Open Threads

A friend (who has a much higher threshold for pain than yours truly) just called to inform me that, as I type this, Slash is on ABC abusing a guitar while Michael Jackson is singing ‘Beat It.” I was also informed that it appears that Pam Anderson has been re-re-re-re-augmented, if you know what I mean. The horror of it all- this is why my television spends most of its time idling on the History Channel (or hitler channel as my ex called it).

Me-thinks the Taliban may have been on to something with the music ban.

A friend (who has aPost + Comments

A rant from one of my friends that Apple users will enjoy….

“I’ve set up about 20 Windows machines of various flavors in the last 2-3 weeks.

SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY I CAN’T JUST DOWNLOAD ALL THE FRIGGIN PATCHES I NEED? Windows Update, half the time I use it, is slower than a 56k modem.

While I’m at it, why the hell is everything “active” now.. I HATE “active downloads”.. Just let me download a god damned full installer instead of some 500k “active” installer so I don’t have to worry about a crash or connectivity issues and so I can save the bloody installer to a CD so I don’t have to mess with navigating a site for some half-hidden download area, or bring it to a friend who has a shitty modem internet connection.

And why do programs have to try to hijack filetypes? THIS CHAPS MY ASS. I DON’T WANT TO USE NETSCAPE TO VIEW A BLOODY JPG FILE!

I just fixed a computer for some friends of mine. These friends don’t know anything about computers. They’re computer dumb, and they’re content with that. You know the type — they have 15 programs running in the tray when Windows starts. They install Comet Cursor. You get the idea.

Reinstalling shit programs like RealPlayer — it just drives me up the wall. The thing asks for an email address 3 times ([email protected]), keeps trying to hijack filetypes, installs buggy bloated crashware that comes up on Windows boot, doesn’t ask permission to connect to the internet unless I dig down into obscure preferences and tell it not to. Even then, I can only turn off an “update check” for 30 days. Why do people use this shit?

Just now — literally — after installing RealPlayer and turning off all the spyware shit, disabling the SmartBloatCrashCenter, etc.. Closed RealPlayer and get an Illegal Operation. “REALPLAY caused an invalid page fault in module RNQU3260.DLL…”

During one point in a Windows Update, the thing hung at 600k of a download. The last time I had something like that happen to me, it corrupted the entire OS and wouldn’t even boot into Windows.

Grumble.”

Hehe. Computers are fun.

A rant from one ofPost + Comments

Robert Fisk gets beat up, this time long distance by Sgt. Stryker.

Robert Fisk gets beat up,Post + Comments

BLOGGER is BACK. I expect an orgy of publishing from people tonight to make up for the missed opportunities today.

BLOGGER is BACK. I expectPost + Comments

I am feeling better about my Windows XP problems at the office. Well, actually, I am just feeling better about myself. My friend (who, for his sake, we will not name) just called and asked me a series of really stupid questions. The conversation went something like this:

Friend: “Hey, Cole, Help me out because I am illiterate.”

Me (realizing he didn’t mean illiterate, but rather, stupid): “O.K.”

Friend: “How do I pull something up on the computer?”

Me (thinking he is looking for porn): “What on earth are you talking about?”

Friend: “I just stuck a blue disk with a resume in XxxxxX’s (my illiterate friend’s roommate) white computer.”

I then gave him directions to find the resume. This guy is a real good friend, but it is now confirmed that his computer skills negin and end at the microwave. Fortunately he is not applying to any hi-tech firms.

I am feeling better aboutPost + Comments

I did an experiment today. I am sick to death of Tom Daschle being described as ‘soft-spoken’ and ‘mild-mannered,’ when it is my opinion that he is a partisan hack and a bleeding idiot. So here was the experiment:

I took a statement that I knew was completely idiotic. To be safe, I chose a Noam Chomsky quote (“The U.S. will not permit constructive programs in its own domains, so it must ensure that they are destroyed elsewhere to terminate the threat of a good example”). Then, I stated it out loud. As suspected, it sounded idiotic. I then whispered it, in a way that could be described only as ‘soft-spoken’ and ‘mild-mannered,’ and I found it to be equally asinine.

Shocked by these early results that have clearly eluded the mainstream media, I chose to repeat my test to make sure I had not simply suffered a ‘Chomsky effect.’ I repeated the experiment with a quotation from another abject fool, Ted Rall. The quote I chose was “The principal goal of this adventure in imperialistic vengeance, it seems obvious, should be to install a friendly government in Kabul. But we’re winning neither hearts nor minds among either the commoners or the leadership of the current regime apparent.” This beauty came from, oh who cares? Here is the link.

As in the first run of the test, I repeated the quote out loud, and as expected, it was dumber (and more wrong) now than when Rall originally wrote it. I repeated it in a mild-mannered, soft-spoken voice. Still dumb.

Now for the true test. Here are some Daschle quotes, try my experiment and check your results.

“We were promised that if we gave huge tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, the benefits would trickle down, deficits would disappear and the economy would flourish.”

“So not only did the tax cut fail to prevent a recession, as its supporters said it would, it probably made the recession worse.”

“Sept. 11 and the war aren’t the only reasons the surplus is nearly gone. They’re not even the biggest reasons. The biggest reason is the tax cut.” (For those who forget, Daschle proposed a LARGER short term tax cut).

This leads me to conclude:

Tom Daschle- Mainstream Media’s Mild-Mannered Moron.

I did an experiment today.Post + Comments

Daschle update:

Two Articles in NRO, one titled Daschlenomics, the other titled Daschle’s Dimness.

One little blurb from the folks at Cato.

Two articles from Citizens Against Government Waste, the first about (what else?) Dachle and Cutting Waste, the second calling Daschle the Porker of the Month for December.

Daschle update: Two Articles inPost + Comments