"A Man Who Became More Than a Mayor."

Mayor Rudy Giuliani leaves office today.

That's just a taste of what you'll find in the Coolest Space Science Images of 2001.

Seven feet in 5 days. Whoa.

'Tis a puzzle to me...

I was in the mall on Friday, walking around aimlessly, waiting for my nails to dry. I wandered into the DVD/Video store and was browsing the titles when I overheard the strangest conversation. Joe, a blind man who is known fairly well by local vendors, and who I've seen walking around downtown for years, was chatting up the store manager about new releases and when he could expect them to be in the store. I know I shouldn't have, but I found myself grinning at the inconsistencies inherent in a blind man shopping in a movie store.

My Best of 2001

With everyone else doing it, why not? Here's a list of entertainment-based television programs and moments that I found to be exceptional in 2001. (leaving Sept. 11 and its related coverage off the list) Since I watch a good deal of TV and I don't want to look like a complete loser, I've tried to keep it reasonably short. And it's still too long, LOL.

Okay, in the order that they popped into my head:

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer - (UPN) Episodes like The Body and Once More, With Feeling (musical episode) put this show head and shoulders above all the others. Hopefully, with fX showing 2 Buffys each weeknight, the show will get the audience it deserves.

Six Feet Under - (HBO) I didn't think I was going to like this show at first, but I stuck with it and boy am I glad I did. The way the show weaves macabre humor with genuine respect for the dead is amazing.

Enterprise - (UPN) A show that gave the Star Trek franchise a much needed kick in the ass. And that Trip is just dishy.

24 - (FOX) A show that, in my opinion, has lived up to its hype. Keifer Sutherland, lost for so long, has finally found a home on television.

Everybody Loves Raymond - Marie's Sculpture - (CBS) Let's just say that Ray's mother takes up sculpture and, unbeknownst to her, creates an abstract piece that looks like a certain part of the female anatomy.

The Natural History of the Chicken - (PBS) Just because I was the only one who watched it doesn't mean it wasn't any good!

The West Wing - (NBC) Sticking out in my mind - Martin Sheen's scene in the church in Two Cathedrals and Allison Janney in The Women of Qumar.

Jon Stewart, The Daily Show - (Comedy Central) The opening monologue of his first post-Sept. 11 show just ripped at my heart. He's been a beacon for me quite often during these past few crazy months.

Farscape - (SciFi) Still the best science-fiction show on television.

Robert Patrick, The X-Files - I am in love with Agent Doggett.

Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - (PBS) Part of the American Experience documentary series, this 6-hour program took a look into the often tragic private life of one of our greatest presidents.

City Confidential - (A&E) Can you say, "guilty pleasure"? Paul Winfield's narrations lends just the right amount of seediness to the story, without ever letting the show descend into pure trash.

Just Melvin, Just Evil - (HBO) Brutally honest documentary about an abusive family patriarch - Melvin Just. Made by his grandson.

The Sopranos, Amor Fou - (HBO) "I didn't just meet you - I've known you my whole fuckin' life!" The moment that Tony realizes that Gloria reminds him of his mother, Livia, was one of the most powerful ever featured on the show. And that's saying something.

A horrific story out of South Africa - 48 members of one family are killed when a truck they were riding in plunged down a hill. What's even more astonishing is the fact that 73 others were injured, meaning there were almost 120 people on that truck. My God.

Monkey Puzzle - Another Snood-like game in which you try to knock the monkeys out of a tree with coconuts. A little slow moving, but a happy diversion this Saturday morning.

[link courtesy usr/bin/girl]

Buffalo hogs all the snow. We've had nary a flake and they're choking on the stuff. I just can't believe it's still snowing there.

How cool would it be to be a kid, though, having the holiday week off and all that snow?

Invisibles, etc.

Filmwise has its latest quizzes up:

Invisibles #55 - 5 out of 8.
Answers to Invisibles #54 - Snow Job - "Fight Club" was the one I didn't know.
Cut it Out #3
Sandy Claws

How about some good news? Sixteen-month-old Jasmine Anderson, abducted on Christmas Eve in Chicago, was found safe and unharmed in West Virginia.

