I'm not the only one suffering techno-poltergeists this week. Anne just got this message from Google:

Lockdown in sector 4!

Our system indicates unusual usage of your account. In order to protect Gmail users from potentially harmful use of Gmail, this account has been disabled for up to 24 hours.

Googleing the email found that Google's own tools can trigger this lockout.

Did anyone notice the theme of all the technical issues we've had lately? An SBC router crashed, a Webcam fried, a voice-mail account deleted? They all have something in common, something my Wills professor would call "the Omnibus Explanation:" "The Omnibus Explanation, the thing that explains what logic and rational thought cannot, is stupidity."

First, from the Strange Editorial Priorities department: these were the headlines on MSNBC's top headlines today:

WP: CIA program withstands furor

The effort President Bush authorized shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, to fight al Qaeda has grown into the largest CIA covert action program since the height of the Cold War. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10644533/

West Coast gets more rain

The West Coast was expected to end 2005 with a bang of winter weather: two storm fronts that could bring as much as 10 inches of rain in Northern California and snowfall of up to six feet in some mountain areas. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10632481/

N. Korea cuts off U.N. food aid

As Pyongyang's Stalinist government moves to reassert control over the food supply, some experts fear that it could lead the isolated country into another famine. By Kari Huus. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10631108/

Now, I like weather, but come on. Maybe these stories could have been re-ordered?

Second, for those of you who missed me, SBC, which has now apparently merged with AT&T (didn't they break up in 1984?), dropped my DSL from 4:09 CT/22:09 UTC until a few minutes ago. Gotta love 'em.

A quick check of email showed me a notice from NOAA that the 27th tropical storm of the most active season in recorded history had formed:

...LATE SEASON TROPICAL STORM...THE 27TH OF THE YEAR...FORMS IN THE EASTERN ATLANTIC...

AT 1 PM AST...1700Z...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM ZETA WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 25.0 NORTH... LONGITUDE 36.9 WEST OR ABOUT 1070 MILES...1720 KM... SOUTHWEST OF THE AZORES.

And we thought the season had already ended. Wow. This is truly historic.

Great column from Krugman today (reg.req.):

A year ago, before "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" became a national punch line, the rising tide of cronyism in government agencies and the rapid replacement of competent professionals with unqualified political appointees attracted hardly any national attention. ...

A year ago, most Americans thought Mr. Bush was honest.

No real entry today and no entry at all yesterday because I was helping my mom move. However, all of the pieces of the Inner Drive Technology Comprehensive Testing Facility are in, so we should complete construction tomorrow morning or, possibly, on Saturday. Photos will follow.

From the Associated Press (published in the Chicago Tribune):

Vincent Schiavelli, 57

Actor Was Known for Creepy, Eccentric Roles

ROME — Vincent Schiavelli, the droopy-eyed character actor who appeared in scores of movies, including "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Ghost," died Monday at his home in Sicily. He was 57.

He died of lung cancer, said Salvatore Glorioso, mayor of Polizzi Generosa, the Sicilian village where Schiavelli lived.

As I'm never one to rise below a little morbid humor at the expense of the living, I would ask, with Schiavelli gone, who will play Dick Cheney in future films?

If you're Christian, merry Christmas!

If you're Jewish, happy Chanukkah!

If you just want to be with your family and share the joys of the holiday season, happy holidays!

Finally, if you believe we athiests have declared war on Christmas, read Michelle Goldberg's column in Salon, then Frank Rich (reg.req.) in the New York Times, then reflect on why any majority group in a democracy, who control the government and the press, would persist in believing that the minority were oppressing it.

Yesterday I posted about news articles I found funny, that included a Chicago Tribune report that Mayor Daley was musing about hosting the 2016 Olympics.

Today the Tribune's architecture critic wrote a surprisingly detailed column about it, offering a list of pros and cons.

Now, forgetting for a second that just a moment ago I posted about the U.S. paying Iraqi media paid to run news stories, what do people think? Should we try to host the 2016 Olympics in Chicago?