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Sunday, January 30, 2000
I haven't yet ventured out today, but did we did
get a small coating of ice overnight, It looks like it might
have been mixed with some snow and the street in front of our
house looks to be covered in ice/snow and looks slick. The
local weathermen are still forecasting gloom for the afternoon,
but the radar map looks like the precipitation should be passing
through our area later this afternoon and it clear skies behind
this band...finally.
We were supposed to be attending the Wake Forest
vs. Virginia ACC basketball game this afternoon, but will probably
forego that opportunity. We would like to go to the game,
but the slick risk isn't worth it. Suzy had an outing
planned Katie and some of her friends at Laser Tag for later today
and I'm sure they will pull the plug on this trip as well.
I don't know what got it to me, but I
actually started getting together some of the information I will
need to prepare my Federal Income tax forms. I usually wait
until closer to the final final deadline. I took some losses
in the stock market this year, so I am sure I wanted to see how
that was going to affect my final number. Dell and @Home
were the ones that brought me down, but hopefully they will
rebound and I'll have to pay lots of taxes nest year, which if
that happens I am sure I will moan all the way to April
15.
My first draft looks somewhat decent. Turbo
Tax makes this whole 1040 preparation thing very easy. I can
remember the old days of heading off the the library or post
office to grab a stack of forms and instruction booklets.
Now I let TurboTax take me through the process. You
can get TurboTax here if you haven't already gotten this
year's version. My state version had not arrived yet, so I
haven't tackled the North Carolina forms yet.
Now the question remains, "when will I
actually file?" I filed completely electronically last
year, including having a modest refund direct deposited into my
checking account. I remember on last year's form I had
finger fumbled one of the kids' social security number and the
electronic filing process rejected my return until I fixed this
mistake. I was surprised that the electronic filing process
was testing my return against some data base so quickly.
Jon Hassell, one of the latest folks to start
keeping an on-line Journal reported that he was down most of last
week because Time-Warner
decided to upgrade their RoadRunner system. This makes
me wonder about Time-Warner. Wouldn't you normally do your
upgrade offline and then cut-over, or at least have the upgrade
ready to go so your customers weren't down for the better part of
a week? I'll bet their cable television system wasn't down
anywhere near that long. Guess that haven't yet realized the
significance of the the revenue stream cable modem internet access
will produce for their company. As they merge with American
On Wait, I predict it will only get worse. A comforting
thought.
This information scares me because it looks like
if I want broadband access it going to have to be through
Time-Warner and RoadRunner. I would suicidal if I had to be
offline for a week when it wasn't my desire. And I rather doubt
BellSouth will get its act together anytime in the near future for
me since I am at the end of their line. What's a surfer to
do!
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Monday, January
30, 1999
Tomorrow marks the 40th
Anniversary of the sit-in at the Greensboro Woolworth lunch
counter. Four black Greensboro youths helped to start the sit-in
movements of the 60s when they took their place at the whites only
lunch counter, ordering sodas, coffee and doughnuts.
When we lived in Greensboro and Suzy worked
at a travel agency downtown, she would frequently have lunch at
this same lunch counter, although it was 20-some years later.
I also had lunch with her there from time-to-time.
When Woolworth closed its stores in North
Carolina there was a movement to attempt to preserve this store
for its historical value. The famous lunch counter is now on
display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC http://www.greensboro.com/sitins/950115.htm
You might see Linux in the news even more
than normal this week as the LinuxWorld
Conference and Expo opens in New York city. Linus
Torvalds, the father of the open source coded Linux operating
system is scheduled to give a keynote address on Wednesday at 9:30
AM
As for me, I am still stumbling with my Linux
install. Yesterday I took ethernet card no. 2 out of Barney
to see if it still would have the booting problem.
Nope. Barney boots just fine with just one ethrenet card
installed. However, when I install ethernet no. 2, but
did'nt connect it to a live hub, Linux stalls when loading
sendmail. As soon as I plug the second card into the hub the
boot process continues normally. I thought it was important
to see if Barney would boot and see the active network with just
one card installed. It did.
Both of these ethernet cards are of the same make,
using the Realtek 8139 chip. I wonder if I used a different
brand of card for the second ethernet connection if I would have
the same result. Their memory address are very close
also. eth0 is at 0x800 and eth1 is at 0x400.
