PSA - Getting The Last Word On Tinder

 Since beginning to use the app (off and on), I've found myself in two situations where the interaction ended in a less than amicable manner.  In both cases, I had reached my limit of 'what I'm willing to tolerate for some boom boom' and metaphorically dropped anchor in terms of further entertaining the behavior being exhibited by the other party.  And in both cases, the other party fired off a 'fuck you' note and unmatched with me.  However, I admit to having no real insight into the content of their messages, since unmatching deletes the entire conversation and I never saw them.  Thus, they weren't actually able to get in the last word or parting shot.  

Therefore, the takeaway should be that if you feel the need to fire a last shot and get in the last word on Tinder, wait a few hours to ensure the other party has time to read your fuck you.  Of course, that deprives you the pleasure of unmatching and making that person go away.  Your revised takeaway is you can't have it all.

Under the heading of pleasant surprises, earlier today, I'd been trading notes with a woman who went into full bitch mode and I called her out on it.  There were notifications of additional messages from her, but for the reasons above, I didn't bother looking for them for a bit.  The pleasant surprise was that the message she sent included an apology for being bitchy.  

Vaccine Mandates - Not Tyranny

Hey you!  Yeah, you...turn off Tucker for a moment and listen up.  I bet you're singing along with that whiny little hypocritical shithead that vaccine mandates are tyranny and interfere with your freedoms.   I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you lack access to actual data, only receive Fox and OAN, and that you're not willfully ignorant.

The bottom line is that vaccine mandates aren't tyranny, no matter what you hear from the right wing media.  Worth mentioning is Fox, OAN, and all the other toxic bullshit factories have vaccination mandates for their employees.  If your friend Tucker really believed what he was saying about mandates being tyranny, you'd think he'd be raging against his employer.  But he isn't.  I wonder why that is?  

I realize that should have been the killer punch, but let's dig into some additional food for thought.

I like data, so let's move on to the numbers.  They're big ones, but I've done my best to simplify them so you'll understand.  

There have been six hundred eighty thousand total deaths in the US due to Covid.  Of the one hundred sixty plus million who've been fully vaccinated, there have been one thousand four hundred deaths.  That number represents less than one percent of those who've been vaccinated.  LESS THAN ONE PERCENT!!!  Oh, there were over two thousand deaths from Covid, just yesterday; you can guess how many were vaccinated.  

The vaccine is effective and has saved thousands of lives; it's also FDA approved, so cross that objection off your list.

I know what you're thinking - it's still tyranny to force people to get vaccinated.  You're standing up to be dumb enough to avoid getting jabbed, get the virus, and die in your mobile home.  Trust me, if the virus only impacted the willfully ignorant, I'd be fighting alongside you, defending your right to demonstrate natural selection at work.  If only it worked that way.  

The vaccine is effective against the current variants, but viruses mutate as they're spread around, until they morph into a variant the vaccine can't defend against.  This is why you need a flu shot every year; to protect from the latest mutations.  Ultimately, the spread by the unvaccinated will allow Covid to mutate into one of those variants that the current vaccine can't fight and we'll be back to square one.  Those who remain ignorant and unvaccinated are lengthening the pandemic and making it more difficult to fight.

Even with the current variants, stupid mother fuckers like you are winding up in ICU's hand over fist and are taking beds that are needed for those whose conditions weren't preventable with a fucking shot.  There have been dozens of accounts where someone having a major cardiac issue or something equally critical have either wound up dying for lack of a bed or had to be transported several hundred miles away from home, because that's where the closest empty bed was located.

You and those like you have blood on your hands from the deaths you cause every damned day you remain unvaccinated.  These deaths are your fault, Fudd.

Do employers really have the right to mandate vaccinations?  Damn skippy they do, for two main reasons.  First, they pay your fucking health insurance and the costs go through the roof when they have a bunch of dumb fucks get sick from Covid, not to mention lost productivity because your dumb ass isn't working.  More importantly, they have a legal obligation to provide their employees with a safe working environment.  A bunch of spreaders running around is the opposite of safe.  The Federal government is the largest employer in the US and are subject to the same shit as other employers.  So is your corner coffee shop, hotel, and every other business you infect by walking into every day.  

