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Permanent link to “Ol' Man Snow” -
PolarBlog ASP
A couple of weeks ago somebody was kind enough to enter a bug for PolarBlog. Yeah, it was a real serious one "blog not installing". With the delightfully witty description of "why are all these files using a php extension. Wheres the asp files ;)". Yeah, I'm going to waste my time on ASP. Please. This one is so far beyond comical. They even attached an intel "Evil Inside" logo. Not sure what that's all about, but then again this person is apparently of tremendous intellect anyway. (YAWN) Issue closed.
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MyClient V3.1.0…
MyClient V3.1.0 (Night Monkey) has been released. Enhancements Support for MySQL Improved Extension has been added. Added the ability to load locally saved queries. You can load either .sql or .sql.gz (GZip compressed) files only. Bug Fixes Added language translations for error messages that previously were hard coded. Configuration Changes Added MYSQLI_ENABLE See the MyClient History file for more information. Please see the MyClient Upgrading documentation for information on upgrading your installation.
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Fort Niagara…
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Fort Niagara…
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A New Look!
You might have noticed that things look just a bit different around here! ;) If you haven't…well then you must be blind and or using a screen reader. In any case, it was time for something new and I've finally gotten a decent logo (via Rob) from Erik Eggleston at Eggleston Design. So I've now rethemed everything to coordinate with the colors in the logo. You should note a new icon in your brower's address bar also. I think I've weeded out all of the old color scheme, but let me know if you stumble across anything odd. I may tweak things a bit, but for the most part I think it's pretty well "there". Feedback is always welcome.
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Pimp My Nutcracker
Here's some funny holiday amusement for you…Pimp My Nutcracker.
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Blog Censorship
And here is yet another example of the pitfalls that occur when you don't host your own blog. You get Big Brother censorship with no recourse. This is just one of the reasons I —and you should, host your own blog. The only one that can tell you what you can and can't link to are the voices in your head. Want to take back control of your own thoughts? Then I'd recommend you bounce on over to PolarBlog and exercise your freedom. (Yeah I'm biased, but why should I plug anyone else's work over my own?)
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Santarchy: Santas…
How can you not find humor in santas who "urinate on passing cars and smash beer bottles"?
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LocalNet: The…
This isn't what I intended to do this morning, but the pinheads at LocalNet made the decision for me… So now that I've completed The Quest for DSL, I cancelled my very pathetic dial-up access via LocalNet. Actually at this point I should say "I attempted to cancel…" because these asshats who call themselves an ISP can't even accept a cancellation via the internet! Of course they were more than willing to sign me up over the internet without any problems, God forbid you should want to cancel. Nope, we wouldn't want to make that easy. After getting my DSL working the other day I went to their website and sent the following message to their "Customer (We Don't) Care" department: Please cancel my dialup access effective 1/1/2006. If you need to contact me further please send it to kevinp AT polarlava.com as I've never used the localnet email account.Regards,Kevin L. Papendick And in return I received the following reply this morning: Dear LocalNet Customer…
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Shine (Blue Eyes)
Shine (Blue Eyes) I think that you see me, behind those big blue eyes Somehow I wonder, I'm on your mind I really think we could be, tonight Why don't you let innocence go tonight If you wait until tomorrow I know I won't sleep But your body moves, I'm watching you I listen to, your every move Hoping you listen to, me I'd take you to a movie show, if that's alright I really want to take you to, California If we hop on that plane, we'll plan the days Make every move, so right So give me that shine, with those big blue eyes Take me inside, 'cause I'm all alone in life I'm out on a line, out of my mind You've got me turning, I'm really caught up in life Shine me a sign, I know you can do it Shine with those big blue eyes. 4/28/1982
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3rd Blogversary
Whoo ha! It's been three years now that I've been spewing out this pointless, self-serving drivel. Hopefully you're enjoying it…I think I am! ;)
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Project Bug Tracking
I've removed the bug tracking system from the site. I wasn't getting that many reports, my project development has ground pretty much to a halt and the software was way outdated and prevented a security risk. Thus I've removed it and simply replaced it with a link to my Contact form which should suffice for my current needs. —— I've (finally) installed and setup a bug tracking system for my projects. If you believe you've found a bug in a project or simply would like to request an enhancement, please submit it here. It's very quick and easy, so I encourage you to use it. If this is something you see yourself using more than once or twice, I encourage you to contact me (kevinp AT polarlava.com) and I'll setup an account for you. At the moment you can't view bugs without logging into an account. This is something I'm looking into fixing. It may just be a configuration that I need to figure out or I may need to write a custom logged out viewing screen. One thing at a time… Thanks!
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PolarBlog V1.7.1…
PolarBlog V1.7.1 (Blind Squirrel) has been released. Enhancements None Bug Fixes Includes the missing upgrade/installer utility for V1.7.0 that was released yesterday. You must run the upgrade utility in order for your PolarBlog V1.7.0 installation to work properly. Configuration Changes None See the PolarBlog Changes file for more information. Please see the PolarBlog Upgrading documentation for information on upgrading your installation. This release is named "Blind Squirrel" because this was a really stupid oversight on my part!
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PolarBlog V1.7.0…
PolarBlog V1.7.0 (Homing Pigeon) has been released. The major focus of this release is that addition posting via email, reworking of the installation/upgrade utility and resolution of a RSS handling error. Enhancements Added blog posting via email! Major rewrite of the installer/upgrade utility. Added Multi-Section "Other Blogs" support. Added Ping-O-Matic! checkbox to entry add/update (if USE_PINGER enabled). Additional validation of input data for improved security. New input_text CSS replaces title in most places. * title = Entry Title and Entry Index Date * input_text = Edit input field text Database performance improvements to entry selection. Addition of English and Spanish translation in UTF-8 character sets. Bug Fixes Bad header redirect (304) is causing the RSS feed to not be sent when no updates have been made, but the user doesn't currently have the file! This has been corrected by redirecting to the existing RSS feed. FULLTEXT entry search may have…
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The Move is On
December 9, 2005 And if you're now reading this, my migration to A2 Web Hosting has succeeded! It's likely that there are a few things that may be broken, so bear with me over the next couple of days whilst I sort it all out. — December 5, 2005 Things will probably be pretty quite here this week as I prepare to switch over my hosting Friday evening. — As much as I didn't want to have to do it, I've decided to move my website again. I've signed up and begun reconfiguring my website at A2 Web Hosting. Although my current hosting provider runs fast servers and does a good job of staying on top of security issues, they have been increasingly unresponsive to support requests. I've had a couple of issues in the past couple of months that have not been acknowledged or remedied. I'm not sure what has happened with them, but I used to get very timely and positive responses to my support requests. And I don't think it's because I'm constantly whining about things, I'm not. I've been here…
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Slow Dowm
For the past several weeks I have been traveling daily through construction zone where one lane is closed. As annoyed as I am that this has taken so long, I'm happy to report that this morning it entertained me. There is one of those large portable display signs with a radar unit that tells you your speed as you approach it. It also tells you to slow down. Or as it appeared to read to me as I drove past it this morning "Slow Dowm". Maybe my brain wasn't functioning this morning and this is just a figment of my imagination, In any case I will have to verify this tomorrow morning. November 18, 2005 I did confirm this morning that it does indeed say "Slow Dowm"! I tried to snap a picture with my camera phone this morning, but I was too far away from the sign. I'll try to remember again on Monday when I go past it… December 5, 2005 I tried and tried —at least six times to get a snapshot of this sign. But we had a very windy day last week and the sign got…
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Repent America…
I've had this link for quite a while now, but the point is still just as relevant now as it was when I found it. It's this sort of brain-dead thinking by the people behind or a part of this organization that continue to prove that Darwin was right.
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General Zod 2008
You know, General Zod might be just the supreme control that this country needs right now. Oh, wait…we've basically got a dictator now, don't we.
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Homing Pigeon…
The next release of PolarBlog, "Homing Pigeon" is complete! I still need to finish updating the documentation and get it packaged for release, but other than bug fixes, I'm done coding. This new release is now running on this blog so if you experience any problems, please let me know: kevinp AT polarlava.com. I would think that this should be released in the next couple of weeks. The primary focus of this release was posting by email. But there are a number of other changes also: A major rewrite of the install/update utility, multi-section blogroll (see right navigation), optional pinging on entry add/update, separation of entry title and edit text CSS, some minor security enhancements and database performance improvements.
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Small Changes
I've made a few changes to my website… I've updated the FAQ page. I've unlinked the Links page. I've unlinked the RSS Feeds page. I've done this because the FAQ was way outdated, link pages are passe and the RSS Feed page was mostly an experimental thing just for my use. But since becoming addicted to the new Google drug and the wonderful inforss extension I no longer need this page. Bigger changes are likely in store for the future. (You're excited, I can tell.)
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I'm not feeling the…
Earlier today I came across this Blog Software Smackdown: The Big 3 Reviewed. What? No PolarBlog? Hello? Anyone who could possibly be reading this knows that PolarBlog is by far the best blogging software on the planet! And if you don't already know this, you can trust me. I know, because I wrote it! ;) Seriously though, the last thing I really need is for PolarBlog to become hugely successful. I don't have enough time to get done what I want to do now, I don't need lots of people crying for features. Plus it would likely get eaten by the comment spammers at this point. But fear not, realtime black listing is coming in the future.
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Persons
Persons A warm person, the sun it shines today A cold person, left you standing in the rain Such a bold persons, they let nothing in the way Just sold persons, buying int all today Why must the persons sit, when they know they don't fit in? A sole person, he just laughs One hundred thousand, they just cry And everyone wants to know, why? The persons they have rules The government to maintain law There have been many who've crossed the line Some to avoid the trying times Persons, running from persons Persons, getting by Persons, living underground Persons, getting high Why must things happen? How does this person get by? Persons in charge of justice Persons commit the crimes. 4/27/1982
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Blue Ball Machine
A friend at work passed me this link to the Blue Ball Machine the other day. Not really something funny, but still entertaining.
