2007 archive
Uh-Oh 10
My SOSO is reading the “This Old House” website.
This cannot be good.
That’s a show and a site I have always successfully avoided until today. I’ve done enough Harry Homeowner stuff to know that it never goes the way the “experts” say it will.
Once you start ripping stuff apart, you always find surprises. Only once have I met a 15-minute plumbing job that actually took 15 minutes (and that was because I was following behind my own work, as opposed to the Previous Owner’s).
All the other 15-minute plumbing jobs in this house have taken at least three hours and four trips to the hardware store.
Personally, I think the whole thing is a crock(pot).
The Bomb 0
I wonder whether the Revolutionary War would have turned out differently if the Continental Army had known about this tactic:
According to AP the Panties for Peace initiative is not merely symbolic, since the the group behind the campaign – Lanna Action for Burma – claims “superstitious generals, especially junta leader General Than Shwe… believe that contact with women’s underwear saps them of power”.
We might be remembering Betsy Ross in a whole nother way.
The Oral Majority 3
One of the neat things about the golden era of porn in the 1970’s and the 1980’s (before the internet made porn accessible to everyone) was the titles of the movies.
I remember walking up Market Street from 30th Street Station to the office at 20th and Market and passing the theatre (right next to the massage parlor where once I saw a very happy looking guy in a wheelchair exiting) advertising “The Oral Majority.”
Well, the majority seems to have become a minority.
‘Nuff Said 0
Succintly put, the Current Federal Administration betrays the ideals of the Founders and, clearly, has no clue as to what the United States of America is about.
It is not about making the rich richer and the poor poorer.
It is about a dream of liberty and equality and a government of laws, not men.
Pine View Farm Supports Chris Dodd 3
Because he stands up for the Constitution with deeds.
Get your credit cards out.
Go here.
Listen to an interview here.
Good-Bye Joey Bishop 0
His death was of multiple causes, said his longtime publicist, Warren Cowan.
Mr. Bishop was the least flamboyant of the Rat Pack and no match for the others — Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Sinatra himself — in their dedication to hell-raising.
For you youngsters out there, here’s more on Joey Bishop.
Relevance 0
Dan Froomkin:
Asked how he found himself vetoing a children’s health insurance bill that had passed Congress with bipartisan support, Bush insisted that using a veto is “one way to ensure I am relevant.”
When a reporter followed up and asked Bush if he felt he was losing leverage and relevance, Bush replied: “I’ve never felt more engaged and more capable of getting the American people to realize there’s a lot of unfinished business.”
Which, let’s be blunt, is hard to believe.
(snip)
“There is a real question among Americans now about how relevant this government is to them,” pollster John Zogby told Whitesides. “They tell us they want action on health care, education, the war and immigration, but they don’t believe they are going to get it.”
Another take on relevance. Adrianna Huffington:
Yeah, the Current Federal Adminstrator is relevant.
So is a boil.
It causes pain until
. . . it
. . . goes
. . . away.
Follow-Up 0
More on this, which I mentioned a little while ago:
Under the revised list, poultry growers won’t have to file complex risk assessments for the propane they use to heat their chicken houses, two sources familiar with the regulations said.
An original list of 344 chemicals — some with specific weight thresholds — was proposed in April and caused an uproar among businesses that assumed they would be exempt from such terror-related reporting laws. Chicken farms fell under the umbrella of any business with more than 7,500 pounds of propane.
“It’s just silly,” said Pocomoke City chicken farmer Gary Pilchard who has more than 7,500 pounds of propane at each of his six chicken houses. “That’s the problem sometimes in Washington. You get folks sitting behind a desk, that might sound like a lot of propane, but in our world, that’s not.”
The rule ruffled other feathers as well.
Many of the chemicals on the department’s list are found on college campuses, but in small amounts. For instance, hydrogen chloride is used in chemistry experiments in several Yale University labs, said Peter Reinhardt, the school’s director of environmental health and safety. Each lab could carry between 3 and 5 pounds of hydrogen chloride at any given time, Reinhardt said.
But on the Homeland Security chemicals list, any amount of hydrogen chloride would need to be reported. Of the 344 chemicals on the original list, businesses would have to report any amount of 105 of them, including hydrogen chloride.
(More on hydrogen chloride here.)
Foiled! Curses Again! (Updated) 0
$%%$#^(^%*&^*:
A 31-year-old mother of four, Dawn Herb, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a disorderly conduct charge that can carry up to a 90-day jail sentence, in connection with a profane tirade she let fly when a toilet backed up on Oct. 11.
