Bye-bye 2020 II...

 

Note to Everybody

Inspired by Tam's post Copypasta from my Bookface wall...

Go ahead and unfriend me.

The only way I am going back to Facebook is if they change their rules to let one post using a pseudonym with your "legal ID" not publicly available, and not searchable, without a warrant.

I'd even be willing to pay a double sawbuck (that's a Jackson for you kids, AKA an Irony Note, until Harriet replaces Andy, at which time it will be a Freedom Note, I guess) per annum for the service.

Facebook can be a useful way to stay in touch with family and friends; people evacuating from Hurricane Harvey only need a couple of minutes to post to their wall "Safe in Dallas, more later" and everyone will know they made it out OK.

Google+ could do that much, too, and anyone who has an Android phone has a Google+ account by virtue of having an Android, AKA GMail, AKA Google, account. And Google+ does not demand you post your legal ID anywhere. (Ask me how I know...)

But Zuckerberg et. al. are more interested in making piles of money and in manipulating society than in providing a simple service that people would actually like.

So feel no guilt at all about trimming your friends list by one there.

BTW, I'm still on Twitter, as of this week. Not real active, compared to some, but posting a link to the blog posts will (or used to) cross-post to Facebook, and occasionally some SJW does or says something stupid...

AAR, Great Eclipse of 2017

So, Drang, how was it?
Beats me.

Whaddaya mean, you're in the Pacific Northwest, totality, man!

Yeah, I'm 200 miles north of the totality zone, and, it was overcast this morning, and in my 'hood it was foggy.

It was light out, it got darker, and then it was light again.

Then the fog and the clouds cleared, and the sky turned that funky bloo color people are always on about. Plus, Yellow Sky Demon was still there.

So did anyone go blind?

Don't know yet. There were sure a lot of [people standing on sidewalks  staring at the clouds through cameras and things, so... maybe?

The Boss gave me crap when I posted the third "Eclipse Safety" briefing on the intranet last week; I pointed out that he might thank me when some idiot filed for disability after going blind.

Mean To Be Nice

This post at Instapundit led me to this article: The Real Motivation Behind the Left’s "Niceness" - Acculturated

It might be difficult to believe in the wake of the recent election, but if there is a guiding principle to today’s left-leaning bourgeoisie, it is niceness. The votes of this group depend largely on which party is seen as being nicer to those most in need. Being nice to minorities, women, the disabled, gay people, poor people and illegal immigrants is of paramount importance.

But what if niceness is not just vague but destructive? What if niceness is just an excuse for selfishness? What if being nice to groups seen as marginalized is actually hurting them?

These thoughts arise from an argument made by Peter Augustine Lawler, a professor of government at Berry College, in the new edition of National Affairs. Lawler sees the Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton contest as in large part a tale of the brutish against the nice. Many a Clinton voter would enthusiastically agree. But while the dangers of brutish thinking are obvious, Lawler points out that there is also good reason for niceness to be rejected by Americans in large parts of the country.

Niceness isn’t really a virtue, Lawler says. It’s more of a cop-out, a moral shrug. “A nice person won’t fight for you,” he points out. “A nice person isn’t animated by love or honor or God. Niceness, if you think about it, is the most selfish of virtues, one, as Tocqueville noticed, rooted in a deep indifference to the well-being of others.” Trump’s lack of niceness, so horrifying to Clinton voters, registered to his acolytes as a willingness to fight for what’s good, particularly American jobs and American culture.

The "nice" person may not be declining to express an opinion because of a reluctance to offend.

His reluctance to take a side may not in fact be because he is trying to see all sides.

Maybe he just doesn't give a shit.

Now I'm debating getting a t-shirt that says "Asshole because I care."

Well... darn!

I have mentioned the local beer store, 99 Bottles, a couple of times.
The Clue Meter: Breakfast of Champs
The Clue Meter: Kudos!

Plus, a lot of the beer I've mentioned was purchased there. They introduced me to the concept of buying a growler and taking it home.

I started wondering if they could last when you started being able to buy craft and micro brews at the local Safeway.

Then we voted to get the state out of the booze business (sort of: that thumb is still on the scale, covertly), and booze super store opened on town, and the writing was on the wall.

So the latest "Weekly Brews" email newsletter announced that they are closing the doors forever on  December 10th, and they are selling everything.

Damn it.

Farewell to Facebook

or: Goodbye to all that.

Drang's Statement of Principles

Those of you who have been following these scribblings may recall seeing last June that I posted a post called Attention, Facebook Friends!, in which I explained that Facebook was telling me that, in order to access my account there, I would have to provide them with scans of government issued photo ID, or certain acceptable alternatives.

I used that post to tell Facebook what it could do with that idea.

Facebook is a private firm, it can set the requirements for use of it's services at whatever they want to.  The thing to remember is that, as Chris Byrne says,

If you're not paying for the product you ARE the product.

It's free, they make a shit-ton of money off of advertising and selling the members information.

I get it.

I also know that my business is my business.

