Rainlendar is a customizable calendar that displays the current month. It is a very lightweight application that doesn't use much system resources or take much space on your desktop.

Here's what's new:
# Fixed event sorting again. Hopefully it now works correctly.
# iCalendar plugin wrote also done todo-items to the ics-file. Fixed.
# ToolTip used always the default font. Fixed.
# Imported iCal events were sometimes a day too long. Fixed.
# GrowUpwards didn't work correctly with the event list. Fixed.
# Changed the file system monitoring in iCalPlugin. It now compares the filesize.
# Fixed a memory leak in iCalPlugin.
# "Refresh when screen resolution changes" works again.
# Fixed time parsing routine.
# "Mark all checked as done" doesn't affect read-only items anymore.
# If the ServerPlugin was active modified events were not send to the server. Fixed.
# Reversed the strings in month's and year's align combo box.
# Fixed a crash bug in iCalendar and Server plugins.
# Weekends can be defined with WeekendDays.

WinStep has updated its popular skinnable menu program (NextSTART) and skinnable program launching program (Workshelf).  Check them out.

Visual Styles:

A visual style is a partiuclar type of "skin" designed to change the look and feel of the entire user interface of an operating system.

On Windows XP, there are two popular formats for visuals tyles - WindowBlinds and MSStyles.

WindowBlinds visual styles are designed to be more flexible than MSStyles but require the user to use the commercial program, WindowBlinds ($19.95) in order to get the most out of them.

MSStyles are very basic but are also free. They cannot move title bar buttons, cannot change border sizes, cannot add additional buttons to the title bar, cannot change styles on title bar text, cannot control alignment on controls or text.

Advocates for MSStyles will argue that these limitations are a good thing because most msstyles tend to be pretty derivative of the existing Windows XP look and therefore are more "usable".  Proponents for WindowBlinds will argue that WindowBlinds users can use msstyles as well via SkinStudio and that the whole point of "skinning" your GUI is to be able to make it look and feel how you want not just tweak it a little bit. MSStyles cannot change tool bar buttons or progress animations and don't skin as many parts of the Windows XP OS.

The advantage of WindowBlinds (the program) is that in addition to being able to use WindowBlinds visual styles as well as MSStyles via SkinStudio that it can provide hardware acceleration based on graphic card improvements that have been made since Windows XP's release back in 2001.  In addition, WindowBlinds provides features such as color changing on the fly, per application visual style support, mouse button customization, mixing and matching progress animations and toolbar icons, and can skin non-theme aware applications.

For a full list of WindowBlinds features versus the bundled msstyle system, visit http://www.windowblinds.net/wb4

Today was the first nice weather here in Michigan in awhile. Actually went on a walk. And to help get into the spirit, I downloaded the latest version of Natural Desktop (www.naturaldesktop.com). It's a program that changes your wallpaper based on time of day as well as playing environmental sound.  It's the latter feature that makes it special for me.

So this morning it was playing sounds of morning doves and other birds.  As the afternoon passed you could hear other natural sounds playing. I turned it up and it was eerie how similar the sounds coming from my computer mirrored what I was hearing outside.  Now that it's evening here, I hear crickets and birds of night coming out my speakers.  I can control the sound through the program's integrated volume control but it is so...relaxing hearing these sounds.

The latest version, 1.2, has some really cool features such as being able to set your own sounds, wallpapers, etc. The program comes with a bunch of wallpapers based on the time of year and time of day and you can put your own in there.  The weather forecaster is also a nice touch so I can look out over the week to see what the weather is to be like. The integrated map is cool because I can click on the various locations and instantly see what their weather conditions are like and my wallpaper changes along with it. For instance, I happen to know it's raining in Buenos Aeries (the background sound mixes night sounds and the sound of rain and the portal shows rain falling).

So now that Spring is here (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, in Australia you'd be getting the early Fall stuff), give Natural Desktop a shot.

As far as the law is concerned, it has spoken. Many courts have heard Terry Schiavo's case and concluded that Terry would not have wanted to be kept alive through artificial means.

