Doing P.E. Online

I love that little robot dude (Pintsize). With regard to the post title though, I do not mean typing faster to burn calories. Apparently, students can fulfill their gym requirements for school nowadays by reporting on their physical activity online. I think it's a very interesting idea. On one hand, I had to suffer through gym class (I was out of shape at the time) for two semesters and I hated it because we didn't do anything. Sometimes we would play soccer in middle school P.E., but I didn't like working out in the middle of the day. On the other hand, kids who are unable to participate in normal P.E. class activities can do what they can do on their own. It also gives them a wider range of activities. However, I'm skeptical of parents honestly certifying these things. I'd really rather that gym coaches actually do something. I learned very little in those classes and they were rarely fun. I wish we would've played more football and basketball because then maybe I wouldn't suck at them so much!

I'm going to start of the techie news by giving a shout-out to UT, which has won a case against spammers. The online dating service in question claimed that UT was infringing on their rights by blocking all their mail, but the Court of Appeals ruled against them (I'm surprised it had to go that far). Yahoo launched a new blog ad service to compete with Google's AdSense program, and I wonder how they'll be able to fight for market share. Google is already pretty well established, but anything is possible. Cisco.com has been hit by hackers and is warning customers that their data may have been compromised. That sounds like a pretty big breach and will really hurt them I'm sure. In a rather random move today, the Mozilla Foundation created the Mozilla Corporation as a for-profit organization to continue the development of Thunderbird and FireFox. They claim that nothing will change with the products, and I suspect that they're really just looking to expand. Lastly, Ars Technica has a pretty useful review of Mighty Mouse for those of you interested. Their gripes were pretty weak so it sounds like a good mouse.

I'm going to start off the movie news with the best item for today: Samuel L. Jackson has agreed to star in and produce both (or so I understand it) a live action movie adaptation and cartoon show adaptation of the Japanese comic franchise Afrosamurai. Can you imagine anyone better for that role? Some other great news is that Harrison Ford has approved the script for Indiana Jones 4 at last. It'll supposedly be ready to be submitted for a greenlight this fall and I think movie geeks everywhere are thrilled. Now for the not so good news: Four Brothers sucks, apparently. The reviewer did seem a little biased, but it doesn't surprise me that it's a standard revenge flick though I expected a bit more. Quint claims that The Chumscrubber was good though and so I'll try to catch its limited release by the end of the month. If you miss buddy action flicks then you'll be pleased to know that Ryan Reynolds and The Rock are teaming up for Blowback. I think it's a strange pair, but it could turn out well I suppose. Lastly, Owen Wilson has been talking to Ben Stiller about doing a sequel to Zoolander, but I can't see it really being any better than the original, which was a little too dumb for my taste. He has some other projects to work on for now though, so I guess he's looking into the far future.

Just a couple of real quick things before I close up here. I'm starting to get excited about the new 007 game, From Russia With Love, and IGN has a few new movies that make it look really cool. Definitely worth a look for gamers. If you want a fun game to play online, check out Peekaboom.

Now for a Wednesday Mind Hump:

01. Using the letters F-R-I-E-N-D, tell us qualities you think are important in a friend.
Fun, reliable, innovative (what quality starts with an i?), entertaining, nice, and dashing. Not the most opportune letters ironically.

02. We all have quirks -- what makes your bestfriend quirky?
I'm not sure which one of my friends is really my best friend, so I guess I'll use the one I considered to be so in high school and say that his overbearing ability to be nice is quirky.

03. Complete these friendship quotes with your own crazy thoughts ...

a) Love is blind. Friendship is everywhere.
b) In prosperity, our friends ... are still with us.
c) One who looks for a friend without faults ... is a jackass.
d) Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another ... "I can help you with that."