I hadn’t done a full OS reinstall on my MacBook since I originally got it, so I decided last night to remedy the situation with a clean nuke-and-pave of MacOS X 10.6.2 Snow Leopard. As you can see from the screenshot above, I am back up and running with 10.6.2. NeoOffice and CS4 along with a handful of other software goodies are reinstalled, and my files are restored to their rightful places on my hard drive. One thing that I decided to do differently, that I had never tried before, was to encrypt my home folder with FileFault. I know that this can cause a real problem when something goes wrong, but I backup my files often enough that I hope it won’t turn into a nightmare if the FileFault system develops a problem. So far, I haven’t noticed any performance hit or problem by using FileFault, despite copying back many files to my internal SSD.

While everything was being done, I finished Philip K. Dick’s Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. I will read A Scanner Darkly next and then switch back to some postmodern theory.

We cleared the final pre-transplant hurdle today.  During the Summer, Alex had a Thallium Isotope test to check out his heart and it came back with an indication that there was some damage.  The test “revealed” that part of his heart was not receiving oxygen.  This could have been a major setback.  However, the Doctors felt that the test was “inaccurate” due to a number of things:

a) They had to use Thallium instead of Molybdenum (thank you AECL!)
b) he had just come out of ICU
c) his body was going a little nutso trying to heal itself

His Cardiologist also said that if the test had been correct and that his heart was as damaged as it “appeared” to be, he would have had to have been treated for it already or would have been dead.  So, we had a strong indication that the test was incorrect.

He was sent to St. Mike’s today to undergo a Cardio Chemical Stress Test.  Basically this means that they fill him full of drugs to make his heart think he’s running on a treadmill when he’s really not.  They said there might be some complications.  Here’s how his day went:

• We got there at 1:00.
• His test was booked for 2:00.
• They took him in close to 2:30.
• Around 3:30 the Doctor came to tell me they couldn’t get the IV in.  (Lately Alex has had problems with his veins, the needles tend to go right through instead of into.  They are very fragile.  Four different Doctors jabbed him trying to find a vein.  They had to page the Phlebotomist and ten seconds after she appeared, she had the IV hooked up.)
• They finally pumped him full of drugs, the first to get his heart rate up and the second to get it “excited”.
• His blood pressure shot up to 240/170.  Normal is 120/80. 
• He got a splitting headache, which he equated to the pain I had when I had the “stroke” (Eclampsia) after Lexy was born and the blood vessels in my brain ruptured.  If that’s the case, I’m so sorry honey that must really hurt.
• He said as soon as the drugs went into his body and he could feel the rapid beat of his heart, it felt like someone was banging a drum with a sledgehapper inside his head to the same rhythm as his heart.
• It took him twice as long as normal to recover from this test.
• We finally left after 5:00 (this was only supposed to take an hour, it took four).  Thank goodness I had my iPod with me (I watched “Coraline“, played countless games of Gin and Euchre while listening to a lot of music!).
• I thought he was going to pass out on the train platform.  At one point, his eyes rolled upward and his eyelids closed, he was pale, in excruciating pain and just wanted to be in bed.  I so wish he didn’t have to go through this.

The good news is that the Cardiologist said that he is going to recommend that they proceed with the Transplant.  They just want to get his blood pressure stable first, as it’s still high but normal for him (150/90 range constantly).  The test today was our last hurdle.  His Dad has been cleared as a donor.  Alex is being cleared as we speak.

Maybe Christmas is really coming.

I have been reading a blog that I found when trying to find some more information on Kidney Transplants.  It is called My New (Transplanted) Kidney.  It is written by a man named Allan who lives in British Columbia.  He found out he had Polycystic Kidney Disease and was about a year away from Dialysis.  His Brother-in-law donated his kidney in a kidney swap and this in turn gave Allan a new kidney this past July.  It’s a pretty scary (as in learning the real truth) blog site, but it has been an eye opener.  The thing I really like about it is that he holds nothing (and I really do mean nothing) back.  He writes what is “numbers” are at each blood test.  He showed a picture of his incision site.  It is really informative and helpful.  It helps to see what we will and could be facing.  Thanks Al for your blog, please keep it up if you are able.  I wish you the best in your recovery.

