Well, I say it's spinach, and I say to hell with it

We're busy with housekeeping, gardening, and other prep chores for the house party we're having Sunday (not to be confused with the one for lowfatmuffin's visit Sept. 12th.) In the meantime, here's my election views as nicely (if crudely) encapsulated by the South Park guys, Trey Parker and Matt Stone:

Mr. Parker and Mr. Stone seem bent on offending as many people as possible. In "Team America" [their new puppet action movie], they take aim at sanctimonious right-wing nut-jobs and smug Hollywood liberals alike.

Alec Baldwin, for example, emerges as a villain almost as evil as Kim Jong Il. Sean Penn and Danny Glover take up arms to fight beside Mr. Kim, with Mr. Penn crying "Die, conservative!" before blowing away a Team America member....

[Parker and Stone] think President Bush is stupid, but they can't stand John Kerry either. "We hate both of them," Mr. Parker confirmed. "They're both retards. We have to choose between a" — four-letter word — "sandwich and a" — same four-letter word — "sandwich."

[from a NY Times story behind a registration wall]

Sweaty Firefox

Just mowed, edged, string-trimmed, and swept myself into a stupor. My back hurts.

A few weeks ago I had to spend two hours (at least) updating my adware removal tools and chasing after spyware; a web page had installed about 20 different forms of malware. It took days to get them all. I don't doubt that most home users are now running machines with 100s of different infestations.

I've been relatively free of viral nastiness -- I have a hardware firewall box protecting the home network, antivirus tools, high-security settings on most things, and have never suffered any infestations until now. The key problem is Microsoft -- they installed many "extensible" features with a mind to making workgroup networks easy enough for any idiot, but the same "features," along with a refusal to use a standard buffer package to avoid overwrites, makes their systems unusually vulnerable for home use. When you add in their overwhelming market dominance, Microsoft software is the target of choice for any miscreant.

One easy and useful thing to do if you're stuck with XP: at least dump IE in favor of Firefox, the Netscape-based Mozilla Project browser. I've been using it for a few days, and aside from losing the Google toolbar I've grown dependent on, it's great -- noticeably faster and much less likely to allow harmful ActiveX controls to operate. For those few sites that can't operate without IE, keep it around, just set Firefox as your default browser.

Quentin Tarentino's Blog

Just for bigreddee -- scroll down for Kill Bill 3 news.

I'm controlling!

OK, I bit. Not a bad quiz, though too short to be dispositive, and of course it relies on self-reporting.


eXpressive: 6/10
Practical: 6/10
Physical: 5/10
Giver: 4/10

You are a XPIT--Expressive Practical Intellectual Taker. This makes you a Manager.

You are cool, thoughtful and intelligent. Your approach and your sense of humor are under-the-radar, your charm is undeniable. You keep everything under control. You have distinctive vocal mannerisms. You may not have much interest in approaching strangers, but when you do, you are successful.

You will probably end up with someone beautiful, fascinating and off-balance. While your partner may steal the limelight, it's you that keeps things running smoothly and provides stability in your relationship. If you are with someone as contemplative and hard-headed as you, you can have a tough time.

Your greatest asset is that you tackle conflict as it rises -- you don't ignore it and let it brew. If you have a partner that *does* let it brew, it will make you crazy! You can find yourself fighting for two -- trying to anticipate your partner's needs and draw their feelings out -- which is exhausting and, well, not your job.

You would never cheat. You would make an excellent spouse. When your spouse's friends met you, they would think, "Crap, why couldn't I get that one?"

Of the 5290 people who have taken this quiz, 5.5 % are this type.