Gmail storage space increased

If you have a Gmail account, you probably already know this - it was no joke, Google really did increase their user's storage space from 1 GB to 2 GB. It's kinda cool watching the counter on the Gmail page counting up all day yesterday and today. Currently it's at 2051.585 and rising! The official word from Google is "Our plan is to continue growing your storage beyond 2 GB's by giving you more space as we are able...we want Gmail to keep up with our users and their needs. From Gmail, you can expect more." Nice!!! Now - what do I do with those 50 Gmail invites I've got??

Run Linux on your Nintendo DS

You read that right - run Linux on a Nintendo DS. The DS Linux development group is nearing an alpha release that will do just that. To run Linux (or other software) on the DS will require use of a passthrough device - a device that basically bypasses the DS operating system and runs programs off of a modifyed GBA cart. The development community came up with a device, called PassMe that fills the bill. Also, another development project is trying to bring Linux to the Sony PSP - PSP-Linux.org. Looks like they are looking for developers. See what happens if you give geeks a new toy to play with? They band together to come up with something really cool!

April Fools!!

Lots of websites do fun things on April Fools, like change the page layout, play tricks on their readers, invert colors, make fake announcements, or do other funny things. But this is just too good - the ladies who write The Fug Blog have decided to go in a new direction, The Hug Blog. Very funny!!

The history of Mozilla Firefox

Ever wonder how the current Mozilla Firefox we know and love came to be? Read this article for the whole story. (The site was posted on Slashdot, so it's getting hammered right now - might want to try it later.) And remember, if you haven't done it already - Get Firefox!

Problems with the Sony PSP?

It seems that there is a potential problem with Sony's new (in America) PSP - dead pixels in the display. Contrary to rumors floating around the Sony message boards Sony will replace defective units, but you have to send it to Sony Computer Entertainment - America (SCEA) and they'll send you a replacement. So you'd be without it for a week or so. Pretty annoying - but it doesn't change the fact that I want one.
In other PSP related news, here's an article that will show what the PSP looks like opened up. Needless to say, try this at your own risk - you'll void your warranty if you open your PSP. Then where will you be if you start having trouble with dead pixels?

It's time for the Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards

The time has come to vote for your favorite Star Wars Fan Film - you can watch them all and then cast your vote (if you are a member of Atom Films.com or don't mind signing up). I watched a couple of them so far, and I thought Sith Apprentice was pretty funny, and Anakin Dynamite was also amusing.

Now this is just silly

As part of their Plays For Sure campaign, Microsoft has launched a webpage to help you pick the 'correct' MP3 player for you. It advises that "a player that uses flash memory to store music has distinct advantages over a player that uses a hard disk. Simply put, flash memory players have no moving parts, meaning that you can take them jogging and your music won't skip" and "Don't get locked into one online store...You might have to shop at more than one store before you find the song you're looking for." Unsurprisingly, it's 6 tips would exclude the iPod as a good choice for consumers. Now, I've had troubles with iPod, but my wife and I both use one at the gym without even experiencing a skip, and I've never had problems finding music on the iTunes Music Store. So I can tell you from personal experience that those claims are false. Not that I'd ever really trust Microsoft anyway...

Rise, Lord Vader

OK, I admit it - I'm a Star Wars fanboy, and I've watched the trailer for Episode III 5 times already today. I've also changed my PC wallpaper to this Darth Vader one. Yep, I am JUST that geeky...

What'll they think of next?

I sure could have used this clock this morning - Clocky. Developed by a research associate at MIT Labs (not Muppet Labs like you'd expect), Clocky will roll off the nightstand and hide from you after you press the snooze bar. After your snooze time is up, the alarm goes off again and now you've got to get out of bed and hunt for Clocky to turn it off. It looks pretty silly, but if it gets you out of bed on time then maybe it'd be worth it.

Update to Mozilla Firefox released

An updated version (version 1.0.2) of Mozilla Firefox was released yesterday. The release includes an important patch to a recently discovered flaw that could be exploited by a malicious file or program. So if you haven't yet - upgrade!

Spam industry sustained by bad e-mail habits

Here's an interesting article from the BBC News about e-mail spam. Apparently, according to a research study quoted in the article, nearly a third of e-mail users have clicked on links in spam messages - and one in ten users have bought products advertised in spam messages. And this is the primary reason that spam is still around - because it still works. This is very bad news, very bad news indeed.

Keep up the good work!

Mozilla Firefox continues to eat into Microsoft Internet Explorer's share of web browser usage - dropping IE under 90% market share. Firefox is at 6.17%, and rising - but we can do better. Tell everyone you know - Get Firefox!

George Lucas plans to re-release Star Wars - in 3-D

Interesting announcement - appearing at ShoWest in Las Vegas, George Lucas and a group of other Hollywood directors including James Cameron, Robert Zemeckis and Robert Rodriguez promoted the latest in 3-D technology, Lucas going as far as stating that he will re-release the Star Wars films - all of them - in 3-D. He stated that he hoped to re-release Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope in time for it's 30th anniversary in 2007, and then re-release the rest one per year. Part of the presentation included a screening of clips of Episode IV and Episode II that had been put through the new 3-D treatment by the Agoura Hills, California based firm In-Three. And director Peter Jackson (who joined the others via a pre-taped segment, recorded in 3-D) screened portions of The Lord of the Rings that had undergone the treatment. Lucas was quoted as saying "When you see some of this test footage, it's shockingly good, and you can see how people would want to go see it. It means we can repurpose a lot of old movies, and at the same time it really gives a whole new dimension to the movies we're making now." So, the question is - is this legitimately for the promotion and enhancement of the technology, or just a chance to grab more money?

Mozilla cancels release of Thunderbird 1.0.1

Mozilla announced yesterday that they've cancelled the anticipated 1.0.1 release of their email client, Thunderbird. Their browser, Firebird, is currently on a 1.0.1 release. They said they will work on the next release of Firebird (1.0.2), and the fixes that would have occured in Thunderbird will be added to it's next release (also 1.0.2). So, what does all this mean to the average user? Nothing really - things will work fine till the next release. No announced date, they'll only say that "Release candidate builds of Firefox 1.0.2 and Thunderbird 1.0.2 are expected soon."

A look at Sony's PSP

I really want one of these - here's an article all about the Sony PSP. It's available starting next Thursday, should cost about $249. It plays games and is capable of showing movies using Sony's high capacity (1.8 GB) Universal Media Disc (UMD). The first 1 million US units will come with a Spiderman 2 disc. It's got Memory Stick, an IR port and 802.11b wireless built in - plus you can connect it to a PC using it's USB 2.0 port, and if you add software to your computer for Sony's Connect online media purchasing service you can download music directly to your PSP. Eventually Sony's Connect service will have video content offerings as well - the service is going to be re-launched later this year to support those kinds of content downloads. Folks in Japan (where PSP has been available for the last 4 months) have figured out a hack to allow you to download content to PSP without paying for it, so I'm sure someone here will figure it out also.

