Windows-Linux Latest

Windows-Linux Latest

Still haven't had much time to play with the Linux box yet - in part because I was tied up helping my neighbor remove spyware from his Windows machine last night. Four spyware removal programs and five hours later, he still has the nasties; our next attempt tonight will be restoring from a backup.

While that was running I managed to install the SETI@home software on the Linux machine in a half hour (25 minutes figuring out how to use the command line and five minutes actually installing the program).

Register runs state salaries

Register runs state salaries



One of the joys of working for the public is that your salary is public record. Occasionally an enterprising journalist makes a story of this. I know this joy personally, but for better or worse I don't make enough to stand out in the crowd.



So today the Register's doing it. Top salaries in the state: Coach, coach, heart surgeon, coach, coach, brain surgeon.



I'm not one of those who whines at great length about people in the athletic world getting paid too much. The joy of Your Team winning, while vicarious, is genuine.



But coach, coach, heart surgeon, coach, coach, brain surgeon gives you some perspective, huh?

Top court won’t hear sex offender case; state lawmakers cheer

Top court won’t hear sex offender case; state lawmakers cheer



The unworkable is apparantly constitutional: "Debate of a controversial Iowa law restricting where certain sex offenders can live is likely to shift from the courts to the Legislature, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a legal challenge."



And with next session being an election year. chances are any changes will make it "tougher," i.e. even more unworkable...

IA Gov: Yepsen states several obvious things

IA Gov: Yepsen states several obvious things



The Overrated One reads a poll, which matters mostly because it's Yepsen. Most interesting bon mots:

Blouin appears to be in reverse gear... proving the rule that you can be a big shot inside the Statehouse, but you're still a statewide election loser because no one outside the building knows who you are. (See former House Speaker Donald Avenson for details.)



And Blouin's been tripped up by the abortion issue. He's pro-life but now says he wouldn't sign any pro-life bills into law. In other words, Blouin is still a pro-lifer but won't do anything because of it. It looks wishy-washy.

This poll didn't measure the respective primary contests, but the results square with what Culver's strategists have long thought — that Patty Judge, not Mike Blouin or Ed Fallon, is the person they've got to watch.

A quick look at the poll numbers themselves: Nussle is pretty steady against the four main Dems, between 42 and 45. But look at how the Dems fare:

Culver: 38

Judge: 31

Fallon: 21

Blouin: 18. That's not a typo, that's eighteen.



Blouin loses over HALF the Democratic support, even more than the "extreme" Fallon. You can't write all that off to "lower name ID than Culver."

Bolkcom Back For More: Re-Elect

Bolkcom Back For More: Re-Elect



Not a shocker but my state senator Joe Bolkcom says:

I will be announcing my bid to seek re-election to a third term to represent Johnson County in the Iowa Senate. I want to invite everyone to my "Campaign Kickoff Celebration" and fundraiser this Wednesday, November 30, from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM at The Chait Galleries Downtown, 218 E. Washington Street, Iowa City.



I’ve worked hard to serve the needs and interests of Iowa City and Johnson County residents. I want the opportunity to use my experience to keep benefiting Johnson County by listening and working with everyone.



I hope you can attend my Kickoff event on Wednesday!

There are reports of an opponent this time, but that'll just give Joe a chance to shine on the issues like he did in his `92 and `96 county races. Should make things more interesting around here, but the local Dems will still have plenty of time to concentrate on offense in the legislative contests. (More on that in a future post.)



There. Iowa-centric political content, to make up for today's ramblings about the alleged biochemistry of love, bands that are eight or so years past the sell-by date, and some not yet well informed opinions about Linux.

Linux vs. Windows and Champagne Supernovae

As noted yesterday, I put together my first ever Linux machine from an old Pentium II that I literally found on the street with a FREE sign on it. I wiped the hard drive and installed Ubuntu Linux in just about two hours.

Today I battled with Windows 2000 for 2 1/2 hours trying to get a printer driver to work.

It should not take longer to install a PRINTER DRIVER than it takes to install an entire OPERATING SYSTEM.

Not ready to re-partition the Firebolt yet, but many more days like today and I'll consider it more seriously.

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My ten years after the fact obsession with Oasis continues to the point that I finally bothered to learn what a champagne supernova is:

Noel Gallagher got the title when he misheard the name of the Pixies album Bossanova. He was watching a documentary about champagne at the time.

So it's nothing at all. Just semolina pilchard climbing up the Eiffel Tower. I suspect it has a lot to do with where was Noel when he was getting high.

Romantic love 'lasts just a year'

Romantic love 'lasts just a year'

"Researchers said raised levels of a protein was linked to feelings of euphoria and dependence experienced at the start of a relationship.

But after studying people in long and short relationships and single people, they found the levels receded in time"

I don't care what the science says. Love is more than a protein and it can last. I'm a hopeless romantic; always believed, always will.