Commenting on the men's brush with with death, Gresham said they should hurry up and buy some lottery tickets while their luck holds out.

Another year-end list, this time it's Nothing Personal Readers' Choice Awards from Salon. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but I liked this

The celebrity most likely to suffer a Mariah-esque meltdown in the coming year:

Donald Rumsfeld: "His popular, flashy press briefings have created huge expectations by his fans -- and he'll crash and burn next year, showing up at a press conference in an aloha shirt and boxers, bottle of ouzo in one hand and a floozy on his arm, spewing obscenities, ranting about the 'good old days' of the Cold War, and defacing and trashing the situation map in a demonstration of 'grade A guvernmint-issue whoop-ass.'"

Oo, I hope so.

Die, pop-ups, Die!!

Holy Christmas!

I never did see the original Chrysler Concorde ad that everyone was talking about. I wish I did - I think I would have liked it better.

I actually saw one of this guy's fake appraisals on The Antiques Roadshow, the one with the Civil War sword that they guy said he used to cut watermelons with. They should not only throw the book at him, they should make him eat it, one page at a time.

And yes, I do watch The Antiques Roadshow, on occasion. Wanna make somethin' of it?

The Smoking Gun Documents of the Year. The end-of-the-year lists are coming out, and The Smoking Gun website has their list of the top ten documents of 2001, including the Jennifer Lopez contract rider, an OSS Hitler report and creepy jail memos about Timothy McVeigh.

[link courtesy usr/bin/girl

So, did we all survive the insanity that is Christmas? As much as I do love the holiday, I am glad to be on the other side of it now, especially this year. There's just too much stress in my life right now for me to fully enjoy anything. Sucks to be a grownup, huh?

Happy Holidays to those who are far away from their loved ones this year. And thank you.

Merry Christmas, everyone. God Bless.

Pretty kitty.

Traffic Jam From Hell. If you get stuck in holiday traffic over the next few days and start stressing out, just think of those poor people.

As you can see from my lack of posts, real life has gotten the better of me the past few days. I've spent many hours working on my browsing problem and the remainder of the time was dedicated to all things holiday and sleeping. The browsing issue is still not resolved, but the gifts are finished and wrapped. It's still difficult for me to believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Amazing how it sneaks up on me every year. I still have to bake 2 pumpkin pies tonight and then pack for the trip to Rhode Island tomorrow. But why do that now when I can procrastinate further by posting some more Christmas goodies for you?

1. Still have some last-minute shopping to do? Do you need something for a teacher, the paperboy, the mailman? The Etiquette Queen's Guide to Holiday Gift Giving should come in handy then.

2. Need a little extra help getting through those family gatherings? My salvation is Bailey's on the rocks. Some recipes for holiday cheer:

Martha Stewart's Southern Comfort Punch
Bailey's Comet (make sure you wear your flame-retardant jammies for this one)
Yummy Christmas Martini
This one looks like it's got some kick - Emeril's Frozen Milk Punch

Drink up!

Happy Birthday, Mary!!

XP Woes

Not I-wish-I-never-upgraded type woes, but woes just the same. Like I said, the upgrade itself went very smoothly, and my system has been running very smoothly. The problem I'm having is getting to certain web sites, and it isn't XP that's giving me trouble - it's IE 6, which came bundled in the XP upgrade. There is no apparent rhyme or reason to why I can't get to some sites, while I have no problem connecting to others; I've been researching Microsoft's support pages the past couple of days for fixes and I've tried a number of things (deleting temp files, playing with privacy settings in IE, editing the registry, on and on) and nothing made a difference. Today I started posting to the Community newsgroups at Microsoft and a nice guy named Noel Paton has been giving me some help. No real fix yet, though. If I can't get this fixed for good, I'm going to uninstall IE 6 and go back to IE 5.5. If it'll let me.

Then I read this. Grr. So, I'm restricted from parts of the web, but some pre-pubescent geek jacked up on Mountain Dew and Cheetos can get to me. Better go download that patch before he finds out all of my innermost secrets and laughs himself silly.