Be careful what you say on AIM, you never know who might be eavesdropping

Apparently AOL has changed it's terms of service for AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) that give AOL the right to use anything and everything you send through AIM in any way they see fit, without informing you of it. Here's an article written about it on another blog. This is worrisome for most, but I'm not personally concerned since I'd never have a conversation through AIM that I'd be worried about someone seeing. If you use AIM for communication that needs to be secure and private you are a fool - it's NEVER been a secure communication tool. If you just chat with friends or family and don't send sensitive information via AIM, you shouldn't have to worry about this at all. That said, this change is still bothersome. The section of the new terms of service that states "by posting Content on an AIM Product, you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium. You waive any right to privacy." is just a horrible invasion of privacy if you ask me. Think there's any hope they'll change their mind about this?

My brother - luckiest man alive!

My brother works for a audio-visual presentation services company - basically they develop and produce events (incorporating stage lighting and decoration, audio, multimedia presentations and many other services) for clients such as Microsoft, Burger King, various automakers shows at the Detroit Auto Show, and other events. Sure, you say, that's cool. But why is he the luckiest man alive, you ask? Well, the recent event he's working on is for Burger King and their partner in a new promotion - Lucasfilm. My brother's company will be doing a big event for Burger King, part of which involves a screening of Episode III before it is released in theatres. That in and of itself is very cool, but there's more. To setup the event and coordinate all the different aspects of it, he'll be attending a meeting with executives for all parties. Held at Skywalker Ranch (Here's another link with more pictures and additional info about the ranch). Now that is cool - I'm very jealous!

Survivor : Palau casting scandal

Don't know if this is true or not, but I wouldn't put it past the producers of Survivor - Wanda Shirk, one of the first two people eliminated this season, has raised allegations that 7 contestants originally cast for the show were cut and replaced with professional models selected by the producers. The interview is online at tvguide.com (you need a subscription to their site to read it), or you can read an article on realitytvworld.com about the whole scandal, and how CBS is, of course, refuting her claims. In the article, CBS spokesperson Colleen Sullivan tells Reality TV World that "Wanda's allegation is simply untrue. I spoke with casting and not ONE modeling agency was contacted." So I guess it comes down to who do you believe, CBS or Wanda?

Is Apple the new Microsoft?

This article poses the question, and it's a valid question. All I can tell you is, in my experiences recently - they aren't the company they used to be.

Big Brother is watching...

Tadayoshi Kohno, a doctoral candidate at the University of California San Diego has authored a research paper outlining a way to 'fingerprint' a computer remotely, allowing someone to track it no matter where it connects to the internet. Here's a link to an article on ZDNet Australia that summarizes his findings. Application of his technique could be used to "help track laptops as they move, perhaps as part of a Carnivore-like project" or "obtain information about whether two devices on the Internet, possibly shifted in time or IP addresses, are actually the same physical device." He also states that "For all our methods, we stress that the fingerprinter does not require any modification to or cooperation from the fingerprintee." Kohno and his team tested their techniques on many operating systems, including Windows XP and 2000, Mac OS X Panther, Red Hat and Debian Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and even Windows for Pocket PCs 2002. Whoa. A little disturbing to think of the possible ways this could be used against people by government agencies, or evil hackers though. The 'fingerprint' technique can even sniff out PC's that are behind a NAT (Network Address Translation) device like a router, so there's no way to hide from it, apparently. Maybe nothing to worry about, but it's like I always say - Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that people aren't out to get you.

Online Gallery from the New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is creating a new online gallery of over 275,000 images digitized from it's collection. It contains illuminated manuscripts and vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and historical maps, plus illustrated books and much more. It's being optimized to handle the likely very high traffic to the site, but it'll be available here once it's ready. You can read more about it here. This looks like it will be very deeply cool once it's up and running.

Star Wars Episode III trailer news

In case you haven't heard yet, the 'full release' trailer (with over 2 minutes of footage from the movie) for Episode III will premiere during the March 10th episode of The OC. Then it'll be shown in theatres starting March 11th before Robots. It'll also be available at starwars.com right after The OC, but only if you're a starwars.com Hyperspace member. It'll start showing on starwars.com for non-members of the 14th.

Oh, this sounds like a bad, bad idea

A new product showcased at Microsoft's TechFest on Wednesday was a robot teddy bear prototype, designed to help parents monitor their children. It would incorporate a wireless internet connection and a camera to allow a parent to observe their child online, while the bear's head swivels around to keep an eye on the child thanks to a facial recognition program. Scary idea, if you ask me. I don't think I'd be keen to trust my kid to a Microsoft product - but a lot of these things at the TechFest never really make it to final market products, so who knows if this will ever be available on store shelves near you. I kinda think the idea of a robot child monitoring system itself is a bad idea, my parents didn't have to much trouble monitoring me when I was a child, and they did it the old fashioned way. You know, actually being there - in the same house. Heck, even in the same room sometimes! I know, that's just crazy talk, isn't it?

The Amazing Race season 7 premiere

Wow, it's very cool to have another Amazing Race so soon after season 6 ended, and the new seventh season kicked off with a overall pretty cool 2 hour episode last night. I'm still not remembering specifics about every team (that takes a few weeks), and I'm not as annoyed at Rob and Amber as I thought I would be (but I'm still not a fan of the stunt casting on TAR). I kinda liked Ryan and Chuck (my wife and I nicknamed them 'Boomhauer', cause they've got that same accent and fast speech pattern), the first team eliminated - which is a depressing parallel to last season, when I thought Avi and Joe could be fun Racers and then they were the first team eliminated. We'll see how the next few weeks go, I'm hoping that this season ends better than last. In a disturbing development, they had an ad soliciting Racers for next season, and they're looking for families of four. Not sure how I feel about a Family Edition of TAR...

Babylon 5 movie deal dead

According to the series creator J. Michael Straczynski, the dream of a Babylon 5 movie is over - a post to the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated (reprinted at this link to JMSNews.com) lays out just how close it was to becoming reality, and that now it seems like a movie version of the series will not come to be. Sad news indeed - I for one had been really hoping that this movie would get made.

Sin City the movie!

This movie looks like it's going to be really really cool - go here to watch the trailer and here to check out the official site.

You want some cheese with that whine, Michael?

