Blind man behind the wheel

Blind Man Test Drives Google's Autonomous Car

"'This is some of the best driving I've ever done,' Steve Mahan said the other day. Mahan was behind the wheel of a Toyota Prius tooling the small California town of Morgan Hill in late January, a routine trip to pick up the dry cleaning and drop by the Taco Bell drive-in for a snack. He also happens to be 95 percent blind. Mahan, head of the Santa Clara Valley Blind Center, 'drove' along a specially programmed route thanks to Google's autonomous driving technology. Google announced the self-driving car project in 2010. It relies upon laser range finders, radar sensors, and video cameras to navigate the road ahead, in order to make driving safer, more enjoyable and more efficient — and clearly more accessible. In a Wednesday afternoon post on Google+, the company noted that it has hundreds of thousands of miles of testing under its belt, letting the company feel confident enough in the system to put Mahan behind the wheel."

SlashDot

This is amazing news. Except, I would skip Taco Bell. Are they trying to give this guy a heart attack?

Notes:

I'm reading (listening to) a bunch of speculative fiction where people upload themselves to devices. Or, people have ubiquitous contact to a a collective hive network. The common thread is of course things that go wrong or people taking advantage of such glitches. This is a good exorcise for all the things that are coming in my lifetime. I bet that before my end, baring accidents, there will be many of these advances. I think the idea of uploading yourself is a ways off, but a hive mind sort of thing is here now if you count online gaming. It is not thought and people think they have control of their experience, but it is sort of the idea.

Riding the bus sucks. Light rail and trolleys are just too frigging expensive. If they would just get rid of the drivers, things would work much

Lunch conversation

• Some crazy cartoon that Coy watched as a kid.
• Torture and having the choice to enter the oil head first so you would drown before you would cook.
• Seven people simultaneously looking up Sunday's weather on their phones, citing their source as they went.
• April fool's day. Tricks played on kids by parents.
• Birthday's too close to Christmas. Someone had been lied to until they were 16 about their birthday to manipulate their first day of school.
• Adam getting punched in the gut.
• An erroneous parking ticket that should have never happened.
• The service at the restaurant, normally excellent, was done in by the new chick. Still not the worst by a dang sight.
• A DnD game where someone killed one of the plot pivotal characters too early.
• Getting stuck in the middle of an intersection.

We nearly got run over on the way to the restaurant and again on the way back. Something happened feather down Westheimer that caused a traffic backup. People were stuck in the intersection. When the light turned green, we all walked between the cars still hanging over the lines to the safety of the curb. I don't think anyone complained about the rain.

Autism in the U. S.

The estimated number of U.S. autistic kids has skyrocketed by 78% since 2000, according to a report from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One in 88 American kids has autism, according to the new figures. Among boys, it's one in 54. Why? One expert says: "Better diagnosis, broader diagnosis, better awareness, and roughly 50% of 'We don't know.'" One advocate says: "we have an epidemic of autism in the United States."

CNN Headline News email

I lvoe it when billions of dollars are spent and the anser is "We don't know." That just tickles me pink.

Notes:

I listen to two financial podcasts. One from the U. S. and the other from the U. K.. I prefer listening to them first thing. If I miss listening to them first thing, I don't pay as much attention to them when I do end up listening to them.

One of the users is working remotely from home. She caught a virus or something that routs all her Google links to some Chinese web site that has been translated to English. We ran the virus software and hopefully got it. She wanted to know how it got on her computer. This is a natural question. I wish I had an answer for her. The only secret is that the bad guys really out to get you. Any time you click on something, a link, a button, a window, you open yourself up for manual activation of one of these vicious things. There are ways to infiltrate computers even without user intervention. That is less common. Those are the holes that get closed eventually. Hopefully we got it and it won't be one of those self healing nightmares.

Interview questions

This is brainstorming. I want to interview some folks for my vlog. I have no idea how to proceed so I'm just pulling stuff out of my ear.

