Cruise of the lifetime

I found a Somali cruise package that departs from Sawakin (in the Sudan) and docks at Bagamoya (in Tanzania).  The cost is a bit high @ US$800 per day double occupancy but I didn't find that offensive. What I found enticing is that the cruise company is encouraging people to bring their 'High powered weapons' along on the cruise. If you don't have weapons you can rent them right there on the boat. They claim to have a master gunsmith on board and will have reloading parties every afternoon. The cruise lasts from 4-8 days and nights and costs a maximum of $3200 per person double occupancy (4 days). All the boat does is sail up and down the coast of Somalia waiting to get hijacked by pirates. Here are some of the costs and claims associated with the package. $800.00 US/per day double occupancy (4 day max billing) M-16 full auto rental $ 25.00/day ammo at 100 rounds of 5.56 armor piercing ammo at 15.95 Ak-47 riffle @ No charge. ammo at 100 rounds of 7.62 com block ball ammo at 14.95 Barrett M-107 .50 cal sniper rifle rental 55.00/day ammo at 25 rounds 50 cal armor piercing at 9.95 Crew members can double as spotters for 30.00 per hour (spotting scope included). They even offer RPG's at 75 bucks and 200 dollars for 3 standard loads "Everyone gets use of free complimentary night vision equipment and coffee and snacks on the top deck from 7pm-6am." Meals are not included but seem reasonable. Most cruises offer a mini-bar... these gung ho entrepreneurs offer......... get this..... "MOUNTED MINIGUN AVAILABLE @ 450.00 per 30 seconds of sustained fire" Sign me up! They advertise group rates and corporate discounts......and even claim "FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY" They even offer partial money back if not satisfied....here's some text from the ad. "We guarantee that you will experience at least two hijacking attempts by pirates or we will refund back half your money including gun rental charges and any unused ammo (mini gun charges not included)... How can we guarantee you will experience a hijacking? We operate at 5 knots within 12 miles of the coast of Somalia. If an attempted Hijacking does not occur we will turn the boat around and cruise by at 4 knots. We will repeat this for up to 8 days making three passes a day along the entire length of Somalia.  At night the boat is fully lit and bottle rockets are shot off at intervals and loud disco music beamed shore side to attract attention. Cabin space is limited so respond quickly. Reserve your package before Feb 29 and get 100 rounds of free tracer ammo in the caliber of your choice." As if all that isn't enough to whet your appetite, there were a few testimonials "I got three confirmed kills on my last trip. I'll never hunt big game in Africa again. ---- Lars, Hamburg Germany   "Six attacks in 4 days was more than I expected. I bagged three pirates and my 12 yr old son sank two rowboats with the minigun. PIRATES 0 -PASSENGERS-32! Well worth the trip. Just make sure your spotter speaks English" ----Ned, Salt Lake city, Utah USA "I haven't had this much fun since flying choppers in NAM. Don't worry about getting shot by pirates as they never even got close to the ship with those weapons they use and their shitty aim--reminds me of a drunken 'juicer' door gunner we picked up from the motor pool back in Nam" ----"chopper' Dan, Toledo USA.

This is so fake. It is funny. I got it in an email today. There are dozens of links to the exact same text. Not one link to anything. Even Snopes had nothing to say. Still, I like the idea.

Very Local News

• I was stuck outside the office waiting again this morning for a little bit. No bit deal. it did give me an opportunity to hit NPR.org on my phone and find out that I can listen to some news stories that way. It is a bit clunky, but it works for the most part. I bet it is perfect on an iPhone, liberal sheep.
• OLED wall paper. I'm not even going in to what that means beyond "wall sized screen savers" and "TV that is on the wall". Give it several years. Screw paneling.
• Chrysler is going to declare bankruptcy. I hope they come out the other end a better company, or part of a better company. I hope and wish and prey for all the best things to happen to the people who work for Chrysler. I still crack up when I think of Fiat and Chrysler getting together. Apparently Fiat makes better cars for Europe than they made for the U. S..

Tired

I walked in this morning and found the door locked. One of the other guys named John was already waiting. We talked about how we both feel burned out a bit. The long hours and crushing deadlines have taken their toll. They are still exacting a price. My job is not done. We made something that is good and it must be better. The developers, testers, packagers, we have worked hard. Our job is never done.

Software is never done. It is an evolving work of effort that is simply captured in a state and distributed, then left to sit or continued until the next state is achieved. Projects do not end, they are replaced by higher priorities.

