Tag: Fail

The Event Horizon Of Stupid

Scream no fear all worst

Event Horizon – noun, Astronomy, a theoretical boundary around a black hole beyond which no light or other radiation can escape; a point of no return: we’re nearing the event horizon of the presidential election.

Hat totting rural-ites taking over useless government buildings claiming the land which that building sits on is unlawfully owned by government. These same people also maintain that the government (for and by the people) is in (their) reality actually occupying territory and so that territory needs to be taken back because it belongs to all of us–but they got there first. Hey! What about this? Privately owned cattle should have the right to graze on government land without the privateer compensating the government for what his/her cattle does to that land–for twenty frickin’ years. That pretty much sums up the recent activities of a family somewhere in the western portion of the US where stupid grows as much as grass. This level of cultural and social ignorance doesn’t seem to have an end, though. I don’t know about you but to me it seems like the chaos and mayhem going on the US right now is beyond shocking. I mean, the country has always been plagued by stupid people doing stupid things. I mean, you can only have so many smart people. Right? Yet, just when you think the bottom has been reached, something utterly stupefying takes place that proves there is no bottom (or end) to how low things can go. For example. A family owns a gun store that also repairs guns. A customer disputes a $25 charge for a gun repair and a gun fight breaks out. Four out of five people in the store are shot. The store owner and his (17 year old) son are dead. The other two are in critical condition. Over twenty-five dollars! You know, in all that is happening in the US right now, shooting people over twenty-five dollars sounds like an underachievement that is worth, at best, a footnote. But get this. The other day #americant wannabe bobbleheads got together in yet another showing of mental prowess in the race for the land’s highest office. Which makes worst-writer ask this question: How does the current presidential race mix with all the stupidity going on in the country? Well, I guess it’s all part of the race to the bottom. Or, as I like to worst-say: a race for failing upwards. And so. Misguided (mostly) white men defending the ideas they get from TV and poor people owning guns that can’t afford twenty-five dollar repair fees and, and, and… A former governor of Alaska, who is obviously stupider than the bed of rocks her salmon swim above, endorses a TV show character who is running for president. And why shouldn’t a TV guy run for prez? America already picked and still worships an actor that became president–and look what he did to the country. I don’t know about you, dear worst-reader, but boy do I love #americant. Rant on. -Tommi

Links that motivated this post: 

Repeating History Because You Like How It Tickles

Time to celebrate. Break out the bubbly, the cheese & crackers, turn on the game, crack open that can of rice beer. And what is it we celebrate? Well. What is about to happen, dear worst-reader, is more than just a new year. To (y)our joy this is a year just like the last and the last before it and the last before it. And what ties every year together? 2016 will bring just as much truth that 2015 brought and 2014 before it and 2013 before it, and so on and so on and so on. Yes, the truth is here. But that’s not what we’re celebrating. No. We’re celebrating another year after another year after another year of avoiding truth. Some like to call it avoiding the mirror. But I’m not one for mincing words–at least like I mince meat. Indeed. And so. We are once again at the truth. It is right in front of us. And do we see it? Of course not. At the least, I, worst-writer, have tried to put it out there. Just have a look here. Yes. I’ve tried in vain to articulate in the worst-way possible anything akin to truth, albeit Tommi’s worst-truth. And what is that truth? Well, it goes something like this: you are fucked. I don’t mean that in a literal way, although for some it would be welcome. No. This form of being fucked has nothing to do with the tingling and pleasure grinding that remakes you, your parents and every other lost soul that has walked this jungle of consume to survive. No. This form of being fucked has more to do with payback, revenge, vengeance. Yet when worst-writing about such acts one can only wonder who is the one doing the payback? Well, the answer is easy because it is yet another part of the truth avoided. For you see, dear worst-reader, the truth is simple. The thing fucking you is the past. And not just any past. It is not an infinite past. It is a not-so distant past that has found a way to rear its head out of its smelly coffin. It’s still wearing jewelry, a necktie and even a pocket watch. It’s tophat no longer fits on its flaky skull, though. But tophats are neither here nor there. Eh? If you haven’t guessed who or what this past is, then I reckon I should just come out and tell you. It is the past of your great grandparents, the near past of your country, where tophats are common place amongst the grinding folk of Greed’s yesteryore. Indeed. For you must realize eventually, dear worst-reader, that the comings and goings of your country–that place you so mistakenly love without condition(s)–is ramping-up yet another assault on you. You know what assault I’m worst-writing of, don’t you? I know it’s hard for you. But you must (eventually) try (to look around). All it takes to wake-up from the dream that is your nightmare is to try (and look around). You will see how and who is fucking you so royally into oblivion. Your sweet-lie that is the middle class has been decimated. The poor have finally washed their last dish–there is no more chance to being a millionaire. (Boy, I particularly loved that lie we were fed: dishwasher to millionaire.) Or maybe not. Yeah. Forget all that. It’s end of year buying season. Go buy something. Or. Maybe. Have a look at the commencement speech above. It’s from the guy who “bet against America” because he was able to see the truth. Yes. He was able to see your truth. He was able to see how (y)our past reared its ugly Greed face and took over everything. Greed is a vindictive bastard, eh! That Greed face told you to buy and buy and buy–nomatter what–and you abided. You bought and you bought and bought more. And when there was no more money to buy with you borrowed and you borrowed and you financed and you financed. And now that the bottom has fallen out and your pants have been hanging at your ankles for so long you can’t tell anymore the difference between penetration, violation and procreation. Yeah. You are fucked. And with that in mind. Even though buying season is almost over, it doesn’t matter. The first thing you’ll do as the year changes to the next is what did previously and what you family did previously. All because you can’t see the truth. Or maybe not. Nomatter. Good luck suckers. Rant on. -Tommi

Packaging Hell And Out Of Season Berries

hell packaging
Favorite feel-good food from my beloved America. But the packaging. Who designs, engineers, makes the packaging? College grads.

Don’t worry, dear worst-reader. We all have too much time on our hands–especially during this time of year. The fact that I’m projecting my (too much) time on others in this manner is yet another indication that the transition from industrial age > technical servitude is almost complete. The good thing? It’s just a blog. The bad thing. It’s a blog with nuggets of truth, albeit worst-writer truth. Which means. Just a few more industries need to be decimated in order to fulfill the wishes of the ghosts of the robber barons of yesteryore. You know. Those ghosts are the ones that the baby boomer generation pray to. Just imagine the image of that prayer. And so. Anyone wonder why things are so bad, why there is no future–unless you’re already rich or you’re parents will inherit you something. Indeed. Otherwise, the working stiffs of this nation lay claim to all this free time and call it Xmas. They/we hide behind the mask of midnight mass and the thrill of something coming down our chimney–that chimney really being a metaphor for our throats. And so. We Throats celebrate with friends and family, including all those that have been exploited in one way or another–especially the inner family throat exploits. But, of course, rational minds call this free-loading time of year simply #americant; yet another perfected by-product of consuming to survive. Merry this or merry that. Buy this or buy that. And find your only solace in the innocence you brought into this world through some seriously fucked up loins. Or maybe not. Let’s move on. §Just get a load of the links below. Get a good load of them. I mean, this is the season to be jolly and, more importantly, to charge up the credit cards, or, if you’re lucky, get another credit card so that you can charge that one up–adding it to the ones you’ll already never pay off. Free money, eh, worst-reader. Yeah, it’s all free money. §That said. I really miss American cereal. What I don’t miss is the packaging. First. Sorry for the bad pic (above). I’m still trying to figure how to work my new-fangled iPhone 6s camera (which I bought outright, no credit, 64GB!) It’s just that, I thought I would throw this rant out there into the ether of blogging nothingness. Who the fuck makes the packing of cereal boxes? Why is it that I can’t open these friggin’ boxes without always ripping the lids? Who makes this krapp! And why? I know. I know. They do it just to piss of worst-writer. But then worst-writer knows something they don’t. For example. Cereal box packaging is made and designed by college grads. People go to college to get a job so they can make deficient packaging. Just look at the result–the result of what all the college grads do. Doesn’t that say something about college? I mean, heck, the entire US government is managed by college grads. Yet college today has no more value than a high-school forty years ago. What could that mean? At the least, we know what previous generations have done to the whole shebang. Btw, is that the reason we deplete the future for our children? But I digress. Or do I? §The other day my mom bought blackberries. I watched her stand in front of the huge display of blackberries at (you know what store). I told her, “Mom, they’re waaaaaay out of season. People shouldn’t buy waaaaaay out of season fruit. It’s bad for the environment.” She turned to me, she gestured to the size of the display of blackberries. It was the size of a friggin’ pool. Blackberries in small and large plastic containers at least fifteen feet long, five feet wide, stacked on plastic box on the other. My mom winked that cute republican wink and without saying a word I knew her response. “Don’t worry chummy, the environment is here to serve me. That’s why I came to this country.” And so. When we got home I tried a berry. And to my un-surprise they taste like shit. I swear they do. They taste like water coloured mush paper. “Add some sugar,” my mom said. And then I realized something. Yeah. Add some sugar. Add some butter. Put cream on it. That’s how America rolls! I know. I know. That’s how the whole western world rolls. But I’m not in the western world right now. I’m in America where presidential candidates complain about immigrants. And if those immigrants are removed from the American equation then no one will have shitty tasting blackberries to choke on anymore. Wow. Things to weigh while we all have a bit too much time to kill. Yeah. Rant on.

hell fruit
Blackberries. From where? Picked by who? Totally out of season. They taste like krapp. Just add sugar.

