Browser War Update (Resistance is Futile) "According to new research from Amsterdam-based OneStat.com, Mozilla 1.0 global usage has grown from 0.4 percent in June to 0.8 percent this month, nearly four months after its release. Netscape 7.0 global usage has risen from 0.3 percent to 0.5 percent in the same period. In comparison, global usage for Microsoft's latest browser, IE 6, has grown from 46.4 percent to 52.3 percent from June to September, the study found." - ZDNet

Tropical Storm Lili Hello, Lili!

Lord of the Rings The 6 MB MOV trailer for The Two Towers is here.

Mariah Update Mariah's New Track Hits Radio Today - "Mariah Carey is back. Her new single Through the Rain, which was produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, debuted on MTV Network websites Wednesday and will hit the radio waves today." Regarding her film career, VH1 offers this update: "Mariah Carey's next film is about to make its debut, but don't go looking for it in theaters - Wisegirls will debut on Cinemax. Part crime drama, part chick flick, Wisegirls premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January to rave reviews, in contrast to the widely panned Glitter."

John Scalzi: Whatever John Scalzi: "If I were the music industry, I'd scrap the MusicUnited.org site and try for something that starts with the assumption that the kids aren't the enemy and have to be threatened, but are actually reasonably intelligent people who might be persuaded to spend money to support their favorite musicians if it could be intelligently explained to them why this is actually a good thing to do. In the meantime, the site is the music industry equivalent of "Just Say No" -- The right message, perhaps, but the utterly wrong way to say it."

Vocera Communications Badge Vocera Communications Badge - Neat.

Freeware: SpamPal "SpamPal sits between your email program and your mailbox, checking your email as you retrieve it. Any email messages that SpamPal considers to be spam will be "tagged" with a special header; you simply configure your email client to filter anything with this header into a separate folder and your spam won't be mixed up with the rest of your email anymore!" I have not personally used this product. I would like to test it in the near future.

Scot's Newsletter Volume 2, Issue Number 32 - Includes discussion of Windows XP SP1 issues and more tips on fighting spam.

Suzuki Hey, watch out for the potholes!

Jordan The athlete that just won't stop.

Copyspeak Gary Shapiro: "Time after time, practices of individuals that were initially equated with "piracy" or "theft" have been shown to be neutral, even beneficial, to copyright owners, and have been accepted as fair use. Think of the VCR and the Supreme Court decision holding that its use to tape full movies is completely legal. The music industry has made little effort to look at new business models or provide a viable and attractive alternative to the downloading services. Instead, they spend their time complaining they "cannot compete with free," referring to the free downloading the Internet allows. But the marketplace demonstrates you can compete with free. Purveyors of bottled water do it. America Online does it. Book retailers do it with libraries. Independent online music services say they can do it, if they can clear the rights."

P2P One Buck Forty or Die - John C. Dvorak argues that CD's should sell for about $1.40 each. "45-rpm singles used to cost 50 cents each, and it was a big deal to sell a million of them. Elvis Presley led a good life, it seems to me, by leveraging his career with those old profit margins. Heck, he was giving away Cadillacs." (via Stephen)

Optical Illusion This optical illusion is hard to believe. (via Jason)

Unwanted Hair Club NextDraft: Unwanted Hair Club for Men

Sweet Home Alabama James Berardinelli: "Reese Witherspoon can carry almost any movie on her own, and there are times here when she nearly has to."

MGM Stands Behind Barbershop "Although producers have apologized for the jokes, Variety reports that the film's studio, MGM, is staunchly refusing to clip the lines from the movie or from its future DVD versions, despite the insistence of Jackson and Sharpton, who are calling for a national boycott of the movie as of this Friday if their demands are not met, The New York Times reports."

American Idol 'American Idol' Kelly Clarkson Crushes Singles Chart Competition - "Double A-side single 'Before Your Love/ A Moment Like This' sells more than 236,000 its first week."

Blogcritics.org Have you been to Blogcritics.org lately? If not, go check it out.

Word Up "Once a year, Merriam-Webster updates its Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, which defines words in mainstream use. Among the new words that made the cut for 2002 were bootylicious, treehugger, hottie, roadrage and dollarization."

U.S.-British Airstrike Hits Iraq Military Facility in No-Fly Zone "Allied aircraft have struck Iraqi air defense facilities again, defense officials said. The latest strike by precision-guided weapons was on facilities near Al Amarah about 170 miles southeast of Baghdad at approximately 2:15 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, according to Central Command in Florida. It brought to at least 38 the number of strikes reported this year by the United States and the United Kingdom coalition put together to patrol zones in the north and south of Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War."

