Slashdot

So, basically almost half of Americans think that Obama is a straight-shooter and over half think McCain is? Or at least, since there's no reference to the "unsure" crowd, perhaps I should phrase it differently: Essentially half the American populace believe that some politicians may not be lying to us.

To these people I'd like to ask: "Did you also know that 'gullible' is not in the dictionary?" After all this time, half of us still believe what these assholes say to us, or are at least willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. There's just not enough lumber in the world to make the clue by fours I'd need to beat people with, is there?

(Filed under: bug)

So, Friday night I'm driving with my wife and son through Tempe on my way to the bookstore so my wife can pick up her copy of this vampire/werewolf book everyone seems so gaga over.

I'm driving down McClintock Avenue when the red and blue lights come on behind me. "Hmmm... not speeding, plate is current, didn't do anything wrong". I turn off onto a tertiary street, and after a few minutes the officer comes up to us, asks for the trinity (license/registration/insurance) and informs us that our plate has been flagged for non-compliance with insurance. I did get a letter from the MVD that this would happen, because my policy got rewritten to comply with AZ law when we moved back, and that caused the old policy to be canceled. But I went to the MVD to straighten it out and they said everything was hunky-dory.

I want to stress at this point that the police officer was a complete professional through this, and was respectful, courteous and friendly the whole time. But he did notify me that he is basically forced by law to confiscate the car's license plate. He says "let me run this one more time and we'll see if it's just a computer glitch." He comes back again after a few minutes and says "you're free to go. I should've looked closer. The plate I put in came back to a Hyundai (we have a Ford Windstar), and I typed 225 instead of 255. Sorry for disturbing you."

Mildly annoying, sure, but it's only ten minutes, so no big deal, and he admitted he made a mistake which is way more than I expect from any government authority (Local cops in Tempe and Mesa are professional and decent human beings. I'm much more wary of Arpaio's boys). I started thinking about it more and more. If instead of a simple financial responsibility law infraction, the plate that is so similar to mine was tied to a violent criminal on the lam, or God forbid, some terrorist suspect? Would the simple act of hitting a record in the computer database woken the vast fitfully sleeping machine far beyond what a Tempe, AZ cop intended because of a duffed keyboard entry? I'm glad I didn't have to find out.

I think license plates should have a modulus check digit. :-)

So, about a year ago, I bailed from Slashdot, wiped my journals (so stupid!), dabbled with Multiply, which I despised, so I left there, and basically became a hermit.

All I have to say is I don't think I've coped with life very well these last couple of years. But, things have a way of returning to their base state, and I have been reading /. regularly for a few months now, and sharing my wit(lessness) with the masses. But, I've not been reading journals, and many of the friends I've made here have gone on to Multiply, so I guess I'll be missing them.

Also, my office here at the newspaper has been emptied. And at home the house is all but packed as we await the movers tomorrow to return to our beloved Arizona deserts. I will once again be working in space sciences, and hopefully, I can return to my normal zany insanity instead of the brooding miserable insanity that has possessed me for the last two years.

So, as I return to "my happy place", I'll try to do better to keep in touch. :-)