• Is this in fact the twilight of the PC era?
  
• With all the buzz about big überglorious supercomputers, there are more voices questioning the traditional FLOP metrics and suggesting that maybe we should think of supercomputers in a different light.
  
• Are micropayments the future of the Internet economy? Perhaps. Read and ponder.
  
• Is Linus Torvalds more powerful than Bill Gates?
  
• You know how I love me some critical liberal screed. Hell, if you read this blog regularly you get a metric assload of it. Thus, I give you If Tom Daschle Doesn’t Crack the Whip and Get His Caucus to Filibuster the “Trojan Horse/Poison Pill” GOP Medicare Bill, the Democrats Will Probably Face a Massive Defeat in 2004. Here is Why.
  
• So, since my last update (sorry), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declared that the existing state law defining marriage as being between a man and a woman was inconsistent with the state’s constitution. Since I have something of a vested interest in how this whole thing turns out, you can bet I’m going to post a bunch of links for you.

  CNN’s legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin weighs in with a mostly-positive review of the ruling.

  TomPaine.com, that great public interest journal, has their own analysis that is IMHO much better.

  This Boston Globe columnist raises the specter of Loving v. Virginia, the landmark 1967 U.S. Supreme Court case that invalidated anti-miscegenation laws.

  Everybody’s favorite sex advice columnist, Dan Savage, parrots about why he likes remaining unmarried. (It’s mostly about his mother and his money, apparently.)

  Finally, an op-ed piece in the Salt Lake Tribune reminds us all that this decision does not mean the sky is falling.
  

• While I’m on a roll here, have a look at this clarification on the reasons for the destruction of Sodom. Hint - something else was more important than sex.
  
• Does your company have a blogging policy? If not, check out Ray Ozzie’s version, and build appropriately.
  
• I’m pulling the new Drupalized version of the Growing American Youth page together. It isn’t yet ready for prime-time, but with a little tweaking it should be a distinct improvement.
  
• You will note a distinct lack of commentary in the coming weeks and months on the whole Michael Jackson molestation mess. Why? BECAUSE I DON’T FUCKING CARE ABOUT IT. It really pisses me off that we have to pay attention to it all while our troops are dying in Iraq; while our allies are suffering acts of terrorism; and while the current administration is continuing to evade nagging questions about Halliburton’s contracts, the removal of the anti-war-profiteering section of the occupation funding bill, and the lack of any evidence of weapons of mass destruction.
  
• Wednesday night R* and I went to the Trailhead Brewing Company for dinner. I got a sampler of 6 of their beers - though the raspberry lambic was a bit too sweet, the brown ale was good, the amber ale excellent, and the pumpkin ale delightfully subdued (most are overpowering). Plus, I had an acceptable barbecue brisket sandwich.

  Afterwards we went to see the third Matrix movie. Meh. It had its moments, but to get to them you had to endure a lot of tedium. And there was a lot left unresolved. But it led to an interesting conversation on the ride back on the almost-solipsistic nature of the Matrix itself. (Yes, actually, everything that you experience is all in your head.)
  

• Last night I hung out for a while with my friend Jimmy, and watched Margaret Cho (The Notorious C.H.O.). Since then I’ve had non-stop Margaret in my head. My only complaint is that the real Cho clips are interspersed with the little snippets from the audience before and after the show itself.
  
• Might be getting another cast-off laptop from work. mwahaha.
  
• A London editor for The Nation posts her take on Bush’s visit.
  
• Oh, and don’t forget our whopping successes in Afghanistan.
  
• Some days when I go to the locker room before and after my workout, the TV is tuned to Fox News. I’ve begun to associate the term “fair and balanced” with my own bare ass. Read into that what you will, but remember that my skin-tone is most often called “fair” and that I’ve been striving for buttcheek symmetry in the weight room.
  
• I’m going to add the Gallup “State of the Nation” poll to the links on the right here. They’re just fucking cool.
  
• Finally, I’ll be doing the Thanksgiving turkey again this year. As in the past two years I will be brining it - and once I get home tonight I’ll post the brine recipe I use (as given to me by my friend Dan). If you have any control over the turkey you eat this T-giving, then I suggest you use this method (or at least recommend it).

So I met R* last night for our proto-date. Had amazing Korean food (at a “secret” place, whose location I have been instructed not to reveal), “scintillating” conversation, and Pocky, a delicious Japanese snack which unfortunately has little English-language explanation on the Web. And apparently kim chee breath is very sexy. *ahem*

After the proto-date I swung by ye olde video rental shoppe and snagged The Notorious C.H.O.; Happy, Texas; and Buckaroo Banzai (a subtle nod to the eclectic tastes of my netadmin colleague). Watched the Margaret Cho one, laughed my ass off, and laughed some more. Today during dinner (chili) will be one of the two others, probably Buckaroo Banzai.

(In looking for that Margaret Cho link, I came across the info on her next stand-up tour. I simply must go, but first I need to get myself to a city where she’ll be. grumble grumble. Any volunteers to host me? I’m quiet and don’t smoke.)

Today, I decided to bring myself up to literary speed with this one boy with whom I’ve been chatting, and pick up some Rilke. So far, after just 10 pages, I am floored at how spot-on he is about so many things. (More comments on that as I read more and ruminate more.)

Have to go in tonight and fix the UPS while nobody else is on. What a way to spend a Saturday night, huh? I may do something afterwards but haven’t committed to anything.