Remains of 2 Sept. 11 Hijackers Identified "New York medical examiners using DNA samples have identified the remains of two of the 10 suicide hijackers who crashed jetliners into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, officials said Thursday. The FBI provided the medical examiners' office with DNA profiles of the 10 hijackers, said Ellen Barakove, a spokeswoman for the New York Medical Examiner's office. Examiners "a few days ago" matched two of the profiles to remains collected after the twin towers' collapse, she told CNN."

Judge duct Tapes Defendant's Mouth Shut up, already.

12 Angry Men We watched Sidney Lumet's 1957 classic, 12 Angry Men, this weekend on DVD. If you've never seen it, check it out. Reviews: Roger Ebert, Joe Wong, Steve Rhodes. (Note: There is a 1997 TV remake starring Jack Lemmon which is pretty good. Of course, I would recommend viewing the original before the remake.)

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bryant: On Fire!

Linux Windows More Stable than Linux? Say it ain't so!

No Doubt Wins Grammy


"Gwen Stafani of No Doubt makes an acceptance speech after the group won for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal for Hey Baby' at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2003, at Madison Square Garden in New York."

Norah Jones, Grammy Winner Norah Jones Walks Away With Eight Trophies - Her album (Amazon, Ebay) really is a breath of fresh air. Check it out, if you haven't done so already.

Dubya Explainifies the War Funny stuff. (Popup warning.)

War News I've created a new section at the top right of this page as a home for war-related links.

Stupid Computer Tricks! Photos from a retail PC repair shop.

Make-a-Flake Cool Flash: Make-a-Flake

Hippos! Great photo!

Lightning ABCNews.com - What Happens When Lightning Strikes

War's Start Pushed to Mid-March "U.S. military planners are now looking at mid-March as a starting date for a war against Iraq, a delay caused by diplomatic snags and difficulties in moving heavy Army divisions. The majority of Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps combat units are in the Persian Gulf poised for an attack. The timing of the war is critical, U.S. officials said, because it is best for troops and machines to fight in the Gulf's 70-degree winter weather than its oppressive desert heat of the summer. The temperatures begin to rise in April."

Segway's Breakdown "Inventor Dean Kamen promised that his superscooter would change the world. Then reality hit - hard."

Double Treat for Beatles Fans "Beatles fans received a double treat Tuesday with announcements of a new world tour by Paul McCartney and the release of a DVD of a 1994 jam session by McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. McCartney said he plans to include several Beatles songs in his first British tour in a decade, scheduling 22 songs from his Fab Four days for each two-and-a-half hour arena concert."

Snow in NYC Peter sends along some photos of the snow in my old Brooklyn neighborhood.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days - I liked this movie. Not great or brilliant, but Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey are charming, and they provide some pretty good laughs.

Google - Big Brother? Google - Is it Big Brother?

Microsoft Readies Office 2003 "The next version of Microsoft's Office, currently known as Office 11, will likely be called Office 2003, starting with the release of the second beta version early next month, according to sources familiar with Microsoft's plans. That name for the productivity application suite would be in line with the nomenclature for other new Microsoft products. For example, Microsoft earlier this year changed the Windows .Net Server product name to Windows Server 2003, with launch of the server platform scheduled for April 24."

Earl Scruggs


"Legendary banjo player and musician Earl Scruggs poses with his banjo as his star is unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, February 13, 2003."
Earl is a class act. His concert (with Lester Flatt) at Carnegie Hall in 1962 is available on CD. It's one of my favorite albums.

Daredevil Here's another review that says Daredevil is a dud.

LOSAT: Must-See Video Check out this video (1.9 MB) of the new LOSAT anti-tank missile used by the U.S. military. More info.

Special Operations Units Already in Iraq "U.S. Special Operations troops are already operating in various parts of Iraq, hunting for weapons sites, establishing a communications network and seeking potential defectors from Iraqi military units in what amounts to the initial ground phase of a war, U.S. defense officials and experts familiar with Pentagon planning said."

