PHP5, Apache2, and problems.

I'm REALLY late to the php5 party, so I had a typical issue with php5/Apache20 on FreeBSD or whatever. (PHP wants to download itself in browsers)

I *KNOW* I've got libphp5.so and all that set up.

Oh, yeah. I'm also running WebGUI. I have PerlHandler or SetHandler Perl running everything.

Problem is, PerlHandler/SetHandler perl doesn't play well with PHP, even with the config that is listed everywhere.

Serious? Anything that the php needs to control had to be

<Location /MyPathforThingsPhp>
SetHandler None
</Location>


And it works. grrr. hours and hours and simple... Well, now I know.

Ubuntu!

OK, really quick:
1) The default java implementation ... stinks. Go to java.com and get a real implementation.
2) The multimedia answer is VLC. If I could sum up all the questions for how to watch DVDs, listen to streaming audio (like Live 365), etc., the answer is VLC. No, really. Yes, that DVD:/ error on totem. Install VLC. Use it. Enjoy.
3) All the cool Compiz goodness that you see on YouTube -- Wiggly windows, etc., are in System->Preferences->Appearance->Visual Effects and Extra. But you need to install the compizconfig-settings-manager and go back to there (Custom) and have fun

Why I won't make a good counselor. Or, why I'm the best counselor ever.

I say, at my job, that I'd never make a good counselor. Well, either that or I'm going to be the best ever. Mind you, I don't have the background to do it, but this is what I think (In the voice of if I were a counselor, not as an IT System Administrator):

Why are you here? Are you here because you are doing something you don't like and would like to change? Do you REALLY want to change, or do you just want me to acknowledge what you're doing so you feel like confession is change? I don't want to hear it. Seriously. And I'm not here to make you feel good about the choices that you're making that are bad. Yes, I get it that you're making *some* good choices, but you wouldn't be here, in front of me, if you were making consistently good choices, would you?

Stop what you're doing, stop it for at least 6 months, then come back and prove it to me. You want a cheerleader? I'm not it. You want dispensation? Not here. You don't need a counselor/psychiatrist. You need a support/life coach. I'm not it.

-=-=-
Then I got thinking about couples therapy. Basically, it comes down to:
"Why are you here?" "Why are you here? Did she force you to come here?"
"In one sentence, tell me what your position on this subject is." "Now, tell me what your problem is."
"Listen, did he have this behavior when you married him? Did you expect him to change or you to change him?" "You, why, if you know this is a problem, aren't you working to reduce this issue?" "And You, why is this a problem, NOW, after all this time?"
"No, see the issue is you saw this behavior before you got married. You let it go all this time, and now it's a problem? What, are you insane?"
No, really.

"What is your position on the issue?" "And what is your position on the issue?"
"Do you have any positive hope that your viewpoint will change after any significant amount of time in counseling?" If not, then your viewpoint is only going to get more solidified.

-=-=-
If the person who did the behavior was contrite and considered counseling to resolve the issue, there is hope. If the other suggests counseling, then it's not worth a lot, and it should be worked out so that counseling is a shared consideration.

Basically, if you are coming to me for counseling, you better be already on the way to fixing the issue and stop making the stupid choices/behaviors. If the one *is* working on making better choices, accept it, encourage it, and stop the nagging.

Life's not perfect. Life's not fair. Choices have consequences. Accept this, make good choices, and stop repeating the same behaviors expecting different results. If you are coming to me to help you make good choices, thank you, but I'm concerned that you are an adult who cannot figure out what the right choice is. What a legacy you must leave for those around you [/sarcasm]. Sometimes, it just is YOUR FAULT.

-=-=-
And that is what I feel would happen if I were to be a counselor. Which I am not, much to the thankfulness of people who might know me. Actually, I'm a pretty well-liked System Administrator. If you understand what that means, and also what garbage in, garbage out means, you'd understand why I'm ranting in such a fashion. Just be glad I'm working on your computer and not on your relationships.

The Good Stuff is What I Didn't Publish

You're lucky, viewer. Or, rather, I'm lucky. Sometimes I have reasonably good rants that I've chosen not to publish, even though they'd probably be worth publishing.

Instead, you get junk like this post. It's ok. I might have to post the more provocative ones in an area to sign up for. Or not.

Merry Christmas, anyway!

My Monkey Sandwich

Simply Sweet. Delightfully Delicious.
Two slices of bread.
One slice: Peanut Butter
Other Slice: Fluff
Add:
Chocolate Syrup, Honey, Banana Slices.

Yum!

Time Based File System

I was playing with Evernote. I am fascinated with the ability to search documents based upon time. One can see this functionality in Office 2003+, where grouping allows emails based upon today, a few days ago, last week, last month, etc. While one can do a search or sort, it would be nice to see a grouping of items, so one can see the result of "I thought I was working on x a week ago..." and easily look it up.

When did touching become illegal?

From Fox news... Did Pedophilia Hysteria Cause Child's Death?

Paranoia at the extreme... but whose paranoia? Besides this, there are other reports where teachers can't restrain students from assaulting each other. In essence, the liberal society has created as anti-social an environment as possible. Turning the corner, it is the same society that blames our President for wiretapping that punishes harshly people who may otherwise be trying to help other people. What happened to tolerance, people? Is that simply a pass phrase for "I can't believe you don't believe what I believe?" What about liberties? Is that simply that you can do what you want as long as it doesn't affect other people?

I'm slowly understanding that the society that allows children to make their own medical decisions without consent is already moving to the road that children are considered little adults. I see why there is shrinkage in growth in population. That isn't to say that the population isn't growing. It is to say that the population isn't growing nearly as fast as it used to. The growth is slowing because society has deemed family to be irrelevant and changeable. Growth is slowing because society has stopped caring for the children, and expects that the parents do likewise. Growth is slowing because it is not economically feasible for the people who are making money to have children.

When society forces government to take care of children, government will respond in the way it always does: with bureaucracy, lethargy, and apathy. Why would not parents echo this sentiment? If the parents aren't able to be legally responsible for the children's actions, then why not let these little adults take on adult responsibilities? If society is going to lower the age of consent, then lower it. Let's see what happens when kids start being as smart as they think they are. Let's see what utopia is like when it's run by homeless kids.

Then again, let's see what happens when the police are going to get sued for restraining kids. If an adult civilian is unable to know when to be civil and yet touch a child, then how can we assume that the people with badges are that much more able to make that decision?

The laws must be changed. People should not be complacent in allowing these kinds of hate crime legislation to occur.

