Thursday, September 30, 2004
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Durian First Bite
I got to try my first taste of durian today.
A coworker brought in a package of two frozen durian fruits. It was sweet. Creamy. Sticky. With a really strong smell.
I can see why people like it. It would be an acquired taste like so many things. You would have to get eat it and appreciate the flavor without concentrating on the smell. If you just smelled it (like blue cheese or cabbage or cauliflower or frying fish or vinegar) and didn't taste it, it probably wouldn't appeal to you.
I had my first bite outside in the breeze so I got a taste of the flavor before the smell hit me. When I got it home I felt like eating the whole thing but left some for sharing. Not sure if I can get anyone else at Cafe Jack's to give it a whirl. I'd like to try making some durian milk shakes or smoothies.
It was very nice of Hien to bring it in for us to try. I love to try new things to eat.
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We decorated a cube at work today for a friend's 50th birthday tomorrow. It looks nice and shiny. I think he will like it. I'm guessing he may want to leave it the way it is. We used about 1100 square feet of tinfoil.
It was fun!
Shiny New Cube
--------------------------------------------
I'm taking Betsy to the airport in the morning. She's going to meet some school friends in Santa Barbara for a long weekend reunion. She's good about keeping in touch with her friends.
Becca is heading down to PLU to visit Rachel. I'll just hang around and take some naps and read. I might try to help a friend figure out why their Earthlink connection isn't working. Maybe try to get some work done if I can get fired up.
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I hope this has been a good week for you so far.
As Louis Armstrong said and sang it so well, it really is a Wonderful World. We need to take the time to smell the air, see the clouds, feel the sun...appreciate being here. Easier said then done given our hectic pace.
Here's the Interlude Thought of the Day
Peace to you.
A coworker brought in a package of two frozen durian fruits. It was sweet. Creamy. Sticky. With a really strong smell.
I can see why people like it. It would be an acquired taste like so many things. You would have to get eat it and appreciate the flavor without concentrating on the smell. If you just smelled it (like blue cheese or cabbage or cauliflower or frying fish or vinegar) and didn't taste it, it probably wouldn't appeal to you.
I had my first bite outside in the breeze so I got a taste of the flavor before the smell hit me. When I got it home I felt like eating the whole thing but left some for sharing. Not sure if I can get anyone else at Cafe Jack's to give it a whirl. I'd like to try making some durian milk shakes or smoothies.
It was very nice of Hien to bring it in for us to try. I love to try new things to eat.
--------------------------------------------
We decorated a cube at work today for a friend's 50th birthday tomorrow. It looks nice and shiny. I think he will like it. I'm guessing he may want to leave it the way it is. We used about 1100 square feet of tinfoil.
It was fun!
Shiny New Cube
--------------------------------------------
I'm taking Betsy to the airport in the morning. She's going to meet some school friends in Santa Barbara for a long weekend reunion. She's good about keeping in touch with her friends.
Becca is heading down to PLU to visit Rachel. I'll just hang around and take some naps and read. I might try to help a friend figure out why their Earthlink connection isn't working. Maybe try to get some work done if I can get fired up.
--------------------------------------------
I hope this has been a good week for you so far.
As Louis Armstrong said and sang it so well, it really is a Wonderful World. We need to take the time to smell the air, see the clouds, feel the sun...appreciate being here. Easier said then done given our hectic pace.
Here's the Interlude Thought of the Day
Peace to you.
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Norah Jones - Amos Lee - Tom Waits
Saw Norah Jones at the Key Arena tonight. What a talented musician she is. A great performer.
It was a nice relaxing concert; she played a lot of her hits and a fair amount of stuff not on her albums. The band playing with her is great too. It's really nice to see great musicians, besides getting to listen to her great voice. I think she is a classic jazz/blues/pop singer that will have her own special place in music for decades to come. She is just amazing...she can play piano with both hands as they say, and sing like an angel.
The opening act was a solo guitar playing singer Amos Lee. He did a nice job. I bought one of his CD's which he autographed. It was a tough to be the opening act in that venue, with the lights on, people walking around and talking. He has a voice that reminds me of Kenny Loggins. Some good stuff.
I'm staying up a little late to watch Tom Waits on Dave Letterman tonight. It will be interesting to see how he's doing.
It was a nice relaxing concert; she played a lot of her hits and a fair amount of stuff not on her albums. The band playing with her is great too. It's really nice to see great musicians, besides getting to listen to her great voice. I think she is a classic jazz/blues/pop singer that will have her own special place in music for decades to come. She is just amazing...she can play piano with both hands as they say, and sing like an angel.
The opening act was a solo guitar playing singer Amos Lee. He did a nice job. I bought one of his CD's which he autographed. It was a tough to be the opening act in that venue, with the lights on, people walking around and talking. He has a voice that reminds me of Kenny Loggins. Some good stuff.
I'm staying up a little late to watch Tom Waits on Dave Letterman tonight. It will be interesting to see how he's doing.
Just Got Back from the ER
Nothing that serious just that my ear had swollen shut and was hurting me.
My Doctor (Dr. J) had put a wick in my ear last week after I went to see him because I couldn't hear very good and my ear was sore. He gave me some ear drop antibiotics. It was feeling better and the wick was kind of itchy so I pulled the wick out.
That was a mistake. My ear canal swoll shut again and the antibiotics couldn't get to the infection. So I ended up over at the ER at midnight with a hurtin ear.
The Dr. put a new wick in and gave me a couple of Vicodin. I think I'll be on the road to recovery again shortly. I hope so I'm supposed to be at work early tomorrow and the Norah Jones concert's at the Key Arena tomorrow night.
I might miss a few hours of work.
Earaches can be scarey. My daughter Becca had a terrible ear infection several years ago. She got it swimming in a lake and eventually ended up with a Pseudomonas infection in the ICU. She was a trooper. I felt so sorry for her with her face and ear all swollen up. Thankfully she recovered and is doing great nowadays. It was pretty scary for awhile though as they kept trying to figure out what super antibiotic would work.
---------------------------------------------
It's always something isn't it? Tomorrow is D Day at work.
Durian Day.
I'm excited about it. A coworker is bringing Baba G. and me some frozen durian tomorrow. That must be quite a fruit. I've heard so much about it. When I was in Singapore visiting I heard that it was illegal to carry a Durian on the bus because of the strong smell.
A friend told us her husband was eating some Durian outside in the garage and she could smell it inside the house.
Whatever it is that fruit get's a lot of attention, people seem to really like it or hate it. Another friend told me it made her cry when she was little.
Welcome to Durian Palace! A Home of the King of Fruits on the World Wide Web.
I hope Baba doesn't eat all of it (or it get kicked out of the office) before I crawl in tomorrow.
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Not much going on in my neck of the woods. Thinking about how I can transport some frozen tuna to family and friends. I need to stop in at UPS when I have a chance and check into sending frozen fish overnight. I want to see if they have packing boxes and if I can use dry ice. If not I can probably jury rig up some kind of packing set up that will keep the fillets frozen for a couple of days.
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I hope this week is treating you well and that fall is looking beautiful wherever you may be. I noticed some of the leaves changing colors around here today. Very pretty, but nothing like Minnesota (or I imagine some areas back East) where you have large forests of deciduous trees.
:::: What's It Like Where You Live? ::::
There's a nice full Harvest moon tonight. Here in the Pacific Northwest, it's clear and just a little cool. Very nice night.
Farmers Almanac - Dates and Times of Full Moons tells me next month we have a full Hunter's moon.
My Doctor (Dr. J) had put a wick in my ear last week after I went to see him because I couldn't hear very good and my ear was sore. He gave me some ear drop antibiotics. It was feeling better and the wick was kind of itchy so I pulled the wick out.
That was a mistake. My ear canal swoll shut again and the antibiotics couldn't get to the infection. So I ended up over at the ER at midnight with a hurtin ear.
The Dr. put a new wick in and gave me a couple of Vicodin. I think I'll be on the road to recovery again shortly. I hope so I'm supposed to be at work early tomorrow and the Norah Jones concert's at the Key Arena tomorrow night.
