The Zombie Bunny of Doom!

The Zombie Bunny of Doom!

I walked out into my yard to find my dog tearing up the lawn with a bunny in its mouth. This was a very unusual sight because my dog always chased bunnies but never caught them. I took a closer look and realized in horror that the bunny belonged to my neighbors.

My family had had some “issues” with these people in the past, and I did not want to deal with another confrontation. I knew what I had to do, and it was not going to be pleasant.

I forced my dog to drop the bunny, which by now was covered in doggy slobber, mud, and dried blood. Using a pair of kitchen tongs, I threw it into the shower. I let water run over it until the water was a pure white, and I got my mom’s hair dryer and fluffed it up until this bunny looked good.

Once my neighbors left to get the mail, I saw my opportunity. I hopped their fence and set up the fluffy, dead bunny in its cage looking better than it ever had been. When I heard my neighbors coming, I scrambled back over the fence.

Not two seconds later, I heard a blood curdling scream from the neighbors’ house. Acting like a good neighbor, I rushed to the fence and said, “What happened, what happened?”

The neighbor looks at me, her face ghost-white, and says, “Two weeks ago, the bunny died, and he’s back!!!”

The Value of a Mule

A used car salesman retired and moved to the country. He bought a yearling stallion and a couple mares.

He thought his pastoral life was pretty sweet, until the stallion started misbehaving.

So, he asked his neighbor down the road what to do.

"You need a mule." the old farmer said.

"Will that help?" the salesman asked. "Absolutely. The only thing more pig-headed than a young stallion is a mule. He'll have that horse playing second fiddle in no time."

"Well do you have a mule I could buy?"

"Sure do. I'll sell you Murphy, he's a great mule, and i'll only charge you $100."
The salesman thought that was a great deal, and handed the farmer the $100 straight away.

Later that week, he came by to pick up the mule.

"I'm here to pick up Murphy!" the salesman announced. "You know, I hate to be the bearer of bad news," the farmer said, "but Murphy died two nights ago.

"Well, can I have my $100 back then?"
"No, I spent it already, I can pay you back, it'll just be a while."

"Never mind that, I'll just take the dead mule."
"What do you want with a dead mule?"

"Does it matter? I'm paying you $100 for a dead mule."
The farmer shrugged, and figured if this guy wants to buy a dead mule, that's on him. So he helped load it up.

Several weeks later, the farmer met the salesman in passing, and just could not help but ask him about the mule.

"How did you ever come out on that dead mule?"
"Great. I made $98 profit on that mule."
The farmer couldn't believe it.

"How did you get someone to pay $198 for a dead mule?"
"I didn't. I had a raffle, and the winner got the mule. I sold 100 tickets at $2 apiece."

"But wasn't the winner upset when he found out the mule was dead?"
"Of course he was." said the salesman. "So I gave him his $2 back.

Migrating To A New Linux Computer With A Manifest

With Windows, you buy a new machine.  You copy a few things off the old one that you know are most important.  You make a token effort to re-create your old environment.  Then something Microsoft did gets in the way or you can't find your original discs and you just keep it in the closet because you are afraid you will have lost all your data.  Because that's what your buddy did down the block.

I've been told anyway.  I've also been told that most people have spare Windows computers that are taking up space.

Mac people can use a backup from Time Machine.  I've actually done that, and it is pretty slick.

I ran into a very different problem  My backups were perfect clones of the original.  But my original was "broke".

Note:  This migration process is SO very easy that it takes about a half hour of actual hands on keyboard "work" and about 3 hours of processing time.  I have done this a couple times in a short span of time and am now getting "Creative" with the process.

Narrative:

Once upon a time, I installed Linux, and it was good...

Actually I installed Debian.  I figured that if there are so very many distributions of Linux that were forked from Debian, that Debian itself was safest.

