Older laptops like this IBM R51 can only do 1024x768 which is now "low-res" compared to today's standards. My request is that Google Calendar make better use of this space (highlighted red rectangle) ... maybe move it to the left column.
Anil Dash has offered one of the best "spins" of the era ...
Bill Gates has pulled off one of the greatest hacks in technology and business history, by turning Microsoft's success into a force for social responsibility. Imagine imposing a tax on every corporation in the developed world, collecting $100 per white-collar worker per year, and then directing one third of the proceeds to curing AIDS and malaria. That, effectively, is what Bill Gates has done.
Witch hunt continues unabated
June 29, 2008 · print · email
Real words of wisdom...
First, do no harm. Or as little as possible.
Second, do not suffer fools or Bad People. They will rob you of your life.
Third, make choices with an eye to minimize future regret. In other words, imagine you were on your deathbed looking back - live your life to make that old bastard as peaceful as possible about dying.
Fourth, learn and wander. We may or may not be hairless monkeys, but there is wisdom out there. It may be an evil world, but there is beauty. Find it.
WINSTON RAND…HE WAS A PRETTY GOOD GUY.
My sincerest condolences...
There is a phrase that epitomizes the social struggles of our time. Struggles
against oppression by poorer, weaker people. The burden of the economically repressed 'have nots' being taken advantage of by the 'Haves'. The disparity of the Political Machine and the representation of the will of the people. On a larger scale the Oppressors and the oppressed.
There is a long standing fear. A fear so ingrained that we let only the most innocent among us, our children, state the obvious, "the emperor is naked." For a myriad of 'sophisticated' reasons we are unwilling or unable to ...
Toward the end of April I posted...
Open Applied Physics
55 MPH beats $3.50/GAL
I have decided to 'come out'. I have not taken this decision lightly. The ramifications to my family and friends have weighed very heavily on me during my hours and days of deliberation of this matter. All that having been said I have decided to make the following declaration:
[ W A R N I N G ]
As the International Mystery Writers Festival winds down I have been experiencing urges. With the end in sight I am once again becoming nervous. I am developing an itchy blogging finger (Typing style: Christopher Columbus - Discover and land). Here are a few 'ferinstances' . . .
Mary-Jo Foley reports that Microsoft is going to spend an additional $200 Million in advertising. Now doesn't it strike a person silly that M$ would lay out all that green without having a product to tout? (Tell me they aren't going to spend all that to remind the public just how bad Vista is?)
Head Lemur says he is joining the club . . .
Open Space Technology (OST) is a method to run meetings of groups of any size.
Dear Friends,
Right now, Fox News is trying to paint Barack Obama as foreign,
un-American, suspicious, and scary. They're trying to send Americans
the message that our country's first viable Black candidate for
President is not "one of us."
I've joined on to ColorOfChange.org's campaign to push back on Fox,
publicly demanding they stop their race-baiting and fear mongering.
If that doesn't work, then we'll go to their advertisers and the FCC.
I wanted to invite you to sign on as well. It takes only a moment:
http://www.colorofchange.org/foxobama/?id=1867-526328
Here's what happened recently:
After Senator Obama won the nomination, he and his wife gave each
other a "pound" in front of the cameras. Fox anchor E.D. Hill called
the act of celebration a "terrorist fist jab." Then last week, a Fox
News on-screen graphic referred to Michelle Obama as "Obama's baby
mama"--slang used to describe the unmarried mother of a man's child.
It was a clear attempt to associate the Obamas with negative cultural
stereotypes about Black people, an insult not only to Michelle Obama
but to women and Black people everywhere.
After each of the incidents mentioned, Fox issued some form of weak
apology. But what does it mean when you slap someone in the face,
apologize the next day, then slap them again on the third? It means
the apology is meaningless.
These aren't one-time incidents--they're part of a pattern that
continues no matter how often Fox is forced to apologize. Fox has a
clear record of attacking and undermining Black institutions, Black
leaders, and Black people in general.
