Woke up with a killer one-sided headache/earache. I have these all the time; I have had since 1996 and the cause is...dunno. Possibly triggered by some dental/sinus issues long since resolved but after spending years and tens of thousands of dollars on highly qualified specialists, high-zoot imaging, multiple surgeries and the Very Best drugs, I'm over hunting it; it just is. It's a part of my universe as dependable as sunrise.
But dang, some mornings are unbearably bright. I've taken three ibuprofen (an hour ago) and the sound of typing is still like being jabbed with a knitting needle. Several fine bouts of vertigo, too, which I try to experience as bonus freefall time without the bother and expense of chartering a big airplane.
And to add to the joy? Why, I've got to go get my teeth cleaned this very morning.
Won't. that. be. fun.
Friday, December 04, 2009
Thursday, December 03, 2009
I Am Deeply Suspicious
...Of this bunch of fear-mongers. They've been running ads on the local TV stations, ads that look like trailers for Soylent Green, warning of horror an' violence if we don't all turn off the fridge, the furnace, the TV (?!!!), give up clean water an' go live in mud huts, eating only what we can grow usin' our own excrement as fertilizer. Otherwise, they warn, after Glow-ball Warmening, we'll all be livin' in a Third-World hellhole!
H'mmm. Not seein' the difference, except maybe in one of the latter I could lay hands on an AK-47 more easily, which might help when the colander-wearing hordes try'n take the last of the bacon.
Tracking back, they're an arm of ASP, an acronym that sounds like baddies right straight out of a James Bond movie -- no, make that Matt Helm.
And at ASP HQ, who do we find on the Board? Why, look, it's Gary Hart (former Democrat Senator from Extramarital Dating), John Kerry (D-Mass, "The Deerstalker"), Richard L. "Security Leak" Armitage (nominally Republican), Nelson Cunningham (of the Clinton Administration Cunningham), Brigadier General Stephen Cheney of the Marine Military Academy (a Marine?! Another Clinton-era Washington guy), Lieutenant General Daniel Christman (former director of the Kimsey Foundation) and so on and mostly-Left so forth.
If I don't sound impressed, it's because I'm not. I haven't found the Joyce Foundation connection yet but I wouldn't be surprised if there is one. ASP is another partisan effort, using fear to sell ever-growing government encroachment upon people's lives and freedom. By linking the spectres of terrorism and "global warming" (Heloooo, Medieval Warm Period anyone? Bueller?), it looks to me that they hope to create fear all across the political spectrum and use it to manipulate public opinion. They are the New Carpetbaggers, demagogues of the most despiciable stripe. I hope you're not falling for their miserable fnords.
H'mmm. Not seein' the difference, except maybe in one of the latter I could lay hands on an AK-47 more easily, which might help when the colander-wearing hordes try'n take the last of the bacon.
Tracking back, they're an arm of ASP, an acronym that sounds like baddies right straight out of a James Bond movie -- no, make that Matt Helm.
And at ASP HQ, who do we find on the Board? Why, look, it's Gary Hart (former Democrat Senator from Extramarital Dating), John Kerry (D-Mass, "The Deerstalker"), Richard L. "Security Leak" Armitage (nominally Republican), Nelson Cunningham (of the Clinton Administration Cunningham), Brigadier General Stephen Cheney of the Marine Military Academy (a Marine?! Another Clinton-era Washington guy), Lieutenant General Daniel Christman (former director of the Kimsey Foundation) and so on and mostly-Left so forth.
If I don't sound impressed, it's because I'm not. I haven't found the Joyce Foundation connection yet but I wouldn't be surprised if there is one. ASP is another partisan effort, using fear to sell ever-growing government encroachment upon people's lives and freedom. By linking the spectres of terrorism and "global warming" (Heloooo, Medieval Warm Period anyone? Bueller?), it looks to me that they hope to create fear all across the political spectrum and use it to manipulate public opinion. They are the New Carpetbaggers, demagogues of the most despiciable stripe. I hope you're not falling for their miserable fnords.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
It. Does. Not. Work. That. Way.
GPS: I keep stumbling over this in books, films and on The TV and not only is it jarring, it's gonna get some tenderfoot killed dead if they don't knock it off.
A GPS device knows where it is (if it can receive signals from enough of the satellites). It cannot tell others where you are. Can not.
