« December 2005 | Main | February 2006 »
January 31, 2006
A Rabbit?
Apparently, now, we need to turn in the gerbils as a downpayment on a rabbit. Hopefully, we don't end up with one like the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 31, 2006 at 9:27 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
January 30, 2006
11th Grade English/American Literature
I'm trying to find my Enlish/American Literature book from the 11th grade. So far, no luck. This site looks promising though. I think that our book may have been "BRITISH AND WESTERN LITERATURE: THEMES AND WRITERS", 3rd Edition, 1979, by MCGRAW HILL, ISBN 0070098719. I seem to recall that we read the following:
Short Stories:
"The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe
"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe
"A&P" by John Updike
"Why I live at the Post Office" by Eudora Welty
"The Secret Sharer" by Joseph Conrad
"To Build A Fire" by Jack London
"The Singing Bell" by Isaac Asimov
"Beowulf"
Poems:
"Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
"To his Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell
"Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes" by Thomas Gray
Plays:
"The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams
Separate Reading Assignments(possibly from other grades):
Lord of the Flies by William Goldwing - 9th grade?
Lady Chatterly's Lover by DH Lawrence
Continue reading "11th Grade English/American Literature"
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 30, 2006 at 9:23 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Snowmobile Skimming
Apparently, people are driving their snowmobiles across water like jet-skis in a kamikazee-type sport called "skimming". Who knew. Here's some pretty cool videos of some people skimming: Video 1 Video 2. They even make snowmobile skimming trading cards.
And here's a story about a guy who didn't fare so well and gets a Darwin Award for his efforts. It's apparently fairly widespread, as it's already illegal in New Hampshire, the "Do As You're Told" State.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 30, 2006 at 2:32 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
My Life
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 30, 2006 at 12:57 PM : Comments (3) | Permalink
January 28, 2006
Freedom
Make your own inspirational posters here.
More motivational posters (pretty funny):
Epiphany
Roadblocks
Attitude
Salutations
Leadership
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 28, 2006 at 5:21 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink
January 25, 2006
Slaughterhouse-Five
Excerpt from Kurt Vonnegut's book Slaughterhouse-Five, a story about the Allied fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany, in the closing days of WWII, as seen in reverse by a man "spastic in time".
American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.
The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.
The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy Pilgrim supposed. That wasn't in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed.
Here's a link to a site showing images of Dreseden before and after the war.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 25, 2006 at 9:13 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Man catches swordfish in inflatable boat
This video is pretty amazing. This guy is lucky the sailfish didn't puncture his little inflatable kayak or impale him.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 25, 2006 at 11:38 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Iris Scanners Installed At New Jersey Grade Schools
According to the Philoneist:
A biometric iris identification pilot program is currently being tested in three New Jersey elementary grade schools. The scanners and software application, designed by Eyemetric Identity Systems, are being used to compare and positively match teachers, staff employees, and upto four parent/guardians per children for building access rights.
Yikes. Somehow, I managed to make it through 12 years of public school without iris scanners. At my school, students used to drive to school with rifles and shotguns in the back windows of their trucks. My neighbor used to keep his rifle in his locker at school. Now, however, the Department of Justice is funding a study to identify disarmed students with iris scanners. Somebody wake me when it's over.
For some reason the telescreen in the living-room was in an unusual position. Instead of being placed, as was normal, in the end wall, where it could command the whole room, it was in the longer wall, opposite the window. To one side of it there was a shallow alcove in which Winston was now sitting, and which, when the flats were built, had probably been intended to hold bookshelves. By sitting in the alcove, and keeping well back, Winston was able to remain outside the range of the telescreen, so far as sight went. He could be heard, of course, but so long as he stayed in his present position he could not be seen. It was partly the unusual geography of the room that had suggested to him the thing that he was now about to do.
George Orwell - 1984.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 25, 2006 at 11:10 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Privacy
When given a choice between privacy and accountability we always choose privacy for ourselves and accountability for everyone else.
