I think this movie will be underseen domestically, as it covers a geeky subject, isn't violent enough, offers no love interest, and doesn't involve Americans. However, I enjoyed it alot. Escapism? Maybe. Its a Star Trek episode set in the 1700s. You get an impression of the life of the olde Navy, back when sailing the South Seas was to push the edges of human experience.

Master and Commander doesn't suck

The computing world's venerable master/slave naming convention has come under fire by Los Angeles county officials who charge that this type of product description is offensive.

A discrimination complaint has been filed with the county's Office of Affirmative Action Compliance after one county worker saw a video recording device with the "slave" and "master" tags, according to Reuters. The complaint was enough to call county officials into action, asking vendors to re-label their gear.

"Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label," Joe Sandoval, division manager of purchasing and contract services, said in a memo sent to County vendors and obtained by Reuters.

"We would request that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor review, identify and remove/change any identification or labeling of equipment components that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature," Sandoval said in the memo, which was distributed last week.

Sandoval has received some emails from angry technophiles suggesting that he be fired for his sweeping renaming proposal. The worker, however, maintains that he was not handing down an ultimatum for change but rather a suggestion that vendors see what they can do.

And all this time we thought the master/slave connection had its roots in the world of whips and chains -a notion supported by the dog collar-wearing admins.

In related news, Intel has called for server chief Mike Fister to change his name. ®

LA officials call for end to master/slave labels

well, that could shake some things up...

The Seattle Times: Health & Science: 'Morning-after pill' over the counter? FDA considers it

] The 11th edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate
] Dictionary, published in June, defines a "McJob" as "a
] low-paying job that requires little skill and provides
] little opportunity for advancement."

CNN.com - Merriam-Webster: 'McJob' is here to stay - Nov. 11, 2003

Berke Breathed gives an email interview to Salon as he begins another comic strip run (yay!) on November 23 in 160 newspapers. Bloom County / Outland was definitely one of the best news strips I've ever read and I'm glad to see more new Breathed material coming out. Good interview for anybody with interest in the penguin.

] Again, in the Onion interview, you claimed that it was
] no longer possible to
] satirize American politics. In the past two years, the
] (visible) political landscape
] has changed considerably. Do you still believe it's
] impossible to satirize?

]
] I think there's both a saturation point and a failure
] point in events being beyond satire. I started stripping
] in 1981, the same month that MTV started. Daily satirical
] comment was either "Doonesbury" or "The Tonight Show."
] The horizon was clear. We had the whole playing field.
] You young punks just try to imagine that there wasn't
] even a World Wide Web. Michael Jackson jokes passed as
] edgy comedy in "Bloom County."
]
] Now. Lord, now. The din of public snarkiness is
] stupefying. We're awash in a vomitous sea of caustic
] humorous comment. I hope to occasionally wade near the
] black hole of pop references only obliquely without
] getting sucked in with everyone else. Full disclosure:
] I'll admit that I had a momentary lapse and recently
] inked a strip where Opus' mom sees a picture of Michael
] Jackson in 1983, proclaims Jacko's old nose irresistible
] and voices an urgent wish to nibble it off down to the
] nub.
]
] It took every thoughtful middle-aged fiber in my being
] for the courage to toss the finished strip. I did, but I
] wept.
]
] Now the flip side of this is when events get untouchable.
] It becomes like the occasional lampoons of supermarket
] tabloids: unfunny because they're mocking something
] that's funnier than the satire. You can't effectively
] satirize Bill Clinton getting waxed by an office vixen in
] the office of Abraham Lincoln. It's done. Over. Go home.
] Know when you're beat. It almost was physically painful
] to watch the great Garry Trudeau have to try to get a
] handle on it.

