Sigh - the end of summer.

I don't care what anyone says - Labor Day and the return to school marks the real end of summer.

Seriously this guy asks what went wrong w/Microsoft's latest updates?

http://www.zdnet.com/what-went-wrong-with-microsofts-august-updates-7000033089/?s_cid=e539&ttag=e539&ftag=TRE17cfd61

How about their code jockeys wrote really poor quality code that - thanks to firing a bunch of key people - was likely run through 'automation' (i.e. more software) instead of actually being tested by thinking human beings.

When are those who bow at the altar of code going to get bitch-slapped into reality and learn that software isn't alive and doesn't think?

This both stupid and sad.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28948946

A nine year-old girl in the US has killed her shooting instructor by accident while being shown how to use a high-powered submachine gun.

 

Not really sure which is more fucked up - trying to intentionally teach a child how to discharge a machine gun; or that the child's parents evidently filmed the whole thing.

Not sure how I feel about Tim Hortons donuts being now served through the king of whoppers

I mean, Canadians have been down this path before, when Tim Horton's was bought out by Wendy's (Wendy's saw the stupidity of that decision, and rolled them back out into an independent company once again).

But this is different.

Burger King is doing this (an incorporating into Canada) simply to avoid their financial responsibilities in the US. How different is this really than what Walgreen's was trying to do earlier this summer?

Hmm ... corporate inversion ... tastes like shit.

I never really cared for Burger King in the past. I won't give them a second thought now, but along with that, Tim Horton's goes right with it now.

It's hard for me to argue this is anything but killing.

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/25744-police-killing-of-yet-another-black-man-nearby-ferguson-protests-warrants-probe

Execution is murder by the state, but that term implies some degree of legalese.

I think 'killing' is the only word that comes to mind at this point - watch the video and judge for yourself.

On this day in 1814 ...

Washington DC was burned down by the British -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Washington

"On August 24, 1814, after defeating the Americans at the Battle of Bladensburg, a British force led by Major General Robert Ross occupied Washington City and set fire to many public buildings, including the White House and the Capitol, as well as other facilities of the U.S. government.^[3] The attack was in part a retaliation to American actions in the Raid on Port Dover."

Yet somehow because the belligerents where white, these two countries are no longer enemies today.

The real losers the War of 1812 as always - were brown people -

"Historians generally agree that the real losers of the War of 1812 were the Indians (also called "First Nations" in Canada).^[200] American settlers into the Middle West had been repeatedly blocked and threatened by Indian raids before 1812, and that now came to an end. Throughout the war the British had played on terror of the tomahawks and scalping knives of their Indian allies; it worked especially at Hull's surrender at Detroit. By 1813 Americans had killed Tecumseh and broken his coalition of tribes. Jackson then defeated the enemy Indians in the Southwest. Historian John Sugden notes that in both theatres, the Indians' strength had been broken prior to the arrival of the major British forces in 1814.[2"

One wonders if that was the real goal behind the war all along.

More assholes smoking near a bus stop.

They don't get more classless.

In view of the police in Ferguson, Missouri playing war games with its unwilling citizens ...

... thanks you disinformation, I can now see how police departments in my own counties will execute their non-white  residents with their army surplus -

https://github.com/TheUpshot/Military-Surplus-Gear

You just know the arms corporations are loving getting live data on the usage on all their weapons - talk about excellent customer feedback! Too bad the actual real customer experience is downright shitty.

And hey, since they don't have to waste time flying them overseas for the regular armed forces to use them bombing other countries into the stone ages (they don't actually have to pay for that - since the US taxpayer foots that bill), it's overall a lot cheaper to obtain it.

Seriously - what's a 'mine resistant vehicle' and why does a cop in Seattle or anywhere in else in King County need one?

State	County	NSN	Item Name	Quantity	UI	Acquisition Cost	Ship Date
WA	KING	1520-00-087-7637	HELICOPTER,UTILITY	1	Each	$922,704.00	9/19/2012 0:00
WA	KING	2355-01-590-1660	MINE RESISTANT VEHICLE	1	Each	$733,000.00	2/13/2014 0:00
WA	KING	7021-00-SER-VER	MOBILE MULTIPLEXED VIDEO SYST	1	EA	$700,000.00	20120314
WA	KING	5865-01-549-8562	COUNTERMEASURES SET	1	Set	$320,000.00	1/30/2012 0:00
WA	KING	2420-01-160-2754	TRACTOR,WHEELED,INDUSTRIAL	1	Each	$110,000.00	6/30/2012 0:00
WA	KING	2420-01-160-2754	TRACTOR,WHEELED,IND	1	EA	$110,000.00	20120725

 Over 3/4 of a million dollars USD - wow.

Cancer in Colgate toothpaste?

http://m.chron.com/news/health/article/Chemical-linked-to-cancer-found-in-Colgate-5686652.php

Another asshole smoking in a bus depot.

