We apologize for Hiroshima.
A thousand times we apologize.
Please - for the love of God - we apologize - take her back already!
Addendum
From the comments posted on youtube - I think these two kind of sum it up:
"....thank you for making the rest of the world get the wrong idea about real artists and making us ashamed to admit our professions or passions."
"I can only imagine how frustrating and insulting this must be to a legitimate, struggling artist who would kill to have an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art."
Monday, August 30, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Implosion
At first, the player / agent NCAA investigation over at Carolina looked like an isolated case.
One, maybe 2 players coloring outside the lines – mostly due to youth, immaturity, and generally being dumb asses. Well, Greg Little is more of a thug than a dumb ass – but still – he’s young so I could cut him some slack.
The thing that caught my attention through it all was John Blake still being employed as a defensive coach. Heck, how Carolina even allowed him within the town limits of Chapel Hill, much less actually on the campus of UNC was beyond me.
It was the stuff of good natured ribbing and talking smack to our powder blue brethren and friends.
(FYI - when BobLee refers to lupines and ABCs (Anybody But Carolina) - he's talking 'bout us Wolfies over here in West Rawlie. Oh, and that amphibious dig was pretty cute too)
But then, all of the sudden – this whole brand new academic cheating thing that just exploded – within the last couple days.
What the hell is going on over there? This is not UNC. In the last 3 days we've basically watched the Carolina football program implode before our very eyes.
Honest to God - I really hate seeing this happening.
Two defensive starters (and potential NFL drafts) have been reportedly kicked off the team. And the rest . . . .
The latest unconfirmed reports (as of Friday afternoon) are that 4 players on the vaunted, top 5 nationally ranked defensive starting unit have been cleared. The rest are – and this is the quote – “toast”. This is (or maybe was) a defensive unit that had 5 to 7 for sure NFL draft picks – and possibly more depending on how the season went.
Watching the live press conference last night – I thought Coach Butch Davis was on his way to a heart attack. Chancellor Holden Thorp looked like a deer caught in the headlights. AD Dickie Baddour – he’s trying to keep it together – but that’s a man who’s getting slammed from all different directions – and it shows.
And John Blake is still employed as a UNC defensive coach.
Rivals: Coach - Agent ties probed
The North Carolina Agent Fiasco and the John Blake Stain
John Blake North Carolina Agent Scandal Part II: Meet Agent Gary Wichard
One, maybe 2 players coloring outside the lines – mostly due to youth, immaturity, and generally being dumb asses. Well, Greg Little is more of a thug than a dumb ass – but still – he’s young so I could cut him some slack.
The thing that caught my attention through it all was John Blake still being employed as a defensive coach. Heck, how Carolina even allowed him within the town limits of Chapel Hill, much less actually on the campus of UNC was beyond me.
It was the stuff of good natured ribbing and talking smack to our powder blue brethren and friends.
(FYI - when BobLee refers to lupines and ABCs (Anybody But Carolina) - he's talking 'bout us Wolfies over here in West Rawlie. Oh, and that amphibious dig was pretty cute too)
But then, all of the sudden – this whole brand new academic cheating thing that just exploded – within the last couple days.
What the hell is going on over there? This is not UNC. In the last 3 days we've basically watched the Carolina football program implode before our very eyes.
Honest to God - I really hate seeing this happening.
Two defensive starters (and potential NFL drafts) have been reportedly kicked off the team. And the rest . . . .
The latest unconfirmed reports (as of Friday afternoon) are that 4 players on the vaunted, top 5 nationally ranked defensive starting unit have been cleared. The rest are – and this is the quote – “toast”. This is (or maybe was) a defensive unit that had 5 to 7 for sure NFL draft picks – and possibly more depending on how the season went.
Watching the live press conference last night – I thought Coach Butch Davis was on his way to a heart attack. Chancellor Holden Thorp looked like a deer caught in the headlights. AD Dickie Baddour – he’s trying to keep it together – but that’s a man who’s getting slammed from all different directions – and it shows.
And John Blake is still employed as a UNC defensive coach.