The penguin is mightier than the sword

] Intravenous doses of a synthetic component of "good"
] cholesterol reduced artery disease in just six weeks in a
] small study with startlingly big implications for
] treating the nation's No. 1 killer.
]
] "The concept is sort of liquid Drano for the coronary
] arteries," said Dr. Steven Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic
] cardiologist who led the study.
]
] Larger and longer studies need to be done to determine if
] the experimental treatment will translate into fewer
] deaths, but the early results are promising, said Dr.
] Daniel Rader, director of preventive cardiology at the
] University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
]
] The treatment used a laboratory-produced version of an
] unusually effective form of HDL, the good cholesterol
] that helps protect against heart disease by removing
] plaque, or fatty buildups, from the bloodstream.
]
] "This is clearly on the level of a breakthrough that will
] have far-reaching implications," pointing the way toward
] a rapid treatment for fatty buildups, said Dr. Bryan
] Brewer, chief of molecular diseases at the National
] Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

New treatment works like 'liquid Drano for arteries'

] Like the Segway, Bombardier's Embrio concept--a prototype
] that may or may not make production--uses gyroscope
] technology to balance riders but adds a dash of flair
] absent in the Segway, which we as car nuts find slightly
] nerdy.

KICK ASS, 'eh?

Canadian Segway

Words just can't express the love of a rabbit for a stuffed bunny.

bunnylove

] Repossessed BMWs. Foreclosed McMansions. Pawned Rolexes.
]
] Such is the stuff of personal bankruptcy when a go-go
] lifestyle built on consumer excess runs up against
] financial reality.
]
] Or is it? Could it be that those tarnished icons of
] dead-end decadence are just as much an overhyped myth as
] the hordes of teenage day-traders back in 1999 who
] supposedly beat Wall Street's best brokers without ever
] leaving the comfort of their bedrooms?
]
] The biggest predictor that a person will end up bankrupt
] turns out not to be a bad Prada habit or a taste for
] sub-zero refrigerators. It's having children, according
] to the mother-and-daughter authors of "The Two-Income
] Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers are Going
] Broke."

A very interesting article, to say the least. I have to agree with the authors that the behavior of parents in an effort to provide for their children is what has gotten many in trouble. At least, from personal experiences that I've seen. Worrying about getting into "the best" school district, no matter what the cost of the mortgage or rent payments is listed as the biggest culprit.

I had a conversation very much along these lines with a coworker before she had her first child - she and her husband were looking at school districts and deciding whether to remodel or move houses. This is before the child is even born! My logic was that school wouldn't start for at least 6 years and by that point "the best" school would be some other new suburban area. I think a lot has to do with the fact that the newest schools get the best toys, rather than keeping all of the districts at a similar level.

Americans are NOT going broke over lattes!

] "He pointed out a relatively remote baseball diamond that
] was enclosed in a chain-link fence," Neel recalled in an
] interview with Salon. "I could see these people behind
] the fence, with their faces up against it, and their
] hands on the wire." (The ACLU posted photos of the
] demonstrators and supporters at that event on its Web
] site.) "It looked more like a concentration camp than a
] free speech area to me, so I said, 'I'm not going in
] there. I thought the whole country was a free speech
] area.'" The detective asked Neel, 66, to go to the area
] six or eight times, and when he politely refused, he
] handcuffed and arrested the retired steelworker on a
] charge of disorderly conduct. When Neel's sister argued
] against his arrest, she was cuffed and hauled off as
] well. The two spent the president's visit in a firehouse
] that was serving as Secret Service and police
] headquarters for the event.
]
] It appears that the Neels' experience is not unique. Late
] last month, on Sept. 23, the American Civil Liberties
] Union filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Philadelphia
] against the Secret Service, alleging that the agency, a
] unit of the new Homeland Security Department charged with
] protecting the president, vice president and other key
] government officials, instituted a policy in the months
] even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks of instructing
] local police to cordon off protesters from the president
] and Vice President Dick Cheney. Plaintiffs include the
] National Organization for Women, ACORN, USA Action and
] United for Justice, and groups and individuals who have
] been penned up during presidential visits, or arrested
] for refusing to go into a "free speech area," in places
] ranging from California to New Mexico, Missouri,
] Connecticut, New Jersey, South Carolina and elsewhere in
] Pennsylvania.

'I thought the whole country was a free speech zone.'