It wasn't me. You can't prove anything.


2006-01-31

Virus Cause to Obesity

The article points out that the “virus causes obesity” connection is highly speculative.
The H. pylori and ulcer connection is an excellent example. Initially the research was dismissed because of “the everyone knows” syndrome, ie, everyone know stress causes ulcers. Eleven years ago an internist friend of mine gave me a copy of a medical journal article examining possible connections between heart disease and bacteria. He told me he personally suspected bacteria play a role in “plaque” build-up in arteries. The idea was controversial and flew in the face of “current medical thinking.” Suspicion isn’t science, but when suspicion turns to “hunch” and hunch leads to research, and honest research indicates what “everyone knows” might be wrong– well, you get the point. Diseases and conditions once believed to be either behaviorally-based (ulcers) or caused by “old age, bad luck, and bad diet” (artery plaque) may have other causes or be accelerated by micro-organisms.

Think for a moment that it is proven that a virus contributes to obesity. Extend that this virus is not killed by the heat of a normal dish washing level. Can you imagine telling the U. S. public that eating at a nice restaurant that has reusable silverware is more likely to make them fat than eating at a fast food place that uses disposable dishes?
This whole thing goes to prove something I've been saying for years. Don't trust scientists. I say don't put any more weight in a scientist's opinion than you would the clergy. Listen to your grandmother. Listen to the village elder. Listen to your inner voice.
I acknowledge that it seems like we, as a western society, have benefited greatly from science. I say it is all just a bunch of stuff that happened. Is it a benefit? is it a curse? We have medicine. Well, we have over population. We have great communication. We have conflict. We have longer lives. Is that a good thing? We have law enforcement and other government benefits. We have Taxes. it is all give and take.
Oh, and dark matter is still a load of crap. I said before the scientists just didn't have the numbers right. I was right.
Jen's Newsletter

... I'm looking forward to playing at a couple of great venues in the next two weeks.  This Friday, Feb. 3, I'll be at Main Street Crossing (111 Main street, Tomball) from 8:30p-12a.  It's their Texas Hold 'Em Poker Night, but you don't have to play.  Just come, have a coffee or a beer, relax and listen.
On Feb. 10, I'll be up on stage with three excellent musicians, Lena Shammas, Dan Ennis, and Michael Pope, at JP Hops House.  We start at 9:30p.  JP Hops House is on Highway 6, one block north of Westheimer.

I've been worried about Jen. I checked her web site's calender a couple of weeks ago and nearly gave her a call to give her some words of encouragement. It turns out I was 100% off. She was just gearing up for a busy year. Go Jen.
Animated GIF in Linux

SG1 animated gif

I'm breaking all kids of new ground these days. I used the following programs.
* GIMP to convert from png to gif
* Comes on the system for Ubuntu
* sudo apt-get install gimp
* GIFSICLE to resize and animate the collection of image
*There is no automatic install for gifsicle under Ubuntu. I tried to download the Debian DEB file, but no dice. The site was busy. So, I used ALIEN again to install the RPM.
* Command Line used:
gifsicle --optimize --colors 64 --delay 20 --resize 100x --loopcount *.gif > out.gif


2006-01-30

Day
I had a busy day at work. It felt good. I made a list of my rolls and responsibilities. That felt good too. I know I left some things out and the list was long.
I'm in the middle of a bunch of knowledge transfer. It is so very interesting. I love it. Not that I'm leaving or that any one else feels stupid or anything. I love it because it shows me that my time at the current company was at least spent learning things. I did some good and now I'm moving on. That is the way it works I suppose.
I came home and crashed on the living room floor. Elle was in sleeping with Nat. I ended up cooking some chicken for Elle. I just asked "How is your chicken Elle?"
She said "Hot." I couldn't help but laugh out loud. That is too cute.
Lame

You Are The Magician
You are powerful and wise - beyond what anyone can see.
Deeply complex, you have the resources to connect to the spiritual and material world.
You posses the knowledge to manipulate your life and the lives around you.
You also have a great healing power, should you choose to use it.

Your fortune:
You have unhidden powers that you have yet to tap into.
Soon, you will better understand how to use your intellect and intuition.
Believe it or now, you will discover how you can manipulate yourself and others for good.
You are at the beginning of a path of spiritual enlightenment.

This one just asks you for your name and spits something out. I prefer them faking it with some questions that make you feel like you are giving some real info. I almost didn't post this one.es


2006-01-29

Video on Linux
I nearly lost it trying to get video editing to work on Linux this afternoon. It worked fine from Windows, but that doesn't do me any good on Ubuntu.
First of all, the Fire-Wire card used to connect the camera to the computer just plane worked. I plugged in the card and then plugged in the camera. That all went without trouble. Thank goodness..
The first program that I tried to use is called Kino.  They claim it works like a champ and allows for both capture and editing without fuss. Technically, that is true. It is built in to the apt-get package manager for Debian. Great. I install it and give it a try. Well, it locks up when I click on "capture". It will also not open anything but DV files. Once you export you cannot go back and edit. I'm getting ahead of myself. Well, I poke around and try a program called dvgrab. It is a command line utility that just plane "grabs" the data from the DV camera. Well, it doesn't work either. However, it gives an error. It tells me something about an access violation. You have got to be kidding me. Guess what, you have to run the programs under root user in order to access the camera. That is insane. This killed half a day. All to find out that I have to "sudo kino" to get it to work. This is like saying you have to be a cop to unlock your own front door.
So, I'm able to capture some video from the camera and save it in the DV file format. That's great. Those files are big and basically useless except for editing so, now, I save it out of Kino into an MPEG format only to find that once you do this, they will not go back into the editor. Kino only does DV format. No wonder this guy recommends a different editor.
So, I pop over to the Cinelerra site to take a look. It looks fantastic on the site. It reminds me of Adobe Premier as stated in the link above. Cool features and everything. Well, it only comes in an RPM (Red-hat Package Manager) file. This means that only Linux distributions that support RPM files can install it straight from the download. <despair> <curses> <mumbled ravings> Then I start poking around on Google to find that there are indeed ways to install RPM files on a Debian distribution. The package that allows this is called alien. I'm using Ubuntu that is built off the Debian distribution.
Wow, I have a functioning video editor. It only took all frigging day. Well, we did go to lunch with some friends. I had to help get Elle to bed this afternoon. She is not feeling well.
I worry that I may not be up to the task at this new job. If I can get a video editor and a DV capture program to work in Linux I can do most anything.
Now, to get Windows Media files to play in Linux you have to add some specific files to your Xine program. The only way to get the libraries to become part of the program is to recompile the Xine program with the libraries in place. I have never gotten anything to work in Linux when I tried to compile it. Maybe I'll have to give that a shot later this week.
Then, I went here. Now it works. Never mind. =]
Slappy evening
Nat and I went to a battle of the bands at a dive called Forget About It Too. We went to see Justin's band Slappy's Groove Shack. They did not win, but they should have.
I have some pictures. It will probably be a bit before I get them up. I took a video with the digital camera. I'm under Linux now, so it will take a while for me to get the videos fixed for the web. I just figured it out for Windows. It will be good experience. If worse comes to worse, I'll just post whatever comes off the camera and hope for the best.


