Okay, like I needed this right now… I went to start up my computer and it won’t start up — at all.

I’m writing this to you from a borrowed computer.

Anyway, I was hoping someone could shed some light on the problem and suggest a solution. I’ve never encountered this problem before.

I have a Toshiba laptop and it was running fine until yesterday. I started it up and it went to that screen that says something about Windows not being about to start properly. Then you have to choose whether to start in Safe Mode, Safe Mode Network, Safe Mode Command Line, With Last Good Settings, or Normally.

Here’s the thing — I figured that since “Normally” didn’t work, I’d try “Safe Mode” — only it wouldn’t start in Safe Mode either (nor ANY of the options, for that matter).

I’m pretty sure there is a half-second blue error screen that comes up just before it reverts back to the screen with the startup choices, but there’s no way I can see what it says in a half second.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

Actor Lane Smith, most famous for playing Daily Planet editor Perry White on Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993-1997), died Monday at the age of 69 from Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Lane Smith, 69; Character Actor Gained Fame Playing Nixon in ‘The Final Days’:

Smith died Monday at his Los Angeles home of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease, his family said.

A veteran stage actor with scores of character parts in film and television, Smith achieved instant fame when he took on the role of Nixon in the production based on the book “The Final Days” by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Smith’s performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

Lane Smith really was a joy to watch as the Daily Planet editor on “Lois and Clark.”

In every episode, he really seemed to be concerned about managing the newspaper, while keeping Clark Kent (Dean Cain), Lois Lane (Terri Hatcher), and Jimmy Olsen (Justin Whalin) in line.

He really dug deep into the character, producing a perfect balance of gruff editor with an often-hidden caring side.

He played tribute to his Memphis roots by changing the character’s traditional catch-phrase from “Great Caesar’s Ghost!” to “Great shades of Elvis!” and transforming Perry White into an Elvisphile. And he did all in a the most believable fashion.

Smith played numerous character roles in his acting career — from President Richard Nixon to writer Jack Kerouac and even dictator Adolf Hitler.

Coincidentally, the other day I was just watching a rerun of the animated show King of the Hill called “Meet the Propaniacs,” where Bobby Hill starts an improv group that educates people about propane, that featured Lane Smith’s voice talents as “Charlie Fortner,” a propane executive the Hills run into while performing their show. I recognized Smith’s voice instantly and remembered back to his “Lois and Clark” days fondly.

Of course, he did a great job playing this animated character as he had done throughout his career. He was truly a great example of what a character actor can and should be. Great shades of Elvis! We’ll miss you, Lane.

Kat Parr over at Weblogs, Inc.’s AdJab recently wrote a post entitled, Ads we hate: Kia Sportage that takes a jab (pun intended) at what I said in a previous post about that “Start Having a Great Life” song.

Here’s the jabby part:

CityCynic seems to think it’s catchy and uplifting, but uh, have you heard this song? (1) any song written after your mother commits suicide is bound to not have an “uplifting” quality, and (2) it’s just bad. Rant over.

Of course, it’s perfectly fine for Kat to hate that commerical, but how can the fact that the lyrics to the song have an uplifting quality to them be overlooked so easily? Here was my reply:

Hi, Anthony from CityCynic.com here. In defense of my comments, I do think that the song is uplifting.

Its like a reminder: “Start having a great life / Start living with inspiration”. If someone was depressed, that might jump start them back towards happiness, might it not?

At the same time, after hearing the song over and over again a million times, I’m getting tired of it, too. But that’s just what happens when a song gets played out.

And to go a touch further, I’d venture to say that theme of the commercial itself is uplifting — it’s a bunch of people sharing a Sportage in a crowded city. An idea far from reality, yes, but I think Goat’s song fits that theme perfectly.

CNN is reporting that jurors have informed the judge in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial that they have reached a verdict. Details should come soon…

UPDATE: Whoa. Jackson was found not guilty of all 10 counts against him. And then the hundreds of fans outside the courthouse celebrated: throwing confetti and releasing white doves into the sky. Nah, this trial wasn’t a circus…

While the country anxiously awaits the outcome of an event receiving major media coverage, the American death toll in Iraq passed 1,700 soldiers.

U.S. Toll in Iraq Pushes Past 1,700:

Four American soldiers died Saturday in two roadside bombings west of Baghdad, increasing to at least 1,701 the number of U.S. forces who have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. The number includes five military civilians.

There wasn’t much media coverage when the death toll reached and surpassed 1,400 or 1,500, or 1,600. Maybe that news is just too depressing to watch on TV. Or maybe the public finds war coverage too boring while waiting to hear if the King of Pop will be put away.

No matter your political persuasion, this should present a major problem to you. Americans are dying daily in Iraq and in the war coverage that we do get, we hear that things in Baghdad are getting better because there are only 2-3 suicide car bombings a day, down from the recent 13-15 per day average.

Does anyone know what the plan is for setting up Iraq and beginning to decrease American military presence there? Is the Bush Administration discussing this between harping on a Social Security plan that would reduce recipients’ benefits? Apparently many Americans don’t think so — now only 43% of Americans think Bush is doing a good job.

That’s not to say that America and the UK isn’t making a difference in Iraq. Our soldiers are definitely working hard to make things better for the people there. Building schools, training police, and rebuilding infrastructure is definitely helping — but the overall picture is still of chaos — with no end, nor plan, in sight.

1,700 soldiers — dead. If this doesn’t anger or sadden you, then maybe you’ve been too busy watching the Michael Jackson trial. Or maybe ignoring the situation is just easier. Every day American soldiers are putting their lives on the line for us — they’ve earned at least your attention.

