Showing "Cred"

This from CNN, concerning how much "cred" the candidates have. Gotta love John Edwards response of "I was with Benazir Bhutto in Abu Dhabi in the Middle East just a few years ago. We spoke at the same conference..." Geez, John. That close? You know, I was with George W. Bush. Yes, my wife and I had dinner in DC just last week. And Dubya himself was in town parked at the White House. Our restaurant was just down the street. So, you know, my wife and I are, like, in. We, of course, couldn't help but stop in and give The Man himself some pointers on how he can not look like a complete ass.

I realize CNN couldn't help but finish the article by throwing a jab at Dubya. They ended by stating,

But ignorance of Pakistan's travails may not necessarily prove damaging to a candidate's political aspirations. In 1999, shortly after Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup, a Boston television reporter asked a U.S. presidential candidate if he could name the general in charge.

"A new Pakistani general has just been elected," the candidate responded, then corrected himself. "He's not elected. This guy took over office. He appears he's going to bring stability to the country, and I think that's good news for the subcontinent."

"And you can name him?" the reporter asked.

"General. I can name the general," the candidate said.
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"And it's?" the reporter pressed.

"General," said Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

Oh, you go, guys. Now, let me throw a hypothetical at you. Tomorrow, the head of the country of Yemen announces that they've killed Osama bin Laden and will be providing his body for confirmation to any country with interest. (I know, I know. Fat chance. But this is a hypothetical.) Okay, who would that person be?

Why All Big Companies Suck

I work for a big company. A VERY big company. And, frankly, it sucks. Don't know if its because of the example shown by the Bush administration (Ve must ave all power at ze top!) or what. But the amount of bullying we, the American people, are allowing is, well, bad. And getting worse.

My bitch today? I use Mathcad. A lot. And today it won't run. Don't know the reason. But when a piece of software, for which I've paid over one thousand dollars to have the rare privilege of running, doesn't work, what is the first thing most Internet-savvy people do? They go to that company's web site and look under "Support". When Mathsoft owned Mathcad, it was complicated enough. Mathsoft became a big company. And it was a pain. Log in, find the right forum, dig for the answer. It was truly annoying. Now, what happens when a big company gets bought out by an even bigger company? It becomes even more of a pain. Tell me this. Why does a person have to "log in" when looking for tech support? Is there some deep, dark secret waiting in the bowels of the support web site? Or, as I suspect, is it that the company wants to watch what you're looking for to figure out if you should be targeted better for ads? Of these two, which is more likely?

Okay, I've made my point that having to log in for tech support, again for a program for which I paid over a thousand dollars, is annoying. What's more annoying than that is when I have to re-sign up every time the company switches hands. Mathsoft was bought by PTC (whoever the *#*@&! they are). So, now, I have to re-sign up through PTC to gain access to their tech support, again for a program for which I paid over one THOUSAND dollars! (Are you getting a hint here that when the price goes over several weeks of income the support should go up accordingly?)

What a complete, total, utter crock.

UPDATE: It works now. No thanks to PTC (which obviously stands for "Pathetic Total Cockbreaths"), either. Turns out that they have a special licensing program running in the background. I thought that Paint Shop Pro had loaded that. Nope. It was Mathcad. I turned that licensing program off just yesterday. When I turned it back on, lo & behold! It works again! As for PTC, when I finally logged in, I discovered that I don't have the "privileges" to peruse the technical support! UFB!

Why Linux Will Never Be More Popular than Windows

I tried to jump on the Linux bandwagon. It's free and I had an older computer, a Linux CD, and I loaded the latter onto the former. Worked great. No problems. Loaded sans errors. All that did, however, was give me the basic operating system. Which means that I have a box that I can look at (using my video screen), move a mouse around on (using my mouse) and occasionally type away at (using my keyboard).

But I want my computer to do more than that. I actually want it to work. The first thing I did was to load OpenOffice. Think of OpenOffice as the open-source version of Microsoft Office. It has a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and database program. In the Windows environment, loading a new program simply involves locating the appropriate .exe file, double-clicking it with the mouse, and (typically) voila! It now works. Things aren't so simple in Linux. Loading things in Linux involve command lines ("sudo apt-get install X"), moving around directories, compiling, creating source code, the list seems is endless. When things don't work as they are supposed to, it can take days to work through the problem. The OpenOffice did load fairly quickly and (somewhat) painlessly. It was also a steep learning curve. At that time, I learned about being a root user ("su") and permissions and authentications and a myriad of other details.

Shortly thereafter, I wanted to be able to print what I was writing or reading. Here we go again. Command lines, CUPS, printer daemons, on and on and on. I managed to get the printer working, even though its on a network server. Again, another day and a half of getting it to work.

But the flatbed scanner remains on my primary system, which remains as Windows. Why? you ask. For the simple reason that I just tried to get a small USB-to-phone box working on my Linux system. I've now spent well over 12 hours trying to get it working. I believe I've now seen every form of computer error code known to mankind. I may have even seen some unique ones. For all that effort, it still does not work. Do you know how long it took to get it to work on the Windows box? About five minutes. The same goes for my many external hard drives, my 12-in-1 external card reader, my gaming joystick, my iPaq cradle, on and on.