2006-01-28

Bad Abortion Jokes
Are there any good ones?

Why did the fetus cross the road?
Because they moved the dumpster.

That is one of the more tame ones. Seriously, these are not for any one who has a "belief" in the matter.
Rambling (or is it raving?)
The space shuttle travels at about 18000 miles per hour in orbit.
A speeding bullet travels at 1000 m/s.
That means the shuttle travels about 8 times faster than a speeding bullet in orbit.
A rail gun is not even close at 13000 miles per hour.
Frighteningly Accurate

Your Brain's Pattern
You have a dreamy mind, full of fancy and fantasy.
You have the ability to stay forever entertained with your thoughts.
People may say you're hard to read, but that's because you're so internally focused.
But when you do share what you're thinking, people are impressed with your imagination.

So, they tell you to pick one pattern and get the most accurate one of these tests yet. This one is scary. It was one question. It hit the nail on the head, hard.
I think that will be enough for a while. Well, until the next one.
Fits

You Are a Rottweiler Puppy
Powerful, smart, and protective. You're eager to growl at anyone you hate - but you're a big sweetheart inside.

OK, OK, I'm addicted to these stupid tests. So, shoot me, I mean put me to sleep.


2006-01-27

I did the math
I really hate it when I figure out that I'm as stupid as I always think I am. Remember the big job change I've blogged about? Well I just sat down and did the math. I'm going to bring home less money than I was in the old job. It will end up just being a lateral move.
It is a good move. It is doing something I like better than where I am now. It s with a far more motivated group of folks. It is a place where I can glimpse advancement. I'll save the money that I spend on my crappy insurance. I will contribute to the 401-K. I will have better deductions this year. All in all, it is a wash except I think I'm going to bring home a bit less per month. Considering every single one of my expenses went up since last year, I'm screwed.
Oh, well. I would still make the same decision.
The "thing"

An old Arab lived close to *New York* City for more than 40 years. One day he decided that he would love to plant potatoes and herbs in his garden, but he knew he was alone and too old and weak. His son was in college in Paris, so the old man sent him an e-mail explaining the problem:
"Beloved son, I am very sad, because I can't plant potatoes in my garden. I am sure, if only you were here, that you would help me and dig up the garden for me. I love you, your father."
The following day, the old man received a response e-mail from his son:
"Beloved father, please don't touch the garden. That is where I have hidden 'the *THING*.' I love you, too, Ahmed."
At 4pm the FBI and the Rangers visited the house of the old man and took the whole garden apart, searching every inch. But they couldn't find anything. Disappointed, they left the house.
The next day, the old man received another e-mail from his son:
"Beloved father, I hope the garden is dug up by now and you can plant your potatoes, that is all I could do for you from here; Your loving son Ahmed.
Shamelessly stolen from The Big Pharaoh

It is good when you have the whole joke pop into your head while reading the first line. You start giggling, only to laugh out loud by the end anyway.
You can't defend against Aunt Lil's birthday. This joke illustrates the trouble with listening in on communications. If the dangerous people already know what to do when they get here, you are pretty much screwed. If they use innocuous sounding communication to give some details then you have a very hard time unless you know who to look for and that they are up to something. No one is going to say "hey, I'm the bad guy. Over here! I'm planning a bad thing and here is who I need to contact to achieve my end." To catch the bad guy, you have to put things together. You have to figure out who to watch. Think about the content of the last ten emails you sent. Now multiply that by about 200,000,000 people on the internet. (I'm pulling that number out of my ass.) Now, there are all kinds of illegal things going on out there, but the VAST majority of those emails are just plane boring bullshit that only matters to the person who sent it and maybe the person who receives it. This does not count the SPAM juggernaut.
Please give our officials a break. They try very hard to sift through the mess and make some sense. They really are after the bad guys. I'm not a bad guy. My cat, however, worries me.


2006-01-26

Day
  • I got up early this morning and went to work.
  • I had one of my big KT (knowledge transfer) meetings this morning. It has taken a couple of days, but the company is getting it together to learn what I know before I leave for greener pastures.
  • I ended up coming home. Nat was not feeling well.
  • I got nothing done here. Well I changed a couple of diapers.
  • Elle REFUSES to potty train. Nothing abnormal about that. Just takes time.
  • Now, I cannot even post to Blogger (17:20-18:22). humph. This has got to have something to do with Google's recent stance on China.
Idea
I should start up a blog on typepad, LiveJournal MySpace, or something of the like just to complain about Blogger when it croaks. Those folks at Blogger should be glad I'm a lazy, lazy man. ... OK, I went to MySpace and at least complained in writing on my blog over there. It probably gets more traffic than the one on blogger anyway. I just did the same over at LiveJournal. Hey, it is something to do while I fume.


2006-01-25

Creepy
At my current day job, I use the stairs quite a bit. I've griped about the elevators before. Anyway, today I ran from the third to the fourth floor only to get chills when the florescent light on the fourth floor was blinking and making that buzzing noise, just like in the first-person shooters. Suddenly, I felt naked without an MP-5 and a belt of grenades. I subconsciously swung around a step to look up the next flight of stairs (roof access) just to be sure.  I swung the door open and quite deliberately looked before continuing. I really didn't mean to do any of it.
In some of these games, you have mines you put on the wall or floor. The one I'm thinking of was armed by a timer and sent a beam out at a 90 degree angle. If you crossed the beam, ka-boom. There is a hallway down stairs that has a black, clunky thermostat right in the middle of a long white hallway that reminds me every time of one of these mines. It makes me want to duck (crouch) as I pass.
Sweet!

I'm a Lamborghini Murcielago!

Lambo
You're not subtle, but you don't want to be. Fast, loud, and dramatic, you want people to notice you, and then get out of the way. In a world full of sheep, you're a raging bull.
Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Heck, I even like the color.


