Never Enough Redrawable Circuitry Department

Researchers at Cambridge University have discovered the means to draw and erase circuits on the fly. While the process is not perfect--the circuit board has to be kept extremely cold--it promises to drastically speed up prototyping new kinds of circuit designs, which should in turn help lower the cost of chips from a design point of view.

Today's been pretty crappy, personally, but news like this helps to brighten even the most "yurg" days. ("Yurg" is my new monosyllable for indicating what it's like to wake up groggy and feeling unwell, with no caffeine or relief in sight. You are warned.)

Never Enough Koppel Mindfucking Department

Poor Ted Koppel. He's only trying to provide news on the Northeastern blackout that took out NYC, Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto, etc., when he gets a call from a Bob Dobbs from the NYC Transit Authority....

...And his brain is never the same again.

Never Enough Stuff To Talk About Department

...It's just that I've been awfully busy as of late, doing stuff I could talk about.

Yes, that includes watching G.I. Joe "Knowing Is Half The Battle"... um... reappropriations. Yes, I think that works. "Reappropriations."

Oh, and doing a little third-party "reappropriations" of my own:

Fanta Shokata Bulldada I
Fanta Shokata Bulldada II
Fanta Shokata Bulldada III
Fanta Shokata Bulldada IV
Fanta Shokata Bulldada V
Fanta Shokata Bulldada VI
Fanta Shokata Bulldada VII
Fanta Shokata Bulldada VIII

...And probably more to come! But first, I have to make our little cardboard box farm look like a house. Time to get funky in the house!

Never Enough Straight Talk Department

I'm glad I'm not the only one who knows that the word "semite" does not refer to Jews, but to those whose native language is in the Semitic family--meaning, Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Amharic ("Ethiopian"), and Syriac. That's exactly what Sam Hamod, former Director of The National Islamic Center, points out. I don't fully agree about the Ashkenazim being "converts" to Judaism, however--that is, while it is true that Slavs and other Eastern Europeans converted to Judaism, such conversions were more for the sake of marriage to Jewish families who moved into the region as part of the Diaspora. Still, all in all, the article is a lovely condemnation of the term "anti-semite".

I'm pro-Jew--meaning that I am not inherently against the religion any more than I'm against the very concept of religion--but I would probably get labeled "anti-semite" because I condemn Israel's aggressive policies against the Palestinians. I might be considered anti-Zionist because I don't think that Jews need a homeland as much as they need the same universal human rights we all need. The premise that the Jewish people need to set up a fortress around some of the only easily arable land in the region is ludicrous. The premise that they deserve dignity and respect, on the other hand, is only common sense.

Never Enough Stupid Fiscal Policy Department

It's official--under Dubya and a predominantly Republican Congress, the projected federal deficit for 2003 is expected to exceed $455 billion dollars. This projection, provided by the White House itself, excludes the cost of war and reconstruction for Iraq, and is not a final figure by any stretch. Indeed, the initial projection for this year's deficit was a little over $300 billion. So most likely, the deficit will reach well over half a trillion dollars before the year is out.

Next time I hear any Republican talk about "tax-and-spend Democrats", I'm gonna smack him hard. And I don't even consider myself a Democrat.

Never Enough Post-Pain Slack Department

The astute might have noticed that one's Slack Awareness usually varies in direct proportion to the amount of pain one has experienced. This isn't a mere accident. As long as we're stuck with these meat shells, it's almost impossible to notice slack without first having your consciousness entirely focused on your hurts. And I must be specific: I'm not talking about metaphorical, psychological, existential, or inconsequential pain. I'm only talking about true, physical, visceral pain.

Today I ache in muscle groups I forgot existed, my sinuses are only now recovering from internal pressure so great that I pulled a nasal "Ol' Faithful" in the middle of the night, and I can still feel the tender throbing of my shattered right toenail. But the biggest part of the move is over, and the majority of our furniture and possessions are now safely in the new house. Thea and I slept in our bedroom for the first time and enjoyed a profound darkness and quiet that our old, urban apartment couldn't give. (It took an hour or so before my eyes adjusted well enough to see anything at all, and Thea was blind the whole time.) We got up and had breakfast, then Thea laid back down for a nap while I sat on the porch and sucked in all the glorious oxygen that our little slice of Green Hell, and if I hurt--and I do hurt, ghods do I!--yet I hurt with a sense of deep satisfaction, relaxation, and a profound sense of "just-right". Ah, slack!

OK, That's Enough Moving Headaches Department

You know it's bad when I have to drop the "Never Enough" tagline.

Well, it could be worse, I guess. But the main issue before me truly is a pain. To wit, the phone company shut down the phone and DSL service at our apartment, on schedule. If we were also on schedule, this would be no problem. As is, it's a fairly serious problem, as I can only read my email at work through a fairly kludgy ISP shell connection. And it's not easy to temporarily switch my Yahoo! Groups to digest mode, only because the groups I'm most concerned about post pictures that I dare not show at work, if you get my drift. (Ghods, I'm such a pervy thing. :) )

As the French would say, "Merde, alors!"

Never Enough Moving Headaches Department

It's appoaching June 28, the date that Thea and I had set for our move.

We aren't nearly done packing.

The people who were living in the house are still moving out.

We signed the lease, but until the house is fully vacated, we have no key.

We're hoping to get a week's extension on our current apartment, and only pay a portion of July's rent, so that we can buy time (literally!) to finish the move.

The new owner of our apartment building has been reluctant to give us the extension.

We're annoyed. But it'll be worth it, when all is said and done.

If only the tenants of the old house would stop repainting and cleaning and concentrate on moving their crap out.

Oh well. Even Eden had a snake in it.

Never Enough Organic Waste Fuel Stock Department

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have come up with a catalyst that uses inexpensive metals to extract hydrogen from organic wastes. This device is expected to give a good boost to the conversion from a fossil fuel based economy to a hydrogen fuel based economy. Food processing plants, dairy farms, and paper mills--to name but a few--can dump their glucose-rich wastes into the catalyst and generate hydrogen that can be used to run the facilities.

As my friend Rev. Prostata Cantata said, "I wanna run my fuel-cell car on cheese."

Never Enough Big Plans Department

A small gray house overlooking the Garden of Eden--complete with apple tree.

That's our future.

Thea and I will begin moving in after the 20th, after which our new home--Grayhaven Slack Recovery Center--will be open to the few souls worthy of being able to lounge under evergreen trees, walk on mossy ground, munch on blackberry brambles, then go inside for a hot bath in a real tub, cook in a large kitchen, and then go back out onto the porch for a cool, shady nap.

And the rent is very affordable.

BRING IT ON!!!