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Archive for the 'Events' Category

Fear of Death

There’s a post on a blog I read called Fear of Death. The post is about the fear of death, and of dying that was caused by her friend’s diagnosis with a particularly nasty form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The author writes: “And it was only then, maybe ten minutes before they arrived, that I finally [...]

Cell Phone KIA

( Events andMisc. andMy Life andStupidity andTech )

Well, I did go out sailing on Wednesday. While the day was pretty good overall, my cell phone was killed in action. It fell out of my shirt pocket, and into the water along side the Pretty Gee, when I was tieing off one of the docklines. So, if you’re trying to reach me at [...]

The Fourth of July

( Events andMy Life andSailing )

I want to wish all my readers and visitors a Happy Fourth of July. This will be a very brief post as I am leaving for the marina in a few minutes. I was there until about 3:00 this morning, and am going back… While the weather doesn’t look all that promising for a sail—a [...]

Republican Corruption

( Events andPolitics andRants andThoughts )

The Republican Party has gotten rid of Tom DeLay, in the fears that someone tainted by money laundering charges, and who embodies corruption and other ethical problems may reflect negatively on the party in the upcoming elections. There is a good article on his replacement, John Boehner, and some of his past activities over at [...]

A Different Take on September 11, 2001

I saw this video because of a post on h2uh0, and wanted to share it with my blog readers. The video takes a different perspective on the events of September 11, 2001, and comes up with a strong case for a conspiracy. While, I don’t agree with some of what is in the video, and [...]

Apple Sued Again

( Events andMac andNews andTech andThoughts )

Apparently, the powers that be are angry with Apple for succeeding where the other technology companies could not….or for that matter the music labels failed too. Thomas Slattery has been given the green light for his monopolization claim under the federal Sherman Anti-Trust act according to the articles at eHomeUpgrade and Tera Patricks’ blog. I [...]

Gore and Clinton: Two Different Takes on Democracy

( Essays andEvents andPolitics andRants andThoughts )

The Irregular Times blog, one of my regulars, has an excellent analysis on the differences between Al Gore and Hillary Clinton’s take on democracy and the actions of the Bush Administration. You can read the whole article here. I’ve quoted the conclusion below. It is one that I strongly agree with. Whereas Al Gore’s speech [...]

The Rule of Law, Al Gore and George W. Bush

( Essays andEvents andNews andPolitics andThoughts )

Apparently, the Democrats have realized that George W. Bush has broken the law. Al Gore denounces GWB in his speech on Martin Luther King Day. In his speech, he and Congressman Barr, a conservative Republican, both denounce the actions of George W. Bush. Barr has also stated that we are close to becoming a totalitarian society here. I have quoted Gore’s speech below.

The Next Great Chick Flick

I was reading Five O’Clock Somewhere, one of the blogs on my list that I check daily.

There was an entry titled “The Next Great Chick Flick,” and as I got to the third paragraph, I said to myself, “Hey, it’s about a guy named Dan—my name is Dan…”

More Corporate Data Breaches

( Events andNews andSecurity andTech andThoughts )

These companies really need to be brought to task about their careless handling of important customer data. The financial institutions which allow identity theft to occur should also be brought to task, and be held responsible for any losses they authorize.

MacWorld San Francisco

( Events andNews andTech )

MacWorld San Francisco is underway, and Apple has not disappointed the Mac faithful.

On schedule with their switch to the Intel-based Macs, they announced two new Intel-based Macs today. The first is the iMac… not surprising, as it was in need of an upgrade.

The other, more important announcement was the MacBook Pro, which is the Intel-based PowerBook replacement. This was the announcement I was expecting, as the PowerBook line has had little to really distinguish it from the current iBook line, and is the line of hardware in most need of an upgrade.

Happy Holidays 2005

The holidays are here again. I wanted to wish my readers a Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. This year has been a year of changes.

Birthdays Gone By

Happy birthday Dave.

Sailing on Boston Harbor

( Events andMisc. andSailing )

This week, I took the week off to take a sailing course at the Boston Sailing Center. I’ve decided to take this course as I’m planning on getting a boat next spring. Although I’ve sailed quite a bit in my life, I’ve never had any formal instruction in sailing, and thought that taking a macro cruising course might be the best way to get the formal education that I think I will need for the type of sailing I look forward to doing.

Death and Life

The last two weeks have been very busy. Two weeks ago, I sold my house and moved back to New England. My uncle passed away on the day I sold my house in Virginia. This past Saturday, my friend Dave and I spent the day unloading a PODs storage container, which had been dropped off [...]

