This is the general announcements item - the first of several announcement items. Later items are more specific - announcements about Grex, Grex system problems, why you're happy, why you're bummed, etc. If you have something general to announce to Grexers, this is the place to put it!335 responses total.
Okay here's my announcement. I've decided that if i don't find a job within the next 4 weeks that i'm going to go back to school. I've decided to further what i already know on culinary arts. I figured that since i already know alot about culinary arts that i might as well further what i already know and hopefully get a really good job that way.
I got a flyer at the Saturday Farmers' Market which announced that Wooden Spoon Books is liquidating (again.) All books $2 or less. The effort to keep the store going as a cooperative did not work out.
Awww....
We had an interesting time last night: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mconger/raccoons.html
Cool page Mark.
(There are better ways to wrap HTML text around pictures though - use the ALIGN=LEFT flag in the <IMG> tag and possibly a <BR CLEAR=LEFT> a while later. See http://www.unixpapa.com/burn/ for example.)
I liked the way the flash reflected in their eyes. Especially in the first pic. LOOK OUT, IT'S THE MUTANT RACOONS!
(it sounds like maryeliz is ready to make the same decision I did a couple of weeks ago. good for her!)
<remmers zaps the raccoon monsters with his annointed flail> Oops, I've been playing too much Wizardry. :) Nice pictures, Mark.
Thanks for the tip, Jan. I modified the page to make it look better, and put up Version 1.1.
I thought the page was cute, too. :)
Fun stuff. Especially when it's your neighbor's attic. ;-)
Indeed. :)
Especially when it's somebody's house far away. I had raccoons living in my chimney for a while. This was Not Good. I finally had to hire somebody to send my raccoons away in a barred cage to Jackson.
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Well, um, there's the wicker kind, the wire kind, the chain link kind, the expanded metal mesh kind, the perforated plastic kind, the ceramic kind, ...
we had raccoons living in our attic for several years. eventually we convinced our landlord (AA Realty) to do something about it, and they went away. I don't know what was actually done about it. . .
I imagine it was some sort of protection racket. Your landlord just knew who to pay off.
What do raccoons do in Jackson. One time when we were at the vegetable gardens behind the Lutheran Church on Liberty Rd., we watched someone get out of a car with a caged raccoon and release it. Kind of them to supply it with a steady diet of fresh vegetables.
For those of you who know Evan Corcoran (login: cme), this is from his brother: Hello all, I'm writing to let you know that Evan had a serious bicycle-car accident last Wednesday night at 1am.( 18.June). while bicycling home from work with a friend, an SUV collided with the two of them at a roundabout. The friend was knocked off his bicycle and Evan was knocked out when he collided head-on with the side of the SUV. He has a broken right collarbone (clavicle), some stitches on his right arm, thwacked his head, and is generally beaten up. He's doing well considering the seriousness of the accident, and is at home resting. He could use your thoughts and contact. All previous plans (including climing Mt. Rainier) are on indefinite hold. The doc said he would probably heal fine, although there is nothing they can do to set clavicles properly in place. The doc suggested an 8-12 week healing time for this. So he'll be out of circulation for awhile. On the bright side he may end up ambidexterous since he has to use his left for everything now.
Don't know him, but as bikers, we sympathize. I have always steered clear of cars but Jim got hit by one, and a small truck drove over him and then backed up over him (he was not hurt, somehow). Cars tend not to look at anything smaller than they are, but how can you miss TWO? I hope the driver lost their license. Best wishes for a relatively painless recovery.
Wow. I'm glad it wasn't worse. I didn't know Evan well, but please pass on my best wishes.
cool page ... http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mconger/raccoons.html no pics! newtscape 4.79 os 9.2.2 javascript on, java off ?????
Looks like Netscape has a problem with filenames that have spaces in them. Try it again - I changed the filenames.
Re #4: Daww. Baby raccoons are so cute. :> Re #24: Technically, I think you have to escape spaces in URLs by replacing them with "%20". Most of the time you can get away with not doing that, but not always.
I spoke to Evan last night. He's not in a lot of pain, but does feel a bit dull in the head. I think his spirit is a bit broken as well. I'll pass the good wishes along when I speak to him next.
did anyone notice a news article on cnn.com titled "Apple: New Macs world's fastest PCs"??? A few years back, I was verbally beaten up by some of my geek friends for refering to an apple as a PC.
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Re #20: Geez, sorry to hear about the accident. Best wishes to Evan for a speedy recovery.
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Re #21 re #20:
Was the bike properly equipped with reflectors or lights?
I've broken my right collar bone too. It's 3 months of annoyance, but shouldn't leave any lasting signs (except for probably a crooked collarbone with interesting "bumps"). At least in my case, it was never very painful, the annoyance is mainly in terms of keeping things roughly lined up and stationary while they knit up, then in getting the shoulder joint to loosen up afterwards. About the only thing the doctors are good for is to give you a sort of shoulder harness that is supposed to help keep things stretched out so they heal right, which is only moderately helpful.
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Did he lose any teeth?
Thanks for all the info and well wishes, I'll pass those along. RE#31 -- I don't know about lights or reflectors, but given he's a fairly hardcore biker, and his brother is a totally hardcore biker (coast to coast a couple years ago) I'm fairly certain teh bike was properly equipped. RE#34 -- No, he kept all his teeth
That's good. What a bummer.
i think i lost my pimp juice.
The web site that allows you to register your phone number on the national "Do Not Call" list is up. It's at: http://www.donotcall.gov
(And probably overwhelmed. :)
It is. Just tried to get there a couple times. Both times--after waiting about a minute--I got the "no DNS..." error page.
I got past the "no DNS" but was then told I'd be receiving two e- mails "shortly". It's been about 2 hours and no e-mails have arrived.
I may have finally found a way to stop the twice monthly Comcast junk mails. I hunted all over their website for an email address and found one in Investor Relations. On the theory that they would be more considerate of their investors than of their victims, I emailed and got back, so far, two very polite emails stating that they would forward all my addresses to marketing. I phoned SBC for the tenth time. They have, indeeded, blocked 'enhanced repeat dialing' but the block is not working. The repair service will check out why I am still getting the recorded commercial asking for 75 cents instead of a busy signal. Last time they check this out by phoning Jim from my number, but they goofed and checked out the recording that occurs after 8 rings. Someone clever has already fixed the broken programming on this one. I now get a friendly phone call from SBC about once a week asking if I am happy with my service. Charter One bank has been pestering us with junk mail. When Jim asked to be taken off the list he was sent a form letter that required him to fill in his name, address, phone number, email address and social security number before they could remove his address from their mailing list or promise not to share it with third parties. I phoned when I got more junk mail yesterday and the guy there insisted there was no way to get off their junk mail list without providing a social security number so I asked him to mail me the form, which I would send along to the Michigan Attorney General's Office to report this as a scam, and maybe they could get us off the junk mail list. The clerk I was talking to said it was not a scam, but they did need my SSN. I asked for marketing and got forwarded to a recorded FAQ that said to hang up when I was done listening. I called again, and went through the same procedure including the FAQ. In order to get the form mailed to me, this time I had to provide a name (they had mailed to 'neighbor'). He insisted I make one up, so now I will probably start getting heaps of junk mail addressed to A B. We are still trying to kill Herman Loth. Last company had preapproved a mortgage to this imaginary character (which someone somewhere created by hybridizing two characters Jim made up as a joke). They insisted they got all their lists of names from the public records and Herman must be listed at our county building, rather than Jim, as the owner of his house. Nobody sends Herman tax notices.
