Signs: Beautiful But Not Deep
Signs is a B movie with an A budget so what you get is a good looking disappointment. It is true it's a mixture of movie elements few have seen before but just because of this unique style, doesn't automatically make it a pioneering film. Think Waterworld (but not quite as bad as that). If you like a straight thriller, a lot of drama and don't want to think, this is the movie for you.
The good: Shymalan is quickly becoming the master of suspense for our generation. He knows the camera angles to use, the music, the sound effects and has the skill of not overshowing your hand, the scariest monsters are the ones we can't see but know are there. He also has his biggest acting role in this movie compared to his others and for a director, his acting is not bad. This movie also has a sense of humor, unlike his last film, Unbreakable. It isn't bad that Unbreakable was very serious, it's what was warranted for that story. In Signs, it's about the relationship of a family and life in general, so some of those interactions are going to make us laugh.
The bad: Primarily, this is a story of a family dealing with the challenges of life. This family in Signs has had more difficulties than most, but that's why it gets to have a movie done about it. The twist in this movie and the one that discredits it as a good film is that one of the challenges in life that this family is forced to deal with is alien invasion. Put like that, it sounds ridiculous and it translated in the movie that way as well. The acting and the dialog is superb and the character development makes you feel like there is so much potential for this movie to be an excellent film... if it just wasn't for those darn aliens. I've got nothing against alien films, in fact it's a great genre, I just have problems seeing it in a drama.
Aliens or not, the biggest disappointment of the film is that this is not a thought provoking film at all. This is surprising because Shymalan's first film, The Sixth Sense had a lot of depth and forced people to question life after death or at least presented the theory to give you the chance to agree or disagree. Signs does not force you to question anything. It doesn't even give you the chance to ponder extraterrestrial life because the real story is the life of the family and the alien stuff is one of an old-Hollywood mentality, War of the Worlds like, aliens are automatically monsters. This makes for a very dated story and therefore not very interesting. The closest this film comes to provoking any thought is its theories on the coincidences that happen in life (which is probably what the movie is really named for), but only scratches the surface with that ideaology and just wants to tell two stories that don't get along.
The deal: So good acting thanks to the casting, good characters, suspense is good although hoaky at times. The movie is a mix of two stories and Signs can not make the marriage work. This would've been better as two separate movies, one serious, one entertainment. Also, some of the supposed dramatic scenes, the ones with the kinds of revelation that usually thrills audiences, seemed forced and ultimately predictable. Some of them worked, some didn't. The ones that didn't are the ones that felt like to me Shymalan went out of his way to setup early in the movie, a couple of scenes just to grab the Ooos and Ahhhhs at the end that the setup was tied to and it came off as weak for fans who want more from a movie, especially fans of Sixth Sense. I'm disappointed in the film. If this was sold as a B movie/indie/unknown or the story of the family was more in the background (less detail) expanding instead on the aliens or if the story of the aliens was removed completely, it might have been ok. It just seems Shymalan could have done so much more with Signs but fell short. Is he getting worse with his films or should he just stick to the supernatural?
I'll give Signs a B- for it's entertainment value.
Thursday, May 08, 2003
Bubblemania - A Movie Review
Let me get serious for a minute. I'd like to talk about a movie I recently viewed that had all the aspects of a quality film. It's about a teenage boy who was being repressed by his ultra-conservative parents.
No this isn't Footloose.
He falls in love with the girl next door but can't express his feelings for her properly because of the way he was raised. The neighbor girl obviously likes him but knows she must move on with her life if repressed-boy won't tell her he loves her.
It's not Say Anything.
The girl next door ends up running off with a loser and plans to marry him. Repressed-boy finally realizes he must do something to stop the wedding and gets the overwhelming urge to tell her his feelings.
The Graduate this ain't.
This kind of plot has been done to death right? I agree. So to make the story interesting, the boy has lived inside a bubble all his life due to his supposed weak immune system. So to stop the wedding, bubble/repressed/lovesick boy has to get cross country in a portable bubble he made to get to the girl of his dreams and, you know, stay alive.
