Big Brother

"We all know about Microsoft's WGA initiative that started last July. Most of us were troubled to learn that the WGA has been 'phoning home' to Microsoft at every boot. Well, get ready, because eventually Microsoft may be turning off copies of Windows without WGA installed. According to a Microsoft technician, 'in the fall, having the latest WGA will become mandatory and if its not installed, Windows will give a 30 day warning and when the 30 days is up and WGA isn't installed, Windows will stop working, so you might as well install WGA now.'" A new version of WGA was released on Tuesday and, at least for the time being, Windows users have the option of removing WGA from their systems Slashdot

I'm so glad I use Linux. When people's computers stop working until they pay the Microsoft tax, they will start converting in droves to whatever will make their email work again. I do not know of any alternative for Microsoft. They have to make money or die. They make 50% prophet on software. The only way to compete with Microsoft is to give your products away for free.
I wish I had some snide comment that would make you laugh at Bill's expense. He can afford it.

Travel
I forget to thank Natalie for the rides to and from work. She has to do all the driving. I should remember how stressful that is in Houston. For a city designed specifically for automobiles, Houston is a pain in the ass to drive through. There are places in Houston you can only get to in a vehicle. The planners saw no problem with that design. Nat has to put up with it every day.
Thanks sweetie.
I had to walk home yesterday through the weeds and passing cars. People speed like mad on 1093. I've walked in the street a couple of times and nearly had people wreck while trying to avoid me. It isn't like I'm walking down the middle of the road. I'm as far over as I can get. The weeds are taller than I am. There are holes in the ground and things to trip over all hidden. I need to find some herbicide and start spraying it along the road. Maybe I can salt the earth for good measure.

Phone
I really want a phone that lets me check my pop3 email. I do not have internet access most places I go. I would like to be able to check both work and home email from, well, here. Where ever that may be. I know none of them work with Linux, so I may just blow the whole idea of syncing it up off. I'm to the point of not caring. Any one have ideas out there in Linux land? What is a geek to do with no internet capable PDA and only a Linux box to hook it to?

Lost
I just finished the last episode of season two. Official Site. Fan Site.
This show is very well done. The director(s) should be commended. The story is very good. I like the interwoven story lines. I watched this in a weekend marathon. Both seasons. One after the other. Let me tell you, I was paranoid and fascinated by the final twist. Flawed heroes. X-Files in the jungle feel. I felt the desperation. It has been a long time since I teared up while watching a TV show.
I love the visual control this show has. One of the characters had to leave the camp. When he came back, the first member of the group that sees him is his dog. They have a reunion on the beach and you just know the dog is happy to have his master back.
The people one the island know there is something wrong. They know the island has secrets. The new island dwellers know there is little they can do to stop the island and the "others" from doing whatever it is they will.
I highly recommend the series. If you can swing it, watch them several at a time.

For Extra Credit
What was Noah's Wife's name?

There does not seem to be any passages in the Bible referring to her other than the account beginning in Genesis 7:7 which mentions Noah's wife. His wife is not named in the Bible for certain; however, according to Jewish tradition her name is Naamah. Why Tubal-cain's sister (a daughter of Lamech by his wife Zillah, and sister of Tubal-cain, a descendant of Cain) should be specifically mentioned is unknown. Jewish tradition made her Noah's wife. Her name, meaning "the beautiful" or "the pleasant one," reflects the worldly mind of the Cainites, who looked for beauty rather than for character as the chief attraction in women. BibleINfo.com

Nat had it right. She said "I don't remember her being called anything but 'Noah's wife'." You called it Nat.

Joke

YOU MIGHT BE A TEXAN IF: 1. You can properly pronounce Boerne, Nacogdoches, Waco, Amarillo, Waxahachie, Refugio, Mexia, and Bexar. 2. A tornado warning siren is your signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel. 3. You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" on Christmas Day. 4 You know that the true value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door, but by the availability of shade. 5. Stores don't have bags, they have sacks. 6. You see people wear bib overalls at funerals. 7. You measure distance in minutes. 8. Little Smokies are something you serve only for special occasions. 9. You go to the lake because you think it is like going to the ocean. 10. You listen to the weather forecast before picking out an outfit. 11. You know cowpies are not made of beef. 12. Someone you know has used a football  or hunting  schedule to plan their wedding date. 13. You have known someone who has had a belt buckle bigger than your fist. 14. You aren't surprised to find movie rental, ammunition, and bait, and pregnancy tests all in the same store. 15. Your "place at the lake" has wheels under it. 16. A Mercedes Benz is not a status symbol; a Chev Silverado 4x4 is. 17. You know everything goes better with Ranch dressin'. 18. You learned how to shoot a gun before you learned how to multiply. 19. You actually understand this, and you are "fixin' to" send it to your friends. 20. Finally, you are 100% Texan if you have ever had this conversation:  "You wanna coke?"  "Yeah."  "What kind?"  "Dr. Pepper!"