My horoscope from The Onion:

Cancer: (June 22—July 22)
One of your wildest dreams will suddenly come true. Unfortunately, it's the one in which each of the demon's fangs has its own little shrieking face.

Oh, sure. It couldn't be the one where I come home at night to find Hugh Jackman running my bathwater, George Clooney chilling the champagne and Tommy Lee Jones lining up the massage oils...Wait - did I just say that out loud?

As promised, more treats. Here are a couple of games, full of flashy goodness.

Flight of the Season - click on the houses as they speed by and see how many houses you can deliver presents to. How that guy got 225 I will never know - my high score was 28! He/she must have a wicked spazzy clicker finger.

Christmas Tree Game - This one is less stressful. Arrange the lights on the tree in the correct order and before you run out of points. Good thing about this game: you can still finish decorating the tree when you've reached zero points. I know.

I know, I spoil you, but I can't help myself. Have fun!

Holiday treat time...Here's a fun Ornament Game. It's very much like Snood, in principle. I made it to level 7 without losing a life, and stopped to post this. Fun.

I think you deserve more holiday treats -- I mean you've all been so good all year, right? I'll see what I can do.

Note: Shockwave required

[link courtesy snarkcake]

"Throughout the building, telltale signs telegraph a rapid retreat from the U. S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Documents litter a diplomat's desk. Bottles of Fanta stand half full. Filing cabinets protrude displaying their contents."

Fanta? Are they sure it wasn't 1979 that the embassy was abandoned? It must have been indescribable, walking in and seeing the place looking as if people had just stepped away from their desks.

I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff.

Random television commentary...Who's making the best commercials on television today? Sprint PCS. Once they switched the focus from the Jack Webb-ish guy to the customers' tales of woe, they have gotten progressively better. The "Flour the kids?" and "Captain & Tenille/Backup for O'Neill" ads were pitch perfect, but they've outdone themselves with "I am PANDA CLAUS!" LOL, kills me every time.

OK, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Colorgenics is a new-agey personality test. Pick the colors you feel most in "harmony" with at the time you take the test and they will generate a personal profile for you.

My Personal Profile is extremely depressing. What a loser! Of course, the fact that I chose black first probably didn't help matters. I think it hit the mark in a couple of places, but missed wide in others. At least I hope to Jesus that it did.

[link courtesy snarkcake]

AQ Test

As a companion to the article below, Wired magazine has provided a test that measures your Autism-Spectrum Quotient. The intro to the test reads:

"In the first major trial using the test, the average score in the control group was 16.4. Eighty percent of those diagnosed with autism or a related disorder scored 32 or higher. The test is not a means for making a diagnosis, however, and many who score above 32 and even meet the diagnostic criteria for mild autism or Asperger's report no difficulty functioning in their everyday lives."

So please, remember that if and when you take the test. My score: 24. Hmm.

"The chilling possibility is that what's happening now is the first proof that the genes responsible for bestowing certain special gifts on slightly autistic adults - the very abilities that have made them dreamers and architects of our technological future - are capable of bringing a plague down on the best minds of the next generation."

A compelling, six page article on the near-epidemic rise of autism in Silicon Valley.

"I was cuter than their Santa."

Jesus, show a little holiday spirit, will ya folks? The poor little guy.

Tomorrow's the big day - "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" opens in theaters nationwide. Here are 2 online raves:

Salon.com - The Movie of the Year
CNN.com - A masterpiece of a masterpiece

I read "The Hobbitt" in high school, but never the LOTR trilogy. I am remedying that right now. I'm about a third of the way through "Fellowship" and working as hard as I can to finish it. I cannot wait to see this movie!

Okay, everyone who is surprised by this turn of events, please raise your hands...yeah, that's what I figured.

Well, I did it.

I took the plunge and upgraded to Windows XP today. All in all, a very painless endeavor. That is mostly due, I'm sure, to the fact that I was upgrading a virtually brand new PC that has only one peripheral, no networking and no 16-bit applications. Still, I'm pleased it went well and I like it so far. So far.

