Ugh. I came down with a nasty cold over the weekend.

I was able to watch the new Yogi Bear cartoons on Friday, and I thought it ws a hoot. As I mentioned below, they were done by Spumco (headed by John Kricfalusi), the same folks that created Ren and Stimpy. I was very glad to see that John hasn’t lost his edge, and sorry to see he’s not interested in doing any more. To see what really gets John K. going, visit Spumco’s website for his web cartoons. Of special interest is the work he’s done for Bjork, my favorite Icelandic pixie.

Cardhouse passed along this article regarding Oakland, CA’s property forfeiture laws. It looks like the state of California is on the verge of putting common sense back into the laws, making a conviction necessary for property seizure. Jerry Brown, someone I had always respected, is very angry because Oakland laws states that only a suspicion of guilt is necessary. In Oakland, an officer can say “I thought I saw you buy drugs from your car” and the city gets your car. No trial needed! You can either buy your car back, go through a long appeals process (the city’s never lost an appeal), or give up. According to the article, a city attorney is proud of the statistic that shows “60 percent of the people arrested are from out of town.” People from out of town are much less able to fight back, making them a better target for the city. I make a decent wage, but if this were to happen to me, I don’t have the means to fight back. Why is Jerry Brown and Oakland so against the notion that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty?

Well, that’s all of my rant. Thanks for listening. Now mail Jerry Brown and tell him what you think.

I got a bit busy yesterday, and so no updates. Sorry.

The company I work for is preparing to release a major new version of our software. It’s all very exciting, because though small, we’re a leader in our market. Perhaps the leader. And the process of releasing it is my responsibility, so it keeps me busy.

Since there were no links yesterday, let me throw out a few here, showing the software tools I’ve been using to make my job easier. The first set comes from Indigo Rose, a small developer in Canada. I regularly use their two flagship products, Setup Factory and AutoPlay Studio. Setup Factory is a wonderful cheap alternative to the expensive resource-hog installation wizard most large software products use. AutoPlay Studio is a very easy-to-use tool that creates programs that run automatically when a CD-ROM is inserted into the drive. I know many people (including most potential readers of this page) shut off the autoplay option in Windows, but for my customers it’s very important.

Another tool I’ve begun using is Bridge, by Kemma Software. Bridge is a help-desk call logger and issue tracker that has all the features of the large multi-thousand dollar packages but is a fraction of the price. I haven’t used it very long, but it’s already been wonderful for me.

The Southeast’s infatuation with all things NASCAR has gone too far. I just went to get a soda out of the soda machine downstairs (Peter, it took about two minutes.), I saw in the snack machine bags of racecar-shaped Fritos. Cheddar cheese flavored. And these were being sold in a white-collar professional environment. Vroom vroom! Go Jeff Gordon!

I’ve played a bit with the color layout. Please [let me know](mailto:ewagoner@partnersoft.com?subject=Kestrel’s Nest) what you think. There was a small typo in the old code that made Netscape display the background as anything from white to a dull orange. It should be a nice brown, now. And I never did like all the hard rules everywhere.

I watch Space Ghost every week on the Cartoon Network, and have for years. While watching this weekend, I saw promos for two new Yogi Bear episodes to be shown this Friday on the Cartoon Cartoon show (10pm Eastern). Very strange looking Yogi Bear cartoons. I was overjoyed to see that they were done by John K., the creator of Ren and Stimpy, another of my favorite shows of old. Joy! These are tapers, for sure.

More budget-conscious managers may prefer to cope by only upgrading crucial applications such as tallow and sundials. But a congress of philosophes estimates coordinating even this small effort may cost as much as a bucket of lard per serf.

From Preparing for domesday: the year 1000 problem.

SAW YOU AT BOOKSTORE, or maybe farmer’s market or do-it-yourself car wash. You had brown hair and some variety of bluish shirt or jacket. I was probably wearing a cowboy shirt or turtleneck. I caught your eye, you either smiled or coughed. Please call. 33452

Blessed are the cheesemakers, for they shall inherit the earth.

Oh my, this is too funny. I hate to use a phrase like “too funny,” but this really is.

We, the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation are in love… with you!

Call 1-800-578-7453. It’s the customer line for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp, the makers of Kool & Lucky Strike. Asked an incredulous executive at another tobacco company, “What are they smokin’?”

Call the number, and then read about it.