Linux Red Hat, Oracle to Certify Linux for Government - "Red Hat and Oracle plan to announce on Thursday that the companies have teamed to get Linux evaluated under the Common Criteria, a certification that could open doors for the broader use of open-source software by government agencies. The effort is expected to take nine to 10 months and cost up to $1 million. But if successful, it could pay off handsomely for Red Hat and Oracle, as well as for Linux. "The government has been deploying Linux in smaller settings quite broadly, but it's still done by exception, by and large," said Mark De Visser, vice president of marketing for Red Hat. "What happens with these certifications is that they will push Linux into the mainstream."

Must-See Video Crab vs. Pipe - "This is a video taken in 6000 feet of water. An undersea robot is sawing a 3mm wide slit in a pipeline. The pressure inside the pipeline is 0 psi, while the pressure outside is 2700 psi, or 1.3 tons per square inch. Then a crab comes along..."

Mark Steyn I'm not the only one who thinks Bin Laden is dead.

X-Men 1.5 New on DVD: X-Men 1.5: Special Edition (Amazon) (Ebay)

Daredevil James Berardinelli reviews Daredevil: "Unfortunately, all of this angst seems more like window-dressing than genuine motivation. In fact, one of the problems with Daredevil is that the main character never attains three-dimensionality. Despite various attempts by writer/director Mark Steven Johnson to flesh him out, he remains as flat as an image on a comic book page."

Parking Spots Cool!

Osama Personally, I think Bin Laden is dead. If he were alive, why wouldn't he communicate via videotape? An voice recording is nice, but hardly concrete proof. Anyway, here is the text of his latest message.

Survivor 6: The Amazon The 90-minute season premiere of Survivor: The Amazon airs tomorrow night on CBS. This time, it's the girls and against the guys.

Columbia Tragedy - Cartoons The Columbia Tragedy - Editorial Cartoons

Linux ZDNet: Linux Server Sales Nearly Double

Navel Piercing - Risks & Rewards Is There a Ring in Your Future?

2003 Oscar Nominations - Predictions Complete List of 2003 Oscar Nominees - My first reaction to this list: there will be no big surprises. I feel confident that I can already pick the winners for Picture, Director, Leading and Supporting Actor and Actress. The clear frontrunner for Best Picture is Chicago. Indeed, it got 13 nominations. Jack Nicholson will win another Oscar for About Schmidt. (A close second would be Michael Caine. He's won for Supporting Actor, but never for lead actor.) Best Actress will go to Nicole Kidman for The Hours. Oscar passed over her last year for Moulin Rouge, but he won't make the same mistake twice. Supporting Actor will go to Chris Cooper for Adaptation, according to the buzz. Julianne Moore will win Supporting Actress for her performance in The Hours. Finally, Martin Scorsese will win his first (long overdue) Oscar for Best Director for Gangs of New York. Gangs is not his best work, but he's been passed over so many times, Oscar won't let him down this year. Sadly, Peter Jackson was not nominated for Best Director this year. Nor will The Two Towers win Best Picture. I honestly think The Academy is going to reward him next year for the third film of his trilogy, Return of the King. If not, what a shame. The good news for Peter Jackson? The box office has rewarded him - big time!

Sweet Home Alabama We rented Sweet Home Alabama. It's cute and funny, with a lot of heart. The soundtrack is a winner. Here is Ebert's review.

Dude, You're Not Getting a Dell - You're Busted "Hey, dude, you're getting a cell! Benjamin Curtis, the 22-year old actor who portrays the Dell Guy in those bothersome computer commercials, was arrested late last night on a marijuana possession charge..."

Ebert on the Mend "Film critic Roger Ebert is recuperating from follow-up surgery for papillary cancer, a common and curable type of thyroid cancer. "It went very successfully," a hospital spokeswoman said. A year ago, doctors removed Ebert's thyroid gland and selected lymph nodes in his neck. They said at the time that Ebert was expected to make a complete recovery."

U.S. Demands Iraq Show Cooperation by the Weekend "Secretary of State Colin L. Powell warned today that if Saddam Hussein was still not cooperating with United Nations inspectors at the end of this week, President Bush would press immediately for consideration of a Security Council resolution authorizing possible use of force against Iraq."

