Parker

Seems like they might be useful as web terminals at public places like schools and libraries. Or as a barebones media server (with a 320GB HDD, I guess that's what they're shooting for).

My favorite FPS is Halo 2. Haven't played any others in a long time. :-)

I primarily use Firefox but I've always loved Safari's blue bar. In my opinion it's better looking and more useful than the traditional throbber, and it saves precious screen real estate as well. I recommend the Fission extension to bring it over to Firefox -- works great!

I love Engadget!

You know, considering his size, and the ridiculous costume and bad haircut, I was impressed. He is a great dancer and very graceful. The video didn't have anything to do with de Blob, but I still appreciate it for what it was. I thought the glasses sliding off his nose at the end was a nice touch. I guess I don't have the attitude of the typical American gamer, so sue me... but I have respect for the skill behind good ballet (even in the bizzarest of contexts).

I haven't written any Ficlets in quite a long while. It could be said that I abandoned the community before AOL did, but that doesn't make me any less sad. This was and is a great encouraging site, and an inspirational one as well. Despite its many problems -- last year's blackout, a perpetually sluggish/unresponsive server, and the breaking of the rating system -- it was still an excellent community for writers. I will truly miss it.

What are the odds of another similar site rising from the ashes, with someone more dedicated than AOL at the helm? Something perhaps just different enough to avoid an IP dispute, but similar enough to accommodate a migration of displaced Ficleteers? Perhaps an evolved form of the concept, taking the idea of short-short-fiction-based social networking to the next level (whatever that might look like)? I have some ideas of my own, if anyone serious about such a project would like to get in touch with me about them, though I can't at the moment offer any help developing it. :-(

Many thanks to Kevin for heading up the salvage effort. Can't wait to see what becomes of it! I should write another story or two before the plug is pulled, for old time's sake.

I think I heard a commercial say 6:00 but I might be wrong. Wasn't really paying attention. I've commissioned friends of mine to handle my Black Friday shopping this year, while I'm relaxing out of town. ;-)

Not a bad program, but I recommend LDraw (ldraw.org) for people who really want to take their virtual Lego building to a new level. If you're on a Mac like I am, you'll want to download Bricksmith at http://bricksmith.sourceforge.net/.

Since when do countries "give" rights? People are born with them, and all government can do is take them away.

I found this a while back when it was posted on some other blog. There are a number of cool apps besides Tetris bundled with EMACS, a little Googling should reveal the whole list. The Tetris one in particular is great for the novelty factor, but I have a hard time actually playing it because the grid isn't square -- blocks are tall and narrow. Rotating pieces and lining them up properly can be tricky and annoying.