If we don't push back now, we will see more of the same from now until
November. Please join me in helping to bring an end to Fox's
behavior.
http://www.colorofchange.org/foxobama/?id=1867-526328
Thanks.
The original post was entitled . . .
Leave it to Jeremy to help us remember the really important things . . .
Today is bloomsday, the day of the year that we celebrate Ulysses by drinking guinness….
Yesterday I posted about supporting Iranian Women's Rights activists. Today I have received a comment and an e-mail containing this message.
These are the photos of women who were arrested in Iran yesterday.Please go to this site به جرم زن بودن
Click Here to Learn More About These Cases>>
Support Iranian Women's Rights Activists on their National Day of Solidarity
Today marks the second anniversary of a protest held by women's rights activists in Iran. That demonstration was broken up violently by security forces and led to the arrest of 70 men and women. The activists then launched the One Million Signatures Campaign, an unprecedented grass-roots campaign to change gender discrimination in Iranian laws.
They chose June 12 as a national day of solidarity with their campaign, and planned to hold an event today commemorating the protests. However, their gathering was canceled due to threats and when a number of women arrived anyway, security forces blocked the doors. Eight women have reportedly been detained: Nafiseh Azad, Jila Baniyaghoub, Farideh Ghaeb, Jelveh Javaheri, Sarah Loghmani, Nahid Mirhaj, Aida Saadat, and Nasreen Sotoodeh.
Human Rights First has joined over forty international human rights organizations to express support for the defenders. On this anniversary, call on the Iranian government to cease its persecution of the activists, drop any charges against them, and to allow women's rights activists to engage in their rights of assembly and peaceful political expression.
'Any book in Hemingway's library for $200'
Irish thriller writer Adrian McKinty takes us on an atmospheric journey to one of literature's greatest shrines, and receives an extraordinary offer
Ernest Hemingway’s house
Cuba wages will be tied to productivity
Salary caps will be eliminated in August
HAVANA
Recognizing the egalitarian goal of the island's socialist revolution as outdated, Cuba is moving ahead with a productivity-based wage system, a top labor official said Wednesday.
Carlos Mateu, a vice minister of labor and social security, said in an interview with the Community Party daily Granma that all state enterprises must eliminate salary caps by next month. Many have already done so.
The move contradicts the idea of an egalitarian society long promoted by ailing former president Fidel Castro, 81, who was officially replaced by younger brother Raul in February.
But Cuba's first new leadership in nearly 50 years has acknowledged that the socialist system was in danger without better economic results in areas from food production to worker productivity."Either we solve the problems or we ourselves destroy the revolution that cost us so much blood and sweat," Maria del Carmen Concepcion, a top Communist Party official, was quoted as saying in the state press this week.
Mateu told Granma that "there has been a tendency for everyone to get the same, and that egalitarianism is not convenient. That is something we have to resolve." The vice minister could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
[Bonus Link #1]
[Bonus Link #2]
I'm voting Republican because I don't think we really need a change...
www.ImVotingRepublican.com
Just click the ticket [NSFW] ... well, maybe just a little risque ... still be difficult to explain to the boss. (WEG) Also, check out the film.
Cyclone relief no laughing matter
June 6, 2008 · No Comments
On the night of June 4, a group of police officers came to a house in suburban Rangoon, searched it and took away one of the occupants. But the person they took is not a wanted robber, murderer or escapee. He is a comedian.
Although Zarganar (pictured above at left, with fellow actor and social activist Kyaw Thu) is famous in Burma for his antics on stage and screen, he has not been joking much lately. Instead, he has been at the front of local efforts to get relief to where it has been needed most since Cyclone Nargis swept through his country a month ago.
