West Nile virus strikes again, this time killing a 44 year old man here in Alabama, our first case. He was the fifth person to die of the disease this year in the U.S. -Link-

Okay, maybe one link: Honda has created a really nifty robot that goes beyond the AIBO dog's antics...it can walk down stairs, obey commands and already has work as a receptionist at IBM Japan. -Link-

I live in Alabama and aside from Christmas or something like that, the biggest day of the year is the Alabama vs Auburn game, otherwise known as the Iron Bowl. I'm happy to report that the Tide rolled right over cursed Auburn, 31-7. It's all good in T-town tonight. :) The Leonids showers are tonight and I'm going to head outside in another half hour or so, the peak should be from 4 to 6 a.m. if predictions are accurate, I sure hope it's a good one. No sites to post today as I haven't really done any surfing yet, maybe later if I'm still up after all the meteor madness.

Here's an interesting flash animation: -Link-

Well, yesterday's updates were kind of sparse, so I'm going to go ahead and try and post a couple things while I have the chance today...I'm sitting here waiting on Phil (who'd best hurry before I go and drink all our beers...hehe) and listenin' to a little Jethro Tull (Skating Away (On the Thin Ice of a New Day, if you're curious). I suppose we're going to shoot a little pool later. I played a bit last week and it's amazing how your game goes to hell if you don't play for awhile, it's a helluva lot different than playing Virtual Pool 3, nice a game as that is. Speaking of Virtual Pool 3, if anyone reading this has one and gets mad that they can't use the aiming lines in tournament play, you can download a trainer program here that'll let you cheat and use the lines against computer opponents, be forewarned though, it WILL ruin the game, as it makes it pretty darned easy to work your way to the end of the game and beat Jeannette.

A memorial was held for Ken Kesey, author, psychedlic guru and prankster extraordinairre. If you've never read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or Sometimes a Great Notion, try and squeeze that in before you die, it's good stuff, he was a real character, Mr. Kesey...and a very gifted man, he'll be missed. Here's a nice tribute article about his life from Salon.com. -Link-

Kick back with some herbal tea or your favorite psychoactive drug and check out Levitated Tile...a very nicely done site with interactive shockwave art with a mathematical bent to it. Way cool. -Link-

Okay, let me think here, what can I rant about this morning? Oh yeah, Phil wasn't able to get his Xbox today, much to his chagrin and mine...I knew this was going to be the case when I woke up and saw the news this morning. Phil was planning on going after his Xbox during lunch at twelve this afternoon. Well, when I saw the news this morning there were hordes of people who'd been camped out all night at Best Buy in Huntsville waiting to fight over only eighty or so units, I knew he'd been had. Why do they do that anyways? Why the hell not make enough of 'em to go around, is it just to increase demand? I haven't been to Ebay yet but I have a feeling they're on sale there for like, five hundred bucks. How depressing....

If you've never heard of Tenacious D, you will sooner or later...these guys are just too damn funny. Here's a couple quicktime clips via RollingStone.com -Link-

If there's one person I'd really like to see drop off the face of the earth, it's that John Edwards guy, the television "psychic" from the syndicated show Crossing Over. Thankfully, tv execs (not usually known for their good taste) balked at the idea of John "contacting" victims of the 9/11 tragedy in a special edition of his show. It's really depressing that people like this have shows at all, or vastly popular 900 lines...people, wake up, he's just a cheesy cold reader and if he had any respect for humanity he'd be in vegas doing a mentalism show without the pretense of authenticity. For more info on cold reading, other posers like Sylvia Brown and the rest, check out randi.org at this -Link-

A site meant as a companion to a Getty Exhibition featuring clever precursors to things like cinema and modern computering: -Link-

Well, it had to happen sooner or later...it looks like Bruce Lee will be the first dead celeb to appear in a contemporary movie:

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - More than 28 years after Bruce Lee's death, computer technology will resurrect the kung-fu icon to star in the chopsocky actioner ``Dragon Warrior,'' the first time a dead actor will be re-created in a major movie role.

