Notes:

There was a writer who had an office that even his family didn't know the location of. He worked from 10 to 18 daily, writing. Wrote several books. He wrote horror stories. This was in the late nineteenth century.

How much room do you need to install a virus checker? Semantic Endpoint is enormous. What is it doing that requires such a huge install package?

I had a dream last night about running a network cable in a friend's house. Every time I thought I had the cable run, there was another obstacle to run tough or around. Every time I had a room wired up, there were three more rooms to do. I hate dreaming about work.

Normtastrophy: Every day is bat shit crazy.

I bet I have 25 USB drives at work that I use on pretty much a daily basis to get my job done.

I've only been to horse races once. I've only been to the dog track once. I didn't win anything. The only time I've ever won at gambling was a casino in Louisiana. I wound the night up $6 ahead. Every one else in the party left empty handed.

They started getting little bags of goldfish crackers at work in the snack bar. Bastards. That's my Kryptonite. God help me if they start stocking PayDay candy bars.

People seem to love San Fransisco. I've never been. I listened to an episode of Johny Dollar where he described the city like a seven jeweled something or other. I hear the weather is nice I'm told. It must be the atmosphere because I don't get it from the pictures and videos I've seen of the place. The stories, they tell a story of some kind of magic. Anyone out there on the internet hate San Fransisco? I want another opinion.

The thing that boots up your computer in order to install an operating system is in itself an OS. It is what I call a boot OS. There are many different names for it. These systems are designed for compatibility. They are designed to work even under unfavorable conditions. Every chance the programmers/designers get, they err or the side of "just get it working" and sacrifice performance and other factors. This approach doesn't work with full OS installs. Thus, when you boot Windows PE, ake install Windows, you will get far enough to boot the first GUI that comes up just long enough to tell you that your install media cannot be read, probably for lack of a driver. How did it get this far? Well, that is the boot OS turning over control to the install OS/program. They are written and designed by two different groups of folks with highly diverse needs.

The Greeks knew the world was round. At least some of them did anyway. They simply had the math written down somewhere. The navigation methods simply insist that they had to know this. They probably just didn't bother shouting it from the roof tops because it would cause confusion.

Best flog ever

Field	Data
Title	Best vlog ever
Description	I've done it. This is the best vlog ever shot. EVER! * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	vlog day life memorial day working commute traffic trim beard goatee clippers crossing street "Canon Elph 300" Houston Texas Kdenlive
Link	Link

Another day

Field	Data
Title	Mostly about Ubuntu and everything else
Description	Ubuntu 12.04 fresh install, hula hoop, My editing setup and a bunch of other stuff. * Ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com/ * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	hula hoop Ubuntu 12.04 fresh setup results Linux issues vidoe driver Houston Texas Kdenlive "Canon Elph 300"
Link	Link

Cute kid

Her name is Anna. She is one of the cute ones. This is also a test of some Facebook embed code I just found. It can be both.

Lunch conversation

• Insurance
• Whom Tracey is dating
• Whom Tracey is not dating
• Tracey's work
• Avon
• Elle's calendar
• My work
• People working at Beck's
• The placement of the fake Owl Beck's put in to scare away the birds.

Went to lunch at Beck's Prime with My lovely wife and Tracey. No work folks this time. It was refreshing if I'm honest. I don't get enough time with non work friends. Lunch ran right at one hour and one minute.

Notes:

At the moment, I'm stuck in a rut. I can't seem to bring myself to do very much that is creative. I hope it is just writer's block and will go away soon. I like being creative. I'm not particularly good at it, but I enjoy trying.

Facebook is the leading photo sharing site on the internet. I don't think you can even link to galleries once on Facebook. I haven't figured out how anyway. Once uploaded, the pictures are stuck in the sandbox. This is the same thing that killed AOL. They wanted to create an environment online that you wouldn't want to escape. Facebook is rapidly turning in to the bad bits of AOL.

"She lived to one hundred and three, outliving all her children." -Writer's Almanac. I can't imagine that.

Am I really going to be one of those people who regrets not doing so much in my life when I'm old and dying, many years from now? I already regret things. Most of those things are having not done things. Are those true regrets? I'm not sure I could have done those things. The list is a mile long and mostly consist of dealing with people. Maybe I'll have the chance to vlog the experience and post it before I kick off.

There is a brain controlled robot out there. OK, it is an arm in this article. This is the beginning of the end. Between this and the rat brain controlled robots, they are going to take over. What are these scientists thinking?

