jc blog - tales of a modern-day nomadic hunter-gatherer

Follow jcomeau_ictx on Twitter This is the weblog of Intrepid Wanderer. You never know what you might find here; graphic descriptions of bodily functions, computer programming secrets, proselytizing for the antichrist, miscellaneous ranting and kvetching, valuable information on living off the land... if you don't share my rather weird interests you may want to try slashdot instead.

You can consider my Del.icio.us links an extension to my blog, as are my LifeTango goals and my other to-do items. My to-buy list is also public, but only for sharing any useful ideas that might be there; I'm not requesting charity, neither do I offer it.

You can find me easily in google searches, as jcomeau, jcomeau_ictx, or jcomeauictx. There are lots of other jcomeaus, but AFAIK I'm the only jcomeau_ictx out there so far.

If you want to comment on anything you see here, try the new Facebook comments, reachable by clicking the "[comment]" link at the end of each post. If for some reason that isn't working, go ahead and email me, jc.unternet.net. You know what to do with the first dot. Make the 'subject' line something reasonably intelligent-looking or it goes plunk! into the spambasket unread.

This RSS feed may or may not work. Haven't fiddled with it in forever. RSS Feed


2012-08-31-0108Z

A guy, Morgan, who goes by the playa name Kiro, recognized me from last year. He thinks I should volunteer for gate, since I already have "the look" with my all-black clothing and handheld transceiver.

Took me hours to cook my dinner tonight, but with luck the coals will last until tomorrow. A couple of people were quite impressed with my Bushbuddy Ultra.

Took the Ubiquiti feedhorn over to Airship Victoria today about 5PM, and Ralf configured it with his little netbook. He had turned off the autoconfigurator earlier because he thought everyone who was hooking in had already done so. HOTD now has screaming fast Internet as well as being the best bar on the playa. [comment]

2012-08-29-1834Z

Silly rockhound sayings:

"I may be stubborn as a rock, but don't take me for granite."

"Thought it was gneiss, but it was just a piece of schist."

"What's that rock?" "Leaverite; you just leaverite there."

"Sex rock: just another fuckin' rock." [comment]

2012-08-29-1649Z

The Freedom movement lost a major battle yesterday when the Romney RNC stole the nomination from Ron Paul. The GOP is now an empty shell, a stinking corpse with Mitt Romney the angel of death animating it as a gruesome parody of what it once was in the days of Lincoln and Eisenhower.

However, we will not be defeated. Gary Johnson should still be on the ballot in all 50 states, and if that battle should also fail, we still have our courage, our guns, and our love of freedom over life itself.

We will not surrender. We will not forget. We may someday forgive, but we'd goddamned well better be given some good reasons to do so, and pronto.

[comment]

2012-08-29-0454Z

Tried a PF Chang's for the first time, the one in Reno. Tuesday night, place was almost empty, but still the receptionist wanted us to wait 10 minutes for a table. We said no, 5 minutes, she said OK. We ordered, and the waiter brought our food but no silverware; I didn't notice, but when my lady came back with her sweater she noticed, and went back in to tell the waiter. Food was OK: the crab fried rice, Singapore street noodles, and a large side of brussels sprouts. Got out of there for under $40 including tip. Oh yeah, rather annoying music too. Probably won't do that again. [comment]

2012-08-29-0003Z

I was jogging down Hill Blvd. this morning with the sun right in my eyes, so I decided, since I couldn't see for shit anyway, to close my eyes for 10 steps at a time. It worked the first time, and a second, but on the third or fourth my foot landed in a crack in the asphalt and I hit the pavement. Limped over to the sidewalk and massaged my ankle for a minute or two. It felt OK so I got up and jogged the rest of the way downtown. Very grateful. [comment]

2012-08-27-0315Z

These deadly weapons are ridiculously easy to buy. Almost anyone can get a permit to use one. And 40,000 Americans are killed by them each year, with hundreds of thousands injured. I'm talking, of course, about automobiles.

Now, I know that most of you drivers are careful and conscientious about where you aim your weapons. But I'm sure you see that just the proliferation of these dangerous tools makes everybody less secure. So, effective immediately, no citizen may operate a motor vehicle weighing more than 500 pounds GVW, and all gas tanks must be modified to hold no more than 500ml, roughly a pint, of gasoline or diesel. This still allows some motorcycles and experimental vehicles, so nobody should feel terribly inconvenienced. After all, we have a right to feel safe and secure, don't we? Thank you all very much for understanding.

[comment]

2012-08-25-0233Z

Many Ron Paul supporters, ranging from disappointed to furious at Romney and the RNC for stealing the nomination from the single most proven, principled, righteous constitutionalist contender for POTUS, are intent on writing him in. I applaud this. If Ron is the one candidate who best represents your viewpoint, this may well be the best thing for you and for the country.

