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GRAFFITI -- August 25 thru August 31, 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. |
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August 25, 2003 - Updates at 0724 EST
Good morning. Well, despite some severe motivational difficulties, I managed to get the rest of the house cleaned yesterday, and my desk reorganized and cleaned as well. The lawn will have to wait for another day. I finished reinstalling the key software on Goldfinger and played out the rest of Syberia last night. Fun game - ends in such a way as to let me know there's a sequel coming, too.
About the Sunday Guest Head feature...
From: Jacqueline Clark
Subject: Guest Head Gone ? no oh no
Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2003 10:20:03 -0500Dammit, Brian, you make me feel so bad. I *loved* the guest-head, *especially* when it was all-Feynman all-the-time. The first few you chose, including Admiral Grace Hopper, were ones I would have picked. Missed it when it wasn't there, but not for me to annoy you when you're so busy. And I never told my love...it's too late now--what might have been...sigh..........
Jackie
OK, it MIGHT make a cameo appearance from time to time, then. And all Feynman is an EASY one - I sure wish I'd made that man's acquaintance before he moved on...
All it takes is one motivated reader to make things happen. Maybe what I'll do is throw in the occasional Feynman link. Yeah, you can tell I have a strong leaning towards the physics side of the fence, can't you? I think I first picked up that habit from reading my father's Scientific American - Later in life you could find me reading both popular and text book physics just for pleasure. Frequently the math zooms past my head, but I have enough to get a sense of the beauty and order of reality as we perceive it. That's good stuff, Maynard.
Today I'm going to spend much of the day in the NERDS office, for the first time in probably a month or more - we've been busy with this large client move I've been ranting about. There's still plenty to do there, but as my friend Tom says, most of the big rocks are in place, so it's down to fiddly work that will take up time for the next six months, probably.
Now to get the trash out, then get myself out the door. Have a happy Monday!
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August 26, 2003 - Updates at 0635
Good morning! Peter caught a typo on the NERDS site for me yesterday (virual for virtual, some strange virtual viral thing, I guess, good to fix). Thanks! Also, I meant yesterday to draw your attention to Eric Raymond's latest, An Open Letter to Darl McBride. Fun stuff, really, as SCO's leadership and reality part ways in more and more dramatic fashions. Now it's time, really quite time, for me to get a jump on the traffic. See you later.
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August 27, 2003 - Updates at 0745
Good morning. Sorry about forgetting to update the top of the page yesterday, there really was a Tuesday post, short as it was. This one will join it in brevity - there's not much new to report other than several hundred lighning strikes and a lack of power around this homestead and large patchy outages all over the DC metro area. This was mostly due to the high winds (peaking at around 78 mph) that accompanied yesterday afternoon's storms.
Our first indicator was a slight dimming of the lights, followed by the thump of the diesel generators kicking in. All systems stayed on and running, but checking the news, there were lights out all over the place. This was at about 1600 or so. I figured that even if the beltway was jammed, it'd be better than trying to get by on secondary streets that had lights out. That made sense right until I got just past New Hampshire headed south. Then traffic slowly but surely ground to a halt. The radio informed me of the problem: Live high-voltage wires down all the way across the Beltway, blocking both directions of flow. Center and side median barriers (metal) were probably electrically hot, so please, please stay in your cars. Sigh. So we sat.
While I was sitting, Marcia called to inform me we'd lost juice at the house. No huge shock, that. But it didn't come back for four and a half hours. I was pleasantly surprised, as with outages all over, I expected to be pleased if the power was back on by morning. Still, I slept very lightly, and decided to stay in bed for an extra 45 minutes this morning. Now I have to head over to spend the day at a client site in Wheaton.
Have a great day, where ever you are!
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August 28, 2003 - Updates at 0700
Good morning. To make up for the long hours of the recent client move, with the added incentive of family plans, I've taken this and the following four days as a nice long weekend. Can you tell I'm making a bad start of it by being up at this hour? Yeah, me too! I don't know how much of this posting thing I'm likely to do - it entirely depends on how each day goes. I intend to be as lazy as events allow. That's necessary since following Labor Day, I have a bunch of stuff that needs doing, for us, for NERDS, and for other gigs.
I read in The Post that the US is supposed to shoulder some of the blame for the continuing failure in the peace process in the Middle East, aka The Road Map. Um, does anyone care to explain how it's our fault that neither camp can forebear for long from killing one another? Please be aware that while I think that in general the actions of the extremist Palestinians are utterly reprehensible, in their callous explicit targeting of Israeli non-combatants, Isreal certainly hasn't picked up any of the turn-the-other-cheek stuff that our nutty government seems to think they should have. Neither side can control their non-moderate factions, and I think any effort at peace in that part of the globe is doomed. What can we do? If we walk, bunches of people die and many will point the finger of blame at us. If we don't walk, ditto. The United States, in the eyes of the world in general, is in the unenviable position of the man who is asked when he will stop beating his wife. There's no good answer to that question.
