David – Page 440 – third world county

July 21, 2006

Just Stuff

Just page on down if this isn’t up your alley. There’s moreâ€”different stuffâ€”in posts below.

Tried out Ubuntu 6.06 “Dapper Drake” recently (interesting article/discussion here). I have to build another comp (or salvage/change over one of the Windows comps here) and really wring it out, cos trying it off a boot CD was… really cool! Recognized ALL the hardware, set things up and up came the really slick, immediately usable Ubuntu desktop. This seems to be easy enough for the proverbial Aunt Tilly. While it only came with Firefox installed by default, it has an easily accessible link to download and install Opera 9.

I LIKE! Now, if only I could find a Windows emulator that does a good enough job to let me use my music transcription software and sequencing/recording software with Ubuntu, I’d switch all but a coupla machines over to it and just keep the Windows machines around as a reference (for tech support). I already use cross-platform apps like Opera and Open Office for most other things.

In case anyone’s wondering… Yesterday, Spam Karma2/Askimet (yeh, I have ’em both installed) caught over 2,500 trackback spam comments. At least that’s what they reported. I dunno, cos although I usually go through ALL the reported SPAm to see if there were any false positives (and there are maybe 5 or 6 a week that are), I just did not have the time yesterday to go through more than 2,500 to see if there were any false positives.

So, in case you were wondering what may have happened to a trackback, that’s a possibility…

My Wonder Woman has a new lil camera. A nice lil HP Photosmart 433. Not top-of-the-line, but nice. She’ll probably use it for library stuff–web pages, newspaper press releases, etc. It has some basic audio-video capabilities on top of its primary still camera functions. For someone wanting a basic lil digital camera, this might be nice. Or maybe ya need a spare. Still OK. Takes up to 128MB memory cards, so the lil 3megapixel+ camera can store quite a few photos.

And it fits her hand nicely, too. Cute lil thang. (The camera, too.)

Learning what its like to run two routers/firewalls. Interesting. Should I add a third? *LOL* Really, just needed to subnet out my wired network (slightly better security), and now that I have a new lil Netgear WGR614 (wireless) router/firewall w/NAT and SPI, switching out the “old” Asante wireless router (and holding it as a spare–it’s a manuf replacement for one that died) seems like the right thing to do, eh? *heh* I do these silly things so folks can shake their heads and laugh at me…

Anybody want a flaky motherboard? One of the computers here at twc just up n died. No problem, really, just… drat. Pull alla parts n bag ’em. Pull the mobo and trash it. New mobo (heck, why not new mobo, processor, memory… yeh! That’s the ticket! :-)), parts back in and… oh, heck. It was my last Windows 98 computer. Sentimental attachment to some of that old software, but… hey! It’s make a nice new Linux comp, now wouldn’t it?

All’s well that ends well!

*heh*

Now, where’s that mobo I wanna use, anyway… it MUSt be around in this mess somewhere…

Yeh, yeh. Maybe I should wait til I move my office setup downstairs. *sigh*

🙂

July 18, 2006

Getcher Hankies Out

Just CLICK and view.

July 18, 2006July 19, 2006

Lobotomizing America/Open Post

This is Tuesday’s Open Post and Rant. Link to this post and track back. And read the *&^%$# post! *heh* More below the body of the real post…

While this video is still available on Youtube, I’ll link to it. It’s really that important that folks who missed this John Stossel 20/20 episode see it. Keep in mind, Stossel touches on just a small portion of the problem with so-called public education in America today. He posits “choice” as a solution to the problem he notes. That’s excessively simplistic, but a good start.

CLICK HERE to view the John Stossel 20/20 episode, “Stupid in America”

Important takeaway: most people in America think their own local schools are good schools. The problem is that most people just don’t know what they don’t know…

See also Fred Reed here, here and here. A sample,

Now a combination of the enstupidation of the schools, the inflation of grades, and the threat of class-action suits by the parents of failing students means that an adolescent can graduate without assuming any burden whatsoever. Indeed escaping schooling is easier than finding it. Countless colleges will accept almost anyone and graduate almost anyone.

That last observed phenomenon is probably part of the reason for this.

While more Americans are graduating from college, and more than ever are applying for admission, far fewer are leaving higher education with the skills needed to comprehend routine data, such as reading a table about the relationship between blood pressure and physical activity, according to the federal study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics.

