It's a nice quiet Sunday so I've had a lot of time to do some online reading from Wired. Here's some of the articles I read today:

• Charting Virtual Worlds
• It's Teleportaion - For Real
• No Lye: Docs Probe 'Soap Lady'
• New Gun Fires 'Laser of Lead'
• Ring Ring, You're Dead

I also got an email from Alex, in response to my earlier remarks of over-eager jingoists.. I think this article has the right perspective on things. Thanks for pointing this out Alex!.

Not much to say today. For those of you sending me email - I'm really backed up right now, but I plan on going through it all tomorrow! I'm not ignoring you, I just haven't had the time to do it. I should be able to update some of those links as well.

Ever get caught on the highway behind a slow driver... I mean really slow... I mean 25 mph in a 45 mph zone slow. I mean the ones that the faster the rest of the traffic goes, the slower they go. Kind of tells you about my communte home tonight, doesn't it? I've said it before and I'll say it again - mandatory testing everytime you renew your license! Sure it will be a pain - but just think about how clear the roads will be when people don't want to take the time or effort to renew it. I can see it now - more drivers who actually know how and have the reflexes to drive! Less accidents! Better public transportation. Oh - who am I kidding, it'll never happen.

Found another fun little cartoon strip. The Polymer City Chronicles will soon join my daily surfing regimine.

Another cool thing from /usr/bin/girl (you really should check it out) is DALiWorld. An effort to create the world's largest communial computer aquarium. Well, I think it is cool anyway.

Not much to say tonight - I'm pooped. It's been a long day. It was one of those days when you suddenly realized that a lot of stuff that had a "later" deadline comes due at the end of the week. oof. If this virus stuff wasn't enough...

Darts went alright tonight. Julie subbed for Jason and threw ok. I started out really bad, but ended up having a decent night. The team lost the night 8-5, but it is our first night, so there are plenty of chances to crawl back up in the standings.

Just a couple of quick links that I just have to put up before I forget about them completely. First link I found on /usr/bin/girl and it is for Tiny Windows Games. And they are tiny! One game's screen can fit in the system tray (that thing that your clock is in) of your desktop! The second link comes from Daypop's Top 40 and it is Get a Chinese Name. Mine was Shi Shuokuo. Sounds cool enough for me.

A day without a blog update is ... well it was yesterday. Let me tell you, I don't think I accomplished anything! Work was ... well I don't want to say it was horrendeous, but we got hit with this Nimda virus and could not get it off one machine. In fact - it's still there! oof. Anyway - speaking of the Internet and computers, The Register had three great articles yesterday - one about how some people think the Internet will be unusable by 2008, one where the US is trying to equate hackers with terrorists, and a third about a group telling web server people to drop Microsoft IIS (the target of many Internet attacks). The first two may be the most interesting.

Speaking of interesting - Ain't it Cool news has some pics of the upcoming live action Scooby-Doo film starring Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Sarah Michelle Geller up now. I think Scooby, Shaggy and Velma look great great - but Freddie and Daphne (played by FPjr & SMS) don't look so good. That's my opinion anyway.

Virus Alert: There's a bunch of viruses (viri?) out there right now so let me just say this: Never open attachements that end in .exe! .exe means that it is a program and that it will run on your computer. Have I made myself clear? Some common sense would help when dealing with email. You look both ways before crossing a street - think twice before opening attachments in your email. If you don't know what the attachment it or aren't sure - don't open it! You don't drink liquids that some stranger hands to you in an unmarked bottle - do you? OK so that was more of a vent than an alert - but its true.

Jason over at A Theme of Abscence pointed out this cool article about a founder of the Pink Pistols joining the Libertarian Party. I found interesting not for the Libertarian part of it, but the fact there was a group of gay gun-right activisits! Let the stereotypes fly out the window!

A lunchtime conversation promted me to dig out a couple of my old favorites from the "early years" of the Web. The TWINKIES project and Strawberry Pop Tart Blow Torches were two of the original "must see pages" that I can remember.

