Slashdot - 3:07 PM (EDT), August 27, 2002: A moron going by the nickname of pagsz sat down to create yet another Ramblings of an Idiot post. Many Slashdot readers immediately cringed, realizing yet more stupidity was about to be dumped onto the server. Despite several attempts to get this "pagsz" to stop, or to convince pagsz to think before he posts, the stupidity continues. May God have mercy on us all (or at least on the server) . . .

1. Mozilla: Today I downloaded (fun at 31.2 K) and installed Mozilla 1.1.

   With Mozilla 1.1 Beta, the odds of a crash seemed to increase with each tab that I opened. Hopefully, with 1.1, this will no longer be the case.

2. Politics: Saw this interesting article on ABCNEWS.com: Congress: Bush Needs Our OK on Iraq.

   My first reaction to this was, "Well, duh!" See, I've actually read the Constitution.

   The Congress shall have Power . . .

   To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
   (Article I, Section 8)

   Then I remembered, the last time the United States declared war was way back in 1941!
   ___________________

   An interesting quote from the article:

   Under the Vietnam-era War Powers Act, the president is required to get congressional approval for introducing U.S. forces into hostilities for more than 60 days. Presidents of both parties have considered the act unconstitutional and ignored it.

   Ah, but one more quote:

   The Congress shall have Power . . .
   To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
   (Article I, Section 8)

   So, if the Congress has the power to make rules about how the military is regulated, how is the War Powers act unconstitutional? And would the courts have the balls to strike down W. should he go without Congressional approval? (In 1991, Bush 41 got a resolution from Congress authorizing the use of force, as did Bush 43 in regards to Afghanistan).

3. SatireWire: Can it be? SatireWire will no longer be updated. I just started reading it a month ago, and now there'll be nothing new? Aw, man . . .

   Oh, well, I'll just read an old article once a week and pretend its new. If I don't pay any attention to world events, I can even pretend its about the topic of the day!

4. Betamax: Sony has decided to discontinue Betamax. What, you're telling me they were still making them? All this time? And nobody told me?

Slashdot - 5:25 PM (EDT), August 27, 2002: The moron pagsz has decided to end his post, bringing relief to thousands of Slashdotters. For now, the Slashdot server is safe from reaching the "critical mass of stupidity." With every idiotic post by pagsz, the server inches closer to this dreaded level. Now that pagsz has stopped, Slashdot is safe for today. As for how long until the "critical mass of stupidity" is reached, no one can say. And no one can be sure of the effects. Slashdot could implode in a flood of trolls, flames, and goatse.cx links. All anyone can be sure of is that, when it happens, it will be bad.

Well, here I am on a Saturday morning in late August. I just finishing watching last night's episodes of Stargate [SG - 1] and Farscape. Now I have noting better to do than post yet another Ramblings of an Idiot to my Slashdot journal. Maybe I should have stayed in bed a little longer this morning.

1. Winamp: I downloaded Winamp 3 the other day, but I found I didn't like it quite as much as Winamp 2 (I have 2.80). It's not all that much different, really, but I'm more comfortable with what I've got. So, in short, I'm sticking with 2. Why am I telling y'all this? Boredom, pure and simple.
2. Baseball: I'm starting to care less and less if Major League Baseball goes on strike. For one, I'm doubtful about the Red Sox's chances to make the playoffs. They're still six games back of the Yanks in the East (and probably don't have much chance of catching them), and two and a half games behind Seattle in the Wild Card. They're still in it, but they'll probably have to go on a tear if they are going to make it; and unfortunately, you don't see the phrases "Red Sox winning streak" and "stretch run" in the same sentence very often. Maybe once or twice every quarter-century.

   That, and the NFL season begins only five days after the strike date. Who cares if there's no World Series this year? Just more time for football.

   ___________

   That, and I'm beginning to think that baseball may in a way need the strike. Baseball is just plain frelled up right now. The New York Yankees currently have a payroll of around 171 million dollars (with obligatory Dr. Evil pinky to mouth). For forty players. That's an average of four million per player, double the league average. It's also about triple what the Minnesota Twins are spending (in the 60 million dollar range). Never mind teams like the Marlins, Devil Rays, or Royals. These teams are operating with payrolls under 30 million. Bit of a difference.

   Then there's Alex Rodriguez's 10-year, 252 million dollar contract. Think about this for a minute: The Boston Red Sox were sold this spring for approximately $700 million. That includes the franchise, the stadium (venerable Fenway in downtown Boston), and a cable network, NESN. One frellin' player is getting a third of that to play 10 years of ball. Now consider the Rangers. I don't know their value, but it ain't no $700 million. The Rangers have no history (as the Sox do), and don't own a cable network of their own. Let's assume their worth at around $500 million (which to be honest, is probably too high). Half that is invested in one frellin' guy.

   One more point. If I'm not mistaken, the NFL salary cap is in the 70 million dollar range this year. That means the Yankees' payroll is more than double what an NFL team can spend. For ten less players. And an NFL team has 22 starters, as opposed to 15 in baseball (8 position players, 5 pitchers, and a DH in the AL). The closer brings it to 16.

   ___________

   Unfortunately, a strike may be the only way this frelled up system gets fixed. Baseball may have to destroy the city to save the village, as it were.

3. SatireWire: I've fallen in love with SatireWire. Absolutely love it. Check it every day now.
4. Work: After two days off, I have to go back to work today. I don't wanna go! Please don't make me! For the love of God don't make me go!

