City Limits

Netscape Navigator, the world's first commercial Web browser and the launch pad of the Internet boom, will be pulled off life support Feb. 1 after a 13-year run. In recent years, Netscape has been little more than a repackaged version of the more popular Firefox, which commands about 10 percent of the Web browser market, with almost all of the rest going to Internet Explorer:

Its current caretakers, Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, decided to kill further development and technical support to focus on growing the company as an advertising business. Netscape's usage dwindled with Microsoft Corp.'s entry into the browser business, and Netscape all but faded away following the birth of its open-source cousin, Firefox.

"While internal groups within AOL have invested a great deal of time and energy in attempting to revive Netscape Navigator, these efforts have not been successful in gaining market share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer," Netscape Director Tom Drapeau wrote in a blog entry Friday.

People will still be able to download and use the Netscape browser indefinitely, but AOL will stop releasing security and other updates on Feb. 1. Drapeau recommended that the small pool of Netscape users download Firefox instead.

A separate Netscape Web portal, which has had several incarnations in recent years, will continue to operate.

The World Wide Web was but a few years old when in April 1993 a team at the University of Illinois' National Center for Supercomputing Applications released Mosaic, the first Web browser to integrate images and sound with words. Before Mosaic, access to the Internet and the Web was largely limited to text, with any graphics displayed in separate windows.

Marc Andreessen and many of his university colleagues soon left to form a company tasked with commercializing the browser. The first version of Netscape came out in late 1994.

Netscape fed the gold-rush atmosphere with a landmark initial public offering of stock in August 1995. Netscape's stock carried a then-steep IPO price of $28 per share, a price that doubled on opening day to give the startup a $2 billion market value even though it had only $20 million in sales.

But Netscape's success also drew the attention of Microsoft, which quickly won market share by giving away its Internet Explorer browser for free with its flagship Windows operating system. The bundling prompted a Justice Department antitrust lawsuit and later a settlement with Microsoft.

Netscape eventually dropped fees for the software, but it was too late. Undone by IE, Netscape sold itself to AOL in a $10 billion deal completed in early 1999.

Netscape spawned an open-source project called Mozilla, in which developers from around the world freely contribute to writing and testing the software. Mozilla released its standalone browser, Firefox, and Netscape was never able to regain its former footing.

Although I still use AOL for my e-mail (and little else these days), Firefox is my preferred browser. It's simply faster and more reliable than IE in my opinion.

Nov 26 1865

Lewis Carroll sends the manuscript for the psychedelic novel "Alice in Wonderland" to his 12 year old special friend Alice Liddell. (Incidentally Carroll, born Charles Dodgson, had a thing for very young girls, frequently photographing them nude.)

Nov 26 1973

The Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo, stabbed to death in prison by a fellow inmate in Massachusetts. DeSalvo had killed 13 women.

Nov 26 1975

Manson family member Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme found guilty of attempting to assassinate President Ford. It is unclear why anyone would want to assassinate such an uninteresting president.

Nov 26 1976

Sex Pistols single Anarchy in the UK released. The song later appeared on Never Mind the Bollocks. Sadly, it has yet to be equalled.

Woman Finds Boyfriend Dead In Cat Door
Ironically, he was after some pussy

Public schoolboy told Valentine 'I am the Grim Reaper', then battered her to death
Girl allegedly replied, "You call that a scythe?"

Former pilots and officials call for new U.S. UFO probe
Demand aliens buy American, as the old UFO probes make their asses too sore

Monkeys rampage in Indian capital
Bush suspects monkeys trained by Al Queda, asks Congress to nuke Iran

Quebec boy dies after schoolyard shoving match
Attacker hits like a girl... oh, wait!

Great Grandmother Strip-Searched At N.Y. Casino
When she removed her bra it sounded like two wet sandbags hitting the floor

Internet gambling is a target of Patrick bill
"Hold it right there, Asshole! You put that money in OUR pockets - er, casinos!"

