In terms of Condi. One thing she did that was very unpopular was fail to fill the office of the person who was in charge of seeking money for the state department, of lobbying for it to get its share of the budget. If you are the boss, and you fail to make an effort to get funding for your department, that has to make you unpopular. One of the things that was used as discipline during Condis reign was not providing bodyguards to employees in dangerous parts of the world who were seen as not being team players. It strikes me as possible that stuff like this could mean the reporting was accurate - not love of Clinton, but disgust with Condi that was this strong. A boss who is not actively seeking to sabotage the department and not actively seek to endanger the lives of employees as a punishment for lack of sufficient enthusiasim might indeed seem like a liberation. Not saying the reporters story is true, but not all that implausible.

I still have this one as my background at home, and it still makes me smile when I see it.

LOVE that!

Aw Man. I just got this message from the managing attorney in this office.

In case you did not receive this message, below is an invitation from BiggestWigofAll for StillPrettyDamBigWig's upcoming videoconference for non-lawyer staff. As you may know, SPDBW recently held a videoconference with the associates and he is having this one with the staff on January 29, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. in Room 7C. SPDBW is trying to keep everyone informed as the Firm navigates through these difficult times.

You may also recall that we have a quarterly Palo Alto office lunch next Tuesday, January 27 at noon on the 6th floor. We will take some time to discuss similar topics from a local perspective. Despite the challenges being faced by virtually the entire world, I have bought in to the new themes of Hope and Yes We Can.

See you all at the meetings.

(emphasis mine)

Verklempt Now.

Jesse, here's a fun follow-on from that one: [link]

Knitters turn to graffiti artists with 'yarnbombing'

The knitted bus is awesome! (Yeah, a full-sized bus covered in knitting.)

Jesse, here's a fun follow-on from that one: [link]

Ha!

Timelies all!

G comes home tonight. Yay!

Missing White House E-Mails Traced, Justice Aide Says

Huh. How 'bout that? I was sure they were lost for good. Although some still have doubts.

A Justice Department lawyer told a federal judge yesterday that the Bush administration will meet its legal requirement to transfer e-mails to the National Archives after spending more than $10 million to locate 14 million e-mails reported missing four years ago from White House computer files.

...

Her remarks prompted Anne Weisman, the counsel for one of two plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), to say, "I'll believe it when I see it." Weisman said she hoped the administration's efforts to recover the e-mails can be verified by an independent expert, noting that officials have repeatedly declined to detail the procedures they used. She also said questions persist about whether backup tapes still existed for all of the days for which e-mails were reported missing.

Meredith Fuchs, counsel for the other plaintiff, a historical group known as the National Security Archive, said the Justice Department's statement was "striking" because the admission that 14 million e-mails had to be recovered showed "the level of mismanagement at the White House" of its historically significant records. She said, "For the past year and a half, they said, 'Don't worry, don't worry, leave us alone.' Now they say, at the last minute, they have solved it. I want to see the evidence."

Roomba's roots

By way of BotJunkie comes this robot vacuum, the Dustbot, sold by Tomy in 1985. I'd never even heard of it. The broom and dustpan is not, apparently, how it does its job. That's just for a little light entertainment while it attempts a little light vacuuming.

Cheney criticizes Bush decision. The first comment is not to be missed.