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GRAFFITI -- July 03, 2006 thru July 09, 2006>> 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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July 3, 2006
0827 - Aaaaargh.
I finished watering the front plants around 3pm, since the day was hot, about 95° in the shade. Linda Rose came over to do a jigsaw puzzle with Marcia and stay to supper. Next thing I knew, the sky got dark. The wind came up, lightning and thunder all around, and torrential rain. Whooo! Oh. Sigh. So the wind really came up. We were gusting over 60, and clearly that didn't agree with the corn. I've got to upright that today, and hope that things recover.
Not how I was planning to spend day three of a four day weekend, but such is life. Have a great day!
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July 4, 2006
1034 - Good morning. Repairs effected ... and effective.
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How I repaired the corn blown down by the wind: I picked up six 8' 2x2 pressure-treated pieces of lumber, and two 100' lengths of synthetic 1/8" cord. I already have several pounds of 3" decking screws in stock downstairs. Using four of the boards, I built and attached an H-frame at the end of each bed. I used the final two boards, cut into 2' lengths, to brace the H-frames against the impending tension. Then I cut eight 15' lengths from the cord. Attached first at one end, I then threaded the cord through the stalks, looped around the H-frame at the other end, and used a trucker's hitch to draw quite a bit of tension onto each cord. I adjusted horizontally until most of the corn was upright in at least one axis. I continued until all the cords were in place.
Then I mixed 40# of manure with 3 cubic feet of leaf compost, and then uprighted each cluster of stalks and built a little hill to help support them. I figured the manure wasn't a bad idea, might as well fertilize as long as I was touching the bases of all the corn anyway.
Looks pretty good ... I'll leave that in place for the next storm, and the storm after that. Too bad it was such a bloody hot day. I sweated off a few pounds out there, especially while I was hilling soil in the beds.
Pournelle's column has a new home: Chaos Manor Reviews went live yesterday. Check it out!
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July 5, 2006
0744 - Good morning. Yay! A successful launch for NASA and the shuttle Discovery. And if you missed it yesterday, Pournelle launched a new site, Chaos Manor Reviews. Among other proposed content, that's the new home for the long-running Computing at Chaos Manor column (carried by Byte all these years). I've got a lot to do here, so I'll leave you with that. Have a great day!
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July 6, 2006
0825 - Good morning. Wow, Thursday already. Where can I sign up for three-day work weeks every week? Oh. Winning Lotto ticket, right. Gotta play if I want that path to open...
Skype and security showed up again on the radar, at least in this posting to Slashdot. According to the linked TechWorld article, Skype fights back, Skype has to use evasion and protocol-agile technolgies to avoid being blocked by service providers. And yeah, that concerns corporate admins. My response? Same as it's been since the beginning. Skype isn't allowed on our network. Period, end of story. I touch most machines several times a year, and finding Skype installed gets an uninstall and an emailed warning that goes to several places. Traffic that we can't control or monitor has no place on our network.
I laughed my ass off, when I read The Top Ten Things Jerry Pournelle Might Announce, as compiled and presented by Jeff Timm on Thompson's forums.
Time to get back to work ... it looks as though it might be an interesting day.
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July 7, 2006
0656 - Good morning. Okay. Interesting was a bad word to use. Sucked would be an okay word to use to describe yesterday. But everything came out as well as might be expected, so there you go. Cryptic? Yeah, but that's the way it has to be. In the meantime...
I headed out into the garden when I got home last night. A bit of pruning and redirection here and there, then I harvested out that which was ready: cucumbers, zucchini, white squash, salsa and jalapeno peppers, and a small handful of tomatos. We're getting a few more of those every day or two. Soon we'll be inundated, of course. Then I grilled up a steak marinated in salsa, and steamed one of the zucchini. Slice up a couple of the tomatoes, some pepper and parmesan on the zucchini ... a wonderful meal. The corn is holding its own; Marcia says it's growing, hard for me to tell from day to day.
Happily, it's Friday. I'm going to come home early and relax if I can. I've also got some more work to do on Chaos Manor Reviews, if the mood strikes. See y'all later.
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July 8, 2006
1641 - Good afternoon. What a day! We slept in a bit ... until 0930 in my case. Amazingly, the dogs weren't frantic at all. I'll assume that had something to do with putting them out for the last time last night somewhere north of 2300. Once up and caffeinated, I tackled the front and back yard mowing. Then I did some overseeding of patches that are grub-affected, and raked in some leaf compost over that. A nice soaking topped off the front lawn for the day.
Once back inside, I turned on the computer (which had actually been off, a rare occurrance) and jumped through the email. Plenty of stuff from Pournelle, so I spent some time and plunked the mailbag into place as well as setup a Media Lab section for the Chaos Manor Reviews site.
Now it's time to check the garden, and figure out what's for supper, depending on harvest results. Have a lovely evening.
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July 9, 2006
1329 - Good afternoon. Another day of sleeping late ... unless we're careful, it's going to be a nightmare rolling out of bed tomorrow morning at 0:dawn:30. But the shopping's done, and I've put up a new pair of Japanese beetle traps. The first set had their best days behind them, time for some fresh stinky stuff....
The news from Iraq is all about rape and murder ... as if the alleged actions of a small group of soldiers reflect the actions and motivations of our whole force. Um ... no. Our soldiers are there following orders to bring democracy, peace and security to the quasi-nation Iraq. They're doing their best, and handing off to Iraqi forces just as fast as those units are ready to come online. And our troops are being killed in their tens and hundreds by insurgents aided and abetted by Iraqis. Some men do break under stress, and it's possible, if true, that that's what happened in this case. But by no means let this unfortunate focus draw your attention away from the sacrifices made by US troops on behalf of the United States, in executing their missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the world.
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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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