Technical Difficulties

It's easy to see how the economy is falling apart.

When Chuck put in a claim to Allstate for storm damage, allowing for the deductible, they go "sure sir, but the only reason your premiums are this low is you've never put in a claim."

That's the standard protection racket: we'll take your money as long as nothing happens to you where we have to protect you for real, and if something actually happens, then we'll want more money still (all that other stuff was just for "peace of mind" in case you ever do need to file -- we hope not though).

When I search on "Gibson" in this blog, using the search slot at the upper left, I don't get back any blog post but this one, and yet using the outside Google search engine, I get another one right away. That means the internal blog searcher is weak and anemic, gives up too easily. Or if that's not what it means, then you tell me? I'll keep running those tests, posting my results. Oh wait, I just tried it again and it worked great this time. Let's see if that lasts. Could be a traffic thing.

Oh yeah, the iTunes podcaster is way behind with the CBS News, ending around February 6 even when I hit refresh. Is it Apple I should blame? The voice and picture aren't synced for Doll House, Tara blames "the dish" (DirectTV).

I have a longer list, but I'm more into "beefs" than "concerns" i.e. I should stick to reporting bugs I might be able to help fix. When you file a beef, there's this implied "and I'm on it", which is what we in the Open Source world like to keep hearing.

Don't just be a whiny end user, be a part of the solution.

Of course reporting bugs (concerns) is a public service sometimes, even if you have no clue how to address them. But if your entire demographic is end users, no coders, then consider this a sinking ship. For every bug you report, make it your practice to fix two? Stay in shape, pull your weight.

Like so what if kernel code is world readable if you can't code in C? And so what if medical supplies are available, if you don't know anything about medicine. And so what if the airplane is yours, yet all you know how to do is crash it? Get lessons, practice, don't expect cheap short cuts will work.

There's maybe this belief that if I pay enough money, then I won't need to study. That's just "stairway to heaven" talk and as any investment banker well knows, there's really no alternative to doing your own homework. Like no one will do it for you, at the end of the day. Kafka wrote as much.