| Prejudice wins again. |
[Nov. 4th, 2009|12:55 pm] |
As one of the more prominent hate-filled people would say, "The haters have won again". Once again using statements denied by state officials, the conservatives in Maine have convinced voters that they were somehow "protecting" children from the horrors of gay marriage.
It's a shame that emotion-charged fear-mongering tends to trump intellect and logic so often, but I guess humans are still at the stage where more of their thinking is done with their glands instead of their brains.
Edited to add:
And as long as we're on the subject of those who attack others without provocation or reason, here's one that will make you wince. What is it that drives people like this woman or Our Mad Stalker to attack people who have never done anything wrong to them? |
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| More than just a failure at communication, he's a failure at his goals. |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|06:14 pm] |
I think I've posted this link before, when I was talking about how critical good writing is to any production---more important than the acting, the sound quality, any of those other factors that also contribute to a good production, it's the writing. Louis B. Meyer admitted as much the better part of a century ago.
But now I want to use it to illustrate a point. For a decade, Tony has harassed us and tried to shut us down, just like the girl in red in the above link. Not just online, but by sending letters to the studios, filing a false report with Social Security, faking a cease and desist order from Paramount . . . active harassment, some of it probably criminal.
And like the girl in red, he has failed. He has not successfully advanced his career, and he has not successfully impeded ours. At least the girl in red has her anonymity: no one knows how much of a fool she has made of herself in her unsuccessful efforts to quash someone else's dream. On the other hand, the girl in red is at least capable of recognizing reality, that she HAS failed.
I remain very proud of what we've managed to achieve, the moreso because of all of the handicaps and the occasional obstacle deliberately put in our way. What might we have achieved if it had been easier? |
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| Why Modern Trek is Schlock, Explained |
[Oct. 19th, 2009|01:59 pm] |
I've been trying to explain it since ST: TNG aired, when I wasn't entirely certain myself why I didn't like it.
Charlie Stross and Ronald D. Moore explain part of it when they talk about how to tech the tech before it techs all over the place.
The best fiction IS about the people, but it's also about the people in the context of their situation and their society. If you write a story that can literally take place in any era, in any country, then it isn't much of anything. It's not historical fiction, it's not fantasy fiction, and it's certainly not science fiction.
Take Anne McCaffrey's Pern or Naomi Novik's draconic version of the Napoleanic Wars: those societies cannot exist in the same form without the dragons, and the characters cannot exist as they are if they'd grown up in a different society. Most of the situations they deal with wouldn't exist without the dragons, either.
Take Heinlein's iconic The Moon is a Harsh Mistress: the tech shapes their society, their society shapes the characters, and when they don't like the shape of their society, they do their damnedest to change it.
Take pretty much any novel by C.J. Cherryh, who has always written with an anthropologist's and sociologist's eye.
To the notion of teching the tech, add in people like Berman and Braga who literally do not understand that in a modern series, what went on before IS important to what is going on now; that continuity is important as well as NOT distorting the facts to suit a particular story, and you get . . . The Next Generation. Deep Space Nine, which was so dull they had to start a war to make it interesting. Voyager, which was Lost In Space with more likable characters. And Enterprise, which except for its fourth and final season, was attempting to be the Irwin Allen production of its generation. And the Canadian production, Starlost. And that Bruce Willis abomination, Armageddon.
People like Berman and Braga need to write individual stories, ones where it doesn't matter that the transporters worked one way in one novel and differently in another novel, because the novels aren't connected except by author. In a series, you can't do that without losing credibility, and what is far more important to a Hollywood producer, the audience. But I digress.
The point is that good writing doesn't involve creating a bunch of cardboard characters you can put down in any environment at all and they'll react the same way each time. You need to understand the environment they're in, and have it shape and mold the characters, and have them shape and mold their environment in turn. THAT is good writing, whether you're doing science fiction or a modern detective novel or a novel about the Hoplites.
Unfortunately, it's fairly easy for any half-way decent wordsmith to make pure schlock seem appetizing if the readers aren't too picky. And equally unfortunate is the fact that a lot of the writers Hollywood hires these days aren't even half-way decent wordsmiths. Louis B. Meyer knew that the writers were the most important part of any production, and cautioned his producers and directors from ever letting the writers know that. The best actors in the world cannot make bad writing good, they can only make it palatable.
(Edited to correct misspelled title.) |
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| Dr. Orly went to the Anthony School of Law and Debate? |
[Oct. 15th, 2009|04:43 pm] |
Here's the link to the original:
“The absolute absence of any legitimate legal argument, combined with the political diatribe in her motions, demonstrates that Ms. Taitz’s purpose is to advance a political agenda and not to pursue a legitimate legal cause of action,” Land said. “Rather than citing to binding legal precedent, she calls the president names, accuses the undersigned of treason, and gratuitously slanders the president’s father. …
“Counsel’s wild accusations may be protected by the First Amendment when she makes them on her blog or in her press conferences, but the federal courts are reserved for hearing genuine legal disputes, not as a platform for political rhetoric and personal insults.”
I can definitely understand Judge Land's frustration with someone who insists on wasting everyone's time with ridiculous claims, falsified or weak evidence supporting those claims, and a clear unwillingness to even acknowledge the facts, let alone stick to them. It's a shame that Judge Land has to put up with the same behavior I have to put up, but in his own courtroom. At least HE has the power to enforce the rules that all participants have to abide by. I can only point them out, then have my accuser laughingly point out that the rules somehow don't apply to him . . .
