Screwed...

Today my iron crapped out on me in the middle of ironing something. I guess I can't complain much since the piece of junk only cost me a little more than three bucks. Still though it really sucks when you need something to work and it just up and dies in the middle of your project. However, that is not really the issue at hand here.

Being a technology savvy and DIY minded person I thought to myself that I would try to fix it. Hell, it can't be more complicated than the microwave I fixed when I was 12 years old that still works like a champ to this day (18 years or so later.) So I took it to my work bench and looked it over for a minute just to get an idea of what I would have to possibly do. As any good fixer knows usually the folks that design things like this try to conceal the screws or whatever that hold it together under stickers or rubber plugs and such. So I rip the sticker on the base off and this is when I realized that I was more or less SCREWED. I didn't get very far in this endeavor because some jerk-bag engineer decided that they couldn't just use regular screws. Oh no, they had to use some freakin' triangle drive bullshit that I don't happen to have a bit for. I hate user/fixer hostile design.
Now I know why this is the case but no matter how I look at it this situation leaves me teetering between confusion and anger. Obviously, one reason the ass hat engineer went with this type of screw is that for the typical user there are no "user-serviceable" parts and most people (consumers, consumerists, disposable-everything types, idiots, umm what is the right word for that?) would just go out and buy a new one. I am anything but typical, can't stand needless waste and can generally fix anything. It seems to me that there is nothing much to an iron, in theory since I can't get the damn thing open (yet); but seriously what's inside? A heating element, a rheostat, an LED, maybe a relay of some type. Pretty basic shit, in theory. But that still leaves me wondering why in the fuck the engineers would use some ridiculously non-standard "security" screws.
Look at it this way. If most consumers/idiots would just go buy a new one, they obviously wouldn't be tempted to even look for the screws hidden under the sticker let alone take them out. I guess as a long shot some moron might be tempted to just take it apart to see what was inside of it and in the process shock or burn the shit out of himself because he left it plugged in while doing so. But if that is the case then this example moron should have that experience and hopefully learn from it. Besides, it's not like you couldn't burn yourself with a fully intact and operational iron. Common sense should kick in and tell anybody that irons get hot, like no flippin' duh. If you don't know that then you have no business even being near such a device let alone taking it apart.
So then there is the flip side of that scenario. Take the person that does know what's up and has the inclination to disassemble, repair and reassemble such a simple device. Why in the hell should it be made more difficult to do that? Well here is where the anger kicks in.
The only reason I can think of is a profit motive. If one can't disassemble the device to repair it then there is seemingly only one option left and that is to go buy another one. What makes me angry about that is that some engineer and some marketing weenie conspired together in a weak attempt to force me to go buy another cheap piece of equipment that will likely fail in six months and hence force me to go buy yet another piece of junk. This cycle (that is forced on us all) is designed to "help" the manufacturers. They get another sale and hence more profit. So by making cheap crap that is designed to fail and making it more difficult to fix they think they are "winning".
There are several problems with this model. First on my list is the question of why the damn thing broke in the first place from normal use. I didn't drop it, beat it, or otherwise abuse it but it failed nonetheless. The solution would be for them to make things like they use to. For example, my mom lent me a spare one she had and the thing is at least as old as I am and has never not worked. Basically, we can thank Henry Ford for this practice since he was the first person to implement reverse quality control by sending his agents to junkyards to find out which parts of his cars were engineered too well and could be skimped on in order to save money. The beast grew with time and now we have a whole swath of industry that makes shitty things that are designed to fail. The other major problem with this system is that the old unit becomes nothing more than garbage that will in most cases go to a landfill or maybe get recycled. And this is all done in the name of profit, convenience, and continued sales.
What a bunch of horse-shit.

On a different but similar note, this whole ordeal also made me think of all the other types of drive interface formats. And there are a lot, probably some I have never even encountered. A short list off the top of my head... Standard, Phillips (crosshead), Allen (hex), star, Robertson (square), Torx, Torx Security, spanner, split point, three sided cross point (which would probably work for the above problem), those goofy one way fuckers you see on the partitions in restrooms, and of course triangle. I'm sure that is not a comprehensive list and I'm sure there are sadistic engineers out there right now dreaming up even more "screwy" formats.
So the question ultimately is why? And I have my theory. Firstly is what I already covered, making repairs more difficult in a cheap attempt to make more money. And there is a further profit motive involved at the general level. If one wants to fix things one has to have tools in order to do it. The more crazy types of screw there are the more tools a given fixer would need. It really boils down to a stupid game of cat and mouse. And of course engineers being dick heads. Hmmm... that gives me an idea. I'll invent the "dickhead" screw just to hear somebody ask for the "dickhead" driver to go with it.

Green Lemons...

