Tech company layoffs may or may not be the right move for the industry, but what is it that is "cool" they have done for me lately anyways?

 

So in the Seattle area we are learning that major companies based here, like Amazon and Microsoft, are poised to have major layoffs this year, and overall tech companies have already announced over a 150,000 layoffs this month, with Meta (Facebook) and Google also “shocking” observers by issuing a large number of pink slips, supposedly because of a decrease in ad revenue. Of course Twitter’s work force has dwindled to about 400, with Elon Musk reportedly hemorrhaging his own wealth to keep it afloat.

We have been told that the “work-at-home” environment during the pandemic led to more hiring, and for online retailers like Amazon it was a bonanza of new business. But the “good new days” are over, with things going back to “business as usual” with retail stores and restaurants reopening, and online retailers subsequently having less business and a bloated payroll, and together with inflation (suggesting less “production” from the increased workforce to keep prices down), the first order of “business” is to be profitable and keep shareholders “happy.”

Underlying all of this is the “expected” recession which hasn’t quite happened yet, since GDP increased in the third quarter by 3.2 percent, and 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of the past year. Forbes tells us, however, the “tech has always been a growth-oriented business” based around “high-flying innovations, unicorn start-ups and massive growth.” Even during recessions, it is “unusually resilient” and “never down for long.”

But there are those, also according to Forbes, who think cutting the workforce is the wrong move, because tech companies really have a revenue problem, and cutting jobs reduces revenue in the industry. Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford observed that “People do all kinds of stupid things all the time. I don’t know why you’d expect (tech) managers to be any different.” Tech companies are also caving-in to investors who are used to 20-30 percent annual growth, and anything less leads to “harsh evaluation.”  

We can certainly look at the world through the potential for profit, but for myself, it’s always what it is that is “new” and useful, and to be honest, whatever people are calling “innovative,” I call evidence of loss of creativity and "cool" product. The world of consumer technology sure has changed a lot since I was young. Books, cassette tapes and multi-band radios gave way to compact discs and cumbersome laser video discs, followed by the "affordable” PC, mini LED  televisions, Napster and Mp3 players using PC hard drives.

Then came DVDs and Blu-ray discs, laptops replacing desktops, cell phones turning “socializing” from a private activity to a public nuisance, but then “smart phones” became a way to minimize socializing and gather information from sometimes questionable sources.

Now physical media and books are alleged to be on the chopping block given streaming services and “e-books.” However, there are some people who have pointed out that films and television series that people want are not always available when they get the itch, and some not ever, so there is a need for physical media even if they are seldom used. The same with books; you don’t have to rely on electronic devices that require electrical or battery power, so it is nice to have physical books as a “back up.” If there was a nuclear holocaust tomorrow, we’d still have books at least to tell the tale of human folly.

New technological toys always have their initial phase when people experiment the possibilities that they can be used for. This is was especially true of PCs, when increased processor speeds, memory and hard drive space expanded the "artistic" possibilities of what could be done with them. I remember when screensaver software like After Dark was all the rage, then Windows incorporated “cool” screensavers and games on XP, followed by Vista which the DreamScene program in which video could be used as a “wallpaper” or screensaver, and a even a DVD creating program was included. 

But with Windows 7, all the “cool” stuff started to disappear, and in Windows 11, there is extremely limited opportunities to “personalize” your computer unless you spend money on third-party programs like Stardock DeskScapes.

Frankly, I look at the tech world today and say, “what is out there that is cool?” and to be honest, not too much anymore. Everything “new” revolves around how to work, and about the only “cool” thing I’ve come across is the ability to “self-publish” on a blog. But the time when you could go to a software, book, video or record store are long past. Where is the “art’ anymore? I haven’t bought a new fiction book in decades because I’m not going to buy something if I can’t actually “see” it to evaluate it. 

And there really isn’t anything to “see” or “hear” anymore, which is why I only imbibe in what I know, like “old” films and music. And that is what current “tech” has failed to overcome, at least for me. For all the frustration I have with Amazon's delivery service, at least they provide me with the things I want, and every two years I indulge in the latest and greatest laptop--which is "cool" for maybe a week or two.

Memphis police beating video shows the kind of "training" one expects from the proposed building of that urban warfare training camp in Georgia

 

Last week a Hispanic environmental activist, Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, who was camped in a forest outside of Atlanta with other activists protesting the destruction of 85 acres of forest land to create a mock “cop city” where police would train for apparent “urban warfare,” was shot and killed by police in an action that those who have studied environmental activism in this country are calling "unprecedented." Police claimed that Terán…

 

…fired at and wounded a police officer, but other activists camped at the scene claimed they only heard a single volley of multiple shots, and called the killing of the activist (who was described as being “gay” and espousing non-violent action) an “assassination.” No bodycam footage of the shooting was released, and claims that a gun was found on Terán was derided as being planted by police who actually wounded one of their own by chaotic “friendly fire.”

