Nose Hair Exclusivity

Your love is like  an entire gang of kidney stones, singing New Yawk, New Yawk in drunken karaoke



Dear lefty

• I think there's a curse on Superman. At least 2 actors who played him are dead. What do you think?
• I think you're supposed to put the tin foil on your head, not eat it 

I thought I had scared them away, but no, the democrats texted me again, convinced they were talking to Rakeisha. I checked my phone bill and assured myself that I am not, in fact, Rakeisha. This is a good thing, because the doubt was really getting to me. Checking my records, just in case, proved that I have not been Rakeisha for the 15 years I have had the number.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result. I explained this to the texter,  who assured me she was not going to vote for Jo Jorgensen, as I had suggested. She said that the difference is this time.... Yeah, ok, keep banging your head. She did not agree that raising taxes is a bipartisan matter.

So if nothing else, I have the satisfaction of knowing I am still me, and at no time do I identify as Rakeisha. And that even the vast powers of Rakeisha can't scare the dems off.

• Things are just a little cleaner around the house, since the dog stopped bringing us rabbit heads.

I had to do a self-assessment at work.
I'm sure some extremely highly-paid international consulting and research organization came up with a reason why it's a good idea to have employees self-assess, but I sure as hell don't see it. I imagine the reason is to relieve the bosses of doing it. I know mine sleeps easier.

What's your first instinct in filling out your own Report Card?
"I thought we left this behind in grade school."
"I really suck at this."

1. Communication: lefty communicates gud. Sometimes too gud. All audio communications include the sound of lawnmowers.
2. Teamwork: lefty plays well with others but it's better to limit this kind of activity to less than 2 hours per week. 
3. Supervision: lefty should not, under any circumstances, be a supervisor or leader. His great love for humanity may produce unexpected results.
4. Vernacular: lefty can perform any part of the 5397 exercise, but not if you refer to it as the 5397 exercise. Try "the thing where you use the console to do stuff."
5. Behavioral: lefty knows all the rules of behavior; he just refuses to follow them. Except when his wife is around.
6. New Ideas: lefty is always handy with ideas. As a rule, you should probably only consider 50% of them. He will also tell you why you're wrong. So be certain that no one over his immediate supervisor is around when lefty has input.

Now- was this a recent work assessment or his 2nd grade report card? 

• Russian interference into the upcoming elections continued, as Vladimir Putin tweeted well wishes to President Trump.

In legislation that could only come from Congress, it may soon be illegal for companies to pay ransom to criminals after getting infected with ransomware.

This will do wonders to stem the ransomware outbreak.  If a company is dumb, careless, or unlucky enough to contract ransomware, paying fines on top of it is ludicrous. Add to this that data should be recoverable via backups.
Also in the legislative pipeline: fines for contracting the Flying AIDS.

Speaking of ransomware and hacks, there are over 139,000 Microsoft Exchange servers with internet-facing servers (Outlook Web Access). Support for the application ends this month. Once again, I support Microsoft on this: end of life announcements are announced very clearly, in plenty of time to take action. When the carnage starts, owners of the servers will be screaming they had no idea, they forgot, or the company wouldn't pay for the upgrade. Meanwhile, there are search engines that will allow you to search for these servers, which are great hacking tools.


Today I identify as  Emilia Clarke's Flying AIDS mask


Looking over some older posts, I began to feel a longing  (not that one).
It's October. As recent as January, we could get up on a weekend and go guitar shopping. We could go to a mall. Any restaurant we desired. Concerts. Electronics and regular flea markets. Twice yearly vintage guitar shows. An outlet mall that until recently allowed smoking. Waffle House (90m drive). Visit the toothless side of the family in West Virginny. Take my service elephant to the shipping store for some plastic peanuts. Walk into a doctor's office. People stared at me because I'm ugly instead of not wearing a mask.

Every now and then I look back fondly on those memories, not a year old, but they feel years away.