Generic questions

• Tell me about your life.
• Tell me about your family.
• Tell me about your interests.
• Tell me about your problems.

I picture myself asking myself these generic questions and coming up with more specific questions for each person I interview. I shouldn't call it an interview because people will associate that word with things like going before the principal and trying to get a job.

Perfect storm of morning distractions

My bed was just too inviting.
There was plenty of very hot water.
The cats were cute.
My wife was kind on my way out the door.

The walk was quiet.
The bus was prompt.
The bus stop was dry.
The light let me cross the street.

The elevator took me straight to my floor.
The coffee was already made.
The water cooler was cold.
My boots held no mud.

My coworkers said good morning.

Post script

What inspired this "poem" was my need to get a new water jug for the water cooler this morning. It took many too many steps because I also needed to stop and find a cup and a pill for my headache. I needed to sit down my coffee and I stopped to say good morning to a coworker. For all that inspiration, not much of it ended up in the bit above.

Just another day

Field	Data
Title	Just another day
Description	Some work stuff. Some home stuff. You know how it goes. The time lapse is sped up seven times. * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	vlog bald "unboxing time lapse" work office laptops notebooks errands "pet store" pet food family fun Houston Texas Kdenlive
Link	Link

A good conversation

Conversation from a friend's post on Facebook. The picture that kicked it off is below (hopefully).

Kelly: The U. S. and Europe have both become an eliteocrocy. We have a ruling class of full time politicians. We need more plumbers and wait staff carving out the rules.

John: So how is it that neither of these principles seem to work here anymore?

Kelly: Europe constantly fought each other and knocked out actors who got to powerful until the EU. The U. S. was established by businessmen who wanted a market to work in that was rewarding. Now all is controlled by a group of people who are disconnected from whom they rule. There is nowhere on Earth left to run and no competing entity (China is not strong enough yet.) to threaten rulers in to doing their job. (My $0.02)

I made up the word "eliteocrocy". It is basically an oligarchy.

Rock that flute

I cannot top the comment made on the blot where I found this video.

"I play in a metal band"
"Cool, what instrument do you play?"
"Flute"

Ghost of a Flea

On a side note, there are some hot chicks in Russia, or wherever this band is from. I left a comment on the video. "The Fighting Tunics! or Tunics vs Skins" I will catch hell for that one.

Couple of days

Field	Data
Title	Sate of the houshold and board in a car
Description	Wow, this is me wining about finances and being very board while Nat tries to make some money selling Avon. * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	rant complain finances economy life work family kids future parking garage board car contortionist "Canon Elph 300" Houston Texas Kdenlive
Link	Link

Note:

Not one person shined their brights in my face today on the walk in. I don't get it. Yesterday it was 8. Today it is zero. I was walking at about the same time. Two differences. Less traffic for an unknown reason. And, it was just a bit foggy. Not bad.

My ankle does not hurt, but I can feel it is stiff. This makes me worry that a gout attack is in my near future. It has felt like this for over a week. Has my body lost the ability to fix itself? Is it an accumulation thing that means it will always build up to an attack?

The G Gordon Liddy show had a guy on saying that the trouble in Syria was good for the U. S. because it keeps Iran busy. He touted this fact as a good reason to do nothing. Yup, that will fly with the American people.

The last couple days, I've been pulling old equipment and basically tossing it. We have a database to update and we pull bits out of the box. Yadda. We decided to hang on to some older boxes that are still basically still useful. They have the potential to be useful anyway. They are six years old and slow, but they have potential of holding several normal drives. Thus, they could be used as a simple file server. When is the last time anyone decided to keep a six year old box around to be a file server if needed?

One of these days, I want to video myself hauling carts full of crap around. I bet it is comedic to watch. I can't see worth a damn. I have horrible balance. And, on top of those, I don't pay much attention. Heck of a combination.

Tears weigh something.

