Anyone else getting nervous about Dubya's Operation Tips plan? According to this article over at News.com:

The government has unveiled more details of its Terrorist Information and Prevention System (TIPS), a plan to recruit volunteers across the country who will keep tabs on dubious or suspicious behavior.

"The program will involve the millions of American workers who, in the daily course of their work, are in a unique position to see potentially unusual or suspicious activity in public places," according to the TIPS Web site.

Such workers also could include letter carriers, meter readers and others who would have access to private homes.

Volunteers would report the activity to law enforcement via the Internet or by telephone. The government also has set up a site where people can offer their services to Citizen Corps, a White House-backed community-based volunteer network that includes the TIPS program.

The American Civil Liberties Union, one of several critics of the plan, fears the proposal will encourage racial profiling and vigilantism, possibly leading to searches of private homes without a warrant.

"The administration apparently wants to implement a program that will turn local cable or gas or electrical technicians into government-sanctioned Peeping Toms," Rachel King, an ACLU legislative counsel, said in a statement.

Looks like I need to renew my ACLU membership sooner than I thought. I guess old Orwell was only off by, oh, 20 years or so...

If you've sent me email recently at deadgod@wideopenwest.com it may not have arrived as of yet. I've not gotten anything through that address for the past few days and I'm beginning to wonder if the mail server might be broken. If you have to get ahold of me via email for the next few days I suggest using my les@jenkinsonline.net address as that is still working just fine.

On the plus side, the amount of spam I've gotten recently has dropped dramatically.

Just thought I'd mention that a new version of ieSpell is available. Has been since late June, but I just noticed myself so I thought I'd mention it here. This handy little spell checker is a must for anyone who does a lot of writing to websites using Internet Explorer as their browser as it will check the spelling of any text in any form on any web page with just the click of a button. This latest version offers the ability to launch the spell checker from the right-click pop-up menu for web pages were the icon bar is turned off (such as the pop-up comments that MT uses). So, for example, just before I saved off this entry I used ieSpell to check it to make sure I don't sound like a complete idiot, just a partial one.

Anyway, ieSpell is free, useful, and well worth installing. You can pick it up yourself by clicking here.

I never realized what a social butterfly I am, but this past weekend was non-stop visiting starting Friday after work and right through last night. Not that I'm complaining, but I've not had much of a chance to write much on my blog and when I did get the time I was too tired mentally to do much more than babble incoherently (cue chorus of jokes about how that's normal anyway so what was I worried about). I've not been by One Nation, Under... in almost a week so who knows what kind of juicy arguments I'm missing out on.

*Sigh* Gonna have to take some time tonight to get caught up on everything I suppose.

But now I've forgotten what it was. Don't you just hate it when that happens? I didn't think I'd gotten that old yet. I guess it's time I picked up some Senior Moment pills.

Looks like my old buddy Speed Racer has got his own official website now. Don't know if this is in preparation to another revival of the original series on a network someplace or in anticipation of the import of the newer 1998 series that was produced in Japan, but it's a fun site none the less. And continuing in this trend...

Okay, it's not really "anime" per se, but I didn't feel like making a new category. The folks over at Henshin!Online are reporting that 4Kids Entertainment will finally be airing Ultraman Tiga this fall on FOX Kids. The original Ultraman show that was aired in the US when I was a kid remains one of the highlights of after-school TV watching. I loved that show, but not as much as my buddy Karl who will probably be cautiously thrilled that a new series is coming soon.

The reason for the caution? 4Kids is also responsible for the Power Rangers, which was another Japanese show they bought and released over here. Not content to just dub it to English, they re-shot just about every non-battle scene changing the story along the way and just generally making a mess of it. Early reports for Ultraman Tiga, however, seem to indicate that they'll be trying to leave it as unedited as possible and give it the best possible dub that they can. They plan to air all 52 episodes, two episodes per week, back to back through 2003. With any luck, this'll turn out half-way decent and I'll once again find myself watching television a little more regularly.

Bee-doo-bee-doo-bee-doo-bee-doo...

