One person's lack of compassion does not equal another's comfort.

My views on the new LJ Terms Of Service

2017-04-22T21:22:44Z

As I understand matters, the new ToS isn't actually any worse than that of either FB or G+. There was a time when users of MySpace would never have imagined it failing. The Russian culture appears to forever preserve and improve that which works. I strongly suspect that the changes we are seeing will be used to further improve LJ.

I'd like to point to a couple of things you may have noticed. For example, when we sign a petition, we are asked to share it on FB or sometimes Twitter, but almost never on G+ and totally never on LJ.

Today when I post to LJ, I'm offered the opportunity to automatically repost to Twitter, Facebook, some Russian blog I've never heard of, and I'm further given the option to customize my choices to include G+ and Tumbler.

I could be mistaken, but I believe LJ is trying to recover lost territory. I no more believe that all that is Russian is inherently evil, than I assume all that is Muslim is inherently evil.

I do tend to assume that cultures of hate are actually evil, such as many of the discernible sub-cultures which conspired to elect Trump simply for supporting their racist, xenophobic, or mysogynistic views.

I'm posting this as much to see if the "repost to" feature connects well with Facebook. UPDATE: So far the repost has not appeared on facebook but that could be because I've previously set my security to "friends only" by default and I cannot even manually make my posts public without first posting it private and then going back and editing the post to be public. Perhaps this will appear on Facebook after I change the security to public. Let's see.

My views on the new LJ Terms Of Service

2017-04-22T21:12:04Z

Murgh Cholet 2016

2016-11-10T00:28:50Z

This easy recipe takes only FIVE MINUTES to prepare and makes about four quarts of delicious chicken and rice. Ten months in development, this is proven to be a big hit at pot-luck events. Total time from start to finish is about 40 minutes.

To be prepared in a modern electronic pressure cooker such as Fagor model 670040230, six quart multi cooker. Link: http://a.co/6QgiuzR.

Add these ingredients to pot in this order:
2 cups jasmine rice
1 TB "Shah" brand Murgh Cholet Mix
1 Tsp sea salt
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1-1/2 cups filtered water
5 oz olive oil
1 entire head of garlic, cloves (separated, but not peeled)
OPTIONAL 1-2TB Crystal brand hot sauce (1 TB is ideal, 2 TB for slightly spicy)

Stir all above before adding chicken and mix more with chicken in so that all surfaces covered with the mix. Mixing is best performed with your bare hands to massage the mix entirely coats all surfaces of the chicken.

Organic Chicken Thighs (either fresh or frozen)
4 pieces bone-in/skin-on
6 pieces boneless/skinless

After mixed, set pressure cooker for cook times depending upon whether chicken is fresh or frozen:
Frozen 18 minutes high pressure.
Fresh 12 minutes high pressure.

After alarm sounds, merely unplug pressure cooker and set a kitchen timer for 20 minutes. After kitchen timer sounds, check to see if lid safety interlock has released, then open and serve.

Several people have requested a photo and to know my real identity...

2015-07-01T21:21:25Z

This should do it.

Top Gear will NEVER be the same... but with any luck it will be remade in the USA

2015-03-25T22:03:35Z

In case you haven't heard the news, the BBC has retired the most charismatic member of the Top Gear Team. Granted, he was a loose canon, and probably subjected his employers to astronomical insurance liabilities, but you have to break some eggs to make an omelette.

Although I'm confident the show can go on without him, for me and I'm sure many others like me, the show will never be THE SAME without him. It's not a matter of whether you like him, or whether you agree with him. The issue is that in the automotive world, there are quite a lot of opinionated people, and among such people, he is they most consistently entertaining. It would serve them right if he got picked up by an AMERICAN network and asked to produce a similar program. There's no doubt in my mind that it would be an instant hit.

PS: After looking up the actual story, linked here, ( http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-32052736 ), I have a better understanding of why he was released, but I dispute the reasoning for a couple of reasons:

1) Jeremy is a hothead, and that's what makes him popular. If you have a TV program about vicious animals, and someone gets bitten, you don't end the show. Rather, you wear thicker gloves.