-David Brin
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 25, 2006 at 9:48 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
January 24, 2006
Allow Blocked Content - Permanently!
Internet Explorer(IE) has always sucked harder than a black hole. With Windows XP SP2, IE sucks harder than Hillary Rodham at a Juneteenth parade. But I have to use it at work, and I'm so sick of this insipid application trying to save me from myself that I'm ready to start killing strangers.
"To help protect your security, Internet Explorer has restricted this file from showing Active Content that could access your computer."
Like I'm some housewife playing on a PC without the master's permission. If you're sick of getting this condescending admonition, then change Internet Explorer to permenently allow blocked content as follows:
1. Select Tools - Internet options.
2. Go to the Advanced tab and scroll down to the Security section and check the little checkbox labeled "Allow active content to run in files on My Computer."
Bueno suerte.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 24, 2006 at 3:53 PM : Comments (3) | Permalink
The Pursuit of Happiness
"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."
- Benjamin Franklin
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 24, 2006 at 3:21 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink
Courtroom Stenography - Not as easy as it looks
A lot of people are drawn to the glamour of courtroom stenography. Lots of travel, exposure to high-profile court cases, and an average salary of $54K all add to the allure. But, if you think it's easy, you should watch this video before you enroll in any night classes.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 24, 2006 at 11:36 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
January 22, 2006
Ptarmigan Point - Grand County, Colorado
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 22, 2006 at 9:19 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink
January 21, 2006
The King of the Coast
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 21, 2006 at 6:32 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
January 17, 2006
Deer Hunter
Deer Hunter video from The Man Show on Comedy Central.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 17, 2006 at 3:44 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
John Perry Barlow
This guy John Perry Barlow seems to be everywhere at once. Last night, I saw him on Kennedys: The Curse of Power on The History Channel, commenting on his late friend John F. Kennedy Jr. Today, he's posted a story at the Cato Institute about open source and the future of the internet.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 17, 2006 at 12:59 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
January 16, 2006
Animal Hunter
Jennifer found this time killing game today. This is a great one. Sure to drive the tree-huggers crazy. Animal Hunter.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 16, 2006 at 9:10 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
January 13, 2006
Coolest Fishing Video You'll Ever See
This fishing video is unbelievable.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 13, 2006 at 5:28 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink
Live Your Dream
Do you have an idea that will set the business world on fire? In "I've Seen a Lot of Famous People Naked and They've Got Nothing on You!" Jake Steinfeld explains how he revolutionized the world of fitness with his entrepreneurial savvy. Now he would like to see another person's dream come true. If you impress Jake with a spectacular idea, you'll be on your way to having the resources and contacts of a lifetime.
The winner of the Live Your Dream contest will get:
* -- $200,000 as seed money to fund his or her dream business
* -- A $50,000 Marquis Jet card, valid for 10 hours of flight time on a Citation V Ultra
* -- A 5-day/4-night trip to the American Management Association's Course for President's and CEOs.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 13, 2006 at 8:09 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
A Million Little Lies
James Frey's book "A Million Little Pieces" is written as a non-fiction memoir, except that it's a work of fiction, as The Smoking Gun(TSG) has pointed out. Frey has lawyered up, and is now threatening The Smoking Gun, as demonstrated by this first-year -law school-caliber letter to TSG.
The big question seems to center around whether it really matters if he embellished or even fabricated portions of the story out of whole cloth. If he's a writer, what difference does it make if the story is true or not? Perhaps it's best to let James Frey speak in this instance, as to whether true and veracity are meaningful.
2006-01-13 01:34:42 AM Skeuomorph [TotalFark]
The problem with the whole "so what if he just made it up, the story is an inspiration" argument is best stated by slate.com's Meghan O'Rourke, pointing out Frey's over-the-top hypocricy:
When a former rehab memberand a rock star shares with the inmates a confession of his own outsized consumption of alcohol and drugs, Frey, infuriated by how "sincerely" the speech is made, imagines beating him up: "I would tell him that if I ever heard of him spewing his bullshiat fantasies in Public again, I would cut off his precious hair, scar his precious lips, and take all of his goddamn gold records and shove them straight up his ass."
