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GRAFFITI -- August 29, 2005 thru September 04, 2005 >> Link to the Current Week << Last Week << Mon   Tues   Wed   Thu   Fri   Sat   Sun >> Next Week Search this site : 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.

MONDAY    Tues    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    Sun   
August 29, 2005

1357 - Good afternoon. I'm home early from work, feeling a bit feverish and icky (carry over from the weekend, when I didn't whine about it, but I was clearly lacking focus today). Maybe this calls for a course of Medical Grade Maggots and Leeches. Yikes! Anyway, I came home quite early, I'll take a nap, and probably be up for my early-week chores: Trash, Bills and Backups. Meantime, Happy Monday!

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August 30, 2005

2034 - Good evening. It was a good day at work. Tasks were completed, a fair bit of organization done, and we had a welcome lunch for a new bloke who's going to be a big help in our Support department. Lunch was at Green Field Churrascaria, which means that I ate a spot of salad, a bit of bread, and then chowed on assorted meat continuously for about 2 hours. Most excellent. Once home, I fed the mutts, mowed in front, and barbequed some turkey burgers for Marcia. No, I'm still not really hungry. I might have dessert in a bit, but that's going to be more than enough.

On the Linux side of the fence, I've been half-heartedly mucking about with my HD-3000 HDTV capture card. I've been able to get cable analog signals, and I think I've done a successful OTA (over the air) scan for HD signals and picked up about 9 of them. But I've yet to actually view any of them. Of course, I haven't had any clear chunk of time in which to work on this ... one of these days, perhaps. One of the most popular and recommended sites for getting the card working highly recommends the Fedora Core distribution for the task, but I've generally been sorely disappointed by FC, and getting FC4 installed on this ASUS/Sempron rig has been no picnic. More as events warrent...

Okay, time to de-sweat from the mowing, and start winding down from the day. See you tomorrow.

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August 31, 2005

2053 - Good evening. And here I am. Not much to report, other than a doofus on the freeway today who STOPPED in the right hand lane in order to allow people who were afraid to merge get going. I really wish a semi tractor had been behind him to darwin his ass into his next 5 lifetimes... So, other than that, it was just a day at work. I futzed with some machines, helped fulfill a couple of product orders, and generally had a good time. See you again soon.

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Mon    Tues    Wed    THURSDAY    Fri    Sat    Sun   
September 1, 2005

1425 - Good afternoon. Gas across the street from my office today is $3.77 for regular, $3.98 for premium. Somebody's making some bucks. Bastards. Meantime, I sent a hundred bucks to the American Red Cross last night, specifically to the Hurricane Fund. More help there than from the Feds, who haven't got the balls to start shooting armed looters (including, if images and reports are correct, officers of the New Orleans PD).

Meantime, I'm fighting with bad media. Specifically, I"ve got a borked SBS2003 Premium disc. Factory. That's not good. I'd best get back to the grind. Ciao!

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September 2, 2005

No post.....

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September 3, 2005

0824 - Good morning, here, at least. I was up before 7 because a neighbor's alarm went off. Everything's fine, but I kept an eye on things until the county trooper rolled up to have a looksee. We're all still doing loads better than Louisiana and Mississippi. Have you given something to the American Red Cross yet? Kayne West has something of a point - the Feds seem to have fallen flat on their asses in getting real assistance into the area. The mostly poor, mostly black folks down there are taking the brunt of the failure straight on the chin. On the other hand, I think that the federal response would have sucked anyway, no matter who was down there, or what color they were. It doesn't help that people were SHOOTING at relief workers and evacuation busses. Among other things, West said: "They've given them permission to go down and shoot us." West clearly sees "us" as black people, blameless and downtrodden. I and a great many others understand that some segment of West's "us" is quite evidently not blameless, but instead is armed, beligerent and obstructing relief efforts. There are rumours of armed gangs raping, pillaging and looting. Are these part of West's "us", in his put-upon world?

