Further adventures in cat herding
So, I’m looking around on iTunes and I locate a Libertarian podcast that seems really cool. As a matter of fact, it is. It is deeply cool. I will try to be general. A guy who spent some time in showbiz and a friend of his. One of them is close to my age and the other is quite a bit younger.
Both of them are reallllllly well spoken and can get to the heart of an issue so beautifully and succinctly. Truly impressive. It’s on the level of Skeptics’ Guide To The Universe (before the political correctness ruined it) and, like SGTU, is mainly positive in the approach. Many Libertarian podcasts are negative and whiny or just plain combative. I understand why. It’s fun to whine and complain sometimes, but it’s tiresome and doesn’t win any new ears. These guys are funny and cool and it was really great to hear.
So, I fire off an email to one of ‘em saying how much I enjoyed it and the positive spin, etc. I briefly explain my Bill of Rights – Security Edition cards and aks for a mailing address as I figure they might appreciate the cards.
I get an email back saying… and I block quote:
I appreciate the offer of some Bill of Rights cards, but we are into Natural Rights, have kind of passed beyond being Constitutionalists, so wouldn’t hand them out. I also don’t fly, so won’t be going through any airport metal detectors.
He did say it was “a good idea” and signed off with the internet version of “have a nice day” which is “thanks!”. (I think I’ve written about that somewhere else. “Thanks!” with the exclamation point generally means “FUCK OFF” and specifically means “I don’t want to appear aggressive with you, but I don’t want you to think we’re friends, but I don’t want to get into any sort of argument with you as you are not worth my time so I will write “thanks” with an exclamation point to appear nice.” It’s a big emoticon for FORCED ANGRY SMILE.)
Before ending the letter, he said, and I block quote:
Please turn some folks onto [our podcast]. If you’re into handing things out, we have some printable handbills, here: ]
and was nice enough to give me the url to the handbills I would be lucky enough to hand out. Because that’s what I’m into.
Then he pitched me some online SEO course he wrote.
Classic.
I wrote back something equally condescending and sent further correspondence to spam.
This is why the people who are so intimidated by Ron Paul and freedom lovers like us have nothing to worry about: We are complete social retards.
Oh. My. Goodness.
So this is Tom Jones with CSN&Y. This made my day. Thanks, Farley Farley Farley!
When you’re young (i’ll be fifty in exactly one year, thanks), you have this idea that the music you like is better than the music you don’t like or some other genre. See “disco sucks” or “death to all but metal”.
If you’re lucky, you learn early on (I didn’t) that good music is good music. This clip is one of the great things about music. I won’t attempt to define it.
http://sweepstakesandcontestsinfo.com suck my bag
If you had so much time on your hands that you thought “hey… i wonder what’s up with that guy who did three episodes of alf with no sleep and totally heartbroken, I think I’ll look him up on the google!” and figured out my name (dean cameron) and clicked a link to http://www.deancameron.com, you were redirected to either download a virus or visit sweepstakesandcontestsinfo.com.
Why was that?
Because some bastard in the former soviet union decided to hack every site I have hosted on dreamhost.com.
cookiesbyjessie.com
coreyoke.com
getsteelpantherastar.com
oddcomment.com
were all victims of this dongface.
It began back late November and I finally got everything wiped for good today. The final bit being this line in my .htaccess file:
RewriteRule .* http://sweepstakesandcontestsinfo.com/nl-in.php?nnn=555 [R,L]
Total dongliness.
If you have hit this page because you’ve been snagged with this problem, try the steps below. If those don’t work, send me an email and maybe I can help you out. My email address is my first name and this site name. It’s also the way you can paypal 20 bucks to me if the steps below help you out.
I used Transmit & TextMate to fix everything, but you can use whatever FTP & text editor you like, obviously. In your FTP program, navigate to each directory, select all the files that can be edited with a text editor (that means no images…duh) and then “Open With…” and select whatever text editor you’re using.
New WordPress Themes
There were new wordpress themes created. That was two days ago and I’ve forgotten what they were called. Sorry. They started with the letter “V”. Shoulda written it down. Get rid of those themes. You weren’t using ‘em anyway and they actually contain a backdoor script (heh) to do all sorts of crappy stuff to all sorts of innocent peeps.
