wingolog

break my body, hold my bones

I have been sick for the first two weeks of this new year, suffering from what here they term "mucosity". Not fun, not fun.

work

Still testing software, Flumotion mostly. Recently it's been a bit more rewarding, as I've smashed some nice bugs. The process of figuring out what to test, getting into the testing mindset, and actually doing the tests is tedious, but bug work is all right. You at least know that you're getting somewhere.

I recently reduced my work hours by one day a week, down from five days to four. It's basically the same as it was -- whereas before on Fridays I hacked on personal projects in the office, now I do the same in bars and cafés, and am able to eat at home. I suppose the flexibility will come in handy in the future, though. I'd be more positive about the whole thing if I hadn't been ill for both of my Fridays this year. Boo germs!

navel-gazing resolutions

Last year I wanted to focus on health, which worked out pretty well. I eat OK, cycle about an hour a day, and manage to make it to aikido about five times a week. While I suppose I could fall off the wagon in the future, maybe if I moved somewhere non-bikable, without aikido, for now I'm doing all right. I'd still like to start with yoga this year, though.

This year I want to communicate more. Too many of my friends are slipping away from me, mostly because I just don't communicate well. I'm good at visiting people, but the more pedestrian post/internet communications means are not my forte. I have problems in this regard.

recently enjoyed music

Tryo, a French reggae band. Good stuff, very alive.

terror

As engineers and physicists at Lockheed Martin and the Air Force dream up new weapons -- shaping bombers out of polymer and pixels -- politicians and Pentagoneers imagine the threats those super-bombers of the future will blast to bits.

Only the money -- billions and billions of dollars -- is real...

Frida Berrigan writes in terrifying detail about dreams deferred in Raptors, Robots, and Rods from God. This stuff makes me furious, the whole video-game aspect of it all. Reminds me of In Las Vegas a pilot pulls the trigger. In Iraq a Predator fires its missile, via lemonodor:

Sgt Mac Mackenzie, 41, an Army sensor operator who has served in Northern Ireland and Iraq, said: "It is not always appreciated that this is what we have to do. You are just staring at the screen. Then suddenly it can go live, you're involved in an engagement, a target appears and everything is turned on its head."