Another trailer, this time for the Sam Jackson-Colin Farrell-LL Cool J-Michelle Rodriguez vehicle, S.W.A.T. Loosely based on the 1970s television show of the same name (apparently the only similarity is an updated theme song), it looks pretty good. This was one of my favorite shows when I was about four or five years old. For the uninitiated, S.W.A.T. stands for Special Weapons And Tactics. The first S.W.A.T. team in the United States was fielded by the Los Angeles Police Department, and next to the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), they are considered the elite such force in the nation. (Of non-military units, that is. The Army's Delta Force and SEAL Team Six are also antiterrorist units, but are used for overseas operations.) All of the above units are modeled on the antiterrorist division of the British SAS (Special Air Service), which remained secret until Operation Nimrod, the 1980 Iranian Embassy hostage siege in London, which was broadcast worldwide.

Yeah, baby! Arnold's back in the 3d installment of the Terminator series. Point your QuickTime-enabled browser here to view the internationally-released trailer.

Start'em young, I say. And yes, this means there will be a little phisch swimming in our pod later this year.

Thanks to Carbon Copy Cloner, my TiBook has gone from four partitions to three, without missing a beat. Well, there was obviously some downtime, but no muss, no fuss! The new desktop pic is courtesy of my new Canon PowerShot G3.

Brian discovered that former Iraqi (Dis)Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf has a new job.

First it was Afghanistan, where the U.S. military accomplished in less than three months what the former Soviet Union failed to do in a decade. In the process, we ousted a terrorism-supporting regime and installed a democratic form of government. Then it was Iraq, where the greatest military force in the world took over a country the size of California in under three weeks, liberating its people from an oppressive dictator bent on supplying terrorists with weapons of mass destruction. Tomorrow, Syria? North Korea? Iran? France? Whatever terrorism-supporting regime we take down next, be sure to nab your official Bush Regime Change Tour merchandise! Brought to you by the new United Nations: Inefficient. Ineffectual. Irrelevant. (Major thanks and kudos to Rick for the idea!)

So, on my own for lunch again. Three bucks in my pocket. Sure, it's enough for fast food--McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's--but I'm not eating at the first two, and I don't want fast food. Need some place to use the debit card. So I figured, back to Baker Bros. This go-around, I had the Texas Star and black bean soup. The soup was good, but nothing spectacular. I've had lots of black bean soups that tasted just as good. Some worse, and few that tasted better. Of the two, I think I prefer their baked potato soup. The Texas Star sandwich was also good, but messy. Of the two, I'll stick with the Kentucky Club. Ok, no more Baker Bros. this week! Really.

I don't live in New York. Don't work in New York. Plan to never, ever live or work in New York. Yet I found this article by Joel Spolsky, on searching for office space in NYC, fascinating. (via Glenn)

Not sure what compelled me to suddenly share what my desktop looks like, but here it is:

Click on the above pic for a full-size image. That's Zane, atop one of his former favorite napping places: my 20" CRT, now replaced by a 15" Apple LCD. That shot is about two years old. The PowerBook has four partitions, appropriately named for an avowed Star Wars nut. iTunes is ripping The Elms' latest to MP3. The one thing I miss about that incredibly massive Radius CRT, was Zane plopping down on top when I was in the room.

My buddy FranX is celebrating five years of service with the company today, at a special lunch for folks in his division who also qualify. So I was on my own for lunch. As I pulled out of the parking garage, my Jeep politely informed me that I had 17 miles to go before the tank went dry (theoretically). So I rolled over to Costco, gassed up, then decided to go try the Baker Bros. American Deli. It sits across the parking lot from the Genghis Grill Kelly and I frequent, and we have long talked about trying it out. It was delicious. I had the Kentucky Club and a cup of baked potato soup. Two enthusiastic thumbs-up. It is a little on the high side for lunch, $11 for the above plus a iced tea, so it's certainly not a place I'll go each week. However, the food is excellent, and a couple of visits a month is not out of the question. Retrophisch™ Recommended!

This isn't necessarily an anti-spam measure; it's more along the lines of revenge. From the latest Dilbert newsletter comes this reader gem:

Here's a fun hobby of mine: When I get e-mail spam that includes an 800-number, I save the number for later. Then when one of the hundreds of Nigerian scam e-mails hits my e-mail box, I reply enthusiastically and give the 800-number of the spammer as my own. I feel that people in the DNRC have a responsibility to introduce A-holes to each other.

It never ceases to amaze me how people can find ways to amuse themselves, even during times of danger, blood, and death.

This past Sunday I met up with my friend Michael at the Dallas Convention Center for the annual Dallas Auto Show. Not really in the market for a vehicle (at least this year), I concentrated mainly on the new stuff and concept vehicles when snapping photos. I've posted everything in this online photo album. Enjoy!

Jon notes that yesterday was Brent Simmons' birthday, so I'd like to express my best wishes to him as well. NetNewsWire absolutely rocks, I'm becoming a big fan of TigerLaunch (doesn't hurt its popularity with me that I went to LSU, either), and look forward to trying out Huevos.

I've received enough copies of the Bush/Saddam Verizon Wireless spoof graphic. You can stop now. Thanks.

The Lords of the Sith are ripping off Apple with their own commercials. (Note: Ricky's warned me that the rest of newgrounds.com isn't work/family-friendly, so be advised. Flash required.)

Belated birthday wishes to friend and fellow ATPM staffer, Eric Blair. So what, you're old enough to buy beer now, right? ;^) Hope you had a great one, amigo!

Mars bar, meet Snickers Almond. Snickers Almond, the Mars bar. Why would a company create a product that not only competes directly with one of its other products, but is nearly indistinguishable from its established product? Or is the Mars bar going to get the boot?

% unzip % strip % touch % grep % finger % mount % fsck % more % yes % umount % sleep I IM'ed my wife this with the qualifier that it came from Jim and that, yes, we're total nerds. She heartily agreed.

"Training In Progress" cries the banner outside the new Grapevine location of P.F. Chang's. Two minutes from the office, about 15 minutes from the house. No more half-hour-minimum drives for our favorite Chinese bistro! Chicken lettuce wraps! Chang's Spicy Chicken! Mongolian Beef! Yum!

Thanks to Gary and Chuq, I blew water out my nose when reading this. Highly entertaining.

The March 3 issue of Business Week features a blurb regarding controlling your credit card usage. In the past, the solution to credit card overusage has been to cut up the card--which leaves you stuck in the event of an emergency. A tip from the book Good Advice for a Bad Economy suggests that you put your credit cards in a sandwich bag full of water, then stick the bag in the freezer. This way, you have access to the cards in the even of an emergency, but "impulses must wait for the ice to thaw."

Gibson offers a "readymade" novel to anyone willing, founded upon this news item from Tokyo.

Tech gear lust can begin at an early age. For me, in 1985, I wanted a Banana Junior 6000. (Thanks to Gruber for the link.) My personal favorites are "Fritos," "Toaster Ovens," and "I Think."