Standard Mischief

I has it.

I can always tell I’ve been exercising and burning gobs more calories than I take in because I wake up with insomnia at something crazy like 4:30 AM. I had the same exact issue when I was on this awful low fat diet and when I’m on a typical backpacking trip.

I’ve been doing these epic (for me) bike rides lately, and as far as I can discover on the tubez of web, I’m burning at least an extra 500 calories per hour. A couple hours of that, and it totally kills my appetite. It sounds like an easy way to lose weight, but I really have to force myself to eat so I can continue to exercise without bonking. There is also a touch of nausea with the appetite loss, and I get weird food cravings. Last night it was pepperoncini, half of a jar.

If I was Xavier, I’d probably tell you about what deal I’ve scored recently while darking the door at Neil’s pawnshop. I’d likely discuss the minutia and condition of my latest project. But I’m not Xaviar, I don’t think I can pull off writing in that style personally, and telling a story like that would require pictures. Have I mentioned that it’s 4:30 AM? Besides, my current ride was made in China, with only a scantest bit of minutia. Perhaps later.

As for now the question of the hour is, shall I seek out a breakfast loaded with protein and (hopefully healthy) fat, and then crash until noonish, or seek out caffeine and a nibble and call it “being up for the day”?

Time to put your money where you mouth is. Say Uncle has a post up detailing three groups fighting to have your preexisting right of self-defense recognized by the goverment at the federal, state, and local level.*

I was originally going to show photo of a highly redacted money order, but I’m a little lazy this morning to rush out and buy one. A regular old check might blow my secret identity. Since the second rule of blogging is pictures or it didn’t happen, I’m unsure of what to do. Perhaps a screencap (carefully redacted) of my online billpay sending a check?

(I wasn’t quite this generous. I’d say why but no whining.)

Anyway, out of the three, I’d have to say that the Illinois State Rifle Association hasn’t quite got this pass-the-hat thingy down yet. Not only do they make you jump through some hoops (create a online account to use their online shopping cart, and perhaps a few more steps I didn’t bother to investigate like an email verification before you get the privilege of sending them money), but they really need a donate button on their home page. Seriously, have a link on your home page that leads to an address so that when someone gets the urge, they can just write you a check and mail the damn thing. Ditto for a pay pal button. Online shopping carts are annoying enough at amazon.com, I’m not going to register another unique password just to pick one “donation” item from your one item store.

I picked the NRA-ILA this time because I made a promise to myself to stop donating until the NRA gets on the ball and does something to win individual rights back. While the win in D.C. v. Heller actually doesn’t directly affect anyone not living in the District, no one can say it’s not a watershed moment. Everything from here on out will build on Heller.

* Self-defense and other related rights.

I was driving around last night listening to WTOP news radio station. There was a short segment about a “new computer language” called IPv6, and how it could be used to track “hackers” back, not just to their neighborhoods, not just to a specific house, but to a palmtop in a hacker’s pocket.

I then managed to spend an obscene amount of time on the web trying unsuccessfully to find that quote that says something like “everything you hear on the news is absolutely true, except for the one story that you have first hand knowledge about”.

Since the first rule of blogging is that pointing out the blunders of the Mainstream Media never, ever gets old, I just had to write about it. I’m just disappointed that WTOP doesn’t have transcripts on their website.

I’m sure the reporter spent a good five minutes trying to understand that IPv6 is a protocol that computers use to talk to each other, so it must be a “computer language”. Then he swallowed completely what the pro-IPv6 Washington based talking head guy said about tracing “hackers” back to their vest pockets.

WTOP reporter guy: While it’s true that IPv6 does allow for many more unique IP addresses, so many that it’s practical for every single phone, palmtop, and PDA, (and Microwave, MythTV box, and MAME cabinet), to have it’s very own unique IPv6 address, this will not in any way doom Private networks, nor will it end the use of zombie computers or botnets or proxy servers. It won’t magically end spam by letting us trace it back to it’s source. People in the know will still be able to forge address headers and spoof return addresses. It’s merely the suggested “cure” for IP address exhaustion.

But hey, if it sells more sanitary tees for the Federal Government and it’s contractors’ tubez of int3rwebz, I suppose he figures that is a good thing.