All Fixed

Well, since the last post, I'm happy to report that:
1. The e-mail hack has been successfully dealt with
2. The phone problem turned out to be due to a bad modem in our DVR and with the replacement of the DVR (an upgrade at no cost to us), the phones are working well.
3. We were able to find a current model microwave of the same manufacture and size as the old one that has been delivered and installed and working

All At Once

Yesterday was a home mini-disaster. First, it seems that one of our e-mail accounts was hacked and several acquaintances on it's mailing list received messsages asking that money be sent to England to bail M. out of jail. We are in the process of closing that account. Fortunately we don't use that e-mail service for personal stuff.

Then our residential phone service went on the fritz and our provider says it might take until Monday to get around to checking it out.

Finally, last night, our 10 year old microwave decided to bite the dust and since the space available for a microwave in our kitchen is limited and fixed, we will have to wait a week for one that fits to be delivered. You don't know how many things you do with a microwave until you don't have one.

None of these is particularly serious and all should be resolved within a few days. Updates of progress will be forthcoming.

Ah, The Good Old Days

When I was a "young" adult, I was usually pretty confident that my particular take on things was pretty accurate and it was clear that differing opinions were flawed in some way.

Now that I'm older, I find that I'm not nearly as certain of my lines of thought and much more cautious about asserting them, at least to casual acquaintances and strangers.

In these times of polarized opinions, it would be useful for everyone, at least on occasion, to argue a point from different sides to see that there may be some good points on many sides of an argument and identify possible ways to compromise (unlike this character from Wiley's comic, "Non Sequitur"). You may have to click on the image to enlarge it.

Just Checking

It's been a long, long time since I posted anything and I was just curious if I could still recall my Sign In password.

Apparently I can!

Please Forgive The Long Posting

The following is copied from a local newspaper

"Ill will over bill kill means entertainment from the Hill"
by Tim Rowland

"I pride myself on taking bold, uninformed stands, but I confess that I don't have a lot of strong feelings about national health care one way or the other.

To me, it's in the same category as Social Security, Medicare and the prescription drug act. I wish there were a better way than big federal government programs, but it seems to be the direction in which all civilized nations are moving. So why fight it?

I also can't help but point out that national health care would not have been necessary were it not for the insane greed of insurance companies, lawyers, drug companies, medical device outfits and just about anyone who took advantage of people's emotions, health and well-being for exorbitant profit.

But, since the health care law doesn't specifically benefit me, I am rather ambivalent.

Instead, I was all jacked up for the House Republicans (they of the You Lie! Hell no you can't! Kill the bill, kill the bill! faction) who were about to go full Bruce Lee on the Health Care Reform Law this week.

In anticipation of the action, Capitol Building janitors had sent out extra wet/dry vacs to soak up the expected gallons of drool and slobber produced by mouth-foaming Republicans. This was to be the bloodiest, craziest rodeo produced on the Hill since Ollie North slapped down the Democrats during Iran Contra.

At some point, I was pretty sure that we would be treated to video of some House members in party hats running around without their pants.

Most notable to me was the title of the Reform reform legislation: "A Bill to Repeal the Job Killing Health Care Law."

Great, they're going full preschool on us right out of the shoot. Can't wait for the sequel: "A Bill to Repeal the Poopie Caca Economic Stimulus Package."

Obviously, there are no grown-ups in charge, so this was going to be good, right? Alas, it was not to be. The Arizona shootings put a damper on the House trampoline act, to the point where sponsors of the bill considered changing the title from "Job Killing Health Care" to "Job Destroying Health Care."

I don't get it. They're about to deny health care to millions of mothers, women, children, people with handicaps and invalids, and all of a sudden they're worried that the title of the bill is too harsh?

Come on man, in for a penny in for a pound. Let your hair hang down. Call it the Repeal of the Law that Buries an Ax So Far Into the Skull of Jobs That the Jobs' Eyeballs Will Pop Out And Roll All the Way to Memphis Act.

