I just updated the template file for this blog again. That's the second or third time today.

I just wanted to say something as well. I can't stand a blog with tons of cosmetic changes during a day but no additions of real content.

Following a link from another blog to Colorgenics.com, I took a test to determine my personality color.

As Blue, I'm one of the more creative and sensitive people, but also one who's faced a lot of adversity and am leery of more.

This test amazingly reflected me to a 'T'.

Save Internet Radio! -- Encourage the U.S. Copyright Office to reject the CARP recommendations.

Considering that I often listen to internet jazz stations (when I have access to a high speed connection), it's a given that I'd highlight this.

"If his presence does nothing for you, you're not human!"

That statement of sheer ignorance I just heard on the news uttered about the Pope's visit to Toronto.

Funny... I'm Jewish, so that doesn't make me human? As a person with MS, one who may be helped by embrotic stem cell research - a line of research this Pope has condemed - I'm not human?

Moron.

This is the last weekend of this year's Just for Laughs festival.

I'll miss it all - again - but at least there'll be a larger chance that I can make the next Blog Meetup. Maybe the street won't be blocked off this time!

Well, the first Blog Meetup has come and gone. I tried to attend, but the choice of venue made it impossible.

I'm guessing that a majority of people chose a downtown Second Cup location because it was in the middle of the street festival for Montreal's summer Just for Laughs.

Problem is, that means the street access was blocked. As a person with a physical disability, I took Adapted Transport, and they couldn't get through. They could leave me outside the blocked off area, but a) I'd be tired out just footing it to the place and b)I'd have needed to leave early just to maybe be at the right place to get picked up for home.

Result: I went there only to have to come straight home. Bah.

I own one Diana Krall CD, Love Scenes. I tried to listen to it again yesterday; I wasn't terribly impressed with this performance many years ago. Frankly, it still doesn't grab me.

Tomorrow evening is the first ever , and it's raining heavy.

I hope it isn't raining like this tomorrow! Unless my Transport cab is close to the door, I'll have trouble getting there.

Blogathon 2002 is coming soon. There's really no point in my taking part though... not having an always on connection, I can't leave my net feed on for 24 hours straight; that would tie up my phone line.

At least I'm taking part in the Blog Meetups, so I'll be getting to socialize a bit more.

Enetation is down again, so my comment system is offline. Not that anyone has used it yet... still, this is the drawback of free services I guess.

I just made a few more modifications to this blog, including adding code for my affiliation to Ebay.ca.

It won't cost you anything to become a member there, but they'll pay me a small amount for anyone who joins from here.

It's no secret that I intend to go to Worldcon 2003. I'm saving up for it, but the World Science Fiction convention will cost a lot for me. Every person who signs up to Ebay through me will help me to afford this event.

I already have an account myself. As soon as I can get my scanner installed again here, I have a box of Dragon magazines to sell through there.

Another Hollywood legend has died: Rod Steiger.

He won an Academy Award for his role as a bigotted sherrif in the film In the Heat of the Night. He also acted in over 80 films total.

He was 77 years old.

I haven't spoken about the music industry and MP3s lately, but this latest bit of news shows the industry's blindness showing yet again:

The industry has again had a record loss in sales. The reason bigwigs give for it: song piracy online.

Uhm... morons? The record sales year you had in 2000? That was before you attacked Napster and MP3s!

David Bowie in interview has spoken in a more intelligent form: he said essentially that in 10 years, copyright for music will be obsolete. The music industry has to accept that and find a new way to do things, or it'll be extinct too.

Rosemary Clooney a classic singer dating back to the Swing era, one of the last surviving stars of the movie White Christmas, has died. The announcement was made on the air tonight.

She will be greatly missed. By me as well.

Unfortunately, because of the weather, I may again miss the Montreal Jazz Fest.

As I mentioned in my last post, high heat makes me feel sluggish... and that's the case right now. I can't stay awake more than an hour at a clip.

This really stinks.

It's now officially summer. Hip-hip... bleh.

Like many MS'ers, heat makes me sluggish - actually, it makes me need to go back to sleep multiple times per day. That's throwing my writing off-kilter too.

My folks bought me an air conditioner. I'll hopefully have it soon.