Other activists camped out in the forest were arrested and charged as “domestic terrorists.” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has declared a “state of emergency” and the activation of the National Guard. Kemp is being accused of overreacting with typical Republican “law and order” bluster overriding community concerns and police blackmail. The extensive Weelaunee Forest is regarded as being “vital” to combating greenhouse gases locally, according to environmental activists, and Atlanta residents charge that the “leasing” of 85 acres by the city to create the “mock city” will only create a practice field for urban warfare by “militarized” police, and lead to more police abuse.

One might suspect that Kemp’s actions were taken a week after the shooting not in fear of relatively peaceful protests by environmental activists, but of the potential for violent protests in the wake of the release of the Memphis video in the beating, and subsequent death, of a black man named Tyre Nichols. These five police officers have been charged with murder:

 

We often see mass protests after black men are shot or beaten by white police officers, but what makes this incident stand out is not only are the accused black police officers, but the shear deliberateness of brutality we see in the video released today; the officers themselves appear to be the real “gangsters” on the street to be feared. 

Some may question why Nichols didn’t “cooperate” initially with police; he doesn’t respond to commands, appears to try to walk away at one point, tries to keep the officers from handcuffing him. We can surmise that he believes he hasn’t “done anything,” but that never stopped a police officer from abusing his or her power to kill—remember the case of former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, who admitted that when she “mistakenly” burst into Botham Jean’s apartment (believing it was hers even though she was on the wrong floor) her intention was to kill first and ask questions later.

“Training” doesn’t always lead to following approved procedures as we saw  in the Guyger case, as she completely ignored her training on how to “handle” a situation where a man is sitting in his own living room eating ice cream; she just burst in with gun blazing. It really depends on the character of the officer, doesn’t it? Some people choose the profession because they like being bullies, and wearing badges gives them the power to operate with impunity. 

I remember when I was working at the airport, I got on the bus to Renton to go to Fry’s Electronics when it was still open, and was walking down a sidewalk literally minutes after I got off the bus when I was surrounded by four police cars, and was detained with the accusation of committing a bank robbery that had just occurred. I told the officers I just got off work and had only just arrived in town; one of the officers claimed that I fit the description  of the robber, and to “prove” it he called someone for “confirmation”: a 5-10 white man with a  beard and wearing dark clothes.

I pointed out that the only part of that description I fit was wearing dark clothes, meaning my airport uniform that was clearly marked with the name of the company I worked for. Yet while the real bank robber was getting away, I had to wait there for about 15 minutes until a witness arrived in another police car, where I could see her shaking her head. Seconds later I was all alone, the contents of my backpack strewn all over the ground, and no apology by police given.

It was the “suspicion” of a white female officer who had been trailing behind me that led to this detainment, and I suspected that the other officers were just trying to humor her because they knew I wasn’t likely the suspect that they were looking for, and I certainly wasn’t giving them an “excuse” to start beating on me. But whatever “defense” the Memphis police officers can concoct for their actions was undercut by the shear brutalness of the beating they administered on Nichols:

 

 

While the actual violence was brief, we can see one officer repeatedly kicking Nichols in head, and another repeatedly beating on his head with what appears to be a nightstick.

The nonchalant attitude of the police involved also makes it appear that this was just another day in the park for this kind of activity, so it begs the question of just how many other such beatings were administered not just by these officers, but by other officers. This occurred in a relatively “nice” neighborhood, not a gangster-infected center of urban blight, so what the hell were these officers thinking? 

Well, we don’t really have to “wonder” do we? This entirely senseless incident is just the kind of thing people are concerned about what will be “taught” with the building of that urban warfare "training" center outside Atlanta.

What, someone isn't accusing Marilyn Manson of the Ontario "car bomb fiasco"?

 

The abuse cases against shock rocker Marilyn  Manson seem to be slowly unraveling. We are learning that Illma Gore had a hand in orchestrating the accusations, and she is an individual who is even “weirder” than Manson, if that is possible. For years Gore had a “business” in which she charged people $10 to have something of their choosing tattooed on herself. It’s been pointed out that this has largely been a scam, since Gore seems to be running out of space to tattoo herself:

 

So this idiot is Evan Rachel Wood’s partner in crime, and we are not supposed to question the accusations against Manson? Yeah, he was a friend of Johnny Depp and looks “weird.” It worked for Amber Heard, right?  Well, let’s see, Ashley Morgan Smithline’s lawsuit against Manson was dismissed by a judge, and Esmé Bianco’s civil case against Manson was “settled,” probably because her accusations against him could be proven to be motivated by a “business deal” gone wrong. 

As for Wood, she has given interviews in which her mental health state is of question, people are  pointing out her use of a faked document as "evidence," and questioning why she continued to live with Manson and participated in various projects with him if he engaged in the kind of “horrific” BDSM-type abuse she claims, when it is more likely she was a curious consenter if such claims have any "truth" to them.

The suspicion that Manson’s accusers were “consenters”--if not outright lying--until they were told by people who were themselves of questionable habits like Gore, that what Manson allegedly had them engage in was “abuse,” brings up the question of personal responsibility. If Gore consented to "abuse" her own body to "please" others for just a few dollars, then her credibility in determining what a "victim" is seems of a rather low order. 