Eat your heart out John Travolta.
This movie has it all. At one point in the movie, Bubble Boy is chased by:
A mexican biker gang
Religious cult of happy-go-lucky kids who all have the same name
Circus sideshow freaks
Sideshow freak owner who wants his his freaks back who is a bit of a freak himself (Verne Troyer).
There's also:
The estranged 90 year old twins who both have random catatonic conditions, strongest when they're driving and flying
Japanese mud wrestling bar owners ("500 DOLLAR!")
An Indian (dot not feather) ice cream truck owner who puts curry in all of his products
and of course:
His parents when they discover he no longer was in his bedroom bubble.
What more could you ask for? Check it out. The movie was surprisingly funny.
Bubble Boy
Let me get serious for a minute. I'd like to talk about a movie I recently viewed that had all the aspects of a quality film. It's about a teenage boy who was being repressed by his ultra-conservative parents.
No this isn't Footloose.
He falls in love with the girl next door but can't express his feelings for her properly because of the way he was raised. The neighbor girl obviously likes him but knows she must move on with her life if repressed-boy won't tell her he loves her.
It's not Say Anything.
The girl next door ends up running off with a loser and plans to marry him. Repressed-boy finally realizes he must do something to stop the wedding and gets the overwhelming urge to tell her his feelings.
The Graduate this ain't.
This kind of plot has been done to death right? I agree. So to make the story interesting, the boy has lived inside a bubble all his life due to his supposed weak immune system. So to stop the wedding, bubble/repressed/lovesick boy has to get cross country in a portable bubble he made to get to the girl of his dreams and, you know, stay alive.
Eat your heart out John Travolta.
This movie has it all. At one point in the movie, Bubble Boy is chased by:
A mexican biker gang
Religious cult of happy-go-lucky kids who all have the same name
Circus sideshow freaks
Sideshow freak owner who wants his his freaks back who is a bit of a freak himself (Verne Troyer).
There's also:
The estranged 90 year old twins who both have random catatonic conditions, strongest when they're driving and flying
Japanese mud wrestling bar owners ("500 DOLLAR!")
An Indian (dot not feather) ice cream truck owner who puts curry in all of his products
and of course:
His parents when they discover he no longer was in his bedroom bubble.
What more could you ask for? Check it out. The movie was surprisingly funny.
Bubble Boy
Tuesday, May 06, 2003
The Prisoner's Dilemma
There is an ideology about the possible outcomes of conflict. It is this study that gave way to the development of board games, card games, video games, etc. The main formats of the idea are win/win (cooperative), win/lose (head to head) and play/play (expected outcome if nothing changes). Most games you think of will fall under one of these three categories.
There is a story that gives example to these ideas of conflict. It's called the Prisoner's Dilemma. There are many versions of the story but the basic premise is that two people have committed a crime together, however there is not enough evidence to convict them. The suspects are brought in for questioning, kept in separate cells with the intent of getting at least one confession to make the conviction. All the suspects have to do to avoid the charge is if both do not confess. With the lack of evidence in the case, they will be set free. This is the win/win scenario.
Another option, and this is where the dilemma comes in, should one of the suspects confess to the crime indicting the other, the confessor will be let free. He will be given immunity which means no probation and the other will be sentenced to the maximum term in prison for the crime with no possibility of parole. This it the win/lose scenario.
The last option is that the two suspects become so paranoid that the other is going to tell on them that they both confess to the crime. In which case, they will be given a prison sentence with some leniency because of the confessions. This is the play/play scenario because it is the expected result. It's what will happen every time unless something in the setup is changed. Games like Tic Tac Toe or Paper, Rock, Scissors are play/play if the participants do the expected, the result will be the same every time.
The story has a game version and point values were assigned to the three outcomes. They vary in the different versions but the format is the same. If both suspects cooperate, they're each given 3 points. If both confess, each get 1 point, and if one confesses and the other does not, the confessor gets 5 points and the other gets 0. You play the rounds 10 times and whoever has the most number of points at the end, wins the game. I know it sounds like a boring game, (like Paper, Rock, Scissors, and Tic Tac Toe) but it's the format that most games are based on and it's interesting to see what other people decide. If you get an optimist, you can take advantage of it until they stop being the optimist. If you get a pessimist, you can play it safe. If you get a realist, then things will get tough and if you're up against a telepath (has you figured out), then things will get really tough.
