C.W.Holeman III

From the B.I.N. # 5

2011-11-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

Death Star anyone? If you are looking for the next big laser thing, I give you this: "it is fired to produce [10] large laser beams several feet wide that are then combined and focused down onto a tiny spot..." That will, "tear apart the fabric of space." with 200 petawatts of laser power; "100,000 times the power of the world's combined electricity production."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8857154/Worlds-most-powerful-laser-to-tear-apart-the-vacuum-of-space.html

Are you ready for Cyber War? ('Cause it's coming...)
http://news.sky.com/home/technology/article/16101158

Genetically modified mosquitoes designed to kill off their children before reaching maturity released into the wild.
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/science/concerns-raised-about-genetically-engineered-mosquitoes.html?_r=4&ref=business

Threaten to wipe Israel off the map, and for some strange reason, they consider a preemptive attack; you know, before you finish building your nukes. Go figure.
http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16101552

From the B.I.N. # 4

2011-10-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

Computer virus hits US drone fleet. Refuses to leave.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/virus-hits-drone-fleet/

US Army to deploy the new Switchblade, a backpack portable drone/guided missile.
Article:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.b0b893fb04aee2445cb9d54b02462bd7.2f1&show_article=1

114 year old electric car had same range as the Chevy Volt.
http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/14/114-year-old-electric-car-gets-same-40-miles-to-the-charge-as-chevy-volt/

A NY senator believes that we have too much freedom of speech: "Proponents of a more refined First Amendment argue that this freedom should be treated not as a right but as a privilege — a special entitlement granted by the state on a conditional basis that can be revoked if it is ever abused or maltreated." (Emphasis added.)
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111001/00002316160/ny-state-senators-say-weve-got-too-much-free-speech-introduce-bill-to-fix-that.shtml

Comic-Con 2011

2011-07-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

I went to Comic-Con International yesterday for the first time. It was also the first time I've been to this sort of Con when I was the one calling all the shots. I learned how not to make a lot of serious and painful noob mistakes, the hard way. But, I got in for free, so I can look at them as low cost lessons, however painful they may have been.

The one thing that I did really right was to get into Comic-Con for free by pre-registering to be a volunteer. You work a three hour shift doing some menial task at some point in the day, and get to play the rest of the day for free. You can get in like this as many days as you want, and they throw in a free t-shirt to boot. (Thanks to Bruce Mohler for letting me know that this could be done!)

Lessons Learned:

Go more than one day. One day is simply not enough time to even skim the floor if you want to go to any panels. This is the most important lesson I learned. When presented with the option of stopping to get a photo of this costume and to chat with the person at that booth, or to keep moving to see what is further ahead, I usually picked the latter because I didn't have enough time. And even while making that painful choice so often, I still never did cover the whole floor.
A written out schedule is essential. I missed several events I would have liked to see because I had the wrong times in my head and or because I just forgot about them with so much else going on.
Arrive before 7 am. I got there too late to get an early volunteer assignment, so I wasted three hours doing stuff for the con instead of doing stuff at the con after it opened.
Some panels have epic lines, others have none.
Bring a mini-folding chair. There will be time spent in those epic lines. Be ready.
There are boring lines, have a (small, light!) book with you.
Make sure shoes are ready for lots of walking/not-quite-running. A panel on each end of the building and zero time to get from one to the other means you won't always be able to stroll from one place to the next. (Mine needed fresh gel pads.)
Bring paper. I saw several people I would have liked to get signatures from, but had nothing for them to sign.
Check the signing schedule carefully and bring the appropriate books.
Most signings require a ticket/bracelet you have to get before hand, or you can't even get in the line.
Bring more snacks. Between the walking around all day and seeing thousands of people eating plate pizza, etc., I wanted to eat more than I brought with me.
There is a lot going on.
Bring an SLR with some serious zoom. There were some pretty awesome pictures I could have taken if I had a lens with 20x or 30x magnification instead of my paltry 4x.
20 GB of cards for my camera was more than enough. However, had I gone to more panels, I would likely have shot a lot more video, so 20 GB was not overkill. Also, three batteries was a close call, so bring four next time to be on the safe side.
Rob a bank on the way there to have enough cash. There was a lot of really cool things I could have bought, and not all of them cost an arm and a leg. Admittedly, some of them did cost a few limbs, hence the bank job.
The floor closes early, like a business, and does not stay going forever like a fair. (Hence the "could have" in #15. I was going to go back down to the floor after the Mythbusters panel and buy the things that I thought I was being smart by purchasing later and therefore not carrying around all day.)
You can row hop close to the front of a big-deal panel by arriving several events ahead and moving fast when it empties out after each event.
A volunteer job may be very boring. I was a Human Wall for two hours before I got reassigned.
Get your volunteer shirt as soon as possible after you can, things close down earlier than you may think.
The Mythbusters are even more funny in real life than they are on TV.

Coolest Costumes Seen:

An older Steampunk Lady with a Predator on a leash.
The Monty Python set of three: A king and two knaves. Massive pack and clomping coconut shells included.
A Centaur with articulated rear legs.
A family of Klingons.
A Death Star.
I think Darth Vader requires a special mention. There were more flavors of him than you might think. There was the Classic Vader, the Mini-skirt and leather Lady Vader, the Black and White with Jar-Jar's head on a platter with lettuce Vader, the Bobble Head Vader, the Hello Kitty Pink and Black Vader and more.
I saw one Captain Jack Sparrow that was so good that I thought it was Johny Depp for several seconds.
I'm not even going to mention the mountains of Stormtroopers, fairies, elfs, zombies, superheros and capers. But there were hundreds and hundreds of them.

People seen:

Molly Quinn from Castle just walked across my path which was very cool.
Jim Butcher was at a signing.
The entire Mythbusters Cast was at their pannel:

Adam Savage (Twice! Once at the panel, and once on the floor in disguise, so I didn't recognize him at the time.)
Jamie Hyneman
Tory Belleci
Kari Byron
Grant Imahara

All in all, I had a great day and hope that I can make it back next year. With these lessons learned, I plan to have an absolute blast next time around.

From the B.I.N. # 3

2011-07-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

Putting the Intelligence Into AI
Not content to create an AI that could learn how to play the computer game Civilization on it's own (and win 46% of the time) researchers at MIT taught the AI how to learn how to read English. (Note that they did not teach it English, they actually made it smart enough, that it was able to learn English it on it's own by playing the game and looking at the manual!) When it was given the general help / instruction manual for Civilization, it was smart enough to assimilate that knowledge, and increase it's win rate to a staggering 79% of the games it played.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/language-from-games-0712.html

Synthetic Burgers
Professor Mark Post, from Maastricht University in the Netherlands, and his team have grown synthetic pork strips and claims that within a year, they will also be able to grow synthetic beef for use as a cheap and efficient meat source.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2008347/Test-tube-burger-coming-soon-Lab-grown-meat-needed-feed-world.html

Global warming?
"The earth is heating super rapidly! It's caused by man! We are killing our planet!" Only, the temperature has not moved in over a decade. Hmmm. Asia pollution "blamed" for halt in warming. The key sentence from the article: "World temperatures did not rise from 1998 to 2008, while manmade emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuel grew by nearly a third, various data show." (emphasis added.)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/04/us-climate-sulphur-idUSTRE7634IQ20110704

Man Induced Climate Change?
"Global warming will cause terrible storms which will grow to truly epic proportions!" Only, "During the past 6-years since Hurricane Katrina, global tropical cyclone frequency and energy have decreased dramatically, and are currently at near-historical record lows." (emphasis added.)
http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/~maue/tropical/

Don't take no pictures!
"Be afraid. Fear everything and everyone!" That's the message we hear every time you get near an airport. Fear is used as a catch-all excuse to do anything. Don't like a passenger taking a picture of your name badge when you are rude to passengers? Call them a "security risk" and have them booted off the airplane!
http://www.pixiq.com/article/woman-escorted-off-us-airways-flight-for-snapping-iphone-photo

From the B.I.N. # 2

2011-06-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

The Pentagon finally starts to move into the future of cyberwarfare. Now they have guidelines:
--http://apnews.myway.com/article/20110622/D9O0SERG0.html

Scientists create blobs of cooled light particles.
--http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/stories/new-kind-of-light-created-in-physics-breakthrough

New Japanese machine takes the super computer lead, and they're not even done building it. The "K" will rise from 8.16 petaflops to reach 10 petaflops once it is at full power.
--http://news.techworld.com/data-centre/3286946/japan-builds-worlds-most-powerful-supercomputer/

Scientists grow rat organs in mice, and are ready to try growing human organs in pigs. Don't mix up that bacon!
--http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8584443/Pigs-could-grow-human-organs-in-stem-cell-breakthrough.html

Micro drones are on their way.
--http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/20/world/20drones.html?_r=3

Chart of current drone in use by the US military:
--https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/06/19/world/drone-graphic.html?ref=world

Apple to decide when you are allowed to use the video camera on new iPhones. Forget recording that favorite band of yours.
--http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3641676/Apple-to-ban-iPhone-gig-filming.html

Obama: Libya isn't a war. Because flying aircraft over a country and dropping bombs on people isn't war as long as there are no troops on the ground and the targets can't return fire effectively. According to Obama's arguments, he could nuke a country off the map without Congressional approval.
--https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/us/politics/16powers.html?_r=4

Bizarre / Interesting / Newsworthy (BIN # 1)

2011-06-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

From the B.I.N. for this week, I give you the following articles:

In China, genetically modified cows produce human breast milk. It will be sold in stores within three years. Other cows modified are resilient against mad cow disease, and yet other beef cattle are genetically modified to produce more nutritious meat.
--http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/china-genetically-modifying-cows-to-produce-human-breast-milk-20110608-ncx

Matt Stutzman, a man born with no arms, still has none. But what he does have is a qualification for the National U.S. Olympic team in archery. Yep. Armless archery.
--http://www.newtondailynews.com/articles/2011/06/06/r_sxx109pfrlwa_cpzlzx6rw/index.xml

A mother in the UK has volunteered to donate her womb to her infertile daughter, to be transplanted so that the daughter can have a daughter (or son) of her own. If successful, Sara could conceive and carry a child in the same womb she herself was born from.
--http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jun/13/uk-mother-agrees-donate-womb-daughter

I don't care so much about the game aspects of this, but the voice controls in "Ghost Recon: Future Soldier" is really rather impressive. As shown in the video near the bottom of the article, even with another demo blasting near by, the Xbox (via Kinect) was able to pick up almost every voice command given by the both the interviewer and interview-y. It's still not as good as you've seen on the Enterprise, but it sure is getting close.
--http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/08/kinect-integration-in-ghost-recon-future-soldier-hands-off-vi/

Building a Reprap, Pt. 3 (The Frame, A)

2011-05-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

Part one of this series is here.