... yup.

Joke
What did one snow man say to the other snow man?

"It smells like carrots."

Company Size
I used to work for a multi-national company that had 30,000 employees and probably another 10,000 or 20,000 contractors that worked exclusively for that company. There were at least 50,000 nodes on the network. The tentacles of this behemoth stretched to all points of the globe. If you can drive a bulldozer across it or float a tanker near it, you found that company nearby.
In the company I work for today, the boss can pick up the intercom and page every one who works for him in one breath. That still amazes me. I'm just not used to it. It has to be harder going the other way.

Sunset
I would like to thank the cloud that stuck in the same spot for an hour just so I could watch the sun move around it. I complain about my vision. I can get all the beauty from sunsets.

I like Cheney

"What I find most disturbing about these stories is the fact that some of the news media take it upon themselves to disclose vital national security programs, thereby making it more difficult for us to prevent future attacks against the American people," Mr. Cheney said, in impromptu remarks at a fund-raising luncheon for a Republican Congressional candidate in Chicago. "That offends me." POE News

Mark my words, Cheney is going to knock a reporter out one of these days. Then he is going to blame it on targett focus.

Goth Day at Disneyland

Annual Disneyland goth day this August Bats Day in the Fun Park is the annual, unauthorized goth day at Disneyland. The eighth of these is coming up this August, and has metastasized into a weekend-long festival with a conference hotel, music, and a "black market" selling gothy stuff. The event culminates with a mass riding of the Haunted Mansion and a group photo of hundreds -- thousands? -- of goths posing with the Mansion. I'm moving to LA in about three weeks, so I'll actually be a local when the next one of these rolls around. I'm really going to try to make it this year. boingboing

Nat will get a kick out of this. There is more information in the boingboing article. Click through and take a look.

Meany Butt

You were being a meany butt today. If a dream put you in that kind of mood all day, then you need to start talking about your dreams or something. The meany butt thing just is not working...especially on a day when I have to take a pet to a shelter (because she bit Elle twice, never breaking skin) where I had to sign a paper telling me there was a chance that she would be put to sleep. I cried a lot today...and then you were being a meany butt on top of everything...and you broke the car (but that can be fixed and it really is not a very important part)... I'm going to bed now. Nat

I'm not sure how much the the dream contributed to my being a meany butt. The real trouble is I do not want to get a dog. Actually, I do not want to get any more pets. I had hit my limit of mouths to feed. I want to have a baby with Nat. I worry about taking care of the baby all through his/her life. Having a dog right now is a financial strain. Every additional strain on the budget makes it that much harder to prepare for and take care of a new baby. That is why I was a grumpy meany butt yesterday.
We have the family unit, that's three. The rat and cat make five. For a while we had another cat that made six. We had to give up the cat because it bit Elle, but we are getting a pretty good sized seven year old dog. I envision vet bills.
Love makes the world go round, but money keeps you from starving to death.

Uneasy
I have an uneasy feeling. It is one of those times where you find yourself on edge for no obvious reason. I had some kind of strange dream last night that I didn't remember.  I awoke with the most uneasy feeling. I have not shaken the state all day. I worked with it on the back burner. I mowed the grass. The strangest thing today has been the rain. The sun was out all day. That is, until about 4:30. That is how Summers go in Houston. Every day about 4:30 it rains all summer. The rain came hard and quick. The view from the sixth floor was thick and dark. Nat Called and said it was not raining only a few blocks away. The rain was like a wave going down Westheimer. One moment bright sunshine, dry roads. and within 100 yards a torrent and a flooded street.
Something dark came round. Something heavy. Now, I'm afraid of nothing.

New blogs
New to the blog-sphere, staybecca and her sister goruth. They make a heck of a pare. One is going off on an adventure in the North Eastern U. S. The other is staying in Houston. Can you figure out which is which?