-Tommi

Links that helped motivate this post:

 Who Has Sold You

louis cypher the grand salesman
Screenshot of Louis Cypher. The man who could sell you a soul at a really great price. The American soul.
Schadenfreude is not my thing. Nor do I wish any one ill-will. Live and let others live better–that’s my motto. But there are times, moments, where I giggle and smirk at the goings and cummings of my beloved #americant and of those still trapped in all (her) confused greed-dollar-tendrils. On the other hand, of course, I don’t laugh out loud at what happens within those tendrils. That would be rude. Or would it? Actually, when I rehash it all in my head, I guess it wouldn’t be rude. I mean, all things considered, what is “rude” these days? A bubble world in which the participant’s lives are determined by the behavior of all participants–hence compulsive behaviorism, corporatism, cronyism, etc. It means that eventually there will/can be no difference between rude and not rude. Which brings me once again to The Donald. I can’t remember that last time I travelled to my beloved #americant and found so much excitement when turning on the boob-tube. I am, you know, a cord-cutter. But when I’m in America I can’t help but turn on the boob-tube. Obviously I’m not alone. The boob-tube runs twenty-four-seven here. Or? §Usually when I’m in the united mistakes I check the news, maybe see if tits are showing somewhere on HBO, or, at the least, bear witness to the cummings and doings of faux newz so that I may continuing standing on my limited raised pillar that keeps me a head above the rest. The good thing is, the rudeness can’t stop with The Donald or his adherents. Which means there will be entertainment forevermore. The bad thing is, as The Donald overwhelms the airwaves (and the fragile minds of the dumb-downed via ever higher levels of rudeness), there are so many other examples of why/how things are so so so bad. Or are they not so bad? Does rude equal bad? Obviously not. So. Are things good? Has my beloved #americant caught the curve, beat the bear around the last turn, sucked it up? I certainly don’t know. I’m only here for a few painstaking days then its up up and away eh in my beautiful balloon. I have to return my expat comfort where I have never seen a doctor bill, a dental bill, a psyche bill. Of all my gold fillings, none of them are ear-marked by a creditor or bank controlled location beacon. I most certainly don’t have to worry about the same beacon being put in the car that you will never own–volunteering as an indentured servant. But I’m off subject–as usual. This post is supposed to be about the articles below. About the people in the articles below. Who are these people? What are these people? Where do they come from? Where are they going? The simple answer is thus: America. The complex answer is thus: Money is God. Or maybe not. Need I mention the simple fact that the united mistakes of #americant is not only the sole perpetrator of giving the world a middle class but now it’s also the one to take that middle class away. Indeed. And don’t get me wrong. I could give a rats ass about the middle class. Seriuosly. Fuck it and fuck all those who adhere to it. I mean, hell, the middle class is where I was reared. I have seen all it has to offer. I have seen it naked and puking and defacating upon its mothers and its children–having convinced its prey that what it’s doing is Disney World. The middle class is the ugly picture of white men of Euro-heritage. They are perverts and simpletones who have found a way to rule the world. All because they prey on the fear of those who might wake to the true reality of their Disney World. Which means, in my worst-mind, in my worst-fantasy, the American middle-class should be left somewhere on the side of the road so that it may wither away or become the homeless it deserves to be and then, like us all, finally, finally, fucking die. Or maybe not. I mean. Why bitch & moan & rant. Why should any white man die? Someone has to survive. Survive this experiment in greed and idiocracy. Survive so that a child can sit on a perverts lap and wish for everything in the world as the tree gleams of snow white and her seven owned dwarfs. Which brings me once again to The Donald. The ultimate white man. The ultimate Santa. Yet even I, dear worst-reader, underestimated the size of the lust from which The Donald has emerged. Lust, you say, dear worst-writer? Yes, lust, dear worst-reader. For what is lust? Well, lust is what we all try desperately to fulfill as though it was the empty bucket that is our minds and our souls. The #americant dream, baby. Or. If you prefer, dear worst-reader, check out the articles below. Check out the personalities featured in them. Here we have the top of crop. The entrepreneurs. The college educated. College drop-outs. Those who are driven. Yes. Those who are driven. Look at what they do. Look at what they sell. Look closely. Look at who taught them. OYG! Good luck suckers. Rant on. -Tommi

Links that motivate this post:

Pros & Cons Of The 6s

tommis iphone 6s

Pros:

  • Force touch rocks even though I’m only using it to get to a cursor in order to edit text! Boy, do I dig this!
  • Speed is ok, obviously a bump from my old 4s. But I actually thought about putting this in the cons. It’s just not that impressive. The speed of the fingerprint reader is shockingly fast–which is also a con below. I bet my old 4s running an iOS before version 7 would be just as fast as this device opening apps or surfing. Yeah. I loved iOS 5 and still miss it.
  • Don’t need to say much more here as Pros are kinda boring. So let’s move on to more important stuff.

Cons:

  • Although I don’t have the smallest hands, coming from iPhone 4s, this thing feels huge. With this phone I have to figure out the best location of app icons so that I can access with one hand. For example, camera icon cannot be in upper left corner as it was with my 4s because I can’t reach that far with my right thumb on the 6s.
  • I don’t understand why Apple doesn’t allow the home screen to rotate like the 6s Plus. I really like screen rotation on my iPad.
  • Slippery. Slippery. Slippery. It’s not that I’m worried about dropping it. Ok. I’m a little worried. I love the Rockform case on my 4s, which has kept the old device in flawless condition over the years. The stuff I’ve seen from them for 6s isn’t the same though. The only way to deal with the slippery-ness, with protecting it, is to cover it with something ugly. Actually, I’m using the Apple leather case right now. Although it’s nice, feels great, it also feels slippery. Go figure.
  • Battery. Nuff said.
  • It crashes. This thing has crashed more times since I purchased it last week than my 4s in three years. Seriously. Ok. I may be over stating by one or two crashes. But what is true is that this thing crashes and it’s really, really obnoxious.
  • Fingerprint reader is too fast. I find myself hitting the home button with finger on my other hand so that I get to the sleep screen (or whatever it’s called). I like that screen because I use it to tell the time. I guess I have to get used to telling the time buy using the power button.
  • The power button (1) is in the wrong place if you’re taking landscape pictures. When you put the phone in landscape and then use the +volume button to snap the picture, you have to make sure that you don’t hit the power button at the same time.
  • The power button (2) is in the wrong place if you like using it to turn the phone off when you’re putting it in your pocket. If I’m using one hand to shut off the screen I have to re-adjust my forefinger and middle finger around the volume buttons so that I don’t squeeze them all at the same time.
  • The bezel on the top and the bottom. It doesn’t make any design sense–which means design doesn’t fit function. Why can’t the camera be part of the screen? I have no problem with the screen getting out of the way for a camera. Why can’t the force touch be in the screen, too? And the phone speaker on the top bezel? Why, why, why?
  • And since I’m on design. The back of the iPhone serves as some kind of life-style statement. That’s stupid, especially since the thing has to have a case in order to help people from shattering… their life-style. Apple seriously needs to re-think the design of this device. It seems to me that the sides of the device could have many more ports or speakers or microphone or cameras or whatever. After all these years of pretty much the same design, this thing is boring, boring, boring.
  • Battery sucks. Oh, did I mention that. Yeah, right.

Rant on. -Tommi

US White Males And A Flat Earth Worth Jumping Off

US white males dying large
Red line USW=US white males age 45-54. Source below.

Got caught in a rut the other night while trying to find my new girlfriend who is named Sleep. A heroic bitch she is and I don’t know if my love for her is worth the effort. For as we all know love is an effort. For example, how many kisses have you wasted on Sleep this day? That’s why, historically speaking, marriage is the way out. Or is it jumping off the edge? Yeah, jumping off the edge sounds better. At the least, since we live in a flat world, wouldn’t that be a better way out than trying to circumnavigate a round world where we invent marriage and toasters? But I digress. §As the rut deepened in my search for Fräulein Sleep the following thought crossed my mind: if the world was flat then I could jump off the edge and race my burdens to the bottom. Then again, when I hit that bottom will I have to (eventually) jump off another edge? There are surely Fraüleins on any new shelf we jumped to. Either that or I should focus on a way to get to Fr. Sleep through other means. But enough about me and my frivolous joys and tantrums. §Check out the article below. Of all the negativity that I live for, for all the pessimism that gives me joy, finding an article about a subject matter like this should rock my world. Rock me right into Fr. Sleep. But it doesn’t. And the reason it doesn’t has nothing to do with the fact that I’m only partly in the demographic that the article deals with. Indeed. So let’s go there. §There is an alarming increase in death rates of US white males between the age of 45 and 54. These days rates are attributable to substance abuse and suicide. Gee. When I read such stuff I giggle and smirk. The giggle is because I have an advantage above and beyond this demographic. For you see, dear worst-reader, at 52–about to turn 53–there is an obvious advantage to being only half white. I smirk at this article because, well, I saw it all coming thirty friggin’ years ago! No. Seriously. When I left the (your) Homeland so many years ago (before it was called Homeland; when it was still mostly a country), my departing words, shed with a few tears, were: I will miss you very much but I won’t miss the madness and the madhouse. Now look at you. Indeed. I left the madness and its house and I have been staring back at what I’ve done ever since. But it was the only way out–the only way to rid myself the flat world that raised me. So I went to its edge and I jumped. And guess where I landed. I landed on another flat plain where the edge doesn’t call for me as abruptly and the wine is better, the beer is better, the food is better–but the grass ain’t greener. Seriously. Am I the only one to have seen this coming? To have seen the madness of the madhouse take over the show with the sole purpose of widening the horizons of being mad. Death of my peers, my compatriots, my fellow Federalists, comrades. By the millions you die because you can’t see through the prick of your heroin needles, the gulp of another bottle of rye or the leap from the tall building you mistake as an edge. No one saw this coming. Except me. Death in a world made of nothingness has to be the consequence of nothingness and life run amok. Or? I suppose if one propels death to higher levels, i.e. putting a price on life (living standard) and make one live be the objects that kill (the war machine + economic conscription = the only way out of poverty) this is what must come. Especially now, or at least since 2007 AD (the great recession), since there is even less than nothingness to fall back on. And with that nonsense in mind, good luck suckers. Rant on. -tommi

