Technology and Society

Infinite Loop

I hate automated phone payment systems that insist on voice input. I particularly hate them when they’re stupidly worded.

After providing information, the voice says “Can I repeat that for you?”

Well, the two options are yes, or no. Obviously, the system is capable of repeating it for me. So the correct answer is “yes.” But an answer of “yes” will result in it repeating it for me. To which my response should again be “yes.” The only to get it to stop is to lie, and say, “no.” That is, the system cannot repeat it for me, even though we both know it can. And of course, being the sensitive kind of guy I am, I feel guilty about lying to it, even though it’s just a mindless machine.

I’d like to think that there’s some counter built into the system to keep scrupulously literal and honest people from dying of starvation or sleep deprivation while continuing their futile attempts to placate it, but it seems like it would just be simpler to word it, “Should I repeat that for you?” Or “Would you like me to repeat that for you?”

It’s even more irritating than asking me whether or not I had a perfect stay.

[Update a while later]

For those curious, I see no reason to protect the guilty. Maybe they’ll hear about this and do something about it. It’s US Bank.

War Commentary

A Petraeus Preview

From Captain Ed:

It’s an interesting advance look at the Petraeus testimony due on September 11th. Combined with the announcement of an agreement among Iraq’s political factions on political reform, it will make a formidable case for continuing on the mission. Democrats will have a difficult time asking for retreat just when obvious progress can be seen.

Yes, they put all their chips on America’s defeat. But they’ve been playing a losing hand.

[Update in the afternoon]

Anyone who claims that “the surge” was a mistake should read this piece from the Times of London. My only complaint about it this sentence:

Captain Patriquin played a little-known but crucial role in one of the few American success stories of the Iraq war.

No, it’s not one of the “few” American success stories of the Iraq war. It’s just one of the few that you’ve actually reported.

Political Commentary

An Interesting Parallel

When I was reading this blog post about the Marines at Haditha being cleared (sort of–you’ll see what I mean when you read the post), this phrase jumped off the screen at me:

“We can’t say those guys didn’t commit a crime,” said Michael F. Noone Jr., a retired Air Force lawyer and law professor at Catholic University of America. “We can only say that after an investigation, there was not sufficient evidence to prosecute.”

That statement could have been about Bill and Hillary Clinton, without changing a word. Bob Ray’s report didn’t clear them, contrary to popular media (and Democrat) myth.

And no, it’s not old news. She’s running for president, and seems likely to be the Democrat nominee. And “innocent until proven guilty” is a principle for the courtroom, not for public opinion.

Political Commentary

Well, We Can See Why Some Democrats Like Huckabee

Here’s a(nother–see comments*) example:

He told the governors: ‘Who’s going to fight [the war on terror] in the future if we’re a generation so sick that we don’t have the capacity to show up for work?'” So: In addition to folksy, populist, and funny, we need to start adding the adjective “dumb.”

Between that and his proposal for a nationwide smoking ban, I think that you can stick a fork in him for the Republican nomination. Sorry to those Democrats* who were looking for a southern Democrat to run on the Republican ticket.

* “I like Mike Huckabee. He speaks with a level of candor other politicians do not and he is just about the only GOP candidate that might tempt me to cross over in the general election.

However, this also means he is very, very unlikely to become the GOP nominee. “

War Commentary

Rewriting The History Of The Vietnam War

To correspond with the what really happened, rather than the mythology believed on campus and by the media and the Democrats:

A…scathing critic of the VFW speech who held such views in 1975 is Stanley Karnow, author of an outdated but still widely read history of the Vietnam War. “The ‘loss’ of Cambodia,” Karnow said, would be “the salvation of the Cambodians.” Senator Christopher Dodd, then a member of the House, claimed in 1975, “The greatest gift our country can give to the Cambodian people is peace, not guns. And the best way to accomplish that goal is by ending military aid now.”

Well, we know how well that turned out.

In response to the President’s comments about abandoning Vietnam, some have argued that abandonment was not that important because Vietnam is now a nice capitalist country. This argument shows a callousness toward the loss of human life (in the late 1970s) and the harsh repression of political dissent (from 1975 to today) that is thoroughly out of keeping with how these people normally view international affairs. Hysterical hatred of the Iraq War and President Bush seems the only possible explanation for such an inconsistency. The present-day capitalist economy of Vietnam, moreover, is not reason to doubt the wisdom of U.S. involvement. Instead, it is reason to doubt the wisdom of North Vietnamese involvement. While America was fighting for capitalism in South Vietnam, North Vietnam was fighting to destroy it.

Can someone explain to me why we should be listening to these people now?

[Update a couple minutes later]

Of course there’s no Media Conspiracy™. They’re too incompetent to have a conspiracy.

They just guzzle their own bathwater.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!