Posted on October 1, 2002 at 8:46 am | No Comments
Ok, two things.
First off, how can it be October already? Sort of snuck up on me there. September was a whirlwind of work, travel, class, tv premieres, movie-going, and more travel. Blink blink, and it’s gone. All that action, and just a few blog entries. Makes sense I s’pose.
Secondly… October 1st and the temp is heading into the 80s here in Boston? Maybe mother nature is still stuck back in August along with my brain.
In an effort to conserve valuable inter-web space, I’ll refrain from writing about our little trip to Vermont, Montreal, and the uber-consumer-theme-park that is Ikea. Instead, I’ll just send you on over to Matt’s for the details. And yes, the salad was just that good.
As was pointed out to me in one of my comment boxes, that whole interstate-as-landing-strip thing I relayed last week was, as they say, bunk. A steaming pile of bunk. And it’s been sufficiently ‘de-bunked’. I’m tempted to email my TCP/IP instructor that link, so he stops spreading these blatant mistruths to his unsuspecting students. Nah, let him ramble.
These words are flying around the ‘net right now, and I think they’re worth a little copy and paste…
“Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch, and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so.” — Anonymous
“People can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. Tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism.” — Herman Goering
and lastly…
“There ought to be limits to freedom.” — GW Bush
Is anyone listening?
So long, Suzuki…
Speaking of things making their way around the wwweb, you’ve probably already seen this by now. Does car = our economy? Or does car = our foreign policy?
Not So Secret Service…
Oh, I’m so confident that our stealthy SS agents are doing this for our “protection”. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
To Breathe, Perhance to Dream…
Oh, please let this happen. Maybe someday I’ll come home from a show at the Middle East and not have to throw my jeans in the basement to escape the smell of stale smoke.
Turn your head slightly to the right and feast your eyes on a couple newly coded pages: a slew of P-town pictures, and a massive collection of comic-related links. While you’re clickin’, check out a few photos from Amie’s recent 5k road race. Run, Amie, Run.
Posted on September 19, 2002 at 11:28 am | No Comments
Thought I’d come up for air and give a shout out from class up in beautiful Billerica, Mass. (actually, all I’ve seen is an exit off route 3 and the inside of one of those “99” eateries. yikes.) Three days of hardcore TCP/IP training, and I’m totally digging it. Yes, I just said that. Huge gaps in my networking knowledge are being filled in… like perfect little puzzle pieces clicking into place. Hell, even some math stuff I lost from college is coming back (I can now convert from Hex to Dec to Bin to Hex to Bin… without a calculator, even. Yowza.)
IP Addressing, Subnetting, Routing, DNS, DHCP, ARPing, etc, etc… all stuff I’ve picked up over past few years, but was never sat down and really taught. Man, I needed this.
Ok, are you asleep yet? Sorry.
Know what else I learned? Well, the entire interstate highway system was actually spearheaded, and mostly funded, by the U.S. Military, same as the Internet. Why? Landing strips in the event of an attack. Yup, it’s contingency planning at it’s most scary. When the highways were built, it was actually a requirement that in every 5 miles of road, there’s 1 mile that is completely straight and completely flat so that jets can land on ’em. You blow up this stretch? Well, then I can just land right over here, thank you very much. There are spots in Vermont that I always wondered about… where parts of Interstate 89 could have easily gone around a little hill instead of blowing right through it. Now I know why.
If they say you learn something new every day, well, I’m stockpiling for the next couple months.
At some point there will be Provincetown pictures. I know you’re just dying to see them. Lunch is over… back to learnin’…