I came across GovTrack.us today. I haven’t explored it a lot yet, but on the surface, you can track your legislator’s speeches, votes, etc, via syndication (probably RSS, but we can hope for Atom).
Anyhow, with Congress being such a gaggle of the incredibly inane, we need a nice tool to track their progress, or more probably, lack thereof. It also may be of some help in marking the November scorecard.
-k-
Technorati Tags: houseofrepresentatives, GovTrack, ussenate
I really do miss Kansas. Even scenes like this. Storms have incredible power, along with an island of peace and tranquility that you can see, even though it might be afar off.
I came across this site today, which chronicles one episode in the life of a Nebraska storm chaser. On this day, his chasing took him from Kearney NE to Holdredge, then south to Kansas, through Norton, and east on Highway 36. The article is liberally illustrated with photos such as these, and deserves a look. Check it out.
On another note, this photo is © 2006 by Ryan McGinnis. I also informed SWMBO tonight that I want one of these pictures framed and matted for my birthday a few months hence. We’ve got a good framing/matting place just down the road, and Ryan has these for sale on the site already referenced. I’ll email him tonight to get the details on the picture, so hopefully he’ll overlook my posting a drastically resized version of it here.
-k-
I have a battery of sed, gawk, and Kornshell scripts that I use to configure new Solaris servers for installation. These scripts are 6 years old now, and are nearing the point where they are about to collapse under their own weight, the result of bug fixes, and feeping creaturitis that plagues every set of software. Add to this the fact that I now need to support Linux servers, and it’s time for a rewrite.
I’ve chosen to use Ruby for this incarnation; I want to learn something new, and this seems like the perfect time. Man, Ruby is some kinda’ powerful; compact, too.
I’m nowhere near being on training wheels yet, let alone on Rails. I’ll let the title of the post describe where I am on the Ruby talent scale right now. But, backed by my old wankerish stubbornness, I’ll get there, one line of code at a time.
-k-
Technorati Tags: ruby
One of the sure signs of summer is the recoiling from the cooped-up heat in your car, when you open the door. Happened to me this afternoon. I was denied the privilege of “hands on hot steering wheel”, it being SWMBO’s car and all.
-k-
It never fails. Whenever there’s a three or more day weekend, SWMBO and I compile an overly optimistic list of household chores that we propose to accomplish. It also never fails that the BBR1 triumverate, always wins, and we find ourselves accomplishing only the highest priority items on the last day.
On the plus side, we’ve transferred some items to the July 4th list, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company this weekend.
And I’m sure we’ll do likewise over the 4th.
Happy Memorial Day!
-k-
1 – BBR = Barbecue, Beer, and Racin’.
This year’s Indianapolis 500 is a memorable one already; hats off to Sam Hornish Jr1 for a last-lap pass to seal the win.
The Coca-Cola 600 from Lowe’s Motor Speedway to follow. I need to finalize my lineup.
-k-
1 – From Defiance OH. What a great name for a town. Anywhere. Anytime. Anyplace.
Technorati Tags: indy500, IRL, samhornish
I’m watching the Indy 500 prerace coverage, with Brent “What’s he doing here?” Musberger. Looking forward to the singing of Back Home Again in Indiana, to which I can provide a passable Jim Nabors impersonation. It’s one of those songs that always hit me, as do all the songs about places a person longs for and misses.
I always wipe back a tear when Gomer sings it. If this race were at the Kansas Speedway, he’d go into a chorus of Home on the Range, and I’d have to reach for the Kleenex.
-k-
Someone should tell the thermometer that summer is still 3 weeks away. With forecast highs of 88o today, and 90o tomorrow, I guess we’ll all be seasoned on for the real deal.
At least I hope we’ll still be a few degrees back of International Falls MN, which hit 92o yesterday.
-k-
I need one of these, the better to thunder down Interstates 20 and 10 in West Texas, where the posted speed limit increased to 80 mph today. I’m gratified that the Texas state legislature had the stindeens to approve such a measure.
What will be interesting, or more likely nauseating, will be the comments from non-Texans who think that this is some act contrary to nature, that in the name of “conservation”, “safety”, or whatever, that this is a Bad ThingTM.
I’m just glad that state government still counts for something, like it says in a somewhat overlooked document called …err… The Constitution.
I hear tell they play good music there, too.
-k-
Technorati Tags: texas
I’d only heard one of his songs, Israelites, being raised as I was on white bread Top 40 musical fare. SWMBO and I heard that song just last week on XM, and we both remarked about how much we liked it.
We didn’t know what reggae was in those days; our musical tastes were divided more into the “liked it/it sucked” dichotomies. It amazes me how often I find out so much about a person’s life, after they’re gone.
Article here.
-k-
Technorati Tags: desmonddekker