Author: David

Over-educated Curmudgeon, Bit-Bucket Tuner and Budding Brewmeister.
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Been a “Fun” 24 Hours

Yesterday afternoon–about 26 hours ago, now, internet connectivity here at twc central went south again. *sigh* About 2.5 good weeks of decent service and… kablooey!

Yeh, yeh, I walked completely through the troubleshooting tree with the voice-prompt call-in (even though I had the process memorized long, long ago). No, that didn’t help. Yes, the first thing on calling in was a recorded message saying my ISP was experiencing an unusually large call volume from my area. No, according to the supposed customer service reps I eventually reached, there was no outage (then why the swamping with calls such that it took 7 hours before I could actually reach a live person?). No, going through the troubleshooting tree with a live person resulted in no different result than doing it with the automated process or on my own.

Nor did changing out the “modem” (cable “modems” are NOT modems; they are specialty routers–very, very different technology to a modem). Heck, in the process of many, many reboots of this computer as a part of the multiple efforts I made to comply with “support’s” requests, my primary hard drive scrambled Windows boot process to the point that the Win7 repair Environment wouldn’t. Repair it, that is. (S’all right, really. I had a spare hard drive I had really meant to install it on but because of a lapse of memory had failed to, so another easy-peasy quick fresh install from upgrade media onto a bare drive. *heh*)

Fresh install of Win7 (and yes, I had tried using Ubuntu and Puppy Linux to connect, as well–as well as attempting to connect directly to the cable “modem” with other computers) and still no connectivity. Went through yet another ineffective t-shooting process (which, BTW, included power cycling both the modem and the computer attached to it), called in again and got a sweet lil idjit who informed me that my modem had been “Online for the past 15 hours.” 15 hours during which I had power cycled it several times, had changed it out for another modem, etc.

Riiiight. Went through the t-shooting tree one more time and… magically, it worked this time. Not. While lying to me aboiut my modem having been active and online for the past 15 hours, the lil idjit reset on her end. At least, that’s the best I can figure from here, since I KNOW information I’ve received from my ISP over the past 24 hours (heck, the past 6 months) has been… suspect, at the very best.

It’d just be nice if–just once–instead of playing CYA even one person would say, “Oops! Our bad. We screwed you up. Sorry.”

Meanwhile, since Lovely Daughter and her fiance were going to be out “shopping for cake” (Gee, some sheet cake and a couple lil cakes, one for bride and one–if that–for groom. What’s the stinking big deal? Wedding cake all tastes like sugar-soaked cardboard, anyway… ), he let my Wonder Woman use his network/internet connection to take her mid-term for one of her grad school classes while I shoveled his drive and did some shopping of my own. 😉 (Yeh, didn’t have to shovel his drive, but since Lovely Daughter had borrowed my 35-year-old snow shovel–hey! another 65 years and it’ll be an antique!–I figured, why not?)

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Home Again, Home Again, Jiggetty-Jig

There and back again between early a.m. and now. About 100 miles round trip–not far, but… COLD. Was 0 deg F when I left; 6 when I returned. Car never warmed above “You HAVE to be kidding me!” Lil car did NOT like. Heater? Notsomuch. Next thing to “Notatall.” Beat the outside temps by juuuust about nuthin’. Patchy ice on 2-lane roads (still!); snowing and blowing–though not snowing hard. Crisp–brittle!–light stabbing deep into brain past sunglasses when snow let up. Gloves worked for hands, but feet were blocks of ice when I got “there” and again when I returned. Just now getting feeling back in toes. Seriously.

Not bad. Pretty typical January around the Ozarks, though maybe about 10 deg F cooler than usual for this time of year.

Algore musta been giving a speech on “Anthropogenic Global Warming” somewhere near here.

Sidebar: what in the heck is that lil town in a county as sparsely populated as America’s Third world County (well, except for the “Vegas of the Ozarks” about 30 more miles down the road) doing with a McDonalds, a Taco Bell and a KFC?!? Who’dathunkit? Cheap (and very nearly drinkable) cuppa joe at the Mickey D’s, though. (What can I say? It was hot.)

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A Key Difference?

Aside from the uncharacteristic botched attribution (the line quoted is from “The Young British Soldier” not “Chant Pagan”–though both are Kipling) this comment by John Ringo, inserted into his translation of a (generally favorable!) French article on close association with American forces in Afghanistan, is telling:

Anyone with a passing knowledge of Kipling knows the lines from Chant Pagan: ‘If your officer’s dead and the sergeants look white/remember it’s ruin to run from a fight./So take open order, lie down, sit tight/And wait for supports like a soldier./ This, in fact, is the basic philosophy of both British and Continental soldiers. ‘In the absence of orders, take a defensive position.’ Indeed, virtually every army in the world. The American soldier and Marine, however, are imbued from early in their training with the ethos: In the Absence of Orders: Attack! Where other forces, for good or ill, will wait for precise orders and plans to respond to an attack or any other ‘incident’, the American force will simply go, counting on firepower and SOP to carry the day.

