News Archive - October 2006

   

10-31-2006

Ten days?  No update in 10 days and nobody thinks to send me an email to make sure I'm not dead?  You know, a body starts to stink after three days. 

I see how it is.  Heh. 

Happy Halloween anyway ya lazy bastards.

Magical Technology

CNNMoney.com posted a "Scariest tech of 2006" feature on their site yesterday and number 6 is Microsoft Vista.  Here's the blurb in case you don't want to scroll through  the full thing.

Microsoft Vista

If ever an operating system needed the software equivalent of garlic and wolfbane to keep away evil spirits, Microsoft Windows would be it.  It's a magnet for hackers, and hardly a week goes by without Microsoft issuing a software security patch, or a patch for the security patch, or a patch to patch the patch.  The result is a Frankensoftware monster.

But now comes word that the next version of Windows, called Vista and expected to roll out in early 2007, won't initially allow third-party security software vendors like McAfee and Symantec access to the Vista kernel, or core code.  (Those companies will get access only after Microsoft issues the first Service Pack, according to the rumor mill.)  Hackers have already demonstrated that Vista's supposedly impregnable defenses can be broken, which is hardly reassuring for a product whose main raison d'etre is security.  And now Vista users will have to depend entirely on Microsoft to keep their computers protected from evil.  Wait… what's that sinister laugh I hear, coming from Redmond?

To keep the good news rolling in, remember when Internet Explorer 7 got released and had all the fancy new security?  Yeah, that didn't last long...week later and there's already a security hole in it.

On the positive side, this weekend I saw the future in technology.  It was a Mac.  And it's available now.

Election 2006

We're one week away and everyone better get off their lazy asses to go vote.  Forget all the ads on TV and remember one thing; no matter how much the Republicans try to blame the sad state of affairs on the Democrats (insert boogeyman of your choice), it's a Republican President with a Republican controlled House and Senate....so who really didn't get it done?

Not surprising, number 9 on that list of scary tech; electronic voting machines.

I'll ask again, why can I comfortably go to any ATM in the country and get money without the worry of a virus stealing my cash and sending it to Kyrgyzstan but I don't think that I can vote electronically without someone screwing with my vote?

10-21-2006

Lawyer Speak

Remember when I said I wasn't a lawyer?  I've been re-reading this Military Commissions Act of 2006 law again and realized that, in the definition section, it defines "alien" as a non-US citizen.

In the section that does away with the writ of habeas corpus it says that "alien combatants" don't have the right to file papers protesting illegal imprisonment.  So, if you are a citizen of the US you don't lose that right...I think.

However, if you're a non-citizen, permanent resident of the US you can be an "alien combatant."  That means you, 12 million illegal aliens.

10-20-2006

It's Upon Us!

So, are you reading this from your newly installed copy of Internet Explorer V7?  I haven't installed it yet at home but I did at work yesterday. 

It's different in many respects from V6 but it's probably not that different if you've been using Firefox, Opera or even one of the newer releases of Netscape.  Tabbed browsing and an odd layout of menu items are the first things you notice about it, those aren't that bad.

The second thing you'll notice is that it's noticeably slower to load than IE6 is.  It's also kind of shaky on page loads especially if you have the phishing protection turned on.  My advice, turn it off.  You're smarter than software any day of the week, if you can't spot a phishing scam by now please log off the Internet and cancel your ISP.

There are quite a few security enhancements built into it besides the phishing protection, or at least MS claims there is.  Guess we won't really know for about a month when the first announcements of security patches start to show up... 

Till then I'd advise installing it and getting to know it, after all, it's a sign of things to come in Vista next year.  Might as well get an early start on learning the new interface.  I'll be downloading my copy at home later today.  Too busy downloading geek films right now!

10-19-2006

"To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day." — Sir Winston Churchill

Tuesday morning President Bush signed into law a new bill called the Military Commissions Act of 2006.  There are a few pieces of this law that stand out as potentially being problems for, well, anyone.

