| March 1, 2003 - March 25, 2003 | ||
|
|
||
| <<< Previous | About Photos Links Reading Archives | Next >>> |
|
NY Times article about the new technologies being used to report the war in Iraq. Everything more powerful, more flexible and cheaper than 12 years ago, but I'm wondering what their power sources are. Are those embedded reporters allowed to draw current from the military vehicles to charge their batteries?
Don't let's forget the medical corps. These brave men are rendering service to the injured on both sides:
Braille cellphone developed. I know I'm gonna hate it when somebody in line behind me at the market starts tapping away noisily. Those people are so rude!
I'm not sure why the urban legend that cell phones can spark a fire while refueling your car is news, but Wired thinks it is. They don't mention the more basic issue: why would you want to distract yourself in any way at all while pumping highly flammable fuel? I mean, cell phone conversations, prayers to god, tapdancing, all of that should be stopped while you pay attention to the task at hand. Same rules for drill presses and landing aircraft, too!
John Dvorak makes a living pissing people off, but some percentage of the time he is right (maybe less than 50%), and he is always interesting. So when he says that Apple Corp. will ditch Motorola and Switch® to Intel chips, I just want to run to the store and buy a case of salt. His only explanation for the reason is clock speed. I think someone with Dvorak's scope of knowledge would know that simple clock speed doesn't determine how fast things really run. Even if an Itanium runs twice as fast as a Motorola, would OSX run twice as fast on an Itanium? Would it run faster at all? He doesn't know, and if you know, then you're an engineer who's tested it at Apple or Motorola or Intel and you can't tell us. So there!
We covered this awhile ago on Ron's Log, but at USAToday it's news that about 7 million Americans have cell phones only (no land line phone). What I want to see discussed is the ways these people connect to the internet. How does that pie slice? Since many are young, they may be in school where they can get access via their school's set up. Presumably none of them use a dial-up connection. Can you get DSL without a phone number? The wires would still be there, so maybe. There's cable connections and some wireless connections. Ideas, anyone?
LAPD goes WiFi! A smart move would be to solicit paid subscriptions from the public for a service that provides still images of police beatings in near real-time! I know enough Los Angelenos would pay for that to make it profitable. Proceeds would go to the legal defense of the offending officers.
The Command Post, one weblog that claims to be your one source for all war news. Updated frequently.
Russia allowed forbidden military equipment to be sold to Iraq.
The U.S. has taken out the 6 GPS-jammers from Russia. Contrary to my recent assertion that Arkansas was the armpit of the nation (no offense to armpits intended), the state is just about to get its first free-standing Starbucks. The two Starbucks in Little Rock now are in a Barnes & Noble and Baptist Medical Center. Yes, I know many of you despise Starbucks, but if Starbucks is there can WiFi be far behind?
Join The Navy And See Italy! ...if you're an Iraqi sailor, that is.
This Baghdad weblog is still on-line and reporting from ground zero. Apparently they get news reports when B-52s take off from airfields in Britain. They know it takes 6 hours to reach Baghdad, so they can plan for the next heavy bombing.
The main tunnels of the Big Dig are to be called "Liberty Tunnel." Huh. I was counting on it being named for Ted Kennedy! More here.
Last week I got a couple of DVDs from Netflix, but didn't open them up until today. Broken. Both of them. Pride and Prejudice, Vol 1 is now Pride or Prejudice, while The Garden of the Finzi-Continis now has a fissure running through it. This is a first from Netflix, and they both came on the same day, so I think we can safely lay blame on our friends at USPS, who I sometimes suspect use a rubber mallet to jam my mail into my box. If you've ever intentionally broken a DVD or CD, you know how much effort it takes.
What?! Al Gore joins Apple board of directors. "'I have been particularly impressed with the new Mac OS X operating system and the company's commitment to the open source movement,' he said."
Jody Mason shows ability to learn. A great future lies ahead for us all.
While Megan McHenry, a junior at the University of Kansas, asks the sort of question we all should be asking: "we're wondering what will happen when she has to pee." Bad news you won't see on CNN: two pet chinchillas in a Quaker school for learning disabled kids were bludgeoned to death by persons unknown. Sheesh, that goes beyond the tossing-dog-into-traffic story.
In this bio of CNN anchor Aaron Brown they neglect to mention that he is profoundly mentally retarded! How do they let this guy on the air (or on the cable, I guess). Would somebody please explain to him the difference between "cavalry" and "calvary?" Then hit him with a baseball bat upside his head.
Shirley and Nick Trani had good and bad news for their frat boy son upon his graduation from college. The good news is that they spent $250,000 to buy him a Hooter's franchise. The bad news is that it will be the first Hooters in San Francisco! Poor boy.
Chris Wright writes in the Boston Phoenix about trying out for Puppetry Of The Penis in Boston. There are pictures. There are no politically correct females trying to knock him down with cardboard tubes.
 A few weeks ago I was contacted by the Metropolitan Wind Symphony asking if they could use this photo on a CD (Spanning the Century: New Works for Winds) they were going to release. I said sure, why not, just gimme credit and send me a copy of that CD. I mean, whoever heard of the Metropolitan Wind Symphony? Today I got this release to sign and was really surprised to see Peter Schickele listed on their letterhead as Composer! 
