I’d like to take this moment to note for my contributors:
Just because I’m severely screwed on time, doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. I know you have your own blogs and your own problems but, as Plato put it, “Let a brother help a man.” Yeah, Plato learned from Socrates and Socrates was Black. Read the Dialogs it’s in there.
Go, read them. I’ll wait here.
On the marriage of At-Will employment and the Right-To-Work legislation and business practices:
Slavery didn’t leave the South, it just adopted a rainbow color scheme.
Our bloated international company refuses the idea of unions outright and forced an employee to wear a shirt brandishing a union reference to turn her shirt inside-out if she wanted to work. Previously, in our workplace’s history a gaggle of employees with upwards of a decade of clean dedicated service had been mass fired for “handbook violations” and brandished with “insubordination” for discussing the merits and demerits of forming a union. In fact, writing this, I stand to get fired for “insubordination” and “Handbook violations”. Just writing this.
Not to mention the reason why: involuntary overtime. “Mandatory” overtime is a must for employment and is not discussed in hiring. And, of course, it is the night-shift which is particularly screwed on this one. We have been working twelve hour days, without end since last you heard from me and will be doing so until Thursday morning. This is absurd.
I know, “quit and get a better job”. No, here all the company’s are doing it. I shit you not. They can change your schedule without notice and hold you to it. Seriously. No, really, seriously.
Further, my employer is known to be vindictive about leaving the company because of forced labor. There has been one confirmed use of references to FUCK a former employee, who gave notice and tried to leave on good terms, being screwed when his new employer did a check on his references. He was going to work for Coca-cola. Everything was lined up and he gave three weeks’ notice (he was nice like that). In his exit interview, in the comments, he said that it would be nice to see less mandatory overtime and more voluntary. He always volunteered. He took advantage of any overtime he could get. Me, I’m allergic, it’s against my religion and I’m sick. But, in spite of his thousands of work hours and impossible records in production, the powers-that-be fucked his Coca-cola job. Apparently, he was “insubordinate” and “did not want to work the hours necessary”, ‘complaining often’ and “kind of lazy”. The man is a legend: he was the fastest high-racker EVER on our sight and made fewer errors than ANYONE in our history.
So, the message is clear: do not take advantage of your Constitutional right to Free-Association, do not seek to better your lives, you are ours body and soul.
Sounds like slavery to me. My wife brought up elephants and how they are broken. When an elephant is young, they tie it to a steel pole it could not possibly escape from. No matter how long it suffers and pulls against the chains, they do not break. And it remembers this helplessness into adulthood. When the elephants are grown, they need only throw loose rope around it’s neck and tie it to a puny wooden stake in the ground. This is what was done to slaves and power was never redistributed in the South. Thus, the combo which has perpetuated these practices in business.
I do have a way out, but it’s still just so fucking wrong I had to let you know.
And while I’ve been away, I noticed a search led here, which I can’t quite rap my head around:
2 lesbian girls butt probing
Why does this lead you here? And why are you searching WordPress for that?
We’ve been promised a four-day weekend starting next Thursday night. If I can find time to catch up here as well as with my regular life and continue moving back up North, I’ll talk to you then.
AL
This says it better:
I’ve been short on time lately. If any of you live where Right To Work and At Will Employment converge, you might identify with my plight. Hence no writing.
So, let me steal a moment from sleep and at least give you guys a glimpse of the irregular stream of concepts and problems writhing around in my head:
1. I despise where I am. I’m moving. VERY SLOWLY. My house is a construction zone and has been since I bought it. The market is down, but with all the work we’ve put in, I think we’ll make some money to move and to get back in school.
2. My name keeps coming up at a particular former employer as a successor to the CEO. I don’t much care for the job, but it pays well. VERY WELL. In fact, it could finance my own small business on the side, just from my salary. Very lush position, but requires going back to school and abandoning my idea of getting an MALS for a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering and probably an MBA with other certifications. Most of these things would be provided for by either the company or the President personally. “Fast Track” is like a PentiumII compared to this.
3. I have too many damned interests and the time-line for accomplishing certain personal goals is getting hard to map. I have the immediate problems above, but also, I very much want to start a new academic institution and teach at a minimum of an adjunct level. I know this is a further-off goal, but it had been the focal point for me, until I put thought into (2). After all, the trustees have to come from somewhere and connections and networking are the name of the game in the President’s position.
