Soon a huge volcanic crater...

... will be all that's left of SCO.
-- (from "High Barratry", on Coffee, Computers, & Song)

The first stage in the formation of a caldera is a gigantic volcanic eruption that empties the magma chamber, which subsequently collapses. Now that SCO has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, we're starting to see the eruption tapering off.

This filing stays all pending legal action against SCO, including the trial in SCO vs. Novell that was scheduled to start on Monday. But Pam Jones of Groklaw points out in the cited post, and in an earlier comment, that SCO isn't exactly off the hook here. First of all, Novell already has a summary judgement that SCO is liable for conversion (the civil equivalent of theft) of the royalties it was owed. So SCO is, in effect, in posession of stolen property, and that's not affected by the bankruptcy. The only thing left to determine is how much. Tuesday's hearing in Delaware should be interesting.

There's also the interesting fact that, up until yesterday, they were telling the court and the SEC that they were still solvent. Is it remotely possible that they were, um, shading the truth a little? There's also a fascinating paragraph in the bankruptcy filing where they continue to claim that they own Unix. In spite of Judge Kimball's recent ruling that they don't.

The soprano is warming up.

Beginning to sound a lot like OVFF

Made my hotel reservation for OVFF yesterday, at the flower_cat's insistence. (Anyone who didn't know her might think she was trying to get me out of town so she could spend time with her lover. I personally suspect she just wants a weekend without my snoring waking her up.)

I'll send in my registration on Monday, and probably book my flight then as well.

I don't normally get to OVFF, but with a newly-released album it would appear to be a good idea. I may need to get a bigger suitcase.

Geekery and a great dinner out

Woke up at about 5am to find that my marvelous flower_cat had been up before me and made some peach custard. We both went back to sleep. The custard was delicious.

Went out for a pleasant five-mile walk this morning. After that, I drove over to REI and bought a new pair of hiking boots, because a comment by quadrivium a couple of posts downwhen made me look at the soles of the old ones -- they were practically worn through. The new ones are the same type (Keen Brooklyn) but half a size bigger -- 11 rather than 10.5. (My current walking shoes are size 11, too. It seems one's feet never stop growing; I was a size 9.5 30 years ago.) So these should be a bit more comfortable in addition to not being on the verge of falling apart.

( you can skip the geeky parts if you like and drop straight through to the restaurant review )

About 5pm the flower_cat and I went out on our dinner date. We'd been going past the Forbes Mill Steakhouse in Los Gatos for years, looking at their menu, and thinking we ought to try it some time. Some time was tonight, and a fine time it was. We started out with Sarticious gin (from just over the mountains in Santa Cruz), which we had never tried. Both of us loved it: smooth, slightly fruity. Yum. Shortly after that they brought the bread (made on the premises, I'd guess) and the apetizers we'd ordered off today's specials: figs stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in prosciutto, and oysters on the half-shell. There were three figs and three each of two kinds of oysters; we split the odd fig and divvied the oysters by proximity: one of the far ones and two of the close ones.

For the main course we just had more appetizers: the beef carpaccio, day boat sea scallops (two big scallops on a bed of black "forbidden rice"), and the filet tips (with cognac peppercorn sauce, scallions, and garlic chips). All made of yum. I personally thought the figs were the best.

We finished off with a cheese plate, cappuccino for the Cat, and espresso for me. Total was a little over a C-note before tip: high, but not outrageous as long as we don't do it more than every couple of months. We've paid more taking the family out for sushi, and enjoyed it less.