use Perl

It's been one year since I was F***ing Steve Ballmer. (You can download the audio files too, including the GarageBand file.)

Am I the only one who has trouble remember which Apple OS is represented by which cat? I don't even always remember that 10.5 is Leopard. Apple says "Snow Leopard" is building on the "Leopard" brand, but to me there is no "Leopard" brand.

I am selling a brand new, unopened, Logitech Driving Force GT steering wheel and a mostly new set of all five seasons of Babylon 5 on DVD.

As to the latter, it is "mostly new" because it was a replacement set because one of my discs -- the first disc in Season 5 -- was scratched. Amazon apparently didn't want the set back. It's been sitting in a corner of my closet since last year. It's in completely new condition except for that disc.

As to the former, I won it in the Logitech Challenge and I already have that wheel, so I figure I'll sell it.

If you're interested in either let me know.

My neck has been hurting recently when I wake up. I need a new pillow. I have no idea where to begin looking. Suggestions?

Cross-posted on <pudge/*>.

It's been five and a half years since I preordered The Fool and His Money , the sequel to The Fool's Errand, a now-22-year-old puzzle game for the Mac.

I've dared to believe it would be released before, and it never was. However, this time there's an actual teaser available.

It's much like the original, but updated with new puzzles and graphics. I have to say it's probably not worth six years of development time, but it is pretty cool. It includes a card game like in the original, but with new rules. Figuring out the rules is the puzzle, so I won't tell you them, even though I mapped them all out and their scores (or most of them ... I have been unable to identify any Rhadamanthine cards but the one, and two cards appear to do absolutely nothing). (There's also other versions of the puzzle in the game, apparently.)

Here's hoping the game is actually released this year!

Cross-posted on <pudge/*>.

Giving a trivia question in the first period and saying you won't answer it until the postgame show, does not make me want to watch the postgame show. It makes me hate you.

On a somewhat related note, I would love to see Milan Lucic throw Claude Lemieux to the ice like Pedro on Zimmer. But Lemieux is probably smarter than Zimmer was on that fateful evening. Maybe Cam Neely could come down from the team's box and do the pummeling himself.

Cross-posted on <pudge/*>.

Twice since the Patriots won their first Super Bowl, they have missed the playoffs.

Both times, it's because the Patriots were in a tie for the best record in the AFC East, but lost the tiebreaker when Brett Favre lost to Chad Pennington on the final day of the season, giving Pennington's team the division title instead.

On December 29, 2002, Favre's Packers made too many mistakes and wound up losing to Pennington's Jets. The Pats and Dolphins and Jets tied for first, but Pennington and the Jets won the tiebreakers, and won the AFC East title. The Patriots and Dolphins stayed home.

On December 28, 2008, Favre's Jets made too many mistakes and wound up losing to Pennington's Dolphins. The Pats and Dolphins tied for first, but Pennington and the Dolphins won the tiebreakers, and won the AFC East title. The Patriots stayed home.

So Patriots fans forever will hate Brett Favre. And it's not because he beat the Pats in Super Bowl XXXI in 1997. No, he won that one straight up, with a little help from Desmond Howard. It's because he let Chadley Pennington win twice, and in doing so kept us out of the playoffs twice.

In 2002, the 12-3 Packers had no business losing to the 8-7 Jets, but on the other hand, the 9-7 Patriots, with a battered defense that couldn't stop the run, didn't have much to complain about in not going to the playoffs.

In 2008, the Jets were rolling, but they just ... stopped. They couldn't even beat the Niners or Seahawks. But playing for a potential playoff spot, I figured they would finally pull it together and win the last game. They didn't. And the Patriots became only the second 11-5 team in history to not make the playoffs.

I don't know what can, or should, be done about it. It's terrible to have an 11-5 team sit home for the playoffs. It's not good for the league. But I can think of no solution to the problem.

So I'll just hate Pennington and Favre instead.

Cross-posted on <pudge/*>.

The currently playing three pro Boston teams (Celtics, Bruins, Patriots) are a combined 21-1 in December. Going back to November, 47-7 (each team with two losses in the month, counting an NHL "overtime loss" as a loss for purposes here).

The last three losses are the Bruins at Washington on December 10, Patriots vs. Pittsburgh on November 30, and Bruins at Buffalo on November 26.

The three losses before that happened to all three teams in three consecutive days: the Patriots lost to the Jets on a Thursday night at home on November 13; the next night the Celtics fell at home to Denver; and the next day the Bruins lost in overtime to the Rangers.

Since that horrible weekend, the Bruins have been 14-2, the Patriots 4-1, and the Celtics 18-0, for a combined 36-3.

It's a good time to be a Boston fan. Merry Christmas!

Bonus trivia: if the Patriots and Dolphins win next week, the Patriots will become only the second 11-5 team in NFL history to not make the playoffs.

Also, as good as 11-5 is, after a 16-0 season in 2007, who woulda guessed that the Red Sox (second best team in the AL), Celtics (best team in the NBA), and Bruins (second best team in the NHL) would all be better than the Patriots?

Cross-posted on <pudge/*>.

This time I peform Vince Guaraldi's classic from "A Charlie Brown Christmas." As a chipmunk.

I enjoy Christmas music from the Monday following Thanksgiving up to New Year's Eve. Last year I did twelve Christmas songs. Here they are. I will be doing more this year. I especially recommend "Christmas at Ground Zero" (done as a chipmunk), "First Toymaker to the King," and "No More Toymakers to the King."