A very sweet video about Joe Fuentes, one of my StorageTek friends.

Via con Dios Joe.

Watching this made me cry.

From the National Archives.

Outstanding collection.

GO SEE.

Wilma Maria Dirks Jan 1, 1923 - Jan 28, 2010

Born in Italy on Jan. 1, 1923

Departed on Jan. 28, 2010 and resided in Longmont, CO.

Visitation: Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010
Service: Monday, Feb. 1, 2010
Reception: Monday, Feb. 1, 2010
Cemetery: Foothills Gardens of Memory

Wilma Maria Dirks died peacefully, surrounded by her family, on Thursday, January 28, 2010. Wilma was born on January 1, 1923 in Cividale del Friuli, Italy, to Giovanni and Angelina Caucigh. She had a happy childhood, survived the trauma of war, and fell in love with an American Master Sergeant, Fred H. Dirks, while he was stationed in Trieste, Italy. They married, lived on the Presidio in San Francisco, and eventually settled in Longmont, where they raised 6 children.

Wilma had a mischievous spirit, a love of life, and constantly taught her children and grandchildren what unconditional love is. Her house, which she lovingly kept, was frequently filled with family gatherings, great spaghetti, music, and laughter. Everyone who met Wilma loved her, because of her engaging, positive attitude, and her ability to always be true to herself. She worked hard at everything she did, including being a professional and very creative seamstress. She faced the challenges in her life––Fred Sr.’s passing in 1975, her diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and Diabetes––with a determined and passionate energy. She was an inspiration and we miss her.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We are heartened knowing that she is now with Dad again. Mom is survived by her sisters, Ada Haire and Fermina Pease; Her children, Angella Dirks and her husband Ellwood Pickering, Isabella and Robert McCarthy, Daniela and John Peterson, Fred Dirks Jr., Marisa Dirks, and John Dirks; Her grandchildren, Liliana Dirks Goodman, April Peterson and fiancé Chris Hennig, Bailie Peterson and husband Oliver Uhlig, Elisa McCarthy, Caitlin Peterson and Erin McCarthy. Wilma is also survived by her nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be Sunday, January 31 from 5:00 until 6:00 p.m., followed by a Rosary at 6:30 p.m. at Howe Mortuary Chapel. Mass at 10:30 on Monday, February 1 at St. John The Baptist Catholic Church. Burial at Foothills Gardens of Memory, Longmont, CO. A reception will be held at Howe Mortuary Event Room following the burial. Memorial contributions may be made to:

The American Parkinson Disease Association
135 Parkinson Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10305.

Taba at age 4 – click to enlarge

My coworker Marc’s dog that he brings to the office frequently.

I love Taba and the feeling’s mutual*.

When she was adopted her given name was ‘Tabatha‘ which is too long for a dog’s name (three syllables makes it a bit hard for them to learn – or so Marc says) so Marc chose to shorten her name to ‘Taba,’ which also had roots in the name of a beach town he went to during the three years he lived in Santiago, Chile, called ‘El Tabo‘ – but since Taba was a girl, it became ‘La Taba.’

She’s a delightfully sweet Labrador Retriever/Border Collie mix, full of energy and joy. When Marc arrives at the office in the morning she literally careens up the stairs and into my office barking and bouncing around – obviously overjoyed to see me.

How can you not love that?

A mutual friend to all above, E. Johnston of Lizzardbrand, Inc. did this great pet portrait:

Taba

(click image to enlarge)

* It’s also just vaguely possible that the box of biscuits in my desk drawer has a little something to do with it but I indulge myself in the conceit that it’s me she loves.

Marilyn and I loved the Park. I still do.

Here’s some photos from her memorial event there ]]> http://www.macwebguru.com/2010/01/27/rockys-95/feed/ 0 http://www.macwebguru.com/2010/01/20/beneath-las-vegas/ http://www.macwebguru.com/2010/01/20/beneath-las-vegas/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:18:14 +0000 admin http://www.macwebguru.com/?p=1750 People living in flood-runoff tunnels… how much worse does it have to get…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hat tip to Say it ain’t so already

Here’s the first batch of images!

