We Do Routines and Chorus Scenes with Footwork Impec-ca-ble

    Evidently Eric Idle was quite serious when he was talking Mike Nichols into directing a Broadway-bound musical based on the Monty Python & the Holy Grail movie. CNN has announced a few roles have been cast, and although Tim Curry and Hank Azaria and David Hyde Pierce aren’t megastars they’re certainly recognizable names — and certainly bigger celebrities than I would’ve expected this silly silly silly project attracting. Looks like I’m going to have to seriously reconsider my way of thinking about it. Also looks like I might have to consider driving to Chicago this Winter. Then again I should’ve known not to underestimate the project. Even God Himself has said “Of course it’s a good idea!”
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Knowledge Baste

    I just had to share this page I found through /.. Someone has compiled a list of the strangest and most curious entries in Microsoft’s Knowledge Base: solutions to problems such as “Calculator does not reliably subtract two numbers”, “Computer Randomly Plays Classical Music”, and “Network Adapter Does Not Work if Unplugged”. There are even self-help tips on the “Differences Between Temporary and Permanent Relationships” and why your hair turns gray if your user group has more than 500 people. Plus, they even offer the complete story of Paul Bunyan!
Posted in Links, Tech | 1 Comment

All the News That’s Bleeding Obvious

    Good thing we have The New York Times to protect us and inform us. According to a groundbreaking new article, we should beware of Apple’s iTMS. “The tracks are not carbon copies of the CD originals, but compressed versions.” Sweet mercy! My whole conception of the known universe is irrevocably shattered! Whatever shall I do! Next, The New York Times will be saying MP3s and OGG and ATRAC are lossy compression too. Thank you, dear New York Times, for having knowledgeable tech experts to set the story straight.
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Update

    Updates might be even more sporadic over the next few days. I’m still unable to use my desktop computer, of course, but it’s possible a new power supply I ordered might correct that. Also, Ed, my friend, confidant, and stomach, has turned evil!
    Hopefully I’ll be more productive as things settle down.
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Ooo, Aaah!

    Mighty booms echoing across the river. Concussions from the air setting off car alarms. Children begging impatiently to go home. Yes, it’s the Fourth of July Fireworks in Trenton (MI)!
    And to save you time, you can jump right to the Grand Finale…    (QuickTime video. 40 seconds. 2½ MBs.
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Happy Fourth!

    I assume I’ll be videotaping the fireworks tonight, but just in case I fail (or it rains) or you can’t wait, these are videos I’ve shot from past years. Consider them Summer reruns.

    Lee Greenwood: God Bless the USA (2002: Dearborn Fireworks)
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Computers Suck

    My computer, the one I sank thousands of dollars into building, did not even last a year. I don’t know what happened to it last night, but this morning I can not get it to work. It powers on, at least, and occasionally I’ll get a POST, but the screen goes black halfway through booting up and hard drive activity stops. I don’t think it’s a hard drive problem since it happens with both XP and W2K and they’re on two different drives.
    I disconnected my DVD drives to see if it might be a power supply problem. This only made things worse since now I can’t get a POST. I suppose it could even be a Trojan (even though I’ve taken precautions), but I’ve disconnected my network cable to be on the safe side.
    Any ideas (apart from just setting the thing on fire as a holiday celebration)?
Posted in Gadgets, New Computer, Tech | 1 Comment

Cultless

    One of my recent favorite Mac sites has been the Wired Cult of Mac blog. Back on the 18th it was posted that the blog would be on vacation for a week, returning on Monday, June 28. All right, I figured, I’ll try and get by without checking that site out for a week. It’s now Thursday, July 1, and I’ve been waiting four additional days for some signs of life at that site!
    What gives?!
    I want to be part of the cult again!
    I’m tired of looking at that damned fish!
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The Dick Cheney Magic 8 Ball

    Have a question for the Vice President? Then try the Dick Cheney Magic 8 Ball. Just type your question below, click the link, and the Vice President will present you with a well-reasoned (and highly predictable) response…

Ask Dick Cheney

    …Yeah. I know. It’s pretty lame. I was just impressed I could use input fields within my PHP entries.
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Cleaning up the MS

    It seems like the security warnings about IE are arriving daily now. The latest one is almost funny: a flaw Microsoft reportedly fixed in earlier versions of IE has been re-detected in the latest versions! And a BBC story today announces that the average Windows computer is infected with 28 spyware programs. Obviously Microsoft has completely given up on maintaining their software. I hope it’s because they’re concentrating on XP SP2 (reportedly out in late July) and not that they’re asleep at the wheel. (Actually after all this time I assume they’ve built a well-appointed master bedroom at the wheel.) But in the meantime it’s up to us to protect our own computers; therefore, I encourage you to download, install, and run Spybot: Search & Destroy and/or AdAware. Why not run both?! I’ve also just learned about an application called Spyware Blaster, which gives a much needed additional layer of security to IE’s own cheesecloth-thin layer.
    Defend your computers! Someone has to.
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