Articles written by Austin Vail

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About me - Austin Vail

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I'm a long-term IT professional currently concentrated on SUN Solaris systems administration. Other interests include freelance writing (fiction and nonfiction), playing guitar and motorcycles. I live with Lydia, a PC and network expert, in the Colorado

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Politics, News & Issues > War in Iraq We should be focusing military efforts on the Taliban, Al Qaeda and drugs in Afghanistan, not in Iraq: 2 of 28
The Iraq project is no longer a war but a huge attempt to build a country that resembles the United States in government, commerce and society. Well, that's how it started out. Now it's a huge attempt to build a country that isn't self-destructing. Hardly anyone claims that this is a battle to contain terrorists, other than t... More..
Creative Writing > Short Stories Short stories: Romance: 18 of 188
The street shone in the late spring drizzle. Sodium lamps reflected from overhead. He walked with head bowed, collar turned up, a gloved hand cupping a Marlboro cigarette against the rain. His steel-toed work boots strode forward in a blues shuffle rhythm, not hurried, not without aim. Water dripped from his oiled canvas west... More..
Society & Lifestyle > Mythology & Folklore History and myths of black cats: 2 of 19
They were black and feral cats, brothers who had starved in the wild when something took their mother out. It could have been a car, a pack of coyotes or a wandering puma in need of a snack. A kindly woman in these Rocky Mountains took the tiny young brothers in along with three other littermates, and she put an ad in the loc... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Party Politics & Ideology Is George W. Bush a true conservative?: 1 of 7
Let me first define what a true conservative is before determining whether or not President Bush is one.One common misunderstanding is that true conservatives are supposed to be for small government. This is too general of a statement that fits better to libertarians than to conservatives. True conservatives are fine with a h... More..
Autos > Driving & Safety Driving safety from motorcyclist's perspective: 1 of 6
The best drivers on the road also ride motorcycles in traffic, or did so at one time. Part of the reason is the Darwin syndrome, where foolish motorcycle riders tend to eliminate themselves from the species in dramatic and violent crashes, oftentimes before reproducing. This in turn helps eliminate the foolish genetic materia... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Energy Issues What are alternative transportation fuels?: 3 of 10
Only one source of energy exists in this universe, and that is nuclear energy in the form of fusion, mostly. That's the fusion of hydrogen atoms into helium, the process that makes our sunshine and starlight, maybe not moonshine, but certainly a shining moon. All other energy forms that we use for transportation come original... More..
Autos > Engine Repair Possible diagnoses for an overheating engine: 3 of 6
When an engine overheats, several things might be going on but one of the most common is old cooling fluid. Most people think of the cooling fluid as anti-freeze, which is true but does not tell the whole story.Anti-freeze consists mostly of ethylene glycol, a type of alcohol that does not freeze until very cold, so a mixture... More..
Arts & Humanities > American Literature Native American literature: 3 of 6
The Ancient Child- N. Scott Momaday -Harper Perennial, reprint (1990, original publication 1989)ISBN-10: 0060973455ISBN-13: 978-0060973452Native American LiteratureWhere does myth and reality intermingle? For Grey, also named Koi-ehm-toya (p. 252), a young Native American woman who is part Kiowa and part Navajo and living in ... More..
Computers & Technology > Computers & Technology (Other) Maintaining the home datacenter: 1 of 1
People are working from home offices more than ever before in this 21st century technical world. The lessons learned in corporate datacenters during the last twenty years of the last century are valuable to the home worker to ensure the highest level of availability, and thus productivity, for the employer. In turn, this high... More..
Arts & Humanities > Children's Literature Book reviews: So Far from the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Kawashawa Watkins: 1 of 1
Eleven-year old Yoko must leave Korea with what can be gathered of her family toward the end of World War II. Her country, Japan, is losing the war. The Korean army is killing Japanese people on sight, and she must make it from the far northern village of Nanam to Seoul, and then to Pussan where the family can take a refugee ... More..