Reminiscing

Where were you December 1955?













Where were you March 1962?

It has not sunk in yet

Well, I have some bad news that will probably change this blog permanently, as it is changing my life the most dramatically since I appeared the day before FDR died, April 11, 1945.

I was diagnosed with some kind of a abdominal tumor monday night. It is there in the cat scan, so there is no doubt about its existence, but over the next week or so of tests I will find out about its malignancy or lack thereof, effect on other systems in my body, and options. It is 9 cm and in a terrible location and very serious. It might have even caused the terrible debilitating pain in my legs and other mischief over the last two years that has limited my ability to do physical or interactive jobs.

It confounded the doctors when I went in the last two weeks with pains in my body all over, like side pains and sort of non-specific body pains, including my chest area. but they were not heart-ailment-like chest pains, and my blood pressure was sky high. They thought it might have been an infection, but that did not turn out to be so. Indeed my EKG and other things showed they thought my heart was strong, I had high O2 saturation so my lungs and heart were not raising an alarm, my blood sugar and other tests were negative for diabetes, the disease that would most explain a lot of my adema, tingling, etc. but it just didn't seem to be that. My overweight condition has been an easy thing to blame for much of my problems, but it was going further now. Finally I kept complaining of the pains and they did a cat scan to see if there might have been some blockage or abdominal thing that didn't show in x-ray. They found it. With this as a backdrop, they agreed to prescribe some real pain medicine for me that is keeping me fairly straight for the time being. The state that the pain medicine returns me to is not a really normal nor a comfortable one, leaving me without good sleep and even during the day, I have to sit very still or shift to find a position that relieves the strange feelings.

Sorry to pass on this news this way, but somehow it helps me to put it out there. I will speak to everybody personally soon.

Almost Never told Vietnam story

In 1967 I had signed up for an extra year beyond my Army 2 year draft notice time in an attempt to stay out of the infantry. Against the backdrop of my high school friend Gary Scott being killed as an infantry officer timed with my going in, I nixed my OCS path that would have made me his replacement, most likely, and got into supply instead. I should have joined the band, but I didn't think of it. This actually turned out to be a good move, since even though I was in Vietnam by January of '68, "Tet", I ended up in "Automated Supply", a computer services operation in a relatively safe area in Vietnam, if there was such a thing. We tracked, stocked and ordered replacement parts for all of the helicopters in the country. Some of the operation was classified secret, and everything was top priority. Several times had to urgently have a special delivery of a needed tail rotor or something from St.Louis with nothing else on the flight but that one part! Our Army suply unit was in a compound called "Tent City B" just outside the Ton-Sun-Nhut Air Force base, the busiest airport in the world at the time, and we were not too far from the place that Westmoreland stayed. Due to the IBM 360-40 mainframe computer in the building (today's desktop computers are more powerful), we enjoyed air conditioning and secretaries and fairly lax controls, by army standards at the time. After our day "at the office" we walked or jeeped a half mile to the barracks, where we had bunks and lockers and mama-sans to shine boots, wash and iron , clean up during the day. We were in a relatively safe area. There were the occasional snipings on the edge of the base, grenades being found with pulled pins in the back of trucks passing through crowds outside of town, mortar rounds hitting in our near area, the closest to me was when one VC 120mm mortar fried a helicopter not 100 yards from where I slept, and other hazards of living in the midst of a war zone, but by and large we were relatively safe. I mean especially compared to the vast majority of army people who were scattered out in remote places of the country, and carried guns and were more exposed to danger all the time. I can tell stories of notable other exceptions, but we were even relatively safe when we pulled rotating guard duty all night long every few weeks. This guard duty is my story for today.

Tent City B, with its chain link and barbed wire exterior would have nestled right up into a residential suburban saigon area except for a buffer zone of about 100 yards or more that was sort of rolling grassy area like the edge of a golf course or something. These residential areas beyond the fence had low shacky houses with adobe looking walls, wooden boxy houses with long sloping roofs, multi family it looked like, or at least many people disappeared into the houses . During the day you could see people scurrying around, men in their dull clothing and women in those silky pajama-like things and the conical architypical hats, and the sad eyed kids by the scores. These residential areas near cities were supposedly friendly south vietnamese population, but there was no way to know if they were infiltrated with VC or sympathisers as well. As I learned about half way into my stint there, the south vietnamese that we were there fighting for weren't uniformly happy about us either. A light bulb went off for me when a local girl who keypunched for us told me that she couldn't even ever tell her neighbors that she worked for the Americans on the base, so she told them she worked for the South Vietnamese officials. If they knew, she would be scorned.

