So, I joined Twitter

Now people have another way to keep track of me. On Twitter.

I'm still not sure if this will be useful, but I'll give it a shot. I mean, if my various blogs aren't enough, or my Facebook account, or an email, or a phone call, now you can see limited character sporatically-updated "tweets" about what I'm doing without any actual interaction with me personally. :)

Not to be harsh. I figure with a shiny new phone that has Twitter integrated, etc. it'd be nice. But for now, my cell phone is just a phone. (No camera, Internet, or anything!)

This is Me

Today's XKCD totally is related to me.

I use TrueCrypt on my laptop to achieve whole-disk encryption that's NSA-proof strength. Why? Primarily anti-theft; I don't want my personal files used/abused in any way. The typical thief will see the "enter password" on bootup and either give up or reformat the disk drive. (The 10% speed boost resulting from its installation was a great benefit, too -- good work Open Source software engineers!)

Still, it offers peace of mind against theft. That the same software offers all the tinfoil-hat precautions like secret hidden partitions, etc. with plausible deniability, is certainly great. Still, this comic totally captures Kristen's sentiments:

Oh my goodness Mike, that is so you.

I'll get the wrench.

Saddlebacking

I've received an invitation from America's best advice columnist Dan Savage to help enshrine the new definition of the verb "saddlebacking." Just like the Savage Love-defined "santorum," we've got a new word to represent interesting dirty concepts.

Please feel free to view the new definition (NSFW!) at saddlebacking.com.

Other Dan Savage-related news: I stumbled across this fun clip of Dan Savage on the Colbert Report where he manages to make Colbert lose his composure. (Not bad!)

Sometimes, I miss cable. :)

Bombadil, I hardly knew ye

Just a little stumbling on the WWW today yielded a rather fascinating, in-depth analysis by Gene Hargrove of who Tolkein's Tom Bombadil really is.

Why would I end up reading such a long, in-depth analysis? Well, it's primarily because I always found Bombadil's presence annoying in the LoTR. He always seemed out of place -- and I could never get over the fact that he had tremendous power over the Ring: immunity to its effects; seeing Frodo while wearing the Ring; and even making it vanish.

Hargrove's argument is that Bombadil and wife Goldberry are in fact two of the Valar: Aule and Yavanna.

And boy, does it make sense. At least, it makes sense to total Tolkein nerds like myself who have read the Silmarillion more than once. He does a great job of pulling together writings of Tolkein's letters, the Silmarillion, and others, fitting things into place.

And it now gives me a nice, consistent view which explains Bombadil's power over the Ring.