During a strange part of my life I once worked in a liquor store on the shitty side of town. And in this magical place for pimps, crack-heads and gee-wanna-bees to meet, greet and prepare to get crunked-up I heard some really dumb shit.

One such night, a lady came in and walked up to the cooler doors to stare vacantly at the selection on offer. In one of these doors was a re-purposed can holder suction cup gizmo that we used to chill limes in. The hand made sign on the thing clearly said "limes - 99 cents". The lady looked at it and the limes for a few moments and then to nobody in particular said...

"Wow, they sell green lemons here."

The idiocy of the world never ceases to amaze me and at the same time I feel so deeply pained at how utterly dumb some people in the world can be.

Now this is not just an attack on an unwitting simpleton with poor access to education. I do truly feel that society has failed this person and so many others. But still I wonder to this day, who in the fuck doesn't know what the hell a lime is?

MSI and HP can suck my balls...

Sorry to say that this post will probably induce a lot of TL|DR but you should read it, all of it. It's that damn tragic, retarded and infuriating. You'll laugh, you'll cry and will probably never buy from MSI or HP again. (At least that is my hope.)

This all started on December 17, 2009. And to this day is an on-going pain in the ass that I will never forget.

The issue is simple, at least that is how it seems to me. About a year ago I bought a new HP desktop machine and for the first 6 months I couldn't have been happier with it. Then some time in November I got an email from HP telling me that there was a possible problem with the graphics card in my system. I checked it out and found out that indeed the MSI card I had gotten was more than likely one that was affected by this "recall". At the time I didn't think it was that big of a deal as my card had not been problematic to me despite the likely-hood that it would be. Then one night in December all hell broke loose. I turned the system on and it started to make this terrible racket that sounded like some kid running a stick along a picket fence. I freaked for about ten minutes. Then I remembered the email from HP. Since my system was still in warranty I called them the next day and spoke to this overly nice guy who sounded like he had lived in India his whole life. To this day I can't think of his name, it is but a vague concept in my head, an audible string of vaguely English like sounds that still resonate as Robert but in reality is nothing like Robert. In any case this man we will call Robert for the sake of conversation here told me about the recall site and I found the email with the link and went straight there. I followed the steps and found that my card was eligible for replacement (like no freakin' shit dood!) From there it seem that the problem was to be handed off to MSI, the makers of said faulty card, and they would handle the replacement. Handle it like a ham fisted moron trying to open a small bag of popcorn that is. So I called, not wanting to do the online replacement form, it's sort of fuzzy now so long after but I'm very sure I had my reasons.
Things get a little fuzzier here; either I didn't like the terms, or I was on hold too long or something entirely different (not really important to this part of the story); but the next day Robert called me back and we talked a little. He asked if I was happy with "the service" and I told him that I was not. I complained a little, gave him my information (CT #, MS# and model #, seriously this is important later). So he tried to do all he could to solve my problem, actually he ended up doing more than I asked for. He also called me the next day and then the next day after that too. As it was it was the holiday season and I had a bunch of shit to do so I got sort of annoyed at Robert constantly calling and stopped taking his calls as he didn't seem to be able to do anything for me, in one voice mail he told me he spoke with MSI and got nowhere, and in another one he told me he had filled out the online application for replacement for me. THIS LITTLE KINDNESS HAS CREATED A HUGE PROBLEM FOR ME. On the next day, probably December 23 or thereabouts I took his call and he told me himself that he had filled out the form and the "problem should be solved". That actually couldn't be further from the truth and I knew it from my first contact with MSI, I told him that I appreciated his help and kindly told him to stop calling me or trying to help. What I wanted to tell him at that point was to fuck right off. And now 6 months later I sort of want to strangle the ever-loving shit out of him. At any rate, this is where it gets interesting/tragic.

MSI sends me an empty UPS box as per Robert's misguided attempt to help me. (Seriously, when I heard that HP's customer service was terrible I never expected them to go out of their way to screw me over, but that is exactly what ends up happening.)