AMD Barton CPU Outperforms Pentium 4 "AMD has released its newest Athlon XP processor, and a handful of vendors have already snapped up the new CPU that enables AMD to win its game of "cache up" with Intel. The Athlon XP 3000+, previously code-named Barton, doubles the Level 2 cache of previous models. PC World's first tests show the results: Barton-based Athlon XP 3000+ systems flew through productivity work, topping the fastest Pentium 4 systems tested. The AMD-based PCs also continue to triumph in the pricing contest, selling for hundreds of dollars less than comparably configured P4 systems."

Mud Bugs We ate our first batch of boiled crawfish yesterday, along with plenty of ice cold (cheap) beer.

Navigator Extreme Totally out of my price range, but very cool: Navigator Extreme!

Linux IPod Doctoring an IPod to Run on Linux (via garret)

N-Gage Nokia N-Gage (via BigJim)

Letters Cool (Flash) game: Letters

Game Over Bush to Saddam: "The game is over."

Grisham The latest novel by John Grisham: The King of Torts

Porsche Carrera GT Got an extra half mil? Then get yourself a Porsche Carrera GT. It has a 612 hp ten-cylinder 5.7 liter engine.

Jelly I don't think you're ready for this jelly.

The Simpsons Top 25 Simpsons Episodes

Smoking Guns John Podhoretz: "Why did the administration wait until this week? Two reasons. First: The U.N. arms inspectors delivered their report a week ago Monday; the world needed time to digest it. Second (and far more important): The fact that the administration felt ready to release certain pieces of highly classified information means that we are on the verge of war. How do I know this? I know it by the very fact that the administration was willing to release these satellite photos and telephone intercepts in the first place."

Fred Kaplan: Smoking Gun Colin Powell Delivers the Goods on Saddam

Powell's Key Points On Iraq "Although he said in advance that there would be no "smoking gun," U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell raised numerous points Wednesday in making his case against Iraq to the U.N. Security Council. Here are some of the highlights."

Microsoft, Innovation, and Linux "Though the Linux community does not want to admit this, Linux has become a pale imitation of the evil OS it intends to replace. Part of the dilemma is also due to the fact that programmers - not artists - are running the show." Let the games begin...

How to Fly Without ID How to Fly Without ID

Billionaire Cry Babies Cry Me a Freakin' River - Microsoft says it may have to lower its prices, as a result of open-source competition.

Scot's Newsletter, Number 39 Review: Lavasoft's Ad-aware Plus 6.0

Embrace File-Sharing, or Die "A record executive and his son make a formal case for freely downloading music. The gist: 50 million Americans can't be wrong."

The Real "Let It Be" Album!


"Now, for the first time, Apple Records will be offering a new version of Let It Be featuring all of the songs in their original form, before Phil Spector got his hands on them. In conjunction with the CD release, the difficult-to-come-by Let It Be film will also be offered on DVD for the first time. Release dates have yet to be set for both the CD and DVD." More. Giddy-Up!

Andy Serkis CNN: The Man Behind Gollum

Powell to Show Iraqi Transcripts, Photos "Secretary of State Colin Powell will present photographs of mobile biological weapons and transcripts of overheard Iraqi conversations to convince allies that Saddam Hussein has potent arsenals in defiance of U.N. disarmament demands, an administration official said Monday. Powell sifted through classified U.S. intelligence on Monday to choose what he will make public on Wednesday to the U.N. Security Council. He is expected to display the photographs and refer to transcripts, an official told The Associated Press."

Blair to Meet with French President CNN: Crucial France, UK Talks Over Iraq

Video of Debris Hitting Columbia Wing Here is a slideshow of debris hitting the underside of the left wing of Columbia during its liftoff.

Secure Computing? Experts: Microsoft Security Gets an "F"!

Shuttle Columbia Crew Photo Large Photo of the Shuttle Columbia Crew

Tragedy ABCNews: A Tragic Day

Columbia Lost