4. Internal strife within the cohorts. I’m going to be vague here, but there is a situation which begs a decisive action on some body’s part regarding a past act. I always go for the upfront and blunt approach within our circle, but I don’t know if this is going to turn out well any which way it falls. My loyalties are in question to some degree or another and I err toward the idea that silence is not golden and it has done nothing but bring about such situations in the past. My circle has always excelled at bringing out the best and worst in eachother and only because we held ourselves to a strict standard of honesty. If we default by silence, then are we what we once were? What did we gouge each other for? What have we become? That’s all you’ll get. Sorry, but I’m a little off center of the conflict and I don’t want to start a war without certain parties being aware of this one.
5. Computers. I want to customize MacOS X.5. Apple has not provided the means to do this. Third parties are struggling to crack the necessary config. I’m starting to think I’ve have to do it myself. More than that. I’ve decided to skip delving Linux further to learn Python and Pygame. Why? Games require as much or more instant interpretation of user input than an OS and give me a starting point for understanding compilers and source. I have some experience in Future Basic (when it first came out) and DOS (God help me I’m getting old). Python is a wonderful language and Pygame will give me more insight into UI. What’s the objective? To create a Unix compatible, multi-lingual (in the computer-sense) OS. It’ll have to build a library of keys, one for each program, telling it what language it speaks. These keys would be integrated into the user’s experience, rather than emulators which are programs made to run on a particular OS. It would have to understand, not translate. Thus, an OS with the ability to run WOS, MOS, LOS, DOS and other FOSS could take shape. But, this is theory at this time. Back to developing video games in Python and Pygame…
6. Sex. I want it. Soon.
7. My new phone. This is a long story. I’ve had a Sony Ericsson. I had the blue, then I got the black (which was actually the Go-Phone version). Then last week, it died. I think it got wet from the excessive rain we’ve have recently. I got a Samsung a737 in orange. I liked it a lot. I talked to a friend for a while on it and realized it was too slim for my hands and they were cramping something awful. So, I went back, switched to the BlackJack II (i617). Wonderous device. Except the OS. I figured Windows Mobile 6.1 was either going to work for me or I’d hack it and use Symbian/ Linux/ whatever instead. No sir. WM6 was too damn stubborn. I searched for over 12 hours on this and came up with jack shit. I went back, after work, and switched to the a737 (red was the only option available) and got a BlueTooth headset. Monetarily, things will work out alright, but I’m not happy with all of this. My wife was shocked I wanted to turn the BlackJack in (which has superior hardware and then some), rather than hack it. I know, dear readers, this is shocking. But, the truth is, I don’t know mobile phones near as well as I would have liked a few days ago and while it is a project to do, I’d have savored every second of it. But, as the above might tell you, I’m short on time to do this and a wonderful phone which works out of the box with a headset is too convenient at this time. Maybe when I get that iPhone I’ll hack the hell out of it, but for now 1-6 have me all tied-up.
Hope this makes up a little for my absence here. I know it’s not particularly interesting and another dry-spell is always threatening when your employer can and does enforce “mandatory” (i.e. involuntary) overtime. So, please RSS this page if you’ve liked it and I’ll try to get the fuck out of here so I can become regular in my posts. My heartfelt apologies.
AL
According to one internet poll, if it doesn’t work blame the new WordPress formatting because I don’t understand it yet:
<img src=”” alt=”How are you in bed?” />
Revolver makes its way to American shores and into my wonton collection. For those twisted individuals who want my opinion and the answers to the “What” and “Why” of my desperate clamoring for this movie, here goes:
Ever hear of mob mentality? What drives us to allow ourselves to give in to mass movements? Ego is a trick thing. Freud stated “Where Id was, there Ego shall be.” Freud’s short-falling was a lack of understanding of certain peripheral concepts involved in the make up of identity. Neon Genesis devolves into a highly experimental investigation into what drives a human being. Knowing what and why is a leap toward understanding the who. We are not who we are to ourselves. We are not who we are to others. We are always in the present and thus always caught between the two. While an MPD possessor may see perfect sense in how Revolver presents the dilemma, normals tend to scratch their heads.
