Year: 2010

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Stop using IE6

When I look through the logs of this website, I can’t help but notice that many of you are still using Internet Explorer 6, which was released on August 27, 2001 – almost eight and half years ago! For the love of God… why are you still using IE6? In 2010?

The governments of France, Germany and Austria have advised their citizens to use something else. Google, Adobe and other companies have advised their customers to use something else. And now, Microsoft itself is asking IE 6 users to upgrade to IE 8. You can read for yourself on a Microsoft blog here:

We recommend users of IE6 on Windows XP upgrade to a new version of Internet Explorer and/or enable DEP. Users of other platforms are at reduced risk.  We also recommend users of Windows XP upgrade to newer versions of Windows.

Perhaps you work for a company that refuses to upgrade from IE 6. If that’s the case, print out this article from noted Windows expert Ed Bott and give it to your boss. Bott suggests that if your IT staff can’t replace IE 6, it’s time to replace your IT staff. It may sound harsh, but it’s true: IE 6 – with its “Swiss Cheese security” – has got to go.

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Thursday’s News Dump

– Hummel Figurines used to be worth a fair amount of money, oftentimes selling for $350 (or more) on eBay. Although there are still a few highly collectible figures selling in the thousands of dollars, most Hummel figurines are lucky to fetch $50 on eBay… and that’s on a good day. Why? Because the people who collected the things are dying off.

– Bradley Cooper is having a sex change. No, not that Bradley Cooper.

– Some idiots in Chattanooga stole some computers from a local school, then took them to Best Buy to have Geek Squad reset the passwords. When the geeks noticed that the domain name was the same as the school name, they called the cops, and the thieves were arrested.

– Some people seem to think that America has a monopoly on stupid. Not so. In a recent study, 26% of British children under sixteen thought bacon came from sheep, 29% thought that oats grew on trees, and 17% of all respondents (adults and children) thought that the main ingredient of bread was eggs. Read all about it here.

– Jessica Simpson likes to keep it classy by farting during business meetings. Nice.

– Wanna know why tech support people are always in a bad mood? Read this article at cracked.com; although it’s a humor site, there’s a lot of awful truth in what they guy says.

– Some Holiday Inns in the UK are offering a “pre-warming” service in which someone in “footie” pajamas will get in your bed and stay in it until the temperature reaches 68F.

– Lastly… the current estimated budget deficit for the United States government is $1.35 trillion dollars. Ever wonder how much that really is? Well, Alex Rodriguez is the highest paid player in baseball, and he gets $33 million a year. $1.35 trillion dollars could pay the same salary to 40,000 people for a year. If a dollar were a mile long, $1.35 trillion could circle the earth 54 million times. Heck, the earth has only been around 4.5 billion years; 1.35 trillion years is 300 earth life times. The Washington Monument is 555 feet tall; stacked end to end, it would take 2.4 billion copies of the monument to equal 1.35 trillion feet, which is significantly more than double the distance from the earth to the sun.

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Sorry!

Sorry for the lack of updates lately! I’ve been either a) social or b) working on a problem with iTunes\Outlook for the past few days, and that’s kept me from posting stuff. More articles are planned, I promise!

In the meantime, enjoy this cute picture of Erika Forster of Au Revior Simone:

Erika Forster

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-24

  • So… the Cards, the Ravens, the Cowboys and the Chargers all lose this weekend? And people say there's no God! #
  • Jeez – CNN LOVES themselves, don't they? #
  • To the Democrats: Ha-Ha! Love, your Libertarian friends #
  • I guess I can't call 'em "Massholes" any more, huh? #
  • Heidi Montag's new album sells 656 copies: http://ping.fm/eQH3Q #
  • "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." #
  • Hawaiian pizza for dinner and Chunky Monkey for dessert… YUM! #
  • Man, the Wii kicked my ass last night! Had fun with Amy & Tricia, though! 🙂 #

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The Bizarre History of Cereal

One of the things that really attracted me to the Anglican church is their mellow approach to the minutiae of everyday life. In the Anglican worldview, most “things” aren’t inherently bad, but rather what’s bad is the way people apply those things to their lives. Thus, alcohol isn’t bad, but being a drunk is. Sex isn’t bad, but being promiscuous is. Red meat isn’t bad, but being a glutton is. This “middle of the road” philosophy kept a “militant vegetarian wing” or “teetotaler wing” from forming in the Anglican faith.