It's also a shame that I cannot file in Judge Land's court over my harassment; it would appear that he knows a nut job when he sees one, and the probability he would judge in my favor would be correspondingly better. |
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| Moon, Medicine, and Music |
[Oct. 9th, 2009|12:01 pm] |
Last night/this morning, the LaCROSS mission made another attempt at finding Lunar water deposits at the Lunar south pole. Those of us expecting a bit of pyrotechnics for our tax dollars were disappointed: there was no visible flash, no visible plume, just a report that the Centaur unit had impacted, and four minutes later, Loss of Signal from the instrument package as it, too, hit the moon.
The theory is that the Centaur upper stage would ram into the Lunar soil, sending up a huge dust plume, and the optical signature of that plume would be analyzed for the presence of hydroxyl and water. While an "infrared signature" was reported at impact, there was nothing to see. Ground-based observers who expected to see the plume with telescopes as small as ten inches apparently also were disappointed.
So now, they grind through the numbers and see what the instruments tell them. Here's hoping, as water on the moon would have a profound impact not just on the way we explore the moon, but also our understanding of how the solar system works. (For example, if there is no water, at least part of comet theory may have to be re-adjusted.)
For medicine, Elennar sent me two articles that imply that a cause for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome may have been found. It is a virus that also shows up frequently in people with prostate cancer. Interestingly, although I've never known CFS to be contagious, they say the virus named XMRV is, as it resembles the HIV virus in some respects.
Here are the links to the articles.
I shall have to forward this information to my doctor to see how she wants to react to this news. I certainly don't want to have gone through CFS for several years, only to be rewarded with an increased risk of prostate cancer.
Ever since the first musical instruments were manufactured, music has been a technology-driven craft. With the advent of computers, this trend continues. I have links for three different Auto-Tune creations. I love the Sagan/Hawking piece the best.
Courtesy of Tamashdene, Sagan Sings: link.
Courtesy of Karl via Elennar: the news, episode 8, and John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech. |
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| Obscure Tire hazard |
[Sep. 19th, 2009|03:55 pm] |
I do not normally use this journal as a communications device. None the less, I know that I'm not the only person reading it, and I wish to take advantage of that fact to spread some important information today.
I was just sent a link to a news article on the hazards of buying "new" tires that have been on the shelf for years before being sold. Our British friends have known of this for some time, and their consumers are advised on the subject. In the U.S., tire manufacturers have been trying to avoid having an expiration date imposed, even though car manufacturers have been urging the Federal government to impose one.
To boil this down to the important part, at the very end of that long DOT code on every tire is a three or four digit date code, indicating the week and year the tire was manufactured. A date code of 414 would indicate that the tire was manufactured the 41st week of 1994. A date code of 4104 would indicate it was manufactured in the 41st week of 2004. Be advised that on older tires, this date code is imprinted on the inner side of the tire, so once the tire is installed, you'd have to actually get under your car to read it. More recently, it started being imprinted on the outer side, so you can actually see it after installation.
Why is this important? Because tires that are older than six years old, even if they've never been used, have lost a dangerous amount of flexibility and are at greater risk for failure. If you lose tread at sixty miles an hour on a steering tire, it can kill you. |
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| Unreality is for the differently-brained |
[Sep. 15th, 2009|10:44 pm] |
Most of us are wise enough to know that while science can never explain everything about reality, it at least can tell us the general shape of reality.
However, there are those who have a problem with reality when it fails to meet their expectations. Many of them feel that not only does science not accurately investigate reality, it outright lies about it.
Science fans They Might Be Giants have a musical dismissal of this particular delusion.
They also have a quick discussion of the elements
I thank the ever-prolific Aaron Williams for both of these links. |
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| Sociopaths, a monograph |
[Sep. 3rd, 2009|09:27 pm] |
I didn't want to write this until Tony resumed his nasty-grams at IMDB, for fear that he would decide it was an attack on him and re-start them early. Alas, the peace and quiet are over, and he's back. But that means I can write this without any other concerns.
Most sane people know that "The right to swing my fist ends at your nose". Sociopaths don't think that way, don't even understand the process. To a sociopath, their rights are unlimited: if they want to do it, they can do it. They don't think about anyone else's rights because no one else is important enough to actually have rights. How long do you ponder an earthworm's rights before you spit it on a hook and toss it over so a fish can eat it? Well, that's exactly what you are in a sociopath's mind.
This is not to say that a sociopath is completely ignorant of right and wrong. It's just that they think of it in terms of "How much trouble will this make for me if I do it?". They understand that if you rape someone's daughter, that you'll want to make trouble for them, and so will the police. THAT is as close as they come to understanding right and wrong: how much will your reaction create a hassle for them.
Take Phillip Garrido, now charged with kidnapping a child eighteen years ago. In 1972, he raped a 14 year old girl by drugging her. In 1976, he tried to capture a woman to rape her, and failed. Undaunted, an hour later, he tried to capture another woman and succeeded. He held her captive and abused her for five hours before a police officer discovered them. When she asked why he had chosen her, he said something to the effect of "You were in the area and you're attractive, which I guess is not a good thing in this case".
He admitted that he didn't see anything wrong with what he'd done, either. He wanted to rape a woman, so he did. What's wrong with that, right? He later "found religion" and it was apparently explained to him why it was wrong, but equally apparently, it didn't take. Maybe religion was even a ruse, because even though he was sentenced to fifty years in jail, he only served twelve before being paroled. Three years later, he kidnapped Dugard, and in 1994, when she was about 14, sired the first of two children on her.
