Ok. I've seen some of the trail of the infamous Code Red worm around, in log files and the like. But look at how quickly it spreads and then it's really disturbing. But the patch is available, so go ahead and fix it already you IIS people!!! [via Looka ]

Edina prepares for huge turnout for Stringer service
And this is right on my way home....I don't think I'm going home after work tonight.

Neo Fan Manifesto
yes. yes. yes.

I always forget to read Red Meat, and I shouldn't. I can remember to read my daily comics, but the weekly ones are more difficult....at least they archive them, I just went through two months worth of them...

I've seen this survey on a bunch of sites lately, and figured it was my turn.

Name:

Michael Gordon Philip Lee

Living Arrangement:

Two bedroom house in suburban Minneapolis, with one cat Gustav.
The second bedroom is filled with a 23 year long comic collection, but nothing there is really that valuable, because I'd rather have them to read than to collect.

What book are you reading right now

I finished Father Time by Lance Parkin earlier this week. I haven't decided what I'm going to read next. I really should re-read Flatland so I can move on to Flatterland, which I should review for the MISFITS site.

What's on your mousepad?

The Micron mousepad I got with the computer.

Favorite Board Game?

Trivial Pursuit , when I'm winning. Monopoly otherwise, especially the Star Wars original trilogy version.

Favorite Magazine?

Salon or Slate when I'm online. Newsweek perhaps if I'm looking a print magazine.

Favorite Smells?

I could identify it if I smelled it, but I don't know the name.

Least Favorite Smells?

Eww. Anything rotting.

Favorite Sound?

Evening rain. But that could just be this humid weather lately.

Worst Feeling in the World?

loss of control

What is the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning?

How long until I need to get ready for work.

Favorite Color -

as a kid, it was purple. Now I'm much more split into it's components; red and blue.

How many rings before you answer the phone?

As soon as I get to it, usually two.

What is your biggest fear?

long term chronic illness at my age.

What is most important in life?

Happiness. Friends & Family.

Favorite Foods?

Mexican, Italian, Chinese.

Chocolate or Vanilla?

Vanilla

Do you like to drive fast?

When the circumstances call for it.

Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?

No.

Storms - Cool or Scary?

Cool.

What type was your first car?

I drove my parents 1980s cavalier in high school, it was pretty effectively mine during those years. My first car was a 1995 Saturn.

If you could meet one person dead or alive?

My great-grandfather, because one of my earliest memories is of visiting him in a nursing home at about 2 years old or so, before he passed away. I had a little donald duck finger puppet that I was fascinated with during one of my visits.

Favorite alchoholic drink?

Rum & Coke. White Russian.

What is your Zodiac Sign?

Taurus.

Do you eat the stems of Broccoli?

sure.

If you could have any job, what would it be?

Something that was varied and changing and let me do the other things I want to do.

If you could dye your hair any color?

Red, probably. Maybe blond. It'd be super scandinavian either way then...

Ever been in love?

I don't know.

Is the glass half empty or half full?

Both, of course.

Favorite Movies?

this still works

Most recent movie you've seen?

I watched a little bit of The Living Daylights, but the last whole movie was the new Planet of the Apes.

Do you type with your fingers on the right keys?

Not perfectly -- but it's always worked well enough for me, and I had worked out my own system at an age well before they taught typing courses, and at that point I was more effective with my system than I would be with any new system.

What's under your bed?

some comics and magazines. my room needs to be cleaned in the worst way.

Favorite Number?

5

Favorite Sport to Watch?

Football the last couple of years.

I heard that Neil Gaiman should be on MPR's Midmorning this morning, either at 9:00 or 10:00. And the show should eventually be archived there, so if you, like me, won't be in front of a radio at that time...

(later addition: it's an interesting interview, and is available on their site at the current moment...)

It's one of those days.

Science fiction legend Poul Anderson passed away -- [Windowseat will be listing some obits and the like]. What's frustrating is that he's yet another one of those authors that I'm much more familiar with by reputation than by actually reading his works. One of my initial thoughts, and this is a terribly sad sign of a Doctor Who fan, was "oh, he's the writer Chief Mover Poul from Robots of Death was named after". And I'm a bit embarassed and saddened by that. That clear tributes and references like that -- which you've known about for years -- weren't followed up on, and should have been. And you want to go and read a bunch of things, but you should have done that years ago...

Also, Korey Stringer of the Minnesota Vikings died of heat stroke after practicing in yesterday's weather. It's perhaps a bit odd linking a science fiction legend and a young football player, and it's really only a tragedy of timing that links them. The friends, families, and fans of both will miss them terribly, and forever, and my thoughts go out to them. There's just never enough time.

Tragic.

How you can tell it is too damn hot
Right now, my dining room table is directly in front of my window air conditioner -- the only A/C I have, and it usually manages ok, especially when I run ceiling fans. But I noticed today that it's clearly not perfect, and my cat has discovered it as well -- I found her parked, clearly sitting right in front of the A/C, enjoying the cool air go by her.

I think if I remember, I'll try and get a picture if she does that again...though I believe it's supposed to cool down tomorrow. I hope so, I need to mow...

The Millennium Philcon Draft Schedule - 7/30/01
I've never been to a Worldcon -- given the economics, I may never *go* to a Worldcon -- and certainly not this one -- but the draft panel schedule has some interesting ideas to feed into my own brainstorming machine, and look really good if you're going... (after all, they're doing a Redemption in Angel panel as well; which was by far the best content-wise panel (in my opinion) that I was on at CONvergence this year, and it's a great way to discuss the series.)

It'll be a challenge for next year!

Plot Holes: Planet of the Apes - Why Tim Burton's ending makes sense. by Josh Daniel
If you haven't seen the movie, DON'T FOLLOW THIS LINK. However, if you saw it, go ahead -- it pointed out one thing I hadn't thought of, and I had an "a-ha" moment (as opposed to a "Duran Duran" moment, I suppose), and some things did make at least a little bit of crazy sense...

Supercomputer May Unlock Secrets of Universe
Did they name the computer Deep Thought?

Scientists Claim Evidence of Life in Outer Space

( blogdex ) is a MIT Media Lab project that scans weblogs and posts the top ten most popular links over the last 24 hours or so. It's still can't be that many yet -- if the top site for the last 24 hours appears by only getting 4 links, all it takes is a couple of friends to conspire...

(I don't think I'm being scanned by them yet, but I can't be sure, and haven't looked that hard...)

Leisure Town
This is funny, especially if you're in a software job...

Lucy Lawless on X-Files?
Lucy Lawless switches X-gigs... (what next, appear in the next X-Men movie?) :)

(I never really watched Xena though..a couple times when it was before Babylon 5 in Milwaukee, but that was it...)

I finished Father Time today -- it's my favorite Doctor Who novel I've read in years, and lived up to the very high expectations I have for Lance Parkin. It may be because that this is Doctor Who as my biography; the Doctor's daughter, mentioned in the blurb, so I'm not spoiling there -- is of my (and Lance's) generation. And the book takes place during the decade of the 1980s -- while it's the UK of the 1980s, it's all very much taking part in a time I'm familiar with, and from a perspective of history that I recognize and share.

Certainly one of the reasons why I regularly follow Doctor Who is that it's an old comfort to me -- it's a world that I've escaped to for nearly 20 years now. And perhaps this combined to make Father Time just about the ultimate in comfort read for me right now, which was, if you pardon the expression, probably exactly what the doctor ordered...

Also saw Planet of the Apes, which was ok, not great....

Diversicon 9 program schedule is online -- looks like I'm on a Buffy panel.