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Apple Care

I usually try not to use this web journal as a place for random gripes about things that bug me, but this is too much.

I called Apple Care with a service issue about my computer, namely that the power adapter basically almost caught itself on fire the other day. The cord seems to have gotten a short and blown out, causing a nasty electrical smoke to come out and stink up my living room.

The computer is under an Apple Care warranty, so it should be no problem to get it fixed. I set myself a time when I knew I had almost an hour to spare (having called Apple Care before and gotten stuck on hold for an insanely long time). And lo, here it went again. I spent almost 15 minutes holding for the noob* tech support guy. I talked to him for less than 5 minutes, and he put me back on hold for the l33t* tech support guy*. At the moment, I have been holding for another 20 minutes and expect to hold for another ten at least.

This, mind you, is to get Apple to replace the power adapter that almost set my house on fire. Something is not right here.

But there is also an object lesson in balance between the extremes of ideology to be learned here which is why I filed this post under politics and government.

Apple computers ‘just work’. This is because Apple are fascists and keep their technology to themselves. It means that everything is seamlessly integrated. It also, unfortunately, means that when there is a problem like the one I’m having (a known issue for Macbooks, by the way) you have no choice but to deal with Apple on their terms to get the problem fixed.

On the other hand, Microsoft is populist (at least in terms of hardware). Their products are shoddy, they don’t work, but someone with a little bit of knowledge can hack the crap out of them and Windows would run on a toaster oven if it had a CPU.

To complete the political metaphor, Linux is made by anarchists. This statement is not entirely metaphorical.

This is just like in the real world. Fascists are the best at ‘making the trains run on time’. But they’re a pain to deal with.

Anyway, at 47 minutes from my initial call I’m about to get off the phone so I’ll leave you with that thought.

*For the less geeky among us, these are geek jokes. Noob is someone who is new and inexperienced. L33t (also spelled 1337 and other variations) is pronounced LEET and is a shortened version of elite. These are mostly used by hard corps video game enthusiasts, of which I want to make clear, I am not one.

Homebrew terms

Looking back at the last few posts, I notice that I’ve thrown around a lot of brewing terms that I’ve picked up without providing much background. Here is a good glossary of home brew terms.

Also, I thought a basic “what is beer made of” might be appropriate, if I’m going to start babbling about beer. So here’s the scoop:

Beer is what happens when yeast are released into a solution of Malt, Hops, and Water. What are these things, and what do they do, you might ask. And I’m glad you did, because I’m going to tell you.

Maltose is sugar that has been converted from the starch in grain. This conversion process is called “malting” or “mashing”. When making beer, malted barley is the most commonly used grain.

Hops are a vine plant that produces a highly aromatic, bitter green flower that looks kind of like a fir cone. These things are what give beer it’s bitter, beery flavor.

Water is a medium for everything to come together and do its stuff.

Most beginner homebrewers, including my self, use malt extract instead of mashing all the grain at home. Mashing is an elaborate process that requires multiple five gallon vessels, including one with lots of tiny holes in the bottom, and a good way to boil five gallons of liquid (want a fun afternoon? try to boil five gallons of liquid on your electric stove. It won’t happen).

Rather than go through this, we use malt extract which comes either as a power or a syrup. Our beer doesn’t taste as ‘authentic’ as all-grain brews, but it’s a lot less time consuming and complex to make.

So, the malt and the hops and the water all go into a kettle with a few gallons of nice, pure water. Then we boil the crap out of it for an hour or so. Once it’s boiled, we cool it and put it into a giant glass bottle called a carboy. We add yeast and let it do its thing for a week or so. The yeast eat the sugars in the malt, and crap out good old alcohol and carbon dioxide. At the top of the carboy is a device that lets the CO2 out without letting air and bacteria in. At the end, there is ale.

Of course, this is the simple, simple, simple version. I’m learning more and more every day about the many pitfalls and joys of home-brewing.

The Nasty Elf is in bottles on the counter waiting for labels. It will bottle condition for around a month before it’s good to drink. The first week of that time is when the yeast will eat some fermentable sugar that we added before bottling the beer. The carbon dioxide that is released won’t have anywhere to go, since the bottles are sealed up, and it will dissolve into the beer. This is carbonation. The next three weeks it will age and improve in flavor. Then we will refrigerate and drink the little suckers. I can hardly wait.

