Today (after my dim sum breakfast) I moseyed over to a nearby mall to buy some shirts. Later, I noticed that all of them bear "Made In China" labels. Hoy, en el centro de compras, la única lengua que oí era Español. ¡Esto estaba en Sears - no el Fiesta Mart! And They say immigration isn't a problem. I feel sorry for the children, when it's obvious their parents make no effort to transition them to English.
I was mildly amused at the student protests that spontaneously erupted earlier this week; most of the students are Americans, born to illegals who crossed the Rio Grande a few years ago. The ones who stormed Dallas City Hall got the most local media attention, reminding me just a little of the Los Angeles Riots (before I moved here in 1993). At least they didn't set fire to anything - yet.
If Senator (and soon-to-be President) Bill Frist gets His way, the parents will be put in railcars back to Mexico, on the other side of the Nuevo Berlin Wall we're building to keep them from coming back. I just hope he misses a few, so there will be enough of them to be our cooks, gardeners, maids and carwash attendants for the foreseeable future.
Saturday, April 1
Friday, March 31
The Promise of Bluetooth
Yesterday, during a tedious spot in a meeting, I decided to take the opportunity to HotSync my Tungsten T5 and PowerBook G4. And people thought Bluetooth was only good for Annoying Cellphone Headsets. I'm still waiting for The Promise Of Bluetooth .. when I can use it to buy a soda from the vending machine.
Monday, March 27
signal avoidance
Last August, I blogged about an otherwise routine trip to my ophthalmologist where he suspected I have glaucoma. Turns out that's mitigated by the thickness of our corneas .. if it's thick, the pressure on the eye can be discounted. So, when this was rechecked last week, the extra measurements led him to put me in the "monitor" category, rather than the "Seeing Eye® dog" category. The nurse took the readings, and called out "602" for my left eye and "603" for my right. I don't know if that's a measure of hectares/fortnight or liters/estrangement. Heck, it could even be an areacode for Arizona.
It's a good thing I'm not totally blind yet; it would've been hard to determine if I could drive the 4 miles to work without encountering any traffic signals. Other than those red/yellow/green things, my only obstacle to work are the three (3) School Zones en route. I could get to The Old Office without any traffic signals, by taking an indirect route, and crossing one 6-lane highway (after looking both ways and then flooring it). After consulting a map, and given my knowledge of the streets, I tested my theory on a journey from home to The New Office .. and failed:
Unrelated #-0, but worth a laugh: The Straight Dope: Is astrology for real?
Unrelated #P: It seems the Dallas Convention Bureau is coming out against the TABC's latest tactic (arresting anyone who's drunk in a bar). It seems several major conventions have threatened to cancel .. which would cost Dallas BILLIONS in lost revenue. Anyone want to guess which side's gonna win this fight? (Heck, I didn't even know that the Dick Cheney Fan Club was coming to town ...)
It's a good thing I'm not totally blind yet; it would've been hard to determine if I could drive the 4 miles to work without encountering any traffic signals. Other than those red/yellow/green things, my only obstacle to work are the three (3) School Zones en route. I could get to The Old Office without any traffic signals, by taking an indirect route, and crossing one 6-lane highway (after looking both ways and then flooring it). After consulting a map, and given my knowledge of the streets, I tested my theory on a journey from home to The New Office .. and failed:
| miles | traffic signals | |
|---|---|---|
| avoid signals | 7 | 1 |
| don't avoid | 4 | 7 |
Unrelated #-0, but worth a laugh: The Straight Dope: Is astrology for real?
Unrelated #P: It seems the Dallas Convention Bureau is coming out against the TABC's latest tactic (arresting anyone who's drunk in a bar). It seems several major conventions have threatened to cancel .. which would cost Dallas BILLIONS in lost revenue. Anyone want to guess which side's gonna win this fight? (Heck, I didn't even know that the Dick Cheney Fan Club was coming to town ...)
Saturday, March 25
on the road to Wichita
I have no immediate travel plans, but I'm amused by the latest airfare wars. American's trying to make Southwest's life miserable, but only until they buy enough US Senators to make sure the Wright Amendment isn't repealed .. then it's back to Business As Usual.
Case in point: you can drive the 200 miles from Kansas City to Wichita in about 3 hours. Is it worth it to save $120? What about $400?
No, this isn't scientific, but I did try to to compare apples:apples (depart Thursday, return Tuesday, etc). It's a sample of some trips from Dallas to points north. And yes, you're reading this correctly. There's a $120 penalty for having a shorter flight, if you use American Airlines' latest fares from Dallas Love Field (where they're trying to compete with Southwest Airlines).
For what it's worth, American wants $656 for a trip from Dallas to Frankfurt (Germany, not Kentucky). Via New York and London. Yes, 2 stops. Just the way Southwest would do it.
Case in point: you can drive the 200 miles from Kansas City to Wichita in about 3 hours. Is it worth it to save $120? What about $400?
