A seagull and Sam on the Rocky Coast of Maine..=30=
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Myself and the Maine State Bird
As a person governmentally associated with the environment, I know mousquitoes are part of the food chain. I know as well, we are part of the food chain. Not wishing the total erradication of mousquitoes in Maine is the reasoning my higher self uses.
This would be such a marvelous place in the summer, rocky coast, lakeside, walks in the woods, etc., if not for the constant torture of either bite after bite or having to coat the body with chemicals that kill living things.
We are going to the beach this morning. For most, it's the sand, the water, the sounds of the waves. For me it's the constant off shore breeze that keeps the damned bugs away... then there are the sand fleas...
Let's just say, bugs of the biting kind and I do not mix.
From the rocky coast of Maine, to Starr Island.
=30=
This would be such a marvelous place in the summer, rocky coast, lakeside, walks in the woods, etc., if not for the constant torture of either bite after bite or having to coat the body with chemicals that kill living things.
We are going to the beach this morning. For most, it's the sand, the water, the sounds of the waves. For me it's the constant off shore breeze that keeps the damned bugs away... then there are the sand fleas...
Let's just say, bugs of the biting kind and I do not mix.
From the rocky coast of Maine, to Starr Island.
=30=
Friday, August 27, 2004
SD2 Bad, Very Bad
I started to upgrade XP-Pro to SD-2 at ten this evening. It is now 3:00 a.m.
It only took a few minutes to install the upgrade. Then it took me four hours to reinstall the previous version.
The problem was continuous boot looping. In the time I was waiting for Microsoft to answer the phone, I reinstalled XP in repair mode in the hope I would lose none of my data. It worked, but it was tediously long.
An hour's time was wasted on the Microsoft "SP-2 Help Line" It took 62 minutes for a fella with a very thick Indian accent to answer. He didn't want to know what my problem was, he wanted my personal information and then told me to go to a website for the information I needed.
If I could go to a website, I wouldn't have needed to call.
Linux is starting to look good to me. =30=
It only took a few minutes to install the upgrade. Then it took me four hours to reinstall the previous version.
The problem was continuous boot looping. In the time I was waiting for Microsoft to answer the phone, I reinstalled XP in repair mode in the hope I would lose none of my data. It worked, but it was tediously long.
An hour's time was wasted on the Microsoft "SP-2 Help Line" It took 62 minutes for a fella with a very thick Indian accent to answer. He didn't want to know what my problem was, he wanted my personal information and then told me to go to a website for the information I needed.
If I could go to a website, I wouldn't have needed to call.
Linux is starting to look good to me. =30=
Saturday, August 21, 2004
A bree stung my thumb!
Gardening and I were never meant to mix. While trimming the bushes along the front walk this morning, a bee flew right up the handle and stung the middle of the fingerprint side of my thumb. There is a noise I make when bees sting me. It is not a noise I make under any other circumstances. It scares me.
Let's just face it, nature and this city boy just will never happen.=30=
Let's just face it, nature and this city boy just will never happen.=30=
I have never really liked these fat little rodents. Like squirells, they are just designer rats. When you pick them up, they always look like their about to have a heart attack.
If you are into Pavlovian experiments or into torturing small mamalls, I can see having one, but not for any other reason. =30=
Congratulations Walter and Dee!
Later today in a chapel on the campus of the Indiana University, a friend from my childhood, Walter K. and his wondrous love, Dee will be married.
For reasons beyond my control, I couldn't be there.
I want to wish the two of them all the best for all of the days to come.
=30=
For reasons beyond my control, I couldn't be there.
I want to wish the two of them all the best for all of the days to come.
=30=
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
WebCrimson
While wandering in and out of the various blog information pages I came across the Webcrimson site. It took me about ten minutes to set this simple blog up there. If you are looking for a site with little top heavy ego to host your blog, WebCrimson may be just the place for you. =30=
Monday, August 16, 2004
A copy of my review...
Below is a copy of my review for w:bloggar in the Resources section of Blogroots.
---
"I find it hard to believe there aren't stacks of reviews for this product. The most important thing I can say about it is that it works. It works well with very little set up on all my Blogger blogs. Version 4 is in advanced beta and should be out soon. I want to see how a product that already works so well can be improved. It is not WYSIWIG, but the preview is simple and quick. It edits the template much easier than you can at the Blogger website. You can easily edit posts already made, an important feature to me."