Substitute "bestsellers" for "gold records" and apply this to Frey. O'Rourke continues:
[Frey] was busy providing his own sound bite: "The truth is what matters. It is what I should be remembered by, if I am remembered at all. Remember the truth."
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 13, 2006 at 2:44 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Kickback Mountain
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 13, 2006 at 2:11 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
January 12, 2006
Norton (Symantec) Sucks!
You really should not be using any Norton (Symantec) products. They suck, in a big kind of way. Norton Anti-Virus is a haven for viruses. Now, Symantec has admitted using Sony-Style Rootkits in Norton SystemWorks to hide files from the Windows O/S. Nice. Look for viruses to exploit this known vulnerability in 3...2....1
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 12, 2006 at 10:06 AM : Comments (2) | Permalink
Feline Crisis (Time Killing Game)
Shoot the cats with rubber bands.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 12, 2006 at 3:15 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
January 11, 2006
The Shower Police
Remember the Seinfeld episode when Kramer and Newman were shopping for illegal shower heads from the back of a van?
Kramer (pointing to the largest one): Now, what is this?
Salesman: That's the Commando 450, I don't sell that one. What about thi-
Kramer: Well that's what we want, the Commando 450.
Salesman: Nah, believe me. It's only used in the circus. For elephants.
Apparently, that wasn't as far fetched as you may have imagined. The Bureaucrat in Your Shower reveals that the federal government has been regulating the manufacture of shower heads for some time. Apparently, they don't want us to use too much water when we shower.
You might have some vague memory from childhood, and perhaps it returns when visiting someone who lives in an old home. You turn on the shower and the water washes over your whole self as if you are standing under a warm-spring waterfall. It is generous and therapeutic. The spray is heavy and hard, enough even to work muscle cramps out of your back, enough to wash the conditioner out of your hair, enough to leave you feeling wholly renewed — enough to get you completely clean.
Somehow, these days, it seems nearly impossible to recreate this in your new home. [snip] Why? As with most things in life that fall short of their promise, the government is involved. [snip] You mean they regulate how much my shower sprays? Yes indeed they do. Government believes that it has an interest in your shower? Yes it does.[snip]
The Federal Energy Policy Act of 1992 mandates that "all faucet fixtures manufactured in the United States restrict maximum water flow at or below 2.5 gallons per minute (gpm) at 80 pounds per square inch (psi) of water pressure or 2.2 gpm at 60 psi."
Some enviro-nazi eco-terrorists in Seattle are actually going after shower head manufacturers in Arizona for making shower heads that let a person use too much water. Land of the free? Free to do what? Free to do as we're told?
Hat tip: Michelle Malkin
Technorati tags: Securocrats, Shower Police, Commando 450, Seinfeld
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 11, 2006 at 6:45 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Updating your computer is almost complete - Restart Now?
I got so sick of this Windows XP SP2 message that I wanted to start killing strangers. Microsoft has hijacked my computer and now nags me like an idle housewife.
Updating your computer is almost complete. You must restart your computer for the updates to take effect. Do you want to restart your computer now?
I want to toss the freaking computer in a bucket of water. How about, "Go Fark yourself computer, I'll restart you when I get damned good and ready." If you're looking for that option, I've finally found it, thanks to Stuff That's In My Head and Daniel Turini of CodeProject:
I found this after a lot of Googling, so I'd like to share the solution. Yep, this may not be new or even advanced but it surely helped me...
Anyone who is running Windows XP SP2 know what I'm talking about. That stupid, annoying, most ill-designed dialog box ever invented in the history of the computer science that asks "Updating your computer is almost complete. You must restart your computer for the updates to take effect. Do you want to restart your computer now?"
And there are only two options: Restart Now/Restart Later. "Restart Later" means that this stupid thing will ask you again in 10 minutes. Yes, if you're willing to work for the next 4 hours until lunch before rebooting, this means you'll need to answer this question 24 times. Did I mention that the dialog steals the focus?
