Steaming Turd

So, apparently, they brought back Let’s Make a Deal. Wayne Brady is hosting.

Can’t wait to see what game show they give to Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie….

In 1913, H. G. Wells wrote about a rule set for a tabletop miniature wargame that he and some friends had invented. The game used tin soldiers common at the time, along with spring-loaded model artillery pieces with 4.7″ barrels that fired 1″ wooden projectiles.

But, since H. G. Wells was such a high-quality author, the short book he wrote on the topic is not just a set of rules - it’s an entertaining read, as well. Since 1913 is miraculously outside the bounds of copyright, the book is freely available at Project Gutenberg.

Is Obama constitutionally barred from accepting the Nobel Peace Prize while in office without Congressional approval?

I’m writing this from my new cell phone. I think it’s gonna take a little gewtting used to. The keyboard on this thing is fairly tiny, so.any tyopos arew thwe result of my not having.a special dialing. waand. (In the future, I’ll be a little.more generous with thw proofreading, but I’mleaving this one unedited for fun.

In honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I spent my September 19 on the Potomac River. The boss was good enough to invite some of his folks on a trip on his boat up the river to DC near Reagan Airport and downriver to some restaurant on the riverbank called Tim’s somethingorother. It was definitely a good way to finish off the summer.

Today marked my one-year mark at the USPTO. It seems like only yesterday that I had no idea what I’m doing. Oh, wait…

Out of 17 people in our lab (a subdivision of the 130 or so people in our incoming class at the Patent Training Academy), three have left so far. I dunno, I don’t consider that to be a very good rate, especially considering that several more would probably have already left if the economy didn’t totally suck right now. My supervisor seems to think it’s pretty good, though.

First thing I did when I got to work this morning was register for the laptop program. They let you take home a gubment-owned laptop through which you can continue examining patents from home. Since they cut all paid overtime, this somewhat limits what I can use it for, but it still gives me the peace of mind of knowing that if I’m getting behind on production, I can work on stuff during the weekend at my own pace without having to head all the way to Alexandria.

Of course, given their other financial woes, it’s not clear whether they have any laptops to hand out. I don’t think anybody considers layoffs to be a realistic possibility, but the more pessimistic folks there think that furloughs (i.e., “take 8 hours of leave without pay on Monday”) could be in the works if things don’t turn around soon.

Later on, after I’ve been there two years and am at the appropriate pay grade, I can apply for the telework program, which is sort of a “hoteling lite” where you can work from home one day per week (as in normal hours, rather than just overtime). You use the laptop for that, too. I’m particularly looking forward to being able to do that, but it’s another year off.

Eventually, if you so choose, you can join the hoteling program which lets you work from home all the time, with the caveat that you have to head to Alexandria twice per biweek (you only have to stay like an hour or something, though). There are additional requirements for this, so it probably wouldn’t be until the 3 or 4 year mark that I could do that. They give you a full kit of equipment for that, essentially like having an office in your home.

One minute to spare!

I headed in to DC this year to catch the fireworks with my bare hands. Certainly the best show I’ve seen in person - any show where the grand finale makes me smile is definitely a good one.

Getting in and out was a bit of a hassle, though….

The Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner was tonight, and there are clips of the festivities on YouTube.

First up, we have President Obama giving some remarks: [Part 1] [Part 2]

And following that is Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman: [Part 1] [Part 2]

Yes, they are both very, very funny, and I highly recommend you watch the whole shebang.

These clips were originally televised on C-SPAN and then posted on teh Intarweb by some random person. C-SPAN has, in the past, had clips of non-Congressional functions removed from YouTube, so get it while it’s hot.

Obamas head to NYC for a night on the town; GOP objects

Okay, so the short of it is that Barack and Michelle Obama headed up to New York City on Saturday (whether that’s today or not, I can’t tell from the article) to have some fun. The RNC complained, essentially saying that Obama shouldn’t be out on the town while the automakers face bankruptcy.

I say, what’s the big deal? Assuming that they’re not frivolously spending taxpayer money on their trip, and instead are picking up the tab themselves*, this should actually be considered a good thing. Increased consumption is what will eventually bring the economy back out of the depths, and every little bit helps. Besides, even the President should be allowed to have some fun every once in a while.

There are a lot of things one might choose to give Obama a hard time about. This probably isn’t one of them.

* There are a lot of hairs to split in the matter of whether or not this was on the taxpayers’ dime, and whether these costs would have been incurred anyway even if they’d stayed in DC. For example, I would expect them to pay for their own show tickets, but does dinner in NYC cost more than the government would pay for the White House staff to fix dinner for them? I don’t know. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt as long as they don’t make a habit of it.

See the scare of the millennium. Coming to a loltheater near you.