It's all so obvious now! I can't believe I didn't see it before! The actors don't represent computers, they represent CEOs!

The first time I saw these ads, I thought what seems to be the general idea on Wikipedia: The Mac is more casual because a Mac computer is easier to use, while the PC is more formally-dressed because a personal computer can sometimes require complex, formal knowledge to operate. A simple example is how Macs try to minimize the wires and hookups, while PCs have a lot of connections that need to be made by a user. (Although the color coding for inputs really makes things simple now.)

Anyway, last night I was watching one of the latest "Get a Mac" ads, and I suddenly wondered, "Hey, why do they use these guys? I mean, they're not totally unappealing, but some might call them nerds. Even the casual guy. So why not use a bodybuilder on one side, like on the left, and not have the glasses and Bill Gates-style hair….!!!!!"

It was at that moment that I suddenly connected PC's image with my memories of how Bill Gates looks. He has hair like that! He's formal like that! And he's got glasses! "Can you Guess Who, do you have a clue?" I do!

And then the other guy — looks just like Steve Jobs! Jobs usually seems to dress more casually. Like on those SNL spoofs, this looks just like him!

So now it seems I've finally come to understand what millions probably already knew. I think at some level I "implicitly" understood the general CEO comparison, but not as consciously and overtly as I do now.

But am I right? I conducted a (very) short search on the web, and the first results on Google (just the headlines) seemed to convey that a Jobs vs. Gates confrontation only occurs in the real world, and is then backtracked with a reference to the "Get a Mac" ad campaign. So I thought I'd try Wikipedia. But at the top of the article, where the primary focus is on the American version of the ad, the one I'm referencing, they focused only on the original interpretation of the Mac and PC style, which again had more to do with the feel of each machine, and not the style of the men behind the machines.

Hmm…

I think it makes sense. Jobs vs. Gates. Right.

When any movement starts to gain steam, there's always the danger that those at the forefront, those in control, will abuse their power. To what sinister ends can the trendiest environmentalists manipulate the public? For what true purpose are the governments of the world working in unison to get us citizens to "clean up our act?" Could Going Green be a bad thing?

If we ever run out of oil (which my sources tell me is impossible, as our oil reserves are infinite) we'll be forced to move on to either less efficient, dirtier technology, or more efficient, cheaper, cleaner technology. Let's hope we go the latter route. But either way, Big Oil is finished. No more money. And in that event, we'll have less reason to interfere with oil-producing nations. Our military spending will take a nosedive, international relations will improve, and the world just might quiet down a little. We can't have that! Not any of it!

We must maintain the status quo, and in order to keep people dependent on oil, and keep thumbs in pies everywhere, we've got to slowly, steadily develop hybrid technology. That way, even while we're taking "active measures," going partially electric and finding other partial alternatives, we're still relying on gasoline. We're stretching the final gallons as far as they will go, as long as we can. There's still money to be made and conflicts to brew. We're digging in, determined to leave our scratch marks on the ground as we're dragged toward a brighter tomorrow.

So, in order to bring about this scenario, we've most definitely got to Go Green, but do so at a slow and steady rate. Even though it's entirely possible to bring about an environmental revolution much faster, we're going to stabilize ourselves and move along only as quickly as we must. Like taking out the trash.

I love pizza with meat. Especially pork. I love pepperoni, sausage, ham, and bacon. So I was thrilled to learn that Digiorno has a pizza with those four meats as the predominant toppings. In fact, the only other thing besides those meats and the crust is the sauce and cheese. It's awesome.

And the crust! It's got some sort of magic oil reserved for deep dish pizza at Pizza Hut. Not the kind of orange, greasy stuff that drips off lame cafeteria pizzas and leaves a stain on your napkin. This is the mother of all pizza crust oils. Barely there, but you know it's there. It adds so much.

The sauce doesn't overpower the cheese or meat. The cheese is subtle, too. It's as if the sauce underlays the cheese, which cushions the best part of the pizza — the meat!

If you're looking for an artery-clogging, jaw-dropping, do-it-yourself non-delivery full-on meat-packed pizza, Digiorno Ultimate 4-Meat has you covered!