Rivals: Coach - Agent ties probed
The North Carolina Agent Fiasco and the John Blake Stain
John Blake North Carolina Agent Scandal Part II: Meet Agent Gary Wichard
Thursday, August 26, 2010
I Wish It Were a Mini Cooper to Play With
We (our office) are considering a move to mini computers.
I’m playing with one of the HP 310 mini laptops for a few days.
We shifted from traditional desk top computers (keyboard, under the desk computer ‘box’ and monitor) a few years back. Current typical set up is a laptop (which, of course, travels with us when in the field), docking station, monitor and full size keyboard. Basically, we swapped out the under the desk computer with a laptop.
What we’re looking at now is to down size the laptop. No big deal.
However, we’re looking at changing our overall IT services set up.
To combat corruption, over the years (decades actually), NC government has centralized core services such as office supply purchases, vehicle acquisition, etc. This prevents local offices from giving deals to their friends and family. And it applies the power of mass / bulk purchasing to get better prices saving taxpayer dollars.
Of course, as in all things bureaucratic, there are inefficiencies and unintended consequences.
For example – our office pays for ‘turnkey’ IT services. For a fee we get hardware (laptops, monitors, etc.), connectivity (LAN hardware, software, access) and internet access.
Essentially – we pay for email, internet access, maintenance and such and we ‘rent’ our laptops / hardware.
With the move to the HP minis – we will purchase outright the hardware – mini pc’s, flat screen monitors, docking ports, keyboards, etc. We’ll continue to contract with NC IT Services for LAN and internet access / services and server operations and maintenance.
With the purchase of the minis – we’ll contract with Verizon for unlimited cell phone data service for the new mini pc’s. That way, when we’re out of town, we won’t have to search for free wifi – we’ll have access via cell phone towers. This is kind of like ‘bundling’ since we already use Verizon for our cell phones and service.
Even with our one time expenditure for new hardware and the addition of cell phone data service – we will save about $30,000 in the first fiscal year alone! That’s about $500 per person for an office of 60.
The savings comes from no longer ‘renting’ hardware from IT Services. Yep – we are paying a LOT to rent our laptops, monitors, etc.
After the first fiscal year – the savings will be even greater since we won’t be buying totally new equipment each year.
Bottom line – a reduction in annual costs with continuation of existing IT Services provided LAN, email (Microsoft Exchange), internet access, server maintenance and operations PLUS adding cell phone access.
What makes the initial pc outlay sweet is that Verizon / HP is going to make $ on providing bulk cell service for 50+ laptop users. In the same way cell phone providers make money on services (practically giving away their phones) Verizon / HP is giving us a huge discount on the mini pc’s and associated hardware.
Essentially, it’s like phone service. Cell phones are basically commodities – cheap or no cost. Laptops are headed that way as well. The internet access services contract with Verizon will be pretty much the same as a cell phone contract. We get the pc’s cheap – pay for the connectivity service – and every couple years or so – trade in the pc’s for new ones.
Better equipment, expanded service and a big reduction in annual costs – that’s how it supposed to be done.
I’m playing with one of the HP 310 mini laptops for a few days.
We shifted from traditional desk top computers (keyboard, under the desk computer ‘box’ and monitor) a few years back. Current typical set up is a laptop (which, of course, travels with us when in the field), docking station, monitor and full size keyboard. Basically, we swapped out the under the desk computer with a laptop.
What we’re looking at now is to down size the laptop. No big deal.
However, we’re looking at changing our overall IT services set up.
To combat corruption, over the years (decades actually), NC government has centralized core services such as office supply purchases, vehicle acquisition, etc. This prevents local offices from giving deals to their friends and family. And it applies the power of mass / bulk purchasing to get better prices saving taxpayer dollars.
Of course, as in all things bureaucratic, there are inefficiencies and unintended consequences.
For example – our office pays for ‘turnkey’ IT services. For a fee we get hardware (laptops, monitors, etc.), connectivity (LAN hardware, software, access) and internet access.
Essentially – we pay for email, internet access, maintenance and such and we ‘rent’ our laptops / hardware.