Next Machine
The world might be ready for Kelly to get a 64 bit desktop. Worry not, it will be a long time before I can afford anything like that. I vowed to wait until the community caught up with all the problems that 64 bit brings with it.
Gain
    o   Larger memory chunk makes many programs run faster.
    o   Handle more memory in a shorter amount of time. Though this is not a problem yet. The OS limits the RAM right now.
    o   Allow for bigger numbers in fewer process steps. Handy in vectoring like games.
Loss
    o   Community doesn't support 64 bit 100% and probably won't until they absolutely have to.
    o   64 bit code seems not to be as tested in some cases. It seems like they write in 32 bit and convert to 64 bit. This is changing.
    o   Some 64 bit chips had heat problems, but this seems to be a manufacturer screw-up.
Neutral
    o   64 bit is twice as big a number on your processor and therefor twice as good.

Argentina
One of my coworkers saw a couple of guys with Argentina shirts on headed to the twelfth floor with several cases of beer. The U. S. played this morning. I haven't heard how it went. We have got to get our shit together on football. We look like a bunch of chumps. This is an international building. We hear many languages in the elevators. I like it. I wish I spoke Spanish. Some of the guys who do speak Spanish say it is difficult to follow some of the folks because they talk so fast and have a dialect they are not used to.

End of the world
I predict that by the time this world comes to an end, no one will be around who cares any more. You have to define "end" anyway. You also have to define "world".
Lets define end as when intelligence looks back and realizes they are not us anymore. Or, end means an abrupt halt to "us".
Lets define world as bags of blood that call themselves human.
With this loose of definitions, the world could end next week and no one who is alive at the time would know.
Nostradamus  said the world ends in a specific year. I bet it is just the last birth certificate that lists the squalling tike as a human.  The world will be populated with genetically modified cybernetic X-Men by then. At least, I hope so. It would be offal boring if things haven't taken some major left tern by then.

Been Here Before
I had one of those moments today where you feel like you have already gone through this situation once. They call it deja vu. I call it a Matrix moment. I have a feeling that is when someone "up there" had to hit reset or something. Another explanation might be that we live the same life over and over until we get something right. It would really piss me off if I chose to come back. The first time around, we make mistakes. The next time around we are aloud to tell ourselves from the beyond what to do in the form of those gut feelings. If this is the case, I must have gone around five hundred times. I wonder what the cheese is at the end of the maze.
Another possible load of bunk is reincarnation. We keep coming back as different people until we find enlightenment. This Is the one I hope is bullshit. What happens when all life is gone? This one also leaves the whole question of God open. What happens when we are between bodies?
I like the role playing explanation. When we play DnD, we are the soles of the fictitious characters we play. Someone is role playing our lives "up there" rolling dice. I hope they can cheat. Am I an NPC (Non Player Character)? That sucks. This one leaves God to a line on a character sheet. I wonder what I got for my disability. Normally you get a balance somewhere or your disability plays a part in the story.
So many times in the story we find our character in the middle of life. The character has no idea the "story" is about to begin. Something interesting could happen at any moment. If this is the case, finding enlightenment is about as likely as a DnD character climbing off the game board and shaking my hand.
I read somewhere that nearly every one in every religion believes in angles or some kind of mystical being controlling things. I suppose that is the nature of religion. People need someone to blame.
So, is God the DM and Angles the players? I'm one of the NPCs and the characters are a soldier, a diplomat, a firefighter and a cab driver.

Pretty Rainy Day
I went for a walk around the parking garage for lunch today. It was rainy, but I stayed inside. It is nice to walk at tree canopy level when it is raining. That is about the third floor of the garage. The birds didn't appreciate the attention. They gave me dirty looks and jumped around when I just stood there. They are used to people getting in and out of cars. I suppose my standing there made them nerves.The birds didn't
I just pace back and forth talking to myself. It is highly relaxing. The rainy day part seems to help. If any asks (who doesn't read the blog) I tell them I'm getting some exorcise. I've caught Elle talking to herself. I blame it on being an only child. I think Elle is developing some of the same traits. It is not a bad thing. It might not last. It is OK either way to me.

DnD
We played DnD this past Saturday. I didn't want to say anything about it because I didn't want to jinx the game.  First the out of game stuff. I am proud of myself a little bit. I managed to avoid most junk food and only drank one soda. I drank water the rest of the day and ate pizza and kolaches. Normally, it is a fest of soda, beer, and junk food.
The in game action was pretty cool.
# Almost died twice.
# Cut my left hand off to get some of the magical powers of a Paladin. I got gypped.
# Got a bunch of gold.
# Gained a level, almost two.
# Killed a cloud giant with one blow of my ax. Of course, it had been hit with several fire-balls and assorted other spells and some arrows, but IT COUNTS!!!
Something I learned
# Octopi are no pushovers. They are the grappling machines.
# If you do not have at least 18 strength, there is no point in playing a barbarian. OK, I already knew this.