Or, should we simply look away when the next 2 year old is killed but could have been saved?

Use PuTTY, PSFTP, Pageant, Create SendTo

The intended result: Create a seamless right-click SendTo for a S/FTP using putty.

The Steps:

1. Get the complete installer for PuTTY here. And install it.
2. Use PuTTYgen and generate a public and private key.
3. Select and copy all the stuff in the Public key box and open up a PuTTY/SSH connection to your destination site.
4. If it doesn't exist, mkdir .ssh ; chmod 700 .ssh ; cd .ssh
5. If it doesn't exist, create the file authorized_keys and make its permissions 644: chmod 644 authorized_keys
   
6. Edit, such as with vi the authorized_keys file and insert/paste the stuff copied before. Save and exit.
7. Save the private key file (still within PuTTYgen) somewhere convenient. It's up to you if you wish to specify a password on the private key. Obviously, it's more secure if you do, but it may be more of a pain.
8. Start Pageant in a manner such as: c:\program files\PuTTY\Pageant.exe c:\path\to\private.ppk If you have a password on the private key, this is the time to input it. After Pageant runs, the key is loaded. You shouldn't need to worry about inputting the private key password again while Pageant runs. If you don't want to use Pageant, then you can choose to include the .ppk file in the SSH\Auth\Private key file for authentication box.
9. Create and save a PuTTY profile for your S/FTP destination. Along with Basic options (Host Name, Port, and (*)SSH), click Connection->Data and put your user name (!Important!). In SSH, make certain the preferred SSH version is 2. These are minimum settings. Go back to Session after making these changes, and click [Save].
   
10. Test your connection. If you've followed all these instructions so far, you should be able to double-click the Saved Session and get to your prompt on your remote machine without a password!
    
11. --- The Good Stuff --- Create a batch file sftpit.bat ... It should look similar to :
    @echo put %1 | "c:\program files\PuTTY\psftp" -load YourPuTTYSessionName -batch
12. Click Start, Run, type in SendTo and Press [Enter]/Click [OK]
13. Right-Click, New=>Shortcut and browse to the sftpit.bat. [Next]
14. Give it some relevant name [Finish]
15. Right-click a file, SendTo=>this shortcut.
    

And to the REPUBLIC for which it stands...

Don't forget, people, that the United States is not a democracy. It is a republic.

Whether that has anything to do with Democrats or Republicans is a different topic.

Pure democracy is a voting anarchy. Some people consider that it's the people of wealth that hold the power. One view says that the United states is an oligarchy: government run by an elite few.
OK, that is, in essence, what a republic (or, to read Wikipedia tell it, any government) eventually becomes. But, really, how many people really REALLY want to be bothered by the day to day operation of *government*? That is indeed why we have a republic. It is a representative government. Believe it or not, it's intended to keep us/help us citizens from not having to deal with gathering together to make decisions about our future... every time a decision is to be made. Do you, dear reader, have time to vote for EVERY decision that is to be made? It's hard enough to get some 25% of eligible voters to make one trip to the voting place, every four years.

Those who complain about "This isn't a democracy" are correct. I doubt they realize what the alternative to the republic actually means. Real, honest to goodness people who are truly interested in things like saving the US from the current administration
seem to be absent the clue of what the other option might be. If there is a valid alternative, I have yet to hear it. Pure democracy works in small batches until people get tired of spending all their time voting and none of their time actually getting. work. done.

The true alternative, at least in the United States, is to actually gather your voting base, learn why you vote this way, and get your candidate elected. In presidential elections, maybe it is time to stop stumping for a *Candidate* and start building a warchest for an ideaset. What I mean by this is to start with focusing on a specific political party that will embrace an ideaset. Then, create amongst that group the candidate that will uphold the ideals of that ideaset.

But, the question becomes... can an independent actually accomplish any of the goals on his/her own? It will seriously depend on the charisma of that candidate to be the great mediator or statesman rather than a simple figurehead/puppet. I believe, seriously, that it will take a new leader of a new party to effectively move from the impasse of what is now. As it stands, I think that may be the only common ground that can be had.

Come to think about it... Here's a bold statement: Let's endeavor to pick a President of parties that do not belong to those associated with Congress. Just once, let's see what separation of powers actually means.

The contradiction...

There cannot be absolute truth

When one says a religion is intolerant, and therefore wrong, one fails to realize the judgment call made by that statement.

The truth that is insisted to be applied to the statement is based upon ... what? Could there be a truth applied that exists for all places and all times that an intolerant religion is therefore invalid? Or, could it be that this, too, is a new way of thinking that replaces previously held firm ideals?

Well, I leave it to the so-called intellectuals to work their way out of the paradox of the quote above.

D Train: Halloween: the Christian's second most important holiday

D Train: Halloween: the Christian's second most important holiday

The only alternative thought I have about this is that my church's Halloween alternative *is* where the people go. Over 3,000 of them. Many of whom would probably not want to set foot in a church. The proselytizing is there if you choose to look at it, of course, and the pastor gives a sermonette, but if you don't care to listen, you don't have to.


I'd have to concur with the author of the above-linked post, with the addition to note that many people have an equal feeling about the reality of Christ, vampires, and an anthropomorphic Green M&M.

BlueHost clients, change your Favicon.ico

Look familiar? I use Bluehost to host my main site, and I have been guilty of not changing my own default favicon.ico.

How to do it? Simple: Go here, upload a picture of your choice, and upload the resultant favicon.ico in your public_html folder.

The best places for churches to get more attendance...

Is in places that people occupy who don't know that the church exists.

I've long been an advocate of churches to advertise in secular environments. The main argument against is simply that it's support (by paying advertising revenue) to secular media, who may not share the values of the church.

Why should the church maintain such supposedly high standards?

The point of the church is to reach the unsaved. How can the church reach the unsaved without using all the tools that are available? For that matter, why should the church be on the Internet, when it's a conduit for porn? What does the church's internet service provider moneys *really* pay for? Should one expect that all churches only subscribe to authorized filtered internet service providers, and only pay for phone lines through companies that are Christian based?

How much of an isolationist should the church be from the media that exists and has existed for years? Does one expect that the church's missionaries have their own transportation that doesn't also transport people who disagree with the church's position?

I'm not advocating, necessarily, that churches should start advertising on programs that are anathema to the church. Then again, who, really, is the church trying to reach? Is the church supposed to reach the righteous or the lost? Shouldn't the church be light and salt in a dark and tasteless world? Wouldn't a subtle reminder that, "If you're still searching for refreshing content, come see what's around the corner, in your neighborhood," be of importance to growing the base that the church needs?

