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.

posted at 11:49 PM | link |

Have authorities caught the Green River Killer at last?

posted at 11:08 PM | link |

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!

posted at 11:01 PM | link |

Holy High Heels!

Look who's got his own weblog.

posted at 10:36 PM | link |

How an Australian sees America, post 9/11.

posted at 4:45 PM | link |

Ah, shit.

From WFSB.com:

Anthrax Found On Letter In Seymour

(Hartford-AP) An envelope sent to a home in Seymour has tested positive for a tiny amount of anthrax.

Governor Rowland says the home is about a mile from the home of 94-year-old Oxford woman who died last week of inhalation anthrax.

The governor says the sample was very tiny. He says it's so insignificant that no one in contact with the letter could have gotten anthrax or even become ill.

Investigators still don't know how Ottilie Lundgren of Oxford came in contact with the anthrax spores that killed her. One possibility under close scrutiny is cross-contamination of mail with anthrax-laden letters sent to political and media figures in Washington, D-C, and New York.

Authorities have been able to determine that a small amount of mail destined for the Oxford area passed through a New Jersey postal facility that also handled contaminated letters to Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy.

None of those letters went to Lundgren. But it is possible hermail came in contact with a letter that was contaminated in the New Jersey center.

If the news crews and vans that I had to drive around are any indication, this new "case" of anthrax was discovered 3 houses up the street from me. Back to the rubber gloves and face mask.

posted at 3:51 PM | link |

Good for our country, or not? As usual, I am not sure; the Guilford Four spring quickly to mind, as does the acknowledgement that it is a long and well-traveled road we find ourselves heading down.

posted at 12:23 PM | link |

"Most kids, they don't want to be touched by someone else who has the rash because they're afraid they're going to get it," she said. "I just think it's kind of gross."

I'm certainly intrigued.

posted at 11:46 AM | link |

They finally figured it out.

posted at 11:39 AM | link |

Zap2it reveals that the aired version of Buffy and Spike's roll in the construction rubble was trimmed by the censors. If what we saw during the 8-9 family hour got through the censors, I want to see what didn't!

[link courtesy ]

posted at 10:59 AM | link |

posted at 9:57 AM | link |

I may be jumping the gun here, but I would wager that this will be today's best headline:

Camp for Nude Witches Fights Closing

posted at 10:37 AM | link |

I am green with envy.

posted at 10:10 AM | link |

Great review of the past 2 Buffy episodes. At the end of last night's episode Willow swore she would never do it again, "it" being magic. Buffy, Willow's best friend, sat beside her and repeated what she said as if to lend support to Willow. In reality, she was referring to her mind-blowing, house-crushing night of sex with Spike. I wonder if either of them, Willow or Buffy, will have the willpower to resist for long.

posted at 3:51 PM | link |

Best headline I've read all day:

Robots Birddog Pooping Pigeons

posted at 3:37 PM | link |

Yoohoo, sir? You wouldn't happen to be heading down to Anna Liffey's on Friday night, would you?

posted at 3:18 PM | link |

Tom Shales reviews Monday night's Carol Burnett Special. He comes off as a bit crabby (what critic doesn't?), but I have to say that I agree with much of what he says. One hour (actually only 43 minutes) was not nearly enough time. Yes, I was laughing my ass off, but I wanted more - I wanted them to stop talking to the dorky audience and devote that time to more sketches. And Shales' musings about Comedy Central ran through my mind yesterday, almost word for word.

