Blackcap Blog

Published at 10:04 on 15 September 2015

I actually had a chance to try one out, for free. I’m not impressed.

First, it’s far more distracting than a map. The display animates to show your progress. This grabs my peripheral vision and distracts me from what’s going on outside. That’s more than just annoying: it’s unsafe. There’s no escape from the above drawback: the thing has to be mounted on the dash in order to “see” the satellites. If I put it on the seat so it doesn’t distract me, then I have to wait several minutes for it to locate itself every time I check my position. By contrast, a old-fashioned paper map stays out of the way when I don’t need it yet is there, instantly, whenever I wish to consult it.

Second, it shows only a tiny part of any map. It’s very difficult to get any overall idea of the layout of where I am by zooming out (lose detail) or panning (lose context). A big, old-fashioned map is much better in this regard.

Third, it’s expensive. I just bought a comprehensive street map of Kitsap County for $6. So far as addresses go, the phone company sends me a countywide phone book every year for free. Since I don’t need it at home (where I can use the Internet), I put it in my truck. Any decent GPS will cost about 15 times that much. Plus in a few years, the maps and address data inside the GPS will need updating. That costs $50 or $60, i.e. fully 10 times what acquiring a new map and phone book does.

Fourth, it’s limited. It shows but a subset of businesses and business categories. Compared to the phone book, it sucks. It also shows a very limited subset of points of interest like parks, lakes, etc. Compared to the index on my old-fashioned map, it sucks.

If I did more long-distance road trips, I could see such a thing having some utility despite its drawbacks, because it’s impractical to keep a detailed map for every last town you’re going through with you (and to acquire same in advance). But I don’t — so it doesn’t.

Published at 19:08 on 14 September 2015

Well, isn’t this one precious.

A left-winger just won* the race to be the leader of the Labour Party. And the losing side, which calls itself “New” Labour is whining about things like “returning to the past,” “delusions,” and “failed policies.”

Reality check time: Blair is no longer PM, and hasn’t been for some time now. So far as “delusions” go, how about the one that Dubya was telling the truth about Iraq being a threat worth going to war for? And for “failed policies,” how about the resulting war there which paved the way for ISIS, a group that manages to make Saddam Hussein look OK in comparison?

And of course the ultimate irony is the term “New” Labour. It’s the past, it’s dying, and good riddance.

* Won it quite handily, in fact, on the first round of voting, with the largest margin ever for such a victory.

Published at 13:59 on 13 September 2015

Spams me about a job in Silly Valley, despite my clearly-stated residence in the Seattle area and lack of desire to relocate:

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2015 14:28:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: Piyush Srivastava <piyush@simplion.com>
To: xxxxx@xxx.com
Subject: Backfill Position: Build Engineer | CA

Dear David
 
Our records show that you are an experienced IT professional
with experience relevant to one of our current open position.
Please let us know whether you would wish to evaluate one of the
open positions we have with our customer based out of San Jose,
CA.

Gotta love the mangled English on this one. Evidence that Simplion is a real sleaze outfit who not only offshores their workforce, but does so to the absolute minimum level of education (and salary) they possibly can.

Published at 11:08 on 11 September 2015

Mainly because sexuality is more than a simplistic gay/bi/straight spectrum, and I happen to be further from that line than most.

I just don’t have the sort of strong sexual urges most men do, so if I wanted to I could become an “ex gay” and put up with the ruse basically indefinitely. Attractive men would still catch my eye, but it would be trivially easy to resist any temptation to go further (because for me there simply isn’t much temptation).

It would of course still be a lie (I’d not be straight), and I have no interest whatsoever in practicing fundamentalist Christianity (or any other sort of organized religion, for that matter), and I strongly support the right of all individuals to live according to the sexuality they actually possess, so I’d never actually do such a thing.

But if I wanted to, I could. And although my sexual orientation is unusual, I doubt it’s unique.

So there exist “gay” men who are sexually active to the degree they are not because they’re gay and that’s what their deepest intrinsic desires lead them to be, but because they can be that way if they try. (They’re play-acting at being gay, in much the same way that many so-called “ex gays” play-act at being straight.)

