A little more than nine years ago, when I was a columnist for the Minnesota Daily, I wrote a column expressing my opposition to a planned missile defense shield. In the wake of President Obama’s decision to cancel the planned defense shield in Eastern Europe, I went back and re-read that column, and what was… Continue reading Missile defense shield: still a stupid idea
You can’t have it all
I’m sure everybody’s heard the old joke that goes along the lines of "Your ideal spouse: Rich, Educated, Beautiful. Choose Two" or "Computer software: Fast, Easy, Affordable. Choose Two". No matter how much we want everything, it’s almost impossible to find something that has every positive aspect you are looking for. The same goes for… Continue reading You can’t have it all
My increasing disgust with fellow bikers
I’m a biker. Living in Minneapolis is a real treat for bikers, as we have dozens of miles of trails to take advantage of: the Grand Rounds circling the city, the Midtown Greenway, the Kenwood Trail, the path along Hiawatha and the LRT, not to mention all of the on-street bike paths there are. With… Continue reading My increasing disgust with fellow bikers
President Obama’s Target Center visit
Yesterday Julia and I had the exciting pleasure of volunteering at President Obama’s first White House rally at the Target Center in Minneapolis to argue for health care reform. We we asked to volunteer on Wednesday shortly after the visit was announced, and we jumped at the chance. Following a training session on Friday night,… Continue reading President Obama’s Target Center visit
Why health reform requires mandated universal coverage
If we are to have serious health care reform in this country, it will require everybody to have coverage. Universal coverage isn’t just a nicety, or “the right thing to do”, it’s an essential. Without it, real reform won’t be harder; it will, quite simply, be impossible. The reason is purely economic, and revolves around… Continue reading Why health reform requires mandated universal coverage
The tempest over Obama’s school speech
The controversy surrounding today’s speech to school children by President Obama really did become ridiculous. In the end, I hope that the text of the message, and its non-political content, will put to rest at least some of the more reality-based opposition to it (of course, a good deal of the opposition was completely insane… Continue reading The tempest over Obama’s school speech
Photos of Minneapolis and the Mississippi River
I took last Friday off, and instead of sleeping in like a normal person would do, I decided to get up as usual and instead take some photos just after daybreak. A couple hours after sunrise and a couple hours after sunset are the best times to take photographs, and Friday morning was no exception.… Continue reading Photos of Minneapolis and the Mississippi River
Another tech fix: Dealing with AOL
I was lucky enough to have to deal with a somewhat vexing problem this week that once again, in lieu of a computer utility, here’s a story about battling the ISP that every loves to hate, AOL…
Computer stupidity: NVidia drivers and the BSOD
Instead of finding a utility today, this is about a recent computer stupidity I had to deal with. Warning: this gets into computer geekery, so if you aren’t interested then you should pass on this one.
Snail mail tracert update
A while back I talked about the troubles I was having with my mail being forwarded to my new place, and my attempt at using a certified letter sent to myself to find out why. I’m not sure if sending that letter helped a whole lot, but when I went to the post office and… Continue reading Snail mail tracert update