brett's logjam

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asks Will the Next Election be Hacked?

Magic 8-ball: Signs Point to Yes.

(Bonus reading: Was the 2004 Election Stolen?)

Just going to take a wee rest…

In case you were wondering, Merrystar and I both love Tim Gunn.

Congratulations, Alan and Juliet!

(They got married on Saturday.)

Presentation Zen: Urban life: Graphic design is everywhere.

By slowing down a bit we will be able to see all of the graphic design that fills our daily lives. Living in Japan is a designer’s dream in many ways; there is just so much to see. Some of the “best” graphic design in the world is right here in Japan, and so is some of the “worst.” Much can be learned by examining both extremes and all the bits in between. We can even learn something during the morning commute. I usually spend a couple of hours everyday on trains, all of which are filled with an ever-changing tapestry of banners, signs, and ad posters. All most every day I notice something particularly good (or bad).

Oh, my.

(Via Whoba.)

No comment.

Very cute, via the Muppet Wiki:

Idle Words: Hong Kong.

Hong Kong was the first place where I ever felt like I was in the 21st century. Free internet terminals in the subway, Jetsons architecture, a giant Central Escalator, chirping traffic lights, storefronts filled with tiny robotic gadgets - this was the new millenium I’d been waiting for. From the moment my plane docked at the world’s most advanced airport and the cute policewoman scanned my eager retinas with her retina-scanning gun I felt like the future wasn’t just a cynically oversold ripoff, but a place I might actually want to spend some time.

Jiffyfactoryandtrainc | Originally uploaded by banjocat.

iPod Playlist: 2006-10-10 Shuffle.

May as well make it official: we’re moving out of the DC area.

Short version: leaving Alexandria for Williamsburg, keeping same employers, moving to be closer to in-laws and out of DC, because, well, you know.

We’ve been working on a house. It’s turning out pretty well. My biggest looming problem is that I now have a lawn to mow.

Well, that, and the move. The move still has to happen.

Things have been worse.

More details to follow, stress levels permitting.

Via JWZ — Keith Olbermann: Why does habeas corpus hate America?

In fact, Countdown has obtained a partially redacted copy of a colonial “declaration” indicating that back then, “depriving us of Trial by Jury” was actually considered sufficient cause to start a War of Independence, based on the then-fashionable idea that “liberty” was an unalienable right.

Today, thanks to modern, post-9/11 thinking, those rights are now fully alienable.

The reality is, without habeas corpus, a lot of other rights lose their meaning.

But if you look at the actual Bill of Rights — the first ten amendments to that pesky Constitution — you’ll see just how many remain.

Well, ok, Number One’s gone.

If you’re detained without trial, you lose your freedom of religion, speech, the press and assembly. And you can’t petition the government for anything.

Number Two? While you’re in prison, your right to keep and bear arms just may be infringed upon.

Even if you’re in the NRA.

Three?

No forced sleepovers by soldiers at your house. OK. Three is unchanged.

Four?

You’re definitely not secure against searches and seizures, with or without probable cause - and this isn’t even limited to the guards.

Five… Grand juries and due process are obviously out.

Six. So are trials, let alone the right to counsel. Speedy trials? You want it when?

Seven. Hmmmm. I thought we covered “trials” and “juries” earlier.

Eight — So bail’s kind of a moot point…

Nine: “Other” rights retained by the people. Well, if you can name them during your water-boarding, we’ll consider them.

And Ten — powers not delegated to the United States federal government seem to have ended up there, anyway.

So as you can see, even without habeas corpus, at least one tenth of the Bill of Rights, I guess that’s the Bill of “Right” now… remains virtually intact.

(Via Amy.) Halushki: A Series of Unfortunate Conversations.

Woman: Hey girls! Guess what we’re going to do today?
Girls: What, Mommy, what?!
Woman: We’re going to visit the hospital!
Girls: Yipee! We‘re going to have the baby! The baby!
Woman: No, no…remember the bat we had in our house the other night?
Girls: Is the bat having babies?
Woman: The bat might have rabies.
Girls: Yipee! Rabies! Rabies!
Woman: Do you know what rabies is?
Girls: Rabies are bat babies!

