Ooops. I’ve done in now! I left the car with no gas. And I was trying to be so well behaved!
From the mouths of babes
Amy: "We sold Noah to the gypsies."
Dad: "Oh, those poor gypsies!"
Amy: "Noooo. Poor Noah!"
Hello Technorati!
NYC Under Attack?
Look! I did a FauxNews headline with a question mark! The wife tells me a small plane or helicopter has crashed into a building in New York. The building is on fire.
This information is unconfirmed and could be inaccurate.
NEW YORK (AP) — Police say an aircraft has crashed into a building on Manhattan’s Upper East Side at 72nd Street and York Avenue. It is near Rockefeller Center. [Source]
Here’s a photo.
Update: Live video and another picture.
Update: MSNBC chimes in.
According to local affiliate WNBC, officials said the aircraft was a helicopter, not a plane. That had not been confirmed by any other sources.
…
Apartments occupy floors 22 through 50; a hospital is on the lower floors. … struck struck the 20th floor…
[Source]
At least they don’t have far to go to find doctors.
Update: "NORAD is launching fighters to several U.S. cities." – unconfirmed.
New York City Police said there was no indication from defense department officials that any suspicious aircraft were in the area.
Prior to the crash, some witnesses said the craft was flying erratically.
[Source]
Update: NPR blog lists the aircraft as "a small plane."
The address of the building is 524 E. 72nd Street [map] — a 50-story condominium tower built in 1986 and located nearby Sotheby’s Auction House. It has 183 apartments, many of which sell for more than $1 million. [Source]
Update: Here’s a good roundup.
Update: "The building is a 50-story condominium tower built in 1986 and located nearby Sotheby’s Auction House. It has 183 apartments, many of which sell for more than $1 million." [Source]
Update: Al Jazera is also reporting it as a small plane.
And for the best American news coverage, check out the BBC.
168 firefighters on the scene. 4 alarm fire.
Is it Spring yet?
Thus far, in the past 2 days, we’ve moved roughly 160 gallons of stuff (mostly clothing) to Goodwill. And removed every VHS movie that wasn’t homemade from this house (with minor exceptions – The Wall, Diablo Follies, …). Whoopie!
How to make Dad feel bad.
Amy is very weepy today. She cried twice at school, and talked about missing Lucy. We suspect "Missing Lucy" means "I feel sad and can’t express why" or something akin to that. I feel helpless. I do not feel that I am meeting the basic needs of my family. I can hear my wife’s voice in my head, "Don’t make this about you" but I cannot helping feeling like the root cause of the problem.
Ill logic
Sometimes I feel less like a programmer (or am I a developer?)
- Developers have some knowledge of the domain and the business
- Developers care about maintenance burden
- Developers know that work methods are more important than technical chops
- Programmers try to solve every problem by coding
- Developers seek repeatability, programmers like one-off heroics
- Programmers like complexity, developers favor simplicity
- Developers care about users
- Developers like to satisfy a need, programmers like to finish
- Developers work, programmers play
[Source]
Well, right now I could go either way. Mostly if I can’t get over this technical hurdle I’m going to go nuts and beg for a phone support job. By his definitions, usually I am a developer.
Now that’s a joke!
So if you hit Comedy Central’s job postings link you get a 404 ! That’s good comedy.
The Next Number One Video
GoldenAppleCorp of AtomicTumor has identified what is undeniably, a piece of video art! At first I was wondering why I was watching; in the end, I wanted to watch it over and over! I think perhaps a bored Monty Python animator had some influence on this video.
Hard day ahead but at least there’s eats
Wednesdays are tough. Lots of interuptions and errands. They usually end on a good note. At least I have already planned dinner and have the needed supplies.
Explaining the Death of Habeas Corpus
Keith Olbermann brings it home again in "Why does habeas corpus hate America?" Watch the video to understand the historic decision your congress made.
Monroe County Thanks You
I spoke with the Red Cross last night regarding the Monroe County family with the blind mother and 5 children that lost their home to fire. The children are ages 3-16. The fire occurred on the 16 year old’s birthday. They are looking for clothing in the following sizes: size 4 boy, girls size 6 and 8, boys size 14 and 16. The Monroe County Red Cross, unlike the Knoxville Red Cross, is self-supported through their own fund raising and donations. They have been very surprised by the community response from outside of Monroe County.
Yesterday someone donated 6 beds. The Red Cross gave them backpacks with some coloring books, toys, etc. They have been given a television and vcr and a vhs library of movies. Today they are hoping to arrange housing that is not a motel. I am not sure what else they have received.
If you want to help, call the help line at (423) 337-9011.
Be a Patriot – Challenge Your Leaders
"Blind faith in bad leaders is not patriotism."
A patriot does not tell people who are intensely concerned about their country to just sit down and be quiet; to refrain from speaking out in the name of politeness or for the sake of being a good host; to show slavish, blind obedience and deference to a dishonest, war-mongering, human-rights-violating President.
That is not a patriot. Rather, that person is a sycophant. That person is a member of a frightening culture of obedience–a culture where falling in line with authority is more important than choosing what is right, even if it is not easy, safe, or popular. And, I suspect, that person is afraid–afraid we are right, afraid of the truth (even to the point of denying it), afraid he or she has put in with an oppressive, inhumane regime that does not respect the laws and traditions of our country, and that history will rank as the worst presidency our nation has ever had to endure.
[Source]
"Blind faith in your leaders will get you killed" -Bruce Springsteen
Challenges of self-employment
I work as an independent consultant. I do anything involving computers. Typically I build business systems on the Internet such as e-commerce websites. My skills are varied. I have bid on automating assembly lines in factories. I also do repairs such as virus removal on business and home computers. I enjoy project management the most.
Sometimes clients are slow to pay and in some cases never pay at all. These situations cause difficult cash flow problems and make for uncomfortable decisions at times. This week our websites may temporarily go offline. Cathy’s email and blog may become unavailable as well as Reality Me and a half a dozen or so other sites. We may also be without phone for a bit. I post this so that when it hits the fan you don’t think we fell off the Earth.
As a minor act of desperation, I have created 3 ad sponsor places on the blog and will keep them there until January 1, 2005. If anyone wants to donate any amount (paypal button below), I will happily fill that space with your advertisement. (that was dumb) Purchasing webhosting via this link could also help.
Watch a family grow
What a cool idea! I have been trying to get Sarah to photograph herself once a day then morph the pictures together in a few years. This family simply takes a picture of everyone in their family once a year. Notice the guy never smiles again after 1978.
