Blogging is hard on the old keyboard
Well, I would not have guessed it, but I must be typing quite a bit on this blog. My cheep keyboard is about to loose its space bar. The left side anyway. It turns out I use my left thumb almost exclusively to hit the space bar. I had to switch to an old USB keyboard I originally bought for testing OS/X beta a million years ago. It is the most awesome keyboard. It clacks like an old IBM or TRS80 terminal. I learned to type on a manual typewriter. That is why I pound the keys. I should invent a computer keyboard made from a manual typewriter (drat).  I own about half a dozen keyboards. You would think I would have found one I like. Either they change the key-layout, connector, or design (flexible/wireless/split/silent) so often that I cannot just have a favorite keyboard it seems. I'll live.

The X-Box Murders (The X-Box Massacre)

Here is what I've gathered from the news stories I've heard. A girl let some people stay at house owned by her grandparents. Somehow some cloths and an X-Box ended up in her possession. The people staying in her grandparents house killed her, and every one else in the house, to get the cloths and the X-Box, allegedly.   Here is how I infer events. The girl let some people stay at her grandparent's place. She expected something in return. When the four men, who had all lost their jobs recently, could not produce, she obtains the X-Box and some cloths as collateral. The four guys show up with baseball bats and kill the woman and every one else in the house. One of the stories suggested that at least some people were killed in their sleep and that no one put up a fight. The girl was beaten so severally, the authorities could not use dental records to identify her.    I would like it noted for the record that no firearms were used in the execution of this crime. It was just that much more horrible because baseball bats were used.    Certainly the X-Box had little to do with it. The X-Box only plaid  the part of a commodity. Anything these people considered valuable would have sufficed  It may as well have been a TV, a car or a ring. .

Short Day
I was so busy today that I didn't have time to think outside the box. I often wonder if people do nothing in their off time to make it seem longer. I don't think that is a good idea. I bet, if people got off their butts, myself included, they would find themselves fulfilled.
On the other side. I know some busy people who fill their days and evenings from one end to the other, solid, with every moment accounted for, some times more than once. They need to relax and take a moment to smell the flowers.
Balance is the secret. I bet it is different for each of us.

Cool Site of the Day

Movies
I found a new outlet for movies. I suppose it is an inlet. Anyway. horror movies. They have all the classics. I can't wait to get some in. I can't say horror is my favorite genera. I may have been over heard saying SciFi is my favorite. Lately, I just can't say. There have been so many bad SciFi movies out. <cough>Riddick</cough>.  The cartoon was better. Honestly, I don't know where they went wrong with that one. It sounded like a good idea. Vin Diesel is a DND nut (like myself) and may have liked the idea of playing a comic book hero. The two Star Wars pictures made me yawn. The last couple in the Alien series didn't get my hackles up. I can't wait for Alien vs. Predator. I may have to break down and catch that one in a theater. Their site looks like they put more time into it than the movie.
There have been a number of series I liked lately. Firefly was canceled before I started to really watch it. I hate that. I don't have cable, so I miss most of the good series. I hate that too. They are making a movie from that series. They are digging up Battlestar Galactica. Looking at SciFi.com, I should not complain until I get cable. I have nothing against cable. I watch too much TV with five channels.

Too Far
Have you heard about this? It is a TV show like Fear Factor for Mexican immigrants. The prize is a law firm helping with your green card application. Mexican people are being exploited. There is not much a lawyer can do, except throw their name behind your paper work. Mexicans will humiliate themselves for little more than a promis to look into it.

Prozac in the Water Supply
Britain found Prozac in the water supply. I know some people who swore fluoride was a mind control method. They would not let their kids drink city water because the florid was going to rot their brain, or make them mindless all-consuming zombies, who eat too much, and buy all shinny things they find, hmmm. maybe I should look further on that one. Wait, wasn't that the flu shots?

Wheel of Time (continued)
I'm on book five. I half way through and I don't understand why every one complained about this book. The first half has been full of intrigue. It doesn't seem slow to me. The chapters are a bit shorter.
. . .
I tried taking notes for a minute. It would be excruciating to keep it up for any length of time. Int 5 paragraphs there were about 10 new names of people or places. Give me a break.  I just had to give up.
. . .
Almost done now. It looks like the climax was several chapters back. More one politics and the game of houses.
. . .
The fight at the end of this book is more personal. The other books are grand at the end.
Book five, done.

P2P
I user a program called eDonkey. This software has gone through many changes. Lately they have gone back to an old name. The company moved from eDonkey 2000 to Overnet back to eDonkey. The network used by this software has been taken up by several other software. When you download something on one, it may come from another.
* It has taken a while, but I've just about got this thing figured out.
* Stick to common files. Use the web pages that have file links. Try to stay away from searches in the software itself. Every file has an ID. The IDs on the web pages are fare more common and usually they are more complete.
* Make sure you have the right ports routed. They change sometimes. There are two ports this software uses. Incoming and outgoing. You have to configure them in the software and in your router.
* Keep your DL list full. At any time, I have about 35 files trying to download. The computer tries to get the one's it can and leave those it must for later.
* Make sure you stifle all incoming messages. There are nothing but jerks on the network. It is best to ignore them.
Following these rules will not guarantee any good results. A download of 30 (Kb/sec) is usually considered good. I can achieve 150 on occasion, but it does not last. The problem with P2P is it is unreliable. You cannot always get what you want, when you want. However, if you are patient, and you don't let the red progress bar make you mad, you may have some fun watching  Don't depend on it. Just let it happen. Trying to get a specific file on a P2P network is like throwing a live bee at a loose paper target in a hurricane.

3D screens
I fear advances in visual technology for consumer electronics. I can't always use the latest thing. I can barely read the screen on new phones. I envision some advance in computer monitors or mobile phones that will prevent me from getting full use from the new devices. I do hate being left out of new technology because I cannot see as well as others. Of course, with the aging of America, there may come a backlash to manufacturers forcing recognition that God did not create us all the same. We shall "see".
There was a story at some point talking about top executives who demanded some high-end camera phones have the ability of removing the camera as an option. This comes about because most companies ban camera phones. If you want email and chat, goodness knows what else, you were stuck with a camera too. No more. Now some phone manufacturers have removed the cameras. I've heard rumors that some phone manufacturers have banned camera phones too. I cannot prove it.
Didn't they know this was coming? Couldn't they have asked some one? I could have told you that my company would eventually ban these things. My day job has a strict policy against cameras anywhere on the site. I know several people with camera phones. Not one of them uses the camera feature for more than a couple of days before it becomes old.

Sudan
I'm not the only one who feels Sudan is just an excuse to focus away from Iraq and other areas. These articles say it is a conflict between farmers and nomads. The real trouble is not so much ethnic as economic. I wonder if it is the neighbors of this area who want military action. One problem with nomads is your cant draw a line around them on a map. The stuff happening here is scary and should be dealt with, but I don't want to use U. S. troops to do it.

Question
Why are audio books so expensive?
A) Writers want to make novel money off the sale.
B) Audio producers want to make CD money off the sale.
C) Publishers want to make book money and CD money off the sale.
D) Producers want everything RIGHT NOW!! AND LOTS OF MONEY!! BWAA-AAh-AAh!!!
E) Distributors want to make book money and CD money off the sale.
F) All of the above, plus they all think they are gigging extra from lazy people, while forgetting that blind people might enjoy an audio book as well.
I have the strange feeling The Wheel of Time would break me.

Curmudgeon
I'm a curmudgeon on my blog. So says a couple of people. (only one used the word curmudgeon) I suppose I am. Well, <in a Cartmen voice> "Screw you guys. I'm going home!"

