Check it out.
It's worth listening to if you really want to understand why things in the world aren't moving in a positive direction.
2022-02-28
Deprogram - a podcast I just discovered that's really great.
2022-02-24
Quote of the day - 02-24-2022.
Well quotes really. From Bryce Greene ... https://fair.org/home/in-ukraine-no-one-hears-that-there-is-a-diplomatic-solution/
It all starts here:
So this whole story of NATO expansion and economic expansion, it begins right after the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The US and Russia made a deal that NATO, the Cold War alliance, would not expand east past a reunified Germany. No reason to escalate tensions unnecessarily.
But unfortunately, Washington decided to expand anyway. And, you know, they were the only superpower left, there was no one to challenge them, so they decided they could do it. They ignored Russian objections and continued to enlarge the military alliance one country at a time.
The source of the current conflict:
The Minsk agreements were an arrangement where the Ukraine would provide a degree of autonomy to the Donbas region, and Russia would withdraw all of its volunteers and troops. The area would be sort of demilitarized, and then there would be elections in that region and some sort of special status for that region afterwards. Well, Ukraine has refused to implement it, and Washington and the rest of the European Union, they don’t really push Ukraine on this. There are a lot of reasons for that; mainly one of them is because they don’t think that they would be able to join NATO if they had a region of their country that isn’t fully controlled by the country.
Who American Establishment Imperialism is defending:
These are open Nazis flying Nazi symbols, Nazi flags, doing Nazi salutes, and they have an ethnic purity idea about why they’re opposed to Russia.
And so the United States utilized these people to help overthrow the government. There was a lot of violence around the time of the overthrow. Some of these Nazis, they actually gathered a bunch of protestors in a building, locked the doors, and set the building on fire, killing dozens. But none of this is talked about when we talk about the current situation.
And part of those far-right groups, part of those far-right militias, they were integrated into the Ukrainian military, the Ukrainian National Guard. And this is the same national guard that the US has given about $2.5 billion. And we don’t talk about it.
Congress did have a provision that restricted aid to this specific sector of the Ukrainian military. But there was a report from, I think, the Daily Beast that said that there really is no mechanism for enforcing that. Like, it’s on paper, but it’s not in practice. And so the United States is actively funding Nazi militias. That’s just a fact.
2022-02-23
A decidely different - and refreshing - non-establishment view of what's going on in Donbas.
https://blackagendareport.com/why-russian-federation-recognized-independence-movements-donbas
Yet, with all of that, up until February 21, 2022, the 57th anniversary of the assassination of Black internationalist revolutionary Malcolm X, a route to a peaceful resolution to the crisis existed — the Minsk II agreement. It was the Minsk II agreement, put in place after the independent republics fought the Ukrainian neo-fascists to a military stand-still, along with provisions for a ceasefire, that provided a path to peaceful resolution. The agreement would have provided political autonomy for the Donbas within the Ukrainian state, thus preserving the existing borders of Ukraine before the coup of 2014.
Unfortunately, with the election of Joe Biden, who was the Obama administration’s point person on Ukraine, the Democrats immediately picked-up where U.S. policy left off in 2016 and started to encourage the Ukrainian government to ignore the Minsk II agreement and to consider taking back the Donbas by force.
Today, after the U.S. flooded Ukraine with weapons, including long-range artillery that was introduced into the conflict area in violation of the Minsk ceasefire deal, the deployment of 150,000 Ukrainian troops positioned along the contact line between Ukraine and Donbas, and the shelling from the Ukrainian forces right during the period that the U.S. predicted that Russia would invade, the Minsk agreement has become another casualty of war.
On February 18, 2022, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov stated that he was “alarmed ” by a reported spike in Ukrainian artillery attacks against rebels in the eastern region of Donbas with weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreement. Reports from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which was tasked with the responsibility, since 2015, to monitor and report on violations of the agreement, indicated that in Donetsk, between February 18 and February 20, 2022, there were 591 ceasefire violations, and in Luhansk it recorded 975 ceasefire violations, including 860 explosions.
My posts and labels.
Looking at my own blog I find this interesting, as it does illustrate where I guess my interests have been over the years:
News and politics (1891) Debunking the Right-Wing Movement (1276) Corporations doing stupid things. (1224) Internet (1077) Life (913) Vulturing on Culture (707) Who the fuck knew? (602) Health and wellness (457) Military (423) Canada (261) Rants for the day (244) Global Warming (206) IT Stupidity (199) Entertainment (170) Music (169) Wikileaks (156) Sports - Hockey (150) Pacific NorthWest (128) Customer Experience (117) The label that has no relevance (111) Science (103) Quote of the day (82) Crapitalism (71) Misandry (66) High Fructose Corn Syrup (63) Microsoft (50) Testing (45) Travel (41) Sports - Baseball (40) Space (34) ALEC (28) Family (27) End Of Year Thoughts (14) Overheard on a bus (11) Screenshot Of The Fucking Day (11) Sports - Football (11) Star Wars (10) Sports - Misc (8) Star Trek (7) Sports - Basketball (5) Platitudes (4) Sports - Soccer (2)
Oh my!