The kids are going to be out of school yet
another day tomorrow. Between episodes of pulling her
hair out, Suzy is beginning to wonder if Christmas vacation ever
ended? With the ice we had over the weekend and the minimal melt off
today, I am not surprised there is no school tomorrow. This
news was not met with open arms this evening, of yet another day
at home. We have a city-county school system here and many
of the rural roads are shady which hampers the melting opportunity
and therefore crashes the entire system. I have said before
they need to consider a no transportation plan for these kinds of
days
Actually, the roads to the office were the worst
this morning as they have been since this series of storms hit
almost two weeks ago. Earlier the streets in the
neighborhood had been bad, but as soon as you reached the heavier traveled
streets it was clear sailing. This morning, however, the
streets were ice packed all the way downtown, about an eight mile
drive. In fact, today is the first time I had any sliding
problems. Today, when I came to a four way stop on my route
and applied the brakes I started to slide through the
intersection. The slide was straight, so my first reaction
was to apply additional pressure to the brake pedal (which would
do no good) and then I found myself making a quick survey to see
if I was going to hit anything. Luckily my slide only lasted
about 10 feet and I hit nothing.
We are supposed to be welcomed by a warm-up tomorrow
through the remainder of the week. It can't come too soon
for the Tucker household. A little snow was fun, now this is
beginning to the a pain in the ...., well, you get the picture.
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Tuesday, February
1, 2000
Tomorrow is a big day. Will Punxsutawney
Phil the ground hog (a.k.a. woodchuck) see his shadow and condemn
us to six more weeks of winter? Those of us who live in
North Carolina and are ready for Spring hope not. Enough of
this snow and ice.
Here's the deal, supposedly. This varmint
will emerge from its hole and if it sees it shadow we are condemned
to six more weeks of winter. If there is no shadow, Spring
is around the corner. Our friends in the North will say
they're going to have six more weeks of winter no matter what ol'
Phil does.
The tradition of checking on Phil dates back
to the late 1800s. Today the event had become an event
known the world over. Phil, as you might imagine today, has
his own website, where, of course, you can purchase ground hog
day souvenirs. There's also the www.groundhog.org
(the Official Groundhog Club) site.
Here's a couple of politicians you might just
be able to like. Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon and Representative
Christopher Cox from California plan to introduce a bill into
congress this year that would permanently
ban taxes on the internet.
The idea of taxing your internet access came up a
few years ago, but due largely to public outcry, a three year
moratorium on the the taxes was enacted. Unfortunately not
much will happen in congress this year as everyone attention will
be focused on getting re-elected.
You can contact your Senator through the Senate
web site and your congressman through
this site and urge them to support the bill banning internet
taxes when it comes to the floor of their respective houses
...and speaking of politics. I am
sure many Republicans were surprised by the early returns from the
New Hampshire primary where Senator John McCain soundly whipped
George W. Bush. The Bush campaign immediately began saying
it expected to get beat (I'll bet not by the this wide of a
margin). The net-net of this day's action in our nation's
first primary of the presidential election season is that you'll probably
see the safe door on Bush's huge war chest cracked when they head
to South Carolina. It was probably a good wakeup call to Mr.
Bush. He's had such a huge campaign fund built up that many
thought the Republican nomination would be a cake walk. Not
so. Heck, he could learn a lesson from his dad's
memoirs. If I remember correctly George Bush also held a
huge lead early in the season and about the time of the Gulf
War. He got his butt whipped in the end by that sex maniac
who now resides on Pennsylvania Avenue. I am sure there will
be a gut check in the Busch camp tomorrow and I hope they get
their act together. Look for the mud slinging to come soon.
BellSouth seems to be having their problems
of late. Their service has been very intermittent that last
couple of days. I seem to be connecting to BS just fine, but
they lose their connectivity to the world frequently. Of
course I bugged the tech support guys and of course they blamed
their problems on the icy weather we've been enjoying.
Hopefully I will be able to get this page published tonight.
How long is it going to be before we have another
leap year in a century year (00)? I bet you could figure
that one out quickly. Since February 29 only comes around
once every four years it sounds reasonable to me that we would
have a century leap year every 400 years. I guess the last
one was in 1600 and the next one will be in 2400. I missed
the last one and probably won't see the next one
either.
It would be a real bummer to be born on February
29 when you could only properly celebrate your birthday every four
years. The kids would ask if that would mean that you get
presents once every four years. That would be hard for the
Tucker kids to stomach.
Barbara Thompson, the
wife of tech guru Bob
Thompson has a review of home
improvement web sites available on the Library Journal's web
site. She's part of a group of librarians and former
librarians who review web sites for the Library Journal's online
edition. Heck, as far as I know it probably appears in the
print edition as well.
