Your license, please

This is why people who want to become parents should have to register, and pass a series of exams, including psychological exams.

AP) Police say a 2-year-old left alone for nearly three weeks while her mother was behind bars survived by eating mustard, ketchup, rice and raw pasta.

Authorities say the toddler was watching cartoons when found by her father. Police say the little girl is suffering from malnutrition and is now being treated at Wolfson Children's Hospital.

She was arrested and didn't tell anyone her two-year-old was at home alone! When her estranged husband tracked her down, she told him the child was with neighbors!

Being a parent is not a right. It's a privilege and a responsibility. You, useless piece of crap that you are, should never never again be allowed to endanger her. You don't deserver her, and your soon-to-be ex husband should get full custody of her.

I have no sympathy for anyone who abuses a child. Period.

UPDATE 2003.10.01: Bigwig over at Silflay Hraka has an entry on this entitled I Eat The Red.

I knew hockey was tough, but...

CBC Sports: Satan signs two-year deal with Sabres

Satan, an NHL all-star in 2000 and 2002, led the Sabres in goal scoring for the last five seasons.

In seven NHL seasons, Satan has 230 goals and 232 assists for 462 points in 622 games with Edmonton and Buffalo.

I'm sorry - I couldn't resist the headline. :)

WTF?!?

Just had an extended lunch break. Why? Bomb-threat to a business on the main floor of our building. We evactuated. Eventually.

I have no problem with evacuating under these circumstances. What I do have a problem with is the @#$!@#$ alarm system in this building. The policy manual for this building says that in case of alarm, unless on the floor of a fire, we should wait for instructions from the alarm intercom.

First, the alarm strobes started flashing. Then the electronic chimes started going. Then, after a very long time: "Your attention please! Your attention please!". Then back to strobes and chimes, but no message. Hello? You have our attention... what's up? This cycle repeated: strobes, chimes, "Your attention please! Your attention please", over and over. Then, it modified to this: Strobes. Chimes. "Your attention please! Your attention please! This is". This is what? A test? A drill? NOT a test? NOT a drill? A pizza? An April Fools joke? What is it, dammit?

We evacuated without waiting any longer.

Fix the damned intercom, you dumbasses.

Incidentally, the bomb-threat appears to have been a hoax. Happy Friday.

Friday Five 2003 09 26

Friday Five for today:

No questions this week, folks! I'm taking a break for the week but will return next Friday, October 3rd. Have a good weekend!

Curses! And me without a backup Friday plan!

I can live with this...

Which OS are You?

Link via fembat.net

Pride

CBC: Battle-trained Canadian soldiers use brains, not brawn, during Kabul mission:

KABUL (CP) - Canadian soldiers trained to kill and destroy with cool efficiency are instead saving lives and helping rebuild a country battered by more than two decades of war.

In and around the Afghan capital, hardcore Canadian paratroopers are brokering a delicate solution to a potentially explosive conflict between squatters in tents and the villagers living in adobe homes below them.

This is something to be proud of. It's something Canadians, with a long Peacekeeping history, have always been good at. Just ask the people of Bosnia, who remember "King Marco" well.

We treat our military like crap - we ignore them, we cut their budgets, force them to make do with substandard and aging equipment - and what do they do? They do us proud.

Arrrrr! Talk like a pirate day!

Ahoy!. Today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I know you have always wanted t'talk like a pirate, and now's your chance! Much thanks t'that lovely lass Michele over at a small victory for t'heads up!
Avast! Ye scurvy dogs!

An Interview with Izzy

Hurricane Isabel has given Bill over at Bloviating Inanities an exclusive interview:

Bill: Hi Izzy. Mind if I call you Izzy?

Isabel: Mind if I remove your roof and deposit it in your pool?

This is exciting stuff - she may be tough, but she's funny, too!

Friday Five 2003 09 19

Friday Five for today:

1. Who is your favorite singer/musician? Why? - I don't have a single favorite. I like lots of music and lots of singers. I also hate lots, too.


