TheJonas

Lake Serene Turtles

2009-10-02T15:29:00.002-05:00

Dozens of freshwater turtles from Lake Serene North in Hattiesburg, MS have been killed trying to cross US 98 to get to Lake Serene just south of the highway. The northern lake is being drained due to a malfunctioning valve which regulates the water level.

Many of the turtles are 20 or more inches long and as much as 8 inches high. The turtles themselves are in danger, but are also potentially dangerous of themselves as some are large enough to damage a vehicle. There is also the danger from drivers swerving to avoid the unfortunate beasts.

Public safety officials had not commented as of this post, but were taking an interest in the situation.
Additional information can be found at the Hattiesburg American.

Daily Dozen Thoughts

2009-09-27T09:56:00.000-05:00

1. Life gets shorter every day.
2. The things you’re grateful to have and the things you’re grateful NOT to have .
3. What you want to do today .
4. What the future holds
5. Think about one of your fears and a way to face that fear
6. One new thing you’d like to do.
7. The things you didn’t accomplish yesterday
8. Your greatest qualities
9. What you don’t like about yourself and how you can change that
10. How you can make someone else’s day a little brighter
11. Your life goals
12. How yesterday’s problems are today’s motivation

A Better Reason to be Concerned About Government Sponsored Health Care - Look North

2009-08-24T00:04:00.003-05:00

"[A politician can] balance the books when it comes to grossly overpaying himself, but not to provide healthcare to his constituents. He also doesn't give two shits if we like it or not. He's closing them, and you're gonna pay through the nose to get any medical care."

Look at what is happening to the Canadian nationalized health care system. There are plenty of really really good reasons not to go that route.

My Current Resumé

2009-08-19T12:32:00.001-05:00

This is in Word .doc format that should be compatible with Office 2000 upwards and OpenOffice.org.

Resume2009.doc

How Much of Mississippi's Tax Money was Spent On This?

2009-08-17T07:41:00.003-05:00

I received this email which further explains my "benefits." Keep in mind that I have been FORCED to buy copies of Windows 95, 98, ME, and Vista over the years that I had no intention of ever using, a claim which goes even further than the state's. Moreover, I can provide, in at least some cases, documentation that I never used the Microsoft Software, software which, again, I could not avoid paying for in order to acquire a computer.

MISSISSIPPI RESIDENTS, BUSINESSES, PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS, COUNTY AND LOCAL MUNICIPAL ENTITIES

Settlement to provide up to $60,000,000 in benefits

Read the summary notice below and if you want more information about this settlement, the claims procedure or your options, click the link below to:
Get a Claim Form

A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit brought against Microsoft by Jim Hood, the Attorney General of Mississippi, on behalf of the State and consumers, businesses and other entities in Mississippi. Consumers, businesses and certain other entities (including local governmental entities and public schools) who reside or are located in Mississippi and who, between January 1, 1996 and June 11, 2009, purchased a license for a Microsoft Operating System and/or a license for a Microsoft Application for use in Mississippi and who did not purchase it for the purpose of resale, are “Eligible Purchasers” under the Settlement and may submit a claim for vouchers. The Settlement additionally provides for payments directly to the State of Mississippi. The State, State agencies and departments (including State colleges and universities), and federal entities are not Eligible Purchasers and will not receive vouchers under the Settlement. Microsoft will distribute up to $60,000,000 in vouchers. Eligible Purchasers who receive vouchers can redeem the vouchers after buying computers, peripheral computer hardware, or computer software made by any manufacturer. Eligible Purchasers may now request a claim form for the vouchers.

WHAT IS THIS CASE ABOUT?

Attorney General Hood claimed that Microsoft violated Mississippi’s antitrust and unfair competition laws and thereby overcharged the State of Mississippi and Mississippi citizens for certain of its software. Microsoft denies these claims and contends that it developed and sold high quality and innovative software at fair and reasonable prices. The Court did not decide in favor of Attorney General Hood or Microsoft. Instead, both sides agreed to a settlement.

WHAT CAN YOU GET FROM THE VOUCHER SETTLEMENT?

