Tuesday
Helluva fast work day. I spent about 7½ hours in flats processing. That helped. That and Chamber of Secrets.

Came home and went for a 4½-mile ride as the sun dipped behind the mountains and below the horizon. It felt good.

And, a note from last night: I beat Jess, once again, at Tetris! Tonight, however, I am 99.44% sure that she has already kicked my ass: She got 153 lines. I have my work cut out for me.

NPR/PRI Programming
Talk of the Nation

  • They talked about Bureaucracy today. No, not the text adventure from Infocom. The red tape, stand-in-line, drive-you bonkers kind. They mentioned the new Office of Homeland Security… and joked that it may wind up becoming another shining example of bureaucracy at its finest. Neal issued an email challenge for listeners: Come up with possible mottos for the new agency. Some (all but one of them, in fact) of the responses were very tongue-in-cheek:
    • “If we’re still here, you’re still here.”
    • “September 11, 2001” (the only serious response)
    • “If it doesn’t look like we’re doing anything, it means we are.”
    • “Most accidents happen at home.”
    • “If you can’t be free, you should at least be safe.”
    • “We’re watching YOU.”
    • “Eternal vigilance, interminable rhetoric.”
  • Wednesday’s Show: “Bad Bosses”

    Have you ever taken direction from someone you felt to be incompetent, unreliable, or just plain difficult to be around? If you answered yes, then you understand how hard it is to work for someone who is a rotten manager. But, there are strategies for dealing with and even remaking your boss. Join Neal Conan on the next Talk of the Nation for a look at surviving the bad boss.¹

    The show airs from 2 PM – 4 PM EDT (12 PM – 2 PM MDT) and they will be taking calls and emails during the show. If you want to participate, send email to totn@npr.org or you can call their toll-free number 1-800-989-TALK (8255). If you email the show, be sure to put “Bad Bosses” in the subject line; if you can’t call or write during the show, send in an email before the show airs.

The World had a segment about a successful case of tel… um… well, see for yourself:

Our next story might sound like it was dreamt up by a Star Trek writer but sometimes fact does follow fiction. Scientists in Australia say they have successfully teleported a laser beam encoded with data from one spot to another. They only managed to teleport it the distance of about a yard but when you consider that what they actually did was to make a laser beam disappear, and then reappear in another part of the lab, well … “Beam me up Scotty.” The World’s Technology correspondent Rebecca Roberts joins us to sort out scientific fact from fiction.²

The segment can be heard here, in RealAudio format.

That’s enough for now.

Peace.

¹: from the Talk of the Nation website
²: from The World website