31 May 2009
Busy Busy Busy

Well, if I had to make an educated guess I'd venture that this has been my slowest month blogging since I started in 2003... too much going on to take the time to write. That's a sorry excuse and I know it, but, well, after this much inactivity excuses are all I have

This is the first year since I started with sheep in 2003 that the entire flock has been sheared before Father's Day. Stalls have been cleaned, gardens tilled and planted, gates painted and water tanks set (and reset). The front porch got a bit of a makeover, with more on the way. I have a rock wall about halfway done across a section of the yard we're starting to call The Vé (The Sanctuary).

We got the spare room cleaned up so we can actually entertain overnight guests. Lorraine found a used drum carder on the 'Net and we bought it - saved about $700 and got a superb piece of equipment. She's been carding and spinning to beat the band.

Bill the Llama still has his fleece - that's gotta go. And a storm last evening took down a chuck of the ironwood tree in the pasture - that's got to be cleared and cut. And we still have two stalls and the henhouse to muck out. So we're still going to be busy, busy, busy. But I will try to do better about finding time to blog.

21:21 /Home | 1 comment | permanent link

23 May 2009
US 'Viagra scientist' dies at 92

What goes up, must come down. RIP

Pharmacologist Robert Furchgott, whose work led to the development of the drug Viagra, dies.

(link) [BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition]

21:47 /Humor | 1 comment | permanent link

22 May 2009
Sedate Your Kids While They Play

Because a gram is better than a damn.

Unbelievable.

If your child won't sit still at the dentist, the doctor, or the kitchen table, you need the PediSedate Helmet. The device consisting of a colorful headset that connects to a game component or a portable CD player. After a snorkel attachment goes into the child's mouth, the helmet will monitor respiratory function and distribute nitrous oxide or anesthetic gas. The company website states, "The child comfortably becomes sedated while playing with a Nintendo Game Boy system or listening to music. This dramatically improves the hospital or dental experience for the child, parents and healthcare providers.

(link) [Slashdot]

21:11 /Politics | 2 comments | permanent link

Right-to-Repair Law To Get DRM Out of Your Car

This is under politics because that's what it is: politics. Like all DRM, it's an ownership issue. If I can't fix something I bought and paid for, then I really don't own it at all. If car companies want to protect their precious trade secrets by effectively renting me a car instead of selling me one, that's OK. Because in that case, they can pay to maintain it, too, just like Hertz or Avis.

Ralph Nadar's back to hounding the automotive industry ... but it's not about safety this time, it's about the pesky DRM in your car. Most cars have a UART in them that allows you to read off diagnostic codes and information about what may be wrong with the vehicle so you can repair it. Late model cars have been getting increasingly complex and dependent on computers which has caused them, as with most things digital, to move towards a proprietary DRM for these tools, diagnostic codes and updated repair information. This has kept independent auto-shops out of the market for fixing your car and relegating you to depend on pricier dealers to get your automotive ailments cured. The bill still has a provision to protect trade secrets but is a step forward to open up the codes and tools necessary to keep your car running.

(link) [Slashdot]

21:07 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

21 May 2009
Man in ape costume tries to steal banana displays

Monkey business...

AP - Police continue a fruitless search for a man wearing an ape costume who has attempted to steal foam banana displays from inside local gas stations. Capt. Steve Klein said Thursday someone donning an ape costume entered two gas stations Wednesday trying to steal the displays and police have received several calls about the suspect hanging around town.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

16:02 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

19 May 2009
Monorchic European dictators: Part II

Hilarious - reads like HL Mencken or PJ O'Rourke...

It's becoming increasingly evident that a prerequisite for establishing a European dictatorship is that the candidate surrender a testicle in the heat of battle.

(link) [The Register]

20:19 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

Microsoft Patents Crippling Operating Systems

Does this mean they have a patent on Windows? That's a crippled OS if there ever was one...

Ridiculous.

On Tuesday, Microsoft was granted US Patent No. 7,536,726 (it was filed in 2005) for intentionally crippling the functionality of an operating system...

