The Great Computer Shuffle

With the (sort of) demise of Windows XP, my brother and I decided it was time to "recycle" some of the computers at the office. Much to my surprise, I found one Windows 98 machine still in operation (as a totally obsolete FTP site), three Windows 2000 Workstations (one used daily as a "Fax Machine"), a Windows Server 2000, and five Windows XP computers (not to mention the two Windows XP computers used in home offices or the four computers running various forms of Unix!)

It was long past time for a good "house cleaning".

When we acquired our third rack-mounted Dell Server, I took a deep breath and stepped off the deep end of the high-technology pool and set up some "hyper-visor-based" virtual computers on the machine pictured below. That done, many of the "specialized" desktops (with customized software installed) were shut off and never used again.

On a normal day, this Windows 2012 Datacenter Server (having two processors with four cores each, 64 gigabytes of memory and six (yes, 6!) one (1) tetra-byte hard drives) plays host to 6 virtual machines. A virtual machine is a software-based emulation of a computer, be it a desktop, workstation, or server. Virtual machines operate based on the computer architecture and functions of a real or hypothetical computer. So in short, this one "box" takes the place of seven (7!) individual computers.

One of those seven computers is "my" computer running Windows 8.1 and you know something? IE11 still kind of sucks even when you have 2 CPU's and 10 Gigabytes of memory) so I loaded FireFox on it. I'm not too sold on Windows 8 either...

The "big" server "talks" to the other two Dell Servers (one Windows Server 2008 R2 with the corporate files and one Windows Server 2012 that is home to a number of large databases) via a dedicated gigabit network.

Being that my home-office computer was Windows XP (and more than satisfactory for what I used it for), it was replaced with one of the retired Windows 7 Professional workstations from the office. Such a sacrifice in the name of security! I was off-line for a couple days or so while I played musical computers (and files there on) but the new computer is much, much faster - I'll need to learn how to type much, much faster! And I cna alreedy ytpe 300 wrods pre mniuet!!!

Now to take about a dozen old, dusty computers to the electronics recycle center.

I might just keep the Windows 98 computer though, in case the local historical society wants it.

Wordless Wednesdays

Link to Place

In the pink...

On the way home from the houseboat this weekend, I stopped long enough to take a photograph of a... a... um... eyeful? that I have been seeing the past month or so. I ran the photograph past my brother and ask, "What the heck?" and he answered, "Perhaps the latest Mary Kay Cosmetics top sales winner didn't want a Cadillac?"

That worked for me!

The real story (found here) is nearly as bizarre. Meet “Smoke on the Water,” The Grill Meister’s floating BBQ restaurant.

As the story relates, in October of 2012 the houseboat was purchased from the nearby Worton Creek Marina. The interior was gutted, and painted inside and out. In went 3 refrigerators, a freezer, gas stove, and custom-made grill on the deck.

As soon as possible, I'll try to sample some of the cooking!  Meantime, I have to find my sunglasses!

Kind of MIA

In response to my last entry, where you may recall, a rare Socky Head, possibly in the menancing presence of two Orange Traffic Safety Cones was "safely" standing on shore when we last saw him/her/it.


A Corgi in Southern California asked "How would we know if they were wearing life vests if the life vests were orange?" and that is a durn good question!

I thought about what I've seen in my many walks amongst the "orange folks" and could not distinctly recall a case where I ever saw an orange traffic safety cone actually swimming - wearing a lifevest or otherwise.

I recalled a case where I had seen some orange barrels "swimming with the fishes" (you can read about them here) but I did not know (and still do not know) if they were swimming, dead, or doing something else altogether.

And then, just as I was about to go outside and toss an orange cone into a large puddle (in the interest of furthering my knowledge and science in general, of course), I got this fabulous photograph in an e-mail from photojournalist Farside of Fifty who reports seeing this talented Socky Head taking a swim!


P.s., I'm still tempted to toss a cone - stay tuned. :)

I've leave you with this - something I saw/heard by accident, a song from "How I Met Your Mother" (video) that has been stuck in my head - yes... I think the noise in my head has gone from bad to worse...

