The Road Ahead, 3.2

What does a good citizen do when faced with a bad government? Well, as I’ve pointed out before, in a representative reublic–which in theory is these (dis)United States–we have a responsibility to be directly involved in the process of selecting our leaders, not just by voting but also by doing all we can to influence the selection of candidates and to keep our representatives’ noses pressed firmly to the grindstone of OUR choosing.

But more, much more than that, we need to do everything we can to educate our local, state and national representatives as to their poper place in the scheme of things as public servants, employees of The People, not all that important in our daily lives, mostly warts on the body politic.

In order to achieve this objective, we must

1. Give due honor to genuine public servants
2. Give the raspberry to politicians exercising illegitimate power as though it were legitimate authority, but most of all,
3. Be a daily example to our children, friends and relatives of persons who consider the law a negative thing and politicians’ proper role in the scheme of things to be that of chidren in the Victorian age: seen rarely, rarely heard.

*huh*?

Yep. We must train those around us and future generations to view the purpose of the law as mostly negative: punishing–harshly punishing, in most cases–malefactors who harm others by violence, theft or deceit. (Hmmm, that’d place 90%, at least, of our congresscritters in harm’s way PDQ.) We must peacefully, quietly, consistently refuse to acknowlege laws and regulations that violate basic human and civil rights as noted in the founding/source documents of this nation (BTW, for any illiterati having this post read to them, that does include the Bible–check the Founders’ own words, if you can.) Sure, some of us will run afoul of some nancypants government bureaucrat intent on doing us harm, but we must do what’s right for the good of our progeny.

And as we go about our daily lives, simply doing what is good and right and just, as instructed by the same wisdom that instructed the Founders, that means that we will do the ordinary things of life purposefully, as revolutionary actions in resistance to the growing anarcho-tyranny of various civil governments and quasi-governmental agencies (like public schools).

In that vein, expect more “beer posts” and more “compgeeky posts” and more other such posts apparently unrelated to politics, societal decay, etc. Just figting the good fight in quiet ways…


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41-39-51321

There’s more to a number than meets the eye. See the kerfuffle over The Obamassiah’s supposed selctive service registration over at Debbie Schlussel’s.

*whew!* The guy can’t even prove he was born, let alone where. Claims multiple dates for draft registration, none of which seem to match up with the documentation made availabe through a FOIA request. Secretive about his academic record. Can’t recollect long, intimate working relationships with unrepentant terrorists. Denies saying things he’s on video saying, etc.

Hmmm, sounds like a 21st century politician *spit* all right.

(And yes, there more to the number that is this post’s title than meets the eye… )


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“Insanity? I’m just crazy about that stuff!”

So, the latest Ubuntu 8.10 Live CD includes Wubi. Hmmm, so what did I do?

Installed it inside a Windows 2000 VM that happened to be running, hosted by Ubuntu 8.04, when I inserted the CD, of course.

So now, it’s a fully updated Ubuntu 8.04 hosting a Windows 2000 session that has a dual boot installation of Win2K/Ubuntu 8.10 installed inside it.

And it works.

Cwazy, simpwy cwazy.

*heh, heh, heh*

(It’s not my fault. I wasn’t there. I have witnesses.)

*pfui* VMWare Needs a Swift Kick Upside the Head

I really appreciate being able to use VMWare Server 2.0 for free. Really. My “office” (scare quotes because–confession time–here at twc central my office is known as my junk room *heh*) is crowded enough as it is without four more computers and either more monitors or a cumbersome KVM switch, etc. Being able to run several (fully licensed) versions of Windows, BSD and even a couple more Linux distros all inside one machine without multi-booting is more than just handy; it’s a sanity saver.

But. Every time there’s a Firefox update (yeh, I use Firefox for it, because 1.it now uses a web interface plugin for console management and 2.the #$*&%# plugin refuses to work with Opera, even though ALL OTHER MOZILLA PLUGINS DO just fine and dandy) the web management console stops workng and the ONLY way I’ve found to get the thing to load again is to… completely recompile, reinstall and reconfigure VMWare Server. NONE of the other so-called fixes (hacks, kludges) that’ve been around since the VMWare Server FUBAR at Firefox 3.0.1 have worked. ONLY a complete recompile, reinstall and reconfigure works.

Dumb, VMWare, really dumb. It’s the same plugin–no change there. And another thing: EVERY time I have to completely recompile, reinstall and reconfigure the thing, the scripting informs me I have a wrong version of this that or the other OS component, always asking for a down version and warning the reconfiguration will crash. It never does and VMWare Server always comes back up after the reconfiguration, finally working again after getting the willies over a X.X.1 point change in a FIrefox version.