2) TV producers are by their very nature, prone to provoking people. They come from the school of "those who can't, TEACH". So I do not believe the physical assault was unprovoked. I'm not saying it was justified, but I do believe it was understandable and forgivable, under circumstances I can only imagine.

Have I ever been physically assaulted? Yes. Was it provoked, that is probably a matter for debate, but I tend to disagree. I'm a nonviolent pacifist. In my entire life I've only attacked two people; schoolyard bullies who cornered me and dared me to defend myself. In each case, I drew on my adrenaline to assert my right to be free, and didn't continue to assault my assailant further physically. It should be pointed out that according to this news story, neither did Jeremy. I hope he gets a good attorney and fights this.

Ted Cruz makes up his own election law to defeat Birther threat

2015-03-25T21:30:56Z

I refer to THIS STORY. There are really only two things that matter here:

The letter of the law that says you have to have been born on american soil.

The vitriol of those who insist the letter of the law must be adhered to, aka, "The Birther Movement".

When President Obama ran for office, and for the first six years of his presidency, the "Birthers" were extremely strict about adhering to the letter of the law. If they are not hypocrites, they should attack Ted Cruz with the same tenacity they attacked President Obama.

I am among those who personally feel that the Birthers, as they've come to be known, were far less interested in enforcing the law, than taking President Obama down by any means necessary, despite a complete lack of evidence that he wasn't born in this country.

Ted Cruz not only insists that he was NOT born in the USA, but has his own, technically incorrect, version of the law in which he believes he's eligible for the role of president merely because his mother was a US citizen at the time of his birth.

How do I feel? I'm divided. On one hand, I don't think it should matter where you were born. No, really. It seems unconstitutional in a certain light, to say, we are all created equal... unless you were born somewhere else.

ON THE OTHER HAND. As a long standing Obama supporter, I'm very bitter about how much time and energy went into trying to remove him from office on the basis that some insisted that he wasn't actually born in the USA. It feels wrong to let Ted Cruz replace Obama unless he had been willing to stand up in his defense. Not only is there no evidence that Cruz defended Obama, but it appears as though Cruz was among the Birthers himself.

All I can say is, if hypocrisy were a valued commodity, Cruz would be the wealthiest man on earth.

QUIZ: How to tell if you might be The Sphynx

2015-02-22T06:25:35Z

I was discussing this with THE CAT today, and though his cat-like murmurs weren't particularly telling, it was clear I was onto something with this line of reasoning.

If you answer yes to three or more of these questions you are probably The Sphynx. Otherwise you are probably a typical housecat who like posing like The Sphynx.

View Poll: How to tell if you might be The Sphynx

Steam Powered Aircraft!

2014-10-16T10:40:09Z

Apparently real and a success, in its day at least. The most interesting aspect of this retro airplane is that it was QUIET, and at a time when aircraft weren't.

One would think that a couple of these would have been brought into use as stealth spy-planes during WW2, at least prior to the development of RADAR, but from all my searches, it seems the only wartime use of steam related to aircraft regarded steam powered catapults to launch aircraft from carriers.

If you thought the TRS-80 model 100 laptop computer might be dead, think again

2014-07-10T08:02:17Z

At some point in the past year I blogged on some sight about this miraculous little laptop that was first released in 1983 and how despite its limitations it's unusual qualities made it a favorite for much of the next 15 years. I might have thought I posted it on this site, but now I can't find it.

(Note to LJ operators, it might be time you add a search utility so that we users can find our misplaced posts. You can charge us a premium for it, we'll pay!)

Maybe I didn't post it here, or maybe I only thought I wrote it? In any case, you can easily read more about the features of this now thirty-one year old laptop than you can about the space shuttle, which is nearly as old, and that's pretty amazing. What may be more amazing is that some hardware hacker with lots of creativity, and perhaps too much time on his hands, has reinvented this great little machine retaining some of its best qualities, such as extremely low energy consumption and excellent keyboard, but giving it a super-modern insanely energy efficient brain and the ability to use micro-SD memory.

