the DMV I can have a temporary handicap parking placard. Awesome. Thanks, Doc!

So, I go the DMV to get my temporary handicap parking placard. Get my number, sit down, and wait for for my turn. I'm driving crutches around, mind you, and have this cast up to my knee on my left foot and leg (yes, it is a delightful shade of purple, isn't it?). My number is called after about twenty-five minutes and I go to the window (Window 20, if you must know). I give the guy my form and my ID. After a few minutes pecking at his computer, he runs my debit card, gives me the receipt, and the fun starts.

He asks me if I'll go to another window to get my placard. This “other window” is on the other side of the DMV building. Hello! I'm at your window, the window that dispenses handicap parking placards. In the first place, I'm not here for my looks and I'm not carrying these crutches around because they match my wardrobe. I need this placard because I'm, um, temporarily handicapped mobility-challenged. You do actually remember the form you just looked at, don't you?. Secondly, do you mean to tell me that you don't actually have handicap parking placards at the window where you hand out handicapped parking placards? Sputter!

Idiot. Moron. Imbecile.

I was starting to say “Okay” when he said he'd get the placard for me and would I please have a seat whilst I waited. So, what made him change his mind? Quoth Kelly, “He saw me roll my eyes.” Gentlemen, when your wife rolls her eyes at the guy at DMV, get out of the way because what's coming isn't gonna be pretty (and be thankful it isn't you on the receiving end).

Man, I love my wife. ;-)


Posted by Kurt Wall at 14:45 2008-11-21 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

GEICO, You Suck! (Tirades)

As a wrote in another post, my father died at the end of May. Accordingly, I called GEICO to cancel his automobile insurance. After receiving a faxed copy of his death certificate, GEICO obliged.

They followed up this action with a bill. $15.39 for a policy change and $3.00 for a premium installment charge. WTF? Is GEICO so hard up that they charge an early termination fee when one of their policyholders dies? It's not like my father had a choice. He's dead you idiots. How can they possibly justify that?

Naturally, I'm not going to pay it. Of course, since I'm not authorized (yet) to speak for his estate, they won't tell me the exact nature of the charge and certainly won't listen to me explain where they can put their bill.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 20:20 2008-06-11 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Tax Rant (Tirades)
our fearless legislators developed amounted to a whopping $94.00 for me. I guess the rocket scientists in Washington decided that I make too much money to need stimulating. Frankly, if they want to give me a stimulus, they can lower my taxes, not give me an insulting $94.00 tax rebate. 'tards.

That "stimulus" will buy me 1.25 tanks of gas. Yes, I filled up my truck on the way home from work tonight. I was running on fumes and a prayer, so the tank was effectively empty. 17.6 gallons later, my wallet was $68.33 lighter. I believe that's the most I've ever paid to fill up any vehicle I've ever driven. I'm glad I had it to pay, of course, I just had a bit of sticker shock.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 22:55 2008-04-15 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Stupid (Tirades)

Both of the mother and the father described in this article should be forcibly sterilized so they can't have any more children. He got arrested after storming into the video store where she works, threatening to kill her, and vandalizing the store. What were they arguing about? "His girlfriend told police that they had been arguing about the upbringing of their son and which gang he should belong to. The teen mother, who is black, is a member of the Crips. Manzanares is Hispanic and belongs to the Westside Ballers gang, the woman said."

Amazing. The toddler is four years old and they're arguing about which gang the child will join. It's important to plan ahead, of course, but I submit the child should be free to make his or her own life-ruining choice. I'm relieved that Mom and Dad are taking such care to plan their child's future.

Like I said, sterilize them both so they can't make still more baby Crips or Westside Ballers.

I couldn't make this up.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 19:33 2008-04-15 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Gangsta Rap a Government Plot (Tirades)

Or so Alicia Keys charges.

WTF? "'Gangsta rap' was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other. 'Gangsta rap' didn't exist." Right. And that gold AK-47 pendant she wears? It's just "to symbolize strength, power, and killing 'em dead."

