Switzerland

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This rant from Mickey reminded me of something that’s been a hallmark of my relationships with many of my friends for years — I’m Switzerland. Neutral, and very happily so, steadfastly refusing to be dragged to one side or another in a debate between two friends.

This used to exasperate as much as amuse my friends, and there were times when I was teased mercilessly about it. James used to do his best to come up with either/or situations to try to force me to come down on one side or another, and invariably, I’d come up with a third, middle-ground option.

To me, it just makes sense. I’ve got a good number of friends (though, admittedly, at this point most of them are up in Alaska), and it’s not at all uncommon for the occasional minor (or sometimes major) spat to erupt between two of them — especially when there were more than a few instances of dating mishaps among various parties in the group. I’ve never seen much point in letting difficulties between two of my friends adversely affect my friendship with one or the other of them, and tend to do anything I can to make sure that it stays that way. I’ll listen to either or both parties involved, give advice when possible, provide a friendly ear or shoulder to cry on when necessary, but the one thing I won’t do is side with one over the other.

So, Switzerland I am, Switzerland I have been, and Switzerland I continue to be.

The one possible exception to this, of course, is the (thankfully very rare) circumstance when one party has done something particularly inexcusable and heinous, such as physical abuse, life threatening situations, voting for George Bush (okay, that one’s a joke) or the like. Things like this, though, are things that I would not be very accepting of in any circumstance, and would be likely to damage that person’s standing in my eyes no matter what.

iTunes: “Bang” by Eve 6 from the album Horrorscope (2000, 3:34).

I can function again!

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Oh my lord — this last weekend was just far too hot for me. Okay, okay, so I moved out of Alaska to get away from the cold weather, and I know I’ve got some readers of this page who will put me squarely in the “whine” category for this, but when things push up to 96°, I just stop functioning as well as I should. My appetite drops off to the point where it’s difficult to eat, and after a couple days of that…well, as a skinny boy with a high metabolism, going without enough food just doesn’t work well.

I was so happy to see clouds in the sky when I got up yesterday. I still ended up spending a good portion of the day in bed, feeling a little woozy, but with temperatures back in the 70’s, everything seems to be working as it should again.

Right now, I’m just glad I didn’t move any further south than Seattle. A few days a year of weather this hot is more than enough for me, I don’t know how well I’d cope if this were a regular thing.

iTunes: “Key to the Highway (Live)” by Derek and the Dominos from the album Crossroads (1970, 6:27).

Terror in whose eyes?

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Over the past week, there’s been no small amount of online uproar over the story of one woman’s account of what she felt was a ‘dry run’ for another terrorist attack. The article, Terror in the Skies, Again? (and its follow-up Part II), has been linked to on hundreds of websites, e-mailed from one person to another, and generally spreading nearly as fast as the latest Internet Explorer exploit.

I’d seen and read the article, of course, but after reading it, I made the decision not to mention it here. As I read Annie Jacobsen’s “terrifying account” of a flight wherein nothing happened, it felt to me like little more than hysterical and possibly racist paranoia. Over the week, while it was gratifying to see others who read the article as I did (in this MetaFilter discussion, for instance, or this article in Salon), not surprisingly, those voices didn’t get nearly as much press.

Now, though, enough furor has been raised over the article that according to Eric Leonard of KFI News, air marshalls that were on board the flight have found it necessary to step forward and give their own assessment of the situation. There’s apparently no permalink to the article (bad news site! no cookie!), so here’s a copy:

LOS ANGELES | July 22, 2004 — Undercover federal air marshals on board a June 29 Northwest airlines flight from Detroit to LAX identified themselves after a passenger, “overreacted,” to a group of middle-eastern men on board, federal officials and sources have told KFI NEWS.

The passenger, later identified as Annie Jacobsen, was in danger of panicking other passengers and creating a larger problem on the plane, according to a source close to the secretive federal protective service.

Jacobsen, a self-described freelance writer, has published two stories about her experience at womenswallstreet.com, a business advice web site designed for women.

“The lady was overreacting,” said the source. “A flight attendant was told to tell the passenger to calm down; that there were air marshals on the plane.”

The middle eastern men were identified by federal agents as a group of touring musicians travelling to a concert date at a casino, said Air Marshals spokesman Dave Adams.

Jacobsen wrote she became alarmed when the men made frequent trips to the lavatory, repeatedly opened and closed the overhead luggage compartments, and appeared to be signaling each other.

“Initially it was brought to [the air marshals] attention by a passenger,” Adams said, adding the agents had been watching the men and chose to stay undercover.

Jacobsen and her husband had a number of conversations with the flight attendants and gestured towards the men several times, the source said.