Weird Files & Weird File Names
Check for a bunch of files created on the same date. Look at those. Some will be named ‘ted_hammer.php’ or ‘flixxypo.php’. They are files that have their names generated by a bot using some sort of dictionary concatenating the words to create a file name (ted_hammer.php) or just creating a filename with some other sort of rule (flixxypo.php). They probably have a bunch of gobbledygook (that’s a technical term for ‘whatchamadingies’). Remove those files.
Redirect Code In Every File
Then, go through each and every file you have and check the last line for the url your site is being redirected to. (http://sweepstakesandcontestsinfo.com/nl-in.php?nnn=555) remove that line and any surrounding code and you’ll be fine. Go through all of your themes, when doing this step, ass well.
Redirect Rule In .htaccess
To see your .htaccess in Transmit, select: View/Show Invisible Files. It’s in the main directory of your site. You will probably see this bit:
RewriteRule .* http://sweepstakesandcontestsinfo.com/nl-in.php?nnn=555 [R,L]
Get rid of it.
Then, change your password.
You have your site back… Until they do it again.
Dirtbags.
Supersonic Sex Machine!
As I’ve mentioned over 10 million times, I co-wrote a tune on ‘Balls Out’, the new Steel Panther record called ‘Supersonic Sex Machine’. The first installment in a dystopian heavy metal rock opera about, well, a Sex Machine who happens to be Supersonic.
The cool thing about bands wot are popular (I’m talking to you, The Thornbirds!!!) is that fans (adam sergeant, in this case) will come up with “Fan Art”.
No, not art made out of indoor cooling devices, but art inspired by one’s creative endeavor.
And with that…
I give you:
Supersonic Sex Machine
P.S. I would also like to thank the cuntz who have completely fucked up all of my web sites. I hate you and hope you die of poop poisoning.
Happy Anniversary America!!!
Rocktober 26th is the 10th anniversary of the USA PATRIOT ACT. Let’s stand up and cheer for that, shall we?
Or how about hanging our heads in shame. That’s the day that citizens and politicians went bonkers and passed laws limiting the freedom of citizens in the name of security. A concept that the founders of this country were opposed to.
The fine folks at Downsize DC are pushing for the repeal of the USA PATRIOT ACT.
It doesn’t matter that it’s wildly unconstitutional. It doesn’t matter that it was passed in haste with no one actually reading the thing.
What matters is that it’s wrong. Plain and simple. Allowing a government to spy on its citizens is wrong. Incarceration without a trial is wrong. Right? Right.
I urge you to visit them.
http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/4-reasons-to-repeal-the-patriot-act
Here’s my letter to my reps:
Subject: Repeal the Patriot Act
I want the Patriot Act repealed.
I know that everyone was all fired up to “do something” after the World Trade Center was destroyed by religious people, but now we all know that the USA PATRIOT ACT was a very bad idea.
The beautiful thing about laws in a free country like ours is that they can be repealed! Right? Right!
Here’s your chance to make history and do something good.
Trash it. Throw it away and don’t look back. The rights that have been violated in the name of “security” over the last ten years beg you. (figuratively, of course… i’m not a complete nut!)
I dare you to do the right thing. C’mon. Come on!
Mr. dean eikleberry
xxxx x xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxx
burbank, CA 91505The campaign used to send this message can be found here: https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/repeal-the-patriot-act/
I dare you to do the right thing.
Gazing into the eyes of a charlatan
I received an email by mistake… well maybe it WASN’T A MISTAKE!!! MAYBE IT WAS THE GAZE!?!?!
What the hell am I talking about?
I’m talking about a genius, people. I’m talking about a charlatan who doesn’t even fucking talk. He “gazes”. People pay to stare.
Here, you’ll get to see an actress getting an opportunity to cry on camera:
He’s a genius.
Since he says nothing, he makes no claims. All of the claims are made by his followers. He just stands there while other people collect the cash.
Genius.
Holy fucking shit, people. Holy, fucking genius fucking charlatan shit.
*edit*
I can’t stop!!!
WARNING: DO NOT PIRATE BRACO! 7 SECOND RULE IN EFFECT! DO NOT PIRATE BRACO!!!
Sadness
A redundant post, but it’s my blog. Why are you reading it, anyway.