RE#38 -- It was Slashdotted this morning.
After 7 hours, I still have not received the e-mails from the nospam.gov site.
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I haven't had much luck with the website. It's too overloaded. Doesn't matter, though, since it doesn't take effect until October anyway.
I would like to see a national 'do not write' list to protect addresses. The post office is required to sell them.
I checked out the Michigan Consumer Protection Division. They have decided not to bother with a Michigan 'do not call' list, which would have cost $5 per phone number to get onto, but to enforce the free national one. If you get onto the list by Aug 31 the telemarketers have until Oct. 31 to stop calling you. If you miss that deadline, it may take 3 months for them to stop. (This implies that the telemarketers have to buy a new list every three months). You can still get annoying phone calls from politicians, deputy sheriffs, anyone else asking for donations or contributions, anyone calling to arrange a face to face meeting but not specifically asking you in the phone call to buy anything, etc. I am going to be rude to a lot of deputy sheriffs. One piece of good news is they have banned recorded announcements. Problem is that the recorded announcements don't usually include phone numbers so it is hard to track down where they came from when they clog your answering machine. Jim says he gets about one a day of recorded announcement or hangup.
Jim is lucky. We get much more than that. At least 5 a day and some days up to 25. Most of them don't leave a message, but they show up on our answering machine anyway, usually with caller unknown on the ider. Recently a lot of "Atlanta call", "Flordia call", and the ocassional "Alaska call". I'd like to know what those are, but they just hang up when the answering machine picks up. We screen ALL calls so I don't know what they do if the phone is actually answered.
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They allow "anyone calling to arrange a face to face meeting but not specifically asking you in the phone call to buy anything"? Sheesh. I can see a lot of telemarketers coming up with new and even more annoying spiels to drive through that loophole.
I had no problems whatsoever with the "no call" website, but then I was on it at 6am... re #48 - Virtually every call you'll ever get from someone claiming to be raising money for the police (or for firemen) will be a scam. Be as rude as you like.
resp:48,49 -- I think my parents are already on DNC lists. Aside from the occasional misguided siding or roofing salesman --- easily turned aside, as we don't own the house --- we get virtually no calls. At all. Having only one phone line, and having it frequently occupied by the modem for long stretches of time, probably doesn't hurt, either.
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I do the same. I now get very few marketing calls - there hasn't been one for several weeks, except one political fund raiser, which would be sanctioned anyway (I was still rude).
Why can't the political parties also not call people on the don't call list? I think the Michigan rules take effect June 30, after which I can try to report recorded phone messages.
I did some reading at the www.donotcall.gov site. No crowds at 1 am.
The FCC is working on eliminating the loopholes which allow banks, insurance
companies, airlines and long distance phone companies to annoy us. You can
still be called by people soliciting donations but they have to put you on
their own list and not call again.
I entered three numbers, selected SUBMIT, and got:
ERROR
The requested URL could not be retrieved
_________________________________________________________________
While trying to retrieve the URL:
[1]http://www.donotcall.gov/register/Reg.aspx
The following error was encountered:
* Read Error
The system returned:
(54) Connection reset by peer
An error condition occurred while reading data from the network.
Please retry your request.
Your cache administrator is [2]staff@cyberspace.org.
_________________________________________________________________
Generated Sat, 28 Jun 2003 06:05:19 GMT by gryps.cyberspace.org
(squid/2.5.PRE5)
References
1. http://www.donotcall.gov/register/Reg.aspx
2. mailto:staff@cyberspace.org
Is this one of those sites that is crippled by javascript? What is an
aspx?
What I can do here??.
The process worked pretty well just now. The web site was available, I entered our three phone numbers, and mail came back asking for my confirmation. I confirmed and they reconfirmed our numbers are now on the list. Now, on to junk mail. ;-)
Just the other day, I told a telemarketer to stop calling us, and he launched into a long speech about the national do-not-call list. I told him, "That's okay, just take me off your list," and he said, "I will, but I'm required to tell you all this first. You can stop listening if you want."
What browsers have worked for this? Lynx gives an error message. Links refuses to even access the site. I might wait and try the 888 number in the middle of the night. Or try loading linux and opera.
For me "!lynx www.donotcall.gov" from the PicoSpan prompt worked perfectly, about an hour after your message.
Thanks, I will try again. Maybe something was busy.
IWLTA that I am grexing - only long enough to post this, I'm afraid - from
beyond the international date line! :-) I'm sitting at a PC in a Cyber Cafe
("Phil 101") in Barangay (barrio) ng Poblacion ("downtown"), Bayan ("town")
ng San Miguel (de Mayumo), Province ng Bulacan, Republika ng Pilipinas
(Philippines). Grex is *everywhere*! ;-)
Nerd.
RISKS digest volume 22 issue 78 is in /a/r/u/russ/risks/risks-22.78
resp:60 I've done that gig before and it is the truth. Required by law if I remember correctly. I think a saw a news story on this. I just laughed when I heard some spokesman for the telemarketers all but whine about the law, and the narrator say that they claim it hurts their business. Bullshit. Telemarketing is looking for needles in a haystack-- the professionals *will* admit that-- and I don't think it's particularly efficient or effective.
I got through with lynx about 10 pm tonight. The telemarketers are looking for a few very stupid victims, same as the spammers.
I think a large part of their successes must be lonely people that get some solace from the telemarketers - no one else is calling them.
A friend currently staying with his mother while she has surgery reports that one telemarketer got really nasty and wanted to know if the person on the phone really lived there. I think his mother must be on a sucker list. Someone talked her into borrowing the money (with the house as security) to replace all her doors and windows. They worked. The house has zero insulation and needs a new roof. If she cannot come up with the money to repay, they get the house (with new windows). Has anyone got an email from donotcall yet?
I got an email back, in order to complete my registration. Is that what you mean?
I got an email back too that allowed me to complete my registration. IT took about 24 hours or so
My older brother reports that he gets *extremely* few junk calls. But he works nights, has sleep problems, has been around some really rough places, and *knows the rules* on the (very few) things that you really can't say to *someone who called you*. Somewhere, it seems that they keep a psycho/hate/etc. list of folks who are too emotionally traumatic on their employees to be worth calling...
Yah, same here. I put my home number, my cell number (I get telemarketing calls on that sometimes) and my parents number. I was getting up to 7 calls a day at home. We changed my grandparents' phone number to an unlisted when they were falling prey to telemarketers. My grandfather has dementia and is hard of hearing. The cable people called and talked him into a cable package with all the movie channels, jacking up their cable bill. My grandfather didn't understand what it was and didn't know what it was signing up for. My mom had to call the cable people and got the number changed.
