I’ve updated a lot of things on the site. First, I’ve implemented a universal menu to the left. This menu is being generated once, and then included in the main page and every individual archive page.

Second, the link on each entry’s time will now take you to that entry’s individual archive page, where you can view the whole entry along with any comments that have been added to it.

Third, I’ve cleaned up some of the commenting pages—most notably the comment previewing pages. They now have a similar format to all the other pages, and give you a much better idea of what your comment is actually going to look like.

Last but not least, I’ve found a way to implement emoticons. The following emoticons can now be added to your posts (I hope to include more in the future):

“: - )” or “: )” — (without spaces) will produce 😊
“: - (” or “: (” — (without spaces) will produce 😟
“: - D” or “: D” — (without spaces) will produce 😀

Let me know what the most important emoticons are to you and I’ll try to get them up first.

The site is really coming along, eh? Let me know what you think I should change or add to the site to make it a little better. Thanks! 

The United States Government raised our national security threat level from yellow to orange today. You can read the story from Reuters here.

I find it interesting that Attorney General John Ashcroft said that Americans should go about their usual business. What’s the point of the security risk level then? If it’s something that should only concern the FBI and the CIA, why make it public? So Al Queda can go, “Ooh, they’re on orange status. We better leave them alone this month.”? I’m probably being overcritical, but I really wonder if it’s all just a gimmick to make the American public feel like the government is doing it’s job.

Either way, I guess there have been reports suggesting possible terrorist activity this month. They’ve been attacking low security places like hotels and apartment buildings. If war with Iraq happens I’m sure terrorist activity will increase in the U.S., and how long do you think it will take them to realize that security is being ramped up in places like New York and Los Angelos, and that perhaps they would have more luck attacking smaller towns like Salt Lake? I don’t know about you, but that scares the heck out of me.

I agree that if Saddam continues to be non-cooperative we should definately go to war, and possible acts of terrorism shouldn’t scare us out of doing what needs to be done. However, I also think we need to start increasing security all over the country—not just the major cities. They hit where we least expected it the first time. What makes us think they won’t hit where we least expect it the second time? 

Colin Powell gave a presentation to the U.N. on Wednesday providing U.S. Intelligence evidence that Iraq is still harboring weapons. You can read the story here as provided by Reuters News.

Most of the articles I’ve read don’t seem to go into much detail as to the actual evidence presented, but I tend to believe the U.S. government must have some pretty convincing stuff on Iraq or President Bush wouldn’t be making such a big stink about it. I personally wonder if Bush isn’t going a little bit overboard with the whole issue, but I definately wouldn’t want to let World War III happen and have U.S. Intelligence come out and say “I told you so” to the rest of the world.

I think a lot of people are skeptical to the point where they want more time to find out if Iraq really is harboring these weapons. However, the longer we let this go and the more we “trust” Iraq, the closer we are coming to what could be really catastrophic. The facts clearly show that Saddam isn’t exactly cooperating. If he doesn’t have these weapons, he needs to realize that his lack of cooperation is really making him look bad to the rest of the world. He needs to step up or he’ll be taken out of office faster than he realizes. 

This is so trippy! So this is why joeyday.com has been so slow. 😕 I want movable type!!! WAHHHHHHH!!!!! Please, please, PUHHHHLEAZE…. me want it!!!!

What a crazy day it has been. I woke up this morning, and opened internet explorer. My home page is still set to www.msn.com (don’t make fun of me, I am just really lazy). Although, it is kinda nice. They have some news coverage, usually just enough to keep me busy for a few minutes. But today I was taken by surprise.

You all know what I am talking about, but I am still having trouble believing it. It wasn’t like the attack on the WTC (at least not nearly the same in magnitude), but it still made me think about some stuff. I was only 4 years old when Challanger exploded so I don’t remember it the day it happened, but I do remember the day that I found out about it. I was in second grade I think, and I was at a little science day camp. It was about outer space, and all that stuff. One of the little “seminars” that I went to was about the shuttle program.

They talked about a bunch of stuff, and then showed us the news clip of the explosion. I can’t honestly say that it really scared me that much, (I was in second grade, I thought the explosion was cool). But I do remember when they told us that a school teacher was one of the members onboard. That shook me up a little.

I kinda felt that way today. Mostly shook up, and a little sad for the families of those that passed away. I also thought about my parents. You see, they both work for the same company. One of the main products that this company makes is rocket boosters for space shuttles. During liftoff there are 3 main boosters, 2 white guys, and an orange one. They make the white guys.

If NASA or the government reacts like they did back in 1986, my parent’s jobs might be in serious jeopardy. I just hope things go well for everyone.

I also wonder what this is going to do with the whole situation with Iraq. It certainly will distract the public for a few weeks. However, as much as I hate to say it, this whole Irag thing isn’t going away. (infact, I can’t see it getting anything other than worse). Anyway, I would kinda like to post more about this, but I really do need to be going to bed. Let me know what you guys think, ok?