From the title of this post you probably get the gist of this post. I feel compelled to write it anyway.
I have noticed in my dealings with various websites around the Internet, that often, as a matter of fact, more often than not, the web developers and managers decide that something isn't working, or doesn't work as well as it should. Unilaterally. Often, it has been the tried-and-true, FUNCTIONAL programs we all seem to like and rely on. Facebook. MySpace. ReverbNation. Music Xray. Even our browsers...Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape Navigator (remember that one?!?)
Why? Progress.
Sometimes, the newly improved programs or sites are, indeed, new and improved. Oftentimes they are not. I have recently (10 minutes ago as I write this) had the displeasure of being told by the website, and I'll name names, Music Xray, that my browser was out-of-date and would not work with their website. They provided a link to a choice of four different browsers, all of them free, all of them with their own little quirks (my opinion, my blog). Internet Explorer was provided as one of the links. I like Internet Explorer. I clicked the link. I was taken to a Microsoft site, and within ten seconds, a message came across my screen that told me that I was running IE8 and Windows XP Pro. The message continued with the assurance that my browser was the most up-to-date browser available for XP. With that information, I returned to the Music Xray website and again attempted to log in, this time with the knowledge that my browser was indeed, up-to-date. Same result.
Now, I am not a neophyte with these computer things...I studied programming in college. One of the things, one of the cardinal rules of programming that I was taught was this: People will have different operating systems. Make it work, no matter what system they run.
With that in mind, I attempted to contact Music Xray's tech people, through their "contact us" link. It allowed me to enter my entire complaint. Now I'm getting somewhere, right? Wrong. As soon as I hit the "Send" button, it took me to another site where a few "problems" with their website were listed, along with a "Does this help you or do you still need to send your complaint" link. Well, someone else had had exactly the same issue as I. So, I clicked on that, and it took me to another page. I kinda think it was done to make things easier for them, but it definitely did NOT make things easier for me. After I read the response, (and the heated exchange ensued, back and forth) I decided that no, it did not help, and I attempted to return to the previous page. It had been closed, somehow, and even hitting the "back" button on my browser would not take me there.
They're not gonna treat me like that, are they? So, I went through the process again, this time, it only took about 5 minutes to get back to the complaint page. I typed in my complaint again. This time, when they tried to send me to the "Does this help..." page, I said no, it hadn't helped and tried to send my complaint. I don't know where it went. I don't care anymore. If they are going to treat me with my UP-TO-DATE system as a step-child because I won't "Upgrade" to Google Chrome (apparently, there is some control game going on here...uh-oh...this is a Google blog...we'll see if that matters....) then they don't want my business. And I am a PAYING customer on Music Xray. Maybe my ten dollars isn't significant to them. I wish I could say that about ten dollars. But it will be a long time before I decide ten dollars is chump change. I can't be certain how much I've spent on their site, but each time I submitted a song to one of their "opportunities", I paid. At least until I could no longer access the site. I guess this is the new reality...the customer isn't always right. Welcome to the 21st Century.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
The Global Wolf Pack
When did it happen? It wasn't an overnight thing. It happened gradually, one or
two of us at a time. Then the movement picked up momentum. Suddenly, here we
are. A pack of blood-thirsty people-wolves, anxious to tear the flesh from our own
friends and families. Anyone with a perceived weakness is fair game. If you get
caught parking your car in the wrong spot. If you get caught taking an "extra"
dessert. Whatever the "crime" of the moment is, the pack mentality will take you
down.
It has now morphed into more serious, real crimes being treated with equality to
the perceived aberrations. As I write this, there is a scandal on the television news
concerning at least eleven members of our Secret Service, the supposedly elite
law-enforcement and presidential protection group. Seems they got caught literally
with their pants down. Human reproduction is a natural thing. Without it, the human
race would disappear. But now, the act itself, if performed outside of ever-changing,
undefined, make-it-up-as-we-go circumstances, has been criminalized. Anytime the
pack, led by the media wolves, senses the blood of an offending, often innocent party,
it attacks in a relentless, unflagging ripping and tearing of the emotional flesh. It is
not a question of guilt or innocence. It is a "get them, they did something wrong to
someone" type of attack.
Everyone and every deed is suspect. You have no idea when the pack will turn on
you, sensing an illegal or immoral act on your part, even when none has transpired.