Now here is my problem. When I contacted MSI for the replacement they told me that there are two ways this can be done, that is after I told them that their first method was not possible. The First method is the "normal" replacement. And this is wrong on all kinds of levels. Let me explain. What they do is send you an empty box with a shitty guide on how to remove the card, two electrostatic bags, a seal sticker and some foam. Then YOU have to send it back, but not by USPS, you have to get it to a UPS drop box or to some other place that takes UPS pickup. That alone is ignorant. For me personally since I don't use a car and the closest UPS drop is pretty far away from where I am (whether or not it was a reasonable distance it's still a shitty way to do it, assuming everybody has a car or access to close-by UPS drops, FUCKING FAIL!) The other glaring problem with this scheme is that it assumes that you can be without your graphics card for x number of weeks (two by the shortest and "guaranteed estimation" from an MSI call center supervisor). Maybe they didn't know that HP disabled the on-board graphics adapter in order to use the MSI ones. Maybe they just don't give a shit. Yeah that's more like it; "screw you end user, you don't need to play games, type and send resumes, or do any work at all for two or more weeks because that would be too much for us just to do the right thing". For the record I do a lot of free-lance graphics work from home (emphasis on the "free" part but it still a good deal of what I do and also wouldn't be able to do for several weeks under this system.) AGAIN, FUCKING FAIL!
So then we come to "advanced" replacement. Now this one really boggles my mind for several reasons. Firstly, oh sure, they will send you a fresh, new, working card first but in order to do that they want your credit card info so that they can charge you 65 dollars in the event that they a) don't get it, b) it is user damaged, c) not actually eligible for the program or d) probably anything they can dream up. So what if I don't trust these idiots to do the right thing, not misuse my credit card info, or just screw me randomly because some idiot in their testing facility effed up, or the UPS dood dropped my shit in transit or they just friggin' lose it. Then I'm out 65 bucks and there is nothing I can do but say "well at least I have a new card that doesn't sound like a damn plane taking off every time I turn on my computer.
To me this is a matter of principle.
The principle I am defending here is multiple. For one thing why should I have to trust a bunch of dipshits that can't even make a proper graphics card when they don't trust me. (That was one of the reason's I was given for the charge scheme. Like I want to hang onto a faulty graphics card that sounds like some kid put baseball cards in the spokes of his bicycle. Really MSI, what the fuck?) Secondly, it's MSI's fuck up. You made a bad card so just replace the damn things already. Why do you need to suspect and aggravate your customers. MEGA-FAIL. Not only that but as my research has shown this has been a known issue since mid 2007. If I had known that I would not have bought this system. I am looking at you HP, why in the fuck did you continue putting MSI's defective cards in your systems even after it was known that they were junk? Idiots!
So I told them that I had no credit card and could not be without my card for that long. And yes at this point it seems like I should have just bowed down and kissed the feet of the corporate policy wonks and all would be well now. But that is just not who I am. This is an injustice, this is a tragedy, this is total bullshit and I will not stand for it. FWIW, I have video of most of my encounters with MSI and a few choice clips from HP (one in particular that I will post along with this write up).
Fastforward a bit. So I got fed up with the run around and started to get smart. Or at least a little more proactive. I called and called and called. I got several supervisors at MSI's LA office, and even got one of them to send me up to her bosses boss. This lady called me from her own office, and now I have her number. So I tried to reason with this Connie Lo, account executive person who for some reason can't speak decent English to save her ass and is also as stubborn as the worst jackass you'd ever hope to meet. Having exhausted this avenue and yet continuing to call her office every day (Yeah that was a mistake, calling me from your own line, jackass. I sometimes like to call people that have pissed me off and ply my trade as a crank caller), I called HP support again and amazingly was connected to a native English speaker by the name of Chris. Now Chris was a nice guy and listened but really couldn't help me. He did however put me on with his supervisor by the name of Andrea. Andrea, you are a total bitch and I have the tape to prove it. I was cordial and nice and you just launched into this ridiculous corporate wank off mode and then hung up on me. So I called back and ended up talking to this really nice Mexican lady who went by Laurie (sure I guess that could be her real name but I really have my doubts.) Laurie was a lot like Robert, very eager to help but basically ineffectual. Laurie BTW is what is known as a case manager. This is a sub-issue for me, why in the hell does HP need people with the title of case manager, is the customer service so bad that the really squeaky wheels get some special sort of attention that is expert in kindly telling people "tough shit" basically? Well that is how it seems. Laurie talked to Connie and it seems those two through a combination of language barriers and pigheadedness agreed that I was SOL. For the record, by this time my warranty with HP was up, by one freakin' day, ONE GODDAMN DAY PEOPLE! HP washed their collective hands of it and told me in no uncertain terms that this was MSI's baby and not theirs. Well that is why the title of this piece is "MSI and HP can suck my balls..." instead of "MSI can suck my balls..."
See how much both companies suck? I will never, so long as I live, buy anything from them (original purchaser for sure, maybe second hand but never straight from those that have fucked me over so hard.)
And now it gets ever worse. Didn't think that was possible huh? Neither did I.
So, I decided that having a system that worked properly was more important than my pride and principled stance. So I called MSI back about two weeks ago. I told them I now had a credit card and wanted to go ahead with the advanced replacement option. But get this, I CAN'T! And why is that you ask?

BECAUSE OF THAT FUCKING RETARD ROBERT FROM THE FIRST CALL!

