All about me

Just a follow-up to my reported intent last week to go see the new "Sherlock Holmes" movie. We did, and I enjoyed it very much. I would recommend it as an entertaining movie that doesn't pretend to be anything else. I sort of agree with Steven Barnes, who "really wanted to love this movie" and instead "just kind of liked it. A lot." Since I didn't have any particular expectations but also liked it a lot, I guess that makes my review a tad stronger than his.

Pretty silly:

Indiana and Indianapolis leaders are urging people to make New Year's resolutions this year that will help them get on solid financial ground.

Secretary of State Todd Rokita, State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, Indianapolis officials and financial experts are urging residents to develop "financial fitness" goals for 2010. Officials say a financial fair Tuesday in Indianapolis will help people set up their resolutions and find ways to make them happen.

My brother Larry e-mailed me a photo he took of a ring-tailed cat, the first one he's seen since he's lived in Texas.

Fran Quigley is an attorney "working on local and international poverty issues." In an opinion piece for The Indianapolis Star, she says there are lots of other things the state could do instead of "handcuffing future generations" with a constitutional property tax cap and "cutting public education, health care for the disabled or other services" as a "last resort":

Like expanding the state's sales tax, which is our top source of revenue, to include more services.

Last year, my sister's intended trip to Fort Wayne to spend Christmas with me and mutual friends was thwarted by the weather -- you remember that lovely ice storm, don't you? So she came up the following week, and we celebrated Christmas on New Year's Day. That was such a good experience that we decided to start a new tradition, so we'll be celebrating the holiday a week late this year, too.

I know I'm an old fart, but I still remember Christmas breaks, and I'm pretty sure vegging out was at the top of the list. As a matter of fact it was the list:

This is my brother's cat, Bubba, sneaking in a snooze while the humans are away from the bedroom. I'm posting it only because it's sorta cute, and this is a lazy Friday (I hope).

We've talked before here about our shrinking zone of privacy, or, rather, the diminishing number of places and circumstances where we have an "expectation of privacy." I keep hoping it will go the other way -- an expansion of privacy -- but it doesn't. Worse, we seem to keep lowering our own expectations. Cameras watching our every move once we leave the house? Hey, no big deal. Government wants an encryption device in every computer so it can peek in at will? Who cares? And younger generations seem not to know or care that everything they say or do in the digital world will be there forever.

I know there are a lot of you Santa deniers out there. How can one person possibly keep track of all the boys and girls in the world? How can he make all those toys? Most absurdly, how can he deliver all those toys in one night? The people trying to sell this nonsense must have cooked the data.

But, I tell you, the science is settled, OK? He uses the Internet. A lot of the Elves are really automation. Santa makes use of science and technology the rest of us just don't have at our disposal yet:

One more reason to drive, or just stay home, for the holidays