Cool Idea... but does anyone else see the obvious problem here?

That's Belkins newest product; a compact power strip with two USB charging ports on the side.

Overall, I think this is a great concept, given that the gadget industry seems (finally) to be standardizing on the MIniUSB port for charging and data transfer. Every phone, PDA, and MP3 player, and most of the headsets in this house use them; and rather than have to keep them all plugged into my laptop all the time, or trade off between the one plug available in the hotel room, this seems like a great solution.

Actually, I generally bring a compact power strip with me in my laptop bag for just such things; but this is smaller, lighter, and more convenient... though if I were king of the world, I would wish for one more outlet. If I were really pushing it, make that a 4 port powered USB 2 hub as well, and stick a short extension cord in the box (for those inaccessible outlets), and I'd run out and buy a half dozen of them as geek christmas gifts.

Anyway, there's just one problem I forsee here.

Look at the two USB ports.

Look at their spacing and orientation.

Given this spacing and orientation... and the fact that this device is a power strip...

VariAC

This is a VariAC; in this case, it's a VariAC that used to be sold by Sweet Marias, the specialty coffee dealer.

A VariAC, is one of those few technical items that does exactly what its name would suggest: it varies AC voltage (some also vary amperage; or rather they all do, but some offer control over amperage). People use them to vary the speed of AC motors (in tools for example), and the heat output of electric heaters (and lots of other reasons besides).

A good VariAC can take your standard 120 volt nominal line voltage, and vary it anywhere from zero, to 130 volts; by carefully balancing the output voltage, output amperage, and total current draw.

If you don't maintain that careful balance, presuming things turn on at all, they run erratically; or they get hot, and then they start to pop.

My house wiring seems to be hooked up through a cheap Chinese VariAC, with a crack addled monkey at the knob.

So a few weeks ago.. actually a few times over the past few weeks... I've mentioned that the power in my house is pretty dirty; and that it's caused some failures in my sensitive electronics.

It's cost me several thousand dollars in spare parts, and replacements over the last few years; but it was mostly gradual so I didn't really take notice of it. Then, over the course of less than three months, I had a half dozen computers and monitors die all at once.

Obviously, the issue was brought home to me right then; and it became very clear I needed to do something about the problem. So, I went out and bought power conditioning UPSes for all my electronics. Basically, if it's got any sensitive circuitry in it, it's now plugged into a power conditioning UPS.

So.. I knew the problem was bad... but I had no idea just how bad. Each power conditioner has a realtime input voltage display, as well as ground fault and line fault indicators.

Let me tell you, this has been a revelation.

Over the past few weeks, I have seen input voltages as low as 104vac, and as high as 127vac; as well as random line faults (which indicate spikes and dropouts), and flickering ground faults (which indicates poor connections to ground, or just poor grounding).

For those that are unfamiliar with electrical standards; this is FAR beyond the range of acceptable line voltage variation; to the point that it can cause failures and damage to electronics. The line and ground faults simply exacerbate the problem. A voltage spike combined with a bad ground is a nearly sure recipe for a blown power supply for example.

Though many electrical appliances are not greatly voltage sensitive; most consumer electronics in the US are designed to handle a maximum variation of 120vac +- 5%, or from about 115, to about 125 volts (actually generally 114-126). 23 volts of variation, is more than enough to destroy sensitive electronic equipment.

Just as an example, when I started writing this about 15 minutes ago, my input voltage was reading at 121vac. As I write this line, it's at 112vac.

A variation like that will also cause a noticeable dimming or brightening of incandescent lights, and noticeable changes in motor running speeds etc... And I HAD noticed such things before; but again, I didn't realize just how bad it was. Color me oblivious.

There doesn't seem to be any correlation between power use in the house and input voltage; or any particular daytime cycle to the variations. This would seem to indicate the problem is with my utility company (likely, my local stepdown transformer; because the local substations are supposedly monitored to maintain 5% variation from nominal voltage ), and not with my house wiring or any particular load in the house. Of course my house was built in 1953, and the wiring was only partially upgraded in the 70s, so I'm sure the inside wiring is no help to the situation; and neither are my rather old and inefficient oven, range etc... .

I guess it really IS time to go for a whole house power conditioner.

Oh, it's up to 117 volts now.

Confessions

I have a confession to make.

I aided and abetted the abuse visited upon me, and at points failed in my duties as a mother.

I let myself be abused for 3 1/2 years, then let myself be taken advantage of and legally screwed.

Before this happened, I never understood that there were types of abuse besides physical abuse. I never understood manipulation, emotional abuse, mental abuse, neglect.. I never understood what was happening to me before I got away.

And even then, I blamed myself.

For those of you who wonder why a woman (or a man) would willingly stay in an abusive relationship, it's quite simple. Abuse quite often begins small; criticism delivered the wrong way, insults, invaded privacy of all kinds. By the time full-blown abuse comes around, the victim is fully convinced that they DESERVE what is happening to them.

And so I was fully convinced, for almost 7 years. I convinced myself that if I'd been better, done something different, done something right, I wouldn't have been abused. Even when the kids were snatched from me, kidnapped from me, I thought it was my fault and I deserved it. At that moment I emotionally shut down, entered a continual panic attack, and completely turned my focus to just surviving.

