Chaos Magnet

On eBay, Skype, and the death of Google

I just posted some remarks on why I think we're seeing the very beginning of the end for Google.

Goodbyes

My son just called from the old neighborhood. He's leaving for the Army today. We've known this was coming for some time now. We fought, when he first signed up, but not because I didn't want him to go -- though I didn't -- but because I wanted him to wait until he graduated from high school to make his decision. But we've come to terms now.

He took us out to dinner last week. (Or rather, he invited us to dinner and I paid for it.) He waited until we were in a restaurant to tell us that his unit was shipping out to the Middle East next spring. I'm sure he expected some kind of scene. There was, of course, none. My wife and I have resigned ourselves. Before he left -- just before he left, from the sound coming through the phone of the car telling him the keys were in the ignition and the door was open -- I told him that no matter what, I was proud of him. I meant it.

I sit and I think about all of those recruiters who target children. And they are children, whether they've reached the age of majority or not. I remember so clearly what I was like at 19, raising a family, thinking I knew everything, really knowing nothing. I think that recruiters have to do that. Because very few people would take on the very necessary job of becoming a soldier if they knew what it really meant.

Our baby is gone. Please G-d, let him come back in one piece. Physically and mentally. But even if he does -- no, when he does -- he still won't be our baby any more.

Recruiters aren't the only ones who get them young. It's no accident that you have children before you know any better. Because if you knew what that really meant, you wouldn't do that either.

Be safe, Sean. We love you.

And we're back

Sorry for the delay, I know it's been awhile since I updated over here. My web host wrote to tell me that my Movable Type database user was occupying 60 locked connections and that if I didn't want to be forced to upgrade to a dedicated server, I was going to have to dig through the software and figure out where it wasn't closing database connections.

Yeah, right.

So I disabled the user temporarily instead, and it took me a little while, but I finally have gotten around to upgrading to Movable Type 3. There was that little mishap in which I forgot to on comment the database driver in the configuration file, but that's all taken care of now. I'll let you know how it goes.

On the bright side, the dictation system is working out much better than I expected it to. Recognition has gotten noticeably better, although I've discovered that I do have certain speech patterns that I never suspected. For example, I apparently pronounce "will" and "we'll” exactly the same. And when I'm really tired, I apparently mumble more than I thought I do. I just have to remember to proof carefully, something I didn't generally have to do when I was typing. But overall, it's going very well. I was able to dictate this post without wanting to throw the computer out the window, so that's an improvement.

Which is good, because the arthritis is really getting bad. Hopefully I'll get to a doctor soon.

Anyway, things should be getting back on an even keel now. Or at least as even a keel as a chaos magnet can be on.

This is a test

It is only a test. Had this been a real blog entry, you would have been given information on where to go and what to do. This is only a test.

Thank you.