Holiday Filmwise

OK, boys and girls (do boys come here?), I have yet more Filmwise Fun for you all. The Boyz at Filmwise are very excited - they were listed in Yahoo! Magazine's Top 100 websites. Here's what they had to say in their newsletter:

FilmWise got some pretty good news this past week: In its January issue, Yahoo! Internet Life magazine has published its annual "100 Best Sites" article, and FilmWise has clocked in at #3 in the Entertainment & Sports category, behind only Shockwave and the Internet Movie Database. This is pretty incredible (or the Boyz think so anyway), especially since most of the sites listed are huge operations, such as ESPN, E! Online, Real, Pogo, CBS Sportsline, Audio Galaxy and others.

The Boyz wanna thank all of you for helping FilmWise attain a modest level of success in a fairly short time. You're beautiful human beings (physically), and we couldn't do it without you. (I'm getting all weepy and stuff, so I better shut up now or else I'll run the risk of crying all over the front of my brand new fishnet tube top...)

Congratulations, Guyz!

And because you've been such good girls and boys, here's a snowy, not-quite-holiday version of Invisibles:

Invisibles #54 - Snow Job. I'm back - 7 out of 8!

Also, answers and top scores for last week's quiz. I don't feel as bad about my score of last week now - of the 8 movies, I've only seen 3. Whew.

A nice picture of President Bush, for a change.

No mention of pickup truck cabs?

I had read a couple of weeks ago that the Big Country lead singer, Stuart Adamson, had gone missing from his Nashville, TN home. It was the second time in two years that he had just walked away. Well, he won't be coming back this time.

X-Files Ep Review

Well, I managed to get another one done. Now I'll only be two episodes behind in my reviews. My thoughts on Daemonicus.

Gene Hackman. He is consistently the best thing about his movies. He's no looker, indeed, but the way he combines vulnerability with intense rage is very sexy and I've had a crush on him since I first saw him as the Reverend in The Poseidon Adventure over 20 years ago. His scenes with Frances McDormand in Mississippi Burning made me wish I was her.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who liked Starsky and those who liked Hutch. TVLand is airing a Starsky & Hutch marathon today, and Sheila and I stumbled across the Christmas episode with Kristy McNichol as Pete the tomboy! My God, that took me back. To Saturday nights when I was around 12 or 13 and my mother didn't watch me to watch the show because it was too violent, but I would watch it anyway. My love for Hutch was too powerful and would not be denied. (and I remembered that the diamonds were in her baseball glove!)



And I still think Hutch is hot, even if the jokes are unbearably corny, the dialogue unbelievably hokey -- "Quit tryin' to con me, turkey!" -- and his pants way too bell-bottomy.

So? Starsky or Hutch?

"But to talk about murder victims as patriots ready to make the ultimate sacrifice is to inadvertently give credence to the motives of their killers."

An honest examination of the way in which our country grieves publicly, post-Oklahoma City and post- September 11. As harsh as they may seem, his words need to be heard if we are ever to fully heal:

"When people have died a sudden, violent death there's an understandable impulse to replace the senselessness of the violence with some kind of meaning. But, as Linenthal writes, an act of mass murder is not a conscious sacrifice for a nation. You can speak of sacrifice when talking about the cops and firemen who went into the World Trade Center knowing there was a good chance they wouldn't come out. And you can speak of it when describing the people who chose to die on the plane that was crashed in Pennsylvania to prevent it from reaching its target. But the office workers who died at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, like the people who died at the Murrah Building, died for nothing, sacrificed not to their country or for freedom but to the fantasy lives of madmen. "

Get a load o' this clown.

Filmwise Stuff

Invisibles #53 - are these getting harder? I could only guess on 4 and only 3 of those were correct. Hmmph.

Answers to last week's quiz. Aha.

New Visuals Quiz - But of Corpse #2. GrueSOME!

This is just too, too sad for words.

In Case You Were Wondering...

What's happened with the other big news stories?

