Welcome
- January 4, 2018
- The Twelve Days of Christmas winding up
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Today is the eleventh day of Twelvetide aka "the twelve days of Christmas" which is a Christian festival of the winter holiday season.
While most in the United States no longer observe Twelvetide, it is an interesting part of that evolving spin on religion and the nativity coupled with those secular gift giving tenets of Christmas in general.
Tomorrow is the Twelveth day of Christmas and thusly Twelvetide will be over for the 2017 season.
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- January 3, 2018
- The Internet is Rude
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I've been pondering the internet of late in the context of my web server with the various others thinking they can go anywhere and everywhere despite the content of robots.txt in the mix.
While I would certainly be naive to presume that the stated rules would be followed in the context of my server there is this notion of retaliatory firewalling as a last resort against these interlopers ... I mean, seeing how I'm not interested in any search engine standings, results, or anything else artificial in my life.
So ... I have began capturing the IPs of those offending search engines and others like the various homespun bots and those scrapers on amazon's EC2 den of iniquity out there seeking to go places I would rather they didn't.
Failure to do what they want to do is not one of those omnipotent scenarios I would prefer ... like nuking some renegade ISP or two or three; but it will have to suffice. Besides, in all fairness the technical folks at amazon are fine and dandy and cannot really help the exceeding low to absent character of some of those calling themselves 'customer'.
In the sweet by and by it will be of little consequences, but I now know better to clear firewall rules then reaccumulate them as I have done with the web server.
Suffice it to say that I am seriously considering a restore from backup and clearing out the riff raff almost totally yet again as it was before I grew all open circuit warm and fuzzy around the Christmas holidays.
I suppose a web server that would enforce robots.txt to a tee would suit me just fine. I would really like a web server that encountered a client in violation of some disallow and shut them down with extreme prejudice. Such a feature rich server environment would really get my attention. It would also be a stupendous hoot.
To hell with all of the rude spiders, bots, search engines, scrapers and BOY am i getting more firewall inclinations as I speak!
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- January 2, 2018
- National Cream Puff Day
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Today is National Cream Puff Day.
Though there isn't a lot of historical data in the threads, I believe this to be a celebration of the cream filled pastry originating from France instead of the ectomorphic body type typically compelled to do the bidding of some bully.
I recall my earliest experiences with this baker's confection to be back when I was a child. Later in time I would encounter these tidbits created en masse on large baking pans in Navy chow halls in Great Lakes and Orlando.
Regardless, I have consumed my fair share of these pastries whenever the opportunity presented itself — noting that the quality of both the pastry shell and the cream filling vary in consistency and flavor depending on who did the preparation.
By and large my favorites were whipped up by the cute little blonde mess management specialist in the Orlando chow hall hands down.
That wasn't the only food she prepared very well, either.
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- January 1, 2018
- New Years Day 2018
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Another year is upon us. I don't have any resolutions for the coming year aside from try to get more exercise and eat healthier.
I'm sorry to report that these are recurring items as well.
My work interests remain pretty much static — data driven intranet web technologies and it's plenty to pursue and I'm very fortunate to have the superior development environment which has been provided.
Perhaps I'll include more open source components in the mix this year.
I hope to spend more time with my mother and have plans on adding another weekly visit toward that end.
There isn't a lot left to accomplish in life that I already haven't done so we'll just have to take it as it comes and see how it goes.
Happy new year to you and yours !
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- December 31, 2017
- New Years Eve 2017
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Auld Lang Syne
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!
and surely I’ll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.
We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.
And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give me a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.
Robert Burns
1788 Scots poem set to the tune
of a traditional folk song
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- December 30, 2017
- Reflecting on the past
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As we conclude the year 2017 I have spent some time in retrospect; taking inventory of those various endeavors I have undertaken over the years with their successive outcomes and impacts et cetera.
My conclusions are less than stellar to say the least with the prospects of anything I've done impacting the greater good being absolutely nil and that which traverses that pipe of things yet to come being even more sparse in that department.
All I can really say is that I've attempted to be as productive as I could and with the several backslides and numerous mistakes along the way ... my contributions have been
And though this sad state is even more pronounced by so many more in my midst; that ultimate goal of eating and living indoors may mark success while that alternate goal of striving for excellence has been pitifully lacking.
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- December 30, 2017
- Rose Marie RIP
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When I was a kid one of those standing appointments at the teevee was the Dick Van Dyke Show.
Rose Marie
August 15, 1923 – December 28, 2017
American Actress and Singer
In all it's anachronistic black and white censor phobic wonder it was a picture of comedy and propriety suitable for everyone in the family for it's entire run.
One of the characters was Sally Rogers, a television comedy writer tough on the outside tender on the inside woman working a man's world in a time when that was quite a feat in and of itself.
I remember the wise cracks, the endless jokes, and the ubiquitous one liners but there was a poignance to that aspect of her life involving love that was both tender and touching amid that sea of comedy.
Rose Marie played that part of Sally Rogers and I've always remembered her for that role.
Born Rose Marie Mazzetta she was a successful actress and singer beginning in her childhood through well into adult life she was a pillar of that thing I personally knew as entertainment.
I am sorry to say that she passed Thursday in Van Nuys, California at the age of 94.
Thanks for the memories and rest in peace.
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- December 29, 2017
- Alexa big seller for 2017
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As I pretty much figured, amazon's so called "smart speaker" called Alexa and their smaller Echo line is said to have sold tens of millions over the holiday season ... to the point that it's sold out and won't be available until early January.
Voice control of a "virtual assistant" continues to give me the heebie jeebies in my visions of eavesdropping and monitoring of privacy concerns in the context of simply being present and turned on in the home.
