|
|
HomeGraffitiAboutSitemapVisualDevWork
Email BrianGPG Key |
GRAFFITI -- July 28 thru August 03, 2003>> Link to the Current Week <<Last Week << Mon Tues Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun >> Next Week Welcome to Orb Graffiti, a place for me to write daily about life and computers. Contrary to popular belief, the two are not interchangeable. About eMail - I publish email sometimes. If you send me an email and you want privacy or anonymity, please say so clearly at the beginning of your message.. |
WebCam
|
MONDAY
Tues
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
July 28, 2003 - Updates at 0923 EST
Good morning. The fun and excitement are winding down - Marcia's home, and it appears that all is well. She'll be down for a few weeks, probably returning to work part time from home in about 2 - 3 weeks, and back to the office sometime in early September. We're waiting for word about a sonogram of her gall bladder, which if it needs attention, might throw a monkey wrench into a few gears, but we'll see what transpires... Overall she's doing great. I've setup VNC for her on the laptop downstairs, and a VNC server running on her upstairs desktop so that anything we didn't transfer can be gotten to remotely. She was pleased about that.
As a matter of fact, Marcia's just told me that she's going to put up a post, so if you've been making do with my pathetic scribblings while you waited for my lovely to reappear, then here's your medicine! If the post isn't up yet, try again in a few minutes, she just let me know.
Now, I've got a number of chores to start on, and as we didn't sleep very well, I might even try to squeeze in a nap this afternoon. It depends. Have a lovely day!
Mon
TUESDAY
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
July 29, 2003 - Updates at 1021
Good morning... Sorry for the delay, I've been busy at work - remotely. I made coffee and breakfast for us, did the dog's food and pills, then popped up here to check email. A customer in trouble, so I took care of it. Ah, the joys of installing Linux at customer sites, I managed to ssh into the box and fix what ailed it. That is, a service that restarted and shouldn't have, following a power event last night.
Marcia's continuing to improve, and I remain in a state of "guarded optimism" about her progress. She still has some moments of pretty intense pain, although those are subsiding. We're weaning her down to ibuprofen today, too. That actually may help, as inflamation may be a contributing factor to much of her discomfort.
I've not much else to contribute today, so I'll share with you this email submitted to one of the LUG mailing lists I'm on:
Subject: [CALUG List] Three very good articles
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 07:24:56 -0400http://www.practical-tech.com/infrastructure/i03312003.htm
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2914364,00.html
http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/os/linux/story/0,10801,83452,00.html
Post on Zdnet (discusses computerworld article...)
The most obvious story that is unreported is that SEC filings reveal that SCO insiders have been dumping shares frantically during the entire episode. There hasn't been a single purchase by any insider during this entire time.
A less obvious story the media has completely overlooked is the recent SCO "acquisition" of Vultus. Vultus is another Canopy company, and to make it even more odd, Vultus is even located in the same building SCO is. The so-called "purchase" of Vultus wasn't a purchase at all, it was a way to transfer funds out of SCO and into the pockets of the owner of Vultus - the Canopy group. The Canopy Group is the largest single holder of SCO stock. Their Press Release didn't mention anything about Caldera buying one of their own companies did it? http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030722/latu083_1.html and the details of the "purchase" are undisclosed, naturally. If you were majority owner of a company and wanted to steal money from your partners what better way to do it then sell to your partners one of your own companies, and not even tell them the details of the purchase?
The media also has completely left unreported that the very claims that SCO is currently making in the United States SCO is forbidden to make in Germany. LinuxTag took SCO to court. All this time Darl McBride states that SCO's case is rock solid and unquestionable, yet in Germany they folded immediately. SCO has effectively shut down their operations there: http://www.sco.de http://www.caldera.de. Germany WAS a major market for SCO, with their websites shut down there they have basically abandoned the market. None of the investors in SCO are even aware of this.
This entire event appears to be an exit strategy. Pump the stock up, dump the shares, drain the remaining assets by buying a .com company like Vultus, keep your investors in the dark and eventually close the doors leaving investors completely fleeced.
The coverage of this story by the media has been nothing short of negligent. If the duty of the media is to inform the public, the media is not living up to its responsibilities.
More later, as mood and motivation dictate. Have a lovely day!
Mon
Tues
WEDNESDAY
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
July 30, 2003 - Updates at 0912
Good morning. I'm back to work, and Marcia's doing pretty well, thanks. She's down to just ibuprofen now, and getting a bit stronger each day. That's a good thing, because she's sick and tired of sitting down. So when that gets too old, up she gets for a lap or two around the house, or to have a little look at the garden, etc. I'm proud of my girl!
On the down side, we think that Sally may have had another little stroke. Nothing like as bad as she had a few months back, but her balance and mobility seem suddenly regressed a bit from the progress she'd made since the last event. We'll keep doing what we're doing until it's clear that her quality of life doesn't warrant the effort - right now she's still a pretty happy dog, near as we can tell.
Yesterday's post included that letter about some possible malfeasances spotted in the behaviour of assorted SCO-ites. Dave Browning has more information to share:
Brian,
I read your post this morning, and I think that the person who posted those comments on the CALUG List is engaging in a bit of wishful thinking. The CFO of SCO has apparently sold 18,100 shares since the price went up, leaving him with only 228,000 shares. Another insider appears to hold 130,000 shares after having sold 35,000. Sounds to me like they are hedging their rather large bet that they will win the suit rather than throwing in the towel. Where did I get my numbers? From this URL:
Link HERE.Don't get me wrong, I want SCO to lose in their lawsuit against IBM. I never thought I would be rooting for Big Blue, but I am.