I tried to download the Windows 8 consumer preview. They not only force you to download a program that insists on running on your windows machine to "Test compatibility", but it can't get through our filewall at work. My linux box at work is a Linux laptop. My machine at home is Linux, of course. I guess I'll have to pirate the free demo. Do you suppose some exec at Microsoft is proud of themselves? "Let's make it impossible for someone already not using our products to try out our products to find out if it is what they have been looking for all these years." <insert maniacal laughter> while sucking on a cigar.

The big bios came through and passed an edict that thou shall rearrange one of the labs. And it was so. Of course, everything that shook loose ended up in my office. I had about two office fulls go through my office in the last couple days. I'm the guy who gets rid of things. I'm also the guy who brings things in. Funny that. I am present for the birth and death of much of our equipment.

Nine years

Coming up on nine years of this blog.

I cannot believe I've kept this thing up for so long. Next year will make a decade. You can follow me through changes all over the place. I don't remember not having a blot to be honest. It seems like something that I do all the time without thinking of it.

If I were a professional, I would have some kind of list of things that have changed in my life and links to pertinent entries to reminisce about the time spent tapping about me. However, I'm not going to. I'm far to lazy.

Nine years. Elle is nine. She is just slightly older than this blot. She might have some kind of blog type page some day. I worry that this kind of thing will cost a bundle to have in the future. I can't imagine that Blogger makes money off these things any more. The bandwidth cannot be made back. I need to make a backup of this blog now that I think of it. Not that I would eve put it up somewhere else, but it would give me a false of security.

Here is to the next nine years. Nine more after that.

Note:

What a beautiful day. It turned out to be one of those days here in Houston where you want to open all your windows. Those are rare. You need low humidity, proper temperature, and a breeze. It is best that it rained in the last day or so because that pulls so much pollution out of the air.

Lunch conversation today consisted of a ton of work stuff. It was, to a word, the kind of thing you don't want to put on a blog. It was also the kind of thing that I wish someone hadn't been talking about in an open restaurant. If you look around to make sure no one from the company is in ear shot, don't say it. I was uncomfortable, but soaked up every soluble.

This morning went so slow that it scared me. Thing is, I was very busy. I got a lot done. Normally, this makes my morning go very quickly. Not today. I was busy. I got a lot done. Yet, the day drug like the exhaust on a 56 Chevy in Cuba.

I junked a bunch of computers today. They were so old that they were no longer useful to be honest. By junk, I mean pulled the drives and got them ready to be recycled. I'm not sure who we use, but we do some kind of recycling. Some of them were old friends. They were the first computers I used at my current job to build and develop. One cannot dwell. I think my phone has more computation power than some of these boxes. What took us so long?

Windows 8

I was watching some demos of Windows 8. It looks like Microsoft is drooling over the app store from Apple. The idea here is to get people to purchase all their software through a centralized app store that Microsoft makes a killing off of, just like Apple.

That said, I will now complain about the interface bits that I saw.

Everything is full screen. That makes sense on a tablet and phone, but not so much a computer. You can split screen apparently, but it isn't the same.

The alt-tab (cool switch) functionality is accomplished by placing your finger on the far left middle of the screen and dragging to the right. Drag and hold and a menu of running apps comes up. That is not so bad. It is not intuitive to me. It is just a move you have to remember.

You can share stuff from one application to another, but I didn't notice any highlight or cut and past functionality.

There does not appear to be anything resembling a right click menu, or a context menu.

The finger gestures are not intuitive. You just have to remember where to wiggle your finger to get something to happen. I have no idea how one person is going to tell another how to get anything done without showing them how to do it. "Wiggle your finger one the left hand side of the screen in a left to right faction then stop while still moving to the right and wait for a menu to pop up." That just doesn't compute if I'm honest.

I envision a large monitor for media and a small monitor below it for your hands to do most of the gesturing and control.

