Author: The Timedok

Transportation Security Administration or “taking stuff anyway”

TSA

Transportation Security Administration or “Taking Stuff Away”

I must confess of having mixed feelings about this “administration.”

You really have no idea if they are screwing with you because it is purely: random” or they either don’t like something that they see, or they are bored, or they see someone that is attractive so they screw with them as a matter of spending a few more minutes with them.

I have written before how they have turned my luggage into a mixed up mess of what was once cleaned and pressed laundry into something that looked like they cleaned the hanger floor with it, and then shoved it back into the case.

This last trip I purchased the TSA approved lock and installed it onto a brand new piece of Sampsonite luggage. As this trip required clothing for ten days and all types of clothes needed for different events, I once again made certain that everything was packaged in such a way that I would have to do minimal ironing once there.

On the first leg of the trip I noticed that the brand new TSA approved lock was missing.

$17 locks labeled “TSA approved” gone missing is simply bullshit! I was loath to go and get another lock as frankly I think that the TSA locks being sold on eBay in lots could most probably be traced back to some TSA or airport employee.

Arriving at my location I went through the process of taking my clothes and making some sort of sense of them when I noticed that the zipper going to the lining inside the case was broken. For some reason whoever took the lock broke the zipper on the inside of the case which allows you to remove the lining for cleaning or what have you. No machine broke that zipper, that was some heavy handed person looking for something!

Usually when the TSA violates my stuff they leave me a nice little piece of paper inside, telling me that my bag was “randomly checked” … This was not the case this time, no notification that my clothing had been searched other than it looked like some child had packaged it.

Traveling sometimes is a necessary evil. Even if you are simply going on vacation, I must confess that I grow tired of submitting to “children with god complexes.” I know of no government agency that is not corrupt and this recent IRS fiasco did not help, and this one is no different. Why, they hire people who forget that they too are people, and should treat others the way that they would want to be treated escapes me. From the cop on the street to the man in the top office in the country, they need to remember that we are their boss and they work for us! While this in no way includes everyone; I would make the argument that it is becoming more inclusive than one hates to think.

If they are incapable of doing this, it may be time to privatize these things and hold these people accountable to us as the government seems to forget who their boss is!

There is simply no excuse for violating ones luggage and stealing the TSA locks that they insist that we purchase. If they break something along the way, they need to own up to it instead of just loosing the lock and not putting anything inside the luggage with an apology and some sort of claim form to get it repaired. Stuff happens and everyone understands that. To just ignore that you did it and let it go is unforgivable. Its like hitting a car in a parking lot and hoping that no one saw you do it. It is Bullshit!

All stations where this type of activity is performed should be under video surveillance so these people can be held accountable for their actions! This is America, not some third world country and it is high time that Americans stand up and say “no more!”

If we must submit to this level of scrutiny should the people doing the scrutiny not also be watched for abuses on their parts? I am talking about oversight. You know like the VA should have had oversight or the Damned IRS should have oversight. When you work for us you should be beyond reproach!

One government web site offers an excuse for the missing locks…

http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/damaged-locks-alert

My question here is this.

I have traveled for many many years using conventional locks. Never has my baggage been messed up or the lock been torn away as this article suggest. Now you are trying to convince me that because it is a TSA approved lock that somehow the conveyer belt tears it loose with no damage to the bag!? What utter bullshit! By the way, you are responsible!

These signs disavowing responsibility or liability on the backs of trucks, or in parking lots, alleging the parking lot owners are not responsible to damage to your car, or the sign on the truck saying that if they loose something from their truck that damages your vehicle “too bad” is BULLSHIT.” Their logic is if they tell you that they are not responsible, you will simply take your lumps and go away; is wrong. The parking lot folks are responsible and must carry insurance to that end. The truck hauling crap of any sort that comes off and damages your car is responsible and you can hold them accountable. AND YOU SHOULD! And guess what TSA, you too are responsible. The real question is, who is going to bring suite for a $17 lock? Or a $200 piece of luggage?

What if, I was to put a sign on the back of my car which said “I am not responsible for running over slow people who get in my way?” Do you think that the courts would exonerate me because I had a sign?

I really hate being lied to. Prevarication appears to be rife in our society and becoming the new American way! Every day, by people of all walks of life, lie to us; and it is Bullshit!

We can do better and accepting accountability for our actions is a really good place to start. Demanding better from our feckless government is a MUST!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-8-Assorted-TSA-locks-Color-luggage-strap-TUMI-Cable-Lock-NR-/261587356934?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ce7d24d06

HEY DOJ, why not look into where these “lots of TSA locks on ebay, come from?

I realize that it is small potatoes but you must start somewhere. Americans need to regain some trust in the government and right now you guys are not doing so well. The little guy always seems to take it on the chin and nobody gives a damn. I do, and so should you.

-Best

A virus to end all viruses!

My favorite Anti-Virus software was sullied by something this week.

While downloading the hundreds of e-mails I get each day, my PC decided to “stall.”

One of the reasons that we “who know these things” get paid well for what we do is this.

When a PC, server or any other piece of computer hardware fails to act as it should; is that we go through a methodical litany of troubleshooting techniques, that we know to do.

This is a fairly old PC, is it hardware?
Is it software?
Is it operator error?

One of the first steps I do, is assume nothing.

The answer to the three above questions is “possibly.”

