Friday, December 20, 2002

Man, if this had been me, I'd have been a whooooole lot more popular with the girlies, I bet.

Thursday, December 19, 2002

Ken Layne has a few things to say about GM corn. Go and read for yourself(ves).
Newsflash! RIAA finally has a winning strategy for dealing with fileswapping among the record-buying public.
No! Say it ain't so! They weren't all sooper-dee-dooper and full of truthful wisdom? Dag! Maybe we should rethink our whole policy!
James Lileks uncorks a loverly screed about Christmas cranks, in general, and these two f*ckwits in particular.

Wednesday, December 18, 2002

Make sure you subscribe to Showtime now, because if you forget you might miss an episode of this important new series.
"Mike" (otherwise unidentified) writes a little parable called "How Taxes Work" which I found entertaining. (Found via American Realpolitik).
I have long since come to terms with my, um, atypical existence. I do watch teevee, and have been able to predict with uncanny accuracy which shows will get crappy ratings: they're the ones that I really really like. The more I like them, the higher a chance they have of being cancelled. Profit. The Brethren. American Gothic. Apparently Hollywood and the Nielsen folks could just ask me which shows to cancel right off and save themselves a bundle.

Consequently, I was devastated to find that I really really really liked Firefly, as that is the kiss of death. It's on Friday nights at 8pm, which I believe is the time that network execs reserve for shows they hate so they can cancel them in good faith when the ratings suck. This show is incredible. Even in the first season, the characters are filled-in and likeable, the actors seem comfortable in their skins, and the writing is crisp and well-paced. I don't understand why everybody doesn't like and watch the damned thing, or at least TiVo it up.

Fox has announced they won't be buying any more episodes. Game over, man. The part that irks me the most is that I'm not getting to find out why The Shepherd Book is so obviously (to everyone not on Serenity) not a shepherd and where he came from. All I can hope for now is that they'll release the episodes on DVD including the pilot (which we haven't seen yet either, dang it all).

There is a campaign forming, however, to try to convince UPN to pick up the series. Watch an episode before it's too late, and send UPN a postcard, would ya? It's important to me, if no one else.
BWA-hahahaha! Bite me too, Admiral Poindexter!
Rachel Lucas posts an excellent essay on guns and citizenship which sparks a huge comment debate between reasonable people, a gun-toting anarchist loony, and (at least one) Michael Moore-loving fact-sidestepping socialist right here for your entertainment.
The first fallout from the Iraqi declaration may not hit the Iraqis themselves, but rather the Germans.
BWA-hahahahaha! Trent Lott's to-do list.
As Jane Galt observed, "Who says that cold technology can't give you a heartwarming Christmas miracle?" Who indeed.

Tuesday, December 17, 2002

I'm beginning to sense a pattern here: David Brin is channeling Loki. Why else would he claim "J.R.R. Tolkien -- enemy of progress" if it wasn't to amuse/entertain/enrage the general public? Good on him!
Brian Tiemann talks briefly about how Microsoft co-opts TCP/IP to make their browser look better than it otherwise would merit.
Oh yeah ... Lee's right. It appears that I'm in a minority of one, and everybody else is just gushing over 'Bowling for Columbine' and Michael Morre in general. Ho ho ho. It is to laugh.

Monday, December 16, 2002

There's just so much information here that the mind boggles. (insert your own god-game analogy here).
Jim Dunnigan at Strategy Page writes about the Javelin anti-tank guided missile. It also includes a few before-and-after pictures of a T-72 taking a Javelin to the top armor. Hooray for blowing stuff up real good!