This isn't something I knew of -
The Los Angeles Times reports Andrew Wiederhorn used money from Fat Brands to pay for personal expenses. The publication also reports federal law enforcement raided the home of his son, Thayer Wiederhorn, under suspicion Andrew Wiederhorn moved company money through his son's PayPal account. Thayer is the chief operating officer at Fat Brands.
As of now, no charges have been filed against individuals or the company, but federal investigators have requested a search warrant for Andrew Wiederhorn's home, but it's unclear if a search has taken place.
The publication also reports roughly $5 million from Fat Brands or its subsidiaries was used to cover Wiederhorn's credit card balances between October 2017 and May 2019.
Andrew Wiederhorn's attorney, Douglas Fuchs of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, said Wiederhorn denies the allegations reported by the Los Angeles Times. Fuchs argues any loans involving Wiederhorn were legitimate and that Andrew Wiederhorn's tax documents had been appropriately prepared and filed by independent professionals.
"Despite our requests, the government has refused to provide us with a copy of the affidavit," Fuchs wrote in an email statement to Restaurant Dive. Beyond that, Wiederhorn's attorney wrote he is unable to comment on specific wrongdoing because the government has not provided a copy of the affidavit.
In its Tuesday 8-K filing, Fat Brands shared that U.S. attorneys and the SEC had requested, "documents and materials concerning, among other things, the Co
2022-02-22
3 views of Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes.
The 'failure is not a crime' view from corporate tools (Source: Forbes) -
Healthcare consumers need to be able to trust their test results, while venture capital investors know (or certainly should know) they’re taking on a lot of risk by investing in a company. In general, VC investing is highly speculative and roughly 90% of startups fail. At the same time, a few will compensate with spectacular results. Startups aren’t blue chips, and anyone taking the plunge should know the risks and sniff out the difference between ambitious claims and unsubstantiated nonsense. This is the reason terms like "accredited investor" and "due diligence" exist.
What crap.
This isn't about failure, and never was - that's a very libertarian view of how crapitalists operate.
At it's core, 'fake it 'til you make it' is not about delusion, but deception. And doing so for the purpose of taking anyone's money is what's called fraud.
Next up is the quality management system view (Source: some guy selling a service on LinkedIn) -
A fatal flaw in her business strategy was never fully vetting the innovative idea with an established “Proof of Concept” study, also known as Proof of Principle. You know, a study that would prove the concept. That it would work and provide the foundation to move forward with investors and product development engineers. Instead, the company misled investors, another fatal flaw, and the government with fancy words, innovative theories, clever photoshoots, and unproven promises.
All valid, but it comes off more as marketing for a service, which itself I find questionably ethical in that they don't share any specific examples on how to do this. They just say, 'Here's the problem, we can sell you the solution."
Finally, there's the view that one must never let the creativity and any subsequent hype overcome the discovery of reality (Source: HyperAllergic) -
Another student (who also asked to remain anonymous) complicates this picture, saying, “the necessity to ‘fake it till you make it’” is a way to get a foot in the door, particularly for BIPOC and women designers who already feel more invisible in the industry. She asks, “How might design faculty help students better navigate the disjuncture between honesty and employability?” This request falls squarely at the feet of academic leadership, not on the student seeking equitable career opportunities, to challenge an education-industrial complex that requires emerging professionals to exaggerate their qualifications in order to be employable.
Why that matters is visible in the example of Holmes who, like the innovation design students earning MFA degrees, seems to have internalized the value of presenting optimism over reality. The ideas students are investigating, prototyping, and grappling with are often inspired. The challenge is not to impede their creativity but to ensure that the process explicitly mandates checks on reality and honest criticality when anything begins to look a little too good to be true
I tend to find myself more in line here. There has to be a balance between creativity and reality.
2022-02-21
Should I be worried? The Habs have won 2 games in a row.
First time this season - I sure am glad to see it.
Overall, I like the way they are playing.
2022-02-18
January 6th: an Inside Job?
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/18/lessons-from-january-6th-an-inside-job/
I had a really hard time arguing otherwise after reading this.
Glyphosate and Roundup: All Roads Lead to Cancer – New Study.
If you didn't suspect it, that's okay.
