Hola, Mr. Hand

Hey. Well between trying to finish up things at work, taking time off for the holidays, my updates to this blog have been woefully behind. So bear with me - this one's going to have lots of stuff. On top of it all, as I write this, I am bed ridden recovering from abdominal surgery yesterday. Better know as an inguinal hernia. Not sure how it happened, but it did, and now it's been repaired by 2 layers of mesh against my abdomen wall via lathroscopic outpatient surgery. Needless to say, sitting up and/or standing up right now is a wee bit painful. Not that I'm complaining. I was sent home with a little pump that delivers painkiller right to the abdomen area via a Stryker Pain Pump - plus enough Lortab to party with Courtney Love for a long weekend. Hopefully, I'll be back to normal in a few days and back to running by the end of the month. But enough about me.

News

Some incredible photos of the Tsunami from last week. Shot by a tourist in Phuket. These have since been used by Newsweek in their Jan. 10th issue.

LA Weekly's mother of all lists for 2004 - The Zeitlist. Chock full of goodies.

Britons growing "digitally obese". Gadget lovers are so hungry for digital data many are carrying the equivalent of 10 trucks full of paper in "weight". Blimey! Guess this means it's time for a digital diet, eh?

US strikes wrong target. An American air strike in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul has hit the wrong target, the US military has admitted. Please move along folks. Nothing to see here.

Happy Birthday Elvis!! In case you're wondering what he might look like today at age 70. Note, image does not account for botox or other plastic surgeries that you just know he would have been into. See also John Lennon at age 64.

Study: Eating fast food does supersize you. Uh, DUH!!!!

In related news, the winner is...



Music/Celeb
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston separate. Man, I know Troy was a dud, but jeez, talk about kicking a guy when he's down...

Ringo gets busted for the chronic. Los Lonely Boys' Ringo, that is.

In recent celeb prison news:
Report: Stewart loses decorating contest in prison

NEW YORK (AP) — Martha Stewart, who has regaled audiences with countless holiday decorating tips in her magazine and on television, reportedly was unable to lead her team to victory in a prison decoration contest.
Stewart and a team of fellow inmates at a federal prison camp in Alderson, W.Va. crafted paper cranes to be hung from the ceiling, People magazine reported in an article posted on its Web site Wednesday. They lost out to a competing team that built a nativity scene showing "pictures of snow-covered hills and sleds and clouds on the wall," the magazine quoted an inmate as saying.
Each team was given $25 worth of glitter, ribbons, construction paper and glue to build a display based on the theme "Peace on Earth," the magazine said.
Stewart, who built a billion-dollar empire in homemaking, was convicted along with her stockbroker of lying about why she unloaded shares of ImClone Systems Inc. stock in 2001, just before the price plunged.
She is due to be released in early March from Alderson, then must spend five months confined to her home in Bedford, N.Y.
Following the house arrest, she is scheduled to begin shooting a daytime talk show with a live studio audience.

The Year in Culture from and Pop Goes 2004 - trends in music from 2004 - both from Slate

Article on satellite radio recording. You can already hear the RIAA warming up the subpoena generator...


Techy stuff
Tons of news coming out of the CES show in Vegas. Not to mention the snow on the strip. The weather kind, that is..
- Samsung's 3.2 megapixel cameraphone
- Gwen Stefani's digital camera. Yawn.
- USA Today's blog of the CES
- Sirius' Portable satellite receiver
- Samsung unveils the world's largest plasma TV at 102 inches. All yours for about $110,000.
- Samsung also shows off the world's largest LCD TV at 57" for about $16,000.

Motorola's iTunes phone was unveiled as well. No word on carrier or network specs.






How to stalk your own wi-fi network

TivoToGo - Bring it on! Me likey!!

Former MTV VJ, Adam Curry, shows how you too can be a podcaster.

What happens when you work at Apple on a pet project but it is canceled before it ships and you're fired? If you're Ron Avitzur, you ignore reality and finish it anyway by sneaking into work.


Politics
Colin Powell, short-timer.

Scott McClellan plays hooky.

Unlike Fox News, this guy admits he's on the GOP payroll. Armstrong Lewis leaves no payments behind...

Dubya gets a new best friend. Now it's confirmed - the White House has gone to the dogs...

Having your way with AnnCoulter. A little crude, but then again, so is she.

Newt Gingrich Open to Presidential Run. I say go for it. Democrats need all the help we can get and this windbag isn't worthy of a GOP sympathy vote.

George's approval ratings are the worst of any recent 2nd term president. Clearly, it WAS a mandate. Maybe the Texas/Satan hand-signs are bringing him down?