I just recently pulled myself out of survival mode.

It is because I blamed myself, even though I knew what was happening was wrong, that I allowed the children to stay with their father while we fought the first case. The man who, in concert with his family, abused me and destroyed my dignity and will to live.

I honestly thought that even though they'd abused me, since I'd obviously deserved the abuse and the kids didn't, that the kids would be all right.

I will never forgive myself for being so stupid and blind. I've realized how utterly naive and willfully ignorant I was to leave the kids in his care. I should never have let him near the children again, and I realize that now. I don't know what happened to the kids in his care, but I know some things went wrong. I have no proof for most of them, but what I know is enough to give me enough regrets for a lifetime.

We're coming up against the end of the custody case, where all of the dirty laundry, real and manufactured, will be spread out for the judge to see. I've been advised by my lawyer that although he and I would rather not have to sling mud, he's never seen a family court case where taking the high road worked out. I need to be prepared for any allegations that could possibly be brought up against Chris and me, and prepare some mud myself. I'm committed to being honest and truthful, but being honest requires admitting to some very personal tragedy in court, and admitting to ALL of what has happened. Even the parts I'm ashamed of.

It's that preparation which has me thinking about the past as much as I am. Thinking about where I failed, and where I could have done better. Thinking about the kids and how much this entire business has hurt them.

If I had my way, I would not even be going through this. Everything would have been dealt with, negotiated, settled. It's the fact that I'm the only one willing the negotiate that has opened my eyes to the fact that if my ex were to gain custody of the kids, he would most likely abuse them as well. He thinks he's right in all of this, and that I'm the horrible person... it's the fact that he thinks he is blameless that scares me the most.

As much as I've made mistakes, I've never intentionally harmed another person. The fact that my ex has, and thinks it was RIGHT to do so, terrifies me.

So the case goes before a stranger in black robes, who decides the future of the children. The entire concept of a judge deciding the kids' fate is extremely wrong, but unavoidable. I'm praying the judge has the gift of seeing through bullshit.

In the meantime, I need to admit to myself, and everyone, my own portion of culpability in this sad affair. I fucked up in ways completely avoidable because I let someone convince me I was worthless and deserved what happened.

I will never make that mistake again.

Mel

Boys and Men

There’s a mistake I keep making.

I keep seeing 19 and 20 year olds coming back from their first tour… and I keep calling them boys and thinking of them as kids.

No man who has volunteered to serve in combat deserves to be called a boy. If nothing else, they’ve earned the right to be called men.

Interesting... how 'bout you?

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Ranger/Sorcerer (3rd/2nd Level) Ability Scores: Strength-15 Dexterity-15 Constitution-17 Intelligence-18 Wisdom-17 Charisma-18 Alignment: Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable. Race: Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like. Primary Class: Rangers are skilled stalkers and hunters who make their home in the woods. Their martial skill is nearly the equal of the fighter, but they lack the latter's dedication to the craft of fighting. Instead, the ranger focuses his skills and training on a specific enemy a type of creature he bears a vengeful grudge against and hunts above all others. Rangers often accept the role of protector, aiding those who live in or travel through the woods. His skills allow him to move quietly and stick to the shadows, especially in natural settings, and he also has special knowledge of certain types of creatures. Finally, an experienced ranger has such a tie to nature that he can actually draw on natural power to cast divine spells, much as a druid does, and like a druid he is often accompanied by animal companions. A ranger's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast. Secondary Class: Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast. Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Oh and for you RPG geeks out there (everyone else just stop reading now) this just shows up one of the weaknesses of the D&D character attributes system; and to a certain extent almost all other RPG systems in some way or another.

I am extremely large, very strong, I can walk all day long with a pack on so long as I don't have to run, I have a strong constitution and a great ability to take damage; but I'm also quite fat, I have bad knees, and I can't run. I'm fast and agile for a fat man, but I'm still not going to be supertheif, or a marathon runner etc...

All of those attributes have to be represented by three numbers, Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution; and sometimes there are multiple factors in opposition. For example, I am an excellent shot, very good at handicrafts and video games, and I play guitar. All of these things are associated with high dexterity. I am not however an acrobat, or a pickpocket, or a tumbler, or a gymnast etc... all of which are ALSO associated with high dexterity.

As for the intellectual and social attributes, I'm very intelligent, quick witted, and well spoken. I'm also friendly and personable most of the time, I talk with new people easily, I have a great deal of life experience for my age, and I'm an excellent leader. However, I am also confident, aggressive, opinionated, more than occasionally offensive, etc... All of those attributes have to be represented by three numbers, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.

I have excellent leadership skills, but tend to piss off people who I don't have much respect for. I refuse to use "tactfulness" as cover for "bullshit". These are characteristics in opposition to each other, but are both represented by charisma.

It's nearly impossible to classify people, and their habits and abilities and skills with numbers, or dots, or points, or spheres, or whatever else the system uses; the best you can do is give it a general try, and then play things as they would make sense for the story, and the setting, and the character.