I think I was right, no proof, just my opinion.  I have done my distribution hopping and had a machine in 1995 that was still being used in 2010 with CentOS 4.  Still stable, I just had much better hardware by then than my old Panasonic Omnibook with a Pentium 3 chip in it.  Yes, a 15 year long stretch with a computer is a long time, and I was the third owner of the machine.  It was my "pet"

I ran Debian 7 along side my Windows machines, and slowly found myself using Linux more than Windows.  I still use windows today, Windows 8.1 specificially, and I have an XP virtual machine With The Embedded Patch so I can get windows updates, but I don’t think I have run that within a month.

The only thing I use Windows for now is Photoshop, and really there are Linux programs like Gimp and Inkscape that will do what I need.

My original install was in my Dell.  Seven years ago in 2010.  First generation i7.  Dell Precision M4500. Blasted thing was built like a tank.  It loved, and once again loves, Linux.  I lived there for a year or more.  Then I was given upgrades, a couple times.  The original install went from machine 1 through 4.  Along the way Debian got upgraded to Debian 8, then recently 9 although I joined 9 back when it was “Testing”.

You see with Linux, you can clone the hard drive, take the clone, plug it into a new machine, and it just may work.  All you need is a USB caddy for the destination drive and as long as your drive names line up it works.  dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=4M conv=noerror,sync

For the most part it did but there were weird video affects and strange hibernate and resume problems. This cropped up as a result of taking machine 1's operating system and making it stable in machine 2 and 3 and later 4.


The actual process:


So here I am, creating from scratch Son Of Original Install. Debian 9 with XFCE4.  Oh, and a lot of extra "baggage" that I don't need but it is easier that way.

I decided that I would create a list of programs that I could reinstall on the New Machine and see how it works.  Also this is done with me in XFCE4.  We Linux People are if nothing else, flexible.  If it is not where I said it is, poke around a bit.

Step 1.  New Machine, is a Thinkpad T530, and gets a clean "Bare Metal" install of Debian 9. I ended up doing it a couple times, and so far the only weirdness is that it insists that I do “sudo su” if I want my terminal session to be and remain root.  They also renamed the network devices that have been used for decades.  So when I get to the network tweaks that I will have to do, I may have to edit a configuration file. Most likely samba.conf.

         Success.  I’m typing this from that machine now.

Step 2.  Create Manifest and install it from Synaptic. (Menu, System, Synaptic)


Step 2a.  On Original, open Synaptic.  After giving it the password for Root create a manifest by clicking “File, Save Markings As” and ticking a box at the bottom of the window that says “Save full state, not only changes”. 

Synaptic created the file with everything and in next step, it will place everything where I need it.  Yes, it will add a lot of software I don’t really need, but with Synaptic and Linux, I can purge all that stuff with a simple “apt purge” and it will remove it all, completely.  Put it on a chip or USB stick and place it on the new machine.

You can edit the file and delete anything out that you know won't be needed, but you will have to trust Synaptic to realize what you're trying to do.  Best if you did the removal in the next step.


Step 2b.  On New install on the new machine, open Synaptic and select “File, Read Markings”.  Tell it where that file is.  It will read it in and select all your “markings” from the manifest and instruct Synaptic to later install.

I did that in bed.  It was 8GB worth of upgrades on a replacement for my old 7 year lived in install.

Here is where I am second guessing and should have removed the other programs and window managers that I don't use.  I like XFCE4, it's light, fast, and configurable.  Others prefer KDE or Gnome.  I have them all installed.  Why not, it's a seven year old install.  If you remove it before telling Synaptic to update, Synaptic will get rid of the chaff along with it.  I didn't want to, I wanted "What I Had On The Old Install". 


Step 3.  Bring over my home directory.  I cloned the Original install on a backup drive.  I took that drive and plugged it into an external case.  Plugged that into the USB port. It is copying. 


Step 4.  Live with it.

I have to go with this new install for a while spotting problems.  And I haven't gone back to the old machine since.


Step 4a) The first one was I had to be able to play DVDs.