I might miss a few hours of work.
Earaches can be scarey. My daughter Becca had a terrible ear infection several years ago. She got it swimming in a lake and eventually ended up with a Pseudomonas infection in the ICU. She was a trooper. I felt so sorry for her with her face and ear all swollen up. Thankfully she recovered and is doing great nowadays. It was pretty scary for awhile though as they kept trying to figure out what super antibiotic would work.
---------------------------------------------
It's always something isn't it? Tomorrow is D Day at work.
Durian Day.
I'm excited about it. A coworker is bringing Baba G. and me some frozen durian tomorrow. That must be quite a fruit. I've heard so much about it. When I was in Singapore visiting I heard that it was illegal to carry a Durian on the bus because of the strong smell.
A friend told us her husband was eating some Durian outside in the garage and she could smell it inside the house.
Whatever it is that fruit get's a lot of attention, people seem to really like it or hate it. Another friend told me it made her cry when she was little.
Welcome to Durian Palace! A Home of the King of Fruits on the World Wide Web.
I hope Baba doesn't eat all of it (or it get kicked out of the office) before I crawl in tomorrow.
------------------------------------------------
Not much going on in my neck of the woods. Thinking about how I can transport some frozen tuna to family and friends. I need to stop in at UPS when I have a chance and check into sending frozen fish overnight. I want to see if they have packing boxes and if I can use dry ice. If not I can probably jury rig up some kind of packing set up that will keep the fillets frozen for a couple of days.
------------------------------------------------
I hope this week is treating you well and that fall is looking beautiful wherever you may be. I noticed some of the leaves changing colors around here today. Very pretty, but nothing like Minnesota (or I imagine some areas back East) where you have large forests of deciduous trees.
:::: What's It Like Where You Live? ::::
There's a nice full Harvest moon tonight. Here in the Pacific Northwest, it's clear and just a little cool. Very nice night.
Farmers Almanac - Dates and Times of Full Moons tells me next month we have a full Hunter's moon.
Sunday, September 26, 2004
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Java Jive
This coffee pot shaped club in Tacoma called Bob's *World Famous* Java Jive looks like a fun place for young, and young at heart, people.
Found the MSNBC article Defining Hip somewhat interesting.
I used to really like Tower of Power. Saw them live one time. Can't remember where. I think it was outside. Ahhhh the 60's and 70's; we had some fun eh? Wish I could remember more of it.
This Tower of Power Album has the song What Is Hip?
Maybe you could listen to that good old Tower of Power song Going Down to the Nightclub (Bump City) and imagine yourself at the Java Jive Joint shaped like a coffee pot down in Tacoma.
Ray Charles is on public TV right now. Man what a talent. That guy was hip. I picked up his CD Genius Loves Company this week. It's a good one. He collaborates with Norah Jones, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison and a bunch of other great musicians.
Found the MSNBC article Defining Hip somewhat interesting.
I used to really like Tower of Power. Saw them live one time. Can't remember where. I think it was outside. Ahhhh the 60's and 70's; we had some fun eh? Wish I could remember more of it.
This Tower of Power Album has the song What Is Hip?
Maybe you could listen to that good old Tower of Power song Going Down to the Nightclub (Bump City) and imagine yourself at the Java Jive Joint shaped like a coffee pot down in Tacoma.
Ray Charles is on public TV right now. Man what a talent. That guy was hip. I picked up his CD Genius Loves Company this week. It's a good one. He collaborates with Norah Jones, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison and a bunch of other great musicians.
Wide World of Bloggers
Very interesting to see some of the people all over the world who blog
The United Federation of Bloggers (Part One)
The United Federation of Bloggers (Part Two)
These articles are written by Biz Stone, Genius. He has a nice weblog. I particularly like the photo Maggie Eye, a picture of a little dog who looks really fun to play with. Looks like a troublemaker. I mean that in a good way.
I still miss our little dog Baily. He was a troublemaker...and very loving and loveable to his family. My wife used to say, "it's a good thing he's so cute." She's a little less of an animal lover than my daughters and me.
When the time is right we'll have to get another one. Rachel and Becca are totally for it. Betsy a little less so. We have to pick a time when people will be home with the little guy. Maybe next summer.
-----------------------------------
The Canon PowerShot S400 Biz uses, takes some nice pictures. I like the optical zoom too but for a budget minded Dad like me the Canon Powershot A310 seems to be working pretty good. I'm looking forward to getting those rechargeable batteries in the mail next week. It eats alkalines like crazy.
The United Federation of Bloggers (Part One)
The United Federation of Bloggers (Part Two)
These articles are written by Biz Stone, Genius. He has a nice weblog. I particularly like the photo Maggie Eye, a picture of a little dog who looks really fun to play with. Looks like a troublemaker. I mean that in a good way.
I still miss our little dog Baily. He was a troublemaker...and very loving and loveable to his family. My wife used to say, "it's a good thing he's so cute." She's a little less of an animal lover than my daughters and me.
When the time is right we'll have to get another one. Rachel and Becca are totally for it. Betsy a little less so. We have to pick a time when people will be home with the little guy. Maybe next summer.
-----------------------------------
The Canon PowerShot S400 Biz uses, takes some nice pictures. I like the optical zoom too but for a budget minded Dad like me the Canon Powershot A310 seems to be working pretty good. I'm looking forward to getting those rechargeable batteries in the mail next week. It eats alkalines like crazy.
Friday, September 24, 2004
Rechargeable Batteries, Spyware and Viruses
I was surprised at how quickly my Canon A310 digital camera was eating expensive Duracell Copper Top Alkaline Batteries.
I wouldn't have been if I would have read the owners manual. The owners manual says you can expect 75 shots using Alkaline batteries and 350 with NiMH (Nickle Metal Hydride) rechargeables. A five fold increase in battery life sounds good, not to mention not having to buy and throw-away the alkalines.
I had a relatively old Intel digital camera that didn't have an LCD display/viewer. Using regular old Alkaline batteries in that camera worked fine. Not true with the Canon.
A good page for information on rechargeable batteries and chargers.
Digital Imaging Accessories Review: The Great Battery Shootout
I decided to buy the Maha Battery Charger - MH-204GT SMART CHARGER package with 8 Maha Powerex NiMH 1800 mAh (milli-amp-hour) AA's. It's not the state of the art charger or battery but I thought it was the best buy.
More information on NiMH batteries here -
Green batteries - Information on Rechargeable Batteries and Battery
I'm curious to see if the NiMH batteries perform well in my daughters MP3 players and whatever else we have around here that uses AA batteries. We seem to go through them at a fast clip. I had an AA battery charger years ago that wasn't very satisfactory. The batteries didn't hold a charge very long and wouldn't recharge at all fairly quickly. From what I read the NiMH batteries don't have that problem in that they recharge to close to original power and can be recharged hundreds of times (how many times depends on if they are totally discharged when you recharge them and other stuff I don't care to read about).
----------------------------------------------------
I got kicked off my laptop tonight because Becca and some of her friends are using the living room.
I get to use the desktop for awhile. It's always interesting to see what kind of trojans, spyware, adware, viruses and worms have found their way onto this computer. There's usually a few; sometimes more than a few. I think most of them come from downloading music files or games since I don't get them on my laptop.
Any bad stuff that's found it's way onto our computers has never been catastrophic...more just annoying. I like to fiddle around with stuff so I don't really get too excited about it.
I recommend running Lavasoft AdAware, Spybot Search and Destroy and Trend Micro Housecall and SysClean software. They are all free and easy. Besides the cleaning tools you may want to install antivirus software. I'm trying out Computer Associates EZ Antivirus tools free for a year on this PC now that the free McAfee trial ran out.
I don't recommend following advice you find on how to delete trojans, worms, etc. that is available on various bulletin boards/user forums on the web. One of the trojans on this computer is Trojan something (I forget..and don't really care). Anyway if you search Google for "Trojan something" you will get convoluted, bizarre, incorrect or on occasion maybe good advice on how to "fix" your PC.
An example I just ran across, was someone handing out free advice on how to delete the trojan's I'm interested in. This advisor talks about reformatting your hard drive. That cure is worse than the disease.