In summary, neither you nor I have the personal freedom to kill those around us by spreading a deadly virus.  Not much different than walking around with an open jar of anthrax.

Finally, the above also applies to mask mandates.  Those of you who decry such measures in schools because you know what's best for your kids are killing them too.  

User Interfaces - WTF??

Another in my Old Man Ranting Series

There seems to be an unwritten rule amongst those who create user interfaces for software, apps, and other consumer devices.  That is once users have become accustomed to finding everything they need, we must change the fucking interface.  Until tonight, my ire was mostly kept in check, but I hit two major 'gotta change' landmines within the past 48 hours and I'm pissed.  Strangely, the same culprit laid both mines.  

Yesterday, I decided I wanted to use the Amazon music app for the errand run I was about to embark on.  When my phone hooked up to my Bluetooth stereo, the screen changed to what I came to discover was car mode.  And fuck, this thing made no sense.  I couldn't find the specific music I wanted to listen to.  Was Amazon thinking 'Let's cause people to crash their cars by making them have to figure out a whole new UI that was created to prevent people from crashing their cars.'  I'll spare you my tirade about parties deciding for you what you should see.  Fortunately, I could disable it and did at my first stop.

Then tonight, when I kicked on my Fire TV for entertainment before jumping on my treadmill, I was greeted by a 'we've updated your experience' screen, followed by a two minute video explaining how they'd fucked everything up...I mean moved everything to where I can't find it...oh, fuck it, you know what I mean.  Getting out of the video was challenging; it really wanted you to see the masterpiece.  Profanity echoed from the walls of my gym!  Fortunately, I was able to get to the content I wanted quickly.

In all fairness, I shouldn't be surprised at Amazon fucking shit up.  The hardware they make, or more accurately the hardware they have made to put their name on, is almost universally shit.  The aforementioned Fire TV was the second in that location and 4th or 5th replacement overall.  Don't get me started on the new Kindle.  The first generation was a simple device; reliable, durable, easy to use, and had real buttons.  This latest version is a handheld advertisement that's anything but intuitive and utilizes a touch screen that no longer contains information such as progress through the book you're reading or how much battery you have left.  And the processor makes it...the...slowest...hand...held...device...you've...ever...seen.  My decade old Kindle was much faster, had greater functionality, and didn't barrage me with ads.  Unfortunately, the battery took the big dirt nap, leaving me no choice but to replace it.

Back to the UI topic.  The biggest offender of them all, with respect to moving shit around unnecessarily, is Microsoft.  My job requires me to use Office; Outlook, Powerpoint, Excel are daily staples.  The upgrade associated with Windows 10 was an abomination, with features and functions moved all over the place, and some actually being removed.  The learning curve was insane and I'm still not as adept with it as I'd been with the previous versions.  Were I to hold Bill Gates at knifepoint and force him to tell me why he committed such blasphemy, I'm sure he'd whimper something about it being more intuitive.  Considering that current users, who'd already gotten used to the UI, outnumber new users who might find the new UI easier to learn, by about one trillion to one, I think most would agree that fucking up the existing UI to be fucking moronic.  

To those who have any input in designing this sort of stuff, let me offer some words of advice.  If you implement a facelift to your UI that requires users watch a two fucking minute video guide, you've failed and are undeserving of your job or life.  If your new UI requires any sort of acclimation curve versus the old one, you're a failure.  Users of consumer devices don't want to have to figure out your shit more than once.  After the initial learning curve, which had better be brief, they want to pick up their device and use it NOW.  People don't like new and unimproved. 

