A New Post

Apparently, I haven't blogged much since my vacation. I blame my readers for your lack of dedication.

So, I totally missed the one year anniversary of the blog. (breathless flashback to my stunning first post) My bad. Bon Anniversaire a cette blog.

It's 3:00 am right now, and I can't sleep. I realized just now that, without having any way to be sure, it's probable that I haven't seen doctor since Ronald Reagan was president. (This statement applies only to regular checkups. The emergency room visits for my college drinking incident and my recent broken bone do not apply. Your mileage may vary.) I probably should arrange a visit soon, but I'm guessing that, like most everything else (except computers), post-Reagan healthcare has likely only taken a turn for the worse. (Prognostication: I should quit smoking, cut back on my drinking, eat better and exercise more. I probably have some specific health issue for which someone has concocted a drug whose side-effects are worse than the problems they address. Even pointing my browser to WebMD seems like a waste of time.)

More likely, I'll schedule my car to be inspected long before this happens.

Anyhow, I'm going to grab a drink and a smoke and try to get my ass asleep.

Net Neutrality Fight Moves to the Senate

As you may know, the fight to preserve Net Neutrality was lost in the House. My own personal Representative voted for the interests of the Telcos, and I'm pissed.

Senators Snowe and Dorgan have introduced a bill (S. 2917) which sounds like it has bi-partisan support. Get on the phones, send some emails, and contact your Senators now!

Da Vinci code at Cannes

So, unsurprisingly, the pre-premier of "The Da Vinci Code" at Cannes was received with something less than overwhelming enthusiasm. Since I consider this book the most over-hyped B+ thriller since "The Hunt for Red October" I'm not surprised by the reaction at Cannes.

What I am surprised by, is the fact that I appear to be the first to come up with the obvious Variety-esque headline: "Cannes pans Dan's fans!"

(Yes, I know "Cannes" isn't pronounced that way, but d@mmit it screams out to me! Boffo!)

Monkeys, Typewriters and Shakespeare

Today, just before I left the office, I overheard a co-worker spouting the old saw about how if you put a million monkeys in a room with a million typewriters for long enough, they'd eventually come up with the works of Shakespeare. Since most of my thoughts at work lately have focused on process improvement, the first thing that crossed my mind when I heard this was: "Well that's an inelegant and inefficient way to do things. Perhaps if you selected two or three promising monkeys and put them through some creative writing classes, you could save yourself a lot of time and trouble."

However, it then occurred to me that for my policy proposal to be workable, I'd have to figure out how to deal with the resulting massive unemployment among monkey typists.

And that's when I realized that I'd pretty much lost it and decided to call it a day.

DOJ moves against EFF AT&T Class Action Suit

Via boingboing, we learn that yesterday, the DOJ filed a motion to dismiss the EFF's lawsuit against AT&T regarding their complicity in helping the U.S. Government spy on its own citizens.

Early Saturday morning, in the darkest hours of the night, the Department of Justice made good its threat to file a motion to dismiss our class-action lawsuit against AT&T, contending that AT&T's collaboration with the NSA's massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications (which violates the law and the privacy of its customers)--despite being front page news throughout the United States and the subject of government press conferences and Congressional hearings--is a state secret. The motion was accompanied by declarations by Lieutenant General Keith B. Alexander, Director, National Security Agency and John D. Negroponte, Director of National Intelligence. We will vigorously oppose this motion. Donate to EFF and help stop the illegal spying!

Personally, I would recommend that any American citizens who believe that our Government ought not to circumvent the law to secretly spy on its own citizens, consider donating a few bucks.

Ionic Air purifiers create smog

Hey, disgustedem...don't you have one of these?

Maybe that throat irritation and shortness of breath wasn't from the smoking....

Radiohead - '06 North America Dates Announced

Un.
Be.
Freaking.
Lievable.

So, Radiohead has finally announced this year's NorthAm dates. You can probably scroll down this page and see the post in which I was bummed about having to miss Boston because of my trip to Seattle, but I took solace in the fact that they'd have some days in Philly.

Turns out the Philly dates are also happening during my trip to Seattle.

Is it just me or do the east coast gigs seem a bit sparse this year?

Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10am. Info from ateaseweb:

June 1 - Upper Darby, PA @ Tower Theatre
June 2 - Upper Darby, PA @ Tower Theatre

June 4 - Boston, MA @ Bank of America Pavilion
June 5 - Boston, MA @ Bank of America Pavilion

June 7 - Toronto, ON @ Hummingbird Centre
June 8 - Toronto, ON @ Hummingbird Centre

June 10 - Montreal, QC @ Salle Wilfred-Pelletier at Place des Arts
June 11 - Montreal, QC @ Salle Wilfred-Pelletier at Place des Arts

June 13 - New York, NY @ The Theatre at Madison Square Garden
June 14 - New York, NY @ The Theatre at Madison Square Garden

June 17 - Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival

June 19 - Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theatre
June 20 - Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theatre

June 23 - Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theater
June 24 - Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theater

June 26 - San Diego, CA @ Bayside
June 27 - San Diego, CA @ Bayside

June 29 - Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theater
June 30 - Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theater

Barbeque Grills - Made in USA

We are currently looking to purchase a barbeque grill. I'm someone who can appreciate a nicely-grilled burger, but I'm by no means a hardcore grill chef. As such, we're basically looking for something that's moderately nicer than the nearly-disposabe things you can buy in a grocery store, but we certainly aren't looking for "The Bestest Grill Eva!!!