I bought a set of cast plastic structural supports from Fireraiser for $30. Sadly, they have to be drilled by hand, unlike printed parts.

I got all of the hard drilling out of the way with a drill press: about 2.5 hr.

Drill

Cut some of the needed threaded rods with hacksaw: 20 min.

Measuring...

...twice.

Cutting once. (x6)

Assembly: over 1 hour due to messing up the ends and needing to clean them up first. It's starting to come together.

Progress!

The workspace

Building A Reprap, pt. 2 (Motors)

2010-11-14T10:32:00.000-08:00

Part one of this series is here.

You know what a motor is. But you may now know what a stepper motor is. A stepper motor is a motor where an exact, precise, jolt of electricity will rotate the shaft one complete revolution. This is very useful for when you need to move something in a measured manner, like say, a printer. The Reprap will use several of these.

The NEMA 14 stepper motor

In order to send those precise jolts of electricity, you have your computer (in this case an Arduino Mega) send a signal to a stepper motor driver. A stepper motor driver is yet another tiny circuit board covered in handy bits of electronics. (My astonishingly small familiarity with these technologies allows me to use these complex technical terms.)

I will be using Pololu A4983 stepper motor drivers.

Now that you have background, here's what I worked on Saturday:

Converted the loose wire ends on the motors to convenient plugs (x4 motors).
Soldered the driver boards together (x4 drivers).
Programmed the Arduino Mega to talk to the Reprap software.

Before Pictures:

Pre-solder driver

During Pictures:

Lots of little bits to connect.

The USB cable is connected to a netbook which is programing this Arduino.

After Pictures:

Wires now a plug.

Driver, post solder. I'll try to get a better picture of this later.

Building A Reprap, pt 1: What Is A Reprap?

2010-10-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

I have begun to build a Reprap, along with several other people from the San Diego Hackerspace (Don't look at me like that, go educate yourself on the real meaning of hacker.), and I plan to blog the process. But first, what is a Reprap?

A Reprap is an open source, 3D fabrication machine. If you are familiar with the Schlockverse, think of it as a primitive fabber. If you know about Star Trek, think of is as very (!) primitive replicator.

If you somehow are not familiar with ether of those references, I will describe a Reprap for you. In essence, a Reprap is a personal, printer sized machine capable of "printing" plastic objects.

They can make everything from the practical to the complicated to the whimsical. (Images from Thingiverse.com)

Practical


Complicated

Whimsical

There are many commercial 3D printers on the market, but the "cheap" ones tend to run in the $25,000 range. A Reprap on the other hand should cost me under $500. While it's true that the print quality is not as fine as a commercial machine would produce, a Reprap is a clear winner in the affordability department.

Truth

2010-08-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

Truth without love is like a naked singularity. Alone, if you get too close, it will tear you to shreds, leaving essentially nothing.

With love, truth is (again like a singularity) an incredible, almost unending source of power.

Tree Hugging Dribble

2010-08-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

I had to calculate my carbon foot print for a health (!) class and come up with five ways to reduce it. I had so much fun, I decided to do a few extra. I post my list, as I turned it in, here:

I have a carbon footprint of about 7.4 tons a year, about 1/3 the national average, and I've never even given it a thought. Most of the reason for this low number is due to the fact that I lead a (relatively) simple life due to religious convictions and common sense, along with a a good dose of frugality. These are some of the potential changes I've come up with:

1. Move to a smaller house (The 392 square foot place I'm in now is just so big. I would, but you can't build a legal house with a smaller footprint.)
2. Use zero cooling instead of a swamp cooler (which uses 1/2 the electricity of an air conditioner)
3. Take more online classes to reduce driving (I would but I always take the online option if it's available, so this one's an you, [name of school].)
4. I could drive a Tata Nano (I would, but the state of California won't let me, or anyone else, because they think the Nano is too dangerous for it's occupants - and they have decided not to lat me make my own choice in the matter of my personal safety, thinking they can live my life for me better than I can.)
5. I could jump off a cliff before I get married and have children ["Basically, too many people are the problem" -- One of the instructors, today, Aug. 2010] (But that's obviously poor idea: I don't get to decide when I die, that's God's job.)
6. I could disconnect my tankless water heater, and just use cold water.
7. I could throw away my bread machines and make my bread purely by hand, and cook it in an "eco-oven."
8. I could also buy 100 lb. sacks of flour, instead of 50 lb. sacks to reduce packaging.

Schoolwork # 2

2010-04-12T18:48:00.000-07:00

Because of the inability of my computer to run Second Life, I have decided to expolor a different online world, with a lower equipment threshold. After a few quick searched on Google, I found a site (mudconnect.com) that rates MUDs. I located a MUD that both looked interesting had a high rating, Cities of M'Dhoria, and went to it's website.
I found that although I could just use telnet to play that there would be a richer experience (colored ASCII, etc.) if I downloaded a MUD client. I located and downloaded MUSHClient.

It only took me a few minutes to install, set up and connect to CoM once MUSHCLient was on my computer. After that I ran through the tutorial and then headed out.

Even though the game is very complicated, there were a whole stream of people literally waiting in line to help me get on my feet. These were not players, but rather helpers who worked on shifts to help new comers such as myself. Second Life could take a lesson from this.

If you don't know what a MUD looks like, here is a short time period's worth of play:

[Exits: (west) up]
A large sign is posted here.
A little, smelly goblin named Klog is standing here with a sneer.
Ext: wU | HP: 29/29 | Mana: 116/116 | Status: T
kill klog
You lunge forward and bite Klog with a snarling chomp.
Your bite <<< ravages >>> Klog!
Klog is stunned but will probably recover.
Your pierce massacres Klog!
Klog is stunned but will probably recover.
Ext: wU | HP: 29/29 | Mana: 116/116 | Status: T
murder klog
You show no mercy to Klog.
Klog splatters blood on your armor.
You get a green key from the lifeless corpse of Klog.
Ext: wU | HP: 29/29 | Mana: 116/116 | Status: T
unlock west
*Click*
You unlock the door to the west.
Ext: wU | HP: 29/29 | Mana: 116/116 | Status: T
open w
You open the door to the west.

Where did I go?

I finished with the tutorial, I explored the Academy Square with it's temples, banks, gardens and more.

What did I do?

I explored, enraged in combat and commerce and had social interactions.

How did I design my avatar?

The avatar in CoM are of course simply text. You get to select your race, size, weight, and various colorings. I chose to be a Canidae, a canine like creature.

What challenges did I face?

The interface is complex as I mentioned before, but with the help also mentioned earlier, it was a simple matter to overcome these challenges.

How does CoM compare to other inversive experiences?

It was very different from other experiences. Even in other ASCII based games I have played, there have been visual maps that showed my exact location. In CoM, there is only verbal descriptions, so that took a good deal of time to get used to.

From the textbook?

The anonymity granted by the virtual experience was similar to and in the case of chapter 35, identical to, what was described in the book. The real-time communications with others from around the world in a non-existent reality could be very absorbing.

Predictions of the future?

Within 20 years there will be full immersion, HD, 3D environments that can be experienced for free.

Schoolwork: Real people, Feel Free to Ignore

2010-04-07T14:19:00.001-07:00

I went to start the "Blog Project" and found that it requires me to install and run Second Life. My computer is woefully inadequate to run this software. Additionally, my internet connection is far to slow to run it, even if my hardware could handle it.

The hardware requirements for Blackboard are listed in the class documents, but the requirements for Second Life were not, so I had no forewarning that I would need anything other than what I had. I don't know of any way that I can complete this assignment.

Me vs Best Buy. The Rematch

2010-03-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

My camera had another issue. I sent this email to Best Buy.

To: S**** P*****
Geek Squad Public Defender
Executive Resolution Specialist
23 March 2010

A year ago, a camera that I had purchased from Best Buy had an issue and had to be sent in for repairs. That issue was eventually dealt with. A few weeks ago it again started showing symptoms, and then stopped functioning correctly. No problem. I shelled out a lot of money to get your super-duper best warranty, and I still have almost two years left on it.

I took it into the store and turned it over to the Geek Squad. A week later, I received a phone call telling me that although the camera could not be repaired, I could just come in and they would give me a brand new one off the shelf. Great! That's much better than the solution from last year which took several months to get resolved.

So I went in this morning to pick up my new camera. I should be in and out in ten minutes. Key word: should. Two hours and six employees later I finally left the store. I left the store Very Unhappy.

It turns out that Best Buy no longer carries my particular model of camera. No problem they said. We'll just get you one with equivalent features. I spent the next hour helping your salesman try to find something that would work. Every time I / we found a camera with the right features (optical viewfinder, optical zoom, small size and sufficient resolution) or even close to them, he'd spend five or more minutes to go through the process to get it ordered in, because it would invariably not be in stock at the location where I was. Each time he found that he "could not get that one." While it's true that there are not many cameras on the market today with all of my required features, there are still some.

