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{ Category Archives } Rant

lawd amighty, I feel my temperature risin’

Suspension of suspension of belief

Is it too old-man-yelling-at-clouds to point out that just obvious stupid errors completely pull me out of the movie you are trying to get me to watch? Maybe Netflix doesn’t care, because it happens 15 minutes in, so it’s already counted as a view for their made-up numbers. To wit:   “Outside the Wire”: “How […]

Lisan al-Gaib

They think he is their Lisan al-Gaib, the mahdi, the one who will lead them to paradise. He wasn’t bred to be the Republican Bene Gesserit [1] Kwisatz Haderach; he arrived generations too early, before they were ready, and is not in their control. He lacks discipline [2], and he will bring the jihad. Reagan […]

password123

If you are the security admin, and the security software company that you’ve chosen tells you that the admin password is “companyname123”, and you continued anyway, maybe it’s not totally their fault that you got pwned.   Well, yeah, it’s totally their fault. But totally yours too. You saw this coming.

Movie theatres are taxis

Movie theatres are taxis.     Anyone with a lick of sense understands why the concept of taxis and taxi medallions came about. Let me explain it to you, in case you haven’t been to a major airport since Uber and seen in action, or had to hike out to the Uber/Lyft/taxi lot instead of […]

The roads must roll

In a past life, I worked on one of the first AI/ML/NN [1] processors for postal machines (also built one of the first CCD cameras for them, and one of the first NN ASICS [2]). The most impressive part wasn’t the handwriting recognition (which wasn’t at that time any better than the hand-built emperically determined […]

Everything Jared Diamond told me was wrong.

I’ve been listening to a bunch of, well, I’m not sure what you’d call them. History, archeology, anthropology? Podcasts. That’s what I’ve been listening to [1]. Anything that’s not about today. And what I’ve learnt, from people who seem to be knowledgeable experts in their fields, is that all that time I spend reading Jared […]

Exchange and the things people will believe

Why does Exchange show me the whole of the last month during the last week of the month, instead of this week, and the next month? Does anyone care what happened in the past month, versus what’s going to happen next month? I want to know what’s coming up. In a related note, I had […]

RBG

Obama went to her when she was 77, and made the proposition that she should retire, and let him appoint someone younger in her place, because who knows what the future holds, and 77 years old and 20 years on the court is long enough. She replied “Who would you rather have on the court […]

Voicemail

I counted the other day. In 11 months, my personal phone had the following : 67 spam, mostly car warranty (my cars are 18 and 36 years old) home warranty (107 years) roof repair (10 years into a 30-year warranty) 10 real – mostly from the vet or doctor That’s why I never never never […]

This is why I don’t buy 5.10 anymore

This is every pair of 5.10 approach shoes I’ve ever owned (except the size 12 Daescents which turned out to be really size 11, and haven’t gotten worn much). The big wall boots (two pairs), the guide shoes (several pairs), half a dozen different pair. All delaminate unexpectedly at some point when you are five […]

Did you?

Xeriscaping

Xeriscaping just turned out to be an excuse to let weeds grow, or the dust blow, without guilt.

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Renewal

I unsubscribed because of this [1]. When Netflix gave us the option to turn it off, I figured I should resubscribe.     [1] Well, not just because of this. There’s also the whole annoying Popular Movies is just We Think You Might Like reordered is just Recommended For You reordered is just really all Netflix […]

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Chevy is the BMW of the US

When did Chevy drivers become such assholes? I’ve often stated that when you see a BMW, you’re about to see a dick move, but holy cow, BWMs just cut you off without signaling. Chevy Cruze drivers are actively hostile. Maybe it’s just because they’re driving such POS’s. Also Malibus.

TJs

It is a truth universally acknowledged that whatever else Trader Joe’s is good at, their salad dressings (and srichacha) are crap. The pico de gallo is ok though. The hot is not hot, so I can’t imagine what the mild tastes like – sugar? Not as good as Von’s store brand, but ok. It goes […]

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