Loot - WARNING Intense Geek-Speak

What I got myself for Christmas thrilled me to no end.

I got a third monitor for my desktop computer.

This did, of course, necessitate cleaning and rearranging the desk so it would all fit. That chore took about 1/2 hour. I now have a pair of 22 inch flat panel wide screen monitors sandwiching a 19 inch CRT in the center. I did have to angle the outside panels slightly inward to fit on the desk as it is of modest size because it was not paid for with taxpayer funds. After getting the hardware all configured I hit the net searching for a very particular screen saver and after about 20 minutes of trying everything, I finally found the one I was looking for that would support multiple monitors. If you saw The Matrix you will recall the the bank of monitors on the bridge of the ship that showed the vertically falling streams of green characters and glyphs that represented the interaction of characters within The Matrix. I found a screen saver that does exactly that on my new three monitor desktop. It was most satisfying to see the falling green characters on all three monitors.

If any of you are in the market for something a touch nicer for you computer, I recommend the Envision G218a1 22 inch wide screen which is in stock at Best Buy for $209. It has DVI and VGA inputs, has built in speakers, and does an incredible 1680 x 1250 resolution. It comes with all the cables. The speakers are a little tinny by themselves, but on my system they perform well as the front speakers in a Dolby 5.1 setup.

It plays games VERY well, but before playing some games it is best to tell windows NOT to stretch the desktop onto the other monitors. You will know which games after the first time you drag the mouse to scroll the playing field and the mouse moves to another screen, instead of panning the play area. It is most annoying to have your game swap out because you panned off the screen and clicked on a different monitor.

This setup allows me to keep a ton of stuff open on the desktop at the same time for comparison and editing. The next steps for my machine include bumping the RAM up to about 6~8 gigs and upgrading the Windows Vista to the 64 bit version. The 32 bit versions of operating systems will only support 4 gigs of ram. The system already is set up to dual boot Vista or a 64 bit Linux release and it has 750 gigs of hard drive space installed.

I also finished building a Linux gateway/server machine to replace the tired old HP Brio Pentium that has been performing that function for a couple of years. The new system has a RAID 5 array of six SCSI drives in a hot-swap configuration with 5 active and one online spare. Getting it to boot from the RAID array was a pain in the butt, but that is what I get for laying Logical Volume Management on top of a RAID array. All this 'geek speak' means that if a hard drive fails, the system keeps running without losing any data and the spare kicks in to replace the failed drive. The missing redundancy is rebuilt on the spare drive and I could still lose another drive without the system crashing. As long as I don't lose two drives within 20 minutes, I will be just fine. I know it is a bit over the top, but that is just so me. To this system, I will add a couple of CD-ROM towers that were kicking around that will put 12 CD drives online. I found some really cool SCSI to IDE adapters that will let me replace the CD drives with cheap IDE DVD writers as finances permit.

I also have some excellent quality SCSI scanners that I will add to this system which will give me a commercial printing shop quality input system for photo editing and desktop publishing. I already have some quite good printers for high quality, high output printing.

At this point, all I am lacking is an 'E' size plotter or two. If anyone has any they wish to donate, I will put them to good use. Calcomp or HP would be preferred, because I can repair those.

This is the last post before the New Year as I am going on a short vacation.
So Happy Holidays to everyone and I will be back to clobber the incompetent powers-that-be shortly.

"Of course I know. It is my business to know" -The Merovingian

One week till done date

I am sure by now they have all the data they need. Lord knows they spent enough money on it. Now that it is all done and all the money is gone, I am really curious how their findings will affect the estimated price tag for the yet-to-be-built Golden Palace, on the wrong side of the ship channel. Did the pilot project meet its production goals? What were its real operating costs? Did the 1/2 million in hardware installed justify the over $2 million spent on this "mini-pig" after the last bill was paid?

Did anyone think I forgot or was distracted? Not likely.

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"Of course I know. It is my business to know."-The Merovingian

Well, what is the excuse this time?

