Friday, 14th o October 2005
I Submit the Following, Your Honor
"I don't wanna take a nap! I not tired!" Jaimito whined.
"Yes you are, little boy. You're crying, and that means you're tired. When you cry, you're telling me you're tired."
"I not tired. I not tired. I don't wanna take a nap." Jaimito looked desperate, how was he going to get out of this? He did not want to take a nap.
"Little boy, sometimes your mommy and daddy know what's good for you. We think you're tired. We know you're tired. You'll feel better after a nap, I promise." But, Jaimito continued to wail like a banshee. "Well, here's the deal," we told him, "You get to stay in here whether you're taking a nap or not. You have to stay in mommy and daddy's bed."
Soon, the wailing came to an end. Curious, we peeked in and...
he's passed out like a frat boy, complete with drool.
So,
we remember this day, when mommy and daddy were right, when mommy and
daddy knew best, and we submit, your honor, exhibit #1 as evidence for
future prosecution.
Friday, 7th o October 2005
Gil The Jenius: Education For Us
The other day, Gil Schmidt, summed up something I think I've trying to say for the past few years. I say "trying" because I've been clubbing the damned thing for so long, I don't even know what it looks like any more. Gil's come along and said to me, "You know that thing you've been bashing, that you forgot what it was? Well - it's this." And he laid it bare to me again. I now know what my prey looks like, and my hunger induced insanity melts away to reveal new resolve.
Gil The Jenius: Education For Us
The global economy of this century is not a preserver of status quos; in truth, it destroys them with chaotic speed. A nation educated to bow to stasis, to "follow the lunkhead" misery is not now nor ever will be a true global economic player. But a nation is not an entity: it is a collection of individuals united by common characteristics and sharing, often unconsciously, common vision and goals. To develop the nation, develop the individual. To develop the individual...well, that's Our job.
It's funny, but I never knew how the masses could be inspired to revolt in Latin America. What could someone write or speak that would bring new focused clarity to their plight? I just didn't see it. Maybe now I'm starting to get an inkling.
Tuesday, 4th o October 2005
A Page Out of the Book of Chris
I was on the road early this morning, out and about on my bicycle to pick up milk, eggs, and bread. I still have my Rob Beckman bags and Bruce Gordon rack that I bought 10 years ago. Those bags and rack have been through it all with me.
Anyway,
I'm merging across lanes of traffic to make a left and a little Toyota
comes up honking and carrying on. Christ, people! Cut a bicycle some
slack. They scream by honking and cursing. Sigh. But, as with all
stupid metallic beasts, their haste has caused them to err. Their
failure to plan ahead has left them trapped at the light making the
same left as I am.
We're gonna be best pals now, together at the light, hanging like old friends, chatiando como locos.
"How's it going, fellas. I'm James. What are your names?" I say to the three college aged kids in the car. The driver looks stunned and says nothing. I smile and address the kid in the back seat. "It's a nice morning, huh? You guys on the way to school or work?"
"Work," he replies amicably.
"Ah, well, it was a pleasure to meet you. Have a nice day!" I smile and ride off.
I made my U-turn and headed out. They smiled and waved from the car. Guess I made some friends today.
It's funny, but ever since my brother-in-law Chris told me a great story about an experience he had (that he still needs to write about - ahem), I've been channeling him when I'm on the road. Road rage is for idiots.
Road comedy is where it's at, man. Thanks Chris.
Monday, 3rd o October 2005
Wifi Drivers for Linux PPC
Let me get geeky for a bit. I recently decided that I was not going to be the last person on earth without wireless access, so I marched off to CompUSA to buy a wifi card for my G3 Powerbook (Pismo). I know, I know, I should have checked the hardware compatibility lists, but ever impatient, I thought, how bad could it be? I'll buy two and if one doesn't work, I'll stick in the other.
Neither worked.
Bah! Curse my passionate self. I erred in the predictable fashion. I fell victim to the classic blunder, the most famous of which is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less known is this: with Linux you must research. With Linux on the PowerPC, you must research and pray.
So, first of all, the Broadcom family of chips (Apple's Airport, Motorola, and a bunch of others will not work with Linux on PPC). With Linux on Intel, you're okay, because you have ndiswrapper with which to run your Windows drivers in Linux. However, with PPC you will have no such luck, as ndiswrapper is strictly an Intel x86 endeavor. No, with PPC your best bet (as I later found out) is to buy one of the D-Link family of products. From what I can tell, they have native support across the board in Linux (my own card, a DWL-G630 - 802.11g, works flawlessly).
To get it working, you first have to install the drivers from the madwifi project (your distro should have it available for installation), make sure you have PCMCIA drivers installed, and you're now spilling coffee on your keyboard at one of the many nationwide Starbucks locations.
The biggest
challenge was figuring out which brand of wifi card supports Linux
natively - because NONE of them say so. They all say "Windows 9x,
2000, XP, and 2003."
After two trips to CompUSA, I now have a D-Link card and my working laptop. Remote X works, and I get about 1 megabyte/sec transfer rate through the concrete walls of my home.
And now you know the rest of the story. D-Link, D-Link, D-Link!
Thursday, 29th o September 2005
Don't Count on the Sanguine
The other day, the head of only Home Grown Puerto Rican Terrorist GroupTM, the MacheterosTM Filiberto Ojeda Rios was killed in a gun battle with the FBI. He had been convicted in absentia, casually sought for years, and finally killed in his home in the western town of Hormigueros in Puerto Rico. His crime? - robbing a Wells Fargo armored car of $7 million to fund la revolución de la sagrada independencia, una revolución santificada por el pueblo puertorriqueño, or so they tell me.
Ah, but the sanguine have come ablaze, fiery rhetoric, tongues lashing, beating their chests. This man, this most blessed man died fighting for what he believed in, the ideals of the pueblo, a popular movement comprised of less than 10% of the population. He died defending his right to take what doesn't belong to him, to fund a fight that no one cares about. And now that he's dead, and out they come, the student riots, the graffiti (FBI Asesinos!), the big big big honking idiotic funeral, the flowers, the speeches, the wailing and gnashing of teeth, the eulogies. Filiberto stood for something.
"Um, what did he stand for?"
"The dignity and patriotism of the Puerto Rican."
"And the bling, don't forget the bling."
"Pardon?"
"$7 million buys a lot of bling. I'm just sayin'."
"No, he took that money to help take back what was rightfully ours, nuestra patria, our land, our hearts, our independence, and to remove the accursed blight of imperial America."
"And how's that going for you?"
Bah, I'm bored with this post. The pueblo is already covering up the graffiti with posters for the upcoming Concierto con Carlos Vives. I like Carlos Vives. I'd call him the hardest working man in Latin Pop. Ah, Carlos Vives. The ladies think he's cute too. Carlos is the man.
Now, I just can't bring myself to care for long enough to write what I wanted to write. Sigh. It's irrelevant. It's folly. Riverdance doesn't hold my attention, I don't see why this should be any different.
Check out CNN for more information.