Okay, this is where my paranoid friends who are mild technophobes get to scream "Told you so!"
Your cell phone is a spy. Your carrier is tracking you. Hell, there's a company that specializes in the software they surreptiously install on the phone for this precise purpose. Motives? That's up for debate. But they sure as shit were quick to try and shut up the guy who pointed this out.
But it's not just specialty software. Their record keeping practices are creepy as well. Conspiracy theorists will say this is at the behest of the government. Carriers could make the argument that it's for quality assurance and metrics. But I think the fact that this information was originally submitted as a "Law Enforcement Only" document for the Justice Department is a bit alarming.
For accuracy's sake, I must mention that I haven't followed my customary three sources rule to confirm these reports. And they both come from the same source, Wired magazine. Because of the video and document evidence presented with these articles, I'm taking them at initial face value.
And I was going to post a bunch of other stuff, but this depressed me. And my computer stopped working, as usual. Conspiracy against facts, or conspiracy against an OS that operates for more than a few years?
To cheer myself up, something I found while responding to comments today.
It's a good thing I'm only in charge of one non-essential item for the Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.
In my weak defense, I would like to point out that it has been years since I baked a pie. Furthermore, the pie crust makers do not have instructions anywhere on the package, including the recipe suggestions on the back of the label. In our over-informed society this was strange indeed.
And led to this:
The carnage was grim and expansive:
On a positive note, graham cracker crust is delicious even when you don't bake it. I shall be breakfasting on it for a few days.
I'm no Pillsbury Dough Boy, but I'm pretty sure that crust is damaged beyond use. So it was off to the grocery store on the the worst day for grocery shopping in North America.
I got back home and got to work on this blessedly simple recipe. It at least *looks* okay, but I guess we will find out tomorrow.
I now have positve proof that my oven definitely burns hotter in the back.
Every day is a learning experience. The real question is how long I will retain any of the info.
Well, there's been some doings around here. I guess I should qualify that "busy" tag: it's been comparatively busy for a person with thyroid deficiency who gets pooped out by more than one activity a day.
I have begun the job search in semi-earnestness. Still trying to balance something I'm interested in against things for which I qualify. My current paradigm is to apply for jobs I can do (but will dislike) that make the money I want. On the other hand, I'm looking at any job that skews towards something I might like, regardless of pay. Slim pickings so far, but we'll see.
I have also rebooted my freelancing efforts and started my own small consulting business. Going to market initially to folks I've worked with before. This def falls into category of business I don't want to do for the rest of my life, but doing it on a consultant basis might make a difference. At least it will be work I can take or leave. Fingers crossed that my old associates will want to hire me for some stuff.
The Awesome and Amazing Tink and Pandaman came for a brief visit on their way east. They are relocating for a short while. They are such awesome friends--I think they have been to my house more than anyone else, including folks who live here. They are super easy houseguests, which is saying something in a one room studio.
See, I can cook. And by cook, I mean use prepared pizza crust and WAY too much garlic.
In honor of my houseguests, and in acknowledgement of the fact that not everyone can live off Triscuit crumbs and milk, I made some food and bought a shitton more.
Easy as they may be, Tink and Panda are also very tricksy. I turned my back for a second, and suddenly all their stuff was in my house.
This is before they went out and bought a bed and more stuff!
Joke was on them, though. Even though it was just the contents of a mini Cooper, their stuff could not fit in my house. Hahahahaha, poverty wins again! It's funny that even in a 36 hour stretch, we manage to create jokes, have theme songs, and run them into the ground. For this visit it was:
--"Total Eclipse of the Heart." So very many unintentional times.
--Taking back "Fuck you!"
--Candy. Candy. Candy. And Ice Cream!
--Incidental music was provided by Mike Tyson.
They carried on their merry way the next day. Will I ever see those mysterious strangers again????
Watch out for this guy. Don't let the awesome chops lull you.
My uncle visited, and we did a quick stroll down Hollywood and drive up in the Hills. Our time in front of Grauman's directly led to me finally getting to stalk see Craig Ferguson tape a show! Lin Lin and Princess O graciously agreed to make these last minute plans with me.
