Month: April 2009

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100 Days of Blood and Toil and Sweat and Tears

…just none of it The 0!’s blood and toil and sweat and tears, of course.

List of accomplishments for The 0!’s administration in its first 100 days:

Enslaved our grandchildren with more debt than has been amassed by all previous administrations combined.

Thrown dirt in the faces of American allies, kissed up to sworn enemies of the US and made obeisance to Islamic thugs.

Made great strides in allowing more potential carriers of swine flu into the US.

Nominated more known crooks to his first cabinet than any president in history.

Oh, why bother with any of the rest? This highly intelligent dumbass has already managed to challenge Dhimmi Kahtah’s title as the worst American president in living memory.

So much for hopenchange.

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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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This Post Left Intentionally Blank

That sort of thing always leaves me scratching my head. “This page left intentionally blank” printed on a page is about as stupid as stupid gets. Since it has “This page left intentionally blank” printed on it, it’s not blank!

*sigh*

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I’ll Pass for Now

On Thursday, a large spike in bandwidth usage at some download sites will likely mark the release of Ubuntu 9.04. I’ve been using the beta of 9.04 in a Vm for a while, now, and since it’s offered notsomuch advantage over 8.10, I think twc central will pass for now. My last upgrade, from 8.04 to 8.10 was not a nightmare upgrade, but it did break a few media features, require reinstallation of THE SAME video drivers I had been using and several other lil gripes. So, with no really big gains, super-duper changes, in the OS and every reason to expect the usual breakage of features on upgrade, as well as the likely slow download because of eager beavers wanting their upgrade NOW, twc central will stick with Ubuntu 8.10 for now.

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Backup Strategies

Another one of those posts that will interest only those folks who find computers interesting… but should be interesting to anyone who uses one.

Just sayin’.

I’ve been using personal computers for better than a couple of decades now, though only intensively for the past sixteen or seventeen years. Before that, I could take or leave ’em, pretty much. In that time, I’ve had my fair share of disk crashes that threatened my data with extinction. But only threatened. Because I learned–at least eventually–that backing up my computer was a lot less hassle than recreating my data.

For some folks, NOT backing their computers up has meant disaster.

Here are some decent strategies for backups that cover the most typical backup choices, though certainly not all.

Disk Imaging: using an imaging program such as Symantec’s Ghost or Acronis True Image (for Windows) or something like PartImage in Linux, one can save an exact image of a hard drive to another location (a network storage device, a server, an external hard drive or even spanned across several CDRs or DVDRs) and restore that image should something catestrophic occur. This would allow a complete duplicate of a hard drive to be restored, including the operating system.

Backup Software: use this to save copies of files and folders (usually in a compressed format) to another location (again, a network storage device, a server, an external hard drive or even spanned across several CDRs or DVDRs). This is certainly the traditional choice most folks are led to implement. There are so many different backup software choices, listing even a few might not touch on one that suits you best, so if you find this sort of option appealing, just google it.

A variation of the category of backup software are online backup services. Again, there are many different services, search for one that appeals to you.

I take a rather casual approach to backups. Casual and paranoid all at once. I’ve used “automatic” backup software… that failed. So, while I take backups seriously, I’m not locked in to one of the usual suspects. Since I try whenever possible to use free software–preferably FOSS (Free, Open Source Software, though I’m not always able to find FOSS software that meets my needs)–I never do full disk backups. If I have an OS or disk crash, I’m perfectly willing to do a fresh install of the OS and all of my software. It’s my own personal data–data that is uniquely mine: my emails, my personally generated documents (of all kinds, including my own musical comps and arrangements)–that most concerns me. So, I regularly copy my data folders to several external media: CDRs, DVDRs, online storage and external hard drives.

My email is easiest, and is a good example. I don’t like to use webmail, so I use an email client, Thunderbird, to download my “real” email (not from “junk” email accounts), but I don’t use an email client installed on my computer.

