A Day of Weirdness
15 March 2007
19:40
16 March 2007
0634
Look at serial killers - a science all its own now. Still, a scary one (I happen to have done a lot of reading about it. It is really creepy stuff). But while the phenomenon still seems new, it is not. Jack the Ripper of course was one of the first documented but humans have been running around a long, long time... and so it is reasonable to say that serial killers have as well. Look at the winning parties of wars - many were not called that, but they certainly practised it with great enthusiasm!
It had been raining with ice pellets (it was on that call) but now there is snow on the ground and roof next door and so winter is back. Someone at work said that he or she thought winter was over and this warm set of days was the hint that it was done. I responded that we are easily known for seeing snow in April - I have seen enough to know and blizzards happen in April as well - it is only mid-March so it never occurred to me that winter gasped its last breath for the 2006-2007 season just yet. As overall warm as it may have been this season, it is not over just yet. Clearly! It might actually drop 8 - 12 inches on us!
I love this scene - NORAD is closing up and there is a door shutting that is easly six feet thick and shutting for the long haul (the government reached DEFCON 1 - full scale war. Scary. The door is incredible - I wonder if that is really what it looks like and if they still have it. I guess that they do - North Korea and some Middle Eastern countries have nuclear warheads. It is scary, but gods above, I would like to think that even the most insane minds in those countries realise the futility of such a tactical move. I hope!
Everything outside is just varying shades of grey. Chariusco, I think it is called. Two days ago I drove home from work with the windows down, sunroof open and music paying. It was a lovely drive - daylight, warm sun... and now it is snowing. I knew winter was over but really, we had all four season in a twelve hour period!
James Woods is in this movie and he is delightful. His brother, or relative of some kind, John Woods, is also wonderful, but not as much - he was in "Lady Hawke", a cheesy, yet good, movie. That was one of the earliest movies with Michelle Pfeiffer in it. So was Rutger Hauer (yum!) as Etienne Navarre. She was a woman under a curse to spend dusk to dawn as Isabeau but dawn to dusk... as a hawk. And he was the opposite but cursed to spend dusk to dawn as a wolf. Until one day that the curse could be broken - a day without night and a night without day.
An eclipse. A solar eclipse.
At this point, the computer is going through every possible global thermonuclear war scenario and there is an explosion of lights and sound and fury and then suddenly there is deafening silence as the computer has exhausted every possible outcome. And then...
"Hello, Professor Falken."
"Hello, Joshua."
"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
So true.
19:40
It has been a day.
It was not an abnormal day - not until after rig check. I got up, I went to work, I did a lot at work. I actually did a whole lot at work - I was lavishly complimented today by several people. It was a good day but it was weird... I'm very tired, very warn out. I have worked every Saturday but one for the last six or seven weeks and I don't mind putting in the time, I love my job, but I need a rest. And a three day weekend is just the ticket! But the tank is running empty... and some of my conversations reflected it. And now - again - my mother is in the hospital.
Now, that just sucks. I mean, really, really sucks. They are supposed to be going to Las Vegas on Monday, but with her having a TIA it seems like they won't be boarding a plane. I certainly can't say I feel sanguine about it. A highly pressurised cabin with a possible brain problem is just NOT a good idea. I can't be the only one thinking that. (Maybe I am, but only because I understand the physics at work in an airplane...) Still. The doctor must know that, too. I suspect they will have to put off their trip.
Ironically Luis told me he is going to Las Vegas in May, and I believe I know where I am taking my vacation! Las Vegas, baby! I think that might upset my parents, but I don't know. It's funny. I spent a large chunk of time looking at various flights last night and mentioned it to Luis that flights across the country were nearly half as cheap as ones to Nova Scotia, just up the coast. Weird. Not to Luis - he suggested that flights to remote strange places are more expensive. Oh... So let me check that out. He was right! $243 to go to Vegas...
It was not an abnormal day - not until after rig check. I got up, I went to work, I did a lot at work. I actually did a whole lot at work - I was lavishly complimented today by several people. It was a good day but it was weird... I'm very tired, very warn out. I have worked every Saturday but one for the last six or seven weeks and I don't mind putting in the time, I love my job, but I need a rest. And a three day weekend is just the ticket! But the tank is running empty... and some of my conversations reflected it. And now - again - my mother is in the hospital.
Now, that just sucks. I mean, really, really sucks. They are supposed to be going to Las Vegas on Monday, but with her having a TIA it seems like they won't be boarding a plane. I certainly can't say I feel sanguine about it. A highly pressurised cabin with a possible brain problem is just NOT a good idea. I can't be the only one thinking that. (Maybe I am, but only because I understand the physics at work in an airplane...) Still. The doctor must know that, too. I suspect they will have to put off their trip.
Ironically Luis told me he is going to Las Vegas in May, and I believe I know where I am taking my vacation! Las Vegas, baby! I think that might upset my parents, but I don't know. It's funny. I spent a large chunk of time looking at various flights last night and mentioned it to Luis that flights across the country were nearly half as cheap as ones to Nova Scotia, just up the coast. Weird. Not to Luis - he suggested that flights to remote strange places are more expensive. Oh... So let me check that out. He was right! $243 to go to Vegas...