Finally they gave up on finding a camera with the key features of the camera that I bought originally. They said that the equivalent camera today (without all of the required features.) costs $229.99. Therefore I could have that particular model, or $229.99 in store credit to replace my camera. After some deliberation I took the so called "equivalent" model.

I spent $500 on my original camera. That's enough to buy a brand new SLR today. That's not some low end piece-of-junk Kodak. That's nice, high quality equipment. I walked out the door today with a partially plastic product that is clearly inferior to the camera that I bought originally.

After I got it home, it became very clear within minutes that the camera I had been given was truly inferior. The next morning I called the store and finally found someone helpful. He apologized repeatedly for the poor treatment that I received and when told of my situation instantly concurred that the camera I had been given was inferior to the one I bought. He stated that the employees I'd dealt with clearly did not know about my original camera or they would never have tried to give me the low end camera they had. He told me to just come on back in and that they would give me what I should have been given as soon as I walked in the door.

I live an hour away from the Best Buy location where this all took place. I was told that I would have to return to the same branch in order to fix this. I was not going to be in the area for a week and a half, so I asked my father to stop by on his way to work and swap them out. When he went in this morning it took him over 40 minutes of arguing with the customer "service" employee to get the camera.

And then, to add insult to injury, I was told that because Best Buy was replacing my camera with a brand new one (instead of repairing the old one) that the warranty had "been fulfilled" and that therefore Best Buy would henceforth no longer be bound by the original warranty--even though I still have almost two years left on it. However, if I would care to spend more money, I could buy a new warranty!

A warranty is essentially a guaranty that the item bought will last for so long. If it stops working, you repair or replace it. You don't give excuses about how you can't repair it, and now it's worth less, so here, have a low end piece of junk. And by the way, would you like to buy a NEW warranty?

a1ca81090f

I spent a great deal of money on a four year warranty. I was told that because of the manner in which you chose to fulfill your end of the agreement, that you were going to arbitrarily void almost half of my warranty. I not only find this to be a despicable business practice, but also deceptive, if not downright fraudulent.

--
C.W.Holeman III
**Sig removed**

Multi-System USB External Hard Drive Project: Part 1

2009-08-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

With my recent acquisition of a 1 TB hard drive, I have now have my old 250 GB mini drive unused. My solution: make a demo box for on the go with mulitiple Operating Systems (OS).

I plan to cut the drive into five, fifty gig partitions and put the following OS's on it:

Ubuntu 9.04
Ubuntu Server (32 bit) 9.04
BackTrack4
Windows 7 (RC)
Open Solaris

Piece and Parts

I'm creating this USB system from my Macbook running OS X Tiger (10.4) and an older PC running Microsoft Windows XP. I have an external DVD burner for that machine. It's all going onto a Western Digital Passport Essential 250 GB external hard drive.

The Operating Systems

Ubuntu 9.04

I downloaded the most recent version of Ubuntu from their website. It was a simple matter to follow the directions on there to burn the ISO to a CD using "Disk Utility."

Once you are running the live CD, it has a very straight forward tool for installing the OS onto the computer. It was as simple as telling it what language, timezone, default user, etc. I wanted and pointing it at the right HDD.

Ubuntu Server 9.04

The ISO has been downloaded (also from their website) and I will work on adding it tomorrow.

BackTrack4

BackTrack4 was another download. Their website is here. It is rather larger than the Ubuntu ISO and required a DVD for it's 1.4 GB size. It has been burned as a live DVD and even as I type, it's installing on the HDD.

Issues with BackTrack4: Getting X to start took a quick get around that I found here. It was as follows:

If you can’t get X to work, first try to autogenerate an xorg.conf by typing “Xorg -configure” and try using the generated conf file. If that bums out, you can revert to VESA by typing “fixvesa”.

It took me both steps for it to work, but since then it's been smooth sailing.

Windows 7 (RC)

I got a copy of Windows 7 (RC) at SoCalCodeCamp. It turns out that you can't install it on an external hard drive without some major head aches. After a good bit of looking around, it seems that in order to do it you have to use some built-in system tools from Microsoft which are only available in Vista and 7.

I don't have a box running either, so this will have to come later. I have a few messages out to friends who can help with that.

In order to make things simpler later on, I've placed the partition for Windows 7 at the beginning of the disk. If you don't do this, Microsoft cannot find it's partition. None of the other systems have any trouble with this.

Strike one against Windows 7, and I don't even have it installed yet...

Open Solaris

I picked up a Open Solaris live CD at the June SDJUG meeting. I have not done anything with it yet.

That's what I've got so far. More will follow.

Have any questions? Please leave a comment and ask it. Have a comment?

Quick Photos (SIM card reader and USB charging adapter)

2009-07-20T23:37:00.000-07:00

A few gadgets photos. Just got these the other day, and haven't had time to play with them yet. They came from http://www.dealextreme.com . Once I've used them a bit, I' post more info.

I found it interesting that the USB charging adapter has the Apple stamp on it. It was just mixed in with tons of cheap Chinese items (which often do just the job, and at the right price.) This was not mentioned in the info about the item. I'd think it would be a selling point.

The packaging:

Both items: A USB power adapting charger and a SIM card reader.

An Open Letter to Apple.

2009-07-01T22:08:00.000-07:00

An Open Letter to Apple.
June 28, 2009

Dear Apple,

Let me start by saying I love your products, But.

That But is the purpose for this letter. I friend of mine upgraded his computer about a year-and-a-half ago. He's a very generous sort of guy and he gave me his
old laptop. It happened to be a Macbook. Before that day I could have counted the number of times I'd used a Mac. You know the drill, kind of weird, nothing's
where it should be, and what happened to the right button, etc. I adjusted quickly because I'm used to running several different OS's (Linux in various flavors and
MS Windows). Today I am addicted.

I love my computer. It's sleek and simple and elegant and everything you claim that it is. It hasn't spontaneously invented a cure for cancer yet, but other than
that...

I live in a small town. I'm rather technically minded. You might think that's something of a non sequitur, but believe me, it's not. These two facts go hand in hand.
When someone has a problem with a computer, they often come to me. Am I a certified computer repair technician? Nope. Can I help a lot of people solve their computer
problems? You bet.

When people come to me and say they're ready for a new computer, that this dinosaur from the 1990's has finally given up it's ghost, the first thing I ask them is
"What do you use your computer for?" Most of the time the answer is e-mail, word processing, and to surf the net. Do they need BlueGene/L to do these things? Of
course not. But they do want to watch those videos people send them and they do want to play those silly flash games too. Looks like it's upgrading time.

I would love to be able to tell them that I'd be happy to pick up a Mac Mini next time I'm down at the store. I'd love to be able to tell them to order a Macbook
(Look, it even has free shipping!) But I can't. Why not you ask? You just said you love our products. Don't get me wrong, I do love your products, But.

But I could buy a Mac Mini for $600, or I could buy just-another-PC for $275. I could buy a Macbook with those cool new aluminum cases for $1200 or I could buy the
"On sale now!" just-another-laptop that I saw while writing this letter for $300. And that includes Windows XP. Sure, I'd take it off and put Ubuntu on it, but
imagine if I could find it without Microsoft on it in the first place. It'd save me another $50 or $100. Sure I could buy the Macbook Air for $1500, or I could
buy an AEEE Asus netbook for under $300.

You produce nice, high-end, quality merchandise. But you don't make anything for the my granny on Social Security, or for the high-schooler on a limited budget, or
for anyone else on a limited budget for that matter.

Give us a Crab Apple Mac. A Mac to get us started. A Mac for the masses. We want to buy it, I want to buy it. I want to pass them around like hot-cakes,
and recommend them to everyone I know. But you don't seem to want to sell them to me. Apple, why don't you want my money? I want to give it to you.

C.W.Holeman III

Cross-posted on my website and sent to Steve Dowling (Apple's Corporate PR contact).

A Moral Dilemma

2009-06-25T23:07:00.000-07:00

There I am at Jack in the Box after class. It's some time after 10:00 pm. I'm eating my chicken sandwich minding my own business when three people come in to buy food. A woman, a man and a boy. The boy was probably about ten years old or so.

I was the only non-employee in the restaurant when they came in, so I could hear them as they ordered their food. The boy ordered a hamburger deluxe, a shake and a lemonade. The woman, whom I assume was his mother, told him he could have one drink or the other, but not both. He took the shake and a cup of water. The adults ordered their food as well.

A few minutes later when their food arrived, the man said, "Watch this." and walked away from the table. He went into the lavatory, and came back out moments later. At this point I see that he has the boy's, now empty, water cup. He proceeds to got to to the soda machine and serve a cup of lemonade. He then came back to the table, said "Here you go." and handed the cup to the boy.

There is the moral quandary. What is the correct response to this situation? Confront the man for theft? Tell the manager? Ignore the situation? Or something else entirely? What do you think? What what you have done, and why?

Thankfully I did not have to make a decision because the woman complained to the man, 'He can't have all that sugar. A shake and lemonade is too much!' The boy chimed in that he was fine with water. The man said he thought the boy/woman was just being cheap and he wanted to make the boy happy. He then apologized to the boy, dumped the lemonade in the lavatory and refilled the cup with water.

I finished my sandwich and started the drive home.

The Dollar

2009-06-02T08:33:00.000-07:00

President Truman was once known for using the phrase, "The buck stops here." He meant it in a positive light; no more passing the buck, no more shifting of responsibility, etc.

The way the Obama Administration is headed, it looks like he will be able to use the phrase in a literal sense:

Inflation just from the years 2000 to 2008 was between 22% and 45% depending on how it's calculated. (link) And that was before...

