Maiming Time

[howeird]

Not really in a killing mood. A project at work I have been slogging through for a couple of months now had that "aha!" moment happen to it, and I was able to finish it today in one swell foop. Well, almost finish - I still need to build a text file explaining a little bit about how all the images are organized, and find a server with enough space to park them. The project was to build a library of image files in several formats and multiple sizes which can be used to test overlays. You know those annoying little images which pop up in the corner of your TV screen when you really don't want to be distracted from the show? Those. Our box can slap almost any image onto almost any video before it leaves the cable company.

Going to the south bay photogs meetup in Campbell, it starts at 7, but I don't want to leave here till then, when the designed-by-deranged-homicidal-maniacs commuter lane on Montague Expressway is open to all. Making the curb lane a commuter lane is just one more in the series of CalTrans WTFs, along with freeway exits which merge into freeway entrances. I miss the cloverleafs of Southern State Parkway, they were fun to ride, safe, and great for banana hangs.

I caught Neil Gaiman's 5 minutes of fame on Colbert last night, he's quite charming. I'm not a fan of the genre, and there are five books in the queue already, but maybe I'll take a peek at the graveyard thing. Sometimes clever writing is reward enough.

Listened to Obama's press conference, and was much amused when some Type A Republican lap dog tried to make it sound like a crime that the Prez had not spoken immediately about the AIG screw-up. Obama's answer was "I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak". Meow. As if it took him three days to understand the issue. Nice side-step, Mr. President.

OTOH I had to turn off the congressional hearings because they were all political BS with no content. After the second GOP rep spoke I needed to call Ghostbusters to de-slime me.

Comments

[scendan.livejournal.com]

I find myself either loving Gaiman's work or being utterly "eh" about it. I've never really hated anything he's written, but I range from super-enthused to just "well, I put this down and I can't really be bothered to pick it up again."

So, what were his five minutes of fame?

[howeird]

His five minutes was an interview on the Colber Repor. I stumbled on it by accident when I was testing the new cable amplifier in my computer room. Normally I don't watch analog TV, and Comedy Central isn't digital on my cable plan.

"I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak"

[logan.liquidid.net (from livejournal.com)]

Come on, Howard. Half the problem is that so few people really understand the complexity of the derivatives market and most of the ones who do are actually complicit in the situation. When you add in the additional levels of abstraction provided by short-selling and credit default swaps, the inbred co-dependent nature of the modern financial industry, and the very fact that AIG and their cohorts are being less-than forthcoming with information about how it all works and who did what to who and when, it's a right old mess that's harder to parse than this sentence.

Considering the amount of money involved, the botched response of the previous administration and the fact that the "best" solution will doubtless conflict with some powerful people's ideology and add the obligatory political aspect to the solution, I would rather Obama take some time to study the situation before proposing a plan. I mean, it's not like he's been sitting there reading "My Pet Goat" all week. It takes us a solid month to come up with a decent project plan for a new feature in whatever software we're working on. I think we can give Obama a couple of days to come up with a plan to rescue the global economy.

You wanna grab dinner next week?

Re: "I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak"

[howeird]

Obama didn't pop into existance 60 days ago, it's not like he hasn't had 2 years to follow the crisis in the making. Basically he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar - his staff pressured Sen. Dodd into adding a loophole, and what Obama needed three days to figure out was way to say "no, ma, it was cousin Eddie what ate them cookies". And now Congress is scrambling to cover with that phony tax bill.

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Are you coming to the Dragon Theater/Shattner Butt Girls thing Saturday nite?

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And what have you got against My Pet Goat anyway? It was one of the books which made Arthur Greenspan what he isn't today.