Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"The federal government's reliance on private industry has been driven by changes in technology. Two decades ago, telephone calls and other communications traveled mostly through the air, relayed along microwave towers or bounced off satellites. The N.S.A. could vacuum up phone, fax and data traffic merely by erecting its own satellite dishes. But the fiber optics revolution has sent more and more international communications by land and undersea cable, forcing the agency to seek company cooperation to get access." -- Andrew Councill, "Wider Spying Fuels Aid Plan for Telecom Industry" The New York Times, 2007-12-16

"The federal government's reliance on private industry has been driven by changes in technology. Two decades ago, telephone calls and other communications traveled mostly through the air, relayed along microwave towers or bounced off satellites. The N.S.A. could vacuum up phone, fax and data traffic merely by erecting its own satellite dishes. But the fiber optics revolution has sent more and more international communications by land and undersea cable, forcing the agency to seek company cooperation to get access." -- Andrew Councill, "Wider Spying Fuels Aid Plan for Telecom Industry" The New York Times, 2007-12-16

Not a good week. Body uncooperative. Painful. Missed family Christmas gathering as a result. A bit grumpy about that, but trying not to think about it too much. Hoping today is better than yesterday (when I woke in the wee hours, crashed again near dawn, and slept though all of daylight -- at least today I'm awake for part of the daytime).

For grins, I took the "Should you be MALE or FEMALE?" test at QuizFarm -- not that I put any stock in a 28-question test with no academic pedigree, but it was something to do while waiting for a different computer to reboot:

Should you be MALE or FEMALE?

You scored as a Either

Your brain is neither specifically male, nor female in the way you perceive your surroundings. As bad as this may sound to some, it can easily mean that you are capable of combining both gender aspects to your advantage. Rather than being genderless you are possibly able think freely. This does not mean that you are bisexual or androgynous or indecisive, but it might.

Either	54%
Female	54%
Male	39%
Neither	25%

I'm not inclined to take it any more seriously just because it gave me a believable result that confirms my expectations. But I am inclined to be entertained.

That gig coming up on the 5th at Riversdale ... I finally got around to looking it up on the web, and this is what the events page for Riversdale House Museum says about it:

Saturday, January 5 2008, 7:30 pm
Twelfth Night Ball

Come in period attire or black tie to celebrate the traditional end of the holiday season at this Regency-style ball.

Fee: Resident $25/person; Non-Resident $30/person
Capacity is limited; advance registration required.

(And elsewhere on that page it says, "To register for events at Riversdale, call 301-864-0420.")

The band will be half to two-thirds of The Homespun Ceilidh Band, playing Regency dance tunes instead of our usual repertoire.

More to say, more to write, but most of the rest wants more attention-span than I've really got with so many parts of my body all going "ow" at the same time, so the rest will wait a little longer. I'll just add this one observation: I've been using Windows ME for the first time (as far as I can remember), after having logged plenty of hours on 95, 98, NT, 2K, and XP in the past; and so far ME is the version I like second-least (only 3.1 was less pleasant, and ME is at least useable) ... but hey, I haven't tried Vista yet. I'm going to have to see whether I can get either XP or Linux to run happily on this machine, eventually.

Windows XP with Cygwin installed isn't too bad, really, but once I get around to replacing the OS I'll probably just upgrade all the way to Linux. Using Windows is one thing; installing Windows makes me nervous.

Not a good week. Body uncooperative. Painful. Missed family Christmas gathering as a result. A bit grumpy about that, but trying not to think about it too much. Hoping today is better than yesterday (when I woke in the wee hours, crashed again near dawn, and slept though all of daylight -- at least today I'm awake for part of the daytime).

For grins, I took the "Should you be MALE or FEMALE?" test at QuizFarm -- not that I put any stock in a 28-question test with no academic pedigree, but it was something to do while waiting for a different computer to reboot:

Should you be MALE or FEMALE?

You scored as a Either

Your brain is neither specifically male, nor female in the way you perceive your surroundings. As bad as this may sound to some, it can easily mean that you are capable of combining both gender aspects to your advantage. Rather than being genderless you are possibly able think freely. This does not mean that you are bisexual or androgynous or indecisive, but it might.

Either	54%
Female	54%
Male	39%
Neither	25%

I'm not inclined to take it any more seriously just because it gave me a believable result that confirms my expectations. But I am inclined to be entertained.

That gig coming up on the 5th at Riversdale ... I finally got around to looking it up on the web, and this is what the events page for Riversdale House Museum says about it:

Saturday, January 5 2008, 7:30 pm
Twelfth Night Ball

Come in period attire or black tie to celebrate the traditional end of the holiday season at this Regency-style ball.

Fee: Resident $25/person; Non-Resident $30/person
Capacity is limited; advance registration required.

(And elsewhere on that page it says, "To register for events at Riversdale, call 301-864-0420.")

The band will be half to two-thirds of The Homespun Ceilidh Band, playing Regency dance tunes instead of our usual repertoire.

More to say, more to write, but most of the rest wants more attention-span than I've really got with so many parts of my body all going "ow" at the same time, so the rest will wait a little longer. I'll just add this one observation: I've been using Windows ME for the first time (as far as I can remember), after having logged plenty of hours on 95, 98, NT, 2K, and XP in the past; and so far ME is the version I like second-least (only 3.1 was less pleasant, and ME is at least useable) ... but hey, I haven't tried Vista yet. I'm going to have to see whether I can get either XP or Linux to run happily on this machine, eventually.

Windows XP with Cygwin installed isn't too bad, really, but once I get around to replacing the OS I'll probably just upgrade all the way to Linux. Using Windows is one thing; installing Windows makes me nervous.

Doctor, ain't there nothin' I can take, I said Doctor, to relieve this bellyache,

[...]

You put the lime in the coconut, you drink 'em both together
Put the lime in the coconut, then you feel better
Put the lime in the coconut, drink 'em both up
Put the lime in the coconut, and call me in the morning

-- Harry Nilsson, "Coconut". No idea why it's stuck in my head.

Doctor, ain't there nothin' I can take, I said Doctor, to relieve this bellyache,

[...]

You put the lime in the coconut, you drink 'em both together
Put the lime in the coconut, then you feel better
Put the lime in the coconut, drink 'em both up
Put the lime in the coconut, and call me in the morning

-- Harry Nilsson, "Coconut". No idea why it's stuck in my head.