Zaphod's Deepest Thoughts

2012, Doomsayers, The End of Time, and Cataclysm.

Okay, I am going to make my 2012 predictions now, and go on record with them.

IN 2012 NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY THAT COULD BE CALLED A CATACLYSM WILL HAPPEN.

There. I said it. The Mayan calendar will reset, and life will go on. But I also predict, that in 2012, the sensationalist fear-mongers will say they got it wrong, and the actual end of the Mayan calendar is in 2013, or 2014, or 2015, or or or, I believe some will even go as far as saying 2112! To these people, this voice from the then past says... SHUT THE HELL UP! You may not keep the sheeple amongst us living in a constant state of fear. Panicked worrywarts give me a sour stomach from empathy. You may play until the end of 2012, but after that...

GET A JOB, YOU WERE WRONG, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE WRONG, LEAVE HUMANITY ALONE YOU UNBELIEVABLE IDIOTS.

YOU ARE NOT A PROPHET. YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL. YOU HAVE NO POSITION OF AUTHORITY. YOU HAVE DESTROYED LIVES.

And to those of you who were misled by these idiots, I have nothing but pity, understanding, and sympathy for you. Humans in general have always been into sensationalism, it is no fault of your own that you listened to these self proclaimed authorities. This might sound hypocritical, but put your faith in the Lord, for at least with that group, no one knows the hour of his return. They believe you should live your life in peace and just keep yourself an outstanding individual to be safe. Sounds good to me. Well, if ya gotta invest your time believing in something intangible, why not?

For those of you who call bull on this, good, you can't be fooled into wasting your life in fear of the end.

Oh, btw, the world will end, NO ONE KNOWS WHEN. But I guarantee, someday, we will be smacked by a big rock, maybe even a planet, chunk of stellar core, or the ultimate insult to all we've done and created, sucked into a black hole. Yes, it will end, but to waste your time worrying about it, sure wastes the precious moments of your life. Just think if all that time you spent worrying about you, and your lot in life, you spent worrying about the animals at your local shelter, the old and feeble, the starving amongst us.

What I think the main distillation of all this is...

Doomsayers are psychic vampires. Are you food?

Zap :)

Catch a Stratovolcano on Doppler Radar, The 3rd Mount Redoubt Explosion.

Well, as soon as I heard Redoubt exploded on the radio, I headed over to NWS Anchorage to see what I could see from their WSR-88D!

I was well rewarded!

That's it, just west of the word Kenai, way too cold for a thunderstorm, just right for a boom. Hope someone caught it earlier than this. You can see the new plume, and the old one streaming off to the NNE. The explosion, is of course, stationary. Enjoy!

Why Detroit (and soon the rest of the auto industry) Is In the Crapper.

I'll be as short (Yeah, right, sureeee, I'm angry!) as I can about this. They say that Detroit has run out of ideas... baloney.

Detroit has plenty of ideas, and they have rejected all of them! Why you ask?

COWARDICE!
(and of course, the pointy haired boss)
(with apologies to the great S. Adams)

For years and years, the best and brightest minds in Detroit, the engineers and designers, have been dreaming up the most fantastic, yet attainable cars. They were capitalizing on Americas greatest power, our power to invent!

But then, as usual, some pointy haired boss who couldn't grasp the new car, or even the concept of the new car any further than the fact there was a "concept" in there somewhere...

Slapped the label "concept" on it, showed it to his friends, and relegated it to the dumpster.

Cars that could break 200 miles an hour and hold it for as long as you like.

One seater commuter cars that had room for you, your briefcase, and the ability to go 300 miles on a 3 gallon tank.

Cars that would parallel park themselves at a push of a button.

Electric cars that could run 40 miles on a charge. (For getting back and forth from work, that's all most people need)

Cars that would last for 1,000,000 miles. (Semi tractors do it all the time)

I could rabbit on and on, but the truth of the matter is, since the higher ups in the companies couldn't appreciate how much the public would want one of these vehicles, since they were afraid of the risk in them, they never allowed any of them to reach production. No, they would say something like "Let's take last years model, and raise the trunk, and make it boxier... and we'll call it the Capri EX, as in s.E.X., and that will make people want it!" Then, because people buy it, for they have no other choice that stands apart from the rest of the cookie cutter cars, they think that it was wanted. WRONG!

