WURSTWRITER

Tom's blog of whatnots and other stuff

Category: News

Wurst-opinions, I guess.

  • Solar vs Fracking

    Found my (worst)self at a community meeting yesterday where a solar project was being presented to members. Living in Germany gave me a bit of an advantage, since that country is somewhat ahead in utilizing the sun for power–even though the friggin sun rarely shines there. What astonished me about this meeting was how the audience, mostly retired folk, I was the youngest there (at 50), were so skeptical about solar power. It was clear in the eyes of the representatives from the solar company that they had faced this level of skepticism before. Hats off to them for holding their own and countering so much skepticism. Yet there was one elderly gentleman that stood out. He was pushing 70 and a typical retiree of the area. He was trying to convince the community members that they should be skeptical of solar because–get this!–America is currently in an energy surplus boom. The country is actually starting to export energy, he said. Why should we invest in something that is mostly promoted via tax incentives, he continued. Needless to say I was astonished but not surprised. But the old man did get me with one thing. He actually added that we should all support fracking because that was where most of America’s surplus energy would come from. Wow.

    Rooftop Solar Power in Australia Forced Fossil Fuel Plants to Give Away Free Electricity – Truthdig.

  • Down With The Old

    No. Seriously. Who is criticizing Amazon? Could the critics be those who are in favor of the old economy artificially and coercively maintaining the status-quo in the publishing world? Ok. Let’s face the music here. I for one am tickled to now be a regular buyer of e-books. It’s been three years since I’ve bought a physical book–and I never read more than I do now. So. Is Amazon abusing its power by subverting (or trying to subvert) a brick-n-mortar publisher? I suppose if it were abusing power and thereby NOT paying “royalties” to all the unknown and rejected writers that it has brought to the limelight by giving them a platform to publish on then maybe I could empathize with this whole ordeal. In fact, my only worst-complaint is that there isn’t enough competition to Amazon. Rant on, baby.

    Bezos Offers Authors A Bribe | Salon.com

  • Skip The Buck

    Where does the buck stop? Does it stop with the lie or with a truth? Or does it stop when both lie and truth are made to merge? Enter Christopher Hitchens. The grand debunker of lies and grandest debunker of truths dictated by religious nut-bags (which are ultimately lies). What is it that makes me so happy having read The Hitch? Is it the ammunition he’s given me? Is it the heads-up on my America–where he has a unique perspective based on his birth and education from the staunchness of Britain? Nomatter. The thing is. I haven’t read everything by Hitchens, but five of his books are on my shelf. The Hitch, my man. What a writer, what a journalist, what a critic, what a speaker–what a hot-damn thinker! And when he went off on the lies of Jerry Falwell, I loved him for it–especially after Falwell, as Hitch puts it, dropped dead with a grand belch and fell right over his desk in his office where he concocted so many lies and took advantage of so many inept Americans. I mean, is there a better choice to ridicule and spot than any of the money-hungry religious nut-bags that have first-hand partaken in the ruin of America at the beginning of the twenty-first century? Just search youtube for Hitchens and Falwell and you too can get a luscious ear full of The Hitch taking apart not only Falwell but all the nut-bag money-hungry religious followers–and he takes care of most other zealous political conservatives, as well. But I suppose, as usual, I’m off subject. For I only want to worst-link to an article that was initially written in 2013 that I stopped reading because it was the wrong angle. I finally broke down and read in full this morn. Why? I don’t know. Perhaps out of boredom–it’s a rainy day at the beach. Anywho. It is indeed an essay. It is also a grand attempt to nullify, or is it, justify, ridiculing The Hitch. Obviously the author doesn’t like The Hitch. And that’s ok. He even does a pretty good job of holding his own when it comes to breaking down–or is it breaking-up–Hitchens’ idears regarding all the lies of the bible (&Co.). And then there’s the idear that he does to Hitchens what Hitchens did to others, especially Falwell. Ridicule them after they die. Oh well. If you can’t be original then I suppose it’s best to copy others. Speaking of others. Or other than that. This article is useless if you are a skeptic and wish to expand your skeptic mind. If, on the other hand, you want to follow the crowd, then go for it. And have a laugh or three at The Hitch’s death while you’re at it. I’m sure, unlike the disgust of people like Falwell, who will whisk his magic wand from his pulpit out of spite (if you believe in that sort of thing), The Hitch will just laugh with you.