Barbara has began keeping a "Day
Notes" journal the first of the year. As the owner
of three border collies, she's also very active in the local
Border Collie rescue group.
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Wednesday, February
2, 2000
The kids here in Winston-Salem finally went back
to school today albeit on a one-hour delay. The local school
board is considering tacking on a half-hour to each school day
from now through the end of May to make up for the lost
days. This time would make up for three days unaccounted for
now and put another three days in the back in case there is more
bad weather. This plan will get final approval next week and
the school days could become 30 minutes longer beginning February
14. A nice valentine present.
And if you believe in folklore, there will
be opportunities to use those 3 days in the school bank.
Yes, Phil saw his shadow this morning. How could be not see
a shadow with all of those TV lights shining on his liar? I
guess TV lights weren't an issue when the Ground Hog first started
looking for his (or her in these politically correct times) shadow
on February 2.
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Thursday,
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Friday, February
4, 2000
I am getting ready to head back on the road with
the Winston Cup tour, so I took the day off to run some errands
before I head to Daytona next week. I am going to try to
update these pages from Daytona, but am not sure how that will
work out.
One of the items on today's agenda was to attend
an honor roll ceremony at Katie's school. It's a big deal
around here when you make the honor roll and I am sure when the
reports cards came home that Suzy handed out the appropriate
prizes...more than likely in the form of Pokemon cards this time
around. Katie's school also makes a big deal out of this
achievement and today presented the sixth graders with
certificates of their accomplishments. I was very pleased
that I could attend and Katie was all smiles when she saw me there
in the cafeteria audience. It wasn't that long ago that I
thought we would never be attending such a ceremony fro Katie, but
these kids will trick ya.
I had a gasp last night when I returned from
Charlotte. I saw the remnants of a algebra problem on the
table. Katie and algebra. I don't think so. Heck, we
have just now conquered regular math. I was in the eighth or
ninth grade when we had our first introduction to x's and y's.
You too can attend the launch product for Microsoft's
newest product -- Windows
2000. Bill Gates' image will be beamed around the world
as computer geeks and enthusiasts gather to droll over his every
word about this Windows Upgrade. Personally, I think I am
going to stay with Windows NT 4.0 for a while longer. I
tried one of the later release candidates, but found it somewhat
cumbersome and had a hard time finding drivers for some of my
devices. I am sure the day W2K is released that drivers will
start to appear in abundance. I'm happy with my current
operating system. Maybe I will use the time I would have t
invest in W2K and throw it at Linux.
The closest launch party to me is in Charlotte,
NC, but I am going to be in Florida. I think I will check to
see what's going to be available near Daytona Beach and then
determine if I can steal the time away to attend.
And Linux continues pick up steam. IBM has
accounced it will be deploying the open source Linux
on three platforms, including servers, noteboks and some thin
clients. Big Blue is even thinking of giving Linux a whirl
on some big
iron.
It looks like it's time for me to climb back up
on top of the soapbox. It's no secret that I am no fan
of the Clinton administration. And they've given me even
more ammunition today when Billy announced yet
another TAX aimed at smokers. On top of a new federal
excise that just went into effect at the beginning of this year,
he now wants to add another 25 cents per pack to curb teenage
smoking. And if that doesn't work, let's levy a fine at the
tobacco companies.
Hey, you're going about this all wrong, Mr.
President (the respect here is for the office, not the man).
Do you seriously think that by making cigarettes more expensive
that you are going to deter kids from smoking? Get a
life. These are the same people who are killing each other
over a $150 pair of sneakers.
I am sure your motive is really one of
jealousy. You saw the states get all of that money in the
tobacco settlement and you didn't get to put your slimy hands on
one penny of it, did you? You're just lusting after these
greenbacks.
This is just another liberal program so you can
say you balanced the budget. Are you balancing a budget or
just making the numbers come out the right way by adding more
taxes?
I've said this before. If tobacco is the
evil empire of today, then why don't you just regulate them out
business...make their product illegal and let them take their $20
billion in tax money with them off shore. That might and I
say might, curb some teen smoking.
As long as you are telling these teens not to
smoke so vigorously, you're just making more of them smoke. Weren't
you ever a teenager? When mama Clinton told you not to do something,
what did you do? That's right, you did exactly what she told
you not to, and today's kids are doing the same. Maybe you
are the blame for a rise in teen smoking if there is one.
There are laws on the books that say anyone under
the age of 18 can not purchase cigarettes. Why not enforce
these laws? If kids can not purchase cigarettes then adults
must be purchasing them for them. You're looking in the
wrong hole. Ain't no ground hog here.
