I am sorry, British humour always translates.

And that, my friends, is Numberwang. (Disclaimer: link contains no Numberwang)

Sometimes, British humor kinda doesn't translate...

So I'm going to San Diego Comic-Con next week. Anyone know anything I should keep my eyes out for? Anyone want something (not too bulky) brought back? I think I might try for one of the Cylon toasters...

Hm, I wonder if it's possible for me to catch up in BSG before flying out there. Seems unlikely, as I leave Wednesday, and I don't know any good sources of this season.

Suddenly I wish I had a Nite Owl costume...

This article about publicized pics of a stealth bomber crash last year reveals two things to me:

1. Wow, that's pretty cool to look at, and
2. Stealth bombers have names. "Spirit of Kansas". A little searching finds this site that lists the other names about 2/3 of the way down. They're mostly Spirit of [state] but some have informal names too, like Christine or Arnold the Pig. Arnold the Pig. Awesome.

I bet they don't get to paint a thingie on the nose of the plane though. That'd show up on radar. Oh well...

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Act One is out!

I'm having a meh day after a meh night of fitful sleep.

Or is this just me going through the phase they call "bargaining"?

I should figure out a list of everyone I need to see that's going to be at Comic*Con - I've never gone to a con where the main event is to meet people and see stuff... my usual con is full of D&D.

Charlie Stross (I need to read more of him before I meet him! What comes after Singularity Sky anyway?)
countless webcomics authors... R. Stevens? Chris Onstad? Scott Kurtz? Who knows? I've lost track!
Um... Yeah. So yeah, list.

Ok. So I read the rest of that article. This is interesting...

The bill does not grant the telecommunication companies direct immunity, but it does contain a provision that allows a federal judge to dismiss the suits if the companies can present a letter from the government stating that the program was legal.

So, in court, the telecom needs to present this letter, from the government—from some individual in the government—that states that the program is legal. Letters each company had at the time they granted the wiretaps.

I think I might be able to live with that. It shifts the legal burden away from the corporation, onto the government agent that has assured the telecom that they're obeying the law. But it does not eliminate culpability altogether; someone's ass is still on the line.

It's not unreasonable to expect a company to believe the government when it tells them an action is legal, is it? It's certainly unfair to require them to retain lawyers to be ready to answer that question at a moment's notice at all times...

Hmm. My rage is subsiding. This may be okay.

Ya THINK?!? Backlash for surveillance vote. Yep! That's us!

And here's the money quote, the quote that explains exactly what is wrong with the United States today, July 11, 2008:

Bush signed the bill into law on Thursday, saying the bill "will help help us meet our most solemn responsibility: to stop another attack."

Hahahaha! I kill me.

But seriously, does this mean that MC Frontalot is stealing Paul and Storm's schtick? I suppose if he does it funnier or something, it's ok, but maybe it's not?

For those who don't get the reference, Paul and Storm have had this bit where they do Randy Newman's lost soundtracks to movies after he didn't get the gig, or whatever... they've had it since basically the moment Da Vinci's Notebook (their old group) broke up a couple years back, and they do it all the time. It gets less and less funny each time, obviously, but the first few times it was frickin hilarious. Seabiscuit, Spider-Man (One!), those were the first movies they did, and, well, that kinda tells you how long they've been doing it.

So, on the one hand, whoa, did he steal their schtick? On the other hand, hey, maybe they'll stop doing it in concerts now?

Ok, so there's retroactive immunity for any crimes the telcos may have committed a few years back. That kinda sucks, but there it is.

Anyone know if there's immunity for them in the bill for the next time the government makes such an illegal request?

When it was the Democrats using the filibuster, we heard about it nonstop, how it was grinding everything to a halt, how the Democrats should let things go to a straight up-or-down vote...

Why aren't we hearing that now that the Republicans are making our senators come in from the hospital to make their filibuster-breaking votes to get anything done? Why can't the Democrats' publicists get this message out as effectively as the Republicans' ones?

Air Conditioner... installed. Made it to July this year.

Given the heat waves in June, this is a bit of an accomplishment. I think I got spoiled by the nice weather later in the month though, and those cool nights got me primed to wimp out tonight.

Now to figure out how to make sure this thing doesn't fall out the window onto a car. Something beyond general carefulness.

I had read reviews so I kind of knew this wasn't going to be a great movie. I sat down and said to my coworker, "Prepare to be whelmed." I was about right.

I blame ( two factors (spoilers inside!) )

The last time I had that kind of reaction to a movie was, I think, The Iron Giant. Pixar, I bow before your storytelling abilities, and your ability to wring raw emotion from thin air.

I'm beginning to think that the only way to keep sane is to pick some things to believe, and believe them. Declare them solid ground, immutable, and work from there.

No wonder so many people do it.

The majority "would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian use of weapons." - Justice John Stevens (as quoted on the front page at nytimes.com)

Hmm. When he puts it that way, yeah, they kinda did.

I left work feeling kinda burnt out, like I didn't get enough rest over the weekend. This is clearly true, since I had a lot of trouble sleeping. Allergies are hitting me in a new way, it's never hit me like this in my life, concentrating at the back of my throat, making me headachey and bleah. It's always been a civil kind of allergy, in the nose and eyes...
\
On the way out this afternoon, a person asked me in the elevator, "Are you with Google?" "Yes." "Do you code?" "Yes." "Have you ever done dependency injection with C++?" And I stopped to think... and couldn't remember. I've been doing build/rel-eng tools in Python for 4 months now, trying to make things work smoothly all the way to obscure corner cases... and I couldn't remember some of the test tools I read up on in the first couple of weeks on arrival.

I said "I think so..." and he went on to talk a streak about his ideas for it, with words like "factory method" flying past my dazed ears... Once I would have enjoyed this conversation, would have eaten it up.

Later on (at a lull in the run) I was reading up on Lifehacker on my iPhone, and skimmed Focused Practice, not Everyday Work, Improves Your Skills... and realized I need to come back and read this article in detail. And start reading more coding books in my free time, and fewer D&D books. Because I do like my work, and I'm letting a novel distraction combine with a little setback really impact my enjoyment of work.

In any case, an evening in nice moderate air conditioning unraveling the mystery of a sabotaged starship seems to have done the trick in getting some energy back. I followed it up with a tiny bit of exertion, taking out the trash, and I'm feeling like I might actually get some sleep, and be able to be energetic and rested at work tomorrow.

I can enjoy my work, if I set my mind to it, and I will again, and soon. Step 1: a good night's sleep. Drinking plenty of water first should help.

They pulled it off.

They made a Get Smart movie that worked. It was updated, ant it was nostalgic. It Just Worked. Pitch perfect. Go see it. Help ensure sequels get made.