The amount of fluid in mom’s chest has gone down a bit so her doctor has considered against doing a Thoracentesis. During both my and Dante’s last visits mom was smiling at times, even laughing (and then coughing) at our attempts to cheer her up. Mom has a terrific sense of humor. I don’t know where mine is – but her’s is very healthy! She confirmed with Dante that what she really wants right now is a coffee. Being awake, she was really upset when I had to leave – it was tough to go home. No progress so far in removing the tube. I will have another update from her doctor today before visiting.
Author Archives: Karl
James Doohan, “Scotty”, Rest In Peace
Yesterday afternoon I heard the news that James Doohan had passed. My wishes to his family, his friends, and to all my Star Trek buds out there.
CNN obit and Memory Alpha’s Bio of Montgomery Scott.
Previous employers have looked at me as ummm a “miracle worker” – and ahhh – I let on my secret once to my former boss, Rajiv: applying the “Scotty Rule” to project estimations. Never, ever, ever quote the time it would take to finish a project accurately. Pad it. Double and triple it.
From the TNG episode “Relics’:
Scotty: “Starfleet captains are like children. They want everything right now and they want it their way. But the secret is to give them only what they need, not what they want.”
LaForge: “Yeah, well, I told the captain I’d have this analysis done in an hour.”
Scotty: “How long will it really take?”
LaForge: “An hour.”
Scotty: “You didn’t tell him now long it would really take, did you?”
LaForge: “Of course I did.”Scotty: “Laddie, you got a lot to learn if you want people to think of you as a miracle worker!”
From “Star Trek III: The Search For Spock”:
Kirk: “How long to re-fit?”
Scotty: “Eight weeks. But you don’t have eight weeks, so I’ll do it for you in two.”
Kirk: “Do you always multiply your repair estimates by a factor of four?”
Scotty: “How else to maintain my reputation as a miracle worker?”
Kirk: “Your reputation is safe with me.”
God bless and God speed.
The “World LIVE Web”
Technorati is not the only game in town when it comes to seeing what bloggers are talking about this minute. Let me share a few sites that as a news and blog junkie I am downright addicted to:
Blog centric replacements for Google News:
Findory and Digg and Blogrunner are amazing. Findory, in particular, comes close to a real Google News replacement. You don’t need a user account to get a great picture of what’s being talked about right now.
Technology Related Aggregators:
Macromedia’s News Aggregator along with the java.blog give me a great picture of what’s being discussed by blogs focused on two of my favorite technologies: Flash and Java.
Link-a-rama:
Bloglines Most Popular Links, Kinja’s Editor’s Digests, del.icio.us/popular, Daypop’s Top 40 (which runs better than ever), and Intelliseek’s BlogPulse give you a grounds eye view of what’s being bookmarked and shared.
Search:
IceRocket, Bloglines, and Feedster each provide search services that compare well with Technorati. IceRocket now has tag search that works.
Like Doc Searls said however – someone needs to take on an objective review of these services.
Where are the Women in IT?
The numbers of women in IT have actually dwindled these past few years. Read
Burningbird – When we are Needed for some interesting thoughts for discussion:
…In World War II, among the Rosies, there were many who wanted to continue to work, but most didn’t want to ‘rock the boat’, and the few that were willing, made little impact. And so our struggle continued for decades longer than need be because in fateful moment when we could have made such as resounding statement, we took off our work gloves and put on a house dress and quietly returned to the roles society had dictated for us.
As for women in technology, there are those who believe we should shout out when we see disparity, but there are equally as many who believe that doing so will ‘rock the boat’, and this will ‘push’ away the menfolk. After all, no one likes a loud, abbrasive feminist, or a bitch that has no sense of humor. No one likes an angry woman.
But anger is anger, regardless of the sex of the person who is angry. Anger is not nobled by man nor enfeebled by woman. Anger just is.
I’m not even sure who is in the right: those who say compete, and those who say don’t; those who get angry, and those who don’t. All I know is that I’m getting tired of looking at white guys in pictures.
In her piece she links to local Philadelphia blogger Antonella Pavese, who has recently decided to leave IT for Marketing. She quotes its “excessive emphasis on speed rather than quality…, on execution rather than strategy, and the disregard for the human and caring aspects of building applications (e.g., the quality of the user experience rather than the quality of the code).” has as her reasons to move on.
See Groundhog Day for more.
Blogger Meetup Tonight
I can’t make it, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be there: the monthly blogger meetup is tonight. It’s always a good time, with great discussion and fun, I hope to see pictures and hear stories afterwards folks.
A Pleural Effusion
Thanks to those offering their thoughts and support. An update: Results from mom’s CT scan came back and indicate she has a moderate sized Pleural Effusion. They will be doing a Thoracentesis to test the fluid to see if it is related to her pneumonia or something else. They will not remove her tubes until this is resolved. What scares me is, from what I understand, removing an intubation tube is not a sure thing.
Dante and me spent some time with her yesterday. While she is with it – it is still impossible to communicate. They have her partially sedated since she is so restless – and who wouldn’t be in such a situation. Across the ICU, we could see family who I have observed in the waiting room these past few days, consoling one another. Their loved one passed away.
A Blogger Makes $10k – $20k from AdSense in a month
Darren Rowse: Earning Milestones: “I went to the PO Box this morning to grab my mail and found my monthly cheque from Google’s Adsense had arrived for earnings in the month of May. May was my biggest earning month since I started blogging”
Recording related threads at Metafilter
“Unix is a Four Letter Word”
“Unix is a Four Letter Word” by Christopher C. Taylor, is a reference comes in handy from time to time. One for your bookmarks.
Speaking of old references, someone posted 1971 book on the workings of computers to the web. Check out “How It Works…The Computer“.
Why Attack Him? Rove: “He’s a Democrat”
Now back to Rove… Top Aides Reportedly Set Sights on Wilson:
Top aides to President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were intensely focused on discrediting former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV in the days after he wrote an op-ed article for the New York Times suggesting the administration manipulated intelligence to justify going to war in Iraq, federal investigators have been told.
Prosecutors investigating whether administration officials illegally leaked the identity of Wilson’s wife, a CIA officer who had worked undercover, have been told that Bush’s top political strategist, Karl Rove, and Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, were especially intent on undercutting Wilson’s credibility, according to people familiar with the inquiry.
Although lower-level White House staffers typically handle most contacts with the media, Rove and Libby began personally communicating with reporters about Wilson, prosecutors were told.
A source directly familiar with information provided to prosecutors said Rove’s interest was so strong that it prompted questions in the White House. When asked at one point why he was pursuing the diplomat so aggressively, Rove reportedly responded: “He’s a Democrat.”