Yes, all you Linux geeks out there can mock Windoze or M$ or Micro$oft or Winblows or whatever spurious name you wish to give it. But it works. And it works simply

I already hear the Linux protesters out there. "Everything is designed for Windows. Almost no one designs things for Linux!" True. Why do you think everyone designs their products for Windows? Yes, it's the most popular operating system. But I also see people writing software and designing products for Macs. Frankly, I think there's an issue thats bigger than the OS popularity. It's commonality. One copy of Windows XP Home is the same as another. And a copy of Mac OS X is the same as another. But Linux? Let's see, you have Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, the list seems is endless.

Oh, and don't bother boring me with the "One is the OS and the other is a GUI". I don't care. To me, the GUI is the OS. They're one and the same. I'm a user. I. Just. Need. It. To. Work. And I need it to work simply. I hate the command line. I don't want to have to load development libraries and worry about whether I have the correct authentication.

I. Just. Need. It. To. Work.

In the meantime, we Windows users will continue to make Bill Gates the second wealthiest man person in the world. Not that I'm happy about that, but until we see some commonality and simpler interfaces in the Linux world, the watch-word for Bill Gates will continue to be "ka-CHING".

And Then What...?

I see that the protesters are at it again.

Do something in Darfur!

Here's my question, Do what? Send in troops? Not on a bet. You geniuses believe that the best way to "stop the war" in Iraq is to "Bring the troops home". Yeah. Do that. Bring'em home. That will end the war.

Not.

All that will do is allow all the various factions (Sunni, Shia, al-Qaeda, whomever) to have a simple crack at each other. The war will not only not end, it will get worse.

So, instead, we should pull them out and send them into Darfur? Huh-unh. How many times have we sent in troops in amongst an Islamic factional feud, a pan-Arab feud, or a pan-African feud and actually had a lasting peace? Anyone? Anyone?

Give yourself a cookie if you said, "Zero!" That's right. A big, fat goose egg for ya. Let's tally up the scoresheet, shall we?

• Beirut, Lebanon - 1957 - 1958
• Afghanistan - 1980s
  
• Beirut, Lebanon - 1983
• Somalia - 1992
  
• The Balkans - 1990s
• Afghanistan - 2001
• Iraq - 2003

Note that, of all of these fights, we can only take credit for starting one (Iraq, 2003). All of the others were the people of the region themselves picking up arms and starting the slaughter. We came in afterwards and tried to help. We wound up getting our troops killed instead. Mind you, these people have been killing each other for centuries without any help from us.

Ending a war is similar to making psychological therapy work; it will only happen if the patient (combatants) want it to happen. The Arabs and Muslims (many times one and the same) seem to have a gene that says, "I must fight, kill and die!" Hence, we can try to "negotiate, compromise, rationalize" with them all we want. And it won't do a damn bit of good.

The best thing to do: Cut'em off. I mean completely. Forget simple embargoes. I mean totally, absolutely, ruthlessly. Don't send our troops into a region. Surround the region. Nothing goes in. Nothing comes out. Our troops have a much easier time of telling who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. The good guys are the guys already outside the war zone. The bad guys are anyone inside the war zone. No one leaves, no one goes in. Same for anything animal, vegetable, or mineral. Negotiations for a permanent peace begin once everyone has used up all of his ammo, food, and/or people. When whoever is left shows up at the border waving white flags, then and only then will we discuss things.

Until then, do anything in Darfur? Not a chance.

More Islamic Alarmism

One of the latest headlines out of that most useful of "world bodies", the United Nations, once again points to just how worthless that body is.

"Islamaphobia on rise, especially in Europe - U.N. envoy"

Mr. Doudou Diene, the UN special rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance, (Did you know that, the longer your title, the lower your position?) states that the amount of "intolerance" against Islam world-wide points towards a serious problem. His evidence?

"Recent acts of defamation in the shape of blasphemous sketches in Sweden and posters in Switzerland reinforce this conclusion."

Huh? That's the best you can do? Point towards a single cartoon of Muhammed, and it points towards the terrible intolerance of the Western nations? Tell me this: How does a caricature show intolerance? And where is the anger when someone puts a Christian cross in urine and calls it "art"?

Next question: Did that cartoon actually kill anyone? You'll have to forgive me here, but on 9/11, I lost almost 3,000 of my fellow citizens. How many people did that cartoon kill? Okay, more than one. Why? Because the Islamists got so pissed off, they actually went out and killed other Islamists.

It really sucks when certain people discover that no right is absolute. Freedom of religion doesn't trump freedom of expression. That's what really pisses off those fundamentalist Muslims, isn't it? They want men to be supreme, women to be compliant, children to be unheard and unseen, and everyone else to know that Muhammed is, in actuality, God.

