Oscar Goody/Goodie/Gift Bags 2004

Your obligatory Oscar-related link of the day: Oscar Goody/Goodie/Gift Bags 2004. Why these folks each need three different activated cell phones I have no idea, but if they want to send one my way...

Iron Chef America done right

Via our good friend Lynn comes news that Food Network is trying a whole new approach to Iron Chef America. Mark Dacascos will be the Chairman, and Alton Brown (!!!) will play the role originated by Dr. Yukio Hatori. Celebrity judges are reported to include: "Paige Davis [Trading Spaces], Dennis Franz [NYPD Blue], Vincent Pastore [The Sopranos], Dayna Devon [Extra], Brian Unger [The Daily Show], food magazine editors and more." We are so there.

Edwards, maybe?

Sites to check out in the next couple of days: Deaniacs for Edwards and Switch To Edwards.

The Oscars Drinking Game

LostBrain Entertainment: The Oscars Drinking Game. My favorite: finish your drink if anyone from "Lord of the Rings" says, "I want to thank all the little people" with a straight face.

SF Apple store preview

In Bag of Mystery! And other Apple Store Tales, Jason Snell describes his trip to the not-yet-open San Francisco Apple Store. I'm really darn tempted to show up on Saturday morning, if only to find out what's in the "Lucky Bag."

Yes, there will be Oscar blogging

Because y'all loved the 2002 and 2003 Oscar blogging, I'm happy to say that I am planning on doing my 3^rd annual Oscar opinions and snark.

You're going to sleep better tonight, aren't you?

Illegal blogs?

From Democracy Now, via Making Light:

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control recently declared that American publishers cannot edit works authored in nations under trade embargoes which include Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya and Cuba.

Although publishing the articles is legal, editing is a "service" and the treasury department says it is illegal to perform services for embargoed nations. It can be punishable by fines of up to a half-million dollars or jail terms as long as 10 years.

As I read this, it means that any Iranian or Iraqi blogs hosted at, say, TypePad, BlogSpot, or Weblogger.com would mean that the hosting provider could be charged with a felony for providing a service.

Dunno about you, but if I was in that category, I'd be thinking about hiring a lawyer about now.

demographics, target audience, the future...

Kathy Sierra (one of my favorite people) wrote an amazing piece to the Studio B computer author's mailing list titled demographics, target audience, the future.... If you plan to be doing anything involving training, teaching, writing, or computers in the next few years, you owe it to yourself to go read it. Yes, it's that good.

Help me chat, please?

I need to do some testing with iChat, for which I need people who can voice chat. If you've got what it takes and have a few minutes to spare, invite me: dori (at) mac.com. Thanks!

Bush Countdown

It's sad that I look at things like the Bush count-down page and my first thought is, "What crappy JavaScript!" His fine print says, "Assume I speak Javascript about as well as Aramaic," and he's right. I ought to rewrite it for him... oh wait, I already have: combining this and this should be sufficient.

Homework is unpatriotic

A note to Sean, because sometimes he reads our blog: yes, it's true that the Secretary of Education called the Teacher's union a 'terrorist organization'. But no, that does not mean that doing your homework would support terrorism, so get back to work.

Congratulations to all!

I just wanted to put down my thoughts on the recent weddings in SF:

• I've been wanting to say something for several days, but every time I look at the pictures (above link and here) I get weepy. Okay, I normally get teary-eyed at weddings, but some of these folks have waited so long to take this step, and the joy on their faces shows.
• The mayor of Salt Lake City (!) said that gays should be allowed to marry? Wow. I always thought that in Utah, the only way that two women would ever be able to be in a marriage together is if they were both married to the same man.
• Okay, I'm channelling my inner Carson Kressley here, but c'mon guys, (and I'm talking to you, you, you, and you, as just a few examples)—you're gay men getting married! If that doesn't count as a day worth dressing up for, what does? Sheesh, you're going to have people thinking that the whole "gay men have more fashion sense than straights" line is just a stereotype.
• Flowers for Al and Don: random people are buying random flowers for random couples. This makes me even more weepy.
• If you haven't read Derek Powazek's piece, Weddings on the Brain, go read it. Further weepiness ensues.
• Congratulations to all the couples we know, and those we don't, who have gotten married, who are getting married, and who are thinking about getting married. We wish you many, many happy years together.
• Somehow, I don't feel at all like this has hurt or lessened my marriage one iota. And I don't believe that Tom's feelings about me have changed any, either.