A simpler method is to go to Trend Micro, download the latest pattern file and SysClean software and let it run. Not nearly as interesting as all the arcane "expert?" advice you can find on the web but a heck of lot easier and safer for your PC than dinking around in the registry or reformatting a hard drive.
That reminds me of a "fix" a local computer store did for an old computer of mine. I was getting a "divide by zero" error and couldn't figure out what was causing it. I took the computer to the place I bought it from and after a couple of weeks they told me they had fixed my computer. They fixed it by erasing and reformatting the hard drive, without backing up anything I had on the hard drive.
I got a nice clean hard drive and no error until I reinstalled the s/w that caused the problem in the first place. They actually did me a favor sort of. As I reloaded s/w programs on my computer I was able to figure out what s/w was causing the problem. It was a program I'd bought that allowed you to choose a bunch of different funny sounds/recordings to associate with keystrokes, mouseclicks etc. That was years ago before that sort of thing was easy to do with Windows.
I've never bought a computer from a local dealer since that one. Why?
I thought by buying locally I'd get better support. That didn't turn out to be the case and since that experience I've bought a few different brands of computers by mail, and been very happy with the quality and support. Sorry local computer stores...I'm sure some are better than others.
--------------------------------------------------------------
I wouldn't have been if I would have read the owners manual. The owners manual says you can expect 75 shots using Alkaline batteries and 350 with NiMH (Nickle Metal Hydride) rechargeables. A five fold increase in battery life sounds good, not to mention not having to buy and throw-away the alkalines.
I had a relatively old Intel digital camera that didn't have an LCD display/viewer. Using regular old Alkaline batteries in that camera worked fine. Not true with the Canon.
A good page for information on rechargeable batteries and chargers.
Digital Imaging Accessories Review: The Great Battery Shootout
I decided to buy the Maha Battery Charger - MH-204GT SMART CHARGER package with 8 Maha Powerex NiMH 1800 mAh (milli-amp-hour) AA's. It's not the state of the art charger or battery but I thought it was the best buy.
More information on NiMH batteries here -
Green batteries - Information on Rechargeable Batteries and Battery
I'm curious to see if the NiMH batteries perform well in my daughters MP3 players and whatever else we have around here that uses AA batteries. We seem to go through them at a fast clip. I had an AA battery charger years ago that wasn't very satisfactory. The batteries didn't hold a charge very long and wouldn't recharge at all fairly quickly. From what I read the NiMH batteries don't have that problem in that they recharge to close to original power and can be recharged hundreds of times (how many times depends on if they are totally discharged when you recharge them and other stuff I don't care to read about).
----------------------------------------------------
I got kicked off my laptop tonight because Becca and some of her friends are using the living room.
I get to use the desktop for awhile. It's always interesting to see what kind of trojans, spyware, adware, viruses and worms have found their way onto this computer. There's usually a few; sometimes more than a few. I think most of them come from downloading music files or games since I don't get them on my laptop.
Any bad stuff that's found it's way onto our computers has never been catastrophic...more just annoying. I like to fiddle around with stuff so I don't really get too excited about it.
I recommend running Lavasoft AdAware, Spybot Search and Destroy and Trend Micro Housecall and SysClean software. They are all free and easy. Besides the cleaning tools you may want to install antivirus software. I'm trying out Computer Associates EZ Antivirus tools free for a year on this PC now that the free McAfee trial ran out.
I don't recommend following advice you find on how to delete trojans, worms, etc. that is available on various bulletin boards/user forums on the web. One of the trojans on this computer is Trojan something (I forget..and don't really care). Anyway if you search Google for "Trojan something" you will get convoluted, bizarre, incorrect or on occasion maybe good advice on how to "fix" your PC.
An example I just ran across, was someone handing out free advice on how to delete the trojan's I'm interested in. This advisor talks about reformatting your hard drive. That cure is worse than the disease.
A simpler method is to go to Trend Micro, download the latest pattern file and SysClean software and let it run. Not nearly as interesting as all the arcane "expert?" advice you can find on the web but a heck of lot easier and safer for your PC than dinking around in the registry or reformatting a hard drive.
That reminds me of a "fix" a local computer store did for an old computer of mine. I was getting a "divide by zero" error and couldn't figure out what was causing it. I took the computer to the place I bought it from and after a couple of weeks they told me they had fixed my computer. They fixed it by erasing and reformatting the hard drive, without backing up anything I had on the hard drive.
I got a nice clean hard drive and no error until I reinstalled the s/w that caused the problem in the first place. They actually did me a favor sort of. As I reloaded s/w programs on my computer I was able to figure out what s/w was causing the problem. It was a program I'd bought that allowed you to choose a bunch of different funny sounds/recordings to associate with keystrokes, mouseclicks etc. That was years ago before that sort of thing was easy to do with Windows.
I've never bought a computer from a local dealer since that one. Why?
I thought by buying locally I'd get better support. That didn't turn out to be the case and since that experience I've bought a few different brands of computers by mail, and been very happy with the quality and support. Sorry local computer stores...I'm sure some are better than others.
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Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Tuna Recipes
Tuna Recipe Index
Tuna Recipes From Better Homes and Gardens
StarKist - Recipes
Seattle Time's article about Pacific Northwest Tuna
A good picture of an albacore in this Seattle Post Intelligencer Article.
There's a cool picture of a bluefin tuna at Tuna Charters Ireland (it's in the middle of the page).
Tuna Recipes From Better Homes and Gardens
StarKist - Recipes
Seattle Time's article about Pacific Northwest Tuna
A good picture of an albacore in this Seattle Post Intelligencer Article.
There's a cool picture of a bluefin tuna at Tuna Charters Ireland (it's in the middle of the page).
Tuna Caught off Westport Washington
Fresh albacore tuna (one of three coolers)
New used freezer - it's pretty filled with tuna.
Ready for some sushi? - Actually I'm saving most of this fresh, never frozen, tuna to give away. Plus I'll have lot's of frozen to share.
Yum
The six of us caught a ton of tuna. Literally. We caught over one hundred albacore that weighed 20 pounds and up.
It was great. Very nice day, sunny and warm, a little rain. On the trip out the boat was rockin and rollin but by Monday we had calm seas and great fishing. We left at 10 pm Sunday and got back about 8:30 Monday night. I think we got 60 miles or so off shore. Interesting that the ocean is warmer out that far (that's what the tuna like I guess).
Live anchovies are fun to fish with. We either used a very small weight (1/4 ounce or so) or no weight and let the anchovy swim freely until WOMP! a big tuna takes it and you're off to the races.
Those tuna are fast, aerodynamic, strong and very pretty. Plus they taste good.
Westport's Cachalot Charters skipper Dave Camp is a good fish finder (and a heck of good shot with a bait fish). He threw an anchovy right into a tuna's mouth for me. All I had to do is reel it in...the fun part. Mark, the first mate, was very helpful and a heck of a fish filleter. They take really good care of the catch; bleed them immediately and keep them on ice. That's a key to good tasting fish.
If you like to fish I recommend trying tuna fishing at least once.
Tip - Don't try to stop a tuna with your thumb. Ouch!
I was letting my anchovy swim freely (my reel was in free spool) and WOMP! a big tuna chomps on him. My reel is singing and I couldn't find the lever to turn on the drag. I put my thumb on the spool to slow him down a little. That braided dacron line burned a big piece of my thumb in about 3 seconds. Most fun I ever had burning myself.
You can't stop a tuna with your thumb.
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Please Say a Prayer for Nigel
I have to mention something very sad that I experienced Friday. Normally I wouldn't do this but it's worth mentioning to illustrate how transitory, uncertain and precious life is.
A co-worker of mine was recently diagnosed with brain cancer. He's a great guy, very nice; and a good manager.
Everything was fine for him 6 weeks ago. Now his, and his family's, whole world has been turned upside down.
I was working late on Friday...taking some stuff outside and saw him, a young man and our chief engineer coming into the building. The young man was his son. I'm guessing 16 years old or so. I stopped to say hello. My co-worker was coming to clear out his office. I could see the pain in his son's eyes.