Anyway, we clerks and computer nerds and others in our operation had to pull armed guard duty in this buffer zone every night just to keep an eye out and be there I guess in case we were needed. The way the rotation worked, I think I had to do this every three weeks, but I can't recall. Did I mention we were not seasoned soldiers? Sgt Bilko would have recognized us. We were issued grenade launchers, flares, rifles, live ammo, and those big machine guns on tripods for the end bunkers, but we had had minimal training on any of these things. I had an M16 the first night I was out there. We would form up and string out along a line next to the base perimiter out on the grass, and in bunkers and foxholes that were already there. You went out there about dark, and stayed awake until morning. Nobody really told you what you were supposed to do, or under what conditions you would use the guns or whatever. It was a really strange setup. I'm sure there was a chain of command to higher authority if something really started happening, but we felt like we were on our own. I was one of the higher ranking, since I had made seargant by being able to read 80x80 computer cards efficiently.

Well this one night I had opted for a flare instead of a rifle, and secretly had decided I was going to shoot it off, if I could figure out how it worked. I noticed that they didn't account for these very precicely like the guns and ammo, and they were expendable. I figured If somebody asked, I would say we heard something out there and wanted to light it up to see what it was.

It was in a canister tube thing about two feet long and 3 inches in diameter. The way it worked is that you took a cap off of one end and put it on the other end. That cap had a firing pin in it, and striking it would fire a flare out of the tube. I had seen these flares used at a distance, and they were really bright. A phosphorous ball or something shot out and up and spread light like an umbrella over a big area. This would be good to light up a target for helicopter fire, or investigate movements, or whatever. I was nervous for a couple of hours thinking about trying one out. Here's a sketch of how the cap fit on the other end and was rapped to shoot off the flare. Also, I wan't sure how to aim it. Since I was sitting down, I figured a safe way to do it was to pound it on the ground in front of me, to have control of it as it shot upward, like this:
___.___________

Well, that's not the way it happened! As I struck the ground in front of me, I couldn't keep the the bottom from sliding towards me, and the business end of the flare aimed straight out like a howitzer!
______

The phosphorous ball, instead of shooting aloft, streaked forward about 1 foot off the ground, whoooosshshshsh and struck like a fireball right through the wires and slam into the wall of some poor local person's house about a football field away from us! All heck broke loose.
Men and women came out with blankets and buckets and put it out with much hubbub. Luckily nobody was hurt as far as we could tell, bravely cowering in the bottom of the foxholes hoping that they wouldn't shoot back.

My version of the High Point story

When I was in first grade, (1951?) Dad moved the family from Eggertsville (Buffalo NY) to North Carolina. He had been personnel manager hiring people for a new Sylvania plant there, and apparently when the hiring was done, we moved back up north to LeRoy NY, and he similarly opened the Sylvania plant in Batavia. Here is a googleshot of our house we lived in then, 708 Montilieu Ave. High Point NC: The view is looking south. I am a little confused about which house is which, but I'll figure it out. Below is sort of a brain dump of my memories from that short time being a young tarheel.



Upper left is the woods I started on fire playing with matches. The Ray Street School, which Merry and I went to was torn down years ago, but was about a mile to the right here. I found the vacant lot for that school when Martha and I went back there. I also found Armstrong Park, where I remember catching crawfish and learning to make boondoggle lanyards in the summer at sort of a day camp.

