Timelies all!

Both G and I have today off, which is a nice change.(Last few years I've had the day off and he hasn't. New job, new holiday plan)

Quiet day. At some point we need to rake leaves, but otherwise no plans.

No day off, either. And, slooooow. I'm going to have to find really stupid stuff for my people to work on. Maybe inspecting the 1600 boards that one of our suppliers packed wrong and broke nearly all the fuse holders off of. Now, all it needs to do is rain. I might just use up some of my personal time.

Did I mention that people in the Bush administration are insane? I probably have, right?

From a secret Rumsfeld memo on May 1:

Today, as U.S. goals in the world at large have changed, existing international institutions have failed to adapt sufficiently. Effective international organizations are needed to bring competence to such areas as quick reaction forces, military training, military police training, counterproliferation, capacity building for the rule of law, governance and domestic ministries. This may require institutions designed for those purposes rather than struggling to reform existing institutions to take on tasks for which they are ill suited.

The broader [U.S. government] structure is still in the industrial age and it is not serving us well. It is time to consider a new Hoover Commission to recommend ways to reorganize both the executive and legislative branches, to put us on a more appropriate path for the 21st century. Only a broad, fundamental reorganization is likely to enable federal departments and agencies to function with the speed and agility the times demand. The charge of incompetence against the U.S. government should be easy to rebut if the American people understand the extent to which the current system of government makes competence next to impossible.

Yeah, the problem is that the president still doesn't have enough power.

...

Strategic communications . . . A new U.S. agency for global communication could serve as a channel to inform, educate and compete in the battle for ideas. . . .

Today the centers of gravity of the conflict in Iraq and the global war on terror are not on battlefields overseas. Rather, the center of gravity of this war are on the centers of public opinion in the U.S. and in the capitals of free nations. The gateways to those centers are the international media hubs and the capitals of the world.

When the U.S. government tries to compete in the communications arena it runs up against lack of national consensus and understanding about what means are acceptable to the media and to the Congress and disagreements as to what is legal. . . .

So he wants a Ministry of Truth....

[link]

Venture Bros. stuff you can download: [link]

Includes a link so you can download the song that henchmen 21 and 24 sang at the wedding.

(Spoilery, of course.)

Drank a double macchiato on the way into work. Napped for twenty minutes before leaving the car. This immunity to caffeine is just weird.

So...that meeting everyone needed to prep for and sent me evidence they'd prepped? About a quarter have done so, and my deadline was ten minutes ago. In twenty minutes, out goes a chastising e-mail.

You need to put shock collars on them - like the kind people put on dogs so they won't bark.

I imagine wifi-enabling them would give you the best control (assuming you have wifi there). Or else maybe bluetooth?

eta: I cannot spell today....

I can be weirdly immune to caffiene sometimes, except if I drink some late in the day and really need to go to sleep to get up by a certain time.

Then I'll lay awake for hours, buzzed as hell.`

I thought Blackberries were supposed to be shock collars, dammit!

I used to be normally susceptible to caffeine, even sensitive--no tea past 6pm for me.

Now I can have a triple espresso at 9pm and be asleep by 10. Heaven forbid I should need to use something to keep me awake and alert.

I feel like last week was the darkest episode they'd ever done.

Last week was one of the darkest things I've ever seen broadcast on basic cable.

Yeah, I wouldn't let Emmett watch that one.

It really has totally warped his mind on the superhero biz, though.

Emmett: Who do you think could beat up Brock?
Me: Uh, among superheroes without any superpowers? I don't know. Maybe Batman.
Emmett: Batman?!? Brock would totally kick Batman's ass. Dad, Brock beat up two guys by grabbing one guy's arm with his butthole and swinging him around like a weapon! Batman never did that.
Me: I bet he'd love to try.
Emmett: What?
Me: You're right. I don't think I've seen Batman using that trick.
Emmett: Brock would go sickhouse on him.

ION, there's a new bird -- okay, one that's newly discovered. . . probably not "new."

Also, an article about Tim Gunn's grandfather.