UNLAWFUL ENEMY COMBATANT- (A) The term `unlawful enemy combatant' means--

`(i) a person who has engaged in hostilities or who has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States or its co-belligerents who is not a lawful enemy combatant (including a person who is part of the Taliban, al Qaeda, or associated forces); or

`(ii) a person who, before, on, or after the date of the enactment of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, has been determined to be an unlawful enemy combatant by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal or another competent tribunal established under the authority of the President or the Secretary of Defense.  (Emphasis added - E)

In part ii above it would appear that anyone can be an Unlawful Enemy Combatant as long as they are declared that by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

Anyone.

Could any one of us be picked up, placed before a CSRT and be declared an Enemy Combatant?  I'm not a lawyer but I didn't find anything in the MCA that said we couldn't be.

It's a legal document so you can guess that it goes on for pages and pages of crap that nobody outside Harvard Law understands...till we get to this:

SEC. 7. HABEAS CORPUS MATTERS.

(a) In General- Section 2241 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by striking both the subsection (e) added by section 1005(e)(1) of Public Law 109-148 (119 Stat. 2742) and the subsection (e) added by added by section 1405(e)(1) of Public Law 109-163 (119 Stat. 3477) and inserting the following new subsection (e):

`(e)(1) No court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the United States who has been determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant or is awaiting such determination. (Emphasis added - E)

`(2) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 1005(e) of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (10 U.S.C. 801 note), no court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider any other action against the United States or its agents relating to any aspect of the detention, transfer, treatment, trial, or conditions of confinement of an alien who is or was detained by the United States and has been determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant or is awaiting such determination.'.

(b) Effective Date- The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall apply to all cases, without exception, pending on or after the date of the enactment of this Act which relate to any aspect of the detention, transfer, treatment, trial, or conditions of detention of an alien detained by the United States since September 11, 2001.

Let's backtrack for a second and define habeas corpus.

habeas corpus - Latin for "You have the body." A prisoner files a petition for writ of habeas corpus in order to challenge the authority of the prison or jail warden to continue to hold him. If the judge orders a hearing after reading the writ, the prisoner gets to argue that his confinement is illegal

What section 7 of the Military Commissions Act is telling us is that if someone is picked up, declared an enemy combatant and held for trial they have NO RIGHT to file papers or be heard by a court as to whether or not they're being held fairly. 

If you steal a "Hooray President Bush" bumper sticker and replace it with an "I'm Tired of all the Bushshit" sticker you could, potentially, be picked up, declared an enemy combatant and be held for trial.  And you couldn't file any paperwork to try and explain why you AREN'T an enemy combatant.  You're stuck because the government said so.

I'm sure the Japanese held in internment camps during World War II are thrilled to death with this new law.

One of the things that makes this so terrible is that, as bad as Bush is, if we somehow end up with a worse president or government in the future the shitty laws instituted in the last 6 years could really lead to the end of this country as we know it.

This Just In

The NFL is promoting exercise in schools with a new $1.5 million program to get kids active and motivated.

In Other News...

Tag, touch football and any other physical activity involving touching has been banned during school hours in Attleboro, MA.

Breaking News

Our kids are fat and getting fatter but we don't have a second "Ridiculous Lawsuit of the Week" feature due to a kid breaking a shoestring during a breakout game of kickball at recess.

10-17-2006

Ridiculous Lawsuit of the Week

A Georgia woman is suing for "emotional distress" because she got a ticket for having a bumper sticker on her car.  Apparently the sticker,  which read "I'm Tired of all the Bushshit," could have violated a law that prohibits "lewd or profane" stickers on cars.

That law, however, was thrown out for being unconstitutional in 1990. 

I guess it's now ok to claim emotional stress for everything.  I'm suing my employer and everyone that has ever called me for tech support because they've caused me life-crippling emotional stress.