So many questions, to be sure. Pray, for sure. Then consider: should the Great Commission stop when the TV comes on?

ASSP Spam in Commission. A Search Open.

Some queries that I'm using to parse ASSP spam directory, just in case I need to look it up again:

grep "email@address" * | cut -d: -f1 | xargs grep "content"
Result: in all the spam emails that contain the email address, get the filename and in those files, look for "content"

ls -l | grep "Oct 10" | cut -c57-80 | xargs grep "email@address"
Result: for a specific day (or range of days/month), get the appropriate file names and in those files, search for email (or other criteria)

The War on Christmas. The mortal/Christian battle continues.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

In case people can't read English, this means that Congress can't a) Establish a religion or b) prevent religion from being Established. Established means to bring about or make firm. People, what part of MAKE NO LAW do you not understand?

Governments who make decisions based upon [their perceived notion of their own] fear do not need to be in power, and we as constituents should be mindful of this reaction when the next election cycle comes. If it is important to you, the citizen, that x occurs and y does not, then make your vote count and vote out the people who are not representing your interests. If you are unable to make an effective statement and make effective change, you either need to bulk up your voting base or accept that you are a minority [or that your base didn't have enough votes] in your opinion. Nonetheless, the ability that some minority groups have to bypass legislation to enact their own agendas means that somebody is asleep at the wheel.

It's time for fearless ability of the Executive Branch to recall judge appointments.

In any case, it's not time to enact legislation to force or remove displays of any religious observation. By the way, Christians, where *is* your base?

Don't forget that Christians do not have a lock on religious symbology. They will not be the only ones who will be allowed to display religious icons. However, be prepared to DEMAND that Christian displays will be allowed when Muslim displays occupy the place formally taken by the Nativity.

What if...

Baseball outfielders had baseball bats?

Infield hit is an out (or a base hit?), foul is a double, outfield hit is a triple, and a strike is a home run.

Open Invitation to provide ACS/Parent Pager/Church Assistance

Our church uses ACS as its church management software. This week, we had the pleasure of having one of ACS Technologies' authorized third party consultants come to our church to provide onsite training for our users.

The trainer presented clear information to our users and provided some insight into enabling us to better manage our data.

As we talked, I was heartened to know that the trainer had recommended me to other churches for assistance in networking and general get-it-togetherness. Heartened, tempered with the realization that the churches haven't contacted me.

While I'm busy on one front, I'm also interested on providing my findings and some thoughts for churches who may seem to be in a rut -- stuck and not moving.

God is alive. He cares about you. Don't freak out about being stuck with "the way we have always done things around here." One of the best things about the place I work is that I am able to work with such wonderful people who really want to get this church thing right. That includes being receptive to kind direction toward optimizing our database. If you have access to the services offered by your application provider, let them help you. They do know their own product.

Fisher-Price Little Mommy

Fisher-Price Little Mommy
Taking a step out of ... my usual things for a bit. This robotdoll is the next big thing from Fisher Price.

Girls can choose and record a name for their very own Real Loving Baby and the doll will actually recognize and respond to her name

I was chatting with a friend, and we have agreed that this is ripe for misuse. Well, we'll see.

There's a saying regarding hosting a session -- Don't ever ask a question you don't already know the answer to [sic]. Any ability to record free form information is an opportunity to fill that vacancy with any nonsense at all. In some cases, that even includes buffer overflow vulnerabilities for your favorite Operating System and Office Suite.

In the case of this robotdoll, I'd consider the ramifications of populating the name variable with any value.

Nonetheless, the concept of this robotdoll gives me the creeps. At $60 MSRP, it's a slight discount from the $99 MSRP of Microsoft's ActiMates, but it uses the same concepts of social dynamics; almost as if it came from a textbook. In fact, if you really want to see the truth of art imitating art, check out this article from 1999:

"When I hear Barney say, 'You're my special friend' -- that's a disingenuous statement," said Allen Cypher, a founder of Stagecast Software, which designs children's programs. "It's a fraudulent claim. It deceives kids into believing that Barney has some emotional attachment to them, and that's not true." Other panelists worried about Barney's "authoritarian tone," or that he discouraged imaginative play. And some said that, while Barney himself was basically harmless, he may be a harbinger of worse to come: an interactive Cartman from "South Park," perhaps, spewing expletives and insulting his owner.

And one member of the audience asked if a child could take Barney apart and "reprogram him to say, 'Please slap me.' "

"These products are designed to prevent that," Strommen said.

When will "These products" no longer be designed to prevent that? It may be sooner than you think. It probably is on your local toy shelf today.

Human Nature Makes People [Jerks]; Not the Internet · Violent Acres

Human Nature Makes People [Jerks]; Not the Internet · Violent Acres

"The people that buy into this theory are the same simple-minded retards that also buy into the theory that human beings are innately good people. They are not. They are whiny, manipulative, greedy, stupid, jealous, vengeful, selfish cows. Very few people in the history of the world were genuinely kind people."

While I may disagree with the method in which it is expressed (warning: NSFC language), I whole-heartedly agree with the premise.

Thank you. I just can't seem to get past that, sometimes. It also brings me back to my other musings about why be good? It's not in human nature to be good.

I think I'll digest this, and my dinner some more, while I go tend to my son, who wants to play games with his father.

Some SiteVolume Charts

Digg: bush,iraq,ron%20paul,insurgents,terrorist

Digg: microsoft,apple,wii,nintendo,linux

Fear? Is it worship or being scared?

Why be good? Is it because of the consequences of being bad? Is it in utter mortal terror of God's wrath? Is it because being good is the right thing to do?

Doing the right thing is often the hardest thing in the world to do. For the truest of reasons, knowing God means that one wants to be closer to Him because one loves God. To get closer to God means to do the things that are right. It is fear, but not of the abject terror or anxiety that is associated with "Do this or else." It is the fear of reverential awe.

Being good is a general choice one makes. It certainly isn't that Christians have a lock on being good. It is just that it appears to be incomprehensible to choose to be good merely for goodness' sake. However, there's almost always some entity that will call someone on her choice. Many times, that decision is possibly arbitrary according to differing points of view.

The idea that Christians, for instance, have a mortal dread that what they do is going to send them to hell is an interesting concept. If people are actually understanding the point of being saved, the Christian and the mortal are facing the same choices daily. The mortal's choices don't matter to him for his eternal situation, and the Christian's choices shouldn't generally preclude him from heaven. (Jesus is able to save completely those who are lost.) The truly saved Christian isn't in fear of damnation. He's in awe of God and wants to do the right thing because of the idea and gratitude of the gift. The mortal is free to do as he wills under the constructs of society.

