kyleandkelly.com

I’ve read good reviews of Spider-Man 2, but “this idea of Sam Raimi’s looks *far* more interesting”:http://cnn.entertainment.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=CNN.com+-+A+dream+of+a+1%2C000-year+camera+-+Jun+29%2C+2004&expire=07%2F29%2F2004&urlID=10869421&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2004%2FSHOWBIZ%2FMovies%2F06%2F29%2Ffilm.raimi.centurycam.ap%2Findex.html&partnerID=2010.

written by Kyle

Surprise, surprise–”Canada’s Liberal Party has lost the majority”:http://www.cbc.ca/stories/print/2004/06/29/canada/martin_040629 after being tussled by scandals alleging government favoritism to politically connected companies. Really?!? Crony-ism in Canada’s Liberal Party?!? Before I get too high on my Yankee horse, let me say to Canucks “welcome to the club”:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/26/politics/printable575356.shtml…

written by Kyle

President Bush has (once again) raised the hackles of France’s President Chirac. This time Chirac took offense at Bush’s urging of the EU induct Turkey. From “CNN’s Bush rebugg to Chirac over Turkey”:http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/06/29/bush.chirac.turkey/index.html

bq. “If President Bush really said that in the way that I read, then not only did he go too far, but he went into territory that isn’t his,” Chirac said of a remark Bush made over the weekend.

bq. “It is is not his purpose and his goal to give any advice to the EU, and in this area it was a bit as if I were to tell Americans how they should handle their relationship with Mexico.”

I find that pretty ironic since the last tiff began with Chirac telling Americans how to handle our relationship with Iraq. Granted, you could argue that Iraq is not in a position to join in an eco-political alliance (AKA, the EU and NAFTA) with us and Mexico is, so the situations are entirely different. All the same, fences are coming down and globalization is the buzz word of the millenium. Crying “none of your business!” reeks of childish naiveté.

written by Kyle

I’ve decided I need some place to record the pros and cons all three candidates (Bush, Kerry, and Nader), being the forgetful person I am. The idea is to slowly build up the list as information trickles in, as campaigns progress, and as platforms are solidified. Once it is time to head for the polls, I hope to at least be well-informed, if not sure of my decision.

I’ve also decided to keep the comments turned on so the Peanut Gallery could chime in and tell me where I’m dead wrong So head on over to “2004 Election Scorecard”:http://www.kyleandkelly.com/geekyfreak/2004_election_scorecard/ , take a gander, and contribute to the debate.

written by Kyle

We had a double header of church softball goodiness today. I sat out of the first game to give playing time to some of the guys that couldn’t stick around for the second. We were the visitor team so we had first at-bat. I was pretty low in the batting order (sixth or seventh), so I wasn’t expecting to do much, but we got off to a hot start.

In my at-bat, I grounded to someone in the infield, but the throw got past the first baseman, so I kept going towards second. I was hoping the ball would go out of play and my second base automatic, but no such look. I slid into second and realized that my hesitation had not been a good idea as my ankle caught on the front edge of the base and rolled under me.

I was safe, but they had to replace me with a pinch runner and my softball game was over for the day–I sat through two games and took on at-bat. I’m just glad it was a double, and I picked up an RBI. After a trip to the ER, the prognosis was a sprain. The injured ankle already had a propensity for cracking or popping as I walked (I could never sneak into the house late at night), and the sprain has made it even more prevalent. I’ll be on crutches with a splint for the next few days, but nothing too bad.

Alas, in the end it was for naught. We lost the game in a furious last inning comeback by the home team.

written by Kyle

!http://www.kyleandkelly.com/scribbles/images/firefox-banner.png!

Researchers have uncovered evidence that “some major web sites have been hacked and will infect your PC if you visit them with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer”:http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5247187.html?tag=zdfd.newsfeed. This article is from ZDNet, which is a major news organization for the IT industry–it would be the rough equivalent of the Wall Street Journal for investors. You can consider it a credible and reputable source.

