Another one...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY dearest sister of mine!

She's .... 24 I think.

Happy Birthday, Lemur!

Just another sign that civilization as we know it is doomed...

...I peeked in to the break room and "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" was on. A ~23 year old woman was asked "How many consonants are in the word vowel?" Her reponse was that the word is spelled "voul", so there are 2. Some of the 5th graders gave her a look like she was out of her mind. The little girl she had helping her got the correct answer, which is 3, and the young woman got nothing except the opportunity to look foolish in front of prime-time America.

If I had an emoticon of a smiley-face shaking his head, I'd put it here. -> <-

The irony of this post would be if I had mispelled something and I didn't catch it.

"Our deepest fear...

...is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Nelson Mandela 1994

This quote gives me chilly-bumps.

This is awesome...

...a shirt that shows the strength of the Wi-Fi signal where ever you are.

For those of you that aren't as tech literate as others, Wi-Fi is another name for wireless internet, usually over a large area (cities and such.)

I'm not geek enough to get one, but it made me laugh.

It's Sunday...

...and it's been too short of a weekend. However, it was interesting.

It started raining Friday night, and by Saturday morning it had turned to snow. It didn't stick, but it was the first snowfall of this season.

We also went to a wedding reception at Wheeler Farm in Murray. But while we were there we met a whole FLOCK OF GEESE AND DUCKS. Like 200 of them. The geese were honking, the ducks quacking, all milling around our feet, waiting for the bread that we didn't have, but they were sure we did. The funniest thing is that it started with 3 ducks and a goose, and the goose must have said something; because then a line of 150+ ducks and geese come waddling our direction, making quite a bit of noise. They were so close we could have touched them. When we went to go in to the receptuion, all of them, all 150+ FREAKIN' GEESE AND DUCKS, turned to follow us as we went away. The geese were honking merrily, and the ducks waddling along, waiting for their bread.

Unfortunately we didn't have the camera. But we plan to go back and get a picture of us in the flock.

Here's how it looks now...

Here are the 2 IBM 2210's. We got rid of the Xerox, got rid of the cubicle wall around the UPS there in the top middle of the picture, and moved the other 2210 away frm the far wall. Now there's lots of room over there.

Here is the data storage unit on top of the 2 servers for Streamserve. That storage thing weighs about 45 pounds, and the servers weigh about 60 pounds apiece and are about 3.5 feet long.

Oh, and do you notice that empty space next to them? Yeah, that's ALL CLEANED OUT NOW! ALL 50 square feet of it!

Well, we're officially on our own...

Everyone who was part of our automated output (Streamserve) development team is now gone, never to return to SLC. They are scheduled to go to Seattle next, then Denver, and then I think they're gonna split up and do more DC's simultaneously.

However, before they left I was able to get pictures, all of which are ( L > R ):


First, the actual code writers for the Stream server: Tien Tien Lai, Phi Nguyen and Sundeep Reddy. The 2nd day they were here, they set up camp in Mark's office (at Mark's insistence). Poor Tien Tien (Tin Tin) was always cold, no matter where she was. She had some pretty funky dress shoes. She's all of 4 foot nuthin'. Phi was the only one with an Asian accent, and he used to work for Earth shoes (a pair of which I have on right now). He's a really nice guy. Sundeep was also super nice. He lived in Boston up until last year when he transferred to Atlanta. He was kind of their supervisor, but worked just as hard as the other 2. The 3 of them wrote the program for Streamserve.

Next, we have John Trippe. He was/is more or less the one overseeing this project for the company. He's a really nice guy with a real Southern-drawl, who doesn't like his picture to be taken, but who relented after I asked him 'please'.

Then there is Mike Governale and Dave Hutchins. We didn't see them much, but I think they were in charge of user names and login ID's.

Finally, there is Trevor McLinn and Tom Rials. I don't know where Trevor is from, but he was the youngest one here from the company. I think he works for John Trippe. Tom was from Mobile, Alabama, and every time he talked it was evident where he was from. He was the implementation person for the company on this project. He used to work the computer room in Birmingham, AL a while ago.

I'm gonna miss all of these people. They have become part of the team, and they're going to other places.

On a final note, I think Mark will be glad to have his office back.

Happy Birthday to Ben...

...I hope he's having fun at BYU.

Today is also my supervisor Mark's birthday.

I also went to the driving range with Val, her sister and my father-in-law to hit golf balls.

The only thing I will say is that I do not have any innate/latent talents at golf. It will be an acquired skill if I ever choose to follow it.

Wouldn't this be great to have?

A copy of the Magna Carta from the year 1297.

That was 710 years ago!

How much has changed since that time, when democracy was not nearly as prevalent as it is now. Granted, it's not global, but it has spread much further than it was at that time.

Just a thought, but was the Roman Empire also a democracy? How about the Greeks?

Wow, that was a long time ago.

My, how times change...

