President Eisenhower sent ten letters to private citizens, giving them enormous authority over the economy and society in the event that “the bubble went up.” The Conelrad website has collected these letters, known as The Eisenhower Ten and posted most of them.

Thus the idea of “shadow government” was born. For a while, nine unelected individuals were walking around with authority to take over the government. Check out the list of would-be leaders.

I’d like to help organize a cooperative here that would create a local wireless network between local ISPs. Rather than backhauling traffic to DC or elsewhere, members could create links directly to each other.

The links would be wireless antennas using off-the-shelf 802.11b gear. Anyone could join provided they paid a small fee, bought their own equipment, erected their own antenna, and agreed to act as a relay for other nodes, if necessary. It would be governed by a GPL-like agreement to share the bandwidth whenever possible.

The idea springs mainly from my observation that there is no peering point here in the Triangle area. Sure, there are private agreements, but we really need a public point where networks can meet. A coop seems like the ideal business arrangement: everyone is an equal partner. It sounds like something that could be made to work, providing the details of governance are properly defined.

Let’s hear it from the Peanut Gallery. Can this idea fly?

I’ve been building various packages for apps I like, such as Flightgear, wx200d, liferea, and others. For some dumb reason, I haven’t shared them with the public yet.

Soon other Linux geeks can share the love. I’m putting together a package page, with source and binary RPMS for things I’ve spent the time to build. Look for it soon.

I’m still chuckling over this post my brother in law sent to my dad’s blog. It describes Shelby’s desperate situation during the recent ice storm.

This just goes to show you why most states prohibit my family get-togethers. 🙂

This is the Golden Age
It’s hard to imagine
with the way I feel today
that this is the Golden Age
The Golden Age

Somewhere I failed
Somewhere I lost you
in a black crowd of crows
and shiny things
I can’t remember
Continue reading →

My daughter Hallie has always been special, having first announced her arrival in her grandmother’s dream and then developing at a lightning pace in spite of arriving eleven weeks early. She has leapt to the top of the growth charts, is taller than kids twice her age, and has a speaking vocabulary of 400+ words.

Now she’s showing other signs of being special. Two days in a row, she has shown signs of being able to read minds. Continue reading →

One of the hazards of being a parent is being exposed to all the songs that get stuck in your head. Just about every toy makes music, and invariably you’ll hear its particular song hundreds of times.

The latest song stuck in my head is “Jellyman Kelly,” by James and Sally Taylor. Its part of the Sesame Street Music CD boxed set. Now Sesame Street mastered the art of song-sticking, so every song on this CD is catchy. But this one has risen to the top.

—

Jellyman Kelly
James Taylor (music) Sally Taylor (lyrics)

Here’s a song about jellyman kelly,
He loves jelly the most.
Ah, but most of all,
Jellyman kelly loves jelly on toast.

And here’s the part about jenny mulhenny,
She’s a fireman’s daughter.
Yeah, but most of all,
Jenny mulhenny loves to boil hot water

Jenny put the kettle on, jellyman kelly,
Can he come home, jenny, can he come?
Jenny put the kettle on, jellyman kelly,
Can he come home, jenny, can he come?

Chorus:
Oh, can he come home, jenny,
Can he come home, jenny can he come?
Oh, can he come home, jenny
Can he come home, jenny, can he come?

Yada yada yada voo doo papa
Yodely doo
Da voody doo doo doo
Yaka yaka yaka yaka hum hon no
(repeat chorus)
That’s the story about jellyman kelly-he still loves jelly!
And yes and maybe someday you and me, friend,
We can have tea with him!
(repeat chorus)

Jam

I got back from eating at a buffet restaurant today. It got me thinking of a world where all restaurants were buffets. Of course, it’ll never happen, but imagine if it did.

One of the (many) things that bugged me when I was working at a restaurant was the wasted food. We’d throw out huge amounts of food every day because people would order something and not eat it. With all the starvation in the world (and communities), throwing out food seems like such a crime.

Buffet restaurants, however, have less of a problem with wasted food. Patrons can have as much food as they need. Sometimes that means more, sometimes it means less. But in either case, the restaurant isn’t telling the patron how much to eat: the patron decides.

At the end of the day, a buffet restaurant can safely donate leftover food because it never touched the patrons’ plates. Homeless shelters and “meals-on-wheels” programs could benefit.

This would also battle the problem of Americans gaining too much weight. With so many meals offered “super-sized,” people feel compelled to finish them, even when its too much food.

Oh well, some thoughts on a rainy day.