Email Steve Tucker
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Sunday, May 2, 1999
This was a bad weekend for motorsports. I am sure you are aware of the tragic accident at Charlotte Motor Speedway where three fans were killed from flying debris from an IRL race car. At the Winston Drag event in Richmond, VA a fan was also injured from a flying engine part.
I am sure you would expect me to say something about these accidents, so I will leave it at this. When accidents happen inside the fence (on the race track) those who are competing have accepted there is great risk. However, fans enjoying an afternoon of entertainment have not accepted this risk and when these kinds of accidents happen a bell always rings. I know many sanctioning body officials and track operators very well and I will tell you that both spectator and competitor safety is of paramount concern to all. These were "freak" accidents and I hope the zealots don't get too carried away in the near future.
Monday, May 3, 1999
I guess it will be back to my UNIX lessons this week. I have ordered a "Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours" book from Amazon.Com, but it has not arrived. This book is supposed to teach a novice like me some parts of the Unix operating system in 24 1-hour lessons. I'll keep you informed of my progress.
I sat down with my new Unix book last night and I was a might disappointed. Unfortunately this book is mostly just simple commands. However, it does offer some insights into a little advanced work like pipes, etc, but overall I was pretty disappointed.
What I was looking for was some help on networking, setting up a proxy server, downloading and installing software including making executable files. I want to be able use Samba (I think) on my Unix box so I can at least see the other machines on my network. Not to worry I haven't given up yet.
I also decided I want to build a page with links to computer hardware manufacturers and have gotten started. Do you know any I should be adding. Quite honestly this is turning out to be a bigger job than I expected. It may take some time but I hope to have an extensive set of links up soon. One word of caution, I haven't tested any of them yet.
There have been a lot of bomb threats called in to the local schools since the tragedy in Colorado and thankfully all of the ones in this area have turned out to be a hoax. I can't imagine what goes through a kid's head to think they are "cute" when doing this. Maybe the fact that several kids have been arrested locally will deter some and they can get back to the chore of finishing the school year and maybe even think of graduating. I hope the court shows no mercy on these pranksters. Twice this week the entire school system in nearby Randolph County has been shut down because of a bomb threat note left in a bathroom. String 'em up I say.
With the increased awareness of viruses these days it's hard to tell which one to be afraid of and which ones are a hoax. You can check the Symantec web site to see if the latest virus you've heard of is real or a hoax.
If you want to be the first guy on your block to install Microsoft's Office 2000 (why not wait for the service pack 1 a little while later) maybe there is a launch event for this new suite near your hometown. Check Microsoft's event page to determine if you'll be attending a launch gala. Why not head out to San Francisco for the big show? Looks like Raleigh gets the only North Carolina event on June 7.
The Winston No Bull 5 continues in Charlotte Memorial Day weekend. Maybe a lucky Winston Cup Driver/Fan combination will pocket $1,000,000. Here are a few facts on the 3rd Winston No Bull 5 event of the year.
Gary Scelzi and Angelle Seeling head to Atlanta to compete in the Advance Auto Southern Nationals on May 14-16
Friday, May 7, 1999
I have added the PC Guide to my search engine page
Sandra is a system diagnostics and information utility that provides in-depth benchmarks and low-level information about your PC. It comes highly recommended from our friends at Z-D
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With all of the talk this week about Time-Warner and cable modems, I thought I would give them another call and ask about their plans for cable internet access in Winston-Salem. In the past when I'd called I have always received the stock answer of "we have to upgrade our system" or "whenever there is enough demand." However, today is the first time I got an answer with some meat to it, which was "by January 2000." At least they are finally saying something besides the gibberish about on time guarantees. They're one step ahead of BellSouth who hasn't even indicated plans for ADSL service in Winston-Salem. Can't be long before Time-Warner will want to start providing telephone service.
