Focusing rain

I’ve found our rainwater tank seems to focus rain. A sprinkling of rain fell overnight. Though my wheelbarrow was out it only collected enough water to fill up a mug.

I didn’t expect much to have been added to the tank this morning but I was surprised. The tank showed 12 to 15 new gallons! That’s from just half the roof, too. It always amazes me just how much water can be collected just from the rainfall.

Citation needed

I was reading up on the xkcd meetup that happened in Cambridge in September. A bunch of geeks descended on the local park which was previously mentioned in the comic strip.

Wherever geeks gather, trouble can’t be far behind. This is one of the funniest protest signs I’ve ever seen. Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales must be proud.

MPD – Music Player Daemon

I’ve been under a rock (and roll – hah!), but I just found out about MPD, otherwise known as the music player daemon. I’ve had my music server parked by my stereo for years and have been logging into the command line to play music. MPD makes this unnecessary.
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Donate computers to the Kramden Institute

I spent my lunch break gathering up old computers and parts I’ve been meaning to recycle for months now. I piled the back of the minivan high with this gear and drove over to the Kramden Institute in RTP to donate it all. Folks there were very friendly and appreciative of the gift. Thanks to my donations, two families will have nice computers that wouldn’t otherwise have them. Kids will be able to write papers, do research, and build their own ugly MySpace pages thanks to my gift.
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AT&T dispute update

Progress was made this morning on my dispute with AT&T. I got a call from Ms. Cherry Johnson from AT&T, responding to the consumer complaint I sent to the N.C. Attorney General’s consumer protection office. I reiterated that I never put my social security number on the account in question and that I never worked for the company whose name is on the bill. After some polite discussion we agreed that I needed to fill out AT&T’s “fraud packet.”
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Thieves don’t want THIS credit card number

One of my first jobs was a part-time position stocking and cashiering at Dart Drug in Sterling, VA. It was a throwaway job in many respects, working for minimum wage with some shady characters and finally quitting after being falsely accused of helping myself to the till. The job was useful in that while working there I once helped track down a killer, but that’s a story for another day.
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Bushfire

I was there when The B-52s counted down the last seconds of the 80s at San Diego Sports Arena. It was a good time in my life.

Bushfire
The B-52s [warning: music]

On the horizon, the landscape’s burning red
Bushfire—smoke in your eyes… smoke in your eyes
If you feel something, that makes you warm all over
If you got a fire and you can’t put it out—got a bushfire
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