Absolute Piffle

A weblog and journal by Richard Gillmann (comments) --- Seattle Eastside (Issaquah) ---

Sunday, September 16, 2001

Seattle Times: Some suspect Iraqi link to bin Laden
It's interesting that the only government to not condemn the attacks on NYC and DC was Iraq.

That church service at the National Cathedral with Bush singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" was something new. This war is going to be different from Korea - Viet Nam - Persian Gulf . It's more like World War II - not much irony going around these days.

Wednesday, September 12, 2001

Cockpit door security is weak
In light of yesterday's tragic events, I hope the airline industry will strengthen their policy. The cockpit door should stay locked from the inside during flight. The door should be a sturdy one. Flight attendents can communicate with the pilot via intercom. The focus on checking passengers for weapons is mistaken, I think. Even the most stringent checks won't help much. A sharpened pencil can be used as a dagger; a length of cord can be used as a garotte. Even without weapons, the flight crew can be overcome by a determined band of madmen. Airliner cockpits must be secured.

Tuesday, September 11, 2001

What a sad day. Our hearts go out to the victims of this tragedy and their families.

Monday, September 10, 2001

Seattle Times endorses Pat Davis for Reelection
Eighteen months ago, it seemed a liability that Davis co-wrote the letter inviting the World Trade Organi-zation to Seattle, but it has not been a major campaign issue, nor should it be.
Incredible, just incredible. The WTO conference previous to the Seattle round was in Geneva, and there was rioting there, cars overturned and burned. Then Pat Davis made a big effort to bring it here. The Seattle WTO disaster was entirely avoidable and we have Pat Davis to blame. Elected officials should be held accountable for their misdeeds. Eat the State and others are entirely right about the pig-headed developers who control Seattle; this endorsement is a blatant example.

Another theory is that newspapers endorse the candidate they believe will win, without regard to whether they are good or bad. That way they can pretend great influence - the candidates they endorse win. When I lived in Los Angles, the LA Times was pretty flagrant about this. Perhaps this is so here in Seattle as well. It certainly doesn't reflect well on the Seattle Times. (I suppose you can't trust a publisher who shoots dogs.)

Vote for Jake Jacobovitch (anti third runway) or Al Yuen (pro third runway). Better yet, send them some money and do it soon - the election is Sept. 18th.

Sunday, September 09, 2001

How to beat a radar ticket. Looks like it's worth a try anyway.

Saturday, September 08, 2001

Yo-yoing and bad hair - a causative relationship? There does seem to be something to this theory. I've never seen a hairdresser with a yo-yo. Remember President Nixon with a yo-yo at the Opry? Must be all the whizzing and twirling around. Or maybe it's hard to work a comb and "walk the dog" at the same time.

Friday, September 07, 2001

The FCC's new Universal Licensing System let me check my amateur radio license for the expiration date. KI7KJ still has a few years left on it. They've cut the Morse code requirement for all classes down to 5wpm in recent years, so the time I wasted learning 13wpm won't be inflicted on newcomers anymore. I was just reading a copy of the ham radio magazine QST. It's the same as it was forty years ago, except they've gone to a larger format. It's a dying hobby, as all those old white guys become silent keys.

Thursday, September 06, 2001

Wednesday, September 05, 2001

How the HP - Compaq merger was arranged. Now it can be revealed: "I send you this file in order to have your advice."

Tuesday, September 04, 2001

Is this strange or what? The Municipal League rates Pat Davis as Very Good. Port commisioner Pat Davis, you may recall, was the main initiator of the effort to bring the WTO meeting to Seattle. The previous meeting in Switzerland had serious distrubances but this was ignored. How bad do you have to screw up for the League to notice? Maybe burn the city to the ground? Opposing Davis in the Sept. 18 election are Jake Jacobovitch and Al Yuen. These guys have got to be better.

Monday, September 03, 2001

Anita's Book of Days is back and she's got a new improved URL, too.

Sunday, September 02, 2001

Plato has been doing real well walking with his "wheelchair" from Doggon' Wheels. It's more of a walker than a wheelchair, as he doesn't sit in it. He's using it in the four-wheel mode. If he gets a little stronger we may try it with just the rear wheels. He can move it by himself, although he doesn't steer very well and gets stuck, so he needs someone to walk with him at all times. He was able to stand on his own yesterday, which is encouraging. The veterinarians have never been able to determine why he can no longer walk, although many likely causes have been eliminated. He doesn't have hip dysplasia, arthritis (just a little), spinal problems (just a little), tumors, cancer, organ failure, thyroid problems (he does take pills), and so on. He can move his rear legs, but he can only rarely stand on them.

Friday, August 31, 2001

Insider Trades - Microsoft Corp
It's interesting to see who's selling -- and who's not. You gotta understand that most of the sales are long term diversification moves by holders of huge blocks, but even so, the details are interesting.

Thursday, August 30, 2001

Apparently it is possible to use a night vision camera to see through clothes. A special filter is used to block ordinary light, leaving only the infrared frequencies. Clothes that are opague to visible light may be translucent to infrared. This certainly raises some privacy issues!

Tuesday, August 28, 2001

The great PC game Doom is the subject of Doomworld -- the definitive source for Doom news, information and development. Doom is a first person shoot-em-up with graphics that redefined the computer game, plus features such as play over a network and super fast response to commands. The Doom source code has been released and there are ports for every conceivable computer and device. You can now play over TCP/IP, join in the middle of a game, etc. etc.

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© Copyright 2001 by Richard Gillmann. All Rights Reserved.