In what Wonkette calls "the most tragically awkward video in the history of YouTube," a dazed McCain campaign manager Rick Davis stares goggle-eyed at off-screen cue cards, robotically making a call for Americans to stalk their neighbors with video cameras, and reveal what secret Islamofascists might be walking among us. The lucky winner will be flown to the Republican National Convention to enjoy a session of "Seven Minutes In Heaven" with Larry Craig at the Minneapolis airport, and then it's off to Guantanamo Bay!This contest, by the way, is the "true story" upon which the Liv Tyler thriller The Strangers is based.
this election is not about Iraq. This election is about America.
Thanks Winston for telling the truth
If elected president, Senator John McCain would reserve the right to run his own warrantless wiretapping program against Americans, based on the theory that the president's wartime powers trump federal criminal statutes and court oversight, according to a statement released by his campaign Monday.
(Thanks Wired)
shot out of a rifle barrel lined with baroque paintings landing in a sea of electricity
Thanks to the HumorlessBitch for the right way...
Dunkin' Donuts is WRONG! To kowtow to the conservative right is to again relinquish human rights in favor of fear ... this is wrong! Boycott Dunkin Donuts!
Per the Huffington Post
The Boston Globe reports that Dunkin Donuts caved to pressure from the conservative blogosphere — and the fear of a mass boycott — and removed the ad:
The company at first pooh-poohed the complaints, claiming the black-and-white wrap was not a keffiyeh. But the right-wing drumbeat on the blogosphere continued and by yesterday, Dunkin' Donuts decided it'd be easier just to yank the ad.
Said the suits in a statement: ''In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we are no longer using the commercial.''
What a pleasant surprise to hear from the likes of Donald Sutherland on the Democratic primary race...
Donald Sutherland
It is incomprehensible to me that Mrs. Clinton can seriously be touting the notion, with the support of the punditocracy of CNN and Fox, that she is leading in the popular vote and should therefore be seriously considered as the most electable candidate in the November election. She's including those who voted for her in Florida and Michigan's name recognition ballot saying that to exclude them would be to disenfranchise them. What about the Democrats in Alaska, American Samoa, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, Nebraska, Washington, Hawaii and Wyoming who did not cast ballots because they were playing by the pledged delegates playbook and voted by caucus. What about them? Certainly if the rules are going to be changed and judgment is based on the 'popular' vote those voters in the eleven caucus states and Samoa will be disenfranchised. What about them?
And what about us? What about the American people? Haven't we had enough of Mrs. Clinton's mad antics in her pursuit of the realization of venal personal ambition; her 'say anything, do anything, no matter what' effort to manipulate our all too willing media to gull this country's populace into believing that her wretched illegitimacy is indeed legitimate. How much mendacity do we have to suffer, how much brazenness do we have to swallow before someone, anyone, has the decency, the common sense, to relieve us of this terrible trifle, this pathetic madness?
When I encounter stories like the following I just have to wonder why there are so many difficulties in the region.
American born Louise Firouz (Laylin) passed away at the age of 78 in Iran
Louise Firouz is known as the reviver of the Caspian horse and the best breeder of Turkmen horses in Iran. She also operated adventure horse-treks in northern Iran. The journeys have been listed by The Times as among the top 10 rides in the world.(Thanks to Always Under Construction for the great blogging.)
Haiku is an open-source operating system currently in development designed from the ground up for desktop computing. Inspired by the BeOS, Haiku aims to provide users of all levels with a personal computing experience that is simple yet powerful, and free of any unnecessary complexities.
John Samuel Tieman
St. Louis, MO, USA
Hillary we're tired of your excuses for staying in the race so long. You're just playing the spoiler now. It almost looks like you are trying to muddy the waters for your fellow democrat. But do what you feel to do. All I can say is both you and Bill showed a wicked and dirty side this election so we're taking back our first black president moniker.
(At least I only suggested the "hit by a bus" scenario...)
see more politics and fun!
If I have to visit the walled-garden facebook then you can keep them.
Data source: IPv4 Address Report
Following the lineage... from Nobody Asked to Pondering.... to All Atwitter
Microsoft is to be commended for accommodating .ODF
May 21, 2008 11:00 AM PDTMicrosoft boosts support for rival formats in Office
Microsoft is opening up Office to other file formats, slowly but steadily.