Kudos to Al’s Brother-in-Law for his altruistic, selfless act.

Kudos to Alex’s Dad for the same reason.

Kudos to everyone who has (or will) donated an organ.  Organ donations save lives.  Please support the green ribbon campaign.  Please sign your donor card.

i must talk to you about an issue that is very close to my heart. The issue of ‘the fail’.

fail is the internets way of showing content. When domination shows, or irony rears it’s ugly head, your sure some one will say it.

and although the fail may be bad, bring it out.

you’ll be making the world a better place.

Shyguy621

Hello! It’s Sunday. And Sundays, well, Sundays are boring, right? Right.

Went and saw 2012 yesterday, as promised. It was, well… Hmm.

My first reaction to it: Ehhhh. Not horrible, but not great. It’s exactly what’s advertised on the tin, I’ll put it this way. You’ve got a lot of real actors doing some cartoon shit while the world goes to hell all around them. The cast, when you think about it, is actually quite impressive. Also, Woody Harrelson’s in the mix too.

My second reaction to it: Why the fuck didn’t this come out in the middle of the summer?

Third reaction: Comedy of the year, hands down.

Especially in a year when, if you think about it, the big comedy was… what? The Hangover? Right? Get serious. I never saw the movie, I won’t lie, but for a lot of reasons. Primarily, things like the trailer. Did you see it? It looks like it was made for retarded boys. But, you know what’s even worse than the trailer? Listening to people who actually liked the movie. They sound like retarded boys, don’t they? Anyway.

But I really feel like 2012 deserves a good proper Counterforce review. It really does. It’s really our kind of movie, and I mean that in the best and worst possible ways. I don’t know that I’m the man for that job. Benjamin Light, I’m looking at you. Are you the man for that job?

Anyway, I went and saw the film yesterday with Conrad Noir and walking out of the theater, still buzzing from all that ridiculousness, we saw this:

And we thought, “Dear God, who gave that man wings.” Much less Wings Of Desire and much more Red Bull: The Movie.

But then we got into a little conversation, talking about this and that and action heroes of the 80s, mostly cause we’ve been watching a lot of that horrendous/wonderful action movie fare from that decade, and we were talking about how action stars back then were so… foreign seeming. And maybe that contributed a lot to their allure. Maybe it also made some of the ridiculousness easier to stand, too?

For example there, Benjamin Light and were discussing a week or so ago what a remake of The Terminator would look like – since the franchise is up for sale, and should be sold to Joss Whedon, of course, cause why not? – And I brought up the question, “Does the killer robot from the future have to be Austrian?” Commander Light emphatically assured he that it indeed had to be. I’m taking his word for it.

Anyway, so Conrad and I, discussing action stars today, talking about guys like Dwayne Johnson, and how, in our minds, he’s not really latched on with America. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the idea of a “non-conventional” action star quite a bit, i.e. a non white guy running around screaming at people, doing high kicks, and blowing copious amounts of shit up. So why hasn’t “The Rock” caught on with us? I posit two possibilities:

1. In a grab for “credibility” or attempting to “not being as big a joke as he is,” he ditched his silly little wrestling moniker, “The Rock,” and went with his real name: Dwayne Johnson. Except, we can’t root for a guy named Dwayne.

2. Not foreign enough? Perhaps? I suggest investigating this has merit. Especially since it seems American action-loving fans get a bigger hard on from a ponce like Jason Statham than Dwayne Johnson.

Then, walking out of the theater, Conrad and I were looking at the various posters on display, the coming soons and the current releases. Part of me still wants to see This Is It. I’m a Michael Jackson fan, I won’t hide it.  But I’m also a huge Richard Matheson fan, and while I have serious reservations about the movie, I also kind of want to see The Box.