So, okay, I wouldn't mind briefly, abstractly, brushing shoulders with Schickele. (More of my Zakim Bridge photos can be seen here). A sharp-eyed attorney has noticed that I accidentally removed my e-mail address from Ron's Log. Big oops! So I've stuck it over there under my photo, and I'll lay it out for you right here: RonsLog@rbgilbert.com
Before we all get tied up in war news, here are some of those photos I promised a couple of weeks ago. Most were shot with the infrared filter in place. Click on any photo to see the full size version.
Last week an army web server was successfully attacked. The attack utilized a previously unknown vulnerability in "a Windows 2000 component used by the WebDAV protocol." Microsoft has issued a patch, but they recommend disabling WebDAV on your W2K machine, if you don't need it.
NY Times editorial says Yes to war, but then proceeds to give Bush several hard slaps across the face as they layout the list of failure after failure by his incompetent, stupid, bullheaded administration.
And in case you're hazy on the object, MP Ann Clwyd provides a very brief list of a few of the sins of the Saddam Hussein administration, including this:
"There was a machine designed for shredding plastic. Men were dropped into it and we were again made to watch. Sometimes they went in head first and died quickly. Sometimes they went in feet first and died screaming. It was horrible. I saw 30 people die like this. Their remains would be placed in plastic bags and we were told they would be used as fish food...on one occasion, I saw Qusay [President Saddam Hussein’s youngest son] personally supervise these murders." Wireless phone numbers may finally become available to 411 next year. No word here if that will allow reverse lookups.
Jody Mason's protest successfully prevents the Washington State Grange from going to war, or increasing the deficit. It's all confused.
Germantown, Wisconsin, mom drives her Econoline van over her 2-year-old son four times. He lives, and is probably okay!
Everything was dull in Naples, Florida, until Jonathon Gordon Granger stole a live lobster from the Red Lobster. Then all hell broke loose.
For those who ride NYC subways (from the Best of Craigslist New York).
Also from Craigslist is this person who offers to build a snow penis for only $100. Take a look and you'll know why that pitiful slob never got into Harvard. I think we have evidence he's never even seen an actual penis. 
For those who haven't been following along, a Harvard snow penis can be seen here. It's gonna be a trivia question someday, so here are the 30 nations that the State Department says are supporting the war in Iraq:
Talk about a "killer app!"
the government of Kuwait has announced all war related messages will be sent via GSM SMS text message going forward. The intent is clear - detailed messages from a reliable source (unless the enemy takes over the cellular operator) to inform citizens and dispel rumors. The service is free of charge to recipients. According to one distributor for Nokia phones in the region, this policy has caused a rush to buy cell phones as citizens have at least received one message clearly - If you don't have a next-generation SMS capable phone, you're just not that important. SanDisk has announced 1 Gb (and half Gb) Secure Disk memory cards for $330 (and $170).
They also announced their 4 Gb Type 1 Compact Flash card for only $1000 each (well, $999.99 actually). The Pentax Optio 330 GS can take stereo images!
First introduced on the Optio 230, the Optio 330 GS offers a unique 3D recording mode, which produces three-dimensional "stereo pairs" of images similar to old-fashioned stereographs. The camera guides you through the process of capturing two images of the same subject (with the camera shifted laterally slightly between shots) before combining them into a "stereo pair" in a single frame of image memory. A transparent display of the first image captured remains on the LCD monitor, making it easy to keep everything aligned as you move the camera over slightly to capture the second image. (Very slick, this eliminates one of the biggest problems with handheld 3D stereo photography.) A pair of 3D viewing glasses comes with the Optio 330 GS, and works whether viewing 3D images in the Parallel or Cross formats. (Parallel means you view the stereo photo with your eyes looking straight on, while Cross means that you cross your eyes to see the stereo effect. Most people seem to have an easier time with the Cross format, but the 330GS supports either method.)Available from Amazon for $350. The Vidicode Featurephone 175 has a built in CD-RW drive. The CD can hold up to 175 hours of phone conversations, plus an addressbook with 500 entries, and an answering machine with 30 different outgoing messages! The price is given as €975, so maybe it's not available in the U.S.
Felicia Haynes has a problem because at a traffic light she sat behind a car that was showing porn on its onboard TV screens. She doesn't say how her son reacted.
"We share in the pride of all Americans toward our service men and women and are offering to our customers these Easter baskets with military toys," [Wal-Mart] said in a statement.
"The 'Military Force' basket has four miniature assault rifles and a handful of other toy weapons, including hand grenades, knives and assault rifles." Presumably there's also a miniature Christ on a Cross to serve in target practice. Free market capitalism supplying peoples' basic needs is ruthlessley shut down by the jack-booted thugs of the Chicago Police. Hey, it's a porta-potty story!