Apparently Michael Gorman, President of the American Library Association, is not fond of bloggers. He also smacks Google around in that article, talking about an op-ed piece he wrote for the Los Angeles Times called "Google and God's Mind (December 17th, 2004)" in which he "question(s) the usefulness of Google digitizing millions of books and making bits of them available via its notoriously inefficient search engine." Well, I'm rather surprised that the Dean of Library Services, Madden Library, California State University doesn't like Google, or blogs. Because if I can read blogs (some of which have actual good information and/or valid points on world affairs) and search Google for information and for books - why would I even need to step inside a library again? So yeah, I'm not at all surprised. But to call Google "notoriously inefficient" seems just a little harsh. Maybe he's just bad at it, and has to take it out on those of us who can actually use Google to find what we are looking for more quickly and efficiently than we could by going to the library. Now don't get me wrong - I'm not against libraries, and I think supporting and funding libraries is important. Maybe a better way to approach the "Blog People" as he calls them would be to start a discussion of ways their worlds can merge - libraries and Google and blogs all working together. I can think of one of the "Blog People" who helps libraries all the time, Pamela Ribon. She runs Pamie.com, and she's spent tons of her time organizing book drives for libraries. It's very cool how they do it, the library creates a wish list on Amazon.com of books they'd like to have, and people go to those wish lists, buy a book or two, and have them shipped to the library that needs them. Now how's that for integrating libraries and "Blog People"?

Second season of Battlestar Galactica to premiere this summer

SciFi announced yesterday that the second season of Battlestar Galactica, which has been getting good ratings for them, will begin airing this summer. Good news - and it's also confirmed that the entire cast will be returning. They're scheduled to shoot 20 new episodes, and production will begin next month. A quote from the story states that "The series, which premiered on Jan. 14, has been averaging over 3 million viewers per episode and has quickly become SCI FI's highest-rated original series and has received unprecedented critical acclaim." That's also good news - I really like it, and I hate it when good shows that I like get screwed over. The show is also apparently very popular among file sharing folks, ranking 9th on the list of top 10 most downloaded shows. Even if you don't get into the whole file sharing thing, you can go to the Galactica part of the SciFi site and watch the first episode legally - and commercial free!

So... tired...

Wow am I tired right now - stayed up too late last night I guess. Don't you hate it when you are really tired, and it seems like every question someone asks you is just the most insipid, most inane, just plain DUMBEST thing anyone has ever asked? Now imagine that situation magnified a thousand fold - and you've got an idea how bad a mood I'm in right now. When you feel wiped out, tired, and really crabby? Yeah, that's not the best time to be talking to a bunch of mouth breathing morons. It reminds me of an old saying "Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level, and then beat you with experience." So true, so very true. Bah, this sucks. Maybe I just need some more coffee...

UPDATE : SPOILER ALERT : Episode III screenshots

Here's a link to a mirror site where the pics are still viewable - for now...

A FINAL(?) UPDATE : 2/25 @ 8:04am At last check, this site was down, and the one linked below was back up. And the working one has some GIF images of a couple of the lightsaber battles - very cool!!

SPOILER ALERT : Website with screenshots from Episode III

Not sure if this site is still up, or if it's just getting crushed because it was linked on Slashdot this morning, but here's a link to site reporting to have 80 screenshots from Star Wars Episode III : Revenge of the Sith. Apparently they say there are more screenshots to come - if the site is ever reachable.

Star Wars : Episode III slated to open the Cannes Film Festival

After months of negotiations, a deal was struck between George Lucas and festival administrators to have Episode III : Revenge of the Sith as the opening film of the 58th Cannes Film Festival, which starts on May 11th. Rumors are that Ewan McGregor will attend. But if you don't already have an invite - you'll have to wait till the movie opens on May 19th like the rest of the world. Maybe we'll get some reports from people who saw it at Cannes - let's hope they say it's worth seeing!

C'mon America - we can do better!!

Apparently we aren't downloading enough pirated TV shows - the UK leads the world in TV piracy, at 38.4% of the world's TV downloads. It seems people in the UK love their peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, ans love using BitTorrent in particular. America comes in 3rd, with a paltry 7.3%. America strives to be #1 in so many other avenues - why not this one, right?

Where has the time gone?

It's been one year (and change) since I wrote the first post on this blog, and in that time I've had 2,596 hits on the site and written almost 170 posts. The only thing I'd like to see change is the amount of people browsing to the blog using Firefox - only 12% of the hits were Firefox, and 83% were Internet Explorer (Mozilla, Netscape, and Safari account for the other 5%). But hey, Firefox 1.0 has been downloaded 25 million times, so the more people using it the better - and that percentage will just continue to move the right way. Here's to another year - thanks to all of my readers (yes, both of you) for making the first one a great one!

NapsterToGo copy protection defeated

The new Napster and it's NapsterToGo unlimited download for a monthly fee service have been dealt a blow by their users - they've figured out a way around the copy protection built into the song files. I suppose it was just a matter of time before a crack was found, but that was surprisingly quick!

Not that it's a surprise, but...

The NHL has announced that it has officially cancelled the 2004-2005 hockey season. And in the process becomes the FIRST major North American professional sports league to lose an entire season due to a labor dispute. Sad news, but the way the talks were going (or rather, not going) it was not really going to end any other way. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was quoted as saying "I have no choice but to cancel the 2004-05 season," adding "This is a sad, regrettable day that all of us wish could have been avoided." Agreed. But when you've got the owners demanding a salary cap, the players saying "No way" and then when they finally bandied about offers on a actual cap - couldn't come to an agreement. Players say "We'll agree to $49 million per team" and owners come back with "Nope. $42.5 million". And they'd both come down already - the players were saying $52 million and the owners wanted $40 million. Darn it, they were so close. And even if they had come to an agreement, this season would have been pretty much over - what would they have done, go straight to the playoffs? I guess hockey fans will have to hope something happens in the interim before next season is supposed to begin - or the whole NHL might just fold and cease to exist.

New trailer for The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

There is a new longer trailer for The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy available online - if you go to Amazon's page, it's viewable right within their main page. It shows actual footage from the film, and it's a pretty good look at what the movie will be like. I'm getting excited for this - can't wait till April 29th!!

Yahoo! Toolbar now available for Firefox

In case you care - a beta version of the Yahoo! Toolbar is now available that is compatible with Mozilla Firefox. I'm personally ambivalent to this, I didn't use the toolbar in Internet Explorer, and I won't use it with Firefox. But, if you found it useful before you made the switch to Firefox (You have switched, right? If not, click the Firefox banner on the sidebar) - now you can have it back.

Good news for fans of the new Battlestar Galactica

Look like SciFi Channel has renewed Battlestar Galactica for a second season. They've aired 5 episodes of their original 13 episode order, and the last episode earned good ratings - 3.2 million viewers. Which is more people than watched the last episode of the soon-to-be-gone Star Trek Enterprise. I really like the new Galactica, so I happy to see it's doing well and SciFi is keeping it around. The series creator, Ronald Moore, has a blog space you can go to on SciFi's Battlestar Galactica page - it's worth checking out. Lots of cool info about the series and the direction he wants to take it in, some behind the scenes info too.

I just love free songs!

It's time for the Apple/Pepsi iTunes Music Store promotion again - get a free song on one out of three bottles of 20 oz. Pepsi products. And yes, you can check the bottle to see if it's a winner same as last year.

