General-purpose musings
There are 780 posts filed in Musings (this is page 63 of 78).
I’ve got another dentist appointment today, one of my every-six-month checkups. While taking care of my teeth is not news, the fact that another six months has gone by is. To me, anyway. Whenever I’m making my next appointment, I always think wow, six months is a long time. Then its here before I know it.
Where does the time go?
I was shocked to learn yet another of my cartoonist heroes has died a tragic death. Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Doug Marlette, author of the Kudzu comic strip, died in a car wreck today. He was 57.
While I thought Kudzu seemed stale as of late, it was the coolest thing back in 1986, my junior year of high school. This was Kudzu’s “moon pie” phase, a schtick that wound up decorating the signature pages of my South Meck High School yearbook. Continue reading
My friend Kurt recently attended his submarine’s deactivation ceremony. The USS Minneapolis-St. Paul (SSN-708) was deactivated last month after two decades of service to the country. Seems like a short life for such a capable vessel. It made me wonder why we would scrap her.
Today I found an article describing USS Minneapolis-St. Paul’s likely fate: the scrapping process for nuclear submarines and ships. After decomissioning in September, she’ll be cut into sections, with most metal being recycled. The reactor’s final resting place will be the Hanford nuclear site in Washington state.
With the Navy scrapping perfectly good Spruance-class destroyers and nuclear subs, what does that leave? Are the remaining ships really all that?
During my SE work, one thing I ran into a lot is the need for Linux training. I’ve visited a lot of companies that have no staff trained in Linux. I’ve also heard that the main reason certain companies don’t use Linux is the lack of trained staff. Some people seem downright afraid of it, which is really unfounded as I consider Linux to be as easy to use as Windows, once you learn the subtle differences at least.
I know Linux well and I’ve got plenty of training experience. I love to conduct training: its one of the highlights of my day job. I’ve been wondering if a business offering Linux training for newbies might be self-sustaining. It’s certainly worth exploring.
I’ve been enjoying the constant stream of birds who’ve visited the makeshift birdbath on our back porch. Usually squirrels are its main visitors. I suppose the drought conditions have made the birds a little thirstier than usual.
My favorite guests have been the Carolina Wrens. These birds are so frenetic! Watching one take a bath was like watching a blender! I was cracking up.
On a related note, why is the state bird of North Carolina the Northern Cardinal? Why not the Carolina Wren? Cardinals are fine birds and all, but they’re found all over, while Carolina Wrens stay close to NC. They’re also more fun to watch.
Note to self: now that I’m working again, maybe it isn’t such a good idea to stay up until 1 AM the night before a workday.
Raleigh’s water restrictions go into effect today. If you’ve got an odd-numbered address you can water Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. If you’re even, you water Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Monday is the day of waterly rest.
Seeing how these restrictions apply to all the other municipalities that are on Raleigh’s water system, I’ve often wondered how enforcement works. Continue reading
At a customer site today waiting for a database to update I decided to check up on my blog. Seems that SurfControl has flagged MT.Net in its “Blogs And Forums” list. Yay! I finally made someone’s list!
I’m in good company, as Jeff and Jamie made SurfControl’s list. The Hallie And Travis page, a blog running far longer than my own, didn’t make the cut. Well-known bloggers Chris O’Donnell and Doc Searls didn’t make the cut, either. With Doc’s hosted at a site named “weblogs.com,” one wonders what it takes to be flagged as a blog. Ironically, other websites I host on the very same machine as my blog are not blocked at all.
The process makes me think about those organizations who control the Internet floodgates, sometimes in secret. I had no idea I was on SurfControl’s radar until just now. What about Google filtering out search results at the whim of Chinese government bureaucrats? What if it happened here? If you get filtered by search engine (or a nanny proxy like Surfcontrol), you effectively disappear from the Internet, don’t you?
I got an email today from none other than Algerian Lieutenant General Mohamed Lamari. You’ll note that General Lamari has a quirky way of describing himself:
Continue reading
My Dutch friend Guus’s recent introduction to Pabst Blue Ribbon got me thinking back to the days I wandered around Sleazefest, where PBR was prevalent. Few shows can make me willingly stand in a sweaty, smoke-filled room for hours on end, but Sleazefest could. Bands right in front of you (and sometimes on top of you) played sloppy surf rock while girls wearing bumper stickers shimmied in cages. Three days and multiple stages! Man, that show was a blast.
Last year, the Indy went searching for the lost Sleazefest. I hope it turns up soon.