But I don’t know that I trust Richard Kelly anymore. Donnie Darko was okay when it first came out, before you put it through any real tests of serious thought or logic and saw through it’s masturbatory philophosizing. It’s a glorified remake of Last Temptation Of Christ that doesn’t fully pan out. But Kelly also went on to make – speaking of Dwayne Johnson – the gloriously bad Southland Tales.

Look, I’m not going to talk about the Philip K. Dick pastiche that was Southland Tales here. I’m just… not. I’m not going to do it. All I’ll say is I went into that movie wanting to like it. And I sit here now feeling like I’m a veteran of that war. It’s like Richard Kelly is George W. Bush and I was some dumb kid who supported the Iraq war until I went into the fucker and got my bits and pieces all cut off. Now I’m shell shocked.

But, yeah, there’s The Box, directed by Richard Kelly, starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden, based on the Richard Matheson story, “Button, Button,” and was previously adapted into an episode of The Twilight Zone. We’ll see if I ever see it.

And again, here we are. It’s Sunday. Tomorrow’s the start of the “work week.” I’d love to Weeks In Review here at Counterforce, but lately it’s just me rambling and I’d feel bad directing the two and a half readers of this site back to more of me rambling. Poor fuckers. Oh yeah, the season finale of Mad Men was last Sunday. And we had a Friday the 13th happen this past week as well. There you go. Oh, and: Young women having sex with sea creatures. Now there you really go.

But again, here we are. It’s Sunday. Let’s see, let’s see, let’s see… Oh! Tonight was the airing of the latest Doctor Who special over in the UK, “The Waters Of Mars,” the start of the end of David Tennant’s run as #10. You can catch it online if you’re good, if you’re very good, and it’s dark. And a bit sad. And leaves you kind of sweaty and breathless too.

Also tonight is AMC’s remake of the classic 60s show, The Prisoner. I’d watch it, but I’m not sure I want to see my childhood get raped so thoroughly and with such production values. Ian McKellen is a good choice for just about anything, but Jim Caviezel? I think I hate you for that, AMC. Honestly, Jim Caviezel makes Keanu Reeves look like Marlon Brando to me.

Oh well, here we are. The weekend’s almost over. I went to the movies to watch the end of the world as we know it and…

“I know him by reputation. He’s the darndest fellow. He’ll bet on anything. If one of his mistresses – and that’s a story in itself – if one of his mistresses dived out of a hotel window he’d bet on which end hit the pavement first, her head or her tail.”

“She must see only the most meager outer part of people, I decided. Must be aware of them in terms only of their coercive or non-coercive effects on her… (…) And so odd that this girl had helped create the almost likable electronic simulacrum, as if on some subconscious level she was aware of the massive deficiency in herself, the emptiness dead center, and was busy compensating for it…”

from here.

In my writing I got so interested in fakes that I finally came up with the concept of fake fakes. For example, in Disneyland there are fake birds worked by electric motors which emit caws and shrieks as you pass by them. Suppose some night all of us sneaked into the park with real birds and substituted them for the artificial ones. Imagine the horror the Disneyland officials would feel when they discovered the cruel hoax. Real birds! And perhaps someday even real hippos and lions. Consternation. The park being cunningly transmuted from the unreal to the real, by sinister forces. For instance, suppose the Matterhorn turned into a genuine snow-covered mountain? What if the entire place, by a miracle of God’s power and wisdom, was changed, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, into something incorruptible? They would have to close down.

In Plato’s Timaeus, God does not create the universe, as does the Christian God; He simply finds it one day. It is in a state of total chaos. God sets to work to transform the chaos into order. That idea appeals to me, and I have adapted it to fit my own intellectual needs: What if our universe started out as not quite real, a sort of illusion, as the Hindu religion teaches, and God, out of love and kindness for us, is slowly transmuting it, slowly and secretly, into something real?

