Category: Random Thoughts

Put the Outrage where it Belongs

So, this story has been making the rounds: a worker at a Subway sandwich shop was allegedly fired because she left sick. More specifically, she went outside to puke some more and a worker at a nearby Pizza Hut noticed her, calling an ambulance on her behalf. Cue the outrage and petitions saying she should get her job back. As the article points out, Subway has a history of labor violations, so the story is plausible but not confirmed. Remember that the overwhelming majority of these shops are franchised.

Let’s assume that the allegations are true.

Sure, be outraged that this worker was fired for leaving her shift sick. Be outraged that American workers can’t afford to be sick, even on so-called days off.

But remember to be really outraged at the manager. Oh, not for firing a sick employee. Be outraged that he was willing to endanger the health of every employee and every customer of that store.

Justice would not simply be hiring that employee back. Justice would not even be firing that manager. Justice would be random weekly inspections by the local health department every freaking week until they are absolutely sure there will be no more problems. This would, by the way, send a message to every restaurant and fast food joint in town: don’t play games with customer safety.

In Closing: Aw no it’s time for some more NSA and terror related links; more reasons not to like that sportswear company with the three L’s in the name; the DEA somehow thinks FedEx can be responsible for knowing whether or not a package contains prescription medication for which there is no prescription; pretty much the conclusion I reached; funny how the news media refers to Hamas as “militants” when in fact they are the democratically elected government (and shame on the media that a freaking CARTOONIST has to point that out); but it makes a pretty scatterpoint graph; a couple Affordable Care Act links; and LEGO Beach.

Point, Counter-Point

Remember when we were told that only a good guy with a gun could stop a bad guy with a gun?

Last week, a good guy with a grain of common sense but no gun stopped a bad guy with a gun.

Yesterday, a good guy with a concealed carry license was killed by two cop-killing bad guys with guns. Instead of saving the day, he lost his life. Unfortunately this was local news for me. Oh and it’s off topic, but by the way? If you are ever trying to describe a northern section of Las Vegas, do not simply call it North Las Vegas. That’s someplace else.

Now that we’ve debunked that, what’s the real argument for carrying guns everywhere you go?

In Closing: Sure, we can serve up some more fun and interesting NSA, spying, and Snowden, and related links for you; can your smart TV be hacked?; a big leap for genetic engineering; another missive from the Duhpartment of Research; times have changed (or at least prices have); question everything; hope and change; and can anybody explain how these numbers are cost effective?

You mean news should be informative rather than just sensationalist?

As far as I am concerned, the mainstream TV news sources should be utterly and completely ashamed of themselves.

A new study shows that the most informed “news” watchers are not the ones watching CNN or Fox or even reading their local newspapers. The most informed consumers of news are the ones watching Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report.

Remember back in the 2004 elections? Presidential candidate and then Senator John Kerry went on Comedy Central’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart? He didn’t really do that well. Tucker Carlson wanted to rag on Jon Stewart for not asking hard enough questions, who said among other things “I didn’t realize — and maybe this explains quite a bit — that the news organizations look to Comedy Central for their cues on integrity. . . . If your idea of confronting me is that I don’t ask hard-hitting enough news questions, we’re in bad shape, fellows.” 

So here we are, a few months shy of a decade later, and Comedy Central is more than “Where more Americans get their news than probably should.” Comedy Central is in fact where the most informed Americans get their news. Stephen Colbert is doing a better job of explaining convoluted topics like campaign finance than any traditional news source, and that is a pity.

Maybe — just maybe — that’s why all the major news channels are seeing a drop in viewers.

In Closing: “Come on guys, you’re making us look like a bunch of morons“; Portland Japanese Gardens; 86 real Life Pro Tips with pictures!; a few random economy things; a few really random NSA and spying on Americans things; Thank heaven Radley isn’t working for HuffPo anymore (because now I can get a freaking feed that is just him rather than 102 things I don’t care about plus just try to find what he wrote — is HuffPo that desperate for readers?); the only reason I hope Senator Warren doesn’t run for President is that she’s too useful where she is; oh look, they noticed; antibiotic resistance; and the importance of good research methodology.

At the risk of saying something offensive…

Ok, let’s all take a deep breath. In case you don’t know what happened in Santa Barbara yesterday, start here. Like Comrade Misfit, I will not glorify this man above his victims by naming him. Other people have done some terrific commentary, and a few have really stuffed their feet into their mouths as far as they would go.