However, there are other options, at least one of which is voting for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee. He's not as clued in as Ron on non-aggression principles, and he is reputed to have expressed support for NAFTA, war on Kony, and other CFR initiatives, which for some libertarians is a deal-breaker. At the same time, Gary has shown he knows how to use a veto pen to enforce a budget, and as governor of New Mexico turned a huge deficit into a billion-dollar surplus during his two terms. He supports legalization of marijuana, which will end a huge part of the failed drug war. He has promised to end the current interventionist wars and bring the troops home. He supports passage of the Fair Tax, an improvement over the Flat Tax which has a "prebate" for necessities, making it progressive. The Fair Tax ends the IRS and replaces both Federal income tax and corporate taxes with a single consumption tax, added into the price of all new goods and services.

Please consider casting your vote for Gary Johnson who, despite Romney's hardball tactics, should be on the ballot in all 50 states in November. And if you cannot do that, then by all means write in Ron Paul, even if that vote will not be counted, as is the case in California. For freedom!

[comment]

2012-08-23-0440Z

Someone from the bm-wifi list just gave me the answer that I needed: instead of holding in the reset button, then plugging in POE, first plug in POE and let it fully boot. Then hold in reset until the LEDs change, about 8 seconds, and let it reboot. It will be restored to factory defaults, with an IP address of 192.168.1.20. I did it; no good. But fired up windump, and saw that the Cisco Discovery Protocol packets now had the default device name in them, rather than "burningsilicon" which is what I was using last burn. Pinged 192.168.1.20 and it responded! I'm good to go. WLAN0 MAC is 00:27:22:1E:FD:37, and LAN0 MAC is 00:27:22:1F:FD:37.

The other problem was corroded Ethernet terminals on the NanoBridge horn itself, and on the POE adapter. Cleaned them with my smallest slotted jeweler's screwdriver to get rid of the packet loss during tftp. [comment]

2012-08-22-0402Z

Debian equivalent of rpm -Va: debsums -ca. So far it found /etc/apache2/sites-available/default, but I also need to find files that aren't part of any package, or that don't have md5sums (just got a warning for hibernate), so going to have to keep digging.

[comment]

2012-08-19-1934Z

Trying Yerba Mate as a bittering agent in my primitive brews, about 1 tbsp of the crushed dried leaf in a nylon mesh bag stuck into the top of the 1/2 gallon apple-juice bottle I use for brewing and carbonation. Enough leaches out at ambient temperature to give a zing to the brew. I can't really call it "beer" though.

[comment]

2012-08-19-1826Z

I'm developing a hypothesis about the nature of the insanity of the world's rulers, the insanity mentioned by John Lennon in a famous quote.

It has to do with a Disney-esque desire to remain in perpetual childhood, with no danger, maybe just comic-book style frights. Definitely no guns allowed. No killing animals, eeewww. Just give me my steak medium-rare please.

The sad part is, so many people not part of the ruling class have bought into the same myth, as George Mardikian noted on arrival from Armenia, documented in his book Song of America.

[comment]

2012-08-17-1107Z

Awoke from a dream in which I was living in some huge, sprawling house with a mud floor, perhaps a greenhouse of sorts, and I was running through the rooms seeing something like pawprints of a strange animal. After a while, I noticed that they were actually fruits, when I saw a less-ripe piece of vine appearing to be like Carpobrotus but with red-and-green splotchy succulent fruits appearing every few inches along the vine. The fruit was shaped vaguely like a crab's claw.

I had the strange notion that I should write this down because it ties in somehow with what I was trying to remember from last night's dream but I can't recall what. I get a vague recollection of some kind of fruit tree, but that might not be it. I wonder if any primitive peoples survived mainly on fruit. [comment]

2012-08-16-1741Z

In one of last night's dreams I was part of some military group in a playa similar to the Black Rock Desert area. One of the guys had what looked like an inflatable pontoon with black fabric wings attached. He got a running start and jumped with it, and flew about 3 feet off the ground for a couple hundred yards. I was impressed in the dream, but on awakening realized it must be one of those low-G worlds I'm always visiting.

In another dream, I was starting at a school or a job, can't remember which, and was given the use of one of their computers for training purposes. It had a thumbprint-sized black rectangular Restart button just NW of the center of the screen, and on powerup that always had to be pressed to get to something useful; I was thinking how sloppy the engineering was.

There was something else more important from that second set of dreams that I was sure I would remember, but of course it evaporated. [comment]

2012-08-15-2231Z

Just got back to Petaluma a few minutes ago. Caught a late bus to SR last night and tried to find my way to Forestville but got lost and went around in a big circle. Finally found the Joe Rodota trail and walked it to Sebastopol, took the morning bus to Graton, found the West County trail and got to Forestville around 0800.

Found a new Dollar Tree store in Petaluma on my return. [comment]

2012-08-15-2011Z

Got on the bus in Forestville, connected to the wifi and the page came up saying the service was temporarily unavailable due to "normal bus movement". After nothing had changed by the time we reached Graton, I called the 1-866 number to report it. The lady who answered asked for my name, and I asked "why? I just want you to fix it." [comment]

2012-08-13-2317Z

We are already in a police state. It may not have "trickled down" to where you live yet, but count on it, it'll get there.