With the move to the HP minis – we will purchase outright the hardware – mini pc’s, flat screen monitors, docking ports, keyboards, etc. We’ll continue to contract with NC IT Services for LAN and internet access / services and server operations and maintenance.
With the purchase of the minis – we’ll contract with Verizon for unlimited cell phone data service for the new mini pc’s. That way, when we’re out of town, we won’t have to search for free wifi – we’ll have access via cell phone towers. This is kind of like ‘bundling’ since we already use Verizon for our cell phones and service.
Even with our one time expenditure for new hardware and the addition of cell phone data service – we will save about $30,000 in the first fiscal year alone! That’s about $500 per person for an office of 60.
The savings comes from no longer ‘renting’ hardware from IT Services. Yep – we are paying a LOT to rent our laptops, monitors, etc.
After the first fiscal year – the savings will be even greater since we won’t be buying totally new equipment each year.
Bottom line – a reduction in annual costs with continuation of existing IT Services provided LAN, email (Microsoft Exchange), internet access, server maintenance and operations PLUS adding cell phone access.
What makes the initial pc outlay sweet is that Verizon / HP is going to make $ on providing bulk cell service for 50+ laptop users. In the same way cell phone providers make money on services (practically giving away their phones) Verizon / HP is giving us a huge discount on the mini pc’s and associated hardware.
Essentially, it’s like phone service. Cell phones are basically commodities – cheap or no cost. Laptops are headed that way as well. The internet access services contract with Verizon will be pretty much the same as a cell phone contract. We get the pc’s cheap – pay for the connectivity service – and every couple years or so – trade in the pc’s for new ones.
Better equipment, expanded service and a big reduction in annual costs – that’s how it supposed to be done.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Thursday, August 19
Just finished watching Zombieland on DVD.
This is one seriously messed up movie.
3 out 4 stars!
There were a couple of scenes where I was laughing so hard, I almost rolled off the sofa. While simultaneously thinking - "This is soooo wrong".
LOL
I am definitely going to go get a Twinkie tomorrow.
This is one seriously messed up movie.
3 out 4 stars!
There were a couple of scenes where I was laughing so hard, I almost rolled off the sofa. While simultaneously thinking - "This is soooo wrong".
LOL
I am definitely going to go get a Twinkie tomorrow.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Weekend Update - August 15, 2010
Friday I worked on campus at NCSU.
Man - If I'd only had this parking spot when I was in school!
(Click for a larger image to see my little grey Focus)
After work, drove up to NoVa to visit the 2 local nephews and 1 Tokyo niece who is in Reston visiting her grandparents. (There are still 2 Chicago nieces who I have yet to lay eyes on!)
Saturday, Nuke, David and I went to the National Air & Space Museum at Dulles Airport. I've been there before but this was the first time for N and D.
They have a lot more planes on display then the last time I was there.
Today (Monday) after work, I stopped to get my tires rotated, balanced and alignment. I do this every 10,000 miles. Naturally, was told that I didn't need the rotation and balance. Instead - I needed new tires. What was supposed to be a quick $80 maintenance errand turned into a $700 visit.
Nothing is ever easy.
Man - If I'd only had this parking spot when I was in school!
(Click for a larger image to see my little grey Focus)
After work, drove up to NoVa to visit the 2 local nephews and 1 Tokyo niece who is in Reston visiting her grandparents. (There are still 2 Chicago nieces who I have yet to lay eyes on!)
Saturday, Nuke, David and I went to the National Air & Space Museum at Dulles Airport. I've been there before but this was the first time for N and D.
They have a lot more planes on display then the last time I was there.
Today (Monday) after work, I stopped to get my tires rotated, balanced and alignment. I do this every 10,000 miles. Naturally, was told that I didn't need the rotation and balance. Instead - I needed new tires. What was supposed to be a quick $80 maintenance errand turned into a $700 visit.
Nothing is ever easy.
Monday, August 09, 2010
Constitutional Freedom
Generally speaking, I could care less about Proposition 8. Or California, for that matter.
I do care about government. I think it should be as limited as possible. That includes government staying out of people's private lives and not intruding on individual liberties and freedoms. I care about that a lot.