   ___________

   It was nice having back to back days off after the way August has gone. Dealing with the unbearably hot weather, and the lazy asshole who works the shift before me. When I come in after him (at least twice a week), I have to work ten times as hard to catch up because he wasn't doing his job. Last Tuesday, he up and quit. So Tuesday and Wednesday there was no one working the morning. And there wasn't one lick of difference between him working and not. Thank God he's gone, though. Maybe now they'll bring someone in who will do the frellin' job.

5. Football: The Patriots played their third preseason game last night, defeating the Panthers 23 - 3. Though it was a game that means nothing, it was encouraging to see the starting offense click for the first time this preseason (scoring 14 quick points in the third quarter). I can't wait until the season starts.

   ___________

   It will be such a different feeling this season, being defending Super Bowl champions. Everybody gunning for you. It's certainly going to be different.

6. Forgetfulness: While I've been wasting the past hour and a half writing up this post, I forgot that I was supposed to copy a couple of CDs this morning (Oh my God, what if the RIAA finds out! Ah, FUCK THEM!). Might as well get started . . .

Well, that's enough for this waste of time. I've spent almost two hours doing this, so I think I shall get going. Besides, I have to eat lunch and get ready to go into work.

Welcome back to the wonderfully wild and wacky world of Ramblings of an Idiot.

Well, it's been a fortnight since the last RoaI post, and during that time I've built up absolutely nothing of consequence to record. However, I've got a journal and some time to kill . . .

1. Major League Baseball: Well, it's official. The MLBPA (Player's Association) has set a strike date of August 30. If the two sides can't come together before them, the strike will begin.

   I'm pretty pessimistic about the possibility of avoiding a strike. From what I've heard, the two sides are still pretty far apart, and aren't even talking today. With only two weeks left in which to strike a bargain, I honestly don't see anything getting done.

   Nor do I see it being a short strike. The differences on the luxury tax and revenue sharing proposals are just too great. I don't see there being a 2002 World Series.

2. Summer: Is it just me, or has this been an annoyingly warm summer? It seems like every day in July and August was either hot, humid, or both. Plus it hasn't rained all that much. Not to mention the fact that my job has me working outside all day . I can't wait until this goddamn summer ends.

I was going to continue with the post, but the my computer is in a room that quite unfortunately lacks air conditioning. It's getting a tad too warm to stay here and type. Good-bye.

Update: 10:07 AM -- Saturday August 17 2002

A couple of the things I was going to mention yesterday, if it were not for the annoying temperature:

1. Me: I think I've been watching a bit too much Farscape lately, because I've been using the word frell on a regular basis. Soon, all of my co-workers are going to think that I'm nuts. Or, more accurately, realize that I'm nuts.
2. Baseball: Well, it's August, and the Red Sox seem to be slipping back into mediocrity. The've fallen to seven games back of the Yankees in the AL East race, and three and a half back of the Angels in the Wild Card. Maybe a strike won't be that bad a thing after all. It may be the only thing preventing the frelling Yankees from winning their frelling 27th World Series. Frell.
3. Wasting Time: For no reason at all, I'm going back over my old posts and replacing the dumb quotes (" ") with smart quotes (" "). If it hadn't been for the Smart Quotes? Poll, I never would have thought of it. Damn you!

   Then again, I shouldn't blame that poll for how lame I am. Oh, well, at least it gave me a reason (however thin) to look over my old posts.

Well, I'm starting to feel the sweat beading on my forehead again. It's only ten o'clock in the damned morning, but it's already getting warm. So, I shall no longer be wasting time in this fashion. That's no biggie, because I'm of garbage to type. See you whenever.

________________________________

When I tried to save this post, I got this message:

You can only post 15 posts per 4 hours

Apparently, with changing all of those stupid quotes, I posted too much stuff. Oh, well, I'll just save the updates to this post as a text file and save them when I next get the chance (I won't be here when I'm next eligible to post, somewhere around 2:00. I'll be at work. Shudder). At the same time, I'll get a little further in Lame-Ass Project #305: Quote Conversion. Untill next time . . .

Saved: 09:57 AM -- Tuesday August 20 2002

It's that time again. Time for me to make a complete ass of myself in this irregularly-timed, randomly-topiced (is topiced a word?), complete waste of time. Hope you enjoy the show!

1. Ramblings of an Idiot: When I first conceived this series, I intended it as a sounding board for my thoughts and ideas. It was to be a more philosophical, esoteric, or, at the very least, political thing. Instead, it has devolved into the mundane, dealing mostly with the story of the day, whether that be a political, scientific, technological, or sports one. With this post, I hope to get somewhat back to that original intention. Rather than recording my reactions to specific events, I will record my thoughts here on some broader topics and trends

   This is not so say that the specific has no place in the Ramblings of an Idiot series. It certainly is useful to record my thoughts and reactions to the important news of the day (whatever I feel that to be), and this will always be a part of the series.

   However, the minutia which I have been reporting are not what I really intended this series for. They do not create much of a discussion (although admittedly, this was never my intention with the series), nor does it adequately record my state of mind for posterity.

2. The Philosophical Pretzel: Last night, I got into a bit of a political discussion with me father (the baseball game we were watching [Red Sox at Rangers] was over by the third inning). One of the things that came up was the odd twisting of political philosophy.

   It all started with a mention of a certain talk show host as a "Civil Libertarian." I thought of something I saw, I believe in a Slashdot journal, outlining the differences between Civil Libertarians and Republicans. For on the surface, their philosophy is much the same. Both believe in minimal government and, therefore, minimal government oversight. Small government, with a small budget, interfering little.

