This evening, the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 Nextel Cup race from Richmond. The last race before this year’s “Nextel Cup Chase.” Starting a scant half-hour after that, a relatively rare #1 vs #2 NCAA football regular season matchup, as Ohio State takes on Texas.
Since I can barely watch one thing at a time, my eyes will be on the Richmond event. But so as not to be left out of either, I’ll say now “Hook ‘em Horns.”
-k-
I reserve the right to flip over to the ball game on caution flags.
Just a few minutes ago, space shuttle Atlantis was launched from Cape Canaveral. As frustrating to the crew as they doubtless were, the launch delays earlier in the week resulted in a Saturday launch, meaning that I got to watch live.
One word of advice: CNN and MSNBC had their usual talking heads yammering over the communications between the ground and crew. The NASA channel had no such overhead, and perfectly good explanations of rocket-science-geek acronyms were provided by the NASA public relations person. In the future, I’ll start with the NASA channel from the git-go.
-k-
h/t: NASA for the graphics.
I had previously chronicled my desire to attend this year’s ConvergeSouth, and had also previously concluded that it wouldn’t be happening for me this year. That is all true, but I’m now confirmed for the training course I wanted to attend. So, I’ll be Raleigh-bound in late October, to the homebase of the Red Fedora, and looking forward to RedHat sysadmin class.
Knowledge is Good. So is some more road blogging.
-k-
Technorati Tags: convergesouth, redhat
With morning temperatures in the mid 50s to lower 60s and getting to upper 70s/low 80s during the day, it’s time to add the following to @WORK-LeavingForHome:
Bring home the jacket you wore to work this morning.
Not that my office has ever resembled a cloakroom or anything.
-k-
Technorati Tags: GTD
From the Cato Institute, pointage to the state of government-sponsored health care in the UK. The article provides startling and frightening insight into the false economies that inevitably result from government intervention in areas where they don’t belong. Apparently, UK hospitals are being forced to introduce minimum waiting times, as long as 120 days in some cases, for treatment of non-emergency, non-cancerous conditions. Because payments to hospitals are fixed by the government, the more productive health care facilities are forced to cut back on service, to avoid exceeding the government-mandated budget for the current year. From the article:
After years of Government targets pushing them to cut waiting lists, staff are now being warned against “over-performing” by treating patients too quickly. The Sunday Telegraph has learned that at least six trusts have imposed the minimum times.
In March, Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Health, offered her apparent blessing for the minimum waiting times by announcing they would be “appropriate” in some cases. Amid fears about £1.27 billion of NHS debts, she expressed concern that some hospitals were so productive “they actually got ahead of what the NHS could afford”.….
Doctors are also resigning. One gynæcologist said that he spent more time doing sudoku puzzles than treating patients because of the measures.
And if you think that can’t happen here, the California assembly passed legislation which would have established state-run health care for the Golden State, funded, of course by
… an 8 percent payroll tax and a 3 percent individual income tax.
To his credit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced he will veto the measure.
A close call; but be forewarned, we haven’t heard the last of such nonsense.
-k-
Technorati Tags: california, healthcare, Schwarzenegger , universalhealthcare
Via a good friend from Brown City MI, this:
Judging from their owners’ actions, I’ll say this sticker would be right at home on nearly any minivan in Northern Virginia.
-k-
In an incident that can only be described as bizarre, and in fact rare, Steve Irwin, aka the Crocodile Hunter, has been killed by a stingray.
I’ll remember his unabashed enthusiasm and regard for the animal kingdom for a long time.
RIP, Steve.
-k-
Technorati Tags: crocodilehunter, steveirwin
I haven’t done squat since arriving home Friday evening, unless football and race watching count. SWMBO is under the weather, so I’ve tried in my crude fashion to minister to her. I updated a few little programs on my PDA, and that’s been the size of it.
But isn’t Labor Day a weekend off? I thought so.
Happy day to all who have today off, and thanks to all those who work this weekend; your efforts enable the non-working populace to enjoy their time off.
-k-
Technorati Tags: laborday
As I roll along with GTD, I am becoming painfully aware that the electronic portion of GTD was given short shrift in the book, and in my implementation so far.
I currently have 467 items in del.icio.us, all are reasonably tagged as far as subject matter, etc are concerned. What is missing is any contextual information on most of these articles. I am developing a set of additional tags to help me retrieve these posts at the proper time; thus far I have these tags:
I can use these tags in conjunction with “normal” ones, to sift through this material efficiently, I think. For now, I have 467 items on which to impose this new order. I’ll do that as I can, and update the above “at tags” as needed.
-k-
Technorati Tags: del.icio.us, GTD
SWMBO and I made our first, last, and thus far only trip to North Carolina’s Outer Banks in 1995. While there, we, like the countless throngs before us, dined at the legendary Pigman’s Bar-B-quE, and fetched home several bottles of sauce. Since that time, we’ve never been without the stuff.
SWMBO had a friend who made an annual trek to the Outer Banks; I have a friend who did likewise. Both were kind enough to mule us back several bottles when they visited. As time marched on, SWMBO’s friend passed away, and my buddy became the father of a new son; the boy didn’t take well to car trips, so his visits ceased. Thanks to the internet, I’ve kept our larder supplied in the interim.
We’re down to a freshly-opened bottle, plus one unopened one. Time to resupply. I’ve been trying for a week, and either get the “Store is closed”, or every item shows as being out of stock. I’m hoping that the Pigman is redoing the back end of his site, and all will be well. I’d hate to be without this spicy, vinegary-tangy concoction.
I’ll keep waitin’ and tryin’ again.
-k-
Technorati Tags: pigman