Wow! My Moo Cards arrived today, and they turned out great. I have but one regret —

I forgot the oxford comma in my message.

For a certain family member (you know who you are), I give you *ROCK ALBUM DEATHMATCH*:

Yah is back from the spa with new shoes and a new sense of rhythm.

To celebrate, I updated her spreadsheet with the last few years of repair data.

Spoke too soon. Yahzie flashed her coolant light at me again this morning.

So, back to the spa she goes…

brrrr | Originally uploaded by banjocat.

Just a friendly reminder that Michigan is cold.

YAH is back in her driveway, running well again. The new tires (Avon Tech M550 225/45WR-17s A/S) have dramatically changed her cornering (for the better) and no repeat of any flashing alarms of any ilk.

Of course, Merrystar and Trip are both sick this weekend, so our trips have been short and to the point. But still, it’s good to have Yahzie back.

So, I’ll celebrate YAH’s spa-free weekend with a friendly reminder that VW — usually, with some glaring exceptions — has very good commercials.

Pity their cars smell like crayons.

jwz: R.I.P. Habeus Corpus, 1215 - 2006.

House packed yesterday, not by me. It’s strange to watch a home become a house. With boxes. Lots of boxes.

Slept there last night. Discovered that all my neighbors have locked down their wireless networks. Realized that this chapter is over.

Truck loaded today. Also, not by me. I am very glad for this, because, well, you know. We have a lot of books.

I took some time this afternoon to look around the very big, very empty townhouse that was once my home. Really. Big. Rooms. They take a lot of work to make right. (And a lot of stuff.)

It took us over three years to get everything to be really usable; we’d finally reclaimed the downstairs and the garage.

Tomorrow, the truck comes to the new house, and — with some work — we will have a home again.

(Hopefully, it won’t take us three years.)

p.s. Remember that cold that had everyone out last weekend that I’ve been valiantly fighting off for the good of the family?

Yeah. Ugh. Off to bed with me.

Back online. Cable modem humming along. Boxes getting unpacked. Updating online addresses now.

More updates in a few days. (I’m on vacation, after all.)

Chicken fried bacon! | Originally uploaded by banjocat.

All your dreams can come true.

Up in Alexandria today to close on the house up there. Sold! All my anxieties were for naught.

Unfortunately, Trip is now sick with what we think is Fifth Disease, so the celebrations will be quiet tonight.

Dear ext3,

I’d like to thank you for the fantastic improvements you’ve introduced over ext2, like your ability to render deleted files completely unrecoverable due to your wonderful ability to zero out all of the inodes.

I understand that this helps you recover better from crashes. Congratulations!

I also understand that this makes all of those pesky user errors, where someone types the wrong rm -Rf command, which never happens, absolute. When a user makes a change on an ext3 system, that change is made! Huzzah! And you’re the default on most new Linux installs! Good for you. Glad to see you’re getting ahead in the world.

It’s probably a good thing that they don’t mention that files are unrecoverable from you when they install you, right? I mean, that would be embarassing. And we can’t have that!

Now, instead of using all of those ext2 utilities - you know, those ones that all those linux distros swear will still work with you - I can learn to make peace with watching loved ones lose years of work in such a way that even throwing thousands of dollars at the problem will not solve! Now I get to learn how to scrape the binary off a disk, once we determine what the header and footer of obscure astronomical data files are and talk to the very nice developer of PhotoRec to please add them into the supported filetypes.

Because, you know, I really was getting kinda bored, what with the life and job and family and whatnot.

Thanks again!

Cheers,
Brett

P.S. I‘m switching everyone I know to HFS+ or ZFS. Even FAT32 is lookin’ pretty good in my book now. But don’t take it personally!

(Crossposted to my LiveJournal, because sometimes I actually do want comments and advice. That’s why I have a LiveJournal.)

itchy tail! | Originally uploaded by banjocat.

The more things change…



… the more your tail itches.

Holy moly.

Ninety kids stopped by my house tonight. 90.

Tired now.