http://www.brendanloy.com/wp Brendan Loy's domain Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:37:33 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en As I mentioned before, I'm planning to move my blog to either Blogspot or Typepad (mapping the subdomain blog.brendanloy.com to the Blogspot/Typepad servers) so that I can drastically reduce the amount of traffic to my WestHost account and thus downgrade from a $260/month dedicated server to a $15/month shared server. ... http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/irish-trojan-20-ably-nerd-on.html Embattled U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales intends to resign, senior administration officials tell CNN. Visit CNN for the latest. http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/4210724.html Last week, I blogged about the total eclipse of the sun that will sweep across America in ten years. Well, it may be a lot less dramatic and a lot more common, but in just over 24 hours, we'll be treated to a total eclipse of the moon! The partial eclipse ... http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/tomorrow-morning-in-the-sky-penumbras-and-emanations.html Becky and I recently unpacked several of our boxes of books from South Bend -- yeah, the unpacking process has taken a while :) -- and filled up our bookshelf. I'm particularly proud of the "nerd shelf": Speaking of which, I recently re-read Half-Blood Prince, which I hadn't read since the ... http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/harry-potter-and-the-bookshelf-of-nerdiness.html Ladies and gentlemen, Trekstor's latest MP3 player, the i.Beat.Blaxx. Where's Al Sharpton when you need him? (Hat tip: dcl via DaringFireball via Fake Steve Jobs Blog.) http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/how-not-to-name-your-product.html Rumors of my abduction by Unitarian Universalists notwithstanding :), I'm safe and sound in Knoxville after two days of local-area-touring, bluegrass-music-listening, Katrina-presentation-giving, Smoky-Mountain-admiring, Gatlinburg-window-shopping-and-redneck-watching fun with Becky and Adrienne. Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday: Adrienne heads back to L.A. tomorrow, after which I'll have a couple of days ... http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/a-fun-weekend.html http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/have-you-seen-this-boy.html As forecasted here (see "PS" at bottom of post, and Comment #6 :), the cyclone-scraped nation of Jamaica has bowed to Reality and postponed its scheduled August 27 election by a week. In other Democracy-related news, the USofA's Democratic National Committee's Rules & Bylaws Committe has voted that millions of ... http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/dean-updates-hurricane-and-howard.html What's better than a lap dance at a strip club? A lap dance at a strip club that you pay for with a counterfeit $100. What's really sad is that you can't even get a REAL lap dance in Nashville, due to the city's fairly onerous Sexually Oriented Businesses ordinances. ... http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/nice-try-there-cowboy.html We're with Adrienne (who is visiting from L.A. this weekend) at the Bluegrass in the Smokies festival in Sevierville. Fun! http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/4210716.html We're getting into the climatological heart of the Atlantic hurricane season, when you'd expect the tropics to be teeming with activity if, as virtually everyone has predicted, this is going to end up being an above-average year for hurricanes. Tropical activity historically increases throughout late August and early September, peaking ... http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/alls-quiet-on-the-atlantic-front.html NFL has suspended Michael Vick indefinitely, The Associated Press reports. Visit CNN for the latest. http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/4210713.html Breaking news from Cuba: Generalissimo Francisco Franco Fidel Castro is still alive. Or so says the Cuban government, but rumors are rampant in Miami that he's knock, knock, knockin' on Hell's door. UPDATE: PerezHilton.com, that renowned source of international news and geopolitical analysis, says Castro is dead. More here. (Hat tip: ... http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/castro-near-death.html Nope, not a software unlocker, but a hardcore, hardware unlocking that requires soldering. Kinda glad that I actually have my mobile service wtih AT&T anyway, so this isn't really a big deal for me. UPDATE by David K. Two software solutions are being announced today as well, and atleast ... http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/iphone-unlocked.html John Evander Couey is sentenced to death for the abduction, rape and murder of a 9-year-old Florida girl in 2005. Visit CNN for the latest. http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/4210710.html Michael Vick admits funding a dogfighting operation and that "collective efforts" by him and two others caused the deaths of at least six dogs, his plea agreement states. Visit CNN for the latest. http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/4210709.html The second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is approaching, and on Sunday -- two years to the day since my oft-quoted "New Orleans in peril" and "get the hell out" posts -- I'll be giving a talk, or hosting a forum, or whatever you want to call it, on the hurricane ... http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/im-hosting-a-katrina-forum-on-sunday.html Teehee. http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/im-not-100-computer-smart.html The league is full! P.S. - This will be through Yahoo! Fantasy Football. http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/irish-trojan-fantasy-football-2.html Hurricane Dean's death toll stands at 20: No deaths have been reported in Mexico, even though the storm hit the Yucatan as a Category 5 behemoth with 165 mph winds and was still a powerful Category 2 hurricane when it arrived here. The death toll in the Caribbean, though, rose Wednesday ... http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/deans-death-toll-at-20-us-flooding-deadlier.html TROPICAL STORM DEAN has been changed to TROPICAL DEPRESSION DEAN. Visit the NHC website for the latest. http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/4210704.html HURRICANE DEAN has been changed to TROPICAL STORM DEAN. Visit the NHC website for the latest. http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/4210703.html A NHC special statement reports Dean's second landfall: THE CENTER OF HURRICANE DEAN MADE LANDFALL IN MEXICO NEAR THE TOWN OF TECOLUTLA...JUST EAST OF GUTIERREZ ZAMORA AND ABOUT 40 MILES SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF TUXPAN AT ABOUT 1130 AM CDT...1630 UTC. THE ESTIMATED INTENSITY OF DEAN AT LANDFALL WAS 100 MPH...160 KPH....CATEGORY ... http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/landfall-near-tecolutla.html The NHC's 11 am EDT discussion talks about the hurricane's development after emerging back over water: RECENT OBSERVATIONS ARE SHOWING A CONTRACTION OF THE INNER CORE WIND FIELD ... THE ADVISORY INTENSITY IS INCREASED TO 85 KT...MAKING DEAN A CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE. FORTUNATELY...THESE CHANGES IN THE CORE STRUCTURE ARE OCCURRING ... http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/cat-2-for-deans-second-landfall.html Fourteen U.S. soldiers died Wednesday when their helicopter crashed in northern Iraq, according to the U.S. military. Visit CNN for the latest. http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/08/4210700.html