I Hope This Helps

On Saturday I will turn 42. The "Life, the universe, and everything," birthday.  I have never felt so far away from all three of those things.  I have been unemployed since April 2022. I am not comfortable talking about why I quit my job.  I try to apply to four "cover letter" jobs a day and at least 10 "one-click" jobs daily.  It’s Not So Bad Once You Get Used To It Acrylic On Canvas, 20 X 16 Considering how much of American life is focused solely on work, money, status, and everything that I just don't have right now I feel disconnected from everything.  I have roughly one interview a week on average. Some weeks for reasons I'm not clear on, I get a spike in interviews. In the past year, I have had one follow-up interview for a job I didn't get.  No one is obligated to tell me why they didn't hire me.  One job had a ton of potential but it would have involved a move that I couldn't afford then and definitely cannot afford now. It wa...

"Totally meant to do that."   "The entire industry has moved from a world of Newtonian economics into a world of quantum economics, where two things that seem to be in opposition can be true at the same time: You can have a massive hit on your platform, but it’s not actually doing anything to increase your platform’s revenue. It’s absolutely conceivable that the streaming subscription model is the crypto of the entertainment business." —Steven Soderbergh to Vulture Magazine, June 6, 2023 That is from a fascinating and disconcerting article that you can read here . There is wisdom in staying in your lane, but there is also wisdom in finding lessons from sources that are - or just appear to be - out of your lane. What social media platforms and studio streaming services have in common is content and how it is everything. Netflix was the vanguard of streaming exclusive original content with House of Cards. Original is the key word here because for some time, Netflix an...

Caveat: This translation is from @wartranslated on Twitter so I am relying very heavily on their cultural intelligence and by extension their accuracy. Off we go, then.  The speech:  "PMC Wagner Commanders’ Council made a decision: the evil brought by the military leadership of the country must be stopped. They neglect the lives of soldiers. They forgot the word 'justice,' and we will bring it back. Those, who destroyed our guys today, who destroyed tens, tens of thousands of lives of Russian soldiers will be punished. I’m asking: no one resist. Everyone who will try to resist, we will consider them a danger and destroy them immediately, including any checkpoints on our way. And any aviation that we see above our heads. I’m asking everyone to remain calm, do not succumb to provocations, and remain in their houses. Ideally, those along our way, do not go outside. After we finished what we started, we will return to the frontline to protect our motherland. Presidential auth...

Here is a comic by Randall Munroe that illustrates one aspect of a single point of failure in terms of software and hardware.  The Original Comic  As a former member of the military and Department of Defense employee, a "single point of failure," was always something to be wary of from platoon operations to programming computers. Have a backup and a backup to that backup.  It has become increasingly clear to me that there is an obvious single point of failure throughout the private sector, and it is wealthy people who won't negotiate with unions or workers. The WGA strike has reached week seven. To refresh, here are the demands and the "offers" to meet them.   The current narrative still being pushed by studios is that the writers are the single point of failure for the entire studio system. If the public accepted that narrative on its face, there is no reason to accept that studios are NOT the cause of it, since at least one studio  has posted record profits ...

"For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Chuck him out, the brute! But it's "Saviour of  'is country" when the guns begin to shoot" —Tommy, Rudyard Kipling Rouge One was the first movie to really put the "war" in Star Wars.  But the latest offering from Disney+ Lucasfilm does something very different and arguably very important.  In the trailer the quote "The fight is over. We Lost." sets the tone.  These are the broken, ugly times. A post-war time where the cruelest people won. The coldest people. Won.  In episode 3 of Obi-Wan Kenobi, there is a sequence that embodies everything this show is trying to portray.  After this point, in case it wasn't clear, there will be spoilers, and second, if you don't like the show or wish to complain about the show, as a long-time fan myself I will gladly listen if you kindly leave your bigotry at the door.  The first spoiler is this: In the Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader reveals ...

Well, the good news there is a dialogue that has been opened like the Grand Canyon in regards to race in America. Awesome! However, the internet proves that everything has a dark side. So, once again, white folks, here we are, with me as your guide to how not to act like a fucking cracker. That first post was more the moderates who weren't sure. This one is more for my white friends who – while I love and respect them – are digging in like an Alabama Tick, the most tenacious of Ticks, to ensure that we all know that they think black people are wrong to demand equal treatment by law enforcement. As with the previous post, if you are not a white person who enjoys the pleasures and buffers of white privilege, by all means, skip this article. 6. Stop Acting Like Guns Are Going to Fix Everything.  This could be the dumbest thing you can do. You assume that if only these black people could wield a deadly arsenal then they would surely be able to shoot these corrupt police before ...

