So Original

It's 7:30 on a Saturday morning as I type this. I just got up a bit ago (~ 7:00) and, after the obligatory morning activity or two, I came in to check my e-mail. Like the dinosaur I can be, I'm still using AOL. (I have a Gmail account, for those to whom it shallowly matters, but I rarely use it.)

So, I go to AOL's homepage and this is what greets me. What?!


It being 7:15 in the morning, I do a double take and think, "Damn! I typed in Yahoo's site. This isn't AOL" But no. This is AOL. I go to bed. I get up. Bam! Makeover.

Then I go to Yahoo's homepage. This is what it looks like. And has looked like for, well, nigh unto half an eternity.


Could AOL be any less original? Oh sure, I get that it's an interface style to which users probably respond well. And yeah, AOL is probably losing market share to the likes of Yahoo and Facebook and MySpace, though I don't track that stuff (better things to do with my life and its limited time), but could you be anymore obvious and lacking in creativity?!

AOL, thy name is Microsoft.

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* * UPDATE * * UPDATE * * UPDATE * *

Oddly, AOL has gone back to its previous format. I just checked my email again and it looks like it has for months and months. Go figure. I wonder what I stumbled upon?


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Shameless Self-Promotion Here:

(So I like a good survey. Shoot me for being shameless. )

A shout out to KOB of DC Blogs Noted for noting my 400th blog entry. If you haven't voted for your favorite blog entry on D.C. Rush Hour, please go here and vote.

Precisely Why We Need the Holocaust Museum

Eavesdrop DC reports this comment overheard in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Which is exactly why memorials like this are necessary.

Lest we forget...

Boo Hoo

I must be in a cranky mood today, because when I read this article in the Washington Post this morning I felt absolutely no empathy, sympathy, or any other kind of -pathy whatsoever. And what makes me even crankier is that those of us who choose not to use our homes as an ATM are going to end up paying for those who do. Grrrr.

Read An ATM That's Out of Money: As Housing Market Slips, Tide of Spending and Refinancing Retreats

Where Do People Get Off and Why Do They Think They Can or Should?

I should stop reading the news and start living in a cave. I just don't understand this kind of arrogance and lack of consideration.

Read on: Man With Rare TB Detained, Isolated: He Ignored Orders, Traveled Extensively

All I can say is: Idiot.

Lesser of Two Evils

I don't know which is worse: Pat Robertson's ill-conceived revelations or the deification of Angelina Jolie.


Dear Lord, forget trouncing Patty Boy. Please, remove the curse of Brangelina from us. It's enough already. Amen.


UPDATE: I forgot to mention where I found this. It was in a Liz Kelly column in the Washington Post. Here's the link. The title of the piece is "Blessed Art Thou" and is painted by an artist named Kate Kertz.

Terrell Owens: That Sound You Hear is Your 15 Minutes of Fame Fading to Black

Finally, Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles have done what should have been done years ago: they’ve dropped Terrell Owens like the bad apple that he is.

Let me just say here that I am not—NOT—a staunch devotee of the gridiron. I don’t live for Monday Night Football, I don’t track the Sunday schedule, I don’t bet on the games, I can only name a handful of players and most of them are retired (Steve Young, Joe Montana, Brett Favre, Jerry Rice, and what’s-his-name who was Catholic who played for BYU and then was quarterback for the Chicago Bears in the 80s and early 90s. Jim McMahon??) Any leaning or vague interest I show in football is the result of a friend who adores football and is the repository of football trivia that is nothing short of amazing and kind of scary.

However, when it comes to simpletons like “T.O.” I have to say, “good riddance.”

First of all, Owens strikes me as someone who is amazingly talented but whose chandelier is short a light bulb or two. There’s an aura of dumbness about him that I can’t fully explain, but I sense it every time I see him on television.

Secondly, this guy has a $49 million, multi-year contract with the Eagles and he still thinks it isn’t enough. Some of us—particularly those who buy tickets to the games he plays in—will never manage to make $2 million total in our lifetimes, let alone $49 million.

Thirdly, this is a guy with an ego so big, Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir couldn’t have set aside enough open space and wilderness to hold it. T.O. thinks he’s so important to the game that he runs off at the mouth about how it’s all about him, and the Eagles (or the Niners) won’t win unless he’s in the mix. He disparages his teammates in public and pisses and moans when the quarterbacks he has played under don't throw the ball to him as often as he'd like. He argues with his coaches and, in a fit of pique, insists that they not talk to them. His arrogance is unbridled and he behaves like a spoiled, undisciplined child.

What Owens needs is a good, long time-out. He needs to be sidelined. He needs to not be rewarded for his childish, arrogant behavior. He’s received exactly what his behavior deserves.

And here’s hoping he never graces the gridiron again.

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Here's the article from AP.

Can Someone Please Explain to Me the Purpose and/or Necessity of...

• The Hummer? Who really needs a vehicle this big? And why does the IRS give businesses a tax break on these behemoths that do nothing but contribute to global warming and scare the crap out of me?
• Cell phones with cameras? I'm not even going to comment further on this one except to say, it's consumerism run amok.
• Subwoofers in confined spaces (i.e. cars)? People!? Hello!? Those two things on the side of your head called ears? Yes, those! You only have two of them and they're delicate. Once you ruin them, that's it. Besides, just because you enjoy your music at ear splitting, bass ball-busting volumes doesn't mean the rest of us enjoy it too. SO TURN IT DOWN, DAMMIT!!!
• Littering? This is a behavior I truly do not understand and cannot tolerate. Anyone who litters is--well, there isn't a word low enough to describe what you are. Regardless of a defining character word, it's disrespectful, disgusting, and down right trashy (no pun intended.) And besides, if you can't be inconvenienced to hold on to your trash long enough to find a garbage receptacle or recycling bin, well, then, you're just flat out lazy.

Okay, I'll stop there for now. I wouldn't want you to think I'm opinionated or anything! :-p

P.S. Check this out: http://www.dcblogs.com/. This guy runs a blog about people in D.C. who write blogs about D.C. and I'm in his list! Who knew?!