How do the telemarketers get hold of cell phone numbers and isn't that illegal?
I submitted the form again to donotcall.gov, using my home e-mail instead of M-Net, and this time I got a response in a minute or two. My mother ran across this information, and signed herself up before I could even tell her about it. I'd say it's working much more smoothly now than it was at first!
You can ask for donotcall for *any* phone number. Shouldn't there be some check on you being the account holder for the phones? Not that I would have minded someone else putting my phones on donotcall, but....gee wiz.... that would be kind of presumptuous. I got on donotcall.gov with no trouble, and the e-mails came back in just a few hours.
My parents were majorly happy that I'd put their number on the list. No, there's no check to see if that is the account holder's number. I usually got long distance telemarketing calls on my cell. Not very often, but I want none. So it goes on the list too.
ok
Because of the fact that the subscriber pays for airtime on calls received as well as sent, telemarketing calls to cellular customers are prohibited. I'll try to look up chapter & verse in the morning if someone hasn't beaten me to it.
<conspiracy-theory> I hope this isn't all some government plot to generate a list of numbers and associate them with email addresses. I wonder if we'll all be getting spam or something worse from this in the future. </conspiracy-theory>
..i was thinking this too....doing exactly what usually causes the spam to get rid of it??
If you're worried about giving your email address, there will soon be a toll-free phone number you can use to register your number. Me, I just registered on the site. My email address is already associated with my phone number via WHOIS, anyhow.
<imagines potential lawsuits over being unknowingly put on the do not call list..."dammit, those telemarketers were my entire social life!">
I suspect the goal is to prevent people from being unknowingly taken *off*. There's a form for that too, and if they didn't require an email address for verification, it's not hard to imagine some unscrupulous telemarketing company writing a 'bot to remove whole swaths of numbers. Presumably when you request to be removed from the list, they email the same address you used to register and wait for a confirmation.
I have not received a confirmation email - two days since I submitted.
Then submit again. It took less than 5 minutes for my confirmation email to arrive yesterday.
Katherine Hepburn died. That's a pair of shoes that will never be filled.
No kidding
The loons, Norman! The loons! (sorry).
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Yeah, that was my experience Dan. However, I've yet to be able to click on the link to complete the deal. It always tells me that the website is unavailable and to try again later.
I got the email late Friday night (I registered Friday morning/afternoon, and clicked on it on Monday), and it was relatively painless.
Loopsided triagle this time, as Buddy Hacket was found dead on Monday.
I was persistent and kept going back to the site when I got error messages or got there and could not arrow up and down, and finally signed in and got my three emails a few minutes later. Last time I had not done the second stage of the sign-in as I did not realize I had to page down to see it.
If anyone wants a coupon for 20% off at Borders/Waldenbooks, here is a URL you can go to http://www.bordersstores.com/features/feature.jsp?file=friendsandfamily
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Thanks, Lynne. I'm a Borders regular, so I can definitely use it.
THANK YOU SLYNEE!
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That is really funny.
Anyone click on the links in the text? It just gets better :-D
And don't miss
http://www.coxar.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/blair.html
resp:103-104 Interesting, and yep.
regarding hte dnc lists - i hope that that is for 'selling' calls only. thre is a LOT of legitimate (no money involved) research that requires a statistical random sampling given the universe of available phn numbers. at least if ithe dnc list is for 'sales' then the only pestering calls will be from survey/research stuff - and i heartly recommmend that those calls be received with grace .. adn answers ..
You cannot get a "statistical random sampling" (of what?, by the way) by telephone, because of the biases from who usually answers the phone, from who is at home a lot, from who will or will not cooperate, and from the demographic distribution of phone numbers. Also by the way - who do you consider "legitimate" telephone pollsters?
I certainly don't cooperate with telephone surveys anymore. At one point in the late 80's I ended up on somebody's "list". Everytime they had a survey, they would call me up. Statistically, I assume they were figuring that by hitting the same subset each time, they could more easily correct for bias. I cooperated with this for a while. Then I got a "farmer jack's" survey. I'm sure this one was professionally oriented, but all of the questions were very narrowly tailored, and almost completely irrelevant for me, as I was doing most of my shopping at PFC at the time. I got annoyed at the assumptions that were being made, and refused to cooperate with any more surveys.
I tend to see surveys as a way to push my agenda. That, or question the surveyor on minutae of the questions and why they don't have an option which I consider optimimum. ;)
I often cooperate with political surveys, but no other ones. I think I did hang up on one that was obviously a "push poll" once.
How can answering a survey "push" your agenda, Scott? Although they probably have a personal opinion, the surveyors can't do anything about your minutia. If they are personally involved they might enjoy discussing it with you, but then they are just filling out a form.
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I just received my first spam at my regular e-mail address, something about expanding a part of my male anatomy. The thing is the only one I gave that address to lately was the "do not call" websight. Hmm...
aha!
Not conclusive....
But interesting...
Re: 114 - Probably a dictionary attack.
(happy birthday James Cleaveland [fka randall] and Philip Baskette [fka pbmax]! and to Heather Martin, Who Is Not A Grexer!)
I have a student with Cisco certification, CAEN (and multiple other) network experience, and a strong Unix background. Can anyone help me hook him up with some work (part or full time)? Email me here if you have any suggestions.
www.geekcorps.org
RISKS digest volume 22 issue 79 is in /a/r/u/russ/risks/risks-22.79
re #24 ... VeryKewlPics now appear on your raccoon page - sweet! http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mconger/raccoons.html i live-trapped, oh, maybe 9/10/11 or so and drove them out to the country nd released them near someone *elses's* house .. <heh-heh>
RISKS digest volume 22 issue 80 is in /a/r/u/russ/risks/risks-22.80
I called SBC for the 13th or 14th time to report that I was still getting 'Let repeat dialing.....'. The guy I got said he was a supervisor and he would put some big guns on the project. The last person had the theory that people had cancelled repeat dialing but not the announcement, so she cancelled the announcement. This time they will look into programming errors, which was the problem with the commercial after 8 rings. While working on this task he tried to sell me a cell phone.
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After calling for help take an aspirin. If you are alone move to somewhere where you can be seen or at the very least unlock your front door. Then lay still and wait for help. That would be my advice.
The cough thing has been pretty vigorously debunked -- it apparently can work, but only for certain types of heart attacks, and is actively bad for others. Listen to Mary. http://www.snopes.com/toxins/coughcpr.htm Excerpt: If you were a doctor and knew exactly what you were doing, it might help save your life. If, however, you are not a physician and you misjudge the kind of cardiac event you're experiencing, cough CPR could kill. This "helpful" e-mail could help you right into a grave.
well, thanks alot, mister party pooper. >< --
Sorry dude. I know you were counting on it.