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Blue Point Hoptical…
blue-point-hoptical-illusion
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Email Post (Gmail)
This is a test post from my Gmail account. It should be in the default topic of "Brainwork". I need to test from here because instead of sending the message as text, it sends it as a multi-part message.This is the second paragraph. …more
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Posting via Email
This is my first post via the new PolarBlog POP3 email interface. If this is working as it should, this is the body portion of the post. This is largely just a test message, but also represents a significant achievement on the progress of the Homing Pigeon release. This posting should posted by "Kevin", be titled "Posting via Email" and be located under the "Software Development" topic. There should now be a read more link. …more
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PolarBlog on…
When I originally created PolarBlog, one of the features from Personal Weblog (PWL) that was dropped was PostgreSQL support. This was largely because I'd never worked with it and didn't have access to a PostgreSQL database. (Actually I still don't.) Recently I was contacted by an individual who had some very nice things to say about PolarBlog and expressed an interest helping to port it to PostgreSQL. Very cool I thought. We've only had a couple of preliminary discussions about it, but this has definately become something I would like to do. Thus to support this fully I will need access to a server with a PostgreSQL database. Arrangements for that are already in the works and more details about how that is going to happen will be forthcoming. (November 21, 2005 - See this entry for more info.) So why am I doing this? It's going to be a lot of work obviously, so why bother. In short, the challenge. I've never worked with PostgreSQL although I've heard very good things about it…
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New Topic: Beer!
So what do you get when take an avid beer drinker, give him a camera phone and a blog? You get a pictorial log of marginal pictures of beers he has drank recently! Coming soon as they say.
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Urban Renewal
urban-renewal
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The Quest for DSL
December 16, 2005 So after much trial and tribulation, my DSL service FINALLY went on. They had told us December 9th, but it wasn't live when I tried it then. Mary Lou called them a couple of days ago and they told her sometime before December 27th…a date they referenced in an email from the DSL group even though the web and phone check system still said the 9th. Anyhow, I worked all night on Wednesday which allowed me to work from home on Thursday afternoon. Before dialing up a connection I popped the phone line into the DSL and was happily greeted with a blinking "DSL" light. I did what I call my "DSL Happy Dance" (it's not a pretty thing folks), ran the installation routine that sets up the account and I was good to go. Goodbye crappy dialup service from LocalNet and their bad DNS issue and constant disconnects! — I've suffered through a return to dial-up Internet access for the past several years. I've now gotten the ball rolling on switching back to a…
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The Entity IV: In…
The Entity IV: In The Black I'm looking down on a little boy Don't get too close now, you'll fall inside Go away now, don't play around You didn't listen, got drawn inside Now I hear you, you're just a mind Like a story, you've heard before Didn't want to believe it, it's so absurd You didn't want to listen You wouldn't take my words You didn't see me, so you… Took the chance Now you're nothing, just a mind Gave you warning, a second chance It'a simple story, you can't go back Ain't nobody, nor a second chance Isn't anything that can take you back Just a thought now, in the air Learn your way now, it's simple fact Just a mind boy, an entity Free to go now, just enact your plan Truly fact now, you're in the black 4/26/1982
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PolarBlog V1.6.2…
PolarBlog V1.6.2 (Fungus Gnat) has been released. This release fixes a serious comment deletion bug and another minor comment posting bug. Enhancements None Bug Fixes Deleting a comment deletes all top level comments! This was being cause by a bug in MySqlDb::stripArray() where nested arrays were not being handled properly. The auto-linebreak option on comments does not work. This has been corrected. Configuration Changes None See the PolarBlog Changes file for more information. Please see the PolarBlog Upgrading documentation for information on upgrading your installation. This release is named "Fungus Gnat" because this was an annoying pest of a bug!
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PolarBlog Comment…
I've just found that a bug fix I made in V1.5.2 (Groundhog)… "Deleting a single comment destroying all root level comments! A serious array data mishandling issue in the DB class has been corrected. Nested arrays are now handled properly." Has NOT been fixed and appears to still exist! I know this because I've once again trashed my comments table! :( So until I can extract it from the backup (probably tomorrow), my comments on most entries will be missing. Consider this your warning not to delete comments until I get this fixed. An easy work-around is to edit the offending comment and disable the display option. Generally this is what I do even with spam comments, but was fixing another comment problem and stumbled upon this while deleting a duplicate comment I created. I don't have an ETA for fixing this, but I will likely issue a new release to address just this problem once I do fix it. Sorry. I hope this hasn't/doesn't hit you too!
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ig: The Google Drug
Several weeks back I was led to Google's new "Individualized Google". Actually I don't even know if that's what it's called, but that's the best I can come up with from the "ig". (Feel free to correct me if you know otherwise.) Anyhow, I played with it a bit and found the drag and drop aspect of it to be really cool, but beyond that I didn't really have a need. Then a couple weeks after that I had some more time to revisit it and play with it some more. And the verdict? After about a month of use, I'm addicted to the new Google drug! I haven't yet made the switch there as my homepage, but I'd say it's not that far off. Currently I use my Links page and also used to use my RSS Feeds page often. But I've created a lot of FireFox bookmarks that let me quickly navigate/search for things on the sites I visit the most, type addresses in directly or simply Google my way through life. This has made a portion of my Links page obsolete. And the contents of my RSS…
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The Mantis
the-mantis
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What Happened?
I used to post to my blog several time a week and occasionally daily. So what happened? What happened is my job has eaten my lunchtime! I used to surf around to read the news and visit a few sites to gain some fodder for my amusement. But my responsibilities at work have grown to a point that I often work while I eat my lunch. Thus my casual surfing time has dwindle greatly and my in turn, my ability to spin new content here has been hampered. So what have I been doing? I've basically quit riding my bike since August with the exception of a couple of rides. This again is a work related casualty as every couple of weeks I have to pull an all-nighter which throws my whole schedule off. Additionally I often work late now and need to make up family time so I stay up later and don't get up in the morning as I should. I've recently started getting up early again, but only stretching and lifting some weights. I'm feeling like a big slug these days and I'm starting to have some…
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Iraq: The Civil War
Can anyone tell me they still think invading Iraq was a good idea? Come on, we went there with a weak case against WMD's that proved to be false. Then the administration started to spin it as part of the "War on Terror" —which it is…now. But originally it was about WMD's and Saddam. The real War on Terror was being fought —and won, in Afghanistan. We then ruled that a "check" when we should have made sure it was a "checkmate" before even considering turning our attention to Iraq. So we went ahead and started a war that nobody needed and those of us with half a brain wanted. We forged ahead and when we found no WMD's we rolled it into the War on Terror —which it wasn't…up to that point. I say "wasn't" because when we invaded there were not foreign fighter in the country. It wasn't until we rolled into town that we became the shit for the flies. The situation there is certainly far from stable and the future is even further from certain…
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Yorkdale Stone Butt
…more
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Katrina: The…
I don't really know much about Magic: The The Gathering, beyond basic concept and that it was really "hot" a few years back. But I do have to say that these Katrina: The Gathering cards are amusing.
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I Can't Win
I Can't Win Standing on the shore, watching waves roll in Wondering if I'll ever win, this game Just passing time, on another day Sometimes I feel, I just can't stay —straight I can't win, I can't win I just can't win this game I can't win, I can't win I'd just like, to win one day 'Cause I can't win, I can't win Oh! I can't win when the walls are closing in —on me I may have sinned But still I don't know why I can't win one day I may have sinned Oh! I can't win Still I don't know why, I ain't giving in 'Cause I can't win I never win I can't win, I can't win I will win 4/21/1982
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PolarBlog V1.6.1…
PolarBlog V1.6.1 (Wild Turkey) has been released. This release fixes a number of bugs as well as implements a variety of smaller changes. Enhancements None Bug Fixes Regeneration of the RSS feed failing if the file existed, but was out of date or a new entry had been added. Configuration Changes None See the PolarBlog Changes file for more information. Please see the PolarBlog Upgrading documentation for information on upgrading your installation. This release is named "Wild Turkey" because this was a really stupid "turkey" of a problem caused by me!
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We're On Fire
We're On Fire The Boys will rock-n-roll tonight Just looking for a good time Ain't nothing else on their minds 'Cause we're heading on some hard times We got nothing on the straight line So we're gonna do it out of time Oh! Take off with a shotglass We're gonna have some "Uncle Jack" Vodka comes the next time After that we're doing fine We ain't no reasons why All we've got is lots of time So don't hassle us now We'll tear you down 'Cause we're wild and wired We're all on fire Smoke in the air, really turned us on Now we're just rying to ha-a-a-ang on —to life We're alive, we're wired Burn inside, can't see the fire But still I know anything goes… 'Cause we're on fire! 4/19/1982
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Hunter's Farewell
I'm a week behind the game, but what the heck… Well, it was six months ago that I discussed Hunter S. Thompson blowing his brains out. And last Saturday night he got his final wish…to have his ashes blasted out of a cannon. And here you'll find some good pictures of his spectacular departure.
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Church of the…
Here's a nice alternative to "Intelligent Design", it's the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster!
