One year ago today: August 11, 2018, 40 years in metric.
Five years ago today: August 11, 2014, knocked out vs abandoned.
Nine years ago today: August 11, 2010, stupid people hate fences.
Random years ago today: August 11, 2009, contains an early “cloud” warning.
Not off to a great start today. The boys and I took a tour clockwise around the lake and got caught behind some fat broad. I don’t do fat broads and this one was particularly irksome. You want to hear this first thing in the morning? Okay, I’ll tell you. She cuts me off on the freeway, then dawdles down the off ramp. She blocks the road for two miles and turns into the same strip mall I want. The blocks both parking spots near the door, one with her fat ass, the other swinging her door open to ooze out from behind the wheel. Wait, there’s more.
Good thing I have this cheery video of the birthday last week. I made the boys some cooked food according to the recipe on the fridge. This change of diet has changed their personalities. You did not hear me say it, but these guys are spoiled. Ut-tut, when you have to call a dog to come get its food, the dog is spoiled. The [diet] change has been a month now, so it is more than novelty. What’s not changed is our sleeping habits. Eight hours, plus siesta, plus naps. Works for me. Meanwhile, any excuse for a party and it was the Reb's birthday. She's thousands of miles away, but we don't quibble about small details. Helium balloons.
Those helium balloons bring back a memory. I may have shared this with you, in fact I’m sure I did, but it bears repeating. The guy who took his little girl to the fair and she wanted a helium balloon. So he bought her the whole display and clipped it to her belt. As he turned back from paying, there she was, headed for the clouds. If you recall how they got her down, then tell me where I can view this story again. I vaguely recall she started drifting toward the Gulf of Mexico during a storm warning, and it was getting dark.
They found a retired sharpshooter, flew him past in an airplane and he shot the balloons one by one until she had a soft landing. I find quick thinking like this so impressive, I’m positive I’ve related this story several times.
Copper ore.
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Music. I’ve just today set up my rehearsal gear and look at this message I get. I mentioned there is only a gig this month on Labor Day, and that there is no scheduled practice. To cut the story short, there will now be some rehearsals because, I say, the gig will now be used to make promo videos. Hmmm, all this is beginning to take on some familiar aspects, wouldn’t you say?
This tips me off that the gig is low-paying and that means more than meets the ear. The guitarist is not going to be suspecting anything, the bassist usually would rather be someplace else, and with the right approach, I can get that set list adapted to some of my showcase tunes. No mention of where the marina is, but the best places are on the lake behind the dam. On your map, look for J. Percy Priest Lake. And keep your fingers crossed for me. These aren’t the circuit, but they are still prestige locations.
Speaking of lawyers, the article here y’day about the Cisco soft ware that limits user rights is a more serious matter than it appears. It could change the very definition of software. The recent right-to-repair laws show the courts favoring that purchasers can do, but a company like Cisco would have lawyers already tap-dancing all over that. They are not limiting the software, they are limiting the support in conjunction with making that support practically mandatory. And you can bet they’ve built in where and when that support is needed. There will be the usual screams that if you can’t sell it or fix it, you don’t own it. That makes sense.
But so does the concept that support cannot go on forever. The world is full of Cisco servers, all licensed. It is that licensing that is in question. Do you own something you only license? It depends on how it is sold. Most purchasers believe they bought and own the product, and that service is a separate arrangement. Cisco is essentially using service as a blunt instrument.
My opinion is the same as with Facebook. It is not against the law to take money from stupid people, as long as you are honest about it. This is the motto of every new business since 1991. Facebook was fine until they started, like Google, getting dishonest. Cisco called their action “Smart Licensing”. I’ll watch this development, because Cisco does not appear to have done anything wrong. You don’t have to when you are dealing with incredibly stupid customers. And I most certainly do not think the government has any business protecting stupid people.
Unfortunately, when the stupid people are banks, stock-brokers, savings & loans, politicians, police departments, insurance companies, and the money-printers, it becomes blurred which party is really the more stupid. I’m toying with posting one of the internal e-mails on this topic. To me, the concept of controlling software usage by seller-opinion is akin to the fiasco of digital copyright laws. At it’s worst, it trends toward Canadian-style tax provisions, where they embrace ex post facto principles. Seriously, if Canada cannot convict your for breaking a law, they have the right to go back and change that law. Look it up. But the part to which I refer is where it is against their law to even think or try to obey the law in your own favor instead of theirs. You have no say when they decide this, the decisions are not public.
In other words, they can quote the spirit of the law, but if you do, it’s off to prison. Ask Charles Vernon Meyer. Or Ernst Zundel.
ADDENDUM
I was out near a few marinas during the day. Here’s a sign near the south end of the lake, I like the verbiage. It’s “open” to the public, for a fee. There’s today’s example of millennial-think for you. If it’s open, why does it cost five dollars? That smells like “Internet-free” to me. Does the sign mean non-public members pay more, the same, or less? I’ve got this great idea for a coffee shop. It will be open to non-members for a $5 admission fee. I can already hear the hipsters wail, “Take my money!”
You know what I think? When Trump gets in next year, he should tackle the next biggest money-waster. Able-bodied people on welfare, and sister, if you can have kids, you are able-bodied. Of course, having to pay their own bills is going to be bitter medicine. But you know my theory. No matter how much they suffer, it is only a momentary sharp pain compared to the dull agony they thoughtlessly inflict on the taxpayer. In total both pains are identical, but the welfare case will still have an advantage—she knows her pain will end when she gets a job. This is not a recent thought, I’ve been against welfare since the first day I saw one of them. In fact, let me tell you about that.
The kid’s last name was Ridley. He had a nicer bicycle than anyone in school and he was a smart-ass little hoodlum. We would never think of letting him ride along with us. He’d failed a couple grades so he was bigger than us and one day he rode past us going up the hill and started spitting on us. One of our group called him a “welfare case”. The next day at school we were all disciplined (school was for real back then) and I found out what welfare was. I almost could not believe it. That some people got free money for not working. There was nothing wrong with the Ridleys except they did not like work.
The welfare rolls in America have expanded out of all recognition. Black teens list their career choice as becoming welfare queens. Now that there are lots of jobs opening up, Trump should see to it that the able-bodied cannot get any cash money from the government. We’ve gone from military-industrial to military-welfare in less than forty years, but there is still time to dismantle the welfare system. That includes sending the “social workers” home. Without pay. Some may ask what happens to these long-term welfare people when they get cut off? Since we are talking about the able-bodied, the answer is, “Who cares?
