DirecTV and Dish Networks won't merge afterall.
http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/1554641

This is a really interesting article on AOL's future direction and how they're looking to get there.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_50/b3812080.htm

On the other hand, here's another article about AOL's dubious triangle deals. Hey, isn't their logo a triangle?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43537-2002Nov26.html

And lastly... The Moon: Our Newest Landfill
http://www.msnbc.com/news/840607.asp

EU to ban smoking ads...yay
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/03/international/europe/03EURO.html

Sprint PCS lays off 1,600
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-965855.html

I haven't contributed in a long time. I don't have internet access at home at the moment. Well, I have a dialup account from Pacific Bell, but I could get more reliable connections to the internet by standing outside and thinking about the internet.

Here are some recent headlines that have interested me...

Smart Carts from Safeway - Shopping carts that know what you've ordered in the past and where you are in the store and little displays that try to convince you to buy stuff...
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-963526.html

Excerpts from Curt Cobain's Journals - Born in Seattle and having lived most of my life near there, I was sort of a fringe Nirvana fan. I found this to be pretty interesting...
http://www.msnbc.com/news/823463.asp?0cl=cR

NASCAR? MEET POLICECAR - This is the police! Please pull to your car to the curb. And please watch Still Standing, Mondays at 9:30 on CBS. Ok, throw the keys out the window! You deserve a break today from McDonalds. But not us!
http://www.mediapost.com/eNewsletters.cfm?s=187084&Nid=2788

AOL: Drop the name, keep the company - I've been saying this for months...
http://www.forbes.com/home/2002/10/29/cx_ml_1029aol.html

DOJ sues to block DirecTV-Dish merger - Woo hoo! Finally a DOJ issue I can get behind.
http://www.tvinsite.com/broadcastingcable/index.asp?layout=story&doc_id=106501&display=breakingNews

ADA doesn't apply to websites - I kind of think this is a bummer. Someone sued Southwest because the person (who was blind) couldn't make their way around the website. Websites are the easiest thing to fix (versus buildings or printed materials) and I'm pretty bummed that the ruling came down this way. Don't get me wrong, I've been buying tickets on their website since 1996. Their website is pretty ugly to begin with and it doesn't seem like it would be hard to make it more accessible.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-962761.html

A Merger Taken A-O-Ill... AOL sucks AOL sucks AOL sucks...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A53579-2002Oct19

AOL to restate earnings - not sure this is even still news...
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/825051.asp

Temporarily, images may not work. I'm moving to a new internet service provider.

I'm pretty thrilled with the FCC. While they still haven't shut down Sprint PCs, they've done some pretty cool stuff lately...

First, they're denying the merger(ha!) between Dish Networks (boo) and DirecTV (yay). Dunno what this does to my GM stock (GM owns DirecTV), but I like my DirecTV and don't want the stinky smelly Dish Network people messing it up.
http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/1480021

And, they've paved the way for digital (non-satellite) radio approved. Sounds cool. (Or dangerous if you're staring at your radio when you should be driving.)
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/19657.html

Hey, guess what? Sprint sucks. But you knew that... here's some new places people are learning it sucks... Sprint PCS sucks in Miami, and Sprint PCS sucks in Seattle, at Sprint PCS even sucks in St. Paul, not to mention Sprint PCS's suckage in New Jersey, and lastly, the suckage that is Sprint PCS is being felt in Cleveland

Sprint PCS's folly
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/19422.html

Sprint PCS sucks
http://www.epinions.com/content_75850944132/s_~na

The AOL Albatross
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/19625.html

Sprint PCS : Worst Cell Phone Company
http://www.msnbc.com/news/816517.asp?0bl=-0

I worry about Battle Creek
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1135552

My newest "I want"
http://www.msnbc.com/news/816035.asp

Teaching a computer musical theory and how to accompany
http://fafner.math.umass.edu/~raphael/music_plus_one/mpo.html

Is "Friends" really on its last season?
http://www.msnbc.com/news/813242.asp

Are magazines a dying breed?
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/24/business/media/24ADCO.html

Sprint PCS sucks in San Francisco
http://www.epinions.com/content_76524326532/s_~na

Don't install the iWon prize machine! It adds a file called "AORNUM" to your startup. (BTW: AORNUM is means "Gates of Hades" in some other language.)

Also, this is fun... Soda or pop?
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~almccon/pop_soda/

This is ABCNN. Or not. Apparently Disney and AOL/TW have been in talks to spin-off and merge their news organizations? Weird. But not all that weird. I have a book I wrote in elementary school about a trip to the moon. On the moon I watched NBCBS News. So go figure.
http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-fi-abc24sep24.story

Spin control to Major Tom... Sprint PCS says it lost customers. On purpose.
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-958967.html

Sprint PCS sucks
http://www.epinions.com/content_76403543684/s_~na
and sucks some more
http://www.epinions.com/content_76365860484/s_~na

Yay, California... bans mobile spam
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-958789.html

I don't have a link for this, but apparently FX is mulling a show tentatively titled "American Candidate" where aspiring politicians would compete, ala "American Idol" to become the "People's Candidate" for President. Scary, or what?

Case is safe... for now...
http://www.forbes.com/home/2002/09/19/0919case.html

Stupid blogspot lost my template, so all of my pages will look funny. Funny, as in stylish, but not what I designed. I'll fix shortly. *sigh*

Sprint PCS's folly
The mistakes Sprint PCS is still making. (Also talks about other companies, but mostly Sprint PCS.)
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/19422.html

Sprint PCS sucks
In Denver: http://www.epinions.com/content_75850944132/s_~na

No more Case! No more Case!
Could a name change follow an outster of Steve Case?
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-958351.html

WIRED thinks it's time to spin off AOL. I'm pretty sure that won't happen. Too many huge egos would be bruised. (Though I'd be happy to be wrong.)
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.10/aol.html

Fire Steve Case! Fire Steve Case!
Seriously, though... I don't like Steve Case. I think that AOL is overpriced, dumbed-down internet connectivity designed to keep people stupid. On the other hand, we bought Lori's mom a subscription and have been paying for it for over a year now because in Sacramento, they were the only ones who made it really easy and/or had local phone numbers for connectivity. So, by sheer size, they became the most convenient. And we always figured that when it came time to cancel AOL, we'd tell them to cancel the account and then cancel the credit card because everyone knows AOL doesn't cancel accounts.

But, now the shareholders are asking the board to dump Steve Case. It probably won't happen. Me? I voted against the AOL Time Warner merger. But lots of really stupid rich people (like Ted Turner) got greedy and voted yes. Their vote yes is what sank their stocks. Indirectly, the illegal or semi-illegal dealings within AOL didn't help matters, but it would be their problem and not collectively ours if those bozos hadn't voted yes. So, to quote Saturday Night Live, suck on it! I suppose "it" is open to interpretation, but for those of you offended, let me suggest that perhaps "it" is the bitter pill they're having trouble swallowing.
http://money.excite.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?news_id=reu-n17199342-u2

Woo hoo! Institutional shareholders are starting to challenge Case and ask for his removal...
http://www.msnbc.com/news/809070.asp

Hello... I've been on vacation. And I just haven't seen anything lately that's all exciting. I don't know if it's because I'm drifting further away from studio life, or if this downturn in the economy has produced less exciting stuff.

