[sic]

lost sound with 2.6.24-19

hawkwing3141 — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:40:19 +0000

My Audigy 2ZS stopped working, it took me a month to figure out it was the kernel update that did it. Now I’m just using 2.6.24-18.

hideous but true

hawkwing3141 — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:50:13 +0000

“Consumers … were disappointed with having to pay more for products that didn’t work. So we concluded that we would initially bring it out with the Clorox brand name endorsing it because it gave people a belief in its efficacy.”

It Can’t Happen Here — Sinclair Lewis

hawkwing3141 — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 03:12:36 +0000

yikes. even down to the amateur ‘minute men’ (now patrolling our border with mexico), this book eerily resonates with the politics of today: right wing men of ‘faith’ inexorably seizing power for themselves and the corporate interests that support them. Buzz Windrip proclaimed “15 Points of Victory” in his platform, many of which read differently but in practice are indistinguishable from those implemented by the current president, George ‘Windrip’ Bush. The last is of course the only important one.

1. Government ownership and control of finance and resources. [threats to get Big Business to follow along]
2. Government control of labor unions. [payoff to Big Business in the form of slave labor]
3. The right to private property. [security for Big Business]
4. Religious intolerance. [to rally the protestants]
5. Income limitations and inheritance taxes. [threats to the rich]
6. Limitation on war profiteering. ['limitations']
7. Expansion of the military ‘solely for the purpose of insuring world peace’. [imperialism]
8. Increasing the availability of credit by printing money. [allowing Big Business to pay off debts at cents on the dollar]
9. Anti-semitism. [threats to the (rich) Jews]
10. Racism. [promise of reallocation of wealth to whites]
11. Appointed Commissions (e.g. to investigate poverty relief) with no provision for enforcement. [to avoid blame when it doesn't work]
12. Sexism. [to limit half the population]
13. Repeal of freedom of speech. [to limit dissent]
14. Increased veteran benefits. [bribery to large veteran populace after WWI]
15. Removal of checks and balances by castrating the Congress and Supreme Court. This one is worth copying verbatim: “Congress shall, immediately upon our inauguration, initiate amendments to the Constitution providing (a), that the President shall have the authority to institute and execute all necessary measures for the conduct of the government during this critical epoch; (b), that Congress shall serve only in an advisory capacity, calling to the attention of the President and his aides and Cabinet any needed legislation, but not acting upon same until authorized by the President so to act; and (c), that the Supreme Court shall immediately have removed from its jurisdiction the power to negate, by ruling them to be unconstitutional or by any other judicial action, any or all acts of the President, his duly appointed aides, or Congress.”

Addendum: Only 15 is mandatory.

Addressing these points, the book’s hero, Doremus Jessup, describes the relevance of these points. He concludes with “Fifteen– well, that’s the one lone clause that really does mean something; and it means that … they’ve realized that this country has gone so flabby that any gang daring enough and unscrupulous enough, and smart enough not to _seem_ illegal, can grab hold of the entire government and have all the power and applause and salutes, all the money and palaces and willin’ women they want. They’re only a handful, but just think how small Lenin’s gang was at first, and Mussolini’s and Hitler’s and Kemal Pasha’s, and Napoleon’s! You’ll see all the liberal preachers and modernist educators and discontented newspapermen and farm agitators–maybe they’ll worry at first, but they’ll get caught up in the web of propaganda, like we all were in the Great War, and they’ll all be convinced that, even if our Buzzy maybe _has_ got a few faults, he’s on the side of the plain people, and against all the tight old political machines, and they’ll rouse the country for him as the Great Liberator (and meanwhile Big Business will just wink and sit tight!), and then, by God, this crook–oh, I don’t know whether he’s more of a crook or an hysterical religious fanatic–… will be able to set up a regime that’ll remind you of Henry Morgan the pirate capturing a merchant ship.”

If the parallels aren’t obvious by this point, read some of the information available on Bush’s Civil Rights record here: http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/pdf/bushcivilrights.pdf [despite being removed from the website of the US Commission on Civil Rights: http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/notvoted.htm] or on his dictatorial signing statements here: http://www.coherentbabble.com/signingstatements/signstateann.htm, the most recent of which reads: “Provisions of the Act, including sections 841, 846, 1079, and 1222, purport to impose requirements that could inhibit the President’s ability to carry out his constitutional obligations to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, to protect national security, to supervise the executive branch, and to execute his authority as Commander in Chief. The executive branch shall construe such provisions in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President.” [FYI: Provision 1222 prohibits the funding of permanent military bases in Iraq or the use of government funding to help ourselves to Iraq's oil].

antibrilliant

hawkwing3141 — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:51:30 +0000

Which advertising genius came up with this ‘doping’ ad, during the Olympic Games no less?

overheard at vita. quick unedited transcription

hawkwing3141 — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:02:44 +0000

personally i think you’re morally reprehensible, but sign those papers as soon as possible.
…
you know your out for that, right?
just promise to get your nuts fixed and have a kid with amanda.

it sounds like you don’t have enough information

what scenario is she envisioning?

so did your parents ask her if she wants…

well it sounds like this is a good dev to me
it clears a way for you and amanda
it makes your rel just that much more managebl

it gives you guys a clean slate
and i think thatś very important
dude this is why you hav eto sign tohose papers asap

you can’t leave room for her to change
if she can get a lway…
if you can get this turned around in two days make it happen

well your mixing things up
the conc you just came to would make sense if this were rational but but this is irrational

this is not the time for nobility

oh theyre going to pt tomorrow?

