Just helping out Greyhawk with trackbacks while he tests some stuff at Mudville...
One of the issues he's facing is load-times for dailup readers. Me, I can't comment on that, since I have a five megabit/sec connection thru RoadRunner these days. Muhahahaha... :)
...which refers to the following link, as well as my disrepect in not linking to Lisa for forever and a day!
Anway. Lisa, who is a real pro with the sticky web-stuff, brings up a vulnerability which affects just about every engine except Internet Explorer. Go figgre.
And here I thought Open Software was invulnerable. Looks like someone dug up some Kryptonite...
Now. Before some MS-vocates start spewing bilge 'bout how "everyone's vulnerable"*, I'd like to point out that Firefox/Mozilla is still safer, and more stable, than IE. And that Firefox/Mozilla will likely retain that laurel for rather a while.
But (as the great captain says) "Don't get cocky, kid!" Firefox/Mozilla users should keep an ear peeled for odd chances such as this. Maybe they should add an exploits link to their homepage?
Food for thought...
*Suggested new MS ad: "Hey, the Other Guys suck too!tm!!"
A (belated) welcome home to Greyhawk, and all of the servicemen and women recently returned.
And for those still there: Godspeed. We're praying for you.
Two NASA scientists, Carol Stoker and Larry Lemke, believe that they have found strong evidence of life on Mars.
Stroker and Lemke -both working in NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, say they have found methane signatures and other indicators which parallel results found in certain underground caves on earth.
NASA researchers (including Stroker) went to the Rio Tinto in southwestern Spain in 2003 to study an underground microbial system wherein the organisms eat sulfide minerals and excrete sulfuric acid. This makes the water of the Tinto highly acid, which in turn causes iron to be dissolved into that water, giving it a reddish color, like a red wine. Hence the name Tinto.
The above linked article does not say whether the Rio Tinto organisms are anaerobic, or capable of living without oxygen, but the researchers feel that something similar may exist on Mars in underground caves. Evidence to support their case comes from several sources, including this March 2004 discovery of an iron-bearing mineral called jarosite by Mars rover Opportunity, which might indicate the existence of something similar to the Rio Tinto organisms.
Puppy-blender Glenn Reynolds observes that "If it's not green-skinned alien babes -- preferably with White House press passes -- the Big Media folks probably don't care much."
Well, that would certainly get my attention, yes.
(with apologies to The Elephant Man)
I was just catching up over at Dean's World, when I caught a post by Michael Demmons announcing that Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has Hodgkin's disease.
Now Michael -who wishes well for the Senator, as should we all- remarked that 'There are going to be people on the extreme right who will salivate over this - just as people on the far left get giddy when life throws curves to their "enemies."'
This bothered one conservative regular, who felt that conservatives had been insulted. Apparently he missed the adjective far in the phrase "far right." :) Micheal, in reply, suggested a quick check to see what the freepers (regulars on the Free Republic blog) had to say about Specter's illness, and I decided to take him up on it.
You can find the Free Republic thread here.
At the time I posted this, there were 80 comments, and 31 good wishes, godspeed, and prayers extended to a man the freepers generally don't like. Two should suffice;
Agreed. I hate Specter, and think that the fact that he conned his way to the GOP nomination cost Bush PA in November, but I hope he pulls through all right. And I'm not just saying that because RAT Governor Rendell would name Specter's replacement if he had to step down.
Although I wanted to see Specter go, it was NOT like this.Good luck in your treatment Arlen, even those of us Toomey supporters are behind you on this one!
So what we're seeing is 39% "good wishes rating" against an opponent. That's pretty good, when you think about it, especially in today's environment.
Naturally one of the commenters had to bring up the DemocraticUnderground, so I tripped on by over there as well. And yes, they had a thread going too.
There were only 53 comments made when I arrived there. And, here's the thing: I counted 22 "good wishes" out of 53 comments, giving a 42% "good wishes rating."
Ok, so it's "only" 3%, but still... I thought the crazy lefties were supposed to be the haters. Oh, yes, there were a couple of nasty remarks, but I'm not quoting them here. If you must see them, follow the link. There will always be a very few, very sad minority who just can't help themselves. But I have to say even I was surprised. I expected a few folks to say nice things, but not nearly half.
What strikes me is that -when you step back and look at the overall picture- both sides in effect reacted similarly to the plight of someone with whom they don't agree. The Donks don't like him because he's a Derm. The Derms don't like him because he a moderate-to-liberal Derm, or (in crusty con terms) a RINO (Republican In Name Only).
