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GRAFFITI -- September 19, 2005 thru September 25, 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   
September 19, 2005

0609 - Top o' t' day, matey! ...

AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGH!!!

So ayeterday was not all grog and roses. Midway through t' shoppin', we stopped at Lowes t' pick up some two-stroke oil for t' strin' trimmer. Thereafter, t' Santa Fe wouldn't start. Wrrrrrr. Wrrrrrr. Wr. Anyway, clearly t' battery, since thar was no indication o' t' alternator havin' problems (and if thar were, t' Check Engine light would have been on, starboard?). So I walked t' half mile up t' NTB, picked up a battery for t' beast, then hoofed it aft down t' t' truck and t' patiently waitin' wench. Then I went inside, picked up a small socket set (to leave in t' truck hereafter), and replaced t' battery. WrrrWHOOM! Perfect, so we drove up t' NTB, dropped off t' old battery, and continued our shoppin' run, only 70 doubloons lighter and 45 minutes later than expected.

Then I got rollin' in t' yard. I pruned out t' gladiolas and tiger lillies. Then I pruned a couple o' small trees that needed cleanin' up. Finally I mowed fore and aft, consumin' a sin'le sailor-size servin' o' Coca-Cola in t' process. By t' time I was done with that, cleaned up and wound down, it was what crawled out o' t' bung hole time for t' dogs (that means 1800 in people-speak). So, I never got t' t' computer-gear-closet cleanout, nor did I get any readin' done in t' stack o' magazines.

Aaaarrrgh, aye's well! Now into t' new week, includin' t' setup and trainin' for a new landlubber, and startin' t' prep for another new swabbie next week. I've also got a new listserver t' build, and other tasks, I'm aye. At this rate, I'll never get that Exchange/Blackberry server into haarrrborrr. Piss in me grog! Oh, and this early start be due t' me takin' t' Santa Fe into t' drydock for brake service (arranged 'nd payed since day ar'ter sabbat' last) and I'll have them look at t' alternator and electrical system as long as we're at it. So I've gotta roll - busy day ahead! Avast!

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Mon    TUESDAY    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    Sun   
September 20, 2005

0614 - Good morning. One last followup from International Talk Like A Pirate day (only 364 days to go until the next one). Svenson writes:

So on Monday we must talk like normal people.
Cause, according to our good friends of the RIAA all normal people are
pirates.
...
So here goes :
"How was your weekend?"
"Fine thank you. How was yours?"
"Very nice. Had some good music in the morning while waking up."
"Oh ..."

Heh. Indeed. Then, in a different vein, there was this, sent to me by the Grand Poobah himself:

*Subject:* definition of tragedy

Jesse Jackson is visiting a primary school and he visits one of
the classes.

They are in the middle of a discussion related to words and
their meanings.

 The teacher asks the Rev. Jackson if he would like to lead the
discussion on the word "tragedy."

So the illustrious leader asks the class for an example of a "tragedy."

One little boy stands up and offers: "If my best friend, who lives on
a farm, is playing in the field and a runaway tractor comes along and
knocks him dead, that would be a tragedy."

"No," says the Great Jesse Jackson, "that would be an accident."

A little girl raises her hand:  "If a school bus carrying 50
children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a
tragedy."

"I'm afraid not," explains the exalted spiritual leader.

"That's what we would call a great loss."

The room goes silent. No other children volunteer.  Rev. Jackson
searches the room "Isn't there someone here who can give me an example
of a tragedy?"

Finally at the back of the room a small boy raises his hand.  In a
quiet voice he says:  "If a jet carrying the Rev. Jackson were struck by
a missile and blown to smithereens that would be a tragedy."

"Fantastic!" exclaims Jackson. "That's right! And can you tell me why
that would be a tragedy?"

"Well," says the boy, "because it sure as hell wouldn't be a great
loss, and it probably wouldn't be an accident either."

It's time to pick the OS I'll use to build the new list server. It'll probably be OpenBSD, because institutionally, we like that in our DMZ machines, where possible. Low package proliferation, high security awareness - a nice combination. I'll have to look into how up-to-date the OpenBSD packages are for Mailman and Python. I can use the stock Postfix and Apache ones, I'm sure.

Oh, news on the truck front... Everything looks okay. We had to get the battery fluid topped off, but the brake pads all around are less than half gone, rotors look fine, and I had them check out the electrical system, too. All that looked good, so it must really have been the battery that was the problem. At least now we know. Oh, and the dealership didn't charge a dime to look at all that stuff, and ponied up for the cab rides there and back. Not too shabby.