Oh well, at least it wasn't Jonathan and Victoria...

It's official - Freddy Holliday and Kendra Bentley are the winners of The Amazing Race. I was really really hoping that Jon and Kris would win - but it just didn't happen. Oh well - at least the next Race is only 3 weeks away!!

If you use Windows, be sure to go to Windows Update on Tuesday...

13 security vulnerabilities in Windows will get Security patches on February 8th. Or be prepared to get hit by whatever viruses are out now (or are currently being created) to take advantage of these latest security holes in Windows. As a wise man once said - "To be forewarned is to be fore-armed"...

Napster's plan to take on iTunes

Yes, you read that right - Napster. They're still alive and have just announced their plan to take the iTunes Music Store on. It's called NapsterToGo - basically unlimited song downloads to a compatible portable MP3 player for a monthly fee of $15. But - the Apple iPod is not compatible. So I guess we'll have to see how this works for them, since they don't directly support the most popular MP3 player out there.

Not quite sure if this is brilliance or stupidity...

A sixteen year old kid has been charged with a misdemeanor for hooking up a keystroke logging device to his teacher's computer. He's a student at Clements High in Sugar Land, TX. The dumb thing he did that got him caught was offering answers for sale to other students. School district police (who knew there was such a thing?) referred the case to the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office, which has charged the teen with breach of computer information, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,000 and up to 180 days in jail. Oopsie! I'd say the teacher isn't really observant, but these things are really small and unobtrusive - apparently the one he used is about the size of a pen cap and connects between the keyboard port on the PC and the cord leading to the keyboard. Who'd think to go rooting around back there looking for something like that...hmmm, maybe I should check MY work computer!

State of the Union

Don't care about the State of the Union address, like me? Well, do what I did - watch JibJab.com's Second Term cartoon! Keep counting down, Countdown Clock - man, I can't wait till that thing hits zero...

Finale of The Amazing Race airs next Tuesday

It's coming down to the wire - the two-hour finale of The Amazing Race will air Tuesday February 8th on CBS. It's been a great season (especially since Jonathan and Victoria got the boot), and I'm really hoping that Kris and Jon win. They have really run a good race, and have had a great attitude throughout the race - got a little down last night during all the trouble they had with cabs in Shanghai - but ended up pulling out a 3rd place finish for the leg. Can't wait for the finale - but the wife and I are bummed that we can't go to TARCon again. TARCon is a big party thrown at the end of each season by some of the fanatics over at Televisionwithoutpity.com, and it's going to be held at Play By Play, the sports bar inside Madison Square Garden just like it was after last season ended. It's a huge party - a lot of past and present Racers come by, as well as tons of fans. And occasionally, Phil Keoghan himself makes an appearance. Oh well, eventually my wife and I will get to go to a TARCon, we hope!

Have you ever played Price Is Right...on WEED??

So when I'm home from work on Monday and Tuesdays I like to watch The Price Is Right. Sure, it's a guilty pleasure, but I've been watching it for years and I'm not about to stop now. So anyway, on the show today, a college kid gets called to "Come on down!" and be a contestant. The first thing he makes a bid on, he tells Bob Barker "I've waited my whole life to do this" - and bids $420. Oy. Of course, he's not even close. Next time up, he bids $1420. Oh, hardy har har. Of course, he's wrong again. Next time up - it's the last chance any of these people have to get up on stage because it's the last round - and he bids $420. AGAIN. And of course, before he did it, says "I guess I have to bid $420, Bob." And, also of course, he's wrong. AGAIN. For a stupid pot joke. God, what a tool. I'm pretty sure Bob didn't get it, but from the reaction of a lot of the audience members, they sure got it. Wonder if they were high too?

Fame! I wanna live forever...ah, who am I kidding

I'd never ever heard of webpronews.com till a couple days ago, when I found out that I'd been quoted in it. My post on Saturday about the ruling against Jeffrey Lee Parson was quoted liberally in the article (big thanks to rio for the comment that brought it to my attention). Weird to see something you wrote linked to on some other website like that, kind of cool as well! And it's increased traffic to the site - 24 hits yesterday alone. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but I'll take whatever I can get. So, thanks all for stopping by, and thanks to webpronews.com for the exposure!

Check it out!!

Look over at the sidebar - nope, below the archives... below the iTunes banner... you see it? The Official George W. Bush "Days Left In Office" Countdown Clock from Backwardsbush.com!! Gotta love the ingenuity of some people - it's what makes America great.

So, boiling him in oil was out of the question?

A Federal judge sentenced Minnesota teen Jeffrey Lee Parson to 18 months for modifying the Blaster worm and releasing it to, in Parson's own confession, "launch a distributed denial-of-service attack against a Microsoft Windows update Web site as well as personal computers". U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman said in her ruling that Parson's neglectful parents were to blame for the psychological troubles that led to his actions in the summer of 2003. Parson made a statement and apologized to the court and to Microsoft, saying, "I know I've made a huge mistake and I hurt a lot of people and I feel terrible." He will still have to pay restitution to Microsoft and to people whose computers were affected in an amount to be determined at a hearing set for Feb. 10. Okay, sure, that'll be a bite for a 19 year old kid, but I personally think that maybe a better idea than subjecting him to prison time would be making him work for Microsoft for 18 months. Have him use his l33t ha><0r 5ki11z (that's "elite hacking skills" for the leetspeak challenged) to rid Microsoft's buggy bloated Windows code of problems. Maybe such work would be beyond his ability, I don't know - but I think it's more useful to the thousands of affected Windows users to have an operating system that is protected against such problems than having the kid pay a fine and go to jail.

This bites - thanks a lot, MGM!

This is just terrific. All of MGM's theatrical "wide screen" DVD releases for the past few years have, in actuality, been pan & scan versions with the top and bottom cut off. SO, MGM is now in a class action lawsuit. Here's a link to the PDF file that lists all the affected movies. Jesus, now I've gotta go through all my DVD's and file a claim - this sucks!!

Long live Firefox!

Quite high praise is heaped on the coolest web browser around, Mozilla Firefox, in this article from Wired. It's no secret that I use Firefox and love it, I've written about it before and suggested people make the switch. If you haven't switched yet, what are you waiting for? Click the Firefox graphic on the sidebar - you won't be sorry!

