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| This blog is for non-commercial use only. You may not link here for commercial purposes. As a private individual, or as a non-profit organization (e.g. The Mozilla Foundation), you may link to ideas I post here, and if you use a random act of geekery I post about in your work, that's fine. But Google, Yahoo, etc. may not link here as part of a commercial search engine without my express written permission. Linking here without my express written permission entitles me to bill them the sum of $50,000 per link per day (fifty thousand United States dollars, for each link, for each day that that link is visible) in lieu of bringing suit under 17 USC. These terms will take effect 16 September 2005 CE at 1800 Pacific Daylight Time. You were warned. (The rest of you homies keep linking away like you were. I'm just ticked that some joker thinks he can make a buck off me without sharing the love, and when I've already told him not to.) ETA: Yes, you may hijack this post to tell me you're adding me. :) ETA**2: You may also hijack this post to get in touch with me, since my @livejournal.com address has been disabled because of spam. All further comments are screened. | ||||||
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Slouching towards apotheosis
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September 15th, 2010
August 20th, 2008
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| A TSA agent has a lot of explaining to do and might well face criminal charges for breaking some airplanes. During a "routine inspection" of Mesa Airlines, a commuter operator at Chicago O'Hare, this joker used the Total Air Temperature probe on the nose of the aircraft as a step, breaking the sensitive thermocouple within. The agent's supervisor reported he was "trying to determine if someone could break into the parked planes." TSA is only *supposed* to check whether the aircraft's normal doors are locked (a sane and sensible thing to do, and easily done without climbing around elsewhere on the aircraft). Some 40 flights were affected after maintenance personnel and pilots discovered erroneous readings coming from the probes, which are just below the cockpit windows. Air temperature is used to calculate safe speeds and runway distances, which have a direct bearing on the safety of the aircraft and passengers. Too high an indication will call for more speed, increasing wear on the aircraft and the possibility of a blowout or other incident; too low, and you could stall the aircraft, which, close to the ground, could be detrimental (ahem). Fortunately, part of the safety of aviation is that a heck of a lot of things get checked *every* *flight*. Original story, pointed to by ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ysabel, hereMuch of the final graf above is based on my own knowledge and experience growing up in aviation and keeping up with the subject. Comment: I agree heartily with the editor's rant in the linked article, and would frankly up the ante.... anybody going around breaking commercial aircraft under color of law, no matter how "innocently", needs to suffer the wrath of the pilots they affected... and the administration that put these agents there in the first place with inadequate training and way too much perceived authority needs to suffer the wrath of the voters. And ditto the people who would like to continue on the course currently being set. That's YOU, John McCain. | ||||||||||||||
| comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
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irate
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| Some of the hurts you have cured, And the sharpest you still have survived, But what torments of grief you endured From evils which never arrived! -- "Borrowing: From the French", Ralph Waldo Emerson (Thanks to jenk twittering on How To Be Laid Back for the pointer) | ||||||||||||
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relaxedAugust 17th, 2008
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| filkertom points out a Frank Rich column in the New York Times whose links are just as interesting as the writing. He pretty well makes the case that most folks don't know the Real John McCain... McCain's press appearances have taken a marked downturn... it used to be that he would beg his press secretary to take "one more" question from the field, firing answers on anything from international affairs to baseball... now, he walks up to a mike, talks for five minutes, and walks away without taking a single question. Won't allow himself to be questioned? Why does this sound familiar? McCain backed legislation last year requiring presidential candidates to pay the actual cost of flying on chartered aircraft (to keep lobbyists from gifting the use of same, and to create a level playing field)... interestingly, the new law has a loophole: If a corporation, privately owned by the candidate or his family, furnishes a jet, the law does not apply. Lessee, the McCain records show an expenditure of $542,160 for charter services last year to a company called King Aviation... a company owned by Hensley and Company. Chaired by... Cindy McCain. Thus enabling the campaign to save a cool half-mil. Which leads me to ask, who's driving this bus anyway? I remember what happened the last time we had an unelected powerhouse behind the Imperial throne... I don't wanna become the United States of Busch. (and the sick joke referring to the Current Occupant you can make out of that is totally unintentional.) You wanna start a revolution over beer? That's a good way to do it. This one has