Dear Persons of Color and non-whites in general: You can skip this article. These behaviors, while the result of truly astonishing mental gymnastics, sadly, will be nothing new to you. I reckon you have better things to do with your time that be reminded that white skin apparently gets in the way of basic human empathy. This is my attempt to tell my fellow crackers to stop acting like crackers. However, if you are a regular user of the narcotic that is white privilege, I must encourage you to read on, because I have observed you fucking up and I would like you to stop it. The first reason, before I get to the rest of this list is this: The concept of whiteness robs EVERYONE of his or her identity. That means you, too. You are not Scandinavian, English, Irish, German, French, Syrian, Afghani, Kenyan, Egyptian, Libyan, Israeli if you are too light-skinned. You’re white. Does that suck? Hurt a little bit? Yeah, it’s like that for non-whites but 350% worse, dig?  5. Justifying Poli...

This generation get off my lawn. Get off my lawn get off my lawn, however get of my lawn. Get of my lawn because get off my lawn. World War II get off my lawn get off my lawn. Get off my lawn because Vietnam. Get off my lawn because 1970's. Get off my lawn because video games. Get off my lawn because feminism. Get off my lawn because gay marriage. Let's be honest get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn. If they want better lives they should get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn. Finally, it's time these kids too take responsibility and get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn. If they don't get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn get off my lawn.

I drove out to the county to the house where all my nightmares take place, under gray skies. It was like that all five days of the week. Great grey sheets covering everything like the furniture in a dead man's house. My sister called me Wednesday before the day I drove to a dead man's house and she was angry. She was angry because I was not coming to the house that she lives and making things happen. Like cleaning, like fixing things. Doing all the things that I do in my own apartment. Doing all things I mostly hadn't been able to do this past semester. But I had to drop everything and do for her what she should be doing for herself. She had got a new roommate and they had been cleaning. Like you're supposed to do. The house was a shambles. As though it weren't depressing enough that both our parents died there, it was filthy. Grime on everything. All the random things my father refused to throw away, piled high in the garage. About a quarter inch of duck shit...

5. Looking down on people who use two-ply toilet paper Any toilet paper that isn't that single ply, not perforated stuff that comes in white box with black Arial font seems completely decadent to you. For some reason all the other hardships you have experienced in the military you'll just accept and drive on, but GOD FORBID someone you respect use the toilet paper from the commercial with the adorable animated bears. They could have horrible hemorrhoids or something, but you don't care because you had to eat shit sandwiches daily in a desert country filled with people who either want to kill you or are completely terrified of you. Meanwhile, everyone else had air conditioning, fast internet with access to porn, and steak houses that will actually serve a steak at a temperature other than well-done shoe leather. The only way to deal with this is a kind of minimizing, which can quickly get out of control. . . Seriously, this bear to you becomes like ...

It's important to note, this article has two purposes: to make light of some things and allow me to vent. That's all. I'm sure it's shot through with political feelings that not everyone will agree with. If that's the case, I encourage you to go to whatever website it is that only posts things you agree with 100%. Also, this post contains the most offensive phrase I have ever heard.  5. Nothing can prepare you .  . . for all the singing Basic Training, Boot Camp, or whatever the branch you join calls it, has more singing in it than a Broadway musical. The first two to three weeks you barely go to the field. Mostly it's classes about the how's and why's and history of your branch. You get three meals a day and every time you march to the chow hall, you will be singing your fool head off. It's the same five songs over and over and over again so it's like radio in the late nineties if they never got past Rag Time. You know Do Wa Diddy? T...

The Immoral Officer Corps It's very hard to believe that anyone reaching a high enough point in Star Wars Imperial republic military would have any illusions about what they're doing.  This begs the question however, WHAT is higher up in a galaxy level military?   As an example, the U.S. Military has 38 4-star generals. Now, under them there are 818 other flag officers (Colonel [O-6] and above). Not all 919 of those officers would be necessary to fight a war of course, we only need a hand full of generals to run operations (ideally) in the Central Command Area of Operations. But on a galactic level? Just how many commissions are we talking in the Imperial forces? We can safely assume that four star officers (Generals, Admirals, etc) are even more abundant even as the Imperial forces were clearly spread thin even before the Battle of Yavin. It's entirely possible that they also have 5-star officers who command planetary sections if  warranted  by population....