orange is my favorite color

kie: resnet evil underground lair
kiel: kinda psyched
kio: soove gralad



i think that terrorism colors should be more friendly.
e.g.
NEWS HEADLINES:

department of homeland security upgrades terrorist alert status from grapety purple to raspberry red.

sources say osama bin laden may be wearing any of a number of clever disguises and may be in obsessive pursuit of fruity breakfast items de facto reserved for kids.

cia director toucan sam pledges to 'follow his nose" to al qaeda operatives.

so yesterday i was playing quake ii, a fairly recent discovery to the house which has provided all sorts of ethernet amusement to most all the residents, and i put up an away message. you know, to keep those pesky windows from popping up while i was playing. the away message was "blowing shit up", which is basically a succint explanation of the premise of such a game.

i don't know how many of you have parents that have discovered the communication revolution that we 1337 types call instant messaging, but for those of us who have it is a mixed blessing. it's good because it puts us in touch with family in an informal setting rather than the "DROP EVERYTHING I'M ON THE PHONE WITH MY PARENTS" kind of setting. it is bad, however, when one has to censor his away messages and profile accordingly. especially when one of the users of said parental aim account is 10 years old. sigh.

the following is my best attempt at recreating a transcript of the conversation:
Hoser3328: tommy

---

Auto-response from MrMansell: blowing shit up

---

Hoser3328: hi
Hoser3328: that's not a good auto-response to have right now.
MrMansell: :-P
MrMansell: i'll let you know if the fbi comes after me.

half hour later, after dismissing them to play quake, the phone rings (this, by the way distracts me enough to blow a 7-frag lead and let raj win. grrr.)

tom: hello?
mom: do you think you're funny?
t: huh?
m: do you think that message is funny?
t: (audible sigh)
m: that's not something good to be putting on the internet.
t: (loud, frustrated sigh) mom, it's not like... (thought: ah, forget it it's not worth explaining)... no i guess it's not funny.
...
dad: if somebody saw that you could be investigated big time.
...

mom proceeds to ask if our house has enough duct tape and plastic, and if we have a room in the house that is air-tight. yeah, we have an air-tight room. it's through the secret passage from the kitchen to the conservatory, right next to the billiard room. honestly.
another snippit:

t: what is plastic going to protect against, like, anthrax?
m: yes. and radiation.
t: i tell you what [sic], plastic will not keep out radiation.
m: (pause) well it will dissipate it.
t: (sigh)

apparently eric had a similar dialogue with his parents, only a bit more extreme than my own.

yup. parents.

in other news, my cell phone has been broken for the past 2 weeks, and i've just been checking the voice mail. luckily my verizon contract just ran out so i can probably milk a new phone out of them. the only con is losing all the numbers in my phone.

i think socrates hit the nail on the head from plato's dialogues, speaking about cell phones in the following manner in the dialogue "cellularis telefonica":

For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but only appear wise.

i don't remember a single number in the phone because i never had to. so once i get my new phone, be sure to give me a call so i can perpetuate my dumbness.

have a (insert emotion here) valentine's day, everyone.

ed: honestly, my parents freak out about everything. just last weekend i was warned against driving to boston "in a hurricane". yes, the hurricanes that so frequently come inland as far as ithaca. -9/5/06