2006-01-24

Fedora Core 3 Test
Well, so far so good. I found the accessibility settings and got it to at least read something to me out loud. It is not quite right, but I can probably figure out the details. I cannot get the update manager to respond half the time because the entire system needs to be updated from the install DVD. That just takes a while. I can wait. I cannot get the SMB shares to read. That is probably some kind of configuration. No VNC. I just have to find it or install it.
This OS looks pretty clean. I wish it had a better package manager. I miss Ubuntu's Synaptic Package system already. I understand Fedora Core 4 has a cool GUI for RPM. That doesn't help me right now.
Oy! The package up2date thing has a tiny little sliver under complete. This is going to go all night. I'm not sure I want to let it go that long.
Oh, well. Off I go. Nat is cooking something wonderful. Elle is ... helping. Life is good.
New OS
In order to be more compatible with the new employer, I'm going to give Fedora Core 3 a try. Fortunately, I have an extra hard drive laying around. I intend to find out the following.
* If it supports some sort of package handler.
* What sort of Accessibility stuff is there.
* How to get around.
* Where to look up answers to my inevitable questions.
Wish me luck.


2006-01-23

Email Joke

Students were assigned to read 2 books, "Titanic" & "My Life" by Bill Clinton. One smart ass student turned in the following book report, with the proposition that they were nearly identical stories! His cool professor gave him an A+ for this report:

Titanic: $29.99
Clinton: $29.99

Titanic: Over 3 hours to read
Clinton: Over 3 hours to read

Titanic: The story of Jack and Rose, their forbidden love, and subsequent catastrophe.
Clinton: The story of Bill and Monica, their forbidden love, and subsequent catastrophe.

Titanic: Jack is a starving artist.
Clinton: Bill is a bullshit artist.

Titanic: In one scene, Jack enjoys a good cigar.
Clinton: Ditto for Bill.

Titanic: During ordeal, Rose's dress gets ruined.
Clinton: Ditto for Monica.

Titanic: Jack teaches Rose to spit.
Clinton: Let's not go there.

Titanic: Rose gets to keep her jewelry.
Clinton: Monica's forced to return her gifts.

Titanic: Rose remembers Jack for the rest of her life.
Clinton: Clinton doesn't remember Jack.

Titanic: Rose goes down on a vessel full of seamen.
Clinton: Monica...ooh, let's not go there, either.

Titanic: Jack surrenders to an icy death.
Clinton: Bill goes home to Hilary...basically the same thing


The Time is Nigh
I smell chocolate chip cookies. They are wafting from another apartment. I may just have to go on a rampage to find them. I'll start by kicking in doors with a shotgun and a hockey mask screaming "Cookies!!!! WHERE ARE THE COOKIES!!!?"
Cats and Dogs

EXCERPTS FROM A DOG'S DAILY DIARY:
8:00 a.m. Oh, boy! Dog food! My favorite!
9:30 a.m. Wow! A car ride! This is a blast!
9:40 a.m. A walk in the park! Ate some crap...Delicious!
10:30 a.m. Getting rubbed and petted! I'm in love!
12:00 p.m. Lunch! Yummy!1:00 p.m. Playing in the yard! I just love it!
3:00 p.m. Staring adoringly at my masters...they're the best! I'll wag my tail in joy.
4:00 p.m. Hooray! The kids are home! I'm bouncing off the walls!
5:00 p.m. Milkbones! Great!
7:00 p.m. Get to play ball! This is too good to be true!
8:00 p.m. Wow! Watching TV with my master! Heavenly!
11:00 p.m. Sleeping at the bottom of my master's bed! Life is soooooooo great!

EXCERPTS FROM A CAT'S DAILY Blog:
Day 683 of My Captivity:
My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I arefed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.
In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomited on the floor.
Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a ''good little hunter'' I am. The audacity!!
There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to my power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.
Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow-- but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches.
The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released--and he seems more than willing to return! He is obviously retarded.
The bird has got to be an informant-- I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. The captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe-- for now.

Too funny.


2006-01-22

Jarhead

Jarhead

The guys being punished after having a bit too much fun in front of the press. "... followed by further masturbation."

Jarhead

This shot kind of freaks me out. Those are the exact same tents we stay in during TRF. They have the poles, lanterns, ceiling vent, door, side, I bet I could smell the canvas. Yikes. I whispered to Nat in the theater that it was kind of freaking me out. The more I watch the scene, the more similarities I get. We use air mattresses.. That is a huge difference.
Yeesh

hell raiser
completely fucked!

what fucked version of hello kittie are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

OK, OK, Maybe I'm going too far with this one.
Day

SG1 snap

I'm watching SG1 on my computer. Elle is, being three all over the place. Nat is asleep because she isn't feeling well. It is raining outside. Not that it makes much difference really. I'm still in knots over the new job. Trust me, I've heard all the stories about my new boss. He is not what worries me. I hope I'm up to the task. I hope my old job has not tainted me to the point that I can't do an honest day's work any more. I suppose that fear is a good thing.
I'm trying to think of something else to say. There is really nothing going on. I wanted to call some friend's of ours to go out for lunch, but Nat wanted to go back to sleep. So, I'm writing a blog and watching borrowed shows.


2006-01-21

Legend of Zoro

Zoro

Please don't sue me, I'm just a fan.
This is clearly the most memorable screen in the movie The legend of Zoro.


2006-01-20

New Job
I'm changing employment. That is all I really want to say on the matter. Wish me luck, or say a prayer if it feels right. I've been looking forward to this for about three or five years.
Off to the Movies
Nat and I are off to the movies this evening. We want to see Underworld Evolution. Here is a bit of honesty for you. Nat has a crush on the female lead Kate Beckinsale. Too bad the official site doesn't work on my machine. I'm having trouble getting Flash to work on my Linux box. Anyway, it promises to be a romp. Every review I've heard says it sucks, so it should be a fun movie to watch.
Wish us luck.


2006-01-19

Doom Screenshots

doom


doom


doom


doom


doom


doom

Please don't sue me. I'm just a fan. I don't make any money off this site.
Which Serenity Character am I?

Wash (Ship Pilot)
Wash (Ship Pilot)
80%
Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)
70%
Jayne Cobb (Mercenary)
60%
Alliance
55%
Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)
45%
A Reaver (Cannibal)
45%
River (Stowaway)
45%
Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)
45%
Derrial Book (Shepherd)
35%
Inara Serra (Companion)
25%
Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)
5%
You are a pilot with a good
if not silly sense of humor.
You take pride in your collection of toys.
You love your significant other.
Click here to take the Serenity Personality Quiz

I am a sucker for these tests. I have to say, I did not see this coming. I barely remember the pilot in the series. He was good at his job, but made mistakes. He was bad at relationships, but loves his wife dearly. Sounds pretty accurate.
I'm surprised Jayne Cobb is so high in the list. I'm am not surprised that Simon Tam came so low in the list. Nat came out as River. Honestly, I picture her more as Zoe. That kind of fits.
Which are you?