MyTube

It's awfully early in the season to stick up for a new series but "Friday Night Lights" is a good show that deserve a few more viewers.

It's on Tuesday night at 8:00 on NBC.  It's been on twice and it's a really good and interesting show.  Unfortunately, it's ratings suck.  If you can believe it, it's getting creamed by Dancing with the Stars?! 

Anyway, if you've seen the movie Friday Night Lights then you pretty much know what you're getting; Texas high school football at its best.  If you're a football fan or even just a football movie fan, you're going to like this series.  Besides, after Monday Night football do you really want to wait 4 days for college or 5 for more NFL games?

Give it a shot this week (tonight, actually) as it should be a pretty action packed episode!

300,000,000

Today is the day.  Today we reach 300 million Americans living in the US. 

Yay?  Is anyone really excited about it? 

10-14-2006

MyTube

Wholly crap!  Time Warner is going to be bringing the CW network to my channel lineup.  Nothing yet but the article says that it'll be about two weeks and that was only a little over a week ago.

Good for the long run, but short term it sucks because I've just missed the premier episodes of "Veronica Mars," "One Tree Hill" and "Smallville."  I think I can deal, though.

It's official?

Apparently North Korea did test a nuclear weapon this week.  They still don't seem to have a way to launch a missile at us though.  Probably more likely that they'd sell one to a terrorist organization or sneak one in on a boat or something.

Time to start stocking up on the ammo and camping equipment.

10-13-2006

Cool Tech

If you like cool technology or to just have a good laugh, check out OuthouseRag.com.  To get directly to his page with all the cool tech links, here's a direct link.

Ratings

Apparently bringing Katie Couric to the CBS Evening News wasn't the answer to flagging ratings and a perennial 3rd place in the nightly news world.

Luckily I have the solution to the problems at CBS.  Two words: Mélissa Theuriau.

I have no idea if she speaks English but it really doesn't matter.  We're already used to scrolling news bulletins on the bottom of the screen.  Just subtitle this girl and put her on.  I can almost guarantee a ratings win.  If we could somehow figure out how to have her on the air naked...well, CBS would be number one. 

Justice

In the US prisoners can sue because we give them crunchy instead of creamy peanut butter.  In the Bahamas, however, you can still lash a criminal with the cat-o'-nine-tails.

This quote is all I need to conclude that we should have this in the US:

"A long-serving prison governor told me that prisoners who received the cat never returned to prison. He considered it the ultimate deterrent," Thompson said.

This just in...

Islam now owns the cube and curse on us for using it.  Apparently if you build a cube it can resemble the Ka'ba which is sacred to the Muslims.

Who knew that absolutely everything we've ever done offends their sensibilities.  There's really only one solution; nuke'em.

Blogging

Here are some interesting numbers that were attached to a USA Today article yesterday.  I was going to comment on the article but these stats were much more interesting.

Since March 2004, the "blogosphere" has doubled in size every five to seven months. There now are more than 53 million blogs. Key blog statistics:
  • 150,000 -- The number of blogs created each day, or nearly two blogs per second.
  • 1.6 million -- The number of daily postings, or more than 66,600 per hour.
  • 39% of the blogs were in English.
  • 31% of the blogs were in Japanese.
  • 12% of the blogs were in Chinese.
  • 2% of the blogs were in Spanish.
  • 40% of those who start a blog are still posting on it three months later.
Source: Technorati, a San Francisco firm that tracks blogs, as of June.

There are 150,000 new blogs created each day?  Man, that's a lot of MySpace posts about that slut Lisa stealing Julie's boyfriend during 5th period study hall.  And can you believe Jack isn't playing in the big game this week?  OMG!  PIR, BBT!

The number of blogs in English and Japanese doesn't surprise me.  The number of Chinese blogs does because, while there may be about 1 billion Chinese in the world, I'm pretty certain that their blogs all say the same thing;  "We love it here.  China is the bestest place on Earth.  Our government is so kind to us.  Thank you for opening Wal-Mart here, we love it!"