/goes back to eating cheeze-puffs
RISKS digest volume 22 issue 81 is in /a/r/u/russ/risks/risks-22.81
Iwlta that we are having a gathering for Bay Area Grexers in San Francisco this Sunday, July 27th at 6:30pm. Everyone is invited. We are having dinner at a Peruvian restaurant called Fina Estampas. The url for more information is: http://www.ktvu.com/restaurants/1893624/detail.html I think Steve (scg) will make an item of this or something. Or if someone wants to put it in the motd ;) Thanks! See you there Californians ;)
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What's Peruvian food like? I wat to go to Frisco :(
Me too!
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Peruvian food is garlicky (sp?) ;) and sometimes very hot. It reminds me of of carribean and spanish food put together. The last time I was there I got a seafood Paella, also called Paella Valenciana. It was soooo goood! Hey if you know anyone from the bay area.. let them know we are getting together!
Amsterdam Grexer clees will be in Frankenmuth, MI on Tuesday, and I'm driving up from A2 to hang out with him. Still have some car seats empty...
Scott - what time are you going? I have to be back for the board meeting at 7, but would like to come and meet clees.
I'm probably going mid-afternoon, but staying for dinner.
paella valenciana was Spanish, last time I remembered. Peruvian food sounds interesting. Wonder if they do anything interesting with potatoes (the potato is native to Peru and grows in over a 100 varieties there)
Re #143: I guess it won't work out then. Bummer.
I don't know what my schedule on Tuesday will be, but perhaps we can go up together, Mark. I'd like to meet clees, too.
RISKS digest volume 22 issue 82 is in /a/r/u/russ/risks/risks-22.82
IWLTA that I saw something I thought was cool at the Sandy Beach "park" at Baw Beese Lake outside of Hillsdale: They had an inflatable raft - which I later learned was called the Iceberg - white, which judging by the height of the kids I saw on it, rose ~12 feet at its top, pyramid shaped. It had grab handles as you would see for rock climbing. The kids swam out to it from shore (~100 yards), wearing life preservers, and were free to climb it, jump off it, fall off it, into water which I assume was sufficiently deep, while a life guard watched from a nearby row boat. I guess you paid your $2 for maybe a half hour session.
Highlights of RISKS digest volume 22 issue 82:
-- Diebold voting machines have flaws which would allow
practically anyone (from voting officials to teenagers)
to undetectably alter votes or vote as many times as
they liked.
-- Inadequate security at a South African bank allowed a
thief to steal account/PIN combinations and transfer
other people's money to himself.
-- A thief in NYC used keyloggers on computers at Kinko's
to steal credit card numbers.
And more (the last item is hilarious). /a/r/u/russ/risks/risks-22.82
Ok: !Saddam
IWLTA that my schedule worked out for a trip to Frankenmuth this afternoon.
After 14 phone calls in which I asked to get rid of the recording that I am
getting instead of a busy signal ("let repeat dialing ..... 75 cents"), in
which people either never heard of repeat dialing, or said they had cancelled
it, then said you had to cancel enhanced repeat dialing, then said you had
to cancel the recording separately, etc., someone said they would sic the big
guns on this problem (it was all cancelled and the recording persists). The
result of all this is that today I got an automated email from the SBC
Internet dept. saying they could only deal with my problem if I had an SBC
IP address.
Subject: CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH MARS...Once in a Lifetime Viewing
Never again in your lifetime will the Red Planet be so spectacular.
Earth is catching up with Mars, an encounter that will culminate in the
closest approach between the two planets in recorded history.
The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way
Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can
only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last
5,000 years but it may be as long as 60,000 years.
The encounter will culminate on Tuesday, August 27th when Mars comes to
within 34,649,589 miles and will be (next to the moon) the brightest
object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will
appear 25.11 arc seconds wide.
At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full
moon to he naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August
Mars will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.
But by the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise
at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m.
That's pretty convenient when it comes to seeing something that no human
has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning
of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter
throughout the month.
Share with your children and grandchildren.
No one alive today will ever see this again.
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/where_is_mars.html
(I think the second sentence of the antepenultimate paragraph should have used "zenith" instead of "azimuth": Mars will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its _zenith_ at about 3 a.m."
Will you be able to see Mars from downtown Ann Arbor on a clear day?
Apparently, since it will rise at night, it will take a clear night. ;)
I think we should have a Grexpedition to Peach Mountain observatory on one of the three open houses that will be happening during this window.
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Just under the observatory.
After moving out of my apartment in Bellevue, WA, and after much travel across the northern United States and western Canada, I have settled for the time being in Ketchikan, AK, where I plan to stay for at least the rest of the summer, possibly longer, as I figure out what I'd like to do next. I've been quite enjoying myself so far, enjoying lots of time on the beautiful sheltered waterways of the Inside Passage and out in the stunning forests that cover the myriad islands of SE Alaska. Participation on Grex will remain infrequent at least until the remainder of my household goods (including computer) arrive (via barge) from Seattle and possibly for a while thereafter. I've been spending about half of my time in Ketchikan and half exploring the area nearby, camping and/or visiting remote forest service cabins (beyond the end of the road system and only reachable by boat or seaplane) with my sister and friends. Once I settle in a bit and get a home internet connection set up, I'll post some pictures from my travels (once I find a place to host them..) If anyone's cruising Alaska this summer, your ship will almost certainly be stopping in Ketchikan. Drop me a line if you'll be coming ashore.
Crap-- well, there goes my plan to visit Mike. Ah well-- the only time I was coming near the Seattle area was in late August for a family reunion (wife's side) with all her family members. Might have to go visit Todd instead ;)
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You wouldn't be.
Didn't ask you, bub.
I hardly see how that bars me from commenting, fatty.
Arbornet just died. Like, JUST died. Like, died a couple minutes ago.
M-Net is fine, though.
Sure is.
RISKS digest volume 22 issue 83 is in /a/r/u/russ/risks/risks-22.83
Downtown East Lansing hosts the Great Lakes Folk Festival this weekend, Friday August 8 through Sunday August 10. The biggest names at the festival will be bluegrass/old-time legend Ralph Stanley (one performance only, 8 pm Saturday), the Barra MacNeils (Scottish folk/pop from Cape Breton), Irish-American singer Cathie Ryan, and African thumb-piano player Stella Chiweshe. There's also Scandinavian music, Cajun, traditional American folk, and probably more. http://www.greatlakesfolkfest.net The festival is located in the heart of downtown East Lansing; its east edge is approximately where El Azteco is, and it stretches west towards the bus station and Valley Court Park. Four stages, and some craft and food areas. The festival is free, though roving gangs of official fundraisers will try to get you to donate some money.
That's a seriously great line-up!! Dr. Ralph for free!?? That's amazing.
Now there's something I haven't seen in years. I remember learning how to play a thumb piano (a.k.a, sansa) back in high school. It was a little sore at first, but when my callouses built up, it was great.
A report on WOUM this morning said that this may be the last year of the festival.
That would be sad but not unsurprising, given the current budgetary crises for the City of East Lansing and Michigan State University, who cover a large share of the costs.
