E-Dribble

I’ve told you before that American cars were pieces of shit and the manufacturers didn’t deserve to prosper.  Someone with the same sentiment and more talent than I released this to the intardnet.

Buy our cars. Seriously. We need the money.

No, I’m not talking about our government.  It’s era will never end. I’m talking about my incompetence in regards to using linux as my desktop OS.

Last week, I began upgrading my work computer.  Still using Fedora 7, I was longing for app upgrades that were no longer coming.  I had tried F9, but found it such a step backwards, I kept the F7 install for another dev cycle.  I figured F10 was going to be my saving grace.

After over a week and over 50 support posts, I’ve got a working computer again.  Unfortunately, it’s running XP.  My head is still spinning from the whole process, but in the end, my desire to feed my family won out over open source zealotry.  Grub’s inability to work with my mainboard, X’s inability to create two independent desktops, PulseAudio’s crackling every time a window was minimized or maximized, and my continued 4 year attempt to get Samba to mount my network drives finally pissed me off enough to take such a drastic measure.

I have to admit, I’m fairly pissed about the whole affair, but comparing the two OS installs, I can’t really fault myself:

I’m so bummed about this, as there’s so many things I dislike about Windows XP. Linux had to work very hard to do it, but they finally succeeded in making the experience less pleasurable than Windows.

That’s no easy feat.

Regardless of whether it’s driven by loyalty, devotion, ignorance or stupidity, Microsoft has surpassed being synonymous with the desktop and has become the only desktop, much like Kleenex became the only tissue and coke took soda’s place.  Although we never get to choose our most vocal supporters and defenders, sometimes the worst possible choice floats to the surface and gets more exposure than you might like.

(continue reading…)

A couple of days ago, a comment was posted on one of the spam posts stating that they almost fell for it and thanking me for my service.

It was at that point I realized that I had unwittingly provided a service.  There is a market for smartass.  More importantly though I wondered – How secure is your future if the only thing standing between you and financial ruin is some pompous dipshit that amuses himself by replying to Nigerian scam artists?  Oh, and he’s located at the far corner of the intardnet.  The corner that doesn ‘t even get swept.

Seriously.  I wrote these and posted them completely to amuse myself.  As the comments and emails began building, I came to realize that I have single-handedly kept a roof over these peoples’ heads.

And do they pay me for my invaluable service?  No.  I’ve never even received one of those cute talking cards.  The way I figure it, they would have lost everything, had it not been for me.  For this incredible feat, I feel that I deserve at least half of what they own.

It’s 50% more than the Nigerian would have left them.

Not because they’re not trying.  Just because they’re being bred less competent.  Two teens in Tampa were arrested while trying to steal a cop car.  While the cops were still in it.

Within a couple generations, our collective level of intelligence may dip so low that we completely extinguish crime.

Last night at 1am:

This morning at 10am:

It’s the 550+ cut in msecs of latancy that is of special interest.

I feel as if I could cry.

Sam Walton would probably roll over in his coffin if it weren’t stuffed to the gills with money.

On Black Friday, a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death and a pregnant woman was driven to a miscarriage after a mob of hundreds broke the doors to get a chance to buy tampons and motor oil on the cheap.

Now, I’ve got to be honest here. As whole single entity, I don’t think much of the United States citizen. A very large percentage are fat, lazy, uneducated cry-babies with a misplaced sense of entitlement. Taking into account my  low opinion of the American citizen, you shouldn’t view this as a post concerning my surprise at this, just see it as a confirmation of my suspicions.

There’s no point in laying blame.  Every group or person that was part of this event did something they shouldn’t have done.  WalMart has put money over human life since Sam took a dirt nap. We’ve already established that the average consumer is a complete fucktard that can’t be trusted to value human life over discount suppositories.  Finally, I would have to say that if you’re making minimum wage working for a company that has made it’s billions exploiting the people inhabiting the globe, it’s probably not worth it to risk your life creating a human shield to block hundreds of previously established morons chanting “break down the doors”.

Target customers would have never stooped to this mentality.