Considering it appears that he has essentially replaced the sprawling motherboard with a brain about the size of an ice cube, and just a tiny bit of interface circuitry, it is safe to say his invention, and it really is more than just an upgrade, will be even more energy efficient than the original. Sure, it won't replace your smartphone, and it won't be as much fun as an iPad, but for reporters and researchers in the field for whom electricity is still a rare commodity, his creation may have modern applications.

If I had a question for him, it would be, "What are you going to do with all the extra space inside the box?". I suppose the sensible answers could be to add an internal AC adapter/charger for it, a feature many would appreciate but which would betray the original design. Storage compartments could be nice.

I can't help thinking that, to the extent it really may be something with unrealized modern applications, admittedly for a minority, This could be more than just an upgrade to a nearly-totally obsolete product. This could be the basis for a modern equivalent, a sort of throwback, super energy efficient computer. Considering how long typewriters hung on, the possibility doesn't seem entirely unrealistic.

Almost forgot to mention, DON'T MISS THE VIDEO posted amongst the comments by a man named Dave Jones. It's somewhat silly but it heralds nearly every original feature of the computer and also explores its insides, something I never had the nerve to do.

Microsoft's latest attempt to attain world, er WORD domination

2014-03-26T05:43:19Z

I wish I were joking. I'm gearing up to post rants about this on other blog sites. I post a lot of political and technical rants on other sites, but few get me as hot under the collar as Microsoft's unethical attempts to coerce people into using their crappy software.

They are now informing people that there is a "bug" in Microsoft Word which could permit hackers to execute malicious code remotely. Their solution? BRACE YOURSELF; They are advising people to DISABLE MS Word's ability to open of files formatted in one of the few popular open source formats available to the poorest peoples of the planet, RTF !!

RTF is used worldwide by Scientists, Researchers and others who need a common file exchange format. In other words, Microsoft has (probably intentionally) engineered an embargo against those without the funds to purchase MS-Word, or knowledge of FREE alternative software such as OpenOffice/LibreOffice.

OpenOffice/LibreOffice is a completely FREE office suite available for Windows Mac, and Linux which permits the user to save their files in MS-Word format. Unfortunately, this suite is not nearly as heavily advertised, as is common with FREE products, and more times than I can remember, people I've known who could barely afford food or veterinary bills have indebted themselves to purchase MS-Word because they believed they needed it for work, when in fact they could have used a lower priced or even free word processor with the ability to save files in that apparently necessary format.

It isn't bad enough that MS-Word refuses to open files saved in OpenOffice/LibreOffice format, but now they have rendered useless the one format that stood between them and world domination. Well played, Microsoft, but maybe too late for you now that ever more people are becoming aware of Linux and the multitudes of quality free software that exists for it. I await the day that our tax dollars are no longer frittered away on MS operating systems and software.

Here's the MS-Bug story:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/advisory/2953095

My Lyme Disease Doctor, Dr Daniel Jaller, and the documentary video featuring him

2013-12-21T11:39:03Z

I've had Lyme Disease for the past 14 years, but only found a doctor who sufficiently understood it to make me significantly better five years ago. Doctor Daniel Jaller of (now) Gaithersburg Maryland has been treating me for the past five years, and I am now in better shape than at any other time since I was infected. I'm posting this in the hopes that others in need of his services will find his practice and get help. Below are several informative links as well as a documentary which my doctor was featured in. Links behind cut

Documentary video
http://www.discoveryuk.com/web/monsters-inside-me/videos/

Dr. Jaller's practice's web page (Since he split off from "Physician's Associates" and started his own practice)
http://www.drjaller.com/

Dr. Jaller's Lyme Blog
http://lymemd.blogspot.com/

Dr. Jaller's Facebook (with more photographs such as microscope images)
https://www.facebook.com/drjaller

