Check out F3ll0wsh1p of teh R1ng, a hilarious "leet speak" version of The Fellowship Of The Ring. You may need to consult some translation references... ;-)

PC World has a nice feature that "busts the biggest PC myths," including ones about hardware devices, Windows software, and a lot more. Most of them are common knowledge to savvy computer users, but there were a couple that I wasn't sure about until now.

Mozilla has released Firefox 0.9.1, a minor (but recommended) update to the release of Firefox 0.9 a couple of weeks ago. The main difference appears to be some new icons and slightly better handling of extensions. Before you install this update, make sure to back up your plugins directory and delete the Firefox directory (this means you, czar! ;-P). Extensions installed in Firefox 0.9 as well as your bookmarks are not affected.

Speaking of extensions, I thought it was time for an updated list of my favorite extensions. There are some repeats from my previous post, many new ones, and some that are no longer necessary because they were incorporated into newer versions of Firefox. Some extensions are not yet updated for 0.9, but you should be able to count on this list for Firefox 0.9.1, and if all else fails, try the extension uninstaller I mention below:

• Dictionary Search - allows you to highlight a term and conduct a dictionary search by right-clicking.
  
• Adblock - complements Firefox's already extensive ad-blocking capabilities by allowing you to precisely block ad graphics, Flash animations, and more.
  
• Tabbrowser Extensions - an indispensable update to the way tabs are handled and organized; myriads of options include the ability to move tabs around in the toolbar.
  
• Web Developer Toolbar - an invaluable toolbar extension that allows you to quickly view almost any attribute of the current page, including the source code, CSS structure, image dimensions, and much more.
  
• Magpie - allows you to quickly bulk download files of a particular type. It's particularly useful for image and sound file libraries, although it can be customized for any extension.
  
• Linky - can be used in concert with Magpie to bulk save images (or other types of files) that had to be loaded into separate tabs because of the way the library structure was set up.
  
• Image Zoomer - instantly zoom in or out on an image via the right-click menu.
  
• Reload Every - allows you to reload the page at specified intervals; very handy for stock quotes.
  
• Extension Uninstaller - not every extension is a winner; this one is particularly helpful in uninstalling legacy extensions that aren't playing well with the new version.
  
• Mycroft - choose among hundreds of different search engine sites to add to the default search options.
  
• Translate Page - quickly translates the current page into English via Google's translation service.
  
• X - adds some privacy features (clear cache, cookies, etc.) to a toolbar button.
  
• Download Manager Extension - makes the graphic interface of the download manager a little more intuitive and attractive.
  
• User Agent Switcher - fools some sites that require M$ Internet Explorer into thinking that Firefox is IE (or several other browsers); it doesn't always work but is pretty handy when it does.
  
• Plugindoc - this isn't really an extension, more of a resource to help install some pesky application plug-ins, like Java, Shockwave, and ActiveX. I haven't had to use it lately because of improvements in newer versions of Firefox, but it is still helpful in isolated instances.

As I mentioned last time (and as the installation instructions for all extensions stress), make sure and restart Firefox after installing each extension. For more Mozilla extensions, projects, and themes, check out the new Mozilla Update Page, mozdev.org, Firefox Help: extensions, or the Extension Room.

Color In Motion is "an animated and interactive experience of color communication and color symbolism," but that cold description doesn't do it justice at all. Visit the site and experience the many wonders for yourself...

Visit the House Of Ugoff for scintillating, sexy, "Ugoffian" pouches, as well as "the ultimate lunch accessory." In case you couldn't tell, the site is obviously a viral, albeit pretty funny, campaign for Burger King...

Check out this awesome rendition of Van Halen's "Eruption" on violin (links to Flash video).

CNN reports on Barbie's new beau, an "Australian surfer named Blaine." In case you missed it, "after 43 years as one of the world's best-looking couples, Mattel announced the breakup of Barbie and Ken in February." But don't worry: "Despite their highly publicized breakup, Mattel said Barbie and Ken remain friends and will make an appearance in an upcoming film." Right, I've heard that one before...

