Thursday, August 08, 2002

Jesus - blogging is like crack. I'm beginning to delve into the arcane and weird features of Radio Userland, and more general things, like blogrolling. How do people ever get time to, y'know, do anything BUT blog? It's scary - I've got to figure out what nifty features I want to add to this puppy...problem is, I'm HTML-retarded. Actually, that's symptomatic of my general problems with UIs. I can hack code, but I can't throw up a decent UI to save my life. Hence the kind of hacked-up copies of html code from other sites that I'm gradually throwing in there. Btw, that nifty population counter was lifted from dws's blog. I'll add more this weekend - I might even make a run at hacking the template into something worth looking at. Ok, I won't, but I'll think about it.

10:00:52 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Saudis lash US 'Christian extremists' [BBC World] From the 'not-that-they're-one-to-talk' department: while American media reaction will be something along the lines of 'Well, our extremists didn't kill thousands of people,' the Saudi writers have some good points. Religious nutties in the US are a little less out of control than bin Laden's crew, but they've got much bigger guns...
5:31:13 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Rush Limbaugh proposes attacking Iraq and Saudi Arabia on September 11th [FARK] ...because one good turn deserves another. Or something...
4:44:07 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

U.S. Envoy's New Role: Trying to End Indonesia Conflict [New York Times: International News] Because, well, Anthony Zinni's last job worked out really well. You don't hear anything about conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis any more, now, do you? Wait, what was that? You *do* hear that? Oh, well, I'm sure Zinni did a great job anyway. Disturbing stuff on NPR right now - sound clips from old promo films sent to doctors by pharmacompanies regarding estrogen treatment. They don't just pitch hormone therapy as dealing with hot flahes and the like - they have quotes from women from the '50s worrying that they're going to lose their husbands because of aging. Eek.

4:41:47 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

posted by ilsa August 8 11:55 AM | 8 comments. "Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday he'd like to serve a second term ‘‘if the president's willing and if my wife approves." " Never mind getting elected. I'd like to beleive that the reporter, not the Veep, just forgot to note that detail. [MetaFilter] Well, he wasn't elected last time - maybe he just assumes bush will be acclaimed president by the Supreme Court again. Can't blame him for assuming that - the facts back him up. Anyone know if Canada accepts political asylum seekers from the US?

4:38:02 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Oooh...I am a happy boy. For a little while, at least. I've been stressed for the last couple days - thinking about moving, the fact that my big project here at work requires me to work a whole lot the very same weekend that I'll be moving, bills for each apartment...y'know, stress. I've been relatively stress free for the last 6 months - conveniently, since I broke up with my ex. I'd forgotten how poorly my body handles stress - stomach problems, sleep problems, general out-of-itness...it's not been a fun few days. But it's all better now - I just got a package delivered. From Amazon.co.uk. The new Primal Scream album. WOO! I've got a big thing for Primal Scream...I can't quite explain why, but I love them completely. So a new Primal Scream album should be cause for celeberation - except that they don't have a record label in the States these days. So...I had to have it imported. Amazon.com charged something like 30 bucks for it and then shipping - Amazon.co.uk charged like 14 dollars, plus another 10 shipping. Guess which one I went with? Well, in any case, it got here today, and for at least the next hour or so, I'm going to be relaxed and happy...

3:17:09 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

More Remote Control? Try a Dish. While cable companies try to exercise as much control over their content as possible, satellite companies like EchoStar and DirecTV give the consumer more options. But that kind of freedom might not last. By Brad King. [Wired News] I'm moving at the end of the month, and trying to decide whether I'm going to go with cable, which I've got now, or satellite. I think I'm going to end up with satellite - AT&T doesn't offer digital cable in the building I'm most likely moving in. Ack - and I have to check on whether the building can get DSL, since AT&T also doesn't do cable modem in that building either. Good thing I noticed that...anyway. So I guess I'll go with satellite. Which means more money up front - gotta buy a receiver and all that. I have to figure this stuff out...this is my first adult move (I don't count moving into your first post-college apartment on the same level as this...way more hassle here) and there are TONS of things I'm stumbling across that I never thought of. Argh. Argh. Argh. Anyway - moving back to the original point of this post... I think I'm going to be going to satellite, and hopefully getting a receiver with a TiVo-like PVR built in. This is good. This way, I can have it go out and get me every episode of Homicide that comes along - and they always come along at 1am or something like that, so I never get to watch them. Now the media companies are trying to make it so that they can send a signal down with digital broadcasts (required by the government as of 2006) to prevent that broadcast from being recorded by digital means (ie, PVRs). SAme kind of fight as was had over VCRs when they were new, but this time the bad guys might win. I'm the ideal customer for these people, in many ways. I get a lot of cable channels. I watch a good amount of TV. I buy a good number of DVDs, CDs, etc...even though I can download songs and movies off the Internet. I like hard copies, and I believe in paying for things I use. So now the media companies' attempts to quash what basically amounts to an easier way to program VCRs will make my life more difficult than it could be. That annoys me... Brain not quite getting in gear this morning - thinking about stuff I have to do regarding moving. I'm sure I'll be talking more about that later. Most likely I'll be applying for a new apartment today, a one bedroom that is significantly more than my half of my current two bedroom. Hopefully, I'll get it. =)

7:00:03 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []