Seeing odd traffic patterns on the interweb. All of a sudden, way more visitors than normal are looking at a small bunch of photos.

• This one of a Provincetown theater sign.
• This one of a boat in fog.
• This one of a water lilly.
• This one of a dog.
• And, most frightening, this one of a Moonie demonstration.

Almost all of the hits are coming from Google's image search.

Stefano photographs every plate of pasta he eats.

I love this. Oracle is planning seminars to explain its pricing and licensing practices to its customers. You know there is a serious problem with your company if it has to hold seminars to explain the the customers why they owe what they owe.

Hugh Macleod is funny.

RIP, Mr. Helmut Newton.

POTD

In case there is any confusion on the matter, this clearly illustrates that Hancock Street goes one way.

"Want to be a beta tester for iChatnaked.com? Just send us an e-mail and let us know that you would like to beta test iChatnaked.com. To be a beta tester you will need to have iChat AV installed and running on your computer."

[via Vowe.net]

"The Iditarod is the famous long-distance race in which yelping dogs tow a sled across Alaska. Our Idiotarod is pretty much the same thing, except that instead of dogs, it's people, instead of sleds, it's shopping carts, and instead of Alaska it's New York City."

Oooh. I'm there.

From the FAQ:

*Isn't it going to be cold?*

You can count on it. The race goes off rain or shine, blizzard or breeze. Bundle up, sissy.

*Can we get drunk?*

You bet.

I thought this only happened in San Francisco.

From Microsoft's support site:

When you point to a hyperlink in Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Outlook Express, or Microsoft Outlook, the address of the Web site typically appears in the Status bar at the bottom of the window. After you click a link that opens in Internet Explorer, the address of the Web site typically appears in the Internet Explorer Address bar, and the title of the Web page typically appears in the Title bar of the window.

However, a malicious user could create a link to a deceptive (spoofed) Web site that displays the address, or URL, to a legitimate Web site in the Status bar, Address bar, and Title bar. This article describes steps that you can take to help mitigate this issue and to help you to identify a deceptive (spoofed) Web site or URL.

[...]

This article discusses steps you can take to help protect yourself from spoofed Web sites. To summarize, these steps are:

• Verify that there is a lock icon in the lower right Status bar and verify the name of the server that provides the page that you are viewing before you type any personal or sensitive information.
• Do not click any hyperlinks that you do not trust. Type them in the Address bar yourself.

I try to be measured in my criticism of Microsoft, because they are such a large and easy target, because they bear the brunt of every lazy third-party developer's bad choices, and because they do produce some good products.

But, my God, manually type the URLs into the address bar? I realize that the only truly secure computer system is one unplugged and locked in a safe, but this is absurd.

Other than sheer ignorance of the issues involved, I have no idea why people use Internet Explorer. Imagine an automobile company that produced a car that occasionally burst into flames during refueling at the pump. Rather than issue an immediate recall to fix the problem, the automobile company suggests using a syphon to transfer gasoline from an automobile with a full tank to the other. Class action suits would spring up like mushrooms, outraged customers would march on the headquarters, and everyone would stop buying things from the company.

Yet Microsoft, with its dominant position in the industry, feels comfortable advising its customers not to click links in web pages.

Not to click links in web pages.

The whole point of web pages is clickable links!

Please, people, consider exploring (no pun intended) other browsers:

• Windows
  • Firebird
  • Mozilla
  • Netscape Communicator
  • Opera
• MacOS
  • Safari
  • Firebird
  • Mozilla
  • Netscape Communicator
  • OmniWeb

[Thanks to Julius Welby for getting me all riled up]

John Perry Barlow is thinking about his Spalding Grey's apparent suicide.

"There's a vision that keeps floating through my thoughts. I imagine him bobbing in that lethal water, watching the ferry churn away. The lights of lower Manhattan glittering behind him, as functionally distant as stars in space. For several minutes, he was as certainly dead as he is now and yet fully, lucidly alive. He was in a bardo, as the Tibetans call the stations of death, and yet he was in a bardo that lies within the physical world. I am letting myself believe that those minutes were a transport of release, an utter peace. A glory at last."

This breaks my heart.