Since he did the online replacement form FOR ME (and without my consent I might add) MSI send me that infamous empty box and issued an RMA number for my issue. So now that that is in their system they can't undo it and get me an "advance" replacement. Or at least without approval from some doofus somewhere. Seems like something they could have, and should have, mentioned to me when I started this whole process. WHAT A BUNCH OF DIPSHIT, MOFO, COCKSUCKING, ASS-MUNCHERS. I could go on all day but this is already too long.

So, winding down, when I called two weeks ago and asked for the advance I gave the MSI retard all the info he needed and he said that "customer service" would contact me within 48 hours. That never happened (and I had my doubts about that anyway but I figured, new leaf, new page, let's hope for the best.) So I called back and talked to somebody else who told be the same shit after trying several times to get the numbers and letter right (seriously these people must hire any derelict gutter scum for this call center.) I asked if the customer service people would really call and he assured me they would. Two days pass, no call. I call back and get past the floor zombie to a supervisor. And that is when I find out that I am royally screwed because of the RMA number. And the supervisor tells me AGAIN that he will hand it off to customer service. Two days, no call, no nothing. I really hate these fucking people. So I call back again and I yell, I mean I freakin' yell at the poor cubical rat about how goddamn stupid they all are and just tell them right where to stick it. I get a supervisor and proceed to tell him right where to stick it in my most aggressive but rational tone and he proceeds to assure me that he will send it over and mark it as "urgent". It's been two more days and still nothing.

Hell I might as well go buy a new card on eBay and forget about this whole damn thing. But no, I still have a little fight left in me and by dog I will have at least a form of revenge on these bastards. One way or the other. That much I guarantee you dear reader.

Addendum, two things about CareerBuilder.com

I realize my analysis of the response letter I received from Megan R**** the other day was short and perhaps a little crass. Whatever, see the sandbox clause in the first post. So here is a little more in depth look at what I meant.

Just today I got back on this particular site and wow the scam/work-at-home offers are just rampant. In all fairness to their answer pretty much all of the listings do state that:

NON-TRADITIONAL JOB - This opportunity is not a traditional job opportunity. There may be a required fee or investment of money and time to generate income. It may be a service, education, counseling, or simply information. CareerBuilder is committed to allowing only legitimate opportunities on our site, but we encourage you to investigate each opportunity thoroughly before committing money or time or releasing sensitive personal information. Ultimately, you are responsible for your decisions. Please alert us to any opportunities you have questions about by using the “Report This Job” link present on each job posting.

If you would prefer not to see opportunities like this in the future, then please

Click here to exclude non-traditional jobs from your future searches

That last line is/was a link that presumably let's you turn off these so-called work-from-home listings (scams). As I said before, pretty much any job that requires you to invest or pay up front is BS, not all but most are. Think ponzi schemes. And while it is true that there is ample warning on the actual CB site, there is no such luxury on the actual sites of these con-artists. Plus, I'll restate, my problem is not that most people will fall for this but the fact that some will and do everyday. An interesting question would be "do stupid people deserve to be protected from vipers?" To answer, IMO, well yes, and no. For one thing, if you are dumb enough to fall for these simple scams then you probably won't be too long for this world in the first place; but on the other hand it's pretty easy for this crap to be stopped, filtered, what have you so one would hope that the simple charlatan would be stopped out of general principle. Plus it's just freakin' annoying to have to wade through that.

Secondly, it seems that my daily influx of job postings have slowed way down, and I seem to get a hell of a lot more of what I specifically complained about in my original letter. Is this coincidence? Maybe, and maybe not. I wouldn't put it past some big-corp robot-weasels to put me on some sort of "agitator" list just for making a valid complaint/bringing up needed concerns.

So, farewell (not really), I hope your business tanks CareerBuilder. You were a third rate place to look for work in the first place and now you have just won my undying spurn for all eternity. (Much like, AOL, McDonalds, and MSI.) I win here simply because you will never have my money, my eyeballs, my heart or anything from me ever again. So here is a big kiss-my-ass-mofo from me to you.

An answer from CareerBuilder...

Here is the minimally redacted response I got from CareerBuilder. Sorry but it seems that these dipshits have drank the kool-aid too.

Hello *****,

Thank you for contacting CareerBuilder.com. My name is Megan R*****, and I appreciate the opportunity to assist you. Please allow me to apologize for any difficulty that you may have experienced while utilizing our site. Please allow me to assure you that we do verify every employer before they are able to use our website.

We offer both traditional 1099 opportunities as well as MLM/Business or Franchise positions on our site. Positions that require a fee upfront to buy into their opportunities must state upfront that they have fees involved in their advertisement. If you find positions on the site that require fees but do not have it on the job posting up front, or simply have concerns about a position on the site, please do not hesitate to email them to our team at tsst@careerbuilder.com.

We strongly encourage all job seekers to research and investigate any job opportunities in our system to see if it fits the best match for them. Sites we recommend are BBB.org, Google, the website for the FTC, etc..