I've added another comment system to this blog. What I like about the LiveJournal concept is the ability to grow communities via commentary. The last comment system I tried went out of business (rather, they became a pay system) so I guess this is take two. :)

I'll be tweaking the color and design settings over time, and publishing it to the whole site.

I finally got to reading about the line-up at this year's Montreal Jazz Fest. About time, since the newspaper was dated May 8th!

The concerts listed were the pay ones, and the shows are probably sold out by now (the festival starts on the 27th) but they make for an interesting view of where the organizers are going:

They open with Herbie Hancock and a tribute to John Coltrane and Miles Davis, two jazz legends in their own right. Jack DeJohnette (his son was a member of the band Me, Mom and Morgantaler) also has a show, and there'll be a celebration of Dave Brubeck's 80th birthday too.

Then we get the "Huh?" stuff: a show with Grammy Hip Hop winner Lauren Hill, and another show with Peter Gabriel - artists with nothing whatsoever to do with the jazz field.

In other words, the line-up is par for the course.

Site Officiel - Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.- Official Site

The festival starts earlier this year... and it's the 25th anniversary too.

I don't know if I'll get to take advantage of it - even if I'll be able to attend this year! - but I'll definitely buy my "Friend of the Festival" card/CD. I missed it entirely last year; don't want that to happen 2 years in a row.

Blog by Night

I linked to the old version of this site, before it got its own domain.

The language can be harsh, but this is from a fellow Canadian, and a fellow former Atari computer user. Those two facts make it link-worthy.

Bob Hope's 99th birthday was this week. Wow.

When I think of how his contemporaries in the comedy field are no more, it makes the fact that he's still with us all the more precious.

Today is the day after my move... almost everything's here, I still have to get a few smaller items at the old place, and I have weeks of unpacking to do... but I'm here.

I just got rid of my old computer desk. One more day of packing here, and I'll be moving.

It's a little weird adjusting to a "new" desk (I've had it for years, just never used it), but this is the same space saver I'll be using at the new place, so I'll gladly live with it.

I saw a tremendous basketball game tonight, in this year's Playoffs, with the Boston Celtics vs. the New Jersey Nets.

The Celtics used to be the franchise of basketball. They won a tremendous number of championships - but since Larry Bird retired, I don't think they've even been in the running. Longer-time fans than I can correct me if I'm wrong.

It didn't seem any better by the third quarter of this game... they were trailing by an embarassing 26 points at one time - on their home turf (the Fleet Center) yet.

Fourth quarter, they really turned things around, going from a 26 point deficit to a win by four points.

That's the kind of determination I like in the Playoffs.

This was almost an inevitability, but the remains of Chandra Levy were found yesterday.

While over a year has passed, making finding the murderer difficult, I think many have an idea where blame can lie, at least as the man who ordered it: Gary Condit.

I hope this doesn't remain an unsolved mystery. We have enough of those.

I showed my new apartment to a friend tonight. He came over to help me pack, and after we were done, we went there.

The bus to get there didn't go close enough. We had a two block walk from the bus stop that left me exausted. On the way back though, bus connections were easier.

He definitely feels the new place will be a major step up for me, with the neighborhood much better. I still see the place as much smaller; something I'll really have to get used to.

In exactly one week, I'll be in my new apartment.

I still have a lot of packing to do, and even with friends coming here to help me, the speed-up in packing seems negligible.

Oy.

Four days since my last post here. Since my birthday. Oy.

A large part of it is the fact that I've been devoting a lot of time to the Live Journal I started months ago.

Considering how I already post on three blogs, adding another one may seem crazy... but Live Journals have a level of community involvement that I find lacking in other blogs right now. You can use a separate utility like Blog This, but that costs extra. A shame.

Today marks my 35th birthday. To mark it, I use my favorite song from Xena:

For he's another year older,
Yes he's another year older.
Oh he's another year o-older...
- and that's a cryin' shame!

WIL WHEATON DOT NET

OK. I was one of the millions who despised him as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: the Next Generation. Still, he puts together a fascinating weblog.

Besides, how could I hate a member of Andre the Giant's posse?

Katherine Hepburn turns 95 this week. With her and Bob Hope in their mid- to late-nineties, that's pretty amazing.