Ok now this just pisses me off. I'm no prude and I don't have a problem with people operating porn websites on the Internet in general. If people want to look at porn and are willing to hand over their cash to a website for the right to do so then that's largely their decision. I do get annoyed with the more unethical porn webmasters who register domain names that are typos of legitimate sites in hopes of snagging bad typists into an endless cycle of popup ads to artificially inflate their page hit count to soak up money from the sites advertising with them. I also have a problem with porn sites sending tons of spam email to folks who haven't asked for it. I've gotten used to the idea that this problem is one of those things that isn't going to be solved easily and I'll just have to learn to cope with it.

But who in their right mind honestly thinks it's OK to go into a personal family website and post in the guestbook what is essentially an unsolicited porn advertisement? Oh, just in case you're not interested in porn, they also sell radio pagers. You can imagine my surprise to take a glance at the guestbook I tossed onto the main page of our site here only to find an entry by someone named "Adult Toys" that only contained four links, the first three to websites dealing in "Adult Videos", "Sex magazines" and "sex aids". Plus the fourth link for "radio pagers". A WHOIS search on the first three URLs turned up no record, but the search for call-systems.com (the link for the radio pagers site) turned up as being registered to a company named Call Systems Technology, Ltd the UK's leading wireless call-system solution providers. A Mr. Andrew Birch (andrew@symbiant.co.uk) is listed as the technical contact for that website in Network Solutions registry listing and I think I'll be dropping him a note asking why he felt the need to advertise his four sites in the guestbook of a family oriented website.

Personally, I was upset enough when I started getting spam with porn ads through my instant messaging programs (which is why I now have my ICQ, AOL, and Yahoo accounts set to the most strict settings when I used to allow anyone to contact me), but this is going too damned far. I mean, how big of an asshole do you have to be to pull a stunt like this? Grrrr..

Naturally it appears the admin portion for the free guestbook I was using is broken at the moment so I can't even remove the entry yet. Time to switch to using my own GB script I suppose.

Sounds like Blue over at Coyote Howling had a fun day on Sunday. He sums up an encounter with a little old Christian lady that he took the time to help change a flat tire in an entry labeled Christian Charity (or lack thereof). I can laugh at it, but only because I've been there. Fortunately people like her are the exception and not the rule.

I can't believe I keep filling these things out. I have to admit that I'm not too surprised by the results of this one either.

i am



what
microsoft OS are you?

Found this one through Brian's site.

Yep, she's ticked. I wrote a little yesterday about how I was pretty certain an email response I made to my cousin would probably result in quite a bit of anger directed at me and I was right on the money. What I didn't expect was how similar the resulting conversation ended up being compared to the last time I pissed off a different cousin by responding to an email he had sent me.

Both cousins argued that they were most upset at the fact that I had used the Reply To All function of my email program to send my response to everyone who had gotten the original email. Both cousins seem to be of the opinion that I had no business sending my views to their friends and acquaintances when I didn't even know those people. Both chastised me for not corresponding more and for only corresponding when I had (what they felt was) a criticism. Both accused me of being an uncaring, thoughtless, arrogant, self-centered jerk because I had the audacity to speak my mind on an issue I considered important to people I don't even know. I probably didn't help my cause in either case by admitting that I didn't see anything wrong with what I did and I'd probably do it again if I felt it was something worth responding to. It also probably didn't help that I mentioned that if I were concerned that people might get upset with me if I handed their email address out that I'd check beforehand before doing so, or at least use the Blind Carbon Copy function to be safe.

I'm sure that had my email been supportive of their original messages that I wouldn't be in the hot water with them that I am now. No one ever seems to mind if they get email from someone who agrees with their views regardless of whether or not they know that person. In both cases I was told flat out that their friends didn't "need" to hear my opinions. Had my cousin known, says she, that I would have responded to the entire list of recipients should wouldn't have sent me the email in the first place. She went on to state that "Obviously with your religious (or non-religious) beliefs, this particular e-mail should not have been forwarded to you and my apologies for that, but the amazing thing is, I never hear from you at all, so gee, I guess that wouldn't be taking my feelings into consideration, that would be not thinking of me at all." Well it couldn't have been too obvious because she sent me the email anyway just to "get a rise" out of me as she stated in her first angry response. I suppose if you tease a dog long enough you should expect to get bitten.

