AT&T is Damaging My Calm

Seriously.

First off, the voice number that I was told that I would have isn't the number that I am going to have. So I am glad that I was cautious enough not to order business cards.

Second, what pack of imbeciles would send an installation tech to a commercial office building on a Saturday without giving any notice?

If you guessed "AT&T", you were right.

UPDATE, as of 9/9: The phones still don't work. But "Uverse", which apparently is a spiffier form of DSL, does work. AT&T says that there is an "issue with the wiring". So why Uverse works and the phones don't, when they use the same motherfrakking wires, is something that the AT&T guy I talked to couldn't explain.

Into the 9th day, now. Comcast was fucked up, but never this fucked up.

Cameras

I don't know, exactly, the model name of the first camera that I had. It was fixed-focus, the lens at the bottom, a viewfinder in the middle and a silver flash-bulb pocket above that. It used 127 film. I used that camera for almost six years.

Being a kid at the time, I glued a number of the photos into an album. On some of them, I used way too much glue and the photos were damaged. A few of the others have become loose over the decades. This is one of them, a somewhat blurry photo of my dog Susie.[1]

Then my uncle, who had upgraded to a Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex camera, gave me his old Argus C3.

The Argus took decent photos, but it was a hard camera to use well. One of those windows is a split-lens rangefinder. So you had to dial in the rangefinder and then shift to the viewfinder. There was no light-meter. If you were concerned about such things, you had to first use a light-meter to determine the proper exposure time and aperture setting.

Once you had determined the settings, you'd then set the exposure time with the dial on the right and then twisted the front of the lens to set the aperture. Which is about as cumbersome a process as it sounds.

I was shooting black & white film at the time and I had a cheap-ass third-hand enlarger. At the time, my family was living in an old Edwardian house. The house had some sketchy rooms on the third floor that, in the pre-Great War era, would have been occupied by servants. There was a windowless bathroom on that floor that I used as a darkroom.

What that meant was if I was a little off on the exposure for the film, I could correct it in making the prints. So a lot of the time, I just went with the exposure charts that came with the film and that was good enough. Sometimes I opted for store-bought processing, which always seemed to turn out better than my hand-rolled prints.

(This photo is stuck in an old album, it did not scan very well.)

But taking photos of objects outdoors was difficult, especially if they were dark, which steam engines often were.[2]. A spot-metering light meter was not cheap. So I saved up and was able to buy a Canon FT.[3]

A few black and white photos from that time have survived.

That locomotive was scrapped by the Chicago Transit Authority in an act of historical vandalism in the 1980s.

I shifted to Kodachrome around 1969. I still have about 30 or so boxes of slides, maybe half or so of what I shot. In the latter part of the `70s, I shifted to Kodacolor. Somewhere around `72, I bought a 135mm telephoto for the Canon. I was cooking with gas, or so I thought.

The shutter of that FT broke in 1985. A camera repairman told me that it was not worth fixing. I was told that the lenses for the FT were not compatible with newer models, so I bought a Nikon FM2. I was kind of skeptical about that then newfangled technology of automatic exposure. On the recommendation of a relative, I bought a Tokina 28-200mm lens. He told me that I'd end up rarely using the 50mm lens and he was right.

When my father died in the late `90s, I got his Olympus pocket 35mm, which had a telephoto lens and autoexposure. It turned out to be a right handy little camera for times when carrying around a full-sized 35mm SLR was a pain in the ass. I used both that Olympus and the FM2 until 2005, when I was given a Canon A95 digital camera.

I still have the FM2 (yes, I removed the batteries). Thing was, the film processors began offering to return both a CD with jpegs of the pictures along with the prints. The jpegs were far more useful, as I could send them in emails and not bother having to have prints made and mailed out. I gave the Olympus to a friend who was resistant to digital.

A few years after I got the A95, I replaced it with a Canon A1000. The thing that I liked about both cameras is that they used AA batteries, so I didn't have to screw around with chargers. The A1000 didn't have a lot of the functionality of the A95, it didn't have the swing-out viewscreen, but it was thinner (it used 2 AA batteries, the A95 used 4) and it shot in much dimmer light.

