On a whim, I perused my web server's access and error logs. I was surprised to note some requests for documents that don't exist on my site. The requests asked for the following files...

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Thanks to Slashdot for the link to a very fascinating story from Wired titled Super Organics. I love reading well-written science articles that explain things to us, the unwashed masses, in terms we can understand but also don't just gloss over the technology or science. This particular article piqued my interest because it involves something I find casually fascinating: genetic engineering and organic breeding of food plants.

This isn't really much of a blog entry. I'm just trying out some trackback stuff on this site and on Cassidy's blog (online here).

Amazing!

When I installed Microsoft's Windows Media Player 9 on my Windows XP box, I absolutely hated it. It was bloated and ugly. I had to spend a lot of time reconfiguring it so it was more minimalistic, switching to the "Corporate" skin, and thoroughly checking all the preference settings to turn off things I did not want the media player doing (and the media player had no business doing). Holy Banannas, Batman!

I just barely installed Microsoft's Media Player 9 on an Apple Macintosh running Mac OS X. Wow! Amazing! This is what a simple media player should look like! The install was easy and quick, and the player was very nice looking, simple, clean of form and line. It looks great, and isn't hideously bloated-looking. Nor is the functionality bloated. The preferences are simple and concise. Nice.

So how come Microsoft's Mac design and programming team got it right, while the Windows team screwed it up so badly? I just don't get it.

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Reading Slashdot I ran into these two web pages today:

http://www.interactivetools.com/staff/dave/james_office/

UPDATE: It appears the above page has since been taken down. Here's Google's cached copy of the page sans photos—and the pictures were what made it worthwhile! The page below still works as of 26 June 2004.

http://www.interactivetools.com/staff/dave/damons_office/

They're both hilarious! And they look cool, too!

For the heck of it, here's a link to a software synthesis rendered version of my as-yet-Unfinished Quartet or Quintet.

Album cover of 'dos guitarras flamencas en america latina' courtesy of Amazon.comWhen Cassidy got back to the states several years ago after serving an LDS mission in Spain, he brought back with him a taste for Spanish music, including Spanish flamenco guitar. Since then, he has repeatedly exposed me to the music, and it's grown on me. His cruelty in playing the music over and over around me while at work recently culminated in my recent...

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My sister, Janna, came to St. George today to visit, and to rescue my car.

Yesterday evening on a whim, after picking up a Mach Burrito at the new Del Taco just off the Washington exit of I-15, I decided to drive out through the Washington Fields and eat there. I meandered slowly down the road, across the bridge over the Virgin River, past Shinob Kibe, a large hill east of the bridge, then around the eastern base of Nichols Peak (that's the hill in the Washington fields with a house perched on top). A little further south, after turning right on to another road heading west, I pulled off and ate, the evening sunlight bathing the verdant alfalfa fields around me. It was a pretty spot to eat.

After finishing off the burrito, I...

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Good ol' Horsey did it again, with another excellent topical article. Check it out at:

http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2004-02-15-1.html

I have personal knowledge of the fundamental nature of family, traditional family, as the keystone of society, because I grew up in a wonderful family, with parents who loved and still love each other, who loved and still love all of their children and grandchildren, and with brothers and sisters who are friends with each other and fiercly loyal to one another. It's a marvelous blessing.

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Okay, I've got to link to David Rachlis's web site. Hey, I he gave me a copy of his cool book about Zion National Park. No, not in exchange for a link, but because of his generousity. I think I came out the winner in the deal...