Grimmy Tales

Western Digital external hard drive Click of Death - possible fixes

2008-12-19T09:10:00.000-08:00

Just some suggestions for the desperate. I have a different model WD external with similar issues. Starts clicking and you can't access the drive, or the current operation hangs. Try a couple of things:

Try a different USB port. Sometimes this makes a difference.
Sounds silly, but this "kick started" it - try holding the drive at a different angle (sideways, upside down, etc.) until it stops clicking. This enabled me to write/read some data.
Make sure your USB cable is not longer than 22", as this may cause power issues, according to WD.
Go to the WD site -> Support -> Replacement/RMA and follow the instructions to see if you can get a replacement.

Obama's Obsession with Death for Babies

2008-08-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

The suggestion that Obama – the proud father of two little girls – and others who opposed these bills supported infanticide is deeply offensive and insulting.

No one is suggesting he now wants to kill his own little girls; lucky for them, he decided to keep them. He just wants others to be free to kill their own little girls.

Obama can't decide if off-color jokes are ok

2008-07-13T19:05:00.001-07:00

Obama tries to have it both ways again:

Toward the end of a 10-minute standup routine at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Chicago, the 50-year-old star of "The Bernie Mac Show" joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language. ...
About 15 minutes later, Obama tried to smooth things over with a joke of his own.
"We can't afford to be divided by race. We can't afford to be divided by region or by class and we can't afford to be divided by gender, which by the way, that means, Bernie, you've got to clean up your act next time," Obama said. "This is a family affair."

But he blunders on ...
"By the way, I'm just messing with you, man."
So... are misogynistic jokes ok at your events, senator?

Dawkins Tricked Again!

2008-04-19T09:54:00.001-07:00

The world's smartest atheist fooled again?

Jonah Goldberg defends Darwin, but why? I suspect it's just fashionable to accept Darwin as one of the great scientists - otherwise you invite catcalls of "Creationist! Burn him!"
clipped from article.nationalreview.com
Dawkins has since complained that the interview was set up under false pretenses, and that he didn’t even know who Stein was. It is rather astonishing that it did not occur to the world’s smartest atheist to look up Ben Stein on the Internet, where he might have readily discovered numerous examples of his writings that are critical of Darwinism.

Harry Reid to Osama: Where's the Beef?

2007-11-06T10:47:00.000-08:00
Osama, you promised to heat things up to negate the dreaded Surge. What happened?

Did we not give you enough hints? Was the mainstream media not explicit enough for you? Did we not slyly suggest that more deaths were needed to accomplish our number one goal: Embarrass Bush?

But deaths are down. Especially American deaths. We are in a bad position. And it's your fault!

Most of the media are too embarrassed to print the "good news", so we have time. We still have time! Toss out a couple of IEDs or something. Help us, Osama! You're our only hope.

Your dhimmi,

H. R.

Dan Rather ... the Clown is back in town

2007-09-21T10:18:00.001-07:00

Hilarious!
clipped from author.nationalreview.com
Rather used to compare his job to “a very high trapeze act, frequently with no net.” Three years ago, he went splat in the bull’s-eye of the center ring. Now, with the circus long since out of town, he all of a sudden wants a net rolled out.

But you know what? I say, “You go, Dan!”

Frankly, we need this. And by “we,” I mean a grand coalition of people who delight in watching one of the 20th century’s most pompous gasbags fall from the top of the laughingstock tree and hit every branch on the way down. These are dour times, and if Gunga Dan and Hurricane Dan and What’s-The-Frequency-Kenneth Dan want to trade their Afghan robes, yellow windbreakers and enormous tinfoil hats for some baggy pants, bright-orange wigs and floppy shoes, I say let them. I just hope all of the Dans show up at the courthouse in a teensy-weensy clown car.

Moron at MIT

2007-09-21T09:57:00.001-07:00

This idiot is indeed lucky not to be in the morgue ... the security staff too, who would no doubt have been sued.
clipped from wbztv.com

(WBZ)
BOSTON
An MIT student with a fake bomb strapped to her chest was arrested at gunpoint Friday at Logan International Airport and later claimed it was artwork, officials said.

