Because that's what they do.
Here is a video of a guy who can drive around, read and clone the RFID tags in U.S. Passports and the new enhanced driver's licenses.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Donald and Lydia - Lyrics
From the John Prine tune:
Small town, bright lights, Saturday night,
Pinballs and pool halls flashing their lights.
Making change behind the counter in a penny arcade
Sat the fat girl daughter of Virginia and Ray
(Spoken:)
Lydia
Lydia hid her thoughts like a cat
Behind her small eyes sunk deep in her fat.
She read romance magazines up in her room
And felt just like Sunday on Saturday afternoon.
Chorus:
But dreaming just comes natural
Like the first breath from a baby,
Like sunshine feeding daisies,
Like the love hidden deep in your heart.
Bunk beds, shaved heads, Saturday night,
A warehouse of strangers with sixty watt lights.
Staring through the ceiling, just wanting to be
Lay one of too many, a young PFC:
(Spoken:)
Donald
There were spaces between Donald and whatever he said.
Strangers had forced him to live in his head.
He envisioned the details of romantic scenes
After midnight in the stillness of the barracks latrine.
Repeat Chorus:
Hot love, cold love, no love at all.
A portrait of guilt is hung on the wall.
Nothing is wrong, nothing is right.
Donald and Lydia made love that night.
(Spoken:)
Love
The made love in the mountains, they made love in the streams,
They made love in the valleys, they made love in their dreams.
But when they were finished there was nothing to say,
'Cause mostly they made love from ten miles away.
Repeat Chorus:
Monday, July 6, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Pascal's Pensees
I have come to this masterpiece of French prose by a strange route -- through the Jack Taylor mysteries by Ken Bruen.
Taylor is a hardbitten Irish P.I., struggling with the Irish Affliction since being cast out of the Garda. He is a literary man, whose enemies know they can wound him by destroying his book collection. He shares the Irish love for verbal jousting and gymnastics; many pages spend as much ink on words thought but not spoken as they do on the actual dialogue. His thoughts are littered with literary references, including frequent references to Pascal's Pensees. Pascal and Taylor both have strong religious sentiments, but Pascal was on much better terms with the Church than Taylor.
Taylor is a hardbitten Irish P.I., struggling with the Irish Affliction since being cast out of the Garda. He is a literary man, whose enemies know they can wound him by destroying his book collection. He shares the Irish love for verbal jousting and gymnastics; many pages spend as much ink on words thought but not spoken as they do on the actual dialogue. His thoughts are littered with literary references, including frequent references to Pascal's Pensees. Pascal and Taylor both have strong religious sentiments, but Pascal was on much better terms with the Church than Taylor.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Danny Goes To Church
Ruth brought Dan to church for the fellowship hour after the service.
He dashed upstairs to the now mostly empty sanctuary, then walked slowly up the aisle to the front of the church. He folded his hands reverently, bowed his head, then looked up and announced:
"I know why you have come! I have every intention of granting your request!"
The intersection of Christianity and The Wizard of Oz. I'll bet that Dan was one of the few making an offer rather than a request, though.
He dashed upstairs to the now mostly empty sanctuary, then walked slowly up the aisle to the front of the church. He folded his hands reverently, bowed his head, then looked up and announced:
"I know why you have come! I have every intention of granting your request!"
The intersection of Christianity and The Wizard of Oz. I'll bet that Dan was one of the few making an offer rather than a request, though.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Slight Shift In Word Usage
Oregonlive.com posted this Associated Press report about the death of Michael Jackson:
Before Michael Jackson, "freakish" meant unbelievably improbable, as in "freakish weather." Now it means relating to or being a freak, where freak means a strange deviation from nature.
Michael Jackson, the sensationally gifted child star who rose to become the "King of Pop" and the biggest celebrity in the world only to fall from his throne in a freakish series of scandals, died today. He was 50.
Before Michael Jackson, "freakish" meant unbelievably improbable, as in "freakish weather." Now it means relating to or being a freak, where freak means a strange deviation from nature.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Some Background On Heartspring
This story is making the rounds of the Wichita media outlets right now.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Mother Nature Takes Out Our G3
A big line of storms came out of nowhere, at least as far as the National Weather Service is concerned. We were in a matinee of Lincoln High School's production of Annie, and you could hear the storm hit from inside the auditorium, over the sounds of the orchestra and cast. We walked out of the theater to see that the tree next to our parked car had fallen in the other direction.
Our luck was a bit different at home. We returned home to find that a power surge had knocked out our old G3. My reaction reminded me of the reaction that Philip Roth had when he learned of his ex-wife's death, as he marveled, "She's dead and I didn't do it."
That machine had pretty much turned into an e-mail only machine, so we lose all our old e-mails and address book. It's the electronic version of no longer needing to clean house because it burned down.
One of the things I will miss will be the iCal calendar application. For anyone who follows my web calendar, you won't see any changes for a while. When we buy the new machine, I will see if the new iCal that comes with it is to my liking.
I am going to try something a bit different for the next computer. We bought a relatively small flat screen TV for Dan's use when at home, which is also designed to be used as a computer monitor. I like the idea of buying a Mac Mini, and hooking it up to the TV. Bored with the web? What's on TV?
Our luck was a bit different at home. We returned home to find that a power surge had knocked out our old G3. My reaction reminded me of the reaction that Philip Roth had when he learned of his ex-wife's death, as he marveled, "She's dead and I didn't do it."
That machine had pretty much turned into an e-mail only machine, so we lose all our old e-mails and address book. It's the electronic version of no longer needing to clean house because it burned down.
One of the things I will miss will be the iCal calendar application. For anyone who follows my web calendar, you won't see any changes for a while. When we buy the new machine, I will see if the new iCal that comes with it is to my liking.
I am going to try something a bit different for the next computer. We bought a relatively small flat screen TV for Dan's use when at home, which is also designed to be used as a computer monitor. I like the idea of buying a Mac Mini, and hooking it up to the TV. Bored with the web? What's on TV?
Dead Computer
The old G-3 we put into service Christmas 2002 finally died, and our mac.com e-mail address book died with it. If any of you send us e-mail though that account, please drop us a message so we can capture your e-mail address.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
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