Feel the need to do something - to give money to help the Red Cross with the work they have to do? Here's a little box that gives you three places to donate money.. Each place is giving 100% of donated money to the Red Cross, so please give.

Hey! It's Banned Books Week. Go out and read To Kill a Mockingbird, The Outsiders, Brave New World, Where's Waldo, any of the Harry Potter books or one of the many other books that people have tried to ban, remove, or otherwise censor. Check out the American Library Association's page for more details.

Belated Birthday! Oh, before I forget (again)... Julie, I hope you had a very happy birthday yesterday! If not - I'm in deep trouble....

Note to self: Do not go anywhere near downtown during a Cornhusker football gameday. Actually I knew this, but I got an ugly reminder last night. Due to the WTC/Pentagon tragedy - college football games had to be rescheduled. The UNL - Rice game got rescheduled to Thursday night at 7:30. Now, if you aren't familar with the Big Red Sea phenomenon here in Lincoln, I'll try to explain. About 5 hours before game time, fans from all over the state start to flock into an area of about 1 square mile in size, maybe smaller, around the campus. The stadium itself becomes the state's third largest city during a football game. (I am not exaggerating! There really are that many people who come into the games) The sidewalks are filled with people of all ages wearing red and carrying flags, pom poms, and of course - Husker tickets. The streets are filled with cars and pickups trying to find cheap parking. Needless to say - there's a lot of people and some of them have probably been hitting the sauce already. Not pleasent to be in, unless you are part of the flow heading toward the stadium.

Normally games are on Saturday so no problem. Those of us who prefer not to partake in the madness simply stay away from campus for the day. Having the game on Thursday night - that made avoiding the crowds a bit harder to do. People are flocking into downtown just as people are trying to get out of downtown and go home. Can you say major traffic problems? I had planned on staying home that afternoon and then go to a friends house for a session of RPGing, but due to some weird circumstances, I was asked to go pick up two friends from campus for the nights festivities.

Now that I've set up the scenario - imagine me trying to get into downtown during all this, about an hour before game time and during rush hour. On a stretch of street that normally takes me 2 minutes to get through - counting stop lights - I spent 15 minutes trying to get through. But I got through it and so did the friends I picked up. We all had fun gaming and the 'Huskers won handily so I guess things are OK.

Yes, I know - no post yesterday. I just didn't have anything to say. And today - I thing I can say is that I had nothing to say yesterday .. Actually, there is more to say - I went out last night with the guys to throw darts. I am really out of practice! oof! I'm wondering if I'll be able to keep up when league starts next week... eh back to web surfing...

Ever want to know how something works? Well just go to Howstuffworks.com and find out. Things from laser eye surgery to car blinkers. There is one place that might come in useful that isn't there and that this Guide to Lock Picking. Not that I would ever condone anyone doing anything illegal with this knowledge! (lock picking link from /usr/bin/girl)

Let's say you just want to watch something funny - how's about a scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail as done with Lego figures? If that isn't freaky enough look at some of the wonder Escher artwork at The World of Escher (both from /usr/bin/girl)

Imagine that you had no memory. No memory of the culture you grew up in, how to tie your shoes, not even who you were? Here's an article about a man who had this happen to him and how the Internet helped to become a better man than he was before.

Julie was able to pick up her car last night. Needless to say she's very happy. I'm very happy also as this means no huge repair bills for a little while (I hope...)

There's a big nasty virus/worm going around with the name of Nimda. It seems to be attacking 4 ways from Sunday - it'll be a pain for web server administrators. For more informaiton I would suggest here [cnn.com], here [symantec.com], and here [Newsbytes.com].

I got an email from my friend Ana pointing out a couple of places to check on Myers-Briggs behavior types. I took the test at this site and it told me I was an ENFP. What that means is best described from this page and this page. Whee, I'm a "champion"! What does all this mean? It means I've got fodder for my bio page I guess...

