20 Feb 11 Bored and unemployed

I have been unemployed for a few weeks (maybe 4 now, its hard to remember when one day blurs into the next) now. So with time on my hands I decided to clean up this blog and remove any reference to my real name (we have been over this, I know you can find out who I am if you really wanted, I just don’t want this blog showing up when you google my name, get it?). I was surprised how much identifying information I had imported from my old blogger web site; but no more.

Have a job for me? I work in the Data Network field (if it has a Cisco logo on it, I probably do something with it).

I will have to find something more interesting to blog about (being at home all day will kill interesting things to communicate about).

-BB

01 Jan 07 Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone!

I just had to tell you I am glad that the world is still around. ;-)

25 Dec 06 Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you!

Merry Christmas to you!

you look like a monkey…

hmmm… probably not the best song to sing you for Christmas?

Oh well…

And you smell like one too!

Merry Christmas everyone.

23 Nov 06 40 Reasons For Gun Control

I got this in an email the other day and just had to share it!

Significant portions of this article are excerpted from Michael Z. Williamson’s excellent and witty piece, “It’s amazing what one has to believe to believe in gun control”

1. Banning guns works, which is why New York, DC, & Chicago cops need guns.
2. Washington DC’s low murder rate of 69 per 100,000 is due to strict gun control, and Indianapolis’ high murder rate of 9 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control.
3. Statistics showing high murder rates justify gun control but statistics showing increasing murder rates after gun control are “just statistics.”
4. The Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban, both of which went into effect in 1994 are responsible for the decrease in violent crime rates, which have been declining since 1991.
5. We must get rid of guns because a deranged lunatic may go on a shooting spree at any time and anyone who would own a gun out of fear of such a lunatic is paranoid.
6. The more helpless you are the safer you are from criminals.
7. An intruder will be incapacitated by tear gas or oven spray, but if shot with a .357 Magnum will get angry and kill you.
8. A woman raped and strangled is morally superior to a woman with a smoking gun and a dead rapist at her feet.
9. When confronted by violent criminals, you should “put up no defense — give them what they want, or run” (Handgun Control Inc. Chairman Pete Shields, Guns Don’t Die – People Do, 1981, p.125).
10. The New England Journal of Medicine is filled with expert advice about guns; just like Guns & Ammo has some excellent treatises on heart surgery.
11. One should consult an automotive engineer for safer seatbelts, a civil engineer for a better bridge, a surgeon for internal medicine, a computer programmer for hard drive problems, and Sarah Brady for firearms expertise.
12. The 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1787, refers to the National Guard, which was created 130 years later, in 1917.
13. The National Guard, federally funded, with bases on federal land, using federally-owned weapons, vehicles, buildings and uniforms, punishing trespassers under federal law, is a “state” militia.
14. These phrases: “right of the people peaceably to assemble,” “right of the people to be secure in their homes,” “enumerations herein of certain rights shall not be construed to disparage others retained by the people,” and “The powers not delegated herein are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people” all refer to individuals, but “the right of the people to keep and bear arm” refers to the state.
15. “The Constitution is strong and will never change.” But we should ban and seize all guns thereby violating the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments to that Constitution.
16. Rifles and handguns aren’t necessary to national defense! Of course, the army has hundreds of thousands of them.
17. Private citizens shouldn’t have handguns, because they aren’t “military weapons”, but private citizens shouldn’t have “assault rifles”, because they are military weapons.
18. In spite of waiting periods, background checks, finger printing, government forms, etc., guns today are too readily available, which is responsible for recent school shootings. In the 1940′s, 1950′s and1960′s, anyone could buy guns at hardware stores, army surplus stores, gas stations, variety stores, Sears mail order, no waiting, no background check, no fingerprints, no government forms and there were no school shootings.
19. The NRA’s attempt to run a “don’t touch” campaign about kids handling guns is propaganda, but the anti-gun lobby’s attempt to run a “don’t touch” campaign is responsible social activity.
20. Guns are so complex that special training is necessary to use them properly, and so simple to use that they make murder easy.
21. A handgun, with up to 4 controls, is far too complex for the typical adult to learn to use, as opposed to an automobile that only has 20.
22. Women are just as intelligent and capable as men but a woman with a gun is “an accident waiting to happen” and gun makers’ advertisements aimed at women are “preying on their fears.”
23. Ordinary people in the presence of guns turn into slaughtering butchers but revert to normal when the weapon is removed.
24. Guns cause violence, which is why there are so many mass killings at gun shows.
25. A majority of the population supports gun control, just like a majority of the population supported owning slaves.
26. Any self-loading small arm can legitimately be considered to be a “weapon of mass destruction” or an “assault weapon.”
27. Most people can’t be trusted, so we should have laws against guns, which most people will abide by because they can be trusted.
28. The right of Internet pornographers to exist cannot be questioned because it is constitutionally protected by the Bill of Rights, but the use of handguns for self defense is not really protected by the Bill of Rights.
29. Free speech entitles one to own newspapers, transmitters, computers, and typewriters, but self-defense only justifies bare hands.
30. The ACLU is good because it uncompromisingly defends certain parts of the Constitution, and the NRA is bad, because it defends other parts of the Constitution.
31. Charlton Heston, a movie actor as president of the NRA is a cheap lunatic who should be ignored, but Michael Douglas, a movie actor as a representative of Handgun Control, Inc. is an ambassador for peace who is entitled to an audience at the UN arms control summit.
32. Police operate with backup within groups, which is why they need larger capacity pistol magazines than do “civilians” who must face criminals alone and therefore need less ammunition.
33. We should ban “Saturday Night Specials” and other inexpensive guns because it’s not fair that poor people have access to guns too.
34. Police officers have some special Jedi-like mastery over hand guns that private citizens can never hope to obtain.
35. Private citizens don’t need a gun for self-protection because the police are there to protect them even though the Supreme Court says the police are not responsible for their protection.
36. Citizens don’t need to carry a gun for personal protection but police chiefs, who are desk-bound administrators who work in a building filled with cops, need a gun.
37. “Assault weapons” have no purpose other than to kill large numbers of people. The police need assault weapons. You do not.
38. When Microsoft pressures its distributors to give Microsoft preferential promotion, that’s bad; but when the Federal government pressures cities to buy guns only from Smith & Wesson, that’s good.
39. Trigger locks do not interfere with the ability to use a gun for defensive purposes, which is why you see police officers with one on their duty weapon.
40. Handgun Control, Inc. says they want to “keep guns out of the wrong hands.” Guess what? You have the wrong hands.

-Z

10 Nov 06 Too much Tenacious D

I have been listening to too much Tenacious D! whew….here is just a clip:

JB: BRRRRRRRRRRING….BRRRRRRRRRRRRING

KG: *Click sound* Two Kings.

JB: Hey Kage.

KG: Hey.

JB: How’s it goin?

KG: Good, good.

JB: What’re ya doin?

KG: Oh God, I was just, I w-

JB: I love you.

KG: …what’d you say?

JB: Said I love you,man. Just wanted to say it.

KG: Hey, thanks. Thank you. That’s awesome, f’n awesome…I mean, uh, that’s cool you can, you can say that.

…silence…

JB: …Don’t you have something to say?

KG: No…oh I mean, I uh, I like you.I like you too dude.

JB: Whoa, like? OH HO HO MAN! I’m glad I f’n did this test on you. The friendship test.

KG: What?

JB: No, man

KG: What are you talkin about?

JB: What happened before, when I said I loved you,that was a test. Because man I coulda made a total ass of myself if I hadn’t done this test on you. *whistle* hoo hoo!

KG: But you don’t?

JB: Boy!

KG: You don’t, really love me?

JB: Dude listen. You f’n passed the test ok? But barely. Ya know what you got?

KG: What?

JB: F plus. Click

-Z

20 Oct 06 A VBScript to determine friendship

My friends and I get together almost every Tuesday night at my house to hang out and play games. Last week we didn’t meet because my friend’s wife was sick and he had to stay home. This week he was making noises about him being sick and possibly not being able to make it. I had an Instant Message conversation with him in which he said he would tell me “soon” if he was going to make it or not. I asked him what “soon” meant and he replied with “very soon”. Feeling dejected and stuck in limbo as to his decision (yes, I’ll make it – no, I won’t) I decided to write a VBScript that would indicate if this person was still my friend since he seemed to be trying to get out of “game night”.

Here it is:

Fuction IsFriend(TimeOfAnswer, Answer)    If TimeOfAnswer < 1 Hour Then        If Answer = Yes Then            IsFriend = True        Else            IsFriend = False        End If    Else        IsFriend = False    End IfEnd Function

02 Oct 06 ICMPME Definition

ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) is one of the protocols that is used in the protocol suite of TCP/IP and operates within the Network layer of the OSI Model. ICMP is used as both a management protocol and also as a message service provider for IP. ICMP sends data in the form of datagrams or packets and amongst other uses has the ability of reporting information in the form of an echo reply when a particular events occur to an IP packet.

IP implementations are required to support this protocol. ICMP is considered an integral part of IP, although it is architecturally layered upon IP. ICMP provides error reporting, flow control and first-hop gateway redirection.

RFC 792, page 2 says:

ICMP messages are sent in several situations: for example, when a datagram cannot reach its destination, when the gateway does not have the buffering capacity to forward a datagram, and when the gateway can direct the host to send traffic on a shorter route. The Internet Protocol is not designed to be absolutely reliable. The purpose of these control messages is to provide feedback about problems in the communication environment, not to make IP reliable. There are still no guarantees that a datagram will be delivered or a control message will be returned. Some datagrams may still be undelivered without any report of their loss. The higher level protocols that use IP must implement their own reliability procedures if reliable communication is required. The ICMP messages typically report errors in the processing of datagrams. To avoid the infinite regress of messages about messages etc., no ICMP messages are sent about ICMP messages.

Probably the most recognized use of the ICMP protocol is the use of the “ping” command. Yes, in total geek fashion, the URL could be translated as “Ping me”.blogspot.com. So there you have it, a true understanding into the geekdom from which I come.

10 Sep 06 Definitions – Geek / Nerd

Ok,

I was thinking about posting what I was going to be doing this evening when I decided I should probably first advise all of you (non-existent readers) about the definition between a Geek and a Nerd (Since I figured you would all call me a Nerd for my Geek-like hobbies). First, I am going to show you what www.dictionary.com has to say about it (and how I disagree with them).

nerd, also nurd n. Slang

A foolish, inept, or unattractive person.

A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept.

geek n. Slang

1. A person regarded as foolish, inept, or clumsy.
2. A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept.
3. A carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken.

Ok, where did number 3 come from? That’s just weird. (Kronk:”Yeah, Weird!”)

The definition of Nerd: Lets just stick to facts and disregard number 1 as a possible definition. This leaves number 2, and it is filled with nothing but fact. I also tend to agree with it. That is my definition of a nerd. Isn’t it yours?

The Definition of Geek: Again, lets ignore number 1 (and in this case number 3 as well) as that definition can be used on almost anyone having a bad day. I agree that number 2 is a good definition for Geek until we get to the word “but”. Put a period before the word “but” and ignore the rest of the sentence. Otherwise Geek means the same as nerd and it does not!

What’s the difference? Its simple, and it has everything to do with social standing. A Nerd is a Geek who cannot “fit in”. Thats it. Its that simple. A Nerd is a Geek, but a Geek is not a Nerd. Period.

I can admit freely to belonging to the brotherhood of Geeks, but draw the line at Nerdom.

-Z

04 May 06 It’s my birthday! (almost)

So my wife and I were discussing the fact that my birthday is coming up (May 24th). She asked me what I wanted and as I prepared myself to go window shopping through my mind, nothing happened. So I am stuck with one of two possibilities: Either my brain has stopped working, or I don’t know what I want for my birthday.

Without discussing the first possibility right now (because if it is true, then I wouldn’t know how to counter your argument), I wanted to ask you NEUs what I should put on my birthday present list.

So, what should I ask for on my birthday?

-Z

28 Apr 06 Silly Silly Mel

So I walk into work today to hear 3 co-workers laughing right by my cubicle. After I inquire as to the cause I am treated to a viewing of the trailer to Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto” (Watch the trailer).

I like Mel Gibson, most of his movies, and his directing. And I have seen this trailer before. It looks like a very good movie, but it doesn’t look funny. So what was the big deal? It turns out Mel has a sense of humor and has 1 frame of the trailer with him in it. Go to the link above, watch the trailer, and right after you see the monkey, pause it and go backwards frame by frame. I have posted a picture below just to prove it to you.

And special thanks to Jason and Joe for telling me about this.

-Z