Anyhow, I do have one... I love this... basically, a bunch of financial institutions called meetings with companies that make IM software and said "Make these work together." Maybe they'll have the clout to make it actually happen. Would be nice....
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-957787.html

From Lori.... Journalists smuggle weapons aboard 14 flights and United Airlines whines because they're "breaking the law." Umm... yeah, I still hate United.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020904/ap_wo_en_po/us_airlines_smuggling_1

Using an old satellite to save the rainforests and make money... (note that MSNBC.com was broken at the time I posted this, but it's a good article, so if they're still broken, check back later... cursed 500 error!)
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_email.asp?/news/798898.asp

GM: Give us back our cars. We want to crush them! Bye, bye, electric cars.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/09/04/woe_to_ev1/index.html

N*STINK: No Space for You! Sorry, Bassman.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/802655.asp

An interesting story from Lori... basically, why some people made it out of the WTC and why some didn't... and the factors that made the difference.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/usatoday/20020903/ts_usatoday/4412365

And the newest trend? Ok, no article, because I made it up... but imagine this kind of level of customization and vanity... custom alarm tones for your car. C'mon Onstar, hook us up.

Wow... half a month... how sad. But, the good thing? I've been incredibly busy. Home life is wonderful, work has been full. A independent contractor, I had been getting about 20 hours a week. Last week I was able to put in over 40 billable hours. Exciting. It's almost like having a real job again. And there's lots more still to be done.

Anyhow, I thought this was very cool, and wish I were really rich. Because I'm incredibly impressionable and now I want to do this... The Landmark Trust - they buy landmarks, fix them up, and then rent them out. People go and stay in them and the rent keeps the landmarks preserved.

I know I haven't had anything new in awhile. But there's been nothing that I thought any of you would find interesting. Trust me, you probably think most of my posts are boring. So if this stuff bored me, be glad I didn't pass it on...

The media titans still don't get it...
This is a great article. If only media titans would read it. But then, they might not understand it, either. They might think it mean, or too long and ask someone who understands even less to summarize it for them. But take the time to read it. It's good stuff.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/08/13/media_titans/index.html

This is your brain on drugs. Don't do drugs, or you might offer something stupid in an eBay auction like this guy has. Check this out.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewItem&item=1755695895

I missed it because I got confused by all the abbreviations, but the DOJ has joined the SEC in taking a look at AOL's books.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/788017.asp

Also, briefly, AT&T and AOL Time Warner asked Banc of America to _not_ tell them how much Time Warner Entertainment is worth. But, AOL has secured an additional 10 billion (million? not sure) in financing, some see it as possibly what they'll use to buy the AT&T portion of TWE.

Identity Theft - One guy's investigation into his own identity theft leads him down a path so easy to follow that he could quickly steal other stolen identities if he wanted.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/785533.asp

Umm... us guys hate popups, too - iVillage pledges to stop serving popups on its sites
http://www.mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_news.cfm?newsId=163405

Sprint PCS sucks
Pittsburgh: http://www.epinions.com/content_71509839492
San Jose: http://www.epinions.com/content_71159811716
Orlando: http://www.epinions.com/content_71553224324
Los Angeles: http://www.epinions.com/content_71964987012
Charlotte: http://www.epinions.com/content_72105758340
New York: http://www.epinions.com/content_67697086084
Cleveland: http://www.epinions.com/content_72015842948

Heroes of flight 93 - Using stories and recordings, a bigger picture is painted of just how many heroes were aboard this plane. Neat story.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/787018.asp?0st=N61

Robots in Combat - Using robots in Afghanistan to save lives. Well, American lives, that is.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/787608.asp

When Dreamcasts Attack - I couldn't come up with a better headline. Basically, if you can gain physical access to a corporation for even just a few minutes, one of these hacked game systems will be your ticket back in over their network for as long as it can remain hidden. Pretty slick.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/26478.html

scary - I forgot about this... the pilot from the short-lived FOX series "The Lone Gunmen" in which terrorists were trying to fly a plane into the World Trade Center. (Real Media Clip)
http://www.thelawparty.com/RealPlayer/Moviesthatreflectreality/LoneGunmanClip.ram

Popups during TV shows - even more evil, these don't have a close button. TNT's been experimenting with ads during shows. Text-based ads relevant to the movie they're playing. (For instance, an ad for American Express that says "Having a baby? We can help." and lists a phone number during "Father of the Bride II")
http://www.mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_news.cfm?newsId=177018

AOL-PurchasePro deal in question - Sell our software, we'll give you warrants to buy our stock really cheaply.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/789039.asp

Why buying the S&P 500 might be a bad idea - With all the changes that the S&P's been making, it might not be indicative of the overall market.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/788612.asp

Tyco's CFO stepped down. Does this mean bankruptcy's around the corner? No link, just wondering.

MSNBC dropping message boards in favor of blogs. Does this mean competition for my two readers? Or is just one now?
http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2002/0803nj_colgan.htm

This link is two funny stories! (1) Trafficant might not be allowed to wear his toupee in prison, though he's still not admitting he's wearing one. (2) A supreme court justice is complaining about a cartoon in a national magazine. The artist? His son.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/style/columns/reliablesource/A34556-2002Aug2.html

Don't go to Burger King... they're recording people for their commercials.
http://money.excite.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?news_id=reu-n31163790

Crop circles - Lori don't read this!
About the Movie "Signs" and people who make crop circles: http://www.msnbc.com/news/787696.asp
A collection of crop circle photographs: http://home.clara.net/lucypringle/photos/2002/Jun.html

Hire me! - So the government was expecting 75,000 new jobs to be created last month. Only 6,000 actually were. That can't be good.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/789169.asp

ExpiredDomainNames.com - A look at what people once thought they might be able to make money off of... (like BuyClamsOnline.com)
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/08/03/deleteddomains/index.html

Putting the fun back into hacking - A hacking competition. The new way to keep hackers off the streets? Or something like that.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-948404.html

Ha ha ha! Spiderman wins. - A while back I reported that the building owners in Times Square were suing because Sony had altered the buildings for the movie. They had removed certain advertisers' banners and put up some of their own. I thought this was incredibly lame of the building owners. We're talking about a movie in which a guy swings around on web that shoots out of his wrists. And grows microscopic fibers on his hands on feet that let him climb walls, even though he's wearing gloves and shoes. Anyhow, a judge threw the case out, said it was free speech. Finally, a judge with some intelligence.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-948441.html

This is one I'm kind of interested in... See, AOL Time Warner owns some cable companies. It also owns most of a company called Time Warner Entertainment. That company is also partially owned by AT&T, who owns a lot of cable companies. Well TWE owns more cable companies, along with Warner Bros. and HBO. But A&T is merging its cable companies with Comcast's cable companies to create a new cable company, AT&T Comcast. But the government says that AT&T has to get rid of its stake in TWE. But the price it's offering AOL Time Warner wants is less than AOL Time Warner thinks it's worth. AOL Time Warner has no urgency, it's in AT&T's court. But, there are other cable companies that AOL Time Warner only owns part of. The people that own the other part of those cable systems are upset with AOL Time Warner's stock price. What's worse, if AT&T can't get a price they're happy with for their share in TWE, they're threatening to take the shares public and let anyone buy them. AOL Time Warner really doesn't want that. So, it's thinking about taking Warner Bros. and HBO and moving them to AOL Time Warner and taking the non-TWE cable systems and moving them to TWE. Then they want to make TWE its own company (made up entirely of cable companies) and that would make everyone happy. But the hard part is understanding how much all that's worth for all the people who own little private pieces of it. Confused? It's like a bad soap opera.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/783813.asp

