Author: Aaron Weber

This article is the culmination of many years of astrotuf lobbying by captains of destructive and corrupt industries. It highlights as the work of a man whose job it has been to assemble fake public-interest groups that make tobacco look good, to undermine the public welfare, to make powerful titans appear to be sympathetic grandmothers, to paint as corrupt the defenders of the defenseless.

The article is very well written, but it fails to actively point out corruption and unethical behavior. I expect the paper of record to point out lies and deceptions, not merely to note that certain people disagree with the Creation Science Group’s assertion that the earth is flat, the Citizens for Wonderful Things position paper on the idea that tobacco is a healthful tonic for nerves, or the Mountebanks and Patent Medicine Manufacturers of America press release on the subject of laudanum as a remedy for neurasthenia.

So, I’m driving back from the land of Vomitola (A.K.A. Lowell, A.K.A. “Factory town turned loft-condo-ville”) and I heard Something for the Weekend by the Super Furry Animals playing on WMBR (one of two good music stations in Boston– the other being WERS). I’m pretty sure I’d heard the song before, but I hadn’t known the title or the name of the band– I thought Super Furry Animals were some kind of jam band or something, but no. So, I found a song I like by listening to the radio. How long has it been since that happened to you?

So anyway I go to look up the name of the song to check the lyrics and come across violent slash fiction apparently related to a BBC TV show of the same name. EW EW EW EW.

And then the next day, at the gym, the Alien Ant Farm cover of Smooth Criminal came on the sports-club Muzak. It’s a good cover and a brilliant video and hey that’s fun. Nice work, boys.

Yes, I’m back. I can’t keep the domain and not use it. I can’t sit around and not make notes, hey I could be blogging this.

I can’t say hey, here’s how long it takes the average worker to earn a Big Mac, and wonder how long does it take me to earn a linen blazer, and what if I get the cheap knockoff instead? And what if I buy the surprisingly well-made car that saves money by recycling the discarded styles of other manufacturers? Anyone with the guts to acknowledge a poor rep (“Hyundai. Yes, Hyundai”) wins in my book. Especially if they acknowledge and address the concerns– by improving quality and backing it with a big fat warranty.

My company has always had pretty good quality, but the reputation as a dinosaur persists. I keep saying, we need to license the line “Don’t call it a comeback, I been here for years” from LL Cool J. But I doubt it’ll happen. For starters it’s a song, and we don’t do TV or radio advertising.

All the other techies are commenting on the Ubuntu UI guy’s list of what’s wrong with the Ubuntu UI, and how right he is about what needs to be fixed. None of those issues were particularly surprising or interesting to me. I mean, they’re known bugs, they’re in the list of things to be fixed, we’ll get to them. What did interest me was that he’s started using his own products this late in the game.

I don’t suppose I was that surprised by it. My total lack of surprise suggests to me that I need to stop blogging for awhile. I’ve run out of anything interesting to say.

So, don’t expect much from me for the next few days or possibly weeks.