August 30,2006  More Moron Mania
 
Performance-emarketing.com of Austin Texas is still a totally unethical spammer. They give an address on a farm or rural road near Austin. I don't think they know that Austin is only two hours from my Texas property....I may have to pay them a visit next time I'm down there. See my previous comment here
 
I have in the past lamented over my horrible misfortune of having a total moron move in next door to me. However the Moron Alert has been bumped up from a yellow level to an orange level and is closing on red.
 
Mrs. moron paid me a visit this past week, on my back porch, bitching about the fact that there was broken glass shards along our property line. I quickly pointed out that the moron family's eldest son (6 years of age) was a spoiled moron/vandal/brat who ran over the driveway markers I used to delineate my property line in one of his two electric vehicles... one a ride-in jeep and the other a ride-on tractor. He broke the glass and the wire-frame holders! The markers were placed on recommendation of my real estate pals in preparation of selling this place, particularly since the moron kids spread their toys over a several acre area despite the moron's lot is only 1/2 acre.
 
Mrs. moron began a tirade about her precious children possibly being cut by the glass. I reiterated that it wouldn't be broken glass if they controlled their 6-yr-old vandal moron. She continued to shriek, and I slammed the door in Mrs. shrieking moron's face.
 
Now, I can understand a mother's concern for her offspring, but I don't believe that it applies in this instance. For example, the toddler moron fell into the lake and wasn't found by the parents until several neighbors went to his aid. On another occasion, the neighbor on the far back lot discovered the toddler moron on his tricycle over an eighth of a mile from home...none of the moron family missed him.
 
Yet on another occasion I heard shrieking and crying fom the moron's garage. After 15 minutes of this continous cacaphony and no parental involvment, I went over to see what was up. A kid who was a guest and bigger than the moron kids was being a bully. He caused the oldest moron boy to take a heavy tumble on his bike. The smallest moron boy was shrieking sympathetically. The youngest, at about two years of age, screams like a little girl to get attention, and shows no prospect of speaking...I feel saddest for him). I admonished the bully and checked on the two moron boys to make certain they were OK and returned to my house. (I was later blamed for interfering!) Does this sound like the concerned mothering of a devoted moron parent?
 
I've lived here 34 years and have gotten along with almost everybody over those years. Until these new morons, moneyed and from Illinois, have invaded the Northwoods of Wisconsin with their "Me First" mentality. They don't love and respect the area that I (and many long-term residents) do, but rather, change it into their own crazy suburban aborition of a Dr. Suess fantasy land. Since they don't like my simple, decorative markers, I wonder how'd they'd like an 8-ft wooden privacy fence! Of course, the way I feel about MS-Windows, the fence would have No Gates.
 
On a brighter note, a lot of work has been accomplished here recently, mainly due to mom being a slave-driver and task-master. Necessary things are getting done, my back is getting stronger without most of the pain I once had and I'm losing weight again!
 
Until later.....DKHT

August 17, 2006  Good News, Bad News, Hackers and Hummers
 
The good news is that my mother arrived from Texas for a three week stay on Wednesday. She had moved to her old home town of Wichita Falls one-and-a-half years ago to avoid the cold Wisconsin winter weather. Unfortunately she got there in time for one of the longest dry spells and record-breaking heat this part of North Texas has seen.
 
So, she was happy to come to a cooler climate where we have had decent rains and everything has greened-up quite nicely. Some of mom's friends are holding a party/luncheon for her next week, and my aunt and cousin from Illinois are coming up the following weekend. So lots of visiting should be enjoyable for her.
 
Other good news is that the water table is beginning to rise after several years of being the lowest in recorded history.
 
On the bad news front is one major spamming company that has been selling one of my alternate email addresses to a wide variety of it's customers despite my repeated attempts at using their unsubscribe services.
 
The company in question is Performance-emarketing.com of Austin Texas. They claim to honor anti-spam philosophies, practices and standards. They provide an unsubscribe link in all emails and promise to remove your email address from their database in 24 to 48 hours. Unfortunately, this is one of those outfits that appears to use it's non-functioning unsubscribe offer to validate your email and send you even more spam. Obviously, these are totally unscrupulous people whose on-screen content is a lie. The links to their actual clients are shrouded via javascript forcing even more verification of your email address. Clients are primarily mortgage reduction, online degree, get out of debt and similar ecommerce firms. At least they don't profile effectively since I haven'y had a mortgage in over 18 years, I have never been indebted (at least not financially), and I long-ago earned a much higher degree than they offer!
 
