Guilty until proven innocent in China

"'I want those officials involved in my conviction punished,' he was quoted as saying."

Don't hold your breath, Xianglin.

Work Report

Just delivering notices again (as last week), but that could change any day. Delivery duty is like having a day off with pay--you get paid to drive around for several hours, listen to the radio, buy a cold drink now and then, and so forth. Did have one slightly close call with a dog today, some kind of big bulldog (not a pit). Tried to jump a fence, but fortunately could only get his head over. I hope the delinquents can find their notice on their mailbox post, because I couldn't stick it on their gate.

There is more reading I would like to do but I am getting tired.

Oh, by the way, Kim du Toit hates DST too.

Central American drug smuggling gang plans U.S. invasion...

Gang will target Minuteman vigil on Mexico border.

Big stink in the Great White North, eh?

There's a big scandal a-brewin' up Canada way, and now I'm apparenty at risk of being prosecuted by the Canadian government for linking to this article. Heh.

tnx to The American Princess

What the...?

An unusually pro-self-defense story in the New York Times: Shootings Fuel a Drive to Ease Gun Laws.

tnx to Alphecca

Adventures in computer shopping

I recently got a new computer, and although it isn't top-o-da-line anymore, it still does everything I wanted it to, and probably a few things I haven't even tried yet (for example, I didn't necessarily need a DVD burner, but hey). It was somewhat difficult to find such a machine, for one simple reason: it had to have USB ports as well as a parallel port. I have a perfectly good flatbed scanner which needs a parallel port, and I screwed up with my last machine and got one that was USB only, so for the past several years I have had an old computer taking up space just so I could occasionally use the scanner.

Where did this special computer come from? I hate to say it, but it was the Walmart website. CompUSA had an IBM Thinkpad that fit the bill, but by the time the funds became available, they were all gone. So I was stuck with Walmart.

Here's a list of computers I have owned, not counting a couple that I purchased really cheap because they were obsolete and were dedicated solely to ham radio purposes (all of which I no longer possess).

Circa 1990: a laptop. First computer was a laptop, and I don't remember the maker anymore. Purchased from a mail-order place called DAK. It had a 640x480 blue "supertwist" LCD screen, no hard drive, dual 3.5" (double density--720K) floppies, and an output for a CGA monitor, which I bought along with it. It did have a mouse. It was an 8088 with an 8 MHz processor. I still remember the blurb in the catalog, which went something like, "burn through applications at a blazing 8 MHz!!!" Primary purposes were running Wordstar and playing Ultima V and another game in which I raced greyhounds (very low-tech graphics--the hounds were just dots on the screen). Cost was around $700 for the computer and around $200 for the monitor.

1993 or so: Leading Edge 486SLC, 25MHz processor, 4 meg RAM, 120 meg hard drive. Had Windows 3.1. Cost of machine plus a VGA monitor was around $1,400. I can't imagine paying that much for a computer anymore. Came without a modem. Bought a cheap obsolete 2400 baud modem at a swapmeet ($5), later upgraded to 14400 and added a sound card system with a CD-ROM drive. Started logging into local BBS's with a terminal program (Comit for DOS). First accessed the Internet in 1994 with the 2400 baud modem via a service called Novalink. First used the WWW with same old 2400 modem, using NCSA Mosaic and Win32s. In 1995 first had real, unlimited access to the Internet via Netcom, using their Netcruiser software (Google Groups--orignally Deja News--has my earliest usenet post archived, the date was April 20, 1995). Played a few neat games, used Wordstar a lot, and started using it for ham radio stuff. Kept using for ham radio after buying next computer.

Several years later: Hewlett Packard 60 MHz Pentium with 480 meg hard drive and 8 megs RAM. Later upgraded to 40 megs RAM and added an extra 1.5 gig hard drive. Came with 14400 baud modem, later upgraded to 28800. Also came with Windows 3.11, later upgraded to Win98 (never used 95). Bogged down really bad with Win98, but I persevered for a few more years. Cost of computer and a new VGA monitor, around $1,200.

Around 2000: AST 500 MHz Pentium III with 64 megs RAM and 40 gig hard drive. This is the machine I am typing on right now and I do not intend for it to become a relic just yet. The Leading Edge went on the shelf, the old monitor went to the HP, and the newer (but not new) monitor went to this computer. Cost of this machine (came without monitor, but having 2 VGA monitors already, I didn't really need one), $500. That's more like it. This is the machine that has nothing but USB ports. It also doesn't have a floppy drive of any sort, which at the time seemed odd but is now the norm. I guess it was ahead of its time. This one was later upgraded with an external CD burner. But upon purchase of this I swore I would never go into the guts of a computer again. Came with Win98SE, remains with Win98SE, and will always be so until it is dead.

