Just Passing Through

Actually, they live here.

Two Together

Leader Of The Pack

Trophies on the hoof. Who says we have too many deer in daVille?

When The High Tech Betrays You

Low Tech Just Works

It Isn't Easy Being Blue

This isn't about the blue stain on city hall fueling unlimited spending and it isn't about the blue hysteria around Biden reverting to the 2020 campaign tactic of hidin'. 

Nope. This is about the Blue Screen of Death.

Remember those? Thought that was cured didn't you? Well, you'd be wrong. Not much, maybe nothing, has changed with regards to the robustness and stability of the Windows platform, except maybe that the scope has expanded in breadth and severity. The story, accepted for god knows what reason, is that with adequate add-ons Windows can be made just as reliable as any other platform. Or so it was sold to enterprises, enterprises who also adopted remote management of software including updates. Once again we've proven: to err is human but to really foul things up requires a computer. A computer [system] was used for massive, rapid, unstaged, and apparently untested, rollouts of CrowdStrike FalCon updates. In the dead of the night. And sometimes, like this time, you wake up to dead systems. Millions of them. Maybe more.

And that is what just happened. And while some remote updates can be rolled back, when you get a Blue Screen of Death, you have a bricked computer, a doorstop. And keep in mind, this is a Windows platform, where all too many software updates require a reboot, and when that reboot hits the Blue wall, your computers are automagically Out Of Service. Return To Service requires organic intervention. That's right, manual recovery. One. Computer. At. A. Time. So while the rollback image may be available in short order, actually getting back to normal is going to take a long, long time, or an army of techs, or both. This is gonna make Y2K look like a joke (it kinda was). 

This will not only cost billions of dollars in lost revenue, it will actually cost lives. In the UK, doctors are triaging, taking only the most patients, leaving the others without care. Globally, hospitals are cancelling elective surgeries, prioritizing the most urgent. Care deferred is lives lost, and the corporate decision makers have blood on their hands. Think of that when you cannot buy that latte. 

But thinking locally, are we really impacted? After all, aren't our voting systems running atop Windows? Yes, yes they are. And here's where irony kicks in. The version of Windows in these devices is no longer supported, as in no updates, automatic or otherwise. Furthermore, they are not likely to run the CrowdStrike package, and it seems that while source code control is somewhat lacking, actual updates to the system are treated seriously, almost fearfully. Not that this happy circumstance is a result diligence or foresight, but this is Georgia and we'll take what we can get. 

So let's hope we've paid our dues.

Try Again. This One Isn't Working.

Happens often. Laws never enforced.

Job ONE! Never DONE!

Mall Cops

There was a recent incident at Perimeter Mall that made the Blue Bag Rag's Police Blotter involving two masked yutes carry sometimes concealed, sometimes not so much, pistols. The mall's cops were first to spot them, and you gotta wonder if they don't really stand out wearing masks as these masks were not described as the pandemic variety. The mall cops escalated to DPD who came and confronted the yutes. 

This is where it gets hinky. Upon approach, one yute revealed his pistol and placed his hand on the grip. Now, before George Floyd that probably would have reduced the yute count from two to one, requiring a Weapon Discharge Report, but not in this case. In this case, the yutes were detained and juvenile detention was contacted and the police were informed that this situation did not rise to the level of detaining these yutes. Instead these yutes were charged, including gun charges, and delivered unto their grandmother and mother, respectively. No mention of a male biological contributor being involved.

So. You gotta wonder. Just what would these yutes have to do in order to warrant being detained? Keep in mind the firearms were possessed illegally as these yutes were not old enough to have them in their possession. Maybe if they'd actually discharged a firearm? Or, would they have to hit someone? Not enough? Well, what if they killed someone?

All we know for certain is these yutes were set free and only a fool would believe they have not already re-armed. 

Camps Run Amuck

Camp season is in full swing with an enormous variety of camps based on day or stay, general activities, and affiliations. Dunwoody has a unique camp, because Dunwoody is unique despite the best efforts of some to force us into banality, and our camp is:

That's right! We have "Camp Carpool!" Your children will be introduced to backseat etiquette, how to pinch a sibling without being caught, license plate bingo, I Spy (with my little eye), and all the verses to 99 Bottles. The only restriction is that you cannot walk your child to camp. You must drive. 

QR Codes? Really?

Dunwoody Village tends to get littered with illegal signs, well, because, no enforcement. And they tend to hang around a while, sometimes literally. But there is something you may have noticed about these offensive signs polluting our community: they very often have QR codes. This is interesting because, as almost anyone without a sign knows, internet advertising is the way the world works these days. So why can't they get with the times? Plus, If you actually put up one of these illegal signs, QR code or not, you're just insulting folks who might have been customers. 

Let's look at a couple of examples stinking up the Village.

