Microsoft is so aggravating

AAARRRGGGHHHH!!! Once again, Windows XP is driving me nuts. Even though I have a pretty fast machine, it still takes forever to boot up and to open an Explorer window. I routinely scan my machine for malware and I have optimized the system as best I could, and yet this still happens. It's all because Microsoft insists on doing all sorts of garbage -- all sorts of unnecessary stuff. And why? Because of their dumb design philosophy, that's why.

Bloody aggravating.

On a more pleasant note, I think that Maylo McCaslin is mighty cute. Too bad she didn't really hit the limelight. I wish she had landed her own show.

Lazy, obnoxious driver

So today, I parked at a spot on the curb. This fella drives past me, then backs up and says to me, "Look, when you see that someone wants to park somewhere..." I tuned him out at that point, as he was obviously a jerk. He obviously wanted the parking spot that I took, and he was upset... upset enough to back up and complain.

I cut him off and said, "I didn't know. If you want it, you can have it." In reality though, I was thinking, "You jerk. I had no way of knowing that you wanted this spot. What am I, a mind reader?"

What a jackass. To top it off, there were plenty of other spots along that curb. In fact, he was practically next to one, but he just had to back up and complain. That's why I chose to drive off. He was obviously a jerk, and there's no reasoning with them. You never know when they might take a tire iron to your car, or to pull a gun on you.

I wish I had taken down his license plate number... not that it would have done any good, of course. At times like this, I wish I could mentally implant some common sense into the brains of other drivers. What a lazy jackass he was.

As an aside... once again, Microsoft Windows is stalling on me. It's bloody annoying. Windows Explorer takes forever to open up. Ugh. No good reason why, mind you. Microsoft produces unbelievable bloatware, thanks to their idiotic design philosophy.

Apprentice Kendra

I remember watching Season Three of Donald Trump's The Apprentice on TV. I remember marveling at some of the business decisions that were made, as well as the class, intelligence and candor displayed by its winner, Kendra Todd. IMO, she was one of the most beautiful women on television. She didn't have the classic TV look, but she was basically nice looking, and her intelligence and charm pretty much pushed her over the top.

I was watching some youtube.com clips of her performance on the show. You go, girl! It was a delight to see the kind of thought that she put into her work, as well as her energy and dedication. She's certainly an inspiration to me.

Right now, I'm working on some tasks that are similar to what she had to deal with in Episode 14. I try to remember her work as I labor on this endeavor. I'd like to blow people away the way she did.

Singles site cheating, revisited

Earlier, I lamented the way some people attempt to cheat the system on online singles sites. I raised this issue on an online forum once, and lamented the lack of honesty and integrity in these actions. I also pointed out that such cheating reflects poorly on someone's character.

I was unprepared for the tremendous backlash that this received. People responded with tremendous venom, saying things like "Who cares? A lot of people do it" or "Why are you making a big deal of this? There are much more important things to discuss!" (As an aside, I responded to the latter by saying, "What a minute. Why are you making such a big deal over my reaction? Aren't there more important things to discuss? By your own logic, should you not abandon this discussion right now?"

One person responded, "You don't even know this person. How dare you say that this is a reflection of someone's character?" I stand by that claim, though. You don't need to know someone personally to understand that every wrongful action is a reflection of that person. It might not provide complete insight into every fiber of that person's being, but it's a reflection nonetheless. Besides, by that logic, we should have no business commenting on the character of, say, Saddam Hussein or O.J. Simpson -- not unless we know those people personally.

(As it turned out, this person was herself one of those singles site cheaters. No wonder she responded with such tremendous outrage. It wasn't a matter of principle; rather, she just didn't want to admit that her actions were dishonest, or that they reflected poorly on her.)

On a (very) tangentially related note, I'd love to meet someone who looks like a young Courtney Thorne-Smith. It's doubtful that any such person would ever require the services of a singles site, though. Besides, a person's character is much more important that one's looks. Much, much more important.

Smallpox and bioterrorism

Apparently, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) embarked a while back on the development of a safer smallpox vaccine. This is part of a preventive campaign against bioterrorism. Smallpox was nominally eradicated in 1979; however, a few samples of the live virus remain in the USA and in Russia. It is currently believed that certain countries -- both hostile and friendly -- may have samples of the virus as well. (North Korea, perhaps? Criminy.)

The classic smallpox vaccine (vaccinia) has some unpleasant side effects, and in rare cases (1 out of 1,000,000), it can even be fatal. For these reasons, its use is currently reserved for health care and emergency workers. The government has embarked on an effort to develop a safer vaccine--just in case it becomes necessary to deploy this vaccine in the populace at large.

