The Life and Times of Jim
Hi, there. I'm Jim. Welcome to my phlog!
This site was written for Las Vegas, then LouisVille. Now, it seems to be about anywhere. In these phlogs, you'll see a lot of my personal notes and pictures. I like to post my observations here to remember life and celebrate it. I'm not religious. I don't pray for good fortune. I'm ecstatically grateful for the gift of life and I think our time should be remembered and not taken for granted. I'm not a writer. I think pictures tell stories so much better than words. I love just about everything in this life, and, I guess that would have to include you. So, if you've seen me, don't be surprised if your picture is in here somewhere. Of all the critters, people are absolutely the most interesting. 
<< 12/2004 < 11/2005 Calendar 01/2006 > 12/2006 >>Sign InView Other Logs
Tue 
12/27/2005 11:18:02
 jim  Orlando-Universal Studios
Sun 
12/25/2005 21:03:14
 Jim  Another Christmas has come and gone

I've spent a lot of the day on the phone, feeling like ET phoning home.
ET PHONE HOME...ET phone home.
At any rate, I have no home, and this planet will do just fine. None the less, I'm homeless.
Sun 
12/25/2005 20:59:39
 Jim  About this life --- continued ---
I've used this time to discover this thing called life and I have come to the following conclusion:
If the Earth has existed 11 billion years, and dinosaurs existed 80 million years, and humans have existed 60,000 years, and the average human lives 76 years, and the average smoker lives 70 years, and I have lived 47 years and I smoke, but my best friend quit smoking after living 38 years and died anyway after living 47 years, then tell me what is the point of this sentence.


-- Too be continued --

Sun 
12/25/2005 20:58:36
 Jim  About this life

For a long time, I felt like an ant who has spent his entire life moving the colony's hill over 2 feet.

A bicycle will run over the colony's hill anyway, so what's the point? 
It's nice to leave the colony and see beyond the hill.
Some day, I'm gonna build a bigger hill, with better walls, more queens and more aphids.


Then they'll all see!
Yup.

Tue 
12/20/2005 10:25:00
 Jim  This is going to be such a lonely Christmas.
I'm living in a town where only four people know my name. We've only got each other this year.
My mind flashes back to the old days to that old house in the woods.
The fireplace is lit. The Christmas tree is decorated.  The Juno's tail is wagging. Rastus (the sparrow I nurtured back to life) is saying 'Hello' in his little bird cage. Kelly and I are tired, because we stayed up most of the night, looking at the presents.
For our family, it was the most exciting day of the year. 
All of those Christmas's have became fond memories.

Sun 
12/11/2005 18:05:14
 jim  I hit the nail right on the head tonight, talking
If I told someone with power, that I invented a device that could save Las Vegas homeowners $60 million dollars a month in the summer time, I'd be rich. Instead, I told people who expect to be working for someone else until their 70.
If I knew people who could help me make things happen, they'd happen. Instead, the device sits on my roof. It's already paid for itself.
I don't know any enterprenuers.
If I did, I'd know who to ask about getting financing for this lvdarlings/lvdude project I've been doing. Instead, I'm having to do all the work myself. I'm doing things ass backwards, aren't I.
Sun 
12/11/2005 11:17:25
 jim  Economic Trends
The trend seems to be headed from self employment toward working for others.
In a market driven economy like ours, the labor force should follow the biggest markets.
Unfornutely, most of the labor required for what we buy is outside the US.
Our current labor force is mostly comprised of providers for public and private services: Construction, Health Care, Stores.
Since farming and industry is out, what's left?
I'm assuming, since the US doesn't manufacture much, wealth is our product. Sharing it creates jobs.
The Rothchilds don't want to run their household.
- They hire Stephan to do it.
-- He hires Alex to handle the landscaping.
--- Alex hires Pedro to mow the lawns.
---- Pedro buys groceries which helps Mel keep his grocery clerks employed.
---- Alex eats at McDonalds, and that helps them keep their cooks.
---- Stephan eats at Cafe Michelles, and helps them keep their gourmet chef.
In the about scenario, no one has produced anything. The Rothchilds spent money which trickled down.
So, how do the Rothchilds get their money. Inheritance and investments.
- They loan money to the insurance companies and banks through bonds. They buy stocks.
-- That money goes to business loans.
--- The business loans cause employment in other sectors of the economy.
So, how do you get business loans?
- That, I don't have any ideas for. I don't know anyone who has gotten a business loan.
Sun 
12/11/2005 10:03:05
 jim  Thought I’d make an entry. Its mostly about the US
In the last week, we've seen Christmas Carollers, alligators, owls, ice hockey, a huge ice rink, malls...yadayady. Same ol stuff.
It will be really nice to get back into the real world.
We haven't heard much from anyone lately.
I did hear from an old buddy of mine in Austin, Texas.


