- When I went to high-school and college, kids were just starting to use computers to write their term papers and essays. The first word processors sometimes came bundled with readability software that calculated various readability numbers, like the Gunning Fog index, Flesch Reading Ease, and Flesch-Kincaid numbers. With modern internet technology, you can now check the readability ratings of not only the papers you write on your computer, but also of websites you find on the internet. The following website asks you for an internet address, and will then spit out all of the relevant readability numbers pertaining to that website. Try my website as an example:
http://juicystudio.com/services/readability.php

- Ever use someone else's computer to cruise the net, but they dont have all the bookmarks (links, Favorites, etc.) you need to find the webpages you want? Do you wish you could have your internet links available to you from any computer? There are several websites that will store your bookmarks for you, and make them accessible to you from any computer that has internet access. In fact, you can even share your bookmarks with others using this method. The best website for sharing your bookmarks over the internet is del.icio.us (dont ask me why they chose that name...I havent the foggiest idea.) I have posted several of my bookmarks to del.icio.us, and I hope to have all of them there within the next few days:
http://del.icio.us/Greymarch

- Charles Krauthammer, the syndicated columnist, and one of the leading commentators on the American conservative movement, takes a giant dump on Intelligent Design. Here is the article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/17/AR2005111701304.html

Update: conservative columnist George Will also trashes Intelligent Design
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/column/georgewill/2005/11/17/175897.html

- On a few occassions, I have thought about playing online Texas-hold em. Lord knows I love to play hold-em, but I simply cannot afford it, and I have always been afraid of collusion at an online, anonymous poker table. Apparently collusion isnt the ugly problem you might think it is. A scarier problem awaits you at an online poker game....there is a good chance you are the only human being playing at the table! The following article explains how people are making money by using computer programs to play online poker for them:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money-savers/article.html?in_article_id=405333&in_page_id=5

- Google is copying every book ever printed into a database, and letting users search that database. Millions of people freely download music, movies and TV shows from the net. Books can be quickly scanned, and shared across peer-to-peer networks. Is the legal concept of copyright protection coming to an end? The writer of the following article thinks so:
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051128/adams_01.shtml

- I almost didnt update my webpage this week. Why bother writing a webpage, when we are all gonna die from the H5N1 Avian Bird flu? So far 62 of 114 people who became infected with the bird flu have died. According to the media, you can extrapolate that number to half the population of the planet dying within the next few months. I figured most of you would be lying in your beds, delirious with fever and wracked with pain from the virus. Who could possibly read a webpage under such conditions? Thankfully, the yellow-dog, left-wing media is completely wrong about the bird flu. You have a better chance of getting hit by a car this year, than you do of dying from the bird flu. The following well-reasoned article will calm your fears:
http://www.fumento.com/disease/flu2005.html

- On the other hand, if the entire state of Ohio suddenly came down with the bird flu, I would personally buy a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken for each and every person living in that rat-pit. That's right...it's Michigan versus Ohio State week, and I am as rabid as ever for this Saturday's game in Ann Arbor. My brother and I bought a bobble-head Bo Schembechler doll, and we set it on top of our television. We talk to it each day, and make sacrifices to it. It keeps us safe, and answers our questions. Strangely though, bobble-head Bo's answer is always the same. No matter what question we ask, it responds with, "run the damn ball!"

The rivalry between Michigan and Ohio dates back to the 1830s. Back then, the border between the two states ran through Toledo. The border was in dispute, and several skirmishes broke out between the two states. A few people died. Ohio was eventually awarded the city of Toledo, and Michigan was given the Upper Peninsula, as a consolation prize for losing the border dispute.

I might seem manic regarding the Michigan/OSU rivalry, but you need to understand where I am coming from. Since my first days on this spinning blue orb, people who are better than me, people who are important to me have taught me that hating Ohio State is righteous. It is good, and it makes you a better person. If Michigan wins this game, my hair-loss will stop, I will make more money at work, women will find me more attractive, and Republicans will make gains in congress during the 2006 election. Read this website to learn the history of what, IMO, is the greatest rivalry in all of sports:
http://www.umich.edu/~bhl/bhl/exhibits/umosu/woodyvbo.htm

- The Xbox 360 comes out next week. I was leaning towards buying one right away, but now I might wait a little while. The bare-bones Xbox 360 doesnt allow you to save games, and it isnt compatible with old Xbox games. The "premium" Xbox 360 package does allow you to save games, and is compatible with most regular Xbox games, but not with several of the games that I own. Here is a FAQ with all the details about the Xbox 360. I will probably buy one eventually. My old Xbox system served me well:
http://features.teamxbox.com/xbox/1245/Xbox-360-FAQs/p1/

- There are consequences to presidential elections. One of the biggest consequences is that a president gets to pick who serves on the supreme court. Most voters realize this, and some even use this principle as the primary reason they vote for a certain presidential candidate. If democrats want a president to appoint moderates or liberals to the bench, then all they have to do is win the presidency.

I like Samuel Alito. He is very conservative, and he should be. President Bush, throughout the 2004 campaign, declared that he would appoint a judicial conservative to the bench, in the mold of Scalia or Thomas. The American people knew this when they went into the voting booths, and they still re-elected George Bush, so they must approve of him picking true-blue conservatives. Alito will get confirmed, but not with as many votes as Roberts. My best guess is that Alito will get 65 votes. Hell, I will take 50 votes (Cheney breaks all ties in the Senate.) A win is a win. The National Review website has a sub-section called Bench Memos, which posts all the information you could possibly want to know about the supreme court:
http://bench.nationalreview.com/