Sorry about the past two days of nothingness, but I really didn’t have anything much to say. Today, it’s not so much that I’m in a better mood as I’m trying to use this as a way to break the funk a bit. Dunno if it’ll work, but at least there are some links for you to click on.
As for a longer explanation from me… well, maybe I’ll write something over the weekend and maybe I won’t. In a perfect world, I think I’d use this weekend as a sort of mini-vacation to break up my routine, but I’m not sure whether I’ll do that or just sit at home.
- Good question: When a Man Dies in a Sex Act with a Horse -- What’s a Reporter to Do? [jwz]
- A group from Connecticut has declared next week PC turnoff week. I’m definitely not going to participate, but what the heck, I’ll point to ’em. [press-patch]
- I mentioned SteveO’s Ochan to at least one person who wanted a pointer to it. You’ll have to click into the categories to see the pictures, but I especially like the wtf? section (which is PG-13 — probably safe for work, but perhaps not, depending on your workplace). [steveo]
- Joey has a long post responding to some thuggery by Quick Boys Movers in Toronto. Read it if you want to see an effective response. Me, I’m just happy upping the google juice for his page. [accordionguy]
- After getting shook down too often by traffic cops, Viktor Yushchenko decided to fix things. Ukraine scraps all traffic cops, and the roads are still working pretty well. [endwar]
- Here’s a list of the top-Ten Recurring Economic Fallacies, 1774-2004 from the Mises Institute. Seems to me that far too few politicians (and people in general) understand that these are fallacies. [holy schmoly]
- Bruce Schneier tells us how Cisco Harasses Security Researcher for spilling the beans about a pretty darned important hole in IOS that was pointed out to them back in April. As for Cisco, this is not good news.
We know that the public-relations department handles their security vulnerabilities, and not the engineering department.
[schneier] - Bruce also talks about Automatic Surveillance Via Cell Phone, which points to some people who’ve actually been looking into what’s possible. And I think it’s interesting that I know people who balk at RFID proposals, but still carry their cell-phone everywhere. I prefer to leave the cell at home except when I know I’m going to need it, and I often walk around with it powered down, figuring I’ll turn it on when I do need to make a call. [schneier]
- In local news, Schaefer-Richardson’s Condo tower plan upsets river neighbors because of the height of the towers. I was in the MHNA when this project was first proposed, and I’ve always thought that I prefer the towers because it allows the developer to do this project without subsidies, and the alternative is a wall, like the RiverWest project on the other side of the river. I’d rather see towers than a wall like that. [strib]
Nothing again today. Kind of in a funk, I guess.
Yesterday went as planned. Plenty of sunshine while watching the Saints split a double-header, followed by a lazy evening. Except for the part where I mowed the lawn after getting home from the games. It was a good day, but today feels like Monday, and I think this is all you’re going to get today. Seeya tomorrow.
So we got rained out of the Saints game last night (at least the Saints didn’t lose!), but the storm that provided the rain also brought much cooler temperatures. Highs in the 70s instead of in the 90s are a very happy thing. Of course the rain-out means two games today, and as I didn’t remember until late yesterday afternoon, today’s game is scheduled as a day game. So I’m expecting that for tomorrow’s update, I’ll probably have received far too much sunshine and will be feeling pleasantly cooked.
On the work front, I spent yesterday promising a client some web-work, figuring that I had a designer lined up to help with the work. Well, the designer backed out, and I’m now looking for some help. If you’ve got the graphic-design chops to put together a new logo from a pretty darned sketchy client description, maybe you should drop me a note. Thanks!
- There’s a new bookseller on the internet: Bill of Rights Press offers things that are too “controversial” for other booksellers. [endwar]
- The Top Ten Reasons You Should Fear the Transit Searches in New York City, even if you don’t live there, never plan to visit, and think New York’s noxious nuts are finally getting what they deserve. [endwar]
- The Google Maps Pedometer will actually let you measure distance no matter how you’re travelling it. Just put in the points where you turned, and it’ll figure out the distance. You can also use it to map a route and get a tinyURL to email to someone. Useful! [colby cosh]
- Here’s another way to deal with spammers: Russia’s Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered in Apartment. Not that I’m condoning such behavior, but it would seem to solve the problem. As Mort Sahl said,
I’m for capital punishment. You’ve got to execute people. How else are they going to learn?