How sad that Milton Berle isn't with us anymore too, to join them in a trio.

When I got home from my usual Friday get-together (man, the wind made it feel cold!) I had an answering machine message from my mom. She's back home for the weekend, but will be going back to my aunt in Vermont early next week.

My 35th birthday is this coming Tuesday - but it doesn't matter.

By the end of this month, I'll be moved to a new apartment. I'm still nowhere near done packing, I still don't know when we'll do the move - but that too doesn't matter.

What matters is that my uncle is in ICU there, with about 10% heart function, his best hope right now being a heart transplant -- and with the long wait on the waiting lists, that is a faint hope right now.

I've heard stories of miracles before, and I hope there's one here too...

Web Junkie -- canada.com

Mark is the sysop of a local science fiction-themed BBS I've been a member of for many years now. That guaranteed him a link.

I'm less than a month away from my move now... a few weeks, really.

I'm nervous about the fact that I still have a ton of stuff to pack, though.

With the sad news of my uncle's situation, and all the uncertainty from it, it really doesn't help.

I've been having trouble focussing this evening: one of my uncles, just shy of his 60th birthday, is in a hospital unconcious from two heart attacks. From what I've been told, we may be facing the worst.

In part, I'm feeling angry. For years now my aunt and others have been trying to get him to see a doctor about his wide girth, to make a healthier diet, but he stubbornly ignored all attempts to help him get healthier. He wouldn't see a doctor out of either fear or ignorance... and now that has led to what could be a sad loss for us at a far too early age.

I'm worried more for my aunt and cousins. I know my aunt has had heart troubles of her own, and high cholesterol - but she's been taking more care of herself. My cousins are in their early 20s too.

The Infinite Matrix | Bruce Sterling | Schism Matrix Current Day. A blog by author Bruce Stirling, ome of the fathers of cyberpunk.

April showers bring May flowers. So, what do showers in May bring, other than aggrivation?

It was raining most of today... and it was also cold enough that my breath was freezing in the air. Since I had a meeting to go to in the afternoon, and an eye doctor appointment early evening, I was stuck "enjoying" the lousy weather.

Stuff like this makes it less likely I'll miss this apartment. As a basement place, humidity always leaves it feeling chilly until mid-August. Then it becomes a sauna.

I'm less than a month away from my move, and I'm still trying to get my packing finished.

Today I finally stored away a part of my comic collection that hadn't been put in acid free boxes for years. I found issues of DC Comics classic Watchman series, as well as issues of Camelot 3000 (great series. Too bad it was over 2 years between the publication of issues 11 and 12). Also early issues of Miracle Man, a series currently in litigation on rights.

In over 20 years, I've really gathered some classic stuff.

I just changed the Website tracker for this Blog. While Site Tracker makes a larger graphic, at least I'll no longer see how the site was discovered by pervs looking for skin or for gruesome images (though these words are sure to get more of them).

Besides: Extreme Tracker still really belongs to the old site on Freeservers... it was time to get a new code.

So Robert Blake was finally arrested for the murder of wife Bonnie-Lee Begley... a year after the murder.

She sounded like a twisted woman - but that didn't in any way make it acceptable to kill her. The guilty party must pay.

I'm just amazed they waited so long to try for a conviction. Everything Blake has said in the last year pointed to a messed-up individual, one seemingly obsessed with guns.

Some are comparing this to the O J Simpson trial, for a celebrity being on trial. I'm hoping this one doesn't get away with the crime.

Independent News.

I'm not only a lover of Jazz. I'm also a writer, and lover of science fiction. Damon Knight had a major place in the field as an editor, a critic, a writer and member of the Futurians along with my idol Isaac Asimov and many others.

This eulegy speaks volumes about a great man.

It's official: David E. Kelly has announced that Ally McBeal will end with this season's final episode.

This really isn't too much of a surprise. I've been a fan of the show since the very beginning - but a few episodes into this season, I gave up on it. The magic just felt gone, the new characters and situations just not gripping.

A few things have happened in the world the past few days. I'll cover them in different posts; it'd be a tragic mistake to even compare them slightly in import.

Last night, US forces killed 4 Canadian troops, in a "friendly fire" incident: an American fighter pilot fired on Canadians performing a drill by accident.