2006-01-18

Doom
Right now, I'm watching Doom the movie. This thing was panned frightfully by the critics. I'm watching it now and it really is exactly what it promised to be, a romp through dark and foreboding halls. The primary difference between the movie and game is the movie has plot. Oh, and it is a team effort in the movie. I get the feeling that "Hey, I had to do it all by myself." There are a couple of little twists. Not too much. Sarge has the right idea. "Kill them all." His men are not so convinced.
Well, I'll leave the rest to your imagination.
Superhero Test

Batman
Batman
75%
Spider-Man
60%
Hulk
55%
Robin
50%
Iron Man
50%
Supergirl
45%
Wonder Woman
40%
Green Lantern
40%
Superman
40%
The Flash
30%
Catwoman
15%
You are dark, love gadgets
and have vowed to help the innocent
not suffer the pain you have endured.
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

I've always fancied myself as Batman. This test is pretty accurate actually.
Blekh!!!

Keyboards Are Disgusting
" A test carried out by Pegasus Lab on account for Swedish magazine PC För alla showed that a normal PC keyboard was infected by more bacteria than a normal toilet seat. More specific it contained 33000 bacteria per square centimeter, compared to 130 on a ordinary toilet seat. The tests also showed occurrence of up to 3100 fungi per square centimeter." Also note that unless you read Swedish, you still have plausible deniability when asked to windex yours.

Well duh! I'm glad Swedish tax dollars were spent on this. I routinely ignore the filth associated with my keyboard. I suppose that helps, right?


2006-01-17

Day
Vibrating pole
On the way home I stop and wait at a bus stop. At this bus stop is a huge utility pole. It is not your normal pole. It is like a meter around. The wires are the extra high versions. The poles are almost twice as high as normal. I lean against said pole while waiting. Today was quite windy. I could hear the wind whistling in the overhead wires over the sound of traffic. When I leaned against the pole, I could feel the vibration. It was fascinating. OK, I'm a geek.
Credit card woes
Last night I checked that there was enough money in my checking account to cover the Texaco bill. Thank God, there was. I paid it online and went about my evening.
I got to bed around 11:30 or so. Just as I was falling asleep, that little voice whispered in my had "Hey, those numbers didn't look right." Well, I cannot resist the call of the little voice that has saved my butt multiple times so I went and hopped back on the computer. Low, and behold I found some charges on my credit card that I most certainly did not make. They look like those fake companies that porn sites set up so people won't be embarrassed to pay the bill. I called right then and there. Good thing too. There were some pending charges that hadn't gone through yet.
So, I'm card-less for the next couple of weeks. That is a good thing really. We are about to head out to the grocery store and I will use my debit card instead. I double checked online today and the account is gone. I'm not sure how much I really owe, but I know rent and a couple trips to the store were on that card. Those will come back on the next one I'm sure.
Several years ago I had someone charge a couple of trips to some local restaurants on a different card. I'm pretty sure my card got lifted at a local eatery. I'm not sure, but I bet this trouble started from giving my CC to the apartment complex. That ends here.


2006-01-16

U. S. Weapon Systems

c-130
Federation of American Scientists. Well it looks like they found a use for scientific web space. This page is an extended list of Department of Defense equipment. It has diagrams and photos of a bunch of military aircraft and some other systems. Though, I notice the naval systems are off line.
Frigging MLB
Basically, Major League Baseball wants a bigger piece of Fantasy Baseball leagues and their money. The argument is whether or not statistics become historical fact instantly after the game, or much later. Who owns it when? Who can prophet off it at a given time. Blah blah blah.

This leads me to a question I can't answer -- what on earth prompted baseball to adopt such a hard-line position on an issue it knows it probably can't win in the courts?

I was never a big baseball fan. First came the strike. That pissed me off from being able to sit through a game. I'll do it if there are friends involved. I even bought a couple hats and other crap that I didn't need. I don't play fantasy anything, but I am already sick of hearing the whining and I haven't even heard any yet.
MLB is a monopoly in my opinion and should be broken up. Each team should have to negotiate TV and other contracts. That should shut them up. Better yet, nationalize it and make the players get day jobs. you know, players used to have to have jobs to play baseball.


2006-01-15

:-|
I just heard the words "Elle, Don't touch his butt!!!" come from our living room. I don't want to know. I do not want to know.
Park
We went to a par. We walked two miles. Elly had a great time playing on the play ground with all the other kids. It was tons of fun. No pictures. I didn't take any pictures. That is pretty much all that happened today. It was a pretty good day.


2006-01-14

Ubuntu Blog
Some nice tricks. Give them a look.
It looks like they have the answer I've been looking for to get Windows Media files to work. The trouble is, I don't know what I'm doing. What the hell do I do with the data files, binaries and scripts? Maybe I'll figure it out.
Domestic Call
Iran is going to have nukes soon. Europe seems to want no part of stopping it. The U. S. Is already stretched. It is going to take a concerted effort to stop the Iranian government without wiping out the Iranian people.
You know what this all reminds me of? An old married couple. The U. S. is the old man who drinks and boasts a bit. He works hard and tries to keep the world together with a roof over it's head. Europe is like the old mother who wines and complains. She has a glass of wine tries to keep the family together by using diplomacy, but can't always convince the kids to play nice.
Thus, they fight. The UN trys to play counselor. Nothing seems to get done until there is a major crisis. Then the immediate family pulls together for a while. Just ask any cop what happens when you roll up on a domestic call and both members of the argument are about to be arrested. They band together against the cops.
When Iran pushes hard enough, they will get smacked by both parents. Then, hopefully, expelled and cut off from the family until they grow up.
Cookies
Something very ironic just happened. Nat, the Amazing Woman, is baking chocolate chip cookies. She sat down at her computer and instantly ran into third party cookies popping up all over the place. I don't think she caught the irony of the situation.
"mmmmmm chocolate chip coooooookies!!"
"BLEKKKH!! Third party cookies!"
Wal-Mart People
Nat and I just went to Wal-Mart at 1:00 in the morning. We needed cat litter and bread. We ended up spending $100 on all kinds of groceries. I didn't even get any chocolate milk. We grabbed a mat thing that says "Please wipe your paws" to put in front of the cat box. We got a bunch of those meals ready to cook that you put in the crock pot.
While there, we ran in to a guy who helped ups track down the mat. He was hauling a ladder around in one department and helped us find something in a different section of the store. When he didn't know where something was, he asked one of the other employees for us. That was kind of nice.
Lately, I've been hearing all kinds of folks bash Wal-Mart for their employment practices. Wal-Mart does twist the arm of suppliers to get a better deal. Why not? They would be negligent to the stock holders if the best deal possible was not pursued. People complain that Wal-Mart kills all the other local employers and small businesses. That is a particularly bad thing when Wal-Mart then pulls out of that market and leaves a husk of a local economy.
The guy who helped us was nice. Most of the folks there were working on restocking the shelves. I hated stocking. I worked at Randal's a million years ago. Yuck. No health at all. No benefits. Where I work now, I don't get any benefits to speak of. I'm able to beat their medical everywhere I look. I can't get child coverage for less than $650 a month. That is more than I pay in rent.
I'm rambling. Sorry. Hopefully, I'll have something more coherent later.


