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Sunday, on Chris Matthew, David Brooks says Joe Biden for Barack.

After all the talk of geography and electability, will my dream ticket really come to pass?

Cue the rejoicing!

Many people have said David Gregory or Chuck Todd:

Andrea Mitchell?

I haven’t really looked for many role models in my life, having somewhat of a fierce streak of independece, but I may have chosen one. Tim Russert was a very good man, and we could all learn a thing or two from him.

Russert was a successful professional at the very pinnacle of his profession, respected more than probably any other individual in television news broadcasting, definitely so in the political world. He was also successful in his personal life. Russert teaches us that being FAIR does not mean presenting two opposing viewpoints, but rather comes from LISTENING, and a willingness to engage in CONVERSATION. Fairness comes not from having no opinions or preconceptions, but rather in a respect for an open forum and dialogue. Politics does not have two sides, and while some would like “fairness” to mean “one representative from each of the two main parties,” the reality is that politics has as many sides as there are people paying attention. Of course, as is human wont, these can be classified and categorized, but just the existence of the discussion of “wings” of parties falls as evidence of the inadequacy of the FCC’s, and Congress’s, analysis.

As Sam Donaldson said on This Week, Russert understood better than anybody that “the reason political reporters are there is not to speak truth to power - today’s truth is tomorrow’s falsity - but to make those who say we have the truth explain it, defend it.” And, while those of less who are lesser beings might forget it, and we might not LIKE it, this is entirely true. Ultimately, it is the AMERICAN PEOPLE who are the judge of truth and those who must speak truth to power.

But, very importantly, this communication, forums, and discussion was important in another part of Russert’s life. It is a dark twist of fate that Russert was taken two days before Father’s Day. Russert was widely regarded as the perrenial family man, and he very actively showed and communicated his love to his son, Luke. He also showed how to balance his work and his family, and to be fully dedicated to both.

Being someone whose father had difficulty expressing these things to us growing up, I really do value it. I’m always a sucker for stories of missed opportunities between fathers and sons for the expression of their feelings for each other and the reinforcement and safety that it brings. Men for centuries have clung to an emotionally dishonest stoicism, but this is not something fundamental to masculinity or fatherhood.

It takes quite a bit of work to be able to reflect upon yourself and genuinely, in naked honesty and lack of pretension, and LIKE yourself. I am thankful every day that I’ve come to a point in my life of acceptance of most of the things around me, and a genuine liking of myself. I’m by no means perfect or even great, and like every bruised and damaged person, my self-esteem lacks. But, overall, I try my hardest to be my best, and Tim Russert is a good model for hints as to what the best might look like. I know that if I ever do have children of my own, I could only wish to be as good professionally, to myself, and to my family as Tim Russert was.

Monday, June 10, 2008
Washington D.C., National Small Business Summit

John McCain: “I will use the veto as needed - I will veto EVERY SINGLE BEER.”

Remember, in November, save beer and arugula! Vote Obama!

Wow. Note: you do not want to make this mistake. Be careful when trying to automate the sending of mass e-mails.

Dear Donna Robinson,

As a valued ######## cardmember,
you are eligible for this special offer.

Dear ################### BARENDT:

On Wednesday, April 9th you received an email with the subject line “Get $25 From Citibank”. We recently discovered that the email we sent to you incorrectly contained the salutation “Dear Donna Robinson” rather than “Dear ######## BARENDT”. We apologize for the confusion this may have caused and want to assure you that the email is a legitimate ######## card email.

If you have any questions, please call the Customer Service number on the back of your card.

Again we apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for being a valued ######### cardmember.

Regards,
Customer Service

I hope Donna Robinson is an employee, and not some poor customer!

Well, I’ve given up on the P35 ASUS P5K Deluxe Wifi/AP, and I’m on to the ASUS Maximus Formula. The X38 is a bit more bearable, but the ASUS board still has the exact same issue with boots from time to time.

Working on memory timings, I got into the situation once again where the machine would not boot for over a day. Some people refer to the “DET DRAM” problem, or the “CPU INIT” issues with ASUS boards. Needless to say, there are serious problems with the way these boards handle RAM module. But, I tried clearing the CMOS manually with the switch on the rear panel of the motherboard.