NORAD Santa Tracker


Santa flies by the Mir Space Station

I love this. Today's holiday treat - NORAD's Santa Tracker. Track Santa on Christmas Eve as he flies around the world. The image above was taken from a previous year's satellite surveillance. I didn't realize he flew so high! Besides satellite tracking of the Jolly One, the site also offers info on Santa, including answers to such questions as how he gets down those chimneys and what kinds of snacks he likes. If you have a question for Santa, you can send him an e-mail - NORAD will make sure he gets it. The Santa Tracker site goes live on December 24. Don't forget!

Oh my God, hang on. You can buy thong underwear for men at JCPenney. At Penney's. Polite society as we know it is dead.

I'm about to color my hair. Wish me luck!

Theft, Interrupted.

Ew.

Dadum........Dadum........Dadumdadumdadumdadumdadum...

Today's weirdest headline:

Groom Chokes to Death on Bride's Finger Nail

Bare Room with Light that Switches on and off with Egg on its Walls.

Howard Lutnick, Three Months Later

Remember Mr. Lutnick, the Cantor Fitzgerald CEO who wept openly in a Connie Chung interview in the wake of the loss nearly 700 employees on September 11? New York Magazine has a follow-up on his story. And an amazing one it is.

I'm watching the bin Laden tape being aired live right now, from the Pentagon. Bin Laden and his cronies are sitting around congratulating themselves on the success of the Al Qaeda attacks on the U.S., laughing, smiling and eating fingerfood. The tape will not change a thing - those who support bin Laden will assume it is a US fabrication (or more likely, agree with him), I'm sure, and it will only add purpose to those who are convinced he is guilty.

Fa la la la la



Today's holiday treats:

1. Decorate your desktop with Holiday Lights. I do every year.

2. How to Take Great Photos of Holiday Lights (the ones on the tree and house, not your desktop)

3. National Christmas Tree Association? Who knew? Find out about tree types, care, watering (I thought that was the extent of "care") and the "Grand Champions". Ours is a Frasier Fir.

As I said to some friends the other day, Geraldo needs a testosterone-ectomy.

"It makes me sound like a tabloid talk show host goes to war."

Um, Geraldo...that's because that's what you are.

Mornin'

I'll be out much of the day doing somethin' close to nothin', so there won't be anything new until a little later on. Have a good day.

The Secret History of Mr. Happy

Yes, that Mr. Happy.

OK, Another One.

Here's a real personality test - the E!Online Buffy Personality Test. Me?

Buffy

You are the quintessential badass [yeah! that's me all right!]--always ready to fight for a cause you believe in (and looking damn good doing it). Your love life most likely takes a back seat to your career, but you're still surrounded by more than enough loved ones worth making sacrifices for. So, keep that gorgeous head up: We see a revival in your future.

Personality Test

This one's quick and easy and I'd have to say, very accurate. Just click on the most appealing shape. My results:

Introspective
Sensitive
Reflective

You come to grips more frequently and thoroughly with yourself and your environment than do most people. You detest superficiality; you'd rather be alone than have to suffer through small talk. But your relationships with your friends are very strong, which gives you the inner tranquility and harmony that you require. You do not mind being alone for extended periods of time; you rarely become bored.

What's your personality?

On Comet.

On Cupid.

On Donner.

On - - B L A M!!

Gosh, this looks like a CGI effect.

"A wave of infant rapes has left South Africa shocked and outraged."

I can't decide if I want to cry or to vomit. Both, I think.

"Bare Room with a Light that Switches on and off." Bollocks, I say.

Will his life be any better when the war is over?

New X-Files Episode Review

I am woefully behind in my episode commentary, I know. I am trying to catch up and I managed to finish Nothing Important Happened Today II this afternoon. Next up, Daemonicus.

"Style rather than substance became hugely important in order to distinguish oneself aong the many competing magazines," says Brown Weissman. "The 'voices' of these magazines were reinvented over and over, as was their look." A very enlightening article on the literary history of women's magazines such as Mademoiselle, Redbook and even Cosmo. I don't read them myself, but it sounds as though I would have, once upon a time.

At last! A slash fiction template! While I find the idea of Harry Potter slash immensely disturbing, I still managed to get a laugh out of the article.

