Yep, that's what I thought would happen

Turned off CAPTCHA yesterday because it pisses me off to no end (oh how I hate thee!  Begone from the world, blurry and random letters!) and today got my first real spam in a looooong time, a bunch of links all in Cyrillic, which when I run through Google Translator, apparently are advertizing "women's bright colored motorcycle boots." 

For a company that does so many cool things, google sure is getting on my bad side awful quick...

Added:  Hilariously enough, right after I first wrote this, I got another spam... on this post.   Fail, Fail, FAIL.  And let me just point out again, in the past couple hours, the amount of spam I've gotten over the course of 2 years of blogging has doubled.  Is the hatred of CAPTCHA worth it? 

Did this just happen to anyone else?

My fancy smartypants phone just gave me the notification (three times, no less) that there was a test of some sort of Emergency Alert System.  Digging into the settings it appears that there are four levels that it does, from AMBER Alert to Presidential Alert, and "Do you want to receive alerts in the future?"  Do I want to be able to listen to communications from my dear old Uncle Sam in the future?  I pressed no; it's freaky enough that there's a built in GPS, I don't think I could handle getting information from them to go along with whatever they're getting from me. 

Communication is a two way street, sure... but what if I just want to be left alone? Despite having this droid for over a year, I'm still not sold on the whole thing.

A question

What's the proper response when a retail outlet (cough CABELA'S cough!) asks for your phone number before every transaction, cash, credit, or even things--like ammo--that are non-returnable? Why do they need it?  Why should I give it to them?

My response is to make one up off the top of my head, but I was thinking something like memorizing their manager's number, or maybe the number of the city police.  Or maybe you could look up from your texting and say "I don't have a phone" totally serious and look back down.

A sad thought for the day

Butch pointed me towards GEMTECH's website (he's trying to goad me into buying a .22 suppressor), and looking at their map, I am saddened once again by how fuddish my town is.  130,000 people, and ONE real shooting range, which is not open to the public? Nowhere to rent a gun if you are shopping around? And no one dealing with silencers for miles around?  I mean, hell, Vail has a GEMTECH dealer, even!  For being such a Republican, "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition" type stronghold, I am very disappointed in the way things are.

And for today's commute...

...we have a rousing game of Pickup Truck Pinball!

Seriously people, SLOW DOWN.  If you go 5 mph faster than the speed limit, and I go 5 mph slower, we still get to the red light at the exit ramp at the same time!

Thoughts for the afternoon

Listen, buddy, it's not my fault you don't know how to use your cruise control. And lady, I know being an illiterate adult you won't read this message, but... surely someone explained to you at some point what those red octagons they put up at street corners are?

Thought for the day

Vote Mitt Romney--because 8 Republicans can't be wrong!

Oh dear

I was somewhat looking forward to seeing Red Tails when it comes out (about the Tuskegee Airmen in WWII), but I saw a trailer for it on the TV yesterday that had a Dubstep soundtrack.

Look, I like dubstep as much as the next guy, but there is a line that was crossed there.  I'm not saying my entire collection of hopes and dreams was shattered, but it was dented a bit.

New Year

I refuse to say "Happy." There is absolutely no evidence to suggest 2012 is going to be anything but worse than 2011.

Slip Slidin' Your Life Away

So yeah, it snowed last night, enough to to stick, and I had to choose between driving to work on the interstate, which involved higher velocities than through town, or the town way, which was slower but would have more traffic, stopping and going, and potential for sliding into others. Chose interstate, and got here ok, despite the best efforts of all those people who just don't get what black ice is. Saw several people on the side of the road, backwards and/or bent, looking perplexed at their vehicles, as if to say "What, you mean my mother was WRONG when she told me that I was a good, rational human being?"

Here's some hints: If you can see the reflection of the headlights on the road though the skiffs of snow, that means THERE IS ICE. If you can feel your car shimmy and shake a little bit, not only is there ice, but YOU ARE GOING TOO FAST. And for the love of all that is good and holy in this world, please, PLEASE turn on your headlights. Believe me, not only is your life, as idiotic as it is, worth the $10 to replace a headlight bulb if you are worried about burning one out, but MY LIFE IS WORTH IT TOO. I know I've said it before, but here it is again: "I don't care if your goal in life is to die screaming in a fire, as long as you don't take me with you."

Hopelessness in 3D

Alternative title: "...and that's why I hate Statistics."

british Climate Change fear mongers moving on?

"Well, at least we'll be able to grow more crops if it's warmer," they say. 

Is this stage of the narrative "bargaining" or "acceptance"?

Crap.

Now they've changed the Youtube interface as well. 

CURSE YOU GOOGLE AND YOUR INFERNAL MEDDLING! KILL IT WITH FIRE!



I'm going to have to start clicking on the "Report a bug" button on the bottom of all the pages and just say "google".