The $50 million picture's South Korean financier, ShinCine Communications, acquired rights to Lee's likeness from Concord Moon, which represents the Bruce Lee estate and is overseen by Lee's widow, Linda Lee Cadwell, and his daughter, Shannon Lee. -Link-

Here's a really great article from The New York Times, about that greatest of all shows, The Simpsons (Who knew it took nine months to produce one show?) -Link-

Any other questions about the yellow ones can be found in the exhaustive Simpsons' Archive, too much Simpsons' related stuff here. -Link-

By the way, if you missed the link in the Simpsons article or haven't seen this before, there's a great site for tv fans who love to gripe about exactly when various shows went bad, or, as this site calls it "Jumped the shark" (a reference to the happy days episode when The Fonz jumped over a shark on water-skis, jumping the shark refers to that tangible moment in a show when it goes from "hot" to "not"). -Link-

Welcome to the first installment of my new weblog. I'm gonna cut the introductions down to the bare minimum, as I have a lot of links I'd like to post and discuss. This is me - my name's Patrick and hopefully I'll have enough stickwithitness to continue updating this blog in the days ahead in the face of my inherent laziness when it comes to such endeavors. Again, hi there, any questions, drop me an email. That said, on with today's breakdown:

Armchair Jeopardy! fans, keep your eyes on the prize...beginning Nov. 26th, the quiz show will double their prize money, the $100 questions will be worth $200, the $1,000 worth $2000, etc. -Link-

Well, there seemed to be a few small victories in the war on terrorism of late, with the Taliban being ousted from Kabul and eight humanitarian workers released from their clutches...Britney's on top of the charts, Wacko Jacko's in the news again and for today, at least, things seemed eerily...normal.

My friend Bill e-mailed me these two quotes last night:

"The men of Afganistan will never be defeated because they are willing to
die for their country."
-Bin Laden

"No man ever won a war by dying for his country. You make the other guys
die for theirs."
- General Patton

Actually, it was really good seeing all those people freed from the Taliban on television last night in Kabul, I heard on ABC's late night news program that as soon as the Taliban were out of the city, one man dug up his television and vcr, which he'd buried in his back yard early on in the Taliban's reign, plugged it up and stuck in "Titanic". That's what it's all about people, that and everyone's right to listen to music, even really weird music you can't really dance to, shave their beard or take off their veil and BY GOD FLY A KITE WITHOUT BEING HASSLED!!!" If you don't have that, you don't have shit. We should have kicked their asses a long time ago. Now I guess we'll see how the new thugs, ahem, I mean rebels, shoulder the mantle of responsibility.

These guys at RockRage have a really nice collection of fonts, done in the style of those used by various rock bands, has nothing to do with anything but who doesn't like freaky fonts? Very cool. -Link-

The Leonids comet shower is approaching and the eighteenth, which was of course singled out tonight on the local weather for clouds and rain. I don't begrudge anyone rain, I realize it's been really dry and there've been fires, but I really, really hope this doesn't get rained out, because even if they make some radical Star Trek style advances in medical care I doubt I'll be here for the next big go round, 98 years from now. Fingers firmly crossed. _ I'm not a nut about astronomy or anything, but I saw a great shower back in '96, I think it was, and it was great, very impressive in an "I'll be damned, did you see that?" kind of way. That was nothing though, they're saying, compared to this shower. They're forecasting activity of George Lucas proportions. -Link-

The Onion's headline today, "Spaghetti-Os Discontinued As Franco-American Relations Break Down" cracked me up.-Link_

Those wild and crazy Pompeii party animals were just plain buck wild, you have to wonder if some power above just decided "Enough!" and put an end to it all in the name of good taste:

ROME (AP) - Archaeologists have unveiled another steamy corner of ancient Pompeii, and this time it is an eyeful: a bathhouse with a unisex dressing room whose lockers sport erotic sex scenes -Link-

I just can't stress this enough...if you haven't heard of a band called The Gourds, I suggest you get out your Morpheus or LimeWire or even, (gasp!) buy one of their cds. Any band that can do a kickass bluegrass rendition of Gin and Juice is alright by me...be sure and download their version of the song, as well as the video of Snoop Doggy Dogg's reaction to the song on their website and the video for their song El Paso-Link-

My friend Phil is getting an Xbox tomorrow and as such is now officially my best friend. This thing looks so cool...plus, I was blown away when I found out that they're already hacking away at a version of M.A.M.E, the multiple arcade emulator for it, which runs the three thousand or so arcade and neo-geo games at 60 fps quite nicely, thank you, so they say. Yes, just the extra-bit of nerd-bait to really make an old pac-man, galaga fan like myself salivate...not to mention the fact that in the screenshots of the NBA game they're releasing, you could read the tattoos on Allen Iverson's arms. -Link- Xbox -Link- M.A.M.E and Emulation

Just an aside here, but Doonesbury has been really funny lately, check it out sometime. -Link-