We've had a couple of days of really fine weather. Yesterday it hit only 45°(F) but it was sunny and calm. I had to get out on the bike. I tried to think of a route that might be clear of slush and floods from melting snow. Nothing came to mind, so I fell back on routine and headed down to the Allston Esplanade. There were LOTS of people there! I had been there just 10 days earlier and the paths were so thick with water-on-ice that it was unnavigable by any means (except possibly hovercraft). But these crowds yesterday suggested that it had all melted much faster than I would have expected. Further investigation revealed that, no, the paths were still seriously blocked with wet ice...but runners, walkers and bikers were just proceeding along with care. I rode along the Esplanade for a bit (gingerly), then headed into Cambridge, then down towards the Charles River. The streets and sidewalks and bikepaths everywhere were crowded with people. Most runners were going about in t-shirts and shorts, no hats, no gloves, just like a warm summer day. But the Charles River Basin still had ice covering most of it. Click on the image below to see a panorama (only 36 Kb!) of the Charles River along Beacon Hill and the Backbay.
Today temperatures passed 60°(still F). Paths along the Esplanade were almost completely clear, although there was still wet ice in the underpasses. I rode to the Route 99 bridge over the Mystic River, next to the power plant. This is the first bridge upstream from the Tobin Bridge, which is itself not bikeable. Here a panorama downstream from that bridge (103 Kb). 
Rode past some of the biggest pot holes I've seen in my entire life and up Admiral's Hill, which I'd never been on before. Easy slope and quite a vista. Here's a panorama (56 Kb) of the Tobin Bridge from there. 
Continued on into East Boston. I seemed to recall hearing that the drawbridge from Chelsea into East Boston was closed, but it was open and looked fine. The sidewalk (if you need that sort of thing) on the west side (Chelsea to East Boston) is closed, but the other sidewalk is open. I haven't biked to the airport since sometime before 9/11/2001, and I had assumed they had closed the bike/pedestrian path that leads into it. But not at all! It's wide open to the Hyatt Hotel, where the water shuttle docks. Now, I can't guarantee it'll be that way in a couple of days. Standing next to the Hyatt I saw the view below, with the steeple of Old North Church poking up between the two towers of the Zakim Bridge. (Not a great photo, and that's as big as it gets, but it was all I could do with the Minolta). 
Long fascinating article on the phenomenon of "sideshows" in Oakland. Total news to me!
Check out this site (suggested by Dave; the site works in IE, but not Opera) which seems to be based on data from the BRA (that's the Boston Redevelopment Authority, pronounced "bee ar aay!"). It overlays data about streets, property lines and buildings with actual satellite photos of Boston. Even better, it's indexed on a simple street address system, not latitude & longitude. Recently, a midwestern friend and I were bitching to each other about the very sorry state of New England government websites. They suck (in a bad way)! And they seem even worse, when you go visit government sites from other parts of the country. Kansas City, Missouri, has had a great visual mapping service on their website for several years that allows you to view property and buildings. It's based on the property tax database, but didn't include satellite photos last time I looked.
For contrast, go to the Massachusetts government website. You can find anything you want, if you already know what agency has that info, and which department that agency belongs to...unless its independent. It's organized solely according to the government's structure, instead of function. I've been here 23 years, and I think you actually have to be born here and absorb the knowledge of the state government structure directly from your mother's milk. Those kids who weren't breastfed by their mothers are destined to suffer along with midwestern immigrants. Big Dig set to open March 30. Well, the northbound half anyway. Major traffic jams expected in the days leading to the opening. I wonder if they'll let pedestrians up on the old structure. It would be a great spot for some photos.
Regardless of which way they vote in the Security Council, Cameroon has already banned the drinking of urine!
Paul Krugman lays it on the line:
Need I point out that North Korea, not Iraq, is the clear and present danger? Kim Jong Il's nuclear program isn't a rumor or a forgery; it's an incipient bomb assembly line. Yet the administration insists that it's a mere "regional" crisis, and refuses even to talk to Mr. Kim. Man in Ford Escort transporting 300 pounds of marijuana cranks it up to 78 mph and encounters the local constabulary. They actually had to call in the drug-sniffing dog. So, obviously, the guy at least knew enough to refuse a search. Too bad his right foot wasn't as smart.
The second largest community college in Iowa is Des Moines Area Community College. On Thursday, its president was nailed for having 5 pounds of marijuana and 72 plants in his home. His salary was $183,750 as president. That is one helluva lotta money for a junior college in Iowa. "James Mack's body was found in the driver's seat, police said. He had no clothes below the waist. The woman's body, which was partially clothed, was in the front passenger seat under a large pile of beer cans and trash, according to police reports."
But the good news: "Two dogs were found alive in the van, police said. Animal control officers took custody of them." Complete story here. Here on the Arkansas ACLU website is a story of rather incredible homophobia and disregard for the first and fourteenth amendments by the staff of Jacksonville Junior High (a public school). We all know Arkansas has become generally regarded as the armpit of the United States (it's the only American state that has NO Adventure Cycling routes), but this displays a level of ignorance that even I find shocking. Contact information for the Jacksonville Junior High can be found on this page, and here is the website for the Pulaski County Special School District of which Jacksonville JHS is part. The e-mail address of Superintendent Dr. Don Henderson is dhenders@pcssd.org . If you look at the school's list of clubs and organizations you won't find a gay-straight alliance (no surprise there), but there is a "Multicultural Awareness Club." That sounds potentially euphemistic. I'm not sure how long the ACLU might keep it up on their site, so I'm quoting the story here:
ACLU Warns Arkansas School to Stop Persecuting Gay Student Free WiFi net being set up on Newbury Street. Wired article here. The list of access points here includes one spot way over at 150 Kneeland Street, which is in the Leather District. Is it that diner there?