2. What one singer/musician can you not stand? Why? - Celine Dion. She does have talent, but I wish she'd use it for good, rather than sing that putrid crap she sings. Crap. Crap crap crap. Blecch.
3. If your favorite singer wasn't in the music business, do you think you would still like him/her as a person? - I doubt it.
4. Have you been to any concerts? If yes, who put on the best show? - Best show I ever went to was the first time I saw Dr Hook in concert. Although Supertramp was a close second, and Meatloaf not far behind.
5. What are your thoughts on downloading free music online vs. purchasing albums? Do you feel the RIAA is right in its pursuit to stop people from dowloading free music? - I think I've ranted on this before - CDs are expensive. I have mp3s. I also own, in one form or another, every song I have in mp3 format. I don't have any CDs that are less than 10 years old. The RIAA is right to try to protect itself, but has been completely and totally wrong in its methods. It should have embraced the new technology, instead of stomping on it and the people who use it. I hereby decree that all members of the RIAA shall be forced to listen to the music of Demis Roussos¹. In its entirety. Through all eternity.

¹I hope there are few who truly appreciate what a terrible curse that is. My brother once described the singing of Demis Roussos as "the braying of an asthmatic donkey".

Worms, worms, everywhere worms...

Yesterday afternoon, around 2pm, the internal networks at work were invaded by WORM_NACHI.A (aka W32/Welchia.worm10240 [AhnLab], W32/Nachi.worm [McAfee], WORM_MSBLAST.D [Trend], Lovsan.D [F-Secure], W32/Nachi-A [Sophos], Win32.Nachi.A [CA], Worm.Win32.Welchia [KAV]), which generated so much internal traffic that it slowed our systems down, and our external access was blocked.

This generated an amazing amount of traffic considering that our internal workstations are 95% Windows NT, which is not affected by this worm.

This pathogen got in because a) some machines, new ones mostly, were not properly patched and b) a few machines didn't have up-to-date virus pattern files.

I don't wait for the NT group to patch my machine through SMS. I update my own. Same thing with virus protection. My machine works fine. I've never had a virus or worm on any workstation or server I'm responsible for.

If you're going to run a Microsoft shop, train your damned people how to maintain the protection on their workstations! They're not stupid. If they were stupid, you wouldn't have hired them in the first place, right? They don't have to know how to do everything, but if they're working on a computer, they should know the basics. Virus protection and security updates are the basics. Teach them.

Bill: go stand in the corner. Here's your Dickhead Dunce Cap.

---

UPDATE 2003.09.29: I seem to getting a significant number of hits from people looking for a way to fix the damage if they've been hit by this little piece of crap.

Here are some URLs to try:

Trend Micro
F-Prot
McAfee
Sophos

If anyone has a favorite security site with information and removal instructions, that I have not listed here, please feel free to leave a comment, and I'll add it.

Friday Five 2003 09 12

A rather belated Friday Five:

1. Is the name you have now the same name that's on your birth certificate? If not, what's changed? - Yep. I kinda like the name Mom and Dad gave me. Although far too many people insist on shortening it to "Mike". If I introduce myself to you as "Michael", and you shorten it to "Mike" without asking, then I reserve the right to shorten your name to "Asshole".
2. If you could change your name (first, middle and/or last), what would it be? - No thanks. Mom and Dad went through the agony of choosing a name for me - all you parents out there know what I mean - so I'm going to stick with this one, thanks.
3. Why were you named what you were? (Is there a story behind it? Who specifically was responsible for naming you?) - "Hey you" was deemed to be too generic. Although one of my brothers was rather creative in finding alternate names for me, but that's a different story.
4. Are there any names you really hate or love? What are they and why? - Made up, pseudo names. Like LaVonda, or LaShandra, or LaShasta. "Ooh, it sounds kinda French!" Yeah? How about LaPepsi? Or maybe LaCoke? I also hate common names that have "creative" spellings: Sindi, or Sindee, or Britnee, or... well, you get the idea.¹
5. Is the analysis of your name at kabalarians.com / triggur.org / astroexpert accurate? How or how isn't it? - who the hell cares? Anyone who thinks that the name my parents chose for me could possibly make me in any way similar to everyone else with the same first name, is seriously deluded. Unless your birth certificate says your name is Cokehead McDruggie, of course. Then, maybe you'd be just like everyone else with that name.

¹NOTE: if you have one of these names, I don't hate you, I hate your parents. Assholes.

Remembering

Michele at A Small Victory has gathered together stories of 9-11.

And has links to sites remembering 9-11.

Poetic justice...

Bigwig over at Silflay Hraka pointed out this news story. Apparently since the RIAA started its legal crackdown through lawsuits against downloaders, CD sales have fallen 54%.