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Edged Out Mind
Edged Out Mind I've been standing in the rain I've been to the edge of time Waiting for sun, so I can really shine I know there's something coming I've known it for quite a time Even though I don't, I still don't know why I've seen it before I've seen it come alive I've seen it at the beginning of time I'm standing on Standing on the edge of time I'm looking in Looking in from an edged out mind My body is crying My mind is dying And I know the reasons why It's been distorted, and twisted It's been torn our of line It's looking out on an edged out mind I'm hyperactive I'm so spuratic I'm spastically out of control 4/16/1982
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PolarBlog V1.6.0…
PolarBlog V1.6.0 (Hitchhiker) has been released. This release fixes a number of bugs as well as implements a variety of smaller changes. Enhancements Backed out V1.5.0 change that displayed the topic before the entry name on the Index Page. The CSS for the Recent Entries, Topics and Other Blogs lists has been updated in the CSS files distributed with PolarBlog. Details about this change can be found in this PolarBlog CSS blog entry. Upgrade to MySqlDb class to V1.6.0. Upgraded PHPMailer to V1.73. This addresses a potential DOS attack exploit. Disabled DB class debug messages which generally don't want enabled. Addition of UTF-8 German language translation. Addition of French language translation in ISO-8859-1 and UTF-8 character sets. Added DISPLAY_DISABLED text to disabled comments. This is the same as what is done on disabled entries. The RSS feed generator has been substantially reworked. Full support for HTTP Conditional GET's…
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Grilled Shrimp
grilled-shrimp
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Grilled Corn
grilled-corn
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Thinking
Thinking Sitting in the park, watching clouds roll by Not doing nothing, just passing the time I'm just thinking, thinking about you I can't stop thinking, I could pass the time with you Waiting for sunshine of the summertime I'd like to touch you, if you don't mind 'cause I've been thinking, thinking of you I hope you don't think, that I'm a toy Sometimes I'm nothing, but a little boy (I'm thinking, I'm thinking, Ithinking about you boy!) 'cause I've been thinking, thinking a little more I just can't stop thinking… Sometimes my job becomes a chore All my life — It was such a bore I'm thinking, thinking about you 4/14/1982
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PolarBlog: The…
Today marks the first anniversary of PolarBlog as it was one year ago today that I first publically released it. Thing started off fast and there was a lot of activity during the first several months before it was put on hold so I could work on several other projects. But in the past couple of weeks I've finally begun to work on it again and anticipate that there will be a (minor) release in the next few weeks. After that will be the more significant "Homing Pigeon" release that will add support for posting via email. The release after — "Bloodhound", will focus on the addition of trackbacks for entries. And that's about as much as I've mapped out at this point. So here's to its first year and continued development!
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Smokers Trash
I try to get out and go for a brisk 20 minute walk at lunchtime most days if it's not raining and my workload allows it. So one day last week I'm walking down Main Street here in Buffalo and started thinking about all of the cigarette butts that I seen in the sidewalk cracks. Just the week before I heard a report about how Buffalo is one of the cleanest cities in the country, which I have to agree it is. But then I'm looking at the literally hundreds (thousands?) of cigarette butts stuck in those cracks. What the hell is it with smokers that they can't seem to act responsibly and not just chuck their butts on the ground anywhere they please? Yeah, I know…you smoke and you don't do that. I know it's not all of you, but it's clearly a good number of your breathren. And it's not just the sidewalks. I've seen many a smoke go flying out a car window, sometimes bouncing off my car. Gee, thanks for the consideration asshole. My favorite are those who drop them out the window while…
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PolarLava CycleLog…
My additional enhancements for PolarLava CycleLog V2.2.0 (I'iwi) are complete. The following are the changes that were completed: Minor Name Change - Henceforth instead of just calling it "CycleLog", it will be known as "PolarLava CycleLog". This is in anticipation that I may publically release this project in the future. Although it's not currently packaged and documented for public consumption, if you're a PHP hacker, a cyclist and are interested, just ask. Search Improvements - A lot of changes were made to the search page. Searches no longer are required to be date bounded. Added minimum and maximum distance bounding. Added minimum and maximum average speed bounding. Added the ability to do ad hoc searches of the notes field. Added some basic search help on the page. Sleep Time/Quality - Added "hours of sleep" and "sleep quality" fields to the ride Personal Data section. Yearly Summary Page - Similar to the home pages…
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Poker is NOT a…
Last week on the local sports talk radio they were discussing whether poker is a sport or not. And they arrived at the conclusion that it is indeed a sport because after all, it's shown on ESPN. What? Are you out of your mind? Although ESPN is nearly all sports, this clearly illustrates a return to their roots as the "Entertainment and Sports Network". Welcome to the entertainment folks…although personally I don't see it. A long time ago I railed against golf and bowling not being sports. Basically, for most people they are recreational activities. But theycan be consider to be a sport at the appropriate competition level. The litmus test of course is "if you can drink beer while you're doing it, it's not a sport". So, now let's look at poker…you can drink while playing poker, so it's not a sport, right? Alright, you can also play poker, not drink, take it very seriously and make some outrageous money at it! No doubt about that, but sitting around a…
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Active Calendar
As part of my ongoing upgrade, one of the features I wanted to add to my CycleLog was a monthly calendar. I've written some calendar stuff previously, but I didn't want to do another "one off" or reinvent the wheel if I could find something that potentially would be reusable. And I must say, I was certainly not disappointed when I found Active Calendar. This is an absolutely wonderful and well written piece of calendaring software licensed under the LGPL. So this is my plug for Giorgos Tsiledakis and his well thought out and implemented work. Thus if you're a PHP developer looking to do something with calendars, I'd highly recommend you check out Active Calendar before you waste your time writing something inferior and less flexible to this work.
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Jackass: Mark R…
I don't know Mark R. Downs Jr., 27, of Dunbar, PA, but after reading this, I'm pretty sure he's a jackass. I'm all for competition, and a T-ball coach should be teaching it as well as the basics of (yawn) baseball. But what's the lesson here? That's it's okay to whack out a disabled kid if it's going to prevent you from winning? Nice life lesson Mark. Like I said: Jackass!
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Baltimore Street
baltimore-street
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It's Not too Hot!
I've been incredibly busy the past several weeks, thus I've had little time for blogging. And this post is probably about a week late, but as they say, "better late than never"… For all of you who have been whining "It's too hot", please just shut the hell up! You're likely the same people who will be whining about it being too cold next winter. Summers here in Western New York are generally a nice 75-80 degrees most of the time. I can accept that, but the past month we've seen a lot of 85-90 and even several 90-95 degree days. Warm, you bet. Oh, and it's also been quite humid so it is somewhat suffocating. What can I say? Bring it on!!! Sorry, I miss the warmer, muggy weather I grew up with in Illinois. I believe it was just last week that I heard on the news that this is the warmest summer we've had in a decade. Let's hope we don't have to wait that long again! In the meantime, it's wonderful weather to hop on a bike and go climb the steepest hill you…
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LIVE 8 Irony
Yesterday was spent trekking off to one of Colin's concerts and attending a picnic at one of my wive's relatives. So after a long day we got home last night and plunked down on the couch and started channel surfing. As is typical on a Saturday night without cable TV, there was little too choose from. Thus we stopped to watch some of the LIVE 8 concert. After a couple of acts there was a musical montage of photos featuring malnourished children in Africa (obviously). After this was a commercial break…for TRIMSPA. So as I was watching this I'm thinking it's kind of strange that here I am watching something about the plight of poor starving people in Africa and it's sponsered by this? A company that exists and thrives off selling pills to overfed, fat, lazy Americans to help them lose their world leading excess pounds! It was at this point that my wife turned to me and asked, "Does anybody else see the irony in this?". I doubt most people did, but I certainly did honey!
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Super Stupid
Another one that comes to me via Rob… Meet a foolish young Thai man and his bottle of super glue.
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A year of BOINC
Tomorrow marks my first anniversary since starting with the BOINC project. And just yesterday was my 6th year of churning numbers for SETI. Since the switch to BOINC, in addition to SETI I now also crunch numbers for climateprediction.net. Since I started doing that, I now split my time as 60/40 between them respectively. It seemed like a reasonable split as I really do want to support both.
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Missing Adrian
Things have been very, very busy for me at work the past several weeks, but this past Tuesday I had a few minutes and needed a distraction. So I bopped on over to the website of one of my favorite musicians, Adrian Belew. I was mentally spent and sunk futher down when I got there and learned that Adrian was going to be at the TRALF on Friday (6/17), last night. I'm guessing I could have gotten tickets, but with the way things have been at work and my general lack of disposable income these days, I knew it wasn't going to happen. And it didn't, as I was at work until a little after 7pm last night. Very sad. Adrian doesn't tour solo very often and it's generally only to select locations. Thus that fact that he seems to come here when he does is truly amazing. I was fortunate enough to see him at the TRALF back in 1999 with my wife —then girlfriend, a friend and his date. Truly and amazing experience. After a nearly 2 hour show, Adrian did as he always does and came out for a…
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Win Lottery = New…
So what's your one indulgence for yourself after winning $220 million in the lottery? Why buy a new bike, what else? I only wish I had such a windfall to allow such indulgences. ;)
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Nightlife In Cairo
Nightlife In Cairo What do you say, we'll hop on a plane Take me to Cairo tonight We'll go to a store, buy some supplies Get on a camel, go through the desert Going to Cairo tonight, tonight, tonight… We'll blaze in the sand To far away lands Living in pyramids, beneath the sands We can make lots of friends Out of everyone Check out the scenes Of Nightlife in Cairo! Look at the sheik He thinks he's real neat Give him surprise He's shit out of time In the night, Cairo does scream Give me some life Roll in the sand Nightlife in Cairo, living a dream Nightlife in Cairo, It's a scream 4/12/1982
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PolarBlog posting…
Okay, I've decided to start looking into Alan's request for the ability to post to PolarBlog via email. This will probably take a bit of time as I still intend to continue with PolarLava CycleLog V2.2.0 (I'iwi) at the same time. But I've often been intrigued by doing email posting even before Alan started desiring it. Thus I've spent some time this morning exploring some options on accessing a POP3 account via PHP this morning. Not sure whether I will be going that route or doing this with Perl. Still need to think through the logistics of it all. I figured adding this feature will sort of ease me back into PolarBlog development. Being a new/separate component it shouldn't muck up current code base which is always a good thing. :)
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More Polar Lava
Further proving the point that I'm not the only polar lava in the universe. During a recent flyby of Titan by the Cassini space probe, scientist appear to have found a methane volcano (cryovolcano) on the surface. See, I'm not the only one spewing out cold methane! ;)
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PolarLava CycleLog…
Well, my intent after releasing MyClient 3.0.0 was to go back to work on PolarBlog. And although it is my intent to get back to it, I've decided to do some additional enhancements on my CycleLog project first. I haven't had any urgent requests for changes to PolarBlog other than my own desires, so this appears that it won't be having a tremendous impact on the PolarBlog user community. (Feel free to comment otherwise.) A rough guess at this point, with the summer arriving and my increased work commitments says that PolarBlog development will likely not resume before September. So with that said and in no particular order, here's a brain dump of things I'd like to do to PolarLava CycleLog V2.2.0 (I'iwi). Minor Name Change - Henceforth instead of just calling it "CycleLog", it will be known as "PolarLava CycleLog". This is in anticipation that I may publically release this project, although it's unlikely to get packaged and documented during this…
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MyClient V3.0.1…
I've released a minor update to MyClient to correct a typo in the config.php.dist file and also add some documentation updated. If you are already running V3.0.0 successfully there is no need for you to upgrade to this version.