Skydiver survives 2km fall
He aced the written exam and just barely passed the skills test

Police: Man Raped Wheelchair-Bound Woman
Just like riding a bike

Metreon victim was killed after standing on escalator, not walking
First floor - socks, underwear, ammo

The Asylum Street Spankers nail it once again:

The Rude Pundit strikes again!

Helicopter

Make sure your registered to vote, and know were your polling place is located.
Public Main Page

Registration for November's election closes Tuesday, Oct. 9. Here is a link to the registration form.
Voter Registration Application

H/T to Be Part of the Solution A new addition to the Fort Wayne blogging community.

H/T to Be Part of the Solution A new addition to the Fort Wayne blogging community.

Bond's Moneypenny, Lois Maxwell, Dies - ENTERTAINMENT - Comcast.net

The Canadian-born actress starred alongside Sean Connery in the first James Bond movie, "Dr. No," in 1962 as the secretary to M, the head of the secret service.

She died Saturday night at Fremantle Hospital near her home in Perth, Australia, the BBC cited a hospital official as saying.

Lois Maxwell's Moneypenny character is one of the people that made the James Bond movies the classics they have became. She will be missed.

She Don't Use Jelly


Banditos


Seether


How Bizarre

Okla. attorney leaps from hospital ledge
One lawyer... oh well, at least it's a start

Sixty-beer binge leads to four-week hangover
And the worst case of the shits in recorded history

Handcuffed Mexican kids steal U.S. border agent car
So THAT'S why they put those tiny steering wheels on their cars

Store Clerk Claims Robbers Hypnotized Him
And he's quit smoking, too

Air rage smoker jailed for attack
You are now free to roam the cell block

Boy, 16, taking shortcut to school, killed by train
Obviously not a Physics major

Drugs and guns found inside L.A. Daycare
Must've been a rap school

'Fart Spray' Attack at Local Restaurant
Ironically, the food also tasted like shit

Sep 23 1939

Sigmund Freud commits suicide with the help of his personal physician, Max Schur. The good doctor obligingly administered 21mg of morphine -- a lethal dose.

Y'suppose Schur was related to Kevorkian?

Sep 23 1950

Congress passes the McCarran Act, also known as The Internal Security Act of 1950, overriding Harry Truman's veto. The act provides for severe restrictions on civil liberties, suspension of free speech, and placing of undesirable Americans in concentration camps. The act has never been repealed.

In fact, it's even been enhanced - the McPatriot Act

Sep 23 1952

Responding to accusations that he diverted $18,000 in contributions into his pocket, Senator Richard M. Nixon rescues his candidacy for Vice President by insisting that he had never accepted any money. Although Nixon does admit he accepted a cocker spaniel named Checkers for his daughter Tricia. The televised monologue rescues his political career.

... and 20 years later...

Sep 23 1969

An article in the Northern Illinois University student newspaper The Northern Star propagates the rumor that "Paul is dead." But if you play "I'm so Tired" from the White Album, you hear the question "Is Paul McCartney Dead?" And "Revolution #9" implores, "Turn me on dead man." Well, sort of.

Quick! Someone call Robert!

19th Century stereoscopic image of
Syphilitic infection

The two images were merged into a single animated GIF
with some dubious results.

Vacuum and toilet cleaner sex aid burglar avoids jail
I don't even WANT to know how this combination works...

Kidnapper Demands Meth In Exchange For 5-Year-Old
Sounds like a fair trade...

Antioch burglars break into police training session
File this one under "What Were YOU Thinking?"

Man admits urinating on ill woman
When ya gotta go...

Seven die in rural septic tank rescue
"Oh, my GOD - the first six people aren't coming back up! I gotta do something!

Woman says suspect in killing beat her
"Spiderman, Spiderman/ Does whatever the f*ck he wants"

Sep 20 1970

A jury in Miami, Florida finds vocalist Jim Morrison guilty of profanity and indecent exposure for whipping out his cock at a Doors concert in Coconut Grove the previous year.

Sep 20 1973

A Beechcraft D-18 charter plane crashes into a tree near Natchitoches, Louisiana, killing singer/songwriter Jim Croce, his lead guitarist, and the entire flight crew.