"G.I. Joe! A real [insert country name here] hero!"   I had no idea that they made "G.I. Joe" figures for a bunch of other countries, although I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. Still, I feel a little betrayed...

Check out the Icelandic QuickTime video "Muu" (slightly NSFW). Now why do I want some milk all of a sudden? ;-)

Pacers, Gremlins, and Matadors, oh my! Retrocrush presents AMC's seminal 1976 lineup, chock full of '70s nostalgia. Wow, I had forgotten how ugly these cars were...

Office Space Wars is a short film remaking the movie Office Space with characters from the Star Wars movies. It was pretty funny, but I think they could have done a lot more with it. It's a relatively big download (about 30MB), so beware...

The Houston Symphony Orchestra is touring the United States and Canada with a two-hour concert arrangement of Howard Shore's score for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In addition to the awesome Oscar-winning score, the symphony will feature storyboards corresponding to the action of the films, unique instruments (including "an Irish whistle, a Hardanger fiddle [the national instrument of Norway] and a cimbalom, a boxy dulcimer that sounds like a cross between a piano and a harp"), and some choral arrangements in Elvish and Orcish. I've never been to a classical concert before, but this sounds like it would be really cool...

I'm sure most of you have heard of the supposed synchronicity between Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wizard Of Oz. If not, visit The Dark Side Of The Rainbow (or one of the many other pages devoted to this alleged phenomenon) for the full scoop.

Anyway, apparently someone else with way too much time on their hands has discovered another mind-blowing synchronicity: Rush's 2112 with Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. Check out this page for instructions on how to synch things up and things to look for. I don't have a copy of 2112 or Willy Wonka to listen to/watch, so I'll have to take the site's word on this for now...

Remember the Spy vs. Spy comics in Mad Magazine? Well, Mountain Dew has brought the characters back for a couple of TV commercials. Check them out the QuickTime videos here.

Check out this hilarious Chappelle's Show soundboard (requires Flash).

It became painful to look at Killer Japanese Seizure Robots after like two seconds, so I don't know why I'm linking to it. Oh yeah, now I remember; I wanted to share my misery this really cool link with everyone! :-p

In what can only be described as a horrible combination of American Idol and the movie Rock Star (great movie, by the way), CBS is set to air a Mark Burnett reality TV show in which musicians compete to become the new lead singer for INXS. After a "multicontinent search," "the winner will embark on a worldwide concert tour with INXS and sing on the group's next album." This just blows. Michael Hutchence must be rolling over in his grave...

If you're interested in Bill Clinton's autobiography My Life but don't feel like wading through its nearly 1000 pages (I know I don't), check out the article "Slate reads My Life so you don't have to," which highlights and comments on some of the more interesting (and controversial) passages in the book.

News.com reports that "Microsoft has been awarded a patent for using human skin as a power conduit and data bus. Patent No. 6,754,472, which was published Tuesday, describes a method for transmitting power and data to devices worn on the body and for communication of data between those devices." Let the Borg comparisons begin...

I recently came across a product at Gizmodo that every consumer should own: the DVD Rewinder. Although it sounds like the previous generation of VHS tape rewinders, don't be fooled:

Too many DVDs, and CDs and not enough time to rewind? Are your DVDs running a bit too slow? The DVD rewinder is the perfect solution! This rewinder has the exclusive Centriptal Velocity Spindle providing the world’s fastest DVD rewind!

I wonder how many people will actually fall for this... ;-)

The Borowitz Report breaks the story about "a newly released White House memo outlining a controversial plan to outsource prison abuse to India." The memo "details a scenario in which telemarketers from India would instruct Iraqi prisoners to remove their clothing and then would badger them with complicated offers involving their long-distance phone service." Hilarious... :-)

I'm sure you all remember the "Magic Eye" stereogram fad back in the '90s. Well, check out this text-based stereogram with a very important hidden message. ;-)

OK, not really, but I couldn't resist. However, Marvel Comics is apparently developing "Spider-Man India," which "interweaves the local customs, culture and mystery of modern India, with an eye to making Spider-Man’s mythology more relevant to this particular audience." For some reason, that costume just doesn't seem to work...

