Month: March 2004 blog archive
google to offer 1GB e-mail storage - 31 Mar 2004

It’s a half hour before April Fools and the article was published on March 31st in the afternoon, so I think it’s on the up-and-up. It says that Google is going to offer free e-mail with 1GB of storage, all searchable. Their revenue will come from advertisements inserted into outgoing messages based on the message […]

Categories: News
mail blocks - 31 Mar 2004

In the seemingly unending fight against spam there’s a new kid on the block. Their solution can be frustrating for non-spammers, but it has its advantages. They use the challenge and response approach to maintain a white list. This means that you give certain users authorization to e-mail you and anyone else who sends you […]

Categories: Spam
get the facts - 30 Mar 2004

I can’t vouch for the authenticity of the site, but the Fact check site purports to provide unbiased information about the presidential candidates. The first headline I saw said Bush’s attack on Kerry lacked context. The second headline said a Democratic ad confused fact with fiction. In other words, they’re saying both candidates are trying […]

Categories: News
Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code - 29 Mar 2004

I finished reading Dan Brown‘s The Da Vinci Code over the weekend. It was hard to put down once I got into it. Dan Brown’s photo looked strangely familiar, so I read his biography and found that he attended and later taught English at Phillips Exeter Academy. I lived about 5 minutes walking distance from […]

Categories: Reviews
soaking a gummi bear - 26 Mar 2004

I don’t know why I find this so cool, but Chris Null soaked a gummi bear in water overnight and it grew, just like those little animals that were oh so popular as a kid. Who knew you could do the same thing with a gummi bear?

Categories: Entertaining
bob edwards moving on - 26 Mar 2004

I’ve become a regular listener of NPR and one of my favorite programs was Morning Edition with Bob Edwards. He impressed me as an interviewer that would consistently ask meaningful questions that I wouldn’t have thought of but wanted to know the answer to, and he did a superb job of presenting the news each […]

Categories: News
innies or outies - 25 Mar 2004

I wonder what makes some people have an innie belly button and some have an outie. I once heard that it depends on the knot the doctor ties, but that doesn’t make sense because the umbilical cord is the outer shell of the belly button, so the belly button is independent of the cord when […]

Categories: My Thoughts
will it snow? - 24 Mar 2004

Jason and I discussed a topic of utmost importance over lunch yesterday: The weather, more specifically if it will snow between now and May 15, 2004 in the Salt Lake valley. He’s convinced it will and I say (and hope) it won’t. So far the 10-day forecast is on my side except for one night […]

Categories: My Thoughts
ebay vigilantes - 23 Mar 2004

I was in the market for a laptop and eBay was my first stop. I checked there several times over the course of a week or two, but couldn’t find what I wanted. A concern I had was that one person’s definition of ‘great condition’ would include a cracked screen and a broken ‘e’ button […]

Categories: News
100 most often mispronounced words - 21 Mar 2004

YourDictionary.com compiled a list of the 100 most often mispronounced words. I expected them to be things liked ‘acrossed’ and ‘nucular’ but there were a few that I didn’t realize I said wrong, like ‘Klu Klux Klan’ (it should be Ku Klux Klan) and ‘barbituate’ (it should be barbiturate) and lambast (it’s supposed to rhyme […]

Categories: Language
fund race search - 17 Mar 2004

FundRace.org allows you to search by zip code or name for people who have contributed money to presidential candidates. Here are some names I found: Stephen R. Covey, George W. Bush – $500 Karl Malone, George W. Bush – $2,000 Barbara Streisand, John Kerry – $1,000, John Edwards – $1,000 Ted Kennedy, John Kerry – […]

Categories: News
Marc Cohn’s One Safe Place - 17 Mar 2004

When I tell people I’m a fan of Marc Cohn, they usually say they’ve never heard of him. Then I explain that he sang “Walking in Memphis” and a glimmer of recognition appears on their face as they say, “Oh, I know that song.” Well, Cohn is at it again after his longest break yet. […]

Categories: Music
trivia #2 - 16 Mar 2004

Here are some more random facts. 1. It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year’s supply of footballs. 2. The first novel ever written on a typewriter was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 3. Restroom tip: The first stall is usually the cleanest. Most people, seeking privacy, skip it. […]

Categories: Trivia and tidbits
favicons from pictures - 12 Mar 2004

I never meant to keep the favicon of the little cabin that’s been on my site for so long now, but I’m not very skilled in graphical manipulation, and I never got around to making one of my own, until now. I found a site that has solved all of my favicon-making problems. The site […]

Categories: Web design
madrid’s terrorist attack - 11 Mar 2004

The news of today’s bombing in Madrid was unpleasant to say the least, but it hit closer to home for me because I lived there for two years. I felt awful when I learned of the attacks on the World Trade Center even though they didn’t affect anyone I knew personally. Now I have an […]

Categories: News
opera preparing to IPO - 10 Mar 2004

I just happened to take a look at Opera’s web site today and found out that as of today, they’ve completed an IPO and will be listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange tomorrow. The price per share has been set at NOK 10, which translates into roughly $1.41 in US currency.

Categories: Web browsers
the call to 911 - 10 Mar 2004

When I was in college, I lived in an apartment with five other guys. The apartment was small, but cheap. It had two bedrooms, with three beds in each, a medium size kitchen, a small living room and a single bathroom. We got along well though and I have many fond memories. Here’s one of […]

Categories: Stories
is google still in the lead? - 09 Mar 2004

In search beyond Google some interesting questions are posed regarding Google’s dominance. It also provides information about what other companies (like Microsoft) are doing to improve in this area. Be forewarned, the article is long, and I only perused it, but it made me curious about some of Google’s competitors. For instance, it mentions two […]

Categories: Search engines
how to foil a UFO abduction - 08 Mar 2004

I have a worst case scenario desk calendar and today’s survival tip is how to foil a UFO abduction. 1. Control your thoughts. Do not think of anything violent or upsetting – the extraterrestrial biological entity (EBE) may have the ability to read your mind. 2. Resist verbally. Firmly tell the EBE to leave you […]

Categories: Useful
blogging on SuSE - 08 Mar 2004

While working on an AMD Opteron server running SuSE one of the running processes jumped out at me. It’s name was blogd. For those not familiar with UNIX, a ‘d’ at the end of a process name typically indicates that the process is a daemon or a service. For example, the DHCP server is dhcpd, […]

Categories: Blogging
late for class? $5 please - 04 Mar 2004

Lehi High School (in Utah) has decided to make students pay when they’re late. They’ve been having problems with students roaming the hallways during class, and the money will be used for student activities. Doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me.

Categories: News
putting gyms to work - 03 Mar 2004

I’ve come up with an idea that may one day revolutionize the world as we know it. As you’re probably aware, people go to the gym to work out, but did you ever think about all of the wasted energy they produce? They lift heavy objects, ride bicycles that don’t move an inch and run […]

Categories: My Thoughts
giant parka-wearing crabs - 02 Mar 2004

I read Dave Barry’s humor column every week, but this week’s column, It’s all downhill from here, was especially funny. I still chuckle when I think of his final tip for skiers: If you’re skiing with your wife, and you foolishly ride up the mountain on a chairlift with her, and for reasons that are […]

Categories: Humor
CDs gone by 2007? - 01 Mar 2004

Some say that music CDs will be gone like the dodo by 2007, but I have my doubts. I like being able to transport and play my music conveniently between work, home and my car and CDs permit me to do that. I know about iPods but I would have to convert all 600+ CDs […]

Categories: Music