"Feature by Sony" rejected by CBS Marketwatch after being rejected by NYTimes.com recently...
http://www.mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_news.cfm?newsId=162769

AOL backing away from IM interoperability pledges
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-945909.html

Don't dump AOL yet.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_30/b3793062.htm

Yeah, AOL made a profit. But, in order to keep my stock options from ever being worth anything, they quickly added that they're being investigated by the SEC.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-946145.html

WorldCom Executives will probably be arrested.
http://www.crn.com/sections/BreakingNews/breakingnews.asp?ArticleID=36549

Broadband by plane... this is interesting, using a circling plane to provide internet connectivity...
http://www.electricnews.net/news.html?code=8261275

Also interesting... a device that will help you remember people's names by recording snippets of your conversations with them...
http://www.msnbc.com/news/784071.asp

Stop letting baseball be a monopoly!
http://www.msnbc.com/news/782826.asp

Sprint PCS sucks in Houston
http://www.epinions.com/content_70300438148

Woo hoo! AOL lawsuits. Go get 'em. And get me some money!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32454-2002Jul19.html

Who would want to run AOL? I'll do it. Of course, they wouldn't like my style. First thing I'd do is make nice with Microsoft. Then Apple. And THEN I'd go back and start kissing some Time Warner cable butts. Then I would start calling it America Online again and try to get as many people to connect to it as possible, even through their own dialups elsewhere. Kind of do sort of a cable TV model like Real's done. No one's accusing Real of a monopoly despite having content only available there. And I'd get rid of the horid "Welcome" and "AOL Today" screens.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-945203.html

Now this is cool... I've posted links about this before, but they're getting closer and closer to TV's and computer monitors printed on pieces of plastic only millionths of an inch thick. They say 2004-2005ish...
http://msnbc.com/news/782800.asp

And maybe you want a camera to go along with that? Check out Sony's new digital camera... smaller than a credit card.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-945074.html

What's the future hold for Yahoo! And how's it doing? An interesting piece from someone at the Washington Posts who asks questions like these.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21833-2002Jul17.html

Yellow no more.. ABC goes blue... and red... and green... kinda peacock like? Maybe. Expect lots of circles.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/TV/07/17/television.abc.reut/index.html

This morning... Apparently AOL's been using questionable methods to keep its stock up. And Pittman's in the middle of it. I'm not surprised (though bummed considering all the underwater options I own)... basically recording all kinds of stuff as ad sales that really shouldn't have been.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21983-2002Jul17.html

This afternoon... and Pittman resigns.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/782119.asp

Lame! Yahoo! Turns out they're doing a really crappy job of filtering out scripts from people's emails. They mean well, they want to prevent someone from emailing you a virus. But they do a dumb job, changing entire words in the process. I had a lot safer and more elegant solution four years ago when I was trying to ban certain words (and/or still let myself post them) on a bulletin board I was running.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-944315.html

Wooly bully... A giant tusk found in Colorado. Neat. Good picture. (Know what is also fun? The Dinosaur Digs expansion pack for Zoo Tycoon. Lets you add Wooly Mammoths and other prehistoric creatures to your zoos. (Though I'm still a little annoyed that one of the prehistoric cats jumped out of its cage and ate one of my maintenance workers recently.)
http://www.msnbc.com/news/781306.asp
http://www.zootycoon.com/

This is a great article on why the bill the Senate passed (which will ultimately be combined with a similar bill passed by the house and eventually signed by the president into law) is worthless: Stock options. Stock options cost the company something, but they don't have to report anything. Coke is the only company that's stepped up to fence and said they will start reporting stock options. That should make them more stable and make their numbers more realistic than anyone else's. Which is why I'm considering buying some Coke stock.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/781188.asp

We still can't get Sledgehammer on TV, but now they're coming up with shows for cats? Yes, that's right... Meow TV... http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=35473

The Horror! Sprint PCS sucks in Detroit... http://www.epinions.com/content_69724769924

Lower Manhattan Development Corporation... this is pretty cool... six presented plans on how to redo the WTC site... http://www.renewnyc.com/index.shtml

NY Times reports Intel, Verizon, AT&T, IBM and Cingular contemplating a joint venture to create wireless hotspots... http://news.com.com/2100-1040-944125.html

The Missing Piece... Pentagon with damage section excised: http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/35/672/10x7/011214wtc_cleanup_01.jpg

The WTC Cross: http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/35/672/10x7/011031wtc_cleanup_02.jpg

AOL Watch: Robert Pittman might not return to New York when his tour of duty in Dulles is complete.

Interesting: Hobo Signs, Warchalking, Pubchalking, Chalkchalking

The Suck of Sprint: Sprint (not PCS) drops 1,100 employees, turns off DSL in some cities

Sorry, it's been a long time since I've posted. I'm sure you're really sad. All two of you. Or none since one of you is in Kazakhstan and the other one never reads my blog.

This is an interesting article on the Chineses' space ambitions (http://www.msnbc.com/news/723642.asp). I thought it was an interesting examination of China's potential motives. Hey, I wish them well. Space travel is pretty cool.

The stupid Feds probably will keep rates low (http://www.msnbc.com/news/777691.asp) into 2003. Thanks for nothing. Jerks.

Kylie Minogue's the latest one to make a music video/commercial for Bally's. (http://www.mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_news.cfm?newsId=137540)

Uh... ok... these are semi-funny. But the author shouldn't be described as a "Fireworks pro."
http://www.valleyofthegeeks.com/Features/BannerAds.html and http://www.valleyofthegeeks.com/Features/BannerAds2.html

I'm no Fireworks pro and I think mine are better: http://www.lakeave.org/tools/test/james/ads.html

I'm so glad I cancelled my NextCard last year... NextBank was found to be insolvent and the Feds tried to sell the NextCard accounts the bank held but no one wanted to buy the accounts. Probably too many people ran too much money up on their cards and are gonna file bankruptcy. So, people still have to pay their balances, but their cards stopped working today. (http://news.com.com/2100-1017-942675.html)


The stupidest thing I've heard in a long time... House OKs guns in cockpits (http://www.msnbc.com/news/778680.asp) Isn't the cockpit one of the most dangerous places to have a gun? I mean, in general, a pressurized plane isn't the best environment for one, but with all those windows, it seems like an even worse place. I can see it now... a group takes over a plane by making its air supply system pump in a gas that disables everyone. Then they gain access to the cockpit and have guns conveniently waiting for them to keep the passengers in line when they wake up. We have way too many guns in this country and airplanes is not another great place to have them. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Speaking of...

Sprint PCS sucks in Detroit

sprint PCS sucks in Denver

Here's how your perfectly safe email address gets into the hands of the spammers, even if you're very careful about who you give it to... Clueless spammers has created a map... it's insane and huge. (And is 800k so it will take awhile to download...)

Someone with too much time on their hands... Guy photographs everything in his house...

One of the web's originals, the Worldwide Birthday Web was shut down because it was generating too much spam for those who were listed. Well, they're back now. Click here.

