May 23, 2007

With Honesty Aforethought

I don't do the political type posts too, too often. Partly because I don't want to deal with the conflict any political post invariably brings up ... and yet, I also don't want to be one of the close-minded folks who shut down comments ... or worse, refuse to listen to the other side at all and simply berate them.

But sometimes, something happens that I just have to throw in my two cents.

In this case, it's to cheer on Jimmy Carter. First, Mr. Carter talked about the war in Iraq ... as he has since before it began ... and stated that he was disappointed in Britain's apparently subservient role. (BBC article)

After staying remarkably restrained for this administration ... remarkably and admirably, I might add ... "The White House has dismissed former US President Jimmy Carter as "increasingly irrelevant", following his sharp criticism of President George W Bush." (BBC article)

And while I can understand the current Bush administration wanting to address Mr. Carter's comments in some way, I personally think this only underscores the depth of the "spoiled brat, schoolyard bully" mentality demonstrated so sadly by The Shrub. Particularly when Mr. Carter says things like: ""The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including (those of) George HW Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me."

Mr. Carter is not engaging in that apparently favourite American pastime of "Hey, let's bash the opposite party mindlessly and thoughtlessly" ... instead, Mr. Carter is thoughtfully and deliberately expressing his opinions. And all the Bush administration can do is attack him personally.

Well, to be honest, what other choice do they have? Mr. Carter knows the previous administrations of all flavours ... and rarely in the history of the government of the U.S. has there been this kind of thoughtless action, self-centered righteousness and sheer schoolboy bravado refusing to listen to those who actually pay attention to the world around them who attempt to guide and help.

Even Nixon, our one impeachment, owned his decisions, owned his responsibilities.

This administration rails against flip-flop-ism ... and yet changes the rules every time something goes wrong ... all whilst calling those who disagree with them "big mean poopy heads."

So ... Mr. Carter, sir, I salute you. I salute you for saying that which needs to be said. You are not increasingly irrelevant. You are increasingly that voice of conscience which no small boy who has shattered mummy's vase wants to listen to ... particularly not as he makes it look like his friends had convinced him the vase was actually in another room and never in danger at all.

Posted by Red Monkey at 12:47 AM | Comments (1) | Never Underestimate the Power of Human Stupidity | Stumble

May 6, 2007

A Distraction

I received this via email the other day ... and thought I'd pass it along:

This incredible machine was built as a collaborative effort between The Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering at the University of Iowa. Amazingly, 97% of the machines Components came from John Deere Industries and Irrigation Equipment of Bancroft, Iowa, yes farm equipment!

It took the team a combined 13,029 hours of set-up, alignment, Calibration, and tuning before filming this video but as you can see it Was WELL worth the effort.

It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian.

Posted by Red Monkey at 12:19 PM | Comments (2) | Never Underestimate the Power of Human Stupidity | TrackBack | Stumble

April 16, 2007

How Many Slices of the Pie Are There?

I know everyone in the blogosphere is going to be talking about this ... but I'm going to take a different approach.

I don't make any claim to know why someone shot up the campus and I'm not going to speculate on who nor why.

But I am concerned about a culture of anger and a culture of entitlement. And these are not just issues in the United States ... or even the Western World.

What is it programmed into us as humans which makes us think we deserved something that someone else has? What makes us think that hurting other people is a reasonable solution? or at least a reasonable reaction to our mundane circumstances? (I'm not talking about self-defense here ... that's another issue completely.)

Posted by Red Monkey at 2:49 PM | Comments (1) | Never Underestimate the Power of Human Stupidity | Why Johnny Won't Learn and Mrs. Curnutt Is Tired of the System | Stumble

April 4, 2007

Holy Crap, Network-Exec-man II

WTF? I mean really. A show comes on that's intelligent, funny, clever and above all, engaging and well-acted ... and the damn network pulls it.

I am, of course, speaking of The Black Donnellys.

The show is fascinating. You've got a totally unreliable narrator who claims to not be there ... then tells the story ... then the cops turn around and say, hey, I thought you said you weren't there ... and then he edits things. So you never fully know how much you can trust Joey the Ice Cream's stories. (And who doesn't love that nickname? I mean, now THAT is a classic.)

The main characters are fascinating ... flawed and heroic ... trying to get by ... trying to better themselves ... well, except for Jimmy who just wants the easy cash.

Honestly, this show and Heroes are the only reasons I enjoy American television. I mean, I like Bones and House ... but they're very typical and kind of run of the mill. House has more unusual characterizations and thereby a somewhat more interesting plot and show ... but it's still "just" another doctor show. Bones has a great chemistry and it's wonderful to see some very realistic academic type characters being themselves.

BRING BACK BLACK DONNELLYS, NBC. Good lord. God forbid television should be freaking intelligent and keep the audience guessing.

I'm disgusted. Yet another reason for me to draw more and spend less time in front of the damn boob tube.

Fooken NBC.

