Nations of the World

Wacko Warner did a song saying all the nations of the world some time in the late eighties. I heard it at work the other day and wondered how out of date it is. I've wonder many times what percentage of the countries in the world were actually covered. I bet some industrious geek has done the research and published it on a forum or blog someplace. And, I'm too lazy to even google it. I'm just not up to snuff in the geek universe.

I'll just violate copyright law by embedding a YouTube link. It's so much easier this way.

Finally got the glasses

I didn't intend to look like the devil. I was not trying to frown. My god I have a lot of head above my ears.  My goatee is crooked. My chest hair sticks out of the top of my shirt. I really need to not take pictures of myself anymore.

These are bifocals. They are progressive lenses. That means you can't see the line. The cost me $50 including shipping from Zenni. This is the third pare of glasses I've bought from them. So far so good.

Well, I know they do nothing to reduce red-eye. I got the thicker wire frame just for grins this time. I wanted something that would mask the thicker lens. Trouble is, these are not very thick at all. The prescription is strong enough to make my eyes look smaller through the lenses. Things around the edge look a bit fish-eyed. That's normal though.

I think the bifocal brings out the bags under my eyes. What do you think?

Carnage for the destroyer

It does not boggle my mind that movies as bad as "Carnage" can get made. With cheap cameras and workable editing equipment, everybody's a movie-maker nowadays, and amateur flicks like this are getting churned out in basements and backyards across the globe. What boggles my mind is that somebody thought that people who weren't actually involved in the production of "Carnage" would actually want to see it. I cannot say that this is the worst movie ever made; too many homegrown productions are out there, and surely millions of them are this painfully inept. But I can say that "Carnage" is unquestionably among the very worst movies to ever land an official, professional public release. A final thought. I'm told that there are 'at least' some people on the fringe (who visit horror conventions) that actually DO like this movie. This is true. Also, some people think Ashlee Simpson is an accomplished musician, some people think the capital of Canada is Milwaukee, and some people like to drink other people's urine. Good night. IMDB

I'm sorry I waisted my bandwidth on it. I don't even pay that much for my bandwidth.

Podcast Request

Someone needs to come up with a joke podcast. Just recordings of people who know how to tell a joke, tell jokes.

The liberal media gives their podcasts away for free. You have to join up to download conservative media podcasts. What's with that? I end up listening to the liberal crap just because it is there.

It would be great if there were some consistent volume control between podcasts. One is so quiet you have to crank the volume and the next is loud enough to crack your ear drums. This is a problem with all media. No one is doing anything about it. TV channels are pretty darned consistent. Why are other media forms not so?

There are all kinds of people and all kinds of random strange podcasts just lying around the internet. People who have something to say seem to like the medium. Most of them are boring. Most of them are inconsistent. Hell, most of the professional podcasts are inconsistent.

I'll never make a podcast. I can't talk for ten minutes one one subject without breaking into a rant. I guess that would work.

Weekend Summary

I blew off this weekend. There were dozens of things to do.

• Mow
• Weed and feed the entire lawn regardless of if it kills the grass.
  
• Plant a bush That Nat turned up with this pas week.
  
• Kill ants (OK, this one is just for fun)
  
• Clean the garage after the sale a couple of weeks ago.
• Dishes

I didn't do any of them. I feel bad about it, but the honey-dos are still there. I complained to a friend

Hey, it is good to take a weekend and normalize. Especially us fathers and homeowners and family bread winners who work all week. Our wives will lead us to believe we always need to be working on something and fixing this, upgrading that, installing this, going here, worry about this, etc. That drains us and it is good to take a weekend and just blow off the mess!

I did feel energetic this morning. I got good work done. I needed some down time. I needed it and I took it. Now it's off to work the rest of the week.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Death Proof

I love this movie. Find a way to see it. It is made in the tradition of car chaises that literally kick ass. My favorite part is the ending. That is the way it should be with movies.

I may actually ... buy ... the soundtrack. ... Maybe not.

This is definitly a Kelly Movie.

Sunday

And then there was a Sunday. Just sitting there, all full of itself. Pretty sky and warm and all. Just sitting there. Making itself known for no good reason. This Sunday was hoping for something to happen that might make it memorable. This Sunday was hoping for fame. Right now thought, it just waited, picking it's teeth.

I'm typing up a very boring blog entry. Nat is taking a nape. Elle is pretending to play solitaire while watching cartoons. Church is letting out. The grass is growing out of control. The mosquitoes lurk in the cool moist shadows, still and quiet, waiting.

Somewhere, someone is making lunch for their family. Someone teaches a class. Someone is driving a car into a wall. There are several wars all over the world. People are killing and dying for a cause. All I want is some French toast.

Farnsworth

He is the guy who invented the TV. He didn't own one. He wouldn't let his kid watch TV. He, like Jobs and Gates never graduated collage.

Collage teaches you to think inside the box. Any expression outside the box is met with a failing grade and ridicule. Collage is not for everyone.Nor should every one go to collage. Unless, that is, they need to think inside the box.

Pillows at work

So, my chair at work doesn't quite go high enough. I decided to try a pillow as a booster. So, Nat finds me these hideous green pillows. They are god-offal. In the sunshine, they glow ugly. I carried them to work on the bus. I turned heads. I didn't notice any cars slowing down to get a look, but I bet some did. They are that ugly. They are on my chair at work. They do the job. Hey, I don't have to look at them. I don't have to worry about them getting stolen. (No tricks Adam or Jake!)

After the first day I can tell they work.

Videos for this evening

Titled 'board soldier in Iraq

Looks like the stuff board rennies do at night in the camp site.

Tornado up close (Kansas)

I wonder if seeing it coming just makes it worse.

The scariest thing in Afghanistan

This would bring me out of a sound sleep. The kind of waking that is accompanied by a half crazed, dazed blind man jumping to his feet wielding a .45 screaming "Where are they?!?"

Last, and funniest

"Play ... play ... play ... play ... play ... play ... play ... play ... play"

Luciano Pavarotti Passed

This is a drag. Pavarotti died. I think he was the only opera star I recognized by site and voice. You are missed old man.

Very local news

• I'm warring a $5 shirt and $12 pants today. So far so good. Nat found some at Big Lots for me. I have several shirts that I need to retire. I got told I look nice in my $17 outfit. Well done Nat.
  There is a little loop on the left leg. I have no idea what it is for. I'm guessing an umbrella or Maglight. Oh, they are called carpenter pants so Jake and Nat are both correct. It's a for a hammer. Why is it on the left side then?
  
• My fellow employees came in to my office and talked about the $4000 and $7000 new computers they want to get. Some wanted $1500 computers. Their old crappy machines make mine look like a calculator watch.
  
• The key ingredient in peyote is mescaline. I had no idea.
• mmmm Cinnamon Pop-Tarts.
• There is a reason you can't find a well done binary RPM of wxPython. It isn't a lacking in RPM.
• While some of the folks were in my office we heard a vehicle screech to a halt outside. We were all very disappointed in the lack of the satisfying crunch at the end.
  A bit later, I heard a fire truck go through the intersection and get stuck behind traffic. The driver stood on the horn, siren blaring for more than a minute before making it through the light.
  
• Elle is learning that she needs to debate to get what she wants rather than throwing a fit. She is no good at it yet, but it is a young age to catch that particular fact. I fear age sixteen for this reason too.
  
• How does a monkey make toast? ... under the gorilla. (griller)
• Online worlds now have travel agents to help people navigate. Most of it is all about the virtual world called Second Life. What I've seen of Second Life is pretty boring. If I had an infinite amount of free time, I might consider waisting some of it on these worlds. They sound like a place for people to lye about themselves to me.

Doctor's web page

My doctor does not have a web page. My dentist doesn't either. Neither does my eye doctor.  Every other place I spend money has a web page. If not the individual place, the nation wide chain does. Most of the little shops at Faire seem to have their own page. I have several and I don't sell anything. People's cats have web pages. Midas just started up their page and man are they proud of it.

