Citizen Smash summarizes Arnold's first week in office:

In his first official action as governor, he issued an executive order rolling back the tripling of California’s automobile registration tax shortly after taking office.  Next, he called the state legislature into special session to work on reforming the state’s workers’ compensation system; to draft a bond issue that would restructure the state’s debts (that would be placed on the March ballot); to draft a Constitutional amendment capping government spending (also for the March ballot); and to cut state spending to counter the lost revenue from vehicle licensing fees.  He also suspended all pending regulations for a 90-day executive review.

When Arnold ran into some friction from the Democrat-dominated legislature, he took to the radio airwaves across the state and warned of “severe casualties” in next year’s elections if lawmakers fight his efforts.

There’s a new sheriff in town.

Excellent!  So far, so good.

So, where were you?  Of all the things that have that "I remember when I heard the news" quality, President Kennedy's assassination is at the top of most people's list.  I was five, and I can remember sitting next to my Mom, listening to the radio.  I didn't know what was going on, but I could tell from her reaction that it wasn't good.  The only other thing that has that quality for me was the Challenger exploding.  I'm sure someday 9/11 will be on the list, too, but right now it still seems too recent.

I don't often link James Lileks (although I love his blog), but check this out, as he flips off Salam Pax.  In the same post he disses Michael Moore and bemoans the network's emphasis on the sordid Michael Jackson affair.  I cheer him on from the sidelines.

Xeni Jardin pointed out this awesome video by LynnFox for FC Kahuna's song "Hayling".  If you have a broadband connection, you must watch this.  Now.

You might have heard that CNet bought MP3.com?  They had planned to dump the extensive MP3.com archives.  Michael Robertson, founder of MP3.com (who is no longer affiliated with the company), wrote an impassioned plea that CNet turn over the MP3.com archives to archive.org.  Which they've done!  All's well that ends better.

Scoble does some introspecting about Microsoft's brand image.  "Come on, admit it.  Microsoft doesn't have the best brand in the business."  Robert, you got me.  I admit it.

Diego Doval takes a walk down memory lane.  Longhorn is either the fourth or fifth time Microsoft has tried for an object-oriented file system, depending on who's counting.

If you haven't tried X1, you should.  It provides fast file and email searching today.  It does not use metadata of any kind, rather, it does full-text pre-indexing of file contents.  And man does it scream.

Amid the debate about Longhorn, Microsoft's upcoming new version of Windows, it is worth noting that MS Office 2003 seems to have issues.  I haven't loaded it myself; there doesn't seem to be a compelling reason to upgrade...

Hey, here's something cool; n-generate.  "Graphic Design the easy way.  If you can press a button, you can n-generate."  [ via Ottmar Liebert, who goes a little crazy n-generating album covers 1, 2, 3, 4 ]