Nice. Just after posting my own diatribe on Proposition 8 I found a great video that Brian S had posted. Here it is:

One thing that strikes me is how he (Keith) appeals to logic when the supporters of Prop 8 pretty much threw that out with the bathwater. If the foundation of a person's belief is religious, how can you use logic to appeal to that person? Not possible in my opinion. Religion - for better or worse - is resigning yourself to some higher power that makes the rules. Who are we to question that?

Yesterday at work some of the folks that support the central computing infrastructure at the UW posted that three days ago an alleged spam source got taken down thus reducing the volume of spam at the UW from over six million messages/day to just over one million!

That is a phenomenal reduction which seems to be mirrored outside of the UW and it just goes to show how messed up the Internet is currently... The VAST majority of everyone's bandwidth is being used by crap. Stuff that is totally useless and just makes everyone else pay more, have to implement crazy security measures and use stupid 'safeguards' like third party spam reduction services that block legitimate email, etc., etc. :(

Once again SNL had me cracking up with their German coat skit.

Nice.

There is NO shortage of one-man bike shops in Seattle. You've got 12th Ave Bicycles and Collectibles, 20/20 Cycle (which really is much more than a one-man operation currently - they even sponsor a team now), there was Ti Cycles when I worked there way back when and recently I learned about another one - Mobius Cycle.

Mobius is run by "Niki" (a former bicycle messenger I believe) and although it's now also more than a one-man operation it embodies what I love about the urban bike shop.

• The entrance is in an alley.
• The shop is on the 4th floor of the building.
• The hours are "afternoon to evening - Monday to Friday". Nice.
• Niki seems to do what she wants and does it how she wants. Thank goodness for her there are like-minded cyclists in Seattle to patronize her business.
• It's in the heart of downtown Seattle.

The web site is slow as hell, it's organized in a way only Niki probably understands and I can't wait to visit this shop.

ASIDE - I spent some time following links and in addition to some very entertaining blog posts I also came across this deleted scene from the Fast Friday movie.

I have to admit that I love this stuff...

Funny how your perspective changes.

When cell phones first came out I scoffed at them. Now I can't live without mine. Not only do I have a cell phone I've got one running Windows Mobile and I sync to Microsoft Exchange and pay for unlimited data - the whole nine yards in other words.

With the recent passing of the you-must-be-using-your-phone-hands-free-while-driving law (which is a crock by the way), I was looking around for a new ear bud. But after remembering how well (read: not well at all) my previous ear bud worked, especially with the car window open even just a little, I started shopping for other options. A quick web search  suggested that a Bluetooth earpiece might be the answer so after getting over my disgust for people how have one of these things glued to their head 24/7, and at the most inappropriate time and in the most inappropriate places, I got one myself.

So, here is what I bought; the original Jawbone:

The newest version although smaller did not get consistent rave reviews plus this was a lot less dough so there you go. And you know what? It's AMAZING.

ASIDE - when it showed up there were no instructions...?! And they make this look super sleek and sexy so there are no obvious buttons (do you see any?) so I had to go to the Jawbone web site to figure out how to turn it on for crying out loud. Thank you knowledge bases.

But back to my latest geek status symbol acquisition. It really works well. Not only does it cancel noise extremely effectively but the ear bud means I can hear really well when there is noise around me. Having someone hear you is only half the battle after all.

God help me if I end up taking a call in some public airport toilet with my hands otherwise occupied (if you know what I mean) and a flashing LED stuck in my ear. Look Ma, hands free!