Tom's blog of whatnots and other stuff
Wait. “Confliction” isn’t a word? Why not? Should be a word. Like… Oblivia. Nomatter. Something about recent Eurowasteland vote debacle. Wait. So maybe I should use the word debacle? Stop. Nomatter. Points of view in Eurowasteland is confliction. (Great sentence, eh?) Or is it parliamentary pseudo governance in Eurowasteland being buzzwords and not governance? Nomatter. Some articles to promote the confliction. (There I said it.)
Good luck with that.
-Tommi
How confusing. To think one has figured out the problem. But why? Why figure out the problem? The politics of ignorance will go on all the same. But I digress. Getting to something is one thing. Getting back from that something is the other.
The Real Origins of the Religious Right – Randall Balmer – POLITICO Magazine.
Ah. Another shooting. Another shooting by some kid so doped-up that it’s time to close the blinds, pull down the shades, staple the eyelids shut. For this one might just be scarier than the last one. The last shooting, that is. Or wait. This new one only killed seven…or is it six? Wait. The last killed… Nomatter. What’s important here is that the newz can capitalize on… Let’s see. This person hated females. But he drove a nice car. So you have hate and consuming together as all was meant to be–in the land of failupwards. I mean, why would anyone drive a chick-catcher-car if he didn’t like gurls? No wait. The newz will explain it to us. Right? I mean. Maybe the gurls didn’t like him. Deliver (answers) to us newz. No? Ok. Move on.
What about that well spoken vid on the Interwebnets, the youtubes? It all coincides with his one-hundred-forty-odd page manifesto–which you can only get via some Interwebnet service (see links below). From what I’ve read so far this manifesto is very well written. The last manifesto I read was horribly written. What’s become of our death-cult servicers? Now they’re cultivated and almost elegant–in a very weird kinda way. OYG, what is this world coming to! Not only does our national obsession with death exceed that of anything outside of war but the perpetrators are the kids of Hollywood film directors and they can read and write and at twenty-two drive around in a BMW gurl catching cars… Or maybe not.
Privilege kills indeed.
And now for a quick look at what American’ts latest whack-job took for “medication” to deal with his American’t problems? Get a load of Risperidone. Wiki even has a separate page listing the side effects of this drug. What a great country, eh. What a great new tech service the Interwebnets provides. If only the information provided could weave its way through all the ignorance that enables this stuff. But I digress.
Indeed. Another closed-minded day in the land of dream dreamers, Disney and living by the gun. Speaking of guns. Should we get into guns today, dear worst-reader? In this most recent shooting, none of the brand names of the guns was even mentioned. At least the brand names weren’t mentioned in the news I scanned. But I suppose the time of advertising, of marketing our famed Colts, PeaceMakers, nine-millimeters, eh-are-fifteens, etc., etc., are over. We know them all too well. Like coca-cola. Such advertising has no effect anymore. So we move on. Now it’s about the drugs. Or is it about the BMW he drove? Nomatter.
The eyelids are closed. There is nothing left to see in the freakshow–that we haven’t seen a dozen or so times before. The blinds are down and it still happens. The colorful depiction of reds and flesh and broken BMWs on a side-walk near you is not enough. We need more. We are more. Of this death. Hail the death cult. The religious nut-bags, gun totters, the NRA–grievance, belonging, sentiment–all that is left of American’t except for a new mall or iphone 7d(eath). Oh, the dominate decaying landscape and maintain the guns, the drugged-up kids, the parents incapable of recognizing that they were raised to beget these children, this species of death. And while you’re at it. There’s got to be something interesting to watch while the eyelids are shut on the TVs or Interwebnets which are now connected directly to the brain through microwave cellular nodes atop rotting buildings and other nation-state infrastructure left to the whims of cost cutting and greed galore. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Keep your eyelids shut and watch Oprah or Ellen. All will be well. As usual. Go ’bout your failing.
Links:
Rant on.
-Tommi
As a locked-in take-my-money Apple slave (not to demean the real slaves putting these devices together), I have no fear in the following claim: there is love to be found for Microsoft’s Surface. Last year, with my 2010 MacBookPro reaching it’s limits, I had to make a decision. First, even though a new MacBookAir was in the plan, I didn’t want to afford one. Second, what to do? Take a step back and think things through. Result? Installed new SSD on my old MBP. Result? Wow. Never thought such an inexpensive upgrade/modification could save the day. But there was still something missing. The more and more I read about, heard about, and watched my better half use her iPad, I was itching to enter that world–which is another reason I find the frivolous, standardised premium pricing of laptops such a turn-off. Again, I love Microsoft’s Surface. I think. Or do I just love the whole new post-pc bullshit that finally galvanizes the wonders of cloud computing? Heck, I would spend a few moments here or there in any tech department of any store fiddling with the Surface. I watched youtube reviews and read various articles about it, too. It just seemed like Microsoft, by doing the same but repackaging it, putting a new coat on it, etc., might be on to something. I love the optional keyboard and the stylus rocks, too. Input was always my biggest gripe on the iPad. But there is a different turn-off with the Surface. It is a real deal killer (for moi). It is the fact that this device will 1) never be a replacement for a a productive laptop and 2) like all other devices, it is typically overpriced. Indeed. The monopoly, cabal industry that Microsoft/Intel have sewn lives on in the Surface. Which brings me to Microsoft’s biggest problem: Steve Jobs was right. In fact, Steve Jobs is the first to break the Microsoft/Intel cabal (if you ask me). He really nailed it (to Microsoft) with the iPad. Unlike its Macs, it does not depend on the cabal. And the fact that it is/can be half the price of the Surface… Wow. So let’s put it all together, dear worst-reader. I love the new Surface 3. But an aging laptop, a productivity machine, can be revived with cheap upgrades (in my case it was both an SSD and a new battery which was less than $400). My 2010 MBP now boots in less than 10 seconds and runs all day (I’m not kidding) on a single battery charge. A few months after that, realizing I saved money by not buying a new over-priced laptop, I broke down and bought a refurbished iPad4 from the US apple store. I’ve been using it for the better part of six months and I love it. I got one with 64GB and Cellular–for under $500. I even bought a marked down keyboard for it–as third-party add-ons are currently heavily discounted because of iPadAir. Although it’s not the productivity device I’d like it to be, it is the perfect device for supplementing the productivity of my laptop. I use the iPad to read, read and read. I use it to collect links to articles and even post to my blog. I also use it as my only email device and it’s perfect for video calling with my mother in the States. And it’s also fantastic when it comes to the cloud. So that I won’t bore you with all it can do. I use my laptop for all my writing and most of my blog posting. I use my iPad for everything else. Everything.
