I’m fine, we’re all fine, just very busy.

The Register: Burgled mum finds stolen iPod on eBay

Henry Schulman/SFGate: Hennessey already has his biggest victory

Mercury News: The 411 on I-5: Stops along the way

Adviser Argues on Rights of Cheese Name

An adviser to the European Union’s highest court on Tuesday said the name of feta cheese is a traditional Greek name and deserves protection throughout the EU, siding with Greece against Germany and Denmark.

Next on the docket: Gorgonzola, Parmesan, Mozzarella, Pippo Crème, Danish Fimboe, Czech sheep’s milk, and Venezuelan Beaver Cheese. But not Cheddar.

We visited the Mare Island Welcome Center on Saturday and checked out the six model homes. The homes are beautiful, though the some of them could have benefited from some feng shui during the design process–awkward layout–and the prices are very reasonable for brand new, modern homes in the Bay Area. The problem we saw was the same we see with any new developments: too darned closed together. With land at a premium, it’s understandable that new homes would be so tightly packed. However, on Mare Island, there is a huge amount of development space available, and it can only be chalked up to the desire on the part of the developer to cram as many homes into that space as possible.
Mare Island itself is a place with quite a lot of interesting history, and the developer who bought most of the former Naval shipyard promises to preserve and restore most of the historic buildings and sites, along with developing parts of it for commercial use. I think I would enjoy living there, and I can’t deny the attraction to a brand-new modern home. I suppose another downside is that while the island itself promises to be a comfortable community, it will be part of the city of Vallejo–not one of the best parts of the Bay Area. And, no offense to any Vallejans who may be reading this, it’s pretty far from anywhere.

My sole acknowledgement of the “Episode III” mania, if such mania exists (and I’m not really sure it does, outside of Fox’s marketing department) is a link to “How Lightsabers Work” from HowStuffWorks.

Chances are that you have seen a lightsaber at one time or another, whether on the evening news or down at the local cantina. Therefore you know that a lightsaber is an amazing and versatile device that is able to cut through nearly anything in a matter of milliseconds.

Have you ever wondered how these remarkable weapons work? Where does the energy come from, and how are they able to contain that energy in a rod-like column of glowing power?

In this edition of HowStuffWorks, you will have a chance to look inside a lightsaber and discover the source of its incredible characteristics. Let’s get started!

Quite informative, really, especially if you’ve considered building your own. And who knew how many useful tasks to which a lightsaber can be put?

Another great reason to consider a switch to Linux: Alexandria is a book collection manager for GNOME, and of course there is no Win32 port. With something over 2,000 books cluttering our house, I’ve been looking for this functionality for a long time, and even bought a modified CueCat ($5 on eBay) to aid in adding books to whatever database I’d eventually build.