The XP computer is next to my right leg and the Win7/Linus computer is next to my left leg. When I need to do something on the XP machine, I can just change my monitor to use the VGA port, but I need to swap out the keyboard and mouse. This was annoying and wasted space, so I looked for a solution.

I saw the write ups on the Logitech Unifying receiver, and thought “Problem solved, I’ll just plug one of those little buggers in both machines, and then I can use the same keyboard and mouse.” I don’t use them at the same time, so there shouldn’t be any conflict.

I was wrong. While the receivers work in all three operating systems, the keyboard and mouse can only be assigned to a single receiver. The connection information is stored in the keyboard and mouse, not in the receiver.

Position: 30.3N 82.4W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [045°] near 15 mph [24 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Minimum central pressure: 993 mb ↑.

Currently about 40 miles [ 65 km] West of Jacksonville, Florida.

The outer band has been spawning tornadoes on the Florida Peninsula this morning.

The storm is ashore North of Cedar Key this evening.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Atlantic coast from Flagler Beach, Florida to Cape Charles Light, Virginia; the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds; and the lower Chesapeake Bay South of New Point Comfort.

When I was in law enforcement the state of New York made two great strides in the Penal Law.

The first one dealt with domestic abuse, when the state finally figured out that beating someone up was a criminal matter, and being related by blood or marriage didn’t change that situation. Prior to that change, the domestic abuse cases were sent to the civil Family Court, rather than the regular criminal court.

The second one was the change in attitude about so-called ‘sex crimes’. Police academies changed and taught that ‘sexual assault’ was a crime of violence, with the ‘sexual’ being a reference to method not the crime. IOW, rape isn’t about sex, its about violence, about hurting the victim.

That was almost 40 years ago, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff don’t understand it yet. They go before a Senate hearing and have a hissy fit that unit commanders are going to be excluded from sexual assault cases. They should be excluded because they have failed to do their job, and the Joint Chiefs have failed to provide the leadership.

I just don’t get it. In the military there is no question that a ‘barracks thief’ is the lowest of the low. Anyone who would steal from other members of his/her unit is dealt with swiftly and harshly. If they are lucky, they are turned to the military justice system, rather than being dealt with by the members of the unit. This is a tradition in the military everywhere, going back at least two centuries. Why is it so hard for the military command structure to deal with the ‘barracks predator’ the same way as the ‘barracks thief’?

Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, was a prosecutor and she explained it to the generals, but they are thinking more like Senator Saxby Chambliss, R-Greorgia, who thinks it has something to do with hormones. If these generals think the problem is the presence of women in the ranks, and I think they do, it is time to fire them all and find some people whose attitudes have evolved beyond 1970. The fact that all of the service academies are having problems with sexual assault, shows that the current officer corps is tainted, and some leaders need to be found who will clean up this mess.

When the troops don’t have enough confidence in the system to report being assaulted, you already have a problem of unit cohesion and morale. Giving people the confidence that crimes against them will be investigated and prosecuted in a fair manner will certainly improve the situation.

Today is the anniversary of the D-Day landings at Normandy in 1944, but it will now be remembered in Okaloosa County as the day the oil came ashore in 2010.

Three years later there is still ongoing damage to the Gulf, as there is still a lot of oil sitting on the bottom waiting to be pulled to the surface by a slow moving hurricane.

Despite that, many in Washington think it would be a great idea to build a pipeline across the US so a Canadian oil company can export its product to China.