He and his wife, who may have been the second person in the car when he kidnapped Dugard, have pled not guilty to the numerous charges against them. After all, just because his fifteen year old daughter was sired on a fourteen year old girl, it doesn't prove he did anything WRONG. He wanted to do it, so it was right, and never mind what the law thinks about it, and never mind what his victim thought about it. So why plead guilty to a crime despite the overwhelming evidence, because after all, when HE did it, it wasn't a crime, even though it would be a crime for ANYONE ELSE to do the exact same thing. From what I have heard, he hasn't claimed that he didn't kidnap her, hasn't claimed he didn't rape her, hasn't claimed that the two girls who share his DNA aren't actually his. But it's clear that despite all of that, he doesn't consider what he did to be a CRIME, that it was WRONG.
Although we don't yet know anything about the person who set the fire, the arsonist who started the Station fire here in California is likely to be a sociopath, too. There are two firemen dead, three people burned, dozens of homes destroyed, more than two hundred square miles burned, and a major communications hub for radio, television and law enforcement at the top of Mount Wilson has been threatened with destruction. All because of someone who likes to look at the pretty flames, and because their barbecue at home wasn't exciting enough. They wanted to see a forest burn and they didn't think they would get caught, so they did what they wanted to do. Then they went home and watched the show, brought to them live on tv from even better angles than they would have gotten if they'd stayed to watch. Cheap thrills for them; probably didn't cost even a dollar to make their fire.
That is the heart of sociopathy: the absolute conviction that whatever they want to do, it is right for them to do it. Anyone who opposes them is wrong. Anyone who does the same thing to them is wrong. It's not hypocrisy in the traditional sense, because a hypocrite understands that there's a double-standard involved. Not so to sociopath. The sociopath is so self-centered that effectively, they are the only person in the universe. Not the only important person in the universe, but the only person at all. The rest of us are supposed to go along with what the sociopath wants, or at least stay out of the way.
There is no reasoning with a sociopath, no negotiating, no possibility of ever winning an argument with one. The closest you will ever come to getting a sociopath to admitting that they did something wrong is to get them to admit that they did the action. It was never a wrong action, though, because they were the ones who did it. For the same reason, you'll never hear a sociopath apologize. An apology is an admission that they were wrong, and no sociopath is ever wrong in their own mind, so no apology is necessary. If you don't like it, you can lump it because "that's just the way things are". A sociopath can no more question their own righteousness than a priest of the Spanish Inquisition can. (No surprise in that, as many of the priests of the Spanish Inquisition were, in fact, sociopaths.)
Why am I worried about sociopaths? Well, beyond the obvious, I think they may be on the rise. More of them seem to be getting into politics, more of them seem to be shooting people, more of them seem to be starting fires, and more of them seem to be stalking people both great and small. I mean for awhile, it started to feel like the entire Republican party was filled with sociopaths, from the president on down. Or maybe there just seem to be more news stories about them, and the actual incidence of them in the population is unchanged.
But even if their numbers are unchanged, they seem to be getting bolder. They LIKE the attention, and more than one has decided that getting that attention is worth dying for. And if they've reached the point where even their own life is worthless, you know exactly how much value they'll place on yours. |
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| How does George W. Bush continue to surprise me with his idiocy? |
[Aug. 12th, 2009|09:43 pm] |
I learned in the news tonight, that the two people that former President Bush assigned to come up with interrogation guidelines and protocols for the United States were completely unqualified for the job. How unqualified? Well, there's a long list, like unfamiliarity with the culture they were going to be questioning members thereof, never having studied the literature of the field, being from branches of the medical and psychiatric fields that had nothing to do with criminal interrogation, but my hands-down favorite is that they themselves had never taken part in an actual interrogation from either side.
This is a lot like a carpenter or plumber telling you how to fix a $60,000 electronic instrument, or me setting up procedures and techniques for brain surgeons to follow. This isn't like amateur actors giving advice to professional actors or vice versa, this is like having used car salesmen teaching nuclear physicists how to build a cyclotron.
The question remains NOT how did someone that stupid get to the White House in the first place, but rather, why did anyone with as few as three brain cells to rub together vote for him a second time?!
I can understand President Obama's reluctance to get into partisan politics by prosecuting these guys, because that's exactly what it would become: instead of a quest for actual justice, it would quickly devolve down to Democrats prosecuting Republicans for being Republicans, and Republicans defending war criminals solely because they were Republicans. At least, that's what each side would accuse the other of doing, and the facts would completely vanish in the recriminations.
But it is a very sad commentary on the democratic process when even an obvious criminal and constitutional deconstructionist can get off scot-free. We prosecuted Nixon for his crimes, and his weren't half as blatant. Why won't we prosecute Bush and the gang of crooks who ran his Administration? Have we become that lazy, as a nation? Or are we, as a nation, as stupid as our former President himself? |
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| As Time Goes By |
[Aug. 10th, 2009|10:25 pm] |
Sonya came over for a brief visit Saturday; she was going to join us for GI Joe, but was unable to find childcare. She and I have a date to see GI Joe on Wednesday. She shortened her knee-length dreadlocks to merely waist-length, to my intense disappointment.
GI Joe is a lot like the first three seasons of Enterprise: vapid, shallow, good performers with not much to work with, lovely special effects, good music. It is literally a Saturday morning child's cartoon done in live action. The primary differences between GI Joe and Enterprise are: 1) GI Joe doesn't claim to be anything other than what it is. 2) GI Joe has enough action in it to be genuinely entertaining despite the other lacks. It's definitely seeing once and maybe even twice. Enterprise? Watch the fourth season, except for the very last episode. And if you like Tellarites and Andorians, watch those episodes from the third season.