The stress level at our company never hits zero. There is nothing resembling down time at any moment. I've heard that some places where my friends work are in a state of "go slow" waiting for the economy or people or whatever limiting factor holds the rains at the moment. That will not happen here. Not today. That is not how things work here.  Maybe that is a good thing. God, help me, it is a strain.

There is an old saying "I'm sick and tired of feeling sick and tired." That is true. This morning I came in with a headache. I started to feel just plane sick by mid morning. Nat is taking Elle in to the doctor because Elle is showing signs of being sick. A child died of Swine Flue this morning in Houston. People are throwing the term "pandemic" around. The markets don't seem to be too upset about it yet. That is very important to many people. I'm not sure I care. Europe has issued a warning to people traveling to the U. S. or Mexico.

I do miss doing one thing at a time and attempting to get it right. I know that this multitasking causes me to make more mistakes. If five people walk in my office and demand things done, I have no authority to tell them that I must get something else done first. There is no way to appeal decisions made by others. I have no control over my destiny or the complexity of my tasks. It makes for stress and loss of productivity. I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Very Local News

• The camera on my G1 phone is OK. It needs a tremendous amount of light to take a fare picture. It is auto focus which is more of a problem than a cure if I'm honest. It means pictures taken in low light are dark as well as out of focus. The G! disparately needs a flash.
  I do like the crop feature. You can crop a picture right on the phone. Nice. That is much better than digital zoom. If only it had video record functionality.
  
• Pig-bug
  
• I'm not worried about Swine Flue. I'm well stocked on oinkment.
• H1N1 (Swine Flue) is giving pigs a bad name, so the PC crowd says to call it by it's scientific name.
• Houston has th first death by Swine Flue. A 23 month old baby. That is too sad for words.
• The CDC is all over it. The stops get pulled in regards to bureaucracy when it comes to disease control. That is a good thing.
• Mass has been canceled in parts of Mexico City. No restaurants beyond take out and no tourists. The drug dealers are still killing each other.
• I almost hope the waring of masks trend catches on long term.
  
• Ever since JW Bush got a shoe thrown at him, it has become fashionable to throw shoes at politicians in the middle east and some other places. Terrific. There are rules to take one's shoes off  before political rallies.

WWII The last great war

Tell it like it is and they'll live longer.

Hitch Hiking

I had my first and last adventure with hitch hiking today. I was mad at Nat for not giving me a ride to work at 11:30 after missing the morning due to severe weather. In her defense, she was up all night with Elle's worries and her own over the weather. The news said we got seven inches of rain in our area. Just north of us got ten inches of rain.

I was walking along in the mud, complaining to myself out loud about having to walk in the mud and a big box van honked and stopped. I said 'heck with it' and ran up and hopped in. The guy was happy to give me the ride. He was Mexican, young and didn't seem to mind. It turns out he was turning on highway 6, so I hopped out there and waited for the bus.

It was a while before I notice a bus coming round the circle. Just after I did, someone whom I normally ride the bus in with in the morning pulled over and offered me a ride. He normally gets off  before I do so I declined. I know know why he takes the bus. He drives a Tahoe. I'd take the bus too.

Once I got on the bus, evey one was chatting about the storm last night. The scene was jovial. It reminded me of the mood after the hurricane last year. People were looking out for on another. It was kind of nice. I would say something like "we need a storm more often." but I just don't want storms any more often than needed. Don't want to lynx it.[end]

Very Local News

• I have one of those USB sound cards on my box at work. We order workstations that do not have them on the motherboard. It was $4.00 plus shipping. Not the most robust piece of hardware in history. When I increase or decrease the volume, the left channel is about 0.4 seconds faster than the right. I can live with that for $4.00.
• All the power lines at the poles were buzzing this morning. I mean every single one I walked under. That kind of worries me. Does that mean the system is over loaded? Does it just mean it rained last night? Is it terrorists, aliens, vandals, vandal-alien-terrorists? Have they always done that? I haven't flushed my ears over the weekend or anything.
• Sky news had a "Foreign Matters" entitled "no nukes is good nukes." They were talking about MAD. Mutual Assured Destruction not applying any more due to terrorists not giving a crap. Commy bastards.
• EU advises against traveling to the U. S.. Many people in Mexico have died from Swine flue. Now ther ehas been an earth quake in Mexico city. Wars. All we need is a meteorite.
• Had an opportunity to look busy in front of a client today. Fortunately, I was busy. Funny how that works.
  
