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GRAFFITI -- September 04, 2006 thru September 10, 2006 >> 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 4, 2006

2144 Good evening. Back from a lovely evening spent with the Kittermans at their new place in Ellicot City. Good food, good friends, a holiday ... Mondays don't get any better. And now I've just gotten Jerry's mailbag for the week formatted and posted. More tomorrow, g'night!

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Mon    TUESDAY    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    Sun   
September 5, 2006

1447 - Good afternoon. Almost meeting time, so I'll be brief. We had a lovely weekend. Bob, Barbara and the boys came up for a short visit. Bob and I mucked around with computers (big surprise), refurbishing his main workstation, and fighting against hardware problems on a system that might have been Barbara's (but that was not to be). Marcia and Barbara shopped and read, mostly. The four of us together went to the Kittermans last night, leaving dogs behind. Sad for them, calm for us.

Now, back to reading about SE Linux, that'll carry me through to meeting time. Happy Tuesday!

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September 6, 2006

0754 - Good morning. One day late in the week, I got the bills paid and the offsite backups done. Not much else to report. Back later should that change. Ciao!

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September 7, 2006

Oooops....

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September 8, 2006

1900 - Good evening. I've been ... busy. Long commutes, long work days. I rebuilt our two primary external nameservers, and put the latest/greatest BIND9 on there, driven by the recent BIND DoS vulnerability. Since that was the focus of attention, I took the time to get those systems under our configuration management system. That plus doing some prep work for an upcoming project ate today right up.

This weekend the mower cometh. Yeah, some serious rain, and the grass is growing. In my secret heart, I was hoping it'd stay brown, and I could go for concrete... Oh, well. But for now, I'll head downstairs and watch some Sherlock Holmes with Marcia (who just posted for the first time in a long while). Ciao!

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September 9, 2006

No Post.

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Mon    Tues    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    SUNDAY  
September 10, 2006

1328 - Good afternoon. There's pain, and then there's pain. Mine is minor, back and legs mostly, resulting from yesterday's yardwork. I filled thirteen 45-gallon bags with yard waste, mostly lawn trimmings. Where previously the lawns looked shaggy, awful, and mostly brown, now they're flat, neatly trimmed, and mostly brown. Well, not precisely true - the shaggy bits resulted from the rain that accompanied Ernesto north with the Thompsons a week ago, and the rain this last week. So things are greening a bit, and I wanted to get stuff trimmed down and some overseeding done, at least in front. So that I did, and watered it in.

Today, the shopping is done, and I'm continuing with the optical backups. That, plus catching up on the trade 'zines, should eat most of the day. I expect Mailbag and Column from Jerry, hopefully before too late tonight, to get formatted for Chaos Manor Reviews posting tomorrow. You know, it was funny at the time ... I set up Google AdSense for Jerry on that site, and when I thought I was done, I still couldn't see the Google ads on the site. It turns out, of course, that Adblock was saving me from seeing the results of my handiwork. So I whitelisted CMR in Adblock by right clicking on the Adblock item in the lower right of the browser window, and selecting "Whitelist this whole site". I also took that action for several other sites where I agree with their goals and purposes. I won't click on ads just to make the sites money, but if I see a relevant ad and it relates to something that I might be actually interested in, then sure, I'll follow the link. That way the site is supported, the advertiser has a shot at getting value for his advertising dollar, and I might find something I want. So, selectively, it might be worth your while to whitelist a few sites, too.

And the beat goes on. You know, if I were among the nutjobs of the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and the remnants of teh Ba'athists, I'd do things a little differently. Instead of stirring the pot continuously, I'd lay low, collect money and weapons against a later day of insurrection, and wait for the Americans to think they'd finished the job, then go home. With American forces out of the picture, taking Iraq and Afghanistan back would be a breeze... Unless they think that people might learn to like the peace, quiet, and cargo from a more Western way of life too much, with even a short exposure to a higher standard of living without nutjob suicide bombers in the marketplaces, etc. Be that as it may, our young men and women in the services handle their orders with bravery and heart. And some die ... this was a bad week.

• Pfc. Nicholas A. Madaras, 19, of Wilton, Conn., died on Sept. 3, in Baqubah, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his dismounted patrol during combat operations.
• Staff Sgt. Michael L. Deason, 28, of Farmington, Mo., died on Aug 31, in Ad War, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations.
• Staff Sgt. Eugene H.E. Alex, 32, of Bay City, Mich., died on Sept. 2 in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries suffered on Aug 30 in Baghdad, Iraq, when he encountered enemy forces using small arms fire.
• Lance Cpl. Cliff K. Golla, 21, of Charlotte, N.C., died Sept. 1 from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Lance Cpl. Philip A. Johnson, 19, of Hartford, Conn., died Sept. 3 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Lance Cpl. Shane P. Harris, 23, of Las Vegas, N.M., died Sep. 3 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Lance Cpl. Eric P. Valdepenas, 21, of Seekonk, Mass., died Sept. 4 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Pvt. Ryan E. Miller, 21, of Gahanna, Ohio, died Sept. 3 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Cpl. Jared M. Shoemaker, 29, of Tulsa, Okla., died Sept. 4 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Sgt. Matthew J. Vosbein, 30, of Metairie, La., died on Aug. 29, in Sadr Al Yusifiyah, Iraq, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his dismounted patrol during combat operations.
• Cpl. Shannon L. Squires, 25, of Virginia Beach, Va., died in Brooke Army Medial Center, San Antonio, Texas on Aug. 28, of injuries sustained along Main Supply Route Tampa, Iraq on Apr. 21, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his convoy vehicle during combat operations.
• Pfc. Hannah L. Gunterman, 20, of Redlands, Calif., died on Sept. 4 in Taji, Iraq, from injuries suffered when she was struck by a vehicle.
• Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher G. Walsh, 30, of St. Louis, Mo. died Sept. 4 while his unit was conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Sgt. Ralph N. Porras, 36, of Merrill, Mich., died in Yusifiyah, Iraq, on Sept. 2 of injuries suffered from mortar fire during dismounted combat operations.
• Pfc. Justin W. Dreese, 21, of Northumberland, Pa., died in Yusifiyah, Iraq, on Sept. 2 of injuries suffered from mortar fire during dismounted combat operations.
• Staff Sgt. Angel D. Mercado-Velazquez, 24, died in Yusifiyah, Iraq, on Sept. 1 of injuries suffered from mortar fire during dismounted combat operations.
• Sgt. 1st Class Richard J. Henkes II, 32, of Portland Ore., died on Sept. 3 of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations.
• Sgt. Germaine L. Debro, 33, of Omaha, Neb., died on Sept. 4 in Balad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations.
• Lt. Col. Marshall A. Gutierrez, 41, of New Mexico, died on Sep. 4 in Camp Virginia, Kuwait, from non-combat related injuries.
• Pfc. Jeremy R. Shank, 18, of Jackson, Mo., died on Sept. 6 in Balad, Iraq, of injuries suffered in Hawijah, Iraq, when he encountered enemy forces using small arms fire during a dismounted security patrol.
• Pfc. Vincent M. Frassetto, 21, of Toms River, N.J., died Sept. 7 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Sgt. Jason L. Merrill, 22, of Mesa, Ariz., died on Sep. 3 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle during combat operations.
• Pvt. Edwin A. Andino II, 23, of Culpeper, Va., died on Sep. 3 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle during combat operations.
• Sgt. David W. Gordon, 23, of Williamsfield, Ohio, died on Sept. 8, in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during combat operations.

Time to go. I have a phone call to make as it's a birthday for someone who doesn't like birthdays. So it is clearly my duty to remind them... Ciao!

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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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