The Spanish number, 2%, surprised me also.  I didn't know there were that many tobacco fields with wireless Internet connections.  And since when can you get service on your Blackberry from the middle of the Rio Grande?

I am, however, proud to be part of that 40% that's still posting to their blog three months later.  FYI, it's been something like 6 years and 3 months.  Three of those years are in the News Archive...go ahead and read up sometime.  I dare you.

B4N, BB4YKI!

10-12-2006

Strike 3

Well, it's a sad day all around for Yankees fans.  They were beat out of the playoffs last week and yesterday Corey Lidle's small plane crashed into an apartment building in Manhattan.

I'm sure we'll find out more info as time goes on but it pretty much sucks all the way around.

Technical Difficulties

I had a larger update planned but my Internet connection shit the bed just as I was getting ready to post.  You'll have to wait for my awesome observations on the world.

10-9-2006

Batten down the hatches

Looks like North Korea went ahead and backed up their threats by testing a nuclear weapon today. 

Time to start stocking up on the ammo, duct tape and plastic sheeting. 

10-8-2006

I hate commercials

You know how, when you watch TV, the commercials get way louder than the actual show you're watching?  Well, I'm watching the second episode of "Jericho" on innertube, which is the new video service from CBS, and they break the show into three pieces.  Each piece is, you guessed it, separated by a commercial and they're louder than fuck!  I kept turning the show up so I could hear it and then suddenly the speakers were cracking with the ridiculous volume of the crappy fuckin' commercial.

I'm happy that CBS is finally taking advantage of the Internet and offering a worthwhile service but, come on, keeping the commercial volume up like that is just unnecessary.
 

10-7-2006

Deplorable

This entire article is fucking ridiculous.  Instead of the assholes in the Mexican government being pissed that the United States won't employ, cloth, feed and care for it's citizens, they should get off their collective asses and clean up their own country.

Fuck you, Mexico.

This guy, Alfonso Martinez, wants to come here because there are no jobs in his country.  So, create some.  Work with your government to create more jobs.  When someone from the US can't get a job do they flood across the border to Canada or Mexico looking for work?  No, they figure out something else, get employed in a different business or start their own...maybe go back to school and find a new career.  Shit, a US citizen couldn't even get into Mexico and get a job because the Mexican government basically says they can't do it...yet they want us to give their citizens jobs?  No.

On top of that, this Martinez guy has three girls that he needs to take care of.  Well, maybe you should have thought of this; if you don't have a job and can't afford 3 kids maybe you don't have any business getting your wife/girlfriend pregnant.  And, of course, the guy is probably Catholic so if they were accidents it's against his religion to have an abortion.

But it's okay to break laws to illegally enter another country and take away jobs from that countries citizens?  Why isn't there something about that in the Bible?

The thing that's so ironic about this is that while so many other countries hate us right now, probably including Mexico, why are they working so hard to get here?  If we're so mean and evil and it's an affront to their sensibilities that we want a safe nation, why would they want to come here?  I don't have any use for Iran.  If they were my best shot for a job but I knew that I'd be discriminated against and risk deportation or imprisonment I certainly wouldn't walk across the desert for 3 days and pay some shady character thousands of dollars to help me do it just for a shot at picking lettuce 12 hours a day for a $1 an hour.

MyTube

And the ax keeps falling, "Smith" is gone from the CBS Tuesday night lineup.  Unlike "Kidnapped," which will get a Saturday night broadcast slot and 13 episodes to wrap up the storyline, "Smith" is apparently already gone.

Ah, too bad.  It wasn't that bad of a show.  Amy Smart was hot to look at and it had some potential to pick up.  I guess they should have learned from the low ratings on "Thief" and "Heist," neither of which made it past 6 episodes last season.

10-6-2006

Math, you really do use it after high school

Every once in a while I like to go through the stats for the site and see where people are coming from, what searches are bringing you here, what photos get the most views and articles the most reads.  The interesting info is really the searches.