Bear Market "Last year, according to Armkel L.L.C., manufacturers of the hair-removal solution Nair, 30 percent of men aged 18 to 34 regularly shaved their chests. The wheel of fashion appears to have turned full circle. At the recent fall fashion shows, the pasty, snake-hipped rent boys and dolphin-smooth himbos - who have sulked, preened and pouted their way down international catwalks for so many seasons - were, if not entirely replaced, at least upstaged. The new models were less pretty - older, hairier -grown-up men. But the cult of musky he-man fur is not just sprouting on the catwalks. Hugh Jackman, George Clooney and Russell Crowe, some of Hollywood's hottest leading men, all proudly sport hairy chests." (NY Times Link, Free Login Required)

Rain Isidore is now producing a steady light rain for us, here in Jackson. UPDATE: Jim offers this link to an animated Flash tracker via a comment. I've also added the link to the right sidebar.

MetaFilter Steven Den Beste: "I'm afraid our MetaFilterian friends wouldn't know a police state if it fell on their heads, or repression if it was shoved up their..." Needless to say, Steven rips the MeFi crowd a new one.

Honda Element Introducing the Honda Element.

Isidore It now looks as if Isidore will be what Gulf Coast residents call a "little one".

Thought You'd Never Get Here Man Rescued After 4 Months at Sea

Lost Nirvana Track Leaked To Radio & The Web "A studio version of the previously unreleased Nirvana song, "You Know You're Right," was broadcast Monday night and Tuesday morning (September 23 and 24) on influential modern rock station KROQ Los Angeles shortly after it surfaced on various websites."

Arafat I can't even make this stuff up.

Office Vocabulary Update
BLAMESTORMING: Sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.

SEAGULL MANAGER: A manager, who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves.

MOUSE POTATO: The on-line, wired generation's answer to the couch potato.

STRESS PUPPY: A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiney.

ASSMOSIS: The process by which some people seem to absorb success and advancement by kissing up to the boss rather than working hard.

XEROX SUBSIDY: Euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one's workplace.

OHNOSECOND: That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a BIG mistake.

CROP DUSTING: Surreptitiously farting while passing thru a cube farm, then enjoying the sounds of dismay and disgust.

(Thanks, Krispy!)

Rain We're about to get a little rain. Yikes! UPDATE: Louisiana has declared a state of emergency.

CSI: Miami The first episode of CSI: Miami was pretty good.

Jackson Wants Scenes Cut "Jesse Jackson says he's pleased the producers of "Barbershop" have apologized for the film's barbs about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and others, but still wants the jokes cut from future DVD and video editions of the hit movie." Ridiculous. The audience in the theater on opening night roared with laughter at those jokes.

Big Fat Liar New on DVD: Big Fat Liar. Ebert liked it. His peers did not.

P2P: KaZaA Lite 2.0.0 KaZaA Lite 2.0.0 has been released.

Junk Email on the Increase "A survey by email publishing outfit emedia claims that nearly 90 per cent of companies it surveyed aims to increase their spending on email marketing over the next 12 months. Why? Because seven out of ten companies found that email is the most effective marketing tool for generating sales leads."

Change Volume Licensing Product Key on Windows XP SP1 "Because of changes in Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP-based computers that use a leaked product key that is known to be available to the general public may not be able to install SP1 or automatically obtain updates from the Windows Update Web site." To change your product key, follow these instructions.

Would you like to retrieve your XP Product Key?
RockXP is a free program that will allow you to retrieve the XP product key that was used when you installed Windows XP. You'll need a tool like this if you misplace your serial sticker.

Ghost 2003 Ghost 2003 is now available. (via Steve)

PartitionMagic 8.0 PartitionMagic 8.0 is now available.

Neowin Neowin is back, complete with stupid pop-ups. Nice.

Fisherman The Llama is a fisherman! UPDATE: More!

With Friends Like These... "A 6-year-old boy injured when a young Bengal tiger leaped on him during a school assembly in Santa Cruz County left the hospital Saturday, but it's not yet known if he was hurt by the 140-pound cat or by those who rushed to save him."

Survivor 5 Survivor 5 is underway.

Spam Works Why is there so much spam? Because it works.

