Here are some pictures that the MSM doesn’t want you to see.
Cognitive Dissonance
This article is a few weeks old, but I missed it at the time–Max Borders writes about the Intelligent Design theories of the left.
The Fool’s Golden State
Gerard Vanderleun writes about the decline of Florida, both the Keys and the mainland. It’s funny, as someone who is currently living here, and has never particularly liked the place, he makes it sound much worse than the reality seems to me. But then, he’s writing as someone who apparently did love it once upon a time, which I never have. I haven’t been diving down in the Keys yet (though we still plan to), but he certainly makes it sound uninviting, and I hadn’t realized that the deer were in such deep trouble.
The Fool’s Golden State
Gerard Vanderleun writes about the decline of Florida, both the Keys and the mainland. It’s funny, as someone who is currently living here, and has never particularly liked the place, he makes it sound much worse than the reality seems to me. But then, he’s writing as someone who apparently did love it once upon a time, which I never have. I haven’t been diving down in the Keys yet (though we still plan to), but he certainly makes it sound uninviting, and I hadn’t realized that the deer were in such deep trouble.
The Fool’s Golden State
Gerard Vanderleun writes about the decline of Florida, both the Keys and the mainland. It’s funny, as someone who is currently living here, and has never particularly liked the place, he makes it sound much worse than the reality seems to me. But then, he’s writing as someone who apparently did love it once upon a time, which I never have. I haven’t been diving down in the Keys yet (though we still plan to), but he certainly makes it sound uninviting, and I hadn’t realized that the deer were in such deep trouble.
No Surprise
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You scored as Serenity (Firefly). You like to live your own way and don’t enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you.
Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) |
There’s a problem with the quiz, though (as there often are with these things).
I wasn’t quite sure how to answer the very first question:
“Peace is achieved through large single government rule (agree, disagree).
Well, I agree that this is certainly a way to achieve peace, but there seems to be a presumption to this (or at least an implication) that peace is an unalloyed good. As some anti-war types are fond of pointing out, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was largely at peace (if you don’t count the random murders and torture that he occasioned on his own people), but it was hardly a desirable state. So I answered yes, but I’m not sure how that answer was interpreted by the test creators.
Also, interestingly, I see that when I go back to look at the quiz, the order of the questions is different. They must randomize it.
[Via Alan Henderson]
[Late morning update]
The more I think about it, the more I suspect that the “peace” question lowered my Firefly score. I think that whoever wrote the question did assume that a) peace is a desirable thing, per se and b) everyone would agree with that–the only issue is how it’s best achieved. What’s the flip side of that question? “Peace is achieved through multiple government rule?” “Peace is achieved through minimalist government?” “Peace is achieved through a well-armed citizenry?” This was a really unuseful question, as posed.
Bellsouth’s Broken Promise
Glenn has been having problems.
Tell me about it.
I’ve given up on them, as far as Usenet service goes. In fact, I gave up and subscribed instead to a dedicated Usenet service, and paid extra for it, even though I’m supposed to get one with my Bellsouth DSL.
I’m about to do it for email as well (though both of these are supposed to be provided as part of my basic, and high-priced service). All week, I’ve been unable to send email on their smtp server (though I’ve been receiving it regularly). The only way I’ve gotten anything out is on my employer’s Microsoft Exchange server (which should be an indication of how bad things are).
The only service that they’ve been able (or willing) to provide me reliably is bandwidth.
Bellsouth’s Broken Promise
Glenn has been having problems.
Tell me about it.
I’ve given up on them, as far as Usenet service goes. In fact, I gave up and subscribed instead to a dedicated Usenet service, and paid extra for it, even though I’m supposed to get one with my Bellsouth DSL.
I’m about to do it for email as well (though both of these are supposed to be provided as part of my basic, and high-priced service). All week, I’ve been unable to send email on their smtp server (though I’ve been receiving it regularly). The only way I’ve gotten anything out is on my employer’s Microsoft Exchange server (which should be an indication of how bad things are).
The only service that they’ve been able (or willing) to provide me reliably is bandwidth.
Bellsouth’s Broken Promise
Glenn has been having problems.
Tell me about it.
I’ve given up on them, as far as Usenet service goes. In fact, I gave up and subscribed instead to a dedicated Usenet service, and paid extra for it, even though I’m supposed to get one with my Bellsouth DSL.
I’m about to do it for email as well (though both of these are supposed to be provided as part of my basic, and high-priced service). All week, I’ve been unable to send email on their smtp server (though I’ve been receiving it regularly). The only way I’ve gotten anything out is on my employer’s Microsoft Exchange server (which should be an indication of how bad things are).
The only service that they’ve been able (or willing) to provide me reliably is bandwidth.
Dish Problems
So we decided to upgrade to the HD version of DirecTV, which involves (of course!) replacing, or at least supplementing our current satellite dish. It has a triple horn on it, and looks at three birds simultaneously, instead of just the one, as the standard dish does. This means that not only are azimuth and elevation important, but there’s a third axis adjustment, that they call “tilt,” to make sure that you’re seeing all three of them.
I put up a new mast, got it plumb, set the settings on the tilt and elevation to what they’re supposed to be for southeast Florida (45 degrees for both), hooked up the cable, pointed it in the general azimuthal direction (about thirty degrees south of west), and got nada, bupkis, no signal.
Is the cable good? Yup, and here’s the weird thing. When I drop the elevation to thirty degrees or so (fifteen below where it’s supposed to be), I get a reasonably strong signal on the upper transponders of Satellite A, starting with number 22. No signal on transponders 1 and up (which are the ones you’re supposed to use to align the dish). Also no signal on either of the other two birds.
So something’s happening, but not what should be happening. What are the chances that this is an LNB problem? The first dish I ever installed, years ago, had a bad LNB right out of the box (which drove me crazy trying to figure out what was wrong–fortunately, part of the deal was a free upgrade to a dual LNB, and when I put in the new unit, I got the signal right away).
Is there anyone out there familiar with the situation who could diagnose this, so I can just take the LNB back to Circuit City and exchange it? Or are these symptoms of something else that I’m doing wrong (though I’m wracking my brains at this point trying to figure out what else it could be).