Microsoft Introduces Thinner Surface Pro 3 with 12″ Display Starting at $799 – Mac Rumors.
But, seriously, will it replace laptops?
Good luck Microsoft.
Rant on.
-Tom
Oh, dear worst-reader. The news is slow of late. I think it has something to do with journalism being owned these days. You know. Owned like religion, wives and copyrights. So I found myself dredging more than usual this morn to find something of interest and a potential subject to worst-right about. Thank goodness the dredging was short lived.
Link to article of worst-interest.
But the article isn’s what motivated me.
Have you heard about the website The Intercept? No? No big deal. You might never hear about it except for the fact that it is considered the world’s most expensive website. That’s right, dear worst-reader, The Intercept (link is to a wiki page on it) website costs in excess of $200m. Ok. Backtrack a bit. Actually the money is an investment in what is supposed to be a new voice in publishing…. I mean. A new voice in Interwebnet publishing. Wait. That’s not right either. The Intercept is supposed to be a new voice in journalism. Online journalism. (Hope I got that right.) But what’s really interesting about this $200m website is how it came to be.
The investment amount for this website and all it will entail:
Or maybe not.
Nomatter.
Rant on.
Tommi
Worst-writer has no qualms with the common man. Misanthropy be damned. And these gentleman (see video at the link below) deserve respect. In fact, they command it. You can tell, worst-reader, that they are truly on the verge of eruption. Yet some degree of self-awareness, self-respect and being born of (some) mother, held them back. So let’s all thank Thor, the grand teapot in the sky, Zoroaster and some mother that they were able to maintain themselves. But. That said. This is what happens after a country has become impotent-of-mind in the arena of democracy. This is what happens when a country allows itself to be guided by branded lapel flags whose interests are self-serving and those interests are spewed from behind TV cameras and those interests do not reflect the common man that is (theatrically) portrayed here. Indeed. It is so hard to see thru what you/we have been sold by conservatism, Neoliberlism in The United Mistakes of American’t: the grievance, the belonging and the sentiment run deep. Which remind me: It doesn’t matter if George W. Bush was an ignoramus anymore. The video in the link below proves that Bush was the catalyst in lowering the bar to new levels. Some say that you can’t see the future but you can learn from the past. Well, American’t is proving that is no longer true and quite the opposite is real. Here’s to your future American’t.
Idaho gubernatorial candidates Walt Bayes and Harley Brown have a surreal debate..
Dear worst-reader, here another exchange, like this one, where opposing points of view are exposed. Good luck.
Friend wrote:
Dude, check out this link.
This is not a mistake. I would bet the oil companies in the US are backdoor funding radical groups who oppose the Keystone pipeline. Some refiners invested heavily to process the heavy oil in Louisina, but I feel like the oil majors, who are already fighting surplus crude in the US for years now and heavily lobbying the Gov to allow crude exports because they are swimming in the stuff, are very against the pipeline, which will put Canada on the map for being a major supplier directly to the gulf. Right now, within a few years, US will be the largest oil producer nation on the planet, and of course, the US citizens have NOTHING to show for it. The US allows companies to extract all of the natural wealth of the nation and exploit it for their private gain while the US citizens are sitting on $14 trillion in debt. If I were running things, every $1 over $80 a barrel that oil sells for, the gov would get 35% “excessive profit” tax.
Anyway, Mexico just passed laws to allow foreign investment there which within 3-5 years will turn around their ass backwards bureaucratic government oil monopoly, which shows governments can’t do anything right, but they can come up with ways to benefit the citizens with their own natural resources.
Yours
Oh, dear worst-friend, where should I worst-start? How ’bout here…
Are you and I on a war-path of opposing views? At the least, your interpretation of current affairs is making my head shake. What’s up with that? Does this have anything do with the fact that we are thinking American’ts who live on both sides of the Atlantic? Nomatter. Let’s rumble.
First, dear worst-friend, American oil men are not smart enough to cause an oil spill on purpose. Seriously. These guys are morons and, like so many who live their life for money, they have never had an original thought. Unless you call naming an oil tanker after Bush’s former national security adviser an original thought. (If you don’t know that one then check here.)
The LA oil line break is most surely an accident. But it is an accident because of neo-liberal politics and collective neglect. Just like all the train derailments that are exploding across north America (here more on that). The subsequent spill (that has closed an LA “Gentleman’s Club“) is another example of America’s inability to “reap what we sow”. Or is it sow what we reap? Nomatter. Maybe you get what I mean. Anywho. Have you heard about all the oil transport accidents of late? Do you think they were all planned, too?
Second.
