I just flipped past a local station (on my way to view tonight's Chunk o' Monk on USA). Football season has officially started. Oh sure, they might call it a PRE-season, but I'm not fooled. It's American football no matter how you slice it . I don't even watch the Super Bowl anymore. I just wait for the sweet commercials to show up online somewhere. The other day, a new account Web form asked me to enter my favorite sports team (for possible future password recovery purposes). "None of the above" was not acceptable.

This unsolicited commercial e-mail came to me from someone at a company formerly-known-as Mindset Interactive. A quick search on Google confirmed my suspicions. I thought it would be nice to publish the message (in its entirety) for all to see. I hope these assholes burn in hell.

Hello,

My name is Ron Rallis and I am a Media Buyer here at Vista Interactive. We would like to distribute our free "AT-Games and partners" product through your downloadable software, and are willing to pay you $0.20-.25 every time someone installs our software along side yours. Our free "AT-Games and partners" includes a free search toolbar, 404 redirect, shop-at-home, and a contextual; all of which are free programs that we feel offer value to a user's internet experience. I'm looking to lock up some long term relationships going into 2005 and would like to discuss becoming a major revenue source for your site. We also provide sites with the option of pop-up advertising as well.

Below are a few key benefits to doing software distribution with us.

1. We provide all publishers with login/pass to view hourly stats. You will know up to the hour exactly how much you are making; we don't scrub any numbers.
2. You can link directly to our privacy policy.
3. We pay on Net-7 terms, which is currently the fastest in the industry.
4. We provide immediate out clauses. If you bundle our product for any given amount of time and aren't completely happy by the added revenue you can pull us down.

Let me know if you have any questions; I look forward to discussing this possibility with you further. Also, if you would like to learn more about us you can go to our affiliate site www.addictivetechnologies.com where we have pop-up advertising options.

Thanks

Ronald D. Rallis
Vista (Formerly Mindset Interactive)
Media Buyer
rrallis@vistainteractivemedia.com
5 Corporate Parkway Suite 160
Irvine, Ca 92606
tel: 949.419.0262 X225
fax: 949.419.0268
mobile: 949.278.1213
IM: rrallis0719

My very-accurate scale tells me that I'm now standing at 149 with a BMI of ~20! I'm finally moving past the '50s! I started at ~168 back on July 4th - htting a 600 aerobic calorie burn (plus 10 minutes of anaerobic activity) every day. I've still got ~10 pounds of fat to eliminate, so... send me your glycerol-melting vibes!

And I’m not just saying that because I helped put it together. Seriously, you’ve got a lot more options with this sucker - and we’re planning on adding more (including support for different syndication formats and JavaScript output for easier personal auction lists for your blog). (1) Complete the form to your satisfaction; (2) Press the ‘Search’ button or tap your Enter key; (3) Subscribe to or syndicate the resulting RSS URL! Yes, it’s really that easy - and if you’re an eBay addict, then this will quickly become your best friend.

I'm watching the local UPN affiliate here in LA, and a few minutes ago they decide to run something on the Iowa State Fair. Only, instead of talking about the "Mark & Gary chop," they highlight some stupid contest where people are (apparently) pushing porta-potties down the street. But wait, there's more! At the end of the race, someone smears Hershey's syrup all over the seat, and the person has to reach into the toilet to find an ear of corn. WTF?! Yo, Des Moines? Y'all gots problems.

This is really freakin' scary.

Oh my. Just hit something on Microsoft's MSN.com and Microsoft's SP2 IE blocked a pop-up. That's kinda funny.

Gee, it's too bad the Windows Media Player isn't as easy to use as this Internet Radio client. Ponzi wants to listen to a different lineup every time she sits down, but trying to find a good, working station in Series 9 is next to impossible (and inexcusably time consuming). Can't say as I see much hope for 10's user experience, either. Just about every software radio tuner out there seems to be lacking in some respect. The best one I've ever used has been Winamp (vis a vis the Shoutcast directory).

