Month: January 2019

Still Not Enough (Knowledge) To Go Round

~ Tom ~ Leave a comment
American flag stained

Earned vs. un-earned income? Ain’t that the ticket this dreary Monday, dear worst-reader? Either that or it might be finally time to hand in the towel–as opposed to throw in the towel. Wait. Maybe we (you know, rational thinking humanoids) have already been handed the towel. Or has the towel been taking away? Enough about towels.

Search the following in that silly video-tube site:

davos 2019 MIT professor taxes*

If you’re as lucky as I was, your search will yield a video that is shocking. But is it shocking for all the wrong/worst reasons? In the video a somewhat motivated Washington Post business and/or economics reporter asks a question regarding the current discussion in the united mistakes of #Americant about marginal tax rates being hiked in order to mend the ills of capitalism run amok. This marginal tax hike, by-the-buy, has been brought into the main stream media by a newly elected politician known as AOC. Since such a political and economic idear totally confuses most of what my beloved & missed #Americants can fathom, on account it’s about making un-earning rich people pay a bit more so as to not force so many stupid-people to be, well, you guessed it, (politically) stupider than rocks substituted for ice in a whiskey glass.

Although most will think that the billionaire who the young WP reporter poses her question to is the worst part of the video–for his response is truly appalling considering the state of capitalism today–he’s actually not the worst. The most shocking thing is the young woman posing the question. Then again, if she works for WP and went to #Americant college to get the/her job, then it’s no wonder that she poses questions as though she got it from the cover an über-sugared cereal box. These are the future, dear worst-reader. These young people are as stupid as the previous generation that failed to close the flood-gates of stupid that gives way to the like billionaires that think they would be the ones–and only they–to do what they wish/will with all the money in the world that is now becoming, surely, un-earned but well kept.

Rant on.

-T

Links the motivated this post:

*I’m trying to avoid posting links and/or embedding videos in my posts.

Sleaze Much?

~ Tom ~ Leave a comment
screenshot 2019-01-26 at 08.47.32
Screenshot from the Interwebnets

How deep does your sleaze go, dear worst-reader? I mean, if you had to trace it to its origin, how deep would you have to go to find that origin? And so is the allure, the toxin, the needy that makes up what still remains as right-wing bat$hittery in my beloved & missed United Mistakes of #Americant lingers and lingers and lingers… But should it die-off, dear worst-reader? Doesn’t it serve a purpose? At least it reminds us of what humanity can do/become if left to its base nature. And so goes the/a mind that thinks it’s right all the time.

Welcome to the days of uglies galore.

Rant on.

-T

Links that motivated this post.

Colossal NAS SBC Shoot Out: Raspberry Pi vs RockPro64

~ Tom ~ Leave a comment
Pine64 NAS case after install.

Update here.

Have I mentioned how much I hate the network attached storage industry (NAS)? I really, really hate the network attached storage industry. I mean, in the world of monopolised tech, if not monopolised everything, what is there not to hate? And so…

Why in the world does a NAS have to 1) cost so much and 2) be nothing more than …a fcuking complication? Or? Put another worst-way: Do you know complications, dear worst-reader? I, for one, hate complications. It’s the reason I gave up on watch collecting so many years ago. Too many complications drag down watches, don’t you know. Complications un-brighten those watches, too. They force them into a world of complication servitude. Am I wrong? By-the-buy, since I’m going this route of worst-analogies, a watch complication is when a watch does more than just tell time–twice wrong in a day. Hence, a second hand on a watch is a complication. A day/date indicator on a watch is a complication–or two. Stopwatch function? Oh yea. And how ’bout them really fancy Swiss watches with stopwatch and moon dials and they even had one that could count a woman’s cycle? Complication galore, eh, dear worst-reader? But, as usual, I’m off worst-subject.

The tech world is full of complications. How else could the likes of Zuckerberg, face-bag, twitty, get/make billions? In fact, allow me to go out on a real wide & mighty worst-tangent here: The reason oligarchs and monopolies rule the world is because, well, stupid people require complications in order to have/find meaning in the meaninglessness of their Digital lives. Hence, face-bag, twitty, #Trump, etc., they all get by with the allure of having mastered complications. Or am I wrong? Then again, as I’ve done a pretty good job so far in fulfilling my new year’s resolution–i.e. having fewer complications in my Digital life–there’s still a hold-out when it comes to un-complicating it all.

Worst-truth faced today: Do I really need a friggin NAS? NOOOOOOOOO!

For about a half-year now I’ve been experimenting with avoiding having to buy a NAS. Computers, iPads, iPhones, etc. It’s all just too complicated. Or? But there is reality. I’ve been digital for quite a few years so far. That means there’s lots of data that need be saved. The cheap NAS solution so far has been a Raspberry Pi. Late last fall, though, having faced the bottleneck situation of an RPi, i.e. it has limited bandwidth because its ethernet is dependent on a USB2.0 data bus, I splurged and bought a Rock64/4GB from Pine64. Guess what? That’s right. It didn’t friggin work. That is, after numerous attempts at getting it to work, OpenMediaVault (OMV) didn’t/couldn’t deliver. Boy was I glad that I kept that RPi available. Should I have known better to ditch one system for another? Sure. I mean, I knew that OMV is still in beta on Pine64 SBCs. Nomatter. All the same, what a disappointment.