Please say a prayer for all people who are sick, and today for a person named Nigel who has brain cancer.
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I Wish I Could Read Spanish.
Besides the pictures, there are some cool links on that page.
I found this song/poem at A aba de Heisenberg
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Normally I'm not a serious political person, or much of a serious person at all.
So why the long one-sided "don't vote for George Nethercutt" post yesterday?
I was involved in the Engineers strike at Boeing on Feb. 9, 2000.
For those of you who can't understand why people would ever strike. The people on strike loved that company (seeing it as a family of workers) and the work we did building safe and affordable airplanes. We were trying to change the direction the corporate leaders had taken that we believed was, and would continue, driving a great and proud company into the ground.
Besides that global vision, we wanted to keep our medical benefits intact as much as possible, continue to make a fair wage and be treated with respect as partners in the success of the enterprise.
The Kaiser Steelworkers Union members came to picket, march with us, and show their support. Those men and woman had been on strike (and then locked out) for over a year when they came to Seattle to support us.
One thing they asked us to do was call George Nethercutt's office at the Washington State Legislature and ask George Nethercutt to stop blocking the bill that would give those working families an extension on their unemployment benefits. I did that. Like an elephant I have a pretty good memory for some things, so now that George Nethercutt is running for State Senator from Washington, I want him to lose.
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I feel really blessed to have been able to participate in that strike, along with the WTO marches and rally in Seattle.
One of the coolest moments of the Boeing strike for me was when we were in front of the Corporate Headquarters picketing and the Teamsters showed up with a big semi painted with Teamster's logos and labor promotional information on the trailer. The trailer was actually a portable sound stage. They backed it across the street from us and started playing really good and loud rock and roll music, including the Rolling Stones song "Street Fighting Man" from Beggars Banquet.
That was fun. Felt very alive.
A co-worker of mine was recently diagnosed with brain cancer. He's a great guy, very nice; and a good manager.
Everything was fine for him 6 weeks ago. Now his, and his family's, whole world has been turned upside down.
I was working late on Friday...taking some stuff outside and saw him, a young man and our chief engineer coming into the building. The young man was his son. I'm guessing 16 years old or so. I stopped to say hello. My co-worker was coming to clear out his office. I could see the pain in his son's eyes.
Please say a prayer for all people who are sick, and today for a person named Nigel who has brain cancer.
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I Wish I Could Read Spanish.
Besides the pictures, there are some cool links on that page.
I found this song/poem at A aba de Heisenberg
Lonely Planet
Planet Earth is slowing down
Overseas, underground
Wherever you look around
Lord, take me by the hand
Lead me through these desert sands
To the shores of a promised land
You make me start
When you look into my heart
And see me for who I really am
If you can't change the world change yourself
If you can't change the world change yourself
I didn't care if the sun didn't shine
And the rain didn't fall from the sky
I just cared about myself
From this world to the next
And from the next back to this
By our actions we are bound
We're running out of love
Running out of hate
Running out of space
For the human race
Planet Earth is slowing down
You make me cry
When you look into my eyes
And see me for who I really am
If you can't change the world change yourself
If you can't change the world change yourself
If you can't change the world change yourself
And if you can't change yourself ...
Then change the world
I'm in love with the planet I'm standing on
I can't stop. I can't stop thinking of
All the people I've ever loved
All the people I have lost
All the people I'll never know
All the feelings I've never shown
The world's too big and life's too short
The world's too big and life's too short
The world's too big and life's too short
To be alone ... to be alone
(The, "Lonely Planet", album "Dusk", 1993)
------------------------------------------------------
Normally I'm not a serious political person, or much of a serious person at all.
So why the long one-sided "don't vote for George Nethercutt" post yesterday?
I was involved in the Engineers strike at Boeing on Feb. 9, 2000.
For those of you who can't understand why people would ever strike. The people on strike loved that company (seeing it as a family of workers) and the work we did building safe and affordable airplanes. We were trying to change the direction the corporate leaders had taken that we believed was, and would continue, driving a great and proud company into the ground.
Besides that global vision, we wanted to keep our medical benefits intact as much as possible, continue to make a fair wage and be treated with respect as partners in the success of the enterprise.
The Kaiser Steelworkers Union members came to picket, march with us, and show their support. Those men and woman had been on strike (and then locked out) for over a year when they came to Seattle to support us.
One thing they asked us to do was call George Nethercutt's office at the Washington State Legislature and ask George Nethercutt to stop blocking the bill that would give those working families an extension on their unemployment benefits. I did that. Like an elephant I have a pretty good memory for some things, so now that George Nethercutt is running for State Senator from Washington, I want him to lose.
-----------------------------------------------------------
I feel really blessed to have been able to participate in that strike, along with the WTO marches and rally in Seattle.
One of the coolest moments of the Boeing strike for me was when we were in front of the Corporate Headquarters picketing and the Teamsters showed up with a big semi painted with Teamster's logos and labor promotional information on the trailer. The trailer was actually a portable sound stage. They backed it across the street from us and started playing really good and loud rock and roll music, including the Rolling Stones song "Street Fighting Man" from Beggars Banquet.
That was fun. Felt very alive.
Saturday, September 18, 2004
George Nethercutt Weasel King
George Nethercutt is the Weasel King
for a lot of reasons.
-------------------------------------------------------
George Nethercutt lied about his commitment to term limits.
In his 1994 campaign against Tom Foley, George Nethercutt presented himself as an outsider who championed term limits. He broke that promise when it came time for him to honor his pledge and limit his own term.
In November 1994, The New York Times reported that Nethercutt "played up his inexperience in government, saying he wanted to return to something closer to the part-time Congress of old." Now after 10 years in office, he's running for State Senator against our incumbent Patty Murray.
Even staunch Republican William Bennett gives him a thumbs down on that one.
----------------------------------------------
George Nethercutt shafts working people.
A good example was when the steelworkers in Washington State went on strike Sept. 30, 1998 protesting Kaisers plan to subcontract 950 jobs to a nonunion operator. They were joined by Kaiser workers at plants in Gramercy, Tacoma, Wash., and another in Ohio – more than 3,400 workers nationwide.
Four months later, on Jan. 13, 1999, the strikers offered to return to work under the old contract. Kaiser refused and the strike became a lockout.
What did George Nethercutt do? He blocked a bill in the state of Washington to extend benefits for those workers.
In 2003 he is still voting against extending unemployment insurance to laid-off workers
This link has the Spokane Central Labor Council's take on George Nethercutt when Kaiser locked out striking steel workers
And that's what his constituents in Spokane think of him....wow.
-------------------------------------------------
George Nethercutt voted agains Veteran's health care.
Nethercutt Supports Cutting Veteran's Medical Care
What more can you say?
------------------------------------------------
Well he had a little more to say....
He tried to get the Seattle P-I to clean it up for him -
Nethercutt alleges P-I distorted speech on Iraq
Not unlike weaseling his way to success by spouting the term limits he so firmly believed in until it came time to buck up, show some integrity and limit his own term in office.
-----------------------------------------------------
George Nethercutt doesn't represent the best interests of average citizens.
Not because he's a Republican because he's who he is (see above).
This article Don't rule out Nethercutt's 'Reagan wing' rival presents a more balanced point of view from another Republican named Reed Davis who unsuccessfully ran against George Nethercutt in the primary this year.
Davis is a former King County Republican chairman who has taught political science for 14 years at Seattle Pacific University.
Reed Davis had this to say,
Reed Davis didn't win his cause against the special interest Cheney-Nethercutt juggernaut this year.
But Patty Murray will.
----------------------------------------------
Postscript - After I wrote this I found another quote by George Nethercutt.
He made that statement at the Spokane Rally.
After George Nethercutt made that promise, Boeing did abandon that plant. It was sold to Triumph, some workers lost their jobs and those that were left took pay cuts.
Let's see if he holds to his word on this one.
-------------------------------------------------------------
I just don't get it sometimes.
If I was unemployed I really wouldn't understand why the Republican Congress Leaves Jobless Workers in the Cold for the Holidays with the explanation that the economy is improving.
