December 31, 2005 - It's 11 P.M. as I begin typing this entry and the new year is just around the corner. Though having plenty of fodder for a number of new entries, the energy just isn't there -- so I trust this post will suffice.
The snow that started falling around noon is starting thin out, though just enough has fallen -- about 5-inches -- to make driving a challenge for already alcohol-challenged drivers this new year's eve.
So without getting all blubbery, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank visitors to this website for taking time out of your busy lives to check in here and see what this lunatic from northwestern Connecticut has to spout off about. What started on a whim has turned into a passion. Your participation, whether simply visiting or suggesting things via e-mail, is most gratifying. I thank you all.
I'm not about to spill my new year's resolutions in public, but I will say this: I'm going to update the site more regularly in 2006. Folks who faithfully check in here deserve it.
Here's wishing you and yours a healthy and prosperous 2006. Happy new year!
Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - Belated but heartfelt Christmas greetings to site visitors and family.
For the past two days I've been fiddling with the web server, so if you found the site busy or disappeared, I apologize. Most of the changes have been made, so the server is dedicated once again. Santa Claus brought me a new external hard drive and USB-2 gear, so I'm planning a back up server for times of system maintenance.
There should be a couple of new entries to Overheard posted either today or tomorrow.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005 - Added to Overheard a snippet about a Boston traitor.
Friday, December 16, 2005 - Added to Overheard; more specifically Northwest Connecticut Latest Global Warming Victim and Poop Patrol Protects Perfect Paws.
Monday, December 12, 2005 - Added "Broadcast Babe Boasts Batty Behavior" to Overheard. More in the works, time permitting. Stay tuned and thanks!
Sunday, December 11, 2005 - Some late night net surfing finally paid off, though in a rather sick way. I found an unedited video of the 2003 mauling of Roy Horn, of the Las Vegas entertainment duo Siegfried and Roy. This video has apparently been kept under tight wraps, so it's a rare find indeed.
WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT! Viewer discretion is strongly advised. I do not want to be held responsible for your nightmares. Watch at your own risk.
Tiger mauls Roy Horn - raw video feed
Saturday, December 10, 2005 - Added a rare new entry to the Satire section, namely "Dream Confessional." Enjoy. Or not.
Friday, December 9, 2005 - When offered an invitation to comment, it has always been difficult for me to resist. More often than not, surrendering to this temptation has gotten me either in a World of Feces, up Feces Creek without a paddle, or stuck in a fecal storm. As a matter of fact, one time I found myself up Feces Creek in a World of Feces when a fecal storm broke. But I digress ...
I visit a few blogs daily and have recently been taking advantage of the "comment" feature which allows blog visitors to have their views put up on the web for the world to see. In the interest of sharing some thoughts that otherwise wouldn't make their way to this website, I'm adding Broadside Commentary. Here's hoping you enjoy.
Tuesday, December 6, 2005 - Added "Recent shortwave catches" to the main page. Unless otherwise noted, the stations listed were received on the Grundig FR-200 reviewed in New Toy Report.
Monday, December 5, 2005 - Added a, uh ... fresh one to Overheard.
FLASH: WINSTED DINER DESTROYED BY FIRE - check Overheard for details.
Sunday, December 4, 2005 - Lazy day. Started snowing early this morning and didn't stop until early afternoon. Not much accumulation - about 4-inches up this way. Just enough to be a pain in the ass.
Trying to get motivated to write, but it ain't happenin'. Just started spinning a Utopia anthology CD. OMFG, the memories and emotions! Utopia certainly isn't music for the masses, though it continues to confound me why they didn't enjoy a wider fan base. Perhaps the mid-section of the musical bell curve is as tasteless as I suspect it is. More later ...
Monday, November 28, 2005 - Like a broken record, I've added to Overheard.
Sunday, November 27, 2005 - Added to Overheard.
There's half a foot of snow on the ground and chili cooking in the crock pot. Extremes. I've been toying with the idea of putting the chili recipe up on the web site. The recipe for the snow is simple: move to New England.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - Updated Overheard with a new entry two new entries. Another is in the works, too. (love that strike-out HTML tag - heh)
I'm pleased to report that the Great Server Power Supply Fan Drama of 2005 has been resolved. As it turns out, the solution to the problem was right in front my face all this time.
