One Hanukkah Present: Blitzen

For those of you who’ve been following my job saga, I have something to tell. While it isn’t the great news of a new full-time position, it is a nice short-term gig building a website for a new company (which for reasons other than my own will go unnamed at this time) that will bring in some cash over the next month. I’ve learned a good deal over the past three years since taking up PHP, CSS and the rest of the TLAs and will be designing a content system that is the next generation of my past work.

Call it Codename: Blitzen since I’ve started building it on Xmas Day. I doubt the code or design will be of interest to anyone else though I’m writing with as much abstraction as possible. Still, there are certain layout choices I can’t seem to abstract away without getting into a templating system and I am not interested in that. Should be interesting. I’m working for intelligent (and generous) people who’ve no web skills and who therefore won’t be micromanaging me. W00t!

I did get some other nice holiday presents–thanks Vivian, Mom and Dad, Evan, LordB and LadyA, Pam, Dewi and Andrew, and Nancy and Jim–but no need to make the rest of you jealous(!). One present I didn’t get was to see Something’s Gotta Give because when we got into the tiny auditorium the only two seats together were in the front row, less than five feet from the screen and we didn’t feel like breaking our necks looking up for two hours. Oh well, another time.

Merry Christmas, F U

I am such a curmudgeon! Even today means little to me except that we get craptastic repeats and moreless on TV plus all the stores are closed; if I was working I’d be happy to have the days off and of course I don’t begrudge others that pleasantry or their chance to worship the invisible man in the sky. Still, I was completely peeved to learn that the National Park Service is caving to the Religious WackosRight by allowing the display of three bronze plaques bearing biblical verses at the Grand Canyon.

So I sent the following letter to Gale Norton (Secretary of the Department of the Interior), Deputy Director Donald Murphy (through his mouthpiece David Barna) and Joe Alston (Superintendent of the Grand Canyon National Park) to express my thoughts:

I am writing to express my personal disgust at recent actions taken by your organization to approve the display of religious symbols and Bible verses, as well as zllow the sale of creationist books giving a non-evolutionary explanation for the Grand Canyon and other natural wonders within national parks.

I would like an explanation of how this does not violate the First Amendment in a huge way. And if the ACLU had not already done so, I would have been on the phone with them tomorrow to volunteer as lead plaintiff in such a legal action.

Yesterday’s movie: Y tu mama tambien

From 2001, Y tu mama tambien is a critically acclaimed movie made in Mexico by Alfonso Cuaron (who is directing the next Harry Potter film) about two teenage boys and a slightly older woman who learn about life, love and themselves in the course of a trip to an isolated beach. Very tittilating movie mining wellworn territory.

Frankly I don’t understand why this film was so well received (such as an Oscar nomination for Best Writing that Cuaron shared with his brother) but perhaps it was the pseudo-innocent sexuality swirled with mixed-high left wing politics. The film opens with one of the boys and his girlfriend, naked and tossing together in bed, followed by the other boy sneaking in some last-minute sex with his own chickie before the two girls fly off for a Summer holiday in Italy. And the Cuaron brothers throw in more physicality about any chance they get. Meanwhile, there is talk of political corruption, protests and economic disparity combined with classism around every bend.

Not recommended

Not completely thinking this through, are we?

The Times continues to print reader letters regarding gay marriage. Most of the letters are as you’d expect, from one side or the other. Donald Leventhal of Chesterland, Ohio states, however, that while the legal benefits of marriage are a reasonable desire (I guess he would agree with granting them), the idea of artifical insemination of a lesbian couple should be outlawed because “How can children who will never meet or even see a picture of their biological father have anything but a great sense of loss and a huge gap in their lives?”

What a doofus. Using his logic, all adoptions and artificial inseminations where the sperm donor is not the man who raises the child should be outlawed as well. The newspaper probably prints such letters to show the range of opinions on a very controversial topic but I wish they’d use a higher standard for selection. Compare it to a letter responding to a recent OpArt piece on Iraq. Donald Leventhal, you are a doofus and you can quote me on that.

