nobody asked…

Albert Einstein is most famous for his constant need for a hair stylist and for developing his General and Special Theories of Relativity, summarized for us lay-people as E=m(C x C). (Apparently there is no way in this dumbed down WordPress editor to show an exponent so that would read in the usual and familiar way of “E=m x C squared”. I am too lazy to create a graphic and upload it just to satisfy someone’s need for popular correctness… oh, well…)

Einstein, an astute observer of humanity, was also a tremendous wit who had much to say on life, living, the human condition, religion, spirituality, politics, and many other surprising topics. Here are a few nuggets I just stumbled across to whet your non-exponential appetites…

The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.

To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself.

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

I believe Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men of our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence for fighting for our cause, but by non-participation of anything you believe is evil.

Anyone interested in exploring the mind of Einstein the man, not Einstein the theoretical physicist, should grab a copy of his Ideas and Opinions book, in which he outlines his thoughts on a vast array of topics. This tome has been in my library since my teen years, and has been re-read several times over the years. One reviewer, M. Libman, whose notes appear on the title at Amazon.com says: “A major theme that emerged for me, recently re-reading this, is the gradual transformation of creative, rational intelligence into true astute wisdom.“

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Our man in Japan, Robert Brady, found this interesting site called How Many Of Me, which uses a vast database combined with some fancy statistical analysis and predictive algorithms to determine, statistically at least, how many people have your or anyone elses name. Being the terminally curious cuss that I am, I just had to give it a go, of course. Here’s what I learned…

There are 299,968,595 people in the United States of America…

The U.S. Census Bureau statistics tell us that there are at least 88,799 different last names and 5,163 different first names in common use in the United States. Some names are more common than others.

There are 49,535 people named John Smith in the United States. There are 1,048 people named James Bond, 113 people named Harry Potter , 503 people named George Bush, and 31 people named Emily Dickinson. However, Johnny Cash (39 people) songs aside there are, statistically speaking, no boys named Sue.

Statistics for my name…

• There are 28,497 people in the U.S. with the first name Winston.
• Statistically the 1073rd most popular first name.
• More than 99.9 % of people with the first name Winston are male.

• There are 9,479 people in the U.S. with the last name Rand.
• Statistically the 3843rd most popular last name.

And here’s the clincher…

• There is 1 person in the U.S. named Winston Rand.

And you’re looking at him, baby…

My teachers always said they hoped the mold got destroyed after I was made. Seems it did…

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On the heels of totally-fucking-idiot Rush Limbaugh’s blast of Michael J. Fox for acting as if he had Parkinson’s Disease or purposely being off his meds to exaggerate the visual effects, comes another claim by Limbaugh that FDR faked polio to garner sympathy for passing his New Deal program.

It has been rumored that he is also preparing an attack on Christopher Reeve for faking death in order to drum up support for stem cell research, the same issue to which Fox was speaking. What is it about research leading to saving lives that scares these people so?

Can’t somebody get this worm to shut the hell up? Are there no high ranking Republicans left who have any sense of dignity, any sense at all of what is right and what is wrong? Perhaps all they are capable of seeing is what is right and what is left…

(Tip of the ball cap to Crooks and Liars )

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According to an AP report by Lindsey Tanner reported in The Tennessean Business Section today, “Americans are burning nearly 1 billion more gallons of gasoline each year than they did in 1960 because of their expanding waistlines.”

Using the data and calculations given in the study, the extra 15 pounds I’ve put on over the last few years is costing me about $10 per year in excess fuel consumption at today’s gasoline prices. While this does not seem significant on an individual basis, consider that we are now a population of about 250 million, and on average, the weight for American adults increased about 25 pounds from 1960 to 2002. The study concluded that hauling around all this extra weight for the entire population consumes almost 1 billion gallons extra, which translates to $2.2 billion more spent on gasoline.

Now I begin to understand why all the big oil companies have revamped their stations to include fast food, bakeries, ice cream counters, and huge displays of snacks, soft drinks, and beer. Biggie-size that for you?

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Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.

 – Sir Laurens van der Post

When that human being also has absolute power, I would add to that “never more dangerous”…

Hint: (Removed when Joy said it was not needed.)

