JohnA lifeBlog

Apparently the Associated Press has a time machine, as reflected in this recently posted article:

Thursday night’s meeting at the University of Miami was the first of three Bush-Kerry debates over a two-week period. Neither side was underestimating its importance with a TV audience of 30 million to 40 million expected. Almost a third of people surveyed say the debates will be a deciding factor in how they vote.

The first debate drew the nation’s attention to hurricane-battered Florida and its political importance. Florida swung the presidency to Bush in the disputed 2000 election and could determine whether he wins re-election.

The debates were staged under a rigid set of rules negotiated by the candidates’ representatives to limit spontaneity and opportunities for back-and-forth exchanges.

The aforementioned article was posted at 2:09 PM. It’s amazing that they were able to determine that the first debate drew the nation’s attention to hurricane-battered Florida. I wonder if they have the questions & answers available online somewhere…

When you ask people in my parent’s generation what event had the most memorable impact on them, they will frequently state that it was the Apollo 11 moon landing.

This morning, I had a chance to watch Scaled Composites launch their first of two required flights to win the $10 Million Ansari X-Prize. I think I now understand a bit how my parents felt.

As I watched, I felt the surge of excitement that came with the release of the spacecraft, and I felt the fear in my heart when the craft begin performing unscheduled barrel rolls. Finally, I felt relieved and excited when pilot Mike Melvill emerged from the cockpit.

Wow… that was remarkable.

Good news, Californians! Proposition 69 was approved for the ballot. If passed, the proposition would put the DNA of almost 50,000 innocent people in the same database as convicted murderers and sex offenders!

That’s right… the law would require that anyone who is arrested or even just investigated for a felony crime would have their DNA placed the state felony DNA database. No conviction required.

The Merc makes a couple of great comments, including how this will stifle the ability for citizens to peacefully protest.

Bottom line is this: unlike the 2 Indian casino propositions (68 & 70), Proposition 69 has received very little attention, and doesn’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising behind it.

It’s up to us to get out the word of how this 1984 style Proposition is bad for everyone. You can learn more at the opposition website Protect My DNA.com.

So, tonight I would like to rant about FedEx Ground, formerly known as RPS.

Anyway, here’s the rant. When we set up the new UltraCart cluster, we took the opportunity to decommission the old UltraCart servers so that we could re-purpose them into the new cluster.

To that end, we shipped 4 packages via FedEx Ground from our Atlanta office to our Merced office. The packages arrived on Tuesday & Wednesday. Today, we unboxed all of the equipment, and the first server we were going to test was UCPROD1, the primary content delivery server from the old cluster. It was a $4,000 1U Dell server, and it was a tremendous piece of hardware… until FedEx Ground got ahold of it. The server, which was packed in an ORIGINAL DELL SHIPPING CARTON with the original packaging, was literally bent down the middle, cracking the motherboard. We’ve filed a claim, but the money is nothing compared to the problems we will face due to the delay…

Next, we hooked up the tape backup unit, only to discover that the servo motor was damaged. So, another FedEx claim, and another investigators delay.

So, the moral of the story friends, is that if you have something important to ship, for the love of all that is holy, don’t ship it FedEx Ground!

That is all.

Slashdot has posted a very interesting & informative interview with Michael Badnarik, presidential canididate for the Libertarian Party.

Even if you would never vote for a third-party candidate, I think you will find his responses fresh, interesting, and real. Take a look!

CBS Says It Was Misled Over Bush Military Memos

Not surprising, given the fact that the memos in questions were obvious forgeries when compared with the real authenticated documents provided by the DoD.

I think what makes me upset is the fact that Dan Rather utilized these documents to launch a personal attack against Bush. Regardless of how you feel about Bush, Dan Rather demonstrated the kind of bitterness that indicates he may have reached the point where he should retire.

Oh, and of course, kudos to the entire blogging community for covering this story as it was ignored by the mainstream media.

Remember, citizens… if you carry a bookmark, you’re a terrorist!

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have just a touch of common sense back in our federal employees?

The building I used to work at is located on the Marina pictured above. Man, I had no idea how terrible this hurricane would be for Pensacola.

The Pensacola News Journal has posted a large picture gallery of the storm’s aftermath.

Thank God my family is okay, but I worry for them in dealing with the aftermath.

My Mom and family are okay. For those who didn’t know, much of my family lives in Pensacola, FL, which is about 50 miles east of Dauphin Island, where Hurricane Ivan came ashore.

I received this e-mail from my brother a little earlier:

Mom just called me a second ago and she wanted me let everyone know that she is ok, they made it safely through the storm. They only have one cell phone at the moment so she said she will try calling later tonight.

Ian

You can read more about the storm and its after effects on the blog for the local Pensacola newspaper.

So I just completed my calls for the Save Betamax call-in campaign. After reading some of the posts on the feedback screen, I decided to alter my plan a little bit.

I was asked to call Congresspersons Dingell & Pelosi, but the fact is that the bill has not yet made it to the house, so it seems inappropriate to contact them. Instead, I contacted 3 senators: Bill Frist, and California’s two senators: Barbara Boxer & Dianne Feinstein. Senator Frist’s office knew exactly what was going on, and was very quick about the call.

I received a better response from my senator’s offices, perhaps because I am a constituent, but most likely because they are not receiving the volume of calls the specially targeted senators are receiving.

Anyway, I hope this makes a difference, but I find myself becoming more and more jaded about the political process.