This is sort of weird. I got the following e-mail today from Pallotta Teamworks! (Their website is still there, BTW.)
Subject: 2002 Breast Cancer 3-Day ResultsNow, I didn't donate to the Breast Cancer walks last year, although I did in 2001. The e-mail was sent to an address I haven't used for a couple of years. The "Return-Path:" in the header of the message was "<do_not_respond@pallotateamworks.com>" so if anyone wants to try it, there it is. The "From:" address was simply "Pallotta TeamWorks" with no real address. I picture the few remaining shreds of Pallotta Teamworks, Dan, his boyfriend, about a dozen high-priced lawyers, a few CPAs, and perhaps one or true blindly loyal fans. They're working on taxes or bankruptcy filings or civil suits when suddenly one of them gets a flash of the old Pallotta Teamworks and decides to unearth some old mailing list and send out the above message. It doesn't sound like Dan himself. Dan would never tell us to "be proud all day today." That would be much too modest. He would tell us that we had changed the world, but that now is not the time to rest on our laurels. Now that I am comfortably retired, I've started going to the branch of my gym (Beacon Hill Athletic Club) in Brookline Village, rather then the location at North Station. All the equipment is new and confusing (to me). Today was the first day when I've hit the place during the after work rush. The North Station location attracted professionals who were age 30 and up, due to its location. It was great for those doctors and attorneys commuting in from their fabulous North Shore digs to the downtown power centers. Brookline Village, OTOH, seems to attract a younger suburban crowd. definitely prettier and slimmer. The North Station location offers classes in martial arts and aerobic boxing. If you hit the locker room while those guys were there, you could almost slip in the testosterone dripping on the floor. Brookline Village, in contrast, has a flat screen TV on every treadmill.
I have been meaning to tell you about the Secret Service. I mentioned them once long ago, but didn't feel free to go into much detail. The Social Security office where I worked was a quality assurance office in the Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill federal office building next door to North Station. We shared our floor with a few other federal agencies, one of them being Treasury. Going down the hall you'd see the office for promoting Savings Bonds (boy, there's the office for brainless wonders!), and beyond them was the office for IRS Counsel. In between the two were lots of doors that remained unmarked for years. There were rumors of a Secret Service office in the building, so it didn't take many brain cells to figure which blank doors they were behind. Sometime in the last several years they decided to drop the secrecy and label their doors (and remove the obvious security camera).
Now, working in a federal building, you begin to recognize types of people who work in certain agencies. Social Security employees, for example, tend to dress pretty poorly and show advanced signs of stress and early aging. Peace Corps employees (their office was close to ours too) are young and tend to dress like they are just heading out to a Dead concert, or maybe an anti-globalization protest. It took awhile to identify the Secret Service employees. They are the very definition of discreet. The giveaway is that they never go anywhere without their weapons. So when you're in the men's room and the apparently average fed next to you bends over to wash his hands and his jacket slides forward to reveal a big ol' honkin' gun, you know you've found another Secret Service agent. They always wore either jackets or big baggy vests from the Gap. Those vests, unstylish as they were, did become the preferred Secret Service attire in the building. It was designed to hide the weapons. Whether that was an agency policy or personal preference, I never knew. But at 10:30 AM on September 11, 2001, as we harmless dull faces of the SSA bureacracy were leaving the building posthaste, the Secret Service agents dropped any attempt at discretion. No jackets; no vests. Guns were openly displayed. And it's pretty much stayed that way since. Now just shirts and slacks, with that big ol' gun right out on the hip. There's also a little protocol at the elevators that I noticed. A Secret Service agent insists on being the last one to board the elevator (and the first one off, of course). I'm assuming this is a practice to prevent them from being trapped at the back of the elevator in some sort of an attack, rather than some weird Boy Scout politeness. They handle it so discreetly, I don't think most people notice it. But that's not what I want to tell you about Secret Service agents. No. What I want to tell you is that they are the sexiest men on the earth! There isn't one less than 6 feet tall. They're solid too. Muscles of course, not fat. And hairy. Maybe the testosterone propels them into law enforcement. They're clean-shaven, but you can see the fuzz on their arms and peeking above their shirt collars. Strong, relaxed, friendly, big, all business. Wish I knew what gym they went to. In contrast to those Peace Corps guys. The Peace Corps were all friendly, of course, and very pretty. I imagined they all wanted to step into JFK Jr's shoes (well, I mean while he was alive). Stylish, slim, all of 'em. The only thing sexy about them was it seemed to popular for them to stand a few feet back from the urinal as if to show how youthful their prostates were, how large their urethras, how strong their bladder muscles as they stood, arms akimbo, hitting the porcelain with faultless accuracy. I imagined (but never tried to verify) that this was a habit developed during their work in 3rd world communities with inadequate plumbing, when you had to piss with sufficient strength to overcome the wind or to get it clear over the cliff and into the river in the gorge below. That, or they're just exhibitionists. A rather unrelated later bit of news about the Secret Service: earlier this year they said they want our space. Now, in the past, we were all just peers, whether we were Secret Service, Social Security, Peace Corps, National Park Service, or what. If Agency A wants more space, it's just got to negotiate with its peers. Homeland Security has changed all that. When Secret Service said it wanted our space, we could only say "Yessir, how soon?" The answer was very soon! My boss came over to me shortly after this news to ask me if it would have any effect on my plans to retire. This was the first she had spoken to me about my retirement since I had told her about it back in October. It confirmed the fact that I had not dreamed about our conversation then. But I had to ask her if she thought that maybe the excitement and thrill of a sudden move to a new location would motivate me to put in another year at the great SSA. If you've ever shopped at Brookline Liquor, you must have noticed this big blue door up the alley behind their entrance.
