Barnson.org

So Siebel Systems laid me off today. Dang. I kind of expected it for the last several months, though. I’ve been very busy, but not in the department into which I was hired; in other words, I was benefitting one department while another one which wasn’t making money paid me.

The background there is that they created a new group to handle application management services. There was a big account lined up, and they began staffing in order to handle the account.

Then the account fell through. Then they replaced the head of the division, who froze all new initiatives for review for several months. Ours was one which got the axe. Oh, well.

Anyway, so I’m on the job market again. I’ve updated my resume to reflect my recent experience. I have a couple of contracts that I can ramp up my progress on now that I have time, I got some severance, and our income tax return should be very reasonable this year, so I’m not too worried about our immediate prospects.

But if you guys know of someone looking for a UNIX admin, and are willing to pay decently (keeping in mind that the D.C. area is 18% more expensive to live in than my current arrangement), let me know!

Bored now? Speaking of comic books, try this page on for size.

Marine Corp’s General Reinwald was interviewed on the radio the other day and you have to read his reply to the lady who interviewed him concerning guns and children. Regardless of how you feel about gun laws you gotta love this!!!! This is one of the best comeback lines of all time. It is a portion of National Public Radio (NPR) interview between a female broadcaster and US Marine Corps General Reinwald who was about to sponsor a Boy Scout Troop visiting his military installation.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: So, General Reinwald, what things are you going to teach these young boys when they visit your base?

GENERAL REINWALD: We’re going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Shooting! That’s a bit irresponsible, isn’t it?

GENERAL REINWALD: I don’t see why, they’ll be properly supervised on the rifle range.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Don’t you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?

GENERAL REINWALD: I don’t see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: But you’re equipping them to become violent killers.

GENERAL REINWALD: Well, you’re equipped to be a prostitute, but you’re not one, … are you?

The radio went silent and the interview ended.

You’ve gotta love the Marines !!!

EDIT by matthew: formatting, break added.

I’m fed up with the media’s use of the word “shocking” in connection with gun-related homicides. I think I’ve gone off on this topic before, but today I came across multiple media outlets state that recent fatal shootings were “shocking”.

What’s so shocking about it?

How many gun-related killings occur each year in the US? In 2001, the CDC’s National Vital Statistics Report detailed 29,572 annual gun deaths. This number means that 81 people are killing each other in our country each day with guns. 81.

Where’s the shock factor? When 81 people are getting shot each day in our country, then there’s nothing shocking about it. I’m surprised that media hasn’t gone on to consider other things, like car-related deaths, to qualify for a shocking development (“In today’s morning rush hour, a shocking fender-bender occured, startling many motorists and eventually causing…a traffic jam”.)

Call it senseless, horrible or awful. Call it terrible or disgusting. But don’t call it shocking. Tell it like it is. A normal, daily activity. In the great words of Al Franken: “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. Using guns.”

Can anyone here identify this intersection?                       How about this spot?
 

Why is there 396MB in an empty folder?

C:/Documents and Setting/Owner/Local Settings/Temporary Internet Files

Something tells me that Microsoft is watching.

Alright, music geeks, time to spare Sammy G some advice.

I’m looking for an 88-key, hammer-weight keyboard for use in the studio. I need something that will simply act as a slave device for recording into Logic/Cakewalk/etc.

I never got into the programming aspects of the T1, and by now its onboard technology is beyond obsolete. You won’t believe this, but the 3.5 floppy still sitting in the T1 drive is a Babbage’s disk, with Matt’s handwriting, that reads “Matt’s Disk.” That’s how little I used the programming side of the T1 over its 14-year existence. Now, the T1 is a this heavy, klunky artifact that still works, but has bugs that I’m forced to work around whenever I turn it on.

Anyway, trying to find a decent, slave board. Thanks for any advice!

Star Trek Enterprise is Cancelled on UPN.

Major bummed… first time since 1987 without Star Trek on TV.

First time since 1978 withoug Star Trek In Development.

How did they do this? ER is still popular. NYPD Blue still has viewers (in this, their final season). St:TNG final ep in 1994 had like 25 million viewers!

I’m So Bummed.

News of the weird:

From http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1321235/posts

BAYREUTH – Baffled authorities in southern Germany have issued an alert concerning unknown persons who have been sticking small US flags into piles of dog droppings in public parks in Bayreuth.

“This has been going on for about a year now, and there must be 2,000 to 3,000 piles of excrement that have been thusly ‘adorned’ during that time,” said Bayreuth parks administrator Josef Oettl.

The sporadic series of incidents originally was thought to be some sort of protest against the US-led invasion of Iraq. And when it continued it was thought to be a protest against President George W. Bush’s campaign for re-election.

Bayreuth police say they are completely baffled.

“We have sent out extra patrols to try to catch whoever is doing this in the act,” said police spokesman Reiner Kuechler. “But frankly, we don’t know what we would do if we caught them red- white- and-blue handed.”

Legal experts agreed, saying there is no law against using faeces as a flag stand and the federal constitution is vague on the issue.

Ok, I am going to rant a little bit.

I have a friend of mine that I have known for 17 years. She was married young had children very young. Was abused young. Was divorced young. She came through all of that a better woman. What gets me, though, is that she has done everything right. She has tried to put aside her anger for the betterment of her children. Work with the father for their sake. Has gone through all of the proper channels in court.

My problem lies with the system.

This man owes her $16,500 and next month that goes up another $300. Yet the state of Va. and Md. still do nothing about it. They continue to let this man accuse her of everything imaginable, including having sex in front of her children.

Absurd.

Yet they do nothing but have a paper trail tied up in child support enforcement. Judges keep telling him he needs to pay but nothing ever gets done about it. Now she has tried to have his taxes garnished but, because he owns his own business that owes the Federal goverment money, they get theirs first. This woman lives at home with her mother. She’s unable to better her family financially, yet he gets to own his own business. It has been 4 and half years since their divorce, and he has never helped with any part of his children in that time. Solely because they live with her.

How can anyone deny their responsiblilty to their children. So what if you’re bitter towards your ex? Just don’t use your children to have a fight with them.

There comes a time that you just have to grow up. You don’t have to like the other person. Just try to get along enough so your children don’t end up on antidepressants and suicidal because of it. Like the case of my friend’s 13 year-old son. Because of his father, who blames it on a mother who is distraught over this.

When will people think of the children? Hopefully before it is too late.

EDIT by matthew: Line breaks, formatting, tpyo fixes. “Their” is possessive. “They’re” is “they are”. “There” is a location. “You’re” is “you are”, while “your” is possessive. You’re not alone in having troubles with your possessive pronouns; they’re difficult to remember, even when their definitions are right there in your dictionary!