If I want to find out anything about my doctor I have to go to national databases or skip it and go to some place like web MD. I'm trying to think of other entities that do not have pages. I'm coming up blank. Even the plant place has a web page. Where the hell is my doctor?

What other institutions don't have a web page that should?

Trash

Our trash days are Tuesday and Friday. Friday is the heavy pickup. That sucks because the weekend is where most of the heavy stuff comes from so you have to store whatever it is for a week until the heavy day. We get one official can we have to put everything in for the trash to pick it up. There are all kinds of rules for the heavy stuff too.  If anything goes wrong with the can  you call a number and they come fix or replace it. That is kind of nice.

This week we had the Monday holiday. I took the trash can down last night like normal. Only, it is already Tuesday night. I opened the garage this morning and noticed the can sitting out there. "oops" I walk out looking over my shoulder like a dumbass trying not to get caught doing something dumb and put it back in the garage.

I'm a dork.

I'll believe it when I get it installed and working

"AMD has issued a press release announcing 'significant graphics performance and compatibility enhancements' on Linux. AMD will be delivering new ATI Linux drivers this year that offer ATI Radeon HD 2000 series support, AIGLX support (Beryl and Compiz), and major performance improvements. At Phoronix we have been testing these new drivers internally for the past few weeks and have a number of articles looking at this new driver. The ATI 8.41 Linux driver delivers Linux gaming improvements from the R300/400 series and the R500 series. The inaugural Radeon HD 2900XT series support also can be found in the new ATI Linux driver with 'the best price/performance ratio of any high-end graphics card under Linux.' While this new driver cannot be downloaded yet, in their press release AMD also alludes to accelerating efforts with the open-source community." Slashdot

ATI has a history of screwing with open source and Linux then bailing out with a bunch of excuses. Hopefully the new management of AMD will straighten them out for good. I don't even want game performance really. I just want a video driver that doesn't leave things hanging out on the desktop.

Sam's Club

So, I asked for crackers. I like saltines. Nat said she didn't bother getting the big box. They are the exact crackers you get in restaurants. Next time I'll have to be more specific.

I forgot to get a picture of the box with 80 hot dogs in it. The three gallons of bleach for four buck was a pretty good deal. The milk that will be good until January is not so shabby either.

Very Local News

• My dad came through surgery well. It was removal of fatty tumors on his arm and abdomen. He was all goofy on the phone after because of the drugs. Better than being in pain by a damn site.
  
• I took one little Benadryl this afternoon and nearly passed out in front of the computer. It only takes me about twenty minutes to get over the effects if I don't take too much. Still, it did make the day go a bit faster.
  
• I still have heard nothing about my glasses. I'm only a bit over one week in the two week period. I'm going to fire off an email inquiry this evening just to make sure things are still moving.
• The bowling thing is getting serious at work. Nat needs to join up. She likes bowling.
• I'm really getting tired of hip-hop. It isn't the whole genera, it is the songs where the artist brags about how great they are or how bad someone else is, or murder or rape or steeling. I'm just tired of it. I think I've mentioned this before, but it is really getting on my nerves now.
• The only way I can figure out how to get the title of my posts to actually become the title in the Blogger database is to enter the text in the 'title' field at creation time. That kind of sucks because it means I have to create the html in my favorite tool, save it and then enter it in two pieces.
  The only reason this is important to me is so my XML/RSS feed has titles instead of all the lines saying "*** no title***' This blows. There should be a way to make the db just pick up the data from my HTML. No matter how I think of how this could work, it takes effort on my part. BAH!!!

Good idea

It may be something of a teenage nightmare: limits on when a wireless phone can make and receive calls and to whom, restrictions on text messages and talk time, and set allowances for ring tones and other downloads - all at a parent's fingertips. ... Many parents want their children to have access to cell phones for safety reasons, but they don't want them making or receiving non-emergency calls during the school day, chatting away all the shared family-plan minutes or bloating the bill with text messaging charges, Hill said. CNN

Imagine that, give the customers what they want. What a novel concept.

I as a parent demand this kind of control over my kid's phone. Period. I want this kind of control over my own phone to keep myself in line.
Of course there are limitations. It doesn't sound like those will cost me money.

"Kids won't like it all," said 16-year-old Alex Wall, who was shopping for a new phone with his mom at a San Antonio AT&T store last week.

Somehow, I don't think that will make much never mind to parents who are the one's paying for all of it like me. It shouldn't be that long before other cariers step in line.

Monkey Medicine

These folks need to take some notes from the post below. I was just waiting for one of them the get the crap bitten out of them.

The Witch and the Loto

Wicca teacher says he has a winning ticket in Mega Millions ... He and his wife, Denise, were on their way to the shop where he occasionally teaches Wicca and Reiki healing when they stopped at a liquor store and bought two $5 Mega Millions tickets for Friday night's estimated $330 million jackpot. ... Bartlett, an accountant from Dundalk, said he made a bargain with the multiple gods associated with his Wiccan beliefs: "You let me win the lottery and I'll teach." Both tickets he purchased had numbers chosen randomly from the computer. CNN

Harm none.

The article author keeps calling them teachers of Wicca, operators of a new age book store. I haven't found the word witch any ware. This is CNN.

Hat tip Boing Boing.

From Email

How To Give A Cat A Pill 1. Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat's mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth, pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow. 2. Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process. 3. Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away. 4. Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm, holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten. 5. Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe. Call spouse from garden. 6. Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws. Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth Drop pill down ruler and rub cat's throat vigorously. 7. Retrieve cat from curtain rail, get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later. 8. Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw. 9. Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans, drink 1 beer to take taste away. Apply Band-Aid to spouse's forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap. 10. Retrieve cat from neighbor's shed. Get another pill. Open another beer. Place cat in cupboard, and close door on to neck, to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with elastic band. 11. Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges. Drink beer. Fetch bottle of scotch. Pour shot, drink. Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus shot. Apply whiskey compress to cheek to disinfect. Toss back another shot. Throw Tee shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom. 12. Call fire department to retrieve the damn cat from across the road. Apologize to neighbor who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat. Take last pill from foil wrap. 13. Tie the little bastard's front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table, find heavy-duty pruning gloves from shed. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of fillet steak. Be rough about it. Hold head vertically and pour 2 pints of water down throat to wash pill down. 14. Consume remainder of scotch. Get spouse to drive you to the emergency room, sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill remnants from right eye. Call furniture shop on way home to order new table. 15. Arrange for SPCA to collect mutant cat from hell and call local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters. How To Give A Dog A Pill 1. Wrap it in bacon. 2. Toss it in the air.

This is an oldy but a goody. I think some paragraphs have been added since I last read it. I've heard that some dogs are as finicky as cats. They are urban legions though. I bet it is easier to give most cats a shot than a pill. This kind of thing is why I like pet rocks.

But it is funny

With friends like these, who need the Talliban?

YouTube Rights

Here we go. Lawyers are making inroads to force YouTube filter audio that people put in their videos on the site. I know Nat has music in the background of all her videos. Her videos are mostly series of pictures to music. (I usually don't like those slide shows.) Soon, you will have to pay a fee in order to post videos that contain any copyrighted material.

I envision a day when even having someone walk by in a T-shirt with a logo on it requires a payment. I should patent a blank screen and a quiet hiss in the background. I would make a fortune and RIAA would do my fighting for me. there is no such thing as fare use. It is a mystical beast that saved virginal maidens from the jaws of evil dragons. In reality you have to fight a bunch of geeks with briefcases that are far more frightening than dragons. They can take everything you ever held dear and not only make it look like you were the one who did something wrong, but walk away with a fat check in their pocket to boot.

You're just another victim.
Just another victim, kid.

Just another victim.
Just another victim, kid.

Even that quote will cost me one of these days.