He says Dell Computers is moving their Information Technology department overseas because it's cheaper,
so he's going to be out of a job.


I talked to my dad about this country.
Everyone knew what was going to happen when businesses started using other countries for manufacture and technology.
It should have been taxed way back when. I think its too late to rebuild this country.
We used to be an industrial power. I still haven't found out what kind of power we are now.
So, what's left of the great old US when other countries produce everything we need.


- The automobile industry is gone. It's in Mexico and China.

  When I was young, the big push was to join the Union and get a job in factory.
- The technology industry is disappearing. It's headed towards India and Australia.
  When I was in college, computer technology was the push.
- Farming is on its way out, Florida gets most of its produce from Mexico.
  When I was in High School, kids would come in wearing FFA (Future Farmers of America) jackets.
What is backing the US dollar these days?
Probably force, military strength. Kill the foreign business owners when they try to raise prices. Call them terrorists.
10% of the people in Florida were born in foreign countries. 20% barely speak English.
The white race will soon be a minority.
My real question is, what do I do to stay on top of things.


Which direction do I go? Is there a direction? Are the white and black middle and lower class being phased out?
That Indian guy who looked at me like I was some kind of thing in my interview, did I sponsor him in India 30 years ago?
The next thing I'm going to say sounds racist, and I don't like sounding this way.
Why should the middle class Americans pay taxes, when the foreign work force and the people paying them don't.

Sun 
12/04/2005 09:38:54
 jim  Went to Congo River
Played miniture golf in a mountain with streams and waterfalls. Watched some eat alligators too.
Ate some Thai food. The food in Florida is the best I've ever had.


Mikey found the reciept for his laptop. Yea. Now I can get it fixed.

Thu 
12/01/2005 23:32:23
 jim  We went to the Florida Mall last night
It was decent, but nothing I've seen yet beats the malls in Las Vegas.
Wed 
11/30/2005 12:43:29
 jim  I like what you did there Becky
It's special.


   Did you mean for it


         to go out like that?


               I think that is so cool!
Wed 
11/30/2005 12:40:47
 jim  Oooh oooh...I forgot to mention, we went to Univer
It rained, and that made it VERY Special. I'd like to say it made everybody look like they were contestants in a wet T-Shirt contest, but I'm with Becky...so I didn't look...haha.
We liked the "Revenge of the Mummy" ride the best. It was an indoor rollar coaster, and featured going backwards. The one in Orlando is much better than the one in California.


Next to that, we liked Men In Black...you get to shoot Aliens while riding a rollar coaster. I scored big on that ride too.
They had a Beetlegeus Rock and Roll concert. It was special. Both Becky and I liked Rockin Frankenstein the best.

Wed 
11/30/2005 10:03:42
 jim  I’ve been trying to get a laptop fixed through its
They make it tough. We've already spent hours on this.
Today, I was on the phone for 28 minutes, trying to get a copy of my receipt. This is the 3rd time too.
The laptop has been busted for over 15 days now.
I should sue. If a company sells you a warrentee and takes your money for a product with the receipt unseen, they should honor it the same way. And if I can get all of the information online, they could too,
Unless they don't want to honor the friggin contract.
Wed 
11/30/2005 09:59:03
 jim  I’m a bug murderer today. :(
I hate killing anything, but there were two wasp nest on our balcony with about 30 wasps.
So, I loaded up three glasses of soapy water (Joy dish soap) and threw it on the nests. It suffocates the wasps. ewwe.
Anyway, I'm feeling blue. I hate to kill.
Wed 
11/30/2005 08:47:07
 jim  Web browsers - User statistics
Browsers: IE-73%, Firefox-19.6%,  Mozilla-2.6%, Opera 8-1.2%, Netscape-0.4%