Other religions, of course, disagree. Seventh-Day Adventists, for example, discourage the use of alcohol or tobacco and promote vegetarianism. Strict Seventh-Day Adventists even shun caffeine drinks like coffee, tea and soda.

But there was one Seventh-Day Adventist who took it even further. This man thought that red meat and pork were literally evil, not just in the “it causes heart disease” sense, but in the “it’ll make you rape women” sense. And he also thought that most forms of sexual intercourse were evil, too… even between married couples! He especially hated masturbation, and felt that it caused urinary diseases, epilepsy, insanity and mental and physical debility in general, as well as uterine cancer in women and impotence and nocturnal emissions in men… and yes, even “reduced vision”.

Continue reading “The Bizarre History of Cereal”

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Tuesday’s News Dump

I’m actually working on a new History Blog post today, but in the meantime, here’s a quick news dump to tide you over:

– You’ve probably heard about the mysterious stranger who left roses and cognac on Edgar Allen Poe’s grave on his birthday every year… well, this year he (or she) didn’t show up. Or at least, he hasn’t shown up yet. For the past sixty years, he’s shown up every January 19th before 5:30 am… but there’s been no sign of him so far.

– The folks over at Audioholics have noticed something interesting: the Lexicon BD-30, a high-end ($3,500!) Blu-Ray player is nothing more than a $500 Oppo BDP-83 Blu-Ray player stuffed into a fancy case. Apparently the people over at Lexicon didn’t even bother taking the Oppo out of its chassis: the Lexicon is literally an Oppo (chassis and all) stuffed into a fancy aluminum chassis and marked up $3,000. Nice. Read more here.

– Speaking of disc players, here’s Stereophile Magazines’ very first review of a CD player from 1983: the Sony CDP-101. It’s kind of funny how they worried whether there’d be enough “software” (music) to make the purchase worthwhile! Also interesting: the player’s $1,000 list price is $2,134.47 in 2008 dollars. To think that you can buy one for $13.96 these days.

– Baltimore football fans are a special kind of crazy.

– Want to make sure that your luggage arrives safe and sound on your next flight? Pack a gun in your bag. As you might know, carrying a handgun in checked luggage is not only not a crime, it only involves filling out a simple form at the check-in counter at the airport. And once your hand your bag over, your bag is placed in a high security area that’s constantly monitored (TSA really doesn’t want to lose a bag with a gun in it). What you may not know is that starter pistols are included on the list. Yes, those blank-firing “guns” used to start track and swim meets are considered “firearms” by the FAA. So you can buy one – no background check or waiting period needed, and legal in every state – and stuff it right into your bag. Even better: a used starter pistol should only set you back around $20.

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-17

  • Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3… Check two… Check.. check #
  • Haiti PM: "Hundreds of thousands dead". 🙁 #
  • Text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti! #
  • @wagnerofficial Happy Birthday, Jill! 🙂 #
  • Geaux Saints! #
  • HAHA! Kurt Warner sucks! #
  • Go Jackets! Way to beat UNC! #
  • You're still Cleveland and you still suck!!!! #
  • At the moment of my death… I hope there's bacon! #

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Cuteness Overload!

Here’s Au Revior Simone’s new video for “Another Likely Story”, one of my favorite songs from 2009:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MESdwdFY4iQ&feature=youtu.be

It’s not the best video I’ve ever seen, but the girls are super cute in it!

Enjoy!

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Georgia Tech hires Groh

I think this is good news. Opinions may differ:

Al Groh says he’s heading to Georgia Tech to be the Yellow Jackets’ defensive coordinator.

The former Virginia coach told The Associated Press on Friday that he set out several criteria before deciding where he wanted to coach in 2010, and Georgia Tech meets them. The top priority was taking a job where there’s a chance to win championships.

The Yellow Jackets are coming off their first outright ACC title since 1990 and played in the Orange Bowl. But they struggled on defense, firing coordinator Dave Wommack shortly after the season.

via Groh heading to Georgia Tech to run defense.