jwz asks the rabid hippies to stfu

jwz - adventures in the service industry:

There aren't many things I enjoy more than dicking around with my sendmail configuration. (PS: Recommend different mail server software if you'd like me to ban you, it's no problem really.)

Jamie Zawinsky is Teh Shit. His pre-emptive response to the undoubted flood of "postfix is better" crowd is hilarious.

Brian Krebs article - Just Your Basic Windows User

Brian Krebs - (washingtonpost.com):

'I was browsing an ordinary commercial Web site, when I got a popup from exitexchange.com (a major U.S. ad network, with headquarters in Portland, Oregon) . The popup sent me to a third party's Web site. (I'll call that third party 'X' for convenience. ... ) Then X ran a series of exploits to take control of my test PC, including using the widely reported WMF exploit uncovered last month.' (This was the flaw in Internet Explorer that allows Web sites to install whatever they want on visiting PCs browsing malicious sites with IE. Microsoft patched this flaw last week.)'

[Mr.] Edelman continues:

'Once X took control of my PC, X caused my computer to install and run 180solutions Zango software, among a dozen other programs. Notably, X fully installed 180's Zango without me taking any action whatsoever -- without me clicking 'I agree,' 'Yes,' 'Finish' or any other button of any kind.'

Brian Krebs - (washingtonpost.com):

[Nick] Feito, who uses America Online's high-speed Internet service, said he relies on AOL's built-in security -- which includes free firewall and anti-virus software from McAfee Inc. -- to insulate him from the seamier side of the Net.

What [Mr.] Feito couldn't possibly have known is that (the cracker) had modified his bot program enough so that the majority of anti-virus programs on the market today would not detect it even if they were equipped with the latest updates.

Yes, they can do that, because virus applications only guard against what their programmers have discovered already out there, and not what's hitting your computer right now. Unfortunately, Mr Feito was a regular user: He occasionally patches his Windows, he was safe behind the protection of the AOL-issued firewall and scanner apps, and he generally avoided the 'bad' sites. It wasn't enough.

Mr Feito appears to have forgotten the first rule of business: Business makes money; our well-being and happiness are secondary, and only a goal pursued as long as the financial benefits outweigh the costs.

Here's the short list of what I recommend, in case you cared:

• Run the Windows firewall.
  
  The one built into Windows is crap, but more because of how Windows is built rather than how good the firewall itself is; I'm not recommending spending $80 on a 3rd-party firewall right now, simply because MS isn't known to be open about its programming code; potential competitors must work blind, and their stuff will have more bugs. So get some bugs for a minor improvement? Nah.
  
  Get thy windows behind a NAT device. Also called a Hardware Firewall or Broadband Router, the NAT technology running separate from your windows box will provide better security than the windows firewall. The difference is that the seperate box is less vulnerable to attacks because it has less features, and NAT technology protects your computer while it's just sitting there.
  
  I hate D-Link products (I think they have really bad tech support) but their smallest NAT box (the DI-604) is going for $50 at, well, everywhere. $20 more for a USB print server (DI-704p) as well. Some programs hate NATs, so ask questions and consider the options.
  
  
• Update your system, often but carefully
  
  The tricky part here is that some companies have been known to shove crap into their updates, stuff that either benefits them or the people paying them to do so -- again, it's a financial thing, and we need to understand that. I see the irony of saying not to trust the only people who can fix the bugs they accidentally put into your operating system, that's what you have to do. The company was successfully sued for millions for really bad practices. And then again. And again. Avoid the big patches. Install what you have to, and don't trust their motives.
  
  
• Exercise your right to choose -- use your brain!
  
  Virus writers respond with new 'releases' within hours. Microsoft responds, on average, in 134 days. If the news of a bug is reported publicly, and MS can't delay, it has been known to rush something in 46 days. For catasrophic problems where someone can simply contact your system and get in, they've been known to rush something out in 10 days. That's only 9.9 days where your machine is potentially completely vulnerable to be hacked, just by sitting there without the protection of a seperate hardware firewall. Why? In one case it was a policy decision to wait until the 'regular monthly patch day,' something I look forward to telling the FDIC when I ask for my stolen bank account back.
  