Fucking Filters

This subject isn't anything new, but I don't recall seeing a proper rant on the topic.  Therefore, I'm picking up the mantel and including it in my Old Man Ranting Series

Technology has delivered to us digital camera technology that yields photos with amazing clarity and resolution.  Today, even cell phone cameras yield superior quality, compared to high end digital cameras of even a few years ago.  With all of this amazing capability, it would follow that dating profile pictures would be crystal clear, but sadly, this isn't the case.  Someone created some filter app (maybe there's more than one; how would I know?) that allows the user to soft focus pictures to felony level, making it almost impossible to distinguish someone's features.  And a considerable number of women are utilizing this filter to laughable results.  Perhaps men are as well, but I don't look at their dating profiles.  Seriously, I've seen so many of these that I almost scheduled a doctor's visit to be checked for cataracts.  The worst are the ones who dial in eye liner enhancements to max level, making them appear ready for the next best horror film and causing small children to cry.

I'm sure most of my readers share my position that these filters have no place on dating sites.   Unless you plan on meeting someone after consuming half a bottle of Don Julio, you want their photos to provide an accurate representation of who you're about to meet.  Perhaps the only exception to posting such photos would be if someone had their portrait done by Annie Leibovitz and she incorporated some sort of filter.  But the most gifted portrait photographer on the planet doesn't use soft focus, so there goes that excuse.  Look, none of us become more attractive from our late forties onward; it's a fact of life.  And try as you might, those filters don't fix ugly, so if you're using them, save yourself the guaranteed ghosting after (or during) your first date.   

Some will never give up their squint inducing fog filters.  I recently saw a profile on the Big T where not only were filters used in the manner I've described, but the woman was positively combative about using them.  Apparently, potential matches challenged her on the subject and she was asserting her right to post pictures that didn't look like her.

While on the subject of filters, if you're past forty years old, leave the fucking snap chat filters alone.  Unless it was a Halloween costume, bunny ears, cat whiskers, etc. don't paint you as playful or fun.  It just screams immature.  Worse yet, the majority of those you love the bunny ears typically run the picture through the Don Julio blur filter first, completely obscuring any facial detail.  A forty something woman that does that screams she's trying to hide ugly.   

Embrace who you are and be proud of it, people.

My Own First Scammer

 If you've read my blog, you know that I'm no stranger to scammers, having dealt with the African ones who stole all of my father's savings.  However, today is the first time I've encountered a scammer on a dating site.  In all fairness, it's surprising it took this long.  I'd sent a note to a woman who seemed interesting; she was neither 27 nor out of my league.  In fact, she wasn't as attractive as most of the women I've dated.  Her response was that she's out of sorts due to a migraine and $65 short to buy the meds.  "Feel like death is so bad."

It's funny, because the tactic is the total opposite from what would work on me, if anything really would motivate me to send some unknown chick money.  Even if I were completely clueless about scams, I still wouldn't have sent her money due to her behavior being a complete turnoff.  

Regular readers know I can't just ignore a scammer and not fuck with them.  I just sent her a note, stringing her along, the intent being to see how much energy I can suck out of her.  Perhaps the next will be an offer to share some of my (non-existent) migraine meds if she comes over, ready for a gang bang, once they kick in.  

Covid Vaccines and Conspiracy Theories - Food For The Obtuse

Recently, I've been exposed to some of the current wild and fantastical conspiracies associated with the virus and more importantly, vaccination.  They've left me completely flabbergasted and provided another reminder of how gullible too many Americans are.  In all fairness, much of the medical mumbo jumbo is likely over the heads of those who believe it.  The whole mRNA thing is beyond my own span of attention.  However, we can still use the tools we all have at our disposal to ferret out bullshit, a suspicious and critical mind.  My regular readers know that I rarely take questionable assertions at face value and tend to fact check on my own.  For example, one of the fringe outlets claimed that 'CDC data released on July 9th' shows a massive spike in deaths from vaccines.  Before I called bullshit, I went to the CDC's website to confirm.  Because they're a government entity, they put everything they release on their website.  I think we both know what I found; or didn't find.  Now, I'm calling bullshit.  Something I did find was a direct correlation between vaccination rates and Covid deaths.  No surprise the states with higher vaccination rates have fewer cases and deaths.  

