TECH HARDWARE: troublesome laptop (mac book air) and a flight long gone

Sunday, March 9, 2008

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/019882.html

March 08, 2008
The TSA Doesn’t Dig The Macbook Air
Posted by Manuel Lora at March 8, 2008 08:28 PM

***Begin Quote***

The TSA is the federal agency that supposedly keeps airports safe. It prevents bombs, firearms, knives, brass knuckles and all sorts of evil objects and people from boarding flights. Yet they were puzzled by the new Macbook Air:

***and***

The senior agent hasn’t been trained for technological change. New products on the market? They haven’t been TSA approved. Probably shouldn’t be permitted. He requires me to open the “device” and run a program. I do, and despite his inclination, the lead agent decides to release me and my troublesome laptop. My flight is long gone now, so I head for the service center to get rebooked.

***and***

Oh heroic TSA agents, may you keep our homeland secure from all evils present and future. May your vigilant, Orwellian and totalitarian eyes look after us poor frightened citizens forever and ever. And while you’re at it, read some technology blogs and leave us alone.

***End Quote***

I guess this is one small strike against my getting one. Is this part of the cost of being on the bleeding edge?

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Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: “Bill! It’s for you!”

Sunday, March 9, 2008

IT’S OVER
By Dick Morris Reports <dickmorrisreports@dickmorris.com>

(Dick is funny and cutting. Has no love for Hillary. But, he does hit good points with laser-like strikes to the funny bone!)

*** begin quote ***

Suggestion for Obama:

The next time Hillary uses the recycled red phone ad, counter with one of your own. When the phone rings in the middle of the night, have a woman’s voice, with a flat Midwestern accent, answer it and say, “Hold on” into the receiver. Then she should shout, “Bill! It’s for you!”

Because with Hillary’s complete lack of any meaningful experience in foreign affairs, and her lack of the “testing” that she boldly claims, she’ll be yelling for Bill.

*** end quote ***

I think the “red phone” ad cuts against all three “candidates”. None! None of them have any leadership credentials. None of them have solid accomplishments. McCain even has a negative one — campaign finance reform that violates the First Amendment.

A plague on all their houses.

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Posted by reinkefj

LIBERTY: Vermont isn’t one of those ‘free states’ is it?

Saturday, March 8, 2008

—–Original Message—–
From: Luddite
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 11:22 PM
To: John Reinke
Subject: Vermont?

Vermont isn’t one of those ‘free states’ is it, or is that just New Hampshire? Anyway, it sounds like it is a very bad place to live…it’s full of secular progressives, extremely liberal judges (who let pedaphiles out of jail), they have the highest percentage of underage drinkers, way, way, too liberal for me (and you!). (Just passing on info for a more informed American society)

—–Reply Message—–

Well, none of the states are “free”. NH is the “free-est”. VT has the virtue of having a very active secession movement.

SECEDE & SURVIVE: Liberty and Democracy as Antidotes to Sectarian Secessionism
Submitted by Carol Moore on Fri, 03/07/2008 – 10:50pm.
http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/2008/03/07/secede-survive-liberty-and-democracy-antidotes-sectarian-secessionism

HI, TX, AK, and SC are all hot beds of secession. BUT, VT is the most advanced. Last time I read about it, VT had >10% of the people favored secession and in the high 70s thought it should be studied. NH has smaller percentages, but are not far behind.

IMHO, it’s the Massholes and old hippies in VT that make it liberal. Again, imho, if VT goes, then NH will go together with them, or on the heels. The secessionists claim that they can bring VT, NH. ME, and some of the English speaking Canadian provinces into a “New England” country. Economically, VT needs NH to be at least a trading partner. Add ME and it’s like Switzerland.

It’s the only viable way to disempower the gang in DC. Remember the line in Mel Gibson’s the patriot about trading tyrants. :-) How else is the fictional “Federal Government” brought back under control?

As far as politically, I think you’d see a very “classical liberal” society evolve there in VT. Remember that in a classical liberal society, whose roots are in the Renaissance, the sovereign individual governs themselves; not King, or country. Liberal judges are an anomaly.

And, if you eliminate “Prohibition” (i.e., all drugs are legal), then there is no such thing as “underage drinking”. People have to be free to make mistakes, learn from them, and move on. If you poke around, you’ll find that there is a core percentage of “drug users” (i.e., a small percentage) that use regardless of legality.

Suggest http://www.isil.org/resources/introduction.swf as a five minute primer that explains the concepts very nicely. Best that I’ve ever seen.

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Posted by reinkefj

WRITING: TEOTWAWKI fiction — “The Old Man” – “old bear” @ Timebomb2000

Saturday, March 8, 2008

The Old Man – “old bear” @ Timebomb2000
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=47777

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Recommended as a vignette that has a poignant quality.

