Had a server hiccup back on Wednesday. Things seem to be up and running again, but the hard drive is dying, so if you don’t see this page, that’s why. Expect some changes, hopefully soon, as I relocate this to a new server.
I missed the entire 4-game stretch of the Saints hosting Sioux Falls. I think that’s a first, and while I was busy dealing with the dead server, the noise levels at the ball-park played a definite part, too. The constant barrage of noise was one of the reasons I quit going to the Metrodome. Back in 1993, the Saints seemed like a nice refuge. No longer. I’ve promised to take a friend to a game next weekend, but I’m not sure how many more games I’m going to attend. Sad. But maybe a bit ironic, too. I had just been interviewed for an article on tailgating for the program for the next home-stand.
And that’s about it for now, I think. Have a great weekend!
- A customer of 25 years goes in to his bank and applies for an 80k mortgage. They turn him down. So he takes his entire savings of 190,000 withdrawn in twenties. The bank says they weren’t confident he’d be able to repay the loan. Good for him. [fark!]
- There’s a Canon PowerShot G10 recall out there. Go read the document if you have one. There also was a firmware update a while back that’s linked from the same page. [sportsshooter]
- Popular Mechanics has an article on Forensics Myths Debunked–The Truth Behind Real CSI Evidence. Turns out much of
forensic science
isn’t actually science at all. [metafilter] - A long, thought-provoking article On Being Sane In Insane Places. Spooky stuff.
Tonight begins a new Saints home stand. And the rest of the season will be busy. Thirty-nine days remaining in the regular season, and twenty-three of those have Saints home games. Gonna be a busy time the rest of the summer. And probably a loud one.
Not a whole lot more to say today, so I’m going to leave it at that.
- When people ask questions that are easily answered by google, I may start sending them to Let me google that for you. For example, for additional information on the next story you would use this search.
- Do you wear the white earbuds? If so, you might want to know that Apple Downplays Fiery iPod Incidents, even though at least some of the little devices seem to be catching fire. [slashdot]
- When I lived in Cupertino back in 1995 & 1996, my next door neighbor was a fourteen-year-old. Tom Williams was that neighbor. There’s more about him in this comment thread on MeFi. Interesting to see what happened.
Another week, come and gone. Only real news from this one is that I’m starting to get tired of the volume levels at the Saints games. They’ve apparently talked to Andy about the unrelenting torrent of sound, and he now has more quiet moments, but seems to be compensating by making things louder during the rest of the time. I’m not sure what to do about it other than complain, which I’ve been doing, and walk out when it gets too loud. Guess I could wear the big noise-cancelling earmuffs to the game, but that’s not going to be very comfortable on hot evenings. I think the best bet will be to hit ’em in the pocket-book, and making it obvious by walking out when things get too loud. I’ve ordered a sound level meter so I’ll actually have some hard data to cite next time I complain, too.
On the work front, things are sucking. I realized yesterday that I’ve spent the past two weeks on work that’s headed in the wrong direction. Normally I’d pass this information along to my managers before throwing the work away and reversing course, but since I haven’t received a response to any of the email I’ve sent in the past week or so (some of which asked specific questions I need a manager to answer), I’m not so sure it’s worth the effort. Meanwhile, I guess it’s time to apply Dave’s Philosophy on Life, Part 37: Some days you’re the dog. Some days you’re the hydrant,
and get myself in there so I can try and dig out of this hole. Then again, maybe Part 23 is more applicable: When you find yourself in a deep hole, Stop Digging!
- A blogger at the New York Times talks about using Flickr as an Interior Decorating Tool. There’s a followup which looks into some of the legal issues, but I think I’ll file Sonia in the class of
people I’d rather not ever meet, because I don’t like hanging out with thieves.
[sportsshooter] - It had to happen eventually: Most Decorated Saints Pitcher, Ruud, Retires. Charlie just hasn’t been quite as effective this year, and on Saturday last weekend, he and George decided it would be best if he hung up his cleats. He’ll still be around as a coach.
- One of the Secrets of the Milky Way is that it’s always 60 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 5000. Or some equivalent exposure. Handy thing to know.
- Delino DeShields is back in the game, Finding Himself Far From Home as he coaches rookie ball out in Montana. [metafilter]
- Just finished reading Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip last night. Good book, though the author sometimes gets a little far afield in his tangents. Still, a fun read and it makes me want to get out on the road again.
My vacation was over yesterday, and all the “recharging” I did over the week off evaporated as I answered the emails sent from California yesterday morning. I think that might be the single biggest drawback of working two hours ahead of most of the team. Today I’m hoping to actually get back into the swing of things.
Not a whole lot to say today, nor a ton of links. Some days are like that.
- A friend’s son wrote the Bill of Farts, a book about farting and the Bill of Rights. I laughed. I cried. I stepped on a duck. More seriously, if the politicians representing me had as good an understanding of the Bill of Rights as this seven-year-old has, I’d be a lot happier with our country.
- No real surprise here: Social Security Numbers Can Be Guessed. The researcher who commented that
We can’t pretend anymore that SSNs can be kept secret,
mostly missed that we never could. There’s more about the study that you might want to look at if any of this was news to you. [don’t remember the source]