So maybe the crunchy cons should stop and consider this the next time they want to call the squishy liberals nothing but a bunch of haters. And maybe those squishy libs might want to consider that the crunchies aren't as heartless as they thought. Yes, you, in the back; I'm talking to you. Stop shaking your head in scorn! Heh.
It's really sad that someone has to get a terrible disease like cancer before we start seeing something in common with the other side.
It seems that the littlest Esmay, Drake, has come down with a case of pneumonia. That's got be pretty tough when yer 5 weeks old.
So drop by Deans's World, and offer them your prayers and good hopes.
Take care, Y'all...
Another bloglist newcomer (for me) is Gay Orbit, where you can "discover your inner homo." Heh.
In this particular post, Michael Demmons asks "Ahmmm, again, why is it judicial activism when gays and lesbians use the courts, but not when conservatives use the courts?"
Well, that's a good question.
My first reaction is "It's not 'activism' when you move to eliminate the offending decision." That is to say, the original decision proposed changes far beyond the original intent of constitution of the great state of Massachutsetts. While I haven't studied the decision in great detail, I think the judges went too far, far too quickly.
This is not to say that I oppose gay marriage. This is not the case. But more than a few folks (including a few gay/lesbians I know, including one self-professed "Green/Yellow-dog Democrat" {g}) hold that pushing for complete acceptance, now actually increases resistance among middle-of-the-road Americans. Add to that the bad idea that many Federal judges apparently believe -that they are collectively Earl Warren, and that they Constitution is written in pencil- and you have a recipe for negative reaction against gay marriage. I cite the various November, 2004 State referendum/amendments as evidence. The results were decisively against gay marriage.
I think this is less a widespread prejudice against gay marriage than a reaction against what many feel to be a frequently abused judicial override of the administrative perogative.
A careful study of employee benefits packages offered by many corporations -which are generally held to be "conservative" in many ways- in the 1990s shows that they were offering progressively greater benefits to gay couples in order to hire the best people available. While the "dot-com" bubble burst several years ago, this demonstrates a basic truth: that the general American society is at least potentially ready to accept gay/lesbians as full partners in the social circle. It also shows that money-power is not only color-blind, but gender-neutral. But what else would you expect from a currency which prominently features men in pigtails?...
Point being that -I believe- gay/lesbians will achieve full political, social, and economic participation in American life in less than a generation. I'll even say the "tip over" point will be reached by 2020.
What can injure the advancement of gay/lesbian rights is the dogmatic, doctrinaire insistence of "freedom, NOW," by either the GLBT extremists, or the fringe elements of the modern "left." And, while I make it a point to strenuously avoid civil rights/gay rights analogies, it must be pointed out that extremist abolitionist groups in the North generally tended to reinforce Southern resistance to emancipation, not reduce it. Which influences tended to force, well, a solution of force instead of compromise.
Food for thought....
Aargh. Must blog more, stay up all night staring at the walls less.
Anyway, speaking of "Argghhh!," I'd like to welcome John of Argghhh! to my bloglist, and thank him for the reciprocity. If you haven't visted the Castle, check out his Gun P0rn, or this post, about a visiting moonbat with more (self-proclaimed) balls than brains.
Apparently Jeremiah is not familiar with professional soldiers. That's the catch, of course. Warriors are quite different from soldiers. And if you go back in history, you'll find the most dangerous, and consistently successfuly professionals were the Roman citizen-soldiers. Our men and women in uniform are their spiritual and operational descendants.
One of the key indicators of serious professionals is that they're, well, serious about what they do. They avoid the "slam/bang," "gee whiz" excitement that winds up the warriors. In fact if (again) you check the historical records, in WW2 the Germans found American advances rather unnerving. The Brits played music as they attacked, the French cheered, and so on. But the Amis just marched in a silent, cold resolve.
One of Jeremiah's slurs against American troops is that they are cowards because they can, and do habitually unleash artillery support which has demonstrated a bowel-loosening* accuracy and volume for over seventy years. No sane soldier wants to be on the recieving end of American artillery; not even the "hadjis" in Iraq. You'll notice they've been sticking with IEDs.
This complaint is nothing new. Even the vaunted Wehrmacht complained about the "unfair" artillery advantage they Amis had. It was, of course, unfair only to the extent that they couldn't return the favor...
But -you see- that's the difference between a warrior and a soldier. A warrior engages in war for the buzz, or the excitement. For him, it's fun.
A soldier, on the other hand has a rather more serious point of view. War is his profession. His motto is "heads, I win, tails, you lose." Or -to quote an anonymous wise man- "It's easier to expend material in combat than to fill out the forms for Graves Registration."
Better yet, I'll quote George Patton, one of the few American generals of whom the Germans were quite afraid:
Now, I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.
*for the other side, anyway. :)