Cyclone of Indifference

		wCyclone of Indifference
		We're all deviating from the same path

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		Wednesday, July 31, 2002
		Learning to love Big Brother / George W. Bush channels George Orwell Or as Lana said, "Orwell is spelled with a 'dubya'." posted at 12:55 PM


		Lordy Lordy Look who's 40 Happy Birthday, Jenni! posted at 7:41 AM

		Tuesday, July 30, 2002
		So, have you heard of the game googlewhack? Am I the last geekazoid to hear of it? No? OK. Good. Because I love non sequitirs, I thought I'd be good at it. In fact, the first non sequitir I threw at it, I thought, ha! Score! Then I realized I'd misspelled one of the words, which is an automatic disqualification (the words have to be in Dictionary.com's database. Kind of like the rules to Scrabble -- which are not strict enough for my liking). It found one site, but that was because someone else misspelled the word. (No, I am not going to reveal the words.) For instance, if you try to play googlewhack and search 'cyclone indifference' (no quotes, that's part of the rules) on Google, my site comes up first of many. Weird. So, that makes you wonder. My blog has only been online a couple of months... that's disturbing that my aimless, meaningless musings are registering in Google's mighty database. That means billions of other folks' aimless, meaningless hoo hoo is showing up there, too. But, thankfully, I am not the only one worrying about this (that isn't a Google programmer)... Googlebombs are a known phenomenon. posted at 8:47 PM


		"Obsession with the supernatural has been the ruin of many an exceptional intellect." So said the character of Dr. Bell on Mystery! last night, The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes. "Based on the actual friendship between the budding mystery author Arthur Conan Doyle and Dr. Joseph Bell, his sagacious surgery professor at the University of Edinburgh Medical School -- Doyle's real-life model for his immortal Sherlock Holmes." We tuned in right at the very end --too bad-- and didn't know what we were watching. I caught that quote and searched it in Google, with quotes, and didn't find anything. But searching 'obsession with the supernatural' sure brings up a wealth of weirdness. And, of course, we all know of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's obsession with the supernatural. Me, I don't think about it much at all, but I used to, when I was a kid. A lot. posted at 7:36 AM

		Monday, July 29, 2002
		Well, the server has been upgraded, but there are still a few glitches to be ironed out. Just thought I'd test the search engine on the Pop Group site to see if the speed had improved, and they haven't gotten the CGI stuff working yet. It took me a few days to get all the kinks worked out of my server upgrade, so maybe it will for UT's IT group, too. posted at 1:45 PM


		Jenni joins the "Blogging Revolution". Welcome aboard! posted at 1:21 PM

		Sunday, July 28, 2002
		Birding in the bayou. Oyster Creek, in the subdivisions of Houston. Lots of interesting birds, mostly wading birds, like Killdeer, Ibis, and a variety of herons. But I also got to see a couple of red tail hawks and hear that wonderful screeeeeech. posted at 6:05 PM

		Friday, July 26, 2002
		S I G N S Bleeding hell. Only in America. A thriller about Crop Circles, for god's sake! Never in a million years would it have occurred to me to find terror in crop circles. What is it about our national psyche? To me that's like making a Jaws-like thriller about dolphins. When Flipper goes rabid or something. And one of the exciting features of the movie's website is a poll where you can "Vote for Your Worst Fear." My worst fear isn't on the list, the fear of incredible stupidity! posted at 10:13 AM

		Thursday, July 25, 2002
		AKMA asks, "Has anyone else noticed an uptick in the quantity of spam recently?" And I say, uh, yeah, totally. Man, I get so much trash in my email every day, it is unbelievable. I get at least one of those African money-laundering-scam things a week, plus the you-know-what-extender ads, Human Growth Hormone ads, and the usual assortment of virus-laden attachments and broken English invitations to open them. My favorite, with the subject line, "A special funny game": Hi,This is a funny game This game is my first work. You're the first player. I wish you would enjoy it. Yeah, I wish I would, too. It's getting to be just like the telephone. I can remember the day, now so long ago, when the phone would ring and it might actually be someone I knew and wanted to speak to. This still happens occasionally (I'm exaggerating -- no need to pity a poor friendless blogger), but usually it's a computer or underpaid human being trying to sell me something. Thank god for Caller ID. posted at 2:34 PM


		CCWF, a UNIX timesharing system, will be upgraded on Monday, July 29 8am-9am. The SPARCserver 2000, 4 processor 50MHz, 512MB memory, will be replaced by a Sun Fire 280R, 2 processor 750MHz, 4GB memory. Hot diggety. The university is upgrading the server I've been living on for the past 5 years. I just upgraded the webserver in our department, and it is noticeably faster. Hopefully the same will be true of old ccwf. Don't try to check the Cyclone between 8 & 9 Central Standard Time on Monday morning! But what a strange time to roll it over. Right when I'd be sitting down and checking my email. I changed my server over late at night. posted at 1:12 PM