If you're out of work and losing your unemployement benefits it would be hard to relate to that explanation.
In some parallel universe that must make sense...otherwise why would so many people buy into it? Probably makes sense in the Fox Network universe or the good old boys clubs where high financiers hang with their buds.
A more likely explanation is that the purveyors of this bullshit belive that the American people have short attention spans and deserve to be manipulated because of their lack of understanding. Don't sell people short. Some people get all their news from TV but there's a whole bunch of smart dedicated people in this country who can smell BS even before they step in it.
One last little tidbit. Many years ago I was driving across South Dakota and stopped into a small cafe in a small town. There was a group of farmers and ranchers sitting around visiting. I was a young lad, and even though I had grown up on and around farms and ranches, had a mistaken vision of farmers and ranchers as sort of back country people who watched the livestock report and talked about the weather. They do that sure, but I was totally amazed at the depth and understanding of the politics those boys showed. I don't think those people were unusual. There's a lot of smart informed people in this great country.
My point (or rather P.T. Barnams) is you can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Like the Who said We Won't Get Fooled Again
for a lot of reasons.
-------------------------------------------------------
George Nethercutt lied about his commitment to term limits.
In his 1994 campaign against Tom Foley, George Nethercutt presented himself as an outsider who championed term limits. He broke that promise when it came time for him to honor his pledge and limit his own term.
In November 1994, The New York Times reported that Nethercutt "played up his inexperience in government, saying he wanted to return to something closer to the part-time Congress of old." Now after 10 years in office, he's running for State Senator against our incumbent Patty Murray.
Even staunch Republican William Bennett gives him a thumbs down on that one.
"This ought to bother people," William J. Bennett, the Republican grandee and former Reagan and Bush Administration official, told me. "I campaigned for Nethercutt in '94, and I liked him, I liked his ideas. But he's now acting dishonorably. He's breaking his word, and he's doing it without any apparent remorse. He's making people more cynical about politics. Some promises should not be kept, because circumstances change. But about the only circumstance that has changed here that seems to me to be relevant is that he has gotten to like where he is, and I don't think that's enough."
----------------------------------------------
George Nethercutt shafts working people.
A good example was when the steelworkers in Washington State went on strike Sept. 30, 1998 protesting Kaisers plan to subcontract 950 jobs to a nonunion operator. They were joined by Kaiser workers at plants in Gramercy, Tacoma, Wash., and another in Ohio – more than 3,400 workers nationwide.
Four months later, on Jan. 13, 1999, the strikers offered to return to work under the old contract. Kaiser refused and the strike became a lockout.
What did George Nethercutt do? He blocked a bill in the state of Washington to extend benefits for those workers.
In 2003 he is still voting against extending unemployment insurance to laid-off workers
This link has the Spokane Central Labor Council's take on George Nethercutt when Kaiser locked out striking steel workers
And that's what his constituents in Spokane think of him....wow.
-------------------------------------------------
George Nethercutt voted agains Veteran's health care.
Nethercutt Supports Cutting Veteran's Medical Care
What more can you say?
------------------------------------------------
Well he had a little more to say....
George Nethercutt said about our progress in Iraq that "The story of what we've done in the postwar period is remarkable. ... It is a better and more important story than losing a couple of soldiers every day."
He tried to get the Seattle P-I to clean it up for him -
Nethercutt alleges P-I distorted speech on Iraq
Not unlike weaseling his way to success by spouting the term limits he so firmly believed in until it came time to buck up, show some integrity and limit his own term in office.
-----------------------------------------------------
George Nethercutt doesn't represent the best interests of average citizens.
Not because he's a Republican because he's who he is (see above).
This article Don't rule out Nethercutt's 'Reagan wing' rival presents a more balanced point of view from another Republican named Reed Davis who unsuccessfully ran against George Nethercutt in the primary this year.
Davis is a former King County Republican chairman who has taught political science for 14 years at Seattle Pacific University.
Reed Davis had this to say,
"I'm embarrassed when people ask me, 'How is it that you guys (Republicans) control everything in Washington, D.C., and you can't cut anything?' " Davis told the activists.
In the past three years, he added, federal spending has grown by $400 billion. The federal deficit is at a record $374 billion, and even non-discretionary, non-military spending has climbed by 20 percent.
Nor does Davis like the energy bill. "I just worry it is loaded with pork," he said afterward, quoting GOP Sen. John McCain's observation that the legislation was "authored, drafted and run through by special interests."
A hopeless cause against the Cheney-Nethercutt juggernaut? Not quite."
Reed Davis didn't win his cause against the special interest Cheney-Nethercutt juggernaut this year.
But Patty Murray will.
----------------------------------------------
Postscript - After I wrote this I found another quote by George Nethercutt.
Congressman Nethercutt didn't mince words in his message to Boeing, "I would have no reason to support Boeing, even on appropriations, if they were to abandon this plant." His message drew shouts of support from the crowd that appreciated their Congressman taking the aerospace giant to task.
He made that statement at the Spokane Rally.
After George Nethercutt made that promise, Boeing did abandon that plant. It was sold to Triumph, some workers lost their jobs and those that were left took pay cuts.
Let's see if he holds to his word on this one.
-------------------------------------------------------------
I just don't get it sometimes.
If I was unemployed I really wouldn't understand why the Republican Congress Leaves Jobless Workers in the Cold for the Holidays with the explanation that the economy is improving.
If you're out of work and losing your unemployement benefits it would be hard to relate to that explanation.
In some parallel universe that must make sense...otherwise why would so many people buy into it? Probably makes sense in the Fox Network universe or the good old boys clubs where high financiers hang with their buds.
A more likely explanation is that the purveyors of this bullshit belive that the American people have short attention spans and deserve to be manipulated because of their lack of understanding. Don't sell people short. Some people get all their news from TV but there's a whole bunch of smart dedicated people in this country who can smell BS even before they step in it.
One last little tidbit. Many years ago I was driving across South Dakota and stopped into a small cafe in a small town. There was a group of farmers and ranchers sitting around visiting. I was a young lad, and even though I had grown up on and around farms and ranches, had a mistaken vision of farmers and ranchers as sort of back country people who watched the livestock report and talked about the weather. They do that sure, but I was totally amazed at the depth and understanding of the politics those boys showed. I don't think those people were unusual. There's a lot of smart informed people in this great country.
My point (or rather P.T. Barnams) is you can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Like the Who said We Won't Get Fooled Again
Friday, September 17, 2004
Good Iraqi Food at the Halal Market - The Circus Came to Town - Pita King
Oh my my my. If you want something tasty and different try the Colby Halal Market across from the Flying Pig. I ate lunch there yesterday with some friends. It was very good. We had lamb kebobs, grilled tomato, onion, and lemon in pita bread. And strong chai in glasses for desert. It's at 2932 Colby Avenue in Everett, WA. Call ahead to 425-783-0383 to let them know you are coming or to order out. I see they offer a whole lamb for parties of 50 for that special occasion.
Yum. A nice change from the ordinary. Simple food, good ingredients and nice people.
-----------------------------------------------
Went to see the Circus train come to town. Didn't see any PETA's; or elephants, lions tigers or bears for that matter. They were unloading the train for the circus walk at 1 pm and I had another appointment (my job). What I did see were lots of little kids and moms, some dads and senior citizens. All very excited to see the animals come off the train.
The train looked like a good way to travel to me. I've been reading a little about elephants. The ones that came to town are Asian elephants (smaller) rather than their bigger cousins from Africa. Elephants have fascinated people throughout time. They have good memories, strong family bonds and are hard workers.
Babar is a famous elephant and of course Dumbo (1941) and Jumbo - The Elephant who toured with the 19th century Barnum and Bailey Circus, later to become Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey.
If you visit India you can ride an elephant on the beach. If you go at the right time, you might also get to participate in Festival of Ganesh the elephant God.