HT: Cowboy Blob

Total, Global, Domination

When the iPhone came out, I had at best a lukewarm response to it. In fact, I openly mocked the early adopters as Apple fanboys; because the device in it's initial release had a number of what I consider rather serious flaws:

1. It was about $200 too expensive
   
2. It didn't support any high bandwidth wireless mobile networking; only GPRS/EDGE
3. It was locked to a single carrier (AT&T in the US)
4. There was no third party software available, and the API and SDK were locked up

Well, a few months after the release, Apple cut the price by $200; which was a good first step, but not enough to make what I would consider a compelling value proposition.

This morning, Apple announced the long awaited availability of the third party software developers kit; along with the distribution plan for iPhone software through the Apple Store, using the iTunes model.

Apple has also dedicated $100 million (of the $20 billion or so) of their cash reserves, to providing VC funding for iPhone development.

Wow.

This is very big. So big in fact that over at Eternity Road, Jeff Medcalf (who happens to have the same job as I do) is predicting the iPhone will dominate mobile computing within 3-5 years:

...The combination of these three elements is going to make iPhone development and use take off, and I would not be surprised if the platform is, in five years, considered as indispensable as are desktop computers today. I would tell you where to get everything to get started, but it seems that Apple’s developer support webservers have been completely overloaded since the announcement that the beta SDK was available today.

I am aware that I am going to be accused of being overblown, and perhaps time will even prove that to be the case. But I cannot help but feel the way I felt when I first saw a Macintosh, after years of using TRS-80s, Commodore 64s and the like, or the way that I felt when I first learned a structured programming language, after years of BASIC and Assembly and FORTRAN.

Just as those innovations remade computers utterly, I believe that the iPhone will. Moreover, I realize that the platform is imperfect, limited by reality rather than imagination (although an honest observer would have to conclude that it reset expectations of what was possible in a handheld platform) and lacking features that many people will vociferously claim to need (and which a few of them might even use). Yet that is true of any human endeavor, and I do think that time will prove me right....

Well, I don't think he's being overblown at all as to potential; but I can only agree conditionally, because of a couple (well... three) execution issues. Basically some of that "reality" that Jeff was waving away in the last paragraph there.

Those three conditions are:

1. Apple gives the full release 1.0 SDK, full API access, to all the functions of the hardware and operating system. I understand from reading the various gadget and mobile sites, that the the beta is somewhat limited currently.
   
   
2. The 3G (or even better 3.5g or 4g) iPhone comes out later this year as is projected; especially if it also comes out with a built in GPS.
   
   
3. Apple allows open network purchase and activation of the iPhone after their current exclusive contracts expire in 2009.

If these open access and connectivity steps are taken, and not in a halfhearted way, but in a way that consumers can really use; I predict the iPhone will supplant all other mobile computing environments within 3 years.

I currently own an E-Ten GloFiish X800, that I gladly paid $599 for, unlocked and unsubsidized. I did this because I need what it offers:

1. The most widely developed mobile computing environment currently available (WMP6). This means if I need a piece of software to perform a certain function, I am likely to find it.

2. High bandwidth network communications on all major networks around the world, both for voice and data (The X800 is a quad/quad GSM 3.5g edge/gprs/hsdpa/hsupa/umts device with WiFi, bluetooth, and GPS. It supports basically every standard and every network). This means that no matter where I am in the developed world, I can get voice and data service.

The X800 is, quite simply, the best connected mobile device available today; and it has the most software available for it.

As far as Windows Mobile devices go, you can't get any better... Unfortunately, the windows mobile professional operating environment is horrible. It's resource intensive, it's inefficient, it's unreliable; and it is only considered open because MS developers kits are the dominant platform, so everyone has them (and they pay about $500 a seat for the privilege).

The operating environment and (other than the limited connectivity options) the hardware of the iPhone, are both vastly superior to any Windows Mobile device. If Apple includes open high bandwidth connectivity options, and releases a full open development environment (and if they get the developers to build on that platform of course; but you would expect the one to follow the others) there is no way that WM6 (or the upcoming WM7) could compete.

In fact, putting aside competition between Apple and Microsoft; what is currently holding mobile computing back, is that it simply isn't useful and economical enough to get users to switch away from simple handsets. They don't see the value.

If developers fully embrace the iPhone platform, with expanded connectivity capabilities; it will finally provide the incentive for mobile computing to become ubiquitous. Current handset users will finally be presented with a compelling reason, and value proposition, to carry more than just their bog standard mobile handset.

Lord knows, I'd switch in a heartbeat; and I'd pay another $599 to do it.

No time to blog today

Nasty busy at work, then we had Rivrdog over for dinner.

I am going to get around to finishing the dam blog post from Monday, tomorrow; barring the yods screwing with me.

Oh and I was thinking I had avoided the nasty bug that got both Mel and JOhnOC; but it looks like I didn't miss it after all.

I woke up this morning with a slight fever, a sore throat, and a stuffed nose and it's just getting worse.

Loverly.

Lost a friend today

This morning, Gary Gygax passed on, a few months shy of his 70th birthday.

Gary is... was... a friend of mine. I'd only met him a few times at gaming events and the like, but for the last couple years I've been moderating a mailing list for him, and participating in some great online discussions.

