malada

I had a fairly long phone call with my older brother. We were fairly close growing up but we've grown up and grown apart... but always loved and cared for each other because, you know... family.

Towards the end of the call we were both complaining how our work sucks and I related how with all the hearings and the breaking news about Roe... I had to keep redoing broadcast logs. He told me that he thought the hearings were a 'kangaroo court' and he gets his news from Fox. I told him Fox news has been lying to everyone since the Iraqi war and they couldn't be trusted with the truth. He chuckled and responded with some 'both sides do it' nonsense.

And I.... exploded.

I yelled over the phone that I had a firm grasp of reality and people who listen to Fox news were being deluded. I screamed goodbye and hung up the phone. I really shouldn't have done that. I should have explained to him that it's not just Fox and the other 'conservative' news outlets lying about the Jan 6 hearings... no, it's their denigration of transkids, transpeople and their families.

For me... it's personal.

Although I transitioned in my early thirties I was a transkid. The 'conservative' media is lying about who I am and what I am. Freedom to live my life as I see fit? NO! They want to erase me and hurt me and ultimately kill me.

So yeah. It's personal.

I don't know what to do about the situation between my brother and I. At least, not right now. I know him - he's a good soul deep down but I'm not sure how to reach him.

I need to think about this.

-m

I'm sure more information will come out about the Keystone Kops approach to the shooter down in Texas, but at the moment one thing stands out for me...

Shortly after the police entered the building they were stopped from confronting him because of a locked door. A janitor was sent to get the master key. At least 45 minutes after the police entered the building they were able to confront the shooter.

Does this mean they spent all that time WAITING FOR A KEY TO OPEN A DOOR?

Forget the tactical gear - the police need the tools and training in lock picking.

*plumbing words*

-m

The Buffalo shooter hails from a place not far from here: Conklin, NY. This may be New York but it's Upstate New York and there are plenty of rednecks up this way. You can drive 5 minutes out of town and find Confederate flags flying.

Look, I get the whole "Rebel" schtick: being a 'rebel' makes you anti-establishment (usually anti-parent) and still be cool and macho. Although rebellion is associated with freeing yourself from tyrany - the Confederate battle flag was the flag of the slavers and tyrants, not those who wanted freedom for everyone. It meant freedom to go round up black people and enslave them. Before the Civil war, slavers would travel to free states and kidnap both runaway slaves and free blacks. It didn't matter - black people were property. *That* is what the 'rebel flag' stands for.

To top off the racial hatred this young man had, he previously threatened to shoot up his high school. Yeah, a real champ.

-m

If a person doesn't have the right to privacy, then neither do you.

Make like a Russian warship.

-m

A few years back a friend of mine was stilling running his business on an ancient and creaking Windows XP computer. It was a mess. Fortunately, I had just resurrected a Windows 7 machine which a gave to him and it basically kept his business going, computer wise.

Recently, he asked for help with his home system - and even *older* Windows XP system. I was able to cobble together a Linux Mint system for him. Although he was completely unfamiliar with Linux I was able to get him up in running in Mint. Linux Mint looks and acts very similar to Windows so I thought he'd be okay. It was a lot faster with more memory, more cores in the microprocessor and a solid state hard drive (ssd).

However, the system started to have intermittent problems booting up. I've occasionally seen older systems that don't like the new solid state drives and they act erratically. Fortune smiled upon us again as I obtained another Windows 7 system, cleaned it up and delivered it.

Now, my friend is no dummy. Yet, both the Linux and Windows 7 systems threw him. He knew how do all the basic stuff like opening programs and copy/pasting files but he was unfamiliar with the different looking (and occasionally acting) interfaces. I had to guide him through things I thought he should know and he said, "A wise man told me that if you want to really mess someone up, move everything around him one inch."

I thought a lot about that on my way home and realized that my knowledge/experience with computer systems was greater than I thought - probably greater than most people. In my time I've hacked away at the following systems/operating systems:

Commodore 64
MS DOS
MS Windows 3.1/3.11
Windows 95/98
Windows XP
Windows 7

I've done a little bit with Windows 10 but I hate it. But there's more:

Debian Linux
Ubuntu Linux
Xubuntu Linux
Ubuntu Studio
Linux Mint
Puppy Linux

Mac OS X

and recently I've dipped my toe into Haiku OS which is based on the old BeOS.

Because I've puttered around with all these operating systems, I can usually work my way around them all. Sometime not very well at first... like a screwed up setting up some Windows shortcuts and accidentally created 700 shortcuts, but I figured out how to fix that pretty quickly. There's enough common to all the systems that I can do that but I've also had the experience (and time) to fuss with them until I had some idea what to do.

And no, I can't code to save my life. But put me behind almost any computer desktop system and I can work with in. I may use Google a lot for some things but I can do it. So I shouldn't blame my friend who's work with XP and only XP for over a decade for not picking up things quickly. Just moving from XP to Windows 7 I haven't moved everything an inch on him... but a foot.

Oh, for all my work and computers given to him, I've only asked for lunch, dinner and multiple cups of coffee.

-m

.. we've had a lot of power outages. After 6 to 9 inches of heavy wet snow it closed the roads and brought down a lot of trees. Even though the roads are clear and dry most schools are still closed due to lack of power. Just walking around our neighborhood I noticed a lot of downed branches = we have some in the back yard. We were lucky - we didn't lose power or internet.

I think we really need to look at our infrastructure. Sometimes doing the simple stuff like clearing out trees that might fall onto power/cable lines would save *a lot* of time and money in the long run.

-m

The House passed a far-reaching marijuana legalization bill [the MORE Act] by a 220-204 vote, largely along party lines - Republicans mostly voting against it.

In the Senate Republicans are too going to orgies and snorting coke but will probably vote against it also.

It's a matter of priorities.

-m

Oh hello, Russian Oligarchs!

Feeling a little pinched lately? Can't get to your yacht? Or visit your Italian villa? Can't fly to London to your expensive apartment? Can't access your Swiss bank account?

You know Putin is frustrated. You know Putin has atomic weapons at his disposal. You know that the idea of using those atomic weapons - even just the little ones - has entered his mind.

Now... do you really think that if he *does* use those weapons that there will be chance in hell that your yacht, villa, apartment or Swiss bank account will _ever_ be seen by you again?

Yeah. Think about it. World War III would suck for everyone - and you're not exempt from the results.

-m

Ack.

I have summoned the sickness monster by bragging about not having a bad cold since masking and social distancing. Sneezing, watery eyes, mild body aches, stuffy head? A cold. It's pretty mild though. No fever, no loss of smell. I probably caught it from my housemate who works in a high school. Teenagers are germ factories and not so willing to mask up.

Rest and fluids. I should be fine.

-m

Although Putin is making dire threats if you even *think* about joining NATO, Ukraine is an example of what could happen if you *don't* join NATO.

And this would be a good time to do with with Vlad's Lads all in Ukraine at the moment.

Just a thought.

-m