I'm getting into what is hopefully the last week of my more than a month and a half business trip to San Diego. My weekend has been undemanding, giving me time to read and relax. It got me to thinking about one of the weirdest things I've noticed about San Diego.
Cats here are crazy about the little dividers between groceries in the checkout isle. You know the ones I'm talking about—the long, thin plastic bars that divide your groceries from the next person's on the checkout conveyor belt. Everyone here, without exception, has insisted on using these dividers. Generally, where I live, people are relatively confident that the cashiers can figure it out and only resort to using the dividers when the grocery lines are long and cramped. But not here. You can be one of the only two customers in line with a small handful of groceries and the person behind you and in front of you will both still insist on setting one of these plastic dividers down. It's god damn creepy.
I really don't think the cashiers are exceptionally stupid here, so I chalk it up to how cramped San Diegans are. People here are so used to being smashed up against the person that it makes them paranoid about having to ask the cashier remove an item from their ticket that belonged to the person behind them. Weird.
Anyway... The best part about San Diego? Are you worthy?
If you are interested in such things, head over to the Funkyware blog and read a rant about conflicting audio server standards in Linux. Martin-Éric Racine proposes we all adapt NAS, which he describes as the "one sound server standard..., which has been supported by HP, NCD and every other commercial X device manufacturer for ages". Typically NAS support is rolled up into the Xserver itself. Until today, however, I didn't know NAS existed, usually choosing between Esound or aRTS on a Linux box.
I've had a hard time googling up an authoritative site covering NAS, however, to find out more about it. Anyone care to offer a link covering the standard? I've been using Linux (and even admin'ing commercial Unix boxen, although never with sound support) for quite some time and I've never heard of this standard. Maybe the problem is exposure?
A day after former President Reagan's death, news of his departure and the subsequent reactions from those who knew him, those who worked with him, those who lived through his two terms, and those who build him up to mythic proportions dominate the airwaves. It's the only thing I can find on the news today. Regardless of what you thought of Reagan, you can't deny the reaction his death has evoked.
On my own bloglist alone the reaction has ranged the gamut. For some, he is a hero who defeated evil and rebuilt the Republican party, while for others, he is an all-but contemptible man with "blood on his hands" in a very personal way. For yet others, Reagan's death seems to be a touchy subject—if you can't find something good to day, your work might be boycotted. Some take this opportunity to obliquely criticize George W. Bush, who many in the media are lovingly comparing to Reagan, while others like the Highest Himself are simply happy to have a break from having Bush under the microscope.
However, most, like myself, are left without much emotion, save perhaps a bit of sympathy. I was pretty young during Reagan's two terms and much of what I remember is a kaleidescope of cultural images.
However you feel about ol' Ronnie, his death has caused great waves around the blogosphere and mainstream media.