The Speed of Light

( Events andTech )

Today has been a good day. It’s nice to have a really good thing to write about today. Verizon came by and hooked up the FiOS service today. Fiber optic internet service. I’m very happy with it. It is blazingly fast, especially compared to the Comcast service I was on previously. I have to say [...]

And the heavens wept…

The weather the past few days has been pretty strange. It has been unseasonably cool for Virginia in August, and much rainier than is usually the case. We’ve got green grass here in Virginia. Normally, by this time of year, the grass is dead and brown without some serious lawn watering. Earlier in the week, [...]

Telstar 28 Revisited

Once again I was in Annapolis, over at Performance Cruising. I had a few questions about the Telstar 28, and wanted to discuss them with Tony Smith. Tony and I talked for the better part of an hour and I was able to get a lot of my questions answered. I’ve changed my previous blog entry to reflect some of our discussion results.

Sailing a Telstar 28

This morning, I went over to Annapolis to take a look at a sailboat. The Telstar 28 is a trailerable trimaran that is made in Annapolis by Performance Cruising. It was designed by Tony Smith, and its design takes elements from both his Gemini catamaran and his older Telstar trimaran.

Moving On—Part IV

( Events andMy Life andThoughts )

Well, I’m in Virginia again for a bit. I got down here on Saturday…what a drive…New York traffic was really bad, with over an hour-long delay on the GW bridge. On Sunday, I met with my realtor, and I signed a contract for the sale of our home…I’m still not 100% about selling the place [...]

Moving On—Part III

( Events andMy Life andThoughts )

Well, I’m up in Boston for a bit. Drove up this morning…UGH, what a drive. The George Washington Bridge was backed up 80-85 minutes or so when I got to it, so I bailed on I-95 and took the Palisades Parkway up to NY 9W in Fishkill and grabbed I-84 east to I-90. Originally, this [...]

Denver’s Dog Slaughter

I am outraged. Apparently Denver has just passed a law that makes owning a “pit bull” illegal. This law gives the city the right to seize and kill dogs based, not on bad acts or behavior, but purely on their appearance.

Moving On—Part II

( Essays andEvents andMy Life andThoughts )

Today, I’m waiting for a truck to show up. It is pickup day for me. PODS is sending a truck to pickup the POD that I’ve had sitting in my driveway for most of the last year. A lot has happened since I decided to move. The whole moving process has been one difficult. As I said previously, when I originally bought this place, I had planned on raising a family here. Now, I am leaving the first real home I’ve ever had. This weekend, I’m heading up to New England, to return to where I grew up.

Security: Perception vs. Reality

Yet again, the United States is doing something for the sake of doing something, rather than something that may actually affect the war on terrorism. In this case, I’m talking about the decision to conduct random searches of people in New York’s MTA system… The random searches are far more likely to infringe on the civil and constitutional rights of the majority of the public than it ever is likely to capture a terrorist on a suicide mission. Worse than that, the government seems to be saying that this is a security measure that will help prevent the kind of attacks that happened in London…giving a false sense of security.

Profiling and Terrorism

Profiling doesn’t work, except to alienate a significant segment of the population we should want on our side. If Americans start profiling people based on their appearance, then we will alienate that demographic profile, and that may lead to more fertile recruiting for terrorist organizations than would otherwise be possible. Profiling for young Islamic males [...]

London Bombings and the War on Terrorism

This morning, when I woke up, the news about the terrorist bombings in London was on NPR. This attack leads me to believe that in spite of everything George W. Bush says about the war on terrorism, Al Qaeda is doing well. In many ways, George W. Bush has become one of the best recruiting motivations for Islamic fundamentalists. Osama bin Laden said that the United States would attack and invade an Islamic oil-rich country and occupy it. Unfortunately, George W. Bush has done exactly that with Iraq. The invasion of Iraq was not justified in many ways, and the reasons that George W. Bush gave for doing so have proven to be mostly false or greatly exaggerated.

Cindy’s Road Trip

Today, a friend of mine, Cindy, left on a road trip. She’s in the process of moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I think this is one of her first long road trips, and I’m hoping she and her friend, Hana, will have a good time. The trip from here to Albuquerque isn’t that bad. They’re [...]

On Fathers and Fatherhood

Today is Father’s Day, and I am still in Virigina. So, I just wanted to wish my father, and all the other fathers I know, but especially my father, a happy Father’s Day.

Macintoshes and Intel

( Events andNews andTech andThoughts )

Apple is switching the Macintosh to the Intel CPUs. Does it matter? Should we care?

A Moment of Silence

I would like all the readers of my blog to hold a moment of silence. This moment, 11:00 A.M. on June 11th, marks the fourth year since my married. I do hope for all of those who read my blog and website, that you will someday find a person who you both love and are loved by in the way Gee and I shared.