Aldoblog

Mom, don’t read this post. Seriously.

Tuesday’s Chronicle carried an article about a proposed ban on foie gras. That’s right, a new law banning the production or sale of foie gras anywhere in California. This is stupid.

Through the grace of a friend of a friend, I am now a Gmail user. I am only posting that so I can also rant on the so-called “privacy issues” that people have raised regarding Gmail, especially the moronic state senator Liz Figueroa, who this past week introduced legislation to ban Gmail.

Rochelle and I recently tested the early waters on mobile phone number portability, by switching our mobile phones from AT&T Wireless to Verizon Wireless while keeping our existing mobile numbers, in the third week that it was possible to port the numbers.

When I arrived at Rochelle’s house to pick her up for our very first date, she invited me in for a few minutes, and offered me a beverage. She took an old fashioned seltzer bottle out of the refrigerator, put a little vanilla syrup in two glasses, and spritzed in the seltzer, stirring to mix in the syrup. It was delicious, a retro luxury, and I knew then that Rochelle was supercool, someone whose tastes would complement mine. Less than three months later, we were engaged.

Pete Wellborn is the attorney representing the defendants in a recent nuisance lawsuit filed by a group of spammers against some of the better-known — and more effective — anti-spam resources and groups, such as Spamhaus and SPEWS. His motion to dismiss the case was so effective that the plaintiffs are now trying to back out of the case.

From a recent interview with Bruce Schneier, one of the U.S.‘s premiere security experts, comes one of the most understandable and insightful comments on recent security changes that I’ve read: “Of all the measures instituted to improve airline security, only two have had any positive effect: Reinforcing the cockpit door and teaching the passengers to fight back. Everything else is window dressing.”

Ok, it’s been two weeks of sleeping in and doing nothing (much) more than web surfing in my underwear. I should start doing some real work. So today I’m putting together a weekly schedule for myself.

I subscribe to a mailing list for Linux news, called LinuxGram. The writer, Maureen O’Gara, has a writing style that could be described as “feisty.” It comes out once a week, and manages to entertain as well as inform. This week I was quoted in it, under a “Bite Me” headline!

From the ever quotable JLG: “The Tax Code: the statement of our true values.”