The fan in the server power supply has been intermittently squawking for a couple of months now as a result of the bushings slowly disintegrating. Yeah, yeah, I priced a replacement supply, but being hopelessly frugal and a do-it-yourselfer, I've been periodically taking the supply out of the computer case, opening the supply, removing the fan, disassembling the fan, cleaning and lubing the bushings and shafts, then reassembling the whole mess. Ugh. This has been a labor of love (and the zenith of cheap). I was updating some files on my main Linux machine tonight and compiling was chugging away, so I decided to attack the fan in the server. During disassembly was when The Obvious hit me.
There has been this spare fan mounted on the inside of the cabinet face since I've owned the machine. Apparently there wasn't 12V within reach of this fan's power lead, so it remained inactive. So I decided to see if the fan was close enough in current drain and physical size to mount in the power supply. Lo and behold, the current was close enough and the size perfect. Hard wired the bitch in there, reassembled, powered up and all is well in the world of power supply cooling!
To anyone trying to check the site tonight: sorry for the down time.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - Deemed Name Game completed and moved accordingly under the Radio Matters page.
Monday, November 21, 2005 - Having bought into the propaganda, I somewhat reluctantly got jabbed in the arm with the flu shot a couple of weeks ago. Now I've been sick for two weeks. Sheesh.
It's certainly not full-blown flu, but my sinuses and broncial tubes are effen' screaming. And oddly enough, my arm is still sore at the scene of the crime. I have a good mind to sneeze all over that nurse the next time I see her.
I took a ride up Route 8 North today for no reason at all, other than to get a much needed change of scenery. Items of note include the Colebrook Reservoir water level is way up as a result of the incredible rainfall we've had over the past six weeks or so; and huge chunks of ice on the ground that fell from rock ledges. I didn't think we were that close to winter, but now it's clear that we are. Sigh.
Saw a sign for "Roosterville Road" in Sandisfield, Massachusetts. Now I'm wondering if there was really was such a township. More later.
Power supply fan REALLY complaining. Shutting down the server. Be up with a replacement PSU.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - Added a site navagation menu bar across the top of several pages. Though I don't like nav bars or menu blocks, I believe the benefits of functionality are more important than esoteric presentational "purity."
Besides: this site is a collection of experiments within an experiment, and as such, a work in progress. Comments/complaints welcomed.
Sunday, November 13, 2005 - Added two new items under "Quote of the moment" on the opening page. "On the night stand" is the book I'm currently immersed in and "Most recent CD spins" lists the last three audio CDs I've listened to.
While adding to work-in-progrss The Name Game, I'm listening to the debut airing of WTIC-AM's The Weather Guys program. Host Joe Furay is an effin' mess: I don't think I've ever heard an announcer unprofessionally interject so many "uhs" and "ahs." I started tying to keep a count with pencil and paper but had to give up -- I couldn't keep up! Sheesh. Co-host Bob Cox, though measuring his speaking pace much more diligently has had some pregnant pauses during interchanges with Furey. It's all rather amusing to hear two relatively seasoned "pros" trip all over themselves. Welcome to the human race, guys ...
NOTE TO SELF: add "pronouncing 'exactly' as 'egg-zakly'" to my TOP TEN THINGS THAT PISS ME OFF list.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 - Added to Overheard .... UCONN faithful need not check this post. heh
Friday, November 11, 2005 - Sad new from the music front: singer, song writer, guitarist, music stylist Chris Whitley is very ill -- hospice care ill. Rest for the journey, Chris, wherever it takes you.
Though he's a rather obscure artist, I figured that chances are better than average that visitors to this site would know of Whitley's music. However, for the uninitiated, here are three cuts from his latest release, Soft Dangerous Shores. Don't worry: these are legit. All three are linked to Whitley's own web site where they're openly made available.
Of lighter note, doing work on Radio Recollections shook some memories out of core storage; more specifically those of humorist, author, radio program host, movie producer Jean Shepherd. Some web surfing landed me on Max Schmid's Mass Backwards website. What a find! On this site, Max benevolently shares classic Shep audio files which can be played or downloaded for later consumption.
Having listened to Shep on WOR-NYC back in the 60s, these files are like gold to me. Check a few out -- they're awesome recordings of a true genius.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 - I've added The Name Game to the Half-baked page -- another work-in-progress. Upon completion it will move to the Radio Matters page.
The power supply fan on the web server is squawking. Again. Pulled the power supply out of the spare computer in anticipation of the inevitable.