Which brings me to the next issue of this worst-tech-post. I have a hard time learning from my mistakes. And here’s why/how: There was something about Pine64’s Rock64/4GB SBC. Something about it rocked my world–espeically after dabbling around with RPi’s for about two years. The first thing that hit me about Pine64 and the Rock64 was/is its power source. At any given time in my house, I have three RPi’s running. The thing that bugs me most about them all is having to hard-restart them, which means removing the micro-USB power cord. What a flimsy undertaking that is–for RPi’s running as media clients (especially when using Plex) have to be hard-restarted every once-a-once. Removing and reinserting that flimsy power cable sometimes requires several tries. And, yes, each of my RPi’s have dedicated micro-USB power supplies.

Even though as an OMV server the Rock64 failed, I’m currently using it as a Linux headless device running DietPi software. And here’s the real confusing thing about how I fail to learn from my mistakes. The Rock64 stirs (my) emotion. It feels stronger and more durable than the RPi. Even though the software I want to run on it, OMV, doesn’t quite work, DietPi does. And even though I dig DietPi, I want OMV to work on Rock64 as good as it works on RPi.

Oh yea. Learning from my mistakes. NOT!

Thinking/hoping that the Rock64 and the powers-that-be would get all the software that runs on it out of beta, I went ahead and doubled-down and even bought a RockPro641. The problem is, compared to the RPi, even the RockPro64 is sketchy. At the least it doesn’t work any better than a Rock64 device2. So get this, dear worst-reader. Surprisingly, even with its limited bandwidth, lower hardware specs, as the writing of this worst-post, the RPi rips Rock64 and RockPro64 to shreds. But wait…

Spec-wise, there’s no competition here. The RPi is not even in the same league as the RockPro64–or the Rock64. As mentioned, the RPi has limited ethernet because it is dependent on a USB2.0 data bus. Ok. Rock64 devices have full gigabyte ethernet, though. Wow. But what good is that if, well, the friggin thing doesn’t work? The RPi also only has 1GB ram–compared both Rock64 which has 4GB. Then there’s the huuuuuge difference in CPUs. But none of that matters cause… The RPi fcuking works and the Rock64 doesn’t. At least, as a NAS running OMV, it doesn’t work. And so… the RPi runs circles around my two frivolous and blind-hopeful attempts at replacing it with a higher-spec SBC. Which begs the following realisation:

The good news is, I still don’t want/need a NAS. The bad news is, I’m sick of tinkering with SBCs. With that in mind, I’ll continue to use RPi’s as clients–mostly media clients–and keep fiddling with the RockPro64.

Moral of this worst-story: tech monopoly wins yet again.

Yeah, baby.

Consume-to-survive.

Rant on.

-T

  1. Actually, this purchase was somewhat motivated by the fact that I wanted to order something from China–just for the heck of it. I’ve since learned from that mistake, too. ↩︎
  2. They work great as Linux devices to help one learn… wait for it… Linux; they also work great as a WordPress iteration; I’m also using it as a pi-hole DNS server, etc. ↩︎

The Many More Layers Of Bad That Can Still Be Peeled Away

~ Tom ~ Leave a comment

The ghosts of all the LOL I expelled from my person that night as I counted the electoral college numbers Election Day November 2016, surround me still. For don’t you know, dear worst-reader, my giggles are not out of spite but instead out of tear-jerk-laughter. Oh yes my fellow and bereaved #Americant brethren. You are truly a nation-state of Stupid. But then again, what else could you do? I mean, so few of you could have joined me as I jumped ship so long ago (1989). As you thought you were basking in the glory of pre-#MAGA, I watched the #Americant ship sail on in the grimy waters of the greed $hitshow whose wake is still fuming. With that in mind, should I have empathy for those who have chosen to live pay-check to pay-check and are just now figuring out how their politics have made it so? Fcuk no! I’m also just now LOLing as I once did as I became man-over-board. Indeed. It is more silent, more subdued, less howling. But LOLing it is all the same. And get this. What I figured out that night when #Trumpism was elected by the many of #Americant, was not the disgust that he represents. No. What I have long since figured out is the simple fact that he is a facade. He is a coat worn. He is a shape-shifter of misery with an ugly smile and even uglier hair. And that’s not all. While the dunces dance and giggle around their debt and inability to pay for it, the real owners are basking in the glory of having duped EVERYONE–with their #Trump. President Stupid is just the curtain, don’t you know. You’ve yet to be shown the real show. But it’s coming. It coming as you struggle now to cause others that are only slightly more fortunate than you to have to dig deep into their coffers to prevent you from gathering a pitcfork–not to fight The Man but to continue the fight with your neighbours. You know… brother can you spare a dime? And if you can’t, why is it you have so much more than me but we all work/live/shame in the same nothingness? Since the powers-that-be, the owners, have tapped out everything else and gotten away with it toot-sweet over the last forty or fifty years, they’re now tap-tapping into what’s left. Which means, those living pay-check to pay-check will probably have to tap into their parents savings. You know, the parents (boomer generation?) that took everything and in their mean-time created faux-newz and Limbaugh. Yeah. So be mad at your #Trump and his disgusting hair and his mushroom cock as you hit the new & improved soup kitchens. You deserve him and have earned him and now it’s time to do to your parents what they’ve done to you. Indeed. There’s still one generation liquid with cash that can be milked. And milked it will be! All that’s needed is to just make kids suffer a bit more.