On Wednesday, the company said it plans to add new formats to Office 2007, including the Open Document Format (ODF), Portable Document Format (PDF), and XML Paper Specification (XPS). The new formats will be added to Office as part of Service Pack 2 for Office 2007, due in the first half of next year.
ODF, a rival document format to Office's native format, has become popular with governments and schools. Microsoft, acknowledging requests for compatibility with ODF, released a converter to allow Word users to open documents saved in the OpenDocument format.
In a previous post I embedded the entire article that was reprinted in our local "news" paper. I will not refute the content of this article. I do find the 'retelling' of an ugly truth, regardless of its truthiness, reprehensible.
I am very disappointed by the matter-of-fact reporting of bigoted opinions and attitudes held by too many Kentuckians. I believe that the people who maintain such opinions and attitudes see the printing of this story as legitimization of these reprehensible values.
"Heh heh, Bubba, ya seen they printed what I said in the Noosepaper? Didja?"
I believe that small town media outlets like the one here in Owensboro Kentucky have an obligation to help heal the rifts that have divided our country for such a long time. Simply mouthing the 'truth' is a much a part of the problem as is the reality of hatred and bigotry.
I suggest that the Messenger is responsible for the content of the message and should be held accountable.
I for one will sleep better knowing . . . we have a good alternative in Mr. Barack Obama
Please help us free Dr. Biscet unjustly sentenced to 25 years in a Cuban jail by the Castro brother's fascist dictatorship in Cuba. Dr. Biscet is a recipient of the 2007 Presidential Medal of Freedom and an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience. Dr. Biscet is the founder of the Lawton Foundation, a human rights organization made illegal by dictator Fidel Castro.The Lawton Foundation peacefully promotes the defense of all Cubans through nonviolent civil disobedience. Dr. Biscet, is a follower of the Dalai Lama, Thoreau, Gandhi & Martin Luther King Jr. and wants to bring democracy and justice to Cuba. We have been there fighting for Biscet since 1999, please help us tell the world about him! Please email us at: free.biscet@gmail.comThe three R's
Open Denial: We just don't admit we live in Kentucky... (Reprinted in and copied from our local paper. Note the underlying support for political freedom and the glaring lack of social condemnation of bigotry. I guess it is freedom of the press. To me it is more like yellow journalism reporting a black and white issue.)
Many may play race card as they cast ballot
5/20/2008
By Rex W. Huppke
Chicago Tribune
MUNFORDVILLE -- Mike Rife is white, a semi-retired factory worker with a high school education and a two-foot square sign on his lawn that makes friends and neighbors flip him the finger as they drive by.
The sign reads: "Obama for President."
"I think I almost know what it feels like to be a black guy," said Rife, his voice gravelly and defiant. "I take heat every day. I got an Obama sticker on my car, and I catch hell for it."
Munfordville is the seat of Hart County, a rural swath of Kentucky farmland. Its Democrats will vote, and vote hard, for Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's primary. And if Barack Obama goes on to win the nomination, many of those Bluegrass State Democrats say they will vote against him quicker than you can say, "Race doesn't matter."
"They won't vote for a black man," Rife said of the people he has lived around all his 57 years. "That's all there is to it. They just can't bring themselves to do it."
A walk around this central Kentucky town of 1,500 supports Rife's opinion. Whether in the Dairy Queen or the dollar store or along the sidewalks of a courthouse square ringed with shuttered business, people speak freely of their dislike for the lanky senator from Illinois.
Terry Jordan, 47, who runs a year-round garage sale in front of an old filling station on Main Street, put it simply: "It's his color."
The Munfordvilles of America -- and there are many -- present a troubling reality for Obama's campaign, as his lopsided loss in neighboring West Virginia showed. These are the places where lofty talk of transcending race is dragged to earth by a weighty reality that has nothing to do with Obama's position on the federal gas tax, Clinton's tenacity on the campaign trail or even the off-putting rants of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
"Right now it's not that Hillary attracts the white vote," said Jack Bunnell, 79. "It's that Obama's black."