Dates and times can be your friends. They can also hang around your neck like the proverbial albatross. Observe:

grand jury investigating BND
BY EMMA PEREZ-TREVIÑO AND JOSE BORJON/The Brownsville Herald
May 2, 2007 - 9:48PM

The New Era was docked at the Port of Brownsville and was in the process of unloading its cargo of petroleum coke. The cargo was transported from Japan and is destined for Mexico.

The criminal inquiry into millions of dollars spent on the failed Brownsville Navigation District international bridge project is now in the hands of a special grand jury, District Attorney Armando Villalobos confirmed Wednesday. Villalobos said that District Judge Benjamin Euresti convened the special grand jury earlier in the day. “It’s our intention to have an answer within this grand jury term,” Villalobos further said.

The tools that a grand jury brings to an inquiry are unique. It has the power of subpoena and to compel witnesses to testify before it under oath with the exception of compelling suspects who could invoke the Fifth Amendment.

The special grand jury, whose term is for six months, will not be reviewing any other case other than possible wrongdoing involving BND’s project so as not to “lose focus” and to have ample time to conduct its review, the district attorney said.

OK, more than six months has passed. And......? What happened? Someone? Anyone?

"Of course I know. It is my business to know."-The Merovingian

Is Each and Every Pundit Stupid?

While the Clinton balsa wood juggernaut is still taking fatal hits delivered by feather pillow from the Obama camp and the Republicans are busy not delivering any message, other than, "I can beat Hilary!", a thought occurred to me:

What would happen if Rudy Giuliani were to nicely ask Joe Lieberman if he would serve as Vice President?

This would be the most middle of the road ticket possible today, a liberal Republican and a conservative Democrat.

I know that it violates all the popular rules for choosing a VP to balance the ticket, both ideologically and regionally, but regionalism is not what it used to be and the American people seem to be sick to death of both parties lip service to ideology. The further debates would be deliciously disturbed. The demos would look like they washed down a jar of jalapenos with a gallon of Turbo-Lax. The other guys would be stammering about the end of civilization as we know it. The entire east coast would be marked as Republican backers, and wouldn't that drive George Soros nuts! The pair would have to do zero campaigning, all the talking-heads on TV and in print would do it for them. Rudy G. could answer every debate question with, "I will nominate Joe Lieberman for Vice President." and quit ending every sentence with "9-11"

I know that Lieberman came out and endorsed John McCain, but is McCain out saying that he will ask Lieberman to be the VP? I don't think so. Would Lieberman do it? For the chance to be President Pro-Tem of the Senate, you bet 'cha. His party tried to trash him out of his Senate seat for being too hawkish and not "Moving on" with the rest of the party. His party left him.

Could Rudy work with Joe? Of course!

Would America vote for this duo? The answer is: Hillary who?


"Of course I know. It is my business to know." -The Merovingian

Award Reminder

The closing date for nominations is fast approaching for the Leaky Bucket Award.

When nominations close, I will post a poll for voting. There are a few of the "usual suspects" that I haven't seen nominated. It would be a terrible shame for their efforts to go unnoticed.

Turning Back the Clock

The other day a friend of mine was over for coffee and a morning chat. As we are both students of The Great Experiment, the conversation took its turn to current political events, most notably The Border Wall. We agree that the Constitution was one of the finest works of expressed human freedom to date, but our talk turned back the clock a bit to the document that made the Constitution possible, the Declaration of Independence.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

If the Federal Government were equally gung-ho about security at every border and port of entry, it would be understandable and consistent with national security. It is self-evident that this is not the case. If it is the will of the US government to stem the flow of Mexicans into the US, then just say so. America was not founded on the petty niceties of arbitrary statutes, but on the free and open observations and commentary on the way things are.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

People of all times and places have been jealous of their culture and heritage. History is replete with nations and states trying to keep out the ‘barbarian hordes’. In the past, however, there wasn’t the degree of political correctness demagoguery that we suffer from today.

