Windows 7 fail

I've had an interesting run with the old laptop over the past month or so. First the hard drive became corrupted. Rather than buy a new laptop and incur that expense, I decided to install a new solid-state hard drive.

The new drive is awesome. REALLY awesome. Breathtakingly fast.

However, because my OEM install for Windows Vista was so old, there were literally hundreds of updates that had to be applied post-install. Okay, not an issue, right? Wrong! One of the updates kept breaking Vista and throwing a blue screen of death on boot up.

Again, undaunted I was. I purchased an OEM copy of Windows 7 64-bit to install on the old laptop. Everything was ducky. The software installed, outstanding updates applied quickly, and I was ready to rock and roll.

Or so I thought.

I began to notice that my wireless connection would drop at random intervals. Oh sure, it's easy enough to fix using the troubleshooter's drop-and-reset functionality. But not having a reliable wireless connection makes large downloads an adventure, and makes maintaining a consistent system backup (you know, like the one that saved my bacon when the hard drive became corrupted) impossible.

I made the rounds all over the Interwebs and discovered that I wasn't alone. No, far from it. It turns out that literally hundreds of Windows 7 users have had this issue, and Microsoft refuses to acknowledge that it's their problem. They blame the ISPs, the routers, the router firmware, the wireless cards, the wireless drivers...everything except the position of the moon and the stars. But they will not acknowledge that their operating system might have anything to do with it.

Listen up, Redmond! It IS your operating system that is causing the issue. There are too many people from too many walks of life with too much prior OS experience having the exact same problem regardless of laptop manufacturer, router manufacturer, wireless card make and model, or ISP. In my home alone the following operating systems are actively running without any wireless connectivity issues:

Windows XP
Windows Vista
Ubuntu (Linux)
Mac OS X
iOS 4 (iPhone and iPad)
Android (3 different phones running Gingerbread, Honeycomb, AND Ice Cream Sandwich)

The driver software on my laptop is current. The router firmware is current. The ISP is a national carrier.

My sons and I have over 50 years of experience with computers between us, including 10+ years building custom PCs. I think we know what we're doing here. I think we know how to diagnose and troubleshoot.

The problem is Windows 7, Redmond! Fix the problem. Now. Because you're making Linux look like a more attractive solution with every dropped connection.

New Tizona Post

A Leopard cannot change his spots. Nor a libtard his libtardedness.

Governor Jerry Brown of Kahleefornia must have felt that he hadn't left enough wreckage his first stint as Governer (1975-1983), during which he earned the moniker "Governor Moonbeam" as a result of his wacky libtard ways. Apparently he learned absolutely nothing in the ensuing 28 years, because he's still finding new and inventive ways to ruin the Golden State.

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On an unrelated note, I've decided to stay on Blogger. The post editor for Wordpress stinks. It ate my first draft of the Jerry Brown post. That makes me...searching for words here...a little bent.

Season wrap-up

Since I last wrote about the 49ers and the sorry POS that was their season, a lot has happened.

The Niners are nothing if not consistent.  They lost -- badly! -- to the Chargers, 34-7, and, to quote a familiar refrain written multiple times throughout this season, it wasn't as close as the score would indicate.

So what did Coach Singletary do to fix the myriad of problems, particularly with the offensive line, that made that Thursday night so cringe-worthy?  Why, he benched Alex Smith, of course!  It's ALWAYS the QB's fault when he's sacked, don't you know? [/sarcasm]

Troy Smith was given the start against the Rams.  How'd that work out?  Worse than expected.  The 49ers lost to the Rams 25-17.  Both touchdowns scored by the Niners were flukes: a 60-yard pass-and-run to Michael Crabtree, and a 78-yard punt return by Ted Ginn. 

Aside from the pass to Crabtree, Troy Smith was absolutely putrid: 7-19, 153 yards, 1 TD, 1 pick.  Alex Smith came in in the 4th quarter and led a drive that ended in a field goal, but by then it was too late.  The 49ers were officially eliminated from the playoffs with the loss.

The 49ers "brain trust" (and BOY do I use THAT term loosely) finally performed the mercy killing and fired Coach Singletary with one game left to play.  It figures that the 49ers would choose that game to get something going.  Whether it was Singletary being gone, or the fact that it was the Arizona Cardinals our bitch, I don't know...but the 49ers won by a score of 38-7.  Naturally, it wasn't as close as the score would indicate.

So the Niners finished at 6-10, the exact opposite of the 10-6 I had predicted for the season.  *sigh*

The team is in a major transition period now.  Trent Balke was named as General Manager, and Jim Harbaugh was hired as the new Head Coach.  Normally I would be giddy with optimism with the Niners landing a hot coaching candidate like Harbaugh...but there so much wrong with this team, and, no matter how good Harbaugh is, the team is STILL going to suck next year.

