Wed-Apr 30 2008
Living on the Edge
Upgraded Ubuntu to Hardy Heron.
Despite a thrilling "Fatal IO Error 9" it works just fine. I guess it wasn't quite fatal.
Only partly fatal. Slightly fatal, but not completely.
I did have to futz with Thunderbird to get it to open links in Firefox. TBird
thought Firefox was called "mozilla-firefox". And I'm beginning to think that
they shouldn't have gone for Firefox 3 beta-half my extensions don't work and
it's like my thumbs have been cut off.
P.S. Arrrggh!! FireFTP doesn't work! If I can't use FireFTP to update the blog I'll
have to fall back to using the command line. I've been using FireFTP for years
and I've totally forgotten what to do.
P.P.S. Scrounged the newest beta of FireFTP. It works, so here's to
untested software.
Thu-Jul 19 2007
Harry Hullaballoo
I heard a NPR story yesterday where someone from Amazon was talking about
the lengths they've taken to keep the last Harry Potter secure. He would
only say that he was in Nevada, because naming the city might be a security
risk. At this point I yelled "You're in Reno, you idiot". Anybody in the
book business, or that can read a return address on a label, or that has
access to the Internet could tell you
where the largest Amazon fullfillment
center is. They Amazon rep then when on to describe how the book is
in a secure room, with admission by card only, and how only select Amazon
employees wearing gloves are allowed to pack the books for shipment, and
how Amazon is performing inventory counts constantly to maintain security.
I found all this very amusing because at that exact moment I was tooling
around Seattle in a Ford van with over 500 Harrys
packed into the back-just me, with only a large box knife and a bad
attitude standing between Potter and hordes of biblophile
highwaymen. And I wasn't even wearing gloves.
Wed-Feb 28 2007
Good Impulse Control

From Craigslist:
"HEY I HAVE A BUITIFUL 1986 BUICK HEARSE W/74/K ORG DROVE BACK AND FORTH TO CEMETARY.. AND A COUPLE OF SIDE JOBS IT SILVER/W BLACK VYNAL EVEN HAVE AM/FM TUNES. BLUE INTERIOR. I NEED HELP ITS GO TO GO TONITE PLEASE !!!~ CALL ME ON MY CELL XXX-XXX-XXXX I KNOW IT LATE BUT MONDAY BY 2 PM WOULD WORK
ON THE WEB GO ETO HEARSE CLUBS THEN GO TO RAIN DAILY CLUB THEN TO PICTURES THEN FIND LILLY PHYLLIS U CAN SEE IT 4 UR SELF ANY QUESTIONS CALL ME CRAIG XXX-XXX-XXXX THANKS I REALLY NEED TO GET RID OF THE TOYY GREAT OP TO MAKE EXTRA MONEY U ASK I WILL EXPLAIN"
Let me tell ya, last Sunday night I was this close to calling Craig and heading out to West Seattle
with $750 to buy myself a hearse. Then my inner adult regained control and I realized
that this might not be a suitable daily driver for a 200 mile weekly commute. But
if I already had a working car and a place to park a hearse, right now I would
have one serious funmobile.
More pictures of the loveley Phillys
Sat-Jan 06 2007
It's Too Funky In Here
Sweet Buddha with a chainsaw! Now my whole apartment has acquired a definite taint
of dead-neighbor stink. It's not intolerable, but it's not good, not at all.
Holiday Surprise
Sure enough, the guy next door is dead. No sign of him since before Xmas, newspapers
piling up, his van hadn't moved, and his radio was on 24/7-so I finally called the police.
It looks like he died on his bed from natural causes, though the Medical Examiner
is going to have the final say. Chalk up another life experience, now I know what
a dead body smells like.
Mon-May 15 2006
What I Did This Weekend
Friday I took the plunge and shelled out for Reason from Propellerhead, a computer music program. Reason models a rack of synths, samplers,
drum machines, and audio gear tied to a sequencer. The sequencer could use some work, but
the virtual hardware side is amazing. Your rack is infinitely changeable, limited only by the capabilities of your computer. Plus you can "flip" your virtual rack around and play with the cables that route audio and control messages from one piece of gear to another. The program is very well written: I ran a mixer, 3 samplers, a synth, 3 distortion boxes and assorted reverbs and barely made the CPU usage meter blink.
