Two words you never want to hear your boss say: "internal project".  This is what happens when you are between projects for too long and when the next project starts is unclear... could happen immediately, could take weeks.  Companies don't like to see their workers billing "unassigned time" for too long--developers are awfully expensive commodities in the U.S.A. and it isn't good when they become part of the P.S.O. (Profit-Sucking Overhead).

So in an effort to keep the developer from twiddling her thumbs for too long, eventually the company will assign an "internal project".  This is just busy work, usually badly defined, haphazardly built, hardly ever finished (because as soon as the real project starts you get yanked off), and in the end, largely unused.  I've seen a number of internal projects over the years, maybe a dozen or so.  The number I've actually seen completed?  One.

Well I've reached that point where I've been on the bench long enough that the company is desperate to throw anything at me to keep me busy.  So today I'll be gathering requirements and writing up a loose spec for a hardware tracking system for the IT department.  Tomorrow I have an all day training session, and by Friday I should probably be getting started implementing the system.  I guarantee, if a project starts up before I'm finished the project will get mothballed and the IT guys will continue to use spreadsheets to track mouses, keyboards, monitors, and cpu's.  So it's hard to take it seriously.

Ah well.  It's an opportunity to work with .NET and SQL Server I guess.  Helps me stay sharp.  Or something.

Yes, I am blogging while completely naked.  No, I'm not doing something naughty to myself, I am naked because my clothes are in the washing machine, with the dog towels, bleach, and a healthy measure of Skunk Off deodorizer.  Get the picture?

One of my dogs got skunked tonight.  No not Tina, who, although too stupid to quit after being sprayed in the face repeatedly, is at this stage of her life too blind to see a skunk and too deaf to hear one.  But when I went outside to get the dogs out of their pen tonight Cassie bolted right out of my grasp and ran for the front yard.  I walked out there in time to see her tangle with a skunk and then go *hurkpthhshhh* and run away.  She wouldn't come when I called her, before or after being skunked.  And afterward she was so upset and frightened she actually ran back to the pen, ran inside and refused to come out.  If it were not 10 degrees out, I might have left her there all night and dealt with cleaning her outside in the morning.

But it is too cold for all that.  So I went inside and put some plastic grocerybags over my hands and dragged her straight to the downstairs bathtub.  She was covered in dirt (probably from trying to roll in it to remove the odor) and fought me every step of the way.  Two hours and two bottles of skunk shampoo and a lot of fighting later, Cassie is in her crate for the night and quite subdued.  I'm sure the evening took a lot out of her.  It wasn't exactly a thrill for me either.

But she still stinks so I'm going to have to take her to a professional.  I'll call the vet in the AM and see what they recommend.  My downstairs bathroom also smells bad.  I cleaned up as best I could, turned on the overhead vent and left an incense stick and a scented candle burning in the sink and shut the door.  Shouldn't be a fire hazard because there is nowhere for the ash to go but into the sink bowl.

So this has been some fucking night.  Hope yours was better.

No more dogs, I told my wife afterward.  Cassie is the last dog we're going to own.  Cats are far less trouble.

Although it is very nice to have the XBOX 360, the current crop of games out for the system has me wondering if it is even worth it to purchase one.  It's great to have hi-def output of course, and there's no doubt in my mind that it is a better system.  But the dearth of good games for the platform is appalling.  If I wanted a great piece of hardware with shockingly few good games, I'd have bought a Macintosh.  The only conclusion I can come up with is that game designers are rushing to produce games for the 360 and therefore cutting corners.  The sad outcome of all this is that I have a sleek new xbox 360, and I am just not using it that often at all.

I recently picked up 2 new games because a gamer friend at work who is typically on top of the game scene said they were "awesome".  They are not "awesome", and I have previously noted how the word "awesome" has become meaningless in the world of video games.  In that same article I also noted that typical video game ratings are gratuitously inflated on GameSpot.  Remember, the GameSpot versus reality scale?

The two new games I tried were Dead Rising and Lost Planet.  Lost Planet was better than Dead Rising, but not by much, and both games fall into the "too boring to finish" category.    It is both sad and confusing to me that when I go online I find people on discussion fora raving about these games--people must actually be enjoying these boring experiences--and I wonder if game designers are trying to redefine the game experience to the point where folks have lowered expectations.

So those are the new games which I'm not playing anymore.  Boss Planet and Ass Rising.  And I am ever so done with CAPCOM.

Wow.  You've probably heard about this since it is all over the internet, but people are just going nuts about the movie "Hounddog" which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.  I've heard both good and bad reviews about the quality of the picture itself, but there is an explosion of outrage over the fact that the film portrays the child-star, Dakota Fanning, being raped.

On multiple occasions financial backers have pulled out of the production, and the film has no buyer presently.  What it does have is hordes of people calling for the head's of the director Deborah Kampmeier, Fanning's agent Cindy Osbrook, and her mother Joy.  There's even online petition demanding their arrest and some are going further than that, as this excerpt from a CNN article notes:

...Even before the first screening of "Hounddog" at the Sundance Film Festival this week, a Christian film critic, citing Fanning's age, decried the movie as child abuse, and Roman Catholic activist Bill Donohue called for a federal investigation...

...Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission and publisher of the Web site movieguide.org, claims "Hounddog" breaks federal child-pornography law. He said the law covers material that "appears" to show minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

"Even if they're not actually performing the explicit act, we are dealing with a legal issue here," he said.

Baehr said Fanning is being exploited in the film, and that it should be considered an outrage.

"Children at 12 do not have the ability to make the types of decisions that we're talking about here," he said. "If we're offended by some comedian's racial slur, why aren't we offended by somebody taking advantage of a 12-year-old child?"

Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said he has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate whether anti-pornography laws have been broken...

It's not hard to understand why people would be upset by a film showing a 12 year old girl being raped, even if it isn't real.  It's an upsetting concept.  That it happens in the real world is tragic and brutal and awful. If it did not happen in the real world, a film like this would likely never have been made.

And there is the fear (which Bill Donahue mentioned in an interview) that sick perverts will see the film and be inspired to act out their twisted fantasies.

Count bastion of Bill-O'Reilly-Wannabeism Sean Hannity among the offended, who interviewed a conservative child advocate who had seen the film, and was sadly shocked when she informed him that the various claims about the rape scene were not factual.

As for what I think about Hounddog?  Well, I don't like the idea, and I have no desire to see the film.  I don't think I could watch that.  Especially since Dakota Fanning is such an amazing actress, doubtless she would be able to convince me that it was really happening and I don't think I could bear it.

But then, not having seen the film, I'm not about to make a snap judgement as many others seem prepared to do.  If you haven't seen the film, then you really can't comment on whether or not Dakota was in some way injured during the production.

As far as what I have heard from people who have actually seen the film, the scene is disturbing but tastefully done (inasmuch as it is possible to do so).  There's no nudity or skin-on-skin contact.  Basically the rape is implied by carefully editting together various disparate clips shot at different times.  You see Dakota shout "No!", you see a man unzip his fly, you see a hand hit a wooden floor, etc.  Each individual component is shot separately, nobody is unzipping their pants in front of Dakota, nobody is touching her inappropriately.  The rape takes place in the mind of the viewer.

Add to this the fact that Dakota's mother and a child welfare worker were present on set during the shooting of this scene, and that really ought to allay fears, but apparently it does not.

It is disturbing to me that this level of outcry doesn't surface over movies where children are enduring violence, or abject suffering of any other sort.  Only when the subject matter is sex do folks go nuts.

I would hope that the primary reason one would be offended is if one thought Dakota was being exploited, or worse yet emotionally injured by performing in this production.  All other concerns really ought to be secondary.   But from the criticisms I'm hearing, it sounds more like people using Dakota's fame to add oomph to their particular platforms while using inflammatory terms like 'kiddie porn' to describe the film.  I find that disturbing for sure.  That is also exploitation.

Although Fanning says she has no career plan in mind other than to keep acting, I have to assume she is trying to break out of kid roles and break into more mature roles.  She will be 13 in February, and can't realistically do "Charlotte's Web" and "Cat in the Hat" films forever.  This is a trail blazed by many actresses before her who transitioned into adult roles by portraying an abused youngster, Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver, Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby, Jena Malone in Bastard Out of Carolina, Dominique Swain in Lolita (1997), Linda Blair in Born Innocent, etc.

These break-out roles are very common.  The last big one to make the news was probably the announcement that Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame will be appearing nude onstage in a production of Equus, a story about a young man who is carnally obsessed with horses.  Granted, Radcliffe is 17, but the motivation is probably the same.

Some might wonder why such a film has to be made at all, even if Fanning is in no way harmed during filming.  Personally, since I will never see it because of the subject matter, I can understand that sentiment as well.  This is the second movie this director has made about a young girl who is raped, and I suspect it's because she wants to raise awareness of child abuse.  From a Reuter's article:

..."Hounddog" is based on director Deborah Kampmeier's personal history, and she called the criticism of Fanning's decision to take the role an insult to the young actress.

"She should be applauded [for] the voice she has given to so many silenced women," Kampmeier said...

Okay, I'll applaud her, but I still don't like it.  But then, I guess I'm not supposed to.  I'll close with various quotes from the precocious Dakota Fanning herself who is angry about the criticism that has erupted over Hounddog.

From Fanning tells "Hounddog" critics she is mad (Reuters):
..."When it gets to the point of attacking my mother, my agent ... my teacher, who were all on the set that day, that started to make me mad," [...] "I can let other things go, but when people start to talk about my mother, like, that's really bad in my opinion ... that's an attack, and that's not fair. They hadn't seen the movie,"...

..."I loved the Elvis Presley story line. I loved the fact she's born of hard circumstances and is trying to survive those," Fanning said. "I like so many things about it that had nothing to do with being abused, or sexually abused."...

..."I'm going to be a freshman in high school in September, and I think it would be irresponsible of my parents not to let me know of things that happen and to try not to get yourself in uncomfortable situations," [...] "It's educational."...

From Online Petition Demands Arrest of Dakota Fanning's Mother and Agent (Cinematical.com):
..."You have to prepare your children for things that happen in the world. Everything isn't rosy."...

From Dakota Fanning: 'It's called acting' (CNN):
..."It's not a rape movie," [...] "That's not even the point of the film."...

..."It's not really happening," [...] "It's a movie, and it's called acting. I'm not going through anything. Cody and Isabelle aren't going through anything, their characters are." [...] "And for me, when it's done it's done," [...] "I don't even think about it anymore."...

What do you think?

Click here to check 'em out.

Why is everyone running away screaming?  No I'm not going to write about those nuts!  Sheesh!

Sometimes you want a snack (I said this wasn't about those nuts, so get your minds out of the gutter) but alas, there just isn't anything in the house you want to nibble on, because you haven't made a grocery run lately, and you don't feel like cooking up something just for snacking on.

Times like that some folks (at least me) will eat something that we might otherwise have given a miss... the end-of-the-loaf-of-bread that nobody wants smeared with peanut butter, that half full box of Harvest Crisps that has been in the pantry for like a millenium because nobody in the family likes them, a handful of chocolate chips, you get the idea.

So a couple weeks ago I was in that circumstance and the only thing I could lay my hands on was a half-eaten canister of generic-brand mixed nuts.  I would hasten to add, that a can of mixed nuts is among the last things I would choose to eat given my druthers, but that's what there was.  And (at least in my house) half eaten nuts means one thing and one thing only--no cashews.  Because AFAIC cashews are the only thing worth eating in a can of mixed nuts, and the fam agrees for the most part.  When you first open a can of mixed nuts, there's that delicious nutty aroma, and a pleasant few minutes of picking out and eating the cashews.

Then you shake the can, and pick out more cashews.  And each time you do, the can requires more shaking to find the cashews until such point as there are no cashews, or so few, that you are just shaking the can over and over again and not actually nibbling on anything.  At which point you either resign yourself and eat a few peanuts (which are basically packing material for the cashews), or you just put the can back in the pantry.

I don't really like nuts much at all.  Cashews are okay I guess but I prefer no nuts.  I don't like cookies, or chocolate, or brownies with nuts.  And if I could still eat ice cream, I wouldn't want any nuts in that.  The nuts I have actually eaten are: cashews (which aren't really nuts), pistachios (mmm), peanuts (boring), almonds (blandtastic), pine nuts (meh), and walnuts (blechh).  There is a special place of loathing in my bowels for walnuts, I'd rather crunch balsa wood.

So I have this nut aversion.  Which explains why this (half-eaten) can of nuts was not a very enticing proposition, but at least I could choke down the peanuts, and I was hungry enough so it would have to do.  According to the can it contained peanuts, cashews, almonds, brazil nuts, filberts, and pecans.  So I decided, screw it, I would try them all... I've avoided pecans, filberts, and brazil nuts for like, ever, and maybe I would like them if I tried them?

But first the almonds... I've only ever had these in chocolate... never by themselves.  They are every bit as bland alone as they are in chocolate...

Next the Brazil Nut.  Brazil nuts are HUGE.  Sometimes you see these in Christmas platters with their scary dark brown shells still on, looking like thumb-size cocoons ready to pop open and release a fat unsightly grub.  Without their shell they look a lot less scary, but still dauntingly large, especially if you are not enamoured of nuts, like me.  I found eating the brazil nut to be a chore, and the taste to be utterly bland.  As bland as the almond.  If the nut were unsalted I think I'd have tasted nothing at all.  No points for the brazil nut I'm afraid.

Then the Filbert.  Sayyyy... these are delicious!  These are what hide inside those shells that look like pointy acorns on those Christmas platters of nuts that were so ubiquitous at family gatherings of my childhood.  They are otherwise known as hazel nuts, and they are quite tasty.  I think once you're done shaking the can and picking out the cashews, it's definitely worth it to shake it again and pick out the filberts.  Nummy!

