MEMORIES: Frau Reinke loved Haloween

Monday, October 31, 2011

Our Girl had a special place in her heart for the children who t ‘n’ t ed.

She’d spend several hundred on candy, cards, and little baggies.

She “hired” the ‘phews to fill the bags and, when they outgrew the easy money, she sit and carefully do it. I was “fired” from helping because I was not meticulous enough in carefully placing one of each type of candy in each bag.

She had a special bowl for the neighbor’s children that had dollar bills in the bags.

On All Saint’s Day, the day after, the ‘phews would be sure to come over and un-mine the bags. She’d give them the “leftover” dollars for the help. (Easy money, for sure!)

To avoid a very painful evening, I’m absconding overnight to AC for dinner and the comedy club. While it will remind me of her and what we did in AC, even that last glorious trip last January when she was like old, it’s not as hard as seeing all the children.

Back tomorrow.

That’s All Saints’ Day and I’ll go pray for my personal “saint”; Tuesday is All Souls’ Day, and I’ll go again to pray for my personal “soul”.

Sadly!

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INTERESTING: The American Revolution legal? Oxymoronical questions

Monday, October 31, 2011

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15345511

19 October 2011 Last updated at 13:14 ET
Is the US Declaration of Independence illegal?
COMMENTS (431)
By Matt Danzico and Kate Dailey
BBC News Magazine

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Who cares? “Might makes right!” I acquire my “rights” by being able and willing to fight for them.

The only reason, that a society “grants” me my rights, is that it can’t afford the price that I will extract if it doesn’t.

If I’m willing to die on a particular “hill”, cause there are always more of them than me, then I put a stake in the ground.

We have examples in history of one person standing up to the mob.

The American Revolution legal? It’s like “jumbo shrimp”. Makes no sense.

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TECHNOLOGY: Email isn’t always needed?

Sunday, October 30, 2011

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Irishman-sent-a-message-in-a-bottle-as-the-Titanic-sunk-132847328.html

Irishman sent a message in a bottle as the Titanic sunk
Jeremiah Burke from Co. Cork sent his family a note of farewell
By JORDANA KOZUPSKY, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Saturday, October 29, 2011, 10:41 AMUpdated Saturday, October 29, 2011, 10:41 AM

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And the message wound up on a beach near his home and it got through.

Amazing?

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INSPIRATIONAL: Dyno gal that is worth 20 minutes

Sunday, October 30, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjrQKydRGgM

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Ten things I know for sure:

1. Change is never good; it’s unstoppable, relentless, and often silent.

2. Cherish every moment; even the bad times. You may view them as better than where you are now.

3. Often your paradigms and memes are wrong; you have to keep questioning your assumptions.

4. You should have children so that, hopefully, some one cares.

5. “Run out” all your ideas; hindsight is 20-20. “I could a been a contender!”

6. Figure out your personal “success for your generation”.

7. Advice, no matter how well intentioned, is often wrong. What’s right for the advisor can be completely wrong for you.

8. Time is a unique thing. Everyone has this moment. What you do with it may matter? Carpe diem us an understatement.

9. All of the world’s problems are rooted in “fiat money”.

10. A marketplace is an election in which everyone’s needs are “equally” dissatisfied.

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POLITICAL: New drink driving laws in Eire are stealing businesses

Saturday, October 29, 2011

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/New-drink-driving-laws-could-close-half-of-Irelands-pubs-132844583.html

New drink driving laws could close half of Ireland’s pubs
Greater public safety means less indulgence
By ANTOINETTE KELLY, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Saturday, October 29, 2011, 7:23 AM
Updated Saturday, October 29, 2011, 7:32 AM

*** begin quote ***

A new drinking and driving law could lead to the closure of up to half the pubs in Ireland.

Irish publicans have reacted with scorn to new drink and driving legislation that reduced the blood alcohol limit to 50mg per 100mls of blood.

The new law has come into force this week, and it’s already being called a deadly blow to the pubs of rural Ireland. In fact, some publicans warn, the new restrictions could lead to the closure of up to half the pubs in the country.