Rant on.

-T

via Shutdown Exposes How Many Americans Live Paycheck to Paycheck

In Search Of The Origin Of Privilege

~ Tom ~ Leave a comment

trump asshole galore

Update 2: I’ve complained about this guy before. But it’s hard, don’t you know, dear worst-reader. It’s hard complaining too much–or even too little. Of course, this guy takes the cake when it comes to complaining. I think. O maybe not. Nomatter. In the confusion of trying to understand what makes this $hit world go’round, it’s easy to get lost between the asses and the smart-asses–you know those who run the show and those who make the show happen. So leave it up to the smart-asses (Jimmy Dore & Co.) to pull another form of wool over your eyes–making the $hitshow happen. If you search for this title on that online, brain-dead video site you can see what I’m referring to:

Search: maga vs. native americans confrontation: what really happened – Jan 21, 2019

…You’ll get yet another video of smart-assery run-amok. What Dore is doing is no different than trying to sell sympathy for the likes of Mark Furhman because, well, someone caught Furhman helping an old lady across the street. For you see, dear worst-reader, by steering the focus away from the fact that Furhman is a nice man to old ladies crossing the street, it becomes easy to forget–or never even learn–that the man is a racist pig. In other worst-words, it doesn’t matter that a native American was putting himself between two sets of idiots. What matters is the teenager’s face, his disposition, his #MAGA hat and the hats of his posse, and… why the fcuk he was in DC in the first place.

Update 1: I was wondering when this would happen. Luckily it’s happened as predictably as it can. Just as Brett Kavanaugh invoked his ill-belief in God, you know, the sanctimonious benevolence that is supposed to immediately call up empathy for those unable to know the difference between morality and amorality, where he claimed to have prayed with his young daughter for the soul of his accusers(s), the little privileged $hitbag with his Land Of Free To Be Stupid hat, is doing the same. His defence for atypical white-privilege behaviour well-learned and well taught by his parents and school is that he was simply caught up in the middle of tensions that he was then trying to defuse. Oh really.

My first thought upon reading about this–yet another example of #Americant run amok–was Brett Kavanaugh. What better example is there of the offspring of the privileged neo-feudal classes breeding in the suburban hells of Land of Free To Be Stupid? The boys that are harassing an American hero–if there ever was one… are oblivious to what they are doing and what they represent, #MAGA. How is such a thing taught/learned? It’s as though bigotry and hate are part of them just as any limb, orifice or follicle is part of them. And so once again, I must witness a real American crying over how the youth of the occupiers perpetuate infantilism galore.

Rant on.

-T

Links that motivated this post:

Feeling The Tech Burn This Morning Or What Goes Around Comes Around

~ Tom ~ Leave a comment

Right before Xmas, a few weeks ago, an executive decision was made that included two things. The first? It was time to renew some computer hardware. The second? I turned off all my Plex devices. In order to renew my hardware, though, I had to get some cash. For you see, dear worst-reader, cash is not my friend or my mate. Here’s a bit about how I got the cash–and my choice of renewed hardware. The second thing, though, wasn’t exactly planned but instead was a blossoming of personal necessity. Although my favourite ripped TV and Movie player has been Plex through the years, which I had turned to as an alternative to iTunes, the last year or so I noticed the atypical corporate-change Plex was pushing on users. By corporate-change, I mean, of course, the company was starting to show, either through desperation or greed-want, it needed to start making money. And so goes the old story of great software idears–that are great only because, well, they are free–and how the greed-machine turns them into $hit. For the last six months or so and with every update, Plex has been sneaking in signals about how it’s going to start offering some kind of a subscription plan. Plex already has a pay plan that enables some kind of personal streaming of your media. It’s something about remotely accessing your media where ever you are. I can’t say more about that because, well, it’s never interested me. Also, due to bandwidth concerns and the non-productive über-cost of mobile device downloads, I never even considered paying for such a service. I mean, seriously, the thought of streaming one of my movies remotely to my phone is just weird. Or maybe I’m weird. Nomatter. Now. Don’t get me wrong, dear worst-reader. I’m not about software-hicks staying poor, i.e. not earning their keep. Whoever started Plex deserves what they get–even if they are forced to play the greed-game. Indeed. But as soon as I started to see hints about a “subscription” service ontop of their other paid service… I’m outta here! In other worst-words: Plex has gone too far. With all these paid options it’s now offering, it’s turning into the same iTunes krapp that I wanted to get away from in the first place. And so. After deleting my Plex server and clients I kinda of missed it for a few days. But then I realised that this change in my personal and household computing was long over-do and I had been, perhaps, putting off the inevitable. As far as my media library is concerned? For desktop video streaming I use VLC and connect directly to my NAS. For music streaming I use Volumio. But get this. Guess what Volumio is starting to tease? That’s right. With a late 2018 software update, they’ve sneaked in some stupid subscription service that allows remote access. Go figure. So you know what that means, eh? If the future is gonna make all these once great software apps all about the greed $hit$how, I might as well just return to iTunes. Yeah, so much for pseudo-innovation and/or countering the heavy-weights.