Academy Award Nominations

The nominations are out for the 77th Annual Academy Awards, and does anyone think that Jamie Foxx won't win Best Actor? Cause I think he's a sure bet. Ray was an outstanding movie, and he was amazing in it. I also thought it was really cool that The Incredibles is nominated for Best Original Screenplay - it's a bold move to nominate an animated movie for one of the big awards. It was also a bold move on the Academy's part to not nominate The Passion of the Christ for Best Picture or any acting awards or for Best Direction. This was a very cool move in my opinion - although I didn't hate The Passion, I didn't think it was as incredible as a lot of people who saw it thought it was. I could only watch it once, not several times like some people. And I thought it was overly violent, drastically so - and it really wasn't necessary. The extreme violence changed the tone and impact of the film, from a movie about a man who struggled with the enormous expectations laid upon him (whether you believe Jesus was the son of God or not, if he was a real man and the things that he went though are true - he was under some incredible pressure and stress) and turned it into a movie about a guy who gets terribly, violently, sadistically beaten for hours and hours. I kind of felt like Kyle from South Park while I was watching the movie, sitting there covering up my face during the torture of Jesus. So I guess it's sort of cool of the Academy to not reward that kind of film. What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know what you think of the nominations, good or bad.

Some info on the next generation of game consoles

According to this article, the next generation of game consoles (Sony Playstation 3, Microsoft Xbox2 (code name Xenon) and Nintendo "Revolution") are expected to be arriving within the next 18 months. The studio General Manager of EA Europe, Rory Armes, says they have already received development kits for the Xbox2, and says "We know maybe what the PS3 will do, but we can only guess". It's always an exciting time in gaming when right before the new console get released and the rumors are flying - should be an interesting 18 months!

Good news TAR lovers!!

CBS announced a few days ago that the next season of the Emmy award winning The Amazing Race is set to premiere on March 1st - just 3 weeks after the current season finale. That's a really quick turn around, I think they're hoping to capitalize on the good ratings the show has been getting. And there's a rumor going around that Survivor : All Star winner Amber Brkich and her fiance Rob Mariano (runner-up of Survivor : All Star) will be racers next season. Don't know how I feel about that, but hey - at least it's not Rupert Boneham.

(The last?) UPDATE : The Great iPod Debacle

I got a chance to talk to the representative from Apple's corporate office a couple days ago. He wasn't very helpful, and it was kind of a shame. I informed him that the general manager of the Apple Store had contacted me and offered a $50 iTunes gift certificate, and that I thought that would help me feel a little better about things but I wanted to know what he could do from a more corporate standpoint. And he basically said the same things the store manager did, and didn't really offer anything else. I also mentioned to him the problems I've had with my laptop since the whole problem - see, my laptop hard drive has now completely crashed since I did all this adding and removing software to try and fix the old iPod and adding and removing iTunes and songs to try and fix it. I certainly can't PROVE that it's related, but it's one hell of a coincidence. He just sort of blew it off, saying that I could have used my iPod to back up the data on my hard drive. Ummm, right. That's a brilliant idea - back up files from my laptop to my iPod... except the old one DIDN'T WORK because it's hard drive died (so anything I would have backed up onto it would be lost anyway) and I don't think I trust iPods as storage devices now to ever try that in the future. What a crap answer. Oh well, I guess I'm just out all the songs I lost minus the $50 they gave me, and all the irreplaceable data on the laptop hard drive (although I'm hopeful I'll be able to get some of it off - I'll have to wait and see). Plus, of course, my time and trouble to make three trips out to the Apple Store. Oh well, I guess you live and learn, right?

UPDATE : The great iPod debacle

So I get home last night to find a letter in my mailbox from Apple's corporate office. When I get in the house and open it, it's from a representative of Apple offering to work with me if the problem is unresolved, and giving me his number. I called but he wasn't in - so I left a voicemail for him. Hopefully I'll actually get a call back. But then, later that evening, I'm eating dinner and the phone rings. The wife answers it, then hands it to me - and it's the manager of the Apple Store at Easton on the phone! He's calling in response to the copy of the letter I sent to him(I sent copies to Steve Jobs, and the Exec VP of the iPod Division, and the Exec VP of the Retail Division too). He did at least apologize, and offered me $50 to use at the iTunes Music Store, which is cool - but he also kinda tried to point fingers at the one tech at the Apple Store who was actually helpful (and fixed my problem), and I didn't think that was very cool. Anyway, we'll see if the guy from Apple calls me back. More updates to come, possibly...

The Dude abides...

This is pretty funny - Lebowski Fest West 2005. They've been doing Lebowski Fests since 2002, and have pictures from past Fests on the website. Maybe his Dudeness himself will be there...

Flaw in Internet Explorer exploited

A known flaw in Microsoft Internet Explorer has been made even worse. The flaw used to require some user action, like the user dragging an image from one part of a Web page to another before it was able to affect the computer - but no longer. Now the flaw can be exploited with no user interaction. Making Internet Explorer an even bigger security risk. If you haven't yet, maybe now is a good time to Get Firefox!.

Casting the new Superman movie

It was announced a few days ago that Kevin Spacey and Kate Bosworth would be joining the cast of director Bryan Singer's new entry into the Superman movie franchise. So, Spacey will be Lex Luthor, Bosworth is Lois Lane, and newcomer Brandon Routh was already cast as Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman. I'm interested to see what Kevin Spacey can do as Lex Luthor - and he's done his best work ever in another Bryan Singer movie (The Usual Suspects), so it's a great thing to have them work together again. I don't know about Kate Bosworth - I haven't seen her in Beyond The Sea (with Kevin Spacey), but she wasn't that great in that surfing movie Blue Crush. I haven't seen any of her other movies, so I'll just have to reserve judgment for now. I'm really hoping this movie is great, it's been a long time since the Superman movies were great - it's definitely time!

New bugs found in Mozilla/Firefox/Thunderbird

Some new bugs in Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox (browser), and Mozilla Thunderbird (mail client) were recently identified. The first allows the source of a download to be spoofed, generating a fake URL. The second was created by the way that Mozilla's browsers handle news:// links to newsgroups, hackers can easily create false links and create a buffer overflow. And the third affects machines with multiple users. The way that Firefox and Thunderbird store files allows every user to see them and to probably catch the other user's surfing habits. But here's the difference between bugs in Mozilla products and Microsoft (like Internet Explorer and Outlook Express) - the latest version of Firefox and Thunderbird is already patched to prevent the second bug and may not be vulnerable to the third. Here's hoping the first bug gets patched quickly.

Sony PSP handheld launch in March

March 2005, but no firm date or price point, was announced at CES 2005 about the North American launch of the new Sony PSP handheld system. The system has shipped 510,000 units in Japan since it's launch there. Read the article on PSP411.com.

Star Wars Episode III : Return of the Sith Pictures

A couple of small pics available on this site, the site the article mentions doesn't have anything on it - it's just a placeholder page. Maybe all-mighty Lucasfilm put the smackdown on them...

If you use P2P networks - beware...

This is just lovely. Modified files, uploaded to Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks that install spyware on your PC, the latest tactic of the RIAA and MPAA. And the ability to do this is brought to us by our lovely friends at Microsoft, thanks to a loophole in Windows Media DRM (Digital Rights Management)that allows companies to create bogus media files and link them to adware. Read the article here for more.