Petition to redact or remove denier from Baltimore's airwaves

2013-06-18T22:45:47Z

Attention climate change advocates. One of my relatively local weatherstations is refusing to curtail the anti-science dialogue of one of its more outspoken weathermen. Please sign this petition to have him corrected, or as I suspect will be the final outcome, removed, as he is the victim of some intense cranio-rectal fusion which causes him to believe that global warming STOPPED in the year 1998.

http://act.forecastthefacts.org/sign/wbal_baltimore_ccan/?rd=1&t=3&referring_akid=60.5820.u1A-_M

How to prevent laptop overheating and death without spending ANY money!

2013-06-01T23:46:40Z

I'd shown my friend a no-cost method to clean it a couple or three years ago, but she must have stopped doing it as it just died again and so I'm re-repairing it. I was emailing her these instructions to print out and keep with her laptops to help keep them alive. It then dawned on me to post it here to help others to keep their laptops alive as well. Enjoy!

The dust gets sucked inside the laptop when it is turned on and it must be cleaned regularly to prevent unwanted downtime and repairs. The following is a procedure anyone can perform without tools:

Every 3-4 months, shut down, close and unplug all cables from your laptop.

Pick it up so that the bottom of the laptop faces away from you.

Identify the opening on the side or rear; Wherever the hot air normally comes out.

Place your open mouth against that hot air port, sealing your lips against the plastic.

Forcibly blow air into the laptop as though you are performing that lung capacity test at the doctor's.

Notice the plume of dust which is emitted from the bottom of the laptop as a vortex.

Repeat step five, repeatedly, until no more dust is emitted.

The longer you wait between performing this cleaning, the thicker the plume will be, but the less complete the cleaning will be as accumulated dust can become impacted and unwilling to move. Permitting enough dust to accumulate will increase the chances you laptop may need an expensive repair or even replacement. Canned air does NOT do a better job than my method. Please do this outside if you live with anyone who has allergies, as this dust is really vile.

I have been asked if the moisture in your breath is a problem, such as in cold weather when condensation might form inside the laptop. Condensation only occurs when the laptop is cold, so only perform this on a laptop which is at room temperature. As for doing it in the winter, it is SAFER to use your breath to clean a laptop, than it is to use dry air. Anyone who has ever gotten a static electric shock in winter knows that dry air permits static charges to form, which moist air, such as what you exhale, will prevent. What you may not realize is that dry air can also generate static charges rather like rubbing a balloon on your hair. Moist air will not do that, or at least it will tend to bleed off the charge before it can accumulate. So you see, my method is not only cost effective, it is also better.

In case anyone is wondering, yes I actually do use compressed air in winter to clean larger desktop computers where my breath is inadequate. I mitigate the risks by using a pressure regulator and use lower pressures than I would in summer when the risks are lower.

Sign petition to demand confirmation of EPA head

2013-05-12T11:26:42Z

Please Sign! Obstructionist partisan politics is bad enough without preventing responsible people from taking office.

(I attempted to share this on Facebook, but the Pro-Big-Oil Zuckerberg-site promptly deleted my post)

https://secure3.convio.net/lcv/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=1045&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr004=m8hqjtbmf3.app333b

How medical insurance companies may be inadvertently causing violence

2013-05-09T12:43:34Z

Make no mistake! I LOVE the prescription med listed in this article. It truly saves lives. I merely feel that it is used without sufficient caution, and often most inefficiently as a precaution rather than a treatment for acute symptoms. I may have determined a bizarre reason why there might be quite so many angry violent people cropping up all over right now. To see what I'm talking about you need to perform two Google searches exactly as phrased below, and without quotes.

albuterol and anger

correlation quitting smoking and asthma

Could the efforts in recent years to get people to quit smoking, including increased insurance cost, be ramping up the population percentage with out of control violent rage issues?

I've known enough people who have quit smoking only to develop Asthma and have to begin taking prescription asthma medications, primarily Albuterol for the cessation of acute Asthma symptoms. Their only alternative is to use tobacco which also stops asthma attacks but constitutes "resuming smoking", thus nullifying the claim they ever quit smoking.

