Tuesday Roundup

WINDOWS LIVE
Microsoft plans to offer an onlline version of its operating system and applications. Taking a cue from Google, Windows Live will be offered for free and try to make money through online advertising.

This is a move in the right direction. My personal goal is to have all of my information and applications functioning independent of whatever computer I'm on at any given moment. Of course, this anticipates a time when broadband will be more consistently and widely available. We're not that far away.


TRICK OR TREAT
We had a steady stream of kids (and some adults who haven't figured out that it's supposed to be a kid thing) but it wasn't what it has been. I suspect that with all of the newer even bigger homes that have gone in on the northside of Turlock, the carloads which previously stopped in our neighborhood just skipped us for better treats up there. Things actually look pretty clean out on the street. Cheryl just got back from her morning walk and she reports only a few smashed pumpkins, one egg, and a light sprinkling of candy wrappers in the neighborhood.


BRITAIN'S UNDERGROUND CITY FOR SALE
A subterranean complex built in the 1950s to house 4,000 government leaders in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack has a for sale sign over it. "Cold War City" covers 240 acres and has 60 miles of roads and its own railway station. Link / Photos


STIRRINGS IN KOREA
The North and the South are planning to send a single team to the 2006 Asian Games and 2008 Olympics. I wonder which national anthem they'll play for the winners.


BLACK FRIDAY
It appears that Wal-Mart plans to sell $398 laptops and desktops on the day after Thanksgiving. The chain, which is actually one of the largest PC retailers in the country, looks like it is gearing up for an aggressive assault on the holidays.


WIRELESS
When it comes to Wi-Fi even Estonia is ahead of the US.


ANOTHER GOOGLE FIRST
Oliver Google Kai. He's even blogging.


WAYS TO USE THE INTERNET
Directory of resources (via)


EMBARRASSING MOMENT
James Kushiner has posted a great little story about his grandson.

My grandson went shopping with Mom and Dad at one of those huge improvement stores on the weekend. While sitting in the shopping cart, little Aidan saw a man with a black beard, black hat and black suit down the aisle. He was, obviously, a conservative Jewish believer. The man was carrying a bottle of Coke. Aidan is only 14 months and not a master of English vocabulary yet, so when he spied the bottle, he pointed at the bottle, in the direction of the man, shouting the only word he knows for bottled liquid that you drink. Except that he has only mastered half the word, so it came out: "Juu! Juu! Juu!" instead of "Juice!" The man looked up startled at the little blond-haired tyke shouting this and pointing in his direction. Aidan's parents tried to explain, and I hope he figured out what happened. And it really did happen.