Rant on.

-T

via Plex Is the Latest Player to Contemplate the Subscription Streaming Game | Digital Trends

Government Agency v Corporate Control?

~ Tom ~ Leave a comment

Great example of how government doesn’t have to be so horrible. Way to go Vermont! I mean, of course, it doesn’t have to be this way. Then again, what can one do with so many #Americants onboard, drinking the Kool-aid, sucking it up because, well, no one wants to rock-the-boat. Indeed. If only constituents could get a better grasp of the ignorance they live in which results in such bad governance, households, republicans, #Trumpism, etc.

Now go buy something.

Or maybe not.

-Rant on.

-T

via Man drives 6,000 miles to prove Uncle Sam’s cellphone coverage maps are wrong – and, boy, did he manage it • The Register

No. Seriously. How Many Of Them Vote For You-Know-Who?

~ Tom ~ Leave a comment

The question worst-writer is asking as the debacle government shutdown that is my beloved & missed #Americant, Land of Free to be Stupid, deals and squeals–deservedly–at the behest of its own dysfunction, is this: of those furloughed–800k “non-essential” government employees + (insert your number here) contractors–how many have been supporting this political madness from the get-go? At least I can say I jumped that ship. Yea, I grew up in the madness (Reagan) that could only lead to where things are right now. And I seriously don’t know how so many morons keep living in it. I guess there are not more ships to jump from. Or? But then again, maybe, while off work and eating Cheetos, and others are planning mass shootings, killing abortion doctors, worshipping the Pentecostal Armageddon, it’s time to re-watch all those really, really stupid, mindless TV shows about zombies. Yea, zombies or Kardashians. Now that’s the ticket.

Rant on.

-T

Link that motivated this post: Strike! Barbara Ehrenreich Calls on TSA Workers to Walk Off Job in Protest of Government Shutdown | Democracy Now!

How Compulsives Run The Show

~ Tom ~ Leave a comment

three dollar bill apple logo (low res)

We live in a world of Trump-Uglies and the disgust his ilk pro-creates. We live in a world of teeth-less, comb-over dog-fights that are clawless due to cosmetics and ill-fitted matrimony. And even better… We live in a world that is not lead by the merit of one’s or the collective’s actions. No. Indeed. We live in compulsive-behaviourism-world. You know, one absent of the superman symbol, which isn’t really an ‘S’. But don’t take my worst-word for it, dear worst-reader. Have a look around. In fact. You don’t have to look far. Just dip your head above the water-line and take a good look at the tip of the iceberg you’ve been living asunder. Squint, if you must. Pull on your eyewear. Adjust your teeth. But have a look at that tip–before you descend again to have it all ever-so slightly penetrate you. Familiar? Of course it is. There they are–at the top of the tip. The people you look at from your glamour magazine life which is stuck in a bathroom medicine cabinet because, according to Sam Shepard, it’s the best place in your house to avoid germs1. And there they are. Atop. Asunder beyond. The ones with all the friggin money and power and, of course, Trump-Uglies that you so enjoyed watching on your mind… I mean on you TV. Congratulations. Look at what you’ve done.

But I’m off subject. Again.

This is just another worst-post that is supposed to be about consuming-to-survive and figuring out to compete with the Compulsives.

Who?, you asked.

You know, just check out the leader of them: any friggin CEO.

And would you believe that Apple’s Tim Cook is panicking right now because the compulsion that has driven him, the things he learned in College, life, are all what didn’t get him to where he is today? Or did it? But let’s not get personal. No. Instead. Have a look at Apple’s stock price. I remember the price when one of them could be bought by Gomer Pyle… I mean Forrest Gump.

Nomatter.

The thing to focus on is how corporations are starting to show signs of the fake economy that has been used to facilitate and build–your life. The(ir) game(s) is starting to show some transparency–or are they cracks? That is, the likes of Tim Cook are seeing what their seed/deeds has sewn/done. It is perhaps a thing called consume-love, don’t you know. This thing called perpetual war and all its mis-glory. This thing called… Hey! Hold a sec. Stop the worst-presses. Nancy Pelosi just kinda… sort-of… maybe… uninvited Trump and his piss-air to this year’s #SOTU. Now wouldn’t that be cool if Nancy could actually pull it off? You know, putting the $hitbag in his place. But. Again. I’m off subject.

To the article linked below.

First. I’m one of them cheap-o’s that took advantage of Apple’s battery offering last year. I’ve been struggling for almost two years now to keep my four year old iPhone 6s going. I’ve tried everything. I’ve purchased battery cases –which oddly only last about six months each before finding their way to the trash heap. I’ve erased all non essential apps from the device–in order to save on the trickery of tracking and surveillance that secondarily ruins battery life. Up do the battery deal, I did my best to keep it always charged at least above half-full. For don’t you know, dear worst-reader, at half full the iPhone 6s’ battery can die within minutes if not immediately put on charge. And so. Apple’s battery replacement offer for only twenty-nine Euros was a godsend to me last year. Wow, I thought. This might be the first time I’m not forced to buy a new phone when, in fact, I’ve got a perfectly good phone–if it weren’t for the compulsive behaviourism that drives the corporatists that think they work for a living but instead con-man us all into their product-obsoletism. I mean, come on. Who else can come up with this level of centralised economics run amok?

