Former Tonight Show legend Jack Parr died Tuesday in Greenwich, Conn. after a long illness. He was 85.

The man blazed a trail for Carson, Letterman, and Leno, putting a mark on television that is still felt today.

His death got me thinking that the job of late night talk-show host has got to be one of the best jobs around. Maybe I can take Letterman’s place when he retires. Or maybe not, as the Peanut Gallery will probably tell me. 🙂

I managed to brave the slick roads to drag myself into work. The worst parts were Timber Drive in Garner, most of which is shaded by trees, and the parking lot here at the office. I-40 and I-440 were both moving at 70 MPH.

Looks like most of the office is here, too. Don’t know what to make of that…

I’ve been seeing lots of virus messages in my inbox the past few days. The MyDoom virus is making the rounds. CNET is calling it the fastest-spreading virus.

I suspect it was responsible for crashing the WebEx session I was using this afternoon. I was entering in an appointment when suddenly their server dropped off the Internet.

This virus just another infuriating example of the danger of a Microsoft-centric tech industry. Anyone using Microsoft email products deserves the headaches this will cause. Good thing our fearless leaders have chosen Microsoft to protect our borders. I’m sure that’s got Osama quaking in his sandals.

On the other hand, the virus is set to DOS SCO‘s website, so it ain’t all bad…

For the past couple of cold days, my breaker panel has whined audibly when the heat pump has kicked on. Two nights it happened when the “auxillary heat” kicked on, which I might understand since the electric coils eat electrons like you wouldn’t believe. However, I heard the whine again today when the coils weren’t on – and the load was a fraction of what it was.

I’m hoping its just low voltage, caused by the incredible load put on the neighborhood lines due to the weather. On the other hand, it was low voltage that killed our old heat pump. It had worked furiously to heat our 50 degree house once the power returned after last year’s ice storm. Unfortunately, it was competing with the rest of the neighborhood for voltage. The compressor burned out and that was all she wrote.

So you can believe I’ll be keeping my eye on this new heat pump, crossing my fingers that it won’t meet the fate of the last one. It sucks being cold.

Eleven days ago, a traffic engineer working in Melbourne, Australia snapped a digital photograph of a railroad crossing, only to find a UFO appeared in the photograph. The link goes to the website of the local government, which has no official opinion on the object.

It’s an amazing photograph. The object doesn’t look like any aircraft I’ve ever seen. Yet there it is, plain as day.

I’ve been posting reality-bending stories like these on my other weblog, Mindblogging.com. Please don’t make fun of me for not sprucing it up yet. 🙂
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Check this out. Cooperative Linux is a project which allows Linux apps to be run natively under Windows, at Ring 0. The promise of protected-mode CPUs is made real. Its kind of like how OS/2 used to run Windows 3.1 apps in a virtual session.

Maybe its no coincidence that VMWare was recently sold. I wonder if they saw the writing on the wall?

This weather calls for Jimmy Buffett.
For more ice relief, listen to Radio Margaritaville.
—
Boat drinks. Boys in the band ordered boat drinks.
Visitors just scored on the home rink.
Everything seems to be wrong.

Lately, newspaper mentioned cheap airfare.
I’ve got to fly to Saint Somewhere.
I’m close to bodily harm.

Chorus
Twenty degrees and the hockey games on.
Nobody cares; they are way too far gone,
screamin’ “Boat drinks,” somethin’
to keep them all warm.
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I’ve been hacking Asterisk and these Packet8 DTA310’s I’ve got in order to make the two talk to each other. So far, all I can do is get the DTA to register itself with Asterisk. I can make it ring from Asterisk, but all I get is silence.

When the DTA attempts to initiate a call, it sends a SIP INVITE, but completely ignores Asterisk’s request for authentication. I took a look at a tcpdump session for the X-Lite client and saw it properly ACK the authentication message. So it seems the DTA is acting deaf, for some reason.

I’m about to relegate these DTA’s to paperweight status. I’ve twiddled all the bits I can find on the DTA, as well as the appropriate Asterisk settings. No combination has been able to get the two talking to each other. Unless the latest Asterisk code has some miracle workaround for the DTA being dumb as rock, I’m declaring defeat on this 8×8, Inc. piece of junk.

On the bright side of VoIP, I managed to discover what was keeping X-Lite from registering on my home Asterisk server from work. The culprit was a subtle trick in my firewall rules, which were blocking the registration while at first glance seeming to accept it. Now I can use X-Lite as an extension of my home phone system from any Internet connection, anywhere in the world. And THAT is pretty damn cool!

The mt.net website might disappear when tomorrow’s wintry mix hits the area. The latest forecast calls for 1-2 inches of ice. Yuck.

The latest forecast:

ACROSS THE CENTRAL PIEDMONT AND NORTHERN COASTAL PLAIN…INCLUDING… THE TRIANGLE…ALBEMARLE…SOUTHERN PINES…SANFORD AND TARBORO…ICE ACCUMULATIONS FROM PREDOMINANTLY SLEET WILL LIKELY TOTAL ONE TO TWO INCHES. AN ADDITIONAL QUARTER OF
AN INCH OF ICE ACCRUAL FROM FREEZING RAIN IS ALSO POSSIBLE…ESPECIALLY ON TREES AND POWERLINES. THE PRECIPITATION WILL BEGIN AS A MIXTURE OF SLEET AND SNOW SUNDAY MORNING THEN CHANGE OVER TO A MIXTURE OF SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON. THE PRECIPITATION IS THEN EXPECTED TO TAPER OFF AS FREEZING RAIN OR DRIZZLE SUNDAY NIGHT.

I might cancel my doctor’s appointments for Monday because driving to Chapel Hill on Monday morning is shaping up to be impossible.