This echo line intrigues me in a similar vein to it's "bigger big brother" named Alexa — mostly for the "things to come" as my interpretation of big brother is now in widespread use in the "tens of millions" of homes ...
I sincerely hope that marketing is the worse of the intrusions possible by such devices and likewise, I keep wondering where the caution of these "tens of millions" of owners resides.
We'll have to see how things develop but I foresee some privicy issues sooner or later of more or less significance to the consumer.
I don't even allow the voice control to operate on my roku remote. Thats why we have soldering irons, micro diagnonal cutters, and superglue.
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- December 28, 2017
- More are heading to the cloud
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The growth of that misnomer called "the cloud" is proceding very quickly. It seems that IT departments everywhere are reduced to entrusting their resources and assets to an outsourced concern because they lack the technology and competent personel to handle their own business.
This is largely due to the lazier than lazy decision makers who are typically unqualified to do any work in the IT field relegating them to be in control.
This amassing of the incompetence to other peoples computers has me concerned from a standpoint of ownership. When you don't control your own data there is little to be said when a third party compromises or loses yours ...
The lesson brewing here is "it's your farm, take care of it yourself". Taking care of business means precisely that. If you lack the skills to do your own work then you deserve whatever you get. I don't wish bad on you but have this rising suspicion that compromised and lost data are that which we are cultivating with all this inability to handle matters ourselves.
Too many in IT cannot handle their own affairs.
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- December 27, 2017
- Carrying Vengeance and Anger in your Heart
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I feel a need to inflict punishment in retribution exacted on those who have wronged me. I have carried this feeling for in excess of 30 years now. I don't forsee it going away. Compounding this feeling are others viewed in a similar vein of offenses against me for which I too decline to let go. Likewise, I offer no apologies.
So like the stupid social justice warriors I see; many with their off color hair product concotions screaming as though it will impart relevance to their ridiculous rants to others more conservative; I wear my attitude beneath that layer which can be seen by others.
While I envision this as a projection of less sincerity or conviction regarding those feelings I choose to keep to myself I prefer ... it to the idiocy of the SJW going off on anyone and everyone public and on tape self righteous and seeking publicity regardless of their miscreant projection of 'it's all about me'.
I recall seeing a young stupid acting reddish blond haired woman on youtube telling a person that he was irrelevant and a misogynist pig because he was white and male. His attempts to pass on a public thoroughfare were rebuffed by her standing with cohorts telling him he would have to find another way.
I have wondered aloud what she would have thought of my reaction to her stupidity as she lay on the ground bleeding from her head in various places and how helpful all of those other SJW fools behind her would have felt knowing they were next.
That anger which sometimes rages deep within me does not need to be tempted by these persons who will find themselves unable to cope with a wrath which is not really mine to impart — but will certainly happen in the correct set of circumstances.
I do not suffer fools, SJW or otherwise and I have even more attitude than all of you combined so make sure you give me wide berth. You have no "safe space" options in my presence.
No one ever provided me with any notion of "safe space" or worse, "preferred personal pronouns" as an adult. Don't let some stupid educator or worse jurisdiction like New York City keep you in fantasy land too long. The real world simply doesn't work that way.
Welcome to reality, stupid. BOO !
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- December 26, 2017
- Saint Stephen's Day
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The day after Christmas is Saint Stephen's Day, aka the Feast of Saint Stephen which celebrates the first Christian martyr. That day varies between December 26 or 27 depending on which Calendar by which your church schedules.
The day is mentioned in the old Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas which relates the story of a Bohemian king to give alms to a poor peasant during the cold of Winter upon the Feast of Stephen.
The story of Saint Stephen itself is a wonder of professing faith with the speech given by him at the time of his stoning, the fact that Saul of Tarsas (later to be known as the Apostle Paul) held the cloaks of those who participated in his murder, and the ultimate location of the original site and the conditions surrounding the discovery of his relics — as well as those miracles attributed to them when they were transported for enshrinement.
It's an amazing account of just how far faith can take one before, during, and after the clay pot — which is our earthly body breaks and the spirit returns to He who made it.
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- December 25, 2017
- Christmas Day
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I remember one Christmas morning
A winter's light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire
Greg Lake from Father Christmas
Greg Lake, Peter Sinfield
1974 Manticore
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- December 24, 2017
- Christmas Eve
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It's Christmas Eve, the day before the traditional birth date of Jesus of Nazerath. While I am all too aware that His real birth happened around September 8th I am happy to celebrate in keeping with that merge of convenience between the Christian celebrations and those of the pagan saturnalia.
Though I won't be holding any vigils or other significant markings of the moment I do plan to venture out and visit my Mom and putz around the remainder of the day as is my custom since I became this ancient one steeped in perplexed uncertainty.
My faith has taken a trouncing of late and while I decline to give it up there are notions with which I remain uncomfortable. Let us hope that my heart finds resolution in the renewal of the advancing year.
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- December 23, 2017
- Christmas Eve Eve
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It's the day before Christmas Eve. I find myself continuing to fail that attainment of proper Christmas Spirit — though I try to acquire it in my ways and attitudes.
That underlying tone of the spirit of the season is pervading my thoughts of late ... and this day leading up to the eve of that biggest holiday in my history is not lost on me.
Still, that underlying personal meaning evades me and I continue to pursue it among those various other tasks in which I find myself immersed.
So yesterday I placed aside the code and the database for the remainder of the year. That nirvana which is a full appreciation of Christmastide hovers just out of my reach.
Maybe tomorrow.
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