Category: Orange Flag

Damn

Posted on

YouTube Curation

YouTube uses an algorithm to feed the user videos that they might like.  Of course the goal is to keep you on YouTube as long as possible to feed you the most advertisements possible.  I started to call this algorithm, curation, but the definition of curated is: “carefully chosen and thoughtfully organized or presented.“  While this may be what YouTube is doing on one level, it is more than a little nefarious on another.

As long time readers will know (ad nauseam) that I am studying Spanish.  As part of this journey I subscribe to various YouTube channels for learning Spanish and others in Spanish for their entertainment value.  So now the YouTube curation algorithm feeds me videos in English and Spanish.

A while back, for reasons unclear to me – perhaps it figured out that I am old and male, it fed me a video from an urologist.  The video captured my attention as the presenter was a very attractive young female who turned out to be a M.D. in the field.  Being a man of a certain age, urological topics have a bit of an interest for me.  Then you add in the mujer linda, and I just had to click. Bad move on my part. Now YouTube is feeding me tons of videos dealing with urological topics.  However, what really floored me was that it was also feeding me urological videos from urologists in Spanish speaking countries… in Spanish.

Everyone is concerned with Big Brother being the government, for my money, Big Brother is  here and he is the personification of these huge technology companies coming after your wallet and your mind.

And yes I know it is possible to erase your YouTube history and start fresh.  Or for that matter simply turn off their algorithm. But then how would I find videos of a pretty young urologist preaching to me about urological measures I should be following?

And so it goes in La Casa de Viejos.

Posted on

Furries, Litterboxes, Schools

One of the issues I have as a “writer”… well a blogger is that occasionally I have the urge to write a posting that may offend or hurt another person.  Most of the time I let the urge pass as my reasons for blogging do not include embarrassing or hurting folks around me. I am smart enough, after two marriages, to ask for a blessing from Señora on posts that involve her.  The Wee Dog can just suck it up. Besides, it is rumored that she cannot read anyway, but I am not sure I believe it. 

I could not resist the urge this time to share this anecdote as it brings home an important point in the current cultural wars that are dividing my beloved country.

The other night Señora and I were invited Continue reading “Furries, Litterboxes, Schools”

Posted on

The Flags Flying in Rural Areas

I just returned from a 3 day backpacking trip in north central Arkansas.  My brother and I were in the Ozark National Forest a little ways south of Jasper which is on the Buffalo National River.  It is a very rural area, a very scenic area, consisting mainly of national forests and cattle operations, sparsely populated would be an accurate description.

I have written before of how I felt my beloved American flag has been hijacked by the conservatives, especially the extreme right.  That has resulted in my having mixed emotions Continue reading “The Flags Flying in Rural Areas”

Posted on

Bill Gates, Wuhan, COVID-19

This is how truly nutty the world of conspiracy theories is.

I study Spanish via Skype with several different individuals that live mostly in Central America and northern South America.  I’ve never researched how much business China does in Latin America, but according to these folks Chinese products are huge there, especially technology items. Consequently, due to the business connections of Continue reading “Bill Gates, Wuhan, COVID-19”

Posted on

Coronavirus, are we overreacting?

I worked in Information Technology for 30 years.  I was actually on call December 31, 1999.  Remember Y2K?  Lots of folks felt like there had been a tremendous overreaction to this potential problem.  What most people did not see was the 3 years before the change from 1999 to 2000. There was an immense amount of work that went on changing the date routines of uncountable computer programs on mainframe systems.  This is when Indian programmers first started coming to this country in large numbers, to work on the Y2K issue.  The work was done, and there were very few glitches across the computer world. People then had the luxury of making fun of the whole Y2K phenomenon.

What I am trying to figure out is, are we overreacting to the coronavirus pandemic?   The truth is we will not really know until Continue reading “Coronavirus, are we overreacting?”

Posted on

NYT Daily’s podcast on Coronavirus

The Daily is a 20 to 30 minute podcast from the New York Times on current topics. Today’s episode is on coronavirus, and it is well worth your time. The primary contributor to this episode is Donald G. McNeil Jr. who is a science and health reporter for The New York Times. His explanation of the possible pandemic is excellent.

What scares me is the leadership of this country.  I do not believe they are up to dealing with a pandemic, unless they do the smart thing and get out of the way of the experts. That would be out of character for the Trump administration.

We have a president who truly does not understand basic science, basic economics or basically very much.  We have many senators and representatives that if they have a basic knowledge of science are willing to act ignorant for the sake of campaign contributions. Trump has put Vice President Pence in “charge” of the government’s response.  I would bet a very large sum of money that Mike Pence believes either 1) you can pray away the possible pandemic or 2) a pandemic would be God’s vengeance on a wicked world and well deserved and the righteous have nothing to worry about.

‘Nuff said a link to the story is below:

The Coronavirus Goes Global

Posted on

Vaccinations – They are a good thing

For various reasons there is a huge anti-vaccination movement in this country and elsewhere in the world.  As former minor public health official in Arkansas and as someone trained in science I found this very hard to swallow.  The initial “study”that set off the current anti-vaccination movement has been discredited as well as the doctor who put it out there.

Here are 3 excellent videos on the subject (watch them in order).  Also I have a link to the original article.

Five surprising moments in vaccine history

Video 1
Continue reading “Vaccinations – They are a good thing”

Posted on

Carly Fiorina – Only people with the “right talent” deserve a family centered life.

carly fiorina

“When I was chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, we also offered paid maternity leave and paid paternity leave,” she said. “It’s pretty clear that the private sector, like Netflix, is doing the right thing because they know it helps them attract the right talent.” ~~ Carly Fiorina, one of the mob vying for the Republican presidential nomination.

As I readied myself for work this Monday morning, I was getting my morning cup of WTF by listening to the political news on NPR. I heard the above quote from Ms. Fiorina and my cup overflowed.

First and foremost came the thought that if you were not the “right talent” then you did not deserve paternity leave? That tells me all I need to know about the Ms. Fiorina’s world view. Compassion apparently is not on her Rolodex or in her contact list. One can only assume that as the former head of a tech company she has dumped the Rolodex, but the rest of her views tend to point in the other direction.

When I was searching the Internet to make sure Continue reading “Carly Fiorina – Only people with the “right talent” deserve a family centered life.”

Posted on

The Real Meaning of Black Friday

Wal-Mart heirs occupy slots 11, 14, 16 and 17 of the richest people on the Planet! Yet many of its employees are forced into public welfare programs due to low wages and their HR policies. If you work and are willing to work full-time should not have to get public assistance to make ends meet. That is the real Black Friday…a day of mourning for the American retail worker.

Make A Change At Walmart