We are all human. By definition, we are not perfect. But the pack mentality demands
perfection. Hence, we are all fair game. Just let one of the television personalities
mention your name as a perpetrator of the currently despicable offense, and watch the
pack turn on you. Whether or not you committed a crime is immaterial to the pack.
Their sole goal is to rid the pack, or the planet of your kind. They will resort to
anything to achieve that goal, often becoming perpetrators and victims themselves.
Where am I going with this? Here. The Bible, generally accepted as the "good" book.
says, in regards to the crowd gathering around a woman of questionable character,
(here is where you insert the various and sundry offenses listed in the paragraphs above)
New International Version (©1984) John 8:7 When they kept on questioning him, he
straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to
throw a stone at her."
Okay, there it is in black and white. From over 2000 years ago. In God's Word. And not
an isolated, uncorroborated quote. There are cross-references:
Also from the Bible, New International Version (©1984)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew 7:1 Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Romans 2:1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else,
for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you
who pass judgment do the same things.
I don't think I can say it any clearer than that, so I'll close for now.
two of us at a time. Then the movement picked up momentum. Suddenly, here we
are. A pack of blood-thirsty people-wolves, anxious to tear the flesh from our own
friends and families. Anyone with a perceived weakness is fair game. If you get
caught parking your car in the wrong spot. If you get caught taking an "extra"
dessert. Whatever the "crime" of the moment is, the pack mentality will take you
down.
It has now morphed into more serious, real crimes being treated with equality to
the perceived aberrations. As I write this, there is a scandal on the television news
concerning at least eleven members of our Secret Service, the supposedly elite
law-enforcement and presidential protection group. Seems they got caught literally
with their pants down. Human reproduction is a natural thing. Without it, the human
race would disappear. But now, the act itself, if performed outside of ever-changing,
undefined, make-it-up-as-we-go circumstances, has been criminalized. Anytime the
pack, led by the media wolves, senses the blood of an offending, often innocent party,
it attacks in a relentless, unflagging ripping and tearing of the emotional flesh. It is
not a question of guilt or innocence. It is a "get them, they did something wrong to
someone" type of attack.
Everyone and every deed is suspect. You have no idea when the pack will turn on
you, sensing an illegal or immoral act on your part, even when none has transpired.
We are all human. By definition, we are not perfect. But the pack mentality demands
perfection. Hence, we are all fair game. Just let one of the television personalities
mention your name as a perpetrator of the currently despicable offense, and watch the
pack turn on you. Whether or not you committed a crime is immaterial to the pack.
Their sole goal is to rid the pack, or the planet of your kind. They will resort to
anything to achieve that goal, often becoming perpetrators and victims themselves.
Where am I going with this? Here. The Bible, generally accepted as the "good" book.
says, in regards to the crowd gathering around a woman of questionable character,
(here is where you insert the various and sundry offenses listed in the paragraphs above)
New International Version (©1984) John 8:7 When they kept on questioning him, he
straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to
throw a stone at her."
Okay, there it is in black and white. From over 2000 years ago. In God's Word. And not
an isolated, uncorroborated quote. There are cross-references:
Also from the Bible, New International Version (©1984)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew 7:1 Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Romans 2:1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else,
for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you
who pass judgment do the same things.
I don't think I can say it any clearer than that, so I'll close for now.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
The Age of Non Responsibility
When I started this post, I was really angry. Some idiot on the TV news
had just enunciated, "It wasn't my fault..." and proceeded to lay blame on
some huge, deep-pocketed corporation. And the people around him were
buying his "mea non culpa".
The Age of Non Responsibility
We have finally reached it. A new age. We started with the Ice Age, or
the Pleistocene Age, or whatever science wants to call the times that
came before us. Then, there were the Gay Nineties, (1890's) the
Roaring Twenties, (1920's) the Swinging Sixties, (1960's), the whatever
'80's and now, into the new Millenium. I am finally willing to admit it.
Which makes me a non-participant, I think. We have entered the new
age, the Age of Non-Responsibility.
What? you say...what do I mean? We have entered an age where the
prevailing mindset is, "it's not MY fault." No matter what the facts, no
matter where the smoking gun, no matter what proof to the contrary,
we as a herd (we do tend to react with the herd mentality) are not to
blame for the results of our individual actions. You abuse your children,
it's not your fault, it's how you were raised. Blame your parents. You get
caught with a gun, it's not your fault. You needed protection from the
bullies, so put them in jail. You have an accident on the freeway, and run
into the back of someone else's car. It's not your fault, the brakes on the
car didn't work, so blame the manufacturer.