In short, the doing good things is because of a desire to achieve good results. In mortals, this is potentially arbitrary. In Christians, it is because they are thankful for salvation and the desire to be near God that they [should] do the right thing and make the right choices. If anything, everyone, mortals and Christians should be encouraging Christians to make the right choices -- mortals, because even if they don't believe in God, know that Christians do, and should follow the right path; and Christians should encourage each other to continue in the race until the finish, running as if to win the race.

Earthly Father, Heavenly Father

I don't have a basis for this question. Indeed, to ask it would probably suggest that I am prejudiced in some way. If one has a poor relationship with one's earthly father, would one be more inclined to disbelieve the idea of a loving heavenly father?

The Atheist Who Was Found by God

The Atheist Who Was Found by God

"I remembered something else you had said: ‘The essential sadness is to go through life without loving. But it would be almost equally sad to go through life and leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved them.’ 'So I began with the hardest one: my Dad."

Wow. Please consider reading the link above.

Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and everyone the loves is born of God and knows God. He that doesn't love, doesn't know God, for God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:7-12

I try not to always thump the Bible to prove a point, because I recognize that some people have a mindset to reject the Bible in its entirety because they disagree with points made here or there. However, sometimes there aren't any better ways to say it, than what the Bible says itself.

Braggarts, Bloggers, Blabbers, and Balderdash

It pains me to see the comments on pages that are confrontational while being misspelled and with no white space, punctuation, or capitals.

Maybe I'm just being picky. If I read a comment and the comment has no capital letters -- People, the word I is capitalized! -- nor allows my brain to relax between thoughts presented in one's stream of consciousness posts, -- please, use paragraphs -- I tend to discount much of what that post is saying.

True, I can't expect the world to be civil in speech or tone, especially in the land of anonymous people who feel that because they have the ability to speak or type -- debatable as that may be -- that it is in the interest of the world that their tripe is heard. Yes, one has a right to her opinion. I have a right to request that it, at least, has been spelled properly.

There is a difference between the people who make money with their words and the people whose words are ineffective because of their presentation. The logic one might attempt to present is lost when the presentation is mired in a mess that detracts from the message.

While I'm at it, people who write the words that appear under people's heads on TV better know how to spell as well. This is especially true when such as CNBC -- a financial TV channel -- cannot find the proper way to spell dividend (divended? Please). I know, I'm talking about an isolated incident. I'm sure it's been handled since then. That doesn't negate the fact that it looked awful.

If anything gives me solace regarding spelling and grammar online, it'd be the fact that when I'm going to places where content is critical to people who have money and are making fiscal decisions based upon said content, the content is provided clearly and concisely without distracting its readers with headache inducing misspellings.

It is no fun having to translate a document twice -- once into "English" and a second time into content/meaning. However, I fear I may have done the same thing in this post, because of its length and because of its use of language.

Love, Faith, and Rationality

From the movie, The Devil's Advocate:

Kevin Lomax: What about love?
John Milton: Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate.

The question I have is how can anyone prove that love exists? This is a critical point. One can't measure love. But I can pretty much guarantee that even atheists believe in love. Must take a lot of faith to believe in something that you can't prove exists.

Sexual attraction isn't love. As well, sexual attraction isn't measurable or definable in itself. That is, one can see chemical changes, sweat response, genital response, etc. These are responses to stimuli -- responses to so-called sexual attraction, arousal, what have you. While one can measure response, and say "I've seen the responses and they match what happens when people say they're in love.", I can point to the quote above and ask the obvious question -- the same question/argument atheists have about faith.

If the tests of religious faith were applied to love, one would have a lot of angry people, apologetics, and so on. "Prove you are in love" "Prove I'm not" Love is, by some accounts, irrational, unexplainable, unmeasurable. It is, however, quite the controversial statement to make to even the most rational of people that love is only for the mentally deficient. Nearly every argument against religious faith can be applied against love (or practically any other emotion). I think about the wars caused by love (or hate). I think about the murders committed by or because of love. Yet, I have yet to see the self-important signoff on message board posts "I wouldn't want to be in love, because of what lovers do to others who aren't in love with them."

My question goes to the very heart of the arguments against "Faith" -- that faith is irrational; that faith is illogical; that faith is "stupid" because it can't be measured.

What makes love different than religious faith?

The question becomes even more important in light of the viewpoint that "God is Love". Believe in God? Believe in Love?

9/11. I remember.

I am one of millions who were not directly affected by the impaling of the Twin Towers by airplanes. Yet, I remember. I offer this post as a simple reminder to myself and those who visit that it was a tragedy that should not be forgotten.

Now, let's let good come from the ashes.

xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe

This reminds me of something. "I seem to have forgotten my name. Can I have yours?"

OB Note: You will probably (could, possibly?) be offended by some of the language used if you browse other images -- they aren't mine, neither this one. Baby, bathwater, etc.

There is Only *One* Post-death Processing Facility

Why is there only one true religion? Because everyone dies. And no matter how one dies, there is only one post-death processing facility. What happens is going to happen to people of all faiths and [non]beliefs. Knowing how that post-death processing facility works is important, because one's behavior and belief set, chosen on earth, is fixed at the time of death. There is no way that one can change one's destination after buying the ticket. It's also not likely that living people will be able to affect one's destination after death, either.

Choose wisely.

If you have a belief set, you must be ready to defend it.

If you believe that political correctness is a "good thing", you are wrong. Completely. And there is no way you can convince me otherwise. It doesn't matter to me if you feel that there are "so many different positions in this world. How can one position be correct and another be wrong?"

Political correctness is an answer to nullify the asking of the question. If you have a belief set, you had better be willing to stand up for your belief set, or else you should simply just stand aside. Your opinion doesn't matter if you don't think it's worth defending. It's not enough to simply hold an opinion and say, "If you disagree with me, fine. That's OK, too."

Intolerance, rudeness, not being very nice -- these are excuses to avoid the question, and not engage in the discussion. Political correctness has no place in truth or logic. Two opposing positions cannot simultaneously be true. If it hurts someone's feelings, that's just too bad.

What's interesting to me is that certain media can get a pass at being an affront to certain groups and get canned for being an affront to other groups. Why, for instance, is being an anti-Semite (or, for that matter, anti-gay, anti-black, anti-Muslim) more egregious than being anti-Christian? Nobody gets fired for saying anything negative against Christians.

