Showing posts with label chrissy hynde. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chrissy hynde. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Don't Ask for Creativity Before 8am

A little joy for you this morning: iPhone apps with camera permissions can take pictures and video, using the front or rear camera, without you noticing. There is nothing you can do about it at present, other than cover your camera lenses.


  • Hey - where's your stick? Sensitive data on Heathrow Airport security was found on an abandoned memory stick. Most of it wasn't encrypted.
  • This can be avoided in a number of ways:
  1. hold onto your memory sticks, stupid.
  2. encrypt the entire stick, stupid
  3. don't allow this data to leave the network, stupid
  4. if this didn't come from an insider, you're in deep doo-doo, stupid
  • This isn't new security practice. It shouldn't come as a surprise to any computer security student.

A bug just discovered in LG IoT (Internet of Things) communication technology can allow someone to create an account and access all your LG smart appliances. This could result in your toaster committing suicide by walking into your preheated oven, then calling police and fire to tell them it's a false alarm after your smoke detectors go off.

Do not put this stuff in your house. When you go appliance shopping, tell the eager salesperson that you want dumb appliances. You want your appliances so dumb, they can run for office.  When the salesperson ignores you because he has no dumb appliances to sell, tell him you read ThermionicEmissions and you're scared shitless. This blog will either become highly read or Google will be petitioned to remove it by the IoT Safety Committee (somewhat related to the Congressional Ethics Committee).

  • It's time for the Weekly Marshall Update.  Marshall is halfway through his chemo. His bloodwork is very good and Doggy Onco Doc is very happy with his progress. He has a small colored bandage around a different leg after each visit.
  • We are extremely thankful for the clinical luck.
  • As you'd expect, there's weirdness afoot. For the first time in recent memory, Marshall is acting like he used to. The dog who was having trouble getting up steps and jumping on furniture now sleeps in bed and relaxes on the couch. 
  • Tissue shredding has recommenced! It's a good thing I get into bed in the dark, lest I see that night's freshly-shredded tissues from the trash can. The dirty ones make much better shredding.

This morning, the news introduced us to Rosebud, the therapy chicken.
Therapy chicken.
This is going to be hysterical on airplane flights.
mmmmm... tastes like chicken...

  • It's dark and dreary. I suppose it's not necessary to say that, as it's our default weather. Regardless Loud Construction, Inc, is already out, making the circular saw on concrete noise.
  • This goes on roughly seven days a week, yet water never gets into the power tools and electrocutes the handler.
  • WTF are they building - a secret bunker? Pizza shop for soon to be missing children?

Pretenders' front woman Chrissie Hynde warned the audience of their strict no cellphones policy. The phones came out and never left. She let the audience have it midway through the first song, saying if it continued, she'd stop singing. They continued but she didn't. The band shortened its set as a result.

The self-important screaming from the audience on social media stated that the band was there for the audience and the audience was paying for the band, so they should be allowed to do whatever they want. 

I'm not a fan, but go Chrissie!

  • To my vast legion of left-handed musician readers, The Southpaw Store, Disneyland in Houston, is having a sale on lefty ukuleles. The policy of this blog is still that it is not polite to speak French or play ukulele in public.


Don't forget, kids... it's Halloween!  Now get out there and offend somebody!
Appropriate someone's culture. Be creative. If all else fails, try blackface.

  • My wife is so good to me... she got me a Halloween shirt that says JACKING-LANTERN.

Harvey Weinstein has been banned for life from the Producers Guild.
Because he got caught.
None of this was a secret within the industry.
Nor was Kevin Spacey. The stories are coming out about many underage males he got drunk and propositioned. He used the Gay Excuse to get out of it but gay does not equal pedophile.






Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Teaching Ravens to Fly Under Water

Continuing the ThermionicEmissions hatred and coverage of selfies, we have an 18 yeard old Florida woman who police said took selfies as she was having sex with her pitbull. Not known was whether the pictures were posted to Faceyspaces or Instagram.