This marked the second time in a week that such an accident happened. It's almost as if bored soldiers, not achieving high kill numbers, decided to take themselves out.

This was very, very sad.

CNN.com - Actor Robert Urich, dead at 55 - April 16, 2002. He was a television icon for my generation, and I'm a fan of detective fiction - so Dan Tanna and Spencer will always hold a place in my heart.

When he was first diagnosed with cancer, I'm sure that many of us rooted for him to beat it. He did for a time... but in the end, lost.

Goodbye Mr. Urich.

Time for some Web-geeking again: I'm testing out a 32-bit Windows utility to blog without logging into Blogger first.

The program is called Bloggar. I know; not an original derivation...

I can tell we've started to hype the Montreal Jazz Fest for this coming year: our local CTV station aired Jazz: A Century of Music today.

It was nice to see some of the legends of the business again, people not with us anymore, like Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and more... we were lucky to hear such greats in the 20th Century.

I just learned of two more sad passings. Not that anyone passing away isn't sad, but these two, while an inevitable part of our lives, still meant a lot:

Billy Wilder: Last of the legendary Old Hollywood directors, the man who directed Sunset Boulevard (from which we have the famous line "I'm ready for my close-up now Mr. DeMille!"), Some Like it Hot (my all-time favorite screwball comedy) and many, many others. He died of pneumonia at 95.

Elizabeth, the "Queen Mum": at 101, she died in her sleep.

At such a phenomenal age, her loss isn't at all sudden. This was a former commoner who supported Edward VIII in 1936 when he abdicated the throne, and who rallied the people of London during the Blitz.

The fact that she essentially lived the entire 20th Century is phenomenal.

Goodbye, Billy and Elizabeth. You'll be missed.

Part of the 'blogging experience: I just changed the code for one of my Webrings yet again.

Most of the snow in Montreal melted again today. With my strong belief in Murphy's Law, I'm expecting it to snow again soon.

Milton Berle dead at 93

A sad loss of Dudley Moore is followed by even sadder news. "Uncle Miltie" is a classic we'll miss horribly.

What a bittersweet day: I was going to Vermont for Passover, but plans changed when a(n ultimately bad) doctor said she had a hernia. My folks were worried, and came to stay at my sister's so that my dad could bring sis to a hospital, where they were stuck waiting for most of the day.

Turns out it wasn't a hernia, so we all got together for dinner at her home.

I get home, relieved and enjoying the company of my nephew and nieces -- then heard on TV that Dudley Moore died of pneumonia, a complication caused by the terrible illness he had.

He had a wry British wit, and was part of more memories than I can count. I'll miss him.

I always have fun visiting my friend Pat's Live Journal: he tries out different "Which character are you?" quizzes, and I then try them for myself...

The latest was "Which Calvin character are you?". I'm closest to Hobbes, the coolest stuffed tiger in the universe.

Montreal continues with unconditional weather patterns: having no snow on the ground since early January, we had a major enough snowfall yesterday, so now there are a few inches of snow on the ground...

CNN.com - Bush talks of threats, concerns and U.S. judges - March 14, 2002

Nuclear weapons are an option to protect American soil? Bush talks of Saddam Hussein using "weapons of mass destruction" and he'd consider using such a weapon as OK if he pushes the button!?

This is why Republicans in office is scary. A party that believes "might makes right" should be nowhere near power... it was scary enough when Regan was near the missile launch button. Now we have to worry about a man who may destroy the world without a second thought.

I hope his advisors convince him to forget these thoughts.

Yesterday marked 6 months to the day the worst event in our recent memory: the 9-11 tragedy.

Have no doubt about it - this tragedy will be fresh in this generation's minds for many years to come.

I forgot to mention last time: Diana Krall is also the musician featured in a car ad here in Canada. Makes sense, since she's a Canadian herself...

Wow... I haven't posted here in a week! Sorry about that... it's been a hectic week of phone tag for me, trying to get everything ready for my apartment move at the end of May...

I heard on the radio today that Diana Krall is going to have another show in Montreal this month... at last year's Jazz Fest, she was touted as the next big thing in Jazz crooners.