This is a 1 gigabyte hard-drive from 20 years ago. That is also a 1GB flash card being held at the right of the picture.

Makes me wonder where we'll be in another 20 years.

Here is the link.

Some things make me shake my head...

Here is the link with the photo.

A random quote this morning...

...that I thought of on the way to work this morning.

" 'nother glorious day in the Corp. Day in the marine corp is like a day on the farm: every meal is a banquet, every paycheck a fortune, every formation a parade! I love the Corp!"

Taken from the movie Aliens. I couldn't find a script that had that qoute on IMSDB.com .

That movie still rocks...

I'm split on this one...

A coach sends a 10-year old boy home in his underwear...

Obviously, if this did happen, the coach is an insecure retard for humiliating this child in front of others.

But what about the kid? Couldn't he have said "No, I'm not going to do that. I'll leave, and I understand you don't want me on the team, but I'm not gonna take my clothes off..." Now, he probably wouldn't have said it exactly that way, but I was taught that you don't take off your clothes except in certain situations, none of which involve more than 1 other person at a time, and that person I am married to.

I think the parent needs to have a talk with the child and reinforce that no one has the power to make him do this, under any circumstance.

And the coach, if he's guilty, should be humiliated just as bad as the child was.

A couple of good qoutes for your Monday...

...from the Wikipedia article on Mahatma Gahndi.


"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

"There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for."

I like the 'eye for an eye' one a lot. Retribution is ultimately futile, isn't it?

My self-declaration...

I am a successful person, regardless if someone else says I am or not, if they say I am timid, or scared of others, or whatever. I will become successful in order to help others better themselves, and to show everyone else that I can do what I say I can do. I choose to be successful and wealthy every day.

I will not be part of the 50% of people who get life-changing information and do nothing to change their situation. I will change my situation so that I can become financially independent in 5 years or less.

If someone I love or respect tells me that I shouldn't do what it is that I want to do, I will tell them that I respect their opinion, but that I am going to do what I feel/know is best for me.

My future is mine, and doesn't belong to anyone else. I will make the decisions for myself that I know are best for me.

Heavenly Father wants me to become financially secure so that I can serve Him and others, and help others to better their lives. I can't serve as effectively if I am stuck at a job for 8 hours a day.

Well, I'm out...

...for the rest of the week. I'll be back Tuesday.

Have a fun weekend and a great Labor Day!

Be safe.

A hole in space...

...or just a lot of nothing. At least that's what the scientists say. 5 to 10 billion light-years away, and a lot of emptiness inside that area.

It immediately reminded me of this Star Trek: Voyager episode where thay pass through just about the same thing.

And yes, I am a Star Trek geek.

The only thing I can think of...

...when I read this article, which talks about how fast dinosaurs were, is that scene in Jurassic Park where the T-rex is chasing the Jeep with Muldoon, Sattler and Ian Malcolm, with the 'Objects in mirror are closer than they appear' image.

"Must go faster..."

What I don't understand about this article is...

...why is anyone surprised that people are defaulting on loans now, when they couldn't afford the mortgage in the first place?

I blame the lenders, who didn't even see if a person had the capability to repay their loan before giving them the money. I also blame the people getting the loans in order to buy houses that they can't afford. I don't know what people think, that they can get large amounts of money to buy a ginormous estate, and then they aren't responsible to pay it back? Or did they over-estimate their earnings? Or did they over-estimate the appreciation of their "asset".

I put "asset", because a house is not an asset, because it earns you nothing. It may appreciate in value, and you may sell it for more than you bought it. But you still have to live somewhere, and the market is also appreciating along with your "asset". However, your house/mortgage is an asset to the institution that lent you the money to buy the house, since you pay it back along with interest.

I think almost all people try to buy things they can't afford, because they don't have the patience to buy a true asset that will make them be able to afford the things they want. They want it RIGHT NOW NOW NOW!!!!!!11111

Well, I'm not surprised by the market conditions. I feel sorry for those people who are gonna be foreclosed against, but that is the consequence of their actions.

I think everyone needs a real financial education, and don't just rely on someone who doesn't have your best interests at heart. Take responsibility for yourself...because no one else is gonna do it.

By the way, Val and I are gonna become educated in these things very soon. I challenge you to do the same.

Artificial life...

...made in a lab, and NOT by artificial insemination.

Scientists are trying to create a single cell by artificial means, starting with the cell membrane.

Am I too paranoid because I envision, based on this qoute at the end of the article; "Bedau said there are legitimate worries about creating life that could "run amok," but there are ways of addressing it, and it will be a very long time before that is a problem.
"When these things are created, they're going to be so weak, it'll be a huge achievement if you can keep them alive for an hour in the lab," he said. "But them getting out and taking over, never in our imagination could this happen."

Am I paranoid to think that this is the typical start to a lot of sci-fi novels where life is created, then gets away from the scientists?