It is time to take a stand, whatever your belief. All positions are NOT valid. Some people's views absolutely must be wrong. "How can there only be one correct belief in so many different belief sets?" The answer is simply the same as in science: Water is 2 parts Hydrogen, one part Oxygen. It is always thus, and has always been thus. Some people add sugar, others salt, but that doesn't change the fact that Water is H₂O. While humanity, 'tolerance', mindsets, and belief sets change, there is no changing the essence of who God is.

Not believing in God because of God's unchanging nature is an exercise in silliness. God's intolerance to evil behaviors is unchanging, unwavering. If one believes in this, one must learn the evil behaviors that God abhors, and be willing to stand up for that belief set, and stand against those evil behaviors.

Paying for Internet access? At a hotel?

I spent some time at a hotel in Orlando which a) didn't have wireless internet access in the room and b) charged for wired access.

The thing is, this wasn't exactly a budget hotel. In fact, it seems that the budget hotels seem to provide more things -- free breakfast, free wireless internet access in the rooms -- than some of the pricier hotels.

Meh. If I'm going to a hotel anymore, I want free wireless Internet. And also a clean room. That is a post for another time.

GodTube.com - Lifehouse 'Everything' - Skit

GodTube.com - Lifehouse 'Everything' - Skit

Hrm. Now I am divided in my thought process. Which, then, is harder? To be a Christian in a dark and tasteless society or to be a nonbeliever who doesn't have the ability to lean on the crutch of Christ?

To be sure, a nonbeliever doesn't necessarily have to believe in God to get through tough circumstances. Neither a Christian. In my opinion, though, it is better to be comforted in the thought of a perfect love that values my life than to be a person whose only support is internal.

One might think that one might be able to go it alone. Maybe one might be able to make it among peers. The reality is that it's tough. Why not start based upon the idea of love and truth and the realization that indeed, it's better if one doesn't go it alone.

Maybe it's better, still, to strive to believe in the essence of what God is. Even if one doesn't believe in *God*, focusing on the principles that Christianity is intended to be -- love one another, love your neighbor as yourself, pray for your enemies, pay your debts, etc. -- can be a path to a better world on earth, if not in your own, individual life.

It's good that you think you can go it alone. Wouldn't it be better to have someone join you and guide you in your journey?

inumbr: Auto expiring. FREE anonymous phone numbers for online safety.

inumbr:: Auto expiring. FREE anonymous phone numbers for online safety.

Just ... OK. You want to give a number, but not exactly *your* number? Maybe that guy you met you would maybe like to see again, but maybe not. Give a numbr. It forwards to your phone, and you can screen it and actually get logs.

For privacy, a disposable inumbr seems very cool. I'm sure someone's going to tell me why it's not, but until then...

Updated 9/17/2009. Someone actually clicked here, and numbr is now inumbr, so I updated.

Religious Morality ... or just Common Sense?

I think the idea that morality can exist outside of Religion or belief in a God is an interesting concept. I think it gets more interesting to see how democratic morality -- I'm talking about voting for what is moral, not about political parties -- can echo the sentiment of established truths that have existed before man codified laws.

It's not as if certain truths are "all of a sudden" thought up by the will of the majority. The reader thinks that her morality is based upon how she feels about things. How she alone can determine right from wrong. How right from wrong changes based upon point of view.

We are told that "Peace is the answer", "War is wrong." OK. But how? I mean, is war wrong just for the side that is fighting for your ability to continue to be able to protest? The screams are heard on both sides. In today's age, there isn't a voice, a flag, a country of the opposition. The opposition is an ideaset that expands and has many heads and no central body to say, "Enough is enough." The rule of law must need to exist. It needs to be consistent and it needs to be recognized. On both sides.

But I digress. The point is that, sooner or later, the people will end up having too many laws legislating morality and what you can or cannot say or behave one to another and serious consequences will result. Truth be told, the way to behave has already been shown to all. Adherence to that could save people a lot of trouble. It's just that rejecting religious morality because of its "origins" and not necessarily because of its "truth" means that we'll just have to wait until common sense/democratic morality legislates the same things into existence. This legislation has to wait until people forget that the morality being legislated is actually the same or similar to that of the Bible. Because if it's too similar, someone's head is going to roll. It's better that it seems to come from humanity, isn't it?

Christians Should Not Mettle in the Affairs of Mortals ... and Vice Versa

John 3:16, remember?

The point of separation of church and state is simply that one should not rule the other. Christians shouldn't be censoring mortals, and mortals shouldn't be censoring Christians.

Animosity toward Christianity

I just keep thinking that the people who complain about the hypocrisy of Christians have it really easy. It must be so much fun to live an amoral life. Of course, not saying that non-Christians are IMmoral. No, I could never be able to say that. But still, having no assumed visible standard to live by means that one is accountable only to self, and perhaps to society, but why should that actually be the case?

It occurs to me that it would be a bonus to have someone who claims that Christians are hypocritical to actually become a Christian. I mean, looking from one side of a fence at Christians is one thing. Being a Christian, one would guess that THAT would be a bit harder. Not only do you have to continue to live among non-believers, you have invited yourself as a target to all the people who assume that because you are now a Christian, that somehow makes you "perfect".

I'm not perfect. I'm just forgiven. My job is to run the race set before me until I reach the finish line. In the end, it comes down to setting your eyes on the prize. The prize: simply, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

The stupidity of ignoring a gift.

Flat Rock quoted via reference Robert Green Ingersoll, the quote being:

"I do not consider it a very important question whether Christ was the son of god or not. After all, what difference does it make? If he never existed, we are under the same obligation to do what we believe is right; and believing that he was the son of god or disbelieving it, is of no earthly importance. If we are ever judged at all it will be by our actions, and not by our beliefs. If Christ was good enough to die for me, he certainly will not be bad enough to damn me for honestly failing to believe in his divinity." - Robert Green Ingersoll, (via Cynical-C where Ingersoll is a daily feature)

I wonder if I had a billion dollars, and died, placing that money, and whatever would be gained from insurance, into a trust. The trust had one function. Anyone who realized that they were poor, and could not be able to come up with (pick an arbitrarily large figure of money) would be able to receive it for the asking. The key is, they'd have to ask for it. Everybody who wants it, can get it. There are ideasets attached to the money. Stuff that may or may not be palatable to you because of your choice of actions. So, you can say that you don't believe I exist. Except the offer has been made. You can say that I lived a bad life, or incomprehensible. But the offer still stands. You could say that it's bloody awful that the money had to be available after I died.