=30=
---
"I find it hard to believe there aren't stacks of reviews for this product. The most important thing I can say about it is that it works. It works well with very little set up on all my Blogger blogs. Version 4 is in advanced beta and should be out soon. I want to see how a product that already works so well can be improved. It is not WYSIWIG, but the preview is simple and quick. It edits the template much easier than you can at the Blogger website. You can easily edit posts already made, an important feature to me."
=30=
Saturday, August 14, 2004
Wikipedia!
Lurking at Wikepedia is very hard to do when you find an inadequate article related to something about which you have some knowledge. I created my first discussion entry this evening. It's bit of a rush. =30=
If pumpkins grew on trees
One hot day, the Nasserudin was relaxing in the shade of a walnut tree. He looked about him and noticed great pumkins growing on fragile vines and small walnuts growing on the tree.
"Sometimes I don't understand the ways of Allah!" he said. "Why does he let small walnuts grow on so large a tree and at the same time have huge pumkins on the delicate vines!"
A gust of wind suddenly appeared causing a walnut to fall from the tree and land on the Mullah's bare head.
He leaped up from his rest. Raising his hands and face to Allah he cried:
"Oh, my God! Forgive my questioning your ways! You are all-wise. Where would I have been now, if pumpkins grew on trees!"
"Sometimes I don't understand the ways of Allah!" he said. "Why does he let small walnuts grow on so large a tree and at the same time have huge pumkins on the delicate vines!"
A gust of wind suddenly appeared causing a walnut to fall from the tree and land on the Mullah's bare head.
He leaped up from his rest. Raising his hands and face to Allah he cried:
"Oh, my God! Forgive my questioning your ways! You are all-wise. Where would I have been now, if pumpkins grew on trees!"
Summer nups in New England.
As I mentioned earlier, this was a perfect New England Summer day. The wedding we attended was in this lovely Unitarian church in Easton, MA. It felt like visiting an English village, graveyard in the back and all. =30=
Friends from church, Andy and Bob, are wandering around the grecian islands. They're maintaining a web page of the trip, vicariously sharing the trials and triumphs of their Aegean adventure with us puritans.
Early Saturday Morning Ramblings
While the southeastern part of the U.S. is being pounded by Charley, here in New England it seems to be blossoming into a fine summer day.
Exhaustion hit last night during the opening ceremonies for the Olympics on TiVo.
Okay, I will admit it right here, I don't get the Olympics. I could go into great detail, but from the 1936 Olympics on, it has become a political showcase and spitting contest. Perhaps my perspective is slightly warped by its presentation on network TV in the U.S., but, I find it all almost as interesting as watching golf or fishing.
---
While browsing the internet this morning, I came across a bit about a laptop that is geared for AOL. It comes loaded with Sun's StarOffice 7, and connects you directly to the AOL service.
Is anyone really that devoted to AOL that they would want a machine to load directly to their server and have their interface pop up as their opening screen? I guess so.
Back in the stone age, ten or fifteen years ago, when we were traveling around the country in our RV, the high tech wonder was being able to stop at any Sears and pick up your Prodigy Mail on their computers. We've come a long way, with WiFi enabled laptops, DSL and Highspeed cable connections. Why would we want to take a step back and lock ourselves into a pay for view portal?
---
While finally watching The Italian Job, (***) I was overwhelmed by the amount of product placement. Admittedly, I do that in my blogs just because I can, but I hope it's not in-your-face.
Of course the product placement worked, I really really-really want to go out and buy a Mini Cooper. They looked like so much fun in the movie. I doubt I will be allowed to drive it like a skateboard up and down the concrete banks of the LA River, but I would like to try and navigate Cambridge, MA in one.
In the beginning of the movie, the fella in charge of blowing things up was reading a book called How to Think Like DaVinci. I have not been able to find the book online. I am surprised not to find it on Amazon. Perhaps I have the title wrong.
Since The Da Vinci Code, the wise old man has become very popular. Do you think he would be amused by all this attention? I believe he would.
---
Speaking of famous wise old men, I am still lingering near the end of the biography of Benjiman Franklin. He is being carried to the Constitutional Convention in a divan chair carried by convicts from the local prison. He his teaching some of the more hot headed representatives the art of compromise. He is going to die soon and I am not looking forward to it.
I am annoyed at Tennessee for picking such a silly name when it could have been called Franklin.