The 'new normal' is staying home or going fewer places with a ridiculous piece of paper or cloth on your face. Many of the places we went are out of business. Malls are half occupied. The joy of occasionally leaving the house has had its tires slashed, leaving us to drive around on a tiny little spare donut that's only good for 10 miles before it too bursts into flames, causing horrible run-on sentences and mild to moderate rheumatoid arthritis, for which there's a new medicine.

When this comes from someone who barely left the house when all was good, you know there's a problem.

Dis shit gettin old.

• the great thing about not being a millennial is that I don't have to worry about holding the camera while having sex.

Hi, kids - it's time for your favorite game show: Extort the Government! [applause]
I'm your host, Bob Phlegm.
[applause]
Johnny, tell them about our guests.

Thanks, Bob. Today we feature the US airline industry vs the US government.

Wow, that sounds like a match. Let me get out my cards here......
On the one side we have the airlines, crying poor.
On the other side we have the government, promising them a handout if they don't lay anyone off until a certain date.
DING DING!!
We have a winner.. it's.. the airlines, with a $25 billion bailout!
That was a monster of a play, Johnny.

It sure was, Bob, but it's not over yet!

It's not??

No it isn't. Round 2 just started.

Well I'll be damned...
It seems that the airlines are grumbling and making 'poor noises' again.
The government is playing its cards close to the vest.
OH - and the airlines have pulled a Hail Donnie and started furloughing over 32,000 employees, saying they'd be called back if they get some more of that cool green stuff!
Will the government call their bluff?
This is some excellent extortion here, Johnny. Tell them what they won!

Well, Bob, we're out of time, but check in next week, when we see if the airlines can Extort the Government!   Again!

Yes, it's time to go, but here's one bit of trivia: the government doesn't exist to bail out corporations (aside from the auto manufacturers and the banks, of course). Tune in next week, if your electricity hasn't been shut off!



Tiffany is 49 today. No, really.
It's not her birthday, but Stevie Nicks is 72.
Seventy Two.
I remember oogling and swooning over her picture on a Fleetwood Mac album (yes, album). She's still beautiful, even on her 2nd face....



VERY HAPPYS TO

Mike Rutherford - Genesis (the tall one)
Sting - after the world gets done revolving around Bono, it revolves around him
Tiffany
Chubby Checker - forced to change name because Chubby is fat-shaming
Lindsey Buckingham - Fleetwood Mac
STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN - singlehandedly brought back the blues
Tommy Lee - upside down drummer, Pam Anderson's co-star


BYE BYEs

Tom Petty




SJW Silliness

Google has revealed it has adopted “value-neutral” language in the interests of improving both selfies and mental health. “The studies showed that 80% of parents said that they’re worried about filters and two-thirds of teens have reported being bullied by peers based on how they look in their selfies.”

..in a post announcing its new guidelines the company stated: “More than 70 percent of photos taken on Androids use the front-facing camera   gee... how do they know this?


Social media platform Pinterest announced that it would be limiting recommendations for Halloween costumes that could be considered culturally insensitive.

unless it's wearing a mask

The Dude pedal [Guitar Content Only]

A very popular and incredibly expensive amp [Dumble] is sought out by many guitarists, until they learn the price. The last one I saw was listed at $50k, but I've heard that's not the most expensive. Users include Stevie Ray Vaughan (not anymore), Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, Ben Harper, and others. Dumble did some magic with the preamp to make a tone that's distorted at lower volumes and sounds great. You're not likely to get a new one these days, so others have stepped in, including Bludotone, Two Rock, and others, including Ceriatone, where you can get yours in kit form or magnificently built.