You got an hour? Cry Wolf.

Here's an interesting documentary by a first-time young film maker, detailing the story of the wolf in MT and Yellowstone.

As always, there is more to the story than what the government and its agents tell you on the national geographic.

From a friend in MT, who sent it to me saying:

"It is a rare occasion that I find something of value on the internet worth passing on.

When you have an hour, you should watch this movie made by a local Montana kid. You can watch it for free on his website, or you can buy the dvd and support a local.

Most of you whom I am sending this to I think already know a lot about the impact wolves have had on the western states. Some of you I am sending this to will think I am a right wing conspiracy nut. I really don't care."

Word.

I would have to say that this video is heavily biased in the other direction, and some might not care for the Christian theological arguments at the end, but that doesn't mean it should automatically ignored. The points that interested me the most were that Yellowstone was not the natural habitat of the wolves in the first place, and that Fish and Wildlife used money (the guy in the documentary says "stole") that was supposed to go to the states via the Pittman-Robertson Act to fund the Wolf project.

Pretty good for a first time documentary.

The Truth About...

Looks like Robert "Don't Be A Dick" Farago is up to his old shenanigans again, this time with the very artwork that I made for Weer'd's blog header.  Just thought that this would be a good time to explain that the very first time I went to Da Trut' Abou' Whatev, I saw that the writer was saying "If you don't have proper training you shouldn't be allowed to carry a gun" and "We attempt to examine the gun issue from a fair central position" or somesuch, two things that, even in my nascent gun state, raised red flags and warning signs. The writer seemed, to me, anyway, to be trying to pander to all sides.

[As an aside, and in case you weren't aware, "gun issues" are not something that can be compromised on. There is no "agree to disagree."  The anti-rights cultists want to be able to control you.  Your firearms are what keep them scared--I was going to say "honest," but it has been shown time and time again that they are anything but.  And when you consider that most cases of countries governments enacting gun control of various sorts inevitably led to the genocide of millions of people (pdf warning), do you really want to even start down that road?  And pandering in general just proves that you are only there to get attention, and calls into question your credibility.]

In any case, nowadays I make very sure to carefully check every link before I click on it in case it goes back to that attention whore's website.  If on a google search I am looking for information on a particular firearm and see that TTAG is one of the websites with a review, I make a pointed effort to ignore it.  After all, the Gun Blog Black List came into being directly as a result of ol' Robert Farwhatsit, and what's the use of a black list if you ignore it's basic tenant?

Stupid Headlines

Seen in the newspaper:

"Case of Whitehouse Shooting is Rare"

No. Shit. Sherlock. Thank you, Captain Obvious.

Why do I read the paper, again? I mean, I don't even have a birdcage to line!

I hate my brain

The past two days I have had, in no particular order, and for no particular reason, the following songs stuck in my head:

Jingle Bells
Frosty the Snowman
Jingle Bell Rock
The 12 Days of Christmas

and

A Few of My Favorite Things (since when did this stupid thing become a Christmas song, anyway?)

I don't know why this has happened to me. I'm not frequenting locales which play Christmas music.  There hasn't been any snow to peak my subconscious.   IT'S NOT EVEN THANKSGIVING YET.

All I know is that if I keep this up, soon I'm going to be curled in the fetal position in a corner,  rocking slowly back and forth, and quietly sobbing, going slowly insane.

Better find some screamo death metal or something to detox this scourge out of my system.

Typical Government Effectiveness: an Analogy

So at work I've been using a free program made by the Army Corps of Engineers, a super-duper double-effective government bureaucracy if ever there was one.  This program, called HECRAS, is sort of a standard in the industry,  apparently, used for analyzing river hydraulics.

Let me just say that this program is the perfect representation of our government.  It works, marginally, at what it was designed for, but is so incredibly frustrating for a person to work with that you often want to throw your computer across the room.  The provided documentation is extensive, yet hard to understand, and seems to leave out a few key points for basic functions.  The user interface leaves something to be desired, and, the best indicator of all that this program was designed by a government bureaucracy, THERE IS NO UNDO BUTTON.

Who else would  make a computer program that deals with hundreds of cross sections, each of which having hundreds of points, where if you screw up and delete the wrong point you can't undo it?  Only something that has never met an agency it couldn't grow, and doesn't know the meaning of the word "cutback".

Quote to start out the week

In light of all the presidential shenanigans (on both sides of the aisle of our current government of tyrannic bureaucratic fiat), of which I am starting to turn decidedly apathetic, I present to you without further delay or explanation, a quote attributed to John Quincy Adams:

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."

In other words, I'll vote for Mickey Mouse before I plug my nose and vote for another R-stamped John McCain singalong pal.

The Marriott Casa Monica Hotel in St. Augustine is run by unpatriotic jerks

Sometimes, the internet is great. Like now. Go and read about this hotel, and why you shouldn't stay there.