tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-189156662011-11-25T03:22:05.177-06:00Random synaptic firings, musings, and essays on things that matter: family, aviation, the environment, software development and attendant geekitude. Plus the occasional pinko leftist please-save-my-beloved-country rant.lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.comBlogger431100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-78522412769256468162011-02-21T23:05:00.005-06:002011-02-21T23:23:55.164-06:00

Lots more at http://rickwayne.zenfolio.com/

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-18390568826572659822011-02-19T12:15:00.001-06:002011-02-19T12:17:13.288-06:00

There are a couple of common misconceptions about the protests. Perhaps the most pernicious is that they're about cuts to benefits or salaries -- they're not. The unions already offered serious concessions in December, in a deal that Walker rejected. This on top of the lack of even COLA raises for four years, 3% pay cuts for the past two, etc.The reason we're on the streets is because of the

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-54972722151168090612010-11-03T12:07:00.001-05:002010-11-03T12:09:19.066-05:00

Senator Russell Feingold506 Hart Senate Office BuildingWashington, DC 205103 November 2010 Dear Senator Feingold:Thank you.That's not how I wanted this letter to start. I wanted it to start "Congratulations".Thank you for making me proud of Wisconsin. For eighteen years, no matter what shenanigans went on in Washington, or in the statehouse for that matter, I could still be proud of us. Because

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-71699971804601506942010-08-29T21:19:00.009-05:002010-08-29T23:54:57.986-05:00

What a day. What a glorious, gorgeous day. What a day to live in Madison. What a day to live.Beauty The First: Ride the Drive. Madison closed off a six-mile course to cars for a day, right downtown. We're talking the major 3- to 6-lane thoroughfares, here; sorry cars, just for this one day you've got to find another way. (Click to enlarge photos.)We certainly found a way -- tens of thousands of

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-78757080945883295832010-05-03T23:53:00.003-05:002010-05-04T00:29:05.246-05:00

Few years back a bunch of us had the notion to do a little mountain biking. There was Mauricio, a stone athlete; the tenaciously capable Finn; relatively experienced trail-rider Jim; Stan, who had just gotten his very first fat-tire bike; and your humble correspondent, of whose mad bike skilz the less said the better. (It was during my hospital stay after my second major crash that the

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-34260178288502719022010-03-22T16:15:00.003-05:002010-03-22T16:43:00.057-05:00

I'm one of those people who opposed the Senate bill from the left, figuring that single-payer would be the fairest, LEAST costly option. Government bureaucracy? It is to laugh, as Daffy Duck says -- ever tangle with an insurance company? (In fairness, I have to say Unity has done very well by us.)But I knew that with the rabid snarling racist mobs howling about socialism, calling U.S.

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-63244189959739406702009-01-17T12:50:00.002-06:002009-01-17T12:52:11.845-06:00

In the sense that The Onion is "America's finest news source", that is.Here is Juan Cole, always worth reading but never more so than in this eloquent flagellation of Bush, and of us for (re-) electing and tolerating him.

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-64232566818953726022009-01-03T10:46:00.005-06:002009-01-03T22:00:48.088-06:00

Back before some of you were born, I subscribed to a magazine called Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia (tag line: "Running light without overbyte"). It was a wonderful stew of homebrew projects and computer-science theory, and evolved into one of two premier magazines on how to write software professionally.I was a writer and technical editor for the other one for

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-60336417351394719022008-12-21T11:12:00.006-06:002008-12-21T13:00:04.356-06:00

Well, it's Solstice Party time again -- the day is upon us (Janet: AIEEEEE!).As I've described here before, we do this every year, and it's the one time we attempt to actually be adults and fulfill our social obligations. So my Wife Of Many Parts, the chemist/skier/pilot/camper, suddenly raves all Martha Stewart and begins straightening, and cleaning, and cooking. Though really that last is an

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-48730665230526074472008-11-27T08:48:00.002-06:002009-01-08T20:41:35.217-06:00

If your mental image of "Muslim" is that of some grimy wacko in the Pakistan Federated Areas (unlikely, if you read this blog), or if your idea of "queen" is some teddibly plucky, frighteningly ancient Britisher...have I got a mind-bender for you.It's Queen Rania of Jordan, accepting an award for her YouTube channel (told you!), and riffing on Letterman's Top Ten list as she does so. Tip o'

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-42361986730992637092008-11-26T11:02:00.001-06:002008-11-26T11:02:51.681-06:00

I'm fifty today. Half a fricking century.As Bloom County's Portnoy protested too much on reaching a similar milestone: "But you know I'm still very, very liberal!"