Man, that's a level of paranoia and conspiracy that rivals Farrakhan's claim that the US government created Hurricane Katrina (and dynamited the levees around the city) to kill black people in New Orleans. She fails to appreciate the irony of that gold pendant she wears, namely, that it glorifies the gangsta rap culture that "the gummint" created.

Alicia Keys has an fabulous voice. And an empty head.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 18:32 2008-04-13 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Screw Telecom Amnesty (Tirades)

After seven years of encroachment upon our civil rights, of threats to our liberty, Congress, rather, the House of Representatives, finally found a spine on Friday and rejected not only retroactive immunity for telecom companies but also the efforts to further extend warrant-less surveillance.

That's the good news. The bad news is that the vote in the House was largely along party lines, meaning that it wasn't about the House standing up for the Constitution, but politics, specifically, about Democrats handing the Republican President a soft, warm turd.

I continue to find it ironic, if not disappointing, that the GOP, traditionally the more conservative of the two major parties, so readily rolls over to grant the President the ever wider surveillance powers he wants. The President's argument is that it makes us safer from terrorists. While that might be true, eroding basic civil liberties and trampling the Constitution don't make us safer. Rather, trading liberty for security makes us slaves. Or, as Benjamin Franklin wrote, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."


Posted by Kurt Wall at 14:39 2008-03-16 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Living With Illness (Tirades)

I have ankylosing spondylitis. The link will tell you about it in way more detail than you probably want to know. The picture below shows you the effect.

Personally, I find this x-ray fascinating for its similarity to a piece of bamboo. It's a classic illustration of "bamboo spine." That's what my spine looks like. In my particular case, there's minimal lumbar involvement, which is unusual, but my cervical, thoracic, and sacral vertebrae all look like that picture. Anyone who's ever met me has noticed and remarked on my stiff neck. It's tedious (the stiffness, not the remarks) at times, but I'm thankful to be upright, more or less. The downside to being fused vertically is that I can't see my zipper, for example (mirrors are good), and have to tilt my entire upper body backward if I want to empty a can of soda (straws are good).

I don't mention this to solicit sympathy. I don't want it and don't need it. I manage just fine, modulo some adjustments or accommodations necessary to make as I make my way through my day.

That's what this post is about. I have to make the adjustments. I don't expect or anticipate that the world is going to make an exception for me. Help me out, perhaps, if I'm physically unable to do something, but, no, the world didn't stop and my life didn't come to an end because I have AS. I know people far sicker than me who get up every day and go to work, raise their families, and generally have a full, happy life despite their physical problems. So, I have a low tolerance for people who want special treatment because they are sick or disabled. I just know from personal experience and from watching others who are much worse off than me that life can and does go on.

To be sure, there are some people so debilitated by illness that they must be taken care of and provided for by others. But, IMNHSO, far too many people just give up. A friend of mine comments from time to time that she doesn't know how people live with chronic pain and discomfort. I can't speak for anyone else. As for me, honestly, there isn't that much pain anymore (although that would change if I quit taking Humira (a progression from Etanercept which was a progression from Voltaren which was a progression from sulfasalazine which was a progression from ibuprofen which was a progression from aspirin). But, to answer my friend, it's not the discomfort or the pain that trouble me. Rather, it is the limitations in what I can do, comfortably or otherwise. Beyond that, though, it never occurred to me that just giving up was an option. The challenges I face are tame in comparison to someone who can't walk, for example.

I just kept on living because I couldn't just stop living. I'm not disabled. I'm not incapacitated. I'm not weak. I'm just stiff. Okay, I'm really stiff. And I get tired sooner than I would like. At this point, I've been stiff and/or sore for so long that it has simply become part of my life; it's wormed its way into my thinking, into how I plan my activities and move through my day. AS has become part of the landscape in which I live my life, but AS is not my life and does not dominate it. It's just part of it.