  • While we're continuing, here are the top ten passwords from the Ashley Madison hack: 123456, 12345, password, DEFAULT, 123456789, qwerty, 12345678, abc 123, pussy and 1234567. ThermionicEmissions readers know better than to use these kinds of passwords.


Husband bites estranged wife's nose off and eats it after she fails to return his calls. "When I said 'eat me,' what I meant was...."


  • Countdown to Popemageddon continues: US sex victims say Church remains obstacle to justice. 
  • A pastor committed suicide six days after his name came up in the Ashley Madison hack. 
  • Men of God, all of them.

As it turns out, reports of Monty Python Terry Gilliam's death are premature. He has not joined the choir invisible, he is not pushing up daisies, he was not nailed to the perch and no one will have to come home from holiday to a dead Gilliam. For his part, Gilliam apologized for being dead.

  • Dereliction of Parenting Department: Irish Dad sues Facebook after eleven year old daughter sent provocative pictures of herself to men and had chats. Ummm... Dad... if your eleven year old daughter behaves like this, Facebook might not be her only issue, eh?

California legislators approve bill allowing doctors to give patients suicide pills. They should give this over to the Pentagon's 'secure' virus labs. Perhaps they'll send them to DC by mistake.

  • Both Chrissy Hynde (Pretenders) and Grace Jones have had their say about today's female stars: “They dress up as though they are challenging the status quo, but by now, wearing those clothes, pulling those faces, revealing those tattoos and breasts, singing to those fractured, spastic, melting beats – that is the status quo."  If you told me I'd be quoting Grace and Chrissy, I'd tell you that you were driving the short bus, short a few wheels.

Pentagon computers hacked again - this time it's the Food Court!  Never mind the Office of Personnel Management - this is WAR.


  • When they came to tax my salary, I was silent. When they came to tax my drinks, I was silent. When they came to tax my internet, I was silent. Now who is going to speak up for me, now that they have come to tax my porn?  Yes, Alabama, rather than fixing their problems, has levied a massive porn tax.

America gets a D in science: 22% confuse astronomy with astrology. We are a nation of morons. Now ask yourself who this benefits....

  • Tired of the endless iDevice hype? This puts it in perspective.

Forty-two percent of registered voters think Hillary Clinton is the presidential candidate most qualified to protect the United States from cyberattacks. Occasionally there is a headline so stupefying that I have no choice but to reproduce it. We not only fail to remember last we - we actively ignore it.  What was I saying about a nation of morons?


  • A few weeks back, at work, I was in the men's room, doing what one does in the men's room. Also in the men's room was another fellow, doing what one does in the men's room. He starts singing, which I found weird, as well as being outside of the Accepted Rules of Rest Room Etiquette (ARRREQ). "Oh Sara... Oh Sara... Oh Sara..." he went on. After a few of these, it began to seem that this guy had a problem, ostensibly named Sara. He sounded hurt. I felt sorry for the guy - we've all experienced this. Not so sorry that it wouldn't make it to the blog, of course. Unless I completely forgot.
  • Today I was back in the men's room, doing what one does in the men's room, when I heard some dude talking to the loo. No, not talking - singing. "Oh Sara...oh Sara...oh Sara..." he continued, with the familiar tone of sadness.  Along with his singing, I hope he wasn't also practicing his dancing.


Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant Monday began releasing previously contaminated water into the sea. Previously contaminated? Is this some sort of code? New math? Triplespeak? Rest assured that whatever comes out of TEPCO (Japan's nuclear authority) has been marginalized and homogenized to within an inch of its life, much like American politicians. From the initial incident, TEPCO has sought to minimize any impact. Yet here they are, inventing the state 'previously contaminated'. Do you suppose all of the nuclear waste we bury in Yuma, AZ, is previously contaminated? Would you mind it being dumped in the ocean?


  • Obamacare enrollees must double to make budget projections work. Ain't socialized medicine grand? I'd love to give you an 'I told you so,' but I'm paying for this just like you.