Happy Place
Why do people do drugs, or drink alcohol for an entire lifetime? I had a friend, many years ago, ask me why people keep doing things that hurt them so? Well, It is to escape themselves. I think most people have some kind of escape. Something that helps them think or focus on everything else. I know a guy who goes on vacations and hates it. He wants the vacation to be the escape, but it is his TV shows he watchs that make him relax. I told this friend to take a week off and watch TV. Kind of like Al Bundy did in "Married With Children". I seem to enjoy reading current events and writing garbage like this in my blog. My escape is in my head. People have said heroin is like a vacation from yourself. Not every one has an escape I suppose. Some people are either well centered or just too oblivious to need one. Another friend got married and had kids. She didn't realize until too late that was not what she wanted. She used college for her escape. She said "I screwed up and graduated." Then, she had to get a job.

Freaky
I read that book. Why did i read that book. It has really made me think about strange stuff. I'm referring to "A Brief History Of Almost Everything"of course. That Ax factory I mentioned before made me think about other inventions that human kind did not come up with. We were not the first to invent the ax. We did not start the whole cloths thing. I heard somewhere that neanderthals used crude boles dug out of wood. It struck me that neanderthals are not considered our true relative, more of a genetic cousin. That thought humbled me. suddenly I realized that some one else  walked the Earth and created things before us. What happened? What finished off the dim neanderthal?

Meetings
At work today I had three meetings. That in itself is not unusual. However, all three meetings were scheduled at the exact same time and I had no meetings longer than a half hour at any other time during the whole week. Something strange happened from 8:00 to 10:00 this morning.

Email
It seems email is the vulnerability of choice for hackers these days. I understand MS and some game companies both lost their source code because hackers got in through some one opening up an email attachment. Some malicious programs will capture your keystrokes and send user names and passwords to the bad guys. Some hackers have figured out ways to get around needing the user to click on an attachment. Just surfing the web is dangerous these days.
At my day job, so many emails come in the system that it can take twenty four hours or more for an email with a zip file attached to make it through the scanners. At home, I notice a lesser delay, but just as much annoyance. I wish someone would implement a good fix for this. I hear there are a bunch of options. I don't know which one(s) will work. I know it costs the company (both) I work for money and time dealing with email hassles.

Wednesday Evening
I got off work at 3:00. I went straight home. I should have stopped for groceries. It is so damn hot. I have to wait for the bus in beside a busy road. The heat from the cars and the road is harsh. I got home by my normal time. It was about 4:20 or so. It is nearly 6:00 and it feels like I just stepped through the door.I'm watching a movie. Every one gets phone calls. I can't remember the last time I got a phone call. Just some one calling out of the blue to go do something. They don't want a computer question answered. They don't need help moving. They just want to spend some time with me. Bryan called a couple of weeks ago. Adam and Laurie called to go to lunch a bit back. My mom calls every now and then. (not what I'm talking about)  It's better this way.

I never wanted to sweep Scarlet O'Hara off her feet. I never wanted to save Marilyn Monroe. I wish they left Pretty Woman a drug addict.

The Wheel of Time (Continued)
Book four, done. People keep saying it is one of the best books. I think it was the best so far. I hope there is not too much of a down hill slide. I've herd book five is the most difficult to get through. I've noticed I don't always get the people right. Sometimes I cross who did what. I can hardly blame myself. I should have taken notes. Min did this, Rand did that. Something else I noticed about the fourth book was a touch of comedy. "Don't call me that."

Austin
My evening job is talking about moving to Austin. I would love that. Not only is it a more pleasant climate,but the transportation is by far better. Austin just feels more like home. There are hills and trees. I like the layout of the city. There is this thing called zoning that was intelligently applied decades ago, so it kind of works now. I hear driving in Austin can be a chore, but I will be on public transit, or in a cab, so that isn't too much of a concern. My parents might freak. I don't have a girlfriend or career to hold me back.
Houston is ugly. It is built on a grassy swamp. It floods. It is humid. The mosquitoes will carry off small children. It is a nightmare to get around. The air is nasty. There are hurricanes. Can I move today?

War
How well we kill ourselves. We get better at it every day. So prowed we are of ourselves. We keep track in the news papers. We watch it on TV. The deadly in pools of their own will, just  out of camera shot.

Sudan
Here is what  I bet is going on in Sudan. You have nomads and you have farmers. The nomads want to roam around living off the land and having a few laughs. The farmers want to fence off all the land and water, thus keeping the nomads from their rounds. I imagine this has been going for quite some time. I bet it has been going since before people called themselves Christin or Muslim. I bet stuff like this has been going on for thousands of years.

More on Boots
They are cool. They weigh about 35 pounds a piece. They are black, steel toe biker kind of boots. I complained about the new boots hurting my feet until they get broken in. A female friend of mine asked me why I don't have more "practical" shoes. It took me a minute, but I thought "A woman giving me advice about buying practical shoes that don't hurt my feet?" Give me a break. I can't remember the last time I noticed a woman waring shoes that didn't look like they were taken from a torture chamber. Anyway, my old steel toe work boots should feel like moccasins tomorrow.

Lamp
Buffy season 5 episode 2 has a lamp in the first screen that I have on my shelf. The lamp on the series is in a character's room named Dawn. The girl who gave me the lamp is named Dawn. Mildly interesting.

Sunday
Lunch
I went out with some friends to lunch. Normally, this would be a complete Sunday.
Benefit concert
Tom and Jen asked me over to a benefit concert at a local bar, Big John's Ice House (down the page a bit). it was hot. The food looked good, but I was stuffed from lunch. It was pretty cool.
Open Mic Night
We went to a bar over on Highway 6. They have an open mic from 6 to whenever. It was pretty cool. There was a twelve year old kid who did a great job playing some classical keyboard.  Jen Kicked ass. I like her new stuff.

The Wheel of Time.
My buddy had the following to say about The Wheel of Time series.
--- Email from 2004-07-21 ---
I think that people that want the story to end get a little grumpy.  It seems that at book 9, where I'm at, that the final fight between Rand and the Dark One is no closer to happening than in Book 3.  There is a certain amount of "lets get on with it" that sets in around book 6 -- but if you make it through that and just accept that the story will never, ever end until the author dies (and then, of course, it will be incomplete) I think Book 9 is just as good, if not better, than book 3.  Book ranks from myself:

 Book 4 - Cool middle part, Perrin becomes cool
 Book 7 - Cool ending, Nynaeve becomes cool
 Book 5 - Mat becomes cool
 Book 8 - Rand becomes cool
 Book 6 - Egwene becomes cool
 Book 9 - Elayne becomes cool -- haven't finished reading it yet
 Book 3 - The Stone is taken, cool-ass sword
 Book 2 - Padin Fain is tres-creepy
 Book 1 - Gearing up the world -- slowest of all books

From Amazon, I think the books are ranked as so:

 Book 4
 Book 3
 Book 2
 Book 5
 Book 1
 All the rest

In all the reviews of Book 1, several people didn't like Jorden's style and bitched about it mightily.  Those that liked it kept reading, so the first book weeded out a lot of grumps.  People that were looking for the series to be a new "Lord of the Rings" started to get pretty tired of the meandering story line around book 5, and the numbers of people put off by the length grow with each book released.  So the last books are panned by a large segment of the reviewers.  There has only been one story arc that I thought went on too long (and did it go on and on).  But other than that, as long as you accept that the story will not end, the later books just get better.
--- End email ---

Irony
How frigging ironic is this. I heard a lyric in a song saying "there are no cows in Texas .. if I don't love you." Suddenly, I had to know how many cows there are in Texas. I clicked over to Google and did a search for -"cows in Texas" many- and got the following answer, 13,900,000. The funny thing is, it is a bitch session from some nut job wining about Semantic Web searches, or, the lack there of. Seems to me the current system doesn't suck too bad. That is a big buzz these days. People say "Why can't I just get the answer I'm looking for instead of a web page that may or may not contain related information?" Well, because the web is a gigantic database contained on a billion servers all over the world, being maintained by nearly half as many people. It would take a single database at one point almost as big and complex to contain that data. I know all about complicated databases, I'm reading the Wheel of Time series. Trust me, MS is trying to provide this very service. One of the VPs at MS said he wanted people to experience the entire Internet without leaving MS sites. That doesn't make any sense to me, but he seemed please with himself after saying it. I don't know if you may remember the AOL experience from the early nineties. AOL tried to provide the "Internet" before there was an Internet. They stuck everything including the kitchen sink on their service. They ended up with a slow kick-you-off service that made promises and then dashed dreams. I fear that no matter who tries to take control of the world, some one will provided niche services better and be pushed out of the system by the conglomerates.
There is a term for one company trying to provide every service and sell you everything you will ever need without leaving their site. This term is sand-boxing. It is a kin to putting a child in a play-pen so mom can sip her margarita and play bridge without you wandering off a cliff. It is also a great way for MS or AOL or whomever to make sure you only get options they want you to see.
OK, it is not very ironic. It just pisses me off.