“In concert with the flight crew, the decision was made to keep [the men] under surveillance since no terrorist or criminal acts were being perpetrated aboard the aircraft; they didn’t interfere with the flight crew,” Adams said.

The air marshals did, however, check the bathrooms after the middle-eastern men had spent time inside, Adams said.

FBI agents met the plane when it landed in Los Angeles and the men were questioned, and Los Angeles field office spokeswoman Cathy Viray said it’s significant the alarm on the flight came from a passenger.

“We have to take all calls seriously, but the passenger was worried, not the flight crew or the federal air marshals,” she said. “The complaint did not stem from the flight crew.”

Several people were questioned, she said, but no one was detained.

Jacobsen’s husband Kevin told KFI NEWS he approached a man he thought was an air marshal after the flight had landed.

“You made me nervous,” Kevin said the air marshal told him.

“I was freaking out,” Kevin replied.

“We don’t freak out in situations like this,” the air marshal responded.

Federal agents later verified the musicians’ story.

“We followed up with the casino,” Adams said. A supervisor verified they were playing a concert. A second federal law enforcement source said the concert itself was monitored by an agent.

“We also went to the hotel, determined they had checked into the hotel,” Adams said. Each of the men were checked through a series of databases and watch-lists with negative results, he said.

The source said the air marshals on the flight were partially concerned Jacobsen’s actions could have been an effort by terrorists or attackers to create a disturbance on the plane to force the agents to identify themselves.

Air marshals’ only tactical advantage on a flight is their anonymity, the source said, and Jacobsen could have put the entire flight in danger.

“They have to be very cognizant of their surroundings,” spokesman Adams confirmed, “to make sure it isn’t a ruse to try and pull them out of their cover.”

KFI reporter Jessica Rosenthal contributed to this report.

Copyright 2004 KFI NEWS. All rights reserved.

(via Atrios)

Goodbye Georgetown

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Every so often, things actually seem to work out right.

One of the services that the company I work for provides is known as ‘facilities management’ — setting up and running a small, private print shop on the premises of another company to handle that company’s in-house printing needs. The FM site generally has a limited amount of equipment, so small, quick-turnaround jobs are done locally, while larger more complex jobs are farmed out to the FM site’s parent branch.

Recently, The Company picked up a new FM contract, and put out a call for applicants. It sounded interesting, but the job listing specified a required minimum of one year with The Company, and I’ve only been employed with them for about seven months. However, as I had worked for The Company in the past, and have prior FM experience (both as part of a team, when I was working for the Xerox FM site on the Microsoft campus; and on my own, running the Xerox FM site for Arthur Anderson), I figured it was worth inquiring whether they’d consider me. I made a call to the manager in charge of the position, and considering my prior experience, he agreed to look at my total time of employment with The Company — nearly four years, though there is a seven-year gap in the middle — and I put my application in.

Two weeks ago I had one interview with the site manager, and then last week I had a second interview with the cluster manager. Both interviews seemed to go well, and while job interviews always tend to make me a little nervous, the FM site is part of the same cluster that my current store is, so I’d already met and worked with both of the people interviewing me, which made it a lot easier than if I’d never met either of them before.

Well, yesterday my current manager let me know that I’ve got the spot! I probably won’t actually switch over into the new position for about two weeks or so, as a replacement for my current position needs to be found, and as business has been slow throughout the cluster this past month, they don’t want to switch my payroll over to the FM site’s parent branch in this pay period — but I’ve been assured that I’ve got the spot.

There are a number of benefits to the new position. I’ll be moving back to a more “normal” work schedule, as the FM site needs to be open during the same hours as the business it supports, so I’ll be working Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm. The first week or so will probably be a little rough as I switch my sleep schedule back around (no more wandering off to bed between two and three in the morning), but it’s certainly nothing I can’t deal with.

I don’t know if there’s an immediate difference in my pay (quite possibly not, as I just got a raise a few months ago during The Company’s standard review cycle), but even without that, I’ll still end up taking home more money. As business has been slow for the past month, one of the cost-cutting measures that all the stores have been taking is cutting hours when possible to save on payroll. As I’ll be the sole regular on-site employee for the FM site, I won’t have to worry about hours being cut, so I’ll be guaranteed my full forty every week.

One of my favorite benefits, though, is that I’ll be saving \$45 dollars a month by not having to buy a bus pass, as the FM site is a whopping three blocks from my apartment. Not even a five minute walk away. It’s going to be so nice to be living and working that close together again, right in the heart of downtown Seattle.

Another big reason I’m happy about getting the new position is that by moving to a standard daytime schedule, I can finally look into following through on some of the plans I’ve had bouncing around in my head for the past few years. Since I’ll have my evenings free, that opens up a number of hours that I can put to good use, and I’ve got a few ideas of activites that I’d like to fill those hours with, ranging from the Tai Chi classes that I rambled about last week to investigating technical writing classes to seeing what I can find at SCCC to get the education ball rolling again.