Sprint PCS sucks in New York

Sprint PCS sucks in Washington, DC

In New York, Sprint PCS sucks

Ah, justice... Prison escapee eaten by crocodile (from Lori)

Circuit City phases out VHS tape sales to make more room for DVD's

Sprint PCS sucks in Atlanta

Sprint PCS sucks in Cincinnati

The people at NPR are buttheads. The people at KPMG are buttheads. The people at the Runner's World are buttheads. The people at Ticketmaster are buttheads. The people at the Dallas Morning News are buttheads.

Why are they all buttheads? They don't understand how the internet works and are trying to use the law to prevent people from linking to their site or specific pages on their site.

And they are technically dumb. If I don't want people to link to a specific page of any of the websites I'm creating and have them hit the homepage first, it's very simple. Very, very simple.

So, WorldCom is going to sell MCI. And AT&T has spun off AT&T Wireless into its own stock and is splitting off AT&T Cable and then merging it with Comcast to create AT&T Comcast. And Lucent spun off Agere. Apparently companies are begining to realize that smaller and nimbler (with simpler balance sheets) might be a good idea. Ahem, AOL Time Warner.

Sprint PCS sucks in Philadelphia

Sprint PCS sucks in Boston

Sprint PCS sucks in Colorado

Buh bye, Pamela Anderson or Pamela Lee or whatever the heck your name is these days.

Question... Isn't "Happy Hour" usually used to describe low-priced alcohol? Apparently now it also means Family Friendly programming on ABC. Is that the best description?

This just in... know what your company is doing. You'd think it would be common sense for a CEO of a company to know how his company was doing. But, we've seen all too frequently that they can get off by simply saying "I wasn't aware of that." Proposed new rules would make it a crime to utter those words. Well, actually, to not be aware... if you're running the thing and you're profiting you had better well know what's going on because you could be held liable. Only then will we start to see people investing again and stop buying up all the dang houses.

Am I human? The computer asked.

Sprint PCS sucks in Jacksonville

Sprint PCS sucks in Baltimore

Spring PCS sucks in Seattle

Duck!

How can China consider itself a world-class country when it controls all the news organizations and still can't get it right? An article from The Onion ended up in the Bejing Evening News with just a little bit of re-editing.

While at The Onion, I found this scary story about how everyone is being issued life jackets.

Apparently Adelphia was keeping two sets of books. This astounds me. It seems more like the things that mafia movies and Enron stories are made of.

Oops... apparently about a week ago, a Seattle Mariner fan's ashes were dropped on Safeco Field. KIRO news, in an attempt to find out whose
ashes they were, made my friend call the relatives people who had recently died and were known to be Mariner's fans. I guess people are kind of upset.

Sprint PCS Sucks in Hartford

Sprint PCS sucks in New York

Yep, Levin was forced out.

And this one... I love it... it's titled Time Warner's AOL problem...

This is an interesting article on how and why you'll find music CD's at Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Hardware Restoration and the like... Why Music Rocks (Business2.0)

This is kind of a neat story... it's about a guy who was a reporter for the Pentagon... he doesn't still write stories, but he still keeps going to the Pentagon and they keep letting him. Wall Street Journal

Yay... Brian Williams was just announced as the first of the second round of national news anchors. Story here. I haven't watched national nightly news in a long time, except for once or twice in the last two months for some weird reason. But I'm glad that Brian Williams has finally been acknowledged for the tremendous talent that he is. Congrats, Brian!

Sprint Sucks in Los Angeles.

Cosmo goes Kazakhstani... Yep, 33% of my audience isn't the only thing going to Kazahkstan this year...

Sprint Sucks in Cincinnati.

This used to be home to a lot of people... until Israelis destroyed it.

As if Egyptian Hairless Cats were freaky enough... Israeli Featherless Chickens That's crazy! And I'm not even Brian Fellow. (from Emil)

Well, the weekend is over. Another Strawberry Festival has come and gone. The weather was slightly overcast for most of the day, and that was a good thing. I don't do well in lots of direct sunlight.

I wasn't as inspired by the artwork this year as I was last year. I had hoped to get another piece of art for the house. Lori got a nice one of an island but I was hoping to also pick one out but nothing really spoke to me.

I did get some wood shelving but I've decided they will work better painted or stained so I'm going to need to get some paint or stain and do them all up before I can hang them.

Kevin has departed for a cross-country journey to see family before he takes off to Kazakhstan for two years. I'm bummed that he's leaving, but hopefully he'll have internet access. Even if he doesn't, I think it's a good thing. I also think it's a very brave thing that I can't imagine doing myself. My friend Allison could pick up and go to another country on a whim. Of course, Kevin has more possessions and is having to store a lot but there's a sense of freedom in that ability. But I love Lori and I like my cats and my car and my computer and all my toys and friends so I don't have (or want) that freedom. But at times I have to admire them for their ability to do that. Of course, they'll again love me for comparing them since they hate each other. Oh well.

I've also amassed a large number of headlines that I haven't posted, so I'm going to do a bunch in blurb form today... no real commentary, just the headlines.

The Christian girl beat the Mormon girl on Survivor but not before both had uttered the phrase "Oh my G**"... and the gay gay whined about all the bible thumping... and Rosie sucked as the host, but then I've thought she sucked at everything except being Meg Ryan's friend in Sleepless in Seattle.

Haven't seen The X-Files ending episode yet, or Star Wars, so shush!

Paying to post bad poetry on Google as advertising...Remote-control rats...Testing a theory there's a hidden joke in that I picked a story by Ed Bark (and I want to say Belo sucks!) (see also Barking Dog... Belo sued them for linking directly to an article)...a giraffe's right to privacy...a hotdog toaster...Sprint PCS sucks in Raleigh/Durham...Sprint PCS sucks in San Francisco...UPN Unveils new logo...Anti-drug campaigns a flop (After a billion dollars, kids aren't doing less drugs and might be doing more drugs. Why not just pay the kids directly?)...Sprint PCS sucks in Atlanta...Sprint PCS sucks in Cleveland...Wendys will start using Dave Thomas in ads again...AOL laying off people...Sprint PCS sucks in Milwaukee...Sprint Sucks in New York...Goodbye, Enron Field, hello Astros Field...Enron Scars Bolivia (from Allison)...and finally...
AOL bonds near junk bond status...(as if you cared, right?)

Sorry, I haven't posted in a long time... I've just been swamped. And that's a good thing. I've tended to flee to here mostly when I was unhappy (or bitter about Enron.)

Anyhow, I entered a contest who knows when to win something from Sega. I didn't win the grand prize. I won the third place prize... 18 packs of Bubblicious gum. Kinda humorous.

This is probably pretty big news in the media world, though you or I might not care a lot about it. But I feel it needs to be mentioned. Bernie Ebbers, president of MCI WorldCom resigned. While most of us really haven't heard much (if anything) about Ebbers, he build MCI WorldCom into a big player by buying more than 60 other companies.

I've written about Brightmail before. I'm a big fan. They do a lot to curb spam. Of course, I still get spam-to-legit ratios of about 4-1 in my Earthlink account, but what doesn't make it into my box (Earthlink gives you access to a special area where it's stored, just in case a legitimate email gets caught) is amazing. And if you've sensed that spam is getting worse, you're right. Check out the stats in this article.

Learn from our elders? Seniors are declaring bankruptcy at a higher rate than any other age group.

Oh, boo hoo. Newspapers want exemption from the do-not-call laws.