I check for viruses as that is what one does, checks for a virus. If there is no smoke or other obvious hardware issue, you check for viri.

The “only” way to do this properly is remove the hard drive from the machine, install it in an external device that hooks up to another “known good PC” with good anti-virus on it, and scan it. I could explain why but it would add several paragraphs, so just trust me.

One of the first mistakes one makes is use a machine that has the anti-virus on it that you already use. Hello…. If it is a virus and it got past your anti-virus what makes you think it won’t screw up this machine as well?

As a professional, I have several top of the line packages that I purchase and keep up as there is “no silver bullet.” I don’t screw with free, as free is not worth what you pay for it! Anyone that does is playing with fire!

This process can take hours, so I use the time to blow out the machine, check for bad caps, lethargic fans, change the CMOS battery, dust out the CD-ROMS and so forth.

As part of the process I noticed that the video card fan was running, but not up to speed. This was not an expensive card so I took this opportunity to upgrade it to something newer, faster, onboard GPU and a killer fan.

Problem: Newer video cards need more power than the old 300Watt Dell power supply can muster; must change the power supply as well.

Problem: Dell uses proprietary power supplies. Getting a higher power, power-supply from Dell, if they even make one for this PC, would be cost-prohibitive.

Plan B: What exactly is different about this power supply vs. the standard off the shelf power supply? The placement of the power receptacle is lower, and there is an off-on switch on a “generic” power supply. The case has metal where that would be.

It did not take long to modify the case to accept a generic, higher power, power-supply with a larger fan and double the watts! There is a tool called a “nibbler” that you can get that will allow you to remove small chunks of metal at a time until you make a suitable hole for the new power-supply. I also used a dremel tool to smooth the metal, so there were no sharp edges.

After finishing the hardware upgrade with a larger power-supply and a video card that is really meant for gaming; as well as replacing the CMOS battery, the diagnostic screen came up just perfectly. Removing lots of dust did not hurt things either. The drive was still scanning, so a wait was still in order. At 75%, Trend Micro had found no viruses….

Finally; about 3 hours after the start, the drive was pronounced clean by Trend Micro so now it was back to possibly a hardware issue, or was it?

Installing the drive upon boot up I was presented with the options of safe-mode or regular boot. Always choose safe. In safe mode you can poke around without all of the other files loaded.

Once booted in safe, I installed the new video drivers and was happy that “in safe mode” the PC behaved as expected.

Reboot to normal, normal quickly turned to atypical to say the least.

I like to have the widgets on my desktop that show me the processor usage and the memory usage. I know what they should look like so if they change, I can quickly react vs. waiting until things just die.

Watching the widgets, the processor usage would tank at 100% and the memory usage would gradually increase until the PC was non-responsive. That is the earmark of a virus, or a program that is behaving badly.

Manually shutting off the machine and bringing it back in safe mode I use something called CCleaner. I actually pay these folks for this program as it is that good! You can get it for free but anyone that writes a program like this I will support them.

www.piriform.com

I allow it to clean; which removes all kinds of crap hence “crap cleaner.”

I then run the registry cleaner and allow it to do its thing.

After that I go through which programs and services I want to allow to start than kill everything that I don’t recognize. I am different from the normal folk; as I recognize what those programs and services are. If you are not sure about this; research with another computer what you are killing. Failure to do so could result in you killing your operating system.

The trick is to get rid of all the “junk in the trunk.”

“Junk in the trunk”

I use the analogy of hauling rocks in your trunk.

Many years ago Lucy from the “I Love Lucy Show” and her husband made a movie called the “Long Long Trailer.” If you have not seen it I will not spoil it but, part of the plot is that Lucy wanted to collect a rock from each place that her and her husband went on their honeymoon, while pulling this travel trailer with a car that was probably ill equipped for the task. While the rocks in this case were in the trailer, the metaphor still works, as this car was now pulling more than it could possibly handle while traversing the mountains!

We do that with our PC’s every day! We load them down with all kinds of programs that live in the tray. We have lots of different things running at one time, and unfortunately we have to add to this load an anti-virus software and anti-malware software and god only knows what else, just to surf the web!

Depending upon your car, Mustang with a 5.0 or Prius, it will allow you to haul some stuff. As far as I am concerned, I want a PC that will get the job done and handle the software necessary to keep the computer safe and allow me to run production apps. I drive a full size truck with lots of power. My PC is not a gaming PC but, it could play WOW or some other graphic intensive game, if I so chose to do so.

If you are a gamer, you want a Ferrari or Lamborghini. I advise those shopping for a new PC to get one that will play games; even if you don’t intend to use it for that. Why?

If it will play games, it will run your production apps and the necessary stuff to keep it safe from the bad guys!

Having a sport car does not give you license to drive down the road faster than traffic or the speed limit; it merely gives you the ability to do so. Just because you have a PC with lots of power, there is no need to install a bunch of stuff like “weather bug.”

A PC is kind of like a baby. Every thing that you do to it or with it from the day it is “virgin software” changes it. Loading all kinds of stuff on your PC, even getting updates from the different software vendor’s “change it.” PC’s are very dynamic and that is why it is important to use the widgets like I spoke of earlier. Know what normal for your PC, and when it is not normal, get some help. When your car’s temperature gauge goes out of the normal range; you take it to the shop don’t you? If not, you certainly should. Someone needs to write into the operating system a “check engine light.”

