Only a few more hours until the polls open for voters here in California. Thankfully, the House of Rapp has been under construction for most of the recall campaign period. This has spared you and 300 million of your fellow Americans my thoughts on people like Gray, Cruz, and Arnold. But since the Age of Web Site Construction is over,… Read more →
The House of Rapp is back!
Well, after talking about it for something like two or three years–maybe more–this site has finally been revamped, redesigned, rebuilt, and relaunched. So what do you think? There are a lot of new features. The biggest change (besides the new design, of course) is that everything is dynamically generated. Many of people are using the same software I am, but… Read more →
Jesse Ventura: Not Ready for Prime Time
For months now, I’ve been having the best time watching Jesse Ventura butt heads with the blue suit/red tie political establishment in Minnesota and around the country. There’s a lot to like about the guy. He’s colorful, unorthodox, and refreshingly bold–and I figure anything that gets the apathetic American public involved in the political process is a step in the… Read more →
On American Society
People are so funny. We rant and rave about how things should be different. Then, when they change, we’re even less happy than before. Occasionally I’ll hear some person or other comment on how they never watch the news anymore, because it’s always negative and depressing. To me, that seems like sticking your head in the sand. Just don’t look… Read more →
Sign Man
Irvine is a pretty square place. This isn’t always a bad thing. I mean, all the neighborhoods are nice–there are no “bad” areas of town. The schools are the best in the nation (Irvine has a University of California campus, a private university, and a junior college). The Spectrum, Irvine’s business district, is one of the largest high-tech meccas in… Read more →
Air Traffic Control, Jr.
I had a relaxing dinner at a local Mexican restaurant tonight with some friends. The cool, dry breeze blowing off the lake was a welcome relief after Rome’s blast furnace heat and high humidity. During dinner, discussion naturally centered around the big news of the day–the Kennedy plane crash. Somehow we ended up on the topic of air traffic control.… Read more →
The Kennedy Connection
By now, the whole world knows John F. Kennedy, Jr.’s plane is missing. As of right now, they’ve found some baggage with ID tags from one of the passengers and some other wreckage which has been identified as coming from a GA (general aviation) aircraft. Not a good sign. Sad as it seems, the three on board are probably long… Read more →
FidoNet
In 48 hours I’ll be somewhere over the Atlantic on my way to London. Three weeks without web or e-mail access is going to be strange. I haven’t been without e-mail that long since…. well, since I got my first internet e-mail address in 1989 (ronrapp@f940.n103.z1.fidonet.org). Man, that brings back some memories! My first online experience was when I started… Read more →
Travel Prep
That TNT flick (“Pirates of Silicon Valley”) was pretty good! Although I wouldn’t have tried so hard to clear my schedule if I had known they were going to re-play it again. Immediately afterward, no less. And again after that. What kind of station plays the exact same movie three times in a row? Not even the premium channels like… Read more →
Three Days To Go
It’s T-minus 3 days until departure for Europe, and there’s still a ton of stuff left to do. Some Europe related, and some work related. But it’ll all get done. It always does. The flight to London is not something I’d normally look forward to because of how long it is and how little leg room you’re given. Commercial air… Read more →