It's a notion the Clinton campaign has been subtly pushing, claiming that only she can secure a Democratic vote in many large, predominantly white expanses of America -- particularly in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, potential keys to the fall election.
Obama's strategists have argued that once he secures the nomination, most Democratic voters will swing his way. They set forth as evidence his strong showing among white voters in Iowa, Wisconsin and Virginia. But the demographics of those states, particularly in terms of education and income, favor Obama.
Kentucky was a border state in the Civil War. It eventually sided with the Union, but much of the populace either joined or supported the Confederacy. Munfordville was the site of a major victory for the South, one that marked a high point of the Confederacy's westward push.
Anyone thinking a black politician could come onto the national stage and simply win these Kentuckians over is being naive, residents say. And it's not, as some outsiders might believe, because the town's voters are ignorant.
"To attribute it solely to ignorance would be totally inaccurate," said Melody Chaney, a financial adviser in Munfordville and a Clinton supporter. "It's a matter of education, their upbringing and their background, peer pressure. There are lots of factors that contribute to this."
The day after Obama won the Iowa caucuses, Chaney said, every client she spoke to expressed shock.
"They couldn't believe it," she said. "I think in rural America, certainly among Democrats, the vast majority would like a white male candidate."
But not everyone. Tim Carter lives on a narrow, crescent-shaped road called National Turnpike, a block or so off Main Street, an area known as "the black part of town." He's an Obama supporter, though he knows his man stands no chance in Kentucky.
"He shouldn't even bother to fly over," said Carter, who was born and raised in Munfordville and has spent 35 of his 56 years working in a nearby factory.
He likes his town and says there's little friction between blacks like himself and whites.
"People get along pretty well," he said. "The racist end of it, that will always be here. There's black people that don't like white people, and white people that don't like black people. But there's not much trouble."
Webster Rogers, 23 and also black, said that in high school he felt welcome visiting the homes of white friends. But often he would spot Confederate flags hanging on the walls, reminders of differences that still linger.
That divide has provided fertile ground for Obama conspiracy theories. Residents opposed to Obama seem inclined to latch on to false rumors about the candidate or negative exaggerations about his views.
"I believe that he's a Muslim," said Susan Horton, 56 and white. She leaves her living room whenever Obama comes on the television. "I think that if he gets into office, there's going to be another bombing."
"He's not patriotic," said Brandy Trulock, a 21-year-old mother of two. "If you can't salute the American flag, I don't think you should be allowed to run for president."
At his never-ending garage sale, Terry Jordan sells second-hand blue jeans, ceramic tchotchkes and anything else he can get his hands on, displaying his wares on a flatbed trailer and a few rickety folding tables. He makes about $100 a week to supplement his $720 monthly disability check.
He's all Democrat, all Clinton and, if Obama wins the nomination, all for Republican John McCain. He doesn't trust Obama, has serious questions about the Muslim rumors and truly believes a black man will not survive long as president of the United States.
Jordan claims there's nothing Obama could say that would change his mind.
From the resolute tone of his voice, and the sight of the rebel flag tattoo on his left arm, there's little reason not to believe him.
Can you say "BSOD" children? I knew you could.
H/T to the Fake Steve Jobs
Cain't hear the convo-content for all the danged invites, pokes, twits, prods and promises... "@everyone would #you be #my, could #you be #my . . ."
China:国殇
Global Voices Online by
This girl teacher is only 20. In the school in Shifang where she worked, she ran time after time into the 3-story teaching building to save the best she could. While at the last time she got buried forever. 13 students were saved by her.