In September the top 20 searches totaled 5015 hits and broke out like this:

The other searches included Erica Chevillar, Bobbie Phillips and Rhona Mitra.  Two actresses and a school teacher that got in trouble over some bikini photos.  Not bad, you guys have good taste.

Finishing off the top 20 for September were some oddish choices: "hot leg," "candid ass," "hot cop" and "beer god."  Okay, beer god, that's all in good taste but candid ass?  I guess you're looking for candid photos? 

Since I was so surprised by the number of hits for Keira Knightly and Erica Chevillar I decided to do August and the first 5 days of this month and an interesting pattern developed.

So far in October there have been 719 search terms that comprise the top 20. 

 Erica even has 10 hits already this month.

August was even better for Erica where she totally outscored Monica.  The total hits for the top 20 were 9082:

Obviously you guys like Keira Knightley and I hope I haven't disappointed with the number and frequency of photos.  I have a lot but before you even ask, no, I'm not going to turn this into a Keira shrine.  I still have some semblance of self respect.

Oddly enough, I think I've only posted 3 photos of Kay Sivilay yet you guys obviously are looking for her.  So, to keep everyone happy I'll post the full set of 12 photos that I have.

Kay Sivilay:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

Crazy Like a Fox

President Bush has signed a law that includes money for a 700-mile long fence along the Mexican border.  One of the people most opposed to this fence is Mexican President Vicente Fox.

Fox compares the fence to the Berlin Wall.  Oh, really?  So, is Mr. Fox saying that his country is comparable to East Berlin only he DOESN'T want to hinder his people's escape attempts?

If that's the case then he's kind of implying that his country is so shitty that this wall is now a barrier for people trying to get away from poverty, corruption and poor living conditions.

Huh.  Well, here's a thought, CLEAN UP YOUR FUCKING COUNTRY!  Maybe then 10% of your ENTIRE NATIONS work force won't be living in another country and we won't need a fence because people won't want to flee their homes.

Yes, Mr. Fox, this wall is exactly like the Berlin Wall...and your putrid country is exactly like the Communist run nations of the Cold War.

Congratulations, Mr. Fox, for denying your countrymen a safe and secure place to live.

Congratulations on not building your economic future with the jobs that NAFTA all but guaranteed we'd send you.

Congratulations on creating a living situation for your countrymen that is so poor they'd rather ford a river and hike for several days through a scorching desert, dodging border patrols and putting up hundreds if not thousands of dollars to coyotes to get to the United States.

Congratulations, Mr. Fox, on being a complete and utter tool.

Deserted Island

Show of hands, who watched the season premier of "Lost" on Wednesday night?  I happily tuned in hoping for an hour of magic, surprises and maybe a few answers before being shocked with an ending that would leave me on the edge of my seat for the next 7 days.

Unfortunately that's not exactly what we got.  The season kicked off by showing us some things from the perspective of the Others but it then delved into more history for Jack.  Only this wasn't the slightly tortured, conflicted-about-his-father-yet-still-lovable Jack that we've known for two years.  No, this was Jack, the guy that stalked his ex-wife before kicking the shit out of his alcoholic father who he believed was sleeping with said ex.

WTF?

We also were treated to new mysteries and (crap) more friggin' questions.  A couple things even happened that called into question some answers we've gotten before.  Were those answers last season misleading?  Were they flat out wrong?  I don't know and that's not a good thing.

The other piece of info that I found out is that "Lost" is only going to show 6 new episodes before breaking for almost 4 MONTHS!  It's supposed to come back in February where it'll air uninterrupted for the rest of its season.  Ridiculous.

All I can say is that next week's episode better be good or else I might not even give it 6 weeks.

MyTube

While we're on the subject of TV it seems that a new show I've been enjoying, "Kidnapped," has already gotten the ax.  Supposedly they'll air the 13 episodes that have been made/ordered.  Hopefully they'll resolve the mystery because it's a good enough of a show that I'd stay with it if they promise me an ending.