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Posted by reinkefj

RANT:parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children

Friday, March 7, 2008

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/07/MNJDVF0F1.DTL

San Francisco Chronicle
Homeschoolers’ setback sends shock waves through state
Bob Egelko, Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, March 7, 2008

*** begin quote ***

“California courts have held that … parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children,” Justice H. Walter Croskey said in the 3-0 ruling issued on Feb. 28. “Parents have a legal duty to see to their children’s schooling under the provisions of these laws.”

Parents can be criminally prosecuted for failing to comply, Croskey said.

“A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare,” the judge wrote, quoting from a 1961 case on a similar issue.

*** end quote ***

“barbara streisand”

Just whose children are they?

We may have eliminated the plantations. But the slave masters are still in power.

I find the gooferment’s intrusion into “eddycation” particularly onerous and troublesome.

It’s brainwashing the way the gooferment “educates” its future sheeple … err “citizens” … in the love of the gooferment. A self-fulfilling prediction.

Enough is enough. It’s time for the Separation of Education and State!

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Posted by reinkefj

WRITING: TEOTWAWKI fiction — “Lights Out”

Friday, March 7, 2008

http://www.giltweasel.com/stuff/LightsOut-Current.pdf

Lights Out by HalfFast

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Recommended as one of the earliest of the “modern” (i.e., not dead tree form) of TEO writing I am aware of.

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Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Life isn’t fair

Thursday, March 6, 2008

http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2008/03/life-isnt-fair.html

Life isn’t fair, or, why people who are irritable get more irritable, and people who are cheery get more cheery.

***Begin Quote***

I love finding a precise term for things I’ve observed in the word. It’s so satisfying to discover concepts like Schadenfreude, or “acting in reliance,” or wabi-sabi. One of my favorite parts of writing my book Power Money Fame Sex: A User’s Guide was making up new terms: platinum rule, eye stray, object lust, ubiniquity.

***End Quote***

‘pleasure taken from someone else’s misfortune’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude

an economic harm for acting in reliance on a party who failed to fulfill their obligation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliance_damages_(law)

beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi

Platinum Rule as “Never ever, ever, ever ‘love’ thy neighbor.” His point was that one should never date someone seen on a regular basis, e.g. someone at the same workplace, a next door neighbor, etc. because such relationships never work out in the end and lead to never-ending suffering, as those involved would see each other constantly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platinum_Rule

“eye stray”?
Girl watching while with your significant other?

“object lust”?

ubiniquity?

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Posted by reinkefj

FUN: Why Are Wedding Dresses White?

Thursday, March 6, 2008

From: Frau Reinke’s High School Chum
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 7:38 PM
Subject: Why Are Wedding Dresses White?

*** begin quote ***

I’d take a bet that this guy never said this loud enough so his wife can hear this:

>Son asked his mother the following question:
>
> “Mom , why are wedding dresses white?” The mother replies, “Son, this shows everyone that your bride is pure.”
>
> The son thanks his Mom and goes off to double-check this with his father. “Dad why are wedding dresses white?”
>
> The father looks at his son in surprise and says, “Son, all household appliances come in white.”

*** end quote ***

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No sucker money here. But, it is funny. Especially in today’s day and age.

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Posted by reinkefj

WRITING: “survival fiction” — some further thinking

Thursday, March 6, 2008

It might be interesting to write “a story with choices”.

I remember paper books being published which at the bottom of every page gave you a choice. “If X should go left, turn to page number Y. If X should go right, turn to page Z.” I remember being very anal in those days and literally ripping the book apart and mapping the various alternative choices. It was amazing in that the author (script writer?) had several choices “rejoin” a string. I used the same technique when I played Willie Crowther’s (original author) Adventure. It was Don Woods’ expansion that led me to “contribute” my time to the computer industry’s two week delay while everyone solved the game. You know the one with “twisty caves all alike”. The man was diabolic. At least I wasn’t diverted into real life D&D (popular with the Princeton U crowd) or lured into computer gaming. No, I stayed focused on the Wall Street and its money. Never made it, but chased it for decades.

So it would seem that it would be possible — easy in the days of blogs and the web — to translate a story in this form to a user experience. It would really translate into print, but it might be like a very “flat” computer game.

Hmmm?

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Posted by reinkefj

WRITING: The blog as a follow on to the old movie serial

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Interesting that fan, patriot, and and other writing forms seem to have adopted the chapter per blog post format.

Here’s an exemplar.

http://ed-day.blogspot.com

ED Day – Dead Sydney

*** begin quote ***

A serialized novel by Darryl Mason. Set in Sydney in the months after the bird flu pandemic kills millions. The story follows three hundred survivors as they try to rebuild their society, in a city of the dead. New chapters will be posted each week.

*** end quote ***

Fascinating to see what may be a revival of a genre?

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