okay, this is just cool in spite of the fact that it points out just how much of a geek i really am… particularly pngreader, which is a tool for encoding other works of art (graphic, movie, text, and music files) as graphic files. so much for intellectual property… yes, a song on a CD is intellectual property, and an unauthorised mp3 of that song is, technically, a "violation" of the intellectual property holder’s rights concerning that property, but what about graphic that encodes that mp3?

if you run this graphic through the right decoder you get an mp3 file that contains the song Burn Hollywood Burn, by Public Enemy. how can you control it? what’s to say that it’s not just another graphic, and doesn’t encode anything? and if you don’t have the proper tool to decode it, how can anyone else prove that it is, in fact, a mp3 file and not just another graphic?

oh, there are all sorts of problems that this type of software will now create. i can hardly wait! }8-)

and that’s not to mention all of the other goodies to be found at runme.org. definitely some place where i am going to have to do some intensive browsing.

also, if it hasn’t been said enough already, JOHN ASHCROFT RESIGNED!!! now if he had only resigned over some tawdry scandal, that would be really sweet, but i’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

i finally got the plushies i ordered (i ordered them around the 15th of october, and just got them a couple of days ago): a baby nyarlathotep, a cthulhu plushie and a cthulhu hand puppet. they’re really cute. i made the baby nyarlathotep into an icon, if you hadn’t noticed.

apparently the fact that i suffered a brain injury makes me eligible for job placement and training opportunities for which i wasn’t eligible without the brain injury, so maybe it’s a blessing in disguise, but i don’t think so. i’m waiting for a call back from the representative for CARES of Washington, but i’m not holding my breath… i’ve been waiting for a reply to an email i sent to the worksource lady who ran the classes i was forced to take about two weeks ago, and so far i haven’t even gotten a received notice, much less an actual reply. they put phone numbers and email addresses on their cards, but i get the impression that they’re the same as they ever were when it comes to actually responding to them.

i heard from jill a few days ago. apparently, with all of the cancer-related problems she’s been having (which she’s surviving handilly, in spite of how life-threatening they appear to be), since i saw her at the oregon country fair, her husband of 25 years met someone else and she has moved out. you’ve got to wonder how a person could be so heartless, but if anyone is prepared to face this challenge, it’s jill.

divali is friday. happy divali, everyone.