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Young, Foolish &…
So I'm about a quarter of my way into my ride this morning when I turned onto Bear Ridge Road and began a small climb. As I sat down and looked up, there he was…somebody on a mountain bike swinging off my side of the road to get out of my way. As I've mentioned previously I often see a variety of fauna in the morning, including the occasional humanoid. But today was the first time I've been flagged down for help. As I passed this guy, he yells something at me. I looked back and asked "What?". His reply was "I need help". Alright, so it's about 5am, still fairly dark and somebody weaving down the road towards you is asking for help…hmmm. Initial thought: "I hope he's not covered in blood from killing somebody!". So I pull over, stop and wait for him to get closer. As he's coming towards me he tells me he's lost and is trying to get to North Tonawanda. At this point I can see he's an obviously drunk young man who was a bit panicked. So now I'm a…
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MyClient V3.0.0…
Well, it's been about four months since I got serious about rewriting MyClient. And that effort has finally paid off as V3.0.0 (Hydra), the new multi-tabbed version has been released. More complete details about what is in this release can be found in this entry.
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CAUTION: Jesus…
I'm not sure exactly when it came to pass, but it definately happened. I used to be a fairly conservative right leaning individual, but even so I was never really a very religious person. But (mostly) over the past decade I find myself becoming more and more distressed over what can be described as nothing less than the highjacking of the Republican party by the ultra-conservative bible thumpers. I've watched as these people have preached the evil of just about everything because of their raw and strict interpretation of the bible. That it's the be all and end all. It's not people, deal with it. And maybe there is a God. And maybe I will be cast into the depths of Hell at the end of my time, but it's got to be better than spending eternity with these people. Because if they really are right, then I'm very happy to be wrong! Pass the hot sauce! ;)
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Cat Food
Someone at work today was trying to give away a couple of cats on our IRC channel and remarked that if they couldn't give them away, they might have to eat them. My response was to post a link to Cats - Friend or Food?. I found this article rather interesting because it point out a couple of things that are very true. The first being the stereotype of "all Asians eat cats (and dogs)" which certainly couldn't be further from the truth. And secondly that western bias is definately at play here. As the article points out, how would the average American feel if Indian Hindu's started ranting and raving at Americans for eating cows? Do you thing this country is about to abandon the burger joint because it offends another culture? Hell no. A sad, but more likely response would be "Fuck those [enter derogatory term of your choice]". It's okay for us to tell others what they should do, but how dare they be offended by what we do? GASP! The typical American is…
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Starpoint (Let Us…
Starpoint (Let Us Take You Tonight) We're taking off tonight Catching sound and lights Take you to, a point of view A chance you can't deny Flowing, floating Feel the charge of life Steaming, dreaming Starpoint's on the stage tonight Let's all feel the way we do And let it go to flight We're starpoint Taking the stage Starpoint Music's a game Let us take you tonight Our music's assaulting Our lyrics are so bright Won't you come with us We'll take you tonight Starpoint We're taking to the Skies 4/7/1982
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MyClient (Hydra…
Well, its been exactly three months to the day that I outlined what would be in MyClient (Hydra). At this point I'm through writing code and all of the features outlined in the previous post have been implemented. This will be release as MyClient V3.0 hopefully in the next week or so. I now must do some extensive rewriting of the documentation as this release is a complete rewrite and will require all users to create a new configuration file. So while I'm slogging away on documentation, you can go view the new screenshots.
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The Flame
The Flame I've heard the loud sounds Sometimes they frown down On the things I say I am the flame Do it my way Or stay off of my day Killing people with just the heat I'm one person I know you'll never beat I have the power, I will defeat Anyone who tries to play I am the flame Feel my heat Will you surrender Or go down in defeat Water pressure, concrete feet You can't contain me I burn beyond 30,000 degrees I look kind of mean Create a scene Now you frown at everything I am the flame, feel my heat Don't think you'll ever extinguish me 3/26/1982
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Goodbye TRASHLOG
Well, I'm very sad to see that TRASHLOG is shutting down. This has been a mainstay in my life since shortly after it went online. It was the one blog I could always count on to have something new everyday. Oh well, I imagine that after this long it kind of became a chore.
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100000
Well today marks a milestone in my life…when I leave work and drive home today, my car —a bright red 1998 Honda Civic EX coupe, will roll over 100,000 miles. So what you say? Well, it's significant for me because this is the first time I've ever had a car long enough to actually get to this point. The closest I've previously been was Nissan Pulsar EX (1986/87?) that I kept to I believe 77k. Other than that I did have a purple 1993 Honda Civic EX that was in my possession until about 68k. At that point it became my ex-wife's property. The last I knew my former in-laws were still driving it and it had 130k on it. I loved that car and was sad to see it go. I've always been very please with Honda product, thus why I bought another one this time around. I've also had a couple of Acura Integra's on lease a decade ago that were absolutely wonderful. Anyhow, this trivial event is someting new for me. Whoop-T-Do! Even being a 100k this car is still very solid and reliable. It's got…
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Changes With Time
Meet Diego Golberg and his family. I found this to be incredibly interesting. To think this guy has photographed himself and his family every June 17 since 1976 is amazing. That's nearly thirty years of his families life in series of snapshots. Very cool.
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Buried Treasure…
Today we meet Barry Billcliff, 27, of Manchester, New Hampshire, and Timothy Crebase, 22, of Methuen, Massachusetts (Dead link, see below). Here's my rough guess at the conversation that lead up to their arrest: TC: Dude, roofing this house isn't paying us enough. Lets just steal these old coins and money while we're here! BB: Yeah, we can pretend we dug it up like buried treasure in the backyard! TC: That's cool! We'll be like famous and stuff. BB: Yeah, who'll ever know we stole it. TC: Yeah. [Fade to black as our two clueless morons crack warm 40oz. beers.] 6/27/05 Ordinarily an entry such as this would have likely faded into history and that dead link above would have remained just that. But this one is no longer ordinary! Let's start with a better and fresher link of the story. And then we have the comment below, allegedly from Barry himself! You might need to read it a couple of times though being literacy apparently isn't Barry's forte. Let's hope he's a better roofer…
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Words To The Wise
Words To The Wise I've seen the wall I've seen them fall I've seen the light I've seen them bend their little minds Surrendering without a fight I've done them all I've done them twice I've seen it all Inside my mind You think you should do it I tell you you're wrong You can't understand it It's stronger than you I hope you listen To what I'm telling you 3/24/1982
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We have a name!
A while back in the My Job post I mentioned that the naming of my department at work was still up in the air. The leading contenders were: Quality Engineering Engineering Standards & Practices Engineering Standards Engineering Practices Jackass & Tony After much trial and tribulation, the name "Engineering Practices" was chosen to be the winner. What does this mean and what are the ramifications? Doesn't really mean much other than I can now get my business cards. My day to day responsibilities haven't changed. It's just that we are no longer a department "to be named later". All together now: YAWN ;)
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My GT
My GT The trees line the road Like soldiers in time As we take the turn at 85 Do the cruise Just me and you Let it flow free Rollin' in my GT Rockin' down that highway Doin' 125 Rollin' up that speed As I shift to overdrive 'Cause we're rockin' We're rollin' Flying out on a line My flash of red Burns in the heads Of those we're passin' by…BYE! 3/24/1982
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Smack the Pingu
You're working too hard! Take a break and go try your luck at Smack the Pingu!
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Gallery Update
As you probably hadn't even noticed, I upgraded the Gallery software to V1.5 about a week and a half ago. And in typical fashion they did a nice job of changing things so as to break my existing installation layout! From what I saw on the support forums, I wasn't alone in my unhappiness. After doing the upgrade I did manage to get my color scheme back in short order. But the layout was smooshed to about 1/2 its size. After mucking around with the wrapper files I finally got my layout working again. :) I have such a love/hate relationship with Gallery. It's a very nice and powerful application, but it's had security problems in the past and they constantly break things during upgrades! I really dislike the way they package things for distribution —when you unpack it, it overwrites the existing installation because they don't version label their release directory. Then there are never any upgrade/release notes. From what I gather from their web site you apparently are expected…
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Don't post pictures!
I found this a bit amusing. What can I say? It's been a long week.
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RoboForm
I don't know about you, but I think anybody that would use RoboForm has to be out of their minds! Maybe for casual "fan site" sort of things (e.g. Slashdot), but not for serious usage. Turn my passwords over to a third-party I don't know? Wait, I'll have to stop laughing before I can tell you NO!
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Linear Clock
Checkout this linear clock.
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Fly Plane
Take a break, have some fun, build yourself a Fly Plane!