There are a lot of duplicates and many need rotated to vertical as well as captioning. Work, work, work! I’m here to PLAY!

Note – all these images are royalty-free, use them any way you like.

December 11th, 2008

Marilyn got a hospital bed for her back, which had been really acting up before her diagnosis with lymphoma. She had been using the oxygen concentrator for some time and I’d just had cable service installed in her room. Looks just like a hospital room.

I’ve said how much -I- didn’t like being in the hospital, but the truth is, for months, she *lived* in one. And never complained.

You can see Kinky, her favorite of our two cats, ‘on guard’.

Shrink, Inc. business card by Elizabeth Johnston at Lizzardbrand.com (click to enlarge)

“It’s always great to have fun when working.” – E.

You may also comment on other great founding documents, please provide web references.

Bring it on!

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Submitted by Bing Van Gorden

“We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.”
James Madison, Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, his emphasis with the capital letters

The Constitution lays out the framework for a proportionally representative government with co-equal branches. It establishes a government of by and for the people, a republican democracy. It forbids them from tyrannical and compels it to ensure the liberties protected in the Amendments to the Constitution including the Bill of Rights.

The 1st Amendment prohibits Congress from making laws respecting an establishment of religion or prohibit the free exercise of. What many, including Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and John Adams all agreed meant that there was a wall of separation between the two. Freedom of speech and the press and the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances are also protected. It stands to reason that if Congress can’t prohibit these things it must also protect them from being infringed upon.

The 2nd Amendment, regarding a “well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State,” prohibited any infringements on the right of the people to bear arms. Of course this was before a standing military was considered an option and militias were viewed as our only defense from invasion. Right wing groups like the National Rifle Association focus more on the “shall not be infringed” part of the Amendment. The left’s ACLU reads the whole thing, like I do. I think gun ownership should be a right, but the 2nd Amendment doesn’t guarantee it. It’s outdated just as Amendment 3 regarding the involuntary quartering of soldiers in any one’s home.

The 4th Amendment couldn’t be clearer. “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable search and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things seized.” Sadly opponents of Roe v. Wade and other issues that involve what several Supreme Courts have termed a “right to privacy” don’t comprehend the concept. Neither did the last President, who allowed sneak and peak searches and wire taps without warrants and lied to the American people about the “Constitutional protections being followed.” Some on the right argue, well if you’ve nothing to hide why should you care if the government is snooping around you, while those of us on the left argue it’s none of your damn business. One of us has the Constitution on our side.

Further Amendments lay out rights of the accused to ensure fair and speedy trials. The Writ of Habeas Corpus is already protected in the body of the Constitution except in the case of invasion or rebellion. During the Civil War and the 2nd World War exceptions were made by acts of Congress. (Lincoln tried by executive order and was rebuked by Supreme Court. Congress had to do it, and did) It’s a big deal. It means no person can be held without a chance to question their imprisonment. It’s a concept as old as the Magna Carta. The last President found it to be optional. His AG, Alberto Gonzales once told a Senatorial committee that the Constitution did not grant habeas corpus protection, it merely prevented Congress from taking it away. Senator Arlen Spector pointed out that if Congress was forbidden from denying it, it implies the right to it exists.

Other Amendments recognized the equal rights of woman and minorities, ended slavery and prohibited the states from denying these liberties. The right likes to argue about State’s being able to decide but Amendment 10 clearly states that is not the case. The State’s must abide by the Constitution. Groups like the Federalist Society and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia cling to a belief that the Constitution is not a living document. This defies reality. If it were not living, it would be un-amendable. Obviously through our history we abandoned the prevailing philosophy to begin to recognize, by law and it’s enforcement through government action spurned on by massive popular protests by citizens.