Now we all know -
In the new results, Roundup MON 52276 was found to reduce the levels of miR-22 and miR-17, whereas glyphosate decreased the level of miR-30 and increased the amount of miR-10. These changes in miRNAs are important because they are known to alter the expression of crucial cell growth regulator genes, which can lead to the development of cancer.
A gene function that is central to multiple cellular processes, p53, is a particular target of these miRNAs. The miRNA changes can lead to alterations in p53 gene expression, as has been found in multiple types of cancer in humans.
The link between the changes in miRNAs and p53 gene expression is consistent with the findings within the same study showing gene expression changes in Roundup- and glyphosate-exposed rats. The gene expression changes strongly imply a p53 pathway DNA damage response. DNA damage is a major risk factor for cancer development.
The Habs won another game!
Great to see Caufield and Petry getting goals and assists. Good performance in the nets by Montembeault.
2022-02-17
2022-02-15
The concentrated hands of corporation-established crapitalism reach out to try and crush working class protesters.
Just like his father before - doing the bidding of the American Establishment.
And here's a more nuanced view of things that demonstrates that this whole issue isn't a 'left' vs. 'right' view.
Rather it's the corporations vs. the working class.
Most oxymoronic title of the day.
iPhones are buggy, but Android handsets have more reliability issues
Gee, you think?
This is what happens when corporations sacrifice quality over profit, and discovering their own experience of letting the customer suffer.
2022-02-14
2022-02-10
Another example of corporate stupidity - spam scam.
This time, it's in the social media space.
Some feeds in LinkedIn are being overrun by a number of spam messages. Often times they come from what appear to be different people, but they all have the same idiotic message, ending with a number to contact through another social media app.
Despite it's claims of not being an MLM, not being a CHAIN BUSINESS, that's exactly what it comes off as.
Yes, it's a spam scam.
The other clear sign of it is this gem:
I am in highly reputed organization and help people make money online..
Yeah, that's a red flag.
Anyways, I contacted LinkedIn to report it as such, as I've seen close to 100 of these overunning a number of their feeds.
I got back this -
A member of our Trust & Safety Team reviewed the post and found it does not go against our Professional Community Policies.We understand this is not the outcome you expected and want to share some additional options that can help ensure a safer experience on LinkedIn.
No. I'll just remove myself from these otherwise once useful feeds because LinkedIn failed to recognize these for the scams that they are. A part of me wonders if that too is part of the scam, to have me constantly muting people, instead of the feed itself.
But then again, I doubt that LinkedIn or any other social media company gives a shit.
Poor customer experience LinkedIn. You should know by know that you should never waste a customers' time.
2022-02-09
6 less magazines I'll see at the grocery check-out aisle.
Good riddance.
https://www.thewrap.com/entertainment-weekly-instyle-to-cease-print-publication/
Though I do feel bad for the 200 or so who'll lose their jobs. It's funny how the owner of the company doesn't bat an eyelash, but those who worked hard for these publications (and their families) are the ones who'll suffer.
The stupidity of television commercials.
I can't stand ads. They are a waste of my time.
At least when watching hockey and they cut to a commercial (as if there aren't enough ads littered all over the ice and boards; it looks so bad when the camera is moving to keep up with the fast play, the ads all look like a colorful barf) I can mute them so my ears don't have my ears polluted.
Car commercials are the worst - when they put the small print of 'Professional driver. Do not attempt.' or 'Professional course.' or 'Optional features shown.' or some idiotic variation, it's a given that I'm going to get up and head to the shitter - that's a better use of my time for sure.
2022-02-08
In Palestine, the Apartheid committed by Israel is more than racist and political.
It's Climate-based. And, mostly about water.
Re-politicizing the environment, and challenging discourses of peacebuilding and collaboration are crucial steps in centering climate justice within Palestinian popular mobilization. To do so:
- The donor community should cease support for green normalization projects that ignore the political reality and power disparities between Palestinians and Israelis.
- Palestinian leadership and the donor community should instead invest in the justice-based advocacy of Palestinian civil society organizations, such as PENGON and Al Haq, which are raising awareness and mobilizing for intersectional environmental, water, and climate justice.
- Palestinian climate justice advocates should challenge the techno-managerial approaches of international forums like COP and its related climate funding mechanisms.
- Local and international climate change activists should focus on addressing historical climate and environmental injustices in Palestine in order to hold Israel accountable for its theft of Palestinians’ natural resources.
- Palestinian leadership and the international community should support the mobilization of local, national, and international resources to pressure Israel to acknowledge and commit to adhering to Palestinian’s water and land rights.
I am fortunate in this day and age that I have a roof over my head.
Cause I know it's harder and harder to get one, at least here.
https://www.statista.com/chart/19537/single-family-home-prices-in-the-us-by-price-category/
2022-02-03
The scam of crapitalism: Duopoly.