Change, as root, the /etc/apt/sources.list file by editing it and adding four lines:

#2017-07-08 to add libdvdcss

deb http://download.videolan.org/pub/debian/stable/ /
deb-src http://download.videolan.org/pub/debian/stable/ /

Then install as root by “apt install libdvdcss2”.

VLC worked by playing Futurama in Spanish.  Leela is a babe.


Step 4b) network shares on windows are not yet accessable. 

SAMBA was installed on Original, and it was happy.  It took a lot of twiddling to get that there.  Luckily I could copy over and merge it into my bare bones samba.conf file.  I saved the new one as installed, then copied the one over from Original, then restarted.

Fixed the access to my network shares.  It did not fix the share I had on the new machine.  I'll work on that.



Step 5) Conclusion is that this process works. 

Worked.  I'm on day 6 of all of this. 

Two problems cropped up:

1) The network share on my "new" machine still hasn't been fixed but I will deal with that later

2) Flash does not work.  Flash, as a platform, is dying. The only place it irks me is on www.imgur.com when I run across a short video to play.  I'll look into that at my leisure.


Step 6) Epilogue:
Furthermore...  I got bored and did it again with another machine.  I had it working once the updates happened.  It's a first generation Thinkpad Yoga S1 and has its own problem.

That's the thing, there will always be quirks.  Be prepared.  They happen because the new computer has different hardware than the original one.  You may need drivers, and you may need to remove software.

After all you still have your old machine and its backup, so you can go back if you want.  This "migration" is completely safe to your original data.

What fish only swims at night? A starfish!

What did the buffalo say to his son when he left for school?
Bye-son



A young child is sitting on a park bench eating a huge bag of candy.

An old man walks up to him and says "You shouldn't eat so much candy, it's terrible for your health!"
The kid replies, "Well, my grandpa lived to be 103 years old!"

"What was his secret? Did he eat a lot of candy?"
"No," the kid says. "He minded his own damn business!"



A positive ion stole an electron yesterday.
He got away with no charge.


Where do polar bears vote?
The North Poll.


I'm great at multitasking!
I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at once.


My girlfriend likes it when I am silent.
She thinks I am listening.


Why does the end of the world never come?
Because it's round.


A police officer stops a blonde for speeding and asks her if he could kindly see her license.

She replied in a huff 'I wish you guys would get your act together, just yesterday you took away my license, and then today you expect me to show it to you!'



Once there were two pirates who were identical twins...

These twins, the Tillery brothers, were named Arthur and Artemis, but both of them liked to be called Art. The only way that the captain and crew could tell them apart was by weight: Arthur was much fatter than his twin.

One day, the pirate ship was attacked by a Royal Navy ship. "All hands on deck!" The captain ordered. He pointed to the cannons and shouted, "Fire the heavy artillery!"

Hearing this, one of the pirates picked up Arthur, shoved him in the cannon, and fired.

"What did you do that for?" The captain asked.
"Sorry sir," the pirate replied. "But I'm sure you told me to fire the heavy Art Tillery."


How does a bro spell a striped horse?
With a "Z" brah.


How did the Australian pay for his new chess set?
Cheque, mate.


How do Vegans start grace?
Lettuce pray...

Why did the man steal the wig? He didn't want toupee!

I can't believe I got terminated from the calendar factory.
All I did was take a day off.

That's not too bad. My friend and I stole a calender and we each got six months!

You could just have bought a yearly supply at the dollar store

They told me I will get my promotion on the 30th of February.


Police arrested two kids yesterday, one was drinking battery acid, the other was eating fireworks.
They charged one - and let the other one off.


A curious child asked his mother...

“Mommy, why are some of your hairs turning grey?”

The mother tried to use this occasion to teach her child: “It is because of you, dear. Every bad action of yours will turn one of my hairs grey!”

The child replied innocently: “Now I know why grandmother has only grey hairs on her head.”



A duck waddles into a store, asks for some snails.

The woman behind the counter asks, "Wait, ducks don't carry cash, do they?"
The duck replies, "No, but you can put them on my bill."