Just something to think about.
There is an ideology about the possible outcomes of conflict. It is this study that gave way to the development of board games, card games, video games, etc. The main formats of the idea are win/win (cooperative), win/lose (head to head) and play/play (expected outcome if nothing changes). Most games you think of will fall under one of these three categories.
There is a story that gives example to these ideas of conflict. It's called the Prisoner's Dilemma. There are many versions of the story but the basic premise is that two people have committed a crime together, however there is not enough evidence to convict them. The suspects are brought in for questioning, kept in separate cells with the intent of getting at least one confession to make the conviction. All the suspects have to do to avoid the charge is if both do not confess. With the lack of evidence in the case, they will be set free. This is the win/win scenario.
Another option, and this is where the dilemma comes in, should one of the suspects confess to the crime indicting the other, the confessor will be let free. He will be given immunity which means no probation and the other will be sentenced to the maximum term in prison for the crime with no possibility of parole. This it the win/lose scenario.
The last option is that the two suspects become so paranoid that the other is going to tell on them that they both confess to the crime. In which case, they will be given a prison sentence with some leniency because of the confessions. This is the play/play scenario because it is the expected result. It's what will happen every time unless something in the setup is changed. Games like Tic Tac Toe or Paper, Rock, Scissors are play/play if the participants do the expected, the result will be the same every time.
The story has a game version and point values were assigned to the three outcomes. They vary in the different versions but the format is the same. If both suspects cooperate, they're each given 3 points. If both confess, each get 1 point, and if one confesses and the other does not, the confessor gets 5 points and the other gets 0. You play the rounds 10 times and whoever has the most number of points at the end, wins the game. I know it sounds like a boring game, (like Paper, Rock, Scissors, and Tic Tac Toe) but it's the format that most games are based on and it's interesting to see what other people decide. If you get an optimist, you can take advantage of it until they stop being the optimist. If you get a pessimist, you can play it safe. If you get a realist, then things will get tough and if you're up against a telepath (has you figured out), then things will get really tough.
Just something to think about.
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Getting the Big Picture
The word big is not a big enough word to describe how I view our fate as a species. So I'm going to try and explain the underlying concept I use on life, the very thing that motivates most of my decisions and opinions I harbor.
"[Life] is a tale told by an idiot -- full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." -Macbeth
That's the quote I probably can identify with the most. It means we can easily get caught up in our piddly lives but in the end, it really means nothing. It's an attitude that causes me to always try and look at the bigger picture of life, our reason for existence, why we do the things we do and the conclusion I keep seeing is our survival as a species as the main reason for our lives. We are here to give birth to the next generation and to keep an environment that will support them, hopefully forever.
Because of these views, I won't have many opinions on the everyday activities in life. Sure I have a few, you can read through my posts to see them, but it's just a hobby, a reason to babble. I'm passing the time while still completing my obligation. Far too often it is mistaken for apathy. It's not that I'm apathetic, it's that I just don't care. Actually, I'm not apathetic, there is just something more important to care about then which political party I am affiliated with, or who owes me five dollars, or what my view is on the homeless.
Initially, I didn't have a big opinion on the war between the United States and Iraq. Wars are just as meaningless as a trip to the store (keep in mind the focus is on the bigger picture here). Ultimately though, there is a good cause for this particular war and perhaps others, and that is to try and civilize the world and put a stop to personas whose ideals promote extinction. It is my hope that with the world civilized, we can concentrate on more important things such as technology, medicine, philosophy, culture - subjects that will work towards the extension of our lives:
Technology to develop the means for space travel, to get off of one planet that at some point will no longer be able to sustain life. How far was Iraq from starting its space age?
Medicine to extend the lifespan by ridding the ailments that causes death or weakness in the species.