    Christopher Hitchens’ Lies Do Atheists No Favors | Salon.com

  • Fail Not Alone

    America was a country founded by failures who could not get along in the Old World and who came to a wilderness because there was simply no place else to go.

    A fascinating article that I wish I read when it was first published in 1976. Wow. What was I wasting my youth on in 1976? What was I being taught so that I would become just another automaton? Doesn’t matter now, eh. No. It doesn’t matter. For they will publish this article again in a hundred July 4’s from now. And it won’t matter. Money’s a pretty powerful thing, baby. The love of money and success and… whatever.

    via Roger Simon: America’s glorious failures – Roger Simon – POLITICO.com.

  • Struck Who Most

    On way back from PHL airport yesterday I was struck by two things. 1) There was no traffic on July 4 in and around the southern part of Philadelphia–even though I was expecting hell-traffic on account of the holiday and DE closing a major bridge/highway in the area. But hold a sec. There was some traffic. We didn’t hit it till we got to Rehoboth Beach, DE, about 130 miles straight down the coast. Infamous July 4 beach traffic, baby! And. Here comes the shocking part. 2) I couldn’t believe the police force, if you could call it that, at the DE beaches. I must have counted four black, smoke window SUVs with multi-lighting and wannabe nazi-boys driving them. There were at least three or four marked police cars, all with their shotguns mounted erect next to their brassed faced drivers. Then there were numerous police on Harleys, a few on bicycles and a bunch just standing on the street. They were all in Rehoboth, on route 1, the strip–on a day where a hurricane cancelled the fireworks but was already making its way back to mother Atlantic. Ok. I get it. This is America. It’s her birthday. But a military-like force waiting around to control the drunks hanging out at bars after a day on the beach? Who the hell is paying for all the crewcuts? Having grown up around cops, I felt nervous as hell. I made sure that I drove 2mph below the designated speed limit (35mph), and didn’t bother to throw out any wasted joint remnants that had accumulated in my rental car. Obviously there was a bit of paranoia but they were all watching me. They were watching because, I’m sure, the NSA has told them that I’m worst-writer and I frequently refer to my former home as American’t and I know the answers to all the questions as to why we are now a police state. Oh well. Just two more weeks and I’m outta here.

    11 Chilling Facts About America’s Militarized Police Force | Salon.com

  • Über Confusing

    The Krugman usually never confuses me. The Krugman is the man! That’s what I dig about him. I also dig that I can understand most of the stuff he blogs about. You know, economic stuff. Or–maybe not. In fact, it would probably be über-cool to have him as a professor–I bet he’s a good teacher. That said, he’s confused me this morn. Words like “historical knowledge” and “economic history” are confusing–especially when used in the realm of economic theory. He is an economic theorist, right? Nomatter. What I don’t get about this blog post is the connection he’s trying to make between what is basically being a teacher (and trying to teach Americans about their (economic) demise) and assuming that there is a lack of intellectual thought behind how some economists explain economics. It’s as though one side of the coin can see both heads and tails but the other side of the coin can only see the ass. Or what I’m trying to say is this: The Krugman is trying to explain theory to the masses that are only capable of reacting and NOT thinking about their actions. Or something like that. Rant on.

    Macro Debates and the Relevance of Intellectual History | Paul Krugman | NYT Blog

  • Krapp 2014

    The aftermath of recent Supreme rulings starting to trickle in. It cannot be said enough. While American’ts vote their feelings, mostly derived from wingnut pundits and the inalienable right to remain stupid regarding the lies of krapp like reducing taxes or reducing government, etc., the true face of what conservatives have done has never reared its face so vividly. That America has to deal with this krapp in 2014 is astonishing. Good luck.

    Aftershocks From Hobby Lobby Decision Inspire Scathing Dissent From Female Justices | Crooks and Liars

    Terrified By These Zealots | Crooks and Liars

    Supreme Court Grants Evangelical College Plea | Huff Post

  • Work Worth It?