You are eligible for vouchers if you meet the definition of an “Eligible Purchaser” and acquired any of the Microsoft software included in the settlement, or a new computer on which the software was already installed. A complete list of the software included is available on the settlement website www.microsoftproductssettlement.com/mississippi. The vouchers are worth $12 for Microsoft “Windows 95,” “Windows 98,” “Windows 98 Second Edition” and “Windows Millennium Edition.” The vouchers are worth $5 for all other software included in the Settlement. Server software for computers is not eligible. Businesses and other entities, who licensed their software on a “volume” basis may submit claims for each computer their volume license authorizes them to use in conjunction with the software listed above. More information is available at the website below.

HOW DO YOU GET BENEFITS?

Simply click on the link above or go to the website to get a claim form. Then, fill out and send in a claim form postmarked no later than October 16, 2009 to get benefits. If you acquired up to five copies of qualifying Microsoft products, you can use a Standard Claim Form to ask for benefits, and you do not have to provide any additional documents or proof for your software. If your claim is larger, you can also use a Standard Claim Form, but you will need to provide additional information about your software. If you are a volume licensee (e.g. “Open,” “Select,” “School,” or “Enterprise”), you need a Volume License Claim Form. All the claim forms and detailed instructions on how to file a claim are available at www.microsoftproductssettlement.com/mississippi. Claims may be audited and penalties apply for false claims. If the total value of vouchers claimed exceeds the Maximum Potential Value of the vouchers ($60 million), vouchers will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis with priority determined by the date of receipt of the submitted claim forms. If the Maximum Potential Value of the vouchers is not claimed, the State of Mississippi will be entitled to a cash payment equal to one-half of the difference between the Maximum Potential Value of the vouchers and the total value of vouchers actually distributed to Eligible Purchasers. For more details, go to the website below.

Notice the larger italicized text. The most you can get is $12 per license, and that is IF you still have the documentation/proof of purchase for the computer you bought 12 years ago. Do you even have the computer you had 12 years ago? I don't. Hood claims the State of Mississippi should get $40 million out of the deal. Also note that this settlement doesn't cover server software at all. At a maximum of $12 per license, that's over 3 million licenses. Basically 3 million computers. Million. M-i-l-l-i-o-n.

Bullshit. The State of Mississippi, the ITS department, who can't keep up with records of telephone disconnects for a month, has 3.3 MILLION records of Windows licenses?

I'm not at all surprised that Microsoft "settled" this way. I'd be surprised if they paid $1 million total when it's all said and done. Moreover, if the State Auditor succeeds in finding the contracts with outside law firms invalid, the state will end up paying them $3 million in fees that you can bet they have documentation for.

Maybe nobody won this lawsuit. But I know who will end up losing.

Now We Know What SD ~REALLY~ Stands For!

2009-08-11T16:02:00.004-05:00

SD = Self Destruct

The short version of the story:
Sunday, I set my laptop to suspend and left it. A few minutes later I smelled smoke and (with a horrible sinking feeling) realized something was wrong wrong wrong.

I had left a Lexar MicroSD card in an SD adapter which more or less permanently resides in my laptop. When I looked closer, I could see that tha card, adapter and laptop had fused and a tiny sliver of smoke was curling up from them.

The cards couldn't be immediately removed, but miraculously, the laptop not only still worked, but never actually went "off" (it resumed from "suspend" while I was checking the damage when I opened the screen.) The pictures below show what I found later when I was able to extract the card and adapter. The real kicker is, using a spare adapter and an outdated 32M Micro SD card I was able to verify that the slot on the laptop still works!

Macushla

2009-08-05T21:52:00.003-05:00

The word mó cúisla is often Anglicanised as machusla or macushla. It orginates in the Gaelic phrase "a cúisle mó chroí" meaning "pulse of my heart." It is commonly used to mean "dear" or "darling" but originally meant something more serious: "You who are the one thing without which my heart would stop beating," and was not used lightly.

Like many phrases and expressions of endearment it has become over-used. It is unfortunate that such language loses its power over time. Loss of the ability to express such heartfelt and complex sentiments is one of the reasons our world is trite and jaded.

