Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Got the home repair/health care/dead pod blues, mama

So here's the deal. For reasons I cannot figure out, I can't get the downstairs cable modem to do the modeming I have come to expect from it lo these many years. In a day or two I should hook up upstairs with a straightforward Ethernet connection, but that means, well, finding an Ethernet cable, among other things. This is just one downside to Juan and Kwan and the stoners and company. Chez HQ is almost completely out of commission; the latest addition was random sheets of plasterboard. I did manage to find a Konfabulator widget that allows me to ftp from work, but I am not big on doing non-work from the work venue. A place for everything and everything in its place, I always say. As long as work pays the bills, they ought to reap the benefits of my labor. And so they do. But desperate times call for desperate measures. I should be able to keep up with everything (I just put up a new Nostrum, last night I finished the rough cut of part 4 of caveman, I’m still percolating over a View from Tab podcast on values) but I will no doubt continue to whine until I’m totally settled back in again, with everything the way I want it. I have sent out directions to the Sailors about arriving for tonight’s chez meeting (don’t fall into any ditches, wear chainmail as protection against Tik pronounced teek, that sort of thing). Thank God we Tars are all made of stern stuff.

OC seems to think that there’s some gold in that thar Sept-Oct, but I’m still less than sanguine. Probably some halfway decent half-assed policy rounds will transpire, but one must extricate oneself out of all sorts of nastiness on the aff just to get started. People will be observing for ten or twenty minutes before they get around to doing any arguing. I had suggested to the NFL LD committee that topics, after they are agreed to, be sent to the District Chairs for a final language check, to find the landmines that might have been missed in the heat of June and Finals. But I’m not sure how I’d fix this one, to tell you the truth. I’m quite surprised it got enough votes, since it’s pretty clear that no matter how you slice it, it’s asking about government policy-making, and that throwing in the concept of justice, rather than making it an LD question, makes it neither fish nor fowl. Of course, there is a straightforward argument for government doing a lot vs. government doing a little: can you say Liberal? Or for that matter, can you say Socialism? A socialist system is “more just” than a non-socialist system? Aaargghh! But what else do you have? And don’t forget, Bill and Hillary already lost this case on the aff big time. If the Nick and Nora (Punch and Judy? Samson and Delilah? Falstaff and Lady Macbeth?) of politics couldn’t pull it off, how are you going to do it? My great fear, as always, is that, given the nature of the rez, we’ll end up with anti-capitalist kritiks, which would be bazookas against gnats except that they’re the wrong kind of bazookas, or anti-government screeds, or all sorts of unnecessary violence on the neg (who ought to win with little more than a smile and a song). And affs will have tortured, convoluted cases that will make most judges’ brains melt into cotton candy. Then again, my brain melted into cotton candy years ago; can you believe that I used to judge all the time, day in and day out, and was actually considered by some to be fairly good at it? Those were the days.

On the breaking news front (I love when WTF posts Breaking News, as if wishing would make it so; I personally feel they should use the headline Breaking Wind, but that’s just me), last night my old first gen iPod went into a coma. Poor old Grandpod. For some reason the screen won’t show anything anymore (although it does still otherwise seem to work, if one wants to click at random and hope for the best). I’ve reset it, and I’ll try reloading the software, but my guess is that the world’s oldest still-working iPod is on its way out. Oh, well, it’s not as if I haven’t lusted after a 5th gen since the minute they were released, but I was sort of hoping to hold out for a 6th gen. Although, realistically, I can’t imagine what I’d be holding out for. It’s not as if I really expect to watch oodles of films on this thing. Sure, the odd episode of “Simpsons” might entertain for a while on the bus, but beyond that, I’d rather watch on the biggest screen possible. If a bus ride’s all that short, I’ll just listen to music and do the puzzle, turning to DVDs on Little Elvis when we’re in for a really long haul (although lately I tend to drive my car, bus costs being what they are). Not to mention the video download times, which are not exactly magically fast; the few times I’ve grabbed video podcasts from my normal sites, I’ve been astounded at the inherent sloth of the enterprise. Anyhow, I’m curious to see how I’ll make out in this particular battle of instant gratification. I do not hold out much hope for my inner ascetic.

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