Let's start with the quarterback, shall we?  Who is it?  No one knows.  Alex Smith will be a free agent this off season, and he's pretty much made it known that he's done in SF.  Who could blame him?  The booing.  The "we want Carr" chants.  All he did was overcome a horrendous start (3 touchdowns and 7 picks after 4 games, 6 touchdowns and 9 picks after 5 games) to throw for 8 touchdowns and 1 pick the last part of the season.  He ended up with a passer rating of 82.1.  It's not good, but it's better than 10 other starting quarterbacks including Donovan McNabb and Matt Hasselsuck.  And it was certainly better than what Troy Smith ended up doing (5 TD, 4 picks, 78.8). 

Apparently the plan is to draft a quarterback and trust the combination of David Carr and Troy Smith to server as the stopgap until the new quarterback is ready.  *groan*  This is a sure guarantee of 6-10 seasons as far as the eye can see.

Oh well...it's the playoffs, and hockey season beckons as well.  Great season, Niners!  You broke my heart yet again!.

The obvious, stated

It appears that someone FINALLY gets it.  Anne Applebaum of Foreign Policy magazine says in a mainstream publication what I've been saying for years on my little blog.

HOMELAND SECURITY HASN'T MADE US SAFER

Hardly anyone has seriously scrutinized either the priorities or the spending patterns of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its junior partner, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), since their hurried creation in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Sure, they get criticized plenty. But year in, year out, they continue to grow faster and cost more -- presumably because Americans think they are being protected from terrorism by all that spending. Yet there is no evidence whatsoever that the agencies are making Americans any safer.

DHS serves only one clear purpose: to provide unimaginable bonanzas for favored congressional districts around the United States, most of which face no statistically significant security threat at all. One thinks of the $436,504 that the Blackfeet Nation of Montana received in fiscal 2010 "to help strengthen the nation against risks associated with potential terrorist attacks"; the $1,000,000 that the village of Poynette, Wisconsin (pop. 2,266) received in fiscal 2009 for an "emergency operations center"; or the $67,000 worth of surveillance equipment purchased by Marin County, California, and discovered, still in its original packaging, four years later. And indeed, every U.S. state, no matter how landlocked or underpopulated, receives, by law, a fixed percentage of homeland security spending every year.

As for the TSA, I am not aware of a single bomber or bomb plot stopped by its time-wasting procedures. In fact, TSA screeners consistently fail to spot the majority of fake "bombs" and bomb parts the agency periodically plants to test their skills. In Los Angeles, whose airport was targeted by the "millennium plot" on New Year's 2000, screeners failed some 75 percent of these tests.

Terrorists have been stopped since 2001 and plots prevented, but always by other means. After the Nigerian "underwear bomber" of Christmas Day 2009 was foiled, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano claimed "the system worked" -- but the bomber was caught by a passenger, not the feds. Richard Reid, the 2001 shoe bomber, was undone by an alert stewardess who smelled something funny. The 2006 Heathrow Airport plot was uncovered by an intelligence tip. Al Qaeda's recent attempt to explode cargo planes was caught by a human intelligence source, not an X-ray machine. Yet the TSA responds to these events by placing restrictions on shoes, liquids, and now perhaps printer cartridges.

Given this reality -- and given that 9/11 was, above all, a massive intelligence failure -- wouldn't we be safer if the vast budgets of TSA and its partners around the world were diverted away from confiscating nail scissors and toward creating better information systems and better intelligence?

Amen, sister!

Now that it's been said out loud in the mainstream, can we PLEASE have a rational debate about this colossal monstrosity Washington has created?

Keep in mind that the REAL purpose of DHSS* isn't to protect us. The real purpose of DHSS is to convince the American people to forfeit their freedoms in exchange for purported protection and safety.  As Ms. Applebaum has appropriately noted, we haven't gained a lick of enhanced security from the agencies of oppression, DHSS, and its bastard stepchild, TSSA*. 

Isn't it time to stop pretending and put an end to this mindless charade?

* You can't abbreviate Schutzstaffel without the double 'S'

One and done

It was just over one year ago that the programming geniuses at Fox Sports Radio fired long-time morning host Steve Czaban and crew.  My thoughts on the matter were, shall we say, not positive. 

I simply couldn't believe that FSR would drop a successful morning drive show and replace it with Steven Screamin' A. Smith.  It was beyond counter-intuitive to me.  Smith's act had gotten tired at ESPN, being that it is a one-pony trick: express an opinion, and express it more loudly than those with whom you disagree.  WHY would FSR think that he would succeed as a morning drive host?

Apparently the Screamin' A. Smith show was...how shall I put this?...somewhat less than successful.

"Zack and Jack" will take over morning drive from 6-9 a.m. on WOFX-AM (980). The show replaces the "Stephen A. Smith Show." Smith will be moving into the roll of NBA analyst for all of Fox Sports Radio's shows. Smith's last show is Dec. 31.

One year. One solitary year. Yeah........how'd that work out for you, FSR?

Naturally, Czaban wasn't exactly crying about this development. And who could blame him? His show ran 7 years at FSR. Seven. Now he's back on morning drive with Sporting News Radio, which XM has FINALLY added to their lineup, albeit on channel 242, WAAAAAAY out past the traffic report stations.