This is one of the great strengths of the American force in combat and it is something that even our closest allies, such as the Brits and Aussies (that latter being closer by the way) find repeatedly surprising. No wonder is surprises the hell out of our enemies.

And in an afterward to his translation of the original article, Ringo goes on to say,

What is hard for most people to comprehend is that that attitude represented only the most elite units of the past. Current everyday conventional boring ‘leg infantry’ units exceed the PT levels and training levels of most Special Forces during the Vietnam War. They exceed both of those as well as IQ and educational levels of: Waffen SS, WWII Rangers, WWII Airborne and British ‘Commando’ units during WWII. Their per-unit combat-functionality is essentially unmeasurable because it has to be compared to something and there’s nothing comparable in industrial period combat history.

This group is so much better than ‘The Greatest Generation’ at war that WWII vets who really get a close look at how good these kids are stand in absolute awe.

My association with the current crop of American armed forces is second and third hand, but the boys (and they are largely still boys in many ways) I know from America’s Third World County who’ve “seen the bear” in Afghanistan and Iraq certainly fit the mold in upholding this standard. (Man, I’m getting old. I had some of these kids in children’s choirs… *heh*)

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Typical January: Cold

15 years ago when we moved to America’s Third World County, we experienced a very, very cold January. Things warmed up a tad after that for several years, but three years ago, while Albore was loudly trumpeting his Anthropogenic Global Warming Con, we began once again experiencing genuinely cold Januaries (for those Anthropogenic Global Warming Cons, weather does that–change, you know).

This week, beginning the first full week of January 2010, temps have been consistently in the single digits at night, here in America’s Third World County, and the snow and ice on the country roads (and, heck, here in town) have made driving anywhere off the main highways treacherous–driving conditions have, in fact, been bad enough to delay restarting school here after Christmas break.

And so, although I’ve had some gigs and have a 50 mile (one way) on some not-the-best 2-lane highways on Friday for some more business, I’ve been able to–mainly–enjoy my Wonder Woman’s presence here at home this week, and she’s been able to rack up both some extra study time on her classwork and some extra sleep (it’s what winter’s for, you know :-)). It’s not the all-the-time togetherness that the ice storm of January 2007 was (when NO ONE was doing anything except simply surviving a 3-county-wide power outage in one-digit and sub-zero weather), but it’s nice.

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Are You In?

I found this in my email inbox. It has some holes and gaps and faces an even steeper uphill battle than The FairTax bill, but it has a certain rough appeal, doesn’t it?

We need THIS Change

*It will never be accomplished unless we do something about it now, not later! The only way that congress would ever vote for such a bill is for Americans to demand it to the point that our elected officials feel they have no choice. That means many Americans, which includes you, must push to get a bill written and persuade a majority to vote for it. Therefore, this must be distributed to every American who has a PC, every American! Will you help or are you just blowing smoke when you get upset with congress when they play partisan politics? Lets help bring about a Change in Washington that is more than just spoken words, a Change that Americans will be proud of, a Change that will benefit future generations. If something is not done our Children and grandchildren may not have a country like we had to grow up in. Can Americans depend on you to to distribute this and support it or will you make excuses as to why it will not work? I’m in; what about you?

*This is the best thing I have ever read pertaining to Government. It doesn’t matter what political party you like.. This is what’s best for EVERY AMERICAN!*

*Congressional Reform Act of 2010**

*1. Term Limits: 12 years only, one of the possible options below.*

*A. Two Six year Senate terms*
*B. Six Two year House terms*
*C. One Six year Senate term and three Two Year
House terms**

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators; serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

*2. No Tenure / No Pension: **

* A congressman collects a salary while in office
and receives no pay when they are out of office.**

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators; serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

*3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security:**

* All funds in the Congressional retirement fund
moves to the Social Security system immediately.
All future funds flow into the Social Security
system, Congress participates with the American
people.**

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators; serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

*4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan just as all Americans*.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators; serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

*5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.*

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators; serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

*6. Congress looses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.**

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators; serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

*7. Congress must equally abide in all laws they impose on the American people.*

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators; serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

*8. All contracts with past and present congressmen are void effective 1/1/11. *

* The American people did not make this contract
with congressmen, congressmen made all these
contracts for themselves.**

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators; serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

If you agree with the above, pass it on. If not, just delete.

N.B. While I deleted some multiple “???” and “!!!” and redacted a few comma splices, the above is essentially as I received it in my email inbox.

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Stolen Wisdom

“Stolen” from G.H. who “borrowed” it from someone not named:

“Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.”

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M$ Virtual PC, XP Mode

Well, I’ve used VMWare’s virtualization with Windows 7 hosting Ubuntu (and had earlier used it in Ubuntu with VMs for another version of Ubuntu, Windows XP, Windows 98, PCBSD and several other Linux distros). Did NOT like the way the newest VMWare VMs worked with Win7. At all.

