Not surfing and bloggin today. Instead, I went for a three mile jog and finished reading Watership Down again. I hadn’t read it in a few years, and it’s one of those books I seem to return to every once in a while. If you haven’t read it, even if you don’t enjoy the fantasy genre normally, I highly recommend it.

I'm constantly amazed by the imagination of fantasy and science fiction authors. They have the added burden of making up a new world as a stage for their story. If you have never done it, try the exercise of trying to think one up for yourself. It's challenging to come up with something original and compelling.

Finally, I've made a lot of headway over the last year in terms of the whole exercise routine. It's become a regular part of my life now, making it much easier to maintain. Now some stats, I started out weighing around 230-235. Today, I weigh 185, and my waist is 8 inches smaller than it was before. None of my clothes from a year ago fit me now. To be honest, I've weighed 185 since January, and in the months since then, I've been lowering my body fat at an average of 1.5% a month. It feels good, and once you get going, it gets a lot easier. Now if I could just stop being such an idiot all the time....

Looking for Quick and Dirty Web Development? This article talks at a non-technical level about where Macromedia is going with Flash and Cold Fusion. As someone who has used Cold Fusion on a large chunk of projects, what’s coming down the pike really excites me.

Study: Sushi May Cut Smokers' Lung Cancer Risk. I knew I was eating sushi several times a week for some reason.

Slashdot | Open Source Is Bad. Some great stuff here.

New York Times: Microsoft Is Set to Be Top Foe of Free Code. How shocking that Microsoft is now attempting the same tactics they have against commercial opponents against Open Source software. The GPL is not all of Open Source, and Microsoft is the enemy of innovation, not Open Source software. The real problem here is that the Open Source community doesn’t have a PR department and Microsoft does. The amazing thing here is that Microsoft has been driven to improve their software by the existence of Open Source competition and they have actually used Open Source software as a part of some of their products.

An X-Ray of the Powerbook G4 Titanium laptop (large)

What is janeBuilder?

O’Reilly Network: The Disaster-Free Upgrade to Mac OS X (Part One)

Looks like I will have to find another way of getting high speed access in my apartment soon. Grrr.

Here’s a picture of Steve Jobs holding the new iBook open. It’s hard to tell from just looking at product shots how small it is.

A new iBook that looks just like my Titanium’s little brother or sister.

How to build a Weblog in Zope (via dangerous meta)

Microsoft to Acquire NCompass Labs. It was only a matter of time before Microsoft recognized the strategic importance of content management and bought or developed a tool. Add this to Office and .Net and you could have a real scary picture for other CMS vendors.

AOL Time Warner has launched their iPublish site. It’s supposed to be an ebook community/publisher.

Macromedia ColdFusion 5

the macosxhints.com ‘osxguide’

The Lakers looked like a different team than the one from just a month ago dispatching Portland. I have to say that, while there are some really strong teams in the West, I now think the Lakers can get back to the finals.

Cringely: Cargo Cult This is another in the ongoing series of media pieces on the Internet bubble brusting and what comes next. I think, pound for pound, that this is the best one I’ve read so far. It is, however, some level of common sense that the same rules now apply to Internet businesses that have always applied to new businesses. If you aren’t going to make money, what is the point of having a business? (via Camworld)

Allaire’s Practical J2EE

The HandEra330 signals the beginning of a new phase for Palm OS devices. They have done some great things here, innovating beyond what the much more hyped Handspring has managed to do.