Carlton and Ford realized it was expensive to tote amps around Europe, so sometimes they found other ways. Ford used the Zendrive pedal, which is available in a few different forms and versions. There are so many Dumble-like pedals, it's near impossible to decide. Even the very cheap knockoffs can be had for well under $100. Here's where your work comes in: you need to research the pedals, whether locally, loan, or YouTube. YouTube is indispensable for hearing equipment. Whatever it is, someone put several demos on YouTube. The best video, in my opinion (it's my damn blog), is That Pedal Show's shootout of 7 pedals claiming D-tone. Let's ignore the fact that none of us have Dumbles and we may not be able to identify the tone. The guys thoroughly go through the pedals, that range from about $140 to about $600. The funniest/saddest entry was the combination of the Blues Driver and GE-7 Equalizer, which got them into the general neighborhood. The pedals were all pretty good, but I liked The Dude; for its similarity and tone in general.

At this level, we're subject to the 80/20 price/performance triple-tone Special Rule<tm>. This is where all the pedals sound great and close to their mark, but how much more are you willing to spend to sound the closest? I couldn't rationalize $600 for a pedal, so I waited for a good deal on a Dude. The Mad Professor Simble is another winner, to my ears, just from listening on YouTube. The aforementioned 80/20 price/performance triple-tone Special Rule<tm> also demands you look at the input and output jacks. You have to see whether they're on the front or the side of the box... this determines part of the tone*. I'm not going to give it away - do the research.       * I made that up

Special mention to Wampler. Everything I've seen of theirs is high quality and sounds great. Their entry was the Euphoria.  Let's not even speak of the Marshall pedals... tons to sound like every version of Marshall. Hint: listen to the MI Audio Super Crunch Box.

The first thing I noticed was The Dude was a lot smaller than I expected.
I have no idea why I expected a larger pedal, but there it is. I like big pedals - they're much harder to fit on pedalboards, and cause other guitarists to have fits. If you can't cause fits with your pedals, you have to do it with your playing. I am doubly talented, in that I can cause fits with either.  The pedal is also very solid, which is great as a weapon if the crowd (or other band members) attacks. Because The Dude traveled so far to get to my house, I let it sit in its box for 24 hours, to settle in and adjust its mojo to my house. If you play it too early, it may not have its mojo set yet, or use the mojo from its prior owner. Do you really want a pedal with mojo from Utah? Well, maybe you do... Utah is run by the Mormons, but consumes the most traffic from Pornhub of any state.

Where was I?
Oh yeah, Duding.
I assume you can power the pedal with a battery, but I wouldn't bother. It could take a week to get it open. Who uses batteries anyway? Ok, Eric Johnson prefers his batteries at 7v, but we're not Eric Johnson, are we? [If we are Eric Johnson, send me a message - we have things to discuss.] The pedal is black.. I hope I don't offend anybody by saying that. The writing is white, and I don't imagine it will show up well onstage. Since I rarely get onstage, it's a moot point. My wife would prefer a mute point.

I've been playing guitar since after the Moon landing, and I've collected huge amounts of Goodies. Naturally this means there is not a 9v adapter in the entire house. I think they hid when they heard I needed one. I just bought some other pedals and I know they needed adapters too. Nope - not one. So I discovered The Dude accepts a 9v battery, because I had to take one out of a different box, because we have no 9v batteries either. Do you see where this is going? I keep watching stuff leap off shelves at my wife. We're calling an exorcist later this week.

Fortunately The Dude works. I know this because the green light glowed. I never paid attention to LEDs until I got a Danelectro pedal with a piercing blue LED. The blue ones sound better than the green ones. Don't let anyone know I told you so. It will be our little tone secret, ok?

The YouTube demos get you the general idea, but you really have to play with something yourself (NO, don't do it) to get a real idea of how it handles. Let's start with the SRV fans: if you're buying this pedal to keep the gain all the way down and the volume up to overload your amp, you are going to be very disappointed. The volume control is heavily dependent on the gain control, so by the time you get much output, you have too much gain to cleanly overdrive your amp. This is the single warning I can pass along, but if you were that concerned, you'd have already bought a Tube Screamer, or one of the 666 variations of it.