Diagnostic software came about with the PC years ago; the first that I remember was PCTools.

After removing all of the junk, booting my PC back up into normal mode still left me with a PC that had a runaway program that slowly degraded the performance of the PC until it died.

Another boot to safe and than another boot to normal allowed me to quickly bring up task-manager before the eventual slow down, so I could monitor all processes “from all other sources besides just my login.” That is key as some services and processes will not show up under what you have loaded under your profile.

Long story short, ESET was the malfunctioning process. ESET would eventually use up over a Gig of ram and most of the CPU horse power and…the mystery still is that it was sending something over the internet or at the very least causing all sorts of network traffic. I no longer have a hub so loading a protocol analyzer on another PC would have only shown me broadcast traffic. I elected to simply uninstall ESET from “safe mode” and see what happened then. That fixed the problem. I installed Trend Micro and have run the PC for over a week with no issues.

My guess is that someone wrote a program specifically to attack the anti-virus software and ESET was not equipped to handle it. Next week or next month it may very well be Trend that fails. There are many on the market and there is “No Silver Bullet.” It came in through e-mail I suspect.

Moral of this sad tale is this: backup those things that you care about and back up often.

I would love to know what attacked ESET NODE32, so if anyone else has a similar story please share it. I will make certain to share it with my readers.

Call me paranoid but here is my suspicion. There are many different anti-virus programs out there all trying to get your dollar. There are some really good programs and than there are some programs that are not so good. While free is better than none, it is not much better. You get what you pay for.

I suspect and this of course is coming from a 30 plus year veteran of working with this stuff, that someone who works for or worked for one of these companies wrote and released this bug. Someone writes these things and if they don’t get remuneration from it, why do it?

Why in God’s name would someone sit around in their mother’s basement in their underwear writing programs that are meant to disrupt or destroy people’s software or ability to get on the internet or work or what have you? Sorry for the visual but I can just see some pimple faced kid with empty candy wrappers, half empty red bull cans and possibly an ash tray full of butts and old pizza boxes typing away at the computer till the wee hours, trying to outdo his buddy. I think I see roaches too…Another bug!

I understand writing software to steal an identity and sell those things to the highest bidder.

I understand robots to use millions of computer to attack some target with a DOS.

If a virus was written to attack a specific anti-virus package; that action would bespeak of an inside job, or possibly someone that had a grudge against that company.

Full disclosure: I do disaster recovery planning for companies. Having been in this field since before the Internet, Bill Gates and Mr. Jobs, I have seen much, done much, and carry a wealth of both computer and business skills and acumen with me to the clients site.

When I got out of school, the secretarial pool was still in vogue; and Greg Shorthand was still practiced. I put dictation equipment on executive’s desk and later computers, replacing the all day process of creating a document to the executive typing his or her own document or e-mail.

I am also a science fiction / fantasy writer who enjoys blogging…

-Best

The Great American Trailer Park Musical

Runway Theatre

For those of you who are into the theatre and who happen to be in the North Dallas area I have a treat for you.

In Grapevine Texas there is a place called the Runway Theatre.

http://www.runwaytheatre.com/TheGreatAmericanTrailerParkMusical.php

It is called this as it sits on the north end of DFW and frequently the sounds of Jets landing or taking off can be heard during a performance. This does not take away from the play and most of the time it is not noticeable.

The historic area of Grapevine has many shops and places of interest so actually spending more than an evening there can be a good use of your time. It is very close to DFW so, if you are in town for a day and have some time on your hands a quick cab ride to downtown for food and fun would also work.

Grapevine is rife with good restaurants, spending a Friday night or Saturday night in Grapevine is worth consideration.

Grapevine hosts a few restaurants which are landmarks. Esparza’s, which is a great Tex Mex restaurant has a long history of satisfying their guest.

http://www.esparzastexas.com/home

There are others which I have tried and I will do a better job of talking about them in the future. The cost varies, some are really overpriced; most are in the ball park of what you would expect.

If you are in the mood for something a little more traditional, try Tolbert’s

They boast a good chili and their fish is advertised as coming from Paris, Paris Texas…

http://www.tolbertsrestaurant.com/

Our usual evening consist of an early dinner with friends somewhere in the area, and then heading over to the theatre about 30 minutes before the curtain to visit with some of the other regulars and staff.

These people go out of their way to make you feel at home.

The Great American Trailer Park Musical

Critics love this incredibly irreverent, hilarious musical which gives a whole new loving image of “white trash.” When a new tenant arrives at Armadillo Acres, she wreaks havoc all over Florida’s “most exclusive” trailer park. The bonds of friendship are sometimes closer than the bonds of family. When Pippi, the stripper on the run, comes between the Dr. Phil-loving, agoraphobic Jeannie and her tollbooth collector husband, the storms begin to brew, and hilarity ensues.

Rated R *

Other than some language and suggestive situations, the show hardly should be rated R. I would rate it PG 13. I don’t know any teenager who has not heard those words but again, your mileage may very. Having said that, it is a laugh a minute and the cast and crew did an excellent job. These are people that I would like to get to know... Some plays that you go to, you are looking at your watch wondering when it will be over. I have been there and so have you. This was over too soon for me. One of the friends that went with us who admitted to not liking musicals, wanted to come back and see it again. That to me was a breakthrough in and of it-self as if one musical can touch someone; maybe that will be open to others. This was not Rogers and Hammerstein. There was actually a live band for this performance which sincerely added to the quality of the play.