[vowe] - Finally, in local music news, HowWasTheShow is providing “live” photo blog coverage of Mallman 7 day party Mark Mallman began 7 nights of shows at the Hexagon Bar Sunday night with Ouija Radio as his first of many guests of honor. Many in attendance claimed they were going to do their best to make all 7 nights, a testament to the kind of love this community has for the man who is celebrating 7 years of live performing and 7 albums with this latest marathon-like event.
HowWasTheShow has set up a live photo blog to which poeple can submit photos and comments on both their own and other people’s photos. The hope is that by the end of the week we’ll have a communal and comprehensive photo essay on the entire show. [David de Young]
The weekend was pretty quiet. I went out on Friday night and had some fun. Woke up on Saturday and bopped up to mom’s to take her and her roommate (whose birthday was this weekend) out for lunch and some shopping, and then laid around home watching movies. Sunday, I mixed it up between reading and watching movies, but generally just laid low. Nothing exciting at all.
And that was the perfect weekend. This week is going to be another busy one. Last week, I had something scheduled for every day of the week, and this week is looking similar. Plus the Saints are back in town after the all-star break for a four-game stand this week, so my evenings will be busy.
- This weekend, the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks earn sweep over Saints, dropping the Saints to 3-6 for the second half. This is what I was afraid would happen after winning the first half of the season, and hopefully the Saints aren’t going to slump too hard before getting back in the gas. Fargo, on the other hand, won the first half in their division and has gone 8-1 in the second half. That’s the kind of performance I’d like to see. [press-patch]
- Pat Kessler’s Reality Check on WCCO has been interesting of late. He’s profiled Tim Pawlenty’s Cigarette “fees”, state congress-critters who didn’t bother showing up for work (though you could say that was a GOOD thing), and bad laws slipped in at the last minute (which doesn’t have a working link at the moment, but it’s accesible via flash). And that’s just in the past week. And the beauty of it is that the stories are all on the website, so you don’t even have to turn on the TV.
- The ACLU has a long list of Myths & Realities about the PATRIOT Act. [fark!]
- Bruce Schneier takes a look at the GAO report on Secure Flight and finds that the TSA broke the law, misled the public, and had not met nine of the ten conditions Congress set before they were allowed to start spending money on Secure Flight. Behind schedule, over budget, and breaking the law. Sheesh. [schneier]
- Charley Reese asks Should Your Personal Life Be an Affair of State? That’s the biggest single political disagreement I end up having with people. Of course nobody wants the state in their personal life, but they’re fine in having it snooping into mine.
What Americans need to realize is that it is impossible to increase government power without decreasing individual liberty.
[endwar] - In some local Kelo fallout, High court’s eminent domain ruling touches a nerve, and has prompted many Minnesotans to get involved in trying to reform eminent-domain laws. [press-patch]
The subject pretty much sums up yesterday. I had big plans for getting stuff done, and while I managed to keep all my appointments, I was thwarted in just about everything else. It started with a threatening letter in the mail from the State of Minnesota’s Unemployment Insurance division of the Department of Employment and Economic Development. Apparently, I needed to sign up for their new system, even though I do none of my own unemployment insurance handling. I hired Paychex to do that, and for the past six and a half years, they’ve been doing a good job of isolating me from nonsense from the state. Apparently that’s an unacceptable situation, since if I didn’t “activate” my account, Minnesota would stop accepting payroll information from them, making me non-compliant. And the beauty of this is that they needed my State of Minnesota Unemployment Insurance ID, a number which I handed off to Paychex when it was first assigned to my company, and haven’t thought of since. And no, they couldn’t use my State of Minnesota Revenue ID (used for sales tax and payroll withholding) or my Federal Employer ID, even though their database already has both of those and it’s all cross-referenced. But no, somehow this magical third ID number provides extra security, or so I’m told.