• Got VNC working on the phone. Well, it kind of works. it is so slow and difficult to use over the touch interface that is is pretty much useless. VNC and SSH are required tools for support people like myself. Handy to have them on the phone.

Sunday again

My Sundays are boring. Whenever we make plans to do something, they never come round. I end up sitting on the computer all day surfing the net. Not the I have a problem with that. I would like to get out of the house . I believe Nat and Elle would like that too. Too bad we are so broke. It is just not worth living life when you have no money to enjoy it. When you are broke, you are just a drone feeding the dreams of people who have money. That sucks. No wonder there are revolutions of the masses and mass beheadings of the rich every so often. It doesn't make anything better. No one ends up with more money out of it. You just end up with some other asshole in charge.

I read a blog that says 25% (from memory) of children think the world will end before they grow up. The blogger blames the rhetoric of climate control. I'm incline to believe that.

There was another blogger who interpreted an interview with Mahatma-Jib-Jab to say that the leader of Iran thinks Obama is a fool. I'm not sure what to think of that.

Obama says he will release new terrorist recruitment photos to guarantee the U. S. will be hated for generations to come.

Bloggers in Briton are thinking seriously of leaving the country to let her self destruct. The Governor of Texas mentioned the word 'succession' at a rally a week ago. I say that Western civilization cannot stand the plague of political correctness and ramped liberalism that we simply cannot afford. But that is just me.

Is it always like this? Does every generation hit some wall of unbelievable ignorance while watching their leaders travel the path to self destruction? Is it me? Am I the sain man in a crazy world, or the other?

Very Local News

• Almost everything online is moving to a two sentence paragraph format. I noticed it in news stories a while ago. Then I noticed it in blogs and now Twitter is making the situation tragic. When will we boil communication down to five characters? There can only be a couple hundred thousand different ideas humans want to communicate with different facts attached after all. I should paten that.
• I'm watching the Mythbusters MacGyver episode. I watched MacGyver.
  
• The music is back behind us. As fare as I can tell, the guy next door is still not back home from being arrested last week. Yup, this is the hood and I'm ashamed of living here.

Whole lot of luck

The pilot said it was mostly luck and a little bit of experience.

What's in a name?

Our company is a small company that has become a medium company. This means paperwork. One of the fasots of paperwork is asset tags. Everything gets a bar code and a number. Computer names.have been obfuscated to the point no one can remember one from the other because they are ABC123 kind of names that read like serial numbers.

his has not always been the case. A precious few computers lying around still have names like johnyrottin or one of the names of a level of hell or something sufficiently geeky. They are all filtering out the bottom and beeing replaced as their tasks/duties are upgraded.

We had an old box named toast that was just not working any more. We replaced it with one called sonoftoast. It was one of those moments where every one agreed that it was the thing to do. Giving a box a human kind of name just felt good. There will be one out there for a while. I think that makes us feel better somehow.

Very Local news

• Now, well after the checks have been cashed, several top economists have stated that there is no such thing as 'too big to fail'. Just let the big banks fail. Where the hell were they when trillions were flying out of the tax payer's pockets? The experts have no idea what is going on.
• The idea is that if an institution becomes that large, it should be broken up, even if it means using antitrust laws. I'm all for that. Start with those banks in Panama and the islands. Oh, wait. Never mind.
• Don't be surprised if you loose your credit card soon. Regulations are coming and the credit card companies do not want to let people get grandfathered in to a different set of rules. If you pay off your card and pay your bill every month, you are most likely to get the ax.
• High fructose corn syrup lobbyists are really pushing that it is no more harmful than sugar.
• SLES was already 2 DVDs. Now they moved the devel RPMs to the SDK, Which is two more DVDs. I mean , shit! How much code does it take to get a computer on the net these days?
• I got an email about Chrysler going bankrupt.  What happened to Fiat?
• Microsoft just reported the first quarterly drop in revenue from last year in the 23 years it has been a public company. I may have to stop ranting about them so much if they are no longer the evil empire. ... Nah!

One

Once came I to the sun to rest.
Not one man, I, but three.

The trees snuff the sun's light from me.
The leaves dance in what is left.

Born, was I, under a labored star.
Sleep, I find, holds me still

The rain, I hear, helps me fill.
Travel, I must, through worlds far.

Task at hand

Amongst the work there is a moment to be had.
Stand up straight and look around.

It is too quiet and calm here in the light.
The sun warms and lights up the world.

