September 27, 2006  Autumn Comes To The Northwoods
 
Although my place is surrounded primarily by red pines and white pines, and several Scotch pines I planted when I first moved up here in 1972, we still have a number of "predictor" trees that tell us of the coming winter. It's autumn here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.
 
Ground ferns turn color soonest, from rich greens to medium browns. The blight that took many of our wonderful birch trees has spared the popple, a softwood that develops similar yellow-colored leaves as the birch, and are typically next to change. The maples are next, changing through an amber-orange to a flamboyant red and finally to a deep burgandy before dropping their leaves. The mighty oaks are the last to turn, changing from their summer greens to a yellowish brown and finally to a dark brown before the release their leaves.

 
The pines you see in my yard (surrounding the maple, etc.) were transplanted by me 34 years ago when they were under 2 ft tall.
 
Sometimes the third season can bring on a bit of melancholy. I guess we just have enjoy the good parts and ride out the rest.
 
Until later.....DKHT

September 20, 2006  Books 'n Thoughts
 
I've recently spent some time up in the loft I've used as my library, packing up my books. Or rather, I've been repacking them. Most of my "bookcases" consist of a large number of antique wooden Leinenkugel Beer crates from the brewery in Chippewa Falls, WI.
 
I reread my collection from time to time, never tiring of revisiting these old friends. With several hundred books, the entire collection can take several years to get through. These old wooden cases can be quite practical. Back when I traveled on jobs for months at a time, I could always pack up a case to take with me.
 
However, this time I'm packing the books to put them into indefinite storage. The crates themselves are not adequate for this kind of storage, so I am repacking the books back in the crates but surrounded by several layers of these new-fangled stretch plastic bags. Since I'm not sure just where these may be stored, I'm hoping these bags will protect my treasures from moisture changes and from vermin.
 
I've been an avaricious reader since I was a youngster. Back then it was mostly Boy's Life artticles and adventure books where boys of my age rode horses and had adventures on ranches in the far west and other such wonderful places that excite the imaginations of young readers.
 
I was fortunate to have teachers in grade school and high school who took some of us into an experimental advanced program, giving us exposure and insight into the worlds of literature, mathematics and science. Ok, I never did understand the importance of Dante's Inferno, but maybe it was because I got the same message from our rather weird preacher everytime I went to church. So I decided to stick with reading and give up church.
 
I actually hoped that someday I could become an author, but those hopes were blindsided by an arrogant college professor who had a widley known penchant for having pretty young coeds in the front row of his classroom so he could see some leg and maybe more. Those coeds understood that it would affect their grades, and they often obliged.
 
He was convinced that I was plagiarizing my assignments but he couldn't prove it so he "arbitrated" my grade. I had my high school teacherswrite letters to this asshole regarding my 8 years spent in special classes, but he just smirked and said that I was able to fool those rubes, but I couldn't fool him! He had tenure and I was on an engineering scholarship, so it was a losing battle. I won't mention his name, but his initials were P_aul S_awyer of Bradley University. Asshole Emeritus and a favorite candidate for my BADGUYS list
 
As I was packing I encountered so many old friends. Cervantes (obviously), George Orwell with Animal Farm and 1984, and Ray Bradbury's wonderful mind-blowing and futuristic novels including Fahrenheit 451. These worn and appreciated books are indeed timeless. The concept of "Big Brother" has come true with our modern technology. If your employer monitors your private website and uses what they read to influence your job or employment, it's intimidation and it's Big Brother. We already know that government agencies monitor email, telephone and cellphone under the so-called Terrorist Act. The ultimate Big Brother. It made me question what happened to the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution? Are we, as a country, more in danger from terrorists abroad, or from those within?
 
On another note, please support the Special Olympics. These very special and worthy athletes truly need your support and contributons. Thank you.
 
Until later.....DKHT

September 16,2006  The State of Things to Come...
 
I had a rather surreal telephone conversation today. Our area had lost power for several hours, and although I reported the outage post haste on the automated Wisconsin Public Service outage phone number, I was concerned about the protracted length of loss-of-service, since we had balmy temps in the high 60's and reasonable breezes.
 
Now, you have to understand that I have a BSEE and worked for several years for Westinghouse Field Service Engineering under contract to Commonwealth Edison in Illinois. So I'm no dummy when it comes to power distribution systems. But I had passed a WPS truck on the way back from town who had turned around to tackle a private residence feeder line. Power for a few hundred people could've been restored without this deviation. Don't get me wrong, because I totally respect the line crews. But I kinda figured that getting a few hundred people up and running would take precidence over a private residence. That's why I called.
 
The nitwit I talked to in customer service first told me that if I saw a service truck in the area, then I was lucky and would probably have service soon.. Secondly, he told me that The service crews hit trouble spots as they passed (even 'tho this truck had been flagged down and bidden to return to a private drive). Then this jerk representative had the balls to tell me that I lived in God's Country, and if I wanted dependable service, I should invest in a $4000 backup generator. He stated that he lived in Green Bay and hadn't had a power outage in 5 years, but his computer search indicated that I had had 5 significant power outages this past year!
 
I cited the fact that this area sees increasing numbers of popple and birch which are dying and also overhang WPS lines. Nitwit (rapidly becoming a moron) next told me that WPS was not responsible for trimming more than 10 feet from their lines every three to five years. He made it sound like it was a liablity issue with landowners, but he went silent when I asked who lobbied for this restriction. He wasn't impressed when I suggested that I should receive a lower rate if I had to install a generator just to be certain of having power.
 