And people wonder why I hate dealing with government. What should have been a simple matter of faxing the form off ended up eating my entire morning. As John Marshall said: The power to tax is the power to destroy.
Well, at least I won’t have to pay as much in taxes this month, since I didn’t make any money yesterday.
The afternoon? Not a whole lot better. I have work to do for two clients, due Really Darned Soon. But I’m missing critical bits of information from those clients, and can’t start until I get that information. In both cases, I was promised that I would receive these missing pieces on Wednesday. Still haven’t seen ’em this morning, so I’m going to be late in delivering things to those clients.
It makes me wonder why I bother running a business at all. After a day like yesterday, I find myself thinking that if there was any way to move into the black market without getting thrown under the jail, I’d be all over it, but I don’t think that’s possible today. It may be time to start working on the Taoist approach, though: Whenever there is attachment there is bondage.
- The US House extends Patriot Act.
The Patriot Act was an effort to answer the most difficult question a democracy faces: How much freedom are we willing to give up to feel safe?
Apparently the answer from the House isall of it.
[strib] - In more local news, the City Pages’ The Hit Parade Revisited takes a look at the Minneapolis Police Department’s record of beating the stuffing out of people. The interesting thing is that while the department is complaining of not having enough money to hire officers, the settlements paid out last year would have paid the salaries of about 30 additional cops.
- Just another shill for big agri-business: Pawlenty urges House to expand production of renewable fuels. Remember the study I pointed to recently? To make a gallon of renewable fuel from corn, it takes 1.29 gallons of gas. Even the government’s Biomass R & D Initiative says that it takes 72000 BTU to produce a gallon of ethanol, which gives about 76000 BTU (so a gallon of ethanol only takes 0.94 gallon of gas to produce). That makes it better, but still not terribly efficient. And if making ethanol from corn is such a good deal, why does it need a government subsidy in the first place? But hey, it’ll be great for Cargill and ADM. [strib]
- Next Monday at Midway, Allergic fans safe at home as the Saints will set aside the top two rows of section K as no-food rows for kids with food allergies. [press-patch]
- CNET lists the Top 10 Web fads. Seems like a pretty good list to me. [fark!]
This morning, the tree guy stopped by to give me an estimate on cleaning up my trees. They don’t need major work, just need to be trimmed so they’re not rubbing on my house or the neighbor’s. Only $450 for a dozen trees. That ain’t bad at all, I’m figuring. Yeah, it’ll probably take them a half-hour or so, but it’s the kind of thing that would take me all day, the trees would look kinda crummy when I was done, and I’d have a huge pile of branches laying there until I got around to hauling them away. The thing that gets me is that it wasn’t even a year ago when I last did this, but I’m hoping that maybe with a pro coming in to clean up the trees, I’ll be able to learn some trick so I can do a better job next time. Anyway, I’m probably going to pull the trigger later today and schedule the appointment.
Today looks like a busy day, too. Got a couple more appointments I have to keep today, plus I need to get some work done. While I wasn’t happy when the tree guy showed up almost a half-hour early (just as I was finishing my morning ablutions), it seems to have worked out pretty well, since I’m getting this ready for you, and getting started on work at just about the right time, better than if I’d actually planned it.
- Bruce Schneier’s got some suggestions on How to Not Fix the ID Problem. If the problem is that civil serpents are selling fake IDs, maybe the solution is to use existing laws to charge them as accessories to whatever crimes are committed using those fake IDs. [schneier]
- Talking about the way many governors are crying about RealID, Paul Hein says Dry Those Eyes, Governors!. Nice rant, plus he points out that if you don’t have a RealID-compliant ID, and the IRS tries to prosecute you, hey, you probably won’t be able to get to the trial! [claire]
- Local Do Not Call list under attack, activists say. Telemarketers are trying to get the federal list to preempt state laws, because having a patchwork of state laws is too confusing to comply with. Yeah, there’s no way their auto-dialing computers could possibly figure out which area code belongs to which state. [fark!]