I think I remember sitting in the living room watching TV with ads for Lucks Pinto Beans and Orville the Orkin Man, and probably the Howdy Doody show.
I remember the "Why you shouldn't drink water" animated lamp stashed in the upstairs closet.
I remember there was a Mulberry tree right beside the garage that we climbed to get on the roof.
I remember setting rat traps in the back yard and prying the rats out. Is that possible? I was in first grade.
I remember in school the teacher made some kind of jelly trays as some part of preparing masters for the mimeograph machine. It seems like I can smell it now.
I remember going out from the classroom to take the chalk whitened erasers from the big black blackboards that lined the room and pound them on the grate that covered the window wells beside the playground. I think it was a reward, not a duty to do this.
I remember a little one-roomed red school house in the back of the school, which had been the previous school, and it was still used for something.
I remember being teased by two kids at school for chewing on my pencil, and got a bucky beaver nickname.
I remember the plastic tokens they used for lunches in the cafeteria smelled like throw up to me. (or was that later?)
I remember that we knew of a family that lived nearby that the kids supposedly ate soap sometimes.
I remember that we had a black cat named Yose-mite who we left behind by mistake at a fair far away and she found her way home by herself.
I remember a few times Dad drove us out in the country to a fish fry restaurant and we had hush puppies.
I remember Dad bringing a movie projector and screen home from work and us sitting in the dark living room watching a travelogue type movie about a car trip through the south, including the blue ridge mountains.
I remember I was allowed to go by myself by bus downtown to the YMCA for some sort of swimming or sport of some kind. Is this possible?
I remember too well being bit on the lips by the neighbor Mrs. Johnson's collie. I had tried to chase it down with a rope, and it got me in the struggle. I remember crying and thrashing as the doctor and my parents tried to make me lie still for them to sew my lip. I felt guilty years later about that, because from time to time I felt self conscious about that scar, and realized I had probably made it worse by resisting.
I remember Dad and Mom hired a Mayflower Moving Van to move us to our next home on Summit St. in LeRoy, and the driver was Mr. Sullivan, who according to legend was very good to us. Some things were packed in cardboard barrels that had metal clamped hoops holding the tops on.
I remember these things, but what did I have for lunch yesterday? Not a clue.

Pet Peeves

Plastic Baseball cap brims?
I don't like the way they make baseball caps now with that stupid plastic in the brim. Any boomer kid can tell you that the idea of wearing your cap (of course not backwards) is to wear it in and get the curve of the brim and the peak of the front just right. Sort of like breaking in a baseball glove. The problem with the plastic brims is they are too curved for one thing, and you can't change the shape. No personality.

You would fit the cap to your head, and each time you take it off or adjust it, you give it a little curving, a little bending, and you work on it from time to time when you are just fiddling. The cardboard in there had a memory. If it wasn't shaping up, you could get it wet and let it dry with some newspaper stuck in it to help block it.

The sad thing is that I worry about this, but almost never wear a cap.

========================

Centigrade vs Celcius??
When I was a kid, you had farenheight and centigrade scales on thermometers. If push came to shove, I think we might have known that celsius was another name for centigrade, but the media and everybody today has forgotten about centigrade and switched to celsius. Who did this and why? And why didn't they ask me?

I bet Mrs.Fortmiller, my H.S. math teacher would not believe that I still can on paper convert back and forth. Tc=(5/9)*[(Tf-32)] . . . . .Tf=[(9/5)*Tc] +32


=======================

And when did they start calling the planet Ur a'nis Ur' uhn is? It seems to me it was because people didn't like the snickers when they mentioned the rings around Uranis. Understandable, but we shouldn't let the jokesters force us to change our whole language.

=======================

While I am on words, how about "Pointsettia?" In the old days we knew that there was an "i" in there when you spelled it, like for spelling bees, but the i was silent! As I remember it, everyone said "point-set-a" without fear of mispronouncing it. Then the ignorants took over and in a mistaken effort to look smart, started pronouncing the "i" to prove they were literate. Enough people were embarassed to pronounce it the old way, so the "i"s took over.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Update: Oh, yeah, Leah reminds me that "There's no point in poinsettia" Ummm, Should I use my bad memory excuse or my ignorance excuse? Umm . . . let's see.

Japanese theme computer

There is a kind of one-upsmanship among some young (at heart) techies to modify computer cases to wild themes, many times involving neon lights and all that. Here is one that goes a more artsy direction.

Opportunity knocks?

I got two funny telephone marketing calls today on my second line. They did have a valid referral from a company I know, and I had foolishly put that second line number on a registration form one time, and they were calling me by the fake name I had used. So I didn't blow them away but cautiously let them start the pitch, partially for curiosity.

The first one said they had a really interesting moneymaking opportunity (which I do need) and they didn't sound too pushy, and asked me if I wanted to listen to the details. I said yes, as long as it wasn't some crazy Amway type thing where they never tell you what it is they are selling, just that you can make tons of money to buy a yacht and isn't that great. By the time I was through that sentence I was laughing because they had hung up.