=30=
Exhaustion hit last night during the opening ceremonies for the Olympics on TiVo.
Okay, I will admit it right here, I don't get the Olympics. I could go into great detail, but from the 1936 Olympics on, it has become a political showcase and spitting contest. Perhaps my perspective is slightly warped by its presentation on network TV in the U.S., but, I find it all almost as interesting as watching golf or fishing.
---
While browsing the internet this morning, I came across a bit about a laptop that is geared for AOL. It comes loaded with Sun's StarOffice 7, and connects you directly to the AOL service.
Is anyone really that devoted to AOL that they would want a machine to load directly to their server and have their interface pop up as their opening screen? I guess so.
Back in the stone age, ten or fifteen years ago, when we were traveling around the country in our RV, the high tech wonder was being able to stop at any Sears and pick up your Prodigy Mail on their computers. We've come a long way, with WiFi enabled laptops, DSL and Highspeed cable connections. Why would we want to take a step back and lock ourselves into a pay for view portal?
---
While finally watching The Italian Job, (***) I was overwhelmed by the amount of product placement. Admittedly, I do that in my blogs just because I can, but I hope it's not in-your-face.Of course the product placement worked, I really really-really want to go out and buy a Mini Cooper. They looked like so much fun in the movie. I doubt I will be allowed to drive it like a skateboard up and down the concrete banks of the LA River, but I would like to try and navigate Cambridge, MA in one.
In the beginning of the movie, the fella in charge of blowing things up was reading a book called How to Think Like DaVinci. I have not been able to find the book online. I am surprised not to find it on Amazon. Perhaps I have the title wrong.
Since The Da Vinci Code, the wise old man has become very popular. Do you think he would be amused by all this attention? I believe he would.
---
Speaking of famous wise old men, I am still lingering near the end of the biography of Benjiman Franklin. He is being carried to the Constitutional Convention in a divan chair carried by convicts from the local prison. He his teaching some of the more hot headed representatives the art of compromise. He is going to die soon and I am not looking forward to it.
I am annoyed at Tennessee for picking such a silly name when it could have been called Franklin.
=30=
Friday, August 13, 2004
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Sunday, August 08, 2004
Sunday Morning on CBS has to be one of the most civilized programs on television. It has no apparent political motivation. People have complained it's too FILL IN THE BLANK.
It is none of those things and all of those things.
Charles Kuralt presented himself as a man you could sit next to at a lunch counter and walk away effortlessly sated in all ways spiritual, temporal and gustatorial.
I miss three television personalities, Dave Garroway, Jack Paar and Charles Kuralt.
Sunday Morning's current presenter is Charles Osgood.
He is a bright man, wears bowties and would be nice to sit next to at a cocktail party.
On Sunday Morning, to me at least, he is the museum curator, the man who points out where the nicer things are. But, he didn't build the house.
The man who did is dead.
Like meatloaf for dinner, Sunday Morning is comfort food for the eyes.
The ending is always a nature scene, usually noisy to a native New Yorker, but nicely noisy.
This Sunday's scene was the grasslands of the Dakotas, with prairie dogs and burrowing owls. The prairie dogs were fairly common cast members, squeaking little nervous creatures. The burrowing owls were the stars.
A mother owls and her one, two and then three owlettes popping out of a hole in the ground. Seeing a magnificent bird suddenly pop out of hole in the flat grassland, followed by three smaller, down-fluffier versions of herself, put a much needed lingering grin on this tired face.
I may not remember much else about the program, eating in Paris, listening to a pompous artist promote himself, learning again about the great train robbery and the chickens in Key West, but I will remember the owls.
Postcards from Nebraska: The Stories Behind the Stories As Seen on CBS News "Sunday Morning" =30=
It is none of those things and all of those things.
Charles Kuralt presented himself as a man you could sit next to at a lunch counter and walk away effortlessly sated in all ways spiritual, temporal and gustatorial.
I miss three television personalities, Dave Garroway, Jack Paar and Charles Kuralt.
Sunday Morning's current presenter is Charles Osgood.
He is a bright man, wears bowties and would be nice to sit next to at a cocktail party.
On Sunday Morning, to me at least, he is the museum curator, the man who points out where the nicer things are. But, he didn't build the house.
The man who did is dead.
Like meatloaf for dinner, Sunday Morning is comfort food for the eyes.
