No...

Dear God, no...

They've almost done it...

The Senate has passed SB305 in a version that would ban liquor sales on Sunday statewide. The version that passed in the house would have allowed cities to opt out of the Sunday ban. The bill is currently in conference. The session wraps up tomorrow. Maybe I should head down to Topeka now and see how this shakes out...

***DEVELOPING***

A watched pot never boils, a watched football off-season never ends... I did actually listen to the draft last Saturday, even though I know next to nothing about college ball and didn't know who the players being drafted were.

I was happy at least with what positions Green Bay drafted: cornerback, cornerback, defensive tackle, punter. We even grabbed a hog with our first pick.

Though I suppose I'd hate to lose him, cornerback Mike McKenzie's holdout from minicamp is making me think I won't really miss him too much.

In other news, the Bears are interested in Tim Couch too. Fine. Have him. I would honestly rather put thoughts of Favre's successor off for one more year than settle for Couch as his eventual replacement. My biggest worry at this point is that Green Bay gets into a bidding war with the Bears and ends up overpaying for Couch. Don't do it... Let him go play for the Bears.

108 days left... Who's going to run the fantasy league this year?

Well, the day finally came. This morning is the last day Bob Edwards will host Morning Edition. I've never really been able to figure out why NPR gave him the boot... The closest I've seen is in this editorial:

Today marks the last "Morning Edition" with Edwards at the helm. In clumsy, corporate-like fashion, a bowtie (yes, it was a male vice president) at NPR announced in March that Edwards, knocked down to senior correspondent, was being replaced, with no less than two anchors, as the format for the show is being redone to keep up with competitive this and that, marketplace something, need for more immediacy, and — oh, whatever. It all sounded so commercial, so un-NPR-like, and all too familiar.

Our mornings will be different. Edwards will be missed.

Well, I've heard several people say they did not pledge in the most recent pledge drive directly because Bob was being removed. I won't lie and say that's why I didn't pledge; I didn't pledge because I'm cheap.

Still, I really hope the new host doesn't suck. I've been pretty unhappy with Melissa Block since she started hosting All Things Considered. She gets this smirk in her voice sometimes that just annoys the hell out of me. I hope that the same folks responsible for selecting her last year aren't picking Bob's replacement. Most of all, I wish he had been able to leave on his own terms. He deserved at least that much...

Update: I have to include this from NPR Cooks! via this Baltimore Sun editorial:

Edwards' Mint Julep Recipe

Pour straight Kentucky sour mash bourbon over ice in a sturdy glass. Think about rows of mint in a garden. Think about the mint left on your pillow in a comfortable hotel room at the end of a long day on the road. Think about the United States Mint churning out coins that are used to actually buy things. Think about any kind of mint you like, but don't let any of it get near the glass.

What you are holding is not a mint julep, but rather a bourbon on the rocks, a much more satisfying refreshment than some girly drink with too much sugar and some ugly leaves in it. While enjoying the bourbon, play a Ray Charles CD that includes his early '60s instrumental hit One Mint Julep. Turn up the volume.

Refill glass as desired. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

Serves 1

From it's humble beginnings as the first weblog ever on April 28, 2000, Gimpysoft has grown into the cornerstone of a blog empire rivaled only by my arch-nemesis at ps-ef.com. When I first started the site, it was mainly read by a few close friends. Now, I am forced to keep an assistant on staff to sift through the thousands of emails I receive daily from lowly newcomers hoping for the ever-elusive "Gimpalanche".

On this, my four year blogiversary, I thought I'd bring you some of the highlights of the long, strange trip so far...

April 28, 2000: My very first post. Thousands of bored web surfers are wowed with the knowledge that I "Got mail working now." At this point, the website is hosted on drscience.gimpysoft.com, my 66MHz 486 with 32 MB of RAM left over from high school.