Chairman Bernanke said the Fed is funding bailouts using a process “more akin to printing money than it is borrowing.” (link) Which is leading to...

Russia to push for new "World Currency" (link )

The Five C's of Computing

2009-05-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

I came up with a list of actions people use computers for. When you break it down, people use computers for only a few kinds of tasks:

Computation
Creation
Communication
Collaboration
Consumption

If it's not on that list, you probably don't use a computer to do it.

Did I miss anything? Let me know.

Fresh Bread

2009-04-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

I just pulled this fresh bread out of the oven. Four rolls, one small loaf and one small loaf with a butter hardened crust, half of which has a cinnamon and brown sugar topping.

Review: "Pushing Daisies" Season One

2009-02-27T22:31:00.000-08:00

Fantastic! Very very funny. Bizarre, but brilliant. I watched the whole season in two sittings, and wished that I had season two waiting on the shelf. It's a show about murdered people. People that can talk, if only for sixty seconds. After that, it back to that land of the dead. I know the premise doesn't sound funny, but it truly is. It's a fairy tale like story, about a man named Ned, and a woman who's not dead (Her name is Chuck, and he's a pie maker.) and the very, er, distant relationship they have while he runs a pie shop and helps a Private Investigator solve mysteries. Murders mostly.

Please excuse me, while I go add seasons one and two to my wish list...

25 Random Things About Me

2009-02-02T10:56:00.001-08:00

[Facebook Rule]: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag your people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)[/Rules for Facebook]

1. I have never had a cavity, even though when I was younger I almost never brushed my teeth.

2. I have hand forged several daggers.

3. I love to read.

4. I don't usually do these sort of lists.

5. I've never smoked, done drugs, or been drunk.

6. I've taken over 40,000 pictures.

7. I've had a picture of mine used in an article.

8. When my family went on vacation in 2001, the public library's circulation went down noticeably.

9. I've been to almost half the states.

10. I've also been to sixteen countries.

11. I've built a house.

12. I am learning to play the Irish whistle.

13. I know around a half dozen programing languages.

14. I enjoy a good cup of tea.

15. I like trying new and strange foods.

16. I think of families of less than six people as small.

17. I think of houses larger than 600 square feet as large.

18. Bananas are my favorite fruit.

19. I am a voracious reader.

20. I eat home-made bread more often than bread from a store.

21. I've never shaved.

22. I'm currently reading "The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual."

23. I'm making hot dog buns for lunch.

24. I love pumpkin pie.

25. I am finished writing this list.

Sleding at Night

2008-12-17T23:11:00.000-08:00

Sledding at night is fun, but I need to come up with a camera mount for my hat or something. Steering with one hand is rather difficult as you will see in the video.

Addicted

2008-12-07T22:52:00.000-08:00

Looks like that's me. I was just looking at my browser history, and realized that I've loaded five thousand web pages a month for the past quarter of a year. (Since I got my computer up and running)

60,000 web pages a year. Wow.

Blerb: Music

2008-11-26T15:48:00.000-08:00

Looking for some French/Celtic Rap?

Manau is the band for you!

(No? But it's so unique... not bad really.)

A Late-Night Quote

2008-11-12T00:20:00.000-08:00

"Now is not the time to talk a about it."
-- A mother.

"Yes it is! Now is when I'm upset!"
-- Her daughter.

Joke (Drunk Driving)

2008-11-09T17:50:00.000-08:00

From Down Under:

From the state where drunk driving is considered a sport, comes a "true story" from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Recently a routine police patrol parked outside a local neighbourhood tavern. Late in the evening the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so intoxicated that he could barely walk.

The man stumbled around the car park (parking lot) for a few minutes, with the officer quietly observing. After what seemed an eternity and trying his keys on five vehicles, the man managed to find his car, which he fell into.

He was there for a few minutes as a number of other patrons left the bar and drove off. Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off (it was a fine dry night), flicked the indicators on, then off, tooted the horn and then switched on the lights. He moved the vehicle forward a few cm (inches), reversed a little and then remained stationary for a few more minutes as some more vehicles left.

At last he pulled out of the car park and started to drive slowly down the road. The police officer, having patiently waited all this time, now started up the patrol car, put on the flashing lights, promptly pulled the man over and carried out a Breathalyzer test. To his amazement the breathalyzer indicated no evidence of the man having consumed alcohol at all!

Dumbfounded, the officer said; "I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the Police station this breathalyzer equipment must be broken."

"I doubt it," said the man, "tonight I'm the designated decoy".

Moosebutter

2008-11-07T23:42:00.000-08:00

So I'm coming off a hyping of coffee (warm, rich, chocolaty coffee-- yummy...), writing a piece of code for an assignment for my JavaScript class (due Sunday) and listening to "Moosebutter" which is akin to "Weird Al Yankovic" at 23:44 (11:45) when I come across this: "Midnight Musings" on their website.

If the last paragraph was fully incomprehensible, I blame it on the facts laid forth therein.

On a slightly unrelated note, did you know that the money spent just on the Presidential and Congressional races for 2008, was over $5.3 Billion? (ref.) That's a lot of money. In fact, it's enough to build an entire nuclear powered Nimitz class aircraft carrier (ref.) with nearly a Billion left over.

Trailer: I.O.U.S.A

2008-08-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

This looks to be a movie worth the watching. Their website: www.IOUSAtheMovie.com

Reviewing "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"

2008-08-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

"Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is not the sort of movie that gets made these days. The radical stylization of this movie was rather disconcerting at first. It felt rather cartoonish, vague if you will. It was also visually very dark, lots of shadows. But as it progresses, these issues became much less significant.

They did this in two ways. The first was that after the first little while, they slowly added more light to the world. The second was that I realized that this isn't "Star Wars." No, the CGI wasn't photo-realistic. No, it isn't even cutting edge. But, and this is a big but, Sky Captain has a theme, a feel, a texture it's trying to hit. And it does hit it. It hit's it dead center. It is an old feeling, sort of that 1940's comic book/black and white movie feel. I'm not saying that it's a two color movie, but it does convey that feel. It doesn't matter if it doesn't look real, because it doesn't try to make you think that it is real.

Sky Captain had a good story, if rather far fetched. But that's just par for the course with any movie that opens with robots the size sky scrapers. It was funny through out, and was "A lot of fun" as someone with me put it. I fully concur. It was a good ride.

This movie is rated PG, and was released in 2004.

Anthology Builder

2008-07-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

Too interesting an idea not to post on. Anthology Builder allows you to pick and choose a selection of short stories, which will then be printed in a professional, custom paperback book. (It looks as though hardcovers are not available at this time.) There is a 350 page limit for each book, but the font size can be reduced to fit more, if your eyes can handle it.

I put a collection together to look through the site's features. This was the result for a 294 page softcover book.

Anthology Cost:	$14.95
Cost of Shipping:	$4.63
Featured Writer Discount: [what's this?]	- $1.00
Total Cost:	$18.58

My Good Experience with Best Buy: Update 3

2008-07-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

I received my gift card from "Best Buy" in the mail today. My $75.00 gift card.

At the outset of this issue, I never planed to darken the doorway of any of their stores again. Now, however, I am quite satisfied with their method of resolution for this problem. True, I didn't have my camera for longer than I would have liked, but a seventy-five dollar bribe* to forget about it seems sufficient from my point of view.

If you don't know why "Best Buy" is sending me large sums of money, you may want to start at the beginning of this tale, or read the first update, or even the second update.

*If you don't like the term bribe, please pretend that I wrote graft. Err, I mean gift.

My Peachy Experience with Best Buy: Update 2

2008-06-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

I received another email from Sarah Pieper (of "Best Buy") today. The "Geek Squad Public Defender" and "Executive Resolution Specialist" for "Best Buy" if you recall.

In order to make things simple here, I'll just post her whole email (minus personal information and extra white space.)

Mr. Holeman:

Thank you for your reply. I have located your service order, and again I apologize that you have not received the level of service that you had expected with our stores.

As mentioned earlier I would like to provide you with a gift card to Best Buy in the amount of $75. The address that I have on file is {REMOVED}

Please let me know if any updates need to be made to your address. Delivery will take approximately two to three weeks. Thank you again for sharing your experience with our offices.

Sincerely,

Sarah Pieper
Geek Squad Public Defender
Executive Resolution Specialist
Best Buy Co., Inc.
Context ~ Input ~ Responsibility ~ Arranger ~ Connectedness

My Experience with Best Buy: Update

2008-06-20T12:46:00.001-07:00

I received the following email in response to yesterday's post.

Dear Mr. Holeman:

Thank you for contacting Mr. Brian Dunn at the Best Buy Corporate
Campus; I'm Sarah from the executive resolution team. Mr. Dunn's office
has received your email and has forwarded it to me for review and
response. While I was sorry to read of your experience with your camera
repairs, I appreciate the chance to address your concerns.

I realize it can be frustrating when you do not receive the service you
expect, and I am disappointed we did not meet your expectations on both
occasions that you brought your camera to us for repair. Best Buy
strives to provide our customers with the highest level of service,
convenience and selection. I know your experience is not at all a
typical one with Best Buy. We consider feedback to be one of the most
important tools we have to identify areas of opportunity for
improvement. I will share your comments with the appropriate management
in an effort to avoid a similar incident from happening again.

In an effort for me to document this situation and research your service
order, can you please provide the phone number that was given for your
service orders and/or the service order number off of your paperwork? I
can not change the experience that you had, but I would like to provide
you with a gift card as an apology for your experience and an invitation
to return to our stores.

Thank you again for sharing your experience with our office. Further, I
hope this has not diminished your opinion of Best Buy as a whole, and
that we will have an opportunity to serve you again in the future.
Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Sarah Pieper
Geek Squad Public Defender
Executive Resolution Specialist
Best Buy Co., Inc.
Phone: 612-292-0154
Fax: 952-430-4997
sarah.pieper@bestbuy.com
Context ~ Input ~ Responsibility ~ Arranger ~ Connectedness

My Deplorable Experience with Best Buy.