Well, the idiots at Nabisco have a new series of snacks to offer the world of unsuspecting eaters. Yes, they're banking on the "Oh, it only has a 100 calories - how bad can it be?" factor. They have links to 100 Healthy Living Tips and 100 ways to burn 100 calories on their site... good for them! But while the boxes claim to have "0g Trans Fat," according to Ponzi, the ingredients list shows PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED oil. I'm not sure which lie to believe? Each cookie must contain trace elements of the man-made fat, which is more than I care to ingest. Shame on them.

Oh, man - I've been toying with Microsoft Media Center Edition for a while now (see my Televisionary Cam), but it just got better with Portable Media Centers. Finally, I can take my recorded shows with me to another set in my house! I didn't think I could ever say it, but this beats SnapStream's BeyondTV v3.4. I still adore utilities like FreeGuide, TV Guide (desktop client), and Pocket TV Listings, but this... this beats all.

"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... the course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases." ~ Thomas Jefferson

Well, kinda. There's a new error that some of you downloading junkies may have come across: "EventID 4226: TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts." Ugh! Some guy in Germany (by the name of LvlLord) has created a simple patch that can be run on the final version of XP SP2. I've given 'er a spin and found no problems with it. Plus, Scoble just pointed me to another post-pack patch from Dana Epp. Any other new annoyances in need of fixin'?

Ponzi's got me wrapped up in Mueller wrist and elbow supports. She's been feeling achy at her non-ergonomic desk, but feels much better with these artificial supports around her joints. I guess I'm going through sympathy typing right now - and having a tough time doing it in these movement restrictors. I couldn't finish this paragraph within ten hours - even if I wanted to! In fact, it's easier to use the keyboard by punching keys individually with a pencil in my mouth. That oughta save arm strain, eh? What a pain in the neck...

It's been a while, but I'm finally ionizing my home again. One of my subscribers (Doug Browning) happens to be a reseller of the unit I wanted most (Fresh Air by EcoQuest). It even comes with a remote control. w00t! Take a look at the comparison chart and you'll see why I picked it. To snoop around Doug's site, you'll need a passcode (just use 'guest'). Smells like a winner to me.

Am I the only one who was a little misled with this title? I thought it was gonna be something that would warn me about crap on my system. Like, it would see that some BHO was ISO my passwords or something? And then... then it would tell me: "HEY! That's total BS, man!" So, how about it, MS? Can you make a true BS tool for me? I dare ya. I triple-dog dare ya.

Okay, I've already outted myself as a Scrubs fan, but I just found out that Zach Braff is now blogging. He's also got RSS and Atom feeds, but I wonder if he's geeky enough to know how to use 'em? Trackbacks aren't enabled, but perhaps he'll do a little egosurfing one of these days? I'd love to invite him to speak at Gnomedex, if he'd ever do Tahoe. UPDATE: Saw Garden State last night with Ponzi - and it was well worth the $20. If you're someone who's ever moved away from home to "find yourself," you'll enjoy it, too. Zach wrote, directed, and starred in that thing; he's not just talent - he's talentED.

Hot off the presses: Lockergnome's Political Geeks. Republican? Democrat? Independent? Only opinionated people need apply.

Not saying that I ever would, but if I were to create an adult-oriented Web site, I would probably name it "Areole Photography." That's a great tit-le.

Via Angie: "A Nunavut Tourism marketing officer was fired last month after a local resident complained about a web site she ran in her spare time." This has to be the first marketer on the planet I've ever felt bad for. Hey Penny? You deserve to be with a smarter company. Don't ever lose your voice - no job is worth that price.

Why didn't Microsoft just seed a torrent (and a checksum to match)? Instead, they're telling folks to wait until it's their turn to download the new service pack via WindowsUpdate.com. Meanwhile, how many systems will fall victim to holes purportedly patched by SP2? BitTorrent could have cut their bandwidth bill in half and made a lot of geeks happy at the same time. That said, I'm already seeing quite a few "unofficial" seeds pop up across the 'Net.