No matter. The story has a happy ending.

FSR dumped a popular host in search of....what exactly? That lucrative Black urban professional demographic (approximately 1% of the population)?   That lucrative Black urban 18-34 demographic (approximately 4% of the population)?

In return they got one lousy year of Screamin' A., affiliate cancellations, and yet another lineup change. Meanwhile, Czaban is right back in prime time, better than ever.

Suck on it, FSR.

Weekend wrapup: a tale of two weekends

After last week's spanking by the Green Bay Packers (34-16, and it wasn't as close as the score would indicate), I was ready to sign off for the season.  After all, who wants to hear me bitch about my mediocre, under-achieving team?

Then Sunday the heavens opened and all was right with the world again.  The 49ers delivered a beatdown on the hated Seahawks (40-21, and it wasn't as close as the score would indicate).

Sadly, "...and it wasn't as close as the score would indicate" has become the modus operandi for the 49ers for the past 4 games.  Blown out by Tampa Bay.  Dominated the Cardinals our bitch.  Humiliated by the Packers.  Dominated the Seabags. 

Alex Smith made his triumphal return to the starting lineup, and, although his numbers weren't spectacular (255 yards passing), he threw for 3 touchdowns and didn't turn the ball over at all. 

Matt Hasselsuck lived up to the name, throwing 4 picks and losing a fumble.  One interception was in the end zone, killing a productive drive.  One interception was a pick-six. 

So, at 5-8, the 49ers are still alive in the abysmal NFC Worst.  The Seabags loss, coupled with the Rams humiliating loss to the Saints, puts the 49ers one game out of first place in the Worst.  Fortune smiles: the 49ers have only one really tough game left, in San Diego on Thursday.  The 49ers could conceivably go 7-9 (which I predicted two weeks ago as being their final record) and win the division.  OY!

I'm not sure if I'm happy about this or not.  Winning a Division title with a losing record (and then, in all likelihood, getting pummeled by a real playoff team) isn't what I had in mind for this year.  I thought we'd be so much better than that.

There's another aspect to this.  The team most likely to be left on the outside looking in as the 49ers enter the playoffs with their losing record is Tampa Bay.  Youngest son is a die-hard Bucs fan.  I hate seeing his team sitting at home for the post season with a significantly better record (and significantly better chance of advancing) than my boys.

In the immortal words of Dennis Leary, "Life isn't fair.  Get a f***ing helmet".

Too big for idealogues

Newsweek Magazine says the Presidency is too big for one person.

Can any single person fully meet the demands of the 21st-century presidency? Obama has looked to many models of leadership, including FDR and Abraham Lincoln, two transformative presidents who governed during times of upheaval. But what’s lost in those historical comparisons is that both men ran slim bureaucracies rooted in relative simplicity. Neither had secretaries of education, transportation, health and human services, veterans’ affairs, energy, or homeland security, nor czars for pollution or drug abuse, nor televisions in the West Wing constantly tuned to yammering pundits. They had bigger issues to grapple with, but far less managing to do. “Lincoln had time to think,” says Allan Lichtman, a professor of history at American University. “That kind of downtime just doesn’t exist anymore.”

One of the benefits of being old like me is that you've personally experienced things that younger folk might perhaps be unaware of.  See, I remember having heard this same line of hooey before.

A January 13, 1980 Washington Post article made a similar conclusion about the beleaguered Carter administration: "Voters have lowered their expectations of what any president can accomplish; they have accepted the notion that this country may never again have heroic, larger-than-life leadership in the White House."

Post writer Walter Shapiro went on to describe how, "Some voters have entirely discarded textbook notions about presidential greatness and believe that Carter is doing as good a job as anyone could in facing new and difficult problems and in coping with an independent and restive Congress." He actually lamented the fact that "a sizable segment of the electorate...still applies traditional standards in assessing Carter's performance in office."

Later that same year, in a Christian Science Monitor story entitled "Carter and the Eroding Presidency," writer Richard J. Cattani cited Stephen Wayne of George Washington University, who claimed: "There's something institutional about the decline." Cattani noted how "Wayne and others...see a weakening of the presidency since Vietnam and Watergate that makes it difficult for officeholders to fulfill expectations."

So...the Presidency was too big for one person in 1980.  And the Presidency is too big for one person in 2010.  But this idea was never pushed in the later 80's, in the 90's, or in the 00's.  Why 1980?  Why 2010?

In 1980 the President was Jimmy "Malaise" Carter.  In 2010, the President is Il Duce.

I think the conclusion is obvious.  "The Presidency is too big for one person" is code for "the current President is an incompetent bumbler, completely unqualified for the position".

Weekend wrapup: channeling Daryl Lamonica

The 49ers won yesterday, 23-30.  The game was every bit as close as the score would indicate.  The referees were abysmal.  And Troy Smith channeled Daryl Lamonica.

