Welcome
- 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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- December 22, 2017
- A New Spin on Vacation
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After today I will depart work for two weeks vacation. Normally I do a very piecemeal thing where I snag a day here two there and so forth. This year I opted for some bulk time off for the first time since I began my present work assignment ... some 10 (Really need to run the math anymore.) 8 years back.
So the aim is to gain some down time and forget the constructs and the database and the support for a scant two weeks then get back into the swing of things after commencement of the new year.
I'm ready, are you ?
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- December 21, 2017
- Winter Solstice
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Winter solstice Thursday, December 21, 2017
Northern Hemisphere 11:28 a.m. EDT
First day of Winter.
Shortest Day of the year.
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- December 21, 2017
- Forefathers Day
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A long while back I visited my navy buddy, Jerry Landry in Barnstable, Massachusetts for a brief while during a work related layover nearby.
He sported me all over Cape Cod showing me the various sites. One of those predominate destinations was Plymouth and Plymouth Rock.
While my minds eye had visions of a huge massive stone emblazoned with the date he was careful to temper my expectations prior to the event — and the actual size of the rock was decidedly smaller than all those accounts I read as a school child led me to believe ...
Be all of this as it may the visit did make me feel proud to see some of those places and things from my history lessons of childhood. And I will always remember them with those warm and fuzzys I keep in store for my late friend.
Today is Forefathers Day, a holiday celebrated in Plymouth, Massachusetts, since 1769 commemorating the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth on December 21, 1620.
It all has me waxing nostalgic for that heritage Jerry was so proud of during his lifetime and reminds me of those places we saw and things that we did so very long ago.
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- December 20, 2017
- Five Days Til Christmas
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So I remain the proverbial grinch.
I simply haven't made the leap into Christmas spirit this year.
It seems that life has snuffed it all out of me
From the standpoint of festivity.
So as I ponder the holidays one thing is mighty clear.
They seem to have passed me by so I can only await next year.
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- December 19, 2017
- Alois Alzheimer
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A number of my relatives have suffered the decline and death of Alzheimer's dementia.
Aloysius Alzheimer
June 14, 1864 – December 19 1915
The affliction robbed them of their ability to communicate, recognize others, perform cognitive tasks, and generally relegates them to a state of requiring constant care for all aspects of their existence.
To witness this state is a heart wrenching event that no one should suffer.
To suffer the disease is an unspeakable horror for the victim who ultimately lacks the awareness of who and where they are such that they no longer know they are living human beings ...
Alzheimer's dementia is a progressive mental deterioration which may strike in middle to old age because of generalized degeneration of the brain.
It is the most common cause of premature senility and the scourge of many who lose their golden years of old age to it's debilitating effects.
Alois Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist and neuropathologist is credited with diagnosing the first published case of "presenile dementia", which later became known as Alzheimer's disease.
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- December 18, 2017
- Majel Leigh Hudec Barrett-Roddenberry
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Majel Barrett was the stage name of Mrs Gene Roddenberry. All of we trekkies know this but some of you outside that realm may not.
Majel Leigh Hudec Barrett-Roddenberry
February 23, 1932 – December 18, 2008
She performed all manner of characterizations on the various Star Trek franchises from the computer voice through Nurse Chappell, various intergalactic species, including the flamboyant Lwaxana Troi ...
and these portrayals obscured that warm human being who cared about her fans and went out of her way to make herself available to them at various conventions of fandom which transpired during her life time.
"The First Lady of Star Trek" as she was rightfully known succumbed to leukemia on December 18, 2008 and it was then that she joined her husband Gene Roddenberry in the great beyond and that franchise called Star Trek became less for that lack of her presence.
I think about her from time to time when I consider the mess that CBS has made of Star Trek Discovery with all it's namby pamby politically correct undertones and the utter lack of that flavor which was Star Trek proper.
Rest in peace, Majel. They really made a stupid mess of the Federation.
