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Copyright |
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©2005 Jason Cross
All Rights Reserved
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 Friday, March 28, 2003 |
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Well, fine, I guess. Not a whole lot going on this week... Played a little Zelda on GameCube (crazy animated cartoon Zelda), played a little Zelda on GameBoy (crazy Super Nintendo style Zelda), moved 13,000 email accounts across the country in mid-week, programmed a calendar, and have been diligently watching Rurouni Kenshin on Toonami.
Speaking of Zelda, remember the old cartoon show? It used to be on Fridays instead of Super Mario Bros. Here's to nostalgia! |
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Friday, March 21, 2003 |
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The crickets must all be gone finally, as the chirping has ended. "Hello, Clarice... Do you still hear the crickets chirp at night?..." |
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Or at least that's what his show was titled according to the tickets. I remember how excited I got when I was a kid and heard that Copperfield had a special coming up on TV. His magic was always so cool. He's been in Des Moines a few times, but I never got tickets before for various reasons (usually forgetting until it was too late).
But tonight, that all changed!
The show was very entertaining with both lots of humor and amazing spectacle. I have theories on how SOME of the tricks were done, but most of them boggle the mind.
Here's a weird thing, though - about midway through, some stagehand goes up to David and tells him something, and then Copperfield announces that we've killed Saddam Hussein. But when checking the Internet and news stations afterwards, there's absolutely no mention of it.
Did David lie to me? Has the cycle of trust been broken? Hmm... |
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Tuesday, March 18, 2003 |
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I've had a leopard gecko for about seven years now, which I raised since it was only a one week old hatchling. The other day I bought it some crickets as usual.
Unfortunately, it's not being too quick on eating the dang things. So now they keep chirping all night long! |
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Monday, March 17, 2003 |
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Some would "say it with roses", others with a card, but sometimes you need that little something extra to get your message across.
Luckily, my friend Chris Pirillo has come up with the solution for you! I could only be talking about the one (and thankfully only) RentMyChest.com!
$20 and you, too, could have your message enblazened with erasable marker across Chris' chest. Try it. I dare you! |
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So today was the day of legend, the day celebrating that most famous of Saint Patricks, Saint Patrick himself. According to ancient Irish bar legend, Saint Patrick brought beer to Ireland. Or maybe something to do with driving snakes out. Or something like that, I'm really not sure.
Maybe he was a leprechaun? The inventor of Lucky Charms? Oh wait, no, that was Lucky.
Ok, using the rule of "Someone on the Internet has reasearched it first", I found the following:
Courtesy of Kids Domain
We celebrate Saint Patrick's Day each year on March 17th. The festive holiday has everyone wearing green (so they don't get pinched) and chatting of four leaf clovers, shamrocks, lucky leprechauns, and kissing some big rock called a blarney stone. Does it all sound a bit strange? It did to me too but after a bit of research it all made sense. Here's what I found out.
Did you know that Saint Patrick's name at birth was Maewyn Succat? He was born somewhere near the end of the fourth century and took on the name Patrick or Patricus, after he became a priest, much later in his life. At the age of sixteen Maewyn Succat was kidnapped from his native land of Britain, by a band pirates, and sold into slavery in Ireland. Maewyn worked as a shepherd and turned to religion for solace. After six long years of slavery he escaped to the northern coast of Gaul.
In Gaul, Maewyn became Patrick (a more christian name) and studied in the monastery under St. Germain, bishop of Auxerre for twelve years. He came to believe that it was his calling to convert the pagans of Ireland to Christianity. St. Palladius was appointed to go to Ireland first but transferred to Scotland two years later opening up the door for Patrick. Patrick was about sixty years old when he arrived in Ireland and it is said that he had a winning personality that helped him win converts. He used the shamrock, which resembles a three-leafed clover, to help explain the concept of the Trinity (father, son, holy spirit).
Patrick was arrested several times, but escaped each time. He traveled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries and setting up schools and churches to aid in converting the Irish country to Christianity. Legend has it that Saint Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. Evidently, they all went into the sea and drowned. The snake is a pagan symbol and perhaps this is a figurative tale explaining that he drove paganism out of Ireland.