Some people really don't understand what it means. to live simply.
I don't get it. It's not that complicated.



What Fruit Has The Hardest Time Finding Love?  Cantaloupe
But nobody wants to date a lemon
And peaches are the pits .
So when life gives you lemons, don't marry them



Guy 1: I just joined a salon quartet
Guy 2: What's a salon quartet?
Guy 1: It's like a barbershop quartet, except we can charge a lot more



Two muffins are put in an oven.
The first muffin says, "Man, are you hot or is it just me?"
The second muffin replies, "This isn't the time for flirting, Dave."



I was having a drink at a local restaurant with my friend Justin when...

I was having a drink at a local restaurant with my friend Justin when he spotted an attractive woman sitting at the bar. After an hour of gathering his courage, he approached her and asked, "Would you mind if I chatted with you for a while?"

She responded by yelling at the top of her lungs, "No, I won’t come over to your place tonight!"
With everyone in the restaurant staring, Justin crept back to our table, puzzled and humiliated.

A few minutes later, the woman walked over to us and apologized.

"I’m sorry if I embarrassed you," she said, "but I’m a graduate student in psychology and I’m studying human reaction to embarrassing situations."
At the top of his lungs Justin responded, "What do you mean, two hundred dollars?"



What did the Dyslexic Agnostic Insomniac person do all night?
He had laid there wondering if there really was a dog



(I know one person in particular who will like this one)
Why do farmers play smooth jazz for their corn?
It's easy on the ears


Two wind turbines are in a field when one turns to the other:
He says: "What's your favourite type of music" The second one says: "Actually I'm a huge metal fan


I've written a song about a tortilla.
Actually, it's more of a wrap.

Please Watch Over Your Dogs, Cats, and any Sensitive Folks over The Fourth, You May Save A Life

Ok, so I may be a day early.  I tend to put out some weird ramblings on Wednesdays.

What I'm onto is this fireworks nonsense.  Nobody wants to live in a war zone.  To a dog, especially a fearful one, that is what will be happening a bit after sunset for A While.

An Arbitrary amount of time after any given Firework-y event.  A couple of weeks if I remember last year.

I love looking at them but what that does to anyone that gets "triggered" by them is truly frightening.

Yeah, I used the word triggered.  Which means those big strong (read: callous types) have just closed this window.

Growing up in an area that banned anything more than sparklers, the professional firework displays that shot off on July 4th were amazing.  The park near the house, Cooper River Park in Cherry Hill NJ, was a spot you could stand in an open field and watch at least ten displays.

Now imagine your idiot Confederate Flag waving, Pickup Truck driving neighbor setting off his personal jollies in the street next door and having them go wild into your hedges and start a fire.

Meanwhile your cat or dog is freaking out in mortal terror because someone just dropped a mortar overhead.

I would expect this in France in two weeks at Bastille Day, or perhaps in the UK around Guy Fawkes day, but then again Europeans seem to have more sense than some folks around here.

Keep your pets indoors tonight.  If you need to walk your dog, a possible suggestion is what I am doing.

Sunset tonight in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is at 8:17PM.  I will try to get my walk started around that time.  Preferrably before.  "They" always wait until it's fully dark out before the idiots start their own battle of lights.

Oh and your cats?  First off, if you let your cat out at night, you're doing wrong by them.  They live much longer indoors, and so do the songbirds in your neighborhood that are in decline everywhere.  Secondly, you never know what some fool will do with fireworks, your cat, and perhaps a little duct tape.

Yes, we hear about that every year.
Yes, the animal rights laws are getting better.

No, your dislike of those facts won't stop some freak from taking out their anger on your pet.

Keep them indoors.
Tonight and always.
They'll be around much longer.

Ok, so I didn't mean for this to get so strident and rant-y.

Protect the pets you love.  Make sure you have a picture of them with you.  If you lose yours, look for them at the shelter.  Like that graphic above says, the 5th of July is the busiest day for animal shelters with people trying to recover their lost dog or cat.

Their welfare is in your hands.