The Constitution protects me from religious zealotry and persecution. It protects the rights of those the simple majority would deny. It provides a framework that ensures fair and equal treatment. It prevents the petty bigotries people harbor from becoming law. It is not a democratic document. It is the gun that arms the sheep who sits at the table between wolves. It is rooted in law and legal precedent. And the current Republican Party including their echo chamber on radio and tv hate it. They have shown nothing but contempt for it. They have consistently fought against the interests of labor and consumers on behalf of their corporate masters. (Democrats have their share as well) They empowered the last president with authority beyond the Constitutional boundaries and impeded any attempt to look into any breech of public trust it have may have been involved in.

The Constitution does not protect profit, does not endorse or establish a religion (in fact prohibits it’s participation), impose a moral code or ignore the rule of law. It does not mandate that potential economic gain trumps Constitutionally protected individual liberties. It protects the liberties of we the people. It supplies a government that is supposed to represent us, not corporations. The Constitution is what makes this country the envy of the world. And it’s been ignored. The “great experiment” that is the United States of America has failed if we continue to do so. Republicans, take your party back from the right wing ideologues who abhor the Constitution. Want motivation? Read, http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/ and learn what our founding fathers were thinking and why those chose each word so carefully and more importantly how important this document really is. Hundreds of years from now historians will marvel at it’s lasting wisdom and effectiveness. But ! only if we the people remain “eternally vigilant” as Jefferson warned.

Satire (I’m assuming)

By: Joe Republican (obviously faked address)

I get so emotional when I think of our founding document, the Declaration of Interdependece (also known as the Constitution,) I just feel so proud to be an American. Because we’ve strayed so far from the founding father’s original intent and really need to go back to it. I mean I know prayer in schools is in there and some stuff about how great God is and it’s just unfortunate those loony lefties keep insisting it’s a sexular document. Why are they so perverted?

My favorite line, is “there’s is nothing to fear but more fear..” I think I’m close on that one but it just shows you how in touch with the lord they all were. They knew to fear the lord and that the lord gives us our rights, not government’s. Although I’ve never tried to exercise my god granted rights in a country like Somalia, which I think is in Europe.

Jesse James did a great job writing it too. The Irish navy were bombarding his bungalow all night and he wrote it on a giant flag they put up in the morning to show those Irish, that are flag was still there! His wife, Betsy Ross warned the the townspeople before the barrage began by putting a lamp in the window of her cottage. It was part of the undergrounded railroad. Finally Sherman marched to Atlanta which is now in Georgia and the Irish went back to Great Britain and began calling themselves British as I recall.

I mean I am just so grateful that a white kid like me can get into my daddy’s college despite my poor GPA in high school. I have no interests but my future is set and that’s the American dream, right? So anyways, This is what the constitution means to me, America can do no wrong as long as god is on our side which of course he is.

thank you,
Joe Republican

Well… that was… special…

The tired parents directly after

The tired parents a bit later

Congrats guys! What a way to spend New Year’s Eve!

(Click images for larger versions)

Colonel Alan E. Goldsmith

Resident of Walnut Creek

Colonel Alan E. Goldsmith, U.S. Air Force, Ret., 85, died December 22nd, 2008 in Walnut Creek, California. Enlisted as an Aviation cadet in 1942, proudly served in combat in the U.S. Air Force (and predecessors) during three wars (WWII, Korea and Vietnam), also battled (honorably and ethically – no honorariums, gratuities, fund raisers or PACs) the Congress during two Pentagon tours, and retired in 1973 after over thirty years active duty in England, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and other parts of the world (with occasional tours in the U.S.). Flew over 5600 hours in open-cockpit trainers, Bombers (B-17 and B-25), Transports (C-46, C-47, C-54, C-118), Fighters (P-61, F-82 and some jets), and other aircraft types, at speeds from Mach 0.2 to Mach 1.2.

