Click here…

NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander can be seen parachuting down to Mars, in this image captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This is the first time that a spacecraft has imaged the final descent of another spacecraft onto a planetary body.

Have a great week!

Kicking and screaming, I finally dragged myself into the world of internet social networking and have three spots out the world where you and I can meet up:

Twitter is a post-and-run site where you have to refresh your browser to see the latest entries. The upside is you can follow anyone as long as they don’t block you (/stalker-mode) but this has led to abuse and has some folks disenchanted with it (one person’s experience).

Plurk has an interactive interface that takes a little getting used to and you need permission to become a friend, which in my mind makes it a stronger, more appealing site. I like the karma points, too.

And I haven’t really explored Facebook, yet. Of the three, methinks this would be the one that could suck up the most time and I dunno if I’m ready to go there yet.

At this moment, Plurk has the lead. Feel free to stop by any of the above and say hello.

The folks at Very Short List have been busy and found a couple of excellent sites, one of which is a new link on the right side.

Many baby boomers and near-boomers grew up with Mad Magazine, spending more than a little time figuring out the fold-in on the back cover. What surprise waited for us, we wondered: a disgraced politician or a near-naked babe? What we didn’t know was Al Jaffee was exposing us to cutting-edge art and biting political commentary. The New York Times interactive article is pretty slick by itself and reveals the subtle genius of Senior Jaffee.

Speaking of baby boomers, some of their parents are just now coming up to speed on the Info Age and discovering the ease of instantaneous communication. Some of their messages are just too dang cute to be considered “private.” If you get emails like that (or even better, write emails like that), then Postcards From Yo Momma is for you.

Have fun, y’all.

Dear Tech Support:

Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources.

In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity. Applications such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0, Hunting and Fishing 7.5, and Golfing 3.6.

I can’t seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I’m thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but the uninstall doesn’t work on Wife 1.0. Please help!

Thanks,
Troubled User…..
_____________________________________

REPLY:
Dear Troubled User:

This is a very common problem that men complain about.

Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING !!! It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0. It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed.

You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony/Child Support. I recommend that you keep Wife 1.0 and work on improving the situation. I suggest installing the background application ‘Yes Dear’ to alleviate software augmentation.

The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE! because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway.

Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean and Sweep 3.0, Cook It 1.5 and Do Bills 4.2.

However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5. Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0!

WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system!

Best of luck,
Tech Support

Have a good weekend, y’all.

The Very Short List folks is always a goldmine of fun and toys. Sign up for the daily email and you’ll never be bored.

Their latest find is the HEMA web site. You can read their explanation below or:

1. Turn up your speakers.
2. Sit back and do nothing as the page loads after you click here.

Here’s VSL:

For most of us, shopping online is done solely out of necessity and practicality; we’re not logging on to Amazon to experience a cool website. But if we lived in the Netherlands, we’d actually enjoy going online and buying tape, rubber bands, and drinking glasses from the chain HEMA.

Sure, you may not buy anything from HEMA, but when you’re glued to the TV this Super Bowl Sunday, don’t forget: Pretty much everything is cleverer in Europe.

So you’ve got your $600 government rebate check (plus some disposable income) and you’re trying to decide how best to use it:

1. Homeless shelter down the street could use some new dishes.
2. Local elementary school’s network backbone is still coaxial cable.
3. Your drab 60-inch high definition television needs some bling.

They may have spent their money helping out humanity, but did these folks really need multi-million dollar home theaters?

How well do you think you know cities and famous places here on the Big Blue Marble? Time for a little test and maybe some humility, too, as you take the Traveler IQ Challenge. Good luck, pilgrim.

Here’s a quickie screen cleaner for your computer. Have a great day.

One more for the skiers: Mt. Rose.