October 8, 2000: The beginnings of home control. Though not yet the fully operational Fort Awesome Control Panel, an early prototype of my innovative internet based lamp control system was launched in October 2000. The lamp in my living room could be turned on and off, and the television could be turned off. October of 2000 marks the apogee of Drunken Blogging at Gimpysoft. Be sure to browse October's page for embarrassing drunken rants about not finding true love and not getting laid enough. Boy, am I glad I'm over that!

December 12, 2000: Website redesigned in blue. Webcam is now installed, so users can now turn my TV off then watch me flip them off. Dozens take advantage of this opportunity. Fun Fact: My bedroom is now painted that color blue.

February 8, 2001. The website has survived the move to Kansas City. The Webcam did not survive the move, and the TV is now too far from the web server, so home control is discontinued. I make my first threat to recapture Young Pups at a higher bitrate, and in some format other than RealVideo. This has still not happened.

June 18, 2001. I appear on NPR's "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me." I win the quiz and am entitled Carl Kasell's voice on my answering machine. I have not yet collected the prize.

June 27, 2002: Bonnaroo 2002. Until very recently, this post was the #2 Google hit for "Bonnaroo", and to this day this stellar post continues to receive comments. This was the post that changed weblogging as we know it. Nothing interesting has happenned at this site since June 27, 2002.

Well, thanks for coming out for the last four years. I've been trying to keep more personal stuff off here recently, and have discovered that when those posts are removed from the site there isn't a whole lot left over. Hopefully I'll buckle down and get on some of those programming projects I've been thinking about. This would be a good home for those. Until then, here's what you may have to look forward to in the near future:

If you're bored on a Friday, stop by the official website of North Korea.

Start with the flash video for the Song of National Defense. You may also be interested in the US Built Wall Of Shame.

If you're thinking of a visit, you'll want to go here. (Notes on travel: All the trips inside the DPRK territory will be escorted by Official guides. Ask before taking pictures or filming. Not following the indications of the guides may result on being expelled of the country and a permanent banned entry. Any offense or crime will be treated according to the laws and regulations of the DPR of Korea. US and South Korean citizens need not apply.)

Finally, don't forget to visit the gift shop.

I'm a football fan and all, but why was the Supreme Court's response to Maurice Clarett's appeal to be allowed in the NFL draft anything other than "Please stop wasting our time with this bullshit"?

I knew that folks at MIT were smart, but I didn't know that their intelligence supercedes the technical and extends into the political.

Case in point: Amal Dorai proposes a constitutional amendment with the following text:

“Upon the ratification of this Amendment, Bill Watterson will be jailed for 15 years, or until he has produced 5000 additional ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ strips.”

Now that's a Constitutional Amendment I can support. He even goes so far as respond to theoretical objections people could have to the passage of such an amendment. (Though who would not agree that the passage of this amendment is Good For America I could not tell you.)

1) Bill Watterson is a small minority. There are an estimated 290,809,777 people in the United States of America (July 1, 2003 estimate of the U.S. Census Bureau), 290,809,776 of whom are not Bill Watterson. Even if Mr. Watterson himself is inconvenienced, the people who read his new “Calvin and Hobbes” strips will be thrilled to re-enter the magical world of a boy and his tiger. Sometimes, we must make tough decisions for the greater good of the greater number; sometimes, these decisions harm good people. This is a mere inevitability of politics.

I urge each and every one of you to contact your representatives and tell them of your support for this amendment. Our future happiness hangs in the balance.

Why couldn't I have been in Steven's Point this weekend?

Any four time Jeopardy! champions in the Chicago are can still make it in time if they leave within the next hour and a half or so.

When in college at the University of Arkansas, my roommates were Gerg and his literally named cat "Kitty". Kitty is one of only two or three cats I've ever been around that I am not allergic to. I always said that someday I was going to have her cloned, since he seems reluctant to give her up and always watchful, lest I steal her on a visit down south...

Well it looks like "someday" is about a year from now. Genetic Savings and Clone claims to be one year away from commercial cloning of dogs, and apparently is delivering their first commercial cat in November.

