MICROSOFT INVADES CUBA
12:03P

Catch it while you can—won't be up long. Yes, MS has plans to invade Cuba too. And just in case this goes away real soon, here's a partial copy of the text in question. Thanks for the heads up, Mr. Aviator!

Microsoft Invades Cuba
Microsoft's plan to invade cuba and overthrow the government has succeeded. One Microsoft official said "It's a win-win situation. The US Government is happy and shuts up the DOJ while Microsoft institutes a monopoly within Cuba for everything from computer software to toilet paper. One more step closer to world domination. Heck, we could feed a whole development department for the cost of one developer's salary in the US. They may not know how to create an Operating System very well, but neither do our US developers."

Microsoft Monkey Colony on Mars
Microsoft has announced that a team of monkeys will be shot into space in 2005 to establish the first Martian Colony. At a recent press conference, Bill Gates confirmed, "We are already training the monkeys to do simple tasks like reboot the space ship when it blue screens. The space vehicle will be running our newest product, SpacePod 2004. This product will instruct the monkeys how to colonize Mars and establish trade with the Martians. We intend to monopolize this market before Human travel to Mars is possible."

MS Linux to have Start Button
Microsoft is working to incorporate the well known "Start" button from the Windows Platform into X Windows' Gnome interface. "We just can't figure out how the hell to get that darn foot out of there! The damn thing is like stuck." The team will have this feature ready by product launch.

"All the dumb money is gone." - Slow down in advertising on the Web is affecting Yahoo (90% of second-quarter revenue). Banner ads aren't living up to expectation. Awwww…

F*ckedCompany.com is for sale.

Now this is the way to announce a baby. Congrats, Derek and 'Mom'!

I'm just fascinated with Jezebel's Mirror. Human beings being human. I love it.

PATTERNS IN CHAOS
7:06A

Praystation.com asks, "What ever happened to 'Information Superhighway*'? How quick were we to throw out this buzzword - why ? It's not profitable."

*Information Superhighway, term popularly used to refer to the availability and use of advanced information services by means of a variety of high-capacity data transport facilities, especially computers and computer networks. The term was coined to convey an image of a national infrastructure that would provide abundant information at high capacities to the general public.

I found The Cattle Crossing on the Information Superhighway at Cow.net. Read the unprofitablity story here.

And there's the Torah on the Information Superhighway, where you can find Lessons from Lieberman. Did you know he was 'voted king of the senior prom but chose to stay home and observe Shabbat'?

Of course, there was the Information Superhighway Conference in January 1995. It was a 'two-day meeting, industry leaders will share and discuss their experience, strategies, and vision on how to leverage the emerging national and global information infrastructure.' I think they're still working on that leveraging thing.

Back to the real world… Reader's guide to Sydney Olympics accessibility complaint. One man's fight for accessibility.

From spark-online.com, Brian Scates President of screwMetallica.org makes some good points about the art of music in his take on the RIAA and Napster event, People Owe Me Money.

And along those lines, "Fairtunes.com doesn't distribute digital music. The company's core business is ensuring that it's safe and convenient for fans to send money to bands. Founders Matt Goyer and John Cormie will pass along the proceeds to the artists. 'This could be the future,' said Goyer, who says the site is all about compensating musicians directly and cutting out the middle man: record company management."

Online Resource for Mac Mercenaries aka freelance production artists. See the pdf tutorial on "Selective Duotone".

Adobe Type Manger 4.6 now in.

When sending an attachment via email from your PC to your Mac, here's some setting considerations to make sure that attachment arrives intact.

And speaking of chaos, any unexplained charges on your credit card bill?

B-DAY 2000
3:19P

Today is my birthday. I've finally reached the age I had figured I would be when the distant year of 2000 rolled around. And you know, I'm not nearly as old as I thought I would be.

When I got home yesterday, KFOG's morning show—Dave, Peter, and Renee—had left me a happy birthday message. So nice to be a FogHead.

And Sherah-bear and Billybob called and wished me happy birthday today too. She's bringing me a little something tomorrow. She is The Best Kid.

NO WEB DIARIES FOR ATHLETES
5:14P

IOC bans athletes from posting Web Diaries. This sucks: "Rule 59 states that an Olympic athlete is not permitted to record his thoughts of his Olympic experience and have it posted on the Internet. Doing so would be tantamount to an athlete acting as a journalist, the IOC has determined. And that is grounds for being thrown out of the Games."

For those considering moving to the Bay Area, here's Andrea's Faq on Silicon Valley Housing. Has some helpful tips and urls. Thanks for posting, Andreas!

And while you're looking for that near non-existent apartment, be sure to keep your eye for these property owners: The Bay Area's 45 Worst Slumlords, Real Estate Speculators, and Gentrification Profiteers.

Lots of grrl resources.

Time-Warner/AOL Merger: What's AOL gonna have to shed to make this deal go through?

And as if I haven't had enough excitement, the search for a new ISP continues:

1. DSL Providers List
2. More epinions about national dial-ups
3. And more opinions (from 1999 and so may not be valid now if the ISP has been bought out within the past year).

LOOKIN FOR ISPs IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES
10:28A

Now that I have changed jobs, my next project is to change ISPs. And this time I want to not only get a diferent ISP, but a BETTER ISP. Geez, what a concept.

How do I decide? Feel like I should print out all the ISPs in my 408 area code, show the list (389 choices) to TeddyBear and see which one she wags her tail at. Might be just as effective.

I was going to jump on the DSL train, but decided to hold off until it gets a little easier to hook up and service improves. So, I'm looking for a dial-up account and a commercial web-hosting account.

The hunt is on…

CNET has the ISP Buyer's Guide, the Dialup Access ISP list, and Your ISP Checklist. But you have to wonder how accurate CNET's opinions are when the Editor's Choice of ISPs is AOL.

I thought maybe it might narrow down the sheer number of choices if I decided to choose an ISP that was a national backbone. Sounds good anyway. Will have to read up on that a little more. God help the poor non-technical WebMama.

And I thought maybe it might help to get some established advice, like ZDNet's Power Search for finding an ISP best suited for my business needs, or their viewer's opionions on ISPs, or ComputerUser's what to ask when looking for an ISP.

And maybe I don't need business web-hosting; maybe personal web-hosting would serve me just as well.

Yes, I spent a lot of yesterday just tracking down the obvious and getting a few mights, and I still haven't got a single ISP in my FilemakerPro ISP Comparison database. Dang! This is gonna take awhile.