No, Virginia, Santa's dead

Turkish group demands Santa's bones

You gotta love CNN's illustration.

Damn you, Influenza!

I feel like crap today. No way to start the new year.

Chrismas vacation, continued...

I did pretty much nothing today. I tired doing some shoppng but didn't find the amazing deals the newspapers keep talking about in this so-called buyers market (see this on why this may not be the case). But I did use my Borders gift certificate to subscribe to Dwell magazine. I might do the same for Metropolis later. This wireless network of Mike's keeps disconnecting, so I'd better file this while I'm still online.

Christmas pics

Here are a few little scenes from our holiday...

Merry Christmas!

We've just opened all our presents and are getting ready to eat the traditional holiday lunch. We were up late last night inflating the 34-inch "Bigens" ball. It was a bastard to pump up, but getting the plug in was the hardest part.

I got a Star Wars II DVD and a Border's gift cetificate. I think I'll get an architecture magazine subscription with it, if they do that there. Otherwise, maybe just a programming book or something.

Lott: 'I fell into ... trap' set by foes

"When you’re from Mississippi and you’re a conservative and you’re a Christian, there are a lot of people that don’t like that. I fell into their trap and so I have only myself to blame," he says.

On the contrary, Trent, it was your fellow Southern Christian conservatives -- Bill Frist, George Allen, Don Nickles, John Warner, Robert Bennett, Mitch McConnell, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Christopher Bond, to name a few -- who most wanted you gone. So the religious right's knee-jerk cry of liberal oppression doesn't quite work this time.

Live from Starbucks

This might be the first weekend in months where I’ve been in town with no plans and no work. It’s kind of nice to have absolutely nothing on the agenda, a wide-open two days. But yes, I do miss Andrea. She called this morning, and sounds like she’s having a great time. She spent all day poolside getting back her Brazilian tan.

I saw LOTR: The Two Towers tonight at Mann’s Fox Theater in Westwood. Very nice, even better than the Pacific Crest. It has a huge screen, balcony seating and a classy art-deco interior that includes curtains that open when the movie starts. And you can actually feel the THX pre-film trailer. I don’t know what I’ll do if I ever have to move somewhere less cool.

The movie itself was really entertaining, and the audience was totally into it, clapping at all the right moments and making its opinion about the previews clear (the crowd loved X-Men 2 and Terminator 3 but hated everything else).

And now I’m at the Starbucks next door, which stays open until 1 a.m. I got a couple of magazines earlier from the newsstand and am reading them over a hot chocolate. I don’t know why, but I really like reading architecture and design magazines. I don’t know why, since nothing in my house (expect maybe some of my tech gear) is really well designed. I wish there wasn’t such a premium on well-designed furniture and accessories. Also, I wish I had my own house.

Speaking of architecture, a guy I’ll assume is in the field (he’s looking over a set of blueprints at the big table) just asked to borrow a pencil. Who carries a pencil?

The Republicans are in charge #4

Guess who's in charge of lead safety?

Your online Wayback Machine

A fascinating article from a 1967 issue of Forbes about some newfangled concept called "electronic money." It correctly forecasts online (or more precisely, automatic) bill-paying, debit cards, national credit-card alliances (i.e. Visa and Mastercard), overdraft protection, direct deposit and credit card firms' hostility toward debit cards. It incorrectly predicts a daily salary, voice-print verification (rather than signatures and PINs) and the end of payroll records.

It also envisions something like ATMs, but imagines them as something located only at banks' branch offices and featuring a video connection to a live teller. For some reason, this is supposed to be cheaper than flesh-and-blood employees at the branch offices, which the machines replace.

What's most interesting about reading an article like this is getting a feel for the culture then, something most history-type articles fail to capture. For instance, Mastercard here is still known as the Inter Bank system and Bank of America has yet to create or license the Visa name.

And it seems that people were far more cavalier about paying their bills. One of the feared roadblocks to electronic money was consumers' unwillingness to see money deducted from their accounts right away. And apparently, all the stores offered deferred payment plans. In one scenario, a housewife happily postpones a bill to buy a TV.

Sears' comments about resisting bank credit cards ("We have an enormous credit card network of our own customers and we're not going to give it up without a fight.") is amusing in light of this. Most entertaining of all, the U.S. Postal Service is described at being overjoyed at the prospect of having to deliver less mail.

Anyway, the article is well worth reading. I'm reading the other old Forbes articles this weekend. I'm sure they included the stories that make the magazine seem especially prescient.

Buh-bye.

Lott to step down as Senate leader

Why it took me an hour and a half to get home yesterday

This federal building is on my way home. Police had to shut down the exits onto Wilshire and several lanes.

And if that weren't enough, this premiered is Westwood, bringing in more traffic and shutting down another street in front of the Fox Theater.

Movie recommendation

I finally saw Ghost World tonight (rental). I really enjoyed it, and didn't realize until just a few moments ago that it's based on a comic book. Anyway, it's one of the better movies I've seen recently.

The Republicans are in charge #3

New tax plan may bring burden shift

Another funny one...

...from Tom Tomorrow.

I love L.A.?

I finally switched my address for my insurance policy, and my rate more than doubled! USAA says it's because there's so much more traffic and so many more uninsured motorists (i.e. undocumented immigrants).

Man, that sucks. It's so hard to stay ahead financially.

I'm in San Jose right now, visiting Andrea one last time before she leaves for Brazil. I won't see her (except via videoconference) for more than a month.

Sigh...

Kissinger out as head of 9/11 panel

Yaaaaaaay!

Of course, he's resigning for all the wrong reasons. He didn't want to have to make his client list public.

Still not convinced?

More dirt on Trent Lott.

Stick a fork in him -- he's done

Trent Lott's Segregationist College Days

I was willing to believe that he didn't really mean he favored segregation when praising Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond, but after his halfhearted apology and now this, he's got to go.

And I must say it's pretty sad to note that, after Tom Daschle defended the remarks, it was George W. Bush who finally spoke out firmly against them. Yet another example of spineless Democrats missing an opportunity to take the moral high ground.

Bush shakes up economic team

Bush has an economic team?

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

So I finally have a few spare minutes to blog. A pain-in-the-ass freelance assignment for my former employer sopped up all my free time this week. But the extra cash is always nice.

Thanksgiving weekend was really nice. I stayed with Andrea and work out of IBD's Silicon Valley office that Friday. Being able to spend a lot of time with Andrea at a leisurely pace was nice. We got to see the newly re-opened Union Square in San Francisco and Santana Row, a high-end residential and retail village of sorts in San Jose. It was all pretty fancy, but I heard that a studio apartment right in the heart of the development was renting for $1,200 a month -- exactly what I was paying for a room in San Jose. If only I were still making that kind of money.

This weekend is Andrea's and my 1-year dating anniversary. Man, it went by fast. What a crappy year it would have been without her. Anyway, she flies in late Friday night. I think we'll just hang around Westwood on Friday and drive up to Santa Barbara on Saturday. Maybe we'll even get to see Chad and Susan on Sunday, though Chad has certian romantic obligations of his own, considering it's her birthday. Maybe I'll have new pictures to post. Andrea says I've gained more weight since I moved, so we'll just have to compare photos. For the record, the scale still says 150.