Firefox 1.5 is out

You have upgraded to 1.5, right?
If you are still using Internet Explorer, you really should check out Firefox. You will be glad you did.

Your Internal Alarm Clock

I've suspected that we've all had one for years, but now researchers are coming to the conclusion that we do have an internal alarm clock. Of course I have found that the internal alarm clock can go off for me when I do not have to work, so I will have to try doing the cognitive self-instruction that the article recommends to have it turn off on those days. I have doubts that it will work, though.

If anyone has any tricks for turning off the internal alarm clock on weekends, please share it!

A Thanksgiving Myth Busted

And here I was going to tell everyone to not eat turkey and operate heavy machinery.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Someone has way too much free time.

This reminds me of how the aliens would communicate on the Greatest American Hero tv show, except with the words being sung. This could get very addicting.

Top 11 Signs You're at a Geek's House for Thanksgiving

Out of all of these, I'm most likely to do numbers 1 and 10.

http://www.bbspot.com/News/2005/11/top_11_geek_thanksgiving.html.

Am I the Only One?

I don't recall hearing a thing about Ringers: Lord of the Fans before. Suddenly I hear about it and it comes out tomorrow. Was this just not heavily marketed or have I been more isolated from the world than I thought? I'm still waiting for a bloopers and outtakes DVD of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, though.

Are your products safe?

A couple of weeks ago I came across an article about how unsafe our toothpaste, mouthwash, and other personal care products might be. The article went into paid archive land, but I found another site with an equivalent article as well as a website that grades these various products. I'm only a little bit surprised that the news media hasn't made a fuss about this.

You can find the article at: http://www.ewg.org/issues/cosmetics/FDA_Warning/index.php
Also check out: http://www.safecosmetics.org
Site that grades products: http://www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep2/index.php

While I will only go so far in being paranoid about these things, I will at least look for better products to use.

Feline Haiku

My dad sent this to me from his travels on the Internet. I found it very amusing and thought I would share.

*Five Feline Haiku*

1.
You never feed me.
Perhaps I'll sleep on your face.
That will sure show you.

2.
The rule for today
Touch my tail, I shred your hand.
New rule tomorrow.'

3.
In deep sleep, hear sound.
Cat vomit hairball somewhere.
Will find in morning.

4.
Small brave carnivores
Kill pine cones and mosquitoes
Fear vacuum cleaner

5.
You're always typing.
Well, let's see you ignore my
Sitting on your hands.

My Quick Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Review

I saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last night. I had a number of disappointments with Prisoner of Azkaban due to the disappearance of key points in the story. I went in wondering if one of those key points would be taken care of in the Goblet of Fire - basically where Sirius Black threatens Harry's Uncle and Aunt to treat Harry right or there will be problems. It wasn't there, nor were his Uncle and Aunt (as the movie starts at the Weasley's house), which doesn't bug me too much as it would most likely slow up the movie and his Uncle and Aunt get tiresome very quickly.

The movie went at a good pace - it didn't feel too fast or slow. Very good special effects, though the Sirius Black in the fireplace scene was not how I visualized it.

I would've liked a little bit more character development in the movie - things just had a "this is how they are" feel to it, though it didn't leave me in disbelief.

Overall this was a very good movie. Definitely better than Prisoner of Azkaban.

Getting Back Into Digital Photography

I've recently gotten excited about doing digital photography again and have bought a new Canon PowerShot G6 to replace my old Kodak DC3400. I wanted to do more than just point and shoot so I could take better pictures and pictures with cool effects (such as pictures of streams that have a misty kind of look to them just by changing the shutter speed). I've also been reading more on the art of photography. Sometime, probably after Christmas, I plan on getting Photoshop so I can do much more.

Find Colors that Look Good Together

A nice tool for web designers that helps you find colors that look good together.

Nanowrimo Update

I do not expect to reach the 50,000 word mark due to being ill one week and generally just too busy. Still, miracles could happen if I focus on the weekends and the Thanksgiving holiday coming up. Right now I am at about 8,500 words.

They spent money on this?!?

Traffic causes stress. Did money and time really need to be spent to find this out?

Beware of Sony-BMG CDs

Beware of Sony-BMG CDs that use a copy-protection technology called XCP; it installs a rootkit on a Windows machine and makes it more unstable than it already is.

List of CDs containing this technology and how to identify them.

Of course, the best course of action would be to not buy any Sony-BMG CDs and send them a big message.