The General State of Things
Observations on the general state, requiem for a glass-house. Anything from anywhere, but what's the now rather than later...
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Use for demos, sales, onsite. There’s an assortment of machine configurations, direct access through leased IPs, and base OS’s just waiting to be tapped for whatever purpose. Machines stay active or can be revived from a snapshot taken after configuration. Pro version is free in beta right now, take advantage while you can – up to six machine images simultaneously and networked together, plenty of disk and RAM.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Patriot Day?
UScode.house.gov - The Bane of Modern Law
So don't get me wrong, but how is it that it took until 2002 to declare a "patriot" day? This does not discount or is in any way meant to take away from the amazing and courageous people, both who lived and died on the day of infamy in 2001 - it's just that I can expect that throughout the limited history of this country there have certainly been other substantial and amazing heroes, acts of valor, courage and heroism, and surely there have been more souls in raw numbers sacrificing their lives at one time (D-Day for example); so is this realistic or just another day of so-called patriotic recognition days that have been so emphasized lately - meaning, in the last decade specifically?
First, the site this is taken from is the US Code website - and it contains the codes created or updated by our somewhat inept and ineffective congressional shleps (those laws which are decided by high courts of the land, rectified, codified, and of course purport to be supplementary to the Constitution). This code database has some interesting things about it, but mostly is a good way to fall asleep when you have rabid insomnia - should you actually attempt to read the things. There is a moderately reasonable search facility which is the saving grace - save for that you have the time and patience to use this to search terms or suggested terms.
Second, this site is disturbing. In recording all the laws of the previous decade, it offers a window into how our dear old elected officials spend quality time. This, as opposed to the non-quality bickering from which nothing at all productive emerges. On one hand you have the urgency of the taxpayer wanting to see progress, and on the other the catch-22 - the more productive they are, the more inane and potentiall hurtful the laws are that have been recorded in any given year. This is not to say that there are not some good laws and improvements on the watch of congress from a particular year - just, in looking through a random assortment of years, that there are far too few improvements that a) are well positioned, b) thought out, and c) don't look as if they could be manipulated to destroy our liberties wholesale.
So my inspiration for this column, as it might be, was really to take a stark look at some of the annoying, worrisome and downright strange trends in the laws of the high court of the United States. And the winner is... no, there can't be a winner - just too many entrants to sort it properly in a single lifetime. What we can show is patterns of a questionable nature, so that you too can wonder what the lesser of the two evils of slacking and making too many laws really is.
In the pole position is the number and assortment of various "patriotic holidays" as they have now been formally defined - for in 2002 this was the list of officially recognized days, weeks, and rememberances:
101. American Heart Month.
102. Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.
103. Cancer Control Month.
104. Carl Garner Federal Lands Cleanup Day.
105. Child Health Day.
106. Citizenship Day.
107. Columbus Day.
108. Constitution Week.
109. Father's Day.
110. Flag Day.
111. Gold Star Mother's Day.
112. Honor America Days.
113. Law Day, U.S.A.
114. Leif Erikson Day.
115. Loyalty Day.
116. Memorial Day.
117. Mother's Day.
118. National Aviation Day.
119. National Day of Prayer.
120. National Defense Transportation Day.
121. National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
122. National Flag Week.
123. National Forest Products Week.
124. National Freedom Day.
125. National Grandparents Day.
126. National Hispanic Heritage Month.
127. National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day.
128. National Maritime Day.
129. National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
130. National Poison Prevention Week.
131. National Safe Boating Week.
132. National School Lunch Week.
133. National Transportation Week.
134. Pan American Aviation Day.
135. Parents' Day.
136. Peace Officers Memorial Day.
137. Police Week.
138. Save Your Vision Week.
139. Steelmark Month.
140. Stephen Foster Memorial Day.
141. Thomas Jefferson's birthday.
142. White Cane Safety Day.
143. Wright Brothers Day.
144. Patriot Day.
[edit]Defunct observances
- Baltic Freedom Day (June 14) (1982-1992)
- National Catfish Day (June 25) (1987)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The best free open source software for Mac OS X?
The best free open source software for Mac OS X by InfoWorld
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Helping those in need
Open auto shop customization - teaching kids to fabricate everything, but focusing on old cars and race cars, and focusing on a trade. A charity like this would make sure that if someone followed through on their project, while helping others on their own, would get the restored car full title and license once it's done. Too little is being made of having a trade, and personally, we've all gotten a little lazy from not having to make our own stuff - myself included.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Quotes OTD
The basis of optimism is sheer terror. - Oscar Wilde
Sunday, September 20, 2009
To the point...
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Here, a milion dollars have some use, but it's not nearly enough...
The United State military troops on the ground. That must buy a few more sheets of armor, and no matter what anyone thinks about the Iraq debacle, we learned one thing from the 1960's - the people who protect us in the end no matter what the circumstances still deserve our deepest respect, and they don't deserve to die in any fools paradise for that respect. The blue collar guys doing the actual dying, don't usually have politics on their mind when the zing of a .223 round pops about two inches from their head.
I get my news from cereal boxes... and I like it.
I really need *something* to read during breakfast... when I actually have time to have breakfast...
Spanking self-righteous a$$e$ would set this country straight
a good stern hard spanking. How did we let our rights be surpassed by our privileges, and our privileges determine morality in the sense that some with power are empowered to take advantage of each and every situation to others detriment. While those with responsibility do knowingly and willingly put investments and monies at risk for greater glory, they become more self righteous and untouchable hurting real people than the thousands of prisoners we have in our jails who are there for the "victimless" crimes such as non-violent drug offenses, in which no-one was hurt or affected but the incarcerated. Truly we know this - there are no "victimless" white-collar crimes - and sometimes one must truly live through a lesson to be intelligent and diligent enough to 1) not repeat it, and 2) educate offspring and younger generations to do the same.
Songs that defy the general respect of all that is holy about music
There are more little fragments that I wish I could delete... so hard to pick three...
Breakfast At Tiffany's by Deep Blue Something
I love music, really do. All music. Except for that slop that kind of rolls around the bottom of the bucket and you wouldn't mind pissing in that bucket if you have to, no harm done.
Stuck in an elevator with Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
All kinds of genre's, all kinds of influences, style, and gracious eloquence. Interests, music, experience. Ok, it would be me asking questions, and him probably bored out of his mind... but it seems like it might surpise me.