On my browser's toolbar, I've bookmarked all of these sites in one folder, seeing as how they tend to come in handy fairly often. Some much more so than others. I had assumed that most other web surfers were similarly aware of these great sites, since they're so useful in finding practically whatever you have in mind. But today the thought occurred to me that there are probably a few people who aren't familiar with one or two (or more) of these helpful resources. So, without further ado, I present THE LIST:

1. Google - The mother of all Search Engines. My favorite part is that most pages are cached, so if the site is currently down or has undergone a major change, you can still see what came up in the results, with all your search terms highlighted.
2. Wikipedia - The user-generated online encyclopedia of everything. Some say that the "truth" found here is only what everybody agrees upon. And that's probably correct. But for most subjects, Wikipedia is a simple, dependable resource that can inform and educate in a hurry.
3. YouTube - Now owned by Google, YouTube is where to search for video clips from shows, movies, the news, and everywhere else. Eyewitness reports are often quickly uploaded to YouTube, so if a news story didn't provide the live footage you wanted, YouTube just might have it. It's also a decent place to find the occasional song, as some users upload whole tracks with album covers as the visual.
4. Dictionary.com - Much easier than using a conventional dictionary, as it's not heavy and you don't have to flip through page after page! Just type in your word or phrase, and even if you don't get the spelling right, you'll usually find just what you're looking for.
5. Thesaurus.com - Sister site of Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com comes in major handy when you need to find another word for something. You'll never have to use, apply, or expend the same word twice.
6. IMDb - The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has detailed files on all movies, past, present, and even future! Who's that actor? Were there any goofs? When's the sequel? Just go to IMDb. There's even a forum and special features for registered users.
7. Internet Archive - Featuring the WayBack Machine, which keeps a record of every incarnation of a web page since that page's creation. You can go back in time and see the earliest form of pretty much any site. It can be extremely helpful when a page isn't currently available or no longer exists. Check out an early archive of Google. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
8. Acronym Finder - The next time you see a strange abbreviation, you can quickly and easily find out what it means. Pretty much every conceivable meaning of each acronym is listed, so all you need to do is find the one that fits the context.
9. Amazon.com - You can buy almost anything online, and Amazon.com is a great place to do it. They used to be mostly focused on books, but in recent times have broadened their horizons tremendously. Now they sell pretty much everything! Not only are the prices low, but free shipping is offered in many cases. One of the best features is the Customer Reviews section for each product. The next time you hear about a hot new item and need to find out the pros and cons from real users, just go to Amazon.com.
10. eBay - Here you can brave rapidly-growing world of consumer-to-consumer sales. Shopping eBay is riskier than Amazon, but there's definite potential to find some really great deals. What's more, some products that aren't listed at Amazon can be found at eBay. It's a great resource when you need to learn about a hard-to-find item or a mystery object.
11. Dogpile - A search engine that compiles results from Google, Yahoo, Live Search, and Ask. I used to use it until I found that it didn't offer the same caching of pages that Google provides. But Dogpile does have an "Audio Search" option that is supremely helpful. Whether you're searching for a clip of a radio interview, a song, or a sound effect, Dogpile's Audio Search is usually pretty helpful. It may take some time to find an audio link that works, but once you do, it's usually well worth it. And if you run out of options, you might try plugging the bogus links into the Internet Archive. The audio file may just be saved there.
12. Urban Dictionary - Dictionary.com is fine for "normal" speech, but what about all those new slang terms? Urban Dictionary is basically a WikiDictionary, where users add and define new words and phrases. The next time you hear a strange word that sounds like it was born yesterday, you can look it up at the Urban Dictionary.
13. OldVersion.com - This site features downloads of previously-released versions of popular software, including instant messengers, file-sharing platforms, web browsers, file unzippers, and graphics programs. When the new version isn't as good as the old one, or is too expensive, you can usually get the old one for free at OldVersion.com.
14. Alta Vista Babel Fish Translation - This is a killer resource that allows you to translate a block of text or an entire web page from one major language to another. The results aren't always word-perfect, but they'll usually provide you with enough information to understand what was written. The whole-page translation feature is amazing. If you're ever searching for something and it looks like you've found it, but it's written in a foreign language, you can clarify things with Alta Vista Babel Fish.
15. Google Blog Search - I just learned about this today. You can search for blogs that are written about or contain information on specific topics. Instead of just using Google to find out what websites are saying, you can use Google Blog Search to find out what people are saying on their blogs. So if you want a more down-to-earth take on something, this could be the site for you.