After his Air Force career, he worked in management and management consulting, dabbling in computers and professional video photography, after discovering it was impossible to make a decent living sandbagging on various golf courses.

Eternally proud and grateful for the love, devotion, confidence and unwavering support of his wife and best friend, Katsue, who survives him. Also survived by a number of sons and daughters, their various spouses, and many grandchildren, nieces and nephews, a few good friends, some great physicians, attorneys, accountants – and the IRS. He lived a wonderful adventure and left with no regrets and one thought: “we’re all terminal so do some good for others along the way.”

-- SimpleFlickr Content --
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First, here’s the eulogy I wrote for his memorial service.

It was an amazing service. The Kiskiminetas Mason Lodge 617 turned out as did the Shriner Clowns whom he had been a member of.

The Masonic service was incredibly moving and it was very obvious my father’s fellow lodge members loved him dearly and grieved his death. Being a mason was a big part of my father’s life and when he and my mother returned to the Pennsylvania area, he became active again – eventually joining the Shriner clowns and helping to raise the spirits of sick children. My dad loved children and it’s so obvious in photos and stories told about him – tying balloon animals for hours so that every single child at an event took something away to remind them of the happy time.

Something the Shriner Clowns did was just touching beyond words – they each left a small balloon animal on the altar as they passed. Seeing the Masonic symbols (lambskin apron, evergreen sprigs and scroll) together with these simple icons of childhood were crushingly poignant. Clearly you could see this was a complicated man who touched people on a lot of levels.

There’s so much story to tell that I’m just going to start dropping in photos and describe them. Try and keep up.

Here’s some family photos that came to me after the funeral (click images to enlarge)

My dad was born and grew up on a farm in Spring Church, PA.

This is his family. I think that’s him on the left in the first row of kids.

An earlier shot of my dad’s family.

My father’s parents. Tough-looking people which I suppose comes from farming.

When my father left his family farm (another story!) he went to work in the local steelmill (US Steel) and met my mother (Shirley) and his to-be inlaws. This is such an iconic shot.

Emily and William Rowe, my mother’s parents. I knew only Emily, William died when I was very little. (here’s my eulogy for my grandmother)

My mother had two sisters, Bobby and Gwenevere and a brother William (my uncle Mickey). Here’s a great shot of all of them after a night on the town:

Back row: Mickey Rowe, Les Walsh, Bob Fleissner, George Wray.

Front row: Jean Rowe, Emily’s three daughters, Bobby Rowe (Walsh), Gwen Rowe (Fleissner) and Shirley Rowe (Wray). Note the horns being added by my uncle Bob and my father. I take it from the straws that drinking had been involved. Uncle Bob looks either very sleepy or completely fried. Needless to say, it was a very close-knit group. All of these people were very much a part of my life as I was growing up and I love them all dearly. (High-resolution image available.)

Well, it wasn’t long after (maybe even before) this photo was taken that my parents started building a family.

The children of George and Shirley Wray are, in order:

Bonita Jo (Bunny)

David William (see also this entry)

Georgia Leslie

Mark Douglas

Paula Nadine

Here’s a couple of shots of my mom and I sitting on the front porch of our house in Apollo – we lived in two different places – one in the lower part of town, the other ‘up on the hill’ (Oak Hill) (map).

Funny shot, eh?

Take a wild guess who coached me to make that gesture?

Love ya dad.

I start to remember my father’s career starting around the time he got a job at the US Steel Monroeville Research Center. (everybody’s welcome to help me fill in his earlier years in the steel mill, then San Diego in the Navy and then as a door-to-door insurance salesman – all I know is stories passed on) If I remember right, he started out doing welding for vacuum systems, which led him into a position on the new one-million-volt electron microscope US Steel was buying. That was a rough time for him – apparently he’d claimed a high-school diploma and didn’t actually have it! So he had to hurriedly cram for and take the GED, not something you just do in a week. He did. He also learned electronics via correspondence, amazing to me even now. He worked at US Steel for (I think) twelve years, took early retirement and moved to a job at the University of Colorado’s Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology.

