Bamboozled

I saw "Bamboozled," and I think I missed the point.

The plot features a black man (who acts white) who creates a TV show for a white boss (who acts black) in which black performers wear blackface and act like idiots. I've heard that the director has remarked that the only black people TV audiences are comfortable with are buffoons. There are no dramas with an all-black cast, only comedies.

Maybe that was the point of the movie, and no more.

The movie seemed a bit preoccupied with history. It showed artifacts of the time when blackface was popular, and it took care to show how blackface was originally made (by burning cork).

This is the first movie by Spike Lee that I've seen, so maybe there's some underlying theme to his movies that I'd understand if I saw more of them.

In any case, the movie seems to be some obvious comment about racism and/or race relations. The fact that I don't understand it makes me wonder if I'm missing something important.

For the birds.

While my wife vacations with a friend, I'm caring for the friend's bird, Booger. This morning I have confirmed that Booger will carry out those threats to bite any finger near the cage. And that's a sharp beak.

Fafblog on flypaper.

I've written about fly paper before. It's the idea that we fight in Iraq to keep terrorists from attacking here. There's been quite a bit more attention paid to that idea since the recent attacks in London. I'm not going to go over it again, but Fafblog has an excellent post on the topic. Enjoy it.

Roberts and the Federalist Society

I haven't paid close attention to the Roberts nomination, but I finally found an idea about it that I feel like propagating. It's this:

We're talking about the moral and intellectual caliber of a nominee to the highest court in the land. If he really has forgotten so many details about his association with the Federalist Society, he is suffering from some form of premature dementia, which surely disqualifies him for this position. If he's compos mentis, he is lying.

Sorry, weaseling.

(Found via this post at Feministe.)

As a part of my not paying much attention to this story, I haven't cared much whether Roberts was a member of the Federalist Society. This says that it's like being a member of MoveOn.org, but I've always thought the eeeeevil of that organization has been exaggerated too. Let me reiterate, however, I'm writing from ignorance. I'm not proud.

In any case, the "I don't remember" lie doesn't cut it. I can accept having someone in the court who agrees more with President Bush than with me; I didn't win an election. What I can't stand is having a judge who can't be honest with us about himself.

How sleepy am I?

There is potentially Too Much Information (TMI) ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you.

We got up kind of early this morning to get to the ultrasound appointment. I've been foggy ever since. I didn't realize how foggy until I went to the bathroom and discovered I have my underwear on inside out.

A white board announcement

IT'S (GOING TO BE) A BOY!
The doctor who did the ultrasound this morning is 95% sure we're having a boy. So that narrows down the name search, and we can go full steam ahead on the clothing selection.

Where the sun does shine after all.

My helpful daughter came with me to the basement to move clothes from the washer to the drier. She brought with her a small flashlight she'd been playing with. When the time came to handle clothes, she stuck the flashlight between her legs to hold it there while she helped. With that in mind, I bring you...

Top ten reasons for that spot of light on the floor behind my helpful daughter

1. She ate a Halloween light stick.
2. That alien tongue she spoke before English was her natural language, and this is just another part of her natural beauty.
3. The sugar, spice, and vast quantities of nice things have mixed in a way to create a luminescent reaction.
4. The mice in the rafters can't aim the spotlight very well.
5. A lightning bug conspiracy whose true nature, if understood, would topple civilization as we know it.
6. The beams of Daddy's pride have finally found physical manifestation.
7. She's animatronic.
8. It's a figment of your hallucination.
9. She really is full of sunshine, and it's leaking.
10. Well, there is that flashlight...

I just can't forget the sight of my little girl clenching her knees together and projecting a spot of light on the ground behind her as if her fanny had a halo.

Expecting to be sick tomorrow.

My wife had it over the weekend, and my daughter caught it on Monday. If I follow the pattern, I'll have it tomorrow. My manager laughed when I told him I expected to be sick.

The iRiver replacement

My iRiver iHP-120 died. I got in the car, turned it on, plugged it in, started the car, fastened my seat belt, grabbed it to see how the bootup was doing, and a circuit-frying bolt of static electricity jumped from my finger to the play button. I heard a loud pop through the car speakers as the jolt passed out the headphone jack. From then on, it would power on and complain that it couldn't contact its built-in hard drive.

Luckily, I bought a warranty. Sadly, the one I had is no longer made. I had to spend $14 on an upgrade to an iRiver H320, which is functionally identical with the exception of photo viewing, which I haven't tried.

I'm here to tell you what's good and bad about the new gadget.

• Good
  • Pretty color screen!
  • All the controls are on the face.
  • It charges off a USB connection, so I can leave the blocky charger at home.


• Bad
  • When the display turns off, the first button you hit does nothing but turn the display on. It makes eyes-free operation harder.
  • Case covers up the data port (so I have to take it out to plug it in). The case isn't really necessary, but I figure it might offer a little protection from pavement plunges.
  • No power indicator. I ran the battery dry not knowing I'd left it on.

All in all, I really like it. Its faults are minor enough to get used to, and it still has what I really liked about the old one.

Safe Personal Backups

Schneier on Security: Safe Personal Computing

Schneier lists things you can do to keep your computer safe.

One thing that caught my eye was backups. He says to backup regularly, and I agree, but he also says to store an off-site backup in a safe-deposit box and to destroy old backups. I'm assuming these measures are to prevent data theft.

I've been encrypting my backups for a while, and I think it handles the problem nicely. I can store my off-site backups at work, and the worst that can happen is they're destroyed. I can chuck an old CD-ROM in the trash with confidence that a dumpster diver won't be reading my email.

There's the problem of how to back up the key used to encrypt the backups, but that's the same as the general problem of how to back up any encryption key.