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December 30, 2005

Year-End Sequence of Events

Christmas shopping, check
Christmas Eve, check
Christmas Day, check
A new camera, check
Friends in town from out-of-town, checkcheck
A new book from Berlin, check
A nasty cold, check
Another nephew born, check

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Caught

A butt in the bird feeder.

:-)

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December 24, 2005

Today's Tune

A quickie before I'm off like a dirty shirt...

... all I'm here to do is just wiggle your behind

hehehe... name that tune!

On a separate note: for those celebrating the holidays, have a happy!

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December 22, 2005

Wired for sound

... you make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day...

hehehe... name that tune.

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December 21, 2005

Creative Commuting

One intrepid soul approached a desk attendant at the Claremont Riding Academy, on NYC's Upper West Side, to inquire if he might rent a horse. "Nobody's going to work by horse today," the attendant said. "There's nowhere to put a horse once you get to work."

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December 20, 2005

Happy Holidays from your local transit workers

Updated Thursday
New York transit workers on Thursday called off a three-day subway and bus strike that caused havoc in America's most populous city at the height of the holiday season and which may have cost the economy $1 billion. Workers would soon be opening 26 subway routes and many local and express bus routes but it would take 10 to 18 hours to resume full operations.

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New York transit workers walked off the job for the first time in 25 years, stranding millions of people who rely on the bus and subway system each day. The strike shut down the entire subway and bus system, which carries 7 million daily passengers. The walkout violates a state law prohibiting strikes by public employees, and union members could face heavy fines. At the height of the holiday season when shoppers and tourists tend to fill the city, the strike could cost the city as much as $400 million a day, officials have warned.

The union and management have been battling over wage hikes, health-care and pension costs and employees' retirement age. The union disputed the MTA's contention that cutbacks in benefits are necessary, noting the agency has a $1 billion surplus.

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December 19, 2005

Yuk x 3

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December 13, 2005

Beam Me Up, Scotty!

Congratulations! Blog in Space.com has crowned your blog with the title of "Most Likely To Be Contacted" for its outstanding ability to potentially provoke alien responses back to Planet Earth. This means your blog will be featured on the homepage of BloginSpace.com on December 19, 2005 complete with a screenshot and a link to your site. You are no longer considered part of the World Wide Web. You are now officially part of the Intergalatic Wide Web. Welcome.

Yup, that's me. Provoking alien responses on a regular basis. :-)

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December 10, 2005

Deleting WMP from a Mac

Months ago I downloaded Windows Media Player for the Mac in order to view a file that could only be opened with WMP. From the get-go something was wrong with the player and I attempted to delete it from my system. Thing is, it wouldn't delete. No matter what I tried it wouldn't go away. Anyone out there know how to delete this #$%&! software from a Mac?

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December 9, 2005

Be More Chill and Hire Ned Vizzini!

Back in September I wrote about Ned Vizzini, author extraordinnaire of the book Be More Chill, aka the story of a 'squip.' From his bio -- Ned is the author of Be More Chill (Hyperion / Miramax Books), chosen by Judy Blume as a Today Show Book Club selection, and Teen Angst? Naaah... (Free Spirit Publishing / Random House), a widely used collection of high school essays. Ned's work has received awards from New York is Book Country, BookSense, and the New York Public Library. Ned's new book, It's Kind of a Funny Story, is slated for publication in spring 2006.

Ned informed me he's looking for gainful employment, regardless of his writing pursuits. He writes:

I am looking to do project management for a web production company, having produced a ton of websites over the past year. BUT, with my writing background, I am also up for teaching, tutoring, proofreading, anything of that nature! Whatever you've got! New website at NedVizzini.com.

So... if you're looking for a project manager OR a very talented writer/published author, get in touch with Ned via his web site. This concludes today's pluggage. 'tis the season for giving. :-)

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Bambino News

Friends David and Amy welcomed their newest addition, a baby girl, on Monday. On Wednesday, Tom of Simon Pegg's Stalker and his wife welcomed a baby boy. Meanwhile, my brother and his wife are expecting their first child any day now. Anyone else?

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December 3, 2005

U.S. to receive Unsatisfactory Security Report Card

CNN: Members of the former September 11 commission said the government should receive a dismal grade for its lack of urgency in enacting strong security measures to prevent terror attacks.
- Police, firefighters, medics and other first responders still lack interconnected radio systems letting them communicate with each other during emergencies. Responders from different agencies at the World Trade Center were unable to coordinate rescues -- or receive information that could have saved their own lives -- on 9/11.
- Both the Bush administration and Congress have continued to distribute security funding to states without aiming most money at high-risk communities. The Homeland Security Department gave $2.5 billion in grants to states and 50 high-risk cities last year, but some rural states, like Wyoming, received more money per resident than terror targets like New York.

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Small Scissors and Tools Okay on Planes

From the stupid decision department:
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced changes in screening procedures at the nation's commercial airports, allowing passengers to take small scissors on planes but increasing random passenger checks. Under the new procedures, which are designed to give screeners more time to focus on detecting explosives, scissors less than 4 inches long and tools less than 7 inches long will be allowed on aircraft.

CNN: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, said allowing sharp-pointed scissors and similar objects on planes "could undermine the progress we have made in securing our skies since the 9/11 attacks." "The change in policy would do little to alleviate screening delays, since screeners would need to stop the conveyor belt to check whether the scissors in question fell within the new limits," she said in a letter to Hawley, urging him to drop the idea. Noting that the September 11 hijackers used box cutters to commandeer aircraft, Rep. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, said the TSA "should not make it easier for future Mohamed Attas to arm themselves with razor-sharp objects and bring down a passenger plane." "Flight attendants and passengers should not be put in a situation where ... a sharp scissors can be taken apart and used as a weapon at the throat of flight attendants and passengers," Markey said.

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Bag Searching Ruled a Constitutional Right

A federal judge ruled that police had a constitutional right to randomly search passengers' bags on the New York City subway to deter terrorist attacks. U.S. District Judge Richard Berman ruled the searches were an effective and appropriate means to fight terrorism, and constituted only a "minimal intrusion" of privacy.

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Registration for .eu begins 12/7

Wired: Registration for ".eu" names begins on Dec. 7 at 10 a.m. GMT. For the first two months, only certain rights holders such as registered trademark owners, public bodies and companies can register. On Feb. 2, ".eu" opens up to family names. General registration begins April 7 on a first-come, first-served basis. The restricted periods were needed "to reduce considerably the risk of cyber-squatting" — the illicit use of domain names for fraudulent use. Such periods, known as sunrise, are typical these days as new domains get introduced.

The ".eu" domain name will be run by EURid, a private European nonprofit group. About 750 licensed resellers will accept registrations on EURid's behalf. Registrations are limited to people who live in the EU and to companies with headquarters or branches inside the 25-nation bloc. Prices are expected to range from euro80 to euro140 ($94 to $164) during the sunrise periods. They should drop to euro25 to euro30 ($29 to $35) once regular registration begins.

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Denial not just a river in Egypt

Actor Brad Pitt has filed legal papers in Los Angeles to adopt the children of actress Angelina Jolie, news media reported on Friday, adding that this might be a step leading to the couple's marrying. Pitt and Jolie met on the set of their film "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" last year and denied being anything more than friends.

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