Tag: information

Subtweeting #521

liam neeson meme from imgflip https://imgflip.com/i/49hzjyI’ve been refraining from writing for a long time. The world got a little bit crazy, and my writing is and always had been intended an outlet of importance only to myself. But this year…2020…it has sucked more than anything has sucked before. Seeing so many people hurt, so many people sick, and so many people left without any real help, it’s kind of lit the fires again (so to speak.) This is me just dipping my feet back in the pool. No citations, no extra research because honestly I don’t have time for it. But who knows, maybe I will start making more time for writing again.

So…here it goes. My subtweeting is usually to avoid the crazy mob of pundits’ fans and their socks. Maybe someday I’ll shift a focus to being an influencer, but right now most of what I see is people using their powers to rile up their fans with shit-poor information.

The bigger problem with this, is that it is inspiring conflict, not resolution. Inspiring people to act and protect is beautiful. Inspiring people to suppress, to harm, or do violence, by word, inference, or gesture…that makes one part of the problem.

If the response is violence, suppression, or harm, it means that the system is either incapable of addressing the problem, or there is an agenda that specifically seeks to condone/promote the disparity.

If you’re wondering why there isn’t more oversight, simply look at everyone not voting for it. That’s literally all that is necessary. Vote them out, and vote representatives in that support term limits.

It might take a decade, but the end result will be all of the old good-ol’ boys will be gone, and younger, less corrupted representatives will only get 8 years(or whatever) to make their difference. The old guys will not be able to maintain their status quo.

We would also see quickly, a more diverse representation. Is the majority still white? Yep, but not for long. By creating/supporting initiatives that lessen the strength of minority votes, institutional agendas remain entrenched.

I hate to say it, but look at Russia. Putin’s playbook was a long long game, and it worked. Ignore that he’s scary as hell, but he systematically realign most of Russia to his agenda. I think honestly that’s the same playbook we’re seeing from the political institution now.

A small change in policy now nudges demographics to a more controllable voting situation. Think of it as non-geographic gerrymandering. And here we are, letting it happen, year after year, letting the same people do the same things to us.

Vote them out…vote them out and for heaven’s sake, don’t let them stay and continue to do harm.




Ignoring good quality because of reviews?

It’s one thing to judge a book by it’s cover, it’s another thing entirely to present yourself as a viable critic or bearing expert opinion in a similar fashion. It is not only misrepresentation, it is also doing your audience a disservice.

This is for everyone that passes judgment on a book, or a movie, or entertainment venues solely on reviews. The business world has offered to pay people to give you opinions without actually having long term access or experience in what you’re shopping for…

…and we have embraced it. No less than 4 times today, I have run into scenarios whereby in conversation I was presented not a clear argument, but a reference to a paid review. Paid reviews are just that…advertisements. Movies, technology, investments, it’s like we all suddenly made the decision to shop like shit, and in an effort to admitting ignorance, choose to back an negative opinion just so that we can say we’re right. (*cough* not alluding to Trump *cough*)

This is literally what we’ve become. marketing now is an effort of saturation rather than information. Flood a movie with crap reviews and opinions and it will tank the box office months before the movie is even out…so in seeing a trailer, I get it sometimes they are crappy. But then in seeing a movie, it’s actually frickin amazing. But then the same critic plays his “I am a credible judge of art” card it like gospel…even when they are talking out of their ass.

If you are a fan of a genre, technology enthusiast, voter…LOL…whatever…I think you should do some of your own research, and form your own opinion, rather than adopting whatever you just read on a cursory Google search.

/end rant.

All that said – Tony is a dork, and in case no one has told you today:
Have a great afternoon.
You’re Awesome.
I love you.
Nice Butt.

-T




5 Minute Fixes and 2 Dollar Steaks

tonytow tony hunt gets angsty

Some things just absolutely tick me off.

I’ve always prided myself on my dedication to being the best I can be in my arena. Don’t get me wrong, there are PLENTY of people that know more than I do regarding IT…but there aren’t so many that when we meet, that we don’t recognize the need to network. I only do pc support for locals, they visit, bring their machine, sometimes a bottle of wine, and I hack on their stuff in spare time…it keeps me on my game, it’s never the same, and it’s basically it’s great to meet locals.

Sometimes you think its only a 5-minute fix…

Humility licks in for me when you’re 3 tiers and over 100 hours into a technical issue with Dell’s best people helping, and the the guys got enough knowledge that we compare training and knowledge to see where we need to brush up, and immediately swap contact information so we can pick each others brains without red tape, and of course compliment the guy for being committed to the solution. There aren’t many of us around…it’s not an age thing, its the caliber of training and whether or not you actually applied it.

Hell, the guy before me that passed the buck we’re working on now wouldn’t even touch the work, he billed more than me, ran completely unnecessary diags (with dated diagnostics – I found the logs), and shrugged his shoulders and left. If he’d spend 5 minutes listening to the client, he’d have known the hard drive was dying and the laptop was still under warranty. But that wasn’t the real problem either, and now because the rest is proprietary, I’ll just say that it’s nice being at the top, and pretty fun knowing that those now 20+ year old skills are still more effective than the overpaid support monkey trying to act like they are competition.

Yes, I am working at 2am…because it needs to be done before tomorrow so I don’t have scheduling issues.

Yes, this kind of thing normally takes 5 minutes…but then, sometimes things are tougher than a two-dollar steak and you still have to eat it.

The competition wonders why people come to me over them…it’s because it’s 2am and I am working.

…and I have somehow learned to love a two-dollar steak.

–micdrop–