Sunday
I have a friend supporting a comrade who's wife has cancer. They support their friend by having music and merriment at an Ice house near my home. I intend on going. I worry only that they will not let me in with my backpack. I will go without it. No pictures. I need to make an inventory of my backpack for the blog sometime.

Another Time Absorbing Survey

37.5 %

My weblog owns 37.5 % of me. Does your weblog own you?

Boots
Today was a good day. It was hot, but beautiful outside. I read some information about a software package my second job wishes to use for support. I am reading my book. I received my new boots that I ordered over the net. That is dangerous. I simply requested 11 D and they fit. I'm very happy about that. They are pull on boots called "Engineer Boots." I don't get the name. I just walked up to the Quick-Mart and my feet strain a bit under the strain of slip on boots. If I don't ware the thick hiking socks the boots are a quarter size too big. I order boots that way by choice. There is a big difference in lace-up boots and pull-on or slip-on boots when walking.  If you had asked me years ago, I would not have know the difference. It's funny the things age brings to your knowing.  Wisdom is not a number, or a length of time. Think of all the things I know I Have no knowledge of. Think of all the things I have no idea about.

Book
A couple of things I learned from the book "A Brief History of Almost Everything" that I forgot to mention.
* The Moon's orbit really is deteriorating. It will one day float away.
* The last Dodo was stuffed and kept in a museum. It was burned because it was "musty" and lost.
* A single lighthouse keeper's cat ate the entire species of the last ground roosting, perching, flightless bird ever.
* Neanderthals had a hand-ax factory that was in business, that showed signs of division of labor,  for a million years. Some of the axes were so large they were completely useless for anything except to be worshiped.

DNA, Black Holes, Nuclear Bombs, blah blah blah
One of the guys who worked on the double helix of DNA died Wednesday. One of the guys was famous for saying something like "I wanted to discover the secret to DNA without learning any biology." He was a character.
I learned that from my new book "A Brief History On Almost Everything".
Izak Newton married his first cousin. (so did Louis Carrol, not in this book)
* A mars sized planet hit the Earth and formed the moon. (I speculate that the moon, covered in rocks from earth, is, at it's core, the other celestial body still.)
* An earthquake in Alaska sloshed water out of swimming pools in Texas.
*  Yellowstone has erupted twice in the past and is slowly moving east (not the park, the lava under it.)
* Science: "First they say it isn't true, then they say it isn't important, then they credit the wrong person."
* Earth and our moon are considered by many as a twin planet. This may be why we still have a molten core, and why there is still life on Earth. Apparently we need the gravitational "friction" or something. They didn't go in to it in the book.
* There has never been a time before where both poles were frozen soled. (I infer this means we are in a time of transition.)
This book is hard to read. It just drones on and on with a bunch of facts that are loosely tied together through history. It reads like a well written text book, without the details. Engineers must love it. .

Watching
I'm obtained the original Star Trek series, all 64 or so episodes I have the first 6 seasons of SG1 (Stargate). Those are the seasons on regular TV. I'm almost done with the Simpsons, seasons 1 through 15. I'm about half way through Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Muppet Show is next..

IM
This is a conversation I had with a friend today on Yahoo IM.

James: bug
James: bug bug
James: bug bug bug bug bug
zhsy00001: **** SMACK!!! ****
James: hahahhahaa

This is a good use for IM.

Sorry I have not been writing much. I'm reading A Brief History of Nearly Everything in between some other projects. It isn't everything, it is science. There is more to everything.

Dog Bit
I got bit by a dog this morning on my way into work. I didn't realize it got more than a stitch of pant leg until I got to work. There is just a scratch, but that is enough to get an infection. Now, I have to go to the doctor. I have to find out which apartment it was. The dog was tied to a front door. I walked along from the bus stop like I do every day. The dog had just enough leach to run after me (after I passed it) and nip me on the left leg. I only heard it growl at the last second. I intend on sending the resident a bill for a pair of pants and the doctor. I didn't even think to snap a picture this morning. Man that would have been a good idea. I had the stinking camera. More later.
More on dog
I've noticed I'm very distracted at work. It is funny how much I have to focus to do my jog. It is a good feeling really that I have to concentrate on my work. I feel a bit more like an artisan because of that. Any distraction, like being hit by a car or bit by a dog on the way in to work, will through off my game all day. I suppose it is natural.
. . .
I got back from the doctor and I'm fine. I am looking at pepper spray online. I think the pills I have to take (antibiotics) are bigger than the dog that bit me.


Hit by cars
I've been hit by four cars on the way to work in the last seven or so years I've been here. I walk about a mile from the bus stop to the front door. I used to walk down the belt way, but now I walk through a neighborhood behind the building.
1. I got off the bus and as I was crossing the street, in the crosswalk, a car just pulled up too far and bumped me. I screamed at him and kept going. They just didn't stop at the line. The rolled forward into me at a slow speed.
2. While walking down the belt way a pickup pulled out of a driveway and as the driver looked left and turned right he just ran into me at a slow speed. I went up on the hood of that vehicle. I screamed at them and kept going. They just were not looking where they were going. 3. I was walking down the belt way. There is this corner at Brier Forest and the belt way when you are headed South and make a right on Brier Forest. The landscaping of the building will not allow you to turn the corner on the curb without plowing through the foliage. While stepping off the curb to round the corner I was clipped by a person turning right. I doubt they even know they hit a pedestrian. They were looking left and turning right.
4. The paper guy in the neighborhood behind the building, never stops at the corners. They do only have yield signs. He creeps along and concentrates on throwing papers. One morning he was well back from the intersection as I approached on foot. I stepped into the street thinking he was far enough off. I crossed more than half way across the street when I realized he was right on top of me. I was on the left side of the street. He was so busy messing with his papers he didn't notice he was making a left from the left side of the street without stopping. (cutting the corner)
All of these have things in common. They were at intersections. They were at slow speeds. They were distracted (as best as I could tell), and they all hit a pedestrian following the rules as best as he could. I've had people tell me not to walk in the street. I've never been hit by a car while walking in the street. It is always while following the rules as best as I can that I have been hit. I need to move to a city with good public transportation. I need to find a city where pedestrians have some rights. I'm told Texas laws dictate that any one in the street, not in a crosswalk, who is hit is at fault. I feel oppressed.
Funny thing is, the dog did more damage than the cars.

Damn It
Here we go again. Now it looks like Egypt is paying off the bad guys. I bet the U. S. has paid for bad guys to go away. It upsets me when leaders of nations just don't get it. They take the easy way out. This is not why I pay taxes.

White Trash Test
I like this one. I stole It from Cynthia. My results are below. I still like the evil genius test. I had that one on my blog a long while back. Feel free to comment like mad below.