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My wife’s jealousy is getting ridiculous. The other day she looked at my calendar and wanted to know who May was.
– Rodney Dangerfield (November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004)

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Let’s see … even after adding the exhorbitant Tennessee Sales Tax, this comes to less than $4.00 per person. Not bad for a night of fun and games…

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Leave it to the creative juices of MaryB aka ShortyPJs to come up with this idea. She found that Wikipedia has a database of TV schedules going back to the very early days when there were only three networks, three channels. Yes, you heard me right, young TiVo heads, only 3, T-H-R-E-E, as in ah-1-anna-2-anna-3. A bit of Lawrence Welk humor there, boys and girls, and no, I am not going to ’splain who Lawrence Welk is. If you don’t know and you wanna, Google it yourownself.

So, I decided to dare a peek at what was on during prime time (we did not call it that back then) when I graduated from high school a few centuries ago. Looking back and checking the schedules for 1960 felt like peering through a dense fog, trying to make out the details of a comforting, vaguely familiar landmass out on the horizon. The upheavals and changes we have been through as individuals and as a people, are frightening enough, but made even more so by the continuing downward spiral in which our world seems to be caught. Having no idea how soon we will crash or whether we will survive at all, makes the journey so perilously scary.

Here is what we were watching on Sunday nights, in the 7:00 to 11:00 PM EST time slots, in the Spring of 1960…
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Tuesday, November 7, 2006, three weeks from today, you and I have a right, I say an obligation, some even say a mandate, to speak out for what we have for too long taken for granted — the rights guaranteed by our Constitution and paid for with the blood, sweat, and tears of the brave souls who have fought to keep us free.

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. — Winston Churchill

Regardless of your political persuasion, you must surely recognize that the tone and methods of governance have changed radically in this country over the past few years. If you approve and want more of it, then go vote your mind. If, like a growing majority of us, you don’t like what has happened and where we are inevitably headed if we stay the course, then turn out in record numbers and speak with your vote at the polls and shout a very loud message that we are madder than hell and not gonna take it anymore!

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A significant portion of the population must surely be absorbed with the deep philosophical implications of this question. My quest for truth started one afternoon last week as I walked from parking lot to my office door, an arduous journey of perhaps thirty or thirty-five feet. Something feeling like a large drop hit me on the head. I stopped and felt of my head, expecting to discover an award from one of the large crows that had been patrolling the neighborhood lately. But no bird-shit this time, just a spot of wetness. Before my reaction could take my eyes heavenward to see the little gray cloud just learning to rain, squeezing out one large drop at a time, a question flashed through my already cluttered mind: Do birds pee?

By the time I got inside the office, took care of messages and email, my query had taken on more global proportions, more along the lines of: Are mammals the only members of the animal kingdom that urinate as a distinct function separate from defecation? Now, I know that got your attention. Right?

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Just when I had almost completely lost faith in Technical Support for all things digital, along comes a tremendously heart-warming situation that gives me hope to hang on for a little while longer. It all started a couple of months ago when I installed a new Windows 2003 Server for one of my customers.

The server installation, along with a new gigabit network switch, went flawlessly. The new Dell server feeding the Netgear switch at gigabit speed was a drastic improvement over the old NT server and 10/100 hub. Everybody was happy. That is until the new anti-virus/firewall package Read more

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As my eye slits opened enough to allow controlled pouring of my morning coffee, I glanced at the calendar adjacent to the pot. Under my breath to avoid scaring the dog, I released a string of expletives that would make a Baptist bolt. OMG, it’s Friday the 13th… So, for me, it’s back to bed until tomorrow. But before I hide my head under the covers, I’ll sip my coffee and scan my daily reads.

Turns out my friend Stu has a blog post on paraskevidekatriaphobia, or fear of Friday the 13th. It is way more than you ever wanted to know about Friday the 13th and the number 13, but most interesting. Recommended…

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If you use FTP you’ve gotta try this one…

I have heard of, even downloaded but never used, a freebie FTP client called FileZilla. Having been a subscription paying fan of CuteFTP since the earth cooled, I was not particularly interested in yet another FTP client. But one of my favorite gurus, Mark Gibbs, raved, as Mark is want to do, about this one in his Network World column, I decided it was time to give it a test drive.

Impressed is the word… so much so that I decided to spew this out there for the possible benefit of my vast cadre of a couple of readers. FileZilla quickly justified Mark’s rave. A small download and quick install, it is easy and intuitive, faster than any FTP client I’ve ever tried, and fit my budget perfectly. If you haven’t already tried it, do yourself a favor and check it out.

Incidentally, Gibbs also reports the FileZilla FTP Server is excellent if you need such…

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Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.                                  — Franklin D. Roosevelt

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