The story of a mom should be proper to end this article. （A rough translation)
抢救人员发现她的时候，她已经死了，是被垮塌下来的房子压死的，透过那一堆废墟的的间隙可以看到她死亡的姿势，双膝跪着， 整个上身向前匍匐着，双手扶着地 支撑着身体，有些象古人行跪拜礼，只是身体被压的变形了，看上去有些诡异。救援人员从废墟的空隙伸手进去确认了她已经死亡，又在冲着废墟喊了几声，用撬棍 在在砖头上敲了几下，里面没有任何回应
She was found dead under the collapsed house, kneeling down, creeping and leaning forward, both hands on the ground holding her body…..
经过一番努力，人们小心的把挡着她的废墟清理开，在她的身体下面躺着她的孩子，包在一个红色带黄花的小被子里，大概有3、4个月大，因为母亲身体庇护着，他毫发未伤，抱出来的时候，他还安静的睡着，他熟睡的脸让所有在场的人感到很温暖。
Suddenly, people found a 3-4 month baby under her body, wrapped in a red-yellow quilt. Because of the mother’s protecting, he remained unhurt. He was sleeping so peacefully, making all the people around warm.
随行的医生过来解开被子准备做些检查，发现有一部手机塞在被子里，医生下意识的看了下手机屏幕，发现屏幕上是一条已经写好的短信“亲爱的宝贝，如果你能活着，一定要记住我爱你”，看惯了生离死别的医生却在这一刻落泪了，手机传递着，每个看到短信的人都落泪了。
When the doctors were examining the kid, a cell phone was found inside the quilt. An already written text message appeared on the screen.
“Dear baby, if you are alive, please remember I love you.”
The baby. Her mother's gone. But isn't it herself a symbol of new life, the new life of all those suffered so much?
From Global Voices Online - BlogIraq is dead
I am sad to report the death of Ahmed the writer of the blog BlogIraq who was murdered in the Al-Mansour district of Baghdad. May he rest in peace. Iraqi bloggers are a close-knit community and we mourn the death of fellow bloggers as if it is from our own family. There is not one family in Iraq that has been untouched by the violence that gripped our country and Iraqi bloggers are no different. His friend, Mohammed Alani, who helped set up the blog, wrote on BlogIraq:
Ahmed (BlogIraq) is dead. He was killed in Baghdad on April 11th, 2008… He had an appointment that day with a guy he knew. This guy was supposed to get him some documents that prove corruption in some USAID office back in Baghdad. I don't have complete details about it. Anyway, he and the guy bringing the documents were killed at their meeting place in Mansour district in Baghdad…His brother in-law found him dead with his friend in Mansour district in one of the small streets there. Thank God his body was found, unlike many of our friends who were killed or just vanished without a trace.
When I first setup this blog for him, he gave me the admin password of his blog and I gave him the password of mine. We agreed that whoever dies first, the other should write about it in his blog. Its just my bad luck that he died first. I can only think of his 20 months old daughter. Shes about the same age as my daughter, Aya.
May God take revenge of those who killed him and orphaned his lovely daughter.
Abbas Hawazin adds: “I am feeling so much anger boiling, I tried to cry but I couldn't.”
It appears that our neighbor's son-in-law, who lives down the road, just got a new Kubota tractor/riding lawn mower. I must say that I am envious. I sure wish I had a son-in-law or two.
[WAIT! That was supposed to be a joke...a transpositional circumstance leading to a humorous observation. I don't want any sons-in-law, yet - really I don't.]
Like any red blooded yard tending Merican male I suffer from a huge slight case of ... yeah, you got it ... tractor envy. Most of my longing stems from the fact that my old-n-busted riding mower is still stone cold from last winter. Dead on it slowly deflating tires. So let me tell you a story . . .
Long ago in a corner of the county, far, far away . . .
We bought the Flying Pig Ranch 10+ years ago. When we took possession we were the proud owners of a 1.5 acre clean shaven hillside with the house toward the top. Stretching our before us was reclaimed pasture with all the character of a municipal golf course. You know the ones where you cannot tell one fairway from the next, just a big empty expanse.
For the first couple of years I mowed the entire thing with the exception of the "tall grass". This was a designated section specifically allowed to overgrow as an anti-erosion measure. Once a week I fired up the then new riding mower and burned an afternoon maintaining the barren open field of ... well this didn't even warrant a daydream.