But the thing that bugged me about both cameras was the shutter lag. I'd press the button and the damn things would think it over before firing the shutter. I also hated using the viewscreen, for it felt unsteady and unnatural to hold the camera away from my body. The viewfinders on both was not through-the lens, so I had to be mindful of parallax error, especially for indoor shots.

A few weeks ago, I got to play briefly with a Nikon D40. I could not believe how satisfying it was to use a good SLR again.[4] And so, I swallowed hard, unlimbered my credit card, and bought a Nikon D3100 with the issue 18-55mm lens.[5]

So now I'm learning a new camera. It's nice to have a decent camera again. I find that I end up using manual focus (it'd be nice if the damn lens had range marking on the barrel). Made mostly of plastic, it's nowhere near as heavy as that FT, let alone the FM2. A decent padded camera bag is going to be a must, I suspect, as well as a better strap than the issue one. So will a backup battery and SD card, but those two can wait a bit.
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[1] I'll write about her some other time.
[2] The 1960s was possibly the Golden Age of railfanning. Steam engines had been retired in the late 1950s by most railroads. There were a lot of locomotives out there that were still in good condition. Some railroads kept a few to run for excursions, others were bought for scrap prices by individuals and non-profit groups. They ran them until the locomotives required major inspection and overhaul, at which time most of those engines were retired to museums or scrapped. By the early 1970s, steam excursions were rare, indeed.
[3] My father told me that he had a contact who would get the camera for me for half-price. That was a hell of a deal, or so I thought. I saved up and gave my father the money so he could buy the camera for me. A few years ago, in some of Dad's old papers, I found the receipt for the camera. He had paid full price for it. He never told me.
[4] Think of going from shooting a Hi-Point to shooting a HK.
[5] They were running a deal where a 55-200mm lens could be had for $100 off with the purchase, but that seemed like too much of a hit at one time.

The Army is Trying to Help Soldiers Adjust to Civilian Life

By classroom training.

The Soldier To Civilian Work Program (SCWP) is designed to help soldiers assess their skills and help them get a head-start into the civilian world.

Lieutenant General Thomas Bostick believes this is an important step to help military members transition from the battlefield into the office.

“Many soldiers leave the Army with no idea of how to fill out a résumé, or even how to behave in a job interview. Our goal with the SCWP is to teach these soldiers that on your list of previous experiences, it’s not okay to put ‘Hadji Killing 08-10.’”

Needless to say, some of the soldiers are a bit baffled:

“I went to a mock interview in my best t-shirt that says something like ‘Ranger the Fuck Up.’ The civilians that were hired to do this mock interview told me that I should consider something more classy, like maybe a button up shirt at the least. My shirt collection includes a ‘Beards Save Lives‘ shirt, but I don’t even own a button up. Who knew that was important?”

Some are, as you might expect, resistant to the Army's efforts to help them:

When asked if he’d even tried the program, Smith said, “Yeah I tried that shit, but they said that for job experience on my résumé I can’t put ‘Major League Infidel,’ or even ‘I shot lots of machineguns.’ It’s ridiculous man, I DID shoot lots of machineguns!”

The general in charge was showing a little frustration at that kind of attitude:“If these retards can’t get it through their thick skulls that McDonald’s doesn’t care how many weapon systems you’re qualified on, then I don’t know what else to try.”

Todd Akin Really Needs to Hire This Woman as a Senior Campaign Staffer

After being convicted by a jury earlier this summer of sexual abuse for groping a woman in a bar, ex-DPS Officer Robb Gary Evans walked out of a Coconino County Superior Courtroom on Wednesday morning having been sentenced to two years of probation.

Evans received credit for the four days of jail time he served in Coconino County jail.

Prosecutors contended that he drank eight beers and then drove himself to the Green Room, where he flashed his badge in an attempt to get into a concert for free. While inside, he walked up behind the victim, who was a friend of a friend, put his hand up her skirt and then ran his fingers across her genitals.

He got off light because, in part, the judge said it was the victim's fault that the victim was in a bar where shit like that can happen.

The judge sentencing Evans, Coconino County Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Hatch, said she hoped both the defendant and the victim would take lessons away from the case.

Bad things can happen in bars, Hatch told the victim, adding that other people might be more intoxicated than she was.

"If you wouldn't have been there that night, none of this would have happened to you," Hatch said.

