Reality

by Bryan

11 comments

1 Badtux { 06.25.14 at 12:03 am }

There are rumors that ISIS attempted to storm a Jordanian border crossing today using some of the armored vehicles they captured in Mosul. No telling how accurate those rumors are. Jordan is full of Syrian refugees right now, maybe they figure the refugee camps will rise up and help them overthrow the Jordanian government? I don’t know. Nothing seems to make sense right now. Meanwhile, Jordan has roughly 50 first-generation F-16’s in service. These planes are old and not really optimized for ground attack, but are relatively well maintained with American-trained pilots so should suffice for day strikes. For night strikes things get iffy, that’s where they might call on the Americans, but they’d need some targeting assistance because their soldiers aren’t equipped or trained for laser target designation. There are rumors from Israel that the IAF is prepared to assist the Jordanians if necessary. It wouldn’t be the first time. When Syria invaded Jordan in 1970 to support the PLO, there are rumors that the IAF was the primary force that bombed the Syrian armored column to a pulp, because the last thing they wanted was Syrians on that border.

One thing clear is that the Obama and Republican plans for dealing with this differ only in degree. Obama is willing to send air power but only limited troops for “training purposes” (it would not surprise me at all if US Special Forces personnel were already attached to Jordanian army units to assist in laser target designation), the Republicans want to send the whole frickin’ US Army into the fray, but neither has any plan other than”kill ISIS terrorists”, which, given that they’re buried amongst the civilians, translates to “kill lots of civilians” which also translates to “recruit lots of ISIS terrorists”. Yeah, that’ll work out JUST fine and dandy, just like when Israel tried that with Hizballah in Lebanon…

2 Kryten42 { 06.25.14 at 5:34 am }

I’ve been a big supporter of the A-10’s because I’ve seen them in action. The USAF decision to get rid of them I thought was a huge mistake. they have nothing else even remotely suited to their role as a close ground attack/support aircraft. they were specifically designed for it. Everyone is saying “but the SuperHornet” or “The F-22″… neither of which can do the job nearly as well as the old warthog! Sure, the USAF has to save some money, But I can think of a couple worthless programs they can kill and save a bundle! Anyway… In what is a truly bizarre WTF move by the House of rep’s, this:

House Vote to Preserve A-10 Warthogs Leaves Air Force Holding Multimillion-Dollar Tab

So, on the one hand they are screaming for the USAF to save billions, or else… And on the other, are saying “and you can’t kill off the A-10’s, and we are not gonna give you any money to keep them!”

Seriously… FUBAR as usual. Is there actually any intelligent human in US politics these days? Well, Sen. Elizabeth Warren comes to mind… maybe a couple other’s. But they are not really where they can do a lot of good. BTW, I think Sen. Elizabeth Warren should be prez. But she won’t, she’s way to smart and honest for that to ever happen. *shrug* She’d probably end up like JFK & Lennon if she tried (and no conspiracy needed. Just one of the millions of nutjobs in the USA with guns thanks to the NRA and all those who enable them).

3 Bryan { 06.25.14 at 9:53 pm }

The Forward Air Controllers are based down here, but I won’t ask about deployments as it upsets people. I assume that there are some already, as it is an obvious move.

The Jordanians are already stressed by the refugees from Iraq and Syria, so they are not going to be tolerant about ISIS.

The word I heard that the big complaint about the A-10 was it was ‘ugly’, not something a ‘real fighter pilot’ wanted to fly, no matter how effective it was. They are definitely ugly, especially if you are in an armored vehicle and they are looking for you. The pictures of the highway from Kuwait to Iraq from the first Gulf War showed how ugly they could be. The F-35 is not a Warthog, and will never be anywhere near as effective. Retiring them was a stupid decision for a stupid reason.

4 Kryten42 { 06.26.14 at 7:38 pm }

In the immortal words of Mark Twain so long ago, and so very true today:

So, to cap off a truly lousy week… make that Month, I now have to get a new pair of glasses because mine broke yesterday, and I can barely see anything on the screen without them. then I have to deal with Centerlink yet again (went there Monday to lodge a form, asked if there was anything else coming up that could be dealt with then because I was sick and traveling there in the cold wet wasn’t good for me, was told no, got email Wed that I had an appointment today that I MUST attend or payments will be suspended. I phoned, told them that by regulation I had to have a minimum 7 days notice, the fool apologized and said I had to attend, it was all automated, so I said good. than mark that I attended and I can get back to bed! Of course, they couldn’t do that! No! And the reason for me going there? Just to prove I am alive and not trying to scam the system! Have to do it every 3 Months.) Common Sense? What dat? Intelligence? Nice fantasy! “We are here to help and try to make things easier for you!” The ultimate lie!