So let me start by getting a bit obnoxious here for just a moment: How big a jackass did he have to be to be a rich kid in a BMW who still couldn’t get a date? Ponder that for a few minutes.

But seriously, I’d like to talk to all those guys who have some sympathy for Creepy BMW Murderer Guy. You might learn something that might help you actually interact with females.

Nobody owes you sex. Certainly, no “hot chicks” owe you sex.  This may surprise you. Somebody wiser than me pointed out that the Declaration of Independence says your inalienable rights only include the right to pursue happiness, not to catch it.

Indeed, women are human beings. They have their own desires, thoughts, and ambitions which may or may not include sex with you. They are not life sized sex robots that only exist for your pleasure and fantasies (such things do exist, and if you can’t change your ways of thinking, we are all probably better off if you bought one). Again, this could be surprising.

You will probably find that if you treat women like human beings rather than sex robots, your chances of spending time with one increase. You know, like you’d treat a man. With respect. Maybe a little humility. Perhaps give a complement. There’s a little zen thing going on here: think about things other than sex and you might actually have a chance at getting it.

Finally, there’s a lot of finger pointing here. And of course we are going to hear about how we have to “have a serious conversation about gun control” by the time everybody gets back to work. Once again I’d like to point out that the problem wasn’t the gun, but rather a batshit crazy man with a gun. And sadder yet? The same rules that kept the cops from forcibly getting him psychiatric help are the rules that prevent you or I from ending up in the happy home with no way out.

In Closing: Washington; climate change; if car seats were like vaccines; another study says what most people knew; another study shows what some people surely suspected; okay, okay, the NSA; whatever works, Logan; gridlock; more truth; and 29 beautiful beach pictures.

It’s all in the Execution

Some things never change, I suppose. We’re still trying to find a “humane” way to kill another human being, and not doing so well.

There are really two valid arguments against the death penalty that most sensible people should agree have merit: first, it’s more expensive than life in prison (stick that in your conservative pipe and smoke it); second, mistakes happen. The spectre of racism is just icing on the unjust cake.

In Closing: alternate headlines; science fact; cause of death; creepy; the freakin NSA; Joe and Jane Average are getting the shaft, and some want to make it worse; and transitions.

Heartbleed Beat

Ok folks, you could drive yourself mad trying to figure out the whole Heartbleed thing, so let me round it up for you.

What the heck is Heartbleed (thanks, Adam), and what does it mean?

How is the NSA connected? Or are they? Or are you really gonna believe they’re not involved, come on! (Bonus NSA linkage for your browsing pleasure!!!)

Ok, so what should you do now?

In Closing: Stupid kid; I’m not sure how you understand Nakba without understanding Auschwitz; let the dead bury their dead; why was it ever allowed in the first place??; circumcision; Glucosamine; priorities; and college.

I know you’re out there somewhere.

I’m talking to the guy who decided to shoot at another motorist at a busy Vegas intersection during rush hour.

What the heck were you thinking? The cops still think it was probably a road rage thing: did he forget to signal? Maybe you were riding his freaking blind spot and he accidentally cut you off?

Maybe you thought you would just scare him. Well, he’ll never be scared again, because you killed him! Worse than that, he had two small children in the back seat. Thankfully, they were not hurt by your bullets — for pity sake, how many shots did you fire?? — nor by the subsequent crash into two other vehicles. That 2 year old boy and 3 year old girl got to watch their Daddy die. Somebody had to explain to their Mommy what had happened.

You gave no care to the fact that your bullets could have killed innocent people.

Those aren’t the only people you hurt that night either.  Thousands of motorists were detoured or otherwise delayed. Businesses were closed, their employees unpaid for hours they couldn’t work. Small sacrifices by comparison, but still.

You, sir, are a disgrace to gun owners. You obviously have anger management issues and no grasp of even the most basic gun safety rules. Asshats like you give ammunition to those who think we need more gun control laws, even though I think it’s a coin-flip whether you have yours legally. I don’t like the fact that people with as little judgement as you are in my community, perhaps even on the same road as me.

I know they’re going to find you. I don’t know where they’re going to find an unbiased jury.

In Closing: full of hot air and bacteria; and their kids pay the price; I’m only linking it because it’s correct; a variety of items on poverty, safety net programs and their impact, income inequality, corporate money stupidity; etc.; some bonus NSA links; they’ve got this backwards — Medicare [for All] can save the Affordable Care Act; everybody wins when kids can learn at their own pace; and the unsung hero of the medical device world.