However, if at any time you have a complaint regarding a job that has been listed on our site, or would like to check the legitimacy of an employer saying that they are coming from CareerBuilder.com please submit any email contact between you and the company to our Trust and Site Security Team for them to investigate and verify the employer.

To submit the emails to our Trust and Site Security Team please send the email to TSST@careerbuilder.com and one of our team members will look into the matter for you.

Also, here are some links to help you identify internet fraud, protect your information, and shows you CareerBuilder’s terms and conditions when using our website, for employers and job seekers.

(deleted a bunch of rambling crap that is not important)

Sincerely,

Megan R*****
Customer Satisfaction Consultant
(deleted a bunch of adverts and junk)

So as you can see this is more or less a BS answer. I am thoroughly unimpressed and remain underwhelmed at the state of the world in general. For the record, any sort of "job" that you have to pay up front to get into is a scam. "Testicles, that is all," would have been about as informative and useful. Whatever. So now on to other, better issues.

Wow, I had no idea...

Medical marijuana? Fact or fiction?
There is a veritable cornucopia of things that this new/old medicine treats. A number of which I, myself, could have. And a few that I never even though about.

From Acquired hypothyroidism to Cachexia (0ne of my favorite words, even if it is a horrible thing) to Writers' Cramp (not kidding).

Now I don't think that Mary Jane is the end all be all "panacea" for whatever ails you. But I do think that it has a great many applications, and even a few I never thought about. The real truth is that this stuff works and works and works. It is versatile, easy to grow, and NOT A DANGER.

Let's look at this objectively for a moment...

Marijuana is not just a drug. It is first of all a very attractive plant, aesthetically and otherwise. It is also a great source of protein (from the seeds), you can get more from weed seeds than you can from the oh-so-popular (and legal) soy bean. The stems are good for fiber, which is used for all sorts of things like paper, rope and a whole lot more. I can't think of a more useful plant. For instance, we grow soy beans just for the beans and the fact that it is a nitrogen fixer that allows us to plant corn which is used for livestock feed and ethanol. Pretty boring.
The cannabis plant however seems to have a million uses and probably ones we haven't even thought of yet.

So why is it not legal?

Glad you asked.

See back in the thirty's or something like that several things happened. First of all the government(and a lot of back-assward fucktards that ran it) back then were trying to persecute brown and black folks (not that whitey didn't smoke the reefer but the ones that did were outcast, beat generation losers, of course.) Also a company by the name of DuPont (evil fuckers) had just invented nylon, or rayon, or some such fake-ass chemical process using bullshit. And so wanted natural fiber to go away. And since they were such good friends with govt it was decided that two problems could be solved at once. So they made grass semi-illegal. Actually, one could buy a "tax stamp" which was a little tricky. See, in order to get the stamp you had to have the pot there to prove you needed a stamp BUT until you had the stamp it was illegal to have, transport or sell said pot. Any logical person can see the catch 22 there. If you don't then I can't help you. At any rate, some ways down the line somebody pointed out how unconstitutional that was and things changed. So in comes the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 which lists marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug along with the likes of opium(heroine), cocaine and MDMA(Ecstasy).

Much like prohibition in the 20s this scheme is doomed to fail for a number of reasons. Firstly, pot is not known to be addictive and has produced no known fatalities. Secondly, it grows naturally all over the world. And thirdly, it seems to me that dope is fairly equivalent to alcohol (aside from it's illegal stature, and non-habit forming nature). Given those points it pretty much baffles me why weed is still not fully legal, let alone approved for medical use (in most states).

I think the problem lies within the concept of what is known as the "Prison-industrial complex." Basically, there is too much money tied up in the idea of keeping people down and out. See, if we keep a large portion of the population locked up (more than any other country on the planet in fact) then we can artificially create a portion of the population that WILL work for peanuts and therefore drive down wages across the board. TWA got this concept years ago. So what if normal people threw a hissy-fit about giving their personal info to a bunch of convicts. The issue is a lot more complicated than how it is presented here but all I am doing is pointing out a few key factors.

In conclusion I have a viable solution for a lot of problems in the US. Simply decriminalize the weed. And what would we get for this simple little change of policy? A lot, and here is a list of only a few that I can think of off the top of my head.

• Less people clogging up our justice system, less prisoners, less waste of the courts time and less people being sent off to what is basically a college of criminality (that's a topic for another post.)
• A lot of revenue derived from taxation on a substance lots of people want and are completely willing to pay for despite it's illegal status.
• Less money going to drug dealers and cartels that fund all sorts of bad shit like terrorism for one hyperbolic example.
• A safer alternative to alcohol and all the problems associated with the booze.
• Very useful products that will help move us forward in the "green" revolution.
• And likely a happier more mellow populous. You authoritarians out there should like that one.