Weather
We had some pretty nasty weather in Houston today. It rained like it was out for blood. It looked like the end of the world was coming out my sixth floor vantage this afternoon. There has been a break this afternoon. A bright defiant ray of sunshine broke through the clouds a moment ago and shown through my back window. I felt quite privileged. It reminded me of a story from the Donner part where a little girl tried to rap up a ray of sun in a handkerchief and take it to her mom. She was so very disappointed when the glimmer of hope was not there when she displayed it.
It raises my hope for a nice sunset this evening. The last couple of times a storm came through the pictures would have been magnificent.

Father's Day
I made out like a bandit.
The picture came out great, but it cannot portray the crack in my voice or the tear in my eye.
Thank you Elle. I love you too.

Work
I work in one of the more cool buildings I've seen. Check out the snapshots I took the other day. Just random stuff. There are two in particular that I need to explain .
Please ignore the fat guy reflected in the right side of the picture.
This is the ground view of the same reflection. I just happened to get that hotty in the Toyota. BONUS!

Fridays are Funny
The blogs were light today. Friday has developed into a goof-off day in the U.S. I don't know how many people believe they deserve a day to perform half-assed. I have done it myself. I did not do it today. I have not done it in a while.

Yard
I hate owning a house. I hate the fact that I respect the land. I hate the fact that I care about it. I hate the fact that it matters to me. I hate the fact that I feel invaded when someone does something stupid on it. I hate people. I hate people. I hate people.
There have been so many times in my life when I would push the big red button. That is the button where all of man-kind would never have existed. This would be a nice planet if it were not for us.
The rest of the time I just don't care.

Life
Life is pretty good today. I got a ride home when Nat was not able to get me. She was helping a sick friend in Richmond Rosenberg. Sometimes her huge heart slows her down. That's OK. I don't want her to change. I love her just the way she is.

Author
I would love to write a book. I already have a potential title. "The Art of Escalation". I just need the subject matter. Well, that doesn't really could for anything these days. I envision a mushroom cloud on the cover. I have no idea what to write about. I would probably just print my blog and stick it in there. This would be the last entry. I wonder if any one would get that far? How much does it cost to self-publish a book these days. I could print 500 and sell them on e-Bay for $1. Take a huge loss and declare it all on my taxes as a business expense because I blogged so much of it from work. (Just kidding boss! (he reads the blog =])).

Pink Panther
Why didn't the new Pink Panther movie work? It boils down to Steve Martin's performance. He plays the buffoon well, but there was more to the Cluseau character than a slurred accent and endless prat-falls. When Peter Sellers played the part so many years ago, he left something in the character that made all the difference. Dignity. I remember watching the original Pink Panther when I was a kid. I laughed all the way through. I remember knowing what was coming and laughing anyway. You don't laugh at someone you expect to screw up. You become disappointed or annoyed at them. With Peter's character I always thought he might pull it off.
The new show is just a bunch of stunts that has Cluseau pulling a rabbit out of his hat at the end. I was worse than disappointed. I was annoyed by the Cluseau character. I just wanted Steve Martin to shut up and let the cops handle it. Bad show Steve.
The cartoons at the beginning of the movie were the most I laughed. I would rather watch an hour and a half of those, but then my head would explode.
Heck, I remember an episode of the Simpsons where Krusty was interviewing potential side-kicks. Sideshow Cecil took a pie to the face and it just didn't work. When Krusty yelled at Cecil "The fall guy has to have dignity." He then ordered a stage hand to throw a pie in the face of Bob. You felt Bob's anguish. The pain in his hart at being made the fool. And you laughed. A legend was born.