Conservative guest columnist - The Wall Street Journal
Considered a leading Constitutional expert on the Bill of Rights
Self-described Libertarian - advocate for personal freedoms and limited government
Founding member - Federialist Society - "To promote the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be."
Appointed by President Reagan - Assistant United State Attorney General - Justice Department
Appointed by President George W. Bush - Solicitor General of the United States
Finalist (twice) - consideration for nomination as Justice to the Supreme Court of the United States by President Bush (nominated Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito respectively)
Mr. Olson represented President George W. Bush and argued President Bush’s case in Bush v. Gore before the Supreme Court of the United States - Resulting in the Landmark Decision allowing Florida’s Electoral Votes to be awarded to Mr. Bush – resolving the contested 2000 United States of America Presidential Election
This man "gets it." Oh, and the Judge? A Bush appointee also.
True conservatism - not the teabagger fake conservatism crap.
Part 1
Part 2
Sunday, August 08, 2010
About Done
The lot work is done. There's some stuff the guys will haul away tomorrow or Tuesday. They ran out of room on the truck.
The field is seeded and strawed. Should start to see some grass in about two weeks.
They guys got sick and tired of hauling wood. So they left some in the back woods.
Yep - the stack is taller than me. But then, most things are.
Oh, BTW
At dusk yesterday, Nuke was on the back deck having a smoky treat. Stuck his head in the door and said "Come out here, but be quiet".
We see doe all the time. Everybody sees does all the time.
This was a stag. Fairly young - 2 points - antlers about a foot long or so.
First one I've seen in the yard in at least three or four years.
Food
We ate well this weekend.
Friday night, Hazel fixed old fashioned spaghetti sauce. Tomatoes, mushrooms, onion, ground beef. That with some garlic bread – we were stuffed. (Leftovers Sunday night - yummy.)
Saturday morning I set up a bar-b-que. I dragged the gas grill / smoker into the yard and gave it a thorough cleaning. Went and got the spare tank filled. Made some simple eastern NC vinegar sauce (cider vinegar, brown sugar, kosher salt, red pepper flakes).
I had picked up a whole pork shoulder from Nahunta on the way home from work and put him on the grill around noon.
(BTW – way too much for the four of us. I should have gotten a Boston Butt – about half the size of a whole shoulder. There’s a lot of leftover pork in the freezer.)
I put some water and white vinegar in the drip pan under the shoulder. The drippings combined with the liquid and helped smoke and steam the pork to help it flavor and make it tenderer.
We pulled him off the grill around 1800. Some had bbq sammiches (w/cole slaw); some just had chopped pork. We also had fresh corn on the cob from the Farmer’s Market. Pound cake and ice cream for dessert.
We did some good eating this weekend.
I should have taken photos.
The field is seeded and strawed. Should start to see some grass in about two weeks.
They guys got sick and tired of hauling wood. So they left some in the back woods.
Yep - the stack is taller than me. But then, most things are.
Oh, BTW
At dusk yesterday, Nuke was on the back deck having a smoky treat. Stuck his head in the door and said "Come out here, but be quiet".
We see doe all the time. Everybody sees does all the time.
This was a stag. Fairly young - 2 points - antlers about a foot long or so.
First one I've seen in the yard in at least three or four years.
Food
We ate well this weekend.
Friday night, Hazel fixed old fashioned spaghetti sauce. Tomatoes, mushrooms, onion, ground beef. That with some garlic bread – we were stuffed. (Leftovers Sunday night - yummy.)
Saturday morning I set up a bar-b-que. I dragged the gas grill / smoker into the yard and gave it a thorough cleaning. Went and got the spare tank filled. Made some simple eastern NC vinegar sauce (cider vinegar, brown sugar, kosher salt, red pepper flakes).
I had picked up a whole pork shoulder from Nahunta on the way home from work and put him on the grill around noon.
(BTW – way too much for the four of us. I should have gotten a Boston Butt – about half the size of a whole shoulder. There’s a lot of leftover pork in the freezer.)
