phik

Best of Penny-Arcade: Xbox installation instructions. Step 1: open outer box. Step 2: throw away the included controller

I got my second day in traffic court today, and I took Joe “Victory Breakfast” Shaw and Chris “Aviation Meteorologist” Blizzard along for moral support.

The judge listened patiently to my well-reasoned and -documented arguments, took the time to read almost everything I handed him, and asked some reasonable questions. Then he took the time to patiently explain his logic and the appeals process — carefully avoiding any mention of my core argument — and ruled against me.

Our theory about this gross miscarriage of justice is that he was not at all interested in addressing the issue of whether the majority of speed limits in Boston, and indeed the entire Commonwealth, are likely posted illegally, and punted me to the appeals court. In case I chose to appeal, he was very careful to explain his reasons for rejecting my other smaller, and fundamentally less interesting arguments. But he didn’t go anywhere near the core of my defence.

The next step in the process is to petition the District Court Appellate Division to reverse the ruling on the basis of an error in law. If they agree to hear the case, the Commonwealth and I can submit briefs and (upon apparently-rare request) go for oral argument, after which a three-judge appelate panel will rule.

I took all of this to a lawyer who specializes in traffic law, who told me that he had never seen this appeals form before, and had never heard of a traffic case going to appellate court. This led me to the conclusion that he was either not a very good lawyer, or such a good lawyer that he won all of his cases before they got that far. I’m honestly not sure which one is more likely. He did have a very nice office, and didn’t charge me for the visit, so he’s probably not hard up for clients.

This is all actually pretty cool, and, win or lose, an experience that I’m glad to have had. But I wish the judge could have weaseled his way out of it without it costing me an extra non-refundable $180 to file an appeal.

That’s right — even if I convince the panel that the speed limit is illegal, and that I never should have been here in the first place, they keep my $180. Get there, justice.

BoPA: This is funny partially because it looks like Joey after a long night of drinking and threatening his friends with scissors, and partially because the archive is broken and you have to know it’s there.

The New England winter, with its multiple freeze/thaw cycles per week, is taking its toll on the Boston roads. I encountered at least five potholes on the way to Jacob’s. One of them was large enough that I actually drove into and out of it as two distinct phases. I had to be rescued from another by a helicopter. I narrowly dodged a sixth, after I saw it swallow whole a postal service van.

At some point during the odyssey, I lost one of my hub caps and broke one of the steel belts in one of the tires. Sigh.

BoPA: The punch line isn’t very good, and I’m not that fond of the drawing style, but here we are.

As everyone else is no doubt writing as we speak, we received a brief smattering of snow, not at all reminiscent of my youth. At first I decided to battle nature, keep up with the elements, shovel every hour on the hour until God gives up and declares me the victor. After about five such scheduled shovelings, I went to bed. And although you could argue that it was pointless, there were seven fewer inches of snow on my front walk than my non-shoveling-all-night neighbours. Then someone came by with a snowblower and cleared a foot-wide path for me.

Grab a snickers (redux)

BoPA: This is another gem hidden from unobstructed view, because the archive page for that day has the wrong image ref. I can’t decide whether I think that maybe Nintendo wants it that way, or whether I think it’s an innocent mistake.

I got to see an Oscar statue today, and I thought you might care. I get the impression that you could do some pretty serious damage to the average skull with one. They do not look in any way flimsy.

Then I went to San Jose for what seemed like 20 minutes. I guess it was like a day, but my schedule was so insane that I was never home when Miranda was awake, and I saw almost none of Chris and Patrice, so it’s almost as if I weren’t even there.

I filed my appeal today! We are one step further down the path to the point where I stop talking about this.

BoPA: The excellent comic is matched by an equally excellent diatribe regarding Galactic Civilizations, the message of which I can affirm most solemnly.

However, in recognition of the fact that with respect to any form of popular culture I insist on living not fewer than four months in the past, we will speak today of Katamari Damacy. You’re welcome to excuse yourself if you’ve already been through this.

While I share his general indifference for the multiplayer mode, the single player “campaign” is the killer app that the PlayStation has never had. I’m just going to roll the ball around for a few minutes while I wait for my pasta to cook, then suddenly it’s Thursday, I haven’t eaten in three days, and there is some cat throw up that needs attended to.

This game alone — if you can still find it, for its sleeper cult popularity has made it exceedingly scarce — justifies the purchase of a PS2 should you not already own one. Despite the fact that this would then effectively be a $120 game, do not let this spectre deter you.

And the soundtrack, lord. Buy it, steal it, I don’t care, but get your hands on it without any further delay.

BoPA: End of the Month Edition

Boy do I have a treat for all you JSB fans out there. Jacob found an orphaned page on the JSB site that seemed to indicate the existence of some taped live shows. One thing led to another, and we simultaneously unearthed this vast treasure trove of biblical proportions. They have so many songs, it’s unreal!

Jacob is going to convert the early shows for me, which are only available in some unbelievably annoying pretentious-audiophile format. It’s going to take a long time to listen to all of these.