Sure, poor folks often get the short end of the stick, and the vast majority of the poor in this country are black. Some of that is discrimination, surely. But along with the folks I know who worked their asses off to get out of that trap of poverty and neglect, I have known personally a number of people who make no real effort to better themselves, or who work to live up to the opportunities that exist for them. This is the real downside of all "equal opportunity programs", quotas and the like: People who get a job or a slot in a school because they're black, or women, or one eighth American Indian, or some other frippery don't and shouldn't get a free ride permitting them to not earn their way, not do their job. Put me in a minority classification: If I got a job because of my skin color, does that mean that I don't have to work to do the job? To keep the job? To gain the respect of my coworkers and employers? No, but I've seen a not-insignificant percentage of quota-driven hiring that lead to people in jobs where their quota-qualifying factor was their prime asset, and they did nothing to show that they were anything but quota-fillers. Let me tell you what I would do: I would hire anyone who would do the work, show up, try to learn and grow and generally be a human being. People who can't do that deserve what they get, color, sex or species ... I don't care.

Kayne West, you should go down and get those young men with the weapons who listen to your ranting and raving nasty-ass rap music (It's not just you, I've got no use for Rap, in general) to stop hindering relief efforts. If you truly believe that the Feds are going slow because the people most in need are black, how much slower do you think they're going because some of them black folks are morons with guns who are shooting at police and busses and helicopters. Get that shit to stop and more will be done faster. For all of that, I'm glad that you got to say your say on national TV. That rocks!

Now, I have yardwork to do. Have a great day!

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September 4, 2005

1208 - Good afternoon. The yardwork got done. I had to double cut the back yard, as it was overgrown. One pass to knock it down, another at right angles to give it a nice trim. In front I followed up Tuesday's mow with another trim, to get the front and back yards back in sync. Then I accomplished quite a bit, stripping and sanding the coffee table. I've a bit more to sand today, then a final finsh sanding all over with 220 grit paper. Then I can start staining.

RIP, William H. Rehnquist, member of the US Supreme Court, with 33 years on that bench, 19 as Chief Justice. There are a bunch of good articles out there summarizing his career, I'm just going to be interested in watching the spectacle of his replacement's nomination and confirmation. I'm a big fan of judicial restraint and strict constitutionalism.

Speaking of which, I wonder how Bush's war is going? In terms of casualties, it was less bad than recent weeks. I suspect that a major push from the insurgents will come as the constitutional referendum comes to a vote. But for now I simply want to honor the memory of the fallen...

• Staff Sgt. Damion G. Campbell, 23, of Baltimore, Md., died on August 26, 2005, in Khayr Kot, Afghanistan, where an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during a combat patrol.
• Sgt. 1st Class Obediah J. Kolath, 32, of Louisburg, Mo., died on Aug. 28, 2005, in Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries sustained on Aug. 25, 2005, in Husaybah, Iraq, where an improvised explosive device detonated near his position.
• Spc. Joseph L. Martinez, 21, of Las Vegas, Nev., died on Aug. 27, 2005, in Tal Afar, Iraq, where his dismounted patrol was engaged by enemy forces using small arms fire.
• Chief Warrant Officer Dennis P. Hay, 32, of Valdosta, Ga., died on Aug. 29, 2005, in Tal Afar, Iraq, where his OH-58D Kiowa helicopter came under attack by enemy forces using small arms fire.
• 2nd Lt. Charles R. Rubado, 23, of Clearwater, Fla., died on Aug. 29, 2005, in Tal Afar, Iraq, when his M1A2 Abrams tank came under attack by enemy forces using small arms fire.
• Maj. Gregory J. Fester, 41, of Grand Rapids, Mich., died on Aug. 30, 2005, in Iskandariyah, Iraq, where an improvised explosive device detonated near his dismounted patrol.
• Sgt. Monta S. Ruth, 26, of Winston-Salem, N.C., died on Aug. 31, 2005, in Samarra, Iraq, where an improvised explosive device detonated near his military vehicle during security patrol operations.
• Spc. Jason E. Ames, 21, of Cerulean, Ky., died on Aug. 31, 2005, in Mosul, Iraq, from non-combat related injuries
• Capt. Lowell T. Miller, II, 35, of Flint, Mich., died on Aug. 31, 2005, in Iskandariyah, Iraq, when his military training team was conducting operations with the Iraqi Army and they came under attack by enemy forces using small arms fire.
• 1st Lt. Derek S. Hines, 25, of Newburyport, Mass., died on Sept. 1, 2005, in Baylough, Afghanistan, when his unit was conducting security operations and came under attack by enemy forces using small arms fire.

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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.

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