  The company is turning a nice profit because we continue to let them. But I don't care about the economics, really, so much as I care that you avoid as much of this as possible. So, find an organization which responds more quickly and offers a similar feature set - most offer more - and use their stuff. Especially if they work better with others and adhere better to the building codes.
  
  Get that ounce of prevention going.

Finally, and here's the most important thing, in my books.

• Question everything, trust nothing
  
  Consider the source. Examine email for validity. Question the motives of the company offering you this software update 130 days late, and beware their promise of 'more features' from a software fix. Question why you're using this expensive application, and ask if there's something that can do the same thing, exactly the same, without costing as much or anything at all. Ask why you're doing what you're doing. Ask if you can do it better, or if, for that money, it should have been done better.
  
  You're the customer: You have no money to waste and very little time. Spend them both wisely.
  

Remember The Milk

I stumbled upon this cute little site, today, called Remember The Milk. It's a to-do list thing. It's generally more silly for me than a real tool, since I have to go there to manage my stuff instead of using a tool on my machine, since it doesn't merge with any of the 12 other bug databases and to-do lists I consult each day and since it's just probably not going to reward the time I spend on it with any kind of labour savings. It's also firmly in beta, and I use too many of those at google.

But I wanted to talk about it for one of the great features it's pushing out. Rtm has this ability to send SMS or IM reminders so that you don't forget something. Seems simple, right? Actually, it's a feature becoming more and more common. However, the AIM and MSN warnings keep going offline, because MS and AOL's IM networks are not open : in order to offer MS and AOL people a service, RTM needs to continually reverse-engineer the secret protocols (figure out how messages are sent by taking apart network data or trial-and-error) which these IM clients use. In short, they have to work at it.

The same is true of the RSS alert system I use. Since Google fully opened up the GTalk network, I've subscribed to jabrss@cmeerw.net, which I've told to watch blogs and news sites, and it sends me updates when those 'RSS feeds' get updated, over the Jabber/GTalk network, which I use Gaim to access.

Instant Messaging (oh, that may be patented)Instant Messengers are today like e-mail was like 20 years ago. Want to send a message from Bitnet to milnet? Nah, can't happen, unless the gateway's working today. You and your friend better both get accounts on compatible networks. The idea that I can send a message - from the same account - to joey@gmail.com as well as presidente@whitehouse.org would have been baffling to an Internet (arpanet) user Back In The Day. It would have been like magic.

Then, like building codes, standards came along for e-mail messages, formerly laying out the format of the message and of the communications. Servers were built toward this new 'simple' standard, and then server programs emerged which could talk to all the different networks.

Let's talk about Instant Messengers. (Messaging? I forget which is a patented phrase) Currently, all the different networks don't talk well with each other. Unlike the milnet/bitnet thing, this is entirely due to design vs ignorance, and while the earlier networks moved together, it's only the threat of being marginalized which has made MSN and AOL move together; for the longest time, ICQ people and AIM people couldn't talk to one another, and both secret protocols were owned by the same company!

Let's talk about Jabber. Know what that is? It's the cute name for XMPP, which is an ugly acronym for Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol, which is even uglier. Jabber is an official standard - again, like a building code - for Instant Messaging. It says how messages can be sent form one Jabber person to another, and it's neither a company secret nor something you have to pay to see. In fact, MSN and AOL could design a new app with this protocol very easily and start moving their people over.

And it's been out for about 4 years now.

Know why MSN and AOL haven't changed you over to a new version of their stuff which uses XMPP as its communications standard? It's simple: if they do that, you can talk to your friends on Jabber or or YIM without having to make them switch networks. They want you to say to your friends "Get on this network too" before they can speak to you. Why? Because the programs you download will probably be from MSN or AOL.

Which will have advertisements.

Advertisements are business revenue, in case you've forgotten. So the Network Effect makes you bring your friends, and we all get to see whatever crap ads all the IM companies have convinced us to see. And we all have like a million stupid icons down in the little system tray thingy.

The companies aren't stupid, though. Now you can talk between MSN users and AOL users. Maybe they've even got their voice-chat going by now as well. The thing is, it's too little and too late.