The second one was offering an "Online Pharmacy" of my own.
Pitch girl: You do know that millions of people are looking for alternative sources for pharmaceuticals, don't you? --yadda yadda-- You do have a major credit card and would be willing to invest around $300 in a business of your own wouldn't you?
Me: No, I'm not so sure about that.
Pitch girl: "-click-"

Gordon E. Miller

I've been meaning to put up something about my Grandfather, my mom's dad, who gave me my "G". He died when I was a kindergartner, (b1877, d1952) but I have vague memory of him digging deep in his suit pockets for goodies, and even a fuzzier memory of him carving an acorn pipe and a willow whistle for me in a park in Mercer, but this may be from stories from mom. We have that old wire recording of his voice singing a Canadian Indian song, for he came from Washago, Ontario.

He was an artistic man, and at this time court stenographer at the courthouse in Mercer Pennsylvania, the county seat, which seemed to be quite a distinguished position. I looked up an old map of the area and it is remarkable to see that all the roads went out from Mercer like the spokes of a wheel to all corners of the county.

We have some interesting art work that he drew in 1913 when he apparently attended "The Stevenson Art School at Wood Dr. and Third Ave." in Pittsburgh. He liked to draw little ant-like figures along with witty comments. Here is "Sharps and Flats"



Here is the front and back of what you might call a courting postcard to (my Grandmother) Miss Eleanor Kohler with a cartoon about Smith's dress shop. No date on it.



Next, check this newspaper clipping from 1937 of a notable murder trial with a court scene showing Gordon seated in front of the Judge.

________^^^____(click for large original)

MS stupidity

Although Microsoft has done better in recent offerings, they still just can't help itself in its dumb and condescending comments and error messages. For one thing, they always sound as if the computer is actually talking to me. Or blaming me! Stop it!

This error message is more like a therapy session!
No, you bozo, I didn't forget. The keyboard repeated, or I hit two keys at once, or whatever.


When you request a receipt for an email, and it comes back to you, microsoft Outlook Express feels the need to put this message on it:

This is a Return Receipt for the mail that you sent to xyz@abc.com

Note: This Return Receipt only acknowledges that the message was displayed on the recipient's computer. There is no guarantee that the recipient has read or understood the message contents.

Duuh? I thought it was guaranteed that the recipient has read every word and understood it. (?) I get replies to emails that prove some recipients don't understand a word I wrote.

Stormy weather memories

Memories come various forms. We tend to think of visual things as memories, but the sounds, smells, and environmental combinations of senses have made their marks on us as well. One such memory of mine goes back to one night in 1964. There was an exceptional spring storm in Pennsylvania. I recall precisely where I was and how I felt. I'm sure I could go back in the records and find the very date of that storm in the record books, since it produced floods and local damage. It was quite an event.

For me it was more than the dark and stormy night referred to in the cheap novels and in the writings of Snoopy. I was overwhelmed.

The rain was driving but not steady, sort of in sheets or dumps like some giant bucket was distributing water from above, thrown in arcs by and unseen giant, spreading it around. The sky was dark and the low clouds were transparently illuminated in puffs of light every time the lightning flashed. There was a magical quality to it all.

The huge leafy trees swayed and howled, seemingly choreographed by the forces to sway in an irregular rhythm. The wind tunnel effect and the downpour made whooshing sounds, accented by thunder. For some reason I felt exhilarated, on edge, maybe on an adrenalin natural high.

I was looking forward to the adventure of going out in this bluster, but I hesitated to drink it all in. The diagonal rain that was already hitting me was not uncomfortable at all, since the rain and air were quite warm. I stood there unable to move.

The wind! A integral part of this sensory memory was the swirling and forceful wind that accompanied the rain. The power and motion of it grabbed me, became a part of me. I remember savoring the pleasure of the moment, almost as if to predict that it would be something I would remember forty years later.

I have that emotional memory of standing, poised in that doorway. I was cocked as if ready to burst out of the starting blocks for a 100 yard dash, anticipating the thrill of the wind and rain. The sounds, wind, rain, fresh smell of ozone, the spooky but overpowering sensation was exciting. I never since have had that same wild and thrilling feeling, right to my very core, but a glimpse of it comes back to me as a memory in some storms today. When the winds whip up and things get wild, it gets my attention.