I have her next to last CD. Frankly, I'm not that impressed. Mind you, as a fan of Holly Cole, it takes a lot to impress me over her song stylings.

So, it's official now: Rosie O'Donell has come out of the closet, confirmed that she's gay.

So what? Really, is this important to anyone? Does it change the fact of her show being entertaining?

If you really think that, I have to quote one of her often used lines: "Are you smoking crack?"

Fact: this is a woman who gives away a ton of goodies to anyone who sits in on her show. Fact: this is a woman who's given guests trips (like newly married people, the Survivors), or needed supplies (people who just had multiple births).

Fact: when a young boy came on her show with an original piece of Titanic history, hoping to raise money with for a cause, Rosie right away bought it - for 20 thousand dollars.

She's one hell of a person. Anyone who thinks her sexuality changes that fact needs their head examined.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with jazz, but I have to say it:

Way to go Team Canada!!

I'm not a hockey fan in the least - but a) the game was invented in Canada, b) I am Canadian, and c) finally, we've regained the top spot in our own game.

For those facts alone, I'm proud.

Chuck Jones, animator, dies at 89

I saw Chuck at a special gala at the Montreal Just for Laughs festival in the late 1980s.

As an animator by schooling - hell, just as a guy who loved his work - this is sad news.

We have a radio station here in Montreal called CHOM. This station has been known for over 3 decades as the home of rock and roll in Monreal.

They just made a format change though: now, they're a classic rock station. they have about 977 tunes from the past of music history, and that's what they'll play.

Problem is, music grows and evolves. Instead of continuing to celebrate this, make us all aware of it, now they're just looking back.

I think the next ratings period will show a huge drop in listeners for them.

I may have some success at clearing up this apartment without selling off my memories... one of my friends has offered to store my comic collection of over 20 years.

He lives in Maryland - at least a day away and in another country from me. Regardless, it'll mean that when someday I move again to a larger place, I won't have to mourn the loss of irreplacable things, books I'll never see again.

I just learned that Princess Margaret passed away. Mere days after Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee (50 years as queen), her sister is now gone.

Yeah, we all go someday; this is just one more of my lifetime's royals we have to say goodbye to.

Man, I haven't posted in a week. Bad Andy - er, me!

Life changes are coming fast and furious right now: tomorrow I see an Adapted apartment, possibly where I'll be moving in the next few months.

I've been at the current place for almost 9 years now. I'll be a little sentimental on leaving it, but the new one'll have many, MANY plusses to it.

I just took another cool "Who are you?" quiz, this time "Which Super Mario character are you?" As a cild of the 80s, I could relate.

My vote results were tied between 2 characters:

I am a celebrity, a natural born leader, and a mascot. When old people think of video games, they oftentimes get a mental image of me. Countless times I've been called into battle to save Peach from various baddies, even back in the days of Atari, and I have never faltered. Others may be jealous, but who cares? I'm Mario!

What Super Mario Bros character are you?

and

I am a hip critter. I showed up fasionably late with Super Mario World and have started launching your own career since then. In maybe 10-15 years, my popularity will rival Mario's. Not that I'm competing with him. He's my bud. I'm good at getting and keeping friends, and they value me for that. After all, who else would carry them on their back through ice, fire, and rain? Sometimes I think I'm taken for granted, but I know that my friends have my back. Of course they do. Who would screw over Yoshi?

What Super Mario Bros character are you?

2 hours.

That's how long it was from the end of work today and the time I got home.

Transport may pick up the phone line faster, but in terms of getting folks around, it still stinks.

Adding to the deaths due to illnesses caused by smoking: Peter Gzowski, a broadcasting legend here in Canada, just died from emphesyma, at 67. He too was a smoker until 2 years ago.

This message may come off as a PSA - but I really don't care.

This weekend, Carol Burnett's daughter Carrie Hamilton died of lung cancer. She was 38 years old, and a smoker.

38. I turn 35 this coming May. She was a mere 3 years older.

Will smokers get the message now? Will you blind twits stop? 38 years old is too damn young to die. My aunt was too young when lung cancer claimed her last year at 53 - but the tragedy there was the fact she didn't even smoke. Here, it was the case - and she was too fucking young.