Jabber's big supporter is google. Google's put out their gtalk application, and it works well enough. Since, though, it's based around this XMPP stuff, if you don't like GTalk you can easily go elsewhere: The Gizmo Project, for instance, provides a chat and voice application which is 100% compatible with Google Talk. Get that? 100%. Unlike MSN or AIM, they're not gonna stop inter-operating tomorrow. The same is true with the Earthlink chat service, or GnomePhone, or the Asterisk PBX system you can put in your home for $100 (Yeah: you use a phone, talk to people on either phones or internet without caring which it is). The name of the game, in chat like in email apps, is choice: I can use a Blackberry, mozilla or Seamonkey to check my mail, and I can use a regular phone or a program to voice-chat for free on the net, too. The point is, there are choices, if you'll simply allow yourself to make them.

What's next? Jabber servers will become a bit more popular. Like email, you'll soon be able to use one with your ISP's email account, so I can simply plug in Joey@some.place.not.google.com and Joey's internet phone would ring. Soon, the big and slow dinosaurs of the IM age will either adapt or die, and sending messages and chatting via voice will be just as easy as email eventually became.

Twenty years ago.

The Blog | Merrill Markoe: Tough on Terror, Tough on Stains | The Huffington Post

The Blog | Merrill Markoe: Tough on Terror, Tough on Stains | The Huffington Post:

If the current administration had simply run as the Pennzoil/ Halliburton ticket, no one would have had the slightest doubt about what was going to happen to the country in the next eight years.

1. Don't get all "We didn't know he was an idiot" about the election. You had your eyes open.

2. Funniest last line ever.

News-Leader.com | Capitalism Beats Compassion 2-0

News-Leader.com | News Update:

Monett — Rural firefighters stood by and watched a fire destroy a garage and a vehicle because the property owner, who was injured battling the flames, had not paid membership dues.

Monett Rural Fire Department Chief Ronnie Myers defended the policy, saying the membership-based organization could not survive if people thought the department would respond for free. The department said it will fight a fire without question if a life is believed to be in danger.

I'm not going to talk about the callous nature of the firefighters trying ot make an expensive point, and maybe the homeowner knew about the policy before and just didn't think it worth the money. I'm glad no one was seriously injured, and I'll be glad if the district moves to a tax-supported plan in the next year.

I think, though, that this kind of event highlights the problems of putting the money over the people. Care-givers of all kinds need to be able to do their job to the best of their ability, and people need to know that they're being looked-after by people who like their job and aren't in it just for the money.

The fact that we have doctors, nurses and even hospital floor-moppers going on strike and ruining the pathetic care we have now, that's a major issue. There are people in the industry who really want to help other people, who really want to heal the sick, catch bad guys and put out fires. These people aren't allowed because there are no clean sheets or floors, no nursing staff which isn't too overworked, no cops who can spare the time away from filling forms or operating radar guns and no competitive (read: better) wage at every level of the care-giving organization.

Isn't it time we realized that capitalism has its place, and that place isn't to obstruct us from getting the care we need? The practice of caring for other humans is where the line should be drawn, at the very least. Mandate it, set some low numbers to weed out the lamers, make the education affordable, have a federal oversight commitee to handle mistakes and beefs and problems and reporting serious international cases to the world court, and Make It Work.

Yeah, it'll suck when private practioners will suddenly have to pay fees ore in tune with their prices, but that's the way it is. Medically un-necessary procedures - determined through guidelines set in meetings open to the press - will cost. The rest will not bankrupt people.

Make sense? Vote me dictator and let me fix your planet.

Newer open source software doomed in enterprise says SAP - Computer Business Review

I was fuming after reading about Dovecot Falling Down today. UW-Imap has been bug-report-free for longer than Dovecot (it's a mail server; can't you tell by the name?) has even been on the planet, and now Dovecot hasn't been bug-free for as long as UW-Imap. The kids - who were all born after sendmail, I should mention - seem to love it and the distros will probably still include this provably-worse software in their distros.

And Dovecot isn't even out of beta yet, and it's in Enterprise offerings. You catch that one? Enterprise. You know, the stuff that companies want to sell us, which can apparently run our stock markets, warships and nuclear research labs.

I'm not saying that national defense will hinge upon our ability to send mail on-time and securely - although it may soon - and maybe that kind of organization is the upper end of Enterprise, but the idea that this kind of software package will be part of what people want to sell us for that kind of scale of business is really unfortunate.

