Wednesday, February 1st, 2006

Time	Event
2:00p	Best proposed SOTU address. No, I didn't watch the State of the Union address last night. Haven't watched them in years, and I'm bi-partisan in my disregard. I think the last time I watched a full SOTU address was the one Gerald Ford gave in '75. It's like watching the Oscars: you can stay up all night and hang by the TV, or you can just wait 'till morning and catch the summary headlines. All SOTU addresses can be summarized in one of two ways: Most of them are simply the president saying "Things are great" followed by a list of things the President takes credit for and then a list of things he wants to do in the next year. The alternative is the very first SOTU given by a newly inaugurated president if and only if he takes over from a guy who was in the other party. In that case the SOTU goes "Things suck, but I'm gonna make it right." But my favorite script synopsis is this one from darthbeckman: "If I were president, this would be my State of the Union speech during times of peace: "You don't need me to run your life. These aren't the programs you're looking for. You can go about your business. Move along." In times of war, it would be this: "Commander, tear this world apart until you find al-Qaeda, and bring me Osama, I want him alive!" (3 Comments | Comment on this)
3:14p	You Can't Stop the Signal The most unexpected thing has happened in Europe within the past 24 hours. The story actually begins last fall. The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten noted that Islamic threats in Europe had a somewhat chilling effect on the media: some organizations were reluctant to publish items critical of Islam, for fear of threats (made all the more real by the murder of Theo van Gogh). The editors of Jyllands-Posten decided to take a stand and publish the cartoons on the grounds that they cannot submit to threats or intimidation. The result? Threats and intimidation, of course. This has been building to a head over the past few months, with increasing demonstrations in some Islamic countries, along with calls for boycotts of Danish goods. (Imagine if there had been a similar reaction by Catholics when Piss Christ went on exhibit.) Yesterday, in an unexpected move of solidarity with Jyllands-Posten, the French newspaper France Soir reprinted the Danish cartoons. Today the cartoons have been picked up by Germany's Die Welt, The Italian publication La Stampa and Spain's El Periodico. The more the cartoons are reprinted, the harder it is to threaten and intimidate all who publish them. You can't stop the signal. EDIT: Welcome, Two Babes and a Brain readers and of course Michelle Malkin readers. ( Oh yeah...what do the cartoons look like? ) (Comment on this)
4:29p	Time passes I saw a news story today that brought back some memories. A few years back, I was working for a defense contractor, a very small office that was an almost forgotten splinter of a much larger company. (We weren't even part of a large plant, we were a tiny offshoot of about a dozen people renting space in an office building. We didn't even have enough people to qualify as a "cubicle farm," at most we were a "cubicle garden.") My employer was contracting tech writers to another huge defense contractor who will will go unnamed, but we'll refer to as the WBGTTL ("We Bring Good Things To Life") company. WBGTTL makes just about everything you can imagine, including jet engines. (Hey, I said I wasn't going to name them, I didn't say I wasn't going to drop blatantly obvious hints, OK?) It was our job to write the commercial jet engine maintenance manuals. I'd been there about a year when the WBGTTL company informed us that we'd be getting "help" from a Santiago (Chile) firm. We were to cooperate with the Chileans, and we were assured that the Santiago group would only handle "overflow." ( We were, of course, immediately suspicious. ) (Comment on this)
4:56p	Speaking of "Can't stop the signal..." I don't think it will happen, but it's nice to dream: The Firefly Season 2 Project Unlikely? Yes. But on the other hand, Star Trek came back. And if two years ago you told me that not only would Battlestar Galactica be back but that some would actually be calling it the "best show on television," I would have laughed. (1 Comment | Comment on this)
6:26p	Great. Now nobody will understand that song by the "Five Americans." A million classic old jokes have just lost their meaning, and we didn't even realize it when the era ended. Era Ends: Western Union Stops Sending Telegrams Not that many people sent them any more...didn't seem to be much point in an era of overnight mail, e-mail, and text messages. Recently while passing the local Western Union outlet near our home, I thought of sending a telegram...just for the appeal of doing something unusual. I couldn't figure out a good reason to do it. Fifteen cents a word to read A telegram I didn't need Said she didn't care no more Think I'll throw it on the floor (3 Comments | Comment on this)

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