- jr’s got a nice rant about Statutory Rape: New Brunswick and parenting. The problem is that the people it’s addressed to aren’t ever going to read it. [jr]
Yesterday, I spent most of the evening watering various sections of my lawn and garden that were dried out from the lack of rain around here. Almost as if I’d planned it, we got hit by a thunderstorm this morning (about 5:30) which gave most of the ground more water than it could handle. Except for the areas I’d watered yesterday, where the lawn had gone from feeling like astroturf on concrete to actually feeling like something living again. Those areas were able to absorb most of the pounding rain this morning, while the areas that didn’t get watered mostly shed the rain. Judging by the size of the river in my alley, most of my neighbors lawns had the rain run off them, too.
Beyond that, it warmed up enough again yesterday that the air-conditioning is running again, and probably will be for the forseeable future. Forecast highs are in the high 80s or 90s again through the weekend, and that’s just too warm for either me or my computer to be comfortable. But on the plus side, I got enough sleep last night, even with the thunderstorm waking me up at 5:30 this morning, that I have stuff for you to read.
- Since it’s the anniversary of the first manned moon-landing, Google is celebrating with Google Moon, which shows the Lunar Landing Sites. Cool. And there’s a spiffy easter-egg if you zoom in all the way (which is explained in the faq). [scottk]
- Speaking of Google, here’s a nice story of How Google Maps Got Me Out Of A Traffic Ticket from a guy in NYC. He could have done the same by bringing in a street map, but the tech-angle is reasonably cool. No word on whether he’ll be charged with stealing the open WiFi he used. [boing boing]
- The NRA has said Goodbye, Columbus, deciding not to hold its 2007 annual meeting there, since the Columbus City Council has banned scary-looking semi-automatic firearms. Good for the NRA. [war on guns]
- Now that they’ve almost settled the strike The NHL wants you... please? Well, my take is that I haven’t been much of an NHL fan since the North Stars left, and since MLB’s 1994 strike, I’ve been to maybe a couple dozen games, mostly out of town, when I want to see a new park in a city I’m visiting. Plus, most of the “innovations” MLB has tried (wild cards, realignment, and inter-league play) to draw fans back make me grumpy. I have no idea what the NHL will try to court their fans, but since I wasn’t much of a fan in the first place, I probably don’t matter to them. [press-patch]
- A new Study cites seeds of terror in Iraq, saying that many of the foreigners who’ve travelled to Iraq to blow up innocents are not rabid al-Qaeda members, but rather
young kids who saw the images [of the war] on TV and are reading the stuff on the Internet.
Yeah. They’re not radicalized, butLast October, 26 clerics in Saudi Arabia said it was the duty of every Muslim to go and fight in Iraq.
The war is also blamed onthe centuries-old struggle between the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam.
The article quotes The Global Research in International Affairs Center and the New America Foundation, but I haven’t been able to track down the actual study that’s quoted. [vowe] - Finally, just because I’m not sure that horse is dead, and it probably needs another kick, There Never Were Any Connections between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. Note: your sarcasm detector should be going off now. [mitch]
I feel better today. The heat finally broke for real, and I shut off the air conditioners yesterday evening and slept last night with all the windows open. The only problem was the motorcycle that went zooming down the alley at 4:30 this morning, waking me up. Grr.
I suspect that’s why I had trouble finding many links worth linking. There just weren’t that many things that I found interesting enough to link to when I was feeling cranky from not getting enough sleep.
- Had lunch at White Castle yesterday (using the coupon I got with Harold and Kumar, which is as good of a movie as Joey said it was) and there were a few things I noted (I eat there pretty often, but only once in a while for lunch, so this is really nothing new). One is that it’s always the guys in the latest bum-chic who are perusing the business section there during lunch-time. The other is that if someone is talking into the air in White Castle, it’s much more likely that person is using a cell-phone and not your ordinary garden-variety crazy. Slightly disappointing, but at least there were still people talking to themselves in White Castle. That was comforting.
- In an attempt to catch up with the recipes I’ve been cooking on the grill this season, I wrote up my Mediterranean Chicken recipe that I cooked for me, Scott and Becca on July 5th this year. It was yummy. I’ve got some more recipes I need to write down, but doing one (plus any subsidiary bits) per day seems like plenty.
