The Senate today refused to reauthorize major portions of the USA Patriot Act after critics complained they infringed too much on Americans' privacy and liberty, dealing a huge defeat to the Bush administration and Republican leaders.
I emailed my Senator yesterday, asking her to shoot it down.
Last night I finished reading Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, the Beat Generation, and America by Dennis McNally (perhaps better known for his biography of the Grateful Dead), a book which I picked up for a few dollars this year at Bumbershoot.
I never knew Kerouac had such a depressing life. In fact, it was pretty much over by about 1960. He sure was one strange antisemitic, christian-buddhist, hippie hating, drunk.
The City of Lost Children is a cyberpunk film about a mad scientist who kidnaps children to steal their dreams, in hopes of slowing his aging. It’s French, and it’s excellent. In fact, if it wasn’t for the drugs, strippers, and murder, it would be a good children’s film. Go watch it.
From what people have been telling me, it’s a whole lot of work – should be interesting.
I packed by bag tonight and I have a feeling it’s going to get really heavy after the first hour or so, but most of the weight is water, so there’s not much I can do about it, save drink.
What I’m wearing:
1. Wigwam INgenius hiker socks
2. ECWCS polypropylene long underwear
3. UnderArmour ColdGear mock-t
4. Acrylic watch cap
5. Polarmax zip mock-t
6. Normal cargo pants
7. 5.11 HRT Waterproof boots
8. Best Defense ECWCS GORE-TEX Pants
9. Normal snow jacket
10. Patagonia Lightweight Capilene Glove Liner
11. Blackhawk Hellstorm ECW gloves
12. Patagonia Neck Gator
Everything in layers. Everything but the pants are moisture-wicking, synthetic fibers.
About a week ago I went back to using Electric Sheep, a screensaver which uses your idle CPU cycles to generate animated fractals – the collective dream of sleeping computers.