furtive explorations

So how is this for hang time? I just noticed today that I fucked up royally back in December of 1999! Oops! I spent hours today dealing with one of my harddrives thanks to my past foolishness.

Back when I first got this beast working with a new harddrive, I decided to split the drive up into a big music partition and three smaller chunks for tinkering with Linux. I wanted a development platform to work with Mozilla since I was getting into debugging it and tinkering. Then, at the end of December, I got fired and had to get a real job where I actually worked rather than one where they kept paying me but refused to let me work on anything. That's another story.

So anyway, I broke the drive up into 4 chunks: a small 136 MB chunk for Linux to use as Swap (extra memory space on the harddrive), a 3 GB chunk for the root and main Linux install with plenty of elbow room for new stuff, a 8.5 GB partition for /home where I could put projects and user space, and a 17 GB Windows drive for MP3s and Photoshop elbow room.

Now that all adds up to about 29 GB. Unfortunately for me, that was a 25 GB drive! So part of my /home partition under Linux actually overwrote part of my Windows area. And I wondered how all my MP3s got fucked up! I had run the File System ChecK (fsck) under Linux and fixed that last partition just after the install. Then I rebooted into Windows and noticed some weirdness on the "D" drive in Windows so I ran ScanDisk there and it was all better, except all my music files were borked.

Yesterday, deciding I really didn't need that Linux partition, I decided to reclaim the space today when I got up. So I boot into Linux to see if there is anything worth saving before wiping it and it complains about that last section being screwed. So I tell it to fix it and wait. Then I switch back to Windows, blow away the partitions and notice just as I delete the one that the percentages, (1%, 15%, 34%, 64%) seem to not add up to 100%. In fact they add up to about 114%! D'oh. So I blow away the partitions and in place of the .1, 3 and 8.5 partitions I get one 8 partition under Windows!.

The next three hours were spent fixing the D drive to try and save what I could... *sniff* So let this be a lesson to you. Double check your math before manually creating partitions with a disk editor that wasn't made to such things. Luckily, my boss had a cook out and the weather was great so I'm not sobbing like a little girl, curled up in a ball, sucking my thumb, and wishing I had a pony so I could escape my horrible life. Of course, I still wish I had a pony but only because it would seriously freak out the people who run my apartment complex when I took it in for the pet allowance forms...

I don't know! I DON'T KNOW! But it IS!

Maybe it's funny for the same reason farts are funny...Hmmmm....

If you read this usage guide you will see that we are (as always) both correct.

So I was right. Technically, so are you.

Next, you'll be whining about how everyone hangs prepositions, and we won't know or care about what you're referring to. Then you'll bitch and kvetch about split infinitives, when you could easily have just ignored this "eggregious" error. Like, then you'll cry and moan about, like, redefinition of the usage of, like, words like "like."

Poor Nemo...so grammatically correct...such a poo-poo head. 8)

Hmmm... let's see here...

• Little Gamers gets a new URL next week.
• Tang got a new url and split TA Vision into it's own site. And he is now doing Sunday Morning Coffee with Clay of Thinhline infamy.
• KastAway may be worth a look.
• Mooncake has great art, gotta check it out.
• Spaz Labs is MWF now.
• Real Life is M-F and has been for the longest time. Oops.
• Boomslang formerly called "Demise" is MTWR now.
• CoolCat Studio is on hiatus.
• Diesel Sweeties needs to pick either M-F or MWF. I'm getting confused. Not a complaint I happy to get extra pixelized love every week. It's just messing up my system. =)
• PolymerCity had regrown on me, now I dunno what is up with it. Is it gone or on hiatus or what? Anyone??
• Hound's Home looks like it may come back from hiatus but I've been fooled for over 3 months now so I'm not holding my breath. He tricked me into never taking it down from the daily list tho.
• A buncha watching and occasional are going to move up and I think I will recategorize the watching into watching closely and arms' length or something like that. Laters on that tho.

Thanks DFA, you just ruined my whole day. =) But only indirectly, so I suppose you are forgiven. Pointing at the car wreck isn't nearly as bad as driving into the wall yourself.

Two, <humoUr>When the fuck did you become British, DFA? If you start spelling words with extraneous vowels we're going to have to have a long talk. Worse, you guys aren't bothering to close those tags. Lazy, Lazy. =P</humoUr>

Why? Because of people like this. People like this make me sick. I hope the kid kills his dad in fifteen years...that would teach sorry losers like him a lesson.

No wonder everyone hates America...there are too many of these people around...

We love you Nemo...really we do!