On the other worst-hand, maybe it’s time to buy some Apple stock.

Rant on.

-T

Link that motivated this post:

  1. See the play “Fool For Love”. ↩︎

Let’s Call It Red-Brass, Shall We?

~ Tom ~ Leave a comment

Dabbling away, dear worst-reader. Dabbling away with the fancy of my new MacBook aka exuberant über glorified typewriter. Not quite two weeks in my consume-to-survive possession, the only issue I’m having with it so-far is the colour. Seriously. I love the keyboard. Don’t mind the single USB-C port (as I’ve got plenty of dongles already due to my better-half’s same device that’s a year older), and boy… I do not miss that fan constantly winding up and down on my previous 13″ MBA.

The question I’ve been asking is whether or not the colour of this fancy device can actually be called “gold”. No. Really. I’ve even checked the box it came in several times. It’s obviously not gold. Or? Then again, even though I’m quite afeared of the colour pink, it’s definitely not rose-gold (pink) either. Or? I suppose I’ll be dabbling in the coming days/weeks with what exactly “hue” is. In fact, would it be too much to ask that Apple re-label this: red-brass?

Ok. Maybe it’s time to wake up to my love of pink. Maybe.

Rant on.

-T

Links that motivated this post:

How Bout A Bit Of Cockup In Your Brexit

~ Tom ~ Leave a comment
screenshot - populism defined
This is a screenshot.

Disclaimer: This post contains purposefully mispelt adult language.

What is Brexit really about (according to worst-writer)? Well, get this, dear worst-reader. Like everything else going on in this day & age of all-things-worst, the thing Brexit is really about is simple–even though the whole debate going on for the last few years has been more confusing than a monarchs detestable bloodline. The entirety of Brexit is about money. Seriously. It’s about nothing else. In fact, at this juncture in The West, everything that is wrong–and all is wrong, if not worst–is about money. Of course, how does one or a nation get money–if there ain’t none left? Now that’s a bit more complicated. To keep things simple: we’re literally at the beginning of the end of Capitalism run amok–just like it once ran amok not so long ago (history repeat). So the real question is: compared to the last time Capitalism lost its $hit and mankind resorted to his most base and banal reaction to deal with it, what will happen this time?

What is it that drives (motivates) all the hate and bigotry in the world? The answer is easy: Money. How does one consolidate all that hate and bigotry with the vastness and power of money? That is, attach it all to being human? If you are thinking Greed? You might be right–in another universe. So here’s the problem: Greed is too open, too plain to see, too out there from the shadows. Indeed. So the real culprit in understanding something that makes the world rotten and sick and putrid… Think Populism. Let the rich and powerful turn over their ills and misdeeds to Das Volk. Pride them (Das Volk) a bit with their nationalism, their skin colour, their tax rates, the cost of living, etc., and BANG! Das Volk will oblige. The flames of anger and frustration can be fed, fed, fed (as in your favoured Federal Reserves is off the hook).

The financial leaders of The West have been plying this deal for decades now. It’s all nothing more than payback from a generation or two ago that are still angry (even from their graves) about how so-called liberalism or democracy stole their wealth–as they bankrupted the $hitshow leading up to the The Great Depression. And so, since the 1970s the steam roller has rolled over you–steered from their grave(s). You probably didn’t notice it on account the steam has been so soothing–and you’ve been working like the schmuck you are so a bit of heat in your worn muscle is welcoming. In fact, it’s probably felt something like rape that has become legal, commonplace, wanted and, of course… grabbed by the pu$$y.

I laugh. I laugh at the participants. They amuse me because, well, I saw it all coming. I didn’t see it in a smart-ass way, though. You know, like college grads see it. No. I saw it in a humble-bumble snarky kind of way where I didn’t just say things but I acted and I wasn’t about to be played in/by this $hitshow. So I jumped shipped. I expat-ed. Mind you, I didn’t go to where the grass is greener. I just went to where greed/green isn’t a singularity dominating the colour of life, money and being raped.

As usual, before I get too far off subject.

Watching and reading about Brexit and the British parliamentary vote last night amused me to no end. Where the #Americants project their freedom-to-be-stupid through the idiocy of the Republican Party (big shout-out to all you a$$holes that still believe both sides do it–cause they don’t) and the dysfunction of government manifest in President Stupid with his piss-hair, the British still hold true to that fcuking accent that only reminds worst-moi why/how there should be so much more hate & bigotry in the world that frees humanity from the abject idiocy of monarchies and hereditary rule. So fcuk-u Brits with your fictional Constitution-Monarchy bull$hit! That Britain is even considered a democracy (in a world where democracy is but a joke) is bad enough. Their Queen krapp and those fcuking weddings that only ripen the rotting blood that is the legacy of King-Kiss-My-Ass…

Brexit is what happens when the flames of populism are fanned while a system of failing-upwards creeks in and around Euro meadows and moats with pitchforks, axes and hoes. And not one of the fools creeping around knows he’s being played, don’t you know. Which raises another question: Even though most Western countries are in a similar political and economic situation as Engaland, why is the incestuous island’s situation so much more vile? Well, here is yet another worst-writer simple answer: While the incestuous island tries to exit the deal because it’s can’t compete (economically), no one is looking at the chasm that has forever existed between Germanic and Anglo pseudo-brethren. That’s right. As it’s always been, Engaland and its powers-that-be are forever afeared of the power of a united continent, especially one united under the guise of Germania and, perhaps, the Franks, Gauls, Celtics, etc., some of which rightfully slaughtered their Monarchs. With that in mind, fcuk-u Citizen Louis Capet! And remember: The last best thing Eurowasteland ever did was get rid of Louis XVI. Now do the same with all the a$$hole monarchs and monarch-followers, for goodness sake. Let humanity live. Or maybe not.

