Clues in the Cranium 17 September 1999

3:03 PM: Mmm, jerk chicken. Or is it jerked chicken? I've felt jerked myself at times. But I'm not as tasty. Or so I'd assume. I'd rather not find out. I keep having these very specific headaches, right in a inch-wide spot above my right ear. Hope it's not some sort of brain fungus. Ow.

OK, I'd better go eat before this goes any further.

7:55: Argh. Nimrods. Every time something like a security problem occurs in this company, I notice, the immediate response is not just to fix that problem. No, it's much easier to slap arbitrary rules and restrictions on us. Like it's easier to hit your own kids, I guess. I can't do my job without root access on these machines from time to time. I've had it for years now. But, because something else happened somewhere else in a way that relates not at all to anything I do, lo, I find I've been cast out with the Communists, grandmothers, and other obvious security risks.

That's OK, though, I'll just go home and the trustworthy people can do the urgent thing themselves.

La, bitching about work, tedious, yet true. I want to go see American Beauty this weekend. New Kevin Spacey movie. Some kind of odd family story. I've been trying hard not to read anything about it, the experience is so completely different without foreknowledge or preconceptions. From what I have heard, it sounds at least interesting, and I haven't seen Kevin Spacey be boring yet, so that's enough.

Christopher Lydon, on the other ear, I've never seen at all nor wish to, but I have heard him and he's never anything but boring and pretentious. God save us from old hippies. Even if he's not one technically, he's one deep down in his fuzzy interior. The people who other dimwits call "brilliant" because they try to sound like they're thinking really deep thoughts, man - except that they do not in fact understand anything they are talking about. This is the guy who did the radio show on the 100th birthday of Alfred Hitchcock and asked the distinguished Harvard professor of esthetics, "The film The Birds - like, whoah, what's that all about?" He keeps trying to come up with these groovy-sounding phrases that sound profound, but they never end up meaning anything. "Jebediah Purdy - is he the promise of Gen X?" Um, what? Purdy, author of some recent book on how gosh, irony is just too darn smartypants, is the most likely person to claim to be the fulfillment of something, and even he didn't know what the hey Lydon was talking about.

This is what NPR has come to. Pseudo-smart features for secretly stupid people.

Thursday September 9, 1999
The Latest in East Timor.
Does the conflict in East Timor exhibit the same criteria that led the US to war over Kosovo? And what of China, which has a semblance of a 'Monroe Doctrine' of their own in Asia? Might China prevent western attempts to intervene? UN policy is quite clear regarding its criteria for military intervention. East Timor has not yet reached a point where the UN would send in troops. But in a situation so complex, does anyone have a firm enough grasp on the issues to make that decision?

Note that date, the 9th of September. Here's a little news item from the same time:

"The next morning they return and summon the whole village with loudspeakers on trucks. Normally the victim's head is on the floor of the officer's jeep, in a plastic supermarket bag.

"The officer grabs it by the hair and brandishes it, shouting: 'Take a good look! And above all beware! Be careful what you think! If you think with the right head, you will keep it attached to your neck.'

"A severed head is a very convincing argument," Mr Gusmao added.

Yes, perhaps a severed head or two would help Mr. Lydon firm up his grasp.

Ptui.

8:42: Oooh! New Buffy! "Earshot"! Next Tuesday! That reminds me, I have to bring my pinups in to work so no one will make the mistake of thinking of me as a mature person or something. I got these great 8x10 color glossies of Willow and Faith at the WorldCon. Now, to practice forging signatures in lipstick....

Willfully blind self-indulgent nebbish or amusingly quirky old coot? And how bout that local sports team? Discuss among yourselves.

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