Miss America 2003 Erika Harold, Miss America 2003. "Harold, the oldest of four children, began competing in pageants when she was 18 and won the Miss Illinois pageant on her third try. Among her competitors in the state pageant this year was her 20-year-old her sister, Alexandra Harold. Harold said she plans to promote anti-violence and anti-bullying programs during her yearlong reign. She chose the cause because of personal experience: As a ninth grader, she was bullied and harassed, both racially and sexually, and had to change schools to escape it, she said. For winning the Miss America title, Harold gets $50,000 in scholarship aid to add to the $30,000 in scholarships she'd already amassed competing in the Miss America system."

570 Bars 570 Bars (dot com)

Emmys: Joke Need proof that the Emmys are a joke? Guess who won the award for Outstanding Comedy Writing? Saturday Night Live. (Scroll all the way down to bottom left.) Yeah, right. Try again. Next!

Larry Seltzer: Windows XP - One Year Later Larry Seltzer: "I've been using Windows XP as my main desktop OS for about a year now. I'm really very happy with it, as are most XP users I know. It's probably the best job Microsoft has ever done on a desktop operating system. However, there are some things that could have been done better. One year later - especially now that Service Pack 1 has been released - it's worth looking at what Microsoft could have done better, though I don't think any of the flaws are crucial."

Iraq Rejects New UN Resolutions "Iraq on Saturday rejected U.S. efforts to secure a U.N. resolution threatening war, with Iraqi state-run radio announcing Baghdad will not abide by unfavorable new resolutions adopted by the U.N. Security Council."

Oktoberfest "Beer lovers wearing traditional Bavarian costumes have raised their glasses to open Munich's Oktoberfest, the world's biggest beer festival. Around seven million beer devotees are expected to crowd the 14 cavernous beer tents during the 16-day festival and the thirsty hordes are set to quaff around five million litres of strong Bavarian lager." Looks like fun.

Huh? Look at this photo, read the caption, shake your head and keep moving.

mp3Trim mp3Trim - "Its main advantage is that it works directly in the MP3 format without having to decode/re-encode, so it is very fast and doesn't degrade the music quality."

Florida 2004 Susanna Cornett says: Florida is Ready for 2004! (via Craig)

Dooce Heather has been busy. She potty trained her dog, got married, got a new job and rejuvenated her blog.

Miss America Behind the Scenes at Miss America - Olivia Barker shares her experience.

The Horror... Photo

Rally Monkey Good Morning! Turn up the volume on your speakers and click here. Thank you.

Pain Yesterday at 2 AM I learned the true meaning of the word pain. May you never experience it.

Altoids Tangerine Sours My new favorite candy: Altoid Tangerine Sours

Microsoft's Antitrust Fix is Challenged Regarding SP1 for Windows XP, this article notes, "The kit, called a service pack, is supposed to enable consumers to hide programs such as the Internet browser that Microsoft bundled with recent operating systems. The idea was to give other software companies a better chance to compete by letting consumers and computer makers substitute non-Microsoft programs. ProComp contends the kit is poorly designed, takes too long to download (nearly 11 hours in some cases) and doesn't work as promised. The organization said it used the kit to make Netscape Navigator the default browser on a new Dell computer. But when the group tried shopping for music using Windows XP's "My Music" feature, Microsoft's browser launched on its own."

9/11 Probers Say Agencies Failed to Heed Attack Signs "U.S. intelligence agencies received many more indications than previously disclosed that Osama bin Laden's terrorist network was planning imminent "spectacular" attacks in the summer of 2001 aimed at inflicting mass casualties, according to the preliminary findings of a joint congressional intelligence panel report released yesterday."

John Q John Q - Cheap emotionalism. Is this movie about the plight of those without health insurance? Is it about the lengths a father will go to in order to save his son? Is it about good cops and bad cops? Robert Duvall's character is so poorly written, it's not even funny. I agree with Ebert that there is one scene that belongs in a better film. It's the scene in which Denzel Washington offers some last words to his son. Not recommended at all.

Bush Sends Proposal to Congress "President Bush asked Congress Thursday for authority to use "all means he determines to be appropriate, including force" to disarm and overthrow Iraq's Saddam Hussein, saying the United States will take action on its own if the U.N. Security Council balks."

Arafat Under the Gun Again "Israeli tanks entered Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday, Palestinian security officials said, after a suicide bomber blew himself up on a Tel Aviv bus, killing five other people."

Count of Monte Cristo The Count of Monte Cristo is now on DVD. Both of us really enjoyed it. The critics gave it mixed reviews, however.

