A few notes

US Airways lost 3 of 4 bags flying from Roanoke to Charlotte to Los Angeles. That is pretty stinky. To add insult to injury, the movie on the flight was _Dukes of Hazzard_.

…just playing, US Airways rocks. Can’t wait till they call me and let me know my bags are found.

…no really, I can scarcely wait.

I’m still sick, finished a course of antibiotics this morning. _To health!_

We had a terrific time in Virginia. There are even a few photos.

The January 16th Events for San Diego Bloggers look like they’re gonna be great

We launched a site last week. MLI Laser. We did the html and CSS. Quickie site, but a fun one!

Today we’re travelling again, this time with the kids.

O·n·w·a·r·d

PotD

“Do the hard thing FIRST.”

(It’s much harder than it sounds).

Quote of the Day

From an interview with Bruce Sterling in 1998: Cyberpunk writer helps define the future of cyberspace:

*Q:* Do you think you have a bleak vision of the future?

*A:* The future is a form of history that hasn’t happened yet. It’s as if you’d asked if I have a “bleak vision” of the 19th century. Well, yes and no. If you were a Victorian railroad engineer in the 19th century, the world was yours, you were having a fantastic, progressive, marvelous time. But if you were a 19th-century American Plains Indian, you were basically enduring a catastrophic, murderous dystopia. You have to comprehend both these experiences and their direct relationship to one another. Then you can achieve a historical understanding. Is it bleak? Yes, no, it doesn’t matter. It’s what happened.

Hey You

Merry Christmas.

Travel is the watchword this season.

Love and peace to you all.

The Saddest Metronome

I believe “The Saddest Metronome” would make a great name for a blog. It’s a phrase from Gary Come Home.

Today I’m working and enjoying, as I work, some Zappa videos on YouTube, particularly the video for You Are What You Is (Lyrics) (warning: potentially offensive and/or very silly). The St. Alphonzo Suite featuring John Belushi scatting/singing as the Samurai at the beginning is inspired and peculiar and reminds one that SNL was one pretty unpredictable in a good way.

That reminds me that Waxy pointed to SNL – The Chronic of Narnia Rap the other day and I keep returning to it because it’s funny and goofy, and not a bad song at all. And probably for the past 10-15 years I have found SNL to be consistently unfunny and tedious. Maybe that’s changing.

I’m a little tired and fluish. Time to get some fluids and start the day.

Frank Zappa Birthday Conspiracy

It escaped my notice for a year that the day I was married also happened to be Frank Zappa‘s birthday.

It is many other things too, including the birthday of Joseph Stalin, Phil Donahue, Jane Fonda, Samuel Jackson, Ray Romano, and Andy Dick. It’s also the day of death of F. Scott Fitzgerald and General George S. Patton.

Also, sometimes it’s the Winter Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere, as it did this year and last, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department.

Given how much a Zappa fan I am, Leah remarked to me that she feels a bit hoodwinked by the date of our wedding. I assured her, and now you, that I really had no idea. I was as surprised as anyone when I read in a journal that someone was wishing Frank a posthumous Happy B-Day.

And that’s the true fact.

Schneier on Bush’s Illegal Eavesdropping on American Citizens

NSA and Bush’s Illegal Eavesdropping:

The fundamental issue here is security, but it’s not the security most people think of. James Madison famously said: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” Terrorism is a serious risk to our nation, but an even greater threat is the centralization of American political power in the hands of any single branch of the government.

Over 200 years ago, the framers of the U.S. Constitution established an ingenious security device against tyrannical government: they divided government power among three different bodies. A carefully thought out system of checks and balances in the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch, ensured that no single branch became too powerful.

And more:

I didn’t talk about the political dynamics in either essay, but they’re fascinating. The White House kept this secret, but they briefed at least six people outside the administration. The current and former chief justices of the FISC knew about this. Last Sunday’s Washington Post reported that both of them had misgivings about the program, but neither did anything about it. The White House also briefed the Committee Chairs and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, and they didn’t do anything about it. (Although Sen. Rockefeller wrote a bizarre I’m-not-going-down-with-you memo to Cheney and for his files.)

Cheney was on television this weekend citing this minimal disclosure as evidence that Congress acquiesced to the program. I see it as evidence of something else: if people from both the Legislative and the Judiciary branches knowingly permitted unlawful surveillance by the Executive branch, then the current system of checks and balances isn’t working.

It’s also evidence about how secretive this administration is. None of the other FISC judges, and none of the other House or Senate Intelligence Committee members, were told about this,­ even under clearance. And if there’s one thing these people hate, it’s being kept in the dark on a matter within their jurisdiction. That’s why Senator Feinstein, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was so upset yesterday. And it’s pushing Senator Specter, and some of the Republicans in these Judiciary committees, further into the civil liberties camp.