Gary was a big personality... one that a lot of folks couldn't handle. He was confident, agressive, assertive, and he never backed down. He had an amazing wit and sense of humor; especially for the ironic, sarcastic, and absurd. Sometimes, he liked to argue, just to see what people would say; or just for fun.

What most people don't know is that Gary was also a deeply religious Christian, and a profoundly conservative man politically and socially. He was a father of six, and a grandfather of seven.

It always amused the hell out of me that the fundies would decry how D&D was the tool of the devil; and yet Gary was almost certainly more conservative than they were.

Being conservative, and being religious, don't have anything to do with having a quick, agile, open, and creative mind; no matter what some seem to believe.

Garys health has been pretty bad for a long time. Over the past few years, he's had several medically imposed periods of bed rest and isolation; a couple strokes, a couple cardiac events, and some immune system issues. It hasn't been announced exactly how he died, but it's believed to be heart related.

My prayers go out to Gail, his kids, and his grandkids.

Confugio Deus, Draco Magnus.

Ugh, Gronk Artikekt, not code monkey

Long Damn Day... or two really

I just finished my third windows rebuild in 36 hours, including two phonecalls to Microsquish to activate the evil Vista, and god knows how much time spent reinstalling applications and drivers; followed by reboot after reboot.

The end result of this, is that the kids computer and my game/media machine are now both fully re-built; and I now have a third computer built from the spare parts of the other two (and some extras I had lying around).

I'd mentioned the kids mobo dying before; but not much about my machine. The kids computer (actually I just use that as a shorthand; because its the living room PC that we all use, and which also streams media to the home theater) fried it's motherboard last week, and I had to order a new one.

Well, I was hunting around for a new motherboard, and I found a spectacular deal on a new mobo and processor combo; a 2.5ghz Athlon 64 x2, and very decent ASUS motherboard; for just $40 more than a new motherboard for the Pentium D would have been alone.

Given this deal, I was left with a spare processor, and a semi-dead motherboard (the motherboard works, but the SATA controller crapped out) ; and I was wondering about what I might want to do with them.

As I wrote last week, I like having spare PCs around, in case something blows up; or for use as a testing box, or random server of some kind. Even if I don't need them for some thing or another, I'll frequently give them as gifts to family members, or loaners to friends etc...

I've also mentioned in the past that the one thing I really didn't like about my media/gaming rig was the case. Basically, my primary desktop was driving me crazy with the noise.

I have a Core 2 quad 6600 with a bigass coolermaster heat sink, a GeForce 8600GTS, two dvd burners, and two 7200 rpm hard drives in there... all in a crappy factory case, with the stock cheap bushing fans, and noisy and underpowered 450 watt OEM power supply. The whole chassis is perforated like a collander, and with all those drives and fans in there... oy.

Remember now, this machine is in my bedroom, and runs overnight movie, video, and music downloads and conversions. I sleep with a little vornado style fan on all night; and there were times when the PC fan and hard drive noise was audible over the actual fan.

So, with the goal being quiet performance, I grabbed a CoolerMaster Cosmos noise reducing case, a Thermaltake Toughpower PSU (modular, silent, high efficiency power supply); and an Asus mobo with a heat pipe, and intelligent fan control for all 8 of the fans in the chassis.

I also moved all my digital media onto my NAS setup (more on that on a later post), took the two 500gig Barracudas out of the box (put them in the NAS box in fact), and put a 250gig Barracuda I had lying around back in; cloning my system partition onto it with my drive imaging software.

I'm very pleased with the results. Unless I'm reading a CD/DVD at high speed, you can't hear anything from the system at all in normal usage. Even overclocked, running BioShock with everything turned all the way up; the maximum fan noise is still less than the minimum fan noise from the previous case and mobo combo.

This left me with the old motherboard and case from my gaming box, a 2.4ghz Pentium D, 2 gigs of spare RAM, a GeForce 8500GT-256, and 2x 160gb hard drives; all of which I had lying around. So now I've got a spare system, dual booting Kubuntu and XP "just in case".

The total cost for the case, power supply, two motherboards, and a processor, was right around $500 (that doesn't include the spare ram, hard drives, or video card I had lying around).

Considering I ended up with a spare PC out of the deal; as well as meeting my goal of silent performance, and doubling ther performance of the living room PC.... Well, Id say we got our moneys worth.

Now that left the two upgraded systems that had existing data on them to deal with. Data which we would prefer not to lose.

Any time you move an existing windows install onto another motherboard... bad things can happen. Sometimes it works great, sometimes it doesn't work at all... in both of these cases the situation ended up somewhere in between. With all the potential problems though, I decided to do a clean system rebuild for each; which can take a while.

First, I used my NAS and external HDD drives, and the aforementioned backup and imaging software (I use Acronis) to back everything up; and then I started rebuilding.

The physical teardown and rebuild took a few hours. Actually a bit longer than I expected; mostly because the old factory chassis on my gaming/media box was very irritating. I was planning on re-using everything from the computer except the case, mobo, and PSU; so I couldn't just pop out the hard drives and processor and start over.

The kids box was actually surprisingly easy. The mobo came right out, the new mobo and proc went in; and the rest of the components popped onto the mobo just fine.