2006-01-13

Yikes

I talked with Professor Budgie, my favorite chemist, last night. His conclusion was that if you give a bright high school student an unlimited credit card, and all the facilities he wanted, he would probably be able to whip up a nuke from scratch in a matter of months. They're not that hard to make ... but the good Prod pointed out that it would depend on how sophisticated a nuke you wanted.
For example, our erstwhile high schooler could probably whip up a Hiroshima sized nuke in no time, given that unlimited credit card. But, if you wanted one that would take out, say, all of Israel, or a third of the US eastern seaboard, it might take a few months. And, mind you, that's starting from scratch.
It was not a reassuring conversation. Happy Friday 13th.

The article was really arguing that it is too late for sanctions against Iran to work. Personally, I think the concept of sanctions is flawed. By the time any regime will feel the pinch of sanctions, they have made up their mind to follow through with whatever it was that is pissing off the rest of the world. I remember Iraq sanctions. Boy, did they work or what? Those sanctions also lead to Oil for Food scandals. The article above mentions that too. Of course, most of the same people who made money on Oil for Food are still in charge of the UN, so why would they do anything any different with Iran? Besides, the people of Iran don't want a war. It is the group of assholes in charge. Remember, they are not elected.

No Inspections

Iran is threatening to block the IAEA from inspecting various sites associated with Iran's nuclear program. Iran has adopted the North Korean play book, knowing that the IAEA is completely powerless to act.

Do we remember how well this worked last time?

Options

The four options are best summed as follows: the ostrich, stepping up global pressure, Israel goes medieval on Iran's nuclear program with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch just as it did Iraq in 1981, and the US air strike.

Are the pliers maid in China?
Joke

An engineer dies and reports to the Pearly Gates.  St. Peter checks his dossier and says, "Ah, sorry, you're in the wrong place."
So the engineer reports to the gates of hell and is let in.  Pretty soon, the engineer gets dissatisfied with the level of comfort in hell, and starts designing and building improvements.  After a while, they've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and the engineer is a pretty popular guy.
One day God calls Satan up on the telephone and says with a sneer, "So, how's it going down there?"
Satan replies, "Hey, things are going great.  We've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and there's no telling what this engineer is going to come up with next."
God replies, "What???  You've got an engineer?  That's a mistake -- he should never have been sent down there.  Send him up here."
Satan says, "No way.  I like having an engineer on the staff, and I'm keeping him."
God says, "Send him back up here or I'll sue!"
Satan laughs uproariously and answers, "Yeah, right.  And just where are YOU going to get a lawyer?"

Those engineers, they just can't help themselves.
Artificial eyes one step closer.
God Help Us

In another case involving Delara Darabi, she was charged with murder. She, a teen-ager, will hang according to the court\u2019s decision in Rasht, northern Iran. She denied the charges.
In still another incident, Nazanin, the victim of an attack, tried to defend herself against rapists. The Muslim males also tried to rape her niece who was with her at the time.
Etemaad, the state-run newspaper, reported that the 18-year-old "confessed to stabbing one of three men who had attacked the pair along with their boyfriends while they were spending some time in a park west of the Iranian capital in March 2005."
In the fracas, the boy friends got on their motorbikes and fled, leaving the two girls defenseless. With that, rapists proceeded with their attacks.
Three Muslims "pushed her and her 16-year-old niece Somayeh onto the ground and tried to rape them." She then took a knife, stabbing one of the men\u2019s hand. The men continued with the attack.
As the girls attempted to run from the park, the men bodily got hold of them again. Nazanin then stabbed one of the men in the chest. "The teenage girl broke down in tears in court as she explained that she had no intention of killing the man but was merely defending herself and her younger niece from rape."
The decision of the court? Nazanin will be hanged to death.
Such is life and death in Iran.

These are the people who are about to get nuclear weapons. These are the people who want to take over the world and install this kind of justice called Sharia Law. Women are little more than property. They are to submit to rape rather than resist.


2006-01-12

Suds (picture of the day)

Suds in a fountain
[click for a larger image]

This is the apartment complex across the street from mine. I was waiting for the bus, talking to Nat on the phone and didn't even notice it for a second. A cop drove by and I think took a picture. I've seen this kind of thing done before, but never this well. You could still hear the fountain running behind the shiny cloud.
Nat has a timely post from last night about sneaking out of the house and being up to no good as a kid.. hmmmm. How ... timely.
Redundant Redundancy

... the Norwegian government is planning to create the seed bank next year at the behest of crop scientists. The $3 million vault will be built deep inside a sandstone mountain lined with permafrost on the Norwegian Arctic island of Spitsbergen. The vault will have metre-thick walls of reinforced concrete and will be protected behind two airlocks and high-security blast-proof doors. It will not be permanently manned, but "the mountains are patrolled by polar bears", says Fowler.

They are going to dig a hole in a cold place and bury a bunch of seeds for future generations. If the environment changes people will have a bunch of seeds to start over. If the environment changes will the seeds work? I am all for backups,  You have to have a plan for restoring too.


