People are sometimes surprised to learn that I've never seen It's a Wonderful Life. Actually, since I've caught different parts of it over the years while flipping channels, I probably have seen it, just not all at once in a single sitting.

Well, now I don't have to, now that I've seen It's a Wonderful Life in 30 seconds (and re-enacted by bunnies).

Whenever we lose power, I have to redo the following TiVo tricks. So I'm putting them here not only for your possible benefit, but to make it easier for me to find these later...

Tip #1: 30-second commercial skip
TiVo doesn't come with a skip commercial feature installed, but you can unlock it:

1. Play a previously recorded show (from your Now Playing List)
2. Enter the following sequence: Select, Play, Select, 3, 0, Select.
3. If the sequence is done correctly you will hear 3 dings.

The TiVo remote control's Advance button can now be used to perform 30 second fast forward skip.

Tip #2: Now Playing sorting for Series 1 TiVos
Those of us early adopters with Series 1 TiVos have to wish we could group recorded shows together like the Series 2 boxes. Well, wish no longer! Series 1 TiVos can sort the Now Playing list:

1. Go to your Now Playing List
2. Enter the following sequence: Slow, 0 (zero), Record, Thumbs Up
3. If the sequence is done correctly you will hear 3 dings.

You now sort your recorded shows by recording date, expiration date, or alphabetically. Either hit Enter to view the sort options, or just press 1, 2, or 3:

1 = Sort by Recording Date
2 = Sort by Expiration Date
3 = Sort Alphabetically

US admits the war for ‘hearts and minds’ in Iraq is now lost

The Pentagon has admitted that the war on terror and the invasion and occupation of Iraq have increased support for al-Qaeda, made ordinary Muslims hate the US and caused a global backlash against America because of the "self-serving hypocrisy" of George W Bush’s administration over the Middle East.

All this and more in this month's issue of Duh magazine.

Roads Gone Wild
A fascinating article at Wired describes a new way of designing roads and intersections: remove the street signs, signals, crosswalks, and other markers,and allow drivers and pedestrians to basically work things out themselves.

Surprisingly, the result is that the roads are actually safer for both drivers and pedestrians. It basically boils down to the architecture of the road, and not signs and signals, dictate the traffic flow.

Some people don't know that there are alternatives to Micorosoft's virus-friendly browser and email software. I highly recommend Mozilla's Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client. There's both Mac and Windows versions of each, and have great features you'll wonder how you lived without (pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, a great spam filter, etc.). Best of all: they're free.

I've been using both for months now on my PC at work. (I'm quite satisfied with Safari and Mail on the Mac.) If you're a regular user of Internet Explorer and/or Outlook Express, download these Mozilla apps (since they're free, it doesn't hurt to try them) and make your PC safer and faster.

I really don't understand spammers. Yesterday I got one of the weirdest ones I can remember: it was trying to get me to apply for a mortgage (no surprise there), but it was the email's subject line that confused me most: "you still owe me asshole." Assuming that spam has to work part of the time for people to continue to send it, would anyone actually get a mortgage from a company who just insulted them?

Not an advertisement: For more fun with spam, be sure to visit one of my favorite sites, Spamusement. Now!

Listen to my brother Brian talking flatland on Brown Student Radio's Bike Talk.

McSweeney's is one of those humor sites that is regularly linked to by several sites I visit. The problem is, I never find the site funny. But for some reason, every time it's recommended, I check it out in the off chance that something might actually make me laugh.

Today my persistence paid off: McSweeney's presents TV Catch Phrases That Weren't.

Five Mistakes Band & Label Sites Make

I rarely visit band sites, and it's not for lack of interest. It's mainly for the reasons outlined in this article: they often take too long to load, don't make it easy to find information, and are too clever for their own good.

A Whole Lotta Nothing has a short list of band sites that do get it right.

Tenet calls for Internet security

Former CIA Director George J. Tenet yesterday called for new security measures to guard against attacks on the United States that use the Internet, which he called "a potential Achilles' heel."

That's it, you heard the government: everybody off of Windows, now!

Many thanks to the Quinns for taking us to last night's Pixies show. Great band, bad traffic. And I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Mission of Burma would be opening -- two Boston alt-rock giants in one reunion show!

The Pixies are also having every show recorded, so you can buy a CD of a particular show, which I think is pretty cool.



As an aside, does anyone else think that Frank Black looks like he could join Tenacious D if this whole Pixies reuinion doesn't work out?