I don’t know where you get the idea that America is fighting to export because it has too much oil. FYI, there’s been too much oil ever since Saddam was ousted from Kuwait. Supply is not an issue but demand might be. The real issue of oil today is distribution. Distribution is owned by the USA military and a few lucky oil men. And there’s the cabal. Ontop of that, because there’s so much supply, America is hoarding oil, controlling it, slapping the hands of others (can you say Putin/Russia) that are trying to get in on the scam. So if you want to talk about oil men planning anything, talk about how they pulled that one off. It has taken them a lifetime–our lifetime to do it. But pull it off they have. Oh. And it wasn’t planned.
And before I forget. The Keystone pipeline is for export to cheap labor countries that produce western goods. The American oil cabal doesn’t want anything to do with Canadian tar-sands oil for domestic consumption because it’s too expensive to process. America prefers oil from underneath real sand–on account it’s cheaper to get into cars and we fought enough wars over it for that privilege. Tarsands oil is only good for diesel or kerosene which is enough to power/fuel China’s slave labor production or produce tires/tyres or plastics for baby’s to choke on.
But don’t quote me on that last thought.
Love ya, man.
Tommi
While most ask what would Jesus do, worst-writer asks: what would Elvis do?
In the case of Edward Snowden I’m seriously confused about what to do. When the news about Snowden’s leak first hit and I was able to wrap my head around it, I thought: where’s the info? Seriously. Wikileaks was still all over the news and the question of the day was: when will Julian Assange stink-up the Equadorian Embassy so much that they have to throw him out to get rid of the stench? The second question of the day was: Why didn’t Snowden just give the leaks to Wikileaks so that the info could be where it belongs? Well, dear worst-reader, we’re starting to see the answer to that question now. Lawyer turned journalist, Glenn Greewald, is finally on a tour of the USA where he will release all… ALL… A L L of the information he received from Endward Snowden so that all of us can have a look at it and…
Wait. Stop the worst-presses. That’s ain’t quite what’s happening.
What’s happening is that Greenwald is on a tour to sell a book he wrote where he and he alone (well, there might be a few editors and friends along the ride) will determine what we all can see from the Snowden leaks. And his book currently costs between €10 and €20 Euros, depending on what format you purchase. Now ain’t that special! Why this reminds me of crazy Elvis, drugged out on stage in Vegas, just before turning too fat to do Karate while singing glory, glory, hallelujah, I’m not sure. Hopefully future generations of better informed worst-readers can figure that one out. But I won’t bore you with the worst (best) of Elvis’ Vegas closers. Let’s go for something more revealing, something that we don’t have to pay Glenn Greenwald for in order to hear some truth, like a guy that wants to sound like Elvis but sings about his love of the NSA.
Here’s a timeline of events worth a quick look.
Rant on.
-Tommi
Misguided? Not sure. Government so gun-ho on reigning in the <sarcasm on> dangerous Interwebnets <sarcasm off> that any kind of protest is worthwhile protest. Or? But what’s clear about recent Net Neutrality effort on the part of big government and even bigger corporatism is that this most recent attempt to control it has mostly to do with video distribution. So here’s an idear for another kind of protest. Stop watching video (on the internet) and/or stop supporting NetFlix. Oooops. Wait a sec. Did I just mean what I said? Nomatter. Tommi is worstwriter–confused as any other protestor.
For those who think: watch. For those who watch faux newz: think. For those who’d rather get a cold one and cruise the strip mall with a full tank of…
Vid here.
Why I indirectly use Facebook and other FB wannabees. For me, FB first caught my attention because of all the share links available on whatever website I was reading. Those buttons were initially a great way to manage bookmarks as up to that point I had been using Delicious, which is cumbersome and monotonous. Share buttons have subsequently been replaced by “tweet” buttons. (Twitter, btw, seems to be a company that got social networking right–and it’s not even a social service, it’s a micro-blog service.) Now I just get a kick out of being able to re-post links to content from my blog automatically via wordpress. And every once-a-once I conveniently use FB messages. Personally, I got nothing against the “social” phenomenon of FB–which is code for advertising and parsing web use. Heck, I don’t even care about anonymity (because the internet is and forever will be nothing more than an extension of original telephony and that too was never anonymous. But I digress.) In my humble worst opinion, Facebook really is nothing more than what AOL wanted to be but couldn’t be simply because Interwebnet users at the time were wise enough to laugh it off. As this new generation of Interwebnets users comes onboard, i.e. those who missed the CompuServe days with dial-up modems and/or those grasshoppers incapable of investigating what this digital age is really supposed to be about, it’s been easy for FB to manipulate and conjure. Still. I think FB’s days are numbered. I, for one, am amused and soddened at the fact that my beloved Interwebnets is on the verge of collapse. But that’s a different issue. FB’s obvious problem now is its stock evaluation and an already tarnished rep. Time will tell where it goes but it ain’t looking good. Who knows, maybe FB can make a few more billion useless dollar purchases. I’ve already stopped using WhatsApp. Nomatter.
Links:
Good luck.
Rant on.
Tommi
Activist group The Yes Men nail it again. These guys are so awesome they’re beyond funny. Seriously. It’s as though funny starts at a certain point with them and 180 degrees later it’s still funny but then again it’s not. Dark humour? Dark Parody? Dark… You know what I worst-mean. But then again. Wait. Nomatter. Check out the vid and wait till it gets to the line dance part where these pranksters organise the attending corporate-automatons to fall in line like the sheep being lead off the cliff that they really are. My only concern with this level of immaculate humour is, if, under other circumstances, if I would have made it in the corporate-automaton world, would I too have fallen for this? Ok. Wait (again). I can safely say I wouldn’t have fallen for this. Why? Because I didn’t fall for the corporate-automaton world from the get go, baby. That’s why I’m (we’re) here, baby. That’s right. That’s exactly what makes worst-writer better–including you, worst-reader. That’s why we’re free and I’m planning my next trip to Curacao at the same time I’m worst-writing this post. Yeah, baby.
In case vid fails, here’s another link to video and article.