*huh?!?*

That’s right. I use Portable Thunderbird, which is “installed” on a USB flash drive. Not only can I take ALL my email with me and use Portable Thunderbird to download and send email from nearly ANY computer (with an enabled USB port), but backing up EVERYTHING email related is a snap. Preferences, contacts, filters and emails and the application itself: all can be “backed up” by simply copying the Portable Thunderbird folder from the flash drive to another location. Any location. Online, another hard drive, a CDR–whatever. Just drag and drop and all those things that can be a nightmare to back up with many email clients are backed up.

Nice.

Other than that, I have all my personal data–including passwords, personally generated documents of all kinds, etc., in standard folders on all my computers and simply zipping them up and dropping the sipped files in the desired backup locations and… bob’s your uncle: everything I WANT to have backed up is backed up.

For me, doing this about once a week is all the protection I really need. Perhaps it would be suitable for your needs as well; just zip up whatever you want saved and store it elsewhere.

But do note: at least one offsite backup of all the data you want to preserve is HIGHLY recommended. It’ll do you no good if you save all your precious data to an external drive and some DVDRs if your house burns down and takes the data with it.

(If my house and my hosting company burned to the ground on the same day, I’d be in a world of hurt. *heh* Well, except for the data in my “fireproof” safe, perhaps.)

Heck, while I’m at it, consider how safe your important hardcopy documents like birth certificate, etc., are. Are they at least in a fire-rated safe?

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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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TEA Partying

TeaPartyDay.com listed 2048 “registered” TEA Parties for April 15, 2009. Between the 15,000 who showed up in Atlanta, GA and the hundreds of smaller gatherings across the land, we’ll likely never get a firm count, but if they’d all been gathered in Washinton, D.C., the place would likely have been sunk back into the swamp it was built on.

tea-party-map

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Quick Handyman Tip

I’ve used this idea for years but haven’t actually passed it on to many folks before now.

Have a knife that needs a quick sharpening but don’t have a good ceramic (or other) sharpening tool handy? Well, if you’re the kind of guy who carries a knife, you are also the kind of guy who probably has a coffee cup handy. *heh* The bottom of most ceramic coffee mugs usually have unglazed rings of ceramic. Just turn a handy ceramic coffee mug over, and using the handle as a protective device (thumb through the handle, fingers gripping the mug), use that unglazed ring of ceramic exactly as you would a ceramic sharpening rod.

A few strokes later: sharp knife. I’ve found this works well enough that I gave away my most recent ceramic sharpener and haven’t really missed it. Even my largest chef’s knives are easily sharpened… with a coffee mug.

Continue reading “Quick Handyman Tip”

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Once Again: How to Detect an Islamic Terrorist

[Continuing a series of reposts.]

Third World County’s Politically Incorrect Guide to Detecting (and Dealing With) an Islamic Murdering Savage SOB Terrorist.

See a suspect? Maneuver to get the wind ‘em. (Scent: The stench of rotting camel–or other–dung may be your first clue apart from the fact that the guy looks like an Ay-rab.)

Step 1.) Does the goober smell worse than–well, Goober? If so, he’s either a Loony Left Moonbat or a Islamofascist murdering savage SOB. Bag ‘im either way.

Step 2.) When you perform a “cranial echo test” (whack ‘im on the head with an axe handle) does a “thunk” or no sound at all proceed from his pie hole? If a “thunk” then it’s a Loony Left Moonbat and good for catfish feed or for bait for wild boar. If no sound at all issues, then there’s nothing inside (sound doesn’t travel in a vacuum, you know) and you have a splodydope. Remove any useful explosives and see uses for Loony Left Moonbat, above. If the critter attempts to bite the axe handle, it’s an osama and should be doused with gasoline and burned (after removing any useful explosives for later use fishing or blowing stumps).

Do bury any remains of an osama in pig manure and turn the compost frequently. Use this compost to kill kudzu.

There. Wasn’t that all warm and fuzzy, multi-culti?

(Oh, and before someone charges me with dehumanizing or demonizing Loony Left Moonbats or terrorists, please note that Loony Left Moonbats and terrorists have beat me to the punch and either dehumanized or demonized themselves before I could get in on the act. I’m just calling the cards that are already dealt.)