2006-01-11

VoIP and Terrorism
I'm sure you have heard all the hub-bub over getting a warrant before listening in on phone calls overseas. I think I have figured out what is really going on. There are people driving (and flying) around out there with their notebook hooked up to an antenna. They are searching for insecure WiFi connections. The practice is called War Driving. Well, I've figured it out.
What is happening is the bad guys are driving around and attaching to networks in neighborhoods and businesses. They are using equipment available on the open market. Maybe it is modified, maybe it is straight off the shelf. They probably don't stay attached to any one network for more than a minute. That means as they move around, they may hit a hundred different IP addresses in a short period of time. That means the NSA would only have a few seconds to get a warrant to tap that personal IP address and infiltrate the law abiding citizen's network.
I'm a dumb-ass and this is obvious to me.
Does that make more sense? Does that clear things up a bit? Shut up about it. Give the NSA a break. They have to deal with new shit every five minutes. I think there are 35,000 people working for the NSA in one way or another. They are all busting their ass to prevent the bad guys from killing my family and yours.
Elevator Stories
I would like to take a moment to rant about the elevators at work. For the first several years I worked in the building where I now find myself employed, I was on the first floor. I did not have to deal with the elevators with every move. Then, I was on the fourth floor. That is the top floor of the building. Right now, I'm on the third floor.
Because this is only a four floor building, the designers opted for hydraulic driven elevators instead of some cable driven mechanism. This has some advantages. The mechanism is smaller. The system is a bit more self contained. It has some drawbacks. The system is prone to mechanical trouble. At least, my personal opinion tells me so. The system is also slow. I would say it smells funny too. That may not be the actual elevator. I'm told the bathrooms vent into the shaft. Nice undocumented feature there guys.
The entire time I've been in this building, the elevators have been down one at a time at least half of the time. There have been one or two occasions where two of the four elevators was out of action at the same time. This is normally dealt with quickly. The elevators have been taken off line for extended periods for upgrades and maintenance. I'm still waiting for the day when all four go down simultaneously.
When I ride the elevator these days it feels like I'm traveling down a mine shaft. The car clunks and grinds. Every now and again there is a screech. Last year I got on the elevator on the first floor. It was early in the morning around 6:00 am. I hit three and waited. The door closed. Then, nothing. I hit the door open button and still nothing. Then I noticed the floor read out said "E" instead of a number at all. "Crap!" I thought. I experienced the "Oh shit" moment where you feel tingles and all the blood leaves your extremities. I'm claustrophobic. I started hitting buttons and hitting the "1" button seemed to open the door.
Not much later that day I found out someone got caught in the elevator and I shouted through to hit the "1" key to open the door. I heard they reset something to fix it after I complained. It seemed not to have learned its lesson.
There is no solution to this problem. It is not like the powers that be can just replace the elevators. I know the maintenance contractor has been here several times to adjust and repair the damn thing. I make sure my phone battery is charged before i ride. I honestly did not ride the elevator once when my mobile had a dead battery.
A friend of mine was caught in an elevator at University of Houston Down Town. He says the car was packed and got stuffy instantly. They were in contact with the fool on the other end of that on-board phone/intercom, but no one came to help them. They asked that the fire department be called and this person said they had called. After an hour and a half, someone on the elevator called 911 and the fire department showed up in ten minutes. The fire department said no one had called them. It turns out the person on the other end of that intercom had paged someone, and was waiting for their call back. Meanwhile, my buddy stood in a sweltering elevator with a dozen or so others who all remained calm. Fortunately, his professor was trapped with him. I suppose he could not deny the excuse.
I remember in psychology class discussing the fact that in western cultures we turn around to face the door on elevators. This does not happen in some other cultures. There were theories why this happens, but not concrete reasons.
Come now, if there has been a single post on this blog that should spawn a couple of anecdotes, it is this one. Please comment on your elevator stories.
Why didn't I think of that?
I hate it when someone comes up with a really good idea and I could have thought of it, but didn't. ptptphttpt ... sliced bread. BAH!!!!
The news story.
The web page .


2006-01-10

Rank ≠ Right

Through the pitch-black night, the captain sees a light dead ahead on a collision course with his ship.
The captain sends a signal: "Change your course 10 degree east."
The light signals back: "Change yours, 10 degrees west."
Angry, the captain sends: "I'm a navy captain! Change your course, sir!"
"I'm a seaman, second class," comes the reply.
"Change your course, sir."
Now the captain is furious. "I'm a battleship! I'm not changing course!"
There is one last reply. "I'm a lighthouse. Your call."

A really big rock out ranks the mightiest sea captain.
I said decaf GODDAMMIT!!!!

An explosive device was found in a Starbucks coffee shop in central San Francisco on Monday. The building was evacuated and a police bomb squad disarmed the device, authorities said.

They should have just waited for someone to show up and ask forthe lost-and-found.