Sticky Drug Dealer

A guy was tar and feathered in an Ireland estate (subdivision) this past week. The people there do not trust the cops because they grew up in a situation where people who want to the cops had nothing but bad things happen. The interviewer asked a couple of times "Who actually did this?" The person answer said "The people who live there." The interviewer called it vigilantism. I can understand being fed up with it. One of the big reasons we left the apartment complex was the drug dealer on the corner. He would wait at the bus stop at three in the morning and hock drugs. That was the same bus stop I would stand at later in the morning.

Let me tell you, I like the idea of deputizing every one who is not a felon in a given area and just walking down the street with pitchforks and torches herding the non-belong element elsewhere. Wrong approach, but tempting non the less. It might take a grassroots effort to win the war on drugs.

Since this is my blog I'm throwing in my two cents. I think the people who bought the drugs should suffer the same fate as the dealers. Idiots don't understand that when they spend money on this crap that money might find itself spent on war, terrorism, more drugs, corrupting law enforcement, any number of things that are just plane bad. This story is in Europe where they citizens are terrified of guns in general. Here some nutter is buying drugs so his friendly (murderous) neighborhood drug dealer can go and buy a better gun.

Worry not, I'm all blog and no bite.

Glasses Worry

I had a dream last night that I got my new glasses and they were all messed up. They put the lenses in upside down with the close up bit at the top. They glasses made me look feminine and there was something else too. I don't remember. Can you guess that I'm worried about buying something so personal and long term as a pare of glasses online sight unseen as they say? Well, I am. I just can't afford a pare of glasses bought at my doctor's office. At least this way, I get glasses.

Another example

Yet another video example of a street crossing that is far worse than Westheimer. It goes by basically the same principle as the other video I posted a couple of days ago. There is a bottleneck in the traffic. And people take advantage of the congestion to cross the road. Scary stuff.

Checkpoints

I've heard about checkpoints on roads in the southern US Where the authorities look for illegal  aliens. Then I hear about checkpoints in the middle east that are pretty much looking for any one who they don't like at that moment. People in the US say they feel like the checkpoints do no good. The checkpoints keep moving north and never seem to catch the right people. The law breakers just move off the major roads in to neighborhoods and quiet side streets.

At the checkpoints in the middle east you might be asked religious questions to determine if you are Shiia or Sunni. You might be asked who your parents were to figure out if you have bad blood. You might be asked if you have ever been to Israel. You may be asked your tribe to figure out if you work for a particular militia.  You might very well be drug from your car and shot on the spot. It happens all the time.

Calling them something else doesn't make them any less of a Checkpoint. I believe we should allow cops to have checkpoints on roads and just give every one who passes by a breathalyser test. That is just me.

I've heard that in Israel you have to have your car searched to park in the grocery store parking lot. There may be a blast wall between the parking lot and the store front.

These are thing that just happen as one group of people tries to dominate every one else in the world. I'm surprised (pleasantly) that this sort of thing has not yet happened on a grand scale in the US. I do not know why we do not have weekly car bombs and homicide bombers. I'm not sure it matters that I know. I'm glad my family is that bit more safe. I'm not sure I care that big brother is listening to everything that goes on as long as my family is free to peruse better cable TV and hit the beach on occasion. Or listen to our choice of music just for entertainment.

The real sign of the fall of freedom in the US will come sometime after we need passports (or RFID or national ID cards with RFID) to travel from one state to another. That is the beginning of the end. End of life and freedom as we know it today. this option has already been proposed in one fashion or another. When it is implemented, well, I don't know what to do about it then.

Very Local News

• I had to change the batteries in my $5 radio. It is the first time since I got it for my birthday. That rocks. I've even left it on over night a couple of times. This is probably the last analog radio I'll ever own.
  
• Some folks have started bowling once a week at work. It is kind of cool because I can bowl, kind of. I'm bad at it, but the odds of me killing any one is low. I was on some kind of league in high school. I sucked then. I'm not any better now. I think my highest game in history was 180 or so. I average around 90. I used to have my own ball. Nat likes bowling. She has her own ball. That might be a fun family activity.
• It is nearly the end of the month. We are going to make up a full budget and go over the last couple of months expenses with a fine tooth comb. If we have no money to blow so be it. Nat and I need to stay on top of things better.
• I ordered new glasses. They are progressive bifocals so they will take a couple of weeks. They are thicker wire frames. The frames are black. I nearly got some Blues Brothers glasses, but decided against it. I'm tired of shuffling glasses while working. I still have contacts for Faire and the like.
• I went over to Adam's place for lunch today. We noticed too late that the sour cream we were using on our homemade tacos was ... something beyond sour cream. The rest of the day jokes flew about side effects of eating mature dairy products.
• The power flickered a couple times at work today. Just after lunch the sky turned dark. The lightning was intense. The rain was thick. The drone of the machines almost drown out the rain until it lapped against the windows at the whim of the wind. There was a toad in the lobby of our building that caught the eyes passers by.

Way too many games of quarters

If it is a fake, it is a good one. This guy has plaid way too many games of quarters. That is pretty much amazing. This is why I don't play drinking games. There is always some guy like this who will smoke you any time he wants.

I'm .. I'm a Commodore sixty fooooooooour

I've had days like this. Sometimes I feel like a relic from a by gone era. I had a Commodore 64 back in the day. It was a good machine. I only had a couple of games. I did my first programming in basic on that box. It had one programming tool. 'list' We have come a long way.

Garbage Disposal

Nat fixed the garbage disposal. She called on the warantee and found out how to fix it. I just turned the wrench. She got an Allen wrench with the name of the company on it in the mail. We didn't wait that long. I used one of my own Allen wrenches. Now we have a functioning garbage disposal again. Yay us.

Feeling God

I heard a story on NPR about Mother Teressa. She had several decades where she just didn't feel the presence of God. She stuck to her guns. She till believed. She just didn't feel it. There are times I just don't feel it. I go through the motions and do the next thing. Mother Teressa did all her hard work for so long caring for the poor, teaching people faith.

I've been preying all day for help with our marriage, finances parenthood, the whole bit. I go over it in my head and I have irrational fears of loosing the house, car, we can't go to faire. I want to give up and spend my last dollar on lottery tickets. I pray some more. I ask God for strength. Then I get to work and do the next thing. I do my time sheet. I pray again. No overtime.

I started to say a prayer for Mother Teressa, and just as the thoughts leave my mind, I get the over whelming feeling "Don't worry about Mother Teressa."  ... Well, OK. Felt a little God there.

I have always had a great relationship with God. I asked a long time ago for God to interfere in my life on purpose. And, I think God has done so. I have had things happen to me where that same feeling or inner voice bubbles up and tels me what to do. That is great. I attributed it to God. Talk to God all the time. I believe in God whole heatedly. I do not believe in religion. I have a theory, and a blog to put that theory on. so, here goes.

Learn everything you can about all religions. find out things about dead religions. don't pay any attention to how old, or how many people each religion touts. Talk to people who ware thick glasses and find out what they think. Then don't listen to them. Talk to your friends. Then, don't listen to them. Talk to your family, then ignore what they say. Wonder in the darkness. Wonder in the light. Have a cup of coffee. Watch some cartoons. Thank God for all of it. Then, go do some chores. come back and think about it. Then, don't listen to what you say. Sleep on it.

When you get up the next day try Buddhism. I've like Buddhism this week because it allows you to take part in other religions as long as they are not violent (so much for Islam-supremacist folks) and no one gets in trouble. I like that because you can basically show up to all the family stuff and chant the party line to your parents, go to your girlfriend's place and put up with her Witch friends. Then tell your friends you are an Atheist. You can say you are a Buddhist on forms. I call this pollybullshitism.

Again, I do not believe in religion. I believe in God. I know God. I believe that religion was originally designed as a way to control people on mass. In post caveman days One only had contact with people other than your neighbors when one went to church. That may have been an entire life. Let's cover the basic commandments for most religions, shall we.

• Don't kill people (except in specific situations)
• Don't dittle other folks wives/husbands.
• Don't listen to other religions. (self serving)
• Don't eat [insert food type here] because it is unclean.

