Saturday, March 01, 2008

In the wake of the whole WHNT/60 Minutes/Don Siegelman thing last week.....

I figured it would be interesting to look into television station ownership for the Huntsville, AL area. Here are the big three:

WAAY - Calkins Media, Inc. - the only link I can find is http://www.phillyburbs.com
WHNT - Local TV LLC (funded by Oak Hill Capital Partners)
WAFF - Raycom Media, Inc.

Interestingly enough, the only one of these three stations to have the pertinent info displayed on their website (at the bottom of every page I have visited) is WAFF.

Friday, February 29, 2008

And so it goes....

FPL ANNOUNCES PRELIMINARY FINDINGS OF OUTAGE INVESTIGATION

FPL's Florida power outage investigation webcast

Woohoo! I just noticed that this is post number 300....

I've had this blog since either August or September of 2002. I had switched to Movable Type for a while, but I've never really known enough about coding to ensure that the scripts that MT used were safe. Needless to say, they wreaked a little havoc where this blog is hosted so I switched back to Blogger. I ♥ Blogger!

I don't believe that I've posted the links to the wife unit(1 ea.)'s other web properties (other than her jewelry thing) so here goes:

Suzy’s Entertainment Blog
My Favorite Recipes: SouthernBelle’s Recipes

Speaking of recipes...

We did the old Friday night routine of pizza (mmmmmm, Village Pizza) and a flick. BTW, the flick was Superbad. Uhhhhhhhh, what can I say about it? Not kid-friendly by any stretch of the imagination but fairly funny.......

Anyway, back to the recipe thing...... Our dinner last night was an old favorite. One cool thing about what we had was that it kind of sneaks spinach into a meal and tastes great. Hey, fool your kids with Beef and Salsa Burritos! We've always made it even less healthy by adding ground sausage but hey, you only live once. The sausage adds some wonderful flavor!

Hey, cross your fingers for me (and my 12 other classmates), y'all! We have the pleasure of taking the NRC's Generic Fundamentals Examination (as discussed here) this coming week. This is only the first step....

Hey, I work for an organization that is somewhat under the umbrella of the federal government. TVA's 75th anniversary is this year. There are some other government organizations that have big anniversaries this year. See below:

DARPA turns 50- partially responsible for the internet you are traversing right now

NASA turns 50

I was reading a story in Reader's Digest a while ago about government spending. Check it out! Prime material for consideration in this election year. Another interesting site to watch (RSS feed included) is the Congressional Budget Office's Cost Estimate site....

Another interesting government site to visit regarding what is going on in the halls of Congress is the site of The Federal Register. Strangely enough, they are celebrating their 70th anniversary this year.......

Well, it's time to vamoose! Peace, y'all!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

A wee bit of surfing the internets.....

led me to discover the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. There are kind of two versions. One is unofficial and hosted over at www.hazegray.org. I find the official version (from the US Navy) much cooler. Why? They have the Ship History/Command Operations Reports for some currently commissioned ships. As luck would have it, they have the command history for the ship I was on during the years I was on it. Check it out! My years were 1994-1997. There were some exciting things that happened during those years. For example, I never knew (or perhaps I forgot) the name of the ship that we helped to keep from sinking in March 1996. But it's right there in black and white (p. 5 of 29 by the file and page 4 of the report). I thought the availability of these reports was excellent. It will be cool when all the ships are complete. I don't miss that haze gray beast. And I might have mentioned it before, but it would have been an amazing chance to take the trip around the world since the GW is now home-ported over in Japan. But......not amazing enough to have stayed in.

Peace out, y'all!

For those of you following the Florida power outage.....

Here's a live stream media link from Florida Power & Light. Don't ask me how long it will last.... As of 6:15ish the live stream doesn't work. See the archive link at the bottom of this post.

And here's what the NRC has to say about what happened at Turkey Point. The NRC is sure to have more information tomorrow.

By the way, the 5:15 PM EST outage update from FPL has been archived.

Monday, February 25, 2008

First things first.......