Another way to utilize your critical mind is to ask the questions 'to what end?' and 'Who profits from this and how?'  These questions, and most of this entry, are universal with respect to conspiracy theories in general, but we'll stick with the one at hand.  Who would benefit from the successful outcome of the supposed conspiracy and why?  Clearly, the pharma companies would receive the greatest benefit by reaping huge profits from government contracts to develop and manufacture the vaccines on an emergency basis.  PPE manufacturers also benefitted from a massive spike in demand.  Hell, I received some nice upside orders from 3M earlier in the pandemic.  Maybe I'm in on the conspiracy.  Shit, I've said too much.

What stands out to me is the massive number of 'auxiliary players' required to be complicit in the scheme, but who wouldn't profit.  What's in it for them to participate or at least keep their mouths shut?  It's not as though the profits pharma took in would be sufficient to buy everyone's silence.  Let's look at one of the most important groups of auxiliary players, the media.

Why is it that these conspiracy theories are always 'broken' by fringe media outlets, or bloggers, or some guy in the produce aisle?  They're never ever covered by legitimate news outlets.  The media's in on it!  Sorry to burst your bubble, but logic says otherwise.  For those who've forgotten, all of these outlets (CNN, NYT, Fox News) are for profit companies.  What generates the most revenue for a news outlet?  Certainly not suppressing what would be sensational developments.  Such reporting would generate massive ratings / readership, which would make them more money than an entity paying them hush money.  Because not only would they get a short term bump, but the ratings and higher ad placement prices would carry on for some time.  The media, all the media, would fight tooth and nail to break such a story and cover it non-stop for as long as that gravy train lasted.  

On the flip side, what do the conspiracy theorists get in return for their activities?  Attention, money, and (misplaced) credibility that they wouldn't have received were they going about their lives.  Who wouldn't throw out a ton of bullshit for that payout?  Seems the conspiracy freaks might have greater motivation than those allegedly complicit in the conspiracy they're trying to sell.   

Touching on the politically motivated, it would be quite the fantasy world to get D's and R's to agree to this sort of thing (or anything else, for that matter).  Make no mistake, they'd all have to be complicit.   Not happening.  The wretched right seems hell bent on their constituents dying from Covid by keeping them from getting vaccinated, even though they've all be vaccinated themselves.  There's some serious motivation for them to be driving the shit out of these conspiracies, if there were even the tiniest fragment of truth to them.  But you're not hearing a peep from even the more euthanasia worthy lawmakers, like MTG or Louis Gohmert.  I'll let you draw your own conclusion, but perhaps it's because such conspiracy theories are too obviously bullshit for even these dipshits to give oxygen to.  

The bottom line is that massive 'evil' conspiracies can't exist in secret, period.  Somebody always fucks up.  There will always be someone who loses the the fortitude to remain evil and caves.  Or, someone inadvertently shares too much with that underage hooker in Dallas.  This almost always happens when one party is involved.  Dozens of parties all gettin' down on the evil?  Hah!  Again, pure fantasy.  It becomes more of a farce, when you consider governments are involved.  Nothing stays secret in governments.  Throw in language barriers and differing agendas of the various supposedly involved countries and leaks will occur.  Every damned time.

Ultimately, there's no way the conspiracy at hand could be true.  It would have been leaked by someone and amplified through every level of media, by those with the incentive to do so, of which there are many.  

Vaccination should be mandatory.  Those who believe this is a draconian and distasteful measure are idiots.  Your kids have to be vaccinated against various things to attend school, so you've already complied with mandatory vaccinations and given proof to the school system.  Oops, didn't think of that, did you?  You're not a fucking virologist, so don't pretend to know what is and isn't true on the internet about the virus, particularly when crosschecking facts blows the damned thing up prima facia.  You don't have feathers, so stop parroting everything you read that you fall for.  Do the right thing for yourself and your family, for a change.  Take off the tin foil hat, say goodbye to Q once and for all, and get your fucking family vaccinated.  