60% of Americans think it would be all right to compensate organ downers and/or families. I think this is a dangerous slope.

Dead video

This past Sunday, I shot a video all about the audio video sync issues I've had with Kdenlive and MLT. It was fun. Everyone laughed and cried. No one paid me. I'll never make any money off the video. But I'm not bitter. I just poor my heart and sole in these useless videos. My biggest fan is my Mom. Thanks Mom.

In the video I mentioned that I attempted to update my video driver in an effort to fix the timing issue. It doesn't make any sense that this would work to me really, but I'm desperate and someone said the issue went away after a video driver update. Well, turns out there was some unforeseen fallout from this effort that didn't rear its ugly head until Monday evening.

No sooner do I walk in the door after work than I mow the front yard while avoiding the cable that still has not been buried. That is another story. Then I rolled a dresser in the house. I should have videoed this. I borrowed a dolly from work. I flipped the dresser upside down on the dolly, because it wouldn't fit right side up. Then I was able to get it over the door jam, thread it through the cluttered house, and flip it back right side up in the bedroom where it went.

While waiting for a spot to be cleared for the dresser, I turned on my computer as you do. It came up in a strange video setting and had an error that complained about incompatible video settings. I attempted to reinstall the Ubuntu proprietary driver that is recommended by Ubuntu. Why would they bother if it didn't have some kind of advantage? This caused the system to completely fail on boot and X (the GUI for Linux) just bailed. I found myself at a command prompt.

At this point, I backed up a bunch of my data. I have two drives in that box. I had a plan to attempt to fix the video driver and then to reinstall the system. Either way, a backup is a good idea. By the time I properly destroyed my system, I won't be in the mood for backing it up before just wiping it and starting over. Get the impression I've been down this road a few times?

Fortunately, I still had the driver I downloaded on the system. I installed it again and this time I told it to attempt to modify my settings. Now, I have a running system that is back to the level of video output that I had before. Not great, but acceptable for daily use.

Things are not to a point I want. I have not tried it, but I bet the video sync issues still happen. I'm really glad I had my laptop setup because I was able to watch some videos and do my normal stress release (no, reading news and blogs and stuff) after work. I think this helped me stay focused while working on the computer and flipping the dresser in the back room. This fact makes me want to make sure I have a backup around that I don't mess with. The laptop sounds like a good candidate.

The bills didn't get paid. I didn't manage to weed whack or edge. The list of things that didn't get done is a mile long. One evening after work at a time.

Notes:

Spent half my day reconciling DHCP entries. It is amazing how easy it is to get out of whack with what you wanted to have working. Things can simply cascade like a wild fire, hurtling toward chaos. Wrangling the servers and settings back in to sanity is a task strong of heart.

Did you know there is Piranha 3DD? No? You should hear the reviews. Some of the critics had strokes watching it.

Unload

Field	Data
Title	Unload the dresser
Description	U-Haul is a rip sometimes. * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	U-Haul uhaul table ramp dresser unload furneture "Canon Elph 300" Kdenlive Houston Texas
Link	Link

Rendering troubles

The trouble I have is the lips and words don't always line up in my videos. This is called audio video synchronization. I shot a 20 second long video that is basically me speaking words with lots of the letters "p" and "b" and clapping. This was to just slam my machine with a hundred different ways of generating output video. I went online and tried nearly every suggestion I could find. None of the tricks or workarounds worked for me.

I have narrowed the trouble down to one of three things. A) AMD processor B) Video driver C) Legacy software or settings left over from multiple updates. My laptop does not have the issue. It has an Intel processor, ATI video card and has only been updated once from Ubuntu 11.10 to 12.04.

Kdenlive is the program that I use for editing my videos. This is the program that I have the audio video sync issues with on my desktop at home. I have tried several other packages for the same thing, but they all suck. Kdenlive is one of the few that seems to have made a program that both works and has a usable interface. Every other program has major issues or is not the kind of editor I need. I've tried most of them.

Cinelerra is unwieldy. If you are some sort of professional, you use a Mac for your video editing. For some reason, people think that professionals who use Linux use Cinelerra. I doubt it. The interface blows and the output is buggy. Half the stuff you click on crashes the system.

