Adventures in Government-Sponsored and Private Dysfunction

Has anybody besides me noticed how everything keeps breaking down?

Yes, they have, because, at least in these somewhat disjointed United States, everything is breaking or already broken.The infrastructure in the U.S.A. is failing, as it should, after more than half a century of neglect.

In 2021, the U.S. congress voted overwhelmingly to authorize $1.2 trillion in infrastructure spending. Since that time it seems that roads have gotten worse, public transportation ($39 billion) is no better, the nation's bridges continue in need of repair, and $66 billion supposedly invested in passenger and freight railways has not had any impact.

Where did all that money go?

There was a supposed $65 billion directed at improving broadband infrastructure, but somehow, the funds for discounts to poor rural internet users dried up earlier this year. For some, the $30 a month in savings was significant, but, apparently, votes from primarily Republican or "red" rural areas aren't a priority. It's a shame, really, since most of the money went directly into the coffers of companies like Spectrum, Verizon, and AT&T. They strung the fiber and got reimbursed of every $30/month the government forced them to discount. There's no free lunch, really.

Yet, the internet still works, usually.

It's what passes for off-the-shelf tech applications that has really hit the skids recently. IdleGuy.com was searching for an commerce package and came across WooCommerce, an extension, I think, of WordPress. This was after trying a couple of other "solutions", none of which were easy to install, and none of which worked worth a damn.

But, WooCommerce was different. It was integrated into WordPress, the popular website platform used by millions of amateur and some professional web designers and webmasters.

Well, despite all the promises of it being user-friendly and convenient, it was a complete cluster. A wholesale mess of spaghetti code (not to give spaghetti a bad name, it's delicious) is what WooCommerce is and it caused this site to abandon already functional pages created with WordPress. We are still in the process of removing WordPress from our lives,

Then there was the issue of serving our own ads. Fearless Rick (that's me, BTW) searched and searched until he came upon the Revive Adserver, a free open source system which has awesome looking support and promotional pages, but in reality is just updated code from what used to be known as OpenX. It's now privately held, the code is mysterious, and support is maybe at best.

I managed to install it and got it working - it was a major pain in the ass - and then, then, after hours of tedium, I COULDN'T LOG INTO MY OWN ADSERVER.

You want to talk about anger, rage, swearing in multiple languages, that did it. I still can't log in and the support forums offer zero in the way of solutions. "It's dead, Jim," as Bones used to say on Star Trek. I'll never use it again. I can't. I can't log in. #?$( !!@**_&.

Happily, there are services hosted outside my website that actually work. The ad-serving function is going to be handled by AdPlugg, which has been around since 2013, and I'll eventually set up an online store here and on Downtown Magazine with Mal's e-commerce, a service I've used since 2002 and one that still works.

Personally, I don't need all the content and inventory management bells and whistles offered by most providers. Usually, it's poorly written cod that works sometimes, and doesn't more often than not. Look on any support forum for any of these applications and you'll encounter pages and pages of questions - some with answers - about things that don't work. Zen-Cart is a good example. Used it for over a year. Can't make changes now. Pulleeze!

So, in case you're wondering how everything from cell phone service to delivery services to getting grass seed from Rural King is completely FUBAR most of the time, you're not alone, but YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN when it comes to figuring out to to get things done.

It's part China's fault and that may be on purpose, but mostly, it's the current culture of laying around, having food delivered, faking your job from home with a mouse jiggler, and LBGTQST$$++ disinformation, ANTIFA, government-sponsored everything, and it's getting worse by the minute, most of it on purpose.

When, I ask, have you had enough? Now? Tomorrow? November 2020? When the deep state IRS goon squads come and shoot your kids? And you? Wow. This sucks.

June Events through History:

June 1, 1801 - Brigham Young, founder of the Mormon Church was born.

June 1, 1926 - Marilyn Monroe was born in Los Angeles, California.

June 2, 1740 - Marquis de Sade born.

June 3, 1937 - The Duke of Windsor married Wallis Warfield Simpson in Monts, France. As King Edward VIII, he had abdicated the British throne in December of 1936 amid controversy on his proposed marriage to a divorced American commoner.

June 4, 1989 - Chinese government troops open fire on protesters in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

June 5, 1968 - Robert F. Kennedy assassinate in Los Angeles.

June 5, 1723 - Adam Smith, author of "The Wealth of Nations" born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland.

June 6, 1944 - D-Day. Allied forces land the largest amphibious force in history on beaches at Normandy, France, beginning the end of World War II.

June 8, 1874 - Apache leader Cochise died on the Chiricahua Reservation in southeastern Arizona.

June 10, 1652 - In Massachusetts, silversmith John Hull opened the first mint in America, in defiance of English colonial law. The first coin issued was the Pine Tree Shilling, designed by Hull.

June 11, 1994 - After 49 years, Soviet military occupation of East Germany ends.

June 12, 1963 - Civil rights leader Medgar Evers assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi.

June 14, 1775 - The first U.S. Military service, the Continental Army consisting of six companies of riflemen, was established by the Second Continental Congress.

June 15, 1215 - King John signs the Magna Carta.

June 17, 1972 - A seemingly routine burglary, five men were arrested at the National Democratic Headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., beginning the political scandal known as "Watergate" that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon.

June 18, 1812 - U.S. Senate voted 19 to 13 in favor of a declaration of war against Great Britain.

June 18, 1815 - Napoleon defeated at Waterloo in central Belgium.

June 21, 1905 - French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre was born in Paris, France.

June 25, 1876 - Custer's Last Stand, 250 men under the charge of General George A. Custer, slaughtered by Sioux Indians near Little Bighorn River in Montana.

June 25, 1903 - George Orwell, author of "1984" and "Animal Farm" is born at Montihari in Bengal.

June 26, 1945 - The United Nations Charter was signed in San Francisco by 50 nations.

June 28, 1862 - Siege of the Confederate city of Vicksburg, Virginia during the American Civil War.

June 28, 1919 - The signing of the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending World War I.

June 30, 1997 - In Hong Kong, the flag of the British Crown Colony officially lowered at midnight and replaced by a new flag representing China's sovereignty and the official transfer of power.