The mysterious minds of TV executives

What's up with the execs at CBS? What part of "Charlie Sheen" didn't they understand when they hired Charlie Sheen? Why are they getting upset with him for acting like... well... Charlie Sheen?

There's just no way that the grand poobahs at CBS didn't know what they were getting when they cast Sheen on 2½ Men. If fact, they had to have been counting on Sheen's history as a dyed-in-the-wool Hollywood bad boy as a way to attract an audience. And he certainly has delivered over the years. So why act surprised and upset now?

Poor journalism

The York Press needs to hire better journalists.

This story from January 21 recounts the terrifying day that Englishman Tim Stark found a .22 cartridge lying in the street.

THE HORROR!!

But one question remains unanswered thanks to some shoddy reporting: Did Mr. Stark wet himself? And if so, did he wet himself before or after he made his frantic call to the police to report the dangerous bullet?

The vicious Fossgate Bullet!

I suppose that it's a good thing that there wasn't a rabbit nearby. Imagine the carnage that might have resulted!!

I also got rid of that Tweety button thing

Either no one clicks it or it doesn't work.

An unfortunate change

There used to be a list of FReeper blogs over there on the sidebar. I had to remove that because most seemed to be dead. The one exception is AnnaZ, who I've added to the blogroll.

Now I'm not the guy to lecture about neglected blogs, but at least one had never been posted to. Others hadn't seen the light of day since 2005. Why am I complaining? I got that list from another FReeper who put in quite a bit of effort compiling a list of FReeper blogs. I wish I could remember who that was. It's sad to see their work go for naught.

Bad host! No biscuit!

I'm getting increasingly annoyed with FreeServers.com.

I manage a website there using one of their paid plans. (Not the freebie service!) Specifically, the plan is advertised as one for those who want to use WordPress to manage a blog. (I used to use Blogger.com for that site's blog, but they stopped supporting self-hosted blogs using ftp. In short, I didn't want Google to have an off switch for that blog. They have that here with this blog, and they should. It's hosted on their server and on their dime.) The problem started when I decided that I wasn't happy with the way the thing looked.

WordPress, for those who don't know, is a blogging program that's hosted on a blog's web server. It runs using the common web site programming language PHP. As such, all of the templates that one can download to change the look of a blog are, in fact, little PHP programs themselves. They interact with each other and the main WP software. WP is now on version 3.1. FreeServers uses version 2.0.4; a rather hoary old version. Modern WP templates assume that a more modern version of WP is on the server. Do you know how difficult it is to find one that will work with 2.0.4?

Now, I could try a hack solution. The WP software actually lives in a directory that a FreeServers subscriber has access to. I could just overwrite the old software with the latest version. There's a problem with that plan, however. The latest WP requires the latest PHP to work; at least something newer than v.4.1.2. (PHP is now on v.5.3.5!) It would also require a more modern version of MySQL. WP uses this database to keep track of posts. The latest version is 5.5.9. FreeServers uses v.4.1.22. These two items can't be upgraded by a mere subscriber. The PHP and MySQL installations are out of reach to subscribers.

I did a little searching and found out just how old these versions are. WP and MySQL date to 2006. The version of PHP they are using dates to 2002.

And then it gets worse!

While I was digging, I found that they are also running an out-of-date version of the Linux kernel on their servers. V.2.4.9-31 also dates to 2002. This just went from irritating to scary! I'm no expert, but I'm guessing that any script-kiddie worth his proxy could find an old exploit code and pwn my site and every other site on that server.

And I'm paying for this?

I complained to FreeServers. They responded that upgrading software requires time. I guess 9 years isn't enough!

Will FreeServers tech support read this, get off their lazy asses, and fix the problem? I doubt it. They're probably still using IE6. I'm not sure they can view this page!

On the virtues of forgetfulness

Sometimes, forgetfulness can be a good thing.

My wife was rummaging around in the pantry and found some jars of homemade pickles that have been back there for nearly 3 years. I remember opening some jars from that batch back then and being less than happy with the results. I should have been more patient! These just needed some time to age. The flavors, once sharp and unpleasant, have mellowed. The vinegar dominated everything; now the spices and garlic come through.

I put a few bottles of 2010 Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale in the back of the pantry now. I intend to forget those for a while and see what happens.

BitTorrent hair pulling

I have been pulling my hair out trying to get my torrent client to make nice-nice with my ATT-UVerse supplied router. Long story short: It was just a bad torrent I was trying to download. (For the record, it wasn't that kind of torrent! I was trying to get a report on gun running, or the lack thereof, into Mexico.)

I don't know how, but the router had a program already using the default port for kTorrent. I just switched kTorrent to another randomly chosen port an we were off to the races.