Resolution: 1024x768-55%, 800x600-25%
Operating system: XP-70%, Win2k-15%, Linus-3.3%, Mac-3.2%, Win98-2%,
Javascript:
90% use it.
It seems clear to me, that if I continue developing this site for Internet Explorer users, I'll reach most of the people out there.
For the people who don't see this site the way it was intended, I'm sorry. But screen real estate is too valuable to waste on an error message that says it doesn't look right because of the browser you are using.

Wed 
11/30/2005 08:11:17
 jim  Those are beautiful thoughts Renee.
My past is full of good memories. We were so poor. My parents fought a lot, and it was usually about money.
My Mom and Dad were fighting one night. We all left Dad inside the house.
While we were outside, squatting next to a car parked in the driveway,
Mom openned up a can of Cambell's Pork-And-Beans for us to share as our dinner.
The other kids may remember this night as a terrible time, but I remember how good those Pork-and-Beans tasted! Cold and right from the can! YUM!
Its really great that you remember the good things from the past. Those are the memories to hold on to and cherish.
You and your mom are hard-to-find people.
You were both born to be happy! That is your gift!
Look around as you walk down the street. How many people look happy?
Most of the people don't notice you. They stare at the ground with their eyebrows down, or stare intently into space.
If you look right at them, most of them either look away or don't even notice you. Check it out some time.
I know, that if we were strangers, and I saw you on the street, I could smile at you and you'd smile right back.
The beautiful people almost always smile back. You are one of them.
Wed 
11/30/2005 00:08:51
 jim  UFOs
A lot of people think UFO's are here, with us on this planet right now.
Here's one for the logical people out there. The universe is 12 billion years old. The world is 4.5 billion years old. Some think people may have existed here for only 2 million years. If so, we've been on this rock floating through space less than .05% of the earth's lifespan.
So, if UFOs have visited the earth, the odds are 2,250 to 1, against us being in existence.
The odds would be 60,000,000 to 1 against a UFO coming here in your lifetime.
And what is the likelyhood that an interstellar space RV (so to speak) would fly here anyway?
In 100 years, my guess is this idea will seem laughable.
Why would an advanced alien fly here in a couped up little flying saucer? lol.
Time Travellers - a bizarre thought.
I've always said, if time travellers existed, wouldn't they have already visited us, and wouldn't we know it?
Does anyone actually believe that people in the future people will obey laws when people don't do that now?
Hmmm. Another lol.
Einstein said, if you travel in one direction long enough, you'd come back to where you are.
That's because the universe is circular. A straight line is actually a circle. We just don't see it that way...yet.
Think about it like Magellan did. The other sea mariners thought the world was flat. He thought if he travelled in one direction, he'd come back to the same location, in a different time.
Maybe the same thing is true with time. What if time is not infinite in two directions? What if it is circular?
If time is circular, then we all are time travellers.
What if all living things are a single life form? What if that life form is a time traveller going through an infinite loop?
If you can follow these thoughts, isn't it interesting?
If any of this reasoning is correct, then if we wanted to travel back in time,
we would have to go forward in time to get there. The faster we went, the closer to our present time we'd get.
Hmmm. That doesn't sound right, does it?
Tue 
11/29/2005 23:31:43
 jim  What is Power?
Power is the ability to persuade people to do what they normally wouldn't do.
Power is making a horse, that's 10 times your weight come to you by waving a carrot.


It's the ability to get people to work long hours. Its the ability to starve a country.
Its the ability to persuade an entire country produce the machinery for your country to use.
Why is the United States by far, the richest country in the world?