(link) [Slashdot]

20:07 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

18 May 2009
Cheap Food

An overview of the problem with "modern" agriculture. Very reasonable. Very scary.

It is the simplest, most natural of acts, akin to breathing and walking upright. We sit down at the dinner table, pick up a fork, and take a juicy bite, obliv­ious to the double helping of global ramifications on our plate. Our beef comes from Iowa, fed by Nebraska corn. Our grapes come from Chile, our bananas from Honduras, our olive oil from Sicily, our apple juice—not from Washington State but all the way from China. Modern society has relieved us of the burden of growing, harvesting, even preparing our daily bread, in exchange for the burden of simply paying for it. Only when prices rise do we take notice. And the consequences of our inattention are profound.

(link) [National Geographic]

via MyAppleMenu:Reader

06:59 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

17 May 2009
An unthinking programmer's guide to the new C++

Arghhh!!! I think my head is exploding!

So what's all this about a new C++ standard, Verity?

(link) [The Register]

08:32 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Anarchy at Kroger?

Well, yesterday was grocery day, and we were running pretty low. A trip to the local Kroger was called for and made, but before checkout the wife had to make a facilities run, leaving me waiting near the cashier stand, by the books and candy displays.

Imagine my surprise when I found several printed copies of A Civilian's Guide to Direct Action scattered about on shelves and carefully inserted into some of the more apocalyptic novels on the rack.

It seems as though we are not alone in our political predilections in Boone County, Indiana, after all.

08:25 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Unsafe at any speed: Memcpy() banished in Redmond

Well, in my not so humble opinion as a long time C coder, this is pretty brain dead. Memcpy() already has a length parameter -

void *memcpy(void *dest, const void *src, size_t n)

what good will adding another do? If you're brain damaged enough to misuse it as it is, you're probably going to be brain damaged enough to misuse it no matter how many additional parameters are added. As with any technology, it's not the tools that are the problem here - it's the way the tools are used.

A more colorful take is provided at Perl.org.

Memcpy() and brethren, your days are numbered. At least in development shops that aspire to secure coding.

(link) [The Register]

08:19 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

14 May 2009
How can you patent a human gene?

How, indeed? We'd better figure out how to stop this madness before it eats our civilization.

Here's a little-known fact: Under current law, it's possible to hold a patent on a piece of human DNA, otherwise known as a gene.

(link) [CNN.com]

21:12 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

NY Bill Proposes Fat Tax On Games, DVDs, Junk Food

Here's an idea: how about a Stupid Tax? A 100% tax on stupidity. I guarantee you that the first to be hit would be politicians...

GamePolitics is writing about a proposal to tax on things that make your kids fat. The logic from its author: "Almost all experts agree that the primary reasons [for the obesity epidemic] are increased consumption of larger quantities of high calorie foods, snacks and sugar sweetened beverages... and lack of physical activity as vigorous play is replaced by sedentary activities such as watching more television, movies and videos and playing video games. This bill would raise revenues from modest surcharges on the very food products and sedentary activities that are linked to the lifestyle changes involved in the explosion of childhood obesity in the last 20-30 years." Not as explicit as Japan's fat tax but we're getting there.

(link) [Slashdot]

21:06 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

13 May 2009
Hungry suspect caught in Taco Bell parking lot

He was just making a Run for the Border™...

AP - Officials say a suspected drug dealer who led police on a 90 mph chase in Indiana was arrested after he stopped suddenly at a Taco Bell parking lot.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

19:45 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

Motorist: 500-pound moose 'fell out of the sky'

I've heard of it raining cats and dogs, but moose? That's a bit much...

AP - Police said a 500-pound moose fell 18 feet to its death when it apparently leaped a guardrail on Interstate 95 and landed on Hinckley Road. Officials learned of the incident when a motorist called the town office shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday and told assistant town clerk Shirley Bailey that "a moose just fell out of the sky."

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

06:08 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link