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 - There are some new additions to Overheard ... that just might tickle your rib. Check 'em out!
The web server was down for a couple of hours last night. Sorry. I had some work to do that required me to boot up the old gal on Microsoft Windows 98, the first such boot in many weeks. It sucked and I was surprised at how much I don't miss Windows 98, or much anything else Microsoft.
About the only thing I do miss is NOTEPAD.EXE, though the Linux world has some spiffier yet resource-lean editors. "Kate" is my choice-of-the-moment.
The power supply fan started squawking in the web server for the first time in ages, though only for about 10-minutes. Apparently it is reminding me that all is not well in bearing land. Should the server disappear unexpectedly, envision me frantically swapping out power supplies from a spare machine I've got in the corner. That's no doubt what will be happening.
Thanks for your patience.
Friday, November 4, 2005 - The Half-baked page has an addition called "Radio Recollections." It's a true work in progress that I've decided to share with you from near-conception - that's why it's falling under the Half-baked category. Once complete, it'll move to Radio Matters.
So if you're interested in seeing a webpage take form, check it out.
Sunday, October 29, 2005 - As promised, "more" is here! Not only that, you'll get a chance to take a peek into my mind by checking out DOES NOT PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS. It's in the Half-baked area.
Friday, October 28, 2005 - After a very busy work week, upon returning home tonight I hit the ground running on a new item for the site. My writing was interrupted, a diversion initiated, and an addition to the site resulted. Check Overheard ... for the skinny. There will be more later, too!
Oh yes. Nearly forgot. Check the main page for a new "quote for the moment."
Monday, October 24, 2005 - Only changes have been some under-the-hood tweaks, twists and tricks. Went through some files that no longer were valid HTML and/or CSS, at least according to the World Wide Web Consortium.
A couple of additions are in the works, though. Stay tuned.
Saturday, October 15, 2005 - Howard Stern and Bubba the Love Sponge may instigate shock on the radio but fail to sit atop Mount Weird. Check out Overheard ... for details.
Thursday, September 29, 2005 - Between a crazy few weeks of work and then various system upgrades/changes, my mind is spinning like a top. Here's a brief system update:
A benefactor whom will remain anonymous has set me up with a most righteous system: a retired HP Kayak XU800. Dual 800 MHz P3 processors, three hard drives, striped RAID, 1-GB RAM and Asante hub. Fringe Central is now networked. I'm running the website from the old, faithful 600-MHz P3 clone for the moment, though plans are to migrate the website to an old 200-MHz P2 clone and run 'er headless.
Geeky enough for you?
I'm on a treacherous and steep ascent of the Linux and networking learning curve here folks. If I disappear without notice, someone please call 911.
Today's project in geekery will enable me to more gracefully edit and update the website on this new system. Fighting with two keyboards, mice, and monitors was getting to be a rather serious test of my patience. That has been resolved, at least for the time being. I'm going to do some writing now. Check this page, as this is where any new additions are announced.
And thanks for your patience.
Saturday, September 17, 2005 - Yet another new entry to Overheard ...
Thursday, September 15, 2005 - Amidst a most exhausting work week and just sending the IRS a quarterly check for taxes on estimated 2005 income, the creativity tank is running low. The only thing new is the "QUOTE for the moment" on the opening page.
Sunday, September 11, 2005 - Added to Overheard ....
Tuesday, September 7, 2005 - So far, so good with the new server. Hopefully the power supply fan on the server will hold out until I can get to a computer show to buy a new one.
More later. I feel a roll coming on ...
Monday, September 5, 2005 - This website is now running from another server on a test basis. Check out http://alienjeff.gotdns.com. Reports of pageload speed, glitches or other comments are both welcome and appreciated. Send reports to: alienjeff AT charter DOT net - and thanks!
Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - Space Shuttle STS-114 Discovery has safely landed in California. Space drama, for the moment, is over. So it's back to the drawing boards for NASA before another launch/flight is attempted. For now, thank goodness the crew of Discovery is home safe and sound.
Monday, August 8, 2005 - Added A Natural Hero, a true David and Goliath story.
Sunday, August 7, 2005 - Added an entry to Overheard. Yawn. Sorry. Not feeling terribly creative ...
Saturday, August 6, 2005 - For whatever reason, I'm completely tapped of rage, cleverness and insight. So instead of trying to add anything in this present state, I offer the following:
60 years ago today the world's first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. A rehash of my thoughts is here as well as something new: a special musical gift to website visitors. Grab it while you can (hint, hint).
