Great essay by John Gruber on Linux usability.

Brad Graham, whose shaving cream recommendation changed my life, is going to see a novel he wrote become a feature film for HBO Films, and has an option for a second film as well. I hope he makes an insane amount of money and wins an Emmy, or at least a Golden Globe. It’s great to see one of the really, really old school bloggers make good.

Update: hoax. I now hate Brad. I thought to myself, “What an odd date to reveal something that has been in the works for months.” Suckered again. I hate this date. On the other hand, damn that was a good one.

Gavin King has announced the feature list for Hibernate 3.0. Hibernate has been one of the essential tools in my toolbox since I started using it for database persistence last year.

Bruce Rolston has written the best theory I’ve yet seen on what’s going on in Fallujah. He also fell for Jim Henley’s April Fool’s joke.

If you’re interested in the use of mercenaries in Iraq, Kathryn Cramer has the definitive post.

I hate April Fool’s day. Even though I’m mindful of what day it is, I get suckered by jokes constantly, often because I’m a habitual skimmer rather than a careful reader. So far I’ve been nailed by Avi Rubin and Jim Henley, whose deadpan delivery is stunning. One good thing is that my Internet connection seems utterly crappy today, so the inability to get to many sites will hopefully prevent my being taken in by them.

Update: Andy Baio is keeping a list of sites participating in Internet Jackass Day.

The Washington Post reports today that Condi Rice was scheduled to give a speech about our security priorities on 9/11 (it was cancelled for obvious reasons), and the focus was missile defense and rogue nations. Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda were not mentioned. How much was missile defense on the mind of the Bush administration prior to 9/11? Check out the absurd number of times I posted about it in 2001.