I put some water and white vinegar in the drip pan under the shoulder. The drippings combined with the liquid and helped smoke and steam the pork to help it flavor and make it tenderer.
We pulled him off the grill around 1800. Some had bbq sammiches (w/cole slaw); some just had chopped pork. We also had fresh corn on the cob from the Farmer’s Market. Pound cake and ice cream for dessert.
We did some good eating this weekend.
I should have taken photos.
Agility
Friends Ward and Hazel visited with me this weekend.
They have two Havanese dogs which they are training as Therapy Dogs and one dog is also training to compete in AKC Agility Trials.
They were up for a competition being held in Sanford.
I watched for a while on this morning. It's a really cool avocation and a lot of fun to watch. It's easy to get caught up in the excitement and appreciation of the training and skills. Just like you can "get into" any other sport like football or basketball.
Here are owners / handlers familiarizing themselves with the course before one of the sets of runs.
This is practice area.
This is one of the waiting areas. Kind of like "The Pits" in auto racing.
Folks relaxing before the start of the trials.
And finally, a couple of videos of the competitions.
This first video is almost a good run. Started out great, but the dog lost his focus at the weaving station.
Here's a good run.
Notice the time stamp on this post. I went to the trials, stayed a while, then came home to do chores (yard work) and to post this entry.
Yep - it's just before 1100. The competitions start around 0800. Most of the entrants show up at the venue very early to get set up, practice and prepare. Ward says 0600 is not unusual.
They have two Havanese dogs which they are training as Therapy Dogs and one dog is also training to compete in AKC Agility Trials.
They were up for a competition being held in Sanford.
I watched for a while on this morning. It's a really cool avocation and a lot of fun to watch. It's easy to get caught up in the excitement and appreciation of the training and skills. Just like you can "get into" any other sport like football or basketball.
Here are owners / handlers familiarizing themselves with the course before one of the sets of runs.
This is practice area.
This is one of the waiting areas. Kind of like "The Pits" in auto racing.
Folks relaxing before the start of the trials.
And finally, a couple of videos of the competitions.
This first video is almost a good run. Started out great, but the dog lost his focus at the weaving station.
Here's a good run.
Notice the time stamp on this post. I went to the trials, stayed a while, then came home to do chores (yard work) and to post this entry.
Yep - it's just before 1100. The competitions start around 0800. Most of the entrants show up at the venue very early to get set up, practice and prepare. Ward says 0600 is not unusual.
Thursday, August 05, 2010
LMAO
I have a fireplace for which I buy a load of firewood each year.
I get the firewood delivered in the spring so it will have time to season for the following winter.
Here's this year's stack of wood ready for this winter. This is about the amount I'll burn during a typical winter. Sometimes a little less.
When discussing the drain field work and which trees needed to come down, GJ (Maple Hill Farms) said he'd have the guys cut up the usable wood and stack it. Later they'll bring a splitter and spit it up for me.
That's a great idea. Saves the cost of hauling off the wood. Plus - wood to burn.
Today, when I pulled in the driveway - I started laughing so hard my side hurt. The sight that greeted me struck me as "Holy Cow!" funny.
For scale - that stack is taller than I am!
LOL
I get the firewood delivered in the spring so it will have time to season for the following winter.
Here's this year's stack of wood ready for this winter. This is about the amount I'll burn during a typical winter. Sometimes a little less.
When discussing the drain field work and which trees needed to come down, GJ (Maple Hill Farms) said he'd have the guys cut up the usable wood and stack it. Later they'll bring a splitter and spit it up for me.
That's a great idea. Saves the cost of hauling off the wood. Plus - wood to burn.
Today, when I pulled in the driveway - I started laughing so hard my side hurt. The sight that greeted me struck me as "Holy Cow!" funny.
For scale - that stack is taller than I am!
LOL
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
poo
Before and almost After photos of my home's drain field area.
First photo taken in May. Notice how nice and full the clover is?
In June, an early heat wave and mini-drought killed off most of it. Second photo taken today after work.
On to the post -
Living in the country means I don't have connection to a Municipal Sewer System. (I do have water via the city / county water system).