It is not unusual for the cast to come into the seats and involve the audience; so if you feel like being a possible bit player, sit on the isle and take your chances. You never know if you will be involved in some small way.

One thing of note: this is an all volunteer production. If you have time and would like to get involved, you can do anything from make popcorn to act, you have but to show an interest.

Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her. But once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.

– Voltaire

*Taken from their web site.

Who are they and why do we care?

Hollywood joins into the political; arena with messages in just about every show they produce. Aaron Sorkin produced a show called Newsroom which at the very onset looked as though it was going to be a “right leaning show,” which shocked me. The first episode actually had staunch republicans passing around the rant by the leading man Jeff Daniels aka Will McAvoy.

The entire first season was in fact an attack on the right, taking on the tea party; making them appear to be a joke which diminished them in the eyes of many people who cannot differentiate between fact from fiction. One of the reasons this country is so screwed up is the fact we have far too-many who watch the Daily Show and “believe” that John Stewart is actually disseminating the news! They do not know that this is comedy, written for entertainment!

The Newsroom I think was supposed to be about how the media works and journalism works but it failed with its biases. I stopped watching it after the first season as I think Sorkin went too far in trying to make the right look lame.

Some would say that HBO and the Newsroom could not affect that many people but again, not true. Even Aaron Sorkin admitted that he did not really know what he was doing when he crafted this program but, here is the truth to this. Someone passing them selves off as Jeff Daniels has a twitter account under the name of Will McAvoy who commented on many political things.

This 28 year old “liberal thinking person” who is a fan of the Newsroom, borrowed the personage of Jeff Daniels aka Will McAvoy and has sent out 41.9K tweets, posted 214 videos, follows 1.943 other “tweeters” has 74.4K followers and has 1,704 favorites. This nobody, is helping to shape this country by affecting the votes, minds and opinions of the uneducated or gullible voter. This is subterfuge using technology, and the people are clueless.

His tweets have been re-tweeted by thousands who believe that they are indeed re-tweeting the thoughts and opinions of Jeff Daniels aka Will McAvoy! He is still doing this today, now, this minute!

I would contend that this type of activity should be illegal, but your mileage may vary.

We should most certainly care is this type of thing has an effect on the world.

The Company Store

Talking with people fresh out of college, or even some that have been out for a while, I have found that most are falling prey to unscrupulous companies that are working around Universal Health Care by hiring practices that are, well just wrong.

In order to protect the company from spending too much money on labor they are working these people at part time jobs. Instead of hiring enough full time people to do things in a normal fashion “during daylight hours” they are in fact working several part time employees in several shifts.

While shift work is not unheard of, the amount of part-time employees is.

These companies, mostly retail, are hiring these people at just over the minimum wage working them for just under the amount of hours that would be considered full-time. In this fashion they don’t have to give them any type of benefits’ including health care. They don’t accrue vacation time and they must often find at least two jobs to make ends meet. They will in actuality be working more than a 40 hour week and possibly work a 50 or 60 hour week for multiple companies.

The carrot seems to be a verbal recognition of their “potential” for a management position “down the road.”

The other carrot is “in retail anyway” that they offer them discounts on any merchandise. Knowing something about this; their margin is most likely 40 points and since a lot of this “stuff” comes from China, I would bet that their margins are closer to 60 or 70 points with the larger stores getting larger margins.

The discount to the employee is anywhere from 10% to 30% meaning that the company still makes money on the employee purchases. I know a lot of folks that work in retail who work for a particular store because they like what they sell. This is probably a trait among those who work in retail.

What is it like where you live? Do the food service industry companies treat their employees the same way?

Which companies treat their employees well?

Which are the worst?

Why?

I hear a lot of people complain about how they can’t make ends meet and minimum wage needs to be raised to $15 an hour.

The economy took a hit and the unemployment numbers were off the charts. A lot of folks who are now employed are working these types of jobs that are really intended for kids in school and not college graduates. That is why they are minimum wage, because they were never intended to provide a living wage. On the flip side, these companies are now getting college graduates for pennies on the dollar.

Minimum wage does not need to go up to some astronomical number, as that will tank the economy. Every action that congress takes has consequences.

“Universal health Care,” you know that 2000 plus page bill that we have to “pass before we read it;” had consequences. The people who crafted the bill and the Democrats’ who pushed it down our throats will not be affected by this however. They actually crafted language into the bill to the effect that exempted them from any of its mandates. Why would you vote for people like this?

One of these consequences now has people working as slaves for minimum wage jobs that are for school kids. Companies are not in the habit of loosing money and getting bailouts unless you are “too big to fail,” aka a campaign contributor. They work their business so that they make money. If they do it right they not only make a profit for the stock holder and all of those who took a risk. Their end goal is not to provide employment, just make money. Employees are a necessary evil, as far as they are concerned.

Congress needs to fix this. Companies will not fix this themselves, because they have no reason to.

I would argue that language needs to be crafted in a bill that would only allow a company some small percentage of part-time employees, and the same should be true of “contractors,” which is another way to scam the system.

Capitalism

People don’t create companies because they want to give people jobs. They create companies because they see a need, and they know how to fill it. Employment opportunities come when the need is great enough that they cannot fill it by themselves.

