Author: Jon

Depressing politics

I was writing a lot here about politics before the elections, and since then I’ve written almost nothing.  Partly this is your fault for not holding me to my promise to write a letter to Jim Webb as soon as Novel Writing Month was over.  You all are such slackers.

But partly I just find myself depressed by the state of politics.  I was about to write something about a Wash Post article that celebrates Bush’s first admission that we’re not winning the war in Iraq, but as I was reading it, I lost heart.  I mean, what do I say at this point?  We’ve made a huge mess over there, and we show no signs that we’re close to having it cleaned up.  Bush is going to send more troops, but the article thinks that will take years.  That’s comforting.  Are we really spread so thin that we can’t scrape together a few hundred thousand troops?  What if something else happens that requires our attention?

I realize I don’t really know what I’m talking about here, and that’s part of my frustration.

On a lighter note, I can already see someone on SNL making a joke out of Bush’s “We’re not losing, we’re not winning.”  If I were funnier than I am, I would think of a new word that means something in the middle.  And then I would say it in my best imitation of someone imitating Bush.  Then people would laugh.

Its about time

Techdirt: China To Mandate Standardized Phone Chargers

Apparently South Korea did this last year and I didn’t notice (Sorry, South Korea), but now China is standardizing its phone chargers.  It is absolutely ridiculous now, when each cell phone requires a different charger.  True, people like Radio Shack sell chargers with interchangeable connectors for different phones, but I can’t imagine why these things aren’t standardized.  Even within one manufacturer, they aren’t standard.  So every time I get a new phone, I need a new charger.  And probably two, so I have one in the car and one in the house.  But, no more.  Now all I have to do is buy Chinese phones and make sure I have USB available everywhere.  I wonder how hard it would be to install USB ports in my car?

All you needed was a cat and mouse

Cartoon Pioneer Joe Barbera Mourned – washingtonpost.com

But I felt that in any country you wouldn’t need dialogue to understand the plot. All you needed was a cat and mouse, and everybody knew what was going to happen.

I saw yesterday that he had died, but I didn’t post anything about it because I didn’t know what to say.  I didn’t really know anything about him, but his cartoons were such a big part of everyone’s childhood for so many years.  I wonder about the kids I’ll have eventually – will they appreciate the things I loved when I was little?  I think it would be cool to watch “Tom and Jerry” with my kids.  You know, in between playing outside and doing their homework and going to museums and family game night and all sorts of constructive behavior.

By the way, the article mentions that “Tom and Jerry” won seven Academy Awards.  That’s pretty impressive.

A ton of stuff

No, literally a ton of stuff.  I spent much of yesterday helping my siblings and my mom clean out my dad’s attic.  Now, the attic still looks terrible.  Much improved, but still terrible.  I just got a call from my brother telling me that, after they dropped two bunk beds, a couch, and various other assorted things at the Salvation Army, they still managed to throw away 2320 pounds of trash.  That’s over a ton.  Or, 1052 kg.  That’s a lot of stuff.

My cat is crazy

Anyone who’s met Biscuit would probably tell you she’s crazy, but most of them don’t even know one of her strange little eccentricities.  On the advice of a friend, known by many as a “cat whisperer”, I take Bis’ food away in the morning, and refill her dish in the evening.  This, somehow, makes her less likely to be a noisy pain in the butt at three AM.  Now, Biscuit is always very vocal and excited when dinner time rolls around.  Makes sense.  Most living things enjoy eating.  But Biscuit is similarly excited in the morning when I take away her food and refill her water bowl.  I don’t understand it.

Inefficient use of resources

I’ve been driving the wife to work this week, due to her unfortunate knee incident (She’s seeing an orthopedist on Monday, we think she hurt her MCL), and that involves taking 66 into the city.  Now, at 7am, that’s not bad.  It’s HOV-2, and traffic is light.

However, they already have the metered ramps turned on.  Along the entrance ramps to 66, they have traffic lights, where they allow one car per lane to go at a time.  The light is red, someone arrives at the light, it turns green for one car.  Great system when traffic is heavy – it prevents a big pile of cars trying to merge all at once.  Unless the backup gets really bad, and then it doesn’t do any good.

My point, and I do have one, is that these meters have sensors in the road so they know when a car comes.  So they know how heavy traffic is.  And therefore, they could turn themselves off when there is one car coming by every minute or two, when the lights are totally unnecessary.  They could also turn themselves off when the traffic is so heavy that they don’t make any difference at all.

Is that too much to ask?  I have the email of someone at VDOT now from the whole Seven Corners debacle.  I haven’t contacted him yet.  I should – now that the election is over, I’ve been swept under the rug, it seems.

Open letter to the world

Dear Inhabitants of Planet Earth,

Let’s just say you’re a human being.  The other inhabitants are unlikely to be able to read this, and I don’t hold them responsible.  Those human beings who don’t speak English, if you become aware of this letter, please let me know, and I will provide a translation.

Now that we’ve established that you’re a human being, let me give you a scenario.  Let’s say that you’re walking with three coworkers to Caribou Coffee.  As you reach the door from one side, a dashing and handsome gentleman reaches the door from the opposite direction.  As your coworker opens the door, the gentleman on the other side of the door holds it, allowing you and your other coworker to pass through, after which he follows.

I happen to know that the gentleman would be happy if you thanked him with a brief nod, perhaps a quick “thank you”.  I also happen to know that none of you offered either.  Nor did you offer any alternative method of giving thanks.  I happen to know this because the gentleman is me, and all three of you are BAD HUMAN BEINGS.

That is all.

Love, Complaint Hub

Internet Explorer is the devil

I’ve been working on some Ajax hotness for you on the complaint submission form, and it looks pretty cool in Firefox.  However, not long ago, Windows XP insisted that I upgrade to Internet Explorer 7, where they added some features that other browsers have had for years and moved everything you’ve always used to strange places so you can’t find anything.

So, the cool Ajax, courtesy of Scriptaculous, doesn’t work at all in IE7.  I’m still working on it, though.

For any of you coming here using Internet Explorer, please do yourself and the rest of the world a favor and download a real browser.  I prefer Firefox, but anything is better than IE.