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As we were passing by a bar near where I live in the Mission district, Holly asked me which was (with quotations) “your local bar”. In a flash, I thought back about all the bars I had been in that I liked… bars in NYC, Hackettstown, Boston… all the interesting eateries, brew-pubs and homey coffee shops. I couldn’t think of a single place that was “my” place.

We walked along, looking for something to do on Saturday night in the Mission. Or if we only found some cool night air, we’d be happy too. There was a little artist gallery/nightlife spot I had randomly found a couple weeks ago while coming back from the post office so we were walking in that direction. We found the place.

As we approached, we worried that the place wasn’t open; the lights were out… or at least they were really dim. A sign at the front door directed us around to the side.

As we stepped inside, I had this comfortable feeling… the patrons looked at ease and happy, the ambient sounds were soothing, there was a pitcher of mohito on the bar and the band was gearing up for their second set. I knew immediately that -this- was -my- local bar.

www.redpoppyarthouse.org

I’m for hire. I am. Take a glance over at the Pages sidebar. You’ll find “I’m for Hire“.

While your mouse is over there, click on some of those other pages. Some of them are just consolidated from other parts of my site but it’s nice that they’re all in one neat little list now.

Hip, hip, don’t break!

update 11-9-11: consider using DeltaCopy instead of my home-brewed method below. I haven’t used it yet, but it looks nice!

I want to back up my Windows XP computer to another Windows XP computer using Rsync and SSH. Since Rsync only runs under *nix, I’m running it under Cygwin.

There are a couple hurdles to doing this. The one I got stuck on was getting SSH to work without a password.

It’s so freaking simple to do. You just have to know which instructions do not help accomplish your goal.

Continue reading ‘Using Cygwin, Rsync, SSH and the internet to backup my XP computer’ »

This was originally a “page” on my blog that I updated from time to time. But I like using the chronological format of a blog better now. Be sure to check out the Reading, Watching, Listening category of this blog!

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I’ve always been a slow reader. Sometimes, when I see people that read those big, heavy tombs like all those James Mitchner books, I get jealous. But then, I savor each word. In a good book, I have to stop every now and then because, although my eyes are strong and fast enough to read on, my mind has to digest what I’ve read. Reading quickly loses it’s advantage if you miss substance and depth.

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver – 6-20-02 – I spent time with the people of Zebulon County on every long car trip for the last three months. I borrowed this wonderful 15 hour audiobook from Shara. I just finished it and I miss the characters so. Not that the story is unfinished but like a good friend and neighbor that has moved to another town, I feel their absense. I cherished the time I had with these characters. Thank you Ms. Kingsolver for writing this story and then telling it to me.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin – 6-1-02 – Last summer, Shara lent me an audiobook of another Earthsea book. I was enthralled by the frank and precise language the Ms. Le Guin used and I wasn’t disappointed by this story. She applies such a down-to-earth style to high-fantasy that sits very well with me. I’ll be reading more of her!

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Edward Hutchings et all – summer 01. He’s my kind of guy. And it’s written so personally. It shows through that most of the book is actually dictation of a happy man telling great personal adventure stories to a friend.

Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson – 1994 or so. Cyberpunk at it’s best. I first saw it sitting on the kitchen table on Shepard St. What I usually do is dare people to read the first 20 pages and then put it down. Go ahead, I dare you.

Zodiac by Neil Stephenson – 2000. Yea, Neil’s pretty cool with the tech. Maybe Tom Clancy will have some competition in the movie theaters some day. The Big U by Neil is also a fun romp.

Comics

• Swamp Thing – I got the graphic novel (the first S.T. graphic novel) many years ago… in ’90? It convinced me that this format could be powerfully compelling.
• Transmetropolitan – in late 2001, TJIC lent me a the graphic novel issues 1 thru 24. I ate it up! I think the most important message the author tried to get across is that, in order to appreciate something, and to be able to articulate your thoughts, you’ve got to hate it. That’s an interesting idea..
• Sandman – I picked this up at the comic store around issue 40. The best ones were the first 30 or so (excepting #50, a super-snazzy double-issue) so I bought them all in novel format. Wow.

The blog has been running a little slow so I…. what should I do? Let’s see….

Install a plugin!

WP-Cache-2 stores blog pages for quick retrieval. It theoretically only takes 0.5 seconds or so off the creation time of the pages but (if my estimations are correct) it’s actually bringing load times from 5 seconds down to 2. Images take just as long to load but the text appears quicker. I’ll work on that.

update 9-28-05 This plugin isn’t compatible with my Theme Switcher. I’ll leave the Cache and dump the theme switcher.

I just spent the last hour playing with my niece Julia. That wouldn’t be too remarkable except for the games that we played and the distance over which we play them. Julia still can’t be convinced that I can’t see her when she can see me on my webcam. I had originally purchased two webcams but one has gone missing; we haven’t done too terribly, making due while the new one is being shipped. The first game that Julia wanted to play was Hide and Seek. Being the closed minded person I am, I had a very hard time imagining how we would play… seeing as how I am “stuck in the computer” and I can’t see her.

That didn’t stop her for a single second. She even berated me a little bit for not hiding after she had counted to 15! (why 15? I think that’s as high as she goes)

What a joy she is!

Things that you didn’t know you could do over the internet but you can with a 4 year old:

• paint toenails
• play (real) hide and seek
• dance
• stand on your head
• play Max and Ruby Dress Up
• go skiing with the cast of The Backyardigans
• have a really really fun time

:-)

I know that the problems surrounding hurricane Katrina were not just on the national level. State, county and local governments are corrupt to the point to manslaughter.

I’m still going to take this beautiful pot-shot.

From Brokentoys.org

And just to confirm…. the weather report was issued by the National Weather Service at 10:11am CST, August 28th. Bush said his piece on the morning of September 1st, on Good Morning America.

When you get a weather report like this, it’s time to leave.

WWUS74 KLIX 281550NPWLIXURGENT – WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA

1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED

HURRICANE KATRINAA MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED STRENGTH…RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969. MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS…PERHAPS LONGER. ATLEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL…LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED.

CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE…INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE. HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY…A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT. AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD…AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATEADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS…PETS…

AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK. POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS…AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING…

BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEWCROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BEKILLED.AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEARHURRICANE FORCE…OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE..

.ARECERTAIN WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ONSET…DO NOT VENTUREOUTSIDE!LAZ038-040-050-056>070-282100-ASSUMPTION-LIVINGSTON-LOWER JEFFERSON-LOWER LAFOURCHE-LOWER PLAQUEMINES-LOWER ST. BERNARD-LOWER TERREBONNE-ORLEANS-ST. CHARLES-ST. JAMES-ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST-ST. TAMMANY-TANGIPAHOA-UPPER JEFFERSON-UPPER LAFOURCHE-UPPER PLAQUEMINES-UPPER ST. BERNARD-UPPER TERREBONNE-1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

To that, our president responded four days later with:

I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. They did anticipate a serious storm. But these levees got breached. And as a result, much of New Orleans is flooded. And now we are having to deal with it and will.

added 9-21-05:

From the Wikipedia article on New Orleans

Much of the city is located below sea level between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, so the city is surrounded by levees. Until the early 20th century, construction was largely limited to the slightly higher ground along old natural river levees and bayous, since much of the rest of the land was swampy and subject to frequent flooding. This gave the 19th century city the shape of a crescent along a bend of the Mississippi, the origin of the nickname The Crescent City. In the 1910s engineer and inventor A. Baldwin Wood enacted his ambitious plan to drain the city, including large pumps of his own design which are still used. All rain water must be pumped up to the canals which drain into Lake Pontchartrain. Wood’s pumps and drainage allowed the city to expand greatly in area. However, pumping of groundwater from underneath the city has resulted in subsidence. The subsidence greatly increased the flood risk, should the levees be breached or precipitation be in excess of pumping capacity (as was the case in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina). There were many warnings in the late 20th century that a major hurricane or a Mississippi flood could create a lake in the central city as much as 9 m (30 ft) deep, which could take months to pump dry….

From the Wikipedia article on Hurricane Katrina

…It later reached a minimum pressure of 26.64 inches (902 mbar), making it the fourth most intense Atlantic Basin hurricane on record…

Katrina was a powerful storm but there have been in recorded history (the last 200 years or so) at least 3 storms that would have done the same thing to New Orleans if they hit their mark. So… there is a levee-breaking storm every 50 years…. and such a storm might hit it’s mark right over New Orleans 1 in … I don’t know … 1 in 10 times.

I’ve heard it said that it was known that the levees were rated to protect against a class 3 hurricane (I googled around a little for a definitive text on this but couldn’t find one [reference found, see below – Lee]). That simply isn’t adequate protection for an area that routinely (every 10-100 years) gets hit by larger storms.

To counter one friend’s ridiculous accusation that this catastrophe happened because of global warming, I must insist that it was just simple probability. Anyone who knew anything about the levees knew that every hurricane coming in from the gulf was a roll of the dice.

update 9-24-05 From a Washington Post article pointed out to me by The Quantum Mechanic

The Army Corps of Engineers has said that Katrina was just too massive for a system that was not intended to protect the city from a storm greater than a Category 3 hurricane… The event exceeded the design…

The article goes on to to talk at length about how the design of the floodwalls may have been faulty but at the same time, they reiterate that it wasn’t designed to handle a storm as large as Katrina.