Most of you have probably seen trailers for the upcoming Tom Hanks movie The Terminal, which is about a traveler stuck in an airport terminal because of bureaucracy over his documents. What you may not know is that this is based on the true story of Merhan Karimi Nasseri, and it's a fairly involved (and somewhat sad) one at that. A French movie based on his story (entitled Tombés du ciel or Lost In Transit) was also made in 1994. Still, I'd like to see The Terminal, as I'm thinking a Spielberg-Hanks collaboration should be pretty good...

I've known about this for some time, but this is the first time I've seen a story on it. The BBC reports that "One of the unhealthiest snacks in the world can now be found in Ukraine." The delicacy? Pork fat (salo) covered in chocolate, also known as the Ukrainian Snickers bar. "It's salty on the inside and very sweet on the outside. It's unusual yes, but it's completely disgusting," says Dasha Khabarova, a Ukrainian student. Mmmm... chocolate-covered pork fat.

Yahoo News reports that the Archbishop Of Canterbury is interested in appearing in an episode of The Simpsons. An invitation was extended after the Archbishop "praised the programme for its humour and humility," saying that the show is "generally on the side of the angels and on the side of sense. It punctures lots of pompous fictions about how the world works." I think this is great...

Yesterday Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne made history as the first private craft to fly into space. As Scaled Composites reports in its official press release,

Under the command of test pilot Mike Melvill, SpaceShipOne reached a record breaking altitude of 328,491 feet (approximately 62 miles or 100 km), making Melvill the first civilian to fly a spaceship out of the atmosphere and the first private pilot to earn astronaut wings.

The flight was apparently not flawless, as some control issues were experienced during the ascent. However, it seems clear that this team is a leading contender to win the prestigious X Prize, which awards $10 million to the first team to fly three people (or an equivalent weight) into space twice in two weeks.

Today was a fairly interesting day, beginning around 4am with a tractor trailer being stolen by some drunk 16 year-old about a block from my apartment, driven the wrong way down my one-way street for about three blocks, and taking out some 14 cars along the way. Luckily, I have a parking spot in the alley, so I was not one of those unfortunate owners.

Later today, I joined the surprisingly large crowd that gathered in the rain to hear Hair France speak. Kerry gave a rousing stump speech, which was critical of the President, but focused on what he would do differently, instead of just the negative aspects. I didn't get to shake his hand, but I got within about eight feet afterwards, before he left the scene in his motorcade.

But the biggest news of the day is that my show, "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change", is finally closing after more than four years in production, setting the record for the longest-running show in Denver history. I've thoroughly enjoyed working with this show as a sub for the master electrician, and more recently as a sub for the assistant stage manager and the two other stagehands. I've seen people come and go, some have stayed through the whole thing, and I myself started at the beginning in 2000 and left and came back again. I don't have any official announcements to make at the moment regarding my future employment at the Galleria Theatre, but I hope to have some very positive news in the upcoming weeks.

For those of you lucky enough to have a Google GMail account, someone wrote Pop Goes The GMail, which forwards GMail messages via the conventional POP3 protocol to your usual e-mail application. This might defeat the purpose of using GMail in the first place for some, as the web interface has its advantages, but I personally like the flexibility this offers.

By the way, I still have several GMail invitations left, so if anyone would like one, let me know and I'll consider your request. ;-)

I think I'm going to try out Blogger's built-in comments to see how well they work. Although Hossein Sharifi over at YACCS has done a good job with his commenting system, some of the lag times and bugs are getting annoying enough for me to look at this option. Using Blogger's comments may have its own pitfalls, though. First of all, I'll be depending on their server to host the comments, so that will probably cause some down time. More importantly, though, there's no way to import all of the old comments people have submitted, which just sucks. I'm not sure how long it will take to properly code all of the changes, but I'll post an update once it's up and running so that you can let me know how it's working.