The ending is always a nature scene, usually noisy to a native New Yorker, but nicely noisy.
This Sunday's scene was the grasslands of the Dakotas, with prairie dogs and burrowing owls. The prairie dogs were fairly common cast members, squeaking little nervous creatures. The burrowing owls were the stars.
A mother owls and her one, two and then three owlettes popping out of a hole in the ground. Seeing a magnificent bird suddenly pop out of hole in the flat grassland, followed by three smaller, down-fluffier versions of herself, put a much needed lingering grin on this tired face.
I may not remember much else about the program, eating in Paris, listening to a pompous artist promote himself, learning again about the great train robbery and the chickens in Key West, but I will remember the owls.
Postcards from Nebraska: The Stories Behind the Stories As Seen on CBS News "Sunday Morning" =30=
![[Buy Opera!]](http://promote.opera.com/banners/opera/windows/ow-get-00-en-mic.gif){kind=small}
News from Bollywood.
The article in the Mid Day Indian website begins with: The rumours can be now laid to rest. It’s confirmed that Rani Mukherjee and not Kajol will be playing Amitabh Bachchan’s daughter-in-law in B R Chopra’s next film Babu...
Kajol is a very pretty woman, but the part is for a widow. I believe Rani Mukherjee certainly looks more like a widow than Kajol. Don't you?
We are so self centered here in the United States. The above is, I am sure, very big Entertainment news to the billions of people in the Sub-Continent.
In NYC, a town a touch closer to the happenings in the rest of the world, Bollywood Cinema is big business. So big, that Indian film companies have used the city for location shooting. In Boston, it's hard enough to find good Indian food , never mind find anyone who has ever sat through an entire musical extravaganza produced in India. =30=
Kajol is a very pretty woman, but the part is for a widow. I believe Rani Mukherjee certainly looks more like a widow than Kajol. Don't you?We are so self centered here in the United States. The above is, I am sure, very big Entertainment news to the billions of people in the Sub-Continent.
In NYC, a town a touch closer to the happenings in the rest of the world, Bollywood Cinema is big business. So big, that Indian film companies have used the city for location shooting. In Boston, it's hard enough to find good Indian food , never mind find anyone who has ever sat through an entire musical extravaganza produced in India. =30=
Good News-- Gordon is back.
A story in Canada's National Post Online and the Globe and Mail report that Gordon Lightfoot, 65, will return to the stage for a benefit concert. 
Honestly, I thought Gordon was a thing of the past. The last time I saw him on stage, he was a wasted shell of the former powerful folk singer. I am pleasantly surprised to hear he has returned to performing live. Of course I would be even more surprised if he returned to perform dead, but I wouldn't put it past him. {G} =30=
Prozac in UK's Drinking Water?
The Guardian is reporting a higher than safe level of Prozac in the UK's drinking water. It goes on to say the levels may be toxic.
If that doesn't feed the plot hungry novelists and panic the plot paranoid, what will? Are they testing for Viagra as well?
My only question is, what caused the people who test this sort of thing to look for Prozac in the first place? =30=
If that doesn't feed the plot hungry novelists and panic the plot paranoid, what will? Are they testing for Viagra as well?
My only question is, what caused the people who test this sort of thing to look for Prozac in the first place? =30=
News of Cockle Pickers plight spreads world wide
This is bigger than I thought. China View's slant on the story is that 76 Chinese Cockle Pickers were rescued.
It would seem 60 Scots ran into the 76 Chinese off the coast of Morecambe Bay. There's a bar room joke in there somewhere.
Unfortunately, 21 Chinese were killed in February while picking cockles.
Being allergic to shell fish, I've never tasted a cockle, but if people are willing to engage in what is obviously a life threatening occupation to harvest them; they must be a treat beyond compare.
Why do I have the tune to Molly Malone playing in the soundtrack of my mind? =30=
It would seem 60 Scots ran into the 76 Chinese off the coast of Morecambe Bay. There's a bar room joke in there somewhere.
Unfortunately, 21 Chinese were killed in February while picking cockles.
Being allergic to shell fish, I've never tasted a cockle, but if people are willing to engage in what is obviously a life threatening occupation to harvest them; they must be a treat beyond compare.
Why do I have the tune to Molly Malone playing in the soundtrack of my mind? =30=
Cockle Picking Tragedy Averted
It's not so much that the Cockle Pickers were saved. It was that it was reported in the Chicago Sun Times hours after it is said to have happened.
