Are my eyes really blue?

The spam situation with Moveable Type is out of control. Legit comments are being auto-flagged as spam, while spam is getting through the tightest filter settings at a rate of ~1000 per week. So if you do place a comment, it might not hurt to ping me…I’m considering trying to implement registration but I don’t know if that’s possible in this configuration; I’m also considering whitelisting email addresses if the system will allow it.

Thanks. We now return to your regularly scheduled snark and whining…

So Andrew Luck, faced with the loss of most of his bodyguards (3 O-linemen and a fullback going away) and with the money of the #1 overall pick on the table, decides to stick around and play at least one more year.

And then 24 hours, his coach flies the coop to go to the NFL.

What’s Google’s core business? Aside from advertising, of course. Well duh: search. Search is at the root of what Google does; it’s the reason they can even sell you advertising in the first place, because it’s keyed to what you search for.

Earlier in the week, on Shutdown Night, we had a friend over who lives in DC and is searching for a new place to live, owing to a massive soap opera with her landlords (who are splitting up) – but her situation is complicated by the fact she has a dog. No problem – my first instinct is to jump on Facebook, make sure all my old DC people are on the post, and pitch her situation and requirements to see if they have any insight on pet-friendly accommodations in proximity to either where she works or a Metro line that will get her there. Bibbity bobbity boo.

Warren Ellis had a 12-issue comic miniseries called Global Frequency, which John Rogers (of Leverage fame) turned into the pilot for a series. It didn’t get made, but the pilot leaked on BitTorrent and became a cult hit. The premise is that there is an organization known only as the Global Frequency that exists outside of normal government and multinational channels, largely focused on cleaning up the messes left behind by the Cold War and other clandestine nonsense (and funded on the sly by the countries that created those problems). The organization consists of its mysterious leader, her mysterious assistant who runs the switchboard and the screens…and a thousand people who have The Phone, which will occasionally ring, and you will be asked to bring your particular talent to bear on the problem. Linguistics, physics, sharpshooter, free-runner, guy who built his own homemade rocket – if you are the best there is at what you do, at some point Miranda Zero shows up on your doorstep and hands you The Phone.

The thing is, we all have that. Doctors, video game designers, amateur pilots, psychologists, law enforcement, insiders at Fortune 100 tech companies, knitters, journalists, artists, lawyers, Foreign Service officers, cello players, National Geographic photographers, librarians – all of those and more are just in the first hundred or so people I see on my Facebook list. Now maybe I’ve lived most of my last fifteen years on the Internet and benefit from having built out an eclectic group of friends and acquaintances to start with, but if somebody says “dog-friendly lodging in DC,” my first thought isn’t to type into Google, it’s to punch out a post – “hey DMV, you are on the Global Frequency” – and see who replies and what they suggest or report.

Google used to be much better at this. PageRank and its algorithms did what Yahoo hadn’t been able to keep up with by hand and Alta Vista simply wasn’t capable of handling: cut through the crap and get to what you want. But as one writer after another is reporting, the eternal quest for SEO and ad revenue is leading to an explosion of redundant content, scrape-off sites, and out-and-out spam between you and what you want to know. And if you can post on Facebook, or fire off a tweet and get a response, how much faster and more reliable is that than wading through ten pages of Google links trying to see which of them might have valid information and which are LITERALLY the same forum content recapitulated three times over with different ads NASCARd around them?

If Facebook – or Diaspora, or Twitter, or some other social networking entity I can’t even imagine yet – can do a good job of streamlining the path between the knowledge our friends (and theirs) possess and what we want to know, it would trump any search engine you can think of. If somebody figures out how to make this work reliably – and then monetize it – look out.

Why the hell does ecto keep eating these posts?

Anyway, week 1 of Tuesday Night Unplugged went just fine, largely because we had a friend over for dinner until almost 11 PM. I never even brought the backpack or Kindle upstairs, and the only reading was a bit more of At Day’s Close, which I’m re-reading because my original copy was the victim of a water heater overspill incident and I just received the replacement copy from Amazon. There was a wee bit of computer usage, but it was using the AppleTV to show the Demon Sheep ad on YouTube, so I think that’s within the spirit of the parameters I specified earlier.

Speaking of replacement, it looks like Dr Martens is going to replace my 1460 For Lifes for no more than the cost of posting the boots back to them. They are not kidding about the lifetime warranty on these bad boys, and me, I’m just cised to get a pristine pair of new black 8i Docs to start the new year…

Well, we’re off and running, as the House of Representatives opens its bid to retake its title from the Senate as the world’s largest open-air special-needs kindergarten. Seriously, we have reached a point in history where all you need to make a name as a Republican is a Southern accent, an undiagnosed case of oppositional-defiant disorder, and the ability to surmount any obstacle between you and a camera – one look at the new “cutgo” rules and the gymnastics on waiving deficit reduction for the health care repeal bill should make it obvious that things like reason and logic will be taking a hike for a while up on the Hill.