Elevator Conversation
I over heard a conversation waiting for the elevator today. It is proof that girls can be just as over driven as boys while being trained to perform sports.
Guy: "One of my twins got hit by another girl while playing soccer last night. She is alright, but got the wind knocked out of her.
The very next play my other twin and this girl were both running for a ball. It was a fifty fifty ball. They came together and my kid knocked the crap out of the other girl. Knocked her clear into the stands past her parents. All the parents went nuts."
Gal: "It kind of makes you proud when your kid knocks some other kid when they deserve it."
Guy: "Yup."
They then went into a back and forth about what the two kids might have said to one another in the exchange of blows.
Gal: "I know a sports therapist. She worked with a family. The mother and daughter were at a grocery store. Another woman's cart bumps into the Mother's cart. The other woman says 'excuse me', but the daughter got angry and kept saying 'Are you going to take that from her?'
We all do that sort of thing."
She then brought another woman into the conversation who seemed a bit disturbed by it.
They both laughed and made no attempt to resolve the acts or conclude the conversation with a non-violent close.
I then got off the elevator. I can see Elle getting into fights. The way Nat and I treat each other. We both have strong personalities. (We are both assholes about fights) I will never forget when Elle was throwing a fit and screamed "I'M NOT MAAAAAAD!!!!" while trying to take a swing at me.

lotto
I had a random thought of what I would do if we won $200,000 in the lotto, not that we play. The IRS would take half or so. We would pay off the car and the credit card. Then we would pay off as much of the house as we could. That's it. There ain't no more. We would be better off having paid those bills, but that is all the money would cover. Kind of sad really.
I would like to take a vacation. I would like to fix up the back yard. I would like to buy Nat something nice. But, that is where the money would go. I would compromise and set up some fund for Elle's education. Now I'm depressed, and I haven't even won anything. There was some show on the other night about a couple who won the lottery and it all went to the lawyers. Now I'm really depressed. Thank goodness I haven't hit the numbers. It is nothing but trouble.

House Warming
I can't wait for the house warming. I'm going to have a bunch of different people show up.
# Nat's friends - Mostly from Faire and the CB group. I count them as my friends too.
# Coworkers - Geeks with expensive SUVs. They pretty much all live in town. Some of them even like the theater.
# Family - Well, they are about the most normal folks who will be there. They will have fun.
# CB crowd - Big trucks and cooking outdoors. Tractor pulls and camping. I may have to mow the empty lot next door for overflow parking.
It should be fun, even if not that many people show up. I'm not worried about it.

Video in Linux
Well, I got the video off the camera on to the hard drive. It took some doing. It really pisses me off when I have to run programs as root just so they can work. Even when you set the privileges to world read and write on the proper dev directory, the sub directories created when you plug in the device have whatever privileges that the scripts and programs give them. You would have to hunt them all down one by one and make them work correctly. Or, run the damn capture program as root. Bastards.
I'm going to export it to several different file types to determine which will work best for the web. I'm then going to pair it down a bit. It is like thirty minutes long and could be five. I hope to have all of this done by the end of the week free time allowing.

Beach House
Had a great time. Now I have to go back to work.
I shot a video, but I'm too fucking stupid to get it off the camera, so no video. I didn't take any pictures because I did not want to expose my camera to the salt air. There were several photo ops mist. Next time I might get a disposable. Who am i kidding.
I'm going back to Ubuntu. I'm so sick of Fedora, I could puke. Nothing works Nothing is ready out of the box. You have to search for the error you get and then fill in some blank in a configuration file. Then, it still doesn't work. Windows is worth $100. I'm telling you it is a small price to pay for something that works when you plug shit in.

Cheap Sunglasses
This is an update on those cheap prescription sunglasses that I spoke about a while back. Well, they are called Zenni Optical. I'm waring them right now. I've worn them non stop, ask Nat. I still ware my regular clear glasses at work because they are bifocal.
it's been a month. I've already gotten my $30 worth. My eye doctor wanted $200 for a pare of prescription sunglasses. I love the commercials that say "Get a complete pare of glasses for just $99." That $30 includes shipping. You can actually order a clear pare of plane glasses for as little as $16 plus a couple bucks shipping. You have to know how to tell them your prescription. It is not as easy as you think. You need to know the distance between you pupils in millimeters. If you want bifocals it is more. If you want tint (mine are 40% gray) it is more. If you want the extra thin lenses it is basically double. You get the idea. The one's I got don't half suck. If you are in to that sort of thing, you might give them a try for a spare pare of cheaters.

I like bloggers

Got the Motherfucker Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is dead Middle East Journal

I have to tell you, I like bloggers. This guy is in the middle east, or was for a long time. This is the most appropriate use of the key word I've seen in a long time.