Links that motivated this post:

 

Kahn And The Donald

Kahn And The Donald

Multiple monitors inject (their) information into my brain every morning. The fun usually begins before six a.m. but on this particular morn it began at five. The information, of course, is the freak-show known as (the current iteration of the grand social, national, greed-show) #americant. Most of this information comes to me in the form of news. I get this news from either reading (what remains of RSS feeds, various news aggregators, blogs, etc.) or watching podcasts or krapptube… youtube. As I was catching up on the top-rated freak show of the century, aka The Donald running for the republican party’s nomination as president, a scene and a character popped into my head from a Star Trek film as demagoguery has been elevated to new levels in American politics. The film? The Wrath of Kahn. Remember it? Of course, I’d seen that movie before but it had been a while. So I gave the film another look and then realised that the scene I was looking for wasn’t in the movie. Keep in mind, dear worst-reader, I’m a pseudo trekkie. I own all the Star Trek movies, all three seasons of TOS (the original series), TNG (the next generation) and Voyager. Obviously “pseudo” applies because I don’t own, nor have I ever seen any of the other instalments from this sci-fi universe. Even though I like all the films, except, maybe, The Final Frontier or The Undiscovered Country, The Voyage Home and The Wrath of Kahn are my favourites. But, as usual, I’m off subject again. Nomatter. The subject is #americant demagoguery and what scene in what movie it all reminded me of. And so. On this particular morn the right monitor was catching me up on the madness of The Donald. The left monitor was showing me “Space Seed”, i.e. S01E22 of Star Trek (TOS). For there was my error, dear worst-reader. The scene I had been looking for was not from the movie but instead from the TV show. And after much-much deep thought and tv-soul searching I had finally found it. Indeed. The Donald freak-show that #americants are lapping up got me thinking about the origin of Kahn. Not the origin of the movie but the origin of the character himself and the humanity that created/fostered him. I knew that the movie was a continuation of one of the shows from the original series–but it took me a bit longer to get to the actual scene that was so deep in my memory. Which brings me to Khan Noonien Singh, The Enterprise and the transcript/scene below. Kahn was the product of late 20th century eugenics in which a few of the “last tyrants” ran various parts/countries of earth. Eventually these tyrants were all defeated but Kahn managed to make a spectacular getaway. He and his crew of fellow supermen and superwomen made it to some new fangled space ship. There they (somehow) put themselves into suspended animation and, well, they were found two hundred years later. Keep in mind, this particular episode of Star Trek was written in the late 1960s. I can only assume that the generation of writers that were working at the time in Hollywood were well aware of the eugenics madness that came out of Europe in an earlier part of the same century. And so. After watching it, it hit me like a rock the thing that connected a character from a 1967 TV show with Donald J. Trump of 2015 #americant freak-show politics riding on the edge of societal danger. For your worst-reading pleasure, the transcript is below. For those of you with easy access, the scene takes place at about 29min into the episode.

Star Trek – “Space Seed”, Season 1, Episode 22.

The scene is a briefing room on Enterprise. Seated around a table are Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scott. They are drinking (coffee?) out of cups. A picture of Khan is on a large screen behind them.

KIRK: (Picture behind him is that of Kahn when he left earth.) Name, Khan, as we know him today. (Spock changes the picture Kahn of now.) Name, Khan Noonien Singh.

SPOCK: (Abruptly.) From 1992 through 1996, absolute ruler of more than a quarter of your world. From Asia through the Middle East.

MCCOY: (Obviously aware of this part of earth’s history.) The last of the tyrants to be overthrown.

SCOTT: (Ditto awareness.) I must confess, gentlemen. I’ve always held a sneaking admiration for this one.

KIRK: He was the best of the tyrants and the most dangerous. They were supermen, in a sense. Stronger, braver, certainly more ambitious, more daring.

SPOCK: Gentlemen, this romanticism about a ruthless dictator is…

KIRK: Mister Spock, we humans have a streak of barbarism in us. Appalling, but there, nevertheless.

SCOTT: There were no massacres under his rule.

SPOCK: And as little freedom!

MCCOY: No wars until he was attacked.

SPOCK: Gentlemen.

(All but Spock laugh.)

KIRK: Mister Spock, you misunderstand us. We can be against him and admire him all at the same time.

SPOCK: Illogical.

KIRK: Totally. (He moves to activate ship communication system.) This is the Captain. Put a twenty four hour security on Mister Khan’s quarters, effective immediately.

-end of scene-

Here’s the thing, dear worst-reader. This scene reminds me of the mindset of #americant right now as it dabbles so energetically and naively in right-wing extreme politics thanks to one political party and the power of its propaganda. And just like Spock, only a few people can actually see what’s really happening both within the party and with those that vehemently support it. While #americant giggles and ogles over how, for the first time ever, a national figure rises out of the ashes of an obviously broken political system, no one recognises what’s really going on. With that in mind, does The Donald sound familiar? Or does this mean that the only cure for #americant is a rational and logical thinking Spock who tries to understand how/why humans romanticise the way they do.

In closing. Let’s not forget how this particular Star Trek episode ended. The threat of the demagogue Kahn was thwarted only after quoting Milton: It is better to rule in hell than serve in heaven. How fitting for what my beloved America has allowed itself to become. Now go buy something and enjoy The Donald show you have earned.

Rant on. -tommi

Links that helped with this post:

 

By Definition We Are

psycopath v sociopath
Don’t worry. This pic is a modified cut & paste picture that worst-writer made while fiddling around on the Internets. So there!

psychopath |ˈsīkəˌpaθ|
noun
a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior.

sociopath |ˈsōsēōˌpaθ|
noun
a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.

In the wake of recent “mass” shooting in my beloved #americant, I got to thinking about one of the deeper issues involved in it that could also be considered a cause. This issue, of course, as with other mass shootings, is never addressed in a public forum. The reason for that is simple. If the cause for this or any other mass shooting were to actually be addressed in a public forum, I think the lights would go out and hysteria would be the new norm. (That’s right. There is lots of potential for even more hysteria!) Heck, things would be so bad that Americans might actually think twice about going out and buying something for holy consumer day–i.e. xmas or black monday or the last Tuesday before the vernal equinox. With that nonsense in mind… §The issue I’m worst-writing about is the fact that an already ignorant voting populace that consistently supports republicans, conservatives and neo-fascists, cannot differentiate between a sociopath, a psychopath and a snake oil salesman. And I’m not talking about knowing the difference between all the killers that are running around with their high-powered rifles, their extended clips and their semi-automatic hand guns. No. It’s now time for Americans to start seeing through the people that somehow, in their own perverse, self-righteous, amoral way, have stoked the crazies. Just get a load of what Cruz and Fiorina have said (see linked articles below). Carly Fiorina, a formative presidential candidate for 2016, goes so far as to equate #blacklivesmatter protestors with pro-life protestors. Now. I don’t know about you, dear worst-reader, but that blows my mind. Conservative and neo-fascists have been attacking abortion clinics, shooting people, blowing things up for years. What has #blacklivesmatter protestors ever done to anybody? But I digress. Good luck suckers. And. Rant on. -tommi

Links that motivated this post:

