|
Today's Fortune: |
   
|
Saturday, June 08, 2002
I thought this site would be of interest to any firebugs among us, but when I visited it I got wrapped up in these snaps of anyplace in the world at any time. Pick a date, location on the orbital map, resolution and enjoy. Spec-tac-ular
.: posted by George 6/8/2002
Friday, June 07, 2002
Selwyn is opening back up it's upper school.
.: posted by Grand Inquisitor Fnord Moco 6/7/2002
Thursday, June 06, 2002
In the last four weeks I've had three days off, and only two workdays that were less than ten hours. We don't get double time, ever. If you work a paid holiday, you get straight pay (no time and a half, no double time). If you work less than 40 hours in a week, they deduct the difference from your paid vacation time. If you clock in fifteen minutes early, they'll round that time up to 7:30, even if you were putting out a fire in the boss's office.
This is definitely going to be a 20 hour weekend. Hopefully Monday will be the last ten hour day, though. I guess overtime is nice, but I won't see any of the overtime I've been working until the end of this month, and then not even all of it.
.: posted by andy 6/6/2002
It's a sad day. Another Ramone died last night.
.: posted by Jeremy 6/6/2002
My boss just called, some kind of emergency and he wanted me to come in two hours early if I could. I told him I'd be there three hours early, coz more than 10 hours in a day is double time. Whoot.
.: posted by Grand Inquisitor Fnord Moco 6/6/2002
Wednesday, June 05, 2002
I finally read a summary of Bush's speech to the West Point grads. It seems pretty hokey. I guess that now, if you have weapons of mass destruction, and you don't like the US, you're fair game. Similarly, if you're one of our allies, but some people in your country don't like the US, you're fair game. If we can't help you crush the anti-American sentiment in your country, we'll crush it for you. Because, by God, if there's one thing we Americans want, it's a free and open world.
.: posted by andy 6/5/2002
Ashcroft's unleashing of the FBI on religious and political organizations is a very bad thing. If you've got a minute or two, you might send a fax to your representative.
Here's a timeline of the FBI's activity under Louis Freeh.
.: posted by andy 6/5/2002
Tuesday, June 04, 2002
I ran into one of my downstairs neighbors today. He's a car guy. He has a new supercharged Ford Cobra. He made a point to befriend me when he noticed my new car. Anyway, he's real friendly-like and makes a point to stick his nose in everybody's business. I think he may be the one who got my next door neighbors kicked out (they were immediatly above him, so i have to give him a little sympathy). So he's already met my new neighbors. It's a guy and a girl. They're married. The girl is some kind of vet's assistant. I should have figured all of that.
.: posted by Jeremy 6/4/2002
Monday, June 03, 2002
State of the Art New Zealand graphics technology.
.: posted by Jeremy 6/3/2002
I performed my civic duty today. In a room of about 1000 potential jurors(this was downtown houston) about 125 were selected to be a criminal jury panel, including me. We wait around for about two hours, file into the courtroom in harris county criminal justice building accross the street, and the judge starts explaining the 5th amendment, what reasonable doubt means, the state's responsibility to prove guilt and all that. Between each subject he asks everybody if anybody has any problems with anything he's explained. Some people were honest and raised their hands and were counted to be questioned later by the judge for possible dismissal. most people who spoke up seemed to have a problem with the idea of presumption of innocence. It was a little surprising, since anybody whose been to 3rd grade, or watches TV, knows more or less the basis of our criminal justice system. Eventually the judge explained that the 4 defendants (that's the reason why there were 125 of us, because each attorney gets 12 strikes, and 4 defendants make for 5 lawyers, including the DA) were charged with possesion of at least 400 grams of cocain with the intent to distribute. Later on he explained that, if guilty, they would face 15 years to life. By this time it was lunch. So we get back into the courtroom an hour later. The only reason I think we were in the courtroom is coz it's probably the only room in the building big enough to hold all of us. Anyway, after waiting for an hour after we were supposed to be back, the judge and lawyers come out. The judge explains that over lunch 2 of the defendants decided to plead guilty and testify against the other 2 in return for the minimum sentence of 15 years. Since we had previously been informed that two of the now "witnesses" were defendants, we had been tainted, and were therefore excused.