There is no transmitter in your handheld or dash-mounted GPS. It's not talking to the Global Positioning System Satellites; all it does is listen to them and then do some math. (As far as I know, the only people talking to GPS birds would be DoD and last I knew, that was in the form of admin-type stuff not in-the-field position info).
That said, there are ways to hang additional hardware on the GPS device and use that to send the GPS position to others; hams have been doing it for years. But it takes a transmitter and most of 'em are power-hungry. It is limited to the range the combination of frequency, power, antenna system and propagation conditions permit.
Your cellular telephone can be tracked back to the particular cell it is in and if your phone includes a GPS receiver, it can send that info, too. This is smaller and more power-efficient than the APRS alluded to in the previous paragraph but if you're in an area where there is no cellular coverage, oopsie! She no work.
(Update: Joe Huffman on phone tracking, privacy and how caution and even paranoia can't stop stupidity).
And again, the first thing is the GPS receiver has to have a lock on enough of the GPS satellites to be able to figure out where it is; in tunnels or between tall buildings, it may not work so well. Or at all.
So, writers, will you please, pleeeeeeeze stop breezily tossing "GPS tracking" into your work in the form of Character holding up GPS Receiver and remarking, "They can track us with this," 'cos they can't. Now, that iPhone you've been taking for granted, on the other hand....
(Side note: the slick way to write this for most adventure-type apps is to use a transponder, something that is polled and spits out the current or last-known-good GPS position, suitably flagged. This is economical of batteries, plausible, and darned hard for anyone who doesn't know how to poll it to locate using normal bug-hunting tools. For extra credit, use some form of decent data encryption and/or spread-spectrum; it can easily be about celphone-sized).
(P.S. GPS receivers can be spoofed. It's a neat trick. Uncle Sam knows how and he's not talkin').
A GPS device knows where it is (if it can receive signals from enough of the satellites). It cannot tell others where you are. Can not.
There is no transmitter in your handheld or dash-mounted GPS. It's not talking to the Global Positioning System Satellites; all it does is listen to them and then do some math. (As far as I know, the only people talking to GPS birds would be DoD and last I knew, that was in the form of admin-type stuff not in-the-field position info).
That said, there are ways to hang additional hardware on the GPS device and use that to send the GPS position to others; hams have been doing it for years. But it takes a transmitter and most of 'em are power-hungry. It is limited to the range the combination of frequency, power, antenna system and propagation conditions permit.
Your cellular telephone can be tracked back to the particular cell it is in and if your phone includes a GPS receiver, it can send that info, too. This is smaller and more power-efficient than the APRS alluded to in the previous paragraph but if you're in an area where there is no cellular coverage, oopsie! She no work.
(Update: Joe Huffman on phone tracking, privacy and how caution and even paranoia can't stop stupidity).
And again, the first thing is the GPS receiver has to have a lock on enough of the GPS satellites to be able to figure out where it is; in tunnels or between tall buildings, it may not work so well. Or at all.
So, writers, will you please, pleeeeeeeze stop breezily tossing "GPS tracking" into your work in the form of Character holding up GPS Receiver and remarking, "They can track us with this," 'cos they can't. Now, that iPhone you've been taking for granted, on the other hand....
(Side note: the slick way to write this for most adventure-type apps is to use a transponder, something that is polled and spits out the current or last-known-good GPS position, suitably flagged. This is economical of batteries, plausible, and darned hard for anyone who doesn't know how to poll it to locate using normal bug-hunting tools. For extra credit, use some form of decent data encryption and/or spread-spectrum; it can easily be about celphone-sized).
(P.S. GPS receivers can be spoofed. It's a neat trick. Uncle Sam knows how and he's not talkin').
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
News Salad
- Tiger Woods: The Accident: Day Whatever. Holy howling hell, give it up. If this had been a middle-class couple in Sandusky, OH, it would have not even made the papers.
- Anthropogenic Global Warming Fraud Revealed: Keep at 'em! The other side is not giving up and their agenda is clear. At this point, AGW is repeating the "cold fusion" mania, from the rush to replicate shaky results through the point at which the wheels start to fall off while True Believers yet cheer. Never forget, bad science is bad enough but bad policy based on bad science is far, far worse. "Wrong" isn't so terrible a thing in the Mechanik Arts when all that comes of it is you learn a lot of ways not to make a light bulb; "wrong" stinks on ice when you use it to make everybody use crummy light bulbs.
