I’ve run across the term “Kernel Panic” a few times, but was never completely certain what it meant. When I finally looked it up, I learned that a “kernel panic” is what happens when a Linux computer encounters an error it can’t recover from. In essence, it’s the Linux version of the famed “Blue Screen of Death.”
I also found a screenshot. Is it just me? Or does that look like the eye of Sauron staring out of the screen?
Finding out that Sauron lives inside your computer certainly sounds like a reason to panic!
(Public domain image, courtesy of Wikipedia.)
Category Archives: Photos
Entries with photographic accompaniment.
All that Glitters is not Gold
Sometimes it’s a glitter-encrusted holiday card.
Squirrel-proof
Thursday’s photo was a bit blurry, so I took another this morning. As you can see, the squirrel is eating from the “squirrel-proof” bird feeder. Even the squirrel-baffle doesn’t keep them out, it just gives them another obstacle.
If nothing else, it’s a source of entertainment for me.
Holiday Decorations
We had a door decorating contest as part of our office holiday festivities. Among the others, there was a category for “Best Use of Office Supplies.” One team reportedly cleaned out the office’s entire supply of green and red paper and others were equally lavish.
At the last minute on the morning of the voting, MC and I entered the contest with an impromptu decoration made with nothing but office supplies.
The fellow responsible for facilities management declared it to be either the “Best Use of Office Supplies” or at the very least, “Least Abuse of Office Supplies” and brought a string of people by to see it.
In the end, we got four votes. Not enough to win, but that wasn’t the point. Everyone got a good chuckle from it.
Squirrels
It was rainy this morning, but sure enough, the first squirrel has found the bird feeders.
Spotting the first robin of the spring is supposedly a big deal, if nothing else, I guess that somehow means it’s officially spring. I wonder if there’s any significance to “the first squirrel of winter”?
Squirrels
The bird have found the feeders. So far it looks like it’s all finches, but in the past I’ve also seen cardinals and blue jays. In the original squirrel photo, the tube shaped feeder on the left is filled with generic bird seed which appears to be mainly small seeds. The larger, hour-glass shaped feeder on right is filled with sun-flower seeds and that seems to be the one that the birds are most interested in. (The size of the openings in the mesh make it impractical to fill it with most other kinds of seed.)
As of this morning, the squirrels haven’t found the feeder yet, but one came exploring while I was watching. My guess is that it was drawn to my yard by the sound of the birds.
For all I know, the squirrels actually discovered the feeders while I was at work. But it was dark by the time I got home, so it’s hard to say. My guess is that I’ll see squirrels on the feeder tomorrow.
Squirrels
One possible definition of the word “optimist” is anyone who thinks a squirrel-proof bird-feeder will prevent squirrels from getting at the food.
One of today’s activities was to give the bird feeders the first fill-up of the year. It’s been about eight months since the last time there was anything in those feeders, so it’ll probably take a day or two before the birds realize they’re back in business.
I’m sure the birds will enjoy the food, but at about the same time the birds find the feeders, I expect the squirrels will find them as well. The last few years, I’ve probably done a lot more to feed them than the birds. Last year, I even wound up replacing one of the feeders after if broke open when the squirrels chewed through the cord that was holding it up.
So, here’s the feeders as they looked this afternoon. We’ll see how long it takes before the first squirrel arrives.
Fun in the Kitchen
On occasion, friends have asked why I keep a rubber chicken in my refrigerator.
I counter this with a question of my own, “Where else would you keep it?” So far, nobody has come up with an adequate response. After all, you don’t want it to go bad.
Thanksgiving Dinner
This was only the second time since I moved back to the East Coast that I didn’t go up to Mom and Dad’s for Thanksgiving. Last year, they came here, and this year they went to visit my brother and his family. I was invited too, but friends are getting married this weekend and I didn’t want to spend Thanksgiving in the car.
The original plan was to find a restaurant that was open for Thanksgiving. I’ve done that before. Back when I was living in Nevada, a friend and I went to the local Hyatt hotel and had Thanksgiving Dinner in their Chinese restaurant. It was a traditional American Thanksgiving Dinner, with turkey and all the expected trimmings, but because we were in a Chinese restaurant, we decided to use chopsticks to eat the cranberry sauce.
In the end, I decided to cook my own dinner. Most of my meals are pretty simple stuff, but now and then I get adventuresome and this seemed like a good opportunity. Besides, I didn’t think any of the places that would be open around here were likely to have both chopsticks and cranberry sauce.
So on Monday I went to the store and bought the smallest turkey I could find (it was 10 pounds – I’m gonna have leftovers for a while) and around 2:30 this afternoon I put it in the oven. Along with the turkey, I picked up some pre-mixed mashed potatoes, and the freezer was already full of veggies. Add in some biscuits, and I was good to go.
The biscuits didn’t turn out so well. But the turkey and everything else came out pretty darn nicely.
Wylie had a hunk of turkey as part of his dinner
and Terry had a big ol’ piece of carrot.
Persistence
We’ve had some cold weather lately. Just a week ago, night time temperatures dropped below and a good number of less-hardy plants died off. And despite all that, when I came back from walking the dog, I found a rose blooming.
It’s an odd time of year for a rose to bloom, but it’s beautiful.
