I think David Copperfield has lost his ever loving mind...

Seems Mr. Copperfield has found something very special in the Bahamas. He recently bought four islands in the Bahamas (they're called the Exuma chain, and cost him $50 million), and now has proclaimed to the world that they contain the 'Fountain of Youth'. Seriously - read the article for yourself here. I don't know, I think he's losing it - or trying to pull some kind of big hoax or something. Maybe he's been getting too much sun down in the Bahamas...

Alright Mister, that's it - You're On Notice!!

See honey - I told you Stephen put Jon Stewart 'On Notice' -



Jon had better watch out - he might get moved to 'Dead to Me' if he's not careful...



OK, I actually made that 'On Notice' board up - and you can make your own too! Just use this link. It's fun for the whole family!

'Mac and PC' spoofs

Some freakin' GENIUSES have come up with fake ads spoofing the current Apple 'Mac and PC' ad series. There's six of them (so far) - here are the first 3, and here are the next 3. God, these are funny - I'm sitting here at work laughing out loud watching the 'Networking' and 'Portability' clips. The guy playing 'Linux' makes me lose it too, he's hilarious!!

P.S. - Oh man, I ran a spellcheck on this post, and Blogger's spellchecker wanted to replace the word 'freakin' with... 'foreskin'! Hee - and yes, yes I am 8 years old.

The most frightening picture I've even seen

Really - no kidding. It's just that scary.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Cause I TOTALLY did - this is frightening.

Not gross, not vile and disgusting - like pictures of mangled corpses or something like that.

But frightening nonetheless.




Really! You're going to look at it and be all, "Yikes! He wasn't kidding!"




But, you know what??





My sister is going to think it's AWESOME.


I can just tell.



Anyway....



Here you go -



Last chance...












This is it!




SEE?!?! I told you!

The Daily Show : Jon Stewart and John Hodgman discuss Net Neutrality

I totally love this clip - I've watched it several times just for the part where Jon gets him to say "I'm a PC". They totally should have had Justin Long come on and say "And I'm a Mac!" - that would have been hilarious!!

Nice, I've always wanted to be a potentate...

I'd heard of this game before, but never actually played it. It's a logic game - you use five dice to play the game, and it's name is Petals Around the Rose (and the name is significant). However, once I found this site, Petals Around The Rose and played a few rolls I figured it out. So now I'm a Potentate of the Rose. NICE!

"Knights of the Round Table" as sung by the cast of Star Trek

Oh man, this is a good one! Somebody synched up scenes from Star Trek (the original series, of course) with the song 'Knights of the Round Table' from Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Great job - check it out here.

The 11 Best Chappelle's Show sketches of all time

Found this site while browsing around this morning, and it's pretty cool to be able to watch a clip of each sketch. Check out the list here - Top 11 Chappelle's Show Skits.
I kinda see their point regarding why the made their pick for number one, although I'd probably make their number 4 pick number 1.

Fun with Windows Vista

I've had a copy of Windows Vista Beta 2 for a couple of weeks now, and last night I finally got around to installing it on my PC (a lovely Dell Optiplex GX260 I picked up off of Retrobox.com for a good price). I need to add more memory, a bigger hard drive, and a AGP video card - so that took some time to secure the funds to buy the parts. I also wanted to clone my existing hard drive onto the new one, so I wouldn't have to reinstall everything. Got that taken care of thanks to a driver cloning freeware program I found, and then I was all set. Finally got around to actually doing the install last night, and it didn't take too long, about 42 minutes. Not bad really. Got user accounts setup for myself and the wife, went to ATI (for my video card) and got their drivers for Windows Vista installed. Didn't get too much time to play around last night, but I did check out the Widgets... whoops, 'Gadgets' a little bit. But even with limited time on the system, I'm already annoyed with the User Account Control popping up all time, locking down the desktop till you tell it that the program or applet or Control Panel you just launched is OK to run. That's getting tired VERY quickly. One weird thing - the display was acting a little strange. Hard to describe exactly, but it kind of hiccups. It's really the only description I can think of - and it's very odd. Perhaps the new Aero Glass display mode doesn't like my old Sony Trinitron monitor (well, it is about 6 years old - and in computer time, that's ancient). Perhaps something else is goofy. I'll have to play around with it. So, I'll be popping in with further thoughts as I get to spend more time playing around with Windows Vista - stay tuned...

Bad news for lovers of Winternals/Sysinternals utilites

Winternals and Sysinternals are well known for making great freeware (like Process Explorer) and commercial utilites (like their Administrator's Pak, which includes the best Windows recovery utility of all time - ERD Commander 2005). But now they've been acquired by Microsoft, and who knows what will happen next. One of their founders/lead developers, Mark Russinovich, posted on his blog that the Sysinternals site will remain up 'for the time being' (whatever that means). So go get copies of their freeware utilites soon - who knows if they'll still be there next time you go looking for them, right?

Rocky... Rocky... ROCKY!!

In case you're interested, here's the 'trailer' for the new Rocky movie (it's titled Rocky Balboa) due out this Christmas.



Apparently, the studio leaked this out, but says that a better quality trailer is forthcoming.

Natalie Portman to play Indiana Jones's daughter in next Indy film

There's a rumor floating around that Natalie Portman will be in the next Indiana Jones film, as Indy's daughter. The working title for the new movie is Indiana Jones and the Ravages of Time, Harrison Ford is definitely back as Indiana Jones (of course, like they'd try and get someone else...) and Sean Connery is also expected to return as Indy's father Henry Jones Sr. Rumors also are floating around that Jake Gyllenhaal might be joining the cast as well. Now, if they would just start filming the darn thing, that'd be great - Harrison Ford's not getting any younger, you know...

Funny clip from the David Letterman show - Bill Gates leaves Microsoft

Here's a quick clip from The Late Show With David Letterman, a little something they came up with to commemorate Bill Gates and his decision to step down at Microsoft.