Stratfor has rocking good data on these sorts of bruhahas and interesting things going on. Check out the Global Information Update or signup for it to be delivered to you everyday. Learn about foreign places, foreign people, foreign politics and how they all combine to emanate pure hate on the english speaking countries in general and America in particular. =) Actually, their updates are rather cool and they talk about things you'd never get from the "news". If you like politics or want to expand your mind, this is the place to go. And, if it was your job to know about this stuff for a corporation, you'd give up caffeine to get a paid subscription.

Beijing remembers the Iranian hostage crisis' psychological effect; the perception of American helplessness, however unfair, created a crisis of confidence about and within the United States. By creating a similar situation, even for a short time, China emphasizes that the United States is not militarily omnipotent.

Since China has little to lose and much to gain in a protracted crisis, how long is enough? When the world sees that China made its decision to release the Americans solely because it wished to, without considering Washington's threats or feelings. Moreover, we expect China will never release the aircraft -- or release it in small, tagged pieces -- as a permanent symbol of Chinese power.

Now, that is reporting!

The average American spends about an hour in the bathroom every day, or two weeks a year, and although much of that time is spent reading, thinking and often a little more, it is not all pleasure for everybody, according to a recent survey. Keep in mind, that is an average folks. Since it is likely that very few people out there spend 0 hours or less in the bathroom we know there is a bottom end on this. Also, 24 hours is pretty much the top end. What the avarage doesn't tell us is the standard deviation. I'd like to know what the range of times is that encompasses say 50 or 80% of the people? Is it 0:15-1:30 or is it 0:05-3:17? Come on, I wanna know what a reasonable top end is here. Are a few bozos with 6+ hours a day warping these numbers?

The National Association for Continence (NAFC), a government acknowledged group that studies the bathroom habits of the American people, found in its survey that the bathroom has in many cases become a haven where many find comfort and relief from life's stresses. Two points here. One, NAFC? Enough people found a need for this that they had to band together in a national association? Is there an international group if you are even nosier? Two, "relief from life's stresses" doesn't mean gas pangs or burning urethra's. Just so you know. They are way right on the "comfort" part though. Every time I go I sigh in relief...

In other cases, especially where the frequent use of a bathroom is caused by an overactive bladder, the bathroom can on the other hand be synonymous with isolation and shame. I can think of a few other times when the bathroom is "synonymous with isolation and shame."

The NAFC, however, said bathrooms are not spiritual sanctuaries for all Americans. Uhh. OK, there is a religion I haven't heard of before. Sure I've prayed to the porcelin gods a couple of times and even payed my respects once but "spriritual sanctuary" may be a bit much.

The condition is treatable with drug therapy and bladder training, which dramatically enhances the quality of life of eighty percent of those who seek treatment, according to the study. Bladder training: roll over, sit up, play dead, shake hands, etc...

The survey was conducted by Yankelovich Partners on behalf of the NAFC and randomly polled 1,001 Americans in shopping malls nationwide. Ooops, never mind. It can't possibly be a useful survey if it was taken in a mall. Yeeesh. Rational and sane people go the other way when they spot a clipboard in a mall. That is like conducting a survey of sexual habits using only audience members from Jerry Springer.

• Pffft is going to be a comic to watch in the near future.
• SequentialTart is a Comic E-zine about women comic artists. Thanks ta the previous link for that one.
• CounterStrike Flaws exposed with grace and humor. And a big stick and AVIs and embeded fonts. Hard on the browser, easy on the eyes, wonderful for the funny bone.

Well, let's not call it "nice." I have nothing against being nice. Political correctness didn't invent nice. Political correctness is a mean-spirited Commie plot, if you ask me. But just one symptom of political correctness is men hugging men... No guy is really into that, unless he's gay.

So now, for the time being, a lot of people don't have very much confidence in the web. But I think it's only a temporary thing. When you think about it, content online, on a widely known scale, is only about six months old. So it's kind of funny for people to doom something that just got started. But it's the typical thing in the press.

They said, "The way you're drawing, the character looks weird!" Well, it's supposed to look weird. It's a cartoon. I swear, all the people in charge of cartoons had never seen a cartoon before except for the '70s ones.

We wrote, like, 20 stories in a week. And the following week we started production. It was a crazy, crazy time, with everybody working 15-hour days, all sorts of personality conflicts, everybody getting in each other's way, but somehow we pulled it off...

You can't get away with Bugs Bunny today. They cut the hell out of Bugs Bunny. You can't see Bugs Bunny cartoons intact on TV. We're way more restrictive today than they were then. A lot of the stuff that was allowed then isn't allowed today. You can't have slapstick anymore. They call it violence now. I had a meeting a while ago where I had someone hitting someone on the butt with a frying pan. We couldn't do it, because it was "domestic violence," so kids having an abused childhood would cry because they saw a cartoon character hit another cartoon character. That's how insane we are. We're not any more liberal than we were 60 years ago. Just certain things are not taboo now that were taboo then. But most things that weren't taboo then are taboo now.