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-17787486516121815272008-11-11T11:07:00.001-06:002008-11-11T23:12:27.825-06:00

My friend Jim emailed that he was being driven nuts by his father, who keeps emailing him far-right wack-job memes that are bouncing around teh Intertubes. Jim would debunk them by referring to Snopes.com, whereupon his dad discovered -- surprise -- that snopes.com is a liberal conspiracy too, and thus not nearly as believable as, say, Rush. (I'm putting words in his mouth, here, but I hope I'm

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-22781552614887236822008-11-04T23:38:00.001-06:002008-11-04T23:38:23.275-06:00

Well, not really that last one. If Cheney really gave a rat's patootie about McCain, he would have either endorsed him much earlier and more publicly, or shut the **** up.Anyway, I don't want to be petty, not after that glorious speech. Just three moments I want to share with you:When McCain mentioned Obama, his crowd booed. When Obama mentioned McCain, his crowd applauded. Listlessly, true, but

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-61351421591754068562008-11-04T10:45:00.000-06:002008-11-04T10:46:19.878-06:00

Wish I'd taken a photo, but I didn't want the pollwatchers to come down on me. I dropped the kid off at elementary school this morning and went straight to the polls, which had been open for all of 40 minutes.We vote at a high school, and the usual setup is a tiny little arts room with all of five little marking booths, four little old ladies, and a scanning machine. I've had to wait for three or

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-80120189224699499312008-10-21T22:44:00.001-05:002008-10-21T22:45:17.383-05:00

Reading Juan Cole's blog "Informed Comment", I came across a link to a piece by Jonathan Landay tracing McCain's philosophical journey from pragmatist to neocon, which Landay argues was complete before Bush II ever took office.In the latter article, there's a link to McCain-Palin campaign's "National Security" topic page. I couldn't resist commenting on how much the campaign doc talks about

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-83365247253675383142008-09-30T10:18:00.004-05:002008-09-30T10:22:38.060-05:00

Working on the Photography Merit Badge with our local Scout troop, this little demo of panning a moving subject actually came out rather nicely.

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-54123219075831192482008-09-26T09:32:00.001-05:002008-09-26T09:32:40.052-05:00

A very interesting little essay on Toffler's old concept of "Future Shock" and how it affects our political world.

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-54119905049306471812008-09-19T11:06:00.001-05:002008-09-19T11:06:02.450-05:00

ARRRRR!You need to go to Woot and listen to today's podcast. Really. Trust me on this one.It's a Bluetooth product today (of course).And the podcast is another Bluetooth shanty (of course).And the shanty is all about TLAPD! It's hilarious.

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-42701647787383480072008-08-21T10:23:00.002-05:002008-08-25T10:33:57.723-05:00

I'm reading James Carroll's Crusade: Chronicles of an Unjust War right now, and I am struck by two things.First, I am shamed and humbled by the dates on his pieces. Back in the spring of 2003, I was conflicted. Maybe we were preventing WMD attacks, on us and on others. Getting rid of Saddam certainly sounded like a good idea, too. On balance, I was deeply uneasy and came down against the war,

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-16297927814608158492008-02-11T21:53:00.000-06:002008-02-11T22:05:36.141-06:00

Our campus backup service, based on IBM's Tivoli, is called Bucky Backup. I needed it today and was left hanging.See, our departmental database server decided to finally blow a gasket sometime this weekend. Friday's backup was accomplished, but nothing after that. In keeping with the whole penury-is-good-for-science theme, the server was eight years old -- hey, it was the best machine I could

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-50822481644843986392007-11-07T09:31:00.001-06:002007-11-07T09:31:16.995-06:00

John Kerry's item on the Huffington Post is simple: An appeal to sign onto a petition to be attached in support of Senate Bill 1943. Go read the bill; it's a perfectly straightforward codification of what should be a moral imperative: The United States should not torture people.Please add your support. Following are the comments I attached to the petition.It goes without saying that the United

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-12260048146032653622007-10-21T15:46:00.001-05:002007-10-21T16:16:04.960-05:00

I commute on my bike, and do plenty of longer rides too. So it probably has 3,000 miles or better on it, and I ride all the time, four seasons -- streets, trails, gnarly mountain-bike singletrack strewn with roots and rocks. I'm no Olympian or trick-cyclist, but I am exceedingly comfortable on a bicycle; for example, when I come to a stop light, I habitually trackstand instead of putting a foot