Christmas website scam

So this guy, Alex Komarnitsky, started a website two years ago purporting to let people turn his Christams lights on and off over the internet. But he really wanted to see if he could use computer tricks to make it look as if the thousands of Christmas lights adorning his house were blinking on command. This year he went even further - when a local news channel did a story about his site and had a news copter hovering over the house, he had is wife in the house turning the lights on and off manually. He has now come forward and admitted it's a hoax. And here is the link to the site itself - if you are interested. Sounds like a pretty shifty thing to do, if you ask me.

The great iPod debacle

That's what I've decided to call it. It's been all taken care of for over a week now, so I believe I have enough perspective on the whole situation to be diplomatic when I write this - so here goes...

It all started on December 8th. The iPod I've had since February started acting up a lot - it would skip a song, play the next and maybe one more, and then it would freeze. Totally locked up and it would just sit there till you reset it. Very annoying, and it got worse on Sunday the 12th. I was at the gym, and it did the same thing - skipped a song, played the next, froze up. It wouldn't reset, though. It just sat there, then turned itself off after a few minutes. But it wouldn't power back on. So, I made a trip out to the Apple Store at Easton Towne Center, and figured they could look at it for me. If you haven't been in an Apple Store, they have this thing called the "Genius Bar". If you are having problems with an Apple product you can take it there and get assistance. So I go to the Genius Bar and consult the "Genius". He was able to get it started, and says "Looks like the battery is dead - it'll need to be charged, but it works OK." I pointed out to him that the battery had just been recently charged, and was in fact half charged when it quit. He didn't seem to think anything of this, and said again "The battery is dead. Just give it a good charge."

So I took it home, recharged the battery fully and tried again. And it still did it, no different than before. So I took it back to the Apple Store again on Sunday the 19th. And when I talked to the next "Genius", he said it was probably software corruption, and suggested we return the iPod to factory default. So he offered to do that for me, and we did it. It also deleted all the songs off the iPod - but I could reload them from my PC. He got it to load a couple songs off the test Mac they use, and they played back OK. So he gives it back to me, "There you go. When you take it home, it'll need to reset again and reload the system software since you use a Windows PC." All well and good, I said - but I was still worried. And with good reason.

I get home, and later that night I try to reload my songs on the iPod. It detects that it's connected to a Windows PC, and wants to reformat again - good so far. After it's done, it loads the system software. So far it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do. The firmware update works fine, and it seems to be OK - so I try to upload songs to it. It starts OK, tells me it's loaded 900 songs - then it freezes. Locks up totally - and locks up my computer too. I disconnect the USB cable to the computer, and the computer is OK again. I had to restart the iPod though. But it did restart, and I tried again. It didn't work - again. I tried several times, and even tried the iPod restore and firmware download again. Nothing worked, and I was getting rather pissed off at it. It seemed to always stop on a certain song - so I deleted it. And then it would stop on other songs, so I deleted them too. I got rid of about 200 songs and it still wouldn't download correctly. Now I was really mad.

So I make ANOTHER trip to the Apple Store on December 21st, and went directly to the front desk and asked for the manager. Suffice to say, that was absolutely no help, as she didn't even express concern over the problem and just directed me to go to the Genius Bar. Lovely customer service skills. I went to the Genius bar, and met the ONLY person who actually cared enough to help. And he quickly diagnosed the problem - a faulty hard drive in my iPod. You know what he did? He LISTENED to it - because it made an odd noise when he started it up and tried to look at the system settings. No one else had even though of this, but I guess I should not have been surprised. He went to the stockroom, and returned with another iPod to give me in exchange for the faulty one. I left the store and went home, tried the whole procedure again - and it worked. Flawlessly. Because this time, it WAS FIXED.

So, I've written letters to the manager of the Apple Store, the Senior Vice President in charge of Retail for Apple, the Senior Vice President in charge of the iPod Division, and to Steve Jobs himself. I've expressed my concerns to them, and hopefully something will happen. We'll see, I suppose. I'll keep you informed if anything comes of it.

Merry day after Christmas

It's been a very interesting last few days. Wednesday afternoon a huge snowstorm started and it covered the area with quite a lot of snow by the time it finished the next day. Around Delaware (where I live) we had at least a foot of snow. And since part of the storm included freezing rain, the snow had a nice ice coating over it. We couldn't get out of our driveway Thursday or Friday, so I didn't go to work either day. In fact, I spent a large portion of time both days shoveling snow with my wife - loads of fun. The city finally got out our way Friday evening and plowed our streets. It was a good thing too, because we needed to be able to get out of the house for Christmas - we'd already committed ourselves to be at my mother's house Christmas morning and at my wife's parents house for Christmas evening. We made it out to my mother's house OK, got there about 7am (my 3 nieces get up VERY early even when it's not Christmas), and had a great time opening presents and having breakfast all together. We left around noon, went back home to get the things we needed to take down to Cincinnati (where my wife's parents live) and get the dog ready to go. We loaded up the car and got on the road, had a decent drive into Cincinnati and had a second present opening extravaganza - no kids this time, but 3 dogs. Because we have Lucas (our golden retriever), her parents have Molly (a chocolate Lab), and her sister has Tanner (a beagle). Having 3 dogs also makes for an interesting Christmas time. The dogs get presents, of course - but also seem to monopolize picture taking in the same way children do. Although, with the scenes straight out of Sodom and Gomorrah our dogs got into, these pictures aren't quite as family friendly. Molly is female, Tanner and Lucas are male, and even though Tanner and Lucas are fixed, they were all trying to go at it. It was actually pretty funny! Anyway, just wanted to post a bit about what's been going on recently. I really need to post an entry about the huge problem I had recently with my iPod - but I'll need to compose my thoughts and come up with a way to write about it without just typing expletives constantly. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas (or whichever celebration you subscribe too)!!

A match made in the Islands of Fire

Survivor host Jeff Probst has announced he is dating Survivor:Vanuatu - Islands of Fire contestant Julie Berry (read the article here). Probst is 43 and Berry is 24. As recently as a week ago, he had been denying rumor that they were dating, rumors that had emerged earlier in the season and were strengthened after the broadcast of an episode in which Julie was shown at a challenge wearing a hand painted tattoo of a heart with the word "Jeff" in it. Hee. Maybe he fell in love with her after seeing her sun bathing naked in front of the rest of her tribe. True love, yo - you can't knock it.

Pictures (but not of Julie's naked ass - thankfully)

Trailer for the Tim Burton remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

You can watch it here - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Teaser Trailer. Hmm, could be very cool.
You can also check out the newest trailer for Batman Begins here. That looks like it will be really great! It better be, to make up for that horrible Batman & Robin piece of crap.

Picture of my nieces

I didn't take this one, but it's a great picture of my nieces -



Very cute, aren't they?

Finally...