-Tommi
A: But sirrah, I say to you, I’m not intolerant.
B: You are, you just don’t know it.
A: Therefore, this feeling I have, this inner burning sensation, means that I hate everybody?
Short pause.
A: But sirrah, that can’t be.
B: Oh it can–just as you were born.
Short pause.
B: And now I must move on–for the ship is sinking.
Say, doesn’t pic of Nevada look like a Guillotine? Just askin’?
Oh, the DNA runs deep in American’t. But what is even more obvious are the faces of these really, really, really stupid white men. Between Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling all I see are the faces that raised me–including the female. I’m not just talking about my parents but about the environment chosen for me that I was forced to grow-up in and never looked back when I left it. Ah, the grand ol’ saying: You can’t choose your parents. Indeed. But you can choose the environment to leave.
Good luck suckers.
Rant on.
tbone
Unfortunately the end is hardly near. But it should be. The main worst-question to contemplate today is thus: how much will GM pay in fines to the government after the faulty ignition scandal is over? The logical answer to that question is: will the paid fines actually have anything to do with the crime or, like wall-street, is it just bribe and/or extortion money? (Sorry to answer a question with another question.)
Here’s worst-writer’s worst-take aka worst-conspiracy theory about what’s going on with GM right now and how that relates to everything else that’s going on that has put the whole shebang on the edge (of failure). Companies like GM and Chrysler have ratted out the government by taking bailout money. GM really thought that they were the same as the debt ridden banks on wall-street that have been doing nothing but speculating on American’t debt. For you see, going back to the late 1980s, American’t car makers became their own banks, i.e. their own debt owners in financing their own cars. The difference to wall-street, though, is that GM actually has tangibility and hence can use that as collateral for its debt making–which it did with exuberance. Of course, the Fed, the govt. and wall-street never looked at car-makers as equals. In a way, car makers, posing as bankers that manufacture, stole some shine from wall-street for a short while there. Now they are being made to payback dearly.
Rant on.
-tgs-
First post in 2014. Happy worst-new-year! Now. On to the more important worst-stuff.
Don’t you just wanna hug this guy! For worstWriter, Kim Dotcom, aka Kim Schmitz from Kiel, is a rare case of self-aggrandisement that is A-OK. I really luv this guy. Reason? No matter what he does, no matter what drives him, he always seems real and authentic. At least to me he seems real. Real as in, you know, you really do see what you get. I guess it’s the German in him. And believe me, under the right circustance, you couldn’t help but sit down and have a cold one with this guy. So what if he stands in front of a yacht on the shoreline and dances around. Or he circles his Mercedes while carrying a high powered rifle. Big deal. He’s just a geek and I’ll bet he’s a damn friendly one. So let’s all try and get together and have a Bier und Bratwurst with Kim. Hugs everywhere. Obviously he’s gotta lot to hug. Wouldn’t that be cool!
But that’s not what I wanted to blog about today, dear worst-reader. This tech geek from Kiel made it on to 60 Minutes. That’s a pretty big deal. Even if the TV news hour is trying to make Kim look like a bad guy, hats off to Dotcom once again. This guy rocks. Although if you watch the vid you might get the feeling that after being raided at the behest of the greed mongering film industry, that was able to purchase some extravagent over-reach by hiring national police entities, as though government has never been at the beck-n-call of profiteers (just look at the US military fighting for oil company profits), that a bit of humility and fear might just tame a once wild soul. Golly, I hope not.
Rejectd by his home country, Germany (and they will never realize what they’ve lost), Kim Dotcom is out there doing stuff. And he’s deserves credit for it. Sure, it might be better if he did stuff that didn’t evolve around file sharing, but since he can’t seem to let that go, why not let him run with it. Wait. What am I saying? As though it would even matter if worstWriter said anything about file sharing or Kim Dotcom. But here’s the thing. Kim Dotcom is worth admiring because, unlike other file sharing technology, he was and is blatant about trying to make a buck on it. Which makes sense and you would think that the movie industry would/could try to learn from him about how to actually get their digital world in order instead of maintaining the status quo where renting videos or copying vinyl onto cassette tapes is as advanced as things should get.
Oh well. Why do the authorities and greed mongers try and squash Kim? This reminds me so much of those days when Microsoft bitched & moaned about how its first few versions of Windows were pirated like there was no tomorrow. And yet without all that piracy Windows would have never made it on half the computers being used in basements all across American’t. Which means the reality is Microsoft actually gained from piracy and it didn’t lose. Which also means, well, we’re not really dealing with piracy, per se. And it’s especially not stealing–as the police entities for hire at the behest of movie moguls would like people to think. Again. Sharing is not stealing. Duplicating something is not stealing. And. According to this article, in 2013 Hollywood raked-in over $10b for its mostly mindless, two-hour take-me-away cinemotography. Of those billions in revenues, they (the powers that be) also claim that $500m was lost to illegal downloads. What a crock of shit, eh.
The real thing is, the $500m Hollywood claims to have lost to the likes of Kim Dotcom or Pirate Bay, etc., is fiction. It’s a lie. The people that duplicate and share digital media are being wrongly targeted and all because the fuddy-duddies and greed mongers of the status quo are incapable of actually learning from people like Kim Dotcom. You can’t lose $500m to people who wouldn’t have paid for the krapp in the first place.
Rant on.