No, I don't have proof that the DoJ is behind all this, but connect the dots: Seattle, Oakland, Anaheim, NYC, Miami, and dozens of cities in between. As the old saw goes about hammers and nails: when you're dressed for battle, everything starts looking like an act of war. And thanks to the militarization of our nation's local police forces by agencies of the US Government, war is what we are getting. [comment]

2012-08-13-1820Z

In the middle of the night, somebody was holding down my shoulders while somebody else was squeezing my balls. It took all my effort to cry out for help, and as soon as I did I woke up, gasping for breath. Took a while to get back to sleep. [comment]

2012-08-12-2110Z

Yesterday found the hidden entrance to the West County Trail in Forestville, and jogged it today as far as the 116/Occidental intersection.

Trying to get some cash, but can't access RCU online because they have a problem with their cert, and can't set my Discover PIN because they require a Flash plugin to do it, and all I brought is my iTouch. Guess I'm out of luck; might have to walk back. [comment]

2012-08-10-1903Z

Forgot to mention I found lotecnotectu partway down Hill Blvd. just the day after reporting it missing. Apparently someone had joyridden it down the hill and abandoned it after breaking the wheels of the Magnacart.

Survived the whitewater rafting. Suprised myself at how well I could follow orders. [comment]

2012-08-08-2124Z

Stopped at Fremont Diner in Sonoma, something I'd been wanting to do since I passed it on my way here almost 3 years ago. Shared the brisket plate with a side of homemade potato chips and a bottle of Anchor Steam. Excellent, and the Linksys Intergalactic Network maintains an AP nearby. [comment]

2012-08-08-0519Z

Not enchanted at all with HenHouse Saison. Tastes like an IPA to me, hoppy with light malts. Can't taste the black pepper and coriander at all.

Itching is back to just the balls, no more rash on the upper body. Weird stuff, I don't know what to make of it. And I go for hours with no itch at all. [comment]

2012-08-06-0012Z

Lotecnotectu was carried off while we were away paddling today. It doesn't look good for me ever developing a larger kinetic sculpture. [comment]

2012-08-05-0558Z

The itching hasn't abated since quitting wheat a few days ago, so I'm going to go back to eating bread. At first it seemed that it was helping, though.

Making constant batches of my malt soda (or near beer) by pouring extra malt syrup into the 1/2 gallon apple-juice bottle I use for brewing. Only enough dissolves to maintain a saturated solution, and I pour that off into my "drinking" bottle and refill the brewing bottle.

One of the houses on English Street has an overgrown lawn with weeds that look different from anything else I've seen nearby: maple-shaped leaves fuzzy underneath, almost white. Turns out they might be hibiscus, which are edible. If it's drought-tolerant, which sure seems to be the case, they might be good to transplant around other places in town. [comment]

2012-08-03-2046Z

I tested out my minimalist sleeping pad last night: one flat pad under each buttock, one semicircular pad under my lumbar region, another semicircular under my neck, and a flat right below that. Woke up an hour or two later in some pain. Need more flats along the spine, for sure.

Need to find a way to stay off Facebook. Any ideas? [comment]

2012-08-03-0227Z

Celebrating life with a HenHouse Oyster Stout, a tasty beverage made right here in Petaluma. Nothing too remarkable about it, but a damned fine stout.

David Codrea's news on the Reese family isn't as good as hoped but far from as bad as it could have been with a less enlightened jury. Let's hope they get the remaining charges dismissed on appeal.

Simon Black, AKA Sovereign Man, gives us insight into a little island hideaway where, if we can get to it, we can start a new, freer life when things fall apart here in the US. Though I consider myself a 3 percenter, I want a backup plan in case the public sentiment is overwhelmingly in favor of a police state. I believe in freedom but, to paraphrase Mencken, not enough to want to force it upon those who don't want it.

A man pissed off with a bullshit marijuana charge smashes up most of Burlington, VT's police vehicles. Such hotheadedness will not get us anywhere, but it is perfectly understandable and kudos to the guy for not injuring or killing anybody.

Made some chicharrones yesterday out of the brined pork belly meat I picked up at Tara Firma the day of my 6-mile jog. Too salty but still good.

[comment]

2012-08-02-1350Z

On awakening, my mind connected the dots of my itching, which started in the shower a few weeks ago and turned into a rash a few weeks after that -- the fact that I switched to using almost-scalding water for showers a few months ago -- the use of sweat lodges by Northern California indians, and their immunity to poison oak. Now to investigate if those ties are real, and how it all actually works. [comment]

2012-08-01-0708Z

Been avoiding wheat the past few days to see if my itching and rash may be due to a wheat allergy. The itching has for sure abated somewhat. Will keep monitoring.

The ruling class seems to be stepping up the attack, as evidenced by what happened in Anaheim and Manchester, and to various friends of friends on Facebook. Benjamin Fulford has updated his blog after several days of silence, but nothing earth-shattering. [comment]

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