X-Tra Rant

Ricky, you are my hero.

What year are we living in again? Fucking 1890?

Black high school students in Louisiana threatened with lynching

In September 2006, a group of African American high school students in Jena, Louisiana, asked the school for permission to sit beneath a “whites only” shade tree. There was an unwritten rule that blacks couldn’t sit beneath the tree. The school said they didn’t care where students sat. The next day, students arrived at school to see three nooses (in school colors) hanging from the tree….

The boys who hung the nooses were suspended from school for a few days. The school administration chalked it up as a harmless prank
…
December 4th, a fight broke out that led to six black students being charged with attempted murder. To his word, the D.A. pushed for maximum charges, which carry sentences of eighty years. Four of the six are being tried as adults (ages 17 & 18) and two are juveniles….

And the jury for that final case? All fucking white.

Fuck the south. Fuck ‘em. I’m tired of their racist bullshit.

Update: First verdict is in for one of the six. Guilty, faces 30 years. What a surprise. Some jackass redneck white boys put nooses in a “Whites Only” tree, the town then experiences violent racial tension and then an all white jury convicts a black student to 30 years. Yes, conservatives. Racism isn’t a problem anymore in this country. of course.

I’ve known about this stupid seatbelt loophole in Indiana exempting pickup truck and SUV owners from seatbelt laws. It’s about damn time that loophole was (mostly) closed.

Ohhhhh another Yuppie Fight is brewing in Hamilton County!! This one should be even more entertaining than the Carmel/Clay Twp annexation fight. Nothing like annexation and having to pay taxes to get yuppies’ panties in a bunch.

So last week I went up to the new (and one and only) Brewpub/Restaurant in Kokomo, Indiana - Half Moon. Given that it’s very near where I grew up I figured it was worth a try. Half Moon Restaurant and Brewery.

The decor and overall look and feel of the place is FANTASTIC. But I know that’s not what you want to know. You want to know how the beer is!

I tried two of their six available beers. ratings are out of four.

• Elwood’s IPA: This was probably the strangest IPA I have ever had. For one, it was amber in color. An Amber IPA? Not very pale if you ask me. ALso it was far maltier than any IPA I have ever had. It was still dry, and had a decent level of hops but… it was just off. It tasted like a mix between an IPA and a brown or amber ale. I’m not saying it was bad, it was pretty good really with an excellent semi-creamy head. The citrus smell really comes through very well. I just don’t think it was really an IPA at all. Judged as an actual IPA: *1/2. Judged on its own not thinking about what it should have been: **1/2
• Wildcat Wheat: A decent wheat. The head was VERY disappointing through, starting out small and quickly reducing to a thin film on top of the beer. The taste was no different from your typical wheat, if a little… oily? I guess that’s more “mouthfeel” - it did have a slightly ’slick’ feel to it. Not as much citrus aroma or taste as I’m used to in a wheat either. **

I will say the food was EXCELLENT. The sliced and breaded jalapenos were great, but instead of coming with a chipotle sauce which just overdid the spicy they need to come with sour cream.

I’ll go back. Hopefully over time they can improve the beers. There is definite room for improvement but hints of what could be solid beer.

Okay so maybe lasers on the moon will more accurately show us the distance between the moon and the Earth and reveal possible new physics. But I’m more worried about it becoming a weapon for supervillains.

Added a new sidebar element to the right. It shows what movie I have at home from Netflix currently and the next five that are up in my queue. Pretty slick plugin. You can get it here.

Finally signed up for netflix. Doing the one at a time unlimited per month plan. Figure that’s enough for me. Anyway, who all has Netflix? Wanna be my Netflix friend?

Clickity here if you have Netflix and wanna be my friend.

Update: ohhh very cool. Netflix’s “Watch Now” feature combined with my desktop taht’s hooked up to my big screen means I can instantly watch some movies. not in fulll full screen, but enough to watch a movie now and then if I don’t need it to be in the best quality. Sweet. I’m trying it out now to see how it goes.

I already went into detail about how H1B visas are being used to game the employment market of high tech jobs back on this post. But Ricky send me a link that is pretty much A+ #1 solid proof that the market is indeed being artificially gamed and that companies are defrauding American job seekers and engaging in immigration fraud to hire cheaper foreign tech workers instead of qualified domestic workers.

H1-B Video Angers Lawmakers

In the video, Lawrence Lebowitz of Cohen & Grigsby, breaks down a technique that lets U.S. companies hire foreign workers under the government’s Program Electronic Review Management process. PERM covers requirements for companies placing help wanted ads in an attempt of get more U.S. workers hired, not less. An employer has to show that no qualified Americans are available, and Lebowitz and other lawyers in the video show detail ways for companies to legally reject American applicants.

Direct quotes from the presentation in the video:

Our goal is clearly not to find a qualified and interested US worker.

If somebody is looking like they are very qualified we ask them to have the manager of that specific position step in and go over the qualifications with them. If necessary schedule an interview, go through the whole process, to find a legal basis to disqualify them for this particular position. In most cases that doesn’t seem to be a problem.

So Jen, I have a question for you. I’m the HR person and I get all these resumes. I get 50 resumes. My God, this is the last thing I wanna do is interview these 50 people.

Is it just me or does this pretty much prove my point about gaming the employment market for tech workers solely for the purpose of then hiring cheaper foreign labor at under the market value and hiring what turns out to be essentially indentured servants for the company under the H1b visa?

Crossposted from my Last.fm journal

Sat 16 Jun – Everthus the Deadbeats, Everything, Now!, Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears, This Is My Condition

All ratings are out of four stars.

Saturday night saw me at Radio Radio in Fountain Square for a show headlined by Everthus the Deadbeats.

First up was This Is My Condition. I’m being nice when I say it was… not so good. More truthfully, it sucked. He is a one man band with a drum set, loop pedals and a guitar on his lap that he plays with the drumsticks. In the end it sounds like what happens when you give twin 6 year olds a drum set and a guitar for Christmas. Whatever his condition is, there’s medicine for that now. 1/2

Everything, Now! put on a HELL of a show, rocking the pop-rock and getting us all jazzed up after the dismal opener. The Muncie, Indiana natives filled Radio Radio with a great sound and had me buying their album, Bible Universe at their merc table. ***1/2

Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears had the most elaborate stage setup I’ve ever seen at Radio Radio. A big backdrop, a sign to ‘Scaryville’ and a wooden … housing(?) around Bryan Scary’s keyboard. Also present were crazy costumes - the best descriptions are Zombie Wyatt Earp, Zombie Tom Petty, Zombie Communist Dude, Zombie Nikola Tesla and The Hamburglar. heh although I’m sure that’s not what they were going for. Anyway, their set was full of so much energy it had the crowd dancing and the venue humming with “damn these guys kick ass”. The best way I can describe their sound would be Rocky Horror + Elton John + Psychedelic Rock. Maybe? If they’re coming to your town DEFINITELY check them out. Worth the price of admission and more. I picked up their album The Shredding Tears after the show. ****

Everthus the Deadbeats unfortunately had to follow up what I consider to be the best back to back sets I’ve ever seen at Radio Radio. They gave a solid performance, were strangely costumed and sounded really solid. I’ve never been a HUGE fan of theirs when I have seen them before but they are sounding a bit more polished. When they play their songs that have more structure they are much better. Unfortunately they have too many songs that trend towards experimental and noisy. **1/2