If you were to put 30 people in a room, 1 of them would be from the US, 10 would be from China, 10 would be from India. So, how does one of those 30 people get most of the other people to do their bidding.
POWER.
In the worlds case, its a suggestion of ability to kill, torture, or make life unbearable.
It is the fear of losing what we think we own.
We fear we'll lose our house if we don't stand in line and be just like everybody else.
In the dark, we've been taught to fear God, to control what we do in the light.
Slavery still exists. It's just taken a different form.
The slaves of today aren't segregate by race. They are segregated by wealth.
The right to be free is still a birth right. You don't earn it in today's world. It is handed to you.
Mankind is still a greedy animal by nature. Mankind is a parasite on its own race.
Possessions are a myth.
If you feel you own anything, you should realize it is just a feeling. You only think you own you land, your house, your bank account. If you are charged with a crime, if you don't pay your taxes, if you just aren't smart, you'll lose them in a heart beat.
I feel it's necessary to say this. It should be obvious.
Me, I chose not to stand in line. I chose to be different.
I get away with what I do because I don't play the game. I'm not afraid of losing everything I have, including my life. I plan on losing my health. I know I'm going to lose everything.
Everybody does. Me, I'll never join this parasitic race.
There are forces that will control mankinds fate.
The future of mankind is in the hands of forces we'll never understand, simply because we aren't focused enough to see.
Mon 
11/28/2005 07:42:43
 jim  I’m irritated, because these browser differences a
I shouldn't have to spend a week on my system, making it compatable with Netscape, Mozzilla Firefox, Apple, or anything else that's out there. With a few exceptions, my system works great under Internet Explorer.
When someone mentions a problem, I shouldn't have to ask what their browser is and what version it is, to find out why a BLUE SENTENCE isn't coming out blue. It's funny in a sad kind of way.
Mon 
11/28/2005 07:37:16
 jim  It’s also my opinion that what displays this sente
If I told an author to show a sentence in the color BLUE, you'd think he could do it without any consideration for what is going to be displaying it. How hard can that be on the internet, to make a sentence BLUE. You'd think that would be ironed out by the different browsers. It's not though. The blue you see above comes out differently on different browsers. Graphics seem to come out okay. How many concepts can you have for what BLUE means?
Mon 
11/28/2005 07:15:21
 jim  I should add, that Firefox users can’t enter blog
This blog lets people enter in Formatted text. EG: FORMATTED
Which means a user doesn't have to know HTML to get a highlighted message across.
I suppose that I should be grateful for these differences in browsers.
Complicated machinery requires education to build and repair.
In my opinion, displaying and formatting a screen should and could be simple.
A designer, should not have to concern himself with HOW FAST something is displayed. That should be done by the rendering engine. It shouldn't be a consideration in every line of code written.
I started to use Dreamweaver, Frontpage, Word, Publisher, and Flash.
I chose to write all of the code for this system by hand.
The problem was, they keep you away from the code, and they generate tons of unused code.
When I get done with this system, I'll know exactly what every line of code does, unlike those guys, and my system will contain 90% less code.


With Tandem Cobol, the SORT command is a pig.
People still use it. Yes, it's in the manual. The alternative is simple. Create a key sequenced file, let Tandem manage the speed of the indexing, and it will not only be quicker, the sort will be rerunnable. For small files, it will never hit the disk. The Tandem is the best selection for online databases, meaning it can handle keyed files much better than in-memory sorts. And using key-sequenced files sure beats the heck out of writing a whole program to sort a file in an unrerunnable fashion.
People still use indexes and other ancient concepts presented by Cobol.
I just can't become one of those people. My code must be compact, readable, and efficient.
I don't know why I'm getting off on this tangent.
I guess it's because I'm seeing what a mess the internet has become. Instead of getting simpler, its getting more complicated. There is absolutely NO REASON to create another language for displaying a screen or to access a database.

Mon 
11/28/2005 07:04:00
 jim  I’ve been dinking with this site using Netscape
I'm not sure, or don't remember how, any two browsers could get so far out of sync.
Using Firefox as a rendering agent screws up the whole site, which means I have to rewrite the almost everything to include those users.


Using Internet Explorer, everything seems to work Ok, using the work-arounds for FireFox.
I wonder how much money web developers have wasted on compatabilty issues.

Sat 
11/26/2005 09:00:46
 Jim  About this site
It's coded for Internet Explorer users. Netscape doesn't work well and until Microsoft and Netscape can get together on standards, I see no reason to keep up with them. I want to finish this project and be done with it, and not have to update this site everytime they come up with a new release.
SO THERE!!!

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