And, just cause it's REALLY funny - the classic video of Bill and another MS staffer demonstrating Windows 98 well before it came out... and having it Blue Screen on them.

Funny - Darth Vader takes on Japanese policemen

I got a good laugh out of this clip -

Man trades a red paperclip - for a house

God bless the internet, and people who continue to find many interesting uses for it. (Yes, it's true - you can use the internet for things other than porn - I swear!)
Take, for instance, the story of one Kyle MacDonald of Montreal, Canada. He started his quest on July 12th, 2005 with a blog site and one red paperclip, available to anyone wishing to trade something bigger or better for it. The goal was to end up trading for a house - and that goal has been reached. The series of trades made to accomplish this is well worth the read - and there's even some video clips to go along with some of them. Congratulations to Kyle and his girlfriend, who will fly to the town of Kipling, Saskatchewan to see the house on Wednesday. Way to go, Kyle - way to go!

Astrophysicists take on Superman

Well, you'd think they would have better things to do, but apparently a few of the astrophysicists of Stanford and the University of California have been considering recently whether or not Superman would really have the powers he has in movies/comics/TV in the 'real' world. For example, x-ray vision and flight. It's an interesting discussion, and you can read the article for yourself here. Personally, I don't think we should examine super heroes too closely. Takes away a little bit of the magic and mystery, in my opinion.

Look! Up in the sky!

Yes folks, Superman is back! I saw Superman Returns Tuesday night, and I have to tell you, I really enjoyed it. Sure, Roger Ebert didn't really like it, but what does he know? As a comic book fan, I can say that the film was very enjoyable, and I had a great time watching it - it didn't even feel like I'd been watching a movie for 2 and a half hours (more, with trailers and credits). So I would encourage you to do what I did, go see it for yourself. If you're a Superman fan, I think you'll like it. If you are a big-budget blockbuster movie fan, you'll like it. If you love movies with cutting-edge special effects, you'll like it.

That said, it isn't a perfect movie. Although I thought Brandon Routh did a fine job as Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman, I wasn't impressed with Kate Bosworth at all. I think she's too young to play Lois Lane as written in this film - she's supposed to have a five year old kid, and an existing relationship with Superman that started a few years before he left. So, what, they started their relationship when she was 16? And then she got pregnant at 18? I also had a problem with some of the supporting roles - like Lex Luthor's (Kevin Spacey) henchmen. Most of them don't even say a word in the film - like Kal Penn's character Stanford. Geez, he's named in the opening credits, but he never says anything!

Overall these are small complaints, and are, I think, forgivable in the long run. The story was well plotted and well written to explore the idea of a Superman returning to a world that is getting along without him. The screenwriters also tap into the idea of Superman as the ultimate 'stranger in a strange land' - separated from the people of Earth because he is not from Earth, and has abilities that set him far above humanity. But he has human feelings and desires because he was brought up to be one of us by his foster parents the Kents. And since Mr. Spacey chose to play Lex Luthor as a much darker character than he had been in the previous films (bringing the character of Lex closer to the comic book character in my opinion), that performance also adds more depth and nuance to the movie. I thought he was great in the role, really got the idea across that Lex is evil, and has a unrelenting hatred of Superman.

There were also nice little touches, like the opening titles in the same 3-D font as the first movie, and the inclusion of the 50's TV series Lois Lane (Noel Niell) and Jimmy Olsen (Jack Larsen) in small roles. The composer used John Williams original Superman Main Title theme, and also used snippets of other themes from the original movie in appropriate spots.

So, to sum it up, although not 'perfect' (and what really is perfect these days), I had a great time and will be seeing this movie again - and again. Can't wait for the next Superman movie!

P.S. - A&E broadcast a great Superman special recently called "Look, Up In The Sky!: The Amazing Story Of Superman" that is available on DVD now. You can get it from Amazon here.
I would highly recommend it for any Superman fan you know, it was excellent!

Are you a psychopath?

Answer this question correctly, and you just might be...

A woman, while at her own mother's funeral, meets a guy she does not know and has never seen before. She thinks he is amazing, and she believes him to be her perfect dream guy . So much so, that she falls in love with him right there, but never asks for his number and could not find him. A few days later, she kills her sister.

Question: What is her motive for killing her sister?

And for the answer - highlight the line below this one.
She was hoping he'd come to her sister's funeral too.

If you answered this correctly, well, you think like a psychopath. This test was supposedly administered by a famous American Psychologist (although I couldn't find out who) to test if someone has the same mentality as a killer.

Many arrested serial killers took part in the test and answered the question correctly. So if you answered it correctly too, maybe it's time for extensive therapy!

Do you have a burning question that needs an answer? Ask a Ninja!

But, I'm not exactly sure how you ask a question of the Ninja...
Anyways, the answers are mighty funny - Ask a Ninja

'Sunday Bloody Sunday' as sung by... George W. BUSH??

This video must have taken a LONG time to make. Somebody actually took bits of different speeches Bush made, stitching them all together to get Bush singing U2's 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'. And also made a video!

Check it out -


As seen on Break.com

The things you can learn about yourself from quizzes online...

Apparently, I should live in Dublin, Ireland -

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions. You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

What European City Do You Belong In?

And if I was one of the X-Men, I'd be Wolverine -

You Are Wolverine

Small but fierce, you're a great fighter. Watch out! You are often you're own greatest enemy. Powers: Adamantium claws, keen senses, the ability to heal quickly

Which of the X-Men Are You?

Go ahead and try them yourself, and you can leave a comment below with your results!

Gnarls Barkley performs Crazy at the MTV Movie Awards

As Star Wars characters!!



I already liked this song - but after watching this, I REALLY like it!
If the embedded player isn't working, try using this link -
Gnarls Barkley at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards (hosted on YouTube)

Funny video clip - Oops, did it again, I have... hmmm, yes...