Nasty Elf

This is the label for the “Nasty Elf Ale”. It’s going into bottles tomorrow. From the flat warm sample I tried this afternoon when taking the gravity reading, I think it’ll be delicious.

Hypervelocity Rod Bundles (Rods from God)

Your tax dollars at work, ladies and gentlemen. From the Arms Control Today website;

“The Air Force has considered using weapons for prompt global force projection through space, such as the common aero vehicle and Hypervelocity Rod Bundles (often termed “rods from God”).[7] Such space-based global strike capability would allow the United States to target and strike any point on earth in less than 90 minutes with complete surprise and provide the capability for flexible strikes for different types of targets, such as hard and deeply buried targets or mobile targets.”

The English version is this; the military is spending on the order of Millions of dollars on a project to hang the equivalent of a very pointy Mack Truck from a satellite, and then drop it onto any point on the globe. By the time it hits the ground, it’s going so fast it penetrates to some inane depth. One minute, you’re minding your own business drinking tea. The next minute, there’s a massive hunk of metal hurtling through the ceiling. The ultimate slapstick, only at the end all that’s left of Laural and Hardy is a very flat stain. Compare this to, for example, the money we spend on needle exchange programs. Or head start. Or food stamps.

God [b]less America.

Existential Crisis Averted (I Think)

If you look back a few posts you will see a long winded, self obsessed rant about an existential crisis that I have been working through this term. I’m pretty sure that this is a standard crisis for people who are leaving the safe, theoretical environment of a University and wanting to make a positive difference in the dangerous, practical real world. I think I’ve pretty much worked things out for myself in the short term. If I can take work that lets me make society slightly better every day, I think that will do for now. At least I’m not throwing my energy into something that makes life worse, and people are really suffering now. The problem with changing the system in fundamental ways is that it’s a crap-shoot, and there are all manner of completely unpredictable consequences that you have to take into account. So, I think I’m coming down on the side of incrementalism, doing little things to make the whole slightly better in controllable ways rather than radical things to make the whole as close to ideal as possible all at once but with the possibility of unforeseen consequences blowing up in your face and making things worse in the long run. Maybe I’ll change my mind again one day, and I’m still in favor of some pretty sweeping changes to the way we do politics. What’s changed is that I can feel good in a job that isn’t directly aimed at radical change (which is good, because there aren’t a lot of those jobs out there). I can feel good in a job that makes a few people feel better and takes small steps toward a better world.

Am I a total sellout?

A Note on Notes

Hello to any readers that I may have, at some point, gained. I’d like to point out a few things about this site that you might not have noticed. First, in addition to using the site as a blog, I also use it to post pictures of my family, and to store Notes for my classes at school. Finally, I have some of my poems posted. Please feel free to peruse any of this through the tabs up top. My classes this term are ‘Racial Politics in the US’, ‘Terrorism, WMD, and Nuclear Proliferation’, and ‘Political Economies’. They should prove interesting. I try to post a weeks worth of notes at a time, before the weekend. If you’re in one of my classes and I’ve directed you here for notes, please help yourself but keep in mind that I often use verbiage directly from my notes in take home exams and essays (so don’t cut and paste - it’s plagiarism).

New Movie

Here is a new movie of Arthur being adorable. I really like using YouTube for these shorts. I think it helps our relatives who live far away feel a little closer to our baby and our family.

Ch ch ch changes

I’m going through changes to the site here, trying to decide on what to call this little experiment, and also working with the look and feel of things. If you’re looking for a site that was called ‘glitch’ or ‘bifurcated thoughts’ this is it. I think I’m sticking with ‘of two minds’ unless I think of something really amazing before I launch in earnest. Anyway, sorry about the mess.

And, if you pop by, leave a comment to tell me what you think of my plaid.

Welcome

Welcome to my Blog. Right now, it’s in ‘development’ (I’m trying to figure out what the hell to do with it, and in the meantime wasting myself on trifling design issues). Soon, I’ll have it more worked out and get back to you.