A while back we held a lab naming contest. Many valid entries were submitted, but in the end I have to go with one of Russ Neufeld's entries (he submitted a LOT). Therefore, and to wit, the lab areas are now named as follows:

(smaller, old machine room): Skylab, aka "arcsky", aka "sky"

(larger, newer lab space): Sealab, aka "arcsea", aka "sea"

I liked the brevity, the bisyllabic pronunciation, the easy conversion to short familiar forms, and the contextual fit. The smaller lab area is awfully noisy, and feels like you're around jet turbines... there's also a nod to Olympian mythology with our corporate servers being housed in there. The newer and larger space is humid all the time in this weather and from our Liebert cooling unit, so it even feels a bit wet and coastal when you're in there.

Many thanks to all who participated! I will get the rooms labelled right away and see if I can draft Gus to make some cool signs.

--
Robert V. Cole
Senior IT System & Network Administrator
Archivas, Inc.

Ben Lee is finishing his last song.
His band is jamming out.
He walks to the edge of the stage, guitar in hand, and jumps off.
The audience goes wild.
He's walking up the aisle, strumming.
His patch cord falls out of his guitar and lands by my feet.
He climbs atop two seats behind me and is playing.
People are loving it.
He runs back to the stage for the big finale.
He notices his guitar is no longer plugged in.
The patch chord is lying there.
He spots me.
Our eyes lock.
His hand extends.
I am Courtney Cox.
He is Bruce Springsteen.
I jump up.
Patch cord in hand.
We meet at the edge of the stage.
He plugs in.
The circuit is complete.
The wind up.
Hair a mess.
The jump.
Drumsticks in mid air.
The final chord.
The crowd goes wild.
I am forever changed.

Guy: Hi. My name's Tyrone.
Jess: Hi Tyrone. My name's Jess.
Me: And I'm Russ.
Tyrone: Russ... As in Russell?
Me: Yep.
Tyrone: Russell. That name's making a comeback. My best friend's name is Franklin.

Maitre D': I've got to ask you this question and I know it's a little weird.
Me: Ok
Maitre D': Are you straight or are you gay?
Me: I'm straight.
Maitre D': That's really too bad, 'cause there's someone here who's really interested in you.
Me: Sorry
Maitre D': What's your name?
Me: Russ
Maitre D': And what do you do?
Me: I'm a software developer
Maitre D': And you're sure you're straight?
Me: Yeah, but I'm coming back here next week. I'll let you know if anything changes.

Jess and I will be back at Cuchi Cuchi this Thursday, having drinks with a friends of a friend in from California. Who knows how that night will end...

We turn now to religion - a source of comfort and strength in a world torn apart by... religion.

First of all, nobody's hot. Patricia Arquette is not hot. Her husband on the show is not hot. The kids are all under 5, so maybe if you're into that kind of thing you'd find them hot, but they're not hot. Nobody's hot. And I find that suprisingly refreshing. I tried to watch Marti Noxon's new series Point Pleasant which debuted a few weeks ago. Noxon was a major player in the Buffy/Angel-verse, and I'm willing to give any such alum a chance. But everyone's hot in Point Pleasant, and it's distracting. I don't need hot in every TV show. If I want hot I'll go on the Internet. That's what it was invented for.

So the fact that nobody's hot on Medium allows you (me) to really focus on plot and character development. And here's where the show is again atypical. It's slow. There are long scenes which just show the husband and wife dealing with their marraige, kids, her special "gift", which really have nothing to do with the current episode. And they kind of work. Don't expect a big-budget action sequence with explosions, or super-natural effects where you see dead people floating in auras (did I mention her special gift is she sees dead people?) Instead it's just average everyday life, with the occasional spooky dream sequence.

And what's also nice is the show isn't about her discovering or gaining her power. It's just accepted that she has it, and she's trying to live a normal life. Too often in these kinds of shows the first episode is about some freak event where the lead character gets some super-natural ability, and for the rest of the show they're stuggling with it. This show is again, refreshing, in that she just has this ability, and that's it. There's no conflict in her accepting who she now is. She's not taking outrageous measures to hide it from her husband. In that respect it is so relaxing to not have to deal with that typical baggage.

So I say check it out. I know it won't be for everyone, and it'll probably get canceled in a few weeks if it isn't already. The first episode has a completely over-the-top Texas Ranger character and you really have to work to look beyond his overacting, but if you can make it through him you may have found yourself a new show.

I used to get really annoyed at the tech language used on 24. It's so wrong that it's maddening. After 3 seasons you'd think they could afford to hire at least one script supervisor who knew tech lingo and how to use it.

Now I think it's a big joke. Either they realized the jargon used in the first few seasons was horribly wrong and they figured they might as well continue the trend, or they really do have a script supervisor who is fooling everyone else on set by convincing them that the words they are speaking make sense. I'd like to think it's the latter.

So keep it up 24. Here are some good sentences which make absolutely no sense but would sound great on the next episode:

"Flash the firewall again and see if that fixes it."
"We've lost email connectivity due to a virus hacking the CAT-6 cable."
"Port the LAN to my workstation."

I'd love to get some exposure for the site, so if you think the idea is cool and are into a little promotion, use the badge below and link to http://www.permitation.com. Thanks.