I just discovered that I can see the prudential center from the printer. I'm not sure why this pleases me, but it does. Perhaps the thought that I could in theory see my printer from the Prudential center. My best guess, though, is that getting up at 6am and going over to pick up fresh bagels from the local H & H depot for breakfast, served with vulcanized eggs, has cheered me up, so the world, right down to the humblest printer, seems brighter and better than when I loll about.
Oh, and recumbent bicycles don't fit in bike lockers. Just so you're aware. I was actually completely unaware that my building featured bike lockers in the parking lot, until, one day last week when feeling vaguely sullen, resentful, and balking at the notion of bungeeing the laptop to the bicycle, I drove in to work, and parked next to them. For those that are unaware, they are steel boxes, generally beige, and full of dead leaves, that keep bikes out of the rain and stop bypassers making off with the accessories. This morning, being, as I said, full of goodwill, and vaguely remembering something about thunderstorms, I decided to give them a try. Unfortunately, they are triangular in shape, and neither the backrest nor the handlebars cared to go in first.
Bungeeing the laptop to the bike would be easier if I had another bungee cord of the correct length. Bungee cords that are a few inches too short are a significant cause of grief for me. But if I buy any more bungee cords, they will take over the utility closet. Bungee cords strike me as somehow malevolent. They have an unfortunate habit of clinging. They are positively sticky, and, in mass, are positively hostile. They form colonies.
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02:12:05 PM,
Monday 19 June 2006
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700 hobo names, as read by the author, who also happens to be the PC in those irritating Mac ads. I admit that I'm only up to #172, Microfiche Roy the Sidescroller, but I feel that I can wholeheartedly recommend it.
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10:19:28 AM,
Monday 19 June 2006
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I think the reason I no longer feel comfortable calling myself a Democrat, and refuse to donate money to the party, though I've only ever voted for Democrats, is down partially to a dislike of the notion of party, but is primarily the result of reading comments on political blogs and the mainstreaming of Kos. This thought brought to you by an advertisement for "Why Mommy is a Democrat", which is such a horrible notion that I refuse to even investigate it further. One look at the cover was enough. I have content objections, but they aren't strong ones. The center of it is something like this... I don't believe in evil people. The sort of outrage you get in and around blogs is predicated on the notion of evil people. This is why I like Andrew Sullivan. He is capable of moral outrage (on torture, most noteably) without demonization, conspiracy, or confusing dissent with treason. The notion that perfectly ordinary people can perpetrate horrible acts is important to me. Rumsfield is honestly trying to do what is right. He has botched a job of historic importance he should resign, immediately, but he isn't evil, and the bile that sloshes around the internet unchecked is revolting and dangerous. Now, this isn't a Democratic disease only, of course, and if one stands up to the drooling internet masses, I'll vote for them. I just don't expect it to happen. In short, Bah, and why precisely do I follow politics?
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(13)
10:37:43 AM,
Thursday 15 June 2006
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My company has 10 digit department numbers. It has 7 digit employee numbers. That is all.
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12:58:11 PM,
Monday 12 June 2006
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My billionaire has died.
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11:38:31 AM,
Monday 12 June 2006
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I met my doppelganger this evening. He was sitting in the row H, I was in row G, about 10 seats down, in the balcony at the cat power concert. His hair was redder, his glasses had darker frames, he was probably a bit younger, and his nose wasn't quite as pointy, but it really did feel profoundly like looking in the mirror. I didn't introduce myself. We simply looked at each other while pretending we weren't. My main fear was that he might have an accent. Also, you can't just walk up to doppelgangers and say "you look strangely familiar".
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11:46:23 PM,
Wednesday 7 June 2006
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My home computer is dead. For a few days, it would occasionally give a long beep, and then work the next time. Now, however, it sometimes does nothing, and sometimes beeps. Have tried reseating all the memory. Next step is to remove each memory chip in turn, and see if it works. If that fails, remove the video card and plug the monitor into the motherboard. If that doesn't do it, take it to the shop despite the $80 dollars an hour. Random advice or suggestions welcome.
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11:22:58 AM,
Wednesday 7 June 2006
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I need a phrase to describe the state of being invited to a meeting where you are not needed. "Conversational Ballast" is my first attempt, but it more properly refers to a store of small talk that could be thrown out to keep a conversation afloat. Ideas?