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-47448815392403995872007-09-11T21:27:00.000-05:002007-09-11T23:22:44.651-05:00

It's getting on toward the end of windsurfing season, at least for those of us without wetsuits. Today I got out of work later than I wanted, and Janet had a 6:00 commitment, so I only had about 30 minutes to actually sail. But I figured I'd either have fun or be REALLY DONE by then anyway.The waves were up high enough that sometimes they'd break right over my head, and as you Madisonians may

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-12018169205185076852007-04-07T10:50:00.000-05:002007-04-07T11:06:19.277-05:00

The latest in the continuing saga of "Dang, But It's Cold By Them Lakes Hey". These photos were shot with a Sony DSC F717, all handheld. (I thought about strapping the tripod to my bike but despaired of lugging the weight around; wish I'd done it!) The camera's metadata in these images will say they're taken in 2002, don't you believe it.I submitted some of these to the Wisconsin State Journal,

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-13694205944212618332007-04-06T15:07:00.000-05:002007-04-07T11:13:49.336-05:00

These were taken at Tenney Park late this morning. This time I had the "real" camera, a Sony DSC F717. Most of these were shot at f/8 with the camera picking the shutter speed, all handheld.Thanks to Jim for offering me file-uploading service in the middle of his (extremely busy) working day!

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-70169058380823923652007-04-05T09:49:00.000-05:002007-04-05T15:49:49.852-05:00

After a couple of days of below-freezing temperatures and high winds, Madison's south lakeshore is truly surreal this morning!These were taken with a Nokia N80 cell phone; I'm still not used to squinting at an LCD instead of looking through a lens.The curb in the third photo is on boat-launch ramp, down which we once rode in a WWII Army Duck. To get the grass closeups, I had to walk down it,

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1153203074806541112006-07-18T01:03:00.000-05:002006-07-18T01:28:05.203-05:00

Some photos of me on my newly-acquired F2 wind surfer, under the tutelage of my friend Jim (he shot the pix, BTW).Yes, Virginia, Madison is really this nice. As my brother-in-law once summed it up..."It's Oz."My favorite line of the evening came when we were starting to pack up, groaning over the unaccustomed exercise. I unzipped a little cooler and held up two bottles. Jim's eyes went round with

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1142052585417424532006-03-10T22:31:00.000-06:002006-03-10T22:49:45.503-06:00

Read my musician friend's thoughtful post on the merits of single-song sales versus albums. Thinking about her prospects of making a living by selling her recordings in the 21st century got my dander up.I am amazed when I hear folks talk about "just downloading" music that's not supposed to be available for free; I overhear such conversations pretty frequently on the university campus. The

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1140976769726094302006-02-26T10:34:00.000-06:002006-02-27T13:59:21.776-06:00

Our newspaper ran a photo of a bumper sticker today: "Quagmire Accomplished!" My eight-year-old son wanted to know why Dad laughed until tears came. As I explained, he started backing away slowly -- clearly, as I ranted on and on, he was more than done and wanted to get back to reading the comics.I rather surprised myself. I'm no fan of President Bush or the machine that made him, or the money

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1138994031618857262006-02-03T13:10:00.000-06:002006-02-03T13:13:51.656-06:00

write code eat food fly plane kiss girl

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1138601301025692432006-01-29T23:58:00.000-06:002006-01-30T00:08:21.046-06:00

This will tickle your revenge funnybone:Mailinator is a service for receiving email pseudo-anonymously. The idea is that when you register for something on the Web, they always ask you for an email address, right? So then you get the benefit of whatever "free" thing you signed up for, at the cost of having yet another mailbox overflow with the resulting Torrent O' Spam.Mailinator lets you supply

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1138596030266524432006-01-29T22:19:00.000-06:002006-01-31T21:24:32.280-06:00

I am working on a little course-ware Web application for a professor. The application went live Saturday, and he's announcing it in class tomorrow morning. Students log in, enter little news items, get graded...nothing too earth-shattering. It's crucial, of course, that they be authenticated without doubt, and that the work done gets ascribed to the right student. So I'd spent quite a bit of time

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1135705814162102542005-12-27T11:48:00.000-06:002005-12-27T11:50:14.290-06:00

Warren, my friend and longtime fellow columnist at Software Development magazine, sent me an interesting essay by Lionel Shriver. In it, she excoriates the use of the word "whatever".Got me to thinking about the standards of verbal decency here at Maison de Shabby. My eight-year-old son and I both tend to the geeky side (in the manner that a dropped bowling ball tends toward the ground), and so

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1134101708828283922005-12-08T21:49:00.000-06:002005-12-08T22:19:02.630-06:00

Not too many words today, folks. I'd rather sit in thebackground and let Mother Nature show off. These photosdepict...well, basically the fact that we live in a 1926 house in Wisconsin.