What Things Are Really About

Failure. That’s what things are really about. Or maybe not. §Gotta throw this out there in the digital ether. Something strange happened the other day. It hit me hard, dear worst-reader. Yeah. Something strange and hard hit me the other day while I was watching TWIT #532. I mean, I listen to podcasts daily. Most of the podcasts I listen to are audio but some are video. I listen/watch video podcasts more if they were available. Leo Laporte is the video podcaster I listen to the most because, well, he’s the one that offers the most. At least he offers the most when it comes to technology. He offers stuff about tech security, tech legal issues, tech what-to-buy, tech Apple, tech Google, so on and so forth. But I have to admit. I wish Laporte would take his wondrous podcasting resource and offer up a daily news show. A show not about tech. Something about national politics, world news, etc. I mean, why not? Even though there’s plenty of news stuff out there in audio podcasting, there really is very little offered in video podcasting. Btw, I used to watch Rachel Maddow’s iTunes show but her overlords stopped publishing it. Gee, I wonder why. I mean. Obviously it’s beyond MSNBC’s means to simply publish the show via RSS or iTunes? Oh wait. The great minds running MSNBC actually think if they publish the show as a video podcast they are then missing out on some relevant revenue streams. Right? ($$$) I mean. Seriously? (Sarcasm off.) §Which brings me full circle to the thing that hit me real hard the other day. Like I said, I was watching TWIT #532 while doing my morning chores–which mostly consists of cleaning up the mess in the kitchen from the night before–when at about two hours into the video (it was a big mess the night before) Leo & Co. started to veer north, south, east, i.e. beyond technology. In fact, they got down-right political. The issue? Corporatism. And what corporatism is really about. Here’s how it breaks down. Some trophy executive, who supposedly quit her elite schooling to get right into the arena of whose gonna be the next Steve Jobs, screwed up royally. She didn’t really screw up any different than most #americant corporate execs, yet there is something that makes her screw up stand out. For example. Did you know that the blood diagnostic industry in the U.S. has a value of $75 billion? Well. This corporate-college-dropout figured that out all by herself. And do you know what she came up with? That’s right. She came up with a new way to measure the ingredients of blood. Indeed. No more big-gulp size syringes getting filled with whatever’s in my arm. No. This chick has invented a way to take a pin prick full of blood and without having to send it off to a lab she can run it through some wonder machine and in almost an instant the world of blood diagnostics is changed. It’s changed to the tune of redistributing $75 billion, baby. Wow. §Except there’s one problem with this new invention that is supposed to change old paradigms. Would you believe that all of the investors who invested serious money in this “start-up” were clueless to the charade? Can you say due-diligence? I guess it also never occurred to anyone involved in the charade that the company had no credentials in medicine. Indeed. Which brings me ’round to worst-writer reality. Higher education, corporate elites, all of them, are useless these days. And they know it. That’s why they get by with lying, cheating, hoaxing, snake oil. Just like Steve Jobs. Right? Or? Wait. Maybe it’s not Jobs we should be looking at here for inspiration. Maybe we should be looking at VW, Lehman Brothers, GM, WorldCom, Enron, #americant, etc. Speaking of corporates cheating and lying. Interested in knowing how this new blood diagnostic company lied about blood test results in order to get preliminary approval for further testing? Get this. They actually did all blood testing on regular (old) testing equipment and not their own newly developed equipment. That way they could make sure they met government standards. Any of this sound familiar? Indeed it does.

Rant on. -Tommi

Links that helped with this post:

A comprehensive guide to Theranos’s troubles and what it means for you – The Washington Post

This Week In Tech #532 | twit.tv

Blood test startup faces scrutiny |Tech Times

Oh No. #Yahoo Sucks.

yahoo-edFirst. Full disclosure. I really dig Yahoo. And I don’t mean no disrespect with this worst-post. With that in mind. I’ve been using Yahoo email ever since I lost my password for CompuServe back in the early 1990s. Which brings me to the following question: how can something that was once so good get so screwed up? For years now I’ve been turned off by Yahoo. What in the world are they up to? I suppose out of nostalgia I’ve stuck with them all these years. Either that or I’m too lazy to change all those accounts I have using a yahoo email address. Nomatter. I’m afraid to admit it but Yahoo has really gone off the edge. Or is it me? Would you believe that I can only access my mail through a web browser these days? In fact, ever since OSX Yosemite I’m unable to access email through Apple’s mail client. The same goes for the iOS mail app. Wait. Hold a sec. Actually that’s not 100% true. I can access email as long as I regenerate a new password though some obnoxious two-tier password generator every other frickin’ day. Of course, to do that, I have to regenerate a password every other frickin’ day on every other frickin’ device–which really sucks because I love the idear of having a single app across all my devices. Come on Yahoo, are you serious? And get this. The other day, for shits & giggles, and because I was fed up with having to regenerate yet another frickin’ password so that my iPad could access my email, I decided to try the Yahoo Mail app. And what is the first thing that stands out when using that app? Frickin’ ads! You’ve got to be kidding me. Wow. Which brings me to the following worst-conclusion as to why Yahoo mail doesn’t play nice anymore. It’s because mail clients prevent yahoo from showing ads. If this is all silicon valley can come up these days, we’re in trouble. But then again, I’ve already started the process of hosting my own email server. Getting it running is another story. Rant on. -tommi

Links that motivate this post:

The Working Poor Shall Inherit The Earth

labor force absentee list

Get a load of some of these stats, dear worst-reader. There are times when even I, the grand stat-viewer, milk some tears when I read such things. And as we know, my tears are not like those of mermaids. Indeed. There will be no cure for these ails. So let’s just run down to reality lane and give it all a once-over, shall we? First, get a look at those stats from The Social Security Agency. You know, it always bothered my when repub nutbags harped on social security. Even though the system is self-financing, that is, no tax dollars have to go into social security, republicans want to privatise is. Why? Well, the answer is clear. The ideology of political conservatism is also clear. Greed doesn’t like change nor does it like money flowing without it (conservatives) being the delegator(s). Also, greed works best when it can exploit whatever through whatever means. With that in mind, social security is both a grand target and, under the right conditions, no different than a deer being blinded by headlights. You can be assured, dear worst-reader, and you may count your blessings, that the greed mongers haven’t gotten their fingers into social security like they’ve gotten those same fingers into other easily exploitable (political) endeavours. But I digress.  §Have a look at the article “Goodby Middle Class.” If that doesn’t scare the poopy out of you then nothing will. Of course, I saw all this coming in the 1980s in my beloved #americant. The way Americans have lapped it up, this lie of the mind, this consume-to-survive gluttony, this inherit from parents is the only way, etc., is, after jumping that sinking ship so many years ago, nothing new to me. Watching this level of cultural and societal degradation hasn’t been easy, though. But what can one expat do? I know. Blog. Vote. Toke. Whatever. §And last but not least. Check out the article that was written based on the “Strange .txt link” below from the site The Economic Collapse. With that in mind, always remember, the science of statistics was created because lying is always better than telling truth. So. Next time you hear Barry-O talk about five or six percent unemployment, do more than just snicker and giggle. The best thing to do is stick your head in your ass where it belongs because you are in your armageddon as the working poor shall NOT inherit the earth. Ha. Ha. Ha. Good luck suckers. Rant on.

Links that motivated this post:

The Cherry Bat v. Coincidence v. Coordination

coincidence dictates
Just kidding!

Is it me, dear worst-reader? Am I the only one to worst-write about conspiracies? Wait. It’s important to note here–for the sake of posterity–that I don’t worst-write about conspiracy theories. Reason? There’s a difference, you know, between conspiracy and conspiracy theory. Just as there’s a difference between coincidence and central planning–as in central planning of a Big Brother state. But I’m wheezing around the subject-tree. Nomatter. Let me just put it out there this morn. After spending the last two days in awe of news galore, last night something hit me. It didn’t hit me like a baseball bat on the back of the head, which is normally what causes the bleeding. No. It hit me like a cherry bat that lingered around my silent room, the shine of my computer screens causing it to swirl and twist around my head until it finally found the time and effort to give me one good slap. Its wing claws dug into my scalp and I could feel it inserting its needle teeth only to be repelled by the thick skull bone protecting my brain. They say the blood around the brain is the best. But bats rarely get to that. At least they don’t get to it among the living. Still. Its incision was deep enough and the blood began to ooze and I could hear its tiny little tongue lapping up my skull blood. It was obvious that it didn’t taste as good as brain blood. But I digress. Here’s the thing. The whole time while I was reading and convincing myself not to itch that thing stuck in my head, something (else) was bothering me. It was something that didn’t fit in the landscape of what I was reading and/or trying to wrap my head around. Luckily. Eventually. The adorable little bat was full. So I went to bed. And then I woke around 5am. And I realised: The Intercept has nailed it. Or have they? Just get a load of the fancy website featuring their latest “journalism” coup d’état (see link below). And wouldn’t you know it! This latest phenomenon in the world of informing a dumb-downed public is due to another… Get this. Wait for it. Yes. It’s due to yet another whistleblower. Indeed. The world needs another whistleblower. The world needs it right at the moment when we thought we didn’t need another. Wow, eh. But all kidding aside. There is one thing that really gets under my skin here–other than that damn cute bat. Indeed. And it goes like this: is it coincidence or is it coordinated that The Intercept releases its newest journalistic find via (insert # here) whistleblower just as Barry O announces the US is staying in Afghanistan? Or maybe not. Rant on. -tommi

Links that motivated this post:

 

Buffoons Ticking On And On And On

What’s to be done when everything is leveraged? Where does one go when margins are so thin? How do you get credit when all there is is debt? How do you get water from a rock? The answer to these and many other questions, dear worst-reader, is simple. You mis-manage your company like no other. You mis-manage everything and blame someone else (for it). You hire college grads who have been trained to the highest levels of mis-management. You are a crony organisation, you are a cancer–but so is everything else. And. You are General Motors. GM has to be one of the worst run companies in human history–yet it ticks on and on and on. A company that was bailed out in 2008/9 to the tune of (insert # here) billion dollars. Ralf Nader says GM was given $50billion from the US government. The money was part of TARP. Most of that money, btw, was not used to help the factories of GM, which are practically non existent in the US anyway. Nor was it used to prop up worker salaries or even management salaries. No. The money was used–and is still being used–to maintain the financial-isation of GM which emulates the financial-isation of #americant post Ronald Reagan. That financial-isation, basically, is one thing and one thing only: Debt. Which means, even though GM sells millions and millions of cars every year, it cannot manage its way out of the mess it’s gotten itself into by following and wallowing in the greed culture that is Reagan’s #americant. As bad as that sounds, GM is in the news now for having to pay a fine of $900 million to the US government because it built cars, knowingly, with faulty parts that supposedly lead to the deaths of hundreds of customers. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Pause. Swallow. Clear throat. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not laughing at the death of anyone. But I am laughing at the idear that GM cannot die. On top of that, where do you think the fine-money GM is paying is gonna go? As Ralph Nader nails it, the money is nothing but…

“The government gets the $900 million, which is like a drop in the bucket for GM. By the way, that money really is tax money recycled. GM, from the bailout, still has billions of dollars of taxpayer money in its treasury.” -Ralph Nader

Wow. This is one of the world’s largest companies and it’s managed by buffoons. Yet it ticks on and on and on. I guess part of all that ticking is the reality that buffoons feed off of buffoons. This is how the world ticks, baby.