Surprisingly I did get a positive response to my email from at least one of the people I sent it to who went on to suggest that I consider going into politics as they seem to think we could use more people like me in the government. That was a very pleasant surprise and actually reaffirmed in my mind that I had not done anything wrong. If the folks who are offended by my boldness are that worried that I might start sending them cavalcades of additional emails they can relax as I don't plan on adding them to my mailing lists anytime soon. If they're still worried I might continue to offend their sensibilities then I humbly suggest they look into how to block unwanted addresses in their email programs.

Ah, just as I was going to wrap this up I received another response from my cousin. This one is definitely a lot less angry in tone and does give me hope that I haven't done irreparable harm to my relationship with her. She is, and always has been, my favorite cousin and I was more disheartened with her than angry over her reaction to my message. She reiterates that she's mainly upset about my sending the email to her friends that don't know me, many of whom are Christian and apparently got upset with her over my atheistic viewpoint. She also felt that I was indirectly calling her an idiot, which was not my intent. I'm close to being late to work already so my response back will have to wait until later this evening. Perhaps this will work out for the better in the end. If I can manage not be such an insensitive jerk that is...

I've probably just pissed off a good portion of my extended family with a response to an early morning email from one of my cousins on my mother's side. Wouldn't be the first time.

I've seen this email already once before over at "One Nation, Under..." and I commented on it there already. It's one of those propaganda emails that passes around more misconceptions about what is and isn't allowed in public schools in the way of prayer and religious expression. A lot of what it claims is just flat out wrong, but the truth has never stopped those who have a religious agenda from promoting it in any way they can.

I spent 45 minutes this morning composing a lengthy reply that I just know is likely to piss some of the recipients off simply because I'm daring to argue against something a lot of them believe in, but it's the sort of thing that I have a hard time just letting pass by without presenting an opposing viewpoint to it. I did a reply to all instead of just replying to my cousin because I felt my views were important enough that everyone who was exposed to the original email should have a chance to read an alternative viewpoint.

That very same thing is what got me in trouble with another cousin from that same side of the family. He had been sending me a number of conservative viewpoint emails for a while that I had largely overlooked as most of them didn't contain anything I particularly agreed or disagreed with. Then one day he sent me one that I just had to respond to and I made a point to hit the reply all button.

This set into motion a series of emails back and forth between myself and the cousin in question about my response and my decision to send it to everyone the original email had been sent to. The end result of all this emailing back and forth was my learning that I was an arrogant bastard who had no right to send my email to my cousin's friends whom I didn't know. The fact that many of those friends responded back to me personally saying they agreed with my viewpoint only seemed to make my offense that much worse in my cousin's eyes. In the end I told my cousin that if he didn't want me commenting on the emails he sent me to everyone they had been sent to then he should stop sending me emails in the first place. I can't respond to something I don't receive after all. I've not received an email from him since. No great loss considering most of them were forwards of the aforementioned conservative propaganda emails which he agreed with.

I suspect this latest effort at speaking out for the opposing viewpoint may have very much the same effect. Especially considering the one cousin I've already pissed off was among the list of people the original email was sent to. Oh well, it's tough being an arrogant bastard sometimes.

So, for anyone else who's thinking of forwarding me lots of propaganda and chain letter email allow me to offer this tip: If you don't want me responding to anyone other than you then be sure to place ALL of our email addresses into the BCC line instead of the TO line. Using Blind Carbon Copy will ensure that each person who receives the email will only see your return address and none of the other people's addresses you sent it to.

So once more I descend into another "Which X are you?" questionnaire to find out, once and for all, just which comic strip character I am. This was more idle curiosity than anything else, but I figured what the hell. I think the result is quite appropriate.

Which Cartoon Cat Are You? Quiz by gypsydance

Came across this through Kat's page.

Bloomberg.com : Technology News

Sony Corp.'s sales of PlayStation 2 in North America more than doubled in May, outpacing sales of video-game machines made by rivals Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co., an industry report said.

Sony sold more than 520,000 of the machines in the U.S. and Canada, an increase of 315,200 from April, according to a report by NPD Group Inc. obtained by Bloomberg News. Sales of Microsoft's Xbox rose about 151,800 to 230,000. Nintendo sold 112,300 GameCube consoles, a gain of 30,300, according to the report, which is based on a survey of retailers.

All three video-game companies lowered the prices of their consoles in May, with Nintendo and Microsoft seeking to boost sales against PlayStation 2, the top-selling machine. Microsoft, whose sales of Xbox have fallen short of its forecasts, may lose more than $2 billion on the console by next June, said Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities.