Farewell to the King

2007-09-10T20:09:00.001-07:00
So I haven't eaten a Whopper for five months. Used to be my favorite fast food burger - until the last couple of times the burger and underlying bun were soggy and the patty tasted like it had been boiled or steamed. Took it to the counter and was told it was normal. Riiiight.
Called Burger King; the nice lady told me that they sometimes cook up the patty in advance, then - horror of horrors - microwave it! Thus imparting that soggy cardboard goodness.
Could they please not do that, I pleaded? No, she said, but I could ask for an un-nuked one. Gee thanks, miss, but till they fix that, I've eaten my last Wet Whopper.
And I haven't. I miss it, but I guess the last Whopper left the building ages ago.

McDonald's idiocy

2007-08-11T09:13:00.001-07:00

They offered to pay for half his medical bill? How stupid can they get?

They may not have been inclined to sue before that ridiculous offer (although I'm sure that was their first impulse), but that certainly would have pushed them over the edge.

Offering to pay half. Idiots.
clipped from www.dailymail.com
A Morgantown man, his mother and his friend are suing McDonald's for $10 million.

The man says he bit into a hamburger and had a severe allergic reaction to the cheese melted on it.

The Unsung Victims of the War on CO2

2007-08-01T14:03:00.000-07:00
Join us in remembering the 100,000th silent victim of the Global War on Carbon Dioxide. Today, a young spruce in the Western Himalayas became the 100,000th tree to die of suffocation from falling levels of CO2 due to the hysterical rush to cut emissions of this vital gas.

Please pledge to do your part to put an end to this horrible vege-holocaust!

How to Win the War on Terror

2007-05-31T08:30:00.001-07:00

This suggests that a long-term strategy for winning is simply to entice these women over to the West ... and marry them! Certainly they will be appreciated more here. And the radical Islamist world will begin to depopulate.
clipped from powerandcontrol.blogspot.com
Reporter: Behind closed doors and far from any supervising eyes, they remove their shame and turn their backs on all customs and traditions. Girls display their bodies in chat rooms on the Internet, in most cases, free of charge. As soon as one of these girls places the camera in front of her, she begins to strip, displaying her seductive charms to more than 300 young men of different ages. Some believe that the phenomenon of stripping over the Internet may be understood within the framework of social hypocrisy, especially since they believe that our religious and educational discourse does not attribute importance to the strengthening of self-restraint, and prefers the appearance over the essence. This drives some people to play several roles and wear several masks.

The worst hole puncher in the world

2007-04-23T15:17:00.000-07:00
The Swingline hole puncher. Behold! It is ... the very worst. At least, I hope so.

Looks innocent enough, doesn't it? But try to insert paper and ... BAM! It keeps going into the wrong place.

Why? Because they stupidly designed it thus:

Note the overhanging lip at the red arrow. Instead of helping to channel the paper into the slot, it obstructs the paper, which keeps getting caught underneath it.

It's just poor design. The lip should have been extended further, or bent downward further. Instead, it makes every hole-punching job an exercise in threading the needle.

Behold! ... and may it never darken your office door. Alas, that's all we have here, by the dozens.

Poor customer service at Chevy Chase Bank

2007-04-22T08:15:00.000-07:00
So I walk into Chevy Chase Bank on Saturday around 1 pm to deposit a few checks. There's one guy at the teller, seemingly being helped to plan his entire financial future, even unto the fourth generation. Or something, since they're speaking Spanish. Another teller helps a woman with her safety deposit box.

Now there's half a dozen other bank employees milling around in the back and sometimes walking around in the lobby area, each with big orange stickers: "Can We Talk?" or something like it. I'm standing there for five minutes and they're hanging around. My friend suggests they've just finished lunch.

Technically they have two tellers at the window. Problem is, neither of them are available nor will they be in the short term. The others continue ignoring the waiting customers. I voice my observation out loud, that their orange buttons seem to be just for show.

Later, making copies at Staples, the opposite experience - great customer service. The manager is on hand to load the three-hole-punched paper we need. Alert employees helpfully ask if I need help. These people deserve to succeed.