Apologies for the lack of posts recently - I tried to post this yesterday but Blogger was down. So without further ado - Yoda vs. Britney!

The perfect thing for that special lady in your life - Wonder Woman undies!

Yes, just like the Underroos of old - Wonder Woman undies.

Here's a picture -

Wonder Woman!

They have other styles too - Playboy, Hello Kitty, and even South Park - no Cartman thongs, thank god!

Will you actually want to use Windows Vista?

The next Microsoft operating system is coming - Windows Vista will be here (finally) in 2007. But - will you actually want to use it? You might want to read this article from ComputerWorld.com before you make up your mind. Another good idea would be to test your PC to see if it will run Windows Vista - Microsoft has a tool you can download and use to check your PC here. Of course, I'd be wrong not to mention that the article was written based on experiences with the latest Windows Vista Beta - and that the problems noted might not be there in the final version. I guess we shall see in 2007, once the retail versions (yes, versions - 5 of them) ship.

Funny video - The Evolution of Dance

If you haven't seen this yet - give it a look, cause it's pretty funny. Comedian Judson Laipply gives us the Evolution of Dance - and it only takes 6 minutes.

Happy Towel Day!

I promise - I'm not dead! Just haven't had a lot to say (or time to write) recently.
Just wanted to pop in with a quick reminder - be sure you've got your towel with you, cause it's Towel Day today!

You can also visit the Towel Day site, and the Wikipedia list of Geek holidays, so you won't be surprised when someone you know is talking like a pirate on September 19th.

Do you watch Lost? Then you need to check this website

As longtime Lost viewers know, the mysterious DHARMA Initiative that setup the hatch and many of the other things on the island was created by the Hanso Foundation. The Hanso Foundation website was re-launched on May 2nd, and now holds some tantalizing clues as to what may be happening on the island. It's also part of a game - during the last episode, a toll free number was given out (1-877-HANSORG) - if you call it you get the "Foundation" phone menu - choosing option 1 might just give you a password to access extra content on the site... You can also check out this entry on Wikipedia for more info.

See? Even George Lucas eventually bows to peer pressure

This is some mighty cool news from Lucasfilm - the as-released-in-theaters versions of the original Star Wars trilogy to be released on DVD starting September 12th. Each will be a dual disc incorporating the original version of the movie plus the Special Edition re-release (already available on DVD). The article says they will be "attractively priced" - whatever that means. Still, it'll be cool to finally have the movies on DVD but in the original versions just like when I saw them in the theater all those many years ago.

Searching for a new job sucks

Had another interview Monday, I've no idea whether or not I have a chance at this job but I'm holding out hope still. Should know something by the middle of next week, hopefully. I also am apparently in the running for a help desk position with the City of Columbus, if they call me back to schedule an interview. So we'll see how that goes. I am getting tired of going out on interviews and having nothing happen though - the last couple I went to before Monday went well (I thought), but then I never heard back from them, they didn't even call or send me a letter notifying me I didn't get the job. Still, I'm trying to keep a positive attitude, and I figure as long as I keep getting interviews eventually something has to happen, right?

I'm still alive - I swear!

Just haven't posted anything in (quite) awhile. My wife and I went on a short vacation last week, just a few days away from home at the Belterra Casino/Resort. Nice resort, cramped smoke-filled casino (yuck), and in a VERY remote location of the Ohio River. Seriously remote - the nearest 'town' (Vevay, IN) was 8 miles away and was TINY. Consisted of a graveyard, couple churches, Family Dollar, Dairy Queen, Gas station with attached Subway, and a bowling alley that seemed to never open. The town's big claims to fame? Being never the Belterra Resort and being the home of the Switzerland County Visitor's Center. Quite the bustling metropolis, eh?

Despite that, we had a good time, didn't win any money unfortunately - but didn't lose our shirts (house, cars, etc.) So we could have done worse. We happened upon Indiana's most remote McDonald's (check out pin A on this Google Map), and also stopped over in Cincinnati - got some bowling in (because we had to practice with our new bowling balls, of course), had dinner out with friends of the wife, and went out to a movie with the father-in-law. All in all, a good time. But over much too soon, really. Had the remainder of the week off at home and then had to come into work as normal today - blah. Oh well, perhaps I'll finally have some luck on the 'Need a new job' front - I've got another interview coming up on Monday.

Wake up, Kermit

The animation is so-so, but the idea and execution are good - The Muppet Matrix

New addition to the family

My brother and his wife had a baby yesterday - they now have 4 girls! Here's a picture of her :

Christina Ann, Born 4/5/06 at 7:44pm, 7 pounds 1 ounce and 19 inches long.

She's very cute, isn't she? Congrats to my brother Josh and his wife Errin!

No news is not good news

Never heard anything back about the interview I had on the 13th - so I'm guessing I didn't get that job. I had an interview Monday for a position with the City of Columbus, and I think it went well. Hopefully I will hear something about that soon, because they want to do second interviews for it, and I'd want to (hopefully) get in for one before going on vacation, which starts on April 9th. Boy, do I need a vacation.

So, you think YOU'VE got a terrible job?

There's always someone out there with a worse one - (WARNING: Video clip with naughty language!!)
Worst Job in America

Enter the Urban Ninja

Watch this - this guy is one hell of an acrobat!