If you happen to know a veteran, ask them if they need company tonight.  They may appreciate it.

Ok, let me rephrase it.  If you know of anyone who may be alone tonight or any night, go say hi.  They may appreciate it.

It's just neighborly.

What do vegan zombies crave? Graaaains!

The Good Day:

My boss told me to have a good day so I went home.

Then he texted: Now have a good life

-Don't come back Monday..
-Woohoo!! Long weekend!!



My kids are nothing but trouble.
I told my son "One day you'll have kids of your own."
He said "So will you."



A priest is driving along a country road when a police man pulls him over.
He immediately smells alcohol on the priest's breath and notices an empty wine bottle in the car.

He says: "Have you been drinking?"
"Just water," says the priest.

The cop replies: "Then why do I smell wine?"
The priest looks at the bottle and says: "Good Lord! He's done it again!"



An Irishman goes into a bar in America and orders three whiskeys.
The barman asks: "Would it be better for if I put all three shots in one glass?"
The Irishman replies: "No! I have two other brothers back at home, so every time I come into a pub, I order a shot for them both."

The following week, the Irishman orders just two whiskeys.
The barman asks: "Did something happen one of your brothers?"
"Oh no," replies the Irishman. "I just decided to quit drinking!"



Why are console gamers always sad?
Cause they can't ever PC things together.



I've been working on this amphibian joke for awhile but I'm too nervous to say it...
...it's still a work in frogress.
Are you feeling froggy?
It could be the greatest joke ever toad!
What, did you think we'd just ribbit to pieces?




I saw a guy getting jumped by 4 people so I decided to step in and help...
That guy stood no chance against the 5 of us.



I just don't understand puns about furnitures!
I haven't​ done it sofa, it's just weird.
Nobody chairs.
Hutch up!



The naming of my children

Yesterday, my eldest daughter asked me,"Father, why is my name Rose?".
I explain to her it was because a rose petal landed on her head as she was birthed on our patio.

Curious, my middle child asked me,"Father, why is my name Lily?".
I explain to her it was because when she was birthed a lily flower petal fell onto her head after it blew in through a window.

My youngest grunted,"Raaghhrgh?".
I reply,"Quiet down now Cinderblock we already fed you!".



A man at work walks into his boss's office and bets him for $2000, that at exactly 2 AM, there will be a giant wart on his butt.

His boss is a bit confused, but he accepts the bet.

So at 2 AM the man walks into the office of his boss again and says that he would like to... have a look.

So his boss drops his pants, but the employee says that can't really see it all that well and asks him to stand in front of the window for better lighting.

The boss tells the employee that clearly, no wart has appeared and the man accepts his defeat.
He tells his boss that he's gonna pick up the money.

His boss asks him where he's gonna get it from.
The man explains that he bet ten other employees for $5000 each that he could get the boss's naked butt in front of the window at 2 AM.



An elderly man had serious hearing problems ....

An elderly gentleman had serious hearing problems for a number of years. He went to the doctor and the doctor was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed the gentleman to hear 100 %.

The elderly gentleman went back in a month to the doctor and the doctor said: "Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again."

The gentleman replied, "Oh, I haven't told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to their conversations. I've changed my will three times!"

Why do librarians love skyscrapers? Because they have lots of storeys!

My lady friend keeps calling me an alcoholic!
Good thing we're not supposed to use labels.

What did the blind rabbit say to the deer?
I have no eye, deer!

Why couldn't Beethoven go to the dance?
He was too baroque.

Whats sport can you play with a Wombat?  Wom!

I don't trust our air conditioning system.  It seems forced.

They laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian but they aren't laughing anymore.

How did the little truck always take home ladies from the bar?  He had the best pick-up lines.

What did the llama say when he was invited to the picnic?  Alpaca lunch.

What do you call a guy who hangs out with musicians?  A drummer

What's the easiest way to remember your wife's birthday?  Forget it once!

What do you call a lawyer with an IQ of 50?  Your honor.

