End the War on Freedom - Personal

Wake

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 06:27:40 -0500

I very rarely smoke, and I even more rarely drink. But my next door neighbor died suddenly yesterday, of cancer, and her husband held a wake for her. I had three beers and a cigarette. Someone there who had never seen me smoke was so amazed that she wanted a photo to commemerate the occasion. So I gave her my iPhone, and she snapped this picture.

Go West, Middle-Aged Man

Wed, 28 May 2008 04:56:38 -0500

I spent the last two weeks in Montana and Wyoming.

Flew from Hartford, Connecticut to Bozeman, Montana, and from Denver back to Hartford. Took my Cold Steel African Walking stick with me on the airplane. Canes are allowed by the Taking Scissors Away goons. Traveling with a cane has some benefits. I asked the TSA guy in Hartford whether my wife could accompany me to the gate. On seeing my cane, he said that we could ask the airline for a pass to allow that. The airline lady said that usually TSA gives them grief for passes. She was surprised that one of them had recommended it. They looked hard at my plastic cane, trying to take it apart to reveal an imagined sword inside, but let it through. And they let my wife through with her pass.

Went to Montana to meet in the flesh some formerly cyberspace-only friends. Met Elias Alias, the owner of The Mental Militia Forums, Iloilo Jones (pronounced: ee-low ee-low), the director of FIJA, Doug Buchanan, the mind behind think.ws, Kirsten, the owner of Get Your Hands Dirty!, and a number of others. Ate red meat and drank real wine for the first time in twenty-five years, and took a liking to Backwoods Wild 'n Mild Cigars, the "sweet aromatic" flavor.

Learned that Montana has very nearly Alaska carry. Outside the cities, you can carry any way you please. No permit required. Many of the cities require permits to carry concealed, but "concealed" is defined as "covered by clothing". It's OK to carry in a fanny pack without a permit, or to open carry, though most city dwellers carry concealed with a permit. I didn't see any open carry there, or in Wyoming, except by police.

I drove the 600 miles from Bozeman to Cheyenne, where I grew up, and where my mother still lives, in a rental car, which was cheaper, and not a lot slower, than flying. Drove I-90 east, which heads south after passing through Billings. The mountains dropped away and I found myself, though still in Montana, in country very similar to my Cheyenne home. I wept tears of joy, while driving and drinking in the scenery. Wyoming is truly my home. "Like no place on Earth". I hope to return there permanently one day.

Went to the Libertarian Party's national convention in Denver last Friday to meet L. Neil Smith and Scott Bieser, who were there to sell books. Sat with Scott for a couple of hours while Neil was upstairs nursing a cold. Interjected a few comments in a video interview of Scott by V Magazine. Thirty seconds of fame? Maybe. Went to lunch with Neil and Scott at a nice burger joint. Neil's cold made it hard for him to talk. Snapped the photo below of Neil with my iPhone. Forgot to get one of Scott. Duh.

Before going to Denver, I called the hotel where the conference was held, said I had a question about hotel policy, and asked whether the wearing of sidearms was allowed in the hotel. The lady who answered the phone said that she thought not, but wasn't sure, so she connected me to the front desk. The lady who answered there assured me that it was OK, even when I asked whether Denver had a "law" prohibiting it. Well, Denver DOES have such a "law", and their override of state law allowing open carry everywhere, and forbidding local override, was approved on 5 November, 2004 by the District Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado, whose decision was affirmed (PDF) on June 5, 2006, by the Colorado Supreme Court, in a vote of three to three with one justice not participating. I guess some animals really ARE more equal than others, at least the pigs in Denver.

Did some shooting, both in Montana, on a state-owned parcel with a hill as a backstop, and in Wyoming, at the Pine Bluffs Sportsman's Club, about 30 miles east of Cheyenne, on the Nebraska border. Their pistol range has steel targets at 25 yards that you can knock down and pull back up with a rope from the firing line. Good fun!

Watched "The Chronicles of Narnia: Price Caspian" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" with my mother. Enjoyed both.

No problems getting through security on the way home, except they wouldn't let me take a bottle of water. Sheesh. Yes, you too can fly on Sheep-Are-Us Airlines.

The 'Lone Wolf' Disconnect

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:22:36 -0600

"Another consideration is that the process of radicalization — to the point that a person undertakes a terrorist attack — rarely occurs in a solitary setting. Many individuals require the feedback and encouragement of like-minded individuals to help them reach that point."

The idea that a lone individual will appear seemingly out of nowhere to launch a horrific terrorist attack sends shivers down the spines of public security planners and law enforcement officers — not to mention average citizens. Because of their unique traits, “lone wolves” present very real challenges to the law enforcement and security professionals charged with guarding against such threats.

However, with the road from desire to actual destruction fraught with obstacles, the lone-wolf terrorist — one capable of causing mass casualties — is a rare individual indeed.

Major Appliance Time

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:53:18 -0600

We bought a brand new washer & dryer shortly before my son was born, over sixteen years ago. Sears Kenmore brand. They both served us well until recently, when the dryer motor died, and the washer bin stopped turning around. I decided it wasn't worth the money to replace the dryer motor, and didn't feel competent to work on the washer myself, so rather than pay Sears $100 for a repair guy to come out and possibly tell us the washer cost nearly as much as a new one to repair, we bought new ones.

I saw a new style of washing machine in Sears a few years back. Top loading, but with no agitator inside, just a little bump in the middle, and water jet holes. Well, we got one of those. Whirlpool brand name, though apparently Whirlpool makes Kenmore stuff. They were delivered today, after a two week wait from our purchase. And they're nice. Washed a long week's worth of clothes today. Quite satisfied.