I tried to update the software on the Kanotix Linux side of my computer and
screwed the pooch. For some reason known only to mad Germans the dhclient program echoes rejected packets to the terminal window that is also home to the GUI for the update. Result: I can't see what I'm choosing. I managed to cripple the default display manager, which means when
the computer rebooted I got no graphics, only text terminals. 11pm on a Sunday night, and suddenly I'm like Locke in the Swan hatch, without even a fake Henry Gale or Mama Cass records for entertainment. Thankfully the update program made backups of the configuration files it changed so I was able to get my baby back up and running today.
Sun-Dec 25 2005
Firefox
I've updated to Firefox 1.5 and it's all good. I hadn't
realized that all my preferences and bookmarks are kept
in a directory separate from the browser-that makes updating
really easy.
On a different matter, I get a big kick out of spam
with a date in the distant past. Like I might have
important unread e-mail from 1969.
Sun-Dec 11 2005
The Things I Wonder About
I haven't been able to determine if any of
legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi's
sculptures have survived to the present day.
Damn you Interweb, for failing to satisfy my every
intellectual craving!
Wed-Nov 02 2005
Boat+Warehouse=Fun
Last Friday night a large (about 20ft.) boat was moved into my employer's warehouse.
I stayed after work to enjoy the show and take pictures.

A Little To The Left...No, MY Left

When the forklift came into play I had visions of subpoenas.

Easy Does It
Sat-Oct 29 2005
Dude, I've Got It Covered
I got a big charge out of the concern the Circuit City clerk
showed about me carrying my new stereo receiver out of the store. He warned me TWICE that one end was heavier
than the other. I just looked at him like he was advising me to continue
breathing. I think I delivered something like 2000 pounds of books that
day-unless Sony is making their stuff out of solid depleted uranium I think
I can handle it. They must get a lot of clumsy customers.
Sun-Oct 16 2005
Babysitting
I learned 2 things from overseeing my 3-year-old niece for a couple of hours
yesterday:
1: Sometimes the best toy is just your basic push-broom. You give a little
kid who occasionally seems to be channelling John Belushi,
circa Animal House, a big heavy stick and room to swing it around
and you're talking big fun.
2: My impression of a cranky Toshio Mifune is endlessly amusing.
Sun-Aug 21 2005
Like 2 Flamingos in a Fruit Fight
 Captain Beefheart... you are one of the first modern fucked-up geniuses. When it comes to creating, you rank right up there with the likes of James Mangan, John Wilmot and Edvard Munch.
Which fucked-up genius composer are you? brought to you by Quizilla
Via Tom Waits for No Man
Wed-Aug 10 2005
Riiiight
I get home, and there's a message on phone machine. It's not even a live human, just
a recording: "Hi, this is Dave with the Family and Individual Health Department
and I'm calling....". Nice try, but vaguely official names make me suspect
that you're just shady fuckwads.
Wed-May 18 2005
Mon-May 16 2005
Blogito Ergo Sum
|
You scored as Existentialist. Existentialism emphasizes human capability. There is no greater power interfering with life and thus it is up to us to make things happen. Sometimes considered a negative and depressing world view, your optimism towards human accomplishment is immense. Mankind is condemned to be free and must accept the responsibility.
Existentialist | | 75% | Materialist | | 69% | Cultural Creative | | 63% | Idealist | | 63% | Postmodernist | | 63% | Modernist | | 56% | Romanticist | | 44% | Fundamentalist | | 19% |
What is Your World View? (corrected...hopefully) created with QuizFarm.com |
Link
Via Adventures of Accordian Guy...
Tue-Apr 05 2005
Mencken's Creed
"I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind - that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.
I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious.
I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty...
I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect.
I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech...
I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run.
I believe in the reality of progress.
I - But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant. "
Link
Via Metafilter
Mon-Mar 21 2005
What Fun
I was awakened this morning by the firm knock on my door of the Seattle Police. It seemed
that my car was sitting in the middle of the road. Upon further inspection it became clear
that the brake hadn't slipped but rather that some bastard had tried to steal it. They ripped
the passenger side door handle off and pulled the wiring harness from the ignition,
probably so they could hot-wire it. The thief obviously hadn't forseen the possible
mechanical problems in actually starting and driving a 20-year old VW Rabbit: That car
isn't going anywhere (except downhill) until it's warmed up, and that can take at least
10 minutes. And after 5 minutes it doesn't want to hold an idle and it can be hard to keep
running. Luckily the thief must have been so upset he didn't take anything.