So Gerg, can I get a tissue biopsy?

(via Metafilter)

I'm going to grow my beard out so I can look like Jesse Ventura.

Also, the caption says that he's thinking about running for president in 2008.

A message to the jackass sending Spam using gimpysoft.com as the domain name in the return address:

Fuck you. I hope you die painfully.

PS: I've set up SPF now, so less of your mail will be getting through now. Please select a different domain to spoof on your return addresses.

Well, next season's NFL Schedules were released at 4:00 yesterday. You should have seen all of the poor, sad little men here in the office. Before the official announcement at 4:00 Central we were all going out to the official sites of our favorite teams. The hometown team had put their schedule up early, so we got to look over that. I was able to get a bit of information about the Packers from another site because two of Green Bay's opponents had already posted their schedules. Finally, at 4:00 Green Bay posted their 2004 Schedule.

As for games to go to, I'm interested in either the Monday Night game vs. the St. Louis Rams on Nov. 29 or the Sunday Afternoon game vs. the Cowboys on Oct. 24th. I'm leaning towards the Rams game. I'll be in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving anyway, there are scores to be settled with the Rams, and we haven't hosted St. Louis at Lambeau since 1997. That should be a fun one.

Amid all the excitement of the Big Schedule Announcement, I momentarily forgot that football pre-season is still over four months away.

Damn.

My email and the website were down for several days this weekend because I let the Gimpysoft domain expire. I think I last renewed two years ago, and renewed for a two year term. At the time I was still using an email address from a previous job, and that is the email I left with Network Solutions when I last registered.

As a result, I didn't get their notices that the domain was about to expire, and only found out when it was shut off after it did expire.

No big deal, I figured. I went to Network Solutions to renew, and they wanted $38 to renew for one year, slightly less to renew for shorter terms. I know there are better deals out there (there are places that allow registration for $6-8 a year), so I tried to register it somewhere cheaper. Unfortunately, once a domain name expires there is apparently a period of time when you can't transfer it to another registrar. I called Network Solutions to find out what I had to do to transfer, and they said it would take 60-75 days for them to "delete the domain from their system", and I could then register it with another registrar.

So my choices were to either pony up the $38 to Network Solutions, or go without email for 60-75 days. I paid them the $38, but will be transferring the domain name somewhere else as soon as I can.

I guess I'm the only person still watching Dennis Miller, but I saw something a bit odd last night.

In the middle of every show Dennis does two round table segments with his rotating "Varsity Panel". Last night they had somebody from PRI's Marketplace, somebody from an urban renewal organization, and Marc Summers. When he first announced the panel, I knew I had heard the name Marc Summers somewhere before. When they got to the panel segment, I finally figured out where I knew that name from.

How could I have forgotten that Marc Summers was the host of Double Dare. He was actually rather reasonable as a guest on Dennis's panel. He certainly was a hell of a lot more interesting to listen to than David Horowitz.

Speaking of 80's Nickelodeon television shows, I saw something else kind of cool recently. A&E Biography channel recently started showing NewsRadio again. Since I have my PVR now I've been taping every episode that comes on, and have actually found a couple that I had never seen before.

There was an episode last week where Jimmy James decides to start April Fool's Day early, and is playing pranks on the folks in the office throughout the episode. One of the recurring gags was Jimmy trying to get the other guys to say "Water" or "I Don't Know", at which point of course water or green slime would fall on them from above, a la You Can't Do That On Television.

In unfortunate news, the NewsRadio DVD has been delayed again. They apparently won't start recording episode commentaries until later this month.

Apparently Hunter S. Thompson will be returning to the campaign trail (scroll down a bit) this year and will write a book, presumably Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '04.

Kick ass...

John Woo to direct Metroid: The Movie? I though April Fool's Day was last week...

Is there a better way to end opening day than a six run bottom of the ninth, capped off by a two run walk-off homer to win the game? Wow!