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1133417801409820652005-11-30T22:54:00.000-06:002005-12-05T09:30:46.206-06:00

We're not Christians. That's how we wound up with a brick of smoke.See, actually I've been a Christian. Not just an it's-Sunday-so-we-go-to-church Christian, either. I was quite devout, in fact, a born again, evangelical, God-is-tough-love kind of guy. (If I seem to belabor this point, it's because no one who met me after that period in my life is likely to believe it.) I wasn't overly preachy,

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1132898706968954202005-11-24T23:50:00.000-06:002005-12-05T09:31:47.616-06:00

If you've never been, and you like airplanes, you truly owe it to yourself to go to Oshkosh. (Sorry, I know it's officially called "EAA Airventure", but I can never bring myself to say that.) We've been going since the mid-eighties. Since we got a plane, we've been camping there under Redbird's wing about every other year.This convention and airshow are actually directly responsible for my wife

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1132700405625879202005-11-22T16:57:00.000-06:002005-11-22T17:00:05.626-06:00

By the way, TA fans, I started another blog today. This one is for all the little tidbits, funnies, and commentary with which I've been filling your email for so long. Now I'll post 'em here so you can read 'em at your leisure.

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1132700143987642892005-11-22T16:55:00.000-06:002005-11-23T10:05:36.973-06:00

Our story so far: The Kansas State School Board decides on their own definition of science, mandating the teaching of "intelligent design" as an alternative to the theory of evolution.An admittedly brilliant (if underemployed) Bobby Henderson writes an open letter to the Board, praising them for their decision and pointing out that his theory (viz, a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe.

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1132354640767767112005-11-18T16:34:00.001-06:002005-11-18T16:57:20.776-06:00

It was a beautiful evening, perfect for flying, soft, warm, and still. Just enough clouds to light up a sunset. Two couples decided that dinner out would be just the thing, and we knew a restaurant only 50 miles away that featured the best pies ever created by the hand of man. (Well, woman, actually, a teeny wizened old Polish grandma.)It was my turn for the left seat, and my wife carefully

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1132157295638707432005-11-16T09:49:00.000-06:002005-11-16T10:39:33.176-06:00

I'm waiting for the UPS guy to deliver the parts for my long-awaited, brand-new computer, purchased from the widely-respected Internet vendor Newegg.My eight-year-old son is practically beside himself with eagerness to help me build it.So (with apologies to Roger Waters), here's my version of "Dark Side of the Moon/Brain Damage":Computer bits are on the truck....Computer bits are on the

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1132024378006772912005-11-14T20:44:00.000-06:002005-11-22T22:20:56.616-06:00

Spent a long time talking to Aunt Shirley last night. What a woman! Talk about "more than meets the eye". She's visually indistinguishable from thousands of white-haired, soft-spoken, yearly-more-fragile ladies.And yet...and yet. Look a little more closely at the picture to the right. Her kids took one look and titled it "Busted".Shirley and her husband raised five children. They are the kind of

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1131915265035311962005-11-13T16:53:00.000-06:002005-11-13T16:21:27.520-06:00

Climate is a squirrely kind of thing. It's composed of weather, which for temperate climes is a wild and variable beast. So it's hard to discern patterns in the sea of change. Regardless of what the experts say, in any given location the changes in climate are a matter of forty steps forward, thirty steps back, and a dozen in random sideways lunges.And if you go by personal memory, it's even

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18915666.post-1131858295508286262005-11-13T00:56:00.000-06:002005-11-15T09:15:16.950-06:00

We did roller coasters today.My daughter has been bugging me about it. She wants to go up--without her brother, thank you--and rip up the sky.Now, if you put your average five-year-old in an airplane and start chucking it about, you get one of two reactions: Screaming Extra Chunky Screaming Her eight-year-old brother, for example, is not so big on the whole rock-and-roll-airplane thing, and

lupushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13871665628816481953noreply@blogger.com2