Demon Clown Baby

My old computer had the fun problem of crashing due to bad AGP slot. Usually using Excel, but not always. Sometimes the display just quit, sometimes it crashed and reverted to 16-colour 640×480 which at least gave me a chance to save my work.

So I got a new computer, but the onboard audio for that wouldn’t work. Installing updated drivers had the wonderful side effect of causing the whole machine to power down. I tried booting up in safe mode but it powered down before I could get in. I finally managed to disable onboard audio and log in to regular mode just long enough to frantically run regedit and delete the necessary keys.

So at this point I’m must-shoot-puppies-now frustrated, and trying to put in a new video card I manage to cut my finger. Serves me right for trying to do it while under the desk, instead of unplugging and setting the case on a nice table. And it figures that I don’t get hurt doing major construction projects but I do with a little routine computer hardware maintenance.

So the next day I tell my boss about it and have this conversation:

Me: So then I cut my thumb and my finger while fiddling with the card. I thought about filing worker’s comp for it, but…

Boss: No, I think you should file for that.

Me: …

Boss: But you were terminated last Friday, so I don’t think it’ll fly. In fact, I don’t really know what you’re doing here.

Me: … Touché.

Boss:

Me: You win this round!

It’s nice to have a boss with a sense of humour.

If you haven’t read The Man Who Folded Himself, by David Gerrold, it’s worth checking out. It’s probably the definitive time travel novel. I don’t agree with everything in it, it’s pro-homosexuality and anti-christianity, but since most of society these days is anyway, I see no reason to let that stop me.

It’s a first person story of a young man named Dan that receives a timebelt as his inheritance. He can travel to any period in history, which he does, but the primary use to which it is put is to go back in time, or forward, and socialize with alternate versions of himself. He is therefore almost the only character in the entire book.

It’s a quick read, but thought-provoking, and if you have trouble enjoying other time travel stories, this might be for you. At last, time travel done in a non-paradoxical and non-stupid way, most especially it is nothing like the schlocky tv and film time-travel that most people seem to think is what science fiction is about.

David Gerrold wrote The Trouble with Tribbles, a famous Star Trek episode, and I used to hang out on his CompuServe forum quite a bit back in the day, before unchecked prejudice from other forum members drove me from it.

I had checked out the book at the library because it was out of print. It’s in print now, and I just got a copy, hence the review. Now I eagerly await the 3rd Star Wolf novel, also by Gerrold.

Yesterday a gunman shot 32 people on a college campus in Virginia, it seems.

I only vaguely heard about it yesterday, and didn’t try to find out more. School shootings no longer surprise me, so I don’t really rush to see the news about them.

I think it’s sad that people on both sides of the gun control debate are not even waiting until the murdered people have been buried before using their senseless deaths to further their own agendas.

And I’ve heard rumors that some might be using what happened to further their “video game violence can lead to real-life violence” philosophy.

I can understand it; I sure want to say things about how perhaps our society’s purposeful derision of traditional morality fuels this sort of behavior.

But you know what? Only the people who already agree will agree; everyone else will just be all the more convinced of their position, because they’ll see the opposition as opportunistic and heartless for trying to capitalize on a tragedy.

So, whatever your thoughts, give it a rest. Why don’t we all agree that murdering people is bad, offer our support to the grieving families, and wait until next week to start the “I told you so” nonsense.