Recently, a person by the name of Marc Cenedella (who you can find on Substack) wrote an editorial about redistricting in his state by one establishment brand over the other. Putting aside the reality that this sort of thing has been going on both at the state and federal level for a number of years (and I can only assume he's outraged himself into a diatribe about those past events just as much), this turd of a statement got pulled out of his ass ended up in my Inbox:
For our two-party system to work well, there needs to be a sense of good citizenship. Fair play. The knowledge that being civilized means not pressing every advantage just because you can. Restraining yourself from being a bully. A desire to play nice in the sandbox with fellow citizens even when you disagree with them.
What a fucking idiotic thing to say.
'two-party system'?
In this system, capitalism (or crapitalism - the late-stage of the late-stage of capitalism) differentiates itself from fascism by being a constantly unstable system (not that fascism is really any more stable, but more on that later). Capitalism is primarily about competitors trying to eliminate each other. The ever-present drive for private profit demands endless growth, greed, exploitation, and constant and perpetual extraction/consumption of resources, energy, and people.
And while those things are there is fascism, in its drive for profit, the rich and powerful in capitalism have figured out that any source of money for their corporations and its shareholders is really a form of profit - if it puts one's competitors out of business. This includes getting any kind of money from public entities, like governments. This can be achieved in a myriad of ways - the most common are tax cuts, tax breaks, tax refunds, grants, no-bid contracts - all things that lock out others.
But ... those things rely on the public (the majority) continually both buying supporting said governments via voting, along with continuing to pay their taxes and so forth to fund those very activities. So people need to perform their 'civic duty' and vote and pay up in order for that to happen. In effect - no votes, no money. Voting implies 'choices'. And in order for that to occur, they have to be given 'choices' for their votes. But capitalists here in the US (ever the cost-cutters that they are) look to keep that to the absolute minimum - the smallest number of 'choices' presented is two (2). And if the rich and powerful who control these capitalist entities like corporations figure out that both 'choices' can be controlled via a ton of lobbying and election-funding cash - both 'choices' aren't actual choices at all. So what ends up is what exists today - two brands ('Democratic Party' and 'Republican Party') owned by two different corporations (DNC Services Corporation or 'DNC' and 'GOP'), that are in reality controlled the by same rich and powerful. And they do their bidding. But the illusion of democracy has to be maintained in order to convince just enough people to be manipulated into handing over their votes in order to maintain the bought governments and all the upward transfer/theft of wealth.
So capitalism differs from fascism, in that it needs the illusion of democracy maintained to the public, in order for the support via votes and taxes continues to fuel the upward transfer of wealth. Once the competitors are eliminated, wealth transfer from masses are more seen as channels, and in fascism it's more about maintaining control over them.
As to the rest of his paragraph:
There is no such thing as 'good citizenship' in capitalism - it's all about ever-constant private profit to the rich and powerful.
There is no such thing as fair play or playing nice with large corporations and capitalism - It is all about the maximum amount of profit in the minimum amount of cost, in the shortest time. 200+ years of history here.
This means taking every advantage wherever and whenever possible for these corporations. Being a bully is what is rewarded, along with greed. Playing nice is something that doesn't exist inside any corporation.
These two brands ('Democratic Party' and 'Republican Party') are the Duopoly. It's not a real set of choices and it's certainly not democracy in the United States. Anyone who doesn't realize this is truly ignorant, and anyone who pretends it doesn't exist serves to deceive.
The late Jerry Weinberg would've found this amusing.
Simulated success on historical data does not imply success in buying from homeowners for a simple reason: many homeowners have a better sense of the value of their own home due to variables outside of Zillow’s model (e.g., the house has a strong odor or other idiosyncratic characteristics that repel would-be buyers).
2022-02-02
Israel - A system of Apartheid.
https://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/amnesty-international-calls-for-ending-israeli-apartheid/
The mounting pressure on Israel from the human rights groups, as well as international legal efforts, namely from the ICC, is a very troubling development for Israel. This is especially the case at a time when Palestinians throughout historic Palestine are growing ever more agitated with their living conditions and are uniting in a way never seen before in the history of the conflict with Israel. If the Palestinians revolt and start a new Intifada, Israel could be in a very unstable position, and now the Palestinians have the legitimacy to argue for liberating all of their land, because they won the argument internationally.
2022-02-01
Hey ZDNet and others in the establishment media.
While I certainly have issues with them, I'll stick with Spotify for now.
Crabapple and Scamazon are not alternatives.
And as for Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and others who want to leave Spotify - thank you for many years of your songs, your talents and the memories.
You won't be forgotten, nor will you be missed.
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