Turning to good news, tonight is the debut of season 3 of "Battlestar Galactica."  Yay!  I love some good science fiction.

10-5-2006

Religion or Cult?

If you have a sudden urge to hold a room full of people hostage before executing them, feel free to journey to the Westboro Baptist Church of the Clinically Insane and blast away.

Bonus points if you molest Fred Waldron Phelps, Sr. with the shotgun first.

Europop

Normally I'm not a fan of over-produced pop music but this Swedish band could be yodeling and I'd have to give them a shout out for one reason and one reason only; hot fucking broad.

Dreamgale is their name and you can check their web site or their MySpace profile for a couple tunes, more info and more pictures of the hottie.

One of these things is not like the other

I snagged this CNN.com home page yesterday afternoon just because I actually laughed out loud, at work, when I checked it and found this headline:  "Paris Hilton: Shanna Moakler punched me."

Dude.  Seriously.  This is news?

And the fight was over Travis Barker.  Travis Barker?  Who would fight over Travis Barker?  I think Moakler just wanted her name in the paper because what has she done lately besides two reality shows and ruining "Pacific Blue?"

Should this be top, front page of CNN.com when Amish kids are dying, Congressmen are soliciting teenage boys, soldiers are dying in Iraq, Korea's going nuclear (again) and Mahmoud Ahmagenieinabottle is going insane?

Come on, CNN, at least try for some actual news.

Fresh Tunes

I snagged the new Evanescence album "The Open Door" last night and gave it a listen.  I'm sure you've probably all heard "Call Me When You're Sober" by now but the rest of the album is pretty good.

I haven't really found any songs yet that jump out and grab me like "Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal" did on the Fallen album or "Lies" did on the Origin disk but it seems pretty steady all the way through.  It was worth the $10 at Target.

10-4-2006

Overkill

You know what pisses me off about DVDs?  It's the never ending parade of unrated Director's cut special editions that keep coming out.

This week there's a new version of Scarface with newly restored and mixed audio and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - Locked 'N Loaded Director's Cut.

Now, I don't mind when a movie is released and they tell us a special edition is coming out, Lord of the Rings did just that.  They released the theatrical version and then a couple months later came the director's cut in a fancy boxed set.  That's fine, I have a choice.

But Lock, Stock is one of my favorite films and I felt compelled to buy it today when I hit Target.  I didn't, but only because there were three other films that dropped for the first time; X-Men - The Last Stand, Thank You for Smoking, and Edmond.  Still, I feel the urge to go get that other DVD to see what could make one of my favorite films even better. 

Does it have more Vinnie Jones?  Does Jason Statham kick someone's ass?  What?  What am I missing out on!?  AAARRRGGGHHHH!

I think all I'm really missing out on is not spending another $20 for a movie I already own.  I just wish they'd cut it out!  Unfortunately now we can just expect unrated director's cuts, new releases right before the sequel and, oh, that new Blu Ray version. 

Crap.

I have a question

Why do people bother to post their mood and what music they're listening to when they update their blogs?  I've seen it most recently on MySpace.com and I find it odd.

Do you need to know that my current mood is dog tired (it's 2:00am in the morning) and that Our Lady Peace is playing on WinAmp?

"I know why you're playin' these dirty games/They're killing me and I know how you love to watch me beg/Well here I am/Do you like it yeah e yeah/And do you like it yeah e yeah/And do you like it yeah e yeah, yeah e yeah, yeah e yeah!"

Emo kids wept.

Dateline

Chris Hansen (hidden camera footage):  So you sent suggestive instant messages and emails to a 16-year-old former Congressional Page?

Rep. Mark Foley:  Well, you could say that.

Hansen:  So is this a like a gay love thing?

Hansen:  Were you whacking off at the time?

Foley:  Actually I was.

Hansen:  And what part of that seemed right to you?