Kerry County Council member and publican Bobby O’Connell told the Irish Examiner that vintners are convinced that up to 50 percent of all Irish pubs will be forced to shut down within the next five years. 


“Rural pubs are being decimated,” said O’Connell. “The recession and the off-licence trade have done irreparable damage to the pub trade and now we have this.”



*** end quote ***

How can the politicians just steal these businesses?

If a society decides to virtually outlaw drinking, then it has the obligation to pay for these businesses.

As a little L libertarian, I think this is all wrong.

I believe that what was originally considered to be bad was fatalities or injuries from accidents as a result of drunk driving. Somehow it’s morphed into driving after having had a beer.

If that was true, my entire generation should be dead.

I think we need a better standard. (1) There has to be a injury or accident. (2) After conviction, there has to be a substantial penalty — financial and jail time — plus restitution. (3) Second offenses, multiple offense, should be impossible due to the jail terms.

Only then will society be protected from irresponsible people.

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TECHNOLOGY: Yet Another “Digital Public Library of America”

Saturday, October 29, 2011

http://dp.la/

The DPLA Steering Committee is leading the first concrete steps toward the realization of a large-scale digital public library that will make the cultural and scientific record available to all.

About | Elements of the DPLA | Secretariat | Steering Committee

The DPLA planning initiative grew out of an October 2010 meeting at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, which brought together over 40 representatives from foundations, research institutions, cultural organizations, government, and libraries to discuss best approaches to building a national digital library. In December 2010, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, generously supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, convened leading experts in libraries, technology, law, and education to begin work on this problem; a two-year process of intense grassroots community organization, beginning in October 2011 and hosted at the Berkman Center, will result in a realistic and detailed workplan for launching the DPLA, as well as unveiling of a prototype of the system with specially digitized materials.

The vision of a national digital library has been circulating among librarians, scholars, educators, and private industry representatives since the early 1990s, but it has not yet materialized. Efforts led by a range of organizations, including the Library of Congress, HathiTrust, and the Internet Archive, have successfully built resources that provide books, images, historical records, and audiovisual materials to anyone with Internet access. Many universities, public libraries, and other public-spirited organizations have digitized materials that could be brought together under the frame of the DPLA, but these digital collections often exist in silos. Compounding this problem are disparate technical standards, disorganized and incomplete metadata, and a host of legal issues. No project has yet succeeded in bringing these different viewpoints, experiences, and collections together with leading technical experts and the best of private industry to find solutions to these complex challenges. Users have neither coherent access to these materials nor tools to use them in new and exciting ways, and institutions have no clear blueprint for creating a shared infrastructure to serve the public good. The time is right to launch an ambitious project to realize the great promise of the Internet for the advancement of sharing information and of using technology to enable new knowledge and discoveries in the United States.

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What about the Internet Archive, Google’s book capture, and the myriad of other such efforts?

I guess time will sort it all out.

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POLITICAL: F16’s for hostage?

Friday, October 28, 2011

http://bigpeace.com/nmachiavelli/2011/10/27/report-obama-administration-traded-
f-16s-in-order-to-gain-release-of-israeli-american-held-in-egypt/

Report: Obama Administration Traded F-16s In Order To Gain Release Of Israeli-American Held In Egypt
Posted by Niccolo Machiavelli Oct 27th 2011 at 10:55 am in Africa, Espionage, Featured Story, Intelligence, Middle East, Military Technology, News, Obama, Terrorism, Weapons | Comments (42)

*** begin quote ***

If true, this makes Iran-contra look like a bake sale in comparison. From Ynet:

The Palestinian Maan news agency reported Thursday that the United States has agreed to sell Egypt several F-16 fighter jets in order to facilitate the release of Israeli-American Ilan Grapel. Israel had opposed similar sales in the past.

*** end quote ***

I wonder if the Israeli pilots will be facing these soon.

Wonder if US pilots will as well?

Argh!