Rebecca, macushla; mó cúisla; I love you and pray that your day was well.

(Don't) BE SCARED!!!

2009-07-23T10:31:00.005-05:00

I received the following email recently. It exemplifies, to me, why people don't deserve to self-govern, why we as a species can't be trusted to make reasonable informed decisions, why we keep getting ourselves into the same messes over and over.

Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 9:21 AM
Subject: BE SCARED!!!

Dr. Betsy McCaughey's insight on the Healthcare Bill is worth reading. Website below. The scary part regarding seniors is quoted below.

Harvard-trained M.D./Ph.D. named Ezekiel Emanuel (Rob Emanuel's brother) is the White House Health Care Policy Advisor.

www.defendyourhealthcare.us

One troubling provision of the House bill compels seniors to submit to a counseling session every five years (and more often if they become sick or go into a nursing home) about alternatives for end-of-life care (House bill, p. 425-430). The sessions cover highly sensitive matters such as whether to receive antibiotics and "the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration."

We better wake up!! Tell your Senator and Congressman NO!

While I am certainly no fan of the government "compelling" anything on anyone, why is this scary? My point (as always) is to attack the things worth attacking and not to get sidetracked by panic and misunderstanding. To wit:

I read the paragraph above and got these main points. The bill would force health care providers to give seniors a run down of healthcare alternatives specifically for elderly, and that these talks would include such things as antibiotics and artificially administered nutrition.

To expand on it a bit, while being "compelled to submit" is certainly nothing I'd want, it's nothing new. We are "compelled to submit" to all manner of far more egregious breaches of privacy and liberty on a daily basis. Moreover, the actual effect of the bill would be to "compel" healthcare providers to document counseling elderly patients on some things they should be doing anyway.

"End-of-life care" is NOT a euphemism for assisted or prescribed suicide. It refers to supportive/palliative care for terminally ill or elderly patients. There are hard choices to be made there, but it isn't at all the same as "the government is trying to kill off the elderly".

Antibiotics are marvelous chemicals and we would live in a far different world without them. However, because of the often near-miraculous effects they have had, antibiotics have been over-prescribed and used as a prophylaxis rather than a treatment. As a result we now have strains of S. aureus that are almost entirely immune from every antibiotic we have. THAT's scary. The elderly are often prescribed antibiotics as a preventative measure. This is dangerous for everyone, including the person taking the antibiotics. Never mind that there is no proof that a maintenance regime of antibiotics helps at all, and in some cases definitely does damage quite aside from the production of resistant strains.

"Artificially administered nutrition and hydration" covers everything from vitamins and saline drips to specially prepared solutions via feeding tubes. Which isn't really all that scary.

Once again, my point is, attacking the government (and we haven't had anything approaching "good" government in decades) in a blind panic is a sure way to get results that you don't want.

How to Buy a Computer (When You Know Nothing About Computers)

2009-06-26T08:11:00.000-05:00

It annoys me a little that sales people want you to spend anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars on a computer basically sight-unseen, or flood you with techno-babble that is as meaningless to them as it is to you.

Consider the computer sales staff much the same as you would a car sales staff. They are NOT your friends, their job is to sell you a PC, preferably an expensive one. In fact other than specific, pointed questions you should ignore them.

First tip: Get a laptop. They are sleek, sexy, portable and can do anything you need a computer to do. IF you are planning on installing 8 hard drives and liquid metal cooled overclocked CPU heat sinks, this is not the guide for you anyway. If possible get a good sized LCD monitor a keyboard that you like, and the pointer device of your choice. You'll need those for a desktop too. Don't get a netbook. If you need THIS guide, you probably won't have much use for a netbook. Cool as they are, they aren't a full computer and you'll be wanting some capability the netbook doesn't have sooner or later.

Try out the computer. Type on the keys, use the touchpad or mouse. See how it feels to you. Does it fit your hands? Can you read the screen?

(At this point the sales staff tends to start hanging about. If you engage them in conversation, they will immediately start asking stupid questions and trying to sell you something more expensive. It's not their fault, just doing their job. Ignore them.)