I have an mp3 collection, but every single song is also found on CDs, LPs or cassettes that I own. None of them is newer than 10 years old. I can't afford CDs. They're too damned expensive. I don't get revenge by downloading all the songs I like. I get revenge by listening to radio. The record companies get some money from this, sure, but not as much as they do from CD sales. And listening is free.

Universal Music has figured it out. They've just dropped prices. Not enough, in my view, but it's a start. $9.99 (Canadian) for a CD from a new artist isn't great, but it's not as ridiculous as it was. Drop 'em a bit more, and I might actually buy CDs again.

Taking out the trash...

Laurence Simon over at Amish Tech Support walks home from work every day. He sees a lot of litter. He hates litter:

Know what really chafes my ass, besides ill-fitting boxers during my 2.4 mile walk home?

Litter. Litter chafes my ass.

When I walk past litter, I pick it up and I pitch it. It's a bad-good habit of mine, and if I don't toss litter out it drives me nuts for an hour or two. If this is obsessive-compulsive behavior at its worst, then may everybody come down with it.

His message to the Blogosphere:

My challenge to the blogosphere is to pick up one piece of trash and toss it in a trash recepticle. Blog about it if you have to. But for God's sake, clean all this crap up.

Our son is three-and-a-half. He hates litter, too. Whenever he sees a chip bag or chocolate bar wrapper on the ground, he points it out, and says "A bad man dropped that! He's bad!"

He then picks it up, and puts it in the nearest garbage container.

I'm proud of our son. I wish more people had kids like this.

To Karen

Happy Anniversary

Thank you for five wonderful years.
Love, Michael

Friday Five 2003 09 05

Friday Five for today:

1. What housekeeping chore(s) do you hate doing the most? - I have to choose? Ugh. I'd say, cleaning the bathroom.


2. Are there any that you like or don't mind doing? - Vacuuming isn't bad.


3. Do you have a routine throughout the week or just clean as it's needed? - it gets done when it gets done.


4. Do you have any odd cleaning/housekeeping quirks or rules? - No. Unless you count the - er, no. None.


5. What was the last thing you cleaned? - the dishes.

Has GDubya seen this?

I just love this twist on the Nigerian Scam. I can hardly wait for someone to actually send it out:

Dear Sir/Madam

You may be surprised to receive this letter from me, but I have only now regained the ability to write. For the purpose of introduction, I am Mr. Saddam Hussein, the son of Dr. Hussein al-Majid, a wealthy ruler/provider in Iraq who was murdered when I was but a boy in a tribal dispute common to my my country, and many others.

I got your contact through the internet based on our urgent need for a dependable and trustworthy foreign partner. Hence I decided to write to you.

Link trail:Silflay Hraka -> Rhetorica: Carnival of the Vanities #50 -> Fringeblog

New Squid on the Block

Thanks to my wife for pointing out this article a few days ago (ok, so it took me awhile to blog this): A new species of giant squid has been discovered in Australia recently.

The 250 kilogram (550 pound) specimen was found dead on a beach in Hobart, Tasmania. Scientists transported the animal in a trailer to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, where they examined it further.

Experts found several characteristics which they say they have never encountered before - including long, thin flaps of muscle attached to each of the squid's eight arms.

I happen to think squid are cool. Your Mileage May Vary (or, in metric: Your Kilometrage May Vary).
Oh yeah. This here be Entry Number 100! Wow! I've managed to ramble and rant my way through One Hundred Entries! Yeeeeeha!

Thank you. Thank you very much.

No, stop it. You're too kind. Thank you.

Some people...

This-or-That is gone forever:

This-or-That is gone forever...at least from my servers!

Thanks to all who played, and were appreciative of my work.

The reason it is gone for good is that I was pushed too far by people who took the meme TOO DAMNED SERIOUSLY. I have always considered this to be a hobby, and when it stopped being fun, I would stop doing it. That day has come. It's not fun when people get up my ass about not liking the questions, or when am I gonna put the site back up? Yes, the brunt of it all has fallen upon ME. And I am SICK of it. Literally.

It's sad. It was fun, and I know lots of people enjoyed it, but really, was it necessary to hound the creator, because you didn't like the questions she posted? or because the site was on hiatus, because she needed a break? Good lord! Do what I did! Make up your own damned questions! Skip a week! Read a book! Jump in a lake! Anything. But no, you had to ruin a good, fun thing.

Dickheads.