The Strange Case of Franz Gayl

Franz Gayl is a retired Major who had the unlikely and long title of Science and Technology Adviser to the Marine Deputy Commandant for Plans, Policies, and Operations. There are an ungodly number of articles on how Gayl was persecuted for raising a red flag on MRAP procurement: (or lack thereof)

Marines Wreck Super Geek’s Career

Marine whistleblower Franz Gayl: Security clearance removal is retaliation

Gail Testimony PDF

And here is his initial report:

Gayle MRAP Report

A problem with Gayl's reporting on the MRAP is he already came up with some wacky ideas like Marines in Space:

Space Marines’ Reality Check (Updated and Bumped)

Maybe after that anything out of his mouth became to wacky to believe.

Maybe he hit people on the head too many times and pissed them off. Or maybe his report was too damn long. The Executive Summary is ten pages long. Franz: next time one page, maybe two is good enough for the Executive Summary.

US Army AKO (Army Knowledge Online)

Another system I've been forced to use is AKO. AKO is an website that the Army spends 67 million a year on. For a website. That has horrible reliability and performance metrics. Another example of how the government does IT: crappy. For some reviews and funny AKO videos:

AKO Sucks

GIs, officials disagree on effectiveness of AKO

But I sure can't say it as eloquently as Associate289:

"...Did anyone see the ArmyTimes article about AKO? They basically said how the majority of Soldiers thought AKO was terrible. And they interviewed some General who's in charge of the whole thing and he gave his typical General/Politician bullshit answer about how it's a good system that works within it's resources and accomplishes the mission and BLAH BLAH FUCKING BLAH. I really couldn't believe that someone, even someone in charge of AKO, would go on the record and defend it. It's unbelievable. The website is a complete piece of shit. And all these extra layers of security just add more frustration to the whole thing. Oh what's my favorite thing to do on vacation? You really want to know, AKO? It's flying across country and hiring underage prostitutes to choke me while I beat off with a broom stick up my ass. I don't know how you active duty assholes feel, but on the Guard side dealing with this fucking website is more painful than a highway rest stop abortion. All this admin shit is moving to AKO: NCOERs, clothing records, EPP packets, etc. And they all need CAC logins. Well great fucking idea asshole, there's like 5 fucking DEERs offices in the entire state. So let me stop what I'm doing on a drill weekend to bus everyone over to West Point so they can unfuck their CACs. Oh wait, they're not open on weekends. FUCK YOU

If there's anyone out there reading this that has any power (and I really hope not, because I'd be out of a fucking job after they read this post), let me say it loud and clear. AKO absolutely fucking sucks. It's a good idea gone terribly, terribly wrong. It's terrible to navigate. The search engine blows. The clutter on the home page is ridiculous. I don't give a shit what your budget is. Whatever you're given, it's too fucking much. Fire every web design idiot you have and take some of the money that's obviously not going to funding equipment for my company and go talk to someone at google or apple to unfuck this. Please."

Playing your computer media on your TV

So you have all these avi, mkv, wmv and a host of other formats you can's play directly on your TV. What do you do?

A friend of mine pointed out this handy little device, that uses an hdmi cable to hook up to your TV, and the thing works like a charm. Problem solved!

California Gov Signs Law Requiring Public Schools to Teach Gay History

So if you have kids in public school in California, this is what they're gonna see in class:

I guess you can send them to private school. Which is too bad, because you are paying through the nose to send them to public school, whether they are going or not.


California Gov Signs Landmark Law to Teach Gay History

Luke AFB ID Card Office

Well, it's that time of the year again. Time to go to the dreaded ID card office. This is where the government wastes billions of dollars in taxpayer money to make contractors travel to a DOD ID card office and sit in a room filled with zombies for hours to wait for the lazy-ass-slower-than-the-DMV clerks to type two words into a computer which takes 1/2 hour per customer but should take 5 minutes. Another problem is that the computer which loads a pitifully small amount of data takes 10 minutes to do it. Ten minutes to load a 144k chip, which is a tiny amount of memory for a modern computer. But that's how the government does everything in IT: BAD.
Today I went to Luke AFB in Glendale AZ. There were two enlisted AF clerks there to serve a roomful of people. One of them was a Master Sgt I think (who did he piss off?) proved he couldn't even do that job correctly because he spent half of the hour and a half time I was there talking on the phone to his buddies, reducing the amount of effective clerks to one. I could have been in and out of there in 20 minutes if the place was well run, but instead it took half the day to get there, get the card, and get back. Cost to the Taxpayers:$300. And that's not counting the security classes and forms I need to fill out to get the ID card, that's another $300. Total cost: $600. The officer in charge of that place should be booted out as an example.

And to add insult to injury, they have the camera set up to take really bad pictures. Probably on purpose.

At least there not as bad as the MARCORSYSCOM ID Card office in Quantico. Those morons are only open on Tues and Thu from 1-4 for slimy contractors, disrupting the schedule even worse, and wasting even more taxpayer money.

Another piece of left wing trash from the Arizona Republic

Well, the gun lobby has a firm grip on the state, but not firm enough. One citizen with a weapon could have stopped the Giffords shooting. Too bad it was full of Democrats, Arizona Republic writers, and other pussies.

Guns in Arizona: Gun lobby has firm grip on state


Another reason why Arizonans hate the Republic, and why they're laying off people like it's cool. Hey, Arizona Republic! Last one out turn off the lights!

Viva Mexico

Does the Texas execution of Humberto Leal really endanger American's travelling abroad?

This is the left's new claim, after their claims of "it costs too much" and "it doesn't deter" have failed. I would say the risk to Americans from illegals from Mexico is much higher:

Illegal aliens murder 12 Americans daily