Patrick’s Rants

I walked into the Dispatch office yesterday just before my shift and realized that I had to get out and drive. Two of us had decided that since I wanted to go camping this coming weekend that I could come in early (4:00am) on Friday, #1 would take the day off and #2 could close up. If it had been anyone else on the floor they would have agreed to closing, but this is #2. She argued that she could come in and open since I had opened the last two times that #1 was out. That’s because the last that #2 was allowed to open she showed up after 5:00 am (late), left greasy takeout containers on top of the computer (kitchen grease on the CPU anyone?) and generally annoyed people. The truth is, #2 doesn’t get and we’re not gonna fight it anymore. I’m leaving on Saturday morning instead of tomorrow afternoon.

Just when I think it’s done, there is a forecast for more snow. Per weather.com,

SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 2 TO 6 INCHES CAN BE EXPECTED ABOVE 7000 FEET WITH 6 TO 12 INCHES ABOVE 7500 FEET AND 12 TO 18 INCHES ABOVE 8000 FEET. LOCALLY HEAVIER AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE AT THE HIGHEST ELEVATIONS OF NORTHERN ARIZONA.

And I’m supposed to go camping this weekend.

K12LTSP EL5 64 bit. Based on CentOS 5.
K12LTSP 64 bit dvd

If you’ve been following what the recording industry cartel has been doing to people (running roughshod over the legal system, extorting funds from paralyzed individuals, dead people, grandmothers and little children) you will – no doubt – enjoy this sliver of hope and sanity offered by a judge in Florida.
Recording Industry vs. The People

(Updated 5/6/08)
Our “coupons” for DTV convertor boxes arrived on Saturday. My wife immediately went out and bought one at the local Radio Shack. It was the base model of course, but what more did we need? What more indeed.

Here’s the thing. Since we live in Flagstaff we are on a “translator” or a type of repeater antenna for stations that are in the valley – Phoenix. Translators are not required to switch over in the same time frame as the station itself, so while the station may be broadcasting in DTV format, they are under no apparent requirement to convert for those of us in outlying areas.

We get several stations off air here:

• 2: the local NBC affiliate
• 13: a Spanish language station, also local
• 14: translated from PBS 8
• 28: translated from “My 45″ the wholly-owned Fox baby station where they air the stuff that’s too racy for Fox itself
• 30: rinky dink local station that’s kinda fun once in a while
• 39 & 48: translated from 10, Phoenix based Fox 10 affiliate
• 50: translated from 5, Phoenix based CBS affiliate
• 52: translated from 15, Phoenix based ABC affiliate
• 54: translated from 3, Phoenix based independent

And there’s a religious channel in there as well, but I always deprogram it so I can’t say which channel it is.

After plugging in the DTV converter box we got two channels; local 2 and the spanish language station. I decided to hop onto the web sites of the TV stations to find out when I could see the new digital stations. Here are the results of poking around on each station’s web site. (more…)