Hey, Beaver come on
When you feel alone
Just pick up that phone
And I’ll be there to share my ice cream cone
We’ll lick it side by side
And deep inside you’ll know
Before the day is done

Two beavers are better than one
Da da da da da da da da da da da da
Two beavers are better than one
They’re twice the fun
Ask anyone
A second beaver can be
Second to none
Two beavers are better than one!

Da da da da da (You’re my favorite beaver)
Da da da da da (Space Teens are forever)
Da da da da da (Don’t forget to do your homework)
‘Cuz math’s cool!

We’ll share a root beer float
And learn aboot how friendship weighs
A metric ton

Two beavers are better than one
Da da da da da da da da da da da da
Two beavers are better than one
They’re twice the fun
Ask anyone
A second beaver can be
Second to none
Two beavers are better than one!

Two beavers are better than one!
Two beavers are better than one!
Two beavers are better than one! (Beautiful, beautiful beavers!)

On August 11th, 3114 B.C. ...

... the Mayan of Central America started counting.

On December 21st, 2012 A.D., the remnants of the Maya in the highlands of Guatemala, will reach the end of their Great Cycle Long Count, 1,872,000 days after starting.

They didn't count in groups of ten like we do, they preferred to count in groups of 20's. Perhaps they used their toes or the both the front and backs of their fingers?


The Maya Calendar - Note the appearance of cycles within cycles with position-like pointers.

The Maya Calendar isn't really that complicated but the names given to the various "days, weeks, months and years" seem so random they are a daunting hurdle to understanding it.

Much like we do, the Mayan had useful intervals of time laid out in cycles.

Their basic cycle was the Count of Days, called the "Tzolkin" which lasted 260-days and consisted of a repeating 20-day "week".

The days of the week were, loosely translated, Alligator, Wind, House, Lizard, Serpent, Death, Deer, Rabbit, Water, Dog, Monkey, Grass, Reed, Jaguar, Eagle, Owl, Quake, Knife, Rain, and Flower. You will see their glyphs on the outer ring in the next picture.

I guess the Mayan went around saying TGIF! just like we do, except theirs stood for "Thank God It's Flower!"

Mayanists (people that study the Mayan) speculate that the 260-day cycle was based on the human gestation period which aligned with phases of planet Venus as well as interval between the planting and harvesting of the corn crop.

The 20-days made up one of their 18 months (or 19, if you include the extra month having the 5 extra days needed to get a 365-day year.) The months had names like Kayab, Zec, Sac, Cumhu, Xul, Ceh, and Pop.


The first large cycle "counts" is called the Calendar Round. This is when the 260-day count, the Tzolkin, and the 365-day Solar count (called the "Haab") come back to their begining points together. The Calendar Round is 18,980 days (or 52 years).

Here is where it starts getting a little tricky.

Venus has a 584-day cycle. In other words, it will rise as the morning star every 584 days and was no doubt tracked closely by the early Maya. There is some reason to suspect that the 260-day count arose, in part, to structure the related cycles of the Sun and Venus. The relationship between the solar and Venus cycles is this: 5 Venus cycles equals 8 solar years.

The nature of the Tzolkin, Solar, and Venus cycles are such that they all synchronize every 104 years, which happens to be exactly equal to two Calendar Rounds. The Venus Round is 37,960 days (or 104 years).

Now, remember that Mayans counted in groups of 20. So in addition to keeping track of where they were within each of the cycles mentioned above, they simply counted out time in groups of twenty.

1 day = 1 day
20 days = 1 uinal (month)
18 uinal = 1 tun (year) = 360 days
20 tuns = 1 katun = 7200 days
20 katuns = 1 baktun = 144,000 days
13 baktuns = 1 Great Cycle = 1,872,000 days
This is called the "Long Count" system.

The Long Count and tzolkin/year/Venus systems are theoretically unrelated, yet 37 Venus cycles = 3 katuns. So there is reason to think there is some yet to be re-discovered interweaving between these two systems. It has been noticed that both the Long Count and tzolkin/year/venus counts are used together in many of the archeological inscriptions throughout Central America.