I have Linux Mint installed in a Virtualbox VM hosted by Win7. Works great. Love it–and the way Virtualbox integrates well and does full screen nicely.

I have tried to like M$’s Windows 7 XP Mode running under M$ Virtual PC. Really, I have tried to like it–and there are some things to like. Full integration with ALL the hardware on the host machine, right “out of the box” with no need for additions or extensions. OK, that’s nice. But XP Mode will NOT run full screen and still allow access to the Win7 host (and that’s just plain stupid–requires three CLICKs to get back to a Win7 app running behind the fullscreen mode WinXP or over to another VM running in Virtualbox–dumb, really dumb, M$); customizing the GUI is either a PITA or not enabled. IOW, it’s a subset of WinXP running in “crippled mode” for those times when one simply cannot get an essential older app to run in compatibility mode, or when one wants a basic interface to serve as a visual aid in phone support or some such.

But WinXP mode using M$’s Virtual PC is nothing near as complete as a real WinXP running as a guest under VMWare’s offerings or under Virtualbox (and yes, I did try that as well, hosted in Ubuntu, though at the time I could only install a 32-bit version using Virtualbox). Still, I suppose it does have a limited usefulness, although it’s certainly not reason enough for most folks to spend the extra money to upgrade to Win7 Pro (or Ultimate). Win7 Home Premium is certainly Good Enough for those folks who simply MUST use Windows–and I suppose I fall into that category now that I’ve become enamored with Windows Media Center in its now mature iteration in Win7. (Still, I’m very glad to be able to do most things in Linux Mint, hosted in a VM in Win7 :-))

Speaking of different versions of Win7, what features do Pro and Ultimate have that’re so appealing that one might upgrade to one of those versions (for more $$ of course) instead of Home Premium? “…let me ‘splain. No, there’s too much. Let me sum up.”

Windows 7 Pro has only three features not found in Windows 7 Home Premium:

  1. XP Mode
  2. Domain support
  3. Backup to a networked drive

XP Mode? You already have my take.

Most folks on a home network do NOT need support for joining a domain. Businesses? Quite likely (which it is why it’s called Windows 7 Professional), but not necessarily in the cases of many small businesses.

The last was my reason for “going pro” when I purchased my upgrade. Well, that and the fact that I could purchase it for the same price as Home Premium, but that’s another story. Most folks won’t even need the ability to do backups to a networked drive built into the OS. Windows 7–all versions, IIRC–has a very capable backup program that can do backups–even disk mirroring–to various media. The Pro version just adds native ability to back up to networked drives. If a home user wants to do that, more than likely their best bet is to purchase an NAS (Network Attached Storage) device which will more than likely have networked backup ability built into the device.

Geeks preferring to build their own NAS might appreciate the native ability in Win7 Pro to do networked backups.

As for Win7 Ultimate, all it adds to the Pro version is Bitlocker encryption (and freebie solutions to do everything Bitlocker does and more abound) and support for an additional 35 languages. Most folks will need neither of those. Heck, I won’t even use Spanish any more, because of the Mexican government’s active support for outlaw invasion and subversion of the US. Yep. I’m boycotting a language because of misbehavior by the Mexican kleptocratic kakistocracy. *heh*

N.B. I do like the “java” background (pic above) that’s been around since at least Win2K. When I want to rest my eyes a bit, I can just let ’em “defocus” while looking at the background and my icons and mouse pointer appear to “float” on top of a background that seems to be about 2′ behind them. Nice optical illusion. 🙂

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For My 2010 “To-Do” List

Spruce beer: I’d like to locate the spruce elements needed for the following recipe, then make the thing.

Take four ounces of hops, let them boil half an hour in one gallon of water, strain the hop water then add sixteen gallons of warm water, two gallons of molasses, eight ounces of essence of spruce, dissolved in one quart of water, put it in a clean cask, then shake it well together, add half a pint of emptins*, then let it stand and work one week, if very warm weather less time will do, when it is drawn off to bottle, add one spoonful of molasses to every bottle.

*emptins: “a mixture of hops and the dregs of beer or cider casks”–that I can come up with…

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Watch Your Kids, But for Heaven’s Sake, Don’t Stop Them…

Typical output of some over-paid government weenie with too much time on his hands:

Don’t you dare say, “Only on the Left Coast,” cos it could happen in your town just as easily.

h.t., Dave Barry

(And yeh, I know raccoon droppings have the rap of potentially being laced with rabies or Baylisascaris procyonis–a roundworm that burrows into brains, but really: kids that’re dumb enough to eat feces probably already have are worse problems… Heck, they’d likely grow up to vote for a libtard. “Yum, gimme some more o’ that, Mr. Congresscritter! I just loves that shit!” Worse: they probably already do vote for libtards via the “any vote fraud is good enough for us” program run by the Dhimmicraps.)