    Going on fifteen years without a full-time job. Two reasons for that. 1) Baby Boomer generation proves that it’s finally worth it to quit your job to pursue a dream (it’s even worth it to fail at that pursuit). 2) Working, or as it should be known, compulsive behaviorism, is financially NOT worth it. Twenty years ago I realized the significance of being raised by a generation that could buy a house for twenty-five-thousand dollars and sell it thirty years later for five times the purchase price. Now the cost of a home is (approximately) ten times as much as it was in the seventies. Not trying to gloat here but the choices I made, as hard and ridiculed as they were–which basically included nothing but doing the opposite of what everybody else did/does–was worth it. With that in mind, quit your day job, lower your expectations, stop procreating and/or defining your existence through feelings dictated by others and a society run amok. According to stats you don’t have a chance (of achieving what your parents did) anyway. But I digress. Good luck.

    June Full-Time Jobs Plunge By Over Half A Million, Part-Time Jobs Surge By 800K, Most Since 1993 | Zero Hedge.

  • A Life Time It'll Take

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    Where is the most damage from thirty-plus-years of American’t political conservatism? Is it the economy? Is it the federal budget? Is it the middle class? Surprise! Yes to all the above. But here’s the thing. All the above could, if the political will (and knowledge) were there, be fixed. Seriously. With the wave of a magic election wand the shebang could be fixed. How? (Brace yourself, this is the advice from a guy who is worstwriter!) First. Tax the useless rich–i.e. tax those who have gotten rich off financial speculation, speculating that the US, post Reagan, would succumb to the same problems experienced prior to the Great Depression. Then cut the defense budget in half. Take 90% of that half and off spending completely. Take the other 10% and put it toward health care. Then get the war-mongering out of the way and let the middle class and beyond (or below) take over. That the military industrial complex utilizes economic conscription to fight unpaid wars has to stop. From there America’s true innovation will rise again as young men and women can pursue more fruitful life adventures–instead of fighting oil wars for oil men. But I’m off topic. The most damage conservatism has done to American’t is simple. Through false ideology and taking advantage of the dumb-downed conservatives have brilliantly manipulated the third branch of government to the point of no return. This is best exemplified in the life-time appointments of Supremes, but federal judges are part of the shebang, too. Yeah, baby. And get this. With recent supreme court rulings regarding corporations being people, money equaling votes and now religious beliefs determining what laws are followed, I’d say that the Supremes of the United States will be your worst enemy for the foreseeable future. If you want a speck of how things should or could have been if American’t hadn’t voted its feelings and emotions for the past thirty-plus years take a look at Ginsburg’s dissent. And to think her days on the bench are almost over. The only question then remains is, who will replace her in the minority position. Good luck suckers.

    How Conservatism Will Forever Trick You And The Balls You Juggle | Go Ginsburg Fight Fight | Summary Via Salon

    Supreme Court Decision Hobby Lobby Case | PDF Document

  • Ethics vs Smarts

    The Facebook game has no end. Or does it? Who remembers AOL? Who remembers its demise? If you learn from the demise then you can re-start anew (no matter how many redundancies you make). My worst-guess is the Zuck figured out AOL’s demise better than anybody else. Hence Facebook. But to read that Zuck is playing funny games with his AOL über-clone is funny. Who knew that unethical behavior could thread its way through social networking. As though all-things social require the smarts.

    How To Change The Face Of Popularity | The Guardian via Tommi

  • My Dotcom Book

    As bad as things were at the end of the 20th century, the beginning of the 21st century is obviously worse. But there was some good in the 1990s that’s easy to forget. Anyone remember the Dotcom boom? I’m still waiting for the definitive book to be written about why the new-economy was so easily gobbled up by the old-economy. Yeah, that’s how I see it. The old beat-out the new–and we are stuck with living in the shit of the old. Well. If I ever get around to writing that book, here’s one reason I’ll cite as to why American’t decided to go back to its lusts of petroleum and war for the basis of consuming to survive. Or something like that.

    The Supreme Court’s baffling tech illiteracy is becoming a big problem – Salon.com.

  • Afeared Yet

    If you thought the war mongering and greed freakshow that is the beginning of the 21st century was scary wait till the reality sets in of who/what your parents really are. Indeed. There is nothing more scary than the infamous Boomer generation. No other generation in human history has taken so much and given so little back. The best part? The(ir) horror show is just now beginning. Good luck suckers.

    The Happy Story of Boomers Retiring on Their Generational Wealth Is Wrong | Zero Hedge.

