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August 06 through August 12, 2001
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Email Brian Bilbrey |
Orb Grafitti is sometimes a conversation, sometimes a soapbox. I use Linux most often, and I write about that and related software frequently. I also have a day job working as a dogsbody for a small manufacturing firm here in the SF Bay Area. Tom Syroid and I have co-authored a Linux Book. It was cancelled by $LARGE_PUBLISHER, so we're posting it online, here and here. Have a looksee! I'm glad you've come to visit, and always happy to hear from you.
EMAIL - I publish email sometimes. If you send me an email and you want privacy or anonymity, please say so, I'll pay attention to your wishes.
Good morning and Happy Monday!!! Heh. You don't believe me, do you? Well, good on you, as we're just really starting to roll on this move thing. At left, you can see the after picture from our carport space here at the apartment complex. Needless to say, it has never, ever held a car. I am quite sure that once all is said and done, the final tally is 317.68 m3 - That's pretty amazing for an 8' x 8' x 12' space, I'm sure you'll agree. I do wish I'd had the foresight to take a before picture... Maybe I'll grab a snap of the new garage to show you the how material stacks up.
From: "Robert Bruce Thompson"
Subject: RE: You've outdone yourself...
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2001 08:34:10 -0400
You must be using compression. Natively, an 8X8X12 foot space stores about 21.75 cubic meters...
--
Robert Bruce Thompson
mailto:[email protected]
http://www.ttgnet.com/rbt/thisweek.html
Oh, and yes, I fixed the pictures from yesterday morning. Props go out to Bob, Dan, Don and John (we don't need no steenking serial commas here, bucko) for catching my errors on yesterday's page.
Today is a work day, and I am going to pick up electrical connection and venting materials for the Dryer on my way home. Our friends Pat and Nathan gifted us with their slightly used unit this weekend, and all I need to do is hook it up, just as soon as I figure out where the sheetrock covers the vent opening... sigh.
At the risk of being repetitive, please go back and read the first bits of yesterday's post, on the CodeRedII worm. It's not a variant, other than exploiting the same hole - this one is nasty, and roots your average Win2K box in a jiffy, leaves trojans lying around, spawns 300 to 600 scanning threads, and has a much more "intelligent" IP discovery routine. You've already done so, or don't care because you either don't run Windows, or have patched, but tell your friends and associates, this is ONLY going to get worse. Tell them to patch their systems, and reboot, downtime be hanged.
Now I must fly. Have a great day. TTFN.
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Howdy. Yep, up and at'm, rock and roll, where the hell am I? Oh, upright early in the morning of a moving week. Moving week is the equivalent of Hell week at boot camp. I've done obstacles, trenching, thousands of exercises, and practices lots and lots of skills, from data and voice wiring, to electrical connections in the wall and on major household appliances. I've got to look like one of those people in the "Today's Army" ads, with the exception of this roundish-in-the-middle bit that none of those happy gorgeous young people seem to exhibit. Ah, well.
You will remember that I was remiss in pictures of the mountains of material that we moved from one garage to the other on Sunday. Well, to the left and right, you can see what's become of all of it, at least temporarily. Clearly there's more organizational things that need to be done with these stacks, especially since we plan on using the new garage for it's intended purpose. For myself, I don't believe we stand a chance of that, so don't tell Marcia... (oops, grin). In the snap at left, you can see the spot between the dryer and the shop sink that is the home for the new clothes washer we are having delivered today. Woo-hoo. No more 10 bucks a week in quarters to do the laundry.
In a spot of computing news, CodeRedII continues to be a thorn in the side of the net. One wonders who did this, and for what purpose. I've read speculation that these events are orchestrated by hackers wearing greyish hats who are forcing closure of significant security holes in the only way that one can - by scaring the heck out of management in large companies the world over. Pay heed, friends don't let friend run unpatched IIS servers. Pass the word.
Meanwhile, in the Free Software world, there's been several bits of good news. First, Dmitry Sklyarov has been released on $50K bond. Unusual that a foreign national makes bail, since they're often considered high flight risks. I'm thinking that at this point, the community is starting to see Dmitry as the thin edge of the wedge for toppling DMCA. Weirder things have happened... Details found here - Help us make a stand: support the EFF!
Next, the KDE team is just about ready to release the 2.2 version of the very nice Linux Desktop Environment. Yes, it's top heavy and has a large codebase. But I like it. Really I do. It's got cool tools, a distinctive feel, and way more whizzy bits than I make use of.
Now I have to descend into the pit, in readiness for another day's adventure in moving (isn't that some firm's tagline? Sick, sick. Moving is already painful enough. Who needs adventure, too?) Ah, joy. You have a great day, or at least better than mine, and take care. Back soon, probably with more pictures for entry into the boring contest.
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Good morning and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BARBARA! My sister turns another year younger today, y'see...
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I've been busy. I moved the big futon, three desks, and Marcia's filing cabinet, along with a couple of truckloads of boxes. Also Sears delivered the new washer, so I tested it and the dryer with three loads of laundry. Lastly, I vacuumed and washed Marcia's truck. So, yes, I am clinically dead this morning, but I should be better soon. Above you can see the setups for myself and Marcia in the new place, and what the interim setups are in the apartment. Heh.