Patrick's mission in Ireland lasted for thirty years. He then retired to County Down and died on March 17 in 461 AD. That day has been commemorated as St. Patrick's Day ever since. The first year St. Patrick's Day was celebrated in this country was 1737 in Boston, Massachusetts. As the saying goes, on this day "everybody is Irish!" Over 100 U.S. cities now hold Saint Patrick's Day parades.
So there you have it. A man named Maewyn Succat who drove not snakes but pagans out. And probably not a leprechaun. |
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Monday, March 10, 2003 |
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Bowser (the programmer at Lighthouse, not the King of the Koopas): The guy from Xerox sued to get the term Xerox not used for photocopying, right?
Me: Yeah, copyright infringement. Not wanting to lose their copyright by allowing the word to become a public term.
Bowser: And the same happened with Rollerblades, now calling it "inline skating"...
Me: Right.
Bowser: So what do the people who make Spam - the meat - think of the use of the word "spam" for junk mail?
And now, here is his answer, straight from the horse's mouth, or at least Hormel's corporate web site:
Spam and the Internet
You've probably seen, heard or even used the term "spamming" to refer to the act of sending unsolicited commercial email (UCE), or "SPAM" to refer to the UCE itself. Following is our position on the relationship between UCE and our trademark SPAM.
Use of the term "SPAM" was adopted as a result of the Monty Python skit in which a group of Vikings sang a chorus of "SPAM, SPAM, SPAM . . . " in an increasing crescendo, drowning out other conversation. Hence, the analogy applied because UCE was drowning out normal discourse on the Internet.
We do not object to use of this slang term to describe UCE, although we do object to the use of our product image in association with that term. Also, if the term is to be used, it should be used in all lower-case letters to distinguish it from our trademark SPAM, which should be used with all uppercase letters.
This slang term does not affect the strength of our trademark SPAM. In a Federal District Court case involving the famous trademark STAR WARS owned by LucasFilms, the Court ruled that the slang term used to refer to the Strategic Defense Initiative did not weaken the trademark and the Court refused to stop its use as a slang term. Other examples of famous trademarks having a different slang meaning include MICKEY MOUSE, to describe something as unsophisticated; TEFLON, used to describe President Reagan; and CADILLAC, used to denote something as being high quality.
Position Statement on "Spamming"
We oppose the act of "spamming" or sending unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE). We have never engaged in this practice, although we have been victimized by it. If you have been one of those who has received UCE with a return address using our website address of SPAM.com, it wasn't us. It's easy and commonplace for somebody sending UCE to simply adopt a fake header ID, which disguises the true source of the UCE and makes it appear that it is coming from someone else. If you have or do receive UCE with this header ID, please understand that it didn't come from us.
Other "SPAM" Websites
This is the one and only official SPAM Website, brought to you by the makers of SPAM Luncheon Meat. All of the others have been created by somebody else. We are not associated with those other websites and are not responsible for their content. As a Company, we are opposed to content that is obscene, vulgar or otherwise not "family friendly." We support positive family values and you can count on us for "safe surfing" by your children.
Thank you for visiting the official SPAM Website!
Note to self -- never mention the Spam "meat" and a horse's mouth together.
Bowser: Now, Princess Toadstool, you are mine!!!
Ok, so that last part didn't happen, but I couldn't help it. |
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On Saturday at approximately 2pm we turned up our CrossPaths domains on Postini. On Sunday we blocked over 8000 spam messages, encompassing 78% of total message volume.
Over the weekend, we also blocked nearly 100 Directory Harvest Attacks - where spammers try to hit a mail server with a list of common names looking for valid accounts to send junk mail to.
And then today we turned up all of the FBX domains. We are now blocking over 1.3 spam messages per second. I estimate that we will have over 1 million blocked spam messages in about 9 days.
Insane levels of Spam are flooding the net. It looks like we've finally got a halfway decent solution though! |
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From The Onion:
WASHINGTON, DC—Amid growing anti-war protests and polls indicating eroding public support for an invasion of Iraq, President Bush is offering U.S. taxpayers a rebate in the amount of $300 if we go to war.