I AM 40% WHITE TRASH! The white trash in my blood will not keep me from becoming a doctor or a lawyer, but it will keep me from a good haircut and any sort of fashion sense. Take the WHITE TRASH test at Fuali.com

The Wheel of Time
Man, this is a long set of books. I've found people who have read this series who I would have never expected. Most people say they like the books. I'm terrified. I'm about to start book four and I hear it is one of the best. Book five, however, is the most wordy and difficult to read. Most people I talk to about the series are upset it has taken so long to get the books out. They have been reading since the mid nineties and hate the book-every-two-years thing the author has going on. Some say they have to re-read the books to keep up. I'm running through the first ten books, if I can make it all the way through. I bet I remember as much at the end as any one else who read them as they came out.
I have to say, I have never read two books in one weekend. I've never completed 600 pages in a day. Sunday I got up at 8:00 and completed the book (three) around 9:30 or so. I only stopped for a couple of phone calls. I have an odd feeling of accomplishment. So far, the wordiness of the book hasn't bothered me. It is interesting to have the multiple plot lines. I can sympathize with those who have to wait a long time for the books to come out. The plots are complex and interwoven (like the fabric of our lives). The series lives up to it's name.
I believe the saying is "The wheel weaves as the weave wills." I might not have that right. I'll have to check. I just did a search on Google for the saying to verify it and I got a  server error. creepy.

The Wheel of Time
Book three, done.

Tools
People tend to do what works. They are like water. Water finds it's path by flowing passively in the path of least resistance. The path that gets it to where it wants to go with the least amount of trouble. Now, some very bad people have found a tool to bend nations to their will. All it took was one week people to give in and the flood gates open. What are the rest of us to do? We must fight. All of us. I fear the change coming to our land. I fear the loss more of troops and support personnel without reason.

Banner

I bought this wall hanging a couple of years ago. They had dozens of wall hangings. It seems these are far more popular with Anime fans than posters. The place I bought this escapes me. i do like the art. This is Cowboy Bebop. This particular scene is Fred (The girl in the picture) leaving the rest of the crew to find her father. I liked Fred, she was very intelligent and nuts. There is a series and a movie. They are both excellent.

Books

I've gathered some books recently. They are not for entertainment. With the second company duties I needed a library of reference books. I only use about 5 of them on a regular basis. I have not cracked the two C++ books. Two of them are nearly identical.  One of them is actually Josh's book. If I truly understood the knowledge in these twenty books I would be a very smart programmer, and maybe some one who knows a little Spanish.

Kill Bill 2
I watched Kill Bill 2 last night. I have to say I liked it much better than the first one. Something about the first one just drove me nuts. I liked the fight scenes, most of the movie, but the animated part of the film reminded me far too much of Anime. That just made me want to watch a different movie. I want to watch both movies front to back. I bet that will answer some questions.

Cool Site
I found a col site on the subject of the Wheel of Time. Actually, WOT is just one subject on the page. This is a brilliant, artistic person who deserves a brows. She has a blog, but it looks like it hasn't been updated in a month.

Observation Concerning My Microwave
A couple of weeks ago there was a power outage in my apartment. It took a while, but I noticed my microwave oven stopped giving a beep when it was done.  Normally I have no time set on the microwave. When the power goes out, the display shows a bunch of dashed lines. The power goes out far too often to keep the dozen clocks set that go dead with every flicker, particularly the ones with no battery backup. It took a while to realize  Last night there was another power outage. Just for a moment, some lights didn't even fade all the way out. The next morning I warmed my coffee and the "I'm done." beep had returned. Visions of the ghost in the machine popped in my head. I know the only thing in my microwave I that moves are cockroaches. I don't like to think about it. A friend of mine who repaired electronics including microwaves said "I've never opened up a microwave that had been in a house for more than a year without finding a nest of cockroaches. Every one says 'Not my microwave.', but every single one." I don't like to think about it.

Armestrong
Lance Armstrong won  <yawn> again. That's nice. Yay us.

The Wheel of Time
I just completed book two.

Wow
There are these random waves the size of buildings just rolling around the open seas. I can't imagine running across the ocean in my small sail boat in a calm ocean, then a 25 m high wave simply appears and roles over me. It is funny, the things you learn rolling around the Internet.

Personal Page
I'm trying to think of something cool to do with my web page. I has to be simple. It has to be something that doesn't require much maintenance. Evey time I find a page I want to call "cool" I realize it is not the page itself, but the content that I like. Sometimes Flash pages a fun.  Some only work in IE and they can be over complex. Some pages have little to do with fancy, yet I visit them a couple times ever day. Even on days when I visit few other sites.
I would like to take a few centuries off and make a photo essay of beautiful landscapes around the world. I don't care if no one ever visits the site.  I don't care if no one ever comments or notices. I just want to go. There is nothing holding me here. Nothing that would not survive a while gone.

&#151;
The M dash is driving me nuts. The Wheel of Time is lousy with M-dashes. It is also way over ellipses pointed.. Every paragraph has five attempts to dictate where the pauses should be. I'm searching through the frigging files and removing ellipses points and M-dashes. The HTML code &#151; causes an M-dash to appear in the final document.

Donation
CNN reports a sperm donor must pay child support. There was no written contract. This was a donation between friends. It kind of reminds me of Will and Grace. I've had a friend suggest donating sperm. In the UK they have made it necessary for sperm donors to identify themselves. No anonymity. Soon the same will happen in the states. There is a trend lately to identify every one for everything they do. Some people still think they are anonymous online. They forget the IP they use even for a moment is tracked and kept for the authorities by their ISP. I have some friends who block any non -identified call. I don't know what the answer is. Soon though, I predict you will not be able to walk down the street without being tracked in the name of security. I don't feel secure letting an anonymous law enforcement agent track me. Every one says "I don't have anything to hide." until it is their 13 year old daughter on the video.

MS XP SP2
People have been waiting for a long time. to get the fixes and security updates in XP SP2 (Service Pack number 2). Now it looks like there are some serious questions to be answered before it comes to the public. MS is having some long term problems keeping up with their empire. The hackers are at the gates, attacking at every stone in the wall, creeping through places where water could not  flow. Other kingdoms gain influence seemingly at the grace of MS's enemies. It seems the whole world gathers just beyond the tree line. The port is busy. The crops yield well. The larder over flows. But the wind tells of a war to be lost.

Bullets
When I was a bit younger, a friend and I were walking through a parking lot near our homes. We were just messing around wasting time. There was three story office building that is gone now. A hospital took over the entire site. This site is at the corner of Highway 6 and Wilcrest in Missouri City Texas. That area is all built up now, but in 1990 or so there were still open undeveloped areas just across the highway.
As we sat there on the curb chatting, this sound came from just above us. It was a sound much like an insect whizzing past your ear. It was much further away. It was funny, but I could tel it was moving. The sound only lasted a fraction of a second. It was too fast to react, but I could kind of tell it had come from across the highway, at our backs, and traveled straight at the building in front of us. We didn't notice then, but a day later, one of the windows on the third floor, right in front of where we were sitting, was all taped up and cracked. That was my first real experience with the sound of a bullet. We never heard any pop. I figure that bullet was fired well away and may have been on it's way down when it hit the window.  I imagine it had slowed greatly. Hence the fact  I could tell from which way it came.

Firefly the Movie
I can't wait until this movie comes out. I nearly balled when the series was canceled. "Serenity", the name of the movie and the name of the ship, sounds like a cool concept. I didn't fall in love with the series until after it was canceled..I watched a couple of episodes and I was hooked. I need to find the DVD box set.

Dress for Success
I'm looking in to finding a new job at some point in the future. A friend of mine sent me a cool link that I need to read in depth. This place has always seemed like a mystery to me. I know nothing about cloths. I've seen their commercials on TV. To tell you the truth, I've had people tell me I look good when I dress up. I do not dress up often. Weddings and funerals. My wedding was the last one I dressed up for. My uncle Bobert's funeral was the last one I attended. I was four. I decided then, that I do not like funerals. I haven't been to one since. Hopefully, when I do buy a suit, I will not need it for any funerals.

