Salad Is Slaughter

I finally got my job performance review today, and only 5 months late.  Basically it’s the same review I’ve had wherever I’ve worked — you do a good job and have no tact when you tell people, especially management,  to go screw themselves.  That’s the translation anyway.

Now let’s see how much the raise is going to be.

Stupid people fascinate me.  Whether it’s watching a motorcycle rider pass me on a blind curve, listening to a person insist that the Grand Canyon was created by a massive flood over a period of weeks, seeing someone cutting across four lanes of traffic to make an exit, reading about a cover-up at a saucer crash site, or seeing the rants of people who insist this or that book is Satanic; I’m intrigued.  I just don’t understand how the person I’m observing could muster enough brainpower to survive.

Today I saw something that I had read about but didn’t want to believe to be true.  I was sitting at the traffic light on El Camino at 237 behind a pickup truck this morning.  A Mensa candidate on a bicycle pulled up next to the truck.  When the light changed he grabbed the truck’s tailgate and let the truck pull him down El Camino.  The pick up was traveling in the far right lane doing at least 40 miles per hour.

I followed in fascination.  The cyclist’s tires would occasionally get within inches of the truck tire.  He was also zipping along between the truck and many parked cars.  I could envision several scenarios where I would be watching him die – the pick up could make an emergency stop causing the bike to hit either the truck or a parked car, there could be debris in the road that the cyclist would hit, his tire could rub against the truck tire, the truck could make an quick, unsafe right turn and hit the bike – or maybe something else that I haven’t thought of yet.

He eventually let go and turned onto a side street but I get the feeling that this guy will be removing himself from the gene pool in short order.

I finally finished the latest Harry Potter book this weekend and I wasn’t that impressed. It seems to me that the quality of the story telling is going down as J. K. Rowling’s bank account goes up.

The first two thirds of the book tended to ramble. There were several scenes – cleaning his godfather’s house springs to mind – that really had nothing to do with the story but were really just an excuse to introduce more magical creatures. The whole book could really have used a good going-over by a competent editor.

Harry Potter himself has transformed from heroic wizarding phenom to whiney little brat. I’m surprised he has any friends left at all. He’s rude, abusive, self-centered, and careless. There were many times I wanted Malfoy to just knock Harry on his ass (or is that “arse” since the book was written in England?) Harry needs to pull his head out of his butt, realize that Professor Snape has been on the side of the good guys since the first book, and stop treating his friends so badly.

I thought the final fight scene was pretty lame. Sure there was one death, but wouldn’t you expect a group known as “Death Eaters” to be able to kill at least a couple of students who’ve only been studying “Defense Against the Dark Arts” for a couple of years? You’d think experience would prove valuable against at least a few of the kids.

Security at the Ministry of Magic was laughably bad. They couldn’t cast a few spells at the doors to the classified areas? How about a guard or two patrolling the halls? I’ve seen better security at concerts and dance clubs.

I’ll probably continue reading the series, but J. K. Rowling needs to step back and figure out what she did right in the first couple of books, and let an editor help her tighten things up.

Technorati Tags: books

In order for a visitor to get into the Ministry of Magic the visitor must dial the numbers 6-2-4-4-2 (see pages 125 and 768).  If you add the numbers together you get 18.  Eighteen is three-sixes, or 666.  The number 666 is also known as the Number of the Beast, representing Satan.  It looks the religious nuts were right — Harry Potter is satanic.

And no, I don’t believe that.  I think those religious fanatics who claim Harry Potter is satanic are nut cases who need serious, professional mental health care.

Technorati Tags: books

Comcast Cable has been pissing me off.  And not for the usual reasons like crappy service and horrible support.  I upgraded to DirecTV at least 3 years ago.  I moved to Janet’s house because we’re selling my house (and eventually her’s).  Janet has Comcast digital cable.  That means I’m subjected to Comcast television commercials telling me how they are so much better than satellite.

One commercial has a guy complaining that he loses his satellite service every time it rains.  Bullshit.  While Ku band transmissions are susceptible to rain fade, you really need a hell of a storm to cause it.  I think I had that problem maybe once.

Another commercial tells the story of a guy who has to keep going on the rood to adjust his dish.  Did he put install it himself and use masking tape and coat hangers to attach the dish to the roof?  My dish is attached to a wooden fence post and was installed by a professional.  I have never had to re-point the dish.  Note to Comcast — DirecTV satellites are in a geo-stationary orbit and don’t move.  OK, technically they are in a slightly inclined orbit and circle around a central point in the sky (as seen from earth).  If the dish is installed correctly it never needs to be re-pointed.

A third commercial has a wife going ballistic because her husband cut a hole in a tree so the dish could see through it.  Come on!  Move the dish a foot either way and they would be fine.  As long as you have a clear view to the satellite (i.e. no obscura) you can put the dish anywhere.  It’ doesn’t have to be on the roof.

Comcast has also been saying how satellite customers have the same program on all televisions in the house unless they buy separate receivers.  Of course, and it’s the exact same way with digital cable.  You must have a digital cable box to decode the digital signal.  The only reason that TVs can get the local channels without using a cable box is that they’re analog signals.  Comcast’s digital cable system isn’t 100 digital like they want you to believe.  Satellite TV on the other hand, is.

In the three or more years I’ve had satellite TV I’ve had far fewer problems than I had with cable.  I’ve seen far more cable outages and signal dropouts with digital cable in one month than I ever had with years of satellite service.  DirecTV has been almost problem free.

Liars really piss me off.  I’m sticking with DirecTV.

Technorati Tags: television