"My proposed tax rebate will serve to stimulate the economy," said Bush, waving a sample check made out to John Q. Public at a White House press conference Monday. "Americans will get a generous infusion of cash that can be used however they choose—all in return for simply supporting a first strike against Iraq. Now, who wouldn't want an extra $300 in their pocket next month?"
Under the Bush plan, single taxpayers would be eligible for a $300 rebate, married filers $600, and heads of household $500. Attached to the proposal is a rider, penned by Bush himself, stating, "Plus, we also will invade Iraq right away, everyone promises."
Pending passage of the bill, titled Economic Growth And Tax Relief Reconciliation Act Of 2003 And We Bomb Iraq (H.R. 1936), some 91.3 million checks could be mailed as early as March 31.
"The plan is almost identical to the tax rebate offered in 2001," Bush said. "With the minor exception, of course, of the provision that Americans react favorably to the deployment of 210,000 troops to the Persian Gulf."
"Which reminds me, have you seen these new iPods?" added Bush, pulling an Apple-brand MP3 player from his pocket and holding it up to the crowd. "It costs $299 for one of these little buggers, but it holds a thousand songs. They're amazing."
Citizens are excited by the prospect of having a little extra spending money.
"Things have been pretty tight lately, so this sure would come in handy," said Ray Kilty, 48, an Akron, OH, screen-door-factory worker. "I don't know much about what's going on with Iraq, but I do know what's going on with my truck. The brakes are set to go any day now."
Bush has been pushing the rebate, part of his ambitious $1.4 trillion tax-cut agenda, in a series of TV commercials. One such ad, which made its debut last Tuesday during Fox's American Idol, features the slogan, "Free Iraq Of Hussein, Free Rent For A Month." Another upcoming spot asks the question, "War: What Is It Good For?" and answers, "$300, Is What."
In recent weeks, Bush has also met with key lawmakers in an effort to win their support.
"I get the green light from the American people, and they get 300 smackeroos," Bush told members of the Senate budget committee last Friday. "Any questions?"
"I'll tell you what," Bush added. "Just because I'm feeling generous, I'll throw in another $20 per dependent if we invade by the end of next week."
To ensure public support, the following will appear in fine print below the endorsement line on the back of each check: "By signing and cashing this check, the above is hereby indicating his or her consent to a U.S. invasion of Iraq, and will refrain from attending protest rallies or committing any other act that could reasonably be construed as an expression of disapproval of said war."
"Americans need two things right now: economic relief and the elimination of the threat of terrorism." Bush said. "These rebates take care of both. I can't think of a better way to show the citizens of this nation that war truly pays." |
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Tuesday, March 4, 2003 |
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So it's Sunday night and I'm talking on the phone, seemingly minding my own business, and my cat meows. Innocent enough, right? I look down, she has food, she has water, so I give her a little nudge and - rrowrr - she flings herself at my feet! I wasn't wearing socks, so threat of foot biting was imminent. I grabbed my coat and held her back with it until she went under the kitchen table, growling and staring at me. Sloooowly I backed out of the kitchen, then just as I went around the corner, she leaps through the air, paws flailing. I grabbed a blanket, shooed her back with that until I forced her into the basement.
A few minutes later she came back, acting as if nothing happened.
Odd cat. I don't trust that cat. |
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Monday, March 3, 2003 |
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For some reason Sigma Alpha Epsilon has decided that I am an alumnus member and keeps sending me info, invites to alumnus functions, newsletters, etc.
Of course, I never joined a fraternity while at Simpson, nor did I graduate and thus not an alumnus, but hey, what are you going to do. I should show up at some events, play along. ;) |
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Sunday, March 2, 2003 |
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A person who happened across my Over Your Head site the other day pointed this out to me:
If you do a Google search for "Microsoft bad publicity", one of my old articles comes up 4th on the list of a total of 41000 pages returned.
The funny things is that the article is actually about how Microsoft isn't really that bad, plus it's an article from 2 years ago, so not exactly relevant.
I have no idea why it's so near the top... Perhaps MS is paying Google to move pro-MS articles up the list... THAT should give the anti-Microsofters something to chew on for a bit! ;) |
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