Gmail update
The interface is the same as it was when I griped about gmail last time. There have been no real updates. Gmail has messed up a couple of times. I will compose an email and the silly server won't accept the send button. I'll get timeouts and not know if the mail ever sent or not. It usually only lasts for a minute or two, but it has bitten me in the but a couple of times. The conversations will not jive properly from some email clients. Some people send me a reply and Gmail picks it up as part of the same conversation. Others send replys and it looks like sixty different emails. This happens even though the whole body of the email is right there. Gmail still does not support HTML. I have no idea when they will abandon beta. It still rocks compared to the alternatives.

You can't escape
There is a story in the ether touting cruse ships will offer mobile (cellular) phone service. This means you will be able to make mobile phone calls from the ship to land. Charges are a bit high, but it should work. Between this and using mobile phones on planes, you will not be able to get away soon. When asked about people making annoying phone calls on the ship, an exec of one of the companies said "People will just get used to it."
AT&T is about to kick off G3 in the U. S. for the first time. This kind of service has been in Japan and Europe for quite some time. Honestly, it is about time.

Arafat
I remember when I was a kid thinking "There is no way this guy is going to last." Man, was I wrong. Arafat's own people are seriously ticked at him for cronyism  He used to lead a group of militants who killed people to achieve power. Somehow, I don't see him letting one strand of influence go without a fight. He was not elected. He was not appointed. He just clawed his way to the top. He has a degree in civil engineering and a Christian wife. If his own people asked him to step aside, would he?

Hangout
I'm missing a hangout. Every one of these shows on TV and in the movies, every one seems to have a hangout. Buffy and the gang have the Bronz, and the library/magic shop.  Friends have that coffee shop. The folks on Drew Carry have that bar (what was it called?). That Seventies show. has the basement. Homer has Moe's. Bart has the Tree house. Seinfeld has the cafe/restaurant.
Where is your hangout?

Late Evening in Kelly's World.
It's a Wednesday evening. I worked all day. I'll work all day tomorrow. I'm sitting in front of my computer listening to the blues on an online radio station. I'm drinking a glass of scotch. I just watched a movie about a man who died and left his family broke and broken. I cut myself shaving again. This time on the upper lip. I should just keep a bowl of broken glass by the sink. Goddammit! would this station stop skipping. Try to listen to the blues when the audio stream keeps cutting out.
Women will give you Fever. Fever till you sizzle, what a lovely way to burn.
All I need is a waitress and maybe some color lights. Maybe a beer sign on the wall. Something to eat between scotch and soda. The blues and maybe some swing. A dance floor that my shadow will not cross. The smell of cigarettes and spilled boos. The band as drunk as I am. Some one playing a horn like they know what they are doing. Stare at a woman's twirling hair as she dances alone. Sit, by myself, in my home. Drinking scotch, listening to the blues and telling the world all my secrets.

Go Jenna

Jenna Bush stuck her tung out at reporters for a laugh this week. I have to say, it made me smile.

SEE!! SEE!!
Thanks Philippines. I'm sure the rest of the world appreciates your floundering, you cowards! The authorities are finding people's heads in freezers. The fighting continues daily. Law and order are a dream. The areas outside the cities sound like the old west with AK-47s. An you, a nation with an insurgent problem, in your own back yard, give in to the terrorists. I don't care how it looks on TV. I have to say, this did not take long. I know some people from the Philippines and they are not cowards. The leadership of the country appears to me to be giving in to TV ratings.

Simpson's Trivia
I tried to capture a picture of Homer's pay check. It is Season 7, Episode 23, titled "Much_Au_About_Nothing". It is the one where proposition 24 want to throw out all the immigrants in Springfield. it is also one where a bear Tax. The amount of Homer's take home pay is 362.xx.  I don't know why I think that is interesting.

Grant Wood
Yes, you do know who this guy is. I am in a picture mood. These are all other people's pictures. I hope no one gets upset.


Random Simpsons Snaps

Speech
People rate public speaking above death when it comes to their greatest fear in life. Cynthia stood up today in a meeting at work and announced, in front of like 150 people or more, some work related event. She projected a heck of allot better than the people presenting the meeting. The PA was not working for the first half.
One of the gentleman who got up to give a presentation on driving safety (I have to sit through them even though i cannot drive (humph)) kept saying "you know", "um", clear his throat, laughing nervously and the like. All that can be over come. You just paws and try not to fidget. I'm no expert. The one thing that kind of disappointed me is he was not fully prepared for the meeting. I bet this was the first one he gave. If that is the case, then I think he did a good job. Lots of room for improvement.
Another thing they did was show a video file where a pedestrian gets killed. I don't much appreciate snuff films in safety meetings.

Feature Opp for Blogger
A female human being (Cynthia gripes when I call girls buddies) mentioned a new feature. She wants Blogger to remember (probably in a cookie) which entries she has already read. Sounds good to me.

I watched "I, Robot"
"One day they will have dreams." "Three laws safe". Those laws are just lines of code. There are some other laws.
If you ask me, old Calvin forgot a law. This is a Kelly Law. Nothing created by humans will ever qualify as human. No matter how much it looks or acts like a human. No matter how much it is better or superior to humans. It is not human.

Tired
I'm sitting here thinking about vacation stuff. My favorite idea is to take a week off and complete the Wheel of Time series. I bet I could do it in a week. Is that miserable or what? Well, where should I go? What should I do? To be honest, that is the most appealing thing in the list. It is cheap too. God help me, I'm boring. I remind myself of WD. He is a buddy of mine step father. WD has been described as that guy on the Twilight Zone where the world ends and he finds a library and is in heaven. WD likes to read. I'm not a big reader. I hope I can stick with this inertia that I've found with audio books and my computer reading to me. It would be so cool to be well read. Tonight, and the rest of the week I have evening work to do. I'm sure it will take the weekend to get it done too. That was expected. I knew it would do things like this. I am so damn tired though. I can't recharge my batteries. It is like I'm one man paddling a battleship. I need to get to it. Wish me luck.

The Wheel of Time
I found the official web page.

The Wheel of Time
Book one done. It only took a weekend. Only nine books and two prequels to go. I should be done with book two by the time book eleven comes out next year.

Blogger tools
I've noticed the tools such as spell checker and upload and the whole WISIWIG editor don't work in FireFox. Since I don't use IE anymore, I don't have access to these tools. You know, that sounds like discrimination to me. We live in a democracy. You vote for things. Majority rule. What about discrimination? Well there have to be allowances for the minority or the majority will run them off. That sounds great. Trouble is, there is a minority in every decision. I'm tired of being Tuckered..Maybe I should sue. On what grounds?
The only reason these browsers are not supported is because a minority of people use them. Even though the minority is growing, pages don't want to support the new browsers because it costs money. Before the alternate browsers will be supported It must either cost more to not support them, or they become the majority browser. There is a third possibility. If all the browsers used a standard (I'm not talking the IE standard either). This will not happen because whichever browser is in the lead will want to buck the standard and cause the world of script kitties to follow down a proprietary path. This is to keep them in the lead and keep every one else, who follows the "standard" behind. If you follow the standard you will not get any cool features from the leading browser to work.
Why do I let this stuff bug me? Why do I care? Why can't I just conform to the norm and give in? Wouldn't that be easier?  I want ice cream. Ah vanilla, my favorite.

Political cartoon
Linda sent me a hilarious Flash cartoon. It is not really one sided or the other. I tis just plane funny. It is pretty big so dial up folks may want to think twice.

The Wheel of Time
There is one thing about this first book that keeps me reading. It makes me want to be free. Nothing stops me but myself. This book makes me envy sheep herders and the Queens Guards.
I've heard some people who have read this series complain  about how wordy it is. They say "The first couple of books aren't bad." That frightens me because I'm reading this book (1) and I can feel a tendency to leading you down a bunch of dead ends in the middle of stories.

