I had some fun playing with the Dialectizer, which can convert any webpage into one of several, uh, “languages.”

For a funny example, check out the page you’re reading translated into hacker speak.

Isn’t the web cool?

I was browsing around Best Buy last week with a $20 gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket. I was drawn to the “communications” department, being the radio nut that I am.

There were at least four different mobile phone services I could choose from, some having three or more phones to choose from. Lining the walls were rack upon rack of phone accessories: cases, chargers, earphones. You name it.

A whole section of FRS and GMRS walkie-talkies caught my eye. There were 1 and 2 watt models. Some with chargers, some without. Some even had built-in GPS units. Every possible feature one could imagine was on at least one product. I was amazed.

As I stood there awed by the selection, I was reminded why I love America’s free market. In America, every consumer itch, no matter how small, can get scratched. Every taste can be catered to. Truly amazing.

I think a key reason for the product diversity in that department is that the govermnent is mostly uninvolved. The FRS and GMRS radios are no-license or self-licensing products. Also, the FCC never enforced one mobile phone standard in the US. Thus, we have competing services using competing protocols with competing phones: all to better serve the consumer.

Regulation is big sucks! Rulez is the free market!

Maybe I’m a curmudgeon, I don’t know. Ok, I am a curmudgeon. Kinda like it, actually. But I don’t think it’s too curmudgeonly to not appreciate one of my fellow citizen’s antics.

For months now, some dude on a motorcycle has been roaring down a street behind my house going insanely fast. It wasn’t just one time, mind you, but a regular basis. I’d be out in my backyard around 6 PM and more often than not this bozo would race down the road at what clearly was unsafe speeds.

The street itself goes from 45 MPH to 35 MPH behind my house. This guy was moving at 60 MPH or more from the sound of his bike. I decided to do something.

I wrote the Garner Police traffic enforcement and told them this guy’s routine. Though I didn’t get a reply from them, I did see them patrolling the street every night for a week. The speeding freak kept a low profile, or so it seemed.

As the weather got warmer our happy biker was out again, doing his thing, but soon his full-throttled engine went silent. Last week, I found out why. This was in my inbox, from Garner’s weekly crime report email:

Thirty-two-year-old Donald Parrish of Raleigh was arrested for driving his motorcycle on Timber Drive at speeds in excess of 80 MPH. A friend of his, Linda Perry of Garner who tried to hide him in her house was charged with Obstructing an Officer. Officers had seen the motorcycle speeding on two different occasions and tried to initiate a vehicle stop, but the driver sped away both times. The officers felt the risks were too high to pursue the motorcycle. Officers did, however see the direction the motorcycle went and were able to gather information from witnesses as to where the motorcycle and driver were located. They found the motorcycle in the backyard of Ms. Perry, but she lied to officers about the location of the driver. Once the driver was located and asked about speeding away from the police, he confessed to the speeding and other charges.

Ha ha, dumbass. You gave it your best shot but no Darwin Award for you. Instead you got what you deserved. I only wish I could’ve been there to see it.

Kudos to the Garner Police department for catching this idiot!

None other than Pat Buchanan, rumored “Deep Throat” Watergate source and perennial presidential candidate, has written a column questioning Bush’s motives on the attack on Iraq.

Now it’s true that Pat sometimes says things that I have a hard time agreeing with. But in this case, he’s right on the money. These are questions that demand answers. Answers that had better come before our troops become fodder for another so-called holy war.

I see from the Interesting People list, and other new s sources, that the 1950’s McCarthy hearings executive sessions are now online.

A recent newspaper article revealed how McCarthy would initially question witnesses in closed-door sessions. Those who stood up to the Senator would not be the ones he would question in public. The poor saps who bowed to his authority would then get skewered in front of the cameras, making McCarthy look like a big man, of course, while ruining the careers of innocent people.

I understand the notes available online are eye-opening, though the site appears to be “slashdotted” now, no doubt from all the millions of regular MarkTurner.Net readers. 🙂

I’m amazed at how busy I’ve stayed and I don’t even have a job. I am doing three things at once here, working with friends to set up their server, chasing down job leads in the TriLUG IRC channel, and scrambling to get out to an RTP lunch with $FORMER_EMPLOYER friends.

I’ve stayed up until 1 AM some nights in simply applying for jobs. I spend at least an hour on every cover letter I write (sometimes two hours or more). Job interviews take anywhere between two hours to yesterday’s four hours. I’ve had lots to go to, too! Last week’s trip to Wilmington took all day (worth it, though).

Then there’s the work I’m doing for clients as part of my consulting business (unpaid). I’m building RPMs for some cool Linux apps I found. I’m also feeding digital video into my PC for placement on the web.

