Ha!

Well, I haven't posted at my new blog in a good while now, being that I'm too lazy to launch iBlog (there's some sort of mental block involved with me and running computer programs). So why not mess with people's heads and post here? I get two or three visitors a day here on average, according to the site stats.

That reminds me . . .

Update the links, people! The site is now at http://www.alzubra.com.

New Site Location

I'm officially opening my new web site. The archives aren't all there yet (are they ever?), and I still haven't moved my writing and personal sections over, but the new site has the past two weeks' worth of entries loaded and will have all the new entries available, too.

Alzubra.com should start pointing to the new site location shortly, depending on how long it takes for the name servers to update. But for now, use this link to visit the new Composed.

And Algorithms Choose Poor Style, Too

This article compares how Yahoo News and Google News operate. The main difference, of course, is that Yahoo uses humans to produce its page while Google uses algorithms. Google's methods result in some very strange quirks that go beyond the occasional wrong picture with the article (I believe when Ronald Reagan died, Google News served up a picture of him in "Bedtime for Bonzo" alongside the story on its page). However, since the article is from the Online Journalism Review, the site that employs journalists rather than those-cursed-machines-that-want-to-steal-our-jobs naturally wins out, so take some of it with a grain of salt. Still, Google may want to be a bit more selective in choosing the sources it deems "news."

OJR article: Balancing Act: How News Portals Serve Up Political Stories

Good Old Internet Addiction

The Australian: Survey finds 'web withdrawal' [September 24, 2004]: "Nearly half of US Internet users say they could not go without the Web for more than two weeks, with many suffering 'withdrawal' symptoms while offline, according to a recent survey."

Even today the suspicions surrounding the Internet as something "new" haven't died. I will say for myself that when our Internet at home died for several days, it didn't bother me. On the other hand, when I couldn't connect at school, I was intensely frustrated.

The difference, you see, is that while I was at home, I had lots of other people around to interact with and keep me engaged. At school, except when I was out with my parents those few days, I was by myself, unpacking. As I see it, it's really a social thing.

Hi-Larious

Yahoo! News - Britney's Tangled Wedding: A Primer: "For its part, People has defended the ceremony heavily documented in its pages as the 'real deal.'

'That is the next bump in the story that you're going to see: The wedding is fake. It's really not,' Jess Cagle, People senior editor, said Wednesday on CBS's Early Show.

Bitter rival Us begs to differ.

'Dan Rather was defending his George Bush (news - web sites) story a week ago. Where is Dan Rather today?' Baker asks. 'Granted, this is Britney Spears and not the President.'"

What's funnier: Britney's "spiritual" publicity stunt or just how seriously gossip "journalists" take their work?

Windows Warning

Code to exploit Windows graphics flaw now public | CNET News.com: "Code to exploit Windows graphics flaw now public

A sample program hit the Internet on Wednesday, showing by example how malicious coders could compromise Windows computers by using a flaw in the handling of a widespread graphics format by Microsoft's software.

Security professionals expect the release of the program to herald a new round of attacks by viruses and Trojan horses incorporating the code to circumvent security on Windows computers that have not been updated. The flaw, in the way Microsoft's software processes JPEG graphics, could allow a program to take control of a victim's computer when the user opens a JPEG file."

Also, note this:

"Microsoft: To secure IE, upgrade to XP

If you're one of about 200 million people using older versions of Windows and you want the latest security enhancements to Internet Explorer, get your credit card ready.

Microsoft this week reiterated that it would keep the new version of Microsoft's IE Web browser available only as part of the recently released Windows XP operating system, Service Pack 2. The upgrade to XP from any previous Windows versions is $99 when ordered from Microsoft. Starting from scratch, the operating system costs $199."

That means if you're using Internet Explorer on Windows 98 or Windows Me, no more browser updates for you. No more patches against the many exploits that can take control of your computer or just make pests of themselves through IE; no more updates to keep pace with the development of Web standards (i.e., pages are going to start looking funny to you after a while).

So if you don't have Windows XP or a Mac, now would be an especially good time to download the Mozilla Firefox browser.

Update Your Bookmarks

This is a very early warning. I'm planning to move my site here to another server in the not-too-distant future. Blogger's just too much of a pain these days. I don't have the new static address yet, but rest assured that this site's domain name will stay the same: http://www.alzubra.com. It's just that in a few weeks or so, using colleenfischer.blogspot.com instead won't get you to my musings. If you are already using alzubra.com to get here, don't worry about the impending change since it doesn't affect you. If you're not using alzubra.com to get here, consider switching to that now. It's never going to change on you.

Paranoia Is Justified

I hate the new Blogger interface still. It just ate my entry.

But here's the link. Until Tuesday, I'd never seen a pair of tongs like this in my life, but that day I saw them in the flesh and then again online a few hours later.

http://nytimes.com/2004/09/22/dining/22MOZZ.html?8hpib

My mind's working furiously on an explanation and approaching burnout.

A Small Voice

This is going to sound like heresy to some in the geek community, but I actually prefer the special editions of the Star Wars movies.

I think the CGI added in was done quite well (minus the weird Jabba the Hutt in the first film, but apparently that's been improved on DVD) and made the movies look subtly better.

Changing a good chunk of the end of "Return of the Jedi," including the ditiching the original music and adding views of other celebrations, didn't hurt certainly. It softens the "teddy-bear picnic" aura.

This may be most controversial, but I think it's better now that Greedo shoots first. Every time I saw the original, I could never figure out what happened in that scene. Why did Han shoot? Believe it or not, it doesn't fit with his character trajectory for him to be a cold-blooded murderer. Were he to turn out to be an agent of the Empire in disguise, then him simply murdering Greedo would have made sense as a foreshadowing device. But otherwise, it's just inconsistent with the rest of the film since Han's character is essentially good. Murder ain't cool, kiddies.

I understand the concerns of film preservationists who want to save the originals simply for the sake of history. But clinging to editions that just aren't quite as good otherwise smacks of stubbornness to me. True, I never saw the originals in the theater, only the special editions (hey, I was maybe a year old when the third one arrived), and so I don't have a sentimental attachment, but for pity's sake, it's a movie, and a blockbuster-style one at that. It's not like he's tampering with the Bible -- but then, that seems to upset people a lot less.

CNN.com - Five major changes in the 'Star Wars' DVD - Sep 20, 2004