Perhaps, like me, they were curious about sex and wanted to experience some at least once in their lives. I realized that I just didn’t fit in with what is — to me — a hyper-sexualized subculture that was continually imposing its alien sexuality onto me, primarily through the implicit assumption of others that I wanted the same sort of frequent, often casual, sex they desired. I wanted a little bit of sex, with one or two individuals I had a very close relationship to, that’s it.

I resolved the problem by basically walking away from the subculture and ceasing to identify as a member of it. Others may find that difficult to do, and want to replace the gay male subculture with another one, say that of conservative Christianity. And the world’s a large enough place that at least a few individuals probably have.

Keep that latter point in mind. Because, no matter how many “ex gays” continue to be caught in the act of lapsing, it means that somewhere there are probably some who don’t — and won’t — “lapse.” Odds are this will eventually get some attention in the Establishment media.

When it does, it in no way means that it’s possible to become “ex gay;” the individuals which will be reported on never actually were gay in the first place.

Published at 11:41 on 10 September 2015

More spam from United Software Group which blissfully ignores my very obviously stated unwillingness to relocate:

Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2015 14:35:24 -0400 (EDT)
From: Amber Srivastva <amber.s@usgrpinc.com>
To: xxxxx@xxx.com
Subject: Requirement of Technical Lead-Cloud/AWS in Portland, OR

Hi David,

We have an urgent requirement for a Technical Lead-Cloud/AWS.
This is a Contract position based in Portland, OR. If you are
interested in this position, please contact me / send your
updated resume.

Comparing this to the other recent bit of spam from a recruiter with this firm, it’s clear the sleaze is organization wide. Note how they both use exactly the same form letter.

Published at 10:17 on 10 September 2015

At yesterday’s interview. Which is promising, but cue Richard Marx:

Honestly, it probably will materialize, but this job search has been sufficiently weird (with signals from prospective employers that in the past were generally promising turning out to be false) that it wouldn’t be a total surprise if it doesn’t.

Published at 10:11 on 10 September 2015

Moron spams me about a job in Silly Valley despite my clearly stating unwillingness to relocate.

Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2015 12:41:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: Deepak Jaglan <deepak@simplion.com>
To: xxxxx@xxx.com
Subject: Urgent need:  Python Backend Developer

Our records show that you are an experienced IT professional
with experience relevant to one of our current open position.
Please let us know whether you would wish to evaluate one of the
open positions we have with our customer based out of Palo Alto,
CA.

Published at 10:41 on 9 September 2015

OK, last one of these for a while; they’re starting to clutter up this blog. It’s here to show what a sleaze outfit Net2Source is; they’re one of my main offenders. This one is local but it’s sysadmin.

Date: Tue, 08 Sep 2015 13:58:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: Kuldeep Yadav <kuldeep.yadav@net2source.com>
To: xxxxx@xxx.com
Subject: Need:::Sr Unix/Linux Systems Administrator - Bellevue, WA - Bellevue, WA

Sr Unix/Linux Systems Administrator 
6+ month contract 
Bellevue, WA 

Published at 10:38 on 9 September 2015

Bozo sends me spam about a job based in Lincoln fucking Rhode Island, on the other side of the continent from where I’ve explicitly stated I’m unwilling to relocate from:

Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2015 12:59:36 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ravi Sharma <ravi.s@usgrpinc.com>
To: xxxxx@xxx.com
Subject: Need::Configuration Management - Build and Deployment Engineer at Lincoln, RI || TCS || CVS


Hi David,

We have an urgent requirement for a Configuration Management
- Build and Deployment Engineer. This is a Contract position
based in Lincoln, RI. If you are interested in this position,
please contact me / send your updated resume.

Published at 10:28 on 9 September 2015

Another clown from the insurance industry, despite my standard preface explicitly ruling such things out:

From: "davidstubbs@lineone.net" <davidstubbs@lineone.net>
To: xxxxx@xxx.com
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2015 12:12:22 -0400
Subject: Resume respond for David Barts

Our staffing manager has reviewed your CV in an online CV base. Based on
your background and abilities, we thought you might be interested in this
opportunity.

We are looking for a manager to join our team. We are experts in the field
of health insurance. Our company provides a high-level of financial
services for thousand people all over the globe. We suggest both integrated
and individual solutions in this field. Now you got a chance to be a part
of our company.