More on template
This one really is easier to read. I just got another comment to the affect. I just can't believe it, how far off my telling of ease to read is. I shouldn't worry about it. I should just move on. This doesn't mean anything. Anything, except that I cannot depend on my opinion of design. Knowing is good though.

DND
My friends who play DND every weekend must schedule the day they play. This may not sound like much, but it is a chore. There is no scheduling program that every one would ever agree on so one person must simply ask every one what day they are free. Then a graph must be made up. Then another mail sent out so the rest may enter their day. Then the one or few people who are left out must be consoled and perhaps, a new day selected.
I quit. So why does this vexed me? because I still get the bloody emails. I'm still in the distribution list, but not in the graph. I feel like I'm being mocked. I know it is absentmindedness.

Light

This is a picture I took at work. I leave things up on my Whiteboard every now and again to lighten the mood.

The Wheel of Time
I just started a book called The Wheel of Time. It is a book with ten tombs. It is a game too. I have to tell you that I have downloaded the text because I need the computer to read it to me. There is no way I could complete such a task without the help of technology. I hope all will forgive my indulgence. I'm on chapter four already.  There are 53 chapters. I'm almost a tenth of the way there.
I imagine starting on a journey from my home in the wood on a long journey. I first pass everything I know as my feet find their way down familiar steps. Then, without notice, I pass a place that is the furthest place I have ever been. Now, I find myself relying on tales of others who have lived near me all my life. The spoke of places not that far away where they found a good fishing hole.  Without a thought, I pass through a place where I have never heard. A place of which I know nothing. Only a few steps and I return to the land of family and friends. On my journey within days of walking I find a new land. One I've read about. One my family tells me good and bad things about. Then in weeks I find my way to a distant land. A land I have only known in tales of war from old men. Beyond this I find myself away from all I know and all I thought I knew.
I've never woken up in a place I did not know. I've never been outside my own country. I have little desire to wander.

My new template
I just noticed that my new template reminds me allot of slashdot. I had no idea until I had both pages open. If I could only round the corners.

Lower Pay
Here is an article about U. S. pay.  It just makes me want to cry. I fear our children will watch our great country fall. Perhaps not disappear. Perhaps not become something else. But fall away from greatness.

New template
Wow, I had no idea people hated my old blot template as much as they did. I've had comments from "It's nice." to "About time you got rid of that crap." To me, the white text on a black background is great and easy to read. I suppose it is a legally blind thing, because I had two people (one before and one after the change) say it was much easier to read after the change to black text on a white background.
I picked this one because it is wider. I got tired of scrolling for miles to get to the bottom of the list. It will support tables and photos better too I bet.
Let me know what you think.

Over a year?
It has been just over a year sins the invasion of Iraq. It seems like we have been at this for ten years. The death tole has gone over one thousand troops. Every day something else bad happens in the middle east. I haven't heard much about local news lately. I bet this kind of stuff has always gone on. I fear the U.S. legitimizes terrorist organizations by declaring war on them. They are like that little snot nosed kid who always drove everybody nuts. Then, one day, that kid gets in trouble for being annoying. This escalates until some one ends up with a bloody nose. That analogy sucks, but you get the idea. The last thing you do is give a kid a lolly-pop (see below) for punching another kid.

Philippines
The Philippine government is giving into the terrorists. I don't want to wish bad things on people. The Philippines have had plenty of trouble with domestic terrorism. There are rumors of al Quida roaming around the hills and jungles outside of the major cities. It would, however, serve them right if some local rebel group nabbed that same guy when he (hopefully) gets back home to his eight kids. (I'd try to get away too) This is no way to run a government. It sounds like the domestic situation teeters near collapse. Had the President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is cratering under domestic demands. The single largest source of income in the Philippines is citizens working abroad. The U. S. and others are not very happy about it. This whole situation set a really lousy president.

DND Chat.
I had a conversation with a guy here at work about DND. I have to be careful talking about DND at work. Not because of geek concerns. I work in a geek-rich environment. I loose track of how much time I'm spending yapping about completely off the wall stuff. We will end up debating the value of magic items or the reliability vs expendablity of hired henchmen. I think we had a hired guide named "Henson Smith" once. He insisted on waring red shirts.
We spoke of alignment. That subject comes up quite a bit at work. We reminisced of our past characters. He usually plays chaotic neutral. That way, he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. I normally play chaotic good. I did have a halfling thief that the DM made me change the alignment to chaotic chaotic. I miss that little guy. He was nuts, but fun to play. "You have just been teleported to the home of an evil god. You are on his primal plane of existents where his rule is supreme. Do you take a bite of the black apple floating in front of you?" "ok." He was not evil. He was just looking for something interesting to do.
James told me about some characters he played. We agreed, too many people have no clue how to play their character. I've played with people who chose paladins and played them completely greedy or just plane evil.
I think you should play your character for a while and then every one else votes on your alignment. The group of players I game with will never go for it.
That limits the choices I have for making a power character.
Ever hear of life altering events? This is one. You don't have control over everything. Deal with it.
What if I don't qualify for the same class?
Update your resume and sign up for a new class.
I suppose I should remember that it is just a game. I should not take things so seriously. I should lighten up. I should go ahead and play with those stupid game points. God! I miss playing DND. I miss the hours of just sitting there and making things up as I go. I miss arguing over whether a plus one sward can chip a dragon's tooth. I miss arguing for hours over firing an arrow blind through a hedge, while aiming solely by sound and gumption, what are the odds of hitting a man sized creature who is flat footed? How heavy is a sopping wet wizard's cloak?  (Think about a wizard with a four strength.) I have the books on the computer now, so I can get more reading done.
Maybe I'll start the wheel of time series.

There are a couple of disturbing thoughts in the news today.
Palestinian children are being taught to kill Israelis. I keep trying not to just take Israel's side in this conflict. It is the politically correct thing to do. Is this a matter of culture shock? is it considered normal in Muslim cultures to teach children to kill? I know this is not the only place it happens. I've heard stories of young men in Africa roaming around on trucks with mounted machine guns taking what and who they want.
First, there is a note about a sex scandal in Saudi Arabia. A prominent young member of a prominent family quite prominently had his driver sexually assault (rape?) his ex in a car. They filmed the whole thing with a phone and passed it around to a bunch of people. They could face the death penalty for taking part in the assault. That is not the most memorable part of the article to me. Part of it mentions that camera phones are baned in the entire country. Regardless of the ban, they are quite popular.
On a lighter note, too many rules make for people not listening to any of the rules.

Alarms
At work we have alarm tests on the first Monday of every month. They have announcements before and after warning you it is coming. It is annoying, but necessary. Whatever you do, don't get caught in the stair well when the alarm goes off. It will blow your ear drums.
A buddy of mine had an alarm put in with motion detectors. They had several false alarms. When the company narrowed it down to a faulty sensor, he found out a spider had gotten into the sealed unit from the factory. The little creature would pass by the lens occasionally and set off the alarm. This anecdote did make me find out some spiders can live for several years without eating.
A friend of mine just sent me an email. Her parents are going through a divorce and she just activated the alarm for the first time in four years or so. (Why have they been paying the alarm bill for four years?)  She went to let the dog out and of course, set off the alarm. The alarm company called expecting a password. No password means a cop will have to come by and look at her ID. Well, that might cost money, so the alarm company calls her mom on her mobile (I hope it is still the same number after four years.) her mom is at a happy hour. I wish I had a little spider in her phone listening to that conversation.

This is good
I've had respect for Israel and for the Israeli special forces most of my life. Every time I've heard about evil people just disappearing, I think first of the Israeli special forces. Sometime in the 80s Israel sent a crew to Spain and killed a member of Hamas who was staying there in the open. That takes guts because Spain naturally got pissed about the whole thing. Israel said something like "They cant' run, they cant hide. We will find them and get them." It was something cool like that anyway.
Well The Israelis don't have a perfect system. It seems they do stupid stuff too. This should show what an awake bureaucrat can accomplish.