thank god. 4 defendants, 60 strikes, 4 high class defense lawyers... Jury selection alone probably would have lasted 3 days, and god knows how long the trial would have been. Then we'd have to deliberate on the guilt of all 4 of the little mules. I don't think I'd feel too satisfied with myself for condeming some guys who took the easy way to make a few bucks to buy their girlfriends in monterey a new necklace. They all had headphones on so they could hear the translator.
.: posted by Jeremy 6/3/2002
i just heard a japanese rap song set to the theme of gilligan's island. everyone was wondering why i was laughing.
.: posted by aida 6/3/2002
germ, that was fascinating. i've never actually considered the CIA.
.: posted by aida 6/3/2002
Sunday, June 02, 2002
My life is usually so much like Office Space that it's not even funny. I don't have a girlfriend like Jennifer Aniston, though. In the last month I've gone from having 5 levels of management over me, to 2. My boss and the company owner. The executive VP got fired for wankery. My department manager got "let go" because his position was eliminated(that means they're not going to hire somebody else to do the job he didn't do). And this week the Engineering VP quit. He actually did things like design circuits and stuff. So now I have my irritable vietnamese boss(he thinks he has a right to be irritable because he escaped from vietnam with his family when he was a teenager and it was really tough, or something), and uncle Bill, the owner. So far nothing has fallen apart, and I still do the same amount of work every day. So with the purging of the ranks that's gone on in the last month or so, you'd think they could afford to give me some more money, or at least reinstate our bonuses, so that our salaries would be only slightly below the local average(or WAY below the national average). blah blah blah. Just call me Michael Bolton.
.: posted by Jeremy 6/2/2002
I think Stephanie is still unsure what she wants to do with herself if and when she ever runs out of degrees to get. I think I found something that would be perfect for her.
It demands an adventurous spirit... a forceful personality... superior intellectual ability... toughness of mind... and the highest degree of integrity. It takes special skills and professional discipline to produce results. You will need to deal with fast-moving, ambiguous, and unstructured situations that will test your resourcefulness to the utmost...
...To qualify you must have first-rate qualifications: a bachelor's degree with an excellent academic record, strong interpersonal skills, the ability to write clearly and accurately, and a burning interest in international affairs. A graduate degree, foreign travel, foreign language proficiency, previous residency abroad...
.: posted by Jeremy 6/2/2002
Just saw Sum of All Fears. It was mostly bad. It had a neat ending, though. All of the conspirators got assasinated one by one by the CIA and FSB. No beheadings in Riyadh, because there were no arab conspirators in the movie. One of the more interesting points in the book made it into the movie, though. In the book, Clancy makes a case that the "Hotline" is counterproductive. Since the Hotline is a text based messaging system, I tend to agree. I have never seen an instance where ICQ has helped anyone to diffuse a crisis. They actually allude to this at the beginning of the movie when the president of russia asks the DCI to relay a message to president fowler and he tells him to be sure to also relay his body language and tone of voice. Still, it was mostly bad.
.: posted by Jeremy 6/2/2002
An interesting analysis from the BBC about the Chinese connection to the Kashmir problems. It also mentions that China has been the primary providor of nuclear technology to Pakistan, which I didn't know. International politics got so screwed up in the 70s with the outbreak of realpolitik.
.: posted by Jeremy 6/2/2002
My new neighbors have a doormat that says "Go Away". I think I'm in love.
I think Devin's last post about taco cabana may be the most useful thing I've ever seen posted on this site.
.: posted by Jeremy 6/2/2002
Google
DrinkBoy
Modern Drunkard
DMOZ.org
The Agonist
Metafilter.com
Fark.com
RobotWisdom.com
Memepool.com
Plastic.com
news.google.com