Category: FWIW

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Whoo-Hoo! (a little joy in Mudville)

Bits n pieces:

Rainy, rainy day. Squirrels line-dancing on power lines, lots of lightning and thunder and hail and rain and nearby tornado… and the power only went down three times. Cable was out for what I believe was about six or so hours (I left after it went down and it was still down when I checked back in). But all’s well. Managed shutdowns on UPS-ed computers, so no real biggie.

Windows 7RC. What can I say? A mixed bag. Although with the ratings changes in the “Windows Experience” index this computer jumped up more than 3 points on the scale, Win7 seems much more sluggish. Notsogood. OTOH, everything works well overall, and… Windows Server Powershell is now included! (Whoo-hoo!) I had missed that before, although I assume it was probably in the earlier beta. Sure, most folks won’t use the command line much, but this is a power users’ command line. Like it. Some other good and notsogood things about this Win7 iteration, but I’ll either remark on them later or not. Who knows?

Mock stroganoff tonight. Just hamburger, onion, garlic, LOTS of freshly-ground pepper and some freshly-grated nutmeg with sour cream and the old standby shortcut, cream of mushroom soup. It’ll be fine over rice, and it’s a quick (less than 15 minutes’ prep time) and easy dinner. Some frozen mixed veggies steaming in a basket on top of the rice in the Wolfgang Puck rice cooker. Easy-peasy.

Gonna hit the sack early this p.m. Pooped puppy.

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“If this is Tuesday… “

…well, it sure ain’t Belgium. No, what it is is this: the tail end of a whirlwind trip to (sort of) see my mom off on her trip to Israel. Glad I went to check up on her. She’d taken a fall late last week and hurt her knee but was refusing to see the doctor for fear he’d want to do something that would prevent her making her connections for her trip. *sigh* It’s in the genes. I do the same kind of thing. Fortunately, dragging her to the doctor only resulted in getting the right treatment for a swollen knee (X-Rays said no major damage) and her mind was eased. 85-year-old woman refusing to go to the doctor–NOT because she couldn’t afford to (was a $10 charge!) but for silly reasons. Hmmm, kinda like my reasons, usually. *heh*

Anywho, my dad will meet her there. Right now he’s finishing up a concert tour with a musical group in Armenia. Oldest guy in the group (by a couple of decades!). Still singing 1st Tenor. Go figure. My voice is now able to sing “second growler” (still coughing my lungs up; I’ll either live or die, and either one is fine by now *heh*), so maybe by the time I get to be his age, I’ll be able to get some of it back, should I live that long. 😉 Nicest thing aboiut this trip? Some friends of theirs paid their way. They have some good friends.

Well, that’s all I really know. My Wonder Woman’s back from her librarians’ conference, and we’re both a tad pooped. As soon as Lovely Daughter’s Family Birthday Blowout is over this evening, we’re both looking forward to some crash time.

Y’all be careful out there!

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What a difference…

…a publisher makes.

I picked up a book by an author I who’s written well over a dozen books I have read with appreciation and enjoyment, and, on reflection, that have proven to be edifying. I picked up another book by this author just this week and began reading it. It is, as I have come to expect, well-written and as most of the other works have done, it evokes both current events and historical and cultural references aplenty, inspiring me to make connections and draw parallells that are instructive.

But. What a difference an editor/publisher makes. This book wasn’t published by the same firm as all the other books I’ve read from this author. Little things: multiple “then” for “than” errors. “…[N]either ‘X’ nor I is…” (?!? AM, dear reader, AM; I’d even stretch a point and allow “are”–though that’s just not right) and other such usage and grammatical errors that are the result of a quick mind introducing typos and grammatical errors through the process of getting a story down as it flows… that should have been caught by the editor, but were not.

Every time I run across one of these things, it’s like the meme of a turd in the punchbowl cropping up. *blech!* Or like saying “President Obama” now that I have permanently etched in my memory the image of his “situpon” facing me in the picture of him bowing and scraping to the Chief Saudi Thug, Abdullah.

These things ought not to be. Not in an otherwise well-written and thought-provoking book. (To which I must now return. Along about page 500, things have started heating up… Only another 280 or so pages to go before I inevitably learn that my “fear” that this is just the first of a trilogy–or more–is fact. Oh, please don’t throw me in dat briar patch! *heh* )

Continue reading “What a difference…”

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This n That

Just a few things from the last couple of days…

I was in a store, standing in line to make some purchases, and as usual was interacting with folks waiting in line as I was. An elderly (and when I say “elderly”… )woman was commenting on her expired DL license and the hugenormous hoops we now have to jump through to renew IDs, because of all the identity theft–mostly by illegal aliens. The checker got offended. “Those people are just like you and me; all they want to do is provide for their families!” Now, I know her employer pretty well, so I had no difficulty at all expressing myself, “Don’t lay that f***n lie on me! They may be like you, but I do not disrespect the country I live in with every breath I take, and that’s exactly what these line-jumping outlaws do!” Paid for my goods and left.