Let me just say that going to a taping is a commitment. It takes hours, you are a clapping monkey, and stupid hobags with too much plastic surgery get chosen to be in Lesbian Row instead of you.
Hello...I dressed up (per site instructions) for this. How dare you put some Botoxed, stretched out, too-light-lipstick-wearing biatches over me! *sigh*
Anyhoo, Craig isn't kidding, that studio is teeny tiny. The staff were foul mouthed and cool, and I'd do it again. Maybe after I lose 50lbs and get some botulism injected into my face.
Serendipitously, frequent commenter and Friend of the Blahg, Orchid Lover, was in town and saw CraigyFerg that same week! We managed to meet up, in spite of my extreme lateness and doofiness. OL was patient and kind, and we finally got together all too briefly for some cocktails and conversation.
We met up at the Tar Pits, which upon reflection is funny for many reasons. OL is every bit as cool as her comments denote, and I was touched that she took time out of her busy schedule to visit with me.
As I walked her back to her parking garage, we passed the LACMA front installation. My pix don't do it justice, but for what it's worth:
In between frantically cleaning my postage stamp domicile, I also decided to do some autumnal cleaning. In this case, I smoked too much crack and decided I need to downsize my already-downsized makeup collection. In fairness, it's probably well past time to ditch some of these things for expiration of ingredients if nothing else.
Wah! But it should go if it smells off, has separated, etc. Right?
Well, this naturally led into me BUYING MORE MAKESUPS. The lovely Lin Lin actually volunteered (I know, right?) to go with me to Sephora. Hours later, I emerged with a pretty cool kit. Sephora has a neat practice of actually creating sets that contain items from several different brands. I scored a set that had many types of things I wanted to try:
Glitz & Glam--Sephora Favorites.
I could do a review, if anybody is interested.
Retail therapy really does work for me. Makeup shopping/cruising is something my little seester and I used to do. I really miss those times. But going with Lin Lin was fun and I felt picked up afterwards. I think she had fun too--it's always nice to meet a fellow cosmetics junkie.
In cancer/thyroid news, the doc has upped my meds again. I should probably do a summary review, because lord knows I've had trouble finding stuff in my own searches on the webz. Hopefully I will get my dosing resolved in the next few weeks, as I'm probably having to boot my insurance at the end of 2011. Blatherblahb welcomes any advice on insurance for "cancer survivors" and other folks unlucky enough to have pre existing conditions.
To close, here is an entry on http://icanhascheezburger.com that had me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. I don't know why, but I think it was Igor and Cerberus. Hope you enjoy.
This is a post I don't want to make because it's messy, complicated, leads to tangents, and makes me mad. However, this line of thought has occurred to me so many times, and caused me so much stress, that I feel compelled to record it.
I don't care what your politics are; healthcare needs to be examined and overhauled. The changes made can't come soon enough and are probably too little too late for hundreds of thousands as it is. I'm not even sure why healthcare is a matter of party allegiance. The more I see, the less sense party affiliation makes.
I assume that the point of labels like "Democrat" and "Republican" are to provide a shorthand for understanding the viewpoints of the party members. But this seems like engineered prejudice and ignorance. Shouldn't our legislators be people who weigh each issue as it appears, taking into consideration current and future ramifications? Instead, we have two (nigh indistinguishable) parties that have made up their minds on the answer before they ever hear the specific question. This doesn't strike anyone else as Totally Verkakte?
At any rate, healthcare is the general point of this post. So here's a single healthcare story for you, broken down into salient points for easy digestion:
Exhibit A: Tax paying US citizen who has worked entire adult life.
Citizen takes a new job, moves across country, incurs debt for relocation and increase cost of living
Citizen is laid off from job after 6 months
Due to this lay off, citizen loses income and health benefits
Four weeks before lay off, citizen is diagnosed with cancer
Citizen manages to work with doctors and staff and gets surgery and bulk of treatment done before lay off.
However, this does not cover post op and follow up treatments. Medication is FOR LIFE. Adjustment and required testing to ensure proper medication and critical cancer repression can take up to ONE YEAR POST OP.