Technorati tags:
Black+Donnellys
NBC
NBC+Sucks
idiots

Posted by Red Monkey at 12:57 PM | Comments (1) | Never Underestimate the Power of Human Stupidity | Stumble

February 21, 2007

We don't need anyone

I honestly don't know what it is about Ireland that attracts me so ... but even though this song is sung in a nice, average rock accent (read: American, sadly) ... I hear a nice Belfast accent ... or maybe just the trills and Rs of a B-movie Irish accent. At any rate, at the moment, I'm seriously considering doing this for the talent show at the church in a month's time. Of course, considering that I'm terrified to ever do a solo singing gig, it won't happen ... but I think I may practice it incessantly for a while anyway. It just fits how I feel right now. Particularly that first couple of segments.

We do it all.
Everything
On our own

We don't need
Anything
Or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

Let's waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads

I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see

I don't know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things will never change for us at all

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Posted by Red Monkey at 10:26 PM | Comments (1) | Never Underestimate the Power of Human Stupidity | Stumble

February 15, 2007

You've GOT to be Kidding Me

Absolutely unbelievable.

Still no package.

(To skip the rant and see a nice pretty picture, just scroll down to the next entry.)

And now, someone is trying to make things sound better or cover up the errors. My instinct says the driver is trying to cover his arse ... and I'm getting more and more furious with the entire situation.

So ... we did get a crapload of snow Tuesday night (though driving wasn't difficult until well after dark). UPS did manage to get a package to us Tuesday. But not good ole DeadEx.

And when I look at the tracking information now, there's lots more things added.

For Saturday ... when the shipment was due and I was home all day waiting for the thing, I now see this:

Local weather delay, delivery not attempted

AND the original entry as well:

Customer not available or business closed

Hmmm. That was a bright and sunny day. Hardly any snow on the roads at all. And there's still no explanation of why delivery was then delayed until Tuesday. Monday wasn't a holiday ... why wait an extra day when they'd already missed the delivery window? Hrm. And now for Tuesday ... like I said, I was out in the snow, my partner was home ... and I was having no issues with my little lightweight compact car out on the road. I certainly passed a ton of FedEx Ground and Freight trucks out and about. And, UPS had already delivered a package to us. Now the tracking for that day says:

4:55 p.m. Local weather delay, delivery not attempted

AND

4:55 p.m. Local weather delay, delivery attempted

Hrm. Okay. The driver attempted/not attempted delivery. Which is it?

So, we move on to yesterday, Wednesday, for a package that was supposed to be delivered Saturday. I was snowed in at home. We got dumped on Tuesday night and early early Wednesday morning. The roads were decent, but the stupid snowplows had plowed us in. My car could have gotten through the snow in the driveway ... but there was no way it was going to make it through the plowed drift of snow/ice crap that had been thrown at the edge of the drive. Luckily, I can work from home when necessary, so that's what I did ... and I called a friend to come clear the drive for me.

At some point in the morning, FedEx called and a nice lady was confirming I got my package ... then she apologized profusely and said, "I'm so sorry, I see that it's on the truck for delivery. I'll check back at the end of the day to make sure you got it."

Well, this is promising at least.

I begin obsessively checking the tracking around 6 p.m. last night. It's getting late. This arse is going to make my package the last stop on the route, I can just feel it. "On FedEx vehicle for delivery." That's all it says. 7:00 p.m. ... 8:00 p.m. ... finally 9:00 p.m. rolls around and still nothing. I break down and call FedEx. I'm not sure I've been this ticked off in a LONG time. I remember when I FINALLY get a live person, that this guy just answers the phones ... it's not his fault. But I'm sure he can hear the barely suppressed rage in my voice even though I'm trying to be relatively pleasant. I tell him the entire story.

Now here's the interesting thing. Corporate or the complaints department or whoever ... had already flagged my package in the system as "Deliver as soon as possible." To me that means this oughta be at the beginning of his route instead of the end. "Deliver as soon as possible" does NOT mean deliver when you feel like it. He tried calling the local hub (of course they NEVER give out that number ... can't have you going directly to to the source of the problem, now can they?). Of course, the local hub is already shut down. But the tracking page says my package is still on the truck.

Did the driver not "log out" or whatever it is that they do?

This morning, I see this:

9:55 p.m. Local weather delay, delivery attempted

Yeah, right.

So, today ... naturally ... I'm beyond freaking livid. The local manager is supposed to call me this morning. I'm leaving a nice trash bag tied to my porch railing for this arse to put my package in and he'd damn well better do that or bring the thing to my place of work. And I can't wait to talk to the local manager ... if this has been the same driver every time ... and I think with the Home Delivery service, it probably has been the same guy every time ... I want a freaking written apology from him as well as a refund of my delivery fee. This is just freaking crazy.

*sigh* I HATE FedEx.

Technorati:
Federal Express, FedEx, delivery service, DeadEx, UPS, United Parcel Service, DHL

Posted by Red Monkey at 4:29 AM | Comments (2) | Never Underestimate the Power of Human Stupidity | Stumble