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- December 17, 2017
- International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers
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Early in my life I raled against the world's oldest profession. Suffice it to say that I knew little of them personally and took my queues from that distinct lack of knowlege for those things carnal rendering me only able to subject them to my religious beliefs such that they were ...
However, I evolved beyond those notions as a matter of practicalities and the international environment I once found myself occupying.
When I was in the Navy whores were my friends. At least those abroad were my friends. Not the ones who worked the 'gut' of Spruill Avenue and that area right around the Naval Station in Charleston — for they were a different, predatory variety than those trying to eek out a living in the ports of call and cities abroad.
You might find it odd for a person to like whores; but in a never ending barrage of foreign countries and what seemed like endless days at sea those comforts you can find for yourself become increasingly important.
Today is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. It is observed each year on December 17 and is held under the auspices of sex workers, their friends, families and allies, and advocates. It was first held to memorialize victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle Washington as a vigil but has evolved into the annual international event it is now.
The day draws attention to those hate crimes committed against sex workers worldwide and attempts to remove stigmata, violence, and discrimination which are part and parcel of that environment of violence against sex workers.
So when you see someone on their high horse railing against a sex worker who is out there trying to get by like the rest of us; perhaps a softer orientation to those needs of all people which are food, clothing, and shelter might come to mind instead of that method by which these things are obtained.
Some of us do what we must do to get by.
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- December 16, 2017
- On Sexual Impropriety Allegations
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As the news continues it's deluge of sexual impropriety accusations directed at various people there is a stark realization that in all this hubub due process has been grossly lacking with premature consequences reeking havoc on the rights of the accused.
There are two types of the accused in this scenario. There are those who freely admit to the accusations. There are others who staunchly deny such allegations.
Also, the political inclinations of the accusers viz a viz the accused are highly suspect from a logical perspective. If it looks like a gold digging skank democrat getting paid and it smells like a gold digging skank democrat getting paid ... it likely is just that.
In that sum total of who we are as a nation of civil and criminal statutes I feel that the people who deny the allegations should take the accuser to task.
I know I would. If some one comes out of the woodwork saying I did anything 30 years ago they're not getting off the hook by blabbing it around and embarassing me. There will need to be definitive proof and a jury trial and I would certainly be going for the gusto in damages ... or worse.
If you are one of the accused and deny these allegations but do nothing about it; you deserve what you get. Your distinct lack of action simply forces you to appear all the more guilty.
I'm sorry, but I decline to play that game. You better have some serious resources up your sleeve should you cast any aspersions my way because I'll pursue you like the hounds from hell.
NOTHING short of that preemptive headshot I intend to use will keep me from you if you bear false witness against me. I let an episode of it slide a couple of decades back and have done nothing but regret not going all hulk smash on them.
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- December 15, 2017
- Second Ammendment Day
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Second Amendment Day is an awareness day observed here to raise awareness of and support for the fundamental right to keep and bear arms.
Codified in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, the amendment — along with the nine others ratified on December 15, 1791, comprise the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States of America.
The democrats and progressives who would give ownership of the United States to the UN and an oligarchy in Belgium naturally oppose this right of the citizens of the United States. Gun politics are very tedious in the United States because the ignorant opposition fails to realize that gun control will not keep guns out of the hands of criminals yet they would disarm law abiding tax payers such that they are not able to protect themselves as afforded by the Second Ammendment.
This rights robbing opposition needs to be quashed by any means necessary.
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- December 14, 2017
- Cell Phones Health Risk Under Scrutiny
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The Fresno Bee has a piece on cell phones possibly endangering people with extensive use.
Now, I was under the distinct impression that one of the aspects of the "new" digital cell telephony devices was a significant reduction in such mess.
It seems that the RF danger persists into the new device lines as well as the old analog ones we used to have against our ears for extended periods in a day.
The story said that about 95 percent of Americans own cell phones. A significant amount of this increased population of users include children.