Mechanization takes away many jobs. Today the grocery store is a good example of job loss through technology. Self-checkout kiosks are everywhere. Either you as the customer check and bag your own groceries, or you wait in a long line where a minimum wage clerk will check you out. They purposefully (so it seems to me anyway) only have a few working the register so that there is a wait.

I am one that will wait in line as, I want there to be a need for this person behind the counter. The stupidity of this is that the kid behind the counter gets angry with you; because you won’t do the self checkout! I am trying to save this idiots job and he is angry because he has to do it! This is the attitude of this generation today. Once I get out of school I go to the company of my choice and go get the corner office, boss people around and get a big paycheck! One has to wonder what they are teaching is school. I am thinking it is how to roll the perfect joint.

Robots have been taking jobs for years in the automobile industry and other manufacturing. Robots can work longer than 8 hours, don’t belong to unions, don’t need healthcare, don’t go to the bathroom, need breaks, and a host of other reasons to automate could be made. There is also an ROI and a TCO. With employees that is not the case.

An argument could be made that these robots had to be created by workers, software engineers etc. To that I would agree. The rub is that many of these things were done outside of this country. While most reasons to do this are economical some would argue that Americans are not smart enough to do it. Looking at school from when I was in school to now I would agree that something needs to change in the methods and materials that we teach. Some of these kids today are real “low information people.” It is like “Hey, don’t confuse me with the facts!”

Unless you can put groceries on the table with things that you purchase from the retail outlet from which you work, buying things from them is something you should most probably resist.

They tell everyone that they see management potential in them, and get them to “commit in their mind” to working months without so much as a raise. They don’t get them to sign a contract or anything, they simply lead them to believe that there is a future for them. After several months of being a slave, you come to realize that the light at the end of the tunnel was nothing more than a lighting bug.

You are quasi self-deluded and are “nudged” into thinking that this is going to turn into something. Some companies do promote from within and Enterprise Rent a Car comes to mind. These folks start you out cleaning cars and work you up from the bottom. If you have it within you, that is a good company.

What other companies are out there that treat their employees well?

Ask around I would like to know. We can make a list…. I would seriously like to give credit where it is due.

Here is the catch my young friends; you only have so many years to live. Life is not eternal! One day you will wake up and realize that there are so many things that you wanted to do; and now it is too late. It will be that day when the epiphany hits you that there are more days behind you, than in front of you. That will be the day that you will get serious about your faith, if you are not already.

In school the weeks seem to never end, when you have a dead-end job, the weeks also seem to drag on. When you have a job that you like “time” seems to move a little faster.

When you get out of college at 22 or so, the world is your oyster. It is not long before the grand children are left with you while your kids take some much needed rest from working and raising kids.

As you look into their young innocent faces, you remember with fondness the days that you were that childlike.

I titled this piece “the company store” because when I was young there was a song on the radio that told the tale.

Tennessee Ernie Ford 16 Tons

Some people say a man is made outta mud

A poor man’s made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that’s a-weak and a back that’s strong

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin’ when the sun didn’t shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said “Well, a-bless my soul”

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin’, it was drizzlin’ rain
Fightin’ and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an ol’ mama lion
Cain’t no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store

If you see me comin’, better step aside
A lotta men didn’t, a lotta men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don’t a-get you
Then the left one will

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store

Many of you reading this wont know the tune, so I am posting a link for you..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joo90ZWrUkU

Years ago the company indeed had a store.

Typically these were in small towns that employed most of the people in that town. They were remote enough that they could price their goods in such a fashion that they were not competitive. There were no Wal-Mart’s back then. This led to the store extending credit, thus keeping the employee indebted to them. Once you worked for the mine; in this case, you were there until they buried you. You either died of black lung, or cave-ins. It would be interesting to know how many coal miners actually died of old age.

There is a lesson in this and I wonder how many will figure it out.

Guys, when you don’t know history you are doomed to repeat it, time and time again. Either the schools are inadequate, or the books are lacking or possibly there is an agenda to give folks just enough information to be productive but, not enough to think. As always I would appreciate your thoughts. Keep it clean, respectful and so forth, and we can talk about it.

-Best to you…

YOUR DYSFUNCTIONAL & OUT-OF-BALANCE GOVERNMENT

ARLIN REPORT...................walking this path together

A system of checks and balances was built within the Constitution to protect us against tyranny .

The Executive, the Judicial and the Legislative branches of our United States Government is a checks and balance system, right? This C & B system really does work, when there are responsible people executing the responsibilities and duties of each branch. John Adams said, “Only by balancing each against the other two could freedom be preserved.”.

The best example of a dysfunctional government is the one we have today. The Legislative and Executive Branches are good at pointing the finger and giving the middle one to the other, but take little action. When one is in violation of the Constitution and our laws and the other branches do not respond accordingly, holding the other accountable, then both or possibly all three are in violation, thumbing their noses at the…

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Crazy Stuff

So my neighborhood has some new social media outlet which facilitates neighbors actually communicating with each other via the computer or phone or what have. Lord knows that we would not want to actually see them and talk with them in person… So, we have invented a way to become even more xenophobic.

One of the recent post regarded “wrong way parking.”

Essentially; if you are on the right side of the street your car must be within a few inches of the curb, actually facing the way the car would be traveling if it were in motion, which it is not; but just in case, it must be facing the correct way.