We (Jim, Cynthia, and I) also went out to a park in Culver City on Sunday to watch "Aunt Fondeen and the Lost Dutchman's Mine". This was community theatre at its most intimate, as the separation from the "stage" and the audience seating was a thin rope laid on the ground. The audience was small, being approximately three times as many people as there were cast, and the weather was perfect: cool with a breeze. There was plenty of shade (I did mention it was in a park, didn't I?) and we didn't even need to use the sunscreen Jim had brought along.
The play was a delightful bit of nonsense aimed mostly at children, and "Crazy Walt" had a great deal of fun leering at the children and making faces that made them laugh, sometimes in the middle of someone's line. Many of the performances were delightfully over the top, as is common in this sort of broad comedy, and the minimalist scenery was greatly chewed upon and apparently was deemed very tasty. A good time was had by all, even the players.
What made the play particularly special for us was the fact that three of our friends were in it: Barbara, Osa, and Sharon, who directed and did some of the sound effects. I only recently learned that Jim's long-standing friend Osa and my long-standing friend Barbara in turn have known each other for years. It really is a small world after all, Mr. Disney.
The only negative note is that today I had a bout of trouble getting my computer to boot up, and I am currently running anti-malware programs and diagnostics to see if I can determine why. Obviously, it's running now, but we'll see tomorrow, when I boot it up again . . . |
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| Further ruminations |
[Aug. 5th, 2009|08:10 pm] |
Talking with Jim about this has not eased my troubled mind.
The first problem is that any improvement hinges upon a truly reliable diagnostic, something at least as reliable as early pregnancy or cancer detection. The mental health services don't have one yet.
The second problem is civil rights violation. Should it be used only on people who have been "turned in" by concerned citizens? What kind of proof, if any, should be required before the diagnostic is used? Should a citizen be allowed to report someone anonymously, or have to file an actual "charge" to prevent them from abusing the privilege? Should a person who tests negative receive a lifetime certification so they cannot be harassed by people who think they're weird, or should there be a time limit, or should they have to endure a re-examination each and every time they're reported?
Or, should it be mandatory? Should everyone have to have a mental health checkup? Should it be required to be repeated periodically, because we all know that a person's circumstances can change with time.
It is a well-known adage that those who would give up their rights for the sake of safety deserve neither. But as a practical matter, all rights have limitations, even the right to free speech and to bear arms. Would the benefits greatly outweigh the diminishment of civil rights, enough to justify the action?
Unfortunately, until the mental health sciences develop that reliable diagnostic, the civil rights arguments cannot even be started, because at least some of the arguments will depend on the diagnostic itself.
I know there will never be a perfect solution, but now I am dismayed to realize there probably ISN'T a better way, until the diagnostics are improved. Thus, the madmen hidden amongst us will remain an unpredictable danger to the rest of us for the foreseeable future. |
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| Sodini worries me. |
[Aug. 5th, 2009|07:08 pm] |
A desperately lonely man walks into a gym with carefully planned murder on his mind.
He wants attention, compliments, respect, and he feels the only way he can get any attention at all is to hurt others. Viciously. Murderously. He's willing to kill and DIE to get some attention. He has no friends, can't get a woman in his life, and his blog entries have that rambling out-of-touch-with reality feel of a true psychotic. And except for his online life, he conceals his illness very effectively.
Ironically, he is otherwise successful. He's been steadily employed at a job for the last ten years. He keeps in shape.
Because he lies to himself and everyone else about his illness, refusing to get help or even to understand that he needs help, he will become a murderer. Two of his victims are a newlywed and a pregnant woman. He doesn't care about their needs and their rights, he only cares for himself. His needs, he feels, trump anyone else's rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The rights of others are unimportant, non-existent even, if they conflict with what he wants.
There is no system whereby we can protect ourselves from people like him. We cannot collect someone's demented writings and turn them into a hospital for evaluation. We cannot force them to get the help they need. They have committed no crime yet, so you can't report them to the police. (Unless, as in my case, you have someone actively harassing you; THAT is a crime and reportable.) If they have obsessed on a specific target, that target might be able to sue for libel, but frequently, they don't have a specific target.
It's a quandry: how do we get these people the help they need without trampling on the rights of people who might resemble them, but are harmless? If we CAN turn in their writings so they can be involuntarily helped, they'll simply hide them better. After all, they are psychotic, not stupid.
Being both a depressive myself and being stalked by a known psychotic, I worry a lot about the rights and the dangers of the emotionally and mentally ill. I myself am no danger to anyone who is not attacking me, but how can anyone besides myself actually prove that and know it? Let's face it, when they provide the profile of the "typical" psychotic killer, many people in fandom fit that profile all too well. How can we learn to detect the difference between the socially awkward and the mentally ill?
Stalin and Hitler had a simple, conservative approach: round 'em all up and incarcerate them. And if you mislabeled a few people as insane when they merely disagreed with you, well, you can't make a few omelettes without breaking some eggs. So where is the middle ground, where society is protected as much as is practical, while the innocents are also protected as much as is practical? How do we protect my rights, society's rights and even Sodini's rights all at the same time? Is the present system truly the best we can come up with?
If what we have is truly the best we can do, there will be more George Sodinis, and by the very randomness of their acts, none of us will be truly safe. And those of us with stalkers will continue to run the risk of joining Dominique Dunne, the actress who knew she was being stalked by an ex-boyfriend, but had no legal way of protecting herself from being murdered.