Yeah… I am pissed! No, I’m not having a good day, week, month… life! Whatever. Hell, if I were younger and fit again, I might even sign up for Al Qaeda, I’m not quite pissed enough yet for ISIS… But that may change after I get back from dealing with CL!

5 Bryan { 06.26.14 at 11:13 pm }

The people who pass the laws that generate the regulations for most government agencies don’t have to experience the idiocy they create. Most of the people who have to enforce the regulations know that a lot of them are a waste of time and effort for everyone concerned, but left with the choices of finding another job or enforce the regulations. They can’t justify or explain the regulations, all they can do is tell people what happens if they don’t go along and count the days until retirement.

Just keep in mind that most of the people you will deal with were once happy and healthy normal people who have been transformed into bureaucrats in order to eat and live under a roof. There are some real bastards among them, but they are few in number. The organization is a mindless beast that was separated from humanity a long time ago.

Your reaction is not uncommon and is why there is a security guard at my Social Security office. People get really angry when the system jerks them around.

6 Kryten42 { 06.30.14 at 3:38 am }

It went pretty much as expected. Waited an hour to be called (though since CL merged with Medicare, the waiting area has seats now. Before that, standing only. Why would aged & disability pensioners or pregnant women need to sit to wait the avg 1 hour or so?) Once I was called it went: Interviewer: “Hello. Let’s see… You are doing everything required on your pathway plan aren’t you?”. Me: “Yes”. Interviewer: “Good. That’s it. Thank you.”

Today I got the quote from the specified optometrist for my new glasses ($293) and got it approved. Should be ready in a week they said. One great thing about visiting this new optometrist, is that they were in a part of Bendigo I don’t normally get to, and I discovered my fave coffee house that I used to visit occasionally until a year ago (because the old place had closed down) had relocated there. So after the visit, I went an enjoyed a great double espresso (done perfectly, even with a shot glass of proper Italian acqua minerale). LOL After that heart starter, I settled with a nice smooth cappuccino done to perfection! I even allowed myself a nice pistachio shortbread cookie. 😀 A nice touch, that many Cafe’s don’t do unless asked, but is standard around Europe, was a bottle of chilled water & glass. Ahhhhh… For a short while, I was in heaven. 🙂 The prices are very reasonable too, especially given the excellent quality & service. Was about $11 all up. 🙂 They are actually a coffee roasting house, and everything is roasted on the premises… so if you are a coffee lover as I am, the smell is divine! 😀

http://www.brewhousecoffee.com.au/pages/locations

Now that I know where they moved, I’ll be there as often as I can! 😀

So, all-in-all… a good end to a really lousy month. I guess that’s better than nothing. 🙂

I just got my security news dump… and in what would be truly bizarre if it were anyone but M$ (who continually love to prove they don’t give a stuff about customers, common sense, intelligence or anything else much):

Micro$oft Kills Security Emails, Blames Canada

Appropriate for the title of this thread I thought. 😉 LOL You should be shaking your head by the end of that article! Enjoy! LOL

7 Badtux { 06.30.14 at 3:45 am }

Geeze, Microsoft is starting to sound like a South Park episode…

8 Bryan { 06.30.14 at 10:59 pm }

I’m not certain why I believe it, but I get a feeling that bureaucracies all seem to be based on a German model. I know that the Russian version is definitely German in origin because all of the names and terminology are German, but the feeling is the same no matter where you go.

Standing BTW is a practice designed to make you feel inferior to the people at the desks. All kind of mind games get played out in official offices.

Well a decent cup of coffee is worth a trip, and fresh ground coffee is an irresistible perfume.

M$ really are at the same intellectual level as the kids portrayed in South Park. If they wanted to change their system, they should have simply told people to subscribe to the RSS feed without making lame excuses.

9 Kryten42 { 07.01.14 at 12:53 am }

I think you are correct about global bureaucracies based on a German model! The system is designed to ensure that only those who absolutely must have the service will put up with all the crap to get it! Except, it doesn’t work. Those that will abuse the system seem to have infinite patience & tolerance, whilst those who really need them, don’t! Typically stupid ass-backwards bureaucrat thinking.