Here's the Everett Herald article about The Circus Walk
---------------------------------------------
Although I missed seeing any PETA protestors we did see a local protestor yesterday. She's an older lady that I've seen holding various incomprehensible signs around town in the past. The one she had up yesterday said something like "PROTEST WANDA". Made no sense. She always makes me smile a little, seems to be enjoying herself. She doesn't look mad, just sort of mischievious. What the heck she's out getting fresh air, adding to the ambience, not hurting anyone. I'd like to talk to her sometime (maybe). She might be a bit of a wild one.
---------------------------------------------
Went to see the PITA KING yesterday. He wasn't there but one of the princesses was in.
My good friend Baba Ghanoush and I picked up some little pitas (fresh out of the oven), Tzatziki Sauce, baba ghanoush (that must be where his name came from), good lebanese tahini, chickpeas and the grillable Cyprus cheese halloumi.
We were considering buying one of the hookahs to use during smoke breaks at work...but since neither of us smoke decided against it. Those things do look cool though. Maybe I'll get a chance to smoke off someone elses sometime. I'll keep an eye on the loading dock where people smoke at work, just in case someone brings one in.
I'm on the 40 year stop smoking plan. That's the one where you smoke cigs, switch to a pipe, cigar, smokeless tobacco and then repeat it every 5 years. I've gone nicotine free for a few years. Back on the smokeless now. Gotta have some vices.
-------------------------------------------------
I hope the tuna haven't got word that I'm heading to the coast this weekend. I'm staying at a place called Harbor Resort in the marina. Looking forward to the views, sights, sounds, smells.
My plan is fish for tuna, fish for tuna, buy tuna at Safeway, come home.
In my fishermanly optimism I have actually procured a brand new used 30 dollar freezer, which is waiting for the tuna I catch with Dave Camp skipper for Cachalot Charters. This is going to be fun. It will just be 6 fishermen and women on that big boat. We get to use live anchovies. There's a picture of Rosie on the home page for Cachalot. Rosie was on the boat last time when my wife and I went salmon fishing. She had brought her 6 or 7 year old grandson with her. He was having a ball.
Looking forward to this Friday. Should be a good one. Hope you have a fine weekend to relax, refresh and re-create.
Yum. A nice change from the ordinary. Simple food, good ingredients and nice people.
-----------------------------------------------
Went to see the Circus train come to town. Didn't see any PETA's; or elephants, lions tigers or bears for that matter. They were unloading the train for the circus walk at 1 pm and I had another appointment (my job). What I did see were lots of little kids and moms, some dads and senior citizens. All very excited to see the animals come off the train.
The train looked like a good way to travel to me. I've been reading a little about elephants. The ones that came to town are Asian elephants (smaller) rather than their bigger cousins from Africa. Elephants have fascinated people throughout time. They have good memories, strong family bonds and are hard workers.
Babar is a famous elephant and of course Dumbo (1941) and Jumbo - The Elephant who toured with the 19th century Barnum and Bailey Circus, later to become Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey.
If you visit India you can ride an elephant on the beach. If you go at the right time, you might also get to participate in Festival of Ganesh the elephant God.
Here's the Everett Herald article about The Circus Walk
---------------------------------------------
Although I missed seeing any PETA protestors we did see a local protestor yesterday. She's an older lady that I've seen holding various incomprehensible signs around town in the past. The one she had up yesterday said something like "PROTEST WANDA". Made no sense. She always makes me smile a little, seems to be enjoying herself. She doesn't look mad, just sort of mischievious. What the heck she's out getting fresh air, adding to the ambience, not hurting anyone. I'd like to talk to her sometime (maybe). She might be a bit of a wild one.
---------------------------------------------
Went to see the PITA KING yesterday. He wasn't there but one of the princesses was in.
My good friend Baba Ghanoush and I picked up some little pitas (fresh out of the oven), Tzatziki Sauce, baba ghanoush (that must be where his name came from), good lebanese tahini, chickpeas and the grillable Cyprus cheese halloumi.
We were considering buying one of the hookahs to use during smoke breaks at work...but since neither of us smoke decided against it. Those things do look cool though. Maybe I'll get a chance to smoke off someone elses sometime. I'll keep an eye on the loading dock where people smoke at work, just in case someone brings one in.
I'm on the 40 year stop smoking plan. That's the one where you smoke cigs, switch to a pipe, cigar, smokeless tobacco and then repeat it every 5 years. I've gone nicotine free for a few years. Back on the smokeless now. Gotta have some vices.
-------------------------------------------------
I hope the tuna haven't got word that I'm heading to the coast this weekend. I'm staying at a place called Harbor Resort in the marina. Looking forward to the views, sights, sounds, smells.
My plan is fish for tuna, fish for tuna, buy tuna at Safeway, come home.
In my fishermanly optimism I have actually procured a brand new used 30 dollar freezer, which is waiting for the tuna I catch with Dave Camp skipper for Cachalot Charters. This is going to be fun. It will just be 6 fishermen and women on that big boat. We get to use live anchovies. There's a picture of Rosie on the home page for Cachalot. Rosie was on the boat last time when my wife and I went salmon fishing. She had brought her 6 or 7 year old grandson with her. He was having a ball.
Looking forward to this Friday. Should be a good one. Hope you have a fine weekend to relax, refresh and re-create.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Password Frustration and William James on Habit
Yesterday I was thinking about wasting time changing, forgetting, remembering or trying to remember, and if all else fails - resetting passwords.
Not to mention the fatigue and frustration caused when we find something we think is automatic (logging onto a computer program) is no longer automatic because a "smart" program was created that forces us to change our password (and not use anything like the previous 10 passwords, for our new password).
I proposed we should do our best to reserve our higher brain functions for constructive thought - learning new things and connecting those learned things to what we already know, rather than committing to memory and then recalling random alphanumeric sequences that must be at least 8 characters and may be case sensitive. I've seen some password rules now that require including non-alpha numeric characters. Let's see was my password (*&polbBT%$ or !@#bln#TbL9?
Looking forward to the day when we use our intelligence to to make computer access secure and easy. Two competing goals, but I have faith in the bright people working on this kind of thing will come up with retinal scans, voice recognition, fingerprint recognition, subcutaneous chip implants (just kidding I think) that will do away with our having to spend time on passwords.
In that discussion I mentioned the 19th Century Teacher/Doctor/Philosopher William James. I think this quote from
Classics in the History of Psychology -- James (1890) Chapter 4
touches on the concept -
Some quotes from William James on Habit.
And a funny sort of equation where lowering our expectations can increase our self esteem (or something like that) William James and Bill Watterson
A quote on genius...William James--Wisdom
All these quotes, and a wealth of other material can be found at this Emory University page on William James.
Not to mention the fatigue and frustration caused when we find something we think is automatic (logging onto a computer program) is no longer automatic because a "smart" program was created that forces us to change our password (and not use anything like the previous 10 passwords, for our new password).
I proposed we should do our best to reserve our higher brain functions for constructive thought - learning new things and connecting those learned things to what we already know, rather than committing to memory and then recalling random alphanumeric sequences that must be at least 8 characters and may be case sensitive. I've seen some password rules now that require including non-alpha numeric characters. Let's see was my password (*&polbBT%$ or !@#bln#TbL9?
Looking forward to the day when we use our intelligence to to make computer access secure and easy. Two competing goals, but I have faith in the bright people working on this kind of thing will come up with retinal scans, voice recognition, fingerprint recognition, subcutaneous chip implants (just kidding I think) that will do away with our having to spend time on passwords.
In that discussion I mentioned the 19th Century Teacher/Doctor/Philosopher William James. I think this quote from
Classics in the History of Psychology -- James (1890) Chapter 4
touches on the concept -
"The great thing, then, in all education, is to make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy. It is to fund and capitalize our acquisitions, and live at ease upon the interest of the fund. For this we must make automatic and habitual, as early as possible, as many useful actions as we can, and guard against the growing into ways that are likely to be disadvantageous to us, as we should guard against the plague. The more of the details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for their own proper work. There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision, and for whom the lighting of every cigar, the drinking of every cup, the time of rising and going to bed every day, and the beginning of every bit of work, are subjects of express volitional deliberation. Full half the time of such a man goes to the deciding, or regretting, of matters which ought to be so ingrained in him as practically not to exist for his consciousness at all. If there be such daily duties not yet ingrained in any one of my readers, let him begin this very hour to set the matter right."