I feel that there must be a better way. I just have no idea what that better way is. And I am understandably frightened. |
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| Mostly good news |
[Aug. 3rd, 2009|10:12 pm] |
The air-conditioner has been operational for more than a week now, the leaky toilet has been repaired in a similar time scale without needing a plumber. (Of course, the a/c was repaired just as temperatures were headed down from their 106 degrees peak, but that's Murphy for you.)
On Furr-a-bruin's LJ, I saw information on a newer technology NiMh battery that will require some researching. However, these Eneloop appear to be some of the finest of their kind, from what he said. With a low self-discharge rate (rechargeable batteries that can last a year on the shelf with 70-80% of their charge!) and fairly forgiving on how much load you hit them with, they may gradually replace all of my rechargeables and hopefully many of my non-rechargeables.
I made a major re-organization of my Poser files last month, and I'm nearing the point where I will be finished fixing broken links. I've also been reading The Princess Diaries (the prissy self-centered drama queen, er, drama princess, reminds me of a similarly behaved character online) and re-reading Anne McCaffrey's Talent series of books. Even though I haven't read the original short stories for The Rowan and Damia in quite a few years, I can see the seams where additional material was added to make the stories fit better as a cohesive whole in the novels.
The bad news is that thanks to the timing of my finances (one payment a month, on the second Wednesday of the month), I am now in the hole. Getting the air-conditioner and toilet repaired took me from balanced precariously on the edge to down in the pit. Here's hoping that August will see me break even again.
I currently have a pain in my lower abdomen, which I'll keep an eye on. Hopefully, it is neither serious nor long-term.
I also have a pain in my ass. Yep, after two weeks of very pleasant silence, the spoiled child is posting on IMDB again. He's still complaining about the nerve of some people when they see an illegal post and actually REPORT it! And of course, those "I couldn't care less" moderators are actually deleting illegal posts once they're reported! My, how standards at IMDB have gone downhill, when moderators actually take libel and hate-speech seriously!
Other than all of that, not much is happening. I was asked to come in to do makeup on Saturday morning, which went fairly well. I also baby-sat Jayden while Heather did makeup and did her scenes.
Simon gave me an immense compliment on a previous makeup effort. Apparently, one of our fans was there with an HDtv camera the last time I did makeup, and apparently even in HD, my makeup appeared seamless. Only one shiny patch (which Simon has figured out how to fix) allegedly gave it away at all. I knew I was pretty good for a self-taught amateur, but I didn't realize I'd gotten THAT good! If I can reliably do HD-level makeup, then there's no real reason I couldn't turn pro if I wanted to. Unfortunately, I seriously doubt I could survive that kind of stress and those godawful working hours, but it's nice to know that the quality of my work would no longer be a sticking point. |
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| Being paid doesn't mean being good. |
[Jul. 23rd, 2009|04:55 pm] |
Another nail in the coffin of the notion that "professionals" (not a member of one of the professions, like a doctor or lawyer, but pretty much anyone who gets paid to work, according to one lout) are automatically good.
An idiot once told me that amateurs couldn't have a professional attitude or behave in a professional way because they weren't paid. Somehow, being paid was supposed to create a magical transformation of attitude.
And conversely, I was informed that only professionals do good work; if amateurs were capable of good work, they'd be getting paid and they wouldn't be amateurs anymore.
This allows you to end up with the simple-minded equation paid = quality, unpaid = crap.
For the past four days, the air conditioner has been out. After a Monday morning call, a technician showed up on Wednesday and quickly ascertained that the capacitor for the compressor was bad. Price to repair? $608, after first charging an $85 diagnostic fee. Cost of the part (which he did NOT have in stock)? $5.04. I know the exact cost of the part, because he told me where I could buy it, and I went there.
The capacitor did not fix the problem. So, the compressor must be bad. I was informed initially that would cost about $950 (from another company, not the same one that tried to rip me off) to replace the compressor. Subsequently, it went down to about $350 when it was learned that the compressor was under warranty, but the Freon and labor charges were $350.
Today, I got a recommendation from the manufacturer for a contractor. He came out the same day, installed a "head start" device and cleaned the radiator fins. The compressor works fine and in the last half hour, the temperature inside the house has dropped two degrees. Cost for service call, part, installation, and cleaning the heat exchanger? $90. $5 more than the DIAGNOSTIC from the other company.
So much for paid = quality service. So much for paid = professionalism. Life is NOT either/or. There are people who are paid to provide quality services who provide you with crap. There are people who do things for the sheer love of it who provide you with works of art. And there are people who don't exist at either of these extremes.
My advice? The next time some self-important self-annointed "expert" tells you that paying for something is a guarantee of quality, and nothing free can ever be any good, tell them that their opinion is worth exactly what you just paid for it. |
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| The madness continues |
[Jul. 22nd, 2009|05:23 pm] |
It has recently been pointed out that I "never" post anything negative about Hidden Frontier, Rob Caves, gays, any of the other Hidden Frontier productions, and so forth, I cannot possibly be objective about any of the items on the list.
It is true that I am not very outspoken about the negative aspects of our productions, preferring to work those out in-house as much as possible. But I am just as aware of the negative aspects as I've been proud of the positive aspects, and I have mentioned them in public from time to time. One particularly vehement member of our production staff even once branded me a "traitor" for mentioning such things. So, that statement is at best, inaccurate, or worst, an intentional lie.
