cars...or ears?

I recently went to the LA Auto show. I was impressed that there could be about a thousand different cars that all looked alike. Well, except for this one. I think it's called a "Repulsion" or something like that.



Kind of looks like it's trying to be a modernized version of Speed Racer's Powerful Mach 5, doesn't it? [only not really]



Whaaaat Ever... The experience renewed my dislike for cars. Yes, I am probably one of twelve people on the whole planet who doesn't like cars. I guess I wasn't always that way, since I've had a couple of especially idiotic cars in my lifetime. Tut tut.

Was it her?

I don't remember her name. I think this is her. My memory is foggy. Is this a gal to be enamored with? (not me-but maybe you?, or a friend of yours?) Dreams. Reality. What's it all mean? Does it really matter? Have a Tic Tac. That should be enough.

the build-up, the let down

Yeah, you were expecting something exciting, huh? Waiting months for it? Sorry. Computer changes, e-mail changes, all added up to me not being able to login to this joint ('cause I couldn't remember my password, and they couldn't send it to me).

The Magnum opus needs to be regenerated. Maybe soon. Until then, here's this:

It's coming

I'm wrapping up the final bits of the BIG PROJECT. My 'magnum opus'. The thin posts for months on end will culminate in the publishing of my BIG research project. Soon. Watch for it. Days away now.

*I would have had some good filler stuff, but I'm sort of in the zone of non-disclosure right now. So, the filler stuff will have to wait. Sorry.

Ollie Daze

So, what's the upside of Christmas (or Hannukah or Solstice or Kwanzaa or whatever else)? That positve bit. The part that makes all of the fuss worthwhile?

I, for one, did NOT get a Playstation 3. I probably never will. I have no interest in video games. How about you?

Oh. Essss.

For crying out loud. Who cares? computer operating system. Used to be free, now they charge you a bunch of money for each new version. Microsoft is coming out with Vista soon. Apple is coming out with Leopard soon. Big deal. Nothing will work with it, everything will get slower, and it will require a new, bigger computer with a humongous hard drive. How in the world did computers do so much before-entirely off of some puny floppy drive? Makes you wonder.

Well, makes me wonder anyway.

So those are the biggies. There's Linux, which is generally free or cheap, and pretty compact. Solaris is still around, and is a Unix-y sort of thing. I think Linux may replace it one day.

Right. Apple Leopard? What's with the fruit company selling big cats? How long will they have os 10? What about 11? Nah. XI doesn't have the same impact as X.

Microsoft Windows? What is that supposed to be? This is an AMERICAN company. American things are BIG. "Micro"=very little. Do we really need things from a company that's little and soft? NO! We need BIG Hard things! Little soft things come from Europe. I propose the above company name and logo. It's more accurate, and it's more American.

The end.

Dooty Now

I got summoned for Jury Duty. It's been done before. Previously, they just sent me home. This time I got to spend a whole week in and around court. Hot Diggety.

Here's the story:

I was in Batch One of two batches of jurors. Batch One got called and hung around for a while, batch two got called, then a few minutes later many came back into the waiting room swearing and fussing and making phone calls and all that. Seems they had to return the next day, and most were angry about it.

We waited a while longer, then were told we didn't need to go to our case, since it got worked out without us. Great, we get to go home now, right? Wrong. We get called into the same room as Group two, get sworn in, and told to return the next day. More swearing and fussing from the crowd.

So, next day we find out that they needed a bigger pool of people to pick from for this case. About 60 of us. For the rest of the week, they call people, send us on breaks and lunch and home. Friday comes, I haven't been called yet. This is getting really tedious. OK, so I finally get called. #54-I go through an interview, they interview a couple of other jurors, then I get some specific questions that I answer. The Judge talks to me for a while, people moan. Eventually, they tell me to go home.

The Judge was great. He had a lot of patience and care. Unfortunately, he seemed to think everyone was trying to get out of jury duty. That wasn't true. I certainly wasn't. A few other people commented on that as well. I guess that's understandable though. The Public Defender was a little silly. Looked like he watched (and was affected by) a little too much TV. The Prosecuter was angry and made more fuss than was necessary. He was not a pleasant guy. He demonstrated this several times throughout the week.

So, there were some people who went way out of their way to get out of doing jury duty. It was like they were trying to avoid the draft or something. I'm sure someone told them to be totally 'psycho', and they'd be excused. Worked for a couple of them. Didn't for others. The judge actually had the staff find another case for a couple folks to get transferred to. Boy, were they angry. Probably got out of the other one too. Want to get out of Jury Duty? Why? What if you were on trial? OK, so as far as I can tell, all you have to do to get excused is express an opinion, or demonstrate somehow that you have a brain. The 'sheep' were the ones they kept. "Yes, I can be a fair and impartial juror. No, I don't think about anything. I have no opinions other than those I'm told to have. Baa."

I said I had a problem with the law in question. I did-it was totally stupid. I also mentioned that I came in contact with police from time to time in the normal course of work. They seemed to want to convince me that I should 'take it back' and lie so that I could be a sheep on the jury. What a concept. Tut tut, they dropped me pretty quick. The folks they kept said things like: "I've been on trials before. It's really boring. I never listen." Great.

Justice is blind, and deaf, and incoherent. Welcome to 'merica. Hmm, OJ comes to mind, as does our current President. What do we expect, anyway? I don't know what would be a better system though. By the way, seems you about triple your chances of being called for jury duty if you're a registered voter AND have a driver's license in California.

thanks to Bill for the photo of a hangman's noose. And, I don't want to know why he had it in the first place.