aubreyturner.org

I had a consultant from a security company come by today to talk about activating my alarm system with them (so it would be monitored).  She seemed to think that my current system would do fine and they would just need to do some maintenance and reset the codes.  She quoted a pretty good monthly rate and I asked about the length of the term.  I was told that they only did three year contracts. 

Lately I’ve decided that I don’t want to enter into long term contracts if I can avoid it.  My new rule-of-thumb is that a company will have to have a very good reason to get me to sign anything with more than a one year term.  I understand that this will often mean that I may pay more per month, but I’m willing to do that to avoid being tied down.  I think my main concern is that if I don’t like their service there is no way to get out of the contract.

It appears that three year contracts are standard in the industry.  That’s too bad, because I don’t trust any of the companies to sign that kind of contract unless there are performance guarantees (which none of them have).

Colt BAR Serial #1.

Yup, this is the one. No, it is not new in box, it is an incredible piece of history that will require a special customer to own. Comes with quite a bit of documentation and of course, it is completely transferable

Oh, did I forget to mention the asking price?  Only $650,000.00.  (Yikes!)

Literally.  -100C cool.

The guy who wrote that article took two vaporphase freezers from a lab and ripped their guts out to use to cool his 3GHz P4 down to -83C and overclock it up to 4.4GHz.  It wins points for psycho insane overclocking, but I think someone has too much time on his hands.

Link via Slashdot.

I’m not sure whether this is cool or a particularly successful exercise in bad taste:  Rifle cartridge toilet seat

Here we have yet another demonstration of PETA’s monumental dumbassery:

Germany’s self-confessed cannibal killer Armin Meiwes has been sent a vegetarian cookbook and a Christmas hamper full of veggie burgers and tofu.

Animals rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is behind the stunt and says it would be a major coup if it could convert Meiwes to vegetarianism.

Everyone would be better served if they’d just send PETA members.

When your number is up, it’s up.

A passing jogger was fatally crushed in a Central Florida neighborhood Tuesday when a 40-foot magnolia tree fell on her, according to Local 6 News.

Titusville police said Amber Ferrall, 27, (pictured, right) was reported missing after she did not come home from her daily morning jog Tuesday.

City of Titsuville workers who were called to remove a large fallen tree on Rainey Road and County Club Drive found Ferrall’s body underneath the tree trunk.

Police said Farrell was pinned under the tree’s 2-foot wide trunk when it fell on her as she was jogging about 25 feet away on the side of a residential street.

The rotten roots of the tree apparently gave way and it landed on top of her in the middle of the road at 3740 Raney Road, police said.

“It’s a really freak, tragic accident,” Titusville Police spokesman Todd Hutchinson said.

The tree was planted in the front yard of a home in an upscale neighborhood, and Farrell likely didn’t see the tree falling since it struck her from behind, Hutchinson said. “We don’t believe she saw it coming,” Hutchinson said.

No one had been digging around the tree or working on it in any way, said Hugh Brown, who owns the home and well-trimmed front yard in which he said the tree had been standing without issue for at least 10 years.

Farrell, who worked at a hair salon, had a 6-year-old daughter.

I got an email today announcing that Friday’s was introducing a low-carb menu that was Atkins approved.  I’ve noticed recently that there’s been a lot more advertising around the Atkins brand since Dr. Atkins died.  I’m not sure that I approve of all of it, because I’ve seen at least one online ad where they do they typical fad diet “lose your tummy” crapola.  Anyhow, this got me to thinking about some of the other products that are available for people who are trying to live a low-carb lifestyle:

• Don Pablo’s now has low-carb fajitas and low-carb margaritas.
• Le Carb makes a variety of “ice cream” treats.
• Blue Bunny has some low-carb novelty bars.
• Klondike has also gotten into the act (the fudge bar is quite good).
• And while I drink a lot of water, I tend to want a cola drink from time to time.  Diet Rite is one of the best that I’ve found, although it may taste too sweet to some people (one of the side-effects of Splenda).  I’ve had success mixing Diet Rite with Jack Daniels and Captain Morgan’s (I will freely admit that I’m a wimp when it comes to drinking straight liquor; let’s just chalk it up to a few too many “lost time” episodes).

There are a lot of other products out there that I haven’t mentioned (like Carbolite bars) just because I got tired of looking up websites and dredging through Google-bombed crap.

Anyhow, once you’re past the initial induction phase, there are a lot of options to make the Atkins plan less boring (provided that you’re careful; just because it’s low-carb is no excuse to eat a whole pint of ice cream at one time   ).

Whoa!

Found at Samizdata.net.

Note: Moved picture to extended entry (360K was just a bit too much for the main page).

Click the cute little kitten:

I took the dog in to be spayed last Friday.  It turned out that during her time as a stray she’d gotten pregnant somewhere along the way.  The vet also found she had a nasty ear infection.  Even so, she did well and they let me bring her back home on Saturday morning.  The only problem is that she has to be restricted from too much activity or from jumping for 10 days.  Of course this has been a bit of a struggle, given that she likes to sleep on the bed.  For now I’ve closed off the bedrooms and put stuff on the couch and the chair to keep her off.  At night I put her in a crate in the bedroom.  She initially resists, but then she goes to sleep until morning.

The main issue she has is when I have to clean out her ears.  The vet gave me a solution that I have to put in both ears and then clean the excess out.  She hates the liquid, but seems to like having her ears rubbed and cleaned with a tissue. 

But I think I may have made a long-term mistake and created a monster.  The vet gave me pain pills to give to the dog for the first three days.  To get her to take it I put it in some Mighty Dog canned food.  Unfortunately, she is now shunning the dry food.  I sense a nasty withdrawal in her future.  Provided I can resist the sad, pathetic looks.  That dog is a master of manipulation.

I seem to have gone into a bit of a hiatus with this weblog, but it wasn’t intentional.  I’ve been supporting our economy both online and locally.  I’m starting to think that our recent economic uptick has been solely due to my activity outfitting my new house and getting ready for Christmas.  I know I’ve bought way too much stuff.  I hit the trifecta today with deliveries from Airborne, UPS, and FedEx all in the same day.  My emperical economic study has also shown that Amazon.com is shipping a copy of the AOL (if I hear the word optimized again my head will rotate) 9.0 CD in every single shipment.  I threw out three of them today alone.