Last week we learned that another case related to Manson demonstrates just how low people can go in blaming others for their own behavior. Remember this?

 

Probably not, because it occurred in Canada.  Business Insider tells us that Daniella Leis was involved in the following after being kicked out of a Manson concert for excessive intoxication and driving on the wrong side of the street:

Referred to as the "car bomb" fiasco by the CBC, the incident occurred on Aug. 14, 2019, at 450 Woodman Ave in London, Ontario, Canada — a seven-minute drive from the show at the Budweiser Gardens arena. Leis crashed her Ford Fusion, which had been registered under her father's name, into a single home. But moments later, a broken gas line caused by the crash set off an explosion that ripped apart four homes and injured seven people nearby, per the CBC. 

The crash caused a mind-blowing $15 million in damage. Leis eventually pleaded guilty the following October to “four counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm” and sentence to three years in prison. Since then she has had time to “think”—or at least her parents and their attorney have since they are being sued for the damages their daughter obviously cannot pay. It is now claimed that Ovations Ontario Food Services is at least partially at fault for selling her the alcohol at the venue in the first place, and thus even more "liable." Well, at least she isn’t blaming Manson—yet.

So here we go again, people who don’t want to take responsibility for their own actions. Nobody “forced” this individual to consume an excessive amount of alcohol; that was her own decision. There were probably many other people who did as well, but they didn’t drive into traffic at excessive speed, swerve and plow into a house and cause a gas explosion that destroyed four homes and the lives of the families who lived there, plus repairs to the gas line that effected many other families. 

Of course we can go on and on about cases where accusers are incapable of self-reflection and taking a hard look at that self-obsessed deceiver staring at them in the mirror.

Leaving flags at half-past for pertuity won't solve gun violence, but it may be a reminder that as a people this country just won't learn from its mistakes

 

I noticed today that the flags in front of the William Kenzo Nakamura United States Court House in Seattle were still at half-mast:

 

This court houses one of the appeals courts for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. I wondered who Nakamura was, the court house only being named after him in 2001, before which it was simply the United States Court House. He wasn’t a respected officer of the judicial branch, but a simple private in the U.S. Army who was awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II. I’m sure that there are many other Seattle natives who won the medal, and others who had notable judicial careers, so I think it was safe to assume that this naming was done for sociopolitical reasons; thus the reason for the half-masting was in honor of the Asian victims in the Monterey Park mass shooting, which was in keeping with the usual hypocrisies of "inclusion."

Now, I encountered a comment from someone calling himself “stumptownblogger” who suggests that we should “just leave the flags at half-mast…this country is in big trouble.” I certainly see a "point" in this: I mean, why is this particularly mass shooting more “noteworthy” than any other? The subsequent mass shooting at Half Moon Bay, also perpetrated by an Asian man, was more likely an actual hate crime against another group.

While it is true that the Monterey Park shooting was the worst in numbers in a single event, it still paled in the totality of victims in 44 mass shooting events this year through the 24^th, 86 deaths and 265 total victims, using Wiki’s criteria of four or more victims during a single event. But as high as that number seems, it pales in comparison to other months; July seems to be a “popular” month to get the “itch” to start shooting: in 2021, July led the year with 84 mass shootings according to Wiki’s count, and it was the same in 2022, with 100 mass shooting incidents. Both 2021 and 2022 averaged 2 mass shootings per day, according to Wiki’s criteria, which begin tracking them in 2018. What is indicated, however, is that this month is already the second worst for mass shootings for total deaths since 2018 with a week to go.

So given that the Monterey Park tragedy wasn’t unusual, that begs the question of why in the overall scheme of things are we not simply leaving flags at half-mast for all the victims of this country’s insane insistence that owning guns is a “right” and not a “privilege.” Only people who need guns should have them, but in this country it is “normal” for someone to just go to a gun shop, buy a weapon and start shooting someone, or multiple people on a whim or grudge. Second Amendment fanatics tell us everyone should be armed to “defend” themselves, but the ease in which someone can be killed by a gun seems to contradict that assertion; remember how Indiana Jones just shrugged and shot that guy with his fancy scimitar sword play.

Not that homicides would disappear without gun ownership; in the UK, which bans most people from owning guns, the most common instruments to commit homicide are knives. But since people can defend themselves against knife attacks, or are more likely to survive them, it is thus little wonder why the UK has only a quarter of the homicide rate of the U.S. despite being a similarly polyglot society with the same social problems.

But no matter. As with all mass shootings, the Monterey Park incident will be forgotten like all the rest, and most people will still think some important person died recently to explain the half-mast in front of the court house. It is a bit of a joke, in fact, since “mourning” people in this way won’t bring them back, and people in this country don’t want to do what is needed to prevent another mass shooting from occurring, probably tomorrow. We might keep the flags at half-mast in perpetuity, and people still won’t care why they are such, not really at all; but it may just serve as a reminder than as a country we are destined not to learn from our mistakes, especially those on a certain side of the political spectrum.