Slate is running an interesting article on the decline of fashion photography (lots of pictures).

[via Adam Curry]

Every time I hear that the assholes over at the RIAA have sued someone, it reminds me to start up LimeWire.

Oh yea. Bubble wrap.

If you started reading this 'blog in the last few weeks, you'd think I was a moron.

Oh my God. So funny: The State of the Union.

[via Geekers]

Co-worker: I'll be out next week; going to Disneyland

Me: Cool. That is fun. I love Disneyland. Your kids will have fun.

Co-worker: I'm not sure; we'll see.

Me: That is probably a great place to go with kids. You can drop off the kids with someone, and go hang out in the hot tub for the day.

Co-worker: You don't have children, do you.

Me: Uh, no.

Hey! Come have a tasty Subway sandwich. It is good for you. Just ask Jared. What are you looking at? What, you don't want a sandwich? Well, screw you if you don't know what's good for 'ya.

Exactly why must our nation "defend the sanctity of marriage?"

Ha ha! Booble!

[via Brad]

POTD

Went shopping at Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan this weekend. What a wonderful experience that is.

Salesperson: May I take your coat, sir?
Me: Why, thank you.
Salesperson: Would you like a cold drink while you shop? Perhaps some of these chocolate nonpareils?
Me: Thank you, no. Watching my figure.
Salesperson: Excellent choice in pants, sir.
Me: Why, thank you.
Salesperson: While we wait for the tailor, would you like to engage in some heavy petting?
Me: Why not; I'm just having cuffs done.

Every store should be like Bergdorf.

Where do all these delusional people on American Idol come from? What kind of an alternate universe populated with deaf mutes, sycophants, and mildly retarded people encourages these contestants to enter?

I love the snow.

I could watch the snow fall for hours. When snow starts falling heavier, I get happier.

When the snow stops falling, I become sad. And when it starts melting, I get depressed. Is this some holdover from childhood?

All you people coming to this 'blog via a Google search for "naked men": yea, you're in the wrong place.

Well, maybe this will tide you over.

I played with GarageBand a little more today. Still having great fun, still haven't read the manual, and I still need some kind of keyboard. Even so, this is great software for the price.

For your listening pleasure today, I've concocted a little bass-heavy groove. If you listen to it, be sure to stick around until the funk break that happens at about 1:20. I'm sorry that the file is so big; I can only figure out how to export to AIFF, AAC, and QuickTime. Some day we'll have smaller MP3s.

Update: I just listened to the QuickTime mixdown and, boy howdy, what junk. I have to figure out how to EQ the tracks. I'd also like to see if levels can be automated.

What the hell goes on at this site? Some freaky stuff.

I haven't posted a picture in a while, so I think I'll torture you all with a little photo-essay I meant to post a few months ago.

One of the many things damaged on September 11, 2001 was the subway system. While New York Transit did amazing work to get the affected lines running, the PATH train, which runs between Manhattan and New Jersey, was slower to return to service.

The PATH trains were deep under the World Trade Center, and following the attack, the tunnels partially filled with water from the Hudson River. It has taken a while for the PATH trains to resume their route to lower Manhattan, but in late November, the first train pulled into the new PATH station.

The new station is quite nice. It has an open floor plan, which gives it a spacious feel. And, though it is thirty feet below street level, it gets lots of natural light. This will change once the Trade Center reconstruction starts, I imagine.

I was on one of the first commuter trains of the week that pulled into the new station. The mood on the train was noticeably tense. The PATH train travels from New Jersey, under the Hudson river into Manhattan. Because the World Trade Center isn't there anymore, the PATH train emerges from a tunnel directly into the foundation of the Trade Center. And the new station looks directly into the pit of the former foundation.

All along the fencing separating the pit from the station, the PATH people have attached semi-opaque banners with quotes about the city. That is a nice touch. The banners let you see outside, but seem to provide protection and separation from the reality of what you must walk past.

But no matter what is put up on the walls, no matter what is constructed around the station, this is the World Trade Center. Too many people have tragic memories attached to the land here. No matter how many people pass through here carrying a briefcase, sipping coffee, heading to work, we're all thinking about what happened on that beautiful September morning, the day so many lives changed.