Now, make the computer work for you. Open and close some programs. Reboot. push the "special" keys if it has them. Is it slow? Does it respond crisply? Does a particular activity seem to cause it to stop or "freeze" even for a second or two? IF so, move on. This is a brand new computer. If it's draggy now, wait til you've got a few months worth of web surfing and forwarded email on it.

(By the way, at this point the sales staff will get nervous, either because they have no idea what you are doing, or because they suspect that you do. Either way, ignore them.)

Do this for more than one computer, even if you fell in love with the first one. Anything that seems wrong or off-putting is absolutely a good reason not to buy it.

Regarding the specifications, the techno-babble: For the moment processor speed is not a limiting factor. That is, your processor can handle more than you are likely to throw at it. You can pretty much assume that part is more or less on par. The two spec you _do_ need to note are memory and drive space. They are confusing because they are measured in the same units, "bytes". Memory is usually much smaller than drive space. A good memory level for summer of 2009 is about 4GB (four giga bytes, sometimes referred to as 4 gigs). Hard drive space is usually hundreds of GB. Maybe up to 512GB by now. Either way, more is better on both of these - but not to the point of a custom build. That is if someone offers to add memory or drive space, pass. It'll be cheaper to buy a slightly higher end computer.

(If at some point the store management has shown up asking what you are doing in a polite but firm manner, you should probably politely but firmly tell them that you are test driving their computers and plan to purchase one soon, you'll call them if you need them, thanks.)

Do NOT buy a computer yet.

Go to another store (or ten) if feasible and repeat the process. Make yourself wait at least 24 hours before buying the one you choose. If it still looks like a good price and still feels right, go for it.

Why the "Land of the Free" can't be free

2009-04-27T10:16:00.003-05:00

From John Stuart Mill's "Representative Government"

Thus a people may prefer a free government, but if, from indolence, or carelessness, or cowardice, or want of public spirit, they are unequal to the exertions necessary for preserving it; if they will not fight for it when it is directly attacked; if they can be deluded by the artifices used to cheat them out of it; if by momentary discouragement, or temporary panic, or a fit of enthusiasm for an individual, they can be induced to lay their liberties at the feet even of a great man, or trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions; in all these cases they are more or less unfit for liberty.

Our great sins begin with apathy, extend to aversion, and fall finally to ignorance and greed. How many times do we hear about the "intent of the Framers" of the Constitution as an argument towards broadening the powers of government? Are we so foolish as to believe, and so blind not to read? Today we cling to the feeble protection of the Bill of Rights, as if these amendments were ever the sole barrier between Liberty and government run amok. But hear what the Framers said who didn't even want to include the Bill of Rights:

I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and in the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed constitution, but would even be dangerous. They would contain various exceptions to powers which are not granted; and on this very account, would afford a colorable pretext to claim more than were granted. For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do? Why for instance, should it be said, that the liberty of the press shall not be restrained, when no power is given by which restrictions may be imposed? I will not contend that such a provision would confer a regulating power; but it is evident that it would furnish, to men disposed to usurp, a plausible pretense for claiming that power.

Alexander Hamilton in The Federalist No. 84.

The Drought

2009-02-26T11:22:00.001-06:00

There is a fundamental difference between the Constitution of the United States of America and almost any other government document in history. But it isn't separation of powers, or the two party system (which isn't even in the constitution) nor even the bi-cameral legislature. The thing that makes the CUSA special, and even today nearly unique is the distinction it makes between Les Droits de l'Homme and the "powers" of government.

The Bill of Rights was almost excluded... not because it was debated as to whether Freedom of the Press, and all the rest were bad principles, but because a large faction felt that these rights were so obvious as to need no explicit definition.

Moreover, the Bill of Rights does not "grant" anyone any rights. To the framers of the Constitution "rights" were self-evident all people (Ok, well, at least white male landowners) were endowed with by the creator. Any governing authority which contravened or expropriated those rights was violating more fundamental "laws" than any Constitution.

The right to be secure in our persons and belongings is "inalienable" meaning that the government can infringe those rights, but it CAN NOT take them away. The right to keep and bear arms isn't a "grant;" the entire "ban guns" legal argument is based upon a fallacy. The wording is that the "Right... shall not be infringed." Shall not, not mostly not, or we're giving it to you, but we can take it back, etc etc.