That is what this case boils down to. People have the right to decide whether they want to be kept alive via artificial means.  And the courts determined that there was sufficient evidence through testimony that Terry would not have wanted to be kept alive this way.

However, it's the "evidence" that is problematic here in my opinion.  She had no living will. Hopefully this incident will encourage people to start making living wills so that the judicial system can't be screwed around like this.  Terry's parents say she would not want to be starved to death.  Terry's husband says she would.

In my view, the word of Terry's husband is meaningless. He's moved on.  He has two children with another women.  As soon as he had a child with another woman, his "guardianship" rights should be reverted to the parents.  And the parents want her to be kept alive.  She's not on life support, she simply is incapable of feeding herself.

That is where I think the focus of the debate exists.  Frankly, we really don't know what Terry wanted.  I know I would not want to be kept alive via artificial means but on the other hand, I don't know if I'd like the idea of being starved to death over a two week period. I think when most people think of being taken off "life support" they picture themselves in a coma without the ability to breath on their own. 

That's why this case is so compelling.  We really don't know what Terry would have wanted and so many people feel that the default option should be life and not starvation.

Anyone who has ever worked in a group home for the mentally disabled can tell you that there are literally hundreds of thousands of people who would die without what would seem to most people extraordinary intervention.  She we starve them to death too?

In fact, why stop there?  How about the people are incapable of feeding themselves without government subsidies? Billions are spent providing food to people who somehow have managed to screw up their lives to the point that they can't afford to pay for their own food.  Should we stop providing them food?

What's ironic is if Terry were a convicted murderer, one could almost imagine the far left out in force protesting on the other side.  It gives the impression that the only lives that the left really wants to fight for are those who either have killed people (murderers) or want to kill people (terrorists). I know, that's a cheap shot but it does strike me as odd that the kind of same people who will camp outside a prison to protest the execution of a convicted murderer have contempt for the people who want to keep Terry alive.

I am a strong believer in individual choice.  If Terry truly would have wanted to die this way, then I am all for that.  I am just not convinced that that is the case based on the publicly available evidence.  And if we're going to choose death as the default when someone can't keep themselves alive on their own, then that takes us down a slippery slope that I'm not sure people want to go.

Talk to Fred Meyer, CEO of start-up Cast Iron Systems, about his company's data-integration product and you picture a shrink-wrapped cardboard box with a few software CDs inside.

Instead, his company makes something that more resembles a server or router, which can be slipped onto a rack in a corporate data center.

That product design choice is not by accident. Selling a hardware, rather than software, product gives Cast Iron Systems, which announced a fourth round of venture funding on Monday, an edge over rivals, Meyer said.

This is an interesting concept. Let's take it to its logical conclusion: With the advent of flash memory, tons of USB connections on PC, and high performance, one can imagine an increasing number of "programs" actually coming in a more physical form.  No more installing to the hard drive. You just plug it into your computer or network or whatever and the software is "just there" ready to go.

Deren Smith at Neowin has written an article with his concerns about Apple's new Cinema display.  Apparently they die off earlier than most displays and Apple won't provide an extended warranty without first buying a PowerMac.

Read the whole thing.

During the early 90s the American right came to be seen as dominated by its zealots, bigots and extremists.  It was the high-tide of people like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and David Duke.  The Republicans (rightly) paid a political price for it. 

The blindly ideological right is always ready to take center stage. Those of us who consider themselves socially moderate but fiscally conservative (that also includes not just me but Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds, Steven Den Beste, John Hawkins of Right Wing News, and most of the other popular "right wing" bloggers) are always having to battle the the demons of those further right of us.  That would include the evangelical Christians who want to inject religion as much into public life as a means to impose their social beliefs onto the rest of us.  For the past few years, our portion of the "vast right wing conspiracy" has held the high ground and the result has been unprecedented series of electoral victories.