Yeah, the hour @ Brewhouse was a great end to a lousy week. 🙂 I can still taste it! (Though, I did just brew a coffee with beans I bought yesterday). 😉

Well, as expected (because it usually happens), M$ have backpedaled as their scheme to force everyone onto Hotmail/Outlook failed yet again! LOL

Update, 5:40 p.m. ET: In an apparent reversal of its decision, Microsoft now says it will be re-starting its security notifications via email early next month. From a Microsoft’s spokesperson: “On June 27, 2014, Microsoft notified customers that we were suspending Microsoft Security Notifications due to changing governmental policies concerning the issuance of automated electronic messaging. We have reviewed our processes and will resume these security notifications with our monthly Advanced Notification Service (ANS) on July 3, 2014.”

That was quicker than usual. So I suspect they knew it would happen, and just thought they’d give it a shot & p*ss off their customers yet again. The money they waste on this kind of crap often, could be much better spent! But their model is about complete dominance, and they will do whatever they can, and spend absurd amounts to try to achieve that goal. It seems the majority of their customers are stupid enough to allow them to do it to them. *shrug*

10 Kryten42 { 07.01.14 at 1:20 am }

*sigh* Seriously? M$ does it again, and stupid no-clue court’s allow them to screw millions. Typical.

Microsoft Darkens 4MM Sites in Malware Fight

Millions of Web sites were shuttered Monday morning after Microsoft executed a legal sneak attack against a malware network thought to be responsible for more than 7.4 million infections of Windows PCs worldwide.

In its latest bid to harness the power of the U.S. legal system to combat malicious software and cybercrooks, Microsoft convinced a Nevada court to grant the software giant authority over nearly two dozen domains belonging to no-ip.com, a company that provides dynamic domain name services.
…
Microsoft told the court that miscreants who were using these two malware strains were leveraging more than 18,400 hostnames that belonged to no-ip.com. On June 26, the court granted Microsoft the authority to temporarily seize control over 23 domains owned by no-ip.com — essentially all of the domains that power no-ip.com’ free dynamic DNS services.

Microsoft was supposed to filter out the traffic flowing to and from those 18,400+ hostnames, and allow the remaining, harmless traffic to flow through to its rightful destination. But according to no-ip.com marketing manager Natalie Gogun, that’s not at all what happened.

“They made comments that they’d only taken down bad hostnames and were supposedly redirecting all good traffic through to users, but it’s not happening, and they’re not able to handle our traffic volumes,” Gogun said. “Many legitimate users that use our services have been down all day.”

Gogun said while Microsoft claimed that there were more than 18,000 malicious hostnames involved, no-ip.com could only find a little more than 2,000 from that list that were still active as of Monday morning. Meanwhile, some four million hostnames remain offline, with customer support requests piling up.

“So, to go after 2,000 or so bad sites, [Microsoft] has taken down four million,” Gogun said.

Microsoft told the Nevada court that despite numerous reports released by Internet security firms over the past year about large volumes of malicious activity emanating form no-ip.com’s service, the company “consistently failed to take sufficient steps to correct, remedy, or prevent the abuse and to keep its domains free from malicious activity.”

But according to Gogun, the first time Microsoft brought its concerns to no-ip.com was at 7 a.m. on June 30, when the company’s CEO received a knock on the door of his family home and was served with a copy of the court order granting Microsoft authority over the 23 no-ip.com domains.

“We work with law enforcement all the time, and our abuse department responds to abuse requests within 24 hours,” Gogun said. “It’s pretty sad that Microsoft had to take such extreme measures to go about this.”

Gogun isn’t the only one who believes Microsoft swatted a fly with the equivalent of an atom bomb. Some of Microsoft’s previous legal sneak attacks targeted “bulletproof” hosting providers — those that promise to keep sketchy (and high-paying) customers online despite pressure from security firms and law enforcement. But according to Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder of security firm CrowdStrike, treating no-ip.com like one of these shady providers is a mistake.
…

Yayyyy M$! Winning friends, as usual. NOT!

11 Bryan { 07.01.14 at 8:54 pm }

You are on to something with the welfare cheaters concept. Normal people would never put with the crap that is required to get help unless they were absolutely desperate with no other options. The cheaters have figured out how to game the system and what keywords to use with the bureaucrats to avoid detection,

M$ has the monopoly mindset that doesn’t care what customers want or need because it would be too expensive to change operating systems. People have to put up with the arrogance because of their sunk costs. The only concern M$ has is maximizing their profits and stock price, so they ‘nuke flies’ and don’t care about the collateral damage that they cause. They can stall law suits until the plaintiffs run out of money or life and shop for judges and courts that are most likely to rule in their favor.