Citizen is eligible for COBRA continued insurance benefits, which clock in at approx $500/month.
Citizen is not eligible for major medical coverage or other state or federal programs, because they are "eligible" for COBRA. In addition, most "relief" programs require the participant to have an uncovered period of 6 months to a year.
Citizen's unemployment benefits cannot cover rent and the COBRA payments. This does not factor in car payments, food, debt, utilities, gasoline, etc.
Citizen's monthly medical bills, barring a recurrence of cancer or an unforeseen medical emergency, clock in at less than the COBRA $500/month. However, if the health insurance is allowed to lapse it can have far reaching effects. Even if the citizen gets a job with health coverage in the next three months, they could fall into the category of PRE EXISTING CONDITION. This fun little clause allows an insurance company to deny payment on services rendered for up to ONE YEAR. For example, this citizen's medication and cancer screenings could still be out of pocket for up to a year. The only way to insure this doesn't happen is to have NO LAPSES IN COVERAGE.
Citizen now faces several critical items: recovery from major illness, job hunting in depressed economy (that's RIGHT, I SAID IT, depressed depressed depression depressed), and whether to put money towards health insurance or rent and food.
Does this seem like a reasonable system to you? Everything is all fair and works out? Just like with our credit cards, we've created a world we can't afford to live in. I've worked steady jobs my whole life. I've always paid my taxes. I give to charities. And I can't even afford to keep myself alive . This didn't happen to me because I'm lazy or careless. This kind of thing is happening to Everybody.
Wake up, America. Quit letting speculative future greed and the machinations of the economically elite crap all over you. This isn't about politics. The American Dream is more ephemeral than ever; none of us will ever know the pain of paying taxes on our millions and billions because we can't even afford our cable and cell phone bills.
My mom kills me, truly. She'll get going about some insane thing that happened to her, and I'll start laughing silently so as not to enrage her, but I never quite make it. Silent laughter turns outnto be a not so silent killer.
I think everybody who knows me has heard my ranting and raving about this series of novels and the one film I sat through.
And really, there's no point in saying much more, especially when so many people have already done an incredible job.
So anyhoo, the other day Twilightcame on commercial television for the first time, OMG!!11!! HEDEXPLOADZZZ!!!!
Except not really. But I did feel compelled to revisit some of the books and look a few things up on line. The fruits of which, I share with you now.
Firstly, in the Del Amitri category, I suppose I am the last to know that the companion piece to Twilight was leaked on the interwebz. This led to the author graciously posting the half finished draft on her website. And not so graciously putting an ALLSTOP on the completion. Now, if the other books made your brain bleed, get ready for biblical hemmoraghing. I give ye, Midnight Sun.
True Love means never taking out a restraining order
chagrin Chagrin CHAGRIN CHAGRIN CHAGRIN
Chivalry CHIVALRY chivalry CHiVAlry CHIVALRY CHIV SHIV SHIV THEM ALL
chivalrous chagrin
No one understands meeeeeee!
Emo wank at the jedi master level
If that doesn't entice you to read it, may I just say that all Twi-verse experiences are greatly enhanced by the consumption of this fair lady's comments. Here is the wit extraordinaire of cleolinda:
I totes read Midnight Sun just to read her commentary on it. I believe her Twilight/Twinkie metaphor to be very apt. I know exactly how she feels, being a willing participant in bad movie watching behavior that puzzles some of my friends.
It's just, sometimes it hurts so good, you know?
And for those of you who, like me, are endlessly amused by CAPSLOCK conversations, check out "Growing Up Cullen":
This one is chock full of good stuff, including this exchange, which brought tears to my eyes (balcarin and welurklate are posing as Edward, upset due to some pilfering of his scrapbooking supplies):
balcarin: EMMETT YOU HAVE TO GO BUY ME NEW STICKERS balcarin: RIGHT NOW!!!! welurklate: COME ON, WE ARE TAKING THE JEEP welurklate: I AM NOT KIDDING balcarin: and emmett would be like OH HELL NO I AINT GOING IN THAT STORE welurklate: I'LL TELL MOM
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