CBS would be better off running 20-year-old Carol Burnett re-runs in place of some of the stuff they have on their schedule - um, "Yes, Dear", anyone? As Shales says, "Whatever the shortcomings, the "Show Stoppers" special is still a must-be-seen for all those who fondly remember Burnett's magnificent beneficent reign. Burnett and friends were like the Light Brigade, and in their prime they made a "wild charge" every week. You wouldn't want to miss a chance to see them make it again. "

posted at 3:14 PM | link |

I'd have to day I agree with the results reported in this article. A clearly dis-advantaged African-American man, a complete stranger to me no less, approached me on a street in LA and told me in no uncertain terms, "Girl, you so hot, you oughta be on soul train!" The study, however, seems to have omitted an important demographic - stinking-drunk males, who have been known, on occasion, to remark on my great "yabbos".

posted at 2:54 PM | link |

My horoscope from this week's Onion:

"The lifetime supply of Twinkies you won in that contest turns out to be only half a box, indicating that the Hostess corporation knows something you don't."

Not if I only have one every 10 years or so. And the beauty of it is, a Twinkie will still taste the same 60 years from now.

posted at 2:44 PM | link |

Here's another link courtesy of usr/bin/girl: the The Pooh-Piglet Psychometric Personality Profiler. Which Winnie the Pooh character are you? I'm a Tigger, closely followed by Eeyore, which I suppose is pretty close. Piglet is my favorite, though.

posted at 2:38 PM | link |

Are you an e-bore? I only registered slightly above average (at 50%) on the e-bore-o-meter, thank God!

[link courtesy usr/bin/girl]

posted at 2:32 PM | link |

As I was leaving for the bank about an hour ago, I saw a car from Channel 30 Eyewitness News pull into a neighbor's driveway. I wondered if they were somehow involved in the current anthrax-related death in town, or if there had been another. On the way home I saw that the car had moved on to another neighbor and they were standing in the driveway talking to the owner of the house. Looks like they were canvassing the area for soundbites. Thank God they didn't stop at my house - today is a no shower day.

posted at 2:24 PM | link |

Jesus Mary and Joseph, what a couple of dirtbags. Excuse me, what a couple of stupid dirtbags.

posted at 2:20 PM | link |

Site Stuff

If you've been to this site in the past half hour, I apologize for the general spazziness of it all. I purchased an HTML editor yesterday, Homesite 5.0, and I've been learning. I was acquainted, on a very superficial level, with Homesite 4.0, so I at least know my way around the software. I would have preferred Dreamweaver over Homesite, though, because Homesite has no object-oriented or WYSIWYG interface, or scripting wizards, etc. It is just an HTML editor with a built in preview. Beggars can't be choosers, however; $29.00 to upgrade to Homesite 5.0 or $199.00 to purchase Dreamweaver. Hmmm... let me see...

So, here I sit, having to actually learn how to code as opposed to letting the software do it for me. Consider this fair warning!

posted at 10:04 AM | link |

"Authorities consider how to open anthrax letter"

Do you get the same mental picture that I do? Non-descript FBI room, table in center of room, letter on table, several men in suits standing around staring at the envelope, scratching their chins...

posted at 9:32 AM | link |

I see London, I see France...

What's your Superpower? Mine is:

Holy smokes, you've got X-RAYVISION! Your answers show a keen sense of insight, coupled with a piercing mind. Okay, so you may not be able to see through brick walls — not yet, anyway. But you probably enjoy looking beneath the surface of things and reading between the lines. Your X-ray vision lets you see things others can't, making you good at reading people's motivations, solving mysteries of all kinds, or maybe just finding misplaced car keys. You've got the gift, so if you haven't started using it, it's high time you did. Just think of the benefits: You could really start undressing people with your eyes. Winning lottery tickets and grand prize soda-bottle caps will be effortlessly revealed to you. So start practicing! All superheroes know that developing your powers begins with mental training. To start honing your X-ray vision, try looking for the hidden meaning in things. Read old English poetry. Do crossword puzzles. Think metaphorically. Once you've trained your mind, you'll be ready to instruct the eyes. Start with gauzey fabrics, then move on to semi-transparent glass. Keep at it, and you'll be seeing through concrete slabs in no time.

How about another?