Now, to get rid of it: Start / Run / gpedit.msc / Local Computer Policy / Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Windows Update / Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations. You can configure how often it will nag you (I re-configured it for 720 minutes, which means I'll be asked twice on a work day), or completely disable it.
Oh, I almost forgot: this setting is only loaded when Windows starts, so a reboot is needed. If that stupid dialog is on your screen now, just stop the "Automatic Updates" service (but keep it as Automatic, so it gets reloaded on the next start) and you won't see it again.
Note: Disabling it is not the way to go, as it indicates that it will nag you ever 10 minutes if it is "disabled" or "not configured". So, I set it to "enabled" and hammered in a bunch of 9's for the number of minutes to wait before nagging me again. Turns out that the maximum value is 1,440 (every 24 hours) which is what mine is now set to.
If you don't want to reboot, you can enable the setting right away by restarting the automatic updates service, or you can just go to Start - Run - Cmd, type in "gpupdate.exe /force" and hit ENTER. You should see the following if it is successful:
User Policy Refresh has completed.
Computer Policy Refresh has completed.
Note: On my new Vaio running XP Pro SP2, this didn't stop the nagging. So, I read the explanation for the "Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations" and found the following:
Note: This policy applies only when Automatic Updates is configured to perform scheduled installations of updates. If the "Configure Automatic Updates" policy is disabled, this policy has no effect.
So, I enabled the Configure Automatic Updates group policy and re-ran the "gpupdate.exe /force". Not sure if this will help or not. I hate Windows XP for nagging me to death.
It kept nagging me, so I stopped the "Automatic Updates" service, but kept it as Automatic, so it gets reloaded on the next start. Hopefully, this will stop the nagging.
Finally, if you have Windows XP Home instead of Windows XP Pro, you will probably get the following message:
Windows cannot find 'gpedit.msc'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click Search.
GPEDIT doesn't exist on Windows XP Home edition, since it's for Group Policy, a Windows XP Pro feature. However, you can set the key in the group policy area of your registry. Google for the links, or just download and double-click on the .reg file mentioned in this post: http://computer-vet.com/weblog/2005/05/20/windows_automatic_reboots.html
Congratulations! You have successfully removed your computer from the hands of Bill Gate and his evil prefects.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 11, 2006 at 10:26 AM : Comments (7) | Permalink
Groom Lake (Area 51) and Skylab
In the waning days of Carter's embarassing tenure as president, it somehow seemed appropriate when Skylab plunged from the sky into the Indian Ocean and parts of Western Australia. As though the sky itself was falling and even gravity ceased to function when the Democrats were in office.
But before it's fiery descent into the ocean, the NASA astronauts on Skylab managed to snap an image of Groom Lake, Nevada(also known as Area 51). NASA wanted to release the image. The military wasn't so sure it was a good idea. The image was classified, and it's existence wasn't even acknowledged for 30 years.
Technorati tags: Securocrats, Skylab, CIA, Groom Lake, Area 51
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 11, 2006 at 3:14 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
January 9, 2006
Woman driver backs minivan over firehydrant
A woman backed her minivan over a fire hydrant in Santee, Kalifornia. Oh boy this video is funny.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 9, 2006 at 9:09 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
My Golden Rule - Business 2.0
Successful business people share their tips at being successful at CNNMoney.com.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 9, 2006 at 2:31 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
January 8, 2006
Need More Storage?
I'm thinking about purchasing some additional disk storage, as I'm bursting at the seams from shooting so many digital photos. Also, it's fairly widely documented that any CD or DVD you burn has a limited shelf life of around 2-5 years. They suggest using magnetic tapes, but magnetic tapes have their own problems.
I found a review of disk drives at Tom's Hardware from September of last year. At the time, they were recommending the Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200JD 320GB Hard Drive. Western Digital sells these drives for $144.99, so the cost is roughly 50 cents a Gig.