OTOH, this alleged lack on my part was submitted by someone who claims to be objective, and yet, has never found even one positive thing to say about us, even in private. And there are many aspects worthy of praise: our makeup has improved considerably from the rather amateurish efforts in the first season. So has our acting. So have our production values. So has our CGI work. We were also one of the first productions anywhere, amateur or professional, to portray gays without any of the stereotypes.
Are we up to studio standards? Nope. And with our budget, as good as we are, we never can be. Are we capable of achieving studio standards if we had even half their budget? I believe so. But regardless, the fact is that we are greatly improved from our efforts a decade ago, and a genuinely objective person would have noticed this and probably commented upon it. In fact, several people who have given us mixed reviews HAVE noticed this and commented upon it. I'm much more inclined to trust the objectivity of someone who has given us a mixed review than someone who has never said a good thing about us in his life. If all positives are not objective, how can all negatives be genuinely objective?
But the truly laughable complaint? Tony says I've never said anything complimentary about him. Not only is this untrue (I've complimented him on his carpentry skills more than once, here, and in public forums), the outraged tone is enough to make anyone burst out laughing. In the first place, the "crime" he accuses me of is, as usual, one that he himself is guilty of. I cannot recall a single time that he offered me a genuine compliment. I can't even recall very many times when he offered me a sarcastic compliment.
Not only is this once again one of his lies, not only is it another example of his double-standards, but he has spent the last decade of his life libeling me. Does he genuinely expect warmth and affection in response to his hatred? It is only because I am reasonably objective that I even complimented him on his carpentry. Then again, I do not believe in absolutes such as all black and all white. While it is true that he is a vile little hate-filled man who can only see his own exaggerated worth while being incapable of seeing the worth of anyone else, it is also true that he has one or two things about him that can be genuinely complimented on. I may not know of any others beyond his carpentry skills, and no one else has ever mentioned what they might be, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. And I'm not stupid enough to believe that they don't and cannot exist.
Actually, I have seen that he can be quite friendly and charming for short periods of time. I have never seen these periods last past the first disagreement with him, because that automatically places a person on his enemies list, and he is only rarely courteous to his enemies. (Usually only in a public place where there are lots of witnesses. I am not sure I know why he doesn't consider public forums with lots of witnesses to actually be a public place, but it is clear that his behavior online is much more vicious than it is when you're within arm's length of him.)
But no, according to him, I've never said anything positive at all about him. However, even if it were true, as the stereotyped actor says, "What's my motivation?" Why would even a scrupulously honest person make a habit of saying nice things about him when all they will ever receive in return is lies and abuse? I guess this is yet another one of his double-standards, where he is worthy of receiving far better than he dishes out. It's a good thing he's as dirt-poor as the rest of us, or he'd try to form his own aristocracy with the rest of us mere peasants under his feet.
And as a further example of his objectivity, he once again trotted out his Yahoo group, where only his side can be heard and he's effectively the only member and poster. Apparently, open forums are too dangerous, because moderators can throw out the crap, and you can't choose what they throw out. But if YOU are the moderator, and you don't allow differing opinions, well, that's much safer. You don't have to worry about such stuffy things as Terms of Service, politeness, facts, or libel laws. (Well, actually, you still have to worry about libel laws if the group can be read by the public, as you are still publishing as far as the law is concerned.)
Where did this bozo get the idea that objectivity means agreeing with him, and that freedom of speech only applies to his side? And when did he ever get anything other than negative proof of this concept? Who lied to him and convinced him that he was the only person in the world who could ever have a valid opinion? Because it is clear that 1) he genuinely believes it or 2) he's hoping to find someone stupid enough to genuinely believe it, and in neither case is he letting mere facts get in the way. |
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| Life in a rubber room |
[Jun. 23rd, 2009|01:58 pm] |
Cynthia sent me this Yahoo article.
This combines two of my greatest issues: overly powerful unions, and people who think sitting around doing nothing for pay is fun.
We all know that unions were originally created to protect workers from genuine mistreatment, and many of our best labor laws are the result. (Don't believe it? Study the history of coal mining in this country before you say unions were never needed.)
Also most of us know that many unions have improved things enough in their industries that they are no longer truly needed. Some have gone so far as to have gone from protecting the victims to becoming victimizers themselves. Any union protects its members from unfair termination, but some unions make it difficult or impossible to fire those who genuinely need firing. Unions tend to protect employee promotions from favoritism, but some unions require that promotions be done strictly on the basis of seniority, not merit. I have seen employees who are competent and deserving of promotion who are unpromotable. Why? Because an employee who does not deserve promotion has more seniority and the company doesn't want to promote them. You can spend years behind such a person, waiting them to be promoted, fired, or retired.
The article above talks about how the New York school union has created a situation where some 700 teachers are currently being paid full salary to go to an office and sit there all day. Why? They're awaiting their disciplinary hearings which taken entirely too long to happen. In the meantime, the union requires that they be paid, and they canNOT be assigned any other work than teaching while they wait. Because someone accused them of something, they sit there, their teaching skills going to waste and they're not even allowed to do something else useful while they wait.
That's an abuse of the school districts, the tax payers, and of course, the teachers themselves. You don't go into teaching if you don't like hard work, and if you did, you won't last long, even with the union preventing your termination.
Which brings me to my other item: people who think that sitting around doing nothing while being paid for it is a dream come true.
There are two categories of such people: the well-meaning people who have no malice, but simply haven't thought things through. And I'll be honest, I used to be one of those people, naively thinking that if I didn't have to work, I could do what I really wanted to do and not worry about the money.