Among other things I see people at work get all worked up about so-and-so said this or did that. I don't want those loons looking me up and sending me friends requests.

I've also heard too many accounts of those oh-so-tolerant, freedom loving clowns on the left "doxing" someone for something that was said on the Internet; while I have no illusions that this account could not be traced back to me, I want to make it as hard as possible.

(Note that the first purpose listed in that Wiki article for "doxing" is to "aid law enforcement", which is a crock; it's usually some commie posting the address of someone who has the temerity to disagree with them...)

And, I dunno, maybe my background as a Secret Squirrel/MI Geek had something to do with it.

Now when I set that account up I honestly don't remember seeing something that said "Account must be in your legal name", although I was vaguely aware that that was the policy. Maybe I didn't look hard enough. Maybe I ass-you-me'd that a well-established Internet presence, including a moderately successful blog, would count. I dunno.

I don't care.

It's hard enough maintaining Personal Security in the modern age as it is, I am just not comfortable with the idea of handing over copies of ID to some faceless strangers. Barn-door late, of course, considering that my own government hired a bunch of ChiComs to set up the Personnel Database, and now Beijing has access to my and my wife's data, but just because the horse is gone is no reason to open the pig pen up, too, to coin a phrase.

(So, Zuckerburg goes jogging in Beijing to prove it's not all that unhealthy in an effort to get the Chinese to open up to Facebook...
(Seeking Access to Facebook in China, Zuckerberg Courts Risks - The New York Times)

So last week I clicked on a link to an article that someone posted to their Facebook page, and while there just for shits and giggles I clicked on the "Log In" button, and it worked. Cool.

It was cool because, in the 9 months or so since I lost access, a bunch of people have migrated away from other venues where I could interact with them regularly, and were hanging out on Facebook. I didn't even notice it, because I could just go to Facebook and talk to Tam about her latest blog post, for example, or hang out with The Cool Kids in a Facebook Group. Since I'd never even been invited to be one of the Cool Kids before, it was... Cool.

But.

My business is my business.

My information is my information, my identity is my business, and if I tell you my name is "D.W. Drang", you can damned well like it or leave it.

Yes, I'm aware of the irony, considering that Facebook is telling me "All your data are belong to us, like it or leave it."

When I was able to get back in I thought perhaps they had relaxed the policy a bit. Maybe I could have the account in my legal name and have that private, all anyone would see would be my "nickname."

Nope.  You can have a nickname, but it will be displayed right next to your legal name.

And, yes, I can make a Facebook page for the blog, but it must be associated with a legal name, which will be visible to anyone looking at the blog's page. they said I have until March 22^nd to send them the goods.

UPDATE: And I forgot to mention that, when I got back in last week, Facebook said I have until March 22^nd to upload the goods.

So, no.

Repeat after me:

My business is my business.

My information is my business.

My identity is my business.

Merry Christmas!

For everyone who is deployed now, for everyone who has been deployed over the Christmas Holidays, and for those whose family members are or were ever deployed over the holidays, too.

Also for everyone who is working today...

Well,that's annoying

Desktop was upgrading to Windows 10 as I left for work today.

Apparently, the upgrade went fine, except that, when we open Outlook now, any emails that had been left in an inbox (instead of being moved to a folder) have disappeared.

I can see the folders for the individual accounts in Windows Explorer, but Outlook says there are no emails for any of the .MSN accounts.(GMail, yes; MSN, no.)

Grr.

Found my candidate

With a hat-tip to Sebastian:

Sweet Meteor O'Death 2016

Seen on Twitter

These names are emblazoned on our hearts. pic.twitter.com/beOwVAVwn5

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 31, 2015

My response:

@HillaryClinton Do you have room in your heart for Ambassador Stevens Sean Smith Glen Doherty Tyrone Woods, too? #Benghazi

— Drang (@DWDrang) July 31, 2015

I am glad to note that most of the replys are along the lines of "If Trayvon had killed him, would you have had room in your heart for George?"

Overheard at work today...

"I identify as a Grouchy American, and I'm fed up with all you Smilists demanding that I adopt your lifestyle.

"Get off my lawn!"

What's the Gaelic for "Bah, humbug!"...?

{Once again, saved a draft of a post and forgot it. s*i*g*h. Tweeted this on Tuesday, 3/17...}

If someone wishes you Happy St. Patrick's Day, wish 'em Happy Ugly Cultural Stereotype Day right back!
— Drang (@DWDrang) March 17, 2015

Commie, please

Because Black Friday isn't already stressful enough for anyone who can't just stay at home, the folks who gave us this:

From VFTP: The Protocols of the Elders of WTF?
That's right, I'm outside of Seattle embedding a photo about idiots here from a blogpost written in Indianapolis.

also brought us this:Police: Seattle protester had cache of weapons in car, in which it was revealed that one of the Social Justice Warriors had a Taurus and a cheap Chicom knife on him, and a shotgun and semi-automatic rifle in his car. (But no carry permit.) Also a barbecue lighter and "powerful fireworks."  And some granola bars.