2008-06-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

Read Update 3 for the favorable conclusion to this true tale.
Update 2 is available.

Today, I sent the following letter to the president of "Best Buy." (Update: See this post.)

June 19, 2008

To: Mr. Brian Dunn, President and Chief Operating Officer Best Buy Co., Inc.
From: C.W. Holeman III

Let me tell you about my experience I had with "Best Buy." I was a first time customer. I had high hopes--hopes that would be quickly dashed. In short, it was the most painful series of customer service interactions I have ever experienced.

In September of 2007 I purchased a camera from "Best Buy". I got the longest, most expensive "Best Buy" warranty that I could to go with it. At the beginning of April of 2008 the camera broke. I took it to a "Best Buy" location in San Marcos, CA. This was on April 7, 2008.

They took it and said it would be 10-15 days before I would have it back again. The repair work would be done free of charge, as it was covered by the warranty.

A week or so later, in order to find out the status of my camera, I called the store during normal business hours. Each time I selected the option to talk to someone from the "Geek Squad" the phone would ring from three to five minutes, and then hang up on me. To circumvent this, I called back, then pressed the option to talk to someone in customer service. From there I asked to be transferred to someone on the "Geek Squad." The same thing occurred. I finally reached someone by having the employee in customer service go and physically find a human from the "Geek Squad" and have them pick up the phone.

I had to make no less than four phone calls to the store to find out the status of my camera. I was told that it had been shipped out of state, and that they could not tell me anything concerning it's status. I find this utterly unacceptable. I have never been told that by anyone from any other company, ever before.

I called back some days later. I had to go through the same sort of rigmarole to speak to a human in the "Geek Squad." This was exacerbated by the fact that there was no machine system for me to interact with. How often does someone complain that they'd rather talk to a computer than to a human? That shows just how bad this was.

On this occasion, I received contradictory information from two employees. I was finally told that my camera had been repaired, and was "in shipping." It was sent via UPS. I asked for the tracking number since no one seemed able to tell me even so little as what state the package was in. I was told that they could not give out that information because it was shipped with other items in a large package. What the number of items in the box had to do with the tracking number, I was never able to determine, and eventually gave up.

I finally received a phone call the next week informing me that my camera was repaired, and ready to pick up. I live in a small town, an hour away from the nearest "Best Buy" location, so it took me a while before I was able to get down to the store to retrieve my camera.

I, of course, did not have either my battery or a memory card with me when I picked it up, as it is requested by "Geek Squad" that you remove these items before bringing in a camera for a repair.

The next morning I was using my camera to take pictures of a friend who lives in New York, and was only in town for her grandmother's funeral. After taking several pictures, I attempted to put the camera in view mode to see how the pictures were coming out. The camera would not go into view mode.

Did I mention the issue I sent the camera in for in the first place? It would not go into view mode.

This was, to say the least, inordinately vexatious.

As I mentioned above, I live an hour from any "Best Buy" location. As soon as was practical (on May 17th) I went back to the store to have my camera repaired. Remembering my poor experience at the location in San Marcos, I took my camera to a location in El Cajon, assuming I would get better service at another location. Boy was I wrong.

I related this sad narrative to the man at the "Geek Squad" counter. I was told that I would have my repair expedited. This was something, though not much, of a consolation.

The next week I called to find out the status of this second attempt to repair my camera. Remember the hassle I had trying to get information I had the first time around? This time it was worse.

I called on May 22nd, 23rd, and 29th. On each occasion I had to call back several times to get a human. Each time I had to wait upwards of a quarter of an hour on hold. When I finally did speak with someone, I received such useful answers as "I don't know." And "[There is] no way to tell [the status of the repair]"

I was told that they were not doing the repairs, but were simply the middle men. I asked for the phone number of the company actually doing the repairs, and heard the first six digits when I was cut off once again.

I called back. I got someone in customer service. I asked to be transferred to the "Geek Squad." After waiting a few minutes, I got customer service. I once again asked for the "Geek Squad." Several minutes later, I got customer service. I, for the third time, asked for the "Geek Squad." This time I finally got the "Geek Squad."

The man immediately put me on hold while he found a computer that could give me the information I needed. He told me that the repair had been completed, and was now in the shipping process. I was told that the shipping procedure would take five or more days. (That's expedited?) And not only that, but the package would be shipped from out of state, not to me, but to a store an hour away from my home! Why not just have it delivered straight to me?

When I asked for the repair center's phone number, I was informed that they don't have a public phone number! I told him that the person I'd just been talking to gave me half a number before it cut off on me. This confused him, so he went off to see if he could find the number. Sure enough, he came back with a phone number. This was not the same phone number that the first man half-gave me; but was in fact, an 800 number! (How many companies keep 800 numbers for non-public use?)

I called "Precision Camera," the company that does Best Buy's camera repairs. I quickly and easily reached a woman who was quite helpful, and gave me all the information I requested. Including a UPS tracking number for the package the camera was in, contrary to what I had been told by several "Geek Squad" employees.

I tracked the package (1Z A62 R37 12 5365 436 1) until June 2nd, when it achieved the status of Delivered. I called the "Best Buy" store no less than four times that day, each with multiple failures of the employees to successfully transfer a phone, or having it hang up on me. I finally gave up.

Two days later I finally had my camera back and in working order. And thus ends my doleful tale of how I was treated at "Best Buy."

--
C.W.Holeman III
http://www.cwholemaniii.com
http://cwholemaniii.blogspot.com

The Jeremiah Hickabilly Show

2008-06-08T22:57:00.000-07:00

What happens when three people don't get enough sleep? Why The Jeremiah Hickabilly Show of course!

The views and opinions expressed by the hosts, guests and advertisers of the Jeremiah Hickabilly Show are not necessarily shared by the the owner of this blog.

(Warning, if you were not there, this will probably bore you to tears.)

(If you don't like the player, join the club. I mean, common, it's pink! If you know how to change that, or know of a better player, please do leave me a comment and let me know.)

These People Make the Laws

2008-05-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

I just ran across this video (here). A barrel shroud is a safety feature. This woman thinks we should ban/regulate them. Her reasoning will astound you. The clip is under a minute long.

Sand Runner

2008-05-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

By C.W.Holeman III
© May 25, 2008
(Raw Dream Material.)

Near future:

I was at at prison/resurch facility in deep desert.

Test goes wrong. Bomb explodes. The OIC decides to convert all inmates into power. It will of course kill them. It was an accident the bomb blew early. Almost killed the test team in the sand. I escaped. I'd been jailed for being too close to to the test. I saw the lack of safety protocols.

I heard the order to convert to power. I ran. I fled. Fleeing from place to place, I eventually made my way home.

Bt this point, Everyone thought I was a bad man. I was a fugitive for something. Not for what I'd done. I knew If I was captured that I would be killed right away, before I could squeal on the OIC.

I picked up a pair of HC M-SD Cards.

I made it home. I got to the church building where I'd been going. My sister (dark hair) brought me food. I ate in the attic. I was going to stay there, sleep. But there were too many of them. They were going to find me.

I ran again. Someone grabbed me. A cop. I couldn't get away. I knew I was dead. No way out. He was trying to lock my brain. I'd be helpless then. Unable to fight.

He almost had me locked. I was desperate. I initiated Brain Dead. I would be dead in moments. Every man's right. The cop looked to his superior, should he let me? She shook her head, but she said yes. What kind of man, she must have thought, would kill himself? I don' t know if she knew what was waiting for me. Must not have, not with that look on her face.

But I had cheated.

Remember those CH M-SD Cards? I had placed a back up copy of Me in each of them. As I sagged to the ground, my last bytes on their way to the either, I popped in the card.

Back-ups are wonderful things. Don't leave home with out them. I don't.

My memories of the last few hours would be a bit fuzzy, but the brain would retain residue images of things past.

The cop tried to grab me. But I was off again. Through the town I ran. Up stairs, through shops, past stores, down stairs. Past the horse corral, almost to the open fields again. Almost to the country. Almost to safety.

I had eluded so many cops. I could see lights flashing all around.

A car pulled up behind me. One of those big ones. It pulled past me and parked. On the other side of the open field, there were more of them. This one was so close.

Bor was a friend of mine. I went to a Bible study at his house. He was a cop. I'd know him for years. He walked up slowly.

He offered me hope. The first I'd had since the alert went public. I trusted him.

You always hear the saying, hide in plain sight. That's was Bor did. He took me to jail, put me in a cell, and locked the door. I was relieved. It was the local holding station. There were a few other people in there with me.

A little while latter, when the broadcast stared, I was so happy. I'd done it. The imprint from a HC M-SD Card was better that an eye witness. Bor transmitted it on all the bands he could.

A cop has access to a lot of bands.

I sat in that cell, and I laughed.

I sat in a cell, but I was free.

The truth was out.

You can't put

a genie

back

in

a
.
.
.

Reviewing "Stargate Atlantis" Season Three

2008-05-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

I've just completed watching the third season of "Stargate Atlantis" on DVD. It was fantastic.

Although the Wraith were not as prevalant in this season as in times past, when they did show their ugly, pale faces, they presented unique and interesting challenges for Weir, Shepard and company to overcome.

The time not spent on the Wraith was filled with character development, new people introduced (Meredith's sister ) old enemies revisited (the Jenni), new enemies encountered (a new breed of Replicators) and some out-of-this-universe conundrums.

WARNING: Big Spoiler!

My biggest complaint of the season was, and it's a real doozy, the manner in which Dr. Carter Beckett died. The fact that he died at all, I object to because I liked everything about him; from his accent to his manner, to -well, everything.

