Day 157: Paradigm

Day 157: Paradigm
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

This is my halloween costume. I'm a paradigm! (I have two dimes taped to my sweater)

Joel from MST3K is back!!!

Just found this out.

It’s all been strange and mysterious and lovely, and it makes me want to do it all over again. And now, almost 20 years later, I am. I’ve decided, in collaboration with the other bold souls who “started it all,” to do a new project that is strong enough for our diehard audience, and also gentle and easy to swallow for those that are new to movie riffing. Wait for it….wait for it…. meet Cinematic Titanic!

It's Joel and the original folks from MST3K going at it again. This is great news. Joel was the best host on the show.

Full Release

Day 156: It's getting cold out

Day 156: It's getting cold out
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Day 156: Computer work (again)

Day 156: Computer work (again)
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Trying to compile something.

Day 155: Time to change the batteries

Day 155: Time to change the batteries
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

It's not the time change yet, but close enough.

Day 154: Watching Google Video

Day 154: Watching Google Video
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

There is just so many documentaries on this thing. So many good things.

Day 153: Working Late

Day 153: Working Late
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

GRRRR! It was decided that we were going to do some testing... at the end of the day on FRIDAY. So, it all went to hell and now it's 11pm and I finally got home.

Day 151: Son's 3rd birthday

Day 151: Son's 3rd birthday
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Yummy!

Day 150: Fixing Stuff

Day 150: Fixing Stuff
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Woke up this morning to find an outlet that wasn't working. This is the only outlet that services the microwave so I had to jump into action. First I used the extension cord to warm the bottle for the baby, then I checked things out with my multimeter. It turns out that I didn't press "reset" hard enough on the GFI outlet. At least I got to use my multimeter!

What we are fighting for

I was recently in an email war with a friend of mine. We were discussing the war, and I mentioned that the US went into Iraq because he was going to switch to the Euro instead of the dollar as the currency for oil.

My friend asked why this would affect us, and at first I didn't really know. I knew it was bad, but wasn't sure why. I looked it up and found out why it was so bad, and wow is it bad. Here is the response I sent...

> How does oil being traded with Europe based on the euro verses the dollar
> impact the US?

I'm glad you asked.

"Although completely unreported by the U.S. media and government, the
answer to the Iraq enigma is simple yet shocking -- it is in large
part an oil currency war. One of the core reasons for this upcoming
war is this administration's goal of preventing further Organization
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) momentum towards the euro
as an oil transaction currency standard. However, in order to pre-empt
OPEC, they need to gain geo-strategic control of Iraq along with its
2nd largest proven oil reserves. The second coalescing factor that is
driving the Iraq war is the quiet acknowledgement by respected oil
geologists and possibly this administration is the impending
phenomenon known as Global "Peak Oil." This is projected to occur
around 2010, with Iraq and Saudi Arabia being the final two nations to
reach peak oil production."

So that's the war in a nutshell. So how does the currency fit in? ...

"Since 1945 the dollar has been the global oil transaction currency.
These dollars are recycled from oil production to the US as Treasury
Bills and assets in US stocks and real estate, which is a substantial
portion of the financial market. The EURO becomes the alternative
currency to nations wishing to switch."

I'm still not sure that I understand. Break it down...

"Oil can be bought from OPEC only if you have dollars. Non-oil
producing countries, such as most underdeveloped countries and Japan,
first have to sell their goods to earn dollars with which they can
purchase oil. If they cannot earn enough dollars, then they have to
borrow dollars from the WB/IMF, which have to be paid back, with
interest, in dollars. This creates a great demand for dollars outside
the U.S. In contrast, the U.S. only has to print dollar bills in
exchange for goods. Even for its own oil imports, the U.S. can print
dollar bills without exporting or selling its goods. For instance, in
2003 the current U.S. account deficit and external debt has been
running at more than $500 billion. Put in simple terms, the U.S. will
receive $500 billion more in goods and services from other countries
than it will provide them. The imported goods are paid by printing
dollar bills, i.e., "fiat" dollars."

Whoa, so what would happen if we switched to the Euro? ...

"Economist commentator Sonja Ebron wrote, "An OPEC switch from the
dollar to the euro would bring a quick and devastating dollar and Wall
Street crash that would make 1929 look like a $50 casino bet." This
prediction was understood by the Clinton administration, but the Bush
administration took action to boost the petrodollar."

Sources:

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/RRiraqWar.html
http://www.thinkandask.com/news/thedollar.html

A very easy to read kind of history and explanation of this found here:

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Iraq/Iraq_dollar_vs_euro.html

Day 149: Tired

Day 149: Tired
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Day 148: I'm a blanket

Day 148: I'm a blanket
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Day 147: The Friar and Me

Day 147: The Friar and Me
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

I went with the kids school on a pilgrimage today to the Shrine of the North American Martyrs. This friar led the whole thing. He was a lot of fun, and even got barefoot to play Frisbee.

Day 146: Watching Movies

Day 146: Watching Movies
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Decided to watch "An Inconvenient Truth" today. I think I'm only halfway through it right now, but this is a very well done movie. I recommend you put this in your Netflix queue right away.

Day 145: Strawberry Jam

Day 145: Strawberry Jam
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Someone posted a simple perl script to change the default message that's displayed on HP printers. This one says "STRAWBERRY JAM" (I can't take credit, saw in the Digg comments), and the one next to it says "Feed squirrel in tray 4" (not pictured)

Day 144: Hi

Day 144: Hi
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Day 143: Free dove bar!

Day 143: Free dove bar!
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

I went to the store to get some milk for the baby and because of the war on terror, I was not afraid to venture out of my house. I'm happy to report that there were no dirty bombs at the gas station where I bought my milk from.

In fact, while I was there I decided to get a Dove bar. The M&M rep happen to be there, and gave me an entire book of by one get one free coupons for Dove bars. Theres like 50 in this thing.

So, not only did I survive the day, I got free candy! I'm sure am glad our fighting men and women are putting their lives on the line so I can continue getting free candy!

Ok, obviously not really. Be safe Krupp. You've been my friend since seventh grade and I'd like to share pictures of our grandkids someday.

Day 142: Late night bottle

Day 142: Late night bottle
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

It's almost midnight and I have to feed the baby. Almost missed another 365. I was up late writing angry emails about the "war" and stuff.

Day 140: Ubuntu Upgrade

Day 140: Ubuntu Upgrade
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

I couldn't wait any longer and did my Ubuntu upgrade. It's only like five more days until "Gutsy" is official, but oh well. I'll take the RC for now.

It certainly is the best release yet. My only thing that I horked what installing the 386 kernel instead of the general kernel. Lost my SMP ability and sound. Once I switched to general (and reinstalled the nvidia drivers) I had sound back, and both of my cores were being used again. Sweet. Now just to test out writing to the NTFS partition.

Ron Paul

How is this even a contest?

Day 139: New functions

Day 139: New functions
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

I decided to optimize my code by simply making a function that handled form data without having to have a separate SQL query for each form.

Day 138: Watching Tom and Jerry

Day 138: Watching Tom and Jerry
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

It's what the kids like.

Day 137: Playing GCompris

Day 137: Playing GCompris
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Matthew really took to this. In just two days he's show great improvement in mouse control allowing him to venture into other other fun things like paint.


GCompris Website
Edubuntu Bootable CD

Day 136: Feeding the baby

Day 136: Feeding the baby
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Day 135: Good Morning

Day 135: Good Morning
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Day 134: Riding a bike!

Day 134: Riding a bike!
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

My mother-in-law brought some bikes that someone was throwing out. I was able to ride this one. Though, a tad small, it still fine for me. I haven't been on a bike in a really long time. I had lot's of fun, and I'm going to feel the pain in the morning, I'm sure.

I missed another photo yesterday. GRRRR! I'm now taking a backup morning shot everyday as a just in case shot. I've been doing it on the weekdays, but the weekends need it too apparently.

Day 132: Fast Day

Day 132: Fast Day
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

I decided to try fasting today. That lasted up to 12:30 when someone at work ended up with a box of fried rice they didn't want.
them: "Would you like have it?"
me: "No, I'm trying to fast today."
them: "Are you sure, I'm just going to throw it away otherwise"
me: "Ok!" -scarf-

Then I found some veggie wrap things from a meeting and ate those too. Now I'm going to eat the last of the cake just for GP.

Day 131: Time to code

Day 131: Time to code
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Doing some web work for the kids school. Gotta get this done.

Day 130: Happy 1st Birthday!

Day 130: Happy 1st Birthday!
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Day 129: Database Redesign

Day 129: Database Redesign
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Well, the pen kept not writing and it pissed me off.

As far as the database redesign, I am overhauling the database program I wrote to better handle IT assets. I want to make software (operating system and server role) separate from the hardware. That way you can track hardware history independently from the software history. This allows you to attach the software to any hardware, even virtual hardware much easier.

The other big thing I'm working on is trying to get history on changes. Pretty much the same thing that MediaWiki does with it's own version control.

I can't just rewrite the whole thing, I need to slowly merge these changes so that it doesn't break everything. I have Nagios tied into this for example.

Day 128: Checking homework

Day 128: Checking homework
Originally uploaded by Qfamily.

Sometimes you just... man I don't know. It can be tough to get inside the head of a child and figure out how in the world they get some of the answers they do.