Philosophy to know there is more to life than work and a need to expand our ideas, our image of ourselves so that we don't become stagnant which will lead to extinction.
Culture to keep many variables in the species so that we don't become one breed which would cause stagnation which would lead to extinction. I do want to be clear that although I support certain conflicts that seemingly may want to support the American or western or protestant way of life, I don't want to see everyone Christian, Muslim, Jewish, white, black, brown, democratic, socialist, liberal, conservative - whatever. It doesn't matter! I am in support of quite the opposite, the more individual the identities the better.
Also, we must continue to challenge ourselves so that we don't fall into repetition which leads to stagnation which leads to extinction. We must try new things for our species, we must take many risks, we must accept the temporary losses such boldness causes, rack it up to experience and move on, better off as a species with the new knowledge.
These are harsh words but it is our lives, our very existence we are dealing with and nothing is more important. We must support the factors that keep us going.
It is because of my views that I support an anarchy type of government. The ultimate challenge of our people is to not be ruled, not be governed by laws which tell us how to live which leads to stagnation. It encourages us to be more aware and very much motivated to survive if we have no laws. It is survival of the fittest and natural selection will promote the stronger who can keep our species alive. Any dependency on anything long term leads to stagnation (ergo extinction). But the Catch-22 on an anarchy form of (no)government is that we would probably have a tough time advancing our technology and medicine, which is two of the crucial ingredients for our survival. The other two factors, philosophy and culture would grow wildly, but it's not enough to keep us alive one million years from now.
Everyone feels the need to keep our species going. We reproduce to extend ourselves as an instinctive need for immortality. We do this to keep our civilization alive, to give meaning to the actions we took in our life. So everyone has this need, it's just that some of us get caught up in the oh-so-insignificant details of life, useless goals such as social status, power, money that we can't hear what our survival instincts are telling us. The motivation behind power (for men anyway) is the need to reproduce with every female on the planet. We have been implanted with the need to spread our seed with as many subjects as possible to insure offspring. But we can't have one man mating with all of the women, that would lead to certain stagnation.
I feel like I'm rushing through my ideology here and am only scratching the surface. I have so much to say about this that I'm sure I could write chapters on it. And maybe I will. To me, what I have said here is just a table of contents, but for now I think this is a good stopping point.
The word big is not a big enough word to describe how I view our fate as a species. So I'm going to try and explain the underlying concept I use on life, the very thing that motivates most of my decisions and opinions I harbor.
"[Life] is a tale told by an idiot -- full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." -Macbeth
That's the quote I probably can identify with the most. It means we can easily get caught up in our piddly lives but in the end, it really means nothing. It's an attitude that causes me to always try and look at the bigger picture of life, our reason for existence, why we do the things we do and the conclusion I keep seeing is our survival as a species as the main reason for our lives. We are here to give birth to the next generation and to keep an environment that will support them, hopefully forever.
Because of these views, I won't have many opinions on the everyday activities in life. Sure I have a few, you can read through my posts to see them, but it's just a hobby, a reason to babble. I'm passing the time while still completing my obligation. Far too often it is mistaken for apathy. It's not that I'm apathetic, it's that I just don't care. Actually, I'm not apathetic, there is just something more important to care about then which political party I am affiliated with, or who owes me five dollars, or what my view is on the homeless.
Initially, I didn't have a big opinion on the war between the United States and Iraq. Wars are just as meaningless as a trip to the store (keep in mind the focus is on the bigger picture here). Ultimately though, there is a good cause for this particular war and perhaps others, and that is to try and civilize the world and put a stop to personas whose ideals promote extinction. It is my hope that with the world civilized, we can concentrate on more important things such as technology, medicine, philosophy, culture - subjects that will work towards the extension of our lives:
Technology to develop the means for space travel, to get off of one planet that at some point will no longer be able to sustain life. How far was Iraq from starting its space age?
Medicine to extend the lifespan by ridding the ailments that causes death or weakness in the species.
Philosophy to know there is more to life than work and a need to expand our ideas, our image of ourselves so that we don't become stagnant which will lead to extinction.