After all this, I think I'd be stupid not to take the offer. I mean, anyone who offers a gift, and you would say, "nah, I don't need it/want it" has nobody but himself to blame for not taking the gift. It's not that Christ is bad to damn people to hell. It's just the same thing as people staying poor because they didn't ask for help (and it was offered to them). If you don't accept the gift, you get ... nothing.

Specific to this quote, though... If Christ never existed, you really aren't under any obligation to do what you believe is right. And you don't necessarily have a foundation to know what is right. If morality becomes relative to individuality, then why be moral?

VersaMail Exchange ActiveSync

Here's the deal I had the ubiquitous error for Exchange Server 2003 Exchange ActiveSync for Versamail.

I have two domains set up and I know one works. The other one just didn't work.

The difference?

Well, after all the working of the ONLY Microsoft article that mentions anything, it comes down to this:

1) I have an Exchange Server running Outlook Web Access behind a firewall that is NOT ISA
2) I am ONLY passing SSL to my Exchange Server
3) I have only one Exchange server (no front/back issues)
4) I had a problem with Sharepoint installed on the same box (doesn't appear to be the total issue).
5) I applied all the fun stuff on http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817379

What I found to fix: It seems that the internal network was trying to resolve my domain name to the IP address outside the firewall, which made no sense. I set my internal/LAN DNS server to resolve the name that was on my SSL cert to the LAN IP address of my Exchange server. This seemed to fix the communication errors of the request and added another benefit: I could now use the OWA (outlook web access) on my LAN with the same SSL cert, external registered domain name and no errors.

Fate is dispassionate

"Why is this happening to me?" Why shouldn't it be happening to you? What makes you as an individual uniquely unlikely for something to be happening to you? Whether it's your choice or the choices made by those around you, you are the recipient of the effects of those choices. Sometimes, it's not about a choice made, but then again, what are you complaining about? What are you doing with the events that have happened in your life? Does it make you worry about the next event or does it make you want to continue living for the sake of not being promised tomorrow?

It's true enough. Tomorrow was never promised to you. Today is the only day you have to make tomorrow work for you or those around you.

Make today a great day. Hug someone close to you and make good choices.

IM ON UR WEBSITE KILLIN UR MEME

CAN I HAZ A NEW MEME?

How Good *is* Vista Anyway?

To hear them tell it, Vista is the be all and end all of security. The charts are massive in size and point out some things that perhaps zealots don't view as part of their dogma.

You tell someone that Global Warming is a made-up thing, and you are deemed, essentially, a heretic. You tell someone that Vista is better than Linux, you better be right"unbiased", whatever that means.

Do I like Linux? Yes. Do I think it's rock solid stable? Yes. Do I think it's all that an OS can be? Depends. My experience with MythTV left me unimpressed. I'm reasonably comfortable in almost any PC environment that I encounter. Mac, Linux, BSD, etc. doesn't make any difference to me. Spending hours and days compiling stuff may be fun for some people, but for me, it's quickly losing its luster. I *know* I'm going to have to get Vista, if only to support it for the people who give me the money to do so. Based upon reviews, I think I'd personally think about upgrading to Vista Home Premium for the MCE.

Do I want to roll Vista out in my office environment? Not if I can help it. I was on Windows 2000 Professional across the board even until 2005. You want to know why the uptake was so slow for XP? Simply the same as XP->Vista. WHY? Now, I'm on XP and I don't want to go back, to be sure, but I tell you, Windows 2000 Professional *was* perhaps the best OS of its time.

Back to the ZDnet article. The comments are telling, and as much as I don't want to admit, very persuasive on Microsoft's behalf: If Microsoft is claiming so little vulnerabilities in its first 6 months for the shipped package it ships (15GB OS???? FIFTEEN GIGABYTES?) versus hundreds of vulnerabilities that, say, RedHat ships, -- even if not installed, even if not used -- it does beg the question, "How much junk/buggy/vulnerable software is worth including in a package?" I'm coming to a saner conclusion. Stop distributing distros with buggy software. Leave it to the end user to put their own software on their system. At the very least, it appears that a Linux distribution should come with appropriate drivers and xorg and an appropriate package manager/install utility and basically nothing else.

Come to think of it, that PC vs Mac Bloat seems all the more apropos if you take it into consideration of what Linux "provides" you with on the install CD. Or maybe Microsoft Vista vs Linux is the eternal feud that cannot die.

Nonetheless, keep it coming. I long to read about the next volley.

MythTV vs Windows MCE?

After using the same hardware for both and the utter lack of support for my ATI Radeon 9250 on MythTV, I went to Windows MCE. I'm sorry, but YGWYPF is relevant here. Just to assuage the haters: I learned that I should have gone with nVidia because of lack of ATI Support. However, I'm just going to have to say that if I want to use a piece of software and it doesn't support my hardware (and a reasonable request to support a reasonable HW), I don't care how cool it is.

Also, if you ask around, MythTV (even KnoppMyth) isn't always just plug and play. There's tweaking and tweaking.

I am running Windows MCE 2005 with a Hauppauge PVR 150 with the remote/no FM tuner.

Some thoughts.

I used Bart's way to create a bootable XP MCE CD. After creating one coaster regarding "Please Insert Service Pack 2" I learned/figured out that all you need to do is have an appropriate win51ic.sp2 or win51ip.sp2 file in the files directory. Don't have an sp2 file? copy the win51ip.sp1 to win51ip.sp2. Yes, it's that simple.

Installing XP MCE requires information under the CMPNENTS folder, so if you're making a bootable install CD from an OEM installed PC with no OS CDs that came with, that's all that's really necessary: the i386 folder and the CMPNENTS folder. I hear tell, that it's likely that may be bigger than one CD can hold, but you can make a bootable DVD with it.

Get the Hauppauge Remote to Work with Windows MCE 2005: You might want to have a decent irremote.ini file for the Hauppauge remote that you might have gotten with the x50 package to work in MCE. It's rather slick.

I'm using my Radio Shack 15-2116 remote with AUX redirected to an alternate TV 0054. Others have used VCR 0081, which doesn't seem to work for me for the numbers. Since the 15-2116 is a learning remote, I simply learned the navigation and VCR functions from the Hauppauge remote. Trust me, this will increase your Wife Acceptance Factor if you get it right.

Now I'm attempting to fill my hard drive with appropriate media for family. If all goes well, the transition to a large screen TV for the bedroom won't be too horrible.