Here’s some photos from George’s time at US Steel’s Monroeville Research Center:

The MVEM (Million Volt Electron Microscope) building at US Steel’s Monroeville Research Center. Very modern! Coolest building on the whole campus.

The RCA 1-million-volt transmission electron microscope. That’s George at the console – he spent thousands of hours running this sci-fi-lookin thing. I spent a fair bit of time here with him on various occasions. The room was kept darkened when the microscope was in use. That, combined with the huge, hulking supports, the humming of pumps, clicking relays and control switches only made it more exciting. This was the glowing heart of scientific research at the time – and my dad was square in the middle of it!

This is the ‘accelerator room’ – I think they called it that because it made your heart race to come up the stairs, turn a corner and see this. It’s a Cockcroft-Walton generator and was a part of early ‘atom smashers.’ This is where the one million volts of energy was generated to accelerate the electrons into the microscope’s ‘column’ downstairs.

Cutting-edge, state-of-the-art video recording technology! 2″ reel-to-reel VTR (before cassettes and helical scan!) I think they were recording steel samples being heated/stressed mechanically to watch the crystalline structure change in real time. Never-before-seen effects!

My father didn’t just -work- on this machine, he helped assemble it. This transformer is below the floor of the accelerator room shown above. There’s my dad, as usual, up to his elbows in the dirtiest job. I think he loved doing the ‘messy’ jobs that no one else wanted to do.

Here’s George at the top of the electron-beam column. He’s actually -inside- the part that the guy is polishing in the photo above of the accelerator. This was the ‘electron gun’ assembly where the ‘filament’ was housed that actually created the beam of electrons.

Here’s a color advertisement US Steel ran -great shot of the accelerator. That’s my dad applying a grounding rod to it. For what it’s worth, my dad didn’t really wear a lab coat all the time.

I think this group is the team that assembled the microscope. My dad’s in the back row, second to last on the right.

Another group shot. I think this was the primary building-installation team. My dad’s in the back row, last one on the right. Note that everone’s wearing dosimeters – this thing generated high-energy x-rays when it was on, so radiation exposure had to be monitored.

Group shot of the entire research staff. I think this is everyone that worked at the Monroeville Research Center.

Here’s my dad, closeup from the photo above. He’s in the fourth row back, third in from the left. Look at his face – I know that look. He was so tickled he was probably trembling. This had to be one of the Big Moments in his life to be counted among these people.

When George left US Steel Research after 12 (?) years his co-workers presented him with a notebook filled with significant photos (several shown above) as well as some fun ‘geek humor’:

I love that it’s all elements from the lab: the Dymo labeller (very new at the time and the labels were ubiquitous throughout the lab. The USS logo patch that was on coats, the part-tag (with my dad’s employee number I suspect, but don’t know for sure). Basically it’s supposed to be an ‘operating log’ similar to the one kept for The Scope.

This page is just filled with all kinds of silly ‘in’ jokes. The ‘Description of Specimen’ is, however, perfectly accurate. One of the signatures at the bottom right is J.Scott Lally. If I understand the ‘Plate exposure’ line, 39,683 photos were taken by the MVEM during my father’s time there. Not a bad record!

Map to ‘Party for George Wray’ – I think the location name is also a gag: ‘Elec. Heights Hous. Assoc.’ very likely means ‘Electron Heights Housing Association’ and was perhaps housing for visiting scientists. It had a ‘hut’ which is Cold War slang for a guard shack. This was probably a meeting hall for the research campus. I love that “Informal” has no less than seven underlines. I think they meant VERY informal.