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TECHNOLOGY: Publishers on the road to perdition

Friday, October 28, 2011

http://www.impactlab.net/2011/10/20/amazon-signs-up-writers-pushes-out-publishers/

October 20th, 2011 at 10:55 am

Amazon signs up writers, pushes out publishers

in: Business, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

*** begin quote ***

Readers have been taught by Amazon.com that they do not need bookstores. Now Amazon is encouraging writers to cast aside their publishers.

Amazon will publish 122 books this fall in an array of genres, in both physical and e-book form. It is a striking acceleration of the retailer’s fledging publishing program that will place Amazon squarely in competition with the New York houses that are also its most prominent suppliers.

It has set up a flagship line run by a publishing veteran, Laurence Kirshbaum, to bring out brand-name fiction and nonfiction. It signed its first deal with the self-help author Tim Ferriss. Last week it announced a memoir by the actress and director Penny Marshall, for which it paid $800,000, a person with direct knowledge of the deal said.

Publishers say Amazon is aggressively wooing some of their top authors. And the company is gnawing away at the services that publishers, critics and agents used to provide.

*** and ***

Publishers caught a glimpse of a future they fear has no role for them late last month when Amazon introduced the Kindle Fire, a tablet for books and other media sold by Amazon. Jeffrey P. Bezos, the company’s chief executive, referred several times to Kindle as “an end-to-end service,” conjuring up a world in which Amazon develops, promotes and delivers the product.

*** end quote ***

The days of the “publisher” are over. “Dead Man Walking”.

I “LULUed” (i.e., self-published) “CHURCH 10●19●62”. Just by getting it listed on Amazon, I was automagically invited to ebook it for the Kindle. I gave the OK and they did all the work. And, then did it for Europe. Translation and all. (Wish I read German just to see how good a job it did on ½ a million words. It can’t be good, but it might be funny.)

Then, with their KINDLE DIRECT PUBLISHING program, you can get content out there for the KINDLE and get 70% of the proceeds.

It’s amazing. It’s transformative. It’s destruction and disintermediation!

Too bad for the dinosaurs.

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ADMINISTRIVIA: Praying for Pat Summit

Thursday, October 27, 2011

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/womens-basketball/news?slug=ap-summitt-stillthesame

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HARDWARE: IPAD and PROJECT GUTTENBURG

Thursday, October 27, 2011

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37800

GIVEN: There’s a lot of good old content for youngsters on PROJECT GUTTENBERG.

FIND: If it was on the IPAD, then maybe the child would read it.

SOLUTION: Overlooking the issue of content selection for the moment …

I found an appropriate text — at least appropriate to this fat old white guy injineer — so I fowarded the link to the appropriate Mommy for approval.

(Our Girl’s Rule #1 for dealing with children: “Everything must be mommy approved first!” Boy, I miss her.)

So while awaiting approval, and being the grumpy old techie skeptic, I sprung to my IPAD — okay, so “sprung” is an exaggeration — for a test.

Fired up the safari browser, punched the link for the “book”, and what to my wondering eyes do appear … an error message about “FRAMES interrupted”.

(Nothing is ever as easy as it should be when it come to technology.)

So remembering how I got my novel “CHURCH 10●19●62” on to my IPAD, before Amazon listed it for the Kindle, …

I downloaded the illustrated epud format file to my mac.

Created an email with and attachment and sent it to “fat old white guy injineers ipad @ reinke dot cc”. (That’s an email address defined on the iPad.)

Open the email on the iPad.

Double tap on the attachment.

Select open with iBooks.

Voila!!!

It is there like a “real book”.

As a follow up, I’m going to ping an apple fanboy that I know for his interpretation of this story. (I’m sure it’s something like “tap the bezel while temporarily suspending Angry Birds, then with your left thumb stuck … in your right ear, while humming any Sousa melody for Dragon, poke your right eye out with the stylus. And it’ll work perfectly. You shouldn’t have reset the yada yada yada. And, that’s why Steve Jobs should be canonized.)

YMMV

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