Nautilus seems to be broken in my installation of Fedora 14. I try to launch it, and it appears in the task bar momentarily and then disappears. Anyone have any suggestions?
[Update a couple minutes later]
I’ve already uninstalled/reinstalled, in case anyone was going to suggest that.
[Update a while later]
Don’t know why, but now it’s working. Go figure.
Some thoughts from Sonia Arrison.
Some interesting thoughts from Neil Stephenson. I think he’s a little to sanguine about the prospects for using ETs, though.
…and the dumb:
The president’s reaction? “He turned to me and said, ‘Oil and gas will be important for the next few years. But we need to go on to green and alternative energy. [Energy] Secretary [Steven] Chu has assured me that within five years, we can have a battery developed that will make a car with the equivalent of 130 miles per gallon.’” Mr. Hamm holds his head in his hands and says, “Even if you believed that, why would you want to stop oil and gas development? It was pretty disappointing.”
I guess I’d be disappointed, if I had had any expectations of brilliance on his part. But I never had any reason to, other than the bien pensant telling me I should.
Is it the iPad killer? Not yet — it’s better in some ways but different.
Here’s a pretty good guess. It’s likely with the fishes off the Oregon/Washington coast.
…and its enemies (to steal a phrase from Virginia Postrel). Why space settlement is important.
[Via Clark Lindsey and Trent Waddington, who made it]
Will be a year from yesterday.
…becoming too conventional? A review of his latest book.
[Update a couple minutes later]
A new book about the high frontier, and an accompanying 3-D space colony app.
[Update a few minutes later]
An interview with Stephenson about the book.
I got an email from a friend:
I am fairly at my wits’ end (short trip, I know). Perhaps you have someone reading your blog who can help. The situation is this:
Since early July, my company has been getting about four or five calls a day from #209-382-7432. When the phone is answered, an ear-splitting howl comes out of the earpiece. Nothing else. If one calls that number, it’s a robot answering for free magazine subscriptions.
I called the phone company. The “harassing calls” department says you have to have a police incident number before they can trace the call, and they will not inform you of who is placing the call, only law enforcement. So I called the county sheriff, got an incident report, and called the phone company back. For a month we reported all harassing calls. The phone company then called us and said “Yes, you are being harassed and we have notified your local law enforcement.” (Note that they did not tell the harasser to stop.) But the sheriff can’t do anything because the 209 number is not in my county. I have not seen the incident report because it’s not my business. No I am not making that up.
The harassing calls department at AT&T is bloody useless. AT&T does not care if you are being harassed. It’s not their problem and they will hang up on you if you ask them why not. And they will not return phone calls asking for clarification.
So I called our attorney. He suggested I call the FBI. I did. The FBI said they do not deal with harassing phone calls, try calling the FCC. The FCC hasn’t a clue what I am talking about, and why don’t I complain to AT&T?
Do you sense my level of frustration here? My people are being harassed daily and I can’t get anyone to take me seriously. Can anyone who reads your blog help? Have any advice, or knows of another avenue to pursue? I’m lost.
I’ve no idea, but maybe some reader does.