I'm not in California, thank goodness, but in conversation, a lot of people here appear to think that the recall of a governor is wrong. Right or wrong, California law permits such a thing, and I'm only surprised it hasn't happened sooner. If I were there, I'd probably vote for Arnold. Or maybe the pit bull canine candidate. Anyone but a professional politician. Arnold doesn't have to be beholden to anyone, he hasn't scrabbled for the job the way most political candidates have, building up the favor debt that every politico drags around behind him. Hell, I think Arnold will be a hell of a lot better for California than Jesse the (mini-)Mind Ventura ever was for Minnesota. Nope, I have no rational basis for that statement, just a gut feeling.
Okay, final pronouncement of the day: Linux sucks ... less than anything else. That doesn't mean that it doesn't suck from time to time. And no, there's no recent event to warrant that statement beyond last week's rebuild of this box - resulting in another Gentoo installation. Some people ride skateboards and crash on the asphalt, losing skin to road rash, thus earning the moniker Scabby for several months out of the year. I merely execute the computational equivalent. Now I'm going to start my vacation. If I see you here, I hope we both enjoy it. If not, then I'll be back early next week, with adventures to report. For now, I'll leave you with a copy of the latest email scam I've received:
DEAR SIR/MADAM:
YOUR URGENT ASSISTANCE REQUIREDI AM MR DARL MCBRIDE CURRENTLY SERVING AS THE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE SCO GROUP, FORMERLY KNOWN AS CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, IN LINDON, UTAH, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I KNOW THIS LETTER MIGHT SURPRISE YOU BECAUSE WE HAVE HAD NO PREVIOUS COMMUNICATIONS OR BUSINESS DEALINGS BEFORE NOW.
MY ASSOCIATES HAVE RECENTLY MADE CLAIM TO COMPUTER SOFTWARES WORTH AN ESTIMATED $1 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS. I AM WRITING TO YOU IN CONFIDENCE BECAUSE WE URGENTLY REQUIRE YOUR ASSISTANCE TO OBTAIN THESE FUNDS.
IN THE EARLY 1970S THE AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CORPORATION DEVELOPED AT GREAT EXPENSE THE COMPUTER OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARE KNOWN AS UNIX. UNFORTUNATELY THE LAWS OF MY COUNTRY PROHIBITED THEM FROM SELLING THESE SOFTWARES AND SO THEIR VALUABLE SOURCE CODES REMAINED PRIVATELY HELD. UNDER A SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT SOME PROGRAMMERS FROM THE CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF BERKELEY DID ADD MORE CODES TO THIS OPERATING SYSTEM, INCREASING ITS VALUE, BUT NOT IN ANY WAY TO DILUTE OR DISPARAGE OUR FULL AND RIGHTFUL OWNERSHIP OF THESE CODES, DESPITE ANY AGREEMENT BETWEEN AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH AND THE CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF BERKELEY, WHICH AGREEMENT WE DENY AND DISAVOW.
IN THE YEAR 1984 A CHANGE OF REGIME IN MY COUNTRY ALLOWED THE AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CORPORATION TO MAKE PROFITS FROM THESE SOFTWARES. IN THE YEAR 1990 OWNERSHIP OF THESE SOFTWARES WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE CORPORATION UNIX SYSTEM LABORATORIES. IN THE YEAR 1993 THIS CORPORATION WAS SOLD TO THE CORPORATION NOVELL. IN THE YEAR 1994 SOME EMPLOYEES OF NOVELL FORMED THE CORPORATION CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, WHICH BEGAN TO DISTRIBUTE AN UPSTART OPERATING SYSTEM KNOWN AS LINUX. IN THE YEAR 1995 NOVELL SOLD THE UNIX SOFTWARE CODES TO SCO. IN THE YEAR 2001 OCCURRED A SEPARATION OF SCO, AND THE SCO BRAND NAME AND UNIX CODES WERE ACQUIRED BY THE CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, AND IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR THE CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL WAS RENAMED SCO GROUP, OF WHICH I CURRENTLY SERVE AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.