These are all things that stir up shit amongst small communities. There are few commandments against war or polluting or using up natural resources too quickly yadda yadda.

Today I like religions that teach. Teach what? Well, I have no idea. I like learning is all. I think the Matrix is about as likely to be "right" as any registered religion. I don't like reincarnation because I do not want to come back once I'm done. I wonder sometimes if I'm really some alien who paid to come to this planet as some kind of vacation. I want my money back. Reminds me of an episode of Red Dwarf.

What is the answer? Well, faith is the answer. I believe that people need something to believe in. I know I need something like that. If you question your faith then there is not much faith there. There is nothing permanent in this world. All things will eventually come to an end. The universe itself will go poof one day. I believe that God is still there. I would ask that we be there too, queuing for the bus to get to the next universe.

And I thought Westheimer was bad

I must stop complainging about crossing Westheimer.

I have to say that these guys do have balls. I've heard about some of the crazy rules in the middle east for roads. I have only one question after watching the video. Why did they bother painting lines on the road? I suppose cleaning up the bodies is cheaper than electricity for the traffic lights but come on.

The walk across the street is slow and deliberate. The cars are slowed by the natural bottle neck of the road. The people continue across the street at a steady pase and let the cars and bikes (and buses) maneuver around them. That is one plan. So is spraying the oncoming traffic with a machine gun and diving for cover.

The real thing

I've only seen one humvee in my life. It was on display at a car show. It was the official military version. It had canvas doors. I'm so very glad the one's in Iraq have some armor now. I have too many friends over there defending my freedom to be complacent.

Be warned there is strong language. They did almost just get blown up after all.

My new place

Well, I've been saying for years (just ask Nat and prepare for her eyes to roll) that I want to live in a water tower like the Animaniacs. Well, it's been done. I'm sure more than just this one time. No elevator though. That is, if you don't count repelling down the side. I would prefer to use one of those modern water towers that looks like the Jolly Green Giant should walk up and hit it with a golf club.

Another dream destroyed by the internet.

Jackie and a big gun

This is what every one things will happen the first time they fire a big gun. My mother is small and can bust a cap with the best of them. I really should have stuck around at this party. I just wasn't up to it.

The video is of my friends Jacky and Chris. The Desert Eagle blongs to a mutual friend.

Wine Sucks

Wine 0.9.44 Released Posted by kdawson on Saturday August 25, @05:21AM from the in-old-bottles dept. jshriverWVU writes to let us know about the release of Wine 0.9.44. Wine is a free implementation of Windows on Unix/Linux. New in this release are: better heuristics for making windows managed; automatic detection of timezone parameters; improvements to the built-in WordPad; better signatures support in crypt32; still more gdiplus functions; and of course lots of bug fixes. SlashDot

The fact that this kind of minor tweak makes news tells me that Wine sucks. I of course know that Wine sucks from personal and professional experience. To date, I have only gotten one program to work in Wine. That program was a key-generator that basically had the functionality of a lookup table.

Lights vs Batman

I had a nightmare last night. Let me tell you what kind of night mares I have these days.

I'm in a hall way in a public building and I have to go to the bathroom. There are no labels anywhere that I can tell from a distance so I hang out waiting from someone to come by so I can tell which door they go in. I try my best to look impatient so it looks like I'm waiting for someone to come out of the bathroom.This is something I've learned to do as a legally blind person. Now I'm doing it in my dreams. The nightmare part comes when every one going in the two doors all look just androgynous enough that I can't be sure if it is a man or a woman. So, I'm standing there looking at people walking in and out of the bathrooms. I'm worried that I look like a pervert. Then the alarm went off. I really did have to pee.

Well, that's not the end of the story. We had a meeting in the office today, The usual stuff. I had used the men's room earlier the morning. Nothing to report there. Then, After the meeting there is a rush, so I give it twenty minutes or so. I walked in the men's room and realized something was dreadfully wrong. I was several steps in the room and things didn't look right. I slammed to a halt and said "AAAA!!!" in my head. Just as I was about to turn and dive back out the door, I realized something. They fixed the lights.

The  new thing was the fact that I could see everything clearly and brightly. The lights in the men's room have been at half mast since I've worked here. It was kind of a mood setting thing that wasn't so bad. Guys don't care how well they can see stuff in the bathroom. Just look at our aim. It was getting to the point people could see what they were doing thought. Something needed to be done.

I had just watched an episode of Batman the Animated Series last night where Scarecrow found people's worst fears and exploited them. One man feared death. Another man feared spiders. Batman feared his father saying he was a disgrace or a disappointment to the family. I pondered what my worse fear was. I couldn't really come up with anything at the time. Now, I know.

My Scarecrow illusion would be a mile long hall full of doors to lady's rooms with women walking in and out of doors. There is one men's room .. somewhere. I really got to go and I can't ask for directions, because I'm a guy.

Poor Nat caught the brunt of this fear of mine at Wal-Mart a couple of weeks ago. She pointed out which bathroom was the men's room while I was walking up to the door. I gave her a bunch of crap about it and I'm sorry. I didn't realize what and affect this had on me.

Glasses

I've decided I need bifocals again. I'm constantly flipping glasses around at work. When I ware contacts I still need to use glasses for up close and computer stuff. It is getting annoying. I do not really have a prescription for bifocals right now. I'm going to look at my old glasses and figure out what numbers I need to put down.

Contacts are annoying and expensive. I can see a little bit better with contacts. That only lasts for a while. After waring them for a couple of hours they start getting dry or out of focus. They get on my nerves. They are a real hassle at Faire. You can't wash your ands properly and the dust is like a plague. Sometimes the smoke hangs in the air and just stifles life. I wish I had some satellite views of the cloud that camp ground must generate some evenings. That and if something happens in the middle of the night, and it does on occasion out there, you don't have your contacts in to bludgeon the correct person in the dark. I would probably still ware contacts in the park if I'm in costume.

For day to day living I think bifocal glasses work just a bit better as long as I have peripheral vision and the bifocal part is not so strong that it makes me trip over stuff. I've worn bifocals most of my life. I had a kid call me four-eyes in middle school and I corrected him "It's six-eyes Stupid." No one was impressed.

I looked at some frames and I noticed I like the thicker frames these days. Not hugely thick. Just more than wire. I'm in to black as a color option. I hope the lenses are not too crazy thick. That fact will keep me from buying too large a diameter lens. It will affect how much I ware the glasses too. I'm vane, I admit it.

Today's Distractions

• I'm listening to football (soccer) podcasts. I'm starting to remember names of teams and players.
• China
  
• The U. S. sub-prime trouble is nothing compared to the teetering juggernaut that will bring the world financial markets to their knees when China has something happen in it's market. They just don't have the backups that the other markets have. It may be a fortunate thing that China does not allow foreign investors to directly invest in their market.
• China keeps their currency artificially low. Other countries are going to retaliate. I'm convinced this is why the U. S. has let the dollar plummet.
• With all the recalls, the get rich quick free market in China could topple at any moment. Perception is not everything, but it is a lot.
  
• The Israelis prepare as I type for ware with Iran. The fallout shelter business is ... skyrocketing. I talk to people here in the States and no one seems concerned in the least about Iran having Nuclear weapons. Oh, they pay it a bit of lib service when prompted, but they are busy bullshitting about the weather to be bothered otherwise. I'm terrified. I believe it is a rational fear.
  
• The U. S. military has said the U. S. does not have sufficient ground forces to handle the challenges of the current world stage. In other words, They want more troops and more equipment.
• I'm getting to the point where I do not listen to anything any one famous has to say.
• Egypt is 9% Coptic Christin. Who knew?
  
• More people keep guns in their homes in Switzerland than in the U. S.. I wonder if the Air force park their jets in th back yard. It is all due to the mandatory military service. This is all going to change due to liberal shifts in the government. That's good news for potential attackers.
  The suicide rate is higher in the U. S. though.
  
