More computer problems

I am going to have to get a new computer. The old 1998 model HP (7 years old!) is proving to be more trouble I can deal with as it continues to behave in unpredictable ways. This past week, it would not turn on. Oh, the lights came on, and the monitor came on with a test pattern, but no sign of a boot up. The CD would accept and return discs, but no show. I checked all connections, once , twice, and more. Then this a.m., the old beast just came on like nothing was wrong. (!!!???)

Things are going well, I am getting 50 hours a week, which should help me get a cheap Dell in a couple of months, unless someone has an old one better than mine they'd let me pay the shipping on! :-)

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Russian State-Controlled News Outlets and Censorship

**note** Published at 3.37am on August 23, 2023 and hidden in the back catalog.

You can check out the three main Government-controlled Russian News Outlets: 

Russia Today: https://www.rt.com

Pravda: https://english.pravda.ru

TASS: https://tass.com

The Russian government monitors and censors information they don't like via an agency called "Main Radio Frequency Center" Learn more about it via an article on Radio Free Europe: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-agency-internet-censorship/32262102.html 

The BBC has a guide to the current state of news in Russia at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17840134 

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Interesting Conversation On Heads Up America

Wow. The following is a commentary about the radio show on WZNN 1350 of Friday, 19 August, 2005.

Show website is found at http://headsupamerica.com
and you can listen live at http://www.supertalk1350.com Mon-Fri noon to 2pm Eastern Time.
You can purchase a CD or cassette of this program at this number (828) 258-1337.

Commentary:

Fridays are normally a weekly wrap-up of topics discussed and those that were missed. As a caller-driven show, you cannot predict where things are gonna go next. Ken Bagwell, the host, usually has a stack of interesting and sometimes bizarre stories to pass along between calls and the good-natured banter with his producer (also station manager) Brian O'Brien.

In the course of the show, Ken asked a question about what kind of government we have, wasn't it a representative type? The first caller was none other than the highly esteemed (by this listener) Dr. Bill Forstchen, who teaches History at Montreat College and has his own show on the station (Fridays 2pm to 3pm). His take on the situation was that we are under an Unelected Bureaucracy.

What followed was a flood of calls to the station, with callers agreeing, disagreeing, and offering more specific nomenclature...such as Representative Bureaucracy where elected officials appoint the bureaucracy, who often serve decades until retirement. One caller said it was a Fascist Bureaucracy, etc.

The good doctor arrived at the station to do his show, and the station manager made an 'Executive Decision' to skip the 2pm newsbreak and carry over the conversation with approval from the doc, who shared his personal experiences with bureaucracy all the way to Washington, D.C. in the 90's. Ken gradually handed over the show to Forstchen, who continued the topic with the phonelines flooded until 3pm. The morning guy, Bill Fishburne, joined in the action in the studio.

It is going to take me a while to digest all that I've heard. I wish I could convey the eloquence of the conversation, and the links and phone number at the top will do a better job than I have done. It was one of those things that change the way you look at the world foreverafter (if that isn't a word, it should be) and clarified the task that looms before us.

To face a vast monster like an entrenched bureaucracy of bureaucracies with an idea of opposing it fills the mind with dread and the heart with hopelessness. And the monster has no head to aim at to deliver the coup de grace.

I believe the only way to effectively resist, oppose, and render asunder such a beast is with leaderless resistance.

Face the faceless bureaucracy with a faceless resistance on every level. Each member of the resistance must be willing to expose malfeasance by those bureaucrats within his or her reach.

Using a favorite pet peeve of mine: Illegal Immigration as an example:

• Take a page from the early Michael Moore playbook. Grab a camera, microphone and unobtrusively film the border crossings, investigate local employers hiring illegal immigrant labor.
• Document elected officials and law enforcement obfuscating and/or refusing to act on credible information of law breaking, even local District Attorneys, etc.
• You get the idea...start a blog http://www.blogger.com

I may have more to say once I receive my copy of the program and make more detailed notes.

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Problems with home computer

I've had a series of serious problems with my home computer, and have managed to get it running again. However, it will only let me on the internet long enough to load a few pages, then craps out on me. It seems I've deleted a file I shouldn't have when whacking the hordes of virii in every conceivable corner. I am using a public terminal to post so people won't think I'm dead, lost interest, or have been kidnapped by Islamo-fascists or neo-nazis.

Fighting computer problems sucks.

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Asheville Bele Cher and WZNN

Despite having lived most of my life in West Carolina, I've never gone to a Bele Cher. Which, I believe marks me as a true native.

My usual Saturday routine involves going to Franklin to do my laundry, wasting time at old bookstores, and using an hour or so of computer time at the Franklin Library to get on the Internet at a decent speed. From here on Chestnut Cove, I can barely maintain 21.6 Kilobaud due to bad phonelines.

This past Saturday I made, for me, a drastic change in routine. I hardly ever take trips that exceed 35 or 40 miles one way due to my perceived unreliability of my 1984 GMC truck. Apparently, my fears were unfounded. Bertha performed well, and I kept her at or under the speed limit, which made for interesting driving considering everyone else was doing an acceptable imitation of low-flying fighter jets.

I left the Cove just before 7 and arrived at my chosen, supersecret parking spot about 10 before 8am and arrived by foot at The Marble slab on Biltmore St during the news break. This allowed me to approach Bill Fishburne and Josh Wilkie off-air to introduce myself and shake hands, and retrieve a T-Shirt w/ the station i.d. upon it,.

You may listen to the station at http://www.supertalk1350.com by looking to the left sidebar and clicking on listen live. This is the station I listen to most of the time.

After meeting the morning talk jock and sometimes sidekick, I wandered the streets of Asheville and visited some used bookstores (Some routines I WON'T alter) and listened to the WZNN morning people. I was glad that the streets were blocked off, because I've found Asheville in the past to be a pedestrian unfriendly place...the drivers, not the layout.

Near noon, I wandered back to The Marble Slab WZNN HQ and purchased a coffee ice cream w/ strawberries mixed in by the staff in front of my very eyes. I lingered over the delight as I await the arrival of Ken Bagwell to start his usually weekday show, Heads Up America. I also saw, but didn't get to meet the station manager, Brian O'Brien (O'Brian ?) due to his One Armed Paper Hanger feat of Managing Things. He looked much as I had imagined, except his hair wasn't black. Bagwell, on the other hand, looked like a Real Estate Agent.

The Man on the Street was a success, and Ken wasn't jumped by the radicals of the liberal army that occupies Asheville. I followed along on the radio and in person, and shook Kens' hand before I left. I also met George, one of the other regular callers on the station, I thought he looked like Ken sounds, and Ken looks like he sounds.

I left at 20 before 2pm and arrived in Sylva to do my laundry around 2.30. My major regret was not getting to meet Bill Forstchen, The History Guy. I didn't know he would be roaming the streets until I was in Haywood County, to far to return due to my limited budgetary situation. I'll bet he and Josh had a hoot on the radio. I left radio reception range right at the top of the hour at 2pm.

I was sick yesterday, so I missed church. No race, so I attempted to sleep all day. I played "Scotty" when my grandparents Legacy Satellite receiver crapped out again. They probably have one of the oldest Dish Receivers in WNC. The "acquiring satellite signal" display was the only clue I had to work with as I checked everything. Eventually, either the signal came back on its own, or I worked magic.

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