   However, here Republican philosophy seems to become twisted into a pretzel. The philosophy of "small government" seems to be most in line with the idea of civil liberties, doesn't it? A small government with minimal powers hath neither the power nor the ability to interfere in the affairs of ordinary Americans. However, most of the opponents of wider "civil liberties" are on the Republican side. I don't know if it's just me, but I find that odd.

   Second, Republicans are more apt to take an "original intent" angle to the Constitution; reading directly from the language itself. This plays into the civil liberties point, because the tighter reading of the Constitution leads to lessened civil liberties. Why? Because a tighter reading less restricts the government's actions. It's the "if it's not specifically banned, it's allowed" angle. Perhaps this explains to some degree the apparent philosophical twisting when it comes to civil liberties.

   However, it becomes more twisted when it comes to a particular section of the Constitution: the Second Amendment. Looking at the language of the Second Amendment, it seems to be a qualified statement (A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed). This is the seeming hole in "original intent" theory. For although it would seem that the original intent was to have armed militias, and not necessarily insure that private citizens have the right to own guns.

   Also, there seems to be a disjunction between philosophy and action. Especially with regards to the current administration. Despite the philosophy of smaller government, many of the Republican issues have been ones that have expanded government. For example, the creation of a new department (Homeland Security) is certainly an addition to governmental bureaucracy. The faith-based initiatives program and school vouchers program would do the same (these programs carry with them the need for bureaucratic oversight, hence more bureaucrats running more departments and more bureaucrats watching those bureaucrats).

   ______________________________

   Now, to the Democrats. Because I'm lazy, I'm not actually going to list it out for the Democratic side. Just take everything I said about the Republicans and stick it in a mirror. You get the same philosophical pretzel, just the other end of it.

3. A Step to the Right: It seems to me that in the last few years the American political landscape has taken a few steps to the right. "Liberal" and "Conservative" have taken on different tones. In today's political landscape, it seems to me, "liberal" connotates some California wacko trying to ban dodgeball, or have "Under God" taken out of the pledge; someone way out on the left. "Conservative" has a more moderate connotation; it seems to me that conservatives are perceived as center-right. To get to the far right, you need a new term, hence the "neo-cons."

   Look at the current administration, where many fall into the "neo-con" category. The current battle lines in the administration are not between liberal and conservative, but between conservative and really conservative.

   This shift started with Clinton. Clinton separated himself (and the majority of the Democratic party) from the hardcore "liberals," the ones that were a bit too far on the left. He took the Democratic party more toward the center. The Republican Party, in response, has shifted a bit more to the right.

4. Me and My Writing: You know what sucks? I do some of my best writing when I have nothing to write on. Sometimes I'll be driving in my car, or at work, or something along those lines, and will start thinking about some random topic. Before I know it, I've written out an essay in my head. It sounds so good as I think it. It's eloquent, well spoken, and clever. The next day, when I get a chance to actually record it, it's gone. All that's left is a pale imitation of what I had intended to write. It never seems right. The argument doesn't seem quite as clear; I just can't pull it together the way I had before.

   This not only happened with these worthless Ramblings of an Idiot posts, it also sometimes happened with schoolwork. I would occasionally write out an entire essay in the shower, only to hand in a pale imitation of what was written with my fingertip on the shower door. Oh, well.

5. Iraq: While watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart yesterday, I saw a story about war plans being leaked to the press. It got me to thinking a little about Iraq.

   It seems almost inevitable now that an invasion will be launched against Iraq. The main point of contention so far center around whether or not it is necessary, i.e., whether or not Iraq currently has a biological or chemical arsenal that poses a threat to the United States. One thing no one seems to argue, although it is absolutely true, is that Iraq is a sovereign nation. They have as much right to develop chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons as the US does. Does this mean I want to see Saddam with such weapons? Hell no. But who are we to say what a sovereign nation can and cannot do?

   I love one of the phrases that's been used to describe this future operation: "Regime Change." I thought that a part of democratic principle is that a nation has the right to choose its own leaders? We may not like Iraq's government, but that doesn't give us the right to intervene and overthrow it.

   Another point that is not often mentioned: We look to attack Iraq to prevent biological and chemical weapons from being used against American citizens. However, the US government barely even recognizes the fact that American citizens have already been exposed to some of Saddam's chemical weapons. It happened about eleven years ago, during something called the Persian Gulf War. Ever heard of Gulf War Syndrome? These veterans are still being virtually ignored by the federal government. Now they want to send 250,000 more soldiers into Iraq, to face those same chemical weapons, and themselves be turned away for two decades.

That will be enough Rambling for today. I've gotten what I wanted to say off my chest. See you later.

Update: 01:38 PM -- Friday August 02 2002

Added #5: Iraq

Well, it would seem that the Ramblings of an Idiot series has reached the age of twenty-one. It is now old enough to legally drink. But, if you've been reading any of the RoaI series, you'd know that it's been fall-down drunk since it was one.

1. Ogg Vorbis (Old, July 19): So, Ogg Vorbis has reached 1.0. I've gotta admit that's pretty cool. Congratulations to all those who worked hard to make it a reality.

