Sunday, June 10, 2018

The Destruction of the Internet

Sometimes I worry about it, but for the most part, these things have a way of working themselves out. For instance, one of the most egregious pieces of legislative manure, the DMCA, has yet to actually shut down the internet. While it has made life harder for people and has slapped various YouTubers with illegitimate automated take downs, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act has neither stopped online piracy, nor completely destroyed the internet. On the other hand, the powers that be simply cannot stop coming up with “new rules” for Congress vote into laws with the intent to control what people cannot put on the internet.

One day, even the jokes I’ve been posting here might somehow become illegal. I imagine at some point every thought and expression will be owned by various corporate interests, and end users will no longer be permitted to post anything on the Internet for fear it may infringe on an agency’s intellectual property. Even then, people will still manage to express themselves in ways that displease their clandestined masters. More rules. More controls. Every color trademarked. Every vibration an infraction.

In the end, I imagine the public will be oblivious to the concept of living any other way. They will accept the new rules begrudgingly at first, but affectionately after a while. The future dark ages will further wipe any memory of a time when people imagined they could communicate freely.

“Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?” – George Orwell, “Nineteen Eighty-Four”

Pax,

-f2x

God’s Partner

A farmer purchased an old, run-down, abandoned farm with plans to turn it into a thriving enterprise. The fields were grown over with weeds, the farmhouse was falling apart, and the fences had collapsed all around.

During his first day of work, the town preacher stopped by to bless the man’s work and said, “May you and God work together to make this the farm of your dreams!”

A few months later, the preacher stopped by again to call on the farmer. Lo and behold, it was like a completely different place. The farm house had been completely rebuilt and in excellent condition, there were plenty of cattle and other livestock happily munching on feed in well-fenced pens, and the fields were filled with crops planted in neat rows. “Amazing!” the preacher said. “To think that you have accomplished all this with the help of the Lord!”

“Yes, reverend,” said the farmer, “but don’t forget what this farm was like when God was working it alone!”

Stupid Spoliation

A blonde dashed into the police station and cried, “I’ve been raped by an idiot!”

The detective on duty immediately took out his pen and paper to record the details. “OK, ma’am, I know you’ve been through a difficult ordeal, but I’m going to have to ask you a few questions. First of all, what makes you believe the person who raped you was an idiot?”

“Because I had to help him,” cried the blonde.

The Murray River Cruise

A man was walking past a travel agent’s office when he noticed a billboard promoting a “4 day cruise down the Murray River – $40 all inclusive.”

Impressed by the low price, he raced into the shop, slapped $40 onto the counter and said, “I’m here for the Murray cruise.” Quick as a wink, the travel agent whipped out a baseball bat and knocked the man unconscious.

When the man awoke, he found himself tied to a floating log and drifting down the river. After a time, he noticed another man in the same predicament on the other side of the river.

“$40 Murray cruise?” he called out.

“Yep!” said the man from the other side.

Injecting a bit of levity he called back, “I’ll bet you we don’t even get breakfast!”

The other man called back, “We did last year!”

John 7:53

Jesus sat down in the temple to teach some of the people. A group of scribes and Pharisees confronted Jesus and interrupted his teaching session.

They bought forth a woman accused of committing adultery. They asked Jesus if the punishment for someone like her should be stoning.

Jesus tried to ignore them at first, but after being pressed he stated that the one who is without sin is the one who should cast the first stone.

Suddenly a woman at the back of the crowd fired off a stone at the adulteress.

With a heavy sigh, Jesus said, “You can be a real bitch sometimes, Mom.”

Harry’s Revenge

Harry was in the hospital. He was an old man. Anyway there was this young nurse. Everytime she came in, she talked to him like a little child. She would say in a patronising tone of voice “And how are we doing this morning?!”

Well, this is a story of revenge. He had received breakfast, and pulled the juice off the tray, and put it on his stand. He had been given a urine bottle to fill. The juice was apple juice. You know where the juice went.

The nurse came in and picked up the urine bottle. She looked at it and remarked, “It seems we are a little cloudy today…”

At this, he snatched the bottle out of her hand, popped off the top, and chugged it, saying, “Well, I’ll run it through again, and maybe I can filter it better this time.”

Sunday, June 3, 2018

Apples to Bullshit

Over a decade ago the good people of Ohio received a choice in who they get to pay for the energy that comes from their local power company. Of course it’s all a fanciful scam, because rather than just figure out what would save you the most money, they throw a bunch of these so called “deals” in front of you, each with various terms that make direct comparison rather tricky.

Of course energychoice.ohio.gov makes the bold statement that it’s “Apples to Apples”. It’s more like comparing Apples to random junk in the garage. Of course they all have different rates, but then some are only introductory rates, then switch to variable rates after a couple months. Some come with contracts that have early termination fees. Some have monthly fees that literally cost more than my electric bill already costs. They all come with a variety of gimmicks. What a great way to save money! /s

See, none of them can just compete by offering the lowest price per kilowatt hour, because then you have price wars and companies tend to lose money when those happen. Instead they have to invent a slew of different terms and conditions that consumers have to carefully weigh and analyze to see if it would be worth it or not. (Hint: It’s usually not.)

In the end it’s just another stupid game with stupid prizes. They figure if they give the peasants a choice about which company is fleecing them, they’ll be more inclined to accept that they were ultimately the ones responsible for being screwed on their monthly utility bill instead of the double dealing politicians and businesses who concocted this idiotic scheme.

Pax,

-f2x

Gravely Humorous

Despite having been married for nearly 60 years, Mildred and Edgar deeply resented one another.

“You’re getting awfully old, Edgar,” scolded Mildred. “It won’t be much longer and I’ll be happily dancing on your grave.”

“That’ll be just fine with me,” said Edgar, “because I’ve already arranged to be buried at sea!”