So, no, I'm not terribly tolerant of those who would sit on a pity pot asking for a handout because they are sick.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 21:08 2008-02-04 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

It Isn't GNU/Linux (Tirades)

May I go on record as saying that I despise the "GNU/Linux" nonsense?

I despise the "GNU/Linux" nonsense!.

The immediate provocation for this rant is the top line of the Autoconf page at the GNU Web site, "GNU Operating System." That straw notwithstanding, it's a tirade that's been simmering for a long time.

Just because something is built with a particular set of tools doesn't mean those tools become part of the name or get to take credit for the achievement. The workbench I crafted by hand using a Delta table saw is my workbench; I don't call it the Delta Tools-KurtWerks workbench. When you repair your car using Mac tools, you don't call it the Mac-Ford Mustang. I planted a variety of heirloom tomatoes in my garden last year. I grew them from seeds I bought from Victory Seeds, but I sure don't call my garden Victory Seeds-GardenWerks.

The true "GNU Operating System" is GNU Hurd. Don't use it? Never heard of it? No? That's the point. GNU Hurd is a dead or at least moribund project. Faced with the abject failure of the Hurd, Richard Stallman decided to attempt to hijack Linux, ride its coattails, and claim credit that isn't due. The GNU programs, tools, and utilities are fabulously successful on their own. They've proven to be a marvelous vehicle for the GNU philosophy. Why sully their reputation by taking so fantastic a position as "You built it with my tools and it's packaged and distributed with my tools, so it's not really 'Linux,' it's 'GNU/Linux'."

The real obscenity, though, is the redefinition of "operating system" to mean "kernel and utilities" so that by redefining what constitutes an OS, Stallman can take credit he doesn't deserve. I'm not making this up. See for yourself at Linux and the GNU Project. I think what provokes me the most is how smoothly and persuasively Stallman presents his argument. He'd make a fine propagandist for any fascist government.

It's absolutely Orwellian, deciding unilaterally to change the definition of a term to mean what he wants it to mean, thereby providing himself wiggle room to take credit for something he didn't do. Linux is morally Linus Torvalds' creation. That he used tools created by Stallman and the GNU project to create it matters nary a whit.

"GNU/Linux" is a lie, a deliberate misrepresentation, a self-serving distortion of history. I'll go so far as to call it "theft." Ironic, isn't it, that Stallman carries on (and on and on and on) about "freedom" and the moral obligation to share with his friends and yet feels compelled to steal someone else's OS to make up for the failure of his own.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 21:41 2008-01-20 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Nanny State (Tirades)

The Nanny State strikes again, this time wearing its public health drag.

The San Jose Mercury News reported this morning that [A] new law would allow fines of up to $100 for anyone smoking cigarettes, cigars or pipes inside a motor vehicle when anyone younger than 18 is present. It goes into effect 1 January, 2008.

Not surprisingly, the anti-smoking groups are delighted: Fortunately California leads the world in creating healthier, smoke-free environments for its citizens, and we are pleased that California youth will benefit from this vital new health protection," said Paul Knepprath, vice-president of government relations for the American Lung Association of California.

I don't have children, so this legislation won't affect me. I might even agree with the concern for other people's health–I don't inflict my smoke on other people. The issue I have with this legislation is that it represents yet another intrusion by the state into my personal affairs and how I raise my family, wherein the state has no right to intrude. Of course, the health Nazis reply that the government has an interest in promoting public health and that second-hand smoke impacts the public health. It is far from a settled question that public health trumps parental rights and personal freedom in the general case.

That is the nexus of the dispute. No one is seriously arguing that they have a right to smoke or to harm the health of others. The question is where personal liberty ends. I object to interest groups pushing the nose of the government into my personal affairs, past my front door, or, in this case, inside my car.