Not a big surprise, really. Though I was a bit surprised by the idea that Microsoft could end up losing almost $2 billion on the Xbox. Ouch. Of course, when your company's worth $90 gazillion I suppose the occasional loss of a couple billion doesn't hurt that much.

Was surfing around the website for ADDitude magazine and came across this page that listed 50 (or so) Great Things about ADD. I laughed out loud at least three times at things that were so definitely me.

If I were a car nut I'd totally be into custom hot rods, but I'm a computer geek. Still, that doesn't mean we don't get the itch to modify the hell out of our machines in a flashy and needless manner. Living in an apartment I haven't the space or tools to do a decent Case Mod, as it's called, on my own machine, but I still love visiting web sites that show off what others have done. I've seen everything from case mods involving filing cabinets to milk crates to one made out of a house fan (for the ultimate in cooling).

I haven't found a case mod yet, however, that really would fit my personality. That is, until now. I present to you the ultimate combination of two things EVERY geek needs, a computer and lots of caffeine:

The Caffeine Machine.

I wonder if he'd build one just for me?

More fun with returning show rumors: The folks over at TV Guide Online are reporting that ultra-hilarious animated series Ren and Stimpy may be making a return to TV along with their creator, John Kricfalusi.

The Ren & Stimpy Show, the hit cartoon that helped put Nickelodeon on the map, is going back into production, according to industry sources. TNN has ordered new episodes of the adventures of Ren, a churlish Chihuahua, and Stimpy, his naive feline friend. In addition, TNN has obtained rights to 52 episodes of the show that ran from 1991 to 1995.

To create the new episodes, TNN is expected to bring back series creator John Kricfalusi, whose sophisticated animation broke new ground — and whose gross-out humor predates Comedy Central's South Park. Kricfalusi had an acrimonious split from Nickelodeon in 1992 after clashing with management about the cartoon's content. (The network kept the show because Kricfalusi had sold it the characters.) The episode that reportedly put Nickelodeon brass over the edge — they refused to run it — was entitled "Man's Best Friend." A cult classic in the animation underground, "Man's Best Friend" introduces the character George Liquor, who submits Ren and Stimpy to a sadistic training course, which ends when Ren beats George to a pulp.

"It's one of the most violent and hilarious things ever done," says Billy West, the voice of Stimpy as well as Ren for a time (Kricfalusi did the Chihuahua's voice before he left the show.) "Now that the show's on a channel not aimed at kids, it may finally be seen."

According to TNN sources, the network plans to run "Man's Best Friend" as well as restore deleted footage into other Ren & Stimpy originals. As for Kricfalusi, a TNN spokeswoman confirmed that the network "was in discussions" with him about doing new episodes but would not discuss any of the details. Kricfalusi declined comment.

Apparrently TNN is taking a page from Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and is developing a prime-time animation block aimed at an older audience to start in 2003.

TNN has chosen Ren & Stimpy as the anchor of a prime-time animation block slated to launch in early 2003. Among the other cartoons that are likely to join it: Gary the Rat, about a lawyer who is turned into a 6-foot rodent, and Stan Lee's Stripperella, whose title character is a stripper who becomes a superhero in the after-hours. Frasier's Kelsey Grammer will voice the rat. Pamela Anderson will bring the stripper to, um, life.

TNN's interest in animation is part of an evolution that began in 2000, when Viacom took control of the channel and changed its name from the Nashville Network, programming country-music videos and Hee Haw reruns, to the National Network, showing everything from Star Trek: The Next Generation reruns to the WWE.

"We're the network of the WWE," says a TNN insider. "So why not Stripperella and Ren & Stimpy uncensored?"

Oh yeah, this'll stir up some trouble. Wheee!

I've been participating in the debate on the recent Pledge ruling over at One Nation, Under... and it appears I'm ruffling a few feathers. I've been accused by Jill of putting words into her mouth and I can almost see how she might have taken my statements as such. Truth is I was merely stating how her argument came across to me and I said as much in a response back to her comments, but I fear they'll only upset her further. So now I stand accused of intentionally twisting her words to fit my viewpoint. The argument she has presented is weak enough that had I really wanted to twist her words, I could've been much more creative about it. She's basically been promoting a couple of common fallacies as her entire argument and it just doesn't hold up well under scrutiny.