Understandable history experience

This is a wonderful resource for historical American graphics, sounds, politcal images,
maps and charts, all kinds of sensory riches, all in date categories. I have to show a few
favorites from The Authentic History Center web site:

I actually have this "K-K-K-Katy" sheet music cover.

This navy poster may show the role of women
has changed, but at least they weren't ashamed
to use the subjunctive.





And good ol' Charles Atlas
inspiring the 90 pound
weaklings.

Eight Inch Floppy

This might be a cheesy post, but I just ran across an old 8" Floppy in my file cabinet, qualifying for the dead media award of the week. You can see from the holes that I stick-pinned it to a couple of bulletin boards along the way, but it once had data on it as I recall. Which machine, what format, what language, is lost to the ages. Notice the hole in the lower left, which was usually covered with tape for write enable. Later (but also dead?) 3.5 floppies reversed that, and closed the hole for protect. Also notice the index hole to the right of the spindle hole that was to keep track of the hard sector boundaries. Double sided, double density! Probably held ~200-300K?

Scientific Facts

NASA's images from space are always amazing, for instance this crystal clear one from the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn. It looks like you can reach right out and grab this moon. The whole scene sort of looks like it could be a work of art thrown on a potter's wheel from clay, the moon spattered with fliks for dramatic effect.
NASA link

BUT have I mentioned I get more questioning as I get older? This wonderful Hubbel image of "Ring Galaxy AM 0644-741" below, is equally great, and I love to see the images, but I question the confident, settled and conclusive attitude of the descriptions of this kind of thing by the astronomers who write the copy.

Not to disparage the scientists, but the explanation is as if they are describing a ham sandwich, it is so certain. Oh, yes, this is 300 MILLION LIGHT YEARS AWAY, and is not even seen with visible light, and we have to reconsruct the data, but we are sure of everything. They casually state that these rings form in the collision of two galaxies, and USUALLY when this happens, the stars don't collide, and Rarely this and that yadda yadda yadda. Yeah, Right! Like they have seen many of these things occur in real time (millions of light years), and these are established scientific facts.

Excuse me, this is all very smart and logical scientific THEORY, not fact.

And the anthropologist knows the shape of an ancient man's flesh from two or three petrified skull fragments, and some leg bones, too. I've seen the sketches, so they must be true.
NASA link

Ancient Music Videos

Here are two memory lane type videos from the world of music. Don't like
external links, but these work better this way, linking over to "zippyvideos".

The first is a Beach Boys thing. Interesting to hear the music, which hasn't
aged at all, but see the faces of these young kids, including Brian Wilson, who looks
so incredibly young. (I want in the comments, the story of my brother John who is rumored to have mixed for them back then. )

The other is Karen Carpenter on the Ed Sulivan show, 1970. Who could not be just bowled over at the first sounds coming out of her mouth? Just breathtaking. You would expect a rich sound like that coming from a Mama Cass size frame person, but how did she do it, especially with her illness which made her even lighter.

Google the new MS?

Headline: (hat tip to scott)
Digital Media Asia: News - NASA, Google to collaborate on 'entrepreneurial space industry'

All these marvelous, surprising and enthusiastic things that Google keeps getting into, and the hundreds of things you assume they are doing behind the scenes in their "labs" as we speak makes me keep thinking about the difference. The contrast between their actions and Microsoft's way of doing things, years ago, and even now.

For example Microsoft often bought out other companies not to have the new idea and do something exciting, but sometimnes in a defensive way, to put a competitor out of business so they wouldn't stop MS and their ho-hum ordinary stuff from succeeding. Suing rivals to slow them down, doing anything to prevail.

Google bursts out with a whole different attitude, like acquiring Keyhole to introduce Google Earth. They knew they could do something great with it, and they did. Microsoft always was predatory, never appreciating the third party software and even hardware (I mean, what was MS, a software company doing making mice or emulator boards for Apple II?) that helped them become the monopoly that they thought they had to be to keep from failing.

Instead, Google seems to have the crazy idea that if they do great, interesting and useful things, people will like that, and that will drive success. I certainly hope they prove that that is the better way to go about things.

Silver Clef Music

One new music publisher, Silver Clef Music, really is out in front, and I hope they are successful. They specialize in sheet music for school, community, and church groups - particularly bands, choirs, and orchestras, and for solos and ensembles of musicians from those types of groups. David Miller started this publisher of printed and digital sheet music to be part of the solution and the vanguard of the future, rather than part of the past.