Don't get me wrong, O thin-skinned developers of Dovecot who cannot take the written assertion that your beta product is not fit for military use, I'm sure it's a good product and you're all very proud of it. Let's hug and let me go on.

So I was fuming about OS vendors using such new and untested products in their offerings, forsaking those with a track record of any kind, and I came upon this article. Same day, kids.

Newer open source software doomed in enterprise says SAP - Computer Business Review:

As CIOs look to consolidate their IT operations, relatively immature open source software has little chance of surviving in the enterprise, said an SAP AG executive during a speech at the Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco.
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That consolidation wave has already begun, both with vendors and among enterprise customers that seek lower operating costs and complexity, said Peter Graf, SAP executive vice president of solution marketing.

'The question for customers is, Is this [software] stable enough to bet the farm on? They cannot afford to risk their companies on a technology that may not be stable enough to carry their business in the long run,' he said.

"So there's a lot of concern on the part of the buyers, now, because they don't want to bet their business on something which may crash.

It's all kinda vindicating, in a way, that someone out there agrees with me: choose stuff that you know works, because you can see the day where it broke and the day where they fixed it. Let these upstart projects cook for ten years and see how well they fare -- I'm looking at you, postfix. I'm thinking that, if they even do remotely better, it'll have something to do with population increases and more Internet use. And that's it.

We're seeing Microsoft, for instance, taking the piss out of Linux, these days, pointing to the bug reports on CVE (linked above) and whatnot, and saying that Linux has a lot more bugs than Windows, and just look at the stats. The sad truth is that those stats aren't wrong. Look at them. The amount of crap that's bundled into these Linux installations, just so they have the features they want, is really starting to make them look bad because of all the bugs being found in these untested backyard projects.

I think it's time they took a long, hard look at products with track records, and decide what they want to include in the next run.

globeandmail.com : Scaling the firewall of digital censorship

globeandmail.com : Scaling the firewall of digital censorship:

TORONTO — More than fifteen years after the Berlin Wall was shattered with hammers and bulldozers, a Canadian-designed computer program is preparing to break through what activists call the great firewall of China.

The program, in the late stages of development in a University of Toronto office, is designed to help those trapped behind the blocking and filtering systems set up by restrictive governments. If successful, it will equip volunteers in more open countries to help those on the other side of digital barriers, allowing a free flow of information and news into and out of even the most closed societies.

It's a tunnel. It's an on-demand port 443 tunnel. It's not even P2P: people have to arrange beforehand to have the traffic proxy through the endpoint in the 'free' country. Want to see me duplicate this in 60 seconds or less?

This is pathetic and it's also 5-year-old technology. Then again, great PR.

Student finds toilet water cleaner than ice at fast food restaurants

News Stories - Tampa Bay's 10 News - WTSP:

New Tampa, Florida [America] - 12-year-old Jasmine Roberts is a seventh-grade student at Benito Middle School in New Tampa.

When it came time for her to choose a science project, she wondered about the ice in fast food restaurants.

Jasmine Roberts, 7th-grade student:
'My hypothesis was that the fast food restaurants’ ice would contain more bacteria that the fast food restaurants’ toilet water.'

So [Miss] Roberts set out to test her hypothesis, selecting five fast food restaurants [within] a ten-mile radius of the University of South Florida.

[Miss] Roberts says at each restaurant she flushed the toilet once, [the] used sterile gloves to gather samples.

Jasmine Roberts:
'Using the sterile beaker I scooped up some water and closed the lid.'

[Miss] Roberts also collected ice from soda fountains inside the five fast food restaurants. She also asked for cups of ice at the same restaurant's drive thru windows.

She tested the samples at a lab at the Moffitt Cancer Center where she volunteers with a USF professor. [Miss] Roberts says the results did not surprise her.

Jasmine Roberts:
'I found that 70-percent of the time, the ice from the fast food restaurant's contain more bacteria than the fast food restaurant's toilet water.'

Interesting article, although it did need some translation to Civilised English.

Now, I've seen American fast-food restaurants: dingy greasy shacks, they're staffed with lazy, apathetic fat kids or - when they can't get lazy fat kids to do the work - hard-working people who don't speak English very well. Unfortunately, too little of the more capable latter type of employee.

