Tuesday, May 13, 2014

FoxNews is Killing America

There’s an old saying, United We Stand, Divided we fall.
Foxnews is the ultimate divisor.  Every single front page top line story is dedicated to smearing Democrats.  Now, weather the story is true or exaggerated the purpose is whipping up the loyalist base in frenzy for some half brained attempt to sway public opinion against Democrats.  Perusing the commentary is like listening to a kindergarteners arguments closing debates with the bastardized term ‘LIBS!’. No real substance, just expletives.  Now I’ve read somewhere that using FoxNews as your only source of information makes you stupid…though I would argue the stupidity is within those who seek FoxNews as their sole information regime.
Since the purpose of FoxNews is to divide, and divided we fall, the simple purpose of Foxnews is the downfall of America.  Spread distrust, don’t work together, spread FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt), create enemies within the American people and win political offices at any cost.
No wonder the US has slipped to 33 for infant mortality, 26 in education, 46th in freedom of the press.

Congratulations fox, well done..

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Tim Armstrong – AOL’s mega rich corporate greedmeister.


AOL decided to stop matching 401K contributions.

Why?  Tim claimed 2 women had babies that cost $1million each.  He said the cost of Obama care is $7.1 million and he needs to pass the pain onto the company.

It needs to be noted that Tim's 'compensation' went from $3.2M in 2011 to $12.07M in 2012.

That’s right.  His raise $9million dollar raise exceed the so called Obamacare increase by $2million dollars.  Anybody wanna try and blame the babies now?  Or should I ask, who's the baby?

This douche bag is just another example of corporate greed run amok. The rich 1% continue to pull right from the mouths of workers.  Nothing more, nothing less.
Keep your minds open and your wallets closed

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Linux failed the desktop

The looming end of life for Windows XP on April 8th has me re-evaluating my computing OS situation.  I have an HP tc440 note book – it has the flipping / rotating screen with a full keyboard and touchscreen.  I find it the perfect footprint.  It does unfortunately run Xp. 

I am a techie by trade. I’ve run/installed/supported a Linux farm at the office for almost a decade (debian).  At home I ran Ubuntu desktop on ‘the kids’ computer because I got tired of the monthly format and reload required to clear non-stop virus infestations on Windows machines. End point security didn’t really seem to matter.  Several pre-teen’s / teens using a computer ensured regular infections. Using Linux stopped infections.
I’ve run Unity for several years – on the kids pc – and I have to say, I hate it.  I refuse to use it for my personal PC.  In my desire to continue using my beloved HP, I tried Linux Mint. Since my HP doesn’t have a built in CD / DVD drive, I created a bootable flash drive with Mint and installed.  Pretty much everything worked, wireless, touchscreen… everything! I chose Mint because according to my research, Mint has the largest user community after Ubuntu…. And I won’t support the Unity abomination.

 However – there’s 3 annoying issues

1 – There’s a message on the screen before the GUI starts about invalid user.  From the research, this is a debian bug.  As far as I can tell, it doesn’t affect anything.  I’ll ignore it.
2 – There’s no support for Netflix?!?  This surprised me, as it would be similar problem with any version of Linux.   According to posts on the internet, this is because Netflix requires Microsoft Silverlight, which is not available on Linux.  I really, really have to say I don’t believe this at all.  I have Netflix on both my android phone and my iPad.  Both have a Linux connection.  There’s no excuse not to run Netflix. 
3- This is the killer -.  After the initial install of Linux Mint, I performed an update…. The update killed the OS.  No boot, just a brick.  I re-installed Mint and it worked, however I didn’t perform the update.
Issue number 2 makes the device unusable for the majority of my entertainment.  Issue number 3 makes the device just plain untrustworthy. 
Now I’m 50 years old.  As I said I’m a techie.  I’ve been a programmer by trade - longer than I want to think about.  I do network support, server support and mange a team.  I have kids, a wife, home interests.. I don’t have the time or patience to futz with computer problems.  When I was younger, I enjoyed the hack to make it work.  That was 20years ago.   Now it annoys me.  I just want it to work.
After 20 years of Linux development there needs to be some level of maturity.  It needs to just work without having to hack it for the casual user to accept it.   unfortunately, Linux doesn't pass that bar.
I’m done with Linux at home.  It’s nothing more than a toy for hackers who want to tweak.  For people who just want their stuff to work, stick with Microsoft of Apple.  Sorry.

Friday, January 24, 2014

More FOX Lies - FUD!

FoxNoNews continues it's bottom dwelling truth bending with another inaccurate story.
See the picture -  This was taken from the FRONT page of their propaganda website.
Notice the last few words 'going against the hospital'.




This is COMPLETELY FALSE.  The doctors completely agree the fetus is NOT VIABLE. However, due to knuckle dragging, back woods, ignorant, bible thumping legal process in Texas, removing life support to a brain dead pregnant woman is illegal.  That's right, Texas, the State that refuses abortions, then refuses to support unwanted children with any social programs removes choice from adults.

Kudos bone heads, kudos.

Maybe blatantly ignorant behavior like this may shine some light up the backwater rectum of the US - Texas.

Till then, keep your minds open, and your wallets closed.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Net Neutrality- The GOP legacy


A Federal Judge today overturned the FCC’s Net Neutrality rule. Looking over the FoxNew posts, comments are just exploding - calling everyone Liberals, screaming about excessive Government, and generally blaming Obama for, well, everything.

Let’s talk a minute to think about this.  First all, Net Neutrality is a Government rule dictating how companies can use their infrastructure.  It decrees that they have no control over data that happens to flow over their networks.  It's just flowing data and the company must remain 'neutral'.

Let’s say Google buys and ISP.  With net neutrality stripped away, Google is free to block traffic to or from Microsoft Bing, Yahoo or any other search engine that doesn’t provide revenue for the company or is in the company’s best interest or profitability.  Google is now free to decide how to use the infrastructure it has purchased to best benefit Google shareholders.  If that includes blocking cheaper prices from a competitive search engine, so be it – all the better for google.

Clearly, removing Net Neutrality is a pro-business, anti-government ruling.  It’s also the death of the free internet and the beginning of huge price spikes, it is the ultimate representation of corporate and market freedoms.  So GOP’ers.  Know what you’re actually advocating when you say It’s the fault of those ‘Libs’, when in reality is the Corporations that own you – and you handed yourselves to them.

Keep your minds open and your wallets closed.