I could give a !$#@$!&@(&^#&)^@+)+_(_)(*(&%^$$^@%$%^#$^&@# less about Barack Obama being all dolled up in traditional African dress. He was visiting his father's homeland. I'm sure that this picture (and the other crap "Obama's a radical Muslim" stories) will convince at least one person not to vote for this guy. Hey, I'm not voting for him, but it's because of his stands on the issues.......

I hope that George Bush's "prediction" fails miserably (unless it's Ron Paul). Now, I don't want Hillary or Barack in there either. I think I'd prefer a Libertarian or..... Penn Jillette!

Nifty tidbits of miscellaneous info......

I try like a madman to learn something new every day.....

I actually heard about this Friday but forgot to bring it up over the weekend. Saturday was the 223rd anniversary of the birth of George Frideric Handel. It was mentioned on my local outlet of NPR. Speaking of music, I thought it pretty cool that an American musical act is doing its stuff in Pyongyang, North Korea. Probably not hardcore diplomacy, but finding commonality through music. Just like my daddy-o suggests:

"If there is more music, maybe there'll be LESS WAR!"

-Rotcod Zzaj


Speaking of war, diplomacy, politics and things of that sort, have a look at the projected cost of all the promises that the Presidential candidates are making. And keep in mind, every man, woman, and child in this country (as of the time of this post) has a $30,627.48 share of the national debt...

For Alabamians who were directly affected by the storms and tornadoes from 2/5-2/6 and 2/17, the Small Business Administration is offering home loans, business loans, and economic injury loans. Here are the announcement pages and pertinent info:
Storms on 2/5-2/6
Storms on 2/17

Being somewhat of a small world, we noticed a sign the other day that said "Ray McKee for Congress". Both of us thought "Hmmmmm! The name of our closing attorney for our house was Ray McKee." As it happens, it's the same guy! He will be getting MY VOTE! One of his biggest issues is the "Fair Tax". Amen, brother!

Last but not least....

A 134 lb. hamburger!

Peace, y'all!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

For those of y'all in my neck of the woods....



OK, it's doubtful that the folks who probably need to see this will, but here goes.....

Tips on virus hoax identification/debunking (from http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/2009p061id102498.htm)
1. Detect the undetectable. Beware of warnings that claim a virus is undetectable. In general, if you keep your antivirus software up-to-date, your system will nab the latest viruses.
2. Study the subject. If the e-mail message's subject line includes words such as "Urgent," "Warning," or even "Virus Alert," it's often a good indication that you're dealing with a hoax. Read the e-mail message with great skepticism, not great urgency.
3. Beware of tech talk. Look out for pseudo-technical discussions on the dangers of the virus. Some hoax messages include pure gobbledygook.
4. Check the sources. To create an aura of credibility, a hoax often quotes a well-known company or agency, such as Microsoft, the Federal Communications Commission, or an antivirus company. Check the Web sites of the sources quoted (or see your antivirus vendor's site). Remember also that Microsoft never posts virus alerts via e-mail.
5. Scrutinize the instructions. Beware of messages that insist you delete a file manually. True, at times you should do so, but in the context of the other tip-offs, this instruction should raise a red flag.
6. Don't spread the word. False alerts always urge you to tell everyone you know. Genuine alerts never do. Ignore the instructions, delete the message, and don't alarm everyone on your mailing list.


Some keywords and phrases FREQUENTLY (as in VERY FREQUENTLY) used in hoax e-mails (from http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/0/024c927836400f528825675100593eb2?OpenDocument&seg=en&lg=en&ct=us)
* If you receive an email titled [email virus hoax name here], do not open it!
* Delete it immediately!
* It contains the [hoax name] virus.
* It will delete everything on your hard drive and [extreme and improbable danger specified here].
* This virus was announced today by [reputable organization name here].
* Forward this warning to everyone you know!

wikileaks.org mirrors

wikileaks.org
https://secure.wikileaks.org/
https://wikileaks.cx
http://wikileaks.org.uk
http://wikileaks.org.au
http://wikileaks.cn
http://wikileaks.in
http://wikileaks.org.nz
http://www.cauce.us/wiki/Wikileaks
https://secure.wikileaks.be/
https://secure.ljsf.org/
https://secure.sunshinepress.org/
https://secure.freedomsbell.org/
https://secure.libertypen.org/