Now for the fun part: the moment you plug in til the moment you have to be torn away from playing. This is a seriously fun pedal. Again, I have never played through a Dumble, but this pedal stands up well on its own. It has a very wide range of tones and way more gain than I thought it would. Forget using it for clean stuff or backing your guitar's volume to 2 - you'll just get less grit.

The Dude has 4 knobs: volume (volume), treble (treble), ratio (boost/gain), and deep (thick). They do more or less what you'd expect them to do. Deep is something you will need to play with. After playing around, I kept it at 9:00 because the tone got too 'large' above that setting. It probably wouldn't record well any higher.  Most of your attention will be focused on the ratio control. It goes from Smooth all the way to Too Much. I wound up with it around 9:00 too. It starts with a smooth, silky tone, which the treble control can do very little to ruin. I test stuff out through my Marshall Code 25 because it's tiny, solid state, and some of the presets are anemic, to be polite. If it sounds good through this, it will love my real Marshall and Fenders. The tone is large, brown-ish and smooth overall. It gets larger and way distorted as you turn it up, but still brown-ish. I think the key is not to crank the treble knob. In fact, it's almost too heavy (for me) past 12:00. It's fat and chewy at all levels. It doesn't sound like any pedals (or amps) I have, and I have a few. It's hard to give you a 'sounds like.'  It's more of an overdrive than anything else, with gain to spare.

Bottom line: buy the damn thing, used or new. If nothing else, it will give you a large, smooth tone to add to your palette. With a little tweaking, it will make you Larry Carlton and Robben Ford (assuming you can play like them). It's reasonably priced (roughly $140+ used, check Reverb) and music to my ears. I hate everything, so when I say something nice, it might be worth checking out. In the meantime, check out the reviews on YouTube.  I want to make my own channel, but video isn't my specialty and I'm too ugly to appear on video, so I'd have to find a good looking person to front for me (Sofia Vergara, anyone?).

If you have any questions, ask in the comments.
I'll post further observations as I play with it more (don't you dare).

At some point, I'll A/B it with the Lovepedal Superlead (dimed Marshall tones). If  I'm feeling particularly prickly that day, I'll A/B it with a phase shifter and a washboard.

Legalize Lawn Darts!

WHat - you don't capitalize the second letter of sentences?
I keep trying to figure out why I do this. I suspect it's my ADD, smacking my dyslexia around.



The Vatican says people cannot choose or change genders.
This will come as quite a shock to the people who already have.

Perhaps they say Outrageous Stuff to take attention away from their hobbies.




Dear lefty:

• I heard that children as young as two are using the internet.
• At least they have an excuse for acting like a two year old.

The British conservative party (The Screamin' Starchies) introduced the first 47 candidates to replace the other lady who left. The issue is not that there are 47 candidates.. the issue is that one of the candidates is mildly attractive, which has thrown the entire election into chaos. The British Dental Association is involved, asking how they can possibly live up to the standard of perfectly normal teeth. The news outlets are looking to hire style commentators. The Chinese already have cheap knockoffs of her dresses. The British Hat Consortium has come unglued because she hasn't been seen wearing one of those conservative, laid back hats, the size of a small horse.

The candidate in question, Lady Fah Fah Fah Hosehead Knickers, blamed the entire brouhaha on Trump, silencing the controversy permanently.




Da Blooz

Funny how stuff works.
I came about my blues lessons by second generation blues players, like Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton; only I didn't know it. They were simply idols.

Around 1980, Stevie Ray Vaughan broke and took heads off with his fire and strong blues playing. SRV introduced the blues to everyone, including people who never heard of it.

Stevie made me curious, so I went back to do some exploring.
Listening to the three Kings, Albert, BB, and Freddie (RIP all), I began to see where SRV picked up his licks. Albert King immediately drew my attention because I recognized where Stevie got most of his licks. There's audio and video evidence of the two performing together, which must be seen. T Bone Walker was an early bluesman who had a heavy influence on future rockers, as did the spiritual Robert Johnson. He was the subject of Crossroads, with Ralph Macchio and Steve Vai.  If you listen to SRV before he hit big, you'd hear the influence of Eric Clapton, which jumps right up and grabs your ear.