New Rule, no one with OCD can work in any areas of government that make up stupid rules for others to follow. My desk is messy and I like it that way!

It is actually funny because this post has generated a lot of interests. People are actually concerned about which way you park your car. What’s next; you can only drive a certain make and model of car that is of the same color as everyone else’s. They could be color coded for which street you live on!

If we don’t call people out on this shit you may very well have rules like this; your grass must be cut on the same day of the week as everyone else’s and it should be no more than 1.27 inches in length and no less than 1.26.

All trees must be no taller than 30 feet and all of the leaves that are not green must be removed and bagged accordingly, we will not tolerate loose leafs blowing down the road.

All homes must have 2.5 bathrooms, be of similar build and color and be no closer to the street than 40 feet and no further from the street than 40 feet 1 inch.

This is just nuts. As long as you get your car far enough off the driving surface of the road, who gives a rat’s ass which way it is facing! Me personally, if I had a hummer, I would do this. I would purchase a large boulder and place it in my front yard, than I would put the hummer half way up the boulder and park it.

It is also interesting to me that people will ask for recommendations for auto repair or carpet cleaning or what have you, the responses are illuminating to say the least.

For instance, someone asked for a recommendation regarding auto repair for a specific model and make of car.

The mechanics that got the most recommendations were the people who work on commission! The more shit that they sell you, the more money that they get! I guess they are really good at what they do because these people were adamant about selling you on their guy vs. someone else. My guess is that these folks are a franchise chain and the advertising dollars spent selling that brand has more people going there instead of seeking out the independents.

Some of the other conversations include protracted discussions about pets, stuff they want to get rid of and get this, strange vehicles driving through the neighborhood.

Not only are we becoming xenophobic but paranoid. This really happened. A delivery vehicle drives down the street with some company logo on the truck and it is a “strange vehicle.” I just know the police love getting these calls.

I was walking the neighborhood last year as it was a pretty day. I was just walking the sidewalk enjoying the day when a cop stopped me. When he motioned me to his car I laughed and said, “Was I speeding?” He was not amused.

You got to be kidding me; I can’t walk the sidewalk in my own neighborhood without some Gladys Cravats calling the police! I live there! Good thing that I had my ID and could prove that I was indeed a resident. Oh yes, my teenage daughter was walking with me, so I know we must have looked like criminals…

Your mileage may vary but as for me, I think I want to move to the country where I don’t have someone peeking out their curtain at me; watching my every move.

But, text me sometime and say hi… Don’t bother to actually come out of your house and shake my hand, I might bite!

Yep, country living, front porch, iced tea and an old dog to keep me company.

Saw a funny post the other day that fits. It is a picture of Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry, I think, with the wording, “too many assholes and not enough bullets.”

-Best

Garage Sale, Antique Mall or eBay?

I have always looked at the Garage Sale as a method of cleaning the house and not just throwing it away. You know how you collect things over the years and suddenly you can’t find what you are looking for because all of the other “stuff “is in the way.

Treasures quickly turn into clutter and before you know it, they are making a TV show about you.

All it takes is the loss of a loved one to quickly turn your well organized home into a place that the “pickers” would like to visit! I get it, it is hard to go through a loved ones stuff and get rid of it. That stuff is “part of them” and getting rid of something that they once cherished, or had; for one reason or another seems like treason or blasphemy.

The Antique Malls are full of these types of things. You can be looking around the bins and shelves of “stuff” until you come across a box of pictures that were once treasured family air looms of a sort, sitting in a box waiting for someone to think they recognize them and bring them home.

The Antique Malls or resale shops are such places where stuff has accumulated, waiting to be recycled, re-purposed or thrown into the dumpster.

eBay is the ultimate place for “stuff.” There you will find anything and everything. If you should decide to become a seller, your audience will be into the millions of perspective buyers.

eBay has caused some confusion in this area and I wish to clear this up for a few folks.

The reason eBay works is that you have a world wide audience. Whatever you place on there, the odds are good someone will want it. If the price is right, it will sell quickly.

The eBay Conundrum.

While eBay is a great place to buy and sell, it can be a source of miss-information for those of us who sell at garage sales and of course Antique Malls or Flea Markets.

I have found more and more people looking on eBay, researching what they have and then pricing it accordingly. On eBay that is ok because, that is where your market is.

If you look on eBay and see that your widget sold for $40, and you price yours at that price in an Antique Mall or Flea Market of Garage sale, guess what, you probably won’t sell it.

What will the market bear?

I recently spent a day in the sleepy little town of Gladewater Texas. The town appears to have little industry to speak of. Not knowing much about the town, I would guess that tourism is a big deal for them. They are known as the “Antique Capital of Texas.” I did not know this before I stopped by.

My trip through their town was only slightly deliberate as I had business in East Texas so instead of traveling out on I20, I decided to take the less traveled and slower route out Hwy80, which cuts through many small towns.

First let me say that the down side of this is that there are several stop signs, traffic lights and slower traffic to deal with and, the speed goes from as high as 70 to as low as 30.The local constabularies are sitting behind the 30mph with the radar working so, watch out for that.

The upside is that most of the small towns have lots of charm and worth a visit. I found antique stores in most of the little towns. It would appear that a lot of them are mom and pop stores and are trying to make a living by selling stuff. These stores are places that were once some sort of industry or store, which the big box stores put out of business.

