I follow the Google Blog quite closely. It is a great resource. As you may be aware, recently Google launched Google.cn, a filtered version of Google for Chinese visitors. This sparked great debate online about how Google could offer filtered information, but I understood and argued that this was a good thing. It is better to enter a market that has no service with (admittedly) limited service than leave them in the cold. In what I could only assume is a somewhat official statement, Google stated their reasoning behind this move. It is similar to my point of view, and while I don’t like what is going on with intellectual freedom in China, I am glad that Google is at least trying to offer the world the most information it can. Bravo Google.

On January 30th there needs to be a celebration of a great date in British History. The dead body of Oliver Cromwell was exhumed (along with two of his comrads) and drawn and quartered. While he was dead…

After learning this, I had to check it out on Wikipedia. Turns out it was part of the process of Posthumous execution. My favorite example is this:
Pope Formosus (died 896), whose body was exhumed by his successor, Pope Stephen VII, dressed in papal vestments and seated on a throne to undergo a “trial”, later known as the Cadaver Synod or the Synod Horrenda. Found guilty, the body was stripped, three fingers from its right hand cut off, and the corpse thrown into the Tiber.

I have been watching a lot of TV lately. The obvious ones are LOST and 24. But one that I didn’t expect to get hooked on is CSI. Not CSI Miami or CSI New York, but rather the good old 6-seasons running CSI Las Vegas. The stories are enthralling and edgy, the writing is superb, and the cast just looks great. The latest one, Season 6 Episode 13, was about an old star of Vegas with ties to the mob. It was a murder mystery up til the end, but when it all came together it was just beautiful.

Speaking of LOST, a lot of people seem to be pissed about this week’s episode. I personally think that while it wasn’t up to the amazing level that the other episodes were, the amount of subtle information we learned I can guarantee will come up in future episodes. I personally believe that Charlie has not been using drugs and that he was using the statues as proof to himself that he could withhold his urge, or perhaps as insurance. Whatever happens, it’s 2 weeks until the next episode.

I went to Dominicks Grocery Store a few minutes ago to pick up a few things. A few bottles of Coke, some chips, and (most importantly) some bar soap. I have been running on the thinnest amount of bar soap for the past few days. It’s starting to break up. Bah. Well, in all the hustle of getting all of the items I purchased into my backpack, I must have misplaced the bar soap. So now I am in a dilemma. Where around here can I get Dove White Bar soap without spending an hour of my time to actually get it. Not only that, I actually payed like $3 for the barsoap. So basically that is money wasted right there… Bah.

After learning that Whitefish Bay High School has been blocking my site due to an anonymous proxy I had setup, I did a bit of investigation. Turns out that the primary site that people have been visiting using my proxy is MySpace. I hate MySpace. It’s a breeding ground for emo kids. I will never get a MySpace account. I fucking hate MySpace….