Today’s movie: The Hot Rock

Based on a novel by comic caper genius Donald Westlake, 1972’s The Hot Rock was directed by Peter Yates, had a script by William Goldman and starred Robert Redford. Sadly, even with all the talent involved, the film just doesn’t measure up to the book. Mainly, I just felt that the cast and director walked through the picture and never approached the nervous energy called for, with the possible exception of George Segal.

Redford’s sister is married to Segal, who picks The Blonde One up after his latest stint in jail as we begin. Segal, clearly a criminal wannabe, has a job for them: stealing the Sahara Stone, treasured by several African nations and currently on display in Manhattan, for the UN Ambassador (Moses Gunn) of one of the interested nations. Reluctantly, Redford agrees to the job and Segal rounds out the crew with Paul Sand and Ron Leibman. The heist goes reasonably well but Sand, who has the gem, is caught by the cops. The crew spins around a batch of bad luck ever more tightly; Sand’s father (Zero Mostel) even tries to rip them off.

Not recommended

When do you know?

Ruth Wedgwood, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, presents an interesting argument in favor of the Bush administration’s detention of alleged Al Qaeda member Jose Padilla. Boils down to “By the logic of last week’s [apellate court] decision, the president could not have held the hijackers as combatants–even after they had entered the United States, even with habeas corpus review of the president’s decision, until the moment they appeared at Logan Airport with box cutters.”

Dealing

Brett Farve played tonight, starting his 205th consecutive game at QB for Green Bay, even though his father died yesterday. Unexpectedly, a massive heart attack. The few shots I saw of him (didn’t watch until well into the 3rd quarter) he was standing around on the sideline, chatting with teammates and such. Makes me think of Harry Chapin’s old song Cat’s in the Cradle and that Brett is behaving exactly as his Dad would expect.

Quake!!

Woooo! We’re having an earthquake as I type this. The desk is moving from side to side, though not strongly enough to flop anything down from shelves. No loss of power.

The Sweet One says there were some books and files falling off the shelves in her office in San Jose. No damage, no one hurt. A buddy down the block, who was relaxing on his couch, says he didn’t even feel it in the least.

Okay, over now. That was vaguely disorienting, almost enough to give me a little motion sickness. First one I felt here in Mountain View for over two years.

A Few Minutes Later: This was a 6.5, centered about 130 miles south of here not far from Hearst Castle outside of San Luis Obispo. Apparently felt well into Southern California too as comments on MetaFilter show.

Something, but not all things, wicked this way come

I suppose we should all behave properly, all the time, but being human none of us are quite so perfect. Which is one reason why the GPS-based tracking technology described in this NY Times article is giving me the creeps. I can surely understand a parent’s concern for a child in this age of violence or terror but, bringing in a commonly used phrase from journalism, this is a slippery slope we’re traveling down and slipping into the danger zone is going to be all too easy.

On the other hand, Tom Friedman is really stretching to make a point with his column. I do not in the least see the big deal in requiring foriegners to provide their fingerprints before entering America; we need to be sure the person is who he or she claims to be and if that’s unacceptable, the person really doesn’t need to come in.

Go Quakes!

FoxsportsWorld probably has their biases but props anyway to the San Jose Earthquakes for placing at 30 in the latest FSW world club rankings. Boca Juniors, based on last Sunday’s World Club Cup win over AC Milan, took the top spot ahead of all the sky-high salaried European sides.

Belated props to Frank Yallop, the coach who turned around a basement dwelling San Jose squad and led them to two MLS Cups in three years, as he was named head coach of the Canadian National Team this week. He will be missed in these parts but one can hardly quibble over the man’s desire to lead his native team and he’ll get some quality play from two of our top players, goalkeeper Pat Cannon and striker Dwayne Derosario. While I don’t see the Canadians overtaking the 11th ranked Americans, Yallop’s addition all of a sudden has his new team favored to at least capture the (new) fourth CONCACAAF slot in the 2006 World Cup.

Leading candidate, at least publicly, to take over the Earthquakes is current assistant Dominic Kinnear. Whoever is on the sideline next season has an excellent chance to defend our title since their should be far fewer games missed by starters called up to national team service. Plus one can only hope that there will be fewer injuries like the one that caused starting striker Brian Ching to miss nearly the entire season. But will it be Landon’s last year wearing the blue shirt before heading off to Europe? How many of his teammates will be making the same jump if the team does well again?