That's it! These are what I believe to be the top 15 online search resources. The internet has incredible informative power, if you know where to look. I hope I mentioned at least a couple of sites that you weren't fully aware of. Happy digital trails!

Recently I've noticed quite a few different "Bee Movie" ads on television. First, I saw the "TV minis," long commercials designed to entertain as well as inform those watching that Seinfeld is indeed a part of a movie. And that we should all see it. Ok, cool. Then I noticed the ads that used "Bee Movie" scenes and voices, but were also advertising other things. I've seen the McDonald's one. That might be it there. Then I saw one where Seinfeld is doing the HP Pavilion notebook PC hand thing, and he works in another couple of "Bee Movie" plugs.

So. Seinfeld is getting paid for doing "Bee Movie," and also for helping sell Happy Meals, and also for promoting computers. He's gotta be raking in the cash!

I had wondered at one point why we don't see many commercials like the "Bee Movie" + McDonald's combo after the relevant film has lost the status of being "brand new." I figure it must be the allure, the mystery, and the appeal of a new film that is being pushed to the public. We're advertised in so many other places to go see "Bee Movie" that when a commercial comes on and seems to reveal part of the film, we're all eyes and ears. Or maybe just the younger generation pays attention? "Wow, 'Bee Movie' is on TV! Hey, can we go to McDonald's? Pleeeeaasssssseee??"

Excellent work!

I'm sure the appeal is there for all celebrities (and pretty much everyone else, for that matter) to "cash in" whenever possible. But still… I wonder if Seinfeld is afraid he won't get similar endorsement deals in the near future? I don't see why not. I can imagine him doing many more high-profile projects. Bills to pay? Or maybe an empty money pool…

Some days, I find myself spending more time on the web than usual. Previously, extended web surfing would wear me down and get boring. The minutes would drag by. But now for some reason, I find myself losing track of time.

I'll think of something that needs to be done, and take care of it. Then I'll check on something. Then my attention will be diverted elsewhere. Pretty soon a couple of hours have gone by, and since I wasn't even paying attention, I'll wonder, "Didn't I just sit down?" It's a really bizarre feeling. It's like waking up.

When you go for a drive, and your mind is elsewhere, you may have a similar wakeup experience when you snap out of autopilot. Up to that point, everything that was necessary to keep you driving safely and smoothly was engaged, minus your memory. So you're taking in information and making decisions about when to turn, when to slow down, when to signal, and when to stop. But you're not really thinking about it, or keeping track of all the minor details. And then when your focus finally does come back to driving, the general feeling is, "How did I get here?"

The other night, I was on the web for a few hours, and for the first time I had the online version of that experience. I had taken a TV break a few hours prior, and when I "woke up" at the keyboard, I thought to myself, "Where have I been for these hours? What have I been doing? Didn't I just get up and start working at the computer? Did I watch more TV than I had intended?"

The truth of the situation, I believe, is that I had finished watching TV right on time, and gotten back to the net, but for some reason I "lost myself" in it. I haven't lost myself in any activity in quite some time. I've heard how it can be exhilarating, but this was more of a mild surprise.

A few years ago, I was playing the original MegaRace PC game. It was a lot of fun. There's a setup screen on a background of a futuristic cityscape with a pink and orange hue. One night I dreamed that I entered the game through the portal of the computer monitor. I was traveling through the advanced sunset-colored city. It was wild. And now, in a way, I'm one step closer to living that dream!

I enjoy watching the Super Bowl. I like the commercials, the excitement, and I like seeing the final outcome of the football season. I don't usually watch many (or any) other football games besides that. From time to time, Fox airs football games. Fine. I enjoy some of the programming on Fox, especially if it's on Sunday from 8-10pm. I like seeing the newer "Simpsons," "Family Guy," "King of the Hill," and "American Dad" episodes. What I don't enjoy is when a game runs over the allotted time, and it and its after-game report spill over into the timeslot that was supposed to be occupied by other shows. This happened a few weeks ago.