American Civil Liberties Union attorney Valerie Burch argues that to criminalize cursing and cite someone for using obscene language in their own home is unconstitutional.
Patrolman Gerald Tallo argues that Herb’s cursing could be heard throughout the neighborhood, creating a public disturbance.
Addendum, Later That Same Day:
Talk of the Nation on profanity.
First Son . . . 0
. . . is home on leave.
I hope to see him this weekend, before he goes back to finish being S(pl)urged.
Yeah, he’s one of those whose 12 month deployment turned into a 15 month deployment as the Current Federal Administrator continues to be, like Mike Nelson, trapped in the giant kelp.
Unlike Mike Nelson, of course, the Current Federal Administrator chose to swim into the giant kelp, dragging the rest of us with him.
Lazy 2
I’ve been sitting here for three days (with some breaks, of course) looking at this article.
I don’t have the energy the blog it. Just please go read it.
Heads Up! Verizon Users (Updated) 3
I don’t know whether this is true, but there’s a reason I use T-Mobile. Verizon users, check your inbox and let me know.
From TechDirt
Via Geek News Central.
Addendum, 10/17/2007:
From the New York Times. Follow the link for the full story:
But analysts and consumer advocates suggest the company may also be interested in gathering information as it prepares to tailor the advertising it displays on cellphone screens, based on individual customer habits and attributes. Mobile advertising is an untapped source of revenue among mobile phone companies looking to expand their businesses.
Drumbeats 0
Radio Times yesterday:
Go to the website (if the link doesn’t take you to this week, search the archives for October 16, 2007) or listen here (Real Player).
Adventures in Linux: Podcasts Working Perfectly 2
The cron job (for “cron,” read “chronometer, as in ‘timepiece'”) is working like a charm.
So much so that I’ve edited the line in crontab to read
0 4 * * * podracer > /dev/null
The “/dev/null” means that the emails that cron sends me about the cron job will be sent right to the bit bucket.
(That’s right, under Linux, programs can actually send you emails to tell you how they are doing and what, if anything, is going wrong, so you can, like, actually shoot the trouble. Unlike Certain Other Operating Systems.)
Geez oh man, Slackware just rocks.
RICO 2
Microsoft and Best Buy, made for each other:
The companies asked the justices to overturn a May ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the civil suit could proceed. The Supreme Court is letting that ruling stand, which means the class-action lawsuit involving thousands of consumers with complaints against the companies will be litigated in federal district court.
Originally filed by one consumer in northern California, the lawsuit claims the companies’ joint venture violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, which is usually used in organized crime cases. Successful RICO claims provide for triple damage awards in civil cases.
In a friend-of-the-court filing on behalf of the companies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the filing of civil cases invoking RICO is out of control and urged the Supreme Court to hear the case as a way to determine whether the use RICO should be reined in.
Under the joint venture, Microsoft invested $200 million in Best Buy in April 2000, and agreed to promote the company’s online store through its Internet access service, MSN. In turn, Best Buy agreed to promote MSN in its stores.
The dispute began in 2003, when James Odom sued the companies after purchasing a laptop computer at a Best Buy store. Odom alleged that Best Buy included a software CD with his purchase that provided a six-month free trial to MSN.
Best Buy allegedly signed Odom up an MSN account with the credit card Odom used to pay for the computer. After a six-month free trial ended, Microsoft began charging him for the account, the suit charged.
Some years ago, I went to Best Buy to buy a washing machine.
In a few minutes, I’d picked out the machine I wanted.
Forty-five minutes later, I left the store, having not been waited on.
The next night, I came back. I told the Appliance Person, “I have 30 minutes. Then I’m gone.”
At 29 1/2 minutes, he deigned to devote to me the two minutes it took to place the order.
Three days later, the washing machine arrived.
I picked it up and took it home. And then discovered a dent.
I took it back. Customer Service was great. They sent someone out to help me bring it in from the van and processed the return. Then the returns guy asked, “Would you like a check or would you like to re-order.”
I said, “I’d like to reorder.”
He said, “Then you’ll have to talk to him,” pointing to the Appliance Guy.
I asked, “You mean you can’t process the order from here?”
“No,” he said.
“Give me a check,” said I.
Then I remembered that just 1/2 mile up the road was a Lowes. I drove up there and, 20 minutes later, drove away with the identical model of washer in the back of the van.
For $20 less.
Since then, I’ve never gone into a Best Buy when a CompUSA was available and never bought anything at Best Buy that I can’t carry out of the store in my hands.
And I always buy my computers directly from Dell or from Second Source.