The typical rural single house system is a septic tank with drain field.
When I built my house, North Carolina was reacting to a number of large multi-home on-site system failures. These systems were promoted by a "certain" company that was building and installing ground systems serving whole neighbourhoods and communities.
Well - I'm a Civil Engineer and I knew that large scale application of these systems were bull*&%t. Or rather, human*&%t.
Back then I was in private practice. I encountered that "certain" company on a few occasions.
One project was a subdivision where I had to come in and design a municipal system in place of an idiotic (and very expensive - $354,000 as I recall) Rube Goldberg* system the other company / consultant had designed and was trying to foist off on the developer.
My design came in around $225,000. Gravity lines and manholes, duel lift station and force main.
It wasn't that big of a deal subdivision / project at the time. So I'm not exact about my system cost - but 225k is in the ballpark. I do remember that my design also handled over three as many homes as the "idiotic" system.
And - we're talking mid 1990's dollars.
The development / subdivision was (is) in Wake Forest - off US 1 - North of Raleigh.
But - I digress.
A lot of those Rube Goldberg* systems failed and there were some pretty serious repercussions - in terms of both environment and cost.
Heavy regulation followed which trickled down (pun intended) to individual homeowner systems. Which hadn't been a problem. Classic case of overreaction and subsequent over regulation.
Anyway - my house construction got caught in the middle of it.
Instead of a simple septic tank and drain field - my house (under the then "new" rules and guidelines) required a huge drain field, imported dirt (for improved percolation) and the soil scientist identified the ideal drain field location uphill from my house.
Which required a two tank system with pump, equalizing pressure manifold and timed dosing system. It's what's known in the industry as a Low Pressure Pipe (LPP) system.
I built my house 12 years ago. At that time - a simple tank and drain field cost around $2,000 or so. My LPP system cost a whopping $8,000.
LPP systems are classified as 'commercial / public' by definition which means my system has to be "operated" by a licensed operator. In my case, that means the operator comes by twice a year - checks everything out - and sends reports to the County Health Department.
Over time, however, I neglected my drain field. I didn't keep it cut and cleared. Eventually the vegetation took over to the point where I had small trees growing in it. That is BAD. In all capital letters.
The past two weeks - I've been having the field restored. Since there are small PVC pipes just below the ground - you can't go in there and knock things down with a bulldozer. Everything has to be done by 'hand'. Care has to be taken to not damage the pipe system. Machinery has to be specialized and lightweight just for this application.
Fortunately, I've found the perfect company to fix my field - a landscaping company out of Siler City called Maple Hill Farms (no web site).
Those guys have been working carefully for 2 weeks. They are also taking out about a dozen dead and dying trees since they're already here.
The coolest thing was watching them smooth, till, and grind down small tree stumps and roots with a machine that I can only compare to a Zamboni. Except it's for dirt.
Basically the trees and undergrowth have been all cut down by hand. Fine chipped and spread back out. The rest of the weeds, brush, etc. mowed down and spread around. Then the Zamboni thingy mulches / tills / grinds / and smooths the soil.
I'm told my drain field (1/2 acre active field + 1/2 acre reserve field) will end up being a really nice lawn.
Cost so far? $5,850 and counting.
BTW - Eventually sanity returned to the sizing, design, permitting and installation of individual home septic systems.
If my house were built today - it would likely be a regular single tank with a gravity drain field about 2,000 square foot in size.
If the soil really did require an LPP system - the active drain field size would increase to about 3,000 or 4,000 square feet. NOT the 1/2 acre my system has.
Yep - the drain field for my system is about 6 times the size it needs to be. Click on the photo - there's a guy standing in the filed. That will give you an idea of the size.
Sometimes I can be full of s*#@. LOL. But it would take me and a small army to crap enough to need a field that size.
*Note - Speaking of Rube Goldberg and apropos of nothing - here's a happy video:
Monday, August 02, 2010
2010 NCSU Football TIckets
I really enjoy watching college football. I can't wait till September rolls around and the games start.
I'd enjoy it a whole lot more if we could have a winning season.
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