the pod bay door

¦¦ Terry Jones of Monty Python fame weighs in with comments about Dubya’s latest reason for wanting to bomb Iraq: he’s losing patience.

¦¦ The City has been cleaning our side streets for about a week. My street was
cleaned on Monday. I live in a cul-de-sac, so the grader pushed the snow into the middle until it melts in the spring. Then the little guy followed to clean up our driveway entrances.

¦¦ Read why reality tv isn’t reality tv. Of course, if your cerebral cortext is functional, you already know, but I digress. (No, I’ve never watched any of those shows).

¦¦ Recently it was announced that editors from some of the world’s preeminent scientific publications had discussed the concern of the potential use of new information published in research journals for malicious reasons, including bioterrorism. Subsequently, the editors released this Statement on Scientific Publication and Security.

¦¦ The end of my favorite comic strip, For Better or For Worse (proudly Canadian) slowly approaches. Thanks, Derryl.

¦¦ I know that most US states and Canadian provinces have official flags, crests, birds, floral emblems, trees, songs, mottos, and so on. I didn’t know there were official soils. We’re a bit behind in Canada, with only two provinces on board. Manitoba is apparently still debating the issue. My favorite state whatever list has got to be California. Among others, it has a state insect, state prehistoric artifact, and a state fife and drum corps. Thanks, Mike.

¦¦ In the late 1950s, as US networks began broadcasting selected shows in colour, they would preface each broadcast with a color presentation logo.

¦¦ I successfully installed Moveable Type 6.22 yesterday. The world didn’t end, my web site didn’t implode.

¦¦ Chris Sherman comments on Google’s purchase of Pyra Labs, creator of Blogger. How will this affect blogging? How might this affect you if your blog is supported by Blogspot? The story was broke by Dan Sherman in San Jose.

¦¦The late, great band, Big Country, released an album in 1988 that remains one of my favorites, called Peace In Our Time. The title song always struck me as a powerful, simple message – can we achieve peace before we leave this earth? This past weekend, tens of millions of people on the planet let our governments know that they subscribe to this theory. Geoff noted that sadly, the US Government doesn’t give a damn about public opinion regarding their foreign policy. If the voices of millions mean nothing, what must happen to make them heard? There was a rally in Edmonton to protest the impending war against Iraq, but I did not attend.

There are some interesting web sites supporting anti-war activism. In Alberta, there is wage-peace.org. In the US, check out United For Peace and Justice.
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¦¦Imagine receiving a phone call from Jack Nicholson (courtesy The Morning News.)

¦¦Sunday began with dim sum, after which I returned home and fell asleep again for 90 minutes. I dragged myself to the Y for a workout, then went to dinner at a friend’s place, then returned to watch Kingpin and L&O:CI. Tomorrow is a holiday in Alberta, time for more laying about and doing lots of nothing.

¦¦Earlier today, my browser (IE6.whatever) was “hijacked” by another website, searchex.com. (NOTE: DON’T go there!) The result was, whenever I opened my browser, it would default to the searchex homepage. Bastards. Anyway, I searched for a solution, and found it at Spywareinfo.com. This could happen to you at any time. I’d recommend you go to the site, which has good suggestions for preventing, fixing and removing a hijack. Among the programs recommended are SpyBot Search and Destroy, BHODemon, and Hijack This. I was running AdAware 5.0, unaware that it had been upgraded to 6.0.

I’ve created a Spyware/Scumware section on the computer page of my website. If you know of other good spyware/scumware programs, please let me know.

¦¦I saw Confessions of a Dangerous Mind this afternoon, based on Chuck Barris‘s autobiography. Whether or not he did kill 33 people for the CIA may never be known, but the movie works well, anchored by Sam Rockwell‘s outstanding performance.
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