Ideas for the next few seasons of "24"

I have a few ideas for upcoming seasons of "24":

Day 7: On December 24th, Jack Bauer has 24 hours to help Santa deliver all of his toys. In the process, he must also teach the people of Fayed's country the real meaning of Christmas... OR MILLIONS WILL DIE!!!

Day 8: On February 2nd, Jack Bauer gets to torture terrorists over and over again. Every time this happens, he gets a little bit better at it.

Day 9: April 1st. Need I say more?

Oh, and Chloe needs to have her own show. (Yes, I did just want to link to that page again. Mary Lynn Rajskub is such a treasure, and an unconventional beauty as well. If you've seen her on the cover of Geek Monthly, you know what I mean.)

Juveniles in their 20s and 30s

A female friend of mine was telling me about how horribly immature these two male friends of hers were. Frankly, I agree.

I went out with their group once, to ensure that they'd have a designated driver. We parked in a garage downtown, and as we made our way out, these two guys started kicking each other all over the place. I can imagine a couple of high school students doing that, but a pair of grown adults? I would have expected better.

We were joined by another one of their friends later. He was a bit more civil, but still not terribly mature. At the end of the night, two of these guys decided to ambush the third, take his shoes off, and thrown them into the street. What a bunch of idiots! It never occured to them that this would be an unsafe thing to do, especially at night. (Yes, they had been drinking. Still, unless you're stinkin' drunk, it should be immediately obvious to anyone that this is a terrible, mind-numbingly stupid idea. Besides, the two bozos who pulled this stunt were the least inebriated of the group, and had been drinking fairly modestly.)

To make matters worse, two of these idiots decided to wrestle on the sidewalk, right when were were downtown. Again, even if you've had something to drink, it should be obvious that that's an incredibly stupid thing to do. This cop drove by, and he agreed with that assessment; he told these bozos to knock it off. "But we're friends!" they protested. "I don't care," the cop said. "Knock it off."

What a bunch of idiots.

Mind you, I was in a hurry to get home... and what were these guys doing? They were jumping over the patio fences of nearby restaurants (which were thankfully closed), climbing up and down stairs, and so forth. Basically, they were goofing around and wasting time. I understand that they weren't in a hurry to get home, but really! More aggravating is the fact that these were just mindnumbingly stupid things for them to do. I'd expect a nine-year-old to think that was great fun, but not an adult.

How old were these guys? One was 28; the other was 35. I'm not sure how old the third fella was, but he was probably in that ballpark range. The first two guys were the worst offenders anyway, and they were a pair of morons. Grow up, kids!

Techno-whatsis?

So this company goes by the name 'M&S', and yet their website domain is unrelated to their name. In fact, their domain name seems quite unusual indeed. I wish I knew what the backstory was there.

Or maybe it's a cultural thing. The company is Japanese, after all... quite the successful Japanese company, by all indications. I dunno.

Speaking of Japanese culture, I just watch part of the Mazinkaiser saga. The anime feel to this show was quite distracting. Anime has its good points, but so much of the animation tends to be grotesque, overly dramatic, or jus wildly exaggerated. It's like the animation styles often incorporate plenty of detail for adult sensibilities, but add plenty of wild mugging as well, as though it were geared toward elementary school children. I don't get it, and sometimes, I think it's almost insulting to one's intelligence.

Not all of anime is like that, mind you... but a good amount of it is, for whatever reason. Ugh.

24's Chloe is back in form

Yes, she's back in form... and I'm not talking about Mary Lynn Rajskub's trim new look.

Chloe is finally getting more of the spotlight again in tonight's episode. she had been rather badly neglected earlier this season, especially for the last five episodes or so. Now she's finally getting some much-needed face time. She's not laying down as much snark as she used to, which is disappointing, but at least she's back in the game.

What's more, they're finally tying up some old plot lines, such as the deaths that Morris nearly caused. It's good to see that they haven't simply forgotten about all of his remorse.

And guess what? We finally got to see what happens when Chloe comes to her senses after attempting to support some of Jack's rogue operations. It's about bloody time. We all know that Chloe is generally willing to do some shady under-the-table work, almost without question, so seeing another side to her personality is refreshing.

Raving about a few things

I'm really enjoying the TV series Bones on Fox. Very clever and very funny, with some excellent acting. Emily Deschanel, in particular, is a real treasure.