I'm finally back to doing my real job (for what it's worth), and hopefully this means more regular blog updating. I still haven't had a chance to play with the pictures with my new camera, so I've definitely got to get off my ass and do that - cause Christmas is coming, and I'll just have more pictures to go through. Yup, gotta do that. BTW - buy a iTunes Gift Certificate through the link above (If you want), and I get a little bit in return. Works out good for all, no?

[Sarcasm] Oh, OK Barry - whatever you say [/Sarcasm]

Hot on the heels of the leak of Jason Giambi's grand jury testimony (revealing that he used steroids), Barry Bonds testimony has also been leaked. He stated that he "used a clear substance and a cream given to him by a trainer who was indicted in a steroid-distribution ring, but said he didn't know they were steroids". Right. The article further reports "Bonds told the federal grand jury last year that Greg Anderson, his personal trainer, told him the substances he used in 2003 were the nutritional supplement flaxseed oil and a rubbing balm for arthritis". Does this revelation really surprise anyone?

Bah

Not really "Bah, Christmas" more a "Bah, work sucks". I haven't had any time to do much other than work recently, and for that reason have not posted very often in the last few weeks. Hopefully (fingers crossed), my work situation will get better soon and I'll be able to post more. I haven't even had time to play with my new camera - I know I promised I'd post up some of the pictures I took with it, but I just haven't had a chance. I'm thinking I'll be able to do it soon, this weekend at the latest. Wish me luck!

Say Cheese!!

My lovely wife got me a new digital camera for an anniversary present - the Kodak EasyShare DX7590. I got a chance to use it for the first time yesterday at Thanksgiving dinner at my Mom's house, and it was really easy to use. Had to get up early today for work or I would have a few pictures to put in the post - I'll definitely get a chance to post some after the weekend.

Happy day after Thanksgiving!

It's the busiest shopping day of the year, so I'm sure you're out there now fighting traffic and long lines at the register - but if you get a chance, go check out the Virtual Bartender. Ask Tammy to do something, and she'll do it - maybe. Some commands I've had work are "kiss", "flirt", "gymnastics", "jiggle", and "pillow fight". Just an FYI, this is a bit racy (no nudity though), so it might not be safe for work.

Busy, busy, busy

I know, I know - it's been a week since my last post. But in my defense it's been a fairly busy week. Getting back into the swing of things after vacation really took a toll on me, I'm still not 100% back up to speed. And tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I have it off but have to work Friday - but then I took Saturday off. So I work a day, am off a day, work a day, am off till Wednesday. Could be worse.

Vacation was great - I didn't write a lot about it cause I never seemed to get a chance to. We went to Las Vegas, stayed at my Dad's timeshare at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club. Decent room (and it was free!!) and located right behind the Flamingo - so the location was great, right in the middle of the Strip. And we were really busy - went to the Tournament of Kings at Excalibur the first night we were in Vegas, and since we walk EVERYWHERE we go in Vegas we had to walk there through a rainstorm. A rainstorm that generated a RECORD SETTING AMOUNT OF RAINFALL for Las Vegas. You wanna know how much? 0.25 inches. I know, it seems like not a lot, but in the desert? That's A LOT. Trust me. So we were wet, and cold, and it is really tough to walk around the Strip when the sidewalks are wet (since all the casinos have fancy sidewalks of marble or polished granite or whatnot). Suffice to say, once we got to the show, we were really glad to be inside. They started our "feast" (it's a dinner show) with tomato soup, and it was so good!! A great way to recover from the weather outside. We had fun at the show, but took a taxi back to the room - no WAY were we walking through that rain again!!

Gotta stop here for now - I'll try to post more about the trip soon. I'll also try to get back to posting more regularly - hopefully my cruddy work situation will get better soon.

The Amazing Race 6 premiere

So I think it's no secret I love The Amazing Race, I've posted a few times before about it and how terrific it is. The 2 hour premiere episode for the sixth season was last night, and it was so great! My wife and I already have a team to hate (Jonathan and Victoria, mostly because Jonathan is an ass), but who knows about the other teams ? Some of them seem like they could be OK, and a lot of them need to pay closer attention to their clues and road signs and maps and... well, pretty much EVERYTHING. I can't wait to see what happens!

Vacation never seems to last long enough...

Greetings! I've not posted in a long while because I was on vacation. My wife and I went to Las Vegas (with a short side trip to California) and we just got back on Monday. So, I'm still trying to get back in the swing of things - and just started back to work today. Since I've still got a lot of catching up to do this will be brief, but hopefully I'll have time for a longer post tomorrow or Friday. I am glad to be home, but truth be told I would much rather still be on vacation. I guess that's pretty true for anybody though, isn't it?

OK, now that's just cruel

You've had a rough week. You ended a hard fought campaign hopeful that you and your running mate would win - only to lose to a retarded Texan. Your running mate conceded the election Wednesday, and you figure you'll decide what to do next since you gave up your seat in the Senate to run. But wait - it's not over! Your wife has breast cancer! Seriously, what's next?

Election 2004 (or as I like to call it, Wait - WTF?!?!)

So yeah, John Kerry conceded the election and George W got a second term. He's also declared his win 'historic'. Not the word I would choose, but whatever. But I hate how all the Republicans are now all about bridging the partisan gap, and Bush himself said he wanted to "earn the support" of those who voted for Kerry. They say this after running one of the most devisive campaigns in history, and basically convincing the Republican faithful that 'Moral Values' are more important than any other issue facing this country. What a crock. We'll see just how bad the next four years can get - with the dollar losing value across the globe, huge domestic deficits, and ever eroding lack of respect for the US in the eyes of the world. Oh well - there's always 2008, right?

Kerry Concedes

According to a story on CNN, John Kerry will officially concede the 2004 election to George W. Bush. Not a whole lot else to say about this, it's certainly not the way I wanted the election to go. Guess it's time to move to Canada, eh?

An important message brought to you by... EMINEM?!?!

No really. I case you've forgotten just how important the presidential election is, watch this video for Eminem's song "Mosh" off his new album Encore. Very cool video, and a very cool message. Word to your mother.

In a more humorous election-related vein, check this little Flash animation out -
Political Bohemian Rhapsody. Pretty funny!

New Photo iPod

Sorry about the lack of posts recently - work has been seriously kicking my ass. Once I get home I don't really want to even look at a computer, much less use one. So here's a second post for today - hopefully this helps make up for the recent dearth of new posts :)

OOH - I want the new Photo iPod! Who wants to buy me one of the 60 GB ones? C'mon - it'll make you feel good!

The Amazing Race 6!

The next season of The Amazing Race is set to premiere on CBS November 16th - check out the website for racer profiles!! I love this show so much - it's so awesome to have another season so soon after the last one ended. I just wish they would release the earlier Races on DVD, since I never got to see the first one. It'd be a great thing if CBS ever did release them on DVD - I know it'd sell really well!