Having used the restroom in a few of them, I've learned that something can be clean but not tidy, and, more imporantly to me, tidy but not clean. The idea that lazy staff would be poking their unwashed fecalform hands into the ice machine isn't that hard to fathom.

I just hope that civilised kids are a bit better about cleanliness.

New Scientist - skiers get smart armour

New Scientist Breaking News - US and Canadian skiers get smart armour:

A futuristic flexible material that instantly hardens into armour upon impact will protect US and Canadian skiers from injury on the slalom runs at this year's Winter Olympics.

The lightweight bendable material, known as d3o, can be worn under normal ski clothing. It will provide protection for US and Canadian skiers taking part in slalom and giant slalom races in Turin, Italy.

Now this is awesome. I say this not as a skier but as a sometime practitioner of martial arts and someone looking for some new arm protection.

Under normal conditions the molecules within the material are weakly bound and can move past each with ease, making the material flexible. But the shock of sudden deformation causes the chemical bonds to strengthen and the moving molecules to lock, turning the material into a more solid, protective shield.

In laboratory testing, d3o-guards provided as much protection as most conventional protective materials, its makers claim.

I also think that Kevin should wear this all the time. Daily. Just as a matter of policy.

McDonalds trying Anything to Avoid the Truth about Food Taste

Reuters Business Channel | Reuters.com:

LOS ANGELES, Feb 14 (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp. (MCD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has launched a string of quirky television commercials that aim to transform family friendly mascot Ronald McDonald into a hip character that appeals to the coveted 20-something market.

Hmm. McDs starts to suck right about the time they stopped actually preparing food. I mean, I can heat up frozen hotcakes at home, whenever I want, and I'll not be screwed around by the monkey in Drive-Through who can't count to 3.

There's some correlation here between machines painting portraits and executives wanting the exact same product among all locations, and how one is more like the other, and unappealing, than generally considered.

Okay. I'm done.

In America, the Left Hand Knows what the Right is Doing Because it is Always Watching

U.S. Moves to Fight Internet Censorship - Yahoo! News:

WASHINGTON - The State Department announced plans Tuesday to step up a campaign to combat efforts by foreign governments to restrict use of the Internet.
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At a news conference, Josette Shiner, a top State Department trade expert, called the Internet 'the greatest purveyor of news and information in history' but said too often the flow is blocked by government censors.

Sorry. What?!? This is a switch.

It's not like America's been really, um, good about giving out information ... or not oppressing its people.

So, America, while you're in the giving mood, tell us all about how the World Trade Centre Vandalism was pulled off exactly according to a plan the CIA drew up when it was still supplying guns to Osama, okay? I mean, I know that 9 times as many people died in 2001 due to the Flu than the World Trade Centre, if you read the numbers, and even though this thing has been turned by the politicions and idiots news channels into a big fiasco, you all should just come clean and admit that Osama's on the CIA payroll.

You know, "found him doing dinner theatre in Tulsa. Did a mean King and I. Plays good ethnics."

Intel and Skype Join Forces to Kill Skype

Intel's mantra: Let's make a deal | CNET News.com:

Last week, Intel cut a deal with voice over Internet Protocol provider Skype that calls for the VoIP company to provide advanced conference-calling features exclusively on PCs that run Intel chips. As long as the deal is in place, it could effectively keep customers who want to take advantage of multiperson conference calls from going with AMD-based machines.

So. Given that

1. Skype is in danger of becoming useless when Google Talk gets video and GAIM gets Voice and Video. The Gizmo SIP-based Voice Chat App is already stealing its lunch.
   
2. Skype, therefore, needs to reach as many people as they can if they want to stay in the market.
   
3. Skype, therefore, should always try not to cut out the people who have bought and paid for the CPUs made by the #1 CPU manufacturer.

Skype has decided not so much to give Intel Micro a boost but to cut back features when it's on AMD Microprocessors. I mean, c'mon, it's nothing to allow 5, 10, even 20 conferences at a time, as long as the current machine is fast enough. AMD machines are fast enough, definitely as fast as Intel machines, so the reason for cutting back on stuff has nothing to do with some idea that Intel's chips - copied from last year's AMDs - are more equipped for anything.

Nice. I'll bet Olympic sprinters are winning races because they've cut off half their toes, too. Less drag, you know.