I could have lived with his death if only he had died in a worthy manner. Worthy meaning he spent his last few minutes removing an exploding tumor from a person. I don't count Little Nobodies whom you've never seen before, and will never see again, as people. (In the context of fiction.)

Dr. Beckett ought to have been given the honor of giving his life for someone whom we, the audience, actually care about. Tala, Ronan, Zalanka. Even Lorren would have been OK. But to cut off his life for a faceless man? I call it a waste and a shame.

Deeper

2008-04-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

It's happened. The end has come.

My word of advice to you; never finish a project. You'll only get in the middle of another, bigger, longer one. In this case, I've got myself signed up for and actually have a .edu email address, and everything that goes with it. (Or I will soon have the trappings.)

That's right, the "C" word. College. At the moment I'll only be signing up for an XHTML and a JavaScript class. But as I noted in Holeman's Observations on Government (hereby shortened to the much easer to type H.O.G.) "Any program once established, will be expanded..."

Let me add to that, "Once in a system, you can only get deeper."

Farewell, O free time!

Camera Cases and Handcuff Holders

2007-12-16T13:05:00.001-08:00

In 2001 during a vacation up to Canada, I got a small pouch for my camera. That pouch lived every day on my belt for the next six years. I put it through a lot of abuse. It served me well. Sadly, it died earlier this year. I spent a great deal of time looking for a replacement, and finally found the manufacturer of the old pouch; Calde Ridge. I couldn't find the same container on their website, and so contacted their costumer service department.

It turns out that they didn't make the pouch I had (which was designed as a handcuff holder ). But they made two custom pouches, and sent them to me for free! Across international borders no less.

I have never, ever, had a better interaction with a company. Ever. I will copy some of our exchange below. (With some small changes for readability and a little added emphasis.)

Me:[regarding my old holder]

The durability has been exceptional. The only real damage it's had was when I got to close to a forge I was doing some blacksmithing in, which meted part of it. And the band on top of the pocket came loose a while back, but a few mini safety pins took care of that. Up until the fabric started unraveling recently, that is.

Calde Ridge:

I'm making you a couple pouches right now as I type
this email..... one should be the same as you already
have so now you can call it a custom job...
The other is a product we make now and then but this
is the first one made with the 1000 deni foam
laminated backing in this size of pouch...
I hope you continue to use and abuse the gear we make
and it can stand up to your expectations.
There is no charge $$$ the items should arrive in a
week or so, shipping it by mail today.
Let me know when it arrives please .......

I highly recommend Calde Ridge and their products. They make long lasting, high quality gear. And their prices are good to boot. (even when you have to pay for their products.)

After I received these e-mails, the only way I could sign my reply thanking them was:
"--A *very* satisfied customer." If you are in the Abbotsford, BC (Canada) area, do yourself a favor and stop in at Calde Ridge. Tell them that C.W. sent you, and that I said, "Thanks again."

Now that I've had my new pouch for almost six months, I can say it's holding up just as well as the old one, and looks nearly as good as new. As I write this, the pouch rests on my belt, shiny and black, and it hasn't even been cleaned.

I'll add pictures to this post of old and new within the next few days.

Just in case someone thinks I got paid to say the above, they are wrong. (But I did get two free cases.) I have no connection with Calde Ridge except as a costumer, excluding the above, which was offered to me with no strings attached.

Flickr Test

2007-12-06T14:30:00.001-08:00

This is an automated test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.
If you haven't seen my pictures over there check them out.

Fire!

2007-09-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

After returning from a two week vacation (see "San Fransisco") I have found few things that are equal in their relaxation value as a thousand acre fire threatening your home. Follow me as I guide you in a photo tour of my weekend. All these photos/videos were taken from my grandpa's porch. Only a hundred yards or so from my house.

Doing a little smoking.

Might as well enjoy the air show, right?

I love water, don't you?

A chopper on the way out.

Some folks missing a few marbles. (Click image for a more details.)

A wee bit close for comfort.

I'm not sure if this was comforting or terrifying. (Click to play.)

My brother took this one.

Yet another fly by. (Yippy!)

Later that night.

I took seval hundred more pictures, but these give you the idea.

Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit

2007-08-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

I have for many years, if fact, for most of my life, desired to taste rabbit stew. I can trace this fact directly back to Chapter Five of "The Two Towers" (By J.R.R. Tolkien) in which Samwise Gamgee cooks the brace of coney's that Smeagol (notice that I intentionally do not call him Gollum in this instance) catches for Frodo Baggins.

Every time I have heard this passage, my curiosity has been piqued. And each time I have wanted to try it. With every reading my craving for this dish has intensified.

At our house, on the occasion of a birthday, Papa will try to prepare the meal-of-choice of the raison d'être of the celebrations. Within reason of course.

Since at least as far back as 2001, and perhaps longer, my meal-of-choice has been rabbit stew. We don't exactly live in England (or the deep south) so rabbit is extraordinarily rare as a food source. (Although there are plenty on the wild and as pets.)

I have eaten squid, octopus, duck, pheasant, eel, lamb, et cetra, et cetra. But I have never had the opportunity to dine on rabbit. Until yesterday.

We have some friends who raise rabbits for food, but for one reason or another, we have been unable to acquire one for our consumption.

Yesterday, being my birthday, I had the great joy of going to work! Wait... hmm. There is something subtly wrong with that... But anyway, when I got back up, Lo! a rabbit in the (crock)pot!

This disposed me to be immensely gleeful. Within an hour or so, I was supping on the succulent delight of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit.

(And by the way, yes, the picture was edited slightly.)

One Working Welder

2007-08-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I was able to get the correct plug on my new welder, and use it for the first time. After a half hour setting up, and fifteen more minutes of fiddling, I found the correct settings and fired up the new arc-welder.

I didn't have a lot of time, so I contented myself with fusing a pair of horse shoes together.

Whereupon I went to use my acetylene torch (also for the first time). When I swapped my brand new acetylene tank for a full tank, it had a plastic cap covering the output nozzle, which was great because I wasn't planning on assembling it for a while.

I remove the cap, ready to go cut some pipe for a quick project for Papa, and Lo! The inside of the nozzle was caked in crud. So, sadly, as I had little time remaining in the day, I was unable to use it at the time.
Oh well. One down, one to go.

H.O.U.S. # 1 (Version 3.0)

2007-08-07T15:03:00.000-07:00

H.O.U.S. (House Of Unusual Size) # 1 (Version 3.0)

Although this is not yet complete, it's good enough to post.

Holeman's Observations on Government (Part 1)

2007-08-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

Here are a few things I've noticed. Hereafter know as Holeman's Observations on Government .

Any program once established, will be expanded. (Typically at the same rate as the universe. Thus it can be said that "It's the same size it was before, relatively speaking.")

No program once established, will ever be disestablished. (Except when being replaced by a larger program.)

Taxes are never reduced permanently.

Politicians think they know better than you do. (Yes, I know "Politicians think" is an oxymoron.)

I'll add more of these as the truths occur to me.

Do you have a file with the FBI?

2007-07-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

Neither had I. Until yesterday that is. As all of you who know me could testify I take a lot of pictures. Too many pictures, some might argue.

One of you told me on Saturday, that "People will think you are some kind of wacko" for taking pictures on the freeway. It turns out that you were right!

While waiting on the freeway on ramp, I saw this call box. The lighting behind it was interesting (It didn't come out in the photo) so I took a picture. *Gasp!*

I wear gloves when I drive, I have a "full beard" -so says the FBI- and I was taking pictures of a Free Standing, Solar Powered Communications Device (FSSPCD) commonly known as a "Call Box."

Did you know that taking pictures of a call box can get you called by the FBI? "Suspicious activity" "in this post 9-11 world", don't-cha know?

I took the above photo on Monday. (July 9, 2007 @ 06.09:32 Hr.) and promptly forgot about it. Yesterday morning, my sister called me. She told me that an FBI agent had called her. She gave me his phone number and I called him back.

I called the number given (and listed for the San Diego FBI) 858-565-1255. I asked to be transferred to the person my sister spoke with, and it was done. I got a message machine. I left a message. Several minutes later, he called back.

He asked me if I was taking pictures at such-and-so a location at 7am. (While wearing gloves.) I told him I had. He wanted to know why.

I told him I "take a lot of pictures." I also mentioned that I had been at a wedding on Saturday night and took over three hundred pictures there. I referenced my website which he then wanted to know the URL of. I gave it to him.

But why had I taken a picture on Monday? he asked.

Because I liked the lighting. I replied.

He asked me several other questions. Would I like to meet him in person? That way he could show me his badge, etc. But he figured I'd "rather deal with this over the phone."

Later I learned that he had spoken with all three C.W.Holeman's before finally finding me.

He called me back this morning. He asked the same sort of questions, I gave the same answers. (got to keep my story straight :-) )He hadn't even looked at my website. I even posted "The Great and Mysterious Photograph" for him.

He offered to meet me in person again too. But this time he motioned a "partner" or an "associate." I forget which. Why is he so anxious to meet me in person? Does he need a picture for his dossier on me?

He said that he'd look at my site, and "Reach out to you" again if he needed anything else. He told me he would look at my site yesterday too. I wonder if he will this time?

If I were a terrorist, what would his calls have done? (Other than alert me to the fact that I had been noticed)

He might as well have said, "Attention Terrorist, This is the FBI. We have noticed your suspicious behaviour. Please flee or hide your activities better at once. Thank you."

This is a Test. (Picasa)

2007-06-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

This is only a Test. Were this a real post, commentary would follow.

The Praise Symphony Orchestra

2007-06-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

On Sunday evening, The Praise Symphony Orchestra came down from Orange County to do a performance at Hillside Community Church. Only about two-thirds of this chamber orchestra was able to come on this trip, which put their number at around thirty-five people.