 I had, but had never given it much thought. Turns out it's Brighton Self-Storage, which has somehow managed to cram a huge warehouse building back in there. I signed up for a little space there to handle my crap while I have the condo fixed up. I have my own private sprinkler head in a little metal room. Hell, it's safer than where I live! Okay, Louis has stepped forward to be the scapegoat for all of you who failed to complain to me about my missing the Jamaica Pond photo. You're all off the hook, but you owe him one. Just remember, you have a friend in Pennsylvania. (It is Pennyslvania, isn't it, Louis?)
 Picked these up at Bread & Circus today. Wasabi peas. Check that second ingredient. "Powder?" WTF? Is that just the sweepings from the floor? That extra "u" in "Flavour" makes me pretty sure these things aren't from Austin (Bread & Circus is a Whole Foods Market) but probably from one of those Commonwealth nations where judges and other officials wear powdered wigs. Do you suppose that's the powder included here? I think an effective approach would be to take these back to Bread & Circus, complain that I can't taste the "powder" and demand my money back. I mean, when I buy genuine wasabi peas I want to experience the rich taste of peas, wasabi, and powder! The 4th Annual Hill Country Ride for AIDS, April 26 & 27, 2003. That would be in Texas. The route goes from Austin to the LBJ State Park in Stonewall, returning the next day. Potential riders who ask "Is it flat?" are immediately disqualified.
Canon is set to release the world's smallest 4 megapixel, 3x zoom camera, the Powershot S400. It's 185 grams, 87.0 x 57.0 x 27.8 mm.
Moran apologizes, apparently realizing that it was the Democrats in Congress, not "those Jews" who needed to act to change our war course. (Here's the original news item in the Post.)
After thousands of years of civilization, I'm surprised to find that plumbing in Iraq is in such a sorry state that this is what passes for a urinal there.
It seems I neglected to actually upload the panorama photo of Jamaica Pond the other day. Fixed now, BUT NOBODY COMPLAINED! What's going on here? I know people are reading this.
Also, if you're getting a scripting error, let me know. I got that off and on today, but now it seems to be gone. I don't think the problem is with me, but hey, I've been wrong before. I also fixed the missing link to yesterday's bit about Robert Iler. It still confuses many Americans that, in a world full of vicious slimeballs, we're about to bomb one that didn't attack us on 9/11 (like Osama); that isn't intercepting our planes (like North Korea); that isn't financing Al Qaeda (like Saudi Arabia); that isn't home to Osama and his lieutenants (like Pakistan); that isn't a host body for terrorists (like Iran, Lebanon and Syria).She's got a point there. Digging through some of the photos that I used to have posted at the late zing.com, I came across this possibly timely one:
New age bonding among postal inspectors. I never got any hint of such grotesque waste in Social Security. But let's look on the bright side...the post office usually works better than Amtrak.
rightwingnews.com; It's, uh, Right Wing News, and for real, I think, but with a sense of humor...which is almost as rare on the right wing as on the left.
Robert Iler ("A.J. Soprano") prefers vodka and cranberry juice, which is called a "Cape Codder" here in the Bay State.
Adam Stephens had a bad day. Not only did the police find his marijuana stash in his dorm room (he's a marijuana retailer), but after jumping out the 11th floor window in a suicide attempt, he lived to face prosecution!
Floridians are warned to be prepared for Tuesday's Air Force test of the "massive ordnance air burst," a bomb 40% heavier than the daisy cutter. Raindate is Thursday.
A handy review of "bum" wines; i.e. MD 20/20, Thunderbird, Wild Irish Rose, etc. The web brings you everything you need to know.
David Mittell of the Patriot Ledger rode some Amtrak trains, including the Acela. His report...well, we've heard this sort of report before. Great idea, sucky execution. Late trains, rude conductors, slow service, bad food.
If you're interested in a Canon G3, B & H has dropped the price to just $609.95.