Today's date is 11 Eb 5 Uo or Day 1,728,000:

Source

There is even an iPhone app to show you the Mayan date available (here).


So what happens when the Long Count reaches 1,872,000 days on December 21, 2012? I suspect the Mayans planned to simply turn the calendar over and use the other side.

Informational Source and More Details

Norristown Farm Park Moods

As many of you already know, not far from my house is the Norristown Farm Park.

The Norristown Farm Park was once part of the Norristown State Hospital, originally known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Norristown, was and is a psychiatric hospital.

Opened in July 12, 1880 - Dr. Alice Bennett, a graduate of the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, the first woman in the nation to direct a mental institution, admitted the first patient.


With the grey overcast skies threatening rain, I decide to walk through the Farm Park and into the State Mental Hospital. I also decided to play with my camera's panoramic shot feature. I didn't quite "do it right" but the picture shows the view from the upper farm park looking northeast toward the Germantown Pike. Philadelphia is about 18 miles to the far right. The Stony Creek runs unseen in the valley below the road bridge seen in the middle of the picture.


The Stony Creek reflects the green splendor of a tree with fresh, spring leaves. I leave the Farm Park at this juncture and head into the hospital grounds.


I walk slowly past the front of The Administration Building as the sky grows gloomier and gloomier. Unbidden, the tune of the Addams Family enters my head...

They're creepy and they're kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They're all together ooky,
The Addams Family.

Their house is a museum
Where people come to see 'em
They really are a scream
The Addams Family.

Or perhaps it is the home of Mr. and Mrs Herman Munster on 1313 Mockingbird Lane never before seen in color?


This building is located near the Administration Building. I looked for some sort of unifying architectural theme ... and decided perhaps one of the patients had a hand in designing it.

Only later I learned that a prominent Victorian-era architecture and engineering firm, Wilson Brothers & Company designed and built the original hospital buildings.

The Wilson Brothers designed or contributed engineering work to hundreds of bridges, railroad stations and industrial buildings. Among their surviving major works are the Pennsylvania Railroad Connecting Bridge over the Schuylkill River (1866-67), the main building of Drexel University (1888-91), and the train shed of Reading Terminal (1891-93), all in Philadelphia. So I should show some respect but jeepers, these old buildings gives me the willies.


The building that houses the one hundred and thirty-six patient forensic unit for criminally committed patients is often near capacity. My mind gathers in the bent barb-wired fence, the bus stop, and the speed bump and spins out as if it had hit an oil slick.

I think to myself, "I hope my life never encounters a speed bump where I find myself getting off a bus at a locked-down mental hospital..."


I resolutely decide to avoid ever taking SEPTA's bus route 90 which starts its voyage at the Plymouth Meeting Mall, near the now abandoned IKEA store.

That decided and mentally filed away for future reference, I start my walk back to my car and as I do, my scalp crawls and my arms get goosebumps. I hear in my head the voice of the evil Dr. Drakken from Kim Possible, laughing manically over and over again.

I shake my head and the voice changes to Rico in the Penguins of Madagascar but it is the same voice? Upset and alarmed, I look around to see what is causing my distress and see ... nothing ... unusual... when the voice returns... Duck Dodgers? What could be happening? A cold sweat pours from my forehead and I panic and start to run.

Suddenly, it dawns on me. That voice! It belongs to John DiMaggio, who is the cartoon voice of all those I was hearing in my head and one other...


Bender Bending Rodríguez of Futurama! I didn't know he had a couple of identical brothers, but being a mass produced robot, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to me...even if seeing him and his brother's half buried standing up in the lawn of the mental hospital both surprised and scared the heck out of me.

Hmmm... Maybe I do need to take that bus ride.

Help Wanted

Well, as you know from my previous entry, I bought a new car at a sports car show. I'm really excited about it. I want to turn it into a "babe magnet" so I need help from you, dear reader, with "pimping my ride"!