Update: OK, I think I have the code right. Old comments are not visible anymore now that I removed that code, and I still need to fine-tune how things look. Another annoying thing is that although comment links are under all of the posts on my front page, they are only enabled from this post on. I guess this will be less of a problem as time goes on, but it still makes me wonder whether this is worth it. Entering comments is a little different, as you are directed to the "item page" which shows the original post, any existing comments, and a link to enter your own comment. I'm not sure whether I like that or not yet. What do you think?

Update II: Well, that didn't last long. After some input on the new commenting system, I had to agree that there were too many things I didn't like about Blogger's commenting system for me to stay with it. It's a shame, because I liked not having to deal with pop-up windows, but you had to jump through too many hoops to leave a comment, and it was not an intuitive process. I get few enough comments that it would be stupid for me to make it harder for people to leave them... ;-)

Reuters and Slashdot report that Micro$oft is planning to sell its own anti-virus software, competing with the established likes of Symantec and Network Associates (McAfee). Thankfully, they are not planning to bundle it with their operating systems, although that would probably cause anti-trust problems anyway. Still, I think that this could end up being a very bad thing. Given Micro$oft's spotty (at best) track record of keeping up with security issues, coupled with the fact that any M$ software will be an instant target for hackers, this new product may well serve as a single point of failure rather than a reliable form of protection. Additionally, it will more than likely be sold at a loss in order to gain initial market share (as was done with the XBox), undercutting established vendors that will more than likely offer a better product anyway. Of course, I'm just a little biased... :-p

Visit "The Web's #1 Axe In My Head Page" for over 100 translations of the phrase "Oh my God! There's an axe in my head!"

Check out an amazing collection of QuickTime music videos at pause online, where you can view a great collection organized by theme and director (Flash required). The Spike Jonze videos alone are worth the visit (I love Christopher Walken in Fatboy Slim's "Weapon Of Choice").

The Webshite makes the argument that Nickelback songs are a little too similar, using "How You Remind Me" and "Someday" as examples by playing them both at the same time. For those two songs at least, I must admit that they have a point...

Yetisports 5: Flamingo Drive is the latest installment of the continuing series of games with our Yeti and penguin friends. Enjoy!

So I finally got around to working on a shortcut icon (the small icon that appears next to a page's URL in the browser's address bar) after I found this great site that converts images into favicon.ico format. Can anyone even tell what my icon is supposed to be? The size and resolution constraints (16x16x16 colors) are pretty bad, so it may be back to the drawing board...

Meet Dennis Hwang, the Google employee who draws all of the unique "holiday" Google logos. I especially like the most recent logo commemorating the transit of Venus last week...

I came upon a series of articles in the Asia Times that chronicle an Italian chef's stay in North Korea after being invited to teach the art of pizza baking. The article brings to light the anachronisms and underlying paranoia of the country and serves to highlight the plight of the millions of people languishing under Kim Jong-il's autocratic rule. I highly recommend reading these articles; here are links to Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Star Wars: Battlefront looks like an awesome game. Check out the E3 2004 trailer, the PC Games preview, and the official LucasArts page. I haven't bought any new games in quite some time, but if this is as good as everybody seems to think, then I'm all over it when it comes out in September.

Leave it to the Japanese to come up with a "revolutionary way to fold your shirts" (make sure and download the video). I still can't get it right, but apparently it really does work...

Mozilla Firefox, my favorite web browser, released version 0.9 today. There are a lot of new features, including a long overdue extension manager that will help keep extensions up-to-date. Neil's World has a great Firefox 0.9 Tour that goes into a lot of these changes in detail, as does this review at MadPenguin.org. I don't know if I'll have time to check this out at work today, but I am looking forward to trying out this new release. I was going to suggest that you go grab it before Slashdot inundated the servers, but it looks like they beat me to it...

