Lightbox JS Lightbox JS - This is a neat javascript for enhancing photo placement within web pages.

Bananas A banana a day keeps the doctor away? Maybe.

Google Stock The price of Google's stock, per share, is now over $400. Less than two years ago, it went on sale for $100. I would have never guessed that it would have been this successful. Many investors have made a quick profit.

Guess the Launch Date Windows Vista: Guess the Launch Date. My best guess? Late summer or early fall.

Firefox After reviewing my website statistics, I can reveal the following. Ninety-nine percent of all visitors use Windows. Eighty percent of all visitors use Internet Explorer, the rest are using Firefox. This means that roughly one in five Windows users has ditched Internet Explorer.

Preston Davis Green Congratulations to Stephen and Melissa Green! They are the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy.

Sleeping Like a Baby Well, in fact, she is a baby, and she's pictured here in her new Fisher-Price Infant-to-Toddler Rocker. She seems to really like it. Click the photo for a larger view.

Fountainhead I have recently become interested in the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. As you most likely know, he was a master builder, and is considered America's most famous architect. During our recent visit to NY, Courtney and I toured the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, which houses The Frank Lloyd Wright Room. This room allows you to experience a Wright-designed interior. It is impressive. When I returned home, I learned that one of his designs is right here in Jackson. In fact, "Fountainhead", also known as the J. Willis Hughes House, (1948) is less than two miles from my place of employment. During my lunch hour today, I drove to the house and observed it from two different streets. Very interesting. There are no ninety degree angles in the design. I would love to tour the home and see the entire exterior, but someone lives there and I'm sure they don't give tours. I have been unable to find any photos of Fountainhead online. If possible, I will try to post some here, if possible.

According to what I've read online, there are two more FLW houses in MS. However, they are both in Ocean Springs, a town hit hard by the recent storm. The home were built in 1890. Does anyone know if they survived?

RELATED: Here are some cool photos of FLW's winter home, Taliesin West. This house is the headquarters of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, and it's the winter home for the School of Architecture.

Site Rendering Would someone please tell me why my site does not render properly in Firefox? The horizontal spacing looks just fine in IE, but sucks in Firefox. What gives?

New Peppers for Mint To my readers who are familar with Mint: Today I installed five different peppers: Fresh View, Session Tracker, Strong Mint, Geo Mint and Outclicks. Boys and girls, Mint just keeps on getting better!

Recordable DVD Quality Is your recordable DVD media high-quality? Go here to find out.

DRM Sucks David Berlind with more reasons why DRM sucks. Here's a good quote: "Down the road, when there are no more CDs and all music is bought online, pass your life's music collection onto someone else when you die (the way you can LPs and CDs today)? You can't."

Windows Vista Beta I recently had an opportunity to test drive the latest beta version of Windows Vista. I have to admit, I'm really impressed with some of the GUI enhancements. I'm anxious to test the final code, however, to see what the real-world hardware requirements will actually be. The beta needs LOTS of memory, but this could certainly be different with the optimized (retail) code. (The beta literally creeps with 384 MBs of RAM.)

Budget PC: December 2005 I took a few minutes to compile a list of parts to assemble what I would describe as a 'budget' PC. (Just add your own monitor, keyboard and mouse.) Here is the list.

Budget PC Specifications, $549 Total

Case/Power Supply, Rosewill w/350 Watt, $44
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811147013

Motherboard, ASUS K8N, $63
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131512

Processor, AMD Sempron 64 3100+, $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819104237

Memory, CORSAIR 1GB PC3200 - $78
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145505

Video Card, Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro 128 MB AGP, $68
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102408

Hard Drive, Western Digital 80GB SATA, $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106

DVD Burner, 16-Speed, NEC, $39
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058

Floppy Drive, $8
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16821152005

Windows XP Home Edition, $94
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16837102059

Kong Jeremy Blonde picks King Kong as the Movie of the Year.

Falling Sand Game Falling Sand Game - Good time waster.

'Lost' Rewarded "Entertainment Weekly named what it called a group of "treasured islanders," the cast of Lost, as its Entertainer of the Year, calling the show one of the "biggest cult breakouts since The X-Files."

Johnny Damon Joins the Yankees The Yankees have signed Johnny Damon. Some think this move is a psychological blow to the Red Sox. Whatever. This move won't put the Yankees back on top unless their pitching improves.

