http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ One mind's attempt to make sense of the world. en-us brentn@freeshell.org 2006-01-01T22:39:53-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/archives/000093.shtml As part of the New Year, I'm moving my blog to LiveJournal. Despite LJ's well earned reputation for hosting lots of angsty teenagers, I've talked to several people who are pretty satisfied with it. I no longer have the time... 93@http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ Geekery 2006-01-01T22:39:53-05:00 http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/archives/000092.shtml In case you're not following the minor controversy over the season finale of South Park, let me fill you in. The South Park crew released an episode that is in very poor taste, astoundingly vulgar, and hilariously funny. Par... 92@http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ Politics 2005-12-31T11:13:59-05:00 http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/archives/000091.shtml Today we did some cleaning up around the house. We'd bought Paul and Elise's old futon for our library, so we could get rid of the ancient, ugly sofa we had down there. That sofa and its accompanying chair... 91@http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ Personal 2005-11-20T17:49:32-05:00 http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/archives/000090.shtml Without making too many snide comments about the apparent intelligence of 76% of the Texan voting populace, I will point out that the following language contains interesting implications: (b) This state or a political subdivision of this state may not... 90@http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ Politics 2005-11-09T12:52:01-05:00 http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/archives/000089.shtml As part of my vacation, I spent Thursday morning at a local coffeeshop catching up on some personal projects. When I plugged my laptop's power cord into the wall, the transformer flashed underneath its white plastic housing and let... 89@http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ Geekery 2005-09-12T15:26:16-05:00 http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/archives/000088.shtml I took the week of Labor Day off. Fortunately, we'd planned to spend the week in the area, enjoying the Asheville area and all the things it has to offer. Pictures and commentary follow.... 88@http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ Personal 2005-09-11T12:35:41-05:00 http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/archives/000086.shtml I spent last week in Dallas visiting a vendor. Aside from the usual comments I could make about Dallas just being too hot, it was a good trip. It was interesting to see the outskirts of the city from... 86@http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ Personal 2005-06-17T07:27:36-05:00 http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/archives/000087.shtml My sources inform me that the Senate passed an amendment to an energy bill that would remove methyl t-butyl ether from the nation's fuel supply. I believe this can only be a good thing. MTBE, while an excellent oxygenator,... 87@http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ Geekery 2005-06-17T06:25:38-05:00 http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/archives/000085.shtml If you're not familiar with Greasemonkey, it's a Firefox extension that allows you insert user-defined scripts into web content. Its a way of client-side scripting that's pretty clever. You may wonder, "what on earth do I do with this?"... 85@http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ Geekery 2005-05-13T19:57:31-05:00 http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/archives/000078.shtml We went hiking today on Bad Branch trail. The trailhead is difficult to find: you have to take a dirt road off of the Blue Ridge Parkway, down to the edge of the Bent Creek Forest. The trail heads... 78@http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ Personal 2005-05-07T20:13:52-05:00 http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/archives/000077.shtml We've been on several recent hiking expeditions that I photographed. Many of them were nothing new for us - two trips through the Bent Creek Experimental Forest, for example. We did, however, go up to a trail in Madison... 77@http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ Personal 2005-04-25T10:48:50-05:00 http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/archives/000076.shtml Yes, snow. It is April 24th, and there is snow on the ground. Hopefully, the herbs I planted last weekend won't suffer too much. Of course, we'd figured that the last cold snap of the year had come and... 76@http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ Commentary 2005-04-24T09:01:36-05:00 http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/archives/000075.shtml One of the sure signs of spring seems to be a poison ivy rash breaking out on my forearms. The previous occupants of our house left us a good deal of poison ivy climbing various trees and now that Meg... 75@http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ Personal 2005-04-18T18:53:57-05:00 http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/archives/000074.shtml As the huge gap in my blog attests, I have had very small amounts of free time recently. The server logs reveal that readership of this blog has dropped from marginally tiny to vanishingly small. Obviously, the right thing to... 74@http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ Personal 2005-04-18T08:52:11-05:00 http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/archives/000073.shtml I'm in the market again for a digital camera. My trusty Nikon has failed spectacularly, and I'm looking at a 3-4 week turnaround on a repair that could cost as much as a brand new camera. I've pretty much decided... 73@http://brentn.freeshell.org/blog/ Personal 2004-12-07T21:19:06-05:00