Now I need to go tank up my car (shudder), then hit the road and get myself into the office. Ciao!

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Mon    Tues    WEDNESDAY    Thu    Fri    Sat    Sun   
September 21, 2005

1057 - Good morning. Sigh. Those RIAA bastards are at it again. Go to this page on the EFF website read, weep, take action. Now I've got to get back to work. I'm doing the downloads and preparing to rebuild the OpenBSD list server with the latest errata. Have a great day!

1255 - Me again. Fixed the link above, by adding the missing '=' character between the href tag and the URL string. Thanks to Don and Andrew for their neck-and-neck finish letting me know about the problem.

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Mon    Tues    Wed    THURSDAY    Fri    Sat    Sun   
September 22, 2005

1905 - Good evening. How wrong is this? Okay, back to the coal mines. See you in the Fall. If you're still on the Texas or Louisiana coasts, get the hell out, folks. You can always buy more stuff somehow. Ain't no puttin' back together dead peoples, not yet, no ways.

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Mon    Tues    Wed    Thu    FRIDAY    Sat    Sun   
September 23, 2005

No Post.....

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Mon    Tues    Wed    Thu    Fri    SATURDAY    Sun   
September 24, 2005

1522 - Hullo. I've been spreading peat moss over the front lawns and getting some watering setup. We had pretty bad (unfortunately unanticipated) grub damage to the lawns front and back. So I had the service come in and reseed, but took care of the over-laying of peat myself. Gave the front a bit more than a cubic yard, raked in. Then I watered it all in. Daily watering will continue for a while, until everything comes back to life. I don't know what I'm going to do with the rest of this afternoon. There's the closet sorting still to be done, so I'll likely do that, just to have it out of the way. I've also got some more floor prep that can be done in the basement, to get the rest of that floor painted. Hmmm. That sounds more like work, and something that I'll put off once again. See ya later...

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Mon    Tues    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    SUNDAY  
September 25, 2005

1742 - Hullo. More bloody yardwork from after shopping until now. Yesterday went unproductive and HalfLife2-ish after I posted, then we watched the telly in the evening. I've the energy of a small dead thing lying in the road, so I'll keep this short, but there's my obligation to myself and the men and women of our armed forces to keep, before I go...

• Sgt. Matthew L. Deckard, 29, of Elizabethtown, Ky., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sept. 16, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his M1A1 Abrams tank during patrol operations.
• Staff Sgt. Regilio E. Nelom, 45, of Queens, N.Y., died near Al Asad, Iraq, on Sept. 17, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during an escort mission.
• 1st Sgt. Alan N. Gifford, 39, of Tallahassee, Fla. died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sept. 16, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his M1A1 Abrams tank during patrol operations.
• Spc. David H. Ford IV, 20, of Ironton, Ohio. died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sept. 16, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his M1A1 Abrams tank during patrol operations.
• 1st Lt. Mark H. Dooley, 27, of Wallkill, N.Y. died in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, on Sept. 19, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during patrol operations.
• Sgt. Michael Egan, 36, of Philadelphia, Pa. died in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, on Sept. 19, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during patrol operations.
• Spc. William V. Fernandez, 37, of Reading, Pa. died in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, on Sept. 19, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during patrol operations.
• Spc. William L. Evans, 22, of Hallstead, Pa., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sept. 19 of injuries sustained earlier that day in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle during combat operations.
• Staff Sgt. William A. Allers III, 28, of Leitchfield, Ky., died in the vicinity of Khalis, north of Baghdad, Iraq, on Sept. 20 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his convoy vehicle.
• Sgt. 1st Class Lawrence E. Morrison, 45, of Yakima, Wash., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sept. 19, of injuries sustained earlier that day in Taji, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
• Spc. Scott P. McLaughlin, 29, of Hardwick, Vt., died in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, on Sept. 22 as a result of enemy small arms fire.
• Sgt. Travis M. Arndt, 23, of Bozeman, Mont., died in Kirkuk, Iraq, on Sept. 21 as a result of a vehicle accident during convoy operations.
• Sgt. Pierre A. Raymond, 28, of Lawrence, Mass., died at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, on Sept. 20, of injuries sustained in Ramadi, Iraq, on Sept. 15, when his unit was attacked by enemy forces using indirect fire.

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