Computers ⁽¹²⁸⁾

Brian Bilbrey October 20, 2013

Fencing, continued.

Yesterday, I got all of the left side front fencing replaced. Today, I executed the decorative arches on those sections: I set a horizontal string line across the sections, and measured down, sinking a screw at each bottom end of each arch. I then used a quarter-inch thick, 7' long cutoff from a piece of cherry, braced against the screws and pressed upwards in the middle to describe each parabolic arch. A quick swipe with a pencil marked each arch. I cut them with the circular saw, first plunging in the middle, then working along the curve to each end.

Brian Bilbrey October 6, 2013

Fall II = Summer?

Hmmm. Six plus hours working in the yard yesterday, and nearly broken as a result. Why? It was nearly 90 degrees Fahrenheit out. I was slamming the H2O and got through it. The garden beds are cleared, turned and mulched with leaves harvested from the front yard: After that was done, I mowed both front and back. Today I got the shopping done, then roasted coffee and cut my hair, and wrapped the day's chores by washing the car. That'll bring rain. I should probably wash the car more often if it does, since we've had only about 3/4" or…

Brian Bilbrey September 11, 2013

Bad sysadmin, no cookie

In a fit of giggles, I did something on purpose which one normally only does by mistake. I zeroed out a boot drive on a Linux box. The system had previously been wiped with DBAN, and a test CentOS install thrown on for REASONS. Those reasons were done, and it was due for wiping again anyway, so, what the heck... dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=4M Do NOT cut and paste that into your *NIX box as root unless you're not running Linux (in which case /dev/sda is unlikely to exist), or you want a re-install opportunity because you've got great backups…

Brian Bilbrey September 8, 2013

Launch weekend

Well, it was a launch for NASA's LADEE mission, a lunar orbiter (full name Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer"), from Wallops Island in Virginia. I headed up by the tennis courts to get a better south east view, further from the trees. Using binoculars, I was able to clearly see the ascent from about 10 seconds post-launch, through first stage separation and second stage firing, and on into the distance for a long while. Very cool. Usually the Wallops launches aren't so spectacular, and I'm usually clouded in and can't see them anyway from this distance. * * * In other…

Brian Bilbrey September 1, 2013

Travels done

And we're back! Nine days in California and in the air are done: We flew out to SFO on the 22nd, and flew back through DFW on the 30th. We visited with my folks for about three days, then headed over to SF and stayed there while I attended VMworld 2013. I attended three general sessions and 19 technical sessions in four and one-half days ... my brain nearly exploded. I watched countless demos, met many wonderful and smart people, and acquired enough t-shirts to last me until the next millennium. The weather was lovely, and Marcia split her time between…