We moved to Boulder, CO in the 1970s and baby, it was a whole different world. From a high-security corporate research lab to a wide-open biology research lab on a college campus. A whole new microscope to install and operate. Nobel-prize-winning scientist Dr. Keith Porter was in charge at the time, so it was pretty heady stuff.

This is my dad and his soon-to-be good friend Kiyoshi Takasaki assembling the microscope. They’re getting ready to add the objective lens/sample stage section.

Dick McIntosh and George Wray pose on the upper deck of the JEOL 1000C TEM.

Here’s my dad, my mom and Paul Connally posing on the Hanford, WA scope that they stripped for parts when it was decommissioned.

Taking apart the Hanford, WA scope. They worked round-the-clock for days salvaging every single unique component they could. Many parts of the Hanford scope went into keeping the Boulder, CO scope going.

The folks in the MCD Biology department treated my dad like family. You can see the joy on his face as he reads his birthday card at this party.

George Wray and Kate Luby-Phelps at lab event.

Aww. Such a ladies man. They all loved my old man. For good reason!

After my father retired from the University of Colorado, he and my mother moved to Winston-Salem, NC. Wake Forest University friends had him teaching students in no time flat. He kept working for several more years and no doubt contributed immensely to the sciences by teaching yet another generation of microscope users how to get the most out of a TEM.

When he finally decided to stop working, he wanted to return to Pennsylvania to his roots. He and my mother moved back to PA near the town of Indiana where my sister Georgia (Missy) lived at the time. My mother began having TIAs and finally succumbed to a massive stroke shortly after they’d renovated a home and were settling in nicely. It was such a blow. My father went on. He became active in the Masons again and then the Shrine and became a clown. Here’s some photos from that time:

	My father’s Mason ring. For years it mystified me. I assumed the ‘G’ meant ‘George’ – when I found out it meant ‘God’ I think I said ‘Well… more or less SAME THING TO ME!’
	The Master Mason’s jewel. Quite an arcane thing.
	Top of the jewel
	Bottom of the jewel
	The lambskin Masons apron that was on the altar during the Masonic funeral ceremony. Lovely symbolism.
	My dad drove a van to shuttle kids back and forth for medical exams. I know he loved doing this, he told me so several times.
	After my mother’s death, my father met her friend Frannie and they spent the last years of his life together. They spent a lot of happy times together at Shrine events. Fran’s a lovely sweet woman and I know she loved George dearly. God bless her for standing at his side.
	My dad loved bolo ties. Here’s one with all the various organization symbol on it.
	Closeup of the tie fastener
	The high school my dad dropped out of to work the farm finally gave him (and many other vets) honorary diplomas. My sister Missy was at the ceremony and reports ‘he was SO happy’. George was all about ‘closing the loop’ so I know this must have delighted his heart.
	Program from the graduation ceremony. Nicely done!

And now, the clown pix:

	George Wray as ‘BOO’ the clown.
	Closeup of George Wray as ‘BOO’ the clown.
	All dressed up and going on!
	Making balloons for the kids.
	Another happy kid – a clown’s best reward.

There’s SO, SO much more to say, but I’ll leave it up to you readers to find the comment field below and add your own memories of George or correct me where I’ve mis-stepped. All submissions welcome. Send your images to macguiguru@spamcop.net and don’t worry about whether it’s appropriate or not. George would have loved it – anytime one of his friends laughs, I’m sure his spirit hears them.

And in all this, my mother appears only a small satellite due to her reluctance to having her picture taken. Know that she was everywhere my father was. For over forty years they walked together as husband and wife and I am certain they are rejoined now. As much as our world is dimmed by his passage, I am sure somewhere there are angels singing and laughing.

Goodbye My Father. You are in my heart always.

My lovely wife and our cat Chloe (aka ‘Sabertooth Meatloaf’)

July 2007

5 April 1998 – 8 June 2007

Noble hound of ancient breed,

beloved of Gia and Chuck.

May the winds bear you upward friend and

may you all one day be reunited.