Freedom
The word freedom means something different to every person. If you have never thought about freedom, you should count yourself fortunate. To me freedom means not having to worry about your future. I have not had freedom since I was a small child. I am a worrier. I cannot relax without thinking of things that should be done. The trouble is, I'm also lazy. That is a bad combination. If i were industrious, I could at least have some down time between worry sessions. As it is, I overlap the times where I should be doing something and the times where I should be relaxing before the next time I have something that needs to be done.
I'm trying to think what my perfect life would be. The thought of winning the lottery comes to mind. There would still be things I have to do of course, but at least some of the monetary pressure would be taken off. Maybe. There is no promised land. That day has come and gone. It could be a damn sight easier though.
People think the Quakers have it hard without all the modern "conveniences". There was a show a long time ago that asked a bunch of different people how "happy" they were. Quakers came out on top. They get up before dawn and work all day on a farm. Then they go to bed when they run out of light. They do it all again the next day, and the next. Once in a while they go to town for supplies. They go to church for the great human need of gathering. Yet, they are some of the most satisfied folks on the planet. I have some ideas about this.
# They know their place. They work the land. The land feeds them. They don't have to worry about advancement, placement, competing with other employees or how much of a pain the boss can be.
# They have a life long plan before the age of five.
# They help their friends and their friends help them. They all believe in the same things (more or less) and they all know what to do when it comes to a barn raising.
# No car payments. Buggy insurance is not as bad as you might think

Stories
Where to begin a story. Where to end. There is an art to telling a good story. There is an art to telling a good joke. There is more than
saying words. So many jokes do not translate when writing them out. Some work better.
A friend of mine asked a question of someone the other day. "What are you passionate about that you are bad at?" Our mutual friend Ken likes telling jokes, but he doesn't have the timing down. I'm passionate about writing my blog. I'm not particularly that good at it. I so very much enjoy it. I like telling stories, with words, pictures, some day video if I get the gumption to make it work in Linux. I like making things work on computers. I like diagnosing things. I'm not particularly that good at this either.
What does being passionate about something mean?
I think the best story teller in moder music is Tom Waits. I love his work. I need to find some of his poetry. I've heard it is great too. You may not get the comparison, but Tom Waits reminds me quite a bit of Willie Nelson. Not in the talent department, because they both have far differing talent pools from which they draw their muse. They both tell stories in their songs.

I almost didn't publish this one because it is a bit too rambling.

Spam Band Names

Manhood Mercury Sacrosanct Topographer Triplet Jubilation Imposing the Squid The Tasteless Tiredness Stolidly Monogamous Gonorrhea Hot Flash The Recreational Brokenhearted Entitlement Lice Scoundrel Moisture Theatrical Butterscotch Splashy Slew Staircase Megaton Trousers The Stopper, the Luster, the Misty

Did you know you can look in most spam email and find some randomly generated words designed to fool spam filters? My buddy Bryan has gone through the great trouble of reading some of these and coming up with these band names.

The Great Tab Wars
I would start at the beginning, but this is a tale that has no beginning. This conflict is as old as programming itself. It is a battle fought over the space before each line in a program. This bit of white space is very important because it is the only human connection left once the computer takes the list of instructions and runs with it. The only way a human can keep track of where they are in the logic, the lowly tab is all important.
I have witnessed the result of poor practice. I have corrected the troubling jumble of unfollowable chicken scratch that the computer has spat back at me and said "NAY. Thy code sucketh. Be gone ye slow-witted child from my cyber space and begot no further atrocity upon my kernel."
As I slog through someone else's hastily jotted lines of instruction looking for the proper swath of drone for to please our ever dominant electronic overlords, I find myself in a fog of ugly, sloppy, swampy, slippery all too human code.
One would not traverse a desert without a map and extra water. One would not challenge the oceans wrath in an inner tube. When code does  not have the proper layout, it is impossible to follow for we mere mortals. The term readability means something else when used with computer programs. It means, someone else has to figure out what the hell you were trying to do. This can take many forms. Comments, proper variable and procedure names, name space, and proper tabulation. If it were not for we, the programmers, with the need to change things, the code could be an endless belt of dots telling the computers which switches to throw and when.
This brings me to my story.
On a day before the tab wars there were many programming platforms. Each had it's purpose. Each had it's strengths. Each had it's experts and this is the way programmers liked it. Then came management. And the manager said "We need synergy. We need cross-platform capability. We need you programmers to work together." And all the managers rejoiced at what they had done. This was no more than a bunch of words in an email, but that's what managers get paid to do.
The programmers committed the sin of communication and began to squabble. The  managers banished the programmers from the high places for ever to dwell in darkened interior rooms with low walls and poor ventilation. The programmers preferred it this way and rejoiced. They ate many sweets and consumed cola and coffee by the bucket.
Then came the day that Bryan was fed up with all the programmers screwing up the tabs in the programs and he wrote a program that would go in and force all tab characters to four spaces and have done with it. And Bryan won this battle. And from that day to this it is known as the gospel of Bryan. Oh, wait, that's a movie, isn't it? Fortunately, Bryan chooses his battles and does not often abuse his power.
...
When I started working here, I was told to use four spaces instead of tab characters. My lips parted, but before I could utter an objection, I was told "You don't want to get in the middle of this one. That war has already been fought." And, I complied with a shrug. I still have make files for real tab characters. They are above the gospel. That is another blog entry.

