Archive for October, 2003

So I finally installed Microsoft Office 2003. I disliked the new interface at first, but after a few days, it’s grown on me. I can’t say there is anything objectively better about all the new icons – more like the latest fad in UI design. You can be sure that in a few months, all the new software will be sportin’ the new “shiny” icons. What Windows really needs, is SVG icon support. There aren’t that many new features I found all that useful, except SPAM filtering and the new Outlook 2003 layout, which is very neat with two monitors. Unfortunately, my server-side SPAM filter thinks all mail from Outlook 2003 is forged.

In related news, it seems that spammers are either using my account to send spam or faking my return address in their spam, so I’ve been getting hundreds of bounced emails and “unsubscribe requests” daily for the last few weeks. I’m not sure what I can do about the forged return address, but for now, I’ve disabled my wildcard email addresses so that only [email protected] will receive email. Whatever the case, it’s clear that my domain was singled out by spammer(s).

Do you like the layout of my website? Would you like to get a blog of your own, or to upgrade an existing one? If so, you can use my template and/or domain names for your own website. If your website is dedicated to promoting ideas I support, I might just help you for free, and if not, a little motivation should the trick. One Objectivist club is already using my template, and I haven’t heard too many complaints so far.

Disney joins forces with pro-fish activists: “Fish are friends, not food!”
My favorite part:

What about Jesus and the fish? Didn’t Jesus eat fish?
Probably not: There is strong evidence suggesting that Jesus was a vegetarian. The only stories depicting Jesus eating fish took place after the resurrection, and most Biblical scholars agree that they are very late additions to the Gospels. The scribes who added the stories were not, apparently, averse to eating fish. But since this is the only depiction anywhere in the Gospels of Jesus eating any animals at all, it seems that he was a vegetarian.

Getting ready for class this morning, I considered dressing up for the today’s business fair. I was about to put on my Sunday best when I happened to glance at the window and saw a torrential flood coming down outside. I suddenly felt very fortunate that I could be completely ignorant of the nasty weather outside while in my home. Unfortunately, I still had to walk a mile to class, and as I got completely soaked while walking barefoot across campus, I thanked the gods of industry that I didn’t have to freeze to death in some leaky shack or cave every time it rained as those damn “back to nature” environmentalists would have us do. Admittedly, I enjoyed walking barefoot across the flooded grass on campus, but only because I knew that I had clean and warm clothes waiting for me at home.

Environmentalists are trying to ban the Navy from using sonar because it’s – get this – causing whales to die from the bends. There is no connection between the crucial tool of many naval vessels and whale death, but that didn’t stop environmental groups from protesting tests (which are costing the taxpayers $9 million) done in response to their claims.
While there is evidence that certain rare types of sonar harm marine life in close proximity, it is absolutely ridiculous to demand that our military give up a key part of our national defense for a few whales, and then protest tests done to verify those claims. This is just one example of how enviro-whackos don’t care for the facts, humans, or even whales, but merely want to destroy civilization – by wiping out the technology that makes it possible.