It also means I have the same personality as Dr. Suess, Robin Williams, Captain Kangaroo, Geraldo Rivera and Wendy's founder Dave Thomas - according to this page.

In all the hubbub about what happened, its important to keep the facts in mind and not let rumors get out of hand. Here's a page from purportal.com about the facts of September 11.

A return to normalcy. That was the motto for most I ran across today. Don't let them see you bleed. Keep a stiff upper lip, etc. etc. People talking about when the football game is reschedule instead of if it should be canceled or not. The WWF plans to hold their event in Houston tonight as planned. Dart league starts in a few weeks. People laughing outside. News in the newspaper that had absolutely nothing to do with the attacks. A return to normalcy. But not quite the same as before.

So it looks like Americans are trying to make it a normal day - but somehow, underneath it all there's something going on. Even here in the middle of nowhere, no matter what the original subject of a conversation is - it seems to invariably either go back to or allude to yesterday's events. I'm hoping to hear from my friend Carol in Germany to see what the "European" opinion may be.

I saw a sign out on a lawn today that said "No Mercy No Quarter". That's a fine sentiment - but who do we strike back against? I'm of the opinion that this is not the work of any particular nation, but of some other type of organization. A cult of personality which it seems points back to Osama bin Laden. So do we strike back at Afghanistan or do we try to get retribution from an individual? Is that possible? What if bin Laden had supporters/members in many other countries? Do we strike against the countries? What if they are currently numbered with our allies? We are so used to attacking countries - but bin Laden doesn't control the country. On that note, I'm not even sure that the United Nations ever officially recognized the Taliban as the government of that nation (which is supposedly seperate from bin Laden's group, but I'm not sure one way or the other.)

Maybe I'm looking too deep. Maybe it is as simple as a country instead of an organization that has no boundaries. I'm no government analyst. Heck, I hardly pay attention to world struggles. But until someone proves me wrong - I'm sticking with my opinion.

Enough is enough... I spent the whole day listening to overly jingoistic citizens on the radio. Let me make my personal opinion perfectly clear: retaliation, retribution, revenge - sure, fine and good; retaliation with no sure target bad! I've yet to hear proof positive that this is Osama bin Laden's work. (I'm not supporting him - he's evil!) How do we know this is not some US militia group? It would be easier for a US citizen to sneak through airport security, especially if they had long term plans. If it turns out this is bin Laden's work - then by all means go get 'im but let's find out who it is so we don't get hit in the back by chasing the wrong foe. Remember Oklahoma City??

Now on the radio I'm hearing that some gas stations are charging up to $4.00 a gallon for gas. $4.00!!! Some are saying this is bull, some are saying it's true - I haven't left the apartment today so I don't know for sure. I think this is just some hysteria, like the report of a plane crash in Dayton or the Sears tower...

And now explosions in Afghanistan.. I'm actually going to have to watch the President's address tonight.

Things are all messed up, confused. I'm sitting here in Lincoln - not far from Omaha where President Bush set up shop for a short time today - wondering if the SAC air base will get hit. I grew up being told that Nebraska would be one of the targets in a nuclear strike because of it, but what about this terrorist attack? I grew up believing that if the US was attacked, I'd be nothing but radioactive dust afterwards so I really didn't think about the aftermath of any type of attack.

Julie and I where in NYC in May. We have this wonderful print of a pencil drawing of Manhattan done by the artist Krikko. The World Trade Center towers are very prominent in the piece and now they are gone, just like they got erased from that print. I can't imagine what the New Yorkers must be going through. Here are a couple of bloggs that have some personal opinions and observations from NY: Andy's Chest, Ultrasparky, Choire at East/West (look on the left side), and superhyperdemonchild.

OH MY ....! I just heard on the news that the World Trade Center was hit by two airplanes. The news is currently speculating that this was a terrorist attack. All the news pages are either swamped with traffic or not responding right now - so I can't link to any of them for more information. No one has claimed responsibility yet, but I imagine when it comes to light .... I don't want to think about it right now. Go turn on your tv or ....