Roslindale man proves he is unable to learn:
Consider the man who started his car about 8:45 a.m. on Jan. 23 outside his Roslindale home. He went back into the house, made his coffee, grabbed his briefcase, and went back out. By then, his car was gone. Police said the man called 911, and police asked him to come to the station to fill out a stolen car report. So he started his wife's BMW, went back into the house, got his paperwork in order, and grabbed his coffee. But when he went out again, the BMW was gone too. Cathy Young, a contributing editor at Reason magazine (a libertarian Republican rag), had this op-ed piece in the Globe giving her opinion of the snow penis sculpture. She says it's not a free speech issue (there's her Republican side showing), but agrees with me when she says "Indeed, in light of all this virulent anti-phallic rhetoric, I'd say that the real symbolic act of 'gendered violence' was not the construction of the snow penis but its destruction."
As I was going through some old stuff, tossing out things, I came across a copy of an article about Outriders that had appeared in Bay Windows. It's all about the P-town ride, and mentions me, so I was going to scan it, but to my amazement, the article is still up on the Bay Windows website here.
Here's a photo of Jay taken after last year's ride. 
The Pied on a damp day. 
The Pilgrim Monument on a gray day. 
My friend Andy suggested I try advertising my couch on Craigslist.org, which, I recall, was used by LifeCycle to solicit volunteers last year. So I did, and my listing there has generated a few inquiries and lots of traffic to Ron's Log (contributing to another record-breaking day of traffic)! I've got one caller that says he's coming to relieve me of the couch at 3 o'clock.
5:30 PM update: the couch is gone. Young skinny Mitch showed up with a young skinny partner and whisked that thing away in a mysterious white van driven by an Asian lady. One Mac Titanium G4 PowerBook is doing service in the "theater of operations" around Iraq. Major Shawn Weed claims the standard Panasonic Toughbook running Windows 2000 slowed to a crawl when he loaded up graphics. That obviously isn't a problem inherent to Windows, so I think the Army is just using a crappy configuration. When I used the Panasonic configurator to get specifics on models, I selected the "High Performance" models, all of which come with a Pentium 4 and 256 Mb of RAM. Now, I'm sure the Army can spec it any way they want, but if the box can handle only 256 Mb of RAM, then that would be the major's problem...and it will be the problem for anyone else who needs to have several high-res graphics loaded simultaneously. Oops. Expect to hear more horror stories of computer shortcomings after this war is over. Could Apple maybe stop all consumer shipments of truly high performance notebooks instantly and send everything they've got to our military forces around Iraq. Send the bill to Bill Gates. He can cover it, I'm sure.
An article in today's Globe about the hot real estate market in the Boston area. They do go on about how real estate prices here have not eased a bit, the reason mostly being lack of availability of developable land, and suburban communities with restrictions on lower priced (higher density) housing. According to their little chart, Boston is the 3rd most expensive metropolitan area for single-family homes, coming after San Francisco (still No. 1!) and Orange County. Metropolitan New York is in 6th place; D.C. is 9th. I like the bit where a real estate agent in Medway expressed astonishment at having a showing on Super Bowl Sunday. I found my place at an open house on Super Bowl Sunday in 1985. The sales agent then expressed her chagrin at having forgotten the Super Bowl. I hadn't even realized it was S.B. Sunday until she mentioned it.
Here, from yesterday's sojourn, a panorama of Jamaica Pond.
The Terror-o-meter. It doesn't waste your time showing you which of the 5 color levels chosen by Homeland Security.
a small wall-hung device that displays hourly readings of the world's current state of terror. It contains a small TCP/IP enabled microcontroller...which continually analyzes the current state of terror based on the key word parsing of world news feeds. Someone has, I believe, used a mondegreen in Google that led them to Ron's Log. Or maybe just a real bad spelling error. The phrase was "art facial insemination hogs." One hopes this did not come from an Iowan.
In my search for the term mondegreen I came across this page where, if you scroll down to kojak's entry, you will see he thinks the real name for the hymn is Glady The Cross I'd Bare. If it isn't one thing for kojak, it's another. BTW, traffic on Ron's Log has been up considerably this past week. I don't know if it's because people think I will finally have something to say since I'm retired now or if it's all of those people who are logging in from ssa.gov sites to read. I'm sure they're doing it on their personal time, as the rules prescribe. In any case, we have had two record-breaking days this week.
Beautiful sunny day today, after yesterday's inches of snow. I walked to the Arnold Arboretum, taking lots of photos, and then over to David & David's to see their new dog (and their old dog, too, of course). More pictures tomorrow, but we have time only for this one tonight. Kawika (did I get that right, guys?), the new dog:
Roger Ebert makes a useful distinction between "vertical" and "horizontal" prayer, throwing a few good punches at John Ashcroft as he does so.
Ricoh has introduced the Caplio G3 digital camera which features a shutter release time lag of only 0.14 seconds, making it faster than many film cameras.
A blue pool in Palm Springs at night.
I pose at the Lost Horse Mine in Joshua Tree National Park. 
Panorama of the San Jacinto mountains at Palm Springs, as viewed from East Palm Canyon near The Biltmore. 
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival April 26th and 27th. Finally, a reason to go to Indio! Discussion here says it's huge and hot (various definitions for hot).
WCVB-TV (channel 5) did a little article on the Pink Pistols a couple of days ago: "Pure constitutionalists that they are, the Pistols believe even the NRA is too soft on gun control."