Or, another example cited in the WaPo article, read a prescription bottle label (kinda important being able to decode and understand how to take one’s meds, eh?). In fact,

The test measures how well adults comprehend basic instructions and tasks through reading — such as computing costs per ounce of food items, comparing viewpoints on two editorials and reading prescription labels. Only 41 percent of graduate students tested in 2003 could be classified as “proficient” in prose — reading and understanding information in short texts — down 10 percentage points since 1992. Of college graduates, only 31 percent were classified as proficient — compared with 40 percent in 1992. Schneider said the results do not separate recent graduates from those who have been out of school several years or more.

Rather puts the lie to a recent commenter to a post I made elsewhere who fatuously claimed that the literacy rate in the U.S. was on the rise, eh? Of course, that kids who aren’t qualified for college now attend may be skewing the test cited in the waPo article, right? But, but… they are at least high school grads, right? Heck, if they graduate from high school unable to read and understand food or drug labels (food ingredients/instructions for taking meds), then that’s an indictment of public education, no?

Kids today are dumber than a bag of hammers. And while it’s easy to blame public schools (because, well, public education in the U.S. today is crap) and even mass media (another bag of worms), the real fault lies with complacent, selfish, stupid adults who are parents and other supposedly responsible people who do not really give (enough of) a damn about the children to learn what their own education lacked and refuse to allow their children to suffer the same abuse.

So, the adults who should be making sure their children recieve a good education continue to simply wallow in their own ignorance, despite how that ignorance harms their children. How can parents demand a good education for their children when they simply resign their children to the abuse of the system, when they don’t bother to learn WHAT their children are (or aren’t) being taught and why? Instead, as long as the sports teams (or whatever personal interest the parent elects to make their means of living vicariously through their children) is doing well, folks tend to think their school’s juuuuust fine, thanks.

Well, stupid adults who are not actually handicapped with physical brain damage have no excuse. Their only reasons are laziness, selfishness and complacency.

And it’s the fault of every lazy, selfish, complacent adult who does not

a.) learn what they don’t know about the lacks in both their
schooling and their children’s schooling and
b.) learn what really needs to be done to remedy the situation

…who are to blame for the crap schools that pass for public sducation in these Unite States and for the fact that dumbass educrats, politicians, professors of education, pubschool administrators and their ilk are lobotomizing yet another generation of Americans.

Fine. Let the feddle gummint, schools of education, and all the educationist apparatus ruin another generation of American minds. After all, it’s for the children, ya know, and who’d really want them to have to grow up to be citizens who can think well and have a knowledge base broad enough to be able to vote intelligently, become productive workers and generally grow up to have at least a little common sense?

As i said, this is an open trackbacks post. Link to THIS post and track back. If you want to host your own linkfests, check out

Also note the other fine blogs featuring linkfests at Linkfest Haven.

July 17, 2006July 18, 2006

Paying the Butcher’s Bill

This is not an easy post to write, and I’ll say up front that I know I cannot do the subject matter justice.

This is about a guy named Stan (NOT his real name) and his four sons…

Last Friday, I was just too pooped to pop. I’d been doing some renovation here at home evenings and in “grab time” as I could all week. Fortunately, for the really heavy stuff (like multiple moves of Wonder Woman’s upright grand piano), Son & Heir was around to help. Usually. (Picking up the flooring was a different story, but it’s all good.)

So, too pooped to pop also meant I was too pooped to cook. And not feeling like “eating out” eating out. So… we bundled into Ferdinand (the Taurus) and headed outa county for some decent fast food, which around here meant one thing: THE fast food joint. Now, there are several of this type within driving range of twc (say, 40 miles or so), but rthe nearest one is the best one. Truly better food and… nice atmosphere. In a fast food joint! (Amazing, really.) And the reason is “Stan”–the manager.

Recently, though, “Stan’s” been looking tired, worn. Usually energetic, highly personable, a guy folks think of as a friend on merely short aquaintance. A great people person. I commented to Wonder Woman about the changes in “Stan’s” affect, and we wondered what had been going on with him since we’d last been in (which, as we looked back, had actually been several months).

We’d finished our meal (and it was good food–again, amazing for a fast food joint) and were nursing our sodas, just relaxing, when I engaged “Stan” in conversation while getting some refills. We talked a bit at the machine, then he came and joined us at our table.

Lotta talk about his work, his boss making him take his accumulated vacation time, etc., and then he kinda eased into things. You see, one of the reasons his boss was making him take his accumulated vacation time is that his grandson, whom he’s never seen, and his daughter-in-law, whom he’s never met, are due in the U.S. in a couple of weeks.

From Iraq.