Blogcritics.org BlogCritics.org has a new look.

A+ Last night I passed both A+ exams and got my certification.

Smoke Priceless. (via bhb)

Sand in the Gears Tony Woodlief writes about his road trip.

Rights Issue Rocks the Music World "Record companies see it as mutiny. Musicians call it an overdue rebellion. Either way, the artists' rights movement has set the stage for combat that could revolutionize the music industry."

Barbershop We saw Barbershop last night. Lots of great laughs, many of which came from Cedric the Entertainer's character. Recommended.

Not Just Spam? I can't even make this stuff up!

Two Lion Cubs Great photo.

Aghast This picture is truly worth a thousand words. (via Live from Brussels)

Pear Cream Breakfast Cake Sounds yummy.

Bush's Speech to UN Text of Bush's Speech to the United Nations

Bombs (Already) Away Larry Kudlow: "Israeli intelligence sources report that some 15 percent of Iraqi soil is already under allied control and that a combined U.S.-Turkish force will soon capture Iraq's oil facilities in the north. They also say U.S. special forces numbering near 15,000 troops could move into the area in the next month. A full-scale allied invasion could occur in late November."

Priceless Super Heros (Thanks, Zack!)

IE 6 SP1 Internet Explorer 6 SP1 has been released. If you would like to download the full version, go here: How to Download Internet Explorer 6 SP1

One Year Later James Lileks: "If I could go back a year, I'd have told myself this."

Browsers If you're not using Internet Explorer as your browser, you belong to a tiny minority. Less than 5%, to be exact. If there ever really was a browser war, it's Over. Congratulations, Microsoft.

CinemaNow "Warner Bros. has become the latest studio to offer some of its films for a limited time for download over the Internet. The studio will offer some of its biggest recent titles, including "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," as well as older titles such as "Mars Attacks," over CinemaNow, a video-on-demand service that offers films for viewing on computers."

George Harrison's Final Album "The album ex-Beatle George Harrison recorded in the last months of his life as he fought a losing battle with cancer will be released in November, 10 days before the first anniversary of his death, his recording company said on Monday."

Attack of the Clones - Bigger than Ever Episode II Coming to IMAX Theaters - "This holiday season, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones will be bigger than ever. It will be coming to IMAX theaters in the United States and Canada starting November 1, 2002. This is not just the projection of the standard theatrical print on an IMAX screen - the movie will undergo the revolutionary IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) process, which enhances the quality of the image and soundtrack to the huge IMAX 15/70 format. This marks the first time IMAX DMR has been used to re-master a film that was digitally captured and created."

Windows XP SP1 Info Windows XP Service Pack 1 - "Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) provides the latest security and reliability updates to the Windows XP family of operating systems. Windows XP SP1 is designed to ensure Windows XP platform compatibility with newly released software and hardware, and includes updates that resolve issues discovered by customers or by Microsoft's internal testing team."

Redneck Photos Here's a treasure chest that's chock full of redneck photos. (via bhb)

Bombed Out of the Stone Age Christopher Hitchens - "There is not a government in the world that will ever again volunteer to play host to Al Qaeda or its surrogates and imitators."

Fatal Flaw The Fatal Flaw Inside Microsoft's New Media Center PC's - "The DVD's you burn can only be played on the same machine on which they were recorded."

Air Blitz DEBKAfle: "Since last month, a combined American-British air blitz has been proceeding to systematically knock out the first line of Iraq's air force and air defenses. To date, American and allied Turkish special forces have gained control of some 15 percent of Iraqi soil - mostly in the north. They are poised at a point 10-15 miles from Iraq's two northern oil cities of Mosul andKirkuk, together with pro-American Kurdish and Turkman paramilitary groups, with no Iraqi force in the way of their advance, if ordered to occupy the two towns."

The Horror of 9/11 Here is a photo that will remind you of the true horror of 9/11.

Bush to Urge U.N. to Act to Disarm Iraq "President Bush plans to tell world leaders at the United Nations next week that unless they take quick, unequivocally strong action to disarm Iraq, the United States will be forced to act on its own, senior administration officials said yesterday."

Windows XP SP1 Download Link: Windows XP Service Pack 1 (133 MB EXE file)

Faith & Doubt at Ground Zero Frontline: Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero

George P. Shultz Speaks Former U.S. Secretary of State, George P. Schultz: "Iraq by its own actions has, in effect, terminated the cease-fire established in 1991 at the end of the Gulf War and reactivated the "suspended" authorization to use military force against Iraq. No longer can anyone plausibly claim that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction can be eliminated by an inspection program. The Security Council's judgment still stands: A Saddam Hussein armed with weapons of mass destruction is not acceptable. Military force against Hussein is both necessary and authorized to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction."