Got a press release from Amtrak saying that after 2 years of keeping their head up their ass (I paraphrase, of course) they have decided to do away with the name "Acela Regional," which is what they called just regular trains in the Northeast Corridor. It diluted the name recognition of "Acela Express" for which they had paid so many billions. The effective date will be March 17, but they confess it might take longer to put the change in place 100%. Here is a summary of the levels of service:
Back on February 24 I linked to some stories about the construction and destruction of an ice (some say snow) penis on the Harvard campus. Last Wednesday the Crimson published a photo (finally!).
Or just take a gander here (it gets bigger if you click it). 
The Ride, the magazine of "East Coast Bike Culture," has published an article on Pallotta and the AIDS Rides. This is a bit unusual, since the bike press has never given much coverage to the AIDS Rides.
Praise for Garrison Keillor from (of all people) Dave Barry.
Thomas Friedman in the NY Times describes Bush's political strategy regarding Iraq...
as if the president is presenting us with a beautiful carved mahogany table — a big, bold, gutsy vision. But if you look underneath, you discover that this table has only one leg. His bold vision on Iraq is not supported by boldness in other areas. And so I am terribly worried that Mr. Bush has told us the right thing to do, but won't be able to do it right. It is perhaps churlish to link to an article about a few dedicated people who have seen the light...
Some of the peace activists who went to Iraq to serve as human shields in the event of war returned home, fearing for their safety.What surprised me in this article was that they actually drove all the way from London to Baghdad in double-decker buses! Wow! I would've joined in just for the novelty of that kind of journey. Think of the logistical hassles and the photo ops and the crushing boredom of some parts of the trip. More details of the trip here. I really liked this: a £500 donation from a well-wisher in Istanbul was squandered on boxes of Prozac in a misguided attempt to cheer up the war-weary Iraqi civilians. We were reading this column until we hit the phrase "problematizes his credibility." Sometimes grammatical sins (and grotesque misspellings) pile up to the point where we hit the big buzzer and say "This guy might have the greatest ideas ever, but his brain has lost its language abilities. Too bad. We quit."3
Court decision on Paxil means a generic version may hit the market sooner than 2006. Good news for those who like to eat that particular SSRI.
The Cannondale is gone. Sorry! But that's not the end of the giveaways. See, I've got this here couch, which can be yours free! You just need to come and pick it up. Follow this link or click the photo for more details and more photos.
 Let me know if you want it. The first blue laser DVD burner will come on the market next month. From Sony, it will cost about $3800. A blank disc goes for about $30. A single disc holds 23 Gb, five times as much as a standard DVD. The Sony will also be able to play red laser DVD-R and DVD-RW formats.
Kodak has introduced a new digital camera which is one of the very first consumer products to feature an OLED, that is Organic Light Emitting Diode. Users will "get a bright, clear view of the image at virtually any angle," they say.
Ricoh is introducing a new digital camera with built-in GPS. The latitude and longitude of the location can be saved with each photo! This could be fabulous for those who come home from a trip and can't recall where the hell they took this or that shot.
Back on December 26, 2002, I referred you to an article about Dan Pallotta and the AIDS Rides published in The Advocate. I trust you've all gone out and bought copies, if you wanted to read it. Now I've scanned it, so you can read it here.
Outriders organizing meeting tonight for the P-town ride was at Cafe Nicholas (I got the spelling wrong earlier). The usual discussion, but the only real changes made so far are: the fee will go up $10 to $55 (the first major increase in an eternity); and the Sunday brunch will be at 1:00 PM, rather than 11:00 AM. The next meeting will be Sunday, Apriil 13, 12:30 PM at Amrhein's!
At the meeting tonight was Vince Apruzzese of Behemoth Media who is making a documentary on the P-town ride to be ready in time for the 20th anniversary ride in 2004. I dropped in at the Museum School yesterday and spotted graffiti in the men's room that was, presumably, done by real artists (or students, at least). You can see it here. There are 3 photos. Be warned that they are like most men's room graffiti, but drawn better.
I've gotten an offer to take the Cannondale, but it's still taking up space in my living room. First come, first served.
Daypop News Bursts. Like Word Bursts, but drawn from news sites only.