So before we start in on why gun control is bad, or good, or whatever, let me jump back to the point:

It is our DUTY and PRIVILEGE to put a stop to infringements of these rights, for ourselves, and to the extent we are able, for others. Firstly, don't vote for someone who doesn't fully and wholeheartedly support your inherent, inalienable rights. Talk to the officials who are elected. They are there to represent everyone, not just the people who voted for them or gave them money. Make your voice heard. Because if you don't stop it within the bounds of Constitutional authority, every American citizen, natural born or naturalized, is honor bound to those who died to get it for you in the first place to take up arms against their own government if necessary.

No one can tell you when that necessary point is, but it should be a Damocletian sword over every government official. I get agitated by the "Never Forget" slogans and the yellow ribbons because most of those campaigns (which aren't bad of themselves) have completely forgotten why we are here, how we got here, and what we are ostensibly fighting for. It is crucial to learn and teach and remember that this country was won from a tyrant by a Revolutionary Army. Our America the Beautiful once had a government comprised almost entirely of "traitors," "seditionists," and "treasonous insurrectionists." This Land of the Free was born in the blood of "freedom fighters". And the Home of the Brave became such because of the courage of farmers, tradesmen, professionals, clergy... who decided that the time was right and that action was necessary.

So the explanation that there is a law which makes it mandatory to "voluntarily self-assess" the tax which I "owe" the government rings hollow in my ears, and the ears of any well-informed American. It rings like the steel of the oppressor's sword.

For now, we pay "our" taxes. For now we still sit by and let the new aristocracy gather more and more "authority" to themselves. But one day, one day, Americans - farmers, tradesmen, professionals, clergy - will decide they have had enough.

And on that day the Tree of Liberty, long in the drought, will be refreshed.

And while I'm complaining...

2008-12-30T10:07:00.003-06:00

The Microsoft License model has it's problems, and I have complaints about it (I use Linux almost exclusively, but in this Windows World, even I get stuck using or supporting M$ products).

For those who don't do serious systems support, when you buy a M$ product these days, you get... nothing. Not one single solitary atom of physical tangible anything to show for it. (Excluding media kits, which they are beginning to NOT SELL.) What you are buying is THE PRIVILEGE of running their (usually) crappy software without getting sued.

I have complaints about this.

To actually activate this privilege (aka "license") you have to go to https://eopen.microsoft.com which is actually one of their LEAST published URL's. There you have to sign in and give them a variety of personal and business info. None of which is needed to "activate the license," that is already done by this point; all they need for that is a pair of numbers which they email to you. The info collected is required before you can simply navigate around the site.

I have complaints about this.

They specifically say on the website to "Click 'Cancel' if you do not want to provide this information." Which I don't. So I click. And nothing happens. I'm still stuck at the same required info page. So I figure, this must be a scripting issue since I am using my trusty Firefox browser (on linux). So I switch to IE7, the latest and greatest, running on Vista Ultimate, the latest and greatest, the flagship of the desktop. Log in, go to download my product (did I mention that you now have to download EVERYTHING? ) and what? the same screen! Click cancel and get THE SAME RESPONSE (i.e. nothing, if you got lost.) Even their own browser won't act right on this page.

Needless to say, I have complaints about this.

So I enter some bogus information (why is that even an option?) and deselect the "May we spam you" checkboxes. Now I can finally download "my" files. But I can't switch back to FF, the whole page brainfarts and dies if I do that now. So still in IE7 I proceed to download my stuff, which requires about 25 clicks and authorize-me's and do-you-trust-this-website's.

Yeah, I have complaints about this.

And in the middle of all that, this jewel pops up on the screen:

This shows an IE7 screenshot which states that the browser can't handle the download, if the image is too small to read. You have to download an additional (3rd party) download manager to get "your" files.

I have complaints about this.

Not that it will do any good.

(edit credit to: darren)

We are everywhere... We have a plan... We will be taking over...

2008-12-30T09:13:00.002-06:00

Ok, so there really isn't a plan.