Culture to keep many variables in the species so that we don't become one breed which would cause stagnation which would lead to extinction. I do want to be clear that although I support certain conflicts that seemingly may want to support the American or western or protestant way of life, I don't want to see everyone Christian, Muslim, Jewish, white, black, brown, democratic, socialist, liberal, conservative - whatever. It doesn't matter! I am in support of quite the opposite, the more individual the identities the better.
Also, we must continue to challenge ourselves so that we don't fall into repetition which leads to stagnation which leads to extinction. We must try new things for our species, we must take many risks, we must accept the temporary losses such boldness causes, rack it up to experience and move on, better off as a species with the new knowledge.
These are harsh words but it is our lives, our very existence we are dealing with and nothing is more important. We must support the factors that keep us going.
It is because of my views that I support an anarchy type of government. The ultimate challenge of our people is to not be ruled, not be governed by laws which tell us how to live which leads to stagnation. It encourages us to be more aware and very much motivated to survive if we have no laws. It is survival of the fittest and natural selection will promote the stronger who can keep our species alive. Any dependency on anything long term leads to stagnation (ergo extinction). But the Catch-22 on an anarchy form of (no)government is that we would probably have a tough time advancing our technology and medicine, which is two of the crucial ingredients for our survival. The other two factors, philosophy and culture would grow wildly, but it's not enough to keep us alive one million years from now.
Everyone feels the need to keep our species going. We reproduce to extend ourselves as an instinctive need for immortality. We do this to keep our civilization alive, to give meaning to the actions we took in our life. So everyone has this need, it's just that some of us get caught up in the oh-so-insignificant details of life, useless goals such as social status, power, money that we can't hear what our survival instincts are telling us. The motivation behind power (for men anyway) is the need to reproduce with every female on the planet. We have been implanted with the need to spread our seed with as many subjects as possible to insure offspring. But we can't have one man mating with all of the women, that would lead to certain stagnation.
I feel like I'm rushing through my ideology here and am only scratching the surface. I have so much to say about this that I'm sure I could write chapters on it. And maybe I will. To me, what I have said here is just a table of contents, but for now I think this is a good stopping point.
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
Hitting the Online Dance Airwaves
Digitally Imported is my abosolute favorite online techno station - the best for any source actually. Check it out if you like techno. Winamp required.
Digitally Imported is my abosolute favorite online techno station - the best for any source actually. Check it out if you like techno. Winamp required.
Monday, April 28, 2003
Masterpiece Network
You know how computers on a particular network will commonly be part of a naming theme and the more popular themes are from the genres of fantasy or scifi. It's natural for geeks to be drawn to computers, so many times you'll see networks with machine names such as Gandalf, Frodo, Gollum or Worf, Picard, Geordi (wouldn't a machine named Data be confusing?). Well I'm proud to say that my home LAN is no exception to this.
First, some background. Our first apartment was in an edition that was itself a theme - famous French people. Each of the streets were named after the celebrities from that culture and we lived in a small two bedroom upstairs apartment on a street named Rue Renoir, so named after the famous impressionist artist. So we decided to name our first computer in that apartment after an artist to keep with the theme of our humble abode. You'd think we'd call it Renoir, but for some reason we went with the cubist Picasso. Picasso was a Pentium 2, 266 Mhz which retailed for $2000 - a great deal at the time. We moved later and picked up another computer. Even though we weren't living on Rue Renoir anymore, we stayed with the artist theme. Our second computer was Van Gogh, a Pentium 3, 450, cost $1300 - another fabulous deal at that time. We now had two computers so we had to get a router to connect them. We named the router after Van Gogh's good buddy Gaugan.
Many years later, it was time to upgrade one of the machines to keep up with the rapid evolution of technology. We chose to upgrade Van Gogh since it was the machine we used most and we gutted it by taking out just the motherboard (chip attached) and replaced it with an AMD Athalon 1800. I think I paid $300 for it. Keep in mind it was just the motherboard and chip. New motherboard/CPU meant a new identity (philosophically anyway) so we called that one Monet.
