Finally… NetFlix gets nailed with a class action lawsuit for throttling (slowing down how fast returned movies are recorded and sending out the next movie in your queue) subscribers. I dumped NetFlix after three months when I noticed my DVDs were being sent slower and slower. The settlement provides for one free month of rentals (the lawyers surely made out much better then us subscribers) for past and present subscribers.

I bought my girlfriend, Christa, Maureen Dowd’s (NYT OpEd Washington, DC columnist) new book “Are Men Necessary?” back in November, and snatched it from her while visiting her in Chicago at Thanksgiving.

I figured there might be some interesting advice in there, or perhaps I’d gain some new insight into the differences between guys and gals. It was a fairly humorous read (found it a bit slow in the middle chapters) and I like that she’s definitely no man-hater on this subject (or in life). In fact, she’s quite the sexy girl/woman most men should find attractive.

I had to replace my old G4 Titanium PowerBook last week when the cat knocked it to the floor and busted both hinges, (note: PBResQ is going to repair the hinges and bezel around the LCD for me. I’ve sent friends to them for iPod battery replacements and other iPod repairs) so I ran out and purchased a new 15″ 1.67GHz superdrive PowerBook from MacMall, only to unpack it and find it had a dead battery which wouldn’t charge and even worse, a totally defective trackpad button.
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Goodbye free NYT editorials access: I just tried to read Maureen Dowd’s column at The New York Times and found it’s no longer possible unless you’re a print version subscriber or purchase TimesSelect for $49.95/yr.
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Among those things eBay bans in their auctions (hate items, human organs, one’s virginity…), today they added a ban on live animals. You’ll no longer be able to auction your pets or various critters you breed for sale. [Prohibited Auction Items - eBay Policy

I have some tips to pass along to anyone who now and then needs to purchase something by phone or online and ship to a different address than the credit card’s billing address.
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• http://www.brown.edu/Research/Catskills_Institute/
• Catskills Literature Listing

Main House - Aladdin Hotel - Woodbourne

• Historic Catskills Photos and Postcards

This is my lovely girlfriend on the cover of some college magazine parodying Playboy mag. Taken back in the eighties I believe… the mag. no longer exists.

I keep a special WordPress installation which I use as a basis for future WP installs. This installation contains a large number of reasonable WP themes for me to choose from, and my canonical set of plugins which I rely on. What follows are mostly notes to myself regarding the main steps I need to follow for each new installation. Over time I may get around to elaborating more on each step as needed to make it more useful for other people. Read more of   "Notes on Setting-up WordPress Blogs" »

I live on the edge of the old Borscht Belt region of the Catskills in New York. While Googling for some history of those earlier times today, I came across a nice description, partially included below. (also see Catskill Great Hotels

Borscht Belt

The area of the New York Catskills called the Borscht Belt came into being at the turn of the twentieth century and grew in popularity through the 1970s. During summers and holidays, Jews–primarily of Eastern European descent, from working to upper-middle class, and frequently first generation Americans–flocked to the Borscht Belt, where they enjoyed mainstream American leisure activities and entertainment in a place where they knew they’d be welcomed as Jews. Many people also came to the Borscht Belt to work–as waiters, owners, chefs, musicians, comics, and busboys. Not only did many students earn money for college by working summers in the Borscht Belt resorts, but many nationally known entertainers, especially comedians, got their start there. The Jewish culture that flourished in the Borscht Belt gradually overflowed into the mainstream, where it significantly influenced American popular culture.
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