(Lansing State Journal coverage says the festival is looking at cutbacks for next year but doesn't suggest that the festival would likely close: http://www.lsj.com/things/events/030808folk_1a-5a.html )
[The web site and information given below are legitimate. Unsure about true efficacy of the "click for food" mechanism, but it's there. ] Animal Rescue Your help is appreciated. :-) It takes 2 seconds and costs nothing! Animal Rescue League Request This seems pretty simple... Please tell ten friends to tell ten today! The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota of getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on "feed an animal in need" for free. This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising. Here's the website! Pass it along to people you know. The address is: http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/
IWLTA that at 4 o'clock ET this morning, looking south into the crystal clear night sky (at least it was in western Wayne county, in Plymouth), was one of the most beautiful sights you're likely to see with the naked eye: Pretty close to the left of the bright moon, just past its full, was a very bright object. This is the planet Mars, which we have been told is as close to Earth as it has been in perhaps 60,000 years.
Actually, that was mentioned in an earlier post. Bu the 27th, it's supposed to be the closest. I sure hope it's clear that night.
ya i've been looking for a way to find out where it can be viewed at what times and suchlike.
Was very clear last night.
Sterling Commerce is a reasonably large company, with about 2000 employees. It's no surprise that there's someone else named Perry; Jim Perry, who works at an office in Dublin, Ohio, (near Columbus). It's no surprise that I occasionally get e-mail intended for him. Jim Perry and John Perry are similar enough that someone who doesn't know about us both might well address an e-mail incorrectly. However, yesterday things went farther. Although Jim lives in Ohio, I received a US postal mail (originating from Sterling Commerce) for him. I live in Michigan. It appears his letter stuck to my letter All employees received a message from the company yesterday. I got his as well as mine.
RISKS digest volume 22 issue 85 is in /a/r/u/russ/risks/risks-22.85
As you might expect, the latest RISKS digest has a bunch of (very early) commentary on the power outage, but also a lot on the latest MS worm, confounding factors in medical research (with lessons for everything else), deceptive URLs used by scammers, filtered e-mail and more. /a/r/u/russ/risks/risks-22.85
I need a Televideo 990 or 9060 terminal (or two). If you have one sitting around (or can swap for a Wyse) please let me know. More details in Classified item 1137. Email LK@stratcom.com .
In the wake of 8/14, the RISKS digests are flying fast. RISKS digest volume 22 issue 86 is in /a/r/u/russ/risks/risks-22.86.
Do we have to boil it first? B-)
Today is my last day in Ann Arbor.
Where U off to, Dcat?
U of Pittsburgh, w/ orinoco
IWLTA that I saw in Ohio (must have been near Toledo) a billboard saying "Raise the drinking age to 25." I think it was in reference to drunk driving. They gave a web address for more info, which I forget. Even if it were to become law, there are so many practical problems, and who knows if would have any actual effect on whatever the problem is it's trying to solve.
My experience has been that the 21 drinking age mostly encourages guys in the 16-20 age group to drive into corn fields and drink out of the backs of pickup trucks, then try to drive home.
"Practical problems?" Only for those anxious to suck down some beers and whatnot.
Lower the drinking age to 16, raise the driving age to 21. I'm actually serious...I would support that. I also think on your second DUI, DWI, OUIL, whatever...you should be charged with attempted murder.
RISKS digest volume 22 issue 87 is in /a/r/u/rus/risks/risks-22.87
I think Newsweek reported this week that 3.7% of adults will have been convicted of felony by 2030 or thereabouts. I've shifted left on another issue and cannot support the addition of more felonies for alcohol convictions. Let's not make felonies the norm.
I would support decriminalizing the kicking to pulp of those convicted of DUI *misdemeanors*, though.
Re #192: Wrong. It affects everyone, because it forces younger people who
are going to drink to do it in private homes (which, unlike bars
and restaurants, aren't staffed by people trained to shut drunk
people down and try to take their keys, and don't charge as much
per drink), cars, parks, and other places like that. It also
teaches people early to form binge drinking patterns rather than
healthy social drinking ones. Both of those are problems for
society as a whole, not just for the drinkers.
I would ask some questions, perhaps partially rhetorical: how has society changed over history? And how does it vary over the world? In colonial America, a 15 year old was expected to drink with the men and hold his liquor. But in the modern U.S., high school and college students have binge drinking problems. We have strigent standards on alcohol content, and yet in countries abroad, the booze is stronger and the drinking ages are lower. Are foreign cultures more circumspect about propriety in drinking and perhaps have less tolerance for public drunkenness? And what of the fact that in many of these countries, the legal driving age is 18? Any correlation there? Something to think on, perhaps discuss. I've heard a few words on it, but not enough that I think I would fully understand it all.
The biggest problem is that in this country, we are dependent on our cars. Raising the driving age would be very unpopular because it is really hard for folks to get around sometimes without a car. But, 16 year olds are generally not responsible enough to handle both the responsibilities of driving and drinking. They are likely to drink alcohol and then get behind the wheel of a car. Personally, I still think the better solution is to lower the drinking age and to raise the driving age. People are less likely to hurt others while they learn to drink responsibly than they are to hurt others whole learning to drive responsibly.
Re #199: I think a lot of the problem is simply that age and maturity are only loosely correlated. Unfortunately there's no good, legally-respected way to measure maturity.
I think 16 year olds need to drive more than they need to drink. Take away their cars, and in a lot of cases, you take away their jobs.
Let's continue the 'drinking and driving' discussion in item 171, set up for that purpose.
Good idea.
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Seems reasonable to me.
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I think he installed a trojan on computers in a lab, and snarfed people's passwords. Though why his prof was using lab computers is beyond me.
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Re 207/208: He installed a hardware keylogger on various computers.
tomorrow is my birthday
Happy birthday, Julie!
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harfy bipplely jules
You know, guys, I barely like reading Grex when it's just a bit there, from like a day or whatever, but now it's like FIVE days and I'm fed up.
Me too, man.
I CANNOT VOUCH FOR THE ACCURACY, EFFECTIVENESS, OR APPROPRIATENESS OF THESE SUGGESTIONS. ANALYZE FOR YOURSELF, AND ACT ACCORDINGLY. Subject: Better Safe than Sorry After reading, forward it to someone you care about, never hurts to be careful in this crazy world we live in. 1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do: The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do! 2. Learned this from a tourist guide to New Orleans: If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you... chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION! 3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car: Kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won't see you but everybody else will. This has saved lives. 4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc. DON'T DO THIS! The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE. 5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage: A.) Be aware: look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor, and in the back seat. B.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars. C.) Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.) 6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot). 7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; And even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN! 8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP IT! It may get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked "for help" into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim. I'd like you to forward this to all the women you know. It may save a life. A candle is not dimmed by lighting another candle. I was going to send this to the ladies only, but guys, if you love your mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, etc., you you may want to pass it onto them, as well. Send this to any woman you know that may need to be reminded that the world we live in has a lot of crazies in it and it's better safe than sorry.
Why should only women be paranoid? Suuport them by being parnoid too. Send this to any man you know, too.
ALWAYS BE AFRAID!