We would not be aware of this transformation, since we were not aware that our world was an illusion in the first place. This technically is a Gnostic idea. Gnosticism is a religion which embraced Jews, Christians, and pagans for several centuries. I have been accused of holding Gnostic ideas. I guess I do. At one time I would have been burned. But some of their ideas intrigue me. One time, when I was researching Gnosticism in the Britannica, I came across mention of a Gnostic codex called The Unreal God and the Aspects of His Nonexistent Universe, an idea which reduced me to helpless laughter. What kind of person would write about something that he knows doesn’t exist, and how can something that doesn’t exist have aspects? But then I realized that I’d been writing about these matters for over twenty-five years. I guess there is a lot of latitude in what you can say when writing about a topic that does not exist. A friend of mine once published a book called Snakes of Hawaii. A number of libraries wrote him ordering copies. Well, there are no snakes in Hawaii. All the pages of his book were blank.

Of course, in science fiction no pretense is made that the worlds described are real. This is why we call it fiction. The reader is warned in advance not to believe what he is about to read. Equally true, the visitors to Disneyland understand that Mr. Toad does not really exist and that the pirates are animated by motors and servo-assist mechanisms, relays and electronic circuits. So no deception is taking place.

And yet the strange thing is, in some way, some real way, much of what appears under the title “science fiction” is true. It may not be literally true, I suppose. We have not really been invaded by creatures from another star system, as depicted in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The producers of that film never intended for us to believe it. Or did they?

And, more important, if they did intend to state this, is it actually true? That is the issue: not, Does the author or producer believe it, but—Is it true? Because, quite by accident, in the pursuit of a good yarn, a science fiction author or producer or scriptwriter might stumble onto the truth… and only later on realize it.

The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words. George Orwell made this clear in his novel 1984. But another way to control the minds of people is to control their perceptions. If you can get them to see the world as you do, they will think as you do. Comprehension follows perception. How do you get them to see the reality you see? After all, it is only one reality out of many. Images are a basic constituent: pictures. This is why the power of TV to influence young minds is so staggeringly vast. Words and pictures are synchronized. The possibility of total control of the viewer exists, especially the young viewer. TV viewing is a kind of sleep-learning. An EEG of a person watching TV shows that after about half an hour the brain decides that nothing is happening, and it goes into a hypnoidal twilight state, emitting alpha waves. This is because there is such little eye motion. In addition, much of the information is graphic and therefore passes into the right hemisphere of the brain, rather than being processed by the left, where the conscious personality is located. Recent experiments indicate that much of what we see on the TV screen is received on a subliminal basis. We only imagine that we consciously see what is there. The bulk of the messages elude our attention; literally, after a few hours of TV watching, we do not know what we have seen. Our memories are spurious, like our memories of dreams; the blank are filled in retrospectively. And falsified. We have participated unknowingly in the creation of a spurious reality, and then we have obligingly fed it to ourselves. We have colluded in our own doom.

from here.

And—and I say this as a professional fiction writer—the producers, scriptwriters, and directors who create these video/audio worlds do not know how much of their content is true. In other words, they are victims of their own product, along with us. Speaking for myself, I do not know how much of my writing is true, or which parts (if any) are true. This is a potentially lethal situation. We have fiction mimicking truth, and truth mimicking fiction. We have a dangerous overlap, a dangerous blur. And in all probability it is not deliberate. In fact, that is part of the problem. You cannot legislate an author into correctly labeling his product, like a can of pudding whose ingredients are listed on the label… you cannot compel him to declare what part is true and what isn’t if he himself does not know.

We want to thank Philip K. Dick, author of The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch and The Man In The High Castle amongst many other novels, for sticking it to reality and taking time out of his busy afterlife to share with us another excerpt from his 1978 speech “How To Build A Reality That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later.” It also appears as the introduction to his 1985 short story collection, I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon. The first excerpt he shared with us is here, and…

…you have to love that PKD fans are called dickheads.

