Major Irritant

What goes:  “Fuck. Double fuck.  Double-doublety-double fuck”?

That would be me.

When my Logitech mouse starts randomly double-clicking when I tap the key once.

Yesterday I tried to see whether it was a software or hardware issue, so I tried going to Logitech’s “Customer Support” site (okay, you can stop laughing now).

  1. Tried blowing compressed air under the key, as helpfully suggested by Rajib “Logan”  — didn’t help.
  2. “Enter the serial # of your mouse, then we’ll know exactly what it is”  — fucking hell, I could barely read the thing with a magnifying glass, and every time I turned it over to read it, the cursor wandered out of the chat panel, never to be seen again.  Eventually, after uttering Sentence #1 of this post a few times, I managed to get the thing entered.
  3. “Do you have another PC or laptop where you can test your mouse?” — good idea.  Then we can see if it’s a laptop software issue or a mouse issue.  Hopped over to New Wife’s PC in the next room.  Once I’d called her to get the login password — shuddup — I connected it up and… nope, still doing it, the little fucking fucking double-fucking piece of shit.  Go back to laptop.
  4. “Session has timed out.  Do you want to log in again?” — where’s the 1911?  Oh yeah, in pieces on the table waiting to be cleaned. So I log in once more.
  5. “We’re sorry, but your warranty expired on 02/22/21.  We cannot replace your mouse.”

So I shot bit the bullet — not literally, ammo is spendy — and ordered another one.  From Amazon.

“Your order may be delayed as the product is on back order.”

            

[several lines of cursing omitted]

Teacup, Storm In

I see that the silly Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone Magazine  is having his pee-pee whacked for the cardinal sin of saying (supposedly) that Black artists are not as articulate as their White counterparts.

I’m reminded of the priceless Frank Zappa quote (about Rolling Stone  itself), and I’m going by my admittedly-creaky memory:

“Rock journalism can be described as people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t speak, aimed at people who can’t read.”

I always thought that Rolling Stone  was a silly magazine, aimed at White rock ‘n roll fans, mostly talking about White musicians.  Their lists of the “Greatest [whatever]” were apparently written by people aged 18 who had no idea of any music that had been released any more than two years before they turned 16, if that.

And Wenner himself was nothing more than a rock groupie, his magazine giving him the backstage pass to all the top bands’ acts.  He was an inconsequential player in a silly age, and why anyone would want to read, let alone buy his book will remain a mystery.

Seriously?

Turns that occasionally-funny Brit comedian Russell Brand has been a Naughty Boy:  shagging women all over the place, molesting women on set, hosting orgies, groping strange women… all the stuff that makes Teh Wimmynz angry.

Golly, if only there had been some kind of clue,,,

I remember him being interviewed by two stern TV female journos on, I think, Faux News.  As much as they tried to shame him, or make him look like a fool, he just overpowered them with wit and savage mockery.

At the end of the interview both women gave identical statements:

Then there’s this tragic tale… try not to giggle.

Women just love a Bad Boy, and our Russ is now being pilloried for actually being one.

No-Fly Policy

Why am I not surprised that Oz airline Qantas screwed up yet again?

Fed-up Qantas passengers who were forced to sit on the tarmac for six hours before their flight was eventually cancelled have unleashed on the airline.

Flight QF93 from Melbourne to Los Angeles was cancelled at 3 am on Tuesday after it was decided the plane was too heavy to take off due to strong winds. The doomed flight had already been delayed before customers boarded.

‘We just wanted to get off. We were tired, there was no water, we weren’t even offered any food, we weren’t allowed to get out of our seats.’

‘This isn’t their first rodeo, they didn’t have any contingency plan and they’re never on the front foot. You’ve got to get on the phone to them, you’ve got to chase them up, you’ve got to be the one that tries to get your compensation or get your complaint in.’

And:

A Qantas spokesperson has since apologized for the inconvenience to customers.

Frankly, I’m amazed — at the apology, not at their behavior.

Qantas is one of the several reasons why I’ll never visit Australia.  They have a near-monopoly on flights to that foul country, and their arrogance has become legend among frequent travelers.  After our first flight to Sydney was canceled because of the WuFlu, Qantas refused to give me a refund because they’d put a two-year restriction on refunds — and as the OzGov only opened the gates after three years, Qantas told me, in almost these terms, to go and piss up a rope.

Of course, I’m also still furious at the bastard OzGov for their inefficiency and intransigence when they cocked up my trip to visit my family in Sydney a while ago — a cock-up which cost me nearly $4,000, by the way, and which made me swear never to go Down Under, ever.

(Apologies to Readers Biwoz and Bluey, amongst others — it’s not your fault, of course.)

As for Qantas, my advice is that if you have to fly to Oz for whatever reason, fly any other airline — Qantas’s prices are always high anyway — because you’re less likely to be treated like shit.  It’s worth taking, say, Cathay Pacific or Emirates even if you have to connect (and wait some time) in another airport, because that hassle is likely to be more pleasant than dealing with Qantas.  If Qantas is “the spirit of Australia” as they claim, Oz is pretty much fucked.

Caveat viatorem.

Return Of The Asshole

Just when I thought that ex-BritPM Tony “Oily Little Shit” Blair had disappeared from public view, he steps forward with yet another Nanny-State idea:

Tony Blair has urged ministers to tax junk food so it is too expensive for the poor in a bit to tackle obesity. The former Labour prime minister urged an interventionist policy on public health, with an expansion of the sugar tax, new levies on foods high in fat and salt, and advertising bans.

He said ministers needed to help ‘create the circumstances’ in which poorer families choose healthy food, and likened the situation to the fight against smoking when he was in No10 — which included a ban on publicly lighting up indoors.

…which did fuck-all except drive people outdoors to get their nicotine fix.  It certainly didn’t stop poorer people from buying cigarettes.  There’s no reason to suspect that his jihad against “junk” food will perform any differently.

I also love the “create the circumstances” line — a classic piece of unctuous Blairite pablum which covers the intrusive governmental bossiness of what he’s suggesting.  “We know better than you what you should do.”  (cf. Hillary Clinton.)  And speaking of this bitch…

This, by the way, is the real problem with electing leaders when they’re young:  they carry on with their bullshit after leaving office (e.g. the Clintons, the Obamas and even Jimmy fucking Carter).  As much as I detest the late Harry S(hitbrain) Truman, when he left the Oval Office he retired to Bumfuck MO and we never heard from him again.

Would that his political descendants would follow his example.