Why I Don't Watch Buffy
Those of you that know me know that I had a lot to do in a off-to-the-side capacity for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sanctioned, but just barely, by Joss and employed by a different company, I had a role. A tiny, insignficant role. Perhaps larger to some fans, but overall tiny and now insignificant. Now I can't stand the show. Anyhow, a co-worker today on why she doesn't watch Buffy and never has "You don't have to do drugs to know they're bad."

Weight Loss
    Well, we started on "The Skinny Pill" diet again. Basically, there are two versions of this diet... the first version involves an actual "skinny pill" along with dietary changes, and the second, the method we're currently prescribing to is just the dietary changes.
    So, now we have a pre-breakfast snack, breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, pre-dinner snack, dinner and bedtime snack.
    It feeds you lots of small meals. Before noon, those meals block fat. In the afternoon, those meals burn fat. We will slack a little on the weekends. We're allowed to have all the coffee, diet drinks and water we want.
    For today, it was: Pre-breakfast snack: 1 pear; Breakfast: Half a toasted bagel with honey; mid-morning snack: 2 snackwells cookies; Lunch: Half a bagel and salad; afternoon snack: 2 slices of cheddar cheese. (Cheat: small amount of sugar in my coffee... very small.)
    For the record, I weigh 188 pounds. I hope to lose at least 15 pounds.

And now, the news...

Cell Phones: You're Next!
Microsoft and Intel are preparing to do what they've done for computers... steal all the profit away from the manufacturers and keep it all to themselves by offering chips and software.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/710916.asp

Fake Cats...
(From Lori) Yep, they've cloned a cat. But is clone the right word? It doesn't seem to be the same as the existing cat, it just happens to share the original cat's DNA.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020215/sc_nm/science_clone_dc_10

Are you addicted?
(From Fred/Kevin) He wonders if I'm addicted to the internet, but even more importantly, he marvels at the existence of a "Center for Online Addiction"
http://editorial.careers.msn.com/articles/internet/
http://www.netaddiction.com/resources/iaindex.htm

Buzz Aldrin - To Mars and Beyond!
Buzz Aldrin has a great vision... of gravity-powered ships looping between Mars and the Earth, much in the way that the moon loops around the earth without any power needed to move it. And space taxis... and vacations in outer space... fun stuff.
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/16391.html

Ultrawideband - beyond broadband
I don't know a lot about this new technology, but it's making a lot of headlines on the tech sites. It's a new wireless transmission type that uses quick bursts so short that they can go in the same "space" as other wireless technologies, without interrupting them. It'll probably be years before we see products that use this technology, but we'll eventually hear more and more about it.
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/16374.html

Sprint PCS sucks in San Francisco
http://www.epinions.com/content_56179789444

I'm going to turn your phone off now. Have a nice day.
My friend said that OnStar's ability to unlock your car doors is bad news. He said that it wouldn't be too difficult to hack into it and unlock people's car doors by "faking" the satellite or cellular signal while standing near the car and convince the car to open up for you. And I believe him. He started and runs his own computer security firm where he gets paid to break into people's computers. (Don't worry, it's legit, he only breaks into the computers owned by the company paying him, not the clients' competitors' computers.) Well, today I read about a new technology that would allow you to remotely shut down a stolen cell phone, PDA, pager or laptop. Or worse yet, delete the contents of its memory or hard drive. Great idea, but it seems like it'd be put to evil uses way too quickly. Someone who works for a cell company gets fired and burns out everyone's cell phones on their way out the door.
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/16357.html

Like basketball? No? You're paying for it anyhow.
These sports deals are so expensive that they're moving to cable where the cable channels can demand a fee from the cable or satellite operator, for each person that subscribes. (Yep, $2 of your cable bill already goes for ESPN, even if you never watch it.)
http://www.tvinsite.com/broadcastingcable/index.asp?layout=story_stocks&articleid=CA189001

Mmmm.... pocket sandwiches
Sandwiches that last for years, self-heating jackets and other cool stuff, thanks to the Army.
http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,37513,FF.html