Category: Stupid

Bill to give DC full priviliges of Congressional spot

It seems the Democrats have been working on a bill in the House of Representatives which wouldgive the District of Columbia a full rights seat in the House (there’s more to the bill, but I’m just zoning in on the big target of the bill – bear with me, please). Part of the argument for the bill is that denying DC residents full Congressional representation is unconstitutional. On the surface, that seems like a reasonable claim (to me at least). From the discussion of the bill, we even get:

“Continued disenfranchisement of more than half a million Americans is unconscionable, indefensible and wrong,” said Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md.

Republicans have been delaying the vote on this bill because the Constitution states that congressional seats are to be apportioned among the statves, and DC is not a state. Republicans, however, finally agreed to move forward with the vote with one ammendment to the bill. What ammendment? Well…

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Another contender for parent of the year

It’s disappointing to see folks like this reproducing and raising children.

A 20-year-old Shreveport woman has been arrested after her first-grade son brought a rock of crack cocaine to school for show-and-tell.

Police were especially disturbed by the child’s understanding of crack cocaine. They said he seemed so accustomed to the highly addictive drug that he thought there was nothing wrong with bringing it to school.

. . .

Lachristie Thomas was booked on a charge of improper child supervision, a misdemeanor.

Because, yes, raising your child in a crack-addled home and letting that child take crack to school for show-and-tell is a minor crime. Misdemeanor sounds about, um, stupid?

[tags]Parent of the year contender, Child brings crack cocaine rock to school for show and tell[/tags]

Just another reason government agencies should require all software to be open source

Sometimes, the best techie reading is the quick read things about what goes wrong with hardware and software. In this case, I’m thinking about things like the Daily Shark or Ed Foster’s Gripeline. So while perusing recent gripes at Infoworld, I found this case of vendor lock-in, and my first thought was that this could have been avoided if government agencies were to require vendors to use open source software or open interfaces for all future projects. Because this requirement wasn’t in place, we taxpayers had to fork out an additional $20 million to pay for the Air Force to keep maintenance available for $80 million worth of uninterruptible power sources.

In 2003 the U.S. Air Force held an open bidding for a post-warranty service contract on about $80 million worth of Powerware uninterruptible power supply (UPS) equipment it had purchased in 2001. At that meeting, Air Force officials and the other bidders were surprised when Powerware informed them that proprietary service software is required to fully maintain the UPS equipment and that Powerware would not provide that software to any of the third-party bidders or to the Air Force itself. As a result, the Air Force had no choice but to award the contract to Powerware, costing U.S. taxpayers more than $20 million over what some of the other firms said they were prepared to bid.

. . .

What makes some customers even madder than Powerware’s refusal to provide the software is the total lack of information about it when they purchased the equipment. “Even now you don’t see a word about it in their sales literature or on their website,” says one reader who encountered the Powerware lockout surprise while working for a financial institution. “How can it be legal for them to hide the fact that they will not let you have this tool that is needed to properly use and maintain the equipment you’re buying?”

Require all software interfaces to be either fully open via open source software included with the equipment or require all software interfaces to be freely accessible via fully documented open interface specifications or APIs. This isn’t an easily solved problem, but this is something our government needs to start doing now so we don’t find ourselves as taxpayers paying this exhorbitant support bills for years and years after the original contracts expire. It would take time to get contracts properly created and written to cover this, but it is something that we need to see happen. This is especially important if vendors go out of business and proprietary interface information is lost to the ether.

[tags]Infoworld Gripeline (with Ed Foster), Our governmental agencies need to write open software interfaces into all hardware and software contracts[/tags]

Failed suicide attempt earns two Atlanta men “Stupid” award

Business failing? HIV infected? Looking at the rest of a miserable life and thinking “How can this be changed?” Naturally, mutual suicde is the way to go, right? Just try to come up with a smarter, more likely to succeed method than these two unsuccessful losers.

Two Atlanta men survived an attempt to kill themselves Friday by cutting off their arms with a circular saw, according to Atlanta Police Major Lane Hagin.

The men managed to sever three of their arms about six inches above the wrist, he said.

The two men – ages 40 and 41 – left a suicide note with the manager of their Atlanta apartment building saying they were committing suicide because their business had failed and they were recently diagnosed with HIV, Hagin said.

After reading the note, the manager called police who found the two men in their apartment with “a lot of blood,” the major said.

Their names were not released. Police spokesman Steve Coleman said both were in stable condition at Grady Memorial Hospital late Friday and will undergo psychiatric evaluation.

My theory is the men made it to the 75% mark on their attempt before realizing the error of their selection. But that’s just a theory.

[tags]Bad suicide attempt, The wrong way to end it all[/tags]

Proof that we are a nation of idiots

I heard this listing of last week’s top 6 television shows as I was driving in to work today. I really didn’t believe it until I looked it up and verified that as an American, I am in a population best classified as eff’ing idiotic brain-damaged monkey (FIBDM). And since that information is like to change or go linkdead, here’s the facts:

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Review quotes taken out of context

I’ve been reading the latest issue of Electronic Gaming Magazine tonight, and in a fit of stupidity on my part I’ve decided to post some out-of-context quotes from recent game reviews. I do this because this makes me laugh, while revealing to the world how stupid and immature I can be (like most males, I’d offer).

  1. Also cool: unlockable balls
  2. Straight, thin, and more important, one piece.
  3. …but I don’t go for starlight spewing from a struck ball…
  4. …but become more natural and fluid as you get acclimated to the fast-paced, twitchy action.

These come respectively from reviews for:

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Gore may be receiving honorary doctorate

I read this bit about Gore possibly receiving an honorary doctorate in the near future. I saw this on Ten Jack Ten, which I just started reading, after seeing it linked by Bill at DubiousQuality.

Former Vice President Al Gore could pay a visit to the University in the near future to receive an honorary degree for his work in climatology.

. . .

“He’s in the news and is a legitimate expert on a pressing issue of global concern, climate change, so this level of interest is understandable,” Wolter said. “However, no plans have been set and it’s unlikely that would occur this spring.”

And the reaction from the Ten Jack Ten owner?

An “expert,” eh? If this is an expert, we’re going to need a new word that indicates someone has extensive personal knowledge of a subject area. Heaven forbid he starts running around demanding his “credentials” be cited everywhere like Bill Cosby did for a while.

And more. Read the original article at mndaily.com and the full reaction at Ten Jack Ten.

[tags]Gore might receive honorary doctorate[/tags]

Retiring priest

A cow-orker shared this one with me:

A priest was being honored at his retirement dinner after 25 years in the parish. A leading local politician and member of the congregation was chosen to make the presentation and give a little speech at the dinner. He was delayed, so the priest decided to say his own few words while they waited.

“I got my first impression of the parish from the first confession I heard here. I thought I had been assigned to a terrible place. The very first person who entered my confessional told me he had stolen a television set and, when questioned by the police, was able to lie his way out of it. He had stolen money from his parents, embezzled from his employer, had an affair with his boss’s wife, taken illegal drugs, and gave VD to his sister. I was appalled. But as the days went on I knew that my people were not all like that and I had, indeed, come to a fine parish full of good and loving people.”…..

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