Also, stop with the idiotic memes comparing mandatory vaccinations with the Holocaust or any other Nazi symbolism.  Comparing vaccination with genocide is offensive, because there is no fucking comparison, you moronic snowflake.  While I'm typically fine allowing morons to identify themselves in grand fashion, there are too many soft minds in this country who may believe the bullshit.  Largely in the same way there are those who believe the election was stolen from the Cheeto faced shit gibbon; but I already covered that one.  

Now, really get off my lawn.

Dog Shit and Drag Queens

It's been quite the week, filled with all sorts of things impacting my dull life.  I didn't feel as though any of these topics deserved their own entry, so here's the omnibus update.  Buckle up, buttercup.

The job interviewing process has become manic, with what should have been five interviews this past week (I feel like one of the popular girls!).  Most companies aren't bothering with phone interviews anymore, preferring to go right to video calls for first and second rounds.  I've worn the same dress shirt for at least four interviews, at this point.  I'm only wearing it for an hour at a time, so it's not as though it gets dirty or wrinkled.  It goes without saying I also wear shorts for these interviews.  

I'd be lying if I said I miss in person interviews.  For those who've never been on one in another city, it's not much fun.  Get up at O Dark Thirty, rush to the airport, pray flights are on time, arrive at destination, rent car, head to interview, try to push the stress and fatigue out of your system and appear vibrant and on the ball for an hour.  Rush to catch your return flight, land at midnight.  Try to remember what you said on your interview.  My favorite one of these was when I flew to Chicago in front of a heavy snow storm.  Flights were being cancelled all over the place.  I wound up flying into Baltimore, staying the night, then driving to Richmond in the storm.  

Next up is something that if it was a dessert, would be called Masochist's Delight.

Changing the furnace filter required a trip down a hallway I never visit and during that exercise, I discovered that my dog does have some separation anxiety, illustrated by the half dozen piles of what had began as loose dog shit.  By the time I discovered the little brown piles of joy, they were becoming fossilized and approaching diamond hardness.  I'll spare you the details of the required cleanup effort, but it probably goes without saying a good time was not had by all.  

My clothes washer decided to demonstrate its ability to sustain water flow and flooded my laundry room.  It demonstrated its displeasure with my ceasing that activity by not working since.  I'm fairly sure it's the water pressure / level sensor and have a replacement arriving next week.  In the meantime, I'm reprising my college student role, by taking laundry to my parents.

The battery on the Caddy SUV I appropriated from my parents has passed into the great lead acid beyond and from what I've read on the internet, there's a fifty fifty chance a trip to the dealer will be required for a memory re-flash.  Yet another reason I'll never buy American again.

On the positive side, I quit smoking a week ago and haven't killed anyone (yet).  Yes, I'm an intelligent individual and yes, I know it's bad for me, but it was one of the few things that gave me a modicum of pleasure.  Ultimately, I had to face the fact that I wasn't thirty anymore and couldn't grab a smoke, then jump into a vigorous workout.  It was finally catching up to me and I found myself lacking energy and occasionally becoming winded when I shouldn't have.  Since quitting, my workouts have been infinitely more productive and I'm quickly losing the weight I gained during the parental Florida incident.  Stress, ice cream, and no place to work out will pack on the pounds.  

I'll finish with something scandalous.  Tomorrow, I'm going to Sephora and buying makeup for myself.  No, I'm not joining a drag queen show, even though I have the time.  For the aforementioned video interviews, I've set the stage quite well, I think.  I've got the right stuff in the background and an inexpensive set of photo studio lights to help minimize the effects of aging.  Unfortunately, I have a very fair complexion and the lights wash me out and make me look like a member of the undead.  I'd read that a large number of men were using makeup to optimize their appearance on video conferences and it seems I'll be one of them.  

What do you think?  Vanity, craziness, or solid marketing?