For the sake of truth, we can tell you that Mr. Dick will probably return with another excerpt for us in the next few days. But until then…

Adam Gopnik on PKD.

Stanislaw Lem on PKD.

Jonathan Lethem on PKD.

Jonathan Lethem being interviewed about PKD.

PKD on Kurt Vonnegut.

So we should really post more often… But are living up to being SLACKERS!!!!

But I have got to tell you, we have been busy! Two weekends before the PKD walk last Sunday we held a garage sale, raising just shy of $1,200 for Team Jody and the PKD walk. We were AMAZED! Through the sale we had a big banner “All Proceeds go to the PKD Foundation” people asked we shared.

Generosity again reared it head, we had 9 families donated their things to be sold… we had tables and tables of stuff that people could hardly sift through. THANK YOU to our friends for their help!!!

We placed ads and Joe made some stellar signs that hung throughout the neighborhood. We had folks come all 3 days we held the sale, knowing we kept getting goodies from all our friends!

What touched us was those “garage salers” who left crying, offered us hugs of support, or just said that they would be praying for us. Amazing acts of kindness from so many people, some which are close friends and others who just stopped to offer their regrets.

Walking…

Team Jody at the 2009 Phoenix, PKD Walk

First, WOW….

That was all of us….  The sea of blue shirts with Jody’s picture.  More acts of kindness… Our friend Becky’s brother did the graphics for the shirts so beautifully, and the printing was done by a SUPER nice guy in Cave Creek. We told Matt he could print his logo on the shirt, do what ever he wanted. He did not want credit, he just did the printing out of the kindness of his heart, all that he asked for was a picture of the shirts in action. I will post his company info at the bottom of the blog…

Most people involved in the walk are living with ADPKD, the dominate form of PKD. ARPKD is mighty rare, there are some of us out there… Dean (the guy in the image below) is the walk organizer, we hope to get involved next year with the walk and continue working with him through the foundation in anyway.

What’s Next…

I thought about this several times over the last week…. What are we going to invest our time in now? Who the hell knows. We like to keep busy and maybe we can attend a few more parties, clean our house (fat chance!) something. We will continue to work with families that contact us through the blog or come to us in another way.

Can I tell you about Kim & Bobbie, there little girl Grace was received into heaven the other day. We had dinner scheduled on my birthday (Oct. 14^th) but Angel  Grace had other plans. We have yet to meet them, but they have been on our minds for days. Soon enough we will get together for the pizza and beer we had planned. Until then we will continue to think of them and Angel Grace. We lit a candle for her on the 14^th after we knew dinner was not an option. It’s a candle I have had for ages… So fitting for a little girl.

Further Reaching…

I have been blessed to be the mom of an Angel, I know that sounds rather positive. But seriously, so many times I think about Joe and how dads don’t quite share the same as mom’s. This leads me to tell you about so beautiful Momma’s that have filled a gap in my heart that I did not know existed. Mom’s that too have been blessed with an Angel of their own. Mom’s that know the ache in the bottom of your stomach when someone asks the questions… “How many kids do you have?” How do you respond? Us in trying to remain positive “Jennifer, 10 – Joey, 4 – and Jody, 6 Heavenly months old”

Yup… I hear you calling me stupid, maybe it is, but Jody is by far not forgotten. Yes it might prompt a question, but we share. He is one of our many blessings…

I am chronic when it comes to digressing…

Back to my point!!!

Right before I was leaving for DC, a beautiful woman Michele suggested to a few of us ARPKD mom’s that we start a Facebook group, website something. Beautiful Kate started the group… Kate and I are meant to communicate. Her daughter lost a 6 month battle with ARPKD on April 10^th. She and Jody were escorted to the next place on the same day. Kate took off running and started the group… if you are a parent of a child with ARPKD you can join..