Think I'm kidding?  Smith completed his first two passes...for 97 yards.  That's 48.5 yards per toss.  That's Daryl Lamonica numbers, baby!

Smith ended up having an other-worldly day, completing 17-28 for 356 yards and 1 TD that counted.  Why do I say "that counted"?  Because 3 (THREE!) were wiped out by penalties, including two in the 4th quarter prior the the one that put the 49ers ahead with just under 3 minutes to play.

I said that the refs were abysmal, but I'll give them this: they called a holding penalty against a 49er opponent for the first time in 6 games.  Yes, children, that is correct: in the previous 5 games no 49er opponent was called for holding.  Not even the Raiders!

Of course, the refs more than made up for that table scrap by calling FOUR holding penalties on the 49ers, including two that killed 4th quarter touchdowns that would have put the 49ers in the lead.

That cloud over Frederick just before 7 PM yesterday?  That was caused by the swarm of f-bombs I was dropping as the refs forced my blood pressure into the stratosphere.

The game was tied at 20-20 at the end of regulation, thanks to a quality drive by rookie quarterback Sam Bradford, who appears to be on the verge of becoming the next great NFL quarterback.

When the Rams got the ball first in OT, I feared the worst.  However, the Rams were unable to move the ball and punted.  This is when the abysmal refereeing struck again.  This time, however, the 49ers were the beneficiaries.  Troy Smith was under pressure in the pocket and threw up a prayer in the general direction of Delaney Walker.  It was thrown about two yards behind Walker, who spun around and tried to get back to the ball.  In doing so, he ran square into a Rams safety, which drew a highly questionable pass interference penalty.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the pass supposed to be CATCHABLE in order for pass interference to be called?  Even if the Rams safety wasn't in the way, it would have been virtually impossible for Walker to reach the pass.

The PI penalty and 2 Frank Gore runs set up the winning field goal by an ailing Joe Nedney.

26 penalties (12 against the Rams, 14 against the 49ers) for 240 yards (105 against the Rams, 135 against the 49ers). Way to go, Ed Hochuli Hercules!

If we didn't have a QB controversy before this week, we certainly have one now.  Troy Smith was mega clutch down the stretch in the 4th quarter.  Moreover, he refused to let the BS penalties that negated the two 4th quarter touchdowns impact him.  He continued to press forward and push his team to victory.  The key plays of the 4th quarter happened after the second touchdown-negating holding call created a 3rd-and-32 situation at midfield.  Credit offensive coordinator Mike Johnson certainly, both on these plays as well as for the game as a whole.  But give Troy Smith HUGE props for turning 3rd-and-32 into a more manageable 4th-and-18, and then converting that 4th down with a nice pass to and run by Frank Gore.  The go-ahead touchdown was scored on the very next play.

Did I mention Frank Gore?  He was huge, with 87 yards rushing, 67 yards receiving, and a touchdown.

You'd think with 356 yards passing that there would be a 100 yard receiver...and you'd be wrong.  Johnson in game-planning and Smith in execution were masterful in spreading the ball around the field.

The defense played well at times.  Patrick Willis was excellent as always (11 tackles, 1 sack).  Justin Smith had 5 tackles and an important sack in overtime.

The 49ers are 2 games out of first place.  They are on a 2 game winning streak.  It's not gonna be enough, even in a putrid West Division.

Damn it.

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Weekend update: "We want Carr!" "We want Carr!" "We....oops."

Memo to all of those alleged 49ers fans chanting "We want Carr!" during rough stretches of the past two games prior to this weekend: Be careful what you wish for.

Sunday the 49ers lost to the woeful Carolina Panthers 23-20.  And David MF'ing Carr was a big reason why.

Carr was 5-13 for 67 yards (Wait...did he actually complete FIVE passes?  Funny, I don't remember that).  He also threw a back-breaking interception to set up Carolina's winning field goal.  He missed receivers high.  He missed receivers low.  He completely sucked.

What was Carr even doing in the game?  He was in there because Alex Smith got hurt when rookie tackle Anthony Davis executed a perfect "Ole!" non-block on the Carolina DE, who immediately lit up Smith and landed on him hard, injuring his left shoulder.

The 49er Faithful fair weather fans fell for the oldest fantasy in the book.  They believed that everything was the starting QB's fault, and all would be right with the world if only the backup QB were inserted in his place.

Well, all is definitely NOT right with the world. 

I'm not blaming Carr, understand.  There's more than enough blame to go around, all around.

It's time to clean house on this poorly coached, underachieving team.

Who needs to go?  Head Coach Mike Singletary.  Defensive Coordinator Greg Manusky.  Alleged Cornerback Nate Clemons.

Why Clemons?  Because, even though he had a sack and made a couple of slick plays, he is ALWAYS out of position and ALWAYS gambling for the pick (and getting burned as a result).  He sucks.  Clemons has to go.