Antique Car at Wilton Manors Fire Department

Every town has its quirks.

Wilton Manors has them too.   Mostly the inhabitants of all sorts, but once in a while you see something that leaves you asking what on earth is going on.

Square in the middle of town there is a restaurant.  There was a restaurant before it in the same spot.  It was a greasy spoon chicken wings joint that moved just out of town. 

That's great if you like that sort of thing.  I can make my own greasy spoon chicken, thank you, and I prefer barbecue or grilled at any rate.  Much better for you, or so they say.

Whoever They are.

As the old building rotted, someone came along and did the typical Screw The System Building Rehab.  Knock down every wall but two, then build a new building around it.   That means it is a rehab, and therefore not new construction, and the laws are less strict.

Not good for those of us around it.

The restaurant that later inhabited the space, to this day, is a sushi place.  All painted in purple.

I'm not a fan of eating raw fish in a Barney colored restaurant blaring bad rock music from twenty years ago, but maybe you do.  I'll leave you to it.

Squatting there like a big purple carbuncle, it does draw your attention.  It is hardly ever "full" so if you want a meal and they are open go on in.

See, that's the thing.   Right now, it isn't open.  It's closed.  They have a sign taped to the front door that explains that they're doing some remodeling or some re-menuing of their food.  Bottom line is that it has been even emptier than it had been before.

Maybe they will open again or maybe someone will buy the place and hopefully banish Barney and paint the place a different color under a new format.

I love you,  You love me, Why not have some Broccoli?

As the place has been closed for about 2 or 3 months now, maybe longer, it has collected a few cars.  They were strategically placed to block the parking lot off from someone borrowing it and maybe making it look like it is actually inhabited with say a car club.

Ok, I'll say a car club.  Because the cars that were left behind aren't junkers.  I suspect that the city here would have something to say about that.  The cars are almost always what could be considered classics.

This car parked there caught my eye and forced me to think about it.   It's a somewhat restored 1950s Chevrolet.  In baby blue, it also is Indifferently restored.  The back deck of the car is stained with age.  The paint seemed to have been done badly because it was a bit rough in appearance. 

And the car had a flat. 

Not just a flat, but the wheel itself was ground down leading you to believe that it had been dragged across the pavement to rest where it is over the final few feet.

By a giant purple dinosaur perhaps?  I doubt that, but the love that Barney would give to that car would be to put on the spare tire, I would hope.

1950s cars are rather rare now.  They've mostly gone into the hands of collectors.  They generally aren't used to decorate parking lots with 1980s Corvettes, last century bucket trucks, or some of the other automotive relics that have showed up over the last month.  Always three vehicles, one to block each entry, and that sad semi restored baby blue Chevrolet that was there that day and this morning still.

We saw it that day.  Me, my dog Rack, and a rather nice looking tortoise shell winged Dragonfly balancing on the hibiscus hedge that is well maintained and intended to protect the property from Purple Dinosaurs.

So if you go by, you may be able to witness the worlds slowest car club.  Join the Dragonflies, and the other quirky denizens of this town.

You just won't be able to get sushi, unless you bring your own.

Even better if you bring a purple dinosaur and drive up in an antique car. 

You have one right?

Love Dress

A mother-in-law stopped by unexpectedly the recently married couple's house. She knocks on the door, then immediately walks in. She is shocked to see her daughter-in-law lying on the couch, totally naked.

"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm waiting for Jeff to come home from work," the daughter-in-law answered.

"But you're naked!" the mother-in-law exclaimed.

"This is my love dress," the daughter-in-law explained.
"Love dress? But you're naked!"

"Jeff loves me to wear this dress! It makes him happy and it makes me happy."

The mother-in-law on the way home thought about the love dress. When she got home she got undressed, showered, put on her best perfume and expectantly waited for her husband, lying provocatively on the couch.

Finally her husband came home. He walked in and saw her naked on the couch.

"What are you doing?" he asked.
"This is my love dress," she replied.

"Needs ironing," he says" "What's for dinner?"