Before I shut down my office here in the apartment, I transferred my scripts and the whole Orb web tree over here to Gryphon the Acer Travelmate laptop. So from now through probably Sunday, updates will be from here. Should be seamless from your end, but counts on correct connectivity from whereever I am, which may be problematic on occasion. Ah, well.
Now I've got to get to work, Marcia's on a conference call in the other room (has been since 6am), so you have a good one. See you later!
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Good morning. Forget everything you ever learned about how to coddle plants. Don't play them classical music or talk to them, or pay a plant therapist to help them regress to past vegetative states. Oh, no. Take them for a walk or a drive. What a plant wants most is to see a bit of the world. Really. They told me so... <grin>
So yesterday, first order of business once the abbreviated work day was over: Move the patio farm. I had a reasonably good idea. I'd screw some redwood fencing to the pot sides, then strap the plant to that, supporting the parts of the tomatoes that had grown beyond their boundaries while in transit. The first two moves went like a charm - the round pots fit in the trunk fine. I roped the whole thing into the car, and off down the road we went, at the stately pace of 15 or 20 miles an hour. The other traffic didn't care much for THAT, but I was only going three long blocks and didn't want to shred the plants with speed.
We arrived, I wheeled them into the yard, and headed back for more. The two larger, square pots also seemed to "pack up" alright, although I lost the one long horizontal extension from the Large Cherry Tomato plant - It was unsupportable, so off it came. Then down the stairs on the hand truck, like the first batch - ka-plonk, ka-chunk, ker-dunk - impacting each concrete tread with a not-insignificant force. Heh. So I got down to the car, lifted, and damn! The pot didn't fit in the trunk. Ah, well, nothing for it but to start walking. So, one at a time, I wheeled each remaining tomato plant down the street to it's new home. I sure got some startled looks from drivers as they went past.
In the aftermath, the apartment patio looks barren and blasted. I really wish we'd managed to get the Jurassic Park IV film crew up here before the deadline, but oh, well. Other accomplishments for the day yesterday were: Marcia finished the first-round organization on the garage contents, so they're pretty much out of the way for the major part of the move. My office is entirely packed except for small bits of connectivity that make the DSL work for one more day. The closets are empty, the cupboards are barren. All that's really left is to pack the kitchen, and that may be a post-big-move-day chore, as time is running short.
My, how time flies when you're having fun. Time to head over to the house, water the plants, and drive into work. Y'all have a lovely day.
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Good morning and Happy Friday! Happy is especially applicable because yesterday after work, I moved (4) Blazer loads of boxes, shelves and assorted other bits. That's about 15 boxes (or the equivalent) per run, and there isn't enough small stuff LEFT in the apartment for more than two more runs with our truck. This is good, especially since I am likely to be able to pick up the large truck late this afternoon. If that is the case, then the big move happens tonight. Otherwise it'll be tomorrow in the morning.
Nope, lucky you, no pictures from yesterday. All I did was make piles of boxes in various places inside the house. This is, however, the last post from the apartment, and a fond farewell to Speakeasy Networks and Covad Communications. Why? As I believe I mentioned previously, the Baby Bells are playing the game exactly to the rules, and giving CLEC's (like Covad) exactly the access specified by the 1996 Telecoms Act. This means, among other things, that when we move our line, Covad loses control of it, and they can't reattach to the line until we show up in the correct externally accessible database from the PBI/SBC computers, after one complete billing cycle! Can you see me going a month with low speed access? Heh. I didn't think so.
Sometime in the next 36 hours, I'll move the last of the widgets over to the house, reconfigure the Linksys to work with the Cable Modem (done it once already, so not a problem), and we'll be live in the new place. Now I've got to get rolling - still working today, at least until I find that the truck is ready for pickup. Take care, see you tomorrow or Sunday!
Wish us luck!
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No Post - It was Moving Day!!!
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Good morning, and wecome to the Five Minute Move Update. Everything's here (except cleaning supplies that are needed over at the apartment to help ensure we get our deposit back. A few key pieces of furniture are in their final locations, and most of the electronics are alive. I brought my systems up yesterday and tried like heck with Marcia's, but her system won't power up. WTF???
So I have a rather immediate set of chores this morning involving bringing Marcia's computing environment to life, and other assorted stuff as well, which is likely to keep us busy all week.
Now to work, to work - Hope your day goes well, back at you later today...
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Visit the rest of the DAYNOTES GANG, a collection of bright minds and sharp wits. Really, I don't know why they tolerate me <grin>. My personal inspiration for these pages is Dr. Jerry Pournelle. I am also indebted to Bob Thompson and Tom Syroid for their patience, guidance and feedback. Of course, I am sustained by and beholden to my lovely wife, Marcia. You can find her online too, at http://www.dutchgirl.net/. Thanks for dropping by.
All Content Copyright © 1999-2001 Brian P. Bilbrey.