Before the new season of "Simpsons" et al began, I faithfully anticipated some newer episodes (not brand new, but fairly recent) between 8 and 10 Sunday night. Two weeks in a row, I was disappointed to see that although the "Simpsons" block had been scheduled, what actually aired was sports-related. There was no mention of the fact that they were running over, obscuring what I really wanted to watch with programming I wasn't as interested in. The first week it happened, I kept turning the TV back on to check to see if the sports stuff was over. At that point, that was all I could do. I couldn't rely on the schedule, a TV Guide, or the internet. The true programming information could only be gleaned from the television itself, checking what was on and when, as Fox decided to make things up as they went along. Finally, there was a blurb at the bottom of the screen at 9:45 or so, saying "Fox News" would air immediately following the sports program. So they skipped the entire Sunday block. Next week, once I saw they were doing it again, I didn't bother to come back and check. I knew there was no hope.

Sure, TV isn't the end-all-be-all of the world. Sure, some missed programs aren't that big a deal. They weren't even new, right? So why do I care? Because Fox had told its viewers through the programming information that they would do one thing (broadcast the "Simpsons" block) and then did another (let the sports programming run over). This has happened before. And I will not accept that there's no solution. "But if the game runs long, what else can they do?" Move to a different channel.

Fox could have a backup channel for just such "emergencies." Either default to the backup whenever a program overlap occurs, or create a new Fox Sports channel that is explicitly for sporting events that tend to run long. Or broadcast the sporting events earlier, or later. That way, the sports viewers get to watch what they want, and whoever enjoys Fox's "regular" programming is also happy. There's always a solution to a problem. And the best first step toward such a solution is to visibly document in the programming area just how long a game "might" run. An up-front message about how "In the event of such and such, blah blah blah." At least then you'd know to expect such a scenario beforehand, and not end up blindsided with disappointment.

Bottom line: As a faithful consumer, I absolutely despise bait-and-switch.

A few weeks ago, I would have said that given time, Vista will become the dominant MS OS. I had read someone comment somewhere that XP had a similar start, where people weren't sure whether to upgrade, and there were a lot of bugs and kinks that needed to be worked out. After the first Service Pack came out, however, the mass upgrades went into effect. So I just figured once Vista fixes itself, its time will come.

But then yesterday, I saw another one of those Mac vs. PC commercials. I hadn't seen them in a while, so it surprised me. What further got my attention was what the PC was doing. He got up behind a podium and began rallying the citizenry to "Ask not what Vista can do for you, ask what you can buy for Vista!"

Earlier in the commercial, he had said many people are giving up on Vista for Macs, and many are downgrading back to XP. I still use XP, as I'm of the mindset that brand new stuff isn't always better, especially when it's technology. But I never expected to hear that the first-to-buy crowd would ultimately regret their decision to the extent of reversing it.

Sure, the iPhone came out at a price far higher than where it's at now. And sure, people who buy early are learning more and more that there are distinct perils and pitfalls that go with that. And sure, it's just an ad. But even so, the idea of masses of people choosing the previous OS over the current one from MicroSoft, one of the most powerful companies worldwide, it just amazing. It makes me wonder whether there is truth to the message of the commercial, and whether Vista will ever be scrapped. To be honest, I don't see that happening. To much time and money has been spent on developing it. I think all it needs is a little more development to become more popular than XP.

But can you imagine? A company like MicroSoft failing its consumers? Does this remind anyone else of a similar thing that recently happened in another industry? "And now, the latest thing from…Britney Spears!"

This tutorial assumes 2 things:

• You own or have access to your own domain

• You are familiar with using an FTP program or other means of transferring files to and from your web site

Ok, so to start, you know what a favorite icon is, right? It's that little icon that appears to the left of a URL in a browser's address bar, and to the left of the page title in a browser tab. For Google, it's a blue "G" in a box. Pretty cool, huh? It adds a little something, a professional touch. It's all right if your site doesn't have one, but it would be neat if it did. Let's find out how to make it happen.

One simple method is to use a free piece of software called Paint.NET. It's like Windows Paint, but far more powerful. And it's free. You can get it at getpaint.net.

Now, once you've got that, you're going to need the Icon/Cursor Paint.NET Plug-in. Unzip that, go to the directory in which you installed Paint.NET, and place the IcoCur.dll file in the "File Types" folder.