- If you take digital photos, at some point you’ll need to Remove Purple Fringe from them. It helps when someone’s already figured out the technique for you. There are other useful tips on the site, too. [holy schmoly]
Made it through the weekend. It wasn’t a high-energy affair, since I was still feeling oppressed by the heat. Over the weekend, the Saints lost two of three to a Sioux Falls team that finished the first half of the season in the cellar with a 17 and 29 record. About the only good news is that the highs this week are only supposed to be in the 80s, which will be a welcome break. It might even get cool enough that I can shut off the air-conditioners and open the windows this evening. That would be a welcome change.
This week looks like another busy one. There are things to be done around the house once it’s cool enough to step outside without immediately starting to sweat, and I need to spend some more time figuring out what I’m going to do for work for the rest of the summer. Should keep me busy while the Saints are off for the all-star break and then out of town next weekend.
- It was hot over the weekend. And I wasn’t the only one who’d had enough of the Stinking Heat. And while yesterday’s cool front provided some relief, the big t-storms we had been promised (Accu-Weather claimed a 100% chance of a t-storm) didn’t materialise and I’m going to need to water my garden again today. [mitch]
- I’ve been remiss in pointing to updates as Mark tries to Save The Gunshop. Bad me. Go read the updates. [war on guns]
- A Detroit Student wins in court after being falsely arrested by the police because she wouldn’t show ID while she was standing outside school, waiting to be picked up by her mother. Good job, kiddo! Now sue ’em for enough to go to college on. [kim]
- Gary McGath points out a Danger to email newsletters. Sheesh. Naturally, it’s for the chilllldrun. [war on guns]
- This list of 40 20 Things That Only Happen In Movies is pretty funny. [holy schmoly]
- You might not think A beer in 2.5 seconds would be a good thing, but if it means less foam and less spillage, that maybe sounds better. [press-patch]
- I’ve been hearing rumors of this for years, but now a Study Says Ethanol Not Worth the Energy, especially if you don’t factor in the three billion dollars in subsidies that hide a good chunk of the cost. Just remember, booze is for drinking, not driving. [fark!]
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Today it’s time to finally catch up on the pictures I took on the Sioux Falls road trip. As I mentioned earlier, on Saturday, July 2, I took some time in the day and drove up to Wilno, MN. When I first got there, I spent a minute or two looking for my great-uncle Frank’s old house, to no avail. I haven’t been there in about thirty years, and nothing looked familiar except the church. So I stopped at the building next to the church (built where the CCD center used to be, I think), where a few guys were loading folding tables onto a trailer, and asked. Turns out that sometime after Uncle Frank died in 1994, the house was torn down. It had fallen apart, and I don’t think Aunt Julia continued living there until her death in 2000, but I’m not sure. Another story I need to track down. In any case, where the house had formerly stood was now part of the parking lot for the church, which is the real star of the town.
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Wilno (yes, named after the one in Lithuania) is basically a little settlement consisting two or three city blocks. There’s nothing there anymore but the church, a storage building next to the church, and some houses. That’s it. The last post office in town was in Uncle Frank’s house, and that had been closed for at least fifty years. So when I say the church is the star of the town, I’m not exaggerating. It’s over 120 years old, and folks are justifiably proud of it. The other thing about Wilno is that it’s built in something of a hollow. From the county road that runs past the cemetary to the north of town, all you see are the tree-tops. There was a time when you might have seen the spires of the church, but they were truncated in 1959 because it was too expensive to maintain the old 125 foot tall spires, and at least one parishoner had fallen to his death while working on them. Currently the project is repairing or replacing a beam inside the church roof which had cracked. That’s the scaffolding you can see in the interior photo. It sounds like everything is well in hand, but the work is taking longer than expected.
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The encouraging thing is that this isn’t a dying church. Between St. John Cantius, and the church in nearby Ivanhoe (which share a priest), they have a combined congregation of twelve hundred, with Wilno getting the (slightly) bigger half. Ivanhoe has a population of around 640, and Wilno’s population isn’t listed anywhere I can find it, since it’s not technically a city anymore, but not only is the church still there, but they seem to be doing well, in one of the poorest counties in the state. The thing I need to remember is that they still have their big church picnic at noon on the fourth of July every year, and if I want to talk to more folks from around there, that’s the time to do it.