Openshot really appears to be some offshoot of Kdenlive to me. They look similar. They work similar. I could probably use the interface of Openshot without much effort because I'm used to Kdenlive. However, the interface of Openshot looks to be a simplified less complex interface. That is all well and good, but I can't find some of the settings and tools that I'm used to in Kdenlive. Openshot appears to be some kind of 3D animation tool as well. I'm not ready for that sort of thing to be honest.

Avidemux is great for a linear editor. It has always worked. It converts, chops, modifies, and does great at mas corrections. I would love to use this program with the addition of multiple track editing, also known as nonlinear editing.

Audacity is an audio editing program. It is so good that I wish the people who made this program would make a video editor with the same feel and functionality.

Why do I fight with Linux on this subject? Well, I've been able to get pretty much every other genera of software to work just fine on Linux with the exception of games. It turns out I have to add video editors to this list. It needs to just work. I don't need the aggravation of every upgrade and security touch up killing my software for three weeks. I need a video editor that is more than just a proof of concept. I need one that just works, every day.

This is a big selling point of Linux. it works. It doesn't have the issues of a million proprietary vendors fighting each other instead of working with one another to make a buck. The idea behind open source is you can step in, look at the code and either fix it yourself or at least contribute to the package via educated complaining.

• Tried everything
• Different video driver
• Separate sound and video
• Every kind of rendering available
• Tried other programs. The trouble is, many use the same MLT rendering engine. Many video programs just don't work.
• Combination of Nvidia video card and AMD processor I bet

Field	Data
Title	No more kung fu theater hopefully
Description	Hopefully the audio and video will synchronize better from now on. It turns out the MLT (rendering) engine I use does not play well with the hardware I have on my desktop. My laptop works though. So that's what I use from now on. Also fit a 5.5 foot table in the back of a 2005 Carola. * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	audio video sync synchronization issues kdenlive mlt hardware issue houston texas "canon elph 300"
Link	Link

Something inspiring

I walked from the bus to the building and noticed a pare of jeans and shoes lying on the sidewalk. This made me wonder what the story was behind this pile of cloths.

• Someone felt it was appropriate to strip in that spot, then fled the scene.
• Someone was hit by a car and the ambulance left their stuff. I didn't notice any blood.
• Someone got tired of carrying the stuff in a bag or pack.
• Someone got tired of that stuff being in their car.
• It was the rapture and this guy was it.

It is almost enough to inspire a story to be written. Damn good thing I'm so lazy. What do you suppose the story is behind this event?

Notes:

I heard someone use the old saying "If there is a will, there is a way." Today. I hadn't heard that in a while. It was me.

NPR came to a timely conclusion. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting more poor.

Retiring early means an earlier death. I've seen this in my personal life. There is evidence that it is both how you act and the lack of structure in your life that kill you. You have to be active and focused to live longer. I think I could pull it off. I plan on blogging/vlogging full time if I ever get a chance to retire.

People are complaining that Nascar is not exciting any more. I have to ask "Was it ever exciting for sober people?" "Is it too safe now?" It isn't a demolition Derby.

The wireless mouse I have at home uses a separate dongle on the computer. This is nothing new. The mouse turns off when you plug the dongle back in to the mouse for storage. The trouble is, that appears to be the only way besides removing the battery to turn the mouse off. If you intend to leave the laptop and mouse sitting for a couple days, the battery would go dead between uses. It appears the new mice have a switch and a much smaller USB dongle.

Funeral for Louise

Field	Data
Title	Funeral for Louise
Description	Natalie's mom past away. I shot a few clips around the funeral, but not of it. * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	Louise mother grandmother funeral family clips traffic light repairs cherry picker "Canon Elph 300" Houston Conroe Texas Kdenlive
Link	Link

Copyright Rant

Field	Data
Title	Copyright Rant
Description	There is such a thing as not being under copyright and fair use. * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	Copyright fair use rant youtube video content freedom rules laws "Canon Elph 300" Houston Texas Kdenlive
Link	Link

The battery, a box, and tape

The battery needed changing on the little thermometer thing in the server room. It is a plastic box with a display and a wire that hangs down with a remote sensor. It takes a single AAA battery. That lasts about a year.

Some jerk had just used a glob of clear tape to bolt the box on the front of the cooling unit. The remote sensor hangs down to the intake vent at the bottom. Functional, but you have to remove the device and clear away the tape to change the battery. "What amazing lack of forethought!" "Why would someone do this?"

I ripped the dead box off the front panel and started clearing away the tape while mumbling to myself about poor planning and poor execution.

