PAIN PAIN PAIN

Yesterday, I was scheduled to have a phone interview with ITA Software.  The engineer I was supposed to talk to was out sick, though, so they rescheduled for Thursday.

This is probably a Good Thing™, because yesterday was a Bad Day™.  I was in severe pain and pretty much non-functional almost all day.  I managed to cook and eat supper, but after supper (and after cymrullewes rubbed my foot and knees with arnica gel) I executed a tactical withdrawal in the face of superior forces, took two Vicodin¹, and went to bed early with a book.  It turns out that even two Vicodin now has little effect, but it did take the edge off the pain enough that I was able to eventually sleep.  This morning, things are better, but still much more painful than has been typical lately.

In addition to all the usual pain, I seem to have done something painful to the top of my left foot, the visible indication of which is a small red swelling, and the top of my left thigh is tender and painful -- I don't know whether I've managed to pull a muscle, or whether there's an infection in the lymph nodes there.  I'm going to have to keep an eye on it.

I am so very tired of this.

[1]  This is actually a prescription that was issued to me after the last surgery on my left little toe.  At the time, I didn't need to take any of it, because the post-op pain from the surgery was less than the normal pain level from that toe before the surgery.

Telecom and Net neutrality

Or,as it happens, not.  The Senate Commerce Committee today released a 135-page draft of the new telecom bill (562kB PDF).  Conspicuously missing from the bill is any mention of "Net neutrality" -- the idea that common carriers should treat all traffic equally, rather than prioritizing traffic from those willing to pay the most for prompt delivery or dropping traffic originating from competitors.  It does, however, include authorization for the FCC to start outlawing digital radio and satellite receivers that permit recording of broadcasts.

Follow the money, folks.  This is your tax dollars dropping their pants and bending over.

"...the bill does say that Americans should enjoy the right to share recorded broadcast TV over their home networks, make "short excerpts" available over the Internet, and that news programming generally should not be flagged."

Not surprisingly, one Hollywood source was quoted as saying "the movie industry has real problems with the broadcast flag language as it appears in the bill", because there will be some broadcasts which it will remain legal to copy in limited ways.

The bill will, it appears, also require all analog TV broadcasting in the US to cease by February 17, 2009.  So, if you plan on buying a new TV any time soon, plan on buying a HD-ready one, or you'll have a white elephant on your hands in three years.  But if all else fails, you can always hook it up to your PlayStation or Nintendo.  The MPAA hasn't figured out a way to legally stop you from doing that yet.

"But I know him!"

What's this?

CAT

FISH

HORSE

HUDSON

LANCASTER

MASSACHUSSETTS

( The answer: )

Enough already

For the second day in a row, I'm in severe pain.  I've got my left foot tightly wrapped in an Ace bandage because the front of the foot is trying to blow up like a baseball, and at the moment I'm back on crutches because I can't put any weight on it.  I think this is going to be another day of nighttime Vicodin.  I'm trying to figure out what I did that set my foot off; cymrullewes thinks it's because I'm stressing over the upcoming ITA Software phone interview.