   I've considered over the past few days (since Ogg Vorbis went 1.0 on Friday) whether or not to switch over to Ogg. My CD player (RioVolt SP90) recognizes MP3 and WMA files, but not Ogg. I wasn't sure if I should start re-ripping all my CDs to Ogg, knowing that the resulting files would be unplayable on my CD player. What I ultimately decided was to re-rip everything to Ogg after saving all the old MP3s to CD, that way I'll still have them available for the player. I haven't ripped any CDs in a while (I haven't bought music in a long time), so I shouldn't have to worry too much about ripping CDs twice (once for the PC and once for the CD player).

2. Slashdot (Old, July 19): While the fried-fan/foe-freak thing has been in place for a little while now, I must admit I hadn't been paying much attention to it. While I was reading through the FAQ today (see my update to Karma System Change), I clicked through on this link: http://slashdot.org/my/fans (will show your fans, not mine). I noticed that two people had marked me down as a friend. Who knew? Thankfully, no foes yet.
3. Mozilla: As I am writing up this waste of time of a post, Mozilla 1.1 Beta is downloading. Still got about an hour to go on the download (torture, thy name is dial-up).

   Switching from IE to Mozilla has been great. I haven't seen a pop-up window in ages. I love tabbed browsing. And so far, Mozilla has proved to be more stable than IE 6 was. With IE 6, I experienced regular crashes. Mozilla hasn't crashed on me in over two months (RC2, when attempting to open a PDF file).

Well, that's enough stupidity for today. I've got a little bit of "work" to do, what with saving all my MP3s to CD and then re-ripping the original CDs to Ogg.

Update: 09:47 AM -- Wednesday July 24 2002

#1: That is, all the CDs I can find. A lot of the MP3s on my computer are from my brother's CD collection. He doesn't keep good track of them. And a few of them are scratched to hell. Whatever I can re-rip to Ogg, I shall.

Also trying to figure out the best Quality setting to use. I want the files to be of comparable size to the old MP3s, and of course smaller is better. I think I may end up using something in the 5.0 - 5.5 range.

#3: Mozilla 1.1 Beta installed and running smoothly. Only one minor complaint: the swapping of Open Link in New Window and Open Link in New Tab. I keep opening new windows when I want tabs. Oh, well, I'll just have to get used to it. Or get used to middle-clicking. Otherwise no problems.

Update: 09:24 AM -- Thursday July 25 2002

Corrected the date for the first update, Wednesday was the 24th, not the 23rd. I gotta pay more attention (at least I spelled Wednesday right, I often have it as Wednessday). While I'm here . . .

#1: Project Burn MP3 CD has been completed, resulting in six CDs worth of MP3s. I left some off, the ones I don't really like all that much in the first place. Oh crap! I just realized I missed some files that I wanted. Oh, well, I'll just have to burn one more CD. Then Project Burn MP3 CD will be complete . . .
________________________________________

I've settled on a Quality setting of 5.25. It results in files of comparable size to the old MP3s (but up to a MB smaller).
________________________________________

One more note: I re-ripped Jimi Hendrix's first album, Are You Experienced?, and the resulting files are much cleaner than the old MP3s. The distortion is gone; they sound so much better. Thank you, Ogg!

This morning, when I was M2ing, I noticed a post from the Official Discussion for Karma Obfuscation . So I went into said discussion. I read through a few comments, and then read CmdrTaco's journal post explaining the change. Text labels for Karma instead of integers.

CmdrTaco mentioned in the Official Discussion for Karma Obfuscation thread that making the Karma figures available to the user may have been a mistake. In a way, I agree. Ever since I began reading Slashdot, I've tracked my Karma number every time I logged on. I was really a little bit too anal about it. I never tried to Karma-whore, I just posted when I felt I had something to add to the discussion (which is why I post less often now, I'm a little more discriminating about it). But I did pay way to much attention to that stupid little number. Had the text label system been in place then, I may not have become so anal about it. It may have been a "cool, my Karma went from Good to Excellent" thing.

Anyway, the system change probably won't change my anal-retentive ways with Karma (It's too late for me, save yourself!). As of the time the change took effect, my Karma was forty-one. So every time I post, all I have to do is add (or subtract, as it were) the mod points from my known Karma value.

Hopefully I'll stop being so anal about it when I hit the cap, but I doubt it.

Update - 09:55 PM -- Sunday July 14 2002

In a few moments of complete and utter boredom today, I began to thing of alternate text identifiers for the Karma. Terrible -> Bad -> Neutral -> Positive -> Good -> Excellent is just too plain.

Perhaps Mascarpone -> Camembert -> Parmesano Reggiano -> Swiss -> Mozzerella -> Cheddar -> Tibetan Yak Cheese instead. (Favorite Cheese, Gromit....)

Or how about Hermes -> Amy -> The Professor -> Fry -> Leela -> Zoidberg -> Bender. (Favorite Futurama Character)

Or maybe BLAT -> Veggie Something -> Hot Pastrami -> Ham and Cheese -> Reuben -> Club. (Favorite Sandwich...)

Or even George Lazenby -> Timothy Dalton -> Roger Moore -> Pierce Brosnan -> Sean Connery. (Best Bond)

Of course, this may make the Karma too confusing. I mean, who wants to dig through the polls just to find out what the friggin' Karma ratings mean? I've got a Karma rating of Ham and Cheese. What the fuck does that mean?

________________________________________

Just for the record, yes, it was a bit of a boring day. And yes, I am bored out of my mind right now. I spent about a half-hour between "researching" the polls and typing this crap. In fact, the only reason that I'm updating this post is that I couldn't find anything on TV that I wanted to watch. So I'm killing time until 10:00 when hopefully something worth watching will come on.