It's mind-expanding to listen to the old masters and realize where my second generation heroes got it from. They sped it up and distorted the tones, but it's all there - they just renamed it Rock.

• Once again, a reminder to make sure you don't expose Remote Desktop Protocol to the internet. There is a patch from Microsoft - install it. There are at least two very serious backdoors that will infect your computer and make your information no longer yours. RDP has no security. It should not be anywhere near the internet.

California, a small planet west of Arizona, will be extending full health benefits to illegal aliens.

People keep re-electing these politicians. Apparently they, like Bernie Sanders, believe everything is free. The designation 'illegal' has no meaning for them. TIP: Identify as an illegal alien; you'll get full benefits. Within a year, I expect to have a pass for robbing banks too.

• Oxfam, a popular charity, got caught during an investigation with a culture of sexual abuse of the people they're supposed to be helping, some children. The company ignored the behavior. Oxfam said they're very sorry (for getting caught) and they'd do everything they could (to avoid getting caught). Further, to fix the problem, they will be hiring the Catholic church's public relations firm.

Joe Biden came out of the gate swinging. I prefer the Biden who did Goofy Stuff... it's difficult to take him seriously, especially when there are no women to fondle. It must be like when Al Franken went into politics... a comic trying to get people to take him seriously. Trump's response: did someone teach him to read?

All of this has been verified in a Quinni.... Quinnipee.... Quinnipeepee... popular poll.





If you have a Whirlpool dryer in the UK, you are advised to unplug it in an immediate fashion, lest it catch fire. Whirlpool said it's very sorry (for getting caught) and safety is its first priority. They're proud of their record, only taking four years to deal with the problem, and only after the government got involved. They are committed to fixing the problem (not getting caught again) and have turned down all requests to appear on the news or at polo matches. They will modify any defective units (about 500,000) or offer a discount on a new dryer, which will catch fire more spectacularly. All new Whirlpool appliances come with fire extinguishers, which are illegal in the UK because the firefighter union complained it takes away jobs.

It's Never Too Early (to Be Late)

From Austin, Texas to the world (and back to Houston) here's Stevie Ray Vaughan, playing Texas Flood.

• If I understand this correctly, the lovely FLOTUS got on a plane for Houston and the press blew up because she was wearing heels. This is what passes for journalism (and political discourse). The real fun came later in the day, when Boy George said he wouldn't hear of Melania bashing.
• Ladies and gentlemen, we are observing history as it happens... the republican party is inclusive of gays. Some gays are voting republican. A musician has said something positive about a republican. Republicans are repeating what he said. The whole world has gone topsy-turvy. Dogs sleeping with cats, sun blocked out, people with eye injuries after the sun was blocked out...
• The dems are automatically obstructing everything, having taken over for the republicans, who did it during Obama.
• No, nothing's going to change as far as we are concerned: we'll still get screwed.  But if someone told you, twenty years ago, that gays and republicans would be playing together nicely, you would have had them committed for their own good.

Selena Gomez's Instagram account was hacked, resulting in nude pictures of Justin Bieber being displayed for a short period of time. This is not related to The Fappening and the account was restored quickly. These celebrity accounts are falling like dominoes. Funny as it may be, if you don't take security seriously enough, you will be next. I don't care how many Bieber nudes you have - I don't want to see them.

• With the Horrors in Houston, once again Amateur Radio has stepped up and helped. Like 9-11 and Katrina, these amateurs (hams) put their operational skills to work. Radio works when cells go down or are overloaded. It works locally to globally. Even the government (uh-oh) recognizes the value and has contributed financially to the effort.

The hearing-impaired dog just went off like an alarm, in Attack Mode<tm>. The mailman showed up. Normally Marshall sleeps by the door, just feet away from the mailman. Today he happened to be monitoring from another spot and actually saw the home invader mailman, setting off the Dog Alarm. I haven't heard that in a long time. It was nice and everything, but I didn't really miss it.