Fandango's claiming that they spent a lot of money upgrading the Lowes theater chain so that it could handle new media ticket sales. And now it says that AOL has swooped in and gotten Lowes to back out of the agreement and sign an exclusive deal with AOL Moviefone.

Much worse are those ads for MovieTickets.com. I can't believe theaters show them before movies because they make the movie theaters look bad.

Other recent dumb ads: There's a commercial for contact lense solution that is supposed to do all the work. Never having had contacts, I'm not sure what's involved, I guess you clean them or something. This solution claims to do all the work automatically so all you do is drop them in the solution and voila. Well anyhow, it shows the little lenses going through car wash scrubbers while the song "Car wash" plays. The contact wearer grabs the case, opens it up and peers inside to see the contact just sitting there. She sets it down, walks away and the music starts back up and the case vibrates. Well, how could she see anything, at least with any detail? Her contacts are in the case and she doesn't have a pair of glasses on. See it here.

And Accuvue has this one with a kid bungee jumping while wearing contacts. Question... would that dry them out? Or is that the point? They're designed not to dry out while bungee jumping? In any case, the effect is so poorly done that it's just sad. It doesn't even look like she's bungee jumping. It's so obvious that she's just hanging upside down in front of a blue screen. I'm disappointed at how bad it looks. See it here.

For the second month in the past two years, less than 1,000 dot-commers were fired. That's because there's less than 1,000 people left with jobs. You've fired all the rest of us.

This is cool... maybe? A place to watch TV commercials online... and send feedback. www.ads.com. It would be a lot cooler if we could read other people's feedback.

The L.A. Times reports that Riordan, starting his own newspaper, says The L.A. Times is a monopoly. Irony or a lack of the alledged bias?

It just occured to me... besides both being Texas companies, some striking similarities in their logo. Or maybe Enron just ripped that off, too.



And this is fun... it's near our apartment and snaps a picture every 30 minutes during the day. Look what it caught on camera yesterday at 5 p.m.

AOL's thinking of spinning off its cable systems. It's having problems with AT&T which owns 25% of Time Warner Entertainment and Newhouse Publications that owns 33% of its cable systems. Too many people own big chunks of AOL and they're trying to simplify. If they traded AT&T that 25% of TWE for a like-sized piece of the cable business and then took that public, AT&T would be able to sell off their share and get their money. Otherwise, AOL, which already has $28 million in debt would need to write a check to AT&T for $10 million. And that doesn't even really address the Newhouse's and their unhappiness with AOL...

And news I'm really excited about... housing sales are finally dropping...

A co-worker needed old ads to put into a newspaper his son is doing as a class project, so I typed "old ads" into Google (the best search engine ever!) and found this great site.

Hello, all. It's been awhile... I've been busy (a good thing). Ok, some of that time was playing monopoly online, but still...

So I've been stacking up interesting news, so let me clean out the ol' news locker.

Enron just got approval to pay another $140 million in stay bonuses. Shouldn't they just stop paying them so they'll go away? Someone else needs to buy this company and fire everyone. $140 million!?!?!?! (MSNBC.com)

This might explain why they're not giving out free phones anymore... Customer loyalty to cell phone companies is eroding more and more each quarter. (MSNBC.com)

As promised... the swing-set patent story. Yes, some kid received a patent for swinging. (News.com)

Oh, great, another format... not to worry, consumers probably won't adopt it. A new smaller CD will be introduced this summer and its launch will be accompanied by some big name artists. Who cares? What's the big advantage to smaller CD's? Unless someone's willing to offer a portable small CD changer, why get something new? (MSNBC.com)

A new study says that legitimate music is losing ground online in Europe. (Newsbytes.com)

Is it any wonder?

Soap box time.

The music consumer who's online is typically under 25 years old. And they're shunning the legitimate online music offerings. I don't know, but I think the music industry is in a heap of trouble. They failed to recognize a major shift in the way people listen to music, then they made themselves out to look like a bad wolf by being so letigious(sp?) without offering any real solution to the problem.

Now, late to the game, what they're offering isn't what the public wants and they don't understand. I feel sorry for them, but until they get it right, they really shouldn't be blaming anyone but themselves. Too long they've been fat cats sitting back churning out crappy CD's (usually with one or two good songs on it) while ripping off the consumer and the artist at the same time. I'm not saying music should be free, but how different is it to copy a song off the radio, or better yet, DirecTV's digital music channels onto your hard drive than to rip a song or download a song off the internet? Sure, it's a little quicker to let someone else do the work, or to let a program simply lift the track off a CD, but it solves a need that the music industry is unwilling to address, or perhaps even unable to comprehend.

Simply put, we like music. But in its current legal form, it's cumbersome, bulky and only sort of solves our needs. We want a large library at our fingertips, the ability to quickly jump from one artist to another. To have many songs available to us so that when our mood or disposition changes, we need the soundtrack of our lives to quickly follow suit. And we need to have it with us. 10 discs in a CD changer in a car is fine, but then you have the annoying quiet while it switches discs, and even then, you're limited to 10 artists.

And that's only good if you're in your car. And your car has a 10 disc changer. Or you even own a car. Or are old enough to drive.

But imagine... if every record store had a self-service kiosk where you could go in, pick and choose any song you wanted, and have those songs burned onto a CD, either as a standard music file, or as an MP3 file, and you paid per song, how great would that be? If you can get a CD now from Target for $12.99 with an average of 14 songs, that's 92 cents a song. Forget about the costs of marketing, the CD books, etc. and charge 75 cents to $1 per song. The machine burns the CD, it's guaranteed to be correct (I HATE burning CD's... It's time consuming and you cannot guarantee that it's going to work correctly.) But these kiosks could guarantee that the songs would be perfect, without pops, hisses or odd volume changes, and that the CD's would be burned correctly.

Suddenly, you've got a perfect answer... it won't end piracy, but I think there are plenty of people who would pay for the convenience of making their own albums and you'd get some real data back on what people are really listening to. But it would involve the record companies working together and making a major shift in their thinking. Which is why we're stuck with these lame offerings which don't feature full catalogs and don't offer portability and really don't meet the needs of too many people.

End of the soap box.

Hilarious... AOL Time Warner might just be a better company if they spun off their online service, AOL. (MSNBC.com)

They're calling this a "jobless recovery." Um... and how is that a recovery again? (MSNBC.com)

If you're using AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM), check your Internet Explorer security settings because AIM has most likely hacked them. (Instantmessagingplanet.com)

Hollywood vs. High-Tech: This is a great, in-depth article on why you shouldn't buy any new electronics any time soon. (Business2.com)

Look! It's the amazing studendous double-decker toad!... On second though, eh. (Metrowestdailynews.com)

L.A.'s former mayor Richard Reardon's decides to start his own newspaper. (LABusinessJournal.com)

Remember War Games? Matthew Broderick had that computer that would dial every number until it found other computers to talk to? Crooks are using computers to warcard... that is, they're tossing credit card number and expiration dates at authorize.net and seeing what sticks. (MSNBC.com)

This is kinda cool... some guy figured that he could help schools... let them teachers write proposals and then let people decide to donate directly. There's no automatic overhead factored into the donation, so unless you elect to give some to the overhead, 100% of your donation goes directly to the end recipient. (MSNBC.com)

Cool Signs... not just a description, also their name... I wish this company had L.A. offices... I've sent several resumes and would love to work for them. (MediaPost.com)

And now, some pictures...