Whenever I'm buying a somewhat big-ticket item, I try to determine if any of my choices are made in the U.S. Even though it may be a weak gesture right now, I'd prefer to pay a premium for something made in the U.S. and keep my dollars going to domestic manufacturers.

Unfortunately, given our stated critieria for the barbeque grill, our optimal selection might just be a low-cost import in the $100-200 range. Searching on Sears' website for "grill made in the usa," it seems like our selections are limited to Weber grills and one Kenmore grill that is more than we're really looking to spend.

Curses. What is the ethical, domestic-manufacturing-conscious US consumer to do?

Picture of Weber Genesis Silver Grill appropriated from Sears.com

ING CD Rates

As you all know, I'm a big fan of ING Direct. Before I get into details, I'll point out to everyone that they just bumped their savings rate up from 4.00% to 4.15% today, so..."Yay!" My fandom notwithstanding, they sure have a way of cheesing me off with their CD rates.

Since it's been obvious for over a year now that the Fed was going to keep raising rates, it's been rather counter-productive to put money into any long-term CDs until one is reasonably certain that we've reached the peak of the rate-raising spree. And now, all of the signs seem to indicate that we're close to that end.

Back on April 14, ING bumped the rates on all CDs over 1 year duration up to 5.00%. However, yesterday, they apparently bumped everything over a 2 year down to 4.75%. (They did push the 12 month rate up to 5.25%, so I just dropped some money into one of those.) I get the impression that the CD-rate-setting department periodically goes out and gets loaded, and sets the rates at giddy highs, then realizes what they did a few days later and fixes things.

The conventional wisdom suggests that the Fed will raise rates another quarter point in May and then hold tight after that. Presumably, ING will bring the long-term CDs up to 5.00% at that point. I was hoping the end result would be an over 5% 5-year CD, which would be pretty freaking compelling. Hell, a guaranteed, FDIC-insured, "your account will NOT lose value" 5+% return is hard not to love.

And frankly, a straight 5% under those conditions ain't too bad, either. But still....grrr.

Search Results

I've waited for this day for so long. Today I just discovered that someone found this blog by searching for "herbal roofies."

Hurray, hurrah, oh great frabjabulous day! Since the day that post went up, I knew that someday, somebody would search for some bizarre thing and google would make me happy...and my patience was well rewarded.

I can't say for sure, but that might well be the best search string that returns exitramp, Evah! It's also heartening to know that kids nowadays are aware of the health risks that are associated with your garden variety, Big Pharma ketamine.

Party at my place tonight. Bathtub roofies and paint thinner will be provided.

Homestar Anniversary

So, as part of my never-ending quest for the truth, I intended that I would definitively, once and for all, identify which sbemail was the first to introduce the Bear holding the Shark. (Hint: It ain't theme park, it's date)

However, while doing my research, I realised that we are now approaching the N-X anniversary of 20X6. Truly, the 01:02:03-04-05-06 anniversary pales in comparison.

Looking forward to Stinkoman within the next 90 years, Yours Truly, mergenow.

Net Neutrality - Take Action

Originally noted via boingboing...the fight for 'net neutrality? Oh, it's been broughten.

Interestingly, this is a topic which unites conservative blogger Glenn Reynolds (aka Instapundit), MoveOn.org, the ACLU and Gun Owners of America.

SaveTheInternet.com

Write your Congresspeople, educate yourself, spread the word.

War of the Beer Blogs

Um, hey...bds...this guy is muscling in on your beer review blogging territory. And he's got links to people melting cars via thermite reactions.

I'm not sure if this here blogosphere is big enough fer the two a' you.

Learning Foreign Languages

Over the last week or so, I've been trying to brush up on my French. I took four years of French in High School and have tried to maintain some minimal comprehension throughout the years.

In the past, I've purchased numerous different tapes and CD courses. Now I'm evaluating some of the "learn a foreign language" software, and reading Le Monde.

One of the thing that has stricken me lately, is that I'm amazed at how hard it is to hear a foreign language (That's "hear", as opposed to "read & write") if one doesn't have the opportunity to talk with a native speaker on a regular basis.

I never felt this way when I was younger, but by the same token, I was only hearing selected French speakers on "Learn to Speak French" CDs, and didn't have the ability to effortlessly watch a French-language program or newscast, whenever I felt like it.