Here’s how it breaks down: You are not who you think you are. Your life has followed from one decision to another. Easy, not simple. That’s how I’ve always been is not an answer. As long as you’re alive, there’s always a choice. To be free, truly free, one must understand that life doesn’t play by the rules and it will never be yours alone. To control yourself, to be free to make your own life what you will, you must overcome who you are to yourself and who you are to others. If only it was a simple in the day-to-day as the singular conflict of Mr. Green. It is a war. There are moments and even whole days, you can feel that “thing” within clawing away at you. And you fight. You fight and never stop, because once you’ve had a taste of freedom, you’ll never allow yourself to be bound by the Ego again.
Mr. Green is driven by the uncompromising will (Wille) of the free men, who’ve made a promise to him. We smell our own. Those who want no more of this facade. We seek one another and we drive eachother to rage, to pain and to the suffering of true freedom. Why do the masses hate and fear eachother? Why do they persist in proliferating the violence and the egoism which rules our daily lives? Don’t you wish, long, strive, to be at peace with eachother? When will the children learn that to be right does not mean others are wrong? It is not relativism, but understanding which drives a cold blade into each heart. We are alone and apart, only so long as we do nothing to stop ourselves from being atomized.
Why must pride and Ego drive argument to fighting? Why do so many think of the two as the same? Why do we run into ourselves when what we really need is dialog? We are comforted by the one person who believes we ARE the center of the universe: our Ego.
If all this is alien and vague, go watch the movie. Go talk to someone you’ve never met and listen to what they have to say. Don’t just sit there waiting to speak. Listen and see life through their eyes and then come back and try to convince me they are anything but slaves.
Let me know if you’d like more on any of these.
I’ve spent the last eon doing mandatory 12 hour days at work and the weekend has been shot trying to get our taxes done (which they aren’t, I can’t get that stuff right) and getting various Windows games working on our (my wife and I) MacBooks without having to use one iota (pronounced like the Jedi for those who insist that tens of thousands died over whether or not Jesus was the human son of God or God Himself based on whether his eyes were “ota”ed- whatever the hell you think that means) of Windows or any MicroSoft code. Anyway, I’m really bitter about the quasi-slave labor issues which result in Right-to-Work States and At-Will employment. Let alone the dose of bigotry and Southern inhospitality that is rampant where I work. Suffice to say, I’m still chewing my cud on that post. After all, I can only get so acerbic before someone ends up permanently scarred.
So, some stuff I was going to write about in greater detail, before my weekend was taken over by mandatory overtime:
1. Genetically-engineered tobacco. Philip-Morris is leading the charge to take the cancer out of tobacco products through the latest in genetic technology. They also offer a less controlled version of “old method” genetically-engineered through crossbreeding and splicing, which will keep the “Live Food” and genetic puritans off their asses for all of two seconds. Here’s the excerpt, which gives you a link to read the PDF article.
2. Building a better bumper. You may have noticed I have an affinity for Masumune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell comics and the Stand Alone Complex TV series. These are two steps closer to a better (tongue in cheek for those who’ve read the GitS manga and seen the SAC series) human being: communication and artificial muscle. The muscle really caught my eye. The com unit is not that much more than an update on the old voicebox tech given to tracheotomy patients. The muscle is self-healing (which is very good) and it produces power, which can be harnessed and rechanneled. This is a brilliant step closer to my artificial hand and right leg (the latter being desired every time the temp drops below 75Fh).
3. One Laptop Per Child. You’ve heard of it I assume. I’ve got a link to them in the Blogroll, twice. They take $200 and give a child in a developing or 3rd-world country a laptop. Big whoop. But, this is actually having a greater impact than I would have expected. Children are leading the way to innovate and develop their homelands in ways and with information their predecessors never could have foreseen in another hundred years or so. Click on one of the links and drop $200 for this. It’s one of the few worthwhile “charities” I’ve ever encountered: they are giving these kids a tool and access to knowledge and resources. They are teaching them how to fish, so to speak, rather than the others who give people fish. It’s refund season and most of us will get $600 a head extra, for free, and here’s a damn good way to blow that aching first third of it. If you read this and visit their homepage and still aren’t sure, take a quick look around through Google. The results are coming in everywhere. I know I want my munchies too, but this is better than sending a dollar a day, or giving Jerry Lewis the money to keep his hair black.
