12.16.99 >> I have asked and you have spoken... or at least one of you did. Bill writes in as a "big ole' gayboy weblogger" with his site, Mermaniac, a weblog about show tunes. I have to admit, that's one area where I feel utterly and irreversably straight. I'll be out with friends Ray and Matthew and we'll end up playing "Sing a Song and Name the Show" and I won't get any right. It doesn't help that both Ray and Matthew are professional performers and I'm this webgeek from the burbs. Alas... anyway, keep 'em coming.

The next big thing in web design: Dotted Lines(tm). No, really. See? See? See? See?

12.15.99 >> Yes, I'm avoiding work. The perl script I'm writing is giving me a headache, as it's just not doing what it should. So I'm searching for more weblogs I'd like. Found another fellow gayboy weblogger... maybe I should just start a whole new section on the right for GLBT webloggers.

I had thought that Kein was a dead horse, but yesterday one of my cohorts added a link on me. The experiment may breathe yet.

You can now register domain names of up to 63 characters in length (67 with the .com/net/org/whatever), but NSI won't let you search for availability on one longer than 22 characters. Tsk tsk.

I'm still impressed sometimes at how fast info spreads around the Internet. Within a couple hours of noting Matthew's weblog, he finds me back. The power of the referrer log, I guess. So, besides Matthew, Brad, and my friend Halsted, how many other GLBT-written weblogs are out there? Speak up! We're curious.

Just for the hell of it, I've added the names of those whose weblogs I try to visit on a regular basis over on the right. Do you like it, or is it a superfluous touch? Let me know if it's naughty or nice. Oh, hell, I still haven't started xmas shopping. Peach.

Speaking of xmas, looks like Prolific is sporting new holiday colors. Sweet.

An introduction to Dutch cursing.

...Which was never needed, because I got the script to work. Finally.

12.14.99 >> When we take a break at work, this stuff happens:
Sam: You said that movie David Bowie was in made you suspect you were gay?
Me: Labyrinth, yes.
Sam: I found an odd web page.
Me: What, again? ;D
Sam: It's called "David Bowie's Area."
Me: ...Which "Area?"
Sam: Guess.
Me: I don't wanna, I'm scared to.

Jason Kottke posts my voice mail message regarding Mrs. Ziggler and the first grade (#28). So of course I sound like a dork... that's what I get for trying to be inconspicuous in cubeland at the office while getting memories of childhood... er, trauma?... off my chest. It's all true, though.

12.13.99 >> Well, you know what they say. If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with.

My friend Stef is going to build one of these. Neat!

Alongside such minds like Alex Chiu are the likes of Gene Ray. Among other things, he proves that God is queer. Woohoo!

Though I'm not overly surprised, the Supreme Court of Hawai'i banned same-sex marriages. Why this should matter to the state, which should be separated from the Church (but isn't), is probably a matter of retaining votes or letting personal belief influence decisions affecting many individuals. If state-performed marriages won't allow for same-sex marriage, perhaps we should totally divorce (pun not intended) the idea of marriage from all legal institutions. Repeal any legally enforcable rights related to the institution of marriage: no tax benefits; no mandatory medical benefits for spouses; no rights for the spouse of the sick, the hospitalized, or the incarcerated; no protection under laws against domestic abuse, other than those already enacted for acts of violence; no rights to the estate of a deceased spouse; no anything. But that wouldn't go over well, would it. Ah well... if your religion won't let you get married, my fellow homos, maybe you should call the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. They're nuns, it'll count.

At least one doughnut chain will recognize that their product will give you a sugar rush.

Oingo uses the directory compiled at dmoz Open Directory Project, but while changes are being made to dmoz, Oingo remains static... anyone know why that is? (I found this out looking to see if Running Tally and Kein had been added yet... did you get enough of me talking about myself and my site last week? I did.) Then again, Hotbot hasn't been updated, either.

James Lileks is funny as hell. Among the startling and new (um) things on his site are the Gallery of Regrettable Food 2.0 and the Grooviest Hotel in Wisconsin, the latter of which had me in tears. After the winter is over, I'm road tripping up there.