been a long time in coming... they've formally launched a site for Republicans for Obama. Three guesses as to what OS that site runs.... But still, I ask the question again: Why would people who have voted for and supported a party for years, decades even, not just quietly switch their votes, but get up in arms about it, enough to form a formal organization and launch a (pretty nice-looking) website? Enough to get noticed in the New York Times? Why, Santa Claus? Why? Maybe it's because we're so tired of business that usual that we've taking to trusting Jon Stewart for our news over the likes of Rather, Brokaw, Cooper, and that other upstart network that didn't even *have* a news operation in this country until 1996. Or maybe that's hope. Trusting the funny men and the satirists to say it like it really is dates to at least Voltaire if not the ancient Greeks... if that's where we're going for our news maybe there is change on the wind. I hope. I hope. | ||||||||||||
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predatoryAugust 16th, 2008
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| After the big flood back east, a bunch of volunteers from the west coat got together to fly out and help folks with the cleanup. In addition to old t-shirts and jeans, they stuffed their carry ons with brushes and rags and scrubby sponges, because they knew supplies of such would be short. They were, of course, careful not to pack Simple Green, knowing what the TSA would think of large bottles of green liquid... but think ahead as they might, they were stymied at the security gate anyway. The guard called them over and said ( now wait for it... ) (This posted in honor of the fact that my apartment is now considerably more presentable than it was three hours ago :) | ||||||||||||
| comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
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amusedAugust 15th, 2008
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| OK, I don't have inside proof of this, but since the action in question is (alas) a civil action, I don't have to... the line of questioning goes like this: Q: Mr. Browne, had the Ohio Republican Party asked your permission to use "Running on Empty" for their political ad, would you have given it? A: Of course not. I produced an entire album, Lives in the Balance, criticizing Ronald Reagan. I campaigned for Nader in 2000. Why would I let the Republican Party use one of my songs? Q: So the party knew you wouldn't let them use the song? A: They certainly should have.... Ripping off something that ain't yours, and wouldn't have been given had you asked nicely and offered money, and using it for personal gain. Or at least, to try and beat down the other guy. If that ain't piracy, what is? The penalty for that when a senior officer does it is generally being stripped of rank and dismissed the service. Hmmm. There's not a snowball's chance the puppetized Democrats in the Senate would vote to censure.... | ||||||||||||||
| comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
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| John McCain is a pirate. Or, at least, the Ohio Republican Party is, with his approval. They ripped off Jackson Browne's "Running On Empty" for a smear campaign against his competitor. This ain't the first time. John Mellencamp, ABBA, and Frankie Valli have all been victims. So sayeth the LA Times, helpfully pointed at (sorry, locked post; credit will have to do) by s00j... Once is forgivable. Twice is suspect. Three times is enemy action. I mean, I remember the flap about Mellencamp. You'd think word would have gotten around, don't do this. You've either got gross incompetence here, or a really bad case of I-don't-care-itis. Neither is acceptable for a head of state. It's too bad you probably couldn't get a criminal copyright charge to stick given the state of the federal attorneys general, much less a conspiracy to commit charge... a nice felony indictment on the principal would stop a campaign in its tracks like a torpedo through a swift boat. Or ought to.... There is, of course, a way to cure I-don't-care-itis. Show you care. Yeah, you. If nothing else, simply pass the word. That's the way these things get done, after all. No, I am not saying anything at all about the fitness of any other candidate for office. I am simply saying this candidate is unfit. If by this time he has not told his people knock it off and made it stick, he is unfit to lead and should be removed. But the quarter that we gave them was to sink them in the tide.... | ||||||||||||
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August 12th, 2008
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| Some of you are quite (justifiably) concerned about the war going on in Georgia (the one with Tblisi for her capital). Alas, I have more cause for concern: The war started right here in cyberspace. Weeks before they started throwing bombs, they were throwing spam and DDOS attacks. Now, it isn't clear yet whether this was official action or sympathizers. But what is clear is that this space, too, has become a battlefield. (Sure, there's been the "cold war" on spam for almost as long as I've had a Net-accessible account... but this is the first I've heard of bits followed by bullets. Unless somebody knows something I don't...) *sigh* Let's get off this rock. Maybe we can avoid making *all* the same mistakes twice.... | ||||||||||||||
| comments: 6 comments or Leave a comment |
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gloomy
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| "One thing about dentistry. There's usually not a good rollback plan...." | ||||||||||||||