The tape of course sticks to the front of the display. They used packing tape and the glue bubbles up. I tried alcohol to remove it. That just causes the glue to smear. I didn't get all the glue off the front, but you can read the display.

My first attempt to hang the device was a disaster. The tape stuck to the tape dispenser better than anything else. The tape splits up the middle easier than being cut. Thank God I have a one handed open knife or I would be taped to the front of the cooling unit. My grand suspension bridge based design is a ridiculous failure.

My twenty first attempt to hang the thermometer was what I am calling a success. It looks worse now than it did before. You still can't change the battery without taking the whole thing down. There will be just as much tape stuck to the front of the device. My hands smelled like that glue on the tape for half the day.

Fixed.

Notes:

Money

I just found myself skipping a news story about the housing market picking up. I can't help but feel split on this subject. our house has lost nearly $30,000 in value. We will never get that back out of the shit box we bought. The fact that people are getting more than they expected, but less than they wanted is not making me feel warm and fuzzy.

Greece is really about to get pushed out of the EU. I have thought this is the inevitable way to exit the situation. It was simply inevitable that someone would screw up. I remember a news story from the beginning of the EU experiment that said there was no exit strategy for countries. Once you are in, there is no plan to get out. Well, there is about to be one, like it or not.

The BBS finally admits that the EU is "back in recession." When exactly were you out of recession? I remember people saying a "U" shaped recession and an "L" shaped recession. It turns out it is more like a "\" shaped recession.

Other

I ate lunch yesterday and had an apple and some cereal for dinner last night. Today just before lunch, I was starving. I really need to find a cheap source of food that is exceedingly easy to fix.

Supertanker engine room tour

I like the walk in turbo charger. I want to see the torque wrench they used on the head.

ISP rant

Field	Data
Title	ISP rant
Description	I hate cable companies, but we are going to get cable because the DSL in my neighborhood sucks. Internet has become a necessity. The ISP companies have us over a barrel. * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	ISP Internet DSL Cable Rant anger upset private industrial "They are out to get you" "Canon Elph 300" Houston Texas Kdenlive
Link	Link

Evening with Elle

Field	Data
Title	Evening with Elle
Description	Just complaining about work and hanging out with the kid watching the storm clouds. * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	weather rain kid lightning family evening work IT backup restore vanishing files "canon elph 300" kdenlive houston Texas
Link	Link

Obama and same sex marriage

Obama has written off so called blue color or Reagan Democrats. Obama is loosing the young because they are getting out of collage and not getting jobs. The Democratic base saw not a single one of the changes Obama promised come about during the first four years.

The gay community (LGPT or whatever lable you want to put on these folks) seem to know they are being used for political gain. I did hear one crybaby on the radio last night wine about how wonderful it is that a president made this decision and it is about time blah blah. I'm not hearing a lot of it. I can't get hold of my friends who are members of this community to ask them what they think. They all have jobs, lives and many have kids. I'll keep working on that.

The only evolution Obama has made recently is a result of an election in three states that was a slaughter for Democrats. Something big had to be thrown to the great unwashed. When I listen to the audio of the little speech Obama gave, I don't buy that he really believes anything including this issue. He really seems like he is always just saying words. He reminds me of those sales people on the phone who are desperately trying to sell you something, but just sound desperate and not like they believe in their products.

The exterminator

The exterminator showed up, sprayed then demanded payment. We had one more treatment on our contract. Nat didn't remember this until the guy left so she paid with the card. Nat called the contract company only to find out that this treatment should have been included. Then I called the bank be cause Nat saw the guy write down our card information. We will be without the card for 5 to 10 business days. This just might be a hardship, but hopefully not.

It felt funny shredding that card. our shredder at the house won't really do cards even though it says it will. I did the dead at work. Shredding was the correct thing to do, but still, something just didn't sit right.

A friend of ours said it was raciest to assume the guy was going to do something with our numbers because he was Indian. I didn't know he was Indian until after I made the choice to stop the card. Regardless of skin color, don't mess with my info.

I'm sure it is all just some clerical issue. The company we went with is far too expensive. If we go with an exterminator, we are going to have to find someone more ... less ... someone who is cheap.

Buy American

I do not go out of my way to buy American. I do not know what buy American means because Mexicans are calling themselves Americans as they should. We should call ourselves U. S. Citizens and say things like buy U. S. products.