- They Snuck Into The White House: Big effing deal. They also went through a metal detector; once in they refrained from pulling glass knives and turnin' the joint into an abattoir. And they found a nasty hole in the security setup. Personally, I think The Gummint should give them both medals and then have 'em shot at dawn, but I'm sentimental like that.
- Obama Ramps Up The War In Afganistan: Yeah, like that's a surprise to anyone not on the far Left of his own party? The older I get, the more I'm liking Green Glass Diplomacy: bomb 'em flat or stay home, pick one. They tell me it's not practical. (And so what if the last guy to conquer the place was Alexander the Great, while later and with better weapons the British Empire and the USSR foundered in the attempt -- did they have the Audacity Of Hope? I think not! "Most hopeful quagmire evar!" Feh).
- Anthropogenic Global Warming Fraud Revealed: Keep at 'em! The other side is not giving up and their agenda is clear. At this point, AGW is repeating the "cold fusion" mania, from the rush to replicate shaky results through the point at which the wheels start to fall off while True Believers yet cheer. Never forget, bad science is bad enough but bad policy based on bad science is far, far worse. "Wrong" isn't so terrible a thing in the Mechanik Arts when all that comes of it is you learn a lot of ways not to make a light bulb; "wrong" stinks on ice when you use it to make everybody use crummy light bulbs.
- They Snuck Into The White House: Big effing deal. They also went through a metal detector; once in they refrained from pulling glass knives and turnin' the joint into an abattoir. And they found a nasty hole in the security setup. Personally, I think The Gummint should give them both medals and then have 'em shot at dawn, but I'm sentimental like that.
- Obama Ramps Up The War In Afganistan: Yeah, like that's a surprise to anyone not on the far Left of his own party? The older I get, the more I'm liking Green Glass Diplomacy: bomb 'em flat or stay home, pick one. They tell me it's not practical. (And so what if the last guy to conquer the place was Alexander the Great, while later and with better weapons the British Empire and the USSR foundered in the attempt -- did they have the Audacity Of Hope? I think not! "Most hopeful quagmire evar!" Feh).
Monday, November 30, 2009
Prejudiced People With Newspapers
The Bloomington Herald-Times is not only publishing a negative story about Hoosiers with gun permits, they've decided to provide a target list for burglars searchable database. Caleb has details.
Supposedly, the list will not include names, full addresses or telephone numbers. At least for now; it'll only hit on city/county/street name. What's next? A list of gay or Jewish neighborhoods? Perhaps they could list the locations of communists, smokers, Catholics and atheists! Or, wait, I know, I know, what could be more scary than veterans and Libertarians? Better warn the citizenry (who apparently consist only of those who think thoughts of which the newspaper approves) where such dire and dreadful types hang out.
Feckwits. These are the folks who arrange the logs, then pretend innocent surprise when others light the fire.
You've got to pay these weasels to read the articles and I wouldn't flip 'em a red-hot dime on a muggy summer afternoon, myself; here's a link to the perfervid headlines -- note how these breathless ijits put us on the "Crimes, Fires and Emergencies" page. Classy!
Sure would be a darned pity if we lobbied the state legislature make the carry-permit database off-limits.
HEY BLOOMINGTON HERALD-TIMES: I GOTTA GUN. YOU CAN'T HAVE IT. I hafta go wash now.
Supposedly, the list will not include names, full addresses or telephone numbers. At least for now; it'll only hit on city/county/street name. What's next? A list of gay or Jewish neighborhoods? Perhaps they could list the locations of communists, smokers, Catholics and atheists! Or, wait, I know, I know, what could be more scary than veterans and Libertarians? Better warn the citizenry (who apparently consist only of those who think thoughts of which the newspaper approves) where such dire and dreadful types hang out.
Feckwits. These are the folks who arrange the logs, then pretend innocent surprise when others light the fire.
You've got to pay these weasels to read the articles and I wouldn't flip 'em a red-hot dime on a muggy summer afternoon, myself; here's a link to the perfervid headlines -- note how these breathless ijits put us on the "Crimes, Fires and Emergencies" page. Classy!
Sure would be a darned pity if we lobbied the state legislature make the carry-permit database off-limits.
HEY BLOOMINGTON HERALD-TIMES: I GOTTA GUN. YOU CAN'T HAVE IT. I hafta go wash now.