Why Manusky?  The defense keeps making the same mistakes, over and over.  The color commentator noted that every team in the league is coaching its backs to bounce running plays to the outside against the 49ers when the middle is clogged, because there'll be no outside contain.  He's absolutely right.  And it's been that way all season.  The one thing a 3-4 defense should ALWAYS do well is outside contain.  But the 49ers outside linebackers are never at home.  Never.  That's the blame of coaching.  Manusky has to go.

Why Singletary?  This one breaks my heart, because I absolutely LOVE Mike Singletary.  I love everything about him.  That is, everything about him except his attention to detail and his complete inability to either manage the clock or make in-game adjustments.  Sorry, Coach.  I love ya.  But Singletary has to go.

Who stays, and why?  Offensive Coordinator Mike Johnson, Quarterback Alex Smith, RB Frank Gore, and Linebacker Patrick Willis.  The last two are obvious: Willis is all-world in a confused and poorly coached defense.  Gore is all-world in an offense that has trouble getting out of its own way.

So how do Alex Smith and Mike Johnson make this list? 

For the first time since Norv Turner in 2006, Smith has an Offensive Coordinator who's worth a shit.  And that's why Mike Johnson stays.  He has taken what was a predictable and uninspired offense and turned it on its ear.  The color commentator from Sunday's game marveled at how the 49ers would come out in an "obvious" passing formation and run, in an "obvious" running formation and pass.  The offense has been extremely effective in spurts, and Johnson is the reason why.  Considering he has had 4 weeks to make-over Jimmy Raye's gawdawful excuse for an offense, what he has done is spectacular and deserves being rewarded.

Alex Smith's turnovers are down the past few weeks because he's not being put in bad spots where turnovers are practically inevitable.  And he's shown so many flashes of brilliance this season that he's just GOT to get one more chance.

This season is over.  It really sucks to be in 2004-mode when I started the season in 2002-mode (the last time the 49ers won their division). 

Thank God hockey season has started.  Go Caps!

Finally off the schneid

It wasn't pretty.  No, the fact is it was just about as ugly as a win can be.  It took 6 weeks, but the 49ers are finally off the schneid.  Final score: 17-9.

That it was the woeful Raiders, at home, and we trailed for the first 44 minutes and change of the game is an indicator of just how ugly it was.

This was, however, the first game in which the 49ers had zero turnovers this year.  Yes, you read that right.

Alex Smith threw for two touchdowns in the second half after a woeful 2 of 11 start.  Frank Gore got back on track, rushing for 149 years, including a spectacular 64 yard run to set up the second touchdown.  Even Michael Crabtree contributed, making an easy catch look difficult in snagging Alex Smith's pass for the first 49ers touchdown.  Jerry Rice would have made that catch in his sleep and made it look easy as can be.  But Terrell Owens would have dropped it, so at least Crabtree has the fact he caught it to fall back on. 

The one negative of the game (besides Alex Smith playing like ass for the first 25 minutes of the game) was the officiating.  More on that follows.

I look at the remainder of the 49ers schedule and can't help but think: there's no one on tap who scares me.  San Diego?  Child please!  They lost to the Raiders and the Rams in back-to-back weeks.  Speaking of the Rams, we have them twice, plus our bitch, the Cardinals, twice.  (Bill Bidwell owns the Cardinals 363 days per year.  The 49ers own them the other two). 

We have the Seahawks again...but they're quite a bit less threatening away from their Stadium of Doom.  There's Denver in London.  But beyond that?  Nobody scary. 

Jed York could be right...we might just win the division after all.  I might just have to start drinking that Kool Aid again after all...

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Officiating has been quite consistent this year...consistently dreadful. It's not just the 49ers getting jobbed. I sat and watched the Saints commit holding on at least a dozen plays against the Buccaneers on Sunday with nary a flag in sight. I saw a Saints tackler dive into the knees of a receiver, injuring the guy. No flag for unnecessary roughness. It's atrocious.

In the past two games, 49ers opponents have not been called for holding. Not once. Never mind that I've seen defensive lineman change directions, in ways not humanly possible without being held, at least a dozen times. Not one flag.

Okay, I can see the Eagles, a team with a reputation for playing clean, getting some slack from the zebras. But the Raiders? The effing RAIDERS?!?!?!?!? The most penalized team in the history of pro football? Child, please!

I haven't figured out why this is happening. Is it the new positioning of the Umpire in the offensive backfield instead of behind the linebackers? Maybe the Umpire -- usually the official who watches for and calls holding -- just can't see what's going on in there from that position.

Or maybe the referees just suck this year. Yeah, I think that's the answer.

How else can you explain the intentional grounding penalty called the play prior to the 49ers first touchdown?  The rule, as I understand it, is that it's grounding if the quarterback throws the ball away in an effort to avoid a sack and there is no eligible receiver in the vicinity of where the ball was thrown.  So how does Alex Smith get called for grounding when (a) there was no threat of a sack, and (b) there WAS a receiver in the vicinity?  Granted, he would have had to be 13 feet tall to have caught it, but he WAS in the vicinity! 