• Our car is a Toyota. It works. It has nearly 100,000 miles at six years old. So far so good.
• My primary machine at the House is a Frakenbox. I have no idea where all the bits came from except the majority could only have come from South East Asia.
• We buy Dells, Samsung, Toshiba and a couple old IBM/Lenovo laptops at work.
• My wife has a Dell laptop. I'm pretty sure it was made in China.
• My home laptop is a Fujitsu. It was a much appreciated gift from my parents.
• The server I have at the house is an HP, also a gift from my parents.
• My video cameras are Canon and Toshiba.

I use what works as much as I can. I take cost and quality in to consideration when buying things. Made in the U. S. A. might be a tiebreaker.

Back pain

It's funny how much more effort it takes to walk across rough ground with a sore back. My back feels better than it did earlier this week, but it still reminds me there is something wrong. The walk in, though not really painful, takes more out of me at the moment.

Every step requires a balance. The upper body moves in a direction to counter balance each step to keep the whole body moving forward and upright. The transmission of this effort is the lower back. The motion of swinging the arms and swaying back and forth a bit while walking to keep balance all send energy through the lower back. Every step. Once in a while, a single move, like stepping up a curb or turning to look for cars, can send a shot though my spine.

When I was younger, I heard a song by a bunch of old Country and Western stars called "Old Friends". One of the lines is "Locking arms to climb a curb." That sticks with me. I feel old. I hear people in news interviews start sentences with "When you turn forty ..." and I cringe.

Notes:

I just heard someone on the BBC use the term "Shareholder Spring" to describe a rebellion by shareholders holding high paid executives accountable for decisions. This is a play on the term "Arab Spring" which is wrong because many of the people who are fighting for their freedom and control of their own lives are not Arab in the slightest. Besides, using these terms like this cheapens all the people who have died for their cause. It reminds me of people saying "crusade" when describing someone with a mission.

Are so many western languages based on Latin, or just strongly influenced by Latin because of all the conquering in the old days?

AQAP Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. NPR is just using the acronym now.

Bill Murry played The Human Torch in a radio series in the sixties at some point.

This phone conversation almost happened today.
"I'm getting an error on a server."
"What server?"
"Localhost."
After a slap sound and a couple moments of silence "Good luck." click.

The Pyramids are magnificent tours of human achievement. They prove what people are capable of when given forty years to kill and an unlimited number of slaves and rocks. They are also useless except for a tourist trap. They should be recycled.

Umptilian: An undefined large number.

There was a story on NPR about hoodies. I have a hoodie somewhere. I have no idea what it says. Part of the story was (I'm paraphrasing from memory) "When Mark Z (Facebook) wares a hoodie it is trendy. When a black boy wares a hoodie he gets shot for walking down the street." The lady had a point. So, hoodies are racist. Enough said.

Of all the senses to loose, the sense of smell has the highest 5 year suicide rate. -Dr Karl

Alaska bush pilots

Freaking amazing landings. Places that look and to walk and they are putting a plane down. Nice.

A day in the dinner of America

Field	Data
Title	A day in the dinner of America
Description	Why do I kill myself to eat these huge sandwiches? * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	clouds weather family kids fun outing schlotzsky's pronounce annunciation overeating evening "Canon Elph 300" Houston Texas Kdenlive
Link	Link

Creating

Sunday I videoed myself folding cloths. Monday I videoed myself complaining about my stiff back and complaining about work. I put the two together and got at least one comment saying it was a good vlog. This is proof that I have no idea what I'm doing.

Write for fun, not for profit. I'm just plane bad at telling fiction stories. You would think that I would be a good bullshitter, but no.

Write as long or as short a story that tells the story that is trying to be told. Aiming for a length pretty much guarantees editing for length instead of content. Many people think that shortening a story always helps. I'm not so sure.

Deadlines are the only reason anything ever gets published. I would say that deadlines are the only reason we breath or eat. Deadlines are why we pull our head out of water. Deadlines are why we walk quickly across the street. Deadlines are why planes land instead of crashing.

Don't worry about being good. Worry about getting the words on the page. Once the words are written, you can fix them. This translates to shoot the video. No one is going to force you to put it up on the web or using it in your personal movie. Shoot the video. Write the words. Then, go back and fix it.

Share your bad work and good work. Learn. Learn to be better. Learn to laugh at yourself. Learn to yawn in the face of critics.

Turn off the phone. Disconnect your laptop from the wifi. Close the drapes. Do not answer the door, anyone with an emergency will make themselves heard. Get it done.