After about the third season of this dutiful ritual I became weary of dealing with the diagonal scar in my expansive fairway that was left when the main run to the leach field had not been adequately back filled. Before I started mowing on that particular Saturday I took the hand mower and outlined a the figure of a snake that twisted around the length of the scar. My "grass snake" would cover the scar and I would have an interesting object-duh-artee in my front yard.
I often wonder(ed) if passing pilots could distinguish my 240 foot long handy work from the air. I am relatively sure the neighbors thought/knew I was a brick shy of a load, a bottle short of a six-pack, crazy or just a burned out hippy. Regardless, the then small children loved the prospect of something, anything in their empty field front yard. They found great joy in running down one side of the grass snake and up the other.
To make an already long story even longer gas prices rose, children grew up, small trees (small greens spots) got planted and old men get lazy(ier). I stopped mowing larger (dark green) sections of the yard. I told myself that just having these pathways were even more engaging than just the yard art.
All of that brings me back to tractor envy. Certainly in the earliest days of scalping the entire "lawn" the riding mower was essential. But today with gas prices as they are and the economy as it is I just couldn't bring myself to invest (yet) in bringing the riding mower back online.
So I took a long hard look at the push mower. "Nah, I got to be nuts to consider pushing that thing all over, up and down the hill. For what?!?!" So that first nice weekend I ignored the mower in favor of my other outdoor activity - jogging. The year before I had set a goal for myself. By the end of that summer I would be able to jog/run 1 mile. You can only imagine how pleased I was to end that season being able to do 3 miles continuously. This year that first 5K might just be within my sights.
The second nice weekend prompted me to revisit the lawn mowing issue again. "OK, ok, I will at least get the push mower running and see what my choices are. Sheeeeesh, gimme a break!" So I fired it up. I started down hill along the long fence line by the drive. "Hey, this isn't so bad." By the time I made it back up the edge of the drive I was huffing and puffing as though I had just done a mile at full speed.
Now any sane man would have made a bee line for the John Deere dealer and spent his economic incentive check on a new shiney 'nothing runs like a Deere' mower and been sensible. Evidently I am a quart low on sensibility and I have already established my level of sanity. As I was straining my hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, back, thighs, knees, ankles and feet I had heatstroke ... heartattack ... an epiphony!
Pushing the hand mower up and down the hill for 2 hours was giving me a priceless, comprehensive full body work out. Plus my lawn was getting mowed. Plus I wasn't spending money on gas to haul my overweight carcass around while doing it. In fact my carcass wasn't so overweight for the benefit of pushing the mower.
So sure I will have bouts of tractor envy. I will, upon occasion, covet my neighbor's Kubota. But I will take pride in a well mowed lawn knowing that I am a better man for it. As for the sons-in-law the girls will have to work out the specifics. There is very little a father has to say about such things these days anyway.
Go forth and mow...and multiply.
- Papa
[Updated: See link at the bottom.]
LMNO open OLPC!
Negroponte has had nothing but trouble and push-back throughout the entire process of bringing OLPC into fruition. I have to wonder just how deep the tendrils of monied interests extend into the slippery innards of those troubles and push-backs.As we reported last month, Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) effort has had rocky times recently. The company has just announced a partnership with Microsoft to put Windows on OLPC laptops, although Linux-based open source versions of the sub-$200 laptops will stay in production. The laptops are targeted at children in developing nations. Recently, several key executives have left the project, including former president Walter Bender. Questions swirled about Bender's reasons for leaving OLPC, but now, in a surprise twist, he has resurfaced. Bender has announced Sugar Labs, a new foundation focused on taking the Sugar user interface in the OLPC laptops to other hardware platforms.
I am going to spend my vacation with Ted.
In the past I have had the luxury of vacationing by visiting with a group of very significant people. Artists, Theologians, Psychologists, Intellectuals, Philosophers, and Social Activists comprise a very challenging and stimulating non-work experience. Unfortunately this vacation my commitments locally prevent me from travel.