As some of you may know, I have had as pets a good-sized colony of land hermit crabs that I find fascinating to watch and care for.

When I went to put some fresh drinking water into the tank last night, I noticed a long, red thing at the bottom of water bowl. It was a hermit crab leg from my jumbo (read: size of a softball) Strawberry hermit crab Paul!

Now, losing a leg isn’t a good sign for anyone really, but hermit crabs can regenerate limbs (and eyes and antennae) when they molt. So, while I was surprised, I wasn’t too worried. Sometimes hermit crabs can lose a limb if they get into a fight or experience some kind of stress. I removed the leg from the tank.

Tonight, though, the situation went from bad to worse.

I looked into the tank and found a giant red claw sitting on the sand. Paul was a few inches from it, looking quite upset (as one would be after losing an appendage). I jumped into crisis mode and immediately removed Paul from the tank and bathed him in dechlorinated water and a few drops of Stress Coat^TM. Besides seeming a bit shaken up, he was able to walk sans a leg and large claw.

From what I can figure, he either got into a fight with the other large strawberry hermit crab that is fairly new to the tank, or he is suffering some sort of stress because of him.

I set up what crabbers know as an isolation tank — a high-humidity 10 gallon tank with deep sand away from the main crabitat — and placed Paul inside. Now, I’ll just have to wait and see if he’ll be okay.

Obviously, losing two limbs (out of 6) is stressful for him. But, honestly, it is pretty stressful for me, as well. This is the largest hermit crab I’ve ever owned and these are two really large appendages that fell off.

I’ll provide some updates (photographic and otherwise) as things progress. Hopefully, the isolation tank will allow Paul to rest and regain his strength in order to regenerate his claw and leg when he molts. Until then, keep your fingers crossed for Paul…

UPDATE (6/11): This is very upsetting — I returned home to find Paul dead. Goodbye, giant crab.

We interrupt this weblog’s regular programming to bring you a photo of my two degus (still unnamed):

On Monday, I will have had the degus for 1 month already. So far I’ve been able to train them to take Cheerios^TM from my hand, allow me to pet them, and even let me pick them up (sparingly). Plus, they make all sorts of cute noises, including what I started referring to as the “Pikachu squeak.”

ATTENTION: If you have any *interesting* names (read: no lame “Laverne and Shirley” suggestions) for the two Pikachu wannabees, then let me know in the comments. You never know, I just may use your suggestion!

Has Ludwig van Beethoven been missing from your Winamp/iTunes playlist? The BBC Philharmonic wants to help you out –by making available Beethoven’s nine symphonies in MP3 format.

It’s all part of their Beethoven Experience series. The Philharmonic will be releasing each Beethoven symphony after they broadcast them on BBC radio, but only for a limited time, so set your calendars according to this schedule:

Symphonies 1 & 3 will be broadcast on Monday 6th June, and available to download from Tuesday 7th June to Monday 13th June.

Symphonies 2, 4 & 5 will be broadcast on Tuesday 7th June, and available to download from Wednesday 8th June to Tuesday 14th June.

Symphony 6 will be broadcast on Monday 27th June, and available to download from Tuesday 28th June to Monday 4th July.

Symphony 7 will be broadcast on Tuesday 28th June, and available to download from Wednesday 29th June to Tuesday 5th July.

Symphony 8 will be broadcast on Wednesday 29th June, and available to download from Thursday 30th June to Wednesday 6th July.

Symphony 9 will be broadcast on Thursday 30th June, and available to download from Friday 1st July to Thursday 7th July.

So, check the site tomorrow for Symphonies 1 & 3 and enjoy the classical sounds of your favorite deaf composer!

P.S. Did anyone else think it was ironic that the photo illustration of Beethoven in the BBC logo showed the deaf composer wearing earphones?

Blogger/Podcaster Eric Rice wrote up an excellent “How to build a 10 minute podcast” post that goes into the timing of a typical short length podcast. Eric helps produce podcasts for several of the Weblogs, Inc. blogs.

If you’re already podcasting and feel like your shows tend to ramble around or lack consistency, then Eric’s advice will probably be very helpful.

For those of you who don’t know what a podcast is, check out this Wikipedia entry to get caught up. Then you can start podcasting your own shows!

“Deep Throat,” the informant reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein relied on in covering the Watergate scandal, has been revealed to be Mark Felt, a 91-year-old man suffering from dementia.

How anti-climatic was that?

Of course, Felt wasn’t in a state of mental disrepair back in the Watergate days. (And even this week, he said he plans on cashing in on this, so how crazy can he be?)

It’s just that, at least for most people not over 40 years old, seeing an old guy with a walker revealed as the confidential informant iconicized in the movie All the President’s Men just doesn’t compute as interesting.

And besides the desire to make money off of this, why would he just decide to reveal himself as “Deep Throat” now? It just doesn’t make sense. (Or does it?)

At least we now know that the students and faculty at the University of Illinois who participated in the Deep Throat Uncovered project were wrong. (Prof. William Gaines just posted a letter of apology for the misidentification.)

The reaction by people in the political world is very telling, however. A lot of Republicans have been calling Felt a traitor this week for revealing the information that led to President Nixon’s resignation. Talk about alienating people from politics! How anyone can criticize someone for taking on criminal activity in the White House is beyond me.

So there you have it. “Deep Throat” revealed!

RELATED: If you are over 40 or just have a sincere interest in the story, check out Bob Woodward’s article, How Mark Felt Became ‘Deep Throat’… As a Friendship — and the Watergate Story — Developed, Source’s Motives Remained a Mystery to Woodward, which is a fascinating perspective on the story.