Idiot. Too stupid to ever be persuaded by argument; the only thing to do with such people is to shut them up… And find out who the illegals they associate with are, just in case the political climate changes enough to make it worthwhile.

I still haven’t found a completely satisfactory media center solution for this computer on either the Windows 7 side or the Ubuntu side. Windows Media Center sucks dead bunnies through a straw, as far as I’m concerned; MediaPortal is OK, but its rough edges and quirkiness are disatisfying. Hauppaugge’s WinTV app is OK for TV only… sort of. That does it for the Windows apps that actually work to one degree or another. On the Linux side, I have yet to get satisfactory TV from ANY of the offerings. Some really poorly-rendered TV from time to time, but not actually good enough to watch. The rest of the media stuff works pretty well, except when system updates screw everything up all over again. *sigh*

Oh, well. Perhaps this summer I will actually build a special purpose HTPC from the ground up for this sort of thing and be happy with it. If I don’t need to replace one of the cars or pay for a wedding, that is. *heh*

I hate it when I buy a bag full of new books (new to me–this last bag full was from a used book store) and misplace them when I get home. Yeh, the problem is too many books, period. Should never have taken them from the bag… and not put them where I could readily pick them out.

Planning on being out of pocket for a couple of days next week. My dad left for Armenia today with a music group. My mom leaves next Wednesday to meet up with him in Israel. I plan on visiting with her just before she leaves. Just a quick 500 mi. round trip while my Wonder Woman is off at a librarians’ conference. (A bibliophile married to a librarian. A match made in heaven.)

*phew!* I really (no, REALLY) need to clean up in my office again! I just can’t seem to stay ahead of this monster. Ahhh! The books! *heh*

My, oh my, how the leftards wet their collective (it’s always collective with the Hivemind) panties over the tax day TEA Parties! Napolitano must have her minions going over video of all the events she had informants at, collecting faces of all the “right wing extremists” to identify. *feh*

Just had a taste of the stout I brewed up a couple of weeks ago. Let my Wonder Woman sample a sip. We agree: Good Stuff! Great body; almost chocolatey-black color; really complex, rich flavor; nice head and lacing, heady aroma. I put a bottle in the fridge to chill so Son&Heir could give his opinion when he gets home. He’s a stout fan, so his opinion will carry a bit more weight than mine or my Wonder Woman’s–simply because he’s tried more different stouts than we have. I’ll have an “Oktoberfest”-style dark lager (pretty much my fav) with dinner (a rich, nutmeggy, mock stroganoff).

*heh* After my post earlier today on the knife-sharpening tip, I’ve sharpened about every knife that came to hand, including a couple I keep in the car (a skinning knife and a filet/boning knife–rarely use them for their designed purposes, but they’re both handy knives)… using a coffee mug left there earlier in the week.

Need to clean the car out, don’t I?

And speaking of cars, seen this?

bluewhite

Under $10K, ~55mpg in city driving. DOT and EPA approved. Tuk Tuk USA. Get with the Obamanomics plan: drive like the third world!

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Counting on Fingers

From the preface to Calculus Made Easy, by Silvanus P. Thompson:

clever-fools

*heh*

I frequently rail against stupid people who can’t–or don’t– count who nevertheless listen to even stupider (though often clever in their stupidity) Mass Media Podpeople, politicians *spit* and Academia Nut Fruitcakes who wittingly or not misuse statistics or other fudge numbers to make a phony point. But. I realized the other day when looking at some numbers that I’d forgotten–through long disuse–the reasons why the statistical formulae I mentally referred to in order to argue with the numbers worked the way they did. After all, understanding the “why” of such things rests on some calculus I’ve not used much, if at all, for about 40 years.

So, in my spare time (ha!) methought myself to drag out an old calculus text and have at it. But. *sigh* I am considerably stupider than I was 40 years ago, and so I tracked down Calculus Made Easy, by Silvanus P. Thompson. While I’ll order and read the revised version from Amazon.com, the 1914 version is the one I recall browsing through briefly more than 40 years ago, and reading it on Scribus isn’t terribly limiting. Perhaps, in conjunction with a beer or two a day, a little exercise for what Hercule Poirot called “the little grey cells” will stave off my growing mental decay a wee tad.

Anywho, it ought to be fun.

