I said last February that Jim Black should go, and now he will go … to prison! Black got his just desserts today when he was sentenced to 63 months in PMITA prison.
He earned it, too. Today’s paper says he took not just $50,000 in bribes, but $500,000 in bribes. That makes Meg Scott Phipps look like an amateur.
What we still don’t know is which lobbyist wrote the check. Come on, Jim. Who’d you sell us out to?
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
When I thought I’d be taking the train north last week I decided I wanted to know where I was. Since I no longer have Windows on my laptop, my Microsoft Streets and Trips software wasn’t an option. That’s when I remembered a sweet Linux mapping application called Roadmap.
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Spent the afternoon and evening yesterday pulling cable under the house. I was surprised to see only one dead mouse under there. It had long ago stopped smelling, so I ignored it in favor of getting my wiring job done.
I pulled four ethernet drops and two coaxial drops to split between the den and the playroom. When I goofed up and didn’t properly locate the spot where they would go, I enlisted Kelly to help me run additional cable. Had I not made that mistake I could have shaved two hours off my job. D’oh! There is truth in the old adage: measure twice, cut once!
At lunch I will put connectors on the garage ends and then the jacks will go live. Hooray!
We got back Saturday afternoon from our visit with Kelly’s parents. Once again, driving down U.S. 15 seemed much easier than the interstates. Kelly followed me on the way down, with Travis joining me for an hour or so after lunch.
It was good having company as I drove, but I felt bad that I couldn’t understand what Travis was telling me. He’s tough sometimes to hear even in the best of circumstances. Add in road noise and all I could do was smile and nod my head.
Kelly’s parents were as always great to us. Even though I had to work while I was there, it felt like a little vacation.
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?
So, this default theme leaves something to be desired, eh. Y’all got any suggestions for a new MT.Net theme?
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.
A while ago Jeff turned me on to Fake Steve Jobs, the satirical blogger pretending to be Steve Jobs. If you’re not reading him yet, you’re really missing out.
And FSJ isn’t just about humor. One of his posts today totally summed up the threat iTunes presents to the music industry in a very concise way. I hadn’t seen this described so simply before.
Fake Steve Jobs might not be the real Steve Jobs but he’s brilliant, whomever he is.
I showed up at the train station at 5:30 this morning only to be told the train would be over three hours late! There I was: wide awake at 5:30, with a full tank of gas and an empty road ahead of me. I hopped in my car and drove up instead. By the time my train left Raleigh at 9:02 AM I was already north of Richmond.
I don’ t understand how a train could already be three hours behind at 5:30 AM on a holiday, when the freight trains aren’t running. Sometimes I think the government mismanages Amtrak just so they can use them as a bad example.