News flash - NBC has a correspondant at the Pentagon and they felt a blast there.. It may not be related - it may even be construction noise. I gotta get back to the news. Turn on your tv now!

Virus Alert: There's a new one out there that can be particularly tricky. Here's the description from Symantec:

Subject of email: Randomly generated text that can be up to 60 characters long.
Name of attachment: One randomly named infected executable and several randomly selected text or document files.

In other words:

There is nothing "standard" about the email you will receive except it will contain an "executable" attachment.

How to avoid this virus (and a bunch of others as well):
1) Think before you click. As a rule you should always avoid attachments that end in:
.exe .com .bat .pif .scr .vbs
No discussion. No exceptions. You click an attachment that ends in one of those three letter - it runs. That's bad. These are things that are executables.

2) Does the message you received make sense? Ask yourself - is this something I should have received from this person? If it seems like a random message or a vague message - be very wary.

Let just start by saying "Arrrrgh!". ahh. Now I feel better. The past 3 weeks have had 3 people tell me really bad things going on in their lives, and always ended with "and no one knows but you." I appreciate being a guy they can trust, but part of me really wishes I could spew some of it on this webpage - just think of the increase in readership! And then think of the decrease in friends, my "good side" says. Oh well. If any of you are reading - stick with it! And don't worry, I won't say anything.

Speaking of "saying anything" you should look at In Passing. It is amazing what some people say and what you overhear.

Some people say that Microsoft is trying to rule the world. That may or may not be true - but it sure seems that AOL Time Warner is trying to buy the world. Read this article from Yahoo News. It seems that AT&T is their latest target. (from slashdot.org)

Now I get some grief from my friends that my strongest programming language was Lisp, and that went out in the 1980s. Well I now have found some ammo to fire back. NASA released a study looking at using Lisp as an alternative to Java. Read it here and then weep. (also from slashdot.org)

"Searching for Bobby Fischer" has nothing on this story from the BBC that claims that the reclusive chess mastermind has been playing anonymously on the web. (see: slashdot.org)

Weird science day must be today as there was an article on haptics from cnet.com and an article on e-paper from the BBC. (I read too much of slashdot.org)

Well Julie wasn't able to pick up her car today. The dealership called and said they notice some paint defects on the car and wanted to get those fixed before we took possession. That's cool and all, so we don't have to come in - but Julie was looking forward to driving her new car this weekend. Oh well.

Alex must trying to get "contributor of the month" or something as he's sent me another crazy website! Check out the Flat Earth FAQ for "proof" that the earth is flat and that gravity is lie. Oh and North Dakota and Idaho don't really exist as well according to this.

Thanks to my friend Alex, I now know of a site I can go to and find examples of crazy people.

I quote :

Oh, I did find something particularly funny on the Web. At Crank.net, you can have all sorts of access to sites that 'disprove' Einstein's Theory of Relativity, say that the Apollo Moon Landing was a hoax, that a cure for AIDS can be found by bio-engineering different flavors for the foods that we eat, etc. etc. And nearly all of them are SERIOUS! This site is really trippy! You have to have a link to it on your site! There's some really funny parody stuff on there, too. Just thought I'd let you know...

Thanks again Alex! Keep those cards and letter pouring in!

Well, Julie got her car - credit approval allowing. It's a neat one, a 2002 blue-green Chevy Prizm. It has cruise control which means my little Echo gets to stay at home on those long trips to see the parents (either pair.) To put this in perspective - the last repair bill and the latest estimate on what we should get fixed were $300 each. The trade in value of the car last night - $400. I think it was time to get a new one. This really means we are going to have to skrimp for a bit - but I'd rather have her driving a new car than getting heatstroke/frostbite and getting stranded someplace distant. Quote of the night - "I've had a bad day, I guess I'll go buy a car."