Maybe folks think "Oh, that won't happen to me!" WAKE THE HELL UP!! Every cigarette you take, every single puff... it's nothing better than playing a game of Russian Roulette with your health. Graveyards are full of the remains of folks who thought it wouldn't happen to them!

Montreal finally had winter snow catch up... a mini-blizzard Wednesday and Thursday finally hit.

At least we can keep Greece and Buffalo, NY company.

Today, Canada mourns the passing of another of our idols: Frank Shuster died from pneumonia at 85.

Along with his partner Johnny Wayne (who died in 1990 at the age of 72) Wayne and Shuster were a fantastic comedy team, loved by Ed Sullivan in the USA but still stayed to make their fame here in Canada.

Now the team only exists on archived footage. Goodbye, Frank.

Sometimes, I just can't win...

Winter in Montreal has so far been pretty mild, but I thought one of my winter mitts was missing. Then, I found it yesterday - and lost it again in a cab home from work. Blah.

I went downtown to have lunch at Wendy's. It just seemed right to honor Dave that way.

Another sad day, as we lost another well-known celebrity:

Not as great a significance as George Harrison - but then, any loss in the world is sad. Regardless of how you touch lives, it still matters, even if you only touched the lives of loved ones.

Dave Thomas, the owner and head creator for Wendy's restaurants, was someone who touched us all in some way. I've always enjoyed the food at his restaurant chain, but also felt reassured by his presence on TV.

He was only 69 years old, claimed by liver cancer. Cancer has claimed far too many people around me of late, both loved ones and stars.

Take the Which Beatle Are You? Quiz.

The test answers are a bit mean at times, and with George now gone too, it's a bit sad... but it was still interesting to read whom I rate as.

So far, either the counter is still reading visits to the old site, or people have begun to visit this new one... either way, Jazzlife is still getting a decent stream of visitors... and not just visits from me, either!

Happy New Year!

Third time posting today, when I expected not to. Maybe I have to say I won't more often!

I saw the movie Breakin' on TV a few minutes ago. Strangely, it fits the theme I want here, since it's referred to as street jazz...

Anyways, as a storyline it was really bad, and the fashion was very early 80s (when the film was made. Duh, Jeff!), but the dance routines were great. I actually think I've seen modern dance far more outrageous than what they showed here!

Net-radio is so addictive!

I just tried to show it to dad. He wasn't very impressed when I hooked up to stations in Paris and Moscow - half a globa away from us. I find it cool, though.

Right now I'm listening to a station in Britain, on Radio Free Virgin. It's called Sax in the City. Cool saxophone jazz.

Someday, I have to get a dedicated high speed net connection like this!

With 2001 over in a few hours, we aqll end up speculating on the year...

For me, it hasn't been a major year for progress, but I have achieved a few great things. We also all learned a new escalation in the horrors man can commit in the name of their beliefs...

I'll see you all on the other side of the year. Remember to party safe.

Man, I'm listening to a jazz radio station in Ottawa on my aunt's digital cable modem connection... I'll really need to get one of these someday.

Despite being underwhelmed by Diana Krall in the past, I'm listening to her right now... and I have to admit I'm enjoying the song I just heard.

I'm with family in the USA for New Year's right now... things worked out for me to be here now.

I'm glad; without this I had no plans, other than watching an event on a friend's digital TV (his offers channels that mine doesn't provide).

Well, it took me over a week, and I went into major withdrawl, but this 'blog is now hosted at a new home on Angelfire.

There are things bound to keep changing over the next few weeks too.

Well, Freeservers changed their policies... now, stuff like FTP is no longer useable unless you pay (making the 'Free' in the name an oxymoron). So, I've moved this blog.

There are bound to be some major growing pains as I change everything. Sorry.

Well, BlogYou finally made a detailed review of this blog... and tore it to shreds.

Expect a huge overhaul in the site over the next brief while.

I don't know how my contribution to Link and Think made an impact yet... but I'm still getting the voyeur/pervert visits on a regular basis. Lovely.

World AIDS Day

This site will educate you more on HIV/AIDS.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt

This project began many years ago now, and it hasn't wrapped up yet.

The photo on the main page just shows part of the quilt, and it seems enormous already - but it's still only part of it all...