Doom 3
I've been saying since before I started a blog that I am not going out buy a new machine until Doom 3 comes out. Now that the day is ny, the luster of the moment is gone. I don't feel the twinge in my trigger finger. I'm just not excited any more. I would like to be excited about it. The moment has past. I've grown away from Doom 3.
They say the new game is creepy and visually stunning. Cool.

The Same
The news sounds the same every day. A bomb blast in Baghdad.  An "ally" pulls out. There were no weapons of mass destruction in the first place.  It all sounds the same these days. How can news from a war be the same every day.  There is no news of the sick children our doctors are helping. There is no news of the financial support puring into the country.  Blah, blah, blah, it's all the same. I suppose interesting is bad in a war.

SNAFU
I found a collection of WWII era cartoons called SNAFU. It is about a goofy guy who screws everything up in the army. They were to teach lessons and make you laugh. They are a bit racist. They are funny. They are informative. These were made sixty plus years ago.
One of hte cartoons was about keeping secrets. One of the secrets they SNAFU doesn't keep very well is about a secret weapon that leaves a big hole on a Japanese island. This cartoon never played because it was too close to the atom bomb attack scheduled to go off later in the year.

Blogger Interface Test
OK. I said I would give the new Blogger interface a shot. Well, here it is. The word "Blogger" was not in the dictionary. No biggy, it has a learn feature. It looks like the spell checker works. It looks like the link thing works too. Bold seems to work. They could use an image link insert. I'm curious how the carriage returns, and blank lines thing works. ... It appears you have to stick in the <br> when you want a line break.

OK. I approve.

Rumor
There is a rumor at my office that we will all have to work from 8 to 5. This may not sound like much. I have been coming in at 6:00 am for years. I've been leaving at 3:00 for about as long. We used to work a 9/80 (every other Friday off). That is the one I miss. The powers that be have been whittling away at the perks of the office.. I'm to the point of not caring. I feel nothing for the office I work at. I feel like it is just a job. I feel like I could leave. I feel like leaving. I feel like I can leave. I feel scared. I feel tired. I feel worn. I feel used.
6% pay cut (permanent.)
No erase last year (on top of the 6% cut)
No 9/80
No chance for advancement.
No chance of getting hired as a direct employee. (no degree)
They keep piling more and more responsibility on me for less money.
I feel like a second class person because of the way I'm treated at the office. I don't really work there. The company believes I and all my kind are expendable. I suppose we are.
What would you do?

Hurt
I hurt.
No career to speak of.
Nothing that begs me  to learn it.
I live in a place that is just a place to live.
I hurt.
My time is short.
All our time is short.
Life is short.
I hurt.
If I live a thousand years will I do better?
A thousand years to help me find my way.
Find myself in one right second.
I hurt.
A healthy life so far.
My health a gift for now.
Time a gift for now.
I hurt.
The Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the Earth, the Water, the Trees.
My Mind, my Body, my Beliefs, my Family, my Friends.
No love.
I hurt.
A weak spirit.
A strong spirit.
It doesn't matter.
I hurt
But it's OK. Life is suffering. The root of all suffering is desire. The only thing I have that calms me is writing my whining down in my blog.

I better stop writing now. I feel like my melancholy mood will not go away by writing. The words just keep coming. The night is young and I find myself wishing I were somewhere in the future, or past. Somewhere along the way to happiness .

Cowards
I'm glad I'm not the only one who is ashamed to call the Philippine people cowards. They are giving into terrorists. This is no way to show the world how to get the Philippine people to do what you want them to. The story doesn't use the word coward, but I do. If the victim being held in Iraq were related to me, I might feel different. But, now, every Tom, Dick and Habeeb will nab a truck driver to get the Philippine government to bend over.

Censorship
I hate it when I have to withhold stuff I would have otherwise put on my blog. I don't want to step on people's toes. I will include only the lesson learned part, and not the experience part to prevent hurt feelings. It gets to me though.

Food in the freezer
I went to a buddy's place sometime last Winter. We had these meat pockets that were pretty god. I think it was Bob Marlie's birthday. Anyway, I ended up taking a sack of the pockets home. It's been like 6 months. I just ate them last night. They were good. I remember putting the cooking instructions in the bag with the pockets. That was a great idea because I would have never remembered 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. I just stumbled across the bag in the freezer lat night while grumbling about having to eat the same thing again. They are a bit heavy on the onions, but good.

100,000 cull in Britain Civil Service
(I wrote this on 2004-07-12)
Yee-gads. hey are going to cut 100,000 jobs in The British Civil Service. Where are the Jobs coming from? The BBC radio keeps saying "Why have we been waisting all this money this long?" And "What is going to suffer?" Man, ouch. The BBC plaid some sound bytes from the announcement. The representatives say "ax the bureaucrats." and "redundant offices to close." How do you tell if an office is redundant?
Of course, there are threats of strike and law suites left and right.

Free Kelly Support (FAQ for FTP client)
The following is an email I sent to a friend who complained about not being able to FTP her photos to her website using HomeSite. If it doesn't work with HomeSite, it probably won't work with DreamWeaver either. Those automatic, built in, do it for you features have trouble working all the time. If you know how to do it yourself, you can save yourself some missed deadlines and allot of headaches.

Go to a command prompt (in XP/2K/NT only).
CD to the folder that has your pictures in it.
Type the following command at the command prompt.
FTP ftp.ftpname.com -i
(Note, the -i keeps it from asking "are you sure" on every file.)
Enter user name
Enter Password
Enter the following at the FTP command prompt.
FTP>help (to see list of commands)
FTP>cd <folder name> (to get to the images folder probably) (You may have to use SD instead of CD, check the help above.)
FTP>help command (to see help on the command (help is lame in FTP))
FTP>bin (to set to binary mode for pictures, MASC command for ASCII mode for HTML or TEXT files)
FTP>mput *.PG (to multiple put the pg files)
<long list of files>
FTP>bye (to end your FTP session)

Or, go to www.download.com, search for "FTP client" and hold on.
There must be twenty five million that are free or shareware. FTP has been around
since 1971. It is almost as old as I am.
Look OK > SmartFTP AceFTP

Gracious Guest
Some one was good enough to point out the spell checker on the new Blogger interface. When I originally made the complaint, Blogger was still using the old interface and I believe it had no spell checker. I never found one. Anyway. I haven't used the new interface to edit anything. I use an HTML editor. I promise I'll give the new interface a shot at some point.

Literary definitions
<Censored>
When some one you are talking with is clearly wrong about something you don't press them right then. That is how fights start. You just nod and send them the correct information later. Adopting an "I'm right and your wrong." attitude is not the way to convince some one of anything (destructive). Look it up and you will both be right. (constructive)

No more knighthoods
It is about time. It has gotten ridiculous. What surprises me is the number of actors who turned the title down. It seems lately they have been tossing these things out like candy.

Rant
I've been informed that my home page looks like shit. I don't really want to fix it. It is a design thing. I'm not a web designer. I don't want it to become any more than what it is. it is a place to stick pictures. I don't care what it looks like.
I got some complements on the look and feel of my blog. I have to give all the design staff at Blogger the credit. I just type in the text and filled in the blanks in a template to get this page the way it looks. I'm going to take the link to my home page off my resume. I apologize if you have any pictures on that ugly site.
I suppose I could have done what every one else in the universe does and used a FrontPage template for my web presents. That would have given it a nice cookie cutter feel. That is what the web is all about, conformity. Forget content. Forget opinion. It is the glitz, animated GIFs, the sounds emitted by the mouse overs that really count.
It was, after all, an experiment to get a web server working on my home network. It is terribly distracting and discouraging when some one says "Man, I like the way your blog looks, but why don't you redo your home page?" When, I never did the blog in the first place. I don't want to put any time in the design of the page. I want to put time in the content of the blog.
I've always been a minimalist. Less is more. Three seconds on my home page and you know where everything is. you know how to get to everything. you don't need any help. There will never be a support call about my home page (that isn't one of my typos or errors)..
I'm not fixing anything or making my home page any more complicated. It is a piece of cake to maintain and I like it that way.

