There are 380 posts filed in Geezer (this is page 33 of 38).
It’s long been a tradition in the UNIX world to name one’s servers. I’ve named mine many things over the years:
I’m amazed sometimes that the world survived the year 1983. We came dangerously close to being blown up that year. Dangerously close. Able Archer was a NATO military exercise that place in November of that year. The exercise simulated an attack on Soviet forces, only the Soviets were convinced it was the real thing.
It was said that the misunderstanding so disturbed Reagan that he began to work towards defusing the standoff with the Soviets, leading to historic arms control treaties and eventually peace with the Russians. He toned down his rhetoric from then on, fortunately.
Able Archer 83 was a ten-day NATO command post exercise starting on November 2, 1983 that spanned Western Europe, centred on SHAPE’s Headquarters situated at Casteau, north of the Belgian city of Mons. Able Archer exercises simulated a period of conflict escalation, culminating in a coordinated nuclear release. The 1983 exercise incorporated a new, unique format of coded communication, radio silences, participation by heads of state, and a simulated DEFCON 1 nuclear alert.
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I read the sad story of Penn football player Owen Thomas’s recent suicide and its possible connection to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, is a degenerative brain disease brought on by repeated concussions. It can lead to a host of mental issues: depression, memory loss, aggression, confusion, and dementia. There is evidence that Lou Gehrig died of CTE and not Lou Gehrig’s Disease. I hadn’t heard of CTE before yesterday’s article.
Kelly and I are convinced we’re both on the fast track to dementia, thanks to a history of concussions. As a kid, I routinely received concussions from falling out of bed, and to protest being left in my crib I would repeatedly bang my head against the wall. I like to think I got smarter and less destructive as I grew older.
I do have days when little details don’t come to me the way they should, but I’m sure everybody experiences that once in a while. The question I want to know is whether CTE can be diagnosed without a peek at brain tissue as I’m still using my brain, addled as it may sometimes be. Regardless, I’m happy to see that knowledge about the brain is progressing so rapidly.
Dranesville AT&T bunker
My friend Craig forwarded me a link to a wonderful collection of information on AT&T’s old “long lines” infrastructure. It made me realize I’ve never told this story.
I’d seen this particular website before. I think a Slashdot story on AT&T putting up the old microwave towers for sale prompted me to do some Google searches, after which I spent a lot of time looking through this stuff.
I’ve found this map particularly interesting. I used to live in Northern Virginia near to the non-incorporated area known as Dranesville. You can see many of these routes converging at Dranesville. At the time I was intimately familiar with the phone phreaking technologies, possibly the only thing that Apple-cofounder Steve Wozniak and I have in common. Figuring out how the phone system worked was a fun challenge.
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Skylab
The recent balloon launch and it’s subsequent pictures of near space has gotten my thoughts lifted skyward. I was pondering the 4-pound weight limit of the balloon and contrasting it to the heavy lifting that was once done in this country by rockets like the Saturn V. That led me to some online videos of Skylab.
Skylab was America’s first space station, launched in 1973 on a modified Saturn V rocket. The station itself was made from spent Saturn V rocket stages and was so roomy that it makes the current International Space Station look like a toy. Sadly, Skylab fell from orbit in July 1979.
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I was delighted to read the story in today’s Charlotte Observer about Kurt Slep and Sound Choice, fighting back against illegal copying of their karaoke music. The company took a beating when unscrupulous karaoke jockeys (“KJ’s”) downloaded their music rather than paying for it.
While I was sad to hear how devastating music piracy has been to Sound Choice, I was glad to read about the history of the company, including the time in 1985 when I was one of its first employees.
Kurt, give me a call if you need a vocalist!
I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with coffee. During my Navy days I would drink multiple cups a day, which usually led to my being agitated. I often point to my coffee-drinking friends’ near-homicidal behavior during Hurricane Fran as reason enough to give up coffee.
I’ve mostly given up drinking caffeinated coffee. I’ve speculated to myself that the years of drinking coffee have carved canyons through my brain which can only be filled by the next cup of Joe. As with any addiction, each cup never seems to reach the level the prior one did.
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My friend and fellow veteran Grier Martin pointed me to a story in the Army Times that warns that most American kids are too out of shape to serve in the military.
My wife Kelly thinks she knows why kids are getting fatter: the drink sizes offered with fast food have become supersized. The same sized soft drink that used to be considered a large is now the “small” size. It’s crazy.
What to do about it, though? Isn’t the restaurant just giving its customers what they want, regardless of whether or not it’s what they need? If everyone chooses to pig out, landing in the hospital with heart disease; diabetes; and other serious illnesses, the treatment of which will be paid for through my insurance premiums, is that simply free enterprise at work? Or should society try to set a better example?
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Flickr image by Amy Palko
In 1990 I was in the Navy and homeported on a ship at San Diego Naval Station. One Sunday afternoon I was riding the San Diego Trolley back to base after a day spent downtown when the woman next to me struck up a conversation. By then I had been in town long enough to become attuned to those mentally ill people who occasionally rode the trolley and sometimes caused disturbances. At first I thought this woman was one of those sadly disturbed individuals but she was somehow different. A elderly Japanese woman who spoke broken English, she seemed friendly. Certainly harmless enough.
She struck up a conversation, asking if I was in the Navy and I responded yes. With this she gave an even bigger smile.
“My husband NAVY!” she beamed.
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Since my blog posting about the Beltline graffiti attracted so much attention, I thought it only right that I publicly thank the N.C. DOT for being on the case. I sent this email to them this past Thursday:
From: Mark Turner
Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 2:56 PM
To: Jones, Brandon H
Cc: Jernigan, Hannah; Halsey, Steven M; Holmes, Jason M; Elmore, Thomas R; Bowman, John W; Hopkins, Joey
Subject: Re: GraffitiMr. Jones,
I see that graffiti around the I-440 Beltline is being painted over. Thanks to you and the NCDOT for your prompt service in addressing this. Already it has made a huge difference in Raleigh’s appearance. I do appreciate it!
Regards,
Mark Turner
This drew this prompt response from Mr. Brandon Jones:
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