Relax in the shade and watch the world just stand before me.
Glory, majesty, bright fine morning. Something is right.

I fear the calm and light sometimes. All is gone eventually.
Back to my toil I flee.

Maybe the after life is just standing up and looking around.

Very Local News

• GM spent $3 million on lobbying our government during the time they were getting by on the ump-teen billion from the U. S. tax payer earlier this year. Bastards.
• This morning in the shower I was looking forward to my walk around the parking garage at lunch. How depressing is that?
• Pirates
  
• That captain, Richard Phillips, has become a celebrity. His fifteen minutes are waining. I hope he really is the individual man who takes charge. If so, he will not have a problem shedding the celebrity vale and getting back to his life.
• The French are shooting back at the pirates. There was something about pleasure craft that was won back after gun play.
• That pirate captured by the Seals is going on trial in New York. That is just what the Big Apple needs, a high profile international trial that will probably end with the perpetrator walking free on some Maritime loophole.
• Not that I buy it, someone says if a bunch of ice melts, sea level will go up 4 meters. I looked out my window at work and thought the Target parking lot would be flooded. It looked interesting in my mind's eye.
  
• A plane flew by the office today towing a hat. It was an advertisement of course. It looked dangerous. I couldn't see the plane.

Very Local News

• I have some pictures of a beautiful sunrise on my camera. They have been there for over a week. I just haven't had the strength to pull them off and put them up. I had time this weekend if I had remembered. They are worth the effort.
• The Pirate Bay is in dire straight.s I can't help but think if they had named the place something more bland, they would not have the trouble they have now. Something like "P2P4U" or "File Heaven", but both of those are taken to my knowledge.
• The writer's guild and studios have struck a deal well short of some deadline that would have caused another gap in all the shows. I wonder what the contract says about online content. No I don't.
• I have never intentionally clicked on a Google Ad. I've never intentionally clicked on a banner ad of any kind. I've seen some ads and and gone to Google and looked something up. What is going to happen when Google dies? I get it will some day.
• I needed a new belt. The one I had was made of strange leather loops and not working the way it should. I only get belts when I absolutely have too. Push had come to shove. I got a $10.80 plane black belt at Target during lunch.
  
• 1 out of every 10 people in the world is a registered voter in India. (not registered voters, people)
  

Making it look easy

I hate it when people make it look this easy. We have s couple of those locks we use around here for different things. Drat.

Saturday

Another day in Kelly's life gone by. Another day to log in the book. I am terrified of reading that book when I'm on the other side and falling asleep. What are we judged for. I like the Red Dwarf approach. We meet ourselves and decide for ourselves what happens to us. Not that I think I've done a good job. I just think that is fare.

I don't miss the day. The world doesn't need me to approve.

What is this world. Why are we here at all? Which his the truth?

• We are here to please a god who toys with our lives every moment, who know everything, that has ever been or ever will be, and yet, still lets it all happen.
• We are playing a video game or board game with our friends and most of us are NPCs. Our soles or guardian angels are people playing the game. I've plaid games and know that I do not like this one. I do not like a board teen guiding my life when they should all be out getting laid.
• We are accidents of chemistry. Our consciousness is a by-product of electricity flowing from one place to another in grey goo between our ears. All that is art and science is just something to talk about before the end.
• We are the sum of quantum wishful thinking. One moment of consciousness by one entity once, brought forth all the universe and all things in it. That is how quantum works.
• We ride the back of an elephant which stands on the back of a gigantic turtle swimming through the empty space around a sun.
• We exist to provide mosquitoes a meal.
• We live the same moment over and over and over. We are stuck in the same moment, or year, or life looping endlessly. No beginning or end. Just Ground Hog Day without the happy ending.
• We were planted in the genetic line of apes or worms or bacteria by aliens long ago just to see what happens. They drop in occasionally snatching hill-billies and probing them for kicks.
• We are actors playing a part for a TV show. The single target of this TV show has no idea he is the number one attraction of the rest of existence. Or, The whole planet is the unwitting player.
  

I would like to write a poem for God. I would like it to be beautiful. I would like it to make a difference for the better. I would like it to plead our case. Maybe I just want to plea my case. Screw everyone else.

People in the rain

It is very interesting watching people in the rain. You learn a bit about society just waiting for a shower to wash the streets while people try to ge from one place to the other.

In a spotty light rain during commute times people run from their cars to the door and back. People on the bus go from one cover to the  other. People in cars splash people on the sidewalk. People who are used to walking every day have rain gear of some kind on their person. Umbrellas work for the door to the car trip, but not for getting anywhere when the wind blows.

