short bursts of random stuff today, a day where i feel unfocused but will try to focus as much as possible.
as much as possible.
»  my time warner stock is zooming up today. it’s been stuck for quite a while at $15 – $16, and now it’s over $19 and still climbing. i have some company stock in my 401k from when the company’s match was in stock and not in cash allocated among my funds. i’d much rather my match not be in company stock, because most of my funds own time warner anyway because it’s so undervalued right now. but i keep an eye on it, and the overall percentage of my 401k that’s in company stock is around 13%, including both the time warner stock that my other funds own and the stock i own directly.
i’m hanging on to it, though, until the sec settlement occurs. we’re in trouble with the sec for stupid aol stuff, but it’s going to be settled soon, and when it is, the stock will rise. and after it’s all settled, i promised myself to move that money from company stock into my mutual funds.
i hate having any percentage of my 401 dependent on company stock, but i’m not going to sell it when there’s a good chance that it’s going to take off soon.
»  scott petersen is going to be put to death. i’m against the death penalty–i think that’s too easy on the murdering bastards. let them sit alone in a small windowless cell for innumerable years. on the off chance that they are proven innocent, you’ll have someone to set free. otherwise they can just sit there and be deprived of their freedom and of any contact with other people. push their food through a slot and let them rot.
that’s an appropriate penalty. it’s much more inhumane than death, i admit. much more about revenge. so be it. i swear that if anything happened to anyone i loved, that’s what i’d push for.
»  all my holiday shopping is done. nyah nyah. and all my presents are wrapped and mailed. and all my holiday cards are sent. i’m a much better person than you. how’s that for holiday spirit?
»  and from the ny times a roundup of the phraselator which spits out pre-recorded phrases in foreign languages and is currently being used in iraq by american soldiers. as the times says “the device is no better at understanding foreign languages than the americans who are wielding it. so the phraselator allows occupiers to issue commands, but it does not help them comprehend any of what the occupied may have to say in response.”
and a consumer version is planned and will hit stores soon. great. just what natives of foreign countries need–a bunch of ugly americans pushing these bleating devices in their faces to order them around without deigning to actually communicate.
of course, the minute some foreigner shoves one into my face on the streets of new york, i promise i will go ballistic. hopefully, in french, to a frenchman.