Reality Me

Author: Doug McCaughan

  • Blogmarks

    Sometimes I read something I want to save for later but bookmarks in a web browser do not cut it. Often I am not on the computer where I will need the reference later. Ergo, blogmarks!

    In today’s blogmarks, we have How to see in the dark which I mark not for the information but rather to grab the rss feed when I am back downstairs. I like comparing these DIY pages. Speaking of, Make: (which I looove! Next issue should be coming out soon. Thank you Carmat!!) is coming out with a new magazine called Craft:.

    Next up, 450+ helpful freeware utilities. I blogmark this not because I want to jump in and use these utilities. I don’t trust them! However, I troubleshoot enough computers and do enough geeky things that I may find this a good reference. Someday I’ll look them over.

    Brings us to the New York Times, Students Searched Without Warning

    the new searches would be used to confiscate not only weapons but also an array of “dangerous instruments,” as well as cellphones

    Oh yeah, get those dangerous cell phones!

    He advised any principal whose school faced the surprise searches to postpone any tests scheduled for first period. “Give the exam the next day,” he said.

    Way to put the importance on education there Bloomberg!

    And the final blogmark, Portable DVD player to include slot for Gameboy Advanced games.

  • Parallel Parking Tip

    Do you have trouble parallel parking? If you have a good hand brake and front wheel drive like this Honda Civic then you too can parallel park perfectly everytime! Or you could do it like they do in Japan. My favorite is the Mini-Cooper sliding into the space.

    I went to 9th and 10th grade in Medford, New Jersey. I went to 11th and 12th in Germantown, TN. Because of the differing state laws on when you could get a driver’s permit, I missed out on driver’s ed and instead had private lessons. Johnny “Dr. Fever” Caravella pulls up to my house in a beat up Nova. To learn to parallel park we drove to Memphis State University where I practiced until we bumped into one of the cars then we would pull ahead to find another spot until we bumped into those cars and repeated the process. Eventually, I became pretty good at parallel parking.

  • White House Traditions

    White House Easter Egg Roll

  • Dad Taxi

    Apparently I’m driving a child to school today. I’d give a limb to get her to care enough to discuss these plans with me the night before. Had I known I was going to be in the car a half an hour this morning I would have woken half an hour earlier.

  • Choosing your battles

    It really bothers me to see the children sleep in their clothes. The teenagers are particularly bad about this. Jeans bother me the most as they can be tight fitting; however, I feel a bit hypocritical in that statement because when I go camping I might sleep in jeans (rarely, since cotton holds moisture against the skin it’s a bad formula with the chill night air) and I can recall sleeping or cat napping at friend’s houses still clothed.

    I have tried to fight this battle and I just don’t think it is worth it. I feel strongly they would be more comfortable and sleep better in appropriate sleepware. Maybe I need to purchase them some new sleepware or fine some other incentive to help them. But I think the best thing is to walk away from this battle.

  • BRrrriiinnnggg clanga lang lang lang…

    Time to wake the doughnuts!

  • Of Grasshoppers

    Student: I am unprepared.
    Master: We are born unprepared.

  • Michael Silence In Hospital

    Michael had a warning from his heart and may have a little bypass in his future. Head over to No Silence Here and wish him well!

  • Maybe this car

    Speaking of cars, how about 157mpg? That is 1.5 liter per 1000 km

  • Oh the agony

    Pain is listening to an over tired infant cry himself to sleep.

  • Heard any weird booms?

    Have you heard any weird booms and then perhaps been knocked off your feet?

    A series of strange window-rattling booms or rumbles have been heard and felt in recent months in Alabama, North Carolina, Mississippi, and, on April 4, in San Diego County. …nobody seems to know what the hell caused the disturbance. …"My garage door is double steel and it weighs about 500 lbs.," a man in University City wrote. "It was rattling back and forth like a leaf in the wind for about 3 or 4 seconds." … one of the leading explanations for the San Diego disturbance is that the military is testing a top-secret spy plane called the Aurora…

    The military denies knowledge of such a plane. [Source]

  • Seeking PHP Programmer in Knoxville

    Any bored (ie. time on your hands) PHP consultants about willing to assist on a fixed rate project? If so, drop me a line at juggler@gmail.com. Work doesn’t have to be onsight but it does need to be done in Knoxville.

  • Here comes impeachment!

    You know, I get the impression the new trend is going to be to impeach every president. I read an interesting comment over the weekend that the state of affairs with our government at this moment is similar (albeit worse) than just before Nixon’s leaving the office. Now, the Illinois State Legislature is preparing to impeach Bush and California is right on their tail.

    a little known and never utlitized rule of the US House of Representatives, Section 603 of Jefferson’s Manual of the Rules of the United States House of Representatives, which allows federal impeachment proceedings to be initiated by joint resolution of a state legislature. From there, Illinois House Joint Resolution 125 (hereafter to be referred to as HJR0125) was born.

    …five specific charges against President Bush including one that is specified to be a felony…

    Should HJR0125 be passed by the Illinois General Assembly, the US House will be forced by House Rules to take up the issue of impeachment as a privileged bill, meaning it will take precedence over other House business.

    An ABC News/Washington Post Poll Conducted April 6-9 showed that 33% of Americans currently support Impeaching President Bush, coincidentally, only a similar amount supported impeaching Nixon at the start of the Watergate investigation.

    And California:

    Joining Illinois, California has become the second state in which a proposal to impeach President Bush has been introduced in the state legislature. And this one includes Cheney as well.

    Koretz said, “we will be paying for the Bush Administration’s illegal actions and terrible lack of judgment and competence for decades—not only in the billions of dollars wasted on the war and welfare for the rich, but in the worldwide loss of respect for America and Americans. Bush and Cheney must be impeached and removed from office before they undertake even deadlier misdeeds, such as the use of nuclear weapons. There are no bounds to their willingness to ignore the Constitution and world opinion—we can’t afford to wait for the next disaster and hope that we can survive it.”

    Expect to see Vermont, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada and North Carolina be next to follow suit.

  • Breathe

    Oh this week is going to be beyond difficult…

  • Thank you Ward Sutton! Jimmy vs George

    Thanks to Cathy for turning me onto this excellent comparison of Jimmy Carter and George Bush by Mother Jones explains Sutton including a biography. Sutton writes for The Village Voice. Please read and enjoy his comparison of Jimmy Carter and George Bush! I thought it interesting that the timing of this came so close to my post on the presidents in my lifetime.