The latest snapshot for the stable Linux kernel tree is:  2.6.26-rc8-git5 2008-07-05 07:01 UTC B V   C  

I'm really fond of the mockingbirds that live amongst me.

In my on going effort to do things outside of my comfort zone I purchased a Mac Pro last month.  I've used windows professionally my entire career and I've run Linux as my main OS at home since 2000.  I've never spent anytime on a Mac though, until now.  For the most part it has been a smooth transition.  The fact that it is built on a BSD core means I can always open up a terminal and feel pretty at home.  MacPorts has also helped a lot in that it allows me to run some of the same apps I'm used to.  I guess I haven't bit the bullet completely because I still use Firefox as my browser, and I run a lot of webapps.  However I do that so my environment feels the same whether I'm at home or at work.  The following are just a couple of things I've had to deal with.

My wife and I stopped at Heinrich's German Grill on Friday night. Apparently this place has been hiding right under my nose for close to a year now. My sister had mentioned it to me, and happened to be there with some of her friends as well. The interior is much larger and better lit than it looks from outside. The owner's/chef's are right behind the bar cooking up some wonderful home cooked German cuisine. They even hand out some peaches or cream puffs to my sister's ~4 yr old daughter when she sits at the bar. I had Heinrich's Superior Schnitzel and my wife had Potato Pancakes covered in goulash. My schnitzel came out wonderful, lightly fried with two eggs, green beans and bacon on top. A number of dishes come with bacon on top so I'll be back to try those as well. I think my wife did better than me though as the potato pancakes were just unbelievably good. They have five or six good German beers on tap and I didn't ask if they had anything else. I'm thrilled to find a nice German place in town. Now I can vary my nice bar meals between Heinrich's and Shakespeare's.

Timely ROFL Bonus Jade Zinc Towny I dumped a bunch of scrabble cubes out on my desk and this is what I came up with.

31st Annual Sandy Claws Siesta Key Beach Run 40:29 - At least I did it.

I've been interested in the founding of the USA off and on for a couple of years now.  I really enjoyed reading Founding Brothers and A Brilliant Solution.  It's been so long since I've read them though that I don't have any insight to share.  I have however started on a new journey.  After reading the U.S.Constitution and Declaration of Independence over the 4th of July I got interested in our nations earliest days again.  So I have decided to read "Selected Federalist Papers" from Dover.  This collects 35 of the 85 essays written to help convince the people of New York to ratify the U.S. Constitution.  These essays were written individually by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.   I figure there probably isn't a better place to find out why the Constitution is the way it is, other than maybe James Madison's extensive Constitutional Convention notes, than these papers.  My goal is to slowly make my way through 35 essays here jotting down small notes or phrases I particularly enjoy.  And then either read the rest of the essays or move on to a book that has in-depth commentary to help me out. The first paper of course tries to set the stage, and is written by Alexander Hamilton. 

    At work I've been porting a bunch of 32-bit C applications to 64-bit.  To do this I'm running Windows XP x64 edition and having fun finding the little differences between 32-bit and 64-bit Windows.  On these projects we are strict about our Visual C++ project settings.  We have probably half a page of settings that must be tuned just right before our changes will be accepted into the source repository.  Like any good programmer I hate checklists.  Checklists are mundane things that eat up a lot of my time for very little in the way of results.  I also think that machines are much better at checklists than I am.  So I did what any self respecting programmer would do, I wrote a program to ensure the project settings were always correct.

Almost two years ago I took a road trip up to North Carolina.  I however did NOT check my tires before embarking on the 13 hour drive.  So at about 3am my rear tire blew out and I had to wait around for 4 hours until the closest garage opened up and was able to give me a new tire.  This wasn't fun.  Not fun at all.  Ever since then I've become pretty anal about checking my tire pressure.  Now my life just got a little easier.  My Accu-Pressure Safety Caps arrived in the mail today.

I needed to send a package via FedEx the other day so I did a quick Google search for their number to schedule a pickup.  It landed me on this wonderful page. Which, as of this posting, lists the number 1-800-22-6161 as the number to call to schedule a pickup.  The astute reader will notice that it is missing a digit.  (Note the missing digit isn't a '2', that is JCPenny's number)  I found another phone number for FedEx and was able to get my packaged delivered anyways.  I also had the urge to be a good Netizen so I wrote them a short email letting them know there was a slight error on their website.  This is the email I got back.

I spend a lot of time on Linux and Windows and I enjoyed my first 20-20-20-Rule so much I wrote another one that works on windows.  You can download the full installer here.  It is written in C# so if you don't have .NET 2.0 installed the install will be a little longer.  There is also one glitch in the installer, sometimes when it goes to download the .NET framework it doesn't work, just cancel the install and try again. 

I've read about the 20-20-20 rule at a number of websites now.  For those that don't know the 20-20-20 rule says that "Every 20 minutes you should look at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds".  This gives your eyes a chance to relax and if you actually get up to do this, blood flow might even return to your legs.  I tend to spend too much time staring at my monitors so I thought I would implement something to help me practice the 20-20-20 rule. 

In this video I give you the TRUTH about Barack Hussein Obama’s sexuality, religion, children, wife, and his amazing disregard for the American dollar. After seeing this video, you will understand why patriotic Americans must band together to get the RIGHT candidate into the White House in this November’s election!!!

Scott invited Craig and I out to Arcadia to the Desoto Gun Club for another Practical style event. This time it was outdoors and all steel targets to engage. Very fun, not nearly as bad as my first experience with "Screw the shooter" night. read more

Yesterday, the US Supreme Court struck down a law banning firearms in Washington DC. This was a huge step forward in common sense which is something I thought was totally lacking in our nation's capital. It made no sense to me that DC would have a ban on guns while holding one of the highest crime rates in the country. read more

The latest prepatch for the stable Linux kernel tree is:  2.6.26-rc8 2008-06-25 02:28 UTC B V VI C Changelog

A TV news producer I met at a local political event this weekend said, “We love citizen journalists. Here’s my email address. If you get any good material, let me know.” I asked how much they paid. “We give you credit,” he said. “Your work can be seen by millions of people.” But if they [...]

Being a Democrat — or even just being not an ultra-right worker-hater — in this part of the U.S. can be lonely. But take heart. You are not alone. Here are some ordinary local people who are not only Democrats but proud of it. PS - I made this 60 second spot with my [...]

So the erstwhile Devil Rays want a new stadium. Boo hoo: no.

     Iraqi children, while plainly suffering from the war, are getting steeped in American culture. Chubby will not be denied his candy! Coz it's 187 on a... read more