While were at it, I have the phrase "Genuine Ohio" stuck in my head, since it is printed on a lovely mug I recently received, but I don't know what it should mean. I was thinking it refers to all physical manifestations of a particularly tacky sort of local pride. Anything that attempts to spell out a southie accent, for example, would be Geniune Ohio. Erika thought it should refer to horrible desolation of an specifically Ohioean sort, but she's from Michigan, so alive to distinctions in the midwestern wasteland that are invisible to me. As a temporary resident in Michigan, I got the sense from the locals that as soon as you cross the border, all the plants are withered, air is yellow, and the people barely human, but couldn't myself see the difference. I did eventually learn that I should keep this fact to myself, however.
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(2)
03:23:59 PM,
Monday 5 June 2006
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Kinsley on healthcare
We are unwilling to accept 'rationed' healthcare, to accept that some treatments will not be covered, because it isn't a good use of resources. We are similarly unwilling to admit that medical treatment can be bought, and that it's a commodity. This puts is in the profoundly inhumane position of refusing any treatment to millions of people, because we are incapable of admitting that some treatments are simply too expensive, that life has a value.
As for the pipe dream of evidence based medicine, I'm not sure how it's going to happen. Doctor's are hidebound, and have good reasons to keep any useful data away, for fear of lawsuits and the further undermining of their mystique. People have amazingly resilient faith in their doctor. The availability of information over the web has started to undermine it... good data about what doctors do, and why, and whether it works might kill it entirely. Add that to the privacy concerns, and it seems hopeless... but it's all so silly. Most of what people are worried about, privacywise, is already in my sticky little hands. I have their diagnoses and procedures. What I don't have is their lab results, their symptoms or their outcomes, the stuff you'd need to actually understand what was going on.
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01:27:03 PM,
Monday 5 June 2006
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I am paid 1/5th of my billing rate. Worse than that, I'm a subcontractor, so the Gov'mnt (or taxpayer, if you're feeling demogoggy) pays more than 5 times the going rate for my services. So why does the government outsource everything, if it costs so much? Is it corruption, inefficiency caused by the inflexible work rules, the irrational system of budgeting? I mean, if you were unfamiliar with the federal bearaucracy, you'd think they'd be willing to pay quite a bit more to do the work in-house, to avoid the fouled up incentives of contracting, where you have to be careful not to be too efficient. As it is, they are barely able to administer their contracts, let alone do the work themselves. (In a touch straight out of Yes, Minister, the Deficit Reduction Act is a windfall for us... Lots of money will be spent on contracts to try to spend less money)
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01:08:58 PM,
Monday 5 June 2006
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I had thought my allergies weren't happening this year, but apparently they're just a month late.. maybe because of the rain? A cold May? A warm January? Global warming? Secret military research? Either that, or inhaling dandelion fluff disagrees with me violently. It's the day of fluff out there, and I got some up the nose cycling to work. Protection from floating plant matter is one of the often overlooked benefits of a bicycle fairing.
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12:12:42 PM,
Monday 5 June 2006
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A Man for All Seasons is an amazing movie, full of wonderfully chewy speeches delivered beautifully. A movie that resonates profoundly with my lawyer's soul. In the film, Sir Thomas More isn't simply standing up for the Pope. If he were to do that, he would have uttered his treason earlier. His self that he was unwilling to let slip between his fingers is his belief in the law as the only thing protecting us, making civilization possible, whether it came from God or man. Makes me want to go out and overthrow a monarchy.
The mindset of the King is also fascinating, that he would care so much. Leaving him offstage for the 2nd half means that we only see him though the mechinism of the state, which distorts him and makes him far more terrible than he would have been in person. We have the one scene with him in, where you can see the top layer of the state, and you can see the whole ediface, distorting and dehumanizing his will down to the executioner. Laws don't need to be just, though it's all right if they are. Any law is better than none. The king must be a subject to something, God, or, since God seems woefully disengaged politically, then the law. America is remarkable for it's lack of kings, and for the rule of law. He died as much for the Magna Carta as he did for the Pope. In a strange way, his God was the law, and the law was his God.
The notion of oaths is now entirely antiquated, of course. I don't know, but I suspect this is because we have so many lawyers, and systems of credit. There is no reason for tabs and trust when everyone has a credit card. There is no need for oaths when there are so many legally binding contracts about, and a system of courts to enforce them.
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(1)
10:24:06 PM,
Saturday 3 June 2006
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site & script courtesy of Moss