Thinking forward to Windows 9, I wonder how things will have changed. Windows 8 it to soften people up to the user interface. Windows 9 will be a sandbox OS that closes off things like free software and the ability for non Microsoft certified software to run on any device running this OS. Mark my words. If I were Microsoft, this is what I would do.

This is going to force open source to produce hardware in order to exist. This hardware will be ostracized by networks and outcast by the in crowd.

Field	Data
Title	Microsoft Windows 8 first peek
Description	I had trouble getting a demo running so I only used some YouTube videos to generate this first impression. Let me know what you think in the comments. No Microsoft products were used to make this video. At least, not on my end. I used Ubuntu Linux and Kdenlive to edit. * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	opinion Microsoft Apple Windows 8 "open source" software hardware computers phones tablets apps app applications corporations money "first impression" "Canon Elph 300" rant big business Houston Texas Kdenlive
Link	Link

Bullets

• App store for Microsoft
• Full screen - split screen
• Alt-tab
• Share data, but no copy and paste
• Right click
• Not intuitive gestures
• Large and small monitors
• Windows 9 - Microsoft only
• Open source will need to get in to the hardware business.

Note:

I heard a podcast today that had a guy who sounded a bit like the bishop in "Princes Bride". You remember "... mawage ..." This guy was like "... Wurwip ... cwisis ...". It cracked me up. Allin Beeddy (from memory) was his name.

Just made it in this morning without getting rained on. Nat offered me aride and I chanced it on the word of the weather idiot. Well, it paid off this time. The guy who did the weather said Katy would get rain about 07:00. Well,

What Kelly did today

• 1 Get desktop, laptop ready for deployment.
• 1 Gather some lab asset tags.
• 1 Setup new user account
• 1 Timeclock moves.
• 2 Prepare for and deal with Dell Tech for laptop repair.
• 3 Misc
• Restore a file from backup for engineer.
• Virtualbox OS install.
• DHCP for Production.
• Wifi help over the phone.
• [name] email bounce fix.
• Change [name] FTP and test.
• Email for WSUS update (tomorrow)
• Laptop planning standup with IT.
• Move large file between networks.
• Recall message for outlook.
• Help test Linux kiosk.

Sometimes we know

Someone asked me what was going on with a laptop in my office. I said "A Dell tech is on his way to replace the motherboard."

The person I was speaking to said "You assume the tech is a he."

I answered "No, he called me this morning to make sure we were ready."

It isn't always the worse or most obvious thing. Sometimes we just know what is going on and act accordingly.

Note:

Heard a story about the guy who made the first liquid fueled rocket. It went 41 feet, 12.4m in the air. His wife's movie camera ran out of film so the attempt was not recorded.

The walk in this morning was more or less dry. Also, a chubby lady accompanied me on a portion of the walk. She got on the same bus I got on. I'm not the only one who needs public transit to come out further than it does.

Weekend

Not sure why, but I wrote every bit of the description below before editing the video this time. Not sure I've ever done that before. I might put some key words or links in, but not write the whole thing. Different.

Field	Data
Title	Weekend of random
Description	This is the culmination of an entire weekend from end of work Friday to Sunday evening. This is all that really happened. I need a life. * Sloppy Jane http://www.redbookmag.com/recipefinder/sloppy-jane-rbk0308 * Sloppy Joe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloppy_joe * Silverfish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverfish * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	Sloppy Joe Jane work weekend family fun garage home clips weather sky Houston Texas "Canon Elph 300" Kdenlive
Link	Link

Double barrel .45

Oh, hell ya. This baby will appear prominently in every video game from now on. You betcha.

4000 grains is about a quarter of a kilogram. That is about half a pound.

Found on American Digest. Where else?

Attribute	Value
Practicality	0%
Conceal carry	10%
Holy shit awesomeness	1,000,000% With two bullets!

Para-ordinance still makes a double precession clip .45 if memory serves. There are some others. I vaguely remember something like this in a video game already. Still, it is very cool that someone put it together.

