This has to be in the running for the most obscene application on any platform at any time.

And I can't get over how incompetent the author is: this is a 'menulet' that accesses a really simple URL online.

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/getAdvisoryCondition

And from that URL gets back two lines of XML. Such as the following.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<THREAT_ADVISORY CONDITION="RUNFORTHEHILLS" />

That's it. That's ALL it does. Now tell me why:

1. it takes nearly half a meg to download; and
2. the author thinks people should pay for this.

And tell me not only why but how.