Finally it was software time.

All told, it took about 10 hours on the big box, and about 6 on the kids box; what with all the backups, updates, app installs etc...

And of course, I had a work day in the middle there.

While I was waiting for various backups to run, and apps to install, I made some Cat5e patch cables (relating to a project I'm going to write about tomorrow); which is always "great fun". My hands and fingers feel just great now.

So, anyway, I'm pretty brain dead at the moment; and I didn't finish the two big posts I was meaning to get done; but both boxes are finished and working and clean, and both boxes now have clean baseline images on the NAS.

Oh and I did a semi-inventory on spares. I already had bunch of spares; but including the full spare box I built; I now have a total of three spare motherboards (one of which is semi fried. The SATA controller is dead), three spare cases, a spare Pentium D processor and a spare Athlon 64+, I think 3 gigs of spare RAM, and god knows how many spare hard drives...

Next time a computer dies like the kids did, I can slot in the spare PC; and then probably just rebuild another one from leftover parts... which is kinda the point.

George Washington, on the efficiency of groups

"Whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty by
close application thereto, it is worse executed by two persons and
scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein."

-- George Washington, 1732-1799

Frikken FInally

So Cox is FINALLY adding some more HD channels on the 18th.

Wooo hooo, Mythbusters in HD!

The theory is that Cox will be up to 80 HD channels by the end of theyear, instead of the 20 or so they've got now.

From Engadget HD:

Look out, desert dwellers, as Cox Communications is all set to dish out seven new HD channels to Arizona residents next month. On deck is TBS HD, Discovery Channel HD, Science Channel HD, Food Network HD, Animal Planet HD, Golf / Versus HD and History Channel HD. As of now, we've no idea where these will fit into the EPG, but you can phone up Cox and start to gripe if the whole lot doesn't arrive on March 18th.

Of course that's still far fewer than either of the major satellite providers, and several of those 80 channels (like TBS and TNT) are stretch-o-vision pseudo HD; but it's a step in the right direction.

FIghting Men

From Drudge:

PRINCE HARRY FIGHTS ON FRONTLINES IN AFGHANISTAN; 3 MONTH TOUR
Thu Feb 28 2008 11:01:34 ET

They're calling him "Harry the Hero!"

British Royal Prince Harry has been fighting in Afghanistan since late December -- and has been directly involved in gun battle, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

The prince, a junior officer in the Blues and Royals, and third in line to the throne, has been a "magnificent soldier" and an "inspiration to all of Briton."

Prince Harry is taking part in a new offensive against the Taliban.

Ministry of Defense and Clarence House refuse all comment. Army chiefs have managed to keep the prince away from media and have encourage fellow soldiers in his squadron to stay quiet.

Developing...

Henry, Prince of Wales, is a fighting man.

The reaction from some has been along the lines of "I'm impressed", from others more like "I'm shocked and surprised".

Me? Impressed absolutely, but not surprised.

Some men love their country far more than their positions in society. Some love their honor more than their comfort.

Although the royal family take a lot of criticism, basically just for being who and what they are (some of which is deserved, some not); the royal family are not cowards, they aren’t lazy, and they aren't shirkers.

Harrys father, Prince Charles is a qualified naval aviator, both fixed and rotary wing; and also a qualified surface warfare officer, and surface command officer. He spent 5 years as a full time naval officer, and 15 years in the royal naval reserve. His last naval tour was 9 months in command of a light cruiser.

Charles of course holds the honorary ranks of marshal, general, and admiral in the army, air force, and navy; but he legitimately earned the rank of commander in the royal navy.

Harrys uncle, Prince Andrew is also a qualified fixed and rotary wing naval aviator, and served in the Falklands war as a CSAR helicopter pilot. Andrew had a 22 year full time naval career; and also legitimately earned the rank of Commander (as his brother had). He is a graduate of the Royal Naval College. In his last tour of duty, he commanded a helicopter squadron for two years.

His other uncle Edward was a 2nd Lt. in the Royal Marines.

Harrys grandfather, prince consort Philip was XO on a destroyer in WW2.

Harry is a graduate of the royal military academy at Sandhurst. He trained as a challenger commander, and commanded a tank troop; but the Army refused to send him to Iraq. He initially fought for combat duty, but the Army convinced him that he would be a danger to other soldiers, because the enemy would make a point of directing their resources towards killing or capturing him specifically.

At that point, he backed down, and retrained as a combat air controller (equivalent to a Forward Air Controller); and requested assignment to Afghanistan (where he is now serving).

By all accounts, the men who have served with Charles, Andrew, and Harry have held them all in the highest regard and with the deepest respect. These are fighting men, and worthy of the honor of their ranks and awards.

CavArms raided by the ATFE

Just saw on the news that the ATF raided CavArms in Gilbert.

Here's the link to the Local News Video

Lots of PSH, and complaints about how CavArms videos were demeaning and offensive to Muslims. CAIR has made a statement calling this video deplorable etc... etc...:

Here's a more balanced and factual (though still completely devoid of content) story from AZCentral.

ANd a video with somewhat more detail, though not much; taken from an interview with an ATF agent on the scene.