Live Action Pac-Man QuickTime Movie Link: Live Action Pac-Man - Enacted by Michigan University students, by running through a library and a lab, while dressed as Pac-Man and Blinky. Mildly amusing. (via BoingBoing)

TVRSS.net I've added a new link to my Torrents index: TVRSS.net.

Apocalypto Trailer Movie Trailer: Acpocalypto - The new film by Mel Gibson. According to IMDB, it's an "action/adventure film set 600 years ago, prior to the 16th-century Spanish conquest of Mexico and Central America, where a man goes on a perilous journey to save his idyllic world."

Yahoo! Widget Engine Yahoo! Widget Engine 3.0.2 - As you may know, Yahoo! purchased Konfabulator and changed it's name to 'Widget Engine'. The very latest version was released today. I run two widgets: Weather and Werewolf Monitor. There are dozens of great widgets to choose from, so give the engine a try.

New Baby Photos Olivia Wells Broome: December 20, 2005 - I've posted a few new photos for you.

Ebert's Best 10 Movies of 2005 Ebert's Best 10 Movies of 2005 - Yes, King Kong made the list.

Report: Gwen Stefani Pregnant According to US Weekly, Gwen Stefani is pregnant. Well, if the story is true, then congratulations to Gwen. Speaking of Gwen, now would be a good time to post this photo that a friend of mine in L.A. sent to me a few weeks ago. (Hope you don't mind, Jade.) Jade had a backstage pass, so she was able to take a photo with Gwen.

This Made Me Laugh Turn up your speakers and click on this link.

Serenity Released on DVD Today Serenity - Available on DVD today. Great sci-fi action/adventure movie.

Great Cat Photo

(via Yahoo!)

Unlocker 1.7.6 Unlocker 1.7.6 - Have you ever tried to delete a file within Windows XP only to get the error "Access Denied" or the error "This file is in use by another program"? If so, Unlocker is for you. Best of all, it's freeware. Enjoy.

Google Ads A note to my regular readers: These Google Ads may be ugly - but they pay. If you're a website operator, you should seriously consider signing up. You can sign up via the affiliate link on my about page.

Mint 1.24 I just upgraded to Mint 1.24. This is a must for webmasters who want detailed, real-time website statistics. I've been very happy with it.

Into the Blue Into the Blue (Trailer) - Scenic and entertaining, but predictable. Perfect for a Friday night. Available on DVD December 26th.

Deep Thought of the Day Got this one via email this morning...


Some people are like slinkies,
They don't really have a purpose,
But they still bring a smile to your face
when you push them down the stairs.

The Chronicles of Narnia The Chronicles of Narnia was great! It followed the book very closely and the special effects (mostly involving talking animals) were awesome.

Morgan Freeman Defies Labels Mike Wallace interviews Oscar winner Morgan Freeman in an upcoming episoded of 60 Minutes. "The actor tells Mike Wallace he opposes designating a special month because it separates black history from American history, and is part of a labeling process that abets racism. When Wallace wonders whether racist attitudes may be harder to eradicate without the education that Black History Month provides, Freeman retorts: "How are we going to get rid of racism? Stop talking about it!""

Trailer for 'Poseidon' Movie Trailer: Poseidon. Yes, it's a remake of the 1972 disaster movie, The Poseidon Adventure. Much like the original, this one is packed with big names.

New Prince Video Te Amo Corazon - This music video for Prince's new single was directed by Salma Hayek.

'My Robot Humps' A spoof of the Black-Eyed Peas 'My Humps' video.

Online Savings Account HSBCDirect.com - HSBCDirect.com is offering a 4.25% interest rate on their online savings accounts. As you may know, this is much more than you'll get if you walk into a 'real' bank. I would like to know the pros and cons of such an account. Can any of you readers offer me any insight? If so, please contact me with your opinions.

Mississippi's Invisible Coast Editorial in The Sun Herald: Mississippi's Invisible Coast. (Via BigJim)

King Kong Getting Great Reviews The new King Kong movie is getting stellar reviews.

Borders Coupon Borders Coupon: 30 Percent Off One Item. Good through December 19th.

Mission: Impossible III Movie Trailer: Mission: Impossible III.

Woman Loses Appeal Against RIAA Please allow me to highlight the disturbing part in this article: "A federal judge later ordered her to pay $750 for each song downloaded..." What? Come again? $750 per song? All you can do is shake your head and admit that the RIAA won big-time in this particular case.