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August 11th, 2008
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| It don't feel right for a toast. And Wild Cherry's exhortation notwithstanding, I ain't funky enough to do him justice. I just got one thing to say: You know, that cat Chef, was one baaaaad mutha-- (hush yo' mouf!) I'm just talkin' about.... Isaac Hayes. Dig it. The man whose career spanned the decades from the Theme from Shaft to Chef Aid... was 65. s00j is right - Surely Memphis mourns.... and so do the rest of us. Thanks to thatcrazycajun for the initial tip. | ||||||||||||
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nostalgicAugust 10th, 2008
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| Last-minute reminder: s00j and stealthcello and vixyish and tfabris, aka Skinny White Chick and Vixy and Tony, are playing at A Gathering Grove in Everett this afternoon. Details on Vixy and Tony's schedule page or on the Skinny White Chick show page. I had the misfortune of missing last time, and folks were gushing over it so much my shoes got wet. Celtic faerie power pirate rock meets the Siren of the Sound and Six String Love... as they said when I was but a wee bairn, "Far out, man!" So be there or be dodecahedronal! (And anybody that gets that ref gets a free $coffeebardrinkofchoice... :) 3pm, so... | ||||||||||||||
| comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
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awakeAugust 9th, 2008
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| Sherry Jones' book The Jewel of Medina, was due to be released on Tuesday. Was. Somebody killed the book. Understand, please, that when a book is due to be released on Tuesday, it's already been printed. It's already been edited, promoted, ARC'ed, and shipped. Somebody just upset the applecart on several million bucks worth of work. The book is about the Prophet Mohammed's nine-year-old child bride achieving her full potential as a woman. Now, one of my favorite advocatus diaboli is thinking, it's not just one author, but the whole publishing house, that's theoretically at risk from sources unspecified. ...To provide for the common Defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty for us and our Posterity -- United States Constitution, Preamble Now, maybe it's just me, but I think the proper response - not just from the publishing house but from America at large, is "Bring it, pop tart." Sure, bold talk from one balding little geek; I'm sure the corporate liability types are having a kitten. But to do otherwise admits that we have already lost the so-called war on terror. They win. Our freedom ist kaputt. (We kinda knew that alreddie with FISA, but this is corporate Amerika admitting it.) Fortunately, Jones had a kill clause in her contract, and will be shopping it elsewhere. Frankly? I'd like to buy it. | ||||||||||||||
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crankyAugust 7th, 2008
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| 1-1 Mariners, bottom of the ninth. Wheeler looks in. The 1-2 pitch to Ibanez, SWUNG ON AND DRILLED, GOODBYE BASEBALL!!! A walk-off home run deep to right, boy that was a rope! Frankly, innings 3-7 were kinda boring after the M's got men to third in the first two frames and failed to score... but then Betancourt sac flied to score Balentien in the 8th, and then they put in JJ. Felix threw 105 pitches, 64 of them strikes, to get through eight and set'em up, and then JJ knocked'em down with 16, *12* of them strikes and several of the final ones in excess of 95mph. I've seen a fair bit of stuff; I've seen Dave Winfield sky one out of Camden yards that exited the ballyard vertically and would've ended up in the street had it not been blowing in; as it was, it was only 6-8" away from the upper deck, dropping into the expensive stuff for the tater... I've watched two teams come back from certain defeat, one in the ALCS, and one in the series, to win it all... I've heard my hometown team win the Series on the radio the way G-d intended. But I'd never seen a walk-off like that before. Ball, foul, foul, *whammo*, game over dude. For a single game, it don't get much better. Now, if the Cubs manage to beat the snot out of the Angels in October, *that* will be better. But we shall see. | ||||||||||||||
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pleasedAugust 5th, 2008
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| I'd just forgotten it. "Ask and ye shall receive", says thatcrazycajun.... Skip Caray's trademark phrase, one last time, by Mike Luckovich. | ||||||||||||||
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August 4th, 2008
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| The Bear walked into the bar, looking pretty glum. "Pyramid Curve Ball, Mike. I've no idea what they serve in the Ted these days, but that's what they serve in my ballyard...." Callahan was quiet as usual as he drew the kolsh-style ale into a frosty mug and set it on the counter; the Bear pushed the requisite dead presidents across and headed for the line with his brew. "Today I officially feel old. Today I have seen the end of two generations of baseball people. "The first man over whose death I ever really cried was neither of my grandsires, nor anyone else I'd ever actually met... but the longtime voice of Wrigley Field, the holder of the trademark on 'HOLY COW'. Even though I worked in Chicago his last summer, I never made it out to the ballyard, even though I tried once; silly tourist, that's the wrong expressway to try to get someplace during rush hour. "And now thatcrazycajun tells us that his son, who when my hometown was considerably east of here, has joined his old da in the broadcast booth of the Field of Dreams."I'll never forget the Braves' finest hour. October, 1995; Game 6 of the World Series. Glavine had gone eight strong innings and had the Tribe on the ropes; Wohlers came in to pitch the ninth, and shut'em down. The old Chop House went nuts... and Skip Caray, remembering his years as an Atlanta Hawks broadcaster, celebrated old-school: 'It's Cocktail Time.' And I raised my beer towards the radio and said, 'Yer damn right.'" "To Harry Christopher Caray Junior (a fact which I did not know until this moment)... So long, Skip!" **CRASH** Skip Caray was 68. | ||||||||||||||