Update - 10:49 AM -- Friday July 19 2002

Updated the tiers for the Karma. I had it as Terrible -> Poor -> Fair -> Good -> Excellent instead of what it really was, Terrible -> Bad -> Neutral -> Positive -> Good -> Excellent. See, I just guessed, I didn't actually read through the updates to the FAQ. The relevant section can be found here.

Hello, and welcome back to the Dumbest Show on Earth©!

1. Darkened Skies: Sunday was weird here in New England, with the smoke from the Canadian fires hovering over the region. The whole sky seemed to have a yellowish tint to it, and the sun was reduced to a small orange orb. It was freaky looking the whole day.
2. Yucca Mountain: Well, it's official. Nevada's Yucca Mountain is now the nation's dump for nuclear waste.

   Welcome to Nevada, the nation's nuclear waste dump!

   Makes a great bumper sticker, don't it?

   ____________________

   Seriously, though, the thing is the stuff has to go somewhere. And unfortunately for those in Nevada, Yucca Mountain probably is the best place for it.

3. Marijuana: Britain is expected to relax its marijuana laws. The drug will be re-classified as class C, meaning that possessing small amounts or smoking it in private will become non-arrestable offenses.

   This seems like a sensible move to me. Marijuana is not as dangerous a drug as say, heroin, crack or ecstasy. Let people smoke it if they want to.

4. Odd But True:
   1. Police Roused by Mating Hedgehogs : In Germany, an elderly woman called the police after being frightened by pained moans coming from the hedges along the neighbor's yard. The police arrive to find that two hedgehogs (under a parked car), in the middle of sweet, sweet love were the source of the noise.
   2. Passenger Taken Off Flight for Drunk Pilot Joke : A woman was removed from an America West flight after making a joke about the sobriety of the pilots. One week earlier, two AW pilots were arrested on charges of flying drunk. Shows how stupidity can take this security thing too far.
      Sidenote: Wouldn't it be funnier if this story had been about American Airlines instead?
5. MLB All-Star Game: Last night's All-Star Game, in Miller Park in Milwaukee, ended in a 7 - 7 tie after both teams ran out of players. All the pitchers had been used, and the managers were reluctant to push their last pitchers more than two innings. There's a lot of pressure to get the players back to their teams healthy. It's the first time there was a tie in an All-Star Game since 1961, when it was cut short by rain.
6. MLB at the Break: Speaking of baseball, I might as well see how my predictions (In Killing Time (And Hoping to Dodge the Murder Charge)) are holding up at the half-way point of the season.

   AL East:

   • I picked: New York Yankees
   • In first: New York Yankees

   Not really all that surprising. The Bronx Bombers have become exactly that, belting out homers to become MLB's highest scoring team. The pitching staff, though aging, is still solid. While the Boston Red Sox held first place for most of the first half, they lost it during a rough stretch against some good NL teams.

   AL Central:

   • I picked: Minnesota Twins
   • In first: Minnesota Twins

   The young talent of the Twins has led them to a 50 win first half. The Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians, the only other teams that looked to challenge, have dropped out of the race.

   AL West:

   • I picked: Oakland A's
   • In first: Seattle Mariners

   The Mariners are better than I expected, and the A's got off to a bad start again. And with Anaheim playing well, this should be a Hell of a race down the stretch.

   AL Wild Card:

   • I picked: Seattle Mariners
   • In lead: Boston Red Sox

   It's still a little early to be talking Wild Card, but what the hell. With the AL West being so strong (only one weak team, Texas), it will be difficult for the second-place team there to qualify for the Wild Card. The AL Central is weak except for the Twins. It looks like whoever finishes second in the AL East will win the Wild Card.

   ____________________

   NL East:

   • I picked: New York Mets
   • In first: Atlanta Braves

   The New York Mets looked like a World Series contender at the beginning of the season. Now they're an also-ran. Philadelphia, who I expected to come up just short, is in the cellar. The Expos are surprising, staying above .500 and adding players. However, the Braves are better than ever, and it looks like nothing can stop them from winning their 11th straight NL East crown.

   NL Central:

   • I picked: Houston Astros
   • In first: St. Louis Cardinals

   The Houston Astros are another team that looked good before the season that looks like an also-ran now. And the Cubs, who I expected to contend, have slipped back into the cellar, just ahead of the terrible Milwaukee Brewers. The Cincinnati Reds have made a surprising run back into contention, and the St. Louis Cardinals are the solid team I expected them to be. The Cardinals, however, now have to deal with the tragic death of pitcher Darryl Kile.

   NL West:

   • I picked: Arizona Diamondbacks
   • In first: Los Angeles Dodgers

   The Dodgers came out of nowhere this season to take control of the NL West. The Diamondbacks and Giants are solid teams as expected, so this should be an interesting race down the stretch.

   NL Wild Card:

   • I picked: St. Louis Cardinals
   • In lead: Arizona Diamondbacks

   The NL Wild Card may not stay in the NL West, as with three good teams pounding on each other, a team from another division (Reds in the Central or the Expos in the East) may be able to win more games simply due to their weaker divisions.

7. Me Eat Lunch Now: I'm hungry, and will therefore take a few minutes off of posting to eat.

   ____________________

   Well, all fueled up and ready to resume this utter waste of time. Why? Who knows.

8. Bush on Wall Street: Yesterday President Bush made a speech on Wall Street, offering harsh regarding the accounting scandals of recent months. However, there wasn't much more to the speech than this. It was mostly hot air, and the proposals he did make are ones which were already in the works.

