Sometimes, you get shafted.

Sometimes the shafting occurs because the people or company you’re scheduled to meet with really don’t want to meet with you. They think you’re a loser, and spending time with you is a waste of time, so they’re reluctant to do so.

Other times, this “shafting” occurs because meeting with you is a high priority for the other party, but a highly urgent matter has come up, and thus you have been shafted.

Or, there could be any number of other reasons for the shafting.

Taking getting shafted to mean “they think I’m a loser” immediately and without proof of that notion makes you a bigger loser than if you just think “something truly urgent must have come up, that is why our meeting has been cancelled.”

This is because if you think people shaft you because you are a loser, then it probably means you really are a loser, and have a very low opinion of yourself. Having a low opinion of yourself inhibits you from moving forward because if you don’t respect yourself, no one else will.

Think of an alien from a planet you’ve never seen before. Assume you can communicate. If you ask it: “What are you? Good or evil?”

The alien responds “I am scum and absolute evil shit.”

You will likely believe it, at least temporarily, unless you have evidence to the contrary.

Similarly if the alien responds: “I am a kind and loving creature. I love everything and I am a blessing to this planet since I got here.”

You will likely believe it, at least temporarily, unless you have evidence to the contrary.

So the point is: DO NOT THINK YOU ARE A LOSER, EVEN IF YOU ARE A LOSER. Because the more of a loser you think you are, the more of a loser people will see you as. Being a loser is a vicious cycle that re-inforces itself, really.

I am confuzzled by how software patents work.

It seems that Microsoft takes patents out on a lot of shit. Indeed they even have a patent on the concept of a “taskbar with a start menu”.

But many Linux distros use a very Windows-like UI. And I have seen many example of free software that I would say may “violate” these software patents.

What happens when someone violates a software patent? I can think of a few examples of people that SEEM to be “getting away with it. . .”

Google patents is cool though!

AVOID the Dell computer company.

They sell your information to others.