Please note that in this study of Albuterol related VIOLENCE the highest listed reason for using Albuterol was SMOKING CESSATION THERAPY, 33.33%. Honestly, I think maybe smoking could have been safer for them, (or perhaps e-cigs which are almost certainly less harmful than actually inhaling actual smoke.)

http://www.ehealthme.com/ds/albuterol/violence-related+symptom

A related question, one especially poignant in recent years with all the mass shootings and other strange behavior we are seeing, is whether the sort of _"Albuterol Rage"_ I'm describing ever leads to conflicts with the law?

One thing is for certain and it isn't news, Albuterol as used to treat asthma CAN cause "sudden death", meaning that quitting smoking can save insurance companies the expense of treating patients who might have remained alive... ugh... Please google:

albuterol sudden death

Back to the anger and violence thing, I have to wonder if maybe gun background checks are going to have to check for Albuterol use?

My review of the Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone

2013-04-25T20:02:11Z

I'm currently using an S3 and it is great. It seems a lot of people who have these phones are oblivious to the features. While driving, for example, this phone has taken voice activation to a whole new level. I can be listening to music played on its built in MP3 player while its GPS is navigating me somewhere. It PAUSES the music to give me instructions from the GPS. If I press the button in Bluetooth headset it beeps and pauses the music so that I can issue it a verbal instruction, "Call Julie" I say, and it dials my sister and does not play music again until the call has ended.

YESTERDAY, I was driving behind a work van and noticed it had a brake light out, so seeing as it had a phone number on the back, I pressed the button on my headset and read aloud, "Dial 703-xxx-xxxx" and it did so! I got the dispatcher and alerted them to the maintenance issue. They thanked me for letting them know. Had I needed to press any buttons on the phone, I'd have declined, but I think I can stick my finger in my ear while driving without losing control. I'm just that coordinated! ;-)

Also yesterday as mentioned in a previous non public post, I mounted the phone on my bike handlebars in a weatherproof case. Not truth be told it did not work very well there, not sure why but I was able to receive and make calls using only the headset at least and even had it play music for a portion of the ride through its internal speaker. It does not seem to wish to send monaural music to the communications headset unfortunately, but there may be a way around that I've not figured out yet.

One shortcoming of running a cell phone on a bike is the power consumption which is why later that night I ordered this device from amazon. It was kind of expensive but I suspect it will pay off in terms of indefinite runtime.

Pot is safer than Cinnamon

2013-04-25T08:35:28Z

Truly some fads are dumber than others. Having been a lifelong Asthma sufferer, I've spent my entire life working on ways to maximize my breathing and perform physically longer without having to stop for asthma. To think of these otherwise healthy people disabling themselves this way. It just makes me sick. It does make me think of one interesting point; At a time when many states are (finally) legalizing Marijuana (which historically has even been used to TREAT asthma), it can safely be said that "The Cinnamon Challenge" is significantly MORE dangerous than smoking pot. More to the point, Pot is safer than Cinnamon. Maybe next year McCormick will list it under Herbs?

I've accepted my first credit card transaction without using PayPal

2013-04-23T08:40:52Z

For about a decade now I've had ever-increasing occasions to receive funds from individuals, usually as simple reimbursements for purchases made on their behalf, most often techno-baubles purchased online which for whatever reason they were apprehensive to purchase themselves. I refer to such mundane things as Memory sticks, USB hubs, RAM, things they have difficulty selecting due to apprehension. Also, I have a lot of friends who do have credit cards but for security reasons choose not to use them for Internet transactions. Sometimes I can persuade such people to trust one or another company for a single transaction but most often it only irritates them and is much more effort than ordering the part myself. Oh and also, I do this at absolutely NO-PROFIT to myself, as a kindness to my friends, and occasionally their friends or relatives.

