Mar 22

No gnome no

Of all the ways Gnome Shell sucks, the fact that it uses a compositor that you can’t turn off is probably the most blatant.

Because it means that when you connect with any remote control tool — like VNC — it makes your CPU usage go through the fucking roof.

gnomeshellsucks

Anyone who had anything at all to do with Gnome Shell, systemd, or Windows 8 should never be permitted to write, design or even to use software again.

When I could’ve done better, you have failed. Really really failed like no one has ever failed before.

The only people who like Gnome Shell are people who are very, very dumb.

By contrast, here is what happens when you remote in to a sane environment not written by oxygen-starved microcephalic morons:

doesntsuck

Mar 22

Evo

Before the main body of my post, let me state that for the record that I do think there can be an evolutionary psychology.

Humans evolved and human brains are also evolved organs. Why would we think because brains got a bit larger that we were somehow immunized from evolutionary pressures and limitations? Not too damn likely. Thinking anything else is kinda idiotic.

That said, most evopsych is claptrap. Just poor, poor science. Misogynistic, retrogressive, deleterious to humanity.

But it does speak to the extreme nutritional pressures humans have experienced in the past that now people would rather spend time convincing themselves that being fat is attractive and desirable rather than attempting to improve themselves where that’d actually be true.

oZViN8x

That is to say, food trumps sex/reproduction for humans in the right economic conditions. Interesting in its own way. But pretending humans haven’t evolved is as offensively funny as the image above. And pretending that being the size of the average tractor-trailer is a natural human desirable state is just lunatic.

This post is a trainwreck but I worked too much this weekend and I ain’t care.

Mar 21

ASL

If I had infinite time, I’d learn ASL. This is so badass that it hurts my brain.

I think I’m a little bit in love with that woman just from a 1+ minute video.

Mar 21

Secure for the NSA

When Secure Boot was new, people like me who argued that it would be used to take away control and lock us out of our own computers were roundly laughed at, told we were alarmists and that it “wasn’t a big deal.”

Well just what I and others predicted would happen is happening.

I’m astounded by just how much people blindly trust corporations. What is that about?

By the way, Apple-branded computers are now more “open” than most machines that come with Windows. The infringing of SecureBoot on my rights to my own equipment will only increase this difference.

In other words, it’s easy to install Linux on my MacBook Pro. Not so much modern OEM boxes and that will only get worse.

We had the internet and computers that worked for us rather than for corporations, but as I’ve said before we were too fucking dumb to keep it.

Mar 21

Contra

The pop world needs more contraltos. Hanna Reid has a brilliant contralto voice. See for yourself.

Great range, too. I didn’t think she’d be able to hit all the notes on that song and have to fudge it, but she got ’em all.

Mar 19

Sharp pointy things

I like these photos but it annoys me when someone goes to all the trouble to do such a shoot and mucks about with the weapons like some five-year-old.

That’s not a cavalry sword. And where’s the sheath? An unsheathed sword on a horse actually riding into battle is going to lead for a very bad time for you, the horse or most likely both.

The reason I mention that is of course the horse and the uniform though not of any particular army most closely resembles a Union Civil War cavalry officer’s as far as I can tell.

Most commonly soldiers would have their sword clasped between their left leg and the horse or immediately behind their left leg. Most people are right-handed so that’s the best place for it.

Still, even then it was mostly for show. Swords were used minimally if at all in the Civil War.

Mar 18

Songs

Ah, this is a good question.

The first adult song I can remember being into is “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash. I must have been five or six and I’d put it on the old record player at my grandparent’s house over and over again.

This was well before Johnny Cash’s hipster renaissance, so I guess I’m a triple double hipster, eh? Must’ve been about 1980 or 1981.

I didn’t know it at the time, but Cash was at his best when someone else did the songwriting. It’s true for Ring of Fire and just as true when he later covered other works, too.

Mar 15

Back to the front

Background checks for jobs have gotten increasingly onerous in the last twenty years to the point of complete absurd ridiculousness. The comment below made me think how they are going to only get worse in the future.

That’s a world with a lot less practical freedom for most people, especially younger people who don’t know if they’ll be able to get a job with some vaguely disturbing Twitter scandal showing up in their Google search, or embarrassingly naive political writings from when they were 22 showing up online when they’re applying for job.

When I first applied for a civilian job more than fifteen years ago now the background check was basically:

1) Is this person breathing.

2) And they might have called my old commander to make sure I hadn’t shanked anyone at work.

That was about all.

I’ve looked for a variety of jobs lately and received offers for 4 of the 5 positions for which I interviewed (what was wrong with the fifth company we’ll never know 😉 ), so I’ve gone through a number of background checks lately.

First, some more history. Years ago I worked for a casino. The background check process I thought for that position was excessive. It involved contacting former colleagues, friends and all manner of other various character assessments and credit checks.

Now that process — which was considered at the time by everyone to be a really intensive background check — is the norm for any job at all whether or not it deals with any sensitive data or large amounts of cash.

In fact the background checks for regular old jobs are now only a little less strenuous than was done in the army 20 years ago for my secret clearance.

This is modern phrenology. It doesn’t lead to better employees. The evidence demonstrates this pretty clearly. In the future I plan to ask during interviews how strenuous the background checking is and unless it’s a job I really really want, I’ll opt out early.

Not because there’s anything negative in my official background. There’s not. I pass those fuckers with flying colors. But because I don’t need my time wasted and background checking consumes too much of my time for a job I don’t need to survive.

Also it’s good to note that these oppressive background checks are far worse than even six years ago when I got my last full-time job. That background check involved contacting a few references and a really cursory examination of work history.

Partially companies do this because they can, because the technology allows it and it’s now cheap. But there are a few other factors at work. One is that it’s to hire the “right kind of people,” i.e. people just like them, no deviation allowed.

Another is that the background checking companies are really powerful and most executives being MBAs etc. are very dumb so it’s sold heavily and seen by those executives as some sort of voodoo powder you can sprinkle around to make good employees magically happen.

When in reality you are probably eliminating your worst employees (sometimes) from getting a job, but also almost assuredly eliminating your best hires like me who will no longer work for you in the future.

Also I think it’s a way of dehumanizing and devaluing people as the sort of treatment once reserved — undeservedly — for janitors and such has now climbed up to affect white collar and front office employees.

All of these are factors.

But if you haven’t looked for a job in a while, I think you will be extremely surprised by how intrusive and outright abusive and inconsiderate of your time and experience background checking has become.

There’s no real scientifically demonstrable reason for it, but nevertheless it’s only going to get worse.

Mar 14

Genes

Saying that people can’t help but gain weight due to their genetics is about as dumb as saying that people can’t help but smoking for the same reason.

My genetics may (and does, actually) predispose me to be heavy.

But I still make the choice. Every day.

And so I’m not heavy.

Mar 14

History

The next book I’m reading.

Thinking about reading only female authors for the next year. Sounds like a good idea to me. My reading has tilted 80% women lately anyway and I naturally feel greater affinity/commonality with women, so not much of a stretch for me.

All ya’ll offer any suggestions if you got ’em.