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Dead Bird, Dead…
A while back I mentioned in my post "Roadkill is animal cruelty?" that it reminded me of another story. This is that story… Lets hop in the wayback machine and turn the dial to I believe 1984. I worked that summer at an amusement park where I was a "Grounds Lead" on second shift. Basically I was a working supervisor with a 8 man garbage clean up crew. We're not talking about walking around picking up stuff with a poker or claw. Nope, we're talking about turning 8 guys with moderately heavy machinery loose on a 200 acre site. Bear in mind that all but one of these guys were in the 17-22 age range. Life was about fun daring adventure, not safety! And scarier yet was that yours truly was in charge! Our primary job was driving tractors to pickup these roughly 5x5 foot solid steel dumpsters on wheels that were located at the various restaurants and shops through out the park. These could be hitched together into what basically amounted to a rolling death train…
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The Tracks
the-tracks
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Henry Earl
This takes "jailbird" to a whole new level. But at least now you can keep up with Earl's lockdown!
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The Entity IV: A…
The Entity IV: A Reflection of Time Sitting on the waters edge You see a reflection of time Like a pictureshow I let you know This isn't body, just mind I see through it all As you watch on the waters edge A mind in a dream A dream in a mind In a world you haven't seen It draws to an end As the waves roll in To a sin with a green sky You look up in suprise As you come back to reality 3/22/1982
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Chances
Chances Give me a second chance That's one before three Just a second chance A time to see You know the story We've all been here before Thing about it The choose a door No time for fun The walls close in Make your choice Maybe you'll win Get caught up in reality Spend some time Go chase a dream Drop in a line When you reach that dream Now your back in a reality It's time to go on —Chance three 3/21/1982
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Lost Time
I don't rent a lot of movies —maybe 1-2 a month, but it's pretty much become a must on Saturday nights lately as there is absolutely nothing on to watch. (Bear in mind that I only have basic-basic local channel cable.) The past three weeks have been a brutal marathon of running around for my wife and I because her mother has been in and out of the hospital…another story unto itself. So in an effort to spend some time together and decompress I figured I'd stop and get a movie on my way home from the hospital Saturday evening. I figured I'd find a comedy as we could certainly use a laugh right now. With the weather being as shitty as it was this weekend, the video store was pretty well tapped out of all of the new releases. It was somewhat comical to listen to people groan about there being nothing to rent. No, there's plenty to rent it's just that you've been renting to often! So for me it was just a matter of cruising around and picking something because there's lots that we…
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Would you kill a…
So…would you?
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I Hate April Fools…
I hate April fools day. Every now and then somebody will come up with something witty, but for the most part it's all just obvious bullshit. I haven't the time or patients for it. Sorry.
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Old, Fat & Slow
So this morning I got up at 4:15am, got dressed and went riding outside before work for the first time this season. I did get out and ride on both Saturday and Sunday in addition to my bonus early season ride, so I guess this is marks the start of another outdoor cycling season for me. I've been hoping that I might be able to log more miles this year than I have in the past few years now that my little ones are out of the fussy at night baby age. I even got started again after the holidays sooner that I ever have. But this morning proved what I already knew; I'm old, fat and slow. Actually there are four parts to the cause of this morning not going well. The battery pack for my lighting system needs to be replaced again. I knew as soon as I unplugged it this morning that there was likely a problem as the batteries were not warm and the charger was fairly hot. This was the same symtoms of the batteries failing a couple 2-3 years back. And when I started using it, it just wasn't…
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R.I.P. Paul Henning
I discovered yesterday that Paul Henning died last Friday. You may not recognize Paul by his name, but it's quite likely you know his work. Particularly if you are in the 35+ crowd…can you say "The Beverly Hillbillies", "Petticoat Junction" or "Green Acres"? These are shows I have fond memories of and still catch in reruns early in the morning while working out. As part of The Beverly Hillbillies, Paul penned "The Ballad of Jed Clampett", which I used as the basis of The Ballad of Joe Barbie for the SFFL trophy. Thanks for all the laughs Paul.
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Heads in the sand
If this is truly the case, it's incredibly shortsighted. Are there really people out there that believe that only teaching abstinence is going to stop teens from having sex? This might work in some parts of the country, but do you really believe this is going to work in most urban areas, particularly inner-cities? Get real. Last I checked, telling people —children and adults alike, to "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" does nothing but to cause them to look. Oh, and it's good to see that as this bus rolls down the highway it's next stop will be to pick up "intelligent design". This will be necessary after running over evolution in textbooks because it's "just a theory". That may be true, but creationism or "intelligent design" has no more solid evidence than evolution in my book. Regardless of what you believe, whatever happened to critical thinking?
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I'm more demented…
Well…I've taken the quiz and I've learned I'm more demented than I ever imagined… If i was a serial killer i would be Albert Fish. "Albert Fish was a masochistic, pedophile obsessed with religious themes such as sin, sacrifice, and redemption through pain. It is believed that he would force his own children to beat him with a nail studded paddle until he bled. He would also stick nails underneath his finger nails,into his groin, his scrotum and his anus. He forced himself to eat feces and would stick alcohol soaked cotton balls up his anus and set them on fire." "Fish believed that God wanted him to castrate boys, which he would do over the course of many years, finally to be caught for kidnapping, murdering and eating a 10 year old girl. Fish claims to have molested over four hundred children. Police charged him with eight but suspect him on fifteen." Kill count: unconfirmed Find what serial killer you would be, take the Serial Killer Quiz now!
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My Job
As you may have noticed, my blogging has become a bit less consistent in both quantity and quality. Although quality probably wasn't one of it's strong points in the first place! Anyhow, what follows might explain the situation… I generally don't blog about my professional life much largely to avoid any potential hassles. I don't recall if I mentioned it or not, but back in November I changed jobs. I was very happy with my job at ChoiceOne and was not even looking for a new job. But along came an unsolicited opportunity that proved to be an offer that was "too good to pass up". And I have to say in hindsight it was a very good decision on my part to pursue it. My job at Synacor is wonderful, but it's kind of hard to explain it all. I was initially hired as a Code Review Engineer. My primary function is to review the work that others do and make sure they aren't doing dangerous or computationally expensive things in their code. In short, their code must meet certain…
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Pez MP3 Player
Now here's a really cool idea, a Pez MP3 Player. Apparently this guy must have built himself one, thought it was neat and wanted to share it. But having concerns about Pez coming after him, he did something really smart and got their permission. He's now gearing up to produce them. Me want. You buy.
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Voluntary Amputee
Wow! One really has to wonder what's going on inside the head of someone who wants to be an amputee.
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Your Time
Your Time I could hear the voices calling They were sending out my name 'Til my mind became aware —Come forth to lay it's claim I tried to run I've tried to fly I just couldn't, believe it's time It's my life I'm running for Someone help me —Open a door As I ran across the plains Screamed for help In complete despair Somehow I wonder, is it fair? "Go away, leave me alone" There are somethings That must be told "You go back home" "You check on the time" "I'm pretty sure, it isn't mine" 3/19/1982
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Peerless Mill Supply
peerless-mill-supply
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Favorite Icon Change
Today's excitement…I've changed my website "favorite icon" from the ugly, boring, basic "PL" logo to the "exploding lava" icon to the PolarLava Website Icon used on this blog topic. See, I told you it was exciting! ;) A favorite icon is what displays next to the URL or next to the page title in your browser tab. Well, at least it does if you are using a real browser.
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Minor Blog Update
In addition to yesterday's noted change, you may or may not have noticed the two additions off to the right. The first is Who Links to Me? and the second in the link to the Creative Commons License. I'd like to thank Tim at Speljamr for prompting this actions as I saw both of these there first. Although, the Creative Commons License I've been going to add for some time now, but just hadn't done so.
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Kleptography
Yesterday I unlinked ruscam - Russ Cambell's PhotoBlog from my blogroll. I don't know Russ but did enjoy his photography. Unfortunately Russ has had to cut way back/quit photoblogging. So I've now replaced Russ with chromasia - David J. Nightingale's PhotoBlog. We'll see how that works out while I hunt for more photoblogs to add. When I find the time I want to rework PolarBlog's blogroll to make it so I can break it into topical sections. This will allow me to categorize my blogroll into nice little compartments. But with that project on hiatus while I slowly work on MyClient (Hydra), that change is likely a ways off. My real purpose here was to direct you to Kleptography, an absolutely amazing collection of professional photographs by Don Ellis. Please go enjoy them but before you do, I suggest you read his introduction first. There's some really beautiful pictures there. I only wish he had a photoblog…
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Schrödinger's Cat
While reading what will be my last issue of Sys Admin Magazine a couple of days, one of the articles had a paragraph about Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger and his Schrödinger's Cat "thought experiment". It was explained in the article and I found it somewhat sick, twisted, educational and mostly amusing. I won't bother to explain it when you can not only learn about it, but try it yourself!
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flysui
Looking to kill some time? Here's your fix. Move fast, good luck.
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Charred Meat &…
I think all of my 100,000 (or was it 3?) readers know I don't eat meat anymore. But for those of you who do still enjoy scarfing down charred flesh, you might want to have a beer with it. Like I had to tell you that. But at least now you can justify having a second round. After all, you can never be too safe!
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A Lesson To Learn
A Lesson To Learn It's time to put the pieces Where they all belong Time to sort it into faces Taken from the pool of life Twisted, torn and mangled We all have shapes and angles By which we were born But we bent the lines Far too many times And now we've lost the form Straightened out, but tatered We all know we're shattered Just bend your mind a few more times And it won't really matter 3/17/1982
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Life after 100
One of my long-term goals in life is to live to 100. I don't mean a hooked to a respirator and feeding tube 100, but a happy and healthy until I pass peacefully in my sleep 100. Now those that knew me before about the mid-90's I know what you're thinking. Trust me, my life now is far different now. Heck, there was a time when even I seriously doubted I'd see 21. But that has now all long since past. I've been pretty much of a fitness nut since about the mid-90's and started taking my cycling more seriously. The past few years have seen that wain a bit, but mostly because of my growing family commitments. There's only so much time in a day after all. But hopefully there are a lot of days left and that at some point I'll have more free time to do the things I want. But my goal of reaching 100 might just be too conservative now that I've learned of a woman in Brazil who is 125! Sign me up.
