Yesterday was unimpressive. In fact, it was just about the most boring day I've had in a while, since it mostly involved prodding very carefully at the development system before rolling it over into production that afternoon. Testing? We don' need no steenkin' testing. A far cry, regardless, from the typical frenetic coding atmosphere.

I'm tired, too, and I don't know why. Well, okay, I know why. It probably has something to do with not getting my proper, required, eight hours of sleep. This sort of thing tends to make me even more surly than usual, as well as making it a bit difficult to think straight. Or maybe I just need more caffeine...

And to top it off, thanks to Memorial Day (during which I worked, grr) there won't be any comic books to buy until tomorrow. Surl, surl.

I have, however, discovered ReBoot. Hmm. Wacky. I will not, however, be doing a daily summary of the series, especially since it probably isn't episodic like DragonBall Z.

There must be more to say... oh, yeah. Apparently there's something out there on the horizons called UCITA, which is being developed by some inter-state advisory commission or the other (boy, I really remember this one well). Among its provisions are such gems as - making it legal for a software company to remotely shut down their software on a customer's machine(s) if they believe their licensing terms are being violated, making EULA's more enforcable, making "reverse engineering" illegal, et cetera. Since it's only being proposed by an advisory commission, it's apparently low on the radar screens, but it could then be adopted by states, subtly making it a real law. Isn't the democratic process wonderful? Anyway, a main linky site for it is here: http://www.pdos.lcs.mit.edu/~cananian/UCITA/.

I wonder if it's possible to emigrate to Canada...


Dragonball Z Update: Goku's had enough of the wimpy 20 G practice, and is ready to boost the G's up some more to increase his badass factor. But, suddenly and without warning, his sweaty training is interrupted by a telepathic conference call! Ain't that always the way?

Meanwhile, back on Namek, in Subplot B, Krillan, Gohan and Bulma discover a little more information than they wanted when they learn that Nameks are asexual, and all the (pitiful few hundred) Nameks on the planet are all children of the same guy, the sole survivor of the disaster that stomped the planet's ecosystem. (Bulma's remark: "Only one sex? Wow... I'm glad I'm not a Namek; talk about boring!") Definitely a bit too much information, here.

Back in Subplot... uh... whichever one Goku is in, he gets a telepathic conference call from King Kei, one of the denizens of the afterli...er, next dimension, who's discovered the four earth heroes who were killed by Vegita. Goku exchanges a little chat with his old friends, until it's revealed by him that Vegita and Frieza are on Namek. King Kei totally panics, insisting that Goku not confront Frieza. "Sure," Goku says. "Really." King Kei agrees to train the four earth heroes while they're around, but also insists that they promise not to engage Frieza when they're returned to life. "Sure," everyone says. "Really." But first, they must pass King Kei's test; a truly major one for such powerful heroes. They have to make him laugh.

Meanwhile, in Subplot B, Krillan and the Dispose-A-Namek head off in search of the Eldest Namek, reasoning that he should have the last Dragonball, and with the other six in the hands of one villain or the other, it would be an even guess that someone of the evil persuasion will come looking for it soon enough.

Two of the earth heroes, whose names I can't remember, much less type right, manage to make King Kei laugh (the special forces guy and the little floating clown guy). Piccolo just sneers at the whole thing. The three-eyed guy (there's a three-eyed guy, yes) has trouble with the whole concept of humor... This is one of the toughest contests he's ever faced. He's slipped a hint by one of his comrades, and manages to stammer through it, making an idiot of himself, until at last he can focus on the battle! Letting loose his warrior nature, he at last works the joke through - "You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish!" (Yes, it's repeated several times, Fatality-like). King Kei feels so sorry for the poor schmuck that he busts out laughing anyway.

But then trouble finds Krillan and Dispose-A-Namek, in the form of Vegita and his power sensing ability. Krillan goes to ground, and once again Vegita is distracted by another powerful being... this time one of Frieza's squaddies out searching for more Nameks...


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