Now, allot of you may be saying "Man, he's got it all wrong." Oh, have I? Why not talk to the American powerhouse in Milwaukee? Yes, none other than Harley-Davidson. Take a look at the V-Rod if you like, it's a living, breathing concept motorcycle in production. Sleek, fast, good looking, better handling, safe, everything a motorcycle should be! And it sold like mad! Now, Harley-Davidson pwns the world motorcycle market, and all it took was one truly original bike to bring them to light, and then innovative upgrades and redesigns on their big twins to keep them there.

Detroit, you've been a bunch of haughty fools following Japan, and doing nothing original. As a matter of fact, Japan never really goes outside the box either, they just slowly improve on what we've done. You even took the mighty HMMWV stripped it down to a Tahoe with a boxy body (HII) and then castrated it back to an early 80s S-10 Blazer with a less rounded shape (HIII). You have no idea the value of testosterone. I see more women driving HIIs and HIIIs than men. and Even our pickup trucks, once mighty and rugged symbols of manhood, the pickup truck, has become more smooth, soft, bubbly, and slick... just like a minivan! You even tried to marry the two in Excursions and Expeditions!

Enough of this for now, but you will be paying the price and living on the street soon, unless you streamline the path between concept and production post haste. Oh, and try asking the people what they want too.

Zap.

Added Digg, let's see how it does.

Well, I've drank the Ghoul-Aid and added Digg to my blog. Let's see how it does.

If you remember a story, one that you liked from time past, please search it up, and if you can find it again, nail it with a digg please. I am sure others will agree with you.

Why am I so late into the digg game? Well, it used to be that stories on digg would get digged way up by botnets. Now, they've taken steps to clean things up. I don't think any of my goofiness will ever see the front page of digg, but, maybe someone will dig a little deeper.

(I am almost certian my server would bomb with a front page digg anyway!)

New Filetopia 4 name and logo leaked!

Wow, I never thought I would see anything new out of them, but here it is...

 

Amazing isn't it?

Actually, it's not, it's a bad, somewhat inside joke based on this software in development forever. Sure hope it doesn't make for too much bad karma. But on a REAL NOTE...

BeTaGuRu has released a bugfix patch for Filetopia being run under Windows Vista, you can get it HERE.

Columbo Still Scratching His Head (But some things aren't public record.)

Perhaps you have seen the article from: http://www.nabble.com/Politics:--Columbo...Still-Scratching-His-Head-td19610231.html regarding the fictional, but lovable detective Columbo asking Barack Obama where certain records of his past are. However, some of these records (not all of them) aren't public information. Let me break down the list.

1. Occidental College records -- Not released
Private Institution. Only public record would be his degree, if any.

2. Columbia College records -- Not released
Private Institution. Only public record would be his degree, if any.

3. Columbia Thesis paper -- 'not available'
Must be published for peer review.

4. Harvard College records -- Not released
Private Institution. Only public record would be his degree, if any.

5. Selective Service Registration -- Not released
PUBLIC RECORD! MUST BE RELEASED UNDER F.O.I.A.!

6. Medical records -- Not released
Private Record: Doctor - Patient Confidentiality.

7. Illinois State Senate schedule -- 'not available'
Odd, but not unbelievable in a state that lets dead people vote. (Rotten Record Keeping) Also odd that none of his peers on the other side of the aisle could dredge this one up.

8. Law practice client list -- Not released
Only those clients who moved to trial and did not settle out of court would have public record of being attached to him.

9. Certified Copy of original Birth certificate -- Not released
PUBLIC RECORD! MUST BE RELEASED UNDER F.O.I.A.!

10. Embossed, signed paper Certification of Live Birth -- Not released
PUBLIC RECORD! MUST BE RELEASED UNDER F.O.I.A.!

11. Harvard Law Review articles published -- None
Ne'er-do-wells are usually ne'er-do-anything.

12. University of Chicago scholarly articles -- None
Ne'er-do-wells are usually ne'er-do-anything.

13. Your Record of baptism-- Not released or 'not available'
Private under Separation of Church and State (1st Amendment).

14. Your Illinois State Senate records--'not available'
See number 7 above.

Now the big questions are...

1. WHY are the public records that should be available under FOIA being withheld This is federally criminal.

2. HOW are these records being hidden? (F.O.I.A. is a pretty straight forward law. It would seem like if Obama doesn't get into office, allot of cooperating bureaucrats are going to go to prison.)

3. WHAT reasons would he have to hide the other records listed here? (Form your own opinions!)

4. WHO in his past would he not want to be associated with? (Thesis and Law Practice)

5. WHERE was he actually born? (Birth Records)

Too many damn questions for me to even THINK of voting for Barack...