Rant on. -t

Links that motivated/helped with this post:

Continue reading “Buffoons Ticking On And On And On” →

Combinations Prevail

four white men of 2015 and beyondThere is no doubt that combinations like this will prevail. Look at the place and the history that makes them–these combinations. First, we have Matt Damon running his trap when he shouldn’t–securing his white supremacy position in Hollywood and playing the fantasy meritocracy card (see lampshade link below). Then we have The Donald teaming up with a fellow cheater (and for added effect fellow cheater Lance Armstrong up in the corner). And there you have it. Cheaters. White supremacists. Meritocracy is bleeding from the walls. So let’s arbitrarily combine them. Combinations–to confuse the idiotic masses who adore corporate America. Adore, indeed. Lust for. Entertain. Bank account. No future–unless you’re one of these achievers. It’s voting time next year. So don’t get confused by combinations. You have earned The Donald #americant. #fuckthemartian

Good luck suckers. Rant on. -t

Links:

That Southern Strategy Beast

Spaghetti monster lapel pin you too can buy. Source: Amazon. Yeah, baby.
Spaghetti monster lapel pin. Wouldn’t it be grand if more politicians and pundits wear it? Source: Amazon. (But I ain’t selling it!)

There’s no beating it, dear worst-reader. As Ferguson explodes (again) I can’t help but think about Richard Nixon. Why? Nixon is, without doubt, one of the greatest politicians in #americant history. The reason for that is simple. Few presidents have left so much in their wake as Nixon. Obviously there are a few before him, but I’m comfortable putting him up there in the top five–impeachment be damned! The greatest politician, btw, has to be slick-willy, Mr. Teflon: Bill Clinton. But he’s another worst-post.

As my beloved #americant spirals into chaos and anarchy–at least among the so-called ninety-nine-percent–all I see is the beast in the room that is the cause. It is a multi-headed beast, allow me to presume. Each head, not unlike the heads of Lernaean Hydra, once removed, is replaced by two. Hence the brilliance of some politicians. Yet how did this beast come to be? Unlike the Hydra–and any other Spaghetti Monster nonsense made up by men from never-more to the bronze-age–there is something almost scientific, at the least planned, about what’s going on these days. And what is going on?

Again. I’m thinking of Richard Dick Nixon. Boy do I remember this guy. I remember my mother crying while watching the TV as Dick waved to the cameras, showing the victory sign while boarding Marine One that was parked on the White House lawn–for the last time. I remember Watergate and even visiting the building, a friend pointing to the window where the break-in took place. I remember President Ford on TV pardoning Dick Nixon. Heck, I even remember Nixon trying to impose rent-control on the country in 1971. But there is one thing that I do not remember about tricky-Dick. And I’m kinda bummed by that. I mean. I should remember this one thing. Because if I would remember it, I wouldn’t have to spend so much time trying to figure it out now. Or? Ok. Maybe not.

Do you know why republicans were so blood thirsty to impeach Bill Clinton? I know. I know. They think they did impeach him. But people forget that Mr. Teflon won that whole Ken Starr whack-job hook, line and sinker. Clinton lying about a blowjob is such a minor and insignificant piece in the annals of #americant history that it will forever be referred to only in a comedic context–or bewilderment over the luscious nature of Monica Lewinsky’s lips. Yet what does that whole piece of history say about a batshit, rightwing House of Reps impeaching Bill Clinton and an equally batshit Senate acquitting him? It says that bloodthirsty (or batshit hungry) republicans are incapable of impeaching and/or making a democrat quit the presidency–like democrats did to them! This tiny piece of history is so infuriating to republicans that the foam from their mouths drips down to be the garb they wear.

Lapel flag-pin anyone?

Yeah, I guess I can’t help but drift at times. I blame that on Lewinsky’s lips, you know. So let me try to bring this thing (beast) around. Richard Dick Nixon is one of the greatest politicians in #americant history because he has made The Southern Strategy a permanent part of politics. In fact, post Reagan, that strategy is what governs everything. Yet no one talks about it. Can one talk about it when white cops are constantly shooting young black men? Can one talk about it when batshit conservatives indirectly condone the murder of abortion doctors. Can one talk about it when the so-called middle-class has been systematically drained of its wealth, only so that wealth can be caught by the upper-class? I will assume that most have heard the question: why do people vote for a party or candidate that is obviously not going to govern in their best interest? The answer is more than just blaming the money and the connections politicians make in order to forge their careers. The answer is The Southern Strategy.

So go ‘head. Thank Dick Nixon for Ronald Reagan, etc.

So let’s talk about Ronald Reagan. If it wasn’t for Nixon’s southern strategy, Reagan would have never gotten so far as an actor/politician–even in California. Do you remember his rhetoric? Welfare queens anyone? Big government is the problem? Just because a president was impeached and subsequently pardoned for his (obvious) crimes, doesn’t mean that his way of politicking can’t be copied. Copied, indeed. Ronald Reagan is the first president to use, post 1929 depression politics, extreme right-wing ideology to influence the political process. This process isn’t just about law-making, governing and elections. It is about:

  1. influencing/controlling the entire electoral process through gerrymandering, indirect poll-taxing (requiring state issued photo ID or driver’s license), and redistricting,
  2. appointing judges who are born of and adhere to conservative ideology so that, among other things, corporations can’t be held liable for their actions,
  3. attacking and demonising the education system, especially colleges and professors,
  4. and creating a propaganda system that could influence voters to vote against their best interests.

With #4 in mind, dear worst-reader, sing with me: thank you Roger Ailes for faux newz and for one-upping Joseph Goebbels! And thank you, Mr. Pig, aka Rush Limbaugh, for selling a nation so much grievance, sentiment and belonging.

Although The Southern Strategy is the multi-headed beast, each head representing something strategic, the core or the body of the beast, the animal itself, is racism. Hence politicians using The Southern Strategy were able to make inroads in their politicking that at first glance doesn’t make much sense. Example? George Wallace won presidential primaries in states that one would think he shouldn’t win–and not just because they were northern states. He won the Democratic party primary in Wisconsin in ’64 and again in Michigan in ’72. This can only be attributed to The Southern Strategy while one of the heads of the beast sung its rhetoric of hate among angry and frustrated white voters.

Indeed. We should all be doing more today than just singing thanks and praise to the likes of Roger Ailes and conservative talking heads. We should instead be sticking our heads up the next guys ass–because that’s obviously where it belongs. Or maybe not.

Rant on. -t

Links that motivated this post:

Roger Ailes’ Secret Nixon Memo For Creating Faux Newz

How The GOP Became The White Man’s Party | Salon

Architect Of Southern Strategy Dies | NYT, 2007

Team Bush, The Iron Triangle | WP, 1999

The Southern Strategy Comes Of Age | Harper’s, 2008

Flop Analyzation

high jump before 1968
Source: google search for “high jump before 1968”. Email me worstwriter (youknow) worstwriter (dotthing) com and I’ll remove it if I’m abusing copyright. I guess.

A confusing, profound and somewhat twisted story where the heart of the matter is lost. This story is the/a perfect metaphor for explaining the goings on of recent clown show. I’m worst-referring to the phenomenon that is The Donald. Indeed, dear worst-reader. The more and more I read about The Donald and his recent faux newz Q&A session (it was in no way a “debate”) the more curious I get. Not to mention the difficulty I’m having trying to explain it to Eurowastelanders, let alone trying to explain the American presidential primary system to them, as well.

Let’s begin with a story. Dick Fosbury won the 1968 gold medal in the high-jump. He did it by changing the jumping technique. His method is called the Fosbury Flop–and it is the way we see high-jumpers perform today. A jumper runs to the bar but instead of trying to leap or straddle over it, the athlete jumps over it backwards throwing his/her body into the air and thereby utilising a more conducive, gravity-centred motion to aide in achieving height. Since the introduction of the flop athletes have never been able to top records with the old method. And now the twist. Credit for athletes being able to achieve in this discipline always goes to the jumping technique. Yet there is one other element, without which, the flop would not be possible. When leaping or straddling the high-bar the athletes landed in a pile of sand where they could use their limbs to absorb the fall. The Fosbury-Flop, though, requires the athlete to land on his/her back–hence the word ‘flop’. When free falling from two meters, a pile of sand does not make for a very soft landing, not to mention the potential for injury.

Here we are, dear worst-reader. We are at a chicken and egg and which came first conundrum, or the like. While the Fosbury-Flop did provide track & field a more dramatic event–not only for the record setting potential but also for the elegant and poetic form of the technique–we have forgotten what is the true reason behind its success. Which brings me back to the word flop and–The Donald. Without the cushion or mat upon which the athlete lands, this technique would not be possible. Yet we don’t even consider the mat or a pile of sand, for that matter. All we think about is the athlete, what the females wear–not unlike The Donald’s hair–and, of course, the record setting jump.