ETA: Actually, I never got all my codes stored in the 15-2116 remote. I might try the JP1 route, but I might just buy another clicker.

Get the IRBlaster driver to work: Also, if you are getting an IRBlaster error HW Not Found use the Beta 4 driver of the IRBlaster s/w.

How bad *is* Vista, anyway?

As a "what the heck", I added myself as a Zolved.com guru, thinking I might be able to help one thing or another. I get notified of one to five questions per day posted.

The questions vary, but can be summed up thusly:

I just installed/upgraded Vista. I can't get __X__ to work.

Mostly, X is Mail from Yahoo and/or Earthlink or X is Sound. SOUND?

Well, to be fair, (or not), the Sound issue is likely either driver incompatibility or it's because Microsoft Vista *starts* with digital output, and there is a configuration change necessary to make the audio-out be analog.

I am not running Vista myself, but I may have to do so in order to support the legions of people who have done-it (in?) themselves. XP works, people. If you want Vista eyecandy on XP, there are ways to do it.

Dude, Dell's back with XP.

Whether it makes a difference to me or not is immaterial. However, for full disclosure, Dell went back to offering XP on select models of PCs. Still, Microsoft's going to force no new sales of XP in January 2008.

Apparently, though, owners of Vista Business and Vista Ultimate (at least Volume License purchasers) continue to have downgrade rights to XP Pro, so there *is* hope if you're delaying. Now, finding the XP Pro install media might be a bit harder.

AboutUs.org silently creeping up as the Next Big Thing?

http://www.aboutus.org/AboutUs is to Google what Wikipedia is to Encyclopedia Britannica.

Before the vandals come out in full force, I'm seriously believing that AboutUs.org could actually be a better Google than Google. That is, if you believe that wiki searches would produce better results than Google searches, and if you believe that you could tag your way to the top of competitive lists...

We'll see. OTOH, AboutUs.org is an elegant and quick (IMO) way to add wiki to your site. Here's hoping!

Also, here's hoping for Secondary Level Domain and Folder level support. Then again, when all the bogus google-search-criteria-tags.dom domains start being added, the value of AboutUs.org may be diluted.

Gaim is now Pidgin. Gaim is dead. Long live Pidgin!

With the announcement yesterday evening, I wish the new gaimPidgin team the best. And I’m looking forward to video added to the client (please?)!

From the site (April 6th, 2007 - 6:19PM EST):

---

Now that the settlement is signed, we hope to have the final Pidgin 2.0.0 release late this week or early next.

We are going to release it with a 2.0.0 version number, and an API compatibility layer for plugin authors. The project has not changed; this is our 2.0.0 release, not some new program that requires new version numbering.

---

Plug-in form authentication

http://laurentszyster.be/jsonr/index.html

It’s late, and I stumbled this. The repercussions of what it means to my future codes for forms boggles my mind. Perhaps I will have a chance to consider it when I return. This pretty well summed the whole thing up for me:

In a web controller JSONR is usefull [sic] to validate
network input against the application’s model instead of an ad-hoc program.

Another 3D Desktop for Windows

http://www.tutorial5.com/content/view/60/

From a picture, choose a color scheme.

The idea: Based upon a picture, get colors for your site.

This much has been done: http://www.degraeve.com/color-palette/

Augment: Make it automatically change your css Style.
Start with:

Hey Developers:
Want to automate color palette queries? Try out the new color palette generator web service BETA. Get an XML response to requests sent to:
http://www.degraeve.org/cgi-bin/color-palette.cgi?url=http://url.to.your.image

Which converts to .XML as (example)...

<colorpalette>

<imageurl>http://www.degraeve.com/images/beach.jpg</imageurl>

<status>success</status>

<message>color palette created successfully</message>

<dullcolors>

<color>304035</color>
<color>6B9FA3</color>
<color>90AEAD</color>
<color>B1C5CB</color>
<color
>43729C</color>

</dullcolors>

<vibrantcolors>


<color>285135</color>
<color>40C2CC</color>
<color>8EDAD6</color>
<color>BEEEFE</color>
<color>005AC3</color>
</vibrantcolors>

</colorpalette>

Augment: Choose some colors that will be working for text (Contrast-Wise). Hey, I get it that you shouldn’t force colors on your visitors. OTOH, this is a really cool effect.

Hmm... searching ... http://snook.ca/technical/colour_contrast/colour.html has an interactive Contrast checker. The nitty gritty:

function updateColours(){
 var brightnessThreshold = 125;
 var colorThreshold = 500;

 var bY=((br.getValue() * 299) + (bg.getValue() * 587) + (bb.getValue() * 114)) / 1000;
 var fY=((fr.getValue() * 299) + (fg.getValue() * 587) + (fb.getValue() * 114)) / 1000;
 var brightnessDifference = Math.abs(bY-fY);

    var colorDifference = (Math.max (fr.getValue(), br.getValue()) - Math.min (fr.getValue(), br.getValue())) +
                          (Math.max (fg.getValue(), bg.getValue()) - Math.min (fg.getValue(), bg.getValue())) +
                          (Math.max (fb.getValue(), bb.getValue()) - Math.min (fb.getValue(), bb.getValue()));

 document.getElementById("bDiff").value = brightnessDifference;
 document.getElementById("cDiff").value = colorDifference;

 if ((brightnessDifference >= brightnessThreshold) && (colorDifference >= colorThreshold)) {
     document.getElementById("cResult").value = "YES!"; // compliant
 }else if ((brightnessDifference >= brightnessThreshold) || (colorDifference >= colorThreshold)){
  document.getElementById("cResult").value = "sort of..."; // sort of compliant
 }else{
  document.getElementById("cResult").value = "NO!"; // not compliant "Poor visibility between text and background colors."
 }
}

Juicy Studio has code to check on the fly. http://juicystudio.com/article/javascript-contrast-class.php

Augment: Mash it all together based upon one picture... from a gallery or based upon an image for a review for a blog/CMS.

I shall come back to this. Essentially, I’d want, based upon the main picture on a page, to be able to change the look for the page based upon that picture, and yet the text be still readable. I’m sure there’s a reason *not* to do this, but until that time, just think of it as a way to change your CMS design on a whim. You don’t even have to show the picture that the color scheme is based upon. All you’d need is an idea... "OOH, I like that picture’s scheme. Will it look good on my site?

I should probably point myself to http://xmljs.sourceforge.net/index.html to parse the xml if I come back to this.

ILVTAGS

Thanks to stumbleupon and electric-escape.net ... Sometimes, WYSIWYG.

