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You may have a spare key for your Kryptonite-brand bike lock (or your automobile ignition, or your vending machine) in your pocket or purse.

It seems every year someone makes a statement about people not possibly needing the full extent of a new computing resources, but it always seems that needs grow to fill the void. So anybody want to play a game? Name an amount of storage that you think you will never need. I calculated it out, and NTSC-quality video of the entirety of your life would comfortably fit in a petabyte — that’s an application I could think of evolving, but it’s still not that resource-dependent, relatively speaking (modern hard disks, for instance, have a million times as much space as a floppy disk from 20 years ago. All we need is another factor of 10,000 or so.)

The total amount of information in the world was calculated some years ago to be 10,000 LOC, or 1 exabyte, or 1000 petabytes. So I cannot imagine needing more than 10 exa. What would I possibly do with all that storage? I don’t need full-motion video of the lives of everyone in the world. I don’t think, anyway. And aren’t network speeds supposed to reach the point where local storage becomes useless any day now?  (Prediction: it’s not going to happen.  Ever.)  So, 10 exa, that’s my number.

Processor speed, however, I cannot even imagine a number I couldn’t use. There are always mathematical applications that could grow to fill the need. That Sandia system can do 1.8 teraflops.  That’s not nearly enough.  I can see games eventually needing petaflop capabilities for rendering and physics models (I might actually turn into a video game player at that point.) But an exaflop: now really, what the heck would we use that for in our daily lives?

In the spirit of the Olympics that just ended; and all the concert recordings I’ve been listening to recently; and the comedy shows I listen to on my way to work: I want a ban on that whistle. You know, that one. The two-fingers-in-the-mouth high-pitched summon-the-neighborhood-dogs make-everyone’s-ears-hurt one. I don’t want it to be illegal.  That wouldn’t work, and I don’t want to restrict peoples’ liberties.  I want it to be impossible.  Just impossible.  I wish no one had ever invented that thing.

Pearl Jam. Queensrÿche, unplugged. Mudhoney headlining with David Cross. And all proceeds to help fund progressive political causes. Interested? Only catch is they’re on weeknights in Seattle, which is a long way from L.A. But if you’re in the area, go.  And let me know how it was.

I walked to the cashier’s office. It was a Friday, and on Friday the Americans go on safari, so they were queueing up for money. Kenyans were queueing up for money as well.

The lady who was banking the money spotted me. Her name was Lucy. She said to jump the queue. I got the money and went back to my office. All those people I left in the queue died, including the cashier.

Another Magic post.  Wow.  I’m completely flabbergasted, blown away, amazed, impressed, excited.  What a wonderful mechanic.  What a wonderful card. What creativity. And Mike didn’t even mention the best part, which is that the discard happens at instant speed, which is just what my multiplayer discard deck is missing, to the point that I was considering maindecking Vedalken Orrery. It will be a fun, challenging card to play, trying to keep track of what I’ve seen in my opponents’ hands to know if I can safely activate Nezumi Shortfang if I already have one flipped.

Follow?  I mean, if you play Magic, do you follow? Otherwise there’s really no chance you could follow, so go ahead and ignore the rest of this post. Here’s how it would play out: I’ve cast a Nezumi Shortfang and used it when my opponent has one card in his hand. The player discards that card, and I flip Nezumi Shortfang (if you haven’t followed the link to the card yet, do so now.) Then my opponent gets back to two cards in hand, and I have a second Nezumi Shortfang in play. What does my opponent now have in his hand? If he has an instant, I can activate the Rat, and in response he can cast the instant. Then when the Rat’s ability resolves, he’ll have one card in his hand, which he’ll discard. The Nezumi Shortfang will flip and become a second Stabwhisker the Odious (great name), but under the new Legends rule, both Stabwhiskers will die as a state-based effect. So for the cost of having his hand forced slightly, he’ll change my one-for-zero into a much more favorable (for him) two-for-two. So I’ll have to be really sure I keep track of what he’s holding, knowledge I should have received from Duresses and so forth. But what if he’s drawn a card or two that I haven’t seen yet? I’ll have to make a guess based on what he’s played so far: what are the instants he’s likely to be playing, and and what’s the likelihood of him holding one. Even if it’s a Giant Growth, it would probably behoove him to Giant Growth one of my creatures so that his hand can empty and the Rat can flip.

I watched Outfoxed today. Aargh. What a frustrating movie. It left me in a sour mood for the rest of the day. I have, however, come to the conclusion that Bill O’Reilly either needs to be somewhere where he can be taken care of and receive regular shots, or he needs to be somewhere where he can be taken care of and shot regularly.

Good grief.  What lousy news today.  Massacre in Russia, another massive hurricane, Bill Clinton sick.

And check this out: “Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognise now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did.” Sounds a hell of a lot like a confession to me. How could it have been consensual if she does not view it as such?  Wouldn’t she have to agree that it was consensual?  For it to be consensual, that is?

On a far lighter note, BBC World Service asked Claire Danes if it was difficult to portray a bad actor in her most recent role.

And what is Michael Biehn doing slumming?  He got $4 million for a John Landis movie.  He must have gotten more for the massively, almost unbelievably under-rated The Art of War, which I give 8.5 stars to (contrast with the 5.2 it gets on IMDB.) Maybe he just likes to get a paycheck while living in Hawaii. To be honest, I thought they’d kill him in the premiere, after I saw him in the commercial. Then they gave him a ringer credit (”…and Michael Biehn”) in the opening credits, and I thought, wouldn’t it be great if they gave him a proper listing as a star of the show and still killed him?

And what am I doing writing a blog post this banal?