Worst part is he's still smoking away.

Israel's true target - Palestinian statehood.

"For all its delaying tactics, the Israelis cannot postpone forever Palestinian citizenship in some form or other – and if the Israelis make the creation of a separate Palestinian state impossible, they should not be surprised if demands shift instead to citizenship in a single state comprising the entirety of historic Palestine."

More here - http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/15/israels-real-target-is-not-hamas/

See? Even Canadians aren't immune to parking badly.

Here are two examples courtesy of Canada's Texas - Alberta.

Modern-day proof of evolution.

http://www.allgov.com/news/controversies/monsanto-chemical-resistant-weed-strikes-southern-cotton-fields-and-threatens-midwest-140813?news=853956

Case study: Palmer amaranth

" It started showing up in cotton fields in the South, and before farmers knew it, it was everywhere. It can grow higher than six feet tall and spread a million seeds from each plant. Roundup was useless against it, leaving farmers the choice of pulling the weed by hand or using more powerful herbicides that could kill crops as well."

Ah the families that graffiti together ...

Taken at Snoqualmie Falls

New Frakenfood alert

http://www.rodalenews.com/gmo-approval

"Now, total approval hinges on the Environmental Protection Agency. If that federal body approves the new GMO, farmers will be free to plant corn and soy seeds genetically manipulated to live through sprayings of Dow's Enlist Duo herbicide, a chemical cocktail containing both glyphosate and the antiquated, toxic chemical 2,4-D. Ironically, in the 1990s, chemical companies said the development of GMOs would eliminate the need to use older, more dangerous chemicals like 2,4-D. But as GMO use ramped up over the last few decades, chemical use increased, and many weeds are no longer responding to glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup and the current chemical of choice for GMO farmers. This has created a "superweed" crisis, resulting in millions of acres of U.S. fields' being infested with hard-to-kill weeds."

Gotta wonder if these new frakenseeds are sold by the very same corporation that makes this Enlist Duo pesticide?

Don't you love people who disregard safety buoys?

Yes. In the background that is a buoy saying "NO BOATS".

Best part is - that's an event organizer crusing along with no life jacket on either.

40 years ago today, Tricky Dick said nighty night.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal#Resignation

"Realizing that he had no chance of staying in office, Nixon decided to resign. The morning that his resignation was to take effect, the President, with Mrs. Nixon and their family, said farewell to the White House staff in the East Room."

What a fucking criminal -

http://warisacrime.org/content/nixons-treason-now-acknowledged

"It's almost universally maintained by those who have expressed any opinion on the matter that if the public had known about Nixon's treason while he was president, all hell would have broken loose.  Are we really such idiots that we've now slipped into routinely acknowledging the truth of the matter but raising no hell whatsoever?  Do we really care so much about personalities and vengeance that Nixon's crime means nothing if Nixon is dead?  Isn't the need to end wars and spying and government secrets, to make diplomacy public and nonviolent, a need that presses itself fiercely upon us regardless of how many decades it will take before we learn every offensive thing our current top officials are up to?"

Seattle Weekly shits out stupidity with their 'Best of' edition.

Here's a clue -

They bestowed a 'Best CEO' to someone who fired 18000 people; many of those folks were the lone voice of reason there.

Bittersweet news for AC/DC fans.

New album?

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6150546/acdc-completes-new-album-malcolm-young-hospitalized

Tough to hear about one of my idols in the hospital - hopefully he can recover.

Also, this is interesting as well ... perhaps I should've said 'New albums'?

http://loudwire.com/acdc-phil-rudd-solo-album-head-job-repo-man-lyric-video/

Quote of the Day - 08-02-2014.

"The theoretical problem is that the CIA knows where his family lives, I suppose."

Death to Randroids

Context here - http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2014/8/2/103330/7114

It's Not Easy to Hold the CIA Accountable

by BooMan
Sat Aug 2nd, 2014 at 10:33:30 AM EST


 

I tend to think there is a larger statement about war being made here.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/07/world-war-i-tragic-futility/375103/

Really war is a futile thing tome. It's a grim reminder to me that we as a human species have much more evolution to go through.

BOYCOTT WALGREEN'S - 2 things you can do about Walgreen's trying to dodge their US tax responsiblities on their profits they make in ... the US.

I cannot stop them from redefining their corporate residence from the US to Switzerland (evidently that's one right a corporation has in this world that I a human being don't have - the ability to shirk my financial responsibilities), but there are two things I can do -

1. Don't do business with Walgreen's - I can ensure my money doesn't go into their profits.
2. Tell all other humans to not do business with Walgreen's - if Walgreen's wants to avoid paying taxes on their profits, if enough people follow suit, then at least they'll have much less profit to avoid paying taxes on.