An Offline Game That Lurks Inside....

Because I don't live in a Wi-Fi hotspot, I'll lose internet service once in a while due to foul weather conditions or poor cable bill management. When this happens, I find myself at the mercy of an offline laptop where I rediscover the fun of of playing the Microsoft Windows version of Free Cell. (I'm thinking that Bill Gates himself must be a Free Cell aficionado because the game is offered on every Windows operating system I've ever encountered.)



Free Cell (the Windows version) includes the following items:

• One standard 52-card deck

• Four open cells

• Four open foundations (one for each suit) to build upon

• Eight randomly dealt card cascades in stacks of either seven or six cards

• One player

The player wins Free Cell when he or she moves all the cards to the foundation piles. I find the game quite addicting. I get peeved when I lose especially when conventional wisdom says all Free Cell games are winnable expect one.

Looking For a Radio Gig When Digital Meant Relating to a Finger or Toe

I used to be in radio broadcasting, and there were many occasions where I directly contacted a company without prior knowledge of whether they were hiring. Since I made these contacts about 20 years ago, I had to rely on 'snail' mail and land line telephones. And since there was no internet, I had to use resources at the public library to find out the telephone numbers to out-of-town radio stations.

My unsolicited search would begin with a cold call to a radio station where I'd ask the receptionist the name of person responsible for hiring air talent. Then, I'd send a cassette recording of an aircheck and a resume in a padded envelope to that station calling attention to the name I obtained from the previous phone call. If I knew I little more about the company or the market, I'd include a cover letter.

This approach failed about 99 percent of the time. But that 1 percent of the time it was successful more than made up for the rejections. I landed some decent radio jobs in Columbia, MO, and Lafayette, IN, using this method.

My Two Cents on Jim Caldwell's Firing...

Yes, the Colts were 2-14 last season, and yes, Caldwell made some questionable calls during his stint here. However, I don't believe he should have been fired. I believe the reason that the Colts played so badly last season without Peyton is because they refused to draft or trade for a decent backup QB. They have had ample opportunity to do so.

While I despise the New England Patriots, I have to admire how they continued to play well when they lost their star quarterback, Tom Brady, to injury back in 2008. They still won 11 games with backup QB Matt Casssel.

There's no reason the Colts couldn't have drafted someone like Cassel. So, I think Caldwell's firing is mostly window dressing and a bit misguided.

Can Technology Exist Without Science?

I believe it’s possible, but only on a singularly and fleetingly rare occasion. In many instances throughout history, people have discovered a new technology by accident and its first use came about without any prior scientific research.


I believe prehistoric cave dwellers may have discovered the benefits of cooking in such a way. Tens of thousands of years ago, perhaps, some cave people were sitting around a fire eating raw meat from a fresh kill. Suddenly, one of the hunters accidentally dropped their slab into the fire. After fishing the food painstakingly and cautiously out of the blaze, the cave person soon discovered that the meat was easier to chew and tasted better.


The above example is a one-time example where people used a technology without science. From then on, the cave dwellers relied on the observed knowledge or ‘research’ that fire makes food tastier and easier to eat and purposely began using the fire to cook their meat.


Yes, I believe technology can exist without science, but only by accident!

Further Dabbling with HTML

I'm playing around with a few of the self-taught HTML technigues I've recently learned. This is, perhaps, the birth of a future website I hope to manage some day.

WELLS TECHCOMM

Joel A. Wells •
CEO

Who are we?

Wells TechComm is a technical communications company that is committed to handling the document needs of any business and organization. Wells TechComm is prepared and ready to take on any size documentation project. We can quickly produce the following documents:

HTML Experiment

Below, I copy and pasted a web page I designed using html.

Who the hell am I?

Welcome to Dave's Devil Sticks, owned and operated by David Vinet. If you're looking for juggling balls, hacky sacks, pins, unicycles, or magic hats, you've come to the wrong place; but if you're looking for high-quality, hand-crafted devil
sticks...then this it the site for you. I've been designing and building sticks during the last 20 years. I know my sticks are the best of their kind. Don't take my word for it. Read the following testimonial:

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"Dave's products are the best. I would gladly walk a thousand miles through an Antarctic blizzard to get one of his sticks!"

— Freddie Farkle-dude

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Every set is checked and tested before being shipped out to assure perfect quality. I take pride in every one of my sticks and I want my customers to feel that same pride.

My products

• Basic Stick
  
  The easiest stick to learn with, but "grippy" enough for the most demanding tricks. Comes in red, green and blue.


• Flower Stick
  
  A graceful stick with colored tassels. The Flower Stick floats more slowly, giving you the ideal chance to practice new moves.


• Master Stick
  
  My most popular stick is shorter and heavier for fast play and more advanced tricks. Each master set is available in custom colors.


• Glow Stick
  
  The Glow Stick shines brightly at night (without the danger of a fire stick). It combines the fun and versatility of the Master Stick, adding the fun tricks unique to a glow-in-the-dark stick.

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Dave's Devil Sticks •
4180 East Hall Avenue •
Terre Haute, IN USA 47805 •
(812)208-5985

OWS and Why Hippie Punching Won't Work

"Get a job!" "Take a bath!" This is quickly becoming the theme of the right-wing attack machine against the #Occupy Wall Street movement, which is now more than two months old. Even the leading candidates seeking next year's GOP presidential nomination are adopting this talking point technique, which many pundits call, 'hippie punching'.



Many conservative politicians owe their living to 'hippie punching'. The last time the left really took to the streets was during the 1960s...when many protesters held public demonstrations to promote civil rights or end our military involvement in Vietnam. Richard Nixon capitalized on the anxieties of the so-called 'silent majority' by promising to bring 'law and order' to the cities and college campuses. Nixon and the right's appeal struck a chord with America's working class, who saw the protesters as nothing more than spoiled rich kids who've never worked a day in their lives. Even my father, while supportive of their causes, often referred to hippies as 'middle-class brats'.

The right continued to use this paradigm successfully ever since. Every progressive movement during the last 40 years has been labelled with the lazy hippy tag. This includes the nuclear freeze movement of the 80s, the WTO protests of 90s and the anti-Iraq War movement (what there was of it!) during the last decade.

Now comes Occupy Wall Street...and the right has, once again, begun punching hippies. However, today's dynamic is quite different. This isn't 1969 when long hair and radical politics were something found only in a few urban neighborhoods and campus towns. The growing support for Occupy Wall Street suggests that the American people are more interested in substance and real economic issues than with cheap shots about drum circles, long hair and hygiene.

The issues of the late 60s pitted labor unions and veterans against the protesters. Now the protesters have the vast support of members from both groups. This is a crucial difference that will make all the difference in the world. Hippy punching may work in the short term (the Republican primaries) but eventually, it will fall flat.