Rant on.

-T

Links that motivated this post:

Pseudo Unboxing & Review Of 2017 12″ MacBook

~ Tom ~ Leave a comment

Title 2: Or How I Got My (Almost) Pink On

What is it you do, dear worst-reader? In other worst-words, what do you do between the hell-day that is modern western consumerism run-amok aka Xmas combined with the ending of yet another krappy (worst) year in a universe lead by the greatest land of free to be stupid–that I expat-ed from 30 yrs ago? Obviously, beyond the luv-lust I have for my (beloved & missed) #Americant, there are a few other things that need be considered. Or?

And so, to busy my worst-self…

I don’t/can’t know what you do with your end-of-year time but here’s what I do that is all encompassing and subservient to shopping till I drop: I clean out my friggin basement. In fact, at the behest of my better-half, I cleared and cleaned and even profited from two days of sorting, hauling and picking cobwebs out from under my finger nails and my balding head. That is, after sorting the mess into what can and cannot be thrown away, there was a whole bunch of stuff left over that was totally sellable–and my wife needed it all to be gone. So sort & sell I did. But let’s be clear here. In order for my better-half to get me to do something akin to labour–and I’ve long since surpassed the sex-deal phase of matrimony–she said: But you only get to keep the analog-cash. And don’t you know, dear worst-reader, there is indeed a difference between analog-cash and digital-cash. She’s also the one with the PayPal account. And so goes these modern times of online yard selling, eh?

It’s been a long time since I’ve sold anything online.

Utilising that classified-ad service, and NOT its auction service, and as of the writing of this worst-post, I managed to raise, through analog (cash) means, the required amount to consume-and-survive a new motherfcukin MacBook. Am I getting too old for this sort of consumption? You know: pseudo-bartering? Probably. Can I afford–in these days of forced and/or coerced early-retirement–to buy krapp otherwise? Perhaps. But that’s not the worst-point worth worst-blogging about today, eh.

Things in the basement and throughout sold that contributed to new Mac acquisition:

  • 2010 MacPro
  • 2011 MacMini
  • 2015 MacBook Air
  • Cyclo-cross bike
  • A few vintage portable typewriters
  • Speakers (actually not yet sold but still working on it)
  • Tyres (summer tyres pulled from our new Mini and replaced with all-weather tyres; also not yet sold and will probably wait another two or three months to tick them off)
  • Coffee machine from Jura that was ten years old and broke, sold for scraps, etc.

Things from basement cleaning that were discarded or aren’t worth a hoot and made it to the trash-heap and counted as special work done by husband for wife’s pleasure and laughter:

  • Old luggage
  • Clothes and shoes and belts, etc.
  • Camping equipment
  • Shelving
  • Propane bottles
  • A box full of Xmas ornaments never used
  • Sorted miscellaneous years worth of junk from two major world traversing moves, etc.

So get this.

This was the first time in about eight years, for my own consumption, I purchased a brand new Mac…retail! And, for posterity’s sake, for the record, before that and before Apple’s refurbished sales channel became part of my computing life, I always bought my Apple hardware used. For you see, dear worst-reader, if you want to save some doe but still own great computer hardware, I learned long ago that buying cheap PCs ain’t the way to go. If you know what you’re doing, there’s a plethora of used Macs out there that are worth their weight in gold.

Oh yeah, gold.

Yesterday I trekked to my local Apple store with a wad of cash and bought a 2017 12″ MacBook m5/8GB/512GB… in gold. And since this device retails for 1,800,-€, you’d think that it was actually made of gold. So let us begin this pseudo-review with that colour, shall we? In fact, as soon as the Apple-dude brought out my new Mac wrapped in cellophane my eyes started aching at my choice.

“Dude,” I said. “That ain’t gold.” I stared at the packaging and the image of the device on top of the box.

“Uhhhh… Sure it is,” he said.

“No-no-no. Seriously.”

I pointed to the cover of the box underneath the shinny and sealed viscose material. My mind’s eye was already looking at those silly stickers that Apple includes with these things–that I’ve never used–and whether or not they match the colour I was purchasing.

“Dude,” I continued. “The one I was looking at over there,” I pointed to the other side of the sales floor. “Over there on the presentation table. That one is gold. This one is…”.

“Uhhh,” the dude interrupted me. “That one is the 2015 MacBook. It’s a different shade of gold than this one. But this one is definitely gold.”

It’s gold because Apple says it’s gold, right?