And how's this for an interesting way for solicit sales contacts. Today was field day at Vienna Elementary School and a new event was added for the parents. The school received $5 for every person who test drove a new Plymouth mini-van from a local dealer. The test drive was nothing more than making a small circle in the parking lot. The real reason for the test drives was for the salesmen to get your name on a sales prospect sheet (I assume if you didn't fill out the paperwork the school got no $$). Anyway, if all works out right when the pushy little salesman calls here he should only heard the (weird to him) clicking tone of an ISDN router. Wonder how many times he will try to call before giving up? The irony is that we will probably be in the market for a mini-van in the future, but I want it to be on my terms and not those of an aggressive car dealer, which in most of our opinions reside somewhere lower than whale caca.
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And this may be a little morbid, but you can imagine my interest in the tragic accident during the IRL race last weekend at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte. The Charlotte Observer has covered this story extensively, so I put together a page of links to their various stories during the past week.
When I said something on Monday about the fans attending motorsports. events not being the ones who have not accepted the risks, my friend Bob Thompson at Triad Technology Group disagreed:
I disagree. I think they have implicitly accepted a certain risk simply by attending the event. Just as anyone who attends a golf tournament must realize that he may be struck and killed by an errant golf ball, anyone who attends an automobile race must realize that there is a small but very real risk that he will be killed in the type of incident that occurred at Charlotte.
I recognize that this type of accident is very bad for the sport, but I don’t think any fan could reasonably claim that he wasn’t aware that there was at least some danger.
And I should also mention that we are also at risk when we get into our automobiles and drive to these events or to work or to the grocery store.
Saturday, May 8, 1999
We are ready for bad weather and this may be a little late, but there's always next year.
A friend helped me go another step toward being prepared for bad winter weather today. It's almost 80 here today and sunny.
I have a generator just in case one of those winter ice storms knocks us out of power...or a spring tornado blows through. My plan is to turn off the main disconnect and back feed the generator into the panel so we can continue to live like humans, keep the refrigerator and freezer running etc. when bad weather hits, which thankfully is not too often. Now that we have gas heat we can even run the blower and hopefully stay warm if the emergency happens in the winter time.
Prior to today in order to begin using generator power I would have to go into the panel box and run a wire from a breaker to the generator, leaving lots of nasty electrical things exposed and then take it out after the emergency has passed.
Today we installed a separate disconnect that is just for the generator feed. The disconnect will stay in the off position until we need to start the generator at which time we connect the special generator feed plug to the disconnect, throw the main disconnect, fire up the generator and we should have minimal lights and be able to keep the food frozen and cold and not have to fear spoilage. As long as we have gasoline. The best part the panel box is not exposed and if necessary my wife could make the switchover without fear if I am away. Hopefully this will not need to be the case but it has been in the past.
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The news that we have bombed the Chinese embassy in the Balkans and their level of annoyance over the incident should make us all feel a little uneasy. Now maybe it won't seem like such idea the Clinton Administration had when they decided to give the Chinese some of our most prized military secrets for a little re-election contribution or whatever was such a good idea. Wasn't then and certainly isn't now. Hope the Chinese will not retaliate on our soil, but it should cause all of us some concern.
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You might think by this comment that we are in the market for a new car in the Tucker family. I'll give you about 50% on that one. Suzy's car will need replacing in the not too distant future and it's true I liked some of the features on the Plymouth mini-vans we saw at the school yesterday. So, I thought I would add a section on the search page for car prices. The first thing I always do is figure what my used car is worth and two of the better ones for this chore are the Kelly Blue Book and Edmund's. There's even a feature on the Edmund's site that will prepare a window sticker for you with all of the details of your car and retail pricing. Thought that was pretty cool. You can also use these sites for determining the value of your automobiles to assist in preparing your net worth statement. I always use the retail price for this little exercise.
When you go to face Mr. Car Dealer you need all of the ammunition you can squeeze into your clip. Of course these guys will start telling you about selling you a car for dealer invoice or a fraction above, so why not know what the dealer invoice is going into the negotiations. Remember these bandits do this every day and we do so every decade or so. Who's at the disadvantage here? Plus they always want you to drive the car to get you emotionally attached to trading or buying a car. Bums! I always wait until near the end of the challenge, er, negotiation before driving. Keep the upper hand.
Actually, I have changed the search page around a bit. Hope it didn't screw you up. Please let me know if I should bring 'er back the way it was.