1968 Mustang For Sale

I have decided to get rid of my Mustang. It is a great, solid car, but still needs work. It is very dependable and has many new parts, including:

• New Edelbrock 600 CFM carburetor (Edelbrock #1406)


• Edelbrock performer intake manifold


• Custom all-aluminum dual-exhaust w/chrome tips


• New windshield


• New carpet


• All new wiring in front


• All-new ignition system (MSD Digital 6 plus)

It needs some work on the front suspension and steering, and a lot of body work. Otherwise, it's a great car and will provide years of great service.

I am in the process of taking pictures and building a small website for the sale of this fine automobile. Check here later to see the car.

What is a Liberal?

I was commenting at Me4President2008 about religion and somehow ventured on the topic of labels. I mentioned that I wasn't a Christian because of the association with other "Christians" and how I don't like what they're associated with, and discovered in this thought about labels that I might not be a liberal. So I wanted to find the truth.

I went to Answers.com and typed in "liberal." I wanted to find a description of the term and found one.

There were phrases from WordNet like "tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition" and "showing or characterized by broad-mindedness."

I can agree with this.

From Houghton-Mifflin's Thesarus was "Not narrow or conservative in thought, expression, or conduct."

Also from WordNet is "a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties."

That's me, too. The "broad-mindedness" part is really true. It explains why my ultra-conservative friend had such a hard time with C++ programming. He could only see it one way. I think if he opened his mind a bit he would do fine.

I think liberals are great engineers due to the open-mindedness. People who are able and open to (and not ashamed of) taking a different approach to something are the ones who will take the world to the next era.

From this description, I gather that liberals are open to change and not stuck in the past or to certain traditions or objects. That's me, too.

So I guess I'm a liberal. I accept the label.

That doesn't mean that I'm on one side of the fence gathering mud to throw to the other side; I'm saying that I believe certain things. I'm not partisan, I'm listening. I'm not taking sides, I'm listening. I'm not here to fight, I'm here to hear. To make a difference. To not push anything on anyone. To help people. Not to hate. I'm listening. I may not agree, but still I listen.

The Untrained Mind, Part I

This is only an introduction of a possible series of my varying opinions about liberal-bashing numb-tongued, dirty idiots and why they're stupid unlike me. I'm just trying to get started tonight before I forget. I'll be talking about the utterly clueless also.

I spend a good bit of time talking with people around town. I go in at least three houses a day and speak with people while I correct technology issues or install VoIP service. Quite a few people every day ask me where I'm from because I don't have much of a Southern drawl. When I tell them I'm from Colorado, they usually ask what I did out there. When in awe about my being a soldier, they tend to inquire about my time in Iraq. They're always happy to discover that I never went, and that I'm not over there now.

Point is, I haven't found a fucking soul who is happy about that war (the day I do find someone of that opinion, it will be posted here with some lengthy comments.) Not one person has said "...and you should have stayed in so you'd be helping those guys out and becoming a hero." Not one. All have said they're glad I'm not over there and cough up something related to "bad situation over there."

I'm in the middle of South Georgia. It's not exactly chock full of liberals. There's an agricultural school here for Christ's sake. Good ol' boys and old money here. Lots of Bush support. But so far, nobody is for the war. Or no one's verbally for it anyway.

I haven't even heard support for Bush, like "It's a mess over there, but Bush has a plan... ." I think people are scared to talk politics with their Internet provider. Oh, well, I can only write about my experience. And from my experience, no one likes this war.

Printers and More!

I've been playing with this Linux machine today and figured out how to print with to the printer that's attached to my Windows Server. Very convenient. Now I don't have to have a separate printer for the Linux box.

Linux supports many brands of printers, so if that's stopping you from switching, there is no excuse now.

I'm not instructing people to switch to Linux, I'm only trying to tell people that there is an alternative to Windows that's much less expensive than Apple.

I can also access shared folders on the Windows machine, so any files I need that are on the Windows PC I can access with the Linux PC, without floppy disks or burning CDs. Also very convenient.

Did I mention this stuff is free?

My home router is a converted Compaq Presario 5155 with the AMD 350K6-2 and 128MB RAM. It runs Fedora Core 4 and at press time it was up for 25 days. I'll try to remember to let you know when I have to bring it down. This thing is very dependable. Updates very rarely require a restart.

Think about it.

Google Print Halted for Now

I just read this and began wondering what the problem is. Is Newton still profiting from the Principia and living it up in Long Beach? I don't get it. Kowledge is knowledge. Information should be free. If I can go to the library and read it for free, then I should be able to go to Google and get it, too. I just wouldn't have to leave the house.

And I realize that the library is not totally free. It is funded with tax dollars, grants, and donations. But Google is giving quite a bit for its service, too. How would you like to scan entire university libraries? A team of software engineers has worked on the software to get this project going for years now. I think it is a grand idea.

Anybody remember how hard it was to check out a book at Harvard University Library when you're at a private school in Colorado? Or search technical articles at CalTech when you're in the middle of the woods in Georgia and can't find the answer? I know I'd like to.

Another benefit to Google's digitization of printed materials is that it won't be limited to print editions and be succeptible to weathering. The way Google stores data, they'll never lose it. Did you know they're approaching 10,000 Linux servers company-wide?

Screw the publishers. Let Google do something that needs to be done.

Now That I Have a Workstation

I can't afford a new computer, but I made this one work with the help of the Internet and my laptop (my only CD burner at the time). I feel better now that I have a regular computer to use, and I don't have to keep the laptop on the desk all the time.

I sit here now and want to write.

Did I mention that this cool new Linux thing has a chat client that works with all the popular services, including MSN, Yahoo, and AIM? And that Gmail works just like it does with Microsoft Internet Explorer?

