2014 archive
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Learn how to use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do.
It’s not hard; it’s just different.
What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.
Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.
Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.
When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, August 7.
Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)
Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (Janaf Shopping Center). (Map)
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Enter the Darwin Awards, politely.
The 31-year-old man killed himself after firing a gun he said was empty, according to reports.
The man was in his apartment in south Evanston with three friends when he retrieved a shotgun, police said. The man proceeded to show off the gun, alarming his friends, who told him to put the shotgun away. The resident ejected two to three rounds from the shotgun and told his friends it was empty. He then held the shotgun to his face and pulled the trigger.
Everybody Must Get Fracked etc. 0
Warning: Even more tasteless than usual.
Separate Entrances 0
Recently, much fuss has been made about a ritzy Manhattan development’s plan to have a “poor door,” a separate entrance for persons in the “affordable” apartments. Leonard Pitts, Jr., points out that the fuss overlooks the obvious. A nugget:
Afterthought, Later That Same Day:
I know about separate entrances. Once, when my mother, my brother, and I were taking the bus to visit my grandmother in South Carolina–I was maybe ten–I entered the wrong separate entrance to the wrong waiting room in the Raleigh, North Carolina, bus station. All the Not White folks in that room stopped talking and looked at me, with “What are you doing here” in their faces.
I have never felt so out of place, nor so alone.
I would never wish that feeling on anyone.
Any society that breeds that feeling is evil.
Anyone who would perpetuate that society is evil.
Gag Orders 0
The University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors has decided that dissent is a bad thing.
I strongly doubt that Thomas Jefferson, who had as many faults as he had virtues, would approve.
Full Disclosure:
I did a year of graduate work in history at UVa. It almost destroyed my love of history (but it didn’t–if you don’t know where you came from, you cannot know where you are going), but it did me the inestimable service of convincing me that I did not want to become a professional academician.
Those folks will stab you in the back over a semicolon.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness extends south of the border.
A vet who posed with a gun for a selfie died shortly after shooting himself in the head by accident.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Childhood’s End 0
Afterthought:
We seem to be in an era that treasures free-range chickens, but does not recognize the value of free-range kids.
Light Bloggery 0
Break time.
Addendum:
We went to the Beach Pub for breakfast, did some shopping, then came home and watched Masterminds on our cable company’s “On Demand.” The movie is hardly a great piece of art, but was a hell of a fun ride. Patrick Stewart makes a wonderful villain.
Confessions of a Repentant Republican 2
Edwin Lyngar describes his journey from supporting teabaggery to enlightenment. It is a fascinating read. Here’s a snippet:
I finally “got it.” In 2012, I shunned my self-destructive voting habits and supported Obama. . . .
I have a close friend on permanent disability. He votes reliably for the most extreme conservative in every election. Although he’s a Nevadan, he lives just across the border in California, because that progressive state provides better social safety nets for its disabled. He always votes for the person most likely to slash the program he depends on daily for his own survival. It’s like clinging to the end of a thin rope and voting for the rope-cutting razor party.
“Those Who Do Not Remember the Past . . .” 0
Viet Nam veteran Rick Whalen, writing in the Bangor Daily News, remembers the past–another war based on another lie. A nugget:
On Aug. 7, 1964, the U.S. Congress, without being informed of Herrick’s recent messages, overwhelmingly passed what became known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving the president permission to conduct military operations in Southeast Asia without a declaration of war. This resolution was the basis for all of our military activities there. It was based on an incident that never happened.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of that attack that never happened — the beginning of a war based on a lie. Fifty years later, there’s much we can learn from our government’s breach of the people’s trust.
Follow the link to see what lessons he learned.