But this confrontation pushed my button... I haven't encountered such arrogance in a company that I pay money to, at least not since the Metropolitan Life debaucle. I have been holding off on the "Badguys" feature for awhile, but what does DonKeyHoeTee stand for if it isn't to trash wrongdoings?
 
So enter the new age of BAD GUYS on DKHT. I'm long-in-tooth enough to know plenty of them :)
 
And welcome, Carmen , to my limited readership. Your presence is appreciated
 
Until later.....DKHT

September 14, 2006  Mid September Blahs
 
Mom flew back to Texas on the 6th making her connection in Milwaukee to DFW without problems. We tied a different size and color of ribbon on her baggage so as to avoid the confusion in claiming baggage like that which occurred on her arrival in Rhinelander (seems that lots of ladies in their eighties use similar black bags with narrow red ribbons tied to the handles... and these gals are fiesty when it comes to baggage disputes!)
 
911 passed with lots of TV programs reviewing the original events in 2001. I recalled that I happened to be passing through the break room at the company I worked for back then when the TV began televising the aftermath of the plane hitting the first tower. Moments later I watched as the second plane hit Tower 2. It was a numbing recollection. I had visited the World Trade Center with friends in the early 80's when I was on a trouble-shooting/consulting job just across the Hudson in Newark. The enormity of the attacks were unbelievable and hateful.
 
It's a shame that these cowardly terrorist's remains could not be identified and buried with a pig carcass and their left hands stuffed in their mouths, befitting their cowardly and unholy acts.
 
The 12th brought our local partisan primary elections. In the Wisconsin primaries, you get a ballot that includes all registered parties but you can only vote within one party or else your ballot is kicked out. Kinda funny that the local and state Republicans are distancing themselves from George Dubyah, but these folks never could be trusted. 'Course, when it comes to voting, figuring out who is the lesser of two evils has become the standard.
 
The 13th was a melancholy day, since it marked the last day I saw a hummingbird at the single feeder. I'll keep some syrup in a feeder for awhile, just in case there's a late traveller, but these special hummers are gone south, marking the end of another season. This means the end of this year's spring and summer and the beginning of another fall and winter.
 
We still have some warm afternoons where I can go down to the pier and soak up some sun. But my big maple tree in the back yard is beginning to turn color, and the nice, warm days are waning.
 
The Northern Wisconsin fall colors can be beautiful, and I recall many fall seasons that produced lasting spectaculuar fall coloramas. But, in the past buncha years it hasn't been long-lived nor spectacular. I would like it to be nice for the Fall Ride, sponsored by Harley Davidson for the benefit of the Muscular Distrophy Association. Harley has a big manufacturing facility just 25 miles south in Tomahawk, Wisconsin and has sponsored this Ride for many years. Not only does it bring in many participants to bolster the local economy but it also provides funding for a very special cause. We look forward to the arrival of our biker friends...they are good people!
 
Until later.....DKHT

September 5, 2006  More On Spamming Tactics
 
It's the day after Labor Day, school has started for most of the local kids and most tourists have headed back south. There are only a few transient hummingbirds stopping at the feeders, the first hatch mallards have already met up with other flocks and headed out. The second hatchare still stocking up on food and learning to fly in formation. They'll probably meet up with some other late-bloomers for their migration. Ferns are getting brown and some maples are already turning red.
 
My mom is out with a neigbor today (NOT the moron one) making some last visits with old friends before she joins the southern migration tomorrow. She's been here for three weeks, and it has been enjoyable. It' sbetter when she remembers to put in her hearing aids (I think she doesn't want to waste the batteries since she knows I'll yell loud enough for her to hear). But her visit has been special. I've enjoyed her company and her help, and her friends have worked hard to make certain they all had great times to visit.
 
I learned some interesting things about spamming since I was deluged with spam on an alternate email address I occasionally use. Months ago I followed a link from LinkyDinky.com (These are interesting peeps and I usually enjoy their emails). This particular link was for a site that would provide you with discounts and coupons for "a short survey". I bit. No Coupons, no discounts, but over 23 emails a day to that email address, touting all sorts of oddball products and services that didn't even fit my survey profile. Most of these email sources provided an opt-out unsubscribe link that really worked within the specified time frame.
 
But then Performance-emarketing.com began a new spam tirade. First of all, the link they provide to unsubscribe and be removed from their database didn't work. Oh yeah, you received an on-screen verification that you unsubscribed but you'd just keep getting more crap from Performanmce-emarketing.com clients, only guess what.... most "clients" aren't clients as much as they are an affiliate companies (a company using hundreds of different url's) to sell debt-reduction, degree-financing, mortgage-reduction and similar products and services.
 
OK, so here's how this spammer works.

• Their logo and unsubscribe link appear in the email, but the email is sourced by one of the many temporary url's from the affiliate/parent companies. In this way, Performance-emarketing passes even the McAffee Site Advisor tests for not being spam, since they are never sourced as spam. Clever, but it illustrates that these are not legitimate individuals.
   
  
• The emails are usually graphic images. In that way Performance-emarketing isn't listed in header info or body content, but just appears in a graphic and in a non-functioning unsubscribe link. Purposefully intended to be difficult to track or to filter.
   
  
• The source and header info for the spam is only used for a short time, so spam reports can't be effectively testedand any filters become obsolete.

 

 
Until later.....DKHT