I waved it off in my mind. There are more important things in life. Or? As the sales-dude continued to process my transaction, I pressed him with another issue. From my shoulder bag I whipped out a previous generation Apple bluetooth keyboard. You remember the one, eh, dear worst-reader? The little wireless keyboard with the mushy keys–just like the previous generation keyboard on MacBooks? I told him it when my MacBook is connected to a separate monitor on my desk but it broke a few months ago and I had been meaning to bring it in. He reminded me that hardware service was another part of the store and then he immediately called over another Apple t-shirted dude. I explained to the other dude that I’d like to get this keyboard repaired–if possible. Juggling between the two dudes, I whipped out a wad of analog-cash and handed it to the MacBook-dude. And I was till pondering my choice of colour, the sales-dude got a kick out of counting so many small bills, especially after I told him how I acquired it all. The service-dude on my other side started fiddling with his store issued iPad and informed me that the keyboard most likely is out of warranty. (Damn straight it is!) He also added that it most likely cannot be fixed. Then he informed that he could replace it with the same one for 60,-€. I told him that was fine since I wasn’t interested in buying Apple’s latest over-priced keyboard that–that he tried to sell me first.

Long worst-story short: while the service-dude was fiddling with getting me a new-old bluetooth keyboard I teased the sales-dude while he was still counting the bills.

“Dude. Say. You know I could get the same MacBook refurbished for 270,-€ less…”.

Pause.

Worst-side-note: I’ve since learned that Apple differentiates its hardware sales channels and, although refurbished machines can be picked up at stores, they cannot be purchased at stores. That means, when you sell a bunch of krapp out of your basement and you’ve got cash and you’ve only got an online banking account–meaning I haven’t been in a physical bank for more than ten years–which also means it’s a pain in the a$$ to get cash into my account…

Back to our regularly scheduled pseudo-review.

Yeah, I reminded the sales-dude I could buy the MacBook quite a bit cheaper refurbished. Then I hinted to the question about the exorbitant retail cost of what I was about to do. Not responding to my un-witty challenge to his sales abilities, he turned away for a few seconds indicating he was gonna make me an offer. I turned to the service-dude who was happily fiddling with solving my keyboard issue as he pecked away at the screen of his service-iPad. Then the sales-dude turned back to me. He showed me the screen of the iPhone he uses as his cash-register slash price-calculator. He pointed to the screen and said this was his best and last offer. My eyes opened wide in surprise as this young whipper-snapper mopped the floor with me. He had taken 180,-€ of the MacBook’s retail price. Wow. That was kinda unexpected.

Take my money now!

While the sales-dude and I finished our transaction and he handed me my new MacBook and simultaneously emailed me the receipt as pdf document, I pulled out my wallet to extract the 60,-€ to pay for the new keyboard that the service-dude had just received from some other dude that obviously brought it out from the storage room. The service-dude removed the new (old) keyboard from a cardboard-box and then handed it to me. It was neatly packaged in cellophane just like my new Mac–but obviously less consume-to-survive shinny. I counted out the 60,-€ from my wallet, and at the same time wondered if I had enough left for lunch. Before I could hand the service-dude the cash, he turned around and smiled.

“It’a ok. We’re good. It’s yours.”

He handed me the neatly wrapped keyboard.

Whaaaaa????

Apple replaced my five year old bluetooth keyboard that hadn’t functioned for over a year with a brand new one. Is that cool, or what? Obviously this transaction has to do with going into a retail store and paying a not-so-small sum of cash for a new, under-powered albeit discounted laptop. Yeah, I consider 180,-€ off an already inflated price a discount. Nomatter how you cut it, I think that’s worth calling it customer service, baby.

Review?

Why did I buy a previous year’s Mac for an enormous, overpriced amount of money that is obviously less powerful than practically anything else on the market–especially Apple’s latest hardware offering? The thing is, dear worst-reader, I’ve been using my better-half’s 2016 base-model 12″ MacBook on/off for a year now–along side my trusted (early 2015) 13″ MacBook Air (with the i7 CPU) which I had just sold. The newest MacBook Air, introduced in November 2018, which is very motivating, left me a bit un-dazzled. Apple’s new offering just didn’t rock my world. So here’s some rationale for this irrational purchase:

  1. I’m a MacOS guy thru and thru–so it has to be a Mac and NOT an iPad and most certainly NEVER a windows machine. (But the future is bright for Linux.)
  2. As I’m sure I’ve worst-written somewhere in this worst-blog before (see link above), I never buy first iteration Apple products (but my wife seems to slip one in every once-a-once).
  3. Even though Apple did a pretty good job of finally finally finally coming out with a replacement for my 2015 MacBook Air, the new Air doesn’t cut it. At this point in my digital-world I don’t give a hoot about the latest & greatest hardware. To me it’s all about functionality. My wife’s spontaneous purchase of the 2016 12″ MacBook, which at the time kinda irritated me, did rock my world. The thing is this: the design of the new 13″ Air seems/feels like it’s more of an appeasement by Apple as it may or may not be in a hardware transition phase (Intel > ARM). In other worst-words: the new 13″ Air simply isn’t as appealing to me as the tech and engineering and design of the minuscule but functional 12″ MacBook.
  4. I’ve had to travel here and there this past year. When I travel I always ask my wife if I can borrow her 12″ MacBook–as my 2015 13″ MacBook is too big for economy seats on airplanes. The 12″ MacBook, which is the size of an iPad, is a blast in economy seating–not to mention that I can type on the thing for hours and hours on battery! And so… Nuff said from a guy unwilling to pay for bidnessclass seats so he can afford underpowered, over-priced tech krapp.
  5. I couldn’t bring myself to buy the 2018 MacBook Air because, well, as a first iteration product, it’s not a third iteration product–like the 2017 12″ MacBook. Have I mentioned how much I love typing with ten fingers on Apple’s new butterfly keyboard? While I tested the Air’s third-gen keyboard, I found myself missing the clickity-clatch of the second-gen keyboard–something to do with Apple having put plastic covers underneath the keys to protect from dust. Seriously. The butterfly keyboard introduced with the 12″ MacBook is nothing short of amazing–even if a speck of dust can break it. The good news is: Apple has a four year guarantee on these keyboards!