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=148192719137&ref=mf

On the right you will see a link to the website that I did as well …. It is called ARPKD Angels too! It has a support forum in addition to the group on Facebook. Joe asked me why… My thoughts were “Gezzzz not EVERYONE is on Facebook!” to visit the site please go to www.arpkdangels.webs.com

These moms ROCK!!!

I will leave you with that…

I found the link to this little gem on the bottom of the Internet Movie Database just now.  This was a letter Philip K. Dick wrote to the production company taking on the film based on his 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep? — BLADE RUNNER.  In it, he praises Jeff Walker (head of the company?) for a film which he thinks will be “overwhelming – both on the public and on creative people”.  Dick saw the film — which he says isn’t really science fiction, it’s futurism — as bringing in a new age of realism to films of its ilk.  In a way, he was right.  And after reading this letter, written just 6 months before his death, it’s plain as day that Philip K.D. not only approved of the Ridley Scott adaptation, he saw it as transcendent.  He was right, it was.  It still is.

– Sonny W.

Posted by betham37

Op-ed by Nicholas D. Kristof

Nicholas D. Kristof

New York Times/Nicholas D. Kristof—Let me offer a modest proposal: If Congress fails to pass comprehensive health reform this year, its members should surrender health insurance in proportion with the American population that is uninsured.

It may be that the lulling effect of having very fine health insurance leaves members of Congress insensitive to the dysfunction of our existing insurance system. So what better way to attune our leaders to the needs of their constituents than to put them in the same position?

About 15 percent of Americans have no health insurance, according to the Census Bureau. Another 8 percent are underinsured, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a health policy research group. So I propose that if health reform fails this year, 15 percent of members of Congress, along with their families, randomly lose all health insurance and another 8 percent receive inadequate coverage.

Congressional critics of President Obama’s efforts to achieve health reform worry that universal coverage will be expensive, while their priority is to curb social spending. So here’s their chance to save government dollars in keeping with their own priorities.

More @

Previous Articles

Dad’s Life or Yours? You Choose by Nicholas D. Kristof

In the name of full disclosure, but not having a heck of a lot to say about them, in recent weeks I also finished:

• Octave Mirabeau, The torture garden

A florid novel of 1899, concerning colonialism, social and political satire, horticulture, libertinage and torture.

• Thomas M. Disch, The man who had no idea

Late collection of SciFi(ish) stories that I picked up in a bag of pulps for $5 (also including J.G. Ballard’s Empire of the sun) from the Friends of the Merril Collection at Word on the Street. The guy behind the counter talked me into the books I bought partly on the strength of this volume and claimed Disch was “better than Dick.” I’m not entirely convinced, but this was an excellent, superbly-written and clever bit of writing nevertheless.

Post-script: while idly googling Disch, I found his blog. Disch committed suicide in on 4 July 2009, the last entry being just a couple days before this.  Makes me kinda sad.

Posted by betham37

Op-Ed by Nicholas D. Kristof

Nicholas D. Kristof

New York Times/Nicholas D. Kristof—So what would you do if your mom or dad, or perhaps your sister or brother, needed a kidney donation and you were the one best positioned to donate?

Most of us would worry a little and then step forward. But not so fast. Because of our dysfunctional health insurance system, a disgrace that nearly half of all members of Congress seem determined to cling to, stepping up to save a loved one can ruin your own chance of ever getting health insurance.

That wrenching trade-off is another reminder of the moral bankruptcy of our existing insurance system. It’s one more reason to pass robust reform this year.

Over the last week I’ve been speaking to David Waddington, a 58-year-old wine retailer in Dallas, along with his wife and two sons. I’d love to know what the opponents of health reform think families like this should do.

Mr. Waddington has polycystic kidney disease, or PKD, a genetic disorder that leads to kidney failure. First he lost one kidney, and then the other. A year ago, he was on dialysis and desperately needed a new kidney. Doctors explained that the best match — the one least likely to be rejected — would perhaps come from Travis or Michael, his two sons, then ages 29 and 27.