• The Definition of Marriage: I get homicidal when I hear JG Wentworth commercials. So she sings along with them.

The NYPD will be tossing 36,000 Windows phones after a year because Microsoft has decided not to support the phones. Way to go, Microsoft! Do you have any idea what the phones must have cost the NYPD?  Rest assured this contract came through friends, so there was significant money involved (plus who in their right mind purchases Windows phones?). Now they will have to purchase another 36,000 phones. If I were a NY taxpayer, I'd be pretty upset. This is a valuable, visible lesson for any governmental purchase; this stuff goes on all day, every day.

• When Life Gets Tough - annoy people. It's good for your spirits.

The Bed
I live in a non-standard household.
No, really?
Really.
You're putting us on.
No, really.

The house is non-standard. The occupants are non-standard. Even the dog is non-standard. The neighbors are non-standard. Even the sun is non-standard, in that it won't shine in the house. Seriously - light doesn't penetrate the house.

Ok, perhaps that's not the sun's fault.
The house came from a kit. Believe it or not, stuff got delivered and someone built it. It's pretty interesting, if you think about it. It's still standing, which is very fortunate. Unfortunately the person who assembled the house seemed to get everything right except for one small niggle: the house got turned around. Maybe he was drunk. Maybe he was dyslexic. Maybe some neighborhood joker turn the plans around when he stepped away. Maybe he was $*#@ing stupid - I don't know. The end result is that the house is perfectly set up for a vampire - the sun doesn't get in. While my deathly pallor has caused some to accuse me of sleeping during the day, perhaps in a coffin, this is not true. Although I may try to avoid direct sunlight, I do like to know it's still out there. And none of it gets in, although I'm sure the siding is always warm.

Where was I?
Oh yeah, non-standard.

Being married to a non-standard wife is... well... non-standard. She has The Mother of All Sleep Disorders, which means she has to catch it where she can. This frequently means she's in bed before I am. I have no problem with this - I'm used to getting in bed in the dark. I spend a large portion of my life in the dark - why shouldn't it extend to the bedroom?

I wouldn't dream of turning the bedroom light on and waking anyone, especially the dog, so I always walk into a dark room. This would be no issue for normal people, but as I said, we're non-standard.

Like Charlie Brown kicking the ball, I assume, foolishly, that there's a clean path from the door to the bed. If there were enough light for video, I could produce some classic video. Maybe some of that green video that you can shoot in the dark.  The first obstacle I have to look for is Marshall, who may or may not be a few steps in, completely blocking access to the bed. Trying to be a good person, I really attempt to step over and not disturb him. This is sometimes funny when he's not there and I wind up stepping over nothing. This potentially sets me up for a great stumble, turn, stumble, fall.. right into bed.

Well, maybe not directly into bed. Something will invariably will have appeared in front of the bed. How it gets there, I can't even begin to guess: maybe stuff rearranges itself when the lights go out. Maybe there's some Quantum Rearrangement happening... this isn't my field, so I feel it best not to spend too much time on it. It would only hurt. So I trip on the dog that may or may not be there, stumble, turn, stumble, trip, teeter, then fall onto the bed.

While I'm falling, I have to worry about the Quantum Spaniel, who may or may not be in the bed already, whether or not I tripped on him when he may or may not have been in the way of the bed. For someone who isn't in the field, I sure deal with quantum physics a lot.  So Marshall may be laying at the foot of the bed, or on my pillow. I have to fall in a way that I won't fall on top of the poor guy.

The wife has not moved.

Now that I have done the Bedroom Dance across the entire room, I find myself (or most of myself) in bed, hopefully not on top of any living being. Regardless of marital status, it is unacceptable to land on your spouse for most, if not any reasons.