Park
While I was at work today, I got the cutest voice mail. Nat said "Did you know there are animals at the park?" I forget which park she was talking about. It is over off Dairyashford. It is the way she said it. "I was turning the corner and suddenly, I'm looking at Bison." When I called her back, she said the Emu were giving her a dirty look.
I want to go. I would love to have gone over there at lunch or something. I think it is too far away for that. I want to go there with my family . That is so much fun to say. "my family"  <smiles>

The Law that Nobody Liked
No one is going to vote for this bill. The conservatives hate it because it doesn't ban gay marriage. The liberals hate it because it doesn't ban straight marriage. I hate it because it takes up valuable print space from the Iranians and the Afghanistan 2.0.

Day
It was the worst day I've had at work yet. It was the most stressful and painful day. Let's just say, I should have stayed in bed this morning. It is not going to get any better tomorrow. I like diagnosing things but shit. There are limits.

A Prairie Home Companion Go read and relax.

Sunset
Walk out my back door and say "ahhhh." Wait until I break out the wide angle lens. I'm waiting for a storm to blow through for that one.

Pretty Day
It was a pretty day outside. It was hot like Summer and all things green were glowing bright in the sun. My yard is brown and patchy. I have the alien weeds from Krypton taking over my yard. The lawn at work looks beautiful. The fountains must keep it watered.I do not know the secret. I have always had a black thumb. I feel sorry for plants under my tutelage. I cannot call it care because it is more like a lesson in how to wither and die.
God does all the work. Plants just don't like me.

Slashdot
I went to the page this evening and thought I went to the wrong place. They changed the layout. It is still conservative. Most everything is in the same place even. However, stuff looks brighter and more like MS Windows style programs. The edges are round and things seem to fade colors more. It looks much more like a blog template now.

Back Yard
For every three minutes I waited it just got prettier and prettier. Nat says she likes the sky we can see from the back yard. I've already missed some really nifty photos. For some reason the sunsets look amazing from our back door. I may have to make it a regular blog attempt to capture the best shot.
One of these days I want to put in a covered patio. That will be a while.

Good News
In other news, they mowed behind our house. The jungle is still next door, but what is right up next to our fence is now freshly mowed. I mowed our front yard and nearly had an attack. There were two guys mowing with regular mowers. They mowed straight for about five hours and got a lot done. There are still some bush sized weeds back there, but I'm going to need a machete to tackle them. My knee didn't like the mowing, but it outlasted the rest of me. It turns out Nat ordered a knee brace for the two of us.

Happy Texas
My personal review is as follows. I'm giving it the Kelly-San (patten pending). That is where I hit the fast forward button every fifteen seconds and skip the next fifteen seconds. It is a great way to watch a crappy movie like Happy Texas. That and blog at the same time. The best line in the movie? "This is a Ming vase, A Wyoming vase."

Apple and India

The company [Apple] that redefined the way we listen to music has decided to call it quits in India. Apple, known for its popular iPods, is pulling out its software development and support operations in India. The Times of India Slashdot

So, what happened? There are a couple of scenarios that pop through my head.
# It is half the price in Russia or China.
# They just higher illegal aliens to do it in the basement.
# Someone who works for Apple and is high up in the organization actually had to deal with some dip-shit in India who could not speak english (as apposed to some dip shit in the U. S. who cannot speak english) on the phone to get support.
# Apple is a family, not a company. It started feeling like a real job.
You get the idea. Who is going to be left to buy Apple computers if no one has a job?