Jon Stewart on Crossfire

If you haven't seen Jon Stewart's appearance on CNN's Crossfire yet, go to this link and watch it. And here is a link to Jon's comments made on The Daily Show Monday about what happened. Very funny stuff!

NOW

A great new show on The Discovery Channel - No Opportunity Wasted gives participants $3000 and 72 hours to live a dream they have NOW. It's hosted (and was created) by Phil Keoghan, the host of CBS's The Amazing Race (the best reality show EVER). The show is very inspirational, and Phil came up with the whole philosophy behind it when he was 19 and had a near death experience during a dive into a shipwreck. Read this interview with Phil for more info about TAR and NOW and his philosophy on life and how to life it like each day was your last. A good piece of advice, I think.

George Lucas to receive AFI Life Achievement Award

The American Film Institute has selected George Lucas to receive it's Life Achievement Award. He's the 33rd recipient of the award. You can read the full article here. I agree that he has contributed a lot to filmmaking, and so I believe he deserves the award. The innovations he has pioneered (digital filmmaking, special effects (ILM), sound (Skywalker Sound and THX) alone are worthy of a life achievement award. Now, if it were an award purely for directing... well, not so much.

America - F**k YEAH!!!!

Went to see Team America on Tuesday night (it was an advance screening) and it was really funny. My wife and I are still singing songs from it days afterwards. I really need to get the soundtrack for it when it comes out on November 2nd (ooh - Election Day!)

A very, very sad day

Christopher Reeve died Sunday night, after suffering a heart attack Saturday night and falling into a coma. I'm really sad about this, Christopher Reeve was the perfect choice for the Superman movies - and he became a hero in the eyes of this 10 year old (well, I was at the time). Then he had his riding accident in 1995 and became paralyzed, but became even MORE of a hero and an inspiration to all. We'll all miss you Chris, and those who knew you really DID believe a man could fly. RIP.

SETI - nope, not in Ohio!

Here's the link to the Slashdot post, and here's the actual article from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette -

The search for extraterrestrial life has ended at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services in Columbus, Ohio.

The department Thursday fired a computer programmer who admitted to using a state-owned computer server to process data for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project, run by the University of California at Berkeley.

Charles E. Smith, 63, told administrators he didn’t think loading the SETI software on the server was much of a problem because he ran the program only when the server wasn’t being used, according to a disciplinary report.

Department head Tom Hayes disagreed.

“I understand his desire to search for intelligent life in outer space, because obviously he doesn’t find it in the mirror in the morning,” Hayes said. “I think that people can be comfortable that security has beamed this man out of our building.”

So OK then. If you are a programmer or systems admin or computer professional working for ANYONE - you shouldn't be loading shareware software onto their servers. I'm down with that. He deserved to get fired in my opinion. No need to kick the man when he was down though. You fired him - you don't need to basically call him stupid as well. Just my two cents.

The second Presidential debate

Watched most of the debate last night - Bush didn't really sway my opinion of him. I still think he's a weasel, and his attacks on Kerry didn't really go anywhere new. He just keeps hammering the same couple of points - "liberal", "flip-flopper", "unfit to be Commander In Chief". I thought Kerry handled himself well, and didn't get rattled by Bush's more forceful and confrontational tone - a real departure from Bush's performance in the first debate where he seemed really tentative and had long silences before coming up with something to say. Apparently, Bush's performance (and a odd bulge in his jacket) have launched a theory that he was wearing an earpiece in the first debate. Some say the picture is doctored, some say when he said "Now let me finish" in the middle of an answer that he was actually talking to the person in his earpiece (here's a link to a forum that has a Real Audio clip of this. I don't know if he did or didn't - but he didn't look like he had an earpiece in for last night's debate. One more debate to go - hopefully Kerry will continue to shine!

Good to be in DC!

Go to www.jibjab.com. Watch "Good to be in DC". Repeat as necessary. That is all.

Seriously - go now. It's really funny. You'll like it, I swear. GO!!!

A vision of the future

I read Robert X. Cringely's I, Cringely regularly and his latest article really has some food for thought. Although the ability to act as your own broadband ISP/Cable provider/VoIP provider is outside of the means and technical knowhow of most people, it's still a very cool idea. Wish I could do it!

Cheney : Not up on the whole internet thing

Hee. In Tuesday's Vice Presidential debate, Dick Cheney was trying to direct people to look at factcheck.org, a nonpartisan Web site run by the University of Pennsylvania. But what he SAID was "factcheck.COM" - which is a for-profit advertising site based in the Cayman Islands. They re-directed traffic (since they were getting swamped with hits) to a site run by George Soros, a billionaire who makes no secret of his opposition to the Bush administration. A lawyer for the owner of factcheck.COM said his client "picked the Soros site partly for its political views", but also because Soros can afford the cost of all that Web traffic. And traffic to www.factcheck.com is still being routed there - click the link above if you want to check. They have a disclaimer on their page - "We do not own the FactCheck.com domain name and are not responsible for it redirecting to GeorgeSoros.com. We are as surprised as anyone by this turn of events. We believe that Vice President Cheney intended to direct viewers of the Vice-Presidential Debate to FactCheck.org." Hee. I'll bet Cheney could be heard muttering after he was made aware of the error, "F*** the internet." Hee.

One small step for (a) man...

Congratulations to Mojave Aerospace Ventures (MAV) and their leaders, Burt Rutan and Paul Allen, and also to pilot Brian Binnie - SpaceShipOne completes 2nd Historic trip to space and wins the Ansari X Prize. The second trip needed to clinch the win happened on Monday. I was able to watch the landing, and it was a very cool moment. Check this link out to watch video of the flight.


On a sad note, Rodney Dangerfield died Tuesday afternoon. He was 82 years old. Rodney, we will miss you. And we respect you. RIP.

You've got to have an exit strategy

If Bush wins the election in November, I think I'll move to Belize. Yeah, or Canada. That could work.

The first debate

I watched very little of this, heard a little bit about it on NPR this morning. According to this Boston Herald article, the debate hasn't changed many opinions or helped many undecided voters make up their minds yet. Perhaps the next debate will help them. My mind is already made up (*cough* the banner at the top *cough*), but you should go out and do some research if you're still undecided yourself. Just be sure to cast your vote November 2nd - if you aren't registered, go here - but you need to hurry!!

Ewww, that's just fugly...

My wife loves this site - Go Fug Yourself - some truly poor fashion choices on display here. Go check it out!

Lost

The pilot for Lost finished up last night (and will be shown again this Saturday) - so far I'm really liking this show. I'm just hoping that the weird "monster" on the island with the crash survivors doesn't turn out to be something lame. If you haven't watched the show, definitely take advantage of the Saturday replay and check it out - you won't be disappointed!

Where is her miniskirt, made of snakeskin...

It's possibly getting a little too much airplay, but Bowling For Soup's 1985 is a funny song - funny video too!
If you have iTunes - click the link below to purchase 1985