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My server uptime record continues to stretch…

That’s over five and a half years without a reboot. Go Linux!

There was a time, back in the 80’s, when the word “awesome” was commonplace. It was used to describe things that were, well, awesome. We also had words like “dude” and “man”, but that’s not the point of this particular post.

Then, sometime in the 90’s, the word “awesome” faded from the common vernacular. People stopped using it, and the world seemed a little more dreary. But I continued to use it. Awesome is a useful word, and one that makes whatever you’re talking about just a little more exciting and interesting. It’s just such a positive word.

In the early 2000’s, a friend of mine commented that she never heard the word “awesome” any more, except from me. She thought it was quaint, I suppose.

Then, suddenly, in the last few years the word has popped up again and suddenly everyone is using it. I just downloaded the Chrome browser from Google’s web site, and the thank-you message was You’re awesome. Thanks for downloading Google Chrome. Seriously.

Now everyone says “awesome” and I sound like just a guy who’s riding with the crowd. But I want it to be known that I never gave up on that word. I stuck with it through lean times. I described awesome things as awesome, the way they should be.

So all you guys who think it’s hip to say “awesome” again, good for you. I’m glad that word is back in daily use, and I think every time we hear it, the world is just a little bit brighter because “awesome” is nothing but positive.

Yesterday Zack was talking to himself in the car and singing some nonsense song. I turned to him and said, “You’re strange.”

His matter-of-fact response was “Of course.”

Then, after a beat, he added, “There’s something awesome about being strange.”

These posters are awesome.

This is the start of a famous newsgroup post by Linus Torvalds. It was twenty years ago today that he announced his “hobby” operating system, which he named Linux.

As a loyal Linux user for a little over fifteen years now, I’m grateful for that little hobby project he started. And I’m amazed at what it’s become: a major force in the world of software, and one of the key components of the incredible array of technological wizardry that surrounds us every day. From the web server running this page to the cell phone in my pocket, Linux sits quietly behind it.

So happy 20th birthday (so to speak), Linux!

Tonight we had our traditional Zing outing to see the Rockies (the baseball team, not the mountains). They played the Astros tonight and the game went back and forth all night with a final 8-6 win for the home team. Brian found some great seats right behind home plate so we have a fabulous view of the game. All in all, another good time for the ol’ company team… plus Therese, of course.

Well, another awesome summer season of Grass Roots Ultimate has come to a close. Today was the annual tournament, and our team managed to do pretty well. We crushed the first two teams we played, and in the semi-finals we ended up playing the top-seeded team and lost a heartbreaker. We ended up in third place overall.

As always, the team was a lot of fun and we all had a great time.

I’ve been playing in this league for eleven years now, and still love it every year. I’m already looking forward to next summer.

Normandy was scarier than I thought.

Finally, I’ve been vindicated.

For at least a decade I’ve felt that the astrophysicists’ theory of “dark matter” was nothing more than a convenient math trick to explain anomalies in physical observations. Call it a kludge or whatever– it just seemed like they made up some mysterious invisible substance that made the equations balance. Just like Einstein’s Cosmological Constant– which he latter admitted was the biggest folly of his illustrious career– dark matter feels wrong.

Well, now a physicist has come out and said as much. He thinks there are alternative explanations, and we should darn well get to work figuring out where the missing mass really is.

First comment on Slashdot:

“Dark matter is the ugliest kludge to the standard model ever. It’s worse than the Plus upgrade for Windows 98.”

As someone who remembers Plus, I can only chuckle at the analogy.

Cool. A photo of a Perseid meteor taken from the International Space Station.

Instead of the usual shot of a shooting star coming toward you, it’s actually below the photographer. A rare sight indeed.