I found another article that indicates Windows XP can actually support RAID Level 5, as delivered. So, it appears to me that I could convert my home computer to support an internal 1 Terabyte RAID Level 5 for about $500, which is a very attractive proposition.
Update: Slashdot has a lot of feedback on setting up a decent sized RAID for a home network.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 8, 2006 at 7:53 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Maori Fishing Charts and Solunar Tables
The Maori Indians of New Zealand discovered hundreds of years ago that the animals are affected by the sun, moon, and tides. They were able to accurately predict the best times to go fishing by tracking the moon and the sun. Today, we use similar charts, frequently referred to as Solunar Tables to determine the prime time for fishing and hunting.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 8, 2006 at 2:28 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
January 7, 2006
Nietzsche
Under peaceful conditions a warlike man sets upon himself. - Nietzsche
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 7, 2006 at 11:38 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
January 6, 2006
FBI uses Patriot Act to destroy innocent citizen
FBI securocrats abused the Patriot Act and destroyed an innocent citizen's life and professional reputation. Brandon Mayfield, an Oregon attorney, was arrested in 2004 when incompetent FBI examiners erroneously concluded that his fingerprints were on a bag of detonators related to the train bombings in Madrid. But, they weren't his fingerprints. And the incompetent dolts at the FBI should have know that. The inspector general indicated that the FBI miscreants "committed errors in the examination procedure, and that the misidentification could have been prevented". However, they Inspector General went on to erroneously conclude that they didn't abuse the Patiot Act, they merely exercised it. Welcome to the twilight zone of bureaucracy without bounds and the new zero tolerance of civil liberties.
They explain in detail how they went through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act(FISA) court to get approval for their illegal, unwarranted searches of his premises. What they don't mention is that the FISA court is a Potemkin Court. It's such a joke that the head of the FISA court resigned in disgust last month. The Patriot Act makes the FISA court, essentially, obsolete. The Inspector General is just dancing around the details here, trying to make pretty.
Needless to say, there will be no punishment for the incompetent sycophants at the FBI. Keep in mind that this is the same FBI that's out executing citizens. That wiretapped Martin Luther King and "quashed an FBI investigation of the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four young black girls". The same FBI that's planning a grand new office in DC.
Hat Tip to the idiots at the CounterTerrorism blog for swallowing the heavily redacted version of the Inspector General's report hook, line, and sinker. It takes a special kind of blind faith to accept a censored report from a biased source as gospel without batting an eye. This raises gullibility to a new level. They won't even let out the whole story, for Christ's sake. Arrrgh.
Update: OMG. I've been reading the Inspector General's report. You wouldn't believe what the FBI did. Please don't read their report. I will make you ill when you read how grossly inept our FBI fingerprint analysts are. And when Spain told them they had the wrong guy, their hubris was such that they didn't even go back and re-examine the latent fingerprint. They just assumed the people in Spain were wrong becuase they couldn't speak English.
Update 2: The Patriot Act directly contributed to the illegal harassment and persecution of Brandon Mayfield. The report states:
"However, we found that the Patriot Act did affect the government's dissemination of intelligence information about Mayfield. By dismantling the "wall" between criminal and intelligence investigators, the Patriot Act allowed the government to freely share intelligence information about Mayfield gathered in the FISA surveillance and searches with prosecutors and other criminal law enforcement officials. In addition, Section 203 of the Patriot Act allowed the government to share grand jury information with the intelligence community, some of which could not have been obtained and shared through intelligence methods prior to the Patriot Act."
Technorati tags: Securocrats, FISA, FBI, Patriot Act, Brandon Mayfield
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 6, 2006 at 8:11 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Stop Genocide - Arm the Populace
After the Hitler's slaughter of Catholics, communists, gays, gypsies, and jews, the world promised "Never again". Never again would the world stand idly by while entire populations were slaughtered. Then came Pol Pot and the Killing Fields. And Bosnia. And Rwanda. Rwandas are being massacred on a grand scale, and the world stifles a yawn. Not 1 U.S. resident in a hundred could find Rwanda on a map. Maybe it's because they're black. Maybe it's because they're poor. Maybe it's diffused responsibility. Maybe people are just watching too much reality tv to be bothered by world events. Who knows?
