Done yesterday (20100411 Su)

( raw notes )

Rainy, dreary, and I had to work on my taxes. Not much to like about yesterday, though it wasn't actively bad. I coped.

The taxes still aren't done, though I made considerable progress. One major step (for me) -- actually looking at my social security and 401K statements and seeing what my expected retirement benefits would be. Not enough, of course. Still need to look at my $work retirement plan and rollover IRA statements. There's a reason why I've been avoiding this.

While buying H&R Block (the program formerly known as TaxCut) at Fry's I saw that they had the Lenovo ThinkPad X100e. Sweet -- I'm in lust. Maybe work will buy me one?

ysabetwordsmith posted a link to an article on The Great Stalacpipe Organ. I've heard it -- it's very cool.

United breaks, again

This post by evilpuppy is simply appalling. Worse, much worse, than United Breaks Guitars.

I might be 29 years old, I might have colored hair, and I might not be obviously disabled, but I am a legitimately disabled American citizen. Your airline had no right to treat me the way it did and your customer service supervisor was disturbingly rude to me in the face of my experience. I wasn't being unreasonable, I never swore, and I didn't raise my voice. I was trying my best to be polite and calm and I expected no less than the same courtesy in return. The fact that I didn't receive it and instead was made to feel as though I was just being lazy and irresponsible is beyond infuriating. I have to deal with Worker's Compensation and Disability about my age enough, the last thing I expected or needed was to have to deal with it from your airline when flying is already a painful enough experience.

(from foxipher, and cleolinda via technoshaman; cleolinda links to a followup tweet @UnitedAirlines. We'll see.)

Meanwhile the probability that Colleen or I will be flying United anytime in the forseeable future has just gone from small to negligible.

Sign the PublicACTA Wellington Declaration

Sign the PublicACTA Wellington Declaration! - Boing Boing

The PublicACTA activists have been meeting in Wellington, New Zealand -- site of the next round of negotiations on the secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement -- drafting a declaration on how the next global copyright treaty should read, and how it should be negotiated.

The "Wellington Declaration" says that the world copyright treaties shouldn't be conducted behind closed doors in smoke-filled rooms, but rather in the full light of public participation at the United Nations, where copyright treaties are customarily made. The UN admits non-governmental organizations, journalists, and representatives from poor countries, while ACTA is only open to rich countries and lobbyists from powerful corporations.

Yes, I've signed it.