Here is a picture of the Crimson Queen when we got it in March of 2004. It's on the right.

The Internet is set to revolutionize television within five years, due to an explosion of online video content and the merging of PCs and TV sets, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said on Saturday.

"I'm stunned how people aren't seeing that with TV, in five years from now, people will laugh at what we've had," he told business leaders and politicians at the World Economic Forum.

The rise of high-speed Internet and the popularity of video sites like Google Inc.'s YouTube has already led to a worldwide decline in the number hours spent by young people in front of a TV set.
[Internet to revolutionize TV in 5 years: Gates - Reuters - 01-27-07]

Minnesota Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann really likes George Bush. Moments after he defied the American people and proposed to send more of their sons and daughters to Iraq, she kissed him right on the mouth and held onto him for dear life.

Fast forward to 4:20 in this video for the voice of America's majority: America responds.

"If he does, we will join him," Webb said. "If he does not, we will be showing him the way."

Look at it this way. 33% of Americans believe the President is doing a fantastic job as a leader.

President George W. Bush's approval ratings are now the lowest for any president the day before a State of the Union speech since Richard Nixon in 1974, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said they disapprove of how Bush is handling his job as president while 33 percent approve. The rating matches Bush's career low in a May 2006 poll.

Seventy-one percent of Americans said the country is on the wrong track, up from 46 percent in an April 2003 poll, the month after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. A majority of those polled this month don't approve of how Bush is handling the Iraq war, terrorism or the economy.
[Bush Poll Ratings Before Speech Fall to Nixon's Level - Bloomberg - 01-22-07]

One party offers the possibility of the first black President, the first Hispanic President or the first female President while the other party offers the 40th or so white dude President.

The deal was struck between Veoh, the internet TV operator in which Mr Eisner holds a significant stake, and United Talent Agency, which represents actors such as Johnny Depp, Ben Stiller and Harrison Ford.

The channel, which will be supported by advertising, will showcase new talent in an effort to discover the next Hollywood star. It will be open and available to all Veoh users to submit, view and share content.

The project also brings Hollywood together with the amateur film-making talent producing online video on user-generated content websites such as Google’s YouTube.
[Eisner strikes internet TV deal - Financial Times - 01-17-07]

The future of computer interfaces.

It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.
[Time's Person of the Year: You - TIME - 12-13-06]

"At the end of the month, there will be significant layoffs at the magazine division... In the last six months, the huge rate base of Time magazine has been cut by almost 20 percent, the street date has been moved, and at the end of the month, the standard editorial model -- a centralized, well-paid cadre processing every bit of copy that comes in the door -- will be kaput..."

Which ever you believe should be history's account of the brutal dictator's last minutes, the now infamous cell phone video of Saddam Hussein's execution is a powerful peice of citizen media.

The clandestine video portrayed a much different scene than the official tape of the execution, which was muted and did not show Saddam dropping to his death.

Al-Maliki adviser Sadiq al-Rikabi told the U.S.-financed Al-Hurra television that he does not know who leaked the video and that such an act "is wrong and should be investigated, and I agree that cellular telephones were taken from witnesses before they boarded the helicopter" for the execution site.

"I am full of hope that the results of the investigation will be announced, and the person who did this act should pay a price," he said.
[Iraq to probe leaked Hussein execution video - AP - 01-02-07]

I'm spending a good portion of the day looking for the right doctor for my partner and I. A good general practitioner is pretty hard to find, so I've been getting referrals from friends and colleagues. What's difficult is gauging whether they would have a problem with me and Vince's relationship. Doctors generally don't, but it's nice to know that explicitly through referrals.

When I turned to lock the front door on my way out, I thought the rain we just had splashed little flecks of dirt or mulch onto the porch. On closer look I noticed they were bugs. Lot's of them! They jumped like fleas when I got close. I went around to open the garage to get some bug killer and noticed them all along the bottom flashing of the house.