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GRAFFITI -- August 25, 2008 thru August 31, 2008 >> 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.

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August 25, 2008

No Post.

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August 26, 2008

1723 - Good afternoon. I was thinking, maybe what I'm missing is a heavy mental challenge. My current state of boredom isn't impacted in the least by the coursework I've been taking, since I've been doing this stuff for so many years. I, of course, could challenge myself by pursuing a degree in something utterly unlike what I do for a living today. That's unlikely to be a wise career move, though, and getting started in a new field, while it wouldn't be tough for me, it might be hard for others (think hiring managers) to think this "old" dog can learn new tricks. Anyway, maybe I'll dive into a bit of Python again, and see if I can't learn enough interesting things to do something useful. That's an idea, anyway. Ciao!

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August 27, 2008

0645 - Good morning. Aren't you glad you don't live in my head...

21:08 < bilborg> The universe is, according to space.com, 1.482 * 10^27 meters 
                 wide.
21:08 *** d0d63 weeps
21:08 < d0d63> that means there's a finite amount of bacon.
21:08 < bilborg> Order of magnitude, how many numbers in the fibonacci sequence 
                 are there between 0 and 1.482 * 10^27
21:08 < d0d63> umm... "a lot"?
21:08 < bilborg> Ah, but it's an expanding universe, with new bacon being 
                 created all the time.
21:09 < bilborg> You'd be surprised at the answer. It's not a lot.
21:09 < d0d63> I guess that helps a little.
21:09 < d0d63> More than 5?
21:09 < bilborg> more than 21
21:09 < d0d63> That's a lot.
21:09 < bilborg> but, only 131
21:10 < d0d63> Mrs.d0d63 asks "is there dark matter bacon?"
21:10 < bilborg> of course.
21:10 < bilborg> and for all we know, the other 6 or 7 dimensions in the 
                 stringified metaverse are ALL BACON!
21:11 < d0d63> Mmm. String bacon.
21:11 < bilborg> 8.8920000000000001e+27 strips of bacon to span the universe
21:13 < bilborg> if the univers is spherical with a radius of 
                 4.4460000000000001e+27 strips of bacon
21:14 < bilborg> you could coat the sphere with a mere 1.4903890952745599e+57 
                 strips of bacon
21:17 < bilborg> If the volume of the sphere were full of bacon, there would be 
                 1.0602031868145109e+86 strips of bacon in it, and no d0d63 
21:18 < bilborg> and no me, either. No room ... all bacon.
21:18 < bilborg> I've become a bacon geek.

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August 28, 2008

2129 - Good evening. The expected rain ... wasn't much. I was a bit startled last night to look at the gauge and see that it registered 56.mumble inches, up just a bit from the 1.18" of a day or two ago. I'm not sure what happened, but I've reset it. Since then, we got just over a quarter inch. We're down about 4" over the last two months, and could really use a couple of storms. The lawns are all pretty brown. I'm certainly not spending as much water as I did last year. At least it was a cool-ish August - this time last year the garden was hosed from all the heat.

I'm poking at computers again. I mean hardware. I'll probably do nothing, since there's absolutely nothing I do that needs more power than I have now. But every once in a while I hear the call of Shiny! A quad-core box with 8G of RAM sure would make a nice VM box, wouldn't it? The problem, of course, is that I have no need. Used to be, reality didn't step in the way like this. I think the money goes in the 401K, instead. Now, back to the Python studies.

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August 29, 2008

2044 - Good evening. I read a "story" on the IT World site, claiming that 88% of IT staff would steal (credentials, data, etc.) from their employers were they to be suddenly laid off. Frankly, I don't believe the numbers they bandy about, in the slightest. I'm not sure what the agenda is, but I find it offensive that the rag would publish such "data" without batting an eyelash or even a pretense of questioning it.

On an entirely different topic, Natalie Dessay rocks! A stunning coloratura soprano, you can see a fun example of her work in this GooTube video, where she sings Der Hölle Rache. Nice costume, too. For some reason that (the costume) reminds me of Black Adder Back and Forth. A productive week, overall, and I'll glad to be at the head end of a three-day weekend. I hope to find the motivation and energy to get a lot done. Ciao!

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August 30, 2008

1517 - Good afternoon. Sarah Palin, eh? One news story says the line making the rounds is, "Palin, you are no Hillary Clinton." That certainly makes her more appealing to me. That she's actually worked for a living, as opposed to being a career politician/lawyer has demographic advantages, too. I think that McCain chose well. Time will tell if it makes a difference. Most of us will live to regret an Obama presidency. Since I see politicians as a necessary evil, the McCain/Palin ticket seems much less evil to me.

Haggis-flavoured ice cream. No, really. You'll get no linkage from me on that horribleness. If you must, go find it for yourself.

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August 31, 2008

1639 - Good afternoon. No more politics. Ron Paul's long out of the game, and he's the only one I was interested in seeing win. Yesterday, I got the front yard done. OTOH, I've gotten jack-all done today. I guess that's okay.

Four casualties. Not zero, and 100%, for the families of our fallen warriors. I have to believe that our serving men and women are wondering what's going to change in their mission, with the coming political sea change. I sure hope they get to come home soon! Our condolences to the families and units of the fallen.

• Staff Sgt. Brian E. Studer, 28, of Ramsey, Minnesota, died Aug. 22 in Ghazni, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when the improvised explosive device he was attempting to deactivate detonated.
• Pfc Tan Q. Ngo, 20, of Beaverton, Oregon, died Aug. 27 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered in Zabul Province, Afghanistan, when his mounted patrol received small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire.
• Sgt. David K. Cooper, 25, of Williamsburg, Kentucky, died Aug. 27 in Baghdad, of wounds suffered in Qadasiyah, Iraq, when his dismounted patrol came under small arms fire.
• Spc. Michael L. Gonzalez, 20, of Spotswood, New Jersey, died Aug. 28 in Baghdad, of wounds suffered by an improvised explosive device.

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