I may have set a world's record for dropping F bombs in the aftermath of that play.  I'm still salty about it two days later.  Talk about incompetence!

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I can't believe the way this season has played out. Teams that were supposed to be awesome (49ers, Chargers) suck. Teams that were supposed to be dreadful (Bucs, Chiefs) are in the mix. The more I watch NFL football, the more I realize that I haven't a clue.

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Weekend wrapup - queue Ned Beatty

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Mountain Man: I'm gonna make you squeal like a pig. Weeeeeeee!
Bobby: Weee!
Mountain Man: Weeeeeeee!
Bobby: Weee!

Substitute "Seahawks" for "Mountain Man" and "49ers" for "Bobby", and you get a full, complete understanding of what happened yesterday afternoon in Seattle.

And to think I entered this season as full of optimism as before any season since 2002.  I think it was optimism badly misplaced.

The Niners stink.  On ice.  We're a bad, bad team.

Coach Singletary may be the worst coach in the league at clock management.

Alex Smith has regressed.

Michael Crabtree is a turd; he may be the worst route-runner ever.  He may be as bad as any of the turd WRs Detroit drafted under Matt Millen.

Nate Clemons may be the single most overrated player ever.  He seriously sux.  He got the early interception, which made him cocky.  From that point on, Hasselbeck played him like a Stradivarius.

Our offensive line got treated like Seattle's bitch.  So much for the #1 draft choices.

There is so little talent on this team.  Patrick Willis, Vernon Davis, Frank Gore, and Delaney Walker.  Stop me if I missed anybody.  That's what I thought.

Rather than sign a bunch of players to contract extensions, it might be time to blow this team up and start over. 

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"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

The rest of the weekend was nice.  I got to watch football with my boys.  We enjoyed the early game, in which the Bucs scraped out a win against the Browns.  We went through a 50 pack of hot wings in record time.  A nice time was had by all.  That is, until the second quarter of the Niners game.

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I read Vox Day's column this morning and got super depressed. Give it a read if you want to feel likewise.  Makes what the 49ers did yesterday seem almost pleasant.

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The Modern Pharisee is up to something BIG. You may want to pop over there every so often. There could be big news - and it could be soon.

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"Hero" cops

According to the pro-bigotry crowd over at Caput Penitus Culus and FLDS Texas, I'm anti-law enforcement.  I am, of course, no such thing.  But, by the same token, neither am I one to genuflect before the icon of the self-sacrificing hero cop passed off by law enforcement sycophants.  Especially when I read stories like this one.

THREE brave teenagers were hailed as heroes last night after saving a drowning woman - as cops stood by and WATCHED.

Pals Graham McGrath and Rosie Lucey, both 18, dived into the River Clyde to haul the unconscious victim from below the water.

They dragged her to the bank where fellow Glasgow University student Reece Black, also 18, pulled her out.

Quick-thinking Rosie then brought her round with CPR.

But as the courageous trio performed the dramatic rescue, Strathclyde Police officers held back worried onlookers on Glasgow's Albert bridge.

Held back onlookers. Priceless.

But that's not the worst of it, believe it or not.  Check out this shizz.

A Strathclyde Police spokesman said: "It is not the responsibility of the police to go into the water - it's the fire and rescue service."

Now, THAT is priceless.  Spoken like a true government tool.  Which, when you get right down to it, is exactly what cops are.

Sequels we DON'T need

For people of a certain age, like me, these two news items are chilling.  Truly chilling.

Richard Nixon's grandson is joining the family business.

Like the Kennedys, Carters, Cuomos and Bushes before him, 30-year-old Christopher Nixon Cox is hoping to use his family's political legacy as a springboard to political office. He's seeking the GOP nomination to run against four-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop in eastern Long Island — a seat Republicans hope to win as part of the party's effort to recapture the House.

The eldest grandson of former President Jimmy Carter has won a suburban Atlanta state Senate seat in a special election Tuesday night.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! The two worst politicians of the 1970's - hell, perhaps of the entire 20th century - are making vicarious comebacks in the guise of their demon spawn.  The last thing this country needs after 8 years of King George the Dim and 1.5 years of Il Duce is a dose of Nixon/Carter!

Watergate.  Enemies lists.  Gas lines.  18% interest rates.  11% inflation.  Disco.

Okay, technically they weren't responsible for disco.  But someone has to take the fall for it!

Dominoes

I've watched with some interest the goings on in Europe, particularly the spectacular meltdown occurring in Greece.  As much fun as Greece's chaotic reaping of the whirlwind they've sown has been to watch, you don't want to make the mistake of Big Media (the BM for short) in ignoring the other nations of the EU and their own slide toward oblivion.

Greece may simply be the first domino to fall.

Next up?  By all appearances, it would have to be Portugal, followed by Spain.  Or is that Spain, followed by Portugal?  Or will Great Britain jump the line and crash before Portugal and Spain?

I could go into all of the reasons why a single European currency pretty much guaranteed the domino scenario.  But I would just be parroting the words of others much wiser than I in matters of economics.  Stick to what you're comfortable writing about, that's what I say.