Ah well, can’t sweat it too bad. Yes, California still ships enough money to the Feds to pay for its own share of federal benefits, pay off its own budget deficit ten times over, AND cut every man, woman and child in the state a check for $1000 annually besides, but in all other respects we still have the Valleys and the world’s eighth largest economy PLUS a government not in the kung-fu grip of the kind of people who need to cancel the week’s activities because Auburn’s finally in a BCS bowl. I’m 3000 miles away, I’m more than happy for people to get the government they deserve – but I do the math and pay attention, so try not to get it on me.

If that sounds like I think I have some sort of superiority complex…well, duh.

Early notes on 2011:

* Congratulations to the NFC West champion Seattle Seahawks – at 7-9, losers of 7 of the last 10, officially the single worst playoff team in NFL history. And because all division winners are treated equally, they will host the 11-5 Saints on Saturday. Meanwhile, two 10-win NFC teams will be sitting at home for the crime of playing in the wrong division. The NFL is shit.

* The Redskins are worse shit, of course. With all the other 6-10 teams (there are at least six, maybe more, I lost count), the Skins wind up picking 11th in the draft, which will probably mean no Andrew Luck. Don’t know if I think anyone else is obviously worth a first-round pick (I don’t think the NFL will know what to do with Cam Newton and I don’t think he can be turned into a pocket passer given how much of his game is running) and not sure I trust the Skins to make good trades to get more picks and find gems in the lower rounds. I know this, though: Grossman is in no way materially superior to McNabb, there are no adequate replacements in free agency, and the odds of success with a rookie quarterback are nonexistent (even assuming we did a better job drafting than we did with Heath Shuler and Patrick Ramsey).

* The Kindle browser is quite effective with Wikipedia and IMDB (assuming mobile versions of each) and as such is the ideal thing to have while perched in front of the TV watching movies and sorting out obscure plot points or “hey-it’s-that-guy” identifications. That plus it fits neatly into the inner pocket of just about every jacket I own. That’s an end of using the iPhone as a Kindle, which will extend my daily battery life that much more…

* Looks like we’re going to use Tuesday as shutdown night. First attempt is in two days. Looking forward to it, actually.

* Starting the new year with a sinus infection. I could feel it kicking in about 8 PM last night and immediately started in on zinc and vitamin C and herbal remedies, but I’m not sanguine about the prospects for the rest of the week, especially being on call to start the new year…

It wasn’t that bad a year, personally. Work went well, or at least didn’t make me want to walk in front of a Caltrain. Personal life went reasonably well, highlighted by a 20-year high school reunion that really completed the “remember who you are” business. My health is pretty good and getting better (looming trip to the dentist notwithstanding), the car is running well, and I have much faster Internet access at home than ever before.

And yet.

The crap of the wider world is out there. Whether it’s the ongoing disaster brought about by the Confederates and their amen corner in the press, or the nonsense going on with my relatives down South, or an economy that just seems stuck in neutral, or the growing sense that those responsible for this foolishness will completely escape consequences for their actions – there’s a lot out there to be depressed about, which can only be held at bay by resolving to shut out the outside world and not participate.

Maybe that’s why my Christmas wish was for a dull moment – enough of them to last a year. 2011 may well be a cocoon year – stay home, curl up on the couch at the screen end of our new fat pipe, get lost in the distraction of books and movies, and regularly pull the plug to go hide somewhere with coffee and comfortable chairs and maybe even a fireplace.

For the last four years, I’ve regularly kept a list of things I’ve enjoyed throughout the year, so that I can look back for trends and things to look at for next year. The theme this year, it seems, was either traveling to someplace far away and unreal (Europe, or Disneyland) or else holing up somewhere quiet, whether that be at home on the couch or on a backroad in the driver’s seat or in some quiet and largely empty dive bar. There’s something to be said for five-space, and that may be what’s helped keep me sane this year. Maybe an increasing sense of self-reliance is preventing the kind of trouble I had in 2007. Who knows.

Meanwhile, we have a New Year’s Eve plan – a very nice early dinner in Napa, followed by a proper party with friends, and then? The Rose Parade and the moveable feast of college football.

HOGMANAY!!

Over 75% of Bill O’Reilly’s viewing audience is age 55 and up.

On Saturday, the first baby boomers become eligible for Medicare.

If you look at the demographics of the budget battle, of the health care reform debate, of the teabaggers generally, it’s difficult to escape the conclusion that our immediate political future is the war of the Boomers against everyone else, behind their banner reading “I Got Mine – Fuck You.”