In any case, I don't really see the government going for this plan because it is run by typically hide-bound, reactionaries that don't want to think objectively about this issue or at the very least would see this step as being "soft" on crime. But I do think that as time goes on and more people come to see that the depiction of pot made in Reefer Madness is complete hog-wash then we will get sensible and well needed change. Hopefully this will happen sooner than later but I for one am not holding my breath. No pun intended.

The difference a few years, a beard and a little randomness can make...

Here is a list of changes that made this little bit of social/cognitive dissonance possible...

1. Join a social club of sorts for a few years, be very active, garner respect, then quit all of a sudden.
   
2. Travel a bit, move several times, and lose touch with nearly everybody you once knew.
3. Grow a massive Bakunin-esque beard and don't get a hair cut for a few years.
4. Go back to your home town, stay with your folks for a bit, get totally disgusted with them and seek alternative living arrangements.
5. Find loving, wonderful woman and decide to buy a house together.
6. Find charming yet in need of some help house to make into a nice starter home.
7. Lose okay but still shitty job and start looking for a new one.
8. Realize that most employers (potential and otherwise) are petty, judgmental dicks that can't look past a little facial hair and a pony-tail.
9. Get a hair cut and shave (you freakin' hippy scum.)
10. Find out that your neighbor was a member of your former social club when he was younger and didn't recognize you with all the hair. (Needless to say, but you didn't recognize him either as he had grown up in the intervening years.)
    

So, really, this post has been several years in the making, little did I know. But, nevertheless, it is pertinent to the concept here and fairly interesting in it's own right.
So there I was, no shit man. (All BS stories start out this way if you didn't know.) I have recently become a clean cut and "respectable" job seeker. (Really it must be the market here, hell you'd think I was looking for work in Alabama or something.) Whatever. So, at any rate, since I moved into this house with my long time GF (about as close to being married as I ever want to be) I have had little to no interaction with the neighbors, any of them.
Until recently...
So, as it is, I shaved and got a hair cut. And really it has helped. No results as of yet, in the legitimate job search that is, but that is not important to this post. What it has helped is in the arena of grey work. So I think. But that is also not important here. What is important is the fact that I had no idea that I was living next to a person I had known as a kid who is now all grown up.
So, it is by way of all of these changes that yesterday I came to find out that my strange neighbor really isn't that strange at all. In fact, in another life, he was perfectly normal to me and it is indeed I who has become strange. The reality here is, firstly, shit happens, and secondly, your conceptions about the world can be completely turned upon ear with the slightest of changes. Ultimately, the lesson I have taken from all of this is that no matter what you expect in this life, you should learn to expect something completely different. Or at the very least be wary that the least likely outcome is still possible and in some cases is more than likely.

See also, Murphy's Law, sort of.

Aral Pond? A WTF moment...

In case you missed it, as I did...

This is news to me, huge news. Apparently, the Aral Sea, what used to be the fourth largest lake on the planet has shrank to a mere 1/10 of its former glory. And that's not all. The ecological, environmental and economic repercussions of this, 50 years in the making, disaster are being felt much further away than just the former coastline.
Thankfully it seems there are efforts being taken to save this once great body of water and reverse the damage that has been done to it and the people that depended on it. Though I fear that it will take just as long if not longer to fully restore it, if that is even possible.
Listed by Time as one of the ten worst environmental disasters of the last 50 years it pales in comparison to a few others. But to me it is significant because until today I had not known about the situation. Most of the others I had heard of and three of them I was fully conscious and aware of as they happened.
As far as changes go this is a big one. Also the fact that it was a deliberate, man-made disaster (unlike most of the other disasters on the list) makes this significant. Intent to do something makes a big difference to me.
Something like the Kuwaiti Oil Fires set by Saddam Hussein probably qualifies by my standards as the worst item on that list because it was willful, intentional, known to be disastrous and most of all was a very childish action. He should have been roasted like a marshmallow in one of those in my opinion.
As for the chemical spills/explosions/exposures there is a similar line that is crossed but I don't really think that anybody wanted what happened at, for example, Bhopal to happen. However, just because it may have been an accident does not indemnify those responsible, and it certainly does not mean that you can drag your feet for decades and then offer a pittance to those affected by your f#ck-up. I still feel that the people of Bhopal got the rawest of deals possible and they are still suffering to this day. Seriously, F#CK YOU Union Carbide!
Situations such as Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Tokaimura were clearly accidents but still point out the flaws that will arise in any complex system that mere humans devise.
As for the oil spills, Exxon Valdez and Deepwater/Gulf Coast (the current mega-disaster that tipped off this race to point out other huge environmental disasters that try to make it seem okay, really people this sh!t is not okay), these are completely avoidable, willful to a degree(drunken captain and disregarded regulations by BP) and seriously problematic for decades to come. The fact that BP is trying to scam gulf coast fishermen to sign liability waivers is just despicable. Probably more despicable than Exxon trying to wriggle out of paying for their own screw up. My point is that companies and people (oh wait, that's right, companies are people now, just like you and me, more on that latter) that make all this lovely ecological damage possible should and must take full responsibility for what they have done.
Now did the planners of the irrigation system that diverted the rivers that fed the Aral Sea know what would happen? Well, probably not, but then again they had to know that something would happen. I would hope the engineers knew that water is a finite resource and diverting it in such massive quantities might (more like probably) lead to other problems down the road. Unfortunately, that is the major flaw with human designs on mother natures carefully crafted systems. We think that we can do what ever the hell we want now and don't think or (more likely) don't care what happens in the future. And we also seem to think that we can do it better. That is a mentality that has not changed since we settled down to grow crops and raise livestock. What has changed is the scale at which we are able to rearrange the face of the Earth. The one thing we can learn (though sadly we probably won't) from all of these "disasters" is that with great power comes great responsibility. However, in my opinion, most of these planners, architects, engineers, tycoons, or developers only wonder if they can do something and don't stop to think about whether they should.
Until we change that mentality and the power balance that allows these mega-projects to become mega-disasters we will be stuck cleaning up messes that never should have happened in the first place. Seriously world, GROW THE HELL UP.