All of this boils down to one word. Discipline. Good luck. I can't get any of this to work for me.

Notes:

Thorium fuel. Sounds like a plan. Lets get some experiments going.

I'm still stewing over the mouse pointer issues in Ubuntu. It takes an act of Congress to change the pointer. I am displeased.

At work, we are just like every other company on the planet. We need to create new users. This means, all the services that new users use must have license and such. I find myself balancing the need to create new user accounts with both getting rid of old accounts and making sure we have plenty of time to correct any issues that arise from our systems. Just one more thing required of your friendly neighborhood IT guy.

My back hurts. it is my lower back. It only hurts when I move or bend. It is gout, I'm convinced. I had a glass of wine Friday evening and by Saturday evening my back hurt. The pain is not as bad as my ankle was a couple months ago. It feels better to keep moving. I even replaced one of the water cooler bottles earlier today without incident. I barely felt the tension in my spine. Putting on socks and tying my shoes, however, is agonizing.

Laundry day

Field	Data
Title	Laundry day
Description	OK, laundry and complaining about work and life. Blah. * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	work laundry wash time lapse folding cloths "Canon Elph 300" Houston Texas Kdenlive
Link	Link

Letting Guns walk

			A section of the draft of contempt charges against Attorney General Eric Holder is dedicated to explaining how Fast & Furious branches off into different departments within the Department of Justice (DOJ). While most know about the operation being based in Phoenix, the strategy was actually developed in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General (ODAG) in Washington, DC. The ODAG decided it would be brilliant to concentrate on identifying the members of the trafficking network instead of seizing the firearms right away. The goal was to capture the big fish of the cartels. The ATF Phoenix Field Office decided to use this strategy in Fast & Furious. But that wasn’t good enough for them and in late January 2010 the office “applied for Fast and Furious to become an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) case.” In order to do that the agents had to tell all about their investigative strategy, i.e. gunwalking. It was approved and was given new funding. ...
Big-Government

Who knew what, and when? How did this ever sound like a good idea? Are the people running this country neurotic?

			CBS News has obtained a series of emails that show the White House had more information on ATF's controversial Fast and Furious operation than previously disclosed. But administration officials insists nobody at the White House knew specifically that ATF was allowing guns to "walk" into the hands of suspected gun traffickers for Mexican drug cartels. ATF allegedly allowed more than two thousand assault rifles and other weapons to fall into the hands of suspects from late fall of 2009 through 2010. The emails indicate three White House officials were briefed on gun trafficking efforts that included Fast and Furious. The officials are Kevin O'Reilly, then-director of North American Affairs, now assigned to the State Department; Dan Restrepo, senior Latin American advisory; and Greg Gatjanis, a national security official.
CBS News

Let me get this straight. The U. S. government encourage straw purchasers, read gun runners, to buy guns in the U. S. and get them to Mexico. The gun store owners didn't want to sell to these people, but the feds insisted. Then what? Count the bodies? What in the world were they thinking?

I'll tell you what they were thinking. They were thinking this would make gun purchases in the U. S. look bad and give them, excuse the play on words, ammunition to take the right to own firearms away from U. S. citizens. That is the only thing that makes sense. In order to make the citzinery depend solely on the government, they cannot have the tools to be independant. What part of independant is more important than self preservation?

Muslim Brotherood in America

I offer without comment. Please let me know what you think.

Stimulus or money laundering?

			... But it gets worse. In states like Wisconsin, far from the automakers and their union workers, 80% of stimulus funds “went to public unions.” That means these unions received $600 million in funding which they are now using to fill the coffers of Democrat candidates and to pay for ongoing opposition to Gov. Scott Walker. As a matter of fact, public employee unions have already spent more than $8 million in their effort to recall Walker. What this does, in effect, is remove the advantage Walker had achieved in fundraising by placing the weight of the national purse behind Walker’s opponents. ...
breitbart.com

This is not the first time I've come across this comparison. It is true that much of the money that saved GM and others ended up in the heads of unions. They get part of every union employee's check. It is true that labor unions lean heavily toward Democrats. I think it is time to ban unions from participating in elections at all. They would still have collective bargaining and cover their union member's asses. They would just loose the support of the ones running the government.

What do I know? I'm just a well read citizen of the U. S..

That extinquisher is shit

Yup, I feel much more comfortable having a fire extinguisher in my kitchen now. Hopefully, thatis a counterfit

Why passing on the right is wrong

c

Because there might be a broken down vehicle in the breakdown lane.