2006-01-09

Weekend
Friday
What a full weekend. Friday, we saw Rumor Has it at Alamo. I did not think I would like it. I have friends who would say "that is not a Kelly movie." However, I did enjoy it. I enjoyed it because I had the opportunity to share the experience with Natalie. It was fun.
Saturday
What the hell did we do Saturday? Oh, ya. Two trips to Wal-Mart and good beans and rice that Nat made. We watched some movies and hung out at the lair. It was fun.
Sunday
Well, Sunday was interesting. I have some pictures.
We got up early for a Sunday. We fell out of bed at around 8:00 and ran down to my parent's place to pick up Elle. She had been spending the weekend there. We then drove to the opposite end of the world. We went to far north Houston well past the airport out 1960. Nat's Grandmother's best friend lives out there. Maybe she is her sister. I don't know. Anyway, she is in her eighties. She has lived out there for a million years.
I've seen these kinds of neighborhoods before. You have a major road. Off to the side of the road you have houses. They are highly varied. They are of different ages. They are different distances from the road. Rarely do you have one in front of the other. This is a plot of land that was divided up between family. They each built houses as needed. You almost always have huge yards. Who would not want a huge yard if they could get it? That was this neighborhood. Many of the families here were related somehow.
Elle Absolutely loved the yard. She ran everywhere. I will be surprised if she is not sore today. Nat showed Elle all the different plants growing around the property. There is one tree in particular that used to be a Christmas tree. It was then planted and flourished. (They did not cut it down, they dug it up.) We were far enough back from the road to let Elle have a longer leash.
The driveway was two strips of small gravel. Elle played in the driveway and tried to gather rocks. The Lady who lives there says "Every kid who comes here plays with that gravel. They usually pick it up and then start throwing it."
Nat then said "I know. I remember coming here and playing with the gravel when I was her age. My dad had to stop me and say 'Empty your pockets, she needs a drive way.'"
Elle never did throw it. Elle was in sight, but well far enough away that I could not see her face. I knew the look on it though. It is that look that I had on my face when I played in the dirt around my parent's house. It is the look on my face when I captained star ships to alien lands in the flower-bed.
There were trees. They are tall and proud trees planted in a row by human hands. By the hands of the people who live on the land. Gorgeous trees.
We all sat down to a lunch inside. I heard the most fascinating stories of moving to that spot, growing the plants, how the whole area has built up over the last several years, killing rabbits from the land behind their's and selling them for a dollar each to the "N"-word (I refuse to type it here right now) across the tracks. She is in her eighties, give her a break. She was about forty years old in the early sixties. She was a little girl in the depression. She was a teen during World War II. How I would love to hear more stories from her and Nat's mom.
I took a picture of the telephone in her house. I couldn't help myself. It is the center piece of a shelf full of family photos, and nick-nacks. There is a calender, notepad, pens, and an answering machine. I'll post the picture soon. You have to see it to get the feel of the hub of the outside world it is.
When we first arrived I could not help but notice how much stuff was laying around. I took a photo of the garage. I commented to Nat "This is what our place is going to look like when we are this age." You could tell that well manicured house had been slowly built over a long and full life.
Then, all too soon, it was time to go. We had plans for the rest of the day. It was good timing. The lady who had been up since dawn cooking, in her eighties, was tired and I'm sure wanted to take a well earned nap. I thought for sure I would be board to tears all day.
Nat Elle and I left. Elle instantly passed out. On the way back to my parent's place to drop Elle off, we passed three motorcycles. They were in civilian cloths,but they were clearly cops. They were riding in a line several meters apart. The whole time we were behind them I could only think of my father who was also on a ride that day. He tells me the ride was wonderful. He enjoyed every minute. They went to Brenham I believe for a burger. They chose back roads. They saw many people on the road out only to enjoy the beautiful day on motorcycles and in classic cars. They had a blast.
It was a magnificent day.
The weather now makes me worry about how hot it will be this Summer.
We dropped Elle off at my parent's place. They like watching her, but I worry we will ware out our welcome. We try to keep it to a minimum.
Then came the second half of our day. We went to a restaurant called Gringos on 59. I'm not sure how to spell it. The food was good. The service was OK. There was some confusion on the gratuity.
Nat and I were the first one's to show up at the restaurant. We ran into Jack, Adam's friend while waiting. Small world. I had to stop him later at the ice cream machine and ask him his name. I have got to have a learning disability with that. We were pretty loud and rowdy. I hope we didn't upset his evening.
It was Ken's birthday. It was to be a surprise party. As people began trickling in I got the best feeling of nostalgia. Some of the folks I had not seen for years. Nat and I used to hang out with these people years ago. There were old CB gang members and new Faire gang members. There was no resounding "SURPRISE!", but Ken was pleased with all the folks who showed up.
I got Ken a flashlight that takes lithium batteries. It is the size of a pen light, but as bright as a four cell Maglight, or so the package said. I was worried he would be a bit oblivious about it, but he liked it. He played with it at the table and used it to "attack" the media aka Scott and myself who showed up with cameras in tow. To be honest, I didn't notice what else he got because were were several meters apart on the huge table. I called him on his mobile and said "happy birthday" as a joke.
I followed the smokers out to the back landing where they ... smoked. We further discussed our plans for buying the Texas Renaissance Festival future birthday parties and a Goblin Nation trip to the Arizona Fair. We passed a plate around for left overs so someone could eat. Then we bought him a fajita dinner so he could eat better. Ken dropped ice down Missy's shirt. Mike dropped ice down Jen's pants. You would have thought she had a squirrel in there. Someone dropped ice down my shirt. We ate and talked and flirted. My God it was fun.
When we were to leave, we gathered in the parking lot. this is particularly important because this group used to hang out in parking lots. Heath let the air out of Mikes tire beforehand. While Mike knelt down to inspect the tire, Jen dumped a cup of ice down his back. That is, she tried. Every time she got close, he would turn and ask for a flashlight, holler at Heath for the air hose (Heath has a compressor on his truck) or make a comment. She finally got him though. I wish I had taken a video of that. It was classic.
Most of us made our way to Slick Willy's over on Murphy road. We had a toast (thanks Nat and Heath) there, and shot some pool. Nat put some good songs on the juke-box. I won the one game I played because the other person scratched on the 8. I've won the last couple of games like that. I managed to keep up with him for a while, I even accidentally sank two of my own balls on one shot. I've never done that during a game before.
When Missy and Jamie (her daughter) had to leave, Jen and I walked them out. I walked out to make sure Jen made it back in OK. There was a guy driving around the parking lot in a small four door car. He made me nervous. I noticed him again later when all of us were leaving. I hope he was some kind of security guard, but who am I kidding. He was some freak who likes watching drunk people leaving a pool hall.
When it was time to go, it was "good bye" and "call me soon". There were hugs and hand shakes. Future plans and some kisses. The couples had to leave to go get the kids. Ken and Jen said it. Nat and I said it all at the same time. More hugs in the parking lot. Off we all go with good memories.
We picked up Elle (Thanks a ton Mom and Dad). We went home. We put Elle to bed. We crashed ourselves. That sounds like life to me.


2006-01-08

Off
We are off in a minute to go grab Ell and head off to grandma's house. We then return to go to dinner with some friends. This will most likely be the only post today. Prey for us. Thanks.


2006-01-07

I don't have anything to say today. I'm just here. Tomorrow we have a Christmas thing to do with Elle during the day and a dinner with friends at night. Not sure how all that is going to work out. Well, that's it. I'm gone. Have fun.


2006-01-06

Good to Know

You want to know all about someone's cell phone usage, like who they called and for how long they talked? You don't need a warrant. You don't need FISA. You don't even have to be a law enforcement officer. You just need to click on a website like Locate cell.com, or one of several others, send them the cell phone number and a credit card number, and in 24 hours or less they'll send you a list of every call made from that cell phone. And it's all perfectly legal.
...
Sen. Chuck Schumer, doing something worthwhile for a change, is trying to get the practice criminalized.
In the meantime, the FBI has issued a warning to all its field offices that the cell phone records of agents and informants are exposed to anyone who wants to buy them. The Chicago Police Department has likewise warned its officers of the security threat.

(Slashdot's 2 cents)
This is good to know. I like the fact that you only need the phone number. I get phone calls from a bunch of dyslexic hill-billies looking for a trailer parts place that happens to have a number similar to mine.
Ring, ring...
Me: "Hello"
Hill-Billy: "Ya, Y'all got a new fornistat for my short tong blah - blah - blah"
Me:  "Didn't you call five minutes ago? You have the middle two numbers switched in the phone number you dialed. It is XXX-X49-XXXX you are looking for, not XXX-X94-XXXX."
Hill-Billy: "What?!? ... ... ... Hang on. .. .. .."
Me: [click]
This scenario plays out every couple of days. I can tell some of these guys are on mobiles. I should start running these queries and calling their friends to convince them they have a learning disability and seek help. No, I'll just stop answering the phone unrecognized numbers.
This is a very minor annoyance in my life. It doesn't even eat up very many minutes. I do so enjoy complaining though.
Confuse-ish Say

Your Fortune Is
Baby conceived on back seat of car with automatic transmission grow up to be shiftless bastard.