House Republicans shouldn't try to be sensitive; it's not what they're about. If you're a run-first offense, you are just going to look silly if you come out throwing the ball.

But if you're a fan of pure goofiness, we haven't had this much fun since the "House Managers" during the Clinton years, when a bunch of fat old white men tried to remember what sex was like long enough to build an impeachment case around it.

In the search for a kinder, unkind compound adjective, Speaker John Boehner went with "job-crushing." That's a little limp in my view. I prefer Rep. Steve King, who called health care, no lie, the "entrepreneurial extinction act."

Steve. Dude. Do you really expect the people who put a person like you into office to understand what that means? Ix-nay on the Ulti-may Yllable-say, if you get my drift.

Ah well, it was bound to be a dud. As one reporter noted, the bill is dead on arrival in the Senate anyway. Or maybe we should say, destroyed on arrival."


Tim Rowland is a Herald-Mail columnist. He can be reached at 301-733-5131, ext. 6997, or via e-mail at timr@herald-mail.com. Tune in to the Rowland Rant on antpod.com or on Antietam Cable's WCL-TV Channel 30 at 6:30 p.m. New episodes are released every Wednesday.
Copyright © 2011, Herald Mail

Thank You for Thinking Of Me

Another birthday has come and gone. Melinda made sure that I was properly celebrated with a sartorial shopping trip and dinner out followed by cake, ice cream and presents opening. Everything was much appreciated, especially Holly and Steve's gorgeous Dog Book, the gift certificate from Mary Lynn and Tim and the H & D chocolate truffles sent by Gail and Bob.

Facebook gave a lot of my "friends" the opportunity

to send salutations and it was great to talk with brothers Bill and Bob and to Pop.

I guess I will have to try and keep having birthdays. Thanks everyone!

January 17 - The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (Or The Obscure)

Ophiuchus Rising

I just ran across the information that because of astronomical minutia, it may become necessary to adopt a 13th Zodiac sign called Ophiuchus. This entity is allegedly associated with the historical guy Imhotep or Aesculapius, the fellow with the snake and staff.

Also, with regard to the customary 12 other signs of the Zodiac, some dates have shifted from one sign to another. For example, yours truely will morph from a goat to an archer. I'm not sure I really mind (for a long time I thought I was a Saggitarius anyway before this change so you can see how closely I followed this astrology stuff)

What do the following all have in common?

Well, this has been a trying week, technologically and otherwise. To one degree or another, all of these images represent some sort of disfunction in my life and/or that of my dear wife.

First, the Trend Micro Antivirus that I bought for our new Dell (and for our other 2 computers) failed to install no matter what the Best Buy Geeks could do. They finally installed a trial Kaspersky AV that may or may not be working properly. One Geek suggested it was a Microsoft issue.

Next, my Brother wireless printer needed to have its inkjets cleaned again before it would print (that's what I get for not using OEM ink cartridges.

Taking advantage of a free "Showtime" weekend on DirecTV, I recorded several movies at least two of which did not play back correctly leaving poor James Bond in a pickle and some Alien stuck in Viking haunts. The tech at DTV suggested it might be their fault, not my DVR (we'll see).

Today, either the Dell running Windows 7, the Kaspersky AV or the Seagate external drive balked at saving some financial file updates as backups.

Also today, the University Sakai instructional system would not recognize my existence in trying to link to the poli.sci. class I'm taking.

We all know what the remaining image represents as a disfunction.

Let's try this again

I noticed this morning that I had not posted anything since last August. That's not necessarily bad.

I should update Maggie's information. She is now a svelt 45 lbs and on her annual Vet visit was scored a "3" on the 5 point body form scale. This happens to be "ideal"; not too skinny and not too chubby. She is up on all her shots (or will be after a couple of boosters) in 3 weeks.

Maggie has much improved her reactions to vehicular traffic but still needs some training about social graces with other dogs. Still very much a work in progress.

