Watching the watchers

Google-Watch watches Google.

Google-Watch-Watch watches Google-Watch.

Someone has registered Google-Watch-Watch-Watch, but there's nothing there as yet.

I'm on the radio...

I'm SO bad at self-promotion that I forgot to mention this: I'll be a guest on the Inside Mac Radio show, at about 1:30 PM PDT on Saturday 9/6. I'll be promoting Keynote for Mac OS X: Visual QuickStart Guide. Tune in!

New Heinlein novel?

There's a new Robert Heinlein novel? Supposedly, For Us, The Living : A Comedy of Customs was actually the first novel he ever wrote, and it was rejected for being "too racy" (in 1939). It was recently found, and it's due to come out in January. Cool! There's more info here, but I've got to check this one out when it's released.

OS X Problem & Solution

Just because this might help someone else, and because it was driving me up the wall.

Problem: attempting to launch certain OS X apps caused the app to start to launch, and then immediately quit. This was most often caused by double-clicking documents, but trying to look at the iChat Buddy List did the same thing. Launching the application directly would work, however.

Solution: Eject the external HD with the Panther system installed. Even though the computer is currently booted under 10.2.x, the OS sees the apps on the Panther HD, recognizes that those are the latest version of the apps, tries to launch them under Jaguar, and the launch fails. Dismounting the drive removes the OS's desire to do the wrong thing, and double-clicking those problem documents now launches the correct version of the apps.

PR Bop bop a loo bop

Go read PR Bop, a new blog wherein Tara Calishain reads PR releases (so you don't have to) and picks out the weird and wonderful for everyone else's enjoyment and edification. Where else are you going to find out about Hello Kitty® Tongue Tape™ and Mary-Kate and Ashley™ Toothpaste? (including the disclaimer that the latter doesn't actually include said "celebrities").

Firefly's Flying!!

Break out the champagne! There's going to be a Firefly feature film, directed by Joss Whedon himself, no less. It's due to go into production Q1 2004. I am so there.

The feature version will incorporate the mythology from the show but will take on a more epic feel. Whedon hopes to enlist the entire cast to come back for the feature, depending on their previous commitments, with new characters added as well.

Salling Clicker 2.0

Salling Clicker 2.0 is now out, and includes such lovely new features such as support for Palm OS handhelds. If you're on OS X and have any BlueTooth devices, check it out.

Kerry on the ropes?

John Kerry's been having some problems with his campaign lately; he's trailing Dean in the polls in New Hampshire, which is practically a must-win state for Kerry. He's been getting some very bad press, in places like The New Republic, which just did a big article on the Kerry campaign's woes. Today in Slate, there's The Thin Man - The mystery of John Kerry's missing courage, which has this killer passage:

This is what audiences always have to wade through to get at whatever it is Kerry is trying to say: Nuggets of nothing, wrapped in pretentious rhetoric, compounded by the pretense of plain speaking.

Ouch.

Reminder to self

Reminder to self: pick up a copy of this week's TV Guide. Or at least the cover. Woof.

Quote of the day: Tom DeLay

Quote of the day, via Blog for America:

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Sugarland) today condemned the comments of presidential candidate and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, who said, "John Ashcroft is not a patriot," in New Hampshire yesterday.

"Howard Dean is a cruel and extremist demagogue," DeLay said.

"John Ashcroft loves America more than Howard Dean could ever know. John Ashcroft has sacrificed for his country, and devoted his life to serving it. He is as kind, generous, and patriotic a man as I've ever met. And Howard Dean is as ignorant on John Ashcroft as he is on national security."

"Howard Dean's comments are an embarrassment to the democratic process and the Democrat Party. If this cruel, loudmouth extremist is the cream of the Democrat crop, next Novembers going to make the 1984 election look like a squeaker."

Anyone who pisses off DeLay and Ashcroft is A-OK in my book. If you feel similarly, go sign Dean's Stop Ashcroft petition. And don't forget Wednesday night's Meetup.

Asteroid Heading for Earth

In the news: Asteroid Heading for Earth, May Hit in 2014. Via my brother, who said, "Just enough time to teach Bruce Willis the rudiments of the drilling trade..." My personal opinion? I'm waiting to see how the wingnuts figure out a way to blame this on Clinton.