But there is another Jonas Bull:

And, obviously the Jonas's (Jonasae?) should be running the world.

So if you are a Jonas, especially a Jonas Bull (Jonas Brothers or fans need not apply!) find me on facebook or through this blog and we'll start getting that planet-wide-dominion plan put together...

Snow Day

2008-12-11T09:00:00.002-06:00

These are all at my office or on the way.
No snow at my house this morning.
:-(

Say what?

2008-10-18T19:19:00.007-05:00

Indeed.

You've Come A Long Way Baby!

2008-10-03T22:06:00.002-05:00

[credit to: http://craphound.com]

Minor changes to thejonas.org

2008-10-03T21:50:00.002-05:00

I modded the theme a little. I just keep seeing too many of the same set of themes. I'm too much of a contrarian to leave that alone, so here we have the Minima base with a few color and font changes. Not much else.

Simple 802.11a/b/g Antenna Mod

2008-09-30T09:36:00.003-05:00

There are scads of 802.11 antennas available commercially, and many home-brew variants floating around as well. What does mine have that the others lack? Nothing really, just another alternative. However, I do recycle some stuff and do it all with no special equipment or calculations which is nice.

So I happen to have a bunch of old torchiere lamps that the HR department discarded. Some work, but they are electricity hogs. The bulbs are getting hard to find, and they really aren't in style any more. What to do? I often need to access a wireless AP that is marginal, and it occurred to me that a simple parabolic dish and a USB wifi stick would do the trick. Mentally the two came together and voila!

So to explain further, I stripped the dish part off and took out the bulb assembly. It is left as an exercise to the reader to find a use for the base and shaft. The center of the dish in this case was partially plastic, but that wasn't a deal-breaker. I used some of the original all-thread and some zip-ties to attach a USB extension cord to the dish. Once it was more or less secured I inserted the wifi stick and it was done. I used some soft 1/4" aluminum wire I happened to have for a hook/stand and wrapped a loop around to fill in the empty spot from the plastic piece. It doesn't have to be solid, just smaller aperture than 1/4 wavelength of 2.4GHz (a little over 2 1/2 cm).

Well, almost. I know that there is an optimal focal length for a parabola, but had no desire to measure and calculate it. I also know that not being close to the optimal focal length can lose you several dB of gain. Well I want to get it fairly close, so I tested.

I used a laser pointer to "spot" the focal length. This worked better than I thought it would, see the pic. Unfortunately I discovered that the dish is not a true parabola at all; the focal length changes at different distances from the center. Oh well. All things considered it should still boost my gain a few dB.

I have tested this design a little and it does improve the reception and more importantly the transmission enough to make the difference between barely having the AP visible and getting a pretty decent connection.

Speed Tests AllTel Vs Sprint

2008-09-24T20:49:00.005-05:00

I had the opportunity tonight to test Alltel's EVDO vs Sprint's EVDO (actually both are 1x here).

I used a Franklin Wireless CDU 550 from Alltel, my trusty Samsung m500 from Sprint, and hijacked my neighbor's wireless (AT&T FastAccess DSL) for a control. I didn't move the laptop or anything else during the testing. The results show an average of three tests to the same Speakeasy site.

Carrier:	Down	Up
Alltel:	134	52
Sprint:	130	67
Nicked Wireless:	807	115

Conclusion? If you want bandwidth, steal your neighbor's wireless.

Why My Math Teachers Were Evil

2008-09-23T15:45:00.002-05:00

Or more precisely "Why I Hate Arithmetic But Love Math."

I was required at a young and impressionable age to do something it took me years to overcome. I didn't even understand it then, I only knew that it felt wrong. Even after I could prove that it was "incorrect", I still had trouble grasping why it was "wrong".

I was required (like my classmates) to commit to memory that the ratio 22/7 is equal to pi (3.14159265358...). It isn't, of course. (It's 3.142857143 exactly if you are wondering.) It didn't take long to recognize that the numbers didn't match, i.e. that the ratio was incorrect. It took years to understand that 22/7 could never be correct, nor could 45/14, nor 91/28, etc. pi is an irrational number. Transcendental to be precise. By definition it could never be expressed as a "ratio" of rational numbers.