Top O'The Mornin'
...It must be the top; I crawled too far to get here for it to reasonably be anythng else.
Yeech. Something's laid holt of me, possibly just too much Irish butter on too many sesame lavosh crackers.
Whatever it was, I made an early exit from Family Thanksgiving* with a queasy tummy; felt a little better when I reached Broad Ripple, so I dropped in at the BlogMeet and no sooner had I sat down there than my innards went adrift again.
So I made the trek to Roseholme Cottage, said Hi to Tam, did what needed doing, picked up a book and feel asleep on the couch. 1700ish by then. I was awakened about 2000 by Tam, who suggested I might wanna head off to my own room; stumbled in there and promptly zonked out again, totally out 'til the alarms screamed me most reluctantly awake at 0600 this fine morning and I clawed my way though blear and blankets into what passes for day, though not yet light.
I'm gonna go take a vitamin. It might help!
________________
* Of all the things I regret, having been estranged from my family for the better part of a decade is up at the top. Long dull story that includes trite tidbits like dropping out of college, pursuing unsuitable career in unstable biz (radio), etc.; details don't matter. Once you've been away long enough, no matter how much you love 'em, the skein of shared understanding, custom and habit is broken and it's not ever comin' back; you're always half a step behind, lacking context, never quite connected. Try'n avoid that if it ever comes up in your life. It's no damn fun.
Yeech. Something's laid holt of me, possibly just too much Irish butter on too many sesame lavosh crackers.
Whatever it was, I made an early exit from Family Thanksgiving* with a queasy tummy; felt a little better when I reached Broad Ripple, so I dropped in at the BlogMeet and no sooner had I sat down there than my innards went adrift again.
So I made the trek to Roseholme Cottage, said Hi to Tam, did what needed doing, picked up a book and feel asleep on the couch. 1700ish by then. I was awakened about 2000 by Tam, who suggested I might wanna head off to my own room; stumbled in there and promptly zonked out again, totally out 'til the alarms screamed me most reluctantly awake at 0600 this fine morning and I clawed my way though blear and blankets into what passes for day, though not yet light.
I'm gonna go take a vitamin. It might help!
________________
* Of all the things I regret, having been estranged from my family for the better part of a decade is up at the top. Long dull story that includes trite tidbits like dropping out of college, pursuing unsuitable career in unstable biz (radio), etc.; details don't matter. Once you've been away long enough, no matter how much you love 'em, the skein of shared understanding, custom and habit is broken and it's not ever comin' back; you're always half a step behind, lacking context, never quite connected. Try'n avoid that if it ever comes up in your life. It's no damn fun.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Content?
Oh, yeah, that -- um, I'm in a bit of a rush, as happens; I have Family Thanksgiving today, followed by a BlogMeet (at which I will show up late). Of course I have done Nothing Contributory To Getting There so far, having been distracted by housecleaning. (Really!) And by Monster Hunter International -- gee, that's a good book! (It's an uncommon subgenre. Marion Zimmer Brady did a few that were similar, maybe a bit more hippieish and a larger admixture of the Cthulhu Mythos; think Hellboy without Hellboy. And then there's F. Paul Wilson on one side and some of K. W. Jeter's work on the other, shading off into Tim Powers' later novels, but that's still not a whole lot and none of the others have put that Travis McGee spin on it).
A little freaked out right now: I went to look up an interesting book, Agnew H. Bahnson, Jr.'s The Stars Are Too High, only to discover Mr. Bahnson worked on -- held patents in! -- electrodynamic propulsion and died under unusual circumstances a few years after the book was written. However, said book describes an attempt by quite human engineers to use a working "flying saucer" they've built to the trick the world's governments into getting along. The effort, as I recall, fails; and as none of it ever happened (AFAIK), it'll have to be chalked up to wishful thinking, probably along with any "electrogravatic" effects of his experiments.
...Probably. Or maybe there's more to this Hidden Frontier stuff than I'll admit to.
A little freaked out right now: I went to look up an interesting book, Agnew H. Bahnson, Jr.'s The Stars Are Too High, only to discover Mr. Bahnson worked on -- held patents in! -- electrodynamic propulsion and died under unusual circumstances a few years after the book was written. However, said book describes an attempt by quite human engineers to use a working "flying saucer" they've built to the trick the world's governments into getting along. The effort, as I recall, fails; and as none of it ever happened (AFAIK), it'll have to be chalked up to wishful thinking, probably along with any "electrogravatic" effects of his experiments.