Well, that is about enough said. I like the comment on the article linked to about the gold plating idea. Someone will have one.

Karaoke

Field	Data
Title	Karaoke
Description	This is a compilation of several of the people my wife and her friends know who do karaoke. Not for me, but others enjoy it. This entire thing was videoed by my wife at Q Bar in Katy Texas I believe. * Q Bar http://www.facebook.com/abesqbar?sk=wall&filter=2 * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	karaoke singing bar drinking drunk songs happy fun times Katy Texas Kdenlive
Link	Link

Speed of light

Once we do the math and figure out just how slow light travels, the universe doesn't seem so open and easy to cross any more. Yes, light travels about a foot at a nanosecond. That is 1 gigahertz.

The speed of light is roughly 300,000 km/s.
300,000 km/second
300,000,000,000 mm/s

A nanosecond is 1/1,000,000,000 of a second.

300,000,000,000 mm/s
-------------------- = 300 mm/nanosecond (almost 1 foot)
1,000,000,000

Note:

I'm looking for utilities to generate reports on Active Directory group usage online. I have to tell you, it is terrifying that these things are just open source. They could grab all kinds of proprietary information and phone home. Scary.

We had a luncheon yesterday on the company dime. There was tiramisue left over along with this fruit salad thing. Breakfast of champions. Lunch of champions too because people were nearly fighting over the left overs.

Iran has been cut off from world banking. That is, they cannot even barrow or steel money through the international banking system now. The banks in Iran are cut off. Iran is officially on the barter system when it comes to international trade. This might make China and Russia think twice before handing over weapon systems and intelligence next time. Oh, wait. No it won't.

There is so much news floating about over politics. It is like a soap opera. I'm so frigging sick of it. I could scream every time I hear about some poll and predicted outcomes. It will never end. Even after the next presidential election, it will just start over again. There should be a law that says no one can campaign except say six weeks before their given election.

Yesterday, I ran round most of the offices and took pictures of all the asset information on our computers and other equipment. I do this at least once a year. It is easier to use the camera as apposed to the bar code reader because the bar code reader requires a laptop with a UPS be on a car and drug around and plugged in as often as possible while scanning. The scanning is not the difficult part. The camera only takes a couple hours to get basically the entire building. The data entry takes longer. It also gives me the opportunity to find errors and correct things as best as possible. I also fix things like people associated with the rooms, typos and ownership (to whom the equipment is attached in our database).

Lunch conversation

I don't think I said three words at lunch. It isn't that I didn't want to participate. I just didn't have much to say. It was one of those days where you feel like every moment in a conversation isn't a good moment to jump in. I only checked my phone three or four times before the food showed up.

• Work
• What is the state of the company?
• Are we selling like we should?
• Our Numbers are better than our competition.
• Will we meet expectations?
• New People, Old People, Bosses
• Division shakeups.
• Travel for the company.
• Video Games (I wasn't listening)
• Kids
• Do you have your kid this weekend?
• Vacationing with kids.
• Time off for Spring break
• People dying in elevators. This is the only subject I contributed to.
• A huge explosion that killed a bunch of people. This sparked a discussion of pipe pressures and just how hot is it inside one of those gas pipes?

Note:

One of the commentators on NPR made a very good point. It looks to him like the Republican party is preparing for a defeat. The purpose is for one part of the party to blame the other part and thus do better in subsequent elections. I have a hard time turning this idea away. Yes, I listen to NPR. I really listen and do not just dismiss them out of hand. Seems like a lot of money to toss down the drain. That is better than many of the employees of NPR do for conservatives.

At exactly what point did you think I was in control of my facilities?

Soggy walk in this morning. I didn't walk on the street today for some reason. Not sure why I had the self destructive streak.

I sit near the HR person at work. I have to tell you, there is a lot more work that goes in to making a company lunch come together than I ever expected. It is more than food and napkins let me tell you. This is just stuff I've heard folks talk about in the hall. I imagine there are reams of info going by in the background as well.