There’s a lot more to write about Wilno, but it’s going to have to wait for another day. I’ll try to remember to put a link here when I get that writing done.
- There’s more information about Wilno in the article Poland On The Prairie, from KELO TV in Sioux Falls.
- In other news, Steve Green’s got some Late Night Rambling about China that could make a guy nervous. [vodkapundit]
- Fortune Magazine is Remembering Netscape: The Birth of the Web. A pretty decent article. [slashdot]
- KernelTrap has another feature on the OpenBSD Hackathon 2005, Part III which talks about the flaws in the ICMP protocol that have been addressed in recent versions of OpenBSD (and most other operating systems, as well). [openbsd]
Yep. I missed updating yesterday. Sorry if you missed me, but it was another one of those days where I figured If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.
More to the point, I’ve been feeling worn down by the long string of days with temperatures over 90 degrees out there. I’ve got a lot of things I want to do outside, but I have to take them slowly, since I get overheated and stupid if I stay out there too long working. Which wears me down, because I’m not getting the little satisfactions that come from finishing the projects I start. Add in the fact that I think I’ve got a summertime cold, and I end up with days like yesterday, where my big accomplishment for the day was … Well, I can’t think of one.
- Well, drat. Shuttle launch called off due to “anomaly”. I guess it’s better than losing another shuttle, but it’s still disappointing. More from NASA. [instapundit]
- The Minnesota State Capitol lost power for an hour yesterday. Dean Johnson pointed out that
… now the Legislature is operating in the dark.
Yeah. That’s a new development with them. But the power outage kept them from making any decision on new taxes for a few hours. Which seems fitting, since the state just announced they have 6 million more than expected, mostly from individual income tax collections. In the end, they persevered though, and the budget passed, and new taxes have been levied. Thanks Tim! Let’s hope that the results of your breaking your promise are as good as those seen by George H. W. Bush! [strib] - In another depressing development, Junk faxes have a pal in D.C., and his name is “W”. At this point, I can’t think of a single incumbent I plan to vote for next time around. I’m disgusted with the whole lot of ’em. [flutterby]
- From Texas, Ted Nugent sounds off, mentioning, among other things, that he might run for Governor of Michigan. [fark!]
- On a lighter note, my friend Aaron runs The Daily Plug, which keeps track of the items plugged on The Daily Show every day. Useful if you’re wondering what that book or album was.
- Some mornings, Dr. Fun just hits too close to home.
- A guy who started out at 6′1″ and 400 pounds is Walking Off the Fat, Across the Land. His website is here, but is down for the moment. There are mirrors. Sounds like a hell of a way to get your head together, and to, as Jeff put it,
possibly shed his flesh-parka.
[WVSR] - The general purpose of Morgan Spurlock Watch is to counter the silly hysteria perpetuated by Morgan Spurlock. Well, there it is, then. [flutterby]
Sorry I don’t have much in the way of links for you today. It’s another one of those days.
- Here are the pictures from our Sioux Falls Road Trip, taken the weekend of July 1, 2005.
A long, hot weekend. Temperatures in the 90s (mid-30s C), with high humidity. I got up early Saturday morning and mowed the lawn. Glad I did, since it was only in the mid-80s at that point. Friday and Saturday evenings were spent watching the Saints, and Sunday I stayed home in the air conditioning and caught up on sleep.
- The Saints are first half champs after a win on Saturday night. I stayed home from the game on Sunday, figuring it was going to be awfully hot out there (it was) and that they might not be playing their sharpest after a night of celebrating (they played pretty poorly). It was nice taking a day off. It was also interesting watching the game on TV, where I learned that
Reggie Jackson and John Sahlberg have thrown out at least one Saint in every series in which they have umpired the Saints. No other umpiring crew has thrown out a Saint this year.