News and Confession
I have never mentioned my connection to SSA for two reasons. One is that they were my employer, and while my job was much more secure than some other webloggers who have made the poor decision to mouth-off about their current (now former) employers, it could have created an impression of a conflict of interest or possibly even a violation of privacy if I spewed details about the workplace. The second reason has been my full awareness and shame at my incredible hypocrisy claiming to be a libertarian while working deep in the bowels of the largest tax-consuming agency in the federal government. I'd been in SSA for 26 years + 1 day. I discovered the Libertarian Party after I'd been with SSA for a couple of years. Didn't read Ayn Rand until 1980 or '81. By then I was deep into my dependence on that regular (and generous) paycheck. I have only a BA in English and thought (quite correctly, I'm sure) that I couldn't find any better paying job with that kind of a degree. The hypocrisy chewed away at me, but it was the increasingly demoralizing working conditions that really got to me. SSA went from 80-some thousand employees in the '80s, to about 63,000 today. There were no layoffs. They just didn't replace people who left. So those who had good job skills and could find employment elsewhere left, and those who were old enough to retire, who had knowledge of SSA going back over the decades, left too. The young and the lame (with BA degrees) stayed. Then a few years ago they began offering early-out retirements. Anyone with 25 years of service at any age could take their pension and walk. The brighter people saw the writing on the wall first, leaving the place even duller. A year ago I became eligible for early-out, but I didn't take it because the pension isn't big enough to actually live on. During this past year, things have gotten worse. If there were any bright, intelligent, skilled people in my office who could actually make any difference in the agency, well, they were hiding their lamp under a bushel. In other words, everyone who's left now is either a dullard or actively ignored by upper levels of the administration. The trust funds, I assure you with total honesty, are safe and secure. As safe and secure as your faith in 535 members of Congress and 1 President. That is the total sum of it. Congress can raise and lower taxes, increase or cut benefits. That is all that keeps the trust funds secure. It's your ability to get your share of the trust funds, your ability to apply for a retirement or disability check, your ability to get your Social Security questions answered that's falling apart. They've got fewer people who are handling more tasks, but are less trained for any of them. Hold times for Teleservice (the people you get when you call the phone number in the phone book) can easily be a half hour or longer. And I assure you, it's a toss of the coin whether you will get a courteous and fully helpful answer when you do get through to them. I just couldn't stand it anymore. When they announced early-outs last fall (about the time I was getting my Androgel) I went to my boss and said yes, I will be taking that. A reasonable manager would have done something to make sure I passed on all necessary info about my job to someone else in the office. No, she just said she didn't want me sitting there doing nothing until the day I left. When I picked a firm date for departure 3 weeks ago, I told my boss. She insulted me and didn't speak to me for a week. Finally, about 10 days ago she came to me and said the Team Leaders were wanting me to show them all the aspects of my job so that they could carry on. I sketched a few things in for them, but 10 days is a bit tight to teach someone everything they need to know about an obsolete DOS-based database system, or to teach them HTML from the ground up. I'll have more to say about my life in Social Security, but I have to go out and enjoy retirement right now. Comments & questions welcome. If this new background color looks like crap on your monitor, do let me know. It's under evaluation now.
Hey, anybody want a bike?
 I'm giving away this Cannondale T600. I've called Bikes Not Bombs and they'll take it, but their storage space is full right now, so it's going to be 4 to 6 weeks before they can take it. So if you want it, speak up before then. It's a 1989 touring model that I bought in 1990 and rode to Kansas City in 1991. I'm 6'1" with a 34 inch inseam and the bike has always been just a teensy weensy bit too small for me. Rides great loaded; bit harsh when empty. The racks come with it, but not the panniers. The wheels are fabulously strong things that I had built at Wheelworks. They won't fail you. Let me know if you want it. |
 Talk to me! AIM handle: YellowBrighton Amazon wish list Netflix vs Rentmydvd Index of my AIDS ride and Pallotta links GeoURL Ron's Log Index 7/21/2003 · 8/ 6/2003 5/29/2003 · 7/18/2003 4/25/2003 · 5/28/2003 3/24/2003 · 4/24/2003 3/ 1/2003 · 3/21/2003 1/28/2003 · 2/28/2003 11/30/2002 · 1/23/2003 11/ 1/2002 · 11/29/2002 9/23/2002 · 10/30/2002 9/ 5/2002 · 9/20/2002 8/10/2002 · 9/ 4/2002 7/24/2002 · 8/ 9/2002 6/27/2002 · 7/23/2002 6/ 3/2002 · 6/25/2002 4/24/2002 · 5/31/2002 4/ 1/2002 · 4/23/2002 3/ 1/2002 · 3/31/2002 2/10/2002 · 2/28/2002 1/22/2002 · 2/ 9/2002 1/ 3/2002 · 1/16/2002 12/16/2001 · 1/ 2/2002 12/ 2/2001 · 12/15/2001 11/ 1/2001 · 11/29/2001 10/16/2001 · 10/31/2001 9/23/2001 · 10/13/2001 9/11/2001 · 9/22/2001 7/29/2001 · 9/10/2001 7/ 2/2001 · 7/28/2001 5/29/2001 · 6/30/2001 5/ 1/2001 · 5/21/2001 4/ 8/2001 · 4/29/2001 3/25/2001 · 4/ 7/2001 3/11/2001 · 3/24/2001 3/ 4/2001 · 3/10/2001 2/18/2001 · 3/ 3/2001 2/ 4/2001 · 2/17/2001 1/23/2001 · 2/ 2/2001 1/ 1/2001 · 1/22/2001 12/18/2000 · 12/31/2000 11/30/2000 · 12/ 7/2000 11/ 6/2000 · 11/28/2000 10/29/2000 · 11/ 5/2000 10/11/2000 · 10/19/2000 10/ 1/2000 · 10/ 9/2000 9/24/2000 · 9/30/2000 9/15/2000 · 9/22/2000 9/ 7/2000 · 9/13/2000 ![[Get Opera!]](http://promote.opera.com/banners/opera/general/og-get-00-en-but1.png)
|
| <<< Previous | About Photos Links Reading Archives | Next >>> |