Result: 2 types, when the “clr_cmos” DIP switch on the motherbard was set to off, the computer would power on and stay on, with the LCD display starting on “CPU INIT,” cycling to “DET DRAM,” and sticking at that point until power was removed from the power supply and the system drained its reserve charge (i.e. - the LCD diagnostic display did not ever cycle back to “CPU INIT” until power was drained from the motherboard). Secondy, if the clr_cmos DIP switch was set to on, the computer would boot, power sysem components, and then cycle off within about 3 seconds. Neither way would successfully boot.

What worked for me after two days this time was to reduce the system down to 1 single DIMM, and the system finally booted without issue. So, the first thing to do was to flash the BIOS, to version 0907. After the BIOS was flashed, the LCD poster cycled a few times - “CPU INIT, DET DRAM, CPU INIT, DET DRAM, CPU INIT, DET DRAM, VGA INIT,” and the damned thing finally posted properly again.

I have a *very* educated guess as to what the problem with all of these ASUS boards is: “ASUS Crash-Free BIOS.” The ASUS boot sequence is supposed to automatically detect when settings are messed up - memory timings, unstable CPU voltages and frequencies, etc. This is what also causes the machine, upon first boot or when BIOS settings are changed, to power system components, shut off power, and then power components again a second time for the real boot sequence. Well, sometimes, these ASUS boards get stuck, and either a.) never shut off during that sequence, or b.) get stuck in the first-boot mode, whereby they keep resetting, and resetting, and resetting, and resetting… all the while, your LCD poster indicates, “DET DRAM,” “DET DRAM, …”

This stuff really needs to get fixed, and soon. I really hope it can be with a BIOS update, as opposed to all of these problems that we’re having with these boards dooming them forever. I want this board to still work in 5 years, after all. I’ve got some media serving to do, and it’d be fantastic as a file server for a 10TB Raid array. But, probably not with Intel’s ICH9r, either… going to have to get a decent piece of equipment for job that important, I guess.

Look, if it can happen here, it can happen there.

I still can’t comprehend how a sitution occured in DeKalb, IL that requires a vigil like this.

This has got to stop.

The following is an NIU Official Message:

Campus Vigil Tonight

Details: A Campus Vigil for the NIU and DeKalb/Sycamore communities will be held tonight, Feb. 15, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center at 9 p.m.

Yesterday, when I was watching the news about our shooting at NIU, I heard a woman have the audacity to state, “these kids are part of a cult of death that are obsessed with death.” That’s your serious criticism and answer? This woman was a professional criminal profiler. This was before we had any information on what exactly happened or who the murderer was.

There’s a reason it takes a lot of time to answer questions. I’m absolutely certain that Joe Scarborough will blame violent video games before anything else, just like he did during the Virginia Tech tragedy. Because it’s always violent video games at fault. Not the guns. But, it’s not the video games. It turns out a much more common trend is the writing of violence in poetic or prose form.

I had school authorities attempt to confiscate my senior thesis in High School, “On the Viability of Anarchy as a Form of Government.” Reactionaries who jump to conclusions borne out of ill judgement and poor ideas do more damage than good. If this is your reaction to tragedy, and you are in a position of authority, RESIGN. At least do a little reading.

The problem is VIOLENCE.

This time, it seems, all of your preconceptions are inadequate.

The Northern Star Editorial for today, Friday, 2/15/2008:

NIU has lost members of family
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

On Thursday afternoon NIU was attacked by a gunman who selfishly killed himself after reaping the kind of terror we could only have hoped we would never know.

But now we do know that terror, and the pain and questions wrought from it are as perplexing as trying to figure out how or why someone could ever do such a thing in the first place. The range of emotions the NIU community will experience and will continue to cycle through is difficult to control, but a few come to mind before anything else.

Anger, pain, fear, frustration and disbelief were all in abundance among the NIU family on Thursday as news of the tragedy spread. As the police took control of the situation, students, faculty members, parents and spouses were left to begin the overwhelming process of coping with this attack on our community, on our family.

It isn’t fair that someone should die for going to class, and that makes it all the more difficult to understand and deal with. It isn’t fair that loved ones and friends are forced to deal with the reality that the lives of those close to them have been taken away long before their time. And it isn’t fair that no one had or took advantage of a chance to stop this from happening in the first place.
But we can’t do anything about that, and as we continue to cycle through emotions, there is something we can all keep in our minds as we cope with the tragedy.

