Ha ha ha! I'm so stupid!

I bought another copy of OS 10.3.

I'll have it on Monday -- how exciting!

I just got a shipment notification (with tracking number) that my copy of MacOS X 10.4 shipped. Has anyone else seen copies shipping? I haven't seen any announcements.

The Transportation Security Administration misled the public about its role in obtaining personal information about 12 million airline passengers to test a new computerized system that screens for terrorists, according to a government investigation.

"TSA officials made inaccurate statements regarding these transfers that undermined public trust in the agency," the report said. "These misstatements were apparently not meant to mischaracterize known facts. Instead, they were premised on an incomplete understanding of the underlying facts." [via The Washington Post (AP)]

So they didn't lie; they were stupid.

Every year I hate April Fool's Day a little more. I was waiting for, craving, some jackass to try some April Fool's shit with me. A swift knee to the testicles I would have delivered.

Justine Cooper, as an artist in residence at the Museum of Natural History, spent a year photographing the Museum's hidden back rooms and passages. Some images are posted to her site; they are also on display at the Kashya Hildebrand Gallery (opening on 4/21).

The photos are as geeky, cool, and surreal as one might imagine.

Mark Hurd, new chief executive of Hewlet-Packard, gets a $20 million signing bonus. In addition to the structure of the bonus, he is getting one year of free housing and a four year "mortgage interest subsidy." Whatever that is. Hurd is also eligible for a reimbursement for a decline in the price of stock he holds in his former company, covering up to a 20% decline. Finally, as part of his agreement, "all performance goals will be deemed to have been achieved at target" for the second half of '05 and first half of '06.

It seems that Mr. Hurd is getting an enormous signing bonus of cash and stock, additional multi-million dollar incentives, and the board is assuming that he'll meet his performance goals for the next twelve months, guaranteeing him millions more on bonuses. This is in addition to a salary of $1.4 million.

It is good to see that HP is using its money so wisely.

Throwing money around is a great morale booster. Particularly for a company that has made rather large layoffs.

Sin City: Comic vs. Film.

Once again, tcpdump saves my ass. I have lost count of how many times tcpdump helps me debug some asshat inherited code.

Wheeeeeee!

Oooh -- I want to go. Family Guy live.

POTD

click for high-res

POTD

click for high-res

Lately, I'm just not feeling it. Not seeing the images. I think I'm in a funk waiting for the warmer weather.

Today's Jinky Art is quite nice.

For Morgan, who "stuck" me...

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451; which book do you want to be?

I assume this means, if I were a character in 451, which book would I want to memorize.

If I had a choice, I think I'd apply these criteria: short-ish (easy to memorize); sounds good recited; not derivative, imbued with enough originality that it would inspire a naive reader to think.

Bradbury himself may be on to something; Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience would be an excellent choice. Profound, short, and beautiful. I considered Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights for a short moment. Heart of Darkness? Discourse on the Method? On the Origin of Inequality, On the Social Contract? Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Electra? The Special and General Theory of Relativity? The Transcendentalist? The Crying of Lot 49? The Republic, Symposium, Phaedrus? Crime and Punishment? Faust? The Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms? Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello? Leaves of Grass? The Red Badge of Courage? John Donne's Sonnets?

I think I'll pick The Old Man and the Sea, just so I have to stop thinking about this.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

No.

The last book you bought was...

I can't remember. I think it was either Blankets or Photo Nomad.

The last book you read...

Ecology of Fear

What are you currently reading?

Blankets, How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, Photoshop CS for Photographers, Cloud Atlas.

Five books you would take to a desert island

• Shakespeare's tragedies
• This is the American Earth
• John Donne's sonnets
• The Crying of Lot 49
• W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Project

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?

No one. Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.