Wal-Mart: Kill them all and let God sort them out

Wal-Mart is the greatest Bowdleriser of our time. In some areas they are the sole outlet for certain goods. You'd think they carry almost all goods, but in fact they willfully omit anything that doesn't follow their fairly rigid agenda.

As the Ayatollah would expunge Rushdie, so would Wally quash those who don't share his wholesome American values. This manifests as anything anti Jesus, pro life, homosexual, etc. With politics of the last decade including something like "Back Bush or Else edict. We like the way he thinks."

Old news, of course. But this is new. A "Christian" video game with a slaughter the unsaved sensibility. Wal-Mart says they really support this one and refuses to yield to groups asking for it's removal. Supporting hate and intolerance the Wally way has never been starkly obvious.

I'd probably play the game, if only for the yick factor. I don't see anything particularly wrong with a game that shows Christians being intolerant. It's certainly more honest than some depictions. If extremists wish to align themselves with such garbage it may give the more moderate Christians a heads up about these groups. This wont make converts so much as embolden the bigots and scare away the undecided.

And if the thing generates enough stink, then Wal-Mart might say something about defending free speech. They could go on the record as being a defender of open expression. Then wait for the next GTA style thing and watch the hypocrisies reveal themselves.

For to Wal-Mart invoke free speech in it's defense would be like the KKK calling for integrated schools. Is it wrong to take such joy in this?

Diagnostic Insanity

Modern business applications, even well designed ones, can reach a level of technical complexity and inter dependency that tends toward the absurd. A basic client entry program might hit an authentication server, an application server, which in turn proxies to a database or some other middle tier before returning with the request. The application server may have to authenticate itself separately and bring together several elements in addition to a database tier; local files, files on remote resources, web services. Other pieces, like report servers, can have their own logic and function semi independently from the rest of the mess.

And this completely ignores the infrastructure, not just hardware but the maze of logic little black boxes that is an enterprise network. Erratic RAIDs, spanning trees, VLANs, oh my. The point?

One vender whose report writer just isn't working with our corporate data has had me repeatedly poke various sticks at the database. The sticks many all look a little different, but they're basically jabbing the exact same spot. That spot is fine. All the objects are valid. No matter how many times you recreate, recompile, revalidate, their basic status doesn't change.

Now please stopping banging your heads against the same spot on the wall hoping that the gods of stupidity, or solar flares, will take pity and the problem will magically solve itself. Find some other bloody thing to poke besides me!


"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein