fognl

Get off my lawn.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Latest wisdom from Star-biz-ucks


















Got a big cup of joe from Starbucks the other day, and almost forgot to log the wise saying on the cup (by the way, the crap slopped all over the side was from the barista-in-a-hurry at SBs, not me):

Let go your sorrow,
Let go your blues
Cause I know tomorrow
is yesterday's news

Let go your sadness,
give up the fight
follow your madness
and take flight... take flight

That was from Seal, the left-handed guitar playing guy with the thing on his face. (I'm talking about a nose, you insensitive clod.)

Here's what I think he's talking about, and I'm sad to say it doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense.

Cheer up, and don't be blue.
I have no clue about present vs. future vs. past tense.
Like I said, cheer up.
If someone threatens to fight you, run away like a girl.
If you feel like you're going nuts, flow with it.
Try to get a pilot's license.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Linux LOVES memory

I just dropped another 256MB of memory in my laptop, which runs Linux. This makes a total of 1GB, and it makes a big difference in the way it runs. Everything runs smoother, there's less lag when switching between applications or starting apps I've recently run. It's all good.

I like the way Linux uses memory. Windows, confronted with a machine with, say, 2GB (like my work laptop) uses maybe 800MB when I'm using it in my normal fashion. The rest of it is apparently unallocated. Linux, on the other hand, uses it all. It uses whatever it needs for actual allocation, and the rest seems to go to cache. (At least that's what my little memory meter says on the taskbar.)

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Loopy meterologists

The weather here has been violent all day. The day started with tornado warnings, ominous foretellings of heavy hail, and reports of houses getting their roofs ripped off. It's all bad news.

As a result, a local news station has been playing nothing but "LIVE POWER DOPPLER" action all day. There are two meteorologists, Katie Horner and Ted Textor, who have been on the job since 8am. God bless 'em.

I can't imagine working that long and having to be on TV and look/act professional for (as of right now) 14.5 hours. I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it without saying something stupid on camera at least once. As it turns out, it's difficult for even the most professional of professionals to do as well. I've been watching these two for the past couple of hours off and on with increasing interest. They're obviously professionals, but they look exhausted. They keep saying strange stuff to each other: commenting on the names of towns, ("That's 'O' see-ole-a, not 'Ah' see-ole-a"), getting stumped by the computer, and going off on tangents about weather radios. They're doing a fine job considering the circumstances, but it's still pretty funny to watch the cracks appear. One of the best parts was an exchange between Ted Textor and the fire chief of a small town near here called Creighton:

TT: So, you've got another storm moving in, and have had some severe damage already.
FC: Yes, there are a couple of homes here with their roofs missing. Fortunately, we've only had a couple of injuries, and those people have been taken to the hospital.
TT(sporting a sad, "so very tired" look on his face): So... um...(pause)... Is there anything we can do?

Is it just me, or was that a really dumb question? Actually, I think it's just me. I remember asking almost exactly the same lame question once. At the time, I was more interested in ending the conversation I was in, while trying to be helpful and cordial. Maybe that's what I found so funny about what I heard. You could see it on Ted: The "Can I PLEASE go home" look on his face, and the general look of exhaustion. While he was saying "Anything we can do?", I bet he was thinking "What do you want from me?"

Sleep deprivation is no fun!