Sarcasm, sardonic wit, and extremism... in case you hadn't already noticed, I tend to use these devices. Sometimes, it's just to see if the audience is really breathing (not listening, as THX has that covered). What's the use in writing something for anybody if nobody really reads it? Or, to put it another way, will the blogosphere eventually collapse upon itself? I watched a program on the Discovery Channel last night that said the more we use blogfluorocarbons, the bigger the hole in the Ozone gets. To do my part, I'm not going to write anything more in this entry.

When someone says: "Don't let my ice cream melt, please?" - and there's no refrigeration unit in sight - what are you supposed to do?

Don't ask me how I found it, but I did. It's perfect for all you Gmail addicts out there. Oh, and while we're on the subject of email, don't ever expect me to take action on those ANNOYING challenge / response messages - like the ones that come from Mailblocks. Next time I respond to a message (belonging to a thread that I didn't initiate) that bounces me through one of those scripts, I'll bill the original sender my regular hourly rate after I jump through the flaming hoop.

Just got done watching this movie and, uh... that's some pretty damning evidence against the US Government. Ain't a conspiracy theory, folks - it IS a conspiracy. Start thinking with your brain instead of your party affiliation. And they wonder why young people don't care about politics these days?

After getting serious about losing weight and measuring our BMI, we finally spent more than $50 on a good bathroom scale. If I were handing out awards for the geekiest scale, the winner would be the Tanita BF681 Family. We got it locally with an outstanding 20% off coupon, but they're available online, too. Turns out, with a more accurate reading, I'm currently at 153 pounds / 20 BMI - which tells a slightly different story than our old unit. And forget about relying on the online weight calculators; they often don't take into account body-type differences, and (bottom-line) they're not measuring your body directly. Trust me, this one's worth the money; it's easy to use, simple to set up, stores four profiles, and matches the shower curtain (almost).

"This tool is used to optimize CSS." I ran it for Lockergnome (Before 8529; After 7323; Saving 1206) and for this very site (Before 15718; After 12822; Saving 2896). I can't see any visible differences in the browser(s)! By far, this is the best CSS optimizer I've ever seen or used. It oughta be mandatory for anybody who's serious about Cascading Style Sheets.

Who shall celebrate with me?

I'm ready to start recommending OS X over Windows - especially for novice users. I happened to glance at Ponzi's XP desktop yesterday and saw a flood of unsanctioned pop-ups and browser toolbars. "What the...?! You're not supposed to click on anything without asking me first." "I didn't," she cried. It was one ugly mess, and it was only getting worse by the second. One utility spawned another; one deletion left thirteen unwanted changes in its tracks. Like a good little geek, I downloaded Spybot Search & Destroy - which turned out to be COMPLETELY INEFFECTIVE in purging her PC. I wasted a complete afternoon trying to reinstall Windows over itself; who do I bill for that time lost? I needed to find a better Spyware slapper, and remembered the new Yahoo toolbar beta. Within minutes, its co-branded cleaner did the trick and her system was completely clean (at least, from what I could see and tell). Immediately, I upgraded her to SP2 RC2 - with the new firewall. I'm not happy about this, and think someone up there in Windowsland needs to wake up.

I've been without coffee for a little over a month now, and I'm... much happier, less on edge, and ~10 pounds lighter. Doing the Gazelle has really helped, and our Ab Lounge just arrived the other day. I zone out in front of my Media Center Edition for forty minutes and burn off 400+ calories every day. CalorieKing has become my new bestest friend. Low carb? That's so 1999.

So there's an MSNBC Newsbot - which looks to replace every other portal on the planet. One major oversight: where the FUDGESICKLE are the syndicated feeds!? Tell me I'm not the only one who thinks this is a mistake.