According to the site, AIDS has claimed 21.8 MILLION lives to date, 3 million of them last year alone. Very sobering statistics.

World Aids Day really begins in a few hours, but I'll be at work tomorrow, and most of it will be over and done with by the time I get home.

Even though today was already one of sadness and reflection on George Harrison, I wanted to make sure that the day I commemorated last year as part of The Day Without Weblogs was commemorated again:

Above this you'll find links to several sites about AIDS, to help you learn more.

Independent Enjoyment

Sir Paul McCartney was wrongly blasted for his seeming blasé attitude when John Lennon died. Really, it was shock when the news was just tossed at him.

No one could accuse him of that now. More tributes to George Harrison.

Obituary: George Harrison, 1943-2001

My Sweet Lord... the writing was very likely on the wall with the report earlier this year, even though it was proclaimed false.

George is the second Beatle lost to the world, after John Lennon in the 1980s...

When we was Fab... George had a major influence on modern music, even if he sometimes didn't seem to. Introducing the sitar to us, tunes after tunes after tunes...

Only 58. Taken from us too young, as John was. We'll miss you George. I have to go on with my life now, While my Guitar Gently Weeps.

Cops Bust Intl Kid-Porn Ring. What can I say about this? GOOD! Child pornographers are sick to me.

My mom had her first cataract surgery today. It went well, it was also a very short time. Still, she must have felt awful under local anesthetic for it.

I'm in Burlington, VT right now, having celebrated American Thanksgiving with an incredible meal made by my aunt.

I also got to follow a growing movie trend, even though I usually try to avoid trends: I saw the Harry Potter film in theatres.

I actually have yet to read any of the books but I had to say: the film was bloody brilliant. It actually made me want to read the books now.

Previews also reminded me just how much I anticipate the premiere of the first Lord of the Rings movie. This for a trilogy I haven't read in 20 years too!

Taliban to Surrender Kunduz. This article title is deceptive; the article itself makes it sound like they're nowhere near a surrender... but I'm hoping that at least *this part* of the whole ordeal is over.

Potter mania hots up.

I'm still blown away by the frenzy for this... still, Harry Potter got people reading again.

Albert Hague, 81; Fame Teacher Wrote Scores for Broadway, TV. I didn't know he wrote the score for How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but I remember his days as Professor Shorofsky on Fame.

Both my shoulders hurt right now. I got my flu and pneumonia shots today... while the pneumonia shot was less painful at the time, it hurts more now.

Well, obviously Freeserver kept FTP on accounts created before they decided to make it a pay service... since the last post got out and all.

Right now, ABC news is pasting the airwaves with news of another plane crash outside of New York City. They've been doing so since early morning.

It might be a terrorist act; it's most definitely a tragedy, as over 200 lives were lost.

By bringing all the lives of TV viewers to a halt again, though, ABC is doing exactly what the terrorists want.

For some reason, Freeservers removed FTP access from their free sites.

As a result, I don't even know if this post will work.

My votes today proved fruitful: Pierre Bourque lost his bid for a third term as mayor of Montreal, by a wide margin. Gerald Tremblay will be the first mayor of the 21st century now.

Bourque proved just how dense he could be in his concession speech; on the city merger, he said he might have explained it better, to make it more palatable. Hey, moron: it's an unpopular idea in Montreal, no matter HOW you explained it. As I've said from the beginning: no matter how we phrased it, we still said as one: we don't want it!

Now, the message should be clear - not that he'll understand it.

Before 10 AM today, I cast my votes for borough councilor and mayor in Montreal's elections.

This is considered the most significant election in years, considering it's for the people in office once the entire city is merged (a forced merger that few people outside of the government want). As a result, it's also the election the highest percentage of citizens have voted in ever.

Even though the current mayor Pierre Bourque is one of the most despised in years, polls give him 35% of the vote. Why he'd have moore than 0.001% of the vote is beyond me. On the 11 o'clock news tonight, I'm hoping to have the results declared, so I can learn them before I wake up tomorrow.

FAQ: How do spammers get people's email addresses ?. Spam mail has been an unavoidable evil on the Net for years... this FAQ tells all the ways a spammer can harvest e-mail addresses, and has a long list of anti-spam resource links.