"I hope you look at what you've been through and try to take something positive out of it," Hatch said to the victim in court. "You learned a lesson about friendship and you learned a lesson about vulnerability."

After a bit of public outrage, the judge tried to walk back her comments with a typical non-apologetic apology:

“I apologize to the victim for any additional anguish my comments may have caused,” the judge wrote in her statement.

Bullshit.

Caturday

Two quasi-feral kittens at a friend's farm. The tuxedo kitten was getting ready to bolt.

Might be the mother there, not sure.

2004 and 2012

To set the stage, recall that in 2000, Bill Clinton was finishing up eight years as President. The Democrats nominated Al Gore, who lost the election.[1]

In 2004, Bill Clinton spoke at the Democrats' convention.

In 2008, George W. Bush was finishing up eight years as President. The GOP's nominee, lost heavily.[2]

In 2012, at the Republican convention, George W. Bush was nowhere to be found.[3] In point of fact, the man who was the last Republican president barely rated a mention. Apparently, only his brother Jeb felt obliged to mention his name, let alone defend his atrocious record.

Hard to see why, for Bush did what Republicans like: Cut taxes for the rich, pour shitloads of money into defense and rack up large deficits.

But to listen to the GOP nowadays, it's as though they haven't held the White House since Reagan left office.

Curious, that they need to run away from the last two Republicans who were elected president.
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[1] By a 5-4 vote to George W. Bush.
[2] Well beyond the Republicans' ability to steal.
[3] Presumably, he was too busy inspecting coal mines in Ulan Bator.

Dear Comcast: I Most Sincerely and Humbly Apologize for My Criticisms of Your Abysmal Customer Service.

I apologize because of a failure of imagination. For there is a company out there which is far worse:

AT&T.



I don't want to detail all of hassles that I have been going through to activate two telephone lines and U-verse in my new office. I have, so far, made three trips to the local AT&T office in order to deal with their minions in person.

But here is one: My mail goes to a P.O. box. AT&T sent the U-verse self-install kit (in a box slightly smaller than that used for an upright piano) by UPS and then sent the activation code, by mail, to the same street address. This was in spite of several warnings of "I don't get mail at that address, it goes to a post office box".

I thought that competition was supposed to fix shit like this. But since only AT&T serves that office complex, the phone activation is "between 8 and 8, maybe". And even there they have screwed the pooch.

I never thought I would say this, but man, do I miss Verizon. At least they usually gave the appearance of giving a shit.

Why Gun Control Fails on a Technical Argument

The first thing you need to keep in mind is this: Everything necessary to make a working firearm is based on technology that is a century old or older.[1]

The second thing that you need to keep in mind is that the computers for machining parts, CNC machining, has become cheaper and cheaper. It is at the level of serious hobbyist use. Machining has gone from "slowly cutting off metal, measuring the piece, repeat until done" to "put a chunk of metal into the CNC mill and turn it on." There are people who have developed freeware CNC programs for several firearms.[2]

Third, there is a developing technology for printing parts. One hobbyist has successfully printed a lower receiver for an AR-15 and fired it. True, that receiver is made of plastic, but you could probably make an AR-15 lower receiver out of hardwood.[3] Still, does anyone doubt that 3-D printing of metal parts is not going to trickle down to the hobbyist level? [4]

If the technology to make a working firearm is there, what is to stop a criminal enterprise from going into that business if the demand is there? They refine cocaine from the plant precursor and transport it thousands of miles to the consumers. They make synthetic drugs. They drill tunnels to bypass border checkpoints. They build submarines to transport drugs. Can anyone truly claim that they can't make guns? The reason they don't, now, is because it makes no economic sense to incur the expense to set up hidden fabrication shops when they can buy/smuggle/steal everything that they want.[5]

I've seen the argument made that the better way is to try and control the sale of ammunition. I don't know of anyone who has seriously tried to home-brew all of the components of a cartridge, but given that, again, the technology involved is at a late 19th Century level, a criminal enterprise that can make drugs can likely make smokeless powder and priming compound.[6]

Ammunition control would fail for another reason: For most uses, criminals don't need to shoot many rounds. A successful armed robbery involves shooting nobody. When the robber wants to kill the clerk, that doesn't take many cartridges. A box of 25 rounds would likely be enough for the criminal use of a firearm for possibly as many years.