For All You Camping Enthusiasts

Today's Wizard Of Id cartoon may not impress unless you know something about Dobsonflies and their equally formidable looking aquatic Helgrammite larvae shown here. The adult fly image is taken from a Blog named "Alenoush Jardyne".

Just be glad these guys usually don't go for underwear!

Click on images for larger sizes.

The Cape Air Experiment

I recently planned a trip to Texas to visit family living near Dallas. In the past I have opted to fly non-stop from a large metropolitan airport about 50 miles from where I live. To make that connection requires either paying a $9 per day long term parking fee at the airport or making a “park and fly” reservation at an airport hotel (for an early morning flight). I also have to consider rush hour traffic in scheduling departure and return flights.

There has been another option. At a closer municipal airport there is a commuter airline that serves a larger, “international” airport from which I could get flights to/from Texas. The parking is free at this smaller airport, travel time is shorter, there is no rush hour traffic to worry about and clearing security is much quicker.
This time, I decided to give this option a shot using the commuter service called “Cape Air”. This little airline serves several other spots in the Northeast and in the Caribbean. It flies a couple of different airplanes and uses Cessna 401’s and 402’s for my local service. The photo here is one of their planes at the airport (taken and posted on line by someone named “Zverzver”.

In order to get reservations on Cape Air and a connection on a preferred “major” carrier, I had to schedule 3-4 hour layovers each way, but I was hoping that the advantages of flying out of the closer, smaller airport with Cape Air would outweigh the layover times and the additional cost of these “extra” legs.

By the time I got to the airport to start the trip, I had already learned that it was not possible to check in for either connection on line but I was able to get boarding passes for these flights when I arrived. The one and only attendant was cheerful and helpful. I had to have my carry-ons weighed and give my own weight (since we would fly in such a small, nine passenger plane). The TSA folks did their thing quickly and professionally but since I was the only passenger taking this particular flight, they didn’t have much to do.

So I got to the airport easily, got the free parking and I was right about quick security clearance. However I also learned that since Cape Air uses a different terminal than by my connecting airline, I would have to clear security again when I changed planes….a bummer.

The flight on Cape Air was fine. It was great to see a lot more on takeoff and landing (I was right behind the co-pilot seat but there was no co-pilot. Instead that seat held the fire extinguisher!). The day was hot and the AC consisted of the lady pilot opening her cockpit window while taxiing for take-off and after landing.
The young man at the end of the Cape Air flight was helpful and told me where I needed to go to get to my connection for the flight to Texas. The second security was not bad since there were not many folks wanting to go through when I did.
After my 3 hour layover ended, I boarded the plane to Texas, on time and with no real problems. Hooray! The flight was smooth and the folks in the seats next to me and close by were congenial. I arrived in Texas a few minutes early, but since there was still another plane at our gate, we had to wait on the tarmac until our scheduled arrival time. My “ride” from the airport was waiting for me and we got away from the airport in good order.

After completing the visit, I discovered that once again, I could not check in on line for either leg of my return flights for some reason. Thus I decided I would need to add 15 more minutes at the airport to stand in line at the ticket counter to check in. I was pleasantly surprised to find no line and I got my boarding passes in about 30 seconds after walking up. Sweet, but lucky.

I got through security and to my departure gate well in advance. My flight out left on time and the passengers and crew were all very good to fly with.

I arrived at my connecting airport on time. In fact, I saw that Cape Air had a plane leaving in 20 minutes so I trotted through the terminal hoping to catch that one rather than waiting several hours for my scheduled flight. However this time, the requirement to clear security between terminals was a plan-killer. There were many, many folks waiting now to show TSA their baggies of liquids, laptops and holey socks. I got to the gate about 5 minutes too late so I settled in to while away the 4 hour layover reading and eating dinner.