Sunday, George Tsamis, the Saints’ Manager, got tossed by Reggie Jackson for a comment about a called third strike on Chad Ehrnsberger (it looked like a ball on TV), and then a couple innings later, Jackson tossed Kevin Sullivan, the Dogs’ catcher. I thought Sahlberg had some pretty questionable calls on Friday, too. Jon Moynihan, who was behind the plate Saturday seemed to have the best (though still not good) command of the plate, and was the only one of the crew not involved in some drama over the weekend. Now I understand that Northern League umpires are at that level for a reason, but when a single umpiring crew has so many problems with a team, maybe it’s time for the League to look into their behavior. - In the Minnesota state legislature, the Road to deal was long and bumpy, and includes a 75 cents per pack on cigarettes and increased property taxes from a governor who promised
no new taxes
. There was a time when Tim Pawlenty’s name was being bandied about as a possible 2008 presidential candidate. I’m pretty sure that’s dead now. But they’re talking about how to avoid similar budget problems in the future. How about if they don’t get a budget done, which is the one responsibility they really have, they all get canned? [press-patch] - After the bombings in London last week, Congress is now facing Urgent calls to secure mass transit. I think this is wrong-headed. What we’ll end up with is something like central London had during the peak of the IRA activity, where there won’t be a single trash-can available (because it might hide a bomb) anywhere, so there will be piles of trash laying about on the sidewalks, and places you just can’t go. Remember that London has zillions of cameras monitoring just about everything, and it didn’t slow down the bombers there. What may be more effective is the attitude of people in the UK. I’ve seen at least one article reporting people who said
We’ve seen much worse from the IRA or the Germans
and just went about their business (or more colorfully:do piss off you bloody camel-shagger, you’re making me late for the pub
) Colby Cosh has more comments on the London bombings. [strib] - One of the things that made the Countdown to shuttle launch, scheduled for this Wednesday, possible was a patch for the shuttle developed by Alliant Techsystems in Edina. Cool. [strib]
- Spiegel has an Interview with African Economics Expert who says For God’s Sake, Please Stop the Aid! Has someone pointed this out to Bob Geldof? [war on guns]
Nothing to say today. I’m doing fine, just taking a break.
I’m really ready for a weekend, but the week is barely half over at this point. As such, linkage suffers today. Maybe more tomorrow?
- Like Dory, I find I don’t get a lot of linkage because I’m Not this, not that, not the other. That is, I don’t have one specific topic that I pound on, but rather link to whatever catches my eye. Those of you reading this seem to like it, but it makes it tough to categorize this place sometimes.
- In Minneapolis Red-light runners will pay today, and the system will start ticketing people. I haven’t seen any change in behavior in the intersection nearest my house with the new cameras yet. [strib]
- Equifax’s CEO Says It’s Un-American For People To Know What Equifax Knows About Them. Fark gave this one the
asinine
tag, but I’m thinkingdumbass
might have been more apropriate. [fark!]
Not a whole lot to say this morning. I spent yesterday trying in vain to catch up on things, and while I did get a few things done, I’m feeling like I’m farther behind, anyhow. Today, woke up with a stuffed nose. Not sure whether it’s allergies or if I caught the cold that a friend has, but either way, it’s sapping my energy. Hope your week is more energetic than mine.
- SciFi will be airing all fifteen episodes of the Firefly Series beginning on July 22. Set your TiVo! [survival arts]
- In a small bit of good news, U.S. Court Of Appeals Soundly Rejects IRS Plea To Soften Ruling In Schulz v IRS. What this means is that even in the case of Administrative Summonses from the IRS, you’re still entitled to due process.
- Filing opened for Minneapolis elections yesterday, and Two candidates waste no time filing for Minneapolis mayoral election. Mark from KGS was one of the two. [strib]
- Heh. The Tao of Whoa has a quiz about the career of Keanu Reeves. I got 7 of ten. Whoa. [fark!]