• NPR had a story about air travel. All I can say is that I'm glad I have nowhere to go. I'm also glad I do not work in the industry. It is just plane too cut-throat. I blame deregulation. Just because I can.
  
• Employees get pay cuts every couple of years.
• Worse pensions ever
• Poor management (make themselves rich while stepping on the other employees)
• Passengers know 30% of flights are at least an hour late. They come in looking for a fight.
• Flights are way over scheduled (more tickets sold than seats)
  
• Planes get stuck on the tarmac for hours passengers and can't leave. Then get arrested if they protest.
  
• The system of traffic control is from the fifties. Spotty coverage and no one uses GPS to its potential. The hub and spoke system just doesn't work any more.
  
• I was hungry pretty much all day today. I had a fair lunch. Nat got me some of those room temperature dinner things. I noticed, they are good, but have small portions. I blame the one serving per container rules that came in several years ago. I had three sodas, two bags of potato chips. I also had six Oreos. Now that I think of it, there is no wonder I'm still hungry at the end of the day.
• Three billion fags a month in in Great Briton. That's a lot.
  
• MySpace, Face Book, et al - They may have to come up with a way to verify people's age. I can't wait to find out how they intend to do that without alienating half the people on the page. I have several friends without credit cards. The Texas ID database is not online and I don't think any one wants it online. Even if I plug a biometric scanner in to my computer, how do go online from school or elsewhere unless every computer has a scanner.
• Alternate titles for this post It scares me how much I will agonize over the title of some posts. This one was nothing.
  
• Very Local News - Well, it is mostly about non local stuff.
• Random Crap - Too Generic.
• Random and Local News - Bumpy somehow.
• Miscellaneous facts - Well, most of them are not facts. Nor, are they miscellaneous for the most part.
• Leftover Topics - The truth, but no zing.
• Things I'm Too Lazy to Write About - Nearly went with this one.

BMX

I never got to experience the coming of age of getting a car and driving away. I did have a bike. The one that I had that mattered was a Mongoose. I also had a Fuji. They both had mag wheels. I'm so glad no one uses the mag style of wheels any more. I never liked them. Spokes work better. However, The Fuji had seven spoke mags. Nobody had seven spoke mags but me.

I road my bike all over the place.I did find some freedom at least in my home area of Quail Vally. That was on the street. The real fun was off road. There are a bunch of canals running that area. Lantern Lane had a huge open area behind it. It is all a park now and surrounded by houses. It was a cool no-adult-land for years. A lot of people road motorcycles out there. Some drove 4x4 vehicles around. Wait a minute, I drove my Mom's old Jeep out there once. Before that, I road the wheels off my bike.

My neck of the woods seems so small on Google maps. This was my turf. I lived in this area. I road my bike up and down that bayou at least a million times. I shot off pellet guns. I talked a kid out of hitting a bullet with a hammer there. I crawled under the street through the storm suer. I snuck around like a ninja at night. I walked around by flashlight. I biked around that rough ground and crossed the smelly water when the level was low. I hunted turtles and fished. I sat and wondered. I took pictures. Then lost them. They are in a shoe box somewhere.

Then I grew up. I don't ride bikes much any more. I'm tempted to run around my current neighborhood. I'm not sure I ever will. The world is crewel in many ways. It is good too. I've moved on to different things. Those are good things.

Cloud Spotting

I watched a thunder head roll past our building for a moment today. It reminded me of when I was a kid watching clouds while laying on the ground. I was head to head with a couple of other kids. I don't remember who. We were in sort of a star pattern so we had different prospectives on the which way was up for the drawings that floated by in the form of clouds. I remember a perfect wolf's head and a Star Trek Enterprise. I remember angles and plenty of sailing ships. There were things you had to squint a bit to make out and things that leaped from the sky.

I remember doing this again when at the pool. There was a ten minute period out of every hour or two where life guards had to take a break. Every one under the age of eighteen had to get out of the water and let the guards go smoke a J in the guard room. Sometimes I would take the time to look up and daydream about nothing. My God, I used to waist hours of every Summer's day at the pool. There were times I would have the water to myself. I'd swim laps under the water with no sound other than my own heart and the rush of water past my ears. The blank bottom of the pool would act like a clear blue sky. it was the best when the waves of the water would cause ripples of light chaotically across the bottom of the pool. Those were the best times to go swimming.

On rainy days I made things appear from the drops of water running down the window. I still make images out of the stains in the carpet. To this day, if I can find one, I can lay in an empty room and relax as images and sound poor in from nowhere to fill the void. My mind makes up the difference. My mind just makes up as it goes. I can understand how people go nuts after staying in solitary for even a short time. I would not make it very long. I'd cluck like a chicken in a couple of hours.

That thunder head I watched for just a moment today brought all kinds of memories of Summer days spent doing thing I probably shouldn't have done while cooped up inside my parent's home with nothing better to do. I think the internet and video games are a great way of stifling people's creativity, but they might be good ways to prevent people from just going out (or staying in) and getting in trouble. I suppose there is good and bad on both sides.

The thunder head was about a mile away. Between it and I was sunshine. The shadow of the cloud was dark. I, up on the sixth floor, could almost feel the sunshine. This is one of those times it's good to stop and smell the roses. Oh, well. Back to packaging Linux software. Oh, the cloud is gone.

Austin

I forgot how much I like Austin. I took time to walk around in a neighborhood. I wasn't in a very good mood and yet I enjoyed the walk. It was hot, but not stifling. It was sunny, but the sky was blue. The grass was green. I was not the only person walking on the sidewalk. There were sidewalks. People were using the bicycle lanes. There were still asshole drivers passing in a no passing lanes,  but there was a sidewalk so I was not really in danger. The bicycle lane was wide enough to allow the bicyclist mother stay outside her daughter who was next to the curb and still allow room for said asshole to zoom by without causing a pedestrian pile up. There are hills. I miss hills. I've never lived where there are hills, but I miss them for some reason. There are not as many trees as Houston, but the many trees that are there are healthy and don't look like drown rats. Austin was not built on a swamp. The dirt is dirt and not pollution reinforced smelly muck. People stopped at the stop signs for the most part.

I need to find a job in Austin. I need to get Holly to move the company to Austin or somewhere in the Hill Country of Texas. That shouldn't be that hard. Even the folks from other areas agree Austin is better than Houston on the vast majority of fronts. I wonder if we can move TRF closer to Austin. Bah! There are plenty of fairs out that way already. I'd like to know the results of a real "let's move the company" vote.

Homeless folks where I live

I walked past a homeless guy on the way to the bus stop this morning. He was sitting on the side of the road. I'm not 100% sure he was homeless. Just a feeling. A few months ago, a woman sat at the end of our sidewalk for a while. She looked like she was under a lot of stress. I believe she was waiting for a ride. She was gone when I looked out the window later. There is a guy who walks up the same strip I walk up who gathers aluminum in a bag. I feel bad. I feel like a jerk not giving them something. I wish I could help. I'm broke. It is all I can do to keep the roof over my family's head. I would love to hear some of their stories. Then again, I may not like it.

I suppose the homeless people hang out near my home for the same reason the racers and Smoke and Toke are in the area. Lack of law enforcement. I wish I knew then what I know now about the no-man's-land my family and I inhabit. I might have actually thought about where we were going to live.

Bad weekend

I just had a really terrible weekend. Every one around me tried to make it better. I refused to listen. So, what's wrong.

• I'm not good at my job. I'm afraid I'm going to get fired for stupidity. The thing is, I'm normal. Every one else there is a genius.
• If I do get canned, my only option for the moment is to go back where I used to work. it is a good place full of normal people like myself where I can shine. I'm not sure they want me. I know it is a different place than it used to be. I hear it is going to get bought out by a company that I do not really want to work for.
• I'm broke. I'm slipping down the steep slide of brokenness. The day will come when someone shows up to the house and takes it away.
• I'm no fun any more. I was never a lot of fun. Now I'm even less because of all the other stuff.

