Worst. LJ. EVAR.

So, I suppose now that I've reactivated this, I should post something to it.

It's been a weird time lately. Well, for the entire last year, I suppose.

I feel like my entire life is at a crossroads. I want some different things going into the future. A Jayson 2.0, so to speak. Or maybe it's 3.0 by now. But anyway... I'm at a point where I'm freer to do what I want, but now I have to decide just what that is.

There are some things I hope for and dream about. But I don't know if I have the wherewithal to make them happen or not. A fair amount of luck will be required, too, I think.

I'm at the age where I have to start making sure I take advantages of chances that come my way, because there might not be that many more.

In a fun burst of “opinions are like assholes,” CNN.com has done a few stories and a poll on the “worst song of all time.” ( Part 1, Part 2, some songs that were chosen, and various opinions about them, 1974: Creme de la creme of clunkers )

So, let’s have your opinions... what are the worst songs in history, in your (not-so) humble opinions?

“There's Got To Be A Morning After” by Maureen McGovern immediately pops to mind for me. “I Just Called To Say I Love You” sounds like Stevie Wonder is seriously toking helium, to the accompaniment of a broken circus calliope.

Friend-unit Tim timksweden observed to me years ago that "All I Need Is a Miracle" by Mike + The Mechanics should be titled "All I Need Are Singing Lessons."

So c'mon... let's hear 'em!

* Ahem... um... I will admit that I kinda like some of the songs on CNN's lists... *scuffs toe*...

I always love seeing what suggestions spell check makes for certain words it doesn't recognize.

Today, I was emailing a reminder to myself with the details for a movie outing with some friends on Wednesday night. The suggestions for the restaurant we're meeting at, Papasito's, were:

• Parasite's


• Papist's

The best part is how oddly applicable they could both actually be.

I couldn't resist putting one of these together, even though I have tons to get done today. It's actually pretty amazing. The coloring is all just about right, and that's exactly what I wear most of the time. The only thing missing (for good or ill) is my belly. I'm thinking about what needs to go into a proper update, by the way. Just sayin.

I'm very sad to hear of the death at age 85 of James Doohan, the actor best known as chief engineer of the U.S.S. Enterprise, Commander (and in later incarnations of his character, Captain) Montgomery Scott.

Even though it's said that no one ever actually uttered the phrase "Beam me up, Scotty" on Star Trek, he has entered our cultural lexicon nonetheless.

I didn't watch Star Trek during its original run, since I was only 7 years old when it was canceled, and didn't watch much TV at all in those days, except on Saturday mornings. But I discovered it in syndication during my teen years, and was hooked. Star Trek led me to read more science fiction and fantasy books, and to my love of most of the later incarnations of Star Trek, as well as things such as Babylon 5, the Star Wars saga, Battlestar Galactica... you name it. It was a big part of what set me on the course to becoming the big geek that I still am today.

For years, I've known that the original cast wouldn't be with us forever. DeForest Kelley is already gone. But it's still sobering and sad to lose them.

Thank you , Mr. Doohan, for being part of something that influenced my life so much.

Periodically, the rumor comes around that, for whatever reason, Apple has decided to switch from IBM / Motorola's POWER architecture chips to Intel chips. Apple has even always been widely rumored to have, somewhere in deep, dark, secluded workrooms, versions of whatever is the current version of the Mac OS for Intel chips (anyone remember the fabled Star Trek project?).

Those rumors have never gained much traction until now.

No less entities than C|Net, The Wall Street Journal, and The Inquirer are all reporting that this time it's true. Over the next couple of years, beginning with the Mac mini, and progressing all the way up the food chain to the Power Macintosh and Xserve, Apple will transition their entire product line from Motorola PowerPC G4 and IBM PowerPC G5 processors to various flavors of Intel X86 chips. Some versions of the rumor even say AMD X86 chips will be included in the mix somewhere too.

If this is true, it will mark a conversion in the Macintosh world that will equal or surpass the changes from Motorola 68XXX series chips to the PowerPC 601 chip in the mid-90's, and the switch from Mac OS 9 to OS X a few years later. Even if emulation services are provided, for the next several years, developers will have to provide versions of their applications that are compiled for both PowerPC and X86 architectures.

Is this real? Some analysts say it is. Some say it's a crock, and that Apple is going to announce some other type of non-Mac device that will use Intel chips. Some wonder if this will finally allow Windows and OS X to co-exist on the same machine, and look forward to that day. (Me among them, I must say. I live for the idea of being able to seamlessly run both OS X and Windows XP simultaneously on the same system, having them chat between each other like happy little kids). Others say even if Apple makes the Intel switch, the new Intel-inside Macs will have technology included that would make booting Windows impossible. Many say that such a move will cause Apple's already diminished developer base to erode further.

I don't know what's going to happen either. Personally, I don't care what kind of chip powers the damn thing, as long as I have Mac OS X running happily, and I can write Cocoa and REALbasic programs with no hassles, and download software and do all those nice geeky things I do now, or even more of them. As I mentioned above, I'd dearly love having a dual OS X / Windows XP Powerbook. Maybe while they're at it, two-button mice and trackpads with scroll wheels would be nice. It can't be that hard, can it? Oh, right, Steve doesn't like them.

Oh, well.

The truth is, no one knows what's going to happen for sure, until Steve dons the jeans and black turtleneck, and takes the stage tomorrow morning at Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference.

What everyone does know is that whatever happens, tomorrow is bringing something big. We think.

Steve is probably meditating right now, summoning his vast and legendary powers of personality, persuasion, and prescience. Muttering the arcane invocations of power necessary for the creation of the Reality Distortion Field.

Steve does love a show.

Derek's mother moved into an apartment in his brother Allen's house a while back; and yesterday, Allen & Derek were going through some of the crap left at her old hovel, and came across a short essay that their younger sister Vicy had written in first grade. I scanned it so Derek could email it to her, and I'm posting it here too, because it's really a scream.

( A bit large, so I stuck it behind this cut. )