Now the American left, wrongly labeled as "liberals" (there's nothing "liberal" these days about the American left IMO) seems to be held hostage by its most bigoted, ignorant, and ideologically rigid elements.  Their militant, hateful, and intolerant ideology is not much different than the so-called "fascist" right wing extremists they claim to be against.

I find it disappointing how difficult it is to find a reasonable avatar of left-wing thought on-line.  So few left of center advocates are educated enough on the issues they debate on and the result is pure frustration.

The issues they argue about without knowing much about are many. Whether that be the issue of "Global Warming", an article of faith on the left that they defend as strongly as the evangelicals on the right defend "Intelligent Design".  Or that we're "bankrupting" the country through "Tax cuts for the rich".  Or the every-changing opposition of US foreign policy -- no matter what the US action is, it's the wrong thing (especially if it's against non-European dictators).  And then there is also the pervasive and irrational "Bush hatred" that seems to permeate many of the writings of the left on-line.

The problem isn't that the left of center ideologically is non-credible.  There are real arguments for environmentalism, social justice, multilateralism, and many other principles that the left espouse.  The problem is that the avatars of the left, particularly on the blogsphere are frankly, ignorant beyond belief.  A lot of my friends in "real life" are quite left of center. However, they can debate these issues with intelligent and articulate arguments. But they don't post on-line usually. 

And so we're left with what seems to be the dregs of the left who seem completely unfamiliar with any of the background details of the issues they so passionately argue. As an agnostic, I don't find religious arguments compelling. And too often, the left-wingers frothing on-line sound very much the same as the indoctrinated religious zealots they so clearly detest. And being indoctrinated, they have no need to educate themselves on things such as history, economics, anthropology, engineering or science. 

As a result, hordes of astonishingly ignorant but militant left wingers storm onto the net like a swarm of religious missionaries filled with certainty that their faith is the correct faith and that those who disagree with them aren't just wrong but are evil. Their opponents are heathens and heretics to be smited.  And their debate style is just as self-referencing and circular as the most dogged religious fanatics I've ever seen.

What the left needs are people who can espouse its principles in a mature, calm, rational and most importantly educated manner.  They need to look carefully at the facts and push on issues that they have the factual high ground on and abandon positions in which the facts don't support them.  But most importantly, they need to know what they are talking about on the issues they debate.  They need to do their homework and present their case in a rational, non-hysterical way.

Because otherwise, the left-wing political philosophies are going to become increasingly marginalized as the undecided's of the world mix the message with the messenger. And if that were to happen, we will all be a lot poorer.

Having just finished watching Volume 2 of the Cartoon Network's Star Wars: Clone Wars series, I am just amazed at how well done this series has turned out to be.  The stories are excellent. The pacing is outstanding. Terrific voice acting. And the action is everything we could have ever dreamed of.

One can only imagine how fans would have reacted if the team putting these together had had a shot to do Episodes I and II.  I suspect there would have been far less disappointment.  I am convinced that the problem is George Lucas.  He seems almost tone deaf when it comes to acting and his directorial skills leave much to be desired. 

I read the graphic novel adaption of Episode II and even though it's the same story, it's a much better, more compelling story than what is shown at the theater. It's all in the way the story is presented.  Even Episode I could have been a great epic story if Jar Jar wasn't in there, better child acting, and a few other tweaks. The story itself wasn't bad at all.

But Cartoon Network's Clone Wars cartoons are far better stories and far more entertaining than the movies are.  Anakin is presented how I think most fans always wanted to think of him as -- brash, heroic, impatient.  Not the pouty, angst-filled, quasi-teen we saw in Episode II.  In this series, we see why he is "The Chosen One".  And we see Obi-Wan and Anakin as a real team. As true friends.

And then there's the action.  We see Jedi's being Jedi.  Star War fans may love the Episode I Darth Maul light saber battle but that's nothing compared to the battle we see here.  We see the power difference between Yoda and other Jedi.  We see Mace living up to what we imagined. 

I would love to see this team go back and re-tell Episodes IV, V, and VI as cartoons.  I know I'd pay for that.