[Michael] Chertoff Jokes About Regulating [the Weather]

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Chertoff Jokes About Regulating Wheather(sic):

(Let's pretend, for a moment, that the Guardian actually proofs its article titles, so it doesn't look TOO stupid.)

WASHINGTON (AP) - Looking for a strategy to prevent disasters like Hurricane Katrina? Try regulating the weather, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff joked Monday.

(A further warning if you read the article. In civilised nations, we use a title or a first name, because referring to people by their last name only is seen as insulting and only American newspapers care so rude. TheGuardian is ovbiously an American paper merely pretending to be civilised)

I'm glad that at least one American is finally on-board about global warming and the environment. It's obvious that Mr Chertoff has read enough about the issue, and I'm impressed that he's able to put forth an environment opinion in such a subtle manner. I'm not sure many of the people in the room would have understand that, if we can reduce the greenhouse emissions and cool this globe down a bit, we'll actually be regulating the weather.

Very subtle, sir. I'm impressed. very excellent tie-in with science-fiction lore too.

Damnation

I guess it was about 1AM when my back seized up.

Not sure what made it go so badly so quickly, but that was it. I've been laying on the floor with my good buddy Mr HotPack and some advil ever since.

Praying not to sneeze. Like I did about 4 times on the way home.

We are all Danes now - The Boston Globe

We are all Danes now - The Boston Globe:

HINDUS CONSIDER it sacrilegious to eat meat from cows, so when a Danish supermarket ran a sale on beef and veal last fall, Hindus everywhere reacted with outrage. India recalled its ambassador to Copenhagen, and Danish flags were burned in Calcutta, Bombay, and Delhi. A Hindu mob in Sri Lanka severely beat two employees of a Danish-owned firm, and demonstrators in Nepal chanted: ''War on Denmark! Death to Denmark!'In many places, shops selling Dansk china or Lego toys were attacked by rioters, and two Danish embassies were firebombed.

It didn't happen, of course. Hindus may consider it odious to use cows as food, but they do not resort to boycotts, threats, and violence when non-Hindus eat hamburger or steak. They do not demand that everyone abide by the strictures of Hinduism and avoid words and deeds that Hindus might find upsetting. The same is true of Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Mormons: They don't lash out in violence when their religious sensibilities are offended. They certainly don't expect their beliefs to be immune from criticism, mockery, or dissent.

But radical Muslims do.

This is the first piece which puts it into real perspective here. The point, for me, is two-fold: firstly, no one is above criticism -- although some folks this week seem to have a great big chip on their shoulder and a goodly short fuse.

What gives them the right to be to above criticism -- or, in this case, mere mention? If you wish to convince me, you maybe should stop quoting verse from a religion of which I'm not a part. There you go. Stick to logic.

Yes. I thought so. Sit down. Please stay seated until you can prove you're better than the rest of us.

Make no mistake: This story is not going away, and neither is the Islamofascist threat. The freedom of speech we take for granted is under attack, and it will vanish if it is not bravely defended. Today the censors may be coming for some unfunny Mohammed cartoons, but tomorrow it is your words and ideas they will silence. Like it or not, we are all Danes now

It's too bad that Islam had such a great opportunity to look like peaceful, reasonable people. It's too bad they blew it so horribly, and have no alienated all of us who were not fortunate to have been muslim. While the Quran seems to consider us worthless infidels already, we hadn't yet taken offense. Now we see that we were expected to do so, because we see how quickly they react to so little provocation.

“Fighting is prescribed for you. . .it is good for you.” Koran 2:216.

Maybe we should have taken offense. Maybe I should refuse to do any business with a man or woman who has been ordered to consider themselves above me. Is it prejudice, or is it just a natural reaction to their prejudice?

You pick. I don't care either way. My views have been changed, and today I am a Dane. Either prove you're above me, or treat me with the kindness and manners which are appropriate, which is to say allow me to criticise you as you've criticised me.

It's only fair.

How can you people continue to pay for Windows?

I honestly don't understand how you stupid sheep can continue to pay for windows.

An example? Sure. I have hundreds. I set a window to be 'always on top' because I need to constantly and personally watch it to see if I can get some fucking glimmer into the reason why, periodically and for no fucking reason, windows will just

stop

for no reason. I could be editing files, watching video clips or playing a game. Windows? We're gonna stop now.