Sun-Mar 20 2005
A Pox On The House Of Jiffy
Let me put it this way: I drove into the University Village Jiffy Lube in a functioning car,
I drove
out with a major oil leak. My mechanic says the drain plug was about to fall out entirely,
which is not the sort of excitement I need. Most of the Jiffy Lube horror stories I've run
across involve them overtightening/stripping the drain plug or filter, not undertightening-
especially if they noticed the resultant leak. I suppose they might
have been fishing for some "repair" dollars, but that's only a theory. I should have stopped
going to them after they offered to "fix" my working back-up lights-I think they just couldn't get
my car into reverse. In conclusion:Screw Jiffy Lube
On a related note, I recommend Michael and Laura at Auto-Mobile Auto & Truck Repair.
They've been my mechanics for 7+ years and 3 cars. They come to your car and fix it on site if
they can, driving or towing back to their shop if they can't. I couldn't be happier with them.
If you're in the Seattle area and need car repair give them a ring at 206-764-1151.
Sat-May 29 2004
I Call Bullshit
I'm constantly seeing (and hearing) this publics service spot with the
tagline "Cops write tickets because seatbelts save lives" and it's getting on
my nerves. Cops don't write tickets because seatbelts save lives, they write
them because it's against the law. It's not that I disapprove of seatbelt wearing, but
blatently false statements bug me.
Tue-Feb 17 2004
Words thats bug me
Problematic-When did every jughead on radio/tv decide to stop calling things "a problem"?
Now they have to be Mister (or Mrs) Multisyllabic Vocabulary. I think if you meet any
flesh-and-blood people who use "problematic" you can assume they are a dickhead.
Tue-Nov 25 2003
The limit of my curiosity
I"ve just realized I really don't care what the difference is
between tea and chai.
Wed-Sep 03 2003
Don't Try This at Home
Leaving work today my car made a loud ringing rattle and the alternator light came on.
The bar that holds the alternator taut against the belt that drives it broke. This
belt also drives the water pump. It is a very important belt and it was flopping around
uselessly. I "fixed" it with bungee cords. Actually, "jury-rigged" is a better term
than "fixed". There is actually a bungee cord coming out from under the hood to hook
onto the wheel well. That cord is holding the main cords away from the engine block
because heat is bad for rubber. It all works like a charm, though somewhere a german
engineer is crying. Bungee cords-don't leave home without them.
Mon-Aug 11 2003
Nuking Junk Mail
A little-known Federal law allows individuals to send a Prohibitory Order against companies that are sending unsolicited sexually provocative or
erotically arousing mail. The Supreme Court went one step further, allowing individuals to decide what constitutes "erotically arousing" mail. The
law makes it illegal for a company to send mail to an individual within thirty days of receiving the Order.
Considering the amount of crap I receive and the sheer gleefull nastiness of this tactic, I might
just give this a go.
Link
Via Boing Boing
Mon-Jan 27 2003
Study Up
You'll never pass yourself off as a 4 year-old unless you
are fully caught up on "Bob the Builder" and "Dora the Explorer".
And that commercial with the 200 dachshaunds instead of 200 head
of oxen just cracks me up. Just the idea of 200 wiener dogs makes
me giggle.
Wed-Jan 01 2003
Long National Nightmare is Over
Finally the dreaded Xmas season is gone. 15 years of retail and
wholesale-to-retailers has convinced me "the holidays" are the
most stressful and un-fun time of the year. Give me Halloween
anyday. I just spent the last 3 weeks delivering 2 tons (literally)
of books a day, 6 days a week. I know I've never been stronger, not
even that summer I worked construction when I was 18.
Thank ghod I didn't get this as a gift.
Via Making Light
Sun-Sep 08 2002
Dancing in the streets
I'm listening to a homemade Roxy Music compilation (with a little Pere Ubu for flavor) right now on
the trusty playstation. Homemade mix cds are a good thing, even if they will be a felony soon.
Mad Skills
I've successfully installed and configured a CD-burner. All modesty aside-I rock. Now for the
mix CDs.
Who's the Man?
I'm the man, that's who. I now have a working car stereo/cd player! God bless Radio Shack, even
if they are Bill Gate's butt-monkeys.
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