When it finally came time to board the Cape Air plane for the final leg the young attendant told us that one of the 7 passengers scheduled for the flight was delayed but “on the ground” but we had to wait for her and her luggage before we boarded. This amounted to a 30 minute delay before we headed out. The late passenger looked like she had had a rough time and was very appreciative that Cape Air waited for her. It was their last flight out for the day.

We got going, arrived in good shape and I drove on home only about a half hour later than I had planned.

Soooooo…..What have I concluded from this little experiment?
1.Cape Air is a nice little airline that does what it does in a professional manner.

2.If I do this again, however, I will try to schedule any connecting flights with airlines that share the same terminal with Cape Air (there are a couple of possibilities) so I won’t have to fight security more than once.

3.I will book the Cape Air reservations separately from any connecting airline so I can check-in on line for the connector leg(s).

4.With these considerations, the Cape Air option with its convenience for ground transportation and parking is viable. I’m just hoping that long layovers between Cape Air and other carriers are exceptions and not the rule.

Still So Very, Very True

This cartoon from Wiley goes back a few years, but recent congressional inaction on such things as finance reform, immigration reform and energy reform show us that PAC's and lobbyists still hold sway in Washington, D.C.

As usual, you will have to click on the image to enlarge it enough to read.

Waylon Bridges??

Started watching the movie "Crazy Heart" and was struck with the way Jeff B. played the part of main character Bad Blake. The visage and mannerisms reminded me of that old "Okie from Muskogee", Waylon J. Got to wondering if it was more than coincidence.

Not Quite, Wiley

The principle of Occam’s Razor (or principle of Parsimony) that is promoted by this particular Non-Sequitur strip from yesterday is frequently described just like the young man in the strip says, “the obvious answer (or simplest) usually being the correct one”.

However, there are enough instances where this is not the case that it would be better to adopt the proposal that if there are multiple hypothetical solutions to a problem, those being the simplest in nature would be the easiest to test and if proven incorrect, the quickest to reject; but if proven to work, would also be the quickest and most economical in time and effort to support. My (less than) 2 cents worth. Picky, picky, picky. (click image to read the strip)

Try This

I uploaded a PPT of a slime mold presentation to Scribd and wanted to see if it could be accessed through my blog.

http://www.scribd.com/full/32940722?access_key=key-2m432yxmcvix553x9yd2

I'm curious if this works.

Lamarckianism Anyone?

Today's "Close To Home" comic is a reminder that the idea of evolution being driven by the inheritance of characters modified by patterns of use and disuse of parts is still a popular, albeit a discredited one.

The following is a direct quote from the current Wikipedia treatment of the topic of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck:

"Lamarck constructed one of the first theoretical frameworks of organic evolution. While this theory was generally rejected during his lifetime,[ Stephen Jay Gould argues that Lamarck was the "primary evolutionary theorist", in that his ideas, and the way in which he structured his theory set the tone for much of the subsequent thinking in evolutionary biology, through to the present day.

Lamarck is usually remembered for his belief in the inheritance of acquired characteristics, and the use and disuse model by which organisms developed their characteristics. Lamarck incorporated this belief into his theory of evolution, along with other more common beliefs of the time, such as spontaneous generation. The inheritance of acquired characteristics (also called the theory of adaptation or soft inheritance) was rejected by August Weismann in the 1880s when he developed a theory of inheritance in which germ plasm (the sex cells, later redefined as DNA), remained separate and distinct from the soma (the rest of the body); thus nothing which happens to the soma may be passed on with the germ-plasm. This model underlies the modern understanding of inheritance.

Charles Darwin allowed a role for use and disuse as an evolutionary mechanism subsidiary to natural selection, most often in respect of disuse.] He praised Lamarck for "the eminent service of arousing attention to the probability of all change in the organic... world, being the result of law, not miraculous interposition". Lamarckism is also occasionally used to describe quasi-evolutionary concepts in societal contexts, though not by Lamarck himself. For example, the memetic theory of cultural evolution is sometimes described as a form of Lamarckian inheritance of non-genetic traits.