Most of the time I accept checks, but I admit I'm not fond of depositing checks, and so I try to minimize that. I'm quite fond of receiving payment by means of Paypal, but if people don't warn me up front that they are using a credit card, I actually lose money on the transaction, which is particularly annoying for me as I'm usually not actually making a profit in the first place.

About nine months ago, a friend who runs a small business out of her home showed me a squareup.com device she got for free by mail, hoping she could find a way to use it to receive payment by credit cards. When she explained her need to me, I suggested paypal, but she insisted that wasn't "Professional". I still insist that's nonsense. If Henryshousework.com can take Paypal, so can she, but I digress.

I looked into the device and the service related to it, and realizing there was no apparent risk or expense to me for setting up an account, I did so, even though I was only borrowing her device and I didn't even have a smartphone to use it with. They automatically sent me a new device in the mail for absolutely free, and I eventually returned her device to her, not that either did either of us any good... until recently.

Months passed. I assumed my account was auto deleted by now, but having acquired a smartphone I installed the app, keyed in my password and plugged in the device. Then, using one of my own credit cards, I "paid" myself $2 as a test. A few days later I received a payment minus 6 cents representing its 3% fee. I would have assumed there'd have been a base fee of at least a dollar for the transaction. No, not at all, and it reported that the money went directly into my bank account!

I immediately wrote up a fairly detailed letter to the friend who introduced me to her device, which I had long since returned

It's true, I don't like depositing checks. I'm not sure if I dislike it to the point of sacrificing 3%, but if I can interest anyone wishing to reimburse me and cover the extra added expense, I'm sure to provide it as an option, since the reader is tiny and fits easily in my fanny pack with my smartphone.

I'm posting this here mainly because I know several self employed people who could easily benefit from such a device, and now that I've made it sound so safe, easy and fast, some of you may actually wish to examine this device. I understand that it totally works with android smartphones like mine and iphones. I've heard it also worse with both iPods and iPads. This might suggest it will work with android tablets, but my efforts to make it work with my Android tablet were fruitless because I could not persuade the app to install. I tried again just now and my browser would not so much as connect to the site, insisting that the security certificate was not from a trusted authority.

Oh wait, I was able to refine my search for a way to get to the correct page on the site, then it said it had to install by means of the Google Play store, and took me to the correct page, so I pressed install. The last time it did that I assumed something different, but now I realize that just means my gmail password. I entered that and I was into the store, where, to be fair, I think I may have registered a credit card since I've had the phone, so maybe that's why I got in this time. After I did that, the app I tried to install automatically installed for me... but then it wasn't there when I thought it had installed... so maybe it does not work with android tablets. I will probably try again when I am less sleepy. It just dawned on me, there may be an entirely legit reason they might only want these working with phones and not simply wifi tablets. It could be the purpose is to cut down on credit card fraud. If you can only do it from a smartphone, then if there is fraud, the authorities at least know whom to contact.

Most Republicans who are so laughably wrong stick to fewer subjects

2013-04-23T05:58:11Z

I just heard about Republican Senator Stacey Campfield, and I just can't get enough of him! He's a non-stop laugh riot. The things he says are so comical that there's almost no room left for satire. Where shall I begin? He explains where AIDS really came from! He has a solution to welfare kids with failing grades (cut them off). And he compared Pressure Cookers to Assault Weapons (granted I did that too, but I'm not a politician).

Stephen Colbert summarizes most of these bizarre views in a single segment behind this link:
http://aattp.org/watch-colbert-destroy-homophobic-tennessee-senator-stacey-campfield-video/

In a recent piece, Mr. Campfield compares a pressure cooker to an assault weapon:
http://aattp.org/teapublican-sen-stacy-campfield-cracks-joke-about-pressure-cooker-bomb-days-after-boston-attack/

Mr Campfield is featured in a video here in which he's forced to explain to an 8 year old welfare child that she's only guaranteed a good education if she has a quality parent. Thankfully this dog and pony show was all it took to persuade him to drop that particular campaign, which just goes to show he doesn't put any serious thought into the things he says:
http://aattp.org/8-year-old-shames-teapublican-into-dropping-welfare-bill-video/

Whoops ERROR!
Yesterday I posted the following about the human genome and homosexuality, falsely attributing it to Mr. Campfield, but today I realized it was a different politician entirely. I became confused while looking up all the crazy stuff Stacey Campfield said. Like I said. Oops. Isn't it convenient that Livejournal permits me to edit these errors!

