"We now have cultural machines so powerful that one singer can reach everybody in the world, and make all the other singers feel inferior because they're not like him. Once that gets started, he gets backed by so much cash and so much power that he becomes a monstrous invader from outer space, crushing the life out of all the other human possibilities. My life has been devoted to opposing that tendency."

I booked my flight and hotel for GUADEC last night. And despite the talk about lodgings being hard to find, I was able to reserve a room at the first hotel I called.

If anyone is flying from the US and still hasn't bought their ticket yet, here is a suggestion: go directly to the Iberia website. I originally tried Orbitz, Travelocity, etc. and the flights were all significantly more expensive and much more circuitous. No thank you, I'd rather not fly Chicago to Detroit to Newark to Madrid.

I just tried to sign up for my bank's on-line bill payment system, but the system complained about not being able to verify my information, and referred me to a customer service 800 number.

So I call. And I find out that they don't have any record of my ATM card in their system (the ATM card number and PIN number was one of the things they used for authentication). And the customer service rep didn't seem to believe me when I told him that yes, this ATM card works just fine.

So in order for me to sign up, they need to send me a new ATM card -- even though I already have a perfectly good one. Who designs these systems? How can these big organizations be so clueless?

Next week I'm heading out to Boston for some time 'in residence' at Ximian.

And speaking of work, I just noticed that today is the first anniversary of my joining Ximian. Where does the time go?