But the other thing that springs to my mind – especially looking at Christine O’Donnell’s newfound trouble with her election cash – is that sometime in the last twenty years, talk-show hosts and their anointed candidates became the new televangelists. Whereas in years past, the stereotypical person of a certain age would send the whole Social Security check to Oral Roberts, now the money all goes to Cash4Gold and SarahPAC. And for much the same reason – if you can trade cash for salvation, temporal or heavenly, you have to make that deal, right?

So after almost a decade of hemming and hawing about it, I finally splashed out today on a legit Navy peacoat – as in, bought from a surplus store, with no branding aside from the Navy inventory label, size 46L and made in the USA. If Gabriel Hounds made outerwear, this is what the first product would be. And given that it’s going to be wicked cold for the Napa Valley tomorrow when I have an early New Year’s Eve dinner at Ad Hoc, it’s not a minute too soon purchased.

I also tried on (but ultimately didn’t buy) an Alpha MA-1 bomber jacket, and came to the realization that I really do need long sized for shirts and jackets. Unlike my lovely wife, whose six-foot height is all in the legs,* my height is all in the torso length, which is why most jackets just come off way too short or way too wide on me. Having a nice classic coat which should (and could) last until I’m 60, and will be in style the whole time, is a straight-up win.

Speaking of two decades, it’s remarkable to me that in my life, I’ve seen the textile industry move from the South to Central America to China. I was flabbergasted at how almost everything in the surplus shop was actually made in China. I mean, if I wanted an American-made pair of hiking boots, where the hell would I even start to look? God help me if I needed something even more specialized, like trail runners. I think the whole “Buy American” phenomenon is an interesting hybrid of the nationalistic right and the union left, and I’m tempted to go mulling about in the contract-apparel business to see if I can find some nice sturdy long-lasting shirts and things. Although even the Ben Davis chore coats are made in China now. I mean, WTF…

That reminds me, I need to call in a service on my DM 1460 For Lifes – the right one appears to have picked up a squeak in the sole, as if some sort of whoopee cushion has formed under the arch of the foot somewhere and is squeaking with every step (and much worse on tile or hardwood). Now we will see what’s doing. I admit I have been looking at LL Bean Maine Boots for warmth and water-resistance (of no small consequence when commuting on foot), but the only piece of footwear I could conceivable justify at the moment would be MAYBE a pair of cross-trainers more suited for non-running forms of exercise. And duck boots ain’t gonna fit the bill.

Eh, whatever. Time to decide what I’m going to wear into 2011…

* I believe that among the kids, the done thing is to add “U Jelly?” God, I’m old.

So I finally handled a Nexus S. This is a step up from the Nexus One, where you got to put your hand up to a Flash animation. But any Best Buy should be able to show you the S, even if the alarm cable goes off EVERY TIME YOU TOUCH IT. It’s not bad – the curve of the Contour Display is barely perceptible and Android 2.3 is the most refined and responsive version yet. The build feel is a little cheap, but that seems to be the case with almost any plastic phone these days; the iPhones and Nexus One and certain Droids have ruined me for any phone that doesn’t have some heft to it.

What struck me, though, was that you have to download and install Fring or something similar to facilitate video calling on the Nexus S – it has a front facing camera but no native video calling support. And I thought about FaceTime, and it clicked for me – Android is well engineered, but iOS is well designed, and the difference is significant. I can’t imagine Apple shipping a product with hardware in it that would require a third-party install to use at all (and don’t say Bluetooth – maybe you can’t sync over it, but Bluetooth support exists for headphones and keyboards). All in all, I think I’d still rather have the Nexus One.

But…supposedly there will be a Samsung media player at CES that is essentially the long awaited “Android Touch” – a real iPod Touch competitor, not a 7-inch tablet with 800×480 resolution or a 5-inch phone. And that would tempt me; after a couple of days in airplane mode I find it easier than ever to get by without needing the 3G data. (Being lucky enough to live in Silly Con Valley, with pervasive Wi-Fi everywhere, makes it simpler.) In fact, Google Voice is perilously close to becoming the free SMS replacement that Blackberry users fulfill with BBM, now that there’s a native GV app for the iPhone. And hell, Skype is now doing video calling on iPhone over 3G…which will make things interesting.

Meanwhile, the Kindle is doing work. It’s my sole source for the New Yorker, and all my upcoming pre-orders for books have been changed to Kindle editions instead of paper. The browser is surprisingly capable for stuff like Google Reader or Wikipedia (hint: load the mobile version of the site and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the speed) and the free 3G data is going to make this a handy thing to have. I even bought the Ocean’s 11 soundtrack from Amazon in MP3 format and dragged it onto the Kindle for nice ambient listening music. Now I just have to take “Clare de Lune” off repeat…