I've been blowing off updating this page today for two reasons. First, tomorrow is World AIDS Day, and I'm participating in A Day Without Weblogs. Consider today practice. :) Second, Christmas came early for me, as my new PalmPilot Vx arrived this morning, and I've spent a good part of the day playing around with it. In celebration of my new level of geekness, I've created a handheld-friendly version of the DNC website. Now I can take my work with me wherever I go!

A belated Thanksgiving to you all. I spent last week back in SC, and it was relaxing and a lot of fun. But it's good to be back!

Washington Post: John Travolta's Alien Notion. The quaint story of how Travolta became an Operating Thetan in the Church of Scientology, "which, according to church teachings, gives him the ability to control 'matter, energy, space, time, form and life.'"

Washington Post: Satirical Web Site Poses Political Test. What's the matter, George? Can't take a joke?

Concord Monitor: Presidential Candidates Wage War Online. "Someday, all this new information will push someone into office, predicts Linda Sinoway, who directs the Democratic National Committee's Internet operation. 'It can be the margin of victory,' she said. 'I just need someone to prove me right.'" My boss!!

Bill Bradley has a new ad out, a 60-second biographical piece running in Iowa and New Hampshire.

I've been a busy boy at work during the last couple of weeks, and the DNC website has gone through a few changes. Stylesheets are now handled more intelligently, and Mac users should notice that the text is now more readable across the board. A new online poll feature has been added, as has a "mail this page" functionality on the pages in the newsroom section. There were also a lot of other smaller, behind-the-scenes changes, and overall, it is now a better site. Coooool.

Slate: Which Party Is Webbier?. Staid? Staid?!? Give me a break…

Washington Post: Democrats Hold Calif. House Seat. Welcome Rep. Baca!

It's been a couple of days since I've updated this site. Time to get busy!

Washington Post: Presidential Campaigns Crank Up TV Advertising. Let the air war begin!

InfoWorld: Network Gear To Extend Broadband's Reach. This is a very good thing. I love my DSL, and I want everyone to have it.

Washington Post: Gore Spars With Microsoft Workers. His support for anti-trust laws isn't making him any friends in Redmond. But he's right about anti-trust laws.

Suck: Redmond Blues.

ZDNN: Torvalds: From Plush Toys To Credit Cards. Says Linus: "It's not about Linux versus Microsoft. Let's just do something we have fun with and that we really really care about." Amen!

Yesterday was another long day of work at my day job. I've still got tons to do to finish this project (actually, array of projects), but I've promised myself to take Saturday off. We'll see…

New York Times: South Carolina Faces Storm Over Its Flag. Just take it down! It's ridiculous to blame the NAACP for the current impasse — they've waited for years for SC to do the right thing, and SC has always refused.

The State: Campbell Won't Be Charged In Gun Incident. I wonder if Governor Campbell hangs out with Mississippi Governor Kirk Fordice? For those who don't remember, Fordice was captured on camera walking his dog while wearing shorts, a T-shirt, a shoulder holster and revolver.

Happy Verterans' Day everyone! I have the day off, but I'm being forced back into the office on Friday. :(

Yesterday I suffered a power outage. While "officially notified" by a memo posted in my building in a rather non-obvious location that the power company would be doing maintenance work, it still took me by surprise. I came home for lunch to find a Virginia Power truck parked out front, and no familiar hum of computing machinery inside. I had an engagement after work, so I didn't get back up until after midnight. By the way, the engagement was seeing StereoLab live at the 9:30 Club — an amazing show!

A new Gore ad. And from the Washington Post: Bradley Aides Act Quickly to Critique Gore Ad.

Arizona Daily Star: The Daily Fitz Fix. A political "scorecard" about the four major presidential candidates.

Arianna Huffington: Hot temper or just hot air? "Thank goodness the media has put aside its silly obsession with finding out where the presidential candidates stand on the issues of the day and are placing the focus squarely where it belongs: on the candidates' personal peccadilloes." She's a hypocrite, but this time, she's right.

Freedom Channel. The Freedom Channel features video from political candidates on various issues. You also get access to the National Journal's daily briefing, which is a great source for the morning's political news.

Washington Post: Military Grappling With Rules for Cyber Warfare.

Washington Post: GOP Aims Wedge at Democrats' Issues. "'What we are faced with is a Democratic issue agenda,' said Fred Steeper, who polls for the Republican National Committee and Texas Gov. George W. Bush's presidential campaign." Damn straight!

ZDNN: IE Gains Lead In Corporate Browsers. If I had my way, my office would choose IE, too.

College Football Wrap-up

UMass extended its winning streak to 5 straight yesterday, beating Richmond 33-6. The Minutemen are now 6-3. Cornell lost to Yale 37-20, and now stand at 5-3. Mercifully, USC had the week off; they will need all the rest they can get before they face Florida next week.

New York Times: Gore Campaign Finds Good 'Vibes' in Nashville.

Salon: Bush Gets An F In Foreign Affairs. Old story, new spin: "What's most revealing about this incident is that a Bush spokeswoman would think it a good idea to protect Bush by citing the ignorance of his advisors. Just as it had done so during the cocaine snafu, the Bush campaign staff seemed unable to deal with a controversy without inflicting further damage."

Washington Post: A Skeptical Electorate Searches for eadership.

ZDNN: Has Communicator Lost The Browser War? Yes — Communicator is dead, it just doesn't know it yet.

Washington Post: Bush Fails Pop Quiz on Leaders. Supporters are saying that it's no big deal that Bush doesn't know the name of the leader of the world's largest democracy, which also happens to have nuclear weapons and is always on the brink of war with a neighboring country that also has nuclear weapons. Who are they kidding?

Washington Post: Naomi Wolf and the Body Politic. "What about this makes Wolf a controversial feminist? 'A controversial feminist,' says Nancy Van Meter, a labor union policy analyst who has followed the flap this week with dismay, 'is a feminist.'"

New York Times: In Findings of Fact, Judge Says Microsoft Has a Monopoly. Says Judge Jackson: "Microsoft has demonstrated that it will use its prodigious market power and immense profits to harm any firm that insists on pursuing initiatives that could intensify competition against one of Microsoft's core products."

Wired: Cobalt Rockets After IPO. "Cobalt Networks, which makes server devices that use the Linux operating system, saw share prices soar more than 500 percent in first-day trading." I want a Cobalt Qube (and a few hundred shares of that stock!).

I've been busy with my day job today, and this page has suffered because of that. It's been a good day, though, and some of my geek accomplishments will probably make it here soon.

Shouts out to Chris Short, an Aussie Frontier colleague, who graciously met me for drinks last night while in town for a conference.

My friend Charles Brower goes off on Camille Paglia on Salon.

And Julie Bestry places third in the TV Pop Quiz! I just took the quiz, and I only got 28th place.

ZDNN: NEC disables Packard Bell NEC. No more PBs will be sold in the US. Can you hear the cheering where you are?

DNC: Democrats Come On Strong Across The Country. Last night was a good night to be a Democrat.

iBrator. The perfect peripheral for your new candy-colored iMac.

Today is election day. Be sure to get out and vote!

Tomorrow is election day. If you can, vote.

The United Loan Gunmen did it again, this time hacking the Associated Press website. As usual, attrition.org has a copy of the hacked page.

San Jose Mercury News: Intel's New Mexico Plant Caught In Water War. Looks like Grove wasn't paranoid enough — he trusted the hydrologists.

New York Times: CD Software Is Said to Monitor Users' Listening Habits. RealJukeBox sounds like a trojan horse to me.