Foley:  I wasn’t going to do. I wasn't going to do that with him.

Hansen:  Do you ever watch Dateline NBC?

Foley:  Yes.

Hansen:  Have you ever seen our stories on computer predators?

Foley:  Yes.

Hansen:  This is one of them.

Hansen:  Weren't you the one who helped push the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, which created a national sex-crimes registry and increased penalties for such crimes against children?

Foley:  Yes.

Hansen:  Ironic.

Foley:  I blame the clergyman that raped me as an impressionable 13-year-old.

Hansen:  Smoke and mirrors, sir. Smoke and mirrors.

Foley:  Look. Look what I'm doing over here with my left hand.

Hansen:  Put yer cock away, sir. There's no call for that.

Foley:  I'm gay.

Hansen:  Why don't you step outside and meet the FBI.

Hansen:  Have fun at PMITA prison.

10-3-2006

Vacations are always over entirely too soon.  Good news, the last of the flood debris has been cleaned up, most of the remaining junk from the basement is out and there was hardly any mold after the last wash with Clorox.

MyTube

MyTube, YouTube, BoobTube, IdiotBox...whatever, I'm addicted.

Have you seen this new series "Heroes?"  Holy crap this is a good show.  Now that I'm without my weekly dose of "Smallville" I'll get my fix where I can and Ali Larter is as good a place as any.  The premise is pretty straightforward; humans have evolved and with that have come new powers.

Flight, premonition, invincibility, teleportation...all that and more and not a spandex suit in sight.  But, as with every other show on right now, it's very hard to figure out who the good guys are because it seems like everyone has a dark secret of some sort.  Basically Armageddon is coming (Holy Affleck!) on November 10th and our heroes will need to stop it.  I'm on the edge of my seat.

The worst of the lot, with the brimming of the evil, appears to be "Prison Break."  At this point there's not a single good guy on that show save for one, Michael Scofield...and there may be an argument for him not being that good.  Last night's episode was over the top AGAIN!  I can not wait the next three weeks without seeing that show.  Fuckin' baseball playoffs (go Yankees!).

Oh, and I have to comment once again on the ridiculousness that is "CSI: Miami."  Apparently some new editor just learned After Effects in college last year and is applying every trick in the software to this season's episodes.  Whoever you are, knock it the fuck off.  I don't need ghosting, mirroring and odd floating panels of visuals.  Jesus, we're one fucking lens flare away from Fonzie showing up with his bathing suit.  And what was with the walk into the sunset at the end of the show last night?  Fucking terrible.

Amish Paradise

Three school shootings in two weeks with the most current being in a one room schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  This time it was the milk man that went medieval and tied up the women before executing them. 

WTF?

Scarlett Johansson is the sexiest woman alive?  According to the article she's not entirely thrilled with this.  She stated; "What about my brain? What about my heart? What about my kidneys and my gallbladder?"

Here's a question; what about Keira Knightley?

Windows Vista

Remember when I told you that Windows Vista is a pig and I'm not looking forward to it?  Well yesterday I received Release Candidate 1 and installed it.  After fucking around with Beta 2 for several days I never did get my network card to install.  RC1 recognized the new SMC card I put in and after a Windows Update the sound card was working as well.

Still don't like it.  Over 7GB of disk space for this thing.  That's ridiculous. 

The interface is the bastard child of Linux KDE and MAC, only without the cool tools, ease of use and virus resistant code.  IE 7 is a godawful interpretation of Firefox and Opera and we're doomed to see that sooner than Vista...my recommendation, don't upgrade to it.

Even worse is that the list of programs not working on Vista just keeps growing.  Granted, it's not in it's final version so the companies have time to put out updates, but still, there was a pretty smooth transition from Windows 2000 to XP.  Hell, even going from 98 or ME wasn't the end of the world.  This upgrade, though...look out.

I'll have to work with it a little more, get some files and applications installed, see what happens.