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I would rather get killed by a serial killer than live my life in fear. Seriously. I have had my car broken into. And I have been mugged...twice. I was shot once too (albeit with a pellet gun but it was still scary). I have had a crazy naked man run through my house. I still leave the back door unlocked when I am home. I dont want to let someone take that away from me.
I agree. If someone tries something with me, I am going to do my damnest to take him/her down. I figure that anyone that does this regularly is used to people, women in particular, to just give in that someone brash enough to fight back is going to scare the bejesus out of them. I refuse to just lie down and be a victum. They are going to have to actually work to get anything from me. (As the oldest and smallest of 6, I learned to fight dirty at a very young age.)
> 3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car: Kick out the > back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like > crazy. The driver won't see you but everybody else will. This has > saved lives. I won't claim to be some kind of locked-in-a-trunk safety expert, but I've almost certainly got more experience with the situation than whoever wrote the list. As far as I can tell they either drive a very different car than I do or else didn't even bother to check inside their trunk before writing this, because I can't think of many cars which have a hole through the frame big enough to wave one's arm through the taillight access. Also, and I'm speaking from experience here, I think it would be quite difficult to contort one's body into a position suited for kicking the taillights with any amount of force. Further maneuvering within the trunk to allow one's arm access to the hole would also be complicated. The whole suggestion is just a bizarrely complicated plan, especially when you consider that virtually all late model cars have trunk-escape safety latches..
Assuming you are locked in a trunk, you have little to lose by attempting this.
uh, yeah, you do: wasting energy on the impossible is seldom a good idea. The times I've looked at my taillights, they've been through-bolted; there are screw-sized holes holding the assembly in place. Often, there has been a backing plate protecting the contents of the trunk from snagging on the nuts and ends of the screws. It's dark in there. You wouldn't be able to see where to kick, either.
It's far fetched, but I can see how this would work on *some* modern cars, where the tail lights are flimsy plastic assemblies bolted through into the trunk. On my Honda there are large cut-outs in the sheet metal to allow the tail light reflectors to protrude in. On the other hand, on most cars pulling out a tail light bulb would be easy, and if the headlights are on it would at least give you some light in there to look for a way to release the lid. You might as well pull both, and hope maybe a cop will pull the guy over for an equipment violation.
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What people *have* done is get out their cell phone and called 911. I wonder why that list did not include carrying a cell phone on your body.
Ann Arbor Science Festival For 5th-8th Grade Girls. Sally Ride Science Club is sponsoring a Festival in Ann Arbor September 20th. 11:30 to 4:30 at the UofM. Last year it was held at the EECS bui8lding on North Campus. Sally herself is the keynote speaker, with workshops and a streetfair. There are adult workshops as well. Registration $18 in advance, $25 at the gate, if there are spaces left. register: www.SallyRideFestivals.com or 1 800 561 5161
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Probably the most useful thing, aside from a cell phone (smart kidnappers will take it away from you) would be a little flashlight, like a Maglight Solitaire or one of those button-cell LED lights. Then you can at least see the inside of the trunk while you look for things to kick loose.
The LED light I have on my keychain requires continuous pressure to light. It might be better to have one with a switch that does not require occupying a hand to activate. If you are really paranoid, you could keep a separate cell phone in the trunk. Or (why didn't I think of this sooner) drive a station wagon......
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What are you trying to do - embarrass us into dropping this thread?
cross, you're in for a surprise.
re #233: I have, I have!
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no, the embarrassment is, no trunk music yet.
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Well, I wouldn't expect anybody to realistically carry around a "trunk escape tool" just in case they were abducted. But a little pocket flashlight is quite handy anyway, and knowledge is usually even easier to carry around with you.
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(I've never been forcibly kidnapped, but various friends from high school can attest to my trunk-riding skills, word. balee dat.)
> (2) #233/242: Dan Cross (cross) Fri, Aug 29, 2003 (16:34) > By a show of hands, how many grex users have ever been forcibly kidnapped > and thrown in the trunk of a car by unknown villains? > > (2) #236/242: Mike McNally (mcnally) Fri, Aug 29, 2003 (17:36) > re #233: I have, I have! > > (2) #237/242: Dan Cross (cross) Fri, Aug 29, 2003 (18:29) > No, I'm serious; has this really happened to someone? If so, inquiring > minds want to know all about it! I'm serious, too. I don't know if the Ann Arbor News makes its archives available for free browsing (I rather doubt it) but if you were to go back to the last week of October, 1993, you'd find a story with the headline "Gunmen Rob Man, Force Him Into Trunk" describing the incident, or you can go to http://www.state.mi.us/mdoc/asp/otis2profile.asp?mdocNumber=223282 to see the one of my kidnappers who still remains in prison (the others, Fortson and Wilson, cut plea bargains but Pryor wasn't offered any deals as he'd been on parole for unarmed robbery when he decided to upgrade to armed robbery & kidnapping.)
whoa. that must have been really scary
re #244: > whoa. that must have been really scary It mostly just seemed unreal at the time. There was a definite feeling of "I can't believe ths is happening," even after I'd been whacked on the back of the head with a pistol butt.. The way I look at it now, years after the incident, is that it really helps put the minor things in perspective. Even when things aren't going well at all, it always helps to be able to tell myself "OK, things kind of suck at the moment but at least I'm not locked in the trunk of my own car by guys who've bragged that they are going to kill me.." Even in the bleakest moments a shot of perspective like that almost never fails to give me a lift.. Anyway, I might only have one evening more's experience in my car trunk than the people with the helpful safety suggestions but I believe I can still safely say that for the most part they're talking out of their ass.
resp:232 that's how it is with LED lights, I suppose. I don't like Maglight Solitaires much-- they don't light well and don't hold together. I just didn't have a good experience with mine.
i have been held hostage in my bedroom by my housemate's schizophrenic sister who was hiding from the cops outside my door.
Re #246: Cabela's sells a keychain LED light with a metal body and a switch
that will either do intermittent or constant on. Very bright for
its size, too.
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re #249: > Who did they brag to that they were going to kidnap you? They had already kidnapped me; they bragged that they were going to kill me. > Were they mob wanna-be types? They were "gangsta" wannabees. They talked a fair amount about what professional criminals they were and it was in that context that they boasted that they were going to kill me.