-Tommi
Probably one of the best ad libitum responses yet to American’ts lust for blood, guts, repression-glory and forgetting about seeds sewn and moving on to the next mall purchase. Trauma centre head doctor, Dr. Janis Orlowski, did a great job responding to this dire situation (see also vid and links below). Yet worst-writer can’t help but see through the glaze of this persons attempt at speaking to the dumb-down. And so. Instead. Let’s get into the corporate bullshit that has once again spewed out and rejected yet another mother’s lost son? Not to compare apples with oranges, but, as soon as I started to read about the latest shooting in what is practically my home town, the fact that this guy was a subcontractor made me think not of his violence but of what corporate American’t culture is churning out day by day. And wasn’t Edward Snowden also a corporate subcontractor? I know, a terrible comparison. Or is it? I mean, both these guys have government clearance. Nomatter. What is known about this most recent shooter is that he was not only a subcontractor but he was a subcontractor to a subcontractor. And we all know what the word “subcontractor” really means, don’t we? It means: work more for less and follow those that think they are ahead of you because of where and when they took their seat, fall in line, pay your dues, know your place, reject real ambition, suspend any lust for life… be VERY THANKFUL you even have a job sucker, etc., etc.. Or something like that. Moving on.
In the interview below, trauma doc Orlowski gives a fairly honest and strained albeit naive response to all the death she’s trying to stop. Yet she clearly seems to be on the edge. The edge of what I’m not sure. That is, she fights back tears in one interview and at the same time tries to provide a nation that has long since been numbed by what it has become with a sense of how to deal with it all. She says, we all need to work on this together. But worst-writer, dear worst-reader, who left the very city she is speaking from, who is beyond familiar with the streets of the navy yard or the Capital building or most houses of ill repute, can only chuckle at what is being transmitted to the land of the blind and no-ears. No one will ever listen to what this sweet doctor has to say because everyone is burdened with consume to survive, to not fall down the rabbit hole of living one pay check to the next, waddling in debt as though it were the same fat surrounding either our minds or our waists. And to think that I’ll be on a plane home soon. I am also wondering if upon debarkation among Das Volk that has created such a diabolical place will it (life) end with a gunshot to my mind while I walk around the streets of the place I love and miss so much? Who knows. But maybe I should try to write a play about all this first. I’ve already found a title.
Links:
Rant on.
-Tommi
Barry O is trying. You have to give him that. Vladimir Putin is trying, too. I guess. But there’s something else about these two men. It’s as though they’re already bored with a history that will, in the most important ways, pass them by because of über-under-achievement. Thank goodness that rational human beings know that in these days of centralised governments, embodied by these two men, opting to control worldly resources at the cost of humanity, are nothing more than figures of mediocrity run amok. One does nothing because he’s probably afraid to do anything. The other is just hanging around because his country is destined to be ruled by a two-bit dictator. Pick your own.
Now don’t get me wrong. As far as Barry O is concerned, I’d take his level of mediocrity any day compared to the dipshit before him that, it seems, sealed America’s dumb-down fate. (Hence my old saying: Bet you wished you voted Hillary now, eh!) And when Barry gets started waving that fist with half a finger pointing no place, I love to listen to him. Also, I think, he’s a president that is kinda smart and not trying to play stupid for a stupid voting constituency that ultimately deserves no better. Barry talks from the heart and is believable and his political faux-paws have been few and far between–I mean, it really does look like he’s well on his way to having a fairly scandal-free presidency. But we’ll find that out soon enough.
Enter the other side of the mediocrity coin. This level of do-nothingness is exemplified in a recent article, self penned, in the New York Times. Wow. While reading Putin’s “plea”, just after Barry O’s television plea, I didn’t think once about Syria but instead about Russian journalism. Or has everyone forgotten how many journalists have been murdered in Russia since this under-achiever took over. But I supposed we have to give mediocre credit where it’s due, eh. Not only is Putin a sexy, topless man on a horse or by a river fishing, etc., etc., but he’s also a journalist spewing opinions on the world stage about other countries (mis)behaviour–opinions that ultimately say nothing other than covering up the murder of real journalists in Russia.
And so. Let us all give credit to Putin for one thing in breaking up the world’s recent mediocre events. His journalistic endeavour might just be a one-up on Barry’s mediocre statesmanship. Indeed, dear worst-reader, mediocrity has just been taken to new heights. And Putin is doing so by finally calling out, on the international stage, America for what truly ails it: the fact that no one can come to terms with our own digression into being exceptionally mediocre.
Links.
Rant on.
-tgs-
Post is NSFW and rude and proud of it.
Cool how all this “leaked” data is trickling down through the convenient pipes of the Interwebnets via well advertised news sites. But all serious kidding aside. How much is Glenn Greenwald earning from all this? What? Wrong question? Americans are more concerned not about the profits of journalists hoarding info that should be released en masse but instead about what their recent web browsing activities, FB posts and emails are that could be used as ammunition if they are caught in a bribery or extortion scandal? Ok. No-nevermind. Let’s move on.
John C. Dvorak has written an interesting post on the most recent release from S01E03* of the Edward Snowden freak show. Mr. Dvorak is upset that the NSA is referring to the American public, i.e. the tax payer financing that government agency, as an adversary. Really Mr. Dvorak? What? Have you never been pulled over for speeding but then tried to ask to see proof that you were speeding? Or have you never faced the bureaucracy of being told your papers are not in order and to get them in order before applying for a new driver’s license or passport or voter registration? And remember the first time you were asked to remove your belt or your shoes while boarding an airplane. And now you’re worried about being an adversary to the state? The fact is, America is a place of two peoples right now. One people is the authority. The other people is the adversary of that authority. And so. The use of the word “adversary” is really no different than using the word “fuck” during a church service. Ultimately it’s just a word. But if there are a few (or more) that take offence to that word, and so… Insignificance can also be a problem.