  • Useless Eaters All But One

    Nothing in my useless eating worst-life will amount to an ounce of what Aaron Schwartz did. And that’s a good thing. That said. The real sad thing about his demise is that bureaucrats and corporatists will never see how their compulsive behaviorism is at the root of what’s wrong with everything. From the lawyers and the judge that prosecuted him to the Automatons at the university that tattled on him. They all have blood on their hands. So. If you have a job, remember this: you only have it because someone else can’t have one. If you have a career, remember this: you got it on the backs of others. If you think you’ve earned your keep, remember this: just shoot yourself because you’re obviously a mindless idiot. This is a lesser world without Schwartz. Good luck, suckers.

    A Film About Aaron Schwartz Most Surely Worth Seeing

  • How To Make Change With A Bar Of Gold

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    Don’t know why this interests me. Gold. Worst-Gold. What’s the point of gold these days? Seem so backward to think of gold as it once was. You know, that value thing. But that is how the gold-lusters think of it. Right? Sure, it was the catalyst and springboard to the fiat world we traverse today. But that was long ago; that was the day where/when the invention of the printing press finally took hold. What? You gonna print bibles with that press the whole time? Think not. But print money? Now you’re talkin’. Maybe. Wait. I am kinda connected to gold. I mean, I have a few gold crowns, even have a ring on my finger made out of the lust material. And then there was the time I got into a tat-a-tat with an old friend. Hadn’t seen him in a while and when he appeared he couldn’t stop talking about buying gold. It was around 2008 and the ignorant parts of the world was flipping out that American’t had elected a president the likes of which no one had ever seen before. I told my Dutch friend that he need not worry. Just look a little closer, I said. Get up close to the TV screen when you see Mr. Obama. Get up close like you did when I Dream Of Jeannie was on. Get up real close. The closer you get the more bush you can see. What a costume, baby. Or. You let it go. The lust. The lust for gold or the lust for prejudices. Get up close to the TV, look long, look hard, you will see that Mr. Obama is golden, he’s not what you think–like the gold that used to be. But I digress. For I really don’t like gold. The metal, that is. The stuff gives me the creeps. But I do like Obama. He’s cool. Wonder if he’ll help the lusters get to their gold. Nomatter. Nuff.

    How Do You Move $140 Billion In Gold? Easy. You Don’t.

  • Ronald McDonald Meets The Amazon

    Bezos gave away a children’s book to the audience to accompany intro of new smart phone. So. Like. Does that mean he’s trying to get the kids hooked like a certain fast-food seller did with a clown? Nomatter. New phone looks great, very impressed with evolving eco-system Amazon products are connected to. But there is something creepy about it all: hardware being born out of a shopping portal? Weird. Still. So glad there is competition in this arena. Except for one thing. This is stupid expensive.

    Amazon Fire Phone: hands-on with the ultimate buying machine | The Verge.

  • Ersatzbesatzungkinder

    Literally cut the chord this year. No. Seriously. I cut the cable chord to my TV in February. Or was it March? Nomatter. Even though I have an extra chord in a box somewhere, I’m keeping the TV disconnected. For me, the TV is now just a screen. A screen for my little hockey-puck box that is fed media from one of my household servers–where I decide what and when media is seen. Which means, no WM this year. Boo-who, eh. Unless, of course, the old (TV) economy decide to stream the 2014 WM. Wishful thinking there, eh! If they were to stream then how would they pay five-hundred million dollars for a stadium in the Amazon that will be used four times during the tournament? Oh well. At least it’s kinda cool that the US team has five Germans playing on it that, like me, never got to know their American fathers. Rant on, baby.

    Five Germans on US Team Because Daddies Couldn’t Pull Out

    Gotta Go Elsewhere To Get Them Players

    And Here’s A Vid Of A Guy From England Wooing Americans By Cutting Up FIFA

  • Soap & Presidents

    Still waiting. But. Will someone come along and replace him? Can’t wait. Waiting is futile. Move on. I guess.

  • Who Taught The H-Word

    There you have it. Less than sixty-thousand voters in the rural-bourgeois south are waking up to the inalienable right(s) of life, liberty and stupidity. They vote-out an incumbent that only a few years ago they loved–when their bank accounts reflected better the lust for debt and false ideology–and vote-in a guy that’s probably two-steps worse. Oh well. The only surprise is that maybe the reality is setting-in that there is no limit to certain political wing-nuttery. Good luck suckers.