It seems that one of his sons met an Iraqi girl while stationed there, married her and had a son of his own. So “Stan’s” a grandfather, now.

Which takes a little of the sting out of losing two of his sons in Iraq this year, one of whom made him a grandfather.

Right. “Stan’s” retired Army (his MOS was all over the map, but trust me, “special forces” was in there). His four sons are Army. Three were stationed in Iraq, one in Afganistan.

All are back, now, although two returned in caskets. This year.

You know the thing that would be strange to folks on “the left” who proclaim their caring for the guys in Iraq (but no surprise to anyone who’s met even one or two guys like “Stan” and his sons) is that “Stan” harbors no ill will toward the military, the administration or “the war” as a result of his loss.

And his two sons, from his report, are itching to get back in theater.

It’s people like “Stan” and his family who are paying MORE than their share of the cost in blood and real treasure who have real moral authority, not people like “Mother Sheehan” who is, by all evidence, enjoying her loss no end.

Four sons. Two gone. A newly arrived grandson and daughter-in-law to care for.

“Stan” and his sons, and all those like them, are true American heroes.

Pray for them and families all over this country just like them.

Note a father who holds a different opinion (and how Bruce deals with it) at Conservative Cat.

N.B. Because I was not even thinking about blogging during the hour or so we sat visiting, I did not ask “Stan” for permission to relate this, and so I am not using his name or even directly identifying the very recognizable “fast food joint” he manages. I hope to touch base again with him before he goes on vacation, but this will have to be enough.

July 17, 2006

Guard the Borders Blogburst

While I actually prefer ranting and raving and foaming at the mouth to the lies that Political Poltroons, Academia Nut Fruitcakes, Mass Media Podpeople and loony Left Moonbats pass off as “reasonable discourse, today’s Guard the Borders post is by someone who approaches the subject with a calm reason that persuades me to forgo my personal prference for going after those who aid and abet in the criminal trespass/illegal alien invasion they excuse as merely the presence of “undocumented immigrants” with (metaphorical) pitchfork, tar and feathers (and rope and tree).

A Clarification on my Position on Immigration

Written By Linda at Right as Usual

In talking to some readers, I realized that they were under the impression that I disliked immigrants.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

My maiden name sounded distinctly “ethnic” and unusual. As a result, most people assumed that I was one of the many displaced people that arrived in the Cleveland area after WWII, including the recently arrived.

I, not being the brightest bulb in the pack, just thought they were interested in fascinating me when they eagerly initiated conversations. I didn’t realize at the time they were hoping to talk to a fellow “newbie”.

This resulted in my acquiring friendships with people from:

…just to name the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

With the exception of one person from Mexico, they all had something in common – they LEGALLY immigrated.

And that’s the crux of my “problem” with immigration. I simply think it’s unfair to keep allowing people to flow over the border without going through channels. Some want to think of themselves as compassionate people, who gladly accept the “poor, huddled masses, yearning to breathe free”.

Yeah, right. By allowing those who ignore inconvenient laws to escape retribution, our country is denying law-abiding foreigners to claim their rightful spot in the queue. Folks, we can’t accept everybody. The world holds over 6 billion people. At what point would you like us to stop taking everyone in?

When our economy breaks down under the strain of taking in under-educated, under-skilled workers? Many of them don’t contribute to Social Security and taxes – they are paid under the table.

When our schools no longer have the ability to educate our children? It costs money to provide ESL services, folks.

When the illegals outnumber the natives? And vote against democracy? See last week’s Blogburst articles for examples of THAT.

Any discussion of immigration has to begin with a recognition that we can’t take in a flood of people without documentation, who started that journey by breaking the law, and who largely don’t speak much English and have little education or skills. To do so jeopardizes the very structure of our society. We can bring in SOME, we can adjust to helping them assimilate, we just can’t manage the process with this many at once.

Yeah, I know they just want to work. The question to ask is, would you give up YOUR job to help the immigrant? Would you take them into YOUR house? Would you work a second job to pay for educating their kids?

If not, then you haven’t the right to expect the rest of the country to do what you won’t do.

This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It is syndicated by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we’re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration in our country, join the Blogburst! Send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.

Linda makes the point I make every time I call my congresscritters (two of whom–the senators–are pretty firmly on board with protecting our borders and enforcing our laws) and the White House: any dealings with illegal immigrants that allow them to stay and “earn” citizenship is NOT making them get in line with (or preferably behind) all the others who are seeking legal admission to this country. And politicians’ representations otherwise are simply lies. And that includes President Bush’s lies in this matter.

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