The rub is that many folks price their stuff too high. They have gone on eBay or some other place and found what top dollar is, and ask it.

In each of these scenarios, the antique mall, Flea Market and of course eBay; who makes the money? The proprietors of the establishments make the money. Both the Antique Mall and the Flea market make money if your stuff sells or not. The same is somewhat true of eBay, as they make money when you list, but they also get a percentage when you sell.

If you are a seller in one of the first two places you need to price the stuff so it will sell. If you price it too high what you are doing, is this. You are providing the inventory for the “store” which gives the customers something to look at and a reason to visit. You are paying a monthly fee to “ market or display” your stuff there and in fact you may very well just be giving your stuff to the store owner, as you may not even sell enough to account for what one months rent is.

When a customer comes in and sees something at your “booth” it should be clearly labeled and priced for what the traffic will bear, and not what eBay buyers are paying. You must move inventory to make a go at flea markets, of antique stores. I would try and negotiate a variable rate for the “off season.”

Your stuff should not look cluttered and should be clearly visible. You should visit your booth and “freshen” it up weekly. Move stuff around, keep your items that you want to sell the most at eye-level. Stuff on the ground or too high will be missed by a large percentage of the customers.

If you really think you have some treasure, than put it on eBay where you have a much larger customer base.

I am much too lazy to do any of this, so my hats off to you for doing it. I take the clutter to some charity where they will unload it and give me a receipt for it, which I than save for the accountant.

Why is eBay so successful?

eBay has worked long and hard at making it easy for you to buy and sell stuff. Unlike the Antique Mall or Flea Market you can shop in your pajamas, in the comfort of your own home, and sort by category, price and condition with little or no effort.

The Apps that they have created make is incredibly easy to buy and sell on your smart phone!

Those of us who make the effort to come to your garage sale, or drive to places like Gladewater, should be rewarded for the effort by finding trinkets and things at reasonable prices.

I do a lot of research on particular items and I am here to tell you that some of the prices I found this weekend were higher there, than on eBay!

Economics people, like it, learn it and live it!

No blog mentioning Gladewater would be complete without mentioning the Fork!

The fork is a little restaurant close to downtown. The Waitress, a lady by the name of Katrina was jovial, pleasant and made the visit much more satisfactory. The food was better than I expected, which is saying something, because I am picky when it comes to food.

I am not sure how they stay in business, because the prices were “very reasonable!”

I would also like to mention that the curators of these shops were great at what they do, and made me feel like I was at home. There is charm in East Texas. These towns are an easy drive from Dallas or Forth Worth.

I would like to hear about your “antiquing “experiences. Are you too finding eBay has had some effect on things that you normally sell or buy?

Happy Antiquing and enjoy your trip through memory lane.

Distracted Driving

How many times have you been going down the road and some fool does something idiotic and you said, “where is the cop when you need one?”

Distracted driving is illegal. If you drive and are distracted while behind the wheel you are breaking the law. Not Unlike speeding, distracted driving can get you killed! Not only can it get you killed; it could cause the death or injury of others.

Traveling again this week I saw more people fooling with their phones while driving. The percentage of distracted drivers is alarming!

I am not talking about taking your eyes off of the road for a split second and having to make a small correction, I am talking about the car “or truck” weaving all over the road “kind of like a dance” while the driver is clearly not paying attention to the task at hand, DRIVING!

I would propose a national number set up “like 911” but, this number would use the cell tower’s location to automatically direct your call to the state troopers in that area where you could report people like this.

#267 COP

This is a common sense “change” that needs to be implemented immediately!

We need to really hit this hard in the PR area to get folks to realize that they are impaired when they are distracted.

This trip, an 18 wheeler was “doing the dance,” in the rain, and over-corrected a little too much and instead of going into the left lane, went into the ditch. Because of the rain the mud stopped him rather abruptly. The next call he made “after to the wrecker” would have been to the company he works for trying to explain how he ended up in the ditch. What would you care to bet that “I was on my phone” will not come up in the conversation?

Of course the irony in this is that there would be people without hands free devices calling some 3 digit number to “tell-on” someone else who was using their phone. So, suggesting that they pull over to make the call would be too much trouble; so they wouldn’t do it and … it would be left to those of us you use a hands free “Bluetooth” voice-activated device to “save the world.”

This would be so much easier if you would just leave the damned phone in your pocket or purse while driving. If it is that important, pull over!

The simple facts are that “technology” got us into this fix, and I would bet that “technology” could get us out.

It may be as simple as getting a dash cam installed and when it records dummies like this, you send the video into DPS and they examine it for what it is and that it has not been tampered with, and go give the driver a bad time.

Maybe we just take the video and post it on YouTube under “stupid people.” Or, we could send the video, if it is a commercial vehicle, to the company that it is from.

Here is a question for conversation, should trucks, buses and other commercial vehicles have a black box? If there is an accident, this device would know the speed, location, if the breaks were hit, headlights were on, if the turn signal or hazard lights were on and any conversations in the cab. This thing could even be rigged to “listen for RF” and tell what frequency it was detecting.

Either your “regulate yourself,” or the government will do it for you. Did you know that there was a time when there was no speed limits? It was simply use good sense.