A fun site for the children of the 80's and 90's

Greetings all! Had an interview for another job opening on Monday, it went pretty well (I thought), and I should hear something back from them soon. Sounds like it'd be a fun job, so I'm really hoping I get this one.
I have a fun link for you today, Retrojunk - Your Memory Machine. Lots of articles about old cartoons and movies and TV shows (mostly from the 80's and 90's), and video too - old commercials, TV show intros and stuff like that. Lots of nostalgic fun for those of us old enough to remember this stuff :)

I'm still here

Been a long while since I've written anything here, sorry about that! Still no happy news on the job search, I've got a few resumes out there and hopefully still have a shot at a job with the City of Columbus. I have no idea when I might hear something from them - I've found that the wheels of government tend to move slowly when they actually move at all. Anyway, in other news I've been playing with my new 60GB iPod a lot recently and I really love it. Just got a FM transmitter/car cradle for it last night, it's very cool. Also, not to change the subject, but since I haven't given you any cool links to browse to recently (and I've been feeling guilty), here's a fun one - Guimp, the world's smallest website. You can play games on the site like Pac Man and Pong and even Asteroids - but the site is a 18 pixel by 18 pixel box! It's crazy tiny - you should check it out!

Google makes video from the National Archives available on Google Video

This is a great idea - Google will be working on digitizing the video content of the National Archives and making it available to all through Google Video. There are some samples available on there right now, like this one - the 1969 moon landing. Very cool!

The search continues!

Still no definitive answers from anyone on the job front, I had an interview Tuesday and I think it went OK. They said I should hear back from them next week if they want me to come back for a second interview. Still waiting to get my results from the test I took for a job with the city of Columbus - I took the test over 2 weeks ago and still haven't received notification yet of how I did. I called them yesterday and left a voicemail, and they called back and said I should get something 'by next week'. So we'll see how that goes. I'd really like to know one way or another on these prospects soon, so I'm really hoping they do let me know next week as promised. It's so difficult to find a new job... but hey, at least I've had a couple of interviews! Up until recently I wasn't even getting THAT far, so getting to a first interview is at least progress in the right direction.

I wonder...

So I'm sure you've heard about Ritchie Sambora and Heather Locklear and their marital difficulty (if not, you can read about it here). I wonder... when she found out and they talked about it, did the conversation maybe go something like this?

Ritchie: Heather, what's up?
Heather: Ritchie, I found these emails, and frankly, I think You Give Love A Bad Name.
Ritchie: Ah baby, no... you gotta believe it ain't like that - I love you, I'm Livin' On A Prayer here baby!
Heather: Look, we knew it might never be a Bed of Roses, and now it looks like it's over.
Ritchie: Ah, baby no - that's some Bad Medicine!!

Yep, I'll bet it was just like that :)

The more things change, the more they stay the same

Greetings all! Unfortunately posting to the blog has taken a back seat recently to the big job search, and to being crazy busy at my current (cruddy) job. It's really been bad, but hope springs eternal! I have an interview with the city of Delaware on Monday, and I'm still in the hunt for a job with the city of Columbus (should hopefully be hearing from them soon). With any luck something will pan out soon, and I'll be telling you all about it right here folks!

Still hoping...

Haven't heard anything back on the "Matt needs a new job" front - yet. Got a few irons in the fire still, and unfortunately none of the places I'm in the process with are moving very fast. With any luck I'll find out something from one (or more) of them next week. I'm still hopeful that at least one of these will pan out... Wish me luck!!

Keep EVERYTHING crossed...

Cause with any luck, I'll have a new job soon. Haven't been able to post recently cause things have been CRAZY at my current job - it's just incredibly busy, and I haven't had time to write any posts up of any significance. So here's a quick post, just a fast update - I'm working on three different jobs I'm currently in the running for, one I am waiting to see if I get a second interview, another I filled out a pre-screening questionnaire and turned it in yesterday, and the last I have to take an exam to see if they think I'm qualified or not. I'll be taking that on Monday. So, we will see how things go over the next couple of weeks - but with any luck, I'll have a new job soon.

Well THAT was annoying

Hello, and thanks for reading an official NOT 'spam blog'. Apparently Blogger has bots that sweep through blogs they host and flag them as 'spam blogs', disabling them from posting till the owner fills out a form and submits it to Blogger. And my blog was flagged yesterday - I just got access to post back today. So I had already written the post below this one, and decided to go ahead and publish it too. Silly automated processes, but it's all better because the Blogger admins have my blog on the whitelist now. Still was a pain in the rear though.

It was 20 years ago yesterday...

Yes folks, on January 19th, 1986 the first computer virus was discovered. It was a boot sector virus, and was spread from infected floppy disks (ah, those were the days...), a far less serious problem than the worms and trojans and other crud traversing the networks of today thanks to the internet. So in honor of this historic moment in history, let's all make sure our anti-virus programs are up to date and we do a full virus scan, what do you say?

Arrgh...

I hate cars. I totally hate them, with a passion. It never fails, just when you think one is running alright and everything is fine... BAM!!
I had a problem a few months back with the power window on the passenger side of my truck (this is not the actual truck (mine is magenta), just a picture I found so you could see what it looks like). It was stuck down, and I couldn't get the power window to roll back up! I could pull it up so that it was closed at least, but it would slide back down if you hit a bump. So it turns out that the regulator for that window had died, and after a few days and $500 (or so) dollars, it was fixed. Well, now (of course) the DRIVER side window is broken - only this time, I can't get at it to pull it back up! So it's stuck ALL THE WAY DOWN, and folks, it was a COLD drive to work today. I'm very annoyed and pissed off, and since I'll bet the regulator on that window is dead (cause it just figures it will be), it looks like I'm also out another $500...

iPod users are not as likely to steal music

According to a study conducted recently, owners of Apple iPods are less likely to steal music than users of other MP3 players. The survey of US and UK music buyers reveals that even though 25 per cent of people admit to downloading music from file-sharing services, only seven per cent of iPod owners do so. I guess we iPod owners are just an honest bunch, eh? This sure would seem to contradict Steve Ballmer's opinion of iPod users, back in 2004 he told reporters in London that "The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'". Oh well, I guess you can't be right all of the time, right Steve?