Oh wait... Democrats/Leftists are emotional thinkers, so to them, it doesn't matter what reality is, but only that it feels good.

fear thy neighbor...

The Night Owl has flown the coop.

Today, I just received word, that a friend of mine of several years has shucked his mortal coil...

Ray Patterson, SysOp of Opus/Fidonet BBS The Night Owl (307)235-5207 (Now Defunct) has died.

I won't say that we were good friends, in the sense of consistent contact, but I will say that he was at my first Casper Computer Users Group Meeting in the early 80s. His bulletin board (BBS) The Night Owl, I called at least twice a day. It is also rumored, though I never saw it myself, that he had made a one megabyte bank-switched Timex/Sinclair 1000! Totally within the realm of possibilities, but how do you load something like that with cassette?

It's a bit sad actually, that the bringer of his death was a brain aneurism, the man had a wonderful mind.

He had never done me wrong, and I don't think I had ever heard anyone else say ill of the man. So, yet another pioneer of Wyoming technologists flies off, not into the sunset...

But into the moonset this time.

With thoughts,
Zaphod Breeblebrox :(

*** Ray's Obituary from http://www.trib.com ***

Monday, September 8, 2008 7:37 AM MDT

CASPER -- Funeral serves for Ray Patterson, 55, will be held at Bustard's Funeral Home at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008.

There will be a viewing at Bustard's from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008.

He died on Sept. 5, 2008 at the Wyoming Medical Center from a cranial bleed. He was surrounded by family and friends.

He was born Dec. 10, 1952 in Thermopolis, to Harold "Pat" Patterson and Willamette (Gerard) Patterson.

He lived in Casper for most of his life and graduated from Kelly Walsh High School in 1971. He also attended Casper College.

On May 28, 1976 he married Terry Lea Brummond, the love of his life.

He worked at the Wyoming Medical Center as a computer specialist. He was retired from the Natrona County Fire Department.

He was a member of the Eagles, F.O.E. #306, Casper Air Modelers, Wyoming Blues and Jazz Society, Wyoming Modelers Park Association and his nightly coffee club.

His was interested in stock car racing, kite flying, RC airplanes and cars, playing the guitar and motorcycle and RV road trips, among other things.

He is survived by his wife, Terry, daughter Erin Rodgers and her husband, and daughter Deedee, all of Casper; his sister Janet Althouse and her husband, two nieces, one aunt and four cousins.

He was preceded in death by his parents and brother.

In lieu of flower, memorials may be made to the Wyoming Blues and Jazz Society, P.O. Box 1643, Evansville, WY 82639 or The Donor Alliance in Denver, CO, (303) 329-4747.

(Edit #1: Added Obituary)

A hacker's political sign!

Ever wondered if hackers like you and me are getting the message out to eachother? Here's a simple hack to get your message out...

Set your SSID of your router or modem to whatever message you want to get out. Some automated software will even be spamming your political message all over wi-fi access point maps!

Here's what mine looks like when searched for in XP.

Just incase someone else believes the same way you do, like me you should put a _XXX where X is a random something as a postamble, so every Tom, Dick, and Harry isn't trying to connect to your wi-fi as well as their own. Also this would be a good time to check your modem/router's wi-fi security settings to make sure they are as tight as you like them.

If you have an old 802.11B router around that is not in use, this would be a great use for it! Even better, if you can secure the link, make it a free WAP that people look for! (I have some iffy security in my LAN, and a somewhat slow connection, so I am keeping it closed.)

Oh, yeah, and don't forget to activate SSID and full power output on the device!

Enjoy!

A collection of Jokers... Give me your opinions.

Okay, when it comes to jokers, let's hear your opinions on this motley crew.

I want to hear...
1.Which one scares the batcrap out of you?
2.Which one fits the socio/psychopathic bent best?
3.Which one(s) do you not know of?

A. Cesar Romero... "It's a new town. The old elegance is gone. It used to be one big family, this industry."

B. John Wayne Gacy... "A clown can get away with murder."

C. Jack Nicholson... "Here's Johnny!"

D. Heath Ledger... "It's because of you Jack, that I'm like this! I'm nothin'... I'm nowhere..."

These should be some interesting comments I think. So ponder, and please leave some below here.

Zap!

Quick note...

Thingamablog is being a twit and not letting me move my article on the trip to denver back down to where it belongs...

Sorry for the confusion.