It defies logic, if not explanation: "Because we want real talk for real girls," the Olsens insist in their magazine's inaugural piece, "The Top 10 Reasons We Created A Magazine." The list concludes with "Because we can," which might be the most honest explanation.

Mary-kateandashleymagazine only really lives up to its potential for incarnating evil outside of its editorial content, dedicating about a third of its ad space to Olsen-themed books, videos, and video games, suggesting that their puzzling fame could continue through the college years.

It just occured to me that thanks to this being a new millenium, this entire month is technically April the first. You know what that means; you should extend your madness inducing trickery for another 28ish days or so. Go for it! Whoopee cushions need to come back in style. Hand buzzers, dribble glasses, inked eyepieces on oddly discongruous telescopery, itching powder, stink bombs and all the wonderful tricks from your youth are back in style for one last month before you have ot leave such nonsense behind forever. Except for the handbuzzers, which you will find a million uses for over the course of your life.

• Iso is a comic to keep an eye on. Why? Well, this is a start.
• Radar Range is interesting if a bit bitter and nasty about its science.
• AltBrand has kicked up and is running . Has a couple old faves, a couple to look at and a couple I passed on long ago. Good comics finding a good home is always a nice thing. It's like bringing home a puppy only everytime you give it a bath you get nasty electrical burns and you can't e-mail anyone for a week.
• I clearly failed to impress upon you how important it is that you spend a little time at Lileks learning about the culture of your forebears. Yes I'm talking about that now opaque period of your parent's lives called the *echo-y effect* 1960s and 1970s! Bleats, Great Comics, other Filthy Lucre are all well and good but what I'm talking 'bout, Willis, is the Institute. Pay careful attention in class kids, there will be a taste test after your exposure to this and this and all their horrible brethern. Go and be happy, knowing you never commited crimes against decorating nature so nightmarish as to render an entire free love movement simple fodder for cola commercials.

Looks like I'm stuck at home today with a leaky roof. Nothing like waking up to the soft *thwap* *thwap* of water hitting your stuff to jazz up the morning. And the chunks of roof going *whack* *slash* as they splash into the bucket occasionally just act as punctuation.

Update: It seems that a water heater upstairs popped a pipe join and began leaking away. The fix-it-up guy says that it was so corroded and encrusted with lime that he suspects that the leak has been getting worse and worse for a day or so. Aroun 10am, the drip-dripping became a double pitter-patter and then two constant streams. Very bad. Luckily noticing it was warm was the clue that helped us guess it was the upstairs neighbor's water heater. There are 4 upstairs neighbors thanks to the apartment layout so that meant 4 water heaters, 4 ac units, 8 baths, 8 toilets, 12 sinks, 4 dishwashers, and 4 clothes-washers. That is a lot to check when you don't know what the problem is.

Happily, this was figured out in time for me to get lunch but unhappily I now have to go to work. =)

I find myself with nothing to say today. Amusing, then, that I'm still writing an entry, eh? There was nothing in the news that really grabbed my sense of outrage. I know of a few tweaks to make to the comics list but I just don't want to play with them right now. I have a like 5 perl things I'm playing with including a revamping of the shiny color script I wrote years ago but no code is flowing from these fingers tonite. I have two video games that often beckon me to waste my never copious free time but I get the blahs just from thinking about opening them.

After some serious consideration - which for me means a few seconds here and there - I've decided that it must be spring. Spring is when a young man's fancy turns this way or that. (I make no assumptions on which way the fancy turns since there are so many choices these days for the modern, non-forced to be hetero and vanilla or die young man. Luckily for me, I am both hetero and vanilla so really any half way naked or attractive [preferably both] fem will do.) Now that I recognise the symptoms, we shall have to do something soon to cure these seasonal blues. Wild geese are calling and I think I shall mull the possibility for a little roadtrip, odd construction project, or pitched gun-battle over. Well probably not the last since I just saw the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on cable a few nights ago...

Luckily for me, the lack of any topic to write on doesn't exactly interfere with my talent for spewing random words on demand. Too bad they have no point when I have no where to go with them. =)

Well we know where we're going
But we don't know where we've been
And we know what we're knowing
But we can't say what we've seen
And we're not little children
And we know what we want
And the future is certain
Give us time to work it out. -- Talking Heads

• The FourToonTellers
• The Rogues of Clwyd-Rhan
• Lileks' Institute of Official Cheer has an Interior Decorating Section. These choice interiors could be yours!

"Don't believe everything that you breathe. You get a parking violation and a maggot on your sleeve. So shave your face with some mace in the dark. Saving all your food stamps and buring down the trailer park."