Xanderland

My 2012 Reading Goal

2012-01-15T01:09:37Z

2011 was the first year that I made a concerted effort to track the number of books I read, after having neglected my reading entirely for several years. In 2011, I ended up reading 35 books, great and small. (And some of them were on the extremely small side, given the advent of the Kindle Single.) This year, I intend to read 52 books. Not a spectacular number, I realize, but it’s something.

Things Get worse Before They Get Better

2011-01-29T13:04:56Z

Or something like that. Here’s what my foot is looking like this morning.

Moving Hurts

2011-01-28T13:01:53Z

Or rather, being careless hurts.

Flying the SR-71 Blackbird

2010-11-20T18:00:57Z

This is just awesome.

“I pulled the throttles to idle just south of Sicily , but we still overran the refueling tanker awaiting us over Gibraltar.”

Abolish The TSA

2010-11-19T02:37:43Z

If you ask me, it can’t happen soon enough.

http://blogs.forbes.com/artcarden/2010/11/14/full-frontal-nudity-doesnt-make-us-safer-abolish-the-tsa/

Yet More Proof That Criminals Aren’t the Brightest Ever.

2010-08-07T16:34:05Z

Summary: Man tries to rob bank with fast-food bag. Hands over debit card and ID to teller when asked. Gets beaten up and pinned down by a woman with a baby who he tries to take hostage. Goes back to jail.

The full story is here: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/crime/stories/DN-robber_05met.ART.Central.Edition1.35a7053.html

My First Experience with the TSA Body Scanner

2010-08-05T02:38:00Z

The verdict: What an unbelievable hassle.

I went to DFW for a flight on Friday, and happened to pick a lane where they had replaced the traditional metal detector with one of the new millimeter wave scanners. Not having used one before I didn’t really know what to expect. After putting my carry-on bags and Ziplock® baggie of liquids and shoes on the x-ray machine belt, I stepped into the scanner. (Yes, into, and not through, like you would walk through a metal detector.)

There, I was asked if I was wearing a belt. I was. I always do. It’s never a problem. Apparently, with the body scanners, it is. So back out of the scanner to put my belt on the x-ray machine belt in the midst of some other poor woman’s carry-on bags and Ziplock® baggie and shoes, and then back into the scanner.

Next, I got another round of questioning…Did I have a wallet in my pocket? Yes. Apparently that’s a problem for this machine too. So, I gathered from the next set of questions, is money, paper, or anything else that you might carry in your pockets. Apparently, despite being horrendously expensive, they’re next to useless if you’re not practically naked.

So, now holding my wallet in my hand above my head, it’s finally time for the machine to scan me.

Two or three seconds later, it’s done, and I’m finally out of the machine. I’d already have my shoes back on, and been on my way if I’d just gone though the lane with the bloody metal detector instead. But wait, we’re not through.

Now, it’s time for me to stand and wait for a bit. Apparently, the TSA employees manning the gate (it takes two of them, it seems, rather than the one it takes for a metal detector) have to hear back from whoever it is that is looking at the scan, and that seems to take another few seconds.

Now, they’ve apparently gotten the alarming news that I’m wearing socks, (given that they already made me take off my shoes, I’m not sure why that wasn’t apparent) and they have to give my socks a thorough manual pat-down. Yes, apparently socks are a problem for this white elephant of a security device as well.

So, in something around ten-fold the amount of time it would have taken for me to walk though a metal detector and been manually patted down, I’ve basically been subjected to the same treatment save the use of a far more expensive and clearly deeply flawed device.

The silver lining, if there is one, is that these absurd pieces of garbage are far too expensive to replace every metal detector currently in use at every checkpoint, and I’m confident that they’ll be easy for me to avoid in the future.

Ouch.

2010-07-10T01:22:57Z

Electricity. The average monthly consumption of electricity for a household in Texas is 1,130 kilowatt hours. My consumption, for a one-bedroom apartment, was 1,687 kilowatt hours this month. I’m now paying dearly for that day that I fell for computers and south-facing exposures.

I need an estimate so I can get approval to gather requirements…

2009-12-07T21:17:14Z

This cartoon so perfectly illustrates my life for the past two months.

Why do people still live in California?

2009-10-31T20:35:41Z

I have to admit that when I read things like this, I really just don’t understand it.

California to withhold a bigger chunk of paychecks.

And an opinion from Don Boudreaux.

Cool new blog theme…

2009-05-07T23:23:58Z

Same lousy content. Ehh…Whadda ya want? It’s free, isn’t it?

Keeping threats in context.

2009-02-19T14:41:44Z

It’s amazing to me how much money we’ll spend, how much time and effort we’ll waste, how many liberties we’re willing to give up in the name of “the war on terror” which in reality is one of the more minor dangers we face in the world today.

The truth: "We need to keep terrorism in some kind of context," he said. "For example, every year in the UK, more people die in road accidents than have been killed by terrorists in all of recorded history."

That’s a quote from Nigel Inkster, former Assistant Chief and Director of Operations and Intelligence of MI6, as reported in The Register via Schneier on Security.

I hate Ticketmaster.

2009-02-18T21:56:43Z

It’s bad enough that they send me spam constantly. Lately though, I’ve been getting emails targeted at “Blackberry Owners.” I was confused, because I don’t, and never have owned a Blackberry. Then I noticed that the address that they were being sent to was an alias I’ve only ever used for Ticketmaster. Those stupid, class-less low-down, useless fools sold my email address. I hate them. >:-(

Layoffs at work today.

2009-02-14T03:17:45Z

No fun. No fun at all. My job is safe, but I lost my boss, my boss’ boss, the guy who hired me into the company, the senior dev on my team, the quality assurance manager on my team, and a whole lot of friends. My thoughts and prayers are with them all. I know that they’ve all got good things ahead.

The benefits of nationalized health care: Part IV

2009-02-10T15:46:51Z

Cuba’s Health Care System: The Reality….access to such rudimentary medicines as antibiotics and Aspirin can be limited, and there are reports that citizens excluded from the foreign-only hospitals often must bring their own bed sheets and blankets while in care.

http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA557_Cuban_Health_Care.html