16 March 2007
0634
Well... it's always hard to sleep on nights I'm on call. We had one call in Montville last night (for a change we were not the primary crew for them, although that would be surprising on a Thursday. Very often we end up being the primary on Saturday - they have trouble mustering a crew on Saturday). But this time, one of our crew members saw the Montville rig heading down Route 46 West with the medics in tow. So they were out - turns out they had an ETOH, except that there was no smell alcohol or indication of actual intoxication other than behavioural. They were checking the blood sugar levels last I heard (gotta love the police there - very friendly).
I'm watching WarGames. Remember that movie? It was made in 1983 - back when I was a sophomore - when modems were phone cradles that you had to put your phone into. There was a tone then that computers recognised and wouold communicate with them, but this was a very slow thing - a lot less than 96kbps/per second - maybe it was per minute. It was high technology then to have a set up like that - when floppies were the 10"x10" (I think that was the standard. It was before 5.4" and then the 3" floppies). I do remember that. I had a high school friend who had this whole set up - the computer with the monocolour screen and the phone cradle (I don't think that they were called modems at that time) and even a drawing pad with a stylus. It was really slow but pretty amazing. They had bulletinboards at the time, listings with various interests that you could look at and call up information. The systems were not GUI or WYSIWYG - Graphical User Interface or What You See Is What You Get. (Hey, I may not be anywhere near Luis' or Tom's level but I know and recall a fair amount!) The Internet existed then but not for common use - it was still a military interface system at that time. But computers did communicate however slowly at the time and users had the ability to hack into them with much more ease. This one hacked into the NORAD system (Joshua) and was playing Global Thermonuclear War (shiver).
I wonder what Joshua would think of Grand Theft Auto and the other common use games that are now available for any ten-year-old to learn all the wrong life-lessons...
It's a great movie, although it certainly showcased the issues of the time - the cold war with Russia was still quite strong. The USSR (CCCP) did not disband until 1990. I suspect most kids today might know of the cold war, but I remember the fears of Russian warheads - just as my mother remembers air raids and my grandfather knew the fear of the Japanese. A time not so long ago. Not for someone who is 40, who is 66, who would have been 100. Look at what my Director of Security knows. He fought in a war. My grandfather did, too. I know Luis' grandfather did. War has not changed so much, other than the toys used to make it happen. Did you know the first war was recorded in 2700BC or 2700 BCE? War-making... we have been doing this for five thousand years and it seems to be the one thing humanity does well, after all this time.
Disappointing. I get that humanity is violent but I keep hoping that wiser heads will prevail. I suppose, despite President Bush, we still are somewhat ahead. I can dis Bush online and not worry that I will be killed or taken away for saying my opinion (although I'd have to say that it is no longer merely opinion that Bush is an idiot but really more a statement of fact). I won't even be fired for saying such things. In many countries, heresy is still illegal and considered an offense. I cannot imagine that. So I guess some wisdom has crept in and remained. But mostly, violence still exists and we have more and more knowledge of the kinds of violence that man can perpetuate against fellow man.
Look at serial killers - a science all its own now. Still, a scary one (I happen to have done a lot of reading about it. It is really creepy stuff). But while the phenomenon still seems new, it is not. Jack the Ripper of course was one of the first documented but humans have been running around a long, long time... and so it is reasonable to say that serial killers have as well. Look at the winning parties of wars - many were not called that, but they certainly practised it with great enthusiasm!
It had been raining with ice pellets (it was on that call) but now there is snow on the ground and roof next door and so winter is back. Someone at work said that he or she thought winter was over and this warm set of days was the hint that it was done. I responded that we are easily known for seeing snow in April - I have seen enough to know and blizzards happen in April as well - it is only mid-March so it never occurred to me that winter gasped its last breath for the 2006-2007 season just yet. As overall warm as it may have been this season, it is not over just yet. Clearly! It might actually drop 8 - 12 inches on us!
I love this scene - NORAD is closing up and there is a door shutting that is easly six feet thick and shutting for the long haul (the government reached DEFCON 1 - full scale war. Scary. The door is incredible - I wonder if that is really what it looks like and if they still have it. I guess that they do - North Korea and some Middle Eastern countries have nuclear warheads. It is scary, but gods above, I would like to think that even the most insane minds in those countries realise the futility of such a tactical move. I hope!
Everything outside is just varying shades of grey. Chariusco, I think it is called. Two days ago I drove home from work with the windows down, sunroof open and music paying. It was a lovely drive - daylight, warm sun... and now it is snowing. I knew winter was over but really, we had all four season in a twelve hour period!
James Woods is in this movie and he is delightful. His brother, or relative of some kind, John Woods, is also wonderful, but not as much - he was in "Lady Hawke", a cheesy, yet good, movie. That was one of the earliest movies with Michelle Pfeiffer in it. So was Rutger Hauer (yum!) as Etienne Navarre. She was a woman under a curse to spend dusk to dawn as Isabeau but dawn to dusk... as a hawk. And he was the opposite but cursed to spend dusk to dawn as a wolf. Until one day that the curse could be broken - a day without night and a night without day.
An eclipse. A solar eclipse.
At this point, the computer is going through every possible global thermonuclear war scenario and there is an explosion of lights and sound and fury and then suddenly there is deafening silence as the computer has exhausted every possible outcome. And then...
"Hello, Professor Falken."
"Hello, Joshua."
"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
So true.
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