Will
How many people are there in the United States? 280 million? What if there are say 10% more than that? What if there were, say 38 million more than that?
If you looked at each individual person they will have a life and a trail. In short, they all exist both in flesh and in the either of the information age. Now, how would you hide 38 million people? Well, in the numbers. How many people would have to know? Only a few people would know, and fewer still would know ... why.
The census takers take names. The bean counters tally money, input, output. The banks count transactions. Drug dealers count their bling. Who keeps an eye on every one all at once? No one has the money for that.
Not just the United States. All countries who cooperate. How many people do you know who work all day on a task for which they only know their part? How many people only know what they are doing right now? Who knows the more grand scheme?
Oil refineries, chemical plants, Automobiles, loaves of bread. It is all counted every day. It is all set to tune. The world may contain six or seven billion people, who can count them all and know what they are up to when they do not know themselves?
Do you believe that you can hide 38 million people in the wide open? 38 million people who are not invisible. 38 million people who have lives, friends, phones, email and no idea for whom they work.
When did all of this start? In a town, a house, a few men, generations ago. Men who's names you have never heard, found themselves with a need. So much work to be done. They took a country, a country that never existed and made it work for the solution. They knew this would not do. They knew then this would have to blossom beyond their lives, families, countries. A secret born on a table in some ones home. The same table where a family had supper, then held the single guiding focus for the rest of human existence.
Their dream is. Their plan plays. The goal has a life and a purpose all within. Is the secret played too hard against the truth? The wheels grind, the switches dance ever faster in tighter spins. Drive, drive, drive. Get it done. Fit the pieces together, under everyone's nose. Build it. Invent it. Create it. Make it so.
Is any one left who knows for sure why?
</fiction>
Forgive a tired man's mind. Indulge a bit of caffeine stained prose to confuse the most sane reader.

Pay me to watch ads

The program, called SugarMama, lets people earn one minute of talking time by watching 30-second commercials on a computer or receiving text messages on their phones, then answering questions to prove they were, in fact, paying attention. New York Times

I have been waiting for this. There has been some speculation at work about it too. I've said it a million times that I'm just plane tired of advertisements. I know they keep things cheep, but I'm just plane tired of it. I picture people watching a movie with one eye and clicking "next" on the screen when it pops up. Is there going to be a quiz after each ad. That will not go down well.
What else can I pay for by watching ads? Will my time become the new currency? Will I have to watch an ad for tampons to buy bread? I'm telling you, advertisement, nay, marketing is the mark of the beast.

Last Words
"Rosebud"
"I'm taking you bastards with me!"
"I know what I'm doing."
"That water isn't deep."
"That dress makes you look fat."
"I never catch colds."
"Watch this!"
"I regret nothing!"
"See you in hell."
"I can out run that train/bear/pack of dogs/avalanche/...."
You guys out there have got to have some better examples. Please leave them in the comments.

Hurricane Season
Today is the first day of hurricane season. It has been a rainy stormy day. The clouds looked strange from my sixth floor vantage. I wonder how to tell how many miles inland we live, as the crow flies. There has to be a way to tell. All these map web pages calculate travel distance, not really line distance. The rain makes me worry about flooding. All the years I've lived in Houston, I've never had a house or home flood. We have had some close calls. We had water get into the front room of one of my parent's houses, but that was more to do with no caulking around the glass and blowing rain. I prey my blessing holds true for this house. Nat says there was some minor street flooding around the corner, but nothing noticeable around our house. You cannot win against the weather and mother nature, but you can take the draw.

Bugs
Nat hollered just a minute ago about a huge roach crawling under a chair. I went out to the garage and got the Ortho stuff that I bought at Home Depot a couple of weeks ago. it is the indoor "home defense" stuff. It has the coolest sprayer handle. Anyway, I was reading the instructions on how to put it together when the roach crawled back out from under the chair. The closest thing at hand was the huge bottle of bug killer. That stuff works great. Even when you haven't hooked it together yet.
I wish the bugs at work were so easy to spot and kill. They are of the hardware/software variety. I may have to suggest the nifty squirt guns though.
We need better insulation around the doors. That is something else on the list. The never ending list of crap that we need.

Knee
I was walking around the back yard in the dark the other night and tripped over my own feet. I hurt my knee. It hs been a learning experience. This is how people get old. You hurt your knee and now when you take right turns while walking, you just might fall to the floor in pretzeled agony. I've been limping around the office for a couple of days and only two people have asked what the heck is going on. It is really making me feel like a geezer. I tried to put some stuff up in the attic Wednesday and agitated it. Get a house and get old.