Oh the American way! How brilliant is it to be an American? If only I could tell you. But why tell you? All one has to do is witness it. And then try to figure out: Is Donald Trump, in his quest to be the next president of the united mistakes of #americant, the change in jumping technique or the difference between landing on a soft mat or a not so soft pile of sand? (Un)fortunately, I’m not sure. But I will leave this post with one other worst-conspiratorial thought.

After reading up on the issue a bit I couldn’t help but imagine/see Donald Trump–who actually met with Bill Clinton just before his presidential run announcement in June–being given a Ross Perot welcome to the game by the former president. In fact, what I see/imagine goes even further, especially after thinking a bit more about The Donald’s seething, belligerent and full of contempt (towards republicans) performance at the Q&A session on August 6. Has he been picked to try and (finally) get a hold of what has become of the republican party–a party of dimwits, nutbags and snake oil sellers whose achievement post Ronald Reagan is #americant? Is there a (elite) political class in America that has had enough with what Limbaugh and faux (fake) newz have done? Boy! I hope so. For your sake, I hope The Donald puts all the bedwetters on that stage the other night in their place.

Go Trump! And. Good luck suckers. Oh!

Rant on. -t

Links that motivated this post:

Another Reminder of What's Wrong With Everything: Self-Promotion

no self promotion comment sections.png

I get it. I get it. But obviously there are so many that don’t get it. (Or is it me?) Nomatter. (They) stay stuck in the past. (They) stay stuck in out-dated paradigms. (They) hang on to rules and authority because it’s the only thing they know. They are afraid of spam and trollers, bad things and creativity because some of it–all of it–might be part of the open Interwebnets. And you’d think that certain websites would be able to catch on. There are ways to prevent spam, trolling, etc., aren’t there? But worst-writer say: let it all lose. And so. I was just trying to post something that would lead to my comment. Why? Because it’s my comment–not yours, jerk-offs–and that’s why I host my own blog. That’s what made these Interwebnets what it is today. Comment sections did not make this vast community of vulgar and beauty. Indeed. It’s just a comment section and yet it’s ruled by suckers of authority who heed rules and guidelines and jerking-off because it’s all they know. Which is fine. It was just a comment from a blog post I wrote and the rest of it was available for any comment reader that wanted to follow the link. But I digress. Everybody needs to make a living or justify their existence–website comment administrator that can only do what s/he is told. And why does this, dear worst-reader, remind me of other forms of abused and absurd authority? Could it be because there’s a problem in the world of… Gee. I don’t know. Mass communication? There is seriously too much authority out there that can’t get a grasp on how the world really works? And they have guns and the ability to send out stupid emails to registered users. I guess we need people like the website comment moderator that sent me this just like we need cops that feel the need to prove their worth and value by gun-slinging and throwing bikini-clad girls to the ground and them sitting on them as if to earn a trophy–because they don’t know how the world works. And if you can’t handle the comparison, fuck off. Or maybe not. I mean, if a website reporting news about technology can’t figure out how to manage comment sections without sending people this kinda krapp (see pic above), then what chance do the rest of us have? Oh. Yeah. I guess we all should get our own websites. MacRumors is on my shitlist (again) and this might be the last time I try to post a comment with them. Yeah, baby. And. Rant on. -Tommi

Fail Upwards Galore

Why does it feel like telecom carriers are consolidating out of fear? What are they afraid of? Why can’t T-Mobile or Verizon make a logical consolidation? Don’t get me wrong. I think consolidation at this level should be prohibited. Let’s not get into that, though. I actually like T-Mobile. When I travel home I always use its pre-paid service, even in areas where it doesn’t have good coverage. Call me a loyal customer–or maybe not. Who gives a krapp about companies that, ultimately, have proven that the only thing they know is how to abuse customers? Yet. Why can’t a fairly creative company like T-Mobile–that I admire for how it has stood up to the industry monopolies it competes with–merge with a company that is actually relevant to its business? The one good thing about the silliness of shareholder driven corporate entities is that their actions speak more than their knowledge or vision of business. But I guess it takes a trained eye to actually see that. (You’re welcome, dear worst-reader!) Which brings me to the following worst-writer pseudo conclusion. I can’t help but wonder if a company like Apple is a major reason for this level of mindless (illogical) corporate consolidation. Full disclosure: I’m almost a total Apple fanboy. As far as tech goes, all I use is Apple. Do I use Apple because I love the company? Not quite. ;-) But the reality is, my better half and I made a household decision a few years back to do our own version of consolidation, which we consider to be very logical. We decided, due to our increasing use of technology, that we were tired of hardware incompatibility, we wanted continuity with our digital content and we wanted cool shit. Apple is truly a creative business that knows how to profit from meeting—at whatever minimal level—the needs of its customers. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that Apple has mastered the fact, counter to the #americant ideal, that it doesn’t matter what customers want or need. Instead just make great products–that friggin’ work. (Just don’t tell anybody that if my better-half wouldn’t notice the difference, I’d consider switching our tech world to Google someday.) But, as usual, I’m off subject again. §No other company in my lifetime has done so much with its business than Apple. Compared to other tech companies, i.e. telecoms, Microsoft, etc., who have comparatively failed in their business models, current mindless telecom consolidation wave is just another example of the doom and gloom of how US business, all of which is run by the same college grads who speak the same language and nuances, is a perfect example of corporate fail-upwards most of which is driven by locomotion and not creativity. But I digress. Rant on. -Tommi

US Media,  Telcos Hooking Up | Financial Review

Dish In Talks To Merge With T-Mobile | Reuters

Verizon Bets On Video Ads | NYT

 

Iron Irony


They are finally removing those locks from that Paris bridge. You know, the locks that are supposed to represent girls being princesses swept off their feet by dunce princes with the square chins and riding white horses. Yes. So much is the mindset of a (western) world raised on the whims of money makers and jesters. And speaking of jesters. What a gesture for humanity Parisians are giving us–again. I wonder if most people get it, though. I mean the irony of removing those silly locks and the past we live in. Even though I travel to Paris quite a bit, and I love the bridge with the silly locks–on account I’m entertained by all the goo-goo-eyed girlies that swarm around and over it–am I the only one to see the irony here? I mean, come on. With their history in mind, it makes sense for the French to make this first gesture in the quest for rational thought and rational living. And I love the French for it. But do the French go far enough? You know, I love the French for giving us the French Revolution. Even though, ultimately, in the end, they really kinda screwed it up. But that’s neither here nor there. The point is, how come someone else can’t behead some worthless, slime ball royals and rid us of the burden of monarchy outright–or at least get rid of outdated, patriarchial institutions that literally serve no purpose other than to make half the species live in misery? That’s right, I’m worst-looking at you less than great Britain–on account you guys have never been able to follow French wisdom. I mean seriously. Talk about living in the past. Brits still worship a monarch. Can you believe that! Anywho. I wanted to talk about the French. Oh yeah. If it wasn’t for the French, Etats Unis would never have won that silly war of independence. But I’m off subject again, eh. Anywho. §What is it they say about love? Love is like floating around the ocean while attached to a block of iron and the only reason it hasn’t sunk you is because it hasn’t fallen off the deep end–yet. No? Or did I mix that one up with the ball & chain thing? Ok. How ’bout this one: Love is the difference between done and finished (see quote from silly pop-stars below that are getting hitched). Or wait. Maybe it goes like this: Love is not a two way street–its the 405 in LA during rush hour. Ok. Enough. And. Nomatter. §What I am worst-writing about, motivated by the links below, is that I think there need be NOT a fight for equal rights on the legal and moral issue of marriage. But instead there need be a paradigm shift that in essence will, at best, free half the human species. Indeed. One good thing has come from the mass coming-out in my lifetime of LGBT people around the world. I am thankful to these people for exposing better than anyone in human history the cesspool that is life ruled by authority, subjegation and ignorance all somehow pre-established by mostly white males who hang on to patriarchy like they hang on to their #*?+s. §With that in mind, allow me to offer up some worst-wisdom regarding love and other transactions for those, IMHO, that are seeking equal rights where there are none and have never been. Instead of fighting for equal rights in order to access something that is obviously a failed human precedence, i.e. the institution of marriage, why not fight for something that changes the paradigm? The only legal issue that need be considered in the transaction of love–and yes, in its modern iteration, love, romantic-love and its legal culmination known as marriage, is a transaction–is when it’s about children! That goes for both hetero and homo off-spring. Anything other than children in a discussion about equality is just jibberish, arrogance and hanging on to the past that we need to put behind us. But I digress. Rant on. -Tommi

Paris Love Locks Removed In Order To Save Humanity | The Guardian

Divorced? You May Be Able To Rip Spouse Off Still | HuffPost

Don’t Worry I Didn’t Even Read This Article It’s So Stupid | HuffPost

Vatican Proves Once Again It’s A Bastion Of Hypocrisy And Bigotry | BuzzFeed

Consequences

chalkboard 3 DsReading transcripts this morning, dear worst-reader. About what, you ask. Well. About infrastructure investments of a once great structure. At first I didn’t give much of a hoot about recent train derailment. Planes fall out of skies. Rockets can’t reach their instellar destinations and plummet back to earth, burning up in the atmosphere. Buildings in major cities blow up because gas lines are rotting. A train derailment is just another added note on the chalk board where I list examples of the 3Ds. Yes, we’re blogging about #americant this morning. And all because a magazine recently published a figure about how much #americant spends on its infrastructure and that spending figure coincides perfectly with a train derailment in Philadelphia. The figure? 2.5%. That’s how much a once great structure spends on its infrastructure, according to a British magazine. Now. Do we need to worst-write about how much is spent on other things? Probably not. And you know, that’s not even the bestest thing in this post. Indeed. The bestest thing is this:

The problem is that, you know, elections have consequences. So when you continue to elect people that don’t understand the importance of these kinds of issues, you get the results that you get. -Edward Wytkind, president of the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not quoting a union rep because I like unions. It’s just that I never thought I’d reach the point where a union rep would be the one promoting rational, functional idears regarding what’s wrong with #americant. I’m just not sure there is a precedence where unions–especially the union mind-set–have provided the leadership required to maintain infrastructure of any kind. But I digress.