No news as to what actual justification the ATF is using here, but I've done business with CavArms, and I don't believe for a second that they've done anything wrong.

Watch that news video, and be prepared to be pissed off at the blatant anti-gun and pro ATF propaganda.

Another Great Man Gone

The two most influential philosophers of small government have died in the past 18 months. First Milton Friedman; and today, William F. Buckley.


No one has done more for the advancement of conservative principles than that man. Lord I wish I was a tenth the writer that he was.

pic stolen from Kim

Two is One, One is None

That is the preparedness maxim.

Basically it means that if you only have one of something important, you can't count on it, because it WILL eventually break, fail, be lost, or stolen, or otherwise refuse or be unable to perform its required function.

Now, when writing here, I generally apply the maxim to the essentials; you know, water, toilet paper, guns, ammo, spare parts for guns and cars etc...

Today though, I'm going to talk about computers.

Ahhh computers, the boon and bane of our existence; and to many of us not much lower on the priority list than those things above (at least until TEOTWAWKI).

So why talk about the two is one maxim and computers today?

Well, how about because I'm irritated.

In the last few months (the current spate of failures started around November I think... maybe October), just at home, we've had the following (just what I can remember, and just in computers... probably more than that actually; plus the TV that died):

• three hard drives just flat out fail
• four power supplies die (one desktop, three laptop)
• two monitors fail
• three network interfaces fail
• two cd-rom drives fail
• several flash memory cards die
• one PDA have it's charging port break off
• one laptop just fail completely
  
• Two routers die
  

I think you get the point.

Now of course that's a lot more failures than most people experience; but Mel and I both work at home, and run my business from my home office; so we've got a lot more computers than most (2 laptops active, two desktops active, a couple servers, a couple of testing machines, a couple old boxes as emergency backups/spares... a total of about 10 systems; and that's down from about 15 a few months ago).

We keep hardware around a long time; and we buy a fair bit of new hardware for various reasons; so most of the failures were either beyond their service life, or still in their infant mortality period. We also have very dirty power here, and up until recently we didn't have everything on power conditioners (which is what killed the TV, and which has most definitely been fixed). All that adds up to more failures per system than most experience;

Combined, more systems and more failures per system... well, do the math.

The problem is of course, when something fails here, it generally means I can't work until it gets fixed; and that can get expensive.

As to why I'm particularly irritated today; just in the last three days, the motherboard for the girls computer died, and I had a hard drive physically break while I was doing maintenance on my primary desktop.

My windows boot drive, to be more specific.

Importantly though, only a couple of these breakages caused me an immediate problem, other than some irritation and time wastage; because I followed the maxim. I have spare parts for all my systems, and backups for all my data.

Yes, I had to pick up 2 new monitors; but I was able to function until I did by using old monitors (I always keep a couple around as spares). They were ugly, but they worked.

I was able to recover my windows boot drive using my backup software, onto a spare hard drive (I always keep several around, because they are the most frequent failure in computers). Each of the other hard drive failures, I was also able to put in a spare, and recover from backups. I bought the hard drives on special at woot, 3x 500gb drives for $240 total; just to make sure I had spares around.

The last time woot had them on special, I picked up 3 targus labeled (actually made by iGo, a great company) universal laptop power supplies for $20 each; so when my OEM power supplies have died, I've been able to slot in an iGo until I could get a replacement (or actually in the case of two of them, not bother getting OEM replacements because the iGos are actually better).

It doesn't take a huge investment to make sure you can always keep functioning. A spare hard drive costs under $100 these days. A spare router is $60. A spare DVD burner is about $35. Desktop and laptop power supplies are generally $60 to $80 for either.

Oh and don't forget spare cables. Cables fail all the time, and it's generally cheap to have a couple spares around. You can probably get spare power, network, USB, IDE, and SATA cables for each of your computers for under $30.

Generally speaking, when I upgrade something, I keep the old parts around as spares. Then if I need to use the spare, I buy a replacement and keep cycling things through. If I don't get a spare that way, I just snag them whenever I can pick them up on sale or special etc...

Also, I strip out all the useful cables, screws, brackets, etc... from old computers and other electronics I'm going to toss. You wouldn't believe how often the whole "for want of a nail" scenario plays out; and those spare screws etc... have saved my butt.

The couple of breakages that DID cause me an immediate problem that I mentioned above?

Both were because I didn't follow the maxim.

About a nine months ago, my router died; and I replaced it with my spare. I then forgot to replace the spare. About two months ago, my previous spare router that I was then using as my primary router also died; because of a power surge.

I work over a VPN, and without an internet connection I can't work. I also start work before most stores are open, because my co-workers are all in other time zones. I ended up having to go out to super-walmart at midnight to go and overpay for a router (and not the one I would have bought if given a choice).

You can be damn sure that a couple days later I went out and bought the router I actually needed. Now the midnight walmart router is my spare.

The other one is the girls motherboard.

There are generally two pieces I don't have any spares of: motherboards, and processors.

Basically, I don't keep spares because failure is very rare, because they are quite expensive, and because they tend to go obsolete very quickly. It just doesn't make sense to have a spare mobo and proc around.