I saw the news today, oh boy.

I made the mistake of watching my local noontime newscast. Here were the items covered before breaking for weather:

  • Yesterday’s school shooting!!! Complete with interview of distraught parents!!!
  • Benghazi!!! No, nothing new to report. Just Benghazi!!!
  • Firefighter pointing out what he thought was a deceased victim before the fire truck ran over her…. last year!!! New footage!!!
  • Identification of a snowboarder who unfortunately died on Mount Charleston (yesterday)
  • Kids set fire in vacant house (yesterday).
  • Late night shooting in North Las Vegas.
  • Sentencing delayed for the alleged pimp (who allegedly shot another pimp, causing him to crash into a taxi and burst into flames) on [unrelated] sexual assault charges. This is one of those cases that would make a better CSI script than the stuff they film sometimes.

Apparently, it is not newsworthy that:

  • Congress is working on an important budget bill (and congrats to the feds for having a $53,000,000,000 surplus in December!).
  • Germany may or may not be trying to negotiate a “no-spy” treaty with the United States.
  • 75 leading economists think our minimum wage workers deserve a raise.
  • Some men in Congress want to make women pay out of pocket for abortions regardless of whether they are medically necessary.
  • Anything whatsoever is going on about the NSA, the promised list of upcoming “reforms,” and the court cases involved.
  • There are stalled bills to restore food stamps and extended unemployment benefits.

I could go on this way for a while, but there’s no point. Apparently I’ve been watching News Lite: 25% less relevance. I wonder how it compares to original News as far as facts.

In Closing: antibacterial soap, West Virginia chemical, and just maybe if either of the political parties actually tried representing We The People, there wouldn’t be a record level of “independents“.

What does Google know about me?

I’ve been using Google well over a decade now. That’s how I learned that someone skilled and diligent can find out a surprising amount of information about almost anybody. Google therefore has a detailed history of my searches for as long as they actually keep data. This data is potentially available to law enforcement — maybe. It worries me that they might be tailoring search results to give users what are potentially biased links. This might contribute to various ideological “echo chambers” across the nation. Web history can be turned off in Google, and I recommend you use the settings to do so.

I use Gmail. It is very good at filtering spam, I can access it from computers other than my home computer easily, and emails arrive at my phone (more on that in a bit). Just by keeping track of senders and subject lines of emails, Google knows of several places I shop, what mailing lists I am subscribed to, that I receive some emails in Japanese, what sorts of political views and charities I am likely to support, that I have a Twitter account, that I have historically had an interest in real estate, and what colleges I have attended. Remember, they only know more if they are actually reading my email and analyzing it in any way. I’m not as worried as I probably ought to be about this, because my attitude is “Don’t put anything on the internet you wouldn’t read out loud to your mother, your boss, and a judge.” Hi mom!

Thanks to Google Calendar, they also know the rough outline of my schedule and the first names of friends I routinely meet for lunch. Services like Schedulicity are very good at syncing with Google Calendar, so the mothership also knows of certain service providers, how often I see them, and what services they perform for me.

Via Google+, they know of several people with whom I have personal, familial, or professional relationships.

I also use an Android phone. Here’s another way they know oodles about me. It syncs with all those services above, which is horribly convenient since I don’t have to carry a date book or sit at my computer; my phone has my calendar and contact information for people I know, and I can update things on the spot. My phone also has a GPS in it, and can inform me of weather or even how long it will take me to get home. Is this information relayed to the mothership? I must assume it does until proven otherwise. I have a bunch of apps on my phone, of course. The easiest way to get apps onto an Android phone is of course to get them through the Android store. Therefore Google has a very, very good idea what apps I have and am likely to be using, whether they are productivity apps or little time wasters.

If I used Blogger, they would know even more about me and my views!

And this is all information I have handed over more or less willingly. Even if they are not a CIA front, a surveillance minded government would be looking at how to mine that internet gold.

 

In Closing: I have a whole bunch of health and diet links today; a few random education links too; ok, here’s some NSA and privacy news, special up-is-down edition; Putin; pro-choice and pro-actual-life; that’s kinda what I thought; at least the White House got one thing right; sure sounds like an excuse to write more prescriptions and make more money to me; gravity and evolution are both theories; keep riding your Congressmouse’s butt on this and that; trolled; on wages and poverty; science fiction; snowplow parents; I doubt the Pope gives a hoot about the views of the “liberal media.”