   Bush doesn't really want to push any new regulation on big business, but he wants to make it look like he does. It's a bit of a tightrope he has to walk, between not pissing off his friends in big business and convincing the people that something is being done about these scandals.

9. More on Accounting Woes: A public interest group has sued Vice President Dick Cheney and Halliburton, the company which he once ran. The suit alleges that the company defrauded its investors by overstating revenues. Also named as defendants are Halliburton's directors, and Halliburton's accounting firm, Arthur Anderson.

   Is it me, or is Arthur Anderson the whore of the accounting world?

Well, methinks that will be all for now. For the entire staff here at the Ramblings of an Idiot office, I bid you adieu.

For a transcript of this post, cut and paste it into your favorite word processing program, and save.

This is the longest I've gone between posts in a little while. Nine days between Ramblings of an Idiot posts. I just didn't have all that much to mention in the past week. Plus I didn't get much time online. But, now I'm back!

1. World Cup: I realize that the World Cup ended Sunday, but I haven't gotten the chance to plop down the results since. Anyway, now that I've got the chance, here they are:

   Third Place Game:

   • Turkey 1, South Korea 0

   World Cup Final:

   • Brazil 2, Germany 0

   In all, it was an interesting tournament. The United States makes a surprising run into the Quarterfinals; host South Korea, which had never before won a World Cup match, finishes fourth; tournament newbie Senegal makes the Round of 16; tournament favorites Argentina, France, and Portugal flame out in the first round; and Brazil wins its fifth World Cup.

2. Weather: Man, has it been a hot week. Tuesday and Wednesday were hellish, and Thursday wasn't all that much better. On the first two days, I had to work out in the hot sun in the afternoon, so that sucked. On Thursday, I had the day off. Absolutely nothing to do. Sweet.
3. Independence Day: Yes, Thursday was Independence Day, the 226th birthday of the nation. There were fears of a terrorist attack, but nothing happened. There was a shooting in Los Angeles, at the El Al airport of the LAX, but that didn't appear to have any terrorist connections.

   Anyway, happy birthday USA.

That's enough for now. It's not like I had a whole lot of things I wanted to say today, and I feel like getting back to watching TV (like there's anything better to do on a Saturday morning). So, I'll see y'all later, that is, if you want to come back. God knows I don't . . .

Update: 10:45 AM -- Saturday July 06 2002

I've really got to remember when I use <ol>, I have to close it with </ol> and not </ul> . If I don't screw that up, I forget to close it all together. Why am I telling you this? I'm bored as hell and feel like wasting another minute.

Well, it looks as though the Ramblings of an Idiot series has finally come of age. This is the eighteenth Ramblings post. It is now old enough to buy cigarettes, vote, and get sent off to Iraq to fight for oil and approval ratings.

1. Meta-Editoring: While reading through the Is Linux Dead? discussion yesterday, this comment made me think for a moment: Wanted: moderation for the articles . Some questions that came to mind:
   1. Would editors have their own Karma (Editor Karma, EK for short)?
   2. If so, would "good" editors get a +1 Bonus?
   3. Would "troll" editors post at -1?
   4. Would there be an EK cap?

   OK, I admit, I had a little too much time on my hands yesterday. So, sue me.

2. Pledge of Allegiance: The pledge of allegiance unconstitutional? According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, yes. They objected to the use of the phrase "under God," deeming it an infraction of the establishment clause of the first amendment.

   As far as that goes, I never thought "under God" belonged in the pledge. Not on legal grounds, as IANACL (Constitutional Lawyer). The addition of "under God"in 1954 (propaganda move) changes the flow and emphasis of the pledge. Whereas originally the emphasis was on the US as being indivisible, it is now on the "Godliness" of the US. I feel the "indivisible" part to be much more important than the "under God" part. Besides, though many on the "religious right" would differ, the United States is not a Christian nation. It is a nation where the majority of the population is Christian. There's a big difference there.

End of Post: To be perfectly honest, I don't really have anything more to say. See you later when I do.

Update: 06:26 PM -- Thursday June 27 2002

The appeals court ruling barring the use of the pledge of allegiance (see number 2)* has been temporarily held up. It seems that the judge who issued the order is now holding it back, until it can be reviewed by the full court (eleven members, the initial decision was by a three person panel). I don't know all the details here, as IANAL, but there seems there's a chance the decision won't even survive the Ninth Circuit. If it does, there's a good chance of it being shot down at the Supreme Court level.

* Now I've found a valid reason to number things -- this way I can refer back to them in the occasional pointless update. I learn something new every day (and on one of them, I'm going to figure out how to get both legs of my pants on).

Semifinal Results:

• Germany 1, South Korea 0
• Brazil 1, Turkey 0

Third-Place Match:

• Turkey vs. South Korea

World Cup Final:

• Brazil vs. Germany

Welcome back to the idiocy with what really is Ramblings of an Idiot (17th Installment). Please, wipe your feet before you come in. I don't want muddy footprints all over my nice clean post.