Email spam on the decline - uh yeah... sure it is

Here's another quick post for today - I found a funny opinion article written for The Guardian that seems to think that spam emails are on the decline. Right - SURE they are :) I get quite a bit of spam still, but I'll admit that very little of it ever hits my inbox. The majority of it is filtered out by the spam filters I use - my ISP provided accounts (which are POP accounts) I pull down with Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5, and it has a really great built in junk mail filter. I also have a Google Gmail account, and their spam filtering works really well too. I still get spam - but I can just delete it easily and never really have to look at it much. Which is nice, since I'm not looking to buy any penny stocks, or help out the Nigerian Finance Minister, or increase the size of my member.

Computer problems driving UK citizens to alcohol and smoking to cope with the stress

Howdy all - sorry I haven't posted in so long, but I've been pretty busy recently. Having to come back to work after a vacation sucks, hard. Anyhow, I was reading this article from BBC News about a poll conducted by UK charity Developing Patient Partnerships about what causes stress for them. 30% responded that 'IT Problems' cause them the most stress, and out of the 1000 people polled, 27% of men and 23% of women said they would light up a cigarette in such situations. And more than a third of men and a quarter of women have a drink to cope with stress. So it looks like computer woes are leading people in the UK to ruin - I know that my problems make me wish I could have a few drinks every now and then!

Best wishes for a Happy New Year!

Here's hoping that everyone out there (all three or four of you who read this blog) has a wonderful New Year - get out and party tonight like it's 2005! I'll be taking next week off, and will be working on my New Year's resolution... get a new job (I really need one). I definitely need the time off, it'll hopefully help me start 2006 right. So here's to Auld Lang Syne and all that - Happy New Year everybody!

AOL's Top Ten list of Spam e-mail subjects

AOL published it's yearly list of the top ten spam email subject lines recently, and here it is -

1. Donald Trump Wants You - Please Respond
2. Double Standards New Product - Penis Patch
3. Body Wrap: Lose 6-20 inches in one hour
4. Get an Apple iPod Nano (or PS3 or Xbox 360) for Free
5. It's Lisa, I must have sent you to the wrong site
6. Breaking Stock News** Small Cap Issue Poised to Triple
7. Thank you for your business. Shipment notification
8. Your Mortgage Application is Ready
9. Thank you: Your $199 Rolex Special Included
and 10. Online Prescriptions Made Easy

In this article from InformationWeek.com, they talk about the list and also mention that AOL is reporting that they blocked an average of 1.5 billion spam messages each day. The total number of emails blocked in 2005 was OVER 556 billion. Damn! Are enough people actually BUYING penis patches to justify sending out that much spam? Seems like the problem is only getting worse, but the article also mentions that the average amount of spam that actually reached their user's mailboxes declined 75% over last year. Well, that's something, I guess.

Wish I'd come up with this idea...

Alex Tew, a 21-year old student from a small English town, came up with one hell of an idea to come up with money to pay for his education. He decided to start a website, appropriately named milliondollarhomepage.com, and sold it as a billboard site - anyone who wants can buy 1 pixel on the page for $1. So a 10x10 section would cost $100, etc. He sold a few sections to some friends and family, and with the $1000 those sales raised he issued a press release. Which was picked up by the news media, spread around the Internet, and soon advertisers for everything from dating sites and casinos to real estate agents and even The Times of London were putting up real cash for his pixels, with weblinks to their own sites of course. So far he's raised $936,700 - in only four months. Damn, that's quite a lot of money!! If you want to get in on the action, you'd better hurry - there's only 63,300 pixels left.

Coming to a PC near you - an unpatched Windows flaw that exploits Windows Meta File (WMF files) - The zero-day exploit

It's time yet again to watch what emails you open, which sites you visit, and what IM's you click links on VERY carefully! A flaw in the way Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server OS handles Windows Meta File (WMF) files has been exploited, and it can affect your PC even if your copy of Windows XP is fully patches and you run up-to-date anti-virus. As of this writing, Microsoft has no patch ready to fix the flaw in Windows, and the exploit is rampant on thousands of malicious websites. Read more about it here.
There is a workaround available, thanks to Verisign's iDefense. I've copied the procedure (and the possible drawback) below.

According to iDefense, Windows users can disable the rendering of WMF files using the following hack:

1. Click on the Start button on the taskbar.
2. Click on Run...
3. Type "regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll" to disable.
4. Click ok when the change dialog appears.

iDefense notes that this workaround may interfere with certain thumbnail images loading correctly. The company notes that once Microsoft issues a patch, the WMF feature may be enabled again by entering the command "regsvr32 shimgvw.dll" in step three above.

Hope that helps you if you are worried about this - and I think you should be!

A well deserved honor - TIME names Battlestar Galactica the best show of 2005

And I'd have to agree - it was the best show of 2005. Here's a link to the article so you can read the rest of the list. I don't agree with everything (come on - How I Met Your Mother? Except for Neil Patrick Harris that show blows!!) but most of it is right on the money. Although I would have put My Name Is Earl up higher on the list. The new season of Battlestar Galactica starts on January 6th - and I can't wait!!

Track Santa's progress using Google Earth

Have Google Earth? You can use it to track Santa today - it started 2pm GMT. Here's a link to the post about it from the Google Blog. If you want to download Google Earth, just click the Google Earth link above!

Proof that I work for truly bad people

Cause here I am at work today, posting to let you all know about it. I had the day scheduled off, but apparently that's not good enough for the higher-ups around here! I can't get into it too much unfortunately, but suffice it to say that you can just call me Dante Hicks today, cause "I'm not even supposed to BE here today!!"

Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus/Yule/etc.

I'm going to be unavailable for the next few days most likely, so I thought I'd pop in for a quick post to wish one and all a very happy (insert holiday here). I'll be posting again as soon as I can to let you all know how my holiday went, and whether or not I ever got into the holiday spirit (which is currently still up in the air as of this writing). So here's wishing a very merry (whichever) to all, and I hope you all get what you're looking for from the holiday!