Another Hero
U.S. Citized tires of feeling unwelcome upon return to own country… Hilarity ensues.
http://nomadlaw.com/2010/04/i-am-detained-by-feds-for-not-answering-questions/
I was detained last night by federal authorities at San Francisco International Airport for refusing to answer questions about why I had travelled outside the United States.
The end result is that, after waiting for about half an hour and refusing to answer further questions, I was released – because U.S. citizens who have produced proof of citizenship and a written customs declaration are not obligated to answer questions.
* * *
“Why were you in China?” asked the passport control officer, a woman with the appearance and disposition of a prison matron.
“None of your business,” I said.
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
“Excuse me?” she asked.
“I’m not going to be interrogated as a pre-condition of re-entering my own country,” I said.
This did not go over well. She asked a series of questions, such as how long I had been in China, whether I was there on personal business or commercial business, etc. I stood silently. She said that her questions were mandated by Congress and that I should complain to Congress instead of refusing to cooperate with her.
There is also a wonderful list of replies to the folks calling him a… wait for it… DOUCHEBAG for refusing to answer some questions.
HEY BUDDY!! GOT A JOB FOR YA!!!
Tech Recruiters: I have great pity for these fine folks – it seems like a horrible job, and I suppose that they behave the way they behave because of behavior on both my side of the industry and the employer side of the industry. But, MANOHMAN, can they be annoying and weird.
Two days ago, I updated my Front End Dev resume on Monster.com. I opted to leave it “searchable by employers” but what that means is “have 20 recruiters call me regarding jobs that I’m not qualified for”.
Not only am I getting calls about .net gigs and email about managing a C# team in Torrance, but I think I’m being stalked by one guy who actually sent me a poem via text-message.
And I (block)quote:
Dean, don’t be mean
i gotta crazy job for u
crazier than charlie sheen.This is the jam
with a bit of penut butter
smashed with hamDean let me tell u about all the goodness i got in between!
True story. Really. It’s on my phone. I’ll show you sometime.
Each and every one of them leads with a variation of this line: “Hey, buddy, a colleague of mine just handed me your resume and I’d like to discuss a position that I think you’re a great fit for. Gimme a call back at Desperate Recruitment Solutions…” The ones who email me send a robot-killer: “A colleague of mine just handed me your resume and I’d like to discuss a position that I think you’re a great fit for, please send me your resume.”
They probably mean “updated resume” but still.
Here’s the problem with all of this. Up until a year ago, I’d been out of work for just about two years. That includes any showbiz stuff. I was scouring the boards… there was nothing for front-end guys. Now I have a very nice gig, but we are just now tying up the loose ends created by that nightmare. What I learned about these tech recruiters is that they do not have jobs that you are a perfect fit for. They are at the worst lying and and at the least just playing a numbers game – compile enough resumes and ‘heads’ and eventually, one will hit and their company will make the arm and leg they charge companies for their “service”. One place I worked was paying the recruiter $60/hr for my $30/hr job. And I never met the recruiter. They just sent my resume over.
I say “just” as if that’s nothing. I understand that one must cull through a billion submissions, but… just sayin’. It’s good money if you can get it.
The poet who is stalking me said he has a front end gig for me that pays 110k. There are no front end dev positions paying 110k. Not U.S. dollars, anyway. Yet.
As soon as a company passes on your resume, they are impossible to get on the phone. I actually made it in to the office of one recruiter and it was like the call center in Slumdog Millionaire. A big dry-erase board with goals and “this weeks winners”. (by the way, if you are a ruby or .net developer, you win at life). A bell was rung when someone filled a position. Horrible.
The experience that really soured me on them was the guy who was buddy, buddy, buddy with me – “they want someone with a sense of humor, buddy” and, after my phone cut out on his boss once, I wrote an email, apologizing to her, ending the email saying that I’d purchased my phone plan from a guy in Nigeria who also promised me 30 million dollars. Cute, right? “I’m sorry that our call ended so abruptly. Service in Los Angeles is maddening. I hope we can talk again soon. I don’t understand why service is so bad, etc. …” Starts off nicely and culpable and then adds a quick little “joke”. No poem… nothin. Right?
My buddy wrote back saying that his boss didn’t think I seemed professional. True story.
I guess I’m just sour on the flesh-peddler idea in general. Except for three people and you know who you are.