Copyright laws at the heart, really leave reproduction rights and restrictions up to the owners and the publishers of music as to what is and is not permitted. Traditionally if you copy a piece in any way, xerox, hand copy, transcription, digital, you were in copyright violation because the publisher prohibited it. In practice, people violate this too much, and with the 21st century, it is harder for these copyright laws to be followed. Silver Cleff gives more practical and modern permission while still holding copyright and hopefully getting fair compensation for the sets they sell. Here is their short description:

We offer copyright permissions unique to the instrumental music world . . . . When you purchase music from Silver Clef, you also get the right to make as many copies as you need for the instrumentation or voicing of your group. If you have 32 horn players, just print 32 horn parts. If someone loses their music, or marks it up in ink, just print more. No problem.

The only thing you're not allowed to do is to give (sell, lend, transport, telepathically deliver) it to another group. Let them buy their own copy. But you'll never have a lost part again. You'll never have to forgo playing a wonderful Silver Clef arrangement because all the trombone parts are missing, or because all the viola parts have crumbled to dust.

Hopefully other publishers will follow this lead as we go further into the digital age. It is so practical and wonderful to have a .pdf file containing all the perfectly done parts for each instrument, or voice, and print it out when you need it without feeling like you are doing something wrong. Or in the future, maybe those parts will appear on a networked digital screen stand rather than being printed at all.

Just one more wonderful thing that Silver Clef is doing. They have started "Project Sousa", the "Project Gutenburg" for the music world, making whole arrangements of public domain pieces available to the public at no charge. The first music they completed were John Philip Sousa's own band pieces and marches. FREE! All in pdf! Amazing.

Future thin client computers?

I start this thread saying that desktop computers have evolved so they are too complex for their own good. Windows has tried to be all things and add multimedia, support for all sorts of content and hairy programs, making it vulnerable to viruses and other inherent problems just because it is trying to do so many complex things seamlessly, connected to the internet pipeline, subject to any kind of input.

In a nutshell, if you really try to DO something with the computer, it slows down, crashes, stops working the way it used to, and is a royal pain. Even power users have probably unacceptable levels of updates, repairs, re-boots, reformats, and typical users don't want to, don't have the time, or can't cope with the daily problems that seem to pop up. Time and expense.

The solution may not be yet another version of Windows, or OSX, or whatever.

The industry newsletters reported this Microsoft insider story:

Jim Allchin, a senior Microsoft Corp. executive, walked into Bill Gates's office here one day in July last year to deliver a bombshell about the next generation of Microsoft Windows.

"It's not going to work," Mr. Allchin says he told the Microsoft chairman. The new version, code-named Longhorn, was so complex its writers would never be able to make it run properly.

Well maybe they got beyond that, maybe they didn't, but are you betting that Longhorn, now called "Vista" will be the solution?

What is the possible solution? "Thin Clients"

In the 90's Citrix invented a system which takes all of the hassle of maintaining a PC away! A central server has all the goodies. Many clients simultaneously log on remotely from terminals, and use it as if it were there own. Slower computers and networks slowed acceptance back then, but Microsoft at first licensed the software from Citrix, then tried to steal the idea, but were stopped by a lawsuit, which lead to "Terminal Services" that Microsoft provides, but pays Citrix for the code. I know this because I knew someone who worked for Citrix in those days and told me about it. Microsoft was predatory, according to him.

I use my laptop that way. It's older, but not ancient, and I couldn't and didn't want to replicate all the programs on my main PC. So I set up just the bare bones, and wirelessly connect by Terminal Services to my main computer in the cellar, which acts as a sort of server. All that is transmitted is the keyboard and the screen ( thin client). It is so fast and responsive that I can hardly tell I am not on the other machine. Some video and sound is not perfect, but would be with even faster connections.

All my settings, updates, software, bookmarks, text files reminders are there, because actually I am there electronically.

Well imagine your PC just connected to the internet with who cares what minimum client operating system, pay a monthly fee to be connected to a server. It has all the programs you want. You don't have to worry about slowdowns, updates, viruses, conflicts, just use the computer. Of course some registry of settings would be stored for your individual setup, but that might not even be local.