The question I have for Mr. Dvorak and those questioning authority is this: Are you just now realising that you are part of a centralised, controlled, authoritarian state because of documents that have been illegally obtained and are now being serially released to the public at the behest of advertising revenue? If so, welcome to the club. Indeed, we are all wallowing in Orwell’s luscious wet-dream. And don’t it feel good? I mean, you’re doing pretty well, ain’t ya, Mr. Dvorak? I mean, what are you ultimately complaining about here? Is your real gripe about the dream you are living and how it ain’t the dream you wanted? Well, I’m sorry to hear that. But thanks for finally waking up. I guess. And. Shame it’s only just now snuck up on so few of you (dumb-ass baby boomers) and all because of the use of a word in your church (of American’t) that you take offence to. So your days at Berkeley or wherever in dipshit California have come to pass and with all your doing all that’s left is to sit back and question what you have sown–to little, too late. You and your generation did all the taking and now that it’s payback time you question whether or not you are an adversary of the Orwellian state you built? Well, to that all I can say is that I hope to see you in church soon where during your eulogy for American’t I can yell fuck-you at the top of my lungs and no one will notice because they are more concerned about the NSA spying on their Internetweb porn usage.
May bigotry, ignorance and self-delusion be the pudding of the American’t cake. The world is fine, suckers. It really is all fine. There is nothing to see here. Move on. The mall is waiting.
*Worst-writer reserves the right to be incorrect on the episode designation of Edward Snowden’s freak show. And have no fear: S01E0? is coming soon enough.
Links:
Rant on.
-tgs-
Ok. First. I probably shouldn’t post something where my worst-writing is shorter than links. But in this case… Nomatter.
The scariest thing about what the west is doing right now, beyond all the murder, mayhem, lying and lust for control of you-know-what, is how long it will take to finally move on. That is, when will the gears be shifted? (Let alone the question of once they are shifted where are they shifted to?) I mean, with what’s going on in Syria right now, which, I have read, is a proxy war between the United Mistakes and… pick your foe, etc., there is one impending question that I cannot answer. So I googled it in google news. Lo n’ behold. I was delivered only one recent article from a blog post at Huffington. Indeed. Everything I’m reading about this situation is tragic. But something looms. For example. What is the cause of it all? And. Just like the by-product of the Patriot Act (rampant unconstitutional spying), no one is talking about the ramifications of the Bush Doctrine. Of course, as you can see through the winded and über-boring congressional session below, everyone has to somehow save face–for what they are all complicit for having done (even if they claim to have voted against the Iraq war). Still. Why am I so surprised that there’s no mention about what Dubya has gotten us all into and what Barry can’t get us out of? Speaking of Barry. Should he be given credit for turning the Syria situation over to congress? Damn. Perpetual war is so real. My only remaining question is, which part of Oceania Province of Airstrip One are we?
Links:
Rant on.
-tgs-
Wunderlist by 6Wunderkinder. More than just a mediocre run-of-the-mill cloud app? Yes and no. Worst-writer recommends its use–as a shopping list to be shared between iOS devices. I reckon it’s also a great enterprise utility where corporatists can coordinate data and to-do lists in the cloud. But I’ll never get to see that part of it and here’s why…
First. 6Wunderkinder is a Berlin startup. As of the writing of this worst-post, there is no Wiki page on 6Wunderkinder or Wunderlist. Why is that? (See screenshots below.) Also. Having worked in the first Dotcom era, I smell remnants of that era’s demise lingering in the Prussian air.
Second. I’ve been using Wunderlist for the better part of 18 months on my iPhone 4S. My partner and I share a shopping list across my iPhone and her iPad–and it works great. Recently, after numerous updates, I tried expanding use of the app involving the sharing of documents. Unfortunately none of that was possible because the free version greys-out all that functionality. Great way to tease, eh. Anywho. Since I already use Dropbox and Evernote and a few others, on account they offer limited cloud services for free, there really is no reason for me to use essentially what is an attempt by 6Wunderkinder to expand a to-do list into an enterprise productivity app. And that kinda bugs me. I mean, seriously. Should I pay €5/month or €50/year for this? I’m cringing at the thought right now.
As you may or may not know, dear worst-reader, the iPhone and the wondrous world of the Apple monopoly, regularly send out pop-up menus that demand “review this app”. Someone is itching for a kicking out there, huh? Luckily it’s easy enough to click away obnoxious pop-ups on iOS. But since I’ve been using Wunderlist for so long and am now disappointed in the way they expanded functionality without me, I thought I’d give it a review. And guess what wunder happened? When I was done writing my review and wanted to post it, the App Store wouldn’t allow it. I tried several times to post but kept getting the same response about not having the right “nickname”. Since I was determined to get what I worst-wrote posted somewhere, I saved what I wrote as a text doc to dropbox (are you listening 6Wunderkinder?) and then switched to my 2010 Snow Leopard Macbook Pro, which is my main writing tool, and then, at the 6Wunderkinder support page, sent my review via email.
Tommi > 6Wunderkinder support:
AUG 28, 2013 | 02:40PM CEST Original message
Hello.
Below my review that the Appstore wouldn’t allow me to post on account there are no more “nicknames” available!
Review of Wunderlist.
Preferred version 1.x on my iPhone 4S because there is a huge performance deficit in v.2. Try opening wunderlist while shopping in a hurry at a German grocery store where everybody treats everything as though it’s an overcrowded Autobahn with Fiat500s determining the speed of super BMWs. Also getting turned off using wunderlist because the desktop and iPhone version constantly throws “pro”functions in my face. Just separate the pro version from the free version! (No one thought of that?) Why did you stop supporting Snow Leopard? I have several Macs, one of which I use regularly but it has Snow leopard. I know I can download the old version but if you guys have given up on it then why should I use it? Let me repeat: Why do you guys simply not separate the pro version from the free version? This is really obnoxious. Since there are so many other productivity/utility apps that offer the same functionality I don’t know what separates Wunderlist from the rest–and I don’t use most of those apps either. Paying monthly (or yearly) for something where I have dropbox and calendar for free in order to share appointments and to-dos makes your “pro” services pretty expensive. So how’s your enterprise sales staff coming along? ;-)
I’m just a disappointed wunderlist user.