Then there are the malicious people who figure that anyone who isn't working is having a grand old time at their personal expense. Now, make no mistake, there are people who defraud the system, but I guarantee that they are not sitting around in enforced idleness. They may not be doing anything useful, but they certainly aren't sitting around doing nothing.
The people who think anyone who isn't working is automatically guilty of fraud are particularly prone to this view that being idle is fun. They don't realize that being unable to work is painful. It causes depression, self-esteem issues, loss of well-honed skills, even instability. It is NOT some lotus eater's paradise, it is a form of Hell.
So these New York teachers have been forced into that Hell by their own union, and they're expected to feel some sort of gratitude for it. Because let's face it: while some of these teachers DO deserve to be fired (and a lot sooner than three to six years down the line at that), many of them do not. And all of them deserve to have a hearing a lot faster than they're getting one.
So, anyone who thinks that organized labor is unadulterated goodness, and that being unable to work is one long holiday, think again. And actually give it some THOUGHT this time, not some knee-jerk reaction that never even reaches your brain. Being unable to work after a lifetime of working is hellish, not happy. Why do you think so many retirees take up a second career? It's not because they haven't earned a rest. It's because they understand the difference between a rest and being enforced idleness, and they hate being idle. So do I. |
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| Weekend |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|01:27 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  chipper | ] |
What a weekend!
Saturday was "the best of days, it was the worst of days". I had to get up early to do makeup (albeit not as early as poor Simon, who'd had only four hours of sleep) and I am not a morning person. And the makeup was just NOT cooperating for any of us. I had to re-apply one Vulcan ear about five times, and the other at least twice before they looked almost good and almost symmetrical. And there were the pink beard problems for Michael's character . . .
Tempers ran a little ragged, but still in the "we can get through this range". I didn't run out to my car in a tantrum this time, although I did run out into the livingroom in a tantrum for a couple of minutes right around attempt number four on that damned ear. I eventually came back and finished it up.
Shooting ran a little late, which is not surprising, but especially so on this particular shoot: we were not only doing scenes from perhaps as many as three Frontier Guard episodes, but also a couple of Star Trek scenes as well. Not paying too much attention to aught but the makeup, but it's possible we were shooting stuff from as many as five different episodes that day.
Then came the wrap party, which of necessity, started late as well. It was a huge feast and a wonderful time. Some people were able to come whom I hadn't seen literally in years (Dave Dial, Rebecca Wood, Jason Muñoz, Oz). Unfortunately, while I had invited Sonya, she got called away to work at the last minute and was unable to attend. Cynthia was able to make it, and she had a good time, although she did end up leaving about forty minutes before I did.
I made it home sometime before midnight and spent a little time on the computer and then a lot more time in bed, sleeping. (No longer snoring, apparently, thanks to the CPAP)
I slept until about noon on Sunday, and was awakened when Laura F. called me out of the blue. I can't remember when I last saw her face to face, but I think it was before Kelly died, and I hadn't actually spoken to her voice to voice in almost as long, so it was a delightful surprise.
We burned out my cellphone minutes getting caught up, then I switched to the landline and called her back and spent another hour on the phone. When she mentioned some problems with getting a wireless printer to work, I volunteered to help. She then asked me what I was doing with the rest of my day, so I ended up going out to her place that same afternoon!
We learned the essential differences between a wireless router and a wireless access point, and with the aid of a very helpful Fry's employee, determined that we needed the router, not the access point. Ironically, although the router is more complex than the access point, it was about half the price.
And in an odds-defying chance meeting, we bumped into my former roommate, Myion at the Fry's. He didn't accept my offer to give him the cat back this time, either.
Then she bought me dinner and spoke of the love of her life: ballroom dancing. We got back to her place a bit later than planned and immediately set about installing her new wireless router, which actually went smoothly with only one very minor glitch. Having gotten the network running, we then set up the wireless printer which also worked smoothly. Who'd have believed that two separate new installs, especially on a Windows machine, would work flawlessly? But they did!
Then she felt emboldened to install her update to Quicken, and that worked as well.
After that, it was time to hug goodnight and I headed for home. My fuel gauge has gone wonky and tends to report my tank as being empty when it is still half-full. I had filled it awhile back and re-set the trip odometer, so I was reasonably confident I would arrive home. Drinking the last few fumes in the tank, perhaps, as I was assuming about 30 mpg, but safely. And I did. Probably drinking the last few fumes in the tank.
So, today I apparently did my twelve-hour recovery sleep that I normally reserve for the day after a shoot. My body says it wants more sleep, my bladder said it was definitely time to get up, and my back said it was well-past time to get up, and while biology laughs at democracy usually, the majority ruled.
It was wonderful being with Laura again, and feeling like a technician again, even though with everything working flawlessly, I was more consultant than tech. And I think she was as joyous at seeing me again as I am at seeing her. |
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| Stuff |
[Jun. 15th, 2009|02:30 pm] |
Software problems of various sorts. OpenOffice 3.1 has apparently managed to install itself on my machine (Odin), despite the fact every run I've made so far has the installer stalling out towards the end. For hours at a time.
My main machine (Odin) also still has bootup problems, seemingly caused by Micro$oft's last update. It takes at least an hour to bootup, runs slowly (for comparison, glaciers are merely sluggish), and takes at least an hour to shut down as well. I can use MSConfig to cut out the Windows Management Instrumentation services, and then everything returns to normal. But eventually, I'd like to have the problem fixed, not merely use a workaround.