You know, I have a hard time getting worried about national standards of education. The deal is that this is government plowing it's nose one more meter deep in the business of the individual, then charging the individuals in the form of taxes for the privilege. If only there were some way to ensure that once the school system is nationalized that there will no longer be a need for a teacher's union, then I and many others would be on board.

One of the guys at work goes through great panes to swap the caps lock and left ctrl key. I have no idea what advantage this gives him. He swearers it is because he uses Emacs. Not sure I get that either. I typically use the palm of my left hand to press the ctrl key when I need it. I am not a user of Emacs, but it must use the ctrl key for every other frigging thing. That reminds me of WordStar and Word Perfect. They used the function keys and ctrl key combinations to do everything. You needed overlays for your keyboard in the early days to use the programs. When people were good at them, they were very fast.

Daylight savings time and lawnmower maintenance

Field	Data
Title	Daylight savings time and lawnmower maintenance
Description	All kinds of stuff in this one. Fixing the lawn mower. DST (daylight savings time), family, home depot, All kinds of stuff. * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	DST "daylight savings time" "magnifying glass" plum "plum tree" "Home Depot" lawnmower lawn mower maintenance blade oil "air filter" fix Houston Texas Kdenlive
Link	Link

Lunch conversation

I ate a salad from McDonald's today. Trying to dodge red meat because of the whole Gout thing.

• Food
• Debating grape vs strawberry jelly.
• Debating creamy vs chunky peanut butter.
• Joke about talking about food while eating.
• Scams
• Someone's old roommate nearly got scammed
• Something about an African prince.
• Weekend past.
• Someone mentioned St Patric's Day and a band I think.

Note:

It was foggy most of the morning. This weekend was the time change. This means that technically, I was walking in to work an hour earlier than before. It was foggy. It was really wet. I walked across the street in the street. I did this because the ground is soaked and I am just sick of walking to work in the wet and being wet most of the day at work. It gets old quickly. For a long time we have been under a drought. This hasn't been a problem. The drought appears to be over from a pedestrian standpoint.

A friend of mine was texting me from the unemployment office. She complained about how frigging slow those folks were. I reminded her that they already have jobs. She didn't think that was funny.

Tried to shoot a time lapse vid of me unboxing some printers this afternoon. Thing is, I didn't get the printers in the shot. Bah.

Political force

Field	Data
Title	Political force
Description	Politicians don't dare fix anything, they would be out of a job. Links * Belmont Club http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2012/03/11/the-jealousy-of-the-gods/ My Links * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	politics political politicians fix force violence dictatorships democracy gas supply rant democrats republicans incumbents change liberal conservative left right decisions "Houston Texas" "Canon Elph 300" Kdenlive
Link	Link

Notes:

There is no good WYSIWYG HTML editor. You have to resort to editing code to get what you want beyond simple text. The moment you hit the embedded world, you have no choice. That is the end of the discussion and there will be no further reports. ... Until next time.

I wanted to go to Home Depot for the lawn mower blade, but Nat didn't get up until after 18:00. No chance. Drat. I need a way to get around. She slept all day now she is headed back to the hospital. I hope people appreciate the sacrifices she is making.

Recursive geeks

Recursive geeks

Basick CLI inside MineCraft.

That'll wake you up

The text of this said that the driver fell asleep at the wheel. He then proceeds to groggily spin the car out a couple times. Wonder if he stopped and got some rest before continuing.

Movies

I looked at a list of movies that came out in the past year or so on IMDB. I suppose the movie industry has come up with the perfect method of preventing people from pirating their movies. They make crap that no one wants to view, even for free.

Some search terms to check out today

Plug the following words in to google: "foreign troops on american soil"

U. S. fighting for the UN and NATO, not the U. S. people.

Basically, this guy is saying the U. S. military will make the decision to fight under foreign leadership. and not bother consulting with congress. This man is saying that there is a higher law controlling the U. S. military above our congress, president and constitution.