Travis and Michael each had a 50 percent chance of inheriting PKD. And if pre-donation testing revealed that one of them had the disorder, that brother might never be able to get health insurance. As a result, their doctors had advised not getting tested. After all, new research suggests that lack of insurance increases a working-age person’s risk of dying in any given year by 40 percent.

More @

Ah, such is life . . . constant movement and change is needed for us to remain healthy.  Doesn’t mean we have to like it,  I suppose.  Vincent D’Onofrio is bowing out of L&O: CI (although he does hint at possible guest returns).  D’Onofrio is a fabulous actor . . . stretching himself to the limits in very odd roles such as in The Cell, Full Metal Jacket, and Impostor. This last flick is not as well known as his other movies.  But, it is the first role that made me remember D’Onofrio.  I naturally saw Impostor when it premiered . . . it’s based on a story by Philip K. Dick.  PKD stories and novels have suffered and benefited from Hollywood treatment.  Anyone who knows me will tell you what my all time favorite movie is (Blade Runner).  In Impostor, D’Onofrio foreshadows his role as Goren.  He is a government agent trying to track down an alien impostor that has infiltrated earth with the intent of causing much mayhem (isn’t that what all aliens do?).  As the plot pitches, turns, and folds back in on itself, we are sure that D’Onofrio is right, but he doesn’t seem to represent good.  I loved the film . . .

Anyway, that’s my ramble for now.  I’ll miss D’Onofrio  . . . I’d let him interrogate me anytime!

Today, I received a letter from the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding my recent Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA) request for their files on the science fiction author Philip K. Dick. Unfortunately, I was informed that:

Based on the information you provided, we conducted a search of the indices to our Central Records System. We were unable to identify responsive main file records. If you have additional information pertaining to the subject that you believe was of investigative interest to the Bureau, please provide the details and we will conduct an additional search.

This is a puzzling outcome considering other folks have successfully accessed the FBI files on PKD (Willis Howard published some of the files on his 1999 dated website here).

In my previous request, I included his full name, Social Security number, dates of birth and death, an obituary, and cities of residence. In my appeal, I have included additional information from Sutin’s biography of Dick, a printout of Howard’s website, and information about Dick contacting the FBI about Thomas M. Disch, which Norman Spinrad writes about in the April/May 2009 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction.

My request goes in the mail tomorrow. I hope that I have better luck this time receiving what others have already found.

Tasarım, Kullanıcı Tecrübesi ve Canonical’de Gelişim
Firefox’u Hızlandırıyoruz
Opera BileşenleriPardus’u Hızlı Kapatmak
Python ile URL İşlemleri: URLLIB
Matematik Artık Çocuk Oyuncağı, Maxima!
PKD’den Haberler
Gnu/Linux Dünyasından Haberler
Gnu/Linux’de C Programlama-1
Vidyo Dosyalarını mp3 Formatına Dönüştürmek
Avidemux’la Filmlere Altyazı Gömmek
Gimp ile Basit Alev Yapımı
Web Site Tanıtımları
Richard M. STALLMAN Röportajı-1

5. Sayıyı İndirmek İçin :

96dpi – 6MB – Tıklayın
300dpi – 14MB – Tıklayın

5. Sayı Ek – Tıklayın

Neden Kamu Lisansı?
GNU ve Kamu Kurumları
Scribus : İnceleme ve Scribus’a Giriş
Wipe: Sabit Sürücüden Kalıcı Olarak Veri Silmek
Gimp Filtreleri
HTTRack : Biri “İnternet sitesi nasıl indirilir?” mi dedi?
Web Site Tanıtımları
VirtualBox
Python Modülleri
Microsoft TR Genel Müdürü Çağkan ARIKAN Röportajı
Bash Shell ve Harici Topaklama
GooPi : Pardus’ta Google Uygulamarını Kurun
PKD’den Haberler