I wish as much time, money, and effort was spent fighting obesity as is spent fighting smoking. Obesity affects a vastly larger proportion of the population than smoking. I'd love to see fat people have to pay the level of taxes that smokers (and alcohol consumers, I might add) pay; we'd wipe out the national debt in months. But that won't be happening anytime soon.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 16:38 2007-12-25 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Tedious Politics (Tirades)

Aaargh!

I downloaded the newly minted 1.0.0 release of mpg123 today. It is a console-based MPEG-1 and -2 player (think MP3 player). I cracked open the tarball, ran less on the included README file, and encountered this nonsense:

(This file has very long lines - die-hard terminal nostalgists can be satisfied by `fmt -s -w 75 < README | less`. I think it's better to let the reader's preference rule than to preformat the stuff to some arbitrary width.)

In a word, bollocks. What the writer of this disclaimer should have said is:

I can't be bothered to conform to the convention of making text files fit in 80-character windows despite the fact that this convention has existed since before I was born. It is much easier for me to ignore newlines and force everyone else to do what I was too lazy to do myself. Oh, and I'll make passing references to "the reader's preference" and "arbitrary" in a pathetically feeble attempt to provide moral justification for being an inconsiderate sod.

BTW, the writer obviously can't be bothered to spell-check his work, either.

Dear author of the README file:

Deliberately making your documents difficult to read by failing to preformat them to universally accepted conventions is retarded. It doesn't improve the world, increase people's happiness, contribute to world peace, or enhance the global serenity quotient. Neither does a feeble wave in the direction of personal preference. Indeed, obliging your readers to go through an additional step before being able to read your document just pisses them off. It doesn't increase your readership, doesn't motivate me to use your software, and certainly doesn't give me positive impressions about the quality of your work. Who knows what other "arbitrary" conventions you've chosen to ignore, like bounds-checking array accesses or checking the return values of malloc() calls?

In the first place, it is not an arbitrary width. Back in the day, you know, back when you were still shitting your pants, people's screens were limited to 80 characters, so formatting text files to accommodate that limitation was courteous and common sense. In the present, most applications that don't come from Redmond still assume on 80-character width. As a result, it is most assuredly not a "reader preference" but a well-founded convention, simple decency, and respect for others, like frequent bathing and not farting in your boss's office. But you probably don't bathe frequently and probably do fart in your boss's office because that's your "preference."

Great news! I prefer to use MAD, the MPEG Audio Decoder, because I can't be bothered to reformat your text files.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 23:24 2007-12-24 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Worst Buy (Tirades)

Hey, Best Buy! Cease and desist this! And especially this!

The gang over at Improv Everywhere did a parody of Best Buy's signature (I was going to say "trademark") look: blue polo bearing a yellow price tag containing the text "Improv Everywhere" on the price tag. The humor-challenged dolts in Best Buy's legal department sent IE (and the outfit selling the shirt, Neighborhoodies) a cease-and-desist letter claiming trademark infringement. Stutter! These pea-brains wouldn't recognize parody and protected speech if it fell on their heads.

Neighborhoodies took down the polo shirt they were selling, not being willing to risk their entire Web site coming down during the busiest selling season of the year. It's unfortunate, but I understand their position. This has the look of a SLAPP suit, Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. Mattel tried that against a parody of Barbie and it cost them $2 million dollars when it was all said and done. Meanwhile, bloggers are scandalized, and rightfully so, and Best Buy are earning yet another PR black eye.

One such blogger, Scott Beale at Laughing Squid, got a C&D of his own for covering the C&D sent to IE and Neighborhoodies. Beale called them, asked WTF was up with that, after which the bozos at Best Buy sent a retraction. I wouldn't call it an apology because they didn't apologize. Rather, they expressed "regret" for sending the letter, likely because of all the bad press it's earned them. An apology would be something like, "We apologize," or "We're sorry." But "we regret sending you the demand letter" just means "In hindsight, we realize we can't make this stick (but we'd do so if we thought we could get away with it)."


Posted by Kurt Wall at 20:59 2007-12-12 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)