Remember the day March 8th, 2012. It is the day the Republic finally toppled.

Gout

Field	Data
Title	Gout
Description	Here, I complain about being diansed with gout. * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	sick "day off" medical gout ankle toe joints pain doctor symptoms treatment complaining anecdote story sickness aging "getting old" garage Canon elph 300 houston texas kdenlive
Link	Link

Wine opener

I have a buddy named John who is a mechanical engineer. This thing appears to use only the mechanical energy of the hand crank to get the whole job done.

Slip

Last night I went to a friend's place. he and his wife just adopted a daughter. She is beautiful. She is the second child they have adopted. Those beautiful little girls could do a lot worse.

It was mostly a bunch of guys. We had whisky and cigars. It was old fashioned. It was fun. I think some of the stories told needed let out. Some of the people who left early don't know what they missed in the later hours.

At some point, before the party, I hurt my ankle. I was limping on the way to the car after work. I was limping on the way to my front door. It hurt in both of the showers I took and it hurt walking to my desk. Nat was kind enough to give me a ride in this morning. Not sure how I would have fared if forced to walk.

I had three kinds of whisky last night. They were all good. I like Jameson Irish Whisky. One of the guys called it his "Go to whisky." I concur. Justin brought this chocolate flavored stuff that was tasty. That bottle did not survive the evening. Lev brought vodka in a stainless steel bottle. I can't drink vodka. It smells like fingernail polish remover to me. It isn't bad in other things like orange juice and such.

No more cigars. We sat for half an hour last night talking about cigars. We covered the way they make us feel, the camaraderie surrounding them. We covered the legislation trying to make them illegal. We covered cost. Josh also had a story about getting the excellent lighter that we had all used. It was a table top lighter that stayed lit while you lit your cigar. Josh says it was $50 retail. Worth it if you have the habit.

I smelled cigars faintly all day. Maybe it was Josh, down the hall.

Note:

Today, I sat at the lunch table choking down a berger from the golden arches. I also got some apple pies. This is disgusting food. Why do I do this to myself? I'm hungry and it is so easy. I secretly prey that McD's will kill their dollar menu so I will have an excuse to stop eating their slop for lunch.

Linux still cannot join a Windows Domain. At least, I can't figure it out. Oh, you can get some things done on the domain. I want 1) Click "join domain". 2) Enter credentials. 3) Rejoice in the bright glowing light of your friendly neighborhood Windows domain.

Fajita Night

Field	Data
Title	Fajita Night
Description	Hanging with the family after work. Eating fajitas my lovely wife cooked. The cake we had was no lie. * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	cake "blinky shoos" cartwheel fajitas cooking dinner supper cheese meat onions dirty dishes family fun "good times" "after work" evening "Canon Elph 300" Houston Texas Kdenlive
Link	Link

Sunday afternoon

Field	Data
Title	Furniture moving and qrc obsolesce
Description	Thrill a minute at the zhsy00001 compound. We moved a couple desks. Good times had by all. YouGube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com
Tags	desk move qrc "Quick Reference Code" "good times" family home house spring cleaning organizing clutter disorganized kitty cat pet "scratch ears" "Canon Elph 300" Houston Texas Kdenlive
Link	Link

YouTube RSS feeds

Take the name of the YouTube channel and put it in the URL below.

http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/<name_goes_here>/uploads

