Gimpysoft

Since I can’t be bothered to write anything coherent on here, I’ll just let Radley Balko summarize my thoughts on Ron Paul.

Known terrorist Ken Layne posts a link to a story in the New York Times on Airport Security. Specifically, the fact that all the measures that have been put in place these last six years are useless. I think that the article should be printed out an left on every horizontal surface in every airport in the nation.

For sale: One lock whose defining feature is that it can be opened by the government whenever they want to search your belongings.

The whithered husk of a libertarian that still lives in me cringes.

Yes, we got outplayed. But just barely.

Dallas, we’ll see you again in the playoffs, and we’ll bring the whole team then.

See you in January.

We didn’t even make it to November. The heat was turned on in the house for the first time last night.

You mean there isn’t one single Google hit for Hearne Christopher’s Hair? I mean, come on. It is ridiculous. I can’t be the first to notice. Somebody back me up on this, please.

Another ugly win, but the Packers did manage to win another today. It shouldn’t have been as close as the final score of 14-17. Green Bay had two touchdowns called back, one on a very questionable holding call and one on an obvious force-out that wasn’t called as such. (Come on… If you come down with one foot in-bounds and the other just six inches in the paint after getting a huge shove, how can that not be a force out?) Still, the performance wasn’t quite the rebound I was hoping for after that collapse against Chicago.

Still 5-1 is a record I’m more than welcome to see going into the bye week. In two weeks Green Bay will be in Denver, then the week after they come here to KC. I waited too long to try to grab tickets, and now it looks like I’m not going to be able to go for less than around $300 for two tickets. I’ll keep my eye on tickets, maybe something will show up on Craigslist at the last minute. I’d hate to miss the Pack when they come to town… They don’t make it out this way too often.

David Simon, you’ve said that you are stopping The Wire after season five because you will have said all you have to say. I think the plot of season six just landed in your lap.

Toast posts her career options, so I figured I’d do the same. I took the Career Cruising (it has nothing to do with Larry Craig) test, and here are my results using just the questions of like and dislike:

1. Computer Engineer
2. Electronics Engineering Tech
3. Electrical Engineering Tech
4. Optical / Ophthalmic Lab Technician
5. Ship’s Crew
6. Welder
7. Boilermaker
8. Sheet Metal Worker
9. Automotive Painter
10. Purchaser

I always used to say that Trucker would be my fallback career, but after taking this test, Ship’s Crew has definitely moved to the top of the list.

If anybody else is as confused as I am, a Boilermaker is apparently somebody who makes boilers.

When I take the further assessment taking my current skills and education into account I come up with this:

1. Computer Engineer - Fair Match
2. Venture Capitalist - Fair Match
3. Purchaser - Fair Match
4. Electrical Engineer - Fair Match
5. Astronomer - Fair Match
6. Aerospace Engineer - Fair Match
7. Research Analyst (Financial) - Fair Match
8. Business Systems Analyst - Fair Match
9. Web Developer - Good Match
10. Economist - Fair Match
11. Database Developer - Good Match
12. Actuary - Fair Match
13. Explosives Specialist - Good Match
14. Computer Programmer - Good Match
15. Physicist - Fair Match

I was on the verge of taking actuarial exams a few years ago when it was looking to me like IT in the US was a field that was going to dry up. Yeah, I still have Ship’s Crew as a last-resort fallback, but maybe I need to look into what training I would need to be an Explosives Specialist. (It is a Good Match).

If you’d like to take the test yourself, click here, log in with username “nycareers” and password “landmark”, and take the “Career Matchmaker” test.

Yesterday was an awesome day full of football, beer, and brisket. The Packers managed to get over .500 for the first time in something like three years. It was an ugly win. Green Bay’s offense never really got clicking. Donald Driver looked awesome as always, but the spectre of Brett Favre making bad throws continues. Favre has always had a problem trying to do too much, and it led to games with truly ridiculous INT numbers. Still, the problems mainly seemed to be with judgment rather than with execution. Maybe he made a throw he shouldn’t have made, but at least it looked like the ball went where he was trying to put it.

Last year, and a bit in this game as well, it looks like he’s making throws that just aren’t going where he wants them to. He overthrew James Jones, who had gotten past his defender and would have walked in for a touchdown. He underthrew receivers a few times as well, and it seemed like receivers were really have to stretch to haul in the passes they did catch. It’s early in the season, but this is something that’s just been bugging me since about the middle of last year. Favre didn’t have the pass protection he’s had in previous years, so I’m guessing that may have something to do with the inaccuracy too.

The defense looked great. Al Harris hurt his elbow, but it sounds like he’ll be back for next week’s game against the Giants. But the game was really won by Philadelphia’s special teams. Green Bay scored 16 points. Seven were from the only touchdown, scored when Philly’s punt returner muffed a punt, which was kicked into the end zone, where a Green Bay player fell on it. Three were from a legitimate nice-loooking drive full of classic Brett Favre heroics. (He looked good, I mean real good, on that drive.) Three were from another muffed punt where the player who waved for fair-catch didn’t get under the ball, so the Packers took over with excellent field position. And three were from another stalled drive that started with a Green Bay interception.

Still, a win is a win. I’ll take it. I had to run to the store at halftime to get food for the barbecue we were hosting for Bex’s parents. I paused the game before I left, and then had to be very careful not to click on the wrong fantasy score lest I ruin the surprise while I watched the game delayed by about half an hour. But I made a delicious brisket. At least I smoked one thing this year.