I also started watching Tim Minear's show, Drive -- also on Fox. Very clever, and Nathan Fillion does an excellent job as always.

On a more scholarly note, I've been learning about Plato's classic work, The Republic. I certainly don't agree with everything that Plato seems to be saying, but I do enjoy learning about it. Learning about the pre-Socratic philosophers (Thales, Anaximenes, Anaximander, Democritus and company) has been quite illuminating, and inspiring as well.

I cannot stand Deal or No Deal, though. There's no real intelligence behind this show. One could use a simple formula to produce the most logical decision, which is why they wrap the show in so much useless theatrics and emotionality. Not good.

Rajskub on 24

I noticed that Mary Lynn Rajskub has been given second billing on the hit TV show, 24. For some reason though, they're making very little use of her this season, though. What a shame, as her character is immensely popular amongst fans -- especially among male computer geeks, I daresay.

Ms. Rajskub plays techie whiz Chloe O'Brien, a computer geek with only the most rudimentary of social skills. She does wield a mean M4 carbine assualt rifle though, and she's pretty handy with a taser.

She's kinda pretty this season too, thanks to her new hair color and a more flattering outfit. If only they'd use her more, darn it! She's good for the occasional bit of drama, and she's always good for comic relief.

Publishing papers

An acquaintance of mine was telling me about a certain paper that she found interesting. This got me thinking... I'd really like to publish more papers soon. Various obligations though -- mostly work-related -- have been preventing me from doing so.

It doesn't help that I now have to assume some new marketing-related duties. Ugh. I don't mind doing this, but it's not the sort of work that really helps me in my primary career path. It certainly doesn't help me look like a star.

I do way too much writing nowadays, and way too much documentation work. It's necessary, though -- necessary if I want to help this company succeed and become more regularly profitable. We've had some lean times lately, and I'd like to help us become more stable.

It's gotta be done. It's necessary. It's also frustrating.

If only I didn't have to work so hard at trimming down, or at educating myself on various subjects (philosophy, science, literature, etc). That'd make life so much easier. If I were naturally trim, fit and attractive, then that'd certainly give me a lot more leisure time.

Rats. Double rats.

Jodi Benson -- I want more!

I had read that Jodi Benson performed some voice work, early in her career, for the anime film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds. I was disappointed to find out, however, that she only had a few lines, and that she didn't even get to sing.

Jodi is, of course, the voice of Disney's Princess Ariel, and my favorite singer of all time. I relish every opportunity to hear her sing. She also has an excellent speaking voice though, so I enjoy all of her voice work. I would gladly pay money just to hear her read the telephone book, for pity's sake.

What a talent and a treasure.

Disguised e-mail addresses on singles site profiles

I belong to a few different Christian dating service websites. These sites typically provide both paid membership accounts and free membership services with restricted rights. For example, the free membership agreements typically do not allow their users to send e-mail addresses or other contact info. (The systems automatically block e-mail addresses in such profiles. Dishonest members are thereby forced to use creative techniques for disguising their addresses.)

I noticed that there are a great many profiles that contain these disguised e-mail addresses. This bothers me greatly; after all, Christians are supposed to exemplify honesty and integrity. If Christians choose to deliberately cheat the system, thereby avoiding the need to pay a membership fee, then what does that say about our Christian character?

Just this week, I contacted a woman who seemed like a promising prospect. She immediately wrote back and said, "I'm on an unpaid membership. You can contact me at <>."

My response? "I'm sorry, but I'm really not comfortable with using disguised contact information. I think that as Christians, we need to honor and respect the rules on these sites. I believe that is what Jesus would want us to do."

She wrote back, "I did it because of finances and the lack of great matches. Proceed as you wish." That was her explanation. There was no expression of repentance or regret -- no acknowledgement that she had attempted to cheat the system, and that this was wrong.
I said, "Believe me, I'm sympathetic to your situation. I've gone through some lean times myself. At the same time though, I'm become convinced that I need to honor these rules, as a matter of Christian testimony. I would rather seek ways to exchange contact information legitimately. For example, in this situation, I would have been happy to give you MY e-mail address instead; after all, I'm a paying member, so I have that freedom."

I don't think I'll be contacting her again. It's not simply that she chose to cheat the system, unfortunate as that may be. Rather, the bigger problem was the lack of remorse in her explanation. There was no admission that her actions were dishonest, or that there were other ways that we could have exchanged contact info. Rather, she simply emphasized that it was a financial decision on her part, as though that settled everything.

What a terrible shame.