Add to all this the fun time playing with Hallie and I’ve got surprisingly little free time. I love staying busy, but damn! Imagine if I was trying to actually work now!

I was reading this touching account of the recent memorial to television’s Fred “Mr.” Rogers. It sounded like it was a fitting tribute to a man who helped make this crazy world easier for children to understand.

I was getting into the article until I read about an anti-gay group protesting outside. Protesting Mr. Rogers? Excuse me? Who the hell would dare protest Mr. Rogers?

Turns out its the Kansas hate group known as Westboro Baptist Church. Morons like these really give Christianity a bad name. They should be ashamed of themselves.

I have had lots happening on the job front. Last Thursday I stopped by the offices of Etix.com and handed them my resume, out of the blue. The week before I had gone to the Camper Van Beethoven show at the Brewery. The show sold tickets with Etix.com and I was impressed with their product, even though the Brewery didn’t scan the tickets – they just crumpled them up and threw them away.

I walked into their offices in a decrepit office building on Glenwood Avenue. One side of the room had cubicles and the other was empty except for walls lined with computer parts – a makeshift lab. A man strolled up to me from a corner and introduced himself as Josh. I chatted with him momentarily before leaving. He said he’d pass it on.

I found an interesting job at a place I used to contract, GSK. They’re looking for UNIX heads. Hopefully I can get an interview. And I’m talking today with the folks at Oculan about a position there.

I’m still waiting to hear back from Blue Cross-Blue Shield about a cool position I found last month. It would be a very fulfilling job. LDAP and security. Yummy.

As I was filling out my Employment Security Commission forms for work contacts today, I see that out of nine jobs I’ve applied to so far, I’ve gotten five interviews! That’s an incredible rate of return, certainly exceeding my expectations. I think it boils down to my being selective towards which I appllied for. So far I’ve been able to find things that fit my experience (and interests), so I suppose it makes sense that I’d hear back from them.

I’m having lunch with the guys at Celito, a local DSL ISP. It could lead to a job, too. We’ll see.

Anyhow, it looks to be an exciting week. Who knows? I could land a job by Friday. Woohoo!

Last weekend I took some time off from feeling low for a chance to feel high. My pilot friend Googled his way to my webpage while he was looking for info on the old Raleigh Municipal Airport. Anyhow, he invited me up for a flight and who am I to refuse?

We left from Southern Jet at 9 AM last Sunday. The RDU airport, normally a bustling hive of aircraft activity, was still sleeping. Sunday mornings are quiet at most any airport. The sun was blazing and the sky was dotted with puffy clouds as Justin went through his pre-flight checklist.

Justin is fortunate to own his own plane, a 1963 Piper Cherokee. He’s crammed it with the latest IFR equipment and crammed his brain with the skills to use it. Typical for any subject Justin studies, he’s done in two years what some people take decades to do.

Anyhow, we left the ground and decided that our first stop should be for gas. Justin plugged in coordinates for the Siler City airport and off we went. Once out of ATC airspace Justin turned the controls over to me. Though we were skimming over the clouds at 4000 feet, the air was silky smooth. It made me look like a good pilot or something.

As we approached Siler City the cloudcover got a bit more dense. Justin found a clearing and we touched down at Siler City, a sleepy airport with little in the way of attractions other than cheap AV gas. Justin popped his card into the pay-at-pump gas pump and told me how once he was landing there and nearly smacked into a farmer driving his tractor across the runway. Apparently the airport is so quiet, even the locals don’t know its there.

From there it was off to Sanford, the home of the Wings of Carolina Flying Club and where Justin got his training. At the plane’s 120+ MPH ground speed it didn’t take us long to touch down. Justin ran into one of the club’s flight instructors and traded stories with him for a short time. Like fishermen with their fish stories, every pilot has a tale to tell. I’ve never met a pilot who didn’t love to talk about flying.

After Sanford we made a beeline to do a quick flyover of my home in Garner. Well, it would’ve been a beeline if the Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant wasn’t in the way. We passed it in a nice wide arc to keep from getting a not-so-friendly military escort. My GPS led Justin right to my neighborhood and we did a few lazy loops over it while I got some video. Then it was back to RDU for landing.

Justin put the plane gently on the ground again and taxied us back to Southern Jet. When the prop was still again he remarked that he couldn’t remember moving his plane through RDU any quicker than he did that day. It was like we were the only plane around, which helps maximize our flight time.

After a great time flying, I thanked Justin and headed for home. On the highway, I realized that I wasn’t in the euphoric mood I’d been other times I’d been flying. This time around, it almost seemed routine. Maybe this attitude was a signal that I’m really ready to take the plunge and become a pilot myself.

Flying is fun and likely always will be. I just feel now like I belong in the cockpit. And that’s pretty cool.