I know that there are people out there who would like to just ban EBRs, but that horse has long ago left the barn. Twenty years ago, if you wanted a mass-produced AR-15, you kinda sorta ended up with a Colt. Nowadays, it is probably easier to list the firearms companies that don't have an AR-style rifle in their catalog. You can buy a lower receiver, either with the trigger group or bare bones, and make your own. Millions of them have been made and sold.

Microstamping fails for the same reason that CoBis failed. Both registry systems only work to track semiautomatic handguns, as revolver shooters generally don't go around throwing about cartridge casings at crime scenes. A microstamp on a firing pin would be easily replaced in about 99% of all semiautos. As far as the breech face goes, a little bit of work with some fine sandpaper and that'd be gone, as well, or one can simply replace the slide.

The real point is that gun control fails because gun control laws are only effective against law-abiding people. It is already against the law to possess, let alone use, a firearm in the commission of a crime. A lot of states (and the Feds) tack on five years or more to the sentence if the perp had or used a gun.

But criminals still do what they do. Their biggest fear about firearms is not the sentencing enhancement, it is getting shot with one.
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[1] Charles Taylor certainly could have made one in 1903 if the Wright Brothers had asked him to do so.
[2] All are autoloaders. The rest of the parts are far easier to procure (or make).
[3] For extended use, there might be a couple of places where a maker would want to install pin bushings.
[4] For hardware, yes, we are talking about an early form of replicators. They won't make the thing, but they'll make the parts.
[5] The Mexican cartels tend to favor fully-automatic weapons, which are not available in the U.S. To the extent that they convert them into machine guns, that proves my point.
[6] Especially if they don't care whether or not the primer residue is corrosive.

Do The Aussies Know How to Build a Proper Guillotine?

They have need of one:

Gina Rinehart, thought to be the world's richest woman, chastised [Australian] miners for being “too expensive,” saying, “Africans want to work. Its workers are willing to work for less than $2 per day.”

Yup. For it's easy to see her experience at working at a dreary, dangerous job for shit wages: None whatsoever.

Rinehart knows what it means to pull yourself up by the bootstraps. She inherited a fortune now estimated to be worth about $18 billion. That's a heavy burden to bear.

It's such a burden to win the Lucky Sperm Lotto and be born into a family of wealth and power. And then to have the delusion that she has done all this by her own hard work, that otherwise, she'd be living in a singlewide trailer in Wyndham, Western Australia and slinging hash in a local diner.

The big question, though, is why Mittens hasn't proposed to her. They would seem to be soulmates.

Ryan: Boastful or Lying?

Or is there a difference?

Mitt Romney's running mate told his hometown newspaper that he had scaled 'close to 40' of Colorado's 54 'fourteeners' mountains, each of which is at least 14,000ft tall.

Although Mr Ryan made this claim three years ago, it is now under scrutiny after he admitted on Saturday that he hasn't run a marathon in under three hours, as he had boasted last month on a radio show broadcast across the U.S.

In case you've forgotten, Paul "Rosie Ruiz" Ryan shaved more than an hour off his best marathon time, claiming to run in the "high twos" when, in fact, he didn't break four hours.

I am sure that certain Republican apologists will weigh in that this is small beer.

I disagree.

First off, every one that I know who has run a marathon knows their finishing time. If they ran more than one. they know their best time. Changing a four-plus hour time into a time under three hours isn't a matter of a foggy memory. It is lying.

And so is the one where Ryan claims to be some kind of whiz of a mountain climber. It speaks to his lack of character. It speaks to his contempt of both the public, who he figures will swallow down any lie he serves up, and to the press, who he thinks will just regurgitate it unchallenged.

Besides being a liar about his own athletic prowess, Ryan is pretty much a liar about being a deficit hawk. He didn't care about the deficit when he voted for Medicare Part D. He didn't care about the deficit when he voted repeatedly to fund the Iraq and Afghan Wars without a single move to pay for those wars.

No, Ryan only became concerned about the deficit when the Tea Party began parading around with their guns. He is the exemplar of a cowardly, soulless politician who waits to see which way the parade is going before rushing to get to the front of it.