Some quotes from William James on Habit.
And a funny sort of equation where lowering our expectations can increase our self esteem (or something like that) William James and Bill Watterson
A quote on genius...William James--Wisdom
All these quotes, and a wealth of other material can be found at this Emory University page on William James.
Monday, September 13, 2004
The Circus Is Coming! Password/Privacy Rant!
The circus is coming to town this week.
I'm excited for the kids who will go.
Some of the animals will be brought to the civic center in a little parade from the railroad station. That sounds cool to me.
There's some controversy brewing with people who want to make sure animals aren't mistreated.
A couple of articles from the local paper -
HeraldNet: Protest follows circus
and this one by Julie Muhlstein to balance things out
HeraldNet: Some animal rights groups go too far in their fight
----------------------------------------------------
On the topic of treatment of animals...
I finished Life of Pi awhile back. One of the topics of that book is animals in zoos. I recommend that book for the discussion on zoos alone. The author talks about animals having defined territories in the wild (their homes) or defined territories in zoos (their homes). Then talks about the pros and cons of each.
Imagine what it would be like to be a "free" elephant being eaten by a "free" tiger vs. being a circus elephant who gets to perform, see people who are happy to see you, and know where your next meal is coming from. Not saying we don't need wilderness and wild animals, but being in the wild isn't all it's cracked up to be sometimes. At least if you are a wild animal being eaten by a pack of wolves, hyenas, tigers or other predators or dying a slow death of starvation.
I'll propose that almost no one, aside from abberent psychopathic individuals, want animals to suffer. I believe all life is precious, but we need to prioritize our concern for living things. As a human I have to admit a bias in that I believe human life to be the most precious. I hope the people that get all worked up about the circus treatment of animals still have energy to work on improving the condition of their fellow humans.
---------------------------------------------------------
Warning long rant ahead....
I wonder how long before passwords are a thing of the past?
Like everyone who uses computers (or imputers) as Becca used to call them I have lots of passwords. My intention this morning was to get up early, log on to my email at work and get a little caught up before I went into the office.
Last week I was getting a message every day when I logged on at work that said "your password will expire in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 etc...days".
I kept putting it off and now my password expired on Saturday and our system won't let me change it remotely. I have to go to the office today to start work. Oh well.
We have lots of smart password monitoring programs. By smart I mean they keep track of your old passwords and won't let you use anything similar for a new password. The end result? You have a slug of unrelated passwords that no one, aside from some kind of password savant, could remember.
My theory is it's best to keep your brain as clear as possible of trivial things to remember so you can concentrate on "thinking" eg. connecting things into useful patterns. William James wrote about the advantage to our minds in making everyday things habitual, like brushing our teeth.
Imagine what it would be like if everyday you got up and had to think, "now how was I supposed to brush my teeth this week?". Tie my shoes? Was it rinse, lather, repeat or lather, rinse, repeat?
My point is I don't want to clutter up my brain with meaningless unconnected alphanumeric combinations aka passwords.
I don't get too worried about the privacy issues of having some method of identifying me as me (retinal scan, finger print reader, voice analyzer, universal personal ID card with password generator...whatever).
I don't really care to be anonymous and even if I did I don't think we have the right to anonymity. Saying we don't have the right to anonymity is different than saying we do have the right to privacy.
I don't think I have the right to interact in the world and remain anonymous. Let's say I take a bag of manure and light it on fire on your porch. I may want to remain anonymous but I don't think I have the right. Maybe I want to write a letter to the editor. Call you on the phone. I might prefer to remain anonymous but I don't have that right.
What about AA? Certainly people who go to AA meetings have a right to privacy. They aren't anonymous though, since they are physically present with other people at meetings. I'd consider an organization like the KKK more in line with a group that want's anonymity - what with the masks and all. Ditto for terrorist cells. Anonymity makes sense if you doing something legally or morally wrong and don't want to be identified by those members of society who set or enforce legal and moral norms.
I don't care if people know my phone number, address, or name; but I want to have personal information kept private (which to me means kept in the hands of those who need to know or who I chose to share that information with). I want to have my business's confidential or propriatary information kept the same way - in the hands of those who need to know.
I hope inventors come up with a solution that works better than passwords pretty soon.
We'll figure out workarounds in the meantime. A simple one is to have a superpassword ie. the ability to get into something, a computer/PDA/vault that contains the bazillion passwords to everything else.
Some people worry about that single source of passwords. Not me. Consider the possiblity that someone figures out what machine/vault contains your password list and what the password is to that machine and what form that list is in and how to convert that form into something useable.....
to log on to your Yahoo mail? Who cares?
Any access to data that's really important, that's outside of a gated area, shouldn't be accessible even if someone had a password. If you have confidential/important data online in an unsecured area you will use smart cards, or some other secondary protection scheme. A smart card generates a semi-random password based on a password you enter into it. The host computer you are logging onto can determine if that semi-random password came from that smart card.
The end result? Even if you have a password to the smart card...you need the physical device to log on. So I'm not too excited about people stealing passwords. If someone broke into my house and found my smart card...then they'd have to figure out the password to that card to use it. Anyway this is sort of circular.
Not to say identity theft isn't a troublesome issue. If you are worried about someone stealing your identity you would possibly be better served by being careful about what you throw in the trash than trying to memorize every password you have.
I'm excited for the kids who will go.
Some of the animals will be brought to the civic center in a little parade from the railroad station. That sounds cool to me.
There's some controversy brewing with people who want to make sure animals aren't mistreated.
A couple of articles from the local paper -
HeraldNet: Protest follows circus
and this one by Julie Muhlstein to balance things out
HeraldNet: Some animal rights groups go too far in their fight
----------------------------------------------------
On the topic of treatment of animals...
I finished Life of Pi awhile back. One of the topics of that book is animals in zoos. I recommend that book for the discussion on zoos alone. The author talks about animals having defined territories in the wild (their homes) or defined territories in zoos (their homes). Then talks about the pros and cons of each.
Imagine what it would be like to be a "free" elephant being eaten by a "free" tiger vs. being a circus elephant who gets to perform, see people who are happy to see you, and know where your next meal is coming from. Not saying we don't need wilderness and wild animals, but being in the wild isn't all it's cracked up to be sometimes. At least if you are a wild animal being eaten by a pack of wolves, hyenas, tigers or other predators or dying a slow death of starvation.
I'll propose that almost no one, aside from abberent psychopathic individuals, want animals to suffer. I believe all life is precious, but we need to prioritize our concern for living things. As a human I have to admit a bias in that I believe human life to be the most precious. I hope the people that get all worked up about the circus treatment of animals still have energy to work on improving the condition of their fellow humans.
---------------------------------------------------------
Warning long rant ahead....
I wonder how long before passwords are a thing of the past?
Like everyone who uses computers (or imputers) as Becca used to call them I have lots of passwords. My intention this morning was to get up early, log on to my email at work and get a little caught up before I went into the office.
Last week I was getting a message every day when I logged on at work that said "your password will expire in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 etc...days".
I kept putting it off and now my password expired on Saturday and our system won't let me change it remotely. I have to go to the office today to start work. Oh well.
We have lots of smart password monitoring programs. By smart I mean they keep track of your old passwords and won't let you use anything similar for a new password. The end result? You have a slug of unrelated passwords that no one, aside from some kind of password savant, could remember.
My theory is it's best to keep your brain as clear as possible of trivial things to remember so you can concentrate on "thinking" eg. connecting things into useful patterns. William James wrote about the advantage to our minds in making everyday things habitual, like brushing our teeth.
Imagine what it would be like if everyday you got up and had to think, "now how was I supposed to brush my teeth this week?". Tie my shoes? Was it rinse, lather, repeat or lather, rinse, repeat?
My point is I don't want to clutter up my brain with meaningless unconnected alphanumeric combinations aka passwords.
I don't get too worried about the privacy issues of having some method of identifying me as me (retinal scan, finger print reader, voice analyzer, universal personal ID card with password generator...whatever).
