Currently spending a lot of time in the right half of this diagram, so I tried to put some of that anxious energy to use, mostly for nerdy things that probably aren't terribly interesting in general:

- I wrote a program to let you pipe stuff into IRC.

- I wrote two articles on C++ first-class (ish) functions.

- I read Brave New World, since one of my friends gave me it for Christmas. I should have read it a long while ago. One thing that's interesting to notice is what Huxley imagined would be automated and what he imagined would still be done manually (e.g., adding various fluids to bottles and helicopter piloting). Ultimately, though, it feels like Huxley is presenting a false dilemma between hardcore moralism and hardcore hedonism(?), which was somewhat disappointing.

Then, last night my wife swerved to miss someone who blew a stop sign and hit a curb at 35 MPH in the Rabbit. She's fine, but the car ain't. The lower control arm failed where the ball joint bolts to it, and physics took care of finishing off that CV joint and the quarterpanel as well. There's also a new dent in the roof, which says 'bent frame' to me.

Naturally, insurance wants to total it out (seeing as I paid $1400 for it, I don't blame them). I'm getting it towed back to my place; I'm going to fix the mechanicals myself (since it doesn't look like any of the suspension attachment points on the body are damaged) and then see what it'll cost me to get a body shop to straighten out the rest.

I'm just hoping that the tow truck can get it into my basement garage; otherwise I'm going to be laying in some very cold gravel in my barn instead.

I was going to try to get that information theory math explainer written this week but that is probably going to be put on hold until I have more than one functioning car again.

EDIT: Cold gravel it is for me. Fortunately a more thorough investigation of the damage showed it's not much worse than I already thought. No damage to the door, and nothing in the strut tower or underbody appears out of place. The wheel is cracked, but the tire appears OK?