I keep adding filters identifying the client emails as spam and reporting them as such to the email account providers. I'm keeping a list of the clients, and once I can determine appropriate addressses for them, I will notify them that their continued use of Performance-eMarketing.com will result in their company being placed on a blackball list to be published on my Spammer's Hit List. However, Performance-emarketing.com is only identified in graphics, so it can't even be listed in a content block
 
Over the years I have had various feelings about hackers. Those who hack to destroy something good for their own joy are scum. But I've admired the knowledge, ability and creativity of some hackers. Hackers could use their talents for good. Why don't hackers attack spammers! The spammers are responsible for needlessly using excessive bandwith and resources to the dismay of the recipients and all 'net users. Some spray paint "taggers" moved on to do legitimate murals and true works of art. Why can't hacking eliminate the unwanted exploiters? Legitimate businesses deserve a place on the commercial end of the internet, but their presence shoud be offered and not forced. Power to Hackers For Good... H4G.
 
On other fronts... I have four hummingbird feeders out and probably should put out a fifth. The local hummers are stocking up for their long flight south and travellers from further north are arriving daily. I wonder if they have some kind of hummingbird hotline that tells transients where the food is? The first locals will leave in the next few weeks. The ones from further north will be passing by the end of the next four weeks. Their leaving marks the end of summer, the arrival of fall, and another winter.
 
Until later.....DKHT

August 9, 2006  Cash Flow
 
It's been an expensive week. GeoTruk needed an oil change. I use one of those 21 point fast lube places that has given me excellent service over the years (actually, I use one in Minocqua and one in Wichita Falls, depending on where I'm at). The full service package with an extra quart of oil now costs about $30. But the cabin filters were totally shot, so there went another $37. By the time tax was added I had a $75 bill that I wasn't quite prepared for.
 
I swung by one of the gas stations, making certain that they had competitive prices. Most stations were charging $3.20 per gallon for 87 octane, but a few were already up to $3.26. This is the third highest price in the state and among the highest in the nation. Word is that the prices will again skyrocket. It seems that all the oil companies have to do is invent some new crisis and announce it to the media and Ka-Boom, the gas stations send their fastest workers out to change the signs while the oil executives wring their hands with glee over windfall profits that will fund their salaries and golden parachutes and please their already rich stockholders. Anyway, it cost $48 to top off GeoTruk's half full tank.
 
Next I stopped at the local ACE hardware to pick up a couple of bags of softener salt. Two 40 lb bags cost $14! I had to assume that high fuel prices had caused the severe price increase. However, when I later stopped by WalMart, the very same salt cost would've cost $7.
 
On to the Grocery stores. I've been trying to stock up on food while it's on sale in preparation for my mother's 3 week visit. Still my normal $60 to $75 grocery bill has been topping $100 recently. Add to that my Netrition order for special low-carb foods at $50.
 
Then there was the cost of the second half of the state property tax bill at just under $2000. Oh yeah, household bills were also due this week. Satellite TV, electric power, telephone and various credit card payments totalled around $350.
 
I did manage to make some deals, 'though. I responded to an online survey a while back and received a $5 gift certificate for Amazon.com. So I ordered two dvd's and a Route 66 map set. I used the free shipping offer. At WalMart I found 3 dvd's in the $5.50 bin that were treasures. Out of the five dvd's, four replaced older VHS tapes that have been my favorites. The final one was a movie that I really enjoyed but haven't seen for at least 30 years.
 
The dvd's, for those of you who'd be curious to know are:

• The Great Race, A hilarious Blake Edward's comedy with Tony Curtiss, Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood and Peter Falk at their funniest!
• Summer Rental with John Candy. A funny, funny film
• Paint Your Wagon, a musical comedy with Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood and Jean Seberg. One of my all-time favorites.
• Waterworld with Kevin Costner and Dennis Hopper. The critics didn't like it but I do and watch it over and over again.
• My Side of the Mountain, an interesting tale of a 13-yr old boy who lives in the wilderness with his wild pets.

Until later.....DKHT

August 4, 2006  George Dubyah Strikes Again
 
Well, George Dubyah does it again! He's threatened Cuba to "become a democracy or else!".
 
He's turned a blind eye to Israel's invasion of Lebanon. It would be different if Israel (whose Mossad is deemed to have the most sophisticated intelligence capability in the world) were targeting specific insurgents and terrorists, but they are out for wholesale slaughter and random bombing; farm workers and innocent civilians. It seems that the "Israeli terrorists" live by an eye-for-an-eye doctrine and have a US stamp of approval. They are dragging the US in by association.
 
The US is hated by the world community because we have a president who is unqualified, ignorant, and is on a power trip.
 
He has sent US forces into foreign countries to search for non-existent weapons of mass destruction.
 
Most of his cabinet has bailed on him.
 
His oil company buddies are making record profits while we are paying record prices at the pump. He has vetoed most meaningful legislation and chosen to unconstitutionally modify legislation already passed.
 
He has done his best to destroy our Social Security while dipping into it's funds for his personal funding projects (The now famous "I've hit the trifecta" statement.)
 
How can the American people not realize this moron is a total DuFuS? Impeach, impeach, before it's too late!
 
The only good thing that can come of his presidency is the fact that Republicans will not be able to make fun of Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter ever again, at least without demonstrating a lower IQ than George Dubyah's.
 
Let's hope that our country, environment, economy and seniors can survive his presidency.
 
Until later.....DKHT