When when when are we going to say enough?!? The kids are your
responsibility. I don't care if your dad beat you black and blue, you
didn't like it, did you? Then WHY would you do it to YOUR kids??
Stand up, say, "Your honor, it's my fault, I did it." Your dad may not
have paid his dues while here on this earth, but in the afterlife, he has
to answer to his maker for his transgressions. And, even if you don't
believe in an afterlife, you still have to answer to your KIDS for how
you've treated them. Hopefully, you're gonna be old someday. You
wanna do THAT alone?
Okay, you bought the gun. There are laws, licensing, and ways to get
the bullies off your back. You don't have to shoot them. Sure, they are
assholes, but that doesn't make it okay to shoot them.
So you were on the 210 and someone stopped short in front of you.
First, why in hell were you following so close? You ever hear of the
"one car length for each ten miles per hour" rule? Oh, that's right,
the rules are for everyone else. And now that you hit her, and totaled
her car, it's not your fault because the brakes on your car were faulty,
and the manufacturer is to blame? Give me a break. If you bought the
car, you tried it out, and the brakes worked fine for the past three years.
Now that you've wrecked her car, your car and who-knows-what else,
you need to blame someone else, so the manufacturer gave you bad
brakes? Come on.
They have a saying in prison. "Don't do the crime if you can't do the
time." It means, in case you need translation, if you cannot live with
the consequences of YOUR actions, then DON'T do what you are
contemplating doing. I think the translation is not even as clear as
the saying. But don't blame me. It's my computer's fault. Sue IBM.
had just enunciated, "It wasn't my fault..." and proceeded to lay blame on
some huge, deep-pocketed corporation. And the people around him were
buying his "mea non culpa".
The Age of Non Responsibility
We have finally reached it. A new age. We started with the Ice Age, or
the Pleistocene Age, or whatever science wants to call the times that
came before us. Then, there were the Gay Nineties, (1890's) the
Roaring Twenties, (1920's) the Swinging Sixties, (1960's), the whatever
'80's and now, into the new Millenium. I am finally willing to admit it.
Which makes me a non-participant, I think. We have entered the new
age, the Age of Non-Responsibility.
What? you say...what do I mean? We have entered an age where the
prevailing mindset is, "it's not MY fault." No matter what the facts, no
matter where the smoking gun, no matter what proof to the contrary,
we as a herd (we do tend to react with the herd mentality) are not to
blame for the results of our individual actions. You abuse your children,
it's not your fault, it's how you were raised. Blame your parents. You get
caught with a gun, it's not your fault. You needed protection from the
bullies, so put them in jail. You have an accident on the freeway, and run
into the back of someone else's car. It's not your fault, the brakes on the
car didn't work, so blame the manufacturer.
When when when are we going to say enough?!? The kids are your
responsibility. I don't care if your dad beat you black and blue, you
didn't like it, did you? Then WHY would you do it to YOUR kids??
Stand up, say, "Your honor, it's my fault, I did it." Your dad may not
have paid his dues while here on this earth, but in the afterlife, he has
to answer to his maker for his transgressions. And, even if you don't
believe in an afterlife, you still have to answer to your KIDS for how
you've treated them. Hopefully, you're gonna be old someday. You
wanna do THAT alone?
Okay, you bought the gun. There are laws, licensing, and ways to get
the bullies off your back. You don't have to shoot them. Sure, they are
assholes, but that doesn't make it okay to shoot them.
So you were on the 210 and someone stopped short in front of you.
First, why in hell were you following so close? You ever hear of the
"one car length for each ten miles per hour" rule? Oh, that's right,
the rules are for everyone else. And now that you hit her, and totaled
her car, it's not your fault because the brakes on your car were faulty,
and the manufacturer is to blame? Give me a break. If you bought the
car, you tried it out, and the brakes worked fine for the past three years.
Now that you've wrecked her car, your car and who-knows-what else,
you need to blame someone else, so the manufacturer gave you bad
brakes? Come on.
They have a saying in prison. "Don't do the crime if you can't do the
time." It means, in case you need translation, if you cannot live with
the consequences of YOUR actions, then DON'T do what you are
contemplating doing. I think the translation is not even as clear as
the saying. But don't blame me. It's my computer's fault. Sue IBM.
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