inessential by Brent Simmons

2001/04/19

I watched the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour this morning. It never gets old.

Before it even cleared the tower I yelled at the TV. Go!

To give you an idea how fast it goes: three minutes after launch, once the solid rocket boosters have dropped away, if the shuttle decides to abort the launch, they're set to coast into Spain.

I also learned how you officially become an astronaut. You're not an astronaut until you reach space and the shuttle commander says to you: "Welcome to space."

Welcome to space. I'd love to have someone say that to me some day. Sheila has told me that she'd go to space with me.

I was really glad that all this Napster stuff is over so I could finally unplug the speakers from my computer and hide them away in the closet.

Less is more.

You can't see your own face, only reflections or pictures of it.

You can see your nose a little bit. Sometimes I close one eye and pull my upper lip so I can see it. It's weird to see part of your face directly, however blurry.

Try it.

Whenever people ask me what I want for Christmas or my birthday I always say I want less. I want anti-gifts. I want people to come and take away things I don't want anymore.

Objects are not weightless; objects have mass. The weight of unwanted objects is double that of wanted objects.

"radiation.gif"

Sam DeVore agrees that Mail.app bites the big wazoo.

"tinyshoe.gif"

I almost retired one of Ranchero's servers last night. Came so close, but then it was too late at night to go on. Perhaps tonight. I think when it happens I'll throw a party.

Music to my fingers:

shutdown -h now

I wish this were a command:

shutdown -h "now and forever, dammit, and get outta here"