Open letter to CareerBuilder.com...

This morning I wrote this short letter to Career Builder. It speaks for itself.

As a frequent user of your service there is only one thing that I would like to bring to your attention and it is so important I am taking time out of my vigorous job search to help you help me and all of your other clients to have a better experience. I get email updates everyday which is good. However, it seems that lately I've been getting a lot more hooks for "work at home"/"get rich quick scams." Particularly today over half of the entries in the "job alert" mail I received fit the description of "common scams." In times like these it is really crass for these companies to prey on the weak and desperate job seekers just looking to support their families. By extension it is very crass of you to help these scam artists to reach so many potential marks. It degrades your brand and it will surely frustrate many customers. And above that it is only serving to extend this poor economic climate. While I have no problem with legitimate work at home opportunities I do have a big problem with the scams, especially the well known ones that really should be filtered out of your lists. So please help yourselves and all of us job seekers out by not allowing these vultures access to your service.

Sincerely,
A frustrated job seeker.

I consider myself to be a paranoid cynic but in just the right amount. "A little paranoia can save your a$$ from a great many fires, but too much and you will live in a very cold world." -anonymous.

For what it's worth "work at home" scams are nothing new. However, the potential audience is now much greater since the web era started and people have come to rely on ubiquitous connection to the world from the comfort of pretty much anywhere. It seems to me that this is one of the worst aspects of the net.
The problem with hooks like these is not that everybody will fall for them or even most, it's the fact that some will and do everyday. The sheer fact that these bottom-feeders can spread their lies over the internet, collect money from well intentioned people, and are almost never caught is reason enough to always remember that the web is a great place for snakes and con-artists to ply their trade. The maxim I have for anything I read on the net is that it is more than likely BS if I can not corroborate it through multiple sources. And our grandmothers' maxim on the world at large of "if it is too good to be true, then it probably is" is always a good thought to keep in mind, especially on the net of today.

Sometimes the universe does this to me...

Along the same lines of what I was talking about yesterday. Now I don't feel so bad. It's a little off-putting in a few senses but this does illustrate what I was talking about and some of the problems associated with over-consumption, unfair trade and exploitation.

Hmmm.. links destroyed, guess they didn't want the free plug, oh well their loss. Or "and sometimes the universe does THIS to me.."

Artist Jeff Gilette's "Dismayland" series of illustrations imagines the consumer-utopian symbolism of Disneyland amid the gritty reality of a Brazilian hillside favela. Dismayland - Entre Favelas et DisneyLand

Disaster tourism anybody?

I just finished watching this weeks episode of Treme. This is a great show with great actors playing vivid characters set in post-Katrina New Orleans. But that is not really what I am writing about.

What I am left with at the end of this show is a strange question. At the end of this episode there is a small funeral type gathering with family and friends only. They are playing music and singing outside of a destroyed home where earlier in the episode a long missing person was found dead. Long story short (really just watch the show) a tour bus drives up to the small intimate gathering, everybody stops playing and singing, the people in the bus proceed to take pictures and the driver crassly asks what is happening. Of course the mourners are understandably pissed and tell the group of insensitive gawkers to drive the hell away.

While I find this sort of scenario to be completely and totally with out any shred of class I am also not surprised and unfortunately totally believe that this has happened in real life. Now I come to the question that popped into my head as I literally asked the world at large "what the f#ck?!"