I wasn't aware the Sun Times kept that close a tab on the lives and worries of England's Cockle Pickers. Is there some connection? Are Cockles part of the daily diet of the denizens of Daly's city? Somehow, I doubt it. Chicago, the last time I looked, was a beef town. Thousands of cows were slaughtered there daily.
The first time I was in Chicago, in the late '60s, the entire town smelled like a freshly opened can of
. =30=
I wasn't aware the Sun Times kept that close a tab on the lives and worries of England's Cockle Pickers. Is there some connection? Are Cockles part of the daily diet of the denizens of Daly's city? Somehow, I doubt it. Chicago, the last time I looked, was a beef town. Thousands of cows were slaughtered there daily.
The first time I was in Chicago, in the late '60s, the entire town smelled like a freshly opened can of
. =30=
XP SP2 AMD alert on ZDNET
Dave Berlind's article in ZDNET online about the advantage of having a 64bit AMD processor, which I do, pleased me to no end. All of the other information about this processor told me how wonderful it would be if...
Now, it would seem, the newest update to MS Windows XP will take advantage of the 64bit nature of the processor. If you want to read more about it, from a man who claims to know something about it, then you should read the entire article. =30=
Saturday, August 07, 2004
A marvelous day of doing absolutely nothing.
Today was a rare day. There was a barbecue I planned to attend. It was cancelled at the last minute. With mixed feelings I decided to run all of the weekends errands in one trip and then just take the rest of it off. My body needs it, my mind needs it, the earth needs it. Okay, maybe not the earth, but at least the small patch of it I call home.
With than in mind, don't expect any long entries this weekend. Unless I get bored. Mr. G. said boredom was a negative emotion. Stuff happens though. =30=
With than in mind, don't expect any long entries this weekend. Unless I get bored. Mr. G. said boredom was a negative emotion. Stuff happens though. =30=
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
From whence came the Google beta 2 Link?
Though I know you would find it hard to believe, but I think I cut and past the wrong HTML code in the last entry.
When I came to check the blog; it was as much a surprise to me as it was to anyone who didn't expect it to be there. I think I'll leave it there as a lesson to myself to be more careful with the cut & paste.
It's the middle of the week, I am exhausted and will see the bed before I write another word. =30=
When I came to check the blog; it was as much a surprise to me as it was to anyone who didn't expect it to be there. I think I'll leave it there as a lesson to myself to be more careful with the cut & paste.
It's the middle of the week, I am exhausted and will see the bed before I write another word. =30=
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Sunday, August 01, 2004
Just when you're ready to go back in the water...
I was reading Security Management Magazine to help me get to sleep when my pager buzzed. It advised me of the rise in alert status in NYC, Washington and New Jersey. Of course, that means it will rise, if not in color, in attitude in all financial institutions on the East Coast. Oh, well, I thought it was going to be quiet with the DNC out of town. Should be an interesting Monday.
=30=
=30=
Didn't want to leave you hanging.
During the weekend there is usually plenty of time to list comments here about this and mostly that. This weekend, though nothing of monumental notice occurred, my attention was elsewhere every time it could have been here.
So, the commentaries were short. It is 1789 in the biography: Benjamin Franklin : An American Life. I think I am taking my time near the end of the book. As with most biographies, the hero dies in the end. If they didn't, it would be a memoir. I know when Benjiman dies, I know where and how. I am just in no hurry to get there. He has so much to do, so little time. It can be said, he led a full life, certainly got around, and made his mark not only on his country, but on the world.
For what more could one ask? I'm just glad my name will be preserved in the town records as someone who did his civic duty. I hope most of it has been for the common good and not too much just to feed my ego.
Good Night!
=30=
So, the commentaries were short. It is 1789 in the biography: Benjamin Franklin : An American Life. I think I am taking my time near the end of the book. As with most biographies, the hero dies in the end. If they didn't, it would be a memoir. I know when Benjiman dies, I know where and how. I am just in no hurry to get there. He has so much to do, so little time. It can be said, he led a full life, certainly got around, and made his mark not only on his country, but on the world.
For what more could one ask? I'm just glad my name will be preserved in the town records as someone who did his civic duty. I hope most of it has been for the common good and not too much just to feed my ego.
Good Night!
=30=
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