But, obviously there is a problem. Obviously, it doesn't work for people to count on the developed nations of the planet to save them. (We actually supported Pol Pot when he was slaughtering millions of his own people. Ouch.)
What's the solution? Arm the people. As it turns out, the people that are slaughtered are, without exception, unarmed. Arm the Rwandans, and people won't be lining up to slaughter them. That will stop the bloodshed. But, guess what, the liberals don't approve of that. They'd rather let them die like rats than hand them weapons.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 6, 2006 at 7:55 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Your Cell Records For Sale Online, Cheap
Slashdot is reporting that:
"According to The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that your phone records are for sale online to the general public. From the article 'The Chicago Police Department is warning officers their cell phone records are available to anyone -- for a price. Dozens of online services are selling lists of cell phone calls, raising security concerns among law enforcement and privacy experts.' One of these sites is selling cell phone records for $110 for a month's worth of calls. No court order needed, no credentials required. If they want your records and have the money, they get 'em."
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 6, 2006 at 6:14 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Photographic Composition Tips
This web site has some great articles on photographic composition.
I found a site that explains how to calculate depth of field using the hyperfocal length for digital SLR cameras. (Note: Calculating the hyperfocal length for film cameras is different. For film camera depth of field calculations, go to this web site.)
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 6, 2006 at 12:35 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
January 5, 2006
S.C. Cop Murders Unarmed Fleeing Citizen
This cop shot an unarmed man to death. Shot him four times in the back as he was fleeing. Surprisingly, they actually charged the deputy with manslaughter. Finally. Now, if we could just get some charges filed on behalf of Rigoberto Alpizar, the unarmed man that perished in a hail of bullets from the 357 Sig Sauer handguns of two, as yet unnamed, Federal Air Marshals in a Miami jetway.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 5, 2006 at 10:51 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Guinea Pig - The Other White Meat
A restaurant owner in Georgia caught with a Guinea Pig in his restaurant's commercial freezer claims he wasn't going to serve it, but that he was going to eat it himself. Har. Har. Whatever. Apparently, though, people really do eat them. Here's some photos of people eating guinea pigs in Ecuador. Mmmmm. Guinea Pig. It's what's for dinner.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 5, 2006 at 10:03 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
January 4, 2006
Apply 3rd Party patch to MS to prevent .wmf exploit
The idiots at Microsoft have hosed us this time. There's a known vulnerability out there that exploits the way Windows handles Meta files (.wmf files). Microsoft is fully aware of the problem, and is testing a fix, but doesn't plan to release it for another 7 days, in their normal monthly scheduled patch of 1/10/2005. The problem is that there are thousands of sites exploiting this vulnerability today, installing malicious programs like viruses and trojan horses, surreptitiously creating botnets of tens of thousands of compromised computers.
CNet is recommending that Windows users install a 3rd party fix provided by Ilfak Guilfanov, instead of waiting for MicroSoft to get their act together. I updated my computers just now. :)
Update: Corrected .wmv to .wmf files per comments.
Update 2: The idiots at Microsoft got the message. There's no reason for millions of Windows computers with a known vulnerability to sit around collecting viruses while Microsoft sits on a known and tested solution. The only reason they weren't releasing it was because they wanted to wait until the 2nd Tuesday of the month, because that's when they normally release their patches. Obviously, this was a wreckless approach to managing software. Today, Microsoft did an about face and released the patch 6 days earlier than they'd originally planned. If you followed the directions to install the unofficial patch, follow these directions to uninstall the unofficial patch after installing Microsoft's patch.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 4, 2006 at 2:23 AM : Comments (1) | Permalink
January 3, 2006
Colossal Cave Adventure
Colossal Cave Adventure is the original text-based "adventure" game written to run on a computer. A text-based game written the 1970's in ForTran by Willie Crowther and subsequently expanded by Don Woods. I first played this game sometime in high schoool, while visiting the University of Southern Mississippi, in 1982-1984. It was a lot of fun, but I never did get around to solving it. Later, I played a modified version of the game at Ole Miss, probably in 1984-1985. The Colossal Cave Adventure web site has some different versions of the game you can download, and hints for solving the game.