In a heavy stormy rain people make other arrangements if they can. The bus is half empty of commuters. Some people just walk in the downpour, but not so much these days because of mobile phones and other electronics that cannot stand the first hint of moisture. I've walked from one place to the other in a bad storm and it is just not that big a deal if you are not cold, and have nothing on you that will die.

Hurricanes are interesting to be out in. I've only walked around to the back yard during a hurricane so I do not have extensive knowledge. There was someone else across the street doing pretty much the same thing I was doing which was taking care of something that had blown down.

Mud is to be ignored on long hauls and deal with after the fact when traveling by foot in the rain. That is the rule I've had for some time. I've noticed others with the same rule. If you do not do it this way, you will hit some impasse that you cannot get around without great stress.In a storm, you must avoid any extra stress because things could turn bad very quickly and possibly without notice.

Rising water can be deadly. People get rightly nerves when the water starts coming up. Even if you can swim, there are many layers of treachery below the water line waiting for hapless victims to wonder their way. In this part of the world you might run in to an open manhole, snakes, running water dragging your over debris, floating colonies of displeased ants, electrical shocks, submerged fences. The list is endless. It really is best to find a high dry spot and wait if you have the opportunity.

it is better when people feel like something is a disaster because they are far more willing to help one another. You are more likely to get a ride when a hurricane is coming than if it is just raining. I guess that is always true.

This morning it looked and sounded bad for the longest time. There was barely a drop until after lunch time. People were in a mode where you could tell people knew something was about to happen. It didn't for the longest time. The skies looked like the end of the world had fallen. Then, people waited for the other shoe. No one was on edge that I could tell. Just a static electricity feeling in the air.

Then it rained.

Then, it kept raining. It is due to rain through tomorrow. It is going to be a rainy night. I used to know a girl named Stormy Night. It was so dark outside the evening lights came on before 15:00.

People travel in their cars, splashing through puddles, waving off water from their windshields. People run, walk, stumble from dry spot to dry spot. No one is dancing and singing.

The rain hits the windows on our floor and people start wandering how they will get home, and how bad the traffic will be. People have alternate plans for commuting and getting things done when it rains like this. Most of them just want to get home in one piece. Once there they will huddle and watch TV.

I have a friend saw a tin roof on a small building and said he wanted to sleep in there while it was raining. No sleep as deep as under a tin roof in the rain. I really want to try that. I've had the opportunity of sleeping in the rain in a forest in a tent. That was really cool because the tent didn't make much noise, leaving me to hear the echoing drops hitting every leaf in the trees for as far as the ear could hear. It was like hearing in the third dimension for the first time in my life. I slept like a rock.

Very Local News

• It is starting to look like Windows XP was the home run. Microsoft has feed back from corporate customers that they wan to use XP for an indefinite period. What they have works and they don't want to deal with an upgrade. This puts a crimp in the whole model of forcing your customers to upgrade every three years.
• eBay is spinning off Skype. Skype is an online phone service that lets you talk for free most of the time. They paid $4 billion four years ago. I bet it goes for $15.95 and a book of coupons..
  PayPal and stumble upon are going too.
  
• The average visitor to YouTube costs Google between 1 and 2 dollars.
• One of the machines at work answered a ping, but I couldn't get hold of it in any other way. I could not log in or even get a response. It turns out it was being imaged. I thought about it. The system is using tcp/ip to talk to an FTP server. It answers a ping. it is no good to me in this state.
• Dissertations can be had for as little as $20 a page. i may have to look in to that since I cannot even spell dissertation without the aid of a spell checker..

Very Local News

• Work work work! It is amazing how much time gets eaten up by stupid shit like SVN user rights and bad hard drives. I'm busting my ass and have to stop and fix stupid things along the way. It isn't like it is any one else's job to fix them either. I'm that guy too. I design, build, implement, and fix. I have trouble keeping count of the hats.
• Saw the jack rabbit again today. He was faster, zig-sagged more, and was more wily. The little guy is learning. I said out loud "All you had to do was stand there and I would never have noticed you."
• Solares doesn't suck. It has some really nice features. Too bad no one outside of the hard core server world use it.
• A friend of mine got laid off. She is some kind of auditor for an insurance company or something like that. Never really figured it out. It was a big surprise to her. There was little or no hint to it. Her name is Anna. Please remember her in your prayers.