If you have used a "Blackberry" or cell phone or such device to get on the internet, you get the idea. Just put that on a big screen with a keyboard, and there you have it. No license of windows necessary (sorry, Bill). No need to troubleshoot or wrestle with technical troubles. That burden is shifted to a server somewhere, where hundreds of clients can log in simultaneously as if it were their own personal setup.

Kitchen low-tech

This seems so trivial, but Martha Stewart is out, so I will do it in her honor.
It has been a while since I went into one of those kitchen gadget specialty shops, but we used to laugh because no matter how complete, they never had the three things I thought were the best things in our kitchen. "Oh, we at Kitchens R Us have, or can get anything.", they say, but I get the last laugh because they don't ever have them. These were made by somebody once, because we have 'em, but they must have lost the molds, because you never see them for sale.
1. The best ladel ever made made. Not available now.

Not to go too crazy here, but the flat edge is great to scrape the last of the soup or whatever out. The pan is flat. Why do they make ladles all rounded and oval shape?
2. A simple plastic ring transforms any common plastic waste basket into a better functioning and trim holder for a liner or a paper bag.


3. The third one I don't have a picture of because I wore out both of these I used to have. It was made out of very flexible plastic or nylon, and was about the length and shape of a big 12" carving knife. Sort of a long thin spatula. I used it to make scrambled eggs or an omlette in a frying pan. The flexible blade would bend under and scrape the sides and the bottom at the same time. Can't describe it any better, but it beat anything else.

Chinese Inflatable Spam

I almost deleted it, but somehow it had a curious look to it, so I clicked an unsolicited email from a Chinese company which sells huge custom made inflated plastic "toys".

"We manufacture high quality and good price inflatable products in any size or style, please browse the inflatable products sorts."

Bouncers______Castles_________ Sports __________ Slides_______ Fun City


This, unlike 99.999% of spam, was an interesting ad, from an honest company with a Real Product , They gave their real location, and legitimate contacts, opt out click, etc.. In short, if all our unsolicited mail were like this, we could tolerate it! I mean how long are we, as smart mail consumers, going to put up with these fake mortgage, drug ads, scams, not to mention the viruses, that we have to find ways to filter out?

But spam discussion aside, I love these things and the company ad with its pretty-good English. Althought they never mention the prices, which they quote when you inquire, I bet they range form 200$ up. The shipping alone is estimated at ~$250 if you only order one. They come with electric fan blowers that keep them up, and a repair kit. I don't mean to sound like an infomercial, but they are interesting! (Just think of Richie Rich's birthday party) Some of them are huge - 30 feet high - and complex. You've probably seen them as grand opening displays, on top of shopping centers for promotions, etc., but they have hundreds of them, and will custom make one to your design if you want!

Internet vs Katrina

My internet hosting company, DirectNIC had an intereting challenge last week. You can see from my sitemeter graphs here that there was a bite out of page views mainly on friday and saturday. DirectNIC offices and servers are in an office building in New Orleans. One of the owners has had media attention with his blog during the hurricane and aftermath. He put out pictures and stories from the streets when others were escaping to high ground. When the power went out, the city shut down, support service companies left, and everyone advised them to throw in the chips, they stuck it out and with luck and hard work, never lost connectivity, even though they admitedly had problems and loss of some activities. They ran on deisel back up generators, as did the company next door who supplied the OC3 line to the internet. They waited for resupply of fuel that was promised, but not delivered on time, they kept tech support up for existing customers, and this is not a trivial thing, since they are one of the major internet hosting companies in the country.

Interestingly enough, my web sites were available at first when the hurricane went through, but finally went out on fridayand saturday, but bounced back quickly. I was impressed that they sent me a quick response to my email and let me know what was happening.

Here was an entry in the "Interdictor" blog yesterday:

The city really does look like a ghost town. It's so bizarre to see streets which are normally highly trafficed having such a limited flow of vehicles. And at night it's weird to see all these high rises with no light coming from the buildings. No street lights, no traffic lights, the clock on the Whitney Bank building on Poydras and Camp -- a widely recognized feature -- is stopped. The debris is still everywhere. Cars abandoned all over the place. Abandoned and trashed. And the quiet. Aside from the occasional vehicle, this place has no sound. Every piece of glass that used to be a high rise window which hits the ground can be heard blocks away.

I wonder how things will be different in this city when this is all behind us.

Update: On cam, way down the street, you can see what appears to be an armed military foot patrol. First one I've seen.

Oh, yeah they have a live web cam: Web Cam