I'm sure I could come up with some other gripes. I'll spare my readers.

Nat and I went to a friend's house warming. We took a bottle of wine that we have not been able to drink only because it is too big to fit in our refrigerator. It is the kind that needs to be chilled once opened. The bottle is like half a miter tall so it would not fit without moving shelves around. I hope they liked it.

We pile in the car and head to Austin. I'm already being a jerk because I have no idea how I'm going to pay for gas. We get to the house after my wining about everything. Nat, understandably fed up with me, heads in and I take off for a walk to nowhere. I'm grumbling about being broke and wanting to jump in front of a bus. I wonder around for an hour or so until I have to pee and head back to the house. There was nowhere to take a leak. There are not as many fences in Austin as Houston. I could have gone behind a building I suppose.

When I got back to the lovely home of our friend's I basically moped around and then went to bed. We crashed there. I woke up around 11:00 and wondered outside. I got in the car and listened to a little hand held radio for a while. I have to say, Austin radio is much better than Houston. I stumbled on to a song by the Plain White T's. It was about a guy in love with a girl and how he will pay the bills with the guitar he is playing. It brought a tear to my eyes.

Then I kept flipping and came across A Prairie Home Companion show. They were talking about Summer and fresh sweet corn all smothered in butter and salt. That is the stuff man. I nearly balled. I think I've only had fresh sweet corn once in my life. It was just that good.

I was still a jerk the way home. As much as I gripe about this house, I felt miles better walking in the door. Elle is over at my parent's this evening. I ended up putting $24 worth of gas on the frigging card. When I got home MySpace pulled the same authentication crap where they make me log in fifteen times before I can look at my page. Centerpoint Energy doesn't understand that they have locked me out of my account so I have to call them tomorrow and explain that I need my password reset and stop asking me bullshit questions that I never gave them the answers too in the first place. I busted my hump trying to get things done at work, but it doesn't look very impressive on paper.

Tomorrow is another day. I'm about to go crash under our new ceiling fan that my dad put up. Now that I know how to do it, I'm going to give it a try in the other two bedrooms. Hell, I may put some up in the garage one day. I may put up some real lights out there too. We shall see.

With all this being broke business, I have no idea how Faire is going to go this year. It is going to go. I want to be there. I don't care if our friends can make it or not. I want Nat and I to have as much fun as we can. One of these days I'll figure the money thing out. Maybe. Maybe not. I need to figure out the whole life thing all at once really. There is more to it than money.

Morning

The frigging weather screwup said there was an 80% chance of rain this morning. I asked Nat for a ride the previous evening and set my alarm for 7:30. Normally i get up at 6:00 if I'm walking.

The alarm went off and the first thing I noticed was the crystal blue sky and zero clouds. Well, the sky had some of those wispy feathery things floating around. I jumped in the shower. I felt good. It was a good morning. When I walked out to the living room I kissed Nat. I walked back to Elle's room and got her up. I took her to the living room where, still asleep, she started wining, crawled behind a chair, curled up in a ball and tried to go back to sleep.

Long story short, Elle made the ride to my work in her night cloths. it was a beautiful morning. It wasn't even all that hot. The only thing that I was worried about was the wreck that the news said was on Walnut Bend. That is the street my work is on. By the time we got there, everything was all cleared up. I'm not sure how effective it is to have those traffic reports on TV, unless you have a TV in your car. that is a bad thing though.

Despite the late start, Nat still got me to work on time. She is a miracle worker.

Rain

I planted a tree today.

I sunk a shovel into the ground.

I broke the grass.

I pulled the tree out of the pot.

Where is the rain they promised. I suppose I should be careful what I wish for. I suppose the world goes round with or without one tree in my back yard. There is one more tree to plant. I'll do it tomorrow if it is not raining too hard. We have a storm on the way. We need the rain. Not too much though.

Vacation Days

UK complains about 20(28) days vacation a year. They are fighting to get 28 days. Some folks in Germany get 45 days. I get ten. This frigging pisses me off. I'm sick of killing myself to break even. We need a revolution of the workers in the country. I want more time with my family that is not between work and more work. What is the point of life if I have to work 24/7? Too bad I don't have the time to start a revolution.

Denmark: 39.5 (days off a year);  Austria: 38;  Sweden: 36;  Slovakia: 35;  Luxembourg: 35;  France: 35;  Germany: 34-39;  Portugal: 34;  Czech: Republic 33;  Slovenia: 33;  Italy: 32;  Spain: 32;  Greece: 32;  Poland: 31;  Finland: 31;  Bulgaria: 31;  Belgium: 30;  Hungary: 30;  Romania: 30;  Ireland: 29;  Netherlands: 28-29; and  UK: 28. ... The UK may be at the bottom of the EU league table, but it is still well ahead of many other nations; in Canada and Japan, workers are guaranteed only 10 days of paid leave per year while the USA does not have any legal minimum for paid leave. Workplacelaw.net

What a bunch of babies. Denmark gets 40 days a year and they get to smoke dope and they got legal hookers. ... What am I waiting for? How hard can it be to get Danish citizenship? Oh, wait, that's the Netherlands. Frigging U. S. schools. OK, 28/29 days. Not too shabby.

The falling Dollar

I listen to BBC and a few others on a daily basis. I hear nothing about the sub-prime loan financial debacle going on in the U. S. right now on U. S. media. It is every other story on BBC financial radio shows. It really sounds like the rest of the world is pissed at us for letting our curacy fall. We bitch at China for keeping their value low. We appear to do the same thing.

NPR has covered it a bit. Basically, the FED says "You buttered your bread with bad loans. Now you can choke them." There will be no bail out. If people take stupid risks and there are no bad consequences, they will make the bad decisions again. Tough love. Both barrels.

Ginger Nut

I had no idea red-heads were so discriminated against in England. It is no wonder the red-headed status of the Weasley family made such a huge difference in the Harry Potter books. I wish I knew about the treatment of my follicly brethren before finishing the entire series. It would have made the incessant harassment of the kids make more sense.

There is a movement in England to make it the same level of 'wrong' to use hair color as a slur as it is for a racial slur. They keep talking about banning words like n**** and bitch. Are they going to ban ginger or ginger nut? The sane voices that say the sentiment is what needs to go are left in the cold. How do you ban an idea? If you figure that out, start with Jihad, please.

Written 2007-08-13 (sorry)

What she said

I have a friend who went hang gliding in Houston. Actually on Lake Houston. It sounds much more fun in her words.

You go out on a boat with a big kite on the back.  Once you get to the open are of the lake, you get into a harness on the hang glider along with the instructor (it’s tandem).  The boat hauls ass, you go up high.  Once at the right altitude (or when the boat has to turn), the cord is cut loose and a little parachute comes out of it so it stays in the air while the wench hauls it back in.  And we’re free flying.   1600-2100 feet in the air. In about 20 minutes, gravity bring you back down. The kite has pontoon on the side, so it stays out of the water along with our arms & head, but the rest of your body goes in the water & you hang out until the boat comes around to pick you up. Anna Banana

Now, that sounds like a ball. I put a bug in her ear about figuring out a way to video the next time she goes.

Very Local News

• I got out of the shower this morning and looked in the mirror while stroking the go-tee that I intend to grow back. I realized, I had just shaved it off without even thinking about it.
• I missed a really cool party this weekend because I wasn't feeling well. My back hurt and I felt ill from weed-eating earlier in the day. Nat took me home after an hour. She has a bunch of cool stories. I missed a hell of a party. I need to stop doing that.
  
• I want to shoot and publish more videos. It is fun.
• The magic of mowing my own lawn is gone.