4. Sayıyı İndirmek İçin :

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So I had a great weekend this past weekend.  First of all, Friday night was actually pretty low key for me, even though the gang went out to McFadden’s since the BF won a free happy hour there.  I wasn’t really in the mood to drink tons, so it was just fun to hang with my friends and dance and watch other people be silly.  Plus, I had to wake up early to go to…

THE WALK FOR PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease)!!!!  YAY!  In case you don’t know, PKD is a huge deal in our family since my Aunt Jill, Mandy’s mom was diagnosed with it, and Mandy & her brother, Alex have a 50% of getting it.  Anyway, I raised a whopping $700!  That’s $200 MORE than I planned!  I’m so grateful to everyone who donated…it was so kind and generous of them all.  I have some EXCELLENT friends! (And family members)

After that…I went to the boys place to watch the Penn State/Syracuse game.  We all passed out and napped afterwards.  Then the bf and I went to dinner to Ted’s Montana Grill.  Um, hi, if you have never been, GO.  And have a Bison Burger.  The meat is sooo tender and juicy (TWSS!!) and delicious.

Sunday, I decided to have a ‘me’ day.  I have been wanting to go to Eastern Market ever since I moved to DC.  I finally made it, trying to get birthday present ideas for Mandy and my awesome mom.  And I loved it!  It was great meandering around, looking at all the treasures.  I really wanted to buy some fresh veggies and fruits, but was kind of overwhelmed and couldn’t think of a recipe off the top of my head.  I’ll definitely go back soon.  After about an hour, I was done.  But I wasn’t done being in DC, so I decided to go to Dupont Circle and meander there.  I was looking for a bookstore that M and I had been to before, but to my horror, they CLOSED it!  BOO!  Alas, I found some other ones.  In fact, I was walking down the street, saw a widow with books, and thought, “Yay!  A bookstore! I’ll go in”.  Um…it took about 2 seconds upon entering to realize that it was a gay bookstore.  Which is fine with me, hello, I was in Dupont.  But I just didn’t see it coming!  Hahaha.  And I didn’t want to look like a spaz so I was all, “ok, just browse for a few minutes, then leave”.   So that was a pretty exciting part of the day.

I called Matt to ask his opinion about something, and he reveled that he was at 51st state.  Not one to pass up Strongbow on tap, I decided to go meet up with him.  Um, it was 3 PM and he was HAMMERED.  Um, a certain event occurred that he was upset about and was taking it out in beer.  I took him home shortly after, and then went back to my apt to do a boatload of laundry.   So it was a successful weekend- the perfect mix of laziness and productivity.

Last night was the September Girls’ Night Out.  I haven’t mentioned this before, but once a month, a group of four ladies and myself get together for some girl time.  We’re an older group that my core group of friends (i.e., The Boys..they’re all a year younger), and we’re all in relationships.  So…its definitely a different dynamic than my normal posse.  And I absolutely love it.  We always talk about our jobs, our relationships, and anything else in between.  Its just great to have a core group of amazing women in my life who lift me up.  I came away last night in the best mood.  We decided to do a Girls’ Night In at one of the participants house, and each bring a food.  I made raspberry-filled lemon cupcakes, and they were really good, if I do say so myself!  I like trying new recipes.   Its always a good time with those ladies.

Now…I’m getting into the swing of school.  So far, I’ve kept up my promise of keeping up with my readings!  I even did mine for my Thursday night class on TUESDAY.  I’m pretty much awesome.  This weekend is a volleyball game Rob is putting together, and then the boys’ housewarming party.  And then recuperiating. 

Favorite album to mention this post: Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here.

I discovered this in high school, and immediately became a favorite.  In fact, the song “Wish You Were Here” is my favorite song.  I love that the whole album only has like, what, 5 songs?  Its awesome.  They just don’t make music like that anymore (hello, I’ve turned into my father).

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