30 Jul 2010
How grep got it's name

I didn't know that!

It all starts back with 'ed', the original unix editor. ed was a command-line editor that worked identically to the colon-commands in vi and vim - in fact, you can press Q to get into ed mode (then type vi to get back into vim).

(link) [Giant Robots]

17:22 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

An American Stasi?

Not only are these things obnoxious violations of our rights, they're positively cheap on the employees, too.

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reported on July 25 that “there are 72 fusion centers around the nation, analyzing and disseminating data and information of all kinds. That is one for every state and others for large urban cities.” What is a fusion center?

(link) [The Freeman]

17:19 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

26 Jul 2010
Raw food raid raises questions

Yes.

Do you have the right to eat anything you want?

(link) [Los Angles Times]

22:44 /Agriculture | 2 comments | permanent link

25 Jul 2010
America's god is dying

Very thought provoking article, covering much more than simple religious predilections.

America is the first great experiment in Protestant social formation. Protestantism in Europe always assumed and depended on the cultural habits that had been created by Catholic Christianity. America is the first place Protestantism did not have to define itself over against a previous Catholic culture. So America is the exemplification of constructive Protestant social thought.

(link) [Australian Broadcasting Corporation]

11:39 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

24 Jul 2010
The Revamped Hen House

New Henhouse Roof
A new roof and a new coat of paint, too!

16:19 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

22 Jul 2010
New Hen House Roof

Took a vacation day today and installed a new hen house roof. The existing roof was over 50 years old as far as we could tell, and was starting to seep pretty badly. It needed done.

I used Ondura panels - and am very pleased with the result. They went right on over the old roof, even though it was slightly out of square and badly worn. And it only took me about 8 hours and less than $200 for materials - no tools needed other than a circular saw, chalk line, tape, knife and hammer. Easy as could be.

20:55 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

20 Jul 2010
US Senate clears hurdle to extend jobless help

Let's see if I understand this - the Democrats want to pass out money they don't have to the unemployed, saying it'll help keep'em on their feet and make them want to work. The Republicans say that if we keep giving them (the unemployed) any money, they won't want to work at all.

Until we talk about tax cuts - giving money they don't have to the wealthy among us will make them (the wealthy) want to work even harder. And the Democrats are saying that we should tax the shit out of the well-to-do because then they'll want to work harder to make up the difference.

What am I missing here?

The US Senate voted Tuesday to advance legislation restoring unemployment benefits to help some 2.5 million Americans ahead of November mid-term elections shaped by deep voter anger at high joblessness.

(link) [AFP]

20:26 /Politics | 4 comments | permanent link

18 Jul 2010
Insurers Push Plans That Limit Choice of Doctor

And I'm sure the Republicans will paint this as Obama's "fault", while simultaneously praising the "free market" for bringing more "choice" in health plans ...

I guess Ralph Waldo Emerson was right, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

As the Obama administration begins to enact the new national health care law, the country’s biggest insurers are promoting affordable plans with reduced premiums that require participants to use a narrower selection of doctors or hospitals.

(link) [New York Times]

21:43 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

17 Jul 2010
Insane Weather

Right now, the outside air temperature is 94°F. The humidity is 65%. That puts the heat index at 114°F.

Even though there's tons of stuff we need to do, there's no working outside in this weather. Not unless we want to roast ourselves.

17:16 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

15 Jul 2010
Report: Teens Using Digital Drugs to Get High

Never heard of this, but I've dealt with some software that got my blood pressure pretty high...

Kids around the country are getting high on the internet, thanks to MP3s that induce a state of ecstasy. And it could be a gateway drug leading teens to real-world narcotics.

(link) [Wired: ThreatLevel]

06:57 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

14 Jul 2010
How Microbes Defend and Define Us

What a concept! Working with Nature instead of against her...

Scientists are regularly blown away by the complexity, power, and sheer number of microbes that live in our bodies. “We have over 10 times more microbes than human cells in our bodies,” said George Weinstock of Washington University in St. Louis. But the microbiome, as it’s known, remains mostly a mystery. “It’s as if we have these other organs, and yet these are parts of our bodies we know nothing about.”

(link) [New York Times]

via Letter from Hardscrabble Creek

06:41 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

11 Jul 2010
Organic Eggs: More Expensive, but No Healthier

Leaving aside the fact that this was a USDA survey that's cited, probably paid for by the egg "industry", this article completely misses the real reason people buy these kinds of eggs.

They taste better.

This year, like every year, has been a busy one for America's chickens. What the birds lack in smarts they make up for in work ethic, laying about 78 billion eggs annually (or 6.5 billion dozen), supplying a $7 billion industry. GM should be doing so well.

(link) [Time]

22:00 /Agriculture | 1 comment | permanent link

10 Jul 2010
Dave and Surprises

Dave and the Shetland Surprise lambs, July 2010

13:10 /Home | 1 comment | permanent link

How to Make an American Job Before It's Too Late: Andy Grove

Written by a giant of tech who not only lived through history, but who remembers it.

Recently an acquaintance at the next table in a Palo Alto, California, restaurant introduced me to his companions: three young venture capitalists from China. They explained, with visible excitement, that they were touring promising companies in Silicon Valley. I’ve lived in the Valley a long time, and usually when I see how the region has become such a draw for global investments, I feel a little proud.

(link) [Bloomberg]

via Marco's Tech World

08:14 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

09 Jul 2010
9th Circuit Declares Actual Innocence Irrelevant

Simply unbelievable.

In one of the most appalling court rulings imaginable, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that the fact that a convicted criminal can now be proven to be innocent does not matter if he filed an appeal in 16 months rather than the 12 months allowed by the statute of limitations. Actual innocence simply does not matter, only technicalities do.

(link) [Dispatches from the Culture Wars]

Update: Simple Justice nails this one:

The public will view this decision, one that demonstrates that innocence comes in a distant second to some grocery clerk's rule, as affirmative proof that the courts are just a part of an omnipotent machine designed to subjugate the public. It's an overwrought characterization, but it's about public perception. Nuanced explanations don't work well with citizens marching with torches and pitchforks. They've usually got their mind made up already.

06:28 /Politics | 1 comment | permanent link