The 'must-have' toys of the last 100 years

So we can pretty safely assume that the 'must-have' item of the year is the Xbox 360, but do you know what the 'must-have' toy of the 60's was? Or the 1900's? Well, click here to find out!

Here's your funny webpage for the day - The Turnpike Prank

Found this page this morning and I had to share, cause it's hilarious!
Click the link to read all about The Turnpike Prank - it almost made me spit up coffee all over my keyboard!

Google adds music search feature

This article from the Google Blog explains it all, and it's a very neat new built in function of Google. Let's say you go to Google and search for 'The Beatles'. Well, as you'll see if you just clicked on that link you'll have a picture of The Beatles at the top of the search results, and a music search-specific link for them as well. Clicking the link will take you to an expanded music search with album covers and links to specific albums and songs - as well as links to buy them online from iTunes or Amazon or Rhapsody (and others as well). Pretty slick!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas??

Eh, I don't know... Maybe it's just me, but I'm not in much of a Christmas mood recently. And it's not like I've got a huge amount of time to try and change that, seeing as how it's only ten days till Christmas! It's snowing outside right now, and you would think that the prospect of a white Christmas would improve my mood, but I can't get over what a pain in the ass it is to have to drive through it and shovel it. It was so much easier when we were kids - the entire kid year was centered around Christmas, and you spent so much time anticipating it that it became a magical event. And I'm not talking about just getting presents, because as great as getting tons of fun stuff for Christmas was, it was the whole experience that was more fun for me. All the traditions you would have, like in my family we used to travel to my paternal grandparents home on Christmas Eve, and spend the afternoon and evening with them that opening presents from them and having a Christmas dinner. We'd go back to our apartment that night and spend Christmas morning at home, opening presents and having brunch and playing with new toys, finally getting ready to go over to my maternal grandparents house to spend the rest of Christmas Day with them. Maybe it's all the time with family I miss, since now that we are spread out across the country it's just impossible to all get together for the holidays except in small groups. Hopefully getting to spend time with my immediate family and with my wife's family next week will improve my mood. I certainly don't want to be a Scrooge at Christmas!

Creepy!! The Miss Digital World beauty pageant

It's deeply weird, yet technically interesting idea, I suppose - here's an article from Wired about the finalists in the Miss Digital World pageant. If this catches on, the models might one day be 100 percent photo-realistic. Right now, they look sort of... off.

Sony rethinking it's anti-piracy policy

After weeks and weeks of criticism, Sony BMG head of global digital business Thomas Hesse says they are 're-evaluating' their use of anti-theft software (also known as Digital Rights Management or DRM). Good idea I think, seeing as how their XCP anti-piracy programs installed themselves onto your PC and then acted like a rootkit - a program which helps an intruder maintain access to a system without the user's knowledge. Even better, they released a removal program which actually makes the problem WORSE. More information about the whole debacle can be found here.

'Podcast' to be added to the New Oxford Dictionary

In lighter news today, the BBC is reporting that the New Oxford Dictionary is officially adding the word 'podcast', which is defined as "a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the internet for downloading to a personal audio player". It'll be added to the online version of the dictionary early next year. Podcast has been included in the Oxford Dictionary of English since last summer. Podcast beat other words up for consideration, like 'lifehack' and 'rootkit' for inclusion. Like Slashdot notes in their post about this development, "Guess no one needs to know what a rootkit is." Heh.

A very sad anniversary : 25 years since the death of John Lennon

It's true - on December 8th, 1980 John Lennon was shot outside his apartment building by a mentally disturbed fan named Mark David Chapman. Lennon died on route to the hospital. So today marks the 25th anniversary of that event, and this article from CNN.com really helps explain the impact of the event to those born since, or are to young to remember it well.

Watch out - the next Sober worm attack is coming

Here's a rather disturbing piece of news - the next round of widespread attack of the Sober email worm are going to happen on January 5th, 2006, which is the 87th anniversary of the beginnings of what became the Nazi Party in Germany. Fun! Gotta love those virus writers and their love of history, huh?

The Forbes fictional 15

Ever wonder who the richest fictional characters are? Than look no farther than this article from Forbes.com, where all will be (hilariously) revealed!

Will Windows Vista make the 'update Windows, reboot' cycle a thing of the past?

You know the current drill - you need to apply Windows updates, so you get them downloaded, then they install, then the PC has to reboot. But Microsoft's new version of Windows, Windows Vista, may just change all that thanks to a new component the engineers are building into it - Restart Manager. It'll be a nice feature if it works - I guess we'll just have to wait and see because Vista won't be coming out till sometime in the last half of 2006.

4000 hits!

Well, it's official - as of yesterday, the blog has received a total of 4,000 hits. I'd like to thank my readers (both of you ;)) for helping my little piece of the blogosphere reach this milestone. Sure my blog my not get as many hits as the big sites, but I think it's quality, not quantity, that counts. Right?

Anyhow, I'll keep posting things here that interest me or bother me (or both), and you guys and gals just keep reading them whenever you get the chance. I'm sure we'll get to 5,000 hits in no time at all!

Cost breakdown : Xbox 360 retails for less than it cost to make

Not a surprise to those who know about the video game industry, but the Xbox 360 console costs Microsoft more per unit to make than they are selling it for. This is actually standard practice in the industry - the console is a loss leader, the company manufacturing it makes their money through software and peripherals and licensing fees. Also, as more consoles are produced, the cost per unit will come down. Eventually. The article linked above goes into a lot of detail, giving the breakdown of what's inside the Xbox 360 and how much each of the components cost.

More info about the Xbox 360 bugs

Here's another article with more information about the bugs people are experiencing while playing games on their new Xbox 360. Seems to not be a widespread issue, at least according to Microsoft, whose spokesperson Molly O'Donnell states in the article that "The call rate is well below what you'd expect for a consumer electronics product of this complexity". Sounds like the problems people are having are really annoying though - makes me a little glad I don't have one, cause I can guarantee you that I'd be one of the 'lucky' ones having trouble!