http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/1puglife/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/SHAYTARDS/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/13mordeth/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/aimlessArrows/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/ajr0625/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/alwayswheezy/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/babyblue2488/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/blackboxtv/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/BlueXephos/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/breedinantlermike/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/CelticGypsyNatalie/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/charlestrippy/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/charlieissocoollike/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/ColinOutdoors/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/communitychannel/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/CrazyBritishBloke/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/Crazylogie/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/CTFxC/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/Davidsfarmlives/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/diyautoschool/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/ekajmiller/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/EricTheCarGuy/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/ETCG1/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/FPSRussia/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/freddiew/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/Gearloose100/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/goingprepared/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/golfhemmingford/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/HILLAUTOBODY/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/HOLLYWOOD6919/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/inwoodjim/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/JaySFaires/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/jboyengy/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/JennaMarbles/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/JennaMarblesVlog/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/jp/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/justinhaggard/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/kipkay/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/kitfoxflyer/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/LonelyPlanet/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/lordphoenix71/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/MadStu/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/manysharptongues/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/meekakitty/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/MisterNatMan/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/MorningDriveBy/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/MysticCelticGypsy/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/chetta/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/nelsonsrepairs/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/newsbusted/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/nixiedoeslinux/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/noahcoad/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/obiwanchunn8/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/olgakay/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/OlgaKay2/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/othmuse/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/OurLifeWithKids/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/patcondell/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/PhilipDeFranco/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/PimpyMcHoSmack/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/pineappleboyfilms/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/ReauxMaLai/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/RedneckRickem/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/RedNeckViews/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/robshowtovideos/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/sarahmworthy/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/scishow/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/SHAYTARDS/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/sheriff923/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/SickofSarah/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/silvurhuntress/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/simonscat/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/sootch00/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/Sultrysel/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/svengalie/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/swrnc/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/sxephil/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/tay9andahalf/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/tc71291/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/TerrorShocked/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/TexanSmoker/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/TheAuzzyLife/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/thebostocks1/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/TheCanadiancarpenter/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/TheFatAussieBarstard/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/thehardestyear/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/theslowmoguys/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/TheSockThief/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/TradieTrev/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/treblecaster/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/Trippy/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/ViralVideoFilmSchool/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/viralvomit/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/vlogbrothers/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/wheezynews/uploads
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/wheezywaiter/uploads

There is my list for the most part.

Who's law is it anyway?

"The courts have now ruled that the public has the right to videotape the police in the performance of their duties. Of course, that doesn't stop the police from harassing people who do so — even journalists, who sometimes have their cameras confiscated. As it turns out, though, they're not always very knowledgeable about how deletion works. I would say that erasing, or attempting to erase, a video of police arresting somebody illegally (How can a journalist be charged with 'resisting arrest' when he was not being arrested for anything other than resisting arrest?) is a clear case of destruction of evidence by the officers. Destroying evidence is obstruction of justice. That's illegal. Why haven't these police officers been arrested?"

Slashdot

This is something that I would love to know. I want to get in to examples of other times it would be very bad when a police officer would do anything to corrupt or destroy evidence. They are all bad. This is one of them. Why do police believe they have the right to do it in this case?

Privacy

A friend of mine and his wife adopted a little girl. Their second. He wants to have a night with cigars and brandy, or was it whisky? Anyway, I asked if I could video tentatively. I knew those pansies wouldn't want me to. Why do they bother with opacity? They are so frigging scared turning up on line with a drink in their hand. What happens when everything we do ends up in the hands of someone who is not sympathetic with our situation? Well, I suppose that has already happened. Our entire genome will be printed on our foreheads soon.

Oh, what do I care? They have their lives and I have mine. I have things in my life that I don't put up. This is just not one of them.

Just the other day, Google declared all bets off by changing their privacy policy. Now Google can use your information as they damn well see fit. They can gather your information as they damn well see fit and they can sell your information as they damn well see fit. Every single other online company is copying and pasting the text in to their EULA as I type.

Places like Amazon and Apple are setting themselves up for world domination. The only good thing about this is the race to the top will be hindered only by all of the companies banging heads with one another at the finish line.

Podcast rant

Field	Data
Title	Podcast rant
Description	I gave up on podcatching software. I just use Google reader now. Very happy with it.
Tags	rant computers software stress USB drive "pain in the ass" gpodder podcatcher arrogator Unix Linux Ubuntu "Houston Texas" "Canon Elph 300" Kdenlive
Link	Link