I've had worse fortune cookies.
Penny Arcade
I don't normally get off on Penny Arcade. They seem like a couple of jokers who aren't all that funny most of the time. They have some winners though. I think a bunch of people hang out there for the forum.
I'm off to order my pizza.


2006-01-04

Remember
I just took one of those little online test tings that asked "what event do you most remember?" Well, there are so many.
* I remember eating dog food from a bowl before I could walk.
* I remember walking across a heater vent and burning my feet when I was three.
* I remember the first time I took a shower in PE class.
* I remember taking a walk down the bayou near my home some time during middle school and taking a bunch of pictures with my old Canon AE1.
* I remember crossing a frozen lake in Missouri City Texas. Not many people can say that.
* I remember a fight in the locker room in high school where one guy really wanted to kill the other. I tried to get to the coach's office before the fight broke out, but I didn't make it. I could have.
* I remember sitting in the high school library where we just happened to watch the shuttle Challenger launch because we were working on a project.
* I remember camping on the Guadalupe River with some CB friends and enjoying life down the rapids.
* I remember crossing Highway 59 on foot to call a tow truck in the middle of the night because Marble and I nearly drove the car into a lake on the day before Christmas Eve.
* I remember 9/11. I was in a meeting with some people out of state. Everything started happening slowly and built up.
I'm not sure what single events of the wedding and meeting Elle will stick in my head. I suppose I'm still too close to those to know how time will filter them.
What do you remember?
Day
Meeting
The meeting went ... "eh". I'm not sure how else to put it. It was twenty minutes long. We discussed my implementation for the next year. That means, how much of my time is allocated. The boss wants to to that kind of thing quarterly. That sounds fine with me. I'm pretty much satisfied with working where I do. As long as I'm learning things I feel pretty good about it. I just hope the new position will involve a bit more programming and teamwork.
Dinner
We went over to Mike and Ronnie's place last night for a great meal and a good time. Elle and Ben played, or is it fought over every toy in the house. We had to rein them in a couple of times. They are kids after all.
Home
I'm home now. It feels so good. I think I've found what I was missing all this time.


2006-01-03

Day
Boss
I have a big meeting with the department head tomorrow about my workload and manpower requirements for this year. I just heard about it today. That is really a good thing because I'm a nerves wreck. It is no big deal. Still, It is the big boss. He is a cool guy. I'm sure you will hear all about it tomorrow.
Danial
Danial came over to drop off Elle's Jeep's charger. He said he was on this side of the world anyway, but I think he went out of his way just to do it. He is pretty cool.
Rape
There was a rape not all that far from where we live. The news report said a woman went to a store in the early hours of the morning with her son to get some juice. When she came back to the apartment, two men attacked her, robbed her, then raped her. The news mentioned the apartment complex had a bunch of Louisiana refugees in it. The news also said there is only one way in, one way out and no one saw them leave. I wonder if they live there.
Another lady was interviewed and she said "It makes me feel uncomfortable." I filled in her words in my head "It makes me feel right at home." because she had a Louisiana accent.
I need to start looking for a better place to live. I wish we could afford a house.
Dinner
We are supposed to head over to Mike and Ronnie's for a turkey dinner. I hope things work out that way. We haven't had a chance to get together in a wile. I'm sure you will hear about that too. At least, if it is a disaster. Good news goes unreported these days.
Off we go. Well, I better publish this. Nat is getting sick of the word "blog".
Munich
I agree.


2006-01-02

WiFi
What a difference two years can make.

Notebooks everywhere
I just walked past a conference room. There were fifteen people in there with at least ten notebook computers. Every notebook had a separate network cable. There were two hubs and a switch. My company has a paranoid view of wireless. I'm thinking one wireless router would have eliminated fifteen cables and obvious hazards. They wouldn't have spent twenty minutes setting up all the wires and wasted tape taping them to the carpet. The policy is just plain no. Oh, well. I suppose it is for the best.

For the moment the answer is still no. However, they are at least doing some research into productivity changes and WiFi usefulness. There is a test WiFi hub on my floor. I cannot use it because A) I do not remove my notebook from the lock unless I cannot function otherwise. B) I am a contractor and thus, a second class employee who is undeserving of mobility. C) There is only one hub so I couldn't get very far. Some day they will get it. Some day they will not have a choice in the matter. As in 10/base-T vs 100/base-T they will be forced to upgrade. They tried to implement a VOIP system on a 10/base-T network with a 5 megabit half duplex connection to the internet. It didn't work.
Hey Man Nice Shot

Gazing through the telescopic sight of his M24 rifle, Staff Sgt Jim Gilliland, leader of Shadow sniper team, fixed his eye on the Iraqi insurgent who had just killed an American soldier.
His quarry stood nonchalantly in the fourth-floor bay window of a hospital in battle-torn Ramadi, still clasping a long-barreled Kalashnikov. Instinctively allowing for wind speed and bullet drop, Shadow's commander aimed 12 feet high.
A single shot hit the Iraqi in the chest and killed him instantly. It had been fired from a range of 1,250 meters, well beyond the capacity of the powerful Leupold sight, accurate to 1,000 meters.
"I believe it is the longest confirmed kill in Iraq with a 7.62mm rifle," said Staff Sgt Gilliland, 28, who hunted squirrels in Double Springs, Alabama from the age of five before progressing to deer - and then people.
"He was visible only from the waist up. It was a one in a million shot. I could probably shoot a whole box of ammunition and never hit him again."

It is a bit confusing here. Jim was not shooting a Kalashnikov. True, a Kalashnikov is 7.62x39mm rifle. However, when the U. S. says 7.62mm they usually mean a 7.62x51mm that is some times called a .308 caliber. They are not really the same thing. They will chamber each other's rounds and fire, however, the ballistics are quite different. It has to do with the number of times the bullet turns in the rifling of the barrel and the exact length of the over all cartridge. Every now and then they mean 7.62x54mm. That ammunition is based on the .306 round.
No matter how you measure it, that is a good shot. Most of the competition shooting for distance is done with .50 caliber. The bullet (the lead part that flies out the end of the barrel and does most of the damage) is heavy and keeps it's inertia for a longer period of time. Hitting a man sized target at that distance is a hell of a shot in any one's book.
Where does .223 vs 5.56x45mm come in to it? Well NATO never met a standard they didn't want to change for no better reason than to make it their own. I wonder what the difference between U. S. military MREs and NATO MREs could possibly be.