Mike, is there a flashlight in your trunk now? Do you drive a trunkless vehicle such as a station wagon, SUV, minivan, van or pickup truck in order to avoid such an experience again? It sounds like it was a terrifying experience, and I certainly don't envy you it.
re #251: > Mike, is there a flashlight in your trunk now? Yes, but for more mundane reasons -- dead battery, flat tire, etc.. I had a flashlight in my trunk the night I was kidnapped, too. I spent much of that evening twisted onto my back in the trunk with the flashlight in one hand and my tire iron in the other with the hope that the trunk wouldn't be opened from outside but the thought that if it was I intended to get in at least one good swing with the tire iron. Fortunately for me it never came to that. > Do you drive a trunkless vehicle such as a station wagon, SUV, > minivan, van or pickup truck in order to avoid such an experience again? No. In the first place, despite my propensity for occasional unplanned adventures, I consider it fantastically unlikely that anything like that will ever happen to me again. In the second place, I have no way of knowing what the outcome would have been if I had been driving a trunkless vehicle that night but it seems at least as likely that I might now be dead for lack of a trunk to place me in than that the robbers would have decided not to rob me for the same reason. > It sounds like it was a terrifying experience, and I certainly don't > envy you it. It's absolutely not an experience I'd care to repeat -- I might easily not be as fortunate in the outcome second time 'round. However, though I would never have guessed it ahead of time the net result on my life has been positive. In the end I wound up with an interesting story to tell for the price of a few painful bruises, a couple of dollars plus some unimportant personal possessions, and possibly a bit of hearing loss. On the plus side recalling the incident has often provided me with a much-needed dose of perspective during hard times and I don't know if I could overstate how effective a near-death experience can be in refocusing your attention on life goals and choices.. Anyway.. far too much about me. Doesn't anyone have any General Announcements they'd like to make?
(I'm back in Ann Arbor.)
Mike, it's an interesting story. I'd seen it once before, but thanks for telling it again.
re 253: and we are in the UP, Houghton as a matter of fact. We wondered if you where in A2 or Marquette. We have fallen in love with the area between Houghton and Copper Harbor and thinking about buying property up here at some point. I am entering this from Cyberia, a Cyber Cafe on the main drag in Houghton.
(you're in Houghton AGAIN?!) (I was in Chicago for two and a half months, but have since returned.)
I was in Montreal for a week
Me too.
RISKS digest volume 22 issues 88 and 89 are in /a/r/u/russ/risks/risks-22.8[89]
RE #256: Hey, I even looked into finishing my BS up there. Unfortunately, most of my credits from WCC don't transfer to anything useful there. Maybe my MS...
I'm in Wyoming. :) Our cross-country trip has been fun so far, but the car's been a bit unreliable. Noticed a flat-tire-esque thumping in Wisconsin about 25 miles from the Minnesota border, when we stopped to check the tire was fine but the CV boot was cracked, requiring a three-hour stop to get the car towed and the axle replaced. We were lucky at that--this was on Labor Day sunday and the shop originally said we'd have to wait till Tuesday. Drove through Minnesota (whee! Love 70-75 mph speed limits with minimal enforcement), stayed overnight just over the South Dakota border, then continued on to the Badlands and Mt Rushmore yesterday morning. The original plan to drive to within an hour of Yellowstone was abandoned when the car developed a clicking noise and funny smell last night--the other CV boot had cracked. We're losing about a day's worth of travel time for this one. But we saw a *ton* of wildlife on the drive through the mountains immediately preceding the breakdown--at least twelve separate times Don pointed out groups of two or three deer on the side of the road; luckily none of them tried to jump out in front of the car. We saw a fox too, which was a first for me. When we were nearly through the mountains, we stopped at a viewpoint overlooking a valley and saw four deer grazing and then loping away. Not sure I'd ever seen a deer running like that before, very graceful. Today we're wandering around Worland, Wyoming, enjoying a very relaxed pace of life and friendly locals. We spent a lovely hour in a pet shop talking with the owner and her birds, and I'm now grexing from the local library. Barring major catastrophes the car will be ready in about three hours and we should be staying in Yellowstone tonight.
I will be doing two radio appearances this weekend: WDET 101.9FM
(Detroit's NPR station) between noon and 3 pm ("Folks Like Us"
program) Saturday Sept 6, and WCSX 94.7FM (Detroit's "Classic Rock"
station) at 9:20 or 10:20 am (the "Over Easy" program), Sun Sept 7. I'll post
the actual times when they've been narrowed down.
awesome
I'm back from a long weekend in California.
TWILA that if you think practising Christians are above petty theft, you're wrong.
(I can't make sense of "TWILA": "To Would I Like Announce"?)
Nah, he just wants twila's attention, so he's shouting at her.
heh.
I noticed a looong time ago on m-net that IWLTA is an anagram of my name, so I announced it in general. People have been taking my name in vain ever since.
ah. It's an m-net thing. No wonder I didn't understand. :)
That's because of the high-intellegence factor on M-Net, right?
re 270 Monsieur gelinas, please explain how it is an m-net thing?
Yeah furs, that *must* be it! ;)
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I would like to announce that I have returned home, after an absence of
one month and approximately 7,000 miles.
I visited, or rode through (in order):
Bar Harbor, Maine
Montreal, Quebec
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Thunder Bay, Ontario
Duluth, Minnesota
Boulder, Colorado
Austin, Texas
Chicago, Illinois
and many other places too numerous to mention here.
It's nice to be home.
MONTREAL! I WAS THERE WHEN WERE YOU THERE! MONTREAL FUCKING ROCKS I LOVE MONTreal.
Welcome back, Eric! Sounds like quite a trip.
IWLTA that I saw smoke coming from Zingerman's Roadhouse this morning. I was in a bit of hurry, so I stopped by on my home rather than on my way out. They had fired up the grills on the patio and were getting bread (and pies :) delivered through the front door. I walked around a bit and then stopped by the patio, where one of the chefs and a couple of other staff members were talking. One asked the chef something like, "How long will it take?" "Ten to twelve hours," was the reply. So I asked when they were opening: Some time early next week. They are just practicing today. (So what's going to happen to the pig that was on the grill and all those baked goods? I should have asked if I could practice eating there. :)
w00t! :)
My guess is that Zing'house will give away their "just practicing" to a variety of local businesses (future lunch-time customers) and to Food Gatherers.
RISKS digest volume 22 issue 90 is in /a/r/u/russ/risks/risks-22.90
The Roadhouse opens to the public on Monday.
Cool. Thanks, other. :) (I wonder if future board meetings could move to the west side of town. ;)
The Observer's article on Zing's Roadhouse has it sounding quite different from the usual setup. One dining room has all long tables, where you'll plop down anywhere and dine with strangers, unless you bring your own crowd. This could be good or bad depending on the person or family joining you. So lunch gets exciting. ;-)
Back when Earthen Jar had one (1) table it worked that way, and was kind of fun.
Doesn't sound too bad. I like to sit at the counter when I eat at cafes.
I may almost be back (to Grex). Still no network connection from my dorm room, but I'm discovering and making more use of campus labs. . . .
They were doing a test run for employees and others last night, I think.
There were folks in the place on Wednesday night, too.
Heard on the radio that Johnny Cash and John Ritter died.
This is so sad. At least John is now with June.
it's not sad AT ALL. jesus, his body had become totally decrepit, he could no longer play guitar...i'm relieved for him.
I know, I know, and ever since June died, I wondered how long Johnny had left. But it's losing an icon.
he wouldn't be much of an icon drooling in a hospital bed in a state of vegetation, now, would he?