...Probably. Or maybe there's more to this Hidden Frontier stuff than I'll admit to.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Dining Library?
Here's where we had Thanksgiving dinner -- the ancient table and behind it: Library, AAA - FAR. 
I have got a lot more shelves to build; there's one custom and three reused old bookshelves of similar size on the other walls and I'm up to about the letter "R."
I have got a lot more shelves to build; there's one custom and three reused old bookshelves of similar size on the other walls and I'm up to about the letter "R."
Not That I'm Like, Slow
...But I just saw Watchmen for the first time last night. Astonishingly well-done; would that any other kind of SF were as well-treated. Sure, this is a comic book graphic novel, so it's a little easier for Hollywood illiterates to puzzle out; I was still impressed. The characters are considerably more three-dimensional than most in the genre and (like Tam) I was singularly impressed by Rorschach, created in homage to the characters of Objectivist comic book artist Steve Ditko.
Next on the slow list? I just started Monster Hunter International. Not very far in but already, well, I sure hope Correia keeps on writing -- and it appears he is.
Next on the slow list? I just started Monster Hunter International. Not very far in but already, well, I sure hope Correia keeps on writing -- and it appears he is.
Friday, November 27, 2009
November BlogMeet!
There will be a BlogMeet on the 29th (that's this Sunday), 3:00 p.m. at Broad Ripple Brew Pub.
There will be a very fine prize for the winner of the coveted Cup of Turonistan.
A good time will be had by all!
Seeya there!
There will be a very fine prize for the winner of the coveted Cup of Turonistan.
A good time will be had by all!
Seeya there!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Another Day, Part 18
For all my glib jokes about it bein' a long walk home, for all the times I have been in bad situations a long way from help, not until now had I really been convinced of my own mortality.
Irene was going to kill me and I wasn't even sure why. Maybe silence wasn't the best policy. "Irene--" I squeaked, started over, geesh, think, "Irene, how can I make things better?" It sounded fake even to me.
"Oh, do shut up." It hadn't gone over well with her, either. "You grubby people, with your grubby ships and your miserable, uncivilized planets. There is dirt everywhere! You have no idea; Wiitherspoon Processing was clean. It was orderly. Things made sense. This is all chaos and barbarism." She emphasized the important parts by yanking on the lanyard attached to my wrists."It's a good thing I kept up my militia training. Those contractors--" She meant Mil/Space. The Federation of Concerned Spacemen is as close to a real government as the Edgers get but it's not that close. "--They are good enough for routine but I have always known it was just a matter of time before you people attacked us again."
Right over the edge. I am dead, just as dead as Katrina. "They should have just let your 'Federation of Concerned Spacemen' kite off with an entire Moonbase?" She snorted and gave the lanyard another painful jerk. Geez, I'm so good at this. Gotta calm her down. It was hard to think what to say. "Irene, they pretty much did. All that was over a long time ago. We're all friends now."
"Friends? Friends? You're helping take our Founders back to the dirt and carrying Nazis right beside them, too!"
[CONTINUES HERE]
Irene was going to kill me and I wasn't even sure why. Maybe silence wasn't the best policy. "Irene--" I squeaked, started over, geesh, think, "Irene, how can I make things better?" It sounded fake even to me.
"Oh, do shut up." It hadn't gone over well with her, either. "You grubby people, with your grubby ships and your miserable, uncivilized planets. There is dirt everywhere! You have no idea; Wiitherspoon Processing was clean. It was orderly. Things made sense. This is all chaos and barbarism." She emphasized the important parts by yanking on the lanyard attached to my wrists."It's a good thing I kept up my militia training. Those contractors--" She meant Mil/Space. The Federation of Concerned Spacemen is as close to a real government as the Edgers get but it's not that close. "--They are good enough for routine but I have always known it was just a matter of time before you people attacked us again."
Right over the edge. I am dead, just as dead as Katrina. "They should have just let your 'Federation of Concerned Spacemen' kite off with an entire Moonbase?" She snorted and gave the lanyard another painful jerk. Geez, I'm so good at this. Gotta calm her down. It was hard to think what to say. "Irene, they pretty much did. All that was over a long time ago. We're all friends now."
"Friends? Friends? You're helping take our Founders back to the dirt and carrying Nazis right beside them, too!"
[CONTINUES HERE]
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