In contrast to the eventual general rejection of his proposed mechanism for evolution, Lamarck's seven-volume work on the natural history of invertebrates is recognised as a lasting contribution to zoology.

The honeybee subspecies Apis mellifera lamarckii is named after Lamarck, as well as the Bluefire jellyfish (Cyaneia lamarckii): a number of plant species have also been named after him, including Amelanchier lamarckii (Juneberry), Digitalis lamarckii and Aconitum lamarckii."

Struck By The Resemblance

I should probably leave this issue to Californians who must deal with the issue, but I thought the resemblance was kind of striking.

"We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Us" Pogo To Porkypine 1971

With all the finger pointing and blame gaming, it should be noted that if everyone didn't use oil and other natural resources faster than is sustainable, and in ways that are difficult without waste and pollution consequences, the chances of "mistakes" would be reduced as well as their severity.

Pogo is still correct in 2010 as he was in 1971 on Earth Day.

Here is a link to some interesting and thoughtful commentary:

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith//2010/06/the_gulf_oil_spill/all.html

An American President

While waiting for neighborhood traffic to clear and take Maggie out for her morning walk, I tuned into HBO for the last part of that Michael Douglas-Annette Benning movie "An American President". I found Douglas' speech to the White House press corps to be curiously appropriate for today and I wish our current President would deliver something similar. Here is the text of the movie speech:

" Reporter: Robyn, will the President ever respond to Senator Rumson's question about being a member of the American Civil Liberties Union?

President Shepherd: Yes, he will. Good morning. [Members of the White House Press Corps begin to rise] It's alright. Please keep your seats. Good morning.

For the last couple of months, Senator Rumson has suggested that being President of this country was, to a certain extent, about character. And although I've not been willing to engage in his attacks on me, I have been here three years and three days, and I can tell you without hesitation: Being President of this country is entirely about character.

For the record, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU, but the more important question is "Why aren't you, Bob?" Now this is an organization whose sole purpose is to defend the Bill of Rights, so it naturally begs the question, why would a senator, his party's most powerful spokesman and a candidate for President, choose to reject upholding the constitution? Now if you can answer that question, folks, then you're smarter than I am, because I didn't understand it until a few hours ago.

America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You've gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say, "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours." You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms.

Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.

I've known Bob Rumson for years. And I've been operating under the assumption that the reason Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong. Bob's problem isn't that he doesn't get it. Bob's problem is that he can't sell it!

We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle age, middle class, middle income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family, and American values and character, and you wave an old photo of the President's girlfriend and you scream about patriotism. You tell them she's to blame for their lot in life. And you go on television and you call her a whore.

Sydney Ellen Wade has done nothing to you, Bob. She has done nothing but put herself through school, represent the interests of public school teachers, and lobby for the safety of our natural resources. You want a character debate, Bob? You better stick with me, 'cause Sydney Ellen Wade is way out of your league.

I've loved two women in my life. I lost one to cancer. And I lost the other 'cause I was so busy keeping my job, I forgot to do my job. Well, that ends right now.

Tomorrow morning the White House is sending a bill to Congress for it's consideration. It's White House Resolution 455, an energy bill requiring a twenty percent reduction of the emission of fossil fuels over the next ten years. It is by far the most aggressive stride ever taken in the fight to reverse the effects of global warming. The other piece of legislation is the crime bill. As of today, it no longer exists. I'm throwing it out. I'm throwing it out and writing a law that makes sense. You cannot address crime prevention without getting rid of assault weapons and hand guns. I consider them a threat to national security, and I will go door to door if I have to, but I'm gonna convince Americans that I'm right, and I'm gonna get the guns.

We've got serious problems, and we need serious people. And if you want to talk about character, Bob, you'd better come at me with more than a burning flag and a membership card. If you want to talk about character and American values, fine. Just tell me where and when, and I'll show up. This a time for serious people, Bob, and your fifteen minutes are up.

My name is Andrew Shepherd, and I AM the President.