Tommi Stough (worstwriter.com)
Below the very diplomatic and rehearsed corporate-like response from 6Wunderkinder. My smart-ass take on it all is in [brackets]. Please note: in this case caps are not yelling.
Company Rep > Tommi (aka worst-writer):
AUG 29, 2013 | 06:10PM CEST
Hello Tommi,
Thank you for your email and the honest feedback! [YEAH RIGHT.] We will discuss this in the team and see where we can improve the app and our communication. [????] Having separate Pro & Free versions is not an option for us because it would drastically reduce the conversion rate. [WELL THEN, THERE’S ALWAYS CALENDAR, DROPBOX AND EVERNOTE.] I hope you understand that we have to keep this business aspect in mind. [REALLY? WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED THAT? AND THAT’S FINE AND DANDY. THANKS FOR THE ADVICE THAT I FIND ANOTHER SOFTWARE TO USE.]
But the performance of the iOS app is something that will definitely be improved in future versions. [HOW DID YOU SCREW IT UP FROM v.1.x TO v.2.x IN THE FIRST PLACE?] Snow Leopard unfortunately can’t be supported any longer because it is simply way harder and therefore really uneffective to support Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion, Lion & the upcoming 10.9 OSX at the same time. [NO ONE CAN AFFORD TO UPDATE THEIR HARDWARE AS FAST AS APPS UPDATE THEIR SOFTWARE OR AS FAST AS APPLE UPDATES ITS HARDWARE. COME BACK DOWN TO EARTH, PLEASE.] So we had to stop supporting the oldest OSX version. [AND SINCE I USE SNOW LEOPARD ON ONE OF MY MACHINES, ANOTHER REASON TO LOSE INTEREST IN WUNDERLIST.]
All best, [YOU TOO DUDE AND GOOD LUCK IN DOTCOM ERA VERSION 2.0]
Company rep (name changed to protect the innocent)
Worst-writer commends 6Wunderkinder for responding to my email. But their response is clearly a slap and that if I want to use their software I have to follow their lead. Indeed. Small Berlin start up has learned well from the arrogance of the Apple Eco system but probably hasn’t learned anything from Dotcom boom version 1.0. What they should have done is simply responded with a “thank you” or, maybe, something like: “we take seriously what people think of our software…”.
I’m so shocked that there is no Wiki page on 6Wunderkinder that I’ve included the screenshots from my wiki search. Click pics for larger version. Again. As of the date of this post, they’ve removed their existence from Wikipedia. ???
Rant on.
-tgs-
The drums of war beating again? Or maybe they’ve never stopped. Or. Maybe it was never meant to be any other way than to live by the murderous sword of death for hegemony. Who knows. Wait. Maybe there are those who do know.
“If every problem you have is a hammer than everything has to look like a nail.” -Wesley Clark
Unless, of course, you’re worst-writer. Then all you have to do is go about life as though nothing ever really happens because it’s all been planned. What a luxury, eh? I mean, I could spend the rest of my days galavanting around Eurowasteland or North Africa or Mars and never once reach a moment of zen or the like. All there really is is a worst-word written or correct-word missed and those who run the show on account we’ve let them do it. And so. Why should I or anyone wrack a brain cell or three around all this war mongering? Between the 50th anniversary of MLK’s speech and mediocre Barry Obama doing his thing of trying to represent those who elected him, well, there’s not much to be said about it all on account it’s been planned. Wait. Did I say that already? Nomatter. Which means it’s time to order another sassafras tea and some pistachio ice cream and go about the business of being stupid or hunting moose in Arizona.
Rant on.
-tgs-
Everything will not be ok, dear worst-reader. But that doesn’t matter. In the immediate short term, the thinkers among us can rejoice that for at least a few seconds the world might be(come) a place lacking in corporate American’t dysfunction as Steve Ballmer decides to… finally get the *uck out of the way. You know, it would also be a great thing if all the baby-boomers would also get the #uck out of the way. That would mean, finally, the problems that are plaguing everything, the cause of life-ills in general these days, could be addressed. But then again. Maybe not. But there always is wishful thinking, eh. And. Remember. The west is now a place where perpetual infantilism is our newest disease that will graciously and profitably be addressed with pharmaceuticals and whatever other addictions we can attain. But seriously. Since boomers only procreated and never really raised their grapefruit children, there’s not much available to take the reigns but a bunch whacked-out perpetual adolescents. Oh well. Again. At least for a few seconds as Ballmer FINALLY gets the fuck out of the way and takes his billions with him we can rejoice. Now if only Larry Ellison would do the same. Say, who else should be on the get the ?uck out of the way list? Steve Jobs? Oh, he’s already gone. Nomatter.
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Rant on.
-tgs-
Ever watch a crescent moon change? Sometimes you can actually watch the crescent change until daylight gets in the way. All you have to do is put down that drink or joint for about 2 hours and remain there on your back while the bugs crawl from the grass onto your neck and behind you ear lobs. Eventually the shadow of the celestial body will change. It’s slow but it’s cool. The thing I recall witnessing while doing this several times in this worthless, useless, worst-life, is that I always see the shadow on the moon decreasing. I can’t remember ever watching it increase. Or do I have that backwards on account of being on the earth’s northern hemisphere? Nomatter. My point is…
TYT and Cenk Uygur are at it again. Not unlike the futility of wishing for a change in lunar phases, Cenk is barking up a tree in search of leafs at the end of fall. Wait. I should stick with my previous failed metaphor of crescent moon shadows, eh? Nomatter. Once again TYT explains to his audience the joys of American’t corrupt politics. I reckon what he says is informative, if you’re twenty-something and wondering why things are so shitty and your life is gearing up for the luxury of debtor’s prison. And that’s all fine and good. But what irks me about Cenk is how he always fails to provide his listeners a solution. Hence he’s becoming more and more just another media talking-head. But have no fear, dear worst-reader. Since Cenk can’t provide you solutions, I reckon I will. So here it goes…
Just kidding. The solution is quite complex and I don’t feel like writing a bullshit manifesto here. But to keep things short, the reason American’t is so fucked up these days, is because of Americans. That’s it. As Americans we’ve voted our emotions for the last half-century, we’ve suspended all critical thinking and we’ve blissfully subjected ourselves to the god of $$$. So there’s your solution. Or maybe not. Now go buy something and all will be well.