*feh*

VMWare is squandering major kudo points for its better-than-most-others’ VM implementation with this kind of mickey mouse issue, caused by its insistence on depending on a browser plugin it apparently cannot bother to maintain properly.

Still, for 64-bit VMs across a wide spectrum of OSes, once the thing actually LOADS, it’s just fine. Minor issues getting VMWare Tools (for VMs sharing USB, sound, etc., with the host machine) working in some OSes, but no real problems and LOADS of pluses… once the assinine console plugin actually loads.


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Christmas Alliance 2008

This year, the Christmas Alliance will be hosted/managed by Kat, of Cathouse Chat. See the linked post for details.

Today’s welcome to the season of Christmas 2008 is the advent hymn, “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”–lyrics by Charles Wesley, tune by Rowland Prichard. The mp3 is a brief excerpt of the sadly OOP rendition of “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” by John Darnell. (You can probably find a used copy of Winterlude — Instrumentals for a Contemplative Christmas available at Amazon.com, though.)

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

You Think You’re Grateful?

Along about this time of year, I usually cite the story of Martin Rinkart, the town of Eilenburg, Saxony and the Thirty Years’ War, using Rinkart’s hymn, “Now Thank We All Our God” as the punch line.

It’s still a good story and a good illustration of how shallow our own gratitude for our many blessings is, but I’ll just let you read the linked post and then refer you to the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, in the New Testament:

1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for.

3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 4By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

5By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him…. Hebrews 11:1-6

It does make a difference Who you are grateful to, and why.

Continue reading “You Think You’re Grateful?”

Give Thanks

Yesterday was my first Thanksgiving post of the week. Just in case that slipped by you, I have a multitude of reasons to be thankful on November 24 every year, all tied up in the simple law of nature that states,

The uglier the man, the better the woman he ends up with.

Also stated as, “Beautiful women (also known as “gracious, kind, generous, thoughtful, etc., women”) are blind to ugly in their men.”

*heh*

So, yesterday was my first Thanksgiving post. Today I want to ask, Who are you thankful to? We all have blessings out our kiesters to be thankful for. Our society is overflowing with an abundance of good things, good circumstances, and even–despite their almost complete absence from the Mass Media Podpeople Hivemind, Congress, etc.–a large number of “good” people. (Yeh, ask me about the scare quotes on that one.)

So, I ask you, to whom are you grateful for the many blessings in your life?

The humanist is grateful to himself. The new age mystic or wannabe is grateful to “the universe” or some other such concept. And so on. Some folks are grateful to god. Oh, you noticed the uncial “g”? That’s because some folks (including some who call themselves Christians and go to churches that call themselves Christian) are grateful to a god who is indistinguishable from themselves or from the nebulous concepts of some universal force of various different new (old) age pagans or the gods of Druidic or Norse or Greco-Roman religion for that matter.

So I ask again, to whom are you grateful for the blessings in your life? If you are not certain whence your blessings come, you have no real reason to give thanks, nor do you have anyone to express those meaningless thanks to, now do you?

I’ll expand at length later this week on the topic simply exposited below, but for now, let me offer Don Moen’s simple exhortation:

Give thanks with a grateful heart,
Give thanks to the Holy One,
Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son.

And now let the weak say, ‘I am strong’
Let the poor say, ‘I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us’
Give thanks


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The Thirty Years’ War

No, not that one, though it may be featured in a post later this week. Thirty years, five months and ~3 weeks ago, my Wonder Woman had called me up from Twilight Zone, Colorado (she swears to this day that the town had never been there in any of her drives over that route and wasn’t there on her return trip) to say she’d been thinking over my “suggestion” and decided to marry me anyway. *heh* Then, thirty years ago today, I promised my Wonder Woman that I would be faithful in our shared struggle to build our lives together (hence, the “Thirty Years’ War”), and she simply gave herself to me.

(Twenty years and four months, to the day, after she had made her “miracle call” she participated in another miracle: dying three times in one day and nevertheless surviving. THAT was an interesting time… the ten years since that day have all been bonus years.)

We’ve had a good “Thirty Years’ War” life together, on balance–I’d say “gooder” for me than for her, but she slaps my hand when I start going there. 😉

So, today is our wedding anniversary. Flooded with memories of the day and memories of the intervening years. I’ll be busy today and not around twc, so play nicely, OK?


Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, The Pink Flamingo – WordPress, Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl, Shadowscope, DragonLady’s World, Rosemary’s News and Ideas, The Pink Flamingo, and Democrat=Socialist, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

The Road Ahead, 1.4

As we face uncertain economic times, one thing to keep hammering on is being careful what we spend and how we spend it…


Over at Lucy’s Frugal Living, I ran into the meme-of-the-week:

I think people are just afraid to buy things right now, with all of the uncertainties…

Well, good! People (we all) buy too much stuff. Stuff is the bane of our society’s existence. We buy too much, hoard too much and throw away too much. Almost all of the “too much” is of the wrong stuff. Junk food and flashy toys that break and faddish clothes, etc., instead of staples and healthful food and really durable goods that we need and clothes that will last us for years.

And we–as a society, not all as individuals–have been buying this crap for years on credit! Maybe a few credit junkies buying crap with other peoples’ money will be scared straight by a crash. Maybe. One can hope.

Maybe congresscritters will grow some brains and rent some intestinal fortitude and allow big car makers who’ve made stupid financial decisions for years reap the whirlwind they’ve sown. Maybe. One can hope.

And maybe a few grups will actually GROW UP and act like adults for a change, putting away their irresponsible, childish pursuits of childish pleasures long enough to actually BE adults, begin eschewing spendthriftism for frugality and actually contribute to society. Maybe (but I doubt it).

*feh* Enough of this. Two or three tightwad, money-saving tips for the “scared straight” among credit abusers and junk hoarders:

Continue reading “The Road Ahead, 1.4”

Lost Post…

I sat down here a couple of hours ago to do an extemp post on something that flashed through my head. Got a phone call. Off the reservation for a couple of hours and… I have NO idea what it was I was going to post.

It was probably going to be my best post ever. *heh*


Upcoming in the Road Ahead series: “Truth, Justice and The American Way” briefly discussed. Paring it down in bits n pieces of time.


Stealing 15-30 minutes here and there (w/o adversely affecting my schedule), adding up to about 2 hours’ time, I was able to save at least $100 today by doing five lil jobs on my lil econocar instead of having my mechanic do ’em. Of course, I still have to take it off stands tomorrow a.m. (Because I ran out of short bits I could rob from my day before it got too chill for my old bones and my light went. Yeh, I have artificial lighting available, but no I do NOT want to do it in the cold and with artificial lighting. 5 mins in the a.m. should do it.) The $100 savings is a conservative estimate. Glad to pay my mechanic for jobs I don’t have the tools for or can’t steal the time for (or can’t figure out or don’t have good enough wiring diagrams to deal with or… :-)), but why do it if I don’t have to?

Micro-mini-update: took ~15 minutes because…

1. Coffee-deprived brain didn’t reinstall serpentine belt. Almost seven minutes, mainly because I tried to use the wrong 14mm wrench on the tensioner pulley. Picked up the right one and it was a 30-second job. Oh. Well. Putting away ramp(s), jackstands, spacer 2″X8″X3′ board (used to make floor jack easier to use on the rough concrete of the driveway) and sundry tools n accessories (including two perfectly-shaped rocks i regularly use as chocks) < 5 mins. Wheel stuff < 5 mins. Still worth my time and effort, mainly because I KNOW I used the best parts available and paid detailed attention to doing the best possible job. Then there's the inestimable benefit of satisfaction from having done it myself. Always a plus (unless it’s something like balancing four Stromberg-Carlson carbs on a 12-cylinder engine–whatawasteoftime. How often does one need a skill set like that?).


Early sample of the “apple wine” is not bad at all. Nothing to write home about, but then I added two cans of concentrate to the secondary fermenter before I racked the brew into it, so I expect a lil more robust apple flavor in the finished product.


Even as the best revenge is living well, so I believe the best way to deal with the commies now coming into power in D.C. is to rise above their interference in our daily lives. They may steal my wallet, but they’ll have a hard(er) time stealing my ability to barter, build needed items from castoff junk or grow my own food. Just sayin’.


Thanksgiving is approaching. Of course, MY “Thanksgiving” celebration begins in June (6-4), is accented (BIG time) in October (10-4) and celebrated every year on 11-24, regardless what day the national holiday is celebrated. I’ll clarify that a bit more as The Day approaches.


Had an “extra” 12-oz or so (actually a lil more) of the molasses beer to bottle condition the other day, so bottled it in a 12oz bottle (of course). It’s not really had time to condition properly, but chilled it anyway and had a taste. Pretty good stuff. The rest should be ready to start refrigerating in a few days.


Hmmm, my comp isn’t recognizing the memory stick from my camera. Guess I need to see to that. *sigh* My Winder Woman has the one USB cable that works with our cameras (the one that’s left–*heh*) at work, so it’d be nice to transfer straight from the camera’s stick. Ahhh *thumps head* insert properly, deadhead… Works just fine. Hey, Perri, here’re the “kitty litter” fermenters:

Just basic fermenting buckets with different approaches to airlocks.


Time to take an early break for the company of the rack monster, I think.