The viruses in question take advantage of two flaws in Internet Explorer which Microsoft *has not yet fixed*. That means that you could get a virus just by visiting your bank’s web site. Now then, that’s just an example–I’m not implying that your bank is one of the major web sites that’s been infected, rather that it could be.

This is not the first time Internet Explorer was bad news for everyday web surfers. It will not be the last. How can you avoid these problems? Don’t use Internet Explorer. I’d recommend using the “Firefox browser from Mozilla”:http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/. In fact, I’ll do more than recommend–please, please do not use Internet Explorer. Get rid of it ASAP and get Firefox installed. I say this not because I hate Microsoft or because I love Firefox, but because as one of the geeks in the family I want to help make everyone’s Internet experience as problem free as possible.

That said, go “download Firefox”:http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/download.html?http%3A//ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/0.9/FirefoxSetup-0.9.exe, install it, and delete that Internet Explorer icon from the desktop.

I’m currently in the process of writing a series of articles on safe Internet surfing for the average household. One of the first articles will be a more in-depth look at Internet Explorer, Firefox, and safe browsing; however, I felt the security problems above were too dangerous to hold off until I’ve wrapped up that article, so consider this posting a preview and a quickstart guide.

*Update*: great minds “think alike”:http://jeremy.marzhillstudios.com/personal/archives/000129.html.

written by Kyle

This sounds like something from CCF (”Contemporary”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0785275290/ref=pd_sim_books_1/102-3454548-2360959?v=glance&s=books “Christian”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0842329129/qid=1088105639/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-3454548-2360959?v=glance&s=books “Fiction”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0842384197/qid=1088106182/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-3454548-2360959?v=glance&s=books), except in real life, the conservatives are the weirdos…

“Sun Myung Moon’s coronation ceremony in the Ronald Reagan Federal Building”:http://concatenation.blogspot.com/2004_04_01_concatenation_archive.html#108180886585951388

As if that didn’t make my day wierd enough, I also came across a Slate article containing the “juicy tidbits from Clinton’s new book”:http://slate.msn.com/id/2102786/.

The oddest? I quote directly from Slate:

bq. Page 197: “I was so exhausted I fell asleep while the stripper was dancing and the goat head was looking up at me.” Look it up for yourself.

I’ll do that. How these weirdos got so much power befuddles me.

*Update*: I read page 197 (while making a quick stop at “Meijer”:http://www.meijer.com/). In context, it’s only _slightly_ less bizarre. Clinton was in Texas for whatever reason and schmoozing with powers that be in the Democratic party there. One of his new-found friends took he and Hillary to a restaurant in Mexico with a mariachi band, a “half-hearted” stripper, and barbecued goat head on the menu. I believe he meant something like: “I was so exhausted I fell asleep while the stripper was dancing and the goat head was starting to sound appetizing.”

As a final note, I’m glad Slate read through the whole thing and pulled out the juicy bits, because if the other 956 pages were like the one I read… shudder…

written by Kyle

I’m leavin’… in a “Taurus”:http://money.cnn.com/2002/02/22/autos/q_nascar/02_Ford_Taurus_Sedan_05.jpg, don’t know when I’ll be back again…

OK, no more cruel and unusual punishment. Kelly and I are off for a week-long vacation. We are heading down to “Dale Hollow Lake”:http://www.dalehollow.com/ where we will be hopping on “Wayne’s World”:http://www.eastport.info/Wayne%27sWorld.htm and taking it easy.

written by Kyle

No surprise to dog owners, but it looks like “dogs have a pretty good grasp of what we say”:http://cnn.space.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=CNN.com+-+Study+finds+dogs+understand+language+-+Jun+10%2C+2004&expire=07%2F10%2F2004&urlID=10701218&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2004%2FTECH%2Fscience%2F06%2F10%2Fdog.language.ap%2Findex.html&partnerID=2018. Time to break out the primers and Dr. Suess for “Ella”:http://www.kyleandkelly.com/photos/ella.

written by Kyle

And “this”:http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/ is just another reason why…

written by Kyle