Finally the Pecan.  I saved the pecan for last because the weird shape of the nut-meat reminds me of the shape of walnut-meat... which led me to believe they probably taste like walnuts.  Holy cow was I wrong!  Pecans are delicious... way better than walnuts, almonds, or even the filberts.

So at nearly 40 years of age, I've finally gotten to know my nuts.  And you know?  They're not all that bad after all.

Nut pictures from The Nut Factory, a source for nuts and other snacks.

Stay indoors please, the coldmeister is on a rampage.  Wind chill temps reported this morning were -17°F in Fitchburg, and -21°F in Worcester. ::everyone who uses Farenheit goes BRRR!::  For you Celsius types, that's -27°C and -29°C. ::everyone else goes BRRR!:: 

I'm sorry I didn't write anything all week.  Work has been alternatively crazy and dead (my project is in it's final throes, where I am officially off the project, but as last-minute issues are found, I get pulled back in.)  At present there is no new project to put me on so I am on the bench.  Which is sometimes good and bad.

On Wednesday for example I had a whole bunch of things I wanted to write about.  I had my downed trees removed, some politicial issues had me pissed off, I had some xbox games I wanted to post reviews for, some new Indie music to talk about, some movies to talk about, and some other random items.  I was completely unassigned at work so I figured that I would write a bunch of things.

But I barely had my desk cleaned off when I got one of those emergency calls and I was sucked back in.  When I was finally freed up again, I simply was in no mood to write.  Everything I had wanted to talk about seemed unimportant and all I wanted to do was relax.

Blogging doesn't relax me, apparently.

Then on Thursday my kid woke up sick and so I've been looking after her between handling issues for work and working out of the house.

Anyway, I hope things will settle down soon, and I apologize to anyone who was disappointed that I hadn't added anything.  My good friends have been busy on their blogs, so I invite you to peruse my blogroll at left and read examples of interesting content, rather than my rambling pointless blather.

Best thing I read all week was an article by an atheist mother on the wonderful blog Atheist in a Mini Van.  Her daughter was annoyed by a teacher who gave her class a ten-minute "pop essay" assignment.  The assignment was "What do you want for Christmas?"

Why would she be annoyed?  Well duh, not everyone celebrates Christmas, and it's presumptuous of the teacher to just ask all the students in the class (including the Muslims, Jews, and atheists) to write about what they want for the teacher's religious holiday.

So that is what this young girl wrote about, that and her own atheist leanings, and the sad state of the poor.  It was a wonderful essay, remarkable for the kid's age, and I encourage you to read it.  Needless to say, a number of wacko fundies have commented on the article to communicate their Christian love for the atheist Mom and her daughter, by telling them they are going to Hell and whatnot.  Assholes, the lot of them.

The teacher is definitely a mixed bag.  She had the sensitivity at least to recognize that this young lady is observant and talented, and gave her an A+ on the essay.  On the other hand, though, after class she told the girl that she couldn't possibly be an atheist because the ability to care for other people's feelings was not an atheist trait, but instead was a Christian attitude.  So the teacher's both presumptuous and ignorant.  Not an atheist trait... what a nitwit.

Well we got snow last night and the tree service is coming on Monday.  Thankfully today, the temperature is up to 40 and the ice is finally being shed from the trees.  That's a relief.  I've taken a couple vacation days because my project-from-hell at work is finally over, so I actually slept in today and dozed gratefully until 10:30 AM.  How wonderful to sleep late.

My one (somewhat amusing) disappointment for today has been in the food department.  I went to the pantry to see if there was something I could heat up for luch, because I really don't want to go out.  Alas there seemed to be nothing, until, what's that?  YES! A can of Healthy Choice soup!  Tucked away behind the cans of kidney beans at the back of the pantry!  Italian Style Chicken with Roasted Garlic soup.  Mmmm.  Sounds yummy.  Psyched.  I'm gonna have soup! Yayyy!

So I opened the can, dumped it into a microwave safe bowl, and in the process noted the date on the bottom as I was shaking out the last few aromatic drops. BEST BY JULY 29 2006.  Perhaps a little too aromatic at that. Damn.  Now I have a dirty bowl to wash, and I didn't even get any soup.

Everything is still frozen in a sheath of ice!  Just a couple weeks ago it was unseasonably warm, and today it's 4° F here.  I'm really hoping the temperature will get above freezing, even if only for 6 hours, just so some of this ice will melt off the trees and relieve the stress.

The tree service came this morning to look at my property, and the property of my neighbor around the corner and up the street.  It's going to cost $1200 to remove the damaged trees from my yard and another $1300 to address the trees on my property that threatening my neighbor's house.

In a word, ouch.  They'll be getting started on the work on Friday.