Technorati tags: Colossal Cave, Colossal Caves, Adventure Game, Adventure
I have created some detailed directions for installing a DOS version of the the original Colossal Cave Adventure in the extended entry.
Continue reading "Colossal Cave Adventure"
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 3, 2006 at 9:55 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Airplane Videos
This web site has some awesome airplane videos, but most of the videos will only work with Internet Explorer.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 3, 2006 at 3:15 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink
Ancient Roman Technology
The Romans built aqueducts to move water across their empire. 2,000 years later, many of these remarkable structures are still standing, like the Pont Du Gard aqueduct that spans the Gard River near Nimes, France.
El Puente, located in Spain, is one of the best-preserved aqueducts of the Roman Empire. El Puente (Spanish for The Bridge), stretches from Spain’s Frío River to the city of Segovia.
Continue reading "Ancient Roman Technology"
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 3, 2006 at 12:17 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Rare turtles confiscated in Chinatown
This cracks me up. Some genius found some Diamondback terrapins for sale in a New York Chinatown. They're not endangered, but are classified as a "species of concern" in New York, whatever that means, and they were too large, apparently, so the Fish and Fur Department confiscated the terrapins. Kowtowing to the lowered expectations mandated by the doctrine of "soft racism", however, no one was arrested though, because, after all, they're just orientals. Like, you can bet your bottom dollar if I was caught poaching Diamondback terrapins and hawking them in a Chinaman's stall, I'd be facing life in prison, or at least a hefty fine. But for the Chinaman, well, he just gets a pass because he can't be expected to follow the law, apparently.
Now, as for the Fish and Fur Department, I have a message for them - There's nothing you can't find in Chinatown. Imagine if Noah had fallen overboard and a butcher inherited the Ark. That's Chinatown. Diamondback Terrapins? Get real. I wouldn't be surprised to find Manatee steaks or live Passenger Pigeons and Wooly Mammoths for sale.
If you've never been to a full-on Chinatown, check out these original images I shot last year in Chinatown in San Francisco and Honolulu. (Warning: Not for the squeamish. Don't look at these images if you've just eaten, or plan on ever eating again, for that matter.)
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 3, 2006 at 10:15 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Latest Jennifer Slideshow
These are some images I shot at the tail end of 2005, after I got my Canon EOS 20D back from its 2nd warranty repair trip to Irvine, CA. I'm experimenting some with black and white, which is a whole lot different than shooting in color, in that you have to pay much more attention to contrast. So, my black and whites are experimental at this point. Hopefully, they'll improve over time.
This slideshow is a 19 Meg self-playing executable named angel.exe created using Imagematics StillMotion PE Plus. The soundtrack is Angel by the Sarah McLachlan off of the Surfacing album, released in July of 1997. Click here to download the presentation. If you have an Apple, click here to download the Macromedia Flash version. Click here if you need help.
R.I.P. Chocolate Jr.
Lyrics are posted in the extended entry.
Continue reading "Latest Jennifer Slideshow"
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 3, 2006 at 1:59 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink
January 1, 2006
Woman pays $45 to have her headlight fluids changed
This is classic. Some guy charged his girlfriend $45 to change the fluid in her headlights. That's a lot less than I would have charged.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 1, 2006 at 7:58 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Time Killing Games
Bird Snatchers(Kitty Kat) time killing game.
More time killing games here.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 1, 2006 at 4:18 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink
Error 0x80131700 installing .NET Framework 1.1 in XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;824643
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 1, 2006 at 2:48 PM | Permalink
Disable Search Companion in Windows XP
You can disable the miserable little Search Companion by following these directions.
Continue reading "Disable Search Companion in Windows XP"
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 1, 2006 at 1:04 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink