Okay. Its not that I’ve given up on fixing the problems my template is having in IE but until then, do you and me both a favor:

I don’t like horror films.? Not at all.? But I do like locals staying local and thats what the guys who made Point of Fear did.? That’s why they get a link from me.? Good for you guys, good for you.

Charlotte Allen, Catholic Editor of BeliefNet and author has an Op-Ed piece in the L.A. Times about the liberal movement in the Episcopal and Prebyterian churches and the effects its had on the number of adherents but in the coffers too. I guess if you pander to a bunch of unemployed hippies instead of the faithful you’re bound to loose out.

Though the article doesn’t address the more fundamentalist churches other than a brief nod to the Baptists, it does shine some light on what happens when you start to throw out the bits you don’t like.

That’s the thing about Christianity - though its all about a personal relationship its still a package deal. You can’t accept the New Testement and reject the Old, you can’t accept Jesus only and, though I’d think this would go without saying, you can’t reject Christ and still be a Christian.

This weekend is being dedicated to finally getting a new layout up and running. If you want to watch the progress you can do so here.

Engadget has an insider souce at Mircosoft who was kind enough to leak some information about their planned MP3 player and how they’re going to take on, or maybe even take down, the iPod.

Aside from the normal one-up-manship that goes along with a product launch they have an ace in the hole.? Mircosoft’s player will have built-in WiFi giving you the option of downloading without a computer as well as social networking services tied in with the Xbox Live service.

What’s more, the MS software will scan your iTunes software and automatically give you access to those songs you’ve purchased in their software.? Though MS will still have to pay for the songs, they feel its worth the cost.

I still sort of doubt MS has much of a chance in this one though.? The iPod is an icon, almost a status symbol.? In the end I’m sure the MS offering will carve out its own little niche in the market place, but I don’t think MS will pull many of these customer’s from iTunes.? In a perfect world it’d all boil down to price, not the hype.

This sort of makes me want to stop eating hotdogs.

I was stumbling around the web this evening and came across a blog that wasn’t all that interesting but had a neat flashing link that took me to this site, a Blogger’s Disclaimer. I won’t ask you, my loyal reader(s), to read this entire thing. Instead, I’ll give you some of the best bits and my thoughts.

If you have a real life relationship with the writer, remember that communication is very important. View weblogs as online journals, no less sacred than a diary hidden between the mattresses.

Sorry kids. If you think your blog is as sacred as your diary, you probably need to go back and read up on how the WORLD WIDE WEB works. There is no privacy - you should not expect any.

If they do not want you reading it, or suddenly stop posting entries, ask them why and if necessary, stop going to the site. It is important that as a friend, relative, co-worker or whatever you may be to the writer, that your presence at their weblog not impede their ability to express themselves.

Once again, if you post something on the web, your rights to have any say over who reads it are pretty much gone. If you don’t want your mom reading about what you do alone in your room, best not post it on the web there chum.

Never use anything off a person’s site, be it writing, images or html code, unless they say otherwise. People are very attached to their work and don’t usually respond well when others help themselves to it.

This one I really don’t have an issue with. I just thought it’d be ironic.

Sorry this was so late today.? I got carried away with working on my new style sheet.? Since I can’t skip week two, well go with better late than never.

• If you’ve never seen Japanese television shows you’re really missing out on some strange programming.? TheJapaneseareCrazy.com has a pretty good sampling.
• This is just funny.
• A few months ago sister’s kid Benjamin and her step-son Josh were tiring of each other’s company.? Josh came walking out of the bedroom saying ‘Quit following me’ with Benjamin hot on his heels saying ‘Quit following me’ in a mocking tone. Benjamin was barely three at the time.? Already a smarty-pants.? Nice.

Well I ‘finished’ the new style sheet tonight but it failed to pass a test run in IE.? I’m not sure what the problem is so I’m not going to launch it yet.? Sorry kids.? Instead, I’ll include a link to FireFox to help the cause - together we can stamp out IE in our lifetime!

Here are some links to tide you over until I get bored with trying to make a new site layout.

• Pandora is a great service based on the Music Genome Project.? The software takes a song or a band you like, breaks it down to the essential elements that makes that song or band what they are then finds other stuff you may like.? You can create up to 100 stations, each with their own unique characteristics.? Very cool.
• If you’re in the mood for a surprisingly good movie, check out Donnie Darko. My friends Roger and Nikki wanted to show me the opening scene and I ended up finishing the flick.? Well worth the watch.
• The Beautiful South is a UK Supergroup featuring the kind of catchy pop-tunes you don’t mind getting stuck in your head for days at I time.? Even better is it fits nicely into the ‘music that can be ignored’ catagory. They have quite a few songs on the site if you want to sample them.? Otherwise I recommend their greatest hits album.

Thats it for now kids.? I made a lot of progress on the new layout this evening so we may be back to some decent posts by the end of the week.