Thursday, August 4, 2005 - New York skankee baseball coverage from 880 AM is blasting away in my slum hovel. It's one of those rare days when the Boston Red Sox played an afternoon game, so tonight I'm listening to the Evil Empire team play and hoping the skankees get their asses soundly kicked. As of game time, Boston was 5-games up on New York. Time will tell if the skankees slip further down the standings.
I've got a couple of additions to Overheard and an essay in the works. Providing this heat wave doesn't totally wipe me out, there should be some substantive additions to the site. This page is where to check for updates. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - I'm using some software to check website stats such as what pages are popular, visit lengths, referring links, etc. For the second week in a row, A View From The Fringe has been visited by an ISP belonging to the U.S. Senate Sargeant at Arms in Washington DC. The visit lengths are very brief, my software reveals no entry nor exit page, so I suspect this is some sort of search bot.
I don't know whether to be concerned or just laugh this one off. Anyone out there have any such visitors to your sites? If so, please let me know: alienjeff AT charter DOT net
Sunday, July 31, 2005 - In the recent essay on text messaging entitled Technological Clusterfawk, there was a reference to Morse code. So it was quite a surprise to uncover on a blog that someone had written a program for using Morse code within the text message feature of cell phones. Instead of append, amend or otherwise rewrite my original essay, here's a link to check out this new participant in the technological clusterfuck.
Saturday, July 30, 2005 - My thoughts and prayers go out to friends and families of the victims of Friday's horrific accident on Route 44 in Avon.
Saturday, July 23, 2005 - Added Technological Clusterfawk to the "Essays" area. Wonder how many noses are going to get bent out of shape with this one?
Friday, July 22, 2005 - Added Logo Lunacy to the "Essays" area. Enjoy while you can. I'm waiting to hear from Webster's lawyers ...
Tuesday, July 19, 2005 - The Alien has been in geek mode the past few days making many "under-the-hood" changes to the website. These changes should be transparent to visitors, though if you see anything out of the ordinary, I'd appreciate an email (alienjeff AT charter DOT net) reporting what you noticed. Thanks in advance!
This work week looks like it may be on the skinny side, so with any luck I can add an essay, observation or something to the site. Thanks for your patience.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - Other than obsessing over filing my quarterly taxes to the IRS, I've updated the Faves (favorite links) page with two additions. I've got a couple of other things in the works, but for the uninitiated, please don't hold your breath!
Friday, July 8, 2005 - Added Last Ride to the "Essays" area. It's my feeble first step in dealing with the recent loss of a friend. I'm not good at this shit ...
Monday, July 4, 2005 - A co-worker died over the weekend and I'm trying to sort things out in my mind. RIP, Pete. And Happy Birthday, America.
Saturday, June 18, 2005 - Broke tradition by adding an image to a recent entry. It seemed more logical to add the image than make readers click a link. Immediacy over-rules the suspense quotient ...
Tuesday, June 14, 2005 - Added a few things to Overheard, observed or otherwise witnessed. Enjoy. I'm working (hiding, isolating and hibernating) from home today, so there's more to come. I'll be making additions throughout the day. Stay tuned.
Monday, May 30, 2005 - It's rapidly closing in on 1 A.M. on Memorial Day 2005, so I don't know how long this entry is going to be. I'm working at noon and the clock is ticking. Between now and noon I should squeeze in a few hours of sleep.
An admission: I'm addicted to Linux. Yup, I've gathered up the courage and necessary image files and have made the leap to converting this inelegant 600 MHz Pentium III into a dual-boot machine. It all started off innocently enough. During a volley of e-mail with my niece's husband, a uber-geek and hell of a good guy, I was repeating a familiar piss and moan over about my Windows-98 operating system and how I hated the thoughts of upgrading to XP. Obviously tired of my bleating, Don suggesting trying a Linux "live" release.
Some investigation revealed there are a number of Linux releases that fit on a single CD. All I had to do was reconfigure my computer to seek the CD-drive first in the boot sequence, thus forcing to boot from the Linux CD. I could "test drive" Linux without making the commitment to installing it to my hard drive.
The gem Don suggested was Knoppix, and what a gem it is. I was so impressed with Knoppix, I went ahead and installed the entire system to a hard drive and have been running it ever since. Oh, there have been brief visits back to Windows, but these visits are growing fewer and further between. I'm editing this webpage from my Windows hard drive with Mozilla Composer running from the Linux hard drive ... cross platform. Kewl!