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WWW=Wacky Windows Weirdness

Been over in the Ubuntu side of this computer for a couple of days. “Housekeeping” and other stuff best done from there. Exporting the T-Bird address book I have there into T-Bird Portable, etc.

So, I decided to reboot in Win7 Beta. Weird stuff going on.

1. I was just on an Ubuntu session and all was well, but now the keyboard/mouse are acting weird. Kyboard droppng letters typed (Yp, just like now) and mouse acting herky-jerky. I do NOT have capslock on at any time (disabled the key mechanically), but sometimes, the SHIFT key sticks.

2. Have already had to re-register keyoard/mouse twice–hardware rnegotiaaaae. Again.

3. Can CLCK start orb, but nothing in it s clickable .

No, I have fresh batteries in wireless input devices, and besides, they were jst working fine in Ubuntu, a few minutes ago.

TOO WEID.

(All typos in this post apparently caused by Windoze Weirdness.)

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R&R

About halfway through just the first of my Saturday projects. Means I’ve left the easy one (pretty easy but tedious and messy plumbing project in the basement) for last. Right now, taking a break. Who’d-a thunk snaking RG6 cabling could generate so much sweat? Yeh, finally getting around to rationalizing the CATV/internet access cabling inside. Have been running off two “not the greatest solution” splitters for several years now. One is a pretty decent splitter “donated” by our cable guy–OK, but not ideal. The other a better one but in the wrong placement in the topology map.

Drilling holes, snaking cables, swapping out splitters: in the end, best splitter a 1-2 with one cable going straight to cable “modem” (via a very nice quad RG6 cable) and other going to a multi-Ghz 1-4 splitter for the TVs (including this computer). Have to build a short quad RG6 cable for that one, but have nice quad RG6s for the four TVs.

Later… (much later) I need to figure the “TV over RJ-45” for using this computer as a media server and the modded (almost finished–cobbler’s kids and all that) XBox as a media director to go to a lil 25″-er in our bedroom.

But after the 2-1/4-1 switch and rerouting of CATV cabling… plumbing gig! Yay! *heh*

Update: I can retire these tasks now. Nice. Means tomorrow evening (after Chuck–*heh*), I can start in on another project.

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Economic Education: Mac vs. PC

Sometimes tough economic times do wake folks up a bit:

Mac Sales Growth Falls Below PCs

At U.S. retail, Windows PC unit sales were up 16.6 percent year over year in January, while Mac sales fell 5.5 percent. In October, when Apple launched snazzy, new MacBooks, Mac unit sales rose 27.2 percent compared with 5.7 percent for Windows. The major difference for the two months between: a rapidly eroding U.S. economy.

The article includes Mac apologist comments about folks fleeing “value” over the issue of “price,” but that’s a bogus argument. Sure, there are times when a luxury Mercedes is the right car for the job, but if all you’re doing is getting to work and back, trips to the grocery store, etc., then a MOR Toyota or even Saturn is just as good.

But the quality difference between a $500 PC and a $1,000 (or usually more) Mac just isn’t as big as the Macultists argue. And the PC platform is still much, much more flexible and has apps that are just as good–even sometimes better–than the Mac platform has available, no matter what phanbois may say.

Personally, I’d rather have the difference in price to spend on more software and peripherals, but that’s just me. Folks who’d rather spend more to use a Mac can still do so, and that’s fine with me too. But apparently, more buyers of computers are seeing the value in having more money in their pocket for other things at the end of their computer purchase.

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Who’d-a Thunk It?

There’s a kind of hush all over twc today. The unthinkable has occurred. A decade and more has passed since the last such “once in a blue moon” event has come to pass.

I have a doctor’s appointment.

*yawn*

Yeh, yeh, I’m too lazy and impatient (and easily bored) to manage my blood pressure consistently with (regular) exercise and slow breathing exercises, though the slow breathing exercises alone pretty reliably bring my blood pressure to within normal range. Have a mole that’s undergone a dramatic change this week. Really ought to get a PSA done. (Old–and I do mean old: a year older than I–college roomie has pressured me to do this ever since his prostate cancer, so all right already, Dave! Yeh, go figure. Roomies with the same name. We had answering the phone down pat. “Speaking.” *heh*)

Little things add up, I guess. I can put up with a knee killing me when I walk regularly. Missing sleep I can work around. All the other aches and pains of encroaching age are just background noise–kinda like my tinnitus. But my laziness and impatience are incurable, so it’s off to the doctor I go to tell ’em to gimme some pills, etc.

Putting a crimp in my day, though. *grumble, grumble, gripe, complain*

Oh, well.

Hey, maybe I can get the doc to take a look at my cat who’s losing weight at the same time, you think? 😉