Yes, I've been bad, I've been coding...  but I'm baaack.  And it's all happening...

Victor Davis Hanson says we're On the Right Side of History.  You have to believe this is true, there is no other solution.  Right?  { I'm always struck by the fact that critics of America's proactive foreign policy don't have much to offer in the way of alternatives.  These are not self-fixing problems. }

Man is this cool.  The SailRocket is a high-speed sailboat designed expressly for the purpose of breaking the 50 knot barrier.  "Previous record attempts have used weight to counterbalance the force of the rig, so much of the driving force is used to counteract this drag.  SailRocket has equalized the forces creating a perfect balance between the rig and foils.  There is no heeling moment, so all of the drawing power is converted into speed."  I want one, or at least I want a ride in one!

godless asks, Am I Chomksy?  (Answer: no!)  An interesting post and comment thread about human biodiversity and economic efficiency.

Want to buy a Jurassic Plant?  Sales of Jurassic Pot Plants to go on Sale Soon.  "The Wollemi Pine, a plant from Jurassic times which survived in a single isolated Australian grove, is set for an amazing comeback.  In 2005, small plants cultivated from the tree once thought to have gone extinct will go on sale to the public."  Am I going to get one?  Yes.

PCWorld reports States Fight Internet Tax Ban.  The main reason?  "The Multistate Tax Commission fears it may also ban taxes on such telecommunications services as voice telephone services through packet switching technology, a growing trend."  Amazing what the impact of VoIP has been already, eh?

Big news: the theatrical trailer for The Matrix Revolutions is out.  Excellent, it looks amazing.  I can't wait!

By the way, want to know how to get screenshots from Quicktime movies?  Go into your Control Panel's Quicktime Video settings, and select "Safe Mode (GDI only)".  Then launch your browser.  The Quicktime plugin won't use your video card's overlay mode, and you'll be able to shoot screenshots to your heart's content.  Don't forget to switch back, video playback is slower this way...

Wired says soon we'll be able to Catch a Flick on Flexible E-Paper.  "Hot on the heels of the invention of a wafer-thin foldable screen that can display static type and may one day replace newspapers as it can be overwritten each day, scientists at Philips Research in Eindhoven have found a way to display high-definition moving pictures as well."  This is going to happen, and it will be cool...

Wired also has the story behind Virginia Tech's new supercomputer, made up of 1,100 Powermac G5s: Thinking Different, Saving Money.  "Usually you assume that you'll pay a premium for Apple machines, but they will be easier to set up and work with. But in this case it seems that the Macs were cheap, but challenging."  Very cool.  The clustering software was ported from Linux to Mac OSX.

Dish Networks has 1,000,000 users.  They got there first, beating Tivo.  And unlike Tivo, which relies on advertisers for revenue, they unabashedly promote the PVR's ability to fast-forward through commercials.  They do not have anything like Tivo's Home Media Option, however.

ExtremeTech: Building a Wireless Home Media Network Server.  Do it yourself...

ReplayRadio.  "It's like Tivo for Internet Radio".  I knew someone was going to do this.  Next they'll be ripping streams from Radio and making them available for file sharing.  [ via Dave Winer ]

[ Later: Matt Webb notes a bunch of applications in this space.  Wow. ]

Nokia has announced their 7600 "imaging phone".  What a wild design!  Seems like 'phones don't have to look like 'phones anymore.  This is not only a digital camera, but a video recorder, and an MP3 player, and a video player.  We're getting closer to realtime video conferencing through cell networks.  I wonder when we'll have the first phone with a hard drive - this looks to be about the size of an iPod...  [ via Gizmodo ]

And Dell to Dive into Consumer Electronics.  Not only with their iPod-like "digital jukebox", (pic at right), but with an online music service, a la Apple's iTunes Music Store.  Interesting; this is quite a departure for Dell, and could represent some risk.  They haven't been noted for offering services up until now.

Meanwhile - and you knew this had to happen - Apple is beta-testing iBlog.  "iBlog is an elegant desktop weblogging application that makes authoring and publishing your personal weblogs a breeze.  Unlike other weblogging systems, you don't have to be an expert database administrator or a Perl programmer to setup and use iBlog."  A desktop application, but integrated with Apple's online .Mac service.  Very cool.  Yes, I will try it, and yes, I will tell you about it.  Stay tuned.

The other day I noted Viewsonic's new 23" monitor, which displays 3840 x 2400 pixels.  Those are teeny pixels.  Now check out Eurocom's new 15" laptop, which displays 2048 x 1536 pixels.  Those are teenier pixels!  Wow.

P.S. I'm going to Viewsonic next Tuesday to check one out.  Perfect for displaying Aperio's virtual slide images.

The Red Herring is back!  At least on the web, at redherring.com.  No RSS feed yet, however.  Somehow with RSS feeds and all the 'blogs out there, I didn't miss them...  But perhaps they will focus on analysis rather than reporting, which would be good.  Stay tuned.

Joshua Claybourn notes the similarity between Hamas' leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Saruman.  "Seduced by the promises of Sauron, Saruman fell under the sway of the dark lord.  Together, these imposing figures formed an evil alliance, bent on ruling all of the Middle East Middle-earth."  It would be funnier if real people weren't dying in suicide attacks all the time.

Wrapping up, Bigwig notes Political Operating Systems:

• The Arianna Huffington: A resource hog.  Never displays the same output twice.
• The Robert Byrd: Attempts to divert all system resources to its home directory.
• The Ronald Reagan: Slowly loses all access to the hard drive.
• The Bill Clinton: A GUI root application.

Read 'em all...