I was digging online for something. Got sidetracked. I was listening to the Muppets sing Queen. Muppets.

Phone rings, I grab it.

“Wait, wait, let me turn this down.”

That Was Embarrassing is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon

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Mad Max homage, I guess. I never did get the connection, but I’m sure it’s there.

Image Hardware: phone.

Image post-production: phone.

Location: Kick Butt Coffee, Austin.

Kick Butt Cookie is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon

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I’m not political. I have an opinion. I vote. I’ve voted in every presidential election since I’ve been eligible.

My proudest time to vote? Along with my father, we both voted for Perot.

Odd, it was for the same reason, not happy with either party.

So the SOPA/PIPA block-out and black-out, a success?

I hope so. I’m against piracy but for the free-flow of information.

Political Notes is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon

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For close to a year, I’ve been running my own, dedicated server. I’ve got numbers from a tertiary source to validate the stats.
Uptime Outages Response time
99.91% 5 2264 ms
Checks with downtime
Check name Uptime Downtime Outages Response time
astrofish.net 99.91% 0h 40m 00s 5 2264 ms

Overview: Average of all checks

Uptime Outages Response time

99.89% 5 1600 ms
Checks with downtime

Check name Uptime Downtime Outages Response time
www.bexarcountyline.com 99.89% 0h 50m 04s 5 1600 ms

Just data, not much else. Most statistics are manipulated to prove a point. That’s just the raw feed, straight reporting — so little of what I do is straight….

Facts and frictions is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon

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Previously: here and here.

Title: Excellence in customer service

This is how it is done:

That I love my Piper Sandals, that is a foregone conclusion. They are a miracle of design in simplicity, form that follows function, and they go the distance. The first pair, still usable after all these years, but as the note suggests, on their last resole, those are 12 years old now.

This isn’t a tale of two sandals, though, this is about that handwritten note. There’s been a note with all resoled pair of Piper Sandals for the last decade — every time.

The first time was more memorable because there was my sad tale of woe about the sandals breaking down when I was furtherest from a trailer in South Austin. Dave, the Piper Patriarch, responded himself, and he signed off with, “Walk well.”

Each year, or so, I would get the pair resoled, and when they came back in the mail, that handwritten note.

Customer Service done right.

Personal touch. Works well. Besides, I dearly love the sentiment, “Walk Well.”

Piper Sandals and Customer Service is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon

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Ft. Hood (Central Texas) is one of the largest military bases in the world, as is Ft. Bliss (El Paso). Despite my “hippie” peace-love-waterbeds appearance and demeanor, I’m a big fan of the military (Military Industrial complex).

Rather, I’m a big fan of the individual warriors.

The global outrage of an image of uniformed Marines urinating on the dead corpses of enemy combatants? The outrage is just misplaced.

Imagine, hours earlier, those same soldiers were sustaining incoming fire from those same — now dead — bodies.

The soldiers were victorious, standing and then, making a symbolic gesture over the remains.

The same outrage, is the issue forgotten that the enemy in this situation is using women and children as human shields? Bombing innocent civilians?

The kids, as I’m sure that the US military personnel are probably, at best in the early 20s, if that old, it’s a natural reaction.

The only part that is stupid, to me? Like, posting that on a website. But even I didn’t have discretion at that age.

I think those Marines deserve medals and commendations, not condemnations.

Warrior is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon

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Coffee by the tanker?

I just snapped a camera-phone image, rolling along the highway in El Paso. Never seen coffee by the gas tanker. Although the idea is not without merit.

Coffee by the Tanker Truck is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon

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Saw this, for a second time.

The “retro handset”…

I can’t help it. This is a fine example, perhaps one of the best, of Airport Shopping. Stuck in the departure lounge, that looks like the coolest piece of hardware I can’t live without.

What really happens to Airport Shopping acquisitions?

Nothing. Get bought. Never get used.

Zero sum.

No win game.

“How about a nice game of chess?”

Airport Shopping is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon

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I wonder about this historical note.

The Mars Missile

A yellow rose from San Antonio’s Main Plaza.

Help stop SOPA redux.

Just another update.

The El Paso update is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon

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