So I am staying home to spend time with Ted. I am going to let Ted challenge and stimulate me.
Here, let me introduce you to Ted.
I wish I could take any credit for this 'cause it is sooooo good ... but I cannot. I ripped it from . . .
ORDER OF SERVICE
Trinity United Church of Christ
Chicago, IL
Processional
Family is led in by 20 year-old Emina Bicakcic of Bosnia carrying flowers
Musical Selection
"I Don't Feel No Ways Tired"
Family Prayer
Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright
Prelude Music
Elton John "The Bitch Is Dead"
Invocation
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan
Musical Tribute
President Bill Clinton on the Saxophone
Tribute
Maya Angelou
Speaker
Andrew R. Young
Remarks
Bob Johnson
Geraldine Ferraro
Magic Johnson
Monica Lewinsky
Maryann Pernold
Musical Selection
President Bill Clinton on Saxophone w/Daughter Chelsea Clinton
"Didn't We Almost Have It All"
Reading
Toni Morrison "Almost the first Black female President"
Benediction
Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright
Musical Selection
50 Cent ""I Get Money"
Offering
(Someone's got to pay for the service)
Pallbearers
(With her to the very end...)
Rep. Alcee Hastings
Rep. Charles Rangel
Rep. Corrine Brown
Rep. David Scott
Rep. Dianne Watson
Rep. Donna Christian-Christensen
Rep. Edolphus Towns
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver
Rep. Gregory Meeks
Rep. Kendrick Meek
Rep. Laura Richardson
Rep. Maxine Waters
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones
Rep. Yvette Clarke
Honorary Pallbearers
President G.W. Bush
Gov. Bill Richardson
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
Sen. Barack Obama
Sen. John Edwards
Sen. John McCain
Gov. Howard Dean
Rep. Ron Paul
Gov. Mike Huckabee
Mitt Romney
Sen. Joe Biden
Sen. Christopher Dodd
Sen. Mike Gravel
Gov. Tom Vilsak
Rudy Giuliani
Sen. Sam Brownback
Gov. Jim Gilmore
Rep. Duncan Hunter
Rep. Tom Tancredo
Sen. Fred Thompson
Gov. Tommy Thompson
Alan Keyes
Rep. Cynthia McKinney
Gov. Howard Dean
Observation: Hillary Clinton cannot leave the race when there is even the remotest chance she could become the "default" nominee of the Democrat party.
If Hillary dropped out now _and_ Barack Obama just happened to be "hit by a bus" who would be the party's candidate of choice? I think Michelle would make a great first woman president. (Much to Hillary's chagrin!)
Hillary is making the "Hail Mary" play for the Democratic nomination. One can only assume that she is either hoping Obama commits some sort of political suicide _or_ succumbs to some tragic accident.
Hillary has to call this last disparate play. She knows that if she doesn't acquire the nomination, by hook or by crook, then her power career will be over. Certainly she will be re-elected to represent the state of New York but her power will slip away when everyone she meets remembers her as a loser. And a poor loser at that.
<raspyandyrooneyvoice>Dija'eva notice that just as work-responsibilities rise personal interest activities increase and at the same time you end up fighting a cold?</raspyvoice>
The work thing is looking more and more like Programmer-WebMaster-DatabaseAdministrator (PWMDBA). That is in addition to our regularly scheduled Manager of Information Systems (MIS) responsibilities. Then there is Assistant Director (AD) for Cell - a production for the International Mystery Writers Festival (IMWF).
Last but not least, 7 full days fighting the rhino sitting on my nose - I fully expect at least a couple more too.
Once the stormy seas of this season settle then I will offer my "Why Linux?" in response to Shawn Power]s recent Linux Journal article. I even have some intentions of following up Winston Rand's "Why I Blog" observations with some of my own sterling insights - if I could just focus through this Sudafed induced haze.
BrightKite