Tell me this isn't the stuff of which Disney movies are made.

Let's all go to Bikini Bottom!

"Ab Fab is the gay man's sporting event," says Kerry Tucker, a San Francisco resident from Wales.

New episode tonight! (Comedy Central, 9:00 PM)

As the holidays descend upon us, I'll be posting a related link here and there; here's your first holiday treat.



[link courtesy dollarshort.org]

"The five-year rule of the Taliban, exceptionally harsh even in a land governed for decades by bloodletting, came to an official end today as the last Afghan province slipped from their control. Their fractious opponents, due to start governing in two weeks, agreed to bury some of the many feuds that could jeopardize peace, but the two men most wanted by the United States continued to elude capture."

Their fractious opponents inspire little to no confidence from me. Are we really expected to believe that someone like General Dostum is going to end his reign of "bloodletting and war" now that he will actually have even more power than before? I loved the irony in this sentence: "The Friendship Bridge between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, closed for years by enmity and fear, opened today and a first shipment of aid came across."

The fall of the Taliban is indeed good news and we should all rejoice at it; however, I have very little confidence in Afghanistan acheiving a stable and peaceful future for itself.

The Goose is Getting Fat.

Mary and the kids came out yesterday to help decorate our tree. More ornaments were dropped than were hung, but it was fun. We had a little snow last night, adding to the holiday atmosphere. Here are a few pics.







click to view larger image

All posted external links will open in a new window now.

They're gonna get this guy if it's the last thing they do.

60 Years Ago Today

December 7, 1941

"At 7:58 A.M., the alarm went out: "Air raid, Pearl Harbor. This is not drill!" Later that morning, the magazine of the USS Shaw exploded after being struck by a Japanese bomb. "

These images resonate more powerfully for me now, after September 11.

The Hubble Telescope captures a nursery of newborn stars. Magnificient.

Elmo tickles Kofi Annan's funnybone. What a great picture.

"The mere act of cutting his penis signifies that he is psychotic,'' the doctor said. I'd say that's a reasonably well-founded diagnosis. He had several cuts on himself, indicating that he tried for quite some time before he was successful. Ouch.

From TVBarn:

"On this day... in 1970, Harry Reasoner defects from CBS for a desk job at ABC, where he'll co-anchor "The ABC Evening News with Howard K. Smith and Harry Reasoner" for the next five years. "

Why is that notable? Because I can remember watching Harry Reasoner do the news and I can't believe how old I am.

This Week's Invisibles.

Invisibles #52 is waiting for you. Jesus, I seem to be getting worse at this each time I take one of these - guessed 6 and only got 3 correct. And if you're curious, answers to That's Levitation, Holmes.

They've also posted a new contest - Somethings' Missing. You have to name both the movie and what item has been removed from the screenshot. Have fun!

OK, Lighten Up, Gina!

Time to pick things up a bit here, wouldn't you say?

If I were a work of art, I would be Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. I am extremely popular and widely known. Although unassuming and unpretentious, my enigmatic smile has charmed millions. I am a mystery, able to be appreciated from afar, but ultimately unknowable and thus intriguing. Which work of art would you be? The Art Test

Aha. "From afar". That explains everything.

[link courtesy opinebovine]

A master of the seas is killed by pirates. Pirates. Now that's something you don't hear every day. Which is a good thing, of course.

A hero's daughter.

"They used to be husbands and fathers, balancing the roles with the help of their wives, their children's mothers. Now they are widowers and single fathers, their lives composed of constant and inconceivable challenges, both logistical and emotional. " The tremendous loss of wives and mothers on 9/11 has increased the number of widowed fathers by the hundreds. This Salon article takes a look at the way men grieve and cope with having to be a caregiver now that theirs is gone.

Oh, this is very cool. New Scientist's Last Word section has answers to all sorts of scientific mysteries. Why do stomachs rumble? Does an animal realize it's seeing its own reflection in a mirror?

Time well-wasted.

"Chart numbers and ticket sales can't measure up to "the precious stones of friendship, of family, of wisdom learned through the bruises of even a good life," he says. "Those are the things you can't leave behind."