Two firefighters got married and then cruised around town. (MSNBC.com)

It's ok, he's sleeping. The bear got hit by a car and they had to tranquilize him to get him out of the tree. Then they fixed up his broken leg and expect a full recovery. (MSNBC.com)

I think this looks kinda cool. What to know the mindblowingly insane part? For $145,000, you can buy all the dots, 11 balloons and installation instructions. (Building not included.) (MSNBC.com)

AOL posts $54,200,000.00 loss. Guess they shouldn't have fired me. (Excite.com)

Viacom posts profit. They should buy AOL. (MSNBC.com)

Newspaper prints photo of city check, crooks use the signature and bank account numbers to write themselves checks. heh heh heh (Belleville.com)

I don't have a link because it was only mentioned briefly in Entertainment Weekly (the print version... dead trees... the horror!)... Anyhow, apparently in Spiderman you see buildings in New York. And some of these buildings normally have ads for one or more of Sony's competitors (Samsung is mentioned... yeah, and the Corvette and Chevette are competitors). In the movie, Sony digitally replaced those ads with ads for USA Today. No money changed hands, Sony just didn't want their competitors getting free advertising and USA Today is always a great go-to in terms of national buzz and built-in patriotism by default, right? Well apparently the companies that own those buildings are suing Sony. Which, in my opinion, is downright wrong. Did the U.S. Government sue Fox when the aliens destroyed the White House in Independence Day? Did anyone sue when Deep Impact's meteor caused most of New York to be destroyed by a tidal wave? This is a freaking movie... entertainment for the masses... about a guy who gets bit by a spider and can suddenly eject spider webs from his wrists. It's not real and for these people to get upset is downright stupid. Plain and simple. What's next? Signed permission from every building owner before you can shoot a movie in a city?

Tomorrow, the kid who has a patent for swinging...

You know you're in trouble when even Jon Bon Jovi can't save you. Ally McBeal was cancelled yesterday.

And this is a pretty interesting story... some kids who went to the Middle East to go rock climbing, got kidnapped by Islamics trying to take over the country, then tried to kill one of their captors by pushing him off the cliff, escaped, were escorted to safety by the president of the country, came back to the U.S. and no one believed them but they got a book deal and then they on Dateline and then they went back to the country and found the guy who hadn't died and he admitted that they had tried to kill him. And then he got sentenced to death. It's kinda sad. Except that he was a murdering invading rebel.

I spent much of tonight playing on the computer, reading Survivor updates on SurvivorSucks.com and stuff like that. Well, anyhow, they had a message board and one of the topics were people making up fake logos for future episodes. (Go here.) There's even a repository where people are collecting them here. ** ADDRESS FIXED ** I just wish they were a little larger so you could see more detail.

So I got inspired and made my own:
Details about it... yes, that's a Ferrari, from the Ferrari website. The sunglasses are Raybans from the Rayban website. That is Grauman's Chinese theater, except I reversed the picture left to right. The palm trees are from the Palm Tree Doctor's website and I had to do some editing of the image (before coloring it) to remove a giant stethescope. The nerve! And the Hollywood sign is indeed the actual Hollywood sign. I inverted the picture, blew the brightness all the way to the max and then did minor cleaning. Lastly, the star is a picture of Alfred Hitchcock's from the Hollywood Walk of Fame. If I had been more determined, I would have rotated the stars around the edge. The template was provided.

Fun fact: Sales (of CD's from the previous years) declined by 4.5 percent in the United States, 9.6 percent in Canada, 9.2 percent in Germany, 8.6 percent in Italy, 9.8 percent in Austria, 14.8 percent in Denmark and 9.4 percent in Japan. Meanwhile, sales in France and the United Kingdom were up 10 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

Hello all... I'm finally getting through all the headlines I've been keeping track of. Aside from that, I have nothing to report. We've been trying to eat at the table like adults instead of in front of the TV like college students. It's been kinda nice. It was seeming like the only time we ate face to face was at a restaurant. Unless we ate with friends, then we'd sit side-by-side facing them. I've nearly kicked this cold. I haven't really suffered any side-effects today, but I'm going to keep taking the antibiotics until there's none left. For some reason I'm now wondering if there's a joke involving antibionics and the bionic man but I just can't put it together well enough. So, let's get to what I thought was of interest this recently...

Tragic news... Spenser (Robert Urich) died... I remember many a day watching Spenser For Hire. Kevin got me hooked on that show in college and we'd watch it every day. At least "Emiril" got cancelled before he died so he's not remembered as Robert Urich of Emiril because that would be sad.

Here's an interesting picture... Reuters TV cameraman Ismail Khader, a Palestinian, runs for cover on April 5, moments after Israeli troops threw stun grenades at journalists outside Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's besieged headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (description from MSNBC.com)

SprintPCS sucks in New York and Seattle/Tacoma. I miss Magnolia Hi-Fi... they were a great store I went to a lot of times in Tacoma.

All together now... Awwwww.... Whoopi Goldberg is leaving Hollywood Squares. Or as I like to call her Whoopi Deedoodah. Not that I really watched the show much (can't stand Bruce Villanch, either), but occasionally there were some funny people on it that made it entertaining, like my man Brad Garrett.

Pepsi takes NFL sponsorship Away from Coke... Coke expands on NBA deal

There's a new Emmy... for interactive TV. For who's got the best complimentary new media connection to their show, or who can get people to use their computer while they watch TV... shows like CSI or Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Of course, they don't get a statue, only a lame plaque. I wonder if they're allowed to create an interactive Emmy?

This is kind of cool... a company connecting Tibetians.

And new advances in surgery that will allow doctors to perform laser-based surgery from the comfort of their homes...

And supposedly the guys behind Napster are working on taking on spam. Not quite sure how it works, but apparently it's very effective.

Like MP3's? Do you have them on your network at work? You could get seriously busted like this company did. I still say that the RIAA needs to investigate its own member companies... check out the studios, I bet there's MP3's all over the place.

Apparently companies are now serving up advertising that asks you if you want to install software. I don't know why this is news, Comet Systems has been doing it for years with their stupid comet cursor.

According to this story, 3D computer and TV screens are coming closer to being a reality. Now if people could just figure out how to project into the air like R2D2 did. That would be cool.

Ok, so we've all gotten those stupid chain emails about tax on email. Well, in a way, it might just be true. Online bill presentment and bill paying is eating into the Postal Service revenues so much that they're increasing the price of stamps again.

For those following AOL, this is an interesting article on the challenges Parsons faces.

Hey fish guy! You are lame! (I hope he doesn't sue me.)

I blame aliens! Roswell cancelled again.

It's been another week since I've posted. I've been collecting news articles, but I haven't really felt like publishing them lately. I've been kind of swamped with my part-time consulting gig, mostly building this really neat new feature that I'm going to force everyone to use. It's really pretty simple, when it all comes down to it, all it really is is a calendar. The website I've been working on is for my church and they have a lot of events going on and we have lists of all that stuff, but for some reason, show that same information to people in a calendar and they just get really, really excited. Hey, if it means they're going to use the website, then I'm all for it.

Besides that, this cold has still been ravaging me. This is what I get for not having colds for years. It's finally caught up with me. I've nearly conquered it, but it's meant taking a spoonful of promethazine hcl and a amoxicillin tablet three times daily, plus downing two cupfuls of drowsy robitussin and a melatonin each night. On the plus side, I've been sleeping great and all of my symptoms are gone except for a bit of a cough and/or sore throat if I talk all that much. There are those who would say that's the upside.