So where does it end? 

If, in fact, we're in full-blown dominoes mode, how many are going to tumble before it's all said and done?  Are we talking a handful?  Half-dozen?  A dozen?  The entire European Union?  And, if Europe tumbles, are we next?

The next few months will certainly be interesting; that is, if you consider economic anarchy "interesting".

Those who fear technology hate freedom

My assertion is this: fear of technology is emblematic of a hatred of individual freedom.  To buttress this claim, I present Exhibit A.

US President Barack Obama lamented Sunday that in the iPad and Xbox era, information had become a diversion that was imposing new strains on democracy, in his latest critique of modern media.

Obama, who often chides journalists and cable news outlets for obsessing with political horse race coverage rather than serious issues, told a class of graduating university students that education was the key to progress.

"You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank all that high on the truth meter," Obama said at Hampton University, Virginia.

"With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation," Obama said.

The key phrase in this ode to intellectual incuriousity (say, wasn't that the knock on King George the Dim?) is this: "[N]one of which I know how to work..."

It's funny - it feels like just yesterday I was lambasting Justice David Souter for this same failing.  Notice something here?  Both individuals refuse to embrace technology.  And both individuals embrace policies that are anti-individual freedom.

Oh, c'mon, Vulture!  Two examples?  That's all you can muster?

There'll be more.  How do I know?  It's like this: people who are engaged in free, productive activity in society utilize technology to make them more competitive, productive, marketable, etc.  They use technology in the free exchange of ideas.  They use technology to make their lives and the lives of others around them better.

People who stand in opposition to individual liberty disdain such activities.  The get their money the old fashioned way: they loot it.

Harry Reid is a retard

I apologize to all retards out there right off the bat for my post title.  It is an insult to retards to equate them with Harry Reid.  They're much smarter than he.

Why the shot at Nevada's pox on our nation?  It is the result of this pin-headed statement.

“The most important thing we've done for the country and the world is health care,” he said.

The most important thing.  Not entering WWII and defeating the march of Fascism.  Not staring down the great Soviet Bear.  Not the achievement of our Founders in creating this country from a ragtag group of colonies.  Nope.  It was health care.

How did Nevada ever elect this mentally deficient product of inbreeding?  I just don't get it.  I just plain don't get it.

Congrats, Harry! You just won a Wiener Award!

Another truism transitions to falsism

I've been in Information Technology as a computer programmer for close to 30 years.  I've seen fads come and go. (Hey!  Anyone remember Easel?  It was the next great thing back in 1991.)  I've also seen every manifestation of over-the-top system and computer security.  It seems that security administrators have learned that if you don't let anyone do anything, nothing will break.  Of course, nothing will be accomplished, either.

One of the truisms of computer security for the past decade is the importance of "strong" passwords that expire within short intervals -- some say 6 months, some a year.  My company says 3 months.  I hate it.

Why the hatred?  It's not bad enough that I have to change my password every 3 months.  No, the really irritating part is that I have to go to HQ to change it.  This means I have to schedule time off from the client site (which I usually make up by working til the dark hours) just to perform this meanial and -- we learn now -- pointless task.

You were right: It’s a waste of your time. A study says much computer security advice is not worth following.
[...]
Many of these irritating security measures are a waste of time. The study, by a top researcher at Microsoft, found that instructions intended to spare us from costly computer attacks often exact a much steeper price in the form of user effort and time expended.

“Most security advice simply offers a poor cost-benefit trade-off to users,” wrote its author, Cormac Herley, a principal researcher for Microsoft Research.

Particularly dubious are the standard rules for creating and protecting website passwords, Herley found. For example, users are admonished to change passwords regularly, but redoing them is not an effective preventive step against online infiltration unless the cyber attacker (or evil colleague) who steals your sign-in sequence waits to employ it until after you’ve switched to a new one, Herley wrote. That’s about as likely as a crook lifting a house key and then waiting until the lock is changed before sticking it in the door.

I knew it!

I always suspected that changing passwords was a complete waste of time. And now it's official.

You can bet that my next new password will contain an editorial message. Bank on it.

Radio Wasteland

It's been four months since the stuffed-suit programming geniuses at Fox Sports Radio canned Steve Czaban.  I knew it was going to make for a worsened morning commute.  I had no idea how much worse.

The local radio options are spotty at best.  Elliot in the Morning?  Good gawd no!  The last thing I want in the morning is a cackling moron.  The Sports Junkies?  Yeah, they're awesome.  They're also on a station whose signal is so weak that I'm 20 miles into my commute before I can pick up the signal.  They also, unfortunately, have the longest commercial breaks of any radio show I know of.

But wait!  Vulture, you have XM radio!  You have options!  Eh, not so much.

Rawdog comedy is fine for the commute home...but sometimes in the morning I'm not in a comedy mood.  The music channels?  Again, great for the commute home.  But I can't do music in the morning any more than I can do cackling morons in the morning.