A while back I traveled to Rio de Janeiro to visit a friend who is by the standard of Brasil quite well off and noticeably aloof about the poverty gap that is nearly impossible to ignore. And while there I inquired if it might be possible to go and see first hand a favela such as Cidade de Deus or Rocinha. At the time I didn't think that that was crass or uncouth as I had visited similar places in other countries before (for research purposes). And of course it is possible and there are even people and services that will take you there and secure the needed permissions and such (yes even such lawless places have rules and rulers). Now, I didn't actually visit a favela but I had every intention of doing so and if the situation had been a little different I definitely would have gone. However, after watching this scene in Treme I am left wondering if that would have been an equivalent amount of crassness. As I would have been going there out of my own curiosity and not for any other purpose but to see what could be seen the same as I might (and did) visit Christo Redentor, Pão de Açúcar or Estádio do Maracanã; so I ask the question Is disaster/poverty tourism a bad idea? Am I a bad person for having wanted to do that?

Probably the answer is yes. But then again it's not like I would have been barging into a private situation like a funeral procession. I guess that visiting an on going, non-natural disaster area and being respectful about it is a few rungs higher on this particular ladder but I still wonder if this sort of thing is acceptable.

Ultimately I think that this scene shows just a little glimpse into the rotten and warped sensibilities some people in the world today are starting to accept. So as we march on it is always a good idea to stop and think about topics such as these and I applaud the writers of this program for making me stop and think about my own path. Hopefully it will make others do the same.

damn squatters...

There was a time when I had respect and even admiration for squatters. The "legitimate", original squatters that is. As for this new breed of net, blog, place-holder types I care not.

This is a strangely appropriate first post for the concept of this blog.

Protean-Times is my take on the malleable and ever-changing world that we live in and will live in from day to day, moment to moment. It seems that the time segments are getting shorter and shorter as we advance in myriad ways. In days gone by a technological paradigm shift such as the introduction of the telephone was hailed as a BFD in several ways. From early adopters to die hard haters of the idea eventually all people would be affected for better or for worse. Not unlike the introduction of television, which to my understanding is much more pervasive than the telephone but also just as influential as far as technological shifts are concerned.

So then there came the internet and the web. A sort of amalgamation of the two previous techno-communication leaps. A technology that is evolving, changing and growing even as I write this. Sure it has it's benefits and it definitely has it's problems. And for sure it is here to stay, that is as long as we don't all go completely bananas and explode the planet or have the extreme misfortune of intersecting orbit with an asteroid. But back to the topic at hand. A less intense but also prevalent issue of change in how the world is and will be. I myself am old enough to remember BBSes and the days when the "internet" was infinitely open. Well that is not so much the case anymore these days. Yay Protean-Times. Which is mildly affected by the condition of net-squatting. I had this great idea just ten minutes ago, "I've got it! That's the perfect name for my new blog." *enters original idea in and checks availability* "Sorry that name is taken." Well damn, *checks to see what the blog that is using my perfect name looks like*. To my not-so-much surprise it is being taken up by a squatter. No posts, no nothing, up since 2006. Which is the problem I had the last time I thought about doing this. Well, it's nothing that a little hyphen won't solve thankfully. But it is still annoying. And yes I do understand the policy and the free-speech concerns that make the policy so. However, I do have to say that if you aren't going to do anything productive with the name, put it back. Now, obviously, this is a minor nuisance and there are definitely better things to focus on but I just thought I'd gripe a little about this brand of squatting to get the juices flowing and to make a first post...

For what it's worth, squatting in the traditional sense is a-okay with me. Old school squatting involves people re-appropriating abandoned spaces to serve a purpose. This new school sh!t is just the opposite, throw up a flag and tell everybody else to GTFO even if your flag is waving over an empty, unused place with no purpose at all.

So at the end of the day (and this post) I'll say put a few things on the line here.

Firstly, as the name suggests, this is a place for me to talk about change. And since nothing ever stays the same for long in this world I should have no shortage of topics.

Secondly, I like to rant about random sh!t, so this should serve me well and hopefully you too (that is if you like to hear other people rant about random sh!t).

Thirdly, I make no guarantees about acurancy, usefulness, or importance of anything I talk about here, not now, not ever. Standard disclaimer here.

Fourth, I may at times tend to use strong language, bring up difficult or controversial topics or harbor opinions that others may find offensive. You have been warned, bitching about it after reading this will only make you look like a jack-ass to me and likely others. In any case feel free to say whatever the hell you want wherever the hell you want but also don't expect any sort of special treatment here. This is my sandbox and I decide who gets to pee here, not you.

And lastly, (and somewhat importantly to the ideal of this first post) if I at whatever time in the near or distant future decide to give up this idea of "being a blogger" (hey it could happen, I often change my mind and sh!t happens) I swear that I will give up, make available or otherwise release this blog's name back into the wild so that others may use or benefit from it.