I can't afford to buy major appliances very often, so it's nice when I can. Wish I could afford a new refrigerator.

Click the "read more" link for pictures.

Decaf Coffee Lobotomy

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 04:52:46 -0600

At the end of March, I wrote about my first coffee lobotomy. I completely lost my forebrain, and my physical energy, from drinking two large cups of strong coffee a day. It took four full days of coffee fast for my brain to come back and another three days for my energy to fully return. Well, it happened again. This time I had been drinking mostly decaffeinated coffee, which made the experience different. I wasn't nearly as physically exhausted, but my frontal lobes were again completely paralyzed. Couldn't think my way out of a paper bag. I tried to work last Monday, but found it impossible. So I called in sick, "mentally exhausted", and took the rest of the week off. On Friday morning, I awoke with a brain, but still shell-shocked, so I didn't work over the weekend either. It feels like I'll be able to work today. Time will tell.

Once again, besides not being able to think, near panic was one of the symptoms. Worry that the condition was permanent, hence I'd never be able to write software again. Fortunately, all I needed to do was stop drinking coffee for a week.

Bottom line: I'm going to have to stop drinking coffee. Black tea, too, since it affects me pretty much the same way. Not sure about green tea. Hot chocolate will remain OK, I hope.

Locked In

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 21:33:25 -0500

I was headed outside to give the dogs a walk at about 4pm this afternoon. Got their radio fence collars off and their leashes on, went to open the door, and, it wouldn't open. No amount of turning or pulling would make it budge. Screwdriver time. Took off the inner door handle, pushed the outer door handle out. Still wouldn't budge. Half an hour later, I'd managed to break apart the mechanism and convince the bolt to move, so I could open the door. I guess 25 years is a long time for what was likely a used part when the house was built. Off to Home Depot for a brand new Schlage locking handle set. Just $22. But it needed a little deeper hole than the old set, and I couldn't find my little hand saw, so it was chisel time. Finally got it to fit, and now we can lock our front door. Yay!

Second Cockatiel

Thu, 10 May 2007 08:55:31 -0500

Well, the girls in my family did it. They bought a second cockatiel to keep Sunshine company. So far, the new bird has been absolutely silent. She won't be out of her cage for a little while, so that's where I took this photo. My daughter hasn't named her yet (nor are we sure that's she's not a he).

Snowman

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 06:16:58 -0600

Found outside my house this morning:

New Hat

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 08:09:27 -0600

I got a new hat at Agway yesterday. Made in China for Carhartt. I've been wearing a knit pull-over hat in the winter time for as long as I remember. Switched to a baseball cap when I bought my hoodless rain coat. Now I wanted a brimmed hat with some winter warmth.

I thought I'd never put the new hat's flaps down over my ears, but today the thermometer said 7 degrees, so I did.

Do I look like a hick, or what?

Tree Fall

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 08:51:36 -0600

A tree fell over the road in front of my house last night. I denuded it at first light this morning. My neighbor has agreed to make some cuts with his chainsaw, after which I'll drag it out of the way. The joys of country living. More details and photos at billstclair.com/treefall.

Sick as a Dog

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 03:00:59 -0600

I awoke on Monday morning around 4am for my morning pee. Felt sorta funny. Felt even more funny when the "pee" came out of my nether regions. Yes, boys and girls. Your intrepid reporter had food poisoning, or a stomach flu, but by whatever name you call it, my bowels were liquid, I had one four-part purge by mouth, and I couldn't stay vertical for more than a few minutes until yesterday afternoon. Subsisted on water and Poweraide.

Feeling well enough to sit at the computer this morning, but still a little fuzzy, and still not hungry. Don't know yet how long I'll manage to stay vertical.

Got a call yesterday afternoon about bringing food to the upcoming winter fair at my daughter's school. Was told that I was one of fourteen so affected. Think it was something we ate.

No News For Saint Patty's

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 06:53:01 -0600

I looked over my normal news sources, but nothing grabbed me and said, "Post me!"

Spending lots of time reading the Programming Ruby, even bought the second edition as a PDF.

Also working on my S3 code. Should manage to get some image files up today to test whether they still work correctly without Apache-provided MIME types. Probably will. Then I just need to walk my 911 Timeline page and upload it to S3.

Puppy Linux continues to satisfy. Installed GNU Privacy Assistant (gpa) today. It's a GUI frontend for gnupg, the freeware implementation of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP). It is unfortunately missing the nice clipboard interface of PGP. It only interacts with files.

New Family Member

Sat, 11 Feb 2006 06:37:15 -0600

My daughter got a baby cockatiel this week. Took me a while, but I finally got an in-focus picture. Click on it for higher resolution (744x1145 pixels, 112K). I have a 1488x1290 pixel version (354K), which I'll gladly send you if you ask, but I'm not posting it here to save my bandwidth.

Latest report from my year of silence

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 20:27:15 -0600

Claire Wolfe - Claire's phone goes away on February 1, and she starts a ten-day silent retreat. Claire, may you find a part of yourself that has been hidden, or grok something new. Blessed Be! [claire]

"Bark" is gone. Friendship remains

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 17:27:29 -0600

Claire Wolfe - Bark did the technical work to start the Claire Files forums, back when they were hosted at The Mental Militia (currently down). He succombed to throat cancer this morning. Elias Alias, who has been caring for Bark since October, wrote a sterling send-off. Claire tells a little about people who helped with money.

Walter "Bark" Doss, R.I.P.