Last week: the brand name is Balance, I don't know much about it but I took a chance and so far it's working just fine. Notebook with 1.5 GHz Intel Celeron processor, 256 meg RAM and 40 gig hard drive. I would have liked a bigger HD but then I've never come close to filling up the 40 gigger on my desktop so I'm not really worried about it. It looks like upgrading the RAM is pretty easy, so I might do that sometime, since I wouldn't really be having to open up the machine itself, just a panel on the bottom. Cost of this machine, plus 128 meg DiskGo! flash drive (I shoulda got a bigger flash drive), plus tax and shipping, $779. More on this machine as I play around with it. Oh yeah, this one has WinXP (I never used 2000 or ME).

Update: I thought I would add that the first computer I ever used was an Apple IIe in 1982 or so. For some reason my high school purchased one and put it in an empty classroom, then informed several of the more tech-oriented students they could go play with it during free time. Most of our time was spent playing Little Brick Out, but some of us did play around with BASIC programming.

Of Arms and the Law: 1789 Senate action on right to arms

A good article from Of Arms and the Law, which just got added to the blogroll.

Gun control's best friend - PittsburghLIVE.com

Amnesty International thinks that mass genocide is better than self-defense.

Viscious Attack on PG&E Meter Reader Serves as Stark Reminder Of Dog Owners' Responsibilities

Note this quote:

"The meter reader was reading a meter as three dogs in the neighboring backyard jumped up against the fence, knocking it down."

They conclude with a list of things that people can do to make it safer for their meter readers. For some reason, they didn't list the obvious: MAKE SURE YOUR &^%$#@! FENCE CAN HOLD IN YOUR DOGS!!!

The most dangerous dog encounter I've had so far was with a pit bull, whose property I didn't even enter (read the meter from a vacant lot next door from about 40 feet away), busted out under their rickety gate and harrassed me for two blocks. I kept looking for something to throw at it, and finally it was driven away by another customer. It followed me onto her property and while it was trying to get at me again, she sucker-punched it with a roll of garden hose from the safety of her porch. Several people in the neighborhood spoke with me afterward, complaining that they as well are often harrassed by this dog. The animal control folks were called in. I don't know if it did any good.

Keep your passwords safe

Password Safe 2.03, downloadable from Castle Cops, is another tool that I consider pretty much essential, and it's free. The Password Safe home site is sourceforge.net but I am having problems accessing them at this moment. The newest version at sourceforge is 2.09. Version 2.03 is available from Castle Cops.

Oh yeah, what is it? It's a small application that provides an encrypted database in which you keep all your passwords (and usernames, by the way). You only need to remember one password: the one that opens the Password Safe database. It will even generate random passwords for you, using a combination of upper- and lower-case letters and numbers. It sure beats keeping everything in a notebook.

The Dreaded DST

A Short History of Daylight Saving Time at Snopes explains some advantages of DST, but I still don't like it. It messes with my sleeping, for one thing. The worst thing about it is that now it will still be dark when I start work. This means I will have to wait for 8:00 AM or so to begin reading meters. If the day is cloudy, there may not be enough light to read them from a distance until 8:30 or even 9:00. And you will be reading them from a distance. Having full daylight at 7:30 in the morning (or earlier) is a huge advantage for a meter reader.

Pat Sajak - Sajak Says...

Pat Sajak - Sajak Says..."Arguing with Liberals and Why I've Stopped"

Check this out, a very cool website from the man himself, with lots of articles archived.

Seymour Hersh Interview | David Barsamian | April 2005 Issue

"Born in Chicago, Hersh began his career in 1959 as a police reporter for the City News Bureau. He later worked for UPI, AP, and The New York Times. Since 1993, he's been at The New Yorker. His piece on neocon stalwart Richard Perle, "Lunch with the Chairman," provoked Perle to call him the "closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist." Perle threatened to sue him for libel but later backed off. Recently, Max Boot, another neocon favorite, called him "the journalistic equivalent of Oliver Stone: a hard-left zealot who subscribes to the old counterculture conceit that a deep, dark conspiracy is running the U.S. government." For Hersh, their criticism is a sign he's doing his job."

Or maybe it's just a sign that he's an annoying twerp.

"I can't tell you whether they are technically breaking the law, but basically, the American government has been hijacked by neoconservatives."

Who were all elected by their respective constituencies.

"Bush certainly sees himself as having been given an endorsement."

He was elected, right?

"He was asked about accountability in an interview, about why Rumsfeld, Rice, and Wolfowitz have been promoted, these people who led us into the debacle in Iraq. Bush said there was accountability--it was the election. So there we are."

Ah.

"I'm worried about people who say Bush is lying. It's much more frightening that he's not lying, that he believes what he believes: that it's his mission to change the Middle East into a democracy. That's more unnerving."

