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Dallas Mavericks: 5 wins, 1 loss. Nowitzki and Finley are DOMinating.

Wednesday in Fort Worth there was a several hour long police chase involving a stolen 18-wheeler. The trailer's rear tires were on fire! As he went, he was causing dozens of roadside fires and spewing off burning embers. He jumped all kinds of curbs, drove through parking lots, did offensive maneuvers, and generally endangered hundreds of citizens. There were many cop cars in pursuit, but not alot they could really do. He just kept rolling. Finally they succeeded in stopping him. No one was seriously hurt (which is incidental to the fact that many people could have been hurt). Lawyer says 'he was stressed out'. Hrm.

Seen those NYC commercials? Woody Allen busting all kinds of triple lutzes gracefully comes to a halt in front of the camera saying 'you're not going to believe this, but this is the first time I've ever put on a pair of ice skates'. That was the best one so far.

Soon to be former mayor Guiliani said from the very beginning, 'if you want to help, come to NYC and spend money'. I don't understand why polls are showing Americans are going to cut way back on Christmas spending because of the terrorist attacks. Huh? What does one have to do with the other? This may be the first time I've widely heard the idea that spending money on things is a patriotic act. Can't really argue with it either. Capitalism (the economy) is in large part what makes this country great and makes living here interesting, spending money does help the economy, and our enemies despise capitalism.

My father has revealed he is very close to buying an SV650. I am not to mention it around Carla (and I trust you're no longer keeping up with this diary). Maybe we can each buy one and get a package deal. Heh.

I've noticed the exclamation 'Photoshop!' gaining in popularity and going through an evolution. At first the word was intended to convey one's disdain for any unbelievable picture which obviously had been doctored using Photoshop or GIMP or PaintShopPro. It became common for people to just say 'Photoshop' even when the picture showed no obvious signs of tampering and could very well have been genuine. Recently, 'photoshop' has come to be a sort of compliment, as in 'woah, have you seen Honda's new concept bike, it's so photoshop!', or 'nice wheelie, that's totally photoshop!', or 'dude those graphics are photoshop, I can't wait to play that!'.

Do you know the difference between the Ricer Flyby and the GM Flyby? The Ricer Flyby is where the car (usually a Honda with no engine mods except a torque-robbing exhaust pipe the size of a Folger's coffee can but plenty of stickers and 'ground effects') finally drives past you long after you've already beaten him and lifted (off the gas). The GM Flyby is where a car just flies past you before you even know he's there or that it's a race. In both cases the drivers then go to the Web and brag about beating whatever it is you're driving or riding.

I sent an email to my brother (duo) with a short list of songs he needs to download. He has some good songs, but it just dawned on me a few days ago that I've been neglecting his musical education. We've skipped some of the best. Here's the first list (for November).
1. Beatles -- A Day in the Life
2. Beach Boys -- Don't Worry Baby
3. The The -- Love is Stronger than Death
4. Soundgarden -- The Day I Tried to Live
5. Duran Duran -- Save a Prayer
6. Cure -- Fascination Street
7. Depeche Mode -- Sweetest Perfection
8. U2 -- Sunday Bloody Sunday
9. REM -- Drive

We'll get into a whole lot of other bands later on. I'm a little worried about pointing out songs that might be harder to find. There is no Napster anymore, but duo has about 7 other services, so these songs should be pretty simple to find.

Ron Kirk, former mayor of Dallas (the rest of the country would know him as one of the main proponents of the idea that we need to tax all internet purchases), is now running for the US Senate (replacing Phil Gramm). I consider it my duty to do whatever I can as a single, humble citizen to prevent him from being elected.

UT is 2 years old now. Man, do I ever miss that game!! Unreal2, UnrealWarfare, and Unreal Online RPG will ease the pain though!

Seems Dallas is the second best city in the country for street racing (a certain kind of street racing, actually). Long straight wide highways, deserted roads, slow, lenient, and overworked cops, good weather for much of the year, strong economy, alot fewer regs than CA, and tons of worked-over and built-up cars and bikes. Houston was first.

I'm waiting for this guy who owns a 12R to post a video of him racing a 740+ rwHP Supra and a 600 rwHP Trans Am. They went from 60 mph to about 170 on the highway. The guy weighs 250 with gear. He has a full Muzzy system, K&Ns, PCIII, ignition advancer, TRE, 6R clutch springs, and is geared down somewhat. Everything else is stock, and all the mods are simple bolt-ons, no engine work. He put 10 car lengths on the Supra each time (and a football field or two on the Trans Am). Should be good.

I like this T-shirt.

I think that I am going to reread Otherland, starting from the very beginning, this Christmas. I really want to revisit that fantastic journey. Otherland is mind-boggling in so many ways. I want to go back to the House, to Troy, to Aerodromia, to Kunohara's Insect World...