In NCAA tournament news, I went from near last place in our office pool throughout the tournament to taking first last night. They all laughed at me when I picked UConn to win.

It's always the jackass who knows nothing about basketball who ends up winning the pool, right?

The Downward Spiral is now ten years old.

I guess I'm old now...

More April 1 tomfoolery:

OPEC to cut oil production.

Ha ha ha ha ha... You wacky OPEC oil ministers, is there anything you won't do for a laugh?

I'm listening to Morning Sedition right now, and the host (Sue Ellicott, I think) is just tearing Ralph Nader a new one on the air right now.

And he just hung up on her. Sweet.

Update: Whew! It isn't Sue Ellicott. I'm not sure who it is, but Sue Ellicott is the British panelist on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me. As a matter of fact, I don't even think I'm listening to Morning Sedition. The best I can guess I'm listening to last night's Randi Rhode's Show. The Portland station I'm listening to says that Morning Sedition starts at 6AM, and I assume they mean 6 Pacific.

Randi Rhodes is kind of shrill. It's still cool that she got Ralph Nader to hang up on her...

Google: Still the coolest.

Fresh from redesigning its website Google is to launch a web-based mail system called Google Mail, or Gmail, which will intensify its fight with rivals Yahoo! and Microsoft's MSN. In an usual admission Google says the launch of Gmail, which is being launched as a preview today, has been inspired by a complaint from a Google user who was upset about the poor quality of existing email services.

...

"She [the complaining user] kvetched about spending all her time filing messages or trying to find them. And when she's not doing that she has to delete email like crazy to stay under the obligatory four megabyte limit. So she asked: 'Can't you people fix this?'."

Of course they can fix it... They're Google. 1Gb of space for mail. Allows sending and receiving of attachments up to 10Mb. Google search of your entire mailbox. Threaded views of email.

I'll certainly be signing up for my Google Mail account as soon as it's available... Hell, this sounds good enough I'd consider moving my primary mail account there.

More info at Google's Gmail site, though you can't sign up yet. They do have a form where you can register for more information, and I assume possibly participate in the trial.

Update: This is what I get for posting, still groggy, at 5:30 in the morning without looking at today's date.

Apparently I wasn't the only one had, though. I first heard of this in a BBC news report this morning while getting ready for work. Unless the BBC is in on it... DAMN YOU BBC! WHY MUST YOU TRY SO HARD TO MAKE ME SEEM A FOOL!!! (Well, they really didn't have to try too hard...)

Update Again: Rampant speculation on whether this is a joke over in this Slashdot thread. A lot of their "evidence" that this is legit is links to the very well done Gmail site, and the fact that Google does in fact own the domain "gmail.com". Still, if this was a joke by Google, they would own the domain and put together a realistic looking page.

The comment has been made that if the service was real it would be an excellent meta-April Fools Day prank. Announce a real, very cool service on April 1, have everybody write it off as a prank, then confirm that the service does in fact exist on April 2. Are the people at Google that cool? I hope so... I really think a Google search of my gigantic email archive would be extremely useful. Just yesterday I had a hell of a time trying to find my American Airlines frequent flyer membership number which I really thought was somewhere in my email archive at home. Plus, the service as announced really doesn't seem outside the realm of Google's abilities.

Update the last: And it's official. Gmail is not a hoax, and the folks at Google were toying with us a bit:

However, Google's one gigabyte of storage claim led to some speculation about the Gmail announcement being a hoax since it took place on April Fool's Day. Google has pulled April Fool's jokes on the tech community before, including jokes about pigeons being the driving force behind Google's search technology and that Google was looking to start a new research center on the moon.

In addition, the press release about Gmail was fairly goofy, including lines such as "Millions of M&Ms later, Gmail was born." For a look at the full press release, click here.

But Jonathan Rosenberg, vice president of the products group at Google, said the Gmail announcement was legitimate. He did concede that the company did get caught up in the spirit of April Fool's Day in its press release.