BoomFlag

Like many people in the Denver area, I gripe about Qwest and their terrible customer service, installation hassles, and unasked-for packages on my bill. But today I can cheer for them, as it’s been revealed they were the only one of the four major telecommunications carriers who stood up to the NSA in late 2001 by refusing to hand over a database containing call records for everyone on their network.

Last December we all learned that Bush had been authorizing warrantless (ahem, illegal) wiretaps on American citizens. I’m still waiting for that story to play out in court– although most likely it won’t. At the time, he made it abundantly clear that the NSA was only investigating international calls, because everyone knows that’s where the terrorists are. I guess we were all supposed to feel better that people calling Pakistan and Afghanistan got a little extra love from the NSA, but the rest of us were free from Big Brother.

Not so. Now we learn that the NSA has been collecting call records (number called, time, and duration) for 200 million Americans since fall 2001. It’s the largest single database in the world, and they’re doing it all because they want us to be safer from terrorists. Keep in mind that domestic surveillance of this nature is almost certainly illegal, although cynics like me know the Bush administration will find some way to spin it as a legal move because the President can do whatever he wants in a “time of war”.

In any case, it turns out that when the NSA came a-knocking, three of the major phone providers– AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth– opened right up and handed over their confidential customer information. They’ve continued doing so for the past four and a half years, providing the NSA with periodic updates so the database is complete.

Well, not quite complete. Qwest told the NSA to blow it out their ears, and not to come back without a court order. The NSA made some thinly-veiled threats, waved the banner of patriotism, and invoked the tired “national security” argument… all to no avail. Qwest refused to hand over their data, and after almost three years of negotiations, finally broke off all talks with the NSA. Now, a few years after that, they remain the lone holdout.

Good for them. At least the list of the thousands of phone calls I’ve made for the past four years isn’t sitting in an NSA computer somewhere.

Apparently there’s a new rage in footwear these days: Nude Sandals.

Basically, they’re nothing more than thin rubber soles that stick to the bottoms of your feet using a “special water-based adhesive”. They peel off at the end of the day (without leaving a sticky residue, thankfully) and you can stick them back on tomorrow.

I’ve never been the best-dressed guy around, and it’s well known that I spend the vast majority of my days barefoot. So it’s a bit baffling why this is so revolutionary. Why not just go barefoot in the first place? Since the sandals are essentially invisible, there’s no practical way to tell if someone is wearing them or just prancing around sans footwear.

I suppose I should be grateful, actually: if these really catch on and people start going to stores and restaurants in them, there’s no reason why I couldn’t just walk around barefoot all of the time. These days I keep my sandals in the car, just in case I need to slip them on at a store… in the new world order, I wouldn’t even need to own shoes!

Here’s a hilarious shot from Flickr: the seldom-seen life of a ninja blogger.

It’s not much fun to be a kid these days, particularly in Portland, Oregon. The Portland public school district has officially adopted a policy that says playgrounds cannot have any of the following:

• swing sets
• merry-go-rounds
• tube slides
• jungle gyms
• teeter-totters

And, of course, playing tag is against the rules, as is running. That’s right, elementary school kids aren’t allowed to run on the playground. Without any of the fun equipment above, and without being allowed to run, I’m not sure what’s left– a thrilling game of marbles or something?

Sorry, kids. Old people and overprotective parents suck.

Zack has a couple of his friends over today, and they’re in the basement playing a variant of Duck Duck Goose where they run around the circle saying

Darth Vader…
Darth Vader…
Darth Vader…
JEDI!

Hilarious.

As part of our science “enrichment” course at school, Laralee and I taught a lesson about forces and thrust. It was just a weak cover story for our real goal, which was to blow up some Diet Coke. In an impressive display, I dropped five Mentos (“The Freshmaker!”) into a two-liter bottle, and we got a fountain that was probably twelve feet high.

Science is so fun.

“Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH, the paint wouldn’t even have time to dry.”

— Terry Pratchett

“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.”

— Robert Heinlein

I’m listening to Duel of the Fates from The Phantom Menace (great piece of music!) and it occurred to me that I’ve never understood what they’re saying in the song. It also occurred to me that AmaroK, my music player, has the ability to download lyrics from the internet and display them.

So I gave it a go, and… well… I guess now I know what they’re saying.

You’ve got to like Captain Obvious.