• Windows ME: Ah, the fun that is Windows. I had just finished writing up Ramblings of an Idiot (17th Installment) yesterday, when Windows ME decided to crash. The post was gone, and I was pissed. I spent the next five minutes swearing at Windows ME. I'm certain it didn't see me, but I must have flipped off the Blue Screen of Death at least five times. Goddamn do I hate Windows.
• World Cup: Well, on Friday the run came to an end for the United States, with a one to nil loss to Germany. It was a good run, the best performance by the US in a World Cup. Although in 1930 the US advanced to the semifinals, that performance was not really as good as this year's. First off, the semifinals were the second round that year. Second, many of the power teams from Europe did not compete in the initial World Cup. Thus, the 2002 US performance is a much more impressive and important one than the initial one in 1930. Anyway, here are the (belated) results:

  Quarterfinal Results:

  • Germany 1, United States 0
  • Brazil 2, England 1
  • South Korea 0, Spain 0 (South Korea, 5 - 3 in Penalty Shoot-Out)
  • Turkey 1, Senegal 0 (Extra Time)

  Semifinal Matches:

  • Turkey vs. Brazil
  • South Korea vs. Germany

  To my surprise, I have actually watched some World Cup soccer. In the beginning of the tournament, I figured I'd only watch games in which the US was involved. But yesterday I found myself watching most of the Senegal-Turkey match (I missed the beginning). I'm slowly beginning to appreciate the beauty and excitement of the game. I'll probably even watch the semifinal and final matches. However, I doubt I will watch all that much soccer until 2006, the next World cup in Germany.

Well, that's about all I want to say for today. I had a few more things pegged for Ramblings of an Idiot (17th Installment), but I don't want to jot them down anymore. If Winblows (that's an appropriate one, Winblows ME) hadn't crashed, you, my reader, would have gotten to see them. Blame Windows for the stupidity which you have been denied.

_______________________________________

One more thing which I feel I should mention: my condolences to the family of St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile, who died in his hotel room yesterday. Sad news to be sure.

Another day, another idiotic journal post . . .

• World Cup: It was an interesting second round in the World Cup. In addition to the surprising victory for the United States, first-time participant Senegal has made it to the Quarterfinals. And just this morning, co-host South Korea upset Italy to advance.

  Round of 16 Final Results:

  • Germany 1, Paraguay 0
  • England 3, Denmark 0
  • Senegal 2, Sweden 1 (2nd Extra Time)
  • Spain 1, Ireland 1 (Spain, 3 - 2 in Penalty Shoot-Out)
  • United States 2, Mexico 0
  • Brazil 2, Belgium 0
  • Turkey 1, Japan 0
  • South Korea 2, Italy 1 (2nd Extra Time)

  Quarterfinal Matches:

  • England vs. Brazil
  • Germany vs. United States
  • Spain vs. South Korea
  • Senegal vs. Turkey
• The Telephone: According to this article, it was not Alexander Graham Bell who invented the telephone, but Florentine immigrant Antonio Meucci. According to the article, Meucci did not have enough money to file for a patent. Bell, who shared a lab with Meucci, did have the money and filed the patent in his name.

  There had been some debate as to whether Bell or Elisha Gray deserved credit for the invention of the telephone (Gray had filed a caveat, an announcement of invention and intention to patent, two hours after Bell filed his patent. However, Bell's model would not have worked, whereas Gray's would). However, Meucci's caveat predates Gray's by five years.

• Israel: Another bus attack. The explosion occurred 150 yards from the Ort Spanian high school, in the south side of Jerusalem. The bus was crowded with high school students and adult commuters, who were headed into the center of the city. Nineteen were killed (including the bomber), and dozens were injured. Hamas has claimed responsibility for the attack.

  In the past couple of months, there had seemed to be some encouraging news coming out of the region. It seemed like things were finally starting to move forward, and some semblance of peace was achievable. Then things like this happen, and you realize that things haven't changed at all, and are unlikely to. To be perfectly honest, I don't think there will be peace in the Middle East in my lifetime (and I'm just twenty).

• Slashdot Meetup: Interesting idea. Bunch of Slashdotters getting together. Everyone racing for the "First Beer." Twenty-five people with the name "Anonymous Coward." Drunken fistfights over GNOME and KDE. Too bad, I can't make it that day . . .

I believe that will be enough rambling for the day. I've just about run out of things to say, and I'm starting to get hungry.

I think I'll lay off of the pointless posts (like this one) for a few days. If anything of consequence comes up, I'll make mention of it. Otherwise, you won't be hearing anything out of me for the next few days (aren't you lucky). Smell you later . . .

Update: 10:00 AM -- Wednesday June 19 2002

I had originally titled this post Ramblings of an Idiot (17th Installment), but looking back over my posts (for no good reason) I realized that there wasn't a Ramblings of an Idiot (16th Installment). I just remembered, I had started that post, but abandoned it about halfway through. However, I counted it as if it had been posted. Oh, well, problem corrected. The next post will be Ramblings of an Idiot (17th Installment), not this one.

Man, I have really got to learn to count . . .

Update: 10:04 AM -- Wednesday June 19 2002

Did it again. I wrote the stupid little update, letting everyone know about the screw-up in numbering and the fact that I had corrected it. Unfortunately, I failed to actually correct it. It still said Ramblings of an Idiot (17th Installment), which was still wrong. Boy, am I stupid. There, it's done. Now it's right.

What can I say? I've become addicted to posting random garbage to my journal. It's my secret, insidious plan to bring down Slashdot. Take up as much server space as I can with pure garbage . . . oh, wait, the trolls are already doing that. Never mind . . .

• Stanley Cup: Congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings, who won the Stanley Cup last night. They won the series four games to one over the Carolina Hurricanes.

  This is the third title for the Red Wings in six years, tenth in franchise history. It is the (record) ninth for coach Scotty Bowman.