Still bubblin' away

That Hefeweizen is still bubbling away in primary.

Caught on tape: Mexican military incursion into the US

A Mexican military vehicle with about a dozen armed men crossed into Texas near Mission. The incursion was caught on tape.

Drunken tweets

Drinking and tweeting is ill advised. C'mon... we all know, even three sheets to the wind, that we're really not as clever drunk as we think at the time. You're just gonna end up deleting something anyway, so don't even bother hitting "post". But this is especially true when you're posting with the boss' Twitter account!

High tech stuff

This is really just a test post. I'm having a little fun with Blogger for Android.

Talk about confusing

Argentina Confiscates U.S. Air Force Cargo - WSJ.com: The Argentines are apparently POd because Obama won't be stopping to visit their country. I have thought they'd be thanking us for not sending Jughead to them!

This blog

I got to looking at the content of this blog and realized something. I started this as a place for mostly political rants. It's morphed into mostly a blog about beer!

I suppose that one can only take so much of American politics before requiring a drink. It's also important that those of us involved in the struggle to save our nation from the community organizers who would destroy it to occasionally get out and do something fun. We all need to decompress from time to time. If you try to keep your head in this game too long, you wind up on YouTube wearing gold lamé, a Hello Kitty tutu, and ranting about the World Bank stealing your socks. You don't want to be that guy! (Especially if you are a guy!)

What we conservative and libertarian activists do is important, but don't forget to stop and smell the hops.

C'mon America! We can do better!

This graphic from The Economist shows world drinking patterns...



As you can see, we Americans just don't booze it up as much as the rest of the world!

But seriously...

This actually reflects our heritage as a beer drinking culture as opposed to a wine or spirits drinking culture. 235 years ago, ours was a whisky drinking culture. The influx of German immigrants in the early 19th Century changed that. They brought with them a beer drinking culture that was soon adopted by their new American neighbors. Thus our culture, at least when it comes to alcohol, more closely resembles that of Germany than the Mother Country. (See WHO reports by nation)

A mess avoided

I'm glad that I rigged a blow-off tube...



That's yeast and sanitizing solution pooling in the plastic container. What's bubbling out smells of yeast (of course) and bananas. I'm hoping to pick up more clove and spice flavors as the yeast cools tonight.

Search Engine Madness!

OK... So perhaps I should have done a search before I named that last video. YouTube's search engine now believes that my beer is somehow related to a Korean pop group. It could be worse, I suppose. It could have mistaken "bubble" for "bobble" and put up links to McDonald's ads from Japan.

(Not So) Tiny Bubbles

The Cheesehead Hefeweizen is bubbling away...

Cheesehead Hefeweizen

I was going to brew this up on Sunday, but the game was just too interesting!

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal      
Boil Size: 6.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 3.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 8.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU      
4.50 lb       Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)            Grain        50.00 %       
4.50 lb       Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)                 Grain        50.00 %       
0.38 oz       Hallertauer [4.20 %]  (65 min)            Hops         5.9 IBU       
0.25 oz       Tettnang [4.80 %]  (15 min)               Hops         2.2 IBU       
0.05 tsp      Lactic Acid (Mash 60.0 min)               Misc                       
2.50 gm       Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 min)        Misc                       
2.50 gm       Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min)  Misc                       
4.00 gm       Salt (Mash 60.0 min)                      Misc                       
6.50 gal      Distilled Water                           Water                      
1 Pkgs        Hefeweizen Ale (White Labs #WLP300)       Yeast-Wheat                


Mash Schedule: Decoction Mash, Single
Total Grain Weight: 9.00 lb
----------------------------
Decoction Mash, Single
Step Time     Name               Description                         Step Temp     
35 min        Protein Rest       Add 18.00 qt of water at 126.6 F    122.0 F       
45 min        Saccharification   Decoct 7.63 qt of mash and boil it  155.0 F       
10 min        Mash Out           Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min         168.0 F   

But given how long this took to complete, Ale Interrupted may be a better name.

Hefe Interrupted

I've been brewing all day.

Brewing, however, usually isn't an all day event. I was in the middle of mashing a Hefeweizen when I got called away to a lunch meeting. This is my first attempt at a decoction mash. I had to leave in the middle of the saccharification rest, so I figured "What's the harm?". A little extra time for those enzymes to get all happy in the mash can't be a bad thing.

Now I'm about to take off for another meeting. There will still be 20 minutes left in the boild, but my wife says she'll shut off the burners. I'd normally use an immersion chiller at this point, but it's a Hefe; what's the point!?

I'll post the recipe in a bit; though, it's pretty simple.

Kegging time once again

Here's my stout about to go into the keg...



Did I ever mention what a lucky man I am? How many husbands get "keg the beer" as one of the items on the honey-do list?