As a family, NIU can and needs to come together in a way most of us here today have probably never experienced. At least five members of our family were forever taken from us, and there is no one who belongs to NIU who is not affected by this. This is why we need to come together. When family members die, those who live must grow stronger through the consolation and understanding of one another.

There were shining examples of this Thursday, and I know they will continue for some time. Students who knew each other in no way besides the terror they shared Thursday hugged each other, consoled each other and came together. In late-night vigils on and around campus Thursday night, people shared a pain in a way they never imagined they would. We do this because the presence of one another makes us feel better, reminds us we still have family and friends – at NIU and back home and everywhere in between – to fall back on.

It will be difficult and even unbearable for many, but we will do it and we will be stronger as a family for it. To the families and friends of those who have lost loved ones, NIU shares this pain as a family.

NIU will never be the same, but we will NEVER forget those family members we must now live without. They will live on forever in our memories and in our hearts.

HEY ASSHOLES, STOP SHOOTING!!!

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:26:38 -0600
Subject: Cole Hall

Our information is fragmentary at this point, but there has been a shooting in Cole Hall. Police are on the scene and the shooter has been contained within Cole Hall. Stay away from Cole Hall. We’ll distribute more information as it becomes available.

CAMPUS ALERT
3:20 p.m.
There has been a report of a possible gunman on campus. Get to a safe area and take precautions until given the all clear. Avoid the King Commons and all buildings in that vicinity.

3:40 p.m.
All classes on the DeKalb campus are cancelled for tonight.

From: NIUAnnouncements@niu.edu
To: easysystem@niu.edu
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:54:31 -0600
Subject: CAMPUS ALERT - POSSIBLE GUNMAN ON CAMPUS

To view this e-mail in HTML format, change your view option to HTML.
E-Mail Announcement Service for You Northern Illinois University

The following is an NIU Official Message:

CAMPUS ALERT - POSSIBLE GUNMAN ON CAMPUS

Details: At 3:15 p.m. there was a report of a possible gunman on campus. Get to a safe area and take precautions until given the all clear. Avoid the King Commons and all buildings in that vicinity.

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:58:11 -0600
Subject: Classes Canceled

All classes have been canceled. Please check the NIU website for updates.

CAMPUS ALERT
2/14/08
4:10 p.m.
Campus police report that the scene is secure. Only essential personnel should remain on campus.
The following hotlines are available for students & parents.
815-753-1573
815-753-6143
815-753-1574
815-753-1575
815-753-9564
815-753-6257
Counseling is also available on campus for students at the Neptune Dining Hall, Campus Life Building 100 and the Psychological Services Center in the Psychology/Computer Science Building.

CAMPUS ALERT
CAMPUS CLOSED TOMORROW (from CNN News)
2/14/08
4:14 p.m.
Campus police report that the immediate danger has passed. The gunman is no longer a threat. The DeKalb campus is closed tomorrow. Students can go to any residence hall for counseling.

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:31:41 -0600
Subject: NIU Closed Friday, February 15

Please continue to check the website.

From: “helpdesk helpdesk”
To:
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:59:34 -0600
Subject: CAMPUS ALERT - GUNMAN NO LONGER A THREAT
Campus police report that the immediate danger has passed. The gunman is no longer a threat.

All classes are canceled and all NIU campuses are closed for tonight and tomorrow. new paragraph All NIU students are asked to call their parents as soon as possible.

Go to www.niu.edu and click on Campus Alerts for updates and hotline numbers.

If the United States is a nation of laws, then how can breaking the laws be patriotism? It’s beyond annoying when the same people say that phone companies should be excempt from damges stemming from their breaking the law and potential damage caused to citizens stemming from illegal action, but that paying a fine for entering the county illegally in an effort to obtain a better life for onesel and one’s family is inadequate and consists of “amnesty.” Speeding is illegal, too, but most of the time we just pay a fine.

Breaking a nation’s laws IS NOT PATRIOTISM. It could be moral civil disobediance, but it is NOT patriotism.

You’re the phone company, and the government calls you up and asks for something illegal - you make damn sure they make the request legal before you open yourself up to liability. Where were the lawyers? Hey, as a 19-year-old kid from a small town running an Internet Service Provider, I knew better than this when the local chief of police called us up request customer information. Give me liberty, or give me a warrant.

