My apologies to anyone who tried to leave a comment in the last couple of days. I installed a new version of the Bad Behavior plugin, and it’s blocking everyone. I’ve gotten rid of the blasted thing and all is back to normal, I think.

I really do want to hear from you!

Over Christmas break, Tony’s band recorded an acoustic cd. He did the audio engineering as well as singing tenor harmony and I think it turned out quite well. This song is Falling From a Vertigo, sans instruments, ala Rockapella.

In 2006, crime was up in Denmark. 40 murders were committed in the country that year, of which 39 were solved.

In the state of Washington, a population equivalent, there were 190 in the same period.

Looks like Meredith is significantly safer in Copenhagen than she was in Tacoma. That’s reassuring.

From AP:

Malaysian State Separates Shopping Sexes

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s only state run by the Islamic opposition party will get stricter about enforcing separate lines for men and women at supermarkets, an official said Tuesday.

Authorities in the northern state of Kelantan - governed by the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party - will fine supermarkets and shops if they let men and women use the same lines at checkout counters, said party spokesman Anual Bakri Haron.

Chief Minister Nik Aziz Nik Mat has called for stricter enforcement “to safeguard the ladies” from being harassed and to avoid close proximity between opposite sexes while lining up to buy groceries, Anual said. “He wants the enforcement to be looked into thoroughly.”

This is what happens when you leave human rights up to the states.

“How do you expect me not to conspire?” Aŕena would ask his judges. “Everyone is conspiring these days. There is plotting in the streets, plotting at social gatherings, plotting at every crossroads, plotting in public squares.”

And Fouchè himself would say, to prod Bonaparte out of his apathy regarding conspirators, “The air is full of daggers.”

–Alexandre Dumas, The Last Cavalier

moar funny pictures

8 am Sunday I’m chatting with her on Skype right now. She’s doing great and her host family is nice. I feel so much better.

11:10 pm Saturday She’s safe with her group and traveling to the university where she’ll meet her host parents. I can rest now.

10:00 pm Saturday She’s on the ground in Copenhagen. She’ll message when she gets hooked up with her group, then I can go to bed.

1:20 pm Saturday She just called from the gate. She’s got her boarding pass and is connected with Elaine. Now she’s got an hour wait until flight time. She says she’ll text message me when she lands in Copenhagen 10 hours from now.

It’s going to be a long day. Thank goodness there’s a Zags game on to distract me.

1:00 pm Saturday She’s safely on the ground in Newark, running to make her connection to SAS, where she has to get her boarding pass at the podium. That’s where she’s supposed to meet up with her travel companion Elaine.

I’m very nervous about something going wrong and her missing her flight. Wish she’d call.

8:00 am Saturday Put Meredith on an airplane 4 hours ago. She flew the first leg to Seattle, then connected to a flight to Newark. She text messaged me when she landed, and again when she was on the next plane. She said she’d text from Newark.

I’m numb right now. None of this feels real.

8:00 pm Friday Meredith leaves for Denmark in 9 hours.

I’m not doing so great.

Notice the ad below the headline of the story I just posted.

Microsoft seeks patent for office ’spy’ software
Alexi Mostrous and David Brown

Post your comments at the bottom of this article

View video of Apple’s new MacBook Air

Gotta love it.

It used to just be astronauts and pilots. Now, if Redmond follows through on this patent, you, too, can have your biometric data analyzed in real time and potentially be fired for failing to meet standards.

From the (UK) Times Online:

Microsoft submitted a patent application in the US for a “unique monitoring system” that could link workers to their computers. Wireless sensors could read “heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure”, the application states.

The system could also “automatically detect frustration or stress in the user” and “offer and provide assistance accordingly”. Physical changes to an employee would be matched to an individual psychological profile based on a worker’s weight, age and health. If the system picked up an increase in heart rate or facial expressions suggestive of stress or frustration, it would tell management that he needed help.

So in addition to gathering intimate medical information they’re going to keep a psychological profile in the system of every employee? With this, my boss could tell every time I have a flash of anxiety, whether it affects my productivity or not. Would I receive a warning for gaining a couple of pounds over the holidays? What if my facial expression conveys disgust with the monitoring? And “brain waves.” What possible reason could they have for needing my EEG?

My doctor needs my written permission to share my records with another physician. This gives it all to the company every time I sit down at my desk.

Microsoft has refused to comment on the application.

Tell me again how this isn’t a violation of medical privacy. Maybe they really are evil.

Need a ruler to decide just how far off center wingnut Mike Huckabee is? Try this one.

From Raw Story:

“I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution,” Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. “But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that’s what we need to do — to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view.”

Well, that’s certainly clear enough. Any questions?