The recommendations are less use and turn them off at night ... or keep them away from sleeping quarters.
Now I personally have no problem with this as the cell phone — and phones in general do not intrigue me particularly in the aspects of internet access.
However, those of us who would pursue a robust set of cell phone habits might wish to consider the late Lee Atwater.
I personally believe that his go down hard brain tumor death was the direct result of cell phone use.
However, it is merely speculation on my part.
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- December 13, 2017
- Recovering from Ransomware
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InfoWorld had an interesting article on Ransomware Response that I had to read twice before I realized that they weren't concentrating on my lowly small topology LAN first line of defense opting for a lot of enterprise esoterics which do not include those practicalities.
My infrastructure can't be hijacked but I do have a few servers which might fall victim to such an attack were they in the direct line of fire.
It seems that my approach is a "scorched earth" policy of low level format followed by an immediate restore of the last backup. That backup should be less than 24 hours old if my regimen is maintained via that scripting in place and the "bare metal" backups ultimately restored should ensure that virtually all of what the ransomware attempted to encrypt from me is returned safe and sound.
To test the hypothesis I chose a workstation which has been backed up consistently for the past 6 months and low level formatted it. Upon restore and reboot I could not tell the difference prior to the destructive testing and the entire process was less than 10 minutes.
In an enterprise environment, of course there will be a subset of the population qualified to engage such antics in real time but by and large based on my calculations I could have my entire network restored in two shakes without paying any ransom whatsoever.
It rather makes me think that we deliberate possible actions too much in DR mode. Disaster recovery is not for the squeamish. It requires more in the way of action and less academics and supposition. Make sure you have a good backup and restore plan in effect at all times for those machines you cannot afford to loose. Don't let the bastards win.
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- December 12, 2017
- Happy Birthday Mayim Bialik
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Mayim Bialik is an actress turned academe who returned to acting ... portraying Dr Amy Farrah Fowler who is a neuroscientist on The Big Bang Theory — which is one of my favorite teevee shows.
Being preoccupied with the duties associated with supporting computers at a school district, I was unaware of Blossom as an entertainment venue aside from the autographed picture posted prominently at Northside Middle School while I was there.
Earlier she had a small part as a child in Pumpkinhead — and I must say though I was fan of the horror genre anyway; the news of this caused me to go back and watch the flick again ...
I became interested in aspects of this young lady during the course of BBT. Piquing that interest were those interludes of discussion I caught in various web venues ... and though her politics aren't really congruent with my own I decided to engage that lovely young intellect and abundance of charm she is and leave it at that.
Anyway, I have saved a few favorite photographs of her over the years which I view and add to periodically as I endeavor not to dream anachronistic impossibilities.
Suffice it to say "Happy Birthday" and I hope you have many more.
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- December 11, 2017
- AI Gods and the deceived spreading deceit
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A deceived human being named Anthony Levandowski who is a former officer with both Google and Uber is pursuing paperwork with the IRS to officially register a religion centered around AI.
“to develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on artificial intelligence and through understanding and worship of the Godhead [to] contribute to the betterment of society.”
This church would entail him being the leader of course in yet another "transhumanistic" folly pursuant to AI ultimately surpassing and overpowering human beings.
This megalomanic is presently the subject of a law suit by google alleging his complicity in trade secrets being illegally provided to uber.
“Given that technology will ‘relatively soon’ be able to surpass human abilities, we want to help educate people about this exciting future and prepare a smooth transition,” the site explains. “In ‘recent’ years, we have expanded our concept of rights to both sexes, minority groups and even animals, let’s make sure we find a way for ‘machines’ to get rights too.”
Levandowski’s Way of the Future web siteThe danger of AI is not so much the writing of computer programs per se, it is both those criminals out to harm people in general and those misguided individuals contributing to the writing of them who impart their malicious or deceived taint to the process and therefore that end result.
Lucky electromagnetic pulse discharges of sufficient power should handle the ensuing problems quite nicely.
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