About time

			Auto Makers Announce Electric Car Charging Standard "Auto makers are launching a universal EV charger that charges an electric vehicle in 15 to 20 minutes. The standard, called Combined Charging System, has been approved by the Society of Automotive Engineers and ACEA, the European association of vehicle manufacturers, as the standard for fast-charging electric vehicles."
SlashDot

It only took 177 years or so.

			Who invented the very first EV is uncertain and several inventors have been given credit. In 1828, Hungarian, Ányos Jedlik invented a small-scale model car powered by an electric motor that he designed. Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain), Robert Anderson of Scotland invented a crude electric-powered carriage. In 1835, another small-scale electric car was designed by Professor Stratingh of Groningen, Holland, and built by his assistant Christopher Becker. In 1835, Thomas Davenport, a blacksmith from Brandon, Vermont, built a small-scale electric car. Davenport was also the inventor of the first of the first American-built DC electric motor.
About.com

This is something that should have happened a long time ago. Someone should have taken the responsibility of the standard out of the hands of the automotive industry a long time a go. Thee sorts of things never work out for long. They come up with a standard, then implement it. Five weeks later they gut the design and fix it. Then they put that fix in place. Then, after everyone is sick of dealing with it, they decide something entirely new needs to be done. By this time people are scared of buying the products for fear of being left in the dust on versions. This has happened with everything that has a battery in it since the invention of the first battery.

Wind noise

Field	Data
Title	What I do about wind noise
Description	I'm far from a pro, but I've picked up a couple tricks along the way. The old camera sticking out of a stocking cap trick does wonders for tempering wind noise. It is the cheapest solution around. I tried to make this in to a "how to" video, but I'm just not very good at it. Let me know what you think. * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	wind noise technique video shooting tip wind test "Canon Elph 300" "Toshiba T30" Kdenlive Houston Texas breeze
Link	Link

The relevance of TV

			Hulu To Require Viewers To Have Cable Subscriptions The NY Post reports that Hulu, the video streaming service with over 30 million users, has plans to force those users to prove they have a subscription to cable or satellite TV if they want to keep watching. Quoting: "The move toward authentication is fueled by cable companies and networks looking to protect and profit from their content. The effort comes as entertainment companies continue to face drastic shifts in home viewing habits. Overall spending on home entertainment edged up 2.5 percent to $4.45 billion in the first quarter as a surge in digital streaming — which rose more than fivefold to $549 million — offset a continuing collapse in video rentals, according to Digital Entertainment Group. ... Hulu racked up some $420 million in ad revenue last year and is expected to do well in this year’s ad negotiations. But the move toward authentication, which could take years to complete, will make cable companies happy because it could slow cord-cutting by making cable subscribing more attractive."
Slashdot

A buddy of mine heard me talking about this and didn't believe me. He said that this would be dumbest move hulu could make. I agreed with him. It is a dumb move. I also believe that the people in charge of the industry are in their seventies and don't get the modern market.

His thing was that he wanted to watch TV on whatever device he had handy. He didn't want to wait for things. He wanted access to everything and was willing to pay for at least the good stuff. He didn't want to have to buy cable TV and pay for competing channels all through the year just to get a couple of good shows.

My television viewing habits consist of watching whatever is on when I'm in the mood. This used to mean lots of channel flipping. It now means surfing while something is playing on another tab of my browser. It would be great if a stream could detect when I'm not watching and only listening and save me the bandwidth.

The music industry has had to change to a model that lets people get the songs they like on the devices they use. The TV industry is next. Heaven forbid they do what Capitalism is all about and provide a good or service that people are willing and able to pay for. Hollywood needs to pay attention as well. TV thinks they are too big to fail when in reality, they are becoming too irrelevant to matter.

This is just the way things work. The establishment keeps doing things the way they got to work in the first place. New people come along and think "Why isn't someone doing it this way? Doesn't that make more sense?" and horn in on the establishment. It is called adapting.

At the moment, I watch several vlogs for my nightly entertainment. I could list several here. I have become highly interested in these people's lives. It is like a soap opera. The best art is, they are real people. I can follow them on Twitter and Facebook. I can email them tips on dealing with Linux and such. It is interactive. This is real reality TV. That crap the executives vomit on the screen is crap.

The establishment can afford more lawyers and lobbyists. The upstarts typically have the people beatinga path to their door.