On the air

I've entered the 21st century by creating a YouTube channel. My new camera shoots .AVIs with sound, so I figured I should take advantage. The channel is set to private (at least I hope). So if you didn't receive an invite and would like one, e-mail me and I'll invite you.

Current mood: Productive

Amazing laser-etched laptops

People are still laser-etching all kinds of things into their laptop lids, from the Mona Lisa to Barry Manilow to My Pretty Pony. Beautiful.

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Catching up

It's been awhile since I last posted something other than links to stories I Digg. But I do have an excuse this time: I'll be starting a new job the middle of next month. It's an opportunity that's been sort of bubbling slowly in the pot for a while now, but it finally came together about a week ago. Merry Christmas to me!

I'll save the specifics for more private chat. But basically, I'm putting my massage-business aspirations on hold for a bit to step back into my old line of work. It's somewhat of an editorial support role that will have me traveling a lot, and sometimes on short notice. I'll be sure to have my camera with me for every trip. :D

My last day at rehab office is Jan. 9, and my last day at the Old Office is Jan. 5 -- a place whose building, aside from vacations, I've walked into every week since my senior year in college in late 1992-early 1993. It's the only "real" job I've ever had. And I've been very fortunate that I wound up doing for a living what I studied in college. I just don't know whether it's sunk in yet that the cord has actually been cut.

But that's not to say there's any regret -- I'm truly excited about the new opportunity and eager to get started at the new place. It's just hard to fathom that I won't be carrying the Old Office's cardkey around on my person any more, a cardkey I've somehow never lost and still has a picture of me from 1993 on it.

Current mood: Nostalgic
Current music: Koko / Goldfrapp

Sad milestone: AOL to discontinue Netscape browser development

Please observe a moment of silence for the Netscape browser. Netscape Navigator, the browser that launched the commercial Internet in October 1994, will die on February 1, 2008. AOL, which acquired Netscape in November 1998 for $4.2 billion, will announce today they will discontinue development of the browser, currently on version 9.

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Tape fingers Bush as a war criminal

"...this case is more ominous for the administration because it presents a core example of what seems to be a cover-up, obstruction of justice and a direct connection between torture and the president, the vice-president and their closest aides."

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Cheney accused of blocking Californian bid to cut car fumes

The US vice-president, Dick Cheney, was behind a controversial decision to block California's attempt to impose tough emission limits on car manufacturers, according to insiders at the government Environmental Protection Agency.

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DHS f*cking up Wikipedia

"This host, n021.dhs.gov, is registered to the United States Department of Homeland Security, and may be shared by multiple users."...."Please stop adding nonsense to Wikipedia. It is considered vandalism."

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Futurama: How Zoidberg got his name from a game

Apple II geeks, listen up. Did you know that Futurama creator David X. Cohen named a character after an Apple II video game that he created? Or that he wants your help to get the game, called Zoid, up and running again?

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Cute

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/116/287694207_02ecbbe8d4.jpg?v=0

Current mood: Sleepy

16 secrets the restaurant industry doesn't want you to know

We scrambled behind the counters, dug under the drive-throughs, and plunged into the deep fryers to find out what's really going into our meals.

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Fox analyst: Americans shouldn't be above torture

Americans aren't above resorting to torture to gain intelligence from suspected terrorists -- and it would be a mistake if they were, according to Fox News military analyst Col. David Hunt.

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Signs of life

Hallelujah. I'm on the air.

For now.

I'm in Louisiana, where life, for a city-slicker like me, seems to move in slow motion. Aside from activity at the nearby university, people don't seem to do much here aside from eat lots of greasy, deep-fried food, talk to and about kinfolk, watch the Weather Channel and turn in at the late hour of 10 p.m.

But as it turns out, the in-laws have wireless Internet this year. OK, that's not entirely true. More accurately, a neighbor who must not have password-protected his wireless network must have it, because I'm online here. Intermittently, anyway. I can see several networks in my connection settings, some of which are password-protected. But every few minutes or so, one pops up in the list to which I can connect.

There is a God. But why does he like to tease?

Current mood: Grateful

Detailed list (with pictures) of Easter eggs in Pixar movies

Here is an awesome list of where the in-jokes and self references in Pixar's feature films and shorts are located.

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The 70 best ideas of 2007, according to The New York Times

For better or worse, these are 70 of the ideas that helped make 2007 what it was.

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Customers who bought "Fresh, Whole Rabbit" also bought...

What the HELL do they have planned for that rabbit?!!

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C.I.A. admits destroying tapes of interrogations

The Central Intelligence Agency in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Al Qaeda operatives in the agency’s custody, a step it took in the midst of Congressional and legal scrutiny about the C.I.A’s secret detention program, according to current and former government officials.

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Olbermann: ‘Mr. Bush you are a bald-faced liar!’

COUNTDOWN’s Keith Olbermann delivers perhaps his most powerful ‘Special Comment’ to date, on Iranian intelligence and what Bush knew and when he knew it.

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Flux capacitor for sale

Seems like every year since 1985 a modified Delorean with Flux Capacitor shows up for sale. This time, it's just the 1.21 jigawatt-powered heart of the Back to the Future time machine. The perfect accessory for your 2008 Delorean. Get your $220 pre-order in now (or $275 after January 1st) for an April 30th, 2008 fluxing -- the apparent past.

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RIP, CompUSA: 1984-2008

Days after we first reported that CompUSA could be shutting down for good very, very soon, the WSJ is reporting that the beleaguered big box retailer has been sold to Gordon Brothers Group for liquidation, which will occur shortly after the holidays.

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Teen calls Bush’s secret phone; creates security scare

An Icelandic teen somehow figured out President Bush’s private phone number, and called it recently, leaving a message saying he was the president of Iceland and wanted him to call him back. Teen won't say how he did it.

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Consumers afraid of identity theft are using a credit freeze

As of November 1st, 2007 all consumers in the US can now freeze their credit reports, protecting them from identity theft. Credit bureau's spent $1.4 million last year lobbying against credit freeze laws. As more states adopted the practice, the bureaus finally gave in. With 10 million identity theft victims a year this could turn the tides.

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Huckabee suggested AIDS patients be isolated

According to this Yahoo news article "Tax Hike Mike" once suggested that AIDS patients be isolated. Here is a quote: "If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague." Does that sound like an idea a freedom loving person would propose?

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Gut-check

Reason No. 2,369 to get down on the holidays: Too much free food.

I have been exposed daily to free cake, cookies, sweets, chocolates, doughnuts, pie and mounds and mounds of starches and carbs. It's too much of a good thing.

I went to the first of three Christmas parties last night. It was an opulent affair, hosted by a manager at the orthopedic/rehab office at which I work. There was a chocolate-fondue fountain, catering, 3-foot sheet cake, open bar and live music. And wouldn't you know it -- I loaded my small plate several times full of pasta, eggplant parm, cheese and crackers and spinach dip and had a huge slice of cake.

Two more parties to go.

Sure, it's easy to say, "Well no one's making you eat all that." But with me, nothing's ever that simple. I work out like I do in part because I have no willpower whatsoever. I am a sad glutton. If you watched me eat, you'd swear I hadn't eaten in a week.

I'm feeling fatter than ever. It's so unfair how it can take months to get into shape but only a handful of days to erase all that hard work. It's going to take me two months to undo what I've eaten these past two weeks. And I still have to get through my birthday and Christmas.

That said, I love the holidays in general, and I love getting together with people I care about. It's just terribly, terribly rough seas for those who are trying to watch their weight. I'm really struggling.

Current mood: Depressed