I am one of those who will probably get "throttled" at some point soon.

Just to clarify (and maybe ease Nancy's mind), the Netflix process of throttling is not new. They've been doing it for a while. It's just only been made public recently. If you've not been "throttled" yet and you're still viewing at the same pace, then chances are you have nothing to worry about. It's not the process of throttling that's new. It's just the public disclosure that they do it.

I'll preface this with a disclosure. I participate in a Netflix affiliates program on my web sites, so I get a small amount whenever someone subscribes to the service via my links. In the 3-4 years that I've had them, I've made less than $30, which explains why I am able to live in baronial splendor. 

I've also been a Netflix member for several years using the 3-at-a-time "unlimited" plan. I realize that unilimited should mean exactly that -- unlimited, but I also think it's a bit naive to expect any business to provide a service at a loss. The reality of my own use of the service is that I don't have the time to watch more than 3 discs a week, and they've managed to get them out to me at that rate. I've not had trouble getting new releases, but then again there are few movies that I have had at the top of my queue during the first few weeks of their release. So I get around 12-15 DVDs a month, and, for me, that's still cheaper than upgrading my cable service to include premium channels. Netflix lowered their prices when Blockbuster introduced their online rental service. (I think that's the only monthly bill I pay that has ever been reduced.)

I do know of someone who has experienced throttling, but they were returning all 3 of their discs the day after they received them. (Take a wild guess what they were doing with them.) What Netflix will do is start sending your movies with return mailers addressed to distribution centers that are much farther away -- West Coast for people on the East Coast, for example. With this particular person, it's really hard for me to feel sorry for them over the throttling. (It isn't anyone on this board.  )

We have a tendency to try to make soap characters into black & white heroes and villains when really it's not a black & white medium.

Definitely . . . and you can also see that in the publicity surrounding the shows. Since the 1980s, I'm pretty sure the Soap Opera Digest Awards have consistently had villian and villainess categories. In some years, they've also had hero and heroine categories. So they perpetuate that tendency among viewers.

I've made a couple of additions to my David Selby site over the weekend.

• photos of David Selby from the 1994 Dark Shadows Festival in Los Angeles
• a link to a trailer for Unknown

David Selby is featured in the trailer for Unknown. Unfortunately, whoever created the Quicktime file must've thought the title of the film is Unheard because the volume is so low as to be inaudible for most folks. I can crank the speakers on my machine to hear it, but I also get a lot of background sound, so it's kind of like listening as a subway train passes. If you are able to access the audio, be aware that this is an R-rated film and the language in the trailer does reflect that.

Be sure to check out the list of site additions on the What's New page. I think there may be a few things there that I haven't mentioned here.

http://www.ldrweb.com/davidselby

Congrats, PD.

MB, a nod to your excellent spies.

Word is that he's putting the finishing touches on his own version of The Smoking Gun web site devoted exclusively to DS fans. I hear the mug shot gallery will be a riot. 

How very, very odd. I've never had the copyright message come up in Netscape or Firefox - but I just experimented in IE and it did indeed come up on my 5th try. Who knows why because it certainly shouldn't. But then, nothing that happens in IE should surprise me. 

It has to do with whether or not you drag as you left-click. If you drag the mouse the least little bit and you happen to have it positioned over a forum graphic other than the floaty, you'll get that message.

DavidSelby.com, the official David Selby web site, reports that Selby will be one of the celebrity readers participating in Explore-A-Story: A Celebration of Books at ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM. The event centers on children's books and is a fundraiser for The Wonder of Reading, an organization involved in renovating and restocking public elementary school libraries.

Additional information is available from DavidSelby.com and The Wonder of Reading web site.

I've not heard anything about Marriott going this direction (yet), but the Westin chain announced last month that their hotels were going completely smoke-free because such a small percentage of customers actually requested smoking rooms. Disneyland announced a smoking ban in their hotels just this week. Some of the other chains have individual hotels that are completely smoke-free even though it's not yet a policy across the entire chain.

If the Brooklyn Marriott has been recently remodeled as the SG blurb indicates, then it's conceivable that they've made the entire hotel smoke-free and therefore the smoking/non-smoking designation isn't valid, which could explain the email MB got, but I'm just speculating here.  :-