Not only was I able to get a front row seat, I got the whole front pew all to myself. Which was exceedingly useful for taking pictures, videos, and a number of audio clips as well.

The orchestra happens to be celebrating their 30^th anniversary this month. There are only two or three people left from the original group, but the ranks have clearly been swelled with replacements along the way. In fact, one of the cellists is only twelve years old!

The only thing that topped the quality of the music was the price. The concert was totally Free. Plans are already under way for a return visit next year. All I can say is give me a date to reserve.

I Love Free Food

2007-06-14T07:12:00.000-07:00

I couldn't let both a free lunch, and a good photo go by without posting (and besides that, it's been over a month since I last did anything on this blog. And I find that not only annoying, but also dull, so I took just a few minutes to write-and-rotate [the picture that is] -and-post.)

Anyway, The "New Person" at work (one of two actually) has brought food in to share several times recently. And on Tuesday, she brought the sandwiches to the right.

Good stuff.

Chicken de Holeman

2007-05-05T23:47:00.000-07:00

I was home alone tonight for dinner because half my family is at a Civil War Reenactment, and the other half is on their way north to see my uncle who has had a massive stroke, and is in the hospital.

We got 25 lb. of chicken at 77¢ a lb yesterday, so I made something up with chicken for dinner. Here is the recipe:

2 cups chicken, sliced into strips.
~1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/8 teaspoon Oregano
4 heaping tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic (crushed)
1/8 cup onion
1/8 cup Chardonnay
1/2 leaf basil

2 corn tortillas

Heat butter, onion, garlic and basil an a sauce pan on medium-low until the onion is nicely browned. (It took me two tries to do this part. The first attempt was more black than brown.)
Add chicken, Chardonnay and spices.
Cook until the chicken is well done all the way through.
Place chicken/onion mixture in a bowl. (Do not remove liquids.) Cover with several place-mats/towels to keep warm.
Fry the tortillas in the butter mixture in the bottom of the pan.
Serve with orange juice.

Remember, I wrote this post after midnight-thirty, so prepare this sapid dish with caution (Also please excuse the brevity and sloppiness etc. of this post.)

A Duo of Dolts

2007-03-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

After spending an hour and a quarter on the road, dealing with the usual dolts driving like bats out of Borrego, I got a special treat: double tailgaters!
That's right, because one person right on my tail wasn't dangerous enough. I let them all pass me, so I wouldn't have any problems with them.

Or so I thought.

Ten minutes later, just before my driveway I come upon this scene:

"Not good," think I. So what's my first reaction? Slow down? Honk horn? No, of course no. What then, you ask? Take a picture. (Duh) I did stop and honk at them, but only as secondary operations. My primary focus was on getting my camera powered up. Hey, evidence is handy stuff, right?

These two fellows were hollering and swearing and flinging profanity around like it was the end of the world. I have never in my life heard so much verbal abuse heaped on anybody. Not to mention that they were practically in his lap swinging fists around.

After I showed up and the neighbor you can see in the background came out, the two men backed off. The man in the car called 911 and asked me to stick around as a witness. I parked at home, grabbed a sweat shirt and ran back down there.

That's when it started snowing.

It turns out that this was my tailgating duo. Apparently, the man in the car had passed the other two and "ran us off the road" when a car came from the other direction. So they decided to give him a piece of there minds and followed him for fifteen minutes to do so, which is where I found them.

Within a few minutes, the snow slacked off and no less than two CHP cars, two sheriff cars, an ambulance and a fire truck had shown up. A CHP officer told me that I could go, so I did. I walked home and related these exciting events to my family, wolfed down some fresh home made pizza, and ran out the door to go to so-called-youth-group.

While I was away, a sheriff called and one of my parents gave him the story as I told them then, and as I have now told it to you.

A Contrast in Concerts

2007-03-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

In the last 48 hours I've been to two concerts.

The first was a fund raiser sort of thing, an hour from where I live. There were three bands in attendance: Jason Harris, InAidance and Sam Heart. I got in for half price ($5) for bringing a friend.

I was glad I got the discount. It was just your typical music that can be found at any Sunday morning Church service. there was a little preaching, free cookies and popcorn and lots of volume. The instant InAdence got started, I was out the door.

That's not to say I left the concert. It just means that I could hear the music just fine outside by the ticket table, which is where I listened to them. For having the desire not to cause permanent damage to my ear drums, I was granted the title "Pansy Behind the Plexiglass" by the ticket taker. She seemed truly puzzled by my being outside.

The subsequent band was louder yet. Needless to say, I stayed outside. All in all, I wasn't terribly impressed.

On Sunday, the band Giveway came all the way from Scotland just to play for the Julian Library. Err, well, maybe they were on tour in the area.

Giveway is a Scottish band of four highly talented sisters. They started the performance with a bang and never looked back. It was foot stomping, hand clappingly good music. If there was a still foot in the building (There was seating for 200, and people standing around the edges) I couldn't see it.

Since I've already admitted that Giveway was on tour, I might as well tell you a funny thing that happened. So Giveway is on tour all the way from Scotland, here they are at their final gig, and they have one CD left. That's right, a crowd of over two hundred people, and they only have one disk.

At the intermission, there was maybe a half second before that lone album had vanished like smoke. There were a number of people upset that the library that was hosting the event didn't buy it before someone else got to it. Most were mollified by the fact that she (claimed) that she bought it for her branch of the library.

You can listen to some sound samples from their two CDs here and here. Their website is www.givewaymusic.com

"37 Seconds of Pain" Or, "Oh Great, Something Else to Spend Time On!"

2007-03-13T07:21:00.000-07:00

Having recently signed up for Google Checkout, I got a $10 credit. I ended up buying a penny whistle (or a tin whistle, Irish whistle, or a feadóg stáin, depending on who you talk to)

My penny whistle arrived on Saturday. Having about zero musical experience, the sounds that issue forth when I huff and puff on it aren't exactly Carnegie Hall quality. If you don't believe me, just ask my Grandma's cats (which fled upon hearing me practice last night) or click here to listen to a short burst of pure novice. (Listen at your own risk!) [397 KB .wav file]

My Own Domain

2007-02-26T08:58:00.000-08:00

Attention World!

Please welcome to the Internet, the brand new
www.cwholemaniii.com

Memoirs of a Miserable Maggot

2007-02-08T07:16:00.000-08:00

"A worm such as I, cannot fly, save in the belly of an Eagle."
--Memoirs of a Miserable Maggot

Red Eye Freeze

2007-01-30T07:19:00.000-08:00

I spent the night at my Grandma's house last night. I stayed up too late, again. TVs really are insidious devices. This time it was the fault of "Star Trek Enterprise" and JustOneMore-itus.

So there I was this morning, dragging myself out of bed at 06.00 hours {6am} red eyed and yawning my head off. I don't normally have trouble getting up in the morning, but when you add a late night on top of a two strikes weekend, it adds up.

On the few occasions that I've tried coffee I have been highly disappointed. The stuff smells great, but it's just so bitter. I decided that if I was going to be operating a motor vehicle it would be best to do it while awake. (I know I've read somewhere that those who sleep while driving have a higher death rate than those who drive while awake.)

My grandma has instant coffee at her house, but it's been just as bad as the regular beverage. I decided to try an experiment. I mixed ice cream, banana a few shots of cream (which my Grandma got from "Jack-In-The-Box" last time she was there, for my breakfast. She only drinks non-fat milk. Ugg.) and a super strong shot of coffee.

I could barely taste the coffee. Perfect! It made a good breakfast all by it's self too. I'm happy to be able to inform you that I made it to work in one piece this morning. Thank the LORD for caffeine.

Here's what I did, in detail.

Ingredients
1 cup ice cream (I used spumoni, but pure chocolate would have been better)

3 creams from J.I.T.B.

3 Tbl. milk (I used non-fat but would prefer whole.)

1 Tbl. instant coffee

1 ripe banana

Directions
Nuke (er, heat) milk in microwave for 20 seconds. Add instant coffee and mix well. Place in freezer.

Smash banana to a chunky pulp.

Place ice cream and banana in cup. Mix well. Use creams to aid the mixing process.

Add the coffee. Mix more.

I didn't have time, but if you put it in the freezer for a few minutes (maybe 1-3), I think it would enhance it.

Just a Few Links.

2007-01-11T08:59:00.000-08:00

I have discovered two interesting websites since my last post.

The first was Lylium.org Which describes it's self thusly: "Lylium.org is the blog and internet home of Erin Julian, a freshman in college who enjoys photography and writing."

But that doesn't really convey why I've spent such large quantities of time there. Basically Erin and I share a lot of interests, and she writes about them in a humorous and literate manner.

TheRebelution.com is a website dedicated to helping young people to rebel against the low standers in todays culture, and to draw nearer to God in every aspect of their lives. It's got a blog, forums, and other resources. Jump on over and check it out.

What a Way to Start the New Year

2007-01-10T10:53:00.001-08:00

Being sick is a real drag. Having spent the past week in this condition, I've spent some time contemplating this fact. Now, I'm not going to lie to you and say that I missed getting up at 05.00 hr. or being at work for over a third of each day. But even if I don't enjoy being up before the dawn, I do have this odd desire to be out of bed at some point when the sun is visible during each circuit the Earth makes around it.

After the first day I couldn't stand it. I had to be up. So I made my way courageously to the couch, from which I continued to lay about doing nothing. At some point I got tired of this too, so I took up the first "Harry Potter" book. Once before I'd started to read these, but didn't get far. I recently ordered "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" from the library, and now having it in my possession and plenty of excess time, I began.

That was last Wednesday. I completed books one, two and three in short order. My progress on book four ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire") has been much slower than on the others, now that I'm up and about, and able once again to work.