What about Czaban's replacement, Steven Screamin' A. Smith?  Child, please!  His act was tired at ESPN.  I wouldn't listen to him on a dare.

So I'm left with the "other" talk show options XM has.  They're a little thin.

There's Coast to Coast, Art Bell's old program, where you are "enlightened" about UFOs, aliens, various government cover-ups, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderbergers, etc.  Not exactly my cup of tea.

There's alleged conservative "intellectual" William Bennett.  Intellectual.  Right.  The last time I listened to him...and I mean the last time...he went on a three minute rant that can be summed up in two sentences.

• Both political parties are venal, corrupt, and compromised.
  
• That's why it's so important to vote Republican this Fall and not waste your vote on a third-party candidate.

If your response to this "brilliance" was "huh?" or "WTF!", you understand how I felt as portions of my brain melted at the sheer illogic.

So I'm pretty much left with Quinn and Rose.  They're okay in small doses.  But they, like most "conservative" blatherers, are still drinking that Team Elephant Kool-Aid.  Once they start in with the "only Republicans can save us from Obama's communist agenda" nonsense, I have to switch stations.

It used to be so easy.  Get in the car.  Make sure XM-142 is on.  Listen.

Eff you, Fox Sports Radio.  Eff.  You.

A Toyota attacks Frederick

It's happened again - this time right here in Fredtown.

A man said his 2010 Toyota Corolla accelerated out of control on U.S. 15 North just south of the West Patrick Street exit shortly after 4 p.m. Friday.

Taneytown resident Frank Santoro, 62, said he was in the middle lane in bumper-to-bumper traffic. The Toyota started accelerating as he pulled into the fast lane.

"The first second or two it wasn't bad, (but) then it took off," Santoro said. "I was going to hit the car in the front of me, so I veered into the left shoulder."

The speed shot up to around 60 mph and he couldn't slow down for about 15 seconds, he said.

"The whole time I had my foot on the brake," he said. "It didn't feel like the brake was doing anything."

Santoro said he passed cars in rush-hour traffic until the engine eventually returned to normal, and cruised to a safe stop.

I have a question for Toyota drivers. Have any of you dipwads ever heard of the concept of shifting the vehicle into neutral when the engine accelerates? Toyota needs to start a national advertising campaign that simply repeats these words over-and-over: Put the effing car in neutral!

Honestly, I think xfloggingkylex's Toyota drivers hypothesis is being proved as accurate more and more every day.

False rape accusation punished

On Monday I wrote a post addressing the reality of a false rape allegation being no laughing matter. I wrote that, in spite of the inherent humor in the situation described in the original story, no false criminal accusation is the least bit funny so long as our legal system is as FUBAR as it currently is.

Oh how right I was!!!

A young mother who falsely cried rape, sending an innocent man to prison for nearly four years, will experience firsthand what he suffered -- she'll spend one to three years behind bars for perjury.

"I wish her the best of luck," said William McCaffrey last night of Biurny Peguero Gonzalez.

"Jail isn't easy."

McCaffrey, 33, of The Bronx, was locked up after Gonzalez accused him of raping her at knifepoint on a Bronx street back in 2005.

It was a lie she repeated to doctors, cops, prosecutors, a grand jury and the jury that convicted McCaffrey.

"What happened in this case is one of the worst things that can possibly happen in our criminal-justice system," Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon said as he pronounced sentence.

Gee, Charlie. You really think so? [/sarcasm]

In light of what has been done to him, I think William McCaffrey showed a lot of class in his comments about the heinous shrew whose lies caused him to lose four years of his life and forced him to endure an unmentionable hell in prison. Even so, there is justifiable bitterness.

A person who would "lie and paint somebody as a rapist is worse than a real rapist or a real murderer," McCaffrey said

He also blamed "the arresting officers, the prosecution." Everyone, he said, "wanted to believe the lie, the ADA [assistant district attorney] first and foremost."

My advice to Mr. McCaffrey is this: sue everybody! Sue the city. Sue the District Attorney's office. Sue the hosebag who made the false accusation against you.

The police, in their usual fashion, latched onto a suspect and made no effort to do no more than absolutely necessary in order to continue to dine at the public trough. The ADA was only concerned with getting the win once the case was referred to him. This is true of most 21st century DAs. They couldn't care less if the person they convict is guilty or not. They just want the win.

While at first glance it is something of a feel good story -- lying Jezzibel gets jail time, innocent man is to be freed -- there is still an inequality that screams for remedy. Why, in the name of all that is good, did the bitch only get sentenced to 1 to 3 years? She should have -- at a minimum -- served the same number of days in prison as Mr. McCaffrey endured. At. A. Minimum.

If the courts were concerned with eliminating false accusations of this kind (hint: they're not), they would have sentenced her to 10 years. That's what I would have done if I was the judge. We've got to make it clear to lowlifes like Ms. Gonzalez that robbing a man of his freedom is an offense every bit as heinous as violently assaulting his person.