In my last post, I mentioned my newest purchase, a Celeron 2.0 Ghz laptop, $1000. For a computer of such small stature we picked the appropriate artist - Letrec. And wth Letrec, I needed to setup a wireless network to be able to use the laptop anywhere in the house. If you want a wireless network, you need a wireless router, so I had to replace Gaugan with a Linksys 802.11g standard WiFi router and we named that one Degas.
So Picasso is still hooked up although rarely used. Van Gogh is in the closet (who did he cut that ear off for then?), Monet runs full time and Letrec gets transported a lot. The active machines are able to talk to each other through Degas who just recently replaced Gaugan. Oh, and the printer is Da Vinci.
I almost have a baseball team. Want to know who's on first?
You know how computers on a particular network will commonly be part of a naming theme and the more popular themes are from the genres of fantasy or scifi. It's natural for geeks to be drawn to computers, so many times you'll see networks with machine names such as Gandalf, Frodo, Gollum or Worf, Picard, Geordi (wouldn't a machine named Data be confusing?). Well I'm proud to say that my home LAN is no exception to this.
First, some background. Our first apartment was in an edition that was itself a theme - famous French people. Each of the streets were named after the celebrities from that culture and we lived in a small two bedroom upstairs apartment on a street named Rue Renoir, so named after the famous impressionist artist. So we decided to name our first computer in that apartment after an artist to keep with the theme of our humble abode. You'd think we'd call it Renoir, but for some reason we went with the cubist Picasso. Picasso was a Pentium 2, 266 Mhz which retailed for $2000 - a great deal at the time. We moved later and picked up another computer. Even though we weren't living on Rue Renoir anymore, we stayed with the artist theme. Our second computer was Van Gogh, a Pentium 3, 450, cost $1300 - another fabulous deal at that time. We now had two computers so we had to get a router to connect them. We named the router after Van Gogh's good buddy Gaugan.
Many years later, it was time to upgrade one of the machines to keep up with the rapid evolution of technology. We chose to upgrade Van Gogh since it was the machine we used most and we gutted it by taking out just the motherboard (chip attached) and replaced it with an AMD Athalon 1800. I think I paid $300 for it. Keep in mind it was just the motherboard and chip. New motherboard/CPU meant a new identity (philosophically anyway) so we called that one Monet.
In my last post, I mentioned my newest purchase, a Celeron 2.0 Ghz laptop, $1000. For a computer of such small stature we picked the appropriate artist - Letrec. And wth Letrec, I needed to setup a wireless network to be able to use the laptop anywhere in the house. If you want a wireless network, you need a wireless router, so I had to replace Gaugan with a Linksys 802.11g standard WiFi router and we named that one Degas.
So Picasso is still hooked up although rarely used. Van Gogh is in the closet (who did he cut that ear off for then?), Monet runs full time and Letrec gets transported a lot. The active machines are able to talk to each other through Degas who just recently replaced Gaugan. Oh, and the printer is Da Vinci.
I almost have a baseball team. Want to know who's on first?
Sunday, April 27, 2003
Cut The Cord
I'm pretty stoked about my new toy. I just received this week, my new laptop from Gateway, a Celeron 2.0 Ghz which I paid an even grand for. I've been wanting a laptop for years but I can get somewhat choosy not to mention frugal with my major purchases. So I got the laptop and picked up a WiFi network to run it on. For anyone who might care, I got a 802.11g standard wireless router and matching laptop network card. I write this from the comfort of my living room with no cables attached to the machine whatsoever. Freedom is good. Freedom to roam is even better.
The status message on my instant messenger id is 802.11g at 8477. 8477 being my address. I'm not sure many people on my friends list will know what that even means. Nerd alert.
I got home last night at 5a and didn't wake up today until almost 1p. I can't remember the last time I've slept in that long.
I'm pretty stoked about my new toy. I just received this week, my new laptop from Gateway, a Celeron 2.0 Ghz which I paid an even grand for. I've been wanting a laptop for years but I can get somewhat choosy not to mention frugal with my major purchases. So I got the laptop and picked up a WiFi network to run it on. For anyone who might care, I got a 802.11g standard wireless router and matching laptop network card. I write this from the comfort of my living room with no cables attached to the machine whatsoever. Freedom is good. Freedom to roam is even better.