12.11.99 >> Happy Birthday, Jordan!

12.10.99 >> This should have gone under yesterday's log, but after I finished it to a point where I was happy, I went and spent some time with a book, then got a decent night's sleep for once. FAQ enthusiasts rejoice, nmn presents what the, for all spurious data regarding the site. I'll probably still be updating it over the next couple of days, as my memory sucks and I probably forgot something I wanted to add at some point.

Oops.

12.09.99 >> One of the first sites I boggled at when I first really got on the web explained how the universe worked. Sorta. Please visit the mind of Alex Chiu, and take it as a sign that maybe you shouldn't drink and html.

Another perfect gift idea for your child.

I found out that I'm listed in 404 Research Lab's list of 404 error pages. Fortunately, under the Cool section (look for null 404), and not the Stupid or Strange sections.

Ugh. I think working too closely with my company's marketing department has made me too infatuated with hit counting. And I've realized that the Tally redesign was subconsciously influenced by Fireland. There's not much you can do with tables, though, I guess.

12.08.99 >> Portal of Evil.

Though I'm working on the null means null FAQ (a move of sheer vanity) and will mention it there, I should still give credit to Paul's Metropolis shrine for the images taken for the front page and future sections-to-be.

(In the off chance that my recent rash of weblog profanity is bothering anyone, I've replaced any occurance of the word "fuck" in this online conversation with the word "peach." Just for the hell of it.)
Me: It's doubtful that any kid is going to name the bee Bolshevik.
Jerry: How about we name the bee L.H. Oswald. "Lovin' Honey" Oswald.
Me: Gods, now I have this image of a frustrated, shotgun-toting bee...
Jerry: That's the idea. A bee for a new Millennium. Angry white anarcho-survivalist bee.
Me: ACK PEACH No more millennium cereal endorsements! I saw peaching Millenios and Fruit Loops 2000 last night at the store.
Jerry: Fruit peaching loops 2000?
Me: With marshmallow '2's. Actually, both had 2-shaped bits.
Michelle: Would someone please tell the peaching cereal companies that it ain't the PEACHING MILLENNIUM?
Me: Seriously.
Jerry: I'd love for people to get that through their heads but if they won't... I'll play along. ;)

I'm intensely curious as to who's reading me, so using Linkwatcher, I've started to look for who's linking to null means null, though some of the results that came up in the search didn't have anything that I could find. However, it does look like I've been noticed and noted by calamondin, who linked to nmn on a Day Without Art. Considering the calibre of the other sites Judith picked (iconogene and symbiosis), I am honored. (And I found some more weblogs to add to my reading list.)

Ethel the Blog pointed out yesterday that it's millennium, not millenium. My bad. Of course, that means General Mills got it wrong, too. Ha ha. (Added note, 12.10.99: going back, they did spell it millennium, even though there was one 'n' in Millenios. I win the Foot in Mouth Award today.)

12.07.99 >> The Stereolab concert was bloody wonderful. I'm still buzzing (could be the sleep deprivation from getting home late and having to get up for work, though). They played old stuff and new, a good balance of each, and though you could tell they were kind of tired -- they didn't go on until 11pm -- they were putting a lot of effort into performing instead of just going through the motions. Important, considering that they sound very different live than they do on their albums. Mary, I got your t-shirt.

I love it when sysadmins set up their error messages to have personality:

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at ghanima.xsite.net.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

(I'm not much of a qmail geek -- let alone a sendmail or any other -mail geek ... is this qmail's default bounce message? Let me know if it is.)

Note to self: fix the index so the picture fits wholly in an 800x600 browser instead of falling off the bottom and requiring people to scroll down.

I've been notified that the next full moon will be on December 22nd, that this will be when the moon is at its perigee, and that, as the 22nd is on/around the winter solstice, the earth will be the closest to the sun as it gets during its orbit. What this means: the moon will be bigger, brighter, and clearer than it's been since 1866 when this last occured. With a cover of snow to reflect the moonlight, it might even be bright enough out to see clearly without artificial light. Wicked.

