It is way past time I cleared off some tabs from my Firefox ...

1. Harrumph.  I purchased a copy of Contacts Plus as a way to use my Outlook address book without loading Outlook.  Now I find out that (a) it's no longer being supported (though that does mean it's available for free), (b) it actually loads a portion of Outlook to access the data file (probably less overall footprint, but it does mean it takes a while to load it up), and (c) it doesn't support Cateogories, which rendered it a lot less useful when it came time to print Christmas Card labels (though it does have good label support).
2. Speaking of Outlook, here's an interesting service I've seen recommended for syncing Outlook and Google Calendars.   Marking as a reference for later review.
3. And speaking of Outlook, SimplyFile is about 80% of what I want from a mail system -- an add-on to Outlook that looks at how you move mail into folders and develops its own rules about it to do it for you.  Except it doesn't -- it simply suggests a folder and lets you do the click to do it.  Not good enough ...
4. How to attach this to that.  "Because people have a need to glue things to other things."
5. As we were sitting through Nona's funeral (etc.) this week, my thoughts turned to my own -- not in a morbid fashion, but in a planning fashion.  I've already started scribbling down hymns I particularly like (Margie knows where the list is), but I've not done any thinking about readings or anything.  Bookmarking this to go back and look.  Being Episcopalian, there's all sorts of interesting (to me) liturgical bits available for such things.  Not that I expect I'll be terribly interested in what's going on after I shuffle off this mortal coil -- but I have an interest in it now, y'know?  Oh, and I want a huge marble tomb marker, with lots of weeping angels and everything, okay?  And a huge party ...
6. The readings will probably not include the Nine Most Bad-Ass Bible Verses, however (via DOF).
7. Yes, this is one of Margie's Swedish cousins.  Had an inquiry about the domain name recently from a rep.
8. Linguistic coincidences.  Didn't I already post that?
9. Monopoly with Real Money -- in World War II.
10. Cool -- a new hardcover edition of the Aspirin/Foglio MythAdventures graphic novels.
11. What it means to be a Christian after George W. Bush.  It's ironic that the Religious Right have probably done more harm to the cause of Christianity world-wide (not to mention in the US) than any other recent historical person, group, or movement.  Arguably, the rise of so-called "militant atheism" (Dawkins and the like) are almost directly a result of the actions of Bush et al. in the last several years.
12. If you're suing your employer, using a company computer to discuss things with your attorney means you lose the presumption of privacy of such communciations.  Duh.
13. Sex in space?  "Twenty positions were tested by computer simulation to obtain the best 10, he says. 'Two guinea pigs then tested them in real zero-gravity conditions. The results were videotaped but are considered so sensitive that even Nasa was only given a censored version.'  Only four positions were found possible without 'mechanical assistance'. The other six needed a special elastic belt and inflatable tunnel, like an open-ended sleeping bag."
14. How do you raise smart kids?  Don't tell them they're smart.  Oops ...
15. More super-duper-accurate atomic clocks are on the way.  Spiffy.
16. Anaesthesia awareness -- being awake but paralyzed during surgery -- is a lot more rare than popularly thought.  But it's still pretty damned creepy.
17. On the other hand, it's less daunting that the prospect of the male equivalent of a Brazilian wax, as described in personally-experienced detail by Christopher Hitchens.  "The combined effect was like being tortured for information that you do not possess, with intervals for a (incidentally very costly) sandpaper handjob."
18. Trailer for the next Narnia flick, Prince Caspian.
19. Unique Visitors vs Time Spent vs Page Views -- fight!

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Calling up Bonhoeffer draws parallels between Bush and Der Fuhrer - unthinkable! Only not so unthinkable. Is it safe to compare Bush to Hitler now? Or do we need more torture revelations?

That's actually kind of a sad article. I know so many good people who now feel they must explain if they say "I am a Christian". As in; "Yes I am a Christian; a Mennonite. We believe in peace and social justice"

As an atheist with a Christian background (a 'cultural Christian'?) I can feel their pain.

Quoth Fred Kiesche ...

#13: Come on. You really think a puritanical agency like NASA would name a mission "STS-XX"? You really think that Congress, with all the folks looking for scandals that can be used to slash budgets wouldn't have gotten wind of that?

The only "XX" missions that I've ever heard of are for slightly more pressing needs:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-3xx

Similar legends have been floating around the infobahn since 1989, and by word of mouth for a lot longer. You'd think if they were true, we would have had the big "sex in space" scandal by now.

http://www.snopes.com/risque/tattled/shuttle.asp

Read the Snopes article.

The mission designation did look suspicious. I do like the faux report in the Snopes article, though.