I have a pair of announcements, one of which is quite sad, the other amusing. The really odd part is that both were communicated to me in phone calls, one right after the other, this afternoon. 1) Steve Graham, former acting Chief Engineer at WUOM, the NPR affiliate in Ann Arbor, and more recently the computer systems and support person there, died by his own hand this weekend. I had spoken at some length with him only a couple of days before, and had no indication or clue. 2) The ACLU of Michigan is producing a booklet about recent cases in which they've been involved and because they so liked the quote I sent in response to their request, they've asked for a picture to accompany it. I sent them the one that prompted someone on Grex to post an item suggesting I looked like a serial killer (the one with all the little captions on it), and they like it, but would prefer to not have the captions. I can't find a decent one, so a photographer friend is going to shoot something this evening.
Great, because the Secret Service agent who was just here, asking about you, wanted an up-to-date photo. Post the URL when you've got it up, okay?
Well, the one I sent is the one on munkey's old grexer site.... The most up-to-date shots are on my website, from the trip from which I just returned.
The picture you describe is on munkey's new web-site too. It's under lifestyles, I think
Wall, shucks, ther shore iiis! Thanks!
Your first bit of news is really horrible Eric, I'm very sorry to hear it. Steve was a former Grex user (maybe M-Net, I forget the timeframe). I knew Steve a bit and bought some audio equipment from him a few years ago. He had extremely talented ears and was a very nice guy willing to share his vast knowlege in the audio field. He was responsible for the tone of WUOM and to my ears is one of the best sounding FM stations out there, mostly due to his hard work.
I once called up and asked him for a notch filter because I lived too close to the WQKL tower to be able to get WUOM on my radio, and he dug one out of his desk and sent it to me by campus mail. When I saw him late last week, I mentioned that I guess I should give it back in case someone else needed it... :(
if true, this is 2nd engr to pass on this way ... ... *recently**...
the other eWUOM engineer i knew (who got a royal screwing from the "establishment") was James Paffenbarger. this makes two in a row. wazup wid dat? i'd mention a too-much-influence naem of a person probably responsible but the ppl's republic would react with too much shock and awe .... those closet bushies.
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You know, leading Scientists say that people who talk to people soon to commit suicide, and "don't get [no] clues" are usually wrong. They did get clues and just didn't pay enough attention to the PSTCS.
hogwash.
Well, there are clues, but nothing so obvious that you're going to pick it up in a ten-minute conversation. And even if you're around the potential suicide on a regular basis, the clues may be too subtle to understand except *maybe* in retrospect.
Yeah, dah's post is bullshit. There is no way to read someone's mind. The kind of clues he's talking about are probably about as accurate a predicter of the future as the daily horoscope.
Would you please identify a couple of the leading Scientists you cite in #305, dah? I'm inclined to think johnnie and aruba are right. There are probably more instances of the same kind of clues from people that do not commit suicide.
If "clues" could tell you who was or was not going to commit suicide, no one under the care of a therapist would ever do so. Their therapist would see the "clues" and take appropriate steps. One of the few remaining ways to have someone committed to a mental facility is if they are a threat to themselves. It is still illegal to commit suicide in Michigan, and anyone who knows that someone is going to attempt it is legally required to report this to the police. If "clues" were really diagnostic, there'd be a lot fewer suicides.
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307: If you pay attention to people, which I and others do, you can often grasp much more beyon what's directly said. 309: I heard it on the radio and don't remember the names. 310: Not all therapists pay enough attention to their patients. As well, they're just clues; they're, you're right, not diagnostic; and that's, of course, conmbined with the limited steps a therapist can take to prevent suicide based simply on apparently lack evidence.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHAEL!
-A Fan
IWLTA that the Detroit Shock, the local WNBA team, beat LA in the deciding game 3 at the Palace to become champs of 2003. This represented a complete turnaround from worst team in the league last year to first this year. In a bit of "history repeating", the Shock's coach Bill Laimbeer, once of Piston fame, on a team that kept the LA Lakers from 3-peating, defeated LA Sparks coach Michael Cooper, of that very Lakers team, thus keeping the Sparks from 3-peating.
re 312: Yeah. How many attempted suicides have you prevented then? And while you're at it, proofread your comments before posting. re 313: Who's Michael?
I've never had anyone with whom I've interacted commit suicide.
I have. But that was a cpl of years before he actualyl did commit suicide.
Re #315 re #313: Michael Delizia (md) presumably.
I have, and while I could see that they were depressed, I would never have thought they would commit suicide. The people who WERE worried about that did talk to the person about it, and were assured that it was not going to happen, several times (including that person's best friend, husband, and therapist). I talked to the person on the day they committed suicide and I'll swear that they sounded tired, but not any different than any other day -- so you can imagine I've combed my thoughts a thousand times to see if there was any way I could have heard it... because I would have done anything I could to have stopped it, if I'd known.
re suicide. Even if you can see it coming, you cant always prevent it.
I would like to announce that I've arrived safely back in Alaska after spending the last 10 days in a 26 foot boat travelling from Ketchikan down to Anacortes, Washington. I had a fantastic time and if I ever get caught up everything else I've been meaning to take care of I'll post an edited version of my trip log as an item in fall Agora.
Oh wow. That sounds like a really fun thing to do.
I'd love to hear about the trip Mike.
I'll definitely post something when I've had a chance to sort out my impressions into something coherent.
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mcnally floats his boat ... and has fun doing it- --kewl4u
re #325: We pulled into Cap Sante Harbor and apart from the time I spent securing a rental car to take me to SeaTac and stopping for a snack on the way out of town that was about all I saw of Anacortes. I should probably go back next time I'm in Puget Sound for a while, though, as it appeared to be a neat little town. I don't think I've been there before except to catch the Anacortes -> Port Sidney ferry and you don't really go into town to get to the ferry terminal. On the way back it was nice to have a car and a free day down in Seattle; I got to run around and pick up some things that aren't easy to find up here in the islands of SE Alaska.
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> I was going to say that one thing you could have done instead of renting > a car is taken one of those Kenmore Seaplanes down to Lake Washington. > Then you could bus down to SeaTac. A seaplane would've been fun but not practical for what I wanted, which was to have some transportation to get around Seattle while I was in the area. The simplest (and definitely cheapest) way to get back would have just been to take the airport shuttle straight from Anacortes to SeaTac. > What sort of supplies did you grab that aren't local in SE AK? Some clothes (maybe not literally unavailable in Ketchikan, but in my size, at least, much easier to find in Seattle), some electronics (replacement power adaptor for my Mac laptop, for example), and some frozen specialty foods (including a much-treasured pile of frozen deep-dish pizzas from Delfino's in U Village) for when I just have to have something tastier than what's available from the local restaurants.. Though this isn't necessarily true of smaller towns in the area, it's pretty easy in Ketchikan to get more or less anything you really *need*. If I may have initially found the retail offerings in Ketchikan lacking then my visit to Klemtu, BC, provided a healthy dose of perspective..
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Did fall start early today, or is that tommorrow?
Tomorrow, or Friday.
Today--6:47am
hey guys... i wanna enter the matrix::: how can i go there????? i need to know the truth quick my mail is appocc@cyberspace.org
A friend of mine has a Toyota Matrix. If you want to enter it I'm sure something could be arranged.