More on the Browser Woes
There is an article talking about questions MS had to answer online about the latest troubles with IE. MS pulled the IE development team out of mothballs. MS is trying to make this in to a sales opp. "Bazillions of people use our product , that's why it's the target of all these attacks." Why is it taking you so long to get the fix out?" "We want to make it right."
losers.. There is an old saying "When you are on top, there is nowhere to go but down." In big business it is more difficult to tread water than to pull every one else around you down. MS has been so good at sky-rocketing above the competition, and absorbing surrounding technology that they have not defined a good path forward. Their strategy is to stay on top, and not to make good products. Every decision they make is tempered by "Will this keep us on top?" MS is not in th business of making software. They are in the business of making money. The products they produce are a by-product of their true intention. The same is true with GM, Ford and GE. It is different with open source. Their goal is to make software. The only way they can compete with MS is to make it free. Do you think they would make it free if they didn't have to?

Spiderman 2
I saw Spiderman 2 today. It is pretty good. I have to admit I didn't like all the glowing reviews. They scared me. It seems like whatever big blockbuster comes out in the middle of the Summer will get wonderful reviews even if it sucks. I like the fact that he falls down and has to walk home during one of his patrols. There is already a list of screwups in the lists. Apparently a scar flips sides of Peter's face. Why would the villain through a car through the window at Peter if Peter is his link to get Spiderman?

Online Spell Checker
I stumbled across www.spellcheck.net. It actually works. It has a good spelchecker, a calculator, units converter, and a bunch of links to other stuff of use. It smells like a class project gone production. I never want any one to tell me they can't find a spelchecker again. I was complaining about Blogger not having a spell check feature. This is one of those tools that will work from MS/Mac/Linux. I like it.

HA!!
Is this an ad for Karry, or against? Thanks to Linda for this one.

AH-HA!!!
Some sick freak was busted driving the wrong way on a one way street. When the cops pulled him over he was naked from the waist down watching child-porn on his laptop. He was driving around using open wireless connections to download this crap. I've been warning people for years that they need to encrypt their signal. Don't run an open connection for this very reason. What makes me sick is he was getting away with this until he took a wrong turn. I wish he had been busted for the download itself. That would have sent a nice message to the circle he runs with.

Resume.Woes
I'm figuring out that sending my resume to a bunch of people to review is a mistake. By the time most people get hold of it and take a moment to actually look at it, I've gotten some good feed-back and have completely rewritten the whole document. The changes the late comers tell me about is a waste of time because the document is no longer the same document..
Every one has a wholly different idea of what a resume should look like. I've gotten the following consistent change from every one who has looked at it. "make it third-person." That is it. Well, I'll do it. However, the other nine million changes are all conflicting. It is funny how four people can give me a suggestion and all four be completely opposite from each other.
"I like it when people put a nice professional picture on resumes. It really makes me want to hire that person."
"We automatically throw out every resume with a picture to avoid discrimination issues."
"Your goal statement is going to scare off potential employers."
"Nice goal statement. That is the hardest step."
"I can't open PDF. Is this a Word document?" (Not the person I want reviewing my technical resume.)
"The "Mr." looks pretentious on your name." (Same person who wanted a picture on the resume.)
"I like the "Mr." in front of your name, that is a great way of telling them your are male [Kelly]." (I think I will superscript it or something.)
A couple of people griped over the fact it was in PDF format. They tried to tell me Word is the industry standard. I've heard stories all over the place about people getting their resumes hijacked and used for other stuff. People changing the name and phone number in the resume and using it for their own. If I do send int in Word format I'm going to at least put a save password on it. That will keep out the riff-raff.

More Browser Trouble
Speaking of browser vulnerabilities, Mozilla has an exploit similar to the IE trouble last week. However, There is already a fix for the Mozilla (and FireFox) programs already available. It took less than 24 hours to publish the fix for Mozilla. MS has still not offered a true fix for IE. The download offered by MS is more of a work around and can actually be accidentally undone by the user if they go playing around in the settings. All this bad press is not helping MS in the browser market.

Contact Lenses
I ware soft contacts. I have astigmatism, but I am fortunate enough to get disposable contacts. I heard there is no difference between long term and short term contacts except the manufacturing method. I've also heard the only difference between 24 hour disposable contacts and 30 day contacts is the amount of insurance the distibutions buy to cover liability. I could be wrong. That may be one of those modern urban legends.
This morning I was at work and wanted to pop my contacts in. I have to tell you first that I used to ware hard contacts. They are like little bits of twenty grit sandpaper in your eye. They hurt all the time. You can't fall asleep in them. Sometimes they pop up behind your eyelid and you feel them crawling around the top of your eye every time you look around. Soft contacts are far more comfortable. Hard contacts were easier to get in and out though. I never had a hard contact just pop out. I've never had a soft contact just disappear until this morning. I put in the left contact. Then I popped in the right contact. I tossed out the old fluid. The right contact was bugging me so I did the same thing I always do and used my finger to rotate it. With astigmatism the contacts have to sit a specific way to work properly. The contacts are misshaped so they rotate (hopefully in the right direction) when you blink. Your eyes kind of zipper shut when you blink. Anyway, this time when I pulled my finger away, the contact went with it. The couple of years I've been using soft contacts, this is the first time that happened. Lesson learned. I was due to swap them out for a new pare anyway.

Your Pictures Online
People keep asking me how I put my stuff on the web. I made my own server and use DynDNS. It is a mess, but I wanted to do it to learn how to make it happen. I'm not interested much in teaching others how to do it. Here is a site called SmugMug that is drag and drop. You have all kinds of settings and it looks snazzy. Use it to put your photos on the web. I do it the way I do it because it is to teach myself how to do it the hard way. It is not for every one.
My buddy Wes has a bunch of his photos on this site. He says it is a piece of cake to use. He has a mix of scans and digital snaps. Cool stuff.

Twelve Step Proof to Love
6 billion people are on Earth at the moment. At least, thats what I heard, somewhere.
3 billion of them are women, roughly.
1 billion are about the right age. 18 to say 45 or so. It's funny that the 18 will never go up. I'm not so sure about the 45.
500 million are healthy. Drug attics, starving, disease, ... I wonder if this number should be much, much smaller. With the international AIDS epidemic, I bet the number is smaller.
250 million are of the right level of looks. Lets face it, I'm week I cannot fool myself into thinking that I  will find just any one attractive. Also, a very pretty woman is out of my league. She would just leave me. =[
20 million are not involved at the moment. These are good catches so far. Healthy, cute, of proper age, that's a formula for success.
40 thousand are in the U. S. The U. S. has about 2% of the world's population. Yet, we use 40% of the worlds energy. I bet that is an old number. I've heard China is about to take over as the fastest growing energy consumer.
2 thousand are in the great state of Texas. I'm guessing 5% of the U. S. population live in Texas. I don't care if that pretty far off. It gets the point across.
1 thousand will eventually be in the same city as I. I don't travel much. Hopefully these women do. Optimistically, about half of the women and I will be in the same city at the same time I suppose.
50 of these near perfect matches I will meet. I don't get out much. I suppose I will only actually run into a precious few of the women who have met the above criteria. I define running into as "hi." ... "hi."
10 women will notice me, and I will notice them. Ah, this is the one that almost counts. This is where our eyes meet. Our breath grows short. The world stops just for us. That is not love. There is more to it.
1 woman and I will fall in love.