God forbid we should get one honest politician in my lifetime.

"We'd be better off if the whole purpose of the adventure in Iraq was, say, to protect Israel or to protect the flow of oil to America and keep it at a reasonable price and try to get some more control."

Or, "I can understand if he's a dirty rotten money-grubber who just wants cheap gas, but he actually wants to bring democracy to the Middle East! That's crazy!"

"Q: What will it take for a majority of Americans to say no more torture, stop the war in Iraq?

Hersh: You're missing the point. It doesn't matter what a majority of Americans say."

I think it has already been said.

For more comments that are much more well-thought-out and eloquent than I am capable of, check out this article at Countercolumn.

Link removed

Visicom Media has discontinued its freeware version of AceHTML, therefore I have removed them from the "Links" section. They still offer a freeware version of AceFTP. Fortunately, I have a lot of installation files backed up on CD, just in case something like this happens. The new version is not always better (and in this case, the new version must be paid for).

Ratdog runs amok

I am employed as a meter reader, and let me tell you, this is no joke. Ratdogs have attempted to bite me more often than any other larger dog. A Rottweiler can be dealt with; after all, they are too big to hide inside the hollow of a cinder block, and are easy to spot. They can be felt out easily, they can sometimes be worked around. These little rat b------s will go into such an apoplectic frenzy that they will throw themselves through the holes of a chain-link fence. They also exist mostly in large packs. I mean, think about it, the food that it takes to feed a Rott or Pit Bull (excuse me--American Staffordshire Terrier) can feed a dozen of these little suckers for a year. People who own them, own them in lots. They also have the fecundity of an oversexed rabbit. By all of which I mean, they rarely operate solo like this one apparently did. Fortunately, they are too short to reach over the top of my boots, and too stupid to figure out how to jump when they bite. So I usually just wade through them all, leaving a horde of screaming ratdogs with nothing but the taste of mud and leather in their mouths.

All that said, I must add that these mailmen were wimps if they couldn't deal with one scrawny Chihuahua.

I'm a French Guard?!

There should have been more questions. I thought I was more of a Brave Sir Robin.

Which Monty Python & the Holy Grail Character are you REALLY?
brought to you by Quizilla

tnx to Fun Turns to Tragedy!!!

The first Sunday after the first...yeah, yeah, I know...

On what date have Christians celebrated Easter:

"The Encyclopedia Britannica states: 'There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament or in the writings of the apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians.'"

Here's a short but interesting article on various ways that Easter has been calculated throughout the centuries.

By the way, here's a neat Excel formula for calculating the date of Easter (western Christian tradition). I picked this up from J-Walk a while back.

=DOLLAR(("4/"&A1)/7+MOD(19*MOD(A1,19)-7,30)*14%,)*7-6

I was born on Palm Sunday in 1964, and I had always been curious if my birthday would ever fall on Palm Sunday again. Using this formula, I found that the next time it happens will be 2054, so I will have to live to be 90 years old to see it. That would be cool.

Hymns

link deleted

Block this!

A great comment over at Resistance is futile!:

"Typical liberal moonbat pap; they'd rather be 'aware' of a problem than actually do anything about it. People are starving? Let's record a pop album! That's much better than overthrowing the fascist regimes that control the food supply and allow millions to starve! People are dying of AIDS? Let's all wear ribbons! That will stop the problem faster than teaching people to be responsible about sex. So what to do about FoxNews? Let's sell a redundant device that no one needs to raise awareness, rather than encourage CNN and the other FoxNews competiors to improve their quality, thereby lowering the people's demand for 'Fair and Balanced' programming. Yes siree, Bob, that will do it!"

Read the whole thing. Just once I'd like to somehow understand why liberals think the way they do, like this guy with his channel blocker. I find it especially dumbfounding because any cable service there is allows selective lockout of any channels you wish for no extra charge. Oh, I get it. He's not really a liberal, he's just a plain ol' capitalist, out to make a buck. Now I understand.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...

I will never buy Diamond brand strike on box large kitchen matches ever again. I bought a case of these a while back (yeah, I know, that's 1,500 matches, but at least I wasn't buying 30,000 paper matches). They do not strike reliably and are dangerously prone to snapping off during a strike, which causes a flaring match head to fly into ones clothing. I like to use matches to light my pipe when at home, and the best matches, in my opinion, are Ohio Blue Tips (the strike anywhere kind). These are apparently available locally only at your friendly neighborhood H.E.B.

H.E.B. is also, by the way, the only place I have found (other than ordering it online) that sells Sontava habanero sauce. This is my favorite general-purpose hot sauce. Be sure and get the XXX version, the XX isn't hot enough.