Warrantless wiretapping is bad for America. Why on earth is anybody seriously considering that it is appropriate in America to hook into a big fat pipe of internet bandwidth, and looking through everything? Oh, they don’t look at eveything, they say. You know, they construct “rules” to only “collect” information they “need.” Right… that’s like saying they don’t have access to your entire gmail account because searching your e-mail only produces e-mail with specific target words. Apparently, the Senate is happy to become the enemy of liberty.

You want experience in Washington? Kiss your freedom and liberty goodbye. Give me a freshman congress and divided government any day.

President Bush comes out and calls John McCain a “true conservative,” now that McCain is the presumptive nominee. Does this even count? It’s the same as thing as a kangaroo looking over at a llama and saying, “Yeah, that guy’s a true llama.”

I mean, there hasn’t been a “conservative” president since Reagan. George H. W. Bush raised taxes and was kicked out of office, George W. Bush spent our tax dollars like a drunk at the racetrack, looking away as Congress sent billions away on silly projects like the bridge to nowhere without finding his veto pen until the Democrats took the House. *yawn* hypocrite *yawn*. I guess compassionate conservatism rules out fiscal conservatism. We all know divided government produces the best fiscal results, which the Republicans repeat over and over to devalue Clinton and the Republican Congresses’s achievements, but this is absolutely NO excuse for a party that claims to be fiscally responsible.

If the Bushes are the Republican establishment, they’re in trouble. It’s just going to take the Republicans a little while before they realize it - they’re a little behind he curve (and delusional) (and hypocritical) (and irrationaly personality-worshippers) Why would anyone even listen to these guys anymore? Are they even still relevant?

I’m still getting IASTOR.sys errors with my raid array, along with random spinning down of drives.

Intel claims a solution to the problem. This solution does not work. When you look at references on the internet, the registry fix referenced has been pulled from the Intel solution page.

Intel’s claims to have fixed the issues in the Intel Storage Manager v. 7.5. I’m on Intel Storage Manager 7.8, and still no luck. The former “registry fix” entries are placed into ISM7.8, so there’s still something else wrong.

Sigh.

Americans don’t want someone to take care of things for them, they want someone to inspire them. This is most important reason why Obama will pull ahead of Clinton. Granted, it’s not always the candidate that is more inspiring that wins a primary nomination, but this is what America’s favorite presidents all have in common. America’s favorite Presidents are men like George Washington, who inspired America to carve itself out of the British Empire, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who after overcoming his own debilitating illness and attempting to avoid the war in Europe, led America to defeat Fascism in the world, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who led America to the moon (continuing Eisenhower’s mission) and firing up Americans’s interests in both the sciences and service. Eisenhower, Lincoln, Wilson, Truman, Jackson, Jefferson.

It’s like Harry Truman and John Kennedy.

Gotta love the story about how Kennedy’s staff ran into Nixon’s office to listen to this press conference by Truman.

But, the President is supposed to be America’s leader. The Congress is really the institution that’s supposed to have the power to create the laws of the land. The President merely executes them (though, as we all know, he’s supposed to use the power of the veto to curb congress’s excesses). That’s why it’s appropriate to vote for a President based upon personality and not issues. It’s about leadership, not some silly matter of today which will become less and less meaningful tomorrow. Clinton got it wrong, it’s not policy.

Have a little sense of history.

Regardless of all the other argument, point and counterpoint, there’s this:

Let’s take a time out for an easy reality check. The United States of America was founded with the Declaration of Independence in July of 1776, and a Constitution to follow later. In 2076, the United States of America will have existed for 300 years.

In 2103, if John McCain’s maybes turn out true, the United States will have kept a prolonged military presence in response to the same threat for one hundred years. Look, just do the math. It’ll be around 30.5% of THE ENTIRE EXISTENCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA that a military presense will remain in Iraq due to the threat of… … … …something?