4. I love MIT. I was told I should go there by the John Hopkins organization, but balked at the time of application. Now, I’ll back them up. MIT is offering their courses for free. You’ll have to pay for the degrees, but the knowledge and the experience is finally being offered as part of a collective inheritance of mankind. Thank God someone gets it. Check out their Open CourseWare site. While PTAs bitch about OLPC not being in America, MIT is forging the path they are blatantly ignoring.
5. Finally, for those of us who have always dreamed of it, GarageGames has a homebrew game solution, as well as a hobbyist price scale for their acclaimed TGE and dev tools. Hop over to their site for the 3D engine or the 2D builder (only $100 for indie developers). Which, paired with OLPC and a TimeCapsule, kills my tax incentive check.
I’ll be more elaborate and back to my usual self once the OT settles down a bit (if that ever happens). Until then, don’t give up on me yet.
Since I’ve just spent 12 mandatory hours in hell, I’m still not up to publishing anything particularly worth your time.
But, I was dealing with a high-end corporate Dell and it occurred to me that I haven’t praised CodeWeavers for their CrossOver app. CrossOver uses the Unix cores of Mac and Linux and processes Windows software for the system. It has a nice and user-friendly GUI for running and INSTALLING. It’s $40 for a license and I’ve confirmed hombrew games (Like Halo2D) run perfectly, as well as the selection of office stuff the Pro release can give you ($60). I’ll let you know how King’s Quest and Diablo2 (extended, for the hell of it) go in a comment on this post. Also, if you want a specific program supported by CrossOver, you can ask them for it. If you have a Mac or a Linux OS, download the trial CrossOver and buy it if it works for you.
On the anti-MS kick: Mac and Linux can step backward to use Windows software. Windows has never and probably will never step-up to use Mac and Linux software.
You were going to play with it, weren’t you? After you’re done with the latest God of War release (which developers are bucking the 50GB… 50GB!… Blu-Ray cap), try this one on for size:
In lieu of a traditional supercomputer (which they had) researchers have strung a small number (8 to be exact) of PS3s together and are figuring out Black mother-fucking Holes with them. I intend to fully rub the noses of those who bucked my bid to wait for the PS3 over the XBox 360 in the fact that “Blu-ray is too big and will never catch-on like HD.” “HD is the present and the future.” (Yes they said that exactly.) “Cell-processor? Why would anyone need that?” Here’s a damn good reason to want it. Note especially, it only took 8 PS3s to begin breaching a Black Hole. I know I’m being harsh, but between MS-philes and 360-fanatics, I want my moment to further my MS-hate campaign one or eight more steps toward a FOSS and MOS world which can push beyond our constraints in information and compatibility.
Unix never gets old. Unix has no expiration date. Unix is one with many faces. Fear the Unix.
On a lighter note, this is still a favorite of mine and has enjoyed a three-month spot on my iPod: Wii vs. PS3.
Ill Will Press has a wonderful “Topical Rant” which covers the idea of politicians and reformation via their wallets. “Foamy” makes a very good point here. If we cut their pay (which they can raise under their own authority-not their bosses’, ie us the people), greedy Kennedys, Kerrys, and Bushes of all generations, will steer clear of government jobs and give honest people a chance to run things. Honestly, a government run like a bankrupt corporation like Enron doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell in a global market. These corporate-style military Chieftains and no-call/ no-show flunkies in the Representative branch have shown that they continually buck the people. I wouldn’t have a problem with this if they argued from rational grounds, but instead the few who do show up are just campaigning for the next office they feel like having. Further, why do they get to give themselves a fucking raise? “I was on the floor twice this year! I deserve twice the pay!” FUCK YOU! You’re job is to see that the shit this government does to it’s people is neither harmful, nor diminishing of their freedom. Not to congratulate eachother on incumbent wins in your constituency, whom you’ve managed to convince should have more concern with Federal elections conducted by the Electoral College, than with their own immediate governing body. You don’t deserve a raise. You deserve to be fired.
Assholes.
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