Nothing's better for completely fucking hosing one's concentration like a GUI - that's the official name for what windows wishes it was - which freezes every now and then.

So. Anyway. Apparently we can only hope to discern whatever the hells' going on in this black fucking box of a GUI, since MS doesn't really want to give us actual, usable tools for getting under the hood, is to have a program running and telling me the load, and see what's on top when the thing hiccups.

That is, if I can resist the sudden and irrepressible urge to put my fucking fist through my monitor in abject disgust over this festering pile of last decade's software rejects.

So. Right. I have this dinky little application to help me get a better guess as to the magic that's hiccuping in my piece of shit GUI here. It's gotta stay on top, since, hey, I can't really move things out of the way when it comes to be important, and I can't really guess when that's gonna be, now, can I?

So I have this thing on 'Always on top' mode. Sure. Now riddle me this:

What kind of complete moron would even consider the space underneath this 'always on top' window to be usable? I mean, at all? Ever? If it's not usable, then why in sweet god's name does windows in-fucking-sist on opening every goddamned window underneath this thing, instead in some of the cast real estate somewhere else on the fucking page? If I want bad window design, I have that for free on Linux, and it's getter better by the hour. Make the case for me giving you money, now.

Go on. Try. I dare you.

Windows is officially that creep in the elevator alone with you who stands too close.

Mozilla Seamonkey 1.0 released. Mozilla Foundation Sucks.

Fark is awesome:

(Mozilla.org)

Mozilla SeaMonkey Internet Suite 1.0 released. Like Firefox, but for grownups

(19)

At least, someone on Fark is. It's no secret that I've resented the FirefoxMozilla Foundation for absolutely giving up on Mozilla on the verge of it being a valid replacement for Netscape 4.7, simply because they ran into a few glitches which took too much time away from theme and chrome development. Because I'd like to see my browser flailing about in pretty colours, please, way more than I want it to not flail at all.

Before you get all uppity, let's all agree that 'Upgrade' and 'Replacement' both strongly imply the new product contains at least every single feature of the product it's replacing, okay? Now you will shut up and understand that Mozilla Suite 1.7 was never a suitable replacement for Netscape Communicator.

I'm so sick of writing that, but undoubtably some Firefox fanboy will pipe up, and in badly-written English, spout

U sux0r, do0d! I rite themez on Firefox and its awesum. U can restart it when it crahsez I do this all day Mozila is teh ghay bcuz it was too hard to fix. Firefox is the way it is, so get with it, man!!1 Mozila is ded long live firefix. And thunderbird to, but I wudnt no bcuz my mom says I cant rede or rite emailzz til im 14.

I will never understand how such a half-wit lobotomized browser - not even a suite - can become the favourite brother and get all the fucking full-page ads taken out for it. I'll never understand how anyone can possibly ever consider it Enterprise software either. It's what Mozilla Suite (now Seamonkey) barfed up last week after a binge drinking fest, for god's sake.

The World Looks Into the Abyss, in Mr Bush's Latest Sermon from the Throne

BBC NEWS | Americas | Bush urges end to oil 'addiction'

Huh? What kind of sham glad-handing is this? Is he tring to prevent some kinda impeachment by criticising himself? You're a crafty one, Trebek.

I almost fell out of my chair when I read that headline.

One of his sternest critics on Iraq, Cindy Sheehan, whose son died there on US active service, was arrested in the Capitol building before the speech got under way, reportedly because she was wearing a T-shirt with a war-related slogan.

Thankfully, things like Free Speech and the bravery to face one's critics openly are still topics we can talk about.

Even if not freely. Americans, it can be said, are

"held hostage by a small clerical elite that is isolating and repressing its people".

I urge the people of America to assert freedom from the rulers. Above all

"the nations of the world must not permit [that] regime to gain nuclear weapons".

You see what I've done, here? I've shown how Mr Bush's statements about Iran can be easily applied to his own country. Isn't that clever? Unfortunately, the nukes are already in the hands of the religious oppressors in that country, and the people are apparently not able to throw off their oppressive theocratic rulers.

Hell, apparently they can't even wear T-Shirts with critical messages.