The release of Firefox 0.9 will coincide with the release of Mozilla Internet Suite 1.7 and a preview release of Thunderbird 0.7 later this week.

Update: Lockergnome highlights Firefox in its recent article "Why You Should Dump Internet Explorer." Also, some extensions aren't working in Firefox 0.9 yet, so I found this mirrored link that provides an up-to-date list of extensions that work as well as those that have been updated for the new version. Hopefully the transition will be quick and this won't be necessary for too long...

Most idioms of the English language don't have intuitively obvious meanings, especially if one is not familiar with them. This is illustrated quite well by this elementary school project where children are tasked with drawing pictures representing different idioms. Most of them are very literal, obviously, but some of them are pretty funny. I particularly liked "a crush on" ... :-)

Ray Charles died today at the age of 73 surrounded by family and friends at his home in Beverly Hills. He was a pioneer in many styles of music, bringing traditionally black forms like soul, gospel, and R&B into the homes of all Americans. He perfomed over 10,000 concerts in his 58-year career. The man and his music will never be forgotten.

As a tribute to John Lennon after his assassination in 1980, Rob Grayson composed an alphabetical audio montage of every Beatles song. I found this gem at Waxy.org, which has a link to the song as an MP3  .

Illegal Art is a great site dedicated to "Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age." Here you can find art, video, and audio that tests the boundaries of the First Amendment and "intellectual property" laws. In particular, check out "Copyright and Music: A History Told In MP3's," and the Illegal Art Compilation CD, which is also available in MP3 format.

retroCRUSH's 50 Coolest Song Parts is a pretty fun list that rates songs not as a whole, but based on cool "parts" of songs. They may not be the best songs, but they contain some of the most memorable moments in popular music. MP3 samples of the best "parts" are included...

Reel Radio is dedicated to the "Preservation & Presentation of Music Radio History" and features hundreds of audio streams, including entire hour-long broadcasts of Top 40 radio. I wish I could listen to this at work... :-(

Finally, A Million Love Songs is an "all-star MP3 uberblog" that features daily MP3s of favorite "love songs." There's a lof of fun stuff here, and the best part is that the site uses YouSendIt, which allows you to store files of up to 1GB in length for one week and e-mail friends the secure link. The service might not last long if a lot of people have the same idea as they have, but I'm strongly considering following their lead and creating an '80s MP3 blog. Still, I worry about the ever-litigious RIAA. What do you think?

Update: Well, that didn't take long. YouSendIt has "temporarily disabled unlimited sharing of all files less than 10MB" due to "overwhelming demand." I guess if I want my own '80s MP3 blog I'll have to figure out another way, but I don't want to host anything myself if I can help it. Any ideas?

On the whole, I think Ronald Reagan was a good president, but I don't think that he deserves to replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill, as Senator Mitch McConnell is apparently proposing. As an alternative, Representative Dana Rohrabacher is suggesting that he appear on the $20 bill, and other proposals have him either totally replacing FDR on the dime or appearing on half the nation's dimes. Changing paper money is apparently much more difficult than changing coins, so we might just see Ronnie on a dime some day...

Update: CNN reports that "Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist wants to rename the Pentagon the 'Ronald Reagan National Defense Building.'" I think that's just a bit much...

This collection of airline safety cards of the former Soviet Union is pretty comprehensive. It's almost as good as the Air Sickness Bag Virtual Museum... ;-)

I really want this Space Invaders rug, but not for $3,000 (!)...

Check out this cool picture of mammatus clouds over Mexico...

As most of you have probably heard by now, former President Ronald Reagan died today of pneumonia at the age of 93. Ronald Reagan served as the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989, and the pneumonia he succumbed to is a complication of Alzheimer's Disease, which he has been afflicted with for at least a decade.