The quote from the union rep above says almost everything that need be said about what’s wrong with #americant. May I be so bold as to accentuate it? I mean. Who is responsible for electing political representatives? Who the people involved in this chicanery? Where do these people come from? Indeed. A few hardest questions to ask. And since I can’t answer them (nor do I want to on account it would cause me to not laugh as hard each day) here’s something else one can worst-ponder. Just take a look at that recall election attempt in Wisconsin. Who elected recent governor of Florida? What mentality puts current Texass governor on national stage? And what about all those silly, bed wetting newbies in the US Congress spouting religious fanaticism, greater-than-thee morality and misconstrued economic policies, etc., etc. Add to that the conservative talking heads that obviously tell Americans how to vote/think… Again, I digress.

After reading through the transcript (link below) and seeing how easy it is to compare a failing infrastructure with those that aren’t necessarily failing, well, I guess that’s significant, too. But what really throws worst-writer for a loop is that this is all so obvious and yet there is nothing to be done about it. I mean, seriously, how does one fix something that transcends being broken only to find new ways to break everything?

Rant on. -Tommi

Source: As Train Crash Death Toll Reaches 7, GOP Votes to Cut Amtrak Budget by $250M & Delay Safety Upgrades | Democracy Now!

What's The Motivation?

Maybe I’m just too exposed to this stuff? Maybe there’s been too much of it? Maybe the lies of the mind that make up #americant are so endless that it really doesn’t matter if you can figure this stuff out or not. Or. Maybe someone should ask this: why this now? A simple question, really. But there is a motivation for everything. I’m only worst-wondering if the motivation for this Sy Hersh article is about something other than the truth. I mean. Seriously. Did you actually believe that they “buried” his body in the ocean? Did you actually believe they raided that compound, which was, btw, right next to a Pakistani military institution, without anyone knowing about it? Ok. Full stop. One can go on with all the questions about this. But there is one thing that holds true thru it all. And it too is a question. Why couldn’t Duby get this guy after all those years? But I digress. I guess. Rant on. -t

Source: Seymour Hersh Details Explosive Story on Bin Laden Killing & Responds to White House, Media Backlash | Democracy Now!

Purchase Your Repurchase Purchase

Boy do I feel bad for all those wannabee corporate suckers who believed what was said after HuffPost was purchased by AOL and the Greek-Mother cashed out. Any idear what they said, dear worst-reader? Let me give you a hint. They said: “you’re jobs are gonna be fine.” And now? (Short pause; breath.) Even though I’m avid reader of this news aggregation service, I won’t miss it when Verizon breaks it up. Or am I busting anyone’s bubble out there? Good luck suckers. Rant on. -t

Source: What Will Verizon’s $4.4 Billion Cash Purchase of AOL Mean for The Huffington Post? – Truthdig

Asterisk Explained

GM Food AsteriskSome more wannabe profundity, dear wort-reader, before I get to the asterisk reference. Or maybe not. Let’s talk about farming and music today. For these are two of many more things that, in order to be understood, require a huge amount of asterisks. Or maybe not. Can farming and music be connected? Indeed they can–with an asterisk. But first. When I left #americant for expatriation pseudo-glory it was in the wake of a series of benefit concerts that sold a shitload of music under the vale of helping farmers or the poor. Even though a few people might joke about the 1980s, one thing, for me, is sure. The 80s are without doubt the last decade where music was connected to the past that made it. It was also the last moment in history where the complexity of idealogical politics hadn’t yet collected its toll–that we are paying today. As far as the music goes, a new generation of producers took over in the 90s and subsequent new millennia. Even though bands in the 90s like Nirvana and Pearl Jam did there best to hold on to the simplicity of the past. But the complex, money grubbing producers of the now, obviously, won-out. Hence we now live in a music world devoid of creativity. Which brings me full-circle to farming. The same thing that happened to music happened to the food we must eat. Music from the likes of Beyonce is the shit, right? In #americant you can’t get a good tasting tomato! Regurgitated beats pollute the ear. You can see the shipping scares on fruit picked too early and left to ripen on ships. Decoded and encoded music has no feel. Beef tastes like nothing a bovine eats (when it should be just grass and, maybe, German beer.) And that all in the wake of Farm-Aid and trying to save farmers from the wrath of corporate servitude. Now we live in the wake of bad music (thank goodness I have been able to cultivate a massive digital library of all the music I love from 1980s and earlier) and the gluttony of genetically modified foods. And I’m wondering who is gonna throw a benefit concert for the ramifications of it all? Hence my cynicism toward benefit concerts. All that money raised. And for what? So that farmers can afford GPS driven tractors that harvest genetically enhanced food that tastes worse than ever–unless fortified with the lie of salt and sugar? Which brings me to the asterisk in the pic above. I’m actually not as shocked as I should be with the pic. I guess I’m just getting too old and/or I’m used to this level of (corporate) behaviour. Or I just love Cheerios too much. Anywho. The text in the pic above is the most sincere explanation of our demise that I have ever seen–on the side of a cereal box. We should be thankful that the corpos stick this in our face. They know there is nothing we can do. And I know it too. Oh well.

Not made with genetically modified ingredients.*

*Trace amounts of genetically modified (also known as “genetically engineered”) material may be present due to cross contact during manufacturing and shipping.

For whatever worst-writer reason this makes me think about and feel even more sorry for India Farmers that have been killing themselves en mass. It also makes me think of the arrogance of the corpos. But none of that really matters. Because THEY have already corrupted our music and our food with stuff that we cannot turn back. We can’t reverse the after-effects of genetically modified foods. You can’t un-hear Beyonce. That is, indeed, what the statement on the side of a cereal box says. Once you start messing with this stuff there is no turning back. Even if you wanted to you can’t avoid the cross pollination that will connect the modified gene with the non-modified gene. A corn farmer without, if s/he plants near a corn farmer with, is doomed. Or? Nomatter. Good luck suckers. May your life be ruled by asterisks. Rant on. -Tommi

Madness Is Not Born It Is Made

criminals made not born
Last words of America’s record holder. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Kehoe

The subtitle or alternate title to this worst-post is: Madness vs absurdity.

Where will the line be drawn, dear worst-reader? For years now I’ve been saying after every senseless shooting in #americant: what will be next? I suppose asking the question “who” will be next is also appropriate but because of the sheer numbers of deaths, resembling a slowly played-out war-zone, personalising it seems futile. Besides, where is the Arlington National Cemetery for all the Americans lost in this “war”? Nomatter.

This worst-post is motivated by two thoughts.

  1. The recent slayings of black men by white cops.
  2. What came first, the madness or the absurdity?

Why is it that I can’t help but compare all this senseless dying by such extreme violence with things that shouldn’t be compared and thereby conclude that there must be something that connects it all together? Other than the number of people killed, what’s the difference now between a 72 year old reserve weekend-warrior cop–who obviously watches too much faux newz and Dirty Harry movies–and Adam Lanza or Cho Seung-hui? Put another way, what is it that connects these killers? Obviously what motivated these men is not comparable. Reserve deputy Robert Blates (see article link below) is nothing more than another wannabe American male. Bored with his wealth but angry with his conservative rearing he found a way to vent his grievance, belonging and sentiment–i.e. the secret sauce faux newz, Limbaugh & Co. have sold #americants–by joy riding around with cops. As absurd as it sounds, the man was even deputised so that he could prove his manhood by wearing a uniform and carrying a gun AND A TASER. How often do you think a man like that stands naked in front of his bedroom mirror with his gun in hand saying: Go ‘head punk. Do you feel lucky! Wow. What a picture, eh. When I first heard Bates’ voice in the infamous shooting video where he kills Eric Harris saying “Oh, I shot him. I’m sorry,” multi-coloured daffodils and rainbow balloons covered a huge road sign in my mind. Then a fresh breeze came through and blew the confusion away only to reveal the absurdity of the sign.

Welcome To Your Madness

The company that owns the road sign, which was printed in small letters at the base of the sign, said: Absurdity Inc. Yeah, that’s about where we are at, dear worst-reader. Or have we been here all along? Again. Nomatter. I know that run-amok mass shootings are different than the killings of weekend-warrior wannabe American males. Yet there is something that connects these acts. And. No. It’s not the guns and the lust for violence that connects them. The thing that connects all this is a sickness. A society sickness of such mass proportions that there is nothing with which to measure it. There is no scientist out there that has even begun to analyse it. In fact, the sickness is so profound, deep-seeded, embedded in #americant life itself, that only history will be able to recognise it.

The 73-year-old reserve cop who mistook his gun for a Taser has been charged | The Washington Post.