Pink Panther As you may have heard, Steve Martin will be starring in an upcoming Pink Panther remake. When I first heard about this, I had an open mind. I decided that I would see the film, and then decide if it's any good. I've changed my mind. Having recently seen Return of the Pink Panther on TV, I can already tell you that the new remake will suck. The single reason the original films worked is Peter Sellers. Nothing else. Not the script, not the costars and not the director. Sellers was true comedic genious. Therefore, this new movie is an impossibility, a blatant exercise in futility.

Danni Wins Survivor Danni Boatwright won Survivor. Other than Gary, she was the one person that deserved it. Danni stayed 'below the radar' and managed not to make anyone particularly mad. Stephenie didn't stand a chance.

New Olivia Photos I've uploaded nine new photos of little Olivia. Olivia: Dec. 9 Photo Gallery.

Got 'Lost' Withdrawal? 10 Signs You're in Serious "Lost" Withdrawal

Survivor: 'Curse of the Car' Lives On Last night on Survivor, Cindy won the car, and then she was promptly voted off. This means that on every single season of Survivor, the person that has won the car has not won the million dollars. This, despite the fact that Cindy was given the opportunity to give her fellow castaways a car, and forfeit the prize.

Bad Driving Leads to Alcohol Abuse Over at On Tap, my favorite beer blog, we're alerted to this Michigan story about bad driving leading to alcohol abuse, rather than the other way around.

PortableApps.com PortableApps.com - Created by John T. Haller, PortableApps.com is a community site devoted to the development, promotion and use of portable applications. Go here for Portable Firefox, Portable Thunderbird and Portable OpenOffice.org.

Portable Firefox 1.5 Portable Firefox 1.5 - This portable version of the Firefox browser will be released later today. This is a great tool to have on your USB flash/jump drive. All of your bookmarks and preferences are stored within this portable version, without disturbing any local installs.

Air Marshal Kills Passenger Note to all mentally ill patients: If you're going to fly the friendly skies, take your medication and try not to claim you have a bomb in your bag. The air marshal basically did what he was trained to do. Honestly, this act by the air marshal will make me feel a little safer on my next flight. Still, this is a sad story. I feel bad for the man's wife and his family and for the marshals involved.

X-Men 3 Trailer X-Men 3 Trailer (QuickTime Required) - This third installment has a new director, as Bryan Singer was busy with the new Superman movie. Brett Ratner, of Rush Hour fame, is directing this one.

'The Triangle' The new SciFi Channel original miniseries The Triangle airs tonight at 9 ET/8 CT. Yahoo! is hosting the first 10 minutes of it here. Sam Neill, Lou Diamond Phillips and Catherine Bell are among the better known actors involved.

Autoruns 8.42 Autoruns 8.42 has been released. This is the free utility that I use to control all startup items in Windows XP. It can be particularly helpful when cleaning spyware from an infected machine or when you're tuning up your rig.

AntiSpyware Tools Reviewed ZDNet: AntiSpyware Tools Reviewed.

The 'No-Diet' Diet CNN: Professor Steven Hawks at BYU lost 50 pounds on what he calls a no-diet diet. He believes that people should stop counting calories and start paying attention to hunger pains. He surrounds himself with the unhealthy foods that he loves, because this overabundance of taboo foods helps him lose his desire to gorge. The catch? He eats only when he's hungry and he stops when he's full.

NASA Ditching Internet Explorer? Rumors are circulating that NASA has officially dropped Internet Explorer in favor of Firefox. It wouldn't surprise me. Has Microsoft dropped the browser development ball? If NASA or Federal government agencies were to officially embrace Firefox, banning IE, it would certainly be a blow to Bill and Company. However, if Internet Explorer 7 delivers the features of Firefox and then some, Firefox will suffer a blow. Microsoft may be slow, but they're not stupid. They fully understand the power of having a preinstalled application become the de facto standard, and they won't give up that power without a fight. It is my hope that this competition will bring better products to us.

New Baby Photos Photo Gallery: Olivia: December 3, 2005.

Borders Coupon Borders Coupon: 25% Off Regular Price of One Item.

ProtectYourVoice.com ProtectYourVoice.com - An online resource for voice professionals, such as auctioneers, teachers, singers and such. This site is a product of my brother's struggles with his own vocal chords. His goal in creating the site was to compile data from various sources and then add his own two cents. The site covers every aspect of voice problems, from dianosing them correctly to selecting the proper treatment. Especially interesting is the coverage of surgical options for correcting disorders of the vocal cords. Check it out.