		Tuesday, July 23, 2002
		Saw the Butthole Surfers Saturday night, supporting their new release of oldies Humpty Dumpty LSD, and playing songs from way back when I took these shots. It took me back, all right, but it was weird. Nostalgia shows are strange. More like a museum piece than a 'real show' (like the first time around). Very similar to the Sex Pistols reunion tour a few years back. I still wouldn't say "I saw the Sex Pistols," because I didn't see them when it mattered. The Buttholes put on a good show, but it wasn't the intense insanity of the shows back when they really meant it. Oh, well, we're all getting older. Gotta pay the bills and hopefully still have a good time. Actually, I'm not really sure if they're doing a nostalgia tour. It might've been just for the 10th Anniversary of Emo's, Austin's longest-lived punk club ever. And damn it, I got there too late for Daniel Johnston's show. I haven't seen Daniel since Dave Lang was visiting from Australia. posted at 12:32 PM

Hot damn. Getting the hang of this Linux stuff. I likes it.

posted at 10:18 AM

		Monday, July 22, 2002
		The official U.S. time "I'm hip to time" Part II. Nice to know what time it is. Don't want to be late for that meeting. Or early. Unless the other people don't know the 'official' time. posted at 8:54 AM

		Friday, July 19, 2002
		c i r c l e m a k e r s Hot damn! Make your own Crop Circle. Thanks, Rodney. posted at 3:56 PM

		Wednesday, July 17, 2002
		Paddle paddle paddle. Kayaked Barton Creek after work again last night. More water than last Friday. Very nice. Got to practise my eskimo roll, too. posted at 9:06 AM

		Tuesday, July 16, 2002
		Crazy weekend of kayaking. Paddled Barton Creek (3.5 miles) after work on Friday, paddled 8 miles on Pedernales River on Saturday morning, 4 miles on Sabinal River Saturday evening and 12 miles on the Frio River Sunday. Too much fun! Here's a little (half-speed) mpg movie of Eric on the Frio River. (I opted not to run this particular rapid, right at our put-in.) I also got a little birdwatching in. We camped at Lost Maples State Park, one of the premier birdwatching spots in Texas. Saw birds I've never seen before. A bright orange tanager (or was it a Vermillion Flycatcher? I'm not sure), a bright blue Mountain Bluebird, Painted Buntings, a Ringed Kingfisher (huge), and even a flock of wild turkeys. Oh, and some bugs, too. Like this big old Katydid. I'm not a very organized birdwatcher, although I did bring along my Peterson's Birds of Texas book. But I do enjoy checking out the birds, and since one of our paddle partners works for the Sierra Club, I was able to get a little help identifying some of them. Searching the web for info, I see I don't even know the lingo (halfway down the page under Birding Slang) of 'birding' (rather than 'birdwatching'). So, if I were a real 'birder', I would've said that I saw 3 'lifers' (birds I've never seen before). I am apparently a "Dude," a casual birder, "not too hot on identification." posted at 3:18 PM

		Thursday, July 11, 2002
		Where's Your Head At - Basement Jaxx. Funny video! (Requires RealPlayer.) Funky punk monkeys. Catchy song, too. It's been stuck in my head for the last 24 hours. (If the link directly to the video doesn't work, go to Astralwerks and check it out.) posted at 11:17 AM

		Wednesday, July 10, 2002
		How To Survive Without Audiogalaxy: A Guide to File-Sharing Alternatives, at Pitchfork. Man, I miss hearing about or thinking of a song and being able to hear it, even if it weren't in my big old CD/LP collection (yes, RIAA, I do buy your freaking product in addition to downloading... or do independent labels count?). posted at 10:04 AM

		Tuesday, July 09, 2002
		Raining again. Amazing. Had a really nice kayaking trip on the North Fork of the San Gabriel River Sunday. My first time down that stretch of river. Very pretty. Nice, long rapids. Just about right for my skill level. posted at 7:15 AM


		Speaking of the Spanish Inquisition, here is an interesting article on just that. posted at 7:10 AM


		New York Lutheran Leader Suspended - Synod Seeks Pastor's Apology for Praying With 'Pagans' After Sept. 11 Attacks This absolutely blows me away. What is wrong with people? PAGANS? What sort of fundamentalist, intolerant, backwater bigotry is this? I read it first in our local paper and could not believe my eyes. I thought maybe I'd accidentally picked up a paper from the Middle Ages instead of a paper from July of 2002. It reminds me of Star Trek - The Next Generation, when they talk about our primitive past, back in the 21st century. "To participate with pagans in an interfaith service and, additionally, to give the impression that there might be more than one God, is an extremely serious offense against the God of the Bible." - Rev. Wallace Schulz, Missouri Synod's national second vice president Rev. Benke has until tomorrow to 'apologize'! Or be burned at the stake, presumably. Mr. Yuk says 'ptoooie!' posted at 6:45 AM

		Sunday, July 07, 2002
		Flooding in Texas. For a kayaker, this is good news. Bad news for people not living on higher ground. The weatherman said yesterday that we've gotten more rain in the past week than we've gotten all year. What a way to end a drought! posted at 2:53 AM

		Thursday, July 04, 2002
		posted at 12:14 PM