Sunday, July 30, 2006

The Saga of Our New House Continues

Today, moments from completing some paintwork, the builder's warranty department's contractor's men managed to spill a couple gallons of Antique White down the stairs. The paint soaked the carpet, spattered the walls, the woodwork... and some framed artwork. They managed to clean that up, but the carpet looks to be a total loss.

More light blogging ahead.

UPDATE: Looks like they've agreed that the carpet will need to be replaced. There will be some serious clean-up on the woodwork, too. The builder's warranty department sent over their usual house-cleaning crew, and reports from My Lovely Bride are that they've done a fine job. She hadn't been downstairs yet to see what they've been able to accomplish in the midst of yesterday's mess.

Friday, July 28, 2006

My Life as a Beagle, Part III

Ah, what a fine day this has been.
Oh, excuse me. I must be a little sleepy.
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...and He's Not Going to Take it Anymore

Jeff Goldstein has had more than enough of Deb Frisch and is now seeking legal recourse against her.

(See this post here, and this one at Jeff's for background.)

Jeff has put out an appeal for screenshots of her bizarre comments and ip information for the poster of those comments. None here, thankfully, but I post it as a "get out the word" kind of assist.

The person in question has used a lot of pseudonyms, but she has a certain strange writing style featuring words like "phuque" and "ephu". If you need more, I can find more. UPDATE: She also seems fond of "pissant" and "anklebiter". On more than one occasion she's used the term "hump" and "humping". You can find more of her lexicon in the comments section over at Patterico's post on the subject.

So if you seen this woman's bizarre ramblings--particularly those about Jeff Goldstein's family--on your site, pass the ip information for the poster and a screen shot of the comments to Jeff.

Best of luck, Jeff. No one should have to put up with those kinds of comments about one's children.

UPDATE 2: Oh, and Ace's place at MuNu seems to be down right now, too.

UPDATE 3: There was some kind of weirdness with "guest bloggers" this past weekend at Ace's. Not sure what was up with all of it, but well, you can see it for yourself. Jeff's posting occasionally, too, which is nice. Illegitimi Non Carborundum!

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

My life as a beagle, Part II

Today was a pretty good day. After everyone left, I had my choice of sleeping places. I was still asleep on the living room couch when Grandpa came in. I am so embarrassed. But, all is well. After going out, I had my favorite snack: ground beef with rice.

All for now. I'm really sleepy again. I think I shall nap in the chair in the loft.

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Tuesday, July 18, 2006

My life as a beagle, part I

My are my nails growing. I think I need a trim.

Well, here I am. Glaucoma has taken the sight of one eye but I can sort of see out of the other. Enough to find my water bowl.

I had a nice walk in the yard when Grandpa came home. He gave me a cookie when we came in but I spit it up. No problem. Grandma made me rice and beef for supper. Man, was that good.

All for now. I have to go out.

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Sunday, July 16, 2006

Social Security Numbers and Those Illegally in the USA

From BizzyBlog comes this piece from the Washington Times:
Since 2003, the SSA has issued Social Security numbers, dubbed “non-working,” to foreign nationals who need them to collect state or federal benefits, such as public assistance.
The problem is that the SSA isn't allowed to tell an employer that the person they just hired using that SSN is not authorized to work in the country. From the article:
Privacy concerns prevent the Social Security Administration from notifying an employer that a hired foreign national is not authorized to work in this country, including someone who may be a potential national security risk, says a government audit.

The audit, by the SSA’s Office of the Inspector General, also found the agency fears employers will improperly terminate the illegal workers who have been issued Social Security numbers, leading to “adverse publicity.
Hell's Bells! The SSA fears adverse publicity!

This also puts a crimp in my proposed "match/no-match" system for determining whether a proferred SSN matches the name and birthdate of the applicant. In the interest of doling out more Government welfare, people who aren't authorized to work now HAVE Social Security Numbers.

Well, digging a little further, I found the "How do I get a Social Security Card" page. It details three different kinds:
# The first type of card shows your name and Social Security number and lets you work without restriction. We issue it to:

* U.S. citizens; and
* People lawfully admitted to the United States on a permanent basis.

# The second type of card shows your name and number and notes, “VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION.” We issue this type of card to people lawfully admitted to the United States on a temporary basis who have DHS authorization to work.

# The third type of card shows your name and number and notes, “NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT.” We issue it to people from other countries:
I'm thinking the businesses that routinely hire illegal aliens aren't going to actually ask the guy standing in the 7-11 parking lot to fork over his card. (Hell, Mr. Contractor isn't likely to ask him to fill out an app.)

So if the SSA won't inform the employer that the number that was given--provided the employer even bothered to collect that number--what is the purpose of having three different cards? A search of their FAQ didn't turn up any references to "Undocumented Worker" or "Illegal Alien", so it could be fair game for their questions page. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for an answer.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Protein Wisdom Off the Air

After some seriously derranged blather--including what can be inferred to be a threat against Jeff Goldstein's child--from a poster who claims to be an instructor at the University of Arizona, Protein Wisdom seems to be down. The outage seems to have started yesterday afternoon and persists this morning.

It could be a DDOS against Jeff's host or something, but I hope Thursday night's weirdness hasn't escalated to something else.

UPDATE: PW is back as of 1658 EDT.

UPDATE 2: It's gotten scary in a Cape Fear kind of way. "Google satchel" might mean one of two things. One thing might have been some kind of urging to Mrs. Goldstein to examine their son for signs of abuse... a disturbing allegation with no evidence.

The other might be this. The murdered cheese shop owner's name is... Goldstein. The story mentions a satchel.

This is some bizarre kind of threat.

Jeff has contacted the authorities, and rightly so. Hopefully they will reach this lady before she hurts herself or someone else.

I love my Grandma

Wendy greeting GrandmaI can hear you and smell you. But I can scarce see you these days.

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Sunday, July 09, 2006

Monday, July 03, 2006