The Palestinians and Israelis are still at it. Sharon is the worst thing that could have happened to Israel. The homicide bombers (as Fox News has taken to calling them) aren't a really great benefit, either, but still... if Israel were really serious about peace, they wouldn't be rolling in tanks... they'd be rolling in cement mixers and building some infrastructure. Seriously, these people who are blowing themselves up are no different than the people who join gangs... they're disillusioned, uneducated or undereducated, they lack hope and they find that hope, peace and sense of belonging in these organizations that support them, up until the time they send them off to self-destruct. If there is ever going to be a day where there isn't homicide bombers / suicide bombers, it's going to be 15 to 20 years after those that have realize that they are ultimately responsible for those that have not. I'm not going all communist share and share alike, we know that doesn't work, but until we actually care about these people, we're fighting a losing battle where there should be no battle to begin with.

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and realized it was raining. It's been awhile since we've had rain. I went downstairs to sleep because I can hear the rain down there but can't hear it upstairs. It was really nice.

Our house hunting plans haven't gone very far lately... we're getting listings, but we're not yet ready to actually try to pre-qualify because we're scared that it won't be enough to buy a car, let alone a house. So, we're working to pay down our bills and praying for help. Because it's gonna take an Act of God for us to get a house. We can't do it on our own, so I'm happy to put my faith and trust in God and see where things turn up. Because it's not only the house, but also my lack of steady full-time employment that worries me from time to time.

Anyhow, I was going to do some cleaning before Lori got home and instead I've spent a lot of time redoing the look of my blog and writing instead of cleaning. So, I'm off.

Miss me?
Sorry, been swamped (and sick). Some stuff you might care about and some you might not.

From Kevin: "For the record, Julia Marie Marousek was born a little past 11am on April 2nd. She weighs apx. 9 lbs., and she didn't cry the whole time I held her."

Ameritrade buys Datek :(
This bums me out. If I had wanted an account at Ameritrade, I would have gotten an account at Ameritrade. On the other hand, they could have gotten purchased by E*Trade... the Wal*Mart of Online Brokerages.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/735485.asp

Sprint PCS sucks in San Francisco
http://www.epinions.com/content_60488257156/s_~na

Microsoft trying to grow up
And a look at their recent reorg... reorg? Guess that means it's officially spring.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/735519.asp

Sprint PCS sucks in New York
http://www.epinions.com/content_60009975428/s_~na

Jerry Knight is my hero
Says the AOL/Time Warner merger didn't and still doesn't make sense
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175561.html

Sprint PCS sucks in Columbus
http://www.epinions.com/content_59930545796/s_~na

Do you smell something?
This is an interesting take... you know how you get those stinky pages in magazines supposed to smell like perfume? Sci-Fi did one... but made it smell like smoke to promote Firestarter. Clever.
http://www.mediapost.com/eNewsletters.cfm?s=112136&Nid=732

Sprint PCS sucks in Dallas/Fort Worth
http://www.epinions.com/content_59870383748/s_~na

Once and Again... Or not.
http://www.mediapost.com/eNewsletters.cfm?s=112129&Nid=732

Sprint PCS sucks in Los Angeles
http://www.epinions.com/content_59872677508/s_~na

Uh... we meant to do that.
Ford ends Blackwood Production
http://www.msnbc.com/news/732902.asp

Sprint PCS sucks in New York
http://www.epinions.com/content_60286340740/s_~na

The old new Geraldo?
Phil Donahue Is Back
http://www.mediapost.com/enews.htm?s=112776

Funny!
I knew she made me have a headache, but Celine Dion could actually crash your computer.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-876055.html?tag=tvjames.blogspot.com

Dog!
Sitting on the top step of the Richmond Braves' (Atlanta's minor-league team) dugout
http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/72/998/10x7/twip_2002_0404_09.jpg

Lori got in a car accident this evening. She's fine. It was pretty minor. Well, unless you look at her poor little car. I feel bad for her. She's a little sore and mostly just annoyed with herself. But it means another setback in our desire to get a house; another piece of the IRS refund that won't make it to the bank. She called me when I was still at work and I knew before she said anything. As soon as she got off the phone I folded my hands, bowed my head and thanked God she wasn't hurt.

There has been absolutely nothing that I would consider interesting in the news lately.

Sure, AOL's writing off the last of its merger costs in one fell swoop (instead of the original amortization schedule) which means it will have the biggest loss for a quarter of any company, ever. But even that doesn't seem that important. I'm resigned to the fact that my options will never be worth anything. Much like the promises and assurances and sincerity of my former co-workers.

It's not the best of days. I've had some set-backs recently. They're all, when you think about it, insignificant and I can simply shake them off as quickly as shaking my head and I'm almost complete with that process.

But I also didn't sleep well last night. It wasn't stress or any of the usual factors, just outside influences like purring cats who are just too darned loud and stuff like that. So while I don't necessarily feel tired, I feel a little down.

I am glad it's spring. I've ridden my bike around the block a few times in the evenings after getting home from work and I've had a chance to watch them dig a giant crater. Some sleuthing on the internet has turned up indications that they're building a huge new community of apartments or condos pretty close to where we live. I will enjoy watching the construction process.

So that's about it from here.

So I had all these articles lined up last week that you should read. But I apparently didn't save the list. (You're welcome.)

So, instead...

Sprint PCS sucks in Colorado
http://www.epinions.com/content_59457179268/s_~na

Sprint PCS sucks in Providence
http://www.epinions.com/content_9467956868/s_~na

The place where I come from is a small town
They think so small, and use small words
But not me, I'm smarter than that, I worked it out
I've been stretching my mouth
To let those big words come right out

(Thanks again Kevin for the CD)

Save those cans and strings
The telecom industry is somewhat screwed, and somewhat screwed up. An interesting look at how eroding profit margins, increased competition, looming debt and expensive maintenance is hurting all telecommunications companies.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeatBIZ.asp?/news/723370.asp

Big Four is more like it
Andersen should throw in the towel now. And Arthur himself might want to think about a name change.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeatBIZ.asp?/news/723367.asp

Chicken and Electricity Trading, it's all the same
One of my favorite restaurants, Boston Market, was an Andersen client. They say that Andersen helped them into the same mess that Enron's now been helped into. (Though Boston Market wasn't making deals with the Jedi council and crap like that.)
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeatBIZ.asp?/news/723356.asp

Flexcar: A car when you need it, not when you don't.
An interesting idea...
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeatBIZ.asp?/news/723041.asp

But here's what I find the most interesting...
What does a happy spread-eagled person with a detached head have to do with cars? But then again, what does it have to do with cell phones?





101 Dumbest Moments in Business
This is a hillarious article. If you read nothing else, read this... on your lunch break, it's long
http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,38604,00.html?ref=tvjames.blogspot.com

CBS wins the week
and as a side note, Sally Jessy Raphael's been cancelled. Didn't realize she was still alive.
http://www.mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_news.cfm?newsId=110395

Sprint PCS sucks in Houston
http://www.epinions.com/content_58607111812

Free AOL sparks new worries
Apparently, while charging people $24 a month for service, they're giving so much away that the average revenue is only about $17 or $18 per subscriber. Which has analysts worried. (I'm sorry, but that's still $578,000,000 in revenue A MONTH.)
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-859849.html
How are people getting all the free months?
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeatBIZ.asp?/news/723739.asp
We actually pay for a subscription to AOL for my wife's mom. AOL sucks (and it took us 45 minutes to come up with a name that wasn't taken), but it was the best, easiest option. And that's why they succeed. But we're going to get her on MSN pretty soon, and when we do, I'll cancel another credit card -- AOL's known for continuing to charge people after they've unsubscribed, so we use this credit card just for AOL.