The status message on my instant messenger id is 802.11g at 8477. 8477 being my address. I'm not sure many people on my friends list will know what that even means. Nerd alert.
I got home last night at 5a and didn't wake up today until almost 1p. I can't remember the last time I've slept in that long.
Late Night Working At The Airport
Hey there. Stuck at work at this ungodly hour. It's 1:39 a.m. here and I've been called in to upgrade my Sun systems to work with an FAA system that's getting its own upgrade tonight. When you work for the FAA like I do, any time you want to make changes to the system, you get stuck with the off peak hours so there is minimal risk to air traffic safety. No one's flying at this hour except UPS and FedEx and should something go seriously wrong with the upgrades and we go dark (can't track air traffic, also known as ATC 0), millions of lives won't be at risk, just a bunch of packages. I heard a rumor which I guess could be classified as an urban legend by now, that a few years back a squirrel wandered into some power lines and took our building's electrical power completely out, blanking all the radar screens and knocking us to ATC 0. A squirrel's death wish putting all those people into danger - I bet you feel like buying a plane ticket right now. I have no way of verifying that story though. I just think it's funny - not that the squirrel died but that a small creature was temporarily in control of thousands of people's lives.
I'm taking a break right now while they run some tests on the upgrades. I'm all ready on my end. As soon as I see data begin to flow across my screens, I'm packing out and making the 30 minute trip back home.
Uh, now I am hearing alarms I've never heard before. This might turn into a long night after all.
Hey there. Stuck at work at this ungodly hour. It's 1:39 a.m. here and I've been called in to upgrade my Sun systems to work with an FAA system that's getting its own upgrade tonight. When you work for the FAA like I do, any time you want to make changes to the system, you get stuck with the off peak hours so there is minimal risk to air traffic safety. No one's flying at this hour except UPS and FedEx and should something go seriously wrong with the upgrades and we go dark (can't track air traffic, also known as ATC 0), millions of lives won't be at risk, just a bunch of packages. I heard a rumor which I guess could be classified as an urban legend by now, that a few years back a squirrel wandered into some power lines and took our building's electrical power completely out, blanking all the radar screens and knocking us to ATC 0. A squirrel's death wish putting all those people into danger - I bet you feel like buying a plane ticket right now. I have no way of verifying that story though. I just think it's funny - not that the squirrel died but that a small creature was temporarily in control of thousands of people's lives.
I'm taking a break right now while they run some tests on the upgrades. I'm all ready on my end. As soon as I see data begin to flow across my screens, I'm packing out and making the 30 minute trip back home.
Uh, now I am hearing alarms I've never heard before. This might turn into a long night after all.
Thursday, April 24, 2003
Is The Senior Trolley Bus Allowed to Qualify?
63 year old Mario Andretti has decided to get back into professional car racing and will try and qualify for the Indy 500 this year. The last time this guy won the Indy 500 was before I even existed. He has said that he can't read the dials in his dash very well because of his poor eyesight but all he really needs to see is the road. Someone needs to make sure this sextagenerian doesn't leave his turn signal on during the race and for God's sake, stay out of the passing lane if you're only going to do 210 miles per hour! I heard that his pit crew will be allowed to add an extra resource to their equipment when Mario needs to pit. In addition to tires, fuel, water and spare parts, they'll have an oxygen tank recharger ready.
63 year old Mario Andretti has decided to get back into professional car racing and will try and qualify for the Indy 500 this year. The last time this guy won the Indy 500 was before I even existed. He has said that he can't read the dials in his dash very well because of his poor eyesight but all he really needs to see is the road. Someone needs to make sure this sextagenerian doesn't leave his turn signal on during the race and for God's sake, stay out of the passing lane if you're only going to do 210 miles per hour! I heard that his pit crew will be allowed to add an extra resource to their equipment when Mario needs to pit. In addition to tires, fuel, water and spare parts, they'll have an oxygen tank recharger ready.
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