Wednesday's Brains Continued!

The Official Slogan of the Bush Administration: "Not every violation of the law is a crime."

( So says America's top lawyer. )

Bush shocked, shocked! at Russia's behavior

( Moral authority? What moral authority? )

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will receive taxpayer bailouts. Why are they paying dividends?

( From your wallet to the shareholder's pocket. )

Only one of McCain's nine homes is good enough for Architectural Digest!

( Convicing America your opponent is elitist? Priceless! )

What will the candidates do about the drug war?

( Because they both have pasts... )

Violating the user's expectations

I don't usually do Microsoft Windows. Unfortunately, company policy at the office for ${DAY_JOB} requires that I have a copy running somewhere so I can participate in the company calendar because the company, despite having a Unix background isn't capable of actually running a Unix-based calendaring solution. So I keep a vmware image of Windows XP running quietly, down in the toolbar, and check it at set intervals throughout the day.

This morning I went to examine my calendar only to discover that Windows had "updated" itself sometime in the night and I had to log back in. When I had, I saw the usual array of icons on the left. I scrolled through them until I found the one for "Email," and, this being vmware and a little slow as images are being pulled off-disk (over NFS, ouch!), I right-clicked to pull up the context menu.

And I couldn't find "Open." I've been using various operating systems for years. My attentional awareness is optimized for that icon (refer to Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, a book which ought to be on every web developer's bookshelf, for the discussion on how the word is the "ultimate abstract icon"), "OPEN".

After a second of confusion, I realized there was an entry on the menu, "Read email..."

Thank you, Microsoft, for once again taking a familiar pattern and warping it to your own perverted ends. Everyone knows how to "open" a letter, or a mailbox. Why Outlook has to be different is not beyond me: you're just trying to ruin the experience for everyone else.

Muse and I, Sittin' In A Tree

Muse and I have been on a tear the past two weeks. First, she delivered on Moi Neuroses and I have a solid rough draft, and she's been pushing forward on Wishing Well: Homecoming, a kind-of wrap-up where Wish assembles all the thoughts she had during her trip out to llerkin and comes to some important conclusions. We've been in a relentless "Finish it or Kill it" mood, which brings us down to the question of when should a story be abandoned.

Cybernetic Control Authority started life as a role-playing game scene, and I thought I could adapt it to a Journal Entry. As it stands, it's not too bad: "Cheyenne versus the Terminator," ending up as a huge diplomatic brouhahah.

The problem is that there's no sex scene, and no real justification for one. Muse's response is that I should try making the story bigger. "You need a reason for Cheyenne's behavior in Robots of the Deep Versus the Vampire Girl of Fallow Five; maybe this is the chance The Deep takes, here and now, to seed the universe with Encompassment Enforcers, and Cheyenne becomes programmed, unknown even to her, to be one of them." Grief, I'm not sure I want to write another novel, though. I've got too many already.

Still, looking through the catalog of unfinished works, it seems that I'll be finishing quite a number sometime soon. And the queue will get deeper.

Oh, but Muse has more for me. Last night she said, "You complained that the family reunions in the Honesty and Heroine arcs are too similar. Okay, let's play with Heroine, since the backstory in Honesty is too solid. Does Dove have a sister?"

Wretched girl.