If Quantum Spaniel wasn't at the foot of the bed, he is snoozing on or about my pillow.  At this point it's ok to wake him so he'll move his fuzzy butt out of my way. So now he fakes sleep and plays stupid. Huh? You want me to what? Get up? MOVE? I don't understand. Say it a few more times. Gently tap my butt, so I can continue to pretend I don't understand. I can figure out how to get all sorts of things outside my reach but I'm really stupid when I don't want to leave your pillow.

FINALLY he moves to a different spot and I settle down to Blissful Sleep.

No I don't.

Stuff appears in my bed. Different Stuff than appears on the floor. Sometimes a pile of clothes. Last night, several packages of new sheets. Maybe a towel. Some books. A chainsaw. The odd bit of jewelry. Colored markers.. there's no telling and no reason for it.. the stuff is just there. The only thing these have in common is that they quickly become airborne, accompanied by screaming (usually mine).

The wife has not moved.

Along with the screaming is the nightly Litany of Self Pity. There's no written version but it goes something like this: GOD $(#&ING DAMMIT, CAN'T I GET INTO $&#@ING BED JUST ONCE WITHOUT THIS #&@&ING NONSENSE? IT'S DARK AND I DON'T WANT TO BOTHER ANYODY AND ALL I ASK IS AN UNOBSTRUCTED PLACE TO #*@&ING SLEEP. NO DOG. NO CRAYONS. NO CLOTHES. NO CHAINSAW. I WORK ALL DAY AND ALL I ASK FOR IS A BED I CAN GET INTO WITHOUT PAIN OR OBJECTS THAT DON'T %*#&ING BELONG THERE. I ASK FOR VERY LITTLE - AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I $(#&ING GET.

The wife has not moved.

Sometimes I do a little reading from my phone before I nod off. As soon as I silently click and the light comes on, the wife startles and sits up. NOW she sits up. The words are always the same: "What's wrong?" Nothing. "Oh."

The Sleep Number mattress leaks, but only my side, so I have to pump it up. She sleeps through that too - or at very least does not hit me with a cast iron pan, which is also in the bed, for reasons no one can explain.

That's a Lot of Medicine for A Dog

One million Chinese-made devices have been hacked for massive internet attacks. This illustrates two things: avoid Chinese-made junk. And this is yet another example of Things To Come.

• There's a very interesting article on Delta's power outage in August. It claims that the problem was more of a cyber attack than a power outage. It makes good points. It also backs up what I've been saying about the event: it was not what they claimed. I stated that there had to be Serious Backups and Redundancies because this was Incredibly Important Infrastructure (and there was). This is not a good thing, especially combined with the fiber cuts in California and the ongoing probing of the power grid.

Kim K was robbed at gunpoint in France. She begged for her life, but more importantly, that the thieves not ruin her makeup or take a bad picture of her.

• October 3: the birthday of Saint Stevie Ray Vaughan. He would have been 62.

The Supreme Court has neglected to hear mobster Whitey "The Bulge" Bulger's appeal for killing eleven people. Whitey, 87, will have to spend the rest of his life in prison. His 100 year sentence will allow good-behavior probation in 5 years. Don't you wish, one day, to be as cool as Whitey and have a nickname like The Bulge? Maybe not so much ordering 11 people dead, but maybe knowing you could. The reason for the appeal was that Whitey claims to only have killed ten people, not eleven, hence his bid to have the entire case thrown out.

In case you're curious, the only parts of the above paragraph that are true are his conviction and life in prison.

• Three people who studied unusual states of matter have won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Well, it's not quite Obama's Peace Prize but it will have to do.

The only thing better than a presidential debate is a vice-presidential debate. If you don't believe me, watch it. In the interests of mental health, I'd avoid it. Update: Bill Weld, the libertarian candidate, isn't allowed to debate, like Gary Johnson, the presidential candidate.

But wait - what is this??? Trump's VP candidate, Pence, has a signature line is that he is "a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order." Uh-oh. I don't care what he wants to do in his spare time but this is a potential violation of the First Amendment.

• Don't ask how I know but my Bluetooth earphones at work reach into the bathroom. When I say the meeting is shit, I mean it.