So I decided to swing by her blog to see if I couldn't gain a better insight into what she was like and it appears that I have managed to earn myself a fair amount of her animosity for my efforts at debate. Let's just say I don't think I'll be receiving any Christmas cards from her this year. For my part I don't hold any ill feelings against her for anything she's said in the debate thus far, but then I've been called so many names by people who didn't agree with me over the years that it's rare that I get truly upset with anyone I debate with anymore.

Jill had said in her posting that she was already in a bad mood and it didn't take much reading to see why. I won't go over the details of the issue here, anyone that wants to know can just follow the link, but I did want to say that I can easily sympathize with her plight. I can understand what she's going through with her husband because I was almost just like him. In fact, I share some similarities even now in terms of being overly computer-focused at times at the expense of my family. I've managed to reign in my impulses and my purchases are kept to a bare minimum as I know we just can't afford to have me picking up the latest video game or anime video every time one hits the shelf. My Amazon Wish List is rather lengthy in testament to this fact.

So now I'm feeling a little bad for adding to her stress by debating with her over at One Nation, Under... because I can relate to some of what she's going through. I admire her courage to try and work things out in her personal life after learning a little more of what she's dealing with. I respect her determination to continue debating the issues over at One Nation, despite the unnecessary stress it's causing her, because she feels the issue is important enough to stand up and be heard over. I was tempted to say as much on her personal blog, but felt it probably wouldn't have gone over well so I thought it best to save my comments for here instead.

I just hope she will come to realize that I find the issue to be very important as well and will continue to speak my mind on it. I am not out to personally insult anyone nor intentionally twist their words. That I wish her the best in her personal struggles as they could easily be my own.

Ah, seems like this is becoming an unending cycle. It did seem too good to be true and the BBC has stepped up on the official Doctor Who website to quash yet another rumor:

"Dreamwatch magazine, Ananova and the Daily Express are all reporting that we're making plans to involve actor Tony Head and members of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer production team in a new 22 part series to celebrate the Time Lord's 40th anniversary.

"Whilst the Cult team quite like the idea of Tony Head as the Doctor in a show guided by members of America's finest fantasy production team, the BBC aren't currently making any such plans."

Oh well. One can always hold out hope.

The new Terminator 3 teaser trailer is now available on-line. I didn't think this one would actually get made, but it appears the shooting in LA is underway with a planned release in summer of 2003. Last I had heard, Arnie's back and this time he's going up against a female terminator. I suppose for T4 they'll make it a child terminator or something.

Also, apparently Hollywood has not allowed the massive popularity of Dragonball Z to escape their notice as they are working on a live-action movie based on the show. Already there is a purported teaser poster circulating on the net with much debate on whether or not it's real. I've never been much of a fan of this particular anime for much the same reason I've never been much of a fan of Superman. My buddy Karl, however, is either very geeked or very distressed over this development, being the big fan of the series that he is. I'm betting on the latter over the former.

Lastly, the folks over at IGN's Film Force are also reporting that there may be a special version of Attack Of The Clones being readied for IMAX theaters. That may be just to thing to get me to go see the film one more time. I've yet to go to the local IMAX theater here in the Detroit area that was built at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan and this would be a perfect excuse to do so.

I had a bad migraine headache for most of the day so I spent it reading the second Harry Potter book, the Chamber of Secrets, and once again I am impressed at the quality and depth of the story. I read the first book just prior to the release of the movie and found it to be very enjoyable. I was surprised at the quality of the story being that it is aimed at children.

The second book doesn't disappoint either. It managed to do a good job of tossing out red herrings along the way to leave the reader guessing up until the end as to whom might be behind the events that are unfolding. I thought they did a decent job with the first movie despite the cuts that had to be made to the story and I'm looking forward to seeing how the next one turns out.

After finishing the second book I am once again amazed that folks would try to have them banned from schools and libraries. Stories aimed at kids that can also be enjoyed by adults are few and far between and the quality of these books is better than many novels aimed at adults. I don't tend to read a lot of fiction in my spare time as I tend to prefer non-fictional informational and historical books and it's even rarer that I read an entire book in one sitting as I did today. It is safe to say that J.K. Rowling is one of my favorite authors at this point. If you've not taken the time to read the books I highly recommend you do as they are very worthwhile.