Today I had a new suggestion for Google and I wanted to submit it but I couldn't find the page under contacts or FAQ so I googled "Give google feedback" and I couldn't get any results! Lucky for Google, there is Bing. More...

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I just discovered that Twitter removes tweets and does so without warning the twitterer. Twice I've tweeted E, A, C#m, B. So simple, so fun. Hit me with your best shot, indeed. and twice it has been quietly removed. Their T&Cs says that a trademark owner can ask for a tweet to be taken down, but to do it like that makes it feel more like censorship. Most twitterers probably don't care because the vast majority of tweets are pointless, but I had started to use it to micro-blog and see just how pithy I could get with 140 characters.
Update: 3 weeks later and both tweets are now visible. Sweet.

2010 marks the start of another decade and a drastic simplification to this web site. When first it was created in 2007 it was because the free sites on the web couldn't easily do what I wanted: stream HD video and store GBs of photos. Back in those days quicktime, not flash, was king; nowadays YouTube has HD. Then, blogging kept friends up to date; now, buzz combines mail and tweets. As the free web is now much more useful there is only a hobbyist's incentive to keep a personal website up to date, and so you can also find me elsewhere around the web.

Ever since 1984 when I first used PC-DOS floppies on my IBM PC I've been on the Microsoft bandwagon. I've scorned and ignored unix, both proprietary (Apple) and open (Linux); and although I've been stung and burned by Windows, I've upgraded to each version except the disaster that was Win-ME. Hopefully 7 is the lucky number. More...

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Change to my rates since the loss in the Supreme Court challenge against parity:

• Oct 2008 - General Rates Category 1 = $103.58 (please note: this is not my total Rates bill, just the "General Rates")
• Jan 2009 - General Rates Category 10 = $315.06 ($518.18 less $203.12 credit for "remission")
• Jul 2009 - General Rates Category 10 = $196.98 (so the final amount has basically doubled and added roughly an extra $7.18 per week to my rates).

This is in part from the ARV going from $69,647 to $94,721 and in part from the "parity" effect being wound back to 2.536090 thanks to B.A.R.E.

Update July 2010: ARV down to $87,756 and General Rates Category 10 = $178.69.
Update July 2011: ARV down to $73,130 and General Rates Category 10 = $156.56 (parity factor 2.689457).