I was hampered for years by this seemingly innocuous misunderstanding. I can't just "memorize it for the test," my mind doesn't work that way. And I'm not special, there are plenty of others who suffered the same type of obstruction.

Math as a school subject is very poorly taught and understood. It is a waste and defrauding of students to fail to teach them so badly.

My New Shack

2008-08-18T13:24:00.003-05:00

I got a 12x24ft storage building a few days ago. Since then I put in a dividing wall to separate a storage area from a work area for me. I' have insulated, added AC, wired, and put in spot lights and worklights at strategic locations. Plus moved most of my stuff in. I still need to run one more 120VAC line to the "front" wall.

I put in a moveable ladder to the loft.

I am a SQL Gilgamesh

2008-08-07T10:29:00.002-05:00

I'm a wild man. A wolf boy. Tarzan, raised by apes.

I have had very few classes in computer science, certainly none in database design or anything like that. I just happen to be good at certain types of puzzle. Computers, meaning the physical box, are one specific manifestation of this type of puzzle. Software and ordered data are a more general manifestations. When my undergrad degree in anthropology wasn't paying the bills, it was a greater than zero probability that I would land in the computer industry.

I pushed my aptitude and am now quite proficient in many areas. I have gathered a wide variety of knowledge and skill from a variety of sources, much of it first hand experience. Very little, though, aside from some introductory level courses, was anything like "formal" education.

Thus, when compared to "classically trained" information technology guys, I am hairy and unkempt, wild-eyed, spattered with gore from the hunt. I am clothed in animal skins. I carry weapons and the seeds of violence in my breast.

The civilized look at me and say "from thence we came; see how we become." I have been in the presence of these clean, well-dressed people, listened to their carefully cultured words, and often felt ashamed of my ignorance and lack of breeding, felt an outsider and an outcast. In the virtual cities of programming blogs and MSDN mailing lists I am little more than a curio, something occasionally pointed to and snickered about, but more often ushered away by well-mannered security staff lest I upset the shrunken head of Turing, or the bust of Von Neumann, or the portrait of Babbage.

Even in the less restrictive parts of town, I am a figure from the outside. In the linux user group coffee shops I am tolerated, sometimes held up as the archetype of the noble savage. Yet when I try to speak or help I am once again pushed aside, kept from the newbies, and reminded of my inferiority. Even in the sometimes violent BUGTRAQ bars, I am seen as an intrusion, a threat to the civilized who come here to pretend to barbarism. Considered to be barely capable of civilized speech, I am either patronized or challenged constantly.

And yet... And yet, I can do things which none of them can do. Having survived by my own wits I can readily see the flaws in over-complication and dependency. Having lived by my hands I know what it means to work hard for my supper- then stop and enjoy the feast. Having done without I can do more with less. When the wild things encroach upon the streets of the civil, it is I who hunts them.

Growing up in the wild, I know that there will ever be more unknown than known. The civilized make great professions in manipulating the known, building elaborate, delicate structures. Yet in the end I can face the unknown, fighting to know that which is wild and dangerous.

At the dawn of IT civilization, I am a throwback, a creature of which stories are told, yes, but feared and reviled. I am among the last of my kind, a dying breed.

Show me your monsters. I shall slay them.

Def Leppard & Joan Jett And The Blackhearts

2008-08-04T14:55:00.002-05:00

Quite a show! Enjoyed by all us "old folks."

Places I want to go

2008-07-26T14:48:00.002-05:00

Everyone should have a list of things to do, places to go, before they die. More importantly, or equally, you need a plan to get you to those places. I don't really have one yet.

However, I'm not doing the planning here. Here I'll start listing the places to go. In no particular order, not at all exhaustive:

-The Devil's Swimming Pool - Vide o

-Teotihuacan

Ringtones

2008-07-17T11:07:00.002-05:00

I'm putting my homebrew ringtones up on myxertones.com

It's a great and FREE place to get ringtones for your phone. If, for some reason they don't work for your Sprint phone, download to your PC and send them through the Rumkin uploader Those guys at rumkin do it for free too, so send them a donation!