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"Murphy was an optimist!"

What a beautiful day for brakes November 21, 2006 5:25 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Transportation, Travel
, 3comments

Ok. Today was cold but otherwise it was sunny and no rain. A good day to change the brakes on the van. However, I cannot for the life of me find instructions or torque specifications for a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan! The Haynes manual doesn’t come out until February 2007. This has almost frustrated me into letting the shop do the job for the estimated $260 which they said will last 6 months then need to be done again. I can do the job for between $75 and $150.

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Inspired by Cathy and Tommy November 20, 2006 10:33 am

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life
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A writer writes…always.
A blogger blogs…always.
…even when we do not feel like it.

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AtomicTumor site overwhelmed November 17, 2006 1:48 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Announcements, Cool Sites, Of Interest
, 1 comment so far

A flood of traffic seems to have brought down the Tumor. I am sure it will be back soon.

Service Temporarily Unavailable
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

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Jeep Covered November 17, 2006 1:46 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Transportation, Travel
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With much grunting and muttered curses, I got the top back on the Jeep. It was shrunken from lack of use and severely dry rotted so in some places the zippers tore right off. It is by no means water tight but holds enough heat and will keep enough weather off of us that I think we can use it to get to the Smokeys and back. In the worse case I hit cruising speed and the top shreds. I put Noah in someone else’s car and drive the Jeep by myself.

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A Blogger Has Passed November 17, 2006 12:57 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Announcements, Of Interest
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GoldenAppleCorp has been declared brain dead. I assume that means this is her last offical day. May she rest in peace. May those she leaves behind be at peace.

Take a moment to hug a loved one. Forgive that person you have fought. Resist the urge to rage on that stranger. Make a random act of kindness. Never part company angry. Reach out. Love.

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Toys my child will never play with! November 17, 2006 11:50 am

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Of Interest
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Dora Aquapet sml

What the hell were they thinking?! Just incase you don’t get it, let your mind slip into the gutter. You won’t have to go far.

There is also a SpongeBob version so your son can play with his own.

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One Cold Jeep November 17, 2006 9:39 am

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Transportation, Travel
, 1 comment so far

So an eon ago the top blew off the Jeep. Mind you, it’s the same top I’ve had on the Jeep since I bought it November of 2004. And, yes, it is held together by bare threads and duct tape. The zipper on the drivers window is shot so the window is held in with wireties. Now, when I say it blew off, I mean the metal strip that is attached to the windshield had a structural failure and half the screws came out at once leaving some bent and torn metal.

This morning I managed to repair the metal and now I’m off to get new sheet metal screws and lock tight. I know. I should redrill and tap but I don’t own a tap set and don’t have the commodity of time to redrill right now. The body shop would eat me alive on a job like this.

The remaining wildcard will be the top. Has is dry rotted to the point of being completely useless? I don’t have time to ebay one and spending the small fortune that a local 4WD shop wants for an OEM top isn’t in the budget right now. Last time I asked at the salvage yards they laughed said, "ebay."

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The Return Of Habeas Corpus! November 17, 2006 7:34 am

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Politics, Touchy Subjects, United States
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Senator Chris Dodd has introduced a bill to bring back Habeas Corpus and compliance with the Geneva Conventions! Didn’t know Habeas Corpus died? Read these.

The Effective Terrorists Prosecution Act:

  • Restores Habeas Corpus protections to detainees
  • Narrows the definition of unlawful enemy combatant to individuals who directly participate in hostilities against the United States who are not lawful combatants
  • Bars information gained through coercion from being introduced as evidence in trials
  • Empowers military judges to exclude hearsay evidence they deem to be unreliable
  • Authorizes the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to review decisions by the Military commissions
  • Limits the authority of the President to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions and makes that authority subject to congressional and judicial oversight
  • Provides for expedited judicial review of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to determine the constitutionally of its provisions

Source

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Pacman them resources! November 16, 2006 3:25 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Technology
, 5comments

Apparently our websites have been eating enourmous resources on the shared server that does our hosting. The end result is we were flagged to "go away" or buy a dedicated server. It could be the live plugin that I enjoyed so much or it could be my experiments with this website or a combination of both. The idea of jumping from $20 per month to $100 per month to host a bunch of websites that don’t a dime really disconcerned me so, bye bye, live plugin. And that image manipulation stuff has to get gone too.

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November 16, 2006 1:11 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Uncategorized
, 1 comment so far

Gawd its cold


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Woot Off! November 16, 2006 8:22 am

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Bargains, Cool Sites, Of Interest
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Woot-Off Light

We have a confirmed Woot-Off! I explain woot off here. And thanks to Single Dads we have a site that will sound an alarm whenever the product changes! Good shopping!

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November 15, 2006 4:32 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Uncategorized
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Wednesdays are harder than mondays


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Kids bounce November 15, 2006 12:47 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Evan, Family, Of Being Dad
, 2comments

Evan just slyly sneaked halfway up the stairs (wood, no carpet), smiled big and laughed at himself. Then as I said, "you are making me nervous" he rotated and in slow motion fell to his side and rolled down the stairs like a log. There is no more helpless feeling than watching your child have an accident that you can’t stop. I think he is ok. Where was Hiro!

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Principle 30 – Follow The Lemmings With Care November 15, 2006 11:56 am

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Programming, Technology
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Excerpt from Alan M. Davis’ excellent book "201 Principles of Software Development" which ever programmer, QA person, consultant, project manager, analyst…shoot, anyone involved in software should own this book and review it regularly.

If 50 million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. -Anatole France

Just because everybody is doing something does not make it right for you. It may be right, but you need to carefully assess its applicability to your environment (Principles 142, 143, 149, 150, and 151), software reuse (Principle 84), process maturity (Principle 163), computer-aided software engineering (CASE, Principles 22 through 25), and prototyping (Principles 11, 12, 13, and 42). In all cases, these offer very positive opportunities for increased quality, decreased cost, or increased user satisfaction. However, the advantages are available only to those organizations in which it makes sense. Although the rewards are significant, their potentials are often oversold and are by no means guaranteed or universal.

When you learn about a "new" technology, don’t readily accept the inevitable hype associated with it (Principle 129). Read carefully. Be realistic with respect to payoffs and risks. Run experiments before making major commitments. But by no means can you afford to ignore "new" technologies (see related Principle 31).

Ref: Davis, A., "Software Lemmingineering," IEEE Software, 10, 6 (September 1993), pp. 79-81, 84.

The index points object oriented programming to Principle 30 calling OO a "fad" (see Priniciple 31) since object oriented programming is really one implementation of the principle of encapsulation (Principle 65). This is by no means to berate object oriented program, which I enjoy very much, but simply to point out that OO is not always the best solution to a particular problem.

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Cool Pool November 15, 2006 8:35 am

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cool Sites, Of Interest
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World’s deepest pool.

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