• Human Nature: In Israel, people are placing bets on suicide attacks. Plunk down cash for a city or region, and if the next bomber attacks there, you win some cash. Damn, that one went off in Tel Aviv! I had two grand riding on Jerusalem! How am I going to pay my bookie?
• Windows: Ah, the fun that is Windows (ME). Crashed while I was in the middle of this post. I had been screwing around, and had saved it as an html file earlier, so I didn't have to re-type it.
• World Cup: The US got off to a terrible start against Poland. Two goals allowed in the first five minutes. They ended up losing the game, three to one. Luckily, South Korea defeated Portugal, one to nil. Portugal's defeat allowed the US to back into the second round. Therefore, South Korea and the US will advance from Group D. The US got lucky, and will need more luck against Mexico.

  This is only the third time the US has advanced past the first round. In the inagural World Cup, in 1930, the US made the semifinals. In 1994, as host nation, the US made the Round of 16.

  Round of 16:
  Advancing Teams (Group Winner First):

  • Group A: Denmark and Senegal
  • Group B: Spain and Paraguay
  • Group C: Brazil and Turkey
  • Group D: South Korea and United States
  • Group E: Germany and Ireland
  • Group F: Sweden and England
  • Group G: Mexico and Italy
  • Group H: Japan and Belgium

  Matches:

  • Germany vs. Paraguay
  • England vs. Denmark
  • Sweden vs. Senegal
  • Spain vs. Ireland
  • Mexico vs. USA
  • Brazil vs. Belgium
  • Japan vs. Turkey
  • Korea vs. Italy

  Man, I'm getting into the World Cup a lot more than I expected.

Well, it's coming up to lunchtime, and that Favorite Sandwich Poll has gotten me hungry. Now if I could only find a place where they make a good CowboyNeal on rye I'd be all set . . .

As Whitesnake once said, "Here I Go Again."

• NBA Playoffs: Congratulations to the Los Angeles Lakers, who completed a sweep of the New Jersey Nets last night to capture their third straight NBA title. For the third year in a row, Shaquille O'Neal was named Finals MVP.
• World Cup: It's been an interesting tournament so far. Defending champion France scores no goals in two losses and one tie (with Uruguay). Pre-tournament favorite Argentina also fails to advance. First-time participant Senegal advances to the second round with one win and two ties.

  As for the USA, Monday's tie with co-host South Korea left them in second place with four points. A tie (or more preferably, win) against Poland would guarantee them a place in the second round.

• File-Sharing: A couple of weeks ago, I uninstalled Morpheus Preview Edition. I couldn't stand it. Anyway, today I decided to try Gnucleus .
• Television: Welcome back, Farscape. Welcome back, Stargate [SG - 1]. Welcome Back, Kotter. Ooops, that went off the air a long time ago (August 10, 1979, to be exact).

  Anyway, it's nice to have new seasons Farscape and Stargate [SG - 1]. As for Stargate [SG - 1], I missed the last couple of seasons. I didn't get Showtime, so I couldn't watch the new ones. I was watching reruns in syndication on my local Fox station. It's cool to be watching the new ones again.

Well, I think that will be quite enough for today. During the past few days, I had a few ideas I wanted to jot down but couldn't. Now I've forgotten what they were. Oh, well. The crap I got down was good enough for now. If you don't like it, then you can go somewhere else for your irregularly-timed doses of insanity and stupidity (try the Fox News Channel).

I just downloaded and installed Mozilla 1.0.

For a few minutes, I debated whether or not to download Mozilla 1.0. I've been using RC3 for a couple of weeks now, and during that span have not had one single problem with it. I thought, if RC3 is working just fine, why keep upgrading? Why upgrade whenever a new milestone comes out?

Ultimately, I decided that I would download Mozilla 1.0, and would continue to download as the new milestones come out. Why? For one, it keeps me up-to-date on the browser, and therefore I'll always have the newest and best options available. Second, by downloading and using the newest version of Mozilla, I am in some small way contributing to the development of Mozilla. Kind of gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside . . .

Anyway, it took me a few minutes to even connect to the ftp site (this was about an hour and a half after it had been posted to Slashdot). The first few times I tried, the connection was refused. Eventually, I got through, and one hour later (dial-up, remember) I had the Mozilla 1.0 installer downloaded. During that time, I read through the Mozilla 1.0 FAQ and some of the Mozilla 1.0 Release Notes.

_______________________________________

Spent the last few minutes screwing around with the demos. Just a minute, there is something which I have just got to try . . .

Just as I thought. Of the seven demos, Internet Explorer 6 failed four of them. It couldn't do the following: Complex Spiral, Eagle Shadow (failed horribly on this one), Sticky Notes, and Credits (all it gives is a blank page).

While I was using IE to compare standards compliance, I noticed that IE was slower in loading as well. Mozilla just blows IE away.

Advantages of Mozilla:

1. Standards Compliance
2. Tabbed Browsing (man, I am starting to love this)
3. Pop-Up Blocking (Thank God for this)
4. Skinnable Interface (like, totally cool, man [anyone got a hippie theme?])
5. Better Performance
6. It's not M$

The only thing Mozilla hasn't done that IE did was automatically log me onto Slashdot. For all of the other advantages I get, I can deal with hitting that stupid "Log In" button once a day.

_______________________________________

Needless to say, I am extremely happy with Mozilla. I haven't had a crash since RC2, when I attempted to open an Adobe Acrobat file. I haven't seen an unwanted pop-up in two months, except for the total of five minutes I used IE (the standards tests above).