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Pick the best musicians, win a prize

Leading off, Green Day. Batting second, Snoop Dogg. Batting third, Tim McGraw. And the cleanup hitter, Britney Spears.

If you think this is a weird baseball lineup, you're right. On the other hand, if I were playing in the Fantasy Music League, I'd probably be in the World Series.

This is not a joke. The object of the FML, according to the website, is to create a label that generates the most revenue, based on the world music charts. Apparently the winners share in $25,000 cash and prizes.

Living in cardboard maybe isn't so bad

Building a playhouse/fort out of a cardboard box used to be a chore enough. Now, Australian researchers and architects have created something that goes beyond that: a fully sized and usable cardboard house that can be completed in six hours by just two people.

Time to get a handle on your spam

It's difficult for me sometimes to understand why spammers do what they do. Do they really expect that the millions and millions of emails sent will provide income from the products they are selling? Do they enjoy intentionally slowing down the Internet to a relative crawl for email users? Do they have any idea why even non-watchers of Country Music Television have noticed that Shania Twain seems to be on an endless loop infomercial on that station?

Help out the survivors of the tsunami

Google has set up a simple page to allow Internet users the ability to get involved with the cleanup and rebuilding of the areas affected by the recent tsunami. There are also links to information resources, including the Tsunami help blog.

It's never too late to purchase Christmas gifts

Even though it might be after Dec. 25 by the time you read this, it is still not too late to make that last shopping run. This year, especially if you live in the Midwest, your excuse will work even better:

"I ordered your present online, and it hasn't arrived yet."

That simple sentence should give you at least an additional week to make purchases. And with the 236 inches of snow some areas have received, there's no telling when a present, even ordered after Lincoln's birthday, will appear.

From the Archive

You can always check out the time traveler convention later

Apparently, no actual time travelers showed up at the Massachusetts Institiute of Technology's recent time traveler convention. It's hard to tell, though whether or not that means there are no time travelers, they were warned not to show or they just got the time wrong.

Free book giveaway has begun!

Starting April 19, 2008, with the Baltimore CityLit Festival, I plan to give away a few books this spring and summer. I hope the next wave of "The Developers" readers gets as much enjoyment out of the book as the first wave did.

Anyway, if you received a free book and want to show your appreciation, check out the free book page "donations" options and/or email me your comments about the book!

Buy now.. low price... lifetime guarantee

One big disadvantage working at night is the television quality when I arrive home. Sometimes there could be a "Perfect Strangers" rerun or two, and possibly an old game show, but most channels are overrun by infomercials.

Webster defines an infomercial as "a long television commercial, often made to resemble a talk show, educational demonstration, interview, etc." Kudos to Webster's assessment. The only words missing from the definition are "trash," "ridiculous" and "cheap."

GAC: Is it wrong to download songs for free from the Internet?

The Good Advice Committee's first task was to determine whether or not it was appropriate to download songs for free from the Internet. Good arguments were made on both sides, but in the end, the committee voted no, 4-1.

NATE: NO

I find nothing wrong with downloading music off the internet. Most of the songs that are being downloaded are from artists who already have more money than they know what to do with. The last time I watched "Cribs" on MTV, it doesn't look like Jay-Z was losing out from everybody downloading his songs for free.

Vacation gives fresh perspective on life

There's nothing like a good vacation to help you get back on track with life.

I should warn you now this isn't one of my regular computer columns, whatever regular might be. Although computers and work play an integral role in my life, they are not my entire life. Sure, without a job, I would probably be stuck eating grilled cheese every day, but I do really, really like grilled cheese.

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