Be Safe

To My IT friends

How many times a day or week or month does your phone ring from a family member or friend and when you answer that phone the sentence starts out with, my computer…. what does it mean when…. what software …… and the list goes on?

Do you ever get tired of not hearing a hello, how are you doing?

For thirty odd years this has been my life. I am sure that you too have heard this from everyone from your friend to you mom.

Here is the thing, if they were doctors and you called them up with “what does it mean when I have this pain….?” How would they respond?

Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and value my friends enough to overlook their lack of manners. Here is the problem as I see it. My time and expertise is my “stock and trade.”

I have invested thousands of dollars in books and equipment and classes to get to where I am. I have spent thousands of hours of my life learning what I do. Unlike a doctor or heart surgeon or dentist my craft is incredibly dynamic! It changes daily. You snooze for one day you may not learn about the latest threat or the newest bug or what have you.

A heart is still a heart and a tooth is still a tooth. Am I saying that their fields are not dynamic? Of course not! They are however more static than ours. Breakthroughs in medicine don’t happen all that often, do they?

My point is that just because I am not cutting into someone’s chest are my skills any less valuable?

Why am I assigning a value to this?

If you give your skills away, you are by definition cheapening what you do in the mind of the person receiving it. If I don’t have to pay something for your efforts I may very well expect them again and again for free.

How often do you think your doctor or dentist would put up with that?

Thirty four years or so ago the internet was not as you see it today. Using the internet back in those days was a command line system consisting of commands like “telnet, gopher, ftp and so forth” Knowing Unix was a plus as a lot of the commands were similar like ls.

Bill Gates and later Steve jobs came up with a Gui or Graphical User Interface that made what we have today possible for everyone. Actually Xerox came up with the first GUI and the first mouse and when Bill saw it he quickly went to the college that was working on the “open source code” and came up with Windows.

I don’t know how Steve came up with their GUI and I am not sure how IBM came up with their idea of a GUI with OS2.

Xerox lost out because their system was way too expensive and some bean counter was trying to get all of their development dollars back on the first sale.

IBM lost out as everything that they did was costly and proprietary. Even their NIC’s which were the first real solid networking card lost out to a less efficient method as IBM licensed their software and technology with each card. One card could cost upwards of $500 odd dollars. That might get your 4mbts of speed.

Ethernet using a different transport method was much more cost effective and as the software improved by 1983, became a standard through the cooperative efforts of several companies; Xerox, Intel and DEC and of course 3COM which was formed by the inventor of Ethernet, Bob Metcalfe.

My point to this little divergence into history is that it was not too long ago that you had to be a geek to use this stuff. In order to “network” computers you really needed to understand what a datagram was and how it worked. The OSI model was something that you studied and understood each and every layer so if there was a failure you would know where to look.

Not long ago I was consulting with a company where the head IT guru was trying to convince me and a few others that this computer was conflicting with itself. He was convinced that this computer had somehow had a duplicate IP address and was conflicting with itself knocking itself off of the network.

Now this guy clearly has never heard of the OSI model and has no idea what a datagram is and for that matter never heard of a sniffer or protocol analyzer. I knew he was clueless but not to make him look stupid I loaded up WireShark and tried to show him how some of it worked.

When he was still lost, I shut off the PC in question and showed him a simply ping to the offending IP address which responded. There was another device with that same ip address as someone had loaded another DHCP server, and it was handing out addresses as well.

When you don’t have a change control or change management committee, or some sort of method for controlling what is on your network you get the Wild West.

How many of your phones ring when you are in bed and it is the office, something is not working?

We are in a global competition for our jobs and our lives revolve around this stuff. Companies are trying to convince the powers that be that we need more H1B folks as there is nobody in America with the skills that they need!

Ever been to a job fair Mr. hiring manager? 5000 folks will show up for a half dozen jobs.

The fact is that there is plenty of talent here in this country right now. I know because I talk with them daily. A lot of them can’t find work as they are too old, (over 50.) Once you get seasoned you are at the top of the pay range and you expect to make decent money. Companies don’t want to pay you for what you are worth so they convince someone in Congress or whoever makes the laws regarding H1B employees and they drag them in by the thousands!

Much like the illegal’s taking non-skilled jobs; we have the H1B people taking the skilled jobs because they will work cheaper. They can also be terminated more easily.

I ran into a programmer working behind the counter at a hardware store the other day. He was surly and I could not let that go. I kept making conversation with him until I learned that he was a DBA and could not find work. He was good at what he did and after a few more minutes I figured out that he had reached the top of his pay scale and once you do that, companies look for cheaper labor. Still want that raise?

I know too many in similar situations, and as long as we have H1B folks and we have Peggy type folks with call centers in parts of the world that no one ever heard of, nothing will change.

The talent is there; they are just under employed and if they stay that way for too long they will never regain entry in to the work force in the capacity that they were.

If it is not with H1B workers it is companies outsourcing things to different countries. We are creating hostile environments for companies in this country so why not take it overseas.

I sell a product made here in this country that if it were made in China, I could get it for a tenth of the cost. Those are tough dollars to overlook. I like selling things that are made in America and those things are hard to find.

So what is the value of your education, your time, and your personal time being interrupted by family and or friends needing computer help?

I am actually thankful that their computer is broken so at least I hear from them. When they start the conversation with “my computer is… I reply with I am fine, how are you?”

-Best to you and those that you care about!