That's one thing good about the Republicans.
The ones proudly wear the elephant are for reducing taxes and less
government. I am glad to counted among those who think about
sending less of their pay check to government.
It may be tobacco today...what's tomorrow.
I should also be forthcoming and tell you that I
am employed in the tobacco industry, but I have to think I
would believe the same if he were talking about trying to
send any other legal American business to the trash heap.
I always like to pass along compliments, so I include
this email from David Tanner [david.tanner@lecroy.com].
Nothing like a good stroke!
Since I have a reason to communicate
with you, I will first engage in applying strokes: I enjoy your
musings. You have a different slant from the other Daynoters (as
they do from each other), and I enjoy that. Consider yourself
encouraged.
With respect to groundhog day: I
thought the way it worked was that if the shadow was seen
(notice how cleverly I avoided the he/she trap) there would be
six more weeks of winter. If the shadow was not seen there would
be a month and a half more winter.
In the same vein (vain?): if you
have a cold, get plenty of bed rest, drink lots of fluids and
take aspirin, a cold will be over in two weeks. If you ignore
it, a cold will last 14 days.
Thanks for your very kind words.
Keeping a "Day Notes" journal is really quite a commitment.
It takes time every day to actually post the site and then there
is the challenge of coming up with something to say. My
DayNotes journal has become more like a public version of my
private diary, with some computer geek stuff thrown in, just
because I am such a techno-nerd. I hope you will keep
reading here at Wakeolda as well as the other Daynote
sites.
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Saturday, February
5, 2000
It's off to the circus for the Tucker family
today. Heck, I thought our life was a regualr three-ring
circus and here we are paying Mr. Barnum and Mr. Baley good hard
earned bucks for the same attratcion. Go figure.
Andrew must have announced at school his plans to
attend the circus. He came home yesterday afternoon with the
news that the circus had a new ringmaster. Must be
information provided by a tike who has already attended the
magical event.
It must be the week of Linux in the news.
I mentioned yesterday that IBM was going to offering the new
operating system on multi-platforms. Later in the day a
couple additional Linux links of interest appeared. CMP's
TechWeb says Linux
is creeping upstream in the enterprise while a couple of major
manufacturers are saying requests
for computers with Linux pre-installed are what they anticipated,
but some business are warming
up to paying for a free operating system. If you are
wanting to tip toe into Linux, NetGuide offers this Learning
about Linux page.
It might be a good time to work for one of
these large companies. Ford Motor Company announced
yesterday that it was going to be giving
a computer to each of its 350,000 employees. The package will
also include a discounted internet access package.
Delta
Airlines was thinking along the same lines, saying it also
planned to offer a PC to some 72,000 Delta employees.
However, the Delta deal isn't a mirror image. If you're a
Delta employee the deal is going to cost you almost $500 over the
course of a 3 year period.
The Ford and Delta deals appear to be a windfall
for PeoplePC, who, it appears, will be administering both
programs. A check of their
website reveals that you can get approximately the same deal
for $25 a month over the course of three years. The deal is
something like this. You get a brand name PC (they're
curently using Toshiba, but the Ford deal is for a Hewlett
Packard), but you're actually taking out an 11 percent loan to
purchase a new PC. If you would rather pay up front
you can get the deal for $700 and change, but you could probably
find a better deal on the web.
Maybe the fact the unemployment rate has dropped
to four percent (the lowest in 30 years) has something to do these
companies sudden benevolence. You gotta do something to get
and keep good employees. Delta is going one better than
Ford, also offering some subsidized internet service.
As a kid, I can remember telephone party lines and
in some cases where people not have a telephone. In fact my
grandmother only had a phone installed about a year or so before
she passed away.
The reason I mention this fact is because I
believe in the future the computer and access to the internet will
go the same way. Eventually, and in the not too distant
future, every home will have a computer and access to the world
wide wait and we will communicate with our family and friends by
email much the same way as we have by telephone the last, say , 20
years.
It didn't take long for this bad idea to go
bust, thankfully. FreePc was operating under the concept
of giving you a free pc and internet service with one major string
attached. In order to browse the web you would have to use
their custom browser, which would pepper you with unwanted
advertising. After
giving away just 25,000 systems the idea is dead. FreePC
is now a part of EMahcines, who would rather sell you a no-name
PC.
Every once in a while I like to take a look
at different domains that have accessed Wakeolda. I am
continually amazed by the wide array of countries that have
"hit" this site. Here
is the list.
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