Contest sites that promise the chance to win cash prizes are nothing new, so it's really not all that surprising that they based a whole portal around the idea. iWon looks to be a subsidiary of CBS (which is where I saw the commercial, so if I'm slow to catch on to this, it's because I don't watch television), and powered by Inktomi. After you register, links marked with a -3>red number gives you that many entries into each of their sweepstakes. You get points for searches, clicking on banner ads, registering, practically everything. This method favors the rich in an indirect way, however; those who can afford faster connections can get more surfing done in a shorter time, which means more clickthroughs, meaning more entries and a greater chance to win. The rich get richer and the poor wait for downloads.

Excuse me for a moment, as I'm going to lapse into profanity (not like I balked when talking about Starbucks). Anyone promoting this millenium gig: PLEASE FUCKING STOP IT. I go to the store and find bloody Millenios instead of Cheerios and Fruit Loops 2000 with 2-shaped marshmallows. Stop it right fucking now, please? 2000 is not any more numerogically important than the year 1991, and 1991 pretty much sucked except for the Pixies releasing Doolittle, which was a great album.

While I was at the Cheerios Portal (no lie, that's what they call it), I took the time to enter a contest to name the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee... or I would have if they had endeavored to collect entries electronically. And didn't restrict entry to kids ages 5 to 12. My entry would have been perfect: Bolshevik (it is a cereal for the working class! rise up with the honey nut!).

I am so behind on email. And I haven't started thinking about holiday shopping. Somebody shoot me.

12.06.99 >> I was just getting sick of the old design, so here's the cheap-ass Running Tally 30 minute redesign. Not to be confused with Cheapass Games.

If you're a geek in Australia, I'm so very sorry.

I knew there was a godhatesfags.com, and a godlovesfags.com, but I did not know there was a godhatesfredphelps.com. I do now and I'm glad. (courtesy o' kikaze.)

12.05.99 >> Someone decided to hack pixelpimp for God. Except it wasn't for God, it was for their own self-satisfaction. And it wasn't really hacking when the password was freely given out. Heh. I feel somewhat responsible because the link I added for unamerican.com had some comment about the second coming and Unamerican's "I REPRESENT GOD YOU FUCK" stickers. Maybe that was it, maybe it wasn't, who knows. Pete told me that Pixelpimp will be back, but in a non-open format. Bummer, but understandable.

Did I mention that Srini of Unamerican loves Stereolab? Did I tell you I'm going to see Stereolab in concert tomorrow? Did I tell you how that makes me feel?

It's a good thing I gave up caffeine. Fuck Starbucks, anyway.

So, originally, I set up the site navigation links with₄₃ numbers₆₀ appended₁₂₁ like₅ isotopes₈₉ to make them stick out and recognizable, but I was also going to have the first incarnation of null means null be a bit more scientific looking. That's turning out not to be the case, but at the same time, :::everything::: {else} <has> been | done | (before), so I'm not sure what to go with. Any suggestions?

12.04.99 >> Okay, sometimes I'm a little slow to catch on to things. Cooltool.com compiles all sorts of neato programs into one spot, for both Windows and MacOS. And before, I just used to look here.

Finally... Hollow Een part 2, now in photog. Next is the road trip pictures, but I want to work on the new sections of this site a bit more first.

I've SSI'ed the right part of the weblog so I don't have to go edit every archived month individually, and will probably revamp the look of the log altogether at some point in the near future.

12.03.99 >> I just don't have anything to say... other than I can't stop hiccuping.

12.02.99 >> DWW is over; Running Tally is back. But you knew that.

Um. Er... any page that includes the phrase "The Smurf Village as a Marxist Utopia" and "The Smurf Village as Homotopia" has got to be... it just has to be. (Courtesy o' Michelle, who has no webpage back to which I can link.)

Hell yeah! Got the reprints of the second roll of road trip photos to find that the missing half of the roll was present. How unbelievably happy the little things make me. I'll start getting them up in photog after I finish the Halloween photos. This may be tonight. I can't promise anything, though... lately I've been getting headaches from too much monitor-gazing.

How's the weather up there?