Some days earlier, a friend of mine endured unbelievably rude service from Chevy Chase's home equity department, so much so that we were thinking of switching to Wachovia, currently offering $50 to open an account there. It's a tough choice, since Ch Ch has so many ATMs around here. We'll see.

A particularly revealing case of media bias (or incompetence) - Wolfowitz

2007-04-16T07:11:00.001-07:00

Is the media biased ... or just incompetent and lazy? You decide.
clipped from opinionjournal.com
Needless to say, none of this context has appeared in the media smears suggesting that Mr. Wolfowitz pulled a fast one to pad the pay of Ms. Riza. Yet the record clearly shows he acted only after he had tried to recuse himself but then wasn't allowed to do so by the ethics committee. And he acted only after that same committee advised him to compensate Ms. Riza for the damage to her career from a "conflict of interest" that was no fault of her own.
Based on this paper trail, Mr. Wolfowitz's only real mistake was in assuming that everyone else was acting in good faith. Yet when some of these details leaked to the media, nearly everyone else at the bank dodged responsibility and let Mr. Wolfowitz twist in the wind. Mr. Melkert, a Dutch politician now at the U.N., seems to have played an especially cowardly role.

Is it April Fools?

2007-04-13T08:21:00.001-07:00

Is common sense reemerging?
clipped from news.bbc.co.uk
The US is perceived by many as an international bully, a modern day imperial power. At this critical moment in history, Washington correspondent Justin Webb challenges that idea.

He argues anti-Americanism is often a cover for hatreds with little justification in fact. His three part series takes him to Cairo, Caracas and Washington but it begins where anti-Americanism began - in Paris.

Global Warming - follow the money indeed

2007-04-06T09:25:00.001-07:00

How "scientific consensus" is obtained - cut off funding for inconvenient views.
clipped from www.businessandmedia.org
     Something of a renegade indeed. According to the March 28, 2006, Washington Post, Gray’s view of global warming is almost heresy compared to what the networks preach. “I am of the opinion that this is one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated on the American people,” the paper quoted Gray.
     The Post even described him as “often called the World’s Most Famous Hurricane Expert.” Daring to disagree with the mainstream media and Al Gore supporters has meant losing “most of his government funding,” and he has had to put up more than $100,000 of his own money to continue his research.
     In fact, the Post reported that Gray thinks “in just three, five, maybe eight years, he says, the world will begin to cool again.”

I don't question their patriotism

2007-03-29T13:25:00.000-07:00
On libs:

I don't question their patriotism. But I do question which country they think they're living in.

How Stupid is the Iranian Government?

2007-03-29T13:14:00.001-07:00

I mean, really. Do they really - in their wildest dreams - expect anyone with even half a brain to believe that this letter was written without a gun to someone's head? Why do they even waste the time to do this?

Idiots.

And why are there so many reporters who actually see this as an admission of guilt of any sort?

Idiots.
clipped from news.sky.com
"This blatant attempt to use Leading Seaman Turney for propaganda purposes is outrageous and cruel."
"It is cruel and callous to do this to someone in this position, and to play games like this is a disgrace," Downing Street added.

The latest letter

The letter, purportedly from Leading Seaman Faye Turney, also asks the British Government why it allowed 15 Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines currently in custody to stray into Iranian waters.
Analysts immediately doubted the validity of the letter, saying the wording was not likely to have been thought up by the 26-year-old sailor.
The letter coincided with the release of new footage of the sailors and marines being seized by Iranian gunboats in the Gulf.

How to Vote, 2006

2006-11-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

At least, this's how I'm voting:

All Republicans.

No on Irma Raker, due to activism on death penalty (sorry if I'm mistaken, Irma).

Tommy Le for BoE; the others are too radical.

Scofield for BoE, or Kauffman. Navarro too radical.

Question 1: against.
Question 2: for.
Question 3: for.
Question 4: against (needs a whole bunch of changes).
Question A: against (no language concerning members who already have another job).
Question B: for.