This doesn’t seem “ok” to me at all. This seems disturbingly wrong. This isn’t an EMBASSY, folks. The only things it seems that can be compared with are, say, the British in India or the New World, or, Spanish in the New World, or Rome, or something. It wouldn’t even compare to Korea, as McCain claims, as this would require a length of time spanning not only Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il, but also a third dictator (Kim Sul Song? Kim Jong Nam? Kim Jong Chul?) before Korean Unification. We’re not quite at 60 years, yet, folks, and I don’t think Jong-Il will last another 40 with all that smoking and all those luxury goods he enjoys (while everyone else starves). It’d be the propping up of a local government like Korea (more so before than now, where it’s almost purely defensive against an outside aggressor), but how can you prop up someone else’s government for a hundred years?

What do YOU think about spending one third of America’s existence in Iraq? It doesn’t seem “OK” to me at all - it seems very, very wrong.

Do the math. One-third.

Dorris Kearns Goodwin:

You know, it’s a sad point in our history when a presidential candidate cannot look back over the course of our history and show admiration for a president who did what he said.

A knowledge and respect for history is perhaps the most important grounding in the world.

Building a stable, working, dependable and fast computer used to be a piece of cake. However, these days more and more hardware is just not up to par - and that from companies with somewhat decent track records on reliability. My old Asus boards were some of my best, but the P5K Deluxe Wifi-AP, I must say, is the worst motherboard I’ve ever had the (dis)pleasure of working with. I’m done with the Intel P35 chipset.

Those of you who think the P35 is anything near acceptable should attempt to remember the 440BX and 440GX. I haven’t had this many problems since the Via Apollo Pro 133A days (the dual-processor capable Abit BP6 and MSI 694D Pro were the two flavors I employed at various times).

Back then, we had to watch out for conflicts between the various components that we placed inside a system (RAID controllers, sound devices) and most importantly exploding hard drives (the IBM 75GXP, the hard drive that took down IBM’s storage unit, bought by Hitachi).

Intel ICH9R’s iastor.sys and Asus P5K wifi/AP’s RTL8187 wireless adapter conflict with each other

Low RAID0 performance
ASUS CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCD-Rom connected to ICH9R automatically closes when opened

So, disabled in BIOS, installed Netgear WG311T

NOW,

“”display driver stopped responding and has recovered”"

http://i.nconspicuo.us/2007/02/13/display-driver-stopped-responding-and-has-recovered-nvlddmkm-nvidia-driver/

nvlddmkm errors

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=86550&page=16

It is always very annoying when Presidents concerned with their legacy, having done not much of that which they originally intended to do, decide to tackle the Middle East “Peace Process” in the last year and a half of their terms. Whew! Thank goodness those American leaders are finally taking notice in the area and trying to cut deals to help end the decades of violence and tension with their great experience mediating and making deals. Go, Go Dr. Rice!

I at least give President Bush credit for taking an actual interest in Africa towards the start of his term (which is the OTHER legacy project lately). But this is the same guy that decided to not seriously pursue a leadership role when he came into office (just like he didn’t take the issue of Al-Qaeda seriously).

The current Bush Administration initially sought a less prominent role, and Secretary
of State Powell did not appoint a special Middle East envoy. Since the September 11, 2001,
the Administration has focused on the peace process as part of the war on terrorism.
Secretary Rice also has not appointed a special envoy, asserting, “Not every effort has to be
an American effort. It is extremely important that the parties themselves are taking
responsibility.

Why doesn’t anyone ever start trying to prepare for their legacy projects the first day in office? There may be an actual role in negotiating peace, but this is not something that a President of the United States can do in a year and a half. A President would have far more credibility if he or she started six years sooner. It has to play to the region that American Presidents, the hubristic beasts that they are, are also inept and of small intelligence to think they can swoop in and help create progress is a problem decades old and getting more complex by the year. In working in the Middle East, there’s no such thing as making up for lost time. How can the United States expect Middle Eastern leaders to commit to the painful concessions necessary for peace if the Presidents who try to intervene show little interest until the end up their presidencies?

If you ever want to make actual progress in the Middle East, and don’t simply want to score some sympathy points at home but actually want to decrease suffering in the world and create a more prosperous and secure world, start on inauguration day. Otherwise, even the President is an insignificant little thing chirping in a tempest.

Legacy? Get a peice of the Middle East! Yawn.

And I also love boots. Screw tennis shoes, screw loafers, screw sandals, screw everything else. My original and endearing love affair is with the boot.

As such, these Mark Nason boots are AWESOME. If only I had some money. Would anyone like to donate?