Check out the guns on this Marine. The Few. The Proud. The Buff.

Jesus, will this guy ever learn?

Goner Virus

Heads up from Yahoo! News:

'Goner' Worm Hitting Corporations, Individual PCs

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A new computer worm named ``Goner'' was spreading quickly through corporate and personal e-mail inboxes on Tuesday, deleting system files and clogging networks in what could be the biggest outbreak since last year's ``Love Letter'' virus, security software vendors said.

The worm, a virus that propagates itself to other computers through the Internet or other networks, is affecting users of Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) Outlook and Outlook Express, said Ian Hameroff, business manager of security solutions at Computer Associates International Inc. (NYSE:CA - news)

People using ICQ instant messenger and Internet Relay Chat also are susceptible to the worm because files can be transferred across those networks, Hameroff said.

Researchers estimated thousands of computers had been infected by the worm, which is believed to have originated in France, according to April Goostree, virus research manager at McAfee.com.

``This is at outbreak status, which is very rare,'' Goostree said. ``The last outbreak we had was 'Love Letter' in May 2000.''

A virus is given outbreak status by McAfee.com if it is determined to be spreading quickly and affecting large corporate networks as well as individual computer users, Goostree said.

The Goner worm arrives in an attachment masquerading as a screensaver, with an e-mail subject line of ``Hi'' and text that says: ``How are you? When I saw this screen saver, I immediately thought about you I am in a harry (sic), I promise you will love it!''

Once the user clicks on the attachment, the worm sends itself to everyone in the user's e-mail address book, tries to close programs that are running and deletes certain system files, including firewall and antivirus software, said Hameroff.

A new Eddie Izzard interview. Of interest to no one except me, I'm sure, but what the hell.

"Magic sneakers"? People will "build whole cities around it"? I don't know. It just looks silly to me.

"IT" will be revealed at last.

Oh, my. Semper Fi!

This is an AP photo of the house on my street whose residents received a letter contaminated with anthrax. In his press conference, Governor Rowland explained that the "insignificant amount" that was found on the letter was indeed insignificant - one spore. He explained that it takes 8,000 to 10,000 spores to make half of the population ill, and significantly more than that to make the other half sick. I met up with our postman today as he was delivering our mail so I asked him how he was doing, what with all the "excitement". You may have seen him on the news - I was actually standing at my mailbox watching him as he was being filmed. I was putting some outgoing mail in the box when I saw him stopped up the street. I couldn't see the news crews from where I was standing, though. Anyhoo, he said that he was okay, and he told me that the contaminated letter was actually received by the residents 6 weeks ago. That makes me feel a bit better, at least as far as this being an ongoing thing. I'm still washing my hands after opening the mail and keeping it in a Ziploc bag for now, though.

24

So, how many of you are still watching? I am. The acting is terrific, the pace is generally mind-blowing and I love how they matter-of-factly toss in a shocker here and there - two lesbian terrorists share a real kiss; an injured teen is shot up with heroin to ease her pain; Jack slices off a bad guy's finger for identification purposes; a gay prostitute gives a business man a blowjob (okay, that was just implied, but still). Apparently ratings for the FOX show haven't been as through-the-roof as they had anticipated and there was talk of cancellation; happily, that won't be happening. I came across a pretty neat review of the show tonight - Sean Weitner of Flakmag.com is doing real-time reviews of the show, written as he watches. They're fun because he combines an informed perspective with an average joe response to the action and characters. And instead of making a summary judgment of the show based on a preivew episode or two, you can see his opinion develop as the show progresses. Neat idea.

Have authorities caught the Green River Killer at last?

25 Days of Christmas



ABCFamily's 25 Days of Christmas begins today. Twenty-five days of Christmas specials, some classic and some not-so-classic ("Leprechaun's Christmas Gold"?). Worried you might miss a favorite? There's a full schedule posted and you can have an e-mail reminder sent to you so you won't miss seeing Winter Warlock or the Snow Meiser. Put one foot in front of the other and head over now!

Holy High Heels!

Look who's got his own weblog.