 (thanks to Yahoo! Maps) | from Dallas to ... | miles | drive time | airfare (sale) | airfare (regular) | via Greyhound |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wichita | 363 | 5:45 | $199 | $637 | $69 ($120 RT) | |
| Kansas City | 500 | 7:30 | $79 | $229 | $85 ($147 RT) |
No, this isn't scientific, but I did try to to compare apples:apples (depart Thursday, return Tuesday, etc). It's a sample of some trips from Dallas to points north. And yes, you're reading this correctly. There's a $120 penalty for having a shorter flight, if you use American Airlines' latest fares from Dallas Love Field (where they're trying to compete with Southwest Airlines).
For what it's worth, American wants $656 for a trip from Dallas to Frankfurt (Germany, not Kentucky). Via New York and London. Yes, 2 stops. Just the way Southwest would do it.
Wednesday, March 22
to hell in a handbasket
whatever happened to whitewall tires?
why don't dimebags cost $10 anymore?
why did "crew cuts" go out of style (except in Alabama)?
A few days ago, I was driving around and suddenly (!) noticed how very few tires have whitewalls anymore. When I was growing up (in the 19th Century) people who drove "blackwalls" were frowned upon, since they couldn't afford the oh-so-chic whitewalls. Now, I see an occasional truck with white lettering on the tires ("tyres" if you're a Brit) but only aging Oldsmobiles and Plymouths have whitewalls.
This is obviously yet another sign (besides the continued popularity of Pat Robertson; Rick Perry and Tom DeLay) of why this country's gone to hell in a handbasket (a phrase used by GOPhers when they're talking to Like Minded [White] Folk).
Surely there must be other obvious Handbasket Signs that I no longer notice, now that've become commonplace, I suspect even the phrase itself is a Sign (as some Older Folk still say H-E-double Hockey Stick rather than say The Word, since its mere utterance will condemn them to an eternity of damnation). Er, tarnation.
why don't dimebags cost $10 anymore?
why did "crew cuts" go out of style (except in Alabama)?
A few days ago, I was driving around and suddenly (!) noticed how very few tires have whitewalls anymore. When I was growing up (in the 19th Century) people who drove "blackwalls" were frowned upon, since they couldn't afford the oh-so-chic whitewalls. Now, I see an occasional truck with white lettering on the tires ("tyres" if you're a Brit) but only aging Oldsmobiles and Plymouths have whitewalls.
This is obviously yet another sign (besides the continued popularity of Pat Robertson; Rick Perry and Tom DeLay) of why this country's gone to hell in a handbasket (a phrase used by GOPhers when they're talking to Like Minded [White] Folk).
Surely there must be other obvious Handbasket Signs that I no longer notice, now that've become commonplace, I suspect even the phrase itself is a Sign (as some Older Folk still say H-E-double Hockey Stick rather than say The Word, since its mere utterance will condemn them to an eternity of damnation). Er, tarnation.
Monday, March 20
there's an Outlook behind me, and it's getting smaller and smaller ...
Okay, I did it. I migrated my home email from MS-Outlook Express to Mozilla Thunderbird. And so far, I'm generally a happy camper.
The only downside so far is that Thunderbird didn't even try to migrate my various filters, and there are a lot of them. I bopped over to Bugzilla and saw that it's a known limitation, so (since bugs often take years to be evaluated) I'm adding filters as email hits my inbox. In a couple weeks, that should be done. For now, it's simply an annoyance.
Thunderbird's the email client I used at work most often (on both my PowerBook and a SunRay), so this standardization will allow my atrophying brain cells another less thing to consider as I live out the few remaining years of my life.
In addition to standardizing on one interface, Thunderbird has lots of Extensions so that I can customize it as needed (although historically I haven't gone overboard). It's just nice to know it can be done, unlike Outlook Express which has always been the poor (free) stepchild of MS-Outlook.
The only downside so far is that Thunderbird didn't even try to migrate my various filters, and there are a lot of them. I bopped over to Bugzilla and saw that it's a known limitation, so (since bugs often take years to be evaluated) I'm adding filters as email hits my inbox. In a couple weeks, that should be done. For now, it's simply an annoyance.
Thunderbird's the email client I used at work most often (on both my PowerBook and a SunRay), so this standardization will allow my atrophying brain cells another less thing to consider as I live out the few remaining years of my life.
In addition to standardizing on one interface, Thunderbird has lots of Extensions so that I can customize it as needed (although historically I haven't gone overboard). It's just nice to know it can be done, unlike Outlook Express which has always been the poor (free) stepchild of MS-Outlook.
Sunday, March 19
sleeping easier
I wonder how many people actually backup their home computers? I do a full backup quarterly and incremental backups monthly, but I'm still at risk if the system tanks between those events.
Backup started on 3/19/2006 at 1:18 AM.That said, I suspect I'm way ahead of most users, who either Throw Caution To The Wind and hope their systems don't crash, or simply lack the technical ability to perform a system backup (never mind testing their ability to restore a file, if that need arises). Alas, I feel better know that an extra copy of my data is within reach, even if it is (maximum) 30 days old.
Backup completed on 3/19/2006 at 1:24 AM.
Directories: 142
Files: 2281
Bytes: 405,954,032
Time: 5 minutes and 37 seconds
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