From Defective Yeti:

My New Year's Resolutions, As Dictated By Spam Subject Lines

To Do in 2003:

Embrace energy markets			Reverse the aging process
Get a huge penis			Order perscription drugs online
Investigate enemies			Lose ten pounds in seven days
Make a fortune on Ebay			See Britney Spears naked
Know the HGH difference			Attract the opposite sex
Get a MBA			Register to win
Get paid to eat snacks			Chat with sexy girls
Earn $50,000			Send bulk email
Do it all night and stay hard			Never work again

10:19:47 PM  #   your two cents []

Norwegian Hacker, 19, Is Acquitted in DVD Piracy Case. A teenage software programmer in Norway was acquitted of digital piracy in Oslo on Tuesday in a case that has drawn close scrutiny from the entertainment industry. [New York Times: Technology]
7:58:14 PM  #   your two cents []

Cisco takes aim at new competitors. CEO Chambers cites challengers such as Dell [InfoWorld: Top News]
7:51:44 PM  #   your two cents []

"A German family has kept a live eel in its bathtub for the last 33 years and even trained it to swim into a bucket when someone needs to wash."
12:30:00 PM  #   your two cents []

Linux start-up eyes consumer electronics. MontaVista Software is set to unveil a version of the open-source OS for consumer-electronics devices, seeking to have its software used in everything from karaoke machines to high-end TVs. [CNET News.com]
12:19:40 PM  #   your two cents []

Critics worry about privacy in cybersecurity plan. [InfoWorld: Top News]
12:19:00 PM  #   your two cents []

Macworld: Even Woz still uses Mac OS 9. [InfoWorld: Top News]
12:18:16 PM  #   your two cents []

Bring back the draft?. Rep. Charles Rangel says yes -- the poor, black and brown shouldn't be the only Americans fighting and dying in Iraq. [Salon.com]
12:17:17 PM  #   your two cents []

Radio: Where's the Diversity?. In the wake of radio deregulation, consumer groups and industry executives lock horns over how to solve the problem of the same songs blaring over the airwaves. Policy makers are eager to enter the fray.  [Wired News] ... Ironically, Britain and Ireland have been eager to deregulate and get new stations -- most of which play the exact same dull teen-ish playlist (Robbie Williams and J-Lo again? Pass me the noose...). State-run broadcasters -- a very odd idea to Americans -- still tend to make the quality programs over here, with very few exceptions. One of the best additions to the radio world in Ireland was the State's launch of Lyric FM -- mostly classical but with some fab world music, jazz, and eclectic mix programs like Blue of the Night as well (my personal favourite). No inane DJs. And some good arts stuff too. You can stream it! The US seemed to lose this kind of unconstrained variety by the early 80s. A shame -- and a reason to regret the new limitations on internet radio broadcasts.
12:16:24 PM  #   your two cents []

Well, another day of small nasty fibres drifting around my house. I've just had my little 100+-year-old attic insulated and walled by my trustworthy handyman Chris (what every girl needs in hired help :^) -- reliable, never leaves jobs almost-done or just-started, good prices, does everything needed to comfort an old house from plastering to plumbing to carpentry to tiling, and you can trust him with your key. Few like that anymore, especially in Dublin). As it continues at about 1 degree C, this is a timely job, but that insulation stuff is hideous. It should settle quickly now that he's done.

If you grow up somewhere where an 'old' house is 20 years old (California), it's quite a change to be in one that was around before your 95-year-old grandmother was even born. And the workmanship is a revelation -- I've had no major work to do on this place, just maintenance; brickwork is sound, it has lovely, aged hand-cut Irish slates on the roof (as in, made of stone) and old pine floorboards as tight as the day they were laid. In my attic, you used to look directly at the undersides of the slates -- that was all that stood between you and the Irish sky. It was charming in its own bitterly cold way, but I must say I'm glad it's nicely sealed now! Later today I am going ice-skating in the big outdoor rink set up near to me in Smithfield. Small pleasures that make city life a joy (along with NOT owning a car -- a fact that gives me such satisfaction. You can rent unbelieveably cheaply in Ireland from here -- I figure I could rent a few times a month and still come in much cheaper than owning, given petrol, maintenance, insurance etc).

12:07:00 PM  #   your two cents []

Z sends me this (and notes with fascination that it's only Part 1...!). Wow. I say, send that boy to live with grandma, and while you're at it, buy him a copy of Billy Elliot.
10:19:36 AM  #   your two cents []

John Andrew Holmes. "Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it often substitutes for both." [Quotes of the Day]
9:29:13 AM  #   your two cents []

The Stevenote: Jobs Shows Off New Apple Products. Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled a 17-inch screen PowerBook, a souped-up integrated version of its iTunes, iMovie and iDVD apps, plus a new browser for Macs at his keynote address at Macworld in San Francisco.  [Wired News]
9:28:27 AM  #   your two cents []

Moblogging software for mobile phone-created weblogs: a new Irish company, NewBay Software, will launch a product this month that enables people to create a blog using only a mobile phone and SMS and MMS messages. So text messages and images from a camera phone can be sent remotely to your blog. No PC is necessary although most people would view the blog by PC and would probably want to tinker with their site by PC; no software is carried on the handset itself; instead NewBay offers the software to mobile operators who can then offer a blogging service. This is NOT a direct consumer offering but would presumably be rebranded by an operator. Either the operator or NewBay can host and manage the blogs.

Also, this software is for creating a dedicated 'FoneBlog', as the product is called; not to enable you to file to an existing blog. CEO Paddy Holahan, formerly a VP with Baltimore Technologies, told me that he doesn't see FoneBlog competing with Radio or Blogger because it's a different product -- fairly simple, designed to work with a micropayment system, targetting especially at the youth market. I've got a story in the Irish Times today here [sub required] which I've reprinted (in a slightly longer version) here; the official press release is here. Paddy says he's had a lot of interest from operators in Ireland and the US (though he would, but I've known him for several years and he's pretty straight up most of the time [grin].

9:17:15 AM  #   your two cents []