Now, if you actually DO have a front-end-dev gig in Burbank that pays over 100k/yr, please shoot me an email at my first name at this domain. Better still – a recurring t.v. gig that leads to a regular gig 2nd season leading to directing 2 episodes 3rd season. Howbout that, buddy?!
Why do we insist on treating each other like shit?
empathy, self-centeredness and other SAG member stuff
One of the best qualities of being human is empathy. We feel empathy for the people affected by the earthquake and tsunamis in Japan, but, other than write a check, we are unable to actually do anything to help out over there. Jamy Ian Swiss has a great presentation about empathy and its place in effective advertising and, of all things, good magic.
The “situation in Japan” is terrifying and confusing, especially because of the nutty bias against all things nuclear. Digression: I had an episode this past weekend listening to a reporter from CNN actually say “There’s nothing happening now, but some believe there could be a meltdown!” Last night, as I was torturing myself with Rachel Maddow, she was (condescendingly… go figure!) ‘splaining how nuclear reactors work – “…instead of an explosion, the rods create heat, which creates steam…” Because, as we all know, nukes are only capable of those two things.
Instead of being able to DO something – Instead of being in a position to help, we scare ourselves with stories that big bad radiation is coming and that we need to stock up on iodine or iodide or kelp or kelp iodine or… SOMETHING… ANYTHING… from Whole Foods. It can only be from Whole Foods because, well, it’s Whole Foods. After discovering that, OH, SLUG ME IN THE CUNT! WHOLE FOODS HAS BEEN SOLD OUT OF KELP IODINE SINCE SATURDAY AFTERNOON!!!!, we too, can now be (big sigh of relief) victims of the earthquake and tsunami. We can take part. We can suffer, too. “Hey, Japanese people! Lookie here… I’m in peril, too! See, I can’t get kelp iodine!!!” It’s also a way to inject some order into a weird, random event. Instead of not knowing what is going to happen. Instead of uncomfortably drifting in the wind of wait and see, we now have a task: GET ME SOME FUCKING IODINE!! STAT!!!!
It happened after 9/11 – An actress on a t.v. show hired private security guards because “they hate our media”. For weeks after the attacks, a Jewish community center down the street from where we were living at the time, used pylons to block off a lane of traffic in front of their building because they felt they were a possible target. People wouldn’t go to work in tall buildings across the country because, not only did they work in the tallest building in their city, there was a reason for terrorists to fly planes into their business, too. The movie studios “got tough” about identity and made actors miss auditions. Everyone began playing “If I were a terrorist…” You can tell when there’s a game of “If I Were A Terrorist” being played: Someone says “A terrorist could just…”
My most excellent acting teacher, Howard Fine (not the stooge, no) used to harangue us with “comfort is a false god: don’t pray to it!” (I suggest adding “don’t pray to anything” for good measure, but…) It’s a great thing to remember when we are made aware of random events. I say “made aware” because random events are happening so often that referring to them as random may be a mistake. We have literally awesome technology that allows us to be aware of things that are happening anywhere and everywhere in the world. There are always nutty, horrible, unexplainable and scary events going down. It’s a great tool, but we often forget that there was 24 hour news before 24 hour news channels. Plus, because we are now used to receiving immediate and accurate information, as Tom Petty once told me: The waiting is the hardest part. If there is no resolution within my attention span, I’m going to create some resolution, by gum!
Me and my SAG member buddies are especially self-centered. Not necessarily a bad thing. Along with chiseled abs for guys and, um, chiseled abs for the ladies, being aware of feelings is one of the main job requirements. We have to self-examine and figure out where we are emotionally, not only because it’s good for the “art” but because everyone around us lies. (Great job… Fat? You? No… That was your best work… We are behind you 100%… The guys at network are talking another season… etc.) Also, since we’re never working, we create these little tiger blood dramas for ourselves to star in. Convincing yourself that you can only eat a type of chicken sold at one store keeps oneself distracted from the fact that you haven’t been on a set in 10 months. This is all yet another episode to convince me that things were easier when religion and the religious were clearly defined. The downside to fewer people believing in that stuff is figuring out who is doing something because of “faith”.
Unfortunately for the cynics, people are basically good. Even without a man in the sky. Thanks to humans, life is better now than it’s ever been.
The sky will fall when it falls. Every generation believes they’re the last generation of humans to walk the earth. It’s sexy. “Hey, my generation destroyed humanity! How rad is that?!”
(rad, get it?)
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