Not that it’s usually that difficult to survive my weekends, actually….
Okay, so I guess it’s a real warning
When I made my post yesterday just before leaving work about the bridge attack scare, I wasn’t yet very sure how seriously to take it. The time is ripe for scares and hoaxes, and since the only evidence I had at that point was a printed e-mail message, I was a little hesitant to take it at face value. However, judging by reports in this morning’s news (West’s Suspension Bridges Reportedly Terror Targets), I guess the alert is real enough. No new information has developed over the day, apparently — I guess we’ll just have to pay attention to the news tonight to see if anything happens.
Whether or not anything happens, I’d say the terrorists are doing a damn good job at this point. Whether it’s airplanes, anthrax in the mail, or bridges blowing up, nobody really knows where to look next, what to expect, or who’s the next to be targeted — and everybody’s tense. At this point, I’m not sure that terrorists would even need to actually cause any more physical damage or deaths, at least for a while — just leak a threat every few weeks, vaguely worded but with just enough detail to put people on alert, and watch the United States collectively freak out. People get nervous, politicians panic, and sooner or later, we’ll become a totalitarian police state — we’ll just be doing it under the combined banners of ‘democracy’, ‘patriotism’, and ‘safety’.
The WTC/Pentagon attacks killed around 5,000 people. The paranoia after those attacks is killing everything the U.S. has puportedly stood for over the past 200 years. Yeah, I’d say the terrorists did — and are doing — a pretty good job.
West Coast targeted?
I’m not sure what to make of this just yet. Jenne (one of the ladies I work with) just handed me a print of an e-mail she was forwarded. Here’s the scoop:
Our firm has received uncorroborated information through the law enforcement community regarding the possibility of terrorist attacks. The transmission from the National Threat Warning System is as follows:
NATIONAL THREAT WARNING SYSTEM — Terrorist Threat Advisory Update
Possibility of Additional Terrorist AttacksThe FBI is in possession of uncorroborated information indicating the possibility of additional terrorist attacks against the United States, specifically the West Coast. Reportedly, unspecified groups are targeting suspension bridges on the West Coast. Six incidents are to take place curing rush hour beginning Friday, November 2 and continuing through November 7, 2001.
No further information about this alleged attack is known at this time. The FBI is attempting to verify the validity of this report. Recipients will be updated as events warrant.
Recipients who receive or develop information related to this matter should immediately contact their local FBI office.
Please note that this information is uncorroborated and may be a hoax, inaccurate, or alternatively, the parties planning this may now be dissuaded from their plan.
You may see or hear this in other media.
I’m not quite sure what to think of this right off, and it’s time for me to go…I’ll follow up on this more tomorrow.
Enterprise: The Andorian Incident
Last night’s Enterprise episode (“The Andorian Incident“), was — at least IMNSHO — one of the better, if not the best, of the episodes I’ve seen yet. While according to current Star Trek lore, the Andorians were one of the three founding races of the United Federation of Planets (along with humans and Vulcans), yet we’ve rarely seen much of them, with their few ‘starring’ roles dating back to the original series. Well, this week we got re-introduced to them, and it looks like they may be much more major players than they have in the past, which could turn out to be quite interesting.
We are also being treated to a much more interesting view of the Vulcans. Always before, they’ve been coldly logical, somewhat aloof characters, with the race as a whole obviously a strong and trusted member of the UFP. However, we’re now seeing some of the Vulcans weaknesses and less-than-idealistic tendencies, and I for one find the new look at the history of the race fascinating (to coin a phrase). Typically, however, the new views have been raising quite a storm among many fans, and there are some very interesting arguments over at the Trek BBS on both sides of whether this is a good development or not. Personally, I think it is…but that’s just me, I suppose.
Looking forward to more….
A ghost closing his mouth after a long summer’s yawn
From time to time we meet certain companions.
We walk with them, we carry on conversations,
We sing the old songs, we play card games.
It takes time to suspect that something is fishy,
That the person at our side is merely an echo,
Of something that came before.Now as the last leaves release their grip from the tree,
And the ghosts conclude their brief shore leave,
We must remain on earth.Our new companion is winter.
And as we prepare to enter this new dialogue,
We light a candle,
And we hold on to our seed.
In case, by some miracle,
Spring should surprise us once again.
— Jason Webley
Mullet haiku
This got handed to me at work a while back. I’m no expert on haiku, so I can’t gaurantee that these all follow the rules as far as syllables and such…but I thought they were hilarious.
Oh, and by the way, just in case you’ve not yet heard the term ‘mullet’, just let Mullet Lovers fill you in.
Quotes: OS X, iPod
The computing world needs an OS X ad blitz that would show people that Apple is alive and well in the OS business (and advertising would finally convince white people to relax around me, since they would then know that my wearing a T-shirt with a blue X on it doesn’t mean that I’m a Louis Farrakhan follower paying homage to Malcolm X, but, instead, I am a computer geek showing my OS partisanship).