Elle's name

Elle says her name. I'm a sucker for this cute kid stuff. I'm a parent. =]

Dems play catchup

Democrats Say Leaving Iraq May Take Years Even as they call for an end to the war and pledge to bring the troops home, the Democratic presidential candidates are setting out positions that could leave the United States engaged in Iraq for years.John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator, would keep troops in the region to intervene in an Iraqi genocide and be prepared for military action if violence spills into other countries. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York would leave residual forces to fight terrorism and to stabilize the Kurdish region in the north. And Senator Barack Obama of Illinois would leave a military presence of as-yet unspecified size in Iraq to provide security for American personnel, fight terrorism and train Iraqis. New York Times

So leave a token force that has no real influence over the things that happen in the area. Then, when that force is eventually attacked and overwhelmed because it is inadequate, bail for real. Dems want to soften the blow of abandonment. They want to be kicked out of Iraq by a bunch of armed ex-farmer thugs and yet make it look like they had planned it all along. They want it all to just go away without actually accomplishing anything in the process.

Cowards. The lot.

I still want one

I still like the whole idea of people carrying around cheap notebooks, networking with people around you.

It all sounds so Utopian. On second thought, I'm not that happy about giving my bandwidth away. Besides, it does look goofy. That strategy works for me. Not that you couldn't use a can of spray paint to customize it. The notebook uses flash for a drive. That technology is going crazy right now. I wonder if we will all have flash drives in our computers soon. I wonder if they could make it use a regular OS.

Looks pretty good to me

This video looks pretty good to me. I'm not expert. I would love it if aliens were real. I would love it if they had an agenda. Something interesting to make people remember they are just harry bags of salty water.

Written Friday 2007-08-10

Lunch Conversation

Nat came up to work for lunch.

• Restaurants from home towns. They were all chains that just weren't here in Houston.
• Comics books and action figure or doll preference as a child.
• Even being full may not satisfy the psychological need for a particular type of food. Sometimes even a good food will not satisfy if it wasn't what you were hungry for in the first place.
• I had to ask Shawn, a guy I work with, his name. I just couldn't remember it. This lead to a discussion from Nat how horrible I am at names.
• How we named Merlin, our cat. Oh, and his story.
• The Spoons came up along with a couple of other band names.
  

Lottery

What does the do for us? Where does the money go? Who pays it?

I think the lottery in just about any form is a tax on stupidity. I didn't come up with that. I heard someone else say it a million years ago. I've played the Texas Lottery. I needed something to hope for at the time. I've never won so much as a dollar. I've gotten $10 or so from scratch off tickets, but I'm sure more money has gone out than come in. I've not bought scratch off tickets, but people around me do occasionally.

Mark Twain I believe was the one who said "The fastest way to double your money is to fold it in half and stick it back in your pocket." I like that one. I need to live my life by it.

Home Conversation

The other night Nat said to Elle, clad only in her underwear, "Where are your pants?!?" I'm not sure if she ever got a straight answer, but it came down to Elle needed to change. That lead to a discussion about toilet habits. Which lead to a conversation about washing cloths. Which lead to the rules changing a bit. Which lead to a crying fit. Which lead to Elle getting grounded, or maybe not. I lost track somewhere in the middle.

Elle is getting to the point where she talks back. She is four going on sixteen. We have kept Elle at home more in order to prevent this sort of thing. I've noticed Elle is much more attentive when we have these discussions with her these days. I have also noticed she no longer just falls down and shouts every grandparent name she has ever heard while crying and refusing to listen. this policy is paying off for us. I'm glad the grandparents are understanding.

I wish Ted (Elle's father) had more time with her. He is off defending our country in Iraq at the moment. I'm glad Ted's dad keeps the memories fresh, but it just isn't the same thing by a long shot. It is very important to me that Ted remain a solid part of her life.

Parking Garage Crowd

I've blogged that I walk around the parking garage during lunch sometimes. Well, it is getting crowded out there. It turns out that several people hang out in the garage during lunch. I've noticed a couple of people sitting in their cars and soaking, eating, talking on the phone and God knows what else. It mostly happens on the sixth floor. That is the highest and most empty floor below the roof. It gets toasty up on the roof. Normally, there is no one on the roof. I pace back and forth talking to Nat on the phone or grumbling about my problems to ... nobody. Lately, there has been a work crew up there painting the place. Someone fixed the light fixtures too. The place could use a coat of paint. Don't get me wrong. I just want a fortress of solitude where I can abandon the world and not be the guy who has to talk to people. That guy is high maintenance.

I knew it

Arafat Was Gay, Died of AIDS!

Which will be the MSM outlet to break this?

Good Idea

"Amazon recently closed a Series A financing deal with Amiestreet.com, a startup selling DRM-free MP3s with a demand-based pricing model. All music starts out free, and prices increase for popular tracks. Jeff Blackburn, Senior Vice President for Business Development, Amazon.com. 'The idea of having customers directly influence the price of songs is an interesting and novel approach to selling digital music.' What does this mean for Amazon's own intentions to sell music?" Slashdot

Finally, someone came up with a good idea. I like this one. I hope it catches on. This is a feedback pricing structure. Obscure tracks will be inexpensive and those crap songs that every one has to have right now because their anorexic friend told them to will cost a fortune. It is a natural progressive loop that will force the guns and butter balance of the music continuum. That and it just makes sense.

I wrote this day before yesterday. I completely forgot to publish it. I think some of it is redundant. Anyway, enjoy.

Elle's computer

Nat and I got Elle's computer up and running. It took me a couple of tries to get the OS working. It is stressful, how much of a pain in the butt Windows is to set up off a network. I much prefer Linux, though it uses the net for the install as well. We have not plugged it in to a network until we are comfortable that Elle will not have Internet access without our direct oversight. All the little games and educational programs that we have found use the software as a way to access online content. Some of the software will not work at all until the web is accessible. What a pain.

it is amazing how quickly she took to it. She stood over my shoulder, not easy at three foot and change, for the whole time I was trying to assemble and install the system. She hopped on and didn't look back. She needed some help getting some things started. We had to hunt down a set of headphones. Elle still hasn't grasped the idea of closing programs before removing the CD. We have time to work on it.

Nat says "Great. Now I have to computer addicts." We think it is is highly advantageous for Elle to have experience getting things done on computers. Lets face it, she is going to have to do it for the rest of her life. School is thick with computers these days. Everything is MS. I think the school system could do better and much cheaper than that. I'm not the one in charge.

I think Natalie was as excited as Elle to get the computer up. Nat put pictures on the box and goodness knows what else. I went to bed at midnight and Nat was still setting things up with Elle. I know it was a bit late, but Elle wouldn't have slept any way. I can't wait to find out what Elle has learned.

I'm impressed

This is an emergency landing. I don't know the details. Just having plaid around with video games I know this is being made to look easy. That road looks like a bare patch of grass from altitude. I'm sure the pilot had a lot of experience.

Raw Footage

This is some raw footage someone shot apparently from the bridge that was not far away from the one that collapsed. It was parallel. I heard today that the bridge the fell was designed to handle two lanes of traffic in each direction. It had been repainted with four lanes of traffic in each direction. A stress engineer was asked bout the poor design and corrected the interview that the bridge was only designed to handle half the weight and number of cars that hit it daily for the past twenty or so years.

Monday

I spent the whole day updating my computer at work. I got a web update done. I got a few other small things knocked of my to-do list. The rest of the day was bringing the machine from EL4 to EL5. I'm left with a machine that will not run some system configuration programs and won't use both monitors properly.

I just tried to get a piece of software working on Elle's computer. It didn't work because the software insists on downloading prerequisite from the internet. It has gotten to the point that no one distributes things like DirectX or the DB drivers from Microsoft any more. I still prefer the YUM model if you insist on downloading your updates. At least, I can download an entire repository for YUM and take it off line.

I'm more evil than this

You Are 54% Evil You are evil, but you haven't yet mastered the dark side. Fear not though - you are on your way to world domination. How Evil Are You?

I've been slacking. I need to pick up the pace. Any suggestions?