So most of my free time has been spent futzing about with Linux and not writing. For this, I apologize. Finding time to write is difficult enough when I'm busy, and there simply aren't enough hours in a day for me to learn to be a Knoppix expert and writer.
THE BOSTON RED SOX BEAT THE YANKEES TWO GAMES OUT OF A THREE GAME SERIES IN THE BRONX! Oh happy day! Being a bonafide Boston Dirt Dog, it's fantastic when the Sox spank the Yankees two-for-three, but for them to do so in the Bronx in front of 50,000+ Yankee fans; well, that just drive my emotional glee off the effen charts. Tonight's 7-2 win was due in large part to Sox pitcher David "Donut" Wells, a former Yankee, which made the win that much sweeter.
It's now 1:36 A.M. My bed is calling me. Time to hit the rack. Five more minutes: just one more page of the Knoppix book to read ...
Monday, May 2, 2005 - Two new additions:
My list of the Top Ten Things that piss me off, and
Sorry about the premature tickler for the "top ten" list. It's still being constructed.
I trust you will enjoy.
A milestone passed without any fanfare - not that any was due. After fumbling through a pile of notebooks looking for my secret username/password list, I was finally able to sign in to the file manager function of the old Lycos/Tripod system where the A View From The Fringe website was born.
As close as I can determine, the site's birth date was late 2002 or early 2003. That makes this baby 2+ years old, or "in its third year."
Belated happy birthday, A View From The Fringe!
Sunday, April 23, 2005 - It's 5:36 A.M. and having not slept at all last night, it's going to be a crazy couple of days getting back into some sort of regular schedule. The sleepless night wasn't without some benefit, though. Check out the latest.
I'm going to bed now ...
Monday, April 11, 2005 - Other than Boston Red Sox baseball, especially games like today's when the Sox beat the living snot out of the Yankees, this is the only other reason I miss owning a television set ...
Thanks for forwarding that jpg, Jane! And the proofreading ...
Sunday, April 10, 2005 - It's a few minutes after midnight: Art Bell is on the radio and boring me to tears. Besides that, I'm on day 20 of a 30-day trial of EditPlus, an awesome HTML editor program.
Several of the pages on this site have been changed to a new format. The old Times New Roman font was getting tired, on my eyes, at least. There were some new CSS tricks I wanted to experiment with, so the switch to Verdana font was on, as well as general page layout. My only regret to the changes is that the new pages look a bit like blogs, though that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's quite possible that these similarly formatted blogs were done so in the interest of readability and ease on the eyes.
Whatever! If you'd care to comment, pro or con, to the new format, you can direct your e-mail to: alienjeff AT charter DOT net
Thursday, March 31, 2005 - Terri Schiavo has died, the Pope has been given last rites and the Drudge Report pissed me off. Check out my brief yet heartfelt Open Letter to Matt Drudge. < /flame >
Sunday, March 27, 2005 - Sometimes one thing leads to another. The "Overheard ..." section of the website's in-progress area had collected a number of half-finished additions, and this morning I was dropping another on top of the heap. Enough was quite enough! So I bit down on the bullet hard, and tied all the loose ends together. Check it out here.
And Happy Easter, Terri and John Paul ...
Sunday, March 13, 2005 - In the immortal words of Popeye, "That's all I can stands an' I can't stands no more!" Frustration and disgust put to paper, or e-paper. Check out the new addition to the Essays area proclaiming Clapton is a Whore.
Monday, February 21, 2005 - When the going gets weird, The Weird turn pro. Or ventilate their crania with the faithful and fateful blast of a rifle. I heard about Thompson's apparent suicide last night during my Sunday evening ritual: tuning in to Matt Drudge on the AM broadcast band, and frantically searched out news links as the story developed. I'm sad over this news and the stark reality is beginning to settle in that it finally has gotten weird enough. RIP, Hunter.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - Belated happy new year. About time for an update, eh?
Abject disgust with two recent court cases, one local, one not-so-local, prompted this tired scribe into adding to the Essays area the mini-screed Life, Death, and what's just and fair.
It's snowing again and the meteorological purveyors of panic (aka weathermen and women) are predicting another five to eight inches to top off the 18-inches we got over the weekend. I'm dreaming of a white Groundhog Day ...