In this article a direct quote from ~~Mr. Campfield~~ reveals that he is either willing to lie or he's wildly misinformed that the entire Human Genome is entirely understood and that it has been in some way proven that people are never gay by birth. In his defense I suppose it is possible he thinks that having a map means knowing where everything is. In this same quote he also redefines Homosexuality as Sex Addict.
http://aattp.org/teapublican-homophobic-bigot-gay-marriage-its-an-unhealthy-sexual-addiction-video/

Please read this opinion piece regarding 2nd ammendment & recent Boston occurrences

2013-04-21T21:52:37Z

Please read this passionately written opinion piece. I agree with not less than most of it.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/113630612440279083293/posts/YQy2rE5JVur

I need to figure out how to project these 3d images on trees

2013-04-20T22:36:54Z

There are still some pretty nice trees near me, and I can just imagine how great this would look at the one on the corner.

http://imgur.com/gallery/3okOb

Please sign this petition too exposing the 138 Republicans who voted against VAWA

2013-03-01T18:32:52Z

It is time to kick some ass and take some names (and associated states). Let's try to make sure these Republicans are not re-elected in the Midterms. Sign the petition here!

Many who don't pay enough attention to politics assume that when a bill which protects the rights of women or minorities actually passes the house that this somehow means that Republican politicians are not all bad. No. What it means is that not all Republican politicians are bad.

Look at their reasoning. According to this Mother Jones article, their objections were purportedly not that they want women to be victims of violence, but that they objected to provisions of the law that caused to apply equally to to non-American women, gays and trans women. Can you say "Gay bashing at the highest levels"? Sure you can! What is it about these politicians that makes them so hateful that they essentially want to legalize gay-bashing by omission?

But it isn't just gay women they disrespect. We lost the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act for example. As that link shows, it actually passed the house in 2009, when Non-Republicans had a majority in The House, and failed in the Senate. Since then we won a majority in the senate but lost the majority in the house. As a result the bill has been unable to win in both and women are still being paid less than men, on average, nationwide and without recourse, which is ironic because health care for women tends to be more expensive even for those who don't get pregnant. In a sensible world women would be paid more than men.

What this tells us is that on the whole Republicans cannot be convinced that Women deserve equal pay for equal work but some Republicans can be persuaded that women do not deserve to be victims of domestic violence. This tells us that, on Average, Republican politicians regard the rights of women to be similar to the rights if slaves before slavery was abolished.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/house_vawa_victory/?rc=fb_share1&r_by=55463-3322567-1_72Tfx

Raspberry Pi: What it is and what components I've used with mine

2013-01-20T12:05:17Z

This Wikipedia link (click image below) gives you some insight into the history, intent, stated purpose and a consumer's perspective of the Raspberry Pi. Behind this cut I have listed several links of options for purchase and accessories for the pi with the focus primarily on what I decided to purchase or plug into it, all with currently active links to purchase any and all should you choose.

Despite the naked appearance of the bare board, the connections are easy. The case, be it plastic or metal, is really only to protect the board. You cannot get an electric shock, as the entire board runs off of 5volt USB power. (examine the link below to see a diagram of all ports)

This company has lots of fun cases and accessories (click on image below)

I bought fully assembled and operational Pi from MCM at one of the best prices around, $35 plus S&H: (click on image below)

With this very basic $9 case (click on image below)

Everything else came from Amazon, whether I'd purchased it previously for another purpose or purchased it expressly for the Pi: (Items purchased with other systems in mind marked with asterisk)

This $10 hot pink 2amp USB power supply (click on image below)

*This name brand Samsung $3 micro USB power cord (click on image below)

*This tiny $9 Wifi adapter (click on image below)

*This wireless keyboard with built in trackpad (click on image below)
(also good with other pcs of course. Also this one features two finger functions which not all trackpads have!)

And this 32gb 95mb/sec (overkill) SD card, (click on image below)
(but you can use one a lot slower and as small as 4gb)

The speed of the SD card is far more important to the performance than the size. Most Linux software is pretty compact in terms of how much storage space you need for it. The odds are you have an old 4gb SD card you aren't using which you could use to get started if you don't want to invest that much, but it could give you the false impression the computer itself is slow when the actual slowness is in the card. Also you'll probably have to install the OS twice as I did, and each time you do it with your laptop or desktop onto the card, it will go much faster if the card itself is faster. With this card it boots way faster than most laptops or comparable to my netbook running Linux.

The OS I installed on my SD is Raspbian "Wheezy". To get it, you go to a site which supports the Raspberry and then you download the ".img" file. Installing it on the SD card is not as straightforward as merely copying it. You have to install a utility to do so, and which one you use depends on the OS you are using. I am using Ubuntu Linux so I used, "imagewriter", but there is another one recommended for windows. All the software you need is on the support site which I am linking to here.

This link contains yet more information about installing the OS on the card if you need more guidance:
http://elinux.org/RPi_Easy_SD_Card_Setup

That said, I've noticed that the software that came with its Raspbian OS seems more rudimentary than the software I used under Ubuntu Linux. It would be unfortunate if the popularity of the Pi were to give mainstream users the false impression that Linux is inherently a crude OS which only runs crude software.

Also, about the power source, I'm actually using a portable USB battery as the power supply just out of curiosity to see what sort of runtime I can get out of it. I bought the battery for $20 from buy.com and it contains a built in ac adapter. I'm not listing it because you should be able to find something similar and even if I listed exactly what I bought, you'd never be able to beat the Buy.com price.

First booting the Pi:
The first time you boot your Pi you will get a menu offering you several options including but not limited to Changing your password, giving you the opportunity to turn off over-clocking, and whether to default to the GUI interface (strongly recommended). If you choose to update off the web but as the wifi won't be working yet (probably) you'll need to be connected by an ethernet cable. A copy of the menu is directly below:

After you have configured the Pi, you need to reboot. You will be greeted with a functional but not very pretty GUI desktop which reminds me just a bit of Windows 3.0 and maybe a bit like the Gnome Desktop. What I chose to do to make it more pleasant was to open terminal from the terminal on the desktop and enter the following commands

sudo apt-get update (press enter). this will update the OS if you have not done so already.

sudo apt-get install synaptic (press enter). this installs a graphical desktop program which makes it possible to install other programs such as, but not limited to Google Chrome Browser.

Using Synaptic I installed a gnome desktop along with some Mac OS X desktop features and Google Chrome

Then I changed the wallpaper by Googling for wallpaper I liked and then installed it using the desktop preferences.

Synaptic can be opened at any time opening terminal and typing:
sudo synaptic (press enter)

Under the new desktop, synaptic can be opening by opening applications, system tools, Administration, Synaptic Package manager.

At this point, the look and feel of the desktop appearance, feels like something I can work with.

"Land of the Lost"; The motion picture

2012-12-03T15:05:51Z

Last night I got to watch the movie for the first time and though I was very amused with how they parodied the low budget, but not entirely bad TV series, I was very distressed whenever the hologram of a Sleestak spoke. I knew the voice but could not place it. After watching, I googled to find out who it was. It was Leonard Nimoy. I think I would have enjoyed the film far more if I had known that before seeing the film.

Please help me decide who is better to compare Mitt Romney to?

2012-07-17T16:27:46Z

I've produced a poll and all you have to do is vote. For some back-story I'm linking to this article citing a coincidental comparison between Mitt Romney and the latest arch-villain in the Batman Saga.

View Poll: Romney Villain Comparison