My new site design appears to crash IE 5 on the Mac, and I think I know why—it looks like a problem with the custom list CSS that I use to show the category buttons in the sidebar. If I suppress that section of the sidebar, the page loads, but the same code doesn’t render correctly in the header. I will work on this later; in the meantime, if you are having problems reading the site, try the print friendly version.

On a completely different, um, note, the generation line of melodramatic “singers” with large heads has been crossed: Henry Rollins will be guesting on William Shatner’s next album.

And, in sadder news, the LA coroner’s office ruled that Elliott Smith’s death is still an open case; the coroner said they couldn’t rule out that someone else might have stabbed him.

A bunch of disturbing trends in national security over the last few days:

• Our beloved Attorney General, Singin’ John Ashcroft, shows some sense and recuses himself from the investigation of the Plame leak. As always, Joshua Marshall is all over the story. He suggests that this, combined with other announcements, suggests that this is a sign that there will be some serious fallout still to come.
• At the same time, the TSA continues to make life miserable for ordinary travelers, including this college student, who was ordered by a TSA agent at La Guardia to flush her Betta fish, although US Airways had assured her that she could fly with her aquatic pet.
• Completing the idiot Homeland Security trifecta for this week is the warning that people carrying almanacs are a threat to national security, while Republican Representative Christopher Shays sounds the Chicken Little note by warning people to stay out of Times Square. I think I preferred it back when we told people to keep doing their normal lives, “or else the terrorists have won.”

It’s so quiet here this morning. Except for the dogs, who are having their usual morning romp, in spite of the thin snowfall. Yeah, sadly, the first real snow we’ve seen in Seattle is hardly “real.” The area under the tree shows nothing but green grass, and the stuff that fell on our skywall has already been washed off by the rain. But it’s still pretty.

And, apparently, a hazard to Seattle drivers. Area blogger Jake’s girlfriend Kymberly writes on his blog that her work declared a snow day today. Apparently the “up to four inches” might “test the resolve” of Seattleites. I’m remembering trudging to grad school in Boston with a foot of unshoveled snow on the sidewalks and I’m laughing hard.