Two Muslim fundamentalist preachers were discussing the question of “whether wives should be beaten or not” when two topless activists jumped onstage. Ummm... if it's feminist to not believe women should be beaten, call me feminist. In yet another case of extreme journalistic bad taste and incompetence, the Telegraph put black bars over the women's breasts. All of the news, guys... censorship will not be tolerated.


TECH

  • Malibu Phone Home: Chevy reports to parents on teens' driving habits.  If this car can report on your teen...
  • Oops - GM performed a stealth update because of a long-term vulnerability (2010-2014) to OnStar. The only way to truly fix this issue is to completely disable the hardware (it's easy).
  • Remember this blog reporting on California optical internet cables being cut about eleven times? Systems of the US Department of Energy were breached more than 150 times between October 2010 and October 2014. I believe this need some serious study. What would happen if either went down? Shades of the east coast US power blackout, allegedly caused by a squirrel. I hope to be mistaken here.


As if Windows 10 isn't enough of a pervasive, spying data sinkhole, Windows is now downloading it to your computer, even if you didn't ask for it. Just in case, you know.



Make with the Music

Superstar is frequently used but not frequently earned. In this case, I'm sure you'll agree that Queen neatly embodies the term. From their humble beginnings to stardom beyond expectations, this incredible band of audio and video experts truly entertained.

Queen could not have been without the outrageous frontman and composer, Freddie Mercury. Born Farouk Balsara, he could certainly command attention. Less publicized is his ability to musically direct the band in the studio. He sometimes came in with complete musical scenarios, which the band ably saw to completion. Freddie's personal life is fairly well known and a biography turned up a great line: Freddie's parties were truly something to behold, but I can't say more without the advise of my attorney.

Brian May, the guitarist who built his own guitar, is responsible for large amounts of Queen's sound, with his wall of amplifiers and multitracked, delayed harmony guitars. Yet somehow he manages to carry the excess off live. Brian is also a doctor of astrophysics, perhaps the doctor with the tallest hair of the title. `39 is a more acoustic song that Brian sings. It deals with the very interesting, and sometimes sad, topic of time travel and time relativity. The chorus harmonies are right out of the Queen playbook.

The spirit of show business shines through on The Show Must Go On. And it must*.

Successes are complex beasts but often have a great sense of humor, not to mention boundless creativity. I Want to Break Free is a good example. I can't say I'm crazy about the song, but the video is absolutely hysterical. I understand it was popular in Britain but didn't translate well Across the Pond. This does not strike me as requiring any translation at all.

One of my favorite Queen tunes, from the Sheer Heart Attack album, is Brighton Rock. Unless you're a rabid fan, you might not know it. As if you didn't know why I like it, the reason might start around 1:50 in. It's a solo symphony.

Freddie and the band will live forever in our ears.

After Freddie's death, Queen toured with the great Paul Rogers singing (an unfortunate mismatch), then Adam Lambert. One day, after viewing Adam, Freddie's ghost was heard to say, "Unh-uh. No way. Too gay."



What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen cocker?










* RELEVANT ANECDOTE: Back in my musical comedy performing days, I had a weekend show in Bumfukt, PA. Hungry, we set out for some local food pre-show. A pizza place was down the street so off we went. I ordered a meatball sandwich because it's harder to screw up, plus gray meatballs were a favorite target of mine.

After the show we went home, as we were wont to do after shows. The next morning, I begged my girlfriend for help in stopping the bed from spinning rapidly, in the opposite direction that the room was spinning. Things got no better from there, at which point we made the difficult diagnosis of gray meatball-induced food poisoning.

As the spinning was getting faster, we called our agent, requesting he put in another act. Ever accommodating, the agent told us there was no other act.  As a result, I had to stand onstage, buffered on each side by a group member. While there was great internal debate about the hilarity of projectile vomiting, I decided against it. Afterwards they packed me in with the gear and took me home. Eventually the room stopped its rapid rotation.

The Show Must Go On.