What's Your IQ? I've never really taken an IQ test, my reluctance to do so probably stemming from a fear of discovering that I'm not quite as brilliant as I think I am. I have to say, though, I'm not all that displeased with my results:

Your IQ score is 124. Incredible! What does that mean? Well, the IQ test measures several different areas of thinking, including math skills, logical reasoning, understanding analogies, and object relations. Scores between 115 to 130 mean that your intelligence is well above average.

X-Ray vision and and above average intelligence? I should be ruling the world, not unemployed! My sense of superiority, however, remains intact. Hehe.

posted at 2:32 PM | link |

Invisibles!

This week's quiz, Invisibles #51: That's Levitation Holmes is up. You can find the answers and top scores for last week's quiz here. Oh, and they have the answers to User-Created Invisibles #2, also from last week.

posted at 1:56 PM | link |

"Holli Miller, 32, who transcribes television shows using satellite TV, a special stenography machine and a dedicated phone line from her living room in Des Moines, became a hero of her company, the National Captioning Institute, when she kept transcribing the Sept. 11 live coverage of WNYW, the New York City affiliate of the Fox network, for eight hours without a break."

posted at 1:34 PM | link |

It's That Time of Year.

Are you wondering if you'll get to see the Heat Meiser this year? How about Yukon Cornelius? Or Ralphie and his quest for a Red Rider BB gun? TVGuide.com has a 2001 Holiday Viewing Guide just for you. This weekend we managed to catch Rudolph and Scrooged. The guide only shows one week at a time, so for long term planning you may have to look elsewhere ;).

posted at 1:29 PM | link |

"The Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker said it might start incorporating portions of this new transistor structure into its microprocessors as early as 2005. "

Well, at least I'll be able to get at least a good two years out of this brand new baby before it's completely obsolete.

posted at 1:22 PM | link |

Virus Warning

Heads up for Microsoft Outlook users (like me): "BadTrans.B exploits a previously patched hole in Microsoft's Outlook e-mail program, allowing the virus code to be executed simply by clicking to open and read an infected e-mail in Microsoft Outlook. It is not necessary to double click on an attachment, which may not even be visible to the user, to launch the malicious code."

Please make sure you have the most current anti-virus software downloaded to your computer and that you have downloaded Microsoft's vulnerability patch for Outlook.

posted at 1:15 PM | link |

"Kabul Unveiled."

posted at 1:01 PM | link |

"Internet users more chic than geek"

Well, that's good to know. I do think, however, that the survey's finding that "They also tend to be better paid and more educated than non-users," is because the people who use the Internet are the ones who can afford a computer.

posted at 12:54 PM | link |

Cloning.

As I'm sure you've already heard, it was announced today that Advanced Cell Technology of Worcester, MA has successfully cloned a human embryo. Although their intended purpose in cloning these embryos, to develop an alternate source of stem cells for research, is a valid one, the fact that a duplicate has been made of a person leaves me feeling a bit queasy. What sort of a future does this portend? I empathize with both sides of the ethical debate on this; the advances and cures possible through stem cell research could repair so many damaged lives; however, the question that nags at me is how does the duplication of a human being affect their value as an individual? I fully believe that the researchers at ACT have no intention of developing the cloned embryos; but what about other not-so-ethical scientists? What's to stop them?

Sorry, all this clone talk tends to make me nervous. The entire concept borders on the unnatural for me, a viewpoint that results in no small part from my religious upbringing, I am sure.

Anyhoo, the viability of the cloned embryos is questionable to some. And the majority of the cloned embryos were created through parthenogenesis, a process that creates embryos through duplication of the set of maternal chromosomes. This means that "Producing embryos by parthenogenesis is ethically attractive because they never develop into fetuses, meaning they are not "potential people"." That does make me feel a bit better.

You can stay abreast of developments in cloning by going here.

posted at 12:49 PM | link |

You can leave your hat on...

(I sound just like Tom Jones, by the way)

posted at 12:18 PM | link |

That sound you hear? Me kicking myself for not having seen U2 in concert this year. Hard.

posted at 7:51 AM | link |