Zombie Computers to be blocked

Not too long after saying that they couldn't block people's computers, the major ISP's are now saying (link above) that they would be willing to block or limit internet access to computers which were infected with programs that turned them into zombies, attacking other computers or sending large volumes of spam. It's about time.

I've decided not to vote for your re-election

An open letter to President Bush and Vice-President Cheney:


Dear Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney,

I have considered myself a moderate republican (abortion is wrong, guns are wrong, taxes are wrong) all my life, but I've decided not to vote for your team for re-election.

The thing that decided it for me was the way Vice-President Cheney responded in regards to his use of the f-word in his exchange with Senator Leahey. I know that we hold people like our president and vice-president to incredibly (impossibly?) high standards, but c'mon... I expected a more apologetic tone, some kind of recognition that the use of the f-word was at least, a mistake, a slip-up, or more realistically, inappropriate and disrespectful, tacky, crude and unbecoming of the office of Vice President of The United States of America.

I don't know if I'll vote for Nader, or simply just not vote, but the handling of the matter has cost you my vote for re-election.

James Lamb, age 30
Los Angeles, California

Electricity in China

This is a very cool article (link in title) about how life is changing for Chinese citizens living in the most remote areas as electricity is introduced to their communities. TV and lights become the most common use and as they see what's out there, it inspires and discourages. In their own isolation, they were rich.

WindowsSKN

Microsoft has patented a method of communicating between devices using skin. It's not quite as gross as it sounds, but it's still pretty bizarre... Basically, they suggest that you might wear a number of devices in the future, like a computer on your hip and a watch on your wrist. Maybe an amulet around your neck. In any case, if those devices could communicate with one another, then they wouldn't all need their own transmitters to connect to a wireless network, or they wouldn't all need their own individual speakers. The information would flow from device to device on the surface of your skin, undetectectable to you. But it gets weirder... their patent specifically states that it's not limited to humans. So eventually I guess you could send your dog out for a walk on its own and track its movements by GPS?

Boo, Arnold

The governator proposes reducing waiting limit for killing animals in shelters from 6 days to 3. Except for birds, hamsters, potbellied pigs, rabbits, snakes and turtles, it would be ok to just kill 'em as they came in the door. Boo.

Airborne Border Patrol

The border patrol has begun using unmanned planes to patrol the border over Arizona where 330,000 people have been apprehended trying to cross since October. (link is in title)

I know boats, too.

Here I am, James Lamb the Yachtmaster.

Lift-Off

It's surprising that I would be late with this, considering... but Space Ship One has now earned its name. Yay!

Electric Port

The Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have begun plugging in container ships so that they can run their electrical systems while in port without running their smog-producing engines. (like above) Pretty cool, I just hope that it's not something they do for awhile and then stop doing, like, oh, say when we have our next electricity shortage.

Free Money from Africa

This is a funny website of people who pester and otherwise harrass or humiliate people who are trying to rip off people. Link is above.

Curse You, Reginalda Montoya

And curse you, unknown Armenians. And curse you, James and Delores Weaver, even though you're dead. None of you bothered to have a "trap" installed on the sewer line when you owned the house.

So, at 1:30 am I'm in the car looking for an open grocery store (Ralphs in Arcadia) and then the next day charging $1,275 on the credit card to have a trap installed and all the roots bored out of our pipes so that we can use our bathroom again.

And we must have the most dumbass neighbors on the planet. The other night someone was having a party, the loudest we had ever heard, by far. We called the sheriff, they came out, but the music went right back up when they left. We waited an hour and called again. They said they'd come back out, but they didn't, so then we called a third time and was told that there was a bad car accident and a suicide, so they were tied up. Couldn't the paramedics handle the car crash and the coroner the suicide? I mean, c'mon. So Lori's mom went door to door to houses in the neighborhood asking them if the music bothered them. And apparently it didn't bother any of them. What kind of [bleepedybleep bleep bleeps] do we have in this neighborhood? My guess is that they want to reserve the right to later have excessively loud parties.

The good news was that Rachel slept through it all, even when we were out on our front porch.

I miss renting.

