I think we've learned an important lesson here.

Do not have advisers whose names are in the form "Z. Name Lixxy", where Z is an arbitrary initial and x is an arbitrary consonant.

Another interesting article -- this one real, though.

Remote Control Device 'Controls' Humans

We wield remote controls to turn things on and off, make them advance, make them halt. Ground-bound pilots use remotes to fly drone airplanes, soldiers to maneuver battlefield robots.

But manipulating humans?

Prepare to be remotely controlled. I was.

Just imagine being rendered the rough equivalent of a radio-controlled toy car.

I missed this headline last week, but it's important to bring up -- , let us know how the situation is going there.

Study Reveals Pittsburgh Unprepared For Full-Scale Zombie Attack

There are days when Amazon operates like a well-oiled machine. The gears are meshing and spinning, orders are clicking away, shipments are shipping, users are happy, and the engineers are destressed.

Alas, today does not appear to be one of those days. We appear to have a Category-4 Monday here.

Ah, those wacky Brits. They're toying with embedding MP3 players into breast implants. I guess the rectal fax machine is next...

Today was my third day of commuting to work via ferry. Still enjoying it. I've been using those ~30 minutes eastward to get a head start on work e-mail so far. The westward trip is spent admiring the nighttime view of Seattle.

Forget the odd political battles, the fact that it's overrun by old folks, and the humid weather. The fact that I'm lower on the food chain than a gator is reason enough to keep me from Florida, and yet they are now being challenged for dominance by Burmese pythons.

My ThinkPad just gave up the ghost. Looks like some kind of severe power issue -- it was making arcing noises with the battery. Without the battery and plugged into the wall, it runs for a few minutes and then just freezes.

Alas, I discovered that it's out of warranty by a few days. :-(

Fortunately, Amazon provides us with laptops, so I don't think I'll be replacing it anytime soon.

For novelty's sake, I'm posting this from the middle of Puget Sound, aboard the M.V. Wenatchee (ferry). Talk about wireless! (High packet loss, though...)

I finally won one of those free Diet Cokes today. I'm actually a bit bummed -- I had a terrific conspiracy theory going about the 8th floor US2 Coke machine, but now it's ruined. It's a conspiracy to ruin my conspiracy theories!

:-)

We're a bit annoyed because we drove+ferried over to Bainbridge (that's $13.30 each way) to sign papers to get a storage place (after Tamara called and confirmed that they'd be waiting for us), only to find them all locked up and closed. Grr. (Normally, I'll be biking+ferrying over and using a monthly pass, which is $70/month rather than $26/day.) I guess we're going to have to go back tomorrow -- but to take a lease with a different place.

Heh... Just found this old entry (thanks to a meme posted by :

Must... get... out... of... Pennsylvania... before... it... sucks... my... life... force... out...