I use smilies a lot when writing on the Internet; let me explain why. I often encounter what I consider to be dumb arguments (for example) when reading mailing lists or slashdot and feel the need to reply. I'm not one to beat around the bush; I say what I mean. So, after I say something like "That's a very bad idea." I add a smiley. Why? Because I want a way of saying, "although I think your idea is really fucking dumb, I still like you as a person and would like to continue this discuss

I love SPAM. Not really, I actually hate it. But I do enjoy crafting messages like this: (it's funnier if you read the real one first, it's a parody :P)

ALVIN,

If you had stopped spamming me when I first contacted you, you probably would not have been named as a complete loser.

DONT WAIT ANOTHER MINUTE.... STOP SPAMMING ME TODAY! DON'T GET LEFT OUT!

THOUSANDS of people each month get spammed by you. FUCK YOU.

Yeah, I caved and made a real weblog. I'll keep my rants here, and my less controversial stuff over there.

Jonathan Rockway's Xanga *sigh*

Wow. Apparently my (residential high) school is auctioning off a pass to miss class. I'm glad that I can now buy things to excuse me from class.

In addition, I may buy a pass to have a car on campus. This is not normally allowed because an 18-year-old with a car is "unsafe". It's unsafe if I have one but safe if someone buys a pass? I can't wait for this to blow up in IMSA's face...

I'm rather proud of the network I've set up at home, so I think I'll tell you all about it :)

Before organizing my network, I had a Windows XP box (ugh, not mine), two iMacs (one with Linux that nobody used, one with MacOS 9 that nobody used). Obviously, there were lots of fights over the Windows box since that was the only one that was useful to anyone. I finally managed to get an old P3 system, so I decided I would make my computer infrastructure useful.

Let's refuse to license them software. If they're using OSS, let's take it away.

Maybe Micro$oft will want to sell their music. RIAA sues M$, and then M$ de-licenses Windows and Office. Fuck you RIAA. You need our software more than we need your music. Eat shit and die :)

It's often said that people associate smells with some sort of feeling, and the other day I found out that they're right :)

Don't you just hate it when people consider something that you know how to do as "really cool", except with a different person?

For example, my roommate said something like "It was really cool... he even used LaTeX! ", implying that LaTeX was some sort of hard, pain-in-the-ass-to-learn programming language. Well, I know LaTeX. So I said to him, "Doesn't everyone?".

I just realized what a market college-related companies have. Apparently everyone wants to take the SAT about 5 times, the ACT 3, and buy lots of cramming books. Why learn real chemistry from a textbook when you can buy the Kaplan "Cram for the SATII" books? "Hey I memorized all the SAT words but can't use them in real writing! That's not defeating the purpose of the test!"

Today I was rather impressed by Linux. As a long time user (over 6 years without MacOS/Windows!), I didn't need convincing that Linux is a great operating system, but today I think I convinced someone else.

I think I finally learned something on slashdot.

Well, I've just heard of a plan that should be a good use of taxpayer money. Local governments want to install cameras on stoplights that take a picture of people who are stuck in the middle of the intersection (in hopes of turning left), so that the "offending" party may be ticketed. Rather than funding schools, our wonderful government wants to buy cameras to ticket non-criminals.