I now have proof that someone reads this page regularly. I was asked why I haven't updated in a while.. {grin} I've been busy working on two other web development projects. Who would of thought I would be doing more work during my vacation than when I'm at my real job. I got an e-mail from one of my coworkers that said

STOP WORKING! I MEAN IT! STOP RIGHT NOW!

VACATION YOURSELF DAMN IT!

{a nagging service brought to you by the letters S and T and the number 13}

I guess maybe I should chill and not reply to any work e-mail for a bit.

Just a bit of "virus news" for every one. There is a hoax floating around in e-mail about a possible virus. You may receive a message that looks similar to the one quoted below. This is not a virus! sulfnbk.exe is probably on all Microsoft Windows computers. I've received quite a few questions one this one in the past couple of days - so I imagine a lot of you may see it within the next few weeks. Please do not follow the directions in the hoax message. Someone probably got a different virus and came to the wrong conclusion. For more information you can check out: symentec's or VMyths pages about it.

I am really psyched. UNL is hosting a comic art symposium! Featured speakers are Bill Sienkiewicz, Will Eisner, and Chris Ware! Can you say nifty-keen??

Tomorrow my good buddy Jason finally graduates from the U. Congratulations Jason! For those of who don't know, he is the master of the often plugged Theme of Absence website.

Links R Us:

• Steganography, Next Generation - This Wired article talks about the next steps in imbedding information in computer images. This one is about a new steganography-based technique hides barcodes inside pictures and could help create forgery-proof identity documents.
  
• White House Greetings Office - Want a letter from good ol ' Dubya himself? Go here for instructions. This isn't a new thing, but I came across this web site recently.
  
• The crime of distributed computing - "A college computer technician who offered his school's unused computer processing power for an encryption research project will be tried next month in Georgia for computer theft and trespassing charges that carry a potential total of 120 years in jail."
  
• Woman seeks husband by auction - again - Kay Hammonds's at it again. The 24-year-old blonde "Internet entrepreneur" from Birmingham has put herself up for auction in a bid to find herself a husband after being pulled from eBay earlier.
  
• Concerts to raise money for battle against record companies - "Elton John, No Doubt and the Eagles are among a group of musicians who will perform at five benefit concerts the night before the Grammy Awards telecast to raise money for a legislative fight against the record industry." So lets see... Music lovers don't like the music labels, and the musicians don't like them. mmmm.... It seems some group is about to be squeezed.
  
• Chinese to become Internet's lingua franca in 10 years - This article talks about what might and might not happen. {from slashdot.org}
  
• File sharing program company ignores court order - Take that music labels! KaZaa tells court that it can't shut down something it doesn't control. {from slashdot.org}
  
• Lord of the Rings is NOT Mein Kampf - An editorial going against the theory that Lord of the Rings is a metaphor for racist works. {from Theme of Absence}
  
• The Hungry Site - Every 3.6 seconds another New Economy employee gets fired. Help save one former employee from going back to work... {from Ana}