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Unhappy Birthday
This is a public service announcement. If you plan on celebrating your birthday in public, you might want to read this first. So let me just say Happy Birthday to you! Oh, yeah…and don't forget to pay those royalties to the maroons at Time Warner!
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You didn't google…
Another amusing tidbit from Rob. Next time somebody asks a stupid question they could have easily looked up, just send them here. Hopefully they will get the message.
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Comics
I've been a regular reader of User Friendly for the past couple of years and used to read Dilbert regularly. But it's just too much of a hassle to chase after a bunch of comics as I simply don't have the time. And now I don't have too, they come to me…a few weeks back I stumbled upon dailystrips, a Perl application that you can use to pull various comics to your site automatically on a daily basis via cron. I finally found the time to play with it and sent it up yesterday, thus I'm now pulling about a half-dozen comics to my site on a daily basis. Can't link to it, as access is restricted to just myself so as to keep the copyright fiends at bay. Zen.
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Feeling Lucky?
This one comes courtesy of my friend Rob who, prior to now, incidentally wasn't on my blogroll over there to the right. Sorry about that Rob, but you're in now. ;) Anyhow, He sent me this little addictive gem this morning.
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Nebraska
Well the lyrics say "…sign said Canadian border five miles from here", but for me it's actually more like 2 miles —tops. Looking out my cube window I actually can see more of Canada than I can of the U.S.A. It's right there across Lake Erie. But I digress because that's not what this post is about… We're here today to talk about the album this little lyrical snippet came from, Bruce Springteen's Nebraska. Now to be perfectly honest, I'm really not much of a fan of "The Boss" and his music. I like some of it and he's talented, but for the most part I've never really felt compelled to seriously listen to it. Generally speaking, it just doesn't click with me. It's odd because I listen to a very wide variety of music, but for the most part I can live without out Bruce. I hear it and I can get into it, it's good, but it doesn't stick. The lone exception being 1982's Nebraska. It was a largely considered a commercial flop as the follow-up to the wildly…
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Trip
Trip I am a self destructive creation I am only human Yet I am beyond a human need I have no comprehension I am over edged I can't hold my pencil because… My head is fallling down to… heh, heh I am into this fear It is only me, but it is very real My own mind is tearing me apart I go three ways, body, mind and soul My body just flops My mind is out of control My soul has gone, and is fighting to gain control 3/15/1982
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World in Flames
World in Flames Today is the day, the skies are falling in There isn't much to say, just put up with what they say Seems like the days are getting shorter Just not enough time, to finish the ever growing chores They say the fire burns lower everyday I say the're liars! I feel the hear of the fire In actuality I see the flames growing higher A I look around, the flames swallow me I feel the pain, as they eat away my brain My body's in a vise And I really wish, really wish You'd all stop bothering me 3/10/1982
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Falling Down
Falling Down I'm going down now I just can't see the things you say I'm falling down now Falling on a razor's blade The things I do everyday To make my dreams stay Everytime it gets harder and harder To come up with a way Lost all directions Within a mad obsession Hoping one day, they'll find The way to open up the door 3/5/1982
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Victimized Criminals
Nobody died so I'm not sure this is truly Darwin worthy, but it's certainly shows regressing intelligence. If you're committing a crime and you yourself become a victim of a crime, you probably shouldn't call the police!
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Roadkill is animal…
I guess if you intentionally run over an animal with the intent to maim or kill it, then yes that would be animal cruelty. (This reminds me of a story, but it will have to wait for another time.) But Roadkill Gummi Bears? This isn't animal cruelty, this is tasty fun! 02/26/05 Apparently Kraft, in weak, spineless corporate conservatism has caved in and is yanking these off the market. Why can't a company just once stand up and say "It's a joke people! Laugh it's funny!" Whatever happened to good old fashion corporate greed? You're throwing money away here.
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Elvis Trooper
What do you get when you cross old, fat, drug addled Elvis and an Imperial Storm Trooper? Why Elvis Trooper of course!
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Elusive Stranger
Elusive Stranger You walk around like you don't see me But yet you know that I am free Killing time, I stand in line With that smile you crack at me I think you're in a fantasy Even though you're not to far away The thought of knockin' is locked at bay Even if we pulled some threads I know the judge would put me away So far from love, please just one simple day I can't be tied in any way Even though I know you'll want more 3/3/1982
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RG #6
…more
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Snowman Returns
snowman-returns
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Hunter S. Thompson
I wake today to the sad news that America's greatest "gonzo" journalist, Hunter S. Thompson blew his brains out yesterday. I'm sure this will get heavy rotation in the "blogosphere" today and likely for days to come. My admiration of Hunter comes from reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas back in the early 1980's. A bizarre and wonderful tale of depravity and over indulgence while covering a district attorneys' anti-drug conference in the city of Lost Wages. Lets just say it struck a chord with me. "We had two bags of Grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine and a whole galaxy of multicolored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…. also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls… but the only thing that worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether…
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Bon Scott
Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of AC/DC's Bon Scott's death. Although I don't follow AC/DC as much now as I once did, I still enjoy their music. I remember very well the day that Bon died. I was riding up I-94 North with my middle sister, Melanie driving when I heard the report on the radio. I was very sad to hear this news because they had just started to break into the big time with "Highway to Hell". I pretty much figured the band was done for because after all, how many bands survive losing their lead singer? I'd say they survived very well indeed as the follow up release, "Back In Black" with Brian Johnson replacing Bon selling millions of copies. Anyhow, Melanie just didn't understand the magnitude of Bon's death. She wasn't into heavy metal at all and didn't even know who he was. Sad. Just sad. This was major news in the rock world, and it completely escaped her. For me this was huge because I lived for rock and roll then…and still do now. R…
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Fetch J.D.
Ah, nothing like having a good reliable ol' dog around to fetch things for you. Just think of all the cool things that you could teach him to fetch for you. Your friends will be most impressed…that is, until it comes back and bites you in the ass!
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Mind Shell
Mind Shell Open up your mind to see The world that unfolds before you We all know what's the reality Some day your dreams will find you You may walk around in your hometown Hoping they never lied to you But I can see the arms around us The're just trying to bind us Sheltering us on our way down The're just trying to find us Scratching their way into our minds To see what really excites us 3/1/1982
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Mall Security
What the hell is wrong with this country? I generally try to catchup on some news headlines while eating my lunch. Thus my being dumbfounded when I saw today's CNN "QuickVote" question: "Should there be mandatory security checks for everyone entering shopping malls?" So I immediately weighed in my "For God's sake NO!" vote on this lofty matter and then quickly came here to blog about it! I was relieved to see that as I write this, 83% of respondents agreed with the correct answer. That would be a resounding "No" for my mentally challenged readers. But amazingly enough, 17% of respondents think that you should have to go through security screening when entereing a shopping mall! Here's the poll at the time I wrote this: "Should there be mandatory security checks for everyone entering shopping malls?" Yes 17% 25,332 votes No 83% 122,535 votes Total: 100% 147,867 votes I can only hope that I don't know…
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Snowman
snowman
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MyClient (Hydra)
As mentioned in this entry, I've started work on a long overdue update to MyClient. This is a complete rewrite from the ground up and will feature several significant changes. Tabbed Interface - The current version allows for 3 query windows via links at the bottom of the page. The new version will have a tabbed interface at the top and allow for a virtually unlimited number of query windows. Whatever your system and brain can handle. By default it will have 5 windows and a documentation tab. Multiple DB Connections - Currently MyClient will only connect the 3 query windows to one database. The new multi-headed version —thus the "Hydra" moniker, will allow for virtually unlimited multiple database connections as mentioned above. There will be a default DB connection for all tabs and if you would like, you can specify a different connection on a per tab basis. So by default you can have either the old…
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PolarLava Website…
As mentioned in this entry regarding Topic Name Change for my projects, I had changed the PolarLava Website icon to the little spider web icon: I didn't really like that, but it was an improvement over the basic "PL" graphic. So now I've found the new "exploding lava" icon that I've obviously decided to use because it's what you see above!
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Welcome
Welcome I hear the sound It's good and loud I hear the drums Lets have some fun Guitars screaming I can't be dreaming Welcome to the show my friend It's a long, long way to the end… 3/1/1982
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Out of Tune
Out of Tune I'm lookin' out And something's out of tune Could be me, but maybe it's you What am I, what am I supposed to do? What does it take to get through to you? It's all so out of tune I'm hoping it will all, be over soon I wish I could, I wish I could see me When I'm speaking, who you listening too? You can't even see, can't even see me If you could, You'd think you're dreaming Dreaming of something for you! 2/17/1982
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The Hit
The Hit When the light in town fade down And the winds of the north subside You had better hide yourself from my eyes Don't try to run, I'll get a gun And I see no reason why I should not fire 'Cause I'm crazed, insane and slightly depraved So you better not get in the way There's nothing to say You had your chance I told you to stay away I'll have lots of fun Watching your blood run As your life slips away A kick in the face To add a little more pain No more days I've put you in your place 2/16/1982
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Papendick 2008
After hearing about the latest federal budget I'm thinking I should run for president in 2008. I mean really, could I do any worse than about the last half dozen or so presidents? So lets start with the basics… When the US Visa (aka national debt) is approaching 10 trillions dollars, it's probably time to put the crack pipe down and start breathing some fresh "cash and carry" air! Then again, maybe we should just keep spending until the rest of the world finally tells us we are full of shit, our money isn't worth anything and we can just piss off as the British like to say. But our esteemed government can't do that, can they? We are the almighty Americans after all. We're always right…just ask us. So anyhow, Dad just found out Mom's been lying about how she's been paying for all those new clothes. He's pissed off (as he should be) and he just cut the credit card in half! We can't keep spending money we don't have people. There is no defense to this action. Congress…
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PolarBlog CSS
After seeing the CSS changes on Kevin and Tara's Blog, I've started play with the CSS styling on right navigation. Basically this gets rid of the dot before list items and compresses things a bit. Although because of the way things are configured on my live blog it's not quite right. The changes in the "Hitchhiker" release will actual be with less space between list items. I really need to reconfigure this live blog to use just the left_nav.css. Then you will be able to see it. For those who may want institute this change in their blog, here is the section of the CSS that has changed: /* PolarBlog Calendar / #PbCalendar { position:absolute; top:135px; right:20px; width:170px; padding:10px; color:#f2efb7; background-color:#454545; border:2px solid #000000; line-height:15px; font-size: 12px; / replaces font-weight:570; / } / PolarBlog Calendar Lists */ #PbCalendar ul { margin-top: 2px; } #PbCalendar li { list-style-type: none…
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Durango Injustice
Does anyone else find it completely ridiculous that a 17 and a 18 year old girl get sued for giving away cookies? Give me a break. If you're so neurotic that someone knocking on your door at night frightens you so badly you wind up in the hospital, you need to move to a secure gated community. This is the equivalent of when my girls start with the "I had it first" argument over toys. Judges need to start treating these people like the children they are. Admonish them and then boot them out of court! Wanita Renea Young, 49 of Durango, CO…you're an asshole! If I'm ever in your neighborhood you can be assured that I will be banging on your door so hard you'll think it's the Lord Almighty God himself…or at least the Anti-Christ.
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The Suicide Twins…
The Suicide Twins (Going for the Golden Glory) Late at night, they wanna fight Gotta sound, a kind of twisted sound Gotta move this town Gonna tear it down I see you're nothing —to help us out tonight But you're a sound You're good and loud You kind of pound Leaving hindsight You're kind of proud You wanna die Ya gonna fly Gonna trash this town tonight! Ain't no sin, you gotta win You're the suicide twins… Tonight! Dig you hearts (out with a knife) You're out of mind Ain't got the time 'Cause you wanna die Commit suicide Tonight! To Stan & Gordy 2/16/1982
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A Matter of Time II
A Matter of Time II I got up this morning, didn't go to school Just sat around and cranked some tunes Oh, don't be a fool, just take on your life Don't live it for me or no one tonight! Cause you'll have yours, and I'll have mine We all know it's a matter of time Take some drugs, change your mind Take enough, get real high Take too much, you're gonna die You have yours, I've got mine We all know it's a matter of time Who knows when we'll die? We could ask Ronnie Reagan, or maybe your mom Ask Johnny Rotten, even a deposed Shah! To bad about J.F.K., I don't think he knew anyway We might ask God…if we see him soon Lets build a bomb, we'll end it at noon! 2/9/1982
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Topic Name Change
I've renamed the "PolarBlog Developement" topic to "Software Development" and changed the icon. Why? I've recently started work on project "Hydra", what will be MyClient V3.0. More information on this project will be forthcoming, thus I need a place to put it. And I really don't see the need to create yet another topic for something that will have few entries. So I've decided to lump all of my software development under this one banner. This means I also get the chance to replace the stupid "PB" icon I had been using with something that at least has some artistic merit! And while I'm at it, I'm getting rid of the similarly lame "PL" icon for the PolarLava website icon!
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Contemplation
Contemplation If you could see through my eyes What kind of a world would you see? If you could see into my mind What would you think of me? Lost in a musical dream I can't cope with reality Just another one, having fun Toying with society Just living life day by day See no reasons for any other way Someday we'll all pay For things done in some yesterday 2/8/1982 2/15/1982 (verse 3)
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The Lean
The Lean Never time for running around As you sit and frown as the roof comes down Always on the inside when everything comes down Always on the outside when the sky is a falling dream Under the lean, looking mean Under the lean, always reamed No one around to put you down Bbut somehow you've found a way to be clean So far away in an unseen movie A word of a way to be free Dreams seen Even though, it don't look Destiny is ruled by change No need to go by the book 1/28/1982
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Sleepless
A few weeks back I came across this article about a Ukrainian that hasn't slept in 20 years! Color me skeptical, but if true this would be oh so cool. Think about reclaiming 48-64 hours every week of your life (based on 6-8 hours of sleep per night). I'd be thrilled if I could adapt to living with only 4 hours a night. That would net me 14-28 hours a week of extra time. Knowing my luck my kids would adapt also only to monopolize my new found extra time!
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PolarBlog V1.5.2…
PolarBlog V1.5.2 (Groundhog) has been released. This release primarily addresses a potentially major database corruption problem related to entry comments. Additional fixes have also been implemented… Enhancements Added new MAIL_SUBJECT_COMMENT and MAIL_SUBJECT_REPLY language tags to better support non-english users needs. Bug Fixes Comment Deletion - A very serious bug exists in PolarBlog V1.5.0 & V1.5.1 whereby deleting a single comment will destroy all root level comments. This in turn will cause an incorrect comment count to display, but no comments to be displayed. This very serious problems was the result of array ID data being mishandled in the DB class. This problem has been corrected by fixing the handling of nested arrays within the DB class when using SafeSQL. Non-English versions were unable to delete users or topics since the V1.3.0 localization updates. Anyone who is not using the standard polarblog.php file needs to…
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Caught Up Inside
Caught Up Inside It's lonely and dark outside Not much different on the inside Sometimes I just stop and wonder why Is there any reason why? So many people can laugh while others cry? There's somethings on the inside That just want to be let free Can't see no reason why Some will live, and some will die It's all caught up inside Not quit knowing right It's all caught up inside, of me Not much to say today It's a cold typical day Just as a rat runs to hide The cat jumps aside to wait Another blood hungry fool Me and you derailed like a train By the systems powerful overrule They'll never change It's just typical of these days 1/22/1982
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Spherical Treehouse
The boy inside this man would love to have one of these spherical treehouses! Might just be a step towards that cycling-geek-hermit lifestyle which appeals to me on occasion.
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The Entity III…
The Entity III: Life Forms "As I float downward through the darkness, I see the millions of points of white light. Each one represents a life, a being, an existance. All with their own form…" You will survive, I can survive They will revive, it will go on now Something's missing, but it's all there There will be life forms, to use the air 1/7/82
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The Entity II…
The Entity II: Thoughts Of Confusion Caught up inside life Not knowing which way to turn I have no expression of feeling Only a mind that's begun to wear A cover that hides all fears A mind of unanswered questions Never knowing when they will be born A world of dreams illusion Caught up in the mass confusion A simple song, keeps going on Looking for one conclusion. 1/7/1982
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The Entity I: The…
The Entity I: The Traveler See the tunnel, stay outside Glowing light rays bend at sides Don't go near it, it burns your eyes I didn't listen, got sucked inside Total darkness, can't see light Can't go for it, I am blind Down the tunnel, into darkness Another planet? Another way? Got four choices, as I fly I can feel it, as it draws near Can't turn at it, I'm forced away I got no choices, not today Stay on the straight path, can't turn away Got no reason, got no way I've lost my feeling, my shape and form I'm just a mind now, in open air You can't see me, I'm not there It doesn't matter, near or far You have to listen, as I open your mind I have power, without a form 'cause I am just an entity A trick, a mental core 1/5/1982
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The Waiting Man
Meet Jeff Tweiten. Jeff joins us today under the "Way Too Much Time!" topic because Jeff really, really needs to get a life. You see, Jeff is waiting for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Sure lots of die hard fans are waiting for the next installment in this once great movie series. But most people are rational and will wait until the movie is actually in theaters before they start waiting in line for it! Apparently he waited 3 months for Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Gee, I bet that was really worth it. Kind of makes you wonder whether this would be better posted under my "Darwin's Work" topic instead!
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PolarBlog V1.5.1…
PolarBlog V1.5.1 has been released. This release contains… Enhancements None Bug Fixes Unable to add/edit users! There is a bug in the SafeSQL query escaping class that causes it to trip up on the DATE_FORMAT in the query string. This query has been converted back to a standard query until this issue can be resolved in SafeSQL. The Entry Preview is not localized. Several items with the preview window have now been localized. Calendar displays too small in some browsers. This has been corrected by forcing the width to 100% The "Read more…" horizontal ellipsis entity has been converted from &8230; to …. This was reported as not displaying in Konqueror on Linux in German. This may or may not correct this problem. Configuration Changes None See the PolarBlog Changes file for more information. Please see the PolarBlog Upgrading documentation for information on upgrading your…
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A Matter of Time
A Matter of Time I got up this morning, didn't go to school Just sat around and played some tunes Oh, don't be a fool, just take on your life Don't live it for me or no one tonight! Cause you'll have yours, and I'll have mine, it's all in a matter of time The light grows dim as we live our lives Each of us in opposite directions It's just a matter of time, we'll read the signs Lost obsessions [Chorus] As it all goes by in a matter of time Living our lives out on a limb You'll have yours, and I'll have mine Life's sensation There's a reason why, in everyone's mind We all know they're not the same With a half-cracked smile and a .45 You make it quite influential [chorus] Live your life to your advance Take it to its fullest extent Lay it all out on the line, 'cause you'll never die [chorus] 10/1/1981 8:57pm
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The Wild Wild South?
Reminiscent of Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, today's fodder is "Shootout at Shoats Grocery & Package. "I fought the law, and the law…" arrived in time to take my near dead ass to the hospital where I promptly died!
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Prison Mom
It seems in her effort to be a "cool mom", Sylvia Johnson might instead be known as a prison mom!
