I thought that I would be spending this week getting caught up after losing most of the previous week to computer security training. Monday started out fine, but sometime after dinner I began what can only be described as a ralphing jag of biblical proportions, followed by other lovely symptoms of gastronomical distress that shall go undescribed. Tuesday was thus given over to lethargy, 7-Up, and TCM. I thought I was out of the woods by Wednesday, but by early afternoon a herd of squawling cats had taken up vermin in my lower intestine, forcing me back to the couch. Thursday came, and I finally came out of the episode slightly rattled, but whole. Unfortunately, we learned at the end of the day that there's been a death in Chandra's family. Suddenly the bad turkey and/or Italian sausage episode seems less...well, less.
I'm taking a course in computer security this week, and the instructor just flashed this onscreen.
We don't generally do much (if anything) for Valentine's Day, but this year Chandra got one of those boxes of Valentine's cards that kids get for school and while she was sitting on hold last night scattered them around the house. As a result, I've been finding little Batman cards all day long (when did Valentine's Day get so twisted?).
This came up at work today, and while I was explaining the whole concept there was a small voice in the back of my head insisting that I clarify that these cards were from the new animated series "The Batman," not "Batman the Animated Series" or "Batman Beyond." "Batman the Animated Series" would have been cooler, but while that was a ground-breaking show it hasn't been on the air for a long time and I'm sure that they wouldn't sell as well even though the older show is far superior to the new stuff and the design of the characters is really kind of weird in some cases, although they don't seem to have messed with Harley Quinn much which is cool because she's Chandra's favorite character, and we'd like to get a cel of her but they're kind of hard to find and anyway our walls are getting kind of full because we've got like half a dozen different Batman cels, even some from "Batman Beyond," which is cool because they switched to computer inking in season two, so there aren't a lot for that show...
Fortunately, I was able to bottle this before it came gushing out, but it was close for a bit. Too close.
Our new Wii arrived from Canada yesterday-- yes, Canada. Someone got impatient and bought one from eBay, not realizing that there would be a shipment on Sunday and she could just walk down to Toys R Us and pick one up. So, while we were both absorbed in other stuff, we did find time to flail around like the doofuses we are just to break in the system. Mucho fun, but I'm having some trouble with the motion sensor sometimes getting a little out of whack with where I have it positioned. This has led to some interesting golf strokes, to say the least.
Kevin Drum takes on undoubtedly bullshit reports of Iranian bombs so that the rest of us don't have to.
One thing I'd like to add. Sometime this week on NPR they were talking about the Scooter Libby trial and how the press was also taking it on the chin. I forget who was talking, but the gist of her comment boiled down to them not taking good notes or having good memories. As if. Take a look at the first couple of paragraphs from an LA Times article on this topic:
Baghdad -- U.S. defense and intelligence officials today rolled out what they said was solid evidence that Iran was providing bombs to target U.S. and Iraqi troops and accused Iran's supreme leader of orchestrating the smuggling of such devices over the Iran-Iraq border.
At a briefing held under unusually secretive conditions here, the U.S. officials, who refused to be identified by name and did not allow cameras or recording devices inside a conference room, offered up tables laden with hardware and a slide show of documentation that they said bolstered the U.S. contentions of Iranian involvement in Iraqi unrest.
Nowhere in the article is there the slightest challenge to what was presented. Given what happened last time around, you would think that they would have learned, but apparently not. Poor notes and memory are the least of the media's faults. Until they learn to stand up and do their jobs, we will continue to lurch inexorably towards ever-greater disaster.
Trying some new stuff, and MarsEdit isn't quite cooperating with me. Don't really have much to say at the moment, but I want to put this new software through it's paces. So here's some junk.
Look, a blockquote!
Something else, maybe with a link.
Words from Steve Jobs. I wonder if this is a harbinger of things to come?
Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.
Wouldn't be the first time that the Bushies blamed someone else for something that should properly be aimed elsewhere.
First, check out the video here of the two guys who are being prosecuted in Boston for sticking LED signs around the city. In it, reporters attempt to ask about the case, and all they get is a kind of absurd discussion of hair styles in the seventies. The reporters seem to get annoyed, and ask whether the guys are taking the case seriously.
Let's back up for a minute. These are people who placed LED images of a cartoon character flipping off passers-by, and the Boston police freaked out as if these were bombs scattered around the city. Apparently they've been suffering from an infestation of super-villians leaving signature booby traps around town, and after dealing through Joker's mustard gas whoopee cushions secreted on the subway and Green Goblin's pumpkin bombs, they were taking no chances on this fusillade of "fuck-yous".
Forget the dastardly LED artists. How can anyone take this seriously?