Open Source Software (from tech_pickle)

And my opinion about it.

I love Open Source. In fact, I'm typing this post on an OS that I downloaded last week, and I will never be arrested for it. I got to reuse old hardware that my mother would have otherwise thrown out, and make it new again, just by installing this operating system.

While I was installing, I was reading all the benefits of open source software. Let me tell you about it:

Security: Open source software is not owned by anyone. It is developed by everyone. Windows is attacked because it costs so much and makes so few people very stinking rich (it is also buggy.) Therefore, Linux and other open source software packages are not a succeptible to attacks and vulnerabilities as the corporate-owned packages are.

Compatibility: Linux is developed by a team of volunteers (even you can join the effort if you have something to offer) and updates are released almost daily to allow Linux to use the latest hardware and take advantage of new features. This method is a bit better than a corporation releasing updates and changing compatibility whenever it feels like it.

Support: There are tons of forums and groups on the web to help you with any question you may have about using any open source software. Just Google it. You can even pay for support from some of these organizations.

Cost: The most attractive part of open source software (especially Linux) is that it's free. Sure, you can pay around $50-$80 for a distribution of Mandrake or Suse Linux and get free support, but you can just as easily download the images and seamlessly install it on your old machine. Most distributions have support and power management to accomodate portable computers, to include wireless networking.

Many organizations are looking toward open source software solutions for their corporate networks and workstations. The company I work for employs several Linux machines, and they are very efficient. One machine at $6,000 does the work of a $55,000 Cisco router. Tell me that's not cost effective.

A few countries in Africa are switching, as well. Seems appropriate that they save some money, Africa being in the state that it is.

Drag that old computer out and dust it off. You just might be surprised.

Mandrakelinux (from tech_pickle)

Today (tonight, actually) marks my first experience with Mandrake Linux. I recently acquired an old Pentium II machine with 512MB RAM and a 3D Rage video card and installed Mandrake Linux 10.2 tonight.

I am thoroughly enjoying it. The interface is catchy and new, and it feels like I bought a new computer today. The installation was very smooth, and there were only three discs required. It took about an hour from start to finish, and I was all ready to go. There is OpenOffice.org, a beautiful productivity suite, and a secure web browser. Evolution is a time management, e-mail, and organization tool, included with the distribution.

Mandrake Linux, like Red Hat and Fedora, includes a personal firewall also. If all you do is surf the web and check e-mail, this is the system for you. It is secure and efficient, and very easy to use. There is a long list of compatible printers, and the system works with any type of Internet connection.

I highly recommend Linux to any average Internet user. For the gamer, however, there is no choice. Windows XP is the operating system for gamers. But, if you are like so many of my customers who check their e-mail once a day and then turn the computer off, I encourage you to look toward open source operating systems.

The best part of Linux is that it's free. That's what open source means.

Hmmm... That may be my next topic.

Look into it. E-mail me if you want to know more.

Mandrake Linux

I just installed Mandrake Linux 10.2 on my mom's old machine (Pentium II @ 400MHz, 512MB RAM, generic video, IBM chipset of some sort) and I love it. I have decided to use a Linux workstation for every task that it will do.

I can't do all of my work, though, because a lot of it must use a PPTP connection to work, and I haven't found that yet on this distro. Besides, we use MS Office at work, and OpenOffice.org doesn't exactly match.

I inherited this machine last week when my mom got a new computer from Dell. I decided that it's time I start practicing what I preach. I tell a lot of my customers that they really only need a simple distribution of Linux to get their e-mail and surf the web. Linux isn't vulnerable to a lot of what's dangerous out there, especially with all the new spyware and adware being released into the wild.

The interface feels just between Windows and Mac OS X. It's really nice, and it's pretty fast. The games are pretty challenging, too, and interesting. Plus, there are more games to choose from (if you can find them).

I also like to program. I'm currently working on a program that effectively tests a cable modem, and I can do that easily with PERL on any popular Linux distribution.

Oh, yeah, and it's free. All you have to do is get an older computer (probably no more than four years old) in working condition, download the images, burn them to disk, and install Linux. It is very easy, and installation today took me about an hour on this old clunker. E-mail me if you want to know where to get the images.

Firing My Publisher

It was pointed out today that there are at least two misspellings in the text of recent posts here at Random Thoughts, and I am going to fire my publisher for allowing this. A professional blog should not be painted with such disregard for the language.

Who am I kidding? I have corrected the mistakes. If you missed them, I have done nothing wrong. So there.

Another Fad Gone Bad

So they're probably broke forever.

Nothing replaces a balanced diet and exercise. More columns say that a balanced diet and exercise will help you lose weight than any other column spouting the Adkins diet or South Beach or whatever lame claim it might say. Just read Men's Health, Shape Magazine, or any other credible publication, and you will see that the low-carb thing was only another craze. It was just a very large craze.

Correct diet and exercise is a practice, just like any fad diet, that no ordinary American can stick to. If one were to only eat what the body is designed to process, and exercise daily, they'd look better than I do. I only wish I had the motivation to run every day, or just the time.

That's another problem with Americans. We don't provide ourselves the time to enhance our physical states. We go to work and worry about that so much that it's already 5:00, and then we go home to our families who need us and blame our "not working out" on everything else. What we need to do is go to bed at a decent hour (this is hypocritical, but it's my blog) and get up in time to work out. Need help? Form a pact with your neighbor. He's probably fat, too.

My studies show that one will be more productive and focused during the day after a grueling workout and a shower every morning. "Get the blood flowing" is pretty accurate. It got me through school, and a good bike ride made the next day very easy. I felt so much better; the "I feel old" went out of me. I encourage you to do the same.

Don't stay fat.