Good luck. Rant on. -Tommi

Children Of The Sandbox

Sandbox
A sandbox is also a sandpit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandpit

The image today is of an unlimited number of children playing in an unlimited sandbox. It used to be called a sandpit but that name had to be changed because of the minds that prefer mysticism over science, the irrational over reality, propaganda over fact. For you see, the word ‘pit’ is to reminiscent of the pits of hell, or the like. And so. It is, indeed, quite a large sandbox that we’re dealing with and truly reminiscent of things unwanted. It is also a very fancy sandbox. A sandbox of modern civilisation where the goings-on of humanity are centre stage of time, space, bodily secretions and nasty bedsheets. And what is it exactly that is going on in this sanbox? That’s right, dear worst-reader. In it are the children of today. And they play harmoniously, joyously and their lives are relevant and respected by all. Or? Maybe not. For we are believers in the mysticism, are we not? I know. Tommi’s worst-readers aren’t all as stupid as they look. All (three) of you know well enough that something else is going on in that sandbox but the bliss of ignorance is too great to combat–at least not as easy to combat as ISIL or ISIS or fighting that urge to eat… Nomatter. The point today in this worst-post is to try and figure out how we know that something else is going on in, around and underneath our sandbox. Does the bludgeoning (of nature) give it away? Does the regular beatings (of our environment) atop another child’s head with the green bucket give it away? And how ’bout the jamming of the pink shovel up the nose of johnny-come-lately where to repair the damage johnny’s entire skull must be put in a plaster cast to 1) hold his spongy brain in and 2) allow the fractured skull to repair itself. Yes. That’s the reality of the/our sandbox. The children in the form of money hungry, greedy (corporate) bastards ride the laurels of the past, have living standards at the expense of others and thereby occupy and bully the whole damn sandbox. One only need look at the behaviour of the children inside it. Or read about it here and here. And so. What better represents the truth of the sandbox we are all forced to live in these days than the reality behind using a hair dryer, filling up your car with petrol, pressing HI on your microwave, ruling the planet, etc.? I suppose one could also look at the banking industry and not just the energy industry–but where’s the fun in that? Do banks blow up in a mushroom cloud of flames and black smoke? Do we see nitty-gritty worker-bees struggling in their HAZMAT suits fending off toxins when banks fuck us over? No. Of course not. The energy industry, post technology boom of the nineties, has rum amok in the sandbox. And while Apple assumes the reign of corporate money terror over us all (and history) the has-beens of the boomer generation secure their ways & means. And no one really cares. The whole shebang passes us by even when it crashes into some rednecks house in god-knows-where W. VA. And redneck here or there complaining that an energy company blew up his house while his wife is in the hospital getting open heart surgery… None of that matters. Look at the plume of fire rising above the sweets ashes we live in.

List of recent examples of how we play in the sandbox of life where the children beat the living krapp out of each other and the sandbox because of energy resources. This is only a list from 2010 up to a few days ago and only accidents that occurred in the US. I purposely left out all the sandbox accidents on the Canadian side of things but if you’re interesting in reading about those you’ll have to go through the whole train derailment list which is at the source hyperlinked below.

  • 30 September 2010 – United States – Two Canadian National ore trains collide head on twelve miles north of Two Harbors, Minnesota, injuring all five crew members.
  • 17 April 2011 – United States – A Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway train hauling 130-cars of coal from Wyoming to Chicago rear-ends another train hauling maintenance equipment near Red Oak, Iowa about 07.00 (local time) on Sunday 17 April 2011. The lead locomotive on the coal train derails and fire engulfs the cab. The crew of two, the conductor and engineer, on the coal train are killed. Ten cars on the maintenance train derail. The two crew members on the maintenance train are not injured. The line is heavily trafficked and is shut down for 24 hours, with trains re-routed. An investigation is conducted by the NTSB.
  • 7 October 2011 – United States – 26 cars of a 131-car freight train derail and explode near Tiskilwa in Bureau County, Illinois, approximately 160 kilometres (99 mi) west of Chicago. No injuries are reported; 800 people are evacuated.
  • 6 January 2012 – United States – Three CSX freight trains collide in a remote section of Porter County, Indiana resulting in a fire and possible HAZMAT situation. Two injuries are reported.
  • 1 February 2012 – United States – The Amtrak Wolverine train from Pontiac, Michigan to Chicago, carrying 71 passengers and 5 crew, strikes a stalled tractor trailer (carrying equipment for oil production) on tracks in Leoni Township, Michigan. The lead engine and at least two cars derail. There are no fatalities, and six people suffer non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Jackson Citizen Patriot and the Blackman-Leoni Public Safety Department.
  • 4 July 2012 – United States – A Union Pacific coal train heading to Wisconsin derails, collapsing an overpass on Shermer Road in Glenview, Illinois at about 13.45. A day later, a couple, having been crushed by the falling coal and cars, are found dead in their car buried beneath the rubble.
  • 11 July 2012 – United States – A Norfolk Southern train with 2 locomotives and 98 cars derails in Columbus, Ohio, near the Ohio State Fairgrounds at 02.05 CDT. The resulting explosion, caused in part due to the burning of 76,000 litres (17,000 imperial gallons) of ethanol, causes a mile-wide evacuation. At the time of the explosion, two nearby individuals are injured; they drive themselves to hospital.
  • 21 July 2012 – United States – A Kansas City Southern freight train collides with a BNSF coal train and derails in Barton County, MO, injuring two railway workers.
  • 21 August 2012 – United States – Two women celebrating the night before their return to university on a railway bridge die shortly after midnight when a CSX coal train derails on the bridge in downtown Ellicott City, Maryland, burying the women under coal.[145] The NTSB investigation attributed the probable cause of the derailment to a broken rail.
  • 29 October 2012 – United States – Thirteen cars of a 57-car Paducah & Louisville (P&L) freight train derail near West Point, Kentucky. A tank car loaded with butadiene leaked and later caught fire while workers were repairing the track. No deaths, 5 injured. On 31 October, the train derailment exploded at 13:30 causing evacuations to be ordered in a 2 kilometre radius and an 8 kilometre radius to stay indoors. 3 were seriously burned in the explosion.
  • 8 November 2013 – United States – A 90-car freight train carrying crude oil from the Bakken shale patch in North Dakota (possibly similar to the type carried in the July 2013 Lac-Mégantic derailment in Quebec, Canada), from Amory, Mississippi to a refinery in Walnut Hill, Florida, derails and explodes in the morning in Pickens County, Alabama (west AL); the flames, which shot upward 300 feet high, were left to burn themselves out, which may take up to 24 hours. There were no fatalities or injuries.
  • 30 December 2013 – United States – Casselton train derailment – Several grain cars from a westbound train derail and strike an eastbound train carrying crude oil on an adjoining track near Casselton, North Dakota. Several crude oil cars explode, resulting in large clouds of black smoke which forced an evacuation of the area. No casualties were reported.
  • 17 January 2014 – United States – A CSX train carrying coal derails near Dunnellon, Florida. Twelve cars of the 100-car train derailed in a rural area. The train was transporting the coal to the Duke Energy Crystal River Energy Complex. No injuries were reported.
  • 19 January 2014 – United States – A Union Pacific train carrying coal derails near Caledonia, Wisconsin. Nineteen cars of the 135-car train derailed. The cause is believed to be cracked rails caused by unusually cold winter conditions. No injuries were reported.
  • 20 January 2014 – United States – A CSX train carrying crude oil derails in Philladelphia, Pennsylvania. Seven cars of a 101-car train derailed on a bridge over the Schuylkill Expressway, causing the road to be shut down for brief periods of time as emergency crews drained the tankers. No injuries were reported.
  • 28 January 2014 – United States – A CSX train carrying phosphoric acid derails near McDavid, Florida. 23 of the 69 cars derailed, resulting in the destruction of the tracks and bridge over Fletcher Creek, and chemicals leaking into the water. No injuries were reported.
  • 30 January 2014 – United States – A NS train transporting 179 empty coal cars derailed near Jewell Ridge, Virginia. No injuries were reported, and the accident was cleared on the same day.
  • 31 January 2014 – United States – A CN train carrying crude oil, methane and liquid fertilizer derails near New Augusta, Mississippi. 18 to 24 cars of the 85-car train derailed and began leaking. The derailment occurred in a rural area, but resulted in 12 families being evacuated and four lanes of U.S. 98 closed as emergency responders began to clean up the spill. No injuries were reported.
  • 30 April 2014 – United States – CSX derailment: 15 tankers carrying crude oil derail and catch fire in Lynchburg, Virginia, striking fears of water contamination in the local area and beyond.
  • 1 May 2014 – United States – CSX coal train derailed three locomotives and 10 cars in Bowie, MD.
  • 10 May 2014 – United States – a train traveling in Colorado derails and spills 6,500 US gallons (25,000 l; 5,400 imp gal) of oil west of LaSalle, Colorado.
  • 5 October 2014 – United States – a Union Pacific freight train slams into a lowboy trailer in Mer Rouge, LA, seriously injuring both railroad crew and causing two engines along with 17 cars to derail. 50 homes are evacuated for about two hours due to the leakage of argon gas from the tank car.
  • 16 February – United States – A CSX freight train derails in West Virginia. At least 7 tank cars catch fire, with over 60 people evacuated from their homes nearby.

List source here.

Another link here worth reading on the subject, maybe.

Good luck suckers.

Rant on. -Tommi