But there definitely seems to be a certain malleability in the young mind which enables learning a new language. And I'm rather pissed that I didn't have the opportunity to learn other languages sooner than High School. While playing around with the software, I've noticed I can pick up languages that are similar to English, French or Spanish much more easily than those which are not. (Japanese seems easy; I can't even begin to retain basic vocabulary in Mandarin; Dutch=easy; German=ridiculously hard given how much of English is derived from Germanic tongues.)

Suddenly, I'm thinking about the deathless controversy over making English the One and Only Official Language of the USA. When I was younger, I was firmly in the camp that argued: "If you want to live here, you'd better learn the language." Now, I have to face the fact that it would have been nice to have grown up multilingual.

Damned smarty-pants Belgians. And Swiss. And...well, a pretty huge chunk of the rest of the world, I guess. grumble, grumble....

4-20 post

You know what to do.

Smoke 'em if you got em...

UPDATE Curses...actual post time was clearly a bit late.

Radiohead - Boston Dates Announced

Great. It turns out that Radiohead announced their first non-bonnaroo US tour dates, in Boston, and I will be in Seattle on those days.

Oh well. According to ateaseweb, they're planning multiple nights in Philly, and I assume I can count on a night or two at MSG.

Rumormillblogging - Net Neutrality

As the battle for 'Net neutrality heats up, the fark tagline summarizes it best: "Google, Ebay and Amazon to AT&T: Suck it. We'll build our own network"

Fat Amrericans - Someone Else's Fault

msnbc.com is reporting that most Americans agree that other Americans are fat. However, only 40% consider themselves fat.

Ninety percent of Americans know that most of their compatriots are overweight, but just 40 percent believe themselves to be too fat, according to a study published Tuesday

Given the numbers, and accepting that most of my friends seem to consider me skinny, I'm a bit surprised to find that I rank at the very top end of normal. Either the numbers are unreasonable, or we've all lowered the bar.

Time to skip the dessert tray, fatty.

PBS Frontline - The Tank Man

I was just watching Frontline on PBS, and caught the The Tank Man story some way in. They were talking about modern China, and definitely painted a picture that sounded like 19th century America or Britain, with an odd mix of the 21st Century West.

I don't think it's controversial to say that in the last few years, all of the above countries have spent much time fretting over immigrant labor. I'll take it a step further and posit that this is a direct result of the post Regan/Thatcher era of strike busting and privitization, just to take a gratuitous jab at the right-wingers.

The interesting thing about the report was the discussion about the treatment of migrant rural Chinese workers moving into the affluent coastal cities. The establishment needs the migrant workers for cheap manual labor, but they cities strictly regulate the residency of the workers in the city. I could hardly manage to hear a difference between the discussion of this dynamnic versus the discussions currently happening here about illegal Mexican aliens. Only in this case, they're all technically citizens of the same country.

Perhaps the most interesting bit, in light of the kerfluffle raised by Yahoo and Google conceding to the Chinese government demands of censorship, is the actual discussion of The Tank Man.

They pointed out the fact that the Tiananmen Square demonstrations of 1989 were significantly fueled by the classic protester class, the college students. They then pointed out that a significant chunk of current Chinese college students are the children of the privileged elite.

Significantly, the four college students they interviewed were completely unfamiliar with the images of The Tank Man, and they explicitly asserted that "most people under the age of 20 have probably never seen the images." (I'm curious to see what the results would be if you showed the same picutres to American students of the same demographic. This was not addressed in the segment.) They then segued into a segment in which they pointed out that google image searches for "Tiananmen Square" in the West return copious quantities of results that most of us who are over 30 would recognize in a second, while the Google China results return none.

(Note: I need to watch the segment again, however. Even though the Chinese-speaking students were alleged to not recognize the picture at all, I could have sworn they said that the male student said "1989?" early in the interview. It sure seems odd that 1989 would come up if he didn't have some idea of what he was looking at.)

The main point I'm trying to make here is that we certainly hear enough about the liberalisation of China in the last 15 years. And as much as I don't want to see American workers lose their jobs to globalization, I can certainly understand the argument that it's time for the rest of the world to share in the benefits of industrialization. But there's clearly still an argument that there's some chilling excesses of the Gilded Age-style excesses that benefit the wealthy few at the expense of the common man.

(/socialism) (I still haven't figured out how to make blogger ignore pointy-brackets)

War on Christmas Redux

So, back in the end of twenty-oh-five, we heard much discussion about the "War Against Christmas."

But what about Easter, that seminal holiday of Christianity? Much ink has been spilled about how the Easter Bunny is taking the holiday away from its argued Christian origins. (link)

But finally, we get to see the other side of the argument. The Easter Bunny is a seriously badass dude, and frankly...the Easter Bunny Hates You.