Giant Darth Vader

There's been a plastic Darth Vader sitting in the compactor room of our building for the last day or two. Yesterday, cattitude mentioned it and I said "I don't want it." He agreed.

This morning, he said "I have to take a look at it," and did. It plays music. At that point, I guessed it had been discarded by a parent who couldn't deal with the music Furthermore, it's a Pez dispenser. Cattitude said something about it, and I replied "No, the question is how much we can get for it on eBay."

So it's sitting in our apartment, and I just did a little googling. We won't get rich, but it is worth listing, I think. Not quite as pure a windfall as the Travelzoo stock--another thing I did this morning is I instructed the broker to send me a check for the money I got for that stock--but life in the Internet age is sometimes weird.

Mostly I like it, and not just for LJ: I have two long-distance sweeties I would never have met if not for the net, and who I talk to online more often than I get to see them in person.

Giant Darth Vader

There's been a plastic Darth Vader sitting in the compactor room of our building for the last day or two. Yesterday, cattitude mentioned it and I said "I don't want it." He agreed.

This morning, he said "I have to take a look at it," and did. It plays music. At that point, I guessed it had been discarded by a parent who couldn't deal with the music Furthermore, it's a Pez dispenser. Cattitude said something about it, and I replied "No, the question is how much we can get for it on eBay."

So it's sitting in our apartment, and I just did a little googling. We won't get rich, but it is worth listing, I think. Not quite as pure a windfall as the Travelzoo stock--another thing I did this morning is I instructed the broker to send me a check for the money I got for that stock--but life in the Internet age is sometimes weird.

Mostly I like it, and not just for LJ: I have two long-distance sweeties I would never have met if not for the net, and who I talk to online more often than I get to see them in person.

This time for sure

So, this morning I followed the instructions on the Firstrade Web page, and sent email asking them to send me a check for the money in my account.

They replied, explaining that for "enhanced security and convenience" they no longer do this by email, use this part of their Web site. So I wrote back and told them that while I understood their point about security, they should update their FAQs to give corrent information. Then I logged in. Assuming this works as it says, they'll be sending me a check in two business days.

Step 3a: depositing the profits.

This time for sure

So, this morning I followed the instructions on the Firstrade Web page, and sent email asking them to send me a check for the money in my account.

They replied, explaining that for "enhanced security and convenience" they no longer do this by email, use this part of their Web site. So I wrote back and told them that while I understood their point about security, they should update their FAQs to give corrent information. Then I logged in. Assuming this works as it says, they'll be sending me a check in two business days.

Step 3a: depositing the profits.

Not what the author intended

I'm rereading Ken MacLeod's The Cassini Division, which was published in 1998, and the viewpoint character/narrator at one point (this is fairly early in the book) describes a defense built by her organization as "our Berlin Wall, our Guantanamo (Earth history. Look it up. There are files.)"

Reading that in 2005, Guantanamo has very different meaning and resonance than it did when MacLeod wrote those lines, or when I first read the book, shortly after it was published.

Not what the author intended

I'm rereading Ken MacLeod's The Cassini Division, which was published in 1998, and the viewpoint character/narrator at one point (this is fairly early in the book) describes a defense built by her organization as "our Berlin Wall, our Guantanamo (Earth history. Look it up. There are files.)"

Reading that in 2005, Guantanamo has very different meaning and resonance than it did when MacLeod wrote those lines, or when I first read the book, shortly after it was published.