You see, the thousand points you're all just aching to have will likely go unclaimed on this forum, as my avatar's visage is borrowed from noone from the biological or physical sciences. If anyone cares, some hints: He's well known in my own personal professional circles, and he's related to a famous novelist. Heck that's giving it away!
Animated avatars: Well, the Taz one is at least amusing, but I'm still getting pretty tired of having the edges of every screen I look at - TV or computer - filled with flashing, moving doodads. Makes me want to read books or something. Watching Star Trek:TNG on TNN the other day, at times fully 1/3 of the screen was taken up by an advertisement for the upcoming Spike channel ("Why is that helicopter flying towards Picard's head?").
Maybe I'm just well on my way to curmudgeonhood.
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"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously." - Chomsky