So, that’s the word, and celebrations are in order. Last night I had a celebratory drink with Valindria and then hung out with her here for a while, and Prairie will be out this weekend, with plans including heading out to see the new King Arthur movie (Keira Knightley wearing a whole lot of not very much — yum!) and head to the zoo to see their current spider exhibit, which should do a wonderful job of giving me the creeps. Between all that and the current incredible weather Seattle’s having (we’re predicted to hit 94°F today, 96°F tomorrow), it should make for a very good weekend.

iTunes: “King of Birds” by R.E.M. from the album Document (1987, 4:10).

Good reason

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As far as me and the vice presidency is concerned … I spent a number of years in a North Vietnamese prison camp in the dark and (was) fed scraps, and I don’t know why I would want to do that all over again.

— Senator John McCain, addressing rumors he might replace Cheney as Bush’s running mate.

iTunes: “Only Time, The (Live)” by Nine Inch Nails from the album Familiar Sting (1994, 5:13).

iTunes cover art in iChat user icon?

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I want an iChat/iTunes plugin that would set my iChat icon to the cover art of the currently playing track in iTunes.

Does this exist?

If not, could someone write it?

That’d be really nifty.

Update: I really should Google before I post: Mac OS X Hints: Set iChat status message and icon to iTunes song.

iTunes: “Dreams” by Land of Dreams from the album Essential Chillout (2000, 5:57).

Metadata goodies

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Not useable metadata goodies, unfortunately, but still, this is good to hear. Apparently, Gracenote — maintainers of the CDDB (which iTunes and many other audio players use to provide track information upon insertion of a CD) have many additional possible data fields that can be used, according to this comment sent to Macintouch (emphasis mine):

Classical music is a difficult problem for almost all digital media players. The rock & pop music world is much different than the Classical world – the data fields are not sufficient for describing Classical music. The Gracenote database has support for Composer, Ensemble, Orchestra, Conductor, and many other fields, but many applications choose not to support these fields. So over the years, the fields have been overloaded in meaning and in data. We recently re-wrote our Classical music standards so that existing applications can begin to be more consistent. But more importantly, Gracenote’s next generation database will fully support Classical music metadata like no other database. We are working to spread these changes out to our application developers, including Apple. Our editorial team is working hard to standardize the existing Classical data as well, partnering with experts in the industry. Look for big changes in 2004 and 2005.

Hopefully these extra fields trickle down to iTunes in a (near) future release!

iTunes: “1st Premonition (DBX)” by Giannelli, Fred from the album Sound of Superstition, The Vol. 5 (1997, 6:08).

Eyes everywhere

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Domino’s Pizza has a “two-for-Tuesday” buy one, get one free deal, so I’ve gotten in the habit of picking up a couple medium pizzas on Tuesday nights. It’s relatively cheap, especially when I can often stretch those two pizzas out for two or three days. What with things like caller ID on the phone systems and computer databases, I’ve gotten very used to whoever takes the order already having my name and address based on my phone number.

Last night when I called, slightly later than usual, the person who answered the phone told me that they were closed. “Already? I thought you guys were open until midnight.” “Well, we’re actually kind of backed up right now, so I’m just taking carry out orders.” “Oh, well, alright….”

Then came the kicker. “Actually, I’ll go ahead and take the order. It looks like you’re a regular customer, and we’d hate to drive you away.” I was only mildly surprised by this — tracking how often a given customer orders is simple enough these days — and it meant that I got my munchies for the night, but it was a little amusing.

Depending on where the various data collection and sharing initiatives and technologies go, though, in the future my little experience could be just the tip of the iceberg…

The government and corporations are aggressively collecting information about your personal life and your habits. They want to track your purchases, your medical records, and even your relationships. The Bush Administration’s policies, coupled with invasive new technologies, could eliminate your right to privacy completely. Please help us protect our privacy rights and prevent the Total Surveillance Society.

(via Tom Negrino)

iTunes: “Higher and Higher (DJ Skribble and Anthony Acid)” by DJ Jurgen from the album Essential Dance 2000 (2000, 7:19).

As the Apple Turns RSS feed

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I’m tossing this up here because until today, I had never, ever, ever seen nor heard of any mention of an RSS feed for everyone’s favorite Apple-flavored soap opera, As the Apple Turns (I even just dug through their help pages and v2.0 FAQ to be sure I wan’t entirely off base — at least, as far as this is concerned). However, in a typically off-the-cuff mention, the heretofore super-secret-ninja-RSS-feed address has been leaked (and leaked by no less august a personage than the AtAT team themselves): http://www.appleturns.com/rss/.

Hey, I thought it was exciting.