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Documentation System
I've had a need at work to create some online documentation. So I searched around and found PHP Doc System. This software allows you to create documents by building a table of contents file and then you make "modules" for each page represented in the the TOC. This isn't software for the average guy as it requires at least a basic knowledge of PHP in order to use it. I'm not sure, but I think I have that covered —but feel free to argue otherwise! Anyhow, I did some hacking on it to add a few improvements and also to get it to work with our stone-aged version of PHP that I'm currently strapped with at work. (Another story unto itself!) I sent these changes to the author, Alex King along with some ideas and suggestions regarding building a DB back-end system for it. Alex was kind enough to reply and seemed generally accepting of my changes. Of significance though was the DB back-end. He lists this as something he'd like to add on the web site, and in his reply he…
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The Arms Race
The Arms Race Day after day, it's always the same Someone's going against the grain Paper brings word of another joining the chase All out to be, the superior race Lead, blood and tears, they bring up the rear, as the great gears of the war machines turn. Some day they'll learn, we're all equal in some way, shape or form But it'll be too late, we all know our fate We're all going to die because of one's hate for another in that great arms race. 8/6/1981 12:25am
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Say it ain't so…
It seems another uptight, ultra-conservative group is laying out the "homosexual card". This time it's on one Mr. SpongeBob SquarePants. It's a cartoon character folks, chill out. Don't make us send you to Abu Graib for some "reeducation"!
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The Rain
The Rain Comes a time when I wonder why Stand in the rain and freeze Drive along and hit a tree Buy a gun and blow your brains Waste your time on sidelines Wait in line until the end Step aside he's a big head He can go through, but not you What is this fascination in life? Step outside and into my mind Feel the strange vibration The rain it falls cold and sharp It's totally random, makes no sense Feel the rain run down Feel the pain as they kick you when you're down Hear them laugh, you're the clown What a cold strange place it is The sound of a guitar fills the ears They don't understand, they don't care Fear reigns over you, what will they say? Will they laugh, cry or scream? Tears rain from eyes that cry And you can't come in to freeze with me It's my mind, even if you do care You can't change my minds pains and fears. 8/3/1981 1:07am
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PolarBlog V1.5.0…
PolarBlog V1.5.0 has been released. This release contains… Enhancements SafeSQL - All queries have been rewritten to use SafeSQL in order to prevent SQL query injection problems. There were not any known problems of this sort and this was strictly a precautionary change. Entry & Comment Auto-Linking has been added. Comment Email - Comment email notifications now indicate who posted the comment. PolarBlog now supports Mozilla Live Bookmarks. If you are using a modified and/or different index.php on your blog, you will need to edit it if you want to utilize this feature. Link Anchors - Link anchors for comment/reply entry and viewing have been added. These will now take you to the appropriate section on a page so you don't have to scroll down on long entries/replies. Comment Double-Space - Added HTML non-breaking space entity replacement on comment double space when adding or editing. This is the same functionality that is provided on…
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Southern Law
Cue the Dueling Banjos! It's time for a little southern courtroom, jury action.
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Living In Fear
Living In Fear Two people in the street —United together taking every move with such care One hoping the other won't leave Time passes fast, without pain [chorus] Living in fear, are we all sincere? Can we always look straight ahead No disillusion, distractions, nor fears… Always staying near Two people in different places —Drawn apart Time pullling them apart with allure Both hoping the other is still there Time drags out as the knife is thrust in Two people no longer in the same game — The blade The steel pushes deep but there's no pain One pushing the blade, the other unaware Time speeds forward toward confrontation [chorus] Two people back together — Stiff conversation The pain is felt, of one who rubbed the salt What is to be said? The blood has been shed The tears flow by, the blade now points the other way I feel the pain and your anguish today [chorus] Two people again together —Reunited Putting the pieces in place Will the time pass from this standstill? [chorus] Always…
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Postal Experiments
Exactly what will the USPS deliver? There's only one way to find out.
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Speedin' Through…
Speedin' Through Life Mach III - Oh, that's me! To fast to control, totally let go No chains to stop me, no leash to bind me Cops don't stop me, 'cause they can't see me! I'm traveling three times the speed of sound There ain't no slowing me down Oh, speedin', speedin' through life Tension complete, ain't not sleepin' tonight Don't hold me, or try to break me! You can't hurt me 'cause I don't precieve pain My minds in a time warp, hyper space flight Soon I will crash into the night and sleep tight Hours pass me by, where they go I don't know But soon again I'll pass into flight Flying too fast to control! No chains to stop me, no leash to bind me No one can stop me, I'm to, too high! Speedin', speedin', oh, oh speedin' Speedin' through life! Going up slow and down with a swift nosedive crash Sometime it'll be too fast! To, too fast and CRASH!!! 11/16/1980
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PolarBlog V1.5.0…
I'm now running what will be V1.5.0 on this blog. Let me know if you run into any problems in your travels. Until I get the documentation done, a quick rundown can be found in the changelog. This should be released next week.
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BlogShares Addiction
It all seemed so harmless… My "friend" Tim posted an entry in his blog about BlogShares. When I first read this I looked at the site, but I just didn't have the time to look into it. And Tim had already bought up most of my shares, so why bother, right? Well, I signed up yesterday and I'm not addicted thanks to my so called "friend". Yesterday I played around a bit and bought some things. Today I got serious… I sold my stock in Tim's blog for a tidy profit, sold a chuck of my free 1000 shares for claiming my blog and then went on a shopping spree. Pump and dump baby! So at this point I'd like to thank Tim for running up my stock price so I could enjoy a tidy windfall from his actions. I'd also like to point out that as of right now my blog is valued at B$1,552.71 to his B$1,000.00. Thus I'm worth 1-1/2 times what he is…so much for your thought control!
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PolarLava Link
I don't know how I managed to do it, but I put the wrong link in the PolarBlog default config file for my own blog!!! Anyhow, if you left the link to my blog on your list, could you please update it? Open your config file and look for this block (near the bottom of the file): $config['blogs'][0] = array( 'url' => 'https://www.polarlava.com/', 'title' => 'PolarLava', 'desc' => 'Brainwork from the lava flow...' ); If you would, please change the "url" value to read: 'url' => 'https://www.polarlava.com/blog/', Thanks, The Braindead Developer
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Taking a Stroll
Ah, nothing like a brisk walk at lunchtime. During the other three seasons of the year I generally take about a 20 minute stroll around the city during lunch. But generally in the winter it is rather nasty because of the weather. But today I opted to venture out for a walk…and it was rather enjoyable. But then again, here it is mid-January in Buffalo and it's 66° right now! Had to go enjoy it because it's moving out overnight and then back into the 20's.
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Mario Sheet Music
Someone who calls himself "The Blindfolded Pianist" has painstakingly written out the sheet music to Super Mario Brothers. Need I say more?
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Buffalo Water Intake
buffalo-water-intake
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Writing
When I was younger (so much younger than today…) I used write a lot of poetry/lyrics. I started when I was in high school when, like many teenagers I dreamed of rock stardom. So much for that theory! Anyhow, I had a study-hall every day that I usually spent writing. After high school I continued, but over time I wrote less and less. To the point of basically quiting. Once in awhile I would, and still do write, but nothing regularly like I used too. Over the past couple of months I've been contemplating whether I should create a new blog "Writing" topic and begin to put all of my writing online. Being largely from my young wayward days, big chunks of it contain all the basics of a misspent youth: sex, drugs, rock & roll, depression, suicide, love, hope, despair, etc. Some of it is directly about my life at a given time, but some of it isn't. It may be written as a first person account, but it's not about me. Actually a lot of it is written in third person! In…
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A message from…
So this morning I checked my email and found I had a reply to my WearYELLOW LiveStrong entry. I was a bit surprised by it because this entry is several months old. But once I read the comment it was all pretty clear. Obviously "Matt" is some sort of a religious zealot on a personal crusade against Lance Armstrong and his followers. I couldn't help myself…I had to reply. I had no idea of all the fun I was going to have once I implemented the commenting system in PolarBlog!
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PolarBlog User's…
Now that PolarBlog's usage has grown beyond, oh, I don't know…me, I've been contemplating putting a "user's page" on the site. This would basically just be a list of linked sites. I guess a "these people use PolarBlog" sort of thing. If you're a user and you'd be interested drop me an email (kevinp AT polarlava.com) or comment. -klp 2/3/2005 Being that for the most part I'm the only one that reads my musings, I've gone through my referal logs and tracked down a number of sites that are currently running PolarBlog. From this I've now added a PolarBlog Users page to the PolarBlog site.
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Comment Spamming
I guess the release of PolarBlog V1.4.0 was timed just right… This morning when I checked my email I had a message that a comment was posted to my Ski Masks blog entry. Initially I thought there might be another bug because the message was just a URL, not a text message. Upon further review I must proclaim that PolarBlog is now officially "mainstream" as this is the first known incident of comment spamming. It came from 218.79.133.250 located in China. It says it's an assigned address so I'm going block it by the full IP and see if I need to block a range or not. The next major milestone for PolarBlog is making it to "Big Time" status. That's when your PolarBlog installation starts getting flooded with automated comment spamming…which at this point I don't believe this to be. We shall see if the rogue returns.
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PolarBlog V1.4.0…
PolarBlog V1.4.0 has been released. This release contains… Enhancements Display Disable Notice - When logged in, a notice is now displayed in the entry header if the entry is not set to display. Topic Links - A list of topic links is now displayed in the right navigation menu. Comment IP Blocking - All comments now record the IP address from which they were posted. Additionally you can block IP addresses and IP ranges. Topic Icon Sizing - The ability to allow for different topic icon images sizes has been added. GZip Output Compression - The ability to compress the output from your blog to the browser has been implemented. Bug Fixes Updated entries display the creation date for the updated date. Configuration Changes Added TOPIC_ICON_WIDTH Added TOPIC_ICON_HEIGHT Added USE_GZ_OUTPUT Added GZ_LEVEL Added GZ_DEBUG Added COMMENT_BLOCK_FILE Added USE_TOPIC_LINKS See the PolarBlog Changes file for more information. Please see the PolarBlog Upgrading documentation for…