Cool Hardware Microsoft: Mouse & Keyboard

Yuppie Horror Flick Mark Twain once said that the difference between Edgar Allen Poe and Jane Austen could be expressed like this: "You can pay me to read Poe." That being said, you could not pay me to see this.

Democrats for Regime Change "The president's warnings are firm. "If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow." The stakes, he says, could not be higher. "Some day, some way, I guarantee you, he'll use the arsenal." These are the words not of President George W. Bush in September 2002 but of President Bill Clinton on February 18, 1998."

U.S. Special Forces Bodyguard Here is a photo of one of the U.S. Special Forces bodyguards assigned to protect Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

R.I.P. Napster

Lileks: Dwelling on 9/11 "There hasn't been a day I haven't thought about it. That bothers some people. There's an attitude in some quarters that there's something unhealthy about thinking about 9/11, certainly in dwelling on the details."

Checkmate? S. Allen Riley: "Bush spent 32 days in Texas. He wasn't just clearing the brush from his ranch. He was preparing a checkmate for Saddam Hussein - and, perhaps, for Tom Daschle, too."

Allies Bomb Iraqi Military Facility "Allied aircraft bombed a military facility southwest of Baghdad Thursday after Iraqi forces attacked one of their patrols in the no-fly zone, defense officials said. It was the 35th airstrike reported this year by the U.S. and British coalition put together to patrol zones in the north and south of Iraq following the Persian Gulf War."

WTC Elevators Elevators were Disaster within Disaster - "Some people plunged to their deaths after elevator cables were destroyed by the hijacked jets that crashed into the buildings. Others burned to death as flames shot down shafts. And some who were trapped inside stalled elevators died when the buildings collapsed."

Desperation Forced a Horrific Decision "USA Today estimates that at least 200 people jumped to their deaths that morning, far more than can be seen in the photographs taken that morning. Nearly all were from the north tower, which was hit first and collapsed last. Fewer than a dozen were from the south tower. The jumping started shortly after the first jet hit at 8:46 a.m. People jumped continuously during the 102 minutes that the north tower stood. For those who jumped, the fall lasted 10 seconds. They struck the ground at just less than 150 miles per hour - not fast enough to cause unconsciousness while falling, but fast enough to ensure instant death on impact. People jumped from all four sides of the north tower. They jumped alone, in pairs and in groups."

100,000 U.S. Troops Near Iraq "The United States continues its military buildup in and around the Persian Gulf with analysts estimating up to 100,000 troops within striking distance of Iraq, according to Geostrategy, the global intelligence news service."

Works Suite 2003 "Works Suite is Microsoft's low-cost productivity suite for consumers not interested in the features or price of its Office XP package. Microsoft positions it as providing more value for money than Office; for example, Word 2002, which comes with Works Suite 2003, costs more purchased separately than does the entire consumer productivity suite." For around $100, what a great deal! The package includes Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2003, Money 2003, Picture It! Photo 7.0, Streets & Trips 2002 and Word 2002.

Iraq Bush to Make His Case Before UN

Greece Bans Electronic Games That's right. In Greece, it's now illegal to play Hearts. (Thanks, Chad!)

Long Weekend Courtney and I were in Prentiss and Columbia this weekend for a little R & R. Derek and I found a good partner on Yahoo! Spades one night and won five or six consecutive games. His rating is now in the 1600's. We grilled rib eye steaks, my favorite, Sunday night, and we grilled hamburgers and sausage Monday night. No, I'm not a vegetarian.

Delay Meant Death Delay Meant Death on 9/11 - "To survive the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the right thing to do was to follow instinct, not procedure. Don't wait to find out what is happening. Don't go back for your briefcase. Don't heed announcements that the building is safe. Don't take the stairs; take the elevator."

Blair to Publish Dossier CNN: "Tony Blair has vowed to publish within the next few weeks a dossier revealing intelligence on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Blair said Saddam was continuing his efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction in defiance of U.N. resolutions, adding that how that threat should be dealt with had yet to be decided - but that the issue did have to be addressed."

40 Richest Under 40 Fortune.com: America's 40 Richest Under 40 - Here's one that I wouldn't have guessed: Sean Combs.