Technorati Tags: License Plates, Humor

Seeking... POP3 to MySQL for an email client

It appears to me, in some strange way, that I'd benefit from a MySQL backend for an email client.

I'm not exactly sure how I think this is good, but it's something I was just thinking about.

I'll revisit this later.

Putting Knoppix on a USB Key

http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/14738

Of course, [Knoppix] can be even more portable when it runs entirely off of an inexpensive USB key. So let's install it to a 1 GB USB key, and create a persistent home directory in which to store files. Only let's do it the lazy way, and keep use of the command prompt to a bare minimum.

Pricewatch has several options for a 1gb USB Key < $15. While CD-R's are cheaper, you can't easily stick them in your pocket.
FYI: Pricewatch has 2GB USB listed for just a few dollars more...

Get some of Vista Eye Candy ... on XP

http://www.otakusoftware.com/topdesk/

Powered by ScribeFire.

RCS - Revision Control System. Everyone should use this.

Do you edit /etc files or .inis or .confs? If you're like me, you have tons of .old or .mmddyy or .1, .2, etc. files cluttering up your directory.

If you're further like me, you have trouble sometimes to determine which one of the filename.ext~ or filename.old or filename.old.2 that you'd need to go back to if you screw something up.

RCS helps this lots.



http://galton.uchicago.edu/~gosset/Compdocs/rcs.html

Perpetual Kid?

I’m not sure what to think about this, but I think it’s something to think about when I’m not thinking about anything else.
Perpetual Kid - Unique Gifts to Entertain Your Inner Child

Exchange 2003 Outlook Mobile Access 1801 error

OK, There is absolutely almost no answer on the web for the MSExchangeOMA 1801 error. That’s because stock users of Exchange and IIS won’t have the issue that I had.

The very short answer: WebDav defaults to checking for stuff via IIS http on port 80.

If your IIS has another HTTP (not SSL/HTTPS) port as all it’s listening on, OMA/Outlook Mobile Access will not work. Make sure port 80 is listened to by IIS.

Why I had Internet Information Server on another port:

It was a legacy issue. I had OWA/Outlook Web Access through a firewall on a non-standard port. OWA does NOT like firewall port not matching IIS port. So HTTP port on IIS was chosen to match the firewall port for IIS for NON-SSL traffic. Later, I didn’t need non-SSL traffic for OWA and didn’t bother to change the IIS port. When OMA came up with

Unable to connect to your mailbox on server Servername. Please try again later. If the problem persists contact your administrator.

It was because it was attempting to contact internally via WebDAV on WebDAV’s default connection: http://Servername:80/Exchange/mailbox

the :80 (hidden, but the default port for web) was not accessible because my default http port on IIS wasn’t listening on port 80. This caused the same error from outside my firewall all the way to trying the OMA connection at localhost on my exchange server.

Thanks to
http://www.petri.co.il/configure_oma.htm
http://www.petri.co.il/configure_ssl_on_oma.htm
http://www.petri.co.il/test_oma_in_exchange_2003.htm

for knocking me in the head about things I didn’t realize I hadn’t done.

Care to share? for free?

Zolved.com has a free sharing app... Well, if you’re going to share for computer help, this is one way to do it at no charge. Windows only, and "alpha" right now, but I’m posting it here because of its potential usefulness.

mmm. Gotta get me one of these.

No big fan of McDonald’s, I, but wow. This + bacon would be awesome. Unfortunately, it appears to only be available in Japan. http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/sales/new/teritama/index.html

Can you hear your arteries clogging? Well, if you can’t make it to Japan, you can try the Royal Red Robin Burger, described thusly:

This is the aristocrat of all burgers because we crown it with a fresh fried egg. In addition, topped with three strips of hickory-maple smoked bacon, American cheese, crisp lettuce, tomatoes and mayo.

Too bad I’m focusing on a Fish-n-Foul diet. Sushi rocks.

Is that process running?

Did you know you can query a process directly by pid and without grep?

I didn't.

ps -p `cat pidfile` -o args=

Returns something like

perl assp.pl


Is it running? Yes. Is it running the same thing as it's supposed to run? Yes.
An explanation:
ps show processes
-p show process of a specific id
`cat pidfile` the ` "backticks" mean to execute what's in between them and use it in the command line as text. cat means the same thing as type in Windows: output the contents of the file. pidfile is the filename that holds the pid/process ID of the application that's running.
-o show only what I want to show
args= show the full execution line of the process. The = is to give a column name to the "args" column. If you specify no column name, it doesn't list one.

A thought. A tag line.

If you understood what I said, you wouldn’t be offended.

Did I mention that I hate Digg?

Did I mention that I hate digg.com? I’m just saying. Among the myriad of problems that digg.com has is the comment section. Actually, pretty much any comments section of any site is usually worthless unless you moderate it, and who wants that hassle?

ONCE in a blue moon, you’ll get a gem, but it’s like finding gems in red dirt. It’s possible that it’s beneficial, but you’re not going to be liking the method that gets the results. Some stains just don’t come out easily.

Why do I say stumbleupon is better than digg? Because it’s the same without the hype. Stumbleupon is the best of digg because I won’t ever EVER be tempted to read what anyone else thinks of the link, unless I have a real desire to do so, and I won’t have to be subjected to an endless array of the self righteous posturing of people who have nothing better to do than to posit themselves as know-it-alls who slam people who have legitimate gripes on things such as Nintendo, Windows, Apple, and even *gasp* Linux.

Digg is 3 lines of content, a history of breaking sites, and 3 pages of pontificating. The fiefdom already exists, and no, you are not a part of it.

Regards,

Gerald

Self Promotion

I, too, want people to think well of me, read my text, and feel the love that can only be garnered from the anonymous perusals of those on the Internet.

Long live the anonymity that comes with being Internet passersby. You can’t possibly be here because I have something sexy to show. You can’t possibly be here because you heard I had great _____ to give out. You’re here because you’re bored. Or you know who I am. Maybe you don’t know, and you’ve just encountered my blog randomly -- Good for you!

What, then, shall I say about that? Nothing more than this is yet another attempt at me to occupy my namespace at one additional site. Good for me.

Well, while you’re here, you should consider at least checking out my stumbleupon blog or my web page on how to get PC Anywhere to work with dynamic IP addresses, or how to get Free antivirus definitions for Symantec Antivirus.

Ahhh, yeah.

You hit paydirt, baby. Keep digging. Well, actually, don’t. Start stumbling.

Ciao for now,

Gerald