Dave
Mmmm, the trend looks like there's been nothing but sells by insiders since last October. That's confidence in your actions, eh? But yeah, they're still holding lots - I think if they weren't then the SEC would be down on them like a tonne of bricks. Now, I've lots to do, catching up with three missed days during a busy period with a number of people out for vacation. I'd best be about it. Have a great day!
Mon Tues Wed
THURSDAY Fri Sat Sun
July 31, 2003 - Updates at ---
No post... I got too busy!
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thu
FRIDAY
Sat
Sun
August 01, 2003 - Updates at 0651
And I've only got five minutes for this one. It's getting to be zoo time, with a big client facility move coming closer day by day. Yesterday we did something simple - moved an Nbase box from one side of the room to another, then plugged back the re-routed fiber jumpers. One small problem: On one path NO bits flowed, on the other, 5 - 10% packet loss. That kind of problem breaks NFS so hard that my head is still spinning. After much gnashing of teeth and variations on a theme, I finally found a new jumper for the right part of the loop, and all of a sudden I've got true 0% packet loss. That's rockin'. Much more to do today, of course.
Marcia's doing great, and Sally's getting by. More details as events unfold - We're taking Sally to the vet tomorrow. Now I must fly! See you...
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thu
Fri
SATURDAY
Sun
August 02, 2003 - Updates at 0944
Good morning. Marcia's continuing to improve, in energy, pain management and mobility. Tomorrow the little strips over the outside of the wound come off - everyone's bound to enjoy that one! (And I mean that in a sarcastic, private sense.)
On the other hand, Sally's not doing so well. She tried to follow me up the steps this morning, then fell back down to the bottom. She wasn't hurt, but her maneuverability is rapidly approaching that of the USS Enterprise ... not very. I've got not very much time here before I have to take her to the vets office for a variety of things, not least of which is how to make her days better. If prednisone helps the current symtoms, but is toxic to her liver... so be it. Let's treat symptoms and quality of life in inexpensive ways. We're certainly not going to put her back at the vets for another three day round of IV fluids, blood thinners and other stuff Sally hates (which mostly includes just being there).
The DVD burner issue was resolved by returning the Plextor, and picking up a Sony DRU-510A. They not only didn't have the Plextor in stock, but in further reading, the Sony model appears to be better supported by Linux. I've got some testing to do with the cdrecord-prodvd package sometime this weekend. There are many other chores, gigs and errands competing for my time this weekend, and I'm not sure which I'll get to nor how much progress I'll make. So I'll report after the fact, instead of plan publicly before.
For now, I'll hop in the shower, run the dog over to the vets, do the weekend shopping, then evaluate from there. I hope your weekend goes well. Later!
Mon Tues Wed Thu Fri Sat
SUNDAY
August 03, 2003 - Updates at 1132
Good morning. Today's guest head is Linus Pauling. Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to type "Linus", after years of writing about Linux? I've just about worn out the backspace key just getting started here... Dr. Pauling is best known to me for his evangelism for Vitamin C as treatment, therapy and preventative for any variety of ailments, from the common cold to cardio vascular disease. One of the few people to win two Nobel Prizes (in two different categories, no less: Chemistry and Peace). Born in 1901, Pauling was educated at the Oregon Agricultural College and the fledgling Cal Tech, where he did his graduate work in chemistry. His work was varied in focus, from biochemistry, and hemoglobin, to molecular and chemical bonds. This last area of effort, as a body of work, rather than any specific discovery, was cited in his Nobel Prize in Chemistry, awarded in 1954. His work in science was matched by a profound pacifism brought about by the nuclear era. His tireless campaigning for a Nuclear Test Ban treaty, and related causes earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1963. A good jumping off point for learning more about his life is the site Linus Pauling and the Twentieth Century (http://www.paulingexhibit.org/)
|
|
|
|
It's a dog's life, ain't it? Sally's doing alright, I guess. The vet agreed that Sally's had another stroke, a mild one. We've changed her anti-inflammatory medication. That's about all we can do at this time. She's still a reasonably happy dog, but old and suffering from dogheimers as well as her brain farts. That said, she continues to enjoy a good nap, any place, any time. And sprawling across a pillow for a proper belly and chest scratching isn't to be passed up, even if she does look silly. In the rightmost picture you can see both of my ailing girls, apparently enjoying themselves.
|
|
|
The garden's doing nicely - I made a chicken, vegetable and pesto pasta primavera sort of dish for supper last night, and everything veg in it, aside from the garlic and green pepper, was out of our garden: Tomato, two kinds of squash, beans and a jalapeño. That latter I de-seeded and rinsed to get the flavor without the heat. Marcia doesn't yet need spicy heat in her diet. I'm also slowly bringing some rancid patches of the yard back to life by turning in some soil amendments and reseeding. The spot pictured above right actually still had some spotty grass left in it, there are areas out front which were barren. Slowly it's becoming a yard I like to look at when I get home from work, each day.
Speaking of work, we had some power events at the new site last night, and we've lost connectivity between the old and new sites. I've got to head up there for some debugging this afternoon, so I'd best be about my business. After that, I've got some more food shopping to do - we're going to modify Marcia's diet a bit to assist in making her recovery more comfortable. So have a lovely Sunday, and I'll see you later, or next week.
Last Week << Mon Tues Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun >> Next Week
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 © 1999-2003 Brian P. Bilbrey.
