Diary of a Wolfeman

He conceded.

From a political standpoint, I can see why he did it: to forestall a possibly ugly bout of recounts and animosity from the sitting President.

It still irritates me though, since Ohio is STILL sitting out there, with 20 fat EVs up for grabs in a race that everyone was calling “too close to call”. So now we have to deal with another four years of Bush, another four years of tax cuts for the rich, tax breaks to companies who outsource jobs overseas, and a very real possibility of a reduction in women’s rights. And let’s not forget how American travellers overseas get spit on by complete strangers.

It seems that both the issues I felt strongest about this year have been defeated, and I’m pretty disappointed in my fellow Americans for not seeing what is to me amazingly logical.

I highly recommend that every American sit down and read what Thomas Jefferson had to say about the governing of a country. If we could all do that, maybe we could get some things straightened out.

Herr Gropenfuhrer did, and look how well he’s doing. Vetoed driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants and passed stem cell research. Go Arnie!

Pardon me while I write a couple of rather pointed letters to the President and the head of the Democratic party.

What the hell is up with Ohio? I swear it seems like the tabulators are dragging their feet so their state can be the deciding vote this year.

As of this writing, Kerry needs Ohio and Iowa to tie, Ohio and Wisconsin to win, or toss all four remaining states into the Kerry pile to wipe that smirk off of ol’ Beady-Eyed-Bush.

Crappity. One last check and then it’s bedtime…

Almost 12:30 on Election night, and we’re down to 5 states. 4 states hold 27 electoral votes and then there’s fat, juicy Ohio with 20 whole votes.

I don’t think Kerry is going to win at this point. Sure, he could, but it looks to me like it’s either going to Bush or a tie, in which Bush still wins. (Or at least gets re-appointed; the House of Reps is a GOP majority).

If Kerry manages to get Ohio, it will be close either way. Fingers crossed…

Sitting here watching the news coverage of the election results, I find myself wishing they had hired some sportscasters to be the talking heads. This whole election has taken on the feeling of a Superbowl for me, due to the polarization of the people, and having some of the more colorful spaortsacsters would make for better listening.

Jack-O-Lantern, that is.

I can remember as a child carving pumpkins the week before All Hallow’s and having them last until at least the middle of the next week, but something seems amiss in the patch this year.

Pookie and I murdered a couple big orange gourds last Saturday, and when I went to light them for her today I discovered that hers was soft and growing quite a nice complement of fungus, and mine was getting soft in a couple of places. After only 3 days.

What gives? Has anyone else noticed the decline in pumpkin lifetime? Let me know…

Massive Incorporated Launches World’s First Video Game Advertising Network

Ads will be served during the game – they say it won’t distract from gameplay, and allows marketers to pin down the elusive 18-34 demographic.

When will these fuckers figure out that we don’t want to be advertised to? I have always enjoyed the lack of real advertising in games – it was the only visual entertainment left that didn’t have ads. What’s next? Ads in my sci-fi novels?

A message to all marketing personnel the world over: LEAVE US THE FUCK ALONE!! If you want us to buy your products, release demo units to the press and get someone to review it on /. – that’s all you need to get a geek’s attention.

While Greyduck has been writing about fictional interviews I had one the other day.

Well, I guess you could call it an interview…

Greyduck’s boss realized a couple weeks ago that it would take about two months for Greyduck to deploy the 30 replacement computers they had on order, so he authorized hiring a contractor to come and help with the project. Greyduck, of course, knew just who to call. It pays to have an IT guy as a roomie when you’re contracting :)

The call from his boss never came, so I took some action myself and went down to the office to help Duck clear out some room for the inbound shipment, and made sure to be someplace looking useful when the boss came ’round the server room. the interview lasted about 30 seconds, but the net result is that I got the contract, and spent today happily swapping out comps. They only want me to work part-time, which means the project will take about two or three weeks.

Unless, of course, I can talk him into that maintenance contract…

You ever get that feeling that the group of adults you’re in, even though they’re technically your ‘peers’, is older than you?

I took Pookie to the second of the birthday parties this weekend, and this one was much easier on me. The hosts of the party were very good about making sure it wasn’t completely centered on the kids by keeping adult munchies in the kitchen and basically letting the kids play on their own. It was at their house, too, which was a big help.

Anyway, after standing around and chatting with the other parents for a while, I realized that they’re all several years older than me, most of them somewhere in the middle of their 40’s, and what a difference those extra years make. I suddenly felt that I didn’t really fit. It’s not like I was labeled ‘outsider’ or anything, I just knew that no matter what, the only time I would ever willingly spend time with these folks was for my daughter’s sake.

Of course, it didn’t help any that the other fathers were almost all your basic beer-swilling sports fan stereotype. I get along ok with them, but find I get along slightly better with the mothers. One in particular seems to come from my side of the world, as we have similar tastes in music and even know a couple of the same drag queens. (That’s a scary thought.)

Another interesting tidbit of gleaned info:
There is a company here in Oregon that is developing what is known in Sci-Fi dom as a “Bones McCoy” – an injection device that doesn’t use needles to penetrate the skin. (Also called an air hypo.)

This goes to show you that there are alot of inventive people here in the Beaver State – other Oregonian inventions include cable television, the Phillips-head screwdriver, the hacky sack, the computer mouse(!), the Fosbury Flop high-jump technique and the Erector Set building toy.

Maybe the Oregon motto of “She flies with her own wings” should include the number to the Patent Office.

What kind of Hell, do you ask? The worst kind. The birthday party of one of Pookie’s classmates. 20-some-odd 5 year olds in a small restaurant, for two solid hours.

Pookie had a great time, until the last 15 minutes. That’s how long it took me to get her out to the car, kicking and screaming at me the whole time. Full-blown hysteria, including hyperventilation on her part. I’m sure some of the folks who weren’t at the party thought I was ripping her hair out, when I was really doing my damndest to get her to just stop screaming and breathe long enough to cool off.

Those of you who know me well know that I tend to stay away from places where there is going to be continuous loud noise – my hearing is such that I cannot tune things out, and the greater the noise, the worse my concentration gets. Well, when I have an armful of shrieking daughter, I simply cannot think.

Now, in her defense, Pookie is normally a very sweet little girl, and when she’s on her best behavior she can charm a roomful of child-haters. Every now and again, though, her inner demon comes forth and lays waste to the neighborhood in a manner that must be seen to be believed.

Dealing with these fits has been truly difficult for me, as all of the children I have had to deal with in the past (my son included) could be cowed by my voice. I always started out calm an reasonable, but when I started to raise my voice, they would knock off the nonsense and pay attention. (Hell, I have stopped people bent on violence mid-swing with my voice before.) Not so with Pookie – she seems extrordinarily immune to the ‘Voice of Doom’.

Maybe she’s immune because she is my child, but whatever the reason, it’s beginning to worry me. Maybe I can get her to start doing centering exercises to deal with her anger…

After waking up this morning to 36 comment moderation requests, all due to comment spamming, I decided it was time to roll out the big guns to prevent further work. Knowing that WordPress here uses plugins to make changes to the basic idea, I went looking and came up with The Three-Strikes comment spam filter.

What it does is analyze a comment for spam keywords, and uses a weighted point system to grade it. The more keyword hits, the higher the score. Score high enough, and your comment gets deleted without ever being posted, and you get redirected to the FBI website.

At least, that’s the theory. Let me know if it gives you problems.