Slackers

All of Jennifer's siblings also have names that start with J. They are: Joshua, 19; John David, 17; Janna, 17; Jill, 16; Jessa, 14; Jinger, 13; Joseph, 12; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 9; Jedidiah, 8; Jeremiah, 8; Jason 7; James 6; Justin, 4; Jackson, 3; Johannah, almost 2. The Duggars have been featured on several programs on cable's Discovery Health Network. Among the "fun facts" listed on Discovery Health's Web page devoted to the Duggars: A baby has been born in every month except June; the family has gone through about 90,000 diapers, and Michelle Duggar has been pregnant for 126 months -- or 10.5 years -- of her life. CNN

My grandmother and grandfather on my mother's side had 20 children together in a total of 19 pregnancies. My mother was one of the only set of twins. They were not Catholic, but they went to church most of the time.

I hear stories of men producing um-teen children with different women. They are just plane dogs. If you call them a dog, they act proud of it. I worry for the children produced this way. What do they learn about the world right from the start? It makes me ill thinking of it.

Geeks ring true

"Marriage often requires coping with the loss of some individuality, whether it's adopting a spouse's last name or setting up a joint bank account. Now, some couples say it can be equally tricky to navigate intimacy in the digital sides of their lives. They are running into thorny questions regarding how much to share and how much to keep separate in areas ranging from email addresses to online calendars. For some young newlyweds, this means a debate over whether to combine their blogs. Longtime spouses, meanwhile, say perennial arguments about who has more closet space are now joined by bickering over which TV shows get deleted to make room on the TiVo." Slash Dot

This rings true. Nat and I have separate blogs and will. I've thought of starting a blog for Elle. A blog, to me, is a personal thing. Some companies have blogs, but they are just gimmicks. They are more news lists. Some blogs are written by groups. Those are more forums than blogs. I suppose you can do whatever you like with a blog. I just think they should be individual things.

As for bank accounts and even which curtains tu put up. Those are all up for discussion.

Wish I could/would write

Well, not really. I wish I had written. I wish I was an author that people loved. I am glad I have no obsessed fans. I'm glad I have my anonymity and privacy. I want to be the writer who cranks out amazing stuff all his life. I want to go out on top at the ripe active age of 109. This isn't too much to ask is it?

I don't want to sweat the details. I want it all to just poor from me to the screen. I want to cross the medium barrier. The act is creativity, not really writing. So few people make good writers and directors. They are two totally different things. I don't really want to be a director really. I just want to make good movies and books and online content and mobile content and all other forms of communication that pop up in the future.

Then comes the lack of tall. I'm not the worlds worst writer. Things I write don't grab people. I can tell you this by the number of reoccurring hits that pop up on google/analytics.  Most of my hits are new hits. That is not so bad really. Over the last couple of weeks, I've had a bit of a bump in hits. It is temporary. It is all because of one entry I put up about blackle. It just happened to do this. I hate that. I wish I could draw people to my writing by the act of writing and my creative charisma.

What kind of stuff would I like to write that I would want others to like? Stories about people. Something about people doing something boring, but I manage to make it interesting. I would want to hit several different types and knock the audience's out every time. Never a dud.

Ya, good luck with that Kelly. I suck at fiction. U;n not all that hot at nonfiction.

Very Local News

• Some things I've learned recently.
  
• Zimbabwe has 1000& a year inflation. That means by the end of the year, your $100 bill is worth $1. The guy in charge has just lopped zeros off bank notes in the past to make up for losses.
  
• China has one psychiatrist for ever hundred thousand people. That sounds about right.
• The US sub-prime trouble is rippling all over the world. The Brits are giving much more air time to the issue than US financial news it seems.
  
• Nat and I are making plans for Elle's birthday party. it is months away.
• Faire is coming up. We still have no solid plans.

Cops need dead-man signals

I believe that technology is ready to allow police and other folks to have something on their body that monitors their vital signs and constantly transmits an OK signal to a robot with a phone. Every time a cop is shot a signal would go off somewhere and a battalion of SWAT would swarm down on the area. Something similar could happen with bank tellers or liquor store clerks. Heck, why not use it for heart patients.

I figure an algorithm could be constructed that could identify the state of well beeping. That is, you could tell by the body's reaction if someone has a gun to their head. There would be false alarms of course. it would take a while to work out the kinks.

European Union

The EU is limiting the ability of the minority to block decisions of the majority. The treaty that makes the EU is really a constitution. The EU is venturing in to law enforcement and family affairs. It all started out as a trade thing. It is becoming a single European government. I wait for it to grow a military loyal only to the EU entity. Many people don't realize it, but the EU now has the ability to over ride decisions made by the people of a given country. The EU can, once Denmark opts-in, come in and arrest people in Denmark for smoking weed even though it is legal in Denmark.

Hitler, Stalin, Neapolitan could not get it done. Now, the EU entity is about to bring the great European Union under one iron fist.

No Child Left Behind

I'm not sure what No Child Left Behind even is. It is in the news every five minutes. It gives me a headache. I hear things about baselines and improvement, stringent rates, and every other buzz word until I'm nauseous. I can tell it costs me money. I can tell I'm going to run smack in to it with Elle's education. I remember I was a fly in the ointment when it came to the school's numbers. I was one of the special ones. It is bad to not fit the mold. More now than before I think.

For all the rhetoric about being ourselves and creative, we are now more than before herded into molds of standardized tests and form fitting degrees. No one is told to be an artist, novelist, photographer, ditch digger. We are told to be productive and find a niche that makes money. Not everyone should go to university. Not every job should require it.

In Briton, the apprentice system is making a comeback. They are actually figuring out that a society needs plumbers. If you don't train local people to be plumbers and such you will have to import them. It is simple really. It is good for business and for people taking the training. It is good in the way that it stalls the reason for mass immigration. I keep hearing that US immigrants do jobs citizens do not want to do. Maybe it is just because no one is trained to do those jobs any more.

They mentioned in the BBC report that some kids deliberately acted up because the only way to get an apprenticeship was to be referred out of punishment. That is ridiculous. I hope it is not like that anywhere in the US.

The people who need education are sitting at the top of the education mechanism.

Harry Potter

I'm right smack in the middle of Deathly Hallows. No one ruin the book for me. This past Tuesday the Writer's Almanac did a write up on JK Rolling. It was pretty cool to hear the inspiration for writing a book about a boy wizard who goes to a school for witches and wizards.

Rowling got the idea for the Harry Potter books on a four-hour journey by train across England. The train was stopped somewhere between Manchester and London when Rowland looked out at a field of cows and suddenly got the idea for a story about a boy who goes to a school for wizardry. She later said, "Harry Potter just strolled into my head fully formed." By the time the train ride was finished, she had already invented most of the books' major characters and mapped out many of the main plot points. Writer's Almanac

This is cool stuff. I listen to the Writer's Almanac every chance I get. I need to find that weekly radio show done by the same guy. I hope they have some kind of podcast. They finally did an author I've read. =]

Get my shit together

Some days if feels like my head is full of cotton. Things sound farther away. People seem ore distant. Time drags. I'm easily distracted. Focus gone. I'm not sick or on medicine. I'm just tired and need a break. I wish there were some way to recharge without taking a vacation.

In most of Western Europe, people I've worked with get two months of vacation a year. I barely get two weeks. There are people in the world who work all day, every day with no time for family. Some people work themselves to death.

Then there is me. I'm far in the middle. I complain and tap out a blog entry. I wish I wish I wish it were easy for me. I never learned how to keep focus for the long term. I've been like this for all my life. Drive comes and goes. I go on. The world goes on.

I need to get my shit together. I need to blah blah blah. I need the world to get off my back some times. It's healthy to get fed up with all the bullshit every once in a while. I mean the stuff humans have to put up with these days would make a cow climb a tree. There is just too much crap going on all at once. There is too much information fluttering about. We are swarmed, swamped, saturated all the time. Got to get away. Got to be a cow in a field eating grass and sleeping for a while. I might come back. I might find the castle in the sky.