Oh yea. The colour.

Once I got home and unboxed it I walked around my house holding it up against walls, open windows, light bulbs, etc. I had to get to the bottom of the colour. Is it really gold? Once I had it setup, synced with iCloud, used migration assistant, etc., I did a quick search on the Interwebnets and discovered that the “gold” is actually a combination of the two previous two generation’s gold and rose-gold. The problem is, since I’m partly colour blind, it looks totally pink to me. I think. So I guess I need to trust my better-half who says she only sees gold.

The boredom of performance.

As far as CPU, graphics and hardware is concerned, and having just bought a “netbook” for the price of a real computer, i.e. a friggin MacBook Pro, don’t fret. I’m a writer. My digital world consists of typing, online research, more typing, a krapp load of typing and every once-a-once watching a movie. For blogging I do basic graphic/picture work, which is nothing more than cropping and resizing. I also manage my home network with my computer, which is made up of a bunch of old hard-drives and a single raspberry pi. And since this little thing is as fast–but definitely not faster–than my 2015 MacBook Air with the i7 CPU, I’m good with it. This MacBook is more than enough for my needs, especially since I upped the storage capacity to 500GB. Oh wait. Did I mention how much I love ten-finger typing on this thing–or how much I hated the mushy-keyboard of my old MacBook Air? Nomatter. The world is now pink-gold.

MacOS confusion.

My 2015 MacBook Air came with Yosemite. I eventually upgraded to El Capitan. I avoided moving away from El Capitan for as long as I could. In fact, I totally skipped Sierra but then, eventually, I gave in and installed High Sierra. Result? I hated it. Main reason: the screen. Since the introduction of “retina” displays, which I think was after El Capitan, my guess is Apple did something with the OS that changed how older, non-retina displays worked. After El Capitan my old Air just seemed even more pixelated than before. I might be totally off with this assumption but my guess is retina-OS’s were/are part of Apple’s forced obsoletism. You know, kind of the same as what they do with batteries on iOS devices. Although skipping Sierra was the right thing to do with that version of hardware, giving High Sierra a try was better. Even though the OS worked fine, and I finally got to see the benefits of iCloud, that old screen just didn’t cut it anymore. Apple’s obsoletism works–if you can afford it.

Mojave.

So far, after only a few days of use, I’m impressed with Mojave except for one thing. The light and dark modes are cool. But if I choose light mode (on account I like dark mode to come from whatever app I’m using), I can’t change the menu bar to dark–which was one of the few things I liked with High Sierra. Whaaaaa? Come on Apple! Also. Full-screen mode is much better in Mojave, especially when the screen splits with two apps. Anywho. So far I’m digging Mojave. But experience tells me, either the next or the next-next OS update will ruin something for my new, over-priced, under-powered gem of a device.

There is no pink-gold dongle.

I purchased a fairly cheap dongle for my wife’s MacBook last year. Its cheapness meant you could only use one of the three available USB ports reliably while it was also hooked up to a monitor. Although my wife doesn’t need anything more than that, I do. I’ve learned that the worst part of dongle-hell isn’t the single USB-C port of this machine but instead the dongle makers themselves. The market for dongles is as confusion as it gets. So I splurged and purchased two new dongles. I bought my wife the Apple multi-port dongle that she uses to connect a second monitor, which also enables the monitor as a reliable USB hub. For myself I bought a dongle with seven ports. Although it gets pretty hot, so far, its three USB3 ports work without issue. The only problem remaining is that there is no dongle to match the odd, pink-gold (or is orange-gold?) MacBook. Oh well.

Nuff for now. More to come?

Rant on.

-T

Egypt Of The…

~ Tom ~ Leave a comment

“This was indeed the Egypt of the Confederacy,–the rich granary whence potatoes and corn and cotton poured out of the famished and ragged Confederate troops as they battled for a cause lost long before 1861. Sheltered and secure, it became the place of refuge for the families, wealth, and slaves. Yet even then the hard ruthless rape of the land began to tell. The red-clay sub-soil already had begun to peer above the loam. The harder the slaves were driven the more careless and fatal was their farming. Then came the revolution of war and Emancipation, the bewilderment of Reconstruction,–and now, what is the Egypt of the Confederacy, and what meaning has it for the nation’s weal or woe?”

-WEB Dubois – The Souls of Black Folk

Rant on.

-T