P.S.
Happy New Year to y'all!

Eragon the Movie

2006-12-30T21:42:00.000-08:00

Where to start?

I must begun by telling you how much I've enjoyed the books. From the moment my sister pulled "Eldest" out of her bag on the way home from the airport, after her return from Georgia (where she'd been visiting friends) I've liked the books. She, being an older sister, would not, of course, let me touch the book. But by the time we arrived at "Costco" I did have the title. From there, armed also with the author's name (Christopher Paolini) the library was the only place to go.

I don't think I put "Eargon" down three times once I opened it. It's a really spiffing story. I'll not say it was perfect, because it wasn't, but it was fantastic. When "Eldest" arrived at the library, it was also devoured. I have even bought one of them. (It's not that I don't like books. Not at all. It's just parting with my money that I hate.)

Now, back to the movie.

"Eragon" the movie was, and I mean every word: Pathetic, pitiful, poor, wretched, ridiculous, lacking, lame, boring-- Seeing as I'm writing on my lunch break, I don't have my thesaurus handy, which is truly a shame because after watching the movie I discovered some lovely new synonyms that were highly descriptive and appropriate --hallow, butchered, miserable, pitiable, Well, you get the idea.

Point is, I'm glad that I saw a neighbor's DVD (yes, I know it's not out yet, but his uncle has connections) because now that I've seen it, I wouldn't spend a dime to see it again. Thanks to those of you who warned me off!

The whole movie was dark and boring. Most of the dialog had been cut. It was just highly disappointing. Even those who have never read the book thought it was bad. Basically the best way I've come up with to describe it is this: Have you ever seen a movie that was based on a comic book? You know, the type where someone or something is very important, and everyone is fighting over it, but it feels like, well, a comic? ("Electra" comes to mind, though I don't think I even bothered to watch the whole thing when I ran into it.) That's the type of movie "Eragon" is.

Sad. Very Sad. Waste of an hour-and-a-half.

Work Gift Exchange 2006

2006-12-27T09:24:00.001-08:00

Ah, the holidays. The time of year when gift exchanges take place. We just finished one here at work.

Well, it was more of a booze exchange. Eighteen out of twenty-three gifts were some form of alcohol or another. Over 75%. That was a shocker.

At the last work related gift exchange I was at (last year with a different employer) the ratio was one out of six. Less than a 20% booze rate.

Included were such items as "Jack Danial's" whiskey, several vodkas, gin, a "World Beer Traveler", a few tequilas and a slew of champagnes. To give an incomplete list.

One sales rep gave the whole room a good laugh when he picked the "Jack Danial's" whiskey. When someone tried to steal it minutes later, the bottle had mysteriously vanished from the box, leaving only a few glasses. He appeared bemused when questioned. But did finally admit his fraud.

Another noteworthy fact was that of the non alcoholic items, zero were stolen. Whereas most of the booze was snatched not once, but maxed out and locked at two takings.

From Spreadsheets To France

2006-12-12T07:40:00.000-08:00

I have discovered spreadsheets. Oh, I've known that they existed for a decade or more, but I never thought of actually utilizing them for anything. (You know, kind of like that spoon-gadgety-whats-it-thingy-ma-bober that's sitting in one of your kitchen drawers? The one you never use but keep around 'just in case.') That's have I've always viewed spreadsheets. But no more.

It's all Google's fault. If they hadn't have released "Google Docs & Spreadsheets", I could have remained blissfully ignorant of this fantastic tool for years to come. Thanks Google!

Years ago when I saw a movie ("Nerds" perhaps?) that said the the Killer App of the 1980's ("VisiCalc" came out in 1979 really) was the spreadsheet, I was bemused. 'Who cares about spreadsheets?' I thought.

Now I understand.

Elevator News

France to adopt the Penguin. That's right, The French Parliament is switching over to Linux on all it's computers, replacing "MS Windows."

I never thought I'd be saying this, but now there's two areas I wish the USA would emulate France. (The other being their massive use of nuclear power. I believe ~75-90% of the energy produce is nuclear.)

Go France!

P. and E.'s Home Fellowship

2006-12-08T15:26:00.000-08:00

Papa finished giving his life's story at P and E's* Home Fellowship last night.

Since this is the first time I've mentioned P and E's Home Fellowship, I might as well give you a few details about it.

Mr. and Mrs. P. share a house with Mr. and Mrs. E. (Along with Little E. and Baby E.) At some point, I will probably get around to asking if they mind their names being on a blog for the world to see. Until then you will have to be content with "P&E's Home Fellowship." Any way, we meet at their house at 19.00 hours every Thursday. They have a very 'hands on' sort of meeting, with everyone allowed and invited to participate. The group runs about seven to fifteen people. It begins with everyone getting a snack (vanilla bean cake last night) and a drink (tea, water, milk, etc.)

I have missed all of the meetings so far since they re-started up the meetings again this fall do to work. :-( I was actually at the last meeting (November 30th), at which my father gave the first half of of his life's story; up to the point of his marriage.

I'm sure a lot more has happened in the past 24 hours, but I'm buggered if I can remember it right now. I'll blame that on a lack of sleep.

*P and E: If I were going to tell you, I wouldn't have used their initials in the first place.

Of Elevators Ads Etc.

2006-12-06T07:29:00.000-08:00

I now have over 100 miles of solo behind-the-wheel time. I can finally see my breath down here at work. (It's only December, right? So no hurry.)

My office building just installed screens in the elevators on which they are running "The Captivate Network." (http://www.captivatenetwork.com/) This consists mainly of news and weather. For example, it had a snippet about Google vs. PayPal. (Read more about that here: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2006-12-05-google-checkout_x.htm) I also learned that the Senate Armed Services Committee approved Robert Gates' nomination.
After that, I got the weather forecast for the next 4 days. (Sunny and cool.)

All that before I even got to The Drudge Report. (http://drudgereport.com/)

Final ARB Meeting As Chairman

2006-12-05T15:02:00.001-08:00

I'll be having my last ARB meeting as Chairman* tonight. The agenda is as follows:

Architectural Review Board
Julian Historic District

Meeting Agenda

Date: December 5, 2006

Time: 7:00 PM.

Place: Julian Town Hall (Downstairs)

Approval of agenda.
Approve minutes for November meeting.
Public Comments.
Correspondence received by board:

Library Sign.

Other.

New Business:

Designs for consideration:

Sign at 2000 Main Street - Jieni Imports - Janice Nelson

Deck modification - 1835 Second Street - Jim Kohl

Sign - Julian Dental Group - Linne Murphy

Old Business:

New sign design guide lines booklet; discussion and action.

ARB board members of 2007. Discussion and action.

Adjourn.

To be placed on an upcoming agenda or to contact the JHD-ARB call the chairman,
C.W.Holeman III, at (760) 765-1317 (please leave a message) or by email at {E-MAIL ADDRESS REMOVED TO PREVENT SPAM}.

The board meets on the 1^st Tuesday of each month at the
Town Hall at 7:00 PM.

Design guideline booklets are available from the Julian Chamber of Commerce located in the
Town Hall. A copy is available for use at the library for free. Or online at
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dplu/docs/Julian.pdf

* If you're looking for a politically correct blog, look elsewhere.

First Post

2006-12-05T12:14:00.000-08:00

This being my first post, it's little more than a test. In fact, it's nothing more than a test.

C.W.Holeman III

From the B.I.N. # 5

From the B.I.N. # 4

Comic-Con 2011

From the B.I.N. # 3

From the B.I.N. # 2

Bizarre / Interesting / Newsworthy (BIN # 1)

Building a Reprap, Pt. 3 (The Frame, A)

Building A Reprap, pt. 2 (Motors)

Building A Reprap, pt 1: What Is A Reprap?

Truth

Tree Hugging Dribble

Schoolwork # 2

Schoolwork: Real people, Feel Free to Ignore

Me vs Best Buy. The Rematch

Multi-System USB External Hard Drive Project: Part 1

Piece and Parts

The Operating Systems

Ubuntu 9.04

Ubuntu Server 9.04

BackTrack4

Windows 7 (RC)

Open Solaris

Quick Photos (SIM card reader and USB charging adapter)

An Open Letter to Apple.

A Moral Dilemma

The Dollar

The Five C's of Computing

Fresh Bread

Review: "Pushing Daisies" Season One

25 Random Things About Me

Sleding at Night

Addicted

Blerb: Music

A Late-Night Quote

Joke (Drunk Driving)

Moosebutter

Trailer: I.O.U.S.A

Reviewing "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"

Anthology Builder

My Good Experience with Best Buy: Update 3

My Peachy Experience with Best Buy: Update 2

My Experience with Best Buy: Update

My Deplorable Experience with Best Buy.

The Jeremiah Hickabilly Show

These People Make the Laws

Sand Runner

Reviewing "Stargate Atlantis" Season Three

Deeper

Camera Cases and Handcuff Holders

Flickr Test

Fire!

Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit

One Working Welder

H.O.U.S. # 1 (Version 3.0)

Holeman's Observations on Government (Part 1)

Do you have a file with the FBI?

This is a Test. (Picasa)

The Praise Symphony Orchestra

I Love Free Food

Chicken de Holeman

A Duo of Dolts

A Contrast in Concerts

"37 Seconds of Pain" Or, "Oh Great, Something Else to Spend Time On!"

My Own Domain

Memoirs of a Miserable Maggot

Red Eye Freeze

Ingredients

Directions

Just a Few Links.

What a Way to Start the New Year

Eragon the Movie

Work Gift Exchange 2006

From Spreadsheets To France

Elevator News

P. and E.'s Home Fellowship

Of Elevators Ads Etc.

Final ARB Meeting As Chairman

Architectural Review BoardJulian Historic District

Meeting Agenda

Architectural Review Board
Julian Historic District