RIP : actor Pat Morita dead at 73

Just saw this a minute ago - Pat Morita has died of natural causes, he was 73 years old. Very sad news indeed. I remember him first as Arnold on Happy Days, but he's best known as Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid movies. Pat was a very funny guy, he will be missed.

Problems reported with some Xbox 360's already

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving - I've been in Cincinnati so I wasn't able to post till now. Saw this article from Wednesday about problems being reported with some Xbox 360's already today, and I have to say this actually isn't really that surprising. Microsoft had some trouble with the original Xbox too, they'd overheat or lockup and do other weird things. Hopefully they are helping the affected buyers quickly - I know I'd be pretty pissed if I'd waited in a line for hours to buy one and then it doesn't work once I get it home!

I've seen it, and it's good - Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire

Saw it last night, and I thought it was pretty good. There are some differences between the book and the movie, of course, but nothing of major importance was cut out. The pace of the movie was good, it didn't feel like a 2 and a half hour long movie, and I never had a moment of boredom. I didn't think Voldemort (played by Ralph Fiennes) was quite as scary as he should have been. He was REALLY creepy though, and I can't really think of a better actor to play him (here's a joke only my wife will get - Ralph Fiennes!! Yeah, he was great in The Pianist.) Great performances once again from the kids (Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, and of course Daniel Radcliffe), they are really capturing their characters better and better with each film. Overall, I have to hand it to Mike Newell - he took a HUGE book that had enough stuff going on in it to make two movies, and turned it into one really good movie. It's a little darker in tone than the first two movies, and about in line with the tone of Prisoner of Azkaban, so it might not be appropriate for the younger kids - but I'd highly recommend it, even to people who aren't Potter fans!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I'm going to go see it tonight - so I'll give you my two cents on how good or bad it was tomorrow. For now, here's a link to the Goblet of Fire site so you can watch the trailer! You can also get wallpapers and AIM Buddy Icons from the main Harry Potter site.

Want an Xbox360? You might be better off waiting...

...says a review written by CNN Money. A light (although diverse) offering of launch titles with no clear breakout game would be the strongest reason to do so. The built in support for Xbox Live and the new content available though it (including downloadable game demos) are the strongest reasons to go ahead and get one. The biggest question is - will you be able to find one?

Dear Steve Jobs : PLEASE don't change the pricing on iTunes Music Store

This worries me - Forbes.com believes that the flat-fee structure on the iTunes Music Store is coming to an end within the next year. Executives from EMI, Warner Music Group, and Sony BMG have apparently been pushing Steve Jobs toward adoption of a tiered pricing scheme - i.e., an older song could be downloaded for less than $0.99, but newer more popular songs would cost more - and would probably be priced at over a dollar a download. The whole appeal to the iTunes Music Store is it's easy to use and cheap - why by a whole album if you only like one song, right? So why should I have to pay more for a song that's more popular - it seems to me that is just a way for the music companies to make more money off the popular songs, cause you know that none of that extra money is going to find it's way to the musicians themselves. I guess all good things come to an end eventually, eh?

Apple to start selling iBook with Intel processor next January

Found this on ThinkSecret - they have word from reliable sources that the first Apple machine to sport an Intel processor will be the iBook, and it will have it's debut at Macworld Expo next January. The say in their article that their sources are the same sources that gave them the scoop on the Mac Mini and iPod Photo before their respective releases. It would be very cool to get a new Apple iBook running an Intel processor - as long as the price is right. If they do bring the iBook down in price to $699 or $799 it would be hard to pass up that kind of a deal! I guess we'll see what happens at the next Macworld...

It's official - Ben Heckendorn has WAY to much time on his hands

For the uninitiated, Ben Heckendorn loves to tinker with old technology, and to make it portable. He made a portable NES, and a portable SNES - and now he's made his own laptop. Using an Atari 800 XE (well, actually an Atari XE GS which was the same thing in game system version). Click the link above to check out some pics (and the other projects he's done) on his website. Man, do I ever wish I had the kind of time to putter around with old tech like he does. That would be lots of fun!

Gaming addicts = drug addicts?

This article from the New Scientist about a new study conducted in Germany found that people addicted to gaming have many similarities to people addicted to drugs. Very interesting - so does this mean that gaming addicts who want to be cured would go to rehab centers like drug addicts do? Would a recovering addict have fallen off the wagon if he was caught hanging out at an EB Games store? Will people now say things like "Oh, I'm just a casual gamer - I can take it or leave it anytime"? Too many questions...

The Darwin Awards - always good for a chuckle

There is still time to vote on the prospective nominees for this year's Darwin Awards - click the link and go right to the page with the list of nominees. Of course you can also checkout the previous winners, and the honorable mentions (people who get honorable mention did not die), and other fun stuff. At the very least, reading some of these will make you feel like your life could certainly be worse!

Say it ain't so - FOX cancels Arrested Development

It figures this would happen, since it almost was cancelled once already, but apparently this time it's a done deal - FOX cancels Arrested Development. They've also cancelled Kitchen Confidential, which also suffered from low viewership. Frankly I'm kind of mad about this, because I think Arrested Development is a great show, the funniest comedy on TV is quite some time. It's a real shame, I think. Fine shows get cancelled, and crap like Trading Spouses stays on the air.

'Body sushi' - Got $500 to spend?