Bullshit.

That caricature did not incite to violence, as a Muslim TV show in Lebanon did recently. The "grandfather" of the current Muslim fundamentalist movement made much more violent statements, yet nothing is said of that. Of course not. The Western nations, especially the US, are responsible for all the worlds ills.

Well, we're not. We didn't start this crap. But we're having to deal with it. Do you know why Iraq is such a mess? It's because the people of the Middle East wouldn't know peace if it came up and bit them in the ass. Peace? They have no idea of the concept. The idea of compromise doesn't enter into their vocabulary. So stop with the exhortation that we're causing all of their problems by being "intolerant". When it comes to intolerance, the Western nations are even in the same league as those of the Middle East.

If you want a shorter response, here it is: Bite me.

Corel can kiss my ass!

Corel sucks. There is not other way to say it. I finally took the plunge, plunked down $60 of my hard-earned dollars, and upgraded my copy of Paint Shop Pro from version 9 to version 11.

Big mistake.

I've now had more errors and problems with this version than with any previous version. I know what Corel will say, "In any complex undertaking, there will be problems and issues."

Bullshit.

I'm paying for a program that works! It should WORK! It should NOT crash, it should NOT lose a half-hours work, it should NOT lock up and lose my work! Period. End of story! If it DOES do any of this, then you guys NEED TO FIX IT! (Am I making myself understood here!?!? HELL-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!)

What's worse? Well, I want to send an e-mail to Corel saying, point blank, "WTF?" Guess what happens when you click on the link labelled "e-mail Corel technical support."

I won't bother telling you. I'll let you do it yourself. (Don't forget to use the "Back" button to come back here.)

That's right. The alleged e-mail link, in fact, simply dumps you to the general "Knowledge Base". TRY and find a link that will allow you to e-mail Corel. I can't find one. If it's there, they've done a fair job of hiding it. I've clicked on every link I can find on the page and I cannot find the support e-mail address.

Frankly, by now, it doesn't really matter. I'd only send them e-mail to tell them (a) how much Paint Shop Pro sucks now that Corel is in charge, (b) how much Corel sucks in general and (c) that I don't want anything more to do with either of them.

Corel, you can kiss my ass. I'm done with you. And I will do everything in my power to ensure that everyone in the world knows how much you suck. How much your products suck. And how they should be ANYTHING else before they buy from you.

Good riddance.

Let me IN!

It took me 15 minutes to get into this *(&*#$^! account! I've been to it many times, although I haven't posted much. And now it decided that I was not who it thought I was. It would not accept my password. Mind you, I have my password written down (I keep a list, which there is little chance that some POS hacking from hundreds of miles away will ever see.) I know it was the right one. Then, when the *#&&^! system decided to not let me in, it added a new wrinkle. It put up one of those "Type in the letters you see" boxes.

Two words: F______ YOU!

Either make it so that my password works, or don't bother to put up the *#&! service! I guess I'm getting what I paid for. (It's free.)

To Mauritania Pilot: Git R DONE!

The news was initially terrible. A hijacker had once again managed to smuggle a gun aboard an aircraft the overpower the crew while in flight. With the great desire of many Islamic extremists to kiss their 72 Virginians, it seemed that the crew was doomed. Fortunately, this hijacker was of the old-school variety. Further, he did not speak French. The pilot, while preparing the land, told the passengers his intention to make it a rough landing, which would knock the hijacker off-balance, then allow the passengers and crew to overpower him.

And it worked.

As Larry The Cable Guy would say, "Git r done!"

Gajimmy

Ricky Martin Demonstrates His Command of the English Language

So, it seems that singer Ricky Martin is livin' la vida loco with his open defiance of The Power. Seems he's upset concerning the War in Iraq, so he directed his anger at President Bush.

Mind you, Bush had something to say back to him.

There are two things I'm noticing with those famous people opposed to the War in Iraq. First, they don't make their feelings openly known unless they are in front of a crowd. Secondly, they tend to be very simplistic with their feelings. Did the Dixie Chicks come out with a reasoned discourse of why they hated Bush during the concert in England? Nope. And Rickyboy's response to Bush was the ultimate in simplicity.

You go, Ricky! Bust a move!

Gajimmy

US Mocks Al Qaeda Deputy's Plan for Iraq

President Bush, in a subtly worded press release, openly mocked the Al Qaeda deputy's plan for Iraq.

The US President, who has received much criticism at home for his plan to boost the number of troops in Iraq, released a statement stating:

"I must say that I just love Al-Zawahiri's plan for Iraq. I have to say that it is true simplicity, "Agree with us or we will kill you." It only has one two-syllable word in it. Every other word is is a single syllable. I doubt even the lowest echelon of Al Qaeda fighter will have his lips get tired reading it."

Al-Zawahiri was said to have replied to this press statement with a much lengthier statement. Unfortunately, most Western journalists were asleep within the first five minutes of the statement, and that was before he finished the statements saying that Allah wanted him to do all of this and.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.