My laptop (Freya) is also experiencing weird issues. OpenOffice 3.0 cannot seem to log on to learn that there actually IS a 3.1 update, and issues error messages to that effect. X-Marks updates my Firefox bookmarks without problems, but on Cynthia's account, has peculiar synchronization issues.
I used some software to create a database of all of my Content Paradise purchases for Poser, but some 31 entries had problems the automated script couldn't handle. I got to fix those by hand. Fortunately, I took good notes, because finding 31 problem children in over 740 database entries would have been even more tedious than the repair process was. And that was tedious in spades. How tedious? Not QUITE as tedious as having to type in all 31 entries by hand, but close.
HFP has placed me on the sicklist because of my wrist, so I was not required at yesterday's shoot. I went for a short while anyway to see Rebecca, whom I haven't seen in about a year, and to drop off an important tool for the mold-making process that I FINALLY got around to purchasing: a plaster rasp for shaping and smoothing the mold edges. Visited, didn't get in the way during the shoot, and headed for home again.
Was allowed to take off the pressure bandage Saturday, which was an amazing relief. I think that bandage was well on the way to abrading my skin clean off in places. And everywhere else, it itched. The cyst looks decidedly deflated. I'd rather that it looked decidedly GONE, but I'm willing to give the process some more time.
Lunestra is my friend. I've been having erratic sleeping patterns, and while Lunestra isn't as effective as knock-out drops in my drink, it does help me get to sleep and stay asleep once I settle down enough.
Jim's trip to Alabama is either such a success that he hasn't had time to get on the computer, or they've killed him. I strongly suspect the former. (He also had at least one job interview that I know of; I suppose that COULD keep him a tad occupied . . .)
Sonya and I continue to work out how we feel about each other and where we stand with each other. I'm cautiously optimistic.
My blood test to check on my Prostate Specific Antigens is on the 18th, so I am not allowed to have sex, in any form, from now until after the blood test. Apparently, having a sex life can raise PSA levels. I remain hopeful that we can resume the testosterone poisoning, er, replacement therapy, after the test. I think I recorded elsewhere that the ultrasound was unrevealing of any abnormalities.
Read Jim Butcher's latest Dresden Files novel in two days (thank you, public library system!), and I'm on Lois McMaster Bujold's latest paperback.
The IMDB has been very pleasantly quiet of late. It's amazing how much nicer the atmosphere gets when you're not under constant false and malicious attack. If only he comes to realize the same thing and cancels his vendetta once and for all . . .
I haven't been able to do much in the art world since I put on the wrist brace/splint/whateverit'scalled. My mouse has always been a bit over sensitive in the first place, making precision a bit difficult. But now I'm discovering just how much the actual fine motor control really is "all in the wrist", because using the mouse right now is a little bit like playing "pin the tail on the mosquito" while staring at a picture of an elephant. It takes a lot of patience and a truly abnormal amount of manuevering to get that little pointer where I need it using just elbow and shoulder.
Cynthia's mom, Bertha, is having complications with her dialysis. Hopefully, those have gotten ironed out, because otherwise, her life is in danger. No news lately from Steve.
I need to send Eric my lines for the audio show he's doing, but I've been distracted, abstracted, and unattracted to doing the work. I need to make it up to him, and soon.
I'm a beta tester on three pieces of software right now (and an unofficial beta tester on a fourth), only one of which has actually sent me any updates recently.
Hm. Naptime, I think. |
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| Stuff |
[Jun. 12th, 2009|10:38 am] |
I had the ganglion cyst on my right wrist aspirated; about a cubic centimeter or less of jelly-like material was removed in a mostly painless procedure. I am now required to wear a pressure bandage for three days, and a brace for three weeks, both of which strike me as ridiculous. Being that I'm an actor, not a doctor, I will obey anyway.
The doctor said that the ache that extended from wrist to shoulder is unlikely to have been caused by the cyst pressing on a nerve. Mebbeso, but my entire arm feels better already.
It is not yet clear if the brace will restrict my capabilities as a makeup artist.
Had a lovely evening with Sonya: we watched the director's cut of THX-1138, ate dinner, and retired for the evening. I think I can say that it was an unusually active retirement.
I cannot recall if I recorded here or not, but the ultrasound was normal with no abnormalities indicated. I have another test of my PSA levels on the 18th. |
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| Observations |
[Jun. 10th, 2009|12:42 pm] |
The date with Sonya went well, better than expected, even. She's coming over on Thursday for another date, barring the unforeseen.
I am having problems with my right arm, though. I have a fluid-filled ganglion cyst on my right wrist, and it appears to be pressing on a nerve, as I am in some discomfort from wrist to shoulder. It feels more than a little like the time I pinched the nerve in my neck, if not as intense.
So, I went to the doctor to have it aspirated, that is, to have a needle inserted in the cyst and the fluid withdrawn. Very simple procedure, yes? The doctor has referred me to an orthopedic surgeon. I have to make an appointment. In the meantime, Aleve and Tiger Balm are my closest friends.
While I was there, I managed to get the results of my ultrasound, which did not detect any prostate abnormalities. I also had unusually low blood pressure.
I still have an appointment to have my PSAs re-checked on the 18th; I'm hoping that not only will they be lower again, but that I can safely resume my testosterone treatments.
And not surprisingly, after a month or more of silence, Tony has decided to re-open his vendetta on IMDB.com. It was so quiet there, without his constant attacks . . . But of course, somehow his renewed attacks are MY fault, even though I said not a word during his absence. |
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