Rant on.
Tommi
The first protest I ever experienced in Eurowasteland goes back to circa 1986. Was visiting Germanian and happened across a demonstration. Not sure what they were demonstrating against but it really doesn’t matter. After that I found myself seeking out these protests more and more. Reason? What a great way to pick up armpit hairy Euro-chicks. I mean, seriously, I was overwhelmed with milky skinned Fraüleins who would put out at the snap of a confident finger and a male attitude that was opposite of the Germanin mutter-boys they usually had to deal with. No wonder so many girls lost their virginity to southern Euro boys, eh. Nomatter.
So, like, what are people protesting now? Ah, the NSA and the breeching of collective society privacy. Reading through this morns articles on the subject certainly brings back memories. Heck, even some of the girls still wear the same shit they wore a quarter century ago. And all that skin during summer protests is still so milky. The only real difference to so long ago is that now they shave them armpits. What a shame, eh. But I really need to move on.
Here’s the thing. Why is it Germanins come out to protest when they hear that the NSA is spying on them but they don’t do it when their own government has been spying on them their whole lives? Or are Germanins naive enough to believe that their beloved Wohnmeldepflicht (compulsory residence registration) represents something more than just informing beloved Staat where they are getting laid? (Btw, I have seen the dossiers that follow individuals around in this country when they move from one place to another. For someone raised in America, it is a shocking sight.) And what about the way the state requires that Das Volk pay their taxes? Ever cross anyone’s mind that that too is a form of spying? But a more poignant example of how government has been spying on citizens is best found in the fallacy of digital copyright infringement. Why is it that for years certain venal lawyers were able to scam thousands of Germans for exorbitant amounts of cash by accessing their online activity, without permission, in search of “illegal” downloads? That’s right, baby. Private organisations, hell bent on profits and scorn, have vigorously cashed-out because they could easily spy on people who use the Interwebnets.
So here’s the thing protestors. The deal between the NSA and the Germanin government ain’t about you or your silly privacy. That information is already available because you are too preoccupied with a good-time and your fucking beer-halls and having finally figured out how to shave your armpits. But if you insist on protesting — because it fills the boredom — then why don’t you protest the real reason for the NSA. Which means you’ll be protesting against their spying on your corporations, your industry and the various institutions that make up the bureaucratic hell that is Eurowasteland which has given you the gift that keeps on giving: austerity and pacifism.
Protest mahlzeit, motherfucker!
Links:
Rant on.
-tgs-
Is it fail upwards or is it trickle upwards? You know, the question that best represents where we are today in this dog eat ice cream but enjoy yourself anyway world? Wait. Or. Should the question be another question? Perhaps we should resort, dear worst-reader, to questions better fit for the norm? That is, let’s rephrase the question so that one can walk around a WalMart and ask: If everybody is a hoarder and everything is hoarded, what now? (Btw, wouldn’t you agree that a WalMart store is the perfect setting for such a question? Of course you would.)
Cenk at TYT really gets into it in the vid below. He explains how the beloved predatory capital dog has been abusing its owner. He explains in fairly simple terms (probably not simple enough to take to a Walmart shopping floor) how aluminium, oil and copper, as commodities, are being hoarded in order to manipulate prices. Now. This isn’t really anything new. For those not in the know, this type of top-of-the-heep behaviour is exactly what lead to the Boston Tea Party. And there’s the problem I have with how Cenk is doing this. People watching him might actually believe that what he says is something new, as though he found this out on his own, or with his TYT team. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m glad TYT and Cenk are doing what they’re doing. Except for one very important thing. By only telling Das Volk about the robbers won’t change the ways of those who don’t think they are being robbed. (And get this: those who are ignorant to being robbed, don’t care. Why? They want to become robbers. Now pack that in your suitcase and use it to figure out why so many Americans vote conservative.) And that holds true even if American’ts could save a measly $10 dollars with every tank full of gas. I wonder at times if Cenk is aware that he’s preaching to the minority or majority blissfully ignorant choir?
Oh. And something worst-else. By explaining and thereby simplifying this level of complexity to an audience that probably only knows how to consume-to-survive, he focuses on the wrong thing. It’s not the activity of the power-that-be that is the sole problem. In fact, he is deliberately missing the root of the problem by doing that (otherwise he wouldn’t have an audience). So let’s return to the idear of hoarding. Hoarding is what predatory capitalism has to resort to now that the western world’s industrial base has been eroded to the point of no return. And the irony is, hoarding is exactly what every individual has to resort to in order to consume-to-survive. And it’s not just the material that is hoarded. People hoard their work-cubicles, their cars and gadgets, their extended commutes to jobs they have only because thousands of others can’t have a job. Etc., etc. And so. It’s not just aluminium, oil, copper, banks and governments that are hoarding. Everyone is doing it in every aspect of life. “It’s mine! Not Yours!” And it’s game over for the dream. So it’s time to wake up. Go thank your baby-boomer parents for that. Now come down off your high horse. Better yet. Pick something to report about that the WalMart crowd can change first cause untill krapp like that changes it remains game-over.
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Vid:
Rant on.
-tgs-