i think you just need to stand your ground tomorrow

i mean youre a fucking adult, jus ttell them this is what iḿ going to do

i mean it makes perfect sense, its what you should do i think

thatś my opionon thats my fedback
prioritits
your feet should be fimrly planted on that i think

of course she is, shes a morally reasonable person

…
just doin homework
borrow money from my dad
grad school

dearth

hawkwing3141 — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:01:09 +0000

cc’s mom died wednesday night. i visited her in the hospital that day. i brought flowers that i had strung together into a wreath. they were yellow, covered with yellow pollen. her mom, hilda, was confined to an aging hospital bed, on which the nurse call button had been pressed so many times as to be mangled, and replaced with clear plastic tape. when i arrived hilda was in the middle of a blood transfusion, one of several each day. besides blood, she was also on antibiotics, opiate painkillers, blood thinners, cough suppressants, and anti-anxiety medication for the bouts of panic she would have every few hours or so, when she would sit up, throw off her blankets, rip the oxygen mask off her balded head, and tell her daughters to leave her alone and let it all end. After some soothing words and a few minutes time, she would lay back down and let the mask be repositioned– with gauze to pad the strap– amongst the thin wisps of black and grey hair pressed and smoothed by sweat against her grey tinged skin. Afterwards, exhausted from the exertion, she would sleep. In between these bouts she would sometimes say a few words, but talking was difficult because of her minute lung capacity. Not a large woman to begin with, fluid had built up and displaced most of the volume of one lung, and pneumonia had shut down the other. Writing this, and reading this, takes very little physical effort. We breathe in, we breathe out, we don’t even notice it most of the time. For Hilda, every breath took effort. Stringing multiple breaths together was ‘like running a marathon’, and even a few moments without the uncomfortable molded plastic mask led to a precipitous drop in her blood oxygen concentration, which took several minutes to rebound. Although medicated, oxygenated, and hydrated through a whole consortium of tubes, when she was thirsty she simply sipped water through a straw, through the mask. Once she asked for coffee, but it never came. She might have asked for other things too, but at times she would slide into Cantonese so it was hard to tell. It was also hard to hear because of the cacophony of machines, particularly the oxygen pump, which led to the tube where incoming air was kept hydrated by passing it through a gurling burbling pocket of water. And the beeping. God, the beeping. Whenever a machine in a hospital finishes what it is supposed to do, it beeps, and it keeps beeping until it is ‘silenced’. Then, it pretends to stop beeping until the rooms’ collective nerve has relaxed, and it starts beeping again. Watching cc deal with the tubes and the beeping and the health professionals and the very sick mother was like watching a well-executed ballet, in which one act led to another which led to another through intricate but surprisingly smooth transitions. When I arrived around 1 in the afternoon there was only cc and hilda, but then the others poured in and waves of visitors came and went throughout the day, including at least four sisters, one brother in law, two uncles, four daughters, two boyfriends-of-daughters, two nieces, and a mother, or two.

jyru dytu

hawkwing3141 — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:00:27 +0000

Enlightening. Educational. Inspirational (no not quite). ‘Eck of a good time? ‘Ell ya!
Once, I judiciously exercised my responsibilities to the State and appeared in court for Jyru Dytu, and no birds sang.
The first morning, before I had even really settled in with Even Cowgirls Get the Blues I was called in and immediately assigned to a Jyru pool, number 34 of 36, with judge Ulm. I was then dismissed for the rest of the day, to the collective groans of the remaining 250 eager beefeaters waiting for The Exodus.
The second morning, sans the tea and donut of the day before, I had just returned from an expeditious stroll around downtown to hear my number called to meet judge Ulm with my 35 compadres. We went upstairs and lined up in single file, reminding nobody of kindergarten, except everyone who mentioned that it did, which was most people. At number 34, I was almost at the back. Everyone was introduced and it did not take long to meet the accused, Raphael. I call him Raphael because I do not remember his name, but Raphael will do.

—

the gist of the unfinished, overwrought story above is that, when asked if marijuana should be legalized, at least 80% of the potential jury members said ‘yes’. raphael was a black man charged with dealing (crack?) cocaine. several potential jury members, including a heavily-tattooed dive-shop operator said straight out that they did or had done hard drugs and could not overcome their resultant biases enough to try him according to the rule of law. one girl freaked out because several of her family members had died from doing drugs (meth). other questions we were asked included whether we thought that law enforcement officers were ever biased or used racial profiling (duh, but only about half said yes). i think mostly old white women made the jury, with the exception of a single black woman who was eagerly courted and defended by the defense, who i think had to give up a couple of selections just to have her on the jury. yay for our wacky judicial system.

hard times for these times

hawkwing3141 — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:40:26 +0000

spring

hawkwing3141 — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 20:11:21 +0000

First eagle today, one seagull bothering it. what else is new… the fish hatchery is covered and filling up with fry. the crows tried again to build a nest in the building nextdoor, and again failed. it’s really windy, the trees outside the window are starting to feel it again because their leaves have just come in. I wonder how long a tree remembers? I wonder if they miss their brother, who was cut down last week?

linux animation

hawkwing3141 — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:46:07 +0000

mogrify -resize 800x -rotate 90 *.JPG

ffmpeg -i DSC_%d.JPG movie.mp4