Amnesty International has accused the world's wealthiest nations of shirking responsibility towards refugees, saying they host the fewest and do the least. No word yet from Amnesty on terrorist refugees.

• According to a study by 'Girlguiding,' girls in the UK are markedly less confident about their looks than they were five years ago.  No word yet on whether Girlguiding studies parents teaching self-esteem. I'm not particularly attractive but that's the way I am and I'm not likely to slit a wrist because I don't look like something from GQ (or MTV).

It's a good thing for Julian Assange that the embassy hasn't suffered a collapse into its own footprint. Yet.

• Marshall the cocker continues his health issues and our bid to cure him. He loves his new food - it's even better than cat food, and he LOVES cat food. He flatly refused the dry stuff, preferring to be hungry. The wet stuff is his favorite. The newer wet stuff causes diarrhea, His meds were no problem, as we put them in peanut butter. Now he's refusing the peanut butter, so he doesn't get breakfast until he's hungry enough to eat his meds. We really need to get him a dog but the wife is not happy with that idea and I like sleeping in my own bed.

Today's joke: a government worker makes it to his desk on time and performs his job.

Thank you. I'm available for children's parties.

• I know stats are the lifeblood of everything, so you'll want to know that 8 people accessed the blog yesterday. Cumulative stats (of who knows when - I don't have a need to know) are that the largest amount are from Poland, use Chrome and run linux. What does this mean? How the hell should I know - I'm just sharing info.

Are you ready for the Buzzword of the Day?

Bromosexual: a friendship between a straight man and a gay man.

Aren't you glad you asked?

Along with Buzzword of the Day, I give you Important Test of the Day.

At the Paris Motor Show, a BBC reporter tested cup holders in a range of cars.

Because, you know... this can be the tipping point in the decision of which super car to buy.

• If any of you are in the path of Hurricane Matthew, I need you to remain alive. Please be safe.

Bands Better Off Without Original Members

The fine folks over at Guitar Squid just posted a piece called Ten Bands Better Off Without an Original Member.  It comes complete with videos, generally of the former variety, with the original member(s).

It was simply crying out for comment.

9. Stevie Ray Vaughan:

Now let's face it... I've heard Lou Ann Barton and Lou Ann ain't no SRV.  Her departure put Stevie right up front, where he belonged.  

Damn helicopter pilot.

7. Fleetwood Mac:

This is where the alarm bells started to go off.  Some would say they are still ringing.  I only discovered Fleetwood Mac when Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined. They certainly contributed immense amounts and were definite full members.  The tunes were great, as was the pharmaceutical comsumption.  And ass anyone who was there took note,  Stevie was a sight for male eyes.  

And female too: she launched a million fashion devotees.

Now that I've seriously discovered the original Fleetwood Mac, I can't agree with this site's assertion.  I'd feel much better if they were simply split into two separate bands, as this is essentially what they were.  Peter Green is a legend (and deservedly so).  I think the jury is still out as to whether the illness preceeded the drugs or vice-versa.

6. Bon Jovi:

Cough... cough... cough... 

Who cares.

4. Deep Purple:

Let's face it: as a fan looking backward and trying to figure them out, it appears as though you'd see a random new band member every time you caught the act.  Never a band to hire a slouch, many talented folks breezed through Purple and it's practically a new band if you see them today.

2. Megadeth:

Don't know a lot about these guys.  Don't hear a lot of their music.  I know I enjoyed the video from the site.  It appears as though Marty Friedman is one of those lefties who writes with his entire wrist cramped around the pen (look at the way he holds the pick).  I understand Marty is no longer with the band.  

The tune is as far and as heavy as I go without running to turn off the track.

Go to the site and check out the rest.  It's always an interesting read at Guitar Squid.

And don't forget to check out the most recent Joe Walsh interview.  New album coming February 2012.  Unfortunately I just missed him at the Borgata in New Jersey.   I can't even afford to drive by the Borgata.