— Rodney O. Lain, in his ‘iBrotha‘ column for MacObserver
The iPod certainly got a lot of attention when I showed it to people, including a Windows guy named Bill Gates. He spun the wheel, checked out the menus on the display screen and seemed to get it immediately. “It looks like a great product,” he said. And then he added, incredulous, “It’s only for Macintosh?”
— Steven Levy in Newsweek, commenting on Apple‘s new iPod mp3 player
One very cool weekend
This weekend was all sorts of fun — about time, right? :) Not that I’ve been having bad weekends…this one just had a bit more to it.
My parents were stopping in Seattle for the weekend on their way home after visiting Florida for my Grandma’s 90th birthday. They got into town Thursday night, so after work Friday I walked down to their hotel and spent a very pleasant evening with them. We ordered pizza from Pagliacci’s, sat in their hotel room, and talked for a few hours. My family being who we are, the conversation bounced all over the place, from catching up on how the various members of the family are doing to everything that’s going on in the world at the moment.
Britney Spears sheds ‘innocent’ image, releases new album swearing like a sailor!
Okay, well, no, that’s not quite it. But it’s close! I swear!
While it’s probably not meant to be funny, when I read the AP story “Spears’ New Album Contains Cursing”, I was giggling most of the way through.
Britney Spears’ third studio album comes out next month, and it contains a few curse words that she knows some parents may not want their children to hear. “When I say ‘hell’ and ‘damn,’ I say it out of frustration in my songs. It’s not, like, a normal term of endearment that I use all the time.”
Well that’s good to know — because ‘hell’ and ‘damn’ sure are terms of endearment that I use on a daily basis, but it would be a sure sign of the apocalypse (or, at the very least, the world going to h-e-double-hockey-sticks in a handbasket) if Miss Spears, that paragon of virtue and teenage innocence, were to start slinging them around like beads at a Mardi Gras parade!
Um…or something like that.
(My second choice for a headline: Britney Spears contracts Tourette’s Syndrome in recording studio; FBI, RIAA, and PTA launching investigation targeting bin Laden)
Job frustrations
6/17/05 Update: My lord…Microsoft canned me for a photo, but this post slipped right by Xerox? I got really lucky. In retrospect, a really stupid thing to post publicly.
In other news…well, my job is starting to get on my nerves a bit, unfortunately. The job itself isn’t really all that bad — while copying isn’t what I want to do forever, I know what I’m doing, and I like the actual place I’m working — I just feel like I’m caught in the middle of a power struggle, and it’s not the greatest place to be.
I think Xerox may have made a bit of a mistake by hiring for this position from a temp agency. Basically, as the XBS Account Representative, I’m supposed to be the resident Xerox person here. However, from my point of view, I feel much more like an Andersen employee than I do a Xerox employee — I work at, for, and with Andersen at all times, and Xerox is little more to me than another level of beaurocracy that as yet, has done little more than interfere with how I get paid, where and how quickly my supplies come from, and such. I even like the people I deal with at Andersen more than most of the Xerox people I’ve dealt with — admittedly, though, I do have much more contact with the Andersen people, so that’s likely to give me some amount of bias to start with. So in the end, I almost feel like a double agent from a bad spy movie — technically, my loyalties are supposed to be with Xerox, but they end up being much more with Andersen.
Aside from crossing my fingers on the Carnival Cruise Lines position, I’m not actively looking for another job anywhere just yet, though. When I first got tagged for this spot, I was asked to make a one year commitmentment to the position, and even though there is nothing signed and I’m still a temp worker, I don’t like backing out on something like that. However, the situation here is somewhat frustrating, and I can’t say as I’d complain if something worthwhile (such as Carnival Cruise Lines, or maybe a decent job somewhere in the tech sector) fell into my lap. Just this morning, I had to tell Shelley (my Xerox supervisor) that I’d watch what I said around the office here, as Lee (my Andersen supervisor) had slightly mis-interpreted something I said and gotten the impression that I was actively looking for another position somewhere. Since Lee had asked Xerox for someone willing to make a commitment, she wasn’t too excited about that, and asked Shelley about it — who then got miffed that she was hearing news like this from her client rather than her employee. I suppose I can understand where both Shelley and Lee are coming from — I just don’t like being in the middle of it.
This is kind of why I think Xerox shouldn’t have hired me for this spot straight out of a temp agency. If they’d brought in someone from Xerox instead, then not only would that person know more about the Xerox policies, procedures, and corporate atmosphere, then they’d probably see themselves much more as a Xerox employee than I do.
Ah, well, I suppose it’ll all get resolved one way or another eventually. At this point, I’m just keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed for the cruise lines. Since they said they’ll be hiring in the October/November range, I figure if I haven’t heard from them by Nov. 1st I should be okay with giving a call or e-mail to see what the situation is, and whether or not I have a chance. Hopefully it comes through…but if not…well, I’ll figure something out.