A year to remember or a year to forget?

The image is a good friend of mine cranking some Austin limestone a few years ago (Forget it guys, she’s happily married). It’s good to remember, as the year draws to a close, what a person can do and the kind of things I used to do, casually, without thinking much about it. Climbing, skydiving, partying hard afterward, or less eye-catching but equally risky activity, you name it, it all seemed a matter of course. Spare me the jokes about jumping out of perfectly good planes — jump planes are a far cry from perfectly good!

But it was exactly one year ago when I felt a new, weird sensation in my upper gut, for a few moments it was almost like I got my wind knocked out. A lingering burning feeling just below the sternum persisted, it was initially diagnosed as an ulcer, then a torn diaphragm. It wasn’t. [Read more…]

The system that FTB built

How_to_setup_dual_monitors_two_monitorsOn the project, a decent desktop PC running two monitors built from donated parts, a reg here was kind enough to send me his old Lenovo laptop, which drastically lowered my desperate need for a new system, any system, real soon. I was limping along on old, failing, slow as shit devices. This donated laptop is fast and clean. On the FTB system being built, I have an AMD Athlon II X2 processor, a Biostar A880GZ motherboard, a Dynex power supply that meets the requirements as listed on power supply calculator, a Radeon 5870 HD graphics card, and an a Hitachi hard drive. Plus I have monitors and stuff.

I need DDR3 RAM and an optical drive, and a case. I’ll probably buy the case locally. And I can swing the rest, too, the laptop really bought me the luxury of time. But if anyone has some RAM or optics laying around, and wants to give them away, lemme know. l

Slaughter in the name of Allah

The demise of Ice-Age megafauna at the end of the last Ice-Age coincides with the geologically recent warming trend that put the finishing touches on the familiar coastlines and climate we enjoy today. But another contributing factor to some large animals going the way of the Do-do is called Overkill. The idea is that anatomically modern humans expanded across the globe rapidly beginning about 50,000 years ago, thanks in part to developing technology so effective that even one or two hunters could reliably bring down any animal no matter how huge and aggressive it was. But there were a few species that made it through the bottleneck, including some of the most spectacular. Like rhinos and elephants.

Sadly, we all know they now face a new threat from their old enemies. But if you think this is just a cause for concern among those of us who care about the environment and innocent creatures in mankind’s crosshairs, think again. Because this time around, they’re not being slaughtered in the name of basic survival with stone age tools, they’re being systematically hunted right over the precipice of extinction by well-armed thugs intent on wreaking havoc on equally innocent men, women, and children all over the planet. [Read more…]

Safe in DC

I’m safe in the nation’s capital (Run Forest, run!), specifically, staying near old town Alexandria near Hunnington Station. A red, white, and blue, good ole American region built on traditional family values, like tobacco addiction, and novel labor agreements facilitating cotton production. I’m off to meet people, maybe I’ll find something worth blogging about.

Winged artiodactyls & Fireballs in the sky

Guys and gals I’m only $200 bucks short of salvation this month thanks to a number of generous readers. If you can kick in a few more shekels I will say a special prayer for you be able to continue working on issues near and dear to our hearts for at least another few weeks! My Paypal email address is DarkSydOtheMoon-at-aol and my snail mail address for those who dislike Paypal is in the first comment, thanks again! Context for the above image and more science-y stuff below the fold. [Read more…]

Santa & Jesus are both WHITE

 

Talk about the seaon to be giving, Megyn Kelly and cohorts gifted this to Jon Stewart and he passed it on, greatly enhanced, to us all, in two segments that may be the best evfer produced by TDS. It doesn’t stop there, fantastic satire and merry making are to be had at Megyn’s expense all over the Toobz. Merry Christmas … white Santa believers and the rest!

 

Secret projects & long shots

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My primary laptop is getting a cheap tune up at a local shop this week, that’s why posting has been light the last few days. For now, I’m using an old Dell netbook, with a teeny-tiny screen, that acts more like an obstacle between me and writing than a conduit. Hopefully I’ll have a new desktop, built out of donated parts, soon that will blow doors on currently available gear. I could use some DDR3 RAM for that project or any small contribs anyone can spare to the Paypal or a snail mail address linked above.

I’m flying into DC on Sunday, just in time for the kind of big storm that this Texas boy hasn’t seen in years. The risk of being stranded is real, but it’s also kind of exciting: we southerners so rarely see snow in any form, much less accumulations on the ground or trees laced in delicate fractals of ice. I’m doing some tourist stuff while there, but I’m also working/pitching a project I’ve been working on for years. [Read more…]

GOP base lashes out at budget deal: An inconvenient poutrage

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I’m having PC issues and can’t wait to have a better system, I’ll have an update on that tomorrow. For now, do you have any spare DDR3 RAM, or would you please consider hitting my tip jar above and improving my shitty circumstances.

The Republican base doesn’t like the budget worked out by the Republican controlled House between seasonal McScrooge Paul Ryan and centrist dems. Boehner finally couldn’t take the bullshit anymore and lashed out at the base: [Read more…]

Conservatives could have and should have owned Obamacare

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Apparently, if the temperature in Central Texas drops below 40 for any length of time, my Internet, cable TV, and phone networks all collapse. Dutifully noted. And, since this happened on a weekend, it took until just now for a tech to make it out here and get full service restored. So I haven’t had much of a chance to thank all of you who have pitched in this holiday season, as well as those who are helping with my computer-building project. Both are going well. I’ll probably have the parts I need for the PC, and plenty enough in contribs to keep my bills at bay, by this weekend.

Below is an interesting piece on the ACA and I’ll say right here what strikes me thinking about it today: conservatives missed the boat on this. They didn’t even make it to the dock. [Read more…]