If you've got the free money, here's a unique way to spend it - Body Sushi. Your all-you-can-eat sushi meal is served on a semi-nude woman. The restaurant in Chicago called is called Kizoku, and the woman your meal is served on - a belly dancer and friend of the owner Eddy Pinto from Las Vegas who goes by the name Tabitha - wears a G-string, some cellophane, a few strategically placed seashells and not much else. The sushi is placed atop bamboo leaves arranged on her thighs, stomach and chest, so none of the food touches her skin directly. Alrighty then. I can't stand fish (raw or cooked), and I don't know if the new 'presentation' would make me change my mind. It is a pretty unique idea though, I must admit!

Two great tastes that would taste really bad together - Coffee Beer

This just sounds like an odd idea to me - Nestle patents coffee beer. It's a coffee flavor fermented beverage, which tastes like strong coffee but has no alcohol content. See? Weird. I'm not sure who would want this, but I guess you never know.

Fun link of the day - George W. Bush speechwriter

This is fun! You can create a speech and hear it read in Bush's voice - George W. Bush Speechwriter. Click on the 6 blue tabs on the Bank to switch between different sound bites, then drag a bit over to the Speech side. Once you're done, click Play Speech to hear Bush say what you want him to say! You can make him say some very funny things, and you can save a speech to reload later. Loads of fun!

Mr. Sulu comes out of the closet

I can't apply anything funnier to this than the subject line of the email my brother sent me about it - "Star Trek's Mr. Sulu come out. Set phasers to 'fabulous!'". You have to applaud him for finally breaking his silence, but I've gotta admit this one surprised me a little. When it was revealed that Liberace was gay, I was like 'Duh.' Rock Hudson - 'Yep. I knew it.' Richard Chamberlin - 'I always knew it. I KNEW IT!!!' But this one I did not see coming.

[singing] Real Men of The Empire...[/singing]

Hee hee hee - if you've ever heard the Budweiser 'Real Men of Genius' ads, and you are a Star Wars fan, than this links for you! Real Men of The Empire.

I hope he doesn't force R2 to run Windows...

This post isn't quite keeping with the trend of today's posts so far, but I just had to share this. I mean geez, I've seen some crazy PC case modifications before, but this one takes the cake - pictures of an R2D2 case mod project. The guy did a pretty good job on it too, it must have taken him a very long time. I'm sure it was totally worth it - well, to him at least!

Ever wonder what was inside a Magic 8 Ball?

Continuing in the metaphysical vein of today's posts, here's a site that wanted an answer to the age-old question - What's inside a Magic 8 Ball? The whole 'experiment' was conducted with large amounts of humor apparently - and they even had some test subjects drink the fluid from inside the ball! That sounds pretty gross...

Find out who you were in a past life (interesting)

Even if you don't believe in past life experiences (like me), this is kinda fun - Past Life Analysis. It's at least good for a laugh!

Violation of free speech - or protecting the children?

Well it's a tough call on this one - a Catholic high school principal has informed his students that they must take down their blogs and other personal online sites like pages on myspace.com and xanga.com. So that begs the question - is he violating their rights to free speech, or just doing what he thinks is right to protect his kids from predators online? It's a tough call - I can see both arguments having validity, but I bet the voices on the side of protecting the students (the principal, his staff, the kids' parents) will veto any arguments the kids can come up with against this new policy.

Gotta go back in time...

Check it out folks - someone went to all the time and trouble to craft the DeLorean from Back to the Future out of LEGO - here's the link to the pictures.

NASA worries that long space missions could be jeopardized by - wait for it... SEX!!

Oh yeah, I'm not kidding. Here's the link to the New Scientist article I just read that goes into NASA's misgivings about sex in space - in detail. So OK - people but together on a long space mission like say, to Mars (it would most likely be a 30 month trip to reach Mars), would potentially want to do it. That is a given, I think. So now NASA is going to study the issue, and they better hurry - they plan to conduct new missions to the moon by 2018! Do you think they have enough time?

Yep, more pictures from Vegas

Here are some pictures of a few hotels on the Strip -

Here's The Mirage.

This is The Palms - the new tower was still under construction while we were there.

Here's a shot of The Venetian.

And here's a shot of The Stratosphere.

Yet more Vegas pictures

Here you go, even more pictures from Vegas!!

Inside the Wynn lobby, they have trees with large topiary balls hanging from them, so here's a shot of one.

This is a shot of the stream that runs through the landscaping outside the hotel.

Here's a shot of the cool hanging lanterns inside the Wynn.

The Wynn lobby also has these neat tile mosaics all over the place, inlaid into the marble floors. Very fancy!

Even more Vegas pictures

Got some more Vegas pictures for you - here's a few more of the new Wynn hotel.

Another exterior shot of the Wynn Las Vegas

Like other Vegas hotels, the Wynn has a video sign outside - but the Wynn's is special. The video is one thing while the logo is down, like this shot...

And switches to something different while the logo moves up, like it is in this shot. Pretty cool when you see it in action.

And here's a shot looking into the lobby of the Wynn hotel.

I've got a few more shots taken at the Wynn, and I'll share them soon!

More Vegas pictures

Well, I'm posting it later than I'd hoped to, but as promised - here's are more of my pictures from our Vegas trip.

Another shot of the Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas.

A shot of the fountain outside Paris Las Vegas.

Here's the electronic sign outside Paris Las Vegas - it's even more impressive at night!

Here's an exterior shot of the new Wynn Las Vegas - a pretty cool place indeed.

More pictures from Vegas (better late than never...)

I know I promised more pics - here they are (finally)!

This is the replica Arc De Triomphe outside of Paris Las Vegas

And here is a shot of the Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas

More to come - perhaps later today, if I have a chance (fingers crossed!)

Apple announces new iPod that plays video

There had been rumors that Steve Jobs was going to make the announcement about video iPods on the 12th, then the websites spreading those rumors were told to stop. And sure enough, Jobs announced that new iPods would soon be available that play video. 150 hours of video (on the 60 GB model I'd assume) - but you have to watch it on a 2.5 inch screen. Maybe I'll wait till they make one with a bigger screen... nah, who am I kidding - I want one now!