What I do always have around is at least one spare computer. With computers so cheap these days, $300 gets you all you really need for a backup box; and you can always have it be a multifunction system (make it a media server or an archive server for example).

If I need to get that computer FUNCTION back up and running quickly, I have all my data backed up, and all my operating systems imaged; and I can just load it up on one of the extra computers rather than try and do a rush repair on the broken one.

I talk about building backup and security systems here, and here.

Thankfully, the girls computer isn't exactly critical to my work; so it isn't really necessary to keep such spares around; and I don't need to clone it onto another machine; but it's still a pain in the butt.

Oh well, time to order a new motherboard.

Mothers little helper

Anti-depressants don't work.

Ok, that's an attention grabber of a headline; and it's not completely true: For SOME people, anti-depressants and other mood controlling drugs, work very well.

For SOME people.

However, those people generally do not include children (in the U.S. somewhere between 5% and 10% of whom are now on some kind of mood controlling drug); and, critically, almost all of the people who take them.

About 2% of the U.S. adult population take mood controlling drugs of some kind; and according to an exhaustive review of all effectiveness data and trials (trials which were conducted by the drug companies themselves, as well as independent trials), for those persons whose mood disorder is not classified as "severe", mood controllers were no more effective than a placebo.

Under todays standards, "severe" mood disorder sufferers only make up between 5% and 20% (there are no good numbers, because doctors and researchers disagree on standards) of the population diagnosed with some type of mood disorder.

So, mood controllers are ineffective, between 80% and 95% of the time; and yet, they are among the most prescribed drugs in this country.

Incredible... or maybe not, if you understand the "mental health" field.

Why are they ineffective? How about because MOST OF THE PEOPLE TAKING THEM DON'T NEED THEM.

Most of the people who are prescribed mood controlling drugs, don't have any objectively identifiable disorder; they are prescribed for "better quality of life" or "reduction of general anxiety" etc... when basically the people taking them are mentally and physically healthy.

There is a huge difference between a mental illness, and an emotional problem; and they MUST Be treated differently.

Sure someone may be having an emotional issue; but if they don't have a chemical or physical problem, a chemical solution is, at best, just a mask. It doesn't solve the problem... in fact it often just makes the underlying issues worse.

Perhaps I should soften that statement; because sometimes emotional issues are so overwhelming, that people lose control of themselves, or simply cannot deal with their issues. Medication can help those people regain control, and start working on their underlying problems; but it still isn't the solution.

Of course, when you give someone a drug that is designed to change their mental state, well, their mental state is probably going to be changed. Their core problem won't be solved, but now they're impotent, or have twitches, or unexplained angry outbursts, or a million other things... because we really don't understand how these drugs work, or what they REALLY do to our minds and bodies.

1 out of every 50 adults, and one out of every 20 children are being told (sometimes being forced even) by their doctors to take these drugs; without an understanding of their effects, and their side effects; and now we know, without even an understanding of their efficacy.

What you have to understand is, we're all just one big money making experiment for the mental health industry.

Under the most recent guidlines published for diagnosing mood disorders, as many as 70% of the population could qualify. Almost all male children would qualify. In fact, if you look at diagnostic criteria, almost all normal male behavior could be taken as signs of a mood disorder; and the standard for diagnosis is generally speaking three or more symptomatic behaviors.

The mental health industry has steadily forced themselves into being a legitimate and major portion of medicine. Almost everyone in America today will see a psychiatrist or psychologist in their lifetime, at the very least in their schools. They have positioned themselves as being just like your general practitioner, helping in preventative medicine and quality of life issues...

...But they aren't that; at least not legitimately.

It's a huge growth business, because they keep defining down the standards for who needs mental health care. At this point, you could be the healthiest, happiest, most mentally well adjusted person on the planet; and after a couple hours with a psychiatrist, you'll be on two medications (one to control the side effects of the other of course) and in a regular course of therapy.

Why?

Because it's their job, that's why; and everyone wants to be successful in their job.

It's the old carpenter problem "when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail".

I have NEVER met a psychologist who didn't think that just about everyone could use therapy. In fact, they are explicitly taught that everyone except true psychopaths can benefit from some type of therapy, if only they would try, or accept it, or be honest etc...

I have RARELY met a psychiatrist who didn't think that at least some of most peoples "problems" could be "solved" pharmaceutically.

The problem here is most peoples "problems" are not subject to a therapeutic solution, be it psychological or psychiatric. Their problems are either practical in nature "I don't make enough money", or they are issue of personal emotion "I'm not happy with how much money I make".

Neither of those problems can be solved by a doctor with a couch or a pill.

Then there's the fact that most of the time, emotional issues are temporary; and guess what, that's OK.

It's OK to be depressed, or upset, or sad, or angry, or hyper... sometimes. It's even OK if they get in the way of your life... sometimes.

We here in the U.S. seem to have bought into this idea that everyone has to be perfectly happy, and satisfied all the time. Never angry, never depressed, never manic...

How boring.

I WANT to be angry sometimes. I WANT to be depressed. I want to be manic, and hyper and super happy.

Love.

Invention.

Inspiration.

Competition.

Drive.

Success.

... all of these things march hand in hand with strong emotions.

