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GRAFFITI -- September 18, 2006 thru September 24, 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 18, 2006

0916 - Good morning. I got a good jump on the day, making it around the beltway and into the office a couple of minutes past 0700. I sat down, got everything plugged in and happy, then bang - up against a brick wall. I'd used the home cable connection to pull down a few different ISO images for use here, so's to not clog the T1 for an extended period. I easily transferred them to my work laptop (an IBM T42p) last night. Today, when I try to transfer them to anyplace on the local network, I get scp errors mumbling about "Corrupt MAC". So far Google has given me no joy. I keep reading about memory problems, and about NIC problems that cause this sort of thing. But then, it all worked yesterday flawlessly. WTF? So I'm currently running memtest86 on the laptop.

It seems that the Pope (then and now) was right, eh? The world's a funny and dangerous place. Maybe he (the Pope) should apologize for apologizing, since there's nothing incorrect in his statements. Unlikely, I know.

Time to get back to the millstone. Have a great day.

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September 19, 2006

0741 - Arrrr! 'nuff said. Talk like a Pirate today. All day. Or you'll be found to have said "Arrrrgh", instead (which is known to be the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin. Avast!

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September 20, 2006

1100 - Good morning. By any chance did I happen to mention how much I love Comcast? I don't think so, that isn't like me. If I did though, let's just retract that, shall we? To summarize, over most of what's laughingly called a "baseball season" around here, our two local teams, the Washington Nationals, and the Baltimore Orioles, have been fighting tooth and claw - For near-dead last. Currently they're tied, with identical .433 records. Both teams need work even so, because four teams suck worse. But what does this have to do with Comcast?

The Nationals are the new kids on the block. Well, new in the sense that they made a bit of money playing baseball last year. Also they've managed at least to pick up a new ownership group, after MLB hobbled the team for a second straight year. Not new in the "former losing-est team in baseball, the Montreal Expos." Now, you'll have noticed that I don't generally talk much about baseball 'round here. That's because I watch less baseball than I do football (and I maybe watch one football game a year, right?) So, the big deal was broadcasting the Nationals games in their home television market. Part of the deal that was cut to bring the Nationals to the area was to give broadcast rights to the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN). MASN is owned by Peter Angelos. Peter also owns the Orioles. You can imagine how excited Peter was to have local competition for MLB fan dollars. Yeah, right. Still, no Comcast, eh?

Precisely. No. Comcast. Comcast has always refused to pay the price that MASN was asking for broadcast rights to MASN content. It wasn't a big deal before, because DC Metro gives not a shit about Baltimore, so far as I can tell. But when the Nationals came to town, and many "fans" couldn't watch the broadcasts of their local team because Comcast wouldn't/couldn't cut a deal with Angelos ... well, fecal matter, meet spinning blades. It took a while. More than a season and a half. There were negotiations, broken off. There were District hearings, pointless hot air. Finally there were Congressional hearings, even more fucking pointless hot air (and boy-howdy am I peeved about our Congresscritters, who can't even take the time to READ all the freaking bills that they vote on, but they have time to gripe about televised baseball). And a deal was made.

In our recent Comcast bill, I was informed that Comcast was pleased and excited to bring MASN broadcasts to viewers. I was also informed that Comcast had no intention of profiting from carrying MASN content to its viewers. But Comcast also had no intention of eating the cost of the contract. Therefore every Comcast cable television customer above the über-basic level has to pay an extra two bucks a month to support the Nationals on Comcast. I honestly can't be more livid about this. Make the people that want Nationals games on TV pay for them as Pay-Per-View. This is insane! Sure, it's only two bucks a month. 24 dollars a year. That won't mean I don't eat. But I think it's wrong. I sure will be glad when I can vote with my wallet, and dump Comcast for FiOS. I may even see if I can talk Marcia into the über-basic cable plan.

In work-related news, I've been updating some SA documentation in the TWiki. I *love* using a Wiki as a documentation tool. I'd best be back at the grindstone, though. Have a great day!

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September 21, 2006

1040 - Good morning. Go read what Bob said. Follow the links. Be outraged. Now, back to work for me.

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September 22, 2006

1225 - Good afternoon. Travel day today. Linda Rose is watching the puppies while we fly to San diego. We're on the ground in SD for just 36 hours, for the wedding of Rachael and Aaron (Marcia's nephew). Reporting from DFW via Treo, happy Friday!

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September 23, 2006

No Post!

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September 24, 2006

1847 - Good evening. We're home safe and sound after ~24 hours of travel (both directions) and slightly less than 36 hours on the ground in San Diego in the middle. More on that tomorrow. We had the opportunity to express our appreciation of assorted troops in transit, several times. That's a good thing. Several of the ones we met today as we moved East were on their way back to Iraq. My hat's off to all of our Armed Forces. And my thoughts are with the families and mates of the fallen...

• Petty Officer 2nd Class David S. Roddy, 32, of Aberdeen, Md., died Sept. 16 while his unit was conducting combat operations against enemy forces in the Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Sgt. 1st Class Bernard L. Deghand, 42, of Mayetta, Kan., died on Sept. 15 in Spira, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when his unit encountered enemy forces using small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire during combat operations.
• Sgt. Clint E.Williams, 24, of Kingston, Okla., died on Sept. 14 of injuries suffered in Baghdad, Iraq when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations.
• Sgt. David J. Davis, 32, of Mount Airy, Md., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sept.17, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Stryker Armored Vehicle during combat operations in Sadr City, Iraq.
• Sgt. Adam L. Knox, 21, of Columbus, Ohio, died on Sept. 17 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when his patrol encountered enemy forces using small arms fire during combat operations.
• Pfc. Jeffrey P. Shaffer, 21, of Harrison, Ark., died of injuries sustained in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, on Sept.13 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle during combat operations.
• Sgt. James R. Worster, 24, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, died from a non-combat related incident on Sept. 18 in Baghdad, Iraq.
• Spc. Russell M. Makowski, 23, of Union, Mo., died of injuries suffered in Taji, Iraq, on Sept. 14 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his dismounted patrol during combat operations.
• Sgt. Christopher M. Zimmerman, 28, of Stephenville, Texas, died Sept. 20 while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Sgt. Aaron A. Smith, 31, of Killeen, Texas, died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sept. 14 of injuries suffered when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated in the vicinity of a West Baghdad Substation where he was located.
• Sgt. Jennifer M. Hartman, 21, of New Ringgold, Pa., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sept. 14 of injuries suffered when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated in the vicinity of a West Baghdad Substation where she was located.
• Cpl. Marcus A. Cain, 20, of Crowley, La., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sept. 14 of injuries suffered when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated in the vicinity of a West Baghdad Substation where he was located.
• Cpl. Yull Estrada Rodriguez, 21, of Alegre Lajas, Puerto Rico, died Sept. 20 while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Master Sgt. Robb G. Needham, 51, of Vancouver, Wash., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sept.20, of injuries suffered when his patrol came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during combat operations.

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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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