I'm surprised they didn't say he had an arsenal cached in his car, but I digress.

Today, we got this: Ferguson demonstrators march in Seattle | Seattle Times, in which it is revealed that the local Social Justice Warriors honored the memory of a young, um, urban entrepreneur, by assaulting police officers at the lighting of the Christmas Tree at Westlake Center, an upscale mall  in downtown Seattle*. Which also houses the northernmost station of the Link Light Rail, so, not only did they screw up folks' Christmas Shopping, they made it so they couldn't get home, because the mall and rail station were closed early.

This just capped off the day, as it seems that the protesters were using pepper spray and throwing fireworks in response to the SPD's use of pepperballs and flash bangs.  (Not sure about the efficacy of flash-bangs as a crowd control tool in daylight, but what do I know?)  Also, one or more other SJWs were arrested for assaulting a police officer, and at one point they chained the doors to another downtown mall shut, which I am sure violates the fire code, at the least.

Bu then there's this: Black Friday gets a little less frenzied, which had the un-ironic subtitle "Black Friday seemed a little less crazy this year."

*And site of the Gordon Biersch brewpub, where I had lunch with Barron and Janelle Barnett and Boyd Kneeland and Phil Murray after the No on I594 rally, and which is totally cool with Open Carry but"You might want to cover up because Mall Security was talking about barring anyone who was armed."

From the "Duh" file...

Failures in management led to ObamaCare website woes, investigation finds | Fox News


If I had more time to troll er, peruse news sites, I'd do a "Daily Duh."

Book Review, Popeye Edition

"Popeye edition" as in "I've had all I can stand, and I can stands no more!"

I've been plowing, no slogging, through Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism , by Peter Marshall.

The problems with my finishing this book are manifold, among them

1. It was written by a True Believer
2. Who assumes that the reader is one too
3. And has a knowledge of the philosophy of anarchism. 

Being at base a working class guy from Detroit I have little interest in or patience with philosophy, and I regard anyone who believes that all we need to do is get rid of government and private property and everyone will suddenly be nice to each other as an idiot.

Oh, and telling me that in your Cloud Cuckoo Land that I will be required to work--and by whom, pray tell?--but that I will not be allowed the fruits of my labor does less than nothing to endear your pipe dreams to me. In fact, I suspect that the source of these fantasies did, indeed, have it's origin in a opium pipe.

I also found it annoying that  the author uses "anarchism" and "libertarianism" and "socialism" as synonyms.

So, my actual review of the book can be summarized as "TL;DR."  Seriously, just over 700 pages of text, most of which was sound and fury signifying... well, it might have signified something to someone, but, as for me, it was words, words, words.  Maybe it gets better after page 320, which was about where I gave up.

If you finish it, let me know how it ends.

Whether you want it or not...

This one is all over the Intardt00bz:

Please accept with no obligation, implicit or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practised within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice, with total respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, and their choice not to practise religious or secular traditions at all.

Additionally,

A fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2014, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our society great, without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, sexual orientation, political disposition, country of origin and choice of smart phone, tablet device, gaming console, and computer platform of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and no responsibility for any unintended emotional stress these greetings may bring to those not caught up in the holiday spirit.

This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is either revocable or limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

This greeting void where prohibited by law.

Always a crowd-pleaser, that one. 

Or, as Michael Z. Williamson said recently on Facespace --apparently channeling Roger Zelazny:

May the god, goddess or other deity of your choice, or none at all, bless, curse or completely ignore you, as is appropriate to your belief system or lack of same, in accordance with your wishes, or theirs, or as blind chance may dictate.

First World Problems

Heck of a wind storm blowing, weather advisory says gusts to 60 MPH. Power went out for maybe 30 seconds. Now we have to reset the "Precise Fill" preferences on the refrigerator...

Not really feelin' it

So, this is the twelfth anniversary of the day on which a bunch of adherents of the alleged Religion of Peace decided to show their affection for their fellow man by flying several airplanes into some buildings.  Since then, despite wars and rumors of wars in several countries, sometimes it seems like we spend more time and effort reassuring each other that not all members of the alleged Religion of Peace are filthy savage murdering misogynistic goat humpers with aspirations of genocide, conveniently ignoring that all too few of them seem to be motivated to prove otherwise. 

I say this with the utmost respect for those who do.

Honestly, while I could easily post a tribute to those who died on 9/11, or defending our way of life since, maybe embed some Toby Keith or Stuck Mojo, I'd just as soon reflect on the fact that it's my wife's birthday.

Coinage

Exaltation of larks, murder of crows, clabber of cats... At work last week we decided that the proper word for a group of managers is a confusion.

This morning we realized that it also applies to a multitude of acronyms, especially when the idiots who run the Salt Mines -- AKA our own confusion of managers -- use the same letters in different order for two or more.

QOTD, Statist Edition

"When you relinquish the desire to control your future, you can have more happiness." 
Nicole Kidman

No doubt, true. 

Also no doubt, irrelevant.  (This may be a purely subjective opinion.)

And scary.