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Setting Up Apache: Unable to Open Logs

2006-11-03T14:45:00.000-08:00

So, first the installer won't run. So I have to use the cmd window, do a msiexec /a on the .msi file.

Then, I have to manually change @@ServerRoot@@ and @@DocumentRoot@@ and some other @@ items.

Then start it manually with httpd -k install. Then try to start it with net start apache2. This gets me

The Apache2 service could not be started.

A service specific error occurred: 1.

Had to create htdocs folder in my @@DocumentRoot@@ folder. OK. Then it was

Unable to open logs

So I had to create a logs folder there too.

But the same error occurs! Only this time there are entries in the error.log file - can't file mime.types. Apparently some or all the files in conf/default have to be copied to conf.

And it works!

Hope this helps someone. Why the installation isn't easier is beyond me.

Irwin Cartoon Outrage

2006-10-27T10:31:00.000-07:00

So ... it's OK for CNN to show a terrorist sniping and maybe killing American soldiers - surely you're aware of that video - but it's in REPREHENSIBLY BAD TASTE for South Park to do a cartoon like this ...?

Something's gone very wrong with our sense of outrage, don't you think?

Hypocrisy, anyone?

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The Tet Offensive All Over Again

2006-10-24T07:56:00.000-07:00

CNN "Journalist" and Source
Good to see you again, my friend!
Yeah, yeah. You know, you guys are in big trouble.
Temporary setbacks. And with your help, it will be really temporary.
What do you mean? I've already done all I can, portraying you as hardened, determined heroes ...
And don't think it's not appreciated. No, we have something really good for you this time. Look ...
(Watches, eyes widening) ... This is fantastic! But ... they'll never let me air it.
Why not? Don't your masters also hate Bush?
Yeah, but ... this is over the line. I mean ... showing the killing of a soldier on TV ... it's very well done, especially that crap about civilians nearby, but ... there'll be backlash. It's treason, actually ...
Oh come on. This administration will never call you a traitor. You know that. That stupid lawyer got only 28 months for helping us, and she was caught red-handed.
True, true ...
Come on, my friend. This will break the will of the American people. This will demoralize the Great Satan's troops. This will greatly encourage our jihadists. This will make you a journalistic hero. If you're fired, you'll be a victim of Bush's oppression. It's win-win.
Win-win.
You can be our Walter Cronkite, the American trait - er, the great journalist who made the American people think you were losing, right after the Viet Cong's greatest defeat ... you can help us that much. Pull us from the brink of disaster. The Iraqis hate us. They're turning us in when they can. We need your help, brother!
Hmmm ... I suppose if it'll embarrass Bush ... and end the war before the USA succeeds ...
That's the spirit! See, we're brothers, yes? We're on the same side. Here you go.
Next time, can I go with you guys? A ride-along?
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North Korean Suicide Wish

2006-10-20T09:51:00.000-07:00

"No matter how the U.S. imperialists try to stifle and isolate our republic ... victory will be on the side of justice," said Choe Thae Bok, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency's Korean-language report.

Er ... if victory will be on the side of justice, how will that be a good thing for North Korea's leadership?

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Mark Foley's Excuse

2006-10-04T10:15:00.000-07:00
Mark Foley is now claiming he was abused by a clergyman when he was a lad ...

So ... something really horrible happened to him that ... makes him want to do the same to other kids?

Not a great excuse.

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The Proposition

2006-09-27T14:34:00.000-07:00
Darwinists are strange. They pop up everywhere, without warning, preaching and defending their faith.

My latest weird encounter was while watching The Proposition. In this somewhat violent and brutal movie, John Hurt's bounty hunter character starts talking about Darwinism, and how it implies that "the darkies" and whites are related, by a common ancestor. The message is that Darwinism somehow militates against racism.

However, that thought is the exact opposite of what Darwinism did do in Australia - justify the view that "darkies" were inferior, less evolved "animals." Darwinism was the "science" behind the official racism of Australia, which led to the killing of aborigines for the purpose of providing "specimens" of the "missing link."

That someone writing a movie script today must try to defend Darwin in this sordid affair is indicative of the sorry state of moral vacuity bequeathed us by this charlatan.