- An album by a Tuvan throat singing punk band? Yes. And a free download. [boing boing]
- One of these days, I need to find time to get down to The Museum of Russian Art. I suspect it won’t be anytime soon, though. [lileks]
Tough getting started this morning. I was up late for the Saints fireworks last night. And that was following a road-trip to Sioux Falls to watch the Saints play there on Friday and Saturday nights. Thanks to John for helping us get organized down there, and showing us a good time. I also popped up to Wilno on Saturday to see the area where the Polaschek family first settled in Minnesota.
As usual, I’ve got a bunch of pictures still in the camera. I’m going to try and get to them today, but (also as usual) I’ve got a bunch of stuff to do today, and it’ll probably take me a while to sort through them all. You’ll see them as soon as I can get to them.
Finally, I survived the fourth and still have all my fingers to type this with. A good time was had. And I think that’s going to do it for my morning ramble today. Let’s get to some links, eh?
- Some three-year-old SuperTarget vandalism seen as domestic terrorism. I just don’t see the terror involved, and that’s one of the things that’s worried me about the whole mentality behind USA-PATRIOT. If someone does something the powers-that-be don’t like, it’s too easy to call it terrorism, even if nobody is terrorized. Chilling. [strib]
- In more KGS news, Council rules against gun-shop owner’s appeal. Mark says he’ll remain open, but won’t be selling guns while he attempts to get an injunction against the city. You can still stop by to pick up accessories, and every purchase helps Mark turn inventory into money for the lawyer. [war on guns]
- You might not think it, since he’s a liberal DFLer, but Mark Dayton stands firm on flag issue. This isn’t that weird, since
Dayton has been more lukewarm on civil liberties issues than his fellow DFLers in Congress.
The ACLU gives him a 64, lower than any other MN Democrat. [press-patch] - Ron Paul has some Lessons from the Kelo Decision, as seen from his post inside the Beltway. He sees the end of the separation of powers.
But government power is ever and always dangerous, and must be zealously guarded against.
He suggests getting involved in politics at the local level. [endwar] - Finally, Dan has comments on Iraq. Were we right to go in there or not? Hell, I dunno. I’ve been on both sides of that one a couple different times. But I’m with Dan in thinking that pulling out now isn’t the answer. [flutterby]
It appears to be shaping up as one. In spite of the amount of stuff I had to do yesterday, I found time to mow the lawn and weed part of my garden yesterday morning. I wasn’t sure if the cool weather would last or not, and figured it was better to get things done. I was right, but not for the reason I thought. It just made me feel better. But the forecasts are looking pretty good for the weekend. Sure, there might be some rain on Saturday and Sunday, but that’s not a huge deal. The temperatures will be pretty reasonable, and that’s a nice break at this point.
As for the long list of things, well, I managed to get some work done, renew my tabs on my truck, renew my driver’s license, pick up a repaired (mostly) chair, and get some more work done. There are things left that I probably won’t get to this week, but I think I did a decent job of covering the most critical stuff. I plan to enjoy the weekend, and hope you will, too.
- Minnesota state government shuts down. Well, sorta. And it’s more expensive this way. But hey! It’s less convenient, too! Mitch has more about the Shutdown? and points out that fewer than 1⁄3 of state employees will actually be idled. Seed Potato Inspectors are apparently still going to be on the job, for one. Oh, and they managed to keep the state parks open. [strib and mitch]
- Davezilla has some Pickup lines that suck, or so he says. I’m thinking I could make some of ’em work… [davezilla]
- What can I say that the headline doesn’t? Zamboni operator accused of DWI. [strib]
- A friend pointed to Cooking For Engineers as a useful blog. Yes it is! Already I’m pondering the recipe-presentation used there. I think I like it. Patent-pending, though. Hrm.
- PapaScott presents The 10 commandments of system administration, by way of NewsForge. I’m a sinner, I guess.
- Just a quick reminder for the geeks who may not be paying attention: the new Battlestar Galactica starts on Friday, July 15th. Can’t set your TiVo just yet, but soon. And you can catch the Season One marathon on July 6th if you missed some of it last year. Or you can catch three episodes on NBC on Saturday the 9th if you don’t get SciFi.
- Craig Biggio ties hit-by-pitch record, previous held by Don Baylor. And it happened on Baylor’s 56th birthday. [fark!]