And AOL's got some friends on the inside...
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/723896.asp

PC's rule the pad
My favorite MSNBC reporter Jane Weaver looks into the disappearance of stereos from modern dorm rooms and a culture of music theft.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/720241.asp

Why the Microsoft monopoly will continue to exist
A good, fair look into why Microsoft succeeds where others fail and why lawsuits against them are useless.
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/16804.html

Picture of the Year nominees
Bear eating salmon
http://msnbc.com/c/0/66/504/10x7/020304_poy_03.jpg
Plane heading for south tower
http://msnbc.com/c/0/66/504/10x7/020304_poy_06.jpg
Fire Department Chaplain's body - this guy was the first casualty of 9/11, he was crushed by falling debris while giving last rites to his fellow firefighters.
http://msnbc.com/c/0/66/504/10x7/020304_poy_09.jpg
Elephant - the grieving elephant is working with a trainer after its life-long companion dies
http://msnbc.com/c/0/66/504/10x7/020304_poy_18.jpg
And more pictures...
Elk herding - these are federal wildlife agents tranquilizing elk to be transported to another location where the elk population is dwindling (to try to bring it back.)
http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/68/286/10x7/twip_2002_0314_02.jpg
Towers of light - in memory of 9/11
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/theweekinpictures/2002_archive/TWIP_2002_0314_LEAD.jpg

AOL's biggest advertiser? AOL
When I was at Warner Bros., we laughed at the funny money. Someone wanted a website done? They came to us. We charged them for it. Not real money, but we got to count it as revenue. Then, we needed business cards, so the print shop on the lot charged us. Suddenly, it was funny money times two. An interesting article on how companies (not just AOL) sell to themselves.
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=34246

Hey, all. It's a quick hit today. Things have been busy and I am running on no sleep. More some other time.

So, I watched the collin Quinn show... was boring and borderline offensive. I see Lorne Michaels is Exec. Producing and Tina Fey gets writer credit. So it's sort of an SNL spin-off, I guess.

Quicks..

There's a sucker born every minute...
AOL surpasses 34 million paying subscribers
(Then why does their stock still suck?)

Sit, Dave, Sit
David Letterman announces he's staying on at CBS.

Hacking with a Pringles Can
Sorry, I just can't come up with a better headline than the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1860000/1860241.stm

Pictures...
Kids welcoming their soldier dad home
http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/66/702/10x7/twip_2002_0307_06.jpg
Kids whose dad won't come home
http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/66/702/10x7/twip_2002_0307_07.jpg
John Woo would be proud...
http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/66/702/10x7/twip_2002_0307_12.jpg

Toyota launches Scion
Toyota will launch an all-new car brand to try to reach the youngest drivers. Basically, more Echo-like vehicles.
http://www.latimes.com/business/custom/admark/la-000015376mar01.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dbusiness%2Dadvert

Since September 11, what's changed?
An interesting article.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/721031.asp

IRS goes after tax dodges
This would have been a good scam if I had found out about it earlier... seems to pay a lawyer on an island with lax tax laws to open an account for you at a bank. The bank issues you a Mastercard. The money to pay for the card comes from the bank (you just send the lawyer more money every so often). Your bill gets mailed to the lawyer's post office box and he just shreds it. You never see a bill, the card is probably not even in your name. You're not stealing from anyone... unless you funded the account with unreported earnings. The IRS says that there's a lot of that going on and they're going after people now.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/721109.asp

Sprint sucks in Dallas/Ft. Worth
http://www.epinions.com/content_58218811012/s_~na

Almost a day later and things seem far different. I worked hard today. Well, as hard as one can reformatting content on a website.

But it rained last night. It rained hard. It made a great sound on the roof and today everything looked shiny and bright. The air was clear. The rain is supposed to return tonight at around the same time and stay for about as long as it did yesterday night. Fortunately, I get to stay home tonight.

I had a nice talk with my wife last night on the drive home and I feel a lot better about where things are. I don't feel as bad about my underemployment and I don't feel jealous or envious. I'm back to being happy for our friends with houses. Soon enough we'll have our own house. And a big screen TV! The new house will be great. It'll be smaller than some of our friends, but that means less to paint, less wood-working and trim to make, and so on. I'm re-reading "Building the Not-So-Big House," a book I bought last year. It's full of great ways to make a smaller space seem larger and it points to the California bungalows of Pasadena -- done in the craftsman style -- for inspiration. Basically, at the time that the mansions were being built in Pasadena, the workers were also building their own homes. Skilled craftsmen, they would work during the day on the grand mansions and then in the evenings work on their own homes. While small, the homes boast intricate details and expert craftsmanship. Our home will have that same feel, because we will put a lot of love and work into it.

And it's Thursday already. This week has felt long, mostly because I don't think I've been getting enough sleep. So tonight I'll watch a lot of TV and go to bed earlier than usual and tomorrow is doughnut day.

I think yesterday I used the world malcontent incorrectly. I was trying to be tricky and it didn't work.

And now, what I think you should know...

AOL's Enron game
Off the books, AOL's been using Genuity's dial-up to support its 30 million customers. Genuity is a dial-up provider that basically only serves AOL. It was spun off from GTE before they became Verizon. But it's losing money fast and by the end of the year should be out of money. AOL's been able to keep this investment off the books. However, if Genuity dies, AOL says it can find a new provider cheaper. Can it?
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeatBIZ.asp?/news/719066.asp

Lockheed on strike
Lockheed employees say that the company expects to have a great year thanks to 9/11 but that it's not letting the money trickle down to them.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeatBIZ.asp?/news/719208.asp

United not on strike
http://www.msnbc.com/news/719950.asp

Well, uh, hmmm... ok
States change their tune... slightly... on Microsoft
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/03/05/microsoft.htm

Neuter this
If the entertainment companies have their way, this will be the crappiest country in the world to live if you like entertainment.
http://hardware.earthweb.com/prodop/article/0,,12099_985991,00.html

ABC News Mess
Cokie out, Barbara Walters mad, Koppel bummed.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/719927.asp?cp1=1
Dan Rather and others say "Keep Koppel"
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/06/opinion/L06KOPP.html

Sprint PCS sucks in Chicago
http://www.epinions.com/content_58020957828
(Kevin says I should also mention that Nextel sucks in Hollywood.)

Riding the light to data theft
You know those little blinky lights on the back of your computer next to the ethernet connection? Apparently it's sort of a morse-code of the data coming across the network. It's not easy, but people could eavesdrop from another building if they have line-of-site access to the back of your computer. (There's also a threat if your monitor faces a window, apparently.)
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,50893,00.html

Sit on it
ABC's dumb*ss game show, The Chair, is history.
http://www.mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_news.cfm?newsId=109705

No TV
Some petty criminal gets sentanced to "No TV" for 10 months. Guess that will give him more time to perform internet credit card fraud and identity theft.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/07/nyregion/07SENT.html