I've heard having a cute puppy dog helps power up the magnet and gets all women looking and checking a guy out.

What do you think? Should I have a special place for a puppy in my car? Does he/she (I'll check) need goggles?

And the car; How about a racing stripe? A huge "shake the town" sound system? More chrome? Decals? Should it be jacked up?

Just remember, what ever your idea is, it's got to go well with a guy wearing "Santa Claus"-red pants, white penny loafers, a loud plaid shirt complete with pocket protector and wide OCHA orange suspenders.

The baseball cap I normally wear is a nice simple khaki color - but I'm open to "accessorizing."

I thank you in advance for your help. I'm tired of riding alone.

A big "Thank You!" to LadyStyx for the picture.

The 'other' William Penn Inn

About the same distance from my house to the William Penn Inn that I mentioned in my entry on Monet, the Impressionist Painter, in nearly the opposite direction, there was another William Penn Inn.

This "other" inn was located in Merion, PA along side of the old wagon road named the Philadelphia-Lancaster Pike. The fields and farms along side of this old wagon road just outside of Philadelphia later became known as the wealthy "Main Line" suburbs of Philadelphia - so named because the Pennsylvania Railroad's main line which ran first to Lancaster, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh in 1832 and then later, onwards to Chicago.

The old wagon road became Route 30, and is better known as the Lincoln Highway. It passes near my house not very far from the site of the Paoli Massacre and the site of "Mad" Anthony Wayne's most bitter loss.

"Mad" Anthony Wayne was a brigadier general of the Continental Army whose bravery and recklessness (hence the nickname) led him to many military victories in the American Revolutionary War.



General "Mad" Anthony Wayne

In June 1796, General Wayne was on the frontier (the area near Pennsylvania - Ohio line) overseeing the surrender of British forts to the United States. In November he became ill with gout. On Dec. 16, 1796, he died. At his request he was buried in a plain oak coffin near Erie, Pa.

Thirteen years after Wayne's death, his son, Isaac Wayne, decided to move his father's body to the family's burial plot at St. David's Church in Radnor (another "Main Line" suburb of Philadelphia), Pa.

Isaac Wayne drove over the mountains to Erie, Pa., in a one-horse sulky to claim his father's body. Young Wayne enlisted the help of Dr. J.G. Wallace, who had been with Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, a skirmish with Native American Indians just south of Toledo, Ohio.

Wayne's body was remarkably preserved even after 13 years. There was little decay except in the lower portion of one leg. The men decided it was impractical to reduce the body to small packages that would fit into the back of the sulky.

With Isaac Wayne's permission, Wallace dissected the body and boiled the parts in a large iron kettle to render the flesh from the bones. Isaac Wayne took the cleaned skeleton back home in the sulky.

The rendered flesh and the knives used in the operation were replaced in the original coffin and reinterred in the old grave.

Shortly thereafter, the "other" William Penn Inn was renamed the General Wayne Inn as "Mad" Anthony was a wildly popular man. Sad to say, it is no longer an inn, having recently it has been purchased by Chabad of the Main Line, and has been converted into a synagogue and Center For Jewish Life. The good news, however, is the building was completely restored and preserved as it has a very rich American history.



Edgar Allan Poe once scraped his initials into a window frame here and George Washington, William Penn, General Anthony Wayne and our good buddy, Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, better known as Marquis de Lafayette all stayed here on their way through the area. The building dates back to 1704 and is the focus of many stories, both of visits by famous people and of ghostly manifestations.



The Inn's cellar is said to be haunted by the spirit of a Hessian (German mercenary fighting for the British) soldier, who hid there to escape persecution, became trapped and eventually died. His shade is said to sometimes hammer frantically on the door leading out of the cellar.

This spirit is said to be named Wilhelm, and during a seance he supposedly explained that most of the time he liked to stay down in the cellar but he was restless because he had been stripped of his clothes at the time of his death so that another soldier might use them. Being rather humiliated by being buried in his underwear, he was searching for a proper uniform to wear in the afterlife.

Source