When justification for a border wall hinges on blatant stupidities such as “needed for ecological protection”, I will have to join others in raising my right index finger and crying, “Bullshit!” It is what our founders would have done were they here today.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

When it comes down to it, most Mexicans would rather be in Mexico. Many do stay there in spite of the attraction of the US economy. A solution that has been offered is heavy investment in Mexico in order to make its economy as robust as that of the United States. This would work, if the whole plan wasn’t under the shadow of thievery or the threat of nationalizing the assets created. People leaving to look for work in the north is a safety valve on unemployment and social unrest

Looking at it from this point of view shows that the US does not have an immigration problem, but that Mexico has an emigration problem. The government of Mexico doesn’t see this as a problem at all. Social and governmental services are not being utilized by these emigrants and remittance payments flow back into the Mexican economy. If all those emigrants were to return home, that would cause a huge problem for the Mexican economy, not to mention the social unrest caused by the lack of decent jobs and government corruption. The truth of the matter is that the country of Mexico cannot take all these people back, and they know it. We can expect no help at all from the Mexican government on this issue.

Do all these foreign people working here hold down wages? Of course they do! Arguments to the contrary are totally disingenuous if not outright lies.

Can our political parties do anything to make the situation better for US citizens? The sad answer is no. Each party is internally conflicted to the point of standstill.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

The Democrats historically look for votes from the wage earning working class, so all these immigrants should be a shoe in for citizenship and vote with the ‘party of the people’. The major conflict with the Democrats is that the Mexican people have NOTHING in common with the anti-family, anti-god, and pro-abortion platforms of the party. The party conflict with their existing base is that all this immigration is holding down wages, so they will lose their base of support among unions is they support citizenship.

The Republicans internal conflict is that the abundance of low paid workers increase profitability and robust economic growth at the cost of more government expenditures on education and social services. The flip side is a national security issue with lax border enforcement.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

If each party cannot get its act together, how in the world could anyone expect them to get together on a policy and vision that would be the best for the country?

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

Now, we have a Department of Homeland Security. What is their major contribution to making us more secure? A half-hearted attempt to stop the flow of Mexicans into the US. Well, there are also all the unfunded mandates thrust onto business, but that is another topic.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

DHS has been holding a series of ‘public education’ meetings where the purpose is nebulous and the public statements hold no guarantee of effect on the planning or policy.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

States that attempt to deal with the problems caused by illegal immigration face totally conflicted opinion from the court system and all the Federal agencies. States that years ago wanted to build a fence were prohibited from doing so and now it is being mandated.
of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Something needs to be done about real security in the US. Starting with kicking out every foreigner who overstayed a visa would be a good start. A legitimate way for Mexicans who want to work here needs to be taken care of post haste.

“Of course I know. It is my business to know.” -The Merovingian

Frijolero

Villalobos Billboard Accidentally Unveiled

BROWNSVILLE,TX- In what was surely a wind caused accident, a brand new billboard featuring “ReElect Armando Villalobos” was accidentally unveiled on Old Port Isabel Road, across the street from Treviño Funeral Home. Witness’ agreed that it must have been a accident, because no sitting elected official would blatantly violate a city ordinance that was addressed recently, especially the County prosecutor. An alternative theory was offered by a Hanna student walking home after school that it may have been done, “by some really expert taggers” who have been deprived of workspace since most of the through-town train traffic has been diverted over the past few years. Local conspiracy theorists blame the Zavaletta campaign. “I know it is Peter’s people putting all those Villalobos signs up everywhere. It is a brilliant move to make it look bad for the DA. It doesn’t affect me one way or the other, ‘cause I got my foil hat on.”, volunteered a local street figure while pushing a cart recently liberated from Wal-Mart. Efforts to locate the covering for the billboard were unproductive and the idea that it may have been deposited miles away by a highly localized sheer wind were provided by the local National Weather Service. “These things are unpredictable and are most common around election time. Most often the effects are seen in the clean removal of all campaign yard signs in a neighborhood a couple of weeks before an election.”, they further added.

“Of course I know. It is my business to know.” -The Merovingian