I don't really care to be anonymous and even if I did I don't think we have the right to anonymity. Saying we don't have the right to anonymity is different than saying we do have the right to privacy.
I don't think I have the right to interact in the world and remain anonymous. Let's say I take a bag of manure and light it on fire on your porch. I may want to remain anonymous but I don't think I have the right. Maybe I want to write a letter to the editor. Call you on the phone. I might prefer to remain anonymous but I don't have that right.
What about AA? Certainly people who go to AA meetings have a right to privacy. They aren't anonymous though, since they are physically present with other people at meetings. I'd consider an organization like the KKK more in line with a group that want's anonymity - what with the masks and all. Ditto for terrorist cells. Anonymity makes sense if you doing something legally or morally wrong and don't want to be identified by those members of society who set or enforce legal and moral norms.
I don't care if people know my phone number, address, or name; but I want to have personal information kept private (which to me means kept in the hands of those who need to know or who I chose to share that information with). I want to have my business's confidential or propriatary information kept the same way - in the hands of those who need to know.
I hope inventors come up with a solution that works better than passwords pretty soon.
We'll figure out workarounds in the meantime. A simple one is to have a superpassword ie. the ability to get into something, a computer/PDA/vault that contains the bazillion passwords to everything else.
Some people worry about that single source of passwords. Not me. Consider the possiblity that someone figures out what machine/vault contains your password list and what the password is to that machine and what form that list is in and how to convert that form into something useable.....
to log on to your Yahoo mail? Who cares?
Any access to data that's really important, that's outside of a gated area, shouldn't be accessible even if someone had a password. If you have confidential/important data online in an unsecured area you will use smart cards, or some other secondary protection scheme. A smart card generates a semi-random password based on a password you enter into it. The host computer you are logging onto can determine if that semi-random password came from that smart card.
The end result? Even if you have a password to the smart card...you need the physical device to log on. So I'm not too excited about people stealing passwords. If someone broke into my house and found my smart card...then they'd have to figure out the password to that card to use it. Anyway this is sort of circular.
Not to say identity theft isn't a troublesome issue. If you are worried about someone stealing your identity you would possibly be better served by being careful about what you throw in the trash than trying to memorize every password you have.
Sunday, September 12, 2004
Interpreting Your Dreams
Dreaming that you are riding a unicycle means that you are in total control of a situation and exercising authority in both personal and business matters.
Got that information from the hyperdictionary Dream Dictionary
Got that information from the hyperdictionary Dream Dictionary
This Explains Everything
Principia Discordia
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One would have to have a fair amount of idle time and the inclination to while away that time to read the whole thing. Since I had both, I read the whole book online and thought it was laugh out loud funny.
The forums are interesting and have some good links too.
-------------------------------------------------------
The intro says,
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Here's a couple of snips. I'm not sure if they do the book justice out of context, but just to give a feel for what these principia might be about -
Wherein is Explained
Absolutely Everything Worth Knowing
About Absolutely Anything
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One would have to have a fair amount of idle time and the inclination to while away that time to read the whole thing. Since I had both, I read the whole book online and thought it was laugh out loud funny.
The forums are interesting and have some good links too.
-------------------------------------------------------
The intro says,
"For full benefit to the Head, this book should be read in conjunction with The Illuminoids by Neal Wilgus (Sun Press, Albuquerque, NM) and Zen Without Zen Masters by Camden Benares (And/Or Press, Berkeley, California). "We are operating on many levels here", as Ken Kesey used to say.
In conclusion, there is no conclusion. Things go on as they always have, getting weirder all the time."
-------------------------------------------------------
Here's a couple of snips. I'm not sure if they do the book justice out of context, but just to give a feel for what these principia might be about -
"CONVENTIONAL CHAOS
GREYFACE
In the year 1166 B.C., a malcontented hunchbrain by the name of Greyface, got it into his head that the universe was as humorless as he, and he began to teach that play was sinful because it contradicted the ways of Serious Order. "Look at all the order around you," he said. And from that, he deluded honest men to believe that reality was a straightjacket affair and not the happy romance as men had known it.
It is not presently understood why men were so gullible at that particular time, for absolutely no one thought to observe all the disorder around them and conclude just the opposite. But anyway, Greyface and his followers took the game of playing at life more seriously than they took life itself and were known even to destroy other living beings whose ways of life differed from their own.
The unfortunate result of this is that mankind has since been suffering from a psychological and spiritual imbalance. Imbalance causes frustration, and frustration causes fear. And fear makes for a bad trip. Man has been on a bad trip for a long time now.
It is called THE CURSE OF GREYFACE.
Bullshit makes
the flowers grow
& that's beautiful."
------------------------------------------------------
"P A R T F I V E
The
Golden
Secret
NONSENSE AS SALVATION
The human race will begin solving it's problems on the day that it ceases taking itself so seriously.
To that end, POEE proposes the countergame of NONSENSE AS SALVATION. Salvation from an ugly and barbarous existence that is the result of taking order so seriously and so seriously fearing contrary orders and disorder, that GAMES are taken as more important than LIFE; rather than taking LIFE AS THE ART OF PLAYING GAMES.
To this end, we propose that man develop his innate love for disorder, and play with The Goddess Eris. And know that it is a joyful play, and that thereby CAN BE REVOKED THE CURSE OF GREYFACE.
If you can master nonsense as well as you have already learned to master sense, then each will expose the other for what it is: absurdity. From that moment of illumination, a man begins to be free regardless of his surroundings. He becomes free to play order games and change them at will. He becomes free to play disorder games just for the hell of it. He becomes free to play neither or both. And as the master of his own games, he plays without fear, and therefore without frustration, and therefore with good will in his soul and love in his being.
And when men become free then mankind will be free.
May you be free of The Curse of Greyface.
May the Goddess put twinkles in your eyes.
May you have the knowledge of a sage,
and the wisdom of a child. Hail Eris."
Friday, September 10, 2004
Playing With Your Button
I've really got to keep playing with that "Next Blog" button on the upper right corner. It is addictive. I tend to just glance at pages read a little and for ones that impress me somehow read more and sometimes send a note back to the creator.
The thing that makes it odd is I'm not bookmarking any of those web logs so chances seem good that I will never return to one. It's sort of like having a million public access channels on your TV. Wayne's World might be on and you looked at it for a second and thought "wow this is kind of funny." Then you're off to the next creation.
It's cool. And sort of weird since it's so transitory. Kind of like passing people on the street and getting some information about them and knowing you won't ever see them again.
You do see some common threads, but then every once in awhile a really uncommon thread comes up that catches your eye.
I recommend trying that next blog thing, if you have some free time to fool around on the web.
To make this a real weblog I should to link to some other weblogs. I don't know for sure what my main interest is. Comedy, philosophy, work, religion, politics, food, people, children, friends, myself, others, education, reading, fishing, talking, writing, breathing, sitting around watching TV? I'll just keep floating around and having fun for now.
Need to close up the Cafe for tonight. I've spent another early morning fiddling with these keys trying to see if I come up with something that fits together and is on occasion pleasing to the ear, eye, mind or heart.
Need to sleep.
Good night to you.
The thing that makes it odd is I'm not bookmarking any of those web logs so chances seem good that I will never return to one. It's sort of like having a million public access channels on your TV. Wayne's World might be on and you looked at it for a second and thought "wow this is kind of funny." Then you're off to the next creation.
It's cool. And sort of weird since it's so transitory. Kind of like passing people on the street and getting some information about them and knowing you won't ever see them again.
You do see some common threads, but then every once in awhile a really uncommon thread comes up that catches your eye.
I recommend trying that next blog thing, if you have some free time to fool around on the web.
To make this a real weblog I should to link to some other weblogs. I don't know for sure what my main interest is. Comedy, philosophy, work, religion, politics, food, people, children, friends, myself, others, education, reading, fishing, talking, writing, breathing, sitting around watching TV? I'll just keep floating around and having fun for now.
Need to close up the Cafe for tonight. I've spent another early morning fiddling with these keys trying to see if I come up with something that fits together and is on occasion pleasing to the ear, eye, mind or heart.
Need to sleep.
Good night to you.
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