Overpass Experiences The Eric Wroolie Blog

Criminal Spying of US Citizens

A very interesting news story yesterday on NBC news about the domestic spying on US Citizens without a warrant.  This story somehow ended up in the last few minutes of the broadcast:

"Prosecutions are unlikely".  This is one of my biggest problems with the last administration.  Since you aren't doing anything wrong, the argument goes, you don't have anything to worry about.

I wonder if any of my phone calls have been listened to. 

Reagan said in his inauguration speech in 1981, "We are a people with a government.  Not the other way around."  Why are we always made to feel like subjects instead of citizens.

End of the U.S.

For the past few weeks, I can't help thinking about an article I read about the end of the USA.  The Wall Street Journal had a story about Igor Pangarin, a Russian analyst who has been predicting the economic fall and separation of the United States for the past ten years.

Now that things are falling apart the way they are, people are taking more notice of him.

You can see the article here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123051100709638419.html

This article has been weighing on my mind through the inauguration, the news of layoffs-- everything.   Pangarin is an analyst, not a psychic-- so his predictions are not based on magic.  There have been other stranger predictions (someone told me about John Titor a few years ago, but I don't put much stake in that), but this, according to WSJ, seems more credible.

Read the article.  It's spooky.

Is it just a bunch or rubbish?  Probably.  I mean, it has to be, right?

The Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times.

Amazon MP3 Downloader

I bought the new Snow Patrol album the other night.

Usually, when I buy music, I use iTunes because it it so easy and they really execute it well. I can buy a track on my iPhone from where ever I am, as long as I'm on a wifi connection. But, then I get the DRM and the headaches that brings along (I can't put it on a non-IPOD MP3 player, for example, so one of my kids can listen to it).

But this time, I didn't bother with iTunes and tried out Amazon's new MP3 service. Although it's not as convenient as iTunes and I had to boot up the ol' computer to use it, it allowed me to download the tracks as MP3 format--completely DRM free. It added the tracks (with all the right ID3 tags, etc) straight into iTunes and Windows Media Player. I paid for the music like an adult and they treated me like an adult.

To use Amazon's MP3 service, you just add the album to your shopping basket like everything else, and then download an MP3 downloader program which is a little window that does nothing but lists the tracks it's downloading.

The process is very smooth. I am also able to listen to the tracks on my Ubuntu laptop without any fuss.

I mentioned how nice this service is to someone the other day (well, more than just one someone) and was asked, "You actually paid for the music?"

Yes. Yes I did. It cost me only around £6.50 (but older albums are £3), and I can listen to it completely guilt-free.

Anyway, if you buy music, give the Amazon service a try. It's nice to see some decent competition out there for iTunes.

No more Russell Brand Podcast

On my commute to work every day, I listen to a lot of podcasts. On my motorbike, I listen to podcasts in one ear--it's not like music which drowns out the other sounds and it doesn't require a lot of my attention. I listen to a lot of technical podcasts like DotNetRocks, Hanselminutes, and Sparkling Client which help me keep abreast of what's going on in technology.

But once a week, I look forward to listening to the Russell Brand podcast, which is usually an hour long and takes all the non-music excerpts from the two-hour Saturday night radio show. I've become addicted to it over the past year. There have been times I've laughed so hard while listening on the train that I had tears coming down my face and struggle to keep my composure so the person sitting next to me doesn't think I'm having a fit.

I listened to the broadcast with Jonathan Ross (which caused Brand to resign) last week and thought it was very funny. It was definitely over the top, but it was hysterical. You can't get a sense of how funny it was reading the transcripts on the news sites. I don't think you could even find it funny if you listed to it now and knew the whole furore that would ensue. I felt bad for Andrew Sachs but figured they would smooth it over later on. It was a lot like some of the really good Howard Stern stuff in the 90s-- you knew you shouldn't laugh but couldn't help it.