This is going to get a lot of news time in the coming days, so there's not a whole lot that I can add to the extensive coverage. However, I want to say that I am very sad to see President Reagan pass on, mostly because I pretty much grew up with him in the White House. (Despite being born in 1972, I only vaguely remember President Jimmy Carter's administration.). I didn't know enough about politics back then to know much about the negative things associated with President Reagan's administration (although Bloom County tried to educate me ;-) ). Instead, Ronald Reagan was the father-like figure that I saw in charge of our country. I remember his near-assassination in 1981 quite well, and I'll never forget his somber address to the nation after the loss of the Challenger in 1986. Most of all, I remember how disconcerting it was to see him leave office in 1989, as it just didn't seem right to not see him there.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes of Ronald Reagan. Before a radio address, he made a statement in jest, not realizing that he was being recorded: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."   

Sorry for the lack of updates this week. Although I'm taking off during the short work week, it's far from a vacation, as we're embarking on our first major project in the new house. We're working on what will eventually be our office/library, stripping the wallpaper border off and repainting the walls and ceiling. I had no idea how time-consuming all of this would turn out to be, but we're making good time now. Unfortunately, I'm on my own tomorrow, so we'll see if I can manage not to screw anything up ;-).

In the meantime, HAL6 (the main computer in that office) is temporarily offline, but luckily HAL5 (the computer devoted to all of my MP3s) is newly relocated to the kitchen (woo hoo!) and allows me to sort of keep up with things. HAL5 is too slow to play pinball on, though... :-(

Hopefully I'll have time to post more later in the week, or more likely next week. I hope everyone had a nice Memorial Weekend!

Although I mostly played arcade games back in the '80s and '90s, I enjoyed pinball as well, although I was a late bloomer in that respect. My favorite game of all time is Star Wars, a game that I eventually pretty much mastered at Hawthorne's in Greenbelt. Years later I came upon another machine in Gameworks in Seattle and spent over an hour obsessing all over again.

So you can imagine my surprise when I read an article in Wired magazine about an emulation project for pinball. I had of course already discovered and revelled in the fact that the MAME project allowed me to play thousandss (yes, thousands!) of arcade games from my childhood. But it turns out that there is another active community dedicated to the preservation and creation of pinball games. I immediately embarked on figuring out how to install all of the software, and this past weekend, when I finally got Star Wars to work here at home, I must say that a tear came to my eye as I won my first Death Star Jackpot in almost 10 years. It still can't reproduce playing a real pinball machine, but I must say that I was surprised at how good a job it did attempting to reproduce the overall experience.

So here's the scoop: go to VPForums and read their FAQ on how to install VPinMAME and Visual Pinball, the two applications you need to emulate pinball games on your PC. That particular FAQ is very informative, as it takes you through the somewhat convoluted process step by step. If only I had read that first... :-p Although the FAQ includes links for downloads, here are some links to download Visual Pinball, VPinMAME, front ends (I like VPLauncher), and most importantly, the actual Visual Pinball table and ROM files. If you're not a supporting member of the forums, you're limited to the amount you can download at once, so I immediately donated and became a member. All of the hard work of these folks put into the project was definitely worth a couple of bucks, especially if it let me download Cyclone, Jurassic Park and dozens more games quicker ;-).

Let me know if you have any favorites that I should try out, as it's pretty tough to learn these games on the PC without having played them for real first, although you can even download "rules" files that help you figure them out. If you have any trouble getting things to work, let me know, as it took me a bit to get it right. It was so worth it, though... :-)

When regular "extreme" sports just aren't enough for you, there is something even more adventurous to try. EXTREME IRONING. Apparently this British invention is sweeping Europe. With nicknames like "Steam" and "Basket" these well pressed folks are climbing, swimming, and creasing their way to glory.

As a result of Mars Rover interest, the The Planetary Society, along with Bill Nye "The Science Guy", have teamed up to bring you this web page that links to webcams that point at sundials. All the dials are built to the same specs (except the location of the solstice and equinox lines) and include the Mars-themed tagline "Two Worlds One Sun". This is mostly a project aimed at kids but the end result is pretty cool. Click on the Map of Live Sundials to look at all the active webcams.