It's only when those issues, and emotions screw up your life all the time; and you can't deal with them on your own, or with your family and friends; that people should really start thinking about seeking outside help.

Ok yes, I'm exaggerating a bit. There are a fair number of mental health professionals on either side, who will tell people "you don't need me, or him"; but they are a small minority in my experience.

Also, don't take this to mean I think all psychiatry or psychology are useless; I don't. There are millions of people who are helped by psychiatric medicine. People who could not otherwise function, because their brains just don't work right. Millions more are helped by therapy, because they need to talk to someone who understands their emotional issues; and can help them work through them.

Most people though, most of the time; what they need is a buddy, a beer, and a better job; not a bottle full of pills.

I Want My Money Back

I have yet to see the "born killer" that entered my house in the form of a pit bull/ Rottweiler mix.

From everything the media has told me, Jayne should have spontaneously turned into a rabid deliverer of death and dismemberment.

Instead I have a 7-month old puppy who climbs up in my lap, wakes the kids with kisses, and whines horribly whenever Mac does something as mean as growl at him.

He hasn't even killed one of the cats. What he does when he chases one of the cats and corners her is unspeakable. He holds the cat down and *gasp* GROOMS her.

Where is the obviously evil dog I was promised? Where is my vicious killer?

All I have is a 70lb lapdog who checks on the kids every morning, plays with Mac, and barks at the mailman.

Obviously I was scammed.

/sarcasm

Seriously, Jayne has turned into the world's biggest, wussiest, least vicious lapdog. He's 70lbs and 29" from the center of the shoulders to the base of his tail (already 2" longer than Mac, and 3/4 the weight). He takes up half the bed when he's allowed up. If he could he would spend all day sleeping at Chris's feet, and all night curled up with the kids. He insists on checking on the kids at least once a day, dissolves into endless whining if Mac rebukes him, and gives me the sad "please pet me" eyes at least 10 times a day.

The only object he regularly and viciously sinks his teeth into is a stuffed duck dog toy.

Could it be possible that how a dog is raised counts for more than supposedly dangerous bloodlines? That nurture counts more than nature, that DNA isn't destiny?

Kind of throws the whole concept of identity politics out the window, doesn't it?

Mel

Sage Advice

How To Behave On An Internet Forum

HT: Jeffro

Post Oscar

I didn't bother with my usual pre-oscar snark this year, because quite frankly, I wasn't all that interested.

The only films I really had any stake in for this year were the terrific, but "not a chance in nine hells" "Eastern Promises"; and a wonderful little independent Irish film called "Once", which was only up for best original song.

Well, it won; and I'm overjoyed for the folks involved. It's a lovely, small, beautiful film; without being irritatingly arty. I don't like arthouse movies, and this isn't that at all.

Anyway, for Kim and Connie, and anyone who appreciates personal stories told well, see this movie.

Eastern promises didn't win anything, as I expected; though the fact that Viggo Mortensen was even nominated speaks volumes as to the willingness of the academy to recognize non traditional roles this year (as does "Juno" getting a best picture nomination, and Depp getting a best actor nod).

Actually, the "Best Actor" crop this year was pretty damn good, with Viggo up for "Eastern Promises", Clooney for "Michael Clayton", Johnny Depp for "Sweeny Todd" (I think it was a mistake nominating him for this actually), Tommy Lee Jones (who's never given a performance I didn't like, even if I didnt like the movie) for "in the valley of Elah"; and the eventual winner, the always great Daniel Day Lewis for "There Will Be Blood".

Unfortunately, I can't evaluate most of these performances, because the only ones I've seen yet are 'Eastern Promises" (which I loved) and "Sweeney Todd" (which I hated), but just from trailers of the others, this was no surprise. Daniel Day Lewis is incredible.

I was pleased to note that Michael Moore was denied another Oscar for pandering, sensationalist, anti-American propaganda bullshit; though of course that category went to ANOTHER documentary full of pandering, sensationalist, anti-American propaganda bullshit.

I was also pleased to note Tilda Swinton won her first Oscar tonight (she's always great, in everything she does) for best support actress; and that Casey Affleck was at least nominated, even if it was for the wrong movie (he mumbled through "...Robert Ford" and was great in "Gone Baby Gone")... though honestly, no-one in the best supporting actor category stood a chance against Javier Bardem this year.

Speaking of Bardem, I guess the biggest surprise of the night was that "No Country for Old Men" swept every major category it was nominated for. Most folks, including me, expected there would be some split; with perhaps "There will be Blood" picking up best adapted screenplay, and maybe even a best director for Paul Thomas Anderson.

Given that "..Blood" had Lewis nominated for best actor though; and "...Old Men" didn't have a nominee in the category, I think that satisfied the elusive "balance" that the academy often seems to look for.

Now, of all the films nominate in major categories, which have I seen, and what do I recommend:

Eastern Promises - Strong recommendation
Sweeney Todd - Strong discommendation
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Mild discommendation
Charlie Wilsons War - Strong recommendation
Gone Baby Gone - Strong recommendation
Ratatouille - Strong recommendation

Oh and I know best song isn't a major category, but I really do strongly recommend "Once".