Yes, I would be appalled if it had happened to me. People are right to be upset to a degree. Andrew Sachs and his granddaughter (the Satanic Sluts member who was also mentioned on the show two weeks earlier when David Baddiel was guest co-hosting) should be upset. I would not be able to forgive anyone who embarrassed me in public like that. But I don't like the way everyone lining up to be righteously indignant-- most of who probably never listened to the broadcast to begin with. It wasn't right, but I've heard worse.

So no more Russell Brand radio show. This is what upsets me.

Mexican Food in Oxford

So this weekend I found a very nice, and quick, Mexican fast food restaurant in Oxford just off the high street.

Two of the things I miss most living in England (having grown up in San Diego) are baseball and Mexican food.

There are a handful of Mexican places around (though nothing compared to what you would find in the states) but no place that you can go get a quick burrito and move on. All the current places are Chillis and other Mexican theme restaurants which are fine if you want to sit for a few hours and listen to recorded mariachi band music and look at sombreros hanging on the wall. The Mission Grill in Oxford was a nice change-- some Mexican takeaway finally.

We went there on Saturday night on the way to the cinema. There was a line of university students going out the door and it definitely seemed a popular place with them. I had a chicken burrito and a Corona before walking to the Phoenix Picture House cinema. It was absolutely fantastic. I'm glad someone finally bucked the trend of opening another sandwich shop and did something different.

It doesn't look like a chain (not yet), so I presume it is a start-up. Here's the website.

We don't have professional baseball here, but the Chargers played at Wembley this weekend (didn't find out about it until all the tickets were gone). I was never much of an American Football fan, but it's a start. Now, if we can get the Padres over here, I'll be set.

Kenny and Carl

My best friend growing up was Ted Falagan. We met in the fourth grade and he was my best friend all the way through high school. There was nobody I was more close to (outside my own family) in my formative years. We were into sci-fi, comic books, movies, and television.

He has been making movies as long as I can remember. We used to make little films on a bulky camcorder around our houses growing up. He's still making movies in San Diego (with a troupe of actors called the Fault Line Players), but now he's doing it professionally.

One of the nice things about the internet age is that I can see my friend's movies online even when I am on the other side of the world. While his films regularly appear in film festivals around the states, some of them have recently been put up on Youtube. Most of them can be found here and here.

Here's one of my favourite movies available at the moment, although there are other good ones:

Scott Adams Being Had

I read a blog post by Scott Adams on the Dilbert Blog last week which really made me laugh and think. I have nothing to say, really, but hope to direct you to this post if you haven't seen it:

http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/09/a-feeling-im-be.html

Back from Diggnation

Last night at the Diggnation taping, someone asked if they could take my picture (well, a lot of people's pictures) because I was wearing a Digg shirt. Someone posted my picture Flickr. Here was me sitting in the audience of 1,000 people.

Unlike the picture on the left-hand side of this site, you can see I started growing my hair longer and sporting a beard.

I'm still excited about the great event last night and am really glad I attended.

You can see the rest of the photos on the Flickr site here.

Just another Rat

I'm back in London in another contract. This is the first time I've actually gone back to somewhere I already worked before. It seemed easy-- I already know the people and I already know the apps. It's actually a lot worse. It's like stepping back in time. All growth that's happened since leaving may not have even taken place.

I'm in the get-up, go-to-work, go-to-bed loop again. The only bright side this time is that I get to ride my motorcycle to the station. I'm still on the train.

A few weeks ago, I tried to ride all the way into London on the motorcycle. My hope was that it would be faster and easier than taking the train. After all, I don't need to worry about traffic with the motorcycle. The ride was a disaster. London bikers are maniacs and will make use of the smallest gaps between cars. I tried to keep up and even squeezed between some cars with inches to spare, but it was too hairy for me. So, I'm sticking to the train.

For the next six months, I'm another rat in the rat race. I get to stand in the crowd at platform 2--indistinguishable in my suit and permanent frown.

Six months.

Live Earth on 7-7-07

This is going to be a summer of music for me. Just weeks after successfully booking tickets to see Prince in London (they sold out after 30 minutes), we also came up in the lottery to see Live Earth at Wembley. It's a good cause and I'm really excited about seeing the show.

Just a few more weeks. . .