    David Brat: Hitler Could ‘Happen Again’ If We Don’t Embrace Christian Capitalism.

  • Is This Huge

    NSA spying? Privacy? Digital footprint? Why isn’t this being covered more? Is there any other hardware maker that has ever offered something like this? It is in its infancy but the more I worst-think about it the more worst-baffled I get. Apple is offering a way to protect your privacy by randomly generating identifier codes (MAC addresses) that routers can pick as your device scans for a wifi connection–which is something like a dream-come-true for shopping marketeers. And it’s included in iOS8. Obviously there is probably something self-serving behind this, like Apple’s iBeacon. But still…

    A tiny technical change in iOS 8 could stop marketers spying on you – Quartz.

    Stop Advertisers From Following You.

  • What? I Wanna Edumacated.

    About time, dear worst-reader. About time someone step-in and finally let Das Volk know that getting an edumacation ain’t about getting a job and making munny. No. Indeed. It’s about filling the gap/chasm of never having to grow up and being raised by those who never grew up before you. And while you’re at it, let someone else pay for what you’ve done. Or something like that.

    As Obama Moves to Cap Student Debt Payments, Activists Push For Broader Write-Off of Crushing Loans | Democracy Now!.

  • Boom Your Controversy

    Hard earned PBS underwritten funding paying off. And a bit shocked about how much time the producers of the videos that are connected to the link below spend on Google and FB. Almost get the feeling that the ill-doings of fear-mongering, The Patriot Act and the resulting behaviour of various smiley-face government agencies isn’t what the “discussion” should be about. Or maybe they should just read 1984 out-loud. Oh well. When all else fails find a boogyman to keep the automatons preoccupied.

    United States of Secrets | FRONTLINE | PBS.

  • Out With The Old In With The…

    In one of my old (analog) folders are twenty-eight and a half rejection letters from various publishers. I am so thankful to these publishers. From them I learned to embrace my inner worst-writer. Does that mean I should hate them? Of course not. Am I now prepared to move on? Big NO there, too. Should I reject Amazon for creating a new-economy dynasty like no other? Fuck no. But this is good reason to question Colbert? If he doesn’t like Amazon why doesn’t he tell his viewers to start a competitor?

  • Automaton Demise Eminent

    Oh look. Eurowasteland, under the führung from Germania and whatever random Munich trade-fair, is trying to bring some innovation to the continent. And how do they propose to do this? They choose what the Chinese have chosen so that the world can have tech products made with slave labor. Wait. That’s not exactly right. Nomatter. Move on. The only problem with this atypical day-late and Euro-short activity is that they haven’t beat Brazil to it. That’s right Eurowastelanders, once again you’ve been sucking on your beloved history a bit too long. Other than a few fancy cars and stuck-up fashion, what else do you have? So go ahead. Invest late and try to catch up. And what will you build in your new Automaton replacing robot factories? That’s right. Nothing. Unless you come up with a smart phone or something silly like that. Which doesn’t seem to be in the cards. Oh wait. Maybe you can make your cars at new robot factories. That way you can replace the robots you already have making them–on account they earn too much after all these years of use. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Way to go Eurowasteland! Pat yourself on the back. Drink a café-o-lay. Protect your Tower of Babel. And when that’s done, go buy some vacation.

    Eurowasteland Advancing By Finally Finding A Way To Replace Overpaid Automatons With Robots.

  • How To Carry A Gun

    What struck me was the moment in the vid (at around 24:00) where Bob Bergdahl is walking while carrying a rifle. As he approaches the camera and then passes it he changes the way he carries the rifle. I can only assume that he does this because of the responsible way he learned how to handle a weapon. At no time is the weapon pointed toward the camera man. And then there’s the articulation, the solemnness and sincerity towards his son, his family, and what these people believe. That others are condemning the return of a soldier is typical to American’t politics. But whatever comes of this, this father deserves more than he will get.

    Father of Freed U.S. Soldier: “Nobody Can Relate to Guantánamo Prisoners More Than Our Family” | Democracy Now!.

  • How To Be King

    How do you become king? Who picks you? What grants you the right? Nomatter. Half of Eurowastelands problems could be addressed (not solved, of course) by getting rid of the useless that claim thrones. But then again. It’s 2014. That monarchs still exist says it all.

    Spain’s King Juan Carlos To Abdicate After 40 Years On The Throne In Favor Of Son.