Great! Now you've got a graphics program that can save icon files. So all you need is a picture. Find a site with public domain images. Wikipedia is sometimes useful, because when you click on an image, there's a box that tells you whether that picture is free for external use. Or, you can search Google for public domain images.

Find an image you like, but be aware that it is going to get very small. It must look good in a 16 by 16 pixel format. Open your chosen image in Paint.NET. At this point, you've got a few options. You can crop it and shrink it to 16×16, and then save it and pick the .ico file type. Or, you can crop it to make it square, but still big, and then save it without shrinking it. Or, you could just save it the way it is, without adjusting it at all. Whichever outcome looks best will probably be right for you. And be sure to name the file "favicon.ico." It may not really be necessary, since you can tell web pages where to look for it, but it's the standard. In fact, even if you don't specify whether you even have a favorite icon, the file favicon.ico will be used if it exists. So it's a pretty good idea to use that name.

What's great about Paint.NET is that you can save transparencies within an image. This is helpful when white isn't the background color, as happens when icons are displayed in tabs, or when the address bar changes colors. If you have a white area that is supposed to be the background to your icon image, you can delete that, and what will remain in Paint.NET is a transparent area that will carry over every time the image is displayed.

The icon extension is so powerful, it can save multiple icons in a single file. Sometimes a normal 16×16 icon isn't needed, and a 32×32 is. I've never run into that situation, but the icon plugin allows you to save the following formats: 16×16, 24×24, 32×32, 48×48, 64×64, 128×128, and 256×256. If your image is an odd format, like 256×193, you can also save that as a .ico, as long as it's not bigger than 256×256. And, each format can be saved as either 8-bit (low quality) or 32-bit (high quality). I usually just leave it on the default setting, which saves 4 different versions: 16×16 8-bit, 16×16 32-bit, 32×32 8-bit, and 32×32 32-bit.

What I've noticed is that it seems like IE will display 16×16 32-bit (high quality) in the address bar, but 16×16 8-bit (low quality) in tabs. Firefox seems to use the high quality version on both the address bar and tabs. Opera appears to prefer the low quality 16×16's on both address bar and tabs. So if you can, try to make your icon look great even when in 8-bit format, which uses fewer colors. That's probably why Google uses such a simple icon, a "G," since it will look good even at the lowest quality.

After you've adjusted your chosen image, resized it, and saved it in whichever .ico formats you chose, you can then upload it to the top level of your web site. It should occupy the same area as your index file (index.htm, or index.html, or index.php, etc.) assuming you don't have that in a folder. Once you do that, the "favicon.ico" file will be used by whatever browser looks for it. But just to be safe, you can also specify in the header portion of each of your pages where it is.

In the source of your web page, between <head> and </head>, add this:

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico">

That tells the browsers that don't automatically look for a favorite icon that they should, and where to find it. You should add that instruction to every page you want the icon to accompany.

Now, to test it out. IE isn't really helpful in this area, since for some reason it takes a while to update in the favorite icon area. Some say you need to clear the cache, or page refresh, or click the icon and drag it, and then release it to reveal the new one. A much easier method is to just use Firefox. I believe Firefox will look for a new favorite icon each time it loads a page.

If you've already saved your page as a favorite on your Bookmark Toolbar in Firefox, the old icon there may not change. So what you can do is bookmark the page again to the toolbar, and click the new bookmark to load the page. This tells Firefox to check and update the bookmark icon, and the old bookmark will do the same. Then you can delete the extra bookmark, and save one with the right icon.

If at this point your icon doesn't look quite right, you can go back and adjust it in Paint.NET. The beauty of the program is that once that you know how to make an icon image, you can update and change it as often as you please.

I just got wind of this. I had to post. I thought it was hilarious.

Another scraper site linked to Misinterpreted.org and cited my most recent post. It hadn't previously scraped this site, so I thought I'd check it out just to make sure the comment it tried to leave is bogus.

Looks like I triggered its content detection system with an entry mentioning a supposed way to "Quit Smoking."

What I really found funny was the date of the scraper post:

Of course, there's probably a good reason the scraper did that, but I still think it's amusing.

Not only did someone post about what I wrote decades before I ever wrote it, they did so on New Year's Eve!

Whoo!! Let's party like it's 1969!!!