MY ASSOCIATES AND I OF THE SCO GROUP ARE THEREFORE THE FULL AND RIGHTFUL OWNERS OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARES KNOWN AS UNIX. OUR ENGINEERS HAVE DISCOVERED THAT NO FEWER THAN SEVENTY (70) LINES OF OUR VALUABLE AND PROPRIETARY SOURCE CODES HAVE APPEARED IN THE UPSTART OPERATING SYSTEM LINUX. AS YOU CAN PLAINLY SEE, THIS GIVES US A CLAIM ON THE MILLIONS OF LINES OF VALUABLE SOFTWARE CODES WHICH COMPRISE THIS LINUX AND WHICH HAS BEEN SOLD AT GREAT PROFIT TO VERY MANY BUSINESS ENTERPRISES. OUR LEGAL EXPERTS HAVE ADVISED US THAT OUR CONTRIBUTION TO THESE CODES IS WORTH AN ESTIMATED ONE (1) BILLION U.S. DOLLARS.
UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE HAVING DIFFICULTY EXTRACTING OUR FUNDS FROM THESE COMPUTER SOFTWARES. TO THIS EFFECT I HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE MANDATE BY MY COLLEAGUES TO CONTACT YOU AND ASK FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE. WE ARE PREPARED TO SELL YOU A SHARE IN THIS ENTERPRISE, WHICH WILL SOON BE VERY PROFITABLE, THAT WILL GRANT YOU THE RIGHTS TO USE THESE VALUABLE SOFTWARES IN YOUR BUSINESS ENTERPRIS E. UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE NOT ABLE AT THIS TIME TO SET A PRICE ON THESE RIGHTS. THEREFORE IT IS OUR RESPECTFUL SUGGESTION, THATYOU MAY BE IMMEDIATELY A PARTY TO THIS ENTERPRISE,BEFORE OTHERS ACCEPT THESE LUCRATIVE TERMS, THAT YOU SEND US THE NUMBER OF A BANKING ACCOUNT WHERE WE CAN WITHDRAW FUNDS OF A SUITABLE AMOUNT TO GUARANTEE YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS ENTERPRISE. AS AN ALTERNATIVE YOU MAY SEND US THE NUMBER AND EXPIRATION DATE OF YOUR MAJOR CREDIT CARD, OR YOU MAY SEND TO US A SIGNED CHECK FROM YOUR BANKING ACCOUNT PAYABLE TO "SCO GROUP" AND WITH THE AMOUNT LEFT BLANK FOR US TO CONVENIENTLY SUPPLY.
KINDLY TREAT THIS REQUEST AS VERY IMPORTANT AND STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. I HONESTLY ASSURE YOU THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% LEGAL AND RISK-FREE.
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August 29, 2003 - Updates at 0852
Good morning. Yesterday was a generally lazy day, I read Ben Bova's Colony cover to cover, resting my eyes from time to time. In the evening we went out to a catered dinner with some friends, and pleasantly nattered away a few hours. There really isn't anything else to say in this post, I only wish I'd been able to sleep in later this morning. But my back conspires against me with other body parts to ensure that I don't sleep in too late anymore. This is my first pass at the computer since yesterday morning, and it's likely to be my last until at least tomorrow.
I see that SCO is continuing it's disjointed relationship with reality. Announcements that got published in the Age indicate a less aggressive stance, backing down on statements made earlier this year by both Daffy McBride and Yosemite Sontag. Of course, I anticipate that they'll about face once more within a few days. Sheesh. Thanks to Slashdot for that pointer.
Now I'll finish up this coffee, hop into the shower, and get ready to go out to breakfast. Relaxing for the first time in a long-ish while is really quite nice... See ya!
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August 30, 2003 - Updates at 1000
Good morning. Another successful day passed with nothing useful done by your's truly. Ate breakfast out, and dinner too. Today we're going to toddle off to an area park, someplace or another. Picnic lunch and more reading. A very nice weekend continues to shape up nicely. Hope yours is going well, too.
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August 31, 2003 - Updates at 1442
Good afternoon. We slept in this morning, and just got back from lunching at Appleby's. I ate an over-size Porterhouse that put paid to any thoughts of productivity today. I'm about ready to lay down for a nap. Tonight we're out to meet friends for burritos, and I'd best remember to set the alarm, or we might just nap through it. I'm not sure I'll actually be hungry for supper, but I'll make a good showing, whatever the case.
The news is ... sadly, normal. Although we've stayed away from the TV and computers all weekend (mostly), brief checks of our favorite sites indicate that the world lunacy meter stands pat for the weekend. A death and a few injuries at Burning Man, a mass grave in Guatamala, and the usual reprisal jambouree in the Middle East. Will it ever end? Again sadly, I fear not. But I won't dwell on that today. Time for rest, see you around.
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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 © 1999-2003 Brian P. Bilbrey.