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August 2nd, 2008
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| You cannot have *all* of your laundry done unless you are naked1 and have not showered yet. And you hope that state doesn't last very long, right? Everything else - dusting, dishes, general cleaning, any other sort of housework, can actually be *over with* for at least a few hours. But there will almost always be some little scrap of something that needs at least the washer. Now, I never held with the idea of "women's work"; I've done my own laundry since I was 14, and think I'm the better for it. (I also cook, shop, and can do minor mending chores - je suis un homme de la renaissance nouveau, ne-c'est-pas?) But I really didn't grok the idea of "never done" until this morning. (Fortunately, one *can* get things down to the point that running one more load doesn't make sense. :) 1Note that if you are nekkid your laundry sure as heck ain't done. :) | ||||||||||||||
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July 25th, 2008
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| vernard tell us that Randy Pausch has died. This was the guy who made the NYT and blogosphere earlier this year by giving a rather stirring Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon. CMU does this on a regular basis, having profs come in and give fictional last talks, what they would like above all else to impart to their pupils... but for Pausch this was real; he knew at the time he would die of pancreatic cancer. I think my own lesson, earned the hard way this past eight months (almost to the day now), is Find Your Laughin' Place. Find a place, or a person, or a thing, or multiples of these, that restore you, that make you smile, that keep you going when the chips are down, the cow patties are flying, and you're up to your alligator in puckerguards. (Thanks, Scalzi.) For Bre'r Rabbit, it was his briar patch. For Alex Haley, it was a ship at sea. I think for S.J. Tucker, it's the stage. For Andy DuFresne, it was between his ears, in music. Everybody's is different. And it takes an investment in time, and, dare I say it, faith, to find it. And further investments to make it yours and keep it up. But it's Worth Having. IMHO, YMMV, IANAL, EIEIO. Here's to ya, Randy. Making people think is a Good Thing. **CRASH** | ||||||||||||||
| comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
July 23rd, 2008
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| Fixed the links in my prevoius post about Tom Smith; the dealie is (thanks, annathepiper for prompting) that up to this point it was simply a call for donations, but now when you donate you get t00nz. Good karma *and* good filk. Music and gum! | ||||||||||||||
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| Friday, July 25, is International Sysadmin Day. Those geeky little guys and gals with the faraway look in their eyes that keep your internet surfboard in top shape, so's you too can keep up with LiveJournal and not bankrupt your pants? Show teh LUV. Because without us, you too could be wallowing in 1200 baud suckitude... Speaking of showing the love, Phil Foglio of Girl Genius has posted a call to support Tom Smith, who sustained a nasty surgery-requiring tear to his quadricep and not only can't work but can't live at home... and (if you go to that first link) also posted an MP3 of Vixy and Tony covering "Rich Fantasy Lives" as incentive. (*reads* oho! the real incentive? When you donate, you get the URL for 39 other such covers by everybody from Ben Newman to Julia Ecklar to Smac!) And frankly, if your show-the-love budget is there but limited, go stuff Tom's tip jar and then make with the comment-clicky. Prezzie enough to know a music man who needs it has been helped. And you get Tunes! ETA: links fixed! | ||||||||||||||
| comments: 9 comments or Leave a comment |
July 22nd, 2008
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| damiana_swan (and, she tells me in comments, satyrblade, who is doing a lot of the heavy lifting) s00j and stealthcello), backed by Vixy and Tony (vixyish and tfabris, opening for Wendy Rule. Friday, September 12, 8pm, Little Red Studio in the Denny Regrade/South Lake Union area (it's half way between Denny Park and the Center for Wooden Boats, if you know your Seattle). (Yeah, I know, opposite ConChord, sorry, cflute, and it also means that AJA, who is Filk GOH for ConChord, won't be there.) But for them as won't be in the City of Angels... this is where you can get your musical mind blown. Get the tickies while they're hot; damiana_swan expects a sellout. Celtic faerie rock with a siren for backing vocals, followed by Aussie Gothic torch spiritual grunge... Wo de ma. | ||||||||||||||
| comments: 6 comments or Leave a comment |
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bouncy
Slouching towards apotheosis
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