Really? HOW neighborly are you?

This is an astounding display of arrogance claiming status as a "neighborly company." Well, here's a clue "neighbor": this sign is illegal and that, around these parts, isn't considered neighborly. This alone is enough reason to never do business with your company. 

Look At Those Screws

This one is pole mounted, and these jerks were not just jerking around, they were screwing around. That's right, this bad boy is literally screwed to the pole. Hell, the city doesn't put up signs that securely. Once again, there are many folks who offer pressure washing services, and you're one that no one in daVille should ever consider.

Where Were You?

This is a party game: where were you when <fill in the blank> happened? You know, like 9/11, the shuttle disaster, the Kennedy assassinations, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, or the fall of Saigon (or Kabul). But that's not today's diatribe. Today's question is put to the Fourth Estate: where were you, where the hell have you been and what have you been doing?

The AJC, given cover by the Grey Lady, is spilling ink ostensibly editorializing that Biden should step aside because of sudden onset age. Yep, he's an overnight octagenarian. To hear these two pontificate you'd think Biden went from the vim and vinegar of a mid-life crisis (he does own a Corvette) to full blown old-age senility. And the Fourth Estate? Well, they didn't see that coming. Really? 

To be kind, the AJC opinion piece is filled with merde de cheval, and predictably so, as it is consistent with previous behavior. By headline this is billed as a call for Biden to step aside. For the good of the country, wink, wink. But, as they always have, they digressed into a hit piece on Trump. This harped on the only thing the debate offered: CNN fact checkers accuse Trump of thirty prevarications. Not noted by the AJC are Biden's nine lies or his long history of a strained relationship with the truth. Not that one liar is better than another, but in their partisanship it seems the editorial board would have you believe one, their one, is better. Their argument against Trump is nonsensical and arrogant. Nonsensical in that they characterize their enemy as a pathological liar yet quote him suggesting those quotes are gospel truths. Arrogant in that they believe, and expect us to believe, that they are somehow the sole arbiters of truth, when all they really have is what we all have: an opinion. 

But they simply could not leave bad enough alone, they had the chutzpah to bring up George Washington's "farewell address," specifically in regards to partisanship. The AJC editorial staff is unashamedly leftist, AKA Democrat, and they are unrelenting in bashing Republicans. Exclusively. This is an Orwellian level of propaganda born of intense hubris. They claim to be our source of real news, of objective information, yet their leftward tilt leads them into biased reporting replete with misleading language and disinformation. 

And if we are to believe they are so damned knowledgeable how could they be blindsided? How could it be that they were surprised? Or, maybe they weren't. Maybe they knew all along, after all, anyone watching the D-Day ceremonies witnessed this same senility on parade. If they didn't know they should have. Either way they have violated a public trust and maybe, just maybe, they are the ones who have finally stepped aside.

Me-Oh, My-Oh, What About Ohio?

Due to Biden's incredible debate performance, Democratic movers and shakers are doing more shaking than moving, and any movement is in the direction of "anyone but Biden." And they don't even know who to replace him with.

Then there are the actual logistics. This is where Ohio comes in. See, Ohio had a nomination deadline for a candidate to appear on the ballot, and that deadline was before the Democrat's convention where Biden would formally become the nominee. Now some are saying that if Biden drops out, the delegates would be able to vote their conscience for a replacement. Problem is, the Democrats have already held a virtual nominating convention to ordain Biden in advance of the Ohio deadline. This makes Biden the official, the legal nominee, making the convention itself a charade.

If, and it is a big if, the DNC plays by the rules, their rules, it would fall to the DNC to select Biden's replacement. How democratic is that?

Stupid's Back

If you stroll the Knoll you have probably noticed a new addition to the Chamblee-Dunwoody intersection that cropped up overnight like some kind of mushrooms. Yep. Two new, pretty much unnecessary sources of light pollution. Remember when the city gave a hairy rodent's rectum about light pollution? Of course you do. But look, it gets better.

Here They Are

Not just two, but two different types, two styles. Let's take a closer look at the shorter of the two.

Oddly Familiar

Doesn't this look like the pole lights on Dunwoody Village Parkway? It does. Well, except for one notable exception. 

This is the one they replaced and this is where things get stupid. Again. The Knoll tells us that there are indeed replacement lights that are visually consistent with all the others on DVP, at least when it isn't lit, but Stupid chose this atrocity. But wait! It gets worse. Because this is what the not-so-long-ago city mandated residential streetlight looks like.

Hard to see, but notice the similarities: open frame; straight lines. Just like the DVP atrocity. 

So here's what happened. A DVP style streetlight was installed in a residential area where all the other streetlights are of a different, conflicting style, but a replacement light on DVP is in the residential style, conflicting with what was there and all the others that remain. How stupid is that?