Ever get the feeling that the whole world is going down the drain? Well you may be right. This article from the Washington Post relates astronomers finding a black hole in the center of the Milky Way. Makes sense - ever look at a picture of the Milky Way? Reminds me a bit of water going down a drain.... Don't worry, I'm sure the sun will engulf the Earth well before it gets sucked into a black hole. (In other words it will be a long, long time!)

So tonight Julie and I are looking at cars. Hers is almost 11 years old, I'm guessing and we've gotten to that point. You know the one I'm talking about. The point where you've said to yourself "I'm not spending another penny on repairs on this car - I'm getting a new one!" This should be interesting. It also means that our house plans are probably put on hold for a while longer - but that's ok. We have a nice apartment now - so no big deal.

I'm not much of a programmer, but if I was - I would have loved to been in this class. One of their projects was to create some objects for the Sims, and they have shared the best of them here. Another thing I would probably have loved was reading an article about Software Aesthetics. (Article by Charles Connell; link from slashdot.org)

Virus Alert: It's official, no one is safe from the SirCam virus. Just joking! But I recently got my first copy sent to my home email and I thought I'd share the wealth. This virus sends a message that looks like this:

Hi! How are you?

I send you this file in order to have your advice

See you later. Thanks

{or something very similar to it}
And has an attachment that has a double-extension* then delete the message. You will be OK as long as you do not try to view, launch or detach the attachment. Just reading the email will not infect your machine.

*An extension is the (usually) three letter code after the dot in a file name. Examples: .exe, .htm, .doc

A double-extension is when two of these are placed together. This is usually a warning sign that the file might be carrying a virus. Examples: .doc.exe, .htm.pif

For more information, may I suggest McAfee.com's page about this virus.

Arrgh! Ever have one of those days that no matter what you've done - it really feels like it was a bad decision? This actually goes back to Friday. Never believe anyone when they say that they'll get something done late Friday afternoon before Labor Day! That left me and my boss (mainly my boss) to run around trying to find an alternative method of giving a class computer access. She comes up with an idea that involves all the department "reserving" a machine in the computer lab. Not the best overall - but the best under those circumstances. Then guess what happens. The person we are holding the machines for no-shows. The whole department lost a good chunk of the morning holding these machines and now I can't get a hold of this person to find out what happened. Names withheld to protect the accused

Anyway - that leaves me doing a lot of catching up to do. That also means I have to cancel seeing my friend Carol before she flies back to Germany. I haven't seen her in about 2 years and now this rare chance is blown. Consider this a very public apology, Carol. I'm sorry.

LP News Online: September 2001: The education of Val Venis The wrestling libertarian philosopher. My friend Jason sent this too me and I just have to share. Thanks Jason!

Went to yet another Saltdogs game today and for once, the home team won! I guess the curse is over! However the pain is just starting. Most of my skin on the tops of my hands is this lovely shade of red. Why didn't I put sunscreen on the tops of my hands? Typing will be fun tomorrow...

I'm begining to realize just how old I am. I was playing with the 10 year daughter of my wife's sister's husband's brother today after the ballgame. I have no idea what the name of that relationship is, .. second-niece perhaps? Anyway - the reality of my age came to me as I was pushed out of a low hanging branch onto some rather oddly shaped ground. Nothing broke but my pride and the delusion that I can pretend to be a monkey. Maybe I should stick to playing the big silverback gorilla or something.

Kind of amazing how one little link can make a lot of difference. Right after I made Emerald Fusion public on Blogger's list - I got about 5 different visitors in the next 30 seconds. I guess there's a lot of people looking for the newest thang...

Anyway don't be suprised to see things come and go if you happen to be looking on this page today. Later.

Well here it is, September 1st and it's the official opening day of this site. Kind of anti-climactic as I've been posting for a while - "testing" things. There's still a bunch to do yet, so look for updates later today. Still a bunch of things to clean up as well. Well, like I said before, there will be more later - but I'm tired now and have to get some sleep. Ciao!