God's Still Up There

On flag day and the 50th. anniversary of the inclusion of "Under God" into the flag salute, I have to laugh at the interesting way that the Supreme Court got out of having to make any decision on the case. They said the guy bringing the case before the court had no right to sue because he doesn't have legal custody over his daughter, who he said was being forced to have religion forced upon her every time she said the Pledge of Allegiance. Ok, that sounds bizarre today, "Pledge of Allegiance..." Pledging allegiance to a piece of cloth. Yeah, yeah, I know. Anyhow, nevermind the fact that his daughter is a Christian. This is a guy with too much time on his hands trying to bitterly strike back at his Christian ex-wife who has majority custody of his daughter and sounds like a much more stable person. Someone needs to hold a prayer vigil outside this guy's house or something.

FANTASTIC!

Is that what I sound like? You know, for a digitized file phoned in via my cell phone, that sounds pretty darn good. But what's up with me pausing after every three words? I hope I don't do that quite so much in real life.

Phoning It In...

Painfully Geeky

While I've never considered "Star Trek" to be all that, I will admit to having seen probably every single episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", the one with Patrick Stewart at the helm. (Now that "Saved by The Bell" had "Saved by The Bell: The Next Class", the ST:NG name even becomes painfully more geeky.)

Anyhow, last night I stayed up late watching "Star Trek: Nemesis" which I had TIVO'd a few weeks ago. The movie was really awful and I don't understand why these keep getting made so poorly.

They need to let some new blood onto the writing staff and take the same advice people are giving Lucas... alliances and senates and garbage like that are boring.

I am finally officially completely over Star Trek. The only redeeming things were when Picard leaves the bridge and tells the newly married Will Riker "You have the bridge, Mr. Troi" and you hear crew members chuckling, a la L.A. Story's "I live in the valley." line where the valets all laugh and a nod to history with the "Evasive Manuever Kirk Episolon!" Of course, I could never watch the original Star Trek with its technicolor sets and painful sound effects and horrid acting and writing.

I hope that I'm outgrowing that bit of geekiness. Though no doubt friends and family can quickly point to new areas of extreme geekiness or nerddom. It may just be my density.

Sprint PCS sucks in Denver

(epinions.com)

This moment in advertising stupidity brought to you by...

From a commercial on TV...

Voiceover: "Get 2 free downloads with every specially marked package of Heineken. No purchase necessary."

Ok, I'm sure it must be explained better on their website but that's some pretty incredibly stupid wording. Because it seems to suggest that it's ok to open the packages in the store to get the codes out.

On the other hand, Mitsubishi has another commercial on TV where a Mitsubishi and some other car compete in a 70-to-0 braking test at the edge of an unfinished bridge. You have to go to http://www.seewhathappens.com see the whole thing. Not as groundbreaking as the Superbowl ad, but still pretty cool. I hope they do more.

Ronald Reagan, 2/6/11-6/5/04

Our 40th. President Ronald Reagan died today. CNN International

No More Sig

The guy who invented the Sigalert died today. In tribute, I am proposing no SigAlerts all next week. Instead, anything that would normally cause a lane closure should be pushed to the shoulder and then down an embankment so as to prevent lane closures.

This potato chip brought to you by...

Pringles announces technology that lets them print directly on the potato chip.

As long as they don't start talking to me or playing videos. (moneycentral.msn.com)

Sprint PCS sucks in Lexington/Louisville

(epinions.com)

Sprint PCS sucks in Dallas/Ft. Worth

(epinions.com)

Jim Joseph Palmateer (10/22/52 - 5/30/04)

I just learned that my uncle (my mom's brother) passed away last night.

He was born with a hole in his heart and was mentally retarded and the doctors estimated that he would probably on live about three years.

But he lived much longer, holding jobs, dating, going on amazing vacation trips designed for